I Kill Giants by Anders Walter[/caption]
The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival delivers age-appropriate films curated for young audiences with the TIFF Kids and TIFF Next Wave lineup.
“Curating film selections with our younger Festival-goers in mind allows us to bring the same transformative films from around the world to a new generation of film lovers,” said Elizabeth Muskala, Director, Youth Learning and TIFF Kids. “There is a film for everyone at the Festival; families and young cinephiles have a special place here at TIFF, and we hope this movie-going experience inspires future filmmakers and critics alike.”
The 2017 TIFF Kids features three memorable films — two of which are World Premieres — that explore themes of family, courage, acceptance, and humor. The selection features two page-to-screen adaptations: The Breadwinner, the remarkable story of a young Afghan girl finding strength in the love of her family and the power of storytelling; and I Kill Giants, based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Joe Kelly and directed by Academy Award winner Anders Walter. The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales is a comical story of life in the countryside and the hijinks that ensue as animals try to get along.
This year’s TIFF Next Wave lineup features a record 12 titles, including the first-ever selection from the Primetime programme. The Next Wave line-up comes from the TIFF Next Wave committee, a group of young film buffs responsible for selecting the films they believe their peers would most enjoy.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 17, 2017.
Terry P.
VIMOOZ is for lovers of independent films + foreign film + documentary + film festivals. We love championing the little films.
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Toronto International Film Festival Unveils TIFF Kids + TIFF Next Wave Lineups for Young Cinephiles
[caption id="attachment_24009" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] I Kill Giants by Anders Walter[/caption]
The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival delivers age-appropriate films curated for young audiences with the TIFF Kids and TIFF Next Wave lineup.
“Curating film selections with our younger Festival-goers in mind allows us to bring the same transformative films from around the world to a new generation of film lovers,” said Elizabeth Muskala, Director, Youth Learning and TIFF Kids. “There is a film for everyone at the Festival; families and young cinephiles have a special place here at TIFF, and we hope this movie-going experience inspires future filmmakers and critics alike.”
The 2017 TIFF Kids features three memorable films — two of which are World Premieres — that explore themes of family, courage, acceptance, and humor. The selection features two page-to-screen adaptations: The Breadwinner, the remarkable story of a young Afghan girl finding strength in the love of her family and the power of storytelling; and I Kill Giants, based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Joe Kelly and directed by Academy Award winner Anders Walter. The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales is a comical story of life in the countryside and the hijinks that ensue as animals try to get along.
This year’s TIFF Next Wave lineup features a record 12 titles, including the first-ever selection from the Primetime programme. The Next Wave line-up comes from the TIFF Next Wave committee, a group of young film buffs responsible for selecting the films they believe their peers would most enjoy.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 17, 2017.
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45 Films from Fresh Filmmakers on Toronto International Film Festival 2017 Discovery Program
[caption id="attachment_24001" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
A Fish Out Of Water (上岸的魚) Lai Kuo-An[/caption]
The Toronto International Film Festival debuted the 2017 Discovery program lineup with 45 first and second feature films by up-and-coming filmmakers from around the world. Good news for the future of global cinema: this is the biggest Discovery program to date, with 25% more titles than the 2016 roster and two-thirds of the selection World Premiering at TIFF.
“Uncovering new talent is one of the key roles of the Festival,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “The Discovery programme allows us to carve out a space for emerging filmmakers to be seen by the international film industry and has helped launch the careers of award-winning filmmakers like Maren Ade, Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen, Christopher Nolan, and Dee Rees.”
The films, produced or co-produced in 35 different countries, include fresh, experimental and compelling voices. Life in small, rural communities is portrayed in Miracle, Ravens and The Swan, while families dealing with crises and conflict are addressed in Apostasy, Shuttle Life and Suleiman Mountain. LGBTQ+ themes run through several of the Discovery titles, including Montana, Soldiers. Story from Ferentari and The Poet and the Boy, while teen sexuality is explored in Disappearance, Kissing Candice and Princesita.
“If you don’t support the future of filmmaking, you fall behind. So we’re always looking for new talent,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of TIFF. “The fact that the Discovery programme continues to grow is deeply encouraging, and speaks to the fact that there are a lot of people that want to make films when it is often increasingly more difficult to do so.”
The Toronto International Film Festival also announced an additional title to the Docs program: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, a documentary about Lorraine Hansberry, a black writer, communist, feminist, lesbian and outspoken trailblazer at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 17, 2017.
Toronto International Film Festival 2017 Discovery program
1% Stephen McCallum, Australia World Premiere ¾ (Three Quarters) Ilian Metev, Germany/Bulgaria North American Premiere A Fish Out Of Water (上岸的魚) Lai Kuo-An, Taiwan World Premiere A Worthy Companion Carlos Sanchez, Jason Sanchez, Canada World Premiere All You Can Eat Buddha Ian Lagarde, Canada World Premiere Apostasy Daniel Kokotajlo, United Kingdom World Premiere AVA Sadaf Foroughi, Iran/Canada/Qatar World Premiere Black Cop Cory Bowles, Canada World Premiere The Butterfly Tree Priscilla Cameron, Australia International Premiere Cardinals Grayson Moore, Aidan Shipley, Canada World Premiere Disappearance (Napadid Shodan) Ali Asgari, Iran/Qatar North American Premiere Five Fingers For Marseilles (Menoana e Mehlano ea Marseilles) Michael Matthews, South Africa World Premiere The Future Ahead (El futuro que viene) Constanza Novick, Argentina World Premiere The Garden (Sommerhäuser) Sonja Maria Kröner, Germany International Premiere The Great Buddha+ (大佛普拉斯) Huang Hsin-Yao, Taiwan International Premiere The Lady From Holland Marleen Jonkman, Netherlands/Germany World Premiere Gutland Govinda Van Maele, Luxembourg/Germany/Belgium World Premiere High Fantasy Jenna Bass, South Africa World Premiere Human Traces Nic Gorman, New Zealand North American Premiere Discovery Closing Film. I am not a Witch Rungano Nyoni, United Kingdom/France North American Premiere I Kill Giants Anders Walter, United Kingdom World Premiere Indian Horse Stephen Campanelli, Canada World Premiere Killing Jesus (Matar a Jesús) Laura Mora, Colombia/Argentina World Premiere Kissing Candice Aoife McArdle, Ireland World Premiere Luk’Luk’I Wayne Wapeemukwa, Canada World Premiere Mary Goes Round Molly McGlynn, Canada World Premiere Miracle (Stebuklas) Egle Vertelyte, Lithuania/Bulgaria/Poland World Premiere Montana Limor Shmila, Israel World Premiere Never Steady, Never Still Kathleen Hepburn, Canada World Premiere Oblivion Verses (Los Versos del Olvido) Alireza Khatami, France/Germany/Netherlands/Chile North American Premiere Oh Lucy! Atsuko Hirayanagi, USA/Japan North American Premiere The Poet and the Boy (Si-e-nui Sa-rang) Kim Yang-hee, South Korea International Premiere Princesita Marialy Rivas, Chile/Argentina/Spain World Premiere Ravens Jens Assur, Sweden World Premiere Scaffolding (Pigumim) Matan Yair, Israel/Poland North American Premiere Shuttle Life (分貝人生) Tan Seng Kiat, Malaysia North American Premiere Simulation Abed Abest, Iran North American Premiere Soldiers. Story from Ferentari (Soldaţii. Poveste din Ferentari) Ivana Mladenovic, Romania/Serbia/Belgium World Premiere Suleiman Mountain Elizaveta Stishova, Kyrgyzstan/Russia World Premiere The Swan (Svanurinn) Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir, Iceland World Premiere Discovery Opening Film. Tigre Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra Guardiola, Argentina World Premiere Valley of Shadows (Skyggenes Dal) Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen, Norway World Premiere Village Rockstars Rima Das, India World Premiere Waru Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi, Casey Kaa, Awanui Simich-Pene, Chelsea Cohen, Katie Wolfe, Paula Jones, New Zealand International Premiere Winter Brothers (Vinterbrødre) Hlynur Pálmason, Denmark/Iceland North American PremiereTIFF DOCS
Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart Tracy Heather Strain, USA World Premiere
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2017 Camden International Film Festival Announces Lineup, Opens with World Premiere of SHOT IN THE DARK
[caption id="attachment_23992" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Shot in the Dark by Dustin Nakao Haider[/caption]
The 2017 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) will take place September 14 to 17, 2017 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine, and present 37 features, 35 short films, and a dozen virtual reality experiences from 30 countries. Keeping with CIFF’s mission to discover and support new talent in nonfiction filmmaking, over half of the lineup’s 37 features are made by first- or second-time filmmakers.
