I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY

  • Dallas International Film Festival Reveals Film Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_12031" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS[/caption] The 2016 Dallas International Film Festival taking place April 14 to 17, revealed the full schedule of film selections. Among the 113 films (63 features, 50 shorts), representing 31 countries, are nine films making their world premieres, including Shaun M. Colón’s A FAT WRECK, Alix Blair and Jeremy M. Lange’s FARMER/VETERAN, Ben Caird’s HALFWAY, Ciaran Creagh’s IN VIEW, Jeff Barrry’s OCCUPY, TEXAS, Willie Baronet and Tim Chumley’s SIGNS OF HUMANITY, and Jenna Jackson and Anthony Jackson’s UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT, in addition to THREE DAYS IN AUGUST (directed by Johnathan Brownlee) and DAYLIGHT’S END (directed by William Kaufman), as well as the world premiere of the next episode in Randal Kleiser’s groundbreaking VR series, Defrost. In addition, the famed Dallas Star Award will be presented to Academy Award-nominated cinematographer, Ed Lachman, and the inaugural presentation of the L.M. Kit Carson Maverick Filmmaker Award to director Monte Hellman. THE 2016 DIFF OFFICIAL SELECTIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS CENTERPIECE GALA SELECTION OTHER PEOPLE Director: Chris Kelly Country: USA, Running Time: 97min A struggling New York City comedy writer, fresh from breaking up with his boyfriend, moves to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Living with his conservative father and younger sisters, David feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother worsens, he tries to convince everyone (including himself) he’s “doing okay.” The film stars Molly Shannon and Jesse Plemons. CENTERPIECE GALA SELECTION Queen of the South – Pilot Director: Charlotte Sieling Country: USA, Running Time: 42min Based on the global best-selling novel “La Reina Del Sur,” by internationally-acclaimed author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, QUEEN OF THE SOUTH tells the powerful story of Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), a woman who is forced to run and seek refuge in America after her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico. In the process, she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run. PREMIERE SERIES COMPLETE UNKNOWN Director: Joshua Marston Country: USA, Running Time: 90min As a man (Michael Shannon) contemplates moving to a new state with his wife for her graduate program, an old flame (Rachel Weisz) – a woman who often changes identities – reenters his life at a birthday dinner party HIGH-RISE Director: Ben Wheatley Country: UK, Running Time: 119min HIGH-RISE stars Tom Hiddleston as Dr. Robert Laing, the newest resident of a luxurious apartment in a high-tech concrete skyscraper whose lofty location places him amongst the upper class. Laing quickly settles into high society life and meets the building’s eccentric tenants: Charlotte (Sienna Miller), his upstairs neighbor and bohemian single mother; Wilder (Luke Evans), a charismatic documentarian who lives with his pregnant wife Helen (Elisabeth Moss); and Mr. Royal (Jeremy Irons), the enigmatic architect who designed the building. Life seems like paradise to the solitude-seeking Laing. But as power outages become more frequent and building flaws emerge, particularly on the lower floors, the regimented social strata begins to crumble and the building becomes a battlefield in a literal class war. MORRIS FROM AMERICA Director: Chad Hartigan Country: USA/Germany, Running Time: 89min A heartwarming and crowd-pleasing coming-of-age comedy with a unique spin, Morris from America centers on Morris Gentry, a 13-year-old who has just relocated with his single father to Heidelberg, Germany. Morris, who fancies himself the next Notorious B.I.G., is a complete fish-out-of-water—a budding hip-hop star in an EDM world. To complicate matters further, Morris quickly falls hard for his cool, rebellious, 15-year-old classmate Katrin. SING STREET Director: John Carney Country: Ireland/USA/UK, Running Time: 105min SING STREET tales us back to 1980s Dublin seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old-boy named Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who is looking for a break from a home strained by his parents’ relationship and money troubles, while trying to adjust to his new inner-city public school where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer of hope in the mysterious, über-cool and beautiful Raphina (Lucy Boynton), and with the aim of winning her heart he invites her to star in the band’s music videos. There’s only one problem: he’s not part of a band…yet. She agrees and now Conor must deliver what he’s promised – calling himself “Cosmo” and immersing himself in the vibrant rock trends of the decade, he forms a band with a few lads, and the group pours their heart into writing lyrics and shooting videos. A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS Director: Natalie Portman Country: Israel/USA, Running Time: 98min Based on Amos Oz’s international best-seller, A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS is the story of Oz’s youth at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. The film details young Amos’ relatinship with his mother and his birth as a writer, looking at what happens when the stories we tell, become the stories we live. THREE DAYS IN AUGUST – WORLD PREMIERE Director: Johnathan Brownlee Country: USA, Running Time: 96min Starring Barry Bostwick, Meg Foster, and Mariette Hartley, the film is about an Irish American artist who is forced to confront her past when both sets of parents come together over a weekend for her to paint a family portrait. NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION ARIANNA Director: Carlo Lavagna Country: Italy, Running Time: 84min At the age of nineteen, Arianna still hasn’t had her first period. The hormones that her gynaecologist has prescribed don’t seem to have any effect on her development. In the heat of the silent summer afternoons she spends in the family’s hunting lodge in Tuscany, she starts inquiring about her body and her past, to finally face with the true nature of her sexuality and her true identity. [caption id="attachment_12030" align="aligncenter" width="1218"]FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE[/caption] FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE Director: Maris Curran Country: USA, Running Time: 82min Sherwin is a good man, flawed like any other, but deeply invested in his family and in love with his wife, Fiona. When she returns from visiting her estranged and ill mother and acts distant, he shows concern. Their conversations lead to fights, the worst in their marriage. Fiona no longer sees herself as a mother; she does not want children. Sherwin is confused and angry. The life they have built begins to break down. And before there can be resolution, Fiona dies, in an auto accident after driving distractedly on the freeway. Sherwin is devastated. All that is dear to him — his wife, his sense of self and his future, vanish. In the middle of his grief, Sherwin receives a phone call from the person he least expects, Fiona’s mother. She invites him to visit her in rural Maine, saying: “it might do us both some good.” Sherwin decides to go to Maine, and embarks on an unlikely journey of healing, compassion and empathy. HALFWAY Director: Ben Caird Country: USA, Running Time: 103min Starring Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side) and Jeff DeMunn (The Walking Dead), HALFWAY tells the story of a recently released convict who faces the conflict of enduring ties with his old criminal world while struggling to adapt to life on probation as the only black man in a conservative white farm town. Among prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 roughly 68% were rearrested within 3 years with over 75% rearrested within 5 years. Halfway wants to bring to light that there is a serious systematic failure within the American prison system, where a lack of opportunity for those who have transgressed in their past seems to guarantee a future behind bars. IN VIEW – WORLD PREMIERE Director: Ciaran Creagh Country: Ireland, Running Time: 93min Ruth’s life is one of burgeoning guilt dominated by rage, alcoholism, depression and selfloathing which has its origins in a once-off drunken indiscretion with a work colleague some years previous. Having lost all that was dear to her, Ruth is still trying to seek out help but is coming to realize that there is only one course of action that may placate her soul. To end her life so as her organs can be donated to help others which will, in her mind, be payback for her perceived sins. MR. PIG Director: Diego Luna Country: Mexico, Running Time: 100min Eubanks (Danny Glover), an old-school pig farmer from California, leaves his foreclosed family farm and sets off on a road trip to Mexico with Howard, his last beloved and very large pig. Ambrose must smuggle Howard across the border to find him a new home. As they embark across Mexico, Eubanks’ drinking and deteriorating health begin to take a toll, derailing their plans. His estranged daughter, Eunice (Maya Rudolph), shows up unexpectedly and joins them on their adventure. Driven by strong convictions and stubbornness in his old ways, Ambrose forges ahead to make sure he finds Howard the home he deserves and potentially mend many of the relationships that mean the most to him. TRANSPECOS Director: Greg Kwedar Country: USA, Running Time: 85min On a remote desert highway, a makeshift Border Patrol checkpoint is manned by three agents: Flores (Gabriel Luna): with an uncanny ability to track; Davis (Johnny Simmons): joined the Border Patrol with dreams of romancing señoritas and riding on horseback; Hobbs (Clifton Collins Jr): one of the old guard who believes a college degree can’t stop a bullet. It’s like most boring days, but soon the contents of one car will change everything. What follows is a journey to uncover the surreal, frightening secrets hidden behind the facade of this lonely outpost. The end of the path may cost them their lives along a border where the line between right and wrong shifts like the desert itself. WHITE GIRL Director: Elizabeth Wood Country: USA, Running Time: 88min Summer, New York City. A college girl falls hard for a guy she just met. After a night of partying goes wrong, she goes to wild extremes to get him back. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION THE BAD KIDS Directors: Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe Country: USA, Running Time: 101min At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that empathy and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age drama watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of these so-called “bad kids.” BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS Director: Garrett Zevgetis Country: USA, Running Time: 90min Off a dirt road in rural Maine, a precocious 20-year-old woman named Michelle Smith lives with her mother Julie. Michelle is quirky and charming, legally blind and diagnosed on the autism spectrum, with big dreams and varied passions. Searching for connection, Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal” through a provocative fringe community. Will she take the leap to experience the wide world for herself? Michelle’s joyful story of self-discovery celebrates outcasts everywhere. FARMER/VETERAN – WORLD PREMIERE Directors: Alix Blair, Jeremy M. Lange Country: USA, Running Time: 82min After three combat tours in Iraq, Alex Sutton attempts a fresh start hatching chickens and raising goats on 43 acres in rural North Carolina. Alex embraces life on the farm with his new love Jessica, but cycles between a state of heightened alert and “feeling zombified” from a cocktail of prescriptions meant to stabilize his injured mind. When Jessica becomes pregnant, the dark past Alex has tried to escape -the loss of his first family, the war he was forced to leave- closes in on him. The farm becomes another battleground. Farmer/Veteran attempts to reconcile the identity of a perfect soldier with the reality of a haunted man determined to hold onto the best chance at peace he has ever known. HOOLIGAN SPARROW Director: Nanfu Wang Country: China, Running time: 84min Traversing southern China, a group of activists led by Ye Haiyan (AKA Sparrow) protest a scandalous incident where a school principal and a government official allegedly raped six school girls. Sparrow becomes an enemy of the state, but detentions, interrogations, and evictions can’t stop her protest from going viral. IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE Director: Patrick Shen Country: USA, Running Time 81min In our race towards modernity, amidst all the technological innovation and the rapid growth of our cities, silence is now quickly passing into legend. Beginning with an ode to John Cage’s seminal silent composition 4’33”, the sights and sounds of this film delicately interweave with silence to create a contemplative and cinematic experience that works its way through frantic minds and into the quiet spaces of hearts. As much a work of devotion as it is a documentary, In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative exploration of our relationship with silence, sound, and the impact of noise on our lives. THE PEARL Directors: Jessica Dimmock, Christopher LaMarca Country: USA, Running Time: 97min THE PEARL explores the raw emotional and physical experience of being a middle aged to senior transgender woman against the backdrop of post-industrial logging towns in the Pacific Northwest. The film leans into the struggle of those who were reared and successful as men and have reached middle age or later with a burdensome secret they can no longer keep to themselves. [caption id="attachment_11454" align="aligncenter" width="900"]Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami SONITA[/caption] SONITA Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Country: Germany/Iran/Switzerland, Running Time: 91min Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, SONITA tells the inspiring story of Sonita Alizadeh, an 18- year-old Afghan refugee in Iran, who thinks of Michael Jackson and Rihanna as her spiritual parents and dreams of becoming a big-name rapper. For the time being, her only fans are the other teenage girls in a Tehran shelter. And her family has a very different future planned for her: as a bride she’s worth $9,000. Iranian director Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami poignantly shifts from observer to participant altering expectations, as Sonita’s story unfolds in an intimate and joyful portrait. TEXAS COMPETITION – SPONSORED BY PANAVISION BOOGER RED Director: Berndt Mader Country: USA, Running Time: 96min Booger Red is a hybrid narrative/documentary film where fictional journalist, Onur Tukel, investigates the true case of the ‘Mineola Swingers Club’ trials. In 2006, seven people were sentenced to life for purportedly running the largest child sex ring in Texas history– inside of a swingers club in Mineola, Tx. Onur, portraying a veteran reporter, interviews the actual defendants and lawyers involved in the trials. On his journey through the seedy underbelly of east Texas, Onur is forced to confront his own history with abuse while he discovers that the allegations at the root of his investigation might have never happened. DAYLIGHT’S END – WORLD PREMIERE Director: William Kaufman Country: USA, Running Time: 105min Shot in Dallas and points ranging from East Texas to the West Texas town of Rio (pop.3) along the famed Route 66, the film is a hard driving action-horror-thriller starring Johnny Strong, Lance Henriksen and Louis Mandylor. It focuses on a rogue drifter who’s on a vengeful hunt, years after a mysterious plague has devastated the planet and turned most of humanity into blood-hungry creatures. When he stumbles across a desperate band of survivors in an abandoned police station, the drifter reluctantly puts his own thirst for blood on hold and agrees to help them defend themselves, only to realize that his mission of revenge and theirs may in fact coincide. HONKY TONK HEAVEN: LEGEND OF THE BROKEN SPOKE Directors: Brenda Greene Mitchell, Sam Wainwright Douglas Country: USA, Running Time: 75min George Strait, Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, George Jones and Roy Acuff have all been regulars on stage at the world famous honky tonk, The Broken Spoke. With fifty years under its belt buckle “the last of the true Texas dance halls” has endured rapid urban growth and skyrocketing rents due to the passion and hard work of its charismatic, tenacious owners. More than a history of who played and when at this landmark venue, the film reveals a universal story about what it takes to maintain a family business in our increasingly corporate-driven society. Interviews include Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dale Watson, James Hand, Jesse Dayton, the Waco Brothers and Alvin Crow. OCCUPY, TEXAS – WORLD PREMIERE Director: Jeff Barry Country: USA, Running Time: 95min OCCUPY, TEXAS follows a washed up Occupier (Gene Gallerano) who returns home after the death of his parents to find himself responsible for his two teenage sisters (Lorelei Linklater and Catherine Elvir) and his Texas-sized past. The cast also includes Janine Turner, Nikki Moore, Reed Birney, Paul Benjamin, David Matranga and Peri Gilpin. SLASH Director: Clay Liford Country: USA, Running time 100min Neil is an introverted, questioning high school freshman. His main social outlet is the steamy erotic fan fiction he writes about Vanguard, the brawny, galaxy-hopping hero of a popular sci-fi franchise. When his stories are exposed in class Neil is mortified, but the fearless, effortlessly cool Julia comes to his defense. An erotic fan fic writer herself, Julia pushes Neil to publish his stories to an online “adult” forum, where they quickly grab the attention of the site moderator, Denis. When Neil is invited to present his work at a comic con live-read event, he has to face the fact that Denis’ interest in him may be more than simply professional… perhaps like his own feelings for Julia. TOWER Director: Keith Maitland Country: USA, Running Time: 96min On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand. Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way, TOWER reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT Directors: Jenna Jackson, Anthony Jackson Country: USA, Running Time: 108min In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died mysteriously of salt poisoning. His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with capital murder, vilified from all quarters, and sent to prison for life. But was this churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? Or had the tragedy claimed its second victim? DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE THE ANTHROPOLOGIST Directors: Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, Jeremy Newberger Country: USA, Running Time: 80min THE ANTHROPOLOGIST considers the fate of the planet through the eyes of an American teenager, whose mother is studying the impact of climate change on indigenous communities. Environmental anthropologist Susie Crate drags her teenage daughter Katie along with her to the farthest reaches of the globe. Featuring commentary from Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of famed anthropologist Margaret Mead, the film explores how human beings adapt to catastrophic change. LIFE, ANIMATED Director: Roger Ross Williams Country: USA, Running Time: 89min LIFE, ANIMATED tells the remarkable story of how Owen found in Disney animation a pathway to language and a framework for making sense of the world. By evocatively interweaving classic Disney sequences with verite scenes from Owen’s life, the film explores how identification and empathy with characters like Simba, Jafar, and Ariel forge a conduit for him to understand his feelings and interpret reality. Beautiful, original animations further give form to Owen’s fruitful dialogue with the Disney oeuvre as he imagines himself heroically facing adversity in a tribe of sidekicks. With an arsenal of narratives at his disposal, Owen rises to meet the challenges of adulthood in this moving coming-of-age tale. LO AND BEHOLD, REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD Director: Werner Herzog Country: USA, Running Time 98min In LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD, the Oscar-nominated Herzog chronicles the virtual world from its origins to its outermost reaches, exploring the digital landscape with the same curiosity and imagination he previously trained on earthly destinations as disparate as the Amazon, the Sahara, the South Pole and the Australian outback. Herzog leads viewers on a journey through a series of provocative conversations that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works – from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships. TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU Director: Joe Berlinger Country: USA, Running Time: 115min TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU, Joe Berlinger’s twelfth feature documentary, captures internationally renowned life and business strategist and best-selling author, Tony Robbins, in a revelatory cinéma vérité film that goes behind the scenes of his mega once-a-year seminar “Date With Destiny,” attended by over 2,500 people, to give an insider look at how one man can affect millions. Granted never before seen access, this film is an emotional tour de force, pulling back the curtain on Tony Robbins and unveiling the inner-workings of this life-altering and controversial event, the zealous participants and the man himself. [caption id="attachment_11832" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]WEINER, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg WEINER, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg[/caption] WEINER Directors: Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg Country: USA, Running Time: 96min With unrestricted access to Anthony Weiner’s New York City mayoral campaign, this film reveals the human story behind the scenes of a high-profile political scandal as it unfolds, and offers an unfiltered look at how much today’s politics is driven by an appetite for spectacle. WORLD CINEMA DEMIMONDE Director: Attila Szász Country: Hungary, Running Time: 88min The story of three women – a famous prostitute, her housekeeper and their new maid – living in Budapest of 1910s, whose passionate, bizarre and complex relationship can only lead to one thing: murder. DHEEPAN Director: Jacques Audiard Country: France, Running Time: 110min Three Sri Lankan refugees pose as a family to flee their war-ravaged homeland for France, only to find themselves embroiled in violence in the Parisian suburbs. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Jacques Audiard’s (A PROPHET) latest is a gripping, human, and timely tale of survival. DISORDER Director: Alice Winocour Country: France, Running Time: 101min Vincent, a French Special Forces soldier just back from Afghanistan, is suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder. He is hired to ensure the security of Jessie, the wife of a rich businessman at their luxurious villa “Maryland.” As he starts experiencing a strange fascination for the woman he has to protect, Vincent increasingly seems to fall into paranoia. Unless he is right, and the danger is very real indeed… JOHNNIE TO’S OFFICE Director: Johnnie To Country: Hong Kong, Running Time: 120min Adapted by actress Sylvia Chang from her hit stage play “Design For Living”, the film is a musical set in a corporate high-rise immediately before and after the 2008 financial collapse. The story centers around two assistants starting new jobs at a financial firm. One naively enters the world of high finance with noble intentions, while the other harbors a secret. Chow Yun-fat, Eason Chan and Tang Wei star alongside Chang. KILL ZONE 2 Director: Cheang Pou-soi Country: Hong Kong, Running Time: 120min A undercover cop attempts to find the mastermind of a drug syndicate. When his cover is blown, he winds up in a Thai prison. Surprisingly, he is a bone marrow match for a guard’s daughter. LAST SUMMER Director: Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli Country: Italy, Running Time: 94min A sailing boat is at anchor in a bay off of a Apulian island. Naomi, a young Japanese woman, after having lost custody of her six year-old son, Ken, will be spending her last four days with him on board the boat of her father-in-law. In a hostile environment, Naomi faces the difficulty of approaching Ken under the controlling glare of the crew. Alex notices Naomi’s attempts to connect with Ken and eases his control, entering into conflict with the rest of the crew. When Naomi’s hopes seem lost Ken starts to take an interest in her, thus reducing the distance between them. The crew, in conflict with the captain, informs the boat’s owner. Alex, disobeying his employer’s wishes, takes Naomi and Ken to a beach where they can be alone and bond for the first time. Back on the boat, a timeless day magnifies the weight of their last goodbye and when Ken falls asleep, Naomi must leave. Watching the boat sail away, Naomi sees Ken for one last time wearing the mask she has made for him as a parting gift – the Japanese god of the sea. MA MA Director: Julio Medem Country: Spain/France, Running Time: 111min Academy Award®-winning actress and producer Penélope Cruz delivers an extraordinarily emotional performance in ma ma, the newest film from acclaimed director Julio Medem (SEX AND LUCÍA). Honoring the high melodrama of Pedro Almodóvar and Douglas Sirk, ma ma follows Magda (Cruz) as she experiences tragedies and miracles alike. Just as Magda is diagnosed with breast cancer, she meets Arturo (Luis Tosar), a devoted husband and father in the midst of unspeakable loss. Their chance encounter leads both down a path of strength, grace, love, and rebirth RIVER Director: Jamie M. Dagg Country: Canada, Running Time: 88min In the south of Laos, an American doctor (Rossif Sutherland) becomes a fugitive after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman. When the assailant’s body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control. TAKIM (THE TEAM) – U.S. PREMIERE Director: Emre Şahin Country: Turkey, Running Time: 102min Takim tells the tale of street soccer players from all walks of life in Istanbul who come together to save their favorite soccer pitch from ruthless developers. The story is loosely based on the very real urban phenomenon happening in Turkey today as corrupt construction giants bully the poor to move out and build immense buildings in their wake. Turgay and Tufan are up against the wall when they are threatened by a construction company to sell their family land, which also happens to be an hourly rental soccer field. Facing eviction from the bank on a loan gone bad, and with no options left, the two turn to the only thing they know: Soccer. Now they must build a strong team and try to win a famous tournament for the prize money for the sake of both their family and their land, all in a matter of weeks. VIVA Director: Paddy Breathnach Country: Ireland/Cuba, Running Time: 100min Jesus is a hairdresser for a troupe of drag performers in Havana, but dreams of being a performer. When he finally gets his chance to be on stage, a stranger emerges from the crowd and punches him in the face. The stranger is his father Angel, a former boxer, who has been absent from his life for 15 years. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, Viva becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and become a family again. LATINO SHOWCASE ALL THE COLORS OF THE NIGHT Director: Pedro Severien Country: Brazil, Running Time: 71min Iris lives alone in a spacious apartment by the sea. The green horizon seems to distance it from the city in comfortable isolation. At nightfall, the place hosts known and unknown in a frantic party flow. Iris is the main attraction. But on a hung over morning, she finds a corpse in the living room. As in the distorted reflection of a crooked mirror, Iris feels repeating steps of her childhood friend, Tiara, a medical student involved in an accident that resulted in death in the past. Tiara plunges into a spiral of self-pity, sentimental emptying and violence. The case is well known in town and Iris does not want to become another ghost in this dark repertoire of stories. In ALL THE COLORS OF THE NIGHT, reality works as a dimension of imagination, memory and madness. I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY Director: Julio Hernández Cordón Country: Mexico, Running Time: 88min I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY follows two teenage lovers in Mexico City who become embroiled in the city’s illegal, narco-run blood trade. Newcomers Diego Calva and Eduardo Martínez Peña, non-actors the director found on Facebook, give outstandingly honest and committed performances as young lovers Miguel and Johnny. They skate with their friends through the chaotic neighborhoods of Mexico City, they revel in their blissful sexuality, and they make a bit of cash in the illegal blood trade. A contact hooks them up with some narcos—drug traffickers who need black-market blood, since they can’t go to hospitals—and it seems like a perfect way to make a lot of money. But the scheme goes off the rails, and Miguel and Johnny are in over their heads, their eyes opened too late to the truly disturbing underground network of clinics servicing those injured in the drug wars. MAGALLANES Director: Salvador del Solar Country: Peru/Colombia/Argentina/Spain, Running Time: 109min Taxi driver Magallanes (Damián Alcázar) supplements his meager earnings with a job taking an old man (Federico Luppi) out on daily excursions. This old man is now senile and frail, but he was once a much-feared colonel in the Peruvian military during its bloodiest years of conflict with the Shining Path insurgency. Magallanes was his subordinate. One day a woman enters Magallanes’ cab. Celina (Magaly Solier) doesn’t recognize Magallanes, but he remembers her very well. Many years ago, Celina was a sexual plaything for the Colonel, who kidnapped the young indigenous girl and held her captive in a hotel room for an entire year. Magallanes has a photograph to prove this — a photo he can use to blackmail the Colonel’s affluent son (Christian Meier). But can this aging cabbie suddenly transform himself into an extortionist? Or is Magallanes, still in love with Celina after all these years, in over his head? ROMANCING APRIL Director: Joel Núñez Country: Mexico, Running Time: 90min A romantic comedy in which a male writer who writes under a female pseudonym falls for a female journalist who writes under a male pseudonym. When love comes almost always takes us by surprise and nobody can object. DEEP ELLUM SOUNDS A FAT WRECK – WORLD PREMIERE Director: Shaun M. Colón Country: USA, Running Time: 85min A FAT WRECK tells the story of founders Fat Mike (of the legendary punk band NOFX) and his ex-wife Erin Kelly-Burkett, spanning the birth, growth, struggles, and survival of the Fat Wreck Chords label. Half inspirational story of chosen family and community, half debauchery and occasionally involuntary drug use, the film blazes exciting new ground in the cinematic genre of puppet-driven punk rock music documentary filmmaking. Arguably the best film in the history of American cinema featuring a dominatrix spanking a puppet. [caption id="attachment_9499" align="aligncenter" width="1500"]Sharon Jones MISS SHARON JONES![/caption] MISS SHARON JONES! Director: Barbara Kopple Country: USA, Running Time: 93min Dreams never expire, but sometimes they are deferred. MISS SHARON JONES! tracks the talented and gregarious soul singer of the Grammy-nominated R&B band Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings during the most challenging year of her life. Confronting a cancer diagnosis and her own self doubts, she works to again find her voice and salvage the career that once eluded her for 50 years. PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW Director: Ido Haar Country: Israel, Running Time: 80min The true story of the incredible Princess Shaw and the enigmatic composer Kutiman, who discovers her from the other side of the world. By day, Samantha Montgomery cares for the elderly in one of New Orleans’s toughest neighborhoods. By night, she writes and sings her own songs as Princess Shaw on her confessional YouTube channel. Raw and vulnerable, her voice is a diamond in the rough. Across the globe, Ophir Kutiel creates video mash ups of amateur Youtube performers. Known as Kutiman, he is a composer, a musician, and a pioneering video artist embraced by the world of fine art. Kutiman “transforms sampling into a multimedia art”, whether at his home on a kibbutz in Israel or at a live performance at the Guggenheim in New York. Two strangers, almost 7,000 miles apart, begin to build a song. The film unfolds as Kutiman pairs Princess Shaw’s emotional performances in a beautiful expression of generosity and compassion, revealing the bonafide star underneath and her fight to never give up on her dreams. A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY Director: Keith Maitland Country: USA, Running Time: 97min Packed wall to wall with the greatest music from Texas and beyond, with performances from Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ray Charles, Beck, Alabama Shakes, and Radiohead, A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY is music to the ears of fans everywhere. This film highlights the PBS series’ evolution, proving that after 40 years, ACL is more relevant now than ever before. Featuring interviews with dozens of artists and fans, and untold insights from long-time producer Terry Lickona, A SONG FOR YOU transcends the TV show and gives audiences a front-row seat and backstage pass to the greatest performances of the longest running music show in television history. MAVERICK COLLECTIVE: UNCONSCIOUS Directors: Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker, Lauren Wolkstein Concept by: Dan Schoenbrun Country: USA, Running Time: 81min Five of independent film’s most adventurous filmmakers adapt each other’s dreams for the screen. A man and his grandmother hide out from an ominous broadcast. The Grim Reaper hosts a TV show. The formerly incarcerated recount and reinterpret their first days of freedom. A suburban mom’s life is upturned by the beast growing inside of her. And a high school gym teacher runs drills from inside a volcano. HOTEL DALLAS – U.S. PREMIERE Directors: Livia Ungur, Sherng-Lee Huang Country: USA/Romania, Running Time: 74min Playfully mixing fiction and documentary, HOTEL DALLAS is a surreal parable of capitalism, communism, and the power of art. In the 80s, in the twilight of communist Romania, “Dallas” is the only American show allowed on TV. Its vision of wealth and glamour captures the imagination of millions. Among them are Ilie and his daughter Livia. He is a small-time criminal and aspiring capitalist; she is in love with the show’s leading man, Patrick Duffy. After communism falls, Ilie builds the Hotel Dallas, a life-size copy of the “Dallas” mansion. Livia immigrates to America, becomes an artist, and directs a film starring Patrick Duffy, as a soap opera character who dies in Texas and wakes up in Romania, in a hotel that looks just like home. ORION – U.S. PREMIERE Director: Asiel Norton Country: USA, Running Time: 110min In a future dark age, after civilization has collapsed, there are rumors and prophecies of a savior to come. A hunter fights to save a maiden from a cannibal shaman and searches for the world’s last city. The film stars David Arquette and Lily Cole

