The short film “Tokyo Project,” starring Elisabeth Moss, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Shu Kakizawa, explores a mysterious romance between two strangers. The film, written And directed By Richard Shepard, had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, and will debuts Saturday, October 14, on HBO.
Sebastian (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is on a business trip to Tokyo. Handsome and hip, he represents a high-end Brooklyn men’s grooming product company that has been successful in Japan. But there’s a sadness in Sebastian that’s not hard to notice, a past that’s haunting him. He’s also a film nerd, fascinated by Tokyo’s visual splendor and its rich cinematic history. Sebastian is also fascinated by Claire (Elisabeth Moss), a beautiful and mysterious woman he keeps running into, first at a noodle shop, and later at a hidden jewel of a sake bar.
There’s clearly something between them. Claire is a photographer, and roams the rich streets of this amazing city in search of images that will linger. Like Sebastian, there’s more to her than meets the eye – a haunted sadness that proves an undeniable attraction for him. “Tokyo is a city of ghosts,” she says.
Out with Shu (Shu Kakizawa), his local business partner, Sebastian reveals what is haunting him. He and his wife lost a child, and many months later are barely hanging on as a couple. Shu jokes that after all this time Sebastian should have an affair with a stranger. “It’s easier with strangers. No history,” Shu says. His idea lingers in Sebastian’s mind, as he’s already intrigued with Claire.
So begins an erotic, highly charged night between two Americans in a foreign land. But all is not what it seems. Truth is fiction, and fiction the new reality. And though the film has a haunted feel, this intimate story is also hopeful. Tokyo may be a city of ghosts, but it’s also a mysterious, romantic city of rebirth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8k576d4nkgFilms
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Short Film TOKYO PROJECT Starring Elisabeth Moss to Debut on HBO | Trailer
The short film “Tokyo Project,” starring Elisabeth Moss, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Shu Kakizawa, explores a mysterious romance between two strangers. The film, written And directed By Richard Shepard, had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, and will debuts Saturday, October 14, on HBO.
Sebastian (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is on a business trip to Tokyo. Handsome and hip, he represents a high-end Brooklyn men’s grooming product company that has been successful in Japan. But there’s a sadness in Sebastian that’s not hard to notice, a past that’s haunting him. He’s also a film nerd, fascinated by Tokyo’s visual splendor and its rich cinematic history. Sebastian is also fascinated by Claire (Elisabeth Moss), a beautiful and mysterious woman he keeps running into, first at a noodle shop, and later at a hidden jewel of a sake bar.
There’s clearly something between them. Claire is a photographer, and roams the rich streets of this amazing city in search of images that will linger. Like Sebastian, there’s more to her than meets the eye – a haunted sadness that proves an undeniable attraction for him. “Tokyo is a city of ghosts,” she says.
Out with Shu (Shu Kakizawa), his local business partner, Sebastian reveals what is haunting him. He and his wife lost a child, and many months later are barely hanging on as a couple. Shu jokes that after all this time Sebastian should have an affair with a stranger. “It’s easier with strangers. No history,” Shu says. His idea lingers in Sebastian’s mind, as he’s already intrigued with Claire.
So begins an erotic, highly charged night between two Americans in a foreign land. But all is not what it seems. Truth is fiction, and fiction the new reality. And though the film has a haunted feel, this intimate story is also hopeful. Tokyo may be a city of ghosts, but it’s also a mysterious, romantic city of rebirth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8k576d4nkg
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VIDEO: Watch “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” Trailer Starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)[/caption]
Writer/Director Noah Baumbach brings razor-sharp humor and bittersweet heart to his latest film The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Marvel, Grace Van Patten and Emma Thompson.
An Official Selection of Cannes Film Festival 2017, the film will make its North American premiere at this year’s New York Film Festival. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) will launch on Netflix and in select theaters on October 13.
From writer/director Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) is the emotional and comic intergenerational tale of adult siblings (Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, and Elizabeth Marvel) contending with the long shadow their strong-willed father (Dustin Hoffman) has cast over their lives. With an original screenplay by Baumbach, the film also stars Emma Thompson, Grace Van Patten, Adam Driver, Candice Bergen, Judd Hirsch, and Rebecca Miller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYzFieit8dI
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SXSW Grand Jury Winner MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND Sets November Release Date
Most Beautiful Island is a psychological thriller set in the world of undocumented female immigrants hoping to make a life in New York City.
The film written and directed by Ana Asensio; and starring Ana Asensio, Natasha Romanova, David Little, Nicholas Tucci, Larry Fessenden, and Caprice Benedetti, is the winner of SXSW 2017 – Grand Jury Prize.
Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films will release Most Beautiful Island in select cities on November 3rd.
Shot on Super 16mm with an intimate, voyeuristic sensibility, Most Beautiful Island chronicles one harrowing day in the life of Luciana, a young immigrant woman struggling to make ends meet while striving to escape her past. As Luciana’s day unfolds, she is whisked, physically and emotionally, through a series of troublesome and unforeseeable extremes.
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YOU DISAPPEAR is Denmark’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | TRAILER
Peter Schønau Fog’s drama “You Disappear” has been selected as Denmark’s official entry to the Foreign Language Film category at the 2018 Academy Awards.
The film was chosen from a shortlist of three titles that also comprised Henrik Ruben Genz’ “Word of God” and Fenar Ahmad’s “Darkland.”
Peter Schønau Fog’s drama is based on Danish writer Christian Jungersen’s bestselling novel. Mia is married to the successful headmaster Frederik who is caught embezzling from his own school. But did he do this of his own free will – or has his personality been altered by the tumour lurking in his brain? The film is a story about the challenges we face as neuroscience forces us to rethink what we are as human beings.
“You Disappear” made its international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, where critics emphasized Trine Dyrholm and Nikolaj Lie Kaas’ “powerful” and “moving” performances as Mia and Frederik. The cast also features Mikkel Boe Følsgaard and the late Michael Nyqvist.
“You Disappear” is Schønau Fog’s second film after his critically acclaimed feature debut “The Art of Crying” (2007), which was also selected for the Toronto Film Festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf4kORjB04w&t=30s
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Six Documentary Films Win 2017 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund Awards
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The Feeling of Being Watched[/caption]
SFFILM announced the six winners of the 2017 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund awards totaling $125,000, which support feature-length documentaries in postproduction.
Assia Boundaoui’s The Feeling of Being Watched, RaMell Ross’ Hale County, This Morning, This Evening, Leslie Tai’s How to Have an American Baby, Luke Lorentzen’s Midnight Family, Heaven Through the Back Door by Anna Fitch and Banker White, and A Machine to Live In by Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke, were each awarded significant funding that will help push them towards completion.
The SFFILM Documentary Film Fund has an excellent track record for championing important films that have gone on to earn great acclaim. Previous DFF winners include Peter Nicks’s The Force, which won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for documentary and SFFILM Festival’s Bay Area Documentary Award, and will be released this fall by Kino Lorber; Peter Bratt’s Dolores, which won the 2017 SFFILM Festival Audience Award for Documentary Feature following its Sundance premiere; Jamie Meltzer’s True Conviction, which won a Special Jury Mention for Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival; and Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer, which won Sundance’s Directing Award for documentary and was nominated for the 2014 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature; among many others.
Since its launch in 2011, the SFFILM Documentary Film Fund has distributed nearly half a million dollars to advance new work by filmmakers nationwide. The 2017 Documentary Film Fund is made possible thanks to an expanded gift from the Jenerosity Foundation.
The panelists who reviewed the ten finalists’ submissions are Jennifer Battat, founder of the Jenerosity Foundation; Noah Cowan, SFFILM Executive Director; Caroline von Kühn, Director of Artist Development at SFFILM; Jenny Slattery, Associate Director of Foundations and Artist Development at SFFILM and independent producer Corey Tong.
“We are thrilled to support these six filmmaking teams, each of which is telling an important story with boldness and passion,” remarked the jury. “This group of projects represents a wide range of artistic visions, subjects, and approaches to nonfiction filmmaking—from the intimate portrayal of an independent woman’s last days to an arresting journey into the surreal, futuristic city of Brasilia. We very much look forward to supporting these films as they evolve, make their way into the world, and leave their imprint on audiences, fellow filmmakers, and our collective sense of what can be achieved through the documentary form.”
2017 DOCUMENTARY FILM FUND WINNERS
The Feeling of Being Watched – Assia Boundaoui, director/producer; Jessica Devaney, producer – $25,000 When a filmmaker investigates rumors of surveillance in her Arab-American neighborhood in Chicago, she uncovers one of the largest FBI terrorism probes conducted before 9/11 and reveals its enduring impact on the community. Hale County, This Morning, This Evening – RaMell Ross, director; Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim, producers – $15,000 What is the experience of coming-of-age in the Black Belt region of the US? This film presents the lives of two young men in a series of visual movements that replace narrative arc with orchestral form. Heaven Through the Back Door – Anna Fitch and Banker White, co-director/producers; Sara Dosa, producer – $20,000 Heaven Through the Backdoor is a contemplative documentary that tells the story of Yo (Yolanda Shae), a fiercely independent 88-year old woman whose unique brand of individualist feminism impacts how she chooses to live in the final years of her life. (Former SFFILM FilmHouse resident; Bay Area-based project) How to Have an American Baby – Leslie Tai, director/producer; Jillian Schultz, co-producer – $20,000 There is a city in Southern California that abounds with pregnant women from China. Told through multiple perspectives, How to Have an American Baby is a kaleidoscopic voyage behind the closed doors of the Chinese birth tourism industry. (SFFILM FilmHouse resident; SFFILM fiscally sponsored filmmaker; Bay Area-based project) A Machine to Live In – Yoni Goldstein and Meredith Zielke, co-directors; Sebastian Alvarez, producer; Andrew Benz, co-producer – $20,000 Hovering over what remains of Brazil’s modernist future, this film looks at how social control, rational design, and space-age architecture gave rise to a vast landscape of transcendental and mystical utopias. (Bay Area-based project) Midnight Family – Luke Lorentzen, director; Kellen Quinn, producer; Daniela Alatorre,and Elena Fortes, co-producers – $25,000 In Mexico City, 16-year-old Juan Ochoa struggles to legitimize his family’s unlicensed ambulance business, as corrupt police in the neighborhood begin to target this cutthroat industry.
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NewFest Announces Lineup + Spotlight Screening of PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN
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Professor Marston and the Wonder Women[/caption]
NewFest, announced the full 2017 lineup featuring more than 140 LGBT narrative features, documentaries, episodic series and shorts.
This year’s festival will feature a Spotlight Screening & Conversation presentation of Angela Robinson’s PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN, the story of how the superhero Wonder Woman came to be and the secret life of her creator, Dr. William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans), his wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Hall) and their lover Olive (Bella Heathcote). The screening will be followed by a conversation on bisexuality and polyamory with director Angela Robinson and guests to be announced.
New feature-length work includes narratives DISCREET from Travis Mathews (INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR), Canadian entry PORCUPINE LAKE from Ingrid Veninger (THE ANIMAL PROJECT) and the BBC-produced AGAINST THE LAW from Fergus O’Brien, documentaries MY WONDERFUL WEST BERLIN from German filmmaker Jochen Hick (THE GOOD AMERICAN), OUT OF ORDER from Amanda Bluglass (VIVA) and BONES OF CONTENTION from Emmy-winner Andrea Weiss (U.N. Fever). The festival also includes exciting premieres of debut features such as FREAK SHOW from Trudie Styler, starring Bette Midler, Abigail Breslin, AnnaSophia Robb, Laverne Cox, John McEnroe and Larry Pine, ONE LAST THING from Tim Rouhana, starring Wendall Pierce (THE WIRE) and Jurnee Smollet, as well as Jennifer Gerber’s THE REVIVAL, Mike Roma’s DATING MY MOTHER, Samantha Lee’s MAYBE TOMORROW, Gail Freedman’s HOT TO TROT, and Lara Embry and Carolyn Sherer’s ALABAMA BOUND, among
others.
Rounding out the US Narrative offerings are Christopher Schaap’s PROM KING, 2010, David Berry’s SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER, William Sullivan’s THE RING THING, Jenée LaMarque‘s THE FEELS, Albert Alarr’s A MILLION HAPPY NOWS and Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s THEY, while Itako’s BOYS FOR SALE, Paul Oremland’s 100 MEN, Jeffrey Schwarz’s THE FABULOUS ALLAN CARR, Tristan Milewski’s DREAM BOAT and Arshad Khan’s ABU complete the feature length documentary entries.
The remaining International narratives include Marília Hughes and Guerreiro Cláudio Marques’ THE CITY OF THE FUTURE (Brazil), Carlos Lechuga’s SANTA & ANDRES (Cuba), Darren Thornton’s A DATE FOR MAD MARY (Ireland), Victor Villanueva’s JESUS IS DEAD (the Philippines, East Coast Premiere), Joselito Altarejos’ TALE OF THE LOST BOYS (Taiwan, the Philippines, North American Premiere), Lokesh Kumar’s MY SON IS GAY (India, North American Premiere), Nicolas Videla’s THE DEVIL’S MAGNIFICENT (Chile, International Premiere) and Nils-Erik Ekblom’s SCREWED (Finland).
Through the film selection process this year’s event, the festival’s programming team chose to highlight several themes, including the history of LGBT activism in New York City, the global condition of LGBT communities and the ways in which different generations of LGBT artists, activists and storytellers influence each other by looking both backwards and forward in time.
To that end, they chose to program a Legacy section of shorts entitled Out of the Archive: Queer New York, containing 7 short films spanning the past 50 years of LGBT filmmaking, including a 2010 short documentary from Ira Sachs comprised of footage of the exteriors of houses where New York artists were living when they died of AIDS; QUEENS AT HEART, a short doc about two pre-Stonewall transgender women; and I NEVER DANCED THE WAY GIRLS WERE SUPPOSED TO, Dawn Suggs’ mediation on black lesbian subjectivity.
The Legacy feature is Hettie Macdonald’s 1996 narrative feature BEAUTIFUL THING. Two decades after its initial release, the film still stands as one of the most poignant and honest depictions of the coming-out process ever presented on screen, and represents this year’s festival’s theme of self-expression.
This year’s lineup of 97 new LGBT shorts have been divided into thematic programs, as follows: DRAWN THIS WAY: QUEER ANIMATION; YOUNG, QUEER & WOKE; THE QUEER RESISTANCE; MILITARY SHORTS; BEYOND THE BINARY; FAITH AND FURY; GIRLS SHORTS; BOYS SHORTS; QUEER + POSITIVE; and EXPERIMENTS IN SEX, LOVE & GENDER
The 2017 NewFest runs from October 19 to 24 at the SVA Theatre, Cinépolis Chelsea, and The LGBT Community Center in New York City.
