The Maltese Falcon[/caption]
The Film Noir festival, Noir City, returns to the legendary Egyptian theater in Seattle for the 2018 edition from February 16 through 22, with exceptional films from the most “noir” of decades, 1941 to 1951. The festival presents 18 classic films as they were experienced on their original releases, pairing a top-tier studio “A” with a shorter, low-budget second feature, or “B” film. All but two of the films will be presented in glorious 35mm.
The host of Noir City, Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, will also be back to delight audiences with twisted tales and anecdotes about each film. If you’ve seen his show “Noir Alley” on Turner Classic Movies, then you know what an incomparable master of the darkest corners of human motivation he is. Eddie is available for interviews via phone or SKYPE.
Opening Night the Egyptian will be transformed into a haven for gangsters, molls, vixens, and villains, with Noir-themed wine and a shadowy cityscape photo booth to capture patrons at their sinister best. Presented in 35mm, the Opening Night film, The Maltese Falcon (1941), John Huston’s remarkable directorial debut, sets the tone for this year’s stellar line-up. The As include The Blue Dahlia (1946), starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, which incredibly is making its first appearance in Noir City, and Flesh and Fantasy (1943), by renowned French director Julien Divivier and featuring a dazzling cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, and Robert Cummings.
The Bs include Quiet Please, Murder (1942), a surprisingly racy film starring George Sanders as a cunning forger that must match wits with an equally cunning femme fatale (Gail Patrick), and Bodyguard (1948), a film that ironically stars real-life lawbreaker Lawrence Tierney as a lawman framed for a murder in a meat-packing plant. This breakneck-paced thriller is also distinguished by the co-writer, Robert Altman.
On closing night, the Film Noir Foundation’s latest restoration, an independently made noir crowd pleaser The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), will have its Seattle premiere (the world premiere is only a couple of weeks earlier at the San Francisco Noir City). Thanks to the generosity of FNF donors, the Foundation was able to fully fund the restoration of this film. Starring Lee J. Cobb, this James M. Cain-style thriller gets maximum impact from its San Francisco locations, including a memorable climax at Fort Point.
“We are excited for this year’s Noir City to return,” says SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “The 1915 Masonic Temple building that houses the Egyptian has some dark shadows of its own. There’s definitely no better or more atmospheric movie palace to host Noir City in Seattle, one of the greatest movie-going cities in the nation.”
Terry P.
VIMOOZ is for lovers of independent films + foreign film + documentary + film festivals. We love championing the little films.
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2018 Noir City Film Festival Returns to Seattle, Unveils Lineup + Opens with “The Maltese Falcon”
[caption id="attachment_26573" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Maltese Falcon[/caption]
The Film Noir festival, Noir City, returns to the legendary Egyptian theater in Seattle for the 2018 edition from February 16 through 22, with exceptional films from the most “noir” of decades, 1941 to 1951. The festival presents 18 classic films as they were experienced on their original releases, pairing a top-tier studio “A” with a shorter, low-budget second feature, or “B” film. All but two of the films will be presented in glorious 35mm.
The host of Noir City, Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, will also be back to delight audiences with twisted tales and anecdotes about each film. If you’ve seen his show “Noir Alley” on Turner Classic Movies, then you know what an incomparable master of the darkest corners of human motivation he is. Eddie is available for interviews via phone or SKYPE.
Opening Night the Egyptian will be transformed into a haven for gangsters, molls, vixens, and villains, with Noir-themed wine and a shadowy cityscape photo booth to capture patrons at their sinister best. Presented in 35mm, the Opening Night film, The Maltese Falcon (1941), John Huston’s remarkable directorial debut, sets the tone for this year’s stellar line-up. The As include The Blue Dahlia (1946), starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, which incredibly is making its first appearance in Noir City, and Flesh and Fantasy (1943), by renowned French director Julien Divivier and featuring a dazzling cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, and Robert Cummings.
The Bs include Quiet Please, Murder (1942), a surprisingly racy film starring George Sanders as a cunning forger that must match wits with an equally cunning femme fatale (Gail Patrick), and Bodyguard (1948), a film that ironically stars real-life lawbreaker Lawrence Tierney as a lawman framed for a murder in a meat-packing plant. This breakneck-paced thriller is also distinguished by the co-writer, Robert Altman.
On closing night, the Film Noir Foundation’s latest restoration, an independently made noir crowd pleaser The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), will have its Seattle premiere (the world premiere is only a couple of weeks earlier at the San Francisco Noir City). Thanks to the generosity of FNF donors, the Foundation was able to fully fund the restoration of this film. Starring Lee J. Cobb, this James M. Cain-style thriller gets maximum impact from its San Francisco locations, including a memorable climax at Fort Point.
“We are excited for this year’s Noir City to return,” says SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “The 1915 Masonic Temple building that houses the Egyptian has some dark shadows of its own. There’s definitely no better or more atmospheric movie palace to host Noir City in Seattle, one of the greatest movie-going cities in the nation.”
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65 Films to Compete in Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus Competition at 2018 Berlin International Film Festival
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303[/caption]
Selected from considerably more than 2,000 submissions, this year a total of 65 full-length and short films have been invited to compete in the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival. Highly contemporary, the selection reflects on both cinematic developments as well as current socio-political situations. The diversity in content and format relentlessly reflects a complex and frequently inconsistent world while at the same time leaving room for interpretation. In the zone between reality and imagination, the filmmakers open doors for alternative options – not only for the young protagonists – and simultaneously reframe a young generations’ yearning for commitment.
“Every single selection is an invitation to the audience to experience life from the perspective of youth. They are films with young people, as opposed to about them. An impressive characteristic throughout the program is not only the deep respect with which the filmmakers paint portraits of their protagonists, but also the immediacy and intimacy with which they approach these very individual world views,” says section head Maryanne Redpath about this year’s program.
The Generation 14plus competition will open at Haus der Kulturen der Welt with the road movie 303, with director Hans Weingartner (White Noise and The Edukators, among others) and cast attending. The Generation Kplus competition will open with an adventurous journey of an altogether different nature: the fast-paced Danish animation Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear) by Philip Einstein Lipski, Amalie Næsby Fick and Jørgen Lerdam.
