The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the lineup for the 16th edition of Film Comment magazine’s annual festival, 2016 Film Comment Film Festival taking place February 17 to 24, 2016.
Opening the festival is the New York premiere of Sunset Song (pictured above), the long-awaited must-see from Terence Davies, a glorious study in hardship and romantic loss starring Agyness Deyn and Peter Mullan. Closing night is a tribute to the late Chantal Akerman, with a revival of her rare, utterly delightful musical Golden Eighties.
Among the hard-hitters are a pair of wrenching discoveries from Serbia and Iran, No One’s Child by Vuk Rsumovic and The Paternal House by Kianoush Ayyari; Damien Odoul’s The Fear, a harrowing yet serene vision of World War I; plus the latest work from Benoît Jacquot, Alexei German Jr., and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
A sidebar of restored works by the Polish master Andrzej Żuławski features a selection of new digital restorations of his landmark Polish films, including his debut, The Third Part of the Night; his towering film maudit On the Silver Globe; and the U.S. premiere of his new film, Cosmos.
Revivals featured in the 16th edition also include a two-film spotlight on Charles Bronson, taking its cue from Film Comment’s November/December issue, and a rare glimpse of The Kinks singer-songwriter Ray Davies’s 1984 Return to Waterloo (also featured in the magazine’s November/December issue).
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
Opening Night
Sunset Song
Terence Davies, UK/Luxembourg, 2015, DCP, 135m
The much-anticipated new film by contemporary British cinema’s reigning master, Sunset Song is the story of Chris (Agyness Deyn), the bright daughter of a brutish farmer (Peter Mullan in top form) who lives with on the family farm in northern Scotland on the cusp of World War I. When her mother commits suicide, Chris sees her educational prospects and hopes of a teaching career evaporate. She faces a bleak future as her father’s housekeeper, but an unexpected turn of events opens up new possibilities. As a study in hardship and romantic loss, Davies returns to territory with which he is intimately familiar. This adaptation of a 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon is a long-standing passion project for the director, and showcases a wondrous central performance by Deyn. As deeply felt as The House of Mirth and The Long Day Closes, Sunset Song is an emotionally devastating film that’s nothing short of sublime. A Magnolia Pictures release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X946THCqdQ
Closing Night
Chantal Akerman Tribute:
Golden Eighties
Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium/Switzerland, 1986, 35mm, 96m
French with English subtitles
After her successes in the 1970s, Chantal Akerman turned toward the pleasures of popular cinema with a playful series of comedies and love stories, culminating in this extraordinary multi-character musical, set entirely in a shopping mall. A stylish, bittersweet look at the romantic tribulations of an assortment of shop owners and retail workers, the film evokes The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in its charm, but with a distinctly feminist bent. With songs co-written by Akerman and Marc Herouet, the film leads us through the tangled predicaments of clothing-shop owner Jeanne (Delphine Seyrig), who finds herself torn when her long-lost G.I. love, Eli (filmmaker John Berry), looks her up after 40 years; her son Robert (Nicolas Tronc), who is infatuated with Lili (Fanny Cottençon), a salon manager who in turn is having an affair with its owner, married gangster Monsieur Jean (Jean-François Balmer); hairdresser Mado (pop singer Lio), who has a crush on Robert; and coffee-bar proprietor Sylvie (Myriam Boyer), who pines for her boyfriend who’s gone to work in America. For this utterly delightful passion project, which she described as a postmodern cross between women’s cinema, Jewish literature, and musicals, Akerman collaborated with an extraordinary/unlikely dream team of writers—Desperately Seeking Susan screenwriter Leora Barish, veteran Truffaut/Rivette/Resnais scenarist Jean Gruault, former Cahiers du Cinéma critic Pascal Bonitzer, and filmmaker Henry Bean (The Believer).
Blood of My Blood / Sangue del mio sangue
Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 107m
Italian with English subtitles
From Italian master Marco Bellocchio, FIPRESCI prizewinner Blood of My Blood pairs two haunting stories from the past and the present, bound together by a convent prison in Bobbio (the director’s hometown and setting of his 1965 debut masterpiece, Fists in the Pocket). During the Inquisition period, Federico (Pier Giorgio Bellocchio) witnesses the harrowing trial of Benedetta (Lidiya Liberman), an alluring nun accused of seducing and driving his brother to suicide. Centuries later, a vampiric old man (Roberto Herlitzka) hides within the convent’s abandoned walls and faces eviction when a tax investigator and Russian millionaire come to purchase the property. Amid painterly lensing and an expressive score, the film is a gothic, shrewdly comic, and, above all, mystifying tapestry that mines the complexities of Italian life—whether in the cloistered darkness of the 17th century or in the confused, garish revelry of the present.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS-RqI3ws_Y
Diary of a Chambermaid / Journal d’une femme de chambre
Benoît Jacquot, France/Belgium, 2015, DCP, 96m
French with English subtitles
Léa Sedoux follows in the footsteps of Paulette Goddard and Jeanne Moreau as Célestine, a resentful young Parisian chambermaid who finds herself exiled to a position in the provinces where she immediately chafes against the noxious iron rules and pettiness of her high-handed bourgeois mistress (Clotilde Mollet), must rebuff the groping advances of Monsieur (Hervé Pierre), and reckon with her fascination with the earthy, brooding gardener Joseph (Vincent Lindon). Backtracking past the fetishism and peculiarities of Buñuel’s version to Octave Mirbeau’s original 1900 novel, Benoît Jacquot has one eye on 21st-century France: the sense of social stiflement, Célestine’s humiliating submission to Madame’s onerous terms of employment, Joseph’s virulent anti-Semitism. But he keeps his other on the turn-of-the-century setting, when psychoanalysis, a discipline that he holds dear, burst forth: at all times he strikes a balance between appearances and what lies beneath them, between the sadism of the bourgeois employers and their repression, the social codes and the compulsions they conceal. As class-conscious as ever, Jacquot has found some material he can really sink his teeth into. A Cohen Media Group release. U.S. Premiere
The Fear / La peur
French with English subtitles
Damien Odoul, France, 2015, DCP, 93m
Summer 1914. Imagining the war to be “a great spectacle not to be missed,” 19-year-old Gabriel (Nino Rocher) volunteers for the French Army—more out of curiosity than the mad, virulent nationalism that consumes the populace. Accompanied by his best friend Bertrand (Eliott Margueron) and young poet Théo (Théo Chazal), he arrives at the battlefront within a few days and is soon engulfed in the horrors of trench warfare. Recounting his experiences in a series of voiceover letters to his sweetheart back home, Gabriel maintains a detached and rational view of the ordeal of war, which is complemented by the anarchic rabble-rousing of the sardonic Sergeant Négre (Pierre Martial Gaillard). Meanwhile, offsetting the film’s emphasis on the inner life and dissent of its protagonist, Damien Odoul’s direction, which earned him the 2015 Prix Jean Vigo, supplies a relentlessly physical depiction of the realities of life and death in the killing fields. Based on Gabriel Chevallier’s 1930 autobiographical novel, The Fear moves at a fast clip, replete with painterly landscape shots and images of startling, surreal horror. Never less than gripping, this is not so much a film about combat than a series of dispatches from a war zone, warts and all. A Wild Bunch release. U.S. Premiere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjtdBjjEEj4
Malgré la nuit / Despite the Night
Philippe Grandrieux, France, 2015, DCP, 154m
French with English subtitles
The director of Sombre, La Vie nouvelle, and Un lac returns with his latest investigation of extreme experience, a darkly erotic psychodrama. English musician Lenz (Kristian Marr) searches for his lover Madeleine, aka Lena (Roxane Mesquida), who has mysteriously disappeared, but tumbles into an amour fou with troubled, self-destructive Héléne (French indie It-Girl Ariane Labed). Grieving the loss of her infant son, Héléne seeks oblivion in the murky subterranean world of a brutal sex ring, followed by Lenz. A stark, elliptical, hauntingly spectral narrative co-written by Grand Central director Rebecca Zlotowski, in which Grandrieux continues his exploration of the body initiated with White Epilepsy in scenes of sensual abandon and raw carnality.
No One’s Child / Nicije dete
Vuk Rsumovic, Serbia/Croatia, 2014, DCP, 95m
Serbian with English subtitles
Vuk Rsumovic’s debut film begins in late-’80s Yugoslavia with the discovery of a feral boy running on all fours in the woods of central Bosnia—abandoned years before to survive or perish, unable to walk or talk. Sent to an orphanage in Belgrade, with the help of a teacher and another boy he slowly acquires the trappings of civilized behavior. But as war breaks out between Serbia and Bosnia, his future suddenly becomes uncertain as he’s assumed to be a Bosnian Muslim. No One’s Child is unabashedly pro the former Yugoslavia—a state that maintained a civil society and took care of its citizens. With its discreet, muscular, no-nonsense style, Rsumovic’s film gives us an update of Truffaut’s The Wild Child for a grim new era. (Olaf Möller, Film Comment, May/June 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ueugMq1Gxo
Notfilm
Ross Lipman, USA/UK, 2015, DCP, 130m
In 1964, playwright Samuel Beckett, Buster Keaton, cinematographer Boris Kaufman, and director Alan Schneider came together to make a short, dialogue-free work simply titled Film. An investigation of both the cinematic medium and the nature of human consciousness, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival and screened at the 2nd New York Film Festival to mixed critical response. In Beckett’s scenario, Keaton plays “O,” who tries desperately to evade the reality of the maxim esse est percipi (to be is to be seen) but finds his every effort futile. Beckett judged the final result “an interesting failure”—interesting enough for Ross Lipman to devote two-plus hours to this remarkable exploration of the making of a 22-minute film. Featuring audio recordings of Beckett in discussion with Schneider, Kaufman, and producer and Grove Press head Barney Rosset, this fascinating and unprecedented “making-of” also gives us interviews with Rosset and actress and Beckett muse Billie Whitelaw. As Scott Eyman puts it in a soon-to-be-published Film Comment piece: “As we witness Rossett and Whitelaw struggling beneath the oppressive weight of age, the documentary becomes about memory and its fading. In other words, the obliteration that waits for us all—the foundation of Beckett’s art.” A Milestone Films release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaqX9b_B6rA
Our Little Sister
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2015, DCP, 128m
Japanese with English subtitles
Based on Umimachi Diary, a manga by Akimi Yoshida, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest subtle and moving exploration of family ties centers on three twentysomething sisters, Sachi (Haruka Ayase), Yoshino (Masami Nagasawa), and Chika (Kaho), who live together in their grandmother’s house. Traveling to the countryside to attend the funeral of their estranged father, they discover that they have a teenage half-sister, Suzu (Suzu Hirose). Quickly sizing up their stepmother as someone unfit to take care of the young girl, the trio impulsively invite their newfound sibling to come and live with them. Suzu soon settles in and her elder sisters’ placid but quietly discontented lives continue as before, but her presence—and the unexpected arrival of their long-absent mother Miyako (Shinobu Otake), who departed 15 years ago leaving Sachi to raise her younger sisters—finally bring into the open the three women’s unresolved feelings about being abandoned by their parents and the frustrations that burden their unfulfilled lives. As ever with Kore-eda, the performances are beautifully understated and down to earth and the filmmaking is delicate and graceful. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GNjSKcBkoE
The Paternal House / Khanéh Pedari
Kianoush Ayyari, Iran, 2012, DCP, 97m
Farsi with English subtitles
Beginning in 1929 and ending in the present day, Kianoush Ayyari’s powerful drama is about so-called honor killing, a taboo subject in modern Iran. The action, which is confined to the closed-off world of a family house and its grounds, with outside reality only impinging in the form of sounds and rumors, starts with a father murdering his daughter in an act of honor killing. With the complicity of his wife and son, he buries her corpse in the cellar. Family life continues, haunted by the shared knowledge of the murder across several generations. This conspiracy of silence and the film’s exploration of the nature of complicity make for a powerful commentary on life in Iran, but Ayyari constructs his fable in such a fashion that ultimately it transcends nationality, culture, and religion and comes to depict the structure and inner workings of totalitarianism itself. (Olaf Möller, Film Comment, November/December 2012) An Iranian Independents release. U.S. Premiere
Return to Waterloo
Ray Davies, UK, 1984, 35mm, 58m
The little-seen first and only film by Ray Davies, songwriter and lead singer of The Kinks, is an offbeat musical that takes off from and expands the possibilities of the then-newly emergent music-video format while revisiting many of the themes of Davies’s songs of modern discontent and nostalgia. The reverie of a middle-aged man (Kenneth Colley) over the course of his train commute plays out memories of tarnished dreams, regrets, and unsettling imaginings and intimations of dark impulses, accompanied by nine Davies compositions that together encapsulate a life of quiet desperation. Modestly mounted but made with great assurance, with camerawork by Roger Deakins, it’s a time capsule of 1980s London that could almost be a rebuke to the bombast of Pink Floyd The Wall and its more overblown vision of modern discontent. Bonus early appearance by Tim Roth.
Under Electric Clouds
Aleksei German Jr., Russia/Ukraine/Poland, 2015, DCP, 138m
Russian with English subtitles
A work of epic ambition, this vision of near-future Russia consists of seven vignettes centered on an unfinished building whose architect perhaps went mad. In some of the segments the building is seen, in others merely mentioned. Its ensemble of characters mainly represent Russia’s “superfluous” people (artists, intellectuals). Many voices are heard, ranging from Kyrgyz migrant workers to the children of a deceased oligarch; some sections are only loosely connected to the story of the ruin, one turns out to be a flashback, and others recapitulate events seen earlier from slightly different angles. Of course Under Electric Clouds is a meditation on today’s Russia: a country torn to shreds by delusions of grandeur, corruption, an unquestioning belief in authority, and a fatal passion for the past that goes hand in hand with an outrageous obsession with the future—making for an empty present. Like his late father, German Jr. favors wildly meandering plan-séquences, expansive choreographies of actors milling in and out of scenes, blasted landscapes, and dialogue delivered with fierce panache, but in place of German Sr.’s fury, there’s a playful, lighthearted, dreamy and almost earnest quality here that’s a joy to behold. (Olaf Möller, Film Comment May/June 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSsHILSGZQ
Spotlight on Andrzej Żuławski:
On the occasion of the U.S. premiere of his latest feature, Cosmos, we’re pleased to spotlight the work of legendary maverick director Andrzej Żuławski, featuring a selection of new digital restorations of his landmark Polish films, including his debut, The Third Part of the Night, and his towering film maudit On the Silver Globe. Presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, with additional support from the Polish Film Institute. Organized by Florence Almozini. Restorations courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
Acknowledgments:
Andrzej Żuławski; Paolo Branco, Alfama Films; Polish Cultural Institute New York; Polish Film Institute
Cosmos
Andrzej Żuławski, France/Portugal, 2015, DCP, 97m
French with English subtitles
Andrzej Żuławski’s first film in 15 years, a literary adaptation suffused with his trademark freneticism, transforms Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz’s novel of the same name into an ominous and manic exploration of desire. Witold (Jonathan Genet), who has just failed the bar, and his companion Fuchs (Johan Libéreau), who has recently quit his fashion job, are staying at a guesthouse run by the intermittently paralytic Madame Woytis (Sabine Azéma). Upon discovering a sparrow hanged in the woods near the house, Witold’s reality mutates into a whirlwind of tension, histrionics, foreboding omens, and surrealistic logic as he becomes obsessed with Madame Woytis’s daughter Lena (Victoria Guerra), newly married to Lucien (Andy Gillet)—in other words, he finds himself starring in a Żuławski film. The Polish master’s auspicious return bears his imprimatur at all times. Winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. U.S. Premiere
The Devil / Diabeł
Andrzej Żuławski, Poland, 1972, DCP, 112m
Polish with English subtitles
This thoroughly unhinged period film by Andrzej Żuławski is a hellish tour of late 18th-century Poland that more than makes good on the demonic promise of its title. A murderous nobleman who has just escaped from prison returns to his family’s home, which has become a desiccated, barbaric realm in his absence. It’s not long before a black-clad Satanic proxy appears on the scene, roping the nobleman into a series of political intrigues that rapidly assumes the form of a frenzied, vengeful killing spree. Deservedly controversial for its violence (rendered via Żuławski’s customary wild, free-ranging cinematography), The Devil winds up as a fascinating meditation on the soul in the crucible of madness. New digital restoration courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
On the Silver Globe / Na srebrnym globie
Andrzej Żuławski, Poland, 1988, DCP, 166m
Polish with English subtitles
After a 16-year absence, Andrzej Żuławski returned to Polish cinema with On the Silver Globe, which proved to be the most ambitious and difficult project of his career. The largest Polish production of all time when shooting began in 1976, it was halted by the Ministry of Culture for two years due to it its alleged subversiveness, before finally being reconstituted and completed after the fall of communism over a decade later. The resulting sci-fi epic follows a group of astronauts who, after crash-landing on the moon, forge a new society. As the first generation dies off, their children devise new rituals and mythologies to structure the emergent civilization, until a politician from Earth arrives and is hailed as the Messiah… An inexhaustibly inventive and absorbing film maudit that quite literally creates a new cinematic world, On the Silver Globe is perhaps the grandest expression of Żuławski’s visionary artistry. New digital restoration courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
The Third Part of the Night / Trzecia część nocy
Andrzej Żuławski, Poland, 1972, DCP, 105m
Polish with English subtitles
The first feature by Andrzej Żuławski immediately established his emotionally charged, fast-and-furious style. Drawing from the biography of his father, particularly his experiences in Nazi German-occupied Poland, the film follows a fugitive whose reality implodes when he witnesses the murders of his family, propelling him into a nightmarish world filled with doppelgängers, fluid identities, pervasive dread, and an enigmatic Nazi vaccine laboratory. In all its fantastic and macabre glory, The Third Part of the Night is a delirious portrayal of the chaos wrought upon the psyche by the horrors of war, and one of the most remarkable directorial debuts of all time. New digital restoration courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
Spotlight on Charles Bronson:
Breakout
Tom Gries, USA, 1974, 35mm, 96m
An underrated thriller from journeyman director Tom Gries, Breakout ranks among the highlights of Charles Bronson’s ’70s superstardom phase. Bronson plays pilot Nick Colton, bankrolled by a tycoon (John Huston) to rescue his son Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall) who’s been imprisoned in Mexico on trumped-up charges. Aided by Wagner’s wife Ann (Jill Ireland) and an assortment of cohorts (Randy Quaid, Sheree North, Alan Vint), Colton soon discovers that it’s a tough proposition in part due to a phony escape-route scheme run by corrupt warders in which escapees wind up dead. Featuring top-notch action sequences and superior technical credits (cinematography by Lucien Ballard, music by Jerry Goldsmith).