    Read more


  • Under the Shadow Kicks Off Lineup for 2016 New Directors / New Films

    [caption id="attachment_11872" align="aligncenter" width="1100"]Under the Shadow Under the Shadow[/caption] The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art have announced the complete lineup for the 2016 New Directors / New Films (ND/NF), taking place March 16 to 27 in New York City.  Opening the festival is Babak Anvari’s debut feature Under the Shadow, about a mother and daughter haunted by a sinister, largely unseen presence during the Iran-Iraq War. Brimming with a mounting sense of dread until its ominous finish, this expertly crafted, politically charged thriller was a breakout hit at Sundance.. The Closing Night selection is Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson, a remarkable chronicle of the cinematographer-turned-director’s life through her collaborations with documentary icons Laura Poitras, Michael Moore, and others. A self-described memoir, Johnson’s first solo directorial effort examines the delicate, complex relationship between filmmaker and subject and is one of nine festival features and four shorts directed by women. This year’s slate includes a number of films that have won major awards on the festival circuit, including Josh Kriegman and Elyse Sternberg’s Sundance Grand Jury Prizewinner Weiner; Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Happy Hour, for which the main cast shared Locarno’s Best Actress award; Avishai Sivan’s Tikkun and Pascale Breton’s Suite Armoricaine, winners of the Locarno Special Jury and critics’ prizes, respectively; and Bi Gan’s Kaili Blues, which took home both the Golden Horse Award for Best New Director and Locarno’s honors for Emerging Artist and Best First Feature. Among the feature debuts are Zhang Hanyi’s Life After Life, executive-produced by Chinese master Jia Zhangke; Anita Rocha da Silveira’s psychosexual coming-of-age story Kill Me Please; Tamer El Said’s Cairo-set film within a film In the Last Days of the City; and Ted Fendt’s Short Stay, the only film in the festival to screen on 35mm. FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS Opening Night Under the Shadow Babak Anvari, UK/Jordan/Qatar, 2016, 84m Farsi with English subtitles It’s eight years into the Iran-Iraq War, but the troubles of wife and mother in Tehran have only just begun. Shideh (Narges Rashidi) is thwarted in her attempts to return to medical school because of past political activities. And as Iraqi bombs close in, her husband is sent off to serve in the military, neighbors begin to flee, and she is left alone with her young daughter, Dorsa, who refuses to be separated from her favorite doll. At first, Dorsa’s tantrums seem to simply be the complaints of a cranky child. But soon she’s in conversation with an invisible woman—no imaginary friend, this one—and the cracks in the walls and ceilings of their apartment could just be the result of something more than air raids. And what is that she sees down the hall, from the corner of her eye? Though Shideh is a woman of science, she begins to suspect that a malevolent spirit, a djinn, is stalking them. A political horror story that rises up from the rubble of war, Babak Anvari’s feature debut boasts a terrific performance by Rashidi as a woman with more than one war going on in her home and in her head, who must save her daughter from dangers both physical and supernatural. Closing Night Cameraperson Kirsten Johnson, USA, 2015, 102m How much of one’s self can be captured in the images shot of and for others? Kirsten Johnson may be a first-time (solo) feature-film director, but her work as a director of photography and camera operator has helped earn her documentary collaborators (Laura Poitras, Michael Moore, Kirby Dick, Barbara Kopple) nearly every accolade and award possible. Recontextualizing the stunning images inside, around, and beyond the works she has shot, Johnson constructs a visceral and vibrant self-portrait of an artist who has traveled the globe, venturing into landscapes and lives that bear the scars of trauma both active and historic. Rigorous yet nimble in its ability to move from heartache to humor, Cameraperson provides an essential lens on the things that make us human. The Apostate / El apóstata Federico Veiroj, Spain/France/Uruguay, 2015, 80m Spanish with English subtitles With wry humor and deep conviction, Uruguayan filmmaker Federico Veiroj (A Useful Life, ND/NF 2010) observes a young Spaniard’s maddening efforts to abandon the Catholic Church. Petitioning the local bishop in Madrid to hand over his baptismal records, the philosophy student is soon confronted with a stubborn bureaucracy and comically agonized tests of his fidelity and patience. Scenes of pithy theological discussion (performed by the film’s excellent ensemble cast) are interspersed with oneiric flights of imagination, cohering to produce a work that is by turns seriously philosophical and irreverently funny. While Veiroj’s tone may be more gently ironic than that of Luis Buñuel (his spiritual forebear), The Apostate nonetheless traces in bracing fashion the competing forces of conformity and rebellion, spiritual yearning and carnal desire, at war within us all. Screening with: Concerning the Bodyguard Kasra Farahani, USA, 2015, 10m This stylish adaptation of Donald Barthelme’s story, narrated by Salman Rushdie, takes on the power structures of a dictatorship with brio. Behemoth / Beixi moshuo Zhao Liang, China/France, 2015, 91m Mandarin with English subtitles Political documentarian Zhao Liang draws inspiration from The Divine Comedy for this simultaneously intoxicating and terrifying glimpse at the ravages wrought upon Inner Mongolia by its coal and iron industries. A poetic voiceover speaks of the insatiability of desire on top of stunning images of landscapes (and their decimation), machines (and their spectacular functions), and people (and the toll of their labor). Interspersed are sublime tableaux of a prone nude body—asleep? just born? dead?—posed against a refracted horizon. A wholly absorbing guided tour of exploding hillsides, dank mine shafts, cacophonous factories, and vacant cities, Behemoth builds upon Zhao’s previous exposés (2009’s Petition, 2007’s Crime and Punishment) by combining his muckraking streak with a painterly vision of a social and ecological nightmare otherwise unfolding out of sight, out of mind. Winner of the environmental Green Drop Award at the Venice Film Festival. North American Premiere Demon Marcin Wrona, Poland/Israel, 2015, 94m English, Polish, and Yiddish with English subtitles Newly arrived from England to marry his fiancée Zaneta, Peter has been given a gift of her family’s ramshackle country house in rural Poland. It’s a total fixer-upper, and while inspecting the premises on the eve of the wedding, he falls into a pile of human remains. The ceremony proceeds, but strange things begin to happen… During the wild reception, Peter begins to come undone, and a dybbuk, that iconic ancient figure from Jewish folklore, takes a toehold in this present-day celebration—for a very particular reason, as it turns out. The final work by Marcin Wrona, who died just as Demon was set to premiere in Poland, is an eerie, richly atmospheric film—part absurdist comedy, part love story—that scares, amuses, and charms in equal measure. Winner of Best Horror Feature at Fantastic Fest. An Orchard release. Donald Cried Kris Avedisian, USA, 2016, 85m Trust me, you can’t go home again. Kris Avedisian’s unhinged first feature is a brilliant twist on the family-reunion melodrama and the classic buddy comedy. Returning after 20 years to Warwick, Rhode Island, for his grandmother’s funeral, Peter Latang (Jesse Wakeman), now a slick city financier, has to endure a blast from the past and relive some very cringeworthy moments when hanging out with his former high-school bestie, the obnoxious Donald Treebeck (Avedisian). By turns depressing and funny while subtly shifting our sympathies thanks to sharp dialogue and extremely well-written characters, Donald Cried can perhaps best be summed up as The Color Wheel meets Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Eldorado XXI Salomé Lamas, Portugal/France, 2016, 125m Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara with English subtitles Salomé Lamas’s Eldorado XXI immerses the viewer in the breathtaking views and extreme conditions of La Rinconada in the Peruvian Andes, the highest-elevation permanent human settlement in the world. Here, some 17,000 feet above sea level, miners face misery and lawlessness in the hopes of striking gold, chewing coca leaves to stave off exhaustion. They toil for weeks without pay under the inhumane lottery system known as cachorreo, gambling on an eventual fortune if they can survive the despoiled landscape long enough. Life in this remotest outpost of civilization seems to unfold in the grip of an illusion, and the film itself frequently resembles a hallucination, not least in an extended tour-de-force shot that reveals an endless stream of miners trekking up and down the mountain as we hear radio reports and stories of their daily lives. Full of unforgettable images and sounds, Eldorado XXI is a transporting, fundamentally mysterious experience that renews the possibilities of the ethnographic film. North American Premiere Evolution / Évolution Lucile Hadžihalilović, France, 2015, 81m French with English subtitles On a remote island, populated solely by women and young boys, 10-year-old Nicolas plays with other children, but not in a carefree manner. And while the women may have maternal instincts, something is awry: they gather on the beach at night for a strange ritual that Nicolas struggles to understand, and the boys are taken to a hospital regularly for mysterious treatments. And water is everywhere. This is the stuff nightmares are made of, and Nicolas appears to be living out one of his own. In the follow-up to her directorial debut, Innocence, Lucile Hadžihalilović continues her exploration of growing up—where we’re going and what we’re leaving behind. As Nicolas discovers more, feelings of fear, melancholy, and also eroticism bubble to the surface. Hadžihalilović has created a dark fantasy that we are invited to explore and make our own discoveries, however macabre they may be. An Alchemy release. The Fits Anna Rose Holmer, USA, 2015, 72m The transition from girlhood to young womanhood is one that’s nearly invisible in cinema. Enter Anna Rose Holmer, whose complex and absorbing narrative feature debut elegantly depicts a captivating 11-year-old’s journey of discovery. Toni (played by the majestically named Royalty Hightower) is a budding boxer drawn to a group of dancers training at the same rec center in Cincinnati. She begins aligning herself with one of the two troupes, the Lionesses, becoming immersed in their world, which Holmer conveys with a hypnotic sense of rhythm and a rare gift for rendering physicality—evident most of all when a mysterious, convulsive condition begins to afflict a number of girls. Set entirely within the intimate confines of a few familiar settings (public school, the gym), and pulsating with bodies in motion, The Fits encourages us to recall the confused magic of entering the second decade of life. An Oscilloscope release. Happy Hour Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan, 2015, 317m Japanese with English subtitles Four thirtysomething female friends in the misty seaside city of Kobe navigate the unsteady currents of their work, domestic, and romantic lives. They speak solace in one another’s company, but a sudden revelation creates a rift, and rouses each woman to take stock. Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s wise, precisely observed, compulsively watchable drama of friendship and midlife awakening runs over five hours, yet the leisurely duration is not an indulgence but a careful strategy—to show what other films leave out, to create a space for everyday moments that is nonetheless charged with possibility, and to yield an emotional density rarely available to a feature-length movie. Developed through workshops with a cast of mostly newcomers (the extraordinary lead quartet shared the Best Actress award at the Locarno Film Festival), and filled with absorbing sequences that flow almost in real time, Happy Hour has a novelistic depth and texture. But it’s also the kind of immersive, intensely moving experience that remains unique to cinema. In the Last Days of the City / Akher Ayam El Madina Tamer El Said, Egypt/Germany/Great Britain/United Arab Emirates, 2016, 118m Arabic with English subtitles This film within a film is a haunting yet lyric chronicle of recent years in the Arab world, where revolutions seemed to spark hope for change and yield further instability in one stroke. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, The Square) plays the protagonist of Tamer El Said’s ambitious feature debut, a filmmaker in Cairo attempting to capture the zeitgeist of his city as the world changes around him—from personal love and loss to the fall of the Mubarak regime. Throughout, friends send footage and stories from Berlin, Baghdad, and Beirut, creating a powerful, multilayered meditation on togetherness, the tactile hold of cities, and the meaning of homeland. Shot in 2008 and completed this year, the film explores the weight of cinematic images as record and storytelling in an ongoing time of change. North American Premiere I Promise You Anarchy / Te prometo anarquía Julio Hernández Cordón, Mexico/Germany, 2015, 100m Spanish with English subtitles Miguel (Diego Calva) and Johnny (Eduardo Eliseo Martinez) are in deep. Badass skater-bros, crazy-in-love blood hustlers, they’re flowing inevitably toward a sea swimming with narco-sharks. This is Mexico City today, and for two boys from different worlds but the same house—Johnny is the son of Miguel’s family maid—there is no future. On the days they do have at their disposal, they will live as hard as they can, even if it means total destruction for everyone around them. A harrowing vision of the 21st century replete with garishly lit sex scenes, inebriated slow motion, and an exhilarating, eclectic pop soundtrack, and winner of numerous prizes at festivals in Latin America, Julio Hernández Cordón’s film is exploding with beats, sweat, and pain—an ecstatic and anguished portrait of youth teetering on the brink of nihilism. U.S. Premiere Kaili Blues / Lu bian ye can Bi Gan, China, 2015, 113m Mandarin with English subtitles A multiple prizewinner at the Locarno Film Festival and one of the most audacious and innovative debuts of recent years, Bi Gan’s endlessly surprising shape-shifter comes to assume the uncanny quality of a waking dream as it poetically and mysteriously interweaves the past, present, and future. Chen Sheng, a country doctor in the Guizhou province who has served time in prison, is concerned for the well-being of his nephew, Weiwei, whom he believes his thug brother Crazy Face intends to sell. Weiwei soon vanishes, and Chen sets out to find him, embarking on a mystical quest that takes him to the riverside city of Kaili and the town of Dang Mai. Through a remarkable arsenal of stylistic techniques, the film develops into a one-of-a-kind road movie, at once magical and materialist, traversing both space and time. U.S. Premiere Kill Me Please / Mate-me por favor Anita Rocha da Silveira, Brazil/Argentina, 2015, 101m Portuguese with English subtitles Anita Rocha da Silveira’s vibrantly morbid debut feature is a coming-of-age story in which passive aggression on the handball court, jealousy among friends, and teenage angst unfold in the foreground of a slasher flick. In Rio de Janeiro’s Barra da Tijuca—a newly formed upper-middle-class neighborhood of car-lined thoroughfares, gigantic malls, and monolithic white condos—a clique of teenage girls become fearfully captivated by a string of gruesome murders. The most fascinated is Bia (Valentina Herszage), whose own sexual discoveries evolve alongside the mounting deaths in this skewed world of wild colors and transformative desires. With nods to Brian De Palma’s Carrie, Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People, and the atmospheres of David Lynch, Rocha da Silveira’s contribution to the genre is nonetheless entirely her own. Life After Life / Zhi fan ye mao Zhang Hanyi, China, 2016, 80m Mandarin with English subtitles Zhang Hanyi’s exquisitely restrained ghost story combines the gentle supernaturalism of Apichatpong Weerasethakul with the clear-eyed social realism of Jia Zhangke (one of the film’s executive producers). A young boy, Leilei, becomes possessed by his late mother, Xiuying, whose spirit has wandered the Shanxi Province’s disintegrating cave homes for years. With the help of Leilei’s father (who receives his late wife’s return with matter-of-fact equanimity), they set out to move a tree from her family’s courtyard before she departs again. In ethereal, beautifully composed sequences of a barren rural-industrial village on the edge of collapse, itself a kind of purgatorial space, Zhang captures the spectral gap between life and oblivion. North American Premiere Lost and Beautiful / Bella e perduta Pietro Marcello, Italy/France, 2015, 87m Italian with English subtitles Pietro Marcello continues his intrepid work along the borderline of fiction and documentary with this beautiful and beguiling film, by turns neorealist and fabulist, worthy of Pasolini in its matter-of-fact lyricism and political conviction. Shot on expired 16mm film stock and freely incorporating archival footage and folkloric tropes, it begins as a portrait of the shepherd Tommaso, a local hero in the Campania region of southern Italy, who volunteered to look after the abandoned Bourbon palace of Carditello despite the state’s apathy and threats from the Mafia. Tommaso suffers a fatal heart attack in the course of shooting, and Marcello’s bold and generous response is to grant his subject’s dying wish: for a Pulcinella straight out of the commedia dell’arte to appear on the scene and rescue a buffalo calf from the palace. With Lost and Beautiful, a documentary that soars into the realm of myth, Marcello has crafted a uniquely multifaceted and enormously moving work of political cine-poetry. Winner of two awards at the Locarno Film Festival. U.S. Premiere Mountain / Ha’har Yaelle Kayam, Denmark/Israel, 2015, 83m Hebrew with English subtitles Atop Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, Zvia, a Jewish Orthodox woman, lives surrounded by an ancient cemetery with her four children and husband, a Yeshiva teacher who pays scant attention to her. Yaelle Kayam’s feature debut moves beyond the symbolic landscape of a woman’s isolation to offer a subtle and finely paced entryway into the character’s surprising inner life. On a nighttime walk through the tombstones, Zvia encounters a group of prostitutes and their handlers and gradually becomes an unlikely bystander to their after-hours activities, trading home-cooked meals for companionship—an usual sort, perhaps, but one that upends her existence as a mother and wife. Shani Klein’s arresting lead performance challenges clichés of female subjectivity in the filmmaker’s own society, culminating in Zvia’s dramatic attempt to bring change to her life; throughout, keenly observed frames, by turn luminous and moody, asserts the heroine’s volition with intention and finesse. Nakom T.W. Pittman & Kelly Daniela Norris, Ghana/USA, 2016, 90m Kusaal with English subtitles When his father dies suddenly, medical-student Iddrisu (Jacob Ayanaba) leaves the good life in the city and returns home to Nakom, a remote farming village. He’s now the head of the family, and he finds he must repay a debt that could destroy them all. Over the course of a growing season, Iddrisu confronts both the tragedy and the beauty of village life and must choose between a future for himself in the city or one for his family and the entire village. Filming in the village of Nakom in northern Ghana, directors T.W. Pittman and Kelly Daniela Norris capture in exquisite detail the lives of people steeped in rural tradition but who yearn to be a part of a new world. Along with writer Isaac Adakudugu and a nonprofessional cast—many of whom are revelations—they have created in Nakom an intimate yet universal story about the search for independence while feeling the pull of tradition. North American Premiere Neon Bull / Boi neon Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands, 2015, 101m Portuguese with English subtitles A rodeo movie unlike any other, Gabriel Mascaro’s Venice and Toronto prize-winning follow-up to his 2014 fiction debut August Winds tracks handsome cowboy Iremar (Juliano Cazarré) as he travels around to work at vaquejada rodeos, a Brazilian variation on the sport in which two men on horseback attempt to bring a bull down by its tail. Iremar dreams of becoming a fashion designer, creating flamboyant outfits for his co-worker, single mother Galega (Maeve Jinkings). Along with Galega’s daughter Cacá and a bullpen worker named Zé, these complex characters, drawn with tremendous compassion and not an ounce of condescension, make up an unorthodox family, on the move across the northeast Brazilian countryside. Sensitive to matters of gender and class, and culminating in one of the most audacious and memorable sex scenes in recent memory, Neon Bull is a quietly affirming exploration of desire and labor, a humane and sensual study of bodies at work and at play. A Kino Lorber release. Peter and the Farm Tony Stone, USA, 2016, 92m Peter Dunning is a rugged individualist in the extreme, a hard-drinking loner and former artist who has burned bridges with his wives and children and whose only company, even on harsh winter nights, are the sheep, cows, and pigs he tends on his Vermont farm. Peter is also one of the most complicated, sympathetic documentary subjects to come along in some time, a product of the 1960s counterculture whose poetic idealism has since soured. For all his candor, he slips into drunken self-destructive habits, cursing the splendors of a pastoral landscape that he has spent decades nurturing. Imbued with an aching tenderness, Tony Stone’s documentary is both haunting and heartbreaking, a mosaic of its singular subject’s transitory memories and reflections—however funny, tragic, or angry they may be. Remainder Omer Fast, UK/Germany, 2015, 97m The feature debut by celebrated video artist Omer Fast is a striking, stylish adaptation of English novelist Tom McCarthy’s landmark 2005 novel. Set in London, the narrative kicks off when the anonymous protagonist (Tom Sturridge) is struck by a large object plummeting from the sky. When he comes to, he has no recollection of what happened, and a reparations settlement nets him millions of pounds. The man channels these resources toward creating preposterously ambitious reconstructions of his own dim memories, in the process raising a host of questions about the relationship between reality and simulation, the minute details essential to our perception of places and events, and the limits of artistic monomania. Fast, who has explored similar themes in his own work, adapts McCarthy’s idea-packed novel with lucidity and wit, and Sturridge is mesmerizing as an existential hero searching the void for a trace of meaning. North American Premiere Short Stay Ted Fendt, USA, 2016, 35mm, 61m Multi-hyphenate Ted Fendt delivers on the promise of his acclaimed short films without sacrificing an ounce of his singular charm and rigor. Shooting on 16mm (blown up to 35mm), the writer-director-editor here focuses on Mike (Mike MacCherone), an ambitionless resident of Haddonfield, New Jersey, who finds himself subletting a friend’s room in Philadelphia and (ineptly) covering his shifts at a by-donation walking-tour company. Mike floats, as if in a trance, from one low-key comic folly to another, each one a strange and subtle moral tale. Fendt’s economy of expression, expert handling of his nonprofessional cast, and incomparable nose for the tragicomic dimension of the everyday distinguishes Short Stay as a truly anomalous work in contemporary American cinema: a film made entirely on its maker’s terms. North American Premiere Suite Armoricaine Pascale Breton, France, 2015, 148m French with English subtitles In her first feature since her distinctive 2004 debut, Illumination, Pascale Breton returns to her native region of Brittany for this rapturous ensemble film about the persistence of the past in the present. Françoise (Valérie Dréville), an accomplished art historian, leaves Paris to teach at her alma mater in Rennes. Most of her former schoolmates never left town, it turns out, and are curiously eyeing her return. Meanwhile, Ion (Kaou Langoët), a sensitive geography student, falls in love with the blind Lydie (Manon Evenat), and clashes with his estranged, now-homeless mother, Moon (Elina Löwensohn), one of Françoise’s closest friends from the old punk-rock days… As these idiosyncratic, richly drawn characters intersect, their points of view overlap and the tricks of time and memory become apparent. Bursting with ideas and emotion, Suite Armoricaine is a work of symphonic scope and grand themes (love and death, art and beauty, language and music) that finds deep wells of meaning in the smallest and most surprising details and gestures. North American Premiere Thithi Raam Reddy, India/USA, 2015, 120m Hindi with English subtitles Raam Reddy’s bold, vibrant first feature is closer to Émile Zola than it is to Bollywood. Filmed in India’s southern Karnataka state with all nonprofessional actors, the sprawling narrative follows three generations of sons following the death of the family’s patriarch, their 101-year-old grandfather known as “Century Gowda.” The men’s respective vices—ranging from greed to womanizing to cut-and-dry escapism—bring deliciously comedic misadventures to their village in the days leading up to the thithi, a funeral celebration traditionally held 11 days after a death. This incisive portrait of a community in a time of radical change (while some are looking after their sheep, others are lost in their cell phones) yields exemplary humanist comedy. Winner of two awards at the Locarno Film Festival, the film equally affirms the advent of a new realism within Indian cinema, as well as an engaging new voice in contemporary world cinema. Tikkun Avishai Sivan, Israel, 2015, 120m Hebrew and Yiddish with English subtitles In Avishai Sivan’s intense and provocative Tikkun, a prizewinner at the Jerusalem and Locarno Film Festivals, an ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva student experiences a crisis of faith—and visions of earthly delights—when his father brings him back from the brink of death. Was the young man’s improbable survival a violation of God’s will, or was it “tikkun,” a way toward enlightenment and redemption? Sivan imbues the narrative with an indeterminate, hypnotic blend of black comedy and alienated modernism, effecting a singularly uncanny atmosphere. Nonprofessional actor Aharon Traitel, himself a former Hasidic Jew, gives a nuanced, knowing performance as the anguished prodigy, and the black-and-white chiaroscuro photography casts the devoutly private, regimented Hasidic community of old Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim in a morally shaded light. A Kino Lorber release. The Wakhan Front / Ni le ciel ni la terre Clément Cogitore, France/Belgium, 2015, 100m French and Persian with English subtitles The ingenious conceit of The Wakhan Front, a critical success at Cannes, is to transform the Afghan battlefield—dust and boredom and jolts of explosive violence—into the backdrop for a metaphysical thriller. Jérémie Renier stars as a French army commander who begins to lose the loyalty of his company, as well as his sanity, when soldiers start mysteriously disappearing one by one. Rarely is the madness of war conveyed on screen with such simmering tension and existential fear. Rarely, too, is the ignorance and mistrust between cultures—are the shepherd villagers innocent civilians or Taliban spies?—limned with such poetic insight. U.S. Premiere Weiner Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg, USA, 2016, 100m Truly compelling vérité filmmaking requires several key factors to coalesce: intimate access, cinematographic acumen, genuine inquisitiveness, and fascinating subjects. Directors Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg brilliantly meld these elements to create one of the most engaging and entertaining works of nonfiction film in recent years. A truly 21st-century hybrid of classic documentary techniques and reality-based dramatic storytelling, Weiner follows the mayoral election bid of former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner in 2013, an attempted comeback that, as we all know now, was doomed to failure. By turns Shakespearean in its tragedy (it’s clear that Weiner and his inner circle have real political talent) and Christopher Guest-ian in its comedic portrayal of what devolves into a Waiting for Guffman–esque campaign, this is the perfect political film for our time. A Sundance Selects release. SHORTS PROGRAMS Shorts Program One Under the Sun / Ri Guang Zhi Xia Yang Qiu, China, 2015, 19m Chinese with English subtitles An incident of random nature entangles two families and brings their plights into sharp focus. Dirt Darius Clark Monroe, USA, 2014, 7m With an unsettling lyricism all his own, Darius Clark Monroe traces an evocative and elliptical portrait of a dirty deed. Totem Marte Vold, Norway, 2015, 20m Norwegian with English subtitles In seemingly idyllic Oslo, a couple demonstrates the discontents of intimacy with wit and biting honesty. U.S. Premiere Reluctantly Queer Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ghana/USA, 2016, 8m In a letter home to his beloved mother, a young Ghanaian man attempts to unpack his queerness in light of her love. North American Premiere Isabella Morra Isabel Pagliai, France, 2015, 22m French with English subtitles The courtyards of a housing project become a de facto stage on which unsupervised children perform, spreading rumors and shouting insults in an imitation of adulthood. North American Premiere Shorts Program Two The Digger Ali Cherri, Lebanon/France/UAE, 2015, 24m Arabic and Pashto with English subtitles With ritualistic serenity, a lone caretaker maintains ancient graves in the Sharjah Desert long after the bodies are gone. North American Premiere We All Love the Seashore / Tout le Monde Aime le Bord de la Mer Keina Espiñeira, Spain, 2016, 16m French and Pulaar with English subtitles A poetic distillation of the liminal space of refugees and migrants, developed collaboratively through encounters on the African coast of the Mediterranean. North American Premiere Of a Few Days Timothy Fryett, USA, 2016, 14m On the South Side of Chicago, final touches on one’s journey on Earth are meticulously made in a decades-old community funeral home. North American Premiere The Park / Le Park Randa Maroufi, France, 2015, 14m French and Arabic with English subtitles A series of tableaux vivants mesmerizingly locate the intersection of public space, inner lives, and social media within an abandoned Casablanca amusement park. U.S. Premiere

    Read more


  • “I Promise You Anarchy,” “Room,” Ewan McGregor Among Award Winners of 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival

    Julio Hernández Cordón, I Promise You Anarchy The 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival presented its award prizes to the winning films of the two Official Selection competitions –México Primero and Competencia Los Cabos– and the ones participating in the Industry platforms –Cabos in Progress and Cabos Discovery. In addition, The Protagonist Award: Excellence in Acting was given to Ewan McGregor. PARALLEL PRIZES The Cabos Discovery CTT EXP & Rentals Award was presented to Paulina del Paso for her film A flor de piel (Skin Deep). The Cabos in Progress Chemistry Award was presented by Chemistry Director Andrés Martínez to Sebastián Hiriart for Carroña (Carrion) The Cabos in Progress FOX+ Award was presented to the film La habitación (The bedroom) directed by Carlos Carrera, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bolado, Ernesto Contreras, Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, Alejandro Valle, Iván Ávila Dueñas and Natalia Beristáin. In addition, the Producers Network Badge Award was given to Mayra Espinosa, producer of the film Calla (Keep Quiet), presented in the Cabos Discovery platform. Among the parallel prizes awarded to the Official Selection competing films, the México Primero Art Kingdom Award was presented to Jack Zagha for his film Almacenados (Warehoused). The México Primero FOX+ Award was given to Alejandra Márquez’ Semana Santa. INDUSTRY AWARDS Jessica Sanders’ Picking Cotton received the Cabos Discovery Award. Ricardo Silva’s El Fracaso received the Cabos in Progress Award. OFFICIAL SELECTION AWARDS The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) presented its Best Mexican Film Award to Te prometo anarquía (I Promise You Anarchy), directed by Julio Hernández Cordón. (pictured above) México Primero – Cinemex Award for the Best Film was presented to Julio Hernández Cordón for Te prometo anarquía (I Promise You Anarchy). And the Competencia Los Cabos Cinemex Award winner was Lenny Abrahamson’s Room. The Cinemex Audience Award was also given to Room, by Lenny Abrahamson. THE 2015 PROTAGONIST AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ACTING The 2015 Protagonist Award for Excellence in Acting was given to Ewan McGregor.

    Read more


  • TANGERINE, JAMES WHITE, ROOM, NASTY BABY Among 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival Official Selections

    TANGERINE Sean Baker The 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival announced the films chosen for its fourth edition’s Official Selection, which is composed of Competencia Los Cabos (Mexico, USA and Canada) and México Primero sections. Nine films are in competition for Competencia Los Cabos, where North American films appear side-by-side, films that are from or co-produced with Mexico, USA and/or Canada can participate; and six films are in competition for México Primero, focusing on Mexican films. The nine films in competition for Competencia Los Cabos: From Afar “Desde allá” by Lorenzo Vigas (Mexico/Venezuela). Tangerine by Sean Baker (USA) – Premiere in Mexico. (pictured above) Room by Lenny Abrahamson (Canada/Ireland) Chronic by Michel Franco (Mexico). James White by Josh Mond (USA) – Premiere in Latin America The Loved Ones “Les Êtres Chers” by Anne Émond (Canada) – Premiere in Mexico A Monster with a Thousand Heads “Un monstruo de mil cabezas” by Rodrigo Plá (Mexico/France). Nasty Baby by Sebastián Silva (USA/Chile) – Premiere in Mexico. Sleeping Giant by Andrew Cividino (Canada). The six competing films for México Primero are: Semana Santa by Alejandra Márquez. Sabrás qué hacer conmigo by Katina Medina Mora. Charity “La caridad” by Marcelino Islas. The Chosen Ones “Las elegidas” by David Pablos. I Promise You Anarchy “Te prometo anarquía” by Julio Hernández Cordón. Almacenados by Jack Zagha.

    Read more


  • 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival Award Winners; SPARROWS Wins Best Film

    Rúnar Rúnarsson's "Sparrows" Rúnar Rúnarsson’s “Sparrows” is the winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film at the 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival. “Sparrows” is a drama about Ari, 16, who has been living with his mother in Reykjavik and is suddenly sent back to the remote Westfjords to live with his father Gunnar. Here he has to navigate a difficult relationship with his father, and he finds his childhood friends changed. In these hopeless and declining surroundings, Ari has to step up and find his way. 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival Award-Winners Golden Shell for Best Film SPARROWS RÚNAR RÚNARSSON (ICELAND – DENMARK – CROATIA) Special Jury Prize EVOLUTION LUCILE HADZIHALILOVIC (FRANCE – BELGIUM – SPAIN) Silver Shell for Best Director JOACHIM LAFOSSE LES CHEVALIERS BLANCS / THE WHITE KNIGHTS JOACHIM LAFOSSE (BELGIUM – FRANCE) Silver Shell for Best Actress YORDANKA ARIOSA EL REY DE LA HABANA (THE KING OF HAVANA) AGUSTÍ VILLARONGA (SPAIN – DOMINICAN REP.) Silver Shell for Best Actor (tie) RICARDO DARIN TRUMAN CESC GAY (SPAIN – ARGENTINA) (tie) JAVIER CÁMARA TRUMAN CESC GAY (SPAIN – ARGENTINA) Jury Prize for Best Cinematography MANU DACOSSE EVOLUTION LUCILE HADZIHALILOVIC (FRANCE – BELGIUM – SPAIN) Jury Prize for Best Screenplay ARNAUD LARRIEU, JEAN-MARIE LARRIEU 21 NUITS AVEC PATTIE / 21 NIGHTS WITH PATTIE JEAN-MARIE LARRIEU, ARNAUD LARRIEU (FRANCE) Jury Special Mention EL APÓSTATA ( THE APOSTATE) FEDERICO VEIROJ (SPAIN – URUGUAY – FRANCE) Kutxabank-New Directors Award LE NOUVEAU / THE NEW KID RUDI ROSENBERG (FRANCE) SPECIAL MENTION TJUVHEDER / DRIFTERS PETER GRÖNLUND (SWEDEN) SPECIAL MENTION VIDA SEXUAL DE LAS PLANTAS (SEX LIFE OF PLANTS) SEBASTIÁN BRAHM (CHILE) Horizontes Award PAULINA SANTIAGO MITRE (ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – FRANCE) SPECIAL MENTION – LUIS SILVA DESDE ALLÁ (FROM AFAR) LORENZO VIGAS (VENEZUELA – MEXICO) SPECIAL MENTION TE PROMETO ANARQUÍA ( I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY) JULIO HERNÁNDEZ CORDÓN (MEXICO – GERMANY) Irizar Basque Film Award AMAMA (WHEN A TREE FALLS) ASIER ALTUNA IZA (SPAIN) SPECIAL MENTION – IRENE ESCOLAR UN OTOÑO SIN BERLÍN LARA IZAGIRRE Audience Award UMIMACHI DIARY / OUR LITTLE SISTER HIROKAZU KOREEDA (JAPAN) AWARD TO THE EUROPEAN FILM SHAN HE GU REN / MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART JIA ZHANG-KE (CHINA – FRANCE – JAPAN) EZAE Youth Award PAULINA SANTIAGO MITRE (ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – FRANCE) International Film Students Meeting Awards FIRST PRIZE NUEVA VIDA (NEW LIFE) KIRO RUSSO (ARGENTINA – BOLIVIA) Universidad del Cine (Argentina) SECOND PRIZE EL ENEMIGO (THE ENEMY) ALDEMAR MATIAS (CUBA) Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV (EICTV) (Cuba) THIRD PRIZE WADA’ / PREDICTION KHALED MZHER (GERMANY) Deutsche Film – und Fernsehakademie Berlin (Germany) ORONA AWARD NUEVA VIDA (NEW LIFE) KIRO RUSSO (ARGENTINA – BOLIVIA) Universidad del Cine (Argentina) TORINO AWARD VOLANDO VOY (I’LL FLY HIGHER) ISABEL LAMBERTI (NETHERLANDS) Netherlands Film Academy (Netherlands) Tokyo Gohan Film Festival Award NOMA, MY PERFECT STORM PIERRE DESCHAMPS (UK – DENMARK) Films in Progress Awards ERA O HOTEL CAMBRIDGE / THE CAMBRIDGE SQUATTER ELIANE CAFFÉ (BRASIL – FRANCE) Films in Progress Industry Award Ibermedia TV Films in Progress Award Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum. EGEDA Best Project Award LA OMISIÓN (THE OMISSION) SEBASTIÁN SCHJAER (ARGENTINA – GERMANY – FRANCE) SPECIAL MENTION TO THE PROYECT MEMORIAS DEL CALABOZO ÁLVARO BRECHNER (SPAIN-URUGUAY) Directed by Álvaro Brechner and Tornasol Films TVE-Another Look Award PAULINA SANTIAGO MITRE (ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – FRANCE) Spanish Cooperation Award LA TIERRA Y LA SOMBRA (LAND AND SHADE) CÉSAR AUGUSTO ACEVEDO (COLOMBIA – CHILE – BRAZIL – NETHERLANDS – FRANCE) FIPRESCI Award EL APÓSTATA ( THE APOSTATE) FEDERICO VEIROJ (SPAIN – URUGUAY – FRANCE) Zinemaldia FEROZ Award TRUMAN CESC GAY (SPAIN – ARGENTINA) SIGNIS Award MOIRA LEVAN TUTBERIDZE (GEORGIA) SPECIAL MENTION AMAMA (WHEN A TREE FALLS) ASIER ALTUNA IZA (SPAIN) Guipuzcoan Blood-Donors’ Association Corresponding to the Solidarity Award FREEHELD PETER SOLLETT (USA) Sebastiane Award FREEHELD PETER SOLLETT (USA)

    Read more


  • 14 Latin American Films on Horizontes Latinos Program at 63rd San Sebastian Festival

    EL CLUB (THE CLUB) PABLO LARRAÍN The Horizontes Latinos program of the 63rd San Sebastian Festival will include fourteen films from Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Films that have competed or premiered at important international festivals, but which have not yet been screened at a Spanish festival or had their commercial release in Spain. The Horizontes Latinos program will open with Pablo Larraín’s El club, Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the last Berlin Festival. The film tells the tale of four men who share a secluded house in a small beach town, sent there to purge the sins they have committed in the past. The selected films compete for the Horizontes Award, decided by a specific jury and coming with €35,000, of which €10,000 will go to the director of the winning film, and the remaining €25,000 to its distributor in Spain. EL CLUB (THE CLUB) (pictured in main image above) PABLO LARRAÍN (CHILE) Opening Night Film Pablo Larraín won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the last Berlin Festival with this film. Four men share a secluded house in a small beach town, sent there to purge the sins they have committed in the past. 600 MILLAS (600 MILES) GABRIEL RIPSTEIN (MEXICO) Arnulfo Rubio, a young gun trafficker between the United States and Mexico, is being followed by ATF agent Hank Harris. After a risky mistake by Harris, Rubio makes a desperate decision: he smuggles the agent to Mexico. Best First Feature Award in the Panorama section of the Berlin Festival. EL ABRAZO DE LA SERPIENTE (EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT) CIRO GUERRA (COLOMBIA – ARGENTINA – VENEZUELA) Premiered at the Cannes Festival Directors’ Fortnight, the latest film from Ciro Guerra tells the epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-transcending friendship, between an Amazonian shaman and two Western explorers. EL BOTÓN DE NÁCAR (THE PEARL BUTTON) PATRICIO GUZMÁN (FRANCE – CHILE – SPAIN ) Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán talks to us in his latest documentary about water, the cosmos and ourselves, human beings. It all begins with the discovery of two mysterious buttons in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile. CHRONIC MICHEL FRANCO (MEXICO – FRANCE) David is a nurse who works with terminally ill patients. Efficient and dedicated to his profession, he develops strong and even intimate relationships with each person he cares for. But outside of his work David is ineffectual, awkward, and reserved. Best Screenplay Award-winner at the Cannes Festival. DESDE ALLÁ (FROM AFAR) LORENZO VIGAS (VENEZUELA) Armando, aged 50, looks for young men in the streets of Caracas and pays them to come back to his house with him. He also regularly spies on an older man with whom he seems to have ties from the past. One day he meets Elder, aged 17, leader of a small band of thugs. Competitor in the Official Selection of the Venice Festival. LAS ELEGIDAS (THE CHOSEN ONES) DAVID PABLOS (MEXICO – FRANCE) LAS ELEGIDAS (THE CHOSEN ONES) DAVID PABLOS David Pablos’s second film took part at the San Sebastian Co-production Forum in 2014 and premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Festival. Sofia, 14 years old, is in love with Ulises. Because of him, in spite of him, she is forced into a prostitution ring in Mexico. To set her free, Ulises will have to find another girl to replace her. IXCANUL JAYRO BUSTAMANTE (GUATEMALA – FRANCE) María, a 17 year-old Mayan girl, lives and works with her family in a plantation on the Guatemalan plateau. Her days go by uneventfully until her parents arrange her marriage to the estate foreman, Ignacio. A film that landed a special mention at the last edition of Films in Progress and competed at the Berlin Festival, where it won the Alfred Bauer Award. MAGALLANES SALVADOR DEL SOLAR (PERU – ARGENTINA – COLOMBIA – SPAIN) Winner of Films in Progress at last year’s Festival. Magallanes recognises a woman getting into a taxi. It’s Celina, the young peasant girl he randomly arrested more than twenty years ago, when he was a soldier. They both have unfinished business. And for Magallanes, this is an opportunity to redeem himself. Damián Alcázar, Magaly Solier and Federico Luppi play the leading parts. LA OBRA DEL SIGLO (THE PROJECT OF THE CENTURY) CARLOS M. QUINTELA (CUBA – ARGENTINA – GERMANY -SWITZERLAND) Amidst a mosquito plague, Leonardo, struggling with the breakdown of his relationship, moves back to live with a grandfather who fights with everyone and everything, and a father living with the melancholy of the unfinished. Tiger Award-winner at the last Rotterdam Festival. PAULINA SANTIAGO MITRE (ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – FRANCE) Paulina decides to leave her brilliant law career to teach in a downtrodden Argentinian region. In a hostile atmosphere, she will set about her pedagogical mission, even if it means losing her boyfriend and confrontation with her father. Fipresci Prize-winner at the last Cannes Festival Critics’ Week. PARA MINHA AMADA MORTA (TO MY BELOVED) ALY MURITIBA (BRAZIL) Fernando is a good man who takes care of his only child, Daniel, a shy and sensitive boy. Following the death of his wife Ana, every night Fernando recalls their love as he sorts out his beloved dead spouse’s belongings. One day he finds a VHS tape that will change everything. This movie participated in the Films in Progress section at the last Festival. The film took part at the Co-Production Forum in 2014. TE PROMETO ANARQUÍA (I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY) JULIO HERNÁNDEZ CORDÓN (MEXICO – GERMANY) Julio Hernández Cordón’s new film was selected for the Locarno Festival Competition. Miguel and Johnny have known each other since childhood. They spend their time skateboarding and having fun. To make easy money and continue skateboarding, they sell their own blood clandestinely. They turn the ploy into a business, until a major transaction doesn’t turn out as they’d expected. LA TIERRA Y LA SOMBRA / LAND AND SHADE CÉSAR AUGUSTO ACEVEDO (COLOMBIA – CHILE – BRAZIL – NETHERLANDS – FRANCE) LA TIERRA Y LA SOMBRA / LAND AND SHADE CÉSAR AUGUSTO ACEVEDO Winner of the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Festival, after having participated at the San Sebastian Co-Production Forum in 2013, this film portrays a family as they try to repair the fragile ties that bind them in the face of their imminent disappearance, brought about by the overwhelming power of progress.

    Read more