The 2015 Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) running September 30 through October 4, is definitely “celebrating its Sweet Sixteen in style” with a stellar lineup of films to be shown in the Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rhinebeck, Rosendale, Saugerties, and Kingston.
“As we enter into our sixteenth year, I reflect upon the past years of gradual growth and am thrilled by how the festival has opened itself up into the world while maintaining the core authenticity and artistry that it was first founded on,” said Woodstock Film Festival’s co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. “I invite everyone to come and discover the many national and international selections that make up our 2015 lineup, as each is its own unique gem and in each you will find something that will inspire and move you.”
The Centerpiece Film is The Walk, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, The Walk tells the story of high-wire extraordinaire Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), as he is guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), to execute his mad plan of walking the immense void between the World Trade Center Towers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1EmTKAWIw
The 2015 Feature narratives include:
The Adderall Diaries,
The Automatic Hate,
Band of Robbers,
Blunt Force Trauma,
Bob and the Trees,
The Forbidden Room,
Good Ol’ Boy,
The Grace of Jake,
Homeless,
How He Fell In Love,
I Dream Too Much,
It Had To Be You,
Lamb, Love & Taxes,
Meet Me In Venice,
The Missing Girl,
Moscow Never Sleeps,
Oliver’s Deal,
Outliving Emily,
Rendez-Vous,
Remember,
Scout,
Silver Skies,
Summer,
There Should Be Rules,
Touched With Fire,
Waffle Street,
The Walk.
Th 2015 Documentaries include:
1 Giant Leap II: What About Me?,
3 Still Standing,
After The Spill,
The Babushkas of Chernobyl,
Buried Above Ground,
Deep Run,
Drawing The Tiger,
Family Matters,
Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation,
I Will Not Be Silenced,
Incorruptible,
Lee’s 88 Keys,
Left on Purpose,
Look At Us Now,
Mother!, Mavis!,
Monty Python: The Meaning of Live,
Paradise Is There: A Memoir By Natalie Merchant,
The Poet of Havana,
She’s The Best Thing In It,
Reconquest of the Useless,
Shelter, Sporting Dreams,
The Student Body,
The Three Hikers,
A Woman Like Me
The WFF 2015 Shorts Programming includes:
Animation,
Fever Dreams,
Quirks,
Let’s Talk,
Short Docs 1 & 2,
Teen Films,
Based On,
Growing Up,
No Trespassing,
Spanish SpotlightVIMOOZ
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2015 Woodstock Film Festival Official Film Lineup; THE WALK is Centerpiece Film
The 2015 Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) running September 30 through October 4, is definitely “celebrating its Sweet Sixteen in style” with a stellar lineup of films to be shown in the Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rhinebeck, Rosendale, Saugerties, and Kingston.
“As we enter into our sixteenth year, I reflect upon the past years of gradual growth and am thrilled by how the festival has opened itself up into the world while maintaining the core authenticity and artistry that it was first founded on,” said Woodstock Film Festival’s co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. “I invite everyone to come and discover the many national and international selections that make up our 2015 lineup, as each is its own unique gem and in each you will find something that will inspire and move you.”
The Centerpiece Film is The Walk, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, The Walk tells the story of high-wire extraordinaire Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), as he is guided by his real-life mentor, Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), to execute his mad plan of walking the immense void between the World Trade Center Towers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1EmTKAWIw
The 2015 Feature narratives include:
The Adderall Diaries,
The Automatic Hate,
Band of Robbers,
Blunt Force Trauma,
Bob and the Trees,
The Forbidden Room,
Good Ol’ Boy,
The Grace of Jake,
Homeless,
How He Fell In Love,
I Dream Too Much,
It Had To Be You,
Lamb, Love & Taxes,
Meet Me In Venice,
The Missing Girl,
Moscow Never Sleeps,
Oliver’s Deal,
Outliving Emily,
Rendez-Vous,
Remember,
Scout,
Silver Skies,
Summer,
There Should Be Rules,
Touched With Fire,
Waffle Street,
The Walk.
Th 2015 Documentaries include:
1 Giant Leap II: What About Me?,
3 Still Standing,
After The Spill,
The Babushkas of Chernobyl,
Buried Above Ground,
Deep Run,
Drawing The Tiger,
Family Matters,
Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation,
I Will Not Be Silenced,
Incorruptible,
Lee’s 88 Keys,
Left on Purpose,
Look At Us Now,
Mother!, Mavis!,
Monty Python: The Meaning of Live,
Paradise Is There: A Memoir By Natalie Merchant,
The Poet of Havana,
She’s The Best Thing In It,
Reconquest of the Useless,
Shelter, Sporting Dreams,
The Student Body,
The Three Hikers,
A Woman Like Me
The WFF 2015 Shorts Programming includes:
Animation,
Fever Dreams,
Quirks,
Let’s Talk,
Short Docs 1 & 2,
Teen Films,
Based On,
Growing Up,
No Trespassing,
Spanish Spotlight
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4 Finalist for 2015 Zurich Film Festival Filmmaker Award, Christoph Waltz to Preside Over Jury
German-Austrian actor Christoph Waltz (pictured above in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) will preside over the jury for Filmmaker Award at the 2015 Zurich Film Festival. Waltz will also hold a keynote conversation at the Zurich Summit, and strut the Green Carpet for press and public before presenting the screening of Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS at the corso cinema. The four finalists competing for the Filmmaker Award are: EUROPE, SHE LOVES; GOLIATH; UND MORGEN SEID IHR TOT; and WAFFENLÄUFER.
The Four Nominees and Their Projects
EUROPE, SHE LOVES
Producer: Lisa Blatter (2:1 Film GmbH), Andreas Hörl (lüthje schneider hörl | FILM) Director: Jan Gassmann
Director Jan Gassmann and his small team travelled 20,000 kilometres in a bus to film portraits of couples in Seville, Dublin, Tallinn, Zagreb and Thessaloniki. The result is a semi-fictional political documentary about Europe during the economic crisis, and portrays the daily struggle for survival of five couples who use their reserves of wit and love. The storyline of the film, which is now in post-production, moves cleverly between fiction and documentary. The intimate camerawork and the bleak atmosphere are striking.
GOLIATH
Producers: Dario Schoch, Rajko Jazbec (Cognito Films)
Director: Dominik Locher
Goliath tells the tale of the young David, who is mugged while on the way home with his pregnant girlfriend. This leaves him feeling like a weakling. Rendered insecure in his role as a man and father-to-be, he pumps himself full of anabolic steroids – only to turn into a threat to his family, who he had actually wanted to impress and protect. Goliath began shooting in July 2015, and is directed by Dominik Locher, who trained at Zurich University of the Arts and the American Film Institute and is considered to be one of Switzerland’s most promising directors.
UND MORGEN SEID IHR TOT (TOMORROW YOU’LL BE DEAD)
Producer: Bernhard Burgener, Norbert Preuss (Kontraproduktion AG)
Director: Michael Steiner
This film tells the true story of Daniela Widmer and David Och, two Swiss citizens kidnapped by the Taliban in July 2011 while on a trip along Pakistan’s historic Silk Road. After eight months in captivity they managed to make their escape. According to the gripping script, the film will tackle the difficult time after their return to Switzerland and examine the events that took place in Pakistan. Shooting is planned to start in India in February 2016. The film will be directed by well-known Swiss director Michael Steiner (Grounding, Mein Name ist Eugen).
WAFFENLÄUFER (THE GUN RUNNER)
Producers: Stefan Eichenberger, Ivan Madeo (CONTRAST FILM)
Director: Hannes Baumgartner
Zurich-based director and winner of the Zurich Film Award Hannes Baumgartner chose a controversial topic for his first movie: his story of Jonas Fischer is based on the real-life tragedy of a famous Swiss long-distance runner. At the peak of his sporting career, it is revealed that he has been living an ill-fated double life and is in fact wanted across Switzerland for over two-dozen attacks on women, who he robbed, injured or murdered. The Waffenläufer project is currently in the financing stage.
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2015 Milwaukee Film Festival Spotlight Presentations Lineup incl. 7 CHINESE BROTHERS, BEATLES, UNCLE JOHN
The 7th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival announced its lineup for Spotlight Presentations, featuring eight documentary and fiction films. Scheduled guests include: Bob Byington, director of the slacker comedy 7 Chinese Brothers starring Jason Schwartzman (pictured above); Sydney Sibilia, director of the Italian hit comedy I Can Quit Whenever I Want; and Ted Dintersmith, executive producer of Most Likely to Succeed.
In addition, Lance Mackey, subject of the documentary The Great Alone, plans to attend with Amp, one of his sled dogs, in tow. The award-winning film by director Greg Kohs, who is also scheduled to be in attendance, depicts Mackey’s long pursuit to follow family tradition and race in the Iditarod, Alaska’s treacherous 1,200-mile sled dog race.
The Harold Lloyd-starring iconic silent comedy, Safety Last!, will continue the festival’s annual tradition of featuring a film with live music accompaniment. The 1923 black-and-white feature will be presented with live music by acclaimed silent film accompanist Scott Foppiano on America’s largest theater organ—over 3,000 pipes—the Oriental Theatre’s own Kimball Pipe Organ, marking the first use of this instrument for live accompaniment during the festival.
The spotlight shines on Wisconsin-made films with Uncle John, a murder mystery romance written by Steven Piet together with Wisconsin native and UW-Madison graduate Erik Crary. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and was filmed largely in Crary’s hometown of rural Lodi, Wisconsin.
2015 Milwaukee Film Festival Spotlight Presentations
7 Chinese Brothers
(USA / 2015 / Director: Bob Byington)
Larry (Jason Schwartzman) is an Austin-based misanthrope whose only stable relationship is with his French bulldog, Arrow. When he isn’t busy getting fired for drinking on the job, he’s visiting his grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) in the hopes of a loan. After lucking into a position at a car repair shop (automobile knowledge: none) and becoming enamored with his boss, Larry must try to pull together his aimless malaise of a life. Co-starring Alex Karpovsky (HBO’s Girls) and Tunde Adebimpe (from TV on the Radio), 7 Chinese Brothers is a laugh-out-loud slacker comedy with a showcase performance from Schwartzman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCMl169qwv8
Beatles
(Norway / 2014 / Director: Peter Flinth)
This winning coming-of-age drama (based on an internationally best-selling novel) shows that the most seismic changes in a young life can come with the drop of a needle on some classic vinyl. Beatlemania hits Norway, and Kim, Gunnar, Ola, and Seb can’t help but be swept up in the fever, plotting to start their own quartet, The Snafus. And though their dreams of rock superstardom aren’t meant to be, their pursuit of this passion leads them through formative experiences with girls, bullies, alcohol, and political tumult in this nostalgic portrait of youthful abandon (filled with original Beatles recordings!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZMlAlsydeE
British Arrows Awards
(United Kingdom / 2014 / Directors: Various)
The perfect program for people who only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, the British Arrows Awards are a celebration of the very best in British advertising, a potent combination of daffy humor and high-tech invention. From Marmite jar rescue operations to moon-walking ponies, these are an eclectic mix of riveting mini-dramas, outrageous wit, and awe-inspiring innovation, even making room for a celebrity cameo or two (hello, Jason Sudeikis).
The Great Alone
(USA / 2015 / Director: Greg Kohs)
The Iditarod is a treacherous 1,200-mile sled dog race on Alaska’s icescapes—few complete the punishing endurance test, let alone win. Into this great alone steps Lance Mackey, a man with racing in his blood (his mother was mushing with him still in the womb, his father the 1978 champion), who is determined to equal his parents’ accomplishments with his ragtag crew of beloved rescue dogs. After a bout with throat cancer threatens to permanently sideline Lance’s aspirations, he begins his inspiring comeback—archival footage deftly blends with astonishing race footage to capture the ultimate underdog story in this inspiring documentary.
https://vimeo.com/112869322
I Can Quit Whenever I Want (Smetto quando voglio)
(Italy / 2014 / Director: Sydney Sibilia)
A group of out-of-work academics break bad and decide to join the drug trade in this hilarious cross of Ocean’s Eleven and Breaking Bad. Out-of-work professor Pietro, alongside his team of fellow underemployed academics, develops a marvelous new narcotic concoction that is able to circumvent Italian law by using substances not yet banned. This smash commercial hit and critical success back home in Italy follows Pietro and his friends as they soon find themselves in over their head and being pursued by parties on either side of the law in a whip-smart slice of social satire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6rIaWl3EBw
Most Likely to Succeed
(USA / 2015 / Director: Greg Whiteley)
This forward-facing documentary inspires reform to an antiquated education system that is leaving nearly half of our college graduates unable to find employment. Most Likely to Succeed points toward a future of innovation and revitalizes teachers and students alike. Our education system was perfectly designed to prepare workers for jobs that no longer exist, and as we try to out-drill and out-test Korea, we leave millions of young adults ill-prepared, uninspired, and lacking the skills they need in our modern era. After seeing these unorthodox trailblazers at the forefront of project-based learning, you’ll be itching to enroll yourselves!
https://vimeo.com/122502930
Safety Last!
(USA / 1923 / Directors: Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor)
Live music accompaniment is an annual must-see at our festival, and for 2015, we are featuring America’s largest theater organ—over 3,000 pipes— the Oriental’s own Kimball organ! Acclaimed accompanist Scott Foppiano will play along on the organ, complete with sound effects, for two unquestioned classics of silent comedy: Buster Keaton’s story of a botanist who is confused with an electrician, The Electric House, followed by the Harold Lloyd feature Safety Last!, a laugh-out-loud funny and jaw-dropping film following a small-town bumpkin who is trying to make it in the big city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhNtSU8ubf0
Uncle John
(USA / 2015 / Director: Steven Piet)
Nobody would expect beloved Wisconsin farmer John (a phenomenal performance from veteran character actor John Ashton) to be party to the sudden disappearance of born-again, reformed-bully Dutch. And John would prefer it stay that way, but Dutch’s brother is asking a lot of uncomfortable questions. Meanwhile, in Chicago, John’s nephew engages in a tentative courtship of his boss, eventually embarking on a road trip to show her the family farm. Filmed largely in Prairie du Sac and Lodi, WI, Uncle John builds tension with every scene, a pitch-perfect thriller that careens toward an expectation-confounding finale.
https://vimeo.com/123664217
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Pop Art-Inspired 2015 Chicago International Film Festival Official Poster Designed by Tsung-Hui Kuo-Crary
The 51st Chicago International Film Festival held this October 15-29, 2015, has selected Tsung-Hui (aka “Mavis”) Kuo-Crary! from Taiwan, the winner of its first-ever international poster design competition. The pop art-inspired design is the 2015 Chicago International Film Festival Official Poster.
“We were overwhelmed by the impressive quality of each poster submitted to our worldwide design competition,” said Michael Kutza, the founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago International Film Festival. “We can’t wait to do this again next year!”
Kuo-Crary was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. She moved to Los Angeles in 1996 where she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) before starting a career in graphic design and illustration. Since relocating to Chicago in 2008, she has continued as a senior-level professional working both independently and with clients on a wide range of projects. She is passionate about the creative process and is constantly seeking interesting collaborations. Mavis receives a $1,000 prize for her winning image.
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North Korean Documentary SONGS FROM THE NORTH Gets September Release Date
South Korean director Soon-Mi Yoo’s award-winning documentary SONGS FROM THE NORTH about North Korea will be released in the US via Kino Lorber. SONGS FROM THE NORTH, winner of the Golden Leopard for Best First Feature at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, will open on September 18 at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, with a national select release with dates to follow, followed by a VOD and home media release in early 2016.
“Songs From The North” is South Korean director Soon-Mi Yoo’s meditation on North Korean society. The essay film is a mixture of archival materials and footage shot in the country over the course of four years and three visits. Handling editing and camera duties, Yoo recontextualizes the cold nature of North Korea’s government-mandated image by getting intimate with its ramifications. The final result transcends borders and becomes a rescue mission for the country’s soul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv9K9ywqOlc
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2016 Montclair Film Festival Dates + Open For Film Submissions
The 5th Annual Montclair Film Festival taking place April 29 to May 8th, 2016 announced the opening of its annual film submission process.
With three competitive categories in fiction, documentary, and low-budget independent filmmaking, as well as programs in six non-competitive categories including fiction, documentary, world cinema, short films, New Jersey films, and student filmmaking, the Montclair Film Festival is seeking diverse films that represent a wide-range of stories, styles, and experiences.
The MFF’s 2015 attendees included Jonathan Alter, Stephen Colbert, Barry Crimmins, Jonathan Demme, Abigail Disney, Elise DuRant, Jessica Edwards, Richard Gere, Bobcat Goldthwait, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Sam Green and Yo La Tengo, Barbara Kopple, Oren Moverman, Stanley Nelson, Michael Showalter, Nathan Silver, Mavis Staples, James Strouse, Patrick Wilson, Alex Winter, and many more.
The 2016 Montclair Film Festival early bird deadline is November 20th, 2015, the regular deadline is December 14th, 2015, the late deadline is January 8th, 2016 and the extended deadline is January 15th, 2016.
“We are excited to begin our annual programming process,” said Montclair Film Festival Executive Director Tom Hall. “As the Montclair Film Festival continues to grow, we remain dedicated to our mission of introducing our audiences, press, and industry guests to the work of great filmmakers from around the world.”
Interested filmmakers may visit the festival’s website for more information on how to submit their films.
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MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Voted Best Film by International Federation of Film Critics, FIPRESCI
Mad Max: Fury Road directed by George Miller, has been voted best film by the International Federation of Film Critics, FIPRESCI. The vote for the FIPRESCI Gran Prix 2015 saw the participation of 493 Federation members around the world, who made their choice from among films to have premiered after 1 July 2014. The four finalists included Saul Fia / Son of Saul, Nie yinniang/ The Assassin, Taxi Téhéran and Mad Max: Fury Road.
Mad Max: Fury Road was screened in the Official Selection out of competition at the last Cannes Festival. This is the first time that a film by George Miller has won the FIPRESCI Grand Prix, presented since its creation in 1999 to Richard Linklater, Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Luc Godard and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, among others.
Director George Miller (pictured above) says: “You could have knocked me over with a feather! It’s lovely to have this great cohort of critics acknowledge our collective labours in this way”
Mad Max: Fury Road will have a special screening on September 18 at the San Sebastian Festival, attended by George Miller, who will collect the FIPRESCI Grand Prix at the Festival opening gala.
Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the wasteland in a war rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshalls all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEJnMQG9ev8
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”Hotel Transylvania 2” to Screen at the 63rd San Sebastian Festival | TRAILER
Hotel Transylvania 2, the new film from Sony Pictures Animation, directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, will be screened at the upcoming 2015 San Sebastian Festival, as part of the Velodrome Section.
Hotel Transylvania 2 will open in cinemas throughout Spain on October 23 and in the US on September 25.
Everything seems to be changing for the better at Hotel Transylvania. Dracula’s rigid “monster-only” hotel policy has finally relaxed, opening up its doors to human guests. But behind closed coffins, Drac is worried that his adorable half-human, half-vampire grandson, Dennis, isn’t showing signs of being a vampire. So while Mavis is busy visiting her human in-laws with Johnny – and in for a major cultural shock of her own – “Vampa” Drac enlists his friends Frank, Murray, Wayne and Griffin to put Dennis through a “monster-in-training” boot camp. But little do they know that Drac’s grumpy and very old, old, old school dad Vlad is about to pay a family visit to the hotel. And when Vlad finds out that his great-grandson is not a pure blood – and humans are now welcome at Hotel Transylvania – things are going to get batty!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3nqmGgnJe8
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8 Films on 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival Competition Program incl. THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER, UNCERTAIN, IMPERIAL DREAMS
The 7th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival’s lineup for the Competition Program will feature eight feature films including three documentary and five fiction. Highlights of this year’s program include The Russian Woodpecker, winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s 2015 World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary. The debut film for writer, producer and director Chad Gracia, it follows Ukrainian Fedor Alexandrovich as he investigates the political and personal history surrounding his survival of Ukraine’s 1986 Chernobyl disaster. A native of South Milwaukee, Gracia is scheduled to attend the festival.
Other Competition films include the documentary Uncertain, winner of the Best New Documentary Director award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and the fiction feature Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente), winner of the Art Cinema Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015.
Also of note is director Malik Vitthal’s film Imperial Dreams, which teeters between the Milwaukee Film Festival’s Competition and Black Lens programs, opened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014 where it received the Best of NEXT Audience Award. The film has gone on to screen at numerous other festivals and has garnered additional awards, including the Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Festival. Following Bambi (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens actor John Boyega) as he is released from prison and returns to Watts, this fiction film tells the story of a man determined to earn a living and provide for his young son. Vitthal is scheduled to attend the festival.
2015 MILWAUKEE FILM FESTIVAL COMPETITION PROGRAM
Cartel Land
(USA, Mexico / 2015 / Director: Matthew Heineman)
A gut-churning documentary following the drug war from both sides of the border, Cartel Land gives unprecedented access to the frightening cycle of violence enacted by the powerful drug cartels and the brave citizens fighting against it. South of the border, a small-town physician and his Autodefensas vigilante group wage war against the Knights Templar cartel, while in the 52-mile stretch of Arizona desert known as Cocaine Alley, the paramilitary group Arizona Border Recon tries to stop the drug war from crossing over. This is a sobering, visceral experience (it was executive produced by The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow) you won’t believe was caught on film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JD7hPM_yxg
Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente)
(Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina / 2015 / Director: Ciro Guerra)
An epic adventure story filled with breathtaking landscapes and pristine black-and-white cinematography, Embrace of the Serpent is the wildly original story of one shaman and the two momentous journeys he made upriver three decades apart. Tackling colonialism from the indigenous point of view, the film follows these two journeys as the shaman, the lone survivor of his tribe, travels with two explorers in search of a mystical flower with healing powers. We follow each fraught journey through a jungle landscape slowly being eroded by encroaching modernity, with echoes of Fitzcarraldo and Apocalypse Now as they burrow ever deeper into the heart of darkness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ff7TcnqHUc
Imperial Dreams
(USA / 2014 / Director: Malik Vitthal)
A redemption tale anchored by an amazing lead performance from John Boyega (star of the upcoming Star Wars film), Imperial Dreams is a family drama with an astonishingly realized father-son relationship at its core. Bambi (Boyega) is coming home to Watts; recently released from prison, he has designs on earning a living as a writer (having been published while incarcerated) to provide for his young son, Day. But he quickly realizes the deck is stacked against him and it’s going to take everything he has to achieve his dreams in this stunning, multiple award-winning drama.
Krisha
(USA / 2015 / Director: Trey Edward Shults)
A feature-length expansion of the short that played at last year’s MFF, Krisha is an explosive psychological exploration of family dynamics on the cutting edge of American independent cinema. A recovering alcoholic and black sheep of the family, 60-something Krisha returns to family over the Thanksgiving holiday, reuniting for the first time in over a decade. But as the night progresses, her confidence in her own rehabilitation begins to wane and her precarious emotional state begins to unravel. It is an extraordinary feature debut with a dizzying lead performance reminiscent of Gena Rowlands in the Cassavetes classic A Woman Under the Influence.
No One’s Child (Nicije dete)
(Serbia, Croatia / 2014 / Director: Vuk Ršumović)
Playing “like a bleakly beautiful fairy tale by the brothers Grimm” (International Federation of Film Critics), this film takes us deep into the mountains of Bosnia, where we’re introduced to a feral child living among the wolves. Upon his discovery in 1988, he is sent to a Belgrade orphanage. There, he struggles to relate to his peers until a friendship allows him to embrace humanity, only for the Balkan War to put pressure on his caretakers to return him to his homeland. Based on a remarkable true story, this gripping exploration of human nature is a compassionate look at personal and national identity.
https://vimeo.com/108777880
The Russian Woodpecker
(USA, Ukraine / 2015 / Director: Chad Gracia)
Eccentric Ukrainian Fedor Alexandrovich, endearing performance artist and childhood survivor of the Chernobyl disaster, has always suspected the truth behind the incident that left him irradiated was being kept from him. When a dark secret reveals a web of deceit extending into the roots of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party, he must decide if revealing this truth is worth the great personal risk it poses, with tensions between Russia and Ukraine once again at their breaking point. Cultural history, personal portrait, and conspiracy thriller combine in this thrilling and humorous documentary that captures history repeating itself before our very eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rd4ARsbg_0
Uncertain
(USA / 2015 / Directors: Ewan McNicol, Anna Sandilands)
Hauntingly evocative, Uncertain is a Southern gothic capturing life in the titular and tiniest of American towns (“You’d have to be lost in order to find it,” the local sheriff explains), a place so exotic it beggars belief. We follow three wayward souls looking to start over (Uncertain, TX exerts a magnetic pull over those fleeing their past) in a documentary told with a distinct lack of condescension. While Uncertain, TX may be on the brink of disappearing altogether (a natural weed is slowly choking off its water source), you’re sure to never forget it after viewing this astoundingly beautiful documentary debut.
https://vimeo.com/124721333
Violet
(Belgium, Netherlands / 2014 / Director: Bas Devos)
A senseless act of violence leaves 15-year-old Jesse bereft of his best friend and adrift in a sea of grief in this impressionistic debut feature. This is a uniquely cinematic experience, bending the audience’s perception to that of its grief-stricken protagonist (portions were shot on 65mm, immersing you in his world) as family and friends all struggle to cope with their loss. Culminating in a bravura eight-minute final shot, Violet is hard to watch yet ultimately rewarding—image, editing, and sound design working in perfect concert to bring to life the vivid sense of dislocation left in the wake of random violence.
https://vimeo.com/85068938
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2015 Whistler Film Festival Sneak Peek of First 18 Films, incl. DIARY OF AN OLD MAN, NESTOR
The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) returns December 2 to 6, and is offering a sneak peek of what audiences can expect at this year’s fest including its first 18 confirmed films.
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Atom Egoyan’s REMEMBER to Open and Guy Maddin’s THE FORBIDDEN ROOM to Close 2015 Woodstock Film Festival | TRAILERS
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s newest film REMEMBER will screen as the Opening Night Film of the 2015 Woodstock Film Festival, and fellow Canadian Guy Maddin’s new feature THE FORBIDDEN ROOM will screen as the Closing Night Film. The Woodstock Film Fest will also honor the filmmakers; ATOM EGOYAN will receive the Honorary Maverick Award and GUY MADDIN will receive the Fiercely Independent Award.
REMEMBER, making its US Premiere at WFF, tells the story of Zev Guttman (Academy Award® Winner Christopher Plummer), a 90-year-old struggling with memory loss who is living out his final years in a bucolic retirement home. A week following the death of his beloved wife Ruth, he suddenly gets a mysterious package from his close friend Max (Academy Award® Winner Martin Landau), containing a stack of money, a gun, and a letter detailing a shocking plan. Both Zev and Max were prisoners in Auschwitz, and the same sadistic guard was responsible for the death of both their families—a guard who, immediately after the war, escaped Germany and has been living in the U.S. ever since under an assumed identity. Max is wheelchair-bound but in full command of his mental faculties; with his guidance, Zev will embark on a cross-continental road-trip to bring justice once and for all to the man who destroyed both their lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFxXCoprNqc
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM, is Maddin’s ultimate epic phantasmagoria. Honoring classic cinema while electrifying it with energy, this Russian nesting doll of a film begins with the crew of a doomed submarine chewing flapjacks in a desperate attempt to breathe the oxygen within. Suddenly, impossibly, a lost woodsman wanders into their company and tells his tale of escaping from a fearsome clan of cave dwellers. From here, Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson take us high into the air, around the world, and into dreamscapes, spinning tales of amnesia, captivity, deception and murder, skeleton women and vampire bananas. Playing like some glorious meeting between Italo Calvino, Sergei Eisenstein and a perverted six year-old child, THE FORBIDDEN ROOM is Maddin’s grand ode to lost cinema.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nqRS204bBA
image 1: Christopher Plummer stars in Remember, ATOM EGOYAN
image 2: The Forbidden Room (2015), Guy Maddin
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10th Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival to Open with Funny Doc MEET THE PATELS | TRAILER
The 10th Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival will take place this year September 8 to 13, 2015. There are two “pre-festival events” again this year. First, on Tuesday, September 8, is THE SALT OF THE EARTH, the Oscar-nominated documentary by director Wim Wenders, about Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, and on Wednesday, September 9, is AMY, the biopic about pop/jazz/blues artist Amy Winehouse.
The official Opening Night kicks off with MEET THE PATELS (pictured above), the documentary by the brother-sister team of Geeta and Ravi Patel which plays like a comedy, and traces the misadventures of 30-year-old Ravi Patel as his parents, desperate to see him married, escort him back to India to find a proper bride. Closing night is the Italian comedy BUONI A NULLA (GOOD FOR NOTHING).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7litSYXbpRs
The festival’s lineup includes dozens of films, documentaries, dramas and comedies, including the acclaimed family drama ABERDEEN, from Hong Kong and a quirky Swedish film, THE 100 YEAR OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED. Director Genevieve Bailey interviewed eleven-year-old girls from many countries and all walks of life for I AM ELEVEN.
From France there is UNE NOUVELLE AMIE (THE NEW GIRLFRIEND), and from Israel the comedy ZERO MOTIVATION. Dramas and documentaries from Mexico, Norway, Australia, the USA and Caribbean round out the features program.
Saturday, short films are the focus, with two popular forums returning. In the afternoon, animator Signe Baumane, presents a curated collection of short animations from around the globe and in the evening is the juried International Shorts film competition.