CIFF will open with the world premiere of Dustin Nakao Haider’s Shot in the Dark. Additional highlights include titles making their US debut following premieres at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (Love Means Zero, Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars, Cocaine Prison), the North American premieres of films coming from Locarno (Sand und Blut, Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?) and Venice (This Is Congo), award-winning films from Visions du Reel (Taste of Cement, All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open) and Berlin (El Mar La Mar, House In The Fields, Devil’s Freedom) alongside some of the year’s top documentaries (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Whose Streets?, The Work).
The 13th Camden International Film Festival is a program of the Points North Institute. This year, eight projects that have participated in the Points North Institute’s Artist Programs will be screening at CIFF. These titles include All That Passes By Through A Window That Doesn’t Open, No Man’s Land, The Cage Fighter, The Family I Had, The Reagan Show, The Sensitives, Whose Streets? and Commodity City. These films have garnered awards and debuted at prestigious festivals including Sundance, Locarno, Tribeca, Rotterdam, and Visions du Reel.
“Screening at CIFF this year feels like a homecoming,” says Sabaah Folayan, Director of Whose Streets?, distributed by Magnolia Pictures. “This community believed in our project when it was still just an idea and it means everything to be able to come back and share the finished film.”
This year also features an expanded 2nd edition of Storyforms: Remixing Reality, CIFF’s exhibition of VR, immersive media, and installations. For the first time, Storyforms will present “room-scale” and “walk-around” VR experiences. Highlights include Tree by Milica Zec and Winslow Porter, which comes to CIFF after showing at Sundance, Tribeca and Cannes. Storyforms will also include a sneak preview of the latest groundbreaking walk-around VR experience produced in a new collaboration between FRONTLINE PBS and Nonny de la Peña’s Emblematic Group, which brings climate change to life as never before, allowing viewers to travel alongside NASA scientists to a place where the glaciers are melting faster and faster.
2017 Camden International Film Festival Features
SHOT IN THE DARK – Opening Night Film Dustin Nakao Haider | United States | 96 mins Orr Academy’s basketball court is a haven. Outside, it’s a neighborhood racked with gangs and violence. Though each player has his own struggle, they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out. World Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance 69 Minutes of 86 Days Egil Håskjold Larsen | Norway | 71 mins A 3-year-old girl and her family’s long journey from a Greek refugee centre to Uppsala, in a film that gives the tragedy both a form and a face. US Premiere A River Below Mark Grieco | USA, Colombia | 86 mins A River Below captures the Amazon in all its complexity as it examines the actions of environmental activists using the media in an age where truth is a relative term. Filmmaker in Attendance Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Steve James | USA | 88 mins From acclaimed director Steve James, ABACUS tells the incredible family saga of the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Filmmaker in Attendance All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn’t Open Martin DiCicco | USA, Qatar | 70 mins A journey by rail where workers reflect upon opportunity and regret, floating through a Eurasian expanse striving to fill their days and dreams, as much as their pockets. North American Premiere / PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance Behold the Earth David Conover | USA | 63 mins A feature-length musical documentary film that inquires into America’s divorce from nature, built out of conversations with leading biologists and evangelical Christians. Filmmaker in Attendance Bobbi Jene Elvira Lind | Denmark. Sweden, Israel, USA | 96 mins A love story, and a film about a woman’s fight for independence, a woman trying to succeed with her own art in the extremely competitive world of dance. Filmmaker in Attendance Cocaine Prison Violeta Ayala | Australia, Bolivia, France & USA | 76 mins From inside one of Bolivia’s most infamous prisons, comes the story of the foot soldiers of the drug trade. US Premiere | Filmmakers in Attendance Common Carrier James N. Kienitz Wilkins | USA | 78 mins A mix of artists struggle to perform their roles, at once connected and alienated by the plague of modern life. Filmmaker in Attendance Devil’s Freedom Everardo González | Mexico | 74 mins A deeply compelling investigation into the phenomenon of Mexico’s “disappeared” from the perspectives of those bereaved by, and those responsible for, some truly barbaric acts. Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun? Travis Wilkerson | USA | 90 mins This isn’t a White Savior story. It’s a White Nightmare story. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Do Donkeys Act? Ashley Sabin, David Redmon | UK | 72 mins A film that subtly subverts the notion of the “dumb beast” as it captures donkeys communicating emotionally with each other in the midst of healing from human cruelty and neglect. Filmmakers in Attendance El Mar La Mar Joshua Bonnetta, J.P. Sniadecki | USA | 94 mins A portrait of the Sonoran Desert along the United States border with Mexico. Filmmakers in Attendance Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars Lili Fini Zanuck | USA | 95 mins A look at the life and work of guitarist Eric Clapton told by those who have known him best, including BB King, Jimi Hendrix, and George Harrison. US Premiere House in the Fields Tala Hadid | Morocco, Qatar | 86 mins House in the Fields is the first part of a triptych set in Morocco, that starts in the Atlas Mountains, journeys through Casablanca and finishes beyond the borders. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance In the Waves Jacquelyn Mills | Canada (Québec) | 60 mins An expressive documentary that depicts the life of 80 years old Joan Alma Mills in her aging coastal village as she finds herself confronted by the fragility of life. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Let There Be Light Mila Aung-Thwin, Van Royko | Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, USA | 90 mins Let There Be Light follows the story of dedicated scientists working to build a small sun on Earth, which would unleash perpetual, cheap, clean energy for mankind. After decades of failed attempts, a massive push is now underway to crack the holy grail of energy. Filmmaker in Attendance Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry Laura Dunn, Jef Sewell | USA | 80 mins A cinematic portrait of farmer and writer Wendell Berry. Through his eyes, we see both the changing landscapes of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture and the redemptive beauty in taking the unworn path. Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Gustavo Salmerón | Spain | 90 mins A bustling, loose-limbed portrait of actor-director Gustavo Salmerón’s large family, especially his unforgettable mom. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Love Means Zero Jason Kohn | USA | 89 mins Nick Bollettieri coached a generation of tennis champions, but his relentless desire to win cost him the relationship he valued most. US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Maineland Miao Wang | China, USA | 89 mins Chinese students now account for over one-third to one-half of international secondary school students, including in a small liberal arts college in Maine. Filmmaker in Attendance No Man’s Land David Byars | USA | 83 mins Embedded with the militants of the 2016 occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, NO MAN’S LAND provides a vivid depiction of events that have become emblematic of the current political divide. PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance Purge This Land Lee Anne Schmitt | USA | 80 mins Contemplating the culpability of White America in the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black America, this film combines images of sites of white racial violence with anecdotal history of John Brown’s radical ethics. Sneak Preview | Filmmaker in Attendance Quest Jonathan Olshefski | USA | 104 mins The moving portrait of a family in North Philadelphia who open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood.Filmmaker in Attendance Resurrecting Hassan Carlo Guillermo Proto | Canada, Chile | 100 mins A blind family is haunted by the tragic death of their son Hassan and seek to resurrect his spirit and transcend their suffering, while singing in the subways of Montreal. Filmmaker in Attendance Sand und Blut (Sand and Blood) Matthias Krepp, Angelika Spangel | Austria | 90 mins Private video footage narrated by refugees now living in Europe offers a new and intimate perspective on Syria and Iraq’s recent history: a montage of haunting images of devastation, fear, and hatred. North American Premiere | Filmmakers in Attendance Secret Screening Academy-Award Winning Director | USA A gripping investigation by one of the country’s most celebrated directors. Sneak Preview | Filmmaker in Attendance Shot in the Dark Dustin Nakao Haider | USA | 96 mins Orr Academy’s basketball court is a haven. Outside, it’s a neighborhood racked with gangs and violence. Though each player has his own struggle, they’ll need to fight together if they ever want to break out. Opening Night Film | World Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Stranger in Paradise Guido Hendrikx | Netherlands | 72 mins A blunt film essay on the power relations between Europe and refugees. Filmmaker in Attendance Taste of Cement Ziad Kalthoum | Germany, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar | 85 mins In Beirut, Syrian construction workers are building a skyscraper while at the same time their own houses at home are being shelled. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance The Cage Fighter Jeff Unay | USA | 83 mins Although a man promises his wife and daughters that he will not return to competitive mixed martial arts fighting, he secretly begins training for the dangerous sport that gives him a sense of purpose. PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance The Departure Lana Wilson | USA | 87 mins Ittetsu Nemoto, a former punk-turned-Buddhist-priest in Japan, has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. Filmmaker in Attendance The Family I Had Katie Green, Carlye Rubin | USA | 77 mins How does the mother to a murdered child and the murderer himself move forward, and what kind of relationship can she forge with her now incarcerated son? PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance The Reagan Show Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill | USA | 75 mins Made up entirely of archival news and White House footage, this documentary captures the pageantry, absurdity, and mastery of the made-for-TV politics of Ronald Reagan. PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance The Sensitives Drew Xanthopoulos | USA | 83 mins What if modern life made you sick? PNI Alumni | Filmmaker in Attendance The Work Jairus McLeary, Gethin Aldous | USA | 87 mins Set entirely inside Folsom State Prison, “The Work” follows 3 men during 4 days of intensive group therapy with convicts, revealing an intimate and powerful portrait of authentic human transformation that transcends what we think of as rehabilitation. Filmmakers in Attendance This is Congo Daniel McCabe | USA | 93 mins Following four compelling characters, the film offers a truly Congolese perspective and an immersive exploration into Africa’s longest continuing conflict. North American Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance Whose Streets? Sabaah Folayan, Damon Davis | USA | 90 mins “Portrait of Ferguson May Be the Doc of the Year: Powerful you-are-there portrait of how a community raged in the aftermath of tragedy – and reacted with activism – could not be more vital” – Rolling Stone PNI Alumni | Filmmakers in Attendance
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51 Feature Films Selected for 2017 European Film Awards
[caption id="attachment_23985" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
IN TIMES OF FADING LIGHT (IN ZEITEN DES ABNEHMENDEN LICHTS)[/caption]
The European Film Academy announced the titles of the 51 films on this year’s 2017 EFA Feature Film Selection, the list of feature fiction films recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards 2017! With 31 European countries represented, the list once again illustrates the great diversity in European cinema.
In the coming weeks, the over 3,000 members of the European Film Academy will vote for the nominations in the categories European Film, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenwriter. The nominations will then be announced on November 4 at the Seville European Film Festival in Spain. A seven-member jury will decide on the awards recipients in the categories European Cinematographer, Editor, Production Designer, Costume Designer, Hair & Make-up Artist, Composer and Sound Designer.
The 30th European Film Awards ceremony will take place on December 9 in Berlin.
2017 EFA Feature Film Selection
A CIAMBRA Italy, USA, France, Sweden 120 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Jonas Carpignano PRODUCED BY Jon Coplon A DATE FOR MAD MARY Ireland 82 min DIRECTED BY Darren Thornton WRITTEN BY Darren Thornton & Colin Thornton PRODUCED BY Ed Guiney & Juliette Bonass A GENTLE CREATURE КРОТКАЯ (KROTKAYA) France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands 143 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Sergei Loznitsa PRODUCED BY Marianne Slot A JEW MUST DIE UN JUIF POUR L’EXEMPLE Switzerland 73 min DIRECTED BY Jacob Berger WRITTEN BY Jacob Berger, Aude Py & Michel Fessler PRODUCED BY Ruth Waldburger A MONSTER CALLS Spain 107 min DIRECTED BY J.A. Bayona WRITTEN BY Patrick Ness PRODUCED BY Belén Atienza, Ghislain Barrois & Álvaro Augustín AFTERIMAGE POWIDOKI Poland 100 min DIRECTED BY Andrzej Wajda WRITTEN BY Andrzej Mularczyk PRODUCED BY Michał Kwieciński ANA, MON AMOUR Romania, Germany, France 125 min DIRECTED BY Călin Peter Netzer WRITTEN BY Călin Peter Netzer, Cezar Paul Bădescu & Iulia Lumânare PRODUCED BY Călin Peter Netzer & Oana Iancu BIG BIG WORLD KOCA DÜNYA Turkey 101 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Reha Erdem PRODUCED BY Ömer Atay BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) 120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE France 145 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Robin Campillo PRODUCED BY Marie-Ange Luciani & Hugues Charbonneau BRIGHT SUNSHINE IN UN BEAU SOLEIL INTÉRIEUR France 94 min DIRECTED BY Claire Denis WRITTEN BY Claire Denis & Christine Angot PRODUCED BY Olivier Delbosc BRIMSTONE Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Sweden, UK, Hungary 148 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Martin Koolhoven PRODUCED BY Els Vandevorst & Uwe Schott FORTUNATA Italy 103 min DIRECTED BY Sergio Castellitto WRITTEN BY Margaret Mazzantini PRODUCED BY Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori & Viola Prestieri FRANTZ France, Germany 117 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY François Ozon PRODUCED BY Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer, Stefan Arndt & Uwe Schott FROST Lithuania, France, Poland, Ukraine 120 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Sharunas Bartas PRODUCED BY Janja Kralj GODLESS БЕЗБОГ (BEZBOG) Bulgaria, Denmark, France 99 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Ralitza Petrova PRODUCED BY Rossitsa Valkanova, Eva Jakobsen & Laurence Clerc HAPPY END France, Germany, Austria 107 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Michael Haneke PRODUCED BY Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka & Michael Katz HEARTSTONE HJARTASTEINN Iceland, Denmark 129 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson PRODUCED BY Anton Máni Svansson, Lise Orheim Stender, Jesper Morthorst & Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson HOME Belgium 103 min DIRECTED BY Fien Troch WRITTEN BY Fien Troch & Nico Leunen PRODUCED BY Antonino Lombardo ICE MOTHER BÁBA Z LEDU Czech Republic, Slovakia, France 106 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Bohdan Sláma PRODUCED BY Pavel Strnad & Petr Oukropec IN TIMES OF FADING LIGHT IN ZEITEN DES ABNEHMENDEN LICHTS Germany 101 min DIRECTED BY Matti Geschonneck WRITTEN BY Wolfgang Kohlhaase PRODUCED BY Oliver Berben & Sarah Kirkegaard INDIVISIBLE INDIVISIBILI Italy 104 min DIRECTED BY Edoardo De Angelis WRITTEN BY Nicola Guaglianone, Barbara Petronio, Edoardo De Angelis PRODUCED BY Attilio De Razza & Pierpaolo Verga INSYRIATED Belgium, France 86 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Philippe Van Leeuw PRODUCED BY Guillaume Malandrin ISTANBUL RED ISTANBUL KIRMIZISI Turkey, Italy 110 min DIRECTED BY Ferzan Ozpetek WRITTEN BY Ferzan Ozpetek, Gianni Romoli & Valia Santella PRODUCED BY Tilde Corsi, Gianni Romoli & Necati Akpinar JUPITER’S MOON JUPITER HOLDJA Hungary, Germany 123 min DIRECTED BY Kornél Mundruczó WRITTEN BY Kata Wéber PRODUCED BY Viktória Petrányi, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen & Michel Merkt LADY MACBETH UK 89 min DIRECTED BY William Oldroyd WRITTEN BY Alice Birch PRODUCED BY Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly LAYLA M. Netherlands, Jordan, Belgium, Germany 98 min. DIRECTED BY Mijke de Jong WRITTEN BY Jan Eilander & Mijke de Jong PRODUCED BY Frans van Gestel, Arnold Heslenfeld & Laurette Schillings LOVELESS НЕЛЮБОВЬ (NELYUBOV) Russia, Belgium, Germany, France 127 min DIRECTED BY Andrey Zvyagintsev WRITTEN BY Oleg Negin & Andrey Zvyagintsev PRODUCED BY Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov & Gleb Fetisov MY GRANDMOTHER FANNY KAPLAN МОЯ БАБУСЯ ФАНІ КАПЛАН (MOYA BABUSYA FANI KAPLAN) Ukraine 110 min DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY Olena Demyanenko WRITTEN BY Dmytro Tomashpolskiy & Olena Demyanenko ON BODY AND SOUL TESTRŐL ÉS LÉLEKRŐL Hungary 116 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Ildikó Enyedi PRODUCED BY Mónika Mécs, András Muhi & Ernö Mesterházy PARADISE РАЙ (RAI) Russia, Germany 131 min DIRECTED BY Andrei Konchalovsky WRITTEN BY Andrei Konchalovsky & Elena Kiseleva PRODUCED BY Andrei Konchalovsky & Florian Deyle REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. REKVIJEM ZA GOSPOĐU J. Serbia, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Russia, France 94 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Bojan Vuletić PRODUCED BY Nenad Dukić RETURN TO MONTAUK Germany, France, Ireland 105 min DIRECTED BY Volker Schlöndorff WRITTEN BY Volker Schlöndorff & Colm Tóibìn PRODUCED BY Regina Ziegler, Volker Schlöndorff, Francis Boespflug, Sidonie Dumas, Hartmut Köhler, Stéphane Parthenay, Conor Barry, Til Schweiger, Tom Zickler, Marc Gabizon, Christoph Liedke, John Keville, Mike Downey, Sam Taylor & Rainer Kölmel SAMI BLOOD SAMEBLOD Sweden, Denmark, Norway 110 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Amanda Kernell PRODUCED BY Lars G Lindström SON OF SOFIA O GIOS TIS SOFIAS Greece, Bulgaria, France 111 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Elina Psykou PRODUCED BY Giorgos Karnavas & Konstantinos Kontovrakis SPOOR POKOT Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia 128 min DIRECTED BY Agnieszka Holland & Katarzyna Adamik WRITTEN BY Olga Tokarczuk & Agnieszka Holland PRODUCED BY Krzysztof Zanussi, Janusz Wąchała, Johannes Rexin, Pavla Janoušková Kubečková, Tomáš Hrubý, Fredrik Zander & Jakub Viktorín STEFAN ZWEIG – FAREWELL TO EUROPE VOR DER MORGENRÖTE Germany, Austria, France 106 min DIRECTED BY Maria Schrader WRITTEN BY Maria Schrader & Jan Schomburg PRODUCED BY Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Denis Poncet, Danny Krausz & Kurt Stocker SUMMER 1993 ESTIU 1993 Spain 96 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Carla Simón PRODUCED BY Valérie Delpierre THE CONSTITUTION USTAV REPUBLIKE HRVATSKE Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, FYR Macedonia 93 min DIRECTED BY Rajko Grlić WRITTEN BY Ante Tomić & Rajko Grlić PRODUCED BY Ivan Maloča, Mike Downey, Rudolf Biermann, Maja Vukić, Dejan Miloševski, Jani Sever & Sam Taylor THE FURY OF A PATIENT MAN TARDE PARA LA IRA Spain 88 min DIRECTED BY Raúl Arévalo WRITTEN BY Raúl Arévalo & David Pulido PRODUCED BY Beatriz Bodegas THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER Ireland, UK 121 min. DIRECTED BY Yorgos Lanthimos WRITTEN BY Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou PRODUCED BY Ed Guiney & Yorgos Lanthimos THE KING’S CHOICE KONGENS NEI Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland 130 min DIRECTED BY Erik Poppe WRITTEN BY Jan Trygve Røyneland & Harald Rosenløw Eeg PRODUCED BY Finn Gjerdrum & Stein B. Kvae THE LAST FAMILY OSTATNIA RODZINA Poland 123 min DIRECTED BY Jan P. Matuszyński WRITTEN BY Robert Bolesto PRODUCED BY Leszek Bodzak & Aneta Hickinbotham THE NOTHING FACTORY A FÁBRICA DE NADA Portugal 177 min DIRECTED BY Pedro Pinho WRITTEN BY Pedro Pinho, João Matos, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo & Tiago Hespanha PRODUCED BY João Matos THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE TOIVON TUOLLA PUOLEN Finland, Germany 100 min WRITTEN, DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY Aki Kaurismäki THE PARTY UK 71 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Sally Potter PRODUCED BY Christopher Sheppard THE SQUARE Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark 145 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Ruben Östlund PRODUCED BY Erik Hemmendorff & Philippe Bober THE TEACHER UČITEĽKA Slovakia, Czech Republic 103 min DIRECTED BY Jan Hřebejk WRITTEN BY Petr Jarchovský PRODUCED BY Zuzana Mistríková, Ľubica Orechovská, Ondřej Zima & Jan Prušinovský TOM OF FINLAND Finland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark 116 min DIRECTED BY Dome Karukoski WRITTEN BY Aleksi Bardy PRODUCED BY Aleksi Bardy, Annika Sucksdorff & Miia Haavisto WESTERN Germany, Bulgaria, Austria 119 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Valeska Grisebach PRODUCED BY Jonas Dornbach, Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade, Valeska Grisebach & Michel Merkt WILD MOUSE WILDE MAUS Austria 103 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Josef Hader PRODUCED BY Michael Katz & Veit Heiduschka YOU DISAPPEAR DU FORSVINDER Denmark, Sweden 117 min WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY Peter Schønau Fog PRODUCED BY Louise Vesth
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Films from Rory Kennedy and Jennifer Peedom Among San Sebastian International Film Festival Savage Cinema Lineup
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TAKE EVERY WAVE: THE LIFE OF LAIRD HAMILTON[/caption]
The latest films from filmmakers Rory Kennedy and Jennifer Peedom are among six films rounding up the fifth edition of Savage Cinema at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Savage Cinema is a non-competitive section in collaboration with Red Bull Media House, which specializes in sports and adventure films.
Peedom, BAFTA Best Documentary nominee for Sherpa in 2016, presents Mountain, a poetical film honoring the beauty of summits underlied with narration of Willem Dafoe and a special soundtrack, that will see its premiere in San Sebastian in collaboration with the Bilbao Mendi Film Festival. An ambitious project which, with Tout là-haut / To the Top, first fictional movie to appear in Savage Cinema, starring Bérénice Bejo and directed by Serge Hazanavicius, opens the section to new genres.
The search for paradise, a recurring theme in the Savage Cinema program, returns with Secrets of Desert Point, one of the few adventures of the 20th Century still to be told. Ira Opper, pioneer producer and distributor of action sports content, recovers images recorded by Bill Heick, lending shape to that savage surf discovery which has remained secret for 40 years.
Under an Arctic Sky, by photographer Chris Burkard, represents new forms of exploration, where imagination and technology are key to finding new nirvanas, this time in the freezing coastline of Iceland.
The final two films are biographical movies about exceptional lives. Take Every Wave (Sundance 2017) is a biopic signed by Rory Kennedy, director of Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (winner of an Emmy in 2007) and Last Days in Vietnam (nominated for a Best Documentary Feature Academy Award in 2015), documenting one of the few surfers to enter popular American imaginary Laird Hamilton. While the sport is developing, there are new icons evolving, one of them being Kai Lenny, multiple World Champion, whose progression and connectivity with the ocean is portrayed in Paradigm Lost.
2017 San Sebastian International Film Festival Savage Cinema
MOUNTAIN JENNIFER PEEDOM (AUSTRALIA) A unique cinematic and musical collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra and BAFTA-nominated director Jennifer Peedom, Mountain is a dazzling exploration of our obsession with mountains. Only three centuries ago, climbing a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. The idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Peaks were places of peril, not beauty. Why, then, are we now drawn to mountains in our millions? Mountain shows us the spellbinding force of high places – and their ongoing power to shape our lives and our dreams. PARADIGM LOST JOHN DECESARE (USA) For Kai Lenny, the ocean is a playground as long as you are having fun. Kai is continually challenging the notion of what a SURFER is, from riding huge waves to open ocean swells, on any means conceivable. Whether testing himself competitively or sharing the stoke of riding with friends, there are only waves and endless possibilities that come with a mind wide open. SECRETS OF DESERT POINT IRA OPPER (USA) In the early eighties, while sailing in crude leaky boats off remote Lombok island in Indo, young California surfer Bill Heick and his friends stumbled across the perfect wave. As treacherous as it was beautiful, this motley crew of modern-day surf argonauts named it ‘Desert Point’. These pioneers kept their treasure off the map for more than a decade and made it their life’s mission to surf uncrowded Desert Point at the highest level possible…no matter the cost. Join us for a journey on one of the last great dirtbag adventures of the 20th Century. One passed through three generations. And learning that if want to keep paradise, you need to stand up for it. TAKE EVERY WAVE: THE LIFE OF LAIRD HAMILTON RORY KENNEDY (USA) An in-depth uncompromising portrait of a living surf legend, Take Every Wave examines the life of an extraordinary individual fuelled by fear, ambition and challenge. This rip-roaring account of his life gives us a rare and intimate glimpse into what drives an elite athlete to follow the rules or break them; revealing how he changed the face of the sport, the legacy he built, and the price an athlete pays for greatness. TOUT LÀ-HAUT / TO THE TOP SERGE HAZANAVICIUS (FRANCE) Scott, a young gifted snowboarder, has one dream: to be number one. He wants to do what no one has ever done: climb mount Everest, and ride the ultimate descent down the Hornbein Couloir. Once in Chamonix, the riders Mecca, he crosses paths with Pierrick, a free-ride veteran turned mountain guide. Scott knows that this is the encounter that could take him to the top. UNDER AN ARCTIC SKY CHRIS BURKARD (ICELAND) The film follows six surfers along with adventure photographer Chris Burkard and filmmaker Ben Weiland as they seek out unknown swell in the remote fjords of Iceland’s Hornstrandir Nature Reserve. Chartering a boat, they depart from Isafjordur on the cusp of the largest storm to make landfall in twenty-five years. With the knowledge that storms bring legendary swell the crew are optimistic, but face failure when the storm forces them back to shore. Making the decision to carry the expedition on by road they experience the brutality of Iceland’s winter and begin to question if searching out the unknown is worth risking their lives for. Despite setbacks the team pushes on and finds that uncertainty is the best ingredient for discovering the unimaginable.
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Architecture & Design Film Festival Returns to NYC in Fall, Opens with Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place
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Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place (Architect, Glenn Murcutt, at the Islamic Mosque he has designed in Newport, Melbourne, 2016)[/caption]
The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) embarks on its ninth edition in NYC from November 1 to 5, 2017, at the Cinépolis Chelsea. With an impressive stable of 30+ feature-length and short films curated by Festival Director Kyle Bergman, ADFF:NY will kick off with Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place, a documentary that explores the life and work of Australia’s most internationally recognized architect as he undertook a rare public commission – a new mosque for an Islamic community in Melbourne.
The line-up also includes the festival’s first ever narrative film, Columbus, where a small midwestern town with more than 60 modernist gems serves as a main character amidst actors John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson. In addition to films with a breadth of topics including modernism, healthcare design and Italian Radical Design, ADFF will host interactive programming including panel discussions and filmmaker Q&As.
According to ADFF Founder and Director Kyle Bergman, “ADFF has grown to be the go-to film festival that celebrates architecture and design. The films we select excite, entertain and pique the curiosity of both a&d professionals and anyone who is interested in design.”
Film highlights of this year’s ADFF:NY include:
Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place (Opening Night Film & US Premiere)
Glenn Murcutt: Spirit of Place is a documentary that explores the life and work of Australia’s most internationally recognized architect. Murcutt, 2002 Pritzker Prize Winner, allowed filmmaker Catherine Hunter to follow him for nearly a decade as he undertook a rare public commission – a new mosque for an Islamic community in Melbourne. The strikingly contemporary building without minarets or domes, is designed to be physically and psychologically inclusive. The film documents the growing acceptance of the design while interweaving the stories behind his most famous houses, interviews with those involved, as well as an intimate portrait of Murcutt’s life and a personal tragedy that almost brought his career to a premature end.
https://vimeo.com/192909456
Columbus
In Kogonada’s debut feature film, a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour and his son Jin (John Cho) finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana – a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings by world-renowned architects like Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Richard Meier. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library. As their intimacy develops, Jin and Casey explore both the town and their own conflicted emotions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RShisCcdOUI
Building Hope: The Maggie’s Centres (US Premiere)
Building Hope: The Maggie’s Centres is a beautifully shot film by award-winning director Sarah Howitt. The documentary tells the story of Maggie’s, their approach to cancer care, and the role that great design plays in the cancer support they offer. In 1993, Maggie Keswick Jencks was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was told she had three months to live with no place to cry but a toilet cubicle. At that moment she realized there had to be a better way, and spent the last year of her life working on an idea for a cancer care center which was realized just over a year after she died. Since then, the most prominent names in architecture have designed astonishing landmark buildings. The film features interviews with world-renowned architects Frank Gehry, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUpUb_uGft8
The Neue Nationalgalerie (NY Premiere)
The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is an epoch-defining structure by architect Mies van der Rohe opened in 1968, shortly after his death. Nearly 50 years later, director Ina Weisse sets out to examine the period during which this unique edifice was constructed. In numerous interviews including those with her father and architect Rolf Weisse (who used to work in the offices of van der Rohe in Chicago), Mies van der Rohe’s grandchild Dirk Lohan, architect David Chipperfield (who has been commissioned to renovate the building), and others, Ina Weisse explores the question of how the Neue Nationalgalerie came into existence, and what sort of worldview is brought to expression by van der Rohe’s building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MghWFszARHU
SuperDesign (World Premiere)
SuperDesign is a new documentary by Francesca Molteni (Director of Amare Gio Ponti & Where Architects Live) about Italian Radical Design, which took place in the 1960’s and 1970’s as a response to the tumultuous political climate in Italy. The movement sparked when progressive groups congregated together to express their political ideologies. Through the words and stories of people who were part of the movement, the film retraces the history and heritage of that time period, presenting interviews with pioneering designers including Gaetano Pesce, Ugo La Pietra and Alessandro Mendini, and rare sever-before-seen archival footage.
Additionally, a few weeks leading up to the anchor festival, the ADFF Short Films Walk will take place on October 11 during Archtober. A favorite every year, the fourth annual Short Films Walk brings crowds of ADFF fans to SoHo’s Design District, where attendees move from showroom to showroom, sipping drinks and viewing curated short films by ADFF.
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WHITE SUN is Nepal’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | TRAILER
The award-winning film White Sun (Seto Surya), directed by Deepak Rauniyar has been selected by Nepal as the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards. In the film a former Maoist rebel struggles to reintegrate with his unwelcoming community and move beyond a painful past.
When his father dies, anti-regime partisan Chandra must travel to his remote mountain village after nearly a decade away. Little Pooja is anxiously awaiting the man she thinks is her father, but she’s confused when Chandra arrives with Badri, a young street orphan rumored to be his son. Chandra must face his brother Suraj, who was on the opposing side during the Nepali civil war. The two brothers cannot put aside political feelings while carrying their father’s body down the steep mountain path to the river for cremation. Suraj storms off in a rage, leaving Chandra with no other men strong enough to help. Under pressure from the village elders, Chandra must seek help from outside the village to obey the rigid caste and discriminatory gender traditions he fought to eliminate during the war. Chandra searches for a solution in neighboring villages, among the police, guests at a local wedding, and rebel guerrillas…
White Sun, executive produced by Danny Glover, had it’s world premiere at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, where it won the INTERFILM Award, and went on to win numerous awards at other film festivals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMiGofqtfFg
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Acclaimed Music Biopics DALIDA and DJANGO to be Released in US | Trailer
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Dalida[/caption]
The award-winning music biopics Dalida and Django, have been acquired by Under The Milky Way for theatrical releases commencing in Fall 2017 and Early 2018 respectively.
Accomplished filmmaker Lisa Azuelos’ much-anticipated Dalida biopic goes backstage with the enchanting Egyptian-born Italian singer who became France’s reigning pop star from the 1950s to the 1980s.
On the acquisition of Dalida, company co-founder Alexis Derendinger commented: “Quite simply, we were blown away by Sveva Alviti’s performance in Dalida. In her time, Dalida sold more records than Madonna and inspired generations of music lovers around the world. We are thrilled to bring Lisa Azuelos’s masterful interpretation of her story to US audiences.”
Recording in more than five languages, Dalida sold a record-breaking 170 million albums during her lifetime, with chart-topping hits spanning Edith Piaf-esque classics to emotional disco numbers. Following Dalida’s extraordinary rise from beauty pageant contestant to cabaret artist to international superstar, this visually stunning new film tells a captivating story of professional success and personal tragedy in exquisite period detail. Italian-model-turned actress Sveva Alviti paints a nuanced portrait of the star in her breakthrough role. Dalida is directed by Lisa Azuelos (LOL, Quantom Love) and stars Sveva Alviti, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jean-Paul Rouve and Nicolas Duvauchelle.
Opening Film of the 2017 Berlin Film Festival and an official selection of Rendez-vous With French Cinema, Django is a powerful biopic which will immerse viewers in a tumultuous chapter in the life of one of the 20th century’s greatest musical geniuses: the legendary Romani jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGgtO0WP9KU
Derendinger continued: “We were also astonished by first time filmmaker Etienne Comar’s Django, with Reta Kateb giving a powerhouse performance as the beloved musician and exceptional artist Django Reinhardt, fighting against Nazi-occupied France and the treatment of his community. In this time of political uncertainty worldwide, we believe the film will strike a chord with a wide audience domestically.”
Django is the much anticipated wartime biopic of the world-famous jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, elegantly interpreted by Reda Kateb (A Prophet, Zero Dark Thirty).
As the toast of 1943 Paris, Django thrilled audiences with his distinctive brand of “hot jazz” and charmed a league of admirers including his muse “Chinese Puzzle,” played by Cécile de France. But even as the rise of Nazism forces Reinhardt- whose music is considered degenerate under the Third Reich- to make a daring escape from Paris, he refuses to be silenced, using his music as a form of protest. Kateb’s powerful performance leads this spirited biopic that will keep audiences on their tapping toes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw5DvTAVomA
Django is directed by writer/producer of “Of God and Men” Etienne Comar and stars Reda Kateb (“A Prophet”) and Cecile de France (“Hereafter”).
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2017 Woods Hole Film Festival Awards: ‘Charged: The Eduardo Garcia Story’ Wins Best of Fest
The 2017 Woods Hole Film Festival wrapped this month after screening 52 narrative and documentary features and 81 narrative, documentary, and animated shorts. “Charged: The Eduardo Garcia Story”, a documentary directed by Phillip Baribeau that chronicles the journey of chef and outdoorsman, Eduardo Garcia and his recovery after being electrocuted by 2400 volts of electricity, was awarded the Best of the Festival prize.
2017 Woods Hole Film Festival Audience Awards
Best of the Festival Charged: The Eduardo Garcia Story by Phillip Baribeau Best Feature Drama Blur Circle by Christopher J. Hansen 1st Runner Up: The Sounding by Catherine Eaton 2nd Runner Up: Holding Patterns by Jake Goldberger Best Feature Comedy Quaker Oaths by Louisiana Kreutz 1st Runner Up: Quality Problems by Brooke Purdy & Doug Purdy 2nd Runner Up: Diani & Divine Meet The Apocalypse by Gabriel Diani & Etta Devine Best Feature Documentary Dateline-Saigon by Thomas D. Herman 1st Runner Up: California Typewriter by Doug Nichol 2nd Runner Up: City of Joy by Madeleine Gavin Best Short Documentary Blind Sushi by Eric Heimbold 1st Runner-Up: Patagonia Azul: the interconnection of life by Daniel Casado 2nd Runner-Up: Tick Days by Marnie Crawford Samuelson Best Short Animation Stars by Han Zhang 1st Runner-Up: A Little Grey by Simon Hewitt 2nd Runner-Up: Fox and the Whale by Robin Joseph Best Short Drama Game by Jeannie Donohoe 1st Runner-Up: House of Teeth by Susanna Styron 2nd Runner-Up: The 6th Amendment by Elika Portnoy Best Short Comedy The Final Show by Dana Nachman 1st Runner-Up: Shy Guys by Fredric Lehne 2nd Runner-Up: Rhonna & Donna by Daina O. Pusic2017 Woods Hole Film Festival Jury Awards
Best Feature Drama Jagveld (Hunting Emma) by Byron Davis Best Feature Comedy What Children Do by Dean Peterson Best Feature Documentary City of Joy by Madeleine Gavin Best Short Documentary Patagonia Azul: the interconnection of life by Daniel Casado Best Short Animation A Little Grey by Simon Hewitt Best Short Drama Promise by Tian Xie Best Short Comedy Rhonna & Donna by Daina O. Pusic2017 Woods Hole Film Festival Directors Awards
Emerging New England Filmmaker (Sponsored by TALAMAS) Jeannie Donohoe Fortitude in Filmmaking Ryan Killackey – Yasuni Man Best Cinematography Frederic Fasano – Can Hitler Happen Here? (Narrative Feature) Georgia Pantazopoulos – The Crest (Documentary Feature) Ricardo Prates – A Beautiful Mess (Narrative Short) Todd Bell – A Doll’s Eyes (Documentary Short) Best Actor Madeleine Cooke – SEAT 25 (Feature Film) Lance Reddick – Spoken Word (Short Film)2017 Woods Hole Film Festival Screenwriting Awards
COMEDY FEATURE Winner: Go Catch the Devil by Martin Blinder, USA 1st Runner-Up: The Best Version of You by Mark Ward and Shannon Meehan, USA DRAMATIC FEATURE Winner: Don’t Call Me Sir! by Bo Svenson, USA 1st Runner-Up Den of Wolves by Fabian Martin, USA COMEDY SHORT Winner: That Sound by Steve Spremo, USA 1st Runner-Up: In Shadows by Cooper Justus, USA DRAMATIC SHORT Winner: The Street Photographer by Jim Norman, USA 1st Runner-Up: Lunch Lady by Colleen Asbury, USA image via Facebook
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2017 Reeling LGBTQ Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Opens with HELLO AGAIN, Closes with SATURDAY CHURCH
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Nolan Gerard Funk in Hello Again[/caption]
Reeling, the second-oldest LGBTQ film festival in the world, celebrates its 35th anniversary edition from September 21 to 28 at Landmark Theatres’ Century Centre Cinema in Chicago. The 2017 Reeling will present 30 feature films and 10 programs of shorts, coming from 22 countries.
The festival kicks off Thursday, September 21 at Music Box Theatre with the Chicago premiere of Northwestern alum Tom Gustafson’s HELLO AGAIN. The sex-fueled all-star screen adaptation of the 1994 Off-Broadway musical stars Cheyenne Jackson, Audra McDonald, Martha Plimpton, Tyler Blackburn and Rumer Willis. Reeling 2017 closes Thursday, September 28 with SATURDAY CHURCH, the coming-of-age story of a young Black teen exploring gender expression and finding acceptance in the Harlem Ball scene, which stars Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated actor and Goodman Theatre playwright Regina Taylor.
From Trudie Styler’s hotly anticipated directorial debut, the outrageous dramedy FREAK SHOW, about the fictional high school “transvisionary” Billy Bloom, starring Alex Lawther ( The Imitation Game ), Bette Midler and Laverne Cox; and writer-director Vincent Gagliostro’s intergenerational gay romantic drama AFTER LOUIE, starring Alan Cumming in a career-defining performance; to the crackling energy and entertaining story of the rise of YouTube musical superstar Todrick Hall in the documentary BEHIND THE CURTAIN; to the inspiring story of the long road to acceptance for Brooke Guinan, New York’s first out transgender firefighter in WOMAN ON FIRE; to Looking actor Russell Tovey’s stunning performance in THE PASS, the story of two football players whose reactions to the homoerotic tension between them as young men shape their divergent futures; the 35th edition of Reeling Film Festival has something to satisfy every film taste!
Reeling launches its eight-day festival with the Opening Night Gala presentation of the sensual musical HELLO AGAIN, Northwestern alumni Tom Gustafson’s ( Were the World Mine, Mariachi Gringo ) red hot film adaptation of Michael John LaChiusa’s acclaimed 1994 Off-Broadway musical. The film follows ten lovestruck souls who pair off in an erotic daisy chain of sex and song, looking for meaning beyond their steamy hookups. Jack ( Tyler Blackburn, Pretty Little Liars ) sexes up Robert ( Cheyenne Jackson, American Horror Story ) who pleasures Sally ( six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald ) who revels in her tryst with Ruth ( Martha Plimpton, The Real O’Neals ). Along for the sexy hijinks are T.R. Knight ( Grey’s Anatomy ), Rumer Willis ( Empire, Dancing with the Stars ), Jenna Ushkowitz ( Glee ), Sam Underwood ( Fear the Walking Dead ), vocalist Al Calderon and Nolan Gerard Funk ( Glee and former Calvin Klein model ). The musical numbers — everything from pop to operetta to Broadway to swing to searing torch ballads — are as fluid as the sexual proclivities of the characters. Prepare to indulge your senses with this visually stylish, ultra-sensual musical extravaganza.
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Saturday Church[/caption]
Reeling closes on Thursday, September 28 with an advance screening of SATURDAY CHURCH. This audacious hybrid — part drama, part comedy, part musical — is pulled off with aplomb by debuting writer-director Damon Cardasis and his young cast of newcomers. After the recent death of his father, Ulysses ( Luka Kain ) has begun experimenting with his sexuality and gender expression; his nights are full of stolen nylons and high heels. But Aunt Rose — played by acclaimed actor, playwright and Chicago resident Regina Taylor — is having none of this, so Ulysses flees the Bronx, finding himself enthralled by a new group of colorful, streetwise friends who introduce him to the Ball community. This thrilling, genre-busting film, soulful and heartfelt, has received raves on the film festival circuit and is a superlative and tender, coming-of-age story.
Reeling will present the premieres of two locally made features: Chicago based writer-director Wendell Etherly’s MARKET VALUE is a compelling child custody courtroom drama focused on a lesbian couple fighting to keep their adopted son; and On the Down Low writer-director Tadeo Garcia returns to Reeling with EN ALGUN LUGAR, a gay romantic drama set against the backdrop of the controversial U.S. immigration system.
Other festival highlights include the World Premiere of writer-director Rob Williams’ ( Role/Play, Shared Rooms, Make the Yuletide Gay ) ninth feature film, HAPPINESS ADJACENT, a bisexual love triangle set aboard a cruise ship; the critically acclaimed Sundance hit, I DREAM IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE, Mexican director Ernest Contreras’ drama about two elderly men who are the last living people able to speak a dying language but who refuse to talk to each other; SEBASTIAN, writer-director-actor James Fanizza’s romantic drama about a fling between two men living in different countries who unexpectedly fall in love; the eccentric Scottish film SEAT IN SHADOW, director Henry Coombes’ film about an aging free-spirited artist who plays therapist for the young gay grandson of a friend; APRICOT GROVES, Pouria Heidary Oureh’s beautifully realized story about an Iranian Armenian transman living in the U.S. who visits Armenia to ask his girlfriend’s father for her hand in marriage; THE RING THING, about a lesbian couple facing the pressures of getting married now that it’s legal, directed by William Sullivan, whose That’s Not Us screened at Reeling 2015; and EASTSIDERS SEASON 3: GO WEST, all new episodes from the Emmy-nominated gay web series that went viral on YouTube and was later picked up by Netflix.
Young love is explored in UK director Daniel Grasskamp’s CAT SKIN, in which a shy photography student captures the attention of a popular girl whose boyfriend refuses to leave the picture; David Berry’s SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER, a film adaptation of a popular novel series focusing on a young gay couple that includes Glee-like musical numbers; and Jakob M. Erwa’s CENTER OF MY WORLD, a gay coming of age romance from Germany.
Thrills, excitement, mayhem and various kinds of trouble can be found in two British and two Australian films. In the British crime thriller B&B, two men who successfully sued a small inn for gay discrimination return to gloat and find their triumph is short-lived, and in PALACE OF FUN, a rich young British woman’s calculating gay brother plays sinister games with her love interest. The Australian BOYS IN THE TREES is an eerie surrealist coming of age drama that takes place on Halloween night; and in BAD GIRL, a rebellious teenager is single-white-femaled by a doe-eyed beauty whom her parents are convinced is a good role model for her.
Comic relief is offered by SENSITIVITY TRAINING, in which an abrasive microbiologist finds herself attracted to the woman hired by her company to be her sensitivity coach; DATING MY MOTHER, about an aimless recent college graduate who moves back in with his widowed mom and finds that they are both trying to find Mr. Right; and PROM KING, 2010, which chronicles the failed attempts of an awkward 20-year-old college freshman in New York to find the man of his dreams.
The lives of women of color are explored in two web series: 195 LEWIS, set in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn; and the locally produced, Emmy nominated BROWN GIRLS, set in Chicago. The latter series was funded in part by Chicago Filmmakers’ Chicago Digital Media Production Fund, and creators Samantha Bailey and Fatimah Asghar were recently signed to a development deal to adapt the series for HBO.
Documentaries, as always, are an important part of the Reeling lineup. Documentaries include CHAVELA, an affectionate portrait of the legendary lesbian Costa Rican Ranchera singer who counted Pedro Almodóvar among her friends and Frida Kahlo among her lovers; THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON, Oscar nominated David France’s follow-up to How to Survive a Plague which focuses on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the trans activist as well as her close friendship with Sylvia Rivera; BONES OF CONTENTION, an historical documentary focusing on the repression of gays and lesbians under the Franco regime during the Spanish Civil War which weaves in the life of murdered queer poet Federico Garcia Lorca; and AGAINST THE LAW, a docudrama about the punitive life for gay men in conservative England in the 1950s.
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RIP: Comedian, Star of MAX ROSE, Jerry Lewis Dead at 91
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Jerry Lewis in Max Rose[/caption]
Jerry Lewis, the comedian, actor and filmmaker, died on Sunday morning at his home in Las Vegas. He was 91.
Jerry Lewis as last seen in the independent film Max Rose, his first movie in almost 20 years, playing jazz pianist Max Rose who makes a discovery days before the death of his wife and embarks on an exploration of his own past.
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Alen Drljevic’s MEN DON’T CRY is Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | TRAILER
Bosnia-Herzegovina has selected Alen Drljevic’s Men Don’t Cry (Muskarci koji ne placu) as the country’s official entry in the Foreign Language Film category of the 90th Academy Awards.
Men Don’t Cry, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2017 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival last month, tells the story of a group therapy workshop, set in a hotel in the Bosnian mountains. A group of war-scarred veterans from different sides in the Yugoslavian conflict are brought together by a peace group to share their wartime experiences, and to try to establish a degree of trust and faith between them. Emotions are highly charged as old enmities and hostilities emerge, but the participants gradually learn to overcome their divisions and achieve a kind of understanding and respect for each other, or at least a tolerance, despite all the bloodshed that has flowed between them in the past.
The film features an all-star team of Balkan actors including Croatia’s Leon Lučev (The Black Pin, Circles) and Ivo Gregurević (Ungiven, The Reaper), Serbia’s Boris Isaković (Requiem for Mrs. J., A Good Wife), Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Emir Hadžihafizbegović (These Are the Rules, Death of a Man in the Balkans), Boris Ler (Circus Columbia) and Ermin Bravo (Love Island), as well as Slovenia’s Sebastian Cavazza (Nika, On the Path).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dgSSQGJSe4