The Wedding Plan[/caption]
The Wedding Plan, an Israeli romantic comedy about a jilted Orthodox bride who embarks on an elaborate search for Mr. Right, will screen as the first film of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Selects series on Thursday, May 11.
The AJFF Selects series is designed to bring the same type of world-class films from the annual festival to audiences year-round. AJFF Selects will feature a series of special screening events outside of the annual festival. These programs will feature outstanding new foreign and independent films, as well as expert speakers and guest filmmakers.
Says AJFF Executive Director Kenny Blank, “With programming initiatives like the AJFF Selects, we have the opportunity to continue our conversation with the community and expand our artistic footprint all year long. We’re excited to unveil more films in the Selects series soon. This is just the beginning of new program offerings from AJFF.”
From acclaimed writer-director Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void) comes the surprisingly gentle and sweet new Israeli romantic comedy, The Wedding Plan.
After her fiancé calls off their wedding a month before the ceremony, an ultra-Orthodox woman (Noa Koler) decides to keep the wedding date, leaving it to fate to provide a suitable groom. Unwilling to return to lonely single life, Michal embarks on an exhaustive search for a spouse, enlisting different matchmakers and enduring a series of horrible blind dates. As the day of her wedding grows closer and without the presence of Mr. Right, the jilted bride-to-be puts everything on the line to find happiness.
Nominated for nine Israeli Academy Awards, The Wedding Plan is winner of Best Actress and Best Screenplay honors, and claimed Best Actress prize at the Haifa International Film Festival. A nominee for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, the film is also an Official Selection of the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Foreign Language Films
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Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Selects Series Launches with Israeli Romantic Comedy THE WEDDING PLAN
[caption id="attachment_22117" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Wedding Plan[/caption]
The Wedding Plan, an Israeli romantic comedy about a jilted Orthodox bride who embarks on an elaborate search for Mr. Right, will screen as the first film of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival Selects series on Thursday, May 11.
The AJFF Selects series is designed to bring the same type of world-class films from the annual festival to audiences year-round. AJFF Selects will feature a series of special screening events outside of the annual festival. These programs will feature outstanding new foreign and independent films, as well as expert speakers and guest filmmakers.
Says AJFF Executive Director Kenny Blank, “With programming initiatives like the AJFF Selects, we have the opportunity to continue our conversation with the community and expand our artistic footprint all year long. We’re excited to unveil more films in the Selects series soon. This is just the beginning of new program offerings from AJFF.”
From acclaimed writer-director Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void) comes the surprisingly gentle and sweet new Israeli romantic comedy, The Wedding Plan.
After her fiancé calls off their wedding a month before the ceremony, an ultra-Orthodox woman (Noa Koler) decides to keep the wedding date, leaving it to fate to provide a suitable groom. Unwilling to return to lonely single life, Michal embarks on an exhaustive search for a spouse, enlisting different matchmakers and enduring a series of horrible blind dates. As the day of her wedding grows closer and without the presence of Mr. Right, the jilted bride-to-be puts everything on the line to find happiness.
Nominated for nine Israeli Academy Awards, The Wedding Plan is winner of Best Actress and Best Screenplay honors, and claimed Best Actress prize at the Haifa International Film Festival. A nominee for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, the film is also an Official Selection of the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
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Poster + Watch the Trailer to Yiddish-Language Hit MENASHE
A24 has released the poster and trailer for the critically-acclaimed, Yiddish-language hit Menashe. The film is directed by Joshua Z. Weinstein and stars Menashe Lustig and Ruben Nyborg. Menashe opens in theaters on July 28.
Set within the New York Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Menashe follows a kind but hapless grocery store clerk trying to maintain custody of his son Rieven after his wife, Lea, passes away. Since they live in a tradition-bound culture that requires a mother present in every home, Rieven is supposed to be adopted by the boy’s strict, married uncle, but Menashe’s Rabbi decides to grant him one week to spend with Rieven prior to Lea’s memorial. Their time together creates an emotional moment of father/son bonding as well as offers Menashe a final chance to prove to his skeptical community that he can be a capable parent. Shot in secret entirely within the Hasidic community depicted in the film, and one of the only movies to be performed in Yiddish in nearly 70 years, Menashe is a warm, life affirming look at the universal bonds between father and son that also sheds unusual light on a notoriously private community. Based largely on the real life of its Hasidic star Menashe Lustig, the film is a strikingly authentic and deeply moving portrait of family, love, connection, and community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83UoZcdX__Y
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Tribeca 2017: Poster + Watch Exclusive Clip from Elina Psykou’s Dark Coming-of-Age Drama SON OF SOFIA
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The family (Thanasis Papageorgiou, Valery Tscheplanow, Victor Khomut) watches TV in SON OF SOFIA. Photo credit: Dionysis Eftimiopoulos.[/caption]
Here is the poster and an exclusive video clip from Elina Psykou’s Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale, that will world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Although the clip doesn’t reveal too much of the storyline, it does provide a glimpse into the mother-son dynamic that is explored in the film
After her celebrated debut, The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, Elina Psykou returns with Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale that strikes a masterful balance between realism and dreams, much like its young lead.
The story revolves around 11-year-old Misha, who flies from Russia to Athens in the summer of 2004, to join his mother, Sofia, after having spent a long time apart. What he doesn’t know is that there is a father waiting for him there. While Greece is living the Olympic dream, Misha will get violently catapulted into the adult world, riding on the dark side of his favorite fairy tales.
Exclusive Clip
Trailer
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Poster + Watch Trailer for French Actress Mélanie Laurent Award-Winning Environmental Documentary TOMORROW
Here is the poster and official trailer for Popular French actress Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) and activist Cyril Dion’s César Award-winning environmentally-themed documentary Tomorrow (Demain). The documentary film which won the awards for Best Documentary Feature -César Awards 2016, and Best Documentary- COLCOA French Film Festival (Los Angeles), will open theatrically in San Francisco on April 14 and then in New York, Los Angeles and other markets on April 21 – to coincide with Earth Day celebrations on April 22.
In 2012, “Nature” published a study led by more than 20 researchers from the top scientific institutions in the world predicting that humankind could disappear between 2040 and 2100. It also said that it could be avoided by drastically changing our way of life and take appropriate measures.
Shortly after giving birth to her first child, French actress and director Mélanie Laurent became increasingly aware of the dangers and the state of urgency that her son will face in the future. Along with friend and activist Cyril Dion and their crew, she decided to travel the world in search of solutions that can help save the next generations. The result is Tomorrow, an inspiring documentary that presents concrete solutions implemented throughout the world by hundred of communities.
From the US to the UK and through Finland and India, together they traveled to 10 countries to visit permaculture farms, urban agriculture projects and community-owned renewable initiatives to highlight people making a difference in the fields of food, energy, finance, democracy, and education. Their common ideas and examples make Tomorrow one of the most essential and unexpectedly inspirational viewing experiences of our time.
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Brazilian Drama NISE: THE HEART OF MADNESS Opens in US on April 28 | Trailer
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Nise: The Heart of Madness[/caption]
Nise: The Heart of Madness is a Brazilian film based on the true life story of psychiatrist, Nise Da Silveira, who refused to treat schizophrenia patients with electroshock therapy and instead used art and painting. The film directed by Roberto Berliner won the Best Film-Audience Award at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, and the Grand Prix along with the Best Actress Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Nise: The Heart of Madness will open theatrically on Friday, April 28, 2017 in New York (Village East) and Chicago (Gene Siskel Film Center) with a wider national release to follow.
1940’s, Brazil- Dr. Nise da Silveira (played by award-winning actress Gloria Pires) is at work in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro and refuses to employ the new and violent electroshock for the treatment of schizophrenics. Ridiculed by doctors, she is forced to take the abandoned Sector for Occupational Therapy, where she starts a revolution through paints, dogs and love.
Through her efforts, renowned modern art museums opened their doors to artists nobody ever heard of. Many critics pointed out that these exhibitions revealed painters that went on to be ranked amongst the best Brazillian artists of the century. Behind this miracle there was no art academy, patron or dealer. The artists were schizophrenic, poor, hospitalized for several decades, abandoned by their families and hopeless to all but da Silveira. NISE:THE HEART OF MADNESS tells the real life story of this “miracle” and the life of this rebellious, frail and engaging psychiatrist.
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Watch Trailer for Polish Filmmaker Michal Marczak’s ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
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All These Sleepless Nights (Wszystkie nieprzespane noce)[/caption]
ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, Polish filmmaker Michal Marczak’s boundary-pushing portrait of youthful adventure will open theatrically on Friday, April 7 at New York’s IFC Center as well as in theaters in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The film won the award for Best Director in the World Cinema Documentary competition at 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Rising young director Michal Marczak defies the fly-on-the-wall traditions of observational cinema by carefully “casting” his subjects and embedding himself in their lives. Here, he invites us into the world of Kris, an awkward 24-year-old who, after breaking up with his longtime girlfriend, is suddenly filled with a boundless sense of possibility. With his suave friend Michal leading the way, Kris embarks upon a nightly walkabout, experiencing Warsaw’s subway tunnels and manors, raves and house parties, beaches and industrial wastelands. As the two smoke, drink and dance with abandon, big ideas are as palpable as the romance and sex in the air. The arrival of the beautiful Eva opens Kris up to an even more intense and high-stakes emotional and physical adventure. Marczak captures each crystalline moment as Kris and Michal push each experience to the limit, adrift in the uncertainty and euphoria of youth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_oSKWFGYlk
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Poster + Trailer for I, OLGA HEPNAROVA Based on Crimes of Olga Hepnarova, a Lonely 23 Year Old Czech Lesbian
Here is the new poster and trailer for the award-winning Czech film I, Olga Hepnarova, based on the crimes of Olga Hepnarova, a young, lonely lesbian who on July 10, 1973, drove a rented truck into a group of people waiting for a tram in Prague, Czechoslovakia, killing 8 of them.
I, Olga Hepnarova will open theatrically in NYC on Friday, March 24 with a national release to follow.
Olga Hepnarová (b. June 30, 1951) was a young, lonely lesbian outsider from a coldhearted family who couldn’t play the part society desired of her. Her paranoid self-examination and inability to connect with other people eventually drove her over the edge of humanity when she was only twenty-two years old.
On July 10, 1973, Olga drove a rented truck into a group of about 25 people waiting for a tram in Prague, Czechoslovakia, all aged between 60 to 79, killing 8 of them. Before the murder, she sent a letter to two newspapers explaining her action as revenge for all the hatred against her by her family and the world. She was found to be sane and sentenced to death. The execution took place on March 12, 1975 in the Pankrác Prison in Prague. She was the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia.
The film shows the human being behind the mass murderer without glorifying or downplaying the terrible crime she committed. Guided by her letters we delve into Olga’s psyche and witness the worsening of her loneliness and alienation as we reconstruct the events that led up to her disastrous actions.
Although the story is set in the seventies, young people worldwide today still face problems of not belonging, being different, and being bullied because of race, gender or sexual orientation.
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Ghanian Film and Film Independent Spirit Award Nominee NAKOM Sets March 3rd Release Date | Trailer
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Nakom[/caption]
Nakom, directed by the female team of TW Pittman and Daniela Norris, and nominated for the John Cassavetes Film Independent Spirit Award for the best new film made for under $500,000, will be released by Corinth Films. The film, starring Jacob Ayanaba, Justina Kulidu, Shetu Mussah, Grace Ayariga, Aziz Abdul, Esther Issaka, Mamudu Asigiri, and Thomas Kulidu, will open Friday March 3rd at New York’s Cinema Village in Manhattan.
