• 2018 Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival to Open with STUDIO 54 Documentary

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    [caption id="attachment_28858" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Studio 54 Studio 54[/caption] Matt Tyrnauer’s vibrantly nostalgic documentary, Studio 54, featuring interviews with many of the legendary nightclub’s famous patrons, as well as those who worked behind the scenes during its heyday will open the 2018 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival. The festival will honor Angela Robinson as the recipient of the 2018 Achievement Award recipient.  The Achievement Award Ceremony will take place at the Opening Night Gala at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on July 12, followed by the screening of Studio 54. Angela Robinson, a celebrated filmmaker and champion of LGBTQ rights, will receive the Achievement Award, Outfest’s highest honor, presented in recognition of a body of work that has made a significant contribution to LGBT film and media. In a time where women still only make up a fraction of directors, Robinson has carved a space for herself in both film and television, and frequently deals with LGBTQ topics in her work, such as D.E.B.S., “The L Word”, Herbie Fully Loaded, “True Blood”, How to Get Away with Murder”, and most recently Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Outfest’s Executive Director Christopher Racster commented: “Outfest has a long and important legacy of launching filmmakers careers. I am incredibly proud that we have the opportunity honor an amazingly talented woman director whose career started at Outfest. Angela has forged a unique path of success within the industry. When jobs are hard to come by for women directors, Angela has blazed a path in high-profile television series, lauded independent films and major studio movies. Her unique vision, her sharp humor, and her humanity are constantly on display in each move she makes. Angela’s work is always fresh, intelligent and groundbreaking.” “It is such an honor to receive the Outfest Achievement Award this year – I premiered the first short film I ever made at Outfest and every film I’ve made since. It’s a joy to be recognized by Outfest in this way so many years later,” Angela Robinson remarked. Additional gala screenings include: Sundance NEXT Innovator Award winner We the Animals (U.S. Centerpiece), written and directed by Jeremiah Zagar; the sweeping French drama Reinventing Marvin (International Centerpiece), from filmmaker Anne Fontaine; famed choreographer and filmmaker Jamal Sims’ feature debut When the Beat Drops (Documentary Centerpiece) on the Deep South UNDERGROUND dance phenomenon known as “bucking”; and Our Future Ends (Platinum Centerpiece), a multimedia and multidisciplinary satire about near-extinct lemurs living on long-lost Lemuria. The 2018 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival will close on July 22 at The Theatre at the Ace Hotel with Desiree Akhavan’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, an unapologetically bold take on the topic of conversion therapy, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Jennifer Ehle, Sasha Lane, John Gallagher Jr., and Forrest Goodluck. Outfest’s Direct of Programming Lucy Mukerjee commented: “After scouring the world for the past year to find the best LGBTQ films, our galas capture that queer pioneering spirit that lives across the ages. From our Opening Night Studio 54, where we learn the back story of the vibrancy that Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager brought to creating a safe HAVEN for LGBTQ folk to the urgency of expression in When the Beat Drops from long-time choreographer Jamal Sims, we see that freedom of identity cannot be held down. Even something as simple as coming of age in We Are Animals looks at new territory in Jeremiah Zagar’s deft hands. The breadth of our galas this year also continues Outfest’s commitment to celebrate female voices including the work of acclaimed director Anne Fontaine and Desiree Akhavan’s sophomore effort, proving once again we will be seeing exciting things from her for a long time to come. I am thrilled we are bringing back the Platinum Centerpiece – Our Future Ends – which combines many genres to tell a story about how to keep a culture from extinction. Happily our queer culture is far from that place!”

    GALA FILMS

    Studio 54 (Opening Night Gala) Director: Matt Tyrnauer When disco was the epicenter of popular culture, Studio 54 was the epicenter of disco. Brooklyn-born college pals Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager took a former opera house and CBS studio (where “What’s My Line?” and “Captain Kangaroo” filmed) in what was at the time one of New York City’s sketchiest neighborhoods and turned it into a dance palace known the world over. Extroverted gay Rubell and introverted straight Schrager (the latter giving his most extensive interview to date about Studio 54) were a powerful team – but the swirl of sex, drugs, celebrity, and tax evasion brought this phenomenon to an end, as did the advent of Ronald Reagan, the AIDS crisis, and the “Disco Sucks” backlash. But oh, what heady times there were during Studio 54’s heyday, which this vibrant documentary captures, mixing vintage interviews (Michael Jackson!) with reminiscences from the doormen, bartenders, and paparazzi who experienced the thrills and the beats on the dance floor and in the infamous balcony. There may never again be such a stately pleasure dome as Studio 54, but Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary pays homage to the hedonism, the hubris, and the outrageous delights that took place under the lights, behind the scenes, and on the other side of the velvet ropes. We the Animals (US Centerpiece) Writer-Director: Jeremiah Zagar Lovely and lyrical, this film received well-earned comparisons to Moonlight when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it earned the prestigious NEXT Innovator Award. Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar makes his narrative debut with this haunting adaptation of the novel by Justin Torres about three boys navigating their parents’ volatile relationship and the aftermath of their breakup. Two of the sons clearly follow in the footsteps of their macho, anger-prone father (Raúl Castillo, “Looking”), while the sensitive youngest, Jonah (Evan Rosado), remains closer to their mother (Sheila Vand, Women Who Kill). Exquisitely photographed by Zak Mulligan, the film captures both the beauty and terror of childhood, guiding us through the wonders of the world and the pain and confusion of marital dysfunction. Strains of Malick (and, yes, Moonlight) appear throughout, but there is nothing contrived or overly familiar about this achingly crafted coming-of-age tale. The entire ensemble (which also includes newcomers Josiah Gabriel and Isaiah Kristian) gives the film a raw naturalism – we feel like invisible observers as young lives unfold before us. Subtle and haunting, bursting with empathy and energy, We the Animalsheralds a new chapter for a brilliant and essential storytelling talent. Reinventing Marvin (International Centerpiece) Writer-Director: Anne Fontaine Martin Clement is about to give the performance of his life – his life story, that is, in an autobiographical stage play. As a child, young Marvin Bijoux was bullied by homophobic classmates at school and misunderstood by his often-neglectful parents, making him feel like a lonely outsider in his small rural French village. But when a kind school principal guides him to join the drama club, Marvin discovers his gifts for play-acting the misery that surrounds him. When he qualifies to attend a theatrical school, Marvin acts the role of the brash straight stud until he meets an older mentor who encourages him to acknowledge his sexuality and to exorcise his pain by putting it all on the stage. This sweeping drama from director and co-writer Anne Fontaine (The Innocents, Coco Before Chanel) captures a life in the theater, as we see timid young Marvin (Jules Porier) blossom into adult Martin (Finnegan Oldfield, Nocturama) – with a little help along the way from Isabelle Huppert, playing herself. A moving tale of the past that many of us try to escape, but can never entirely leave behind, this film reminds us that no matter how far we get from our upbringing, a piece of it remains with us always. When the Beat Drops (Documentary Centerpiece) Director: Jamal Sims Drop into the electric and subversive UNDERGROUND dance scene known as “bucking.” As voguing exploded out of the ballroom scene of NYC, bucking was boldly pioneered in the clubs of the Deep South as a new form of self-expression. This film presents a fresh glimpse into the magnetic artistry and flair behind this emerging dance culture. In his feature debut, famed choreographer and filmmaker Jamal Sims (who has worked with the likes of Madonna, Jennifer LOPEZ and “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) illuminates the warm-hearted and fierce queer black performers who make up one of the leading “bucking” groups in the city of Atlanta. As they train for their biggest competition yet, they risk losing their jobs and family to compete at the top levels of this dance scene. Jamal Sims calls dance a “super power,” and with this film he crafts a vision of the power of dance to bring movement to new heights and to elevate the queer community. Our Future Ends (Platinum Centerpiece) Writer-Director: Clement Hil Goldberg Will queer culture go out with a stylish bang, or will the spirits of Lemuria inspire us to preserve our fabulousness? Clement Hil Goldberg’s multimedia and multidisciplinary satire envisions both near-extinct lemurs and long-lost Lemuria. Lemuria (a precursor to the occult city of Atlantis) was an imagined site of catastrophic loss populated by Lemurians, queer prehistoric entities that went extinct alongside the Atlanteans. Goldberg’s work illuminates the at-risk nature of queer spaces as well as the world’s most endangered mammal, the lemur. Pill-popping lemurs struggle to survive while Lemurians consult their crystals, as parallel extinction stories unfold through video, stop-motion animation, and live performance. Starring Brontez Purnell, Heather María Ács, and Siobhan Aluvalot, with Zackary Drucker, Silas Howard, Xandra Ibarra, Ben McCoy, and Maryam Farnaz Rostami as additional voices of the animated lemurs. Come with them all on this disco journey to the brink. The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Closing Night Gala) Director: Desiree Akhavan Desiree Akhavan won us over in 2014 with her hilarious feature debut Appropriate Behavior, and she brings her trademark wit and sass to this impressive follow-up feature. An adaptation of Emily M. Danforth’s celebrated queer YA novel, the film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival for its warm, charismatic, and fearless performances. Set in the early ’90s, the film follows lesbian teen Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz), sent to a religious conversion camp after she gets caught hooking up with her female best friend. At the camp, Cameron reluctantly undergoes various tactics used to “cure” same-sex attraction from persistent camp leaders Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle) and Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.), who are intent on “saving” LGBTQ teens. While some of the teens embrace the treatment, Cameron resists, and instead forms an alliance with the rebellious duo Jane (Sasha Lane, American Honey) and Adam (Forrest Goodluck, The Revenant). The heartfelt bond shared among the three friends gives them the strength they need in order to RISE up and live their truth. Akhavan’s unapologetically queer lens delivers a refreshing take on the troubling topic of conversion therapy (which is, to this day, still used in some states) while exploring the themes of self-love, identity, and chosen family, all with unexpected flourishes of humor.  

