The 53rd New York Film Festival taking place
September 25 to October 11, 2015, revealed the complete lineup for the Spotlight on Documentary section. The Spotlight on Documentary section will launch on Sunday, September 27, with a program highlighting episodic, short-form nonfiction, which will include a preview of new work by Laura Poitras, who follows up her Oscar-winning CITIZENFOUR (which had its World Premiere at NYFF last year) with the series Asylum, an intimate look at one of the most revolutionary and controversial thinkers of the digital age, unfolding in episodes. A behind-the-scenes drama, Asylum follows Julian Assange as he publishes classified U.S. State Department cables and eventually seeks political asylum inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The evening will include a preview of episodes from the series, as well as the premiere of new, multi-part work from other acclaimed filmmakers, which will be announced at a later date.
This year’s lineup also includes three films centered on iconic figures within the arts: Nora Ephron, Ingrid Bergman, and Jia Zhangke. Everything Is Copy director Jacob Bernstein delivers a vibrant portrait of his mother Nora Ephron, through her own words and the memories of her sisters, colleagues, former spouses, friends, and scenes from her movies. Stig Björkman’s focus in Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words is not on Bergman the star but on Bergman the woman and mother, using excerpts from her letters and diaries (extracts of which are read by Alicia Vikander); memories shared from her children (Pia Lindström and Isabella, Ingrid, and Roberto Rossellini); and clips from Super-8 and 16mm home movies shot by Bergman herself. Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang is the latest film from Brazilian director Walter Salles, who accompanies the director (whose latest, Mountains May Depart, is screening in this year’s NYFF Main Slate) on a visit to his hometown and other locations he has returned to in his vast body of work.
NYFF welcomes back director Frederick Wiseman with his 40th feature documentary, In Jackson Heights, which centers around one of New York City’s liveliest and most culturally diverse neighborhoods caught in the crunch of economic “development,” like so many other neighborhoods in the city and around the country. Joaquim Pinto returns to the festival, following his 2013 film What Now? Remind Me (NYFF51), with Fish Tail, co-directed with his husband Nuno Leonel, set in the Azorean island of Rabo de Peixe, where small-scale fishermen introduce the filmmakers to the rhythms of their labor-intensive routines—artisanal traditions that face extinction in the global economy.
Politics play a role in several of the selections in the lineup. Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson, who premiered a series of immigration films How Democracy Works at NYFF51, return with their final film on the subject, Immigration Battle. The duo have continued to chronicle the struggle for American immigration reform over the past 16 years, crossing the country numerous times to film politicians and activists on both sides of the issue. The North American Premiere of We Are Alive from Chilean filmmaker Carmen Castillo (her Calle Santa Fe was a selection of the 2007 NYFF) is a documentary essay asking the questions: What comprises political engagement in 2015? Is it still possible to influence the course of events in this world? She structures her film in dialogue with the writings of her late friend Daniel Bensaïd, organizer of the Paris student revolts in May ’68 and France’s leading Trotskyite philosopher.
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
Everything Is Copy
Jacob Bernstein, 2015, USA, DCP, 89m
Jacob Bernstein’s extremely entertaining film is a tribute to his mother Nora Ephron: Hollywood-raised daughter of screenwriters who grew up to be an ace reporter turned piercingly funny essayist turned novelist/screenwriter/playwright/director. Ephron comes vibrantly alive onscreen via her words; the memories of her sisters, colleagues, former spouses, and many friends; scenes from her movies; and, above all, her own inimitable presence. Watch any given moment of Ephron being her sparkling but caustically witty self (for instance, this response to a scolding talk show host—“You have a soft spot for Julie Nixon, don’t you. See, I don’t…”) and you find it hard to believe that she’s been gone from our midst for three years. Everything Is Copy (Ephron’s motto, inherited from her mother) is a lovingly drawn but frank portrait and, incidentally, a vivid snapshot of an earlier, livelier, bitchier, and funnier moment in New York culture. An HBO Documentary Films release. World Premiere
Field of Vision: New Episodic Nonfiction
Laura Poitras, USA/Germany, 2015, HDCAM
A selection of short-form episodic works, including installments of Asylum, in which Laura Poitras (whose CITIZENFOUR had its world premiere at last year’s NYFF) shadows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he publishes classified diplomatic cables and seeks asylum in London’s Ecuadorian embassy. World Premiere
Fish Tail / Rabo de Peixe (pictured above)
Joaquim Pinto & Nuno Leonel, Portugal, 2015, DCP, 103m
Portuguese with English subtitles
