The Departure directed by Lana Wilson (After Tiller) is described as poetic and deeply moving look at a former punk-turned-Buddhist priest in Japan who has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live.
The documentary film which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival will open in New York at the Metrograph Theater on Friday, October 13. It will be followed by a release in Los Angeles on Friday, October 20, with other cities to follow.
A 44-year-old Tokyo native, Ittetsu Nemoto loves riding his motorcycle and dancing all night in clubs. But he’s also a Rinzai Zen priest, who lives with his wife, mother and baby son at a temple in the remote countryside of Gifu prefecture, Japan. There, over the last ten years, he has become famous for his work in combating suicide. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between the people he counsels and himself. With astonishing access and artistry, Wilson’s camera captures Nemoto at a crossroads, when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQNXOl8Nbw-
Ittetsu Nemoto Is Not Your Ordinary Monk in THE DEPARTURE | Trailer
The Departure directed by Lana Wilson (After Tiller) is described as poetic and deeply moving look at a former punk-turned-Buddhist priest in Japan who has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live.
The documentary film which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival will open in New York at the Metrograph Theater on Friday, October 13. It will be followed by a release in Los Angeles on Friday, October 20, with other cities to follow.
A 44-year-old Tokyo native, Ittetsu Nemoto loves riding his motorcycle and dancing all night in clubs. But he’s also a Rinzai Zen priest, who lives with his wife, mother and baby son at a temple in the remote countryside of Gifu prefecture, Japan. There, over the last ten years, he has become famous for his work in combating suicide. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between the people he counsels and himself. With astonishing access and artistry, Wilson’s camera captures Nemoto at a crossroads, when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQNXOl8Nbw
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Indie Drama BARRACUDA Starring Allison Tolman
The official trailer debuted for Barracuda, directed by Julia Halperin and Jason Cortlund; and starring Allison Tolman, Sophie Reid and JoBeth Williams.
Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films will release Barracuda in select cities on October 6th.
Merle (Allison Tolman, FX’s “Fargo”) finds her life beginning to splinter when Sinaloa (newcomer Sophie Reid), the musician half-sister she never knew existed, appears on her doorstep in Texas. Initially distrustful of this enigmatic woman, a bond quickly forms between the two.
As Merle allows her half-sister into her life, Sinaloa reveals a quiet fury through her music, and her fierce attachment begins to place Merle’s career aspirations, her relationship to her mother, and even her impending marriage, in jeopardy. Merle fights to keep her world together while Sinaloa’s increasingly intense and erratic behavior threatens to erupt into something darker.
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Philip Gelatt’s THEY REMAIN will World Premiere at Portland’s H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival
They Remain, the highly anticipated film, written and directed by Philip Gelatt (Europa Report) and adapted from Laird Barron’s short story “-30-”, will World Premiere at the 2017 H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival on Saturday, October 7th.
“We are extremely honored to be showing this genre-bending thriller to our highly engaged audience even before it makes its theatrical run next year,” said Brian Callahan, Festival Director. “The film has already been acquired for distribution by Paladin, and the producers of They Remain know that it is a perfect fit for the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Laird Barron has been a guest at the festival in the past, and it’s only fitting that the feature film adaptation of his story premieres to the best audience in the world.”
They Remain defies categorization and journeys into the shadowy realm where nature, science, and the supernatural co-exist in horrific symbiosis. William Harper Jackson (“True Story”) and Rebecca Henderson (“Mistress America”) star as two scientists investigating the root of environmental changes and strange animal behavior at a remote site where a Manson Family-style cult committed atrocities. The isolated location, the unraveling of their relationship, and the biome itself begin to lead them down a path of doom where primeval forces threaten to consume them. Whether you’re a fan of author Laird Barron or a fan of cosmic horror cinema, you will not want to miss this screening.
Barron’s novels, short fiction, and poems have earned him a substantial readership among aficionados of fantasy, noir, horror, and sci-fi, and have twice won him the Shirley Jackson Award. Gelatt, similarly, combines multi-disciplinary experience as a graphic novelist and comic book creator for the “Indiana Jones” franchise, and for such companies as Dark Horse Comics and Oni Press, with his background as a video game writer for such companies as Crystal Dynamics and Frictional Games, and on “Rise of The Tomb Raider” (for which he won the WGA Award). With this pedigree, it is unsurprising that They Remain succeeds in splicing these various strains of pop culture DNA into a unique and imaginative cinematic hybrid.
The 22nd Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival takes place October 6 to 8th at the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon.
