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Complete List of Official Selection Films + Descriptions of 35 Films in Lineup for 51st New York Film Festival

New York Film Festival

The New York Film Festival unveiled the names of the 35 films that will comprise the main slate of official selections for the 51st edition film that will run September 27-October 13, 2013. American and British comedies are a significant presence in this year’s lineup of of main slate official selections with Richard Curtis’s ABOUT TIME, a romantic comedy about a family whose men have the ability to travel in time, starring Bill Nighy and Rachel McAdams; Declan Lowney’s ALAN PARTRIDGE, which brings Steve Coogan’s legendary television character to the big screen for the first time; Roger Michell’s LE WEEK-END, featuring Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan as a couple visiting Paris with hopes of rekindling their relationship; and Alexander Payne’s NEBRASKA, about a father and son (Bruce Dern and Will Forte) on a road trip to pick up a million dollar prize that may or may not await them; and the previously announced Centerpiece and Closing Night Gala selections, Ben Stiller’s THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY and Spike Jonze’s HER.

Documentary filmmaking legends Claude Lanzmann and Frederick Wiseman each make their third appearances in NYFF’s main slate. Lanzmann returns with THE LAST OF THE UNJUST, a portrait of Benjamin Murmelstein, the last Jewish elder of Theresienstadt, once despised by many of its surviving inhabitants. Wiseman turns his camera toward the University of California, Berkeley, with his latest film, AT BERKELEY.

Films & Descriptions

ABOUT TIME (2013) 123min
Director: Richard Curtis
Country: UK
Richard Curtis adds a touch of time-travel to this hilarious romantic comedy, a perfect vehicle for the comic talents of Bill Nighy, Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Duncan, and emerging star Domhnall Gleeson. A Universal Pictures release.

ABUSE OF WEAKNESS (Abus de Faiblesse) (2013) 105min
Director: Catherine Breillat
Country: France
Catherine Breillat’s haunting film about her 2004 stroke and subsequent self-destructive relationship with star swindler Christophe Rocancourt, starring Isabelle Huppert.

ALAN PARTRIDGE (2013) 90min
Director: Declan Lowney
Country: UK/France
In the long-awaited big-screen debut of Steve Coogan’s singular comic creation, the vain and obliviously tactless Alan Partridge must serve as an intermediary when North Norfolk Digital is seized at gunpoint by a down-sized DJ.

ALL IS LOST (2013) 107min
Director: J.C. Chandor
Country: USA
Robert Redford as you’ve never seen him before, gives a near-wordless all-action performance as a lone sailor trying to keep his yacht afloat after a collision with a discarded shipping container in the middle of the Indian Ocean. A Roadside Attractions release.

AMERICAN PROMISE (2013) 135min

Directors: Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson
Country: USA
Two Brooklyn filmmakers follow their son Idris and his friend Suen from their enrollment in the Dalton School as children through their high school graduations in this devastating, years-in-the-making documentary that takes a hard look at race and class in America.

AT BERKELEY (2013) 244min
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Country: USA
Another masterfully constructed documentary from Frederick Wiseman, examining the University of California, Berkeley from multiple angles – the administrators, the students, the surrounding community – to arrive at a portrait that is as rich in detail as it is epic in scope.

BASTARDS (Les Salauds) (2013) 100min
Director: Claire Denis
Country: France/Germany
Claire Denis’s jagged, daringly fragmented and deeply unsettling film inspired by recent French sex ring scandals is the rarest of cinematic narratives—a contemporary film noir, perfect in substance as well as style.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR (La Vie d’Adèle) (2013) 179min

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Country: France
The sensation of this year’s Cannes Film Festival is an intimate – and sexually explicit – epic of emotional transformation, featuring two astonishing performances from Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. A Sundance Selects release.
Please be advised that this film has scenes of a sexually explicit nature.

BURNING BUSH (Hořicí Keř) (2013) 234min
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Country: Czech Republic
A passionately brilliant Czech mini-series from Agnieska Holland about the events that followed student Jan Palach’s public self-immolation in protest against the Soviet invasion after Prague Spring.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013) 143min
Director: Paul Greengrass
Country: USA
Paul Greengrass has crafted an edge-of-your-seat thriller based on the true story of the seizure of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship in 2009 by four Somali pirates, with remarkable performances from Tom Hanks and four first-time actors, Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahet M. Ali. A Sony Pictures release.

CHILD OF GOD (2013) 104min
Director: James Franco
Country: USA
James Franco’s uncompromising excursion into American Gothic, adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 1973 novel, about an unstable sociopath in early 60s rural Tennessee who descends into an animal-like state – not for the faint-hearted.

GLORIA (2013) 110min

Director: Sebastián Lelio
Countries: Chile/Spain
A wise, funny, liberating movie from Chile, about a middle-aged woman who finds romance but whose new partner finds it painfully difficult to abandon his old habits.

HER (2013)
Director: Spike Jonze
Country: USA
In Spike Jonze’s magical, melancholy comedy of the near future, lonely Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his new all-purpose operating system (the voice of Scarlett Johansson), leading to romantic and existential complications. A Warner Bros. Pictures release.

THE IMMIGRANT (2013) 120min
Director: James Gray
Country: USA
In James Gray’s richly detailed period tragedy, set in a dusty, sepia-toned 1920s Manhattan, a young Polish immigrant (Marion Cotillard) is caught in a dangerous battle of wills with a shady burlesque manager (Joaquin Phoenix). A Radius-TWC release.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013) 105min
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Country: USA/France
Joel and Ethan Coen’s picaresque, panoramic and wryly funny story of a singer/songwriter is set in the New York folk scene of the early 60s and features a terrific array of larger-than-life characters and a glorious score of folk standards. A CBS Films release.

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (2013) 111min
Director: Ralph Fiennes
Country: UK
Ralph Fiennes directs and stars as Charles Dickens in this adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s revelatory 1992 biography, which brought the upright Victorian author’s secret 13-year affair with a young actress to light. A Sony Pictures Classics Release.

JEALOUSY (La Jalousie) (2013) 77min
Director: Philippe Garrel
Country: France
Another intimate, handcrafted work of poetic autobiographical cinema from French director Philippe Garrel, in which his son Louis and Anna Mouglalis star as actors and lovers trying to reconcile their professional and personal lives.

JIMMY P: PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN (2013) 114min
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Country: France
In Arnaud Desplechin’s intelligent and moving depiction of a successful “Talking Cure,” the encounters between patient (Benicio del Toro) and therapist (Mathieu Amalric) are electric with discovery.

