Film Festivals

  • 2011 Zurich Film Festival Winners US films Take Shelter and Buck take the Top Prizes

    [caption id="attachment_1669" align="alignnone" width="550"]Take Shelter[/caption]

    After 10 days of screening attended by over more than 50’000 people, the 2011 Zurich Film Festival closed. The US box office hit THE HELP is billed as the festival’s Closing Film with Emma Stone, Viola Davies, Octavia Spencer and the film’s director Tate Taylor are expected to adorn the Green Carpet.

    At the Award Night in Zurich’s Operahouse, the competition winners of 7th edition of the Zurich Film Festival were announced.

    And the winners are…

    International Feature Film Competition

    Golden Eye: TAKE SHELTER (Jeff Nichols, USA)
    Special mention of the jury: Actors Deon Lotz (BEAUTY) and Corinne Masiero (LOUISE WIMMER) for their outstanding performances

    International Documentary Film Competition

    Golden Eye: BUCK (Cindy Meehl, USA)
    Special mentions of the jury: LEMON, RAW MATERIAL

    German Language Feature Film Competition

    Golden Eye: ATMEN / BREATHING (Karl Markovics, Austria)
    Special mentions of the jury: KRIEGERIN / COMBAT GIRLS

    German Language  Documentary Film Competition

    Golden Eye: DARWIN (Nick Brandestini, Switzerland)

    Critic’s Choice Award

    SYKT LYKKELIG / HAPPY, HAPPY (Anne Sewitsky, Norway)

    Audience Award

    UNTER WASSER ATMEN – DAS ZWEITE LEBEN DES DR. NILS JENT (Andri Hinnen, Stefan Muggli, Switzerland)

     

     

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  • The 2011 Reykjavik International Film Festival Winners with Twilight Portrait Taking Top Prize

    [caption id="attachment_1667" align="alignnone" width="550"]Twilight Portrait[/caption]

    Russian director Angelina Nikonova´s film TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (Portret V Sumerkakh) which tells a story of revenge between a social worker and a militia man against the modern day backdrop of a Russia ridden with social conflict, won the top award, the Golden Puffin Discovery Award at 2011 Reykjavik International Film Festival in Iceland.

    The 2011 Reykjavik International Film Festival awards

    THE GOLDEN PUFFIN

    Discovery Award

    Russian director Angelina Nikonova´s film TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (Portret V Sumerkakh) which tells a story of revenge between a social worker and a militia man against the modern day backdrop of a Russia ridden with social conflict.

    Jury Statement

    “For the extremely inspired use of cinematic language and storytelling while depicting an intriguing and provocative subject matter with unsettling, realist sensibility.”

    Special Jury Mention:

    Italian director Andrea Segre’s SHUN LI AND THE POET (Io Sono Li)

    “For the poetry and grace employed in treating the subject of the integration (or lack of integration) of immigrants in western society.”

    Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s OSLO, 31. AUGUST

    “For the strong demonstration of directorial skills when dealing with a complicated and sensitive subject. “

    First and second films are eligible.

    The jury is led by Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen, and includes Tudor Giurgiu, Director of the Transilvanian International Film Festival and Irene Bignardi, journalist Il Messaggero (Rome).

    FIPRESCI AWARD

    International Critic’s Award

    Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson´s VOLCANO (Eldfjall).

    Jury Statement

    “For the sensitive yet unsentimental portrayal, built on powerful acting, of themes that are not usually the focus of filmmaking: aging with dignity in an intimate relationship, dealing with severe illness, caring and dying.”

    Films from the New Visions program are eligible.

    On the jury are Alison Elizabeth Frank, Ph.D. from the University of Oxford (England); Nicole Santé, Chair of Dutch Board of Film Journalists (Holland) and Susanne Schütz, Arts Editor Rheinpfalz (Germany).

    THE CHURCH OF ICELAND AWARD

    Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson´s VOLCANO (Eldfjall), a love story that has transcended the years and now confronts the final chapter.

    The Church of Iceland film award is presented for the sixth time this year.

    Jury Statement

    “Volcano is a realistic film, carried by a strong story, excellent acting and confident direction.

    Volcano is a film about love in all of its diversity. It shows the intimacy and pleasure of lovers. It shows responsible and sacrifical love. Mesmerizing close-ups soften a harsh man and connect the audience and the protagonist.

    Volcano is a film about family, about interaction that is both broken and whole. It shows despair, it mediates hope. It shows use closeness
    and annoyance, warmth and coldness, joy and pain.

    Volcano is a film about growing old and reminds us of the human need for care and presence.

    Volcano is a film that leaves the viewer with questions and compels a conversation.”

    Special Jury mention:

    Brazilian director Julia Marat’s STORIES THAT ONLY EXIST WHEN REMEMBERED (Historias Que Só Existem Quando Lembradas) is a well made and mesmerizing film about closeness and community. It introduces us to a group of people who gather to break bread in church and at the table.
    It is a unique testament to slow, calm society and stands as a witness against the stressed existence of our times.“

    First and second films are eligible, from the New Visions category.

    On the jury are Sr. Árni Svanur Daníelsson, (Deus Ex Cinema); Sr. Elín Hrund Kristjánsdóttir (Deus Ex Cinema, pastor at Reykhólar) and Guðni Mar Harðarson (pastor at Lindakirkja Church).

    RIFF AUDIENCE AWARD

    Most Popular Film Award

    Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki’s film LE HAVRE which is a romantic tale of the triumph of the human spirit as a young African illegal immigrant passes through the fabled port city on his way to London.

    Presented by Bjarni Guðmundsson, managing director of the National Broadcasting Company of Iceland, RÚV.

    Audience award is tabulated by using admissions and taking into account the size of the screening room and the number of screenings.

    RIFF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

    Irish director’s Risteard Ó Domhnaill’s THE PIPE, a story of a small Irish community divided by the prospect of a oil pipeline that will bring economic gains but also destroy their way of life.

    Jury Statement

    “Risteard Ó Domhnail’s way of telling the story is powerful, yet simple. It contains all the good elements of a classic cinema. In the spirit of Cinema Verité he brings forth few but strong characters to lead the story forward, the style is effortless and clear. Although a local story from a remote area it speaks to us in a bigger context.The Pipe is a film that talks to our times and has a rendezvous with the future. ”

    Special Jury Mention:

    “Eco Pirate: The Paul Watson Story is an epic tale of a one man’s struggle against the exploitation of the oceans, and at the same time provides a unique observation of four decades of the environmental movement Greenpeace. The film is a traditional documentary that deals with its subject matter with profound care, well balanced structure and historical subplots”

    Films from the Greendocs program are eligible.

    On the jury are Hrönn Kristinsdóttir, producer; Ósk Vilhjámsdóttir, artist and Þorfinnur Guðnason, filmmaker.

    BEST ICELANDIC SHORT FILM

    Börkur Sigthorsson’s SKAÐI (Come To Harm)

    Special Jury Mention:

    Haukur M. Hrafnsson’s ÓSÝNILEG MÆRI (Invisible Border).

    Films from the Icelandic Panorama are eligible.

    The award is accompanied by the first grant from the Thor Vilhjalmsson Fund, founded by RIFF and the Icelandic Society of Filmmakers to honor the memory of renowned author Thor Vilhjálmsson.

    The grant is 200,000 ÍSK line of credit with Iceland Express to fly anywhere in the world and a 150,000 ÍSK credit at the famed Eymundsson bookstores.

    Jury: Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson, director; Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson, critic and Silja Hauksdóttir, director.

     

     

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  • Perugia International Film Festival Preview 1st and 2nd of October 2011

    On the 1st and 2nd of October, 2011, the PERUGIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (PIFF) held a Festival Preview in advance of its spring 2012 launch in Perugia, Italy. The Festival Preview presented three film programs over two days, free to the public, and a gala screening.

    Guests for the Festival Preview included internationally renown documentary filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus and acclaimed photographer and filmmaker, Bruce Weber.


    The new Perugia International Film Festival will launch its first annual Festival from March 22nd to 25th, 2012.

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  • Director David Dusa wins Calgary International Film Festival 2011 Mavericks for FLEURS DU MAL (Flowers of Evil)

    Director David Dusa’s FLEURS DU MAL (FLOWERS OF EVIL) earned him the coveted title as Calgary International Film Festival’s 2011 Maverick filmmaker. Dusa was one of the eight first-time feature filmmakers competing for the $5,000 cash prize.

    Beginning with a man in Tunisia burning himself to death in December 2010, and continuing through the Syrian and Lybian revolutions, pro-democracy rebellions erupted across the Middle East in the “Arab Spring.” Dusa’s film is the first to document the on-the-ground reality of technology-fuelled social change now sending shockwaves through the Arab world. It also has the eternally captivating power of a good old-fashioned love story.

    Gecko, a young, carefree Parisian street-dancer, meets Anahita, an Iranian in exile, and finds himself tangled up in her history and the live internet broadcasts of the chaos in Iran following the controversial election in June of 2009. When the Islamic government cracked down on the traditional media, the citizens started broadcasting information through the internet. These brutal images reached the world directly – and now David Dusa’s FLEURS DU MAL personalizes them.


     

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  • Luc Besson’s The Lady to close Third annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_1654" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Lady [/caption]

    The 2011 Doha Tribeca Film Festival’s (DTFF) announced today that Luc Besson’s The Lady is the closing night film for the five-day Festival (October 25-29) along with the Contemporary World Cinema programme.

    Starring Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, William Hope and Sahajak Boonthanakit, The Lady is an epic biopic depicting the real life love story of Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi’s marriage to writer-academic, Michael Aris, as she fights against governmental oppression to instill democracy into Burma’s political system.

     

    CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA: FILM PROGRAMME

    Almanya – Welcome To Germany (Yasemin Samdereli) – Narrative (GERMANY, TURKEY)
    2010
    MENA PREMIERE
    A charming cross-cultural comedy about three generations of German-Turks, Almanya is the story of a Turkish family living in Germany who set off together for their homeland. Moving across the past and present, the journey is full of memories, arguments and reconciliations, until the family trip takes an unexpected turn …

    The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius) – Narrative (FRANCE) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A visually enthralling homage to the early years of cinema, The Artist is a black and white silent film set in Hollywood in the late 1920s. In an ambitious and beautifully executed celebration of the silver screen we follow the last great silent film star, George Valentin and his relationship with a beautiful extra, whose star is on the rise in the talkie circuit.

    Bullhead (Rundskop) (Michaël R. Roskam) – Narrative (BELGIUM) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A crime-drama about Jacky Vanmarsenille, a young Limburg cattle farmer who is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West-Flemish beef trader. A confrontation with a secret from Jacky’s past sets in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.

    Chinese Take Away (Un cuento chino) (Sebastián Borensztein) – Narrative (ARGENTINA,
    SPAIN) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A delightful and heartwarming Latin American comedy, Chinese Take-Away is the story of Jun, a Chinese man who has just landed in Argentina and doesn’t speak a word of Spanish, and Roberto, the grumpy shopkeeper who is forced to adopt him.

    Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (Morgan Spurlock) – Documentary (USA) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    Morgan Spurlock explores the hopes and dreams of fans making the annual pilgrimage to Comic-Con – the San Diego convention which began as a fringe comic book meet in 1970 and has now become the pop culture event of the year. As we follow the aspiring punters we also meet the people who turned their passions into professions including Stan Lee, Joss Whedon, Frank Miller and Matt Groening and along the way, witness the spectacle that Comic-Con has become.

    Declaration of War (La guerre est déclarée) (Valérie Donzelli) – Narrative (FRANCE) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE

    Based on the filmmaker’s personal experience, Declaration of War is an intimate portrait of the struggle endured by a young woman and the father of her child when they find out their son has a brain tumor. Thrust from their young, carefree love into a harsh and unexpected chaos, the traumatic experience reveals their strength, courage and heroism.

    Headhunters (Hodejegerne) (Morten Tyldum) – Narrative (NORWAY) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    Based on the best-selling novel by Jo Nesbø, this Norwegian crime thriller follows Roger, a successful corporate headhunter and secret art thief. He risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary and when things go bad, he is forced to run for his life.

    The Hunter (Daniel Nettheim) – Narrative (AUSTRALIA) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    Based on the acclaimed novel by Julia Leigh, The Hunter is a powerful psychological drama that tells the story of Martin, a mercenary sent from Europe by a mysterious biotech company to Australia’s Tasmanian wilderness on a dramatic hunt for the last Tasmanian Tiger.

    In the Open (El campo) (Hernán Belón) – Narrative (ARGENTINA, ITALY, FRANCE) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A young woman, Elisa, moves to the country with her husband and young daughter. She has a successful career, a happy family and plans for the future but when they arrive at the rundown provincial home, a strange feeling slowly takes over her and her sixth sense begins to awaken.

    Mama Africa – (Mika Kaurismäki) – Documentary (GERMANY, SOUTH AFRICA, FINLAND)
    2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A documentary about the late, incredibly talented and charismatic South African musical icon, Miriam Makeba, who traveled the world with her powerful voice speaking a message against racism and poverty and for equality and peace. Mama Africa is homage to an extraordinary and impressive artist who, through more than 50 years of performing, incarnates the voice and the hope of Africa.

    Toll Booth (Gise Memuru) (Tolga Karaçelik) – Narrative (TURKEY) 2010
    MENA PREMIERE
    Kenan is a reclusive toll booth attendant living with his ailing father. His reclusive, humdrum life takes a dramatic turn when the newly appointed toll booth manager visits for supervision in this darkly comedic tale of miscommunication, isolation and father/son conflict.

    Tormented (Rabitto Horaa) (Takashi Shimizu) – Narrative (JAPAN) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    Tormented ventures into the terrifying corners of the mind through a young boy whose family seems to be falling apart around him. He manifests a dangerous friendship and reliance on a stuffed toy rabbit that comes to life. Is he crazy; is his sister alive or dead; is their storybook illustrating father going insane or are they all delusional?

    Where Do We Go Now? (W Halla’ La Wein?) (Nadine Labaki) – Narrative (LEBANON,
    FRANCE, ITALY, EGYPT) 2011
    GULF PREMIERE
    Set in a religiously mixed Lebanese village during the fall-out from a distant war, this poignant fable centers on a group of women as they unwaveringly attempt to preserve their town in the midst of inter-religious tensions.

    The Woman in the Fifth (Pawel Pawlikowski) – Narrative (FRANCE, POLAND, UK) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    American writer Tom Ricks comes to Paris desperate to put his life back together and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. Things don’t go according to plan and when he gets involved with a beautiful and mysterious widow, an obscure force seems to take control of his life.

    ¡Vivan las Antípodas! (Long Live The Antipodes!) (Victor Kossakovsky) – Documentary
    (GERMANY, ARGENTINA, NETHERLANDS, CHILE) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A breathtakingly original documentary which views the world upside down by visiting four pairs of locations which are diametrically opposite to eachother on the earth’s surface. The pairs seem mythically connected, somehow united by their oppositeness: a peaceful sunset in Entre Rios to the bustling streets of Shanghai; fields of burning black lava in Hawaii to a village kiosk in Botswana – 8000 miles through the centre of the Earth.

    Vol Spécial (Special Flight) (Fernand Melgar) – Documentary (SWITZERLAND) 2011
    MENA PREMIERE
    A powerful and moving documentary about the thousands of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers held every year at a Switzerland detention centre prior to being expelled from the country. Through the stories of six migrants, the film reveals the months of waiting, hope and despair and the relationships that form between the deeply human wardens, and immigrants at the end of their journeys.

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  • 14th Arpa International Film Festival Award Winners

    [caption id="attachment_1652" align="alignnone" width="550"]Best Picture -Three Veils [/caption]

    The 14th Arpa International Film Festival wrapped on Saturday with a screening of FIVE MINARETS IN NEW YORK followed by a the awards ceremony. Taking top honors were THREE VEILS, MY UNCLE RAFAEL, THE LAST TIGHTROPE DANCER IN ARMENIA and BOLIS.

    The Best Picture honor this year went to Rolla Selbak’s drama, THREE VEILS. BEST DIRECTOR and BEST SCREENPLAY kudos went to director Marc Fusco and writers Scott Yagemann and Vahik Pirhamzei for their comedy MY UNCLE RAFAEL.

    Pirhamzei also received the festival’s 2011 Breakthrough Performance Award for his starring role in the film. Arman Yeritsyan and Inna Sahakyan’s THE LAST TIGHTROPE DANCER IN ARMENIA was given the award for Best Documentary with Eric Nazarian’s BOLIS winning BEST SHORT FILM.

    List Of Winners:
    Best Picture:
    Three Veils (L.A. premiere)
    USA
    Director: Rolla Selbak
    Producer: Ahmad Zahra
    Writer: Rolla Selbek

    Three Veils is a film about three young Middle-Eastern women living in the U.S., each with her own personal story. Leila is engaged to be married, however as the wedding night approaches, she becomes less and less sure of how her life is playing out. Amira is a very devout Muslim, but is dealing with her deep repressions about her intimate
    feelings toward women. Nikki is acting out her promiscuity as she battles her own demons after a tragic death in the family. As the film progresses, all three stories unfold and blend into each other as connections are revealed between the three women.

    Best Screenplay/Best Director:
    My Uncle Rafael (North American premiere)
    USA
    Director: Marc Fusco
    Producers: Michael Garrity, Vahik Pirhamzei
    Writers: Scott Yagemann, Vahik Pirhamzei

    A desperate TV producer convinces an old Armenian Uncle to star in a new reality show. Cultures collide when Uncle Rafael is thrown into the Schumacher family household where he has one week to save a broken and dysfunctional American family from falling apart. The only rule – everyone must follow his rules. Starring Vahik Pirhamzei, John
    Michael Higgins, Missi Pyle, Anthony Clark, Rachel Blanchard, Joe Lo Truglio, Anahid Avanesian, Carly Chaikin, Sage Ryan, Ursula Taherian,
    and Lupe Ontiveros.

    Best Documentary:
    The Last Tightrope Dancer In Armenia
    Armenia
    Directors: Arman Yeritsyan, Inna Sahakyan
    Producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan
    Writers: Arman Yeritsyan, Inna Sahakyan

    Zhora and Knyaz were once the most celebrated masters of tightrope dancing in Armenia. Today, they are the only surviving performers who can keep this ancient art alive against the current of contemporary society, but all their students grow up and find other interests in life. Why is their art not important anymore?

    Best Short Film
    Bolis (World Premiere)
    USA, Turkey
    Director: Eric Nazarian
    Writer: Eric Nazarian
    Producers: Huseyin Karabey, Sevil Demirci.

    Armenak is a successful oud player who is in Istanbul for the first time for an important musical event. His feelings toward the city, which his Armenian grandfather fled at the tip of the sword in 1915, are very complex. Armenak arrives full of prejudice, expecting to hate the place, but instead finds it very familiar. The decision comes naturally to him to search for his grandfather’s old musical instrument shop with only an old photo and a street name. Is it destiny or coincidence that leads him to his destination?

    Special Awards
    2011 Breakthrough Performance Award
    Vahik Pirhamzei for My Uncle Rafael (USA)

    AT&T Award for Environmental Conservation and Stewardship Marion Stoddart:

    The Work of 1000 (WEST COAST PREMIERE)

    Director: Susan Edwards – 2011 AT&T Award for Environmental Conservation and Stewardship Recipient
    Producer: Dorie Clark
    Writer: Susan Edwards

    Marion Stoddart lived next to one of America’s most polluted rivers and transformed herself from a 1960s housewife to a citizen leader and environmental hero honored by the United Nations. The Work of 1000 is the documentary film chronicling her life, achievements, setbacks, and unwavering belief that one person can make a difference in the world.

    Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award

    Children of War (USA, Uganda)
    Director: Bryan Single – 2011 Armin T. Wegner Award Recipient
    Producers: Bryan Single, Farzad Karimi, Timothy Beckett
    Associate Producers: Anahid Aramouni Keshishian, Shannon McBrien, Grant Inglett

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  • Toronto International Film Festival Supports Detained Iranian Filmmakers

    The Toronto International Film Festival in a press release expressed its deep concern in response to the recent arrest of six Iranian filmmakers by the Iranian authorities on charges of espionage. The six filmmakers are Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Katayoun Shahabi, Hadi Afarideh, Nasser Saffarian, Shahnama Bazdar and Mohsen Shahrnazdar.

    The detaineed filmmakers have been accused of collaborating with the BBC network, forbidden in Iran, and of portraying a negative image of the country in their films.

    Mr. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb is the co-director of banned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s latest film THIS IS NOT A FILM, which was most recently screened as part of the 36th Toronto International Film Festival.


    image via insideofiran

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  • Twin Cities Film Fest announces 2011 Awards “Like Crazy” wins Best Feature

    [caption id="attachment_1641" align="alignnone" width="550"]2011 Twin Cities Film Fest Best Feature Award. [/caption]

    The Twin Cities Film Fest (TCFF) wrapped and announced the audience and other special award-winners of the 2011 festival.

    2011 Twin Cities Film Fest Best Feature Award

    “Like Crazy,” directed by Drake Doremus

    2011 Twin Cities Film Fest North Star Award for Excellence

    Tom Sizemore (For an indelible body of work, including TCFF official selection “White Knight”)

    2011 Twin Cities Film Fest Shorts Film Award

    “14 Minutes,” directed by Elise Plakke

    2011 Twin Cities Film Fest Audience Best Documentary Award

    “Signing On: Stories of Deaf Breast Cancer Survivors, Their Families and the Deaf Community,” directed by Barbara Allen

    2011 Twin Cities Film Fest Audience Best Minnesota Feature Award

    “Lambent Fuse,” directed by Matt Cici

    2011 Twin Cities Film Fest Audience Best Minnesota Shorts Award

    “Sidewalk Sonata,” directed by Nicholas Clausen

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  • 2011 Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Award Winners

    [caption id="attachment_1639" align="alignnone" width="550"]BEST FEATURE NARRATIVE: On The Ice[/caption]

    The 12th Anniversary Woodstock Film Festival which began Wednesday, Sept. 21st, will close Sunday September 25th, 2011, held its Maverick Awards Ceremony last night at the historic Backstage Studio Productions in Kingston, NY.

    A special Tribute to Gary Winick was included in the ceremony, to honor the filmmaker and pioneering producer who passed away in February of this year from brain cancer at the age of 49.

     

    The Lee Marvin Award for BEST FEATURE NARRATIVE: On The Ice, Dir. Andrew O. MacLean.

    The Maverick Award for BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY: Semper Fi: Always Faithful, Dir: Tony Hardmon & Rachel Libert (Winner), Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul, Dir: Kai Sehr (Honorable Mention) and Dolphin Boy, Dir: Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir (Honorable Mention).

    The Maverick Award for BEST ANIMATION: Luminaris, Dir. Juan Pablo Zaramella.

    The Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT NARRATIVE: We’re Leaving, Dir. Zachary Treitz (Winner), Block, Dir. Chadd Harbold (Honorable Mention).

    The Diane Seligman Award for BEST STUDENT SHORT FILM: The Recorder Exam, Dir. Bora Kim (Winner), Manhattan Melody, Dir: Sasha Gordon (Runner Up), Babyland, Dir: Marc Fatello (Honorable Mention), Bayou Black, Dir. Jonas Carpignano (Honorable Mention), Gravity, Dir. Pamela Romanowsky (Honorable Mention).

    The Diane Seligman Award for BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY: Poetry of Resilience, Dir: Katja Esson (Winner), The Thing That Happened, Dir. Andrew Walton (Honorable Mention).

    The Haskell Wexler Award for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: On The Ice, Director of Photography: Lol Crawley (Winner)

    James Lyons Award for BEST EDITING of a FEATURE NARRATIVE: Tilt, Kostadin Kostadinov, Zorica Nikolova (Winners), 96 Minutes, Aram Nigoghossian (Honorable Mention).

    James Lyons Award for BEST EDITING of a FEATURE DOCUMENTARY: Bombay Beach, Alma Har’el, Joe Lindquist (Winners), Semper Fi: Always Faithful, Purcell Carson (Honorable Mention)

    The James Lyons Awards for BEST EDITING were presented by accomplished editors Sabine Hoffman, Sabine Krayenbuhl, and Doug Abel.

    HONORARY TRAILBLAZER AWARD: CEO of The Creative Coalition Robin Bronk.

    HONORARY MAVERICK AWARD: Director Tony Kaye (American History X).

    MEERA GANDHI GIVING BACK AWARD: Actor Mark Ruffalo (Reservation Road, The Kids Are All Right).

    EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AWARD: Actor Ellen Barkin (Another Happy Day, Sea of Love).

    Audience awards in both Best Feature Narrative and Best Feature Documentary will be announced Sunday night Sept 25.

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  • Kevin Smith’s SMoviola, Presents the cult hit THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION at 2011 NY Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_1637" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension [/caption]

    The next presentation of Kevin Smith’s SMoviola will take place during the upcoming New York Film Festival with a celebration of the cult hit THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION featuring the film’s star Peter Weller, John Lithgow and additional guests. The festival also released the lineup of filmmakers set for NYFF’s celebrated HBO Films® Directors Dialogues and the complete lineup of films for the 15th edition of the film festival’s Views From the Avant-Garde series.

    Returning to the Film Society after a special screening of VALLEY GIRL during the launch of the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Kevin Smith’s SMoviola will now be a continuing series of appearances by the popular filmmaker and film personality during which he will take a look at a classic, and personally beloved film, with the filmmakers and stars of the film.

    Directed by W.D. Richter, THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (1984) stars Peter Weller as an adventurer/surgeon/rock star who leads a band of men known as the Hong Kong Cavaliers versus nefarious alien invaders from the 8th dimension. Featuring a formidable cast including Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd as well as Russian comic Yakov Smirnoff and musician Billy Vera, the film was a made-to-order cult hit from its debut onward. The film will screen at the Walter Reade Theater on Saturday, October 15 at 7:30PM with Smith leading a discussion about the film with Weller, Lithgow and others following the screening.

    The popular HBO Films® Directors Dialogues returns to the New York Film Festival with a new home, the state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 West 65th Street). The Directors Dialogues pair a director with a journalist as they discuss the filmmaker’s career, views on their own approach to making movies as well as the current state of the art of filmmaking. This year’s lineup will feature an eclectic group of filmmaking visionaries including the documentary directing duo of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY), New York indie iconoclast Abel Ferrera (4:44 – LAST DAY ON EARTH), filmmaker and video artist Julia Loktev (THE LONELIEST PLANET) and German filmmaking auteur Wim Wenders (PINA).

    Julia Loktev will be joined by Melissa Anderson (NYFF Selection Committee and contributor, The Village Voice) in conversation on Sunday, October 2 at 3:00PM.

    Abel Ferrera will be joined by Dennis Lim (NYFF Selection Committee and Editor, Moving Image Source & Freelance Critic) in conversation on Tuesday, October 11 at 6:00PM.

    Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky will be joined by Eugene Hernandez (FSLC Digital Strategies Director and former IndieWire Editor-in-Chief) in conversation on Thursday, October 13 at 6:00PM.

    Wim Wenders will be joined by Scott Foundas (NYFF Selection Committee, FSLC Asociate Program Director and contributing editor, Film Comment) in conversation on Sunday, October 16 at 12:00PM.

    For its 15th year, Views from the Avant-Garde returns with an expanded edition, presenting four nights of New York and world premieres from the frontiers of innovative moving-image making. Curated by Mark McElhatten and Gavin Smith, the program’s highlights include films by such notables of the experimental film world as James Benning, Kevin Jerome Everson, George Kuchar, and NYFF favorite Ben Rivers, as well as a first-time screening at NYFF of work by Daniel Eisenberg. The program also includes the return of the 3D film artists, OpenEndedGroup (following a screening of their work this summer during the launch of the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center), as well as the anticipated screening of JOHN ZORN: A FILM IN 15 SCENES, which features four different film interpretations of a list of shots (or “score”) provided by Zorn.

    Gavin Smith, editor-in-chief of Film Comment, said “In our 15th edition of Views From the Avant-Garde, we have seen the program double in size due to the continuing expansion of work being made by experimental film artists and the growing demand for this kind of cinema. What is particularly exciting about this lineup is that it literally includes the work of five generations of filmmakers.”

    Screening Schedule for VIEWS FROM THE AVANT-GARDE

    Friday, October 7
    Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
    12:30PM
    Screening program: The Soul and the Stem
    Total running time: 99min

    SENORA CON FLORES (Woman with Flowers) (1995/2011) 15min
    Director: Chick Strand
    Country: U.S./Mexico
    (preservation print from the Academy Film Archives)
    JAN VILLA (2010) 20min
    Director: Natasha Mendonca
    Country: India/U.S.
    THE SOLE OF THE FOOT (2011) 34min
    Director: Robert Fenz
    Country: U.S/Israel/Chile/France
    CORRESPONDENCE (2011) 30min
    Director: Robert Fenz
    Country: U.S./India

    3:15PM
    Screening Program:  Ben Rivers
    Total running time:  66min

    SACK BARROW (2011) 21min
    Country: U.K.
    SLOW ACTION (2010) 45min
    Country: U.K.


    5:45PM
    Screening Program:  Bitches Brew
    Total running time:  107min

    POSTHASTE PERENNIAL PATTERN (2010) 3min 39sec
    Director: Jodie Mack
    Country: U.S.
    BABOBILICONS (1982) 16min
    Director: Daina Krumins
    Country: U.S.
    (new 35mm preservation by the Academy Film Archive)
    YOU ARE NOW RUNNING ON RESERVE BATTERY POWER (2011) 11min
    Director: Jessie Stead
    Country: U.S.
    HULL (2011) 7min 32sec
    Director: Tara Merenda Nelson
    Country: U.S.

    From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
    Director: Stephanie Barber
    Country: U.S.
    Telephone Call 1min 
    Billy and the Magician 3min 18sec
    Little Kitten 42sec
    Zero Buoyancy 4min 53sec
    Romance Novels 1min 4sec

    A PARTY RECORD PACKED WITH SEX AND SADNESS (2011) 10min 11sec
    Director: Bobby Abate
    Country: U.S.
    PRAXIS 8 – 12 SCENES (2010) 25min
    Director: Dietmar Brehm
    Country: Austria
    TASTE TEST (2011) 2min 30sec
    Director: Andrew Lampert
    Country: U.S.
    BITCH-BEAUTY (2011) 7min
    Director: MM Serra
    Country: U.S.


    8:45PM
    Screening Program:  Ladders and Tracks
    Total running time:  104min

    BERLIN TRACKS 18h00-20h00 (2011) 2min 7sec
    Director: Shiloh Cinquemani
    Country: U.S./Germany
    (k)now (t)here (2011) 8min 50sec
    Director: Hey–Yeun Jang
    Country: U.S.
    SUBWAY (2011) 7min 40sec
    Director: Angela Ferraiolo
    Country: U.S.
    VILLAGE, SILENCED (2011) 4min 56min      
    Director: Deborah Stratman
    Country: U.S.
    SNAKES AND LADDERS (2011) 3min
    Director: Katherin McInnis
    Country: U.S.
    LONGHORN TREMOLO (2010) 16min
    Director: Scott Stark
    Country: U.S.
    LAND FILLL (2011) 8min 52sec
    Director: Jennifer Reeves
    Country: U.S.
    BARREN (2010) 2min
    Director: Katherin McInnis
    Country: U.S.
    BACK VIEW (2011) 17min
    Director: Vincent Grenier
    Country: U.S.
    THE TOY SUN (2011) 33min
    Director: Ken Kobland
    Country: U.S.


    Location: WALTER READE THEATER
    1:00PM
    UPENDING (2011) 65min
    Director: OpenendedGroup
    Country: U.S.
    (digital 3-D)

    3:30PM
    SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (2011) 40min
    Director: Ken Jacobs
    Country: U.S.


    5:30PM
    Screening Program:  Ernie Gehr
    Total running time:  88min

    CRYSTAL PALACE (2002-11) 28min
    Country: U.S.
    THANK YOU FOR VISITING (2010) 12min
    Country: U.S.
    MIST (2010) 9min
    Country: U.S.
    ABRACADABRA (2009) 39min
    Country: U.S.

    8:30PM
    Screening Program:  George Kuchar
    Total running time:  87min

    LINGO OF THE LOST (2010) 37min 45sec
    Country: U.S.
    EMPIRE OF EVIL (2011) 50min
    Country: U.S.


    Saturday October 8
    Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
    11:15AM
    Screening Program:  Cabinet of Curiosities
    Total running time:  82min

    BETWEEN GOLD (2011) 10min 42sec
    Director: Jonathan Schwartz
    Country: U.S.
    TIN PRESSED (2011) 6min 23sec
    Director: Dani Leventhal
    Country: U.S.
    FIFTEEN AN HOUR (2011) 6min
    Director: Kevin Jerome Everson
    Country: U.S.
    TABLEAUX VIVANTS (2011) 10min 20sec
    Director: Vincent Grenier
    Country: U.S.
    CURIOUS LIGHT (2011) 4min 12sec
    Director: Charlotte Pryce
    Country: U.S.
    FORMS ARE NOT SELF-SUBSISTENT SUBSTANCES (2010) 22min
    Director: Samantha Rebello
    Country: U.K.
    THE MATTER PROPOUNDED, OF ITS POSSIBILITY OR IMPOSSIBILITY, TREATED IN FOUR PARTS (2011) 13min
    Director: David Gatten
    Country: U.S.

    From JHAMA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
    Director: Stephanie Barber
    Country: U.S.
    Miniatures 2min    
    Degas 58sec
    The Eclipse 33sec

    RANSOM NOTES (2011) 4min
    Director: Kelly Egan
    Country: Canada
    CONJUROR’S BOX (2011) 4min
    Director: Kerry Laitala
    Country: U.S.

    1:45PM
    Screening Program:  Looking Through A Glass Onion
    Total running time:  89min   

    PASSAGE UPON THE PLUME (2011) 6min 46sec
    Director: Fern Silva
    Country: U.S.
    SHAYNE’S RECTANGLE (2011) 5min 4sec 
    Director: Dani Leventhal
    Country: U.S.
    LINE DESCRIBING YOUR MOM (2011) 5min 50sec
    Director: Michael Robinson
    Country: U.S.
    GOSSIP ON THE WATER (2011) 8min 19sec
    Director: Bobby Abate
    Country: U.S.

    From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS
    Director: Stephanie Barber
    Country: U.S.
    Tatum’s Ghost 3min 45sec

    THE DEATH OF THE GORILLA (1966) 16min
    Director: Peter Mays
    Country: U.S.
    (new restoration by the Academy Film Archive)
    BY FOOT-CANDLE LIGHT (2011) 9min
    Director: Mary Helena Clark
    Country: U.S.
    A LAX RIDDLE UNIT (2011) 9min
    Director: Laida Lertxundi
    Country: Spain
    SOUNDING GLASS (2011) 7min
    Director: Sylvia Schedelbauer
    Country: Germany
    THE EVIL EYES (2010) 18min
    Director: Bobby Abate
    Country: U.S.


    4:15PM
    VOLUPTUOUS SLEEP (2011) 95min
    Director: Betzy Bromberg
    Country: U.S.

    7:15PM
    Screening Program:  Jerome Hiler & Nathaniel Dorsky
    Total running time:  54min

    WORDS OF MERCURY (2011) 25min
    Director: Jerome Hiler
    Country: U.S.
    THE RETURN (2011) 27min
    Director: Nathaniel Dorsky
    Country: U.S.

    9:30PM
    Screening Program:  John Zorn: A Film in 15 Scenes
    Total running time:  97min 

    15 SCENES: 254 SHOTS (2011) 15min
    Director: Gobolux
    Country: U.S.
    WELL THEN THERE NOW (2011) 19min 30sec
    Director: Lewis Klahr
    Country: U.S.
    BARE ROOM (2011) 31min 33sec
    Director: Joey Izzo
    Country: U.S.
    ARCANA (2011) 33min
    Director: Henry Hills
    Country: U.S./Austria

    Location: WALTER READE THEATER
    11:00AM
    Screening Program:  Jean-Marie Straub
    Total running time:  66min

    LOTHRINGEN! (1994) 20min
    (co-directed with Danièle Huillet)
    Country: France
    UN HÉRITIER (2011) 20min
    Country: France/South Korea
    L’INCONSOLABLE (2011) 15min
    Country: France
    SCHAKALE UND ARABER (2011) 11min
    Country: Switzerland

    1:15PM
    STUDIES FOR THE DECAY OF THE WEST (2010) 80min
    Director: Klaus Wyborny
    Country: Germany


    4:00PM
    Screening Program:  Daniel Eisenberg: The Unstable Object
    Total running time:  83min

    LESS AND LESS/TOUJOURS MOINS (2010) 14min
    Director: Luc Moullet
    Country: France, 2010
    THE UNSTABLE OBJECT (2011) 69min
    Country: U.S./Germany/Turkey


    6:45PM
    Screening Program:  Kevin Jerome Everson
    Total running time:  82min

    QUALITY CONTROL (2011) 70min 42sec
    Country: U.S.
    THE PRICHARD (2011) 11min 18sec
    Country: U.S.


    9:45PM
    Screening Program:  George Kuchar
    Total running time:  87min

    LINGO OF THE LOST (2010) 37min 45sec
    Country: U.S.
    EMPIRE OF EVIL (2011) 50min
    Country: U.S.


    Sunday October 9
    Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
    12:00PM
    Screening program: The Soul and the Stem
    Total running time: 99min

    SENORA CON FLORES (Woman with Flowers) (1995/2011) 15min
    Director: Chick Strand
    Country: U.S./Mexico
    (preservation print from the Academy Film Archives)
    JAN VILLA (2010) 20min
    Director: Natasha Mendonca
    Country: India/U.S.
    THE SOLE OF THE FOOT (2011) 34min
    Director: Robert Fenz
    Country: U.S/Israel/Chile/France
    CORRESPONDENCE (2011) 30min
    Director: Robert Fenz
    Country: U.S./India


    2:45PM
    Screening Program:  Jerome Hiler & Nathaniel Dorsky
    Total running time:  54min

    WORDS OF MERCURY (2011) 25min
    Director: Jerome Hiler
    Country: U.S.
    THE RETURN (2011) 27min
    Director: Nathaniel Dorsky
    Country: U.S.


    5:30PM
    Screening Program:  Ladders and Tracks
    Total running time:  104min

    BERLIN TRACKS 18h00-20h00 (2011) 2min 7sec
    Director: Shiloh Cinquemani
    Country: U.S./Germany
    (k)now (t)here (2011) 8min 50sec
    Director: Hey–Yeun Jang
    Country: U.S.
    SUBWAY (2011) 7min 40sec
    Director: Angela Ferraiolo
    Country: U.S.
    VILLAGE, SILENCED (2011) 4min 56min      
    Director: Deborah Stratman
    Country: U.S.
    SNAKES AND LADDERS (2011) 3min
    Director: Katherin McInnis
    Country: U.S.
    LONGHORN TREMOLO (2010) 16min
    Director: Scott Stark
    Country: U.S.
    LAND FILLL (2011) 8min 52sec
    Director: Jennifer Reeves
    Country: U.S.
    BARREN (2010) 2min
    Director: Katherin McInnis
    Country: U.S.
    BACK VIEW (2011) 17min
    Director: Vincent Grenier
    Country: U.S.
    THE TOY SUN (2011) 33min
    Director: Ken Kobland
    Country: U.S.


    8:15PM
    Screening Program:  The Red and The Black
    Total running time:  86min

    RIVER RITES (2011) 11min 30sec
    Director: Ben Russell
    Country: U.S./Suriname
    SHADOW, SEED, SPAGYRIC (2011) 5min 12sec
    Director: David Baker
    Country: U.S.
    PERIL OF THE ANTILLES (2011) 5min 51sec
    Director: Fern Silva
    Country: U.S.
    A PREFACE TO RED (2010) 6min
    Director: Jonathan Schwartz
    Country: U.S./Turkey
    PROTOCOL (2011) 1min 15sec
    Director: Lina Rodriguez
    Country: Canada/Colombia
    IMPERCEPTIHOLE (2011) 14min 37sec
    Director: Lori Felker & Robert Todd
    Country: U.S.
    LIGHT LICKS: BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON: I WANT TO PAINT IT BLACK (2011) 12min
    Director: Saul Levine
    Country: U.S.
    THIRD LAW: N KEDZIE BLVD. (2011) 7min 10sec
    Director: Mike Gibisser
    Country: U.S.
    SLOW BURN (2011) 19min 46sec
    Director: Jesse Cain
    Country: U.S.


    Location: WALTER READE THEATER
    1:00PM
    Screening Program:  Virgin Springs
    Total running time:  86min

    BAPTISMAL STICKS AND STONES (2011) 6min 50sec
    Director: April Simmons
    Country: U.S.
    DEVILS GATE (2011) 20min
    Director: Laura Kraning
    Country: U.S.
    TWICE REMOVED (2011) 11min
    Director: Leslie Thornton
    Country: U.S.
    RICKY (2011) 11min
    Director: Janie Geiser
    Country: U.S.
    SILENT SPRINGS (2011) 12min 57sec
    Director: Erin Espelie
    Country: U.S.
    GAZETTE (2009) 4min 12sec
    Director: Eliénore de Montesquiou
    Country: Russia/Estonia
    KUDZU VINE (2011) 19min 52sec
    Director: Josh Gibson
    Country: U.S.


    3:30PM
    THE PETTIFOGGER (2011) 65min
    Director: Lewis Klahr
    Country: U.S.

    6:00PM
    Screening Program:  John Zorn: A Film in 15 Scenes
    Total running time:  97min 

    15 SCENES: 254 SHOTS (2011) 15min
    Director: Gobolux
    Country: U.S.
    WELL THEN THERE NOW (2011) 19min 30sec
    Director: Lewis Klahr
    Country: U.S.
    BARE ROOM (2011) 31min 33sec
    Director: Joey Izzo
    Country: U.S.
    ARCANA (2011) 33min
    Director: Henry Hills
    Country: U.S./Austria

    9:00PM
    TWENTY CIGARETTES (2011) 99min
    Director: James Benning
    Country: U.S.

    Monday October 10
    Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
    11:00AM
    Screening Program:  Cabinet of Curiosities
    Total running time:  82min

    BETWEEN GOLD (2011) 10min 42sec
    Director: Jonathan Schwartz
    Country: U.S.
    TIN PRESSED (2011) 6min 23sec
    Director: Dani Leventhal
    Country: U.S.
    FIFTEEN AN HOUR (2011) 6min
    Director: Kevin Jerome Everson
    Country: U.S.
    TABLEAUX VIVANTS (2011) 10min 20sec
    Director: Vincent Grenier
    Country: U.S.
    CURIOUS LIGHT (2011) 4min 12sec
    Director: Charlotte Pryce
    Country: U.S.
    FORMS ARE NOT SELF-SUBSISTENT SUBSTANCES (2010) 22min
    Director: Samantha Rebello
    Country: U.K.
    THE MATTER PROPOUNDED, OF ITS POSSIBILITY OR IMPOSSIBILITY, TREATED IN FOUR PARTS (2011) 13min
    Director: David Gatten
    Country: U.S.

    From JHAMA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
    Director: Stephanie Barber
    Country: U.S.
    Miniatures 2min    
    Degas 58sec
    The Eclipse 33sec

    RANSOM NOTES (2011) 4min
    Director: Kelly Egan
    Country: Canada
    CONJUROR’S BOX (2011) 4min
    Director: Kerry Laitala
    Country: U.S.

    1:30PM
    Screening Program:  Aurand/Muñoz/Sami
    Total running time:  76min

    VILLATALLA (2011) 21min 59sec
    Director: Jeannette Muñoz
    Country: Switzerland/Chile/Italy
    A YEAR/EIN JAHR (2011) 12min
    Director: Renate Sami
    Country: Germany
    YOUNG PINES/JUNGE TIEFERN (2011) 43min
    Director: Ute Aurand
    Country: Germany/Japan


    3:45PM
    Screening Program:  Looking Through A Glass Onion
    Total running time:  89min   

    PASSAGE UPON THE PLUME (2011) 6min 46sec
    Director: Fern Silva
    Country: U.S.
    SHAYNE’S RECTANGLE (2011) 5min 4sec 
    Director: Dani Leventhal
    Country: U.S.
    LINE DESCRIBING YOUR MOM (2011) 5min 50sec
    Director: Michael Robinson
    Country: U.S.
    GOSSIP ON THE WATER (2011) 8min 19sec
    Director: Bobby Abate
    Country: U.S.

    From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS
    Director: Stephanie Barber
    Country: U.S.
    Tatum’s Ghost 3min 45sec

    THE DEATH OF THE GORILLA (1966) 16min
    Director: Peter Mays
    Country: U.S.
    (new restoration by the Academy Film Archive)
    BY FOOT-CANDLE LIGHT (2011) 9min
    Director: Mary Helena Clark
    Country: U.S.
    A LAX RIDDLE UNIT (2011) 9min
    Director: Laida Lertxundi
    Country: Spain
    SOUNDING GLASS (2011) 7min
    Director: Sylvia Schedelbauer
    Country: Germany
    THE EVIL EYES (2010) 18min
    Director: Bobby Abate
    Country: U.S.

    6:30PM
    Screening Program:  Paul Clipson Super 8 performance
    Total running time:  70min   
    CHORUS (2009/2011) 8min
    Country: U.S.
    COMPOUND EYES NO. 1-5 (2011) 27min
    Country: U.S.
    LIGHT FROM THE MESA (2010) 7min
    Country: U.S.
    CHORUS (2009/2011) 8min
    Country: U.S.
    (16mm version)
    MORPHOLOGIES (2011) 20min
    Country: U.S.

    8:45PM
    Screening Program:  Bitches Brew
    Total running time:  107min

    POSTHASTE PERENNIAL PATTERN (2010) 3min 39sec
    Director: Jodie Mack
    Country: U.S.
    BABOBILICONS (1982) 16min
    Director: Daina Krumins
    Country: U.S.
    (new 35mm preservation by the Academy Film Archive)
    YOU ARE NOW RUNNING ON RESERVE BATTERY POWER (2011) 11min
    Director: Jessie Stead
    Country: U.S.
    HULL (2011) 7min 32sec
    Director: Tara Merenda Nelson
    Country: U.S.

    From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
    Director: Stephanie Barber
    Country: U.S.
    Telephone Call 1min 
    Billy and the Magician 3min 18sec
    Little Kitten 42sec
    Zero Buoyancy 4min 53sec
    Romance Novels 1min 4sec

    A PARTY RECORD PACKED WITH SEX AND SADNESS (2011) 10min 11sec
    Director: Bobby Abate
    Country: U.S.
    PRAXIS 8 – 12 SCENES (2010) 25min
    Director: Dietmar Brehm
    Country: Austria
    TASTE TEST (2011) 2min 30sec
    Director: Andrew Lampert
    Country: U.S.
    BITCH-BEAUTY (2011) 7min
    Director: MM Serra
    Country: U.S.

    Location: WALTER READE THEATER
    11:30PM
    Screening Program:  Jean-Marie Straub
    Total running time:  66min

    LOTHRINGEN! (1994) 20min
    (co-directed with Danièle Huillet)
    Country: France
    UN HÉRITIER (2011) 20min
    Country: France/South Korea
    L’INCONSOLABLE (2011) 15min
    Country: France
    SCHAKALE UND ARABER (2011) 11min
    Country: Switzerland


    1:45PM
    SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (2011) 40min
    Director: Ken Jacobs
    Country: U.S.

    3:00PM
    THE PETTIFOGGER (2011) 65min
    Director: Lewis Klahr
    Country: U.S.


    5:00PM
    Screening Program:  Virgin Springs
    Total running time:  86min

    BAPTISMAL STICKS AND STONES (2011) 6min 50sec
    Director: April Simmons
    Country: U.S.
    DEVILS GATE (2011) 20min
    Director: Laura Kraning
    Country: U.S.
    TWICE REMOVED (2011) 11min
    Director: Leslie Thornton
    Country: U.S.
    RICKY (2011) 11min
    Director: Janie Geiser
    Country: U.S.
    SILENT SPRINGS (2011) 12min 57sec
    Director: Erin Espelie
    Country: U.S.
    GAZETTE (2009) 4min 12sec
    Director: Eliénore de Montesquiou
    Country: Russia/Estonia
    KUDZU VINE (2011) 19min 52sec
    Director: Josh Gibson
    Country: U.S.

    7:30PM
    TWO DAYS AT SEA (2011) 86min
    Director: Ben Rivers
    Country: U.K.

    Location: ELINORE BUNIN MUNROE AMPHITHEATRE
    Daily Friday October 7-10
    Open to the general public, with no admission charge. Each film will be repeated across the four days in groupings and individual rotations several times a day.

    Films will include the following (in alphabetical order):

    ARMOIRE (Four Parts) (2007-2011) 9min 5sec
    Director: Vincent Grenier
    Country: U.S.
    JOHN KRIEG EXITING THE FALK CORPORATION IN 1971 (2011) 71min
    Director: James Benning
    Country: U.S
    PICTURE TAKING (2011) 9min 30sec
    Director: Ernie Gehr
    Country: U.S.
    SOFT PALATE (2010) 3min 10sec
    Director: Martin Arnold
    Country: Austria
    SELF CONTROL (2011) 1min 56sec
    Director: Martin Arnold
    Country: Austria
    TRADERS LEAVING THE EXCHANGE, A GUARD AND THE STREET (2011) 15min
    Director: Les Leveque
    Country: U.S.

    Read more

  • 2011 New York Film Festival Shorts Programs Lineup; Oliver Stone’s SALVADOR to replace “Untold History of the United States”

    [caption id="attachment_1635" align="alignnone" width="550"]Oliver Stone[/caption]

    The 2011 New York Film Festival announced two short films programs as well as late-breaking updates for the Oliver Stone presentation and the Masterworks screening of BEN HUR.

    Due to scheduling conflicts, Oliver Stone’s “Untold History of the United States” will no longer screen at the 2011 New York Film Festival. However, Oliver Stone will still be appearing at NYFF to present a 25th Anniversary screening of SALVADOR, a film that burst onto the American film scene with a force that immediately established Stone as an artist to be reckoned with.

    The Masterworks screening of BEN-HUR at Alice Tully Halll on Saturday, October 1 at 10:30AM will now be a family affair, with the attendance of Fraser Heston (the son of Charlton Heston), Catherine Wyler (the daughter of director William Wyler) and Toby Wyler, (the director’s great-grandson). The trio will take part in introductions of the film with FSLC’s Richard Pena and will also be available for interviews to discuss the careers of Heston and Wyler as well as the restoration of the cinema classic.

    BEH-HUR has been given a meticulous frame-by-frame restoration from the original 65mm camera negative, completed from an 8K scan of the original 65mm camera negative, making this the highest-resolution restoration ever completed by Warner Bros. studio. The innumerable qualities of the William Wyler’s film will be on display on the giant screen in the original 2.76 aspect ratio, and this theatrical premiere of the restored version provides audiences of all ages the rare opportunity to marvel at Hollywood maximally lavish, stirring and exciting epic entertainment.

    NYFF 2011 also announced the lineup for two shorts programs set to screen at FSLC’s new Film Center. Both programs feature original short films by exciting new talents on the world cinema stage.



    SHORTS PROGRAM #1

    Total running time: 92 minutes

    Tuesday, October 4 at 1:30PM – Howard Gilman Theater

    Saturday, October 15 at 2:30PM – Francesca Beale Theater



    THE BIRD SPIDER (La Migala) (2011) 14min

    Director: Jaime Dezcallar

    Country: Spain

    A lovelorn man enters into a deadly game of chance when he intentionally sets a poisonous arachnid loose in his apartment.



    BLUE (2011) 14min

    Director: Stephen Kang

    Country: New Zealand

    The life and hard times of a human-sized plush toy, formerly a children’s TV star, now a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. Winner, Grand Prix, Cannes Critics Week.



    THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF (2011) 11min

    Director: Jessica Brickman

    Country: USA

    Death is both an aid and an impediment to romantic bliss in this wry comedy about the mourning after, co-starring Fran Kranz and Jason Ritter.



    GRAFFITIGER (2010) 10min

    Director: Libor Pixa

    Country: Czech Republic

    A lonely graffiti-drawn tiger wanders the walls and sidewalks of Prague looking for companionship.



    THE RUNNER (2011) 15min

    Director: Ana Lazarevic

    Country: Serbia and Montenegro/USA

    In the lush and weedy Serbian countryside, a first time human trafficker becomes stranded with the Roma boy he is assigned to deliver.



    THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THE JOHNSONS (2011) 28min

    Director: Ari Aster

    Country: USA

    In the picture-perfect Johnson family, a scandalous secret bubbles to the surface with outrageous, darkly comic complications.



    SHORTS PROGRAM #2

    Total running time: 88 minutes

    Wednesday, October 5 at 1:30PM – Howard Gilman Theater

    Saturday, October 15 at 4:30PM – Francesca Beale Theater



    AARON BURR, PART 2 (2011) 8min

    Director: Dana O’Keefe

    Country: USA

    You only thought you knew all there was to know about the much-maligned third Vice President of the United States.



    THE GREAT GATSBY IN FIVE MINUTES (2011) 10min

    Director: Michael Almereyda

    Country: USA

    The Fitzgerald classic as you’ve never seen it, transposed to a Los Angeles of sleek modern architecture and strip-mall foot clinics.



    MEMORY BY DESIGN (2011) 5min

    Director: Nathan Punwar

    Country: USA

    A dazzling love letter to all things analog, as they recede into the horizon of the digital age.



    MY BOW BREATHING (Il respiro dell’arco) (2011) 10min

    Director: E.M. Artale

    Country: Italy

    Revenge has the sting of a perfectly aimed arrow as a young archer gets in touch with her primal instincts.



    GRANDMOTHERS (Abuelas) (2011) 9min

    Director: Afarin Eghbal

    Country: UK

    A lyrical animated documentary about the search by Argentinian grandmothers for the orphaned children of the “disappeared.”



    FIRST MATCH (2011) 15min

    Director: Olivia Newman

    Country: USA

    No amount of practice on the mat can prepare Mo for the challenge she faces at her first high school wrestling match.



    TRAITORS (2011) 31min

    Director: Sean Gullette

    Country: Morocco/USA

    A night in the lives of an all-girl punk band as they illicitly shoot their first music video on the streets of Tangier.

    Read more

  • Special anniversary screenings, documentary presentations and events to take place at 2011 NY Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_1633" align="alignnone"]PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY[/caption]

    The 49th New York Film Festival will offer an ‘unprecedented’ selection of programs, led by the first-ever premiere screening of a new ending to Joe Berlinger’s and Bruce Sinofsky’s PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY including footage from the events surrounding the recent celebrated release of the West Memphis Three. PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY is an HBO Documentary Films production set to premiere on the network in 2012.

    Oliver Stone will offer a special sneak preview of his new documentary project, The Untold History of the United States. Produced as a 10-part miniseries for Showtime (where it will premiere in 2012), NYFF will present this special sneak preview of Untold History’s first three chapters, which focus on the events leading up to America’s entrance into World War II, the war itself, and the unjustly forgotten figure of former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace. PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY and Stone’s The Untold History of the United States project headline an impressive slate of documentary offerings at NYFF this year with such diverse and fascinating subjects as independent film legend Roger Corman, musician Andrew Bird, The Rings of Saturn author W.G. Sebald, “The Girl From Ipanema” composer/performer Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, influential British rock group Mott The Hoople, film critic and gay activist Vito Russo, and Frederick Wiseman’s latest, CRAZY HORSE, where the filmmaker turns his camera toward another Paris cultural institution – the Crazy Horse erotic cabaret (following 2009’s LA DANSE which delved into the Paris Opera Ballet).

    Additional highlights include anniversary screenings of THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, SPIRITED AWAY and THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL; musical accompaniment by members of the NY Philharmonic to the classic Charlie Chaplin film THE GOLD RUSH; as well as live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra to the silent film FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT; a screening of the animated feature film THE 99 which follows super-powered heroes based on derivatives of the 99 attributes of Allah; and a recently rediscovered masterwork of the post-punk cinema, YOU ARE NOT I, directed by Sara Driver and shot by Jim Jarmusch. NYFF will also feature a panel on Pauline Kael followed by a screening of James Toback’s FINGERS, and a screening of Rin Tin Tin starrer CLASH OF THE WOLVES with film discussion focusing on the four-legged film legend by The Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean.

    Views from the Avant Garde will make its fifteenth experimental journey to the screen this year and the New York Film Festival will once again partner with HBO in hosting four HBO Directors Dialogues – details for both of these special programs will be announced shortly.

    MASTERWORKS AND SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY SCREENINGS

    Masterworks: THE GOLD RUSH

    Chaplin’s personal favorite among his own films, THE GOLD RUSH (1925), is a beautifully constructed comic fable of fate and perseverance, set in the icy wastes of the Alaskan gold fields. Re-released by Chaplin in 1942 in a recut version missing some scenes, and with added narration and musical score, THE GOLD RUSH will be presented in a new restoration of the original, silent 1925 version. In this frequently terrifying and always unpredictable universe of natural and human savagery packed with avalanches, wild bears, predatory dance hall girls and murderous claim-jumpers, the incomparable Gentleman-Tramp arrives, seeking his fortune and facing every imaginable threat to life and limb. The film contains one of Chaplin’s classic comic set pieces in which he elegantly cooks and eats his boot to fend off starvation. THE GOLD RUSH blends action, slapstick comedy and sentiment seamlessly, making it one of the most beloved of Charles Chaplin’s works. The screening features a new score restoration by Timothy Brock (his ninth, commissioned by the Chaplin Estate) live musical accompaniment conducted by Brock and performed by musicians from the NY Philharmonic.

    Masterworks: INVASIÓN

    A little-known classic of Latin American cinema, INVASIÓN (1969) was the first work conceived specifically for the cinema by the great Jorge Luis Borges, in collaboration with his friend Adolfo Bioy Casares. A kind of updating of The Illiad that breathlessly morphs from police thriller to dream-like fantasy, the film is set in Aquiléa, a city that looks a lot like Buenos Aires currently under siege by sinister forces.  A group of middle-aged men, led by a somewhat older man, resolve to mount resistance to the invaders. Meetings are held, maps are studied, strategies are proposed—but can the invasion really be overcome?  A former assistant to Bresson here making his feature film debut, Hugo Santiago with INVASIÓN created a work that is lyrical, unsettling and infinitely suggestive.

    Masterworks: YOU ARE NOT I

    A haunting adaptation of a 1948 short story by Paul Bowles about a woman who escapes from an asylum, YOU ARE NOT I (1981) played widely in the international film festival circuit in the early Eighties. Then, a leak in a New Jersey warehouse destroyed the negative, leaving director Sara Driver with only a battered, copy that could not be projected. Miraculously, a print was found among the holdings of Paul Bowles just three years ago, and now the film has been restored and is available once again. Undoubtedly one of the most impressive works to emerge from the post-punk downtown scene, the film was beautifully shot by Jim Jarmusch (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and features Suzanne Fletcher, Nan Goldin and Luc Sante. The screening will mark the world premiere of the rediscovered and restored version of the film.

    50 Years of the New York Film Festival: THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL

    In anticipation of the New York Film Festival’s historic 50th edition in the fall of 2012, the Film Society is proud to inaugurate a year-long retrospective of highlights from the festival’s past 49 editions, curated by current and former members of the NYFF selection committee. We begin with the opening night film of the very first NYFF, Luis Buñuel’s THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, described by festival director Richard Roud thusly: “For ninety hypnotic minutes Buñuel shatters all conventional notions of social logic and ethics. Never before has he been able to give such free reign to his vitality, wit and iconoclasm, his power to surprise and shock. Buñuel has been a great name in world cinema for over thirty years now, and we are proud to open the first New York Film Festival with his most remarkable film.”

    New Wave presents THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS 10th Anniversary Screening

    The Film Society’s young patrons group, New Wave, presents a special screening of Wes Anderson’s beloved contemporary classic—a world premiere at the 2001 NYFF—on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. A true American original, Anderson mingles romance, tragedy, social observation and unforgettable characters in his buoyant third feature, about a family of eccentric geniuses living in a parallel New York (where Helvetica is the only typeface and all cabs are Gypsies). Gene Hackman is perfection as Royal Tenenbaum, the erratic, unscrupulous paterfamilias, long banished by his orderly wife (Anjelica Huston). Now, faking an illness, he returns home to settle accounts with his estranged children: a financial whiz (Ben Stiller), a failed playwright (Gwyneth Paltrow), and a retired tennis champion (Luke Wilson). The screening will be followed by an on-stage reunion of Anderson and other members of the cast and crew.

    Anniversary Screenings Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki

    25th Anniversary Screening of CASTLE IN THE SKY

    The third feature film directed by Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki—and the first produced under the aegis of his Studio Ghibli—takes place in a world where vast flying cities and castles once filled the skies, but now only one, named Laputa, remains. Sinister army officers and mercenary sky pirates variously seek the floating isle for their own purposes, but as usual in Miyazaki, a plucky young girl, Sheeta, reliably stays one step ahead of them all. Loosely inspired by Gulliver’s Travels, with an arresting visual design based in part on a visit Miyazaki once paid to a Welsh mining town, this exuberant, one-of-a-kind adventure fantasy, presented here in a new 35mm print, is certain to delight kids and kids-at-heart of all ages.

    10th Anniversary Screening of SPIRITED AWAY

    Miiyazaki’s Oscar-winning triumph follows the whimsical and occasionally terrifying adventures of 10-year-old Chihiro, who becomes trapped in a strange spirit world after an evil witch transforms her parents into pigs. Taking a job as an attendant in the witch’s sprawling bathhouse, Chihiro, now known as Sen, must find a way to rescue her parents—and herself—before she forgets her real name and stays trapped forever. A beautifully drawn coming-of-age story, with sharp observations on Japanese societal change, SPIRITED AWAY surpassed TITANIC as the biggest domestic box-office hit in Japanese history before becoming Miyazaki’s breakthrough film in the United States.

    20 Years of Art Cinema: A Tribute to Sony Pictures Classics and screening of James Ivory’s HOWARDS END

    Twenty years ago this December, former Orion Classics co-presidents Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom launched Sony Pictures Classics, instantly setting a new gold standard for the distribution of independent and foreign-language cinema in America. Their inaugural release, HOWARDS END, grossed more than $25 million at the U.S. box office and earned nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. In the two decades since, the hits have kept on coming, including three additional Best Picture nominees (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; CAPOTE; and AN EDUCATION), 10 winners of the Foreign Language Film Oscar, and eight New York Film Festival opening nights, including this year’s CARNAGE. On the occasion of their 20th anniversary, we salute the Sony Classics team with a look back at their remarkable career, including film clips and an in-depth conversation with Barker and Bernard moderated by NYFF selection committee chairman Richard Peña. The discussion will be followed by a screening of James Ivory’s HOWARDS END (1992).



    SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS: DOCUMENTARIES



    ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR

    With his stirring, soulful vocals, eccentric violin plucking and whistling, and music that ranges from blues to calypso to rock, electronic and just about everything in between, Andrew Bird has built on the basis of live performances and 20 albums an impressive international fan base. Yet now, moving into his late thirties, he wonders how much longer he can keep up the pace of 150+ concert dates a year, as well as what slowing down might mean to his career. Chock full of concert and private Bird performances, Xan Aranda’s ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR offers a look into the life of a remarkable contemporary musician and composer for whom each day, despite all his success, is still a struggle.

    THE BALLAD OF MOTT THE HOOPLE

    Storming out of Hereford, England in the late Sixties, Mott the Hoople became one of British rock’s most popular live acts. Yet, their records failed to reach audiences, and the band was on the verge of breaking up when one of their fans, a certain David Bowie, wrote “All the Young Dudes” for them; reborn, they zoomed to the top of the charts—and that’s really when the trouble started. A record of the rise, fall, rise and eventual disintegration of one of the era’s iconic bands, THE BALLAD OF MOTT THE HOOPLE also recounts the story of Guy Stevens, the band’s explosively brilliant manager. Accurate, insightful and full of never-before seen interviews and concert footage, Mike Kerry and Chris Hall’s terrific film is simply rock history at its best. Rock legend Ian Hunter will attend the festival and participate in a Q&A following the film’s screenings.

    CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL

    Mention the name Roger Corman and you conjure up a whole world of movie-making: screaming young women in tight sweaters, lumbering monsters creeping out of shadows, shock movie posters. Yet beyond that somewhat sentimentalized image of the “King of the Bs” was a producer who prospered at a time when so much of Hollywood was collapsing, all the while nurturing talents ranging from Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich and Jonathan Demme to Jack Nicholson, Pam Grier and Robert De Niro; eventually, even Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa would be associated with him. Alex Stapleton’s engaging and well-informed study offers a rich context for assessing Corman’s importance for cinema, with insightful and often hilarious testimony from friends and disciples. USA, 2011, 95 min. We will also present a rare screening of Roger Corman’s THE INTRUDER (1962, 84 min.), starring William Shatner as a mysterious man who arrives in a small Southern town on the eve of integration.

    CRAZY HORSE

    A sequel of sorts to LA DANSE, his 2009 portrait of the Paris Opera Ballet, the 39th feature by documentary master Frederick Wiseman takes us behind and in front of the scenes at another storied Paris cultural institution: the Crazy Horse erotic cabaret, now in its 60th year of continuous operation. In his signature observational style, Wiseman makes us a fly on the wall as the Crazy Horse team prepares a new revue, taking us from auditions and costume fittings to rehearsals and finally the highly seductive numbers themselves, filmed in shimmering close-up. Along the way, Wiseman steals remarkable glances at performers getting into character and directors and technicians battling management as they strive to perfect the aesthetics of desire. The result is an exuberant, one-of-a-kind musical valentine to the City of Light and the art of making art.

    DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH

    In this feature-length companion piece to (the previously announced) Nicholas Ray’s WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN, Ray’s widow, Susan, examines her late husband’s stormy romance with Hollywood, his self-imposed exile in Europe, and his eventual return to America, where he began work on the wildly experimental magnum opus that would become his final cinematic testament. Incorporating never-before-seen archival picture and sound from the Nicholas Ray Archive, and new interviews with directors Victor Erice and Jim Jarmusch and many of the original cast and crew of WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN, DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH offers a revealing portrait of a great director’s life, work and lasting influence. North American premiere.

    MUSIC ACCORDING TO TOM JOBIM

    Composer/performer Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim introduced Brazil and bossa nova to the world with “The Girl from Ipanema.” He went on to write literally dozens of classics songs recorded by the international royalty of pop music. Legendary Brazilian director Nelson Pereira dos Santos has now created this loving, tuneful tribute to Jobim, featuring extraordinary renditions of Jobim standards by artists ranging from Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque and Lisa Ono. A veritable carnival of musical styles and approaches, all celebrating the unique artistry of Tom Jobim.

    PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY

    Don’t worry if you missed the first two parts of Emmy-winning documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s epic chronicle of the “West Memphis Three,” Arkansas teens convicted of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys. The third film in a trilogy, PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY features never-before seen footage and quickly catches you up on this lightning-rod case, initially tried without a shred of physical evidence and amidst hysterical claims of satanic cultism. We then flash forward to the present, where the accused await their final appeal and staggering new revelations further point to a gross miscarriage of justice. A remarkable journey filmed over 18 years, the film follows an American tragedy, and capped by an extraordinary reversal of fortune. PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY (which will air on HBO in 2012) is also a profound meditation on the passage of time, lives interrupted, and salvation too long in coming.

    PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD)

    A multi-layered, highly original essay on landscape, history, art, life and loss, PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD) offers a unique exploration of the work of W.G. Sebald. Structured as a journey through the coastal Suffolk landscapes described in Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn—one of the most highly praised and hotly discussed literary works of recent years—the film avoids typical art documentary strategies, weaving commentaries by artists and critics such as  Robert McFarlane, Rick Moody, Adam Phillips, Tacita Dean and Chris Petit into a rich aural tapestry that offers a revealing counterpoint to images of places and things described in the book.  The result is not an adaptation or explanation of Sebald, but a kind of aesthetic response to his work.

    TAHRIR

    Soon after the first reports came about the occupation of Tahrir Square, filmmaker Stefano Savona headed for Cairo, where he stayed, amidst the ever-growing masses in the Square, for weeks. His film introduces us to young Egyptians such as Elsayed, Noha and Ahmed, spending all day and night talking, shouting, singing, and finally expressing everything they were forbidden to say out loud until now. As the protests grow in intensity, the regime’s repression becomes more violent, with the terrifying potential for massacre never far away.  TAHRIR is a film written in the faces, hands, and voices of those who experienced this period in the Square. It is a day-to-day account of the revolution, capturing the anger, fear, resolve and finally elation of those who made it happen.

    VITO

    For over two decades, Vito Russo was a ubiquitous presence in New York, a ravenous, tireless cinephile and critic who became one of the earliest, most important voices in the struggle for gay rights. His two passions came together in an extraordinary book, The Celluloid Closet, a groundbreaking study of gay and lesbian imagery and themes in movies that remains a landmark in the field. Now Jeffrey Schwarz, using some incredible period footage as well as the testimonies of those who knew him best, has created this heartfelt, insightful portrait of Vito that serves simultaneously as a revealing chronicle of the birth of contemporary gay culture and of later AIDS activism. VITO is an HBO Documentary Film that will premiere on the network in 2012.



    SPECIAL EVENTS



    THE 99 – UNBOUND

    Kuwaiti clinical psychologist—and comic book fan—Naif A. Al-Mutawa wondered what a set of comic heroes based on Islamic archetypes might look like. The result? THE 99, a posse of super-powered heroes based on derivatives of the 99 attributes of Allah; there’s Bari the Healer, Darr the Afflicter, Hadya the Guide, and Jabbar the Powerful—an international selection of young people each given their powers by the mysterious Noor Stones. Currently published in nine languages and having recently joined forces with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in a special series published by DC Comics, THE 99 can now be seen here in its first animated feature film, directed by Dave Osborne. Bring the kids! Afterwards, Dr. Al-Mutawa will be on hand to discuss the ideas behind the project and some of his plans for introducing THE 99 to America.

    A Conversation with Susan Orlean: “Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend” with Noel Smith’s CLASH OF THE WOLVES

    Writer Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief) has turned a childhood fascination with the greatest of canine movie heroes into a wonderful new book that chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of the Rin Tin Tin dynasty.  Orlean will offer a talk on Rin Tin Tin in the movies, as well as introduce and discuss Noel Smith’s CLASH OF THE WOLVES (1925), the movie that made Rinny a box office sensation.  Copies of Ms. Orleans’ Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend will be available for purchase.

    Dreileben: Three Films

    NYFF audiences who feasted on such epic, multi-part television projects as the Red Riding Trilogy, Carlos and Mysteries of Lisbon are sure to enjoy this remarkable meeting of three of the brightest talents at work in contemporary German cinema. For Dreileben, directors Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow), Dominik Graf (A Map of the Heart) and Christoph Hochhäusler (The City Below) have each made a feature-length film on the same general subject—the escape of a convicted criminal in a small central German town—but told from completely different points of view and in radically contrasting filmmaking styles: one as an offbeat youth romance, one as a Big Chill-style relationship drama, and one as a tense police procedural. Taken together, these compulsively watchable films make for generous entertainment and a fascinating exercise in the polymorphous possibilities of storytelling.

    Dreileben Part 1: Beats Being Dead

    A convicted killer, released under police custody to pay his last respects to his late mother, escapes from a country hospital at the start of director Christian Petzold’s genre-bending, wonderfully unpredictable Beats Being Dead. But the film soon comes to center on the story of two star-crossed lovers: Johannes (Jacob Matschenz), a shy young hospital orderly, and Bosnian refugee Ana (Luna Mijovic), whom Johannes nobly rescues from the clutches of her abusive biker boyfriend. In the background, a police manhunt proceeds apace, while in the foreground Petzold reminds us there is sometimes nothing as dangerous as first love.

    Dreileben Part 2: Don’t Follow Me Around

    In the trilogy’s second chapter, Jo (Jeanette Hain), a big-city police psychologist, arrives in Dreileben to aid in the ongoing investigation, whereupon she finds herself greeted cooly by the local authorities but welcomed with open arms by Vera (Susanne Wolff), a college friend who lives nearby with her husband, a pretentious author. As the girlfriends reminisce about bygone days and discover they were both once in love with the same man, director Dominik Graf deftly juxtaposes their personal drama against the search for a killer, a police corruption scandal, and a possible case of interspecies transmutation—all underlining the trilogy’s recurring themes of false appearances and deeply hidden truths.

    Dreileben Part 3: One Minute of Darkness

    The Dreileben trilogy comes to a nail-biting close with director Christoph Hochhäusler’s expert thriller, which also brings escaped felon Molosch—a peripheral character in the first two parts—into sharp focus. Hot on the killer’s trail, grizzled police inspector Marcus (Eberhard Kirchberg) tries to put himself inside the mind of the criminal, even as he begins to wonder if the condemned man really is guilty as charged. Meanwhile, as Molosch (brilliantly played by Stefan Kurt) flees deeper into Dreileben’s possibly enchanted forest, he has an unexpectedly tender encounter with a young runaway girl—scenes that echo the Frankenstein story and transform One Minute of Darkness into a dark, memorably strange fairy tale.

    FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT (with The Alloy Orchestra) and A TRIP TO THE MOON

    FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT

    This stunning adaptation of Georg Kaiser’s play pushed the Expressionist stylization of sets, costumes and gestures introduced by THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (made a few months earlier) to such a radical point that German movie theaters refused to show it; long thought lost, a print was found and preserved by the National Film Center of Japan in the 1980s. Bored with his provincial, humdrum middle-class life as a bank teller, “the Cashier,” (a great performance by Ernst Deutsch) embezzles a considerable sum of money and heads to the city, where in no time he’s on a downward spiral. Of special note is the bicycle race, surely one of the most amazing sequences in silent cinema. The Alloy Orchestra has created a new score for this legendary work, which it will perform live at both shows. Thanks to the National Film Center of Japan for making this screening possible.

    A TRIP TO THE MOON (La voyage dans la lune)

    More than a century after its first release—and on the 150th anniversary of its creator’s birth—a fully restored color version of cinematic pioneer George Méliès’ 1902 science-fiction classic A Trip to the Moon is once again visible on screen. Long considered lost, a heavily damaged copy of the hand-painted film was anonymously donated in the 1990s to the Barcelona Cinematheque, and in 2010 an ambitious restoration project was launched by Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage. Thanks to state-of-the-art digital technology, the fragments of the 13, 375 frames have been reassembled and restored one by one. The stunning result screens here with a new original soundtrack by the French band Air.

    Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of the United States

    For much of his remarkable career, three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone has set about exposing errors and omissions in the official record of such key moments in American history as the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, and the Nixon administration. In his hugely ambitious new project, The Untold History of the United States, Stone puts nothing less than the entire 20th century under a microscope, with results that are sobering, surprising and sure to be controversial. Produced as a 10-part miniseries for Showtime (where it will premiere in 2012), we are thrilled to present this special sneak preview of Untold History’s first three chapters, which focus on the events leading up to America’s entrance into World War II, the war itself, and the unjustly forgotten figure of former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Stone, co-writer Peter Kuznick, historian Douglas Brinkley (Rice University) and journalist Jonathan Schell (The Nation).

    “Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” with James Toback’s FINGERS

    Confirmed panelists: David Edelstein (Film Critic, New York magazine), Brian Kellow, Geoffrey O’Brien (Editor in Chief, Library of America), film director James Toback, Camille Paglia (University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, University of the Arts)

    A decade after her death, Pauline Kael remains a pivotal figure in American film criticism, thanks to her inimitable style, the sharpness of her observations, and the influence she exerted over subsequent generations of writers. On the occasion of two new books—Brian Kellow’s biography Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark and the Library of America anthology The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael—a panel of noted critics and filmmakers will discuss Kael’s life, work and legacy. The discussion will be followed by a screening of James Toback’s FINGERS, of which Kael wrote: “In FINGERS, the first film he has directed, James Toback is trying to be Orson Welles and Carol Reed, Dostoevsky, Conrad, and Kafka…Insanity, violent bouts of sex, Jacobean revenge killings—nothing is too much for Toback in his exhilarated state…Yet the film never seems ridiculous, because he’s got true moviemaking fever.”

    Sodankylä Forever Parts 1-4

    Surely the most singular of events in the annual calendar of film culture, the Midnight Sun Film Festival is held every June in the Finnish village of Sodankylä beyond the arctic circle—where the sun never sets. Founded by Aki and Mika Kaurismäki along with Anssi Mänttäri and Peter Von Bagh in 1985, the festival has played host to an international who’s who of directors and each day begins with a two-hour discussion. To mark the festival’s silver anniversary, festival director Peter Von Bagh edited together highlights from these dialogues to create an epic four-part choral history of cinema drawn from the anecdotes, insights, and wisdom of his all-star cast: Coppola, Fuller, Forman, Chabrol, Corman, Demy, Kieslowski, Kiarostami, Varda, Oliveira, Erice, Rouch, Gilliam, Jancso—and 64 more! Ranging across innumerable topics (war, censorship, movie stars, formative influences, America, neorealism) these voices, many now passed away, engage in a personal dialogue across the years that’s by turns charming, profound, hilarious and moving. Call it Finland’s idiosyncratic and playful answer to Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinema.

    Peter Von Bagh will present the program over the course of two evenings:

    Part 1: History of a Century & Part 2: The Yearning for the First Cinema Experience (149m)

    Part 3: Eternal Time & Part 4: Drama of Light (112m)



    FILMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS (WITH DIRECTORS AND ADDITIONAL REFERENCE INFORMATION

    Masterworks Screenings:

    THE GOLD RUSH, directed by Charlie Chaplin (restored)

    INVASIÓN, directed by Hugo Santiago (restored)

    YOU ARE NOT I, directed by Sara Driver (restored)



    Special Anniversary Screenings:

    CASTLE IN THE SKY, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. 25th Anniversary Screening (Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki).

    THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, directed by Luis Buñuel (Mexico): 50 Years of the New York Film Festival

    HOWARDS END, directed by James Ivory. (20 Years of Art Cinema: A Tribute to Sony Pictures Classics)

    THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, directed by Wes Anderson (USA). 10th Anniversary Screening. Presented by New Wave

    SPIRITED AWAY (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi), directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan). 10th Anniversary Screening (Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki).



    Special Presentations: Documentaries:

    ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR, directed by Xan Aranda (USA)

    THE BALLAD OF MOTT THE HOOPLE, directed by Mike Kerry and Chris Hall (UK)

    CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL, directed by Alex Stapleton and screening of THE INTRUDER, directed by Roger Corman

    CRAZY HORSE, directed by Frederick Wiseman (USA, France)

    DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH, directed by Susan Ray (USA)

    MUSIC ACCORDING TO TOM JOBIM, directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos (Brazil)

    PARADISE 3: PURGATORY, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (USA)

    PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD), directed by Grant Gee (UK)

    TAHRIR, directed by Stefano Savona (France/Italy)

    VITO, directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (USA)



    Special Events:

    THE 99 – UNBOUND, directed by Dave Osborne

    A Conversation with Susan Orlean: “Rin Tin Tin, the Life and the Legend” with Noel Smith’s CLASH OF THE WOLVES screening.

    Dreileben part 1 – 3: Beats Being Dead, directed by Christian Petzold; Don’t Follow Me Around, directed by Dominik Graf; One Minute of Darkness, directed by Christoph Hochhäusler (Germany)

    FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT (Von morgens bis Mitternacht), directed by Karl Heinz Martin (Germany) with Alloy Orchestra and A TRIP TO THE MOON, directed by George Melies.

    Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of the United States. Screening of the first 3 chapters of TV series with panel discussion featuring Oliver Stone, co-writer Peter Kuznick, historian Douglas Brinkley (Rice University) and journalist Jonathan Schell (The Nation).

    “Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” with James Toback’s FINGERS, directed by James Toback. Panel discussion with David Edelstein (Film Critic, New York magazine), Brian Kellow, Geoffrey O’Brien (Editor in Chief, Library of America), James Toback, Camille Paglia (University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, University of the Arts), plus screening of Fingers, directed by James Toback

    Sodankylä Forever Parts 1-4, directed by Peter Von Bagh (Finland)

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