Film Festivals

Cannes Film Festival 2018: ‘BORDER’ ‘SOFIA’ ‘GIRL’ ‘DONBASS’ Win Un Certain Regard Prizes

[caption id="attachment_29152" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] GRÄNS (BORDER) by Ali Abbasi[/caption] Un Certain Regard 2018 at Cannes Film Festival presented 18 films in competition. 6 of them were first films. The Opening film was DONBASS by Sergei Loznitsa which went on to win the prize for Best Director. Under the presidency of Benicio Del Toro (Puerto Rican-American actor), the Jury was comprised of Annemarie Jacir (Palestinian director and writer), Kantemir Balagov (Russian director), Virginie Ledoyen (French actress) and Julie Huntsinger (American executive director, Telluride Film Festival). “We feel that out of 2000 films considered by the Festival, the 18 we saw in UN CERTAIN REGARD – from Argentina to China – were all in their own way winners. Over the past 10 days, we were extremely impressed by the high quality of the work presented, but in the end we were the most moved by the following 5 films.
“UN CERTAIN REGARD” PRIZE
GRÄNS (BORDER) by Ali Abbasi Customs officer Tina is known for her extraordinary sense of smell. It’s almost as if she can sniff out the guilt on anyone hiding something. But when Vore, a suspicious-looking man, walks past her, her abilities are challenged for the first time ever. Tina can sense Vore is hiding something she can’t identify. Even worse, she feels a strange attraction to him. As Tina develops a special bond with Vore and discovers his true identity, she also realizes the truth about herself. Tina, like Vore, does not belong to this world. Her entire existence has been one big lie and now she has to choose: keep living the lie or embrace Vore’s terrifying revelations.
PRIZE FOR BEST SCREENPLAY
SOFIA by Meryem Benm’Barek Sofia, 20, lives with her parents in Casablanca. Suffering from pregnancy denial, she finds herself breaking the law by giving birth to a baby out of wedlock. The hospital gives her 24 hours to provide the father’s papers before informing the authorities…
PRIZE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE
Victor Polster for GIRL by Lukas Dhont Determined 15-year-old Lara is committed to becoming a professional ballerina. With the support of her father, she throws herself into this quest for the absolute at a new school. Lara’s adolescent frustrations and impatience are heightened as she realizes her body does not bend so easily to the strict discipline because she was born a boy.
PRIZE FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Sergei Loznitsa for DONBASS In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth and hatred is declared to be love. A journey through the Donbass unfolds as a chain of curious adventures, where the grotesque and drama are as intertwined as life and death. This is not a tale of one region, one country or one political system. It is about a world, lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us.
JURY SPECIAL PRIZE
CHUVA É CANTORIA NA ALDEIA DOS MORTOS (The Dead and The Others) by João SALAVIZA and Renée NADER MESSORA There are no spirits or snakes tonight and the forest around the village is quiet. Fifteen year old Ihjãc has nightmares since he has lost his father. He is an indigenous Krahô from the north of Brazil. Ihjãc walks into darkness, his sweaty body moves with fright. A distant chant comes through the palm trees. His father’s voice calls him to the waterfall: it´s time to organize the funerary feast so the spirit can depart to the dead´s village. The mourning must cease. Denying his duty and in order to escape a crucial process of becoming a shaman, Ihjãc runs away to the city. Far from his people and culture, he faces the reality of being an indigenous in contemporary Brazil.
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‘SEARCHING’ ‘MINDING THE GAP’ ‘IN THE LIFE OF MUSIC’ Win Audience Awards at 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_29286" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] John Cho stars in the LAAPFF Audience Award Winning film SEARCHING – directed by Aneesh Chaganty. Photo Courtesy of Screen Gems[/caption] The 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) came to a close this past weekend and announced their audience awards for best films at this year’s film extravaganza that began on May 3 and ended on May 12, 2018. The thriller, mystery film “SEARCHING” – directed by first time feature filmmaker Aneesh Chaganty – won the LAAPFF Audience Award for Outstanding North American Narrative Feature Film. The film, starring John Cho and Debra Messing, was a double award winner at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, as well. Audiences at LAAPFF were impressed by the cast, the screenplay, and the direction of the film that centered on a father’s search for his missing teenage daughter and has to turn to the Internet to try and find her. Audiences were abuzz about the film throughout the eight-day festival. “SEARCHING” will open nationally in August in theaters through Screen Gems. The personal documentary “MINDING THE GAP” – directed by Bing Liu – won the LAAPFF Audience Award for Outstanding North American Documentary Feature. Audiences were moved by the filmmaker’s intimate story of three friends who come of age in their twenties and have to face growing up and possibly giving up their skateboarding days. The film also won the LAAPFF Special Jury Prize for Best Director and was an award winner at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, as well. In the International Narrative Feature category, the LAAPFF Audience Award went to “IN THE LIFE OF MUSIC” – directed by Caylee So and Visal Sok – for telling a powerful inter-generational tale that explores love, war, and a family’s relationship to the song Champa Battambang, made famous by Sinn Sisamouth, the King of Cambodian music. The film depicts the lives of people whose world is inevitably transformed by the emergence of the Khmer Rouge. The film also won the LAAPFF Special Jury Prize for Best Director in the International Narrative Feature category. In the International Documentary Feature category, the audience gave the award to “LATE LIFE: THE CHIEN-MING WANG STORY” – directed by Frank W. Chen. This moving film chronicles the life of Taiwanese pro-baseball player Chien-Ming Wang, who was once so dominating on the mound that he was named New York Yankees’ starting pitcher for the inaugural game at New Yankee Stadium in 2009. But after a terrible ankle injury, Wang’s pitches lost their effectiveness, and he soon fell off major league rosters. LATE LIFE follows Wang through his grueling workout routines and unglamorous minor league pit stops as he mounts his remarkable comeback. He is helped along the way by his loyal agent, trainers, Yankees fans, and his family, creating a de-facto support network that keeps him going.
2018 LAAPFF AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS

NORTH AMERICAN NARRATIVE FEATURE
SEARCHING Directed by Aneesh Chaganty
NORTH AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
MINDING THE GAP Directed by Bing Liu
INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE FEATURE
IN THE LIFE OF MUSIC Directed by Caylee So and Visal Sok
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
LATE LIFE: THE CHIEN-MING WANG STORY Directed by Frank W. Chen
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2018 Brooklyn Film Festival to Open with Mix of NY Times’ Short Documentaries + Animated Films

The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) will kick off the 2018 festival with a selection of short documentaries from The New York Times’ Times Documentaries co-presented with a mix of BFF’s animated and experimental films for the opening night program of the festival’s 21st edition: THRESHOLD. The event will take place on Friday, June 1st at Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the BFF and the Times Documentaries filmmakers, and will be moderated by Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director Marco Ursino. “This will be an evening truly experimental in nature,” said Brooklyn Film Festival Executive Director Marco Ursino. “The catch is that we are inviting, and at times, forcing the audience in and out of reality. And at times it is a painful reality. The emotional rollercoaster this strategy will trigger is both fun and harsh, but certainly unforgettable. Our goal is to offer in one single evening as many nuances our mind can conceive and to provoke a meaningful conversation between the filmmakers and the audience. 2018 must become the time of healthy, intense and real communication among people of different backgrounds and cultures. We all need that and look forward to it.” “It’s a cool and somewhat unexpected mix of subjects and film styles, which speaks to the breadth of video journalism at the Times and what it means to favor story over format,” said said Mona El-Naggar, Senior Producer of enterprise video at the Times and one of the filmmakers whose work is showing on opening night. “It’s always a privilege to be able to engage directly with your audience, to be in the same room and have a conversation. There’s a quality to that experience, which is often lost in the scattered space of online consumption.” The opening night film program comes on the heels of BFF announcing its film lineup last week. Like an aircraft entering the threshold on runway “21,” BFF takes off on Friday, June 1st at returning venue: Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg. Over the course of the 10-day festival, BFF proudly presents film programs at Wythe Hotel, nearby returning venue Windmill Studios in Greenpoint, and five more screening venues throughout Brooklyn. This year’s festival is comprised of approximately 125 features and shorts from 30 countries spread over all continents, except Antarctica. The lineup includes 19 world premieres, 21 USA bows, 37 east coast debuts and 30 first-time screenings in NYC. The festival will present in total 36 short narrative films, 16 short documentary films, 25 animated films and 20 experimental films.
OPENING NIGHT FILM PROGRAM:
“Unexpected Discoveries” Dir. James Mabery USA, 2 min., Animation A young fellow finds himself stumbling upon an ordinary flashlight that allows him to explore other places. “Lieutenant of the Alt-Right” By Emma Cott and Andrew Michael Ellis USA, 21 min., Times Documentaries Elliott Klein, a.k.a. Eli Mosley, is a rising white supremacist leader who depicts himself as an American patriot and Iraq war veteran. But our investigation found that his personal narrative — like much of the alt-right’s messaging — is built on deception. “Johnno’s Dead” Dir. Shepherd Chris France, 8 min, Experimental Despite having time to reflect upon his twelve years behind bars, he can’t shake off the ghosts of the past. “Weird” Dir. Fausto Montanari Italy, 2 min., Animation A short animated film about diversity, “Weird” is a shout out to a girl who is usually judged to be weird and different. “The Story of Esraa” By Mona El-Naggar, Mark Meatto and Yousur Al-Hlou USA 21 min., Times Documentaries Esraa is looking to rent an apartment with her friends. In Egypt, where personal freedom can be routinely compromised in the name of religion, family and country, that makes her a rebel. Like many in her generation, she is gasping for change. Can she win? “Contact (Vosta)” Dir. Alessandro Novelli\ Spain, 8 min., Animation Between reality and fantasy, a woman’s inner journey awakens her consciousness. “Deportation Deadline” By Brent McDonald, John Woo and Jonah M. Kessel USA, 12 min., Times Documentaries His daughter graduates. He faces deportation. “My Yiddish Papi” Dir: Éléonore Goldberg Canada, 7 min., Animation A young woman misses her grandfather’s last phone call. After his death, she remembers a promise not kept. “How an Alleged Sonic Attack Shaped US Policy on Cuba” By Jonah M. Kessel, Melissa Chan and John Woo USA, 14 min., Times Documentaries In 2016, diplomats at the U.S. embassy in Havana were mysteriously stricken. Was it an attack? There is no official explanation for it, yet it has played a big role in America’s current political disengagement with Cuba. “Genesis” Dir. Abtin Mozafari, Iran, 10 min, Experimental A fantasy short film with a critical point of view about the horrible situation in Syria.
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Oak Cliff Film Festival Announces 2018 Feature Film Lineup, Opens with Joan Jett’s Documentary BAD REPUTATION

[caption id="attachment_29262" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] BAD REPUTATION[/caption] Oak Cliff Film Festival yesterday announced the Feature Program lineup for the 7th annual edition of the festival, taking place June 14-17, 2018 at the historic Texas Theatre, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kessler Theater, and numerous other venues around Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood. The schedule is comprised of twenty-five feature-length films, with ten of the films having their Texas premiere at this year’s festival. The festival also includes 40 short films, as well as filmmaking workshops, live music and parties. Kicking off proceedings with this year’s opening night film are director Kevin Kerslake and writer/editor Joel Marcus in attendance to present the Texas Premiere of BAD REPUTATION, their hard-rocking documentary on legendary rock-n-roll icon Joan Jett. The screening will be followed by a karaoke party behind the screen! The festival closes with NEVER GOIN’ BACK, a raunchy party comedy filmed and set in DFW, from Dallas filmmaker Augustine Frizzell and produced by Sailor Bear. Additional festival highlights include: MEOW WOLF: ORIGIN STORY, a documentary on the Santa Fe based artist collective famous for their unique and immersive multimedia art installations; a screening of the newly restored 1928 silent film classic THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, featuring a live score accompaniment composed by indie electronic artist George Sarah and performed by Curtis Heath and his Orchestra; The Zellner Bros’ new comedy western DAMSEL with the film’s composers, Austin-based indietronica band The Octopus Project, playing a live concert at The Texas Theatre; and director Penelope Spheeris in attendance for a new digital theatrical presentation of her rescued-from-obscurity and newly-restored 1987 punk rock western DUDES.
Oak Cliff Film Festival 2018 Feature Program Lineup.

OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
BAD REPUTATION (USA, 95 mins) Dir. Kevin Kerslake TEXAS PREMIERE – Director Kevin Kerslake and writer/editor Joel Marcus in attendance Joan Jett is so much more than “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll.” It’s true, she became mega-famous from the number-one hit, and that fame intensified with its endless play on MTV. But that staple of popularity can’t properly define a musician. Jett put her hard work in long before the fame, ripping it up onstage as the backbone of the hard-rock legends The Runaways, influencing many musicians—both her cohort of punk rockers and generations of younger bands—with her no-nonsense style.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
NEVER GOIN’ BACK (USA, 85 mins) Dir. Augustine Frizzell DFW PREMIERE – Producers Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, Liz Cardenas in attendance w/ a special Skype-in from director Augustine Frizzell BFFs Angela (Maia Mitchell) and Jessie (Cami Morrone) are high school dropouts working dead-end waitressing jobs in the same shitty diner. Their dream vacation to sunny Galveston, Texas, is only a few shifts away. But after a drug deal goes bad and their home is invaded—and they have to serve a short stint in juvenile detention—their beach trip is in serious jeopardy. They’ll have to use every bit of guile their perpetually buzzed teenage brains can muster as they try to get (relatively) rich quick while wandering suburban Dallas.
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
BIRDS WITHOUT FEATHERS (USA, 84 mins) Dir. Wendy McColm DFW PREMIERE – Director Wendy McColm in attendance Desperate for human interaction, six emotionally damaged individuals put self respect on the line, shedding their disillusionment in a last grasp for happiness. Birds Without Feathers is a cruel-world dark comedy populated by struggling Instagram stars, Russian cowboys, Self-help gurus and more, as their lives crash and collide in astounding and awkward ways. DON’T LEAVE HOME (USA, 86 mins) Dir. Michael Tully DFW PREMIERE – Director Michael Tully in attendance Melanie Thomas is an American artist whose latest show recounts the infamous Irish urban legend of Father Alistair Burke, who painted a portrait of 8-year-old Siobhan Callahan in 1986. Days later, Siobhan went missing on the very morning that her figure miraculously vanished from the painting as well. Though absolved of any wrongdoing, Burke abandoned the priesthood and went into self-exile. After receiving a bad review before her opening, Melanie is contacted by the reclusive Burke, who offers to fly her to Ireland to create a new sculpture that he will help her to sell while she’s there. Telling no one where she’s going, Melanie never stops to consider that some urban legends are real. I AM NOT A WITCH (UK, ZAMBIA, 93 mins) Dir. Rungano Nyoni TEXAS PREMIERE When eight-year-old Shula turns up alone and unannounced in a rural Zambian village, the locals are suspicious. A minor incident escalates to a full-blown witch trial, where she is found guilty and sentenced to life on a state-run witch camp. There, she is tethered to a long white ribbon and told that if she ever tries to run away, she will be transformed into a goat. As the days pass, Shula begins to settle into her new community, but a threat looms on the horizon. Soon she is forced to make a difficult decision – whether to resign herself to life on the camp, or take a risk for freedom. TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (Mexico, 83 mins) Dir. Issa López DFW PREMIERE Estrella (Paola Lara), a ten-year-old girl living in Mexico, finds herself the owner of three wishes soon after her mother disappears. After her wish first – the bring her mother back wish – has some unexpectedly frightening repercussions, she finds herself on the streets. Before too long, Estrella partners up with a young boy, El Shine (Juan Ramón López), and his band of orphaned boys. The newly formed group find themselves at war with the local cartel, witnessing and enduring things that no child should ever have to. VIRUS TROPICAL (Colombia, 96 mins) Dir. Santiago Caicedo DFW PREMIERE Born in a not-so-conventional family, Paola grows up between Ecuador and Colombia and finds herself unable to fit in any mold. With a unique feminine vision of the world, she will have to fight against prejudice and struggle for her independence while her universe is struck by a series of crises. Based on the graphic novel by Powerpaola. WINTER BROTHERS (Denmark, Iceland, 94 mins) Dir. Hlynur Pálmason TEXAS PREMIERE We follow two brothers working in the harsh environment of a rural chalk-mining community during a cold winter. Younger brother Emil, who distills moonshine made from stolen chemicals from the factory, is an outsider, an oddball, who made a conscious choice for loneliness and is only accepted by the mining community due to his older brother Johan. When a fellow worker becomes sick, the moonshine and Emil are prime suspects. Gradually a violent feud erupts between him and the tightly-knit mining community. Revenge, loneliness, and lack of love pervade this modern brother odyssey.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
BLACK MOTHER (USA, 77 mins) Dir. Khalik Allah TEXAS PREMIERE Part film, part baptism, director Khalik Allah mixes film formats from Super 8mm to HD, while experimenting with voice over audio techniques that cast his view between the prostitutes and churches of Jamaica. Black Mother creates a visual prayer of indelible portraits and an intimate polyphonic symphony. GOSPEL OF EUREKA (USA, 79 mins) Dir. Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri DFW PREMIERE Love, faith and civil rights collide in a southern town as evangelical Christians and drag queens step into the spotlight to dismantle stereotypes. The film takes a personal, and often comical look at negotiating differences between religion and belief through performance, political action, and partnership. Gospel drag shows and passion plays set the stage for one hell of a show.3-4 sentence summary here. INGRID (USA, 52 mins) Dir. Morrisa Maltz TEXAS PREMIERE – Filmmaker Morrisa Maltz in attendance Ingrid tells the story of a prominent Dallas fashion designer in the 80s–who dropped her life and ran off to the woods in order to pursue a personal and creative one. She has since become a total hermit and spends her time, creating clay sculptures and art out of rocks from the nearby creek. Ingrid peels off the layers of this woman’s persona, questioning what would drive a successful Texas fashion designer to immerse herself in nature to create and become an entirely self sufficient woman of the woods. MAISON DU BONHEUR (Canada, 62 mins) Dir. Sofia Bohdanowicz TEXAS PREMIERE Maison du bonheur is a documentary that studies the day-to-day life of a Parisian astrologer, Juliane Sellam, who has been residing in the same Montmartre apartment for over 50 years. As we listen to her muse about her life as an astrologer, Sellam moves through her daily routine: making her morning coffee, watering plants, putting on makeup. Each segment is narrated by Sellam or the filmmaker herself, slowly constructing a dual portrait of two very different but equally charming women. MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS (USA, 91 mins) Dir. Jake Meginsky and Neil Young DFW PREMIERE – Filmmaker Jake Meginsky in attendance This is the first ever feature-length portrait of renowned percussionist Milford Graves, exploring his kaleidoscopic creativity and relentless curiosity.Graves tells stories of discovery, struggle and survival, ruminates on the essence of ‘swing,’ activates electronic stethoscopes in his basement lab to process the sound of his heart, and travels to Japan where he performs at a school for children with autism, igniting the student body into an ecstatic display of spontaneous collective energy. Oscillating from present to past and weaving intimate glimpses of the artist’s complex cosmology with blistering performances from around the globe, MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS is cinema full of fluidity, polyrhythm and intensity, embodying the essence of Graves’ music itself. OPUNTIA (Mexico/USA, 60 mins) Dir. David Fenster DFW PREMIERE – Filmmaker David Fenster in attendance In 1528 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca crossed the Gulf of Mexico on a raft made of melted armor and slaughtered horses. Over the next eight years, experiences with various Native American groups transformed him from conquistador to shamanic healer. When he returned to Spain he wrote La Relación, a chronicle of his experiences in the “New World”. Using these writings and with help from a psychic medium, David Fenster (director) attempts to communicate with Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca through a prickly pear cactus, also known as Opuntia, the plant that saved him from starvation.
SPOTLIGHT FEATURES
BISBEE ‘17 (USA, 112 mins) Dir. Robert Greene TEXAS PREMIERE An old mining town on the Arizona-Mexico border finally reckons with its darkest day: the deportation of 1200 immigrant miners exactly 100 years ago. Townspeople confront this violent, misunderstood past by staging dramatic recreations of these devastating events. Directed by the Townspeople themselves, these recreations show the personal history of the families affected by the deporations on the 100th anniversary of their occurence. DAMSEL (USA, 112 mins) Dir. David Zellner and Nathan Zellner DFW PREMIERE – Film producers and composers The Octopus Project in attendance It’s the age of The Wild West, circa 1870. An affluent pioneer, Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson) ventures deep into the American wilderness to reunite with and marry the love of his life, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska). For his journey he brings Butterscotch, a miniature horse intended as a wedding present for his bride, and enlists drunkard Parson Henry (David Zellner) to conduct the ceremony. As they traverse the lawless frontier their once simple journey grows treacherous, and the lines between hero, villain, and damsel are blurred. HAL (USA, 90 mins) Dir. Amy Scott TEXAS PREMIERE In the 1970’s Hal Ashby spent 9 years pushing Hollywood norms directing an unconventional, uncompromising string of remarkable films — including The Landlord (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), The Last Detail (1973) and Being There (1979) — that influenced generations of filmmakers to follow. His everlasting legacy on cinema is evident by the group of talented interview subjects including David O. Russell, Judd Apatow, Allison Andres and Jeff and Beau Bridges. However he failed to sustain success fighting for the importance of art and socially consciousness stories against the looming weight of Hollywood’s profit driven machine. HAL is a celebration of his lifework. HALF THE PICTURE (USA, 94 mins) Dir. Amy Adrion DFWPREMIERE – Penelope Spheeris in attendance for Q/A with Seed & Spark Founder Emily Best HALF THE PICTURE consists of interviews with high profile women directors, including Ava DuVernay, Jill Soloway, Lena Dunham, Catherine Hardwicke, Miranda July, Penelope Spheeris and many more. These artists discuss how they made their first features, how they transitioned to studio films or television, how they balance a demanding directing career with family, and the challenges and joys along the way. In addition, experts on gender inequality in Hollywood, including the ACLU’s Melissa Goodman, Vanity Fair’s Rebecca Keegan, and USC’s Dr. Stacy Smith, weigh in on the magnitude of this issue as women are shut out, across the board, of an industry that systemically denies women’s expression and point of view. MEOW WOLF: ORIGIN STORY (USA, 100 mins) Dir. Jilann Spitzmiller and Morgan Capps DFW PREMIERE – Filmmakers Morgan Capps and Jilann Spitzmiller in attendance A group of artists in Santa Fe, NM become a DIY collective called Meow Wolf. Their