In his 2013 masterpiece What Now? Remind Me (NYFF51), Joaquim Pinto turned a first-person diary about chronic illness into an all-encompassing meditation on what it means to be alive. His latest film, co-directed with his husband Nuno Leonel, pulls off a similar balancing act between intimacy and expansiveness. The setting is the Azorean island of Rabo de Peixe, where small-scale fishermen introduce the filmmakers to the rhythms of their labor-intensive routines, artisanal traditions that face extinction in the global economy. Initially broadcast on Portuguese television in an abbreviated version, this new director’s cut is a tender portrait of a community that, through Pinto’s associative narration, frequently extends into more personal and philosophical realms, contemplating such topics as the value of manual work and the meaning of freedom. Fish Tail is as lovely as it is quietly profound, a film that at once acknowledges and transcends cinema’s long romance with maritime ethnography. North American Premiere
Homeland (Iraq Year Zero)
Part 1: Before the Fall
Part 2: After the Battle
Abbas Fahdel, Iraq/France, 2015, DCP, 160m/174m
Arabic with English subtitles
In February 2002—about a year before the U.S. invasion in 2003—Iraqi filmmaker Abbas Fahdel traveled home from France to capture everyday life as his country prepared for war. He zeroed in on family and friends as they went about their business, with much of the action seen through the eyes of the director’s 12-year-old nephew, Haider. When Fahdel returned in 2003, two weeks after the invasion, daily activities like going to school or shopping at the market had become nearly impossible; many areas of Baghdad had been closed off to ordinary citizens, yet everyone pressed on. The young Haider represents, in various ways, the voice of his people: “They are occupiers and we can’t oppose them. Our country has become like Palestine,” he tells a neighbor. Fahdel’s epic yet intimate film paints a compelling portrait of people simply trying to exist in the midst of constant turmoil, and describes the fine line between life and death that civilians in a war zone must walk from day to day. North American Premiere
Immigration Battle
Michael Camerini & Shari Robertson, USA, 2015, DCP, 111m
Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson have been chronicling the protracted struggle for American immigration reform over the past 16 years, crossing the country numerous times to film politicians and activists on both sides of this great and divisive issue. They gained unprecedented fly-on-the-wall access to the key players in Washington as they rode the momentum toward the passage of a bipartisan bill, only to see it shot down, which meant that they had to begin pushing the boulder back up the hill all over again. Two years ago, NYFF51 screened Camerini and Robertson’s series of immigration films, How Democracy Works, and now we present Immigration Battle, their final film on the subject. The key player this time is Democrat Luis Gutiérrez, the charismatic U.S. Representative for the 4th congressional district of Illinois, who negotiates his way through this political minefield—past an obstructionist majority playing to an anti-immigrant base and a President who has just been dubbed the “Deporter-in-Chief” by the pro-reform community—while keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the prize. World Premiere
Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words
Stig Björkman, Sweden, 2015, DCP, 114m
Swedish with English subtitles
This is a lovingly crafted film about one of the cinema’s most luminous and enchanting presences, composed from her letters and diaries (extracts of which are read by Alicia Vikander), the memories of her children (Pia Lindström and Isabella, Ingrid, and Roberto Rossellini), and a few close friends and colleagues (including Liv Ullmann and Sigourney Weaver), photographs, and moments from thousands of feet of Super-8 and 16mm footage shot by Bergman herself throughout the years. Stig Björkman’s focus is not on Bergman the star but on Bergman the woman and mother: orphaned at 13, drawn to acting on the stage and then on film, sailing for Hollywood at 24 and then leaving it all behind for a new and different life with Roberto Rossellini. Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words is, finally, a self-portrait of a truly independent woman. A Rialto Pictures release.
In Jackson Heights
Frederick Wiseman, USA, 2015, DCP, 190m
Fred Wiseman’s 40th feature documentary is about Jackson Heights, Queens, one of New York City’s liveliest and most culturally diverse neighborhoods, a thriving and endlessly changing crossroad of styles, cuisines, and languages, and now—like vast portions of our city—caught in the gears of economic “development.” Wiseman’s mastery is as total as it is transparent: his film moves without apparent effort from an LGBT support meeting to a musical street performance to a gathering of Holocaust survivors to a hilarious training class for aspiring taxi drivers to an ace eyebrow-removal specialist at work to the annual Gay Pride parade to a meeting of local businessmen in a beauty parlor to discuss the oncoming economic threat to open-air merchants selling their wares to a meeting of undocumented individuals facing deportation. Wiseman catches the textures of New York life in 2015, the music of our speech, and a vast, emotionally complex, dynamic tapestry is woven before our eyes. A Zipporah Films release.
Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang
Walter Salles, Brazil/France, 2014, DCP, 99m
Mandarin with English subtitles
Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles accompanies the prolific Chinese director Jia Zhangke (whose latest, Mountains May Depart, is screening in this year’s Main Slate) on a walk down memory lane, as he revisits his hometown and other locations used in creating his vast body of work. At each location, they visit Jia’s family, friends, and former colleagues, and their conversations range from his mother’s tales of him as a young boy to amusing remembrances of school days and film shoots to memories of his father and the fact that if not for pirated DVDs, much of Jia’s work would go unseen in China. All the roads traveled are part of one journey—the destination of which is Jia’s relationship to his past and to his country. And the confluence of storytelling, intellect, and politics informing all of Jia’s work is brought to light in this lovely, intimate portrait of the artist on his way to the future. North American Premiere
Rebel Citizen
Pamela Yates, USA, 2015, DCP, 75m
Pamela Yates’s new film grew out of her friendship with master cinematographer and fellow activist Haskell Wexler, who’s still going strong at 93. Wexler asked Yates to represent him at a retrospective of his documentary work at this year’s Cinéma du Réel festival in Paris, and she responded by making a film portrait of her mentor and longtime collaborator. Wexler—in an interview with Yates shot by Travis Wilkerson, another comrade-in-arms—speaks with warmth, lucidity, and absolute certitude about his left-wing political beliefs, his craft, and his aesthetics, which are fundamentally one in the same. Rebel Citizen takes us on a revelatory tour of Wexler’s work, and it includes clips from his early documentary The Bus, shot aboard a bus on its way across the country to the 1963 March on Washington, as well as Medium Cool and Underground, his film about the Weatherman co-directed with Emile de Antonio and Mary Lampson. A Skylight Pictures release. World Premiere
Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art
James Crump, USA, 2015, DCP, 72m
The titular troublemakers are the New York–based Land (aka Earth) artists of the 1960s and 70s, who walked away from the reproducible and the commodifiable, migrated to the American Southwest, worked with earth and light and seemingly limitless space, and rethought the question of scale and the relationships between artist, landscape, and viewer. Director James Crump (Black White + Gray) has meticulously constructed Troublemakers from interviews (with Germano Celant, Virginia Dwan, and others), photos and footage of Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, and Charles Ross at work on their astonishing creations: Heizer’s Double Negative, a 1,500-feet long “line” cut between two canyons on Mormon Mesa in Nevada; Holt’s concrete Sun Tunnels, through each of which the sun appears differently according to the season; De Maria’s The Lightning Field in New Mexico; and Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, built on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. A beautiful tribute to a great moment in art.
We Are Alive / On est vivants
Carmen Castillo, France/Belgium, 2015, DCP, 100m
French, Spanish, and Portuguese with English subtitles
What comprises political engagement in 2015? Is it still possible to influence the course of events in this world? These are the questions posed by the great Chilean filmmaker Carmen Castillo (her Calle Santa Fe was a selection of the 2007 NYFF) in this new documentary essay. Castillo, herself a one-time MIR militant expelled from Chile by the Pinochet regime, structures her film in dialogue with the writings of her late friend Daniel Bensaïd, organizer of the Paris student revolts in May ’68 and France’s leading Trotskyite philosopher. In Europe and Latin America, Castillo finds the ones who have resisted, from the masked Zapatistas of Chiapas in Mexico to the Water Warriors of Cochabamba in Bolivia, from the Landless Workers movement in Brazil to the striking workers at the Donges refinery in western France to the homeless squatters of Marseille. A mournful premise lays the groundwork for a radiantly hopeful film.