THE LAST OF THE UNJUST (Le Dernier des injustes) (2013) 218min

Director: Claude Lanzmann
Countries: France/Austria
This moral and cinematic tour de force from the creator of SHOAH will cause you to reconsider your understanding of Adolph Eichmann and of Benjamin Murmelstein, the last Jewish elder of Theresienstadt and the film’s central figure.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON (Soshite Chichi ni Naru) (2013) 120min
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Country: Japan
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s sensitive drama takes a close look at two families’ radically different approaches to the horribly painful realization that the sons they have raised as their own were switched at birth. A Sundance Selects release.

THE MISSING PICTURE (L’image manquante) (2013) 92min
Director: Rithy Panh
Country: Cambodia
Filmmaker Rithy Panh’s brave new film revisits his memories of four years spent under the Khmer Rouge and the destruction of his family and his culture; without a single memento left behind, he creates his “missing images” with narration and painstakingly executed dioramas. A Strand release.

MY NAME IS HMMM… (Je m’appelle Hmmm…) (2013) 121min

Director: agnès B
Country: France
In this deeply personal, incandescent first feature from designer agnès B, a young girl holding her family together and bearing the weight of sexual abuse runs away from home and enjoys a carefree idyll with a kindly Scottish trucker.

NEBRASKA (2013) 115min
Director: Alexander Payne
Country: USA
This masterful film from Alexander Payne, about a quiet old man (Bruce Dern) whose mild-mannered son (Will Forte) agrees to drive him from Montana to Nebraska to claim a non-existent prize, shades from the comic to multiple hues of melancholy and regret. A Paramount Pictures release.

NOBODY’S DAUGHTER HAEWON (Nugu-ui ttal-do anin Haewon) (2013) 90min
Director: Hong Sang-soo
Country: South Korea
A young student at loose ends after her mother moves to America tries to define herself one encounter and experience at a time, in reality and in dreams, in another deceptively simple chamber-piece from South Korean master Hong Sang-soo.

NORTH, THE END OF HISTORY (Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan) (2013) 250min

Director: Lav Diaz
Country: Philippines
Filipino director Lav Diaz’s twelfth feature – at four-plus hours, one of his shortest – is a careful rethinking of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, with a tortured anti-hero who is a haunting embodiment of the dead ends of ideology.

OMAR (2013) 96min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Country: Palestinian Territories
A tense, gripping, ticking clock thriller about betrayal, suspected and real, in the Occupied Territories, from Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now).

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (2013) 123min

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Country: USA
Jim Jarmusch’s wry, tender and moving take on the vampire genre features Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as a centuries-old couple who watch time go by from separate continents as they reflect on the ever-changing world around them. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (2013)
Director: Ben Stiller
Country: USA
Ben Stiller stars in and directs this sweet, globe-trotting (but New York-based) comic fable about an up-to-the-minute everyman, co-starring Kristen Wiig as the woman of his dreams, Sean Penn as a legendary photographer and Shirley MacLaine as Walter’s mother. A Twentieth Century Fox release.

THE SQUARE (2013) 104min
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Country: USA/Egypt
Jehane Noujaim’s tense, vivid verité portrait of events as they unfolded in Tahrir Square through Arab Spring and beyond, in a newly revised, up-to-the-minute version.

STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’Inconnu du lac) (2013) 97min

Director: Alain Guiraudie
Country: France
Alain Guiraudie’s lethally precise, sexually explicit film, which unfolds entirely in the vicinity of a gay cruising ground, is both a no-holds-barred depiction of a hedonistic subculture and a perverse and unnerving tale of amour fou. A Strand release.
Please be advised that this film has scenes of a sexually explicit nature.

STRAY DOGS (Jiao You) (2013) 138min
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Country: Taiwan/France
Tsai Ming-liang’s fable of a homeless family living the cruelest of existences on the ragged edges of the modern world is bracingly pure in its anger and its compassion, and as visually powerful as it is emotionally overwhelming.

A TOUCH OF SIN (Tian Zhu Ding) (2013) 133min

Director: Jia Zhangke
Country: China
Jia Zhangke’s bloody, bitter new film builds a portrait of modern-day China in the midst of rapid and convulsive change through four overlapping stories of marginalized and oppressed citizens pushed to murderous rage. A Kino Lorber release.

LE WEEK-END (2013) 93min
Director: Roger Michell
Country: UK
A magically buoyant, bittersweet comedy drama about a middle-aged and middle class English couple who go to Paris for a weekend holiday, starring two of Britain’s national treasures, Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan. A Music Box Films release.

WHEN EVENING FALLS ON BUCHAREST OR METABOLISM (2013) 89min

Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Countries: Romania/France
A rigorously structured and fascinatingly oblique new film from Corneliu Porumboiu that examines the life of a film director during the moments on a shoot when the camera isn’t rolling.

THE WIND RISES (Kaze Tachinu) (2013) 126min
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Country: Japan
The great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s new film is based on the life of Jiro Hirokoshi, the man who designed the Zero fighter. An elliptical historical narrative, THE WIND RISES is also a visionary cinematic poem about the fragility of humanity.

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Sundance Film Festival Rock and Roll Documentary “MUSCLE SHOALS” Gets a Fall 2013 Release Date | TRAILER

Documentary

The rock and roll documentary “MUSCLE SHOALS” which premiered earlier this year at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival will open September 27, 2013 at the IFC Center in NY and nationwide on VOD, and October 11th in LA. At the heart of the story is Rick Hall who managed to convince musical superstars like Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and Etta James to come to Alabama and record their hit albums. He is responsible for creating the “Muscle Shoals sound” and The Swampers, the house band at FAME that eventually left to start their own successful studio

Directed by Greg ‘Freddy” Camalier, “MUSCLE SHOALS” is a documentary about a place filled with magic and music, legend and folklore, where the river is inhabited by a Native American spirit who has lured some of the greatest Rock and Roll and Soul legends of all time, and drawn from them some of the most uplifting, defiant, and important music ever created. In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, music runs through the hills, the river, and the spirit of the people. It is a place where, even before the Civil Rights Movement really took shape, the color of your skin didn’t matter inside the studio.

At its heart is Rick Hall who founded FAME Studios. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Hall brought black and white together in Alabama’s cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations. He is responsible for creating the “Muscle Shoals sound” and The Swampers, the house band at FAME that eventually left to start their own successful studio.

Aretha Franklin in Muscle Shoals

Jimmy Cliff, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Wilson Pickett, The Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, The Staple Singers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Percy Sledge and countless other stars have all been lured to this remote and mystical place in the backwoods of Alabama to work with the musicians and producers there.

Raw and candid interviews, inspiring music, live performances, and the magic of the milieu itself capture and convey this tale. Interviewees include legendary musicians Gregg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Jimmy Cliff, Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger, Alicia Keys, Ed King, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge, and Steve Winwood among many others.

http://youtu.be/jU09t0smAWI
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Controversial Polish drama, AFTERMATH, Gets a US Release Date | TRAILER

Foreign Language Films

AFTERMATH, winner of the Yad Vashem Award at the 2013 Jerusalem Film Festival and the Critics’ Prize at the 2012 Gdynia Film Festival in Poland, will open at Lincoln Plaza in New York on November 1st, and at The Royal and other Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles on November 8. A national release will follow.