2017 NewFest Feature Film Lineup:
Opening Night Film & Party Susanne Bartsch: On Top New York Premiere Dir. Anthony & Alex, USA, 2017, 84 mins A mesmerizingly expressive portrait of a fiercely individual New York counterculture icon, SUSANNE BARTSCH: ON TOP candidly captures the titular “Queen of the Night” and patron saint of LGBTQ inclusion and advocacy with a commanding voice and sharp wit, much like its subject. More than just a tribute to the “Queen of the Night” and staunch LGBTQ advocate, this dynamic debut from directing duo Anthony&Alex captures the essence of Bartsch’s everyday balance between compassion and control. As Bartsch prepares for an FIT exhibit of her nightlife fashions, she faces the challenges of a changing New York City landscape (as well as the construction within her homestead of many decades, the iconic Chelsea Hotel) while reconciling how her legacy lives on today. Her ability to bring communities together while promoting LGBT rights and self-expression reached its apex with the star-studded Love Ball in 1989, which she hosted to raise money to fight AIDS and celebrated the Harlem Vogue scene before “Paris is Burning” was released. And she continues to gather and inspire multi-generational crowds at her parties to this day. Featuring superstars and LGBTQ nightlife luminaries RuPaul, Simon Doonan, Michael Musto, and Amanda Lepore, this dazzling documentary homecoming for a living icon who has unapologetically been a champion for all things New York and queer. The screening will be followed by a talkback with Anthony&Alex and Susanne Bartsch, and moderated by Michael Musto. New York Centerpiece Film After Louie New York City Premiere Dir. Vincent Gagliostro, USA, 2017, 100mins Sam (Alan Cumming) is an artist and activist from ACT UP who lived through the early years of HIV/AIDS, struggling with survivor’s guilt. He’s bewildered by the younger generation of gay men, until he meets the seductive Braeden (Zachary Booth, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON) at a bar late one night. Their pants quickly come down and, eventually, so does Sam’s guard. An intergenerational relationship blossoms between them—reawakening Sam’s artistic soul and reviving his wilted heart. Beyond the beautifully evocative performances and setting, Vincent Gagliostro’s AFTER LOUIE is a love letter to New York City: engaging its rich backdrop while honoring the history of the gay rights movement and the progress that’s been made–reconciling the past so we as a community can look forward to the future. International Centerpiece Film God’s Own Country New York Premiere Dir. Francis Lee, United Kingdom, 2017, 104 mins Gritty yet tender, austere yet beautiful, carnal yet romantic–GOD’S OWN COUNTRY is masterfully directed with powerful focus and authenticity by first-time feature filmmaker Francis Lee. Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) is an overworked 25-year-old sheep farmer who feels as though life has already passed him by. He whiles away the time with drunken hookups in his small community in Northern England. When his ailing father takes a turn for the worse, handsome Romanian migrant Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) is brought in to assist Johnny. Although Johnny resents Gheorghe at first, the two are quickly drawn to each other, and during an excursion to the highlands, they forge an even deeper connection. Winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Directing Award for its beautiful depiction of the English countryside—this assured new milestone marks a bold new epoch in textured, LGBTQ storytelling. Closing Night Film & Party Becks Following a NYC to LA cross country move that ends in a breakup, singer-songwriter Becks (Lena Hall, a Tony Winner for Hedwig and the Angry Inch) returns to her Midwestern hometown, reluctantly moving back in with her mom. The time-warp sensation of being back in her childhood home is interrupted by an unexpected whirlwind affair with self-proclaimed “lonely housewife” Elyse (tenderly played with exceeding warmth by Mena Suvari) whom finds inspired new life through the guitar lessons and generous spirit Becks provides. This electrifyingly effusive film from co-directors Daniel Powell and Elizabeth Rohrbaugh features strong supporting turns by Dan Fogler as her old classmate-turned-drinking-buddy and Christine Lahti as Becks’ former nun mother who is still coming to terms with her daughter’s homosexuality. But it’s Lena Hall, who contributed original songs to the film and delivers a beautifully assured, live-in performance that makes BECKS really sing. Special live acoustic performance by Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee Lena Hall, the star of BECKS.US NARRATIVE
A Million Happy Nows New York Premiere Dir. Albert Alarr, USA, 2016, 80mins FilmOut Festival Award, FilmOut San Diego Concerned by her difficulty memorizing lines, veteran actress Lainey (Crystal Chappell), decides not to renew her soap opera contract. After a visit to the doctor, she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and Lainey and her longtime partner Eva (Jessica Leccia) must now learn how to navigate this unexpected terrain and make the most of their time together. Chronicling Lainey’s illness and their unconditional love, the film provides a million reasons why we all need to appreciate love to the fullest. Dating My Mother New York Premiere Dir. Mike Roma, US, 2016, 84 min Freshly out of college with a liberal arts degree and without employment and romance, Danny spends his days in suburban New Jersey aimlessly browsing dating apps or knocking back red wine. His mother, Joan (Kathryn Erbe, Law & Order: Criminal Intent ), is also looking to strike up romance for the first time since Danny’s father passed away. Drawing insightful and hilarious parallels between the two generations’ dating routines and varying levels of confidence, this sweet and spiky comedy also features delightful supporting turns by G.B.F.’s Paul Iacono and the always reliably funny Kathy Najimy. Discreet New York Premiere Dir. Travis Mathews, US, 2017, 80 mins The director of I WANT YOUR LOVE and INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. returns with another provocative feature pushing buttons and envelopes. Filmmaker Alex wanders the rural countryside, listening to hate-filled talk radio and indulging in anonymous sex in video booths. After an uncomfortable visit with his mother, Alex seeks a figure from his past, slowly dying in a mysterious compound far from society. This blistering exploration of trauma reverberates from childhood to adulthood, offering neither easy answers nor simple explanations. Freak Show New York Premiere Dir. Trudie Styler, US, 2017, 95 mins, Teenager Billy Bloom (Alex Lawther, THE IMITATION GAME) learned fabulousness at the feet of his larger-than-life Muvv (Bette Midler). But when he’s shipped off to live with his conservative father (Larry Pine), Billy’s classmates at Ulysses S. Grant Academy don’t know what to make of this flamboyant newcomer and his seemingly endless array of colorful ensembles (with matching makeup). After being severely bullied, Billy bounces back with the help of his new friends, sensitive jock Flip (Ian Nelson, THE HUNGER GAMES) and the loquacious BlahBlahBlah (AnnaSophia Robb). Eventually, our glamorous hero decides to wave his freak flag as high as he can by running for homecoming queen, even if that means facing off against Bible-thumping mean girl Lynette (Abigail Breslin). Based on the novel by James St. James, the film features a superb ensemble cast, including Laverne Cox, Celia Weston, and Willa Fitzgerald (MTV’s SCREAM). It’s a charming coming-of-age tale—as witty and as fearless as its protagonist—that celebrates the outsider within us all. One Last Thing World Premiere Dir. Tim Rouhana, US, 2016, 92 mins A middle-aged dentist in Florida receives some unexpected news that upends his peaceful routine and sends him on a life-altering journey of discovery. Doctor Dylan Derringer (Wendell Pierce, THE WIRE) is content with his solitary life, but when a figure from his past re-emerges with information, Dylan drops everything to find Lucy (Jurnee Smollett), the twenty-five year old daughter he didn’t know he had. This African American family drama dares to crush cultural taboos with a heart-warming story of LGBTQ acceptance. Prom King 2010 New York Premiere Dir. Christopher Schaap, United States, 2017, 102 mins New Vision Award, Feature Film, 2017 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Charlie, a 20-year-old movie-crazy college student, is looking for love in New York City, and having trouble reconciling the harsh realities of modern dating with the romantic ideals of the classic romantic films he idolizes. First-time director and star Christopher Schaap imbues Charlie with a recognizable honesty and vulnerability. Featuring strong widescreen location photography and an engaging cast, this feel-good romance is a genuine charmer. Something Like Summer New York Premiere Dir. David Berry, US, 2017, 115 mins Audience Award, Best First Narrative Feature, FilmOut San Diego Benjamin is an out-of-the-closet theater kid, while Tim is the hunky town jock. When Benjamin discovers his attraction to Tim is reciprocated, this delightfully musical tale takes off. The boys’ relationship spans years, encapsulating all of the delirious highs and painful lows of young love. This crowd-pleaser brings a beloved series of YA novels to life as these two young men explore the complex lines between being friends, lovers, and strangers. The Feels East Coast Premiere Dir. Jenée LaMarque , US, 2017, 90 mins Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film, Outfest LA Two brides-to-be (Angela Trimbur and FRESH OFF THE BOAT’S Constance Wu) throw a joint bachelorette party that ends up calling their whole relationship into question. Equal parts laughs, tears, and introspection, this modern take on a romantic comedy unravels the secrets that can plague even the strongest relationship. Outstanding performances and an earnest script make up the heart of this crazy-enjoyable film. The Revival East Coast Premiere Jennifer Gerber, US, 2017, 84 mins, When Eli begins preaching at his father’s old church, he is desperate to open the minds of the fire-and-brimstone congregation. His plans are quickly derailed when he strikes up a relationship with a fascinating drifter (played by Zachary Booth, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON). Tensions soon come to a head, with simmering resentments and repressed emotions all leading to a revival that will shake this sleepy Arkansas town to its core. The Ring Thing New York Premiere Dir. William C. Sullivan, US, 2017, 106 mins Real-life chemistry plays a huge role in this romantic drama about what happens in a relationship when a woman proposes to her girlfriend by accident. Peppered with real-life interviews from couples in the LGBTQ community, this story explores what it means to be in a partnership and how those connections change (or not!) when marriage is added to the mix. You’ll leave the theater reexamining what it means to be committed to your partner and committed to yourself. They New York City Premiere Dir. Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, US/Qatar, 2017, 80 min Fourteen-year-old J lingers somewhere between a state of suspended animation and arrested development. Asked to be referred to as “they,” J has quietly been taking hormone blockers for some time in order to delay the onset of puberty, while they contemplate whether to live an adult life as a female or a male. With a visit to the doctor imminent, J is joined in their Chicago suburb by their sister Lauren and her Iranian Boyfriend Araz, who bring in their own set of identity problems, as Araz struggles with his life as an immigrant living so far away from his homeland. Executive Produced by Jane Campion, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s THEY is a delicate and intimate look at the struggles of living a life in limbo.INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE
A Date For Mad Mary New York City Premiere Dir. Darren Thornton, Ireland, 2016, 82 mins Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards – Won Breakthrough Award – Irish Mary’s charms are undeniable in this Irish coming-of-age portrayal of the angsty path from youth to womanhood. Mary has just been released from a six-month prison stint for a drunken bar fight. Her best friend Charlene is now getting married and wants to keep Mary at a distance, alienating her from their circle of friends. An encounter with a queer musician changes Mary’s perspective and awakens her romantic spirit. Filmmaker Darren Thornton’s first feature is warm and instantly relatable. Against The Law New York Premiere Dir. Fergus O’Brien, United Kingdom, 2017, 85 mins Featuring a stunning mixture of biopic and documentary elements, this BBC-produced hybrid drama draws the historical line between 1950s gay repression in the UK and the process through which homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967–and received raves when it World Premiered as the Opening Night Gala of BFI Flare: London’s LGBT Film Festival. This affecting and alarming film cuts between the story of journalist and gay rights activist Peter Wildeblood (Daniel Mays), who was galvanized by the infamous 1954 trial that targeted and outed his friends, and real-life interviews with gay men who lived through this dark but not forgotten period in UK’s history. Jesus Is Dead East Coast Premiere Dir. Victor Villanueva, the Philippines, 2016, 84 mins QCinema International Film Festival 2016 – Won Gender Sensitivity Award Iyay, an exhausted and weary single-mother of three, crams her reluctant children — transman Jude, dancer with Down Syndrome Bert, and non-achiever Jay — into her debilitated multicab, and together they take to the road in order to attend the funeral of their estranged patriarch. Gaining and losing an assortment of misfits and oddballs along the way, the family’s solemn journey quickly turns frenzied and uproarious as each new character adds a new dimension of humor and profound insight to their familial plight. Director Victor Villanueva delivers a heartwarming and utterly distinctive take on the family road trip film, reminiscent of the delightfully melancholic Little Miss Sunshine, while imbuing it with his own idiosyncratic, queer flourishes. Maybe Tomorrow East Coast Premiere Dir. Samantha Lee, Philippines, 2016, 84 mins, Alex is unapologetically out to everyone—the execs who want to remove the queer content from her TV pitch, her overbearing mom, her catty photographer friends—except to her BFF Jess, an up-and-coming TV starlet with whom she also happens to be madly in love. But when Alex’s secret is accidentally revealed, both girls are forced to confront their feelings and navigate the complications of their new relationship in Samantha Lee’s fun and flirtatious debut feature. My Son Is Gay North American Premiere Dir Lokesh Kumar, India, 2017, 105 mins In this moving Bollywood melodrama, Varun comes out to his best friend’s mother. When the news reaches his own mom Lakshmi, she rejects it, in disbelief that the perfect son she so adores could ever be gay. What follows is a portrayal of the entrenched prejudice that the LGBTQ community still face in India today. With Section 377, the law criminalizing same-sex relationships, currently under review by the courts, this is a timely and important take on queer rights and a test of a mother’s love for her son. Porcupine Lake East Coast Premiere Dir. Ingrid Veninger, Canada, 2017, 84 mins Bea (Charlotte Salisbury) has recently moved from Toronto to a quiet cottage in rural Ontario. Lonely and isolated, Bea finds solace when she befriends the elusive and alluring local-girl, Kate (Lucinda Armstrong Hall). The two girls forge an immediate bond as they both struggle to cope with their bewilderment at the volatility and chaos of their home lives and inner-worlds. In her sixth feature film, Ingrid Veninger depicts with candor and grace two girls dangling on the edge of adulthood, enjoy a fleeting summer of adventure and self-discovery. Santa & Andres New York Premiere Dir. Carlos Lechuga, Cuba, Columbia, 2016, 105 mins Guadalajara International Film Festival 2017 – 2nd Place – PREMIO MAGUEY – Best Feature Film Cuba, 1981: For many, the wounds of the revolution have begun to heal, although there are still those who refuse to be compliant with the regime’s silencing of intellectuals and LGBTQ people. Gay writer Andrés spends three days under house arrest, supervised by young revolutionary Santa, who knows nothing of life away from the countryside. During this brief period, the pair form an unpredictable bond. Subtle and moving, yet boldly political and provocative, this is a story of day-to-day lives affected by sweeping change. Screwed New York City Premiere Dir. Nils-Erik Ekblom, Finland, 2017, 100 mins To celebrate the start of summer, 17-year-old Miku throws a wild party at his parent’s house, which turns destructive quickly. As punishment, Miku is forced to spend the rest of his summer with his provincial family at their secluded country cottage. In the rolling, pastoral Finnish countryside, Miku meets the alluring Elias. The two spend their summer inseparable, discovering themselves, their sexuality, and each other. The City Of The Future New York Premiere Dir: Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes, Brazil, 2016, 75 mins In a remote part of Brazil, the triad of Mila, Igor, and Gilmar are determined to break away and form their own nontraditional family, defying the definitions that society has attempted to impose on them. As they prepare for the birth of their child, the three contemplate their intertwining relationships. Cláudio Marques and Marília Hughes Guerreiro have boldly collaborated on a naturalistic film that shuns convention, instead embracing love in all its dazzling iterations. Tale of the Lost Boys North American Premiere Dir. Joselito Altarejos, Taiwan, the Philippines, 2016, 81 mins Alex, a Filipino mechanic, and Jerry, a Taiwanese aborigine student meet randomly in a Taipei bar and a casual conversation develops into a surprising personal connection. Both realize that they yearn for a deeper relationship with their mothers, since Alex’s abandoned him for a new family, while Jerry is afraid that his will reject him for being gay. An impromptu road trip leads to experiences that will forever redefine their identities… The Devil Is Magnificent (International Premiere) International Premiere Dir. Nicolas Videla, Chile, 2016, 68 mins Exhausted by the difficulties of her life in the often-inhospitable Paris, Manu, a thirty-three year old trans immigrant, resigns to return to his native Chile after 10 years in France. In the days leading up to her departure, Manu’s platonic friend Daniel proposes marriage with the intention of solving her visa issues. Manu strongly considers the offer, but she’s wholly disheartened at the prospect of a life without love, romance, and sex. That is, until she meets a fellow foreigner who instills in her the hope for a romantic future.DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
100 Men East Coast Premiere Dir. Paul Oremland, 2017, New Zealand, 2017, 94 mins Kiwi director Paul Oremland tracks down 100 men he’s slept with in this personal, often humorous look at changing attitudes toward homosexuality over the past 40 years. Interviewed in New Zealand, England, and Poland, his eclectic subjects (including “Toilet Boy,” “Beach Boy,” and “Gary the Optician”) discuss coming out, AIDS, and gay marriage, acknowledging political gains even as some feel a sense of loss. Oremland’s journey brings him closer to these men, helping him realize he’s witnessing a revolution. A Womb Of Their Own East Coast Premiere Dir. Cyn Lubow, USA, 2016, 85 mins Depth of Field International Film Festival Competition – Won – Award of Exceptional Merit Considered the exclusive domain of the female experience, pregnancy is generally viewed as the pinnacle of womanhood. But what happens when the act of being pregnant falls outside of the feminine and into a womb of its own? Exploring the experience of pregnancy among a group of diverse masculine-of-center-identified people, this documentary questions what it means to be pregnant and give birth as a masculine person, broadening our understanding of gender, sexuality, and parenthood. Abu East Coast Premiere Dir. Arshad Khan, Canada, 2017, 80 mins An intimately open and dazzling visual memoir about the complex dynamic the filmmaker has with his father, who was at once extremely modern and also rigidly traditional and unaccepting of his son’s true self. Director Arshad Khan highlights the fascinating intersection between being gay and being an immigrant, as he weaves a dizzying, hypnotic tapestry of personal and familial acceptance by employing home video, animation, and Bollywood films to express his path to self-discovery. Alabama Bound East Coast Premiere Dir. Lara Embry and Carolyn Sherer, USA, 2017, 83 mins Exploring the legal roller-coaster ride of LGBTQ family rights in the American South, ALABAMA BOUND offers an intimate view into the lives of three Lesbian families in Alabama, including The only openly-gay Alabama State Legislator Patricia Todd, as they make waves in the legal system fighting for the rights of their children. Set along side the turning-point years when federal marriage equality was coming to a head in the courts, this riveting and powerful documentary tactfully imbues the viewer with hope and frustration as Patricia Todd leads the charge in next wave of the LGBTQ fight for equality: legal Non-Discrimination. Bones Of Contention East Coast Premiere Andrea Weiss, Spain and USA, 2017, 75 mins The brutal Franco dictatorship continues to haunt Spain—literally, as some 120,000 skeletons of the Fascist leader’s enemies were buried in unmarked graves all over the country. If one man has come to symbolize all of these desaparecidos, it’s legendary poet and playwright Federico Garcia-Lorca, whom this film calls “the first LGBT victim of the Franco regime.” Director Andrea Weiss examines the men and women (including the writer’s niece, Laura) who recall Spain’s homophobic past and seek to exhume it by finding these remains. Boys For Sale East Coast Premiere Dir. Itako, Japan, 2017, 76 mins L.A. Outfest, Fox Inclusion Outfest Feature Award In Tokyo’s Shinjuku district there are bars that specialize in “Urisen”, young guys who have sex with men. Featuring candid interviews and interspersed with animation detailing the awkward, sweet, and sometimes hilarious situations these sex workers experience, the boys for sale boldly tell their stories of life in the Tokyo underground. This doc is an illuminating look into a rarely seen world that tantalizingly shows the humanity of sex work. Dream Boat East Coast Premiere Dir. Tristan Milewski , Germany, 2017, 92 mins Decked from port to starboard in tops and bottoms, this cruise sets sail every year with leagues of gay men hungry to find their own slice of paradise on the open seas. Far from their families and political restrictions, we follow five men from five countries on a quest for connection. International waters provide the perfect platform to explore the ecstasy, agony, hopes, and dreams that bridge this community behind the bacchanalia, revealing a manifest rife with intersections between the diverse identities aboard, a brotherhood across borders. Hot to Trot New York Premiere Dir. Gail Freedman, US, 2017, 88 mins Set in the swinging setting of same-sex competitive ballroom dancing, this tremendously entertaining documentary highlights the culture and art of dance as it humanistically profiles the compelling stories of four international dancers. Filmed over three years, director Gail Freedman closely follows the tight ensemble as they face global and health issues, yet they find comfort and hope as they twirl past life’s obstacles with the utmost poise and confidence. Who will take home the top prize and move closest to the rhythm? The heat is on in more ways than one. This special screening will be followed by a live dance exhibition with subjects from the film My Wonderful West Berlin East Coast Premiere Dir. Jochen Hick, Germany 2017, 94 mins Jochen Hick’s My Wonderful West Berlin reveals, through a precise combination of archival footage and interviews with Berlin’s most notable LGBTQ artists and thinkers, the burgeouning queer community that developed and flourished in post-war West Berlin, despite homophobic laws and public prejudice. Through their collective memories, we see the city transform from having a spirited yet clandestine underground queer community the ‘60s, to the tepid embracing of the gay movements in the ‘70s, to the tragic overlooking of first the horrific AIDS epidemic in the ‘80s. My Wonderful West Berlin chronicles, with profound insight and uncharted access, the immense depths and rich history of the city’s LGBTQ people. Out Of Order New York Premiere Dir: Amanda Blueglass, USA, 2017, 60 mins This groundbreaking documentary reveals the complex and painful struggles faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer faith leaders as they confront entrenched bigotry, and build loving support within their churches. Due to a growing fear and suspicion toward LGBTQ individuals, many queer parishoners still feel unwelcome in their faith. But a new kind of spiritual leader is pushing for acceptance. Weaving between the personal journeys of queer faith leaders, we witness their tireless work to push for acceptance beyond the wedding chapel, in order to ensure that LGBTQ folks know that they are loved, not only by God but also by their fellow worshippers. The Fabulous Allan Carr East Coast Premiere Dir. Jeffrey Schwarz, USA, 2017, 90 mins Director Jeffrey Schwarz (VITO, I AM DIVINE) returns with this fascinating look at Allan Carr, one of the most extravagant Hollywood figures of the 1970s and 80s. The film charts Carr’s rise from talent manager to megastar producer of GREASE, before he perpetrated the box-office blunders CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC and GREASE 2, as well as the disastrous 1989 Academy Awards ceremony. Featuring new interviews and archival footage of Carr’s legendary parties, this portrait of a showbiz legend is both hilarious and deeply sympathetic.SPECIAL EVENTS
Spotlight Screening & Conversation Professor Marston & The Wonder Women Dir. Angela Robinson , USA, 2017, 104 mins In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, Angela Robinson’s entrancing film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940’s. While Marston’s feminist superhero was criticized by censors for her ‘sexual perversity’, he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston’s muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife Elizabeth Marston (Rebecca Hall) and their lover Olive Byrne (Bella Heathcote), two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behavior research — while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises. BiView: Bisexuality Representation in Media Panel Moderated by Eliel Cruz Join leading bisexual activist and journalist Eliel Cruz and a panel of special guests to discuss bisexuality–arguably the most underrepresented identity in the LGBTQ spectrum. Fresh from a nationwide speaking tour for Bisexual Awareness Week, Eliel will lead the panelists through conversations on the fluidity of sexual and romantic attraction, polyamory, as well as the erasure of bi stories in media and the tangible effects of biphobia on screen. Do filmmakers and content creators have a responsibility to tell positive bi stories, and what are the politics you should be aware of in order to ensure impactful bi representation in your work? Meet these ambassadors of sexual fluidity, and join the conversation. Drag Roast: The Roast of Sherry Vine World Premiere Dir: Evan Zampella and Kyle Burt, US, 2017, 65 min Cruel, harsh, tasteless. And that’s just the roasters. Join us for a special screening of the DRAG ROAST of SHERRY VINE, as a panel of legendary New York nightlife performers grill a drag legend with more than 25 years of drag experience and tea to spill. Featuring Bob the Drag Queen, Ruby Roo, Monet Xchange, Anita Buffem, Miz Cracker, Sutton Lee Seymour, Marti Gould Cummings, Tina Burner and Special Guests.EPISODIC SHOWCASE
Queer Women Mixtape Featuring premieres of web-based content from Snugglr (46m) & 195 Lewis (45m) Trans Tales Featuring premieres of web-based content from The T (14m), Darling Shear (15m), America In Transition (20m) For The Boys Featuring premieres of web-based content from London Nights (3m), Eastsiders (30m), LA Nights (3m), Maricas (30m), Tel Aviv Nights (3m), Michaels (7m)LEGACY FEATURE
BEAUTIFUL THING Dir: Hettie Macdonald, United Kingdom, 1996, 90 min Released in 1996, the beloved coming-of-age classic that tells the story of two teenage boys living in the same London housing project, who hold the same secret: they think they might be gay. After a fight with his abusive father, Ste ends up crashing in Jamie’s bed, allowing the two to open up to each other and begin the process of embracing their identities. Two decades after its initial release, the film still stands as one of the most poignant and honest depictions of the coming-out process ever presented on screen.LEGACY SHORTS PROGRAM
Out of the Archive: Queer New York An epicenter of queer culture, New York has long been a focal point of LGBTQ cinema. This program features both rare and restored short films (and sometimes raw footage) shot in New York City between the 1960s and 2000s by influential LGBTQ New York filmmakers, and presents the city’s history through a queer lens and even provides an early look at the trans experience. Run time: 84 minutes Queens at Heart Director unknown 1967 22 min. Restored by the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project This short exploitation documentary offers a glimpse into the lives of four transgender women in pre-Stonewall New York. Epilogue/Siam Tom Chomont 1968 6 min. Restored by the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Filmmaker and curator Jim Hubbard states, “Chomont’s films offer a lyric depiction of the ordinary world.” Here, Chomont presents two portraits–one warm, and one cold. Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day [excerpt] Kate Millett and Susan Kleckner 1971 5 min. Restored by the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Shot by the Millett, Kleckner, and an all-female crew, this raw footage documents New York’s second annual Christopher Street pride parade. Alphabit Land: The Backyard Tour Featuring Wigstock 89 John Canalli 1990 28 min. John Canalli takes his cousin on a tour of his Manhattan neighborhood. A search for the coolest party in town leads them to the annual Wigstock drag festival. I Never Danced the Way Girls Were Supposed To Dawn Suggs 1992 7 min. Suggs meditates on Black lesbian subjectivity, exploring the connections between daily rituals and sexuality. I Like Dreaming 1994 Directed by Charles Lofton 6 min. Lofton muses on the pleasures of cruising “straight-acting, straight-appearing” men. Last Address Ira Sachs 2010 9 min. Comprised of footage of the exteriors of houses where New York artists were living when they died of AIDS, this haunting film serves as an elegy to a generation of lost queer voices.
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Video: Watch Trailer for Showtime Documentary GEORGE MICHAEL: FREEDOM
Here is the trailer the Showtime documentary “George Michael: Freedom.” Filmed before Michael’s untimely passing, the documentary is narrated by the singer, who was heavily involved in the making of the film that serves as his final work.
“George Michael: Freedom”, will premiere on Saturday, October 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.
“George Michael: Freedom” covers the span of his entire career, but concentrates on the formative period in the late Grammy(R) Award winner’s life and career, leading up to and following the making of his acclaimed, best-selling album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” and his subsequent, infamous High Court battle with his record label that followed, while also becoming poignantly personal about the death of his late partner and first love, Anselmo Feleppa. Filmed before Michael’s untimely passing, the documentary is narrated by the singer, who was heavily involved in the making of the film that serves as his final work. GEORGE MICHAEL: FREEDOM features Michael’s incredible, unseen archival and private home footage, giving viewers a first-person account of this dramatic period in his life – revealing how he became one of the most influential recording artists of all time who alone fought a corner for all artists by challenging the standard recording contract helping to rewrite the rules of the music industry. He talks about why he stepped out of the limelight and turned his back on celebrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdzK6Iw94Kg
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DTLA Film Festival Announces 2017 Short Film Lineup
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Dekalb Elementary[/caption]
The 2017 DTLA Film Festival will screen more than 60 short films from filmmakers around the world in 10 distinctly different programs. Local area filmmakers will be showcased in “Only In DTLA,” exclusive to films shot in downtown Los Angeles, as well as a UCLA v. USC student film face-off. Student films from around the world will have their own dedicated program.
Other shorts programs include “Wonder Women,” which highlights female filmmakers directing leading actresses, “This Modern World,” contemporary narrative international dramas and “What the Doc Ordered,” its documentary short counterpart, “LOL WTF,” an absurdist amalgamation of some of the festival circuit’s most riotous short comedies, and finally “Unusual Objects,” boundary-pushing short cinema that is experimental in form and unique in its execution.
Among the short films of particular note are Reed Van Dyk’s harrowing SXSW-prizewinner Dekalb Elementary, inspired by a real-life 911 call placed during a school shooting, French-filmmaker Jonathan Vinel’s Berlinale-feted Martin Cries, which boldly takes gameplay graphics directly from Grand Theft Auto and mutates them into a masculine, melancholy tone-poem, and finally Janizca Bravo’s surreal black-and-white comedic mind-bender Man Rots from the Head, starring Michael Cera.
“I’m always looking for something singular, something immediate, something that from within the film you can feel the violent heartbeat of an artist needing so fervently to express something. Shorts are often a surprising, invigorating form; their so-called ‘rulebooks’ are more amorphous and mysterious than their feature-length sibling. Some projects can only work as a short form, and when all the pieces synthesize, the result can be a brutal, swift gut-punch.” said Robert John Torres, senior curator for short films.
2017 DTLA FILM FESTIVAL | SHORT FORM LINEUP
MAIN COMPETITION SHORT FILMS
DEKALB ELEMENTARY USA | Narrative | 2016 | 20’ Director: Reed Van Dyk Inspired by an actual 911 call placed during a school shooting incident in Atlanta, Georgia. STUDENT UNION Hungary | Narrative | 2016 | 9’ Director: György Mór Kárpáti The return journey on a train from a freshman summer camp, where 18-year-old Dóra has just been sexually abused. Now the president of the students’ union wants to talk with her. JOHNNY USA | Narrative | 2015 | 19 min. Director: Micah Stuart A night with a troubled stranger forces a young male sex worker to confront a haunting moment from his past that he thought he’d left behind. LUNCH TIME USA | Narrative | 2017 | 15 min. Director: Alireza Ghasemi A 16-year-old girl deals with the responsibility and harsh bureaucracy of having to identify the body of her mother. CONNIE USA | Narrative | 2017 | 9 min. Director: Joel Garber Ambivalent about her pregnancy, Connie attempts to withstand the desert, her husband, and herself. An under-explored dive into the complex psychology of expectant motherhood. THE MOTH USA | Narrative | 2016 | 15 min. Director: Sam Icklow An insomniac writer gives in to the dark pull of a Berlin winter. ACROSS MY LAND USA | Narrative | 2016 | 15 min. Director: Fiona Godivier Arizona 2016, the portray of an american family at the Mexican border. An evening, as the mother is costly watching TV with her daughter, the father and his son get their rifle prepared for a patrol tour along the border wall. In their path, they will encounter others ‘minutemen’ but also illegal immigrants. NIGHT SHIFT USA | Narrative | 2017 | 16 min. Director: Marshall Taylor Tunde Adebimpe plays Olly Jeffries, an on-again off-again actor whose career has stagnated over the years and ends up gigging as a bathroom attendant in a LA nightclub, called “The Fix”. Quick easy, tax-free money to hold him over between jobs is what he told himself when he first tried it out one weekend at the suggestion of a friend, but quickly convinced himself it wasn’t so bad and found a strange solitude that agreed with him. It’s the joy he finds in being invisible, something he calls the art of disappearing. MARTIN CRIES France | Narrative | 2017 | 16 min. Director: Jonathan Vinel Imagine you wake up one day, all your friends have disappeared. The friends that should be there are gone. So you look. You look everywhere. Every hiding place, each inch of the city, all the marshes, all the rivers. You look, but cannot find them. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE EASY USA | Narrative | 2016 | 12 min. Director: Keith Ewell A couple fights to save their relationship that has been surreptitiously driven by the paternalistic, cultural, and media driven expectations on love ingrained in us all. INVISIBLE USA | Narrative | 2017 | 4 min. Director: William Rowe A homeless mother’s world is turned upside down when she begins to vanish from reality. She sets out on a desperate race against time to find someone to help her before she is gone forever. THE BASTARD USA | Narrative | 2016 | 24 min. Director: Jeoff Hanser A man has sex with a sex doll; a year later a plastic baby shows up on his doorstep. MAN ROTS FROM THE HEAD USA | Narrative | 2016 | 16 min. Director: Janicza Bravo A door-to-door salesman (Michael Cera) runs into an odd lot on a bum route. BLUA Colombia | Documentary | 2015 | 21 min. Director: Carolina Charry Quintero Humanity and animality are enigmatically confronted and entwined. Combining rich high-contrast 16mm images with crisp digital color scenes, BLUA composes an uncanny entry into the relationship between human and animal existence. Unfolding like a tapestry, its montage complicates the relationship between observation and fiction. Reaching for equal beauty and strangeness, BLUA is an assertion of the uncanny, a cine-poetic philosophical speculation. I MADE YOU, I KILL YOU France, Romania | Documentary | 2016 | 14 min. Director: Alexandru Petru Badelita “I have always been ashamed to talk about my childhood and I think that this caused me a lot of sadness.” THE POINT SYSTEM USA | Narrative | 2016 | 9 min. Director: Conner Bell In a candid interview on raising her two young sons, a mother reveals the system by which every aspect of her children’s lives is monetized, including affection. XYLOPHONE USA | Narrative | 2016 | 9 min. Director: Jennifer Levonian When a woman impulsively steals a goat from a petting zoo, her morning routine turns into a madcap romp through her neighborhood. NYO VWETA NAFTA Portugal, Mozambique | Documentary | 2017 | 21 min. Director: Ico Costa Inhambane. Mozambique. King-Best. Samsung Galaxy. Versace. Babes. White rooster. There are no toothpicks in Norway. Coconut trees. Baobab fruits. Superfruits. Vitamine C. Passiflorine. Alpha-linolenic acid. SMS in Chinese. Megabytes. Hotel Cardoso. Coffee is a white man’s addiction. Ngadzango. My woman. Nafta. A MEDITATION USA | Narrative | 2016 | 15 min. Director: Joe Petricca A man who is a little lost finds himself connecting with a surprising woman who shows up to buy the DVR he is selling on Craigslist. LAPS USA | Narrative | 2016 | 6 min. Director: Charlotte Wells On a routine morning, a woman on a crowded New York City subway is sexually assaulted in plain sight. HOLD ON (HOUVAST) Netherlands | Narrative | 2016 | 22 min. Director: Charlotte Scott-Wilson During an important concert one of the strings of Kyra’s cello comes loose. She gets a panic attack and gets stage fright for the first time. Kyra tries everything to lose the panic attacks and be able to play again in front of an audience. FERTILE MYRTLE USA | Narrative | 2017 | 4 min. Director: Julie Orser One woman’s absurdist struggle through the uncertain and frustrating path of infertility told in cutout animation. (OUT)CASTE USA | Narrative | 2016 | 21 min. Director: Shilpi Shikha Agrawal When a manual scavenger cannot continue her work, her 11-year-old daughter picks up where the mother left off. LUCIA, BEFORE AND AFTER USA | Narrative | 2016 | 12 min. Director: Anu Valia After traveling hundreds of miles, a woman must wait another twenty-four hours before she can get an abortion. dont f with me Australia | Narrative | 2016 | 11 min. Director: Fiona Percival This film was made with over 1000 teenage girls via Facebook who shared stories about sexual assault. LETTING GO Sweden | Narrative | 2016 | 4 min. Director: Nathalie Alvarez Sanna is forced to take care of her little brother when their mother is emotionally unavailable. BEAUTIFUL FIGURE (SZEP ALAK) Hungary | Narrative | 2016 | 16 min. Director: Hajni Kis A high-school cleaning lady falls in love with one of the female students in the school. Her love is impossible from the beginning, but she still decides to show her feelings. AMERICAN PARADISE USA | Narrative | 2017 | 19 min. Director: Joe Talbot A forgotten man in Trump’s America attempts to shift his fate with the perfect crime. Inspired by true events. SHIT KIDS USA | Narrative | 2016 | 18 min. Director: Kyle Dunnigan What happens when the most self-obsessed generation in history meets boundary-less parenting? Children who feel entitled to murder their parents. It’s a Romeo and Juliet tale, if Romeo and Juliet were total assholes. VICTOR & ISOLINA USA | Documentary | 2016 | 6 min. Director: William D. Caballero In the Unique style of Hybrid animation…Living apart, Victor and Isolina (now in their 80’s) answer questions about their life-long, complex and arduous relationship, posed from behind the lens of their documentary filmmaking Grandson. An adorable, touching, poignant love story in a funny he said/she said account. I KNOW JAKE GYLLENHAAL IS GOING TO F*#@K MY GIRLFRIEND USA | Narrative | 2016 | 15 min. Director: Nino Mancuso After Sean and his girlfriend see a Jake Gyllenhaal movie and suspecting his girlfriend has a crush on the film star, Sean’s paranoia actually seems to manifest the fateful encounter with the actor. LOST DOGS (잃어버린 개) USA | Narrative | 2017 | 15 min. Director: Cullan Bruce A woman ridiculed by her family longs to escape. Striking a deal with her brother to clear his illegal debt, she delves deeper into darkness HOT WINTER: A FILM BY DICK PIERRE USA | Narrative | 2016 | 18 min. Director: Jack Henry Robbins Dr. Manly, the world’s leading Climate Scientist and Bodybuilding Champion, gets to the bottom of global warming. VHS, 1982. THE ROBBERY USA | Narrative | 2016 | 10 min. Director: Jim Cummings Crystal robs a liquor store. It goes pretty ok. GREETINGS FROM ALEPPO Netherlands | Documentary | 2017 | 17 min. Directors: Issa Touma, Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege ‘Greetings From Aleppo’ reveals how little the news about Syria corresponds with the experiences of everyday life. Photographer Issa Touma keeps away from bold declarations; he films life, the inconsistencies and perseverance as they reveal themselves in front of his camera. War is tragic and absurd. Surviving is often highly surreal and touching in this war-torn city. SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL USA | Documentary | 2016 | 23 min. Director: Alisa Yang A documentary short of based on a recorded Skype exorcism. PERFECTLY NORMAL USA | Documentary | 2016 | 12 min. Director: Joris Debeij A man who often seems lost in an imaginary world, but works hard to keep his feet on the ground, proving that one can make deliberate choices to maintain stability. GOODS Brazil | Documentary | 2017 | 15 min. Director: Carla Villa-Lobos Upon the arrival of a newcomer, six women share their experiences, desires and fears as sex workers. PEHELWANI USA, India | Documentary | 2017 | 10 min. Director: Joao Canziani The fascinating story of a group of young men that practice the ancient art of ‘pehelwan,’ or mud wrestling, at the Bhuteshwar Akhara in the town of Mathura, India. We get to witness the strict yet ultimately joyous way these men live, the tight bond they have with each other, and the reverence for the soil they wrestle upon. “THE TALK” TRUE STORIES ABOUT THE BIRDS AND THE BEES Canada | Documentary | 2016 | 9 min. Director: Alain Delannoy There are things in life you never forget. One of them, like it or not, is “The Talk”. IN THE WAKE OF GHOST SHIP USA | Documentary | 2017 | 21 min. Director: Jason Blalock Last December, Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire claimed 36 lives, the nation’s deadliest fire in over a decade. It also set off a wave of scrutiny of live/work spaces across the country. Seven miles from Ghost Ship, a legendary punk collective called Burnt Ramen is fighting back against sudden eviction.STUDENT FILMS SERIES
REST IN PEACE USA | Narrative | 2016 | 18 min. Director: Salma Amer A girl gets possessed by her father’s spirit. NOBLE CREATURES USA | Narrative | 2017 | 20 min. Director: Daniel Lafrentz Two adversarial escaped convicts – with different ideas about how to hold onto their freedom – are hunted through the Louisiana swamp by a tortured, but resolute, female corrections officer. MOTHER OF THE YEAR USA | Narrative | 2017 | 15 min. Director: Makena Costlow Sam, loving mother of two, is a hot mess. She can’t seem to handle the chaos of her daughter’s teenage rebellion and her son’s over-involved schedule. When she disappoints those who matter most to her, her mother comes to the rescue. Sliding a clear bag across the table, she introduces Sam to a drug that might solve everything. It’s powers convince Sam to volunteer herself to host the neighborhood block party. Thanks to her newly found addiction, Sam has no problem balancing her kids and her party planning. LIGHT SIGHT Iran | Narrative | 2016 | 8 min. Director: Seyed M. Tabatabaei M.E., the imprisoned character in a room is attracted to a hanging light and tries to catch it. But the room itself becomes an obstacle on his way. OPHELIA USA | Narrative | 2017 | 4 min. Director: Julia Balayan Inspired by true events, ‘Ophelia’, tells a story of a girl, whose young love meets a tragic end. Embodied by a trio of cellist, pianist and a ballerina, the video is an ode to her undying love and a tribute to her eternal memory. DEVIL WEARS A SUIT Australia | Narrative | 2017 | 20 min. Director: Eli Mak A high-concept drama/sci-fi about a Jewish boy who must decide whether to ‘cure’ his homosexuality with an injection or be ostracised from his community forever. CAMERA OBSCURA USA | Narrative | 2017 | 10 min. Director: Ashley Kroon Tessa and Vera are best friends with the shared dream of creating a final film for their high school art class that’s so sensational, it goes down in history. There’s only one problem: they don’t have a subject. Then, they meet Strange Boy.UCLA VS. USC STUDENT FILMS
BECOMING LUCY UCLAx | 10 min. Director: Luisa Novo Lucy, 15, blames her mother for her father leaving them for a 24 year-old blonde. When she finds out her crush at school likes blondes, she dyes her hair to get the attention of both men. CHANGES UCLAx | 10 min. Director: Roberto Escamilla Garduno Changes is a coming of age dramedy following the story of Mitchell, a 16 year old boy, who is taken by his friends to a shady motel to have his first sexual encounter. There she will meet Destiny, who will show him new horizons in an unexpected way. DEAD FLOWERS UCLAx | 15 min. Directors: Pablo Riquelme & Stephen R. Scott Alex is the only living son of two. He takes care of his memory damaged mother until one day their past becomes their present. SEARCHING SKIES UCLAx | 9 min. Director: Vivian Hua When a Syrian refugee family is invited to a Christian family’s house for Christmas, they are caught between opposing viewpoints — until an unexpected event occurs. STRINGS OF HOPE UCLAx | 11 min. Director: Eva Merz In 1945, a German ex-soldier has to overcome his reservations about the American troops, playing a puppet show in exchange for food for his family. FUCK USC | 6 min. Director: Nicole Danser Fuck is a bittersweet comedy that looks at the rise and fall of a couple through charting the word “Fuck” in their relationship. GEETA USC | 16 min. Director: Sohil Vaidya 16 year old Geeta has been brought to the United states as domestic worker by an Indian couple with the promises of giving her the American Dream. It is not long until Geeta slowly realizes that her financial, personal and social freedoms are slowly being stricken away from her. GOOD GIRL USC | 6 min. Director: Sade Joseph Good Girl follows Marci-Lee McKinley, an American high school student who must navigate life between her dysfunctional Jamaican Immigrant family and her predominantly-white private school. MORGAN IN MAYWOOD USC | 7 min. Director: Kevin Alexander Gallo In 1982 New Jersey, a teen boy, Morgan, has an love affair with his older manager at his part-time roller rink job. However when he discovers his manager has been keeping a secret from him, Morgan is faced with a tough decision. TECATO USC | 6 min. Director: Ronald Trejo After a run in with his AA counselor, Dom must make a decision to tell someone or not.7 ENEMY NATIONS SHORTS
SING FOR ME Iraq | Documentary | 2015 | 38 min. Director: Sama Waham ‘Sing For Me’ is a poetic documentary that contemplates the notion of belonging and inherited nostalgia, while investigating the viewpoint of fractured diasporic identities and ethnic solidarity, and meditating on Mandaeanism; a fading ancient practice that goes back to Babylonian history. A LIFE STORY Libya | Narrative | 2016 | 14 min. Director: Muhannad Lamin The story of Amen, a young man who left home and across the Sahara in order to provide for his family in militia controlled Libya. THE AUDITION Somalia | Narrative | 2015 | 4 min. Director: Zak Salad The Audition portrays the narrative of two Black Actors who go on an audition for a tv series, they are subjected to numerous negative stereotypes and various versions of racial profiling. ONE WEEK AND TWO DAYS Sudan | Narrative | 2017 | 20 min. Director: Marwa Zein The relationship of a loving couple is challenged when they were trying to conceive a baby. Big decision should be made by both in such critical times. NOT COVERED Yemen | Narrative | 2017 | 7 min. Director: Ezat Wagdi When the camera becomes a passion, a curse, and at the same time a tool for disclosing the antinomies between Yemen and the rest of the world.WEBSERIES