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THE NEWSPAPERMAN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEN BRADLEE to Debut on HBO
Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, credited with taking down President Richard Nixon in 1974 after the Post broke the Watergate story, exposing the largest political scandal in American history, is the subject of the documentary The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee.
Told primarily in his own words, The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee is an intimate portrait of this formidable man, tracing his remarkable ascent from a young Boston boy stricken with polio to the one of the most pioneering and consequential journalistic figures of the 20th century when it debuts Monday, December 4, exclusively on HBO.
Ben Bradlee’s career spanned the most critical moments of the second half of the 20th century. As a foreign correspondent for Newsweek in the ’50s, Bradlee cut his teeth reporting from the frontlines of wars in the Middle East. In Washington, he befriended young Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy and later gained unprecedented access to the White House. By the ’70s, he had transformed the Washington Post from an undistinguished local paper into a national powerhouse, publishing the Pentagon Papers, breaking Watergate and challenging the New York Times for supremacy.
Taking on the political establishment and ushering in a new era of investigative journalism, the tough-talking, chain-smoking Bradlee came to epitomize the modern newspaper editor. Today, when the First Amendment and the press are under constant attack, Bradlee’s fortitude in the face of withering criticism has never been more relevant.
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee delves into the highs and lows of Bradlee’s personal life and career, and features previously unseen home movies, photographs, archival footage and interviews with a who’s who of American journalism, Washington insiders, and family and friends who knew him best, including: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Quinn Bradlee, Courtland Milloy, David Maraniss, David Remnick, Don Graham, George Vaillant, Henry Kissinger, Ben Bradlee Jr., Jim Hoagland, Jim Lehrer, John Dean, Norman Lear, Richard Cohen, Robert Kaiser, Robert Redford, Sally Bedell Smith, Sally Quinn, Tina Brown and Tom Brokaw.
John Maggio (“Looking for Lincoln”) directs; Peter Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt and George Kunhardt (HBO’s Emmy(R)-winning “Jim: The James Foley Story“) produce.
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Austin Film Festival Announces 2017 Film Lineup, CHAPPAQUIDDICK to Close Fest
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Chappaquiddick[/caption]
The 24th Austin Film Festival (AFF) unveiled its lineup of feature films, and Chappaquiddick, a drama recounting Ted Kennedy’s infamous 1969 car accident resulting in the death of his campaign worker, will close out the Festival.
A staple of the Festival, AFF’s retrospective series this year will feature Philip D’Antoni’s 1973 drama The Seven-Ups presented by David Simon and George Pelecanos (The Deuce, The Wire), Jack Fisk’s 1981 film Raggedy Man—a tribute to Sam Shepard—presented by writer William D. Wittliff in partnership with the Wittliff Collections, and seminal 1987 action film Predator presented by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys) who is currently working on the film’s reboot. Additionally, already announced Extraordinary Contribution to Film awardee Walter Hill will present his cult classic The Warriors.
In addition to the slate of 150+ films, AFF will present premieres and retrospectives of television programming, including the season 2 premiere of Hulu’s darkly comedic psychic drama Shut Eye , and the premiere of the Season Finale of HBO’s drama The Deuce.
Also confirmed to attend is Dan Rather, who will help present the World Premiere of the documentary Fail State, chronicling the rise of predatory for-profit colleges. Writer/producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, The Walking Dead) will also be in attendance for AFF’s screening of documentary Mankiller about barrier-breaking female Cherokee leader Wilma Mankiller.
Other World Premieres include Wild Honey (Francis Stokes’ comedy about a phone sex operator searching for love), Coming to My Senses (a documentary following a man’s journey to regain his mobility after an accident), and Transformer (chronicling the transition of world-renowned body builder Matt Kroczaelski into Janae after being outed as transgender). Making its US Premiere at AFF is comedy Don’t Talk to Irene, which also won AFF’s Comedy Screenplay Award in 2013. Written and directed by Pat Mills, Irene premiered this month at Toronto International Film Festival to a receptive audience.
Austin Film Festival also revealed today their full Screenwriters Conference schedule, which will take place the first four days of the Festival, October 26-29. The Conference features a roster of prominent screenwriters in film and television, including Kenneth Lonergan, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Noah Hawley, Courtney A. Kemp, Lindsay Doran, Misha Green, Michael Arndt, Mark Frost, Michael Green, Sarah Gubbins, Christopher Vogler, Scott Frank, Megan Amram, John August, Eric Heisserer, and many more
Austin Film Festival’s 2017 slate:
Marquee Features:
Lady Bird – Opening Night Film Writer/Director: Greta Gerwig The Current War – Centerpiece Film Writer: Michael Mitnick Director: Alfonso Gomez Chappaquiddick – Closing Night Film Writers: Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan Director: John Curran 24 Hours to Live Writers: Zach Dean, Jim McClain, Ron Mita Director: Brian Smrz 42 Grams Director: Jack C. Newell An Ordinary Man Writer/Director: Brad Silberling The Boy Downstairs Writer/Director: Sophie Brooks Blame Writers: Laurie Shephard, Quinn Shephard Director: Quinn Shephard Call Me By Your Name *REGIONAL PREMIERE Writers: James Ivory, Andre Aciman Director: Luca Guadagnino Darkest Hour *REGIONAL PREMIERE Writer: Anthony McCarten Director: Joe Wright Endings: The Good, the Bad, and the Insanely Great – The Movie Special Presentation by Michael Arndt Into the Night: Portraits of Life and Death Director: Helen Whitney Please Stand By Writer: Michael Golamco Director: Ben Lewin Permanent Writer/Director: Colette Burson Mansfield 66/67 Directors: P. David Ebersole, Todd Hughes Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri **REGIONAL PREMIERE Writer/Director: Martin McDonagh The Upside *REGIONAL PREMIERE Writers: Jon Hartmere Director: Neil BurgerMarquee-TV Programming
HBO’s The Deuce-Season Finale Writers: George Pelecanos, David Simon, Chris Yakaitis Director: Michelle MacLaren YouTube Red’s Do You Want to See a Dead Body? Creator: Rob Huebel Hulu’s Shut Eye Season 2 Premiere Episode: “We’re Not in Kansas Anymore” (Season Premiere) Executive Producer/Showrunner: John Shiban Executive Producers: Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein Writer: Amy Berg New Form Original Premieres Small Talk Creator: Becca Gleason Love Me Do Creator: Gaby Dunn Press Start Creators: Evan Beamer and Dave ChildsRetrospective Programming
Confessions of a Serial Killer (1985) – Presented by Mark Blair Writer/Director: Mark Blair Predator (1987) – Presented by Shane Black Writers: Jim Thomas, John Thomas Director: John McTiernan Raggedy Man (1981) – Presented by William D. Wittliff Writer: William D. Wittliff Director: Jack Fisk The Seven-Ups (1973) – Presented by George Pelecanos and David Simon Writers: Albert Ruben, Alexander Jacobs, Sonny Grosso Director: Philip D’Antoni The Warriors (1979) – Presented by Walter Hill Writers: Walter Hill, David Shaber, Sol Yurick (novel) Director: Walter HillNarrative Features:
Amanda and Jack Go Glamping Writer/Director: Brandon Dickerson An American in Texas Writers: Anthony Pedone, Stephen Floyd Director: Anthony Pedone Beauty Mark Writer/Director: Harris Doran Cast: Laura Bell Bundy, Jeff Kober, Madison Iseman Bleed. Scream. Beat! Writers: Aldo Miyashiro, Ãrika Villalobos, Abril Cárdenas Director: Aldo Miyashiro Boost Writer/Director: Darren Curtis Dabka Writer/Director: Bryan Buckley Flock of Four Writer: Gregory Caruso, Michael Nader Director: Gregory Caruso Here We Are Writer/Director: David Bellarosa High & Outside: a baseball noir Writer: Dan O’Dair Director: Evald Johnson Hollow in the Land Writer/Director: Scooter Corkle In Blue Writers: Jan-Willem den Bok & Jaap van Heusden Director: Jaap van Heusden Kafou Writers: Jasmuel Andri, Bruno Mourral, Gilbert Mirambeau Director: Bruno Mourral Logndagen Writer/Director: Yaghoob Keshavarz Sarkar Meerkat Moonship Writer/Director: Hanneke Schutte Quality Problems Writer/Director: Brooke Purdy Quest Writers: Santiago Rizzo & Darren Anderson Director: Santiago Rizzo Southern Tale Writer/Director: Tel Royal Space & Time Writer/Director: Shawn Gerrard Sun Dogs Writer: Jennifer Morrison Director: Anthony Tambakis Tenn Writer: Stacey Miller Director: James Franco House of Tomorrow Writer/Director: Peter Livolsi Time Trap Writer: Mark Dennis Directors: Mark Dennis, Ben FosterComedy Vanguard Features
Chasing the Blues Writer: Scott Smith, Kevin Guilfoile Director: Scott Smith Don’t Talk To Irene *US PREMIERE Writer/Director: Pat Mills Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks Writer: Josh Crockett, Jonathan Pappas Director: Josh Crockett The Great Unwashed Writer: Louis Fonseca, Nick Horseman Director: Louis Fonseca The Outdoorsman Writer: Ryan Gilmour Director: David Haskell Shop of Little Pleasures Writer: Julia Frick, Alice Frick Director: Julia Frick Wild Honey Writer/Director: Francis StokesDark Matters Features
Bodies Writer: Joseph Baker Director: Tom Large Bullitt County Writer/Director: David McCracken Freddy/Eddy Writer/Director: Tini Tüllmann Ruin Me Writer: Trysta A. Bissett, Preston DeFrancis Director: Preston DeFrancis The Landing Writers/Directors: David Dodson and Mark Dodson Touched Writer/Director: Karl R. HearneDocumentary Feature
Augie Director: James Keach Beauty and Ruin Writer/Director: Marc de Guerre Coming to My Senses Director: Dominic Gill Fail State *WORLD PREMIERE Writers: Alexander Shebanow, Regina Sobel, Nicholas Adams Director: Alexander Shebanow Mankiller *REGIONAL PREMIERE Writer: Valerie Red-horse Mohl, Gale Anne Hurd Director: Valerie Red-horse Mohl Mr. Fish: Cartooning From the Deep End Director: Pablo Bryant Shot in the Dark Director: Dustin Nakao Haider Transformer Writer/Director: Michael Del Monte Triumph: The Untold Story of Perry Wallace Writers: Rich Gentile, Eli Spielman, Bruce Johnson What Haunts Us Writer: Mark Monroe Director: Paige Goldberg TolmachFamily Series
Earth: One Amazing Day Writers: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Richard Dale, Geling Yan Directors: Richard Dale, Lixin Fan, Peter Webber Into the Who Knows! Writers: Micah Barber, Tony Faia
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VIDEO: Watch New Trailer for Angelina Jolie’s FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER
Netflix has released a new trailer for the critically acclaimed film First They Killed My Father, directed by Angelina Jolie. The film is the adaptation of Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung’s gripping memoir of surviving the deadly Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1978.
The story is told through her eyes, from the age of five, when the Khmer Rouge came to power, to nine years old. The film depicts the indomitable spirit and devotion of Loung and her family as they struggle to stay together during the Khmer Rouge years. First They Killed My Father is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_SpNqLwzI
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Video: Gross-Out Award Winning Comedy ASSHOLES Releases New Trailer
Assholes, the gross-out comedy from writer/director Peter Vack, and winner of the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award at SXSW 2017, has released a new trailer. The film will be released in New York City on October 6th, LA on October 13th and on Cable+Digital VOD on October 24th.
In Assholes, Adah and Aaron are sober drug addicts who meet in their psychoanalyst’s waiting room. They have sex, discover they share an anal fetish, relapse on poppers, conjure a demon, and kill Adah’s brother. When their faces turn into Assholes, Adah’s parents stage a reality show intervention to get the couple sober again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mzk0XtjeGo
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Palm D’or Winner THE SQUARE to Open Santa Fe Independent Film Festival
Ruben Ostlund’s art-world satire The Square will open this year’s ninth Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFIFF) on Wednesday October 18, 2017. “After first seeing it in Cannes, we are excited to present the New Mexico premiere of this fascinating picture to Santa Fe’s dedicated movie-going audience,” said Jacques Paisner, executive director.
SFIFF presents more than 300 hours of programming, the latest international and independent films, and one-of-a-kind interactive events over five (5) days of films including, Only the Brave, Becoming Who I Was, and the world premiere of Ol’ Max Evans: The First Thousand Years. John Sayles and Maggie Renzi will receive the SFIFF Lifetime Achievement Award, and John Waters will perform his live one-man show.
In The Square directed by Ruben Ostlund, Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next show is “The Square”, an installation which invites passersby to altruism, reminding them of their role as responsible fellow human beings. But sometimes, it is difficult to live up to your own ideals: Christian’s foolish response to the theft of his phone drags him into shameful situations. Meanwhile, the museum’s PR agency has created an unexpected campaign for ”The Square”. The response is overblown and sends Christian, as well as the museum, into an existential crisis. Starring Elisabeth Moss, Claes Bang, Dominic West, and Terry Notary
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VIDEO: Lena Olin Captivates in MAYA DARDEL Trailer + Film Sets Release Date
Here is the trailer for Maya Dardel, the story of poet and novelist, Maya Dardel, who announces she is going to kill herself and needs an heir and executor. Young male writers drive up the mountain to compete for the position. The film that world premiered at 2017 SXSW Film Festival, will open in theaters on October 27, 2017 in New York at Village East Cinema, on October 27. 2017 in Los Angeles at Laemmle Santa Monica. Additional cities nationwide to follow.
Maya Dardel is directed by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak, and stars Lena Olin, Rosanna Arquette, Nathan Keyes, Alexander Koch, Jordan Gavaris and Chris Voss.
Maya Dardel depicts the final weeks leading to the ambiguous disappearance of Maya Dardel (Olin), an internationally respected poet and novelist, who lived until 2016 in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Maya announces on National Public Radio that she intends to end her life and that young male writers may compete to become the executor of her estate. They are challenged intellectually, emotionally, erotically, until one of them begins to fathom Maya’s end game.
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Insightful and Funny Docu Film TAKE MY NOSE… PLEASE! Sets Release Date | Trailer
The insightful and funny Take My Nose… Please! by Joan Kron goes in depth with a comedic take from the top female comedians on the subject of women and plastic surgery and their career as artists. Interviews, clips and commentary from some of our legendary comics including Roseanne Barr, Phyllis Diller, the late Joan Rivers,Judy Gold, Julie Halston, Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykies, Lisa Lampanelli, Giulia Rozzi, and Adrianne Tolsch add to the magic of this film.
Take My Nose… Please! is the debut feature film from longtime former Allure Magazine editor now turned filmmaker, Joan Kron. For Joan, at the amazing age of 89 years-old, documentary film making is now her new career.
The film will open exclusive one week engagements in New York on October 6 at the Village East Cinemas, and then October 13 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Monica in Santa Monica. It will open nationally following these cities.
Take My Nose… Please! is a seriously funny and wickedly subversive look at the role comedy has played in exposing the pressures on women to be attractive and society’s desire/shame relationship with plastic surgery. More than 15 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the US in 2014. And 90% of them on were done on women. Yet, for those who elect to tinker with Mother Nature, especially for high-profile women, plastic surgery is still a very dark secret. Funny women, though, are the exception. From Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers to Roseanne Barr and Kathy Griffin, comedians have been unashamed to talk about their perceived flaws, and the steps taken to remedy them. For these dames, cosmetic surgery isn’t vanity, it is affirmative action – compensation for the unfair distribution of youthfulness and beauty.
By admitting what their sisters in drama deny, comic performers speak to women who feel the same pressures, giving them permission to pursue change (or not to) while entertaining us.
Take My Nose… Please! follows two comedians as they deliberate about going under the knife. Emily Askin, an up-and coming improv performer, has always wanted her nose refined. Jackie Hoffman, a seasoned headliner on Broadway and on TV, considers herself ugly and regrets not having the nose job offered in her teens. And maybe she’d like a face-lift, as well. As we follow their surprisingly emotional stories, we meet other who have taken the leap – or held out.
Putting it all in perspective are psychologists, sociologists, the medical community and cultural critics. And for comic relief and the profundity only comedians can supply. The film includes commentary from Roseanne Barr, Phyllis Diller, the late Joan Rivers,Judy Gold, Julie Halston, Lisa Lampanelli, Giulia Rozzi, Bill Scheft, and Adrianne Tolsch.
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS:
Audience Award – Miami International Film Festival Audience Award – Berkshire International Film Festival Official Selection – Newport Beach International Film Festival; San Francisco Doc Fest; Arizona International Film Festival; Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival; San Luis Obispo Film Festival; Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival; and more
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VIDEO: Watch ALL I SEE IS YOU Trailer Starring Blake Lively as Blind Wife
Blake Lively and Jason Clarke play a couple with an almost perfect marriage in All I See Is You, which opens in select theaters on October 27th. All I See Is You is directed by Marc Forster, and also stars Danny Huston and Yvonne Strahovski.