AFTERMATH, written and directed by Władysław Pasikowski, tells the story of two brothers, Jozek (Maciej Stuhr) and Franek (Ireneusz Czop) who discover a secret and are forced to revise their perception of their father, their entire family, their neighbors, and the history of their nation. Franek, the older brother, returns home to Poland after many years living in Chicago and discovers that his younger brother is being mysteriously threatened and shunned by local townspeople. What follows is a gothic tale of intrigue as the brothers are drawn into investigating the village’s dark secrets.

Upon the release of this film in its native Poland, AFTERMATH received intense criticism from Polish nationals, who accused the film of being “anti-Polish propaganda” and a gross manipulation of historical truth. AFTERMATH has so riled the Polish right wing that it has been banned from some local cinemas, while its leading actor, Maciej Stuhr, has received death threats.

http://youtu.be/KZapH2vo-cs
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Milwaukee Film Festival Announced Line-up for 2013 Rated K: For Kids Program

Milwaukee Film Festival

Wolf Children by Mamoru Hosoda

The Milwaukee Film Festival announced the line-up for its Rated K: For Kids program, formerly known as the Milwaukee Children’s Film Festival. According to the festival, Rated K will continue to present the best international children’s films for ages 3-12 years. Rated K: For Kids will feature four feature-length films, including a 25th anniversary screening of children’s classic THE LAND BEFORE TIME, and three of “the best international features on the children’s film festival circuit.” Rated K also features three separate short film showcases, programmed for age-specific audiences: Size Small (ages 3+), Size Medium (ages 6+), and Size Large (ages 10+).

RATED K: FOR KIDS LINE-UP:

THE LAND BEFORE TIME
(USA, Ireland / 1988 / Director: Don Bluth)

Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZA41HbwPLs
The plucky young Apatosaurus Littlefoot must find the life-supporting, plant-filled Great Valley after his homeland is destroyed by an earthquake and a frightening battle that leaves him orphaned. Along the way he’s joined by fellow dino-kids Cera, Petrie, Ducky and Spike, and these decidedly different species of dinosaurs learn the value of teamwork and diversity as they brave the dangerous journey toward a new beginning. This 35 mm screening provides the perfect chance for 20- to 30-somethings to revisit a childhood favorite (celebrating its 25th anniversary!) or to introduce its handmade charms (Don Bluth’s superb animation) to an entirely new generation.

TAKING CHANCES
(Netherlands, Belgium / 2011 / Director: Nicole van Kilsdonk)
Trailer: n/a
When Kiek, a spunky and fearless young lady often found astride her skateboard, learns her father is being sent to a war zone to deliver medical aid, she can’t help but worry. Sure, he’s not actually fighting in the war itself, but accidents happen, and Kiek feels she has to take measures in order to ensure his safety. Immersed in the logic of a child coping with the effects of war on her family, Taking Chances includes tense scenes surrounding potential deaths of a mouse and a family dog (much of which is done through cheeky animation), but it is perfect viewing for older, imaginative kids. Subtitles will not be read aloud.

WOLF CHILDREN
(Japan / 2012 / Director: Mamoru Hosoda)
Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8PWyfEz60
The latest flight of fancy from Mamoru Hosoda ( Summer Wars), this English-dubbed anime tells the tale of Hana, a woman who falls in love and forms a unique family with a man able to shape-shift between man and wolf. Tragedy leads Hana to take her children to the Japanese countryside, all the better for two kids who frequently transform into woodland creatures. A lyrical, gentle tale of children learning to fit in despite their differences (even if theirs are furrier than most!), Hosoda’s tale of family ties is imbued with a natural wonder and sense of the fantastic impossible to resist.

ZARAFA
(France / 2012 / Directors: Rémi Bezançon, Jean-Christophe Lie)
Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSdlenkDEc

Young Maki has escaped the grasp of evil slave-traders when he forms an unbreakable bond with the orphaned giraffe Zarafa. He’s swept up in a globe-trotting adventure in order to bring his beloved giraffe back home, meeting a female pirate and hot-air balloonist along the way. Based on the true story of the Paris Zoo’s first giraffe, Zarafa is a tale of bravery and loyalty that doesn’t shy away from engaging with dramatic historical issues such as racism and colonialism but whose positive message and sweet conclusion (not to mention gorgeous 2-D animation) will satisfy both adventurous and sensitive young viewers. Subtitles will be read aloud.

Kids Shorts: Size Small
This all-ages, all-animated lineup of short films is guaranteed to delight viewers young and old, with the final installment of Mo Willems’ Knuffle Bunny (MFF 2010) series and an adaptation of Madison-based Kevin Henkes’ Caldecott-winning story Kitten’s First Full Moon counted among its diverse animation styles. These colorful bursts of energy are perfect for the whole family. Subtitles will be read aloud.

Aston’s Presents (Sweden / 2012 / Directors: Uzi Geffenblad, Lotta Geffenblad)
Choir Tour (Latvia / 2012 / Director: Edmunds Jansons)
Chopin’s Drawings (USA / 2011 / Director: Dorota Kobiela)
Eskimal (Mexico / 2011 / Director: Homero Ramirez Tena)
How Shammies Guessed (Latvia / 2012 / Director: Edmunds Jansons)
Kitten’s First Full Moon (USA / 2011 / Director: Gary McGivney)
Knuffle Bunny Free (USA / 2012 / Director: Karen Villarreal)
The Little Bird and the Leaf (Switzerland / 2012 / Director: Lena Von Döhren)
Mira’s Night (USA / 2011 / Director: Elyse Kelly)
A Tangled Tale (USA / 2013 / Director: Corrie Francis Parks)

Kids Shorts: Size Medium
A mix of live-action and animation highlights the Size Medium program, packed with shorts celebrating the logic and wonder that can only be examined through a child’s perspective. Andrea Dorfman (MFF 2011) returns with her puppet stop-motion tale Big Mouth, one of many shorts that deal with common issues like bullying and taking care of the environment. Subtitles will be read aloud.

Big Mouth (Canada / 2012 / Director: Andrea Dorfman)
Boris the Rat Dresses Warmly (Finland / 2012 / Directors: Kaisa Penttilä, Leena Jääskeläinen)
Chinti (Russia / 2012 / Director: Natalia Mirzoyan)
Colosse – A Wood Tale (USA / 2012 / Director: Yves Geleyn)
The Fox and the Chickadee (Canada / 2012 / Director: Evan Derushie)
Frog Weather (Germany / 2011 / Director: Pauline Kortmann)
Jonah and the Crab (USA / 2012 / Director: Laurel Cohen)
My First Spellbook (Scotland / 2011 / Director: Gavin Laing)
Paulie (USA / 2012 / Director: Andrew Nackman)
Shame and Glasses (Italy / 2013 / Director: Alessandro Riconda)
Wing (Denmark / 2011 / Directors: Asger Grevil, Mette Vestergaard Madsen)

Kids Shorts: Size Large
This batch of shorts for the older kids (10+) deals with social and historical issues such as divorce and racism, but with a hopeful, lighthearted touch — perhaps none more so than MFF favorites The Rauch Brothers returning with Eyes on the Stars, a tribute to the second African-American man to reach outer space, Ronald E. McNair. Subtitles will not be read aloud.

