TROPHY, the critically-acclaimed film exploring big-game hunting and wildlife conservation, will premiere on CNN on Sunday, January 14, 2018, at 9:00pm Eastern & Pacific, with limited commercial interruption. The film is directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz and co-directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Christina Clusiau.
“TROPHY explores the complex stakes surrounding sport hunting and wildlife conservation,” said Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, “and then lets viewers make up their own minds about the value of these majestic creatures.”
From the film’s opening images of an American father and child hunting together in Texas, the filmmakers immediately frame the multidimensional nature of the controversy at the heart of the film. Character stories featuring hunters, anti-poaching security officials, reserve owners, animal welfare organizations, government officials, and hunting clubs establish why the intersecting issues are rippled with emotion and, in respect to those species which are endangered, the issues are also urgent.
“We wanted to explore the idea of what it means when we place economic value on wildlife. Could it be a tool to help conserve wildlife populations or does it hinder conservation efforts?” asked the filmmakers.
TROPHY takes viewers on an international visual safari, visiting the countries that are home to the ‘big five,’ the African wildlife most-prized by big-game hunters: lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard, and elephant. Pausing at the conference for Safari Club International (SCI) held annually in Las Vegas, the film lingers at exhibits for hunting outfitters, guns, taxidermy services, conservation seminars, and safari licenses. SCI, which attracts 20,000 visitors from around the world each year, hosts this broad array of interests and businesses, all at the same convention.
Hunting clubs and organizations like SCI argue that the trophy permit fees secured by hunters engaged in legal activity make important contributions to African economies and also fund conservation efforts. But even legal hunting can have unintended consequences. While countries like South Africa sell big-game hunting licenses which partially-fund its conservation activities, hunting instructor Tim Fallon says, “man has kind of screwed this up. We have encroached on so much natural land, that the species, all the species, have to be managed…”
Since just 1970, the film says the world has lost more than 60% of all wild animals, and some species seem to have fared even worse. Populations of elephants have plummeted from 10,000,000 animals in 1900 to 1,300,000 in 1979, to only 350,000 elephants in 2015. In 2008, the year prior to South Africa’s moratorium on the sale of rhino horn, 83 rhinos were poached. In the year after the ban, 333 rhinos were poached, and in 2014, more than 1200 rhinos were illegally killed.
Extraordinary aerial footage of vast African vistas shown in the film is interwoven with close images of swaths of cultivated lands. The film demonstrates that while hunting and habitat encroachment have an impact on wildlife reduction, it’s poaching, often connected to both corruption and terrorism, that’s having the most dramatic and deleterious impacts.
John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhino breeding reserve, sees harvesting the horns from farm-raised rhinos as integral to saving his beloved animals. Rhino horn is “more expensive than gold or heroin by weight” Hume says. But, Hume asserts, animals do not go extinct while farmers can make money from breeding them. Hume’s procedure for harvesting rhino horn keeps the animals alive and re-growing more keratin horn. Hume feels that if he can demonstrate that raising rhinos and safely harvesting their horns offers an income, others may also similarly cultivate the animals, and thereby rescue them from being endangered. Ecologist Craig Packer believes Hume’s farm is a potential model success story for saving the rhino.
The film explores most of the challenges of balancing conservation, sport, human population growth, and the commerce associated with big-game hunting. Central to TROPHY, are the open questions of the appropriate economic value of wildlife. The film leaves the unanswered questions for viewers to ponder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPPlH_yKgr4
Image: Buffalo Dream Ranch, North West Province, South Africa – November 2016: John Hume, the worlds largest rhino breeder walks among his Rhinos. Mr. Hume had invested more than 50 Million US dollars into his rhino project. He currently is the custodian of over 1500 Rhinos, and fears that without legalization in the trade of Rhino Horn his project will come to an end.Trophy
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TROPHY, Documentary on Big-game Hunting and Wildlife Conservation, to Debut on CNN
TROPHY, the critically-acclaimed film exploring big-game hunting and wildlife conservation, will premiere on CNN on Sunday, January 14, 2018, at 9:00pm Eastern & Pacific, with limited commercial interruption. The film is directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz and co-directed by award-winning photojournalist, cinematographer, and filmmaker Christina Clusiau.
“TROPHY explores the complex stakes surrounding sport hunting and wildlife conservation,” said Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent and content development for CNN Worldwide, “and then lets viewers make up their own minds about the value of these majestic creatures.”
From the film’s opening images of an American father and child hunting together in Texas, the filmmakers immediately frame the multidimensional nature of the controversy at the heart of the film. Character stories featuring hunters, anti-poaching security officials, reserve owners, animal welfare organizations, government officials, and hunting clubs establish why the intersecting issues are rippled with emotion and, in respect to those species which are endangered, the issues are also urgent.
“We wanted to explore the idea of what it means when we place economic value on wildlife. Could it be a tool to help conserve wildlife populations or does it hinder conservation efforts?” asked the filmmakers.
TROPHY takes viewers on an international visual safari, visiting the countries that are home to the ‘big five,’ the African wildlife most-prized by big-game hunters: lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard, and elephant. Pausing at the conference for Safari Club International (SCI) held annually in Las Vegas, the film lingers at exhibits for hunting outfitters, guns, taxidermy services, conservation seminars, and safari licenses. SCI, which attracts 20,000 visitors from around the world each year, hosts this broad array of interests and businesses, all at the same convention.
Hunting clubs and organizations like SCI argue that the trophy permit fees secured by hunters engaged in legal activity make important contributions to African economies and also fund conservation efforts. But even legal hunting can have unintended consequences. While countries like South Africa sell big-game hunting licenses which partially-fund its conservation activities, hunting instructor Tim Fallon says, “man has kind of screwed this up. We have encroached on so much natural land, that the species, all the species, have to be managed…”
Since just 1970, the film says the world has lost more than 60% of all wild animals, and some species seem to have fared even worse. Populations of elephants have plummeted from 10,000,000 animals in 1900 to 1,300,000 in 1979, to only 350,000 elephants in 2015. In 2008, the year prior to South Africa’s moratorium on the sale of rhino horn, 83 rhinos were poached. In the year after the ban, 333 rhinos were poached, and in 2014, more than 1200 rhinos were illegally killed.
Extraordinary aerial footage of vast African vistas shown in the film is interwoven with close images of swaths of cultivated lands. The film demonstrates that while hunting and habitat encroachment have an impact on wildlife reduction, it’s poaching, often connected to both corruption and terrorism, that’s having the most dramatic and deleterious impacts.
John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhino breeding reserve, sees harvesting the horns from farm-raised rhinos as integral to saving his beloved animals. Rhino horn is “more expensive than gold or heroin by weight” Hume says. But, Hume asserts, animals do not go extinct while farmers can make money from breeding them. Hume’s procedure for harvesting rhino horn keeps the animals alive and re-growing more keratin horn. Hume feels that if he can demonstrate that raising rhinos and safely harvesting their horns offers an income, others may also similarly cultivate the animals, and thereby rescue them from being endangered. Ecologist Craig Packer believes Hume’s farm is a potential model success story for saving the rhino.
The film explores most of the challenges of balancing conservation, sport, human population growth, and the commerce associated with big-game hunting. Central to TROPHY, are the open questions of the appropriate economic value of wildlife. The film leaves the unanswered questions for viewers to ponder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPPlH_yKgr4
Image: Buffalo Dream Ranch, North West Province, South Africa – November 2016: John Hume, the worlds largest rhino breeder walks among his Rhinos. Mr. Hume had invested more than 50 Million US dollars into his rhino project. He currently is the custodian of over 1500 Rhinos, and fears that without legalization in the trade of Rhino Horn his project will come to an end.
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170 Documentary Feature Films Submitted for 90th Academy Awards
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Gaga: Five Foot Two[/caption]
One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December.
Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Aida’s Secrets
Al Di Qua
All the Rage
All These Sleepless Nights
AlphaGo
The American Media and the Second Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
And the Winner Isn’t
Angels Within
Architects of Denial
Arthur Miller: Writer
Atomic Homefront
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography
Bang! The Bert Berns Story
Bending the Arc
Big Sonia
Bill Nye: Science Guy
Birthright: A War Story
Bobbi Jene
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
Born in China
Born to Lead: The Sal Aunese Story
Boston
Brimstone & Glory
Bronx Gothic
Burden
California Typewriter
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story
Casting JonBenet
Chasing Coral
Chasing Trane
Chavela
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
City of Ghosts
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Cries from Syria
Cruel & Unusual
Cuba and the Cameraman
Dawson City: Frozen Time
Dealt
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Destination Unknown
Dina
Dolores
Dream Big: Engineering Our World
A Dying King: The Shah of Iran
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends)
Earth: One Amazing Day
11/8/16
Elian
Embargo
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars
Escapes
Everybody Knows… Elizabeth Murray
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library
Extraordinary Ordinary People
Faces Places
The Farthest
The Final Year
Finding Oscar
500 Years
Food Evolution
For Ahkeem
The Force
The Freedom to Marry
From the Ashes
Gaga: Five Foot Two
A German Life
Get Me Roger Stone
Gilbert
God Knows Where I Am
Good Fortune
A Gray State
Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It All
Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story
Hearing Is Believing
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS
Human Flow
I Am Another You
I Am Evidence
I Am Jane Doe
I Called Him Morgan
Icarus
If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
The Incomparable Rose Hartman
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Intent to Destroy
Jane
Jeremiah Tower The Last Magnificent
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
Karl Marx City
Kedi
Keep Quiet
Kiki
LA 92
The Last Dalai Lama?
The Last Laugh
Last Men in Aleppo
Legion of Brothers
Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982 – 1992
Let’s Play Two
Letters from Baghdad
Long Strange Trip
Look & See
Machines
Man in Red Bandana
Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance
Motherland
Mully
My Scientology Movie
Naples ’44
Neary’s – The Dream at the End of the Rainbow
Night School
No Greater Love
No Stone Unturned
Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press
Nowhere to Hide
Obit
Oklahoma City
One of Us
The Paris Opera
The Pathological Optimist
Prosperity
The Pulitzer at 100
Quest
Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman
The Rape of Recy Taylor
The Reagan Show
Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan
Risk
A River Below
Rocky Ros Muc
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Santoalla
School Life
Score: A Film Music Documentary
Served Like a Girl
The Settlers
78/52
Shadowman
Shot! The Psycho Spiritual Mantra of Rock
Sidemen: Long Road to Glory
The Skyjacker’s Tale
Sled Dogs
Soufra
Spettacolo
Step
Stopping Traffic: The Movement to End Sex-Trafficking
Strong Island
Surviving Peace
Swim Team
Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton
Take My Nose… Please!
They Call Us Monsters
32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide
This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous
Tickling Giants
Trophy
Twenty Two
Unrest
Vince Giordano – There’s a Future in the Past
Voyeur
Wait for Your Laugh
Wasted! The Story of Food Waste
Water & Power: A California Heist
Whitney. Can I Be Me
Whose Streets?
The Work
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Street Cats of Istanbul Documentary KEDI, Leads 2nd Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominations
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Kedi[/caption]
Kedi, a beautiful documentary about the street cats of Istanbul, leads the nominations for the second annual Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, with nominations for Best Documentary, Best First Documentary, Most Innovative Documentary, Best Director for Ceyda Torun, and Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary for The Cats of Istanbul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKq7UqplcL8
California Typewriter, Chasing Coral, City of Ghosts, Cries From Syria, and Dawson City: Frozen Time, followed with three nominations each; and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail and An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power receiving two nominations each.
The second annual awards ceremony takes place November 2 in Brooklyn. Academy Award and seven-time Emmy nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger will receive the Critics’ Choice Impact Award.
Second Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards Nominations
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production) Beware the Slenderman – Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky (HBO, Warner Bros. Television Distribution / HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films) Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds – Directors: Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens (HBO / Bloomfish Pictures, HBO Documentary Films, Insurgent Docs, RatPac Documentary Films) California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures) Chasing Coral – Director: Jeff Orlowski (Netflix / Exposure Labs) City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects) Cries From Syria – Director: Evgeny Afineevsky (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu) Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures) Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks (HBO / Live Nation Productions, Company Name) Ex Libris: The New York Public Library – Director: Frederick Wiseman (Zipporah Films) Faces Places – Directors: Agnès Varda & JR (Cohen Media Group / Ciné Tamaris, Social Animals, Rouge International, Arte France Cinéma, Arches Films) Jane – Director: Brett Morgen (National Geographic Documentary Films / National Geographic Studios, Public Road Productions) Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) One of Us – Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady (Netflix / Loki Films) Spettacolo – Directors: Jeff Malmberg, Chris Shellen (Grasshopper Film / Open Face) Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford (Netflix / Yanceville Films, Louverture Films)BEST DIRECTOR
Evgeny Afineevsky – Cries from Syria (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu) Amir Bar-Lev – Long Strange Trip (Amazon / Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, Sikelia Productions, AOMA Sunshine Films) Matthew Heineman – City of Ghosts (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects) Bill Morrison – Dawson City: Frozen Time (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures) Doug Nichol – California Typewriter (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures) Jeff Orlowski – Chasing Coral (Netflix / Exposure Labs) Irene Taylor Brodsky – Beware the Slenderman (HBO, Warner Bros. Television Distribution / HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films) Ceyda Torun – Kedi (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Agnès Varda & JR – Faces Places (Cohen Media Group / Ciné Tamaris, Social Animals, Rouge International, Arte France Cinéma, Arches Films) Frederick Wiseman – Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Zipporah Films)BEST FIRST DOCUMENTARY
California Typewriter – Director: Doug Nichol (Gravitas Ventures / American Buffalo Pictures) Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Nowhere to Hide – Director: Zaradasht Ahmed (East Village Entertainment / Ten Thousand Images) Step – Director: Amanda Lipitz (Fox Searchlight / Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions) Strong Island – Director: Yance Ford (Netflix / Yanceville Films, Louverture Films) Whose Streets? – Director: Sabaah Folayan, Co-Director: Damon Davis (Magnolia Pictures)BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
11/8/16 – Directors: Duane Andersen, Don Argott & Sheena M. Joyce, Yung Chang, Garth Donovan, Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker, Vikram Gandhi, Raul Gasteazoro, Jamie Goncalves, Andrew Beck Grace, Alma Har’el, Daniel Junge, Alison Klayman, Ciara Lacy, Martha Shane, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Bassam Tariq (The Orchard / Cinetic Media) Abacus: Small Enough to Jail – Director: Steve James (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production) An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media) City of Ghosts – Director: Matthew Heineman (Amazon Studios, A&E IndieFilms, IFC Films / Our Time Projects) Dolores – Director: Peter Bratt (PBS Distribution / 5 Stick Films) The Reagan Show – Directors: Sierra Pettengill, Pacho Velez (Gravitas Ventures, CNN Films)BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
AlphaGo – Director: Greg Kohs (Submarine Entertainment / Moxie Pictures, Reel As Dirt) Disgraced – Director: Pat Kondelis (Showtime Networks / Bat Bridge Entertainment) Icarus – Director: Bryan Fogel (Netflix / Alex Productions, Diamond Docs, Impact Partners) Speed Sisters – Director: Amber Fares (First Run Features) Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton – Director: Rory Kennedy (Sundance Selects / Moxie Firecracker Films) Trophy – Directors: Christina Clusiau, Shaul Schwarz (CNN Films, The Orchard / Candescent Films, Pulse Films, Reel Peak Films)BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of our Lives – Director: Chris Perkel (Apple Music / IM Global, Scott Free Productions) Contemporary Color – Directors: Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross (Oscilloscope / The Department of Motion Pictures, Public Domain, Todo Mundo) Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis – Director: Colin Hanks (HBO / Live Nation Productions, Company Name) I Called Him Morgan – Director: Kasper Collin (FilmRise, Submarine Entertainment / Kasper Collin Produktion, Sveriges Television, Film i Väst) Long Strange Trip – Director: Amir Bar-Lev (Amazon / Amazon Studios, Double E Pictures, Sikelia Productions, AOMA Sunshine Films) Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World – Director: Catherine Bainbridge, Co-Director: Alfonso Maiorana (Kino Lorber / ARTE G.E.I.E, Rezolution Pictures)MOST COMPELLING LIVING SUBJECT OF A DOCUMENTARY
The Cats of Istanbul – Kedi (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Etty – One of Us (Netflix / Loki Films) Al Gore – An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media) Laird Hamilton – Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton (Sundance Selects / Moxie Firecracker Films) Dolores Huerta – Dolores (PBS / 5 Stick Films) Gigi Lazzarato – This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (YouTube Red / SelectNext, Cabin Creek Films) The Sung Family – Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (PBS / Blue Ice Films, Mitten Media, Motto Pictures, Kartemquin Films Production)MOST INNOVATIVE DOCUMENTARY
78/52 – Director: Alexandre O. Philippe (IFC Midnight / ARTE, Exhibit A Pictures, Milkhaus, Screen Division, Sensorshot Productions) Casting JonBenet – Director: Kitty Green (Netflix / Forensic Films, Symbolic Exchange, Meridian Entertainment) Dawson City: Frozen Time – Director: Bill Morrison (Kino Lorber / Hypnotic Pictures, Picture Palace Pictures) Karl Marx City – Directors: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker (Bond/360 / Pepper & Bones) Kedi – Director: Ceyda Torun (Oscilloscope Laboratories, YouTube Red / Termite Films) Last Men in Aleppo – Director: Firas Fayyad, Co-Director: Steen Johannessen (Grasshopper Film / Aleppo Media Center, Larm Film)BEST SONG IN A DOCUMENTARY
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – “Truth to Power” – OneRepublic (Paramount / Actual Films, Participant Media) Chasing Coral – “Tell Me How Long” – Kristen Bell (Netflix / Exposure Labs) Cries From Syria – “Prayers for This World” – Cher (HBO / Afineevsky – Tolmor Production, Cinepost Barrandov, Levy Entertainment Group, Studio Malibu) Dina – “Best I Can” – Michael Cera featuring Sharon Van Etten (The Orchard / Cinereach, El Peligro, Killer Films) Served Like a Girl – “Dancing Through the Wreckage” – Pat Benatar (Entertainment Studios, Freestyle Digital Media) Step – “Jump” – Cynthia Erivo (Fox Searchlight / Impact Partners, Stick Figure Productions)BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)
The Defiant Ones (HBO) Five Came Back (Netflix / Amblin Television, IACF Productions, Netflix, Passion Pictures, Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment) The Keepers (Netflix / Film 45, Tripod Media) The Nineties (CNN / CNN, Playtone, Herzog & Company) Planet Earth II (BBC America, AMC, SundanceTV / BBC Natural History Unit, BBC America, ZDF, Tencent, France Télévisions) The Vietnam War (PBS / Florentine Films, WETA-TV Washington)BEST ONGOING DOCUMENTARY SERIES (TV/STREAMING)
30 for 30 (ESPN / ESPN Films) American Masters (PBS / WNET New York City) Frontline (PBS / WGBH-TV Boston) Independent Lens (PBS / Independent Television Service, Inc.) POV (PBS / American Documentary, Inc.) VICE (HBO / VICE Media)
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for TROPHY, Documentary on the World of Big-Game Hunting
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Trophy[/caption]
Shaul Schwarz’s (Narco Cultura) and Christina Clusiau’s provocative new documentary Trophy is a startling exploration of the evolving relationship between big-game hunting and wildlife conservation that emerged a critical favorite of the 2017 Sundance and SXSW film festivals. The film will open in New York at the Quad Cinema (and in Los Angeles) on Friday, September 8. The traditional theatrical release will be complemented by exclusive, one-night event screenings on September 26 in approximately 100 cities across the country.
Endangered African species like elephants, rhinos and lions march closer to extinction each year. Their devastating decline is fueled in part by a global desire to consume these majestic animals. Trophy journeys viewers across lush African forests and vast plains and into the world’s largest hunters’ convention in Las Vegas as it investigates the powerhouse industries of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation. Through the eyes of impassioned individuals who drive these industries—from a Texas-based trophy hunter to the world’s largest private rhino breeder in South Africa—the film grapples with the consequences of imposing economic value on animals. What are the implications of treating animals as commodities? Do breeding, farming and hunting offer some of the few remaining options to conserve our endangered animals? Trophy will leave you debating what is right, what is wrong and what is necessary in order to save the great species of the world.
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Melbourne International Film Festival Unveils 2017 Lineup, Closes with Paul Williams’ GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING
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GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING[/caption]
The 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) unveiled its full program line-up of more than 358 films representing 68 countries, including 251 features, 88 shorts, 17 Virtual Reality experiences, 12 MIFF Talks events, 31 world premieres and 135 Australian premieres. It all happens over 18 days, spanning 13 venues across Melbourne, from August 3 to 20, 2017.
“What a pleasure it is to launch this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival,” said Artistic Director Michelle Carey. “This year’s program offers audiences an amazing opportunity to explore new worlds through film – from our Pioneering Women and Sally Potter retrospectives to the return of our Virtual Reality program as well as a particularly strong line-up of special events, we can’t wait to open the doors to MIFF 2017.”
The festival will kick off with the Opening Night Gala screening of Greg McLean’s MIFF Premiere Fund-supported JUNGLE, and will wind up with the world premiere Closing Night screening of Paul Williams’ GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING. A profound exploration of the life and music of revered Australian artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, the film uses the tools of the artist’s music – chord, melody, song – and the sounds of the land to craft an audio-first cinematic experience, offering a rare insight into a reclusive master.
Joining the MIFF guest line-up are Australia’s Melissa George, starring in the MIFF Premiere Fund-supported THE BUTTERFLY TREE; Italian director Luca Guadagnino with his acclaimed new film CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, a sensuous story of first love and the end of adolescence; and newcomer Jennifer Brea making her way to MIFF with UNREST, a feature documentary capturing her darkest moments as she is derailed by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Further international guests include Peter Mackie Burns, the debut feature director of DAPHNE, a refreshing portrait of contemporary womanhood; Francis Lee, with his depiction of British rural life in GOD’S OWN COUNTRY; Slavko Martinov, the force behind the entertaining flockumentary PECKING ORDER; Gabe Klinger on behalf of PORTO, a film presented in Super 8, 16mm and breathtaking 35mm; director Sami Saif and cinematographer Anders Löfstedt with their music documentary THE ALLINS; Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong, winner of the Top Prize at the 2016 Thai National Film Association Awards for her feature BY THE TIME IT GETS DARK; and Annie Goldson, director of KIM DOTCOM: CAUGHT IN THE WEB, a documentary about the court case surrounding the internet’s most wanted criminal. MIFF guests also include Daniel Borgman, director of LOVING PIA, a winsome tale blurring documentary and fiction; and Florian Habicht, director of SPOOKERS, a film focusing on a former psychiatric hospital that is now a haunted attraction.
Following last year’s success, VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) returns to MIFF in 2017. Leading the charge is the world premiere of Lucas Taylor’s INSIDE MANUS, taking the audience behind the razor wire to meet the asylum seekers on the Manus Island detention centre. Other VR world premieres include Lester Francois’ RONE, a distinctive portrait of the Melbourne street artist; Khoa Do and Piers Mussared’s THE EXTRACTION, a work imagining a perilous journey through the post apocalypse; and Christopher Bailey’s ACROSS, set in a world where two beings live in opposite cliffs – where one side is a paradise and the other a wasteland.
The VR program continues with Jeff Goldblum making a cameo appearance in MIYUBI, a feature length film about a family’s relationship with its Japanese toy robot, from co-directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël; George Gittoes expands upon his MIFF 2015 feature Snow Monkey, taking audiences on a VR tour to Afghanistan in the world premiere of FUN FAIR JALALABAD; and Ben Smith’s THE HUNT FOR THE YIDAKI, the companion piece to the MIFF 2017 Premiere Fund-supported feature WESTWIND: DJALU’S LEGACY, will also receive its world premiere. Meanwhile UNREST VR, a film about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – made by Amaury La Burthe and other key collaborators on Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness (MIFF 2016) – screens as an expansion piece to Jennifer Brea’s feature documentary, also showing at MIFF 2017.
In addition to UNREST, MIFF’s much-loved DOCUMENTARIES program delivers an array of gripping real-life character studies. Catch WINNIE, Pascale Lamche’s Sundance Directing Award-winning portrait of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, variously viewed as the wife of South Africa’s most revered leader, the mother and/or enemy of her nation and a revolutionary force in her own right; Andres Veiel’s BEUYS: ART AS A WEAPON, an extensive look at the felt-clad, hat-wearing German performance artist Joseph Beuys; and DINA, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winner from Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini that offers a heartfelt and heart-melting portrait of love in all its strangeness and wonder.
The Documentaries program also takes audiences behind the closed doors of wildly diverse environments. In the remarkable debut film THE WORK, America’s most hardened criminals share their demons with the everyday public during the world’s most intense group therapy session in Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous’ SXSW Grand Jury Prize-winner; Jean-Stéphane Bron’s THE PARIS OPERA is a film candidly charting the day-to-day drama during a season of upheaval for the revered company; and ROLLER DREAMS finds Australian director Kate Hickey tracking down the original stars of the Venice Beach 80s roller dancing movement to build a funky portrait of the rise and fall of the craze.
MIFF’s toe-tapping MUSIC ON FILM program dances to its own beat with THE ALLINS where award-winning Danish documentarian Sami Saif turn his lens on the most outrageous musician to ever live – GG Allin – revealing the man behind the maniac behind the music; and in Kyoko Miyake’s TOKYO IDOLS, teenage girl pop stars grapple with finding fame and the creeping fixation of their male fan bases in an eye-opening look at Japanese idol culture.
Musical influencers take centre stage in the Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning RUMBLE: THE INDIANS WHO ROCKED THE WORLD, where Catherine Bainbridge sets out to reinstate Native American trailblazers to their rightful place in the pop music pantheon; and Lucy Walker, director of the MIFF 2013 Best Documentary Audience Award-winner The Crash Reel, returns with BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB: ADIOS, a touching farewell to the beloved son cubano musicians as they complete their final tour.
A stellar line-up of homegrown talent will be showcased in AUSTRALIAN FILMS. Marking the halfway point of the festival will be the CENTREPIECE GALA world premiere screening of THREE SUMMERS, the first Australian film from comedian Ben Elton. Romantic leads Robert Sheehan and Rebecca Breeds are joined by a glittering ensemble featuring Michael Caton, Magda Szubanski, Deborah Mailman, Jacqueline McKenzie and John Waters for an of-the-moment, multi-story comedy set over three years at a fictional folk-music festival.
Continuing the Australian Films showcase, David Wenham makes his feature directorial debut with a Before Sunrise-style romance set to the distinctive sounds of Megan Washington with ELLIPSIS, starring Emily Barclay and Benedict Samuel; MIFF offers an exclusive preview of the second series of GLITCH, a Matchbox Pictures production commissioned by ABC TV and co-produced by Netflix, set in a fictional Victorian town where deceased former residents have crawled out of their graves in the local cemetery; and in a special screening presented by the National Film and Sound Archive’s digital restoration program – NFSA RESTORES, MIFF will also present the classic rip-roaring homegrown action flick, SHAME, where an award-winning Deborra-Lee Furness – also a guest of MIFF 2017 – turns the tables on a country town’s entrenched male violence.
Celebrating its 10th birthday in 2017, the MIFF PREMIERE FUND stages six world premieres (each with its director in attendance) comprising: Greg McLean’s MIFF Opening Night Film JUNGLE, starring Daniel Radcliffe; Luke Shanahan’s uniquely stylish psychological thriller RABBIT, featuring The Great Gatsby’s Adelaide Clemens playing identical twins linked by more than just DNA; MIFF guests Melissa George and Ed Oxenbould starring alongside Ewen Leslie and Sophie Lowe in Priscilla Cameron’s THE BUTTERFLY TREE, a coming-of-age tale of love and loss tinged with magical realism; Eddie Martin’s HAVE YOU SEEN THE LISTERS?, an intimate account of the cost of success of Australia’s most renowned street artist, Anthony Lister (also a guest of the festival); Naina Sen’s THE SONG KEEPERS, telling the incredible story of a hidden musical legacy of ancient Aboriginal languages and German baroque songs that are being preserved by the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir (who will also attend the festival); and Ben Strunin’s WESTWIND: DJALU’s LEGACY, portraying the quest of Yolngu elder Djalu Gurruwiwi (who will attend the festival) to preserve his songlines with a little help from global pop star Gotye.
Marking the MIFF Premiere Fund’s 10-year milestone, the festival will also screen three retrospective highlights from the Fund’s early years: the 2009 MIFF Opening Night film BALIBO, written and directed by Robert Connolly and starring Oscar Isaac, Anthony LaPaglia and MIFF Ambassador Gyton Grantley; Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s BASTARDY, a poetic and impressionistic portrait of the life of indigenous arts personality Jack Charles; and Ana Kokkinos’ all-star ensemble BLESSED, which features Frances O’Connor in an AFI Award-winning performance.
PIONEERING WOMEN, a program of 80s and early 90s Australian films directed by women, will pay tribute to some of the country’s finest cinematic trailblazers, including director Ann Turner with the world premiere of her digitally restored horror meets coming-of-age drama CELIA; Gillian Armstrong with a digital restoration screening of STARSTRUCK, the iconic and colourful musical comedy about two Sydney teenagers who try to break into the music biz to save the family pub (which also features an appearance by MIFF Ambassador Geoffrey Rush). Both films are proudly presented by the National Film and Sound Archive’s restoration program – NFSA RESTORES. Don’t miss this opportunity to revisit other classics such as BEDEVIL (directed by Tracey Moffatt), THE BIG STEAL (directed by Nadia Tass) and FLOATING LIFE (directed by Clara Law), with guest Q&As and a Conversation panel in store among other events.
MIFF’s ever popular NIGHT SHIFT program returns with innovative horror and genre films including A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN, in which French provocateur Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (Johnny Mad Dog, MIFF 2008) returns to the brutal underworlds of masculine violence, in an adaptation of Billy Moore’s memoir of his time in Bangkok’s notorious Klong Prem prison; MY FRIEND DAHMER, Marc Meyers’ disturbing vision of America’s most notorious serial killer during his adolescence, featuring a breathtaking performance by Disney star Ross Lynch; and BLOODLANDS, a brutal mix of family blood feud and supernatural horror marking the first ever co-production between Australia and Albania, directed by Steven Kastrissios (The Horseman, MIFF 2008).
For the first time in its history MIFF will also present a SCI-FI program, showcasing a selection of the genre’s best films including IKARIE XB-1, Jindřich Polák’s little-known pioneering masterpiece that influenced everything from Star Trek to 2001: A Space Odyssey… and beyond; INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION, from inventive animator Karel Zeman, the first steampunk film, bringing the stories and visuals of Jules Verne to life; LE DERNIER COMBAT, a work taking audiences back to where it all began for renowned sci-fi director Luc Besson, with his striking 1983 film starring Jean Reno in his feature debut; and STRANGE DAYS, featuring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis, Kathryn Bigelow’s 20-year-old, James Cameron-scripted, VR tech-noir. And for the night owls, running all night at the Astor Theatre is MIFF’s inaugural SCI-FI MARATHON, presenting a collection of the genre’s most venerated, controversial and enduring or under-appreciated fan favourites. For full details visit miff.com.au/marathon.
The TRUE CRIME program returns in 2017 with some of the most intriguing and sinister stories of our time. Oscar-nominated documentarian David France (How to Survive a Plague, MIFF 2012) delivers a piercing survey of the origins of transgender activism and a search for justice in THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARTHA P JOHNSON; Erik Nelson’s A GRAY STATE is a riveting murder mystery, political thriller and unparalleled psychological profile about rising alt-right filmmaker and Iraq veteran David Crowley and his family; and Pete Nicks’ THE FORCE is an award-winning look at the day-to-day operations of the Oakland Police Department as it grapples with endemic corruption, sexism and racial violence.
ANIMAL DOCUMENTARIES, a new program strand for 2017, puts the spotlight on some of the world’s most intriguing creatures. TROPHY sees Shaul Schwarz (Narco Cultura, MIFF 2013) and Christina Clusiau take on a charged debate in a controversial film that will upend everything audiences thought they knew about animal conservation; PECKING ORDER, the year’s best feel-good flockumentary from Slavko Martinov, introduces us to people taking the world of chicken fancying as seriously as life and death; and A RIVER BELOW, Mark Grieco’s provocative and murky morality tale about a TV conservationist’s battle to save the Amazon’s disappearing pink river dolphin, will leave audiences shocked and awed.
MIFF’s HEADLINERS program will bring audiences the most-buzzed about films from the festival circuit. Highlights include Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning THE SQUARE, a film marking the director as modern cinema’s most savage and inventive satirist; Claire Denis’ Cannes Director’s Fortnight award-winning romantic comedy LET THE SUNSHINE IN, starring Juliette Binoche; Geremy Jasper’s fabulous Sundance triumph PATTI CAKE$, featuring Australian acting discovery Danielle Macdonald in the role of a New Jersey battler and aspiring rapper; SONG TO SONG, a love story from Terrence Malick set against the backdrop of the Austin music scene, featuring Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman; and THE PARTY, Sally Potter’s caustic comic satire of a broken England, with a stellar ensemble headed by Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson and Timothy Spall.
Showcasing MIFF’s admiration for the inimitable British director, this year the festival also proudly presents a SALLY POTTER RETROSPECTIVE. Screening the complete oeuvre of Potter’s feature films, along with a selection of her early shorts from 1969 to 1986, the retrospective includes: THE TANGO LESSON, where Potter plays opposite Argentine tango performer Pablo Verón for a seductive dance of reality and fiction; ORLANDO, the director’s stunning second film featuring a triumphant lead performance by Tilda Swinton as the androgynous titular character living across four centuries; THE GOLD DIGGERS, Potter’s seminal work that came to influence and define feminist cinema of the 1980s; and GINGER AND ROSA, starring Alice Englert and Elle Fanning as two friends threatened by a belief-shattering betrayal.
The festival’s INTERNATIONAL program is packed with innovative cinema from countries near and afar. MIFF Patron Geoffrey Rush shines as Alberto Giacometti in Stanley Tucci’s FINAL PORTRAIT, a snapshot of several weeks the artist spent trying to paint author James Lord; Fatih Akin (Head-On, MIFF 2004) delivers the morally charged thriller IN THE FADE, featuring Diane Kruger in the performance that won her Best Actress at Cannes; and from Aisling Walsh comes MAUDIE, starring Oscar nominees Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke exploring the sensitive but rousing true tale of Maud Lewis, one of Canada’s most inspiring folk artists.
Some 14 of Australia and New Zealand’s hottest emerging directors will have their short films premiere in the festival’s ACCELERATOR program and also participate in Accelerator Lab, MIFF’s prestigious development workshop assisting directors to transition to feature filmmaking. They are W.A.M (Bill) Bleakley; Nina Buxton; Kate Lefoe; Frank Magree; Zoe McIntosh; Victoria McIntyre; Greta Nash; Tin Pang; Simon Portus; Nikki Richardson; Rachel Ross; John Sheedy; Nick Waterman; and Dave Whitehead.
The MIFF SHORTS program will screen local and international films spanning animation, documentary, experimental works and more, with highlights including the riveting INDONESIAN SHORTS, a program screening works from some of Australia’s closest neighbours, and Cannes Short Film Palme d’Or winner A GENTLE NIGHT, from MIFF Accelerator alumnus Qiu Yang, while other Accelerator alumni directors returning with new short films are Alice Englert, Audrey Lam, Nora Niasari, Julietta Boscolo, Billie Pleffer, Dylan River and Alena Lodkina.
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Films Featuring Whitney Houston, Hulk Hogan Among Hamptons International Film Festival SummerDocs Series
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NOBODY SPEAK: TRIALS OF THE FREE PRESS[/caption]
The Hamptons International Film Festival SummerDocs series returns for the ninth year to present new and groundbreaking documentary filmmaking and thought-provoking stories to the East End. The series will kick off with a screening of Netflix’s NOBODY SPEAK: TRIALS OF THE FREE PRESS on Saturday, July 8th at 7:00PM, followed by The Orchard & CNN Films’ TROPHY on Saturday, July 29th at 7:00PM, both at Guild Hall in East Hampton.
In August the series will also screen IFC’s TAKE EVERY WAVE: THE LIFE OF LAIRD HAMILTON on Friday, August 4th at 8:30PM at Gurney’s in Montauk, Showtime’s WHITNEY. “CAN I BE ME” on Thursday, August 17th at 7:00PM at Southampton Arts Center in Southampton, and close with Netflix’s ICARUS on Saturday, August 26th at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton.
Following the screenings HIFF Co-Chairman Alec Baldwin & HIFF Artistic Director David Nugent will lead conversations with filmmakers and subjects including Director Brian Knappenberger and special guests to be announced for NOBODY SPEAK: TRIALS OF THE FREE PRESS, Directors Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz for TROPHY, Director Rory Kennedy and subject Laird Hamilton for TAKE EVERY WAVE: THE LIFE OF LAIRD HAMILTON, Director Nick Broomfield for WHITNEY. “CAN I BE ME”, and Director Bryan Fogel for ICARUS.
Full Lineup of 2017 Summer Docs
NOBODY SPEAK: TRIALS OF THE FREE PRESS
Saturday, July 8th at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton
When online tabloid Gawker posted a sex tape starring former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, a high-stakes legal battle pitting privacy rights against the First Amendment ensued. Hogan won the case and the staggering settlement he received not only bankrupted Gawker and its founder Nick Denton, but also exposed a controversial, behind-the-scenes benefactor: Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
Whether you love or hate Gawker, Brian Knappenberger’s gripping polemic reveals the forces that really brought down the news portal. Taking examples like Sheldon Adelson’s purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, this compelling documentary illustrates a growing, sinister trend at odds with our country’s free press. Corporate executives, titans, and billionaires are tipping the balance on the public’s access to news, posing new threats to society’s relationship to the truth. Knappenberger’s knack for capturing timely and provocative shifts in the new digital era is instinctive. Fusing exhaustive interviews with Denton, commentators, and journalists Nobody Speak weaves a disturbing, fascinating tale of power and truth with a moral that runs to the core of democracy.
TROPHY
Saturday, July 29th at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton
Endangered African species like elephants, rhinos and lions march closer to extinction each year. Their devastating decline is fueled in part by a global desire to consume these majestic animals. Trophy investigates the powerhouse industries of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation. Through the eyes of impassioned individuals who drive these industries –from a Texas-based trophy hunter to the world’s largest private rhino breeder in South Africa –the film grapples with the consequences of imposing economic value on animals.
What are the implications of treating animals as commodities? Do breeding, farming and hunting offer some of the few remaining options to conserve our endangered animals? Trophy will leave you debating what is right, what is wrong and what is necessary in order to save the great species of the world.
TAKE EVERY WAVE: THE LIFE OF LAIRD HAMILTON
Friday, August 4th at 8:30PM at Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Spa in Montauk
TAKE EVERY WAVE: The Life of Laird Hamilton tracks the remarkable life and legendary career of big wave surfer Laird Hamilton. Much admired by the public, though often disdained or ignored by the surf industry itself, Laird is a unique sports icon—an athlete who has refused to compete professionally yet has dominated big wave surfing as no other figure in history ever has.
Laird’s biographical story is told against the backdrop of a winter surf season on Kauai, where El Niño storm systems threaten to bring the biggest surf in decades. Mixing never-before-seen archival footage with contemporary verité scenes shot in Southern California, Bermuda and Kauai, Take Every Wave weaves the past and present into an intimate and compelling portrait of a superstar athlete at the top of his game. Threaded throughout is a revealing, deeply personal interview with Laird, as well as conversations with the family members, friends, collaborators and detractors who know him best.
Take Every Wave provides an intimate, uncompromising look at a lifetime devoted to riding giant surf—and the price an athlete pays for greatness.
WHITNEY. “CAN I BE ME”
Thursday, August 17th at 7:00PM at Southampton Arts Center in Southampton
Whitney Houston was a sure thing, or as sure as the music industry had ever seen. A transcendent talent with pedigree and mentorship to match, she was going to be the greatest female vocalist ever. For a time, she was, and then she all-too-publicly fell short.
Documentarian Nick Broomfield and iconic music video director Rudi Dolezal offer a never-before-seen backstage look at the height of Houston’s stardom and trace with penetrating detail the forces that contributed to her shortened career and subsequent death in 2012, at age 48. Whether it be racism, religion, drugs, sexuality, self-doubt, gossip, rivalry, insufficient training, the demands of parents and the industry, a troubled marriage playing out in headlines, or the inevitable toll those stresses take from so muscular and passionate a singer, the directors leave nothing unturned. They create a picture of a remarkable woman who needed more help than she received and provide an unflinching, gripping, and wholly committed exploration of talent given and taken away, in an era obsessed with how that talent lives when the stage lights go down.
ICARUS
Saturday, August 26th at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton
The ruthless worlds of international sports and politics rarely collide as spectacularly on screen as they do in Bryan Fogel’s thriller, which is sure to set off convulsions of controversy.
While investigating the furtive world of illegal doping in sports, Fogel connects with renegade Russian Scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov—a pillar of his country’s “antidoping” program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer, despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program. When the truth is more complex than imagined, and accusations of illegalities run to Russia’s highest chains of command, the two realize they hold the power to reveal the biggest international sports scandal in living memory.
Exemplifying the special bond between filmmaker and subject, this is a vital portrait of the sacrifice some people will make to stand up for truth. Icarus places you at the heart of an international game of cat and mouse, where a miscalculation can cost you your life.
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Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces New Docs and Invited Program Lineups
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116 Cameras[/caption]
The 2017 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, revealed its NEW DOCS lineup of 48 films – 27 features and 21 shorts; and the Invited Program lineup featuring 23 films – 22 features and 1 short— screening out of competition.
“We are proud to present 71 new titles at the festival this year,” said Full Frame artistic director Sadie Tillery. “These selections represent a wide breadth of current work, and illuminate the many forms that documentary film can take. Festival attendees are in for an extraordinary experience that is fitting of our 20th anniversary.”
The 20th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will be held April 6 to 9, 2017, in Durham, North Carolina.
NEW DOCS
116 Cameras (Director: Davina Pardo) Surrounded by a twinkling constellation of cameras, Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss records her stories for an interactive hologram project, preserving her experience for future generations. World Premiere All Skate, Everybody Skate (Director: Nicole Triche) Tucked away in picturesque Topsail Island, N.C., Miss Doris’s roller skating rink pops with energy as she leads her customers in games and skates, as she’s done for over 50 years. Anatomy of a Male Ballet Dancer (Directors: David Barba, James Pellerito) Praised for the sublime way he partners ballerinas, Marcelo Gomes is the center of this intimate film that takes us inside his world to chart a luminous 20-year career with American Ballet Theater. Asiyeh (Director: Leila Merat) An intelligent, no-nonsense bonesetter in northern Iran has been healing the people in her community for as long as anyone can remember. US Premiere Balloonfest (Director: Nathan Truesdell) In 1986, the United Way of Cleveland sets out to break a world record, releasing over a million balloons in the air, but the event has unexpected consequences when the lift off doesn’t go as planned. The Botanist (ботаник) (Directors: Maude Plante-Husaruk, Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis) This breathtaking short follows Raimberdi as he ingeniously constructs a hydroelectric generator to better survive in the mountains of Tajikstan. City of Ghosts (Director: Matthew Heineman) Captivating in its immediacy, City of Ghosts follows the journey of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently,” a group of anonymous Syrian activists who band together to document the Islamic State’s crimes after the city is taken by ISIS. Depth Two (Dubina Dva) (Director: Ognjen Glavonić) This suspenseful illumination of long-buried war crimes, which began in 1999 with NATO bombings in Serbia, is told in a harrowing combination of narrated testimonies and present-day images of the sites in suburban Belgrade where the crimes took place. Donkeyote (Director: Chico Pereira) The grandest adventure of all is afoot for a Spanish septuagenarian and his mischievous dog and stalwart donkey, if only they can survive chronic arthritis, impertinent travel agents, and just one more bridge. Dysphoria: Inside the Mind of a Holocaust Survivor (Director: Joseph Edward) This poetic and visually arresting exploration of one man’s memories takes an inventive and sensory approach, immersing the viewer in his experiences. World Premiere The Earth Did Not Speak (La Tierra No Habló) (Director: Javier Briones) Survivors of the 1982 government-sponsored massacre in Rio Negro, Guatemala, share their stories as the camera quietly pans across seemingly tranquil places that once were home. Far Western (Director: James Payne) Fueled by music and personal charisma, Charlie Nagatani embodies Japan’s obsession with American country and western music. North American Premiere The Force (Director: Peter Nicks) A riveting, on-the-ground look at the Oakland Police Department during a period of intense scrutiny and reform, as a new sergeant aims to correct protocol in the wake of charges of misconduct and abuse. Funne – Sea Dreaming Girls (Le ragazze che sognavano il mare) (Director: Katia Bernardi) A whimsical tale of a group of elderly women in a small Italian village who get creative while trying to raise funds for a trip to the sea, which many of them have never seen. North American Premiere The Great Theater (Wielki Teatr) (Director: Sławomir Batyra) A meandering camera takes a graceful, evocative journey through the spaces and operations of Warsaw’s Grand Theatre as it presents the opera Madama Butterfly. Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (Director: Frank Stiefel) Animated drawings and extraordinary shots of Mindy Alper’s sculptures create a lovely portrait of the artist as she unabashedly examines her experiences with a mental disorder (that prevented her from speaking) while discussing art, love, and life. I’M OKAY (Director: Pia Lenz) Adult themes unfold through the perspective of young protagonists in this beautifully photographed feature that captures the experiences of two refugee families struggling to rebuild their lives in Germany. North American Premiere Island Soldier (Director: Nathan Fitch) Through the intimate stories of two soldiers, this film explores the high cost of opportunity. In the Federated States of Micronesia—an “associated state” of the U.S.—a high proportion of residents serve in the American military, with few resources to support their lives after duty ends. World Premiere The Kodachrome Elegies (Director: Jay Rosenblatt) A short and lyrical ode to Kodachrome film stock that reflects on family, loss, and the end of an era. Last Men in Aleppo (Director: Feras Fayyad) Urgent and harrowing, this film follows the White Helmets’ unrelenting efforts to save fellow Syrians. When air strikes devastate homes, they descend on the wreckage to rescue buried men, women, and children, refusing to leave their people or their city behind. The Last Pig (Director: Allison Argo) This lyrical film follows an introspective farmer as his beliefs undergo a dramatic shift, from believing that there are more humane ways to slaughter animals to questioning the premise of his life’s work. US Premiere Life in Riva (Tra ponente e levante) (Director: Lorenzo Giordano) An aging resident imparts the history of his seaside Italian town. His recollections, and a trove of impeccably photographed artifacts, reveal the evolutions of one place over time. North American Premiere Luis & I (Directors: Roger Gómez, Dani Resines) The wife of a human cannonball describes their life in the circus and the ways their love has endured decades of this itinerant lifestyle. Mommy’s Land (Director: Garret Atlakson) As the Cambodian government demolishes homes, and arrest counts and brutal police violence increase, elder resident “Mommy” and other neighborhood women prove to be peaceful, and vivacious, resisters. World Premiere My Father’s Film (Director: Priscilla Gonzalez Sainz) A daughter crafts a portrait of her father through the spaces he occupied, a meditation shaped by the tools he left behind. World Premiere One October (Director: Rachel Shuman) Filmed in the final weeks of the 2008 presidential campaigns, this city symphony follows a radio reporter as he takes to the streets to invite fellow New Yorkers to share their thoughts and opinions in a time of great uncertainty. World Premiere The Original Richard McMahan (Director: Olympia Stone) A visionary artist painstakingly recreates the masterpieces of others, producing thousands of intricate miniature replicas of works made across centuries, from Van Gogh’s The Starry Night to King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Plastic China (Director: Jiu-liang Wang) At a recycling center in the Chinese countryside, two families survive between seas of plastic bottles and wrappers shipped from the U.S. and other countries; processing this waste has become their burden, and yet for their children, they dream of a better life. QUEST (Director: Jonathan Olshefski) This thoughtful and incisive observation of the Rainey family over the course of ten years seamlessly captures pivotal life experiences as well as issues of poverty, politics, and gun violence in a North Philadelphia neighborhood. The Rain Will Follow (Director: Eugene Richards) From his chair in a retirement home, 90-year-old Melvin Wisdahl shares poignant recollections of wartime and strife in this deeply personal account set aglow by beautiful images of North Dakotan farmland. Samuel in the Clouds (Director: Pieter Van Eecke) Samuel Mendoza continues the family tradition of operating the ski lift in a Bolivian Andes resort, while a melting glacier below threatens everyone’s way of life. Shivani (Director: Jamie Dobie) In this unique tale of grief and healing, three-year-old Dolly Shivani, believed by her parents to be the reincarnation of their dead son, trains as an Olympic archer. World Premiere Slowerblack (Director: Jessica Edwards) A hand-poke tattoo artist in Brooklyn reflects on her unique style and approach to inking. World Premiere Socotra, the Island of Djinns (Socotra, la Isla de lod Genios) (Director: Jordi Esteva) In this extraordinary black-and-white account, a group of camel herders travel inland on the island of Socotra to avoid the rainy season while sharing nighttime tales of supernatural djinns. US Premiere Still Tomorrow (摇摇晃晃的人间) (Director: Jian Fan) In rural China, a determined, courageous woman balances her fame as an eloquent and frank poet with societal expectations around disability, independence, and family obligation. Storyboard P, a stranger in Sweden (Director: Matthew D’Arcy) In this mesmerizing vignette, a dynamic Brooklyn street dancer travels to Sweden to teach and perform—a journey that tests his devotion to the art form. Strong Island (Director: Yance Ford) Director Yance Ford rigorously unpacks the events surrounding the death of his brother, who was shot in 1992. Profoundly cinematic and deeply personal, their family story is a powerful examination of race in America. The Submarine (Director: Wenceslao Scyzoryk) A 95-year-old cinematographer returns to his lab each day to perfect his invention—a machine that repairs celluloid damage. The Swirl (El Remolino) (Director: Laura Herrero Garvin) As the largely abandoned town of El Remolino in Chiapas, Mexico, struggles to yield viable crops and keep its school open, two siblings remain to battle the rainy season and their painful childhood. They Took Them Alive (Director: Emily K. Pederson) In 2014, 43 students disappeared from a bus traveling in Iguala, Mexico. Their families seek answers as the official investigation comes to a troubling and suspicious halt. World Premiere Through the Repellent Fence (Director: Sam Wainwright Douglas) The artist collective Postcommodity examines lines, origins, and the people to whom land really belongs with a two-mile-long installation of inflatable spheres high above the U.S.–Mexico border. Timberline (Director: Elaine McMillion Sheldon) This short documents a West Virginia town caught between transitional pressures: an abandoned naval base is up for auction, and the NSA occupies a station just down the road. What will become of the locals for whom this place is home? World Premiere Tribal Justice (Director: Anne Makepeace) Two dynamic Native American women—chief judges for the state’s largest tribes—draw on tradition and village wisdom to help defendants rebuild their lives, encouraging healing over jail time and punishment. Two Worlds (Dwa Swiaty) (Director: Maciej Adamek) In this expressive study of family relationships, a daughter helps her two deaf parents navigate the world—as she has since she was three—and balances life between school, home, and self. Waiting for Hassana (Director: Ifunanya Maduka) Jessica, an escapee, recollects a friendship shattered by the 2014 kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by the Boko Haram. Winter’s Watch (Director: Brian Bolster) The longtime winter caretaker of the Oceanic Hotel off the coast of New England welcomes months of solitude, relishing the opportunity for introspection and productivity. Zaatari Djinn (Director: Catherine van Campen) This incandescent portrait documents four children in a refugee camp who are transformed by the light of imagination and possibility despite numerous hardships. North American Premiere Zuzana: Music Is Life (Directors: Peter Getzels, Harriet Getzels) The life story of eminent Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Ruzickowva transcends the personal in a deeply affecting look at the redemptive power of art throughout the Czech Republic’s turbulent 20th century. World PremiereINVITED PROGRAM
500 Years (Director: Pamela Yates) A sweeping examination of resistance movements in Guatemala, including the recent uprising, and a chronicle of the country’s first trial for war crimes committed against the Mayan people. Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Director: Steve James) In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the only U.S. bank accused of mortgage fraud was the family-owned Abacus Federal Savings in Manhattan’s Chinatown. This stunning film chronicles the Sungs’ legal battle as they fight to defend their business and their family name. Austerlitz (Director: Sergei Loznitsa) In vivid black and white, tourists and guides visit concentration camps. In observing their interactions, Austerlitz provides a powerful meditation on the (often imperfect) ways human beings connect, remember, and reflect. Bronx Gothic (Director: Andrew Rossi) With a blend of performance footage and penetrating discussions about her purpose and process, this film follows Okwui Okpokwasili as she tours her powerful one-woman play around the country. World Premiere Buzz One Four (Director: Matt McCormick) In 1964, a B-52 long-range bomber crashed on a Maryland mountainside with two thermonuclear bombs on board. This suspenseful account, crafted by the pilot’s grandson, skillfully weaves archival footage with personal recollections. The Challenge (Director: Yuri Ancarani) Miles of barren desert provide the backdrop for this surreal compilation of images: private jets, race cars, exquisite birds, and even a pet cheetah descend on the Qatar dunes to take part in a remote falconry tournament. Dina (Directors: Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini) At once tender and triumphant, humorous and hard, Dina introduces a woman in love as she navigates complex expectations in the days leading up to her impending nuptials. EXPRMNTL (Director: Brecht Debackere) This lively overview of the legendary EXPRMNTL film festivals held in Belgium from 1949 to 1974 interweaves archival footage with the recollections of the makers who defined experimental cinema. US Premiere The Good Postman (Director: Tonislav Hristov) An inspired citizen decides to run for mayor on a daring platform: that embracing the arrival of refugees may be the key to revitalizing his Bulgarian village. The Grown Ups (Director: Maite Alberdi) Adult students with Down Syndrome question their unknown futures. After attending the same school for decades, is there anything left to be discovered in this place, and what opportunities exist in the outside world? In Loco Parentis (Directors: Neasa Ní Chianáin, David Rane) For more than 40 years, John and Amanda Leyden have taught elementary-age children at a remote Irish boarding school. Filmed over the course of a year, the teachers bring wonder to their classrooms and roll with the joys and challenges that the changing seasons bring their young pupils. An Insignificant Man (Directors: Khushboo Ranka, Vinay Shukla) With unimaginable access, this film follows the turbulent campaign of Arvind Kejriwal, a businessman turned politician who formed India’s Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man’s Party) in 2012, as he runs for his country’s top office. Life – Instruction Manual (Leben – Gebrauchsanelitung) (Directors: Joerg Adolph, Ralf Buecheler) Featuring short excerpts from a wide range of classes, from childbirth to end-of-life care, this film reflects on the myriad ways that we depend on learning, particularly from others. North American Premiere Long Strange Trip (Director: Amir Bar-Lev) Personal interviews, performances, and never-before-seen footage create a multifaceted portrait of the Grateful Dead. They were more than a band. They were a movement. May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers (Directors: Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio) Personal, rich, and from the soul, this film follows the equally soulful Avett Brothers as they record a new album, reflect on the creative process, and navigate strong ties while managing lives spent on the road. Project X (Directors: Laura Poitras, Henrik Moltke) Rami Malek and Michelle Williams understatedly narrate guidelines from a top-secret NSA handbook, as the viewer travels from stark and isolated spots in the National Business Park to a windowless skyscraper in downtown Manhattan. Purple Dreams (Director: Joanne Hock) This film follows six students at the Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, N.C., who thrive as performers in the first-ever high school musical production of The Color Purple while grappling with difficult and stressful issues in their own lives. World Premiere STEP (Director: Amanda Lipitz) This inspiring film follows three members of the Lethal Ladies step-dance team at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women. With the support of their intrepid coach and an uncompromising counselor, they are determined to attend college. TAKE EVERY WAVE: The Life of Laird Hamilton (Director: Rory Kennedy) In sparkling cinematography and intimate interviews, this epic look at the surfing legend’s life in and out of the waves is also a no-holds-barred illustration of one man’s dedication to continually reigniting his passion. Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (Director: Stanley Nelson) A monumental, essential, and compelling survey of the history and cultural significance of HBCUs in America. This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous (Director: Barbara Kopple) Gregory Lazzarato to Gregory Gorgeous to Gigi Gorgeous—family members and millions of followers support the makeup and beauty YouTube star before, during, and after her transition. Trophy (Director: Shaul Schwarz, Co-Director: Christina Clusiau) This revelatory and exquisitely photographed investigation into conservation practices and big game hunting invites nuanced scrutiny and debate. Whose Streets? (Director: Sabaah Folayan, Co-Director: Damon Davis) This unflinching story of the Ferguson uprising is told by the activists who were there, chronicling the birth of a new generation of resisters in America.
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