The Seattle International Film Festival in partnership with TV5MONDE will present 20 French films from around the world as part of the 2015 French Cinema Now showcase. The Opening Night film is Dheepan, Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This powerful drama from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone) follows a former Tamil Tiger soldier as he flees from the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war to begin a new life in a Parisian suburb. An after-party will take place at Bastille Café + Bar in Ballard.
Half Sister, Full Love with director Marion Vernoux scheduled to attend and a post-film discussion with Director Lynn Shelton. The French adaptation of Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister (and the second of Shelton’s films adapted à la française) introduces Pierre, a young man still suffering after his brother’s recent death, who accepts his best friend Tessa’s invitation to recuperate at her family home in the French countryside, only to find the house already occupied by her heart-broken sister.
In The Chef’s Wife two of France’s most versatile and accomplished actresses, Karin Viard
(Polisse, Delicatessen) and Emmannuelle Devos (Coco Before Chanel, Read My Lips), come together for this crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. Carole can no longer stand working alongside her talented Michelin-starred chef husband Sam, so she meets with Marithé, who helps people explore new career opportunities. The two become friends, but when Marithé meets Sam, their mutual attraction complicates her motives in helping Carole to start over.
Adama, a stunning animated feature combining traditional painted backgrounds with clay sculpted characters, follows 12 year-old Adama, who leaves his small West African village on a quest to rescue his brother from the frontlines of WWI. Adama travels to “the land of breaths” – the village’s term for war-torn Europe – for a coming-of-age odyssey that is also a tale of outstanding love, courage, and humanity. Appropriate for ages 8+.
French Master Cédric Kahn’s Wild Life is based on a true story, and produced by the Dardenne Brothers. This tale of a father’s reckless but all-consuming love follows married couple Carole and Philippe (Céline Sallette and Mathieu Kassovitz, both giving riveting performances) who renounce civilization and lead a nomadic life in their caravan. But when Carole tires of their itinerant lifestyle and moves back to the city, Philippe refuses to allow his sons to be raised according to the societal codes he abhors.
Carl Spence, SIFF Artistic Director, says “We’re very excited about this year’s lineup, being able to bring such a diverse group of films to the Francophile Seattle audience. Our continued partnership with TV5 Monde has allowed French Cinema Now to reach not only the Seattle viewers, but nationally through the TV5 Monde channel.”
Dheepan
Opening Night Film & Party
France | 2015 | 110 minutes | Jacques Audiard
Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this powerful drama from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone) follows a former Tamil Tiger soldier as he flees from the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war to begin a new life in a Parisian suburb.
The Tournament
France | 2015 | 83 minutes | Elodie Namer
An international chess tournament becomes the setting of a compelling psychological thriller, when a 22-year-old French mastermind finds that his chief adversary is an unknown 11-year-old prodigy, leading to his emotional unraveling.
Anton Chekhov – 1890
France | 2015 | 96 minutes | René Féret
A pivotal period in the life of Russian literary master Anton Chekhov is brought to life in this expressive biographical tale. A humble Russian doctor, Chekhov (Nicolas Giraud) starts writing stories for magazines to earn extra money. As his talent gains notice, an unexpected tragedy sends him on a journey to Siberia, and the trip inspires some of his most brilliant and famous works.
Half Sister, Full Love
France | 2015 | 95 minutes | Marion Vernoux
Director Marion Vernoux scheduled to attend with post-film discussion with Director Lynn Shelton (Your Sister’s Sister). The French adaptation of Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister (and the second of Shelton’s films adapted à la française) introduces Pierre, a young man still suffering after his brother’s recent death, who accepts his best friend Tessa’s invitation to recuperate at her family home in the French countryside, only to find the house already occupied by her heart-broken sister.