Bot (USA / 2010 / Director: Mustafa Lazkani)
Eyes on the Stars (USA / 2012 / Director: The Rauch Brothers)
A Girl Named Elastika (Canada / 2012 / Director: Guillaume Blanchet)
High Noon (Venezuela / 2013 / Director: Ivan Mazza)
I’m Going to Mum’s (New Zealand / 2012 / Director: Lauren Jackson)
Krake (Germany / 2012 / Director: Regina Welker)
The Maiden and the Princess (USA / 2011 / Director: Ali Scher)
Monster, Me (USA / 2013 / Director: Milt Klingensmith)
Song of the Spindle (USA / 2011 / Director: Drew Christie)
Sounds for Mazin (Netherlands / 2012 / Director: Ingrid Kamerling)
Turning a Corner (USA / 2012 / Director: David B. Levy)
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‘ANOTHER HOUSE’ to Open, ‘ADORE’ to Close 37th Montreal World Film Festival

Montreal World Film Festival

L’AUTRE MAISON (ANOTHER HOUSE)

L’AUTRE MAISON (ANOTHER HOUSE), the first fiction feature by Quebec director Mathieu Roy (Surviving Progress) will open the 37th Montreal World Film Festival on August 22, and ADORE the new film by French director Anne Fontaine, will close the festival on September 2. The Montreal World Film Festival will be held August 22 to September 2, 2013.

ANOTHER HOUSE stars Marcel Sabourin in the role of the father, Roy Dupuis in the role of Gabriel, the jet-setting reporter, Émile Proulx-Cloutier in the role of Eric, the pilot in training, and Florence Blain in the role of Maia. The film also features French actress Julie Gayet and the Senegalese musician Zal Sisshoko.

Henri Bernard, 86, suffers from memory loss and periodically escapes from his house in search of a more comfortable one. His two sons, Gabriel, a war reporter, and Éric, a pilot-in-training, disagree on how to deal with their father’s condition. However, the two brothers will have to renew the ties that bind them in order to accompany their father to the enigmatic destination he’s looking for.

ADORE

Set in Australia and starring Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, James Frecheville and Xavier Samuel, ADORE was scripted by Christopher Hampton, winner of the best screenplay Oscar in 1988 for Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons.

Roz and Lil are the best of friends, and have been since childhood, growing up as neighbors in an idyllic beach town. As adults, their teenaged sons have developed a friendship as strong as that which binds their mothers. One perfect summer the boys, along with their mothers, are confronted by the simmering emotions that have been mounting between them… Afraid of facing the ire and judgment of their insular seaside community, they continue the relationships in secret over the years. Once the affairs are discovered, the revelation threatens to tear apart their lives and those of the young men, who must eventually choose between following a well-worn path or their true desires.

“The short novel (The Grandmothers) by Doris Lessing from which my film was adapted,” explained Ms. Fontaine, “contains everything I like to develop: an ambiguous and strange love story, a contained universe that is yet open to the world, and the opportunity to push exceptional actors to plumb their deepest personal truths… I hope Canadian audiences, who I know to be open minded, will be sensitive to this portrait of particular passions.”

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19th Sarajevo Film Festival Opens Today, Friday August 16th with Film “AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER | TRAILER

Sarajevo Film Festival

AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER

The 19th Sarajevo Film Festival opened today, Friday, August 16, 2013, (thru August 24, 2013) with a ceremony at the National Theatre hosted by Bosnian-Herzegovinian actress Marija Pikić. The ceremony was followed by a screening of AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian director Danis Tanović. This latest film by Danis Tanović won the Silver Bear at the 63rd International Film Festival in Berlin. The film’s protagonist Nazif Mujić also received a Silver Bear. In addition to the two official awards, the film received a special mention by the Ecumenical Jury.

AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER is based on a true story and it deals with alienation and discrimination in contemporary Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. The film follows Nazif, who supports his family by gathering scrap metal. After his wife Senada is denied emergency treatment for a miscarriage, Nazif is ready to do everything in his power to save her life—desperately gathering more scrap metal and asking for help from non governmental and state institutions. In the following ten days, Nazif and Senada are fully exposed to the callousness of contemporary society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtFrHUktgP8
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Calgary International Film Festival Picks Comedy Film “THE GRAND SEDUCTION” to Kickoff 2013 Festival

Calgary International Film Festival

The comedy film “THE GRAND SEDUCTION” has been selected to open 2013 Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) on Thursday, September 19, 2013. “The Grand Seduction is a laugh-out-loud comedy, and we’re overjoyed to present the Western Canadian premier of this major release. The film is a who’s who of talent from across Canada, from director Don McKellar and the incredible cast, to co-writer Michael Dowse, who is well known in Calgary and abroad for Fubar and others. Last year’s Opening Gala was the largest and most talked about in the festival’s history, and we look forward to an even bigger night this year.” – Steve Schroeder, Executive Director, The Calgary International Film Festival

THE GRAND SEDUCTION, a remake of Ken Scott’s 2001 film Le Grande Séduction (Seducing Doctor Lewis), we follow along as a small Newfoundland fishing town looks for a new lease on life. Plans for a lucrative factory contract in tiny Tickle Head are contingent on the town’s ability to secure a resident doctor—and none have jumped on board. Things are looking grim, until Murray French (Brendan Gleeson) concocts an elaborate scheme and enlists his neighbors to charm a big-city doctor (Taylor Kitsch) to stay behind.

The 11-day festival continues through to September 29, showing nearly 200 multi-genre films.
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New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 16

News

This weekend is a relatively quiet one in terms of major Hollywood releases (expecting people will be out enjoying the final weekends of summer?), but it’s a vibrant one for indie and foreign releases. At least two of them are among the most talked-about movies of the year, and several had their premieres back at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and are finally making their ways out to the masses. Be sure to keep your eyes on some of the films being released this weekend as many of them of will continue expanding to more areas in the following weekends.

New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 16

LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER

LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER

Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Forest Whitaker, David Oyelowo, Lenny Kravitz, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Because its release is wider than most indie films you’ve probably heard all about Lee Danisels’ The Butler, a film loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen, an African American who served as a White House butler for decades. It’s already the subject of all sorts of awards talk, and while I felt the movie was uneven it’s important to note there is a great family drama here if you can get past the distraction of famous actors doing terrible impressions of former presidents (especially Robin Williams and John Cusack).

