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  • Ashland Independent Film Festival Rolls Out 2018 Program | ‘First Reformed’, ‘On Chesil Beach’, ‘Hearts Beat Loud’ and More ..

    [caption id="attachment_27690" align="aligncenter" width="1080"]On Chesil Beach On Chesil Beach[/caption] The Ashland Independent Film Festival announced its lineup for the five-day festival taking place April 12 to 16, 2018, and featuring over 120 films chosen from nearly a thousand films submitted to the festival, or specially selected by AIFF Artistic and Executive Director Richard Herskowitz. Special screenings include the upcoming features First Reformed (directed by Paul Schrader and starring Ethan Hawke), On Chesil Beach with Saoirse Ronan, Brett Haley’s Hearts Beat Loud with Nick Offerman, Andrew Haigh’s Oregon-filmed Lean on Pete, and Borg vs. McEnroe, starring Shia LeBoeuf, plus 2018 Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentaries Minding the Gap, On Her Shoulders, and Crime + Punishment.

    Award Recipients

    AIFF will present Rogue Awards to two special guests, Academy Award®-winning actor Chris Cooper and Seattle-based director Lynn Shelton. Cooper launched his film acting career with his role as a union organizer in Matewan, the first of five films he appeared in directed by John Sayles, and won the Academy Award in 2002 for his supporting role in Adaptation. In addition to participating in the TalkBack panel “Talking Acting with Chris Cooper,” Cooper will present on Opening Night the world premiere of a film he narrated and executive produced, Intelligent Lives, accompanied by director Dan Habib and executive producer Marianne Leone Cooper. Cooper met Marianne Leone in 1979 at an acting class in New York City. Their son, Jesse Lanier Cooper, was born three months prematurely in October 1987 and developed cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Chris and Marianne became advocates for inclusive education and champions of kids with special needs. Jesse was a mainstreamed student at Silver Lake Regional High School where he was an honor student. In 2005, Jesse died suddenly from a seizure at age 17. Intelligent Lives explores how our society’s narrow views of intelligence have led to the segregation of people with intellectual disabilities. AIFF will also present a Rogue Award to Lynn Shelton, who will present her sixth feature film, Outside In, starring Edie Falco and Jay Duplass and released by The Orchard. Shelton, proudly based in Seattle, has had a stellar career as an independent film director since winning the Grand Jury Award at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival with her debut feature, We Go Way Back. Since then, Shelton’s films, including Humpday (2009), Your Sister’s Sister (AIFF2012), and Laggies (2012) have garnered awards and acclaim at Sundance, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, and the Gotham Independent Film Awards, as well as theatrical distribution from Magnolia and A24. Beginning with Mad Men in 2010, Lynn has directed over 25 episodes of television series including New Girl, Fresh Off the Boat, Master of None, Maron, and GLOW. The recipient of AIFF’s 2018 Pride Award, honoring filmmakers who have made significant contributions to LGBTQ media, is Zackary Drucker, an independent media artist and trans woman whose work crosses boundaries between the art world and popular culture. Drucker has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the 2014 Whitney Biennial, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, and SF MoMA, among others. She is also a producer on the Golden Globe® and Emmy®-winning Amazon series Transparent. She will screen an episode of this series and two films featuring her late friend and mentor, Flawless Sabrina: Drucker’s video, She Gone Rogue and The Queen, Frank Simon’s rarely screened documentary of the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant. Other special guests attending this year’s Festival include James Ivory, recipient of AIFF2017’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2018 Academy Award for his screenplay of Call Me By Your Name. Ivory will return to present the restored classic Shakespeare Wallah and join in a conversation after the screening with Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Artistic Director Bill Rauch. AIFF is reaffirming its mission to promote independent filmmaking by honoring companies that have built the infrastructure of the independent film movement and challenged Hollywood’s dominance. This year, tribute will be paid to Milestone Films, which has gained an international reputation for releasing classic cinema masterpieces, groundbreaking documentaries, and American independent features. Since 2007, Milestone has concentrated on the restoration and worldwide distribution of films outside the Hollywood mainstream featuring “lost” films by and about African Americans, Native Americans, LGBTQ, and women. Milestone co-founders Dennis Doros and Amy Heller will present their recent restoration of No Maps on My Taps, accompanied by its director, George Nierenberg. The screening will be followed by a live performance and “tap-in” (with all audience members who bring tap shoes) led by dancer Suzanne Seiber. The second “Indie Institution” honoree will be the Independent Documentary Association (IDA). IDA’s educational, advocacy, production support, and exhibition programs, including the Pare Lorentz and Enterprise Documentary Funds and Documentary Magazine, provide resources, create community and defend rights and freedom for documentary artists, activists, and journalists. IDA’s Director of Programming and Policy, Claire Aguilar, joined by the films’ directors and subjects, will present The Blessing (an IDA Pare Lorentz Fund grantee) and Crime + Punishment (Enterprise Documentary Fund grantee, and winner of a jury prize at Sundance). Aguilar will also moderate the TalkBack panel “Seeking Justice in Documentary.” According to Festival director Richard Herskowitz, “The tribute to Milestone Films’ restoration and distribution is part of a larger programming focus this year on classic cinema that includes Shakespeare Wallah and No Maps on My Taps. Exposure to classic films, I believe, inspires indie film audiences and filmmakers (from James Ivory to Lynn Shelton) to question and reinvent filmmaking conventions.” The emphasis on classic film is highlighted in this year’s festival posters, based on images from the animated films of Stacey Steers. Steers’ sculptural media installations will be on view at the Schneider Museum of Art as part of an exhibition, The Animated Image ( April 12 – May 12) co-curated by Herskowitz and Schneider Museum director Scott Malbaurn. Also in this exhibition are animated media installations by Chris Doyle, Rick Silva, and Matt Bollinger. Steers’ trilogy of animated films featuring collages of silent film actresses in magical settings will be presented with new scores composed by Ashland-based composers Terry Longshore and Tessa Brinckman, which they will perform live on Saturday, April 14 at SOU Music Recital Hall. Also on that program will be a live performance accompanying the Russian silent film The Dying Swan, a Milestone Films release, with a score created by Ashland-based international opera and film score composer Joby Talbot. Talbot will perform on piano, joined by cellist Michal Palzewicz and violinist Jessica Lambert. Other classic film-themed screenings include Love, Cecil, the documentary on Academy Award-winning costume and set designer and photographer Cecil Beaton that will be accompanied by its director Lisa Immordino Vreeland. Film archivist Michael Zahs, the charismatic film archivist and subject of the documentary feature film Saving Brinton, will demonstrate an early Magic Lantern, a progenitor of the film projector, following Saving Brinton’s screening at the Historic Ashland Armory. Zahs will also demonstrate the Magic Lantern to kids during AIFF’s Family Day of film presentations and hands-on filmmaking activities at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum on Saturday, April 14.

