The pistol-packing acclaimed South African western Five Fingers for Marseilles which is set for release in US theaters on Friday, September 7, 2018, has released a new trailer and poster. Five Fingers for Marseilles, from filmmaker Michael Matthews and screenwriter Sean Drummond, is described as a thrilling western set against the backdrop of post-Apartheid South Africa.
The residents of the colonial town of Marseilles are under the thumb of police oppression and only the young rebels known as the Five Fingers are willing to stand up to them. Their battle is just, until Tau kills two policemen and flees the scene. The remaining rebels disband while the banished Tau resorts to a life of crime. Twenty years later, now known as feared outlaw The Lion of Marseilles, he is released from prison. He returns home, desiring only peace and to reconnect with those he left behind. The battle for South Africa’s freedom has been won, and former comrades-in-arms are in prominent positions as mayor, police chief, and pastor. But it quickly becomes clear to Tau that Marseilles is caught in the grip of a vicious new threat — and he must reconstitute the Five Fingers to fight frontier justice. Standing against former allies and new enemies, the re-formed Five Fingers saddle up and ride out, and put their lives at risk to save their beloved Marseilles.
Five Fingers For Marseilles
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Watch New Trailer + Poster for Pistol-Packing South African Western FIVE FINGERS OF MARSEILLES
The pistol-packing acclaimed South African western Five Fingers for Marseilles which is set for release in US theaters on Friday, September 7, 2018, has released a new trailer and poster. Five Fingers for Marseilles, from filmmaker Michael Matthews and screenwriter Sean Drummond, is described as a thrilling western set against the backdrop of post-Apartheid South Africa.
The residents of the colonial town of Marseilles are under the thumb of police oppression and only the young rebels known as the Five Fingers are willing to stand up to them. Their battle is just, until Tau kills two policemen and flees the scene. The remaining rebels disband while the banished Tau resorts to a life of crime. Twenty years later, now known as feared outlaw The Lion of Marseilles, he is released from prison. He returns home, desiring only peace and to reconnect with those he left behind. The battle for South Africa’s freedom has been won, and former comrades-in-arms are in prominent positions as mayor, police chief, and pastor. But it quickly becomes clear to Tau that Marseilles is caught in the grip of a vicious new threat — and he must reconstitute the Five Fingers to fight frontier justice. Standing against former allies and new enemies, the re-formed Five Fingers saddle up and ride out, and put their lives at risk to save their beloved Marseilles.
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South African Western FIVE FINGERS FOR MARSEILLES Guns for Theaters September 7th [Trailer]
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Five Fingers for Marseilles[/caption]
Imagine Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven; or John Wayne in The Searchers. Now journey from the sweeping plains of America’s Old West to the unforgiving hinterlands of South Africa. Then update the archetypal gunfighter to steely black cowboys who are deft horsemen and lethal marksmen. The result is the boldly original and modern take on the Western genre, Five Fingers for Marseilles, filmed on location in the North-Eastern Cape village of Lady Grey, South Africa. The movie marks the feature directorial debut of Michael Matthews and the feature screenwriting debut of Sean Drummond.
The pistol-packing South African western Five Fingers for Marseilles stares down the barrel of a national theatrical release Friday, September 7, 2018 via Uncork’d Entertainment.
Matthews and Drummond honor the traditional Western genre — and its Spaghetti and revisionist variations — while exporting the trappings into a fresh contemporary story set against the backdrop of post-Apartheid South Africa. Five Fingers for Marseilles takes place in a small town “governed” by dubious local officials, living in fear of a lawless mob; when an exiled outlaw returns home in search of solace and redemption, brotherhood and loyalty are fused with vengeance.
Combining the socio-political threads found in many a great Western; stunning visuals captured in panoramic widescreen lensing; and a cast of talented South African actors giving powerful, nuanced performances, Matthews and Drummond deliver
Synopsis: The residents of the colonial town of Marseilles are under the thumb of police oppression and only the young rebels known as the Five Fingers are willing to stand up to them. Their battle is just, until Tau kills two policemen and flees the scene. The remaining rebels disband while the banished Tau resorts to a life of crime. Twenty years later, now known as feared outlaw The Lion of Marseilles, he is released from prison. He returns home, desiring only peace and to reconnect with those he left behind. The battle for South Africa’s freedom has been won, and former comrades-in-arms are in prominent positions as mayor, police chief, and pastor. But it quickly becomes clear to Tau that Marseilles is caught in the grip of a vicious new threat — and he must reconstitute the Five Fingers to fight frontier justice. Standing against former allies and new enemies, the re-formed Five Fingers saddle up and ride out, and put their lives at risk to save their beloved Marseilles.
Starring Vuyo Dabula, Hamilton Dhlamini, Zethu Dlomo, Kenneth Nkosi, Mduduzi Mabaso, Aubrey Poolo, Lizwi Vilakazi, Warren Masemola, Dean Fourie, Anthony Oseyemi, Brendon Daniels, and Jerry Mofokeng, Five Fingers for Marseilles is written by Sean Drummond and directed by Michael Matthews. The film is produced by Asger Hussain (The Paperboy, Precious) and Yaron Schwartzman (Double Play, 37) from Game 7 Films, as well as Drummond and Matthews (collectively known as Be Phat Motel); and co-produced by Dylan Voogt. Be Phat Motel is next slated to produce the feature adaptation of Apocalypse Now Now penned by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Terri Tatchell (District 9). The film is executive-produced by Jeff Hoffman of Above the Clouds Media Group, Paulo Areal, Dumi Gumbi and Josh Green.
A South African box office hit, Five Fingers for Marseilles made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to successfully screen at Fantastic Fest, BFI London Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWT0hJhMZwk
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25th New York African Film Festival to Commemorate Nelson Mandela’s 100th Birthday + to Open with Apolline Traoré’s ‘BORDERS’
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Borders[/caption]
Under the theme “25 Years of the New York African Film Festival,” this year’s New York African Film Festival will pay homage to the pioneers of African cinema along with commemorating the 100th birthday of the venerated South African freedom fighter and national leader Nelson Mandela, with a crop of films from his native land. The month-long festival brings 66 films from 25 countries to FSLC, the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAMcinématek, and Maysles Cinema in Harlem.
Opening Night will spotlight Apolline Traoré’s award-winning film, Borders, which speaks to migration as well as to African women’s struggles, in a timely echo of the #MeToo movement. The film follows four women as they travel from Mali to Nigeria, supporting each other while battling sexism and corruption. The film won three prizes at FESPACO, including the Paul Robeson Prize for the best film by a director from the African diaspora. Borders will screen with a short film dedicated to the memory of Burkinabé director Idrissa Ouedraogo, who passed away in February and was a mentor to Traoré.
French director Berni Goldblat’s Wallay will have its New York premiere as the festival’s Centerpiece film on Friday, May 18. The coming-of-age tale follows Ady, a young troublemaker sent from France to his single father’s homeland of Burkina Faso for the summer. There, the teen finds new challenges as he navigates a different world.
The festival tips a hat to key figures in the history of African film with the U.S. premieres of Abderrhamane Sissako: Beyond Territories, Valérie Osouf’s intimate portrait of the acclaimed director of Bamako and the Oscar-nominated Timbuktu; a 2017 version of the 1983 classic Selbe: One Among Many, by Safi Faye, the first sub-Saharan woman to direct a theatrically released film, now restored to its original Wolof language; and Mohamed Challouf’s Tahar Cheriaa: Under the Shadow of the Baobab, which documents the career of the founder of the Carthage Film Festival, Africa’s first film festival. The festival will include the 1989 documentary short Parlons Grand-mère by the late Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty.
Other highlights include films from a new wave of African directors, including Machérie Ekwa Bahango of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Jeferson De of Brazil. The festival kicks off with a town hall meeting on Sunday, May 13, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Amphitheater. Titled “Activism & Art: Personal Journeys,” it will bring together storytellers of various mediums to discuss how their art informs their activism.
“Falling,” a free digital and interactive art exhibition exploring youth activism in Southern Africa, will run during the FSLC segment at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater.
The NYAFF heads to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAMcinématek) Thursday, May 24, through Monday, May 28, as a part of BAM’s popular dance and music festival DanceAfrica. It closes with a series of classic and contemporary narratives and documentaries at Maysles Cinema in Harlem running Thursday, June 7, through Sunday, June 10.
FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS
Opening Night Borders Apolline Traoré, Burkina Faso, 2017, 90m French with English subtitles New York Premiere Four women — Adjara, Emma, Sali, and Vishaa — meet while riding buses that cross West African borders, starting in Dakar and traveling through Bamako, Cotonou, Ouagadougou, and on to Lagos. Despite the gorgeous landscapes of the Atlantic coast and the Sahel, not everything is beautiful: they undergo car breakdowns in the stifling heat, face highway robbers, and endure fights between passengers. But their worst fears are realized in the liminal space of the border itself, where they witness great corruption, violence against women, and dangerous traffic. To survive, the women must stick together and take care of each other: the consequences of this trip will change their lives. Opening Night screening preceded by Idrissa Ouedraogo, From the Land of the Upright People Compiled by Burkina Faso National Television, Burkina Faso, 2016, 5m This short profile pays tribute to the late Burkinabé writer-director Idrissa Ouedraogo. Centerpiece Wallay Berni Goldblat, France/Burkina Faso, 2017, 82m Dioula and French with English subtitles New York Premiere Thirteen-year-old Ady no longer listens to his father, who is raising Ady on his own in France. Running out of resources, Ady’s father decides to entrust Ady to his Uncle Amadou for the summer. Amadou and his family live on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, in Burkina Faso. Things are quite different there, however, as boys of Ady’s age are expected to already become men. Ady must learn these lessons as he comes to understand the world a little differently during this life-changing holiday. Abderrhamane Sissako: Beyond Territories Valérie Osouf, France, 2017, 72m French with English subtitles U.S. Premiere To be somewhere precise yet stand nowhere at all; to touch the human soul with images. In Valérie Osouf’s portrait of the world-renowned filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Life on Earth, Bamako, Timbuktu), we are invited not only into his physical territory but also his poetic and politically engaged terrain. From Mali to China, from Nouakchott to Moscow, these spaces speak of displacement and exile. Featuring interviews with acclaimed artists, such as Danny Glover and Martin Scorsese, and everyday movie lovers — including a film-loving police officer and philosophy professor — Beyond Territories allows us to walk alongside Sissako and experience his world. Baby Mamas Stephina Zwane, South Africa, 2018, 93m U.S. Premiere Baby Mamas is a comedic drama about the lives and loves of four professional women in Johannesburg, each in her own stage of “baby mama drama.” Good girl Chantel discovers that she’s pregnant and her whole life is turned upside down. Sandy is still in love with her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child, even though he has decided to move on. Joy is in a tumultuous relationship with bad-boy Sizwe. Toli, a single mom and the leader of the group, must decide how much she is willing to risk as a parent while finding her path to love. Black Sun Alexei Speshnev, USSR, 1970, 97m Russian with English subtitles U.S. Premiere This long-unseen Russian drama, never before released in the U.S., follows the life and death of Robert Moussombe, the leader of an unnamed African state. Moussombe is a fictionalized portrait of assassinated Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, and the film’s events are a pastiche of the Congo Crisis in the 1960s, which signified the ascent of the Cold War that unraveled the newly minted post-independence nations on the continent of Africa. Burkinabé Rising Iara Lee, Burkina Faso, 2017, 72m English, French and Moore with English subtitles The beautifully filmed and intensely political documentary showcases the contemporary reality of creative nonviolent resistance in Burkina Faso. A small, landlocked country in West Africa, Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists and engaged citizens, who prove that political change can be achieved when people come together. Burkinabé Rising shows that Burkina Faso is an inspiration, not only to the rest of Africa but also to the rest of the world. The Delivery Boy Adekunle “Nodash” Adejuyigbe, Nigeria, 2017, 65m Hausa and Pidgin with English subtitles U.S. Premiere Amir, a young orphan raised in an African extremist group, runs away on the eve of a suicide mission, taking his bomb vest with him. He has a mission of his own. On his way, he runs into Nkem, a young prostitute escaping a lynch mob for a crime committed while trying to get money to save her dying brother. Before the night is over, they traverse the underbelly of the Nigerian metropolis as they search for their identities, their stolen pasts, money, and any semblance of peace they can find. Preceded by Meokgo and the Stick Fighter Teboho Mahlatsi, South Africa/Lesotho, 2005, 19m Reclusive stick fighter Kgotso lives a solitary life high up in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. Whilst tending sheep and playing his concertina, he sees a beautiful and mysterious woman dreamily staring at him from the water. This story of unrequited love and sacrifice is a haunting tale spiced with magical realism. Five Fingers for Marseilles Michael Matthews, South Africa, 2017, 120m English and Sotho with English subtitles New York Premiere Five Fingers for Marseilles fuses western influences — from classic John Ford to “spaghetti” to revisionist eras — into a contemporary South African crime drama with a local flavor. Twenty years ago, the young “Five Fingers” fought for the rural town of Marseilles against brutal police oppression. After fleeing in disgrace, the freedom-fighter-turned-outlaw returns to Marseilles seeking a peaceful, pastoral life. When he finds the town under new threat, he must reluctantly fight to free it. The great westerns have always contained sociopolitical threads, and Five Fingers’ loose allegory on current South African politics is dark, edge-of-the-seat, and starkly human. Maki’la Machérie Ekwa Bahango, Democratic Republic of the Congo/France, 2018, 78m Lingala and French with English subtitles U.S. Premiere Nineteen-year-old Maki’la, nicknamed Maki, has been living on the streets since she was 13, and has long been friends with young hoodlum Mbingazor, who has become the boss of a criminal gang. The two end up getting married; however, the relationship is founded on exploitation and violence and soon leaves Maki feeling trapped. She manages to escape and goes into hiding, when she meets Acha, a 12-year-old who has recently wound up on the streets herself after losing her parents. Soon the two forge a close bond, though Mbingazor, angrier than ever, is close behind. Purple Dreams Joanne Hock, U.S., 2017, 73m Stereotypes of black youth are turned upside down in this inspirational documentary shadowing six high-school students on an emotionally powerful, three-year journey of transformation in racially biased Charlotte, North Carolina. With access to arts and academic mentors, the film’s teenage subjects have the potential to break the cycle of poverty, homelessness, and gang-related violence. They are given an opportunity to transcend their circumstances through a triumphant musical production, an experience that ultimately propels them into a world of opportunity they never expected. Purple Dreams bears witness to the need for arts in education, especially in underserved communities. Running After Jeferson De, Brazil, 2018, 86m New York Premiere Eking out a living selling trinkets amidst the traffic-clogged streets of Rio de Janeiro, Paulo Gale sees an opportunity to change his life by becoming a football manager. While searching for his own Neymar in Rio’s suburbs, he discovers the remarkably talented Glanderson, a boy who dreams of becoming a professional soccer player despite the fact that he has only three toes on his right foot. Gale uses his entrepreneurial spirit and creativity to try and make Glanderson a star. A film of comic verve, Running After offers a glimpse of life on the peripheries of Brazil’s capital. Selbe: One Among Many (2017 Version) Safi Faye, Senegal, 1983/2017, 30m Wolof with English subtitles U.S. Premiere of Reissue in Wolof In focusing on the daily life of a Senegalese village woman, Selbe: One Among Many examines the economic and social roles rural African women are expected to play. Selbe has the heavy responsibility of providing for a large family as her husband searches unsuccessfully for work in a neighboring town. On his return, he joins the other unemployed men of the village, who will not help the women, but are as dependent on them as the children for food and shelter. This reissue marks the first time the film has been issued in its original Wolof language. Preceded by On Monday of Last Week Akosua Adoma Owusu, U.S., 2018, 14m New York Premiere Kamara, a Nigerian woman, works as a nanny for Josh, the five-year-old son of an interracial couple, Tracy and Neil. Tracy is an African American artist working on a commission in her basement studio — a space she rarely leaves. Kamara is intrigued by Tracy’s absence as a mother. When Tracy finally emerges from her studio one afternoon, Kamara’s growing curiosity is piqued. Their brief encounter inspires Kamara to become Tracy’s muse. Tahar Cheriaa: Under the Shadow of the Baobab Mohamed Challouf, Tunisia, 2014, 70m Arabic and French with English subtitles U.S. Premiere Tahar Cheriaa: Under the Shadow of the Baobab documents the career of one of the core fathers of Pan-Africanism and founder of Africa’s first film festival, the Carthage Film Festival. After Tunisian independence, Tahar used all his energy to bring the first authentic images of postcolonial Africa to broader audiences. The film depicts Cheriaa’s ideas