Set in present day Ghana, Nakom follows Iddrisu, a talented medical student who is summoned home by his sister after their father’s sudden death. Iddrisu reluctantly returns home to the village of Nakom, buries his father and temporarily assumes the head of the impoverished household and farm, inheriting not only the delicate task of planting a successful crop but also a debt left by the deceased patriarch that could destroy the family. Attempting to maintain part of his studies from the confines of a small hut, Iddrisu becomes increasingly frustrated with the incessant physical and emotional needs of those around him, the demanding toil of the land and lack of rain. A contentious relationship with his uncle Napolean, to whom the sizeable debt is owed, is further complicated by the unplanned pregnancy of Napolean’s granddaughter who was sent to live with Iddrisu’s family. As the new patriarch grapples with tradition and familial duty, he is met with varying shades of contempt by both family and villagers who compare him with his father expecting a resemblance. Iddrisu’s patience and wisdom are tempered by the strange paradox created by his faith in God and desire for control, the latter of which he cannot have so long as he stays in Nakom. As circumstances swell, Iddrisu suddenly begins to realize that no future for him exists in the place where he is needed the most, even despite an offer by the village Chieftain to remain in Nakom to become an elder and marry his daughter. [gallery size="medium" type="rectangular" ids="20737,20738,20746,20745,20744,20743,20742,20741,20740,20739"]
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Watch First Official Trailer for Irish Coming of Age Comedy HANDSOME DEVIL
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HANDSOME DEVIL[/caption]
Here is the first official trailer for Handsome Devil, an Irish funny, music-drenched coming-of-age story set in an elite Dublin rugby school from writer-director John Butler. Handsome Devil which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival stars Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Spectre) alongside rising stars Fionn O’Shea and Nicholas Galitzine.
Heading up a cast of bright new talent is Fionn O’Shea as gawky, sixteen year-old Ned, a bright, artistic lad who faces his own hell on earth when he is sent to an all-boys Irish boarding school where the manly pursuit of rugby is virtually a religion. He steels himself for the loneliness, ridicule and constant insinuations about his sexuality. Everything changes with the arrival of his new roommate Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a star player in the rugby team, and inspirational English teacher Dan Sherry (Sherlock and Spectre star Andrew Scott). Ned and Conor bond over a mutual appreciation of cool music and an unlikely friendship blossoms and faces unbearable pressures from a school grimly attached to its narrow macho values.
A music-mad 16-year-old outcast at rugby-mad boarding school forms an unlikely friendship with his dashing new roommate, in this funny and observant coming-of-age tale from Irish novelist and filmmaker John Butler.
This tender look at the travails of teenage life is the story of the worst thing Ned (Fionn O’Shea) ever did. It’s also the story of the best thing that ever happened to Ned. With his dyed hair, willowy build, and penchant for sexually ambivalent pop and rock from generations past, 16-year-old Ned has never fit in at the rugby-mad boarding school his father insists he attend. Determined to simply keep his nose down and weather another year of loneliness and bullying, Ned is pleasantly surprised when he develops a friendship with his dashing new roommate, Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a rugby virtuoso with issues of his own. The boys bond over music and start to practice guitar together. At the encouragement of their English teacher (Andrew Scott), Ned and Conor enter a talent show at a local girls’ school. As both talent show and rugby season loom, however, the pressure on Conor to choose between manly athletic discipline and more artistic pursuits threatens to tear him apart — while Ned is increasingly tempted to betray Conor’s trust in order to save his own skin. Toronto International Film Festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j1i94L8PMk
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Berlinale 2017: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Spanish Trans Drama A FANTASTIC WOMAN
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A Fantastic Woman (Una Mujer Fantástica)[/caption]
Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio’s trans drama A Fantastic Woman (“Una Mujer Fantástica”) has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for release in North America, Australia and New Zealand. The film starring Daniela Vega and Francisco Reyes, will have its world premiere at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival.