    2018Ashland Independent Film Festival Program Summary

    2018 Documentary Feature Selections

    América The Blessing Citizen Blue & The March Crime + Punishment Dark Money Five Seasons The Foreigner’s Home The Gospel of Eureka I Am Maris: Portrait of a Young Yogi Intelligent Lives Itzhak The King Liyana Love, Cecil Minding the Gap Modified Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End No Maps on My Taps On Her Shoulders One October The Queen The Reluctant Radical & Symphony for Nature: The Britt Orchestra at Crater Lake A River Below Saving Brinton Skid Row Marathon Sky and Ground A Tuba to Cuba Two Trains Runnin’

    2018 Narrative Feature Selections

    Back at the Staircase Borg v. McEnroe The Dying Swan First Reformed For Izzy Fort Maria Hearts Beat Loud The Last Hot Lick Lean on Pete On Chesil Beach Outside In People People The Rainbow Experiment Shakespeare Wallah Wild Honey

    SHORTS PROGRAMS

    Curated Programs CineSpace KidFlix: Best of the New York Children’s International Film Festival Animated Worlds: Stop-Motion Classics with Mark Shapiro Zackary Drucker: Trans Film Television Competition Program Short Stories 1: In the Light of Day Short Stories 2: After Hours Short Docs 1: About Work Short Docs 2: About Community Short Stories and Docs: About Family Locals Only Locals Only 1: Family Friendly – Launch Student Film Competition Locals Only 2: Ashland Roots Locals Only 3: On the River, On the Land

    PERFORMANCES

    Silent Scores: The Dying Swan and Stacey Steers’ Trilogy with Tessa Brinckman, Terry Longshore, and Joby Talbot Live Tap-in with Suzanne Seiber following No Maps on My Taps

    FAMILY DAY AT SCIENCEWORKS

    Saturday, April 14, 10am-5pm: Hands-on film activities and presentations by NASA’s Ralph Grau, archivist Michael Zahs, and LAIKA’s Mark Shapiro

    AIFF MEDFORD

    4 shows at Collaborative Theatre Project on March 21, April 14 and 16, and a special screening at Kids Unlimited of Dolores with Peter Bratt and Dolores Huerta (May 3)

    EXHIBITION AT SCHNEIDER MUSEUM OF ART: THE ANIMATED IMAGE

    Media installations by Stacey Steers, Chris Doyle, Matt Bollinger, and Rick Silva on view April 12 – May 12.

    TALKBACKS

    Talking Acting with Chris Cooper Seeking Justice in Documentary Composing Scores for Classic and Contemporary Films

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  • Jason Reitman’s TULLY Starring Charlize Theron to Open 35th Miami Film Festival | Trailier

    [caption id="attachment_26870" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]TULLY, Starring Charlize Theron TULLY[/caption] Jason Reitman latest film Tully, written by Diablo Cody and starring Charlize Theron, will premiere as the Opening Night film of the 35th edition of  Miami Film Festival, on Friday, March 9th at the Olympia Theater. “Charlize Theron’s fearless performance as a struggling suburban mother on the brink of losing mental control is made possible by another brilliant collaboration by the creators of Juno and Young Adult,” said Festival director Jaie Laplante. “Tully is both a parable and a salve for our stressed-out times – it reminds us all of who we are, and there is no more beautiful way to open our 35th edition than with this film.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRtBP07gIHY The Festival will give its Precious Gem – Icon Award to the great French actress Isabelle Huppert, recent Oscar nominee for Elle and the most nominated actress in César Award history – a total of 16 nominations from France’s Academy – winning twice. She has also twice won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, in a career that has seen her work with some of the greatest directors of contemporary times. Huppert will be honored on Friday, March 16th at the Olympia Theater. “Isabelle Huppert has made profound contributions to cinema over the course of her illustrious career,” Laplante said. “With her recent performances in Things to Come and Elle, as well as Souvenir and Claire’s Camera, both of which we will be screening in conjunction with her Festival appearance, Ms. Huppert reaches ever-new pinnacles that continually astonish us, and add to her iconic status.” The Festival will give its Precious Gem – Master Award to Spain’s greatest living filmmaker, Carlos Saura, on the occasion of a new documentary about the master’s career and family life, Félix Viscarret’s Goya-lauded Saura(s), on Sunday, March 11th at the Olympia Theater. “Carlos Saura returns to Miami after receiving the Festival’s Career Achievement Tribute Award at our 20th edition in 2003,” said Laplante. “At that time, he was 71. Now, he’s 86 and has made eight more brilliant films since his last visit to Miami – but with Saura(s), we see him in a new light, as both a filmmaker and a family-maker. He is a peerless master, and we celebrate the life that continues to nourish his art.” In all, the Festival will present 148 feature narratives, documentaries and short films of all genres, from 50 different countries, including three countries being represented in the Festival’s Official Selection for the first time– Benin, Georgia and Swaziland. The 35th edition of the Festival runs March 9th – 18th. Thirty-eight of the films are directed or co-directed by women filmmakers. The Festival will wrap up with an Awards Night Gala screening at Olympia Theater of the International premiere of Curro Velázquez’s smash hit Spanish comedy Holy Goalie (Que baje Dios y lo vea), with star Alain Hernández in attendance. All Olympia Theater screenings are part of the Festival’s CINEDWNTWN GALA series, sponsored by Miami Downtown Development Authority. A KORBEL Awards Night Party at The Historic Alfred I. Dupont Building will follow the Awards Night ceremony and screening. Academy Award winning filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and revered American screenwriter and director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Affliction) will attend the Festival for Marquee presentations of their newest films. The Festival’s Marquee series features screenings accompanied by on-stage conversations with major film personalities of the moment, discussing their career and sharing an exciting new work. Hazanavicius will present Godard Mon Amour, his serio-comic look at Jean-Luc Godard’s love affair with the actress Anne Wiazemsky during the shooting of his classic films La Chinoise and Weekend. Schrader will present First Reformed, a dramatic thriller starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried and Cedric The Entertainer. They join (previously announced) Mateo Gil and Jean-Marc Barr in the Marquee section. Ten finalists were selected for the Festival’s signature $40,000 Knight Competition, open to feature films directed by filmmakers who have presented at least one feature in a previous edition of the Festival. Three of these films will also screen as CINEDWNTWN GALAS at the Olympia Theater. The finalists are: Another Story of the World (Uruguay, directed by Guillermo Casanova). April’s Daughter (Mexico, directed by Michel Franco). In Love & In Hate (Argentina, directed by Alejandro Maci). *CINEDWNTWN GALA The Laws of Thermodynamics (Spain, directed by Mateo Gil). *WORLD PREMIERE My Love or My Passion (Argentina, directed by Marcos Carnevale). *CINEDWNTWN GALA Sergio and Sergei (Cuba/Spain, directed by Ernesto Daranás). A Sort of Family (Argentina, directed by Diego Lerman). The Summit (Argentina/Spain, directed by Santiago Mitre). *CINEDWNTWN GALA Time Share (Mexico, directed by Sebastián Hofmann). The Warning (Spain, directed by Daniel Calparsoro). Eleven finalists were selected for the Festival’s inaugural $10,000 Knight Made in MIA Competition, which is open to any film – short or feature, documentary or narrative – in the Festival’s Official Selection that features a qualitatively/quantitatively substantial portion of its content (story, setting and actual filming location) in South Florida, from West Palm Beach to the Florida Keys, and that most universally demonstrates a common ground of pride, emotion, and faith for the South Florida community. The new award was inspired by the international success and 2017 Best Picture Oscar win by the Miami-set Moonlight, directed by former Miami resident Barry Jenkins and co-written by Tarell McCraney. The finalists are: “#THECONNECTEDMAN”, directed by Fabián Cárdenas. “Ayita’s Dream”, directed by Isis Masoud, Roger Ingraham. “Fight Like a Girl”, directed by Agustín Gonzalez, Nicole Wulf. Gladesmen: The Last of The Sawgrass Cowboys, directed by David Abel. Latinegras: The Journey of Self-Love Through An Afrolatina Lens, directed by Omilani Alarcón. *WORLD PREMIERE Love in Youth, directed by Quincy Perkins. *WORLD PREMIERE Make Love Great Again, directed by Aaron Agrasanchez. “Noa”, directed by Angel Barrota. *WORLD PREMIERE Operation Odessa, directed by Tiller Russell. “Roadside Attraction”, directed by Ivette Lucas, Patrick Bresnan. “Supermarket”, directed by Rhonda Mitrani. *WORLD PREMIERE Two significant Soiree nights will pair a major film event with one of Miami Film Festival’s world-famous parties. An Evening with Tim Clancy, the showrunner of HBO’s acclaimed Vice series through six seasons, will present a big-screen return look at three significant Vice episodes, followed by an in-depth, on-stage conversation about Vice’s Emmy Award-winning approach, philosophies and techniques. “HBO NIGHT” continues with a party at downtown Miami’s newest hotspot, The Wharf. Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon will have its Festival premiere at the Regal Cinemas South Beach and continue with a Light Box Love Story soiree at Miami Light Project’s Goldman Warehouse in Wynwood. The fiercely-contested, audience-voted $10,000 Knight Documentary Achievement Award, sponsored by Knight Foundation, returns with 24 finalists, including 4 world premieres, and new films from Oscar winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom), Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America), Goya winners Félix Viscarret and Gustavo Salmerón, Emmy winner Rene Balcer (Law & Order), Sundance 2018 prize winners Tim Wardle and Maxim Pozdorovkin, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Abel and the late Oscar winner Jonathan Demme, as executive producer on The Foreigner’s Home. Subjects featured in the films include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Edwidge Danticat, Toni Morrison, Mr. Rogers, Andre Agassi, Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds in the Live Nation production Believer, Cuban-America playwright María Irene Fornés and Miami’s Rene Lecour. The finalists are: 6 Weeks To Mother’s Day (USA, directed by Marvin Blunte). Above The Drowning Sea (Canada, directed by Rene Balcer, Nicola Zavaglia). Amigo Skate, Cuba (USA, directed by Vanesa Wilkey-Escobar). *WORLD PREMIERE Believer (USA, directed by Don Argott). Cuban Food Stories (USA, directed by Asori Soto). Dolphin Man (Greece/Canada/France/Japan, directed by Lefteris Charitos). Foreign Land (Israel, directed by Shlomi Eldar). The Foreigner’s Home (USA/France, directed by Rian Brown, Geoff Pingree). Gladesmen: The Last of The Sawgrass Cowboys (USA, directed by David Abel). In Search of Voodoo: Roots To Heaven (USA/Benin, directed by Djimon Hounsou). *WORLD PREMIERE Liyana (USA/Qatar/Swaziland, directed by Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp). Lots of Kids, A Monkey and a Castle (Spain, directed by Gustavo Salmerón). Love Means Zero (USA, directed by Jason Kohn). The Music of the Spheres (Cuba/USA, directed by Marcel Beltrán). *WORLD PREMIERE Nuyorican Basquet (Puerto Rico, directed by Julio César Torres, Ricardo Olivero Lora). The Oldies (Cuba/USA/Venezuela, directed by Rosana Matecki). Operation Odessa (USA, directed by Tiller Russell). Our New President (USA, directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin). RBG (USA, directed by Betsy West, Julie Cohen). The Rest I Make Up (USA, directed by Michelle Memran). Saura(s) (Spain, directed by Félix Viscarret). Three Identical Strangers (USA, directed by Tim Wardle). When The Beat Drops (USA, directed by Jamal Sims). *WORLD PREMIERE Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (USA, directed by Morgan Neville). HBO returns as sponsor of the Festival’s $10,000 Ibero-American Feature Film Competition, this year featuring 25 finalists, including three world premieres. Three of the films in this section star Argentine actress Dolores Fonzi, prompting Festival organizers to declare Monday, March 12th “DOLORES FONZI DAY” at Miami Film Festival. The finalists are: Al Berto (Portugal, directed by Vicente Alves do Ó). Another Story of the World (Uruguay, directed by Guillermo Casanova). April’s Daughter (Mexico, directed by Michel Franco). Ashes (Ecuador/Uruguay, directed by Juan Sebastián Jácome). *WORLD PREMIERE Bingo: The King of the Mornings (Brazil, directed by Daniel Rezende). Candelaria (Colombia/Cuba/Argentina/Germany/Norway, directed by Jhonny Hendrix-Hinestroza). Cocote (Dominican Republic, directed by Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias). The Eternal Feminine (Mexico, directed by Natalia Beristáin). The Future Ahead (Argentina, directed by Constanza Novick). *DOLORES FONZI DAY Film Hunting Season (Argentina/USA/Germany/France, directed by Natalia Garagiola). In Love & In Hate (Argentina, directed by Alejandro Maci). *CINEDWNTWN GALA Killing Jesus (Colombia/Argentina, directed by Laura Mora). La Familia (Venezuela/Chile/Norway, directed by Gustavo Rondón Córdova). The Last Suit (Argentina/Spain, directed by Pablo Solarz). The Laws of Thermodynamics (Spain, directed by Mateo Gil). *WORLD PREMIERE On The Seventh Day (USA, directed by Jim McKay). The River (Bolivia/Ecuador, directed by Juan Pablo Richter). *WORLD PREMIERE Sergio and Sergei (Cuba/Spain, directed by Ernesto Daranás). The Skin of the Wolf (Spain, directed by Samu Fuentes). A Sort of Family (Argentina, directed by Diego Lerman). The Summit (Argentina/Spain, directed by Santiago Mitre). *CINEDWNTWN GALA Tigre (Argentina, directed by Silvina Schnicer, Ulises Porra Guardiola). Time Share (Mexico, directed by Sebastián Hofmann). The Warning (Spain, directed by Daniel Calparsoro). Wind Traces (Mexico, directed by Jimena Montemayor Loyo). *DOLORES FONZI DAY Film The highly sought-after $10,000 Jordan Ressler Screenwriting Award, won in recent years by Oscar nominated Theeb, Venice Golden Lion winner From Afar and Chilean world premiere launch Little White Lie, has 20 diverse and intriguing first-produced screenplays in competition. All but two of the finalists also directed his or her screenplay. The finalists are: Michael Pearce for Beast (UK). Cory Bowles for Black Cop (Canada). Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan for Chappaquiddick (USA). Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias for Cocote (Dominican Republic). Xavier Legrand for Custody (France). Feifei Wang for From Where We’ve Fallen (China). Constanza Novick for The Future Ahead (Argentina). Sonja Maria Kröner for The Garden (Germany). Lucien Bourjeily for Heaven Without People (Lebanon). Natalia Garagiola for Hunting Season (Argentina). Christian Papierniak for Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town (USA). Blake Jenner for Juvenile (USA). Quincy Perkins for Love in Youth (USA). *WORLD PREMIERE Molly McGlynn for Mary Goes Round (Canada). Ziyang Zhou for Old Beast (China). Juan Pablo Richter for The River (Bolivia/Ecuador). *WORLD PREMIERE Ana Urushadze for Scary Mother (Georgia). Samu Fuentes for The Skin of the Wolf (Spain). Silvina Schnicer for Tigre (Argentina). Hlynur Palmason for Winter Brothers (Denmark). Films showing out of competition include selections by Oscar-nominee Michaël R. Roskam (Bullhead), Oscar-nominee and Emmy-winner Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, HBO’s Veep), and a US premiere starring retired NFL veteran and South Florida resident, actor/producer Thomas Q. Jones (A Violent Man). The films are: Ali’s Wedding (Australia, directed by Jeffrey Walker). Darling (Denmark, directed by Birgitte Stærmose). The Death of Stalin (UK, directed by Armando Iannucci). “The Driver is Red” (USA, directed by Randall Christopher). Grace and Splendor (Panama/Dominican Republic, directed by Arturo Montenegro). The Journey (Iran/UK/France/Qatar/The Netherlands, directed by Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji). Kiss Me Not (Egypt, directed by Ahmed Amer). Life is a Bitch (Brazil, directed by Julia Rezende). Racer and the Jailbird (Belgium/France, directed by Michaël R. Roskam). Sollers Point (USA, directed by Matthew Porterfield). Three Peaks (Germany/Italy, directed by Jan Zabeil). Under The Tree (Iceland/Denmark/Poland/Germany, directed by Hafsteinn Gummar). A Violent Man (USA, directed by Matthew Berkowitz). Wajib (Palestine/France/Germany/Colombia/Norway/Qatar, directed by Annemarie Jacir). The Festival takes a special look at the Chinese film market this year in Cinema & China. This section features the Florida premiere of the Cannes Film Festival 2017’s Palme d’Or winner for Best Short Film, “A Gentle Night”, directed by Yang Qui, and the documentary Above the Drowning Sea, a historical look at an amazing story of European Jews being safeguarded by Shanghai and Chinese diplomats during World War II. A day-long symposium on the trends and markets will be held, in conjunction with the Festival screening of four Chinese-produced features: From Where We’ve Fallen, directed by Feifei Wang. Love Education, directed by Sylvia Chang. Old Beast, directed by Ziyang Zhou. *KEYNOTE FILM Walking Past The Future, directed by Li Ruijun. The Festival’s exceedingly popular Reel Music section returns with five outstanding selections, including a world premiere from Panama and a feature about famed flamenco star Diego “El Cigala” as he explores the world of salsa in Cuba and beyond: Guaco: Semblanza (Venezuela, directed by Alberto Arvelo). I Tita, A Life of Tango (Argentina, directed by Teresa Constantini). Indestructible: The Soul of Salsa (Spain, directed by David Pareja). Me, My Father and the Cariocas: 70 Years of Music in Brazil (Brazil, directed by Lucia Verissimo). A Night of Calypso (Panama, directed by Fernando Muñoz). *WORLD PREMIERE MIFFecito, the beloved Films for Families section, returns with four new feature films for film fans of all ages. This section includes Fishtronaut The Movie (Brazil), Home Team (Uruguay/Brazil/Argentina), Lila’s Book (Colombia/Uruguay) and Zombillenium (France/Belgium). An animated short film winner from MDC’s Miami Animation and Gaming International Complex 2017 MIA Animation Conference & Festival will also be shown in this section. South Florida’s college film students will again battle it out in Cinemaslam 2018. The nine finalists include films from Center of Cinematography, Arts & Television’s Lidia Rosa Hernandez; Miami Dade College’s Armando Stephano Rivero, Robert Requejo Ramos, Christopher Foode and Fernando Dumas; and University of Miami’s Chantal Gabriel, Jorge Martinez and Vasisth Sukul. The Festival’s parallel industry activities include a French film market sponsored by Unifrance, and a Producing in South Florida panel moderated by Kevin Sharpley. The Festival will co-present three special events during this year’s event. A “From The Vault” of Todd Haynes’ classic Velvet Goldmine will be held on Sunday, March 11th in partnership with Flaming Classics. On Friday, March 16th, in partnership with The Black Lounge Series, a screening of In The Morning with filmmaker Nefertiti Nguvu in person. In celebration of the Festival’s Tribute to Carlos Saura, one of Saura’s greatest classics, Cría cuervos, will screen on Sunday, March 18th at Miami Beach Cinematheque.

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