You Sleep Nicole
Canada (Québec) | 2014 | 93 minutes | Stéphane Lafleur
Filmed in gorgeous black and white, the latest feature from Québécois director Stéphane Lafleur is a slice of life comedy about summer indolence. 22-year-old Nicole is fresh out of college, and plans to spend the summer hanging out her best friend Véronique. But things take an unexpected turn when a heatwave, Nicole’s growing insomnia, the persistent courtship of a 10-year-old boy, and a visiting rock band put their friendship to the test.
Adama
France | 2015 | 82 minutes | Simon Rouby
This stunning animated feature, combining traditional painted backgrounds with clay sculpted characters, follows 12 year-old Adama, who leaves his small West African village on a quest to rescue his brother from the frontlines of WWI. Adama travels to “the land of breaths” – the village’s term for war-torn Europe – for a coming-of-age odyssey that is also a tale of outstanding love, courage, and humanity. Appropriate for ages 8+.
Number One Fan
France | 2014 | 105 minutes | Jeanne Herry
In this cleverly suspenseful and satirical thriller, Sandrine Kiberlain gives a Cesar nominated performance a beautician who would do literally anything for her idol, the French crooner Vincent Lacroix. Her loyalty is put to the test one night when Vincent shows up on her doorstep and asks for her help in a most nefarious task.
The Chef’s Wife
France | 2014 | 90 minutes | Anne Le Ny
Two of France’s most versatile and accomplished actresses, Karin Viard (Polisse, Delicatessen) and Emmannuelle Devos (Coco Before Chanel, Read My Lips), come together for this crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. Carole can no longer stand working alongside her talented Michelin-starred chef husband, Sam, so she meets with Marithé, who helps people explore new career opportunities. The two become friends, but when Marithé meets Sam, their mutual attraction complicates her motives in helping Carole to start over.
Métamorphoses
France | 2014 | 102 minutes | Christophe Honoré
Visionary director Christophe Honoré’s enchanting, slyly satiric, and erotic updating of the of Ovid’s magnum opus transports mythological tales to present-day France, where the Gods – Jupiter, Orpheus, Bacchus – transform into different forms and fall in love with humans.
The Anarchists
France | 2015 | 101 minutes | Elie Wajeman
Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) star in this sweeping historical crime drama set in turn of the century Paris, where police officer Jean Albertini is tasked with infiltrating a band of anarchists, and unexpectedly falls in love with a passionate, and persuasive, member of the movement. Torn between duty and his heart, Jean will have to choose his allegiance.
The Great Man
France | 2014 | 107 minutes | Sarah Leonor
This stylistic tale of pristine visual sensibility and French Legionnaires (reminiscent of Claire Denis’s Beau Travail) is an intimate metaphysical look at two men trying to piece their life together after war. Told in five chapters, the story follows a soldier (Jérémie Renier) who is reunited with the man who saved his life, and unexpectedly finds himself able to repay his debt.
The Sweet Escape
France | 2015 | 105 minutes | Bruno Podalydés
Packed with visual flair, delightful banter, and a whiff of Wes Anderson, this bittersweet coming-of-middle-age comedy follows 50-something graphic designer Michel (director Bruno Podalydés), who, longing for a sense of freedom and adventure, takes up kayaking. Michel’s virgin voyage is a pastoral adventure, but it doesn’t lead him very far down stream.
The Clearstream Affair
France | 2014 | 110 minutes | Vincent Garenq
This ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller follows journalist Denis Robert (Gilles Lellouche) and Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke (Charles Berling), who shake up the French governing class by exposing a dark political financial machine called the Clearstream system, which allowed financial institutions and wealthy investors to hold secret accounts for hiding unreported income and money laundering.
High Society
France | 2014 | 95 minutes | Julie Lopes Curval
A delicate exploration of young love, artistic expression, and social class, High Society tells of the relationship between 20-year-old Alice (Ana Girardot, “The Returned”), a working-class artist whose talent leads her to design school in Paris, and privileged aspiring photographer Antoine. While their differences initially prove exciting, they begin to find that the pull of bourgeois society and artistic ambition changes the dynamic of their tender affair.