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  • John Andreas Andersen’s THE QUAKE to Open 2018 Norwegian International Film Festival | Trailer

    The Quake, directed by John Andreas Andersen The Quake, directed by John Andreas Andersen, and the follow-up to The Wave, will open the 46th Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund on Sunday August 19. “We are wild about being able to open this year’s festival with The Quake! Like its predecessor, it has become a spectacular and nerve-racking film, and it is also a very powerful human drama. We are proud to be the first to screen this film and we are sure it will shake up audiences both in Haugesund and the rest of Norway,” Festival Director Tonje Hardersen says. The Quake is directed by John Andreas Andersen, one of Norway’s most distinguished cinematographers, who also directed Captain Sabertooth and the Treasure of Lama Rama and co-directed Uno. “I’m incredibly happy that The Quake will see its world premiere in Haugesund. This is a festival I’ve been having a close relationship with all the time since I was a 15-year-old Amandus Award participant. I’m very proud of what The Quake has become and look forward to screening it for an audience for the first time. I can guarantee it will present scenes you’ve never seen in a movie in Norway before!” This time the threat is not against a village in Western Norway – but against the capital of Norway! In 1904 Oslo was struck by an earthquake measured to 5.4 on the Richter magnitude scale. The quake caused extensive destruction. But no human lives were lost, fortunately. Geological surveys show that the danger of another and bigger earthquake may be real. One just doesn’t know when. The only thing we can be certain about is that today’s Oslo is considerably more vulnerable than in 1904. The likelihood of the loss of human lives and enormous material damage is very real. What will happen if a much larger earthquake strikes our capital city? Before the camera we once again meet two of Norway’s most experienced actors and Amanda-winners Kristoffer Joner and Ane Dahl Torp in the lead roles, as the geologist Kristian Eikjord and his wife Idun. Jonas Hoff Oftebro plays the couple’s son and Edith Haagenrud-Sande their daughter. The Quake is also the feature film debut of Kathrine Thorborg Johansen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiYRxAvl94A

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  • John McEnroe Documentary Among First Confirmed Films + Events for 2018 Las Vegas Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_27742" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection[/caption] The 11th Annual Las Vegas Film Festival, partnered with CineVegas, announced this morning the initial programming lineup for the 2018 Festival, to be held at Brenden Theatres and Palms Casino Resort June 6 to 10.The lineup includes a mix of feature films and documentaries that have been favorites on the international festival circuit, as well as new additions to this year’s Festival – live discussions and live comedy. 2018 also marks the first year with seasoned film festival programming veteran Mike Plante serving as the Festival’s Captain of Strategy.

    FEATURE FILMS

    Clara’s Ghost / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Bridey Elliott; Producer: Sarah Winshall) — Ted Reynolds, an aging comedian, lives a quiet life in rural Connecticut with his wife Clara. When they invite their two daughters home to celebrate the family dog’s birthday, the vodka-loving clan devolves into a drunken mess, and Clara finds herself face-to-face with a supernatural spirit only she can see. Cast: Paula Niedert Elliott, Chris Elliott, Abby Elliott, Bridey Elliott, Haley Joel Osment Damsel / U.S.A. (Directors and Screenwriters: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner; Producers: Nathan Zellner, Chris Ohlson, David Zellner) — Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson), an affluent pioneer, ventures across the American Frontier to marry the love of his life, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska). As Samuel traverses the Wild West with a drunkard named Parson Henry (David Zellner) and a miniature horse called Butterscotch, their once-simple journey grows treacherous, blurring the lines between hero, villain and damsel. Cast: Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska I Am Not a Witch / United Kingdom – (Director and Screenwriter: Rungano Nyoni; Producers: Juliette Grandmont and Emily Morgan) When eight-year-old Shula turns up alone and unannounced in a rural Zambian village, the locals are suspicious. A minor incident escalates to a full-blown witch trial, where she is found guilty and sentenced to life on a state-run witch camp. There, she is tethered to a long white ribbon and told that if she ever tries to run away, she will be transformed into a goat. As the days pass, Shula begins to settle into her new community, but a threat looms on the horizon. Soon she is forced to make a difficult decision – whether to resign herself to life on the camp, or take a risk for freedom. Cast: Maggie Mulubwa, Henry B.J. Phiri, Nancy Mulilio Nancy / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Christina Choe; Producers: Amy Lo, Michelle Cameron, Andrea Riseborough) – NANCY is a provocative psychological thriller about love, intimacy, and trust – and what happens when lies become truth. Craving connection with others, Nancy creates elaborate identities and hoaxes under pseudonyms on the internet. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, fact and fiction begin to blur in Nancy’s mind, and she becomes increasingly convinced these strangers are her real parents. As their bond deepens, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief – and the power of emotion threatens to overcome all rationality. Cast: Andrea Riseborough, J. Smith-Cameron, Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd, John Leguizamo Sadie / U.S.A. (Director: Megan Griffiths; Producers: Lacey Leavitt and Jennessa West; Executive Producer: Eliza Shelden) – While her father is away serving in the military, Sadie (Sophia Mitri Schloss) battles to preserve his place on the home front when her mother, Rae (Melanie Lynskey,) takes an interest in a new man, Cyrus (John Gallagher, Jr.) When Sadie sees the relationship developing, she pledges to come between them, whatever it takes. Cyrus becomes the enemy, and if she’s learned nothing else from the world she inhabits, it’s that the enemy deserves no mercy. Cast: Sophia Mitri Schloss, Melanie Lynskey, John Gallagher, Jr., Danielle Brooks, Tony Hale The Unicorn / U.S.A. (Director: Robert Schwartzman; Screenwriters: Will Elliott & Kirk C. Johnson & Nicholas Rutherford; Producer: Russell Wayne Groves) – When an engaged couple, Caleb and Malory are forced to go to Palm Springs for a weekend to celebrate Malory’s parents’ 25th wedding vow renewal, they discover the secret to their happy marriage—threesomes. Horrified but intrigued, and determined to properly celebrate their own ‘re-engagement,’ they set out on a wild night in search of a threesome of their own. Cast: Lauren Lapkus, Nick Rutherford, Lucy Hale, Beck Bennett, Dree Hemingway When She Runs / U.S.A. (Directors: Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck; Producer: Laura Heberton) – A young mother of limited means puts everything on the line to pursue her dream of becoming a competitive runner. Her marriage failing, exhausted and broke, Kirstin has left her husband, Ivan, and their very young son, Jonah, seeking refuge across town. When She Runs follows Kirstin through the last day before the trial that could change her life forever. Cast: Kirstin Anderson, Ivan Gehring, Jonah Graham

    DOCUMENTARY FILMS

    John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Julien Faraut; Producers: William Jehannin and Raphaelle Delauche) – Written and directed by Faraut and narrated by Mathieu Amalric, John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection revisits the rich bounty of 16-mm-shot footage of the left-handed tennis star John McEnroe, at the time the world’s top-ranked player, as he competes in the French Open at Paris’s Roland Garros Stadium. Close-ups and slow motion sequences of McEnroe competing, as well as instances of his notorious temper tantrums, highlight a “man who played on the edge of his senses.” Far from a traditional documentary, Faraut probes the archival film to unpack both McEnroe’s attention to the sport and the footage itself, creating a lively and immersive look at a driven athlete, a study on the sport of tennis and the human body and movement, and finally how these all intersect with cinema itself. Minding the Gap / U.S.A. (Director and producer: Bing Liu, Producers: Diane Quon and Joshua Altman) – First-time filmmaker Bing Liu’s documentary Minding the Gap is a coming-of-age saga of three skateboarding friends in their Rust Belt hometown hit hard by decades of recession. In his quest to understand why he and his friends all ran away from home when they were younger, Bing follows 23-year-old Zack as he becomes a father and 17-year-old Keire as he gets his first job. As the film unfolds, Bing is thrust into the middle of Zack’s tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend and Keire’s inner struggles with racial identity and his deceased father. While navigating a complex relationship between his camera and his friends, Bing explores the gap between fathers and sons, between discipline and domestic abuse, and ultimately that precarious chasm between childhood and becoming an adult. Cast: Zack Mulligan, Keire Johnson, Bing Liu, Nina Bowgren, Kent Abernathy Narcissister Organ Player / U.S.A. (Director: Narcissister) — American performance artist Narcissister takes a smart, sassy, spectacle-rich approach to exploring the kinds of sexual fetishism that notoriously fix racial and gender stereotypes. She combines unabashed eroticism, humor, and poignancy to stretch viewers’ sensibilities and achieve surprising psychic effects. Narcissister Organ Player is originally a Bessie Awards–nominated performance that takes place in a metaphorical restaurant where Narcissister, unsated by a few spinach leaves, tries to eat the restaurant furniture and ends up “consuming herself” by entering and traveling through her own body, represented by an enormous onstage puppet. As the performance plays out on stage, in real life, her mother’s long-term illness brings on a decline that ends in death. The artist’s loss provokes an exploration of how her own complex, interracial family history has compelled her to create the masked, erotic performance character Narcissister. Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me / U.S.A. (Director: Sam Pollard; Screenwriter and Co-Producer: Laurence Maslon; Executive Producer and Producer: Michael Kantor; Producer: Sally Rosenthal) – Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me is the first major film documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s.

    LIVE EVENTS

    Bobcat Goldthwait and Friends Live – Veteran film director Bobcat Goldthwait first came to CineVegas with Windy City Heat in 2004 and brought his first film Shakes the Clown to the Las Vegas Film Festival two years ago. Now he returns to the stage in Vegas for some much-needed comedy. Christine Vachon in Conversation with Mary Ann Marino – The Black Mountain Institute will sponsor a live discussion with acclaimed producer Christine Vachon, who co-founded Killer Films with Pamela Koffler in 1995. Since then, they have produced over 100 films including: Carol (nominated for six Academy Awards), Far From Heaven (nominated for four Academy Awards), Still Alice (Academy Award winner), Boys Don’t Cry (Academy Award winner), and I’m Not There (Academy Award nominated). Killer also produced Z: The Beginning of Everything for Amazon Studios, as well as Todd Haynes’ latest film, Wonderstruck. Mary Ann Marino is a longtime producer and current head of physical production for Amazon Studios. An Evening With Don Hertzfeldt / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Don Hertzfeldt) — The highly anticipated follow-up to Don Hertzfeldt’s “World of Tomorrow” finds Emily Prime swept inside the brain of an incomplete back-up clone of her future self, who’s on a mission to reboot her broken mind. Continuing the tradition of the first film, “World of Tomorrow Episode Two” was written entirely around candid audio recordings of Hertzfeldt’s five-year-old niece. Cast: Julia Pott and Winona Mae The Rudy Casoni Boozebag Revue – The Rudy Casoni Boozebag Revue returns to Las Vegas. Sinatra’s Singing Bastard brings his drunken and dangerous lounge act to Fremont Street. See him croon the standards and selected punk covers with his swing band as his show of comedians and low rent, dumdum, variety acts, careens off the rails and slams headfirst into a rat pack nightmare. Cast: Toby Huss, Mark Fite, Billy the Mime, Pat Healy, and the Dago5 Band and featuring mostly nude dancers who are mostly women.