Gina (Blake Lively) and husband James (Jason Clarke) have an almost perfect marriage. After being blinded as a child in a nearly fatal car crash that claimed her parent’s lives, Gina depends on James to be her eyes—a dependence that appears to solidify their passionate relationship. She sees her world in her own vivid imagination with help from James’ descriptions. Despite her disability, the two enjoy a colorful existence in Bangkok, Thailand where James works in insurance and Gina explores life in a foreign country. It seems the only real hardship this loving couple faces is difficulty conceiving a child but when Gina is given the opportunity to have a corneal transplant and regains her vision, their life and relationship are upended. Gina now sees the world with a new sense of wonder and independence which James finds threatening. It is only when Gina suddenly begins to lose her sight again that she finally realizes the disturbing reality of their marriage and their lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTTaFg2Sq9Y
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Indie Films THE FLORIDA PROJECT to Open and CALL ME BY YOUR NAME to Close 2017 New Orleans Film Festival
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The Florida Project[/caption]
Lauded for its artistry and authenticity, The Florida Project starring Willem Dafoe will open the 28th New Orleans Film Festival on Wednesday, October 11, 2017. The Florida Project also stars child actress Brooklynn Prince and a debut performance by Bria Vinaite, whom writer-director Sean Baker discovered via Instagram. The Florida Project is the newest movie from writer-director Sean Baker, who staked his claim two years ago with Tangerine, an indie feature shot entirely with his iPhone camera.
Call Me By Your Name, which created major buzz when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, will close the festival on Thursday, October 19, 2017. Call Me By Your Name stars Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet and Michael Stuhlbarg. Director Luca Guadagnino continues his exploration of complicated intimate relationships that he’s addressed in prior critically-acclaimed films like I Am Love and A Bigger Splash.
Several Spotlight films have also been announced, including Darkest Hour, Last Flag Flying, The Upside, and Marshall.
Call Me By Your Name
Luca Guadagnino | 132 min | Italy, France, Brazil, United States
Summer is a perpetual state of being at the Perlmans’ Italian villa. Lush, lazy mornings become long, wine-filled evenings, ensconced in discussions of Greco-Roman art and the sounds of Mahler on piano. Oliver, a 24-year-old research assistant (Armie Hammer), joins the Perlmans for six weeks of study before returning to his position at Columbia. 17-year old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is immediately infatuated. They begin a tense series of furtive glances and curt conversations, both enchanted but unwilling to meet the other halfway. A coming of age story. A tale of first love. Americans summering in beautiful, foreign locales. Any categorization would be an oversimplification of the evocative and intoxicating world of Call Me By Your Name.
The Florida Project
Sean Baker | 115 min| USA
Set on a stretch of highway just outside Disney World, The Florida Project follows six-year-old Moonee and her rebellious mother Halley over the course of a single summer. The two live week-to-week at “The Magic Castle,” a budget motel managed by Bobby. Despite her harsh surroundings, the precocious Moonee has no trouble making each day a celebration of life, her endless afternoons overflowing with mischief and grand adventure as she and her ragtag playmates fearlessly explore the utterly unique world into which they’ve been thrown. Unbeknownst to Moonee, however, her delicate fantasy is supported by the toil and sacrifice of Halley, who is forced to explore increasingly dangerous possibilities in order to provide for her daughter.
Last Flag Flying
Richard Linklater | 124 min| USA
Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, a former Navy Corpsman Larry “Doc” Shepherd (Steve Carell) reunites with his old military buddies, Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Reverend Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne), to bury his son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War. With the casket, the three friends take a bittersweet road trip up the East Coast, reflecting on the impact of war and reminisce about their times together. Marking a new direction for Linklater after his joyful college romp, Everybody Wants Some!!, Last Flag Flying is a poignant exploration of aging, masculinity, and friendship.
Marshall
Reginald Hudlin | 118 min | USA
As the nation teeters on the brink of WWII, a nearly bankrupt NAACP sends Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) to conservative Connecticut to defend a black chauffeur against his wealthy socialite employer in a sexual assault and attempted murder trial that quickly became tabloid fodder. In need of a high profile victory but muzzled by a segregationist court, Marshall is partnered with Samuel Friedman (Josh Gad), a young Jewish lawyer who has never tried a case.
The Upside
Dir. Neil Burger | 118 min | USA
Based on the film The Intouchables by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano Based on a true story, The Upside chronicles the unexpected friendship between Phillip Lacasse (Bryan Cranston), a Park Avenue billionaire left paralyzed after a hang-gliding accident, and ex-con Dell Scott (Kevin Hart), in need of a job and a fresh start. From worlds apart, Phillip and Dell form an unlikely bond, bridging their differences and gaining invaluable wisdom in the process, giving each man a renewed sense of passion for all of life’s possibilities. Directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless) and written by Jon Hartmere, THE UPSIDE also stars Academy Award® winner Nicole Kidman.
The Darkest Hour
Joe Wright | 2017 | UK
A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman) must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty, and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.