555 USA | Narrative | 2017 | 40 min. Director: Andrew DeYoung An anthology of eerie, luscious fables set in the cinematic underbelly of Hollywood. Watch as Kate Berlant and John Early morph into different characters that trace the border of comedy and hell. THE GAY AND WONDROUS LIFE OF CALEB GALLO USA | Narrative | 2016 | 40 min. Director: Brian Jordan Alvarez A fast-paced, fringe-meets-mainstream miniseries examining a group of young friends desperate for love. VERY ANIMATED PEOPLE USA | Narrative | 2016 | 4 min. Director: Joseph Bennet An animated series featuring comedians telling stories from their lives set to animation. OUR HAPPY APOCALYPSE USA | Narrative | 2017 | 15 min. Director: Tyler Manzo In a post-apocalyptic bay area, a group of drifters are all looking for an object of great power known only as ‘The Chest’. THE DRUNK LONELY WIVES BOOK CLUB USA | Narrative | 2016 | 19 min. Director: Mary Lou Belli When four neighbors found a ladies-only book club in 1963, friendships are formed and broken, secrets are revealed, social conventions are challenged, and juicy discussions are had — few of which have anything to do with the monthly book! THREE TREMBLING CITIES Iran | Narrative | 2016 | 8 min. Director: Arthur Vincie An intimate portrait of the inner lives and daily struggles of the immigrants that make NYC’s heart tremble with hope. FRANKIE + EMMA UK | Narrative | 2017 | 3 min. Director: Emily Seale-Jones Scatty, passionate, permanently broke, impulsive and accident-prone, the two girls lead each other in and out of a series of tight holes in which sometimes friendship and mutual support cause more problems than they solve. LIFE COACHED USA | Narrative | 2016 | 16 min. Director: Chloe Lenihan A renowned NYC Life Coach struggles to follow the advice she gives her clients on a daily basis. GOD’S 17 Australia | Narrative | 2017 | 10 min. Director: Nir Shelter God’s 17 is a web series about a community of well-meaning religious people and revolves around the group’s founders; Brother Aaron and Sister Tammy. IN ABSENTIA USA | Narrative | 2017 | 12 min. Directors: Jessica Silvetti, Ethan Kogan The series focuses on characters confronted with the absence of both the material and intangible.The series focuses on characters confronted with the absence of both the material and intangible. CTRL ALT DEL USA | Narrative | 2017 | 3 min. Directors: Margaret Katch & Roni Geva Character anthology web series set in an abortion clinic. It’s a comedy! Based on real interviews, created by women, shot by women, with an all-woman crew. CRYSTAL USA | Narrative | 2016 | 4 min. Director: Crystal Correa Crystal, newly-single workaholic, decides to avoid dealing with her breakup which ends with a sticky result. FAKERS USA | Narrative | 2017 | 7 min. Director: Ryan Mitchel Fakers is an indie web series that highlights and celebrates the absurdity of New York City. BECCA ON CALL USA | Narrative | 2016 | 15 min. Director: Jenness Rouse, Matt Draper Aspiring authoress, Becca C. Johnson, dreams of becoming the next Jane Austen of the 21st century. OHNI CASE FILES USA | Documentary | 2017 | 18 min. Director: Aimee Galicia Torres Ohni Case Files is a medical docuseries about the surgical team at Osborne Head and Neck Institute. Each episode tells a unique story about the doctors and the patients they treat. MY FRIEND D-RONE USA | Narrative | 2016 | 9 min. Director: Jack Martin A socially awkward techie’s perfectly mundane life gets flipped upside down when a sentient, sassy drone arrives in the mail. NEW MOMMIES USA | Narrative | 2017 | 9 min. Director: Matthew Mullen, Boris Undorf New Mommies explores the lives of a freshly cuckolded odd couple as they begin their quest to find “new mommies” for their beloved pets. THE FEMINIST COOKING SHOW USA | Narrative | 2017 | 1 min. Director: Lauren Keating A Food Network frame on Broad City living. POT LUCK Australia | Narrative | 2016 | 8 min. Director: Ness Simmons Three friends make a pact which turns their weekly Pot Luck dinners into a search for love. Or not. OCEAN PARKWAY USA | Narrative | 2016 | 5 min. Director: Nicole Haran Fresh from a major tragedy, a downwardly mobile family of four—five if you count New Guy, the cat—is starting over in a borrowed, temporary home. UNDERGRADS USA | Narrative | 2016 | 8 min. Director: Zoe Robyn After a summer under the thumb of their parents two best friends are ready to catch up on all the TV that they missed; however, after moving in with their least favorite people in the world they find out their goal is further away than they thought. They decide to go on a journey to get the free television they feel they deserve. DROPPING THE SOAP USA | Narrative | 2017 | 12 min. Director: Ellie Kanner Shit’s about to get real for the cast and crew of the long-running (awful) soap-opera “Collided Lives” when new Executive Producer Olivia Vanderstein (Jane Lynch) shows up to shake things up.
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MY PURE LAND is Britain’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | TRAILER
British-Pakistani director Sarmad Masud’s Urdu language debut film My Pure Land has been selected as Britain’s submission for the best foreign language film category at the 2018 Oscars.
The film stars Suhaee Abro, Eman Malik, Syed Tanveer-Hussain, Razia Malik, Atif Akhtar Bhatti, Tayyab Azfal and Ahsen Murad.
My Pure Land world premiered at this year’s 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival is based on a remarkable true story, told in partial flashbacks, about how a mother and her two daughters try to protect their remote Pakistan home, picking up machine guns to fight off a virtual army of armed men.
MY PURE LAND is a film based on a true story. A young woman called Nazo and her mother and sister are called to defend their home after a bitter family feud leads to her father’s incarceration. In their isolated farmhouse in Pakistan, the women find themselves surrounded by armed men hired by their Uncle Mehrban to take back the land. When Nazo’s resistance leaves two of the men dead, an enraged Mehrban calls in a local ragtag militia – two hundred armed bandits. But even with only a handful of bullets left, Nazo refuses to give in…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdY8bKCVIC0
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SAAWAN is Pakistan’s Entry for 2018 Oscar Race for Best Foreign Film | TRAILER
Saawan directed by Farhan Alam has been selected by Pakistan as the country’s selection in the ‘Foreign Language Film Award’ category at the 90th Academy Awards.
Saawan written and produced by Mashood Qadri, is based on a true story of a disabled child who lives in a valley in the mountains of Balochistan. He is rejected by his father, intimidated by society, harassed by friends and left alone due to his disability. Strengthened by memories and dreams of the love of his mother, he begins a perilous journey back to his family in the main city. The film features Saleem Mairaj, Syed Karam Abbas, Arif Bahalim, Najiba Faiz and Imran Aslam in the lead roles. The other cast includes Tipu Sharif, Hafeez Ali, Sehrish Qadri, Sohail Malik, Shahid Niazmi, Muhammad Abbas, Danial Yunus, Mehek Zulfiqar and Syed Muhammad Ali. The film won ‘Best Foreign Language Feature Film’ award at the 2017 Madrid International Film Festival and the Best Film and Best Soundtrack Award earlier this month at the 2017 Salento International Film Festival in Italy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heyVzwJeOzY
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Documentary NUDE, Chronicling Fashion Photographer David Bellemere
The documentary “Nude” explores perceptions of nudity in art by chronicling the creative process of fashion photographer David Bellemere.
In anticipation of the October 29th, 2017 premiere of the film, Starz released the official trailer and key art for the new original documentary “NUDE” from Director and Producer Anthony B. Sacco and Producer Josh Shader which follows treats! magazine founder Steve Shaw and photographer David Bellemere’s NU Muses project.
“NUDE” – a feature-length documentary – explores perceptions of nudity in art by chronicling the creative process of fashion photographer David Bellemere. Commissioned by NU Muses founder Steve Shaw to shoot a fine art calendar of nude photographs to debut at Art Basel in Miami, Bellemere’s unique methods and visual style are examined. The film also looks at the creative and business aspirations of Shaw, plus how social media shapes the lives of today’s young models.
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Heartbreaking Documentary KINGDOM OF US Premiering at London Film Festival
Here is the trailer for the documentary Kingdom of Us set to premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 7th ahead of its global launch on Netflix on October 13th.
How does a family deal with memories of a traumatic event? It’s a question sensitively examined in this moving documentary. In her quietly watchful debut, Lucy Cohen impresses with a delicate, powerfully effective exploration of grief, identity and family bonds. For over three years, Cohen filmed a mother and her seven children – whose father’s suicide left them financially ruined. Incorporating family archive footage and capturing the surrounding West Midlands landscape, Kingdom of Us records the siblings’ emotional recovery, piecing together their broken past and contemplating fears and aspirations for their future. Cohen’s film highlights youthful power and resilience, as the family travel the rocky road towards hope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc8_spETMBY