JOBS

JOBS
Director: Joshua Michael Stern
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, J.K. Simmons, Matthew Modine
Even before everyone you know had an iPod, Steve Jobs was a monumental figure in computers and business. This biopic went into production shortly after Jobs’ death in late 2011. The film stars Ashton Kutcher as Jobs, and while the commercials for the movie have been filled with immense praise, it’s worth noting that most reviews since it premiered back at Sundance have been largely negative — particularly focusing on Kutcher’s performance.

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS
Director: David Lowery
Starring: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Keith Carradine
The buzz on this crime drama about an outlaw reuniting with his wife and the sheriff who tries to stop them has been huge after winning two awards at Sundance. If nothing else, see it because David Lowery is a director that many have pegged as one of the next big names.

AUSTENLAND

AUSTENLAND
Director: Jerusha Hess
Starring: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Jennifer Coolidge, Bret McKenzie, Jane Seymour
Director Jerusha Hess is best known for co-writing Napoleone Dynamite and Austenland, based on the 2007 novel, fits in her quirky work. It stars Keri Russell as a devoted Jane Austen fan going to a Jane Austen theme park (?) to meet the love of her life. The real question is — who would open a Jane Austen theme park?

CUTIE AND THE BOXER (Documentary)

CUTIE AND THE BOXER

Director: Zachary Heinzerling
Though most of us probably wouldn’t want to peer into the inner workings of two people in a forty year marriage, Cutie and the Boxer won the Documentary Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival. It tells the story of painter Ushio Shinohara, famed for his boxing art, and his wife Noriko, who feels marginalized in her role as Ushio’s assistant.

YOU WILL BE MY SON (TU SERAS MON FILS)

YOU WILL BE MY SON (TU SERAS MON FILS)
Director: Gilles Legrand
Starring: Niels Arestrup, Lorànt Deutsch, Patrick Chesnais
Though it was first released in it’s native France over two years ago, this family drama starring Gilles Legrand (War Horse, A Prophet) as a father who owns a winery who sees another man’s son as a far more suitable successor than his own son has earned rave reviews from just about every critic who has seen it.

OTHER NOTABLE WEEKEND INDIE, FOREIGN & DOCUMENTARY RELEASES:
THE HAPPY SAD
STANDING UP
SPARK: A BURNING MAN STORY (Documentary)
THE AMERICAN GANDHI

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‘GRAVITY’ ‘DIANA’ Among First Gala Premieres Announced for 9th Zurich Film Festival

Zurich Film Festival

The 9th Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) taking place from 26 September to 6 October 2013, announced its first Gala Premieres: GRAVITY by Alfonso Cuarón, DEVIL’S KNOT by Atom Egoyan, THE RAILWAY MAN by Jonathan Teplitzky, JOE by David Gordon Green, DIANA by Oliver Hirschbiegel, ALL IS LOST by JC Chandor and LE WEEKEND by Roger Michell.

GRAVITY
Alfonso Cuarón
In his latest work, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón ventures into the infinite realm of deep space in a film did is Already drawing comparison to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. In GRAVITY, Cuaron presents a production did pulls the audience into extraordinary spectacle of. The two astronauts Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), are on a space mission When a seemingly routine spacewalk turns into a disaster: The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Ryan and Matt completely alone, tethered to nothing but each and spiraling into complete blackness.

DEVIL’S KNOT
Atom Egoyan
Armenian-Canadian auteur filmmaker Atom Egoyan, is renowned for his powerful and haunting film-drama. Loss and mourning form two key aspects of his oeuvre – and therefore apply to his most recent work DEVIL’S KNOT. Based on true events, the story centers round the brutal murder of three children – so-called synthesis Memphis Murders kept the USA holding its breath in 1993. Three victims, all eight-year-old boy scouts are found naked and mutilated in a ditch in West Memphis. Rumours circulate soon did the children were murdered as part of satanic rituals. Three men are Suspected of committing the crime. Working for free for the defendants, private investigator Ron Lax (Colin Firth) goes in search of evidence to prove them innocent. Pam Hobbs (Reese Witherspoon), mother of one of the murdered boys, is Convinced the trio is guilty – until the first feelings of doubt surface.

THE RAILWAY MAN
Jonathan Teplitzky
THE RAILWAY MAN, by Australian director Jonathan Teplitzky, is the screen adaptation of an autobiographical novel of the same name by Eric Lomax: officer During the Second World War, this Scottish (Colin Firth) is captured by the Japanese and sent to a prisoner of was camp, where he is forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, after more than 100 000 victims perished during the laying of its tracks. Lomax survives but Continues to suffer the psychological trauma of his wartime experiences. Years later, Lomax, supported by his wife Patti (Nicole Kidman) and his best friend Finlay (Stellan Skarsgård), returns to the scene of his torture where he meets his former captor. Will this journey turn into a campaign of revenge – or wants Lomax finally manage to put his past and its ghosts to rest?

JOE
David Gordon Green
In the dirty unruly world of small-town Texas, ex-convict Joe Ransom (Nicolas Cage) has tried to put his dark past behind him and to live a simple life. He works for a lumber company by day, by night drinks. But When 15-year-old Gary (Tye Sheridan) – a kid trying to support his family – comes to town, desperate for work, Joe has found a way to atone for his sins – to finally be someone’s hero. As Joe tries to protect Gary, the pair will take the twisting road to redemption in the hope for a better life in this tough, hard-hitting but incredibly moving story.

Equally as overwhelming as it is gloomy, this is a beautifully filmed modern-day fairytale by Southern State Director Gordon Green (GEORGE WASHINGTON, ALL THE REAL GIRLS, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS) based on a 1991 novel of the same name by Larry Brown.

DIANA
Oliver Hirschbiegel
So is the highly anticipated biopic of one of the most popular royals of all time: Diana, Princess of Wales, played by Naomi Watts. Following the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles, Princess Diana finds her great love in the heart surgeon Hasnat Khan (Naveen Andrews). When this relationship collapses Following Following enormous media interest, Diana begins a new affair with Dodi Al-Fayed.

Approximately 15 years after her tragic accidental death in Paris, Oliver Hirschbiegel highlights Diana’s personal path to happiness and her commitment to humanitarian issues. DIANA is the portrait of a strong yet distraught woman balancing motherhood, her duties and her heart’s desires.

Hirschbiegel (DAS EXPERIMENT, THE DOWNFALL et al.) Attended the 2 ^nd Zurich Film Festival as a jury member and therefore presented FIVE MINUTES TO HEAVEN as a gala premiere here in 2009.

ALL IS LOST
JC Chandor
The one-man odyssey ALL IS LOST depicts the thrilling adventure of an experienced sailor (Robert Redford) cruising the Indian Ocean in his sailboat. A spectacular fight for survival begins Following Following a collision with a freight container. Despite his nautical skills and incredible will to survive, the skipper soon finds himself having to stare death in the eye.

Director of this gripping survival drama is Jeffrey C. Chandor, Whose Oscar-nominated MARGIN CALL production celebrated a gala premiere screening at the 7 ^th Zurich Film Festival.

LE WEEKEND
Roger Michell
LE WEEKEND is an accurate and humorous excursion into the nature of love, or more described precisely: How a long-married British couple attempt to rekindle Their love life. Played by Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan, the two Protagonists return to Paris for the first time since Their honeymoon. There They bump into a former colleague (Jeff Goldblum) who turns Their Lives upsidedown. LE WEEKEND is a captivating and enjoyable celebration of big emotions set before the mundane backdrop of the City of Lights and directed by Roger Michell (NOTTING HILL, HYDE PARK ON HUDSON).

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12 Filmmakers Are Grant Recipients of 2013 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund

Industry

ROOFTOP FILMS & AT&T FEATURE FILM GRANT:Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA

Rooftop Films which wraps up it’s Summer Series this weekend, announced the 2013 Filmmakers’ Fund grantees. Rooftop Films’ Founder and Artistic Director, Mark Elijah Rosenberg, said of the grants: “Every year, it is an honor for us at Rooftop to be able to support a new crop of amazing films thanks to the support of our community—our audience, partners and sponsors. We are proud to reflect the diversity of our community by awarding grants to a wide range of films this year, from comedies and wild new media projects to serious films addressing global political issues. Each of these filmmakers previously screened at our festival, so it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to give something back to them and help them make new films which will soon astonish the world.”

The 2013 Grantees are:

ROOFTOP FILMS & AT&T FEATURE FILM GRANT: Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA
ROOFTOP FILMS & EASTERN EFFECTS EQUIPMENT GRANT: Todd Rohal, SWEET CHEEKS
ROOFTOP FILMS & EDGEWORX POST-PRODUCTION GRANT: Zachary Treitz & Kate Lyn Sheil, MEN GO TO BATTLE
ROOFTOP FILMS EQUIPMENT GRANT: Keith Miller, FIVE STAR
ROOFTOP FILMS & ADRIENNE SHELLY FOUNDATION SHORT FILM GRANT FOR WOMEN: Heather Courtney, Untitled Texas documentary
ROOFTOP FILMS & DCTV EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES GRANTS:
Darius Monroe Clark, EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL
Sam Green, THE GREAT HEART OF HUMANITY
Natalie Paul, SWEET TEA
ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS’ FUND SHORT FILM GRANTS:
Riley Hooper, WORLD’S LONGEST YARD SALE
Yung Jake, KICKSTARDER
Mike Plante, GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE
Tom Schroeder & Lisa Paclet, ISLAND

Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA
Determined and courageous Burkinabé friends, Ayiva and Abas, must persevere through the difficult journey across Africa on their way to finding new opportunities in Europe. But with their family and new home, local hostility and intolerance all hanging in the balance, Ayiva and Abas must consider what price a ‘better life’ is really worth. Rooftop screened Carpignano’s award-winning short film, A Chjana in 2012 and Bayou Black in 2011.

Todd Rohal, SWEET CHEEKS
Sweet Cheeks is the story of two nine-year-old brothers, Tyson and Tyler Butterfield, growing up among the twenty-four adopted children that live together in a one-room house where they eat, sleep, and get raised up by their loving parents. The boys find a gift for their mother inside of an abandoned mailbox which leads them on a mission where they run afoul of a slick reverend with strange ideas about love, steal a car from a daredevil hobo, get chased by a 6-inch tall man in a balloon, and confront Jesus Christ in heaven above. Sweet Cheeks exists in the uncharted territory located somewhere between the Our Gang shorts of the 1930s, Paper Moon, Night of the Hunter, Duck Soup and Forbidden Zone. Rooftop screened Rohal’s short films Knuckleface Jones and Hillbilly Robot in 2000 and 2001 and his feature-length films The Guatemalan Handshake in 2006 and The Catechism Cataclysm in 2012.

Zachary Treitz & Kate Lyn Sheil, MEN GO TO BATTLE
In the fall of 1861, most Americans predicted that the War Between the States would end by Christmas. Henry and Francis Mellon couldn’t care less. The two are struggling to hold on to their crumbling estate while bracing for another winter in central Kentucky. Living together in the last remaining structure on their family’s hemp farm, the two have become suffocatingly close. Francis’ practical jokes become more and more antagonistic until the night he accidentally injures Henry in a fight. Henry disappears in the night, leaving Francis alone to discover the hardship and deprivation that the war has in store for him. Rooftop has screened numerous films starring Kate Lyn Sheil, and showed Treitz’s short films The Mean Time (2008) and We’re Leaving (2011).

Sam Green, THE GREAT HEART OF HUMANITY
The Great Heart of Humanity is a new feature-length ‘live documentary’ by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green. The film, which is inspired loosely by the Guinness Book of Records, will weave together portraits of record-holding people places and things to create a meditation on fate and the outer contours of the human experience. The film will be screened with live narration and live soundtrack performed by the chamber group yMusic. Rooftop Films screened Sam Green’s film “Pie Fight ’69” (co-directed with Christian Bruno) in 2000 and his live documentaries Fog and The Biggest Smallest in 2013.

Darius Monroe Clark, THE EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL
Deep in the heart of Texas, what begins as an innocent tale of family, sacrifice, and financial hardship quickly escalates into a true-crime thriller. Fusing together compelling interviews, striking re-enactments, and home video, we are forced to ask ourselves how a 16 year old honor roll student evolved into a bank robber. Rooftop screened Monroe’s short film Train in 2011.

Natalie Paul, SWEET TEA
It’s a hot afternoon in gentrified Brooklyn, when Nicki, a tough native Brooklynite meets for the first time her boyfriend’s “baby mother” Amy – who turns out to be a Southern blond belle. The two women, as opposite as they are, challenge each other and somehow come to see each other in ways only the other can. Sweet Tea explores the reality of complicated relationships and complicated people – and how they desperately try to hang on, move on, make things work or let things go. Rooftop Films screened Natalie Paul’s first short film, Everything Absolutely (co-directed with Terence Nance) in 2013.

Keith Wilson, FIVE STAR
Five Star follows Primo and John as they face the challenges of urban manhood. For Primo, who turned Blood at age 12 (in the movie and in real life), this includes understanding what it means to be a father and an honest man. John has to decide if gang life is the path for him. Connecting them is John’s father, who was Primo’s mentor, and whose recent death by a supposedly stray bullet sets the story in motion. Based closely on real life elements, the distinction between the story in the movie and events in the ‘real world’ is intentionally blurred. Five Star is a follow up to Keith Miller’s award winning feature Welcome to Pine Hill (Rooftop 2012), which was based off his short filmPrince/William (Rooftop 2010).

Heather Courtney, Untitled Texas Project
“Untitled Texas Project” will follow one Planned Parenthood clinic’s struggle to survive in a state that has made massive cuts in family planning funding, and vilified Planned Parenthood in particular. In their efforts to get rid of abortion, Texas state legislators have also restricted access to contraception, women wellness exams, and pre-cancer screenings, resulting in 76 clinics either closing completely or cutting family planning services. This short documentary explores the human side of policy decisions, as we follow a year-in-the life of one west Texas clinic and the fall-out for their patients. Rooftop screened Courtney’s feature documentaries Letters from the Other Side (2006) and Where Soldiers Come From (2011).

Riley Hooper, THE WORLD’S LONGEST YARD SALE
Now in its 26th year, the world’s longest yard sale runs from Michigan to Alabama the first weekend of every August. It’s a massive exchange of not only goods, but also cultures, customs, ideas, and narratives. Riley Hooper’s short documentary focuses on objects being sold and bought along the route of the sale to reveal personal stories about the people buying and selling them — universal stories of family histories, love, loss, nostalgia, and the human experience. Rooftop screened Hooper’s film Flo in 2013.

Yung Jake, KICKSTARDER
“ayo this Yung Jake. i’m about to drop the most interactive rap video ever. 4 reel. it’s gonna be a video that automatically inserts my supporters; the people who have my back from day one (through day 30) of the time that KS is release will be forever embedded into the video, they jus have to pay a little. my day 1-30 niggas. yeah, so whatever img you want can be dragged onto the video wherever/whenever and publicly displayed for the world to see. like on my shirt or you can be in the background of the shot in my hood. prices range on how dope the area of insertion is. Rooftop Films screened my Datamosh video in 20013 that’s how they found me. email kickstarder@gmail.com to inquire about pre-ordering img spots.”

Mike Plante, GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE
In Ventura, CA, Giuseppe Andrews makes movies in his trailer park. A former child actor, Giuseppe is inspired by the crazy independent filmmakers of history: Cassavetes, Bunuel and Fassbinder… and now has 30 features of his own. With a handwritten script, a video camera, an acting ensemble of neighbors and homeless men and a few hundred bucks, we follow Giuseppe and crew as he sets out to make a feature film in just two days and shows that filmmaking is not for a small elite group but for everyone. Made by Adam Rifkin and by Mike Plante, whose Orbit(film): Earthshort played at Rooftop in 2012.

Tom Schroeder & Lisa Paclet, ISLAND
Isola del Giglio is the smallest island of the archipelago that includes Elba and Monte Cristo. One of the three small villages on the island, Campese, serves as a summer vacation retreat for middle class Italian families. Island will be a 12 minute animated film documenting the course of one day in Campese rendered in an impressionistic, sketchbook style. Rooftop screened Paclet’s film Ursonate (2006) and three of Schroeder’s films: Bike Ride (2002), Bike Race(2011) and Marcel, King of Tervuren (2013).

descriptions via Rooftop Films
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‘THE HUNT’ ‘THE ACT OF KILLING’ ‘NORTHWEST’ Make The Oscar Shortlist as Danish Candidate for Foreign Language Film

Awards

3 Danish films – “THE HUNT”, “THE ACT OF KILLING” and “NORTHWEST” have made the shortlist to be the film submitted as the Danish candidate in the Foreign Language Film category for the Academy Awards. The films have been selected by a committee set up by the Danish Film Institute and film industry organizations. The final candidate is expected to be announced on Thursday, 26 September.

THE HUNT by Thomas Vinterberg

THE HUNT by Thomas Vinterberg
Following a tough divorce, 40-year-old Lucas has a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of reestablishing his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things go awry. Not a lot. Just a passing remark. A random lie. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand. Soon the small community finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

THE ACT OF KILLING by Joshua Oppenheimer

THE ACT OF KILLING by Joshua Oppenheimer
In a country where killers are celebrated as heroes, the filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders to dramatise their role in genocide. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

NORTHWEST by Michael Noer

NORTHWEST by Michael Noer
A gangster film set in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Casper, 18, the oldest of three siblings, survives life on the streets by committing burglaries for the neighborhood boss, Jamal. When Casper gets an offer to work for Jamal’s rival Björn, he jumps at the chance for a better life, making his way into a world of drugs and prostitution. As things escalate between Björn and Jamal, Casper finds himself and his family dead center of a conflict that threatens to destroy them.

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WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL? by Sono Sion Among 15 Films from 70th Venice International Film Festival to Screen Online

Venice International Film Festival

JIGOKU DE NAZE WARUI (WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL?) by Sono Sion

12 feature-length films from the Orizzonti section and 3 feature-length films from the brand-new Biennale College – Cinema from the 70th Venice International Film Festival will be available online as part of the Web Theatre program, at the same time as they are screening at the festival which runs 28 August – 7 September 2013.

The films at the Web Theatre

Orizzonti

WOLFSKINDER (WOLFSCHILDREN) by Rick Ostermann (Germany, 91’)
Germany, World War II. Several orphans from Eastern Prussia organize their survival, hiding from the Soviet occupiers, living in abandoned sites. One of thesewolf children is Hans, who is searching for his lost little brother. Rick Ostermann is a German director who made his debut in 2009 with the short film Still,but has brought his first feature-length film here to the 70th Venice International Film Festival. He has been an assistant director for many years in both television and film productions.

JIGOKU DE NAZE WARUI (WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL?) by Sono Sion (Japan, 126’)
Muto is a gangster who wants to make his daughter Mitsuko’s dream come true: to act in a movie. Ikegami is Muto’s rival and enemy, but he falls in love with Mitsuko thereby triggering a series of violent and bizarre situations for an action movie reminiscent of Kill Bill, written by the director when he was barely fifteen years old. Sono Sion is a Japanese director, poet and composer. He has made important films and in 2010 came to the 67th Venice International Film Festival for the first time with Tsumetai nettaigyo (Cold Fish). The following year he returned to present Himizu, which won the “Marcello Mastroianni” prize, awarded to Fumi Nikaidô and Shôta Sometani.

ALGUNAS CHICAS by Santiago Palavecino (Argentina, 100’)
With her marriage on the rocks, Celina goes to visit an old friend. Her attention immediately shifts to Paula, the friend’s adopted daughter, who apparently attempted suicide and nothing has been heard from her since… A mystery, suspended between reality and nightmare. SantiagoPalavecino, born in 1974, made several short films before shooting his first feature-length film, Otra vuelta, in 2002, which was presented in the Atelier section of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2011 he made La vida nueva. Algunas Chicas is his fourth feature-length film.

PICCOLA PATRIA by Alessandro Rossetto (Italy, 100’)
In the ambitious and petty atmosphere of north-eastern Italy, young Luisa blackmails Menon on sexual grounds. The situation is further complicated by the friendship between Menon and Luisa’s father, forever ruining the relationship between the protagonists. Alessandro Rossetto was born in Padua, and studied documentary filmmaking in Paris. He is known for his film Chiusura dedicated to the people that drift around his mother’s hairdresser’s shop and The Colony.

JE M’APPELLE HMMM… by Agnès B. (France, 120’)
Céline is eleven years old and has run away from an incestuous father. In her wanderings she meets Peter, 45 years old, a man deeply hurt by the loss of his wife and daughter. He will give himself completely to Céline, restoring the girl’s will to live and her carefree childhood. Agnes B. is a French fashion designer, artist and director. In 2012 she was one of the producers of Spring Breakersin competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. Her debut film was the short film Une sorte de journal video. In Venice this year she is presenting her first feature-length film.

MEDEAS by Andrea Pallaoro (USA, Italy, 98’)
The film is a lyrical exploration of a particular family situation and the human relationships within it. Devoid of any moral judgment, the eye of the director studies the boundaries of human behaviour and explores how far an inpidual can go, driven by love and the spirit of survival. AndreaPallaoro was born in Trento but at the age of 17 moved to California to study filmmaking. His short film Wunderkammer was presented at the Sundance Film Festival. This year he brings his first feature-length film to the Orizzonti section.

RUIN by Amiel Courtin-Wilson, Michael Cody (Australia, 90’)
Phirun is 19 years old and lives in Phnom Penh. One day he is accused of theft and involuntarily injures his employer. Phirun escapes and during his flight, he meets Sovanna; a powerful bond grows between the two of them, and develops into love. Amiel Courtin-Wilson is Australian, and made his debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000 with Chasing Buddha; since then he has made many films, screened at the major film festivals. In 2011 he directed Hail, presented at the 68th Venice International Film Festival in the Orizzonti section. Michael Cody, producer, director and screenwriter, has often collaborated with Courtin-Wilson and now they are back together with Ruin.

LA VIDA DESPUÉS by David Pablos (Mexico, 90’)
Two brothers, Samuel and Rodrigo, live with their mother in a suburban town. One day the mother, who has mental health problems, disappears leaving nothing behind but a note. David Pablos is a young Mexican filmmaker, born in 1982. His first short film, El mundo al atardecer, was made in 2007. La canción de los niños muertos (2008) was his second short film; he presented his first feature-length film Una frontera, todas las fronteras (2010) at the Berlinale Talent Campus before coming to Venice with his second film, La vida despues, for the 70th Venice International Film Festival.

EASTERN BOYS by Robin Campillo (France, 128’)
Gare du Nord, Paris. Young men from Eastern Europe spend all day at the station where it appears that they engage in prostitution. A fifty-year old man, Muller, sets his eyes on one of them, Marek, and invites him to his home the next day. A trap has been set for him there. Robin Campillo is a French filmmaker who has collaborated for years, first as an editor and then as a co-author for the screenplay, with director Laurent Cantet. He made his debut as a director in 2005 with Les revenants and he now brings his second feature-length film to the Venice Film Festival.

BAUYR (LITTLE BROTHER) by Serik Aprymov (Kazakhstan, 95’)
Yerken is nine years old and lives alone in a remote village in the mountains. When his older brother returns after a long absence, the young boy’s heart leaps with joy. But it doesn’t last long, his older brother has become a cold and heartless person… Serik Aprymov was born in 1960 in Kazakhstan and studied film at the Moscow Film School (VGIK). Along with other young directors from his country, he became part of the “new wave” of Kazakh cinema. At the Locarno Film Festival in 2004, he presented Okhotnik (The Hunter), in which a young boy suffers the contrast between the traditions of his people now on the decline and the progress of an increasingly urbanized new society.

LA PRIMA NEVE by Andrea Segre (Italy, 104’)
Michele is eleven years old and lives in a small town in the mountains of Trento, with his mother and his paternal grandfather Pietro; his father has recently died. The boy’s pain meets that of Dani, a boy from Togo, who is a total ‘stranger’ to that place covered in snow which he has never seen before in his life.Andrea Segre, born in 1976, is a director who has made many prestigious works. He has participated several times in the Venice Film Festival, in particular in the 68th Festival with Io son Li (2011) and in the 69th Festival with Mare Chiuso (2012), a Special Event.

MAHI VA GORBEH (FISH & CAT) by Shahram Mokri (Iran, 134’)
While camping in the Caspian region, some students end up sharing a cabin with three cooks. The latter are looking for meat for their restaurant, but the only meat there is on the students themselves. This film is shot in a single long take based on a true story. Shahram Mokri is a young Iranian director, born in 1977. He studied filmmaking at Teheran’s Soureh College. He made his directorial debut in 2009 with Ashkan, angoshtar-e motebarek va dastan-haye digar (Ashkan, the Charmed Ring and Other Stories), a film in which two blind men plan a robbery with the help of Ashkan, who wants to kill himself.

Biennale College – Cinema

YURI ESPOSITO by Alessio Fava (director) and Max Chicco (producer) (Italiy, 73’)
Yuri Esposito is a man whose slowness pervades every action in his life and comes to constitute its essence, but his perennial lethargy is challenged by a surprise paternity. Alessio Fava was born in 1976 in Turin where he studied at the Accademia Internazionale di Arti e Media before attending the Scuola d’Arte Cinematografica in Genoa. In 2012 he made his first short film Project Genesis, an ironic film set in the future in which, reversing the stereotypes of this genre, the machines give life to human beings, whom they use for their own personal enjoyment.

MEMPHIS byTim Sutton (director) and John Baker (producer) (USA, 84’)
Ezra Jack is a soul-blues singer looking for spiritual salvation. He lives in Memphis, a decadent city immersed in music. This is where Ezra hopes to bring his personal renaissance to term. Timothy Sutton is a filmmaker from Brooklyn. He made his directorial debut in 2012 with Pavilion, which follows a laconic adolescent as he travels from a peaceful lakefront town to his father’s home in the arid state of Arizona. A film that describes adolescence as a period of great creativity, while underlining the fragility that goes with it.

MARY IS HAPPY, MARY IS HAPPY by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director) and Aditya Assarat (producer) (Thailand, 125’)
Mary is a student in her last year of high school. She will be graduating in a few months, and must address the changes in her life, love and friendships. In the meantime, strange things start to happen without any apparent reason. The girl tries to make sense of it all at a moment in which her life seems to be spiraling out of control. NawapolThamrongrattanarit is from Thailand but studied filmmaking in China. In 2002 he made his first feature-length film 36,and this year presents his second film at the 70th Venice International Film Festival, thanks to the first edition of Biennale College – Cinema.
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