I’m Dead But I Have Friends
Belgium | 2015 | 96 minutes | Guillaume Malandrin, Stéphane Malandrin
Filled with unexpected twists and delightfully deadpan humor, this comic road movie follows the ageing members of a punkish Belgian rock band who lose their lead singer but decide to maintain their concert dates in Los Angeles with vague plans to place the dead friend’s funeral urn in front of the microphone. Nothing – absolutely nothing – goes according to plan.
Fatima
France | 2015 | 79 minutes | Philippe Faucon
A sweet, insightful, and emotionally complex portrait of immigrants living in France, Fatima dives into the life of a Moroccan-born mother living in Lyon and struggling to raise her two teenage daughters, one rebellious, the other starting medical school. When she is put on leave from her job as a cleaning woman, Fatima starts to write letters to her daughters in Arabic, telling them all the things she can’t express in French.
Cosmodrama
France | 2015 | 105 minutes | Philippe Fernandez
A slyly funny mix of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and 2001: A Space Odyssey, this retro-futuristic sci-fi story begins when seven astronauts – including Sigmund Freud look-alike, an overly communicative chimp, and a friendly dog – wake up on a spaceship, not knowing where they have come from nor where they are heading. As the ship operates by itself, they have ample time to meditate on matter, life and the universe.
Tokyo Fiancée
Belgium | 2014 | 100 minutes | Stefan Liberski
A young Belgian woman who is obsessed with all things Japanese travels to Tokyo and falls into a whirlwind romance with a Japanese student who is obsessed with all things French. This charming comedy about young love and cultural discovery, is filled with complications, misunderstandings, and double meanings in both French and Japanese.
Young Tiger
France | 2015 | 87 minutes | Cyprien Vial
Set in Paris’ suburban Sikh community, this drama features newcomer Harmandeep Palminder in a touching lead performance as a 17-year old boy from Punjab, India, who is trying to lead the life of a typical teenager, yet finds a crushing responsibility to financially support his parents in India pushes him into unprecedented danger.
Wild Life
France | 2014 | 114 minutes | Cédric Kahn
Based on a true story, and produced by the Dardenne Brothers, this tale of a father’s reckless but all-consuming love follows married couple Carole and Philippe (Céline Sallette and Mathieu Kassovitz, both giving riveting performances) who renounce civilization and lead a nomadic life in their caravan. But when Carole tires of their itinerant lifestyle and moves back to the city, Philippe refuses to allow his sons to be raised according to the societal codes he abhors.The Great Man
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20 French Films to be Presented at Seattle’s French Cinema Now Showcase
The Seattle International Film Festival in partnership with TV5MONDE will present 20 French films from around the world as part of the 2015 French Cinema Now showcase. The Opening Night film is Dheepan, Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. This powerful drama from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone) follows a former Tamil Tiger soldier as he flees from the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war to begin a new life in a Parisian suburb. An after-party will take place at Bastille Café + Bar in Ballard.
Half Sister, Full Love with director Marion Vernoux scheduled to attend and a post-film discussion with Director Lynn Shelton. The French adaptation of Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister (and the second of Shelton’s films adapted à la française) introduces Pierre, a young man still suffering after his brother’s recent death, who accepts his best friend Tessa’s invitation to recuperate at her family home in the French countryside, only to find the house already occupied by her heart-broken sister.
In The Chef’s Wife two of France’s most versatile and accomplished actresses, Karin Viard
(Polisse, Delicatessen) and Emmannuelle Devos (Coco Before Chanel, Read My Lips), come together for this crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. Carole can no longer stand working alongside her talented Michelin-starred chef husband Sam, so she meets with Marithé, who helps people explore new career opportunities. The two become friends, but when Marithé meets Sam, their mutual attraction complicates her motives in helping Carole to start over.
Adama, a stunning animated feature combining traditional painted backgrounds with clay sculpted characters, follows 12 year-old Adama, who leaves his small West African village on a quest to rescue his brother from the frontlines of WWI. Adama travels to “the land of breaths” – the village’s term for war-torn Europe – for a coming-of-age odyssey that is also a tale of outstanding love, courage, and humanity. Appropriate for ages 8+.
French Master Cédric Kahn’s Wild Life is based on a true story, and produced by the Dardenne Brothers. This tale of a father’s reckless but all-consuming love follows married couple Carole and Philippe (Céline Sallette and Mathieu Kassovitz, both giving riveting performances) who renounce civilization and lead a nomadic life in their caravan. But when Carole tires of their itinerant lifestyle and moves back to the city, Philippe refuses to allow his sons to be raised according to the societal codes he abhors.
Carl Spence, SIFF Artistic Director, says “We’re very excited about this year’s lineup, being able to bring such a diverse group of films to the Francophile Seattle audience. Our continued partnership with TV5 Monde has allowed French Cinema Now to reach not only the Seattle viewers, but nationally through the TV5 Monde channel.”
Dheepan
Opening Night Film & Party
France | 2015 | 110 minutes | Jacques Audiard
Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this powerful drama from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone) follows a former Tamil Tiger soldier as he flees from the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war to begin a new life in a Parisian suburb.
The Tournament
France | 2015 | 83 minutes | Elodie Namer
An international chess tournament becomes the setting of a compelling psychological thriller, when a 22-year-old French mastermind finds that his chief adversary is an unknown 11-year-old prodigy, leading to his emotional unraveling.
Anton Chekhov – 1890
France | 2015 | 96 minutes | René Féret
A pivotal period in the life of Russian literary master Anton Chekhov is brought to life in this expressive biographical tale. A humble Russian doctor, Chekhov (Nicolas Giraud) starts writing stories for magazines to earn extra money. As his talent gains notice, an unexpected tragedy sends him on a journey to Siberia, and the trip inspires some of his most brilliant and famous works.
Half Sister, Full Love
France | 2015 | 95 minutes | Marion Vernoux
Director Marion Vernoux scheduled to attend with post-film discussion with Director Lynn Shelton (Your Sister’s Sister). The French adaptation of Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister (and the second of Shelton’s films adapted à la française) introduces Pierre, a young man still suffering after his brother’s recent death, who accepts his best friend Tessa’s invitation to recuperate at her family home in the French countryside, only to find the house already occupied by her heart-broken sister.
You Sleep Nicole
Canada (Québec) | 2014 | 93 minutes | Stéphane Lafleur
Filmed in gorgeous black and white, the latest feature from Québécois director Stéphane Lafleur is a slice of life comedy about summer indolence. 22-year-old Nicole is fresh out of college, and plans to spend the summer hanging out her best friend Véronique. But things take an unexpected turn when a heatwave, Nicole’s growing insomnia, the persistent courtship of a 10-year-old boy, and a visiting rock band put their friendship to the test.
Adama
France | 2015 | 82 minutes | Simon Rouby
This stunning animated feature, combining traditional painted backgrounds with clay sculpted characters, follows 12 year-old Adama, who leaves his small West African village on a quest to rescue his brother from the frontlines of WWI. Adama travels to “the land of breaths” – the village’s term for war-torn Europe – for a coming-of-age odyssey that is also a tale of outstanding love, courage, and humanity. Appropriate for ages 8+.
Number One Fan
France | 2014 | 105 minutes | Jeanne Herry
In this cleverly suspenseful and satirical thriller, Sandrine Kiberlain gives a Cesar nominated performance a beautician who would do literally anything for her idol, the French crooner Vincent Lacroix. Her loyalty is put to the test one night when Vincent shows up on her doorstep and asks for her help in a most nefarious task.
The Chef’s Wife
France | 2014 | 90 minutes | Anne Le Ny
Two of France’s most versatile and accomplished actresses, Karin Viard (Polisse, Delicatessen) and Emmannuelle Devos (Coco Before Chanel, Read My Lips), come together for this crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. Carole can no longer stand working alongside her talented Michelin-starred chef husband, Sam, so she meets with Marithé, who helps people explore new career opportunities. The two become friends, but when Marithé meets Sam, their mutual attraction complicates her motives in helping Carole to start over.
Métamorphoses
France | 2014 | 102 minutes | Christophe Honoré
Visionary director Christophe Honoré’s enchanting, slyly satiric, and erotic updating of the of Ovid’s magnum opus transports mythological tales to present-day France, where the Gods – Jupiter, Orpheus, Bacchus – transform into different forms and fall in love with humans.
The Anarchists
France | 2015 | 101 minutes | Elie Wajeman
Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) star in this sweeping historical crime drama set in turn of the century Paris, where police officer Jean Albertini is tasked with infiltrating a band of anarchists, and unexpectedly falls in love with a passionate, and persuasive, member of the movement. Torn between duty and his heart, Jean will have to choose his allegiance.
The Great Man
France | 2014 | 107 minutes | Sarah Leonor
This stylistic tale of pristine visual sensibility and French Legionnaires (reminiscent of Claire Denis’s Beau Travail) is an intimate metaphysical look at two men trying to piece their life together after war. Told in five chapters, the story follows a soldier (Jérémie Renier) who is reunited with the man who saved his life, and unexpectedly finds himself able to repay his debt.
The Sweet Escape
France | 2015 | 105 minutes | Bruno Podalydés
Packed with visual flair, delightful banter, and a whiff of Wes Anderson, this bittersweet coming-of-middle-age comedy follows 50-something graphic designer Michel (director Bruno Podalydés), who, longing for a sense of freedom and adventure, takes up kayaking. Michel’s virgin voyage is a pastoral adventure, but it doesn’t lead him very far down stream.
The Clearstream Affair
France | 2014 | 110 minutes | Vincent Garenq
This ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller follows journalist Denis Robert (Gilles Lellouche) and Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke (Charles Berling), who shake up the French governing class by exposing a dark political financial machine called the Clearstream system, which allowed financial institutions and wealthy investors to hold secret accounts for hiding unreported income and money laundering.
High Society
France | 2014 | 95 minutes | Julie Lopes Curval
A delicate exploration of young love, artistic expression, and social class, High Society tells of the relationship between 20-year-old Alice (Ana Girardot, “The Returned”), a working-class artist whose talent leads her to design school in Paris, and privileged aspiring photographer Antoine. While their differences initially prove exciting, they begin to find that the pull of bourgeois society and artistic ambition changes the dynamic of their tender affair.
I’m Dead But I Have Friends
Belgium | 2015 | 96 minutes | Guillaume Malandrin, Stéphane Malandrin
Filled with unexpected twists and delightfully deadpan humor, this comic road movie follows the ageing members of a punkish Belgian rock band who lose their lead singer but decide to maintain their concert dates in Los Angeles with vague plans to place the dead friend’s funeral urn in front of the microphone. Nothing – absolutely nothing – goes according to plan.
Fatima
France | 2015 | 79 minutes | Philippe Faucon
A sweet, insightful, and emotionally complex portrait of immigrants living in France, Fatima dives into the life of a Moroccan-born mother living in Lyon and struggling to raise her two teenage daughters, one rebellious, the other starting medical school. When she is put on leave from her job as a cleaning woman, Fatima starts to write letters to her daughters in Arabic, telling them all the things she can’t express in French.
Cosmodrama
France | 2015 | 105 minutes | Philippe Fernandez
A slyly funny mix of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and 2001: A Space Odyssey, this retro-futuristic sci-fi story begins when seven astronauts – including Sigmund Freud look-alike, an overly communicative chimp, and a friendly dog – wake up on a spaceship, not knowing where they have come from nor where they are heading. As the ship operates by itself, they have ample time to meditate on matter, life and the universe.
Tokyo Fiancée
Belgium | 2014 | 100 minutes | Stefan Liberski
A young Belgian woman who is obsessed with all things Japanese travels to Tokyo and falls into a whirlwind romance with a Japanese student who is obsessed with all things French. This charming comedy about young love and cultural discovery, is filled with complications, misunderstandings, and double meanings in both French and Japanese.
Young Tiger
France | 2015 | 87 minutes | Cyprien Vial
Set in Paris’ suburban Sikh community, this drama features newcomer Harmandeep Palminder in a touching lead performance as a 17-year old boy from Punjab, India, who is trying to lead the life of a typical teenager, yet finds a crushing responsibility to financially support his parents in India pushes him into unprecedented danger.
Wild Life
France | 2014 | 114 minutes | Cédric Kahn
Based on a true story, and produced by the Dardenne Brothers, this tale of a father’s reckless but all-consuming love follows married couple Carole and Philippe (Céline Sallette and Mathieu Kassovitz, both giving riveting performances) who renounce civilization and lead a nomadic life in their caravan. But when Carole tires of their itinerant lifestyle and moves back to the city, Philippe refuses to allow his sons to be raised according to the societal codes he abhors.
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First 9 Films Announced for 2015 New Directors/New Films
Goodnight Mommy The first nine official selections are announced for the 44th New Directors/New Films (ND/NF), taking place March 18 to 29, 2015 in New York City.
Representing 11 countries from around the world, the initial nine selections are Charles Poekel’s Christmas, Again (USA), Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court (India), Rick Alverson’s Entertainment (USA), Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s Goodnight Mommy (Austria), Sarah Leonor’s The Great Man (France), Nadav Lapid’s The Kindergarten Teacher (Israel/France), Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb (Jordan/Qatar/United Arab Emirates/UK), Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s The Tribe (Ukraine), and Kornél Mundruczó’s White God (Hungary).
Four of the first nine titles announced will screen at the Sundance Film Festival including two feature-film directorial debuts: Charles Poekel’s Christmas, Again about a heartbroken Christmas tree salesman, and Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s winner of the Critics’ Week grand prize at Cannes, The Tribe, which is set in a school for deaf and mute coeds, and is communicated entirely in sign language—with no subtitles. Rick Alverson’s Entertainment, a follow-up to The Comedy, follows a broken-down comedian playing a string of stand-up gigs across the Mojave Desert. Kornél Mundruczó’s White God, which won the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes, follows the brutal struggle a little girl’s dog must go through to find his way back to her after he is abandoned in the city.
Winner of numerous prizes at film festivals, including the Luigi De Laurentiis Award and the Venice Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court is a devastating exploration of a kangaroo court process railroading an aging folk singer. Another multiple prizewinner is Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb. Winner of the Jury Prize for Best Cinematography and Art Direction at the Cairo International Film Festival, Best Directorial Debut at Camerimage, and the Venice Horizons Award for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, the film is a coming-of-age story of a young Bedouin boy as he guides a British officer through harsh territory.
Nadav Lapid follows his impressive first feature, Policeman (which was a New York Film festival selection and subsequently screened at FSLC’s Film Center), with The Kindergarten Teacher. A winner at the Jerusalem Film Festival and Seville European Film Festival, the film is about a teacher who becomes overly protective of a young prodigy in her class. And Sarah Leonor follows her award-winning feature debut, A Real Life, with The Great Man, about an immigrant in the French Legionnaire’s whose actions lead to an ambush on his unit. Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s Goodnight Mommy won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. The thriller focuses on a pair of 9-year-old twins who believe their mother, recently returned from facial reconstruction surgery, is actually a stranger.
The nine official selections include:
Christmas, Again
Charles Poekel, USA, 2014, 79m
A forlorn Noel (Kentucker Audley) pulls long, cold nights as a Christmas-tree vendor in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. As obnoxious, indifferent, or downright bizarre customers come and go, doing little to restore Noel’s faith in humanity, only the flirtatious innuendos of one woman and the drunken pleas of another seem to lift him out of his funk. Writer-director Charles Poekel has transformed three years of “fieldwork” peddling evergreens on the streets of New York into a sharply observed and wistfully comic portrait of urban loneliness and companionship. While Christmas, Again heralds a promising newcomer in Poekel, it also confirms several great young talents of American indie cinema: actors Audley and Hannah Gross, editor Robert Greene, and cinematographer Sean Price Williams.Court
Chaitanya Tamhane, India, 2014, 116m
Marathi, Gujarati, and Hindi with English subtitles
Winner of top prizes at the Venice and Mumbai Film Festivals, Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court is a quietly devastating, absurdist portrait of injustice, caste prejudice, and venal politics in contemporary India. An elderly folk singer and grassroots organizer, dubbed the “people’s poet,” is arrested on a trumped-up charge of inciting a sewage worker to commit suicide. His trial is a ridiculous and harrowing display of institutional incompetence, with endless procedural delays, coached witnesses for the prosecution, and obsessive privileging of arcane colonial law over reason and mercy. What truly distinguishes Court, however, is Tamhane’s brilliant ensemble cast of professional and nonprofessional actors; his affecting mixture of comedy and tragedy; and his naturalist approach to his characters and to Indian society as a whole, rich with complexity and contradiction.Entertainment
Rick Alverson, USA, 2015, 110m
Following up his 2013 breakthrough, The Comedy, director Rick Alverson reteams with that film’s star, Tim Heidecker (here serving as co-writer), for a hallucinatory journey to the end of the night. Or is it the end of comedy? Cult anti-comedian Gregg Turkington (better known as Neil Hamburger) stars as a washed-up comic on tour with a teenage mime (Tye Sheridan), working his way across the Mojave Desert to a possible reconciliation with the estranged daughter who never returns his interminable voicemails. Our sort-of hero’s stand-up set is an abrasive assault on audiences, so radically tone-deaf as to be mesmerizing. Alverson uses a slew of surrealist flourishes and poetic non- sequiturs to fashion a one-of-a-kind odyssey that is by turns mortifying and beautiful, bewildering and absorbing. John C. Reilly, Michael Cera, Amy Seimetz, Dean Stockwell, and Heidecker are among the performers who so memorably populate the strange world of Entertainment, a film that utterly scrambles our sense of what is funny—and not funny.Goodnight Mommy
Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz, Austria, 2014, 100m
German with English subtitles
The dread of parental abandonment is trumped by the terror of menacing spawn in Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s exquisite, cerebral horror-thriller. Lukas and Elias are 9-year-old twins, alone with their fantastical playtime adventure-worlds in a countryside home, until their mother comes home from facial-reconstructive surgery. Or is she their mother? Her head entirely bandaged, and her personality radically changed, the boys begin to wonder what this stranger has done to their “real” mother. They set out to uncover the truth, by any means their childish minds can conjure. As with most fairy tales, it turns out that children can imagine and endure things that cause more mature minds and bodies to wither from fear. Produced by renowned auteur, and frequent script collaborator with Franz, Ulrich Seidl, Goodnight Mommy is an intelligent and engaging step forward for Austrian cinema. Fans of Michael Haneke’s work will find much to appreciate as well. Ultimately, this is a heartbreaking tale of love and loss wrapped in one of the scariest films of the year. A RADiUS-TWC release.The Great Man
Sarah Leonor, France, 2014, 107m
French with English subtitles
When we first meet Markov (Surho Sugaipov), he and fellow French Legionnaire Hamilton (Jérémie Renier) are tracking a wild leopard in a desert war zone, at the end of their posting in Afghanistan. An ambush results in an abdication of duty—despite it stemming from an act of fidelity. We learn that Markov had joined the Legion as a foreign refugee, hoping to gain his French citizenship and provide a better life for his young son. Ultimately, the complications of immigration and legal status seem petty when compared with the primal urge to do right by those who have committed their lives to saving others’. The intrinsic struggle between paternal/fraternal responsibility and unfettered mobility takes on a deeply moving dimension in Sarah Leonor’s alternately heartbreaking and empowering sophomore feature.The Kindergarten Teacher
Nadav Lapid, Israel/France, 2014, 119m
Hebrew with English subtitles
Nadav Lapid’s follow-up to his explosive debut, Policeman, is a brilliant, shape-shifting provocation and a coolly ambiguous film of ideas. Nira (Sarit Larry), a fortysomething wife, mother, and teacher in Tel Aviv, becomes obsessed with one of her charges, Yoav (Avi Shnaidman), a 5-year-old with a knack for declaiming perfectly formed verses on love and loss that would seem far beyond his scope. The impassive prodigy’s inexplicable bursts of poetry—Lapid’s own childhood compositions—awaken in Nira a protective impulse, but as her actions grow more extreme, the question of what exactly she’s protecting remains very much open. The Kindergarten Teacher shares the despair of its heroine, all too aware that she lives in an age and culture that has little use for poetry. But there is something perversely romantic in the film’s underlying conviction: in an ugly world, beauty still has the power to drive us mad.Theeb
Naji Abu Nowar, Jordan/Qatar/United Arab Emirates/UK, 2014, 100m
Arabic with English subtitles
A quietly gripping adventure tale that’s perhaps intended as a corrective to the romantic grandeur of Lawrence of Arabia, Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb is classic storytelling at its finest. The year is 1916, the setting is a desert province on the edge of the Ottoman Empire, and it’s a time of war. Seeking help, a British Army officer and his translator arrive at an encampment of Bedouins, who, according to their traditions, provide hospitality and assistance in the form of a guide. The guide’s younger brother Theeb (Jacir Eid) follows and then tags along with the three grown-ups, who soon find themselves threatened by hostiles. As a boy who learns how to survive and become a man amidst the violent and mysterious agendas of adults, Eid carries this concise and unsentimental film on his young shoulders with amazing assurance.The Tribe
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine, 2014, 132m
A silent film with a difference, this entirely unprecedented tour de force was one of the must-see flash points at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Why? Because its entire cast is deaf and mute and the “dialogue” is strictly sign language—without subtitles. Set at a spartan boarding school for deaf and mute coeds, The Tribe follows new arrival Sergey (Grigory Fesenko), who’s immediately initiated into the institution’s hard-as-nails culture with a beating before ascending the food chain from put-upon outsider to foot soldier in a criminal gang that deals drugs and pimps out their fellow students. With his implacable camerawork and stark, single-minded approach (worthy of influential English director Alan Clarke), first-time feature director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy overcomes what may sound like impossible obstacles to tell a grim but uncannily immersive story of exploitation and brutality in a dog-eat-dog world, delivering a high-school movie you won’t forget. A Drafthouse Films release.White God
Kornél Mundruczó, Hungary, 2014, 119m
Hungarian with English subtitles
Thirteen-year old Lili and her mixed-breed dog Hagen are inseparable. When officials attempt to tax the mutt (a law that didn’t pass in Hungary, but was actually attempted), Lili’s father dumps Hagen on the street. While Lili tries in vain to find her dog, he goes through numerous trials and tribulations, along with other cast-off pets that wander alleyways looking for food and avoiding the pound. Hagen is taken in by some no-goods and trained to be a fighter, losing his domestic instincts in the process. When Hagen finally escapes with an army of canines in tow, they set out to take their revenge on the humans who wronged them, taking no prisoners. Kornél Mundruczó’s shocking fable, which won the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes, captivatingly weaves together elements of melodrama, adventure, and a bit of horror in order to pose fundamental questions of equality, class, and humanity. A Magnolia Pictures release.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGFyFvrPVlU