Film Festivals

24th Slamdance Film Festival Awards – “Rock Steady Row” Wins Best Narrative Feature and Audience Award

[caption id="attachment_26788" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Rock Steady Row – Winner of the Narrative Feature Award and the Audience Feature Award. l-r. Bomani Story (Writer) and Trevor Stevens (Dir.) of Rock Steady Row.. Photo credit: Lauren Desbrg/SLAMDANCE[/caption] The 24th Slamdance Film Festival wrapped last weekend and presented prizes to the winners of this year’s Sparky Awards in the Audience, Jury, and Sponsored Categories. The festival also announced the recipients of three new awards: The Russo Brothers Fellowship, the CreativeFuture Innovation Award, and a curated Acting Award. The Sparky Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Rock Steady Row, directed by Trevor Stevens and written by Bomani Story. “Rock Steady Row is a shining star in genre, young adult themes, and ‘save the day’ filmmaking. Done creatively in a comic book meets George Miller meets John Carpenter universe. Sharply directed by Trevor Stevens and written by Bomani Story. With strong ingenuity not commonly seen at this budget and experience level, Rock Steady Row stands tall,” said jurors. [caption id="attachment_26791" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End
Winner of the Best Documentary Feature Award l-r.Pablo Bryant (Dir.), Ted Collins (Producer) of Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End. Photo Credit: Lauren Desberg/SLAMDANCE[/caption] The jury shared, “Crafted with the same rugged earnestness and political incorrectness as its subject, this fast paced, exceptionally told portrait creates a complex, funny and layered depiction of a cartoonist who embodies the principles of free speech while revealing the trappings of such an existence. Just like Fish’s cartoons, Mr, Fish: Cartooning From the Deep End is a gateway to hard political discourse, challenging social norms and forcing us to look more closely at what tolerance means. For showing us what is lost when political art is sacrificed to subscription fees, and capturing its subject with the same raw idealism that keeps Fish drawing, we give the Feature Documentary Award to Mr. Fish: Cartooning From the Deep End.” During the Awards Ceremony, the festival also announced the recipient of the highly anticipated The Russo Brothers Fellowship. The $25,000 prize, presented by AGBO Films in partnership with the festival, is designed to enable a deserving filmmaker the opportunity to continue their journey with mentorship from Joe and Anthony as well as development support from their studio. The 2018 recipient of the inaugural Russo Brothers Fellowship is Yassmina Karajah, director of the narrative short, Rupture. The Festival also presented the inaugural CreativeFeature Innovation Award. Slamdance and CreativeFuture have partnered for years to support new talent in the world of film and educate creatives on the importance of protecting their work. This inaugural Award is given to an emerging filmmaker who exhibits the innovative spirit of filmmaking. The CreativeFuture Innovation Award went to Shunsaku Hayashi for his animated short film, Railment. Additionally, a curated Acting Award was presented to Rhaechyl Walker for her breakout performance in, My Name Is Myeisha. “When we started this project seven years ago on a stage at an open mic night, the thought of our story being amplified on a silver screen never entered my mind.” said Walker. “I am so proud, and beyond honored to be a part of such a powerful force of artistic expression that has found its way into many hearts, planted a seed, and nourished souls. Thank you Slamdance for providing this amazing platform, and for this phenomenal award.” The George Starks Spirit Of Slamdance Award went to Wendy McColm, director of Birds Without Feathers. Formerly known as the Spirit of Slamdance Award, the prize was renamed in the honor of George Starks. Starks, who passed away last summer, was a longtime friend of Slamdance and served as the festival’s Utah Producer. [caption id="attachment_26789" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] My Name Is Myeisha Winner of the Audience Beyond Feature Award. Actress Rhaechyl Walker was also honored with an Acting Award. l-r. Alex Hines, John Merchant, Rhaechyl Walker, Dee Dee Stephens of My Name Is Myeisha. Photo credit: Lauren Desberg/SLAMDANCE[/caption] Awards were also given to festival favorites, voted on by Slamdance audiences. The Narrative Feature Audience Award was presented to Rock Steady Row, directed by Trevor Stevens. Freedom For The Wolf, directed by Rupert Russell, received the Documentary Feature Audience Award, The Beyond Feature Audience Award was awarded to My Name Is Myeisha, directed by Gus Krieger. The festival also recognized the Audience Award runners-up in their respective feature categories: Charlie And Hannah’s Grand Night Out (Dir: Bert Scholiers), MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon) and Funny Story (Dir.: Michael Gallagher). A full list of winners is below:
Jury Awards | Narrative Features
Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize – Rock Steady Row (Dir.: Trevor Stevens) Honorable Mentions: Fake Tattoos (Dir.: Pascal Plante) and Lovers (Dir.: Niels Holstein Kaa)
Jury Awards | Documentary Features, Documentary Shorts
Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize – Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End (Dir.: Pablo Bryant) Honorable Mention – MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon) Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize – Nueva Vida (Dir.: Jonathan Seligson) Honorable Mention: The Last Man You Meet (Dir.: Chris Bone)
Jury Awards – Narrative Shorts
Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Rupture (Dir.: Yassmina Karajah) Honorable Mention: Goodbye, Brooklyn (Dir.: Daniel Jaffe)
Jury Awards – Experimental Shorts/ Animated Shorts
Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Are You Tired Of Forever? (Dir.: Caitlin Craggs) Honorable Mention: Silica (Dir.: Pia Borg) Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Interstitial (Dir.: Shunsaku Hayashi) Honorable Mention: Satellite Strangers (Dir.: James Bascara)
Slamdance Acting Award:
Rhaechyl Walker (My Name is Myeisha)
Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner:
Wendy McColm (Dir. of Birds Without Feathers)
CreativeFuture Innovation Award:
Railment (Dir.: Shunsaku Hayashi)
The Russo Brothers Fellowship Award Winner:
Rupture (Dir.: Yassmina Karajah)
Audience Awards:
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: Rock Steady Row (Dir.: Trevor Stevens) Runner up: Charlie And Hannah’s Grand Night Out (Dir.: Bert Scholiers) Audience Award for Documentary Feature: Freedom For The Wolf (Dir.: Rupert Russell) Runner up: MexMan (Dir.: Josh Polon) Audience Award for Beyond Feature: My Name Is Myeisha (Dir.: Gus Krieger) Runner up: Funny Story (Dir.: Michael Gallagher)
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SCIENCE FAIR Wins First-ever Festival Favorite Award at 2018 Sundance Film Festival | VIDEO

[caption id="attachment_26784" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Science Fair directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster[/caption] Science Fair directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster is the winner of the first-ever Festival Favorite Award at the Sundance Film Festival, which ran January 18 to 28, 2018. The Award was selected by audience votes from the 123 feature films screened at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Science Fair, which had its world premiere at the 2018 Festival, follows nine high school students from around the globe as they navigate rivalries, setbacks, and of course, hormones, on their journey to compete at the international science fair. As they face off against 1,700 of the smartest, quirkiest teens from 78 different countries, only one will be named Best in Fair. The film was directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster, and produced by Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster, Jeffrey. John Cooper, Director, Sundance Film Festival, said “Audiences responded to the hope in this film, and how it thoughtfully depicted a rising generation of innovators. The film was so engaging and inspiring that we felt it would delight audiences and be a strong contender for this award.”
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Runners-up for the Festival Favorite, as ballots were counted, included: Believer / U.S.A. (Director: Don Argott, Producers: Heather Parry, Sheena M. Joyce, Robert Reynolds) — Imagine Dragons’ Mormon frontman Dan Reynolds is taking on a new mission to explore how the church treats its LGBTQ members. With the rising suicide rate amongst teens in the state of Utah, his concern with the church’s policies sends him on an unexpected path for acceptance and change. World Premiere Won’t You Be My Neighbor? / U.S.A. (Director: Morgan Neville, Producers: Caryn Capotosto, Nicholas Ma) — Fred Rogers used puppets and play to explore complex social issues: race, disability, equality and tragedy, helping form the American concept of childhood. He spoke directly to children and they responded enthusiastically. Yet today, his impact is unclear. Have we lived up to Fred’s ideal of good neighbors? World Premiere. SALT LAKE CITY OPENING NIGHT FILM Other strong-showing audience favorites included: Assassination Nation / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sam Levinson, Producers: David S. Goyer, Anita Gou, Kevin Turen, Aaron L. Gilbert, Matthew J. Malek) — This is a one-thousand-percent true story about how the quiet, all-American town of Salem absolutely lost its mind. Cast: Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, Abra, Bill Skårsgard, Bella Thorne. World Premiere Hearts Beat Loud / U.S.A. (Director: Brett Haley, Screenwriters: Brett Haley, Marc Basch, Producers: Houston King, Sam Bisbee, Sam Slater) — In Red Hook, Brooklyn, a father and daughter become an unlikely songwriting duo in the last summer before she leaves for college. Cast: Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner, Toni Collette. World Premiere. CLOSING NIGHT FILM Juliet, Naked / United Kingdom (Director: Jesse Peretz, Screenwriters: Tamara Jenkins, Jim Taylor, Phil Alden Robinson, Evgenia Peretz, Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Jeffrey Soros) — Annie is the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan, an obsessive fan of obscure rocker Tucker Crowe. When the acoustic demo of Tucker’s celebrated record from 25 years ago surfaces, its release leads to an encounter with the elusive rocker himself. Based on the novel by Nick Hornby. Cast: Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, Chris O’Dowd. World Premiere What They Had / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Elizabeth Chomko, Producers: Keith Kjarval, Bill Holderman, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Alex Saks, Andrew Duncan)— Bridget returns home to Chicago at her brother’s urging to deal with her mother’s Alzheimer’s and her father’s reluctance to let go of their life together. Cast: Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Blythe Danner, Robert Forster. World Premiere The 2019 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 24 to February 3, 2019. Image: A film still from Science Fair directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster, an official selection of the Kids program at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Pete Alton.
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SXSW Film Festival Announces 2018 Features Film Lineup, Opens with John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place”

A Quiet Place (Credit: Paramount Pictures © 2017 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.)

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the features lineup and opening night film for the 25th edition of the Film Festival, running March 9 to 18, 2018 in Austin, Texas. During the nine days of SXSW 132 features will be shown.

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#PIFF41 2018 Portland International Film Festival Announces Lineup

The Portland International Film Festival (PIFF 41) has revealed the lineup for this year’s 41st edition of the Festival, which begins on Thursday, February 15th and runs through Thursday, March 1st. The Opening Night selection is the new comedy The Death of Stalin from writer/director Armando Iannucci (Veep, In the Loop). The film, adapted from the graphic novel by Fabien Nury, stars Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Palin. In addition to the Opening Night film, the Festival will host the Portland premiere of a handful of Oscar-nominated films, including Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body and Soul (Hungary), nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, Laura Checkoway’s Edith & Eddie (United States), which is in competition for the Best Documentary (Short Subject) Oscar, and Reed Van Dyk’s Dekalb Elementary (United States), nominated for the Best Short Film (Live Action) Academy Award. Also present in the lineup are multiple Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award submissions, including Tatiana Huezo’s Tempestad (Mexico), Jonas Carpignano’s A Ciambra (Italy), Deepak Rauniyar’s White Sun (Nepal), Ryôta Nakano’s Her Love Boils Bathwater (Japan), Lucrecia Martel’s Zama (Argentina), Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s Under the Tree (Iceland), and many others. Submissions for the Best Animated Feature Film Academy Award in the festival include Kenji Kamayama’s Napping Princess (Japan), Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero’s Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Spain), and Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert’s The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales (France). As in past years, the Festival features an abundance of short films. This year’s lineup boasts eight discrete short film programs, including two blocks devoted entirely to films made in Oregon, an animated shorts program, a collection exploring innovative experimental short form works, and a program of short films by Charlie Chaplin featuring live musical accompaniment by silent film composer and pianist Robert Israel. Israel has performed solo, and with orchestras, worldwide, in addition to past performances at the festival. Other highlights of PIFF 41 include screenings of Andrew Haigh’s (45 Years) Lean on Pete, Morgan Neville’s (20 Feet from Stardom) Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Valeska Grisebach’s (Longing) Western, Portland-based director Sky Fitzgerald’s (50 Feet from Syria) 101 Seconds, the late Abbas Kiarostami’s (A Taste of Cherry) final film 24 Frames, Thomas Riedelsheimer’s (Rivers and Tides) Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy, Joseph Kahn’s (Detention) Bodied, Xuan Liang and Chun Zhan’s animated debut Big Fish & Begonia, Sergei Loznitsa’s (My Joy) A Gentle Creature, former Portlander Aaron Katz’ (Cold Weather) Gemini, a trio of features (Claire’s Camera, The Day After, and On the Beach At Night Alone) from South Korean director Hong Sang-Soo (The Day He Arrives), Christina Costantini and Darren Foster’s documentary debut Science Fair, Michael Matthew’s debut feature Five Fingers for Marseilles, Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki’s (People’s Park) El Mar La Mar, Rungaro Nyoni’s debut feature I Am Not a Witch, Ben Russell’s (A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness) Good Luck, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s (Spring) The Endless, Neïl Beloufa’s (Tonight and the People) Occidental, Samuel Maoz’ (Lebanon) Foxtrot, Warwick Thornton’s (Samson & Delilah) Sweet Country, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s (Amer) Let the Corpses Tan, Milad Alami’s (Nordic Factory) The Charmer, Cory Finley’s feature debut Thoroughbreds, and many others.
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#TBFF18 : 2018 Toronto Black Film Festival Announces Lineup, Closes with “KALUSHI: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu”

Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu

The 6th Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF) announced the official program and events lineup featuring over 60 films from 20 countries.

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Berlinale 2018: 18 Documentary Films Nominated for Glashütte Original – Documentary Award

[caption id="attachment_26756" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns)[/caption] This year, for the second time ever, the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival will present the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award. A total of 18 documentary films from the current program of the Competition, Berlinale Special, Panorama, Forum, Generation and Perspektive Deutsches Kino sections and the special presentation Culinary Cinema are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award. All nominated films will celebrate their world premiere at the Berlinale 2018. The Glashütte Original – Documentary Award is endowed with € 50,000, and trophy funded by Glashütte Original. The prize money will be split between the film’s director and producer. The prize will be presented during the official Award Ceremony in the Berlinale Palast on February 24. A three-member jury will pick the winner: Cíntia Gil (Portugal) – co-director of the Doclisboa, documentary film festival in Portugal ; Ulrike Ottinger (Germany) -director; and Eric Schlosser – (USA)investigative journalist, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker. The following films are nominated for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award:
Competition – Out of competition
Eldorado Switzerland / Germany By Markus Imhoof
Berlinale Special
Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados (A Journey to the Fumigated Towns) Argentina By Fernando Solanas
Panorama
Al Gami’ya (What Comes Around) Lebanon / Egypt / Greece / Qatar / Slovenia By Reem Saleh Až přijde válka (When the War Comes) Czech Republic / Croatia By Jan Gebert Ex Pajé (Ex Shaman) Brazil By Luiz Bolognesi Game Girls France / Germany By Alina Skrzeszewska Obscuro Barocco France / Greece By Evangelia Kranioti Zentralflughafen THF (Central Airport THF) Germany / France / Brazil By Karim Aïnouz
Forum
Den’ Pobedy (Victory Day) Germany By Sergei Loznitsa L’empire de la perfection (In the Realm of Perfection) France By Julien Faraut Minatomachi (Inland Sea) Japan / USA By Kazuhiro Soda Premières solitudes (Young Solitude) France By Claire Simon Waldheims Walzer Austria By Ruth Beckermann
Generation
Ceres Belgium / Netherlands By Janet van den Brand What Walaa Wants Canada / Denmark By Christy Garland
Perspektive Deutsches Kino
The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life Germany / Mexico By Zita Erffa draußen Germany By Johanna Sunder-Plassmann, Tama Tobias-Macht
Culinary Cinema
The Green Lie Austria By Werner Boote
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2018 Sundance Film Festival Awards – “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” “Kailash” Win Top Awards

[caption id="attachment_26747" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Desiree Akhavan.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jeong Park.[/caption] The 2018 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony took place last night and presented 28 prizes for feature filmmaking. The Grand Jury Prizes was awarded to The Miseducation of Cameron Post (U.S. Dramatic), Kailash (U.S. Documentary), Of Fathers and Sons (World Cinema Documentary) and Butterflies (World Cinema Dramatic). “From the beginning, the purpose of the Sundance Film Festival has been to support artists and their stories,” said Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford, “and this year, our mission seemed especially relevant. Supporting independent voices, and listening to the stories they tell, has never been more necessary.” Feature film award winners in previous years include: I don’t feel at home in this world anymore., Weiner, Whiplash, Fruitvale Station, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Searching for Sugarman, The Square, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Cartel Land, The Wolf Pack, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Dope, Dear White People, The Cove and Man on Wire.
2018 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL FEATURE FILM AWARDS
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Kailash / U.S.A. (Director: Derek Doneen, Producers: Davis Guggenheim, Sarah Anthony) — As a young man, Kailash Satyarthi promised himself that he would end child slavery in his lifetime. In the decades since, he has rescued more than eighty thousand children and built a global movement. This intimate and suspenseful film follows one man’s journey to do what many believed was impossible. U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic The Miseducation of Cameron Post / U.S.A. (Director: Desiree Akhavan, Screenwriters: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele, Producers: Cecilia Frugiuele, Jonathan Montepare, Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub) — 1993: after being caught having sex with the prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed and controversial coming-of-age novel. Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle. World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary Of Fathers and Sons / Germany, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar (Director: Talal Derki, Producers: Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, Tobias N. Siebert, Hans Robert Eisenhauer) — Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate. World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Butterflies / Turkey (Director and screenwriter: Tolga Karaçelik, Producers: Tolga Karaçelik, Diloy Gülün, Metin Anter) — In the Turkish village of Hasanlar, three siblings who neither know each other nor anything about their late father, wait to bury his body. As they start to find out more about their father and about each other, they also start to know more about themselves. Audience Award: U.S. Documentary The Sentence / U.S.A. (Director: Rudy Valdez, Producers: Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kelman Bisbee) — Cindy Shank, mother of three, is serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her tangential involvement with a Michigan drug ring years earlier. This intimate portrait of mandatory minimum drug sentencing’s devastating consequences, captured by Cindy’s brother, follows her and her family over the course of ten years. Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic Burden / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Andrew Heckler, Producers: Robbie Brenner, Jincheng, Bill Kenwright) — After opening a KKK shop, Klansman Michael Burden falls in love with a single mom who forces him to confront his senseless hatred. After leaving the Klan and with nowhere to turn, Burden is taken in by an African-American reverend, and learns tolerance through their combined love and faith. Cast: Garrett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Andrea Riseborough, Tom Wilkinson, Usher Raymond. Audience Award: World Cinema Documentary This Is Home / U.S.A., Jordan (Director: Alexandra Shiva, Producers: Lindsey Megrue, Alexandra Shiva) — This is an intimate portrait of four Syrian families arriving in Baltimore, Maryland and struggling to find their footing. With eight months to become self-sufficient, they must forge ahead to rebuild their lives. When the travel ban adds further complications, their strength and resilience are put to the test. Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic The Guilty / Denmark (Director: Gustav Möller, Screenwriters: Gustav Möller, Emil Nygaard Albertsen, Producer: Lina Flint) — Alarm dispatcher Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman; after a sudden disconnection, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to solve a crime that is far bigger than he first thought. Cast: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Johan Olsen, Omar Shargawi. Audience Award: NEXT Search / U.S.A. (Director: Aneesh Chaganty, Screenwriters: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian, Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian, Adam Sidman, Natalie Qasabian) — After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens. Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing. Directing Award: U.S. Documentary Alexandria Bombach for her film On Her Shoulders / U.S.A. (Director: Alexandria Bombach, Producers: Hayley Pappas, Brock Williams) — Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to the world, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the international stage as the voice of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people’s good intentions. Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic Sara Colangelo, for her film The Kindergarten Teacher / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sara Colangelo, Producers: Talia Kleinhendler, Osnat Handelsman-Keren, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler) — When a Staten Island kindergarten teacher discovers what may be a gifted five year-old student in her class, she becomes fascinated and obsessed with the child– spiraling downward on a dangerous and desperate path in order to nurture his talent. Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Rosa Salazar, Anna Barynishikov, Michael Chernus, Gael Garcia Bernal. Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary Sandi Tan, for her film Shirkers / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sandi Tan, Producers: Sandi Tan, Jessica Levin, Maya Rudolph) — In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan shot Singapore’s first indie road movie with her enigmatic American mentor Georges – who then vanished with all the footage. Twenty years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges’ vanishing footprints. Directing Award: World Cinema Dramatic Ísold Uggadóttir, for her film And Breathe Normally / Iceland, Sweden, Belgium (Director and screenwriter: Ísold Uggadóttir, Producers: Skúli Malmquist, Diana Elbaum, Annika Hellström, Lilja Ósk Snorradóttir, Inga Lind Karlsdóttir) — At the edge of Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, two women’s lives will intersect – for a brief moment – while trapped in circumstances unforeseen. Between a struggling Icelandic mother and an asylum seeker from Guinea-Bissau, a delicate bond will form as both strategize to get their lives back on track. Cast: Kristín Thóra Haraldsdóttir, Babetida Sadjo, Patrik Nökkvi Pétursson. Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic Christina Choe, for her film NANCY / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Christina Choe, Producers: Amy Lo, Michelle Cameron, Andrea Riseborough) — Blurring lines between fact and fiction, Nancy becomes increasingly convinced she was kidnapped as a child. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief – and the power of emotion threatens to overcome all rationality. Cast: Andrea Riseborough, J. Smith-Cameron, Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd, John Leguizamo. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Vision Hale County This Morning, This Evening / U.S.A. (Director: RaMell Ross, Screenwriter: Maya Krinsky, Producers: Joslyn Barnes, RaMell Ross, Su Kim) — Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, this film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South – trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact Crime + Punishment / U.S.A. (Director: Stephen Maing) — Over four years of unprecedented access, the story of a brave group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and one unrelenting private investigator who, amidst a landmark lawsuit, risk everything to expose illegal quota practices and their impact on young minorities. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling Three Identical Strangers / U.S.A. (Director: Tim Wardle, Producer: Becky Read) — New York,1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they’re identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds’ joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever. U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking Minding the Gap / U.S.A. (Director: Bing Liu, Producer: Diane Quon) — Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship. U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Outstanding First Feature Monsters and Men / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Reinaldo Marcus Green, Producers: Elizabeth Lodge Stepp, Josh Penn, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Luca Borghese) — This interwoven narrative explores the aftermath of a police killing of a black man. The film is told through the eyes of the bystander who filmed the act, an African-American police officer and a high-school baseball phenom inspired to take a stand. Cast:John David Washington, Anthony Ramos, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chanté Adams, Nicole Beharie, Rob Morgan. U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking I Think We’re Alone Now / U.S.A. (Director: Reed Morano, Screenwriter: Mike Makowsky, Producers: Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fernando Loureiro, Roberto Vasconcellos, Peter Dinklage, Mike Makowsky) — The apocalypse proves a blessing in disguise for one lucky recluse – until a second survivor arrives with the threat of companionship. Cast: Peter Dinklage, Elle Fanning. U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Achievement in Acting Benjamin Dickey, for BLAZE / U.S.A. (Director: Ethan Hawke, Screenwriters: Ethan Hawke, Sybil Rosen, Producers: Jake Seal, John Sloss, Ryan Hawke, Ethan Hawke) — A reimagining of the life and times of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas Outlaw Music movement; he gave up paradise for the sake of a song. Cast: Benjamin Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Josh Hamilton, Charlie Sexton. World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award Stephen Loveridge and M.I.A., for MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. / Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, U.S.A. (Director: Stephen Loveridge, Producers: Lori Cheatle, Andrew Goldman, Paul Mezey) — Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions. World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Editing Editors Maxim Pozdorovkin and Matvey Kulakov, for Our New President / Russia, U.S.A. (Director: Maxim Pozdorovkin, Producers: Maxim Pozdorovkin, Joe Bender, Charlotte Cook) — The story of Donald Trump’s election told entirely through Russian propaganda. By turns horrifying and hilarious, the film is a satirical portrait of Russian media that reveals an empire of fake news and the tactics of modern-day information warfare. World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography Cinematographers Maxim Arbugaev and Peter Indergand, for Genesis 2.0 / Switzerland (Directors: Christian Frei, Maxim Arbugaev, Producer: Christian Frei) — On the remote New Siberian Islands in the Arctic Ocean, hunters search for tusks of extinct mammoths. When they discover a surprisingly well-preserved mammoth carcass, its resurrection will be the first manifestation of the next great technological revolution: genetics. It may well turn our world upside down. World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting Screenwriters Julio Chavezmontes and Sebastián Hofmann, for Time Share (Tiempo Compartido) / Mexico, Netherlands (Director: Sebastián Hofmann, Screenwriters: Julio Chavezmontes, Sebastián Hofmann, Producer: Julio Chavezmontes) — Two haunted family men join forces in a destructive crusade to rescue their families from a tropical paradise, after becoming convinced that an American timeshare conglomerate has a sinister plan to take their loved ones away. World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Valeria Bertuccelli, for The Queen of Fear / Argentina, Denmark (Directors: Valeria Bertuccelli, Fabiana Tiscornia, Screenwriter: Valeria Bertuccelli, Producers: Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matias Roveda, Juan Vera, Juan Pablo Galli, Christian Faillace) — Only one month left until the premiere of The Golden Time, the long-awaited solo show by acclaimed actress Robertina. Far from focused on the preparations for this new production, Robertina lives in a state of continuous anxiety that turns her privileged life into an absurd and tumultuous landscape. Cast: Valeria Bertuccelli, Diego Velázquez, Gabriel Eduardo “Puma” Goity, Darío Grandinetti. World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting Dead Pigs / China (Director and screenwriter: Cathy Yan, Producers: Clarissa Zhang, Jane Zheng, Zhangke Jia, Mick Aniceto, Amy Aniceto) — A bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an expat architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river towards a rapidly-modernizing Shanghai, China. Based on true events. Cast: Vivian Wu, Haoyu Yang, Mason Lee, Meng Li, David Rysdahl. NEXT Innovator Prize (tie) Night Comes On / U.S.A. (Director: Jordana Spiro, Screenwriters: Jordana Spiro, Angelica Nwandu, Producers: Jonathan Montepare, Alvaro R. Valente, Danielle Renfrew Behrens) — Angel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future. Cast: Dominique Fishback, Tatum Hall, John Earl Jelks, Max Casella, James McDaniel. We the Animals / U.S.A. (Director: Jeremiah Zagar, Screenwriters: Daniel Kitrosser, Jeremiah Zagar, Producers: Jeremy Yaches, Christina D. King, Andrew Goldman, Paul Mezey) — Us three, us brothers, us kings. Manny, Joel and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. As Manny and Joel grow into versions of their father and Ma dreams of escape, Jonah, the youngest, embraces an imagined world all his own. Cast: Raul Castillo, Sheila Vand, Evan Rosado, Isaiah Kristian, Josiah Gabriel. SHORT FILM AWARDS: Short Film Grand Jury Prize Matria / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Director and screenwriter: Álvaro Gago). Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction Hair Wolf / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Director and screenwriter: Mariama Diallo). Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction Would You Look at Her / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Goran Stolevski). Short Film Jury Award: Nonfiction The Trader (Sovdagari) / Georgia (Director: Tamta Gabrichidze). The Short Film Jury Award: Animation GLUCOSE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeron Braxton). Special Jury Awards without designation Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: K.D. Dávila), Fauve / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Jérémy Comte) For Nonna Anna / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Luis De Filippis). SUNDANCE INSTITUTE OPEN BORDERS FELLOWSHIP PRESENTED BY NETFLIX Of Fathers and Sons (Syria) / Talal Derki Untitled (India) / Chaitanya Tamhane Night On Fire (Mexico) / Tatiana Huezo Sundance Institute / NHK Award His House (United Kingdom) / Remi Weekes. SUNDANCE INSTITUTE | ALFRED P. SLOAN FEATURE FILM PRIZE The 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, presented to an outstanding feature film about science or technology, was presented to Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian’s Search. The filmmakers received a $20,000 cash award from Sundance Institute with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. SUNDANCE INSTITUTE | AMAZON STUDIOS PRODUCERS AWARDS Sev Ohanian received the 2018 Sundance Institute | Amazon Studios Producers Awards. The award recognizes bold vision and a commitment to continuing work as a creative producer in the independent space, and grants money (via the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program and Documentary Film Program) to emerging producers of films at the Sundance Film Festival. Image: Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane and Chloë Grace Moretz appear in The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Desiree Akhavan, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2018 Sundance FIlm Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Jeong Park.
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3 Filmmakers Awarded Inaugural Sundance Institute Open Borders Fellowship Presented by Netflix

Three emerging filmmakers, Talal Derki (Syria), Tatiana Huezo (Mexico), and Chaitanya Tamhane (India) are the lucky recipients of the inaugural Sundance Institute Open Borders Fellowship presented by Netflix. Designed to support distinctive new voices in world cinema, the fellowship includes a development grant, a trip to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City to receive the award and attend a curated slate of industry meetings, networking opportunities, panels, and screenings. Further, the filmmakers are eligible to receive year-round creative and strategic support from the Sundance Institute Feature Film and Documentary Film programs for their next feature-length project The Open Borders Fellowship reflects the Institute’s longstanding commitment to world cinema. Through Labs and Workshops, financial support, and public engagement, the Institute’s Artist Programs strive to support underrepresented voices in regions of the world going through socio-political transitions and where freedom of expression is challenged. Talal Derki was born in Damascus and has been based in Berlin since 2014. He studied film directing in Athens and worked as an assistant director for many feature film productions and as a director for different Arab TV programs between 2009 and 2011. Talal Derki’s feature documentary Return to Homs won the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in 2014. His most recent film, Of Fathers and Sons, premiered at IDFA, and is currently in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Tatiana Huezo’s most recent film, Tempestad, was one of the most acclaimed documentaries of 2016. Following its premiere at Berlinale, the film was Mexico’s official submission to the Academy Awards, and won four Ariel Awards, including Best Director and Best Documentary feature. She is currently working on her narrative feature debut, Night On Fire, which was selected for the Sundance | Morelia Screenwriters Lab this past Fall. Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut feature, the Marathi language courtroom drama, Court, premiered at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, where it won Best Film in the Horizons section, and went on to appear on many best-of lists following its theatrical release last year and served as India’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar. He was selected by Alfonso Cuaron for the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative, and is working on his currently untitled second feature.
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2018 New Orleans French Film Festival Announces Lineup + Agnès Varda Retrospective

[caption id="attachment_26732" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Back to Burgundy[/caption] This year, the 21st edition of the New Orleans French Film Festival will kick off earlier than usual, beginning on February 23 and running through March 1, 2018, and will spotlight 17 feature films, 5 shorts, a retrospective of the magnificent Agnès Varda, French-themed live music performances prior to screenings, and special lectures, all in the historic Prytania Theater. “The New Orleans Film Society’s French Film Festival was founded to engage and celebrate the French influence on our beloved city,” said Fallon Young, Executive Director of the New Orleans Film Society. “That’s why, in New Orleans’ tricentennial year, we are especially pleased that the French Film Festival features the world premiere of a uniquely New Orleans story. Created by a local director, cast and crew, the short film Le Grande Remix depicts New Orleans as a diverse and vibrant city with global cultural influences.” Feature length films include the most awarded and sought after French films of the year: Back to Burgundy (opening night), Double Lover (closing night), 4 Days in France, After Love, All That Divides Us, Catch the Wind, Félicité, Ismael’s Ghosts, Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge, Montparnasse Bienvenüe, Nocturama, Souvenir, This is Our Land, as well as Jean Luc-Godard’s 1960 classic Breathless. The Agnès Varda retrospective includes three of her films, Le Bonheur (1965), The Gleaners and I (2000), and Faces, Places (2017). The shorts program includes Prestige Ingredients, We Are the Freak Show, The Elusive, Retaliation, and Le Grand Remix. The only female director of the French New Wave and the only female director to ever receive an honorary Oscar, Agnès Varda (born in Belgium in 1928) has occupied a singular and well-respected role within the film industry since her first film La Pointe Courte in 1956. The French Film Festival presents Agnès Varda: A Retrospective, which includes an under-seen example of her early, formally audacious fiction work Le Bonheur (1965), as well as two of her more recent autobiographical documentaries The Gleaners and I (2000), and Faces, Places (2017) which is a nominee for the Best Documentary at the 90th Academy Awards. The retrospective program includes a free lecture on Varda (on Sunday Feb 25, at 5pm) from Loyola professor Jean Brager, who will speak on Varda’s journey as a female filmmaker in a male-dominated industry as well as the ways in which her aesthetics paved the way for the Nouvelle Vague. The lecture will be followed by the screening of her latest documentary Faces, Places in which she collaborated with the phenomenal French photographer JR in search of the people and their villages that define rural France and make it what it is. What’s the connection of Congo and New Orleans? Join a free lecture by Freddi Williams Evans on Wednesday, Feb 28 at 7:15pm which will be followed by a screening of the Congo-set film Félicité. Evans will address the not so well known connections between Congo and New Orleans, as detailed in her essay “Enslaved Africans Perpetuated Cultural and Commercial Practices at Congo Square,” featured in the new book New Orleans & the World: 1718-2018 Tricentennial Anthology. Louisiana musicians Helen Gillet, Bart Ramsay, Bruce Sunpie Barnes, Thibault, Pascal Valcasara, and George Trahanis will be performing French-themed live music prior to select screenings during the French Film Festival. Performances will begin 30 minutes prior to the start time of the related films. Opening Night: Back to Burgundy | Friday, February 23 | 7:00-7:30 pm | Bart Ramsay Shorts Program | Saturday, February 24 | 2:00 – 2:30 pm | Bruce Sunpie Barnes After Love | Sunday, February 25 | 2:00 – 2:30 pm | Thibault Ismael’s Ghosts | Sunday, February 25 | 7:15 – 7:45 pm | Pascal Valcasara All That Divides Us | Tuesday, February 27 | 7:30 – 8:00 pm | George Trahanis Closing Night: Double Lover | Thursday, March 1 | 7:30 – 8:00 pm | Helen Gillet
FILMS AND SYNOPSES
Back to Burgundy, dir. Cedric Klapisch – Opening Night The latest from French director Cedric Klapisch (L’auberge espagnole) brings together three very different siblings who have inherited their father’s picturesque vineyard in the famous wine region of Burgundy in east-central France. Prodigal son Jean has spent 10 years away in Australia, and he and two siblings, Juliette and Jérémie, are forced to collectively decide if and how to save the family estate. Over the course of four seasons, from harvest through the stages of vinification, they must learn to forgive and trust themselves and one another, blossoming and maturing in step with the wine they make. An absorbing, bittersweet exploration of the complexities of family and winemaking, Back to Burgundy goes down like a fine pinot noir. Double Lover, dir. François Ozon – Closing Night Director François Ozon, French cinema’s “bad boy,” returns to his wild days with this erotic thriller, which screened in competition at Cannes in 2017. The film centers around Chloé, a beautiful young woman at a vulnerable time in her life, who begins therapy with Paul, an attractive and mysterious psychologist. Their charged conversations lead to an inevitable romance, and several months later Chloé is in love and living with her new partner. But she gradually comes to suspect that her lover is not exactly the man she thought he was. Starring Marine Vacth and Jeremie Renier, Ozon continuously deceives and mesmerizes in this this sensual and provocative film about identity, trust, and passion. (Not recommended for younger viewers.) Le Bonheur, dir. Agnès Varda Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse (Claire Drouot), young husband and father François (Jean-Claude Drouot) finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker. One of Varda’s most provocative films, Le Bonheur examines, with a deceptively cheery palette and the spirited strains of Mozart, the ideas of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world. Faces, Places , dir. Agnès Varda Varda, at 89 years old, hits the road in a van with superstar French photographer JR, 55 years her junior, in search of the people and their villages that define rural France and make it what it is. They travel the countryside, inviting villagers to pose for JR’s camera, and the massive prints he produces in the back of the van are then affixed to various buildings. The Gleaners and I, dir. Agnès Varda This delightful documentary is really a self-portrait of Varda, finding her fully embracing the freedom of digital video to craft a personal, political, and casually profound celebration of “gleaners”: those living on the margins of French society who scavenge for its leftovers–taking everything from surplus in the fields, to rubbish in trash cans, and oysters washed up after a storm. 4 Days in France, dir. Jérôme Reybaud On a seemingly ordinary night in Paris, Pierre takes a last look at his lover Paul’s sleeping body, then steals away into the morning light. Where he’s headed, neither of them know. Pierre’s only guide is his Grindr app, leading him on a series of encounters with an indelible cast of characters across the French countryside. Paul sets out after him, using his own phone to track Pierre’s movements in a strange and wonderful game of Grindr cat-and-mouse. A sly and sophisticated take on romance in the 21st century. After Love, dir. Joachim Lafosse Bernice Bejo (Oscar®-nominated for The Artist) and director-turned-actor Cedric Kahn star in this intimate family drama from acclaimed Belgian filmmaker Joachim Lafosse. After 15 years together, Boris and Marie have fallen out of love. After Love depicts the couple’s struggle to divide their assets and sort out custody of their two little girls, a task complicated by the fact that they aren’t married. Bejo and Kahn give unforgettable naturalistic performances in this intelligent and compassionate film. All That Divides Us, dir. Thierry Klifa A bourgeois family in a mansion in the middle of nowhere clashes with slum-dwellers residing in the projects in this engaging film noir starring acting heavyweights Catherine Deneuve and Diane Kruger. Intermingled in the mystery are a possible kidnapping, blackmail, and impossible love. Deneuve plays a mother trying desperately to save her daughter (Kruger) from a questionable relationship. Director Thierry Klifa created “authenticity of place” by shooting the film on location in region of Occitanie. Catch The Wind, dir. Gael Morel Edith, a 45-year-old textile factory worker, sees her life turned upside down by the company’s downsizing measures. Estranged from her son and without any other ties—and desperate to avoid unemployment—she decides to leave her life behind and follow the factory which has been relocated in Morocco. What follows is a revelatory story of immigration told from a new perspective, as Edith leaves France in search of opportunities in Northern Africa. Starring Sandrine Bonnaire from Agnès Varda’s seminal film Vagabond. Félicité, dir. Alain Gomis Félicité is a proud, free-willed woman working as a singer in a bar in the Congo. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her 14-year-old son gets into a terrible accident. To raise the money to save him, she sets out on a breakneck race through the streets of electric Kinshasa, a world of music and dreams. From French director Alain Gomis, Félicité was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Ismael’s Ghosts, dir. Arnaud Desplechin The Opening Night selection at Cannes last year, Ismael’s Ghosts stars French screen regular Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) as a film director whose real life develops into a complex, Hitchcockian plot. He’s romantically involved with Sylvia (Charlotte Gainsbourg) but still grieving the loss of Carlotta (Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard), an old flame who disappeared mysteriously twenty years prior. When Sylvia attempts to leave, he must choose between the two and find an ending to the story. Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge, dir. Marie Noëlle Polish actress Karolina Gruszka stars in this sweeping biography of the legendary scientist Marie Curie. Curie courted controversy with her challenging of France’s male-dominated academic establishment with her unconventional romantic life. A pioneer in the study of radioactivity, Curie spent her life setting precedents: she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice. Director Marie Noëlle conjures her epic story in turn-of-the-century Europe in beautiful detail. Montparnasse Bienvenüe, dir. Léonor Serraille Thirty-something Paula has been dumped by her boyfriend after ten years together. Refusing to accept the role of the passive victim, she finds herself on an odyssey through Paris to recapture her independence and composure—a journey filled with rage, a fluffy cat, false identities, and a string of bizarre encounters. Recipient of the Caméra d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Montparnasse Bienvenüe is both unexpected and funny, while relying on an incredible, explosive performance by Laetitia Dosch. Nocturama, dir. Bertrand Bonello Paris is being stalked by a hidden menace. You’d never recognize them. They have no religion, no affiliation, no shared skin. But they’re there, young and angry, drifting through the streets and subways hunting for weakness. And when they find it, they’re going to bring the city to its knees, and drink champagne and dance until the dawn. A film of daring politics, ravishing style, and sublime soundtracking, Nocturama offers up a grim fantasia of terror and excess that will stay with you for weeks. Souvenir, dir. Bavo Defurne Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) lives a modest and monotonous life. By day, she works in an industrial pâté factory, and by night, she sits on the couch and watches TV. One day, a new worker in the factory named Jean (Kévin Azaïs) arrives, and he grows increasingly convinced that he recognizes Liliane from a European singing contest he saw as a child. Was it her? Souvenir is a touching portrayal of a relationship between two people from different generations, coming together to make a life-changing comeback. This Is Our Land, dir. Lucas Belvaux This Is Our Land is a film for our times. Not so loosely based on French politician Marine Le Pen, the plot follows Pauline, an apolitical nurse frustrated by local politics, who is targeted by a far right-wing group to run for office. As her political star rises, inner turmoil sets in as she becomes increasingly dominated by the political machine. Probing issues of immigration and populism, the film is an incisive look at how the Front National political party operates and how it is perceived by the French. Breathless, dir. Jean-Luc Godard There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. Jean-Luc Godard burst onto the film scene in 1960 with this jazzy, free-form, and sexy homage to the American film genres that inspired him as a writer for Cahiers du Cinéma. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, anything-goes crime narrative, and effervescent young stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, Breathless helped launch the French New Wave and ensured that cinema would never be the same. French Short Films This 100-minute program includes 5 short films representing bold, new cinematic voices. Prestige Ingredients (26min | France | dir. Danielle + Adrian Rubi-Dentzel) A stifled, young Hollywood actress slips into a world of mouthwatering delicacies, sweet heartache, and bitter tears when she takes an unlikely job with an inspired rebel chef in Paris. We Are The Freakshow (10 min | Canada | dir. Fanny-Laure Malo, Philippe Lupien), A bingo game. An allegorical, wild, and humorous portrait. An homage to eccentricity and entertainment, to those things that remain unchanged. The Elusive (18min | Belgium | dir. Ely Chevillot), A complicated mother-son relationship becomes even more complicated when he acts inappropriately with another kid at the pool. Retaliation (26min I France, Benin I dir. Ange-Régis Hounkpatin) When her father is murdered in Benin, 18-year-old Awa is shaken by the brutal actions taken in her community to avenge his death. Le Grand Remix (17min I USA I dir. Austin Alward) Faced with not being allowed back into America if she leaves the U.S. to attend her sister’s wedding, a young African teacher at a French immersion school in New Orleans attempts to dance away her troubles to music is provided by a teenage Vietnamese-American DJ.
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2018 Berlin Film Festival Unveils Full Panorama Lineup, Opens with Wolfgang Fischer’s STYX

[caption id="attachment_26726" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Styx[/caption] The 2018 Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the full lineup of the Panorama program, which will feature a total of 47 films from 40 countries, with 37 world premieres and 16 directorial debuts. 20 films will be screened in the scope of Panorama Dokumente , while 27 fiction features are shown in Panorama Special as well as the main program. The section takes a look at Wolfgang Fischer’s Styx , which will open Panorama Special on February 16 at Zoo Palace. Nearly dialogue-free, the film tells the story of a female doctor on a sailing vacation. A Czech production opens Panorama Dokumente. Jan Gebert’s Až přijde válka ( When the War Comes ) is the global trend of a socially acceptable form of nationalism using the example of the Slovak Slovenski Branci Slovak paramilitary organization. Árpád Bogdán’s feature film Genezis ( Genesis ) takes place on the series of attacks on Roma in Hungary in 2008/2009, exposing their effects on the victimized families and the community as well as casting light on the failures of the Hungarian judicial system pursuit of those guilty of crimes perpetrated under the dictatorial Franco regime is depicted in The Silence of Others, produced by Pedro Almodóvar. Former Brazilian president Dilma Roussef’s impeachment can be witnessed firsthand in O processo ( The Trial ). In Generation Wealth , Lauren Greenfield raises awareness for the self-indulgent quest for luxury and the total surrender to vanity leading to a sort of “ultra-decadence,” while in Lemonade , produced by Cristian Mungiu, the American Dream remains tauntingly out of reach for those who can not afford to buy a piece of it. In the French-German production Game Girls , two women try to escape life on Skid Row, the USA’s “Capital City of the Homeless”. Shakedown immerses the viewer in the Afro-American queer strip club scene of Los Angeles 1990s, relating its protagonists’ search for freedom and self-determination to great immediacy. In the Italian production country, Iranian director Babak Jalali who is defending their cultural identity with dignity. Family dynamics under the microscope: In Al Gami’ya ( What Comes Around ), the residents of one of Cairo’s poorest districts have developed a bank-free financing system for themselves. Two intimate portraits of rural conflict, set in Central China’s Henan province and the German state of Saxony-Anhalt respectively, are drawn in Jordan Schiele’s The Silk and the Flame and Rosa Hannah Ziegler’s family life ( Family Life ). Yang Mingming’s debut film Rou Qing Shi ( Girls Always Happy ) showcases the verbal duels of an odd mother-daughter duo looking for happiness in style or daydreams of getting rich quick. In La enfermedad del domingo ( Sunday’s Illness ), a mother and her daughter return to one another following years of estrangement. In Jibril , her final work for the Babelsberg University of Applied Sciences KONRAD WOLF, Henrika Kull depicts the isolation and love in the interaction between a single mom and a prison inmate. The Argentinian production Marilyn and the Brazilian film Tinta Bruta ( Hard Paint ) both show the isolation and the inherent in their protagonists’ search for their place in the world. In the mafia tale La terra dell ‘abbastanza ( Boys Cry ), two young men discover an ostensibly simple way out of a sticky situation. A complex web of responsibilities is included in the two instalments of the miniseries Ondes de choc ( Shock Waves ), directed by Lionel Baier and Ursula Meier. Three further films serve as reflections on cinema itself: Mes provinciales ( A Paris Education ), which is set in a Parisian millennial student milieu; Depending vois rouge ( I See Red People ), In Which Bojina Payanotova Confronts her parents With Their possible connections to the Bulgarian secret police; and Hotel Jugoslavija , in which director Nicolas Wagnières elevates at abandoned Grand Hotel to the status of contemporary witness to history, acting on his principle of “filming to retain and regain”. Fluid boundaries between reality and fiction are especially present in four productions. Xiao Mei investigates the enigma surrounding the disappearance of a young woman while the dark fairy tale Koly padayut pereva ( When the Trees Fall ) includes the frightening and enchanting experiences of three generations of women. In a hybrid form between fiction and documentary film, Trinta Lumes ( Thirty Souls ) reimagines the Galician backcountry as a mythical place populated by both the living and the dead. Finally, in the deceptively calm flow of horizon ‘s ( Horizon ) images, a man is at risk of losing his footing in life after a separation. The hard reality reflected in two productions from India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo was in stark contrast in this context. In Garbage , a young woman’s endures a nightmare of male violence. Kinshasa Makambo on the other hand provides insight into the brutal everyday existence of Congolese resistance fighters. In addition to their appearance in Yocho , cinematic dystopias and allegories of reality are featured in Kim Ki-duk’s Inkan, gongkan, sikan grigo inkan ( Human, Space, Time and Human ) , in which of the widely differing backgrounds assembled on a warship develop a bestial need for patriarchal domination. From Iran comes the film Hojoom (Invasion ), which adeptly establishes an oppressive mood with its post-apocalyptic science-fiction world devoid of sunlight. Partisan takes a look back at Frank Castorf’s twenty-five year legacy at Berlin’s Volksbühne theater. Chilly Gonzales, self-proclaimed president of the Berlin Underground, is the subject of Shut Up and Play the Piano . MATANGI / MAYA / MIA The Sri Lankan Resistance artist portrays the controversial star between the labels attached to the music and media industries. In Idris Elba’s directorial debut, Yardie , the score by Dickon Hinchcliffe (“Tindersticks”) accentuates the journey of a young man from Kingston to London . Al Gami’ya ( What Comes Around ) – Lebanon / Egypt / Greece / Qatar / Slovenia By Reem Saleh Documentary World Premiere Až přijde válka ( When the War Comes ) – Czech Republic / Croatia By Jan Gebert Documentary World Premiere La enfermedad del domingo ( Sunday’s Illness ) – Spain By Ramón Salazar With Bárbara Lennie, Susi Sánchez, Greta Fernández, Miguel Ángel Solá, Richard Bohringer World premiere Familienleben ( Family Life ) – Germany By Rosa Hannah Ziegler Documentary World Premiere Game Girls – France / Germany By Alina Skrzeszewska Documentary World Premiere Garbage – India By Q With Tanmay Dhanania, Trimala Adhikari, Satarupa The World Premiere Generation Wealth – USA By Lauren Greenfield Documentary International Premiere Genezis ( Genesis ) – Hungary By Árpád Bogdán With Anna Marie Cseh, Enikő Anna Illési, Milán Csordá’s World Premiere Hojoom ( Invasion ) – Iran By Shahram Mokri With Abed Abest, Elaheh Bakhshi, Babak Karimi, Pedram Sharifi, Mehdi Etemad Saied International Premiere Horizonti ( Horizon ) – Georgia / Sweden By Tinatin Kajrishvili With George Bochorishvili, Ia Sukhitashvili, Jano Izoria, Soso Gogichaishvili World Premiere Hotel Jugoslavija – Switzerland By Nicolas Wagnières Documentary European Premiere Inkan, gongkan, sikan grigo inkan ( Human, Space, Time and Human ) – Republic of Korea By Kim Ki-dukWith Mina Fujii, Jang Keun-suk, Ahn Sung-ki, Lee Sung-jae, Ryoo Seung-bum, Sung Ki-youn, Joe Odagiri World premiere Je vois rouge ( I See Red People ) – France / Bulgaria By Bojina Panayotova Documentary World Premiere Jibril – Germany By Henrika Kull With Susana Abdulmajid, Malik Adan, Doua Rahal, Emna El-Aouni World Premiere Kinshasa Makambo – Democratic Republic of the Congo / France / Switzerland / Germany / Qatar / Norway By Dieudo Hamadi Documentary World Premiere Koly padayut dereva ( When the Trees Fall ) – Ukraine / Poland / Macedonia By Marysia Nikitiuk With Anastasiia Pustovit, Sofia Halaimova, Maksym Samchyk, Mariya Svizhynska, Alla Samoilenko World Premiere Country – Italy / France / Netherlands / Mexico By Babak Jalali With Rod Rondeaux, Florence Klein, James Coleman, Wilma Pelly World Premiere Lemonade – Romania / Germany / Canada / Sweden By Ioana Uricaru With Mina Manovici, Steve Bacic, Dylan Scott Smith, Milan Hurduc, Ruxandra Maniu World Premiere Marilyn – Argentina / Chile By Martín Rodríguez Redondo With Walter Rodriguez, Catalina Saavedra, Germán de Silva, Ignacio Giménez, Rodolfo Garcia Werner World Premiere MATANGI / MAYA / MIA – USA / United Kingdom / Sri Lanka By Steve Loveridge With Maya Arulpragasam Documentary International Premiere Mes provinciales ( A Paris Education ) – France By Jean Paul Civeyrac With Andranic Manet, Corentin Fila, Gonzague Van Bervesselès, Diane Rouxel, Jenna Thiam, Sophie Verbeeck World Premiere O processo ( The Trial ) – Brazil / Germany / Netherlands By Maria Ramos Documentary World Premiere Ondes de choc – Journal de ma tête ( Shock Waves – Diary of My Mind ) – Switzerland By Ursula Meier With Fanny Ardant, Kacey Mottet-Klein, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, Carlo Brandt, Stéphanie Blanchoud, Jean-Quentin Châtelain International Premiere Ondes de choc – Prénom: Mathieu ( Shock Waves – First Name: Mathieu ) – Switzerland By Lionel Baier With Maxime Gorbatchevsky, Michel Vuillermoz, Ursina Lardi, Mickael Amman, Adrien Barazzone, Piere-Isaïe Duc, Nastassja Tanner International Premiere Partisan – Germany By Lutz Pehnert, Matthias Ehlert, Adama Ulrich With Frank Castorf, Sophie Rois, Kathrin Angerer, Herbert Fritsch, Henry Hübchen, Alexander Scheer Documentary World Premiere Rou qing shi ( Girls Always Happy ) – People’s Republic of China Yang Mingming With Nai An, Yang Mingming, Zhang Xianmin, Li Qinqin, Huang Wei, Yuan Li World Premiere Shakedown – USA By Leilah Weinraub Documentary World Premiere Shut Up and Play the Piano – Germany / France / United Kingdom By Philip Jedicke With Chilly Gonzales, Peaches, Feist, Sibylle Berg, Jarvis Cocker Documentary World Premiere La terra dell’abbastanza ( Boys Cry ) – Italy By Damiano D’Innocenzo, Fabio D’Innocenzo With Matteo Olivetti, Andrea Carpenzano, Milena Mancini, Max Tortora, Luca Zingaretti World Premiere The Silence of Others – USA / Spain By Almudena Carracedo, Robert Bahar Documentary World Premiere The Silk and the Flame – United States By Jordan Schiele Documentary World Premiere Styx – Germany / Austria By Wolfgang Fischer With Susanne Wolff, Gedion Oduor World Premiere Tinta bruta ( Hard Paint )- BrazilBy Marcio Reolon, Filipe Matzembacher With Shico Menegat, Bruno Fernandes, Guega Peixoto, Sandra Dani, Frederico Vasque’s World Premiere Trinta Lumes ( Thirty Souls )- SpainBy Diana Toucedo With Alba Arias, Samuel Vilariño’s World Premiere Xiao Mei – Taiwan By Maren Hwang With Chen Yi-Wen, Liu Kuan-Ting, Na Dow, Wu Chien-Ho, Yin Shin, Laurence Chiu, Chang Shao-Huai, Samantha Ko, Wu Kang-jen, Jao Cincin World Premiere Yardie – United Kingdom By Idris Elba With Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson, Stephen Graham, Fraser James, Sheldon Shepherd, Everaldo Creary European Premiere Already featured films: L’Animale – Austria by Katharina Mückstein Bixa Travesty ( Tranny Fag ) – Brazil by Claudia Priscilla, Kiko Goifman Ex Pajé ( Ex Shaman ) – Brazil by Luiz Bolognesi Malambo, el hombre bueno (Malambo, the Good Man) – Argentina by Santiago Loza Obscuro Barroco – France / Greece by Evangelia Kranioti La omisión ( The Omission ) – Argentina / Netherlands / Switzerland by Sebastián Schjaer River’s Edge – Japan by Isao Yukisada Profiles – USA / UK / Cyprus by Timur Bekmambetov That Summer – Sweden / Denmark, USA by Göran Hugo Olsson Yocho (Foreboding) – Japan by Kiyoshi Kurosawa Central Airport THF ( Central Airport THF ) – Germany / France / Brazil by Karim Aïnouz
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2018 MidWest WeirdFest Reveals First 7 Films

[caption id="attachment_26720" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] FUTURE[/caption] The MidWest WeirdFest described as ‘a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird’ revealed the first seven feature films for the upcoming 2nd edition taking place March 9 to 11, 2018 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. “We are delighted to unveil this first glimpse at some of the 2018 festival’s incredible program”, says fest founder and veteran programmer Dean Bertram. “The selection encapsulates MidWest WeirdFest‘s mission of showcasing a heady combination of the latest and most original horror, sci-fi, underground, and documentary films. We can’t wait for the festival’s audience to journey with us on another twisting, terrifying, and at times hilarious journey through the cutting-edge of this season’s weird cinema.” The first seven feature films announced follow: 3 DEAD TRICK OR TREATERS (dir: Torin Langen) After stumbling upon the graves of three murdered trick or treaters, a small town paperboy discovers a series of handwritten horror stories tacked to the children’s headstones. Penned by a deranged pulp author driven mad by his craft, the stories chronicle grisly tales of Halloween rites, rituals and traditions. Absent of dialogue and heavy on atmosphere, 3 DEAD TRICK OR TREATERS is a horror chiller unlike any you’ve seen before. ATTACK OF THE TATTIE-BOGLE (dir: Pete Marcy) A group of unlikely bunkmates gathers at a mutual friend’s cabin in remote Wisconsin. Armed with all the comforts of urban life, they are ready to celebrate Independence Day; but when the group is attacked, they are sent reeling. Confused, scared, and unprepared to handle real danger, survivors are forced to battle fears, balance egos, and summon their courage – or die. Forget “cabin in the woods” slashers in the style of FRIDAY THE 13TH. This edge of your seat film depicts believable adult characters being killed with unpredictable, rapidly descending, and brutal violence. It feels uncannily real, and is all the more disturbing for it. BORLEY RECTORY (dir: Ashley Thorpe) This spine-tingling film chronicles the true story of “The most haunted house in England”. Narrated by Julian Sands (WARLOCK, GOTHIC, LEAVING LAS VEGAS), and starring Reece Shearsmith (THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, SHAUN OF THE DEAD), BORLEY RECTORY features a stunning combination of live action re-enactments, animated photographs from the period, and eerie visual effects. Be prepared to be mesmerized and chilled in equal portions by the most haunting film of the festival season. FAKE BLOOD (dir: Rob Grant) Rob Grant and Mike Kovac receive a disturbing fan video inspired by their previous horror movie MON AMI, motivating them to investigate the responsibility of filmmakers in portraying violence in movies. In their pursuit of the truth they are unwittingly introduced to the real world of violent criminals and their victims. Few films have managed to so successfully examine the blurred lines between real and imagined violence. FAKE BLOOD will keep you engaged and unbalanced until the final frame. THE FLATWOODS MONSTER: A LEGACY OF FEAR (dir: Seth Breedlove) Ahead of its official release this April, MidWest WeirdFest proudly presents this special sneak-peak screening of the latest, highly anticipated offering from production company Small Town Monsters. It is a terrifying documentary that revisits one of the earliest and most famous alien encounter reports of American UFO lore. The film’s director, Seth Breedlove (BOGGY CREEK MONSTER, THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT, INVASION ON CHESTNUT RIDGE) is the most important documentarian working in the UFO/paranormal/cryptid field today, and was the recipient of 2017’s “Cryptozoologist of the Year” award. Don’t miss your chance to be one of the first people on this haunted planet to see his latest film. FUTURE (dir: Robert Cousineau, Chris Rosik) A drunken train-wreck of a time traveler offers a suicidally depressed tea store barista a do-over. The catch is, the do-over comes at a murderous price. FUTURE is a poignant and funny low-fi sci-fi that begs the question: If you only had a few days left to live, and you felt like no one wanted you around, what would you do with that time? Would you climb a mountain, fall in love, invent a world saving device? Or would you eat all the junk you usually don’t let yourself have, and blow off work to get drunk with your old friends? THE MOOSE HEAD OVER THE MANTEL (dir: Rebecca Comtois, Bryan Enk, Jessi Gotta, Matthew Gray, Shannon K. Hall, Jane Rose) Lillian Hoffhienze-Bachman and her family move into the previously abandoned Hoffhienze ancestral home, where their hopeful new start becomes tainted by the discovery of a century’s worth of abuse, dysfunction and violence. Lillian becomes consumed by her sordid ancestry, terrified that the past might dictate her son’s future. The grisly events of the past 100 years are revealed through the eyes of the family’s victims… including the moose head hanging on the mantel wall. Influenced and inspired by the notorious real lives of H.H. Holmes, The Bender Family, Lizzie Borden, Carl Panzram and The Fox Sisters, this dark and unsettling anthology chills to the core.
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Kate Bosworth, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Lynn Shelton to Be Honored at 2018 Sun Valley Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_26715" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Kate Bosworth, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Lynn Shelton[/caption] Kate Bosworth, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Lynn Shelton join Gwyneth Paltrow as honorees of the 2018 Sun Valley Film Festival. Kate Bosworth will receive the Pioneer Award, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will receive the Rising Star Award and Lynn Shelton receive the High Scribe Award and host the Screenwriter’s Lab. In addition, Sir Sly will be the special musical guests performing at the SVFF Awards Bash.
KATE BOSWORTH
SVFF will honor Kate Bosworth with the annual Pioneer Award presented by Nat Geo WILD. She is the first female producer to receive the award following past recipient Mark Duplass. It will be presented at a private reception on Friday, March 16 and she will be participating in the Nat Geo WILD’s Salon Seriesat Festival HQ. Under MAKE PICTURES PRODUCTIONS, her newly formed production company with husband filmmaker Michael Polish, Bosworth executive produced and appeared in NONA, a feature film that sheds light on the brutality of Central America’s sex trafficking industry. The screenplay was written and the picture directed by Polish. Bosworth most recently starred in National Geographic’s The Long Road Home and leads MGM’s upcoming post-apocalyptic drama, The Domestics. Her other film credits include Black Rock, Blue Crush, Big Sur, Homefront, The Horse Whisperer, Still Alice, Straw Dogs and Superman Returns.
YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN
The Festival will also present burgeoning talent Yahya Abdul-Mateen II with the second annual rising star award for breakthrough talent in the film and television industry. He will receive the award in a private reception and will be participating in the Nat Geo WILD’s Salon Series at Festival HQ. Known for his role as Cadillac on Baz Luhrman’s acclaimed series The Get Down, Abdul-Mateen II has also played opposite Dwayne Johnson in Baywatch and Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman. He is set to star alongside Jason Momoa as villain Black Manta in DC’s upcoming Aquaman.
LYNN SHELTON
Lynn Shelton, award winning writer and director, will receive the High Scribe Award and host the Screenwriters Lab, sponsored by Variety on Saturday, March 17th. Shelton’s work has screened at TIFF, Sundance, Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, Slamdance, SXSW, and Deauville and been honored at several of those including 2009 Sundance Special Jury Prize and two Independent Spirit Awards—the Acura Someone To Watch Award and the John Cassavetes Award. Shelton has directed a number of television shows, including Mad Men, Master of None, Casual, Love, Santa Clarita Diet, The Mindy Project, New Girl, Shameless, Fresh Off The Boat, and GLOW. Academy Award nominated producer Kevin Walsh will attend as judge of the SVFF High Scribe screenplay competition. As the President of Ridley Scott’s production banner Scott Free Films, Kevin has overseen such films as Murder on the Orient Express, Bladerunner, Zoe, and All the Money in the World. Kevin was named one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch.”
SIR SLY
Indie Pop Band Sir Sly will join the 2018 Festival as the headliners of the SVFF Awards Bash, presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, on Saturday, March 17th at Whiskey Jacques. Led by frontman Landon Jacobs and instrumentalists Hayden Coplen and Jason Suwito, Sir Sly has released two full length albums: You Haunt Me in 2013 and Don’t You Worry, Honey just last year. Their hit singles “Gold,” “You Haunt Me” and “High” have spent multiple weeks on Billboard, Sirius, and Rock Airplay charts. The band is currently on tour in the US with scheduled stops at both Coachella and Bonnaroo music festival.
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