North American Premiere
The Witness
James Solomon, 2015, USA, DCP, 96m
On March 13, 1964, in Kew Gardens, Queens, Kitty Genovese was stabbed, raped, robbed, and left to die by a man named Winston Moseley. On March 27, at the urging of Metro editor A.M. Rosenthal, The New York Times published an investigative report asserting that 38 eyewitnesses saw the attack and retreated to their apartments, and the case quickly became a symbol of urban apathy. Genovese’s family lost her twice: once to a murderer and once more to legend, a legend that would be questioned, dismantled, and discredited 40 years later in the very paper that had created it. James Solomon’s quiet, concentrated, and devastating film closely follows the efforts of Genovese’s brother Bill, 16 at the time of Kitty’s death, to track down the people who knew her, loved her, and tried to help her, to arrange a possible meeting with her killer, and to recover the presence of his beloved sister. A Submarine release. World Premiere
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BORN TO BE BLUE[/caption]
The 2016 Louisiana International Film Festival (LIFF) announce its lineup of feature films, including Ethan Hawke as troubled jazz legend Chet Baker in BORN TO BE BLUE.
The 2016 Louisiana International Film Festival slate of international and USA-made films includes the world premiere of earthquake relief documentary SEVEN DAYS IN NEPAL from executive producer D.A. Pennebaker (the legendary filmmaker of Don’t Look Back, Monterrey Pop and The War Room fame), Ethan Hawke as troubled jazz legend Chet Baker in BORN TO BE BLUE, and THE WRONG LIGHT about a filmmakers’ journey to document a non-profit in Thailand dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking among others.
In addition, this year’s festival boasts a brand new category: Southern Perspectives.
Southern Perspectives is a regionally-focused slate that will include nearly a dozen movies telling a wide range a narratives from the American South—from the erosion of small town culture with BOGALUSA CHARM, to AFTER THE SPILL, a documentary exposing the details of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
LIFF 2016 also is proud to showcase an impressive Women and Film category that includes 17 titles about women or directed by women, including Anne Fonteyne’s post-war Warsaw doctor drama THE INNOCENTS and Barbara Kopple’s MISS SHARON JONES!—the rousing music documentary following soul singer Sharon Jones’ battle with cancer and preparations for a world tour.
A complete schedule of screenings will be released soon.
Confirmed feature titles are listed in alphabetical order as follows.
Dheepan[/caption]
Dheepan (France) 115 min.
Winner of the 2015 Cannes Palme d’Or, this gritty film tells the story of Dheepan, a refugee from Sri Lanka and a former Tamil Tiger, who concocts a fake family to gain passage to France. But his violent past still haunts him. Slow-burning tension punctuated by explosions of violence mark Jacques Audiard’s timely, passionate film about a driven man caught in a unique moral dilemma.
El Clan (Argentina) 110 min.
Alejandro, a teen rugby star manipulated into helping his family profit from a series of meticulously planned abductions, discovers that the father he reveres is a cold-blooded killer. Produced by Pedro Amoldovar and based on the real-life exploits of the notorious Puccios, El Clan uses upbeat 80s pop as an ironic comment on the cynicism and immorality of the waning Argentinian dictatorship.
Embrace of the Serpent (Columbia) 125 min.
This Oscar nominee from Columbia, set in the Amazon jungle and inspired by the journals of two German explorers, follows a shaman and his unlikely travel companions in search of a rare psychedelic, medicinal herb. First-time director Ciro Guerra employs stunning black and white widescreen cinematography to take us deep into the heart of darkness… merging two parallel stories, 40 years apart, into a hallucinatory finale.
The Fits (USA) 72 min.
Director Anna Rose Holmer celebrates the physicality and fluidity of adolescence in her infectious character study of Toni, an African American tomboy who boxes at the same gym where a dance drill team practices. Toni yearns to join the tight-knit tribe of older girls but when mysterious fits of shaking and fainting strike the troupe, her desire for acceptance becomes complicated.
Giving Birth in America (US) 46 min.
Maternal health nonprofit Every Mother Counts presents a new three-part, short documentary series, “Giving Birth in America,” to examine some of the key reasons that the U.S. is falling so far behind in maternal healthcare. Each short film follows pregnant women and their healthcare providers in Florida, Montana and New York in the days leading up to delivery. Together, they navigate challenges of race, poverty, chronic illness, overuse of medical interventions and other inequalities that impact maternal health outcomes in America. Special Guest Christy Turlington Burns in attendance for Q&A.
Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words (Sweden) 114 min.
Three-time Oscar-winner Ingrid Bergman was a creative woman and loving mother who forged a career that few actresses do: from Swedish ingénue to Hollywood star, from exile in Italy with director Roberto Rossellini to cherished international stage and screen legend. Bergman’s own home movies, newsreels, and recollections by daughters Isabella and Pia combine to paint a nuanced portrait of a gifted, intelligent and sometimes conflicted individual.
The Innocents (France|Poland) 115 min.
In this dramatic, nuanced film set in post-war Warsaw, a Red Cross doctor who is summoned to a convent to deliver a baby in the middle of the night, discovers a pious, cloistered community brutalized by Soviet soldiers. Rising star Lou de Laâge (L’Attesa) gives a great performance as an idealistic young woman who puts herself in danger to guard a shameful secret.
Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? (USA) 97 min.
Small town Texas is rocked by an epic battle of the sexes when the local women band together to withhold sex until their men rid the town of guns. With a cast that includes Andrea Anders, Cloris Leachman and John Heard, this raunchy comedy/satire that won the audience award at the recent Sedona Film Festival tackles one of the hot-button issues of modern society.
Ixcanul (Guatemala) 93 min.
Eking out an existence on the remote slopes of a volcano (Ixcanul), a teenager admits to her loving mother that she is pregnant by the local dreamboat who has departed for America. Impoverished and unable to speak Spanish, the family embarks on a perilous journey to the big city to save the life of the child. A debut feature and winner of 13 international festival prizes, Ixcanul is a universal human tale.
Lit Lo And Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (USA) 98 min.
The droll, tech-phobic Werner Herzog – who has travelled to Antarctica and up the Amazon to document mankind’s dreams and fears – now explores the Internet’s unknown impact on human interaction, pro and con. Tracking its origins from a classroom at UCLA, thru its present day ‘dark side’, into a future world of robot cars and intergalactic tourism, the film is both scary and thrilling in its implications.
Lost & Found (USA) 90 min.
Two brothers forced to spend the summer on an island in Canada embark on a treasure hunt when they discover a map left behind by their eccentric wealthy grandfather who has mysteriously vanished. Pitting their wits against a ruthless land developer and two thugs, the boys uncover more than treasure and learn that the bonds of family are the most valuable riches of all.
Marguerite (France) 127 min.
Catherine Frot, Best Actress winner at this year’s Césars, is divine as a woman who dreams the impossible dream and possesses the innocence, madness and wealth to pursue it. Marguerite’s passion is opera and her delusion – fueled by the sycophants who swill champagne in her castle outside Paris – is that she sings beautifully. Ironically, this delightful comedy about sour notes is awash in gorgeous music, and features sumptuous 1920s clothes and décor.
The Mayor: Life of Riley (USA) 66 min.
The massacre of nine African Americans by a white supremacist on June 17, 2015 in Charleston, S. C. was a “worst nightmare” for Joseph P. Riley Jr, an Irish Catholic Democrat and the city’s mayor for an incredible 40 years. From the Civil Rights era forward, Riley was a visionary, fighting for inclusion in the face of divisiveness and for the restoration of once shabby Charleston to its former architectural glory.
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MISS SHARON JONES![/caption]
Miss Sharon Jones! (USA) 93 min.
A cinema verité portrait of soul singer Sharon Jones as she battles cancer, develops a new album, and readies for a world tour. The film, bursting with funk and soul music, features toe-tapping excerpts of Jones’s performances with the Dap-Kings. Whether she is breaking barriers in the music business or beating disease, Jones is a fighter and a survivor, and Kopple’s rousing tribute celebrates the singer as an effusive life force
5 Missing People (USA) 76 min.
Missing People is a nonfiction mystery about Martina Batan, a prominent New York art dealer, who investigates her brother’s long unsolved murder while obsessively collecting and researching the violent work and life of an outsider artist from New Orleans. As Martina struggles to process her discoveries, the inevitable collision of these parallel narratives leads to a chain of dramatic events.
My Father, Die (USA) 102 min.
Deaf and mute since having his hearing knocked out at the age of 12, Asher – played by action star Joe Anderson (Hercules, The Grey) – has been training to avenge himself on Ivan, the man that killed his older brother 21 years earlier. And now that his nemesis is out of prison, he gets his chance. But Asher’s target also happens to be his father.
No Greater Love (USA) 92 min.
The place is mountainous Kunar Province, Afghanistan, infamous for jihad, guerrilla warfare, and suicide bombers; and the soldier armed with the camera, not a gun, is Chaplain Justin Roberts. In this heartstopping and heart-wrenching documentary, distinguished by extraordinary combat footage, Roberts follows his comrades in the legendary ‘No Slack’ battalion from battlefield to home front where many veterans face other enemies: PTSD, depression and loneliness.