Rider on the Rain / Le Passager de la pluie
René Clément, France/Italy, 1969, 35mm, 119m
Smack in the middle of Charles Bronson’s four-year, 10-film stint starring in European productions of variable quality came this stylish, small-scale Hitchcockian thriller from French director René Clément, who demonstrated his flair for tense drama with 1960’s Purple Noon. In the South of France, Mellie (Marlène Jobert) is stalked and then raped by a stranger while her husband is away, and then kills her attacker and disposes of his body. Soon after, a mysterious American (Bronson) who seems to know everything begins a game of cat and mouse with the young woman.Blood Of My Blood
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Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Lineup for 2016 Film Comment Selects Festival
The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the lineup for the 16th edition of Film Comment magazine’s annual festival, 2016 Film Comment Film Festival taking place February 17 to 24, 2016.
Opening the festival is the New York premiere of Sunset Song (pictured above), the long-awaited must-see from Terence Davies, a glorious study in hardship and romantic loss starring Agyness Deyn and Peter Mullan. Closing night is a tribute to the late Chantal Akerman, with a revival of her rare, utterly delightful musical Golden Eighties.
Among the hard-hitters are a pair of wrenching discoveries from Serbia and Iran, No One’s Child by Vuk Rsumovic and The Paternal House by Kianoush Ayyari; Damien Odoul’s The Fear, a harrowing yet serene vision of World War I; plus the latest work from Benoît Jacquot, Alexei German Jr., and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
A sidebar of restored works by the Polish master Andrzej Żuławski features a selection of new digital restorations of his landmark Polish films, including his debut, The Third Part of the Night; his towering film maudit On the Silver Globe; and the U.S. premiere of his new film, Cosmos.
Revivals featured in the 16th edition also include a two-film spotlight on Charles Bronson, taking its cue from Film Comment’s November/December issue, and a rare glimpse of The Kinks singer-songwriter Ray Davies’s 1984 Return to Waterloo (also featured in the magazine’s November/December issue).
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
Opening Night
Sunset Song
Terence Davies, UK/Luxembourg, 2015, DCP, 135m
The much-anticipated new film by contemporary British cinema’s reigning master, Sunset Song is the story of Chris (Agyness Deyn), the bright daughter of a brutish farmer (Peter Mullan in top form) who lives with on the family farm in northern Scotland on the cusp of World War I. When her mother commits suicide, Chris sees her educational prospects and hopes of a teaching career evaporate. She faces a bleak future as her father’s housekeeper, but an unexpected turn of events opens up new possibilities. As a study in hardship and romantic loss, Davies returns to territory with which he is intimately familiar. This adaptation of a 1932 novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon is a long-standing passion project for the director, and showcases a wondrous central performance by Deyn. As deeply felt as The House of Mirth and The Long Day Closes, Sunset Song is an emotionally devastating film that’s nothing short of sublime. A Magnolia Pictures release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X946THCqdQ
Closing Night
Chantal Akerman Tribute:
Golden Eighties
Chantal Akerman, France/Belgium/Switzerland, 1986, 35mm, 96m
French with English subtitles
After her successes in the 1970s, Chantal Akerman turned toward the pleasures of popular cinema with a playful series of comedies and love stories, culminating in this extraordinary multi-character musical, set entirely in a shopping mall. A stylish, bittersweet look at the romantic tribulations of an assortment of shop owners and retail workers, the film evokes The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in its charm, but with a distinctly feminist bent. With songs co-written by Akerman and Marc Herouet, the film leads us through the tangled predicaments of clothing-shop owner Jeanne (Delphine Seyrig), who finds herself torn when her long-lost G.I. love, Eli (filmmaker John Berry), looks her up after 40 years; her son Robert (Nicolas Tronc), who is infatuated with Lili (Fanny Cottençon), a salon manager who in turn is having an affair with its owner, married gangster Monsieur Jean (Jean-François Balmer); hairdresser Mado (pop singer Lio), who has a crush on Robert; and coffee-bar proprietor Sylvie (Myriam Boyer), who pines for her boyfriend who’s gone to work in America. For this utterly delightful passion project, which she described as a postmodern cross between women’s cinema, Jewish literature, and musicals, Akerman collaborated with an extraordinary/unlikely dream team of writers—Desperately Seeking Susan screenwriter Leora Barish, veteran Truffaut/Rivette/Resnais scenarist Jean Gruault, former Cahiers du Cinéma critic Pascal Bonitzer, and filmmaker Henry Bean (The Believer).
Blood of My Blood / Sangue del mio sangue
Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 107m
Italian with English subtitles
From Italian master Marco Bellocchio, FIPRESCI prizewinner Blood of My Blood pairs two haunting stories from the past and the present, bound together by a convent prison in Bobbio (the director’s hometown and setting of his 1965 debut masterpiece, Fists in the Pocket). During the Inquisition period, Federico (Pier Giorgio Bellocchio) witnesses the harrowing trial of Benedetta (Lidiya Liberman), an alluring nun accused of seducing and driving his brother to suicide. Centuries later, a vampiric old man (Roberto Herlitzka) hides within the convent’s abandoned walls and faces eviction when a tax investigator and Russian millionaire come to purchase the property. Amid painterly lensing and an expressive score, the film is a gothic, shrewdly comic, and, above all, mystifying tapestry that mines the complexities of Italian life—whether in the cloistered darkness of the 17th century or in the confused, garish revelry of the present.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS-RqI3ws_Y
Diary of a Chambermaid / Journal d’une femme de chambre
Benoît Jacquot, France/Belgium, 2015, DCP, 96m
French with English subtitles
Léa Sedoux follows in the footsteps of Paulette Goddard and Jeanne Moreau as Célestine, a resentful young Parisian chambermaid who finds herself exiled to a position in the provinces where she immediately chafes against the noxious iron rules and pettiness of her high-handed bourgeois mistress (Clotilde Mollet), must rebuff the groping advances of Monsieur (Hervé Pierre), and reckon with her fascination with the earthy, brooding gardener Joseph (Vincent Lindon). Backtracking past the fetishism and peculiarities of Buñuel’s version to Octave Mirbeau’s original 1900 novel, Benoît Jacquot has one eye on 21st-century France: the sense of social stiflement, Célestine’s humiliating submission to Madame’s onerous terms of employment, Joseph’s virulent anti-Semitism. But he keeps his other on the turn-of-the-century setting, when psychoanalysis, a discipline that he holds dear, burst forth: at all times he strikes a balance between appearances and what lies beneath them, between the sadism of the bourgeois employers and their repression, the social codes and the compulsions they conceal. As class-conscious as ever, Jacquot has found some material he can really sink his teeth into. A Cohen Media Group release. U.S. Premiere
The Fear / La peur
French with English subtitles
Damien Odoul, France, 2015, DCP, 93m
Summer 1914. Imagining the war to be “a great spectacle not to be missed,” 19-year-old Gabriel (Nino Rocher) volunteers for the French Army—more out of curiosity than the mad, virulent nationalism that consumes the populace. Accompanied by his best friend Bertrand (Eliott Margueron) and young poet Théo (Théo Chazal), he arrives at the battlefront within a few days and is soon engulfed in the horrors of trench warfare. Recounting his experiences in a series of voiceover letters to his sweetheart back home, Gabriel maintains a detached and rational view of the ordeal of war, which is complemented by the anarchic rabble-rousing of the sardonic Sergeant Négre (Pierre Martial Gaillard). Meanwhile, offsetting the film’s emphasis on the inner life and dissent of its protagonist, Damien Odoul’s direction, which earned him the 2015 Prix Jean Vigo, supplies a relentlessly physical depiction of the realities of life and death in the killing fields. Based on Gabriel Chevallier’s 1930 autobiographical novel, The Fear moves at a fast clip, replete with painterly landscape shots and images of startling, surreal horror. Never less than gripping, this is not so much a film about combat than a series of dispatches from a war zone, warts and all. A Wild Bunch release. U.S. Premiere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjtdBjjEEj4
Malgré la nuit / Despite the Night
Philippe Grandrieux, France, 2015, DCP, 154m
French with English subtitles
The director of Sombre, La Vie nouvelle, and Un lac returns with his latest investigation of extreme experience, a darkly erotic psychodrama. English musician Lenz (Kristian Marr) searches for his lover Madeleine, aka Lena (Roxane Mesquida), who has mysteriously disappeared, but tumbles into an amour fou with troubled, self-destructive Héléne (French indie It-Girl Ariane Labed). Grieving the loss of her infant son, Héléne seeks oblivion in the murky subterranean world of a brutal sex ring, followed by Lenz. A stark, elliptical, hauntingly spectral narrative co-written by Grand Central director Rebecca Zlotowski, in which Grandrieux continues his exploration of the body initiated with White Epilepsy in scenes of sensual abandon and raw carnality.
No One’s Child / Nicije dete
Vuk Rsumovic, Serbia/Croatia, 2014, DCP, 95m
Serbian with English subtitles
Vuk Rsumovic’s debut film begins in late-’80s Yugoslavia with the discovery of a feral boy running on all fours in the woods of central Bosnia—abandoned years before to survive or perish, unable to walk or talk. Sent to an orphanage in Belgrade, with the help of a teacher and another boy he slowly acquires the trappings of civilized behavior. But as war breaks out between Serbia and Bosnia, his future suddenly becomes uncertain as he’s assumed to be a Bosnian Muslim. No One’s Child is unabashedly pro the former Yugoslavia—a state that maintained a civil society and took care of its citizens. With its discreet, muscular, no-nonsense style, Rsumovic’s film gives us an update of Truffaut’s The Wild Child for a grim new era. (Olaf Möller, Film Comment, May/June 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ueugMq1Gxo
Notfilm
Ross Lipman, USA/UK, 2015, DCP, 130m
In 1964, playwright Samuel Beckett, Buster Keaton, cinematographer Boris Kaufman, and director Alan Schneider came together to make a short, dialogue-free work simply titled Film. An investigation of both the cinematic medium and the nature of human consciousness, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival and screened at the 2nd New York Film Festival to mixed critical response. In Beckett’s scenario, Keaton plays “O,” who tries desperately to evade the reality of the maxim esse est percipi (to be is to be seen) but finds his every effort futile. Beckett judged the final result “an interesting failure”—interesting enough for Ross Lipman to devote two-plus hours to this remarkable exploration of the making of a 22-minute film. Featuring audio recordings of Beckett in discussion with Schneider, Kaufman, and producer and Grove Press head Barney Rosset, this fascinating and unprecedented “making-of” also gives us interviews with Rosset and actress and Beckett muse Billie Whitelaw. As Scott Eyman puts it in a soon-to-be-published Film Comment piece: “As we witness Rossett and Whitelaw struggling beneath the oppressive weight of age, the documentary becomes about memory and its fading. In other words, the obliteration that waits for us all—the foundation of Beckett’s art.” A Milestone Films release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaqX9b_B6rA
Our Little Sister
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2015, DCP, 128m
Japanese with English subtitles
Based on Umimachi Diary, a manga by Akimi Yoshida, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest subtle and moving exploration of family ties centers on three twentysomething sisters, Sachi (Haruka Ayase), Yoshino (Masami Nagasawa), and Chika (Kaho), who live together in their grandmother’s house. Traveling to the countryside to attend the funeral of their estranged father, they discover that they have a teenage half-sister, Suzu (Suzu Hirose). Quickly sizing up their stepmother as someone unfit to take care of the young girl, the trio impulsively invite their newfound sibling to come and live with them. Suzu soon settles in and her elder sisters’ placid but quietly discontented lives continue as before, but her presence—and the unexpected arrival of their long-absent mother Miyako (Shinobu Otake), who departed 15 years ago leaving Sachi to raise her younger sisters—finally bring into the open the three women’s unresolved feelings about being abandoned by their parents and the frustrations that burden their unfulfilled lives. As ever with Kore-eda, the performances are beautifully understated and down to earth and the filmmaking is delicate and graceful. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GNjSKcBkoE
The Paternal House / Khanéh Pedari
Kianoush Ayyari, Iran, 2012, DCP, 97m
Farsi with English subtitles
Beginning in 1929 and ending in the present day, Kianoush Ayyari’s powerful drama is about so-called honor killing, a taboo subject in modern Iran. The action, which is confined to the closed-off world of a family house and its grounds, with outside reality only impinging in the form of sounds and rumors, starts with a father murdering his daughter in an act of honor killing. With the complicity of his wife and son, he buries her corpse in the cellar. Family life continues, haunted by the shared knowledge of the murder across several generations. This conspiracy of silence and the film’s exploration of the nature of complicity make for a powerful commentary on life in Iran, but Ayyari constructs his fable in such a fashion that ultimately it transcends nationality, culture, and religion and comes to depict the structure and inner workings of totalitarianism itself. (Olaf Möller, Film Comment, November/December 2012) An Iranian Independents release. U.S. Premiere
Return to Waterloo
Ray Davies, UK, 1984, 35mm, 58m
The little-seen first and only film by Ray Davies, songwriter and lead singer of The Kinks, is an offbeat musical that takes off from and expands the possibilities of the then-newly emergent music-video format while revisiting many of the themes of Davies’s songs of modern discontent and nostalgia. The reverie of a middle-aged man (Kenneth Colley) over the course of his train commute plays out memories of tarnished dreams, regrets, and unsettling imaginings and intimations of dark impulses, accompanied by nine Davies compositions that together encapsulate a life of quiet desperation. Modestly mounted but made with great assurance, with camerawork by Roger Deakins, it’s a time capsule of 1980s London that could almost be a rebuke to the bombast of Pink Floyd The Wall and its more overblown vision of modern discontent. Bonus early appearance by Tim Roth.
Under Electric Clouds
Aleksei German Jr., Russia/Ukraine/Poland, 2015, DCP, 138m
Russian with English subtitles
A work of epic ambition, this vision of near-future Russia consists of seven vignettes centered on an unfinished building whose architect perhaps went mad. In some of the segments the building is seen, in others merely mentioned. Its ensemble of characters mainly represent Russia’s “superfluous” people (artists, intellectuals). Many voices are heard, ranging from Kyrgyz migrant workers to the children of a deceased oligarch; some sections are only loosely connected to the story of the ruin, one turns out to be a flashback, and others recapitulate events seen earlier from slightly different angles. Of course Under Electric Clouds is a meditation on today’s Russia: a country torn to shreds by delusions of grandeur, corruption, an unquestioning belief in authority, and a fatal passion for the past that goes hand in hand with an outrageous obsession with the future—making for an empty present. Like his late father, German Jr. favors wildly meandering plan-séquences, expansive choreographies of actors milling in and out of scenes, blasted landscapes, and dialogue delivered with fierce panache, but in place of German Sr.’s fury, there’s a playful, lighthearted, dreamy and almost earnest quality here that’s a joy to behold. (Olaf Möller, Film Comment May/June 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSsHILSGZQ
Spotlight on Andrzej Żuławski:
On the occasion of the U.S. premiere of his latest feature, Cosmos, we’re pleased to spotlight the work of legendary maverick director Andrzej Żuławski, featuring a selection of new digital restorations of his landmark Polish films, including his debut, The Third Part of the Night, and his towering film maudit On the Silver Globe. Presented in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, with additional support from the Polish Film Institute. Organized by Florence Almozini. Restorations courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
Acknowledgments:
Andrzej Żuławski; Paolo Branco, Alfama Films; Polish Cultural Institute New York; Polish Film Institute
Cosmos
Andrzej Żuławski, France/Portugal, 2015, DCP, 97m
French with English subtitles
Andrzej Żuławski’s first film in 15 years, a literary adaptation suffused with his trademark freneticism, transforms Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz’s novel of the same name into an ominous and manic exploration of desire. Witold (Jonathan Genet), who has just failed the bar, and his companion Fuchs (Johan Libéreau), who has recently quit his fashion job, are staying at a guesthouse run by the intermittently paralytic Madame Woytis (Sabine Azéma). Upon discovering a sparrow hanged in the woods near the house, Witold’s reality mutates into a whirlwind of tension, histrionics, foreboding omens, and surrealistic logic as he becomes obsessed with Madame Woytis’s daughter Lena (Victoria Guerra), newly married to Lucien (Andy Gillet)—in other words, he finds himself starring in a Żuławski film. The Polish master’s auspicious return bears his imprimatur at all times. Winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. U.S. Premiere
The Devil / Diabeł
Andrzej Żuławski, Poland, 1972, DCP, 112m
Polish with English subtitles
This thoroughly unhinged period film by Andrzej Żuławski is a hellish tour of late 18th-century Poland that more than makes good on the demonic promise of its title. A murderous nobleman who has just escaped from prison returns to his family’s home, which has become a desiccated, barbaric realm in his absence. It’s not long before a black-clad Satanic proxy appears on the scene, roping the nobleman into a series of political intrigues that rapidly assumes the form of a frenzied, vengeful killing spree. Deservedly controversial for its violence (rendered via Żuławski’s customary wild, free-ranging cinematography), The Devil winds up as a fascinating meditation on the soul in the crucible of madness. New digital restoration courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
On the Silver Globe / Na srebrnym globie
Andrzej Żuławski, Poland, 1988, DCP, 166m
Polish with English subtitles
After a 16-year absence, Andrzej Żuławski returned to Polish cinema with On the Silver Globe, which proved to be the most ambitious and difficult project of his career. The largest Polish production of all time when shooting began in 1976, it was halted by the Ministry of Culture for two years due to it its alleged subversiveness, before finally being reconstituted and completed after the fall of communism over a decade later. The resulting sci-fi epic follows a group of astronauts who, after crash-landing on the moon, forge a new society. As the first generation dies off, their children devise new rituals and mythologies to structure the emergent civilization, until a politician from Earth arrives and is hailed as the Messiah… An inexhaustibly inventive and absorbing film maudit that quite literally creates a new cinematic world, On the Silver Globe is perhaps the grandest expression of Żuławski’s visionary artistry. New digital restoration courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
The Third Part of the Night / Trzecia część nocy
Andrzej Żuławski, Poland, 1972, DCP, 105m
Polish with English subtitles
The first feature by Andrzej Żuławski immediately established his emotionally charged, fast-and-furious style. Drawing from the biography of his father, particularly his experiences in Nazi German-occupied Poland, the film follows a fugitive whose reality implodes when he witnesses the murders of his family, propelling him into a nightmarish world filled with doppelgängers, fluid identities, pervasive dread, and an enigmatic Nazi vaccine laboratory. In all its fantastic and macabre glory, The Third Part of the Night is a delirious portrayal of the chaos wrought upon the psyche by the horrors of war, and one of the most remarkable directorial debuts of all time. New digital restoration courtesy of the Polish Film Institute.