and projects, with interviews and archival material creating a complete portrait of the man and his fight for both Sub-Saharan African cinema and African cinema as a whole. His legacy in African cinema was crucial to nothing less than the modernization of the continent. Preceded by Parlons Grand-mère Djibril Diop Mambéty, Senegal/Burkina Faso, 1989, 34m Wolof with English subtitles In his documentary about the making of Yaaba (1989), Idrissa Ouédraogo’s second feature, Djibril Diop Mambéty follows the director and cast to paint a humorous portrait of the dangers of filming in Burkina Faso. The Wedding Ring Rahmatou Keïta, Niger, 2016, 96m Songhay, Zarma, Hausa, Fulani, Bambara and Moree with English subtitles New York Premiere A student who hails from a prestigious aristocratic family, Tiyaa returns home to the Sultanate of Damagaran, in Niger, for the winter holidays. She is expecting the young man whom she met at university in France — who also comes from a wealthy family, not far from where she grew up — to make a formal proposal of marriage. While waiting for the handsome suitor, she shares her secret with her friends, learning the other women’s stories of love, marriage, and divorce, painting a compelling and revealing portrait of male-female relations in Sahelian society. Preceded by Vagabonds Magaajyia Silberfeld, U.S./France/Niger, 2017, 16m Rachel is a young woman living with her Nigerien uncle and his American wife. When her aunt has had enough of Rachel’s free-spirited lifestyle, she kicks her out of the house. Soon she runs into a washed-up movie star whose life, she finds out, is surprisingly similar to her own. Wonder Boy for President John Barker, South Africa, 2016, 94m U.S. Premiere A charismatic young man from the Eastern Cape is coerced into running for president by two corrupt characters in this political satire that delves into the dynamics and challenges of politics in contemporary South Africa. Wonder Boy for President‘s unique “mockumentary” structure creates all kinds of fun. It’s often hard to tell where the documentary ends and the mockumentary begins, and that’s the great strength of this hilarious film.Shorts Program 1 — Quartiers Lointains: Self Image
“Quartiers Lointains, a media collective comprised of young Francophonie artists and professionals, curated this shorts program which highlights works by artists of bi-cultural descent who seek to understand and explore their dual identity and engage in a dialogue to better understand the Other. (TRT: 90m) Le Bleu blanc rouge de mes cheveux Josza Anjembe, France, 2016, 21m French with English subtitles New York Premiere Teenage Seyna faces unexpected obstacles on her mission to become a French citizen, from the disapproval of her Cameroonian father to the limitations of the camera lens. Gagarine Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, France, 2015, 15m French with English subtitles New York Premiere Yuri is 20. He lives with his mother in Ivry, the city where he grew up. But a demolition is approaching, and the scenery of his childhood dreams will soon disappear. Nulle Part Askia Traoré, France, 2014, 27m French with English subtitles New York Premiere After a funeral, Jacky returns to his childhood neighborhood, where he reconnects with his friends and his first love. Retour à Genoa City Benoît Grimalt, France, 2017, 29m French with English subtitles New York Premiere Since 1989, the director’s grandma and her brother have watched the same soap opera every day at the same time. Twenty years after his departure from Nice, he returns and asks them to tell him about the 3,527 episodes he’s missed.Shorts Program 2 — Najia (Nigerian) Stories
Short works by filmmakers in Nigeria or diasporic filmmakers making films about Nigerian subjects from around the world. (TRT: 101m) Birth of Afrobeat Opiyo Okeyo, U.S., 2017, 7m New York Premiere In September 2017, Tony Allen, a 77-year-old drummer from Nigeria was invited to record the album “What Goes Up” with the American band Chicago Afrobeat Project. In this hybrid live-action/animated film, Allen recounts how he and his partner, the late music legend Fela Kuti, created the Afrobeat genre in Lagos, Nigeria. Eja Aro Badewa Ajibade, Nigeria, 2017, 14m New York Premiere Lolade is a young woman in her early twenties who has been in a long-distance relationship with Jubril Hassan for one year. Her brother, Seye, and her best friend, Ebele, both find it peculiar that she has yet to see Jubril in person. Las Gidi Vice Udoka Oyeka, Nigeria, 2017, 19m New York Premiere After a couple years of planning, a girl finally gets her revenge on the guy who ruined her life. The Good Son Tomisin Adepeju, UK, 2016, 14m English and Yoruba with English subtitles Kunle Owomole is a dutiful Nigerian son, the pride of his family. However, during a traditional family gathering, he is forced to address a secret he has kept from his parents, one that would have a profound impact on his relationship with them. Mr. Gele: The Man. The Story. The Craft Gladys Edeh, U.S., 2016, 14m New York Premiere Mr. Gele focuses on the man, the story, and the craft of the celebrated Houston-based Nigerian gele (African headwear) artist Mr. Hakeem Oluwasegun Olaleye, popularly known as Mr. Segun Gele, a self-taught creative who has been able to use his skills as a designer and makeup artist to beautify women around the world. Still Water Runs Deep Abessi Akhamie, Nigeria/U.S., 2017, 15m English, Etsako, Hausa, and Pidgin with English subtitles New York Premiere Still Water Runs Deep follows a Nigerian patriarch who leads his household with a stern hand. But when his estranged son goes missing, his reluctant search turns into an emotional journey, shaking the core of his steely resolve and revealing his most intimate being. Visions Surreal 16 (Abba T. Makama, Michael Gouken Omouna, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi), Nigeria, 2017, 19m U.S. Premiere This anthology film, made up of three shorts inspired by dreams and visions, explores a young woman’s identity, relationship, and spirituality. Each short is directed by a member of the collective Surreal 16: Shaitan by Abba Makama, Brood by Michael Omonua, and Bruja by CJ “Fiery” Obasi.Shorts Program 3 — New York Shorts
A selection of shorts made by filmmakers of African descent living in New York. (TRT: 95m) A Christmas Mission, Sierra Leone Tim Naylor, U.S., 2017, 10m World Premiere During the Christmas season, Dr. Hawanatu Jah organized a medical mission to help the poor in Sierra Leone. In four days, with only four volunteer doctors from Europe and Africa, they treated over 600 patients and performed over 20 surgeries. This film shows how the passion of one inspires good health and hope for many. Larabilaran: Le Talibé et moi Djibril Drame and Mamedjarra Diop, Senegal/U.S., 2016, 26m English, French, and Wolof with English subtitles This film explores social and economic inequality in Dakar through the life of Seydina, a talibé (or student of the Qur’an), who negotiates his identity and relationship with Mariama, a well-educated and privileged girl. Mamadou Warma: Deliveryman Yusuf Kapadia, U.S., 2017, 9m New York Premiere Mamadou Warma escaped political persecution in Burkina Faso and came to the United States for a new lease on life. He now earns his living as a NYC bicycle deliveryman. A daylong journey alongside Warma reveals a man who looks optimistically toward his future, despite being an underpaid immigrant in a wealthy metropolis. A Pesar de su Ausencia Djali Brown-Cepeda, U.S., 2017, 10m New York Premiere In 1978 New York, one girl in a city of eight million, finds herself. Follow her journey. Proclamation Punctuation Sewra Kidane, U.S., 2016/2017, 5m In this enthralling fashion film, a fabulously fascinating woman recites a short soliloquy paying homage to her love of exclamation points. Periods are so period, whereas an exclamation point livens up a sentence! There is simply nothing worse than a long dragged-out sentence ending in an uninspiring dull dot! So, when exclamation points are your philosophy on life, one must always keep it on the upbeat! Via New York Kagendo Murungi, U.S./Kenya, 1995, 10m Drawing from memory and narrative, Via New York explores the politicization of African students in New York and the participation of South African lesbians and gays in the anti-apartheid movement. The film illustrates how both migration and the pursuit of formal education can function as catalysts for self-transformation and social change. word: collected poetry Jamil McGinnis and Pat Heywood, U.S., 2017, 17m The videos in this anthology of spoken word poems brought to life were adapted from the work of four poets living in New York City. Together, the collection explores an abundance of systematic and human complexities, as well as the everyday realities of being young and black.
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Portland International Film Festival Unveils 2018 PIFF After Dark Lineup | Trailers
[caption id="attachment_26927" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Five Fingers for Marseilles[/caption]
This year’s 41st Portland International Film Festival will once again include the popular, boundary pushing fare that constitutes the PIFF After Dark program, showcasing late night movies like Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s (Amer, The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears) giallo-inflected, spaghetti western Let the Corpses Tan, Joseph Kahn’s (Torque) caustic, rap battle comedy Bodied, Can Evrenol’s (Baskin) riff on 1970s Italian horror Housewife, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s (Spring) looping, sci-fi thriller The Endless, Lukas Figelfeld’s folk-horror tale Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse, and Michael Matthews’ western set in South Africa Five Fingers for Marseilles.
All PIFF After Dark at PIFF 41 screenings are at the Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, located in the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park Ave.)
2018 PIFF After Dark
Bodied (Dir. Joseph Kahn) – United States A UC Berkeley grad student whose thesis explores the use of racial slurs in rap battles finds himself drawn into the ring in this Eminem-produced feature directed by hip-hop/pop music video director Joseph Kahn and written by battle rap legend Alex “Kid Twist” Larsen. Winner of the Midnight Madness Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, “Bodied is pure zany fun disguised as a pure provocation, and sometimes vice versa, mainly because any attempt to characterize its narrative as problematic proves its point.”—IndieWire. (120 mins.) https://youtu.be/YgpL6R-X5Ng PRECEDED BY: Tickle Monster (Dir. Remi Weekes) – United Kingdom A wannabe rapper doesn’t believe his girlfriend’s claim that her apartment is home to a tickle monster. (4 mins.) Let the Corpses Tan (Dir. Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani) – France/Belgium A gang of ne’er-do-wells rob an armored truck, getting away with the gold bars. Hiding out, trouble ensues when unexpected guests AND the cops arrive, resulting in epic and complexly staged action. Cattet and Forzani (Amer, The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears) continue to channel their love of giallo cinema, but stretch in new directions, gloriously borrowing from spaghetti Westerns and Italian crime films. “Boiled down to a blurb, it’s like Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) directed Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire.”—Birth. Movies. Death. (90 mins.) https://youtu.be/8Cx48AN5_y8 PRECEDED BY: Manila Death Squad (Dir. Dean Colin Marcial) – United States/Philippines A journalist embeds herself with a violent vigilante group leader during the Philippine drug war. (13 mins.) Housewife (Dir. Can Evrenol) – Turkey A woman who experienced a tragic loss as a child comes under the spell of a mysterious and charismatic cult leader. Pivoting (mostly) from the H.P. Lovecraft and Anton Levay influences of his debut film (Baskin), Evrenol instead projects a mélange of cosmic horror and giallo influences mixed with a 1980s European soft-core production aesthetic. “Evrenol shows that he’s more than a one-trick pony. Housewife is an intriguing and strangely sensual tale of the descent into madness.”—The Hollywood News. (82 mins.) https://youtu.be/IuBs3WtYnLY PRECEDED BY: Setaceous (Dir. Tel Benjamin) – Australia A neighborhood is terrorized by a car alarm in the dead of the night. (11 mins.) Five Fingers for Marseilles (Dir. Michael Matthews) – South Africa A recent parolee returns to his hometown, vowing to turn his back on his criminal ways. Before long he finds that some of his friends from the Apartheid era have internalized and recreated the tyranny they struggled against. “Director Michael Matthews and scripter Sean Drummond skillfully employ recycled genre elements to enhance the mythic qualities of their slow-burn narrative and reinforce the underlying sense that their archetypical characters are fulfilling destinies as inescapable as the fates that might befall major players in a conventional Wild West saga.”—Variety. (120 mins.) https://youtu.be/vaWV8YhoYCQ PRECEDED BY: Catherine (Dir. Britt Raes) – Belgium An animated look into the origins of a crazy cat lady. (10 mins.) Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse (Dir. Lukas Feigelfeld) – Austria/Germany In a small Austrian mountain village in the 15th century, a single mother is ostracized by the other residents, who claim she is a witch. With his debut feature, director Lukas Feigelfeld has constructed a folk-horror tale that hews more closely to a black metal aesthetic than any other film in recent memory. “It looks and feels far more substantial than most indie debuts, confidently bending genre rules with its minimalist dialogue and hallucinatory plot, which owes more to David Lynch or Lars Von Trier than to more orthodox horror.”—Hollywood Reporter. (102 mins.) https://youtu.be/ctr9g-9gVkU PRECEDED BY: Möbius (Dir. Sam Kuhn) – United States/Canada Following the death of her true love, a high school poet describes what led her there in this highly textured, neo-noir short film. (15 mins.) The Endless (Dir. Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead) – United States After receiving a cryptic video in the mail, two brothers return to the Southern California cult they left a decade ago. They discover that no one they left behind has aged, and the event that the cult’s doctrine foretold has yet to happen. The directors make the most of the sci-fi tropes at the center of their micro-budget film, which has more in common with My Dinner With Andre and Primer than it does with the Hollywood-produced spectacles that pass for science fiction today. “The Endless isn’t just terrific—it’s poised to be that breakout genre hit that It Follows and The Babadook were.”—Slash Film. (111 mins.) (111 mins.) https://youtu.be/pcdTcGRJJRg PRECEDED BY: Zarr-Dos (Dir. Bart Wasem) – Switzerland Two giant heads blow shit up. (7 mins.)
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#PIFF41 2018 Portland International Film Festival Announces Lineup
The Portland International Film Festival (PIFF 41) has revealed the lineup for this year’s 41st edition of the Festival, which begins on Thursday, February 15th and runs through Thursday, March 1st. The Opening Night selection is the new comedy The Death of Stalin from writer/director Armando Iannucci (Veep, In the Loop). The film, adapted from the graphic novel by Fabien Nury, stars Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Palin.
In addition to the Opening Night film, the Festival will host the Portland premiere of a handful of Oscar-nominated films, including Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body and Soul (Hungary), nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, Laura Checkoway’s Edith & Eddie (United States), which is in competition for the Best Documentary (Short Subject) Oscar, and Reed Van Dyk’s Dekalb Elementary (United States), nominated for the Best Short Film (Live Action) Academy Award.
Also present in the lineup are multiple Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award submissions, including Tatiana Huezo’s Tempestad (Mexico), Jonas Carpignano’s A Ciambra (Italy), Deepak Rauniyar’s White Sun (Nepal), Ryôta Nakano’s Her Love Boils Bathwater (Japan), Lucrecia Martel’s Zama (Argentina), Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s Under the Tree (Iceland), and many others. Submissions for the Best Animated Feature Film Academy Award in the festival include Kenji Kamayama’s Napping Princess (Japan), Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero’s Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (Spain), and Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert’s The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales (France).
As in past years, the Festival features an abundance of short films. This year’s lineup boasts eight discrete short film programs, including two blocks devoted entirely to films made in Oregon, an animated shorts program, a collection exploring innovative experimental short form works, and a program of short films by Charlie Chaplin featuring live musical accompaniment by silent film composer and pianist Robert Israel. Israel has performed solo, and with orchestras, worldwide, in addition to past performances at the festival.
Other highlights of PIFF 41 include screenings of Andrew Haigh’s (45 Years) Lean on Pete, Morgan Neville’s (20 Feet from Stardom) Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Valeska Grisebach’s (Longing) Western, Portland-based director Sky Fitzgerald’s (50 Feet from Syria) 101 Seconds, the late Abbas Kiarostami’s (A Taste of Cherry) final film 24 Frames, Thomas Riedelsheimer’s (Rivers and Tides) Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy, Joseph Kahn’s (Detention) Bodied, Xuan Liang and Chun Zhan’s animated debut Big Fish & Begonia, Sergei Loznitsa’s (My Joy) A Gentle Creature, former Portlander Aaron Katz’ (Cold Weather) Gemini, a trio of features (Claire’s Camera, The Day After, and On the Beach At Night Alone) from South Korean director Hong Sang-Soo (The Day He Arrives), Christina Costantini and Darren Foster’s documentary debut Science Fair, Michael Matthew’s debut feature Five Fingers for Marseilles, Joshua Bonnetta and J.P. Sniadecki’s (People’s Park) El Mar La Mar, Rungaro Nyoni’s debut feature I Am Not a Witch, Ben Russell’s (A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness) Good Luck, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s (Spring) The Endless, Neïl Beloufa’s (Tonight and the People) Occidental, Samuel Maoz’ (Lebanon) Foxtrot, Warwick Thornton’s (Samson & Delilah) Sweet Country, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s (Amer) Let the Corpses Tan, Milad Alami’s (Nordic Factory) The Charmer, Cory Finley’s feature debut Thoroughbreds, and many others.
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2018 Portland International Film Festival Reveals First Wave of Films + Trailers, to Open with THE DEATH OF STALIN
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The Death of Stalin[/caption]
The Portland International Film Festival revealed the first wave of film titles for the upcoming 41st edition which begins on Thursday, February 15th and will run through Thursday, March 1, 2018. The Opening Night selection is writer/director Armando Iannucci’s (In the Loop, Veep) new comedy The Death of Stalin, starring Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Palin. The film, which premiered to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival, is an adaptation of the audacious, historical graphic novel by Fabien Nury.
FIRST WAVE TITLES include:
PIFF 41 Opening Night selection: The Death of Stalin Dir. Armando Iannucci United Kingdom, 2017 The one-liners fly as fast as political fortunes fall in this uproarious, wickedly irreverent satire from Armando Iannucci. Moscow, 1953: when tyrannical dictator Joseph Stalin drops dead, his parasitic cronies square off in a frantic power struggle to be the next Soviet leader. Among the contenders are the dweeby Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), the wily Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi), and the sadistic secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale). But as they bumble, brawl, and backstab their way to the top, just who is running the government? Combining palace intrigue with rapid-fire farce, this is a bitingly funny takedown of bureaucratic dysfunction performed to the hilt by a sparkling ensemble cast. https://youtu.be/ukJ5dMYx2no Let the Sunshine In Dir. Claire Denis France/Belgium, 2017 Living alone in Paris, Isabelle (Juliette Binoche), a divorced artist in her 50s, is optimistic that romantic hope springs eternal – or maybe she does. But as she auditions, not unpleasantly, but with increasing exasperation, a steady succession of prospective men, she ponders just what she’s seeking, and whether sex and companionship are really the keys to fulfillment. Featuring an ensemble cast of stellar French actors including Gerard Depardieu, Denis offers a complex, feminist take on love and the quest to find Mr. Right while not being trapped by need, convention, or expectation. “An elegant, eccentric relationship comedy of ideas, highly rarified and possessed of an almost inscrutable sophistication.” – The Guardian https://youtu.be/h-haop2Ini0 Zama Dir. Lucrecia Martel Argentina/Spain/France, 2017 “Martel ventures into the realm of historical fiction and makes the genre entirely her own in this adaptation of Antonio di Bendetto’s classic of Argentinean literature. In the late 18th century, in a far-flung corner of what seems to be Paraguay, an officer of the Spanish crown, born in the Americas, waits in vain for a transfer to a more prestigious location. Martel renders Zama’s world – his daily regimen of small humiliations and petty politicking – as both absurd and mysterious, and as he increasingly succumbs to lust and paranoia, subject to a creeping disorientation. Precise yet dreamlike, and thick with atmosphere, Zama is a singular and intoxicating experience from one of cinema’s truly brilliant minds.” – New York Film Festival. https://youtu.be/K8dW6YHINAA 24 Frames Dir. Abbas Kiarostami Iran/France, 2017 Three years in the making and Kiarostami’s final film before his death in 2016, each segment in 24 Frames offers a view of a photograph or painting and what he imagined might have occurred before and after the image was frozen in time. Employing multiple cinematic devices while shifting between fiction and documentary, he wistfully attempts to decipher the essence of cinema and its ability to capture reality. “Repetition-with-variations and a sly wit are hallmarks of many Kiarostami works, and these 24 mini-films abound with his visual acuity and dry authorial humor, all of it in accessible and pleasurable form.” – Film Comment. Won’t You Be My Neighbor Dir. Morgan Neville United States, 2017 “With his gentle voice and heartfelt words of wisdom, Fred Rogers served as a compassionate surrogate father for generations of American children who tuned in to public television. He believed in love as the essential ingredient in life and was able to assist kids through difficult situations armed merely with handmade puppets suggesting tolerance and acceptance. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Mr. Rogers made speaking directly and openly to children his life’s work, both on and off his long-running show. Animated sequences are peppered between archival footage of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and interviews with Fred Rogers’s family friends, and colleagues, offering a deliberate and beautiful tribute to an authentic human being and providing a much-needed salve for these often-fraught times.” – Sundance Film Festival. https://youtu.be/ocElSTC9S1U On the Beach at Night Alone Dir. Hong Sang-soo South Korea, 2017 “Hong Sang-soo’s movies have always invited autobiographical readings, and this is perhaps his most achingly personal film yet, a steel-nerved clear-eyed response to the tabloid frenzy that erupted in South Korea over his relationship with actress Kim Min-hee. The film begins in Hamburg, where actress Young-hee (played by Kim herself, who won the Best Actress prize at Berlin for this role) is hiding out after the revelation of her affair with a married filmmaker. Back in Korea, a series of encounters shed light on Young-hee’s volatile state, as she slips in and out of melancholic reflection and dreams.” – New York Film Festival. “A drama of rare lyrical exaltation…a kaleidoscopic fusion of reality and fantasy.” – The New Yorker https://youtu.be/AkBJ9QGtvRA Lean on Pete Dir. Andrew Haight United Kingdom, 2017 Fifteen-year-old Charley Thompson (Charlie Plummer) wants some stability: a home, food on the table, and a high school he can attend for more than part of the year. As the son of an itinerate single father (Travis Fimmel) working in warehouses across the Pacific Northwest, stability is hard to find. Hoping for a new start they move to Portland where Charley takes a summer job with a washed-up horse trainer (Steve Buscemi), and befriends an aging racehorse named Lean on Pete, ridden by the hard-nosed Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny). Based on Willy Vlautin’s novel and filmed in Burns and Portland, Lean on Pete chronicles a harsh coming of age in the American West. https://youtu.be/nzlazAyylw8 Jeannette, the Childhood of Joan of Arc Dir. Bruno Dumont France, 2017 France, 1425. In the midst of the Hundred Years’ War, the young Jeannette, still at the tender age of eight, looks after her sheep in the small village of Domremy. One day, she tells her friend Hauviette how she cannot bear to see the suffering caused by the English. Madame Gervaise, a nun, tries to reason with the young girl, but Jeannette is ready to take up arms for the salvation of souls and the liberation of the Kingdom of France. Carried by her faith, she will become Joan of Arc. “With his tenth feature, Bruno Dumont radically delves into Joan’s childhood with a category-defying period-cum-techno-head-banging musical, derived from two works by French writer Charles Péguy.” – Toronto International Film Festival. https://youtu.be/aLPW60Zo53w Foxtrot Dir. Samuel Moax Israel, 2017 Michael and Dafna experience gut-wrenching grief when army officials come to announce the death of their son. Unable to find any solace in the well-meaning condolences of family, or in the military’s patriotic platitudes, Michael spirals in to anger only to subsequently experience one of life’s unfathomable turns – a twist that can only be rivaled by the surreal military experiences of his son. Although terrible tragedy is at the heart of the film, Foxtrot contains moments laced with mordant humor, irony, and resonant emotion, as it explores the heartache of war and its far-reaching and unpredictable impacts. Winner of Israeli Ohphir Awards for Best Film and Best Director, the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and this year’s Israeli Oscar submission. https://youtu.be/wrBEDEmUceM I Am Not a Witch Dir. Rungano Nyoni United Kingdom/France/Zambia/Germany, 2017 Following an incident in her Zambian village, nine-year-old Shula is denounced as a witch and exiled to a state-run witch camp. While making every effort to adapt to her new life among much older women, Shula is both embraced and exploited by the camp officials. Now she must decide whether to accept the fate forced upon her or risk everything for freedom. Zambian-born Welsh director Rungano Nyoni’s debut combines anthropology, social satire, and superstition in a fascinating and touching magic-realist fable. Best Director, British Independent Film Awards. https://youtu.be/jOtcU_-KuaQ Gemini Dir. Aaron Katz United States, 2017 A heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant and her Hollywood starlet boss. As the assistant travels across Los Angeles to unravel the mystery, she must stay one step ahead of a determined policeman and confront her own understanding of friendship, truth, and celebrity. Former Portlander Katz, whose Cold Weather appeared in the PIFF 34 lineup, “delves into dreamy neo-noir territory with nods to films from auteurs like Hitchcock, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Brian De Palma, and David Lynch that tackle the “double” in cinema – and the potential, in the process of taking on an alternate identity, of subsuming the darkness of another’s soul.” – AFI Film Festival. https://youtu.be/ISjmjYU-kMI Five Fingers for Marseilles Dir. Michael Matthews South Africa, 2017 A recent parolee returns to his hometown, vowing to turn his back on his criminal ways. But it’s not long before he finds that some of the friends he grew up with in Apartheid era Marseilles have internalized and recreated the tyranny they struggled against for the present inhabitants of “New Marseilles.” “Director Michael Matthews and scripter Sean Drummond skillfully employ recycled genre elements to enhance the mythic qualities of their slow-burn narrative and reinforce the underlying sense that their archetypical characters are fulfilling destinies as inescapable as the fates that might befall major players in a conventional Wild West saga.” – Variety https://youtu.be/b5oVrZrbCr0 The Third Murder Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda Japan, 2017 This moving story of a man struggling to find the truth while questioning his own faith in the law is a philosophical whodunnit, intelligently broaching questions of innocence and guilt. Star attorney Shigemori agrees to defend Misumi, accused of murder after a fatal holdup. A man with a long criminal record, Misumi narrowly escaped the death sentence for another murder thirty years earlier. Astonishingly laid-back, Misumi has already confessed to the murder, and all the evidence points to the fact that he is guilty. But the deeper Shigemori delves into this case, the more he begins to doubt his client. Soon, he is faced with a complicated family story and the plot thickens. https://youtu.be/Plr3V4TYBQE Spoor Dir. Agnieszka Holland Czech, 2017 Drawing inspiration from local fairy tales, Spoor dissects political corruption and environmental activism in a small Polish town. Janina Duszejko is a retired engineer, astrology lover, vegetarian, and defender of animal rights. Now, she lives alone in the Sudeten Mountains near the Czech border. One winter night, she finds the body of her neighbor, a poacher. The circumstances of the man’s death are unusally mysterious as the only footprints found around his house are the prints of deer hooves. Soon, other members of the local hunting club are mysteriously murdered. Seeing the ineffectiveness of the police, she starts her own, unconventional investigation. Holland’s genre-bending, ecologically-minded thriller is this year’s Polish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. https://youtu.be/3JxYmGXAfXc Under the Tree Dir. Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson Iceland/France, 2017 Equal parts family drama, absurdist black comedy, and unconventional thriller, Under the Tree follows two warring households locked in a bitter dispute. One family adores their beautiful old tree, but the couple next door complain that blocks their sunlight, causing their garden to languish in its shadow. As the disagreement escalates into a passive-aggressive back-and-forth of nasty vibes, mysterious property damage, disappearing cats and dogs, the installation of security cameras, and more. Though set in Iceland, this humorous, but at times unsettling, story of suburban neighborhood warfare could be anywhere. https://youtu.be/qJghTR5y9U0
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Alexander Payne’s DOWNSIZING to Close + Final Wave of Films Announced for 2017 Fantastic Fest
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DOWNSIZING[/caption]
The 2017 Fantastic Fest announced its final wave of films, along with Alexander Payne’s miniature masterpiece DOWNSIZING as the closing night film. Rounding out a trio of Fantastic-Fest first-timers making their way to Austin is Cory Finley and his jaw dropping debut THOROUGHBRED, and fan-favorite tough guy extraordinaire Frank Grillo for the World Premiere of his nail-biting getaway drama, WHEELMAN.
In keeping with world premieres, Fantastic Fest announced a fistful of titles that will receive their big screen bows. Screen great Barbara Crampton will be in attendance with director Bradford Baruh for a ride in his chilling APPLECART, featuring over forty minutes of zero gravity footage; Russia’s SALYUT-7 is guaranteed to pop 3D eyes; HAUNTERS: THE ART OF THE SCARE walks us through the world’s most terrifying haunted houses; and TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID delivers a contemporary fairytale from within the world of the mexican cartels.
“I’m incredibly proud of the vast array of filmmaking on display in this year’s program,” said Fantastic Fest Creative Director Evrim Ersoy. “From the most highly acclaimed studio titles to the smallest independent debuts, it’s exhilarating to embrace unique creativity from the four corners of the world. Bringing filmmakers together in a program that highlights the increasing diversity of cinema is truly an honor that we can’t wait to share with our audience.”
Female filmmakers once again deliver powerful voices with three of the most dynamic films of the festival. Angel Robinson will be in attendance to share the controversially kinky true story behind the year’s biggest superhero with PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN; Lisa Bruhlmann makes a stunning entrance with her fantastical coming-of-age debut BLUE MY MIND; and not to be outdone, first time feature-maker Coralie Fargeat turns the revenge genre upside down with her outrageous femme fatale fiesta, REVENGE.
A mainstay of Fantastic Fest has been showcasing world cinema’s finest exports and this year is no exception. Asia basks in the glory of master Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s return to the apocalyptic fold with BEFORE WE VANISH (Japan), while his countryman Sôichi Umezawa delivers the outlandish midnight spectacle of VAMPIRE CLAY (Japan). South Korea represents with the year’s toughest crime caper, THE MERCILESS, and serial killer shocker V.I.P., while NYAFF award-winner BAD GENIUS represents Thailand. And Taiwan shows school students no mercy with the hyper-violent MON MON MON MONSTERS. Not to be outdone, Europe comes out swinging with Hungarian auteur Kornél Mundruczó’s follow up to WHITE GOD, the stunning JUPITER’S MOON, French filmmakers Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani splash their hyper-stylized western LET THE CORPSES TAN across the screen and Norway’s Joachim Trier delivers one of the most quietly impressive films of the year, the assured THELMA.
The world premiere of Don Hertzfeldt’s WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE 2: THE BURDEN OF OTHER PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS highlights an animated sidebar that pushes the medium into brave new spaces. Rounding out the fantastical trio is the debut feature from Studio Ponoc, MARY AND THE WITCHES FLOWER, from ex Studio Ghibli key animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, and JUNK HEAD, Takahide Hori’s claymation feature that took him over seven years to complete, entirely by himself.
American Genre Film Archive makes its triumphant return to Fantastic Fest with two movies that will rot your libido in the best way. BAT PUSSY, the world’s first X-rated parody, shares the spotlight the world premiere of a brand new 2K transfer of one of the most sought-after lost films in the history of exploitation cinema in a very special secret screening. Additional rep titles include the world premiere of the Takashi Miike-approved 4K restoration of ICHI THE KILLER, the digital remaster of the seminal Indian cult movie BAASHA, and Jean Rollin’s THE NUDE VAMPIRE, presented by Kier-la Janisse in celebration of her new book Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin.
True to form, Fantastic Fest will be re-writing reality once more with a crowded cornucopia of events that invade all corners of the fest. Gross-out grub-gorging spectacle Puke and Explode rumbles once more, notorious VHS archival warriors Everything is Terrible return with an all-new show to both delight and horrify. Comedy legend Gilbert Gottfried will be performing and screening the incredible biographical doc GILBERT, and the seminal Fantastic Debates marks its 10-year anniversary of polemic pugilism in spectacular fashion.
