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  • RBG, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg​ Docu to Open 2018 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival | Trailer

    [caption id="attachment_27452" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG by Betsy West and Julie Cohen Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG by Betsy West and Julie Cohen[/caption] R​BG​, the acclaimed documentary celebrating the life and lasting influence of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg​ will be the opening night film of the 37th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.  Charting Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life through growing up in Brooklyn, RBG shows Ginsburg pursuing her education, falling in love, her friendship with the late Justice Antonin Scalia and eventual appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court. A fighting force, Ginsburg’s determination throughout her life and career has earned her the title of “notorious” both in politics and the wider public discourse. As a history-making public figure, Ginsburg has become “notorious” through her championing of women, her ever-persistent work ethic, and her commitment to democracy. Program: Special Presentation, Women & Film. Directed by Julie Cohen, Betsy West. USA. 2018. English. 97 min. Documentary Feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIRlcQqmOc In addition to the the opening night film, the festival selected the Women & Film and Spotlight on the World: Chasms and Bridges titles.

    WOMEN & FILM

    MSPIFF’s showcase female directors from around the globe and a short list of this year’s many titles includes: Sofia Djama’s ​The Blessed​ (from Algeria), Vivian Qu’s ​Angels Wear White​ (China) and Rungano Nyoni’s ​I Am Not A Witch​ (Zambia). THE BLESSED (LES BIENHEUREUX) In postwar Algiers, Amal and Samir are a middle-aged couple hoping to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. Drifting through their day, they eventually find themselves at a restaurant. Here, they confront their differences and disillusionment, threaded with the unsettled atmosphere of postwar society. Outside, their teenaged son Fahim and his friends, Feriel and Reda, spend their day on the streets of Algiers. They too reveal ideological differences among them, their banter soon leading to the reveal of hidden wounds left by the Algerian Civil War that shaped their current world. Program: Images of Africa, Women & Film. Directed by Sofia Djama. Algeria, Belgium, France. 2018. Arabic, French w/English subtitles. 102 min. Narrative Feature. ANGELS WEAR WHITE (JIA NIAN HUA) Xiaomi, a motel cleaner, watches as a district-commissioner checks in alongside two girls, Xiaowen and Xin Xin. On the surveillance monitor, Xiaomi sees the commissioner push his way into the girls’ room, and she decides to record the event with her smartphone. In the wake of the assault, Xiaomi’s story does little good for the girls as they face their unconcerned families and a society that would rather put the blame on them than offend their attacker. Program: Asian Frontiers, Women & Film. Directed by Vivian Qu. China, France. 2018. Chinese (Mandarin) w/English subtitles. 107 min. Narrative Feature. I AM NOT A WITCH Shula is young woman accused by an older woman of being a witch. Adorned with a spindle to “tether” her to the ground and carted off to a camp for witches that bares little difference to your standard zoo, Shula is then forced to perform her “magic” for a corrupt official. Rungano Nyoni’s debut feature-film renders Shula’s journey by exploring themes of femininity, superstition and acceptance, while also keeping Shula herself a mystery to all the spectators that attempt to control her world. Program: Images of Africa, Women & Film. Directed by Rungano Nyoni. Zambia, UK, France. 2017. English. 90 min. Narrative Feature.

    CHASMS AND BRIDGES: CINEMA AND THE SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND

    The 2018 MSPIFF Spotlight on the World is Chasms and Bridges: Cinema and the Search for Common Ground​. ​Tackling the lines that divide us and the dramatic potential for reconciliation and compassion, this special series of titles and related panel discussions and workshops, are designed to open up conversations on the social and ideological divides and shifting social order shaping our world today. Such stories can be found in fiction: A Syrian outsider finds both love and bigotry in Finland (A Moment in the Reeds​); a powerful business woman comes face-to-face with the glass ceiling (Number One)​ ; upper and middle classes collide in Iran as a minor accident turns into major tragedy (No Date, No Signature​). And non-fiction: Delve into the day-to-day life of radical Islamist family (Of Father and Sons​); see the 2016 US election from the Russian perspective (Our New President​); take a frustrating look at the corruption inside the NYPD (Crime + Punishment​). A MOMENT IN THE REEDS (TÄMÄ HETKI KAISLIKOSSA) After moving to Paris for university, handsome literature student Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi’s father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and spend a few days discovering one another during the Finnish midsummer. Program: Midnight Sun, LGBTQ Currents, Spotlight. Directed by Mikko Makela. Finland, UK. 2017. English, Finnish w/English subtitles. 108 min. Narrative Feature. NUMBER ONE (NUMÉRO UNE) When Emmanuelle, an executive in a French energy firm, reaches the glass ceiling, but refuses to recognize her limited options. For years she has refused to acknowledge the sexism inherent in her workplace, but when chauvinistic male colleagues work to undermine her rise in the ranks, Emmanuelle pulls out all the stops in an attempt to capture what is rightly hers. Program: World Cinema, Women & Film, Spotlight. Directed by Tonie Marshall. France. 2017. French w/English subtitles. 110 min. Narrative Feature. OF FATHERS AND SONS The roots of home run deep in Talal Derki’s latest eye-opening feature. Returning to his homeland of Syria, documentary filmmaker Derki encounters Abu Osama and his family. Masqurading as a jihadist sympathizer, Derki integrates himself into the household of Osama, an Al-Nusra Front member. Program: World Cinema, Spotlight. Directed by Talal Derki. Germany, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar. 2018. Arabic w/English subtitles. 99 min. Documentary Feature. OUR NEW PRESIDENT In this era of fake news v. real news, acclaimed documentarian Maxim Pozdorovkin has crafted a startling cine-essay, pulling together footage from the 2016 election from YouTube, Russian-government run RT, and other sources to dig deep into the propaganda machine that may ultimately have altered the U.S. Presidential election. Program: World Cinema, Spotlight. Directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin. Russia, USA. 2017. English, Russian w/English subtitles. 77 min. Documentary Feature. CRIME + PUNISHMENT Shocking and true, Crime + Punishment explores the internal corruption of the New York City Police Department and the undeniably racist system that has persisted well past early revelations. Back in 2013, a group of 12 police officers had dared to take the NYPD to court for the corruption, but the case’s federal hearing did not lead to reform. Cut to 2017, and director Stephen Maing reconnects with the police officers who first took a stand, to find them more determined than ever to speak out against the continued injustice. Program: New American Visions, Spotlight. Directed by Stephen Maing. USA. 2018. English. 112 min. Documentary Feature NO DATE, NO SIGNATURE (BEDOONE TARIKH, BEDOONE EMZA) While on his way home from work, forensics doctor Dr. Kaveh Nariman is nearly hit by a reckless driver and in the chaos hits a motorcycle carrying Moosa, Leila, and their children. Moosa and Leila are uninjured, along with their daughter, but their young son, Amir Ali, appears to have a concussion. Brushing off a hospital visit, Kaveh and the family go their separate ways, only for the latter to discover the next day that one of the incoming bodies at the morgue where he works is Amir. Fellow colleague Dr. Sayeh Behbahnani deduces that the boy’s death was due to botulism caused by eating cheap chicken, but Nariman remains convinced that it was the motorcycle accident that ultimately caused it. Program: World Cinema, Spotlight. Directed by Vahid Jalilvand. Iran. 2017. Farsi w/English subtitles. 100 min. Narrative Feature.

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  • 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces Lineup – “306 Hollywood” “Boom for Real” and More…

    [caption id="attachment_27448" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]306 Hollywood by Elan Bogarín and Jonathan Bogarín 306 Hollywood by Elan Bogarín and Jonathan Bogarín[/caption] The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, today announced its lineup of features and short films. The 21st annual festival will take place April 5 to 8, 2018, in Durham, North Carolina. The NEW DOCS program includes 42 titles – 32 features and 10 shorts – selected from nearly 1,800 submissions from around the globe. These films are eligible for the Full Frame Audience Award and are shortlisted for a variety of additional juried awards offering a combined value of $40,000 in cash prizes. Award winners will be announced at the annual Awards Barbecue on Sunday, April 8. The Invited Program includes 22 feature films screening out of competition. Renowned filmmaker Joe Berlinger will curate the 2018 Thematic Program, and the festival will honor Jehane Noujaim’s illustrious body of work with the 2018 Tribute. Delving into the fascinating genre of true crime, the Thematic Program will feature films that follow individual cases and consider the ways documentary uniquely represents the complexities, and limitations, of the American judicial system. For the Tribute, Full Frame will showcase Noujaim’s lauded films exploring themes of resilience, freedom, democracy, and free speech.

    NEW DOCS

    306 Hollywood (Directors: Elan Bogarin, Jonathan Bogarin) When their beloved grandmother dies, two siblings embark on an imaginative exploration of her home, sifting through her belongings, and their own cherished memories, to discover her essence. América (Directors: Erick Stoll, Chase Whiteside) When their father is unexpectedly arrested, three brothers come together to care for their aging grandmother, América. This sensitive portrait delicately captures the frustrations and connections that evolve as they navigate her physical decline and their expectations of one another. The Area (Director: David Schalliol) Charismatic activist Deborah Payne tirelessly battles developers of a new multibillion-dollar freight yard that threatens to destroy Englewood, her neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. World Premiere The Bastard (Director: Floris-Jan van Luyn) The Hoeks are united in name but severed by history: Ethiopian-born Daniel and his estranged Dutch father, Joop, each tell their story, but who can be trusted in this tangled tale of regret and misdeed? Bending Lines: The Sculpture of Robert Wiggs (Directors: Peter DeHart, Allison Bohl DeHart) Inspired by the geometry of nature—from the cracks in dried mud to the structure of pine cones to the scales on armadillos—Wiggs’s artistic process reveals the intriguing interplay between mathematics and art. World Premiere The Blessing (Directors: Hunter Robert Baker, Jordan Fein) In this stunningly and candidly shot film, Lawrence, a Navajo coal miner, wrestles with his relationship to land to which he is spiritually bound but employed to destroy, while his daughter, Caitlin, forms her own identity amid cultural pressures. World Premiere Cielo (Director: Alison McAlpine) Enter a wondrous exploration of the meeting of heaven and Earth in this dynamic exchange between humans and the starry skies of Chile’s Atacama Desert. Crime + Punishment (Director: Stephen Maing) This powerful film follows twelve brave whistleblowers who speak out against illegal policing quotas in the NYPD and the retaliation they experience after refusing to make arrests targeting minority populations. David. The Return to Land (David. El regreso a la tierra) (Director: Anaïs Huerta) Haitian, French, and adopted by Jewish parents, 34-year-old David embarks on a mission to better understand who he is in this beautifully nuanced observation of self-discovery. North American Premiere The Deminer (Director: Hogir Hirori; Co-director: Shinwar Kamal) After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Colonel Fakhir of the Iraqi army devotes his life to disarming landmines, with only a pocket knife and wire cutters, in this deeply suspenseful film that makes use of Fakhir’s own extensive video footage. North American Premiere A Friendship in Tow/Toe (Director: Atsushi Kuwayama) In the brief ascent up a flight of stairs, a pair of strangers find a rapport across languages and generations. From Parts Unknown (Director: Michael T. Workman) The poignant experience of a young man who determines an unlikely outlet for his pain and hardships: In local wrestling, he finds catharsis, community, and a sense of purpose. The Good Struggle (Director: Celia Peterson) Although few words are spoken between themselves, monks at a Greek Orthodox monastery in Lebanon provide voiceovers to their daily routines—their devout thoughts echo the beauty of their solitude. World Premiere Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Director: RaMell Ross) Observational and impressionistic, this poetic film is a humanist exploration of an Alabama community, where mostly black, working-class families live, work, dream, celebrate, and struggle together. I Am Bisha ( انا% ةش) ( Director: Roopa Gogineni) As an act of pure creative resilience, Ganja and his friends film a humorous and satirical web series, Bisha TV, starring puppets to combat the violent, genocidal regime of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. World Premiere Inventing Tomorrow (Director: Laura Nix) Six young scientists from around the globe compete in the largest international high school science fair—with their ingenious solutions to environmental problems, they don’t just aim to bring home the top prize, they hope to change the world. The Issue of Mr. O’Dell (Director: Rami Katz) The work of Jack O’Dell, who once worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., is revealed through a conversation with the 94-year-old activist, who delves into his historical involvement in the civil rights struggle as well as the movement’s contemporary incarnation under the stewardship of groups like Black Lives Matter. Lovers of the Night (Director: Anna Frances Ewert) Seven elderly monks at a Cistercian abbey in Ireland humorously muse on their spiritual experiences, way of life, and the inevitable end to it all. Maj Doris (Director: Jon Blåhed) Ever-able, 74-year-old Maj Doris Rimpi is a renowned Sámi artist who lives alone in Sweden and tends to her home and herd of reindeer, but after another long winter she wonders, is it time to consider a new way of life? North American Premiere The Mauritania Railway: Backbone of the Sahara (Director: MacGregor) In this expansive, gorgeously composed short, ride atop the railway car that serves as a 704- kilometer-long lifeline that supplies goods and iron ore to people in different cities in the Sahara Desert. World Premiere MELTING SOULS (NORILSK, L’étreinte de glace) (Director: François-Xavier Destors) This exquisitely photographed portrait documents a remote Arctic city centered around a metal refinery, where residents endure extreme, subzero temperatures to survive on the resource that lies beneath the tundra. North American Premiere Messenger on a White Horse (El mensajero) (Director: Jayson McNamara) This homage to the fearless investigative reporting of the Buenos Aires Herald during the disappearances and murders of Argentinians between 1976 and 1983, utilizes impeccable archival footage and testimonies from surviving members of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo as well as lead newspaper editor Robert Cox. North American Premiere Minding the Gap (Director: Bing Liu) Skateboarding and strained family relationships bond three friends together in this introspective saga about the journey from youth to adulthood. Las Nubes (Director: Juan Pablo González) As a father drives through an unidentified countryside, his car becomes a space for reflection as he recounts the impact of cartel violence on his home and family. Of Fathers and Sons (Director: Talal Derki) With rare and chilling insights, this film takes us into the lives of a Syrian family, led by an Al-Nusra fighter, where we observe how swiftly the innocence of childhood can fade. Our New President (Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin) By turns provocative, disorienting, and astonishing, this feature weaves clips from Russian state-owned news coverage of the 2016 U.S. presidential election to portray the perils of bias, conspiracy theories, and manufactured narratives. Owned: A Tale of Two Americas (Director: Giorgio Angelini) This energetic film unpacks the complex history of home ownership in America to reveal the postwar housing economy’s racist underpinnings—the creation of a large middle class simultaneous with the systematic defunding and segregating of communities. World Premiere PATRIMONIO (Directors: Lisa F. Jackson, Sarah Teale) When a multinational corporation attempts to covertly develop plans to build a resort on the fishermen’s coast in Todos Santos, Mexico, the locals unite for a momentous and riveting fight for their resources and their heritage—their patrimonio. North American Premiere Personal Truth (Director: Charlie Lyne) Spurred from the fake “Pizzagate” scandal, this frenetic and provocative observational film about the power of fake news suggests that conspiracy theories may be more believable than one might like to admit. The Providers (Directors: Laura Green, Anna Moot-Levin) The El Centro Family Health system in northern New Mexico covers 22,000 square miles and suffers from a chronic shortage of health care providers. This film follows three dedicated practitioners in their daily work and private lives. World Premiere The Pushouts (Directors: Katie Galloway, Dawn Valadez) This inspiring film follows the transformative work of Dr. Victor Rios, a former gang member and high school dropout, as he works to support students, through tools for selfreflection and expression, in an educational system that is failing to reach them. World Premiere Rebuilding in Miniature (Director: Veena Rao) In this short, miniaturist Ali Alamedy, an Iraqi refugee, painstakingly creates exquisitely detailed dioramas of places he’s never been in an attempt to heal his disrupted relationship to home. The Rescue List (Directors: Alyssa Fedele, Zachary Fink) In a Ghanaian safe house, a team works to rehabilitate two young men who were trafficked into slavery to fisherman on Lake Volta. As it moves from rescue operation to healing process, this riveting film follows the men through their recovery and reveals the extraordinary dedication of their rescuer. Shirkers (Director: Sandi Tan) A film lover’s dream quickly turns to nightmare: Sandi Tan recounts making her first film in Singapore in 1992 and how she loses everything when her mentor, Georges Carandos, steals the footage. This unique diary is a bright ode to cinema, and a moving story of friendship, betrayal, and failure. A Singular Garden (Um Jardim Singular) (Director: Monica Klemz) This experimental documentary blends old and new images of the garden next to the presidential palace in Rio de Janeiro and incorporates natural sound as a way to connect past and present. World Premiere Sky and Ground (Directors: Talya Tibbon, Joshua Bennett) Incorporating a refugee family’s own footage, Sky and Ground follows a Syrian-Kurdish refugee family as they flee from a holding camp at the Greece-Macedonia border and take their chances at reaching asylum by foot on a perilous one-way trip to Berlin. Tempting Promises (Le allettanti promesse) (Directors: Chiara Campara, Lorenzo Faggi) A small town tucked quietly away in the Italian Alps is chosen to host the 2016 Wikimania conference—an annual meeting of international Wikipedia contributors—and the townspeople unite to welcome the newcomers and the new technological age. North American Premiere This Is Home (Director: Alexandra Shiva) Through brilliant observational filmmaking, This Is Home tells the story of four Syrian families on the path to self-sufficiency, and success, in a resettlement program in Baltimore, Maryland. Three Identical Strangers (Director: Tim Wardle) A chance encounter leads three teenagers to discover that they are in fact triplets. Sharing this undeniable bond, they become fast friends and embark upon living their lives together, but the roots of their separation prove to be more sinister than they could have imagined. Thy Kingdom Come (Director: Eugene Richards) A priest bears witness to the personal stories of people in a mid-American town: Heartbreak, regret, faith, resignation all resonate profoundly in this succession of exquisitely photographed scenes of intimate communion. Time Trial (Director: Finlay Pretsell) Former doper and Tour de France champion David Millar is clean and ready to win the right way. This sensory ride travels alongside him for every breath, turn, and fall, through the thrills and hardships of professional cycling. The Unafraid (Directors: Anayansi Prado, Heather Courtney) The gripping and vital stories of three DACA students unfold as they work for immigrant rights, and the future of their families, after being banned from attending Georgia’s top universities or receiving in-state tuition. World Premiere

    Invited Program

    12th and Clairmount (Director: Brian Kaufman) Contemporary interviews bring to life scenes from home movies, newsreels, and photographs of one of the most violent civil disturbances in U.S. history, the 1967 Detroit riot, when police brutality against African American citizens ignited a five-day standoff. Bisbee ’17 (Director: Robert Greene) In 1917, a strike in an Arizona mining town culminated in the exile of over a thousand immigrant workers. One hundred years later, a large-scale reenactment of the shocking events serves as a catalyst for remembrance and reflection. Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Director: Sara Driver) This portrait of the pop culture icon revisits the years before he took the art world by storm.  Archival footage and intimate stories from a circle of friends, lovers, and neighbors recall both a singular talent and the New York City scene that influenced his career. Capturing the Flag (Director: Anne de Mare) During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, three friends travel to North Carolina to do voter protection work at the polls. This on-the-ground look at their efforts to help potential voters navigate the new laws and requirements that may prevent their vote reveals shocking accounts of voter suppression in play. World Premiere The Cleaners (Directors: Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck) In the Philippines, a team of “cleaners” specialize in identifying and eliminating obscene content from the internet. Their personal accounts of the pressures and personal judgements inherent in their work give way to a broader examination of the global impact of manipulating content on social media. Dark Money (Director: Kimberly Reed) This modern-day political thriller follows investigative reporter John Adams into Montana’s fight against corrupt campaign financing, a struggle that could alter the devastating effects of unlimited anonymous funding on elections nationwide. Generation Wealth (Director: Lauren Greenfield) For 25 years, Lauren Greenfield has documented affluence around the world. In this fascinating overview of her immense body of work, the photographer reconnects with subjects of her images to consider their relationships to money, then and now, and her own fascination with the topic. Hal (Director: Amy Scott) Hal Ashby’s controversial films about race, sex, politics, and unconventional love made him a Hollywood rarity in the 1970s—a director who made films outside studio control. This loving remembrance by his peers celebrates the iconoclastic filmmaker. The Jazz Ambassadors (Director: Hugo Berkeley) During the Cold War, the U.S. government deployed some of its greatest jazz musicians around the world to promote democracy, even as many of them suffered Jim Crow racism in their own country. Rich archival material and powerful interviews delve into the deep conflict at the heart of the story. World Premiere The Judge (Director: Erika Cohn) Devoted to the law and unwilling to mince words, Kholoud Al-Faqih, the West Bank’s first female judge, navigates Palestine’s family court system, providing a rare glimpse into Islamic courts and gendered justice. Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story (Director: Tiffany Bartok) In the 1980s, Kevyn Aucoin redefined the role of the makeup artist. Home movies and recollections from family, friends, and an impressive roster of famous clients retrace his meteoric rise and his lasting impact. Love Means Zero (Director: Jason Kohn) Tennis coach Nick Bollettieri trained some of the sport’s greatest champions, but his volatility and harsh methods came at a price. Conversations between director and subject revisit moments of triumph and anguish, including Bollettieri’s infamous falling out with Andre Agassi. MAYNARD (Director: Sam Pollard) Interviews with family, friends, and political luminaries combine with archival footage and photographs in this captivating portrait of Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor, whose extraordinary influence spanned three terms in office. A Murder in Mansfield (Director: Barbara Kopple) Twelve-year old Collier Boyle’s testimony put his father in jail for the 1989 murder of his mother. Still imprisoned more than 25 years later, the father maintains his innocence, and Boyle returns to his Ohio hometown, in this sensitive examination of reconciling with the past. On Her Shoulders (Director: Alexandria Bombach) When ISIS devastates her Yazidi community, survivor Nadia Murad becomes the prevailing voice for her people. Following Murad as she recounts her harrowing experience time and again, this film intimately details the burden of imploring the world to intervene. The Price of Everything (Director: Nathaniel Kahn) Moving between auction houses, collectors, artists, and coveted works, this analysis of the art market questions how we determine value, the impact of purchasing art as a form of financial investment, and the cultural implications when pieces are only available to the highest bidder. RBG (Directors: Betsy West, Julie Cohen) This triumphant look at the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revisits landmark cases and decisions, but also reveals the woman behind the robe and the personal experiences that continue to shape her legacy. The Rape of Recy Taylor (Director: Nancy Buirski) In 1944, Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black woman, was abducted and raped by six white men in Alabama. The film centers on her unprecedented response—a fight for justice, with the aid of Rosa Parks and other black activists—whose profound influence on the civil rights movement still reverberates today. Rodents of Unusual Size (Directors: Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer) Kill them as invasive pests destroying coastal wetlands or keep them as part of the region’s culture? In this quirky account, citizens are divided on what to do about nutria, the giant 20-pound rodents with protruding orange teeth who have made southern Louisiana their home for decades. Solitary Land (Tierra Sola) (Director: Tiziana Panizza) This innovative meditation on Easter Island and its indigenous inhabitants uses historical and present-day footage to illustrate the legacy of colonial exploitation in one of the world’s most remote inhabited locales—a place of beauty, isolation, and tradition. North American Premiere Studio 54 (Director: Matt Tyrnauer) Rare footage transports us back in time and behind the velvet rope into the famed Manhattan disco, as a collection of insiders, including one of the co-founders, recall the rise and fall of the pioneering nightclub and iconic cultural landmark. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Director: Morgan Neville) Fred Rogers revolutionized children’s television. This remarkable portrait of the visionary behind Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood reveals the origins of the groundbreaking show, the ways it connected to current events, and its impact on the lives of children, and adults, across the country.

    FULL FRAME TRIBUTE Jehane Noujaim

    Control Room (Director: Jehane Noujaim) It’s 2003, and the United States is on the brink of war with Iraq. Control Room follows journalists of the Al Jazeera satellite channel—broadcasting news to some 40 million Arab viewers—as they try to cut through American rhetoric and awaken the viewers to the realities on the ground. Rafea: Solar Mama (Director: Jehane Noujaim) In this resounding global testament to the power and necessity of equal access to education, Rafea attends Barefoot College in India to become a solar engineer, learning with other women from developing areas how to create sustainable futures for their hometowns. The Square (Director: Jehane Noujaim) After the 2011 Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square, citizens realize that former president Mubarak’s corrupt regime is still in power; they return to the streets to bring an end to the government, combatting controlled international media coverage, enduring violence, and navigating fragile relationships. Startup.com (Directors: Chris Hegedus, Jehane Noujaim) In the late 1990s, two high school friends attempt to turn the spark of an idea into a multimillion-dollar company. But when passion leads to tension, and the dot-com rush gives way to the dot-com bust, will they be able to deliver on their dream?

    THEMATIC PROGRAM Crime and Punishment

    Curated by Joe Berlinger Brother’s Keeper (Directors: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky) A murder trial ignites the small farming community of Munnsville, New York, when Delbert Ward, an eccentric and uneducated man, confesses to suffocating his brother in the isolated home they shared with two other brothers. Was the killing an act of mercy? Was Delbert’s confession coerced? In Brother’s Keeper, a surprisingly complicated story emerges. The Farm: Angola, USA (Directors: Liz Garbus, Jonathan Stack) In The Farm, life at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, the largest maximumsecurity prison in the United States, is seen through the eyes of both its wardens and its prisoners—many of whom will die there—with disturbing parallels to plantation life. Gone: The Forgotten Women of Ohio (Director: Joe Berlinger) After numerous women go missing, leaving their families and local law-enforcement officers with more questions than answers, this stunning series investigates whether or not a serial killer is responsible. In Cold Blood (Director: Richard Brooks) Mixing elements of reality and fiction, In Cold Blood delves into the real-life murders of the Clutter family at the hands of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock in this scripted true-crime cinematic narrative based on Truman Capote’s novel. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Directors: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky) When three young boys are brutally murdered, three teenagers are accused of committing the crime as part of a satanic ritual, and are convicted by their community before they even reach the courtroom. Paradise Lost is the first film of the groundbreaking trilogy that documented the case of the West Memphis Three. Scenes of a Crime (Directors: Grover Babcock, Blue Hadaegh) When a four-month-old boy dies, officers are convinced he was killed by his father, who after more than ten hours of questioning, confesses to the crime. Medical experts, police officers, and lawyers offer their opinions on this controversial admission of guilt, but the film’s focal point is the videotaped interrogation itself. The Thin Blue Line (Director: Errol Morris) A man is sent to prison for shooting a Dallas police officer. The documentary questions the veracity of the verdict through interviews with detectives, lawyers, and the alleged murderer, who all paint very different accounts of events, which are represented in stunning reenactments. Titicut Follies (Director: Frederick Wiseman) An intense, purely observational look at the stark conditions of inmate life in the 1960s at the Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane in Massachusetts.

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  • Boots Riley’s Sundance Hit “Sorry to Bother You” is Centerpiece Event of 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_27436" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson appear in Sorry to Bother You by Boots Riley Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson appear in Sorry to Bother You by Boots Riley[/caption] Sorry to Bother You, the Sundance hit and Bay Area production, will have its hometown special screening in dual locations, in both Oakland and San Francisco, as a special Centerpiece event at the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival. Director and screenwriter Boots Riley and cast are expected to participate in intros and Q&As. On Thursday, April 12, the film will screen at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco at 6:30 pm, and also screen that same night at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland at 8:00 pm. “Boots Riley is family to us,” said SFFILM’s Executive Director Noah Cowan. “He was a resident of SFFILM FilmHouse when he developed this project, he is a four-time recipient of our SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant; and he has been a huge booster of the Bay Area film community. And so this year’s Centerpiece is an especially joyous celebration, as Boots continues to expand our horizons by inspiring the Festival to expand its footprint into Oakland for the first time with this and several other screenings.” The wait is over—Bay Area icon Boots Riley’s outrageous and orginal, breakout sensation of this year’s Sundance film festival, Sorry To Bother You marks the feature debut of this visionary director. In an alterate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a macabre universe. Starring Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out), Tessa Thompson (Creed and Dear White People), and Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name), Sorry To Bother You is unlike anything you have ever seen. It is a searing social satire about greed, racial dynamics and capitalism in a universe not unlike our own. The film received funding and creative support through SFFILM artist development programs, FilmHouse Residency and SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant. Activist, filmmaker, and musician, Boots Riley studied film at San Francisco State University before rising to prominence as the front man of hip hop groups The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. He previously directed The Coup music videos “Eating Forever” and “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night.”

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  • 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Immersive Program Featuring Lupita Nyong’o, Alicia Vikander and More..

    [caption id="attachment_27429" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]My Africa My Africa[/caption] The Tribeca Immersive program at the upcoming 2018 Tribeca Film Festival showcases works by artists who are pushing boundaries, using technology to tell stories and create new experiences. The Virtual Arcade lineup includes 21 world premiere VR/AR exhibits as well as five Storyscapes experiences in competition. The program takes place at the Tribeca Festival Hub from April 20 to 28. A new addition to Tribeca Immersive is Tribeca Cinema360, a VR theater featuring four curated screening programs of 360° mobile content, running April 21-28. The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18 to 29, 2018. As one of the first festivals to champion VR as a dynamic form of storytelling, this year’s offerings include 33 virtual reality (VR) innovative exhibitions and experiences from top creators such as Jeremy Bailenson, Chris Milk, Eliza McNitt, Eugene YK Chung, Gabo Arora, and Saschka Unseld, and emerging artists Asad J. Malik, Gabriela Arp, and Lucas Rizzotto. Other acclaimed creators include: Angel Manuel Soto, Lindsay Branham, and Navid Khonsari. Established directors, actors, and musicians with projects this year include: directors Terrence Malick (Together), Laurie Anderson (Chalkroom); actors Rosario Dawson (BattleScar), Lupita Nyong’o (My Africa), Alicia Vikander (Arden’s Wake: Tide’s Fall); and GRAMMY® award winning band OK Go (Untitled OK Go & WITHIN Project). Several Immersive projects featured in the program tackle timely cultural issues, including racism (1,000 Cut Journey), climate change (This is Climate Change), immigration and xenophobia (Terminal 3), nuclear war (The Day The World Changed) and HIV/AIDS (Queerskins: a love story). In addition, the lineup includes programming that allows visitors to become active participants in astonishing experiences, such as swimming with sharks (Into the Now), caring for a baby elephant (My Africa), being caught in the bombing raid of a town square (Hero), and participating in a groundbreaking collaboration of AR and Immersive Theater from creators Graham Sack, Sensorium Works and NY Theater Workshop (objects in mirror AR closer than they appear). Tribeca Cinema360 spotlights four immersive screening programs: VR for Good Creators Lab, This is Climate Change, horror themed It’s Right Behind You, and the breathtaking experimental visions of Horizons.  

