Transformer[/caption]
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) announced the 2017 Script Competition Winners and the Film Competition Jury Award Winners.
In Blue directed by Jaap van Heusden won the award for Best Narrative Feature, and Transformer directed by Michael Del Monte won the award for Best Documentary Feature.
In “In Blue”, a flight attendant who has successfully existed as a single independent woman for years finds herself delivering a child mid flight. This moment flips her world on its head.
Transformer tells the story of former US Marine and world record weightlifter Matt Kroczaleski who was publicly outed as transgender in the summer of 2015. The reaction was universal: her sponsors abandoned her, she was disowned by her parents, and banned from competing. Now Janae, she must find her place in society, unable to lose the muscle she once so desperately gained and living one day as an alpha male and the next day as a delicate girl.
Film Festivals
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2017 Austin Film Festival Awards – IN BLUE and TRANSFORMER Win Film Jury Awards
[caption id="attachment_25348" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Transformer[/caption]
The Austin Film Festival (AFF) announced the 2017 Script Competition Winners and the Film Competition Jury Award Winners.
In Blue directed by Jaap van Heusden won the award for Best Narrative Feature, and Transformer directed by Michael Del Monte won the award for Best Documentary Feature.
In “In Blue”, a flight attendant who has successfully existed as a single independent woman for years finds herself delivering a child mid flight. This moment flips her world on its head.
Transformer tells the story of former US Marine and world record weightlifter Matt Kroczaleski who was publicly outed as transgender in the summer of 2015. The reaction was universal: her sponsors abandoned her, she was disowned by her parents, and banned from competing. Now Janae, she must find her place in society, unable to lose the muscle she once so desperately gained and living one day as an alpha male and the next day as a delicate girl.
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First 15 Films Revealed for 47th International Film Festival Rotterdam
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The Florida Project[/caption]
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) revealed the first 15 films selected for its 47th edition, among which are Sean Baker’s The Florida Project and Guillermo del Toro’sThe Shape of Water. Other selections include work by Wang Bing, Constantin Popescu and Alexey Fedorchenko. The festival will take place from January 24 to February 4, 2018.
IFFR celebrates film art from all over the world and continues to present its programme in four sections, each with its own distinct character: Bright Future (including the Hivos Tiger Competition and the Tiger Competition for Short Films); Voices; Deep Focus and Perspectives. Short films are strongly represented throughout the festival.
Also among the first titles are the international premieres of La fleurière by Ruben Desière (Belgium/Slovakia) and The Bottomless Bag by Rustam Khamdamov (Russia). Other festival highlights include Wang Bings Golden Leopard winning Mrs. Fang; Les garçons sauvages by French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico; Zhang Miaoyan’s Silent Mist (China/France); and the world premiere of the short film project with history in a room filled with people with funny names 4 by Korakrit Arunanondchai (USA/Thailand/South Africa/UK).
The first 15 films confirmed for the 47th IFFR:
BRIGHT FUTURE
The Flower Shop (La fleurière), Ruben Desière, Belgium/Slovakia, international premiere The Wild Boys (Les garçons sauvages), Bertrand Mandico, France All You Can Eat Buddha, Ian Lagarde, Canada, European premiereVOICES
Anna’s War, Alexey Fedorchenko, Russia, European premiere Pororoca, Constantin Popescu, Romania/France Silent Mist, Zhang Miaoyan, China/France, European premiereVOICES/Limelight
The Florida Project, Sean Baker, USA The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, USADEEP FOCUS
The Bottomless Bag, Rustam Khamdamov, Russia, international premiere Mrs. Fang, Wang Bing, Hong Kong/France/Germany Marquis of Wavrin, from the manor to the jungle (Marquis de Wavrin, du manoir à la jungle), Grace Winter, Luc Plantier, BelgiumSHORT FILM
Glimpse, Artur Zmijewski, Poland/Germany I Have Nothing to Say, Ying Liang, Taiwan/Hong Kong with history in a room filled with people with funny names 4, Korakrit Arunanondchai, USA/Thailand/South Africa/UK, world premiereMID-LENGTH
The Worldly Cave, Zhou Tao, China, European premiere
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VIDEO: Watch Daniel McCabe’s Eye Opening Documentary THIS IS CONGO Trailer
Here is the powerful trailer for Daniel McCabe’s eye opening documentary This is Congo which will have its New York premiere at the upcoming DOC NYC 2017. The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Venice Film Festival and will also screen at the upcoming IDFA 2017.
After living in the Congo for 7+ years, McCabe gained unprecedented access to top military officials and well-connected locals, allowing him to give a truly unfiltered look into one of the longest conflicts in the world, and the people surviving within it. This is Congo examines multiple sides of the fractious war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following a former rebel whistle blower, a beloved frontline Commander and Mama Romance, a charismatic mineral dealer working on the black market.
This is Congo is a highly-immersive, unfiltered look into one of the longest conflicts in the world. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen more than five million conflict-related deaths, multiple regime changes and the wholesale impoverishment of its people in the past two decades. This is Congo immerses the viewer onto the frontlines of battle with key players including a whistleblower and military commanders to provide a truly unfiltered and unique look into the conflict plaguing Congo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WfWODjDYAk
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I AM NOT A WITCH and TASTE OF CEMENT Win at 2017 Adelaide Film Festival
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I AM NOT A WITCH[/caption]
I Am Not A Witch and documentary Taste of Cement are the top prize winning films of the 2017 Adelaide Film Festival. The festival named Nothing Happens, the winner of the inaugural AFTRS International VR Award.
The 2017 ADL Film Fest International Feature Award winner, I Am Not A Witch, is the feature debut of Zambia-born Welsh director Rungano Nyoni, and tells the tale of Shaula, a young, Zambian orphan banished from her village to a ‘witch camp.’ The Jury hailed the film as “unique and bold … surprisingly funny … a bold debut from a bright new talent.”
The 2017 Flinders University International Best Documentary Award goes to Ziad Kalthoum’s Taste of Cement. The film details the tale of Syrian Construction workers who are virtually imprisoned on the site of the Beirut skyscrapers they build. It celebrated its Australian Premiere at ADL Film Fest, and was applauded by the Jury; “a poetic unfolding … we admire the filmmaker’s audacity, ambition and heart … Ziad is a director of talent.”
For the 2017 GU Film House Audience Awards, as voted by the audiences, Best Feature went to Warwick Thornton’s frontier western – Sweet Country, Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible scooped up Best Documentary; and Oddlands took Best Short.
Inspired by real events, Sweet Country is a period western set in 1929 in the outback Northern Territory. When Aboriginal stockman Sam (Hamilton Morris) kills white station owner Harry March (Ewen Leslie) in self-defence, Sam and his wife Lizzie (Natassia Gorey-Furber) go on the run. They are pursued across the outback, through glorious but harsh desert country.
With credits including Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, The Dish, Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and Road to Perdition Jill Bilcock is regarded as one the world’s great film editors. Axel Grigor’s hugely entertaining documentary Jill Bilcock: Dancing the Invisible, traces Bilcock’s journey from Melbourne film student in the 1960s to working as an extra in Bollywood movies and learning her craft when Australia had virtually no feature film industry.
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MADE IN ILIMA, SUPERDESIGN Among Films for 9th Architecture & Design Film Festival in NYC
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Made in Ilima[/caption]
The 9th Architecture & Design Film Festival returns to Cinépolis Chelsea in New York City from November 1 to November 5, and will screen a total of 34 feature-length and short films, including films that explore the life and work of revered architects such as Glenn Murcutt, Kevin Roche and Rem Koolhaas and timely topics such as the power of design to instill positive change.
Among the world premieres, attendees will get the first look at Made in Ilima, a film about a primary school and community center built in the Congo by 2017 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winner, MASS Design. Viewers can also expect to see the U.S. premiere of Aires Mateus: Matter in Reverse, a film about the uniquely developed architectural language embodied in the work of the Portuguese architecture firm.
In addition to the curated selection of films, ADFF will present a series of intimate discussions with prominent architects, designers, industry leaders and filmmakers as well as entertainment in the theater’s newly revamped lounge.
Highlights include:
Thursday, November 2 (6:00 PM) Van Alen Sessions: Infrastructure on Film Following the screening of the Van Alen Institute’s world premiere of Season Three of the short documentary series Van Alen Sessions, Steven Thomson, managing producer of Van Alen Sessions and programs and communications manager at the Van Alen Institute, will moderate a panel discussion on the changing narrative of cities’ infrastructures. Thursday, November 2 (6:00 PM) What to do with 520 Miles of Coastline? Following the screening of Arup’s short film Pier to Pier: Reclaiming New York’s Waterfront, Arup’s Francesca Birks will moderate a panel discussion with leading members of the city’s waterfront and public space communities including Jonathan Boulware, Executive Director of the South Street Seaport Museum, Nancy Choi, Senior Environmental Engineer at Arup, Archie Lee Coates, Executive Director, Co-Founder & Designer of + POOL and Robert Holdbrook, Planning Department Director at NYC Economic Development Corporation. Friday, November 3 (6:45 PM) REM Following the screening of REM, Cathleen McGuigan, Editor in Chief of Architectural Record, will sit in conversation with Nicolai Ouroussoff, architecture writer and critic, to discuss the intimate portrayal of world-renowned architect Rem Koolhaas. Friday, November 3 (9:00 PM) Made in Ilima The co-founders of MASS Design, Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks, will sit down with film director Thatcher Bean for a Q&A to discuss their project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – a conservation-focused primary school and community center in the Ilima community, which remains one of the most isolated in the world. Saturday, November 4 (4:15 PM) Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect Pritzker Prize-winning Irish-American architect Kevin Roche and director Mark Noonan will discuss the film and Roche’s lifetime of acclaimed work in a Q&A after the film screening. Sunday, November 5 (4:30 PM) SUPERDESIGN Following the screening of SUPERDESIGN, Felix Burrichter, creative director, curator, writer and founder of PIN-UP Magazine will moderate a conversation about Italian Radical Design with Evan Snyderman, owner and co-founder of R & Company and producer of SUPERDESIGN; Francesca Molteni, director of SUPERDESIGN; Franco Audrito, founder of Studio65; and Maria Cristina Didero, co-curator of SUPERDESIGN and curator of the SuperDesign exhibition at R & Company.The VR films include:
This is What the Future Looked Like: A new eight-minute VR documentary created by filmmakers Sam Green and Gary Hustwit that is a rumination on the work of architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller. Inside the Biennale: A VR Series: In a collaboration with Artsy and UBS, Scenic created a series about the Venice Art Biennale.
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19th Bratislava International Film Festival to Open with “REQUIEM FOR MRS. J.”
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Requiem for Mrs. J[/caption]
The 19th Bratislava International Film Festival will take place from November 9 to 16, under the main theme – the art of film acting. The festival will open with Requiem for Mrs. J. (J. Rekvijem za gospođu, 2017) by the Serbian director and one of the members of the Fiction Competition jury Bojan Vuletić. This tragicomedy tells the story of an unemployed widow, meticulously preparing for her suicide. The film rests on the masterly acting performance of Mirjana Karanović.
The section Cinema Now, a selection of festival hits and highly anticipated new releases, will also feature the Indian film Sexy Durga (2017), which won the Hivos Tiger Award at this year’s festival in Rotterdam. This road movie about two lovers wandering the southern Indian province of Kerala is a great improvisation as well as a fascinating reflection on the contemporary India. The Chronicles of Melanie (Melānijas hronika, 2016) tells a story unravelling during the 1940’s Soviet occupation of Latvia, inspired by true life events of the journalist Melānija Vanaga. The film directed by Viesturs Kairišs is the Latvian candidate for an Oscar. Another film featured in the section is the Slovak premiere of a new release from the all-star French director François Ozon called Double lover (L’amant double, 2017). The titillating erotic thriller toys with a secret and a blurred line between expectations and reality. A Ciambra (2017) directed by Jonas Carpignano is the Italian candidate for an Oscar as well as one of the top ten nominees for this year’s LUX Prize. The story revolves around a teenage Romani boy Pio, who must quickly become a man in order to support his family.
One of the traditional festival sections Made in Slovakia presents the local and international audience with several attractive new local releases, many of them in their Slovak premiere. An anticipated documentary film, which will enter the current local film scene by its premiere at the Bratislava IFF, is a portrait of a recently late Slovak big beat icon Varga. The young director Sonya Maletzová met and started filming Marián Varga towards the end of his life. Through a sophisticated montage of archival records, the film condenses Varga’s life and career decades into musical numbers, where one track echoes in interpretations from different periods. His mortal frame visibly changes along with his musical style and temperament. However, somewhere beneath, Varga remains preciously unchanging and artistically as well as humanly consistent.
Another premiere to look forward to is the final part of Jan Hřebejk’s and Petr Jarchovský’s trilogy Garden store: Suitor (Zahradnictví: Nápadník, 2017) This time, it is a story of love, exposing the quiet war between parents and their children, affected by the war and the communist coup d’état.
Suitor is a bird’s-eye-view portrayal of the sharp dividing line between the pre- and post-war generations. They each have their own vision of happiness and therefore tread their own paths to reach it.
The section will also present a controversial portrait of a “velvet neo-Nazi”, The White World According to Daliborek (Svět podle Daliborka, 2017), by the Czech director Vít Klusák. The film was realized partially thanks to a co-production with Slovakia, especially through a significant creative input of the composer Vladimír Godár, whose music tinted the grotesque images of Dalibor’s everyday life a with a color of human tragedy.
The Made in Slovakia section will traditionally comprise a selection of films made by the students of the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica. This year the audience should not miss the internationally successful student films noticed by some of the biggest world festivals. Atlantis, 2003 (Atlantída, 2003, 2017) directed by Michal Blaško appeared in the student competition of the Cinéfondation film festival in Cannes and Magic Moments (2017) by Martina Buchelová made it to the Short Cuts competition section at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The list of legendary Slovak actors currently featuring Ladislav Chudík, Mária Kráľovičová, Jozef Adamovič, Štefan Kvietik, Eva Krížiková, Ivan Palúch, Emília Vášaryová and Martin Huba, whose memorial tiles are already embedded in the Bratislava Film Walk of Fame, will include the name of yet another outstanding actress – Božidara Turzonovová. This year’s laureate of the award for lifetime artistic creation and holder of a Film Walk of Fame memorial tile will personally introduce the film Penelope (Penelopa, 1977) directed by Štefan Uher, in which she played the lead role.
This year’s Lexicon section will shed some light on the specifics, history and future of acting for film, starting with the perfect acting opposites of silent slapstick comedy – Chaplin and Keaton – and ending with virtual actors in the era of 3D cinema. The section will feature two films from the silent era, The Floorwalker (1916) and One Week (1920), followed by the breakthrough A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), whose legendary lead star Marlon Brando uses the so-called method acting. The history of the Slovak cinema will be represented by the remarkable film Our Daily Life (Deň náš každodenný, 1969), interesting by the way it works with non-actors. The section’s highlight is a study of a consuming physical and psychological transformation of an actress who gradually merges with her character Kate Plays Christine (2016). The film directed by the American filmmaker Robert Greene is the winner of last year’s Special Jury Prize for the best screenplay in the category of documentary films at the Sundance Film Festival.
The 19th edition of the Bratislava International Film Festival will welcome one of the most outstanding actors on the current European acting scene, Jean-Marc Barr, who has received world recognition thanks to his cooperation with the controversial Danish director Lars von Trier, especially as the star of Luc Besson’s cult film The Big Blue (Le grand bleu, 1988). In Bratislava, Jean-Marc Barr will receive the festival’s own Award for Artistic Excellence in World Cinema as well as personally introduce his latest film Grain (Bugday, 2017), directed by the renowned Turkish filmmaker Semih Kaplanoğlu and often likened to Tarkovsky’s Stalker.
Another big name to attend the festival is the star of the North American independent film, the Canadian Denis Côté. The works of the 43-year-old Canadian director and former film critic with images from Eisenstein’s Ten Days that Shook the World tattooed on his back, are characteristic by their blending of fiction and documentary methods, as well as things left unsaid and secrets. The highlight of the profile section will be represented by the Slovak premiere of Côté’s latest film A Skin so Soft (Ta peau si lisse, 2017) about professional strongmen and bodybuilders.
The events accompanying the main festival program will include a number of great musical evenings, thought-provoking discussions and masterclasses of this year’s main festival faces Jean-Marc Barr and Denis Côté. The theme of acting will also sound throughout the lecture of Ladislav Dedík, the founder of Studio 727 post-production company, who will talk about the issue of the digital actor, motion-capture technology and full-body scan, linked to the future of film acting in the era of computer generated and special effects films and video games.
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BOMB CITY, BIG SONIA and GAME Win Audience Awards at Tallgrass Film Festival
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Bomb City[/caption]
Bomb City, Big Sonia and Game wowed the audience at the 2017 Tallgrass Film Festival and were voted winners of the Audience Awards. Bomb City directed by Jameson Brooks won the Audience Award for Award Winning Feature Narrative, and Big Sonia directed by Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday won the Audience Award for Award Winning Feature Documentary. Game directed by Jeannie Donohoe won the prize for Audience Award Winning Short .
Bomb City is a crime-drama about the cultural aversion of teenage punks in a conservative Texas town and their ongoing battle with a rival, more-affluent group of jocks. The film is based on the true story of Brian Deneke.
In Big Sonia, Holocaust survivor and diva, Sonia Warshawski, has just been served an eviction notice for her popular tailor shop in suburban Kansas City. Sonia’s trauma comes to the surface as she struggles with the concept of retirement.
Gook, directed Justin Chon was awarded the prize for Outstanding Narrative Feature, along with Outstanding Rising Star for Simone Baker. In the film, set in 1992, two Korean-American brothers strike up an unlikely friendship with an 11-year-old African-American girl, while racial tensions build to a breaking point as the L.A. riots break out.
For Ahkeem directed by Jeremy S. Levin and Landon Van Soest took the award for Outstanding Documentary Feature. After a school fight lands 17-year old Daje Shelton in a court-supervised alternative high school, she’s determined to turn things around and make a better future for herself, despite challenges both personally and in society.
2017 Tallgrass Film Festival Award Winners
Best Kansas & Emerging Filmmaker Awards
Best Emerging Student Award Documentary: Yellow, Director Rowyn Mottershead Best Emerging Student Award – Narrative: Reverse, Director Andrew Kivett Best Kansas Short Film Award – Documentary: Dragtivists, Director, Savannah Rodgers Best Kansas Short Film Award -Narrative: Rabbits, Director Patrick ClementGolden Strands Programming Awards
Outstanding Cinematography: Seat 25, CInematographer Joe Kaufman Outstanding Screenplay: Lucky, Screenwriters Logan Sparks & Drago Sumonja Best Editing: 20 Weeks, Editor David Hopper Outstanding Film Animation: Two Trains Runnin’ Outstanding Rising Star: Simone Baker, Gook Outstanding Male Actor: Christopher Marquette, I Hate the Man in the Basement Outstanding Female Actor: Simone Nortman, For the Birds Outstanding Ensemble Cast: Badsville, Ian McLaren, Benjamin Barrett, Tamara Duarte, Emilio Rivera, Robert Knepper Outstanding Courage in Filmmaking: City of Joy, Director, Madeleine Gavin Excellence in the Art of Filmmaking: Black Cop, Director, Cory Bowles Venus Award for the Teddie Barlow Outstanding Female Filmmaker: Skye Borgman, Forever ‘B’ Outstanding First Feature: Whose Streets?, Directors, Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis Outstanding Documentary Short Film: Edith + Eddie, Director, Laura Checkoway Outstanding Narrative Short Film: Real Artist, Director, Cameo Wood Outstanding Documentary Feature: For Ahkeem, Directors, Jeremy S. Levin, Landon Van Soest Outstanding Narrative Feature: Gook, Director Justin ChonAudience Awards
Audience Award Winning Short ($1,000 Cash Prize): GAME, Director, Jeannie Donohoe Audience Award for Award Winning Feature Documentary ($2,500 Cash Prize): BIG SONIA, Directors, Leah Warshawski, Todd Soliday Audience Award for Award Winning Feature Narrative ($2,500 Cash Prize): BOMB CITY, Director Jameson Brooks
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2017 NewFest Awards – THE FEELS and THE CITY OF THE FUTURE Win First Ever Jury Awards
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The Feels[/caption]
The 2017 NewFest, New York LGBT Film Festival wrapped earlier this week, and for the first time ever, the festival awarded prizes adjudicated by a jury. The Feels, directed by Jenée LaMarque won the Jury Award for Best US Narrative, and The City of the Future by directors Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes Guerreiro, won the Jury Award for Best International Narrative. The Jury Award for Best Documentary was given to Alabama Bound, directed by Lara Embry and Carolyn Sherer.
“This is first time in over 5 years that NewFest has had a jury,” says Programming and Operations Manager Nick McCarthy. “We were delighted to host a collection of esteemed and exciting colleagues that encompass the fields of filmmaking, criticism, marketing/distribution, activism, and programming to experience the varied voices of our 2017 filmmakers.”
The audience voted Hot To Trot, winner of Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, and the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to A Date For Mad Mary.
2017 NewFest Award Winners
Jury Awards
Jury Award for Best US Narrative The Feels, directed by Jenée LaMarque. Two brides-to-be throw a joint bachelorette party that ends up calling their whole relationship into question. Special Mention Zachary Booth and David Rysdahl for their outstanding performances in The Revival. Jury Award for Best New York Short Ace, directed by Morgan Kahn Nichols An unlikely pair of teenagers perform an awkward social dance in a house with no parents. Special Mention The Mess He Made, directed by Matthew Puccini, which takes place in the 15 anxiety-inducing minutes a gay man has to wait for the results of his Rapid HIV Test. Jury Award for Best International Narrative The City of the Future directed by Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes Guerreiro A naturalistic film about the nontraditional relationship of lovers Mila, Igor, and Gilmar that shuns convention, instead embracing love in all its dazzling iterations. Special Mention Manuela Guevara for her performance in The Devil’s Magnificent. Guevara co-wrote the film, in which she plays Manu, a trans immigrant who must return to her native Chile after 10 years in France. In the days leading up to her departure, Manu’s platonic friend Daniel proposes marriage with the intention of solving her visa issues. Manu strongly considers the offer, but she’s wholly disheartened at the prospect of a life without love, romance, and sex—that is, until she meets a fellow foreigner who instills in her the hope for a romantic future. Jury Award for Best Documentary Alabama Bound, directed by Lara Embry and Carolyn Sherer. Exploring the legal roller-coaster ride of LGBTQ family rights in the American South, the film offers an intimate view into the lives of three lesbian families in Alabama, including the only openly-gay Alabama State Legislator Patricia Todd, as they make waves in the legal system fighting for the rights of their children. Filmed during the turning-point years when federal marriage equality was coming to a head in the courts, this riveting and powerful documentary tactfully imbues the viewer with hope and frustration as Patricia Todd leads the charge in next wave of the LGBTQ fight for equality: legal non-discrimination. Special Mention Abu directed byArshad Khan – a dazzling visual memoir about the complex dynamic the filmmaker has with his father, who was at once extremely modern and also rigidly traditional and unaccepting of his son’s true self.Audience Awards
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature Hot To Trot directed by Gail Freedman Set in the swinging setting of same-sex competitive ballroom dancing, this tremendously entertaining documentary highlights the culture and art of dance as it humanistically profiles the compelling stories of four international dancers. Filmed over four years, director Gail Freedman closely follows the tight ensemble as they face global and health issues, yet they find comfort and hope as they twirl past life’s obstacles with the utmost poise and confidence. Who will take home the top prize and move closest to the rhythm? The heat is on in more ways than one. Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature A Date For Mad Mary directed by Darren Thornton In the first feature film by director Darren Thornton, Mary has just been released from a six-month prison stint for a drunken bar fight. Her best friend Charlene is now getting married and wants to keep Mary at a distance, alienating her from their circle of friends. An encounter with a queer musician changes Mary’s perspective and awakens her romantic spirit. The film also won the Breakthrough Award at the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards. Audience Award for Best Documentary Short Love Letter Rescue Squad directed by Megan Rossman The film reflects on the Lesbian Herstory Archives, home to the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities. Audience Award for Best Narrative Short Pria, directed by Yudho Aditya A young boy in Indonesia experiences the tensions between his Gay and Muslim identities all while dreaming about romance and romanticizing the freedoms of the western world.
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Iranian Director Mohammad Rasolou of A MAN WITH INTEGRITY Denied Exit from Iran ‘AGAIN’
The Stockholm International Film Festival issued a statement today, announcing that Iranian director Mohammad Rasolouf has been denied exit from Iran and will not be able to attend the upcoming festival to present his latest film A Man of Integrity.
Earlier this year, director Mohammad Rasolouf returned to Iran after completing his latest movie A Man with Integrity. The director was invited to attend the Stockholm Film Festival along with his film, however on the 16th of September his passport was confiscated at Teheran’s airport and he has since been interrogated by the Iranian government several times.
This is not the first time Rasolouf is subject to this treatment. In November 2013 the festival invited Rasolouf along with his film Manuscripts Don’t Burn, but was denied leaving Iran since his passport was confiscated under similar circumstances. Stockholm Film Festival’s visiting international and Swedish directors then chose to gather for a manifestation outside the Iranian Embassy to support Rasolouf’s cause. This and several other actions led to Rasoulof being released from Iran.
When Rasoulof now again is exposed to the same violations of his human rights as in 2013, the Stockholm Film Festival wishes to draw attention to, and support a petition launched by the French producer Michèle Halberstadt with the purpose of releasing Mohammad Rasoulof.
“We are grateful that Stockholm’s International Film Festival can be used as a platform to support artists and their freedom of expression, no matter where in the world they are,” says Git Scheynius, Festival Director.
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AFI FEST 2017 Announces World Cinema, Midnight and Youth and Family Lineup
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APRIL’S DAUGHTER (LAS HIJAS DE ABRIL)[/caption]
The American Film Institute announced today the films that will be featured in the World Cinema, Midnight and Youth and Family sections at AFI FEST 2017 presented by Audi.
The World Cinema section showcases the most celebrated international films of the year and features 30 films from 39 countries. The section includes 13 official Best Foreign Language Film Oscar® entries: A CIAMBRA (DIR Jonas Carpignano), A FANTASTIC WOMAN (UNA MUJER FANTASTICA) (DIR Sebastián Lelio), FOXTROT (DIR Samuel Maoz), HAPPY END (DIR Michael Haneke), HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS (DIR François Girard), IN THE FADE (AUS DEM NICHTS) (DIR Fatih Akin), THE INSULT (L’INSULTE) (DIR Ziad Doueiri), LOVELESS (NELYUBOV) (DIR Andrey Zvyagintsev), NEWTON (DIR Amit V Masurkar), ON BODY AND SOUL (TESTRŐL ÉS LÉLEKRŐL) (DIR Ildikó Enyedi), SPOOR (POKOT) (DIR Agnieszka Holland), THELMA (DIR Joachim Trier) and WAJIB (DIR Annemarie Jacir).
The festival’s Midnight section will enthrall and petrify audiences with three international, genre-bending films: GOOD MANNERS (DIR Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra), LET THE CORPSES TAN (DIR Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani) and V.I.P. (DIR Park Hoon-Jung).
AFI FEST will offer Youth and Family Programming for the next generation of storytellers and moviegoers, with the films THE BREADWINNER (DIR Nora Twomey) and MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER (DIR Hiromasa Yonebayashi). At these screenings, AFI FEST will host students from several public middle and high schools across Los Angeles County for educational experiences. MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER will also screen for the festival’s public audience.
WORLD CINEMA
APRIL’S DAUGHTER (LAS HIJAS DE ABRIL) – In AFI FEST alum Michel Franco’s latest feature, a domineering mother suddenly arrives to assist with her teenage daughter’s pregnancy. But her true motives will soon emerge. DIR Michel Franco. SCR Michel Franco. CAST Emma Suárez, Ana Valeria Becerril, Enrique Arrizon, Joanna Larequi, Hernán Mendoza. Mexico BEAUTY AND THE DOGS – Following a sexual assault, a young Tunisian woman must descend into a bureaucratic hell to report the incident and find justice. DIR Kaouther Ben Hania. SCR Kaouther Ben Hania. CAST Mariam Al Ferjani, Ghanem Zrelli, Noomane Hamda, Mohamed Akkari, Chedly Arfaoui, Anissa Daoud, Mourad Gharsalli. Tunisia, France, Sweden, Norway, Lebanon, Qatar, Switzerland BRIGHT SUNSHINE IN (UN BEAU SOLEIL INTÉRIEUR) – Juliette Binoche shines in the latest work from auteur Claire Denis, centering on a middle-aged woman hungry to find and hold onto love. DIR Claire Denis. SCR Claire Denis, Christine Angot. CAST Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko, Sandrine Dumas, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Alex Descas, Laurent Grévill. France A CIAMBRA – Jonas Carpignano’s sophomore feature follows Pio, a streetwise teen in Calabria who must step up when his older brother lands in trouble with the police. DIR Jonas Carpignano. SCR Jonas Carpignano. CAST Pio Amato, Koudous Seihon, Iolanda Amato, Damiano Amato, Francesco Pio Amato, Patrizia Amato, Rocco Amato, Susanna Amato. Italy, USA, France, Sweden CLAIRE’S CAMERA (KEUL-LE-EO-UI-KA-ME-LA) – This charming entry from Hong Sang-soo centers on the friendship between a Korean woman (Kim Min-hee) who’s recently lost her job and a wise Parisian teacher (Isabelle Huppert). DIR Hong Sang-soo. SCR Hong Sang-soo. CAST Isabelle Huppert, Kim Min-hee, Chang Mi-hee, Jung Jin-young. South Korea THE DAY AFTER (GEU-HU) – Infused with director Hong Sang-soo’s signature realism and humor, this film follows an aspiring writer who gets caught up in the spectacular drama of her boss’ personal life. DIR Hong Sang-soo. SCR Hong Sang-soo. CAST Kwon Haehyo, Kim Min-hee, Kim Sae-byuk, Cho Yun-hee, Ki Ju-bong, Park Yea-ju, Kang Taeu. South Korea A FANTASTIC WOMAN (UNA MUJER FANTASTICA) – In Sebastián Lelio’s follow-up to GLORIA, trans actress Daniela Vega gives an astonishing debut performance as a woman who must navigate a hostile society after the death of her lover. DIR Sebastián Lelio. SCR Sebastián Lelio, Gonzalo Maza. CAST Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Kuppenheim, Nicolás Saavedra, Amparo Noguera, Néstor Cantillana, Alejandro Goic, Antonia Zegers, Sergio Hernández. Chile, USA, Germany, Spain FOXTROT – An Israeli couple mourns the death of their soldier son in this audacious depiction of war and loss. DIR Samuel Maoz. SCR Samuel Maoz. CAST Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler, Yonatan Shiray, Gefen Barkai, Dekel Adin, Shaul Amir, Itay Exlroad. Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland A GENTLE CREATURE (KROTKAYA) – An unnamed woman, trying to reach her imprisoned husband, descends into the bureaucratic hell of the Russian penal system in this masterful epic. DIR Sergei Loznitsa. SCR Sergei Loznitsa. CAST Vasilina Makovtseva, Marina Kleshcheva, Lia Akhedzhakova, Valeriu Andriuta, Boris Kamorzin, Sergei Kolesov. France, Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands HAPPY END – Austrian auteur Michael Haneke returns with another chilling masterwork starring Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant, focusing on a dysfunctional wealthy family. DIR Michael Haneke. SCR Michael Haneke. CAST Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, Fantine Harduin, Franz Rogowski, Laura Verlinden, Aurelia Petit, Toby Jones. France, Austria, Germany HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS (HOCHELAGA, TERRE DES ÂMES) – The history of Montreal is told with a poetic, episodic structure in this time-jumping drama, arriving in the year of Canada’s 150th anniversary. DIR François Girard. SCR François Girard. CAST Samian, Vincent Perez, Raoul Trujillo, Wahiakeron Gilbert, Emmanuel Schwartz, Tanaya Beatty, David La Haye, Sébastien Ricard, Siân Phillips, Linus Roache, Gilles Renaud, Naïade Aoun, Tony Nardi. Canada IN THE FADE (AUS DEM NICHTS) – Diane Kruger gives a career-topping performance in Fatih Akin’s complex thriller that follows a woman’s search for justice after an act of terrorism shatters her life. DIR Fatih Akin. SCR Fatih Akin, Hark Bohm. CAST Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Johannes Krisch, Samia Chancrin, Numan Acar, Ulrich Tukur, Rafael Santana, Hanna Hilsdorf. Germany, France THE INSULT (L’INSULTE) – When a Palestinian refugee and a Christian nationalist have a fateful crossing of paths, long-simmering tensions in modern-day Lebanon rise to the surface — and spiral out of control. DIR Ziad Doueiri. SCR Ziad Doueiri, Joëlle Touma. CAST Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamand Bou Abboud, Rita Hayek, Talal El Jurdi, Christine Choueiri, Julia Kassar, Rifaat Torbey, Carlos Chahine. Lebanon, France LOVELESS (NELYUBOV) – Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev returns to AFI FEST with a gut-wrenching drama about a divorcing couple who just want to offload their young son — that is, until he disappears. DIR Andrey Zvyagintsev. SCR Oleg Negin, Andrey Zvyagintsev. CAST Maryana Spivak, Alexey Rozin, Matvey Novikov, Marina Vasilyeva, Andris Keishs, Alexey Fateev. Russia, France, Belgium, Germany A MAN OF INTEGRITY – When an Iranian farmer refuses to play ball with corrupt local thugs, he soon learns the steep price for holding onto his principles. DIR Mohammad Rasoulof. SCR Mohammad Rasoulof. CAST Reza Akhlaghirad, Soudabeh Beizaee, Nasim Adabi, Missagh Zareh, Zeinab Shabani, Zhila Shahi, Majib Potki. Iran MARLINA THE MURDERER IN FOUR ACTS (MARLINA SI PEMBUNUH DALAM EMPAT BABAK) – A humble Indonesian woman becomes a stealthy master of revenge in this modern feminist Western. DIR Mouly Surya. SCR Mouly Surya, Rama Adi. CAST Marsha Timothy, Dea Panendra, Yoga Pratama, Egi Fedly. Indonesia, France, Malaysia, Thailand MR. LONG – In this deft, soulful work of genre filmmaking, a notorious hitman trying to allude gangsters finds refuge in a dilapidated part of Tokyo, where he befriends a troubled mother and her child. DIR SABU. SCR SABU. CAST Chang Chen, Sho Aoyagi, Yiti Yao, Runyin Bai. Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Germany MRS HYDE (MADAME HYDE) – Isabelle Huppert is sublime as MADAME HYDE, a meek chemistry teacher who experiences a fantastic awakening following a lab accident. DIR Serge Bozon. SCR Axelle Ropert, Serge Bozon. CAST Isabelle Huppert, Romain Duris, José Garcia, Adda Senani, Guillaume Verdier, Patricia Barzyk, Pierre Léon, Jamal Barbouche. France, Belgium NEWTON – An idealistic election monitor is determined to make the voices of 76 villagers heard in this humorous and humanistic portrait of Indian democracy. DIR Amit V Masurkar. SCR Mayank Tewari, Amit V Masurkar. CAST Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Anjali Patil, Raghubir Yadav. India ON BODY AND SOUL (TESTRŐL ÉS LÉLEKRŐL) – In this Berlinale Golden Bear winner, two very different employees at a slaughterhouse discover they share the same dreams at night. DIR Ildikó Enyedi. SCR Ildikó Enyedi. CAST Alexandra Borbély, Géza Morcsányi, Réka Tenki, Zoltán Schneider, Ervin Nagy, Pál Mácsai, Itala Békés, Tamás Jordán, Éva Bata. Hungary THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE (TOIVON TUOLLA PUOLEN) – Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki turns his sights on a Syrian refugee in Helsinki in this moving, hopeful and hilariously deadpan masterwork. DIR Aki Kaurismäki. SCR Aki Kaurismäki. CAST Sherwan Haji, Sakari Kuosmanen, Ilkka Koivula, Janne Hyytiäinen, Nuppu Koivu, Kaija Pakarinen, Niroz Haji, Simon Hussein Al-Bazoon. Finland, Germany A SEASON IN FRANCE (UNE SAISON EN FRANCE) – A migrant from the Central African Republic struggles to gain asylum in France and raise his two children in this urgently empathetic new work from Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. DIR Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. SCR Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. CAST Eriq Ebouaney, Sandrine Bonnaire, Aalayna Lys, Ibrahim Burama Darboe, Bibi Tanga, Léonie Simaga, Régine Conas, Khampha Thammavongsa. France A SKIN SO SOFT (TA PEAU SI LISSE) – Denis Côté returns to AFI FEST with this hybrid documentary examining hyper-masculinity within a group of Québécois bodybuilders. DIR Denis Côté. SCR Denis Côté. CAST Alexis Légaré, Benoit Lapierre, Cédric Doyon, Jean-François Bouchard, Ronald Yang, Maxim Lemire. Canada SPOOR (POKOT) – Polish master Agnieszka Holland delivers an animal rights murder mystery for the ages in this genre-bending, gloriously twisted thriller. DIR Agnieszka Holland. SCR Olga Tokarczuk, Agnieszka Holland. CAST Agnieszka Mandat, Wiktor Zborowski, Miroslav Krobot, Jakub Gierszał, Patricia Volny, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Andrzej Grabowski. Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovak Republic SWEET COUNTRY – An Aboriginal man and his wife are forced to go on the run into the Outback in this brilliant, heart-rending revisionist Western set in 1929 Australia. DIR Warwick Thornton. SCR David Tranter, Steven McGregor. CAST Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, Ewen Leslie, Hamilton Morris, Thomas M. Wright, Matt Day, Natassia Gorey-Furber. Australia THELMA – A young Norwegian woman from a devoutly Christian background begins experiencing fantastic powers in the latest work from Joachim Trier. DIR Joachim Trier. SCR Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier. CAST Eili Harboe, Kaya Wilkins, Henrik Rafaelsen, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Grethe Eltervåg, Marte Magnusdotter Solem, Anders Mossling, Vanessa Borgli, Steinar Klouman Hallert, Ingrid Giæver, Oskar Pask, Gorm Grømer, Camilla Belsvik, Martha Kjørven. Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark WAJIB – A Palestinian father and son deal with ideological differences as they drive around Nazareth delivering wedding invitations in this moving, subtle drama. DIR Annemarie Jacir. SCR Annemarie Jacir. CAST Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik, Rana Alamuddin. Palestine, France, Germany, Colombia, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates WALKING PAST THE FUTURE (LU GUO WEI LAI) – A young woman and her family deal with the fallout of widespread factory layoffs in this elegant portrait of the socioeconomic realities of contemporary China. DIR Li Ruijun. SCR Li Ruijun. CAST Yang Zishan, Yin Fang. China WESTERN – Masculine hostility and violence simmer to the surface in this slow-burn masterstroke from new German auteur Valeska Grisebach. DIR Valeska Grisebach. SCR Valeska Grisebach. CAST Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov, Veneta Frangova, Vyara Borisova, Kevin Bashev. Germany, Bulgaria, Austria THE WORKSHOP (L’ATELIER) – Facing a dangerous threat, a Parisian teacher must teach her students how to stand up for what’s right in the latest film from Laurent Cantet (Palme d’Or winner THE CLASS). DIR Laurent Cantet. SCR Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet. CAST Marina Foïs, Matthieu Lucci, Warda Rammach, Issam Talbi, Florian Beaujean, Mamadou Doumbia, Julien Souve, Mélissa Guilbert, Olivier Thouret, Lény Sellam. FranceMIDNIGHT
GOOD MANNERS (AS BOAS MANEIRAS) – Clara gets a nanny job for a high-class woman with an intensifying hunger for meat in this genre-bending tale of love, sacrifice and compassion. DIR Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra. SCR Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra. CAST Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo. Brazil, France LET THE CORPSES TAN (LAISSEZ BRONZER LES CADAVRES) – A sun-soaked adventure fueled by machine-gunfire and leather, LET THE CORPSES TAN is an audacious heist film with style to burn. DIR Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani. SCR Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani. CAST Elina Löwensohn, Stéphane Ferrara, Hervé Sogne, Bernie Bonvoisin, Pierre Nisse, Marc Barbé, Michelangelo Marchese. Belgium, France V.I.P. – A buttoned-up federal agent, a world-weary cop and a mysterious lone wolf join forces to take down a serial killer in this tense Korean thriller. DIR Park Hoon-Jung. SCR Park Hoon-Jung. CAST Jang Dong-gun, Kim Myung-min, Park Hee-soon, Lee Jong-suk. South KoreaYOUTH AND FAMILY
THE BREADWINNER – This timely, inspiring and beautifully animated tale follows an 11-year-old girl growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan, who must disguise herself as a boy to support her family. DIR Nora Twomey. SCR Anita Doron. CAST Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq, Shaista Latif, Ali Badshah, Kawa Ada, Noorin Gulamgaus. Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER (MEARI TO MAJO NO HANA) – Based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 children’s book “The Little Broomstick,” this film tells the story of a young girl who discovers a flower that grants magical powers, but only for one night. DIR Hiromasa Yonebayashi. SCR Riko Sakaguchi, Hiromasa Yonebayashi. CAST Ruby Barnhill, Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent, Ewen Bremner, Lynda Baron. Japan AFI FEST takes place November 9 to 16, 2017, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and other events will be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre, Dolby Cinema at the Vine, the Mark Goodson Screening Room at the American Film Institute and The Hollywood Roosevelt.
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Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Film Festival Awards – CHARISMATA Wins Grand Jury Award
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Charismata directed by Tor Mian[/caption]
A phantasmagoric symphony of international genre films were given there due with the wrap of the 18th Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Film Festival through adjudicated awards; with Charismata directed by Tor Mian winning the Grand Jury prize for Best Feature Film.
Charismata is a psychological horror about a police detective whose sanity begins to unravel as she investigates a series of brutal ritualistic murders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuZDxviLXVg
“We made a concerted effort this year to expand our programming to include a dynamic mix of the Horror, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi genres,” said Shawn Quirk, Program Director of the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, which produces the Vortex sidebar. “These films represent the vanguard of genre filmmaking from across the globe, and showcase a rising generation of filmmakers, who are redefining genre films for the next generation of cinephiles.
“These filmmakers are leaders of tomorrow’s entertainment industry, and it’s our mission to empower them and help them move forward in their respective careers through showcasing their work.”
The next edition of the Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Festival will take place October 15-21, 2018.
2017 Flickers’ Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Film Festival Award Winners
BEST SCI-FI SHORT FILM
GRAND PRIZE: My Best Friend Is Stuck on the Ceiling | Matthew Vesely, Director | 10 min. Australia, 2015. First Prize: Real Artists | Cameo Wood, Director | 12 min. | USA, 2017.BEST FANTASY SHORT FILM
GRAND PRIZE: Ovum | Luciano Blotta, Director | 17 min. USA, 2016. First Prize: Nimmer | Lieven Vanhove, Director | 16 min. Belgium, 2016.BEST HORROR SHORT FILM
GRAND PRIZE: Robb’s Problem | Dianna Ippolito, Director | 19 min. USA, 2017. First Prize: When Demons Die | Daniel Rübesam, Director | 19 min. Germany, 2016.BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
GRAND PRIZE: Meeting MacGuffin | Catya Plate, Director | 10 min. USA, 2017. First Prize: Garden Party | Théophile Dufresne, Director | 8 min. | France, 2016.BEST FEATURE FILM
GRAND PRIZE: Charismata | Tor Mian, Director | 96 min. United Kingdom, 2017. DIRECTORIAL DISCOVERY AWARD: Red Ruby | Jose Holder, Director | 21 min. Canada, 2016.
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AFI FEST 2017 Announces Special Screenings, Cinema’s Legacy and Shorts Lineup
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Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool[/caption]
The American Film Institute announced the films that will play in the Special Screenings, Cinema’s Legacy and Shorts sections at AFI FEST 2017 presented by Audi.
This year’s Special Screenings section offers an array of engaging stories and intimate portraits of riveting individuals: FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL (DIR Paul McGuigan); I, TONYA (DIR Craig Gillespie); JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND – FEATURING A VERY SPECIAL, CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED MENTION OF TONY CLIFTON (DIR Chris Smith); THE LEISURE SEEKER (DIR Paolo Virzì); MOLLY’S GAME (DIR Aaron Sorkin); SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME (DIR Sam Pollard); and THE SHAPE OF WATER (DIR Guillermo del Toro).
Cinema’s Legacy is AFI FEST’s celebration of motion picture history, and a special opportunity to screen recent restorations of classic films. The Shorts section features filmmakers from around the globe and represents various distinct international viewpoints. The Grand Jury Award winners for Live-Action and Animated Short, as decided by the Shorts Jury, will be automatically eligible for the Academy Award® shortlists in the Best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short categories.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL – Annette Bening stars as Gloria Grahame and Jamie Bell as her young ex-lover in this visually sumptuous, deeply compassionate romance. DIR Paul McGuigan. SCR Matt Greenhalgh. CAST Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Vanessa Redgrave. USA I, TONYA – Margot Robbie stars as tabloid-bait figure skater Tonya Harding in this unforgettable film that is nothing less than a Shakespearean tale of love, loss and the crushing force of poverty in America. DIR Craig Gillespie. SCR Steven Rogers. CAST Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Paul Walter Hauser, Julianne Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, Mckenna Grace. USA JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND – FEATURING A VERY SPECIAL, CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED MENTION OF TONY CLIFTON – In this insightful documentary, Jim Carrey reflects on his experience playing legendary comedian Andy Kaufman in 1999’s MAN ON THE MOON. DIR Chris Smith. FEATURING Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Milos Forman, Judd Hirsch, Carol Kane, Paul Giamatti, Bob Zmuda. USA THE LEISURE SEEKER – Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland star in this unforgettable tale of love and memory in an America on the brink of an uncertain new course. DIR Paolo Virzì. SCR Stephen Amidon, Francesca Archibugi, Francesco Piccolo, Paolo Virzì. CAST Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Christian McKay, Janel Moloney, Dana Ivey. Italy MOLLY’S GAME – Oscar® nominee Jessica Chastain stars in Oscar®-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, set in the glamorous world of high-stakes underground poker games. DIR Aaron Sorkin. SCR Aaron Sorkin. CAST Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd, Bill Camp. USA SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME – Longtime Spike Lee collaborator Sam Pollard directs this accomplished documentary on the ups and downs of the life and career of trailblazing multi-hyphenate Sammy Davis, Jr. DIR Sam Pollard. SCR Laurence Maslon. FEATURING Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Quincy Jones, Jerry Lewis, Kim Novak, Nancy Sinatra, Norman Lear. USA THE SHAPE OF WATER – Set at the height of the Cold War, Guillermo del Toro’s latest stars Sally Hawkins in an otherworldly love tale between a mute cleaning lady and an Amphibian Man. DIR Guillermo del Toro. SCR Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor. CAST Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer. USACINEMA’S LEGACY
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK – This classic romantic comedy pairs Robert Redford and Jane Fonda as a young married couple with absolutely nothing in common. DIR Gene Saks. SCR Neil Simon. CAST Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Charles Boyer, Mildred Natwick, Herbert Edelman, James Stone, Ted Hartley, Mabel Albertson. USA BLOW-UP – A fashion photographer accidentally photographs a murder in BLOW-UP, one of Michelangelo Antonioni’s many masterpieces, and his first film in English. Restoration curated by The Criterion Collection, Cineteca di Bologna and Istituto Luce Cinecittà, in collaboration with Warner Bros. and Park Circus. DIR Michelangelo Antonioni. SCR Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra. CAST Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, David Hemmings, John Castle, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, Peter Bowles. Italy LOS CAIFANES – A wealthy couple gets an impromptu tour around Mexico City from an urban gang in this outrageous, ahead-of-its-time Mexican cinema classic. DIR Juan Ibáñez. SCR Carlos Fuentes, Juan Ibáñez. CAST Julissa, Enrique Álvarez Félix, Óscar Chávez, Ernesto Gómez Cruz, Sergio Juménez, Eduardo López Rojas, Tamara Garina, Martha Zabaleta. Mexico LA COLLECTIONNEUSE – The third of Eric Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales” centers on two men and a rules-breaking woman, rumored to be a “collector” of the opposite sex, staying together on the Riviera. DIR Eric Rohmer. SCR Haydée Politoff, Patrick Bauchau, Daniel Pommereulle, Eric Rohmer. CAST Haydée Politoff, Patrick Bauchau, Daniel Pommereulle, Alain Jouffroy, Mijanou, Annik Morice, Denis Berry, Seymour Hertzberg. France FILMWORKER – The relationship between master Stanley Kubrick and his right-hand-man, actor turned “filmworker” Leon Vitali, is a moving portrait of total dedication to art and genius. DIR Tony Zierra. FEATURING Leon Vitali, Ryan O’Neal, Matthew Modine, Danny Lloyd, Stellan Skarsgård. USA THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (IL BUONO, IL BRUTTO, IL CATTIVO) – Starring Clint Eastwood in a career-defining performance, Sergio Leone’s best-known work follows a band of men during the American Civil War as they hunt down a stolen cache of Confederate gold. DIR Sergio Leone. SCR Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone. CAST Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito, Claudio Scarchilli, John Bartha. Italy, Spain, West Germany, USA GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER – Anchored by powerful performances by Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, this Oscar®-winning, groundbreaking masterpiece centers on an interracial romance in the 1960s. DIR Stanley Kramer. SCR William Rose. CAST Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn. USA RED DESERT (IL DESERTO ROSSO) – Michelangelo Antonioni’s first foray into color centers on a maladjusted woman, played by muse Monica Vitti, searching for her place in a foggy, bleak industrial town. Restoration curated by CSC-Cineteca Nazionale and Istituto Luce Cinecittà, in collaboration with RTI-Mediaset. DIR Michelangelo Antonioni. SCR Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra. CAST Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti, Xenia Valderi, Rita Renoir, Aldo Grotti. Italy, France TITICUT FOLLIES – This searing debut documentary by Frederick Wiseman, centering on a facility for the criminally insane in Massachusetts, was banned for general audiences for 23 years. DIR Frederick Wiseman. USASHORTS
THE 6TH AMENDMENT– A jury decides the fate of one of the Boston Marathon bombers. DIR Elika Portnoy. SCR Mike Harden, Rob Tremblay. CAST Michael Bakkensen, Tony V., Shawn Fitzgibbon, Rose Weaver, Brookes Reeves, Mary Niederkorn, JP Valenti, Debbie Lewis, Melissa Schmidt, Courtland Jones, Tonya Chen, Richard Pacheco, Steve Assad. Bulgaria AFTER SCHOOL KNIFE FIGHT – Laëtitia, Roca, Nico and Naël are in a band that soon will no longer exist. DIR Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel. SCR Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel. CAST Lucas Doméjean, Marylou Mayniel, Pablo Cobo, Nicolas Mias. France ASCRIBED ACHIEVEMENTS – A failed suicide creates a new situation. DIR Samaneh Shojaei. SCR Amin Kafashzadeh. CAST Amin Kafashzadeh. Iran BALLOONFEST – Cleveland attempts to overcome its nickname, “The Mistake by the Lake.” DIR Nathan Truesdell. SCR Nathan Truesdell. USA THE BURDEN – An animated musical with apocalyptic undertones. DIR Niki Lindroth von Bahr. SCR Niki Lindroth von Bahr. CAST Olof Wretling, Sven Björklund, Mattias Fransson, Carl Englén. Sweden CLOWNS – Clowns! Suddenly, they’re everywhere. DIR The Manhattan Company. USA COIN OPERATED – Seventy years pass in the life of one naïve explorer. DIR Nicholas Arioli. SCR Nicholas Arioli. USA COMMODITY CITY – A glimpse at the goods for sale and the humans who sell them in the largest wholesale consumer market in the world. DIR Jessica Kingdon. USA, China COPA-LOCA – Paulina is the girl at the heart of Copa-Loca, an abandoned Greek summer resort. DIR Christos Massalas. SCR Christos Massalas. CAST Elsa Lekakou, Jenny Hiloudaki, Pavlos Iordanopoulos, Talat Iqbal, Stathis Stamoulakatos, Michalis Pitidis, Fotis Stratigos, Nadia Katsoura, Panos Iosifidis, George Ramantanis, Jon Simvonis. Greece CUBS (UNGAR) – A single father fulfills his young daughter’s wish to throw a slumber party. DIR Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir. SCR Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir. CAST Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Agla Bríet Gísladóttir, Anna Bíbí Wium Axelsdóttir, Ragnheiður Ugla Ocares Gautsdóttir. Iceland DADYAA – THE WOODPECKERS OF ROTHA – Atimaley and Devi are faced with a dilemma when a friend leaves without saying goodbye. DIR Pooja Gurung, Bibhusan Basnet. SCR Pooja Gurung, Bibhusan Basnet. CAST Parimal Damai, Chham Kala Damai. Nepal, France THE DIVER – Take a plunge with the man who excavates Mexico City’s sewage system. DIR Esteban Arrangoiz. SCR Esteban Arrangoiz, Mariana Rodríguez. FEATURING Julio César Cú Cámara. Mexico DOLLAR KING – It’s the perfect crime: three friends in pig masks with squirt guns at the dollar store. DIR Drew Pollins. SCR D.M. Brent. CAST Jason Boggs, John Charles Meyer, Ed Mattiuzzi, Susan Berger, John McCool Bowers, Ronnie Clark, Josh Harp. USA EDGE OF ALCHEMY – Mary Pickford and Janet Gaynor are cast into a surreal epic in this handmade film assembled from over 6,000 collages. DIR Stacey Steers. SCR Stacey Steers. USA THE FARE – A young human trafficker must confront his morals when he’s asked to transport a girl from his hometown. DIR Santiago Paladines. SCR Santiago Paladines. CAST Johnny Ortiz, Noemi Pedraza, Eduardo Roman. USA FISH STORY – A search for the truth behind a fishy tale. DIR Charlie Lyne. SCR Charlie Lyne. FEATURING Caspar Salmon. UK GAZE (NEGAH) – A woman witnesses a crime on a bus. DIR Farnoosh Samadi. SCR Farnoosh Samadi, Ali Asgari. CAST Marzieh Vafamehr, Amirreza Ranjbaran, Pedram Ansari, Safoura Kazempour, Gholamreza Rahimi, Mehrdad Mohammadi, Kiana Asadi, Mehran Elhamifar, Babak Karimi. Iran, Italy A GENTLE NIGHT (XIAO CHENG ER YUE) – A mother, with a missing daughter, refuses to stop searching. DIR Qiu Yang. SCR: Qiu Yang. CAST Li Shuxian. China GREAT CHOICE – A woman gets stuck in a looping Red Lobster commercial from hell. DIR Robin Comisar. SCR Robin Comisar. CAST Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector. USA HI STRANGER – It’s time to catch up with an old friend. DIR Kirsten Lepore. SCR Kirsten Lepore. CAST Garrett Davis. USA HOT DOG HANDS – A suburban woman can’t stop growing new fingers. DIR Matt Reynolds. SCR Matt Reynolds. CAST Gillian Wallace Horvat. USA HOUSE OF JXN – A glimpse into the dance clubs and Rainbow families of Jackson, MS. DIR Rosie Haber. USA HOW’S YOUR PROSTATE? – A discussion between two girlfriends. DIR Jeanne Paturle, Cécile Rousset. SCR Jeanne Paturle, Cécile Rousset, Cécile Mille. CAST Cécile Mille. France IFO – Historic UFO sightings over Mansfield, OH, are evoked through memory, report and gesture. DIR Kevin Jerome Everson. FEATURING Albert Thomas, Elijah Bailey Harris, Saveon Moore, Carmenita Higginbotham, Matilda Washington, Tre’Zhan Gamble. USA ISLANDS (LES ÎLES) – Three characters wander through an erotic maze of love and desire. DIR Yann Gonzalez. SCR Yann Gonzalez. CAST Sarah-Megan Allouch, Thomas Ducasse, Alphonse Maitrepierre, Mathilde Mennetrier, Romain Merle, Simon Thiébaut. France JOY JOY NAILS – Under the polish, everyone’s a victim. DIR Joey Ally. SCR Joey Ally. CAST Kahyun Kim, Yi Liu, Tae Song, Esther Moon, Shirley Kwon, Chris Yejin, Sarah Chang, Amber Sealey, Caryn West, Catherine Haena Kim, Jongman Kim. USA LANCE LIZARDI – A young man embarks on a reptilian adventure. DIR Xander Robin, FEATURING Lance Lizardi, James Bears, Robin Robin, Michael Kefeyalew, Valerie Brooks, Michael Casper, Gary Holzapple. USA LIFE BOAT – Six teenagers are led into a game of survival by their guidance counselor. DIR Lorraine Nicholson. SCR Lorraine Nicholson. CAST Elizabeth Gilpin, Stephen Dorff, Moises Arias, Kwame Boateng, Hopper Penn, B.K. Cannon, Chloe Bridges. USA LUPUS – In December 2011, a security guard was killed by a pack of stray dogs prowling in a poor neighborhood in Bogota. DIR Carlos Gomez Salamanca. SCR Carlos Gomez Salamanca. France MARE NOSTRUM – A Syrian father prepares his daughter for a dangerous journey. DIR Rana Kazkaz, Anas Khalaf. SCR Rana Kazkaz. CAST Ziad Bakri, Zayn Khalaf. France, Syrian Arab Republic MR. YELLOW SWEATSHIRT – A man enters the New York City subway. DIR Pacho Velez, Yoni Brook. USA NATIONAL DISINTEGRATIONS – A peek inside Swiss freeports, where many of the world’s art treasures are hidden. DIR Braden King. USA, Switzerland NIGHTHAWK (NOČNA PTICA) – A drunk badger lies motionless on a road. DIR Špela Čadež. SCR Gregor Zorc, Špela Čadež. CAST Andrej Nahtigal, Karin Komljanec, Gregor Zorc. Slovenia, Croatia NUTAG-HOMELAND – A hand-painted visual poem about the tragic mass deportations of the Kalmyk people during WWII. DIR Alisi Telengut. SCR Alisi Telengut. Canada PET RITUALS – The frontwoman of a hardcore punk band struggles to cut ties with her boyfriend. DIR J. Casey Modderno. SCR Jarret Rosenblatt. CAST Sophia Dueñas, Austin Ford, Maynor Alvarado, Casey Mills. USA SHINAAB – A young Anishinaabe man is haunted by thoughts of home. DIR Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr. SRC Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr. CAST Ajuawak Kapashesit, Brian Joyce, Zoe Corbine-Daniels, Anna Stranz, John Edel, Tyson Lietz. USA SILICA – An exploration of territorial constructs and the boundaries of the real and the mediated in an opal mining town in the South Australian desert. DIR Pia Borg. SCR Pia Borg. FEATURING Nicolette Krebitz. Australia, UK STILL DEVOUT – An anxious 23-year-old, still living at home, must choose between romance and the needs of her family. DIR Melissa Perez. SCR Melissa Perez. CAST Valeria Chavez, Gloria Sandoval, J. Eddie Martinez, Antonio Sagastizado, Armando Heredia, Natalie Camunas. USA TAKEOUT NIGHT – An incident with a neighboring mom causes a couple to reevaluate a very big decision. DIR Duncan Birmingham. SCR Duncan Birmingham. CAST Rachel Sondag, Frances Chewning, Duncan Birmingham. USA TEN METER TOWER – A 10-meter diving tower forces people to confront their fears. DIR Maximilien Van Aertryck, Axel Danielson. SCR Maximilien Van Aertryck, Axel Danielson. Sweden THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT (TESLA: LUMIÈRE MONDIALE) – Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla makes one last appeal to J.P. Morgan, his onetime benefactor. DIR Matthew Rankin. SCR Matthew Rankin. CAST Robert Vilar. Canada THE TOWN I LIVE IN – Artists and activists clash over the future of a rapidly gentrifying Los Angeles neighborhood. DIR Guadalupe Rosales, Matt Wolf. USA VICTOR & ISOLINA – Victor and Isolina answer questions about their lifelong, complex and arduous relationship. DIR William Caballero. FEATURING Victor Muriel, Isolina Muriel. USA VISIONS OF AN ISLAND – Impressions of an island in the Bering Sea. DIR Sky Hopinka. USA AFI FEST takes place November 9 to 16, 2017, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and other events will be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre, Dolby Cinema at the Vine, the Mark Goodson Screening Room at the American Film Institute and The Hollywood Roosevelt.