Daniela Vega plays Marina, a waitress and singer, and Francisco Reyes plays Orlando, an older man, who is in love with Marina, and planning for the future. After Orlando suddenly falls ill and dies, Marina is forced to confront his family and society.
Marina and Orlando are in love and plan to spend their lives together. She is working as a waitress and adores singing. Her lover, twenty years her senior, has left his family for her. One night, when they return home after having exuberantly celebrated Marina’s birthday at a restaurant, Orlando suddenly turns deathly pale and stops responding. At the hospital, all the doctors can do is confirm his death. Events follow thick and fast: Marina finds herself facing a female police inspector’s unpleasant questions, and Orlando’s family shows her nothing but anger and mistrust. Orlando’s wife excludes Marina from the funeral; she also orders her to leave the apartment – which on paper at least belonged to Orlando – as soon as possible. Marina is a transgender woman. The deceased’s family feels threatened by her sexual identity. With the same energy she once used to fight for her right to live as a woman Marina, with head held high, now insists on her right to grieve. Even if her environment conspires against her, the film at least is entirely on her side, showing us a protagonist who, although increasingly side-lined, is nonetheless strong and worldly-wise – a truly fantastic woman.
“I’m thrilled Sony Pictures Classics will be releasing ‘A Fantastic Woman,’ and am excited by their passion for Marina’s story,” Lelio said in a statement. “The story is one of great human strength, which I hope will invite and challenge audiences to explore the limits of their own empathy. For me, Marina is an inspiration.”
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French Erotic Thriller SEX DOLLS Opens in Theaters on Friday, February 10 | Trailer
Check out the trailer for the French erotic thriller SEX DOLLS starring César Award winner Hafsia Herzi. The film, written and directed by Sylvie Verheyde, and co-starring Ash Stymest, Karole Rocher, Paul Hamy, opens in theaters – in New York at the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood – on VOD Friday February 10th.
A high-priced call girl navigates the shadowy world of London’s sex trade underground in this provocative, erotic thriller. Virginie (César Award winner Hafsia Herzi) goes about her work as a prostitute with a cool detachment, trading sex with wealthy businessmen for money, but never getting emotionally involved. That all changes when she meets Rupert (Ash Stymest), an enigmatic stranger with unclear intentions. Risking everything, Virginie plunges into a dangerous affair that tears her between a ruthless madame who forbids romantic attachments and a dark, sexy man who could be her savior or her downfall.
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South African Film THE WOUND to Open the Panorama Program of Berlin International Film Festival
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The Wound, John Trengove[/caption]
Just after celebrating its selection to have its world premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the film-makers of the South African film The Wound, have received news that the film has been selected to open the Berlin International Film Festival’s Panorama section in February 2017.
Produced by Urucu Media, directed by John Trengove and co-written by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu , The Wound stars multi-talented musician and novelist, Nakhane Touré in his acting debut, with Bongile Mantsai and Niza Jay Ncoyini.
The Wound tells the story Xolani, a lonely Xhosa factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.
Speaking from Cape Town, producer Elias Ribeiro said “We could not have wished for a stronger start for The Wound. We will have the spotlight in the two top festivals in North America and Europe, and that bodes well for its future, as Pyramide, our International Sales Agents will be representing the film at their booth inside the European Film Market in Berlin in February.”
“The fabrication of masculinity has long been a consistent theme in Panorama,” said the statement from the festival. “Producer Elias Ribeiro previously delighted festival audiences in Panorama 2015 with Necktie Youth.”
John Trengove commented: “I was interested in what happens when groups of men come together and organize themselves outside of society and the codes of their everyday lives. I wanted to show the intense emotional and physical exchanges that are possible in these spaces and how repressing strong feelings leads to a kind of toxicity and violence. As an outsider to this culture, it was important that I approach this story from the perspective of characters who are themselves outsiders, who struggle to conform to the status quo of which they are part.”