immersive, large-scale exhibitions crack open a profitable niche in the arts industry, even as their social mission is challenged by the demands of rapid success. The group’s members navigate fracture and loss for years in pursuit of their idealistic vision. When they spark the interest of George R. R. Martin and receive his support to take over an old bowling alley, Meow Wolf builds a massive exhibition with over 140 artists working at a breakneck pace. With the wild success of the House of Eternal Return, Meow Wolf now faces its own internal turmoil as it begins to change the lives of creatives everywhere. PITY (Greece, 97 mins) Dir. Babis Makridis TEXAS PREMIERE A miserable middle aged man enjoys only one thing in life, the sorrow from others. After his wife re-emerges from a long coma he’s willing to do anything to continue to evoke this emotion from those around him. Addicted to misery, this man seeks to maintain the only feeling to give him pleasure, pity. RELAXER (USA, 91 mins) Dir. Joel Potrykus DFW PREMIERE – Director Joel Potrykus, Cinematographer Adam J. Minnick and actor Andre Hyland in attendance Doom and gloom are on the way. The Y2K apocalypse can’t be stopped. Abbie’s older brother issues him the ultimate challenge before it goes down: stay on the couch until he beats the infamous Billy Mitchell record on Pac-Man by getting past level 256. No getting up, no matter what. No quitting. Abbie must survive inside a rotten living room with no food or water, and numbnut friends and toxic gas getting in his face. Luckily, Abbie’s secret 3D glasses begin to give him new abilities, controlling the powers of his tiny universe. SKATE KITCHEN (USA, 100 mins) Dir. Crystal Moselle TEXAS PREMIERE – Members of the filmmaking team in attendance Introverted skateboarder Camille befriends “The Skate Kitchen,” an all-girl skateboarding crew in New York City. She finds the home she never had with her mother in Long Island as she becomes part of the in-crowd. They quickly accept her into this wild new world of trick-shot videos and their own mania filled, underground, New York subculture. However this new friendship becomes tricky to navigate when she falls for a boy skateboarder from a rival group.
REPERTORY
BEING THERE (USA, 1979, 130 mins) Dir. Hal Ashby In one of his most finely tuned performances, Peter Sellers plays the pure-hearted, childlike Chance, a gardener who is forced into the wilds of Washington, D.C., when his wealthy guardian dies. Shocked to discover that the real world doesn’t respond to the click of a remote, Chance stumbles into celebrity after being taken under the wing of a tycoon (Melvyn Douglas, in an Oscar-winning performance), who mistakes his protégé’s horticultural mumblings for sagacious pronouncements on life and politics, and whose wife (Shirley MacLaine) targets Chance as the object of her desire. Being There is both deeply melancholic and hilarious; a the culmination of Hal Ashby’s remarkable string of films in the 1970s, and a carefully modulated examination of the ideals, anxieties, and media-fueled delusions that shaped American culture during that decade and still ring true today in 2018. DUDES (USA, 1987, 90 mins) Dir. Penelope Spheeris New DCP with Director Penelope Spheeris in attendance Penelope Spheeris’s 5th feature film which came after her punk soap SUBURBIA and was “released” the year before her magnum opus DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART II; DUDES, was never given much of a proper release. Distributors and exhibitors were confused on how to market the punk rock western and it quickly excited theaters. The home video VHS was its last available version until this years HD remaster by SHOUT FACTORY. The film, which features early Cinematography from future three time Oscar winner Robert Richardson and a fantastic punk / metal soundtrack featuring The VANDALS, JANES ADDICTION and MEGADETH exists in a late 80’s ahead of its time capsule. THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC with Live Score Accompaniment (France, 1928, 81 mins) Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer New Restoration with live score accompaniment composed by indie electronic artist George Sarah, performed by Curtis Heath and his orchestra Spiritual rapture and institutional hypocrisy are brought to stark, vivid life in one of the most transcendent achievements of the silent era. Chronicling the trial of Joan of Arc in the final hours leading up to her execution, Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer depicts her torment with startling immediacy, employing an array of techniques—including expressionistic lighting, interconnected sets, and painfully intimate close-ups— to immerse viewers in her subjective experience. Anchoring Dreyer’s audacious formal experimentation is a legendary performance by Renée Falconetti, whose haunted face channels both the agony and the ecstasy of martyrdom. Thought to have been lost to fire, the film’s original version was miraculously found in perfect condition in 1981 in a Norwegian mental institution, heightening the mythic status of this widely revered masterwork.
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Scottish Films, Filmmakers, and Talent Celebrated At 72nd Edinburgh International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_29258" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Anna and the Apocalypse[/caption] In its 72nd year, Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has unveiled a rich selection of Scottish films, filmmakers, acting talent and films shot in Scotland as part of its 2018 Festival program. Opening with a spellbinding performance by acclaimed Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald in the highly regarded drama PUZZLE, this year’s program is set to showcase some of the very best features, shorts, documentaries, animations, exclusive events and talent from across the country. EIFF Artistic Director Mark Adams said: “Edinburgh International Film Festival is renowned around the world for discovering and promoting the very best in international cinema and Scottish talent has always been at the heart of that. The Festival’s program always helps shine the light on to Scottish themes, performances and filmmakers, and I am thrilled that once again we can celebrate this high-level of craftsmanship in past and present Scottish work in our 72nd year.” The Festival program will showcase a host of features filmed and set in Scotland, such as much-anticipated cult comedic horror/musical ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE, which was largely shot in and around Glasgow. The thriller CALIBRE, set against the backdrop of Beecraigs Country Park acting as the beautiful Scottish Highlands, stars Scottish actor Jack Lowden (England is Mine, Dunkirk) and is director Matt Palmer’s debut feature. The film is also in the running for this year’s prestigious Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film. EIFF audiences can look forward to Scottish produced pop-art drama MAKE ME UP by Glasgow-based video artist Rachel Maclean, the much-anticipated documentary WHITNEY, directed by Kevin Macdonald and ALMOST FASHIONABLE: A FILM ABOUT TRAVIS, a documentary directed by the front man of Scottish band Travis, Fran Healy. Fran and the other band members will be in attendance for the film’s World Premiere. Scottish director and former Michael Powell Award winner Kenny Glenaan’s DIRT ROAD TO LAFAYETTE, written by James Kelman, which follows a father and son’s journey from Scotland to North Alabama to visit their American/Scots relatives will also receive its World Premiere at the Festival. Also in the program are a number of documentaries by Scottish filmmakers, including BECOMING ANIMAL (one of the latest features from the Scottish Documentary Institute). Ece Ger’s MEETING JIM about Jim Haynes, the man who co-founded the Traverse Theatre and was fundamental to the growth of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will also have its World Premiere in Edinburgh in June. Meanwhile, Edinburgh-based documentarian and EIFF Honorary Patron Mark Cousins, will be on hand to introduce two of his latest projects THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES and STORM IN MY HEART. Scottish talent Shauna Macdonald can be seen on screen in horror, thriller WHITE CHAMBER, directed by Paul Raschid. Meanwhile, the work of Scottish actors Tommy Flanagan and EIFF Honorary Patron James Cosmo will be showcased, with Flanagan appearing in crime drama PAPILLON, produced by Joey McFarland, David Koplan, Ram Bergman and Roger Corbi, and Cosmo in Anthony Byrne’s IN DARKNESS alongside Natalie Dormer and Emily Ratajkowski. Audiences can again look forward to a preview of the hit Gaelic TV show BANNAN, filmed on the beautiful island of Skye. The BBC Alba show follows a young woman returning to the island she had left when she was 18, and gently blends tones of soap opera, family drama and murder mystery. The Festival will allow audiences to catch the first three episodes of the fifth series, followed by a Q&A. Taking a step back in time, EIFF will screen LONG SHOT by Maurice Hatton, which was filmed during the 1977 edition of the Festival and special event Behind the Curtain: Women & EIFF will be hosted by former EIFF Director Lynda Myles, who was the first female director of a film festival anywhere in the world, and Rachel Hosker, Archives Manager and Deputy Head of Special Collections at the University of Edinburgh. A selection of Scottish-linked animations are confirmed for this year’s program including Dorte Bengtson’s family film VITELLO, written by Kim Fupz Aakeson and produced by Anders Berthelsen and former EIFF chair Bob Last, who also produced the 2010 Oscar-Nominated animation THE ILLUSIONIST, featuring Doon Mackichan in the role of Mother. A sneak preview of Red Kite’s animated feature PRINCESS EMMY, co-produced by the award-winning Scottish animation studio and voiced by a host of Scottish actors, including John Hannah, will also screen. Animator Elizabeth Hobbs will be in Edinburgh to present a screening of her short animations. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, Hobbs has a long history with EIFF and will present Elizabeth Hobbs: A Retrospective of Animated Work. Local cycling legend David Millar will be on hand to present Finlay Pretsell’s, TIME TRIAL, followed by an extended Q&A with Millar and TV presenter Ned Boulting. Scottish director, Bill Forsyth will also introduce a screening of his classic film, LOCAL HERO, and participate in an extended Q&A with Royal Lyceum Theatre Artistic Director David Greig. There will also be numerous Scottish shorts for audience members to enjoy including BLUE CHRISTMAS by Scottish director Charlotte Wells, Tom Chick’s MONUMENT: PARTS ONE AND TWO, Anna Stoltzmann’s MY HEAD ON THE MOUNTAIN, Evi Tsiligaridou’s THESE ARE MY HANDS and Francesco Rufini’s DOGMA. The Scottish Documentary Institute’s short film program Bridging the Gap – Love will also screen. Furthermore, there are shorts from the Scottish Film Talent Network (SFTN), which is supported by National Lottery funding from Creative Scotland and BFI NETWORK. SFTN forms the Scottish element of the BFI NETWORK, designed to discover, nurture and advance new and emerging filmmaking talent and is a consortium made up of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), DigiCult and Hopscotch Films. The shorts this year include 12 POINT KILL, BUNNY, I WAS HERE, LIFT SHARE, MY LONELINESS IS KILLING ME, NONE OF THE ABOVE and TOMORROW MIGHT BE THE DAY. SFTN short animation WIDDERSHINS will also screen as part of The McLaren Award: New British Animation 1 alongside LAUNDROMAT, a graduate film from Edinburgh College of Art’s Bafta winning Animation course, directed by Madeleine Sayers.
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VIANEY, Documentary on Hip Hop Artist Vianey Otero/So Icey Trap, to Premiere at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival [Trailer]

“Vianey” is an intensely personal documentary portrait about the life and hardships of the New Jersey and Bronx based underground hip hop artist Vianey Otero, also known by the stage name So Icey Trap. The U.S. West Coast Premiere of the film will be held at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival in Mammoth Lakes, CA, on Fri May 25th. The film reveals the raw reality behind growing up on the streets, the lure of escorting, everyday life in jail, and being a female artist in the music industry. Visually, the film takes the viewer on a meditative journey through the important locations of Vianey’s life. “Vianey” is an unlfiltered coming-of-age story, and also a story about the struggles of the low-income working class in modern day America. When rent is due, the body becomes a commodity. Marko Vuorinen, the director of “Vianey”, is a Helsinki-based and internationally awarded documentarian, artist and writer. Vuorinen works in the borderland between film and visual arts. He approaches filmmaking as a form of contemporary art. Mammoth Lakes Film Festival showcases the work of emerging, innovative filmmakers. Our past juries have included Andrew Lazar (Producer of AMERICAN SNIPER), Allison Amon (Producer of THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES), and John Feidler (Producer of SERIAL MOM and PECKER). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPnecaZq5ws
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49th Nashville Film Festival Kicks off With Steven Tyler’s Documentary + Announces Winners of Short Film Competition

[caption id="attachment_29208" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The President’s Visit,[/caption] The 49th Annual Nashville Film Festival opened with the Steven Tyler’s documentary Steven Tyler: Out on a Limb, along with a bonus performance by Steven Tyler and The Loving Mary Band, and the first awards for short films competition winners, that include Academy Award eligibility. Winners of the 2018 Nashville Film Festival jury prizes were announced at a ceremony last night where The President’s Visit, Weekends and ’63 Boycott became eligible for submission for the 2019 Academy Awards, as long as they otherwise meet all other eligibility requirements. Awards were announced by Festival’s Artistic Director, Brian Owens. The winning films take home cash and prizes valued at over $35,000. Past winning films have included Academy Award-winner Bear Story and Academy Award-nominated Borrowed Time. The Grand Jury Prize in the Narrative Shorts Competition was awarded to The President’s Visit, directed by Cyril Aris. The Prize for Best U.S. Narrative Short was given to Debris, directed by Julio O. Ramos, and the Prize for Best International Short was awarded to Icarus, directed by Nicolas Boucart. Honorable Mention for Best U.S. Short was given to Emergency, directed by Carey Williams. Honorable Mention for Best International Short went to Miss Wamba, directed by Estefania Cortés. Tom Doran was given a Special Jury Prize for his performance in Time Traveler and Shaquita Lopez was given a Special Jury Prize for her performance in Audition. The Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short was awarded to the almost impressionistic, Weekends, directed by Trevor Jiminez. The animation jury presented Honorable Mention to Hybrids, directed by Florian Brauch, Kim Tailhades, Matthieu Pujol, Romain Thirion and Yohan Thireau. The Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short was given to ’63 Boycott, directed by Gordon Quinn. Tightly Wound, directed by Shelby Hadden, and While I Yet Live, directed by Maris Curran, were given Honorable Mentions. The Grand Jury Prize for Best Experimental Short went to director Douwe Dijkstra, for Green Screen Gringo. Honorable Mention was given to Strangers, directed by Eve Duhame and Julian Vallée. The Grand Jury Prize for Best College Student Short went to Schoolyard Blues, directed by Maria Eriksson-Hecht. Lunch Time, directed by Alireza Ghasemi, was named Honorable Mention, while Luca Caruso-Moro was given a Special Jury Prize for Cinematography for Every Grain of Rice. The Best Graveyard Shift Short Grand Jury Prize went to Socks on Fire: Uncle John and the Copper Headed Water Rattlers, directed by Bo MaGuire. Paralys, directed by John Boisen and Björn Fävremark, took home the Honorable Mention while a Special Jury Prize Unique and Important Storytelling was awarded to The Devil is in the Details, directed by Fabien Gorgeart. In the Tennessee First category for films made in Tennessee and/or by Tennessee residents, the Grand Jury Prize for Best Tennessee Narrative Short was awarded to Hillary Bell’s Hunter. Clarksville, 1937, directed by Karen Bullis and Kathy Lee Heuston, was named Best Tennessee Documentary Short, and Pilots, directed by Jason Luckett, won Best Tennessee Student Short. The Order, directed by Chad Cunningham, was given an Honorable Mention, Best Tennessee Narrative Short and QWERTY, directed by John McAmis, took home the Special Jury Prize for Best Tennessee Animated Short. The Young Filmmakers Grand Jury Prize was awarded to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Suburbia, directed by Alex Alford and Zak Denley. That prize comes with an offer of a $20,000 scholarship to Watkins College of Art, Design and Film.
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16 African Feature Films and Documentaries Projects Selected for 9th Durban FilmMart

[caption id="attachment_29193" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] 9th Durban FilmMart : Zinder, The Seeds of Violence, (Niger) – Director: Aicha Macky. Producer: Clara Vuillermoz, Ousmane Samassekou,[/caption] A total of 16 fiction feature films and documentaries projects from Africa have been selected to pitch at this year’s Durban FilmMart (DFM), which takes place from July 20 to 23, 2018 during the 39th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) (July 19 to 29 ). A joint programme of the eThekwini Municipality’s film industry development unit, the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the DIFF, the Durban FilmMart aims to showcase and increase awareness of African cinema through stimulating film production on the continent by encouraging collaborations amongst African filmmakers. “We are thrilled to announce the 2018 DFM Official Project selection,” says Toni Monty, Head of the Durban Film Office. “These sixteen projects were carefully picked from over 130 applications and will join the DFM team in Durban to partake in a two-day preparatory workshop, followed by two days of public pitching, round tables, and individual meetings, where they will face industry professionals (Broadcasters, funds, festivals and distribution and production company representatives) to negotiate support for their projects.” The eight documentaries and eight feature fictions this year have been selected from Egypt, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Libya, Niger and South Africa representing a dynamic range of work-in-progress and collaborations between the various countries and nationalities. “This year’s selection profiles an eclectic mix of stories from across Africa, bringing some new talents to the Durban FilmMart that we are excited to present to attending industry professionals,” says Monty. “We would like to congratulate all the selected projects on their success and thank all directors and producers who took the time to apply with their projects.”
Durban FilmMart 2018 Official Project Selection

Fiction
Blood & Honey, (Egypt) – Producer: Mohamed Siam, Guillaume de Seille, Director: Mohamed Siam Insila kashaka, (South Africa) – Producer: Sibongile Nene, Director: Brian Khawula, Sibongile Nene, Country Nyanga / The Horn, (Zimbabwe) – Producer: Sue-Ellen Chitunya, Brett Michael Innes, Director: Brett Michael Innes Snake, (South Africa) – Producer: Paul Egan, Stanford Gibson and Mustapha Hendricks, Director: Meg Rickards Streams, (Tunisia) – Producer: Moufida Fedhila, Director: Mehdi Hmili Of Virtue, (South Africa) – Producer: David Horler, Director: Imran Hamdulay Plunderer, The, (Nigeria) Producer: Ikechukwu Omenaihe Director: Didi Cheeka Porta-Retrato, (Mozambique) – Producer: Aldino Languana, Osvaldo Lupini Bambamba, Director: Orlando Mabasso Jr.
Documentaries
At Dawn, (Nigeria) – Producer / Director: Adeyemi Michael Cheese Girl, (South Africa) – Producer: Batana Vundla, Marion Isaacs, Director: Milisuthando Bongela Fitrah: To Be as God Created You, (South Africa) – Producer: Kelly Scott, Director: Richard Finn Gregory How to Steal a Country (And win it back.), (South Africa) – Producer: Zivia Desai, Rehad Desai, Director: Mark Kaplan, Rehad Desai Master’s Plan, The, (Cape Verde) – Producer: Hanne Phlypo, Director: Yuri Ceuninck Mother City, (South Africa) – Producer: Pearlie Joubert, Miki Redelinguys, Director: Pearlie Joubert, Miki Redelinguys Searching for Kikhia, (Libya) – Producer: Desert Power / Christina Carvalho, Director: Jihan Kikhia Zinder, The Seeds of Violence, (Niger) – Producer: Clara Vuillermoz, Ousmane Samassekou, Director: Aicha Macky
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Las Vegas Film Festival Reveals 2018 Shorts, Labs and College Shorts Showcases Lineup

The Las Vegas Film Festival followed up its impressive initial programming lineup with even more programming for the upcoming 11th edition of the festival – including shorts, labs and college shorts showcases. The 2018 Festival will take place June 6 to 10 at Brenden Theatres and Palms Casino Resort.
SHORTS
[O] (Director: Mario Radev) – A film that imitates nature in its manner of operation, depicting animated cycles in a world entirely based on sound frequency and vibration. After Her (Director: Laura Heberton) – A wayward teenage girl goes missing and her friend is haunted by her disappearance. An atmospheric sci-fi about first love and the lost girl. Counterfeit Kunko – In a city that houses millions, Smita discovers a strange prerequisite to renting a house in middle-class Mumbai. She would make an ideal tenant, except for one glaring flaw—she is an Indian woman without a husband. Emergency (Director: Joenique C. Rose) – Faced with an emergency situation, a group of young Black and Latino friends carefully weigh the pros and cons of calling the police. Footprint (Director: Laura Heberton) – FOOTPRINT is a purely observational meditation on how different people engage with the World Trade Center Memorial, exploring the ways we choose to commemorate tragedy in the age of technology, social media, and changing attitudes toward patriotism. Grandma’s House (Director: Savanah Joeckel) – Carol returns to a familiar position. Milk and Cookies (Director: Andrew Ramsay) – Grace is five. She wants milk and cookies. Everyday. Real bad. Nevada (Director: Emily Hoffman) – A young couple’s romantic weekend getaway is interrupted by a birth-control mishap in this stop-motion animated comedy. Painting with Joan (Director: Jack Robbins) – Are you curious about Minnesota’s #3 public-access painting show? Satellite Strangers (Director: James Bascara) – A strange cacophony. Symphony of a Sad Sea (Director: Carlos Morales) – Hugo, a Mexican child and victim of violence, flees his hometown with one single dream: crossing to the United States to meet his father and leave his past behind. The Blazing World (Director: Andrew Carlberg) – Margaret has been plagued with dreams of a strange world since she was a little girl. After a mysterious man with a map visits her one night, she decides to give in to the incessant calls of The Blazing World. THE PASSAGE (Director: Kitao Sakurai) – Phil, wide-eyed and mute, is on the run after escaping captivity. Three Course (Director: Noah Pitifer) – A server struggles with a three course meal. Thrifters (Director: Jake Pepito) – In the fiercely competitive world of second-hand chic, a loyal “thrifting duo” faces drama and challenges. We Summoned A Demon (Director: Chris McInroy) – They just wanted to be cool. Instead, they got a demon. Yule Tidings (Director: Charles Cantrell) – Trying to land their places in Hollywood royalty, two dudes prepare for their Christmas party. But when danger presents itself next door, they quickly get lured into a rabbit hole full of black magic and bunnies.
COLLEGE SHORTS SHOWCASES
The Festival’s three college showcases feature a collection of short films produced by students from UNLV, CSN and NSC. The College Shorts Showcases will be held Wednesday, June 6 and will feature the following: UNLV Showcase: Programmed by Francisco Menendez, UNLV Professor and Artistic Director CSN Showcase: Programmed by John C. Aliano, CSN Program Director and Instructor NSC Showcase: Programmed by Adam Davis, NSC Assistant Professor and Interim Department Chair
FESTIVAL LABS
Returning this year, for the fifth time, is a program that has become a community favorite, the Music Video Lab. Local filmmakers are given a $400 grant to produce a music video for a local band that premieres at the Festival. Participating bands this year include Paige Overton (Directors: Danny Chandia and Rachel Johnson), OLAN (Director: Engie Herrera), The American Weather (Director: Tony Clifford), Sonia Barcelona (Director: Savanah Joeckel), Cameron Calloway (Director: Brett Levner) and Indigo Kidd (Director: Zachary VanTilborg). The Music Video Lab screening will take place Sunday, June 10. Another favorite local program, the Young Cinema Lab, returns for a fourth year. Children are taught how to write a screenplay with the assistance of UNLV film students, who each receive a $300 grant. The Las Vegas Film Festival then helps the UNLV filmmakers bring the screenplay to life with a special screening event at the Festival, to be held Saturday, June 9. This year’s films include: Cat Ear Trio (Director: Patrick Gonzales; Screenwriter: Hayden Balino, age 9) Rise of the Carrots (Director: Diana Sheik Yosef; Screenwriter: Ava Trundle, age 10) The Doge (Director: Sam Rodriguez; Screenwriter: Constantine Holmes, age 7) The Four Square King (Director: Aaron Lockheart; Screenwriter: Aces Umlauf, age 9) The Game (Director: Blake Gilmore; Screenwriter: Kane Trundle, age 11) The Power Dangers (Director: Brandon Mowles: Screenwriter: Raffi, age 6) Trouble over Time (Director: Rose Nordberg; Screenwriter: Paige, age 10) Weird Things (Director: Shane Gallo; Screenwriters: Olivia Runco, age 7 and Xander Peachey, age 9)
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Sheffield Doc/Fest Alternate Realities Exhibition 2018 to Feature 27 Interactive and Immersive Projects

[caption id="attachment_29185" align="aligncenter" width="899"] Vestige[/caption] The 2018 Sheffield Doc/Fest Alternate Realities Exhibition, supported by Arts Council England, features 27 interactive and immersive projects; including 1 game, 1 augmented reality, 3 interactive documentaries, 3 installations, 9 virtual reality installations and 10 mobile VR projects; plus special events, talks and industry sessions. 2018 audiences will be treated to 9 World, 5 International, 6 European and 6 UK premieres, as well as 1 festival premiere. Spread over two floors at Trafalgar Warehouse, the exhibition comprises a lower ground space entitled The World Unknown to You which will feature virtual and augmented reality, video games and digital installations that take the audience into the lives of others. The floor above entitled Better Known Truths, supported by the DDD60 project, is a communal space in which synchronous virtual reality shows will bring audiences together to experience 360º documentaries from around the world. Doc/Fest 2018 also features four Alternate Realities Special Live events: The Dark Room, The Incredible Playable Show, Reeps One: We Speak Live Music and DOUBLETHINK. All Alternate Realities projects, except Special Live events, are competing across three award categories: the Virtual Reality award, Alternate Realities Interactive award and Audience Award. All award winners will be announced at the Sheffield Doc/Fest Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 12 June. In addition to the Alternative Realities exhibition, The Alternate Realities Summit (supported by Arts Council England) is taking place on Sunday 10 June. The morning session will explore the theme of Portrayals, whilst the afternoon will focus on the topic of Union. Three keynote speakers taking part in the summit are: William Uricchio who leads the MiT open Doc lab, Ruthie Doyle from the Sundance Institute and Zahra Rasool, the lead of Al Jazeera’s Contrast VR team (based in Doha/Washington/NYC). Artists featured in Better Known Truths in the Alternate Realities Exhibition will examine how we reflect the culture, identity and history of a diverse selection of contributors within 360º documentary; while those in The World Unknown to You will debate how different types of interactive and immersive artists use different interfaces/media to bring us together to celebrate our collective humanity. Compared by Sharna Jackson (Arts & Digital Consultant) and Emma Cooper (Creative Digital Consultant). The festival opens on Thursday June 7, the Alternate Realities exhibition will be open to audiences for the duration of the festival. Alternate Realities Special Live events will take place on the following dates: June 8th: Reeps One: We Speak Live Music, June 9th: The Dark Room, June 11th: The Incredible Playable Show and June 8th/9th/10th/11th/12th: DOUBLETHINK.
ALTERNATE REALITIES SPECIAL EVENTS
Reeps One: We Speak Music Live (World premiere, UK, 2018, 75 mins, prod. Live Cinema UK / Get Involved) World class beatboxer and vocal artist Reeps One presents the world premiere of his new live show We Speak Music Live, which blends the latest technology, stunning visuals, and unbelievable vocal performances to explore the human voice and self-expression. Reeps One will take part in a Q&A after the screening to talk about the crossover between music, science and mental health with a neuroscientist. The Dark Room (UK, 2018, 60 mins, dir. John Robertson, prod. Charlotte Austin) Comedian John Robertson’s smash-hit live-action adventure game is coming to Sheffield for a one-off Doc/Fest special at Trafalgar Warehouse. Look out for bespoke documentary and Sheffield references, as you awake to find yourself in a Dark Room. Stuck inside with your fellow audience members you must work together to escape. You, the audience, must choose-your-own adventure and select an option. Will you: A) Find the light switch? B) Go North? C) Cry for help? The Incredible Playable Show (UK, 2018, 60 mins, dir. Alistair Aitcheson) An award-winning live video game show where you, the audience, take to the stage. Become human buttons, zap each other with barcode scanners, and play Pac-Man using inflatable toys. Or sit back, and watch your friends literally become cogs in a hilarious machine. Interactive ringmaster Alistair Aitcheson brings the madcap hilarity of his theatrical gaming mashup to Sheffield for a special performance at Doc/Fest. Referencing iconic Sheffield landmarks, themes from the Alternate Realities programme like memory and data and lampooning the documentary world in its own unique idiom. The Sheffield chapter of Incredible Playable can only be experienced as part of Doc/Fest’s Alternate Realities programme in Trafalgar Warehouse DOUBLETHINK (World premiere, UK, 2018, 15 mins, creators. Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, prod. Phantoscopic) Experience DOUBLETHINK and be faced with a binary decision: enter the container marked HATE or the one marked HOPE. But choose wisely, because you can’t experience both… DOUBLETHINK is an immersive video installation by renowned artists and filmmakers Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard (20,000 Days on Earth), written by Stuart Evers and performed by George MacKay (Pride, Sunshine on the Leith). Created specifically for Sheffield Doc/Fest with support from Wellcome and in consultation with mental health researchers.
THE INTERACTIVE AWARD & AUDIENCE AWARD – PROJECTS IN COMPETITION:
Belongings (UK premiere; USA, 2018, 20 mins, creator. John-Paul Marin, Matt Smith, Tea Uglow, Kirstin Sillitoe, prod. Megan Gibbon, Jonathan Richards, Installation) Experience an intimate interaction with displaced people and their stories of identity, resilience and hope. Cosmic Top Secret (UK premiere; Denmark / Australia, 2018, 60 mins, creator. Trine Laier, prod. Lise Saxtrup, Interactive Documentary) An autobiographical adventure game about a girl called T who wants to find out what her Dad did for the Danish Intelligence Service during the Cold War. Homo Machina (European premiere; France / Germany, 2018, 90 mins, creator. Marc Lustigman, Noam Roubah, Olivier Bonhomme , prod. Laura Fournier, Claire Léger, Interactive Documentary) Dive into a fantastic universe where the human body becomes a gigantic mechanised factory, inspired by Fritz Kahn’s medical illustrations. The Loss Levels (Festival premiere; UK, 2018, 4 mins, creator. Dan Hett, prod. Dan Hett, Game) A deeply personal yet playful story of loss based on the artist’s personal experience during the 2017 terrorist attack on the Manchester Arena. Sensible Data / Mixed Emotions (World premiere; Switzerland, 2018, 5 mins, creator. Martin Hertig, prod. Martin Hertig, Installation) Discover how the machine sees you and decide whether that re-informs how you see yourself. Terminal 3 (European premiere; USA / Pakistan, 2018, 12 mins, creator. Asad J. Malik, prod. Jill Klekas, Jake Sally, Nigel Tierney, Zeda Stone, Augmented Reality) Explore contemporary Muslim identities in the US through the lens of an airport interrogation. The Voice of the Unicorn (World premiere; Japan / UK, 2018, loop, creator. Richard Butchins, prod. Richard Butchins, Patrick Knill, Installation) A provocative exploration of the art of the non-verbal that challenges how we see and understand language, disability, art and alienation. Where is Home (UK premiere; Nigeria / Canada, 2017, 30 mins, creator. Ifeatu Nnaobi, prod. Ifeatu Nnaobi, Interactive Documentary) A journey through West Africa that asks the simple question What is home?, but reveals a complex range of thought provoking answers.
THE VIRTUAL REALITY AWARD & AUDIENCE AWARD – PROJECTS IN COMPETITION:
The Day The World Changed (International premiere; USA / Japan, 10 mins, 2018, creator. Gabo Arora, Saschka Unseld, prod. Jennifer Tiexiera, Virtual Reality Installation) An intimate history and commemoration of the victims and survivors of atomic bombings and nuclear arms testing through first-hand testimonies. Face To Face (World premiere; USA, 2018, 45 mins, creator. Michelle Gabel, Michaela Holland, prod. Ivana Jiron, Virtual Reality Installation) (Festival Commission) A compelling installation based on the life of Michelle Fox, who wears a facial prosthetic due to a near fatal gun injury. A Sheffield Doc/Fest commission, supported by Arts Council England. Hold The World with David Attenborough (European premiere; UK, 2017, 90 mins, creator. Dan Smith, prod. John Cassy, Virtual Reality Installation) A unique one on one encounter with a digitally realised Sir David Attenborough, in which he teaches you how to examine remarkable specimens from the Natural History Museum’s collection. Is Anna OK? (UK premiere; UK, 2018, 10 mins, creator. Camila Ruz, prod. Tom Burton, Ben Curtis, Virtual Reality Installation) A true story of twins thrown apart by one night. Step into their shoes and a beautifully illustrated world, explore memories through objects, and uncover what happened from both perspectives. Inside a Mind at War (UK premiere; USA, 2017, 22 mins, creator. Sutu, prod. Jake Sally, Amy Rosner, Michelle Zauzig, Jackie Westfall, Virtual Reality Installation) Explore PTSD and the banal horrors of war through hand-drawn 3D illustrations of Scott England’s memories. Life in VR – California Coast (World premiere; UK, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Charlotte Jones, Tom Burton, Phil Stuart, prod. Kevin Jorge, David Bradshaw, Virtual Reality Installation) Experience life in the ocean from the microscopic to the truly gigantic and prepare to encounter the unexpected in an underwater world bursting with life. Manic VR (World premiere; Canada, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Kalina Bertin, Sandra Rodriguez, Fred Casia, prod. Sandra Rodriguez, Bob Moore, Nicolas S. Roy, Virtual Reality Installation) Uncover an extraordinary exploration into the exuberant, frightening, chaotic – but also beautiful – worlds of a bipolar imagination. Porton Down (World premiere; UK, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Don Webb, Callum Cooper, Sam Von Ehren, Anna Meller, prod. Constance Nuttall, Virtual Reality Installation) Relive the experiences of an ex-serviceman who unwittingly found himself in a bizarre, mind-altering military trial that changed the course of his life. Vestige (European premiere; UK / France / USA, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Aaron Bradbury, Paul Mowbray, prod. Paul Mowbray, Antoine Cayrol, Jill Klekas Basmajian, Virtual Reality Installation) Journey into the mind of Lisa as she remembers her lost love, Erik through a series of fragmented memories. Authentically Us: We’re Still Here (European premiere; USA, 2017, 3 mins, creator. Jesse Ayala, prod. Amy Seidenwurm, Anna Therese Day, Lauren Burmaster, Paula Cuneo, Mobile VR) Step into the life of Aiden ShortCould a Two-Spirit artist and historian in Boise, Idaho, struggling to preserve and revive his heritage in a race against time. Berlin Paris Terror (UK premiere; Germany, 2017, 20 mins, creator. Jürgen Brügger, Jörg Haaßengier, Astrid Schult, Ricarda Saleh, prod. Dorothee Pitz, Maik Bialk, Sophie Schulenburg, Mobile VR) Experience the memories of the first responders and surviving hostages of the major terrorist incidents in Germany and Paris. Every King Tide (International premiere; Australia, 2018, 10 mins, creator. Aaron Fa’Aoso, Craig Deeker, Greer Simpkin, prod. Greer Simpkin, Tanith Glynn-Maloney, Mobile VR) Poruma island in the Torres Strait of Australia is slowly being swallowed by the sea, hear a first-person perspective of a community’s spirit & passion for the island they call home. Grenfell: Our Home (World premiere; UK, 2018, 20 mins, creator. Jonathan Rudd, prod. Nicki Chandris, Alessandra Bonomolo, Mobile VR) An experience that combines powerful interviews with beautiful animation to visualise the memories of home still held by the survivors of the Grenfell fire of 14 June 2017. Life After Hate: Meeting a Monster (International premiere; USA, 2017, 10 mins, creator. Gabriela Arp, prod. Gabriela Arp, Mobile VR) Witness Angela King relive the memories and motivations of the eight years she spent inside the white power movement and the path she took to get out. Sanctuaries of Silence (European premiere; USA, 2017, 8 mins, creator. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Adam Loften, prod. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Adam Loften, Mobile VR) A mindful and thought-provoking film that highlights the impact of noise pollution on a journey into Olympic National Park, one of the quietest places in North America. The Journey (World premiere; USA, Germany, Hong Kong, 2018, 10 mins, creator. Charlotte Windle Mikkelborg, prod. Toby Fricker, Tanya Turkovich, Mobile VR) Journey through childhood in three of the toughest environments on Earth. The Real Thing (International premiere; France, 2018, 16 mins, creator. Benoit Felici, Mathais Chelebourg, prod. Benjamin Landsberger, Mobile VR) Step into a copy of our world, exploring real-life stories inside China’s replicas of Paris, Venice and London. This Is Climate Change: Feast & Famine (International premiere; USA, Somalia, Brazil, Greenland, 2018, 18 mins, creator. Danfung Dennis, Eric Strauss, prod. Diana El-Osta, Catherine Yrisarri, Mobile VR) Confront our new reality of catastrophic weather events that are displacing communities and transforming landscapes with alarming speed. [caption id="attachment_29184" align="aligncenter" width="1350"] Yemen’s Skies of Terror[/caption] Yemen’s Skies of Terror (World premiere; Yemen, 2018, 6 mins, creator. Viktorija Mickute, Joi Lee, Zahra Rasool, prod. Viktorija Mickute, Joi Lee, Zahra Rasool, Zahra Rasool, Mobile VR) Witness a rare glimpse of life inside Yemen and learn about the reality of childhood in a country that has suffered three years of devastating air raids falling from the skies.
THE FULL ALTERNATE REALITIES EXHIBITION LINE-UP – BY STRAND:

THE WORLD UNKNOWN TO YOU
Belongings (UK premiere; USA, 2018, 20 mins, creator. John-Paul Marin, Matt Smith, Tea Uglow, Kirstin Sillitoe, prod. Megan Gibbon, Jonathan Richards, Installation) Experience an intimate interaction with displaced people and their stories of identity, resilience and hope. Cosmic Top Secret (UK premiere; Denmark / Australia, 2018, 60 mins, creator. Trine Laier, prod. Lise Saxtrup, Interactive Documentary) An autobiographical adventure game about a girl called T who wants to find out what her Dad did for the Danish Intelligence during the Cold War. Face To Face (World premiere; USA, 2018, 45 mins, creator. Michelle Gabel, Michaela Holland, prod. Ivana Jiron, Virtual Reality Installation) (Festival Commission) A compelling installation based on the life of Michelle Fox, who wears a facial prosthetic due to a near fatal gun injury. A Sheffield Doc/Fest commission, supported by Arts Council England. Hold The World with David Attenborough (European premiere; UK, 2017, 90 mins, creator. Dan Smith, prod. John Cassy, Virtual Reality Installation) A unique one on one encounter with a digitally realised Sir David Attenborough, in which he teaches you how to examine remarkable specimens from the Natural History Museum’s collection. Homo Machina (European premiere; France / Germany, 2018, 90 mins, creator. Marc Lustigman, Noam Roubah, Olivier Bonhomme , prod. Laura Fournier, Claire Léger, Interactive Documentary) Dive into a fantastic universe where the human body becomes a gigantic mechanised factory, inspired by Fritz Kahn‚ Äôs medical illustrations. The Day The World Changed (International premiere; USA / Japan, 10 mins, 2018, creator. Gabo Arora, Saschka Unseld, prod. Jennifer Tiexiera, Virtual Reality Installation) An intimate history and commemoration of the victims and survivors of atomic bombings and nuclear arms testing through first-hand testimonies. Is Anna OK? (UK premiere; UK, 2018, 10 mins, creator. Camila Ruz, prod. Tom Burton, Ben Curtis, Virtual Reality Installation) A true story of twins thrown apart by one night. Step into their shoes and a beautifully illustrated world, explore memories through objects, and uncover what happened from both perspectives. Inside a Mind at War (UK premiere; USA, 2017, 22 mins, creator. Sutu, prod. Jake Sally, Amy Rosner, Michelle Zauzig, Jackie Westfall, Virtual Reality Installation) Explore PTSD and the banal horrors of war through hand-drawn 3D illustrations of Scott England’s memories. Life in VR – California Coast (World premiere; UK, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Charlotte Jones, Tom Burton, Phil Stuart, prod. Kevin Jorge, David Bradshaw, Virtual Reality Installation) Experience life in the ocean from the microscopic to the truly gigantic and prepare to encounter the unexpected in an underwater world bursting with life. The Loss Levels (Festival premiere; UK, 2018, 4 mins, creator. Dan Hett, prod. Dan Hett, Game) A deeply personal yet playful story of loss based on the artist’s personal experience during the 2017 terrorist attack on the Manchester Arena. Manic VR (World premiere; Canada, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Kalina Bertin, Sandra Rodriguez, Fred Casia, prod. Sandra Rodriguez, Bob Moore, Nicolas S. Roy, Virtual Reality Installation) Uncover an extraordinary exploration into the exuberant, frightening, chaotic – but also beautiful – worlds of a bipolar imagination. Porton Down (World premiere; UK, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Don Webb, Callum Cooper, Sam Von Ehren, Anna Meller, prod. Constance Nuttall, Virtual Reality Installation) Encounter the experiences of an ex-serviceman who unwittingly found himself in a bizarre, mind-altering military trial that changed the course of his life. Sensible Data / Mixed Emotions (World premiere; Switzerland, 2018, 5 mins, creator. Martin Hertig, prod. Martin Hertig, Installation) Discover how the machine sees you and decide whether that re-informs how you see yourself. Terminal 3 (European premiere; USA / Pakistan, 2018, 12 mins, creator. Asad J. Malik, prod. Jill Klekas, Jake Sally, Nigel Tierney, Zeda Stone, Augmented Reality) Explore contemporary Muslim identities in the US through the lens of an airport interrogation. Vestige (European premiere; UK / France / USA, 2018, 15 mins, creator. Aaron Bradbury, Paul Mowbray, prod. Paul Mowbray, Antoine Cayrol, Jill Klekas Basmajian, Virtual Reality Installation) Journey into the mind of Lisa as she remembers her lost love, Erik through a series of fragmented memories. The Voice of the Unicorn (World premiere; Japan / UK, 2018, loop, creator. Richard Butchins, prod. Richard Butchins, Patrick Knill, Installation) A provocative exploration of the art of the non-verbal that challenges how we see and understand language, disability, art and alienation. Where is Home (UK premiere; Nigeria / Canada, 2017, 30 mins, creator. Ifeatu Nnaobi, prod. Ifeatu Nnaobi, Interactive Documentary) A journey through West Africa that asks the simple question What is home?, but reveals a complex range of thought provoking answers.
BETTER KNOWN TRUTHS
Authentically Us: We’re Still Here (European premiere; USA, 2017, 3 mins, creator. Jesse Ayala, prod. Amy Seidenwurm, Anna Therese Day, Lauren Burmaster, Paula Cuneo, Mobile VR) Step into the life of Aiden ShortCould a Two-Spirit artist and historian in Boise, Idaho, struggling to preserve and revive his heritage in a race against time. Berlin Paris Terror (UK premiere; Germany, 2017, 20 mins, creator. Jürgen Brügger, Jörg Haaßengier, Astrid Schult, Ricarda Saleh, prod. Dorothee Pitz, Maik Bialk, Sophie Schulenburg, Mobile VR) Experience the memories of the first responders and surviving hostages of the major terrorist incidents in Germany and Paris. Every King Tide (International premiere; Australia, 2018, 10 mins, creator. Aaron Fa’Aoso, Craig Deeker, Greer Simpkin, prod. Greer Simpkin, Tanith Glynn-Maloney, Mobile VR) Poruma island in the Torres Strait of Australia is slowly being swallowed by the sea, hear a first-person perspective of a community’s spirit & passion for the island they call home. Grenfell: Our Home (World premiere; UK, 2018, 20 mins, creator. Jonathan Rudd, prod. Nicki Chandris, Alessandra Bonomolo, Mobile VR) An experience that combines powerful interviews with beautiful animation to visualise the memories of home still held by the survivors of the Grenfell fire of 14 June 2017. Life After Hate: Meeting a Monster (International premiere; USA, 2017, 10 mins, creator. Gabriela Arp, prod. Gabriela Arp, Mobile VR) Witness Angela King relive the memories and motivations of the eight years she spent inside the white power movement and the path she took to get out. Sanctuaries of Silence (European premiere; USA, 2017, 8 mins, creator. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Adam Loften, prod. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, Adam Loften, Mobile VR) A mindful and thought-provoking film that highlights the impact of noise pollution on a journey into Olympic National Park, one of the quietest places in North America. The Journey (World premiere; USA, Germany, Hong Kong, 2018, 10 mins, creator. Charlotte Windle Mikkelborg, prod. Toby Fricker, Tanya Turkovich, Mobile VR) Journey through childhood in three of the toughest environments on Earth. The Real Thing (International premiere; France, 2018, 16 mins, creator. Benoit Felici, Mathais Chelebourg, prod. Benjamin Landsberger, Mobile VR) Step into a copy of our world, exploring real-life stories inside China’s replicas of Paris, Venice and London. This Is Climate Change: Feast & Famine (International premiere; USA, Somalia, Brazil, Greenland, 2018, 18 mins, creator. Danfung Dennis, Eric Strauss, prod. Diana El-Osta, Catherine Yrisarri, Mobile VR) Confront our new reality of catastrophic weather events that are displacing communities and transforming landscapes with alarming speed. Yemen’s Skies of Terror (World premiere; Yemen, 2018, 6 mins, creator. Viktorija Mickute, Joi Lee, Zahra Rasool, prod. Viktorija Mickute, Joi Lee, Zahra Rasool, Zahra Rasool, Mobile VR) Witness a rare glimpse of life inside Yemen and learn about the reality of childhood in a country that has suffered three years of devastating air raids falling from the skies
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THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE to Close Cannes Film Festival, Following French Court Ruling

On Wednesday May 9, 2018, the French court dismissed the request by Paulo Branco and his production company Alfama Films Production to ban Terry Gilliam’s film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote from being screened during the Closing night of the Cannes Film Festival, on Saturday May 19, 2018. In its press release hailing the ruling, the Cannes Film Festival stated, As such, Paulo Branco and his production company Alfama Films Production have, naturally, seen their claim for compensation from the Festival de Cannes thrown out, having openly denigrated the event in the press and on social media, asserting that its organizers had no right to select The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to be presented in Cannes. The campaign of attempted intimidation orchestrated by Paulo Branco and his lawyer son have therefore proved fruitless. The urgent applications judge has, through this decision, confirmed that contrary to what the Brancos have continued to claim (among other slanderous attacks and lies), the Festival de Cannes has never placed itself above the law nor has it attempted to force through a decision. The Festival de Cannes, which throughout the case has repeatedly expressed its loyalty and support for the creators, is pleased to see that justice will allow the presentation of this work, whose director surely deserves to see it finally presented to the public. We are very pleased that this unique – and in some ways agonizing – work in the career of the great director Terry Gilliam will be unveiled for the first time to journalists, festival-goers and professionals from around the world, gathered together in the Grand Amphithéâtre Lumière. Since Tuesday, cinema has regained its rights. The Festival is a unique forum for freedom of expression. It will remain so.
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AFI DOCS 2018 Unveils Full Slate of 92 Films

[caption id="attachment_29156" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] UNITED SKATES[/caption] AFI DOCS has finally revealed its full slate of 92 films representing 22 countries for the 16th edition of the American Film Institute’s five-day documentary film festival in the nation’s capital. AFI DOCS 2018 runs June 13 to 17 in Washington, DC, and Silver Spring, MD. As previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of PERSONAL STATEMENT and will close with UNITED SKATES. ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW screens as the Centerpiece Screening. Special Screenings include THE COLD BLUE, KINSHASA MAKAMBO, MR. SOUL! and WITKIN & WITKIN.
AFI DOCS 2018 PROGRAM

OPENING NIGHT SCREENING
PERSONAL STATEMENT: DIRS Juliane Dressner and Edwin Martinez. USA. Karoline, Enoch and Christine are Brooklyn high school seniors who just want to go to college, but like so many public-school students throughout the country, their schools don’t have enough college guidance support. Refusing to give up, they decide to work as college counselors in their schools, becoming the very resource they don’t have themselves. World Premiere.
CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING
UNITED SKATES: DIRS Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown. USA. Roller-skating has played a critical role in modern African-American culture, with rinks serving as both a haven of community and of artistic expression, and a flashpoint in the civil rights movement. UNITED SKATES chronicles the fight to save these rinks, and the souls of communities nationwide.
CENTERPIECE SCREENING
ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW: DIR Rory Kennedy. USA. Rory Kennedy tells the stories of the women and men behind the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s decades-long exploration of our solar system, our universe and our planet, in this enlightening film that celebrates NASA’s triumphs, mourns its tragedies and affirms the importance of its mission both in space and on Earth.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
THE COLD BLUE: DIR Erik Nelson. USA. In 1943, legendary Hollywood director William Wyler crafted MEMPHIS BELLE, a celebrated tribute to the titular WWII bomber. Using footage shot by Wyler from the National Archives, director Erik Nelson has made a new film, featuring gripping narration from some of the last surviving B-17 pilots. A meditation on youth, war and stunning bravery. World Premiere. KINSHASA MAKAMBO: DIR Dieudo Hamadi. DRC, France, Germany. Amid the backdrop of seemingly the neverending political and social unrest that hangs over the Democratic Republic of Congo, three young activists take to the streets with their fellow countrymen to overthrow their country’s President and help enact much needed change in their politically beleaguered country. East Coast Premiere. MR. SOUL!: DIRS Sam Pollard and Melissa Haizlip. USA. An in-depth look at the late 1960s WNET public television series SOUL! and its producer Ellis Haizlip. The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. WITKIN + WITKIN: DIR Trisha Ziff. Mexico. The artwork of septuagenarian twins Joel-Peter and Jerome Witkin transcends genres and traditional form. WITKIN & WITKIN explores the brothers’ complicated relationship with one another, and examines depths and divisions in their work. Joel-Peter’s stunning photography and Jerome’s powerful figurative paintings distinctly capture the human condition, reflecting differing emotional and intellectual approaches. U.S. Premiere.
FEATURE FILM SELECTIONS
209 RUE SAINT-MAUR, PARIS 10ÈME – THE NEIGHBOURS: DIR Ruth Zylberman. France. After selecting a building at random in a Jewish neighborhood in Paris, French director Ruth Zylberman meticulously reconstructed its community of inhabitants during the German occupation. What results is the spellbinding 209 RUE SAINT-MAUR, an experimental historiography that tells the emotional story of lives uprooted and destroyed under the Nazis. U.S. Premiere. ALONE IN THE GAME: DIRS Natalie Metzger and Michael Rohrbaugh. USA. Outdated ideas and outright prejudice have made competitive sports one of the gay rights movement’s final frontiers. ALONE IN THE GAME reveals how a new generation of queer and transgender athletes are scoring victories on and off the field by standing up for their rights — including the right to compete. World Premiere. AMÉRICA: DIRS Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside. USA. At the heart of this film is 93-year-old matriarch América. When an accidental fall lands her son in jail for neglect, her three freewheeling grandsons must reunite to get their father out of prison and their grandmother out of bed. What emerges is an unforgettable and tender tale of familial love. AMERICA TO ME: DIR Steve James. USA. In this first episode of his excellent miniseries, Steve James returns to the subjects that have marked his career — class, race, and how the two affect social and economic mobility. James follows students at a public high school in suburban Chicago that is considered the gold standard of diversity, yet on the ground, he discovers a different story. BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY: DIR Dava Whisenant. USA. Steve Young is obsessed with industrial musicals, the often bizarre and hilarious productions commissioned by companies to celebrate their products at corporate conventions. Follow him as he investigates this odd aspect of midcentury corporate culture, while continuing his search for gems like “Diesel Dazzle” and “The Bathrooms Are Coming!” BISBEE ’17: DIR Robert Greene. USA. Bisbee, Arizona, an old copper-mining town on the Mexican border, finally reckons with its darkest day: the deportation of 1,200 immigrant miners left to die in the middle of the desert in 1917. Filmmaker Robert Greene captures the city’s residents as they commemorate this tragic event by staging a reenactment on its 100th anniversary. BLOWIN’ UP: DIR Stephanie Wang-Breal. USA. A New York City courtroom recommends a unique and compassionate intervention option to young women charged with prostitution: submit to free counseling sessions designed by a mentoring program to get you off the street, and your record will be expunged. Are they ready to make that change? CENTRAL AIRPORT THF: DIR Karim Aïnouz. Germany, France, Brazil. A decade after ceasing operations, Berlin’s historic Tempelhof Airport has found a second life serving a new group of arrivals and departures: refugees now seeking asylum in Germany. CENTRAL AIRPORT THF looks at the absurdity of life for migrants making the most of the long layover. CHARM CITY: DIR Marilyn Ness. USA. On the streets of Baltimore, the murder rate is approaching an all-time high, and distrust of the police reaches a fever pitch. With neighborhoods in peril, residents attempt to diffuse the violence through cooperative efforts helmed by community leaders, compassionate law-enforcement officers and a progressive young city councilman. COMBAT OBSCURA: DIR Miles Lagoze. USA. Miles Lagoze was deployed as a combat photographer in Afghanistan, making videos for official Marine Corps recruitment purposes. Compiled of outtakes from those videos, this disturbingly raw portrait of the conflict in Afghanistan exposes the gulf between the war we’re meant to see and the war as it really is. East Coast Premiere. CRIME + PUNISHMENT: DIR Stephen Maing. USA. In 2015, a group of 12 whistleblower cops sued the NYPD for using illegal quotas despite a 2010 statewide ban on the practice. A blood-boiling investigation into a corrupt organization, CRIME + PUNISHMENT follows these officers as they face retaliation for attempting to resist against racist practices. DARK MONEY: DIR Kimberly Reed. USA. A portrait of democracy under fire, DARK MONEY pulls back the curtain on big money in national politics. Revealing how right-wing giants like the Koch brothers hide behind super PACs to do their bidding — in the forms of corporate-funded smear campaigns and dangerous legislation — this film is as timely as it is eye-opening. THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS: DIR Simon Lereng Wilmont. Denmark, Finland, Sweden. Taking an observational approach, this masterful film follows 10-year-old Oleg and his grandmother as they cope with life mere miles from the frontline of the war in Ukraine, showing how children navigate the trauma of conflict, while still seeing the world with naiveté and wonder. DON’T BE NICE: DIR Max Powers. USA. Following a diverse team of slam poets as they mine their feelings and personal experiences about race, sexuality, gender and popular culture to craft poems for national competition, DON’T BE NICE demonstrates how collaboration and communication between artists can allow them to better understand who they are and what they want to say. U.S. Premiere. FOR THE BIRDS: DIR Richard Miron. USA. In Richard Miron’s surprising and empathetic film, we follow a woman named Kathy who lives with 200 pet birds. What starts as a story about Kathy’s battle with local animal advocacy groups slowly transforms into an intimate drama about the toll of Kathy’s bird-hoarding — on her marriage and mental health. North American Premiere. FOSTER: DIR Mark Jonathan Harris. USA. Oscar® winners Mark Jonathan Harris and Deborah Oppenheimer (INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS: STORIES OF THE KINDERTRANSPORT) roam courtrooms, foster homes, juvenile halls and the streets of Los Angeles to tell the moving human stories behind the largest county child protection agency in the United States. World Premiere. THE GOSPEL OF EUREKA: DIRS Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher. USA. A tiny Arkansas town is home to a popular live-action Passion Play — and a tightknit gay community centered around a lively drag bar. A touching, upbeat look at an enlightened town that maintains a peaceful coexistence of two seemingly divergent groups through tolerance, love and inclusion. GURRUMUL: DIR Paul Williams. Australia. With the release of his debut album, blind indigenous Australian musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu became an unlikely star in both his homeland and in the larger world music scene. But as Gurrumul’s fame grew, the balance between his culture’s way of life and a career in music proved tricky to maintain. U.S. Premiere. HAL: DIR Amy Scott. USA. Surveying the works of iconoclastic filmmaker Hal Ashby (HAROLD AND MAUDE, THE LAST DETAIL, COMING HOME), director Amy Scott identifies how Ashby’s brilliant and seminal works helped define both the New Hollywood of the 1970s and the American experience for a decade. HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING: DIR RaMell Ross. USA. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, RaMell Ross’ assured feature debut is a lyrical look at the lives of two young African-American men born and raised in Alabama’s Hale County, the community that surrounds them and the paths they follow throughout the years. HAPPY WINTER: DIR Giovanni Totaro. Italy. The escapism of being on holiday gets a fascinating twist in Giovanni Totaro’s shrewdly observant HAPPY WINTER. Mondello beach in Palermo, Italy, is a seemingly pleasant circus of bronzed vacationers milling about. But behind the happy goings-on is a different story of collective denial about the looming economic crisis. U.S. Premiere. HESBURGH: DIR Patrick Creadon. USA. He counseled presidents and popes, served on corporate boards and infuriated Richard Nixon. He was one of the only friends to whom Ann Landers turned for advice. During his 35 years as president of the University of Notre Dame, Theodore Hesburgh became one of the most influential and inspiring people of the 20th century. World Premiere. INTO THE OKAVANGO: DIR Neil Gelinas. USA. National Geographic photographer Neil Gelinas makes his directorial debut with INTO THE OKAVANGO. This visually stunning film follows three passionate individuals as they embark on a four-month journey along the titular river — witnessing Africa’s animal and bird population in visceral, jaw-dropping close-up — to discover why the Okavango Delta is rapidly drying up. INVENTING TOMORROW: DIR Laura Nix. USA. Laura Nix’s inspiring film follows high school students from around the world, many of whom hail from dangerously polluted countries, as they tackle daunting environmental issues affecting their communities. Watch as the teens then bring their ingeniously proposed solutions to “the science fair of science fairs” — the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. IT WILL BE CHAOS: DIRS Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo. USA. Follow an Eritrean man and a Syrian family on dual quests for freedom amid the refugee crisis in the eastern Mediterranean. Tension mounts as they battle the rough seas, harsh conditions and red tape standing in their way. Will they make it to a new life in Europe? THE LIBERATION: DIRS Christoph Green and Brendan Canty. USA. Therapy sessions, cooking lessons and raw personal stories provide the drama in THE LIBERATION, DC-based filmmakers Christoph Green and Brendan Canty’s story of the formerly incarcerated men and women struggling to get through DC Central Kitchen’s 14-week culinary training program. Can they make it and turn their lives around? East Coast Premiere. LOVE, GILDA: DIR Lisa D’Apolito. USA. Lisa D’Apolito’s moving documentary LOVE, GILDA looks back at the exuberant life and courageous death of Gilda Radner, the first female superstar of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. Using an abundance of archival photos and clips, along with confessional narration by Radner, the film paints a loving portrait of her short but spectacularly eventful life. MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A.: DIR Stephen Loveridge. UK. Drawn from 22 years’ worth of personal video footage, MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is an intimate look at the life of rapper, songwriter and activist M.I.A., from her childhood in war-torn Sri Lanka, to her eventual rise to international stardom as one of the most thought-provoking artists working in music today. MCQUEEN: DIRS Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui. UK. This intimate profile offers unparalleled access to one of the fashion industry’s brightest stars, Alexander McQueen. Brilliant, bold and informed by a British punk aesthetic, the designer was known for his exquisite and strikingly original clothes and his legendary runway shows — theatrical spectacles influenced by contemporary art, theater and photography. MINDING THE GAP: DIR Bing Liu. USA. First-time filmmaker Bing Liu turns the camera on himself, his family members and his skateboarder friends in this deeply moving depiction of three young men in a small Midwestern town grappling with issues of class, race and learning to overcome the cycles of family violence. A MURDER IN MANSFIELD: DIR Barbara Kopple. USA. Two-time Oscar® winner Barbara Kopple takes on true crime, revisiting a horrific 1989 domestic murder in Ohio. Collier Boyle was 12 when his father killed and buried his wife under the flooring of a remote countryside home. Now an adult, Collier returns to Mansfield to face the lingering impact of his mother’s murder. ON HER SHOULDERS: DIR Alexandria Bombach. USA. Filmmaker Alexandria Bombach follows Nadia Murad, a young Yazidi woman who gained international attention after escaping captivity by the Islamic State. Forgoing sensationalism, Bombach’s award-winning film offers a fresh perspective on Nadia’s new life as a human rights activist raising awareness for her people and their plight. OVER THE LIMIT: DIR Marta Prus. Poland, Germany, Finland. As the 2016 Summer Olympics loom, Russian gymnast Margarita Mamun prepares to represent her country at this historic event. But the path to the Olympics is not an easy one in this unflinching portrait of an athlete straining to retain her humanity while going for gold. U.S. Premiere. PICK OF THE LITTER: DIRS Dana Nachman and Don Hardy. USA. Shortly after birth, five Labrador puppies enter the intensive two-year training program at California’s Guide Dogs for the Blind. Here, only the best pups will make the cut to protect and serve blind partners, while others will have to change careers for good. THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING: DIR Nathaniel Kahn. USA. An examination of the contemporary art market through the eyes of artists, dealers and collectors, THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING is the latest work from Oscar® nominee Nathaniel Kahn. Illuminating complex dynamics between artistic intention and consumer behavior, the film begs the question: What value do we place on the priceless? THE PROVIDERS: DIRS Anna Moot-Levin and Laura Green. USA. THE PROVIDERS follows three “country doctors” — health care providers working for a small network of clinics in northern New Mexico — as they confront the challenges of keeping those in their poor and opioid-plagued communities safe. As the film movingly shows each doctor’s day-to-day responsibilities, a complex portrait emerges of small-town America. SHIRKERS: DIR Sandi Tan. USA. In 1992, Sandi Tan shot a film in Singapore with her friends and her American mentor, Georges. As the film neared completion, Georges disappeared with the footage, leaving Sandi heartbroken. Twenty years later, the footage is discovered, and the strange mystery of Georges begins to unravel. THE SILENCE OF OTHERS: DIRS Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar. USA, Spain. A quest for justice by those who suffered under the repressive regime of General Francisco Franco is at the heart of this powerful and provocative film. Those who were tortured or had family members murdered are demanding the truth be told to the Spanish people, and the remaining perpetrators put on trial. U.S. Premiere. STUDIO 54: DIR Matt Tyrnauer. USA. An Icarus tale unfolds to a disco beat in STUDIO 54, an intimate peek behind the velvet ropes, where mirror balls twinkled over Liza Minelli, Diana Ross, Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol in Matt Tyrnauer’s illuminating history of the rise and fall of the legendary New York nightclub. THIS ONE’S FOR THE LADIES: DIR Gene Graham. USA. Diving inside an unexpected subculture of Newark, THIS ONE’S FOR THE LADIES follows a group of women who throw weekly underground male exotic dance parties. Exploring sexual identity and the meaning of community, the film is a unique portrait of the black experience in 21st-century America. TRANSMILITARY: DIRS Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson. USA. Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson make their stirring feature debut with TRANSMILITARY, following four individuals who come out as transgender to top officials at the Pentagon — a brave move that puts their military careers in jeopardy, and shows a struggle for equality that is more relevant than ever. TRE MAISON DASAN: DIR Denali Tiller. USA. With a parent in prison, three Rhode Island boys tackle adult realities few of their peers can even imagine. Unfettered access to three troubled but promising young lives produces an unforgettable perspective on the multigenerational consequences of U.S. incarceration, where one out of 14 kids has a parent with a prison history. UNDER THE WIRE: DIR Chris Martin. UK. In 2012, acclaimed journalist Marie Colvin illegally crossed the Syrian border to cover the country’s civil war. She became one of the only voices reporting on the atrocities being committed against the Syrian people. With breathtaking footage, UNDER THE WIRE profiles one woman’s drive to uncover the truth, no matter the cost. International Premiere. UNITED WE FAN: DIR Michael Sparaga. Canada. UNITED WE FAN follows the ingenious save-our-show campaigns that have been spurred by passionate television uber-fans throughout the decades. From STAR TREK to CAGNEY AND LACEY and CHUCK — plus many more — this delightful doc highlights the grassroots efforts needed to save beloved TV shows. U.S. Premiere. YOURS IN SISTERHOOD: DIR Irene Lusztig. USA. More than four decades after the birth of Ms. Magazine, director Irene Lusztig combs the publication’s archives and pairs some of the most memorable letters, many never published, with contemporary readers to comment on just how far we’ve come — and what we still have to accomplish.
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