    VIRTUAL ARCADE

    20 projects from five countries, with 17 world premieres, make up this dynamic program. #WarGames VR (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Sam Barlow, Eko Key Collaborators: MGM, m ss ng p eces Kelly, an ex-military brat-turned-hacker activist, teams up with international hackers in an attempt to bring about peace. But, as events escalate, it begins to appear that they may have done more harm than good. #WarGames puts viewers in the middle of the convergence of hacktivism, modern-day espionage, and military intrigue. 1000 Cut Journey (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Courtney Cogburn, Elise Ogle, Jeremy Bailenson, Tobin Asher, Teff Nichols Key Collaborators: Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Cogburn Research Group In this immersive virtual-reality experience, the viewer becomes Michael Sterling, a black man, encountering racism as a young child, adolescent, and young adult. 1,000 Cut Journey highlights the social realities of racism, for understanding racism is the essential first step in promoting effective, collective social action and achieving racial justice. Arden’s Wake: Tide’s Fall (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Eugene YK Chung, Jimmy Maidens Key Collaborators: Devon Penney, Annmarie Koenig, Bruna Berford, Christina Tasooji, Adrian Ochoa, Jessica Douglas, Terry Kaleas, Kinga Vasicsek Tide’s Fall continues the journey of Meena, a young woman living in a post-apocalyptic world and searching for her father in the depths of the ocean after his unexpected disappearance. Featuring the voice of Academy Award-winner Alicia Vikander, this expansion of Penrose Studios’ award winning Arden’s Wake embraces the art of long-form storytelling in virtual reality. Cast: Alicia Vikander (narrator) BattleScar (New York Premiere) – USA, France Project Creator: Nico Casavecchia, Martin Allais Key Collaborators: Arnaud Colinart, Andrew Geller, Raphael Penasa, René Pinnell After Lupe, a Puerto Rican runaway, meets Debbie in the cell of a juvenile detention center, she is introduced to the punk scene of the Lower East Side and the secret world of Alphabet City. BattleScar is a coming of age drama set in 1978 New York that explores identity and empowerment through stunning animation and immersive environments. Cast: Rosario Dawson (narrator) Campfire Creepers: Midnight March (World Premiere) – France, USA Project Creator: Alexandre Aja Key Collaborators: Casey Cooper Johnson, Martin Andersen When the kids at Camp Coyote are forced on a brutal midnight march by their sadistic counselors, one boy reaches his breaking point. He turns the tables on the bullies, revealing a surprising secret about himself in the process. Master of horror Alexandre Aja invites viewers on a thrilling ride that will leave them gasping. Cast: Archie Lewis, Chloe Hawthorne, Kai Czuplak, Lara Karbritz, Lola Martin Chalkroom (New York Premiere) – Taiwan R.O.C., USA Project Creator: Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang Chalkroom is a virtual reality work by celebrated artist Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang in which the reader—the viewer—flies through an enormous structure made of words, drawings, and stories. Inside the experience, the reader is free to roam and fly, while words sail through the air like emails, fall into dust, and form and reform. Coral Compass: Fighting Climate Change in Palau (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Tobin Asher, Elise Ogle, Jeremy Bailenson Key Collaborators: Rob Dunbar, Bob Richmond Palau, like many other small countries, is powerless to curb global carbon dioxide emissions. Nevertheless, the tiny island nation is adapting to climate change: In its clear, warm waters exist resilient coral reefs safeguarded by a strong-willed people fighting to keep them alive. The Day the World Changed (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Gabo Arora, Saschka Unseld Key Collaborators: Nathan Brown, Tom Lofthouse, Jennifer Tiexiera, Nate Robinson, Igal Nassima This virtual-reality experience situates participants in the ruins of Hiroshima after the bomb, allowing them to witness testimony from survivors and survey the nuclear arms race through immersive, interactive data visualization. The Day the World Changed, from acclaimed creators Gabo Arora & Sachka Unseld, brings the harrowing impressions of the victims of atomic bombings and nuclear tests to viewers through innovative use of 3-D scanning and photogrammetry. Dinner Party (New York Premiere) – Puerto Rico, USA Project Creator: Angel Manuel Soto, Charlotte Stoudt, Laura Wexler Key Collaborators: Rachel Skidmore, Bryn Mooser, Erik Donley Dinner Party tells the incredible story of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple who made the first report of a UFO abduction in America in 1961. Having sought hypnosis to recover memories of their inexplicable experience, the Hills decide to listen to the recording of their session during a dinner party—and what they hear could change their lives forever. Cast: Malcolm Barrett, Sarah Sokolovic Firebird: The Unfinished (World Premiere) – France Project Creator: Balthazar Auxietre Key Collaborators: Hadrien Lanvin The curator of a museum dedicated to the famous sculptor Auguste is making a last inspection the night before the grand opening when a storm breaks out. Suddenly, the statues populating the grounds are not quite as still as one might expect—but it’s not clear whether the storm outside is playing mind games, or whether, perhaps, the ghost of Auguste has appeared to ask for help finishing his masterpiece. Cast: Tarek Aitmeddour, Raphaelle Boitel, Augustin Jacob, Pauline Journe, Myriam Kerkour, David Negroni Fire Escape (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Vassiliki Khonsari, Navid Khonsari, Andres Perez-Duarte, Sam Butin Key Collaborators: Lulu LaMer, Maria Essig, iNK Stories This innovative, interactive thriller invites the participant to peer into the private lives of eight diverse New Yorkers from the vantage of a fire escape, where suspicion and deception unfold in real time. Set against the shadowy backdrop of gentrification in contemporary Brooklyn, Fire Escape depicts a contingent of disenfranchised tenants who soon become entangled in a string of dark mysteries and murder. Cast: ASMR Darling, Ethan Rains, Edward Jackson, Michelle Lukes, Olivia Preciado, Tanya Henderson, Giselle Gilbert The Hidden (World Premiere) – India, USA Project Creator: Lindsay Branham Key Collaborators: International Justice Mission, Oculus VR for Good There are currently more people living in slavery than at any other time in human history. One such family has been enslaved in a rock quarry in southern India for 10 years—over a paltry debt of $70 USD. Indian government representatives, supported by the human rights group International Justice Mission, plot a daring raid to free the family. Also playing as a part of Cinema360: VR For Good Creators Lab Into the Now (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Michael Muller Key Collaborators: Michael Smith, Morne Hardenberg Director and legendary shark photographer Michael Muller’s lifelong fear of sharks eventually led him to discover the tranquility and peace of mind that is possible underwater, engaged with these curious and intimidating creatures. This stunning documentary, a revolutionary, stereoscopic virtual-reality experience, explores marine life and ocean conservation via Muller’s own internal journey. My Africa (World Premiere) – USA, UK Project Creator: Conservation International, Passion Planet, Vision3 In Northern Kenya, the futures of wildlife and people are intertwined. Stand in the midst of a thundering wildebeest migration, witness a lioness snatch her prey—and meet a community dedicated to saving Africa’s wildlife in My Africa. The mixed-reality, companion experience puts paticipants in the shoes of a Reteti Elephant Sanctuary keeper caring for the newest arrival, a baby elephant named Dudu. Cast: Lupita Nyong’o (narrator), Naltwasha Leripe SPHERES: Pale Blue Dot (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Eliza McNitt Key Collaborators: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Jess Engel, Arnaud Colinart, Dylan Golden In this cosmic journey from the edges of the universe to our “pale blue dot,” the viewer uncovers echoes of the Big Bang; gazes back in time; traces the history of sound across the cosmos, uncovering the strangest song of all; and traverses the universe, ultimately finding a path home. Star Child (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Paul Bettner Key Collaborators: Mia Goodwin This cinematic platforming adventure follows the journey of Spectra and her companion on an important mission to an alien planet. After they are stranded, they uncover a hostile, overwhelming force that threatens to destroy everything. Inspired by countless science fiction adventure classics—games, books, and movies alike—Star Child is, at its heart, both a mystery and a journey of self-discovery. Untitled OK Go & WITHIN Project (World Premiere) – USA, UK Project Creator: Chris Milk, Damian Kulash Key Collaborators: WITHIN, OK Go, Oculus Innovative creators Chris Milk and OK Go’s Damian Kulash invite pairs of participants into a wondrous environment where they can experience the joy of creating music through collaboration. In this virtual world, replete with magical music-making contraptions, friendly animals, robots, and audience members work together to create an original song. Vacation Simulator (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Owlchemy Labs Key Collaborators: The follow-up to the wildly popular virtual-reality game Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator returns participants to the world of Owlchemy Labs, where they can visit Vacation Island and experience “recreation,” optimal “relaxation,” and classic human pastimes like “sunburn.” Vacation Island offers all this and more, helping visitors rediscover the lost art of “time off.” Vestige (World Premiere) – UK, USA, France Project Creator: Aaron Bradbury Key Collaborators: Paul Mowbray, Antoine Cayrol, Jill Klekas Basmajian This creative nonfiction experience uses multi-narrative and volumetric capture to journey through the mind of Lisa as she remembers her lost love, Erik. Fragments of memories of their life together appear inside a void and, over time, become entangled with a haunting vision, culminating in the shocking moment of Erik’s death. Cast: Lisa Elin Where Thoughts Go : Prologue (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Lucas Rizzotto Key Collaborators: Tarik Merzouk, Steven Hodgson An intimate social virtual-reality experience, Where Thoughts Go is set in a world where all human thoughts exist as sleeping creatures, each holding a voice message left by a previous visitor. As they awake, they reveal the dreams, experiences and fears of other people—and give the participant the opportunity to leave their own for others to find.

    STORYSCAPES

    The competition includes four world premieres and one New York premiere. One Storyscapes nominee will be selected by a jury to receive the Storyscapes Award, presented by AT&T, which recognizes groundbreaking approaches in storytelling and technology. The five projects come from Canada, Pakistan and USA. Biidaaban: First Light (World Premiere) – Canada Project Creator: Lisa Jackson, Mathew Borrett, Jam3 and the National Film Board of Canada Key Collaborators: Rob McLaughlin, Dana Dansereau The town square has flooded, buildings and subways have merged with local flora, and indigenous languages and knowledge are thriving in a radically different future Toronto. Here, in the future, people have found a connection to the past. As a work of indigenous futurism, Biidaaban explores how the languages of native peoples can provide a framework for understanding our place in the world and open up a space for new imaginings of the future. Hero (New York Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Navid Khonsari, Vassiliki Khonsari, Brooks Brown Key Collaborators: Mark Harwood, Sinclair Fleming, Andres Perez-Duarte, Sam Butin, iNK Stories, Starbreeze Studios This powerfully immersive, large-scale, multi-sensory installation explores humanity in our modern era of civilian warfare. When everyday life is disrupted by a barrel bomb falling from the sky, provoking a profound crisis in this vérité virtual-reality experience, only connection among humans can inspire hope, and participants must embark on a visceral hero’s journey. Cast: Masoume Khonsari, Perla Daoud, Samer Sakka, Sam Sako, Said Faraj, Sue Shaheen [caption id="attachment_27428" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]objects in mirror AR closer than they appear objects in mirror AR closer than they appear[/caption] objects in mirror AR closer than they appear (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Graham Sack, Geoff Sobelle, John Fitzgerald, Matthew Niederhauser Key Collaborators: Sarah Hughes, Steven Dufala, Steve Cuiffo, Jecca Barry, The Molecule, New York Theatre Workshop, SilVR Based on the critically acclaimed theatrical performance The Object Lesson, objects in mirror AR closer than they appear fuses augmented reality technology with an immersive theater installation, inviting audiences to reflect on the relationship between new media and archaic objects; 21st-century technology and 19th-century magic; and memory and optical illusion. The piece creates a philosophical playground to explore the shifting relationship between images, memories, and things. Cast: Geoff Sobelle Queerskins: a love story (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Illya Szilak, Cyril Tsiboulski In Missouri in the early ’90s, a diary and a box of belongings offers a devoutly Catholic mother—and participants of this haptic virtual-reality experience—a chance to know Sebastian, the estranged son she has lost to AIDS. Sitting in the back seat of a car, behind Sebastian’s parents, you take an emotionally charged journey down a country road, a memory lane populated with scrapbook artifacts that present an archive of Sebastian’s life. Cast: Hadley Boyd, Drew Moore, Michael DeBartolo Terminal 3 (World Premiere) – USA, Pakistan Project Creator: Asad J. Malik Key Collaborators: Kaleidoscope VR, Anita Gou, RYOT, Philipp Schaeffer, Viva Wittman, Jack Daniel Gerrard, Musa Ghaznavi Terminal 3 is an interactive, augmented-reality documentary that explores contemporary Muslim identities in the U.S. through the lens of an airport interrogation. As viewers put on the Hololens, they step into the uncanny to directly interrogate, and determine the fate of, the hologram passenger before them. These interrogations become strikingly personal encounters that only end when the participant decides if the hologram should be let into the country or not—but there is a twist. Cast: Aisha Yousaf, Ahmad Cory Jubran, Fereydoun Vakhshoury, Ani Zonneveld, Helya Salarvand

    TRIBECA CINEMA360

    The Cinema360 includes four programs that play twice daily, including:

    Horizons:

    02:09 (World Premiere) – Sweden, China Project Creator: Svante Fjaestad In three minutes, the world will end. The rich have already left Earth for the New Colonies; those who couldn’t afford private shuttles into orbit remain stranded, like the now-worthless banknotes on the streets. A couple wait together on a rooftop, contemplating their fate, while, in front of them, the last human refugees leave the planet before it is too late. Cast: Chen Dong Hong, Xie Hong Together (New York Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Terrence Malick, The Factory at Facebook, Movement Art Is Together fuses storytelling, dance and technology, placing the viewer in the center of a stirring, emotional narrative that explores the power of human connection. Working with Movement Art Is co-founders Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, Palme d’Or winning director Terrence Malick has crafted an immersive experience about breaking down barriers that is brilliantly brought to life through choreography.

    It’s Right Behind You:

    Campfire Creepers: The Skull of Sam (North American Premiere) – Spain, USA Project Creator: Alexandre Aja Key Collaborators: Casey Cooper Johnson, Martin Andersen French horror auteur Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension) directs this creepy tale of a couple who encounters a vicious stranger in the woods, who has plans to add them to his rather unique collection. But by injecting humor into this horrific scenario, the experience invites audiences to laugh between the screams. Cast: Robert Englund [caption id="attachment_27430" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Caretaker The Caretaker[/caption] The Caretaker (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Jacob Wasserman, Nicolas Pesce, Adam Donald Key Collaborators: Hidden Content, RealMotion VFX After their car breaks down on the side of the road on a cold winter night, a couple checks into a strange hotel while they wait for a mechanic to arrive. When the woman’s boyfriend suddenly goes missing—the latest in a series of unsettling occurrences within the hotel—she begins to suspect that something more sinister is at work. An Obituary (boogo) (US Premiere) – South Korea Project Creator: Jean Yoon Key Collaborators: Kuk- seok Yang, Jin-hee Kim A young man travels alone deep into the countryside to pay his respects after hearing of a friend’s untimely death. Upon his arrival, he finds himself to be the sole mourner at the funeral. Alone in the country, save for the elderly mother of his deceased friend, he begins to wonder why they seem to be the only two people left in the village. Cast: Tae-kyung Oh, Yong-nyeo Lee.

    This is Climate Change:

    This is Climate Change (World Premiere) – Åland Islands, Brazil, Greenland, Somalia, USA Project Creator: Eric Strauss, Danfung Dennis Key Collaborators: Diana El-Osta (Producer), Catherine Yrisarri (Producer), Jeff Skoll (Executive Producer), Elise Pearlstein (Executive Producer), Kathy Davidov (Executive Producer), Casey Brown (Executive Producer) In this expansive new four-part virtual reality docu-series from Participant Media and Condition One, journey to the far corners of the earth to discover the people and places being hit hardest by climate change. This Is Climate Change offers an immersive look into our new reality of catastrophic weather events that are displacing communities and transforming landscapes with alarming speed.

    VR For Good Creators Lab:

    Meeting a Monster (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Gabriela Arp Key Collaborators: Oculus VR for Good, Life After Hate Through audio recordings and re-enactments, former white supremacist Angela King relives the memories of, and motivations behind, the eight years she spent inside the white power movement—and the path she took to get out. While the monsters of Angela’s past define the years she spent mired in hate, she finds redemption only after acknowledging the ultimate monster: herself. Cast: Belle Emilie Gold, Jerry Edwards, Diana Mitchell, Skye Waller, Aidan Shields, Toia Johnson She Flies by Her Own Wings (World Premiere) – USA Project Creator: Jesse (Jesus) Ayala Key Collaborators: Oculus VR for Good, Pride Foundation, Fovrth Studios, Flight School She Flies by Her Own Wings depicts the inspiring story of Shannon Scott, who chose to stand up when her community, the U.S. armed services’ proud transgender service members and veterans, was under attack by President Donald Trump. Having enlisted before she could vote, Shannon has dedicated her entire adult life to defending and safeguarding American citizens at home and abroad. Cast: Shannon Scott The Hidden (World Premiere) – India, USA Project Creator: Lindsay Branham Key Collaborators: International Justice Mission, Oculus VR for Good There are currently more people living in slavery than at any other time in human history. One such family has been enslaved in a rock quarry in southern India for 10 years—over a paltry debt of $70 USD. Indian government representatives, supported by the human rights group International Justice Mission, plot a daring raid to free the family.

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  • 2018 Richmond International Film & Music Festival Unveils Lineup of Over 150 Films + Music + Panels

    [caption id="attachment_27424" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]ABOVE THE DROWNING SEA, ABOVE THE DROWNING SEA,[/caption] The 2018 Richmond International Film & Music Festival brings a seven-day fest of more than 150 cutting edge award-winning films, plus up to 50 bands, panels, and daily events at various venues across Richmond, Virginia. The seventh edition of the festival kicks off Monday, April 23rd with the Opening Night film, NONA. and concludes Sunday, April 29th with the annual Red Carpet Awards where prizes selected by the Grand Jury and audience will be awarded in various categories for all film, music, and writing categories. NONA is a compelling narrative feature film written and directed by Michael Polish, which stars Kate Bosworth (also the Producer/Executive Producer), Sulem Calderon, and Jesy McKinney. NONA follows the harrowing path of a young Honduran girl from her home in San Pedro Sula, across four countries, into a living hell of servitude in a world of modern day sex slavery. Kate Bosworth and Michael Polish will be in attendance, and Bosworth will receive this year’s esteemed Founder’s Award for her work as a producer on the film. The Founder’s Award is given to the film and filmmaker that captures the heart and spirit of the festival – stories that reveal truths that are often untold or overlooked, and to those artists on the frontlines of creating necessary yet artful dialogue in their work. Also in the spotlight are BUCKOUT ROAD, a horror thriller directed by Matthew Currie Holmes starring Danny Glover, Henry Czerny, Evan Ross, and Dominque Provost-Chalkey. The feature is a story of how a college class project on the creation and destruction of modern myth turns terrifying when a trio of young people come to realize the many evil urban legends surrounding New York State’s famed Buckout Road may, in fact be real. ABOVE THE DROWNING SEA, a documentary feature about the dramatic escape of tens of thousands of Jewish refugees’ escape to Shanghai featuring Julianna Margulies, Tony Goldwyn, and Nick Mancuso. The film is directed by Rene Balcer who is also writer, executive producer, and co-creator of Law & Order. Balcer will present the film alongside co-executive producer Carolyn Balcer with an extensive Q&A discussion to follow. DOUBLE TAKE directed by Jay Gard and a short crime mystery in the vein of HEAT, MEMENTO, and TRUE DETECTIVE. With a swiss-clock style plot, DOUBLE TAKE threads together two diamond heists with multiple twists and an intense interrogation between old enemies. The film stars Adrian Pasdar and David James Elliott. THE BLACK GHIANDOLA, a narrative short starring J.K. Simmons, Johnny Depp, David Lynch, and Laura Dern. The film is produced by Tamika Lamison and the Make a Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants children suffering with cancer their final wish to make a film. The film and foundation will receive a special honor at the 2018 festival. DADDY, a documentary short that tells the story of youth basketball coach and drug trafficker, Curtis Malone. In 1993 Curtis founded the DC Assault, an AAU basketball team whose mission was to keep inner city boys off the streets by helping them earn college scholarships, and it included a hundred Division I student athletes and several NBA players. But on August 9th 2013, Curtis’ double life caught up with him. In addition to Curtis, the film includes interviews with the NBA players he raised, the DEA agents who investigated him, and the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted him. DIMINUENDO, a sci-fi romance starring James Deen, Richard Hatch, Chloe Dykstra, Leah Cairns, Walter Koenig, Bryn Pryor, and more. When asked to direct the biopic of Cello Shea about his actress girlfriend who killed herself a decade ago, the has-been filmmaker Haskell Edwards becomes obsessed with the lifelike robot created to mimic her. Also in the lineup is PERFECT BID: THE CONTESTANT WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, a feature documentary starring Ted Slauson, Bob Barker, Kevin Pollak, Drew Carey, and Holly Hallstrom. The film details Ted Slauson, a math teacher from Texas who spent the majority of his life memorizing the prize amounts on The Price Is Right. The documentary explores how Ted went from bidding to banned, and was involved in a Perfect Bid scandal that was covered in Esquire, Time Magazine & others. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Ted’s most famous appearance on the show. AYLA THE DAUGHTER OF WAR, this Turkish feature film set in 1950, is a story about the ravages of the Korean War as Sergeant Süleyman stumbles upon a a half-frozen little girl, with no parents and no help in sight. Frantic, scared and on the verge of death, this little girl captures the heart of Süleyman, who risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his Army base and out of harms way. Ayla, almost effortlessly, brings an uncanny joy to the Turkish brigade in the grip of war. THE RIBBON ON THE KITE, a narrative short by filmmaker Gianlorenzo Albertini that features a compelling look at PTSD through the eyes of Daerik, an army veteran who returns to his hometown after being discharged from the military. Now homeless and suffering from severe PTSD, he tries to drown out the painful memories of a mission in Afghanistan where his men were killed. In the meantime, Rebecca, a very young girl, attempts to find her brother who suddenly disappears after the war later finding that the homeless man living on the river bank nearby is her lost brother.

    Music Performances

    Bands to receive early acceptances to perform at the 2018 festival range from every major music genre and include: Marcaux (Brooklyn, NY), Sparky Quano (Japan), Giant Squids (Washington, D.C.), Zaxai (Brooklyn, NY), Ezra Vancil (Dallas, TX), Mariana Bell (Charlottesville, VA), The Fury MCs (Woodbridge, VA), Gabriel Mayers (Brooklyn, NY), The Jacks (Newport Beach, CA), Friendly Mosquito (Tbilisi), Justin Gambino (Angleton, TX), Tahj Ace (Brooklyn, NY), Lucille Fris (Chicago, IL), Kendra Black (New York, NY). More acts and the full programming schedule to be announced mid-March. Music showcases take place nightly at various venues across Richmond.

    Additional Festival Honors

    In 2018, RIFF celebrates the theme, “RISE.” In conjunction with the theme, the festival will honor some of the film and music industry’s rising female and African American talent through special spotlights and tributes during festival week.  

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  • 7th International Film Music Competition to Score Steve Cutts’ Short Film ‘Happiness’ | Video

    Scoring of Steve Cutts’ Short Film ‘Happiness’:   - 7th International Film Music Competition This year, the 7th International Film Music Competition asks entrants to score HAPPINESS. This short animation film by the renowned London-based illustrator Steve Cutts which has garnered over 1.2 million plays on Vimeo in just three months and has been selected to receive its ‘Best of the Year’ accolade. Steve Cutts’ animation short HAPPINESS tells the story of a rodent’s relentless search for happiness and fulfilment in a consumer-driven society. His hitherto most popular short film MAN received nearly 26 million views on YouTube in 2012, and his Miami-Vice-homage as a guest animator for the ‘Simpsons’ has received more than 14 million clicks to date. More recently, the British illustrator has attracted attention with his music video ‘In This Cold Place’, which he created for Moby and The Void Pacific Choir. The Zurich Film Festival and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich collaborates with the Forum Filmmusik for 7th annual International Film Music Competition, where an international jury of experts comprising composers, music specialists and filmmakers will choose five talented musical composers nominees from around the globe. Composers from around the world who have not scored or orchestrated more than three films of more than 60 minutes duration are eligible to enter. The five successful compositions will be world-premiered during the Zurich Film Festival by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under the musical direction of Frank Strobel on October 4, 2018 at the Tonhalle Maag in the presence of the nominees and the jury of experts. The winner will receive the Golden Eye for ‘Best International Film Music 2018’ endowed with a CHF 10’000 cash prize. https://vimeo.com/244405542

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  • WHAT THE FEST!? Genre Film Festival at IFC Center in NYC Announces Lineup, OPENS With Coralie Fargeat’s ‘REVENGE’

    [caption id="attachment_24221" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Revenge, Coralie Fargeat REVENGE[/caption] What the Fest!?, a four-day showcase of outrageous content — horror, sci-fi, documentary, thrillers, and beyond — will run from March 29th through April 1st, 2018, at the IFC Center in NYC. What the Fest!? will feature under the radar cinematic finds, film festival hits from Sundance, TIFF, and Rotterdam, and the world premiere of a new digital restoration of a film never before released in the U.S. Opening night of What the Fest!? will feature the New York Premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s REVENGE, a thriller about a mistress who exacts “revenge” on her married lover and his friends, turning their annual hunting trip into a decidedly deadlier adventure. The closing night film will be Jenn Wexler’s THE RANGER, about a group of teen punks on the lam, who hide out from the cops in a remote cabin… only to run into bigger troubles. Highlights include the World Premiere of BOILED ANGELS: THE TRIAL OF MIKE DIANA, a documentary chronicling the obscenity trail of the eponymous comic book artist Mike Diana, directed by cult favorite Frank Henenlotter (BASKET CASE); Henenlotter and Diana will appear in person. There will also be a sneak peek of an unseen episode from the new AMC series “The Terror,” with star Jared Harris of “Mad Men” in person for a Q&A, the critically lauded horror film GHOST STORIES starring Martin Freeman, and the World Premiere restoration of the never-before-seen-in-the-U.S., CURSE OF SNAKES VALLEY, a.k.a “The Soviet Indiana Jones.” REVENGE (NY Premiere) Synopsis: Three wealthy, married men learn the hard way that you should never bring your mistress along on a guys’ getaway, especially when there’s hunting involved. A Neon release. Written & Directed by: Coralie Fargeat Starring: Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, & Guillaume Bouchède TRT: 108 min. Country: France Language: English; French (with English subtitles)

    VALLEY OF SHADOWS (U.S. Premiere) Synopsis: In this mesmerizing Scandinavian Gothic fable shot on 35mm, a small boy sets out into the deep, dark woods in search of a mysterious creature. Directed by: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen Written by: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen & Clement Tuffreau Starring: Adam Ekeli, Kathrine Fagerland, Jørgen Langhelle, Jone Hope Larsen, & Lennard Salamon TRT: 91 min. Country: Norway Language: Norwegian (with English subtitles)

    THE ENDLESS Synopsis: Two brothers (played by co-directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, of SPRING and RESOLUTION) return to the cult they fled years ago, only to discover that the group’s beliefs may make much more sense than they once thought. A Well Go USA release. Directed by: Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead Written by: Justin Benson Starring: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, Tate Ellington, Callie Hernandez, & Lew Temple TRT: 112 min. Country: U.S. Language: English

    BLUE MY MIND (NY Premiere) Synopsis: As if adapting to a new town and a new life weren’t enough, 15-year-old Mia faces an overwhelming transformation when her body starts to change radically. Written & Directed by: Lisa Brühlmann Starring: Luna Wedler, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen, & Regula Grauwiller TRT: 97 min. Country: Switzerland Language: Swiss German (with English subtitles)

    BOILED ANGELS: THE TRIAL OF MIKE DIANA (World Premiere) Synopsis: Jailed for comics?! The true story of Mike Diana, the only American artist ever convicted of obscenity, directed by cult filmmaker Frank Henenlotter (BASKET CASE, BRAIN DAMAGE, FRANKENHOOKER). Directed by: Frank Henenlotter Featuring: Mike Diana, George A. Romero, Neil Gaiman, Peter Bagge, Jay Lynch, Stephen Bissette, Peter Kuper, & more TRT: 105 min. Country: U.S. Language: English

    GHOST STORIES (NY Premiere) Synopsis: Arch-skeptic professor Phillip Goodman embarks upon a terror-filled quest when he stumbles across three long-lost cases of unexplainable “hauntings.” Written & Directed by: Jeremy Dyson & Andy Nyman Starring: Martin Freeman, Andy Nyman, Alex Lawther, & Paul Whitehouse TRT: 98 min. Country: U.K. Language: English

    SATAN’S SLAVES (NY Premiere) Synopsis: A hit at Rotterdam, acclaimed director Joko Anwar’s (MODUS ANOMALI, A COPY OF MY MIND) remake of a beloved 1982 Indonesian horror classic (reputedly itself inspired by PHANTASM) is a delightfully terrifying haunted house movie — and the country’s biggest box office smash of 2017. Written & Directed by: Joko Anwar Starring: Bront Palarae, Tara Basro, Endy Arfian, & Dimas Aditya TRT: 106 min. Country: Indonesia Language: Indonesian (with English subtitles)

    CURSE OF SNAKES VALLEY, a.k.a. “The Soviet Indiana Jones” (World Premiere Restoration) Synopsis: This unseen 1980s Eastern Bloc-buster presents the Soviet answer to Indiana Jones in a tale that combines snakes and jungle traps and the “classic weirdness” of Polish sci-fi! Directed by: Marek Piestrak Written by: Wojciech Nizynski, Marek Piestrak, & Vladimir Valutskiy Starring: Krzysztof Kolberger, Roman Wilhelmi, & Ewa Salacka TRT: 94 min. Country: Estonia, Poland Language: Russian (with English subtitles)

    LOWLIFE (NY Premiere) Synopsis: The sordid lives of an addict, an ex-con, and a luchador collide when an organ harvesting caper goes very, very wrong. An IFC Midnight release. Directed by: Ryan Prows Written by: Tim Cairo, Jake Gibson, Shaye Ogbonna, Ryan Prows, & Maxwell Michael Towson Starring: Jon Oswald, Nicki Micheaux, Mark Burnham, & Ricardo Adam Zarate TRT: 96 min. Country: U.S. Language: English, Spanish (with English subtitles)

    “The Terror” (Episode Sneak Preview) Synopsis: Join star Jared Harris for a sneak preview of AMC’s new series based on Dan Simmons’s 2007 bestseller, the true-life tale of a group of sailors confronting certain death at the frozen ends of the earth. Starring: Jared Harris, Ciarán Hinds, & Tobias Menzies TRT: 144 min (Episodes 1-3 of the first season) Country: U.S. Language: English

    THE RANGER (NY Premiere) Synopsis: Teen punks on the run from the cops hide out in a remote cabin, only to find out that the forest has its own law. Directed by: Jenn Wexler Written by: Giaco Furino & Jenn Wexler Starring: Chloe Levine, Jeremy Holm, & Larry Fessenden TRT: 80 min. Country: U.S. Language: English

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  • 2018 Vail Film Festival to Celebrate Female Filmmakers + Reveals Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_27397" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Leave No Trace Leave No Trace[/caption] The 15th Vail Film Festival will run from Thursday, April 5, to Sunday, April 8, 2018; the festival will celebrate women filmmakers and screen a diverse slate of almost 50 films. Films include the world premiere of Diane Bell’s narrative feature, Of Dust and Bones; the Sundance hit Leave No Trace, directed by Debra Granik; Mary Goes Round, written and directed by Molly McGlynn, starring Aya Cash; Write When You Get Work written and directed by Stacy Cohran; and the U.S. premiere of Kerry David’s documentary Bill Coors: The Will to Live.

    VAIL FILM FESTIVAL NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION:

    ‘Alaska is a Drag’ – Shaz Bennett (Colorado premier) ‘Heaven’s Floor’ – Lori Stoll (Colorado premier) ‘Leave No Trace’ – Debra Granik ‘Mary Goes Round’ – Molly McGlynn (Colorado premier) ‘Of Dust and Bones’ – Diane Bell (Colorado premier) ‘Sun Dogs’ – Jennifer Morrison (Colorado premier) ‘The Long Dumb Road’ – Hannah Fidell ‘Write When You Get Work’ – Stacy Cochran (Colorado premier)

    DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION:

    ‘Bill Coors: The Will to Live’ – Kerry David  (U.S. premiere) ‘De Colores’ – Luz Marina Zamora (Colorado premier) ‘Dragtivists’ – Savannah Rodgers, Alex Robinson (Colorado premier) ‘Love Wins’ – Robin Camp (Colorado premier) ‘My Tourette’s’ – Alessandro Molatore (Colorado premier) ‘Strike a Rock’ – Aliki Saragas (Colorado premier) ‘Surviving Home’ – Jillian Moul, Matthew Moul (Colorado premier) ‘The Faces of PHACS’ – Claire Berman, Megan Reznick, Staffan Hildebrand (world premier) ‘Top Row’ – Karin Argoud ‘Tribal Justice’ – Anne Makepeace ‘To a More Perfect Union: US v. Windsor’ – Donna Zaccaro (Colorado premier)

    SHORTS COMPETITION:

    ‘Bedtime Story’ – Kevin Alejandro (Colorado premier) ‘Bigfoot’s Love Slave’ – Heather Tom (Colorado premier) ‘Cuddle Buddy’ – Max Barbakow (Colorado premier) ‘Fevah’ – Randall Dottin ‘Game’ – Jeannie Donohoe (Colorado premier) ‘Girl of the Sky’ – Ariel Martin (Colorado premier) ‘In Wonderland’ – Christopher Haydon (World premier) ‘Internet Gangsters’ – Sam Friedlander (Colorado premier) ‘Love on the Line’ – Nicole McKinnon (Colorado premier) ‘Night Dancing’ – Barney Cokeliss ‘Ovum, Luciano Blotta’ (Colorado premier) ‘Pushing Night Away’ – Jade Hærem Aksnes (Colorado premier) Santa Claus’ – Jeff Man (Colorado premier) ‘The Duel’ – Amanda Barnes, David Speck (Colorado premier) ‘The Invaders’ – Mateo Márquez (World premier) ‘The Killing Game’ – Andrej iliev (Colorado premier) ‘The Language of Ball’ – Ramón Rodríguez ‘The Obituary’ – Jonathan Thompson (Colorado premier) ‘The Real Thing’ – Brandon Kelley (Colorado premier) ‘Uncle Silas’ – Sayra Player, Rebecca Billhart (Colorado premier) ‘Unnatural Selection’ – Geneviève Delouche (Colorado premier) ‘Who Decides’ – Mylissa Fitzsimmons (Colorado premier)

    STUDENT FILM COMPETITION:

    ‘Aaron’ – Aviva Neuman (Colorado premier) ‘Bier & Calippo’ – Paul Ploberger (U.S. premier) ‘Night Call’ – Amanda Renee Knox ‘Phototaxis’ – Melissa Ferrari (Colorado premier) ‘Snowplow’ – Mia Niebruegge (Colorado premier) ‘Sputnik: The Shock of the Century’ – Summer Royal (world premier) ‘Vows’ – Mark McKinsey (Colorado premier)

    SCREENPLAY COMPETITION, 1ST PLACE WINNERS:

    Animated: ‘Doodle’ – Jonathan Medici Comedy: ‘New Reality’ – Carolyn Kras Drama: ‘News Gals’–  David Dalessandro Faith: ‘Showdown at Damascus’ – Don Driscoll Science Fiction: ‘Pull’ – Marc Messenger Thriller: ‘Phantom’ – Andrea Gibson TV Series: ‘The Biggest Little’ – Craig Page

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  • 2018 Tribeca Film Festival Unveils Feature Film Lineup + Closes with World Premiere of “The Fourth Estate”

    [caption id="attachment_27371" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Fourth Estate The Fourth Estate[/caption] The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival revealed its feature film lineup championing the discovery of emerging voices and celebrating new work from established filmmaking talent. To close the Festival, Tribeca will World Premiere The Fourth Estate, from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus, which follows The New York Times’ coverage of the Trump administration’s first year. The Centerpiece Gala will be the World Premiere of Drake Doremus’ sci-fi romance Zoe starring Ewan McGregor, Léa Seydoux, Rashida Jones, and Theo James. The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18-29. The 2018 feature film program includes 96 films from 103 filmmakers. Of the 96 films, 46% of them are directed by women, the highest percentage in the Festival’s history. The lineup includes 75 World Premieres, 5 International Premieres, 9 North American Premieres, 3 U.S. Premieres, and 4 New York Premieres from 27 countries. This year’s program includes 46 first time filmmakers, with 18 directors returning to the Festival with their latest feature film projects. Tribeca’s 2018 slate was programmed from more than 8,789 total submissions. Fifty-one narratives and 45 documentaries will debut over the course of the 12-day festival. The Competition section features 12 documentaries, 10 U.S. narratives and 10 international narratives; 14 Spotlight Narratives, 15 Spotlight Documentaries; 5 Midnight, 16 Viewpoints selections; and 11 Special Screenings. The films in competition will compete for cash prizes totaling $165,000, as well as artwork from the Artists Awards program, offering work from acclaimed contemporary artists in select categories. One of the first awards to honor excellence in storytelling by a female writer or director, the 6th annual Nora Ephron Award, presented by CHANEL, will award a $25,000 prize to a woman who embodies the spirit and boldness of the late filmmaker. This year’s Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, sponsored by Mohegan Sun, includes 5 documentaries and 1 narrative feature film, as well as a shorts program and more to be announced. The 2018 film selections are as follows:

    CENTERPIECE:

    Zoe, directed by Drake Doremus, written by Richard Greenberg. Produced by Kevin Walsh, Michael Pruss, Drake Doremus, Robert George. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. In a future world where cutting-edge technologies can simulate the high of true love, two colleagues at a revolutionary research lab yearn for a connection that’s real. With Léa Seydoux, Ewan McGregor, Christina Aguilera, Rashida Jones, Theo James, Miranda Otto, Matthew Gray Gubler, Anthony Shim

    CLOSING NIGHT:

    The Fourth Estate, directed by Liz Garbus. Produced by Jenny Carchman, Liz Garbus, Justin Wilkes (USA) – World Premiere, Documentary. For the journalists at The New York Times, the election of Donald Trump presented a once in a generation challenge in how the press would cover a president who has declared the majority of the nation’s major news outlets “the enemy of the people.” Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus witnessed the inner workings of journalism and investigative reporting from the front lines during this administrations’ first history-making year. A Showtime release After the movie: A conversation with The New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet, Washington Bureau Chief Elisabeth Bumiller, White House Correspondent Maggie Haberman, Washington Investigative Correspondent Mark Mazzetti, and director Liz Garbus.

    U.S. NARRATIVE COMPETITION

    All About Nina, directed and written by Eva Vives. Produced by Eric B. Fleischman, Sean Tabibian, Natalie Qasabian, Eva Vives. (USA) – World Premiere. Nina Geld’s passion and talent have made her a rising star in the comedy scene, but she’s an emotional mess offstage. When a new professional opportunity coincides with a romantic one, she is forced to reckon with the intersection of her life and her art. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Common, Chace Crawford, Clea DuVall, Kate del Castillo, Beau Bridges. Diane, directed and written by Kent Jones. Produced by Luca Borghese, Ben Howe, Caroline Kaplan, Oren Moverman. (USA) – World Premiere. Diane is a devoted friend and caretaker, particularly to her drug-addicted son. But as those around her begin to drift away in the last quarter of her life, she is left to reckon with past choices and long-dormant memories in this haunting character study. With Mary Kay Place, Jake Lacy, Estelle Parsons, Andrea Martin, Deirdre O’Connell, Glynis O’Connor, Phyllis Somerville, Joyce Van Patten. Duck Butter, directed by Miguel Arteta, written by Miguel Arteta, Alia Shawkat. Produced by Mel Eslyn, Natalie Qasabian. (USA) – World Premiere. Two women, jaded by dishonest and broken relationships, make a pact to spend 24 uninterrupted hours together, having sex on the hour. Their romantic experiment intends to create a new form of intimacy, but it doesn’t quite go as planned. With Alia Shawkat, Laia Costa, Hong Chau, Kate Berlant, Kumail Nanjiani, Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Lindsay Burdge. A release from The Orchard. Ghostbox Cowboy, directed and written by John Maringouin. Produced by Molly Lynch, John Maringouin, John Montague, George Rush, Sean Gillane. (USA, China) – World Premiere. In this darkly comedic morality tale, tech entrepreneur Jimmy Van Horn arrives in China armed with an invention and confidence, only to learn that being American is not enough to succeed. With David Zellner, Robert Longstreet, Johnny Robichaux, Vincent Xie, Carrie Gege Zhang. Little Woods, directed and written by Nia DaCosta. Produced by Rachael Fung, Gabrielle Nadig. (USA) – World Premiere. In this dramatic thriller set in the fracking boomtown of Little Woods, North Dakota, two estranged sisters are driven to extremes when their mother dies, leaving them with one week to pay back her mortgage. With Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale, Lance Reddick. Maine, directed and written by Matthew Brown. Produced by Summer Shelton, Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub. (USA) – World Premiere. A married woman’s journey of self-discovery and introspection while solo-hiking the Appalachian Trail ends up sidetracked when she encounters a lone hiker. With Laia Costa, Thomas Mann. Mapplethorpe, directed and written by Ondi Timoner. Produced by Eliza Dushku, Nathaniel Dushku, Richard J. Bosner, Ondi Timoner. (USA) – World Premiere. In the late 1960s, art-school dropout Robert Mapplethorpe moves into the Chelsea Hotel with dreams of stardom. He quickly becomes the enfant terrible of the photography world as the downtown counterculture of 1970s New York reaches its zenith. With Matt Smith, Marianne Rendón, John Benjamin Hickey, Brandon Sklenar, McKinley Belcher III, Mark Moses. O.G., directed by Madeleine Sackler, written by Stephen Belber. Produced by Madeleine Sackler, Boyd Holbrook. (USA) – World Premiere. An inmate entering the final weeks of a twenty-plus-year sentence must navigate between old loyalties and a new protégé, while he also grapples with the looming uncertainty of his return to life outside bars. With Jeffrey Wright, William Fichtner, Theothus Carter, Mare Winningham, Boyd Holbrook, David Patrick Kelly. Song of Back and Neck, directed and written by Paul Lieberstein. Produced by Paul Lieberstein, Jennifer Prediger, Kim Leadford. (USA) – World Premiere. A hapless man seeking treatment for his crippling back pain discovers a very unusual talent and unexpected love in this inventive romantic comedy from writer-director-star Paul Lieberstein (The Office). With Paul Lieberstein, Rosemarie DeWitt, Clark Duke, Brian d’Arcy James, Robert Pine, Paul Feig. State Like Sleep, directed and written by Meredith Danluck. Produced by Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez. (USA) – World Premiere. Following the death of her husband, Katherine travels to Brussels, where a few loose ends become a whole web of secrets as she untangles her late spouse’s mysterious last days alive. With Katherine Waterston, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Michiel Huisman, Mary Kay Place.

    DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

    Blowin’ Up, directed and written by Stephanie Wang-Breal. Produced by Carrie Weprin. (USA) – World Premiere. In a courtroom in Queens, women facing prostitution charges may earn a chance at redemption thanks to an experimental program established by a team of rebel heroines working to change the system. Call Her Ganda, directed by PJ Raval, written by PJ Raval, Victoria Chalk. Produced by PJ Raval, Lisa Valencia-Svensson, Marty Syjuco, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala. (USA, Philippines) – World Premiere. When a transgender Filipina woman is found dead in the motel room of a U.S. Marine, grassroots activists demand accountability. The ensuing case lays bare a constellation of social and political tensions between the United States and the Philippines. Island of the Hungry Ghosts, directed and written by Gabrielle Brady. Produced by Alexander Wadouh, Samm Haillay, Alex Kelly, Gizem Acarla, Gabrielle Brady. (Australia, Germany, UK) – World Premiere. Christmas Island, Australia is home to one of the largest land migrations on earth—that of forty million crabs journeying from jungle to sea. But the jungle holds another secret: a high-security facility that indefinitely detains individuals seeking asylum. The Man Who Stole Banksy, directed by Marco Proserpio, written by Marco Proserpio, Filippo Perfido, Christian Omodeo. Produced by Marco Proserpio, Filippo Perfido. (Italy) – World Premiere. In 2007, the anonymous graffiti artist Banksy painted a series of political works around Palestine, only to have them cut down and sold off to the highest bidder. A stylish examination of public space and the commodification of street art, narrated by Iggy Pop. Momentum Generation, directed and written by Jeff Zimbalist, Michael Zimbalist. Produced by Jeff Zimbalist, Michael Zimbalist, Colby Gottert, Greg Little, Justine Chiara, Karen Lauder, Laura Michalchyshyn, Lizzie Friedman, Tina Elmo. (USA) – World Premiere. In the 1990s, a motley band of teen surfers from the north shore of Oahu brought professional surfing to new heights. But as their stars rose, the competition threatened to tear their group apart. With Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian, Taylor Knox, Benji Weatherley, Kalani Robb, and Ross Williams. No Greater Law, directed by Tom Dumican, written by Tom Dumican, Jesse Lichtenstein. Produced by Jesse Lichtenstein. (UK, USA) – World Premiere. In Idaho’s rugged Treasure Valley, the Followers of Christ believe in God, family, and faith healing. As an investigation into the community’s high infant mortality rate closes in on the church, one patriarch fights for his right to his faith. An A&E release. Phantom Cowboys, directed by Daniel Patrick Carbone. Produced by Ryan Scafuro, Annie Waldman, Daniel Patrick Carbone. (USA) – World Premiere. This searing documentary, which spans nearly a decade, is a meditation on youth, tradition, and the evolving hopes and dreams of modern adolescents in the forgotten industrial towns across America. The Rachel Divide, directed by Laura Brownson, written by Laura Brownson, Jeff Gilbert. Produced by Laura Brownson, Bridget Stokes, Khaliah Neal. (USA) – World Premiere. Rachel Dolezal became infamous when she was unmasked as a white woman passing for black so thoroughly that she had become the head of her local N.A.A.C.P. chapter. This portrait cuts through the very public controversy to reveal Dolezal’s motivations. A Netflix release. Tanzania Transit, directed by Jeroen van Velzen, written by Jeroen van Velzen, Esther Eenstroom. Produced by Digna Sinke. (Netherlands) – World Premiere. A train journey across Tanzania captures a microcosm of contemporary African society in Tribeca alum Jeroen van Velzen’s captivating and visually stunning road movie. United Skates, directed and produced by Dyana Winkler, Tina Brown. (USA) – World Premiere. Credited with incubating East Coast hip-hop and West Coast rap, America’s roller rinks have long been bastions of regional African-American culture, music, and dance. As rinks shutter across the country, a few activists mount a last stand. When Lambs Become Lions, directed by Jon Kasbe. Produced by Jon Kasbe, Innbo Shim, Tom Yellin, Andrew Harrison Brown. (USA) – World Premiere. In the Kenyan bush, a crackdown on ivory poaching forces a silver-tongued second-generation poacher to seek out an unlikely ally in this fly-on-the-wall look at both sides of the conservation divide. Yellow is Forbidden, directed and written by Pietra Brettkelly. Produced by Pietra Brettkelly, Richard Fletcher, Naomi Wallwork. (New Zealand) – World Premiere. Celebrated Chinese couturier Guo Pei is perhaps best known for designing the brilliant gold gown Rihanna wore to the Met Ball in 2015. But Guo’s quest to be recognized by the gatekeepers of Paris haute couture goes beyond the red carpet and taps into global power dynamics and the perpetual tension between art and commerce.

    INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE COMPETITION

    Amateurs (Amatörer), directed by Gabriela Pichler, written by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Gabriela Pichler. Produced by Anna-Maria Kantarius. (Sweden) – North American Premiere. In this irresistibly charming social comedy, local officials, in a bid to lure a superstore chain to their quiet hamlet, set about producing a promotional video about their town—only to find themselves disrupted at every turn by two teens making their own rival film. With Fredrik Dahl, Yara Ebrahim, Zahraa Aldoujaili. Dry Martina, directed and written by Che Sandoval. Produced by Florencia Larrea, Gregorio González, Hernán Musaluppi, Natacha Cervi. (Chile, Argentina) – International Premiere. Passion and obsession mingle in this fresh comedy about an aging pop star who takes off to pursue a lover, and, while she’s at it, a better sense of self. With Antonella Costa, Patricio Contreras, Geraldine Neary, Pedro Campos, Héctor Morales. Lemonade (Luna de Miere), directed by Ioana Uricaru, written by Ioana Uricaru, Tatiana Ionașcu. Produced by Cristian Mungiu, Yanick Létourneau, Eike Goreczka, Christoph Kukula, Sean Wheelan, Anthony Muir. (Romania, Canada, Germany, Sweden) – International Premiere. Mara hopes to move her son from Romania to the U.S. and obtain a green card. But bureaucratic processes give way to authoritarian nightmares in this simmering social drama about American immigration and the institutional corruption of power. With Mălina Manovici, Steve Bacic, Dylan Scott Smith, Milan Hurduc, Ruxandra Maniu. The Night Eats the World (La nuit a dévoré le monde), directed and written by Dominique Rocher. (France) – North American Premiere. Following one hell of a party, Sam wakes up to the worst-ever morning after—blood-stained walls, an empty apartment building, and Parisian streets filled with the living dead. Even worse, he’s all alone. With Anders Danielsen Lie, Golshifteh Farahani, Denis Lavant. Obey, directed and written by Jamie Jones. Produced by Emily Jones, Ross Williams. (UK) – World Premiere. In the midst of the 2011 London riots, Leon grapples with the stark reality of his life and his relationship with his alcoholic mother while falling in love for the first time. With Marcus Rutherford, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Sam Gittens, T’Nia Miller, Jay Walker. The Party’s Just Beginning, directed and written by Karen Gillan. Produced by Mali Elfman, Andru R. Davies, Claire Mundell. (Scotland) – International Premiere. Lucy is a sharp-witted, foul-mouthed, heavy-drinking twenty-something who is still reeling from a recent loss. This surreal coming-of-age tale is a love letter to Gillan’s hometown in the Scottish Highlands. With Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Matthew Beard, Paul Higgins, Siobhan Redmond, Jamie Quinn, Rachel Jackson. The Saint Bernard Syndicate, directed by Mads Brugger, written by Lærke Sanderhoff. Produced by Emilie Lebech Kaae, Jakob Kirstein Høgel. (Denmark) – World Premiere. Subversive satirist Mads Brugger’s latest is an odd-couple comedy about the pitfalls of striking out into the economic frontier; it charts two hapless Danes’ scheme to sell Saint Bernards to China’s middle class. Smuggling Hendrix, directed and written by Marios Piperides. Produced by Janine Teerling, Marios Piperides, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel, Costas Lambropoulos. (Cyprus) – World Premiere. Though caught between the mob and border patrol, washed-up musician Yiannis must put his plans to leave Cyprus on hold his when his beloved dog escapes across the wall to the island’s Turkish side. With Adam Bousdoukos, Fatih Al, Vicky Papadopoulou, Özgür Karadeniz. Sunday’s Illness (La Enfermedad del Domingo), directed by Ramón Salazar Hoogers, written by Ramón Salazar Hoogers. Produced by Francisco Ramos. (Spain) – North American Premiere. After Anabel hosts an opulent dinner, she is confronted by Chiara, the daughter she abandoned decades earlier. Chiara arrives with just one request: that she and her mother spend ten days together. With Barbara Lennie, Susi Sanchez. Virgins (Vierges), directed by Keren Ben Rafael, written by Keren Ben Rafael, Elise Benroubi. Produced by Caroline Bonmarchand. (France, Israel, Belgium) – World Premiere. Teenage Lana is languishing in her run-down hometown on Israel’s sun-soaked north coast—until an older, attractive writer arrives with tales of a mermaid sighting off the shore of the declining resort town. With Joy Rieger, Evgenia Dodina, Michael Aloni, Manuel Elkaslassy Vardi, Rami Heuberger.

    SPOTLIGHT NARRATIVE

    All These Small Moments, directed and written by Melissa Miller Costanzo. Produced by Lauren Avinoam, Jed Mellick, Katie Leary. (USA) – World Premiere. Howie Sheffield is at a turning point. As he watches his parents’ relationship crumbling, he becomes infatuated with Odessa, a woman he sees each day on the bus ride to school. With Brendan Meyer, Jemima Kirke, Molly Ringwald, Brian d’Arcy James, Sam McCarthy, Harley Quinn Smith. Back Roads, directed by Alex Pettyfer, written by Tawni O’Dell, Adrian Lyne. Produced by Craig Robinson, Michael Ohoven, Ashley Mansour, Alex Pettyfer, Jake Seal, Dan Spilo. (USA) – World Premiere. A young man cares for his sisters after their mother is imprisoned for murdering their abusive father. When he strikes up an affair with a married woman, long-dormant family secrets bubble to the surface in this noir thriller. With Alex Pettyfer, Jennifer Morrison, Nicola Peltz, June Carryl, Juliette Lewis. Blue Night, directed by Fabien Constant, written by Laura Eason. Produced by Andrea Iervolino, Monika Bacardi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alison Benson. (USA) – World Premiere. A devastating diagnosis sends a famous singer reeling through the streets of New York City in this French New Wave-inspired drama. With Sarah Jessica Parker, Simon Baker, Jacqueline Bisset, Common, Taylor Kinney, Renée Zellweger, Waleed Zuaiter. Daughter of Mine (Figlia mia), directed by Laura Bispuri, written by Francesca Manieri, Laura Bispuri. Produced by Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Maurizio Totti, Alessandro Usai, Viola Fügen, Michael Weber, Dan Wechsler. (Italy, Germany, Switzerland) – North American Premiere. On the windswept coast of Sardinia, two women compete for the affections of 10-year old Vittoria: her troubled, alcoholic birth mother Angelica and her doting adoptive mother Tina. With Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu, Udo Kier, Michele Carboni. Disobedience, directed by Sebastian Lelio, written by Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Produced by Frida Torresblanco, Ed Guiney, Rachel Weisz. (UK) – U.S. Premiere. After the death of her estranged rabbi father, a New York photographer returns to the Orthodox Jewish community in North London where she grew up and, in doing so, reignites long-dormant passions and controversies. With Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola. A Bleecker Street release. Egg, directed by Marianna Palka, written by Risa Mickenberg. Produced by Michele Ganeless, Alysia Reiner, David Alan Basche. (USA) – World Premiere. In provocateur Marianna Palka’s sharp and unflinching satire, two couples and a surrogate lay bare the complications, contradictions, heartbreak, and absurdities implicit in how we think about motherhood. With Christina Hendricks, Anna Camp, Alysia Reiner, David Alan Basche, Gbenga Akinnagbe. In a Relationship, directed and written by Sam Boyd. Produced by Jorge Garcia Castro, David Hunter, Ross Putman. (USA) – World Premiere. Long-term couple Owen and Hallie are breaking up—or maybe not?—and just as their relationship reaches a turning point, Matt and Willa embark on a romance of their own. A funny and deeply felt chronicle of one summer in the lives of two couples in Los Angeles. With Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano, Dree Hemingway, Patrick Gibson, Jay Ellis, Melora Walters. Jonathan, directed by Bill Oliver, written by Peter Nickowitz, Bill Oliver, Gregory Davis. Produced by Randy Manis, Ricky Tollman. (USA) – World Premiere. Jonathan is a young man with a strange condition that only his brother understands. But when he begins to yearn for a different life, their unique bond becomes increasingly tested in this twisty sci-fi drama. With Ansel Elgort, Suki Waterhouse, Patricia Clarkson. Mary Shelley, directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, written by Emma Jensen. Produced by Amy Baer, Alan Moloney, Ruth Coady. (Ireland, UK, Luxembourg, USA) – U.S. Premiere. The story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin’s whirlwind romance with the tempestuous poet Percy Shelley, a romance that led to her creation of one of the most enduring works of gothic literature before the age of 20: Frankenstein. With Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt, Tom Sturridge, Maisie Williams. An IFC release. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, directed by Desiree Akhavan, written by Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele. Produced by Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtlelaub, Cecilia Frugiuele, Jonathan Montepare. (USA) – New York Premiere. After Cameron is caught making out with another girl on prom night, her conservative guardians send her to gay conversion therapy. There, she forges an unlikely community with her fellow teens in this Sundance-winning coming of age story. With Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle. Nico, 1988, directed and written by Susanna Nicchiarelli. Produced by Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Joseph Rouschop, and Valérie Bournonville. (Italy, Belgium) – North American Premiere. This whirlwind road movie follows the final months on tour of the singer-songwriter Nico, one-time Warhol superstar and Velvet Underground vocalist. With Trine Dyrholm, John Gordon Sinclair, Anamaria Marinca, Sandor Funtek, Thomas Trabacchi, Karina Fernandez, Calvin Demba. A Magnolia release. The Seagull, directed by Michael Mayer, written by Stephen Karam. Produced by Jay Franke, David Herro, Robert Salerno, Tom Hulce, Leslie Urdang. (USA) – World Premiere. A sumptuous adaptation of the classic Chekhov play transports the audience to a picturesque lakeside estate, where a love triangle unfolds between the legendary diva Irina, her lover Boris, and the ingénue Nina. With Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney, Glenn Fleshler, Michael Zegen, Billy Howle, Brian Dennehy. A Sony Pictures Classic release. Stockholm, directed and written by Robert Budreau. Produced by Nicholas Tabarrok, Robert Budreau, Jonathan Bronfman. (Canada, Sweden, USA) – World Premiere. In 1973, an unhinged American outlaw walked into a bank in Sweden demanding millions in cash in exchange for his hostages. The events that followed would capture the attention of the world and ultimately give a name to a new psychological phenomenon: Stockholm syndrome. With Ethan Hawke, Noomi Rapace, Mark Strong, Christopher Heyerdahl, Bea Santos, Thorbjorn Harr. Untogether, directed and written by Emma Forrest. Produced by Scott LaStaiti, Luke Daniels, Brandon Hogan. (USA) – World Premiere. Former writing prodigy Andrea tries not to fall for her one-night stand, while her sister Lisa throws herself into a newfound religious zeal (and the arms of her charismatic rabbi) to avoid the truth about her current relationship in this multi-character romantic drama. With Jamie Dornan, Jemima Kirke, Lola Kirke, Ben Mendelsohn, Billy Crystal, Alice Eve, Jennifer Grey, Scott Caan.

    SPOTLIGHT DOCUMENTARY

    Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, directed by Aaron Lieber, written by Aaron Lieber, Carol Martori. Produced by Penny Edmiston, Jane Kelly Kosek. (USA) – World Premiere. One of the most fearless and accomplished athletes of her generation, Bethany Hamilton became a surfing wunderkind when she returned to the sport following a devastating shark attack at age 13. As she continues to chase waves she also now tackles motherhood. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. The Bleeding Edge, directed by Amy Ziering, Kirby Dick. Produced by Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering. (USA) – World Premiere. Each year in the United States, unparalleled innovations in medical diagnostics, treatment, and technology hit the market. But when the same devices designed to save patients end up harming them, who is accountable? A Netflix release. General Magic, directed by Matthew Maude, Sarah Kerruish, written by Matt Maude, Sarah Kerruish, Jonathan Keys. Produced by Matt Maude, Sarah Kerruish. (UK, USA) – World Premiere. A Silicon Valley startup built by the best and brightest minds of the 1980s tech world, General Magic shipped the first handheld wireless personal communicator in 1994. It was decades ahead of its time—and a complete failure. With Tony Fadell, Marc Porat, Andy Hertzfeld, Megan Smith, Joanna Hoffman, Kevin Lynch. House Two, directed and written by Michael Epstein. Produced by Michael Epstein, Tony Wood. (USA) – World Premiere. In 2005, a group of U.S. Marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women, and children in a matter of minutes, sparking the largest criminal investigation in Marine Corps history. House Two delves into that investigation and the ensuing court proceedings, all the way up to the case’s shocking conclusion. Howard, directed and written by Don Hahn. Produced by Don Hahn, Lori Korngiebel. (USA) – World Premiere. Howard Ashman, the once-in-a-generation songwriting talent, penned the lyrics for Little Shop of Horrors and revitalized Disney with his work on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Howard is a tribute to the lyricist and to the power of musical storytelling. With Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Bill Lauch, Sarah Gillespie, Peter Schneider. Into the Okavango, directed by Neil Gelinas, written by Neil Gelinas, Brian Newell. Produced by Neil Gelinas. (USA) – World Premiere. Botswana’s Okavango Delta is one of the planet’s last remaining true wildernesses, but studies have shown it is shrinking. A group of intrepid scientists embark on a four-month, 1500-mile journey upriver to the Okavango’s source to investigate why. A National Geographic release McQueen, directed Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, written by Peter Ettedgui. Produced by Ian Bonhôte, Andee Ryder, Nick Taussig, Paul Van Carter. Legendary couturier Alexander McQueen’s rags to riches story is vividly brought to life by his closest friends and family, and through his revolutionary body of work, as inspired, tortured, and visionary as the man himself. A Bleecker Street release Roll Red Roll, directed by Nancy Schwartzman. Produced by Nancy Schwartzman, Jessica Devaney, Steven Lake. (USA) – World Premiere. At a 2012 pre-season high-school football party in Steubenville, Ohio, a young woman was raped. The aftermath exposed an entire culture of complicity—and Roll Red Roll maps out the roles that peer pressure, denial, sports machismo, and social media each played in the tragedy. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda, directed and written by Stephen Nomura Schible. Produced by Eric Nyari, Yoshiko Hashimoto, Stephen Nomura Schible. (USA) – North American Premiere. Ryuichi Sakamoto has had a prolific career spanning over four decades, from techno-pop stardom to Oscar-winning film composer. Coda offers an intimate portrait of a legendary artist and a passionate activist. Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland, directed by Kate Davis, David Heilbroner. Produced by David Heilbroner, Kate Davis. (USA) – World Premiere. Sandra Bland was a bright, energetic activist whose life was cut short when a traffic stop resulted in a mysterious jail cell death just three days later. Say Her Name follows the two-year battle to uncover the truth. An HBO release. Serengeti Rules, directed and written by Nicolas Brown. Produced by David Allen. (UK) – World Premiere. A band of young scientists discover a radical new theory of the natural world—one that could help confront some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. Songwriter, directed and written by Murray Cummings. Produced by Kimmie Kim. (UK) – North American Premiere. Songwriter is an intimate immersion into the intense and collaborative process that created Ed Sheeran’s chart-topping album, ÷. Studio 54, directed by Matt Tyrnauer. Produced by Matt Tyrnauer, Corey Reeser, John Battsek. (USA) – New York Premiere. In 1977, Studio 54 and its founders, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, epitomized New York hedonism. But by, 1979 the fantasy was over—and Studio 54 goes inside that meteoric rise and catastrophic fall. With Steve Rubell, Ian Schrager, Nile Rodgers, Norma Kamali, Karin Bacon, Myra Scheer. An A&E release. Time for Ilhan, directed by Norah Shapiro. Produced by Jennifer Steinman Sternin, Chris Newberry, Norah Shapiro. (USA) – World Premiere. In November 2016, Ilhan Omar made history as the first Somali Muslim woman to be elected for state office in America. Time for Ilhan offers an inspiring look at her campaign and the changing face of American politics. Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie, directed and written by Andrea Nevins. Produced by Cristan Crocker, Andrea Nevins. (USA) – World Premiere. Since her debut nearly 60 years ago, Barbie has been at turns a fashion idol and a cultural lightning rod. Tiny Shoulders steps behind the scenes as the icon undergoes her greatest reinvention yet. With Kim Culmone, Michelle Chidoni, Gloria Steinem, Roxane Gay, Peggy Orenstein. A Hulu release.

    VIEWPOINTS

    Charm City, directed by Marilyn Ness, written by Marilyn Ness, Don Bernier. Produced by Katy Chevigny. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Charm City takes viewers beyond the television headlines and over the front lines of violence in Baltimore; in doing so, it reveals the grit and compassion of the city’s citizens, police, and government officials trying to reclaim their future. Crossroads, directed by Ron Yassen. Produced by Lauren Griswold. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Despite never having played the game before, a group of underprivileged teens emerge as a talented lacrosse team under the tutelage of Coach Bobby Selkin in this inspiring documentary. An ESPN Films release. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. Dead Women Walking, directed and written by Hagar Ben-Asher. Produced by Clara Levy, Lorne Hiltser, Michael M. McGuire. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. Nine vignettes depict the stages leading to execution for women on death row in this emotional account of the human toll of the death penalty—on both the inmates and those they encounter in their final hours. With Dale Dickey, Dot Marie Jones, Lynn Collins, Colleen Camp, June Carryl, and Ashton Sanders. The Elephant and the Butterfly (Drôle de Père), directed and written by Amélie van Elmbt. Produced by Adrienne D’Anna, Delphine Tomson. (Belgium, France) – North American Premiere, Feature Narrative. When her babysitter doesn’t show, a single mother is forced to leave her precocious five-year-old daughter with the girl’s estranged father for a long weekend in this heartfelt drama executive produced by Martin Scorsese and the Dardenne Brothers. With Isabelle Barth, Thomas Blanchard, Judith Chemla, Alice de Lencquesaing, Lina Doillon. The Feeling of Being Watched, directed and written by Assia Boundaoui. Produced by Jessica Devaney, Assia Boundaoui. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Journalist Assia Bendaoui sets out to investigate long-brewing rumors that her quiet, predominantly Arab-American neighborhood was being monitored by the FBI—and in the process, she exposes a surveillance program on a scale no one could have imagined. The Great Pretender, directed by Nathan Silver, written by Jack Dunphy. Produced by Matt Grady, Danelle Eliav, Nathan Silver, Jack Dunphy, Jere B Ford. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. The lives of a French theater director, her ex-boyfriend, and the two actors playing them intersect dramatically in this tangled and darkly funny roundelay set in the New York theater world. With Esther Garrel, Keith Poulson, Maelle Poesy, Linas Phillips. Home + Away, directed by Matt Ogens. Produced by Todd Makurath, Luke Ricci, Nathaniel Greene, Matt Ogens, Nina Chaudry. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. For the mostly Mexican-American students of El Paso’s Bowie High School, sports can offer a path to a better life. Home + Away follows three students as they pursue that route in search of success. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. Jellyfish, directed by James Gardner, written by James Gardner, Simon Lord. Produced by James Gardner, Nikolas Holttum. (UK) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. Sarah Taylor’s hardscrabble life has turned her into a teenage terror. When her drama teacher helps her channel her ferocious wit into comedy, her life’s delicate balance is set on a collision course with her newfound passion. With Liv Hil, Sinéad Matthews, Cyril Nri, Angus Barnett. Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Football, directed by Louis Myles, written by Louis Myles, Ivor Baddiel. Produced by Louis Myles, Tom Markham. (UK, Brazil) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Soccer stars were at the center of the scene in the glamorous nightlife meccas of 1980s Brazil. But in their midst, one of the biggest sports celebrities of his generation harbored a secret: He had never played a single game. With Carlos Henrique Raposo, Carlos Alberto Torres, Zico, Bebeto, Renato Gaúcho, Ricardo Rocha. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. M, directed and written by Sara Forestier. Produced by Hugo Selignac. (France) – North American Premiere, Feature Narrative. Written by, directed by, and starring César Award winner Sara Forestier, this steamy drama explores the passionate relationship between a girl with a crippling speech impediment and an undereducated drag racer. With Sara Forestier, Redouanne Harjane, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Liv Andren. Presented in partnership with Venice Days. The Proposal, directed by Jill Magid. Produced by Jarred Alterman, Laura Coxson, Charlotte Cook. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. When artist-turned-filmmaker Jill Magid learns that the archives of Mexico’s most famous architect are being held in a private collection, she devises a radical plan to return his legacy to the public. Satan & Adam, directed by V. Scott Balcerek, written by V. Scott Balcerek, Ryan Suffern. Produced by Frank Marshall, Ryan Suffern. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. One was a demon on guitar; the other was fresh out of school and no slouch on harmonica. Satan & Adam is a rousing celebration of the blues that comprises documentary footage shot over the course of two decades. With Sterling Magee, Adam Gussow, The Edge, Rev. Al Sharpton, Harry Shearer, Quint Davis. Slut in a Good Way, directed by Sophie Lorain, written by Catherine Léger. Produced by Martin Paul-Hus. (Canada) – International Premiere, Feature Narrative. Three 17-year-old girlfriends get a job at the Toy Depot for the holiday season and become smitten with the guys who work alongside them in this charming teen sex comedy. With Marguerite Bouchard, Rose Adam, Romane Denis, Alex Godbout, Anthony Therrien, Vassili Schneider. We the Animals, directed by Jeremiah Zagar, written by Dan Kitrosser. Produced by Jeremy Yaches, Christina D. King, Andrew Goldman, Paul Mezey. (USA) – New York Premiere, Feature Narrative. This lyrical coming-of-age tale, based on the acclaimed novel, weaves magic realism into an exquisite portrait of three brothers, their troubled parents, and the secret that the youngest of them holds. With Raul Castillo, Sheila Vand, Evan Rosado, Isaiah Kristian, Josiah Gabriel. A release from The Orchard. When She Runs, directed by Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, written by Kirstin Anderson, Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck. Produced by Laura Heberton. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. Kristin is a young mother struggling to get by in her small town. One all-consuming passion—the chance to train for Olympic gold with a world-renowned running coach—offers a possible escape. With Kirstin Anderson, Ivan Gehring, Jonah Graham. Also playing as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. White Tide: The Legend of Culebra, directed by Theo Love. Produced by Bryan Storkel, Theo Love. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. After he’s wiped out by the Great Recession, Rodney hears a story that could be his ticket out of debt. A map, an island, and buried treasure: If you knew where $2 million worth of cocaine was buried, would you dig that shit up?

    MIDNIGHT

    7 Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss By Passing Through the Gateway Chosen By the Holy Storsh, directed by Vivieno Caldinelli, written by Christopher Hewitson, Clayton Hewitson, Justin Jones. Produced by Patrick McErlean, Michael Moran, Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, Lisa Whalen, Elijah Wood. (USA) – World Premiere. Midwestern couple Claire and Paul are thrilled to find a great deal on an affordable Los Angeles apartment. But the rent is cheap for a reason: cult members keep breaking in at random to commit ritual suicide in their bathtub. With Kate Micucci, Sam Huntington, Dan Harmon, Taika Waititi, Mark McKinney. Braid, directed and written by Mitzi Peirone. Produced by Logan Steinhardt, Arielle Elwes. (USA) – World Premiere. Two drug dealers on the lam seek refuge inside their mentally unstable friend’s mansion. But in order to stay, they have to participate in her elaborate, and increasingly dangerous, game of permanent make-believe. With Madeline Brewer, Imogen Waterhouse, Sarah Hay, Scott Cohen. Cargo, directed by Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke, written by Yolanda Ramke. Produced by Russell Akerman, Samantha Jennings, John Schoenfelder, Kristine Ceyton. (Australia) – World Premiere. An infected father navigates a zombie-riddled Australian Outback with his infant daughter. Fortunately, he’s found an Aboriginal community that may hold the disease’s cure. Unfortunately, he has only 48 hours to live. With Martin Freeman. A Netflix release. The Dark, directed and written by Justin P. Lange. Produced by Danny Krausz, Kurt Stocker, Laura Permutter, Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith. (Austria) – World Premiere. Undead and hating it, young flesh-eater Mina haunts the woods surrounding her childhood home. When she befriends a physically abused boy, she must figure out why, for once, she isn’t feeling homicidal. With Nadia Alexander, Toby Nichols, Karl Markovics. You Shall Not Sleep (No dormirás), directed by Gustavo Hernandez, written by Juma Fodde. Produced by Pablo Bossi, Pol Bossi, Agustin Bossi, Guido Rud, Juan Ignacio Cucucovich, Maria Luisa Gutierrez, Cristina Zumarraga, Juan Pablo Buscarini. (Argentina, Spain, Uruguay) – International Premiere. A young actress joins an experimental play set inside an abandoned asylum. The objective is clear: The actors must stay awake for as long as possible. The hospital’s former residents, however, have different plans. With Belen Rueda, Eva de Dominici, Natalia de Molina, German Palacios Eugenia, Tobal Juan Guilera.

    SPECIAL SCREENINGS

    The American Meme, directed and written by Bert Marcus. Produced by Bert Marcus, Cassandra Hamar. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Paris Hilton, the Fat Jew, Kirill Bichutsky, and Brittany Furlan have all used social media to achieve massive internet fame. But, is it worth it? With DJ Khaled, Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Baldwin. After the movie: A conversation with director Bert Marcus, subjects Paris Hilton, Kirill Bichutsky, and Brittany Furlan. Bathtubs Over Broadway, directed by Dava Whisenant, written by Ozzy Inguanzo, Dava Whisenant. Produced by Amanda Spain, Dava Whisenant, Susan Littenberg. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Comedy writer Steve Young’s assignment to scour bargain-bin vinyl for a Late Night segment becomes an unexpected, decades-spanning obsession when he stumbles upon the strange and hilarious world of industrial musicals in this musical-comedy-documentary. With David Letterman, Chita Rivera, Martin Short, Susan Stroman, Sheldon Harnick, Jello Biafra. After the movie: A conversation with members of the cast and a special performance inspired by the film with surprise guests. Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes, directed and written by Sophie Huber. Produced by Sophie Huber, Chiemi Karasawa, Susanne Guggenberger, Hercli Bundi. (Switzerland, USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. This is the history of Blue Note Records, the label that, since 1939, has recorded jazz giants ranging from Miles Davis to Robert Glasper—revolutionizing not only music, but also the world. With Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Robert Glasper, Don Was, Norah Jones. After the movie: A special guest performance by Blue Note artists Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, and Kendrick Scott. Every Act of Life, directed and written by Jeff Kaufman. Produced by Jeff Kaufman, Marcia Ross. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Every Act of Life presents a revealing portrait of four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally’s ground-breaking, six-decade career in the theater, fight for LGBTQ rights, and triumph over addiction. With Terrence McNally, Audra McDonald, Nathan Lane, Larry Kramer, Angela Lansbury, Christine Baranski. After the movie: A conversation with director Jeff Kaufman, playwright Terrence McNally, actor/director Joe Mantello, and actors F. Murray Abraham, Christine Baranski, and Chita Rivera. Moderated by New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich. The Gospel According to André, directed by Kate Novack. Produced by Kate Novack, Andrew Rossi. (USA) – New York Premiere, Feature Documentary. From the segregated South to the fashion capitals of the world, The Gospel According to André recounts fashion editor André Leon Talley’s storied life and career through intimate conversations, rich archival, and testimonials from fashion luminaries including Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, and Marc Jacobs. With André Leon Talley. A Magnolia release. After the movie: A conversation with director Kate Novack and subject André Leon Talley, producer Andrew Rossi, executive producer Roger Ross Williams and producer Josh Braun. It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It, directed by Madeleine Sackler. Produced by Stacey Reiss, Madeleine Sackler. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Given unprecedented access to a maximum security prison, filmmaker Madeleine Sackler worked with a group of inmates to tell their own stories, giving rise to this collaborative, intimate documentary project. It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It is a companion piece to the Tribeca-premiering O.G. It is co-directed by thirteen men incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility in Pendleton, Indiana Netizens, directed, written, and produced by Cynthia Lowen. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. In the midst of the #MeToo movement, three very different women whose lives were torn apart by online harassment devote themselves to fighting back against the internet’s Wild West of unpoliced misogyny, cyberstalking, and nonconsensual pornography. With Carrie Goldberg, Anita Sarkeesian, Tina Reine, Soraya Chemaly, Jamia Wilson, Mary Anne Franks. After the movie: A conversation with director Cynthia Lowen, subjects Tina Reine, Carrie Goldberg, and Anita Sarkeesian. Nigerian Prince, directed by Faraday Okoro, written by Faraday Okoro & Andrew Long. Produced by Oscar Hernandez, Bose Oshin, Faraday Okoro. (USA, Nigeria) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. A troubled American teenager, sent away to his mother’s native Nigeria, finds himself entangled in a dangerous web of scams and corruption with a con-artist cousin as his guide. With Antonio J. Bell, Chinaza Uche, Tina Mba, Bimbo Manuel, Toyin Oshinaike, Craig Stott. To Dust, directed by Shawn Snyder, written by Shawn Snyder, Jason Duran. Produced by Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola, Ron Perlman, Josh Crook, Scott Lochmus. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Narrative. Traumatized by the death of his wife, a Hasidic cantor obsesses over how her body will decay. He seeks answers from a local biology professor in this, unlikeliest of buddy comedies. With Geza Rohrig, Matthew Broderick. After the movie: Tribeca Film Institute will host a conversation with writer/director Shawn Snyder, producers Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola and Ron Perelman, cast members Geza Rohrig and Matthew Broderick, and biologist Dawnie Steadman. Hosted by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1, directed and written by Dexton Deboree. Produced by Dexton Deboree, Stefanie Fink. (USA) – World Premiere, Feature Documentary. Through interviews with Michael Jordan, Spike Lee, and more, this vibrant documentary tells the origin story of the Air Jordan, and the impact it had on sports, hip-hop, and the birth of sneaker culture. With Spike Lee, Anthony Anderson, Chuck D, DJ Khaled, Michael Jordan, Michael B Jordan, Jason Sudeikis, Lena Waithe, Russell Westbrook. After the movie: A musical tribute to the film and the Air Jordan from Kid Ink, Gizzle, and more. Woman Walks Ahead, directed by Susanna White, written by Steven Knight. Produced by Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Erika Olde, Richard Solomon, Andrea Calderwood. (USA) – U.S. Premiere, Feature Narrative. Based on a true story, 19th-century Brooklyn artist Catherine Weldon journeys west on a mission to paint a portrait of the legendary chief Sitting Bull, only to find a very different world—and man—than she was expecting. With Jessica Chastain, Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Sam Rockwell, Ciarán Hinds, Bill Camp. A DirecTV/A24 release. After the movie: A conversation with director Susanna White, actor Sam Rockwell, and more.

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  • 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival Reveals Feature Films in Golden Gate Award Competition

    [caption id="attachment_27366" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Tre Maison Dasan Tre Maison Dasan[/caption] The San Francisco International Film Festival announced the feature film in competitions for the 2018 Golden Gate Awards. The upcoming festival will run from April 4th to 17th, 2018, and the Golden Gate Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, April 15th. The Golden Gate Awards will distribute nearly $40,000 in total prizes this year in various narrative and documentary categories. The McBaine Bay Area Documentary Feature winner will receive $5,000 while the New Directors Prize & the McBaine Documentary Feature winners will receive a cash prize of $10,000. In addition to the narrative and documentary features in contention, the Golden Gate Awards will include competitors in six short film categories.

    GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NEW DIRECTORS (NARRATIVE FEATURE) COMPETITION

    Djon África | Directors: João Miller Guerra and Felipa Reis, Portugal/Brazil/Cape Verde At loose ends in Lisbon, Miguel (Miguel Moreira) is prompted by a chance encounter to search for the father he has never known in Cape Verde, where he encounters a diverse mélange of residents. From cheeky bus riders to a ribald farmwoman who serves as a kind of cultural griot, Guerra and Reis’s winning and funny debut uses the road movie format as its jumping-off point for a culturally rich portrait of the verdant and beautiful landscapes of Cape Verde. I Am Not a Witch | Director: Rungano Nyoni, UK/France “The child is a witch,” exclaim the villagers in the opening of this strikingly beautiful first feature by Rungano Nyoni. When young Shula is accused of witchcraft in her village, she is exiled, her movements constrained, and she is expected to perform miracles; however, she is not prepared to live this way forever. Employing breathtaking composition, Nyoni layers magical realism, satire, and social critique to blur reality with the surreal in this original and unforgettable story. Night Comes On | Director: Jordana Spiro, USA Jordana Spiro’s heartfelt and nuanced debut feature concerns Angel, just out of juvenile detention, and her sister, currently in a foster home. Angel is determined to confront her father about their past, while her sibling needs her to stay out of trouble so they can build on their bond. Newcomers Dominique Fishback (The Deuce) and Tatum Marilyn Hall give authentic and grounded performances, intimately capturing the close bond of sisterhood as they desperately try to remain a family against their complex circumstances. Ravens | Director: Jens Assur, Sweden A young boy, whose aspirations lie away from the family farm, tries to take a stand against his father, a stubborn and taciturn man who extols the virtues of toil and sacrifice. As their conflict butts up against challenging economic and emotional realities, the lives of all family members, including the boy’s dissatisfied mother, are profoundly altered. With a stark visual sensibility and powerful performances, Assur’s debut feature beautifully renders the story of a life that seems to offer little way out. Scary Mother | Director: Ana Urushadze, Georgia/Estonia Manana, a wild-haired 50-something mother of three, has just written a book. The problem is that the novel is clearly autobiographical and leaves no family member unscathed. As the ramifications of her artistic endeavor unravel in compellingly bizarre fashion, Manana’s single-minded pursuit of her new calling leads the film into brave and uncharted territory. The Sower | Director: Marine Francen, France In a rural mountain village in 1851, it is up to the women to bring in the grain harvest after all their men have been arrested for sedition. Under these challenging circumstances, their livelihoods as well as their desire for children become an obsession and when a mysterious man appears, these concerns play out in continually surprising and erotic fashion in this frank, feverish, and ravishingly beautiful film. Suleiman Mountain|Director: Elizaveta Stishova, Kyrgyzstan/Russia Without preamble, a young Kyrgyz boy is taken out an orphanage and into the lives of his supposed parents who make ends meet by running various cons on unsuspecting villagers. Director Stishova weaves mythological and even comedic elements into a beautifully filmed tale that centers around the titular mountain, a mysterious and holy place where the prophet Solomon is said to be buried and where the film’s characters aim to find their destinies. Those Who Are Fine | Director: Cyril Schäublin, Switzerland Through striking framing, intense angles, fragmented scenes, and amusing conversations that at first seem to be unrelated, Those Who Are Fine weaves together stories of a young woman at a telemarketing company who takes advantage of the elderly by convincing them to give her large sums of cash. Director Cyril Schäublin’s bold and precisely assembled debut astutely captures a world where every character is either on or using a device and surveillance is everywhere but fails to protect. Tigre |Directors: Ulises Porra Guardiola and Silvina Schnicer, Argentina In a boarded-up family estate situated in Argentina’s mysterious and ancient Tigre delta, three generations gather to decide whether to sell their property to developers. As the family navigates their relationship to their home, their interpersonal conflicts lead to them to a unique and beautiful farewell. Winter Brothers |Director: Hlynur Pálmason, Denmark/Iceland A powerful batch of moonshine made in the barracks of an industrial compound causes problems for Emil after his coworkers become ill. Already an outcast, resentment grows as he blunders everything that he tries to pursue – including the only woman in town. Set in an ashen-grey wilderness, where everything is covered in a clay-like dust, director Hlynur Pálmason’s drama distinctly captures each character’s bumbling rage with sly humor in this debut feature film.

    GOLDEN GATE AWARDS MCBAINE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

    City of the Sun | Director: Rati Oneli, Georgia/USA/Qatar/Netherlands The lives, dreams, and desires of three stalwart denizens of a desolate Georgian mining town provide the framework for this observational and gorgeously rendered film. With precise attention to landscape and architecture, director Rati O’Neli focuses on Archil, a miner with an operatic flair for theater, the workouts of twin sprinters, and Zurab, an impassioned man working to keep Georgian music and culture alive. The Distant Barking of Dogs | Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont, Denmark/Sweden/Finland – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE In the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a loving, wise, and defiant grandmother raises her two young grandsons. Living under the omnipresent threat of war, the spirited boys, Oleg and Yarik, learn to adapt to their precarious situation and playfully wander through their neighborhood oblivious to the dangers around them. With a warm gaze toward his beguiling protagonists, director Simon Lereng Wilmot lends sensitivity and entrancing visuals – intimately framed close-ups and vibrant rural landscapes – to deliver a nuanced portrait of war and its corrosive effect. Hale County This Morning, This Evening | Director: RaMell Ross, USA “I already had my troubles for today, so I can’t worry about tomorrow,” states Daniel, one of the protagonists in award-winning photographer RaMell Ross’s inspired and intimate portrait of a place and its people. Set in an African-American community in rural Alabama where the director moves to coach basketball in 2009, the film captures small, but nevertheless precious, moments in Black lives – church services, a toddler running circles, an eclipse – with rapturous attention. The Judge | Director: Erika Cohn, USA/Palestine Judge Kholoud Al-Faqih became the first female appointed to any of the Middle East’s Shari’a courts in 2009, challenging longstanding traditions and customs of women’s roles in society. Constantly battling controversy over her position, Al-Faqih offers guidance, mentorship, and support both in and outside the courts. In this intimate portrait, director Erika Cohn captures the determined and compassionate judge as she strives to achieve justice in a system that so often does not favor women. Minding the Gap | Director: Bing Liu, USA In Rockford, Illinois, Bing Liu has been filming his friends Zack and Kiere on and off their skateboards for ten years. Weaving archival footage, interviews, and incredible skate videos, Liu chronicles in simple and poetic fashion the lives of his inner circle of friends and family, revealing the damaging circumstances in which they all grew up. Less a film about skate culture and more an unusual and powerful coming-of-age story, Liu’s feature documentary is fresh and powerful. The Next Guardian | Directors: Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, Hungary/Netherlands In the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, teenage siblings, Gyembo and Tashi share a passion for soccer, Facebook, and girls. Gyembo enjoys reading classmates Facebook posts while Tashi turns heads with her confident, boyish demeanor. As technology and social media become more accessible, these youthful amusements collide with the father’s desire for Gyembo to inherit the family monastery. Co-directors Arun Bhattarai and Dorottyya Zurbó present a penetrating and compassionate portrait of globalization and fundamental change in a country immersed in tradition and culture. The Other Side of Everything | Director: Mila Turajlić, Serbia/France/Qatar In 1945, filmmaker Mila Turajlić’s (Cinema Komunisto, Festival 2011) family apartment was divided and redistributed by the state government. Her mother’s political activism meant that they were spied on from the very rooms they used to own.  Now her fascinating mother, Srbijanka, can talk about that “other side.” A staunch public advocate and voice of resistance against Slobodan Milosevic for years, she discusses with her daughter their complicated personal and political histories, while reflecting on the divided past they share. The Rescue List | Directors: Alyssa Fedele and Zachary Fink, USA/Ghana – WORLD PREMIERE Lake Volta in Ghana is the largest man-made lake in the world; it is also notorious as a locale for forced child labor. Bay Area filmmakers Zachary Fink and Alyssa Fedele’s beautifully shot documentary charts the courageous efforts of a local safe house to rescue the kids, give them schooling and therapy, and prepare them for reintegration into their families. Though it contains many intimate and moving moments with the children, the star of the film is real life hero Kwame, who initiates several dramatic rescues and is a former child slave himself. Shirkers | Director: Sandi Tan, USA “When I was 18, I had so many ideas,” reflects Sandi Tan in this buoyant personal documentary. 25 years ago, Tan and two cinephile friends made a film in Singapore, but the reels disappeared, along with a mysterious man named Georges Cardona who had been acting as the project’s mentor. Recently, the footage was found, which prompts this constantly surprising and reflective film about movie love, female friendship, and the urge for creative expression. Tre Maison Dasan | Director: Denali Tiller, USA – WORLD PREMIERE Tre, Maison, and Dasan are three boys who all share something in common – one of their parents is in jail. Following their separate lives through boyhood and weaving their stories together, first-time documentary filmmaker Denali Tiller tenderly observes each youngster’s life, as the kids come to understand more about the world around them. Capturing loving, frustrating, and heart wrenching moments between parent and child, Tre Maison Dasan approaches the issue of mass-incarceration by exposing the effects of the criminal justice system on young men.

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  • 2018 Audi Dublin International Film Festival Winners – Xavier Legrand’s “Custody” Wins Best Film

    [caption id="attachment_24707" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]CUSTODY (Jusqu'à la garde) CUSTODY (Jusqu’à la garde)[/caption] The Audi Dublin International Film Festival 2018 announced the award winners, with Xavier Legrand’s Custody winning DFCC Best Film, and key Irish awards included DFCC Best Irish Film for Feargal Ward’s The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid, DFCC Best Irish Director for Rebecca Daly (Good Favour) and The George Byrne Maverick Award for Stephen Rea (Black 47).   The Fantastic Flix Children’s Jury awarded Best Feature to Room 213 and Best Short to Earthy Encounters. The three joint winners of the ADIFF Discovery Award were announced as Mia Mullarkey (Mother & Baby), Rua Meegan & Trevor Whelan (Bordalo II: A Life of Waste), and TJ O’Grady Peyton (Wave). The winner of the Jury Prize for Best Irish Short Film was Mia Mullarkey for Mother & Baby.  Best International Short Film was awarded to Iranian director Kaveh Mazaheri’s Retouch. The winner of the AUDIence Short Film Award was Steve Kenny’s Time Traveller.

    Dublin Film Critics Awards

    DFCC BEST FILM – Custody DFCC BEST DIRECTOR – Chloé Zhao, The Rider DFCC BEST IRISH DIRECTOR – Rebecca Daly, Good Favour DFCC BEST SCREENPLAY – Lynne Ramsay, You Were Never Really Here DFCC BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – Monika Lenczewska, Under the Tree DFCC BEST ACTOR – Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete DFCC BEST ACTRESS – Charlotte Rampling, Hannah DFCC BEST DOCUMENTARY – So Help Me God DFCC BEST IRISH FILM – The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid DFCC MICHAEL DWYER DISCOVERY AWARD – Coralie Fargeat, Revenge DFCC GEORGE BYRNE MAVERICK AWARD – Stephen Rea – Black 47 DFCC EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT – Bill Morrison, Dawson City: Frozen Time DFCC JURY PRIZE – Warwick Davis, Sweet Country DFCC JURY PRIZE – Kathleen Hepburn, Never Steady, Never Still DFCC JURY PRIZE – Jian Liu, Have a Nice Day DFCC JURY PRIZE – Ryan Killackey, Yasuni Man

    ADIFF Discovery Award Winners

    Mia Mullarkey (Mother & Baby), Rua Meegan & Trevor Whelan (Bordalo II: A Life of Waste), and TJ O’Grady Peyton (Wave). Special Mention: Jessie Buckley.

    ADIFF Short Film Awards

    Best Irish Short Film: Mother & Baby Special Mention Irish Short Film: Time Traveller Best International Short Film: Retouch Special Mention International Short Film: Mary Mother AUDI-ence Short Film Award: Time Traveller.

    Fantastic Flix Children’s Jury Awards

    Best Feature – Room 213 Best Short – Earthy Encounters

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  • 2018 Sedona International Film Festival Winners – “Ayla The Daughter Of War” Wins Best of Fest Award

    [caption id="attachment_24128" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Ayla: The Daughter of War Can Ulkay Ayla: The Daughter of War[/caption] Can Ulkay’s debut feature Ayla The Daughter of War, based on the true story of a soldier in the Korean War who risks his own life to save a half-frozen little girl, won the Best of Fest Award and the Director’s Choice Award for Best Foreign Film at the 24th Sedona International Film Festival.   The film was selected as Turkey’s official candidate for the best foreign-language film at this year’s Oscar. Rod McCall ‘s Rose, featuring Cybill Shepherd, James Brolin, Pam Grier and Cindy Pickett about a widowed ex-cop who decides to go on a solo road trip to the Southwest in a motorized wheelchair after discovering she may have a life-threatening illness; and Django, the story of guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt and his flight from German-occupied Paris in 1943, tied for Director’s Choice Best Feature Film. Instrument of War, a film about B-24 bomber pilot Clair Cline’s experience as a POW after being shot down in northern Germany during World War II, and inspired by true events, took the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film. 2018 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, The Insult, won the Audience Award for Best Foreign Film.

    Sedona International Film Festival Winners

    2018 DIRECTORS’ CHOICE AWARDS

    Best Feature Film – Drama: “Rose” and “Django” (tie) Best Feature Film – Comedy: “Humor Me” Best Foreign Film: “Ayla The Daughter of War” Best Documentary Feature: “Liyana” Best Documentary Short: “Faces of Santa Ana” Best Environmental Film: “The Need to GROW” Best Foreign Documentary: “Blue” Best Short Film: “A Whole World for a Little World” Best Student Short Film: “Silence” Best Animated Film: “Weeds” Best Independent Spirit (Short): “Temporary” Best Independent Spirit (Narrative): “Quality Problems” Best Independent Spirit (Documentary): “I Am Jane Doe” Best Humanitarian (Narrative): “My Name is Vaseline” Best Humanitarian (Documentary): “Bending the Arc” Heart of the Festival Award: “Nathan’s Kingdom” Bill Muller Excellence in Screenwriting Award: “The Drawer Boy” Marion Herrman Excellence in Filmmaking Award: “In Search of Perfect Consonance” Technical Director’s Excellence in Exhibition Award: “Game”

    2018 AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

    Best Animated Film: “E-Delivery” Best Student Short Film: “Silence” Best Short Film: “Alternative Math” Best Documentary Short: “Mr. Connolly Has ALS” Best Documentary Mid-Length: “Standing Still/Still Standing” Best Environmental Film: “Yasuni Man” Best Documentary: “I’ll Push You” Best Foreign Film: “The Insult” Best Feature Film – Comedy: “Adios Amigos” Best Feature Film – Drama: “Instrument of War” BEST OF FEST: “Ayla The Daughter of War”

    2018 SPECIAL FESTIVAL AWARDS

    Lifetime Achievement Award: Jane Alexander Global Initiative Humanitarian Award: Keely Shaye Brosnan and Pierce Brosnan

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