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  • Arts Council of Brazos Valley to Host Red Wasp Film Festival on Sunday, May 6

    [caption id="attachment_28819" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Queen Theatre in downtown Bryan Queen Theatre in downtown Bryan[/caption] The Arts Council of Brazos Valley will host its annual Red Wasp Film Festival on Sunday, May 6 from 3pm-6pm at the newly renovated Queen Theatre in downtown Bryan. The Arts Council welcomes visitors and members of the community to join them for this free event. Guests will enjoy a special viewing of independent films created by filmmakers from across the globe. The Red Wasp Film Festival was established in 2003 by two local film enthusiasts, Carol and Craig Conlee. Originally, the festival was held outdoors during the springtime when red wasps would frequently pester guests. In an attempt to bring humor to the situation, the Conlee’s decided to name the festival after the pests, hence the name Red Wasp Film Festival. Since then, the festival has grown and is now hosted annually by The Arts Council. Each year the festival grows more popular and attracts larger crowds and more interesting films. Each year, filmmakers and screenwriters from around the world are invited to submit their films to a committee which makes the selection for the final festival lineup. This year’s showings include films by Spanish and Iranian film-makers, as well as several short films from Austin and our very own BCS community. The festival will conclude with an awards ceremony highlighting winners for Best of Festival, One to Watch, and Audience Favorite, with a trophy created by local metal artist John McGee. The Arts Council is excited to bring the festival back to downtown Bryan and to be the first event held after the grand opening of the historical Queen Theatre! Admission is free, but seating is limited. The Arts Council recommends to RSVP in order to ensure a spot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1t5WB3WRB4

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  • Saboteur Media Taking Epic War Movie, DANGER CLOSE to Marché du Film in Cannes

    [caption id="attachment_28812" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Travis Fimmel, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh star in Danger Close Travis Fimmel, Luke Bracey, Richard Roxburgh star in Danger Close[/caption] Saboteur Media (Saboteur) President of Distribution Mark Lindsay announced yesterday that the company will be selling worldwide rights on the upcoming epic war movie, Danger Close, starring Travis Fimmel (Vikings, Warcraft), Luke Bracey (Hacksaw Ridge, Point Break, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Richard Roxburgh (Breath, Hacksaw Ridge, Moulin Rouge) and Daniel Webber (The Dirt, The Punisher), beginning at the Marché du Film in Cannes. The epic and dramatic exploration of war, was written by Stuart Beattie (Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Australia), and will be directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, Kill Me Three Times, Australia Day). The picture is being produced by John Schwarz (The Hunter’s Prayer, Killerman, Deadline Gallipoli), Michael Schwarz (The Hunter’s Prayer, Killerman, Deadline Gallipoli), and Martin Walsh (The Battle of Long Tan). The Australian production, with backing from the Federal Government and the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland, commences principal photography in May in Queensland, Australia, and will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Transmission Films. Danger Close tells the incredible true story of when in the late afternoon on August 18, 1966 in South Vietnam, for three and a half hours, in torrential rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tan, Major Harry Smith and his dispersed company of 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers fought for their lives, holding off an overwhelming enemy force of 2,500 battle hardened North Vietnamese and Main Force Viet Cong soldiers. With their ammunition running out, their casualties mounting and the enemy massing for a final assault, amid non-stop artillery barrages, each man braced themselves for the fight of their lives. Mark Lindsay, President of Distribution for Saboteur notes: “We are extremely honored and excited to help bring this epic story of heroism, courage and honor to the marketplace. With the full support of the Australian film community, as well as the Australian military services, there is a great deal of goodwill behind this project, and with Kriv Stenders directing a high profile cast with an amazing script from Stuart Beattie, we are confident the movie will appeal to audiences worldwide.” Kriv Stenders, Director, said: “I knew immediately when I finished the last page that this is a film I had to make, a story I needed to tell, and a project I absolutely had to be involved with. This is the most ambitious film I have ever directed, and one of the most ambitious films coming out of Australia in the last 30 years.”

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  • 66th San Sebastian Film Festival Unveils Section Posters [See Images]

    66th San Sebastian Film Festival Unveils Section Posters This morning, the San Sebastian Festival presented the new image and the sections posters for its 66th edition. With the goals to update the brand and increase its visibility; the San Sebastian studio TGA, author of both the new image and the posters, has chosen to use a conch shell of more synthetic lines and greater visual punch to announce a modern Festival, constantly renovated and adapted to a changing context. The posters for all of the sections, dominated by energy, light and liveliness, share a same graphic treatment and identity combining photography and illustration to lend an overall feeling of harmony and consistency. Each section also maintains its identity with a characteristic color. The Official Selection poster will be presented at a later date. The logo is composed of the conch shell, the acronym – for which the Helvetica font was used – and the Festival name in three languages (Basque, Spanish and English). The design studio from San Sebastian, TGA, headed by Nagore García Pascual, Julen Cano Linazasoro and Txema García Amiano, combines the fields of graphic and interactive design, architecture and interior design. During their fifteen years of existence, their amalgamation of functionality and aesthetics and their characteristic visual language has shaped the identity of Donostia Kultura, Fundación Kutxa, Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola and the Aquarium. Among their posters are those created for the 75th anniversary of the Classical Music Fortnight, the 2017 Concha Flag rowing competition, the staging of Midsummer Night’s Dream or the image of Culinary Zinema at the last edition of the Festival. José Luis Rebordinos, forwarded some of the keys to the edition, its consolidated pledge to the industry and new talent and the excellent situation of Basque and Spanish cinema, also mentioning the challenges faced by the Festival, such as opening of the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola and turning the spotlight on women filmmakers.

    NEW DIRECTORS

    Two impersonal faces, upright and defiant for the section of first and second works by their makers and their new approaches. San Sebastian Festival 2018 NEW DIRECTORS Poster

    HORIZONTES LATINOS

    A palm tree, a dog and a boy looking over a wall to prompt the idea of a double reality or point of view illustrate the section which seeks to reflect Latin American reality without stereotypes by means of feature films totally or partially produced in Latin America, directed by filmmakers of Latin origin or who set their works against the backdrop or subject of Latin communities all over the world. San Sebastian Festival 2018 HORIZONTES LATINOS Poster

    ZABALTEGI – TABAKALERA

    Freestyle trampoline and the death-defying triple somersault, the most difficult swimming discipline, represent the most open of the Festival sections, where there are no rules, no limits of style or running time: shorts, medium-length, full-length, fiction, non-fiction, animations, series, audiovisual installations, new discoveries and contemporary classics. San Sebastian Festival 2018 ZABALTEGI TABAKALERA Poster

    PERLAK

    The poster plays with the idea of special pieces, a grid featuring birds on square, triangular or circular pedestals, for a section where the jury is the audience and the films competing for the award already have the backing of critical acclaim and/or accolades at other festivals. SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018 PERLAK Poster

    NEST. FILM STUDENTS

    The pure enthusiasm of childhood, added to their imagination and talent free from obstacles of the mind, represents the Festival’s competitive short film section, signed by students from film schools all over the world, this year renamed ‘Nest’, a word suggesting a phonetical play on the word ‘next’. SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018 NEST FILM STUDENTS

    CULINARY ZINEMA

    In the forefront, two Japanese chefs slice ingredients; in the background, a camera. These are the two angles of Culinary Zinema, a section presenting fiction and non-fiction films looking at gastronomy and food from fields including education, science, agriculture or the restaurant world in general, accompanied by themed dinners. SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018 CULINARY ZINEMA

    RETROSPECTIVE

    The image of the British director and screenwriter Muriel Box and the characteristic closing of one eye to obtain a clearer view when looking through the camera preside over the poster for the retrospective, which plays with illustration in the part of the cinematographic equipment. SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2018 MURIEL BOX Retrospective Poster

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  • ‘ANGELS WEAR WHITE’, ‘MINDING THE GAP’ Among Winners of 2018 RiverRun International Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_28797" align="aligncenter" width="1249"]ANGELS WEAR WHITE ANGELS WEAR WHITE[/caption] RiverRun International Film Festival announced the Audience and Jury Awards for the 2018 Festival, which ran April 19 to 29 and presented 165 films. “We had more than 2,000 submissions for our 2018 Festival and we had many difficult choices to make in completing the program. The juries were very impressed with our competition films and agreed it was difficult to make their final decisions,” said Rob Davis, RiverRun Executive Director.

    NARRATIVE FEATURES COMPETITION

    Best Narrative Feature Award : ANGELS WEAR WHITE / China (Director: Vivian Qu) Jury statement: “In giving the narrative feature award to ANGELS WEAR WHITE we were enthralled by the thematic resonance and poignancy of the film as well as the brutality of the subject matter. Shot against a backdrop of natural beauty it drove a remarkable narrative that straddled the line between hope and devastation.” The Peter Brunette Award for Best Director – Narrative Feature was presented to: Vivian Qu, ANGELS WEAR WHITE / China Best Actor / Thomas Gioria / CUSTODY Best Actress / Meijun Zhou / ANGELS WEAR WHITE Jury Statement: “Additionally, in giving out the acting awards we were particularly impressed with the magnetic performances of young actors who brought a harsh reality to the plight of their characters.” Best Screenplay / Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo / THE WORKSHOP RiverRun’s 2018 Narrative Features jurors included: Amman Abbasi, Benjamin Crossley-Marra, Neil Soffer and Lauren Vilchik. Previous winners of RiverRun’s Best Narrative Feature Jury Award include: After Love (2017), The Fits (2016), Memories on Stone (2015), Ida (2014), In the House (2013), Found Memories (2012), Bal (2011), Katalin Varga (2010), Three Monkeys (2009), The Edge of Heaven (2008), For the Living and the Dead (2007), A Wonderful Night in Split (2006), and Innocent Voices (2005).

    DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION

    Best Documentary Feature: MINDING THE GAP / USA (Director: Bing Liu) Jury Statement: “For the Best Documentary prize, told with deep dedication and investment – both in terms of time and of heart – Bing Liu’s MINDING THE GAP is an astonishingly accomplished film that explores race, class, and masculinity, transcending cliches for a deeply honest and moving coming-of-age portrait of three young men.” Best Director / Mila Turajlic / THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING Jury Statement: “Mira Turajlic deftly mines the political for the personal in this complex double-portrait of her mother, Sribijanka—a university professor and activist—and the war-torn Serbia she has fought to call home. It’s a stunning directorial balancing act: too complicated to be a mere fawning portrait, it nevertheless gives life to Sribijanka’s fiery ideas with depth, rigor, and love.” Best Editing / Kieran Gosney & Dino Jonsäter / TIME TRIAL Jury Statement: “With precise and commanding technique, the editors take us on a ride into the middle of a sporting event most of us never watch or even understand… and into the experience of a rider on the ride of his life.” Best Cinematography / Julian Schwanitz / DONKEYOTE Jury Statement: “Lush, grounded, and patient. These words best describe the cinematography of Julian Schwanitz in DONKEYOTE. His gorgeous renderings of Southern Spain, his crisp capturing of sound, and the intimacy in which he portrays the film’s two main characters – Manolo, and his donkey, Gorrión, provide a tenderness and poetry that help this film soar.” RiverRun’s 2018 Documentary Features Competition jurors included: K. Austin Collins, Tom Haneke, Sierra Pettengill and Stan Wright. Previous winners of RiverRun’s Best Documentary Feature Jury Award include: Quest (2017), Salero (2016), The Chinese Mayor (2015), The Case Against 8 (2014), I Am Breathing (2013), The Boy Who Was a King (2012), Armadillo (2011), Last Train Home (2010), Unmistaken Child (2009), Up the Yangtze (2008), Manufactured Landscapes (2007), Taimagura Grandma (2006) and Parallel Lines (2005).

    SHORTS COMPETITION

    Best Documentary Short : XAVIER CORBERO: PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST IN WINTER / Spain / Director: Nathalie Biancheri Jury Statement: “The film is so funny, its central character so outrageous, that it’s easy to miss the meticulousness of the filmmaker’s work – the slowly circular camera movements that perfectly match the rounded forms of Corbero’s architecture and sculpture. It’s what a short film should be: an immersion into character without an extraneous moment.” Special Jury Prize: WHILE I YET LIVE / USA / Director: Maris Curran Jury Statement: “A group of women so unpretentious that they might not think to describe themselves as artists yet who unarguably are. We are grateful for a film that has perfectly captured this precious American artistic movement before it vanishes.” Best Student Documentary Short: THE SANDMAN / USA / Director: Lauren Knapp / Stanford University Jury Statement: “No film can do justice to an issue as fraught as the death penalty. This short film adds an unexpected and valuable contrarian voice.” RiverRun’s 2018 Documentary Shorts jurors included: Laura Coxson, Peter Gilbert, Thomas Lennon and Xiao Xiao. Best Narrative Short : GARAGE AT NIGHT / Canada / Director: Daniel Daigle Jury Statement: “With innovative uses of the cut, off-camera action, silence, and truly alive performances, our selection for Best Narrative Short tells the story of a brotherhood without ever leaving one room. Never making a false choice, we believe this film exemplifies what’s possible in the form, and we’re delighted to present the award to GARAGE AT NIGHT, directed by Daniel Daigle.” Special Jury Prize: WELCOME HOME / Norway / Director: Armita Keyani Jury Statement: “We chose to give an honorable mention to a charming and refreshing comedy about an Iranian couple who take an unconventional route to making friends in their new Scandinavian neighborhood. With super charismatic performances from leads Ashkan Ghorbani and Elnaz Asghari, we can see this short as the first chapter of a series about these two funny lovebirds. Our Special Jury Mention goes to WELCOME HOME by Armita Keyani.” Best Animated Short : SOG / Germany / Director: Jonatan Schwenk Jury Statement: “We give the Best Animated Short Award to SOG for its nuanced exploration of the conflicts that arise between neighboring groups, and its innovative blending of techniques.” Special Jury Prize: WEEKENDS / USA / Director: Trevor Jimenez Jury Statement: “As Honorable Mention, we would like to acknowledge WEEKENDS for its elegant storytelling, beautiful production design, and its ability to portray the subject of divorce from a child’s perspective in a non-judgemental way.” Special Jury Prize: Carlotta’s Face / Germany / Directors: Valentin Riedl & Frédéric Schuld Jury Statement: “As Honorable Mention, we would like to acknowledge CARLOTTA’S FACE for its poetic use of animation to help visualize the condition of face blindness and showcase it as an artistic tool to overcome adversity.” RiverRun’s 2018 Animated Shorts jurors included: Lizzi Akana, Joel Frenzer and Andy Kennedy.

    AUDIENCE AWARDS

    Overall Audience Award: IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE / USA / Director: Gregg Jamback Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton Narrative Feature Audience Award: BYE BYE GERMANY / Germany / Luxembourg / Belgium / Director: Sam Garbarski Documentary Feature Audience Award: SILAS / Canada / South Africa / Kenya / Directors: Hawa Essuman and Anjali Nayar Altered States Audience Award: SAINTS REST / USA / Director: Noga Ashkenazi

    PITCHFEST

    In an effort to further promote the development of new filmmaking talent, RiverRun partnered with universities around the state to present the fifth annual PitchFest competition. Pre-selected student filmmakers from The Documentary Film Program at Wake Forest University, Elon University, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington pitched their documentary shorts projects to a panel of industry experts, received advice on how to proceed, and vied for prizes and industry recognition. The Piedmont Federal Savings Bank First Place winner received a $500 prize and the Runner Up received a $250 prize to assist in the production and completion of their films. Piedmont Federal Savings Bank First Place: NO SANCTUARY / UNCSA / Directors: Moriah Hall & Nathan Knox Second Place: DEAD IN THE WATER / UNC – Wilmington / Director: Lizzie Bankowsk RiverRun PitchFest 2018 jurors included: Celia Weston, Brett Ingram and Nick Price.

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  • Seattle International Film Festival Announces 2018 Lineup of Over 400 Films

    [caption id="attachment_28016" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot[/caption] This year’s 44th edition of the Seattle International Film Festival revealed today the complete lineup of 433 films, plus guests and events for the 25-day Festival that runs May 17 to June 10, 2018.   Opening night kicks off Thursday, May 17 with The Bookshop from acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet (Learning to Drive, Elegy), distributed by Greenwich Entertainment. The film is set in a seaside village in England where a grieving widow (Emily Mortimer) pursues her lifelong dream of opening a bookshop. She introduces the townsfolk to the world’s best literature and stirs a cultural awakening, but her efforts are ruthlessly opposed by a powerful local (Patricia Clarkson) causing a reclusive resident (Bill Nighy) to join the fight to keep the bookshop open. The film is based on the bestselling novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. The annual Centerpiece Gala, Sorry to Bother You, pulls no punches in its portrayal of racial dynamics in the workplace. This new film ushers in an utterly original and wildly creative new voice on the film scene from debut director and musician Boots Riley. Director Boots Riley is scheduled to attend the Seattle premiere to take place Saturday, June 2, at 5:30 PM, at the SIFF Cinema Egyptian. The Seattle premiere of Ethan Hawke’s Blaze will also screen at the historic SIFF Cinema Egyptian as SIFF honors Mr. Hawke’s work with the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema. In addition to the award presentation and screening, the acclaimed actor is slated for an on-stage interview at the Friday, June 8 event. Also scheduled is An Afternoon with Melanie Lynskey, where the Festival pays tribute to this celebrated actress. The iconic scene-stealing actress makes her way to SIFF on Sunday, May 27 for the Seattle premiere of Northwest Filmmaker Megan Griffiths’ film Sadie with an onstage discussion following the film. Seattle favorite, Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, closes SIFF 2018 with a bang! Starring Joaquin Phoenix in a transformative performance as Portland cartoonist John Callahan who, after a car accident leaves him disabled, uses his sardonic humor and brutal honesty to battle with a lifetime of addiction. “Sifting through over 4,000 film submissions each year, finding just 240 features is somewhat of a treasure hunt,” said SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “We’re looking for dynamic, diverse stories. This year, we’re overjoyed to share that over 43-percent of the feature films are female directed. We’re thrilled to jump into the 44th Festival and share these voices from around the globe with over 150,000 film enthusiasts in Seattle over the course of 25 days.”

    GALAS

    Opening Night Gala The Bookshop Spanish director Isabel Coixet heads to the English coast circa 1959, where a headstrong widow (Emily Mortimer) opens a bookstore in a sleepy village and encounters both pride and prejudice from the provincial locals. Winner of Best Film, Director, and Screenplay at Spain’s Goya Awards. (d: Isabel Coixet c: Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, Julie Christie, Hunter Tremayne, United Kingdom 2017, 110 min) Centerpiece Gala Sorry to Bother You Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, and Armie Hammer star in the exhilarating directorial debut of musician Boots Riley, a biting and bonkers satire that follows a black telemarketer who discovers an unknown skill which gives him magical selling powers that shoot him up the corporate ladder. (d: Boots Riley c: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Jermaine Fowler, Armie Hammer, Omari Hardwick, David Cross, Danny Glover, USA 2018, 112 min) Closing Night Gala Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot Joaquin Phoenix gives a transformative performance in Gus Van Sant’s sensitive and caustically funny portrait of Portland cartoonist John Callahan who, after a car accident leaves him disabled, uses his sardonic humor and brutal honesty to battle with a lifetime of addiction. The outstanding supporting cast includes Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, and musician Beth Ditto in her impressive film debut. (d: Gus Van Sant c: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Beth Ditto, USA 2018, 113 min)

    SPECIAL GUESTS

    AN AFTERNOON WITH Melanie Lynskey FILM: Sadie Since making her debut at age 16 opposite a young Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, the New Zealand-born Melanie Lynskey has become one of American cinema’s most reliable character actors. From Ever After: A Cinderella Story to Shattered Glass, The Informant! to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Hello I Must Be Going to I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, and TV work ranging from HBO’s “Togetherness” and “Animals” and Cartoon Network’s “Over the Garden Wall” to 12 years on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” her passionate dedication to her craft has created a class of charismatic characters defined by their grace, sensitivity, quirkiness, and kindness. This afternoon, SIFF will welcome her to the stage for an interview featuring film clips from her career, followed by a screening of one of Lynskey’s latest films, Sadie, directed by Seattle-based Megan Griffiths (The Night Stalker, Lucky Them, Eden), with music by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. There will also be an opportunity for audience questions following the screening.

    OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMA

    A Tribute to Ethan Hawke FILM: Blaze A modern day renaissance artist, Ethan Hawke’s creative talent continues to flourish in several realms of expression. An actor, screenwriter, novelist, and filmmaker, his body of work is broad as it is deep in a career that now spans three decades. From portraying a rock-steady police sergeant and cowboy, to a sensitive teenage poet and young heartthrob, his versatility as an actor is renowned, cementing him as one of the great performers of this generation. SIFF will present Ethan Hawke with the Seattle International Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema. A Q&A with Hawke will follow the screening of his new film, Blaze. Past honorees of the SIFF Outstanding Achievement Awards include Anjelica Huston, Laura Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Viggo Mortensen, Kyle MacLachlan, Sir Ben Kingsley, Kevin Bacon, Edward Norton, Sissy Spacek, Joan Allen, Spike Lee, among others.

    FILMS WITH PARTIES

    Saturday Film and Party The Cake General, North American Premiere SATURDAY, MAY 19, 5:30 PM – Party to follow screening FILM: MAJESTIC BAY PARTY: NORDIC MUSEUM Based on a true story, the directorial debut of popular Swedish personalities Filip and Fredrik is an outrageous, unconventional comedy set in the 1980s about an eccentric resident of “the most boring town in Sweden” who decides to put his sleepy hamlet on the map by assembling the world’s longest layer cake. (d: Filip Hammar, Fredrik Wikingsson c: Mikael Perssbrandt, Helena Bergström, Agnes Lindström Bolmgren, Tomas von Brömssen, Sweden 2018, 101 min) Saturday Film and Party Won’t You Be My Neighbor? SATURDAY, MAY 26, 6:00 PM – Party to follow screening FILM: SIFF CINEMA UPTOWN PARTY: THE HOUSE STUDIOS Oscar®-winning director Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) presents the heartwarming life of Fred Rogers, whose cherished PBS series, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” used cardigans, puppets, and the Land of Make-Believe to imaginatively and compassionately inspire children, while not shying away from complicated issues. (d: Morgan Neville f: Fred Rogers, USA 2018, 93 min) Kirkland Opening Night The Drummer and the Keeper THURSDAY, MAY 31, 8:00 PM – Party to precede screening PARTY AND FILM: KIRKLAND PERFORMANCE CENTER When a drummer for an up-and-coming Dublin rock band is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he is forced to join a weekend mixed-ability soccer team and makes fast friends with a 17-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome in this poignant and charming bro-com between two odd and lonely souls. (d: Nick Kelly c: Dermot Murphy, Jacob McCarthy, Peter Coonan, Ireland/USA 2017, 93 min)

    SPECIAL PRESENTATION

    L’INFERNO WITH LIVE SCORE BY MY GOODNESS Thursday, May 31 | 7:00 PM | The Triple Door Seattle rock band My Goodness bring their expansive blues-inspired sound to The Triple Door for a live accompaniment to the 1911 Italian silent film, a macabre tour de force inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” featuring ground-breaking special effects and a cast of thousands.

    SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATIONS

    HIGHLANDER WITH LIVE SOUNDTRACK BY DJ NICFIT Wednesday, May 23 | 6:30 PM | SIFF Cinema Egyptian When originally released in 1986, this franchise-inspiring fantasy adventure about an immortal Scottish swordsman featured a handful of new songs from rock icons Queen. Now, Seattle’s own DJ NicFit reimagines the cult classic with a decades-spanning all-Queen playlist performed live on two turntables. FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL: CHERISHED GEMS Wednesday, June 6 | 9:15 PM | SIFF Cinema Egyptian Ranging from industrial training videos to forsaken home movies, comedians Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher’s vast VHS library features the world’s largest collection of strange, outrageous, and profoundly stupid videos, the best (and worst) of which they have carefully curated and present along with live comedy commentary. EIGHTH GRADE Saturday June, 9, 6:30 PM | SIFF Cinema Egyptian Sunday, June 10, 12:30 PM | SIFF Cinema Uptown Newcomer Elsie Fisher, in a star-making performance, perfectly captures the everyday humiliations and triumphs of a modern-day thirteen-year-old making her way through the last week of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year in the auspicious filmmaking debut of comedian Bo Burnham.

    COMPETITIONS

    Official Competition

    The Devil’s Doorway (d: Aislinn Clarke, United Kingdom 2018, World Premiere) Garbage (d: Q (Qaushiq Mukherjee), India 2018, North American Premiere) The Heiresses (d: Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay/Uruguay/Germany/Brazil/Norway/France 2018, US Premiere) Leave No Trace (d: Debra Granik, USA 2018) Luna (d: Elsa Diringer, France 2017) Pig (d: Mani Haghighi, Iran 2018, North American Premiere) The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (d: Muayad Alayan, Palestine/Netherlands/Germany/Mexico 2018, North American Premiere) Something Useful (d: Pelin Esmer, Turkey/France/Netherlands/Germany 2017, North American Premiere) Team Hurricane (d. Annika Berg, Denmark 2017)

    New Directors Competition

    After the War (d: Annarita Zambrano, France/Italy/Belgium/Switzerland 2017) Amateurs (d: Gabriela Pichler, Sweden 2018) The Blessed (d: Sofia Djama, France/Belgium 2017) The Charmer (d: Milad Alami, Denmark/Sweden 2017) Dead Pigs (d: Cathy Yan, China/USA 2018) Retablo (d: Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio L., Peru/Germany/Norway 2018, North American Premiere) Sashinka (d: Kristina Wagenbauer, Canada (Québec) 2017, US Premiere) Scary Mother (d: Ana Urushadze, Georgia/Estonia 2017) Shuttle Life (d: Tan Seng Kiat, Malaysia 2017, US Premiere) Supa Modo (d: Likarion Wainaina, Kenya/Germany 2018)

    Ibero-American Competition

    Champions (d: Javier Fesser, Spain 2018, North American Premiere) Giant (d: Jon GaranÞo, Aitor Arregi, Spain 2017) Gold Seekers (d: Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori, Paraguay 2017) Killing Jesus (d: Laura Mora Ortega, Colombia/Argentina 2017) Lots of Kids, A Monkey and a Castle (d: Gustavo Salmerón, Spain 2017) Marilyn (d: Martiìn Rodriguez, Argentina/Chile 2018, North American Premiere) Rush Hour (d: Luciana Kaplan, Mexico 2017) Rust (d: Aly Muritiba, Brazil 2018) Virus Tropical (d: Santiago Caicedo, Colombia/Ecuador 2017)

    New American Cinema Competition

    Jinn (d: Nijla Mu’min, USA 2018) My Name Is Myeisha (d: Gus Krieger, USA 2018) Noble Earth (d: Ursula Grisham, USA 2017, US Premiere) Prospect (d: Zeek Earl, Chris Caldwell, USA/Canada 2018) Sadie (d: Megan Griffiths, USA 2018) Thunder Road (d: Jim Cummings, USA 2018) Tyrel (d: Sebastián Silva, USA 2018) Wild Nights With Emily (d: Madeleine Olnek, USA 2018)

    Documentary Competition

    Afghan Cycles (d: Sarah Menzies, USA/France/Afghanistan 2018, US Premiere) Inventing Tomorrow (d: Laura Nix, USA 2018) MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. (d: Stephen Loveridge, Sri Lanka/United Kingdom/USA 2018) People’s Republic of Desire (d: Hao Wu, China 2018) Queerama (d: Daisy Asquith, United Kingdom 2017) The Return (d: Malene Choi, Denmark 2018) Unarmed Verses (d: Charles Officer, Canada 2017, US Premiere) Warrior Women (d: Elizabeth A. Castle, Christina D. King, USA 2018, US Premiere)

    AFRICAN PICTURES

    The African Storm (d: Sylvestre Amoussou, Benin/France 2017) The Blessed (d: Sofia Djama, France/Belgium 2017) Cook Off (d: Tomas L. Brickhill, Zimbabwe 2017, North American Premiere) Ellen (d: Daryne Joshua, South Africa 2017, North American Premiere) I Am Not a Witch (d: Rungano Nyoni, Zambia/France/United Kingdom 2017) Looking for Oum Kulthum (d: Shirin Neshat, Germany/Austria/Italy/Lebanon/Qatar 2017) Maki’la (d: Machérie Ekwa Bahango, Democratic Republic of Congo/France 2018, North American Premiere) Razzia (d: Nabil Ayouch, France/Morocco/Belgium 2017) Silas (d: Hawa Essuman, Anjali Nayar, Canada/South Africa/Kenya 2017) Supa Modo (d: Likarion Wainaina, Kenya/Germany 2018)

    CHINA STARS

    Awards will be presented to: Best New Talent Award: Mingming Yang for Girls Always Happy Best First Film Award: Dead Pigs by Cathy Yan Best Film Award: The Taste of Betel Nut – Angels Wear White (d: Vivian Qu, China/France 2017) Dead Pigs (d: Cathy Yan, China/USA 2018) Girls Always Happy (d: Mingming Yang, China 2018, North American Premiere) Love Education (d: Sylvia Chang, Mainland China/Taiwan 2017) People’s Republic of Desire (d: Hao Wu, China 2018) The Silk and the Flame (d: Jordan Schiele, USA/China 2018, US Premiere) Susu (d: Yixi Sun, China/United Kingdom 2017, US Premiere) The Taste of Betel Nut (d: Jia Hu, Mainland China/Hong Kong 2017, North American Premiere) The Widowed Witch (d: Chenglie Cai, China 2018, North American Premiere) Wrath of Silence (d: Yukun Xin, China 2017, North American Premiere)

    CULINARY CINEMA

    Brewmaster (d: Douglas Tirola, USA/Czech Republic 2018) Constructing Albert (d: Laura Collado, Jim Loomis, Spain 2017) Cuban Food Stories (d: Asori Soto, Cuba/USA 2018) Michelin Stars: Tales from the Kitchen (d: Rasmus Dinesen, Denmark 2017) Schumann’s Bar Talks (d: Marieke Schroeder, Germany 2017) Scotch – A Golden Dream (d: Andrew Peat, Taiwan 2017) Soufra (d: Thomas Morgan, USA 2017)

    FACE THE MUSIC

    Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (d: Steve Sullivan, United Kingdom 2018) Blaze (d: Ethan Hawke, USA 2018) Industrial Accident – The Story of Wax Trax! Records (d: Julia Nash, USA/Belgium/Canada/Germany 2018) Looking for Oum Kulthum (d: Shirin Neshat, Germany/Austria/Italy/Lebanon/Qatar 2017) Making the Grade (d: Ken Wardrop, Ireland 2017) MATANGI / Maya / M.I.A (d: Stephen Loveridge, Sri Lanka/United Kingdom/USA 2018) Nico, 1988 (d: Susanna Nicchiarelli, Italy/USA 2017) Rubén Blades Is Not My Name ( d: Abner Benaim, Panama/Argentina/Colombia 2018) Ryuichi Sakamoto:Coda (d: Stephen Nomura, Japan/USA 2017)

    NORTHWEST CONNECTIONS

    Afghan Cycles (d: Sarah Menzies, USA/France/Afghanistan 2018, US Premiere) Automata (d: Van Alan, USA 2017) The Faces of Zandra Rhodes (d: David Wiesehan, USA 2018, World Premiere) The Most Dangerous Year (d: Vlada Knowlton, USA 2018, World Premiere) Prospect (d: Zeek Earl, Chris Caldwell, USA/Canada 2018) Return to Mount Kennedy (d: Eric Becker, USA 2018) Sadie (d: Megan Griffiths, USA 2018)

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  • History Docu Series HUNTING ISIS Follows American Volunteer Fighters Embedded with Local Militias in Syria and Iraq

    hunting isis In the original documentary series, “Hunting ISIS,” History follows a group of veteran and civilian volunteers who travel to Syria and Iraq to fight against ISIS alongside local militias.  The 6-episode series premieres on Tuesday, May 29 at 10pm ET/PT. Following its broadcast on History, the series will air on Viceland on Sunday, June 3 at 10pm ET/PT. ” The terrorist organization known as ISIS emerged as a menace in the Middle East years before most in the West took notice of their attacks abroad. More brutal than Al Qaeda before them, ISIS took advantage of chaos caused by Syria’s still-raging Civil War and the United States’ withdrawal from Iraq to recruit heavily in the region. In 2014, the world watched as they swept across Iraq and Syria, capturing wide territories and ruthlessly killing or enslaving anyone who showed signs of resistance as they declared themselves the “Islamic State.” Local forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition of western military powers began fighting back, but progress has taken years. Not content to sit back and watch ISIS devastate the Middle East from afar, scores of western volunteers have since traveled to region to join the fight against the terrorist group. Through the eyes of American fighters embedded with the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, and medics supporting a coalition of local forces in Iraq, “Hunting ISIS” follows these men as they begin the difficult push to retake ISIS’ capital cities. Completely unpaid and unsupported by their governments, western volunteers have many reasons for joining the fight. Some are military veterans craving the familiar adrenaline rush and brotherhood of combat, who shoulder a sense of unfinished business in the Middle East. Some are civilians eager to test their mettle while searching for a greater purpose. All are united in their determination to defend the innocent and end the atrocities being committed by ISIS. With unprecedented access, this documentary series witnesses their unique role in one of the defining conflicts of our time, exploring what’s driving these men to war. Filmmaker and award-winning photographer Sebastiano Tomada built his career documenting conflict in some of the world’s most volatile warzones. “Hunting ISIS” is the culmination of over two years embedded in the trenches in Iraq and Syria, granting visceral, intimate access to the front lines of the war against ISIS and those individuals who give up everything to fight it.  

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  • ROBIN WILLIAMS: COME INSIDE MY MIND, Intimate Documentary on Comedy Genius, to Premiere on HBO in July

    Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind will debut Monday, July 16, exclusively on HBO. Told largely through Williams’ own words, the film celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at large, from the wild days of late-1970s L.A. to his death in 2014. Marina Zenovich (Emmy(R) winner for HBO’s “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired”) directs. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind explores his extraordinary life and career, revealing what drove him to give voice to the characters in his mind. With previously unheard and unseen glimpses into his creative process through interviews with Williams, as well as home movies and onstage footage, this insightful tribute features in-depth interviews with those who knew and loved him, including Billy Crystal, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Pam Dawber and his son, Zak Williams. The documentary underscores what made Williams so unique, ranging from his youthful days in the San Francisco Bay area, to his time in New York at The Juilliard School, to his rocket-propelled fame on TV’s “Mork & Mindy,” to his profound impact on the American cultural landscape. Such career high points as his landmark comedy show at the Metropolitan Opera, his Broadway debut in “Waiting for Godot,” his Academy Award(R)-winning performance in “Good Will Hunting” and his classic confessional bits about his alcohol and drug issues and 2009 heart surgery capture the spark that made him stand out across four decades in entertainment. Williams’ tragic death in 2014, which revealed he had been suffering from the disease Lewy Body Dementia, left fans around the world heartbroken. The genius of Robin Williams lay in his ability to make a room, a comedy club, a concert hall or the whole world laugh. Family, friends and film crews often saw a man who wasn’t happy unless everyone else was having a good time? – ?but the dualities Williams embodied were present inside him at all times. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is produced by Alex Gibney and Shirel Kozak; executive producers, David Steinberg, Kristen Vaurio and Marina Zenovich; directed by Marina Zenovich. For HBO: senior producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

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  • Provincetown International Film Festival Announces 2018 Lineup, Closes with MAPPLETHORPE

    [caption id="attachment_28780" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]MAPPLETHORPE MAPPLETHORPE[/caption] The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) announced their complete lineup of narrative, documentary and short films for the 20th anniversary edition. The festival will kick off with the New England premiere of WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY, starring Molly Shannon. Written and directed by Madeleine Olnek, the film is a dramatic comedy about the secret life of Emily Dickinson. Ondi Timoner’s MAPPLETHORPE, starring Matt Smith, has been selected as the Closing Night film. Additionally, acclaimed director Sean Baker will receive the “Filmmaker on the Edge” Award in conversation with John Waters, and actress Chloë Grace Moretz will be on hand to receive the festival’s Next Wave Award; Moretz’s latest film, THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, is a Spotlight selection. Said Artistic Director Lisa Viola, “For our 20th anniversary festival, we are absolutely thrilled to present a lineup featuring new work by a group of extraordinarily talented filmmakers, and we are especially proud that all five of our Spotlight films are directed by women!” The Provincetown International Film Festival runs June 13 to 17, 2018 in Provincetown, MA.

    2018 Provincetown International Film Festival Lineup

    OPENING NIGHT

    WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY – directed by Madeleine Olnek (Wednesday, June 13)

    CLOSING NIGHT

    MAPPLETHORPE – directed by Ondi Timoner (Sunday, June 17)

    SPOTLIGHT SELECTIONS

    THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST – directed by Desiree Akhavan (Thursday, June 14) AND BREATHE NORMALLY – directed by Ísold Ugadóttir (Friday, June 15) LEAVE NO TRACE – directed by Debra Granik (Saturday, June 16)

    SPECIAL SCREENINGS/EVENTS

    JOHN WATERS PRESENTS: I, OLGA – directed by Petr Kazda, Tomás Weinreb MODERN LOVE LIVE, presented by WBUR and The New York Times at the Provincetown Film Festival (Friday, June 15) FEMALE TROUBLE – directed by John Waters MIDNIGHT COWBOY – directed by John Schlesinger TANGERINE – directed by Sean Baker

    NARRATIVE FEATURES

    1985 – directed by Yen Tan BLINDSPOTTING– directed by Carlos López Estrada THE CAKEMAKER – directed by Ofir Raul Graizer THE CHILDREN ACT – directed by Richard Eyre DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT – directed by Gus Van Sant EIGHTH GRADE – directed by Bo Burnham THE GUILTY – directed by Gustav Möller HEARTS BEAT LOUD– directed by Brett Haley A KID LIKE JAKE – directed by Silas Howard LEMONADE – directed by Ioana Uricaru LOVELING – directed by Gustavo Pizzi MADELINE’S MADELINE – directed by Josephine Decker MARIO – directed by Marcel Gisler NIGHT COMES ON – directed by Jordana Spiro PUZZLE – directed by Marc Turtletaub WE THE ANIMALS – directed by Jeremiah Zagar

    DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

    CHEF FLYNN – directed by Cameron Yates DAWNLAND – directed by Adam Mazo, Ben Pender-Cudlip EVERY ACT OF LIFE – directed by Jeff Kaufman A FINE LINE – directed by Joanna James GENERATION WEALTH – directed by Lauren Greenfield THE GOSPEL OF EUREKA – directed by Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri JOHN McENROE: IN THE REALM OF PERFECTION – directed by Julien Faraut LIFE IN THE DOGHOUSE – directed by Ron Davis McQUEEN – directed by Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING – directed by Nathaniel Kahn ROBIN WILLIAMS: COME INSIDE MY MIND – directed by Marina Zenovich SCIENCE FAIR – directed by Cristina Costantini, Darren Foster SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD – directed by Matt Tyrnauer THE SENTENCE – directed by Rudy Valdez STUDIO 54 – directed by Matt Tyrnauer THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS – directed by Tim Wardle TIME FOR ILHAN – directed by Norah Shapiro WESTWOOD: PUNK, ICON, ACTIVIST – directed by Lorna Tucker WYETH – directed by Glenn Holsten

    SHORTS

    AFTER PROM – directed by Nona Schamus BABS – directed by Celine Held & Logan George BECAUSE YOU’RE HERE – directed by Mike Syers BRAINWORM BILLY – directed by Emily Hubley THE DARE PROJECT – directed by Adam Salky, written by David Brind EDWARD HOPPER & MARSHALL’S HOUSE – directed by Bob Burnett FEVAH – directed by Randall Dottin GIRL FRIEND – directed by Chloe Sarbib HEATHER HAS FOUR MOMS – directed by Jeanette L. Buck JUDITH LOVES MARTHA – directed by Anna Gaskell KEEPER – directed by Marnie Crawford Samuelson & Shane Hofeldt KHOL (OPEN) – directed by Faroukh Virani LANDLINE – directed by Matt Houghton THE LAYOVER – directed by Joe Stankus LONESOME WILLCOX – directed by Ryan Maxey & Zack Wright MARGUERITE – directed by Maria Gracia Turgeon MAUDE – directed by Anna Margaret Hollyman MEN DON’T WHISPER – directed by Jordan Firstman MOTHER MOTHER – directed by Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck NEGATIVE SPACE – directed by Ru Kuwahata & Max Porter NEUTRAL – directed by Nathan Barnatt PAID FOR BY – EPISODE 2 – DIANE BUSCH’S WOMEN’S ISSUE AD – directed by Dawn Smith SET ME AS A SEAL UPON THINE HEART – directed by Omer Tobi SHE IS JUICED: SLICE ONE – JO HAY – directed by Lois Norman SLEEPOVER – directed by Jimi Vall Peterson SUPER 8 DAZE – directed by Rob Hampton & John Morgan WOULD YOU LOOK AT HER – directed by Goran Stolevski WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE 2: THE BURDEN OF OTHER PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS –directed by Don Herzfeldt WREN BOYS – directed by Harry Lighton

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  • 2018 Fantasia International Film Festival Launches First Wave of Films

    [caption id="attachment_28777" align="aligncenter" width="913"]Parallel Parallel[/caption] The Fantasia International Film Festival, celebrating its 22nd Anniversary in Montreal this summer, from July 12 to August 1, 2018,  revealed the first wave of film titles, along with several special events.  In addition to the festival,  Frontières International Co-Production Market and Industry Rendez-Vous Weekend will be held July 19 to 22, 2018. The festival’s full lineup of over 130 feature films will be announced in early July. In the meantime, Fantasia.

    INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE OF BLEACH HIGHLIGHTS A TRIO OF BLOCKBUSTER MASTERPIECES BY PROLIFIC DIRECTOR SHINSUKE SATO

    The most anticipated Japanese film of 2018 will have its International Premiere at Fantasia 2018 and completely blow everyone’s minds! Adapted from one of the world’s most popular mangas, BLEACH is directed by Shinsuke Sato (GANTZ, LIBRARY WARS) and masterfully portrays the epic fight between Shinigamis (Soul Reapers) and monstrous lost souls called Hollows. BLEACH fans will shed tears of joy as they see teenager Ichigo Kurosaki (AS THE GODS WILL’s Sota Fukushi) slice his giant sword through superbly designed Hollows, while the uninitiated will be amazed by this action-packed fantasy loaded with young rising stars and state-of-the-art special effects. BLEACH has everything one hopes for in a summer blockbuster… and much more! Another crowd-pleasing powerhouse directed by Shinsuke Sato, INUYASHIKI, will set Fantasia 2018 on fire at its Canadian Premiere. The film reunites Sato with the universe of mangaka Hiroya Oku, creator of GANTZ, in a live-action adaptation that perfectly balances fast-paced action, humour, and bloody thrills! Winner of the Golden Raven at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, INUYASHIKI opposes a lovable bullied old man (comedian Noritake Kinashi) and a cold murderous student (RUROUNI KENSHIN’s Takeru Satoh), both turned into powerful cyborgs after a strange explosion. It’s a glorious, fun ride with far more depth than it seems. Lastly, to cap the festival’s celebration of Shinsuke Sato, Fantasia will be showcasing a special screening of the filmmaker’s celebrated 2015 instant-classic of the zombie sub-genre I AM A HERO, widely regarded as one of the best horror films in recent years. Acclaimed everywhere it was shown, the film won numerous awards, notably at SXSW, Sitges and Brussels, and it will soon be ravaging Montreal in its long-time-coming Quebec Premiere!

    FIVE FORCES OF FEAR COME TOGETHER FOR A TERRIFYING DOSE OF NIGHTMARE CINEMA

    As part of Fantasia’s Opening Night events, the festival will unveil the World Premiere of Cinelou Films’ hotly-anticipated anthology NIGHTMARE CINEMA, featuring segments by Joe Dante (GREMLINS), Mick Garris (THE STAND), Alejandro Brugués (JUAN OF THE DEAD), Ryûhei Kitamura (VERSUS), and David Slade (30 DAYS OF NIGHT) with a cast that includes Mickey Rourke, Richard Chamberlain, Adam Godley, Belinda Balaski, Elizabeth Reaser, and Annabeth Gish. It’s always cause for celebration when the acclaimed “Masters of Horror” brew new creations, and seeing their energies distilled into a single feature film will all but make the universe explode.

    LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR JOE DANTE!

    Fantasia will be presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to adored US genre legend Joe Dante, a man whose inspired filmography has touched generations of cinephiles. From PIRANHA, THE HOWLING, and the universally-beloved GREMLINS films to INNERSPACE, EXPLORERS, and his bold television work, Dante’s works are electric with witty personality and brim with innovative storytelling and a big-hearted affection for all things film. As Fantasia will be World Premiering his latest work with NIGHTMARE CINEMA, there couldn’t be a better time to honour the great man. Previous recipients of Fantasia’s Lifetime Achievement Award include Guillermo del Toro, Takashi Miike, Ken Russell, Tobe Hooper, Jean Rollin, Andrzej Zulawski, Mamoru Oshii, John Landis, José Mojica Marins, Larry Cohen, and Ray Harryhausen.

    THE INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE OF UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB

    In 2014, Fantasia World Premiered the cutting-edge independent horror breakout UNFRIENDED under its original title, CYBERNATURAL, to significant acclaim, leading to the film’s acquisition by Blumhouse and Universal. Now, four years later, the festival will showcase the International Premiere of UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB, a wholly unique – and deeply unsettling – standalone sequel that launched at SXSW this past March, as a special event screening on Friday, July 13th. UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB was written and directed by Stephen Susco and stars Colin Woodell, Betty Gabriel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Stephanie Nogueras, Andrew Lees, Savira Windyani, and Connor Del Rio.

    BE THE WORLD’S FIRST TO GAZE UPON THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW

    Andy Mitton, co-writer and co-director of WE GO ON and YELLOWBRICKROAD, goes solo this time as he continues his streak of staggeringly effective, character-driven supernatural horror. Stunningly scripted and performed, THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW (World Premiere) is a gripping paranormal chiller about a divorced father taking his 12-year-old son to rural Vermont to help him with a fixer-upper farmhouse – a farmhouse whose previous owner, however deceased she may be, has never left the premises. Produced by Richard W. King and starring Alex Draper, Arija Bareikis, Greg Naughton, and Charlie Tacker.

    THE RIVETING WORLD PREMIERE OF CAM WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY

    Key among this year’s most exciting discoveries is Isa Mazzei and Danny Goldhaber’s CAM (World Premiere), a surrealistic thriller set in the world of webcam erotica in which an ambitious young camgirl (“The Handmaid Tale”’s Madeline Brewer) discovers that she’s inexplicably been replaced on her site with an exact replica of herself – a replica that knows personal things only she could know, and is considerably less guarded about privacy. The control that she has over her life, and the people in it, begins to break away. CAM is both an extraordinary genre vision and a milestone – the rare film about sex work written by a former sex worker. CAM brilliantly captures the anxieties and identity struggles of this unfairly judged field of work, with an approach that borders on the Lynchian. Produced by Blumhouse Pictures, Gunpowder & Sky, and Divide/Conquer, CAM also stars Patch Darragh, Melora Walters, Devin Druid, and Samantha Robinson.

    SIDES AND MOLECULES WILL SPLIT AT THE WORLD PREMIERE OF MEGA TIME SQUAD

    Bursting with comic invention and absurdist scenarios, MEGA TIME SQUAD (World Premiere) is New Zealand writer/director Tim van Dammen’s oddball sophomore feature, a wildly entertaining sci-fi tale about a two-bit criminal stumbling upon an ancient time-travel device. Ridiculous happenings ensue. Starring Anton Tenet and a slew of familiar faces from the Kiwi genre scene, including WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS’ Jonny Brugh and DEATHGASM’s Milo Cawthorne!

    UDINE WINNER LAST CHILD INTRODUCES A BRILLIANT NEW FILMMAKER WHO WILL LEAVE HIS MARK ON KOREAN CINEMA

    After Sung-cheol and Mi-sook lose their teenage boy, who drowns saving fellow student Ki-hyun, their lives collapse. When Sung-cheol takes Ki-hyun under his wing, things improve rapidly, but truth always rises to the surface, causing the dynamic between the trio of scorched souls to change drastically. Selected at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, LAST CHILD, which will have its Canadian Premiere at Fantasia, is probably the most powerful and poignant first feature film to come out of Korea since Lee Su-jin’s HAN GONG-JU. Thanks to beautiful performances by Choi Moo-seong (I SAW THE DEVIL), Kim Yeo-jin (PEPPERMINT CANDY) and Seong Yu-bin (ALONG WITH THE GODS), writer/director Shin Dong-seok’s masterpiece recently secured the coveted White Mulberry Award for Best Debut Film at the Udine Far East Film Festival.

    HOUSES ARE AS HAUNTED AS YOU MAKE THEM: THE WORLD PREMIERE OF OUR HOUSE

    Fantasia will be channeling the World Premiere of the Canadian paranormal chiller OUR HOUSE, a tight, engrossing remake of the clever 2010 indie GHOST FROM THE MACHINE (itself having world premiered at Fantasia under its original title PHASMA EX MACHINA), directed by Anthony Scott Burns (HOLIDAYS) with a screenplay by Nathan Parker (MOON) and starring Thomas Mann, Nicola Peltz and Percy Hynes White.

    THE WORLD PREMIERE OF INDONESIA’S ASTONISHING WESTERN BUFFALO BOYS IS THE FIRST REVEAL OF FANTASIA 2018’S ACTION! SECTION

    Genre producer Mike Wiluan (HEADSHOT, BEYOND SKYLINE, MACABRE) leaps into the director’s chair for this searing, screaming action epic set during the Dutch occupation of Indonesia. When all seems lost in a small town overrun by colonialist violence, two revenge-seeking brothers arrive, meting out bloody justice that leaps effortlessly between brutal Western gunslinging and stylized Eastern swordplay. Starring a gorgeous cast featuring HEADSHOT’s Sunny Pang and THE RAID 2’s Alex Abbad, BUFFALO BOYS (World Premiere) is a virtual who’s who of Indonesia’s finest action and stunt talent that will knock your skull through the back of the cinema.

    CAMERA LUCIDA UNVEILS UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, LUZ, MADELINE’S MADELINE, AND HANAGATAMI!

    Fantasia’s CAMERA LUCIDA section, dedicated to experimental, boundary-pushing and auteur-driven works of genre cinema, is back for its ninth consecutive year, and proud to unveil its first four titles. Join the festival for a Special Screening of UNDER THE SILVER LAKE, David Robert Mitchell’s much-anticipated follow-up to IT FOLLOWS! Fresh off the Croisette, Mitchell’s latest is, much like his previous take on horror, a playful exercise in genre-bending; an L.A.-set, sun-soaked noir-comedy – starring Andrew Garfield and Riley Keough – in the venerable tradition of THE LONG GOODBYE, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and INHERENT VICE. Under the paving stones… the lake! Hot off its World Premiere at the 68th Berlinale, Fantasia welcomes Tilman Singer’s tectonic LUZ (North American Premiere). A first feature heralding a bold new talent in genre, LUZ recalls the best of ’70s arthouse and Euro-horror (Zulawski, Fulci, and even Fassbinder come to mind), without ever giving way to pastiche or citation. Instead, LUZ is a mise-en-scène tour-de-force; an experimental subversion of the familiar possession narrative by way of avant-garde theatre – even shot in scope on gorgeous 16mm! The section will also welcome back filmmaker-extraordinaire Josephine Decker (THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY; Fantasia 2014), with her latest, deeply personal masterwork, MADELINE’S MADELINE (Canadian Premiere). An essential film about the search for one’s identity, the problematics of appropriation, cultural or otherwise, and the treacherous process of creating art from lived experience, Decker’s latest is an intensely gripping work, set in and around New York’s experimental theater scene, and unfolds in the mode of an edge-of-your-seat psychodrama. Much like her previous work, MADELINE’S MADELINE further blurs the boundaries between introspective arthouse and genre mechanics. Finally, the section is pleased to celebrate the great Nobuhiko Obayashi with the screening of his latest film, HANAGATAMI (Quebec Premiere). Diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer at the time of production (from which the filmmaker has since miraculously recovered), Obayashi has gone back to his first feature script, and directed a new film in the style, and with the vitality, of his beloved 1977 cult film HOUSE (HAUSU) – in what amounts here to an exaltedly stylized epic; a boldly experimental paean to youth, memory, and the resistance of the human spirit; and a dreamy narrative blending fantasy, horror, and melodrama at the brink of World War II. As of 2017, all titles selected in the Camera Lucida section are eligible for the Camera Lucida-AQCC prize, awarded by the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (Québec’s Critics Association), member of FIPRESCI.

    THE EVOLUTION OF ANIME CONTINUES IN FANTASIA’S AXIS SECTION

    Japanese animation remains a key ingredient of Fantasia’s recipe, and the year’s most notable works again grace the programming of the festival’s Axis section. The first three films announced in the 2018 Axis lineup reflect the strength and variety of the anime genre at this time. Screenwriter Mari Okada (THE ANTHEM OF THE HEART) makes her directorial debut with the breathtaking MAQUIA: WHEN THE PROMISED FLOWER BLOOMS (Canadian Premiere). Okada’s gifts as a storyteller fortify this medieval fantasy escapade, adding rare emotional heft to the dazzling visuals, further enhanced by legendary composer Kenji Kawai (GHOST IN THE SHELL). Celebrated producer Genki Kawamura (THE BOY AND THE BEAST, YOUR NAME) has breathed life into yet another essential work of the current anime renaissance. Adapting a cult ’90s TV series by Shunji Iwai, FIREWORKS (Canadian Premiere) is a keenly rendered drama of adolescent romance with a fantastical, what-if twist. Following up his 2013 debut BURNING BUDDHA MAN, ultra-outré Japanese creator Ujicha returns to Fantasia with the equally bizarre and marvelous VIOLENCE VOYAGER (Canadian Premiere) – a very, very unusual amusement-park experience. Ujicha is the world’s leading (and probably only) practitioner of “gekimation,” in which hand-painted cardboard are manipulated and filmed live.

    RENEGADE FRENCH ANIMATORS BOBBYPILLS BREAK HEARTS, MINDS, AND BONES WITH CRISIS JUNG

    Bobbypills is a renegade French animation studio whose web series fuse the flavours of Japanese anime and the Euro-American underground. Following their gloriously sleazy debut series VERMIN, Bobbypills will soon unleash Baptiste Gaubert and Jérémie Hoarau’s CRISIS JUNG (International Premiere), a tale of broken hearts, bent minds and bashed-out brains in a ravaged, savaged, sexed-up futureworld. Fantasia’s international premiere of CRISIS JUNG, in its entirety and in lustrous 4K, will mark a very rare opportunity to see this mobile-bound maelstrom of mayhem towering on the big screen.

    ADDITIONAL FIRST WAVE TITLES:

    ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE UK – Dir: John McPhail A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash, and sing their way to survival, facing hellish snowmen, an undead Santa, and bloodthirsty elves in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. Official Selection: Fantastic Fest 2017. Winner: Midnight X-Treme Best Feature, Sitges 2017. Canadian Premiere. THE DARK Austria / Canada – Dir: Justin P. Lange An undead teenage girl befriends a blind boy that she meets in a forest she haunts and hunts in. Both have been victims of unimaginable abuse, and each finds solace in the other. There may be a chance of light at the end of their tunnel, but it will come with a body count. Official Selection: Tribeca Film Festival 2018, Fantaspoa 2018. Canadian Premiere. THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL Various – Dirs: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala, Peter Strickland, Ashim Ahluwalia, Agnieszka Smoczynska, Katrin Gebbe, Can Evrenol, Calvin Reeder, Yannis Veslemes They are known as myths, lore, and folktales. Created to give logic to mankind’s darkest fears, these stories laid the foundation for what we now know as the horror genre. This anthology film overflows with striking visions from Austria, Greece, India, Norway, Poland, Turkey, the UK, and the USA, each directed by their country’s leading genre auteurs. Official Selection: SXSW 2018.Canadian Premiere. KNUCKLEBALL Canada – Dir: Michael Peterson TURBO KID stars Munro Chambers and Michael Ironside headline this dead serious surprise from the director of LLOYD THE CONQUEROR. KNUCKLEBALL reminds you that there’s nothing quite like chilly Canadian landscapes filled with deadly intentions to bring a chill up your spine. Official Selection: Cinequest 2018, Calgary Underground Film Festival 2018. Quebec Premiere. THE OUTLAWS South Korea – Kang Yun-sung Anyone who saw TRAIN TO BUSAN remembers the huge, zombie-punching badass who stole the show – and now, Don Lee is back to kick more ass in this gritty action thriller! When a Korean-Chinese gang war lead by the cruel Jang Chen (POONGSAN’s Yoon Kye-sang) starts tearing his district apart, Detective Ma Seok-do must calm things down and protect his community – by redecorating rooms with gangsters faces! Extremely funny and entertaining, THE OUTLAWS is the ultimate gift for all 1990’s Stallone film fans! Official Selection, Dubai International Film Festival, Macao International Film Festival. Quebec Premiere. PARALLEL Canada/USA – Dir. Isaac Ezban From BRON Studios division The Realm comes the English language debut of award-winning Mexican science-fiction wunderkind Isaac Ezban (The Incident, The Similars), Parallel is a fantasy work without – well, let’s avoid the obvious title-derived pun! A clever sci-fi film that smashes through the multiverse, starring Aml Ameen, Martin Wallström, Georgia King, Mark O´Brien, and Kathleen Quinlan, featuring stunning visuals from cinematographer Karim Hussain… This year, get ready for a movie that is out of this universe! Official Selection: Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2018. North American Premiere. PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH USA/UK – Dirs: Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund Thomas Lennon, Udo Kier, Barbara Crampton, Nelson Franklin, and Charlene Yi star in this utterly crazy reimagining of Charles Band classic’s franchise about homicidal puppets created by a Nazi occultist. Filled with crazed gore, THE LITTLEST REICH is scripted with heaps of wit and cruelty by none other than BONE TOMAHAWK and BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 director S. Craig Zahler! Official Selection: Overlook Film Festival 2018, Fantaspoa 2018. Canadian Premiere. THE RANGER USA – Dir: Jenn Wexler The directorial debut of MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND producer Jenn Wexler (and a project born out of Frontieres, Fantasia’s co-production market), THE RANGER offers a modern take on survivalist horror that both celebrates and subverts slasher tropes – with equal parts humor, glitter, and gore – and a punk soundtrack to literally die for. Official Selection: SXSW 2018, Chattanooga Film Festival 2018, Fantaspoa 2018. Canadian Premiere. ROKUROKU: THE PROMISE OF THE WITCH Japan – Dir: Yudai Yamaguchi Those peculiar spirits of Japanese folklore, the yokai, are back on the big screen, but this time, with a creepy horrific twist! ROKUROKU is a delightful omnibus of episodic spook-outs from two luminaries of Japanese genre film, Yudai Yamaguchi (CROMARTIE HIGH) and Keita Amemiya (ZEIRAM). Official Selection: Busan International Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere. SATAN’S SLAVES Indonesia / South Korea – Dir. Joko Anwar A record-breaking box-office hit upon release, Joko Anwar’s affectionate remake of 1980’s PENGABDI SETAN is one of horror cinema’s recent triumphs: an atmospheric, expertly-shot roller-coaster ride of a haunted house film, inspired as much by Indonesian folklore as by retro genre classics. Official Selection: Rotterdam Film Festival 2018. Winner: Feature Jury Prize, Overlook Film Festival 2018. Canadian Premiere. SKATE KITCHEN USA – Dir. Crystal Moselle Documentary filmmaker Crystal Moselle’s fiction film debut following THE WOLFPACK is a superb girl-power anthem; a film beaming with raw authenticity, and mostly shot with non-actors. An empowering and uplifting counter-culture film described by some as a streetwise alternative to GIRLS, it follows a young woman’s drastic life changes when she meets the New York skate crew Skate Kitchen. Official Selection: Sundance 2018, Inside Out 2018. Quebec Premiere. TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID Mexico – Dir: Issa López A dark fairytale about a gang of children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID is the winner of 23 awards (and counting!) on the international festival circuit, and ranks among the great genre works of our time. Guillermo del Toro was so enraptured by it that he’s signed up to produce a film with its gifted director. Official Selection: Fantastic Fest 2017, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2018. Quebec Premiere. TREMBLE ALL YOU WANT Japan – Dir. Akiko Ohku The tale of quirky, 24-year-old Yoshiku’s ten-year crush on “Ishi” (her first), suddenly interrupted by “Ni” (second) provides the set-up for one of the most charming, psychologically resonant, and genuinely subversive romantic comedies in recent memory, based on Risa Wataya’s acclaimed 2010 novel. Winner: Audience Award, Tokyo International Film Festival 2017. Quebec Premiere. WILDERNESS: Part 1 and Part 2 Japan – Dir: Yoshiyuki Kishi In a near-future where Japanese society has collapsed and terrorist attacks frequently hit Tokyo, two drastically different men – cocky and aggressive Shinji and stuttering, shy Kenji – will try to find their place in this world through boxing. Widely considered one of the best Japanese films of 2017, WILDERNESS is a sensitive drama, beautifully depicting male friendship as a visceral sports drama in the tradition of RAGING BULL or CRYING FIST. Giving masterful performances, GINTAMA’s Masaki Suda was named Best Lead Actor at the Japan Academy Prizes and Yang Ik-june, who grabbed two awards at Fantasia 2009 for BREATHLESS, won Best Supporting Actor at the Asian Film Awards. Official Selection, Busan International Film Festival 2017. Canadian Premiere.

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