Generation 14plus
Adam Germany / Iceland / USA by Maria Solrun World premiere After her debut film Jargo (Generation 14plus 2004), Icelandic director Maria Solrun presents a feature film for the second time in Generation. The aurally handicapped young protagonist Adam and his mother, a techno musician, have always lived in different worlds. At the same time, they are symbiotically connected: he feels her music directly with his body. When his mother is diagnosed with irreversible brain damage caused by alcohol, Adam suddenly has to look after himself. He faces his mother’s eager death wish in his very own laconic way, and the director gives him his voice, as well as plenty of space to develop. Dressage Iran by Pooya Badkoobeh World premiere Motivated primarily by boredom rather than greed, Golsa and her friends rob a corner shop. But while evaluating the booty, they are dismayed to realise that they forgot to take the security camera footage. One of them must return to the crime scene and retrieve it. The vote falls on Golsa, who bravely completes the mission. Her friends’ behaviour makes her think, and she hides the hard drive somewhere secret. But her accomplices and their well-to-do families put more and more pressure on Golsa, worried about their social standing. Director Pooya Badkoobeh radically staged story about control, blackmail and the power of money holds an uncompromising mirror up to Iranian society. Fortuna Switzerland / Belgium by Germinal Roaux World premiere Amidst the snow-covered mountains of the Swiss Simplon Pass, 14-year-old Fortuna clasps her hands in prayer. She hasn’t seen her parents since their traumatic crossing of the Mediterranean. Like many other refugees, the young girl from the Ethiopia/Eritrea border area has found refuge in an Augustinian monastery. The feelings of loneliness and yearning for love that tear at Fortuna are weighed against a secret that she can’t even tell the head friar – insightfully played by Bruno Ganz. Director Germinal Roaux fathoms the depths of Christian charity in expressive black-and-white imagery. Hendi & Hormoz Iran / Czech Republic by Abbas Amini World premiere After Valderama (Generation 2016), Iranian director Abbas Amini presents his second feature film in Generation 14plus. Hendi & Hormoz takes place on Iran’s Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf, where hematite deposits in the soil turn the ocean waves blood-red. 16-year-old Hormoz is married to Hendi, three years his junior, after he promises that he can work as a miner. But the young man, stirringly played by Hamed Alipour (Valderama), finds closed doors instead of a job. When Hendi becomes pregnant unexpectedly, Hormoz is forced to make an ill-advised pact with a smuggler. Director Amini portrays the existential struggle of two young people who must abandon their carefree youth in a harsh world. High Fantasy South Africa by Jenna Bass European premiere After The Tunnel (Berlinale Shorts 2010), Berlinale Talents alumna and London native Jenna Bass now presents a film in Generation 14plus. Filmed by the four protagonists exclusively on smartphones in the wide expanses of the South African veldt, Bass’s second feature film High Fantasy brings a common vision to life: being inside the body of another person. When Lexi and her friends experience exactly that during a camping trip, a suspense-laden dynamic ensues between the three women and Thami, the only man with them, but also between Lexi, who is white and Xoli, who is black. A smart and biting essay on the unrelenting politics of the human body – and still highly relevant even decades after the alleged end of Apartheid. Kissing Candice Ireland / United Kingdom by Aoife McArdle European premiere Candice, 17, has a vivid imagination. In the glaring and graphic realms she experiences during her epileptic seizures, a man appears with whom she falls in love. Soon after, she meets him in the real world. But that’s just one bit of trouble in the Irish town where the young people see a pony as a status symbol on par with a car. One boy is missing and a violent clique of youths is terrorising the village inhabitants. Candice’s father, a police officer who longs for the “good old days” of “the Troubles”, is on the case. In her debut film, director Aoife McArdle stages highly aesthetic chaos against the harsh backdrop of a coastal Irish village. The director’s ample experience making music videos is clearly visible throughout. Retablo Peru / Germany / Norway by Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio L. European premiere 14-year-old Segundo lives with his parents in a village high in the magnificent mountains of Peru. His father Noé is a respected artist and Segundo’s role model. Noé hand-crafts altarpieces, decorated shrines for church and home, and is teaching Segundo the necessary skills to carry on in his footsteps. But cracks have developed in their close relationship because Noé is keeping a dark secret. With brutal honesty and saturated colours, the film peeks behind the facade of a seemingly intact village community where homophobic attidtudes enforced by patriarchal laws are carried out with remorseless violence. It sketches a visually powerful panorama of a world in which a young artist is searching for his niche. What Walaa Wants Canada / Denmark by Christy Garland World premiere The Palestinian girl Walaa – whose mother was incarcerated in an Israeli prison for eight years for allegedly aiding an assassination – shows little interest in school. She’d rather join the Palestinian National Authority – the provisional governmental body that governs the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza – as soon as possible, were it not for her distrust of any kind of authority. Director Christy Garland’s documentary follows the obstreperous young woman over the course of five years, from age 15 to 20. Always maintaining a level playing field with her young protagonist, Christy Garland gives an intimate look at the rebellious girl fighting at times uncontrollably but tenaciously for her dream. 303, Germany, Hans Weingartner — WP Cobain, Netherlands / Belgium / Germany, Nanouk Leopold — WP Danmark (Denmark), Denmark, Kaspar Rune Larsen — IP Güvercin (The Pigeon), Turkey, Banu Sıvacı — WP Les faux tatouages (Fake Tattoos), Canada, Pascal Plante — EP Para Aduma (Red Cow), Israel, Tsivia Barkai Jacov — WP Unicórnio (Unicorn), Brazil, Eduardo Nunes — IP Virus Tropical, Colombia, Santiago Caicedo — EPShort films in Generation 14plus
Fry-Up, United Kingdom, Charlotte Regan — EP Follower, Germany, Jonathan B. Behr — WP Je fais où tu me dis (Dressed for Pleasure), Switzerland, Marie de Maricourt — IP Juck, Sweden, Olivia Kastebring, Julia Gumpert, Ulrika Bandeira — IP Kiem Holijanda, Netherlands, Sarah Veltmeyer — IP Na zdrowie! (Bless You!), Poland, Paulina Ziólkowska — WP Neputovanja (Untravel), Serbia / Slovakian Republic, Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak Jr. — WP Nuuca, USA / Canada, Michelle Latimer — EP Playa (Beach), Mexico, Francisco Borrajo — EP Pop Rox, USA, Nate Trinrud — EP Premier amour (First Love), Switzerland, Jules Carrin — IP Sinfonía de un mar triste (Symphony of a Sad Sea), Mexico, Carlos Morales — EP Tangles and Knots, Australia, Renée Marie Petropoulos — EP Three Centimetres, United Kingdom, Lara Zeidan — WP Vermine (Vermin), Denmark, Jeremie Becquer — WP Voltage, Austria, Samira Ghahremani — IPGeneration Kplus