FINAL WAVE OF FILM:
AGFA + SOMETHING WEIRD PRESENT: BAT PUSSY and SECRET SCREENING American Genre Film Archive makes its triumphant return to Fantastic Fest with two movies that will rot your libido in the best way. BAT PUSSY, the world’s first X-rated parody, is what happens when an anonymous smut producer gets inspired by the 1960s BATMAN TV show but only has $5. It’s also what happens when your wildest dreams and most horrifying nightmares collide in an explosion of flaccid stupefaction. Next up, after years of detective work, AGFA presents the world premiere of a brand new 2K transfer of one of the most sought-after lost films in the history of exploitation cinema. LOST GIRLS Book Launch: THE NUDE VAMPIRE presented by Kier-la Janisse THE NUDE VAMPIRE France, 1970 Repertory, 88 min Director – Jean Rollin Jean Rollin’s THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970) follows a sinister businessman who’s keeping a young vampire girl captive and experimenting on her in the hope that he finds the key to eternal life. The film will be screened in celebration of the launch of the new book from publisher Spectacular Optical, LOST GIRLS: THE PHANTASMAGORICAL CINEMA OF JEAN ROLLIN, the first examination of Rollin’s work to be written by all women critics, scholars and film historians, and will be introduced by the book’s publisher Kier-La Janisse. 3FT BALL & SOULS Japan, 2017 International Premiere, 93 min Director – Yoshio Kato Four strangers come together to commit suicide using explosives. But they discover that every time they blow up, they’re sent back to just before they killed themselves. APPLECART USA, 2017 World Premiere, 86 min Director – Bradford Baruh An idyllic weekend vacation to a secluded cabin turns deadly when the Pollack family discovers an unconscious woman whose sinister plans will pit the family members against each other. BAASHA India, 1995 Repertory/International Premiere, 165 min Director – Suresh Krissna Superstar Rajinikanth plays a rickshaw driver with a history of violence in this genre-defining musical gangster romance epic from the director of AALAVANDHAN. BAD GENIUS Thailand, 2017 Texas Premiere, 130 min Director – Nattawut Poonpiriya A quartet of high school students are better at cheating than anything you’ve ever done in your life in this epic nail-biter about the standardized tests that level the playing field for all kids, smart and dumb, rich and poor. BEFORE WE VANISH Japan, 2017 North American Premiere, 129 min Director – Kiyoshi Kurosawa Kurosawa’s latest film is a sci-fi thriller about an invasion in which aliens must come to understand humanity through understanding human emotion — most importantly, our collective capacity for love. BLUE MY MIND Switzerland, 2017 North American Premiere, 97 min Director – Lisa Brühlmann BLUE MY MIND follows 15-year-old Mia (Luna Wedler) as she undergoes a life-changing transformation, one that leaves her examining her body and her very existence in a new light. BRIMSTONE & GLORY Mexico, USA, 2017 Regional Premiere, 67 min Director – Viktor Jakovleski Tultepec is a small Mexican town that celebrates its love of fireworks with a yearly week-long festival. This festival is captured in a glorious documentary that is pure cinema. THE CURED Ireland, UK, France, 2017 US Premiere, 95 min Director – David Freyne A zombie virus has hit the world… but it has been cured. What’s next for the ex-zombies who have returned to normal? David Freyne’s debut feature throws lots of food for thought into the mouth of your mind. DARKLAND Denmark, 2017 US Premiere, 113 min Director – Fenar Ahmad An Iraqi doctor in Denmark seeks vigilante justice for his brother’s murder when the police come up short, biting off more than he can chew in a world of gangs, drugs and underground fight rings. FIRSTBORN Latvia, 2017 North American Premiere, 90 min Director – Aik Karapetian Provocative Latvian director Aik Karapetian returns to Fantastic Fest with a new thriller that explores how far a meek architect will go to protect his dignity in the eyes of his wife in the aftermath of an attack. FIVE FINGERS FOR MARSEILLES South Africa, 2017 US Premiere, 120 min Director – Michael Matthews A troubled young man returns to the town he fled as a youth and is forced to confront his past (and the town’s difficult future) in this gorgeous Xhosa language western. GEMINI USA, 2017 Special Screening, 93 min Director – Aaron Katz Our understandings of friendship, truth and celebrity are challenged when a heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant (Lola Kirke) and her Hollywood starlet boss (Zoe Kravitz) in Aaron Katz’s latest. GILBERT USA, 2017 Regional Premiere, 99 min Director – Neil Berkeley GILBERT is the story of Gilbert Gottfried as never seen before, both a behind-the-scenes documentary and a poignant look at the life of a comedian who has more layers than most people can imagine. GOOD MANNERS Brazil, France, 2017 North American Premiere, 135 min Directors – Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra When lonely nurse Clara is hired as a nanny by wealthy Ana, she hardly expects anything like the friendship she finds with the lonely, pregnant woman. However, both women have dark secrets which will engulf all that they hold dear. HAUNTERS: THE ART OF THE SCARE USA, 2017 World Premiere, 88 min Director – Jon Schnitzer Delving behind the scenes of one of America’s most beloved seasonal pastimes, HAUNTERS shows the world of the people who make the scariest houses, mazes and experiences that range from the traditional to the controversial. ICHI THE KILLER – 4K RESTORATION Japan, 2001 Repertory/World Premiere of Restoration, 129 min Director – Takashi Miike The yakuza occupy a murky universe with more twists and turns than the Shinjuku alleys they call home. The mysterious disappearance of a Tokyo mob boss triggers a hunt to find him, dead or alive. The search leads to the city’s most depraved clubs and sex dens and eventually to Ichi, the schizophrenic hitman behind the crime. Even more shocking is the discovery that the mastermind who hired Ichi is a fellow gangster out for revenge. JUNK HEAD Japan, 2017 US Premiere, 114 min Director – Takahide Hori Humanity is dying. It’s been 1200 years since our rebellious clone workforce moved underground, and the only way we can survive is by plunging into the depths to learn more about our terrifying creations. JUPITER’S MOON Hungary, Germany, 2017 North American Premiere, 123 min Director – Kornél Mundruczó The most ambitious science fiction film of the year is also perhaps the most visually stunning. Aryan is a refugee who finds himself with the power to levitate after being shot. Stern is a disgraced, corrupt doctor. The two will meet and alter the entire world. LES AFFAMES Canada, 2017 US Premiere, 100 min Director – Robin Aubert In the remote Quebec countryside, things are not well. A plague has infected the land, affecting almost all the residents of a small village. The survivors have to navigate their new existence as well as deal with the infected with an appetite for flesh. LET THE CORPSES TAN Belgium, France, 2017 US Premiere, 92 min Directors – Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani On a beautiful corner of the Mediterranean, Rhino and his men take refuge after the robbery of 250 kilograms of gold. The plan is simple: Wait and split. But some unwanted visitors are about to turn this idyllic corner into a bloodbath. LETTERKENNY Canada, 2016 US Premiere, 151 min Director – Jacob Tierney The spiritual successors to STRANGE BREW’s Bob and Doug MacKenzie, the rural residents of the fictitious town of LETTERKENNY deliver a hysterical slice of Canadiana in the comedy phenomenon chronicling the daily problems of hicks, skids, hockey players and Christians. THE LINE Slovakia, Ukraine, 2017 North American Premiere, 112 min Director – Peter Bebjak One line is literal, the border between Slovakia and Ukraine. Criminal Adam Krajnak (Tomas Mastalir) crosses it often, smuggling product and people. The other line is metaphorical, and crossing it leads to a death spiral of violence and vengeance. LOVE AND SAUCERS USA/Canada, 2017 Texas Premiere, 67 min Director – Brad Abrahams David Huggins, a 72-year-old man who claims to have lost his virginity as a young man to an extraterrestrial being, turned to art to express his interspecies romance and lifelong relationship with the otherworldly. MARY AND THE WITCH’S FLOWER Japan, 2017 North American Premiere, 102 min Director – Hiromasa Yonebayashi Directing the first film out of Studio Ponoc, Hiromasa Yonebayashi (WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE) creates the dazzling and heartwarming story of an ordinary girl who becomes an extraordinary witch. THE MERCILESS South Korea, 2017 North American Premiere, 117 min Director – Byun Sung-hyun Cribbing liberally from the history of gangster films, Byun Sung-hyun’s hard-boiled Korean crime saga is filled with all manner of murder, deceit, double and triple crosses… and, oh yeah, slap-fighting. MOM AND DAD USA, 2017 US Premiere, 83 min Director – Brian Taylor Selma Blair and Nicolas Cage are seemingly ideal parents until an unknown force causes their town’s adults to murder their offspring. MON MON MON MONSTERS Taiwan, 2017 Regional Premiere, 112 min Director – Giddens Ko A bullied schoolboy is teamed up with his tormentors to do community social work. While on duty, they encounter a strange creature which they kidnap, and take bullying to a whole new level. THE PRINCE OF NOTHINGWOOD France, Germany, 2017 US Premiere, 85 min Director – Sonia Kronlund Meet Salim Shaheen: Afghani auteur, prolific actor and one-man moviemaking industry. Along with his trusted troupe of actors, he defies all the odds in the Middle East to fulfill his dreams of making movies. PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMEN USA, 2017 US Premiere, 108 min Director – Angela Robinson In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, this film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940s. RABBIT Australia, 2017 International Premiere, 99 min Director – Luke Shanahan After a full year, Maude is still stricken by visions of her sister Cleo’s kidnapping. Believing that Cleo is still alive, Maude undergoes a suspenseful journey to find her in this stunning, atmospheric feature debut from Luke Shanahan. RADIUS Canada, 2017 US Premiere, 91 min Directors – Caroline Labrèche & Steeve Léonard When a man wakes up from a car crash with no memory of what happened, his first instinct is to find help. However, as he gets closer to civilization and other people, an ugly truth will rear its head and affect all those who surround him. REVENGE France, 2017 US Premiere, 108 min Director – Coralie Fargeat Three rich male thrill-seekers discover that Jennifer isn’t the human sex doll that they assumed she was when they invited her on their isolated hunting getaway. Jennifer teaches them fundamental lessons about consent in a manner that they — and we — won’t soon forget. RIFT Iceland, 2017 Texas Premiere, 111 min Director – Erlingur Thoroddsen After a phone call from his ex wakes him late one night, Gunnar drives out to a secluded vacation cottage to save Einar from himself, but what awaits him there is mystery and confusion. SALYUT-7 Russia, 2017 World Premiere, 119 min Director – Klim Shipenko Based on a true story, SALYUT-7 is the little-known mission to dock with an unmanned space station in order to stop it from crashing into Earth, a feat never before attempted in space history. THELMA Norway, 2017 Texas Premiere, 116 min Director – Joachim Trier A conservative young woman attending college in Oslo begins to fall in love while discovering her burgeoning supernatural powers in a stunning new film from Norway. THOROUGHBRED USA, 2017 Austin Premiere, 92 min Director – Cory Finley Two teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. In the process, they learn that neither is what she seems to be, and that a murder might solve both of their problems. TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID Mexico, 2017 World Premiere, 83 min Director – Issa López When her mother suddenly disappears with no one to care for her, young Estrella ends up on the street and joins a gang of children, triggering a dangerous and tragic chain of events in the third feature from Mexican filmmaker Lopez. UNDER THE TREE Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Germany, 2017 US Premiere, 89 min Director – Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson On the outskirts of Reykjavik, the shadow cast by a tree triggers a feud between two neighboring families, with tragic and darkly comic consequences. V.I.P. South Korea, 2017 International Premiere, 128 min Director – Hoon-jung Park A notorious serial killer who happens to be the son of a defecting DPRK official sends South Korea’s National Intelligence, police from both states and even international brass into a mad political scramble in this thrilling neo-noir. VAMPIRE CLAY Japan, 2017 US Premiere, 80 min Director – Soichi Umezawa A class of art school hopefuls is stalked by blood-thirsty, flesh-hungry clay in this bizarre practical effects-heavy horror assault from THE ABCs OF DEATH 2 segment director and longtime special makeup effects artist Umezawa. VIDAR THE VAMPIRE Norway, 2017 Texas Premiere, 82 min Directors – Thomas Aske Berg & Fredrik Waldeland Christian farmer Vidar has a boring life, living with his mom and tending sheep. When he wishes for more excitement he wakes up undead, hangs out with vampire Jesus and discovers that sometimes the party can go on too long. WHEELMAN USA, 2017 World Premiere, 82 min Director – Jeremy Rush Frank Grillo (KINGDOM; CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR) stars as the wheelman, a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race to survive after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him and the only person he can trust… his 14-year-old daughter. All reasons to think fast and drive faster. WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE TWO: THE BURDEN OF OTHER PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS USA, 2017 World Premiere, 22 min Director – Don Hertzfeldt The highly anticipated follow-up to Don Hertzfeldt’s Oscar-nominated WORLD OF TOMORROW finds Emily Prime swept into the brain of an incomplete backup clone of her future self, who’s on a mission to reboot her broken mind. Continuing the tradition of the first film, WORLD OF TOMORROW EPISODE TWO was written entirely around candid audio recordings of Hertzfeldt’s five-year-old niece.
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45 Films from Fresh Filmmakers on Toronto International Film Festival 2017 Discovery Program
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A Fish Out Of Water (上岸的魚) Lai Kuo-An[/caption]
The Toronto International Film Festival debuted the 2017 Discovery program lineup with 45 first and second feature films by up-and-coming filmmakers from around the world. Good news for the future of global cinema: this is the biggest Discovery program to date, with 25% more titles than the 2016 roster and two-thirds of the selection World Premiering at TIFF.
“Uncovering new talent is one of the key roles of the Festival,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “The Discovery programme allows us to carve out a space for emerging filmmakers to be seen by the international film industry and has helped launch the careers of award-winning filmmakers like Maren Ade, Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen, Christopher Nolan, and Dee Rees.”
The films, produced or co-produced in 35 different countries, include fresh, experimental and compelling voices. Life in small, rural communities is portrayed in Miracle, Ravens and The Swan, while families dealing with crises and conflict are addressed in Apostasy, Shuttle Life and Suleiman Mountain. LGBTQ+ themes run through several of the Discovery titles, including Montana, Soldiers. Story from Ferentari and The Poet and the Boy, while teen sexuality is explored in Disappearance, Kissing Candice and Princesita.
“If you don’t support the future of filmmaking, you fall behind. So we’re always looking for new talent,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of TIFF. “The fact that the Discovery programme continues to grow is deeply encouraging, and speaks to the fact that there are a lot of people that want to make films when it is often increasingly more difficult to do so.”
The Toronto International Film Festival also announced an additional title to the Docs program: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, a documentary about Lorraine Hansberry, a black writer, communist, feminist, lesbian and outspoken trailblazer at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 17, 2017.
Toronto International Film Festival 2017 Discovery program
1% Stephen McCallum, Australia World Premiere ¾ (Three Quarters) Ilian Metev, Germany/Bulgaria North American Premiere A Fish Out Of Water (上岸的魚) Lai Kuo-An, Taiwan World Premiere A Worthy Companion Carlos Sanchez, Jason Sanchez, Canada World Premiere All You Can Eat Buddha Ian Lagarde, Canada World Premiere Apostasy Daniel Kokotajlo, United Kingdom World Premiere AVA Sadaf Foroughi, Iran/Canada/Qatar World Premiere Black Cop Cory Bowles, Canada World Premiere The Butterfly Tree Priscilla Cameron, Australia International Premiere Cardinals Grayson Moore, Aidan Shipley, Canada World Premiere Disappearance (Napadid Shodan) Ali Asgari, Iran/Qatar North American Premiere Five Fingers For Marseilles (Menoana e Mehlano ea Marseilles) Michael Matthews, South Africa World Premiere The Future Ahead (El futuro que viene) Constanza Novick, Argentina World Premiere The Garden (Sommerhäuser) Sonja Maria Kröner, Germany International Premiere The Great Buddha+ (大佛普拉斯) Huang Hsin-Yao, Taiwan International Premiere The Lady From Holland Marleen Jonkman, Netherlands/Germany World Premiere Gutland Govinda Van Maele, Luxembourg/Germany/Belgium World Premiere High Fantasy Jenna Bass, South Africa World Premiere Human Traces Nic Gorman, New Zealand North American Premiere Discovery Closing Film. I am not a Witch Rungano Nyoni, United Kingdom/France North American Premiere I Kill Giants Anders Walter, United Kingdom World Premiere Indian Horse Stephen Campanelli, Canada World Premiere Killing Jesus (Matar a Jesús) Laura Mora, Colombia/Argentina World Premiere Kissing Candice Aoife McArdle, Ireland World Premiere Luk’Luk’I Wayne Wapeemukwa, Canada World Premiere Mary Goes Round Molly McGlynn, Canada World Premiere Miracle (Stebuklas) Egle Vertelyte, Lithuania/Bulgaria/Poland World Premiere Montana Limor Shmila, Israel World Premiere Never Steady, Never Still Kathleen Hepburn, Canada World Premiere Oblivion Verses (Los Versos del Olvido) Alireza Khatami, France/Germany/Netherlands/Chile North American Premiere Oh Lucy! Atsuko Hirayanagi, USA/Japan North American Premiere The Poet and the Boy (Si-e-nui Sa-rang) Kim Yang-hee, South Korea International Premiere Princesita Marialy Rivas, Chile/Argentina/Spain World Premiere Ravens Jens Assur, Sweden World Premiere Scaffolding (Pigumim) Matan Yair, Israel/Poland North American Premiere Shuttle Life (分貝人生) Tan Seng Kiat, Malaysia North American Premiere Simulation Abed Abest, Iran North American Premiere Soldiers. Story from Ferentari (Soldaţii. Poveste din Ferentari) Ivana Mladenovic, Romania/Serbia/Belgium World Premiere Suleiman Mountain Elizaveta Stishova, Kyrgyzstan/Russia World Premiere The Swan (Svanurinn) Ása Helga Hjörleifsdóttir, Iceland World Premiere Discovery Opening Film. Tigre Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra Guardiola, Argentina World Premiere Valley of Shadows (Skyggenes Dal) Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen, Norway World Premiere Village Rockstars Rima Das, India World Premiere Waru Briar Grace-Smith, Ainsley Gardiner, Renae Maihi, Casey Kaa, Awanui Simich-Pene, Chelsea Cohen, Katie Wolfe, Paula Jones, New Zealand International Premiere Winter Brothers (Vinterbrødre) Hlynur Pálmason, Denmark/Iceland North American PremiereTIFF DOCS
Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart Tracy Heather Strain, USA World Premiere