THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER[/caption]
After hosting crowds topping 100,000, the 42nd Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) announced the winners of the competitions and awards at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, April 15, 2018. The Drummer and the Keeper, directed by Nick Kelly was awarded the top prize – the Audience Choice Award for Best Film.
The Drummer and the Keeper begins with a pantless man dragging a couch onto a beach. He douses it with gasoline and casually sets it on fire. His name is Gabriel, and he is a drummer for an up-and-coming rock band. His bandmates have had enough of his out-of-control antics, though. He’s constantly drunk, and the couch incident is just one of many. When Gabriel agrees to get help, it’s revealed he’s bipolar. His therapist prescribes medicine and enrolls him in treatment, which includes joining a soccer team with other mental health patients. He reluctantly shows up to practice, where the coach pushes him to befriend Christopher, a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome. Soon Gabriel can’t seem to get rid of Christopher. But as time goes by, Gabriel will discover Christopher is not just the only friend he really has, but also exactly the kind he needs. This funny, moving film examines an anomalous union that seems doomed from the start. However, their unlikely but beautiful friendship will give them both the pieces they’ve been missing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ExhyLIdEHs
The 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival will take place March 27 to April 7, 2019 at Tower City Cinemas.
Quality Time
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THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER Wins Top Award at 2018 Cleveland International Film Festival [ Complete List of Winners]
[caption id="attachment_27286" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER[/caption]
After hosting crowds topping 100,000, the 42nd Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) announced the winners of the competitions and awards at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, April 15, 2018. The Drummer and the Keeper, directed by Nick Kelly was awarded the top prize – the Audience Choice Award for Best Film.
The Drummer and the Keeper begins with a pantless man dragging a couch onto a beach. He douses it with gasoline and casually sets it on fire. His name is Gabriel, and he is a drummer for an up-and-coming rock band. His bandmates have had enough of his out-of-control antics, though. He’s constantly drunk, and the couch incident is just one of many. When Gabriel agrees to get help, it’s revealed he’s bipolar. His therapist prescribes medicine and enrolls him in treatment, which includes joining a soccer team with other mental health patients. He reluctantly shows up to practice, where the coach pushes him to befriend Christopher, a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome. Soon Gabriel can’t seem to get rid of Christopher. But as time goes by, Gabriel will discover Christopher is not just the only friend he really has, but also exactly the kind he needs. This funny, moving film examines an anomalous union that seems doomed from the start. However, their unlikely but beautiful friendship will give them both the pieces they’ve been missing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ExhyLIdEHs
The 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival will take place March 27 to April 7, 2019 at Tower City Cinemas.
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40th Denver Film Festival to Spotlight ‘LADY BIRD’, ‘I, TONYA’, ‘MOLLY’S GAME’
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Lady Bird[/caption]
Actress Greta Gerwig directorial debut Lady Bird starring Saoirse Ronan will kickoff the 40th Denver Film Festival which takes place November 1 to 12, 2017. I, Tonya, the Tonya Harding biopic, directed by Craig Gillespie, and starring Margot Robbie, will close out the festival on Saturday, November 11.
Other spotlight films include Submission directed by Richard Levine, starring Stanley Tucci and Kyra Sedgwick screening on Friday, November 3; and The Ballad of Lefty Brown directed by Jared Moshe, starring Bill Pullman and Peter Fonda will have a special “spotlight” screening on Wednesday, November 8.
Molly’s Game starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba in the directorial debut from writer Aaron Sorkin, is featured on the “Big Night” of the festival on Thursday, November 9.
And, on closing night, there will also be a red carpet matinee of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri by writer/director Martin McDonagh, starring Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson on Saturday, November 11.
Special Presentations
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – Italy/France/Brazil/USA / Director: Luca Guadagnino Based on an acclaimed novel, the screenplay for this sensual and transcendent tale of first love from Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino was penned by none other than that master of exquisite longing, James Ivory CHAPPAQUIDDICK – USA / Director: John Curran How did one of the most powerful political dynasties in US history preserve its legacy in the aftermath of a tragic scandal? Directed by John Curran, this historical drama centers on the media maelstrom surrounding Chappaquiddick, as the 1969 car accident involving US Senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) and a young campaign worker (Kate Mara) came to be known. Ed Helms and Jim Gaffigan co-star. DARKEST HOUR – UK / Director: Joe Wright Gary Oldman stars in director Joe Wright’s thrilling fictionalized account of Winston Churchill’s first weeks in office during the early days of World War II. With the support of his wife of 31 years, Clemmie (Kristin Scott Thomas), the witty and brilliant Prime Minister must rally a nation to fight against incredible odds and change the course of world history forever. HUMAN FLOW – Germany / Director: Ai Weiwei In recent years, over 65 million people around the world have fled their homes to escape famine, climate change and war. This epic documentary journey through 23 countries by the internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei gives powerful visual expression to both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. IN THE FADE (Aus dem nichts) – Germany/France / Director: Fatih Akin When her husband Nuri and young son Rocco are killed in a bomb attack, Katja begins a search for answers that makes the mourning process all the more painful and difficult. The trial of two neo-Nazi suspects pushes her to the edge, but there’s simply no alternative for the pursuit of justice. Diane Kruger won Best Actress at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her role in this raw, gripping drama. ISMAEL’S GHOSTS (Les fantomes d’smael) – France / Director: Arnaud Desplechin Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marion Cotillard star in this meta-romantic thriller from France about a filmmaker caught in a triangle between his current love and a woman from his past—who happens to have been presumed dead for 20 years. LAST FLAG FLYING – USA / Director: Richard Linklater Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, three military vets (Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne) reunite for a different type of mission: to bury Doc’s son, a young Marine killed in Iraq. In this thoughtful and moving road movie, director Richard Linklater’s characters wrestle with the impact war has had on their lives. THE LEISURE SEEKER – Italy/France / Director: Paolo Virzì From acclaimed Italian filmmaker Paolo Virzì, this new take on an old genre—the road movie—stars Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland as a runaway couple on an unforgettable journey to recapture their passion for life and their love for each other in the faithful old RV they call the Leisure Seeker. NOVITIATE – USA / Director: Margaret Betts Melissa Leo (The Fighter, The Big Short) leads a strong cast of rising stars in this Vatican II–era drama about a rural Tennessean girl’s first true love—which just so happens to be for God. Granted a scholarship to Catholic school, young Cathleen is quickly drawn into the mysterious romanticism—eroticism, even—of a life devoted to worship and servitude. THE PARTY – UK / Director: Sally Potter The more is anything but the merrier in this brutally funny satire on the British upper crust. Politico Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) throws an insufferable dinner party whose every guest (Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer and Cillian Murphy among them) is worse than the last—all the better for the audience to bask in writer-director Sally Potter’s zinger-rich dialogue. SOLLERS POINT – USA / Director: Matthew Porterfield This gritty drama follows small-time drug dealer Keith from the confines of house arrest back onto the racially tense streets of Baltimore. Although he wants to make a new start, his father (Jim Belushi), a retired steelworker, has little patience with his unemployed son—and the allure of criminal life in his depressed neighborhood may be impossible to withstand. VIGILANTE: THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF CURTIS SLIWA AND THE GUARDIAN ANGELS – USA / Director: David Wexler A forceful tribute to community self-defense, this documentary tells the remarkable story of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, who vividly narrates his initiation into a life of vigilantism in the crime-ridden New York City of the ’70s and ’80s, touching on everything from the crack epidemic to his defense of infamous subway gunman Bernard Goetz.KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM FINALISTS
THE HAPPINESS OF THE WORLD – Poland / Director: Michał Rosa This period drama from Polish filmmaker Michał Rosa is set in 1939 in a village on the German-Polish border, where the residents of a tenement house endure the rising tension of the coming war. When a Warsaw journalist embeds himself in their building in search of an anonymous author, their secrets begin to surface, intertwined with a mysterious Jewish beauty named Róża. IN THE FADE– Germany/France / Director: Fatih Akin When her husband Nuri and young son Rocco are killed in a bomb attack, Katja begins a search for answers that makes the mourning process all the more painful and difficult. The trial of two neo-Nazi suspects pushes her to the edge, but there’s simply no alternative for the pursuit of justice. Diane Kruger won Best Actress at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her role in this raw, gripping drama. QUALITY TIME – Netherland/Norway / Director: Daan Bakker Dutch filmmaker Daan Bakker’s sly, strange tragicomedy about a quintet of 30-something misfits is told in five distinct parts—all employing their own inventive visual and narrative styles to convey a sense of the dislocation, dysfunction and absurdity dictating the lives of Koen, Stefaan, Kjell, Karel and Jef. RADIANCE – Japan/France / Director: Naomi Kawase In this heartfelt drama from Japan, Misako is a passionate translator of films for the visually impaired. At a screening, she meets Nakamori, an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesight—but who can teach her to see what’s right in front of her, provided she’s open to the possibilities. THELMA – Norway/France/Denmark/Sweden / Director: Joachim Trier When shy, religious young Thelma goes to study at a university in Oslo, she begins to experience violent seizures that lead to an encounter with beautiful classmate Anja—while also revealing supernatural abilities. As the girls’ friendship deepens, both the terrifying implications of Thelma’s powers and tragic secrets from her past come to light in this paranormal thriller from Norway. UNDER THE TREE – Iceland / Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson When Baldwin and Inga’s next door neighbours complain that a tree in their backyard casts a shadow over their sundeck, what starts off as a typical spat between neighbours in the suburbs unexpectedly and violently spirals out of control.MAYSLES BROTHERS AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FINALISTS
32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE – USA / Director: Hope Litoff She’s beautiful, artistic, beloved—and she can’t stand to be alive. Documentary filmmaker Hope Litoff seeks to piece together the life and death of her sister Ruth; in the process, she gives a devastating account of the toll her investigation takes on her own mental health. ALPHAGO – USA / Director: Greg Kohs The ancient Chinese game called Go is said to have more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe. This fascinating documentary takes viewers from the coding terminals of Google DeepMind in London to a tournament in Seoul, where a legendary Go master is set to compete against a computer program in an epic battle of wits: can the human brain outsmart artificial intelligence? DID YOU WONDER WHO FIRED THE GUN? – USA / Director: Travis Wilkerson Filmmaker Travis Wilkerson turns the camera on his own family to expose a dark secret in this unflinching personal documentary. Returning to his hometown of Dothan, Alabama, he discovers that his great-grandfather, a white supremacist, once shot and killed a black man but was never charged with the murder—and that any historical trace of his victim is gone. FACES PLACES – France / Director: JR, Agnès Varda At 89 years old, Agnès Varda, one of the leading figures of the French New Wave, teamed up with acclaimed 33-year-old French photographer JR to co-direct this enchanting documentary-meets-road movie. As they travel around France in JR’s truck producing large-scale photographic portraits of the locals they meet along the way, they reveal the humanity in their subjects—and themselves. NO MAN’S LAND– USA / Director: David Byars Director-cinematographer David Byars had remarkable access to the protesters occupying Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge during their 41-day armed standoff with federal authorities in 2016. This gripping documentary reveals the inner workings of the insurrection as it examines what draws Americans to the concept of revolution. STRAD STYLE – USA / Director: Stefan Avalos Meet Danny Houck—a down-on-his-luck, Stradivarius-obsessed recluse in rural Ohio who has somehow convinced a famous European concert violinist that he can make a copy of one of the world’s rarest and most valuable violins. A hilariously poignant and suspenseful documentary about the true meaning of chutzpah.AMERICAN INDEPENDENT NARRATIVE AWARD FINALISTS
DISCREET – USA/Brazil / Director: Travis Mathews After years in hiding and struggling to control his demons, an eccentric drifter returns home and discovers that his childhood abuser, the center of his pain, is still alive. GOLDEN EXITS – USA / Director: Alex Ross Perry Writer-director Alex Ross Perry (The Color Wheel, SDFF34) explores the torment of modern domestic life, with a fabulous ensemble cast—including Mary-Louise Parker, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Sevigny, Keith Poulson and the Beastie Boys’ Adam Horovitz—on hand to embrace both the dramatic and darkly comedic sides of despair. THE MISOGYNISTS – USA / Director: Onur Tukel This dark, claustrophobic satire stars Dylan Baker (Happiness) as Cameron, a lonely businessman celebrating Trump’s election in a hotel room after a bitter separation from his wife of 35 years. As the night progresses, friends, colleagues and strangers come and go, debating politics and what it means to be an American—among them a pair of prostitutes facing an existential crisis of their own. MR. ROOSEVELT – USA / Director: Noël Wells Comedian Noël Wells (Saturday Night Live, Master of None) wrote, directed and stars in this charming comedy. Like Wells, Emily has racked up millions of YouTube hits for her video sketches. But unlike Wells, she can’t quite make it in Los Angeles. When she receives news of a death in the family, she rushes back to Austin to find her ex-boyfriend—and everything else—has changed. THE STRANGE ONES – USA / Directors: Christopher Radcliff, Lauren Wolkstein A young man and a boy travel by car through a wooded American landscape. Who are they? Where are they going? Are they on the run? The boy seems disturbed, haunted by memories of nameless violence, and the mood is one of foreboding—but the more we learn, the less we understand in this artful coming-of-age mystery. THIRST STREET – France/USA / Director: Nathan Silver While on layover in Paris, a lonely American flight attendant has a rendezvous with a seedy nightclub bartender and becomes tangled in a web of misunderstandings, masochistic tendencies, & unrequited amour fou in this homage to the erotic dramas of 1970s Europe from returning fest guest Nathan Silver (Actor Martinez, DFF39).TRUE GRIT BEST COLORADO FEATURE FILM AWARD FINALISTS
COLORADO FEATURE FILMS
AMY & SOPHIA – UK/USA / Director: Adam Lipsius An unlikely friendship forms when two troubled girls, haunted by their past, forge a shared future by using art as an escape from the present in this magical-realist drama. GNAW – USA / Director: Haylar Garcia Jennifer Conrad is a small-town girl starting over in the big city. Fleeing an abusive relationship, all she wants is a chance to become whole again. But that’s hard to do when something is eating at you while you sleep—literally. This horror flick by Colorado filmmaker Haylar Garcia delves with equal gusto into paranormal and psychological phenomena. HOME TRUTH – USA / Directors: Katia Maguire, April Hayes In 1999, Colorado mother Jessica Gonzales experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when her three young daughters were killed after being abducted by their father. Determined to make sure their deaths were not in vain, Gonzales became an advocate for domestic-violence victims, taking her case to the US Supreme Court and beyond. At once troubling and inspiring, this documentary tells her story. HONDROS – USA/Iraq/Liberia/Libya / Director: Greg Campbell Pulitzer Prize-finalist photographer Chris Hondros spent a decade documenting wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Liberia and Libya, until he was killed while on assignment for Getty Images in 2011. Directed by fellow journalist and lifelong friend Greg Campbell, this eloquent documentary pays tribute to the late photojournalist’s courageous and compassionate career. JONBENET’S TRICYCLE – USA / Director: Andrew Novick Andrew Novick is a Mile High legend as (among other things) an obsessive collector. He reveals some of his strangest acquisitions—including JonBenet Ramsey’s tricycle—in this quirky autobiographical documentary, which is also an investigation of the human urge to possess what we value and of the impact pop culture and the media have on our experience of tragedy. LIYANA – Swaziland/USA/Qatar / Directors: Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp The lives and extraordinary imaginations of five orphans at a storytelling workshop in Swaziland are captured in this enchanting, moving and highly acclaimed documentary from Colorado filmmakers Aaron and Amanda Kopp. MOVING PARTS – Trinidad and Tobago/USA / Director: Emilie Upczak In this unique personal drama of human trafficking—written and directed by Boulder native Emilie Upczak—Zhenzhen follows her brother to Trinidad and Tobago with the help of a smuggler. When her new restaurant job proves dangerously unpleasant, a local art gallery owner helps her fight to secure her future. WALDEN: LIFE IN THE WOODS – USA / Director: Alex Harvey Shot on location in Colorado, this radical Western re-imagining of Thoreau’s eponymous classic interlaces three narratives that take place over 24 hours to consider the trappings of modern life and the unlikely heroes who dream of escape.COLORADO SHORT FILMS
CHOCOLATE SPOKES – USA / Directors: Brendan Leonard CHOWDER – USA / Director: Justin Tyrrell, Travis Lindner THE DAY BEFORE – USA / Directors: Geoff Marslett DIVING MONKEYS – USA / Director: Elizabeth Henry DREAMSPOOK – FEAR IN LOVE – USA / Directors: Joseph Kolean FED TO FIRE – USA / Director: Joseph Dasteel FINAL FOUR – USA / Directors: Dario Ortega MRS. DRAKE – USA / Director: Caitlin FitzGerald OH, OPHELIA – USA / Directors: Dakota Nanton THE OUTSIDER – USA / Director: Scott Takeda THE ROMANTIC METHOD – USA / Directors: Maggie Hart UNSEEN – USA / Director: Kaleb Kohart
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2017 London Film Festival Unveils Lineup of 242 Feature Films + 128 Shorts
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)[/caption]
The 61st BFI London Film Festival today announced its full program, featuring a diverse selection of 242 feature films including 46 documentaries, 6 animations, 14 archive restorations and 16 artists’ moving image features. The program also includes 128 short films, and 67 countries are represented across short film and features.
Alongside the Galas, Special Presentations and films in Competitions, the Festival will show a range of new cinema in sections aka strands titled Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Experimenta and Family. In 2017, the LFF debuts a new strand, Create, featuring films that celebrate artistic practice in all its channels and forms the electricity of the creative process, reflecting London’s position as one of the world’s leading creative cities.
Audiences will have the opportunity to hear some of the world’s creative leaders through the Festival’s acclaimed talks’ series LFF Connects, which features artists working at the intersection of film and other creative industries, and Screen Talks, a series of in-depth interviews with leaders in contemporary cinema. Participants this year include Julian Rosefeldt & Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, Demis Hassabis, Nitin Sawhney, Johan Knattrup Jensen, Ian McEwan and Takashi Miike.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Robin Campillo, 120 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) Vivian Qu, ANGELS WEAR WHITE Majid Majidi, BEYOND THE CLOUDS (World Premiere) Nora Twomey, THE BREADWINNER (European Premiere) Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, GOOD MANNERS Xavier Beauvois, THE GUARDIANS (European Premiere) Andrew Haigh, LEAN ON PETE Andrey Zvyagintsev, LOVELESS Azazel Jacobs, THE LOVERS (European Premiere) Warwick Thornton, SWEET COUNTRY Cory Finley, THOROUGHBRED (International Premiere) Annemarie Jacir, WAJIBFIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
Daniel Kokotajlo, APOSTASY Léa Mysius, AVA Michael Pearce, BEAST (European Premiere) Ofir Raul Graizer, THE CAKEMAKER Gilles Coulier, CARGO Kogonada, COLUMBUS Rungano Nyoni, I AM NOT A WITCH Léonor Serraille, JEUNE FEMME Ana Asensio, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND Carla Simón, SUMMER 1993 Hlynur Pálmason, WINTER BROTHERS John Trengove, THE WOUNDDOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Maryam Goormaghtigh, BEFORE SUMMER ENDS Elvira Lind, BOBBI JENE Arash Kamali Sarvestani, Behrouz Boochani, CHAUKA, PLEASE TELL US THE TIME (International Premiere) Radu Jude, THE DEAD NATION Shevaun Mizrahi, DISTANT CONSTELLATION Frederick Wiseman, EX LIBRIS – THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Agnès Varda, JR, FACES PLACES Austin Lynch, Matthew Booth, GRAY HOUSE Brett Morgen, JANE (European Premiere) Lucy Cohen, KINGDOM OF US (World Premiere) Emmanuel Gras, MAKALA Sonia Kronlund, THE PRINCE OF NOTHINGWOODSHORT FILM AWARD
Gabriel Abrantes, THE ARTIFICIAL HUMORS Phil Collins, DELETE BEACH Billie Pleffer, FYSH (International Premiere) Anna Cazenave Cambet, GABBER LOVER Karishma Dube, GODDESS Aegina Brahim, LAWS OF THE GAME Jonathan Vinel, MARTIN CRIES Patrick Bresnan THE RABBIT HUNT Moin Hussain, REAL GODS REQUIRE BLOOD Kibwe Tavares, ROBOT & SCARECROW Kazik Radwanski, SCAFFOLD Harry Lighton, WREN BOYS (World Premiere) The Festival program is organized in strands: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Family, Treasures and Experimenta.LOVE
The Love Gala is the European Premiere of Dominic Cooke’s quietly heart-breaking film debut ON CHESIL BEACH. Saoirse Ronan and rising actor Billy Howle star as a young couple in the early 1960s struggling to physically connect on their honeymoon, impeccably adapted for the big screen by Ian McEwan from his own Man Booker-shortlisted novela. Other highlights in this section include: CLOSE-KNIT, Naoko Ogigami’s quietly subversive and emotionally rich portrait of a transwoman whose maternal feelings are stirred by the arrival of her boyfriend’s 11-year-old niece; THE GROWN-UPS, Maïte Alberdi’s tender and bittersweet documentary portrait of Chileans Anita and Andres, who have Down’s syndrome and are very much in love; the World Premiere of Carlos Marques Marcet’s ANCHOR AND HOPE, a London-set story about modern love and family featuring Oona Chaplin; John Cameron Mitchell’s cosmic ride HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES, sees aliens have landed in 1970s Croydon in a funny, energetic love story starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman; the World Premiere of JOURNEYMAN, features Paddy Considine following up his acclaimed debut Tyrannosaur with the story of a boxer who must rebuild his life after a near-fatal injury; GOING WEST, a World Premiere from Norwegian newcomer Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken who delivers a sweetly delicious road movie; LET THE SUNSHINE IN, Claire Denis’ darkly witty drama starring Juliette Binoche as an artist caught up in a series of unsatisfying affairs, and David Gordon Green’s rousing yet devastating true-story drama STRONGER featuring a remarkable performance by Jake Gyllenhaal as a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing.DEBATE
This year’s Debate Gala is Samuel Maoz’s FOXTROT, a film that combines thrilling cinematography with superb performances, and highlights the absurdities of conscripted service. Debate also includes: BIRDS ARE SINGING IN KIGALI, Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze’s hard-hitting drama about the intertwined lives of two refugee survivors reeling from the impact of the Rwandan genocide and containing powerful central performances; the World Premiere of THE CLIMB, Michael Woodward’s debut documentary that charts Greenpeace’s daring all-female team that illegally ascended The Shard in protest against petroleum giant Shell’s plans to dig for oil in the Arctic; the World Premiere of THE FORGIVEN, Roland Joffé’s political drama starring Forest Whitaker as Desmond Tutu and Eric Bana as Piet Blomfeld, asking how far we can go in forgiving past crimes; the World Premiere of ISLAND, Steven Eastwood’s haunting and deeply moving documentary combining observational footage with contemplative shots of the costal landscapes of the Isle of Wight, and set among terminally ill cancer patients, and THE VENERABLE W., Barbet Schroeder’s disturbingly illuminating portrait of Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, who was known for espousing anti-Muslim hatred.LAUGH
This year’s Laugh Gala is Noah Baumbach’s THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED). A stellar cast give uniformly excellent performances, including Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Elizabeth Marvel and Emma Thompson. Through the madcap antics of a neurotic, failure-obsessed clan, Baumbach surfaces bigger questions about how to value family and the meaning of success. Laugh also includes: the World Premiere of Adrian Shergold’s FUNNY COW, which contains a formidable performance from Maxine Peake as an aspiring stand-up comic confronting her violent husband and the sexist Northern England club circuit; INGRID GOES WEST, Matt Spicer’s jet-black stalker comedy brilliantly skewers dangerous obsession and the sham of Instagrammed perfection with wicked and fearless performances from Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza; joy and grace flow out of Dustin Guy Defa’s observational comedy drama PERSON TO PERSON, starring Michael Cera as a reporter keen on quoting (his own) heavy metal lyrics; Daan Bakker’s QUALITY TIME is perfect for lovers of experimental and irreverent cinema offering a portmanteau selection of stories of male arrested development; and Henrik Ruben Genz’s WORD OF GOD is set months after the Chernobyl disaster and provides dark and dirty humour where pretty much nothing is off limits.DARE
The Dare Gala is François Ozon’s frisky new thriller, AMANT DOUBLE, a deliciously duplicitous tale of psychoanalysis and seduction that channels the spirits of Hitchcock and De Palma at their naughtiest and stars Jérémie Renier, Marine Vacth and Jacqueline Bisset. Other highlights in the strand include: Eliza Hittman’s BEACH RATS, a gripping investigation of repressed sexual desire in a hyper-masculine environment; Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi’s touching drama GIANT, set in 19th century Spain and based on the true story of Mikel Jokin Eleizegi, allegedly the tallest man of his time; Semih Kaplanoğlu’s spellbinding dystopian sci-fi, GRAIN in which climate change has caused the nearextinction of human life; Liu Jian’s adult animé HAVE A NICE DAY, a biting, bone-dry satire on contemporary Chinese social mores and featuring plenty of bloodthirsty Tarantino-esque genre thrills; the European Premiere of Bornila Chatterjee’s THE HUNGRY, which reworks Shakespeare’s bloody Titus Andronicus into a macabre modern tragedy set in Northern India; Barbara Albert’s resplendent drama MADEMOISELLE PARADIS, based on the true story of Maria Theresia ‘Resi’ von Paradis, a gifted blind musician and contemporary of Mozart, paraded through Vienna’s courts to perform; Jean Libon and Yves Hinant’s jawdropping and extraordinary documentary SO HELP ME GOD, which details the work of an unorthodox Belgian judge Anne Gruwez as she tackles gruesome crimes, domestic violence and other sordid cases; and WESTERN, director Valeska Grisebach’s contemporary western in which tensions mount between German construction workers and Bulgarian villagers in a small rural town.THRILL
This year’s Thrill Gala is Takashi Miike’s savage and inventive action thriller, BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL, based on the famous manga series by Hiroaki Samurai about a samurai cursed with immortal life and has the distinction of being Miike’s 100th feature film. Thrill also features: the European Premiere of Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Thai teen thriller BAD GENIUS, in which young brainiac Lynn uses a very special set of skills to cheat on behalf of her classmates in the high-stakes world of entrance exams for elite international universities; the European Premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s THE BRAWLER in which a young and talented Indian boxer dreams of being champion, but is knocked sideways when he falls for the niece of the man blocking his road to success; Aaron Katz’s GEMINI in which a heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant, Jill played by Lola Kirke and her Hollywood movie star boss Heather played by Zoë Kravitz; the Safdie brothers’ latest film GOOD TIME features Robert Pattinson as a small-time New York criminal, who after a bank robbery goes seriously wrong, devises a plan to spring his injured accomplice from police custody; Jennifer Peedom’s spectacular documentary MOUNTAIN, is a mind-blowing symphony of images and sound chronicling the powerful attraction mountains hold over us; love, crime and action combine in a taut and twisty thriller-cum-romance in Michaël R. Roskam’s RACER AND THE JAILBIRD starring Adèle Exarchopoulos as Bibi, a young racing driver and Matthias Schoenaerts as Gigi the Jailbird, a dashing playboy with, it seems, time and money to burn; Ian Nelms and Eshom Nelms’ blackly comic, crime noir, SMALL TOWN CRIME (European Premiere) stars John Hawkes as alcoholic former cop Mike, channelling a drunk Columbo who embarks on his own unofficial crime investigation while Octavia Spencer plays his supportive sister Kelly who is starting to lose patience with Mike’s lying, drifting and drinking; and the International Premiere of Xin Yukun’s sophisticated arthouse thriller, WRATH OF SILENCE featuring martial arts maestro Song Yang, as a mute bruiser who returns to his home, a remote farming village, following the disappearance of his son. With tight plotting, memorable characters and an unforgettable climax, director Xin Yukun establishes himself as a new international filmmaker you need to know.CULT
The Cult Gala is Joachim Trier’s subtle shocker THELMA, a supernaturally-tinged tale of a young woman’s macabre coming of age. Other titles in the strand include: S. Craig Zahler’s genre-bending, bone-crunching exercise in slow-burn suspense, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, starring Vince Vaughn as a former boxer-turned mechanic involved in a drug deal that goes wrong that sees him behind bars; the walking dead get a second chance at life in David Freyne’s debut THE CURED starring Ellen Page in an inventive and surprising post-zombie era drama where a cure has been found for the infected and the rehabilitated are transitioned back into society; the World Premiere of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s GHOST STORIES in which they bring their hit London stage play to the big screen, with suitably chilling results. Nyman plays Phillip Goodman, an academic and professional sceptic out to debunk claims of the supernatural , but when he stumbles across a long lost file containing three unsolved cases of the Occult, his whole belief system – not to mention his sanity – is thrown into question; LET THE CORPSES TAN is directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s adaptation of JeanPatrick Manchette’s influential 1971 crime novel and the result is a sun-drenched Western-tinged, crimecaper; MY FRIEND DAHMER is director Marc Meyers’ adaptation of John Backderf’s revered graphic novel and is an unnerving portrait of one of America’s most prolific murderers, Jeffrey Dahmer; and Paco Plaza’s much-anticipated new horror film, VERONICA, inspired by an actual unsolved case in Spain and a no-holds barred supernatural shocker.JOURNEY
This year’s Journey Gala is Todd Haynes’ new film WONDERSTRUCK, an enthralling adaptation of Brian Selznick’s acclaimed young adult novel. Featuring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in supporting roles alongside a gifted young cast, Oakes Fegley and newcomer Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress making her film debut, it is both a whimsical children’s film for adults and a refreshingly grown-up film for children. Other Journey titles include: Arshad Khan’s ABU, a compelling documentary about a young Pakistani man’s difficulties in coping with migration and the resultant cultural change, his emerging sexuality and an increasingly orthodox father; Iraqi filmmaker Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji’s THE JOURNEY, a taut, thoughtprovoking thriller that tackles what might just be the final moments of a potential suicide bomber’s life; David Batty’s stylish documentary MY GENERATION, presented and narrated by Michael Caine, playfully explores the impact of Britain’s working class cultural revolution in the 1960s and features a wealth of archive footage and a spot-on soundtrack from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who, which makes for an exhilarating journey back in time; the European Premiere of Egyptian director Amr Salama’s SHEIKH JACKSON, a bittersweet and poignant tale of an Islamist preacher experiencing a crisis of faith following the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson; Marc J. Francis and Max Pugh’s fascinating and immersive exploration of mindfulness, WALK WITH ME, featuring narration by Benedict Cumberbatch, follows the daily rituals and routine of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and offers a rare insight into life within a monastic community; and the World Premiere of THE WHITE GIRL, where debut director Jenny Suen collaborates with legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle on an intoxicating and textually rich film.CREATE
The brand new Create strand channels the electricity of the act of creation, celebrating artistic expression in all its forms. The inaugural Create Gala is Michel Hazanavicius’ REDOUBTABLE, an audacious, multi-layered biopic of French cinema’s most notorious director, Jean-Luc Godard. Also in Create: Greg Kohs’ ALPHAGO the story of how Google’s DeepMind team took on Go world champion Lee Sedol, posing questions about whether computers can think creatively and whether there is an algorithm for intuition; the World Premiere of THE BALLAD OF SHIRLEY COLLINS, Rob Curry and Tim Plester’s portrait of one of the great British folks singers who mysteriously lost her voice in 1980; G-FUNK tells the story of how three childhood friends from East Long Beach Warren G, Snoop Dogg and the late great Nate Dogg, transformed hip-hop into a global phenomenon and changed the world; the World Premiere of William Badgely’s HERE TO BE HEARD: THE STORY OF THE SLITS is a riveting film about the game-changing and largely female feminist punk band; Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s LOVING VINCENT is a stunning, fully painted animated feature created in the style of Van Gogh’s paintings matching extraordinary style with richly satisfying storytelling, broadcast live from the National Gallery to cinemas nationwide; and Julian Rosefeldt’s MANIFESTO starring Cate Blanchett as thirteen different characters in this energetic tribute to artistic troublemakers.FAMILY
Showcasing films for the young, as well as the young at heart the Family Gala is THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES, an outstanding, laugh-a-minute animation from Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert, the team behind Ernest & Celestine (LFF 2012, Family Gala) and is guaranteed to appeal to adults as much as it will to children. Other highlights include Chang-yong Moon and Jin Jeon’s beautifully made documentary BECOMING WHO I WAS about a young monk Padma Angdu, who is said to be the latest incarnation of a religious teacher, known as a Rinpoche, and his attempts to reach the home he had in a former life; Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang’s visually breath-taking Chinese animated fantasy, BIG FISH & BEGONIA is as near to the best of Studio Ghibli as you’re likely to find anywhere; Meikeminne Clinckspoor’s family adventure CLOUDBOY is about 12- year-old Niilas who is sent away against his wishes to spend the summer with his estranged mother in Swedish Lapland, among the indigenous reindeer herding Sami people; and winner of the top prize at this year’s Annecy Animation Film Festival, Masaaki Yuasa’s anime LU OVER THE WALL brings human and merfolk together with surprising outcomes. This funky, upbeat tale is full of energy, features cute ‘merdogs’, musical mermaids and a giant humanoid shark and has a really cool soundtrack. This section also includes a program of animated shorts for younger audiences which bring together eclectic, exciting and colourful films from all around the globe.TREASURES
The Treasures selection brings recently restored cinematic classics from archives around the world to the Festival in London. The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of the silent film SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA (1928), a ravishing, romantic tale based on the story of the 17th century Mughal ruler Shah Jahan, his queen and the building of the world’s most beautiful monument to love, the Taj Mahal. Directed by Franz Osten, based on a play by Niranjan Pal and starring and produced by Himansu Rai, the film was shot entirely in India and performed by an all-Indian cast. Other highlights include the World Premieres of the 4K restoration by Sony Pictures Entertainment of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946); the digitally remastered experimental documentary FRANTZ FANON: BLACK SKIN WHITE MASK (1996), directed by artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien, as well as the new 4K restoration, by The BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation, of Terry Gilliam’s first feature as a solo director, JABBERWOCKY (1977). The Festival will also screen the 4K restoration of Toshio Matsumoto’s FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (1969), a wild, kaleidoscopic vision of the underground scene in 1960s Japan and a significant influence on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Italian genre-master Dario Argento’s eye-popping slice of technicolour terror, SUSPIRIA (1977) with stunning 4K restoration.EXPERIMENTA
Experimenta features films and videos by artists who transform our experience of seeing moving images. Highlights include: the World Premiere of Benedict Seymour’s DEAD THE ENDS, a politically urgent retelling of Chris Marker’s La Jetée bookended by the 2011 London riots; ERASE AND FORGET, Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s film is an excavation of the influence of fiction on truth in the American imagination of warfare and gun culture; the World Premiere of LEK AND THE DOGS, Andrew Kötting’s account of the ultimate outsider uses a range of visual styles derived from avant garde and genre cinema, and Kevin Jerome Everson’s TONSLER PARK uses an unobtrusive observational style to divulge the mechanisms behind the operation of Election Day at polling stations in Charlottesville, Virginia.