Spotlight on Charles Bronson:
Breakout
Tom Gries, USA, 1974, 35mm, 96m
An underrated thriller from journeyman director Tom Gries, Breakout ranks among the highlights of Charles Bronson’s ’70s superstardom phase. Bronson plays pilot Nick Colton, bankrolled by a tycoon (John Huston) to rescue his son Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall) who’s been imprisoned in Mexico on trumped-up charges. Aided by Wagner’s wife Ann (Jill Ireland) and an assortment of cohorts (Randy Quaid, Sheree North, Alan Vint), Colton soon discovers that it’s a tough proposition in part due to a phony escape-route scheme run by corrupt warders in which escapees wind up dead. Featuring top-notch action sequences and superior technical credits (cinematography by Lucien Ballard, music by Jerry Goldsmith).
Rider on the Rain / Le Passager de la pluie
René Clément, France/Italy, 1969, 35mm, 119m
Smack in the middle of Charles Bronson’s four-year, 10-film stint starring in European productions of variable quality came this stylish, small-scale Hitchcockian thriller from French director René Clément, who demonstrated his flair for tense drama with 1960’s Purple Noon. In the South of France, Mellie (Marlène Jobert) is stalked and then raped by a stranger while her husband is away, and then kills her attacker and disposes of his body. Soon after, a mysterious American (Bronson) who seems to know everything begins a game of cat and mouse with the young woman.
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AFI FEST 2015 Reveals the Last Batch of Films – Films in World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs
AFI FEST 2015 announced the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs. AFI FEST will take place November 5–12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood.
World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award® consideration.
WORLD CINEMA SELECTIONS (29 Titles)
The World Cinema section showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year.
AFERIM! – This Romanian Western is an odyssey through the landscape of feudal Eastern Europe, following a father and son on a mission to find a gypsy. DIR Radu Jude. SCR Radu Jude, Florin Lazarescu. CAST Teodor Corban, Mihai Comanoiu, Cuzin Toma, Alexandru Dabija, Alexandru Bindea, Luminița Gheorghiu, Victor Rebengiuc, Alberto Dinache, Mihaela Sîrbu. Romania/Bulgaria/Czech Republic
BLOOD OF MY BLOOD (SANGUE DEL MIO SANGUE) – In this dual narrative, lust plays out in a 17th-century convent and a modern-day count lives a bizarre life within those same walls. DIR Marco Bellocchio. SCR Marco Bellocchio. CAST Roberto Herlitzka, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Lidiya Liberman, Fausto Russo Alesi, Alba Rohrwacher, Federica Fracassi, Alberto Cracco, Bruno Cariello, Toni Bertorelli, Filippo Timi, Elena Bellocchio, Ivan Franek, Patrizia Bettini, Sebastiano Filocamo, Alberto Bellocchio. Italy/France/Switzerland. U.S. Premiere
CHEVALIER – In this wonderfully absurdist farce, six men at sea play a strange game that measures every aspect of who they are. DIR Athina Rachel Tsangari. SCR Athina Rachel Tsangari, Efthimis Filippou. CAST Yorgos Kentros, Panos Koronis, Vangelis Mourikis, Makis Papadimitriou, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Sakis Rouvas, Yiannis Drakopoulos, Nikos Orfanos, Kostas Philippoglou. Greece
CHRONIC – Tim Roth stars as an end-of-life caregiver who struggles with the intense relationships he develops with his patients. DIR Michel Franco. SCR Michel Franco. CAST Tim Roth, Robin Bartlett, Michael Cristofer, Sarah Sutherland, Nailea Norvind, Rachel Pickup, David Dastmalchian, Bitsie Tulloch. Mexico/France
THE CLAN (EL CLAN) – Argentina’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar® follows the vicious crime saga of the notorious Puccio family. DIR Pablo Trapero. SCR Pablo Trapero. CAST Guillermo Francella, Peter Lanzani, Lili Popovich, Gastón Cocchiarale, Giselle Motta, Franco Masini, Antonia Bengoechea, Stefania Koessl. Argentina/Spain
THE CLUB (EL CLUB) – At a bucolic seaside home for aging priests, the arrival of a new member unearths long-buried secrets about the Catholic Church. DIR Pablo Larraín. SCR Guillermo Calderón, Daniel Villalobos, Pablo Larraín. CAST Alfredo Castro, Roberto Farías, Antonia Zegers, Jaime Vadell, Alejandro Goic. Chile
DHEEPAN – In this 2015 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, a refugee concocts a fake family to gain passage to France — but his violent past still haunts him. DIR Jacques Audiard. SCR Noé Debré, Thomas Bidegain, Jacques Audiard. CAST Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby, Vincent Rottiers, Marc Zinga. France
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (EL ABRAZO DE LA SERPIENTE) – This hypnotic epic follows the journey of a shaman and a German explorer in the Colombian Amazon. DIR Ciro Guerra. SCR Ciro Guerra, Jacques Toulemonde Vidal. CAST Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolívar, Yauenkü Miguee. Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina
FREE IN DEED – When a young mother brings her special-needs son to a local storefront church for healing, a Pentecostal minister is forced to confront his own demons. DIR Jake Mahaffy. SCR Jake Mahaffy. CAST David Harewood, Edwina Findley, RaJay Chandler, Preston Shannon, Prophetess Libra, Helen Bowman, Zoe Lewis, Kathy Smith. USA/New Zealand. North American Premiere
IN THE SHADOW OF WOMEN (L’OMBRE DES FEMMES) – Master French filmmaker Philippe Garrel returns with this gentle, profound tale of a Parisian couple dealing with mutual infidelity. DIR Philippe Garrel. SCR Jean-Claude Carrière, Caroline Deruas, Arlette Langmann, Philippe Garrel. CAST Clotilde Courau, Stanislas Merhar, Lena Paugam, Vimala Pons, Antoinette Moya, Jean Pommier, Thérèse Quentin, Mounir Margoum, Louis Garrel. France/Switzerland
THE LADY IN THE VAN – Maggie Smith stars as a cantankerous yet eloquent homeless woman who sets up residence on the curb outside the home of a single writer. DIR Nicholas Hytner. SCR Alan Bennett. CAST Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Frances De La Tour, Roger Allam. UK
LANDFILL HARMONIC – In a landfill community in Paraguay, inhabitants turn trash into unique instruments for a world-touring orchestra of young musicians. DIR Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley. USA
A MONSTER WITH A THOUSAND HEADS – (pictured in main image above)A Mexican woman with a cancer-stricken husband embarks on a series of increasingly violent confrontations with uncaring insurance stakeholders and bureaucrats. DIR Rodrigo Plá. SCR Laura Santullo. CAST Jana Raluy, Sebastián Aguirre Boëda, Hugo Albores, Nora Huerta, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Emilio Echeverria, Ilya Cazés, Noé Hernández, Verónica Falcón. Mexico. North American Premiere
MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART – Jia Zhang-ke’s tender, melancholic epic follows a capitalist Chinese family over a quarter-century of intense change. DIR Jia Zhang-ke. SCR Jia Zhang-ke. CAST Zhao Tao, Zhang Yi, Liang Jin Dong, Dong Zijian, Sylvia Chang, Han Sanming. China/France/Japan
EL MOVIMIENTO – In this stark black-and-white vision of anarchy, groups of armed men belonging to “The Movement” cause havoc on a war-scarred landscape. DIR Benjamín Naishtat. SCR Benjamin Naishtat. CAST Pablo Cedrón, Marcelo Pompei, Francisco Lumerman, Céline Latil, Alberto Suarez, Agustin Rittano. Argentina. U.S. Premiere
MY GOLDEN DAYS – Upon a man’s arrival home after years away abroad, he reflects on his youth, spent with little parental guidance, and ultimately a turbulent love affair. DIR Arnaud Desplechin. SCR Arnaud Desplechin, Julie Peyr. CAST Quentin Dolmaire, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, Mathieu Amalric, Dinara Drukarova. France
NAHID – A poor Iranian mother enters a “temporary marriage” with a well-off hotelier — with devastating results. DIR Ida Panahandeh. SCR Ida Panahandeh, Arsalan Amiri. CAST Sareh Bayat, Pejman Bazeghi, Navid Mohammad Zadeh, Milad Hossein Pour, Pouria Rahimi, Nasrin Babaei. Iran
NEON BULL (BOI NEON) – A young cowboy working the Brazilian rodeo circuit dreams of becoming a famous fashion designer. DIR Gabriel Mascaro. SCR Gabriel Mascaro. CAST Juliano Cazarré, Aline Santana, Carlos Pessoa, Maeve Jinkings. Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands
NO HOME MOVIE – The late Chantal Akerman’s sweet, melancholic ode to her mother, an Auschwitz survivor, is about home and the wild places beyond it. DIR Chantal Akerman. SCR Chantal Akerman. Belgium
OUR LITTLE SISTER (UMIMACHI DIARY) – At a family patriarch’s funeral, three sisters make the impulsive decision to invite their much younger half-sister to live with them in the city. DIR Hirokazu Kore-eda. SCR Hirokazu Kore-eda. CAST Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho, Suzu Hirose. Japan
PARADISE – In this powerful film, shot guerrilla-style on the streets of Tehran, a violent act throws the life of a 25-year-old woman into turmoil. DIR Sina Ataeian Dena. SCR Sina Ataeian Dena. CAST Dorna Dibaj, Fateme Naghavi, Fariba Kamran, Nahid Moslemi, Roya Afshar. Iran/Germany
RAMS (HRUTAR) – Two estranged brothers in rural Iceland must come together when a fatal outbreak strikes their sheep herds. DIR Grímur Hákonarson. SCR Grímur Hákonarson. CAST Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Theodór Júlíusson, Charlotte Bøving. Iceland
RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN (JIGEUMEUN MATGO GEUTTAENEUN TEULLIDA)– In Hong Sang-soo’s latest, a director spends 24 hours with an attractive artist. This story then repeats itself midway through the film, but with important variations. DIR Hong Sang-soo. SCR Hong Sang-soo. CAST Jung Jae-young, Kim Min-hee. South Korea
SON OF SAUL (SAUL FIA) – This sparse yet resonant film, set in Auschwitz near the end of World War II, follows an internee on a mission to give a young boy a proper burial. DIR László Nemes. SCR László Nemes, Clara Royer. CAST Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnar, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont, Sándor Zsotér, Marcin Czarnik, Jerzy Walczak, Uwe Lauer, Christian Harting, Kamil Dobrowlski, Amitai Kedar, István Pion, Juli Jakab, Levente Orbán. Hungary
SWEET BEAN (AN) – In this heartwarming yet subtle tale, an aging Japanese woman brings surprise success to a small bakery with her special homemade recipe. DIR Naomi Kawase. SCR Naomi Kawase. CAST Nagase Masatoshi, Kiki Kirin, Uchida Kyara. Japan
TALE OF TALES (IL RACCONTO DEI RACCONTI) – From the director of GOMORRAH, this collection of three ancient fairy tales features a star-studded cast set against the backdrop of Italy’s greatest wonders. DIR Matteo Garrone. SCR Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso. CAST Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, Shirley Henderson, Hayley Carmichael, Bebe Cave, Stacy Martin, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees, Guillaume Delaunay, Alba Rohrwacher, Massimo Ceccherini, John C. Reilly. Italy
THE TREASURE (COMOARA) – A financially struggling family man enters into a crackpot plan to find buried treasure in this masterfully deadpan comedy. DIR Corneliu Porumboiu. SCR Corneliu Porumboiu. CAST Cuzin Toma, Adrian Purcarescu, Corneliu Cozmei, Cristina Toma, Nicodim Toma. France/Romania
A WAR – When a routine mission in Afghanistan turns ugly, a company commander must make an impossible decision to save his men. DIR Tobias Lindholm. SCR Tobias Lindholm. CAST Pilou Asbæk, Tuva Novotny, Dar Salim, Søren Malling, Charlotte Munck, Dulfi Al-Jabouri. Denmark. U.S. Premiere
THE WHITE KNIGHTS (LES CHEVALIERS BLANCS) – This drama from Joachim Lafosse centers on the 2007 Zoé’s Ark scandal, when a French NGO illegally trafficked orphans out of war-torn Africa. DIR Joachim Lafosse. SCR Joachim Lafosse, Bulle Decarpentries, Thomas Van Zuylen. CAST Vincent Lindon, Valérie Donzelli, Reda Kateb, Louise Bourgoin, Rougalta Bintou Saleh. France/Belgium
MIDNIGHT SELECTIONS (3 Titles)
These dark and macabre films from around the world will grip audiences with terror.
BASKIN – A squad of Turkish policemen become entrapped in the basement of a cult of Devil-worshipping amputees. DIR Can Evrenol. SCR Can Evrenol, Cem Ozuduru, Ogulcan Eren Akay, Ercin Sadikoglu. CAST Gorkem Kasal, Ergun Kuyucu, Muharrem Bayrak, Mehmet Fatih Dokgoz, Sabahattin Yakut, Mehmet Cerrahoglu. Turkey
DER NACHTMAHR – A teenage girl who experiences severe nightmares makes a meaningful connection with a strange creature that has been haunting her. DIR AKIZ. SCR AKIZ. CAST Carolyn Genzkow, Kim Gordon, Julika Jenkins, Arnd Klawitter, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht, Alexander Scheer, Sina Tkotsch. Germany
SOUTHBOUND – In this refreshing take on the horror anthology, a series of characters encounter sinister forces on an isolated desert road. DIR Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, Patrick Horvath, Radio Silence. SCR Roxanne Benjamin, Susan Burke, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Dallas Hallam, Patrick Horvath. CAST Chad Villella, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Kristina Pesic, Fabianne Therese, Nathalie Love, Hannah Marks, Dana Gould, Susan Burke, Davey Johnson, Anessa Ramsey, Mather Zickel, Fabianne Therese Karla Droege, Zoe Cooper, Roxanne Benjamin, Justin Welborn, David Yow, Tipper Newton, Matt Peters, Maria Olsen, Tyler Tuione, Kate Beahan, Gerald Downey, Hassie Harrison, Larry Fessenden. USA
BREAKTHROUGH SELECTIONS (5 Titles)
The Breakthrough section is dedicated to the true discoveries of the programming process. It exists as a platform for artists at a crucial stage in their career to share their innovative work with enthusiastic audiences.
THE LIAR – In this tightly wound thriller, beautiful, immaculately dressed Ah-young attempts to fool everyone into believing that she has it all. She doesn’t. DIR Kim Dong-myung. SCR Kim Dong-myung. CAST Kim Kkobbi, Chun Sin-hwan, Lee Sun-hee, Le Da-hae, Jang Seo-ee, Shin Yeon-suk, Kwon Nam-hee, Han Jin-hee. Korea
MA – Director Celia Rowlson-Hall uses her background as a choreographer to create MA, a modern-day retelling of Mother Mary’s pilgrimage. DIR Celia Rowlson-Hall. SCR Celia Rowlson-Hall. CAST Celia Rowlson-Hall, Andrew Pastides, Amy Seimetz, Matt Lauria, Peter Vack. USA. U.S. Premiere
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF PÉROLA (A MISTERIOSA MORTE DE PÉROLA) – A young student, living alone in an old apartment, begins to lose herself in loneliness until reality merges with dreams. DIR Guto Parente. SCR Guto Parente. CAST Ticiana Augusto Lima, Guto Parente. Brazil/France. North American Premiere
NECKTIE YOUTH – Set in Johannesburg, South Africa, this bristling debut looks at a group of millennials, all peripherally related to a wealthy white teen who commits suicide. DIR Sibs Shongwe-La Mer. SCR Sibs Shongwe-La Mer. CAST Bonko Khoza, Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, Colleen Balchin, Kamogelo Moloi, Emma Tollman, Jonathan Young, Kelly Bates, Ricci-Lee Kalish, Giovanna Winetzki. Netherlands/South Africa
THOSE WHO FEEL THE FIRE BURNING – This poetic experimental documentary captures with raw force the modern migrant experience in Europe, as seen through the eyes of a deceased shipwreck victim. DIR Morgan Knibbe. SCR Morgan Knibbe. Netherlands
CINEMA’S LEGACY SELECTIONS (5 Titles)
Now in its third year, Cinema’s Legacy is AFI FEST’s celebration of motion picture history, and a special opportunity to screen both classic films and films about the history of cinema.
FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933) – Dolores Del Río, the glamorous face of AFI FEST 2015, stars in this pre-Code musical with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and fabulous song-and-dance routines. DIR Thornton Freeland. SCR Cyril Hume, H.W. Hanemann, Erwin Gelsey. CAST Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, Raul Roulien, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Blanche Frederici, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore. USA
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM – Winnipeg filmmakers Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson search the human subconscious in this cinematic head-trip. DIR Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson. SCR Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Robert Kotyk. CAST Roy Dupuis, Clara Furey, Louis Negin, Mathieu Amalric, Geraldine Chaplin, Amira Casar, Charlotte Rampling, Karine Vanasse, Jacques Nolot, Udo Kier. Canada
HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT – For one week in 1962, French New Wave auteur François Truffaut interviewed the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. DIR Kent Jones. SCR Kent Jones, Serge Toubiana. CAST Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Arnaud Desplechin, Wes Anderson, James Gray, Richard Linklater, Olivier Assayas, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Peter Bogdanovich, Paul Schrader. France/USA
SAFETY LAST! (1923) – In Harold Lloyd’s brilliant and most famous film, the great silent comedian plays a small-town bumpkin in the big city who plans a breathless publicity stunt to attract attention for the department store where he works. DIR Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor. SCR Hal Roach, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan. CAST Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, Wescott Clarke. USA
SEMBENE! – In this intimate documentary, the work of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène is spotlighted, showing why he came to be known as the Father of African Cinema. DIR Samba Gadjigo, Jason Silverman. Senegal/USA
SHORTS SELECTIONS (53 Titles)
BAD AT DANCING – A perpetual third wheel and awkward outsider inserts herself into her roommate’s relationship. DIR Joanna Arnow. SCR Joanna Arnow. CAST Eleanore Pienta, Keith Poulson, Joanna Arnow. USA
BLOOD BELOW THE SKIN – Three teenage girls from different social circles form unexpected bonds when they discover the secrets that lie below the skin. DIR Jennifer Reeder. SCR Jennifer Reeder. CAST Jennifer Estlin, Kelsey Ashby-Middleton, Morgan Reesh, Tj Jagodowsky, Marissa Castillo. USA
BOYS (POJKARNA) – At a home for wayward boys, Markus prepares for a very important appointment. DIR Isabella Carbonell. SCR Isabella Carbonell, Babak Najafi. CAST Sebastian Hiort af Ornäs, Marcus Lindgren, Rainer Gerdes. Sweden
BUS NUT – The 1955 Montgomery bus boycott is articulated as an educational video on school bus safety. DIR Akosua Adoma Owusu. CAST MaameYaa Boafo. USA
COLOR NEUTRAL – A color explosion sparkles, bubbles and fractures in this handcrafted 16mm short from film artist Jennifer Reeves. DIR Jennifer Reeves. USA
DRAGSTRIP – A moment or two before the race. DIR Daniel Claridge, Pacho Velez. USA
E.T.E.R.N.I.T – A Tunisian immigrant working in asbestos removal must make a radical choice in the name of his family. DIR Giovanni Aloi. SCR Nicolo Galbiati. CAST Ali Salhi, Serena Grandi, Alessandro Castiglloni, Mohamed Omar Abd Rabou, Youssef Tarek, Stefano Piumi, Alessandro Palumbo, Andrea Pompa, Roberta Madeo. France
EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY (ALLES WIRD GUT) – A divorced father picks up his eight-year-old daughter. It seems like every second weekend, but something isn’t right. DIR Patrick Vollrath. SCR Patrick Vollrath. CAST Simon Schwarz, Julia Pointner. Germany/Austria
THE EXQUISITE CORPUS – Based on various erotic films and advertising rushes, myriad fragments are melted into a single sensuous, humorous, gruesome and ecstatic dream. DIR Peter Tscherkassky. Austria
FRANKENSTEIN’S BRIDE (LA NOVIA DE FRANKENSTEIN) – At her summer job, Ivana learns it’s easy to create a circle of lies, fiction and love when you’re bored. DIR Francisco Lezama, Agostina Gálvez. SCR Francisco Lezama, Agostina Gálvez. CAST Miel Bargman, Renzo Cozza, Claudia Cantero, Mariel Fernández, Jair Jesús Toledo. Argentina
FUCKKKYOUUU – A lonely girl finds love and rejection with her past self in this alluring collaboration with Flying Lotus. DIR Eddie Alcazar. SCR Eddie Alcazar. CAST Jesse Sullivan, Charles Baker. USA
GRAND FINALE – The end of a Fourth of July evening in Detroit. DIR Kevin Jerome Everson. USA
GROUP B – A rally car driver mounts a comeback after a long and troubled absence. DIR Nick Rowland. SCR Joe Murtagh. CAST Richard Madden, Michael Smiley, Dominic Wolf, Andrei Alen, Matthew Jure, Stephen Bent, Alexander Cambell. UK
HALF WET – A man with large pores tries to escape the realization that he’s slowly evaporating. DIR Sophie Koko Gate. UK
I REMEMBER NOTHING – An epileptic seizure told in five phases. DIR Zia Anger. SCR Zia Anger. CAST Audrey Turner, Eve Alpert, India Menuez, Adinah Dancyger, Lola Kirke. USA
LANCASTER, CA – A portrait of love in the California desert. DIR Mike Ott. SCR Cory Zacharia. CAST Cory Zacharia, John Brotherton. USA
THE LITTLE DEPUTY – Trevor tries to have his photo taken with his father. DIR Trevor Anderson. SCR Trevor Anderson. CAST Trevor Anderson, Luke Oswald, Rob Chaulk, Trevor Schmidt, Lynn Anderson. Canada
MAMAN(S) – Eight-year-old Aida and her family are thrown into chaos when her father returns from Senegal with a new wife. DIR Maïmouna Doucouré. SCR Maïmouna Doucouré. CAST Sokhna Diallo, Maimouna Gueye, Azize Diabate, Mareme N’dlaye, Eriq Ebouaney, Maissa Toumoutou, Aida Diallo, Khemissa Zarouel. France
MANOMAN – Beware what lies within. DIR Simon Cartwright. SCR Simon Cartwright. CAST Gordon Pearson. UK
MARYLAND PUBLIC TELEVISION INTERVIEWS THE REAGANS – The President nails an interview. Featuring: The First Lady and surprise guest. DIR Pacho Velez. USA
MYNARSKI DEATH PLUMMET (MYNARSKI CHUTE MORTELLE) – A handmade historical micro-epic and psychedelic photochemical war picture about self-sacrifice, immortality and jellyfish. DIR Matthew Rankin. SCR Matthew Rankin. CAST Alek Rzeszowski, Robert Vilar, Annie St-Pierre, Louis Negin. Canada
OBJECT – A hypnotic underwater search from the point of view of the rescue team, the diver and the people waiting on shore. DIR Paulina Skibińska. SCR Paulina Skibińska. Poland
OF THE UNKNOWN – In Hong Kong, millionaires and the working poor live side by side. DIR Eva Weber. UK/Hong Kong
PALM ROT – An old Florida fumigator comes face to face with a mysterious threat. DIR Ryan Gillis. SCR Ryan Gillis. CAST Greg Tonner. USA
PATTERN FOR SURVIVAL – A key ingredient in any survival situation is the mental attitude of the individuals involved. DIR Kelly Sears. USA
THE PETER CASSIDY PROJECT – In 1972, a reporter and his team attempt to discover the truth behind an infamous director and the controversial advertisements he directed in the late ’60s. DIR Noah Lee. SCR Noah Lee. CAST Peter Falls, Lewis Pullman, Eden Brolin. USA
PINK GRAPEFRUIT – A young married couple, two single friends and a long weekend in Palm Springs. DIR Michael Mohan. SCR Chris Levitus, Michael Mohan. CAST Wendy McColm, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Nora Kirkpatrick, Matt Peters. USA
POSTINDUSTRIAL – Eleven floors of thoughts held tight by iron brackets. DIR Boris Pramatarov. Bulgaria
PYROMANCE – A lonely pyrotechnician finds an unlikely spark on the eve of the 4th of July fireworks show. DIR John de Menil. SCR John de Menil. CAST Paul McCarthy Boyington, Anna Khaja, Brantley Black, Karen Strassman. USA
RATE ME – A portrait of a teen escort comes to life via online user reviews. DIR Fyzal Boulifa. SCR Fyzal Boulifa. CAST Zehra Zorba. UK
THE RETURN OF ERKIN – A man just released from a long-term prison discovers that his former life has vanished, never to return. DIR Maria Guskova. SCR Maria Guskova. CAST Kahramonjon Mamasaliyev. Russia
REVIEW – A young woman recounts a story to a group of friends who listen with rapt attention, but the tale sounds very familiar. DIR Dustin Guy Defa. USA
RONALD REAGAN LIGHTS THE LIGHTS – The President conducts a delicate task. DIR Pacho Velez. USA
RONALD REAGAN PARDONS A TURKEY – The President makes a tough call. DIR Pacho Velez. USA
SEA CHILD – A young girl on the verge of womanhood is consumed by nightmares. DIR Minha Kim. SCR Islay Bell-Webb. CAST Rachel Park. UK
SERENITY – Everyone remembers their first time. Everyone has regrets. DIR Jack Dunphy. SCR Jack Dunphy. CAST Jack Dunphy. USA
SHARE – The victim of an unspeakable act gone viral returns to high school. DIR Pippa Bianco. SCR Pippa Bianco. CAST Taissa Farmiga, Keir Gilchrist, Madisen Beaty, Andre Royo. USA
THE SUN LIKE A BIG DARK ANIMAL (EL SOL COMO UN GRAN ANIMAL OSCURO) – Even computers need love. DIR Ronnie Rivera, Christina Felisgrau. SCR Bernardo Britto, Ronnie Rivera. CAST Agustina Woodgate. USA
