The 2016 New York Jewish Film Festival (NYJFF) will run January 13-26, 2016, at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater and Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.
Film Festivals
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2016 Slamdance Film Festival Reveals Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition Lineup
The 2016 Slamdance Film Festival taking place from January 22rd to 28th, 2016 in Park City, Utah, announced their Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition. The programs for its 22nd Festival edition includes 12 narrative and 8 documentary films; 16 premieres – 12 World, 3 North American, and 1 US premieres.
NARRATIVE FEATURES PROGRAM
All the Colors of the Night
Director: Pedro Severien; Screenwriter: Luiz Otávio Pereira
(Brazil)
Iris wakes up in her spacious seafront apartment, discovers a body in the living room and enlists the help of other women, setting off a spiral of redemption in an atmospheric drama of dark imagery and questionable reality.
Cast: Sabrina Greve, Sandra Possani, Brenda Ligia, Giovanna Simões, Rômulo Braga
Alvin’s Harmonious World of Opposites
Director & Screenwriter: Platon Theodoris
(Australia/Indonesia) North American Premiere
Agoraphobic Alvin prefers stuffed pandas and online shopping to the aggressive rantings of his neighbor Virginia, until the sludge seeping from his ceiling forces him to search for answers in this offbeat comedy with a tender heart.
Cast: Teik-Kim Pok, Vashti Hughes, Dessy Fitri, Ailis Logan, Nitin Vengurlekar, Tina Andrews, Alicia O’Donnel
Chemical Cut
Director & Screenwriter: Marjorie Conrad
(USA) World Premiere
23-year-old Irene is an artistic misfit turned LA model busy searching for identity, inspiration and a kindred spirit while surrounded by competition, absurdity, and so many nude bras.
Cast: Marjorie Conrad, Ian Coster, Leah Rudick, Michael Lucid, Stephen Saban, Deven Green, Nicolas Coster, Vicki Marlane
Driftwood
Director & Screenwriter: Paul Taylor
(USA) World Premiere
A young woman washes ashore and is claimed and conditioned by an older man in this intricately layered, dialogue-free exploration of familial roles, isolation and captivity.
Cast: Joslyn Jensen, Paul C. Kelly, Michael Fentin
Honey Buddies
Director: Alex Simmons; Screenwriters: Alex Simmons, David Giuntoli, Flula Borg
(USA) World Premiere
Jilted groom David is convinced by his excitable best man Flula to continue with his planned honeymoon, a backcountry trek in the mountains of Oregon, in a highly comedic ode to friendship and the great outdoors.
Cast: David Giuntoli, Flula Borg, Brian T. Finney, Claire Coffee, Jeanne Syquia
Hunky Dory (pictured in main image)
Director: Michael Curtis Johnson; Screenwriters: Michael Curtis Johnson, Tomas Pais
(USA) World Premiere
After his ex disappears, Sidney, a dive bar drag queen, is forced to look after his 11-year-old son in a tale of unconventional fatherhood, the fear of mediocrity, and the pulsing reality of dreams deferred.
Cast: Tomas Pais, Peter Van Norden, Jeff Newburg, Joy Darash, Edouard Holdener, Nora Rothman, Chad Borden, Chad Hartigan
If There’s A Hell Below
Director: Nathan Williams; Screenwriters: Nathan Williams, Matthew Williams
(USA) World Premiere
In a desolate landscape, an ambitious young journalist in a dusty car meets covertly with a national security whistleblower, and their roving exchange becomes increasingly cloaked in paranoia, tension and escalating threat.
Cast: Conner Marx, Carol Roscoe, Paul Budraitis, Mark Carr
Last Summer
Director: Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli; Screenwriters: Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli, Igort
(Italy) US Premiere
Set on board a luxury yacht in sparkling international waters, this tense and stylish drama captures the four final days a mother is granted with her 6-year-old son to say goodbye after losing a custody battle.
Cast: Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Bach, Daniel Ball, Ken Brady
The Lesson
Director & Screenwriter: Ruth Platt
(UK) North American Premiere
A grisly study of the relationship between a tormented teacher and the troubled teens who bear his wrath once he snaps; this morally challenging horror film is dark, claustrophobic, and shockingly eloquent.
Cast: Evan Bendall, Robert Hands, Michaela Prchalova, Tom Cox, Rory Coltart, Dolya Gavaniski, Michael Swatton, Charlotte Croft
MAD
Director & Screenwriter: Robert G. Putka
(USA) World Premiere
A matriarch past the point of a nervous breakdown, her two daughters that don’t give a damn, and the heat-seeking missiles of resentment they toss at each other create a lively backdrop for this dark and dramatic comedy.
Cast: Jennifer Lafleur, Maryann Plunkett, Eilis Cahill, Mark Reeb, David Sullivan, Conor Casey, Shaun Weiss, Chris Doubek
Neptune
Director: Derek Kimball; Screenwriters: Derek Kimball, Matthew Konkel
(USA)
Set in the late 1980s on an island off the coast of Maine, an orphan girl raised by the church becomes obsessed by the disappearance of a classmate, and her haunted dreams and visions propel her to push past her sheltered life.
Cast: Jane Ackermann, Tony Reilly, William McDonough III, Christine Louise Marshall, Dylan Chestnutt, Maureen Butler
The Tail Job
Directors & Screenwriters: Bryan Moses, Daniel Millar
(Australia) World Premiere
Nicholas hires a taxi driver to follow his fiancé when he suspects her of cheating in this micro-budget comedy action tale that makes every wrong turn crackle with genuine humor and unexpected insight.
Cast: Blair Dwyer, Craig Anderson, Laura Hughes, Kellie Clarke, Dorje Swallow, Grant Dodwell, Gary Waddell, Ursula Mills
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES PROGRAM
1ha 43a
Director & Screenwriter: Monika Pirch
(Germany) North American Premiere
After inheriting a plot of farming land near Dusseldorf, Monika explores the potential of her field through administrative, historic and poetic methods and manages to reconnect with the land and her ancestry in a beautiful and unexpected way.
Art of the Prank
Director & Screenwriter: Andrea Marini
(USA)
Legendary funny man Joey Skaggs has been pulling Americas chain since 1965. His next hoax? Film festivals.
Cast: Joey Skaggs, Robert Forster, Peter Maloney, Charlie Todd, Richard Johnson, Buck Wolf, Sarah Farrell, Jeff Cohen
Dead Hands Dig Deep
Director: Jai Love; Screenwriters: Jai Love, Spencer Heath
(USA/Australia ) World Premiere
From the isolation of his secluded desert compound Edwin Borsheim, founder of the shock metal band Kettle Cadaver, ruminates on a life of violence, mayhem and personal destruction lived on the absolute edge of the known musical universe.
Fursonas
Director & Screenwriter: Dominic Rodriguez
(USA) World Premiere
Like any community, the Furry world is one with gossipers, dreamers, followers, whistleblowers and the one guy who wants to rule them all.
Los Punks; We Are All We Have
Director: Angela Boatwright; Screenwriter: Christine Triano
(USA) World Premiere
A cobbled-together family of Hispanic youth comprise the thriving backyard punk scene of South Central and East L.A.: bands, fans, and production are interwoven into a sub-culture of thrash, noise and pits.
Cast: Gary Alvarez, Nacho Corrupted, April Desmadre, Jennie Oi, Alex Pedorro, Natalie Rodriguera
The Million Dollar Duck
Director: Brian Golden Davis; Screenwriter: Martin J. Smith
(USA) World Premiere
Artists from different walks of life vie to win the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, the only art competition of its kind sponsored by the U.S. government.
Cast: The Hautman Brothers, Rebekah Nastav, Tim Taylor, Dee Dee Murry, Rob McBroom, Adam Grimm
Myrtle Beach
Directors: Neil Rough, Michael Fuller
(Canada) World Premiere
Myrtle Beach is a disturbingly intimate peek into the lives of the deviants, outcasts and forget-me-nows that inhabit this deformed stepsister of Coney Island.
Peanut Gallery
Director & Screenwriter: Molly Gandour
(USA)
An intimate and unflinching exploration of one family’s tragic loss and their attempt to heal after decades of silence.
Cast: Jackson Gandour, Mary Jane Gandour, Molly Gandour, Aimee Gandour
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‘Sonita” “Boudewijn de Groot – Come Closer ” Win Audience Awards at IDFA
Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami is the winner of the IDFA Audience Award at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Sonita – which was made with support from the IDFA Bertha Fund – also won the IDFA DOC U Award. Boudewijn de Groot – Come Closer by Suzanne Raes took the IDFA Music Audience Award.
Sonita, tells the story of 18-year-old Afghan Sonita Alizadeh, who lives illegally in Iran and dreams of a career as a rapper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A
Boudewijn de Groot – Come Closer by Suzanne Raes follows singer Boudewijn de Groot as he prepares for a concert in which bids farewell to his biggest hits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRuVvNZtIyU
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“The King of New Orleans” “Romeo is Bleeding” “Friends and Romans” “Landfillharmonic” Among Winners of Napa Valley Film Festival
The 5th Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) held from November 11 to 15, 2015, announced this year’s juried and audience award winners. The Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature went to The King of New Orleans directed by Allen Frederic, and the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Romeo is Bleeding directed by Jason Zeldes.
The Audience Award for Favorite Narrative Feature went to Friends and Romans directed by Christopher Kublan, and the Audience Award for Favorite Documentary Feature went to Landfillharmonic directed by Graham Townsley and Brad Allgood.
THE FULL LIST OF JURIED AWARDS IS BELOW:
Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature – The King of New Orleans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cInH2E-Dfac
Jury Award for Best Screenplay – Tumbledown.
Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast – Jane Wants a Boyfriend.
Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature – Romeo is Bleeding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjdh-TmRQCQ
Jury Award for Best Narrative Short – It’s Perfect Here. Honorable Mention – Birthday.
Jury Award for Best Documentary Short – Elder. Honorable Mentions – Code Oakland, Une Passion d’or et de feu (A Passion of Gold and Fire), and Riding the Highline.
Jury Award for Best Lounge Feature – Night Owls.
Jury Award for Best Lounge Short – A Man Wakes Up.
Honorable Mention – CI: A Tedd Talkumentary.
Special Jury Award – Courage in Documentary Feature Filmmaking – Life Under Siege: Exploring Gaza’s Secret Tunnels.
Special Jury Award – Authenticity in Narrative Feature Story-Telling – Life in Color.
Special Jury Award – Acting in a Lounge Feature Film goes to sisters Aly Michalka and AJ Michalka for their work in the film Weepah Way For Now.
A FULL LIST OF AUDIENCE AWARDS IS BELOW:
Audience Award for Favorite Actor – David Jensen for his work in the film The King of New Orleans.
Audience Award for Favorite Actress – Louisa Krause for her work in the film Jane Wants a Boyfriend.
Audience Award for Favorite Documentary Feature – Landfillharmonic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjbd21fYV8
Audience Award for Favorite Documentary Short – Ron Taylor: Dr. Baseball.
Audience Award for Favorite Narrative Feature – Friends and Romans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10FUAIp-zyw
Audience Award for Favorite Narrative Short – Sin Frontera.
The Runner-Ups for Narrative Shorts – Playdate and Birthday.
Audience Award for Favorite Short Feature – Sketch.
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“THE TREE INSIDE” “MAKE MINE COUNTRY” Win Audience Awards at Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival
THE TREE INSIDE by Vancouver, B.C.-based filmmakers, Michelle Kim and Rob Leickner (pictured above) is the winner of the Audience Award for “Favorite Narrative Feature” and MAKE MINE COUNTRY by Portland filmmaker, Ian Berry is the winner of the Audience Award for “Favorite Documentary Feature” at the 42nd Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival, which ran from November 12-18, 2015.
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Don Juan Wins Best Feature-Length Documentary Award at 28th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
Jerzy Sladkowski’s Don Juan won the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary and Ukrainian Sheriffs by Roman Bondarchuk won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary at the 28th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA award ceremony.
The prize for the best Dutch documentary went to Ester Gould for A Strange Love Affair with Ego. The festival’s opening film A Family Affair by Tom Fassaert was awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary.
A total of 16 prizes were awarded and three of the winners: Ukrainian Sheriffs, Roundabout in My Head and Sonita were made with financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund.
Jerzy Sladkowski won the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary for Don Juan (Sweden/Finland). The film is a portrait of 22-year old Oleg, and his mother Marina’s attempts to cure him of his lethargy.
From the jury’s report: “This tender, bittersweet tragicomedy about role-playing within both therapeutic theatre games and family dramas, and the interplay between them, is both subtle and aggressive, speaking volumes about the definitions of normality, abnormality and the dynamics of power and love.”
Furthermore, the jury awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary to Ukrainian Sheriffs (Ukraine/Latvia/Germany) by Roman Bondarchuk. The documentary, which was made with support from the IDFA Bertha Fund and was a 2014 IDFAcademy Summer School project, is a tragicomic portrait of two sheriffs in a remote Ukrainian village where, alongside all manner of commonplace situations, political developments also threaten to disturb the peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29qoEzqw5Mk
The IDFA Award for First Appearance was awarded to Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze and David Meskhi for When the Earth Seems to Be Light (Georgia/Germany).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQix_-g0fI
The Special Jury Award for First Appearance – in memory of Peter Wintonick – went to Hassen Ferhani’s Roundabout in My Head (Algeria/France/Lebanon/Qatar).
Roundabout in My Head was financially supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund.
Andreas Koefoed won the IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary for At Home in the World (Denmark).
Samir Mehanovic won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary for The Fog of Srebrenica (Scotland/Bosnia and Herzegovina).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCHdvD7zD4A
The IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling was presented to Jan Rothuizen and Sara Kolster for Drawing Room (the Netherlands).
Ant Hampton received the IDFA DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Award for Someone Else (Belgium).
The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary was awarded to A Strange Love Affair with Ego made by Ester Gould.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDeqrlVLLrE
Tom Fassaert received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary for A Family Affair.
The ARRI IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary went to My Aleppo (USA) by Melissa Langer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lXDzur4Ts
The Mute’s House (Israel) by Tamar Kay won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01CtMn48dgE
This year, the IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary was awarded for the first time and went to Ninnoc by Niki Padidar (the Netherlands).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hn3GFvFWsM
The jury decided to also award an honorable mention to Victor Kossakovsky’s Varicella (Norway/Denmark/Sweden/Russia).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOeKWKC2w5o
IDFA DOC U Award for the youth jury’s favorite film was awarded to Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami (Iran). Sonita was made thanks to a financial contribution from the IDFA Bertha Fund.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A
The Oxfam Global Justice Award went to Pablo Iraburu and Migueltxo Molina for Walls (Spain).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_kUNh9TpI
Finally, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary was awarded to Motley’s Law by Nicole Nielsen Horanyi (Denmark). Motley’s Law was an IDFA Forum project in 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_hfsq5gL-o
IDFA continues until Sunday November 29, 2015, when the winners of the BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award and the IDFA Music Audience Award, for the music documentary will be announced.
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SPOTLIGHT director Tom McCarthy to Receive Sonny Bono Visionary Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival
Spotlight director Tom McCarthy (seated, far right) will be presented with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the annual Awards Gala of the upcoming 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF). The 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival runs January 1 to 11, 2016.
“Tom McCarthy’s latest feature is the critically acclaimed Spotlight, a remarkable film that creates cinematic tension between two institutions, as The Boston Globe investigates the Catholic Church,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “For his expert storytelling of this subject matter, The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present Tom McCarthy with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.”
Spotlight is a film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning team of investigative journalists, who in 2002 shocked the city and the world by exposing the Catholic Church’s systematic cover-up of widespread pedophilia perpetrated by more than 70 local priests. Presented by Open Road Films, Spotlight was co-written by McCarthy and Josh Singer, produced by Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon, and stars Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d’Arcy James and Billy Crudup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgnrwwiIDlI
McCarthy’s list of filmmaking credits include The Station Agent, (which won a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and two Independent Spirit Awards) Win Win, The Visitor, The Cobbler, and Up (which earned him an Oscar® nomination for Best Original Screenplay).
Past recipients of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award include filmmakers Tom Hooper, Danny Boyle, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater and Michel Hazanavicius.
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“Sand Dollars” “Honeytrap” “Second Coming” Among Films with Caribbean Flavor at African Diaspora International Film Festival
The 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival taking place from November 27 through December 13, in Manhattan, will showcase a selection of films coming from the Caribbean and about Caribbean people out of the Caribbean.
The Black British Film Program is comprised of a selection of four films about the presence of Black people in the UK with a very strong Caribbean flavor in front and behind the camera.
Let The Music Talk by Yvonne Deutchmann is a 1981 musical documentary never screened in the USA before. It tells the story of black music in Britain, from the calypso of Lord Kitchener arriving on the SS Windrush in 1948, gospel choirs, griots from Grenada, steel pans in schools and at the Notting Hill Carnival, jazz, Afro-rock, soul-funk with the Real Thing, reggae with Misty in Roots and Eddy Grant.
The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz – a favorite of ADIFF – tells the story of Lovers Rock as a musical genre and gives a voice to the Caribbean descendant people who created that music and culture in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJof_zx2Uk
Honeytrap by Rebecca Johnson plays out as a tragedy. It tells a story of fifteen-year-old Layla (Jessica Sula – Skins), a beautiful and naive Trinidadian girl who, freshly arrived from her native land, quickly embarks on a journey of love, sex, hip hop and violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTyYCB_OyL0
“Second Coming” by Debbie Tucker Green is an emotional and intimate drama about a woman in a London family who faces a dilemma with her husband (Idris Elba) and the tensions and communication issues associated with her situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LdB5mYbGz8
Other films in the festival have a Caribbean flavor including NY Premiere and festival Centerpiece “Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Japanese filmmaker Shinishi Takahashi. Separated by an ocean, two Cuban jazz musicians continue to perform in spite of the difficulties they face. César López is recognized as Cuba’s premier saxophonist, having founded his landmark jazz band, the Havana Ensemble, in his native country. The gifted young pianist Axel Tosca lives in New York City, the leader of (U)NITY, a band which fuses Afro-Cuban culture with modern jazz and hip-hop. With this documentary for all music lovers, first-time filmmaker Shinichi Takahashi explores the African roots of Cuban jazz and documents what happens when expats return to the source of their inspiration. The screening will be followed by a concert with Axel Tosca and his band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOO4ag_4EU
Shot in Haiti and Bangladesh, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles” tells us a story of two countries that are embarked in a mutual discovery of sorts. A contingent of Muslim, Bangladeshi policewomen is deployed in Haiti to serve as UN Peacekeepers to maintain peace after the 2010 earthquake. We then learn, as the camera follows three of these Muslims women, about life in Haiti and Bangladesh and the challenges faced by the population in both countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR3SXSme6c
“Black / Nwa,” a “Hood” film set in Montreal, Canada that chronicles the lives of four people – including several youths of Haitian descent – living in a neighborhood plagued by poverty and violence, aspiring to freedom and happiness.
“Sand Dollars” (pictured in main image above) by Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas is a film from the Dominican Republic submitted to the Oscar competition in the foreign film category. “Sand Dollars” is the story of Noeli (Yanet Mojica) whose love affair with Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) a woman double her age, is a rare subject in films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HeEPnn7ioE
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Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s “Mustang” Wins Audience Award at Stockholm International Film Festival
Mustang directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven has been voted winner of the Audience Award at the 2015 Stockholm International Film Festival. Mustang was also awarded with an Aluminium Horse for Best Script, written by Alice Winocour, director of Maryland, and Deniz Gamze Ergüven.
Early summer in a village in Northern Turkey. Five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are merely innocent fun, a neighbor passes by and reports what she considers to be illicit behavior to the girls’ family. The family overreacts, removing all “instruments of corruption,” like cell phones and computers, and essentially imprisoning the girls, subjecting them to endless lessons in housework in preparation for them to become brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate. The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s debut, a powerful portrait of female empowerment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5nyY8E6CPg
Following films received the most votes:
1. Mustang
2. Wolfpack
3. Suffragette
4. Carol
5. Angry Indian Goddesses
6. Virgin Mountain
7. Mediterranea
8. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
9. Taxi Teheran
10. Louder than bombs
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Brie Larson “Room” to Receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival
The 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Brie Larson with the Breakthrough Performance Award at its Awards Gala. The Festival runs January 1 to 11, 2016.
“Brie Larson breathes vibrant life into the character of Ma from Emma Donoghue’s best-selling novel Room. Larson delivers a performance of great warmth, deep reserves of courage and strong empathy as a committed parent determined to make sure her son is taken care of under unimaginable circmstances,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “For this stand-out performance, it is an honor to present her with the 2016 Breakthrough Performance Award.”
Both highly suspenseful and deeply emotional, Room is a unique and touching exploration of the boundless love between a mother and her child. After 5-year-old Jack and his Ma escape from the enclosed surroundings that Jack has known his entire life, the boy makes a thrilling discovery: the outside world. As he experiences all the joy, excitement, and fear that this new adventure brings, he holds tight to the one thing that matters most of all—his special bond with his loving and devoted Ma. Based on the award-winning bestseller by Emma Donoghue, the film is directed by Lenny Abrahamson and stars Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen and William H. Macy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C6fZ-fwDws
Past recipients of the Breakthrough Performance Award include Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Hudson, Felicity Huffman, Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike and Jeremy Renner. In the years they were honored, Cotillard, Hudson and Nyong’o went on to receive Academy Awards®, while Huffman, Pike and Renner received nominations.
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“Liza, the Fox-Fairy” “Landfill Harmonic” Win Audience Awards at 2015 Leeds International Film Festival
The dark Hungarian black comedy Liza, the Fox-Fairy is the winner of the 2015 Leeds International Film Festival Audience Award for New Narrative Feature, and Landfill Harmonic directed Graham Townsley, Brad Allgood is the winner of the Audience Award for New Documentary Feature.
Liza, the Fox-Fairy is about a 30 year old nurse whose only friend is Tomy Tani, the ghost of a Japanese pop singer from the 1950s that only she can see, and who comes to believe she may be a Fox-Fairy from Japanese mythology. LIFF29’s audience have described the film as ‘exceptionally funny, sweet and charming’ and a ‘beautiful, hilarious, touching love story’ with a brilliant Japanese pop soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWxLLyr9aOU
New Narrative Feature
1. Liza, the Fox-Fairy
2. In The Crosswind
3. Assassination Classroom
4. Brooklyn
5. Embrace of the Serpent
6. Victoria
7. Green Room
8. Crow’s Egg
9. Taxi Tehran
10. Carol
Landfill Harmonic is described as a testament to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit. In Paraguay there is a children’s orchestra living next to one of South America’s largest landfills. A music teacher and a rubbish picker scavenge materials from the dump to make instruments for the local children; flutes from pipes, guitars from packing crates and violins from oil drums. When their story goes viral the ensemble are propelled into the global spotlight, touring with some of their favourite heavy metal bands. However, when a natural disaster devastates their community, the orchestra provides an instinctive source of hope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjbd21fYV8
New Documentary Feature
1. Landfill Harmonic
2. The Wanted 18
3. Warriors
4. Do You Own the Dancefloor?
5. Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster
