Twenty-four feature films from a score of countries are being shown in the World Greats (out of competition) section of the 2015 Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF). Notable among the filmmakers included are Majid Majidi whose Muhammad will be getting its world premiere, Jean-Jacques Annaud, who will be showing the North-American premiere of his latest film, Wolf Totem, Cristina Commencini (Latin Lover), Ventura Pons (The Virus of Fear), Ermanno Olmi (Greenery Will Bloom Again), Vincent Bal (Belgian Rhapsody), Ken Kwapis (A Walk in the Woods, with Robert Redford) and Sergio Castellitto (You Can`t Save Yourself Alone), among others.
MWFF will take place from August 27th to September 7th.
A WALK IN THE WOODS by Ken Kwapis. 2015 / Color / 98 min USA (pictured above)
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the US, where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends.
AN ITALIAN NAME (IL NOME DEL FIGLIO) by Francesca Archibugi. 2015 / Color / 94 min, Italy
Paolo and Simona are expecting. At a dinner with guests one question will lead to an argument that will disturb the entire evening: the name of Paolo and Simonaís son.
BEFORE SPRING (ABL AL RABIE) by Ahmed Atef. 2015 / Color / 92 min, Egypt
A young blogger who lost both eyes during the Egyptian Revolution recounts in flashback the events of the Spring that eventually came to his country.
BELGIAN RHAPSODY (LA BRABANÇONNE) by Vincent Bal. 2014 / Color / 100 min, Belgium – Luxembourg
Two Belgian brass bands, the Flemish ‘St. Cecilia’ and Walloon ‘En Avant’, have both been selected for the great European final. It is a competition with no holds barred.
BLOOD BEAD (AKAI TAMA) by Banmei Takahashi. 2015 / Color / 108 min, Japan
Tokita would rather be making movies than teaching about them in film school. But it pays the bills and thereís always Yui, the pretty school secretary. Then Ritsuko enters his life…
CHRIEG by Simon Jacquemet. 2014 / Color / 106 min, Switzerland
Matteo, a rebellious 15-year old is sent to a remote farm for rehabilitation. But the farm is run by the inmates. Matteo must quickly learn to run with the pack.
CORPSE COLLECTOR (SUBIRACH NA TRUPOVE) by Dimitar Dimitrov. 2015 / Color / 116 min, Bulgaria
Itzo, who drives a morgue wagon, is loved by young, innocent Mimmy, but prefers tough, experienced Katya who mistreats him. Itzo’s assistant, Buddy, tells him he’s got things all wrong.
EISENSTEIN IN GUANAJUATO by Peter Greenaway. 2015 / Color / 105 min, Netherlands – Mexico – Finland – Belgium
In 1931, at the height of his artistic powers, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to Mexico to shoot a new film to be titled Que Viva Mexico!
GITEL by Robert Mullan. 2014 / Color / 115 min, United Kingdom – Lithuania
September, 5 1969, and Gitel Bargman is about to attend a party to celebrate her 33rd birthday. Racked by guilt simply for being alive, for her it is hardly cause for celebration.
GREENERY WILL BLOOM AGAIN (TORNERANNO I PRATI) by Ermanno Olmi. 2014 / Color / 95 min, ItalyDedicated to his father who told him stories of the Great War, Ermanno Olmiís film is a touching slice of life in the First World War trenches on the Italian front.
IT’S REALLY KIND OF YOU by So Jae-ick. 2015 / Color / 92 min, South Korea
It is late night and raining hard when a strange woman clad only in underwear rushes up to a man who is fishing at the lake, asking for help. Help to do what ?
LATIN LOVER by Cristina Comencini. 2014 / Color / 104 min, Italy
On the 10th anniversary of the death of Saverio Crispo, Italy’s most famous actor, his 5 daughters, born from different mothers and in different countries, are brought together and get to know each other.
MUHAMMAD (Opening Film) by Majid Majidi. 2015 / Color / 171 min, Iran
The film does not depict Muhammad himself but his world, the pagan age with all its tyranny and oppression as seen through the eyes of young Muhammad from birth to the age of 13.
MY SISTER, THE PIG LADY (DWAEJI GATEUN YEOJA) by Jan Moon-il. 2015 / Color / 104 min, South Korea
In a small seaside village where all the young men left for the city, three young women scheme to catch the eye of the only bachelor left in town.
NECKAN by Gonzalo Tapia. 2015 / Color / 92 min, Spain
In 1956, a young Spaniard arrives in Morocco, soon to be independent, to find out what happened years ago to his family. If he discovers the truth, will it be worth the effort ?
SILVER SKIES by Rosemary Rodriguez. 2015 / Color / 96 min, USA
A group of eccentric retirees’ lives are turned upside down when their beloved apartment complex is suddenly sold out from under them. But you can never be too old for new beginnings.
SIMON by Éric Martin, Emmanuel Causse. 2015 / Color / 96 min, France
Simon, a seventeen-year-old boy is diagnosed with cancer — Ewing’s sarcoma. But he’s not about to bow out without leaving his mark on the world.
SISKA DELUXE by Ian Cvitkovic. 2015 / Color / 108 min, Slovenia – Czech Republic – Macedonia Longtime friends and losers, Mile, Fedr and Zekir need to rescue their calamitous professional and personal lives. An innovative pizzeria comes to the rescue.
THE NEXT GENERATION PATLABOR – TOKYO WAR Mamoru Oshii. 2015 / Color / 93 min Japan / Japan In a world where giant robots are built and used for labour, a special police force of robots is created to handle crimes relating to these machines.
THE SECRET OF ITALIA (IL SEGRETO DI ITALIA) by Antonello Belluco. 2014 / Color / 98 min, Italy
Italy, May 1945. The war is over. But for a 15-year-old girl called Italia in a small town in the region of Venice, the tragedy has just begun.
VIRUS OF FEAR (EL VIRUS DE LA POR) by Ventura Pons. 2015 / Color / 76 min, Spain
A small boy is being taught to swim at a Barcelona municipal pool. He he terrified of the water and the swimming instructor tries to calm him with a kiss. He is immediately accused of abuse.
WINTER by Heidi Greensmith. 2015 / Color / 95 min, United Kingdom
Devastated by the death of his beloved wife, Woods, a successful artist can no longer connect with his two sons. Motherless, will they have to take of him as well ?
WOLF TOTEM by Jean-Jacques Annaud. 2015 / Color / 98 min, France – China
The story of young Beijing intellectual’s fascination with the wolves he encounters when he’s sent to teach Mandarin to minority nomadic herders in the majestic, scenic grasslands of Inner Mongolia.
YOU CAN’T SAVE YOURSELF ALONE (NESSUNO SI SALVA DA SOLO) Sergio Castellitto. 2015 / Color / 103 min, Italy
When a separated couple meet to discuss the terms of their children’s holidays, the meal immediately becomes a wide reflection on their past ten years.
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The dark comedy film GRAVY, the feature film directorial debut of James Roday, will open in select cities on October 2nd, including NY and LA, and on-demand October 6th. Gravy features an all-star ensemble cast that includes:Michael Weston (State of Play, Garden State), Jimmi Simpson (House of Cards, White House Down),Sutton Foster (Younger, Bunheads),Lily Cole (Snow White and the Huntsman), Molly Ephraim (Last Man Standing),Paul Rodriguez (Ali),Gabriel Luna (True Detective,Wicked City), Lothaire Bluteau (Vikings, The Tudor), Ethan Sandler (The Bourne Supremacy, Crossing Jordan), Duke Hill (Ballers, Psych), with Gabourey Sidibe (Empire, Precious) and Sarah Silverman (Wreck-It Ralph).
As the immigration debate takes center stage in a presidential campaign marked by increasingly divisive and racially charged rhetoric, a new film MI AMERICA offers an on-the-ground look at some of the reality of this conflict.
The film is inspired by true stories from around the country and delivers a harrowing narrative on the conflict between disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers. MI AMERICA opens in theaters on October 16th and is directed by Robert Fontaine who also stars in the film. The cast also includes Michael Brainard, Brad Lee Wind, Grant Boyd, Michael Derek, Stephen Booth and Annemarie Lawless.
The story explores the circumstances surrounding a brutal hate crime targeting five Hispanic migrant laborers. Rolando Ramirez (Robert Fontaine) has been assigned to this case by chance. This journey will force him to question his own identity, and beliefs, on what it means to be an American, and in turn, attempt to bring those who committed this crime to justice.
A hate-crime has been committed, that has upset the delicate balance of a small, ethnically diverse waterfront city Braxton in upstate New York. The film explores the circumstances around the kidnapping and disappearance of Five Hispanic migrant labors.
Rolando Ramirez (a Hispanic-American Detective, and a longtime resident of the community), has been assigned to this case by chance. Or was it fate? His journey will force him to question his own identity, and beliefs, on what it means to be a North American, and in turn, attempt to bring those who committed this crime to justice…some of whom were close friends from childhood.
Violence against Latinos and the story told in MI AMERICA is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. where the conflict of disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers have resulted in tragedy. The immigration dilemma and debate continues to rage on as we enter the politically charged battlefield of the 2016 election and Latinos continue to be targets.
This gripping murder mystery offers a potent opportunity to take a closer look at this dire issue in the media.
[via release]
RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN by the South Korean director HONG Sangsoo is the winner of the Pardo d’oro, the top award, of the 68th Locarno Film Festival, along with award for Best Actor. In 
The Horizontes Latinos program of the 63rd San Sebastian Festival will include fourteen films from Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Films that have competed or premiered at important international festivals, but which have not yet been screened at a Spanish festival or had their commercial release in Spain.
The Horizontes Latinos program will open with Pablo Larraín’s El club, Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the last Berlin Festival. The film tells the tale of four men who share a secluded house in a small beach town, sent there to purge the sins they have committed in the past.
The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a specific jury and coming with €35,000, of which €10,000 will go to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 to its distributor in Spain.
EL CLUB (THE CLUB) (pictured in main image above)
PABLO LARRAÍN (CHILE)
Opening Night Film
Pablo Larraín won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the last Berlin Festival with this film. Four men share a secluded house in a small beach town, sent there to purge the sins they have committed in the past.
600 MILLAS (600 MILES)
GABRIEL RIPSTEIN (MEXICO)
Arnulfo Rubio, a young gun trafficker between the United States and Mexico, is being followed by ATF agent Hank Harris. After a risky mistake by Harris, Rubio makes a desperate decision: he smuggles the agent to Mexico. Best First Feature Award in the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival.
EL ABRAZO DE LA SERPIENTE (EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT)
CIRO GUERRA (COLOMBIA – ARGENTINA – VENEZUELA)
Premiered at the Cannes Festival Directors’ Fortnight, the latest film from Ciro Guerra tells the epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-transcending friendship, between an Amazonian shaman and two Western explorers.
EL BOTÓN DE NÁCAR (THE PEARL BUTTON)
PATRICIO GUZMÁN (FRANCE – CHILE – SPAIN )
Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán talks to us in his latest documentary about water, the cosmos and ourselves, human beings. It all begins with the discovery of two mysterious buttons in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile.
CHRONIC
MICHEL FRANCO (MEXICO – FRANCE)
David is a nurse who works with terminally ill patients. Efficient and dedicated to his profession, he develops strong and even intimate relationships with each person he cares for. But outside of his work David is ineffectual, awkward, and reserved. Best Screenplay Award-winner at the Cannes Festival.
DESDE ALLÁ (FROM AFAR)
LORENZO VIGAS (VENEZUELA)
Armando, aged 50, looks for young men in the streets of Caracas and pays them to come back to his house with him. He also regularly spies on an older man with whom he seems to have ties from the past. One day he meets Elder, aged 17, leader of a small band of thugs. Competitor in the Official Selection of the Venice Festival.
LAS ELEGIDAS (THE CHOSEN ONES)
DAVID PABLOS (MEXICO – FRANCE)
David Pablos’s second film took part at the San Sebastian Co-production Forum in 2014 and premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Festival. Sofia, 14 years old, is in love with Ulises. Because of him, in spite of him, she is forced into a prostitution ring in Mexico. To set her free, Ulises will have to find another girl to replace her.
IXCANUL
JAYRO BUSTAMANTE (GUATEMALA – FRANCE)
María, a 17 year-old Mayan girl, lives and works with her family in a plantation on the Guatemalan plateau. Her days go by uneventfully until her parents arrange her marriage to the estate foreman, Ignacio. A film that landed a special mention at the last edition of Films in Progress and competed at the Berlin Festival, where it won the Alfred Bauer Award.
MAGALLANES
SALVADOR DEL SOLAR (PERU – ARGENTINA – COLOMBIA – SPAIN)
Winner of Films in Progress at last year’s Festival. Magallanes recognises a woman getting into a taxi. It’s Celina, the young peasant girl he randomly arrested more than twenty years ago, when he was a soldier. They both have unfinished business. And for Magallanes, this is an opportunity to redeem himself. Damián Alcázar, Magaly Solier and Federico Luppi play the leading parts.
LA OBRA DEL SIGLO (THE PROJECT OF THE CENTURY)
CARLOS M. QUINTELA (CUBA – ARGENTINA – GERMANY -SWITZERLAND)
Amidst a mosquito plague, Leonardo, struggling with the breakdown of his relationship, moves back to live with a grandfather who fights with everyone and everything, and a father living with the melancholy of the unfinished. Tiger Award-winner at the last Rotterdam Festival.
PAULINA
SANTIAGO MITRE (ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – FRANCE)
Paulina decides to leave her brilliant law career to teach in a downtrodden Argentinian region. In a hostile atmosphere, she will set about her pedagogical mission, even if it means losing her boyfriend and confrontation with her father. Fipresci Prize-winner at the last Cannes Festival Critics’ Week.
PARA MINHA AMADA MORTA (TO MY BELOVED)
ALY MURITIBA (BRAZIL)
Fernando is a good man who takes care of his only child, Daniel, a shy and sensitive boy. Following the death of his wife Ana, every night Fernando recalls their love as he sorts out his beloved dead spouse’s belongings. One day he finds a VHS tape that will change everything. This movie participated in the Films in Progress section at the last Festival. The film took part at the Co-Production Forum in 2014.
TE PROMETO ANARQUÍA (I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY)
JULIO HERNÁNDEZ CORDÓN (MEXICO – GERMANY)
Julio Hernández Cordón’s new film was selected for the Locarno Festival Competition. Miguel and Johnny have known each other since childhood. They spend their time skateboarding and having fun. To make easy money and continue skateboarding, they sell their own blood clandestinely. They turn the ploy into a business, until a major transaction doesn’t turn out as they’d expected.
LA TIERRA Y LA SOMBRA / LAND AND SHADE
CÉSAR AUGUSTO ACEVEDO (COLOMBIA – CHILE – BRAZIL – NETHERLANDS – FRANCE)
Winner of the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Festival, after having participated at the San Sebastian Co-Production Forum in 2013, this film portrays a family as they try to repair the fragile ties that bind them in the face of their imminent disappearance, brought about by the overwhelming power of progress.
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