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (USA) 91 min.
A warm portrait of the father of hit shows like All in the Family, Maud and The Jeffersons. Now a spry 92, Lear reflects on his role as the first television producer to use the genre of American sitcom to address serious subjects – racism, feminism, and homosexuality. In the words of Robert Redford he “brought humanity, edge, humor and vulnerability into the mainstream.”
The Ones Below (UK) 87 min.
Affluent professionals Kate and Justin are expecting their first baby, as are sexy Teresa and domineering Jon, the mysterious new couple in the downstairs flat. Suppressing her fears about motherhood, Kate bonds with her extroverted neighbor until an awkward dinner party turns tragic and a burgeoning friendship implodes. A dash of Polanski and Haneke season this eerie, stylish debut feature by acclaimed UK theater director David Farr.
Presenting Princess Shaw (Israel) 80 min.
Samantha Montgomery, 38, lives alone in one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods working as a caregiver for the elderly. But at night she transforms into Princess Shaw, belting out original songs at local clubs and posting homemade a cappella clips on YouTube. Completely unaware that a secret admirer – an Israeli musician living on a kibbutz outside Tel Aviv – will change her life forever.
Raiders! (USA) 106 min.
The 35th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark would not be complete without this true story of two 11- year-old Mississippi kids who in 1982 remade the Hollywood blockbuster scene by scene with a Super 8mm camera. After 7 turbulent years that tested their resolve and strained their friendship, there was one scene left un-filmed. Thirty-three years later, the ‘boys’ reunite to realize their childhood dream.
Rams (Iceland) 93 min.
Brothers Gummi and Kiddi have been estranged for years, living separate lives on neighboring sheep farms in rural Iceland. When a fatal disease suddenly infects Kiddi’s herd, he schemes to save the breed while this isolated community comes to grips with its own economic extinction. A wry, charmingly deadpan and poignant comedy, Rams is the recipient of 17 international festival awards.
Search Engines (USA) 98 min.
This imaginative satire focuses on man’s relationship to his cell phone and suggests that technology can lead us astray from meaning, purpose and love. It’s Thanksgiving, and family and friends have just gathered to celebrate togetherness. But when cell phone reception mysteriously goes dead throughout the house, 6 each character is thrown into crisis: marriages are tested, values questioned, and futures hang in the balance.
Seven Days in Nepal (USA) 62 min.
WORLD PREMIERE. On April 2015, just before noon in Nepal, an earthquake took everything the Bajagain family possessed: house, farm, cattle, happiness. This cinema verité documentary takes us into the devastation with New Orleans contractor Michael Fanasci, a Katrina survivor, and Minoj Ghimire, a Nepali student from Missouri, who bring much-needed building materials – and hope – to a devastated family.
Sidemen: Long Road to Glory (USA) 78 min.
An intimate look at the lives and legacies of piano player Pinetop Perkins, drummer Willie Smith, and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, all of whom were Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf sidemen. This rousing film depicts these artists’ thru their last interviews and their final live performances together and features additional music and personal insights from blues and rock stars inspired by these legendary sidemen.
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (USA) 98 min.
Two siblings coping with the loss of their father forms the heart of Chloé Zhao’s stunning directorial debut set among the Lakota people of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In her directorial debut, Zhao sketches a complex, sensitive portrait of a community connected not only thru a rich cultural heritage but also by deep inner conflicts that manifest themselves in destructive ways.
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Sunset Song[/caption]
Sunset Song (UK) 135 min.
Master director Terence Davies brings an epic sweep and grandeur to this saga of a young woman who comes of age in rugged north Scotland and sees her family beset by tragedy and the ravages of WWI.Though burdened with a stern father and an alcoholic husband, Chris endures. A woman with a passion for life, she draws strength from the ancient land and looks to the future.
Tickled (New Zealand) 92 min.
After stumbling upon a bizarre “competitive endurance tickling” video online, wherein young men are paid to be tied up and tickled, reporter David Farrier reaches out to Jane O’Brien Media… only to be threatened with extreme legal action. Not one to be bullied, he digs deeper, uncovering a vast empire of secret identities and criminal activity. “Tense and increasingly weird… painful and funny and deeply sad.” – Screen Daily
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt (Israel) 125 min.
This no-holds documentary provides a rare insight into the philosopher, author and outspoken intellectual Hannah Arendt who incited anger, praise, devotion, and scorn up to and beyond her death in 1975. A German Jew who fled Europe for New York in 1941, Arendt coined the phrase “the banality of evil” to describe how someone as seemingly insignificant as Eichmann could be responsible for the Holocaust.
The Wrong Light (USA) 77 min.
Setting out to document a non-profit in Thailand dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking, two idealistic filmmakers uncover a shocking truth: none of the ‘saved’ girls were victims of the sex trade; and Mickey, its charismatic leader, is perpetrating a scam to extort money from wealthy Westerners. This just completed film is an illuminating expose of an insidious industry dubbed ‘poverty porn.’
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 74 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2015 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 88th Academy Awards®.
The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:
“Happy” from “Altered Minds”
“Home” from “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”
“None Of Them Are You” from “Anomalisa”
“Stem To The Rose” from “Becoming Bulletproof”
“The Mystery Of Your Gift” from “Boychoir”
“I Run” from “Chi-Raq”
“Pray 4 My City” from “Chi-Raq”
“Sit Down For This” from “Chi-Raq”
“Strong” from “Cinderella”
“So Long” from “Concussion”
“Fighting Stronger” from “Creed”
“Grip” from “Creed”
“Waiting For My Moment” from “Creed”
“Don’t Look Down” from “Danny Collins”
“Hey Baby Doll” from “Danny Collins”
“Dreamsong” from “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” (pictured above)
“It’s My Turn Now” from “Dope”
“Ya Rahem, Maula Maula” from “Dukhtar”
“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Love Me Like You Do” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Salted Wound” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Hands Of Love” from “Freeheld”
“See You Again” from “Furious Seven”
“Brother” from “Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones”
“As Real As You And Me” from “Home”
“Dancing In The Dark” from “Home”
“Feel The Light” from “Home”
“Red Balloon” from “Home”
“Two Of A Crime” from “Hot Pursuit”
“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”
“I’ll See You In My Dreams” from “I’ll See You in My Dreams”
“The Movie About Us” from “Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words”
“Bhoomiyilenghanumundo” from “Jalam”
“Koodu Vaykkan” from “Jalam”
“Pakalppaathi Chaari” from “Jalam”
“Yaathra Manoradhamerum” from “Jalam”
“Lost In Love” from “Jenny’s Wedding”
“True Love Avenue” from “Jenny’s Wedding”
“Hypnosis” from “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet”
“Juntos (Together)” from “McFarland, USA”
“The Light That Never Fails” from “Meru”
“The Crazy Ones” from “Miss You Already”
“There’s A Place” from “Miss You Already”
“Johanna” from “Mortdecai”
“Little Soldier” from “Pan”
“Something’s Not Right” from “Pan”
“Paranoid Girl” from “Paranoid Girls”
“Better When I’m Dancin'” from “The Peanuts Movie”
“Pink & Blue” from “Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer”
“Flashlight” from “Pitch Perfect 2”
“Birds Of A Feather” from “Poached”
“Still Breathing” from “Point Break”
“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”
“Cold One” from “Ricki and the Flash”
“Torch” from “Rock the Kasbah”
“Someone Like You” from “The Rumperbutts”
“Aankhon Me Samaye Dil” from “Salt Bridge”
“Bachpana Thaa” from “Salt Bridge”
“Kanpne Lage Tum” from “Salt Bridge”
“Kyaa Bataaun Tujhe” from “Salt Bridge”
“Le Jaaye Jo Door Tumse” from “Salt Bridge”
“Na Jaane Kitni Door” from “Salt Bridge”
“Sookha Hi Rang Daalo” from “Salt Bridge”
“Feels Like Summer” from “Shaun the Sheep Movie”
“Phenomenal” from “Southpaw”
“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre”
“Squeeze Me” from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water”
“Teamwork” from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water”
“Who Can You Trust” from “Spy”
“Came To Win” from “Sweet Micky for President”
“Mean Ol’ Moon” from “Ted 2”
“Love Was My Alibi” from “The Water Diviner”
“Fine On The Outside” from “When Marnie Was There”
“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”
During the nominations process, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film.
To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.
The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The 88th 
One hundred twenty-four features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 88th Academy Awards®.