Blue Wind Blows Japan by Tetsuya Tomina World premiere In his poetic full-length film debut, director Tetsuya Tomina follows shy Ao, who lives with his mother and younger sister Kii on the Japanese island of Sado. Their father recently disappeared without a trace, but nobody talks much about that. Ao and Kii wander around the island and vent their incomprehension to the expanses of the sea. Then Ao finds a soulmate in the secretive Sayoko. These two daydreamers need only a few words and feel immediately connected to one another. Against the impressive backdrop of an industrial coastal village, Tomina (who also wrote the screenplay) tells a touching story about hope, loss and letting go. Ceres Belgium / Netherlands by Janet van den Brand World premiere In her full-length documentary debut, Dutch director Janet van den Brand accompanies her four young protagonists as they go about their daily agricultural business. Piglets are born, as well as calves, lambs and chicks. Sowing, planting and harvesting. Butchering. No matter what, the camera is close by, along with Koen, Daan, Sven and Jeanine. They help with the farm work from a young age, learning to take responsibility, and to say farewell. Will they run their parents’ farms one day? Using documental imagery, Van den Brand presents a realistic picture of life and work in agriculture – one without idealism, and yet full of poetry. Cirkeline, Coco og det vilde næsehorn (Circleen, Coco and the Wild Rhinoceros) Denmark by Jannik Hastrup World premiere The works of Danish director Jannik Hastrup, seasoned master of animation film, have competed in the Generation programmes since 1985. This year he presents the fourth screen adventure of the matchbook-sized elf Cirkeline. Travel is once again on the agenda, this time with Princess Coco and a moody baby rhinoceros, who both want to return to their home in Africa. Cirkeline and her mouse friends spontaneously decide to go along. A musical story told in episodes and lively, colorful images, Hastrup’s film once again illustrates how travel can open our eyes, and that not everything is the way it seems at first glance. Los Bando Norway / Sweden by Christian Lo International premiere Best friends Axel and Grim finally want to perform at this year’s Norwegian rock championship with their band, Los Bando Immortale. Nine-year-old runaway and cellist Thilda, and underage rally driver Martin complete the troupe, and the quartet sets off on a turbulent road trip to the wild north. With the police and crazy relatives on their tail, and confronted with harsh truths in life and love, the four friends continue toward their dream, unperturbed. After Bestevenner (2010), Norwegian director Christian Lo presents his second feature film in Generation Kplus. Mochila de plomo (Packing Heavy) Argentina by Darío Mascambroni World premiere 12-year-old Tomás tolerated it for far too long – being put off by the grownups, who built a labyrinth of silence, excuses and contradictions all around him. But today is the day of truth. Today, the man who killed his father will be released from prison. And Tomás is ready. In his rucksack is a loaded gun. Restless and determined to liberate himself from the half-truths of the adults, Tomás takes a trip through his hometown. Following his debut Primero enero (Generation Kplus 2017), director Darío Mascambroni once again demonstrates his talent for the attentively observed father-son narrative, told in atmospheric images and in close proximity to his protagonists. Wang Zha de yuxue (Wangdrak’s Rain Boots) People’s Republic of China by Lhapal Gyal World premiere After heavy rains, puddles and mud cover the streets of the Tibetan mountain village. It’s good for the crops, but bad for young Wangdrak, the only boy in the village without rubber boots. While his father is busy with other worries, Wangdrak’s mother fulfills her son’s wish. But new shoes bring new problems. For Wangdrak, a battle against the blue sky and for the rain begins, fought alongside his loyal friend Lhamo. Nestled in the inimitable mountain landscape, director Lhapal Gyal uses vivid imagery to show us a culture steeped in ancient traditions, paying special attention to the young protagonist’s dreams. Allons enfants (Cléo & Paul), France, Stéphane Demoustier — WP Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear), Denmark, Philip Einstein Lipski, Amalie Næsby Fick, Jørgen Lerdam — IP Dikkertje Dap (My Giraffe), Netherlands / Belgium / Germany, Barbara Bredero — IP El día que resistía (The Endless Day), Argentina / France, by Alessia Chiesa — WP Gordon och Paddy (Gordon and Paddy), Sweden, Linda Hambäck — IP Les rois mongols (Cross My Heart), Canada, Luc Picard — EP Sekala Niskala (The Seen and Unseen), Indonesia / Netherlands / Australia / Qatar, Kamila Andini — EP Supa Modo, Germany / Kenya, Likarion Wainaina — WPShort films in Generation Kplus
A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl, Australia, Tilda Cobham-Hervey — IP L’après-midi de Clémence (The Afternoon of Clémence), France, Lénaïg Le Moigne — WP Vdol´ i poperyok (Between the Lines), Russian Federation, Maria Koneva — WP Brottas (Tweener), Sweden, Julia Thelin — IP Cena d’aragoste (Lobster Dinner), USA / Italy, Gregorio Franchetti — IP De Natura, Romania, Lucile Hadžihalilović — IP Fisketur (Out Fishing), Sweden, Uzi Geffenblad — IP Fire in Cardboard City, New Zealand, Phil Brough — EP Hvalagapet, Norway, Liss-Anett Steinskog — IP Jaalgedi (A Curious Girl), Nepal, Rajesh Prasad Khatri — EP Lost & Found, Australia, Bradley Slabe — WP Neko no Hi (Cat Days), Germany, Jon Frickey — WP Paper Crane, Australia, Takumi Kawakami — WP Pinguin (Penguin), Germany, Julia Ocker — WP Snijeg za Vodu (Snow for Water), Bosnia and Herzegovina / United Kingdom, Christopher Villiers — IP Toda mi alegría (All My Joy), Argentina, Micaela Gonzalo — IP Tråder (Threads), Norway / Canada, Torill Kove — EP Trois rêves de ma jeunesse (Three Dreams of My Childhood), Romania, Valérie Mréjen, Bertrand Schefer — IP Yover, Colombia, Edison Sánchez — WP
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Kino Lorber to Release Tribeca Film Festival Award-Winning Romantic Comedy KEEP THE CHANGE
The New York-set award-winning romantic comedy Keep The Change, written and directed by Rachel Israel, and starring newcomers Brandon Polansky (as David) and Samantha Elisofon (as Sarah), centers around David and Sarah’s unexpected encounter and ensuing romance. Jessica Walter (Arrested Development, Archer), Tibor Feldman (The Devil Wears Prada), Sondra James (Royal Pains), and Johnathan Tchaikovsky (The Wolf of Wall Street) round up the cast.
While David struggles to come to terms with his own high-functioning autism, he unexpectedly falls for Sarah, a quirky and outgoing woman whose lust for life both irks and fascinates him. As David and Sarah’s relationship evolves, Keep The Change blossoms into a refreshingly off-kilter story about the ups-and-downs of romantic love – and the rewards of acceptance, self-love and mutual trust.
Painting an honest portrait of a community seldom depicted on the big screen, Keep The Change is based on the award-winning short film developed by Rachel Israel and lead actor Brandon Polansky that was inspired by Polansky’s experiences at Adaptations, a community for adults on the autism spectrum that meets at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Manhattan. Film Director Rachel Israel cast Keep The Change with non-professional actors from Adaptations, and she worked closely with them to create fictional versions of themselves for the film.
Keep The Change premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won two of the festival’s most coveted awards: Best U.S. Narrative Feature and Best New Narrative Director. It also received Special Mention for the Nora Ephron Prize. At last summer’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the film won the Best Debut and FIPRESCI awards.
Keep The Change will be released by Kino Lorber and opens in New York on March 16, following its prominent berth as opening night feature of the 2018 ReelAbilities Film Festival in March. A national expansion will follow.
Director Rachel Israel wrote in a prepared statement: “Keep The Change has been a labor of love for all involved, from our cast to our crew, our producers, and our community partners at the JCC’s Center for Special Needs. We made a unique, risk-taking film and it is wonderful to see it come to light on the big screen. We are absolutely thrilled to be partnered with Kino Lorber, and to have their exceptional taste and reputation behind the film.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKyivROX8MI
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Miami Film Festival to Spotlight Filmmakers Jean-Marc Barr and Mateo Gil as First Two Marquee Events
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THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS (Las leyes de la termodinámica)[/caption]
Filmmakers Jean-Marc Barr and Mateo Gil have been confirmed as headliners of the first two Marquee events of the upcoming 35th anniversary edition of the Miami Film Festival to be held March 9 to 18, 2018. The Festival’s Marquee series features film screenings accompanied by on-stage conversations with major film personalities of the moment, discussing their career and sharing an exciting new work.
Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil will present the World premiere of his latest film, The Laws of Thermodynamics (Las leyes de la termodinámica), a unique romantic comedy co-produced by Spain’s Zeta Cinema and Atresmedia. The film stars Vito Sanz (Maria (and the Others)) as a Sciences graduate student who blames his disastrous love life, such as being dumped by his girlfriend (played by Berta Vázquez of Palm Trees in the Snow), on the mysteriously comic laws of cosmic thermodynamics.
Prior to presenting his high-profile new film, Gil will participate in an extended conversation about his career, which includes such highlights as co-writing the Academy Award-winning film The Sea Inside, co-writing Open Your Eyes, later remade as Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise; and his numerous Goya Award wins from Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts & Sciences. As a director, Gil’s films “Allanamiento de morada”, Nobody Knows Anybody, Blackthorn and Realive have all been presented in the US by Miami Film Festival.
“The Laws of Thermodynamics is Mateo Gil’s most astoundingly original creation yet, in which he brilliantly dissects the romantic comedy genre at the same time he elevates it with explosive new levels of movie-star chemistry and expertly-timed wit,” said Festival director Jaie Laplante. “We could not be more honored to present the world premiere of a film that will be the talk of 2018 in Spain and beyond.”
French-American actor and filmmaker Jean-Marc Barr will attend the North American premiere of the new documentary Dolphin Man, about the life and legacy of the French free diving legend Jacques Mayol, whom Barr played in Luc Besson’s 1988 international blockbuster hit, The Big Blue. Barr is featured prominently in Dolphin Man, which is directed by Lefteris Charitos and includes prominent coverage of the beginning of Mayol’s career working with dolphins at Miami Seaquarium in the 1950s. The Marquee evening will feature an extended conversation with Barr, and be paired with a 4K digital retrospective screening of The Big Blue.
After the international success of The Big Blue, Barr continued to make an international mark in a long association with Danish provocateur Lars von Trier, as the star of such films as Europa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville and many others. As a director, screenwriter and producer he has made numerous films in collaboration with Pascal Arnold, including Lovers and American Translation. His most recent film is Grain, winner of the 2017 Grand Prize at Tokyo Film Festival.
“After making Jacques Mayol’s incredible life known the world over in the 1980s, Jean-Marc Barr honors Mayol and Miami by personally presenting this wonderous new documentary about Mayol,” added Laplante. “Presenting the film to North America for the first time in the same community that Mayol began his journey is all the more special for Miami.”
In addition to The Laws of Thermodynamics, the Festival also announced two more high-profile new Spanish films which will screen for the first time to US audiences.
DOLPHIN MAN (Greece, Canada, France / Directed by Lefteris Charitos)
Tells the life story of Jacques Mayol, the greatest free-diver in recorded history, whose life became the inspiration for Luc Besson’s cult-movie The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu). Dolphin Man will additionally compete for the audience-voted Knight Documentary Achievement Award, and as a Canadian co-production, is in part presented in Miami by Telefilm Canada.
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS (Las leyes de la termodinámica) (Spain / Directed by Mateo Gil)
A unique romantic comedy about a Sciences graduate student who blames his disastrous love life, such as being dumped by his girlfriend (played by Berta Vázquez of Palm Trees in the Snow), on the mysteriously comic laws of cosmic thermodynamics. The Laws of Thermodynamics will additionally compete in Knight Competition and HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition.
THE WARNING (El aviso) (Spain / Directed by Daniel Calparsoro)
A high-octane thriller from Chris Sparling, the American screenwriter of Ryan Reynolds’ hit film Buried, and Alex de la Iglesia’s frequent screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarría, directed by Daniel Calparsoro, and starring Raúl Arévalo and Aura Garrido, will premiere in Miami just a week following its opening in Spanish theaters. The supernatural thriller is being compared to the Brad Pitt-Terry Gilliam hit 12 Monkeys, and will debut in two of the Festival’s competition sections, Knight Competition and HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition. Calparsoro’s most recent film, Cien años de perdón, was an official selection of Miami Film Festival in 2016.
THE SKIN OF THE WOLF (Bajo la piel de lobo) (Spain / Directed by Samu Fuentes)
A dramatic thriller with stunning wide-screen photography set in Spain’s spectacular Asturias-Huescas region from first-time feature writer-director Samu Fuentes, will debut in the Festival’s Jordan Ressler Screenwriting Competition, as well as the HBO Ibero-American Feature Film Competition. Starring Spanish mega-star Mario Casas, Ruth Díaz (The Fury of a Patient Man) and Irene Escolar, The Skin of the Wolf is a film of sparse dialogue connected to a complex visual storytelling design, making it a top contender for the Ressler Award.
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Film Comment Selects Reveals 2018 Lineup, Opens with “Life and Nothing More”
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Life and Nothing More[/caption]
The Film Comment magazine’s annual cinematic showcase series, Film Comment Selects, returns for the 18th edition, February 23 to 27, 2018, featuring films curated by the magazine’s editors.
The festival opens with the New York premiere of Antonio Mendez Esparza’s Life and Nothing More, an intimate chronicle of an African American family living on the margins in Florida, starring an astonishing non-professional cast. Other new works in the lineup are Ildikó Enyedi’s Berlinale Golden Bear-winner On Body and Soul; Mrs. Fang, Wang Bing’s unflinching document of an elderly woman in her final days, which won the Golden Leopard at Locarno; the North American premiere of Katharina Wyss’s powerful debut feature Sarah Plays a Werewolf, about a woman who channels her fears into theater; Govinda Van Maele’s fiction feature debut Gutland, featuring Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps; the U.S. premiere of Slovenian director Rok Biček‘s The Family, a compassionate portrait of a young man’s life over the course of 10 years; and experimental artist Bertrand Mandico’s exhilarating, gender-bending Wild Boys.
In addition to these anticipated new works, the 2018 slate features a retrospective of radical filmmaker Nico Papatakis, who had a “body of work that blends anarchic fury with visceral and transcendent poetry” (Yonca Talu, Film Comment). All five features directed by Papatakis, who subversively and provocatively explored themes of race, class, gender, and politics and produced films by Cassavetes and Genet, will be screened, including the meta terrorist drama Gloria Mundi, Cannes selection Les Abysses, and Walking a Tightrope, which stars Michel Piccoli as writer Jean Genet (a personal friend of the filmmaker). Film Comment Selects will also present a 25th anniversary screening of Tom Joslin & Peter Friedman’s extraordinarily powerful documentary Silverlake Life: The View from Here, which follows Joslin and his partner Mark Massi as they struggle to live with AIDS.
“It’s a rare chance to see the lively mix of films that our critics have raved about but that haven’t hit New York theaters yet,” said Nicolas Rapold, Editor-in-Chief of Film Comment. “This year’s edition is made especially exciting by a rare retrospective of the inimitable Nico Papatakis, whose work will be exciting for many to discover.”
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
Opening Night Life and Nothing More Antonio Mendez Esparza, U.S./Spain, 2017, 114m “The African American single mom and teenage son at the center of this drama are lifelong residents of northern Florida but remain, at best, provisional citizens of their own country. Rendering characters they developed in tandem with their director, these non-professional but astoundingly gifted performers convey so much of what matters in so many working-class black lives.” —Nick Davis, Toronto Film Festival 2017 online coverage New York premiere The Family Rok Biček, Slovenia/Austria, 2017, 106m “Slovenian director Rok Biček started The Family as a film-school student and proceeded to film a life in full: a boy, Matej, seen growing up, watching his father die and becoming a father himself, breaking up with his girlfriend, and battling her for child custody. A twist on observational cinema, Biček’s portrait of the anti-heroic young man defies stereotypes of working-class and dysfunctional families, refrains from passing moral judgments, and retains an open fondness of his subject.” —Tina Poglajen, Nov/Dec 2017 issue U.S. premiere Gutland Govinda Van Maele, Luxembourg/Belgium/Germany/France, 2017, 107m “A stranger wends through twilit wheat fields in the exquisite opening moments of Govinda Van Maele’s fiction feature debut [starring Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps] … By the following morning he’s courted by an elder who finds him a gig and lodging—and then Gutland quietly maunders from folktale to pastoral noir to Polanski-esque uncanny and, finally, back to folk tale. Call it a ‘village film,’ with an eerie ambiance of secrets, insularity, and sinister solidarity.” —José Teodoro, Nov/Dec 2017 issue New York premiere Mrs. Fang Wang Bing, China, 2017, 86m “Wang Bing’s latest documentary trains its camera very tightly on the face of a bedridden elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s in a small rural Chinese village. For a while, it seems as though Mrs. Fang is content to use the camera as a tool to unflinchingly record a human being close to her final breath. Yet Wang Bing is after something completely different, as the filmmaker goes into other territory, somehow more and less tangible than a portrait of dying.” —Michael Koresky, Toronto Film Festival 2017 online coverage New York premiere On Body and Soul Ildikó Enyedi, 2017, Hungary, 116m Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin, Ildikó Enyedi’s visually imaginative film tracks the highs and lows of an unforeseen romance conducted partly through dreams. Film Comment celebrated Enyedi’s “ludic, freewheeling storytelling” with last year’s home-video release of her 1989 favorite My Twentieth Century, and her newest marks a triumphant return for this Hungarian filmmaker. A Netflix release. New York premiere Sarah Plays a Werewolf Katharina Wyss, Switzerland/Germany, 2017, 86m “Katharina Wyss’s heady debut feature centers on Sarah, a young woman channeling her powerful depth of feeling into the artistic and psychological outlet of theater. As the 17-year-old protagonist in a staid Swiss town, Loane Balthasar is unnervingly transparent, giving herself over to her character—and, like Sarah, 20 times more present than anyone around her. The film’s title captures a life fraught with energy.” —Nicolas Rapold, Jan/Feb 2018 issue North American premiere Wild Boys Bertrand Mandico, France, 2017, 110m “Some might be quick to suggest Mandico’s similarities with Guy Maddin due to his new film’s whacked-out narrative, alienating use of studio sets, and brusquely outré acting. Exiled teenagers are sentenced to hard labor on a mysterious island, left to their own devices and then transformed… All the teens are played by actresses, with ever-fearless, weather-beaten Elina Löwensohn leading the way. Little else in 2017 was quite as exhilarating, eye-popping, intoxicating, seductive, carefree, funky, sexy, and fun.” —Olaf Möller, Jan/Feb 2018 issue New York premiere 25th Anniversary Screening Silverlake Life: The View from Here Tom Joslin & Peter Friedman, U.S., 1993, 99m Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, this is one of the cornerstone documentaries abot the AIDS crisis. “Silverlake Life is about a couple, and one of the guys is filming his boyfriend, who is ill and dying. I didn’t want to represent the disease too much [in BPM (Beats Per Minute)], because I thought it was so real in Silverlake Life. I didn’t want to make the same thing because you can’t do more than this film, because it was real and it’s a very, very moving film. I love it so much.”—Robin Campillo, director of BPM (Beats Per Minute), interviewed in July/Aug 2017 issue Special Section: Five Films by Nico Papatakis “It’s become a cliché to call a filmmaker ‘rebellious,’ but from Gance to Eisenstein to Pasolini to Buñuel, the 20th century saw true rebels who fiercely defied both the cinematic and political establishments of their time. Nikos Papatakis (1918-2010)—nicknamed Nico in France—holds a profound and unique place in this lineage through a body of work that blends anarchic fury with visceral and transcendent poetry. Born in Addis Ababa to an Ethiopian mother and a Greek father, Papatakis was an outcast by nature, mocked and ostracized as a child for being biracial. Deeply rooted in personal experience, Papatakis’s films are politically, morally, and formally subversive explorations of race, gender, and class that use the medium as a vehicle of opposition and dissent.” —Yonca Talu, Sept/Oct 2017 issue Les Abysses Nico Papatakis, France, 1963, 90m This allegorical portrait of the Algerian resistance was inspired by the real-life story of the Papin sisters, two maids who brutally murdered their employers in 1930s France—also the basis for Jean Genet’s influential 1947 play The Maids and Claude Chabrol’s 1995 psychological thriller La Cérémonie. The Shepherds of Disorder Nico Papatakis, Greece, 1967, 117m The Shepherds of Disorder (aka Thanos and Despina) juxtaposes an anthropological and materialist study of a rigid rural community with the mythologically imbued, forbidden romance between a rebellious shepherd and the angelic and compliant daughter (Olga Karlatos) of a rich conservative family, engaged in an erotically charged power game. Gloria Mundi Nico Papatakis, France, 1976, 115m Papatakis’s most psychedelic film, Gloria Mundi centers on an actress (Olga Karlatos) playing an Arab terrorist who takes her role to another level. Papatakis’s virulent denunciation of consumer capitalism and a hypocritical left-wing intelligentsia that deems itself political but does not take any action, begins with a scream and ends with an explosion. The Photograph Nico Papatakis, Greece/France, 1986, 102m Papatakis’s most accessible, gripping, and poignant work is a meticulously crafted, intimate meditation on immigration and exile centering on a 26-year-old Greek man fresh out of prison (where he was tortured for being a communist’s son) who leaves for France in hopes of a better life and strikes up a complicated friendship with a distant relative. Walking a Tightrope / Les Équilibristes Nico Papatakis, France, 1992, 120m The director’s final film—starring Michel Piccoli as a fictional version of Papatakis’s friend Jean Genet—is a compendium of the themes and motifs that pervade his distinctive filmography, including the torturous nature of love, the suffering induced by exile, and suicide as an act of rebellion.
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Sundance 2018: Watch Trailer for Gloria Allred Documentary SEEING ALLRED
As sexual-violence allegations grip the nation, the revealing Gloria Allred documentary “Seeing Allred” provides a candid look at one of the most public crusaders against the war on women. Seeing Allred will World Premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and debut on Netflix February 9, 2018.
Through rare archival footage and revealing interviews with both her supporters and critics, this fascinating biographical portrait examines Gloria Allred’s personal trauma and assesses both her wins and setbacks on high-profile cases against Bill Cosby and Donald Trump.
Featuring interviews with Gloria Steinem, Don Lemon, Alan Dershowitz, Allred’s daughter Lisa Bloom and others, Seeing Allred is a portrait of a woman everyone thinks they know, at a time when women need her the most.