SWIMMING IN YOUR SKIN AGAIN – A film about motherhood, banality, Miami, the water, the divine feminine and how to sing in church in a way that calls forth your own adulthood. DIR Terence Nance. SCR Terence Nance. CAST Norvis, Jr., Hadassah Amani, Genoa O’Brien, Vickie Lynn Washington-Nance. USA
TAKE WHAT YOU CAN CARRY – When a young woman living abroad receives a letter from home, it’s what she needs to fuse her transient self with the person she’s always known herself to be. DIR Matthew Porterfield. SCR Matthew Porterfield. CAST Hannah Gross, Jean-Christophe Folly, Angela Schanelec, Gob Squad. USA
TEETH – That which is neglected, is lost. DIR Tom Brown, Daniel Gray. SCR Tom Brown, Daniel Gray. CAST Richard E. Grant. UK/Hungary/USA
THE FACE OF UKRAINE: CASTING OKSANA BAIUL – Adorned in pink sequins, little girls from war-torn Ukraine audition to play the role of Olympic champion figure skater Oksana Baiul. DIR Kitty Green. SCR Kitty Green. Ukraine/Australia
TRACKS – An amateur skateboarder is left to care for his girlfriend’s young daughter on the day of a championship tournament. DIR Logan Sandler. SCR Logan Sandler, Carly Stone. CAST Keith Stanfield, Lana Schwartz, Dominique Razon. USA
TUESDAY (SALI) – An ordinary school day for a teenage girl in Istanbul. DIR Ziya Demirel. SCR Ziya Demirel, Buket Coşkuner. CAST Melis Balaban. Turkey/France
TWELVE TALES TOLD – The dream factory folds in on itself. DIR Lurf Johann. Austria
TWO FILMS ABOUT LONELINESS – A split screen separates two distinct worlds that are closer than they appear. DIR William Bishop-Stephens, Christopher Eales. SCR William Bishop-Stephens, Christopher Eales. CAST Tim Key, Detlef Bierstedt. UK
UNDER THE SUN (RI GUANG ZHI XIA) – An attempted act of kindness sets two families on an irrevocable collision course from which there is no return. DIR Qiu Yang. SCR Qiu Yang. CAST Zhu Ping, Sun Zhongwei, Bai Lihong, Gong Weiming. Australia/China
VICTOR XX – In a small seaside town, a young person makes a personal discovery when they experiment with their gender. DIR Ian Garrido. SCR Ian Garrido. CAST Alba Martínez, Shei Benzidour, Yolanda Cruz. Spain
VOLTA (BOATA) – Nina is told she is just going for a walk. DIR Stella Kyriakopoulos. SCR Stella Kyriakopoulos. CAST Marissa Triandafyllidou, Katerina Douka, Giorgos Valais. Greece
WAVES ’98 – Omar is lured into the depths of segregated Beirut. Isolated from reality, he struggles to keep his sense of home. DIR Ely Dagher. SCR Ely Dagher. CAST Elie Bassila. Lebanon/Qatar
WORLD OF TOMORROW – A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of the distant future in the latest opus from Don Hertzfeldt. DIR Don Hertzfeldt. SCR Don Hertzfeldt. CAST Julia Pott, Winona Mae. USA
YELLOW FIEBER – Athens was covered in a strange yellow dust. No one expected what was about to happen. DIR Konstantina Kotzamani. SCR Konstantina Kotzamani. CAST Mamadou Diallo, Eytuchia Stefanidou. Greece
YOLO – Filmed in the remains of Soweto’s historic Sans Souci Cinema (1948-1998), YOLO is a makeshift structuralist mash-up created in collaboration with the Eat My Dust youth collective. DIR Ben Russell. USA/South Africa
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Wim Wenders, Jafar Panahi Among 2015 Toronto International Film Festival Masters of Cinema Lineup
The 2015 Toronto International Film Festival today announced the selections for the 2015 Masters program. This year’s lineup features the latest bold, exciting and moving works from masters of contemporary cinema, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Wim Wenders, Jafar Panahi, Philippe Garrel, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hong Sang-soo, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Patricio Guzmán.
Films screening as part of the Masters program include:
11 Minutes (11 Minut) Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/Ireland North American Premiere
A jealous husband out of control, his sexy actress wife, a sleazy Hollywood director, a reckless drug messenger, a disoriented young woman, an ex-con hot dog vendor, a troubled student on a mysterious mission, a high-rise window cleaner on an illicit break, an elderly sketch artist, a hectic paramedics team and a group of hungry nuns: a cross-section of contemporary urbanites whose lives and loves intertwine. They live in an unsure world where anything could happen at any time. An unexpected chain of events can seal many fates in a mere 11 minutes.
The Assassin (Nie Yinniang) Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan North American Premiere
Ninth century China. A general’s ten-year-old daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who transforms her into an exceptional assassin. Years later, she is sent back to the land of her birth with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised. Nie Yinniang must now choose between the man she loves and the sacred way of the righteous assassins.
Bleak Street (La calle de la amargura)
Arturo Ripstein, Mexico/Spain North American Premiere
Mexican maestro Arturo Ripstein (Deep Crimson) directs this true-crime story about the bizarre 2009 murders of midget-wrestling brothers Alberto and Alejandro Jiménez. Starring Patricia Reyes Spíndola, Nora Velázquez and Sylvia Pasquel.
Blood Of My Blood (Sangue Del Mil Sangue)
Marco Bellocchio, Italy International Premiere
Italian master Marco Bellocchio (Fists in the Pocket, Vincere) returns with this haunting, enigmatic tale that takes us from the 17th century to the present day as it traces the dark history of a cursed monastery.
Cemetery of Splendor (Rak Ti Khon Kaen)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul North American Premiere
Thailand/United Kingdom/France/Germany/Malaysia
A young medium and a middle-aged hospital volunteer investigate a case of mass sleeping sickness that may have supernatural roots in the gorgeous, mysterious, and gently humorous new film from Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives).
Every Thing Will Be Fine
Wim Wenders, Germany/Canada/France/Sweden/Norway North American Premiere
A winter evening. A car on a country road. It’s snowing, visibility is poor. Out of nowhere, a sled comes sliding down a hill. The car comes to a grinding halt. The driver is Tomas, a writer. He cannot be blamed for the tragic accident. It’s also not young Christopher’s fault, who should have taken better care of his brother. Tomas falls into a depression. The film follows Tomas and his efforts to give meaning to his life again. Starring James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Rachel McAdams.
Francofonia
Alexander Sokurov, Germany/France/Netherlands North American Premiere
Master filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark) transforms a portrait of the Louvre museum into a magisterial, centuries-spanning reflection on the relation between art, culture and power.
In the Shadow of Women
Philippe Garrel, France North American Premiere
A Parisian documentary filmmaker becomes embroiled in a romantic triangle in this luminous love story from the great director Philippe Garrel (Frontier of Dawn, Regular Lovers).
Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
Jafar Panahi, Iran Canadian Premiere
Internationally acclaimed director Jafar Panahi (This is Not a Film) drives a yellow cab through the vibrant streets of Tehran, picking up a diverse (and yet representative) group of passengers in a single day. Each man, woman, and child candidly expresses his or her own view of the world, while being interviewed by the curious and gracious driver/director. His camera, placed on the dashboard of his mobile film studio, captures a spirited slice of Iranian society while also brilliantly redefining the borders of comedy, drama and cinema.
Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary)
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan North American Premiere
Three sisters — Sachi, Yoshino and Chika — live together in a large house in the city of Kamakura. When their father — absent from the family home for the last 15 years — dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral, and meet their shy teenage half-sister. Bonding quickly with the orphaned Suzu, they invite her to live with them. Suzu eagerly agrees, and a new life of joyful discovery begins for the four siblings. Starring Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho and Suzu Hirose.
The Pearl Button (El Botón de Nácar)
Patricio Guzmán, Chile/France/Spain North American Premiere
The great Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán (The Battle of Chile, Nostalgia for the Light) chronicles the history of the indigenous peoples of Chilean Patagonia, whose decimation by colonial conquest prefigured the brutality of the Pinochet regime.
Rabin, The Last Day
Amos Gitaï, Israel/France North American Premiere
Lauded director Amos Gitaï (Kippur) delves into the prelude and aftermath of the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in this gripping docudrama.
Right Now, Wrong Then
Hong Sang-soo, South Korea North American Premiere
The delightful new film from Festival favorite Hong Sang-soo (In Another Country) presents two variations on a potentially fateful romantic encounter between a filmmaker and a painter, tracing each to its own very distinct outcome.
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 to 20, 2015.