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Above and Beyond”
“All Things Must Pass”
“Amy”
“The Armor of Light”
“Ballet 422”
“Batkid Begins”
“Becoming Bulletproof”
“Being Evel”
“Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery”
“Best of Enemies”
“The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution”
“Bolshoi Babylon”
“Brand: A Second Coming”
“A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story”
“Call Me Lucky”
“Cartel Land”
“Censored Voices”
“Champs”
“CodeGirl”
“Coming Home”
“Dark Horse”
“Deli Man”
“Dior and I”
“The Diplomat”
“(Dis)Honesty – The Truth about Lies”
“Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll”
“Dreamcatcher”
“dream/killer”
“Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon”
“Eating Happiness”
“Every Last Child”
“Evidence of Harm”
“Farewell to Hollywood”
“Finders Keepers”
“The Forecaster”
“Frame by Frame”
“Gardeners of Eden”
“A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile”
“Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones”
“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”
“He Named Me Malala”
“Heart of a Dog”
“Hitchcock/Truffaut”
“How to Change the World”
“Human”
“The Hunting Ground”
“I Am Chris Farley”
“In Jackson Heights”
“In My Father’s House”
“India’s Daughter”
“Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words”
“Iraqi Odyssey”
“Iris”
“Janis: Little Girl Blue”
“Karski & the Lords of Humanity”
“Killing Them Safely”
“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck”
“Lambert & Stamp”
“A Lego Brickumentary”
“Listen to Me Marlon”
“Live from New York!”
“The Look of Silence”
“Meet the Patels”
“Meru”
“The Mind of Mark DeFriest”
“Misery Loves Comedy”
“Monkey Kingdom”
“A Murder in the Park”
“My Italian Secret”
“My Voice, My Life”
“1971”
“Of Men and War”
“One Cut, One Life”
“Only the Dead See the End of War”
“The Outrageous Sophie Tucker”
“Peace Officer”
“The Pearl Button”
“Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer”
“Poached”
“Polyfaces”
“The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers”
“Prophet’s Prey”
“Racing Extinction”
“The Resurrection of Jake the Snake”
“Ride the Thunder – A Vietnam War Story of Victory & Betrayal”
“Rosenwald”
“The Russian Woodpecker”
“Searching for Home: Coming Back from War”
“Seeds of Time”
“Sembene!”
“The Seven Five”
“Seymour: An Introduction”
“Sherpa”
“A Sinner in Mecca”
“Something Better to Come”
“Song from the Forest”
“Song of Lahore”
“Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine”
“Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans”
“Stray Dog”
“Sunshine Superman”
“Sweet Micky for President”
“Tab Hunter Confidential”
“The Tainted Veil”
“Tap World”
“(T)error”
“Thao’s Library”
“Those Who Feel the Fire Burning”
“3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets”
“The Touch of an Angel”
“TransFatty Lives”
“The True Cost”
“Twinsters”
“Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists”
“The Wanted 18”
“We Are Many”
“We Come as Friends”
“We Were Not Just…Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism”
“Welcome to Leith”
“What Happened, Miss Simone?”
“What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy”
“Where to Invade Next”
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” (pictured above)
“The Wolfpack”
Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December.
Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.
The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The 34th Vancouver International Film Festival will run from September 24th to October 9th, 2015 with John Crowley’s Brooklyn starting the festival off in the Opening Night Gala spot. With scripting by Nick Hornby (Wild, An Education), this 50s-era immigration film is an exhilarating tale of female empowerment. Marc Abraham’s I Saw the Light holds the Closing Night Gala position with a feature on the life of country star Hank Williams. Produced by Vancouver’s Bron Studios, this film reflects the best in BC’s ongoing production boom. Canadian productions remain front and centre when Philippe Falardeau’s My Internship in Canada opens the Canadian Images program, while Patricia Rozema’s Into the Forest takes the BC Spotlight Awards Gala spot.
The complete list of films in the Gala and Special Presentation categories include:
Opening Gala
Brooklyn
(JOHN CROWLEY, UK/IRELAND/CANADA)
Lured from Ireland by the American Dream, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) instead lands in a hardscrabble reality of cramped boarding houses and grungy dancehalls. As homesickness grips her, she’s also torn between two admirers (Domhnall Gleeson and Emory Cohen). With Nick Hornby scripting, John Crowley crafts a stirring 50s-era immigration tale that also serves as an exhilarating profile of female empowerment. “Classily and classically crafted in the best sense.” —