Seeing Allred is directed by Sophie Sartain (Mimi and Dona, 2015) and Roberta Grossman (Above and Beyond, 2014); and produced by Grossman, Sartain, Marta Kauffman (co-creator of Friends and Grace & Frankie), Robbie Rowe Tollin (The Zookeeper’s Wife), and Hannah KS Canter (Grace & Frankie).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC8Eg0odTfY
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Women Directed + Horror Themed 3rd Final Girls Berlin Film Festival Announces Lineup, Opens with THE BOOK OF BIRDIE
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The Book of Birdie[/caption]
The 3rd edition of Final Girls Berlin Film Festival will take place in Berlin, Germany from February1st to the 3rd, 2018, showcasing horror films that were directed, written, and/or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers. The 2018 Final Girls Berlin Film Festival lineup consists of 5 feature films, six curated short blocks, a horror storyboarding workshop, a talk on vampires and women, and a filmmaker panel.
Festival co-director Eli Lewy says “this year we have selected a range of unnerving feature films – most of which are also exclusive German premieres!” Fellow co-director Sara Neidorf adds “we’re excited for another three days of communal fear and challenging discussions with filmmakers and spectators. Underground horror cinema is alive and well with the works of women who are steadily reshaping the landscape of the genre.”
The opening night feature is Anami Tara Shucart and Elizabeth E. Schuch’s offering THE BOOK OF BIRDIE. When a fragile, imaginative teenager is placed in a remote convent, will her unusual obsessions and hallucinations become a mark of sainthood or dark heresy? Reserved teen Birdie is sequestered to a life of religious servitude by her grandmother, in the hope that it will suppress the young girl‘s dark thoughts. Now far from home, her interests remain far from pious, as she develops a fascination with blood and sparks a romance with the groundkeeper’s daughter. This haunting and aesthetically arresting directorial debut of Elizabeth E. Schuch features an all-woman cast. UK, dir. Elizabeth E. Schuch (2017, German Premiere)
A mother’s grief turns to paranoia when she begins to suspect her eccentric neighbors are involved in a satanic pact. Starring Gaby Hoffmann (Transparent, Girls) and Ingrid Jungermann (WOMEN WHO KILL), and paying homage to ROSEMARY’S BABY, this queer psychological horror LYLE, brings the viewer through a nightmarish journey of gaslighting, loss, loneliness, and mistrust. USA, dir. Stewart Thorndike (2014, Berlin Premiere)
Iona and her mother are new in town and excited about starting a new chapter in their lives, but things don’t go as they hoped in this off-kilter, heart-wrenching film about two generations of outcasts. This ‘social horror’ film PIN CUSHION world premiered at the 2017 Venice Film Festival. UK, dir. Deborah Haywood (2017, German Premiere)
A pitch black, wryly British comedy, PREVENGE follows Ruth, a pregnant woman on a killing spree that’s as funny as it is vicious. It’s her misanthropic unborn baby dictating Ruth’s actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims. Struggling with her conscience, loneliness, and a strange strain of prepartum madness, Ruth must ultimately choose between redemption and destruction at the moment of motherhood. UK, dir. Alice Lowe (2016)
MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND is a psychological thriller set in the world of undocumented female immigrants hoping to make a life in New York City. Shot on Super 16mm with an intimate, voyeuristic sensibility, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND chronicles one harrowing day in the life of Luciana, a young woman struggling to make ends meet while striving to escape her past. As Luciana’s day unfolds, she is whisked, physically and emotionally, through a series of troublesome and unforeseeable extremes. USA, Dir. Ana Asensio (2017, German Premiere)
Short Film Programs
Obsession
PLEASE LOVE ME FOREVER (Dir. Holy Fatma, France, 2016) FRY DAY (Dir. Laura Moss, USA, 2017) NOTHING A LITTLE SOAP AND WATER CAN’T FIX (Dir. Jennifer Proctor, USA, 2017) 🙁 (Dir. Sydney Clara Brafman, USA, 2017) WASTE (Dir. Justine Raczkiewicz, USA, 2016) DON’T EVER CHANGE (Dir. Don Swaynos, US, 2017) DEAD. TISSUE. LOVE (Dir. Tasha Austin-Green, UK, 2017)Mind Games
BBROWN WRECK-LOOSE (Dir. Tristian Montgomery, USA, 2017) LIZ DRIVES (Dir. Mia’kate Russell, Australia, 2017) THE HEAVY ATOMS (Dir. Alice Evermore, Germany, 2017) THE CLIP (Dir. Maria Forslin, Sweden, 2016) TONE DEATH (Dir. Sinnead Stoddart, UK, 2017) HIGHWAY (Dir. Vanessa Gazy, Australia, 2016) BLACK COAT (Dir. Tatiana Vyshegorodseva, Russia, 2017) DON’T OPEN YOUR EYES (Dirs. Adrián García Bogliano & Andrea Quiroz, Sweden, 2017)Dark Gatherings
WHAT METAL GIRLS ARE INTO (Dir. Laurel Veil, USA, 2017) BLOOD SISTERS (Dir. Caitlin Koller, Australia, 2017) SPOTLIGHT (Dir. Joe Savage, UK, 2017) MADDER ISLE (Dir. Laura Spark, UK, 2017) THE PENNY DROPPED (Dir. A D Cooper, UK, 2016) MAB (Dir. Katie Bonham, UK, 2017) PRAYERS (Dir. Edda Manriquez, USA, 2016) THE CONTEST (Dir. Aimee Morgan, USA, 2017) DEVIL IS ON HIS WAY (Dir. Ophelie Neve, Belgium, 2017)Metamorphosis
TALKING HEADS (Dir. Alyx Melone, Canada, 2017) THE DAY MUM BECAME A MONSTER (Dir. Joséphine Hopkins, France, 2017) APOCALYPSE BABIES (Dir. Anabelle Berkani, Canada, 2017) BEAUTIFUL INJURIES (Dir. Judith Beauvallet, France, 2017) NANA (Dir. Yunxuan Wang, China 2017) LE PEAU SAUVAGE (Dir. Ariane Louis-Seize, Canada, 2016)Family Dysfunction
UNBEARING (Dir. Aidan Weaver, USA, 2016) MADAME MACABRE TELLS A TERRIBLE TALE ABOUT RONGUES (Dir. Tracy Rosenblum, USA, 2017) METAMORPHOSIS (Dir. Elaine Xia, USA/China, 2017) HOME EDUCATION (Dir. Andrea Niada, UK, 2017) CRESWICK (Dir. Natalie Erika James, Australia, 2016)Serial Killers
STRANGE AS ANGELS (Dir. Austin Elston, USA, 2017) HOBBY SHOP (Dirs. Stephanie Liquorish & Isabel Stanfield, Australia, 2017) MARTA (Dir. Lucia Forner Segarra, Spain, 2017) DON’T EVER CHANGE (Dir. Don Swaynos, USA, 2017) SHOES (Dir. Ray Kermani, Belgium, 2017) FRY DAY (Dir. Laura Moss, USA, 2017)
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DAMSEL Starring Robert Pattinson + More Films Added to 2018 Berlin Film Festival Competition and Berlinale Special Lineup
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Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson in Damsel.[/caption]
Another ten films including Damsel starring Robert Pattinson, have been added to the Competition of the 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Three more have also been selected for the program of the Berlinale Special.
Joining the eight Competition films and two Berlinale Special titles are 13 productions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong – China, Iran, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the USA.
Further films of the Competition and Berlinale Special programme will be revealed soon.
Competition
The following films will be celebrating world or international premieres in the Competition of the Berlinale 2018. 3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon) Germany / Austria / France By Emily Atef (Molly’s Way, The Stranger In Me) With Marie Bäumer, Birgit Minichmayr, Charly Hübner, Robert Gwisdek, Denis Lavant World premiere Black 47 Ireland / Luxembourg By Lance Daly (Kisses, The Good Doctor) With Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Freddie Fox, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford, Sarah Greene, Jim Broadbent World premiere – Out of competition Damsel USA By David Zellner, Nathan Zellner (Kid-Thing, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter) With Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, Robert Forster, Joe Billingiere International premiere Eldorado – Documentary Switzerland / Germany By Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full, More Than Honey) World premiere – Out of competition Las herederas (The Heiresses) Paraguay / Germany / Uruguay / Norway / Brazil / France By Marcelo Martinessi With Ana Brun, Margarita Irún, Ana Ivanova World premiere – First Feature Khook (Pig) Iran By Mani Haghighi (Modest Reception, A Dragon Arrives!) With Hasan Majuni, Leila Hatami, Leili Rashidi, Parinaz Izadyar, Ali Bagheri World premiere La prière (The Prayer) France By Cédric Kahn (Red Lights, Wild Life) With Anthony Bajon, Damien Chapelle, Alex Brendemühl, Louise Grinberg, Hanna Schygulla World premiere Toppen av ingenting (The Real Estate) Sweden / United Kingdom By Måns Månsson (The Yard, Mr Governor), Axel Petersén (Avalon) With Léonore Ekstrand, Christer Levin, Christian Saldert, Olof Rhodin, Carl Johan Merner, Don Bennechi World premiere Touch Me Not Romania / Germany / Czech Republic / Bulgaria / France By Adina Pintilie (Don’t Get Me Wrong) With Laura Benson, Tómas Lemarquis, Christian Bayerlein, Grit Uhlemann, Hanna Hofmann, Seani Love, Irmena Chichikova World premiere – First Feature Transit Germany / France By Christian Petzold (Yella, Barbara, Phoenix) With Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Sebastian Hülk, Emilie de Preissac, Antoine Oppenheim World premiereBerlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast
Monster Hunt 2 People’s Republic of China / Hong Kong, China By Raman Hui (Monster Hunt) With Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Baihe Bai, Boran Jing European premiereBerlinale Special at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele
Gurrumul – Documentary Australia By Paul Williams International premiere – Debut film In Cooperation with NATIVe Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados – Documentary Argentina By Fernando Solanas (The Hour Of The Furnaces, Tangos, The Exile Of Gardel, Memoria del saqueo – A Social Genocide) World premiere
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“Finding Your Feet” and “Skid Row Marathon” Win Audience Awards at Palm Springs International Film Festival
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Finding Your Feet[/caption]
Finding Your Feet and Skid Row Marathon have been voted the winners of the Audience Awards at the 29th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) held from January 2 to 15, 2018.
Finding Your Feet (UK), directed by Richard Loncraine received the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. When snooty “Lady” Sandra Abbott discovers that her husband of 40 years has been having an affair, she packs her designer bags and flees to the shabby council flat of her estranged older sister. A sterling British cast give their all in this heartwarming romantic comedy.
The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Skid Row Marathon (US) directed by Mark Hayes. Judge Craig Mitchell believes in second chances. This inspiring documentary tracks the running club Mitchell founded for the homeless on L.A.’s Skid Row, hoping that through the discipline of running, these men and women who had lost everything, could reclaim a sense of dignity.
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LADY BIRD Saoirse Ronan to Receive Award at Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Saoirse Ronan will receive the prestigious Santa Barbara Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for her critically acclaimed role in Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird. Given to a person in the entertainment industry who has made a great contribution to film, the award will be presented to her at a ceremony on Sunday, February 4, 2018 at the historic Arlington Theatre.
“In Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan has once again proven that she is a force of nature and one of her generation’s most exciting young talents,” stated SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. “She embodies her characters with a poignant accuracy and ease every time she appears on screen.”
Ronan’s numerous film credits include The Grand Budapest Hotel, Hanna, The Lovely Bones, and The Way Back. She has received Academy Award nominations for her performances in Atonement and Brooklyn, and recently was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her performance in Lady Bird.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNi_HC839Wo
Past recipients of the award include Isabelle Huppert, Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, Daniel Day-Lewis, Geoffrey Rush, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Javier Bardem, Bill Condon, and Naomi Watts.
The 33rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from Wednesday, January 31st through Saturday, February 10th, 2018. The festival honored Judi Dench with its Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film. The festival will also honor Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) with its Maltin Modern Master Award, Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) with its Cinema Vanguard Award, and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Hong Chau (Downsizing), John Boyega (Detroit), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name) with the Virtuosos Award.
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Documentaries on Martin Luther King, Jr., Arthur Miller and More Set to Debut on HBO
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael appear in King In The Wilderness by Peter Kunhardt[/caption]
HBO has confirmed a diverse array of timely and thought-provoking documentaries for the first half of 2018, including: Peter Kunhardt’s KING IN THE WILDERNESS, about the last years of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Judd Apatow’s two-part, four-and-a-half-hour documentary THE ZEN DAIRIES OF GARRY SHANDLING; Rebecca Miller’s ARTHUR MILLER: WRITER, an intimate portrait of one the greatest playwrights of the 20th century; and I AM EVIDENCE, produced by Mariska Hargitay, about the untested rape kit backlog in the U.S.
Upcoming HBO documentaries include (in chronological order):
THE NUMBER ON GREAT GRANDPA’S ARM (debuts Jan. 27). When ten-year-old Elliott asks his 90-year-old great-grandfather, Jack, about the number tattooed on his arm, he sparks an intimate conversation about Jack’s life that spans happy memories of childhood in Poland, the loss of his family, surviving Auschwitz, and finding a new life in America. Drawing on haunting historical footage, photos and hand-painted watercolor animation, the short film tells a heartbreaking story of Jewish life in Eastern Europe before and during the Holocaust. Debuting on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, this gently powerful documentary centers on Elliott’s love for his beloved great-grandfather and his wish to keep Jack’s memories and lessons from that terrible time alive. Directed and produced by Amy Schatz.
MAY IT LAST: A PORTRAIT OF THE AVETT BROTHERS (Jan. 29). From longtime fans Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, and filmed with extensive access over the course of more than two years, this intimate portrait of the acclaimed North Carolina band charts their decade-and-a half rise, while chronicling the Avetts’ present-day collaboration with famed producer Rick Rubin on the multi-Grammy-nominated album “True Sadness.” With the recording process as a backdrop, it depicts a lifelong bond and unique creative partnership, as band members experience marriage, divorce, parenthood, illness, and the challenges of the music business. More than just a music documentary, the film is a meditation on family, love and the passage of time. An Apatow Production in association with RadicalMedia.
ATOMIC HOMEFRONT (Feb. 12). This timely film shines an urgent light on the lasting toxic effects nuclear waste can have on communities. Focusing on a group of moms-turned-advocates in St Louis, it follows them as they confront the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and the corporations behind the illegal dumping of dangerous radioactive waste in their neighborhoods. Directed by Rebecca Cammisa.
ARTHUR MILLER: WRITER (March 19). This intimate portrait of one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century is told from the unique perspective of his daughter, Rebecca Miller, who filmed interviews with her father over decades. Drawing on a wealth of personal archival material, the film provides new insights into Miller’s life as an artist and explores his character in all its complexity. Directed by Rebecca Miller.
THE ZEN DIARIES OF GARRY SHANDLING (March 26 and 27). Judd Apatow’s two-part, four-and-a-half-hour documentary explores the remarkable life of the legendary comedian, who was Apatow’s mentor and friend. It features interviews from nearly four dozen friends, family and colleagues; four decades’ worth of television appearances; and a lifetime of personal journals, private letters and home audio and video footage that reveal Shandling’s brilliant mind and restless soul.
KING IN THE WILDERNESS (April). Drawing on stories from the people around him, this film follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the last years of his life, from the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to his assassination in 1968. The documentary provides a clear window into King’s character, showing him to be a man with an unshakeable commitment to nonviolence in the face of an increasingly unstable country. With the U.S. currently in one of the most divided periods in 50 years, King’s words underscore why nonviolence is still vital today. Directed by Peter Kunhardt and produced by George and Teddy Kunhardt.
TRAFFIC STOP (April). This film tells the story of Breaion King, a 26-year-old African-American school teacher from Austin, Texas, who was stopped for a routine traffic violation that escalated into a dramatic arrest. Caught on police dashcams, King was pulled from her car by the arresting officer, repeatedly thrown to the ground and handcuffed. En route to jail in a squad car, she engaged in a revealing conversation with her escorting officer about race and law enforcement in America. The documentary juxtaposes dashcam footage with scenes from King’s everyday life, offering a fuller portrait of the woman caught up in this unsettling encounter. Directed by Kate Davis; produced by David Heilbroner.
I AM EVIDENCE (April). Produced by Mariska Hargitay, this documentary reveals the shocking number of untested rape kits in the United States today. Despite the power of DNA to solve and prevent crimes, hundreds of thousands of these kits, containing potentially crucial DNA evidence, languish untested in police evidence storage rooms across the country. The film tells stories of survivors who have waited years for their kits to be tested, as well as the law enforcement officials who are leading the charge to work through the backlog and pursue long-awaited justice. Directed by Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir.
THE FINAL YEAR (May). This documentary is a unique insiders’ account of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team during its last year in office. Featuring unprecedented access inside the White House and State Department, the film offers an uncompromising view of the inner workings of the Obama administration as it prepares to leave power after eight years. Directed by Greg Barker.
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Palm Springs International Film Festival Announces 2018 Award Winners, “Félicité” Wins FIPRESCI Prize
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Félicité (Senegal), directed by Alain Gomis[/caption]
This year’s juried award winners of the 29th Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) were announced today at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs on Saturday, January 13, 2018.
The FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year went to Félicité (Senegal), directed by Alain Gomis. Bursting at the seams with energy, Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis’s Berlin festival prizewinner immerses us in the sights and sounds of Kinshasa while loosely chronicling the day-to-day travails of the eponymous single-mom and nightclub-chanteuse (Congolese singer Véro Tshanda Beya, in an unforgettable performance) at the heart of the film. The film is on the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award.
FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film went to Nakhane Touré from The Wound (South Africa). South African co-writer/director John Trengove’s balanced docudrama explores a clandestine relationship between two Xhosa men, set against the backdrop of a traditional coming-of-age ceremony.
The FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film went to Daniela Vega from A Fantastic Woman (Chile). Making a living waiting tables in downtown Santiago while pursuing her dream of becoming an nightclub singer, young transgender woman Marina (Daniela Vega in a stunning debut) finds safety and solace from an often cruel world in her relationship with older divorcee Orlando (Francisco Reyes, Neruda). But when Orlando suffers a violent fall and massive injuries in the last moments of a fatal aneurysm, suspicion falls on Marina, causing her to flee the hospital and the eye of a judgmental city.
A special jury of international film critics reviewed 45 of the 92 official submissions for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category screened at this year’s Festival, and all three films that received prizes are on the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award.
The New Voices New Visions focuses on films that represent the most distinctive new directors to have emerged in the last year. Each of the twelve films in competition represents the filmmakers debut or second feature. This year’s New Voices New Visions Award went to The Charmer (Denmark), directed by Milad Alami. A searing and topical exploration of the immigrant experience shot through with elements of psychological thriller and erotic drama, Milad Alami’s striking feature debut follows an Iranian man’s increasingly desperate attempts to secure citizenship by seducing a string of Danish women.
Léa Mysius for Ava (France) received the Honorable Mention for Exceptional Direction. Thirteen-year-old Ava’s summer vacation gains a new urgency when she learns she is rapidly going blind. In the face of creeping darkness, she squeezes in all the life she can, rebelling against her mother, stealing a dog, and becoming romantically entangled with a mysterious beach rat, sending her on an unpredictable journey of self-realization.
The John Schlesinger Award, named after the director, writer, producer and festival supporter, is presented to the director of a debut feature documentary, and this year’s award went to Brimstone and Glory (US/Mexico), directed by Viktor Jakovleski. Equal parts awe-inspiring and anxiety-inducing, Brimstone and Glory’s chronicle of an annual fireworks extravaganza in Tultepec, Mexico, is a visual, jaw-dropping spectacle like no other documentary before it.
The Cine Latino Award is presented to the best Ibero-American film screening at the festival. The award aims to highlight the creativity seen in modern Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American films. The Cine Latino Award went to Killing Jesús (Colombia/Argentina), directed by Laura Mora. When university student Paula witnesses her social activist father’s assassination, the inept, uncaring police force drives her to seek justice on her own. But when she finds herself immersed in the killer’s poverty-stricken world she discovers that they might both be victims of the same broken system. Honorable Mention was given to A Fantastic Woman (Chile), directed by Sebastián Lelio.
The HP Bridging the Borders Award that honors the film that is most successful in bringing the people of our world closer together, went to The Insult (Lebanon), directed by Ziad Doueiri. What should have been a trivial altercation, quickly settled and forgotten, instead propels two men (one a local Christian, the other a Palestinian refugee) to the center of a very public scandal in Lebanon, reopening historical and political wounds on both sides.
The complete list of 29th Palm Springs International Film Festival Award Winners:
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature TBA on Sunday, January 14 Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature TBA on Sunday, January 14 FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Félicité (Senegal), directed by Alain Gomis FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film Nakhane Touré from The Wound (South Africa) FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film Daniela Vega from A Fantastic Woman (Chile) New Voices New Visions Award The Charmer (Denmark), directed by Milad Alami. Honorable Mention for Exceptional Direction: Léa Mysius for Ava (France) The John Schlesinger Award Brimstone and Glory (US/Mexico), directed by Viktor Jakovleski Cine Latino Award Killing Jesús (Colombia/Argentina), directed by Laura Mora Honorable Mention: A Fantastic Woman (Chile), directed by Sebastián Lelio HP Bridging the Borders Award Winner: The Insult (Lebanon), directed by Ziad Doueiri