FSLC and The Jewish Museum announce 25th annual New York Jewish Film Festival main slate

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum will present the 25th annual New York Jewish Film Festival (NYJFF) at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater and Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, January 13-26, 2016. The festival is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish film festivals worldwide, unique in New York City, and one of the longest running partnerships of two major New York cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1992, the NYJFF has presented more than 675 films from 43 countries, of which 320 were world, U.S., or New York premieres, and many have gone on to win awards and gain wider distribution.

This year’s lineup includes 38 features and shorts from 12 countries—21 screening in their world, U.S., or New York premieres—providing a diverse global perspective on the Jewish experience. The 25th edition will feature a retrospective of film highlights from previous festivals, a poster exhibition, a panel discussion, and other special programming in honor of the New York Jewish Film Festival’s silver anniversary to be announced shortly along with the complete festival schedule.

The New York Jewish Film Festival opens on Wednesday, January 13 with the U.S. premiere of Yared Zeleke’s Lamb, the first Ethiopian film to be an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival and the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. This feature debut focuses on young Ephraim, who is sent by his father to live among distant relatives after his mother’s death. But when his beloved sheep must be sacrificed for the next religious feast, the boy will do anything to save the animal and return home.

Closing Night on January 26 will feature A Tale of Love and Darkness, Academy Award winner Natalie Portman’s debut as screenwriter and director. Based on Amos Oz’s international best-seller, the film recounts the time Oz spent with his mother, Fania (Portman), who struggled to raise her son in Jerusalem at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel.

Screening in its U.S. premiere is a special presentation of Amos Gitai’s Rabin, the Last Day, a thought-provoking thriller investigating the brutal 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin through a masterful combination of dramatized scenes and news footage of the shooting and its aftermath, shedding light on an ever-growing crisis of the impunity of hate crimes in Israel today.

Catherine Tambini’s documentary Art and Heart: The World of Isaiah Shefferreceives its world premiere, celebrating founder and artistic director of Symphony Space Isaiah Sheffer and his indelible influence on music, theater, television, and culture across three decades in New York. Also receiving its world premiere is Sarah Kramer’s short Period. New Paragraph., a loving portrait of a father by his daughter, as well as an homage to a past era.

Sam Ball’s The Rifleman’s Violin will receive its New York premiere as part of a special musical event. In this documentary short, violinist Stuart Canin recalls the private performance he gave at the request of Harry Truman to break the tension at post-World War II negotiations with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Following the film, Canin will recreate his performance with pianist Thomas Sauer before an on-stage discussion with Canin, producer Abraham Sofaer, director Sam Ball, and Stanford University historian Norman Naimark.

A trio of documentaries receiving New York or U.S. premieres examine three individuals whose lives intersected with the world of film. Marianne Lambert’s documentary I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman, a U.S. premiere, dives into the 40-film oeuvre of the late Jewish Belgian pioneer, who traced a worldwide path of rugged avant-garde and political art from Brussels to Tel Aviv, Paris to New York. Barry Avrich’s The Man Who Shot Hollywoodexplores the life of Yasha Pashkovsky, a Jewish Russian immigrant photographer who practiced his art anonymously during Hollywood’s golden age and amassed 400 portraits of movie stars, including Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Gary Cooper, and Shirley Temple. Tatiana Brandrup’s Cinema: A Public Affair charts the rise and fall of the Moscow State Central Cinema Museum under the leadership of Russian film historian Naum Kleiman, who founded the institution in 1989 as the Soviet Union was collapsed and gave rise to the perestroika reform movement.

See below for the full lineup.

This year’s New York Jewish Film Festival was selected by Florence Almozini, Associate Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Rachel Chanoff, THE OFFICE performing arts + film; Jaron Gandelman, Curatorial Assistant for Media, Jewish Museum and Coordinator, New York Jewish Film Festival; Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, Jewish Museum and Curator for Special Programs, New York Jewish Film Festival; Dennis Lim, Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center; and Aviva Weintraub, Associate Curator, Jewish Museum and Director, New York Jewish Film Festival.

The New York Jewish Film Festival is made possible by the Martin and Doris Payson Fund for Film and Media. Generous support is also provided by Mimi and Barry Alperin, The Liman Foundation, Sara and Axel Schupf, Monica and Andrew Weinberg, and through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Most of the New York Jewish Film Festival’s screenings will be held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, located at 165 West 65th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. Some of the special programs will take place at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.
NYJFF tickets will go on sale Tuesday, December 22. A pre-sale to Film Society and Jewish Museum members will begin Thursday, December 17 at noon. Tickets are $14; $11 for students and seniors (62+); and $9 for Film Society and Jewish Museum members. Tickets may be purchased online or in person at the Film Society's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and Walter Reade Theater box offices, 144 & 165 West 65th Street. For our free event ticket policy and complete festival information, visit www.NYJFF.org.

FILM DESCRIPTIONS & SCHEDULE

Opening Night
Lamb
Yared Zeleke, Ethiopia/France/Germany/Norway, 2015, DCP, 94m
Amharic with English subtitles   
Yared Zeleke’s remarkable feature debut tells the story of young Ephraim, who is sent by his father to live among distant relatives after his mother’s death. Ephraim uses his cooking skills to carve out a place among his cousins, but when his uncle decides that Ephraim’s beloved sheep must be sacrificed for the next religious feast, the boy will do anything to save the animal and return home. Lamb is the first film from Ethiopia to be included in the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival and the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. U.S. Premiere
Wednesday, January 13, 3:30pm & 8:00pm

Closing Night
A Tale of Love and Darkness
Natalie Portman, Israel/USA, DCP, 98m
Hebrew with English subtitles
Based on Amos Oz’s international best-seller, A Tale of Love and Darknessrecounts the time Oz spent with his mother, Fania (Natalie Portman), who struggles with raising her son in Jerusalem at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. Dealing with a married life of unfulfilled promises and integration in a foreign land, Fania battles her inner demons and longs for a better world for her son. 
Tuesday, January 26, 3:30pm & 8:45pm

Art and Heart: The World of Isaiah Sheffer
Catherine Tambini, USA, 2015, HDCAM, 52m
One of New York’s great Renaissance men, Isaiah Sheffer left an indelible mark on music, theater, television, and culture across three decades in the Big Apple. He was the founder and artistic director of Symphony Space, the originator of Bloomsday on Broadway, and the comic genius behind the Thalia Follies. He hosted the popular WNYC Radio program Selected Shorts and earned an Emmy nomination for his Road to the White House series on NBC. He was a husband and a father, and a mentor to many. Art and Heart: The World of Isaiah Sheffercelebrates his life through interviews with Morgan Freeman, Stephen Colbert, Leonard Nimoy, and many others. World Premiere

Screening with:
The Man Who Shot Hollywood
Barry Avrich, Canada, 2015, DCP, 12m
Yasha Pashkovsky was a Jewish Russian immigrant and photographer who practiced his art anonymously during Hollywood’s golden age. Unable to keep up with the swift business pace of the West Coast, Pashkovsky photographed movie stars and stored the prints under his bed. By 1950 he had amassed 400 portraits of movies stars, including Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Gary Cooper, and Shirley Temple, which went undiscovered until 2001, the year of his death at age 89. This short compiles and releases these gems as part of an inquiry into Pashkovsky’s motivations and the glamour of anonymity. New York Premiere
Thursday, January 14, 1:30pm & 6:30pm

Ben Zaken
Efrat Corem, Israel, 2014, DCP, 85m
Hebrew with English subtitles
Shlomi Ben Zaken lives with his mother, brother, and 11-year-old daughter on a run-down housing estate in the small Israeli city of Ashkelon. As a single parent of a troubled child, he confronts a series of hardships and difficult decisions: space is tight in the apartment, work life is stagnant, and social services threaten to break up the family. Efrat Corem’s remarkable debut feature is a sensitive and austere portrait of a father and family attempting to redefine themselves against all odds.New York Premiere
Monday, January 18, 6:45pm
Wednesday, January 20, 1:30pm

Carvalho’s Journey
Steve Rivo, USA, 2015, DCP, 85m
Carvalho’s Journey tells the extraordinary story of Solomon Nunes Carvalho, an explorer and artist who photographed the sweeping vistas and treacherous terrain of the American West in the mid-19th century. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Carvalho was a middle-class portrait painter and an observant Sephardic Jew who had never saddled a horse. Everything changed in 1853 when he joined the famed explorer John C. Frémont on his Fifth Westward Expedition, a 2,400-mile journey from New York City to California. Carvalho’s experience as a Jew on the Western trail was unprecedented, and his photography provides a clear window into the interethnic cultural exchanges that shaped America in the era of Manifest Destiny.New York Premiere
Monday, January 25, 1:00pm & 6:00pm

Cinema: A Public Affair
Tatiana Brandrup, Germany, 2015, DCP, 100m
Russian, German, and Hebrew with English subtitles
In 1989, as the Soviet Union was collapsing and giving rise to the perestroika reform movement, Russian film historian Naum Kleiman founded the Moscow State Central Cinema Museum. Within a decade, the museum accrued more than 150,000 titles in its electronic catalog and became a haven for artistic and intellectual discourse in the new political era. It was a tragic and symbolic gesture, then, when the cultural ministry scandalously closed the museum and dismissed Kleiman amid nationwide censorship. Tatiana Brandrup’s new documentary charts the rise and fall of the museum under Kleiman’s legendary leadership. New York Premiere
Tuesday, January 19, 8:45pm
Wednesday, January 20, 4:00pm

Hot Sugar’s Cold World
Adam Bhala Lough, USA, 2015, DCP, 87m
Hot Sugar’s Cold World is a fly-on-the-wall portrait of Nick Koenig, a New York–based record producer who works under the name Hot Sugar. He constructs beats using only sounds from the world around him, and many of his days are spent in search of new and exotic samples. After his girlfriend, the rapper Kitty, goes on tour and they break up, Koenig heads to Paris, where he stays in the apartment of his late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Featuring appearances by the legendary filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and former members of Das Racist.
Saturday, January 23, 9:30pm

How to Win Enemies
Gabriel Lichtmann, Argentina, 2015, DCP, 78m
Spanish with English subtitles
In Argentinean filmmaker Gabriel Lichtmann’s zany caper about betrayal and revenge, Lucas, a young Jewish lawyer and an avid consumer of detective fiction, meets Bárbara in a café, and is instantly smitten. She is smart, beautiful, and shares his taste in literature. But the morning after the two go home together, Lucas wakes up to find Bárbara—and his financial savings—gone. Inspired by the heroes of his favorite crime novels, Lucas sets out to crack the case with just a few clues but no shortage of wits. New York Premiere
Thursday, January 21, 3:30pm & 8:30pm

I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman
Marianne Lambert, Belgium, 2015, DCP, 67m
French with English subtitles
From Brussels to Tel Aviv, Paris to New York, the late experimental filmmaker Chantal Akerman traced a worldwide path of rugged avant-garde and political art. Her celebrated 1975 film Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelleswas declared by The New York Times upon its release as the “first masterpiece of the feminine in the history of the cinema.” Now, the documentary I Don’t Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman dives into the 40-film oeuvre of the Jewish Belgian pioneer. U.S. Premiere
Wednesday, January 20, 6:30pm

The Law
Christian Faure, France, 2015, DCP, 90m
French with English subtitles
In the fall of 1974, the French health minister Simone Veil was in charge of a daunting task: to pass a law legalizing abortion in France. Christian Faure’s riveting courtroom drama follows Veil, an Auschwitz survivor, in her heroic battle on behalf of her country’s women. She faces fierce resistance from the Catholic Church and the opposing party, but refuses to back down even in the face of increasingly aggressive personal attacks. Emmanuelle Devos delivers a brilliant performance in the lead role. New York Premiere

Preceded by:
Period. New Paragraph.
Sarah Kramer, USA, 2015, Digital projection, 14m
Period. New Paragraph. is a loving portrait of a father by his daughter. It’s also an homage to a past era and an encounter with someone who has to let go of what they love. Technology can change; the tools of our work can change; and yet nothing can change our passion for the things we love to do. In the case of 85-year-old Herb Kramer, he is forced to confront the end of his career and his mortality as he winds down his legal practice, closing the office he has worked in for the last 40 years. World Premiere
Monday, January 18, 4:00pm
Tuesday, January 19, 4:00pm

Natasha
David Bezmozgis, Canada, 2015, DCP, 93m
Russian and English with English subtitles    
Mark Berman is the son of Russian immigrants and a typical teenager: hormone-fueled, mischievous, and prone to slacking. One fateful summer, his uncle’s Russian fiancée moves to Canada with her daughter, Natasha, and Mark is tasked with introducing her to the new neighborhood. Before long, the two teenagers fall for each other and a forbidden summer romance begins. Mark learns of Natasha’s troubled and promiscuous life in Moscow, and together they build a web of secrecy that ultimately leads to tragedy. Adapted from the director David Bezmozgis’s award-winning book Natasha and Other Stories. New York Premiere
Thursday, January 14, 4:00pm
Saturday, January 16, 7:00pm

Projections of America
Peter Miller, Germany/USA/France, DCP, 2015, 52m
English, French, and German with English subtitles
During the darkest hour of World War II, a team of idealistic filmmakers were commissioned by the American government to create 26 short propaganda pieces about life in the United States. The Projections of America series presents stories of cowboys and oilmen, farmers and window washers, immigrants and schoolchildren, capturing both the optimism and the messiness of American democracy. The creation and dissemination of these works is the subject of this documentary, which includes pristine new transfers of the films, as well as interviews with their directors, audience members, and critics. New York Premiere

Preceded by:
The Autobiography of a Jeep
Irving Lerner, USA, 1943, Digital projection, 9m
This 1943 propaganda film was produced by the U.S. Office of War Information as part of their series of documentaries released throughout World War II. Told from the perspective of a jeep, the utilitarian military vehicle that exemplified America’s can-do attitude, the film received a particularly enthusiastic response in France, where it had its first screenings soon after D-Day. The Autobiography of a Jeepwas directed by documentarian Irving Lerner, a left-leaning filmmaker who would eventually be caught up in the Hollywood blacklist, and written by Newbery Award winner Joseph Krumgold.
Wednesday, January 13, 1:30pm & 6:00pm

Special Presentation:
Rabin, the Last Day
Amos Gitai, Israel/France, 2015, DCP, 153m
Hebrew with English subtitles
On the evening of November 4, 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot down at the end of a huge political rally in Tel Aviv. The killer apprehended at the scene turned out to be a 25-year-old student and observant Jew. Investigation into this brutal murder reveals a dark and frightening world—a subculture of hate fueled by hysterical rhetoric, paranoia, and political intrigue, made up of extremist rabbis who condemned Rabin by invoking an obscure Talmudic ruling, prominent right-wing politicians who joined in a campaign of incitement against Rabin, militant Israeli settlers for whom peace meant betrayal, and the security agents who saw what was coming and failed to prevent it. Twenty years after the death of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, acclaimed filmmaker Amos Gitai sheds light on an ever-growing crisis of the impunity of hate crimes in Israel today with this thought-provoking political thriller, which masterfully combines dramatized scenes with actual news footage of the shooting and its aftermath. U.S. Premiere
Saturday, January 16, 9:30pm
Sunday, January 17, 12:45pm

Musical Event:
The Rifleman’s Violin
Sam Ball, USA, 2014, Digital projection, 14m
In July 1945, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin convened in Berlin to negotiate the fate of the world in the aftermath of World War II. The agenda included the division of Europe between East and West and the ongoing war with Japan (which would end less than a month later with America’s nuclear strike). To break the ice in these tense discussions, Truman requested a private performance by the young virtuoso violinist Stuart Canin, who had fought as a GI on the front lines earlier that year. In Sam Ball’s short documentary, a 90-year-old Canin recalls his performance with wit and verve. The Rifleman’s Violin was produced by Abraham D. Sofaer for the Potsdam Revisited: Overture to the Cold War multimedia project created by Citizen Film in partnership with the Hoover Institution Archive at Stanford University - www.potsdamrevisited.org.
The screening of The Rifleman’s Violin will be followed by a reconstruction of the performance by violinist Stuart Canin and pianist Thomas Sauer as well as an on-stage discussion with Canin; the film’s producer Abraham Sofaer; director Sam Ball; and Stanford University historian Norman Naimark.
Sunday, January 24, 1:00pm
   
Song of Songs    
Eva Neymann, Ukraine, 2015, DCP, 76m
Russian with English subtitles
This exceptional Ukrainian feature tells a story that begins with the blossoming of simple childhood love in a shtetl in 1905. Shimek and Buzya’s bond is pure and uncomplicated, but Shimek leaves it behind to seek a life outside his father’s house. When he hears years later that Buzya is to be married, he comes home to find that nothing—in the town or in his heart—has changed, and yet everything somehow seems different. Song of Songs is a poignant tale of love, return, and the transience of youth. New York Premiere
Thursday, January 21, 1:00pm & 6:00pm

Those People
Joey Kuhn, USA, 2015, DCP, 89m
On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a young painter, Charlie, has spent much of his life in unrequited love with his best friend, Sebastian, a charismatic and reckless partier who lives alone in his family’s townhouse now that his father has been imprisoned for Bernie Madoff–esque crimes and his mother abandoned them both in the wake of the scandal. Joey Kuhn’s feature debut vividly depicts a social circle in crisis, set against the glorious backdrop of autumnal New York.
Sunday, January 24, 6:00pm

Tito’s Glasses
Regina Schilling, Germany, 2014, DCP, 90m
German, Italian, and Croatian with English subtitles
In the documentary adaptation of Adriana Altaras’s best-selling autobiography,Altaras, the daughter of Jewish Croats who fought the Nazis alongside Tito finds herself leading a normal, if somewhat frazzled, domestic existence in Berlin with her husband and two soccer-crazed sons. When her parents die, she inherits their apartment and begins to sort through decades of letters and photographs, revealing a gold mine of family secrets, persecution, and political heroism. Past and present meld as Altaras compassionately narrates the small details of life and family as a 20th-century European Jew. New York Premiere
Tuesday, January 19, 1:00pm & 6:15pm

Wedding Doll
Nitzan Gilady, Israel, 2015, DCP, 82m
Hebrew with English subtitles
Hagit, a young woman with a mild mental deficiency, works in a toilet-paper factory and lives with her mother, Sarah, a divorcée who gave up her life for her daughter. When Hagit embarks on her first romantic relationship, she keeps it a secret from her overbearing mom. Israeli director Nitzan Gilady sparkles in his feature debut, a richly detailed family drama for which Asi Levi’s performance as Sarah earned her the Best Actress prize at the 2015 Jerusalem Film Festival. U.S. Premiere
Monday, January 25, 3:30pm & 8:30pm

For more information, visit:

• TheJewishMuseum.org.
• www.filmlinc.org.
  

NewFest, the New York LGBT Film Festival, Announces 2015 Audience Award Winners

NewFest, in Partnership with Outfest and HBO, Concludes their 27th Annual Festival And Announces Audience Award Winners – THOSE PEOPLE (Narrative Feature), THE SAME DIFFERENCE (Documentary Feature), TREMULO (Narrative Short) and IN THE HOLLOW (Documentary Short).

The 2015 NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival, concluded its 27th anniversary year at the Bow Tie Chelsea Theater - and the recently completed screening room at the LGBT Community Center - with a sold-out screening of GIRLS LOST. The highly successful six-day festival screened nearly 100 films to a number of sold-out audiences and included a centerpiece gala screening of Todd Haynes' CAROL, a star-studded World Premiere of new trans series "Her Story" followed by a discussion moderated by Laverne Cox, a MasterClass discussion with award-winning filmmaker Ira Sachs, NewFest's first ever Queer Horror Night, and an enlightening panel discussion on the evolution of transgender representation in modern media.

Following the Closing Night Gala screening, NewFest announced the 2015 Audience Award winning films:

THOSE PEOPLE, directed by Joey Kuhn, won the Audience Award for Outstanding Feature Film for its crowd-pleasing depiction of a complicated romance between two young men in the gilded halls of Manhattan's high society. Those People will be distributed by Wolfe Releasing in 2016.

THE SAME DIFFERENCE, directed by Nneka Onuorah, won the Audience Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature. The film, which shines a light on the all-too-often ignored problem of homophobia and gender discrimination within the African-American lesbian community, broke NewFest records, selling out four screenings to audiences eager to finally see the issue addressed onscreen and within the lively panels that followed each screening. The Same Difference will be distributed by Women Make Movies in 2016.

TREMULO, directed by Roberto Fiesco, won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short, thanks to its tender and beautifully realized depiction of a brief encounter between two young men in Mexico. A feature version is currently in the works.

IN THE HOLLOW, directed by Austin Bunn, won the Audience Award for Outstanding Documentary Short. Bunn, the screenwriter of last year's Kill Your Darlings, masterfully combined documentary and narrative techniques to place audiences at the center of a horrific crime against two gay women.
 
Speaking on behalf of the programming team, NewFest's senior programmer Adam Baran also singled out Martin Edralin's narrative short HOLE and Blair Fukumura's documentary short BEDDING ANDREW for special recognition, for using brave, emotionally stirring methods to tell the often-overlooked stories of gay men with disability and their need for physical and emotional support.
 
“Our 27th annual festival marked a year of huge growth for NewFest,” noted NewFest Executive Director Robert Kushner. “As a new generation of filmmakers comes through with exciting new stories and means of telling them, it's clear that LGBT audiences continue to seek community through shared experiences onscreen. We're extraordinarily happy that NewFest can play a role in that.”

For more information, please visit: http: outfest.org

THE HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY HALEKULANI CELEBRATES ITS 35th ANNIVERSARY

Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) presented by Halekulani will celebrate its 35th anniversary. The festival dates take place from November 12 through November 22, primarily all on the island of Oahu.

HIFF will present 181 films, with 17 US, 14 International and 32 world premieres from 41 countries this year. The Festival, which is to be held during mid-November, serves as a festival of discovery for new talent in the Pacific Rim; a “yearbook” of the very best films that have played on the festival circuit; and a new destination to present awards buzz titles that are vying for industry attention during the height of “awards season.”

Anderson Le, Director of Programming, said “The 35th HIFF continues the tradition of symbolizing the best from East and West by presenting high profile films in our Opening, Centerpiece and Closing Night galas.”

The 35th HIFF kicks off with South Korea’s official entry to the Oscar Foreign Language category with award winning director Lee Joo-ick’s THE THRONE. The story at the center of this lush historical drama is the struggle between the long-ruling King Yeongjo (Song Kang-ho from SNOWPIERCER) and his son, Sado (Yoo Ah-in) and the real life incident of the king’s decision to lock up his son in a wooden barrel — in which the royal heir died after eight days.

Set in 1950s New York, two women from very different backgrounds (Rooney Mara as a young shop clerk and Cate Blanchett as a sophisticated, but unhappy housewife) find themselves in the throes of love in CAROL, the Festival’s Centerpiece Film. World premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where Mara won Best Actress, the Todd Haynes drama will assuredly generate awards buzz this season.

The Festival closes with a romantic drama based on real events, the U.S. premiere of Mabel Cheung’s A TALE OF THREE CITIES, an epic period drama about individuals overwhelmed by the times, their trajectories shaped by rapidly changing circumstances beyond their control. Lau Ching-wan and Tang Wei (LUST, CAUTION) play ill-fated lovebirds who meet during the backdrop of the final days leading into WWII. The film is based on the epic love story of Jackie Chan’s parents. 

Halekulani Corporation, HIFF’s key presenting sponsor, will again present the Festival’s coveted HALEKULANI GOLDEN ORCHID AWARDS for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and for the first, time, Best Narrative Short Film. This year’s crop of nominated films consist of exciting new perspectives from emerging filmmakers in the Asia Pacific and award-worthy socially conscious documentaries that have premiered at major film festivals including Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto. Also new is an attached $5000 cash prize for both the Best Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories.

“We are honored to continue our partnership with Halekulani, as presenting sponsor, as well as title sponsor of the Golden Orchid Awards,” says Robert Lambeth, the Festival’s Executive Director. “Once again, the best in filmmaking from around the world is represented in the nominated films. For example, we are honored to screen the U.S. premiere of AMERICAN EPIC, a new series by executive producers Robert Redford, T Bone Burnett, and Jack White. Mixed together with films from the Pacific Rim by emerging and established directors, we are honored to celebrate the power of cinema, from its rich tradition to its cutting edge innovation.”

NARRATIVE FEATURE NOMINEES: 

HONOR THY FATHER (Philippines)

Director: Erik Matti

Kaye and Edgar is a pair of married white-collar swindlers, who have cashed in on promoting an investment scheme to their friends and fellow Pentecostal parishioners. But when they run afoul of their latest victims, their devout investors turn on them. When the tension erupts into violence, Edgar decides to seek the aid of his criminally inclined family.

THE KIDS (Taiwan)

Director: Sunny Yu

Bao-Li has just started 8th grade when he comes to the rescue of Jia-Jia, an older girl he immediately falls in love with, and soon enough they are in a relationship. When Jia-Jia becomes pregnant, Bao-Li drops out of school to support his new family and become the breadwinner, sometimes by any means necessary. But when he discovers that his mother has gambled away all of their savings, the young family heads toward a path of self-destruction. 

MADONNA (South Korea)

Director: Shin Su-won

Nurse’s aide Hae-rim and Doctor Hyuk-gyu are ordered to keep hospital CEO Chul-ho on life support and wait for a donor match. On one of her daily rounds, Hae-rim discovers a comatose patient named Mi-Na who, miraculously, is a match. The CEO’s cold-blooded son makes a deal with Hae-rim to go find Mi-Na’s family and bribe them to sign the consent form. Through her search, Hae-rim unravels Mi-Na’s tragic life and a dark secret that reflects her own past.  

MIDORI IN HAWAII (USA)

Director: John Hill

Midori is a struggling wedding photographer living in Hawaii. When Seiko and Kyo-chan, Midori’s judgmental sister and brother in-law visit from Japan, Midori’s small world is thrown off balance. As the sisters travel the Big Island together, old grudges and long forgotten psychological scars begin to resurface. The tension builds until the true reason for Seiko’s visit is finally revealed, forcing Midori to choose between family responsibilities or continuing to pursue her dream.

PALI ROAD (USA)

Director: Jonathan Lim

A young doctor wakes up from a car accident and discovers she is married to another man and living a life she can't remember. Her search for the truth to her past life will lead her to question everyone around her and her entire existence. Shot entirely in Hawaii and starring Chinese superstar Michelle Chen, TWILIGHT’s Jackson Rathbone and Sung Kang (FAST FIVE), PALI ROAD is a story for the search for true love between two worlds. A US-China co-production shot entirely on location in Hawaii. 

ROBBERY (Hong Kong)

Director: Fire Lee

A twenty-something punk fancies himself a total player, but the best job he can find is overnight clerk at a convenience store. The other clerk is a cute chick and you’re thinking “rom com,” but then there’s a robbery, a gangster, a shoot-out and a night they won’t forget, if they survive it! An anarcho-absurdist blood-soaked grand guignol indie flick with attitude to burn, this is the perfect high paced youth movie from Hong Kong.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE NOMINEES:

AMERICAN EPIC (USA)

Director: Bernard MacMahon

AMERICAN EPIC is the extraordinary story of 1920s record companies that toured America with a recording machine, to capture the emerging and diverse music known as American roots. The filmmakers retrace this journey today, to rediscover the families whose music was recorded long ago; music that would lead to the development of Hopi, Hawaiian slack key, Tejano, Cajun and Delta Blues. These seminal musicians are revealed through previously unseen film footage, unpublished photographs, and exclusive interviews.

CROCODILE GENNADIY (USA)

Director: Steve Hoover

Gennadiy calls himself 'Pastor Crocodile.' He's known throughout Ukraine for his years working to rehabilitate drug-addicted kids. But he's also a vigilante who uses any force necessary to carry out his moral vision. Gennadiy believes he has made Mariupol a better place, but now, the violence in Ukraine threatens everything.

HEBEI TAIPEI (Taiwan)

Director: Li Nien Hsiu

Born in China, drifting from place to place since childhood, Li Chung-Hsiao has survived war and poverty. War robbed him of him returning to his hometown and his dreams are filled with only scenes of violence in the streets of his youth. With these memories as a guide, his daughter sets out to retrace his tumultuous life. This is the dramatic memoir of a foul-mouthed, insolent, yet somehow lovable man.

IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST (USA)

Director(s): Tony Vainuku, Erika Cohn

A contemporary American story, IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST transports viewers deep inside the tightly-knit and complex Polynesian community in Salt Lake City, Utah, one of the chief sources for the modern influx of Pacific Islander NFLers. With unprecedented access and shot over a four-year time period, the film intimately portrays four young Polynesian men striving to overcome gang violence and near poverty through the promise of American football.

REMAKE REMIX RIP-OFF (Turkey)

Director: Cem Kaya

Turkey in the 1960s and 70s was one of the world’s biggest film producers even though its industry was vastly unknown internationally. In order to keep up with demand, screenwriters and directors were copying scripts and remaking movies from across the globe. Name any Western hit film; there is a Turkish version to it, from THE WIZARD OF OZ to STAR TREK. What they lacked in equipment and budget they compensated for with sheer zeal and excessive use of manpower.

THE SEVENTH FIRE (USA)

Director: Jack Pettibone Riccobono

When Rob Brown, a Native American gang leader on a remote Minnesota reservation, is sentenced to prison for a fifth time, he must confront his role in bringing violent drug culture into his beloved Ojibwe community. As Rob reckons with his past, his seventeen-year-old protégé, Kevin, dreams of the future - becoming the biggest drug dealer on the reservation. Terrence Malick presents this haunting and visually arresting nonfiction film about the gang crisis in Indian Country.

“There’s a wealth of award winning and critically acclaimed films that we are honored to present across a broad cross-section of our festival program, especially in our European Spotlight, Awards Buzz, and Gala Presentations.” says Anna Page, HIFF’s Associate Director of Programming. “As a film festival close to the end of the calendar year, we are fortunate to present the very best films from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto.”

Awards favorites and the most acclaimed films from the film festival circuit include the following:

45 YEARS (UK)

Director: Andrew Haigh

Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay turn in award winning performances as a couple in trouble. There is just one week until Kate Mercer’s forty-fifth wedding anniversary and planning for the party is going well, until a letter arrives for her husband. The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. Jealousy and what ifs plague the couple. By the time the party is upon them, there may not be a marriage left to celebrate.

DHEEPAN (UK)

Director: Jacques Audiard

Dheepan is a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France, along with a young woman and little girl, as they pose as a family (this allows easier asylum). Soon, the makeshift family is sent to live in a housing block outside Paris, where Dheepan earns a job as the local caretaker. But violence continues to follow him when he realizes the block is territory for a drug gang. Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes.  

JAFAR PANAHI’S TAXI (Iran)

Director: Jafar Panahi

Taxi passengers express their views and opinions as filmmaker Jafar Panahi (currently under house arrest and charged for conspiring to create anti-Islamic propaganda) drives through the streets of Tehran. Thus the stage is set for a series of deft seriocomic episodes that bring Panahi (who exudes a warm presence) into contact with a diverse cross-section of Tehran society, all captured from the fixed p.o.v. of the taxi’s dash-cam.  

KRISHA (USA)

Director: Trey Edward Schultz

After years of absence, Krisha (played to the hilt by former Hawaii resident Krisha Fairchild) reunites with her family for a holiday gathering. She sees it as an opportunity to fix her past mistakes, cook the family turkey, and prove to her loved ones that she has changed for the better. Only Krisha’s delirium takes her family on a dizzying holiday that no one will forget. The film won both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW this year.

MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART (China)

Director: Jia Zhang-ke

Jia Zhang-ke’s latest is an epic tale about Tao and the men who come in and out of her life. We begin in 1999, where Tao finds herself pursued by two young men. We jump to 2014, where Tao is a divorcee and trying to come to make peace with the fact that her young son may be better off with his rich father, who intends to immigrate to Australia. We end in 2025, centering on Tao’s now college-age son.

MUSTANG (France, Germany, Turkey)

Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Early summer. In a village in northern Turkey, Lale and her four sisters are walking home from school, playing innocently with some boys. The immorality of their play sets off a scandal that has unexpected consequences. The family home is progressively transformed into a prison; instruction in homemaking replaces school and marriages start being arranged. The five sisters who share a common passion for freedom, find ways of getting around the constraints imposed on them.

RIGHT NOW WRONG THEN (South Korea)

Director: Hong Sang-soo

The delightful new film from Festival favorite Hong Sang-soo (IN ANOTHER COUNTRY) presents two variations on a potentially fateful romantic encounter between a filmmaker and a painter, tracing each to its own very distinct outcome. The film won the Golden Leopard at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

SON OF SAUL (Hungary)

Director: László Nemes

Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, and one of the most talked about films of the year, SON OF SAUL is an excoriating look at evil in Auschwitz. During World War II, a Jewish worker (Géza Röhrig) at the Auschwitz concentration camp tries to find a rabbi to give a child a proper burial. Grim and unyielding, this explosive film is also Hungary’s official entry to the Academy Awards.  

YELLOW FLOWERS ON THE GREEN GRASS (Vietnam)

Director: Victor Vu

A coming of age story set in the Vietnamese countryside during the late 1980s — Thieu and Tuong are brothers that share a strong bond. Unbeknownst to Tuong, Thieu is constantly jealous of his younger brother’s personal and academic achievements. This leads to an act of violence, which leaves Tuong paralyzed and bedridden. In coming to terms with his own conscience, Thieu attempts to redeem himself and discovers the true meaning of brotherhood. 

YOUTH (Italy, France, Switzerland, UK)

Director: Paulo Sorrentino

Oscar winning actor Michael Caine plays Fred, an acclaimed composer and conductor, who brings along his daughter (Rachel Weisz) and best friend Mick (Harvey Keitel), a renowned filmmaker on holiday.  While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career.  The two men reflect on their past, each finding that some of the most important experiences can come later in life.

The Festival is celebrating the life and legacy of one of the greatest directors of all time and the maestro of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. The HITCHCOCK SPOTLIGHT presented by the Vilcek Foundation will encompass a 70th anniversary presentation of SPELLBOUND starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. After the screening, there will be an extended Q&A session with the late director’s granddaughters, Tere Carubba and Mary Stone, who will discuss their grandfather’s familial legacy and a personal and intimate perspective on one of the most famous film directors of the 20th century, who defined cinema. In addition, HIFF will present the Hawaii premiere of Kent Jones’ documentary HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

“In honor of the contributions that so many immigrants have made to American cinema over the years, HIFF 2015 will spotlight one of the most influential immigrant filmmakers, Alfred Hitchcock,” says Robert Lambeth, HIFF’s Executive Director. This spotlight is a special sidebar of the New American Filmmakers program presented by the Vilcek Foundation, which highlights the contributions of gifted immigrant filmmakers to contemporary American cinema. HIFF is proud to once again partner with the Vilcek Foundation to present the 9th annual New American Filmmakers program. 

SPELLBOUND (1945) w/ Tere Carubba and Mary Stone (Hitchcock’s granddaughters)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

In this special 70th anniversary screening, SPELLBOUND tells the story of a psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.

HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT (2015)

Director: Kent Jones

In 1962, Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut locked themselves away in Hollywood for a week to excavate the secrets behind the mise-en-scène in cinema. Based on the original recordings of this meeting—used to produce the mythical book “Hitchcock/Truffaut”—this film illustrates the greatest cinema lesson of all time. Director Kent Jones also interviews the top filmmakers working today as they discuss how this seminal book influences their work. 

CREATIVE LAB and Creative Lab at HIFF provide a rich environment for international creative collaboration and building new business relationships through a global lens. In the past, HIFF and Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) Creative Industries Division, have developed key relationships with industry partners including the Writers Guild of America-West (WGAW), Producers Guild of America (PGA), Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts (HARA) and Screen Actors Guild/AFTRA (SAG-AFTRA). Creative Lab furthers the professional development of creative entrepreneurs and increases the growth of commercially viable content for acquisition/distribution.

“Passionately dedicated to the success of filmmakers, I am happy to announce three new programs launched under the aegis of Creative Lab at HIFF -- The Ebert Foundation Young Critic’s Program in honor of Roger Ebert’s legacy support of HIFF, the Oscar Documentary Lab lead by Oscar winning filmmakers Freida Lee Mock and James Moll, and the 1st Annual Asia Pacific Entertainment Finance Forum presented by Winston Baker,” says Robert Lambeth, HIFF’s Executive Director.

In association with Winston Baker, the leading producer of film finance forum around the world, HIFF is launching the new Asia Pacific Entertainment Finance Forum (APEFF) in Honolulu during the Festival with networking and kickoff reception on November 18, the full-day conference on November 19, and ending activities and sessions on November 20.

The PEFF s omprehensive rogram nlike ny inance onference eing ffered oday! hrough ombination f eynotes, resentations, nd anel iscussions, ndustry eaders ill ddress nvestment, inancing nd rowth trategies ithin he ilm, V nd aming ectors, as well as a focus on breaking into the China market and co-production packaging with the intent to shoot on location in Hawaii. The conference will be held at one of HIFF’s major sponsors, The Modern Honolulu Hotel.

Registration for APEFF is currently open, with special discounts for Hawaii residents. To register for the conference (limited seating only), head over to http://www.hiff.org/asian-pacific-entertainment-finance-forum-apeff/

Oscar Documentary Lab: Anatomy of Oscar Docs

Presented by two Oscar-winning documentarians, Freida Lee Mock (MAYA LIN, ANITA) and James Moll (THE LAST DAYS, FOO FIGHTERS: BACK AND FORTH), this four-hour lab offers an in-depth analysis of recent Academy Award-winning documentaries to reveal what makes them great and what we might apply to our own films.

Roger Ebert Foundation Young Film Critics Program

In a swiftly changing media environment, informed writing and criticism on cinema is vital to a strong film culture and industry. This program’s mandate is to broaden and strengthen film criticism culture in Hawaii and teach young writers classical, as well as current methods and tasks in critical thinking and writing by reviewing films and interviewing filmmakers in a live film festival setting. Chicago-based film critic, academic and filmmaker Kevin B. Lee will mentor eight local young writers. 

HIFF’s Executive Director Robert Lambeth concludes, “Set against the stunning backdrop of the cosmopolitan crossroads of the Pacific, the 35th Hawaii International Film Festival presented by Halekulani will once again present an array of compelling programs, glamorous parties, and the best of international cinema.” 

Tickets go on sale on October 16 for HIFF Ohana members and on October 19 to the general public.

What: 35th Hawaii International Film Festival presented by Halekulani

When:  November 12 – 22, 2015

Where: Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theatres & IMAX, Consolidated Koko Marina at Koko Marina Shopping Center, Courtyard Cinema at Ward Villages, Consolidated Ward 16

Ticket Prices:  $14 general public, $12 seniors, military, students, children, $10 HIFF Ohana members (HIFF’s film membership body)

Ticket Purchases: Online at Hiff.org, in person – HIFF box office, phone: (808) 447-0577

For more details, please visit: hiff.org

The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival Announces Upcoming Program

The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival showcases Korea doing what it does best: the crime thriller, the romantic fantasy, and feverish erotica. The Peninsula’s filmmakers bend genre cinema to a uniquely Korean pulse and purpose, making the country’s national film industry the most vibrant in East Asia. The thrilling complications of love and crime steal the show in this year’s lineup, as partnerships go south and fickle passions lead to betrayal. Resistance fighters navigate the intrigue of colonial-era Korea, love affairs are smothered as quickly as they are kindled, and hard-boiled cops dig at the ugly truth in a collection of both massive blockbusters and favorites from the international festival circuit, with five New York premieres and one international premiere.

The 13th Annual New York Korean Festival will run from November 6-November 11, 2015, at the Museum of the Moving Image. This will be the first year Museum of the Moving Image will serve as a partner and the venue for the New York Korean Film Festival, building on past collaborations with the Korea Society and Subway Cinema.

The Korea Society has also invited an exceptional group of Korean guests, including star director Ryoo Seung-Wan and producers Kang Hye-jung and Park Jung (Veteran); directors Shin Suwon (Madonna), Lee Do-yun (Confession), Kang Hyo-jin (Wonderful Nightmare), Oh Seung-uk (The Shameless), and Hong Won-chan (Office); and actress Koh Ah-Sung.

The New York Korean Film Festival is a program of The Korea Society, the Museum of the Moving Image, and Subway Cinema.

Major support is provided by the Korea Foundation.

ALL SCREENINGS WILL BE HELD AT THE MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE

The Museum is located at 36-01 35 Ave, Astoria, Queens, NY, 11106.

Opening Night tickets: $20 ($12 for TKS members, MOMI Film Lover and Dual members / free for Silver Screen members and above).

All other NYKFF tickets are $12 ($7 for TKS members, MOMI Film Lover and Dual members / free for Silver Screen members and above).

Advance tickets will be available online at movingimage.us beginning October 21.

OPENING NIGHT

Office (오피스)

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 6:30 P.M.

New York Premiere

With director Hong Won-chan and star Ko Ah-sung in person

Followed by a reception in the Museum lobby and cafe

Dir. Hong Won-chan. 2015, 111 mins. B.R. With: Ko Ah-sung, Park Seong-woong, Bae Seong-woo. After gruesomely murdering his family, a midlevel manager (Bae Seong-woo) dutifully returns to the office, haunting the building like a vengeful ghost and turning the otherwise bland workspace into a house of terror. Legitimately alarmed, his colleagues nonetheless sing his praises to the police—a hint that there’s more to the matter than a disgruntled employee suddenly snapping. Described as “hearty genre entertainment” by Variety, this Cannes “Midnight Madness” selection is a perfect outlet for young leading actress Ko Ah-sung.

“Workplace blues wrought large and crimson red.” — Clarence Tsui, The Hollywood Reporter

“Razor-sharp satire on petty politics in the corporate world [...] laced with wickedly bitchy dialogue” — Maggie Lee, Variety

Hong Won-chan was the screenwriter for Confession of Murder (2012), The Yellow Sea(2010), The Scam (2009), and The Chaser (2007—a selection at Cannes), before making his directorial debut with Office.

The youngest of three sisters, Ko Ah-sung started acting at an early age and played the memorable role of the daughter in Bong Joon-ho’s The Host (2006). Her film credits includeThe Beauty Inside (2015), Thread of Lies (2014), Snowpiercer (2013), Duet (2012), After the Banquet (2009), A Brand New Life (2009), Radio Dayz (2008), and The Happy Life (2007). 

Trap (덫, 치명적인 유혹)

International Premiere

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1:00 P.M.

Dir. Bong Man-Dae. 2015, 107 mins. DCP. With Yoo Ha-joon, Han Je-in, Kang Yong-gyoo.

Maladjusted screenwriter Jeong-min (Yoo Ha-joon) travels to the countryside to rethink his life and concentrate on his career. But instead of working on his screenwriting, he finds transgressive distraction in the person of temptress Yumi (Han Je-in). The frontier between reality and fantasy blurs as Jeong-min’s mind and body are engulfed in a fatal attraction to the innocent-faced but dangerous Lolita, leading him to increasingly poor life decisions. A standout entry in the filmography of softcore erotic meister “Playboy” Bong Man-Dae. 

Confession (좋은 친구들)

With director Lee Do-yun in person

New York Premiere

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 3:15 P.M.

Dir. Lee Do-yun. 2014, 114 mins. DCP. With Ji Sung, Ju Ji-hoon. Since a tragic mountain incident in high school, Min-soo (Lee Kwang-soo), Hyun-tae (Ji Sung) and In-chul (Ju Ji-hoon) have remained best friends through thick and thin. But when two of them agree to burn down an illegal gambling hall for the insurance payout, the spilt blood of loved ones unearths the bitter ghosts of a dark past. Soon, the group of childhood friends turn on each other in the bleakest of fallouts. Lee Do-yun’s debut feature has been compared with the slow-burning noir of Sidney Lumet’s final film, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

“The film’s stupendous execution and the compelling characters successfully drive the film forward.” -Jason Bechervaise, Screen International

Lee Do-yun was born in South Korea. He directed the short films We. Trippers and Neighbor.Confession, his first feature, had its international premiere in Toronto last year. 

The Shameless (무뢰한)

With director Oh Seung-uk in person

New York Premiere

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 6:00 P.M.

Dir. Oh Seung-uk. 118 mins. DCP. With Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Nam-gil, Park Sung-Woong. In Oh Seung-uk’s highly anticipated return to the director’s chair since his debut masterpieceKilimanjaro in 2000, Cannes award-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon plays a bar hostess in love with a suspected murderer. Kim Nam-gil (The Pirates) is outstanding as a detective who plays a game of seduction with a dangerous woman. Selected for the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Film Festival, The Shameless is an unforgettably stylish noir.

“A mellow pleasure to be slowly savored, this polished work should be welcomed at festivals” — Maggie Lee, Variety

Oh Seung-uk (b.1963) began his career as an assistant director of Lee Chang-dong, co-writing his debut feature Green Fish. In the late '90s, he co-wrote the landmark romanceChristmas in August and Park Kwang-su's ambitious historical drama The Uprising. Oh made his debut as a director with the crime thriller Killimanjaro in 2000. The Shameless is his long-awaited second feature.

Assassination (암살)

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 8:55 P.M.

Dir. Choi Dong-hoon. 2015, 140 mins. B.R. With Jeon Ji-hyun, Lee Jung-hae, Ha Jung-woo. Choi Dong-hoon's follow-up to his 2012 hit The Thieves was Korea’s biggest box office hit of the year. Drawing inspiration from 1980s Hong Kong action comedies and South Korea's little-known 1960s Manchurian Westerns, Assassination follows the journey of three resistance fighters as their mission takes them to the Manchurian countryside, pre-war Shanghai, and Japanese-occupied Seoul to assassinate an evil Japanese governor and his Korean acolyte. Boasting an all-star cast led by screen-goddess Jeon Ji-hyun and superstar Lee Jung-jae,Assassination is “a sensationally entertaining mash-up of historical drama, Dirty Dozen style shoot-‘em-up, spaghetti Western-flavored flamboyance, and extended action set pieces that suggest a dream-team collaboration of Sergio Leone, John Woo and Steven Spielberg” according to Variety’s Joe Leydon.

Madonna (마돈나)

With director Shin Su-Won in person

New York Premiere

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2:00 P.M.

Dir. Shin Su-won. 2015, 121 mins. DCP. With Seo Young-hee, Kwon So-hyun, Kim Young-min.

After her festival hit Pluto (2012), a critically acclaimed high-school drama about bullying and murder which won a Special Mention at the 2013 Berlinale, director Shin Su-won delivers a shocking, noir-tinged tale of privilege and poverty: a nurse's aide uncovers and tries to prevent the horrific use of a brain dead pregnant street-walker for a heart transplant to a rich patient.

Director Shin Su-Won was a middle school teacher before she began a directing career. Her short, Circle Line, won the Canal+ Prize for Best Short Film at Cannes 2012, and her debut feature, Passerby #3 (2010), won awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival. Her films include Modern Family (2012) and Pluto (2013).

The Beauty Inside (뷰티 인사이드)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 5:00 P.M.

Dir. Baik (Baek Jong-yeol), 2015, 127 mins. B.R. With Han Hyo-joo, Park Seo-jun, Mun Suk, Lee Dong-hwi, Lee Mi-do. Since his 18th birthday, Woo-jin wakes up each morning as a different person in a new body. Sometimes he’s old, sometimes he’s young, sometimes he’s not Korean…or even a man. But inside, he remains the same down-to-earth, honest cabinet maker devoted to his craft. And each day he fights to connect with the woman he loves (Han Hyo-joo, in a luminous, standout performance). Beneath the slick romantic fantasy and the gorgeous cinematography, the film asks real questions about identity and true love.

“Blessed with a MLB roster’s worth of veteran character players (Kim Sang-ho, Kim Min-jae, Jo Dal-hwan), and buzzy young stars”—Elizabeth Kerr, The Hollywood Reporter

Veteran (베테랑)

With director Ryoo Seung-wan in person

U.S. Festival Premiere

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 7:45 P.M.

Dir. Ryoo Seung-wan. 2015, 123 mins. DCP. With Hwang Jung-min, Yoo Ah-in, Yoo Hae-jin. In this instant action/comedy classic—a massive theatrical hit earlier this summer—hardboiled detective Seo Do-cheol (top actor Hwang Jung-min can throw—and take—a punch) and his misfit team defend the powerless against the vicious scion of a prominent family (played with villainous delight by heartthrob Yoo Ah-in, in a widely acclaimed performance).

Ryoo Seung-wan was born in Onyang, South Korea. His films include The Berlin File (2013),The Unjust (2010), Dachimawa Lee (2008), The City of Violence (2006), Crying Fist (2005),Arahan (2004), No Blood No Tears (2002), and Die Bad (2000). He won “Best Director” at the Blue Dragon Film Awards in 2011.

Wonderful Nightmare (미쓰 와이프)

With director Kang Hyo-jin in person
New York Premiere

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 7:00 P.M.

Dir. Kang Hyo-jin. 2015, 125 mins. DCP. With Uhm Jung-hwa, Song Seung-heon, Seo Shin-Ae. Heaven makes a clerical error, so ambitious lawyer Yeon-woo (played by superstar Uhm Jung-hwa) returns to Earth to find herself married to a salaryman and mother to a rebellious teenager and know-it-all six-year-old. A sharp, hilarious satire about the shift in gender roles in contemporary Korean society that struck a deep chord with local audiences.

Director Kang Hyo-jin’s independent feature, Kill’em with Bare Hands (2004), won the audience award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. His films include Dirty Blood (2012),Twilight Gangsters (2010), and Punch Lady (2007).

For more information, please visit

• www.koreasociety.org.
• Museum of the Moving Image (movingimage.us)
• www.subwaycinema.com,
• www.facebook.com/NYAFF,
• follow @subwaycinema on Twitter (#nyaff15)

9TH ANNUAL OTHER ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES COMPLETE LINE-UP

Other Israel Film Festival Nov. 5-12, 2015 Films screen at JCC Manhattan and around New York The Other Israel Film Festival is back! Premiere films from Israel's edgy film industry and engage in conversation on hot topics that illuminate the diversity of Israeli culture.

The 9th Annual Other Israel Film Festival announced its complete line-up of feature and short films. The Festival, which provides a platform to engage with some of the challenges within Israeli society through films and conversations with special guests, runs from November 5 – 12, 2015 at the JCC Manhattan on 76th St and Amsterdam Ave, as well as at Cinema Village and other locations throughout the city. 

Censored Voices, recently recognized with the award for Best Documentary at the Ophir Awards (Israel’s equivalent of the Academy Awards), was previously announced as the festival’s opening night film, with acclaimed documentary Women in Sink closing the festival on November 12. Following screenings at the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, Dégradé, directed by twin brothers Tarzan and Arab Nasser, will also have a Special Feature screening on closing night, marking the film’s New York premiere.

“From the candid conversations of Arab/Israeli women in a Haifa beauty shop, to the refugee crisis in Tel Aviv and the hopeful business collaboration of an Israeli and a Palestinian woman, this year’s slate ranges from provocative genre films to surprising documentaries and everything in between.” commented festival founder Carol Zabar.  “These extraordinary films reveal the fullest spectrum of Israeli and Palestinian life and culture and will spark a frank, vital dialog.”

To view a trailer containing footage from this year’s films, please visit: https://youtu.be/niHNZya86Jo

Tickets for the Other Israel Film Festival go on sale on October 8th. For additional information, please visit: www.OtherIsrael.org.

The complete line-up for this year’s festival includes:

ARAB MOVIE
New York Premiere
Dir. Eyal Sagui Bizawe & Sara Tsifroni
(60 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew & Arabic w/ English subtitles)

A nostalgic look back at that old Friday afternoon ritual, when Israeli families of all backgrounds would gather to watch the week’s “Egyptian Movie” on Israel’s official TV station. Arab Movie takes us back to that fleeting moment when Israelis shared the same cultural heroes as everyone else in the Middle East, even as it raises disturbing questions about their relationship to their neighbors across the border.

http://www.censoredvoices.com/ Censored Voices is coming soon to cinemas in the UK. One week after the 1967 'Six-Day War', a group of young kibbutzinks, led by renowned author Amos Oz and Editor Avraham Shapira, recorded intimate conversations with soldiers returning from the battlefield. The Israeli army censored the recordings, allowing only a fragment of the conversations to be published.

CENSORED VOICES
East Coast Premiere
Dir. Mor Lushi
(84 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew & English w/ English subtitles)

One week after the Six Day War, a group of soldiers, led by renowned author Amos Oz, recorded intimate conversations with fellow soldiers returning from war. In these recordings, the men wrestled with their fears, taking an honest look at the moment Israel turned occupier. These recordings, censored by the Israeli army until now, are played back to the men 50 years later, revealing their confessions for the first time.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh0Z1VfYPcE 
Censored Voices opens in theaters on November 20, via Music Box Films

COLLIDING DREAMS
Special Sneak Preview
Dir. Oren Rudavsky & Joseph Dorman
(135 min, Documentary, US, English, Hebrew, Arabic w/English subtitles)

A feature-length exploration of one of the most influential, controversial, and urgently relevant political ideologies of the modern era. With origins in Europe in the late 19th century, Zionism was born out of the Jewish confrontation with modernity and persecution. Yet early on, Zionism faced opposition from Palestine’s Arab inhabitants, who saw it depriving them of their own national rights in a land they had inhabited for centuries. Now, amid unceasing religious conflict and tragic bloodshed, it is more crucial than ever for Americans to better understand the meaning, history and future of the movement.
Colliding Dreams will open in New York at Lincoln Plaza in January 2016. 

DÉGRADÉ

NEW YORK PREMIERE
Dir. Tarzan & Arab Nasser
83 min, Narrative, France / Palestine, Arabic w/English subtitles

In this Cannes film festival favorite, we take a look into the lives of a diverse group of women visiting a beauty salon on a hot summer’s day in the Gaza Strip. A bride-to-be, a pregnant woman, a bitter divorcée, a devout woman and a pill-popping addict all meet for some leisure time and pampering. But all is disrupted when a gang war erupts between Hamas and a local group, right in front of the salon, trapping the woman and raising the temperature and anxiety. Starring Hiam Abbass, Maisa Abdelhadi, and Manal Award.

JERUSALEM BOXING CLUB
United States Premiere
Dir. Helen Yanovsky
(65 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew, Russian, & Arabic w/ English subtitles)

The Jerusalem Boxing Club, which operates out of a bomb shelter in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood, is a meeting point for teens from all around the city. For many of these young people, the desire to excel and to win is nourished by the tough training and boundless love of Gershon Luxemburg, the club's manager and trainer, for whom boxing is not just another sport, but a way of life.
Jerusalem Boxing Club was supported by the Other Israel Film Fund.

JERUZALEM
New York Premiere
Dir. Doron & Yoav Paz
(81 min, Narrative, Israel, English)

JeruZalem (Israel: 2015), directed by Doron & Yoav Paz (TIFF and Berlinale's Phobidilia) Starring: Yael Grobglas (JANE THE VIRGIN, REIGN, RABIES) Yon Tumarkin (Berlinale's Panorama Award winner ROCK BA-CASBA) Tom Graziani (A PLACE IN HEAVEN) Danielle Jadelyn Synopsis: Two American girls on vacation follow a mysterious and handsome anthropology student on a trip to Jerusalem.

A horror film that takes us to Jerusalem, where two vacationing American teenagers decide to follow a mysterious archaeologist to the Old City. Their party is cut short when Jerusalem’s ancient gate to hell is opened, releasing a biblical apocalypse. Trapped between the city’s walls, the three travelers must survive long enough to find a way out, as the fury of hell is unleashed upon them.
Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTIwfN-4hZ4

MUSSA
New York Premiere
Dir. Anat Goren
(65 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew, Amharic, Arabic, & English w/ English subtitles)

Hot Docs has received filmmaker permission to upload this trailer to the HotDocsFest YouTube channel.

A moving documentary that tells the story of Mussa, a 12-year-old African refugee living in one of Tel Aviv’s worst neighborhoods. Every day, Mussa is bussed to an upscale private school, where he silently navigates a privileged world, connecting with friends but refusing to speak. When Mussa’s mother is threatened with deportation, Mussa is left devastated, compelled to leave his father and friends behind.: 
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8bIFoMXKjM

ORIENTED
Dir. Jake Witzenfeld
(81 min, Documentary, UK, Hebrew, Arabic, & English w/ English subtitles)

ORIENTED is a documentary following the lives of three gay Palestinian friends in Tel Aviv confronting their national and sexual identity. We premiere at the Sheffield Doc Fest on June 6 and at the LA Film Fest on June 11! Follow us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orientedthemovie?fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/orientedfilm Instagram: https://instagram.com/orientedfilm For more info: https://www.orientedfilm.com

The story of three gay Palestinian friends confronting their national and sexual identity in Tel Aviv. Khader is a “darling” from a prominent Muslim family living with David, his Jewish boyfriend. Fadi is an ardent Palestinian nationalist, in love with a Zionist. Naim yearns to confront his family with the truth about his sexuality. Determined to make a change, the three best friends form a group to fight for gender and national equality.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/129449012

PARTNER WITH THE ENEMY
New York Premiere
Dir. Duki Dror, Chen Shelach
(56 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew, Arabic, & English w/ English subtitles)

Two women, an Israeli and a Palestinian, are trying to build a business partnership. Brought together by a shared business acumen and knowledge of the logistics industry, the two combine forces to help Palestinian businessmen navigate the everyday absurdities of Israeli control of the West Bank.

In the midst of an ever-fraught political landscape, two women, one Israeli and one Palestinian, attempt the seemingly impossible: to build a business together. Fighting against anti-normalization currents and a male-dominated industry, the two combine forces to create a logistics company which helps Palestinian businessmen navigate the Israeli occupation. But while they help their clients, the divisions between the two threaten to tear their partnership apart. Can the bond between them overcome the impossible?
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NxuiYisaLw
Partner With The Enemy was supported by the Other Israel Film Fund.

ROCK IN THE RED ZONE
New York Premiere
Dir. Laura Bialis
(90 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew w/ English subtitles)

An intimate portrayal of life on the edge in the war-torn city of Sderot. Known for its prolific rock scene that revolutionized Israeli music, Sderot has been the target of ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip for the past thirteen years. Through the personal lives of Sderot’s diverse musicians and a personal love story, this film chronicles the town’s enduring spirit.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48_4dAOWa7U

TEACHING IGNORANCE
United States Premiere
Dir. Tamara Erde
(52 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew & Arabic w/ English subtitles)

This powerful film follows several Israeli and Palestinian teachers and asks: How do the Palestinian and Israeli (Arab and Jewish) education systems teach the history of their peoples and the other? Through observing these teachers’ exchanges and confrontations with students, as well as their debates with the official curriculum, viewers are granted an intimate glimpse into the profound effects that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict transmits to the next generation.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/72800391

THE VOICE OF PEACE – THE DREAM OF ABIE NATHAN
United States Premiere
Dir. Eric Friedler
(90 min, Documentary, Germany, English, Hebrew w/English subtitles)

A radical dreamer and a rebellious visionary, the Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan was the man behind “The Voice of Peace,” a pirate radio station broadcasting from a ship off the coast of Tel Aviv. During the 70’s, the station had more than 20 million enthusiastic listeners from all over the Middle East. This fascinating documentary follows Nathan’s humanitarian work over 4 decades, combining rarely-seen archival footage with interviews with former Israeli President Shimon Peres, Yoko Ono, Sir Michael Caine and other world-renowned individuals who believed in Nathan’s vision of a more peaceful Middle East.

WOMEN IN SINK
New York City Premiere
Dir. Iris Zaki
(36 min, Documentary, Israel, Hebrew w/ English subtitles)

Trailer of the film Women in Sink (Documentary Films - Competition) / Trailer k filmu Ženy v umyvadle (Soutěž dokumentárních filmů)

At “Fifi’s”, a hair salon in the heart of Haifa’s Arab community, Iris Zaki installs a mini film set over the washbasin. While she washes their hair, Zaki speaks candidly and freely with the salon’s Arab and Jewish clients, who share their views on politics, history, and love. What emerges from these conversations is an honest and nuanced portrait of contemporary Israel.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9lHX_l4DJ8
Women In Sink was supported by the Other Israel Film Fund.

New Voices – Short Film Selection
THE ARREST (Dir. Yair Agmon, 10 min, Narrative)
BOYS OF NITZANA (Dir. Tamir Elterman, 9 min, Documentary)
DIRTY BUSINESS (Dir. Vadim Dumesh, 15 min, Documentary)
TILL DAY’S END) (Dir. Amitai Ashkenazi, 19 min, Narrative)

FSLC announces Main Slate Selections for 53rd New York Film Festival

"26 features include the World Premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and new films from Chantal Akerman, Arnaud Desplechin, Todd Haynes, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Rebecca Miller, Michael Moore, Nanni Moretti, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jia Zhangke, and more"

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the 26 films that will comprise the Main Slate official selection of the 53rd New York Film Festival (NYFF, September 25 – October 11). Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sunday, September 13. 

New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair, Kent Jones said: “I could talk about the geographical range of the films in the selection, the mix of artistic sensibilities from Hou Hsiao-hsien to Steven Spielberg to Chantal Akerman, the astonishments of Miguel Gomes’s three-part Arabian Nights or Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s heartbreaking Journey to the Shore or Michael Almereyda’s surprising Experimenter, the points in common among the various titles, but the only thing that really matters is how uniformly beautiful and vital each of these movies are. If I were 17 again and I looked at this lineup from far away, I’d be figuring out where I was going to stay in New York for two weeks this autumn.”

The 2015 Main Slate will host four World Premieres: Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance in the Cold War story of the 1962 exchange of a U-2 pilot for a Soviet agent; Laura Israel’s Don’t Blink: Robert Frank, a documentary portrait of the great photographer and filmmaker; as well as the previously announced Opening Night selection The Walk and Closing Night selection Miles Ahead.

Award-winning films from Cannes will be presented to New York audiences for the first time, including Best Director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin; Todd Haynes’s Carol, starring Best Actress winner Rooney Mara; Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure of a Man, starring Best Actor winner Vincent Lindon; Jury Prize winner The Lobster; Un Certain Regard Best Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Journey to the Shore; and Un Certain Talent Prize winner Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Treasure.

Other notables among the many filmmakers returning to NYFF with new works include Michael Moore with Where To Invade Next, which takes a hard and surprising look at the state of our nation from a fresh perspective; NYFF mainstay Hong Sangsoo, who will present his latest masterwork, Right Now, Wrong Then, about the relationship between a middle-aged art-film director and a fledgling artist; and French director Arnaud Desplechin, who is back with the funny and heartrending story of young love My Golden Days, starring Mathieu Amalric and newcomers Quentin Dolmaire and Lou Roy-Lecollinet.

Two filmmakers in this year’s lineup make their directorial debuts: Don Cheadle with Miles Ahead, a remarkable portrait of the artist Miles Davis (played by the Cheadle), during his crazy days in New York in the late-70s, and Thomas Bidegain withLes Cowboys, a film reminiscent of John Ford’s The Searchers, in which a father searches for his missing daughter across a two-decade timespan—pre- to post-9/11—from Europe to Afghanistan and back.

Several titles also add a comedic layer to this year’s lineup, including Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan, a New York romantic comedy starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Bill Hader, and Maya Rudolph; the moving and hilarious Mia Madre from Nanni Moretti, starring John Turturro; Michel Gondry’s Microbe & Gasoline, a new handmade-SFX comedy thatfollows two adolescent misfits who build a house on wheels and travel across France; and Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Treasure, a modern-day fable in which two men look for buried treasure in their backyard.

The 53rd New York Film Festival Main Slate

Opening Night
The Walk
Director: Robert Zemeckis

Centerpiece
Steve Jobs
Director: Danny Boyle

Closing Night
Miles Ahead
Director: Don Cheadle

Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One
Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One
Arabian Nights: Volume 3, The Enchanted One
Director: Miguel Gomes

The Assassin
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Bridge of Spies
Director: Steven Spielberg

Brooklyn
Director: John Crowley

Carol
Director: Todd Haynes

Cemetery of Splendour
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Les Cowboys
Director: Thomas Bidegain

Don’t Blink: Robert Frank
Director: Laura Israel

Experimenter
Director: Michael Almereyda

The Forbidden Room
Directors: Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson

In the Shadow of Women / L’Ombre des femmes
Director: Philippe Garrel

Journey to the Shore / Kishibe no tabi
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

The Lobster
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Maggie’s Plan
Director: Rebecca Miller

The Measure of a Man / La Loi du marché
Stéphane Brizé

Mia Madre
Director: Nanni Moretti

Microbe & Gasoline / Microbe et Gasoil
Director: Michel Gondry

Mountains May Depart
Director: Jia Zhangke

My Golden Days / Trois Souvenirs de ma jeunesse
Director: Arnaud Desplechin

No Home Movie
Director: Chantal Akerman

Right Now, Wrong Then
Director: Hong Sangsoo

The Treasure / Comoara
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu

Where To Invade Next
Director: Michael Moore

Additional NYFF special events, documentary section, and filmmaker conversations and panels, as well as NYFF’s Projections and the full Convergence programs, will be announced in subsequent days and weeks.

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

Tickets for the 53rd New York Film Festival will go on sale to Film Society patrons at the end of August, ahead of the General Public. Learn more about the patron program at filmlinc.org/patrons. Becoming a Film Society Member offers the exclusive member ticket discount to the New York Film Festival and Film Society programming year-round plus other great benefits. Current members at the Film Buff Level or above enjoy early ticket access to NYFF screenings and events ahead of the general public. Learn more at filmlinc.org/membership.

For even more access, VIP Passes and Subscription Packages give buyers one of the earliest opportunities to purchase tickets and secure seats at some of the festival’s biggest events including Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Nights. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “ An Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. Benefits vary based on the pass or package type purchased. A limited number of VIP Passes and Subscription Packages are still available.

***For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.org/NYFF.

Films & Descriptions

Opening Night
The Walk
Robert Zemeckis, USA, 2015, 3-D DCP, 100m
Robert Zemeckis’s magical and enthralling new film, the story of Philippe Petit (winningly played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his walk between the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, plays like a heist movie in the grand tradition of Rififi and Boble flambeur. Zemeckis takes us through every detail—the stakeouts, the acquisition of equipment, the elaborate planning and rehearsing that it took to get Petit, his crew of raucous cohorts, and hundreds of pounds of rigging to the top of what was then the world’s tallest building. When Petit steps out on his wire, The Walk, a technical marvel and perfect 3-D re-creation of Lower Manhattan in the 1970s, shifts into another heart-stopping gear, and Zemeckis and his hero transport us into pure sublimity. With Ben Kingsley as Petit’s mentor. A Sony Pictures release. World Premiere

Centerpiece
Steve Jobs
Danny Boyle, USA, 2015, DCP, TBC
Anyone going to this provocative and wildly entertaining film expecting a straight biopic of Steve Jobs is in for a shock. Working from Walter Isaacson’s biography, writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Charlie Wilson’s War) and director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) joined forces to create this dynamically character-driven portrait of the brilliant man at the epicenter of the digital revolution, weaving the multiple threads of their protagonist’s life into three daringly extended backstage scenes, as he prepares to launch the first Macintosh, the NeXT work station and the iMac. We get a dazzlingly executed cross-hatched portrait of a complex and contradictory man, set against the changing fortunes and circumstances of the home-computer industry and the ascendancy of branding, of products, and of oneself. The stellar cast includes Michael Fassbender in the title role, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan and Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld. A Universal Pictures release.

Closing Night
Miles Ahead
Don Cheadle, USA, 2015, DCP, 100m
Miles Davis was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. And how do you make a movie about him? You get to know the man inside and out and then you reveal him in full, which is exactly what Don Cheadle does as a director, a writer, and an actor with this remarkable portrait of Davis, refracted through his crazy days in the late-70s. Holed up in his Manhattan apartment, wracked with pain from a variety of ailments and sweating for the next check from his record company, dodging sycophants and industry executives, he is haunted by memories of old glories and humiliations and of his years with his great love Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). Every second of Cheadle’s cinematic mosaic is passionately engaged with its subject: this is, truly, one of the finest films ever made about the life of an artist. With Ewan McGregor as Dave Brill, the “reporter” who cons his way into Miles’ apartment. A Sony Pictures Classics release. World Premiere

Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One
Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 125m
Portuguese with English subtitles
An up-to-the minute rethinking of what it means to make a political film today, Miguel Gomes’s shape-shifting paean to the art of storytelling strives for what its opening titles call “a fictional form from facts.” Working for a full year with a team of journalists who sent dispatches from all over the country during Portugal’s recent plunge into austerity, Gomes (Tabu, NYFF50) turns actual events into the stuff of fable, and channels it all through the mellifluous voice of Scheherazade (Crista Alfaiate), the mythic queen of the classic folktale. Volume 1 alone tries on more narrative devices than most filmmakers attempt in a lifetime, mingling documentary material about unemployment and local elections with visions of exploding whales and talking cockerels. It is hard to imagine a more generous or radical approach to these troubled times, one that honors its fantasy life as fully as its hard realities. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One
Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 131m
Portuguese with English subtitles
In keeping with its subtitle, the middle section of Miguel Gomes’s monumental yet light-footed magnum opus shifts into a more subdued and melancholic register. But within each of these three tales, framed as the wild imaginings of the Arabian queen Scheherazade and adapted from recent real-life events in Portugal, there are surprises and digressions aplenty. In the first, a deadpan neo-Western of sorts, an escaped murderer becomes a local hero for dodging the authorities. The second deals with the theft of 13 cows, as told through a Brechtian open-air courtroom drama in which the testimonies become increasingly absurd. Finally, a Maltese poodle shuttles between various owners in a tear-jerking collective portrait of a tower block’s morose residents. Attesting to the power of fiction to generate its own reality, the film treats its fantasy dimension as a license for directness, a path to a more meaningful truth. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

Arabian Nights: Volume 3, The Enchanted One
Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, DCP, 125m
Portuguese with English subtitles
Miguel Gomes’s sui generis epic concludes with arguably its most eccentric—and most enthralling—installment. Scheherazade escapes the king for an interlude of freedom in Old Baghdad, envisioned here as a sunny Mediterranean archipelago complete with hippies and break-dancers. After her eventual return to her palatial confines comes the most lovingly protracted of all the stories in Arabian Nights, a documentary chronicle of Lisbon-area bird trappers preparing their prized finches for birdsong competitions. Right to the end, Gomes’s film balances the leisurely art of the tall tale with a sense of deadline urgency—a reminder that for Scheherazade, and perhaps for us all, stories can be a matter of life and death. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

The Assassin
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong, 2015, DCP, 105m
Mandarin with English subtitles
A wuxia like no other, The Assassin is set in the waning years of the Tang Dynasty when provincial rulers are challenging the power of royal court. Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi), who was exiled as a child so that her betrothed could make a more politically advantageous match, has been trained as an assassin for hire. Her mission is to destroy her former financé (Chang Chen). But worry not about the plot, which is as old as the jagged mountains and deep forests that bear witness to the cycles of power and as elusive as the mists that surround them. Hou’s art is in the telling. The film is immersive and ephemeral, sensuous and spare, and as gloriously beautiful in its candle-lit sumptuous red and gold decor as Hou’s 1998 masterpiece, Flowers of Shanghai. As for the fight scenes, they’re over almost before you realize they’ve happened, but they will stay in your mind’s eye forever. A Well Go USA release. U.S. Premiere

Bridge of Spies
Steven Spielberg, USA, 2015, DCP, 135m
The “bridge of spies” of the title refers to Glienicke Bridge, which crosses what was once the borderline between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. In the time from the building of the Berlin Wall to its destruction in 1989, there were three prisoner exchanges between East and West. The first and most famous spy swap occurred on February 10, 1962, when Soviet agent Rudolph Abel was traded for American pilot Francis Gary Powers, captured by the Soviets when his U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over Sverdlovsk. The exchange was negotiated by Abel’s lawyer, James B. Donovan, who also arranged for the simultaneous release of American student Frederic Pryor at Checkpoint Charlie. Working from a script by Matt Charman and Joel and Ethan Coen, Steven Spielberg has brought every strange turn in this complex Cold War story to vividly tactile life. With a brilliant cast, headed by Tom Hanks as Donovan and Mark Rylance as Abel—two men who strike up an improbable friendship based on a shared belief in public service. A Touchstone Pictures release. World Premiere

Brooklyn
John Crowley, UK/Ireland/Canada, 2015, 35mm/DCP, 112m
In the middle of the last century, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) takes the boat from Ireland to America in search of a better life. She endures the loneliness of the exile, boarding with an insular and catty collection of Irish girls in Brooklyn. Gradually, her American dream materializes: she studies bookkeeping and meets a handsome, sweet Italian boy (Emory Cohen). But then bad news brings her back home, where she finds a good job and another handsome boy (Domhnall Gleeson), this time from a prosperous family. On which side of the Atlantic does Eilis’s future live, and with whom? Director John Crowley (Boy A) and writer Nick Hornby haven’t just fashioned a great adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel, but a beautiful movie, a sensitively textured re-creation of the look and emotional climate of mid-century America and Ireland, with Ronan, as quietly and vibrantly alive as a silent-screen heroine, at its heart. A Fox Searchlight Pictures release.

Carol
Todd Haynes, USA, 2015, DCP, 118m
Todd Haynes’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s debut novel stars Cate Blanchett as the titular Carol, a wealthy suburban wife and mother, and Rooney Mara as an aspiring photographer who meet by chance, fall in love almost at first sight, and defy the closet of the early 1950s to be together. Working with his longtime cinematographer Ed Lachman and shooting on the Super-16 film he favors for the way it echoes the movie history of 20th-century America, Haynes charts subtle shifts of power and desire in images that are alternately luminous and oppressive. Blanchett and Mara are both splendid; the erotic connection between their characters is palpable from beginning to end, as much in its repression as in eagerly claimed moments of expressive freedom. Originally published under a pseudonym, Carol is Highsmith’s most affirmative work; Haynes has more than done justice to the multilayered emotions evoked by it source material. A Weinstein Company release.

Cemetery of Splendour
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/UK/France/Germany/Malaysia, 2015, DCP, 122m
Thai with English subtitles
The wondrous new film by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (whose last feature, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, was a Palme d’Or winner and a NYFF48 selection) is set in and around a hospital ward full of comatose soldiers. Attached to glowing dream machines, and tended to by a kindly volunteer (Jenjira Pongpas Widner) and a young clairvoyant (Jarinpattra Rueangram), the men are said to be waging war in their sleep on behalf of long-dead feuding kings, and their mysterious slumber provides the rich central metaphor: sleep as safe haven, as escape mechanism, as ignorance, as bliss. To slyer and sharper effect than ever, Apichatpong merges supernatural phenomena with Thailand’s historical phantoms and national traumas. Even more seamlessly than his previous films, this sun-dappled reverie induces a sensation of lucid dreaming, conjuring a haunted world where memory and myth intrude on physical space. A Strand Releasing release. U.S. Premiere

Les Cowboys
Thomas Bidegain, 2015, France, DCP, 114m
French and English with English subtitles
Country and Western enthusiast Alain (François Damiens) is enjoying an outdoor gathering of fellow devotees with his wife and teenage children when his daughter abruptly vanishes. Learning that she’s eloped with her Muslim boyfriend, he embarks on increasingly obsessive quest to track her down. As the years pass and the trail grows cold, Alain sacrifices everything, while drafting his son into his efforts. The echoes of The Searchers are unmistakable, but the story departs from John Ford’s film in unexpected ways, escaping its confining European milieu as the pursuit assumes near-epic proportions in post-9/11 Afghanistan. This muscular debut, worthy of director Thomas Bidegain’s screenwriting collaborations with Jacques Audiard, yields a sweeping vision of a world in which the codes of the Old West no longer seem to hold. A Cohen Media Group release. U.S. Premiere

Don’t Blink: Robert Frank
Laura Israel, USA/Canada, 2015, DCP, 82m
The life and work of Robert Frank—as a photographer and a filmmaker—are so intertwined that they’re one in the same, and the vast amount of territory he’s covered, from The Americans in 1958 up to the present, is intimately registered in his now-formidable body of artistic gestures. From the early ’90s on, Frank has been making his films and videos with the brilliant editor Laura Israel, who has helped him to keep things homemade and preserve the illuminating spark of first contact between camera and people/places. Don’t Blink is Israel’s like-minded portrait of her friend and collaborator, a lively rummage sale of images and sounds and recollected passages and unfathomable losses and friendships that leaves us a fast and fleeting imprint of the life of the Swiss-born man who reinvented himself the American way, and is still standing on ground of his own making at the age of 90. World Premiere

Experimenter
Michael Almereyda, USA, 2014, DCP, 94m
Michael Almereyda’s brilliant portrait of Stanley Milgram, the social scientist whose 1961, Yale-based “obedience study” reflected back on the Holocaust and anticipated Abu Ghraib and other atrocities carried out by ordinary people who were just following orders, places its subject in an appropriately experimental cinema framework. The proverbial elephant in the room materializes on screen; Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) sometimes addresses the camera directly as if to implicate us in his studies and the unpleasant truths they reveal. Remarkably, the film evokes great compassion for this uncompromising, difficult man, in part because we often see him through the eyes of his wife (Winona Ryder, in a wonderfully grounded performance), who fully believed in his work and its profoundly moral purpose. Almereyda creates the bohemian-tinged academic world of the 1960s through the 1980s with an economy that Stanley Kubrick might have envied. A Magnolia Pictures release.

The Forbidden Room
Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson, Canada, 2015, DCP, 120m
The four-man crew of a submarine are trapped underwater, running out of air. A classic scenario of claustrophobic suspense—at least until a hatch opens and out steps… a lumberjack? As this newcomer’s backstory unfolds (and unfolds and unfolds in over a dozen outlandish tales), Guy Maddin, cinema’s reigning master of feverish filmic fetishism, embarks on a phantasmagoric narrative adventure of stories within stories within dreams within flashbacks in a delirious globe-trotting mise en abyme the equals of any by the late Raúl Ruiz. Collaborating with poet John Ashbery and featuring sublime contributions from the likes of Jacques Nolot, Charlotte Rampling, Mathieu Amalric, legendary cult electro-pop duo Sparks, and not forgetting muses Louis Negin and Udo Kier, Maddin dives deeper than ever: only the lovechild of Josef von Sternberg and Jack Smith could be responsible for this insane magnum opus. A Kino Lorber release.

In the Shadow of Women / L’Ombre des femmes
Philippe Garrel, France, 2015, DCP, 73m
French with English subtitles
The new film by the great Philippe Garrel (previously seen at the NYFF with Regular Lovers in 2005 and Jealousy in 2013) is a close look at infidelity—not merely the fact of it, but the particular, divergent ways in which it’s experienced and understood by men and women. Stanislas Merhar and Clotilde Courau are Pierre and Manon, a married couple working in fragile harmony on Pierre’s documentary film projects, the latest of which is a portrait of a resistance fighter (Jean Pommier). When Pierre takes a lover (Lena Paugam), he feels entitled to do so, and he treats both wife and mistress with disengagement bordering on disdain; when Manon catches Pierre in the act, her immediate response is to find common ground with her husband. Garrel is an artist of intimacies and emotional ecologies, and with In the Shadow of Women he has added narrative intricacy and intrigue to his toolbox. The result is an exquisite jewel of a film. U.S. Premiere

Journey to the Shore / Kishibe no tabi
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/France, 2015, DCP, 127m
Japanese with English subtitles
Based on Kazumi Yumoto’s 2010 novel, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s latest film begins with a young widow named Mizuki (Eri Fukatsu), who has been emotionally flattened and muted by the disappearance of her husband Yusuke (Tadanobu Asano). One day, from out of the blue or the black, Yusuke’s ghost drops in, more like an exhausted and unexpected guest than a wandering spirit. And then Journey to the Shore becomes a road movie: Mizuki and Yusuke pack their bags, leave Tokyo, and travel by train through parts of Japan that we rarely see in movies, acclimating themselves to their new circumstances and stopping for extended stays with friends and fellow pilgrims that Yusuke has met on his way through the afterworld, some living and some dead. The particular beauty of Journey to the Shore lies in its flowing sense of life as balance between work and love, existence and nonexistence, you and me. U.S. Premiere

The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos, France/Netherlands/Greece/UK, 2015, DCP, 118m
In the very near future, society demands that we live as couples. Single people are rounded up and sent to a seaside compound—part resort and part minimum-security prison—where they are given a finite number of days to find a match. If they don’t succeed, they will be “altered” and turned into an animal. The recently divorced David (Colin Farrell) arrives at The Hotel with his brother, now a dog; in the event of failure, David has chosen to become a lobster… because they live so long. When David falls in love, he’s up against a new set of rules established by another, rebellious order: for romantics, there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Welcome to the latest dark, dark comedy from Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), creator of absurdist societies not so very different from our own. With Léa Seydoux as the leader of the Loners, Rachel Weisz as David’s true love, John C. Reilly, and Ben Whishaw. An Alchemy release. 

Maggie’s Plan
Rebecca Miller, USA, 2015, DCP, 92m
Rebecca Miller’s new film is as wise, funny, and suspenseful as a Jane Austen novel. Greta Gerwig shines brightly in the role of Maggie, a New School administrator on the verge of completing her life plan with a donor-fathered baby when she meets John (Ethan Hawke), a soulful but unfulfilled adjunct professor. John is unhappily married to a Columbia-tenured academic superstar wound tighter than a coiled spring (Julianne Moore). Maggie and the professor commiserate, share confidences, and fall in love. And where most contemporary romantic comedies end, Miller’s film is just getting started. In the tradition of Woody Allen and Paul Mazursky, Miller approaches the genre of the New York romantic comedy with relish and loving energy. With Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph as Maggie’s married-with-children friends, drawn to defensive sarcasm like moths to a flame, and Travis Fimmel as Maggie’s donor-in-waiting. U.S. Premiere

The Measure of a Man / La Loi du marché
Stéphane Brizé, France, 2015, DCP, 93m
French with English subtitles
Vincent Lindon gives his finest performance to date as unemployed everyman Thierry, who must submit to a series of quietly humiliating ordeals in his search for work. Futile retraining courses that lead to dead ends, interviews via Skype, an interview-coaching workshop critique of his self-presentation by fellow jobseekers—all are mechanisms that seek to break him down and strip him of identity and self-respect in the name of reengineering of a workforce fit for an neoliberal technocratic system. Nothing if not determinist, Stéphane Brizé’s film dispassionately monitors the progress of its stoic protagonist until at last he lands a job on the front line in the surveillance and control of his fellow man—and finally faces one too many moral dilemmas. A powerful and deeply troubling vision of the realities of our new economic order. A Kino Lorber release. North American Premiere

Mia Madre
Nanni Moretti, Italy/France, 2015, DCP, 106m
Italian and English with English subtitles
Margherita (Margherita Buy) is a middle-aged filmmaker contending with shooting an international co-production with a mercurial American actor (John Turturro) and with the fact that her beloved mother (Giulia Lazzarini) is mortally ill. Underrated as an actor, director Nanni Moretti, offers a fascinating portrayal as Margherita’s brother, a quietly abrasive, intelligent man with a wonderfully tamped-down generosity and warmth. The construction of the film is as simple as it is beautiful: the chaos of the movie within the movie merges with the fear of disorder and feelings of pain and loss brought about by impending death. Mia Madre is a sharp and continually surprising work about the fragility of existence that is by turns moving, hilarious, and subtly disquieting. An Alchemy release. U.S. Premiere

Microbe & Gasoline / Microbe et Gasoil
Michel Gondry, France, 2015, DCP, 103m
French with English subtitles
The new handmade-SFX comedy from Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind) is set in an autobiographical key. Teenage misfits Microbe (Ange Dargent) and Gasoline (Théophile Baquet), one nicknamed for his size and the other for his love of all things mechanical and fuel-powered, become fast friends. Unloved in school and misunderstood at home—Microbe is overprotected, Gasoline is by turns ignored and abused—they decide to build a house on wheels (complete with a collapsible flower window box) and sputter, push, and coast their way to the camp where Gasoline went as a child, with a stop along the way to visit Microbe’s crush (Diane Besnier). Gondry’s visual imagination is prodigious, and so is his cultivation of spontaneously generated fun and off-angled lyricism, his absolute irreverence, and his emotional frankness. This is one of his freshest and loveliest films. With Audrey Tatou as Microbe’s mom. U.S. Premiere

Mountains May Depart
Jia Zhangke, China/France/Japan, 2015, DCP, 131m
Mandarin and English with English subtitles
The plot of Jia Zhangke’s new film is simplicity itself. Fenyang 1999, on the cusp of the capitalist explosion in China. Shen Tao (Zhao Tao) has two suitors—Zhang (Zhang Yi), an entrepreneur-to-be, and his best friend Liangzi (Liang Jin Dong), who makes his living in the local coal mine. Shen Tao decides, with a note of regret, to marry Zhang, a man with a future. Flash-forward 15 years: the couple’s son Dollar is paying a visit to his now-estranged mother, and everyone and everything seems to have grown more distant in time and space… and then further ahead in time, to even greater distances. Jia is modern cinema’s greatest poet of drift and the uncanny, slow-motion feeling of massive and inexorable change. Like his 2013 A Touch of Sin, Mountains May Depart is an epically scaled canvas. But where the former was angry and quietly terrifying, the latter is a heartbreaking prayer for the restoration of what has been lost in the name of progress. A Kino Lorber release. U.S. Premiere

My Golden Days / Trois Souvenirs de ma jeunesse
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2015, DCP, 123m
French with English subtitles
Arnaud Desplechin’s alternately hilarious and heartrending latest work is intimate yet expansive, a true autobiographical epic. Mathieu Amalric—Jean-Pierre Léaud to Desplechin’s François Truffaut—reprises the character of Paul Dédalus from the director’s groundbreaking My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument (NYFF, 1996), now looking back on the mystery of his own identity from the lofty vantage point of middle age. Desplechin visits three varied but interlocking episodes in his hero’s life, each more surprising and richly textured than the next, and at the core of his film is the romance between the adolescent Paul (Quentin Dolmaire) and Esther (Lou Roy-Lecollinet). Most directors trivialize young love by slotting it into a clichéd category, but here it is ennobled and alive in all of its heartbreak, terror, and beauty. Le Monde recently referred to Desplechin as “the most Shakespearean of filmmakers,” and boy, did they ever get that right. My Golden Days is a wonder to behold. A Magnolia Pictures release. North American Premiere

No Home Movie
Chantal Akerman, Belgium/France, 2015, DCP, 115m
French and English with English subtitles
At the center of Chantal Akerman’s enormous body of work is her mother, a Holocaust survivor who married and raised a family in Brussels. In recent years, the filmmaker has explicitly depicted, in videos, books, and installation works, her mother’s life and her own intense connection to her mother, and in turn her mother’s connection to her mother. No Home Movie is a portrait by Akerman, the daughter, of Akerman, the mother, in the last years of her life. It is an extremely intimate film but also one of great formal precision and beauty, one of the rare works of art that is both personal and universal, and as much a masterpiece as her 1975 career-defining Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. U.S. Premiere

Right Now, Wrong Then
Hong Sangsoo, South Korea, 2015, DCP, 121m
Korean with English subtitles
Ham Chunsu (Jung Jaeyoung) is an art-film director who has come to Suwon for a screening of one of his movies. He meets Yoon Heejung (Kim Minhee), a fledgling artist. She’s never seen any of his films but knows he’s famous; he’d like to see her paintings and then go for sushi and soju. Every word, every pause, every facial expression and every movement, is a negotiation between revelation and concealment: too far over the line for Chunsu and he’s suddenly a middle-aged man on the prowl who uses insights as tools of seduction; too far for Heejung and she’s suddenly acquiescing to a man who’s leaving the next day. So they walk the fine line all the way to a tough and mordantly funny end point, at which time… we begin again, but now with different emotional dynamics. Hong Sangsoo, represented many times in the NYFF, achieves a maximum of layered nuance with a minimum of people, places, and incidents. He is, truly, a master. U.S. Premiere

The Treasure / Comoara
Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2015, DCP, 89m
Romanian with English subtitles
Costi (Cuzin Toma) leads a fairly quiet, unremarkable life with his wife and son. He’s a good provider, but he struggles to make ends meet. One evening there’s a knock at the door. It’s a stranger, a neighbor named Adrian (Adrian Purcarescu), with a business proposal: lend him some money to find a buried treasure in his grandparents’ backyard and they’ll split the proceeds. Is it a scam or a real treasure hunt? Corneliu Porumboiu’s (When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism, NYFF 2013) modern-day fable starts like an old Honeymooners episode with a get-rich-quick premise, gradually develops into a shaggy slapstick comedy, shifts gears into a hilariously dry delineation of the multiple layers of pure bureaucracy and paperwork drudgery, and ends in a new and altogether surprising key. Porumboiu is one of the subtlest artists in movies, and this is one of his wryest films, and his most magical.

Where To Invade Next
Michael Moore, USA, 2015, DCP, 110m
Where are we, as Americans? Where are we going as a country? And is it where we want to go, or where we think we haveto go? Since Roger & Me in 1989, Michael Moore has been examining these questions and coming up with answers that are several worlds away from the ones we are used to seeing and hearing and reading in mainstream media, or from our elected officials. In his previous films, Moore has taken on one issue at a time, from the hemorrhaging of American jobs to the response to 9/11 to the precariousness of our healthcare system. In his new film, he shifts his focus to the whole shebang and ponders the current state of the nation from a very different perspective: that is, from the outside looking in.Where To Invade Next is provocative, very funny, and impassioned—just like all of Moore’s work. But it’s also pretty surprising. U.S. Premiere

For more information, visit: www.filmlinc.org. 

FSLC announces Special Events & Revivals lineup for NYFF53

Special Events include Film Comment Presents: Son of Saul; World Premiere of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Junun; 15th Anniversary screening of O Brother, Where Art Thou?; North American Premiere of De Palma
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Revivals highlights include new restorations of Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, King Hu’s A Touch of Zen, the 25th Anniversary of The Film Foundation with Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl, Ernst Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, and Visit, or Memories and Confessions from the late, great Manoel de Oliveira
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The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the lineup for Special Events and Revivals taking place during the 53rd New York Film Festival (NYFF), September 25 – October 11. The Special Events lineup includes important new works and premieres, as well as a very special celebration of a beloved musical fantasia. The Revivals selections includes 11 international masterpieces from renowned filmmakers whose diverse and eclectic works have been digitally remastered, restored, and preserved with the assistance of generous partners, including Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, celebrating its 25th anniversary. 

The Special Events lineup returns with Film Comment Presents, originally launched during NYFF in 2013 with the premiere of the award-winning 12 Years a Slave. This year’s selection, Son of Saul, László Nemes’s shattering film about the horror of Auschwitz, recently won the Grand Prix at Cannes, and has been selected as Hungary’s official entry for the foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards. Making its North American Premiere in the festival is Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s film portrait De Palma, chronicling director Brian De Palma’s illustrious six-decade-long career, his life, and his personal views on the filmmaking process (De Palma’s masterful Blow Out will also screen in Revivals). Another established American filmmaker turning his attention from narrative to intimate documentary study is Paul Thomas Anderson, whose latest film, Junun, will World Premiere in the Special Events section. Junun follows the musical journey of his close friend and collaborator Jonny Greenwood to northern India, to record an album with an Israeli musician Shye Ben Tzur and illustrious local musicians. 

Additional highlights include renowned artist Laurie Anderson (this year’s NYFF poster designer!) who will premiere her first feature in 30 years, a personal essay entitled Heart of a Dog. Anderson’s response to a commission from Arte, the film is a work of braided joy and heartbreak and remembering and forgetting, at the heart of which is a lament for her late beloved piano-playing and finger-painting dog Lolabelle. The recently announced NYFF Filmmaker in Residence, Athina Rachel Tsangari, will also present her latest film, Chevalier, which will be making its U.S. Premiere fresh on the heels of the Locarno and Toronto International Film Festivals.

Following the NYFF tradition of special anniversary screenings (which in the past have included The Princess Bride’s 25th anniversary, This Is Spinal Tap’s 30th anniversary, and Dazed and Confused’s 20th anniversary), the festival is proud to present a special evening celebrating the 15th anniversary of Joel and Ethan Coen’s beloved roots-musical fantasia O Brother, Where Art Thou?, set in the rural south in the 1930s and based on Homer’s The Odyssey. The Coen Brothers and cast members will be on hand for this journey, and there will be a special musical performance.

The Revivals selection for this year’s festival includes a diverse group of 11 international offerings from master filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa, Brian De Palma, Hou Hsiao-hsien, King Hu, Manoel de Oliveira, and more. These restorations include a suite of movies that have been restored with the assistance of Martin Scorsese’s nonprofit Film Foundation. Established in 1990, the Foundation has helped to save, protect, and preserve over 700 films, working in partnership with archives and studios from around the globe. This year’s Revivals section includes seven films restored with the Foundation’s help: Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Boys from Fengkuei, Ernst Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait, Lino Brocka’s Insiang, John Ford’s The Long Voyage Home, Marcel Ophüls’ The Memory of Justice, and Luchino Visconti’sRocco and His Brothers. The Lubitsch film will be screened in a new 35mm print, courtesy of 20th Century Fox. 

Not to be missed is Akira Kurosawa’s astonishing Ran, the NYFF’s 1985 Opening Night selection, returning to the festival in a newly restored version, where the color palette is unlike that of any other movie made before or since. King Hu’s three-years-in-the-making masterpiece, A Touch of Zen, will also be shown in a beautiful restoration, which was presented at this year’s edition of Cannes, 40 years after the film’s first unveiling to Western eyes. The late, great Manoel de Oliveira’s 1982 film Visit, or Memories and Confessions will also be included in the Revivals lineup this year, after having been hidden away from audiences by the filmmaker himself for over 30 years. 

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Kent Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound. 

Tickets for the General Public go on sale Sunday, September 13. Revival tickets are $15 for General Public; $10 for Members & Students; and a discounted 3+ film package will also be available for purchase. Special Event programs will have slightly higher pricing based on venue. Visit filmlinc.org/NYFF for more information.

Tickets for the 53rd New York Film Festival will go on sale to Film Society patrons at the end of August, ahead of the General Public. Learn more about the patron program at filmlinc.org/patrons. Becoming a Film Society Member offers the exclusive member ticket discount to the New York Film Festival and Film Society programming year-round plus other great benefits. Current members at the Film Buff Level or above enjoy early ticket access to NYFF screenings and events ahead of the general public. Learn more at filmlinc.org/membership.

For even more access, VIP Passes offer buyers the earliest opportunity to purchase tickets and secure seats at the festival’s biggest events including Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Nights. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “ An Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. Benefits vary based on the pass type. For more information about purchasing VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.org/NYFFor contact patrons@filmlinc.org.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS

Special Events

Filmmaker in Residence Screening:
Chevalier
Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece, 2015, DCP, 104m

Greek with English subtitles
Six men set out on the Aegean Sea aboard a yacht, and before long, male bonding and one-upmanship give way to a loosely defined yet hotly contested competition to determine which of them is “the best in general.” As the games and trials grow more elaborate and absurd—everything is up for judgment, from sleeping positions to cholesterol levels to furniture-assembly skills—insecurities emerge and power relations shift. As in her 2010 breakthrough, Attenberg, Athina Rachel Tsangari, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s 2015 Filmmaker in Residence, balances anthropological precision with a wry and wholly original sense of humor. Impeccably staged, crisply photographed, and buoyed by eclectic soundtrack choices (Petula Clark, Mark Lanegan), this maritime psychodrama becomes both funnier and richer in its implications as it progresses. What begins as a lampoon of bourgeois machismo and male anxiety develops into an incisive allegory for the state of contemporary Greece, and leaves a final impression as an empathetic, razor-sharp study of human nature itself.The Filmmaker in Residence program was launched in 2013 by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Jaeger-LeCoultre as an annual initiative designed to support filmmakers at an early stage in the creative process against the backdrop of New York City and the New York Film Festival (NYFF). U.S. Premiere

De Palma
Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow, USA, 2015, DCP, 107m
Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s fleet and bountiful portrait covers the career of the number one iconoclast of American cinema, the man who gave us Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, and Carlito’s Way. Their film moves at the speed of De Palma’s thought (and sometimes works in subtle, witty counterpoint) as he goes title by title, covering his life from science nerd to New Hollywood bad boy to grand old man, and describes his ever-shifting position in this thing we call the movie business. Deceptively simple, De Palma is finally many things at once. It is a film about the craft of filmmaking—how it’s practiced and how it can be so easily distorted and debased. It’s an insightful and often hilarious tour through American moviemaking from the 1960s to the present, and a primer on how movies are made and unmade. And it’s a surprising, lively, and unexpectedly moving portrait of a great, irascible, unapologetic, and uncompromising New York artist. In conjunction with this film, we will also be showing De Palma’s masterpiece Blow Out. North American Premiere

Heart of a Dog
Laurie Anderson, USA/France, 2015, DCP, 75m
In Laurie Anderson’s plainspoken all-American observational-autobiographical art, voices and harmonies and rhythms and images are juxtaposed and layered, metaphors are generated, and the mind of the viewer/listener is sent spinning into the stratosphere. It’s been nine years since her last film and almost 30 since her last feature. Heart of a Dog is her response to a commission from Arte, a work of braided joy and heartbreak and remembering and forgetting, at the heart of which is a lament for her late beloved piano-playing and finger-painting dog Lolabelle. Life in the neighborhood—downtown New York after 9/11... the archiving of surveillance records in ziggurat-like structures… Lolabelle’s passage through the bardo… recollections of deaths and near-deaths, terrors personal and global, sad goodbyes and funny ones, dreams and imagined flights… acceptance: Heart of a Dog is as immediate as a paragraph by Kerouac, as disarmingly playful as a Cole Porter melody, as rhapsodically composed as a poem by Whitman, and a thing of rare beauty.

Junun
Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2015, English and Indian, DCP, 54m
English, Hindu, Hebrew, and Urdu with English subtitles
Earlier this year, Paul Thomas Anderson joined his close friend and collaborator Jonny Greenwood on a trip to Rajasthan in northwest India, where they were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, and he brought his camera with him. Their destination was the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort, where Greenwood (with the help of Radiohead engineer Nigel Godrich) was recording an album with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and an amazing group of musicians: Aamir Bhiyani, Soheb Bhiyani, Ajaj Damami, Sabir Damami, Hazmat, and Bhanwaru Khan on brass; Ehtisham Khan Ajmeri, Nihal Khan, Nathu Lal Solanki, Narsi Lal Solanki, and Chugge Khan on percussion; Zaki Ali Qawwal, Zakir Ali Qawwal, Afshana Khan, Razia Sultan, Gufran Ali, and Shazib Ali on vocals; and Dara Khan and Asin Khan on strings. The finished film, just under an hour, is pure magic. Junun lives and breathes music, music-making, and the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration. It’s a lovely impressionistic mosaic and a one-of-a-kind sonic experience: the music will blow your mind. World Premiere

Anniversary Screening:
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Joel and Ethan Coen, 2000, USA, DCP, 107m
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Joel and Ethan Coen’s beloved roots-musical fantasia, “based upon The Odyssey, by Homer,” about three escaped convicts (George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Turturro) trying to get back home in the rural South of the 1930s. Bigger than life, endlessly surprising, eye-popping (“they wanted it to look like an old hand-tinted picture,” said DP Roger Deakins), and as giddily and defiantly unclassifiable as all other Coen films, O Brother, Where Art Thou? is, among many other things, a celebration of American music. With a score curated and produced by T-Bone Burnett, the movie sings with voices and sounds of some of the best musicians in the country, including Ralph Stanley, the Fairfield Four, Alison Krauss, John Hartford, Emmylou Harris, and Gillian Welch, and the melodies of classics like “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” “I’ll Fly Away,” and the film’s touchstone, “Man of Constant Sorrow.” Cast members, musical guests, and Joel and Ethan Coen will be on hand. Bring your instrument! A Touchstone Pictures and Universal Pictures release.

Film Comment Presents:
Son of Saul
László Nemes, Hungary, 2015, 35mm, 107m
Hungarian and German with English subtitles
A film that looks into the abyss, this shattering portrait of the horror of Auschwitz follows Saul (Géza Röhrig), aSonderkommando tasked with delivering his fellow Jews to the gas chamber. Determined to give a young boy a proper Jewish burial, Saul descends through the death camp’s circles of Hell, while a rebellion brews among the prisoners. A bombshell debut from director and co-writer László Nemes, Son of Saul is an utterly harrowing, ultra-immersive experience, and not for the fainthearted. With undeniably virtuoso plan-séquence camerawork in the mode of Nemes’s teacher Béla Tarr, this startling film represents a new benchmark in the historic cinematic depictions of the Holocaust. A deeply troubling work, sure to be one of the year’s most controversial films. A Sony Picture Classics release.

Revivals

Blow Out
Brian De Palma, USA, 1981, 35mm, 107m
One of Brian De Palma’s greatest films and one of the great American films of the 1980s, Blow Out is such a hallucinatory, emotionally and visually commanding experience that the term “thriller” seems insufficient. De Palma takes a variety of elements—the Kennedy assassination; Chappaquiddick; Antonioni’s Blow-Up; the slasher genre that was then in full flower; elements of Detective Bob Leuci’s experiences working undercover for the Knapp Commission; the harshness and sadness of American life; and, as ever, Hitchcock’s Vertigo—and swirls and mixes them into a film that builds to a truly shattering conclusion. With John Travolta, in what is undoubtedly his greatest performance, as the sound man for low-budget movies who accidentally records a murder; Nancy Allen, absolutely heartbreaking, as the girl caught in the middle; John Lithgow as the hired killer; and De Palma stalwart Dennis Franz as the world’s biggest sleaze. This was the second of three collaborations between De Palma and the master DP Vilmos Zsigmond. MGM Home Entertainment.

Ran
Akira Kurosawa, Japan/France, 1985, DCP, 160m
Japanese with English subtitles
The 1985 New York Film Festival opened with Akira Kurosawa’s astonishing medieval epic, inspired by the life of Mori Motonari, a 16th-century warlord with three sons. It was only after he began writing that the filmmaker started to see parallels with King Lear. It took a decade for Kurosawa to bring his grand conception to the screen—he actually painted storyboards of every shot along the way, and made another great film, Kagemusha, as a dry run. The finished work he eventually gave us was, to put it mildly, a mind-blowing experience. Tatsuya Nakadai is the warlord, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, and Daisuke Ryu are his sons, Mieko Harada is the terrifying Lady Kaede, the score is by Toru Takemitsu, but the dominant force looming over every single element of this film, down to the smallest detail, is Kurosawa himself. The color palette of Ran is unlike that of any other movie made before or since, as you’ll see in this newly restored version.Restoration by StudioCanal with the participation of Kadokawa Pictures. A Rialto Films release.

A Touch of Zen
King Hu, Hong Kong, 1971/75, DCP, 200m
Mandarin with English subtitles
When it comes to the wuxia film, all roads lead back to the great King Hu: supreme fantasist, Ming dynasty scholar, and incomparable artist. For years, Hu labored on his own, creating one exquisitely crafted film after another (with astonishing pre-CGI visual effects), elevating the martial-arts genre to unparalleled heights and, as the film critic and producer Peggy Chiao noted in her obituary for Hu, single-handedly introducing Chinese cinema to the rest of the world. Hu’s three-years-in-the-making masterpiece, A Touch of Zen, was released in truncated form in Hong Kong in 1971 and yanked from theaters after a week. A close-to-complete version was constructed by Hu and shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, where Hu won a grand prize for technical achievement (which earned King Hu an apology from his studio heads). This beautiful restoration of A Touch of Zen was presented at this year’s edition of Cannes, 40 years after the film’s first unveiling to Western eyes. Restored in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata, with original materials provided by the Taiwan Film Institute. A Janus Films release.

Visit, or Memories and Confessions
Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, 1982, 35mm, 73m
Portuguese with English subtitles
The late, great Manoel de Oliveira stipulated that this film—made in 1982—be screened publicly only after his death. One of the Portuguese master’s most exquisite and moving films, and certainly his most personal, Visit assumes the rare form of an auto-elegy. A prowling camera finds Oliveira, who died at 106 this past April, in the Porto house where he had lived for four decades and that he is preparing to leave due to mounting debts. He addresses the audience directly, setting the film’s droll, convivial tone, and discusses a wide range of topics (family history, cinema, architecture), shares home movies, and reenacts his run-in with the military dictatorship. Oliveira’s improbable career took the form of a long goodbye, but this actual farewell is no less touching in its simplicity and lucidity. He made the film at age 73, presumably expecting he was near the end of his life. He would in fact live another 33 years and make another 25 or so films, some of them among his greatest, in an extended twilight that was also an artistic prime unlike any other. An Instituto Portugues de Cinema release.

Celebrating 25 Years of The Film Foundation

This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Film Foundation. Following his successful campaign in the early ’80s to develop a more durable color film stock, Martin Scorsese founded the organization to raise awareness of the fragility of film and to create a genuine consciousness of film preservation. Since its inception in 1990, TFF has partnered with archives, studios, and labs around the world to restore over 700 films. We’re presenting seven of their newest restorations.

Black Girl / La Noire de…
Ousmane Sembene, France/Senegal, 1965, DCP, 65m
French with English subtitles
Ousmane Sembene’s first feature—really, the movie that opened the way for African cinema in the West—is by turns tough, swift, and true in its aim. A young woman (Mbissine Thérèse Diop) leaves Senegal with dreams of a more carefree and glamorous existence in France, where she procures a job as a live-in maid and nanny for a young couple in the French Riviera. She is gradually deadened by the endless routines and tasks and rhythms of life in the tiny apartment, and by the dissatisfactions felt by the husband and wife, which they project onto their “black girl.” Sembene’s “perfect short story,” wrote Manny Farber, naming it as his movie of 1969, “is unlike anything in the film library: translucent and no tricks, amazingly pure, but spiritualized.” A formative and eye-opening work, and one of Sembene’s finest. Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in collaboration with the Sembene Estate, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, INA, Eclair laboratories, and Centre National de Cinématographie. Restoration carried out at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory. A Janus Films release.

The Boys from Fengkuei
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan, 1983, DCP, 101m
Mandarin with English subtitles
This “group portrait of four laddish adolescents on the razzle in Kaohsiung as they approach the onset of adult life” (Tony Rayns) is Hou Hsiao-hsien’s fourth film, but he has long considered it to be the real beginning of his career as a moviemaker. “I had very intense feelings at the time,” Hou told Sam Ho, “and I think the film has an intense energy. An artist’s early work might be lacking in craft but, at the same time, be very powerful, very direct. Later, when I wanted to return to that initial intensity, I no longer could.” In the tradition of Fellini’s I Vitelloni, The Boys from Fengkuei is a deeply personal look back at the director’s own adolescence—at the boredom of living in the middle of nowhere and the overwhelming need to get up and move, and get out and away to the big city. A glorious young-man’s film, and the first great work of the Taiwanese New Wave. Restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna. A Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique release.

Heaven Can Wait
Ernst Lubitsch, USA, 1943, 35mm, 112m
The legendary Ernst Lubitsch’s portrait of a turn-of-the-century hedonist extraordinaire begins at the gate of hell—not Dante’s Inferno but a handsome art-deco waiting room, where a courtly Satan (Laird Cregar) conducts an admission interview with the recently deceased Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche). Henry’s leisurely stroll through the past is a very funny comedy of manners and a lovely rendering of Old New York. Lubitsch’s writing with Samson Raphaelson — Satan: “I presume your funeral was satisfactory.” Henry: “Well, there was a lot of crying, so I believe everybody had a good time.”—and his meticulous direction are all of a piece. The film’s glorious, candy-box Technicolor has now been beautifully restored by Schawn Belston and his team at 20th Century Fox, just in time for the 100th Anniversary of the Fox Film Corporation. With Gene Tierney, Louis Calhern, Eugene Pallette, Marjorie Main, and Charles Coburn as Henry’s grandfather and fellow black sheep. Restored by 20th Century Fox in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation. A 20th Century Fox release.

Insiang
Lino Brocka, Philippines, 1976, DCP, 95m
Tagalog and Filipino with English subtitles
In Lino Brocka’s searing 1976 melodrama (one could use the same adjective to describe all of his melodramas), the eponymous heroine, played by Hilda Koronel, is raped by her mother’s boyfriend, then blamed for provoking the act and forced out of her own home. “Insiang is, first and foremost, a character analysis,” wrote the director. “I need this character to recreate the ‘violence’ stemming from urban overpopulation, to show the annihilation of a human being, the loss of human dignity caused by the physical and social environment…” The people in Brocka’s films live in dire circumstances, offset by their extreme vitality and their electrically charged encounters. Insiang, a failure on its home ground but the first film from the Philippines to be invited to Cannes, is one of its director’s best. It is also the second of Brocka’s works to be restored by the World Cinema Project. With Mona Lisa as Insiang’s mother. Restored in 2015 by Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project and the Film Development Council of the Philippines. A Film Foundation release.

The Long Voyage Home
John Ford, USA, 1940, DCP, 105m
Independently produced by Walter Wanger, John Ford’s soulful, heartbreaking film is based on four Eugene O’Neill one-acts about life at sea (the playwright himself loved the movie so much that he acquired his own 16mm print). Ford, working with his screenwriter Dudley Nichols and his brilliant cameraman Gregg Toland (they had just collaborated on The Grapes of Wrath), updates the plays to World War II and condenses the action, creating tonal variations on the aching loneliness of life at sea and the longing for home. In the words of Ford biographer Joseph McBride, the director and his DP “broke all the rules of conventional Hollywood cinematography” and created “a doom-laden mood with deep pools of light and shadow”—seen to full advantage in this beautiful restoration. The Long Voyage Home is a true ensemble piece featuring many of the actors that comprised Ford’s “stock company,” including Thomas Mitchell, Barry Fitzgerald and his brother Arthur Shields, John Qualen, and, unforgettably, John Wayne as the Swedish sailor Ole. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation. A Westchester Films and Shout! Factory release.

The Memory of Justice
Marcel Ophüls, UK/USA/France/Germany, 1976, DCP, 278m
French with English subtitles
The third of Marcel Ophüls’ monumental inquiries into the questions of individual and collective guilt fueling the calamities of war and genocide, The Memory of Justice examines the defining tragedies of the Western world in the second half of the 20th century, from the Nuremberg trials through the French-Algerian war to the disaster of Vietnam, building from a vast range of interviews, from Telford Taylor (Counsel for the Prosecution at Nuremberg, later a harsh critic of our escalating involvement in Vietnam) to Nazi architect Albert Speer to Daniel Ellsberg and Joan Baez. As Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times when The Memory of Justice was screened at the 1976 New York Film Festival, Ophüls’ film “expands the possibilities of the documentary motion picture in such a way that all future films of this sort will be compared to it.” Seldom seen since its premiere and then only in rare 16mm prints, the film has now been painstakingly restored. Restored by the Academy Film Archive in association with Paramount Pictures and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by The Material World Charitable Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, and The Film Foundation. A Film Foundation release.

Rocco and His Brothers
Luchino Visconti, Italy/France, 1960, DCP, 177m
Italian with English subtitles
Luchino Visconti’s rich and expansive masterpiece, the story of a mother and her grown sons who head north from Lucania in search of work and new lives, has an emotional intensity and a tragic grandeur matched by few other films. Visconti turned to Giovanni Testori, Thomas Mann, Dostoyevsky, and Arthur Miller for inspiration, and he achieved an truly epic sweep: in one beautifully realized scene after another, we observe the tragic progress of a tightly knit family coming apart, one frayed thread at a time. Alain Delon is Rocco, Renato Salvatori is his brother Simone, Annie Girardot is the woman who comes between them, and Katina Paxinou is the matriarch, Rosaria. Rocco and His Brothers, one of the great and defining films of its era, has now been beautifully restored, and Giuseppe Rotunno’s black-and-white images are once again as pearly and lustrous as they were meant to be. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata in association with Titanus, TF1 Droits Audiovisuels, and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by Gucci and The Film Foundation. A Milestone Film release.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org.

FSLC announces complete details for CONVERGENCE at NYFF53

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The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the complete details for the 53rd New York Film Festival Convergence, which will take place on September 26 and 27. The highly anticipated annual program delves into the world of immersive storytelling with a mix of unique films, panels, and live interactive experiences. The complete schedule will be announced at a later date. Tickets are $15 General Public; $10 for Members & Students, and a $79 Convergence All Access Pass will also be available for purchase.

“This is our fourth year as part of the New York Film Festival and I couldn't be more excited about the lineup for 2015. There’s a lot of attention focused on virtual reality right now so we are really pleased to feature the U.S. premiere of The Dog House, a 360-degree film that’s going to start a lot of conversations. The program isn’t restricted to virtual worlds either, with several incredible live experiences like Temping, an immersive theater piece designed for one audience member at a time,” said NYFF Convergence programmer Matt Bolish. “The hope as always is to give our audience a chance to experience a wide variety of participatory storytelling projects.”

Audiences can explore a multitude of non-traditional film experiences, such as playing a selection of indie storytelling games in the GameScape arcade, assuming the role of master detective Sherlock Holmes to help to solve a string of crimes around the Lincoln Center campus in Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things, or attending a performance of filmmaker/writer/singer Cory McAbee’s Small Star Seminar, an anti-motivational event featuring optimistic songs about quitting, accepting our limitations, and the power of sitting quietly. Immersive theater piece Temping, which will be showcased only a few times, will take lucky sole audience members on a strange and comedic journey.

Complementing the experiential programs is a series of talks and panels—all free and open to the public—featuring notable storytellers of all stripes (from Lucasfilm, StoryCode, Storyline Entertainment, Pixar, NPR, and more) discussing their work and the evolving state of storytelling in the interactive age. The presentations will also include the World Premiere of the interactive presentation of The Deeper They Bury Me, which plunges audiences into the world of Herman Wallace, who was held in solitary for over 40 years at Louisiana’s notorious Angola penitentiary. 

Additional NYFF special events, documentary section, and filmmaker conversations and panels, as well as NYFF’s Projections will be announced in subsequent days and weeks. 

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Kent Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound. 

Tickets for the 53rd New York Film Festival will go on sale to the General Public on Sunday, September 13, and to Film Society patrons at the end of August. Learn more about the patron program at filmlinc.org/patrons. Becoming a Film Society Member offers the exclusive member ticket discount to the New York Film Festival and Film Society programming year-round plus other great benefits. Current members at the Film Buff Level or above enjoy early ticket access to NYFF screenings and events ahead of the general public. Learn more at filmlinc.org/membership.

For even more access, VIP Passes and Subscription Packages give buyers one of the earliest opportunities to purchase tickets and secure seats at some of the festival’s biggest events including Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Nights. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “ An Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. Benefits vary based on the pass or package type purchased. A limited number of VIP Passes and Subscription Packages are still available. For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.org/NYFF.

NYFF53 CONVERGENCE EVENTS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Experiences and Installations

• The (Dis)Honesty Project Presents The Truth Box

Created by Dan Ariely & Yael Melamede
Step inside and tell us the truth… about a lie. The Truth Box is a traveling story booth and part of the larger (Dis)Honesty Project, a collaboration between behavioral scientist Dan Ariely and filmmaker Yael Melamede that aims to improve our behavior and ethics. The Truth Box explores the complex impact dishonesty has on our lives, asking participants to sit inside and come clean, on camera, about a lie they have told. Excerpts of stories recorded will be shared onhttp://thedishonestyproject.com and through social media.

• The Doghouse

Created by Johan Knattrup Jensen, Mads Damsbo & Dark Matters
Few technologies have elicited as much debate as virtual reality. How will this powerful technology change the way we make and consume films? Audiences can get a taste of a possible future with The Doghouse. A table is set for five, and on each plate rests a virtual-reality headset. Slipping them on plunges the viewer into a fully immersive experience—one of five unique points of view within the same film. Mom and Dad are meeting the older brother’s new girlfriend for the first time while the younger brother just tries to avoid an inevitable disaster. This unique 360-degree cinema experience places its audience right in the middle of a home-cooked family drama and challenges our notions of what short films are… and what they may be in the very near future. U.S. Premiere

Gamescape
Human beings are hardwired to tell stories. We spin tales about everything in our lives from the mundane to the extraordinary. Some of the most compelling stories being told today are coming from game designers blending sharp narrative and gameplay in new and exciting ways. This selection of gripping, engaging, and even revolutionary independent storytelling games was co-curated by the NYU Game Center and is free and open to the public. Presented with Support from the NYU Game Center.

Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things
Created by Lance Weiler & Nick Fortugno
Step into the shoes of Sherlock Holmes for this collaborative storytelling experiment in which participants attempt to solve a string of crimes unfolding throughout Lincoln Center. Do you have what it takes to become a 21st-century Sherlock Holmes? A prototype developed and run by the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab, Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Thingsis part of a massive connected crime scene taking place in over 20 countries this fall.

For more information, visit sherlockholmes.io. Presented in partnership with the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab.

Temping
Created by Wolf 359; Directed by Michael Rau
Somewhere in a filing cabinet in Delaware or Indiana, there is a chart that breaks down how long we’re expected to live. Most of us will never see it… nor would we want to. But what if your job was to update these charts, to record the beginnings and ends of thousands of lives? What if you found the formula to predict your own lifespan? Sarah Jane Tully, a 50-year-old actuary, is taking her first vacation in years, and you’ve been hired to take her place. Temping, the strange and comic tale of an employee’s inner life written by Michael Yates Crowley, is performed for an audience of one by a Windows PC, a corporate phone, a laser printer, and the Microsoft Office Suite. Filling in at Sarah Jane’s cubicle, you’ll update client records, send e-mails, and eavesdrop on intra-office romance. Each performance is unique, depending on which tasks you accomplish and which of your co-workers you decide to trust. Congratulations, you’re the new temp! Get ready to work.

Panels and Presentations

Brand Meets Story: How Filmmakers and Brands Are Reinventing Digital Content (Panel)
Moderated by Bob Garfield
The digital-video era has opened up vast opportunities for audiences to enjoy powerful short-form content. Some brands have responded by recruiting professional filmmakers to work in the story-focused new arena of “content marketing.” Bob Garfield, Host of NPR’s “On The Media,” will moderate a discussion with Marjorie Schussel, Corporate Marketing Director for Toyota, along with Academy Award–nominated filmmakers Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and Kief Davidson (Open Heart) and Oscar winner Ross Kauffman (Born into Brothels). They will discuss the partnership and process they established to develop a form of marketing that marries the freedom of creativity with meaningful brand communication goals in order to tell “stories that matter.” Includes World Premiere screenings of three compelling new short films, and a cocktail reception to follow.

A Conversation with Diana Williams (Talk)
Featuring Diana Williams (Lucasfilm, Roller Coaster Entertainment) 
The camera opens on a field of stars before revealing a pair of spaceships locked in a deadly chase. Inside the pursued ship, a pair of iconic droids scuttle between rebel crewmen. “We’re doomed,” says C-3PO. “They’ll be no escape for the princess this time!” That exchange stuck with a young Diana Williams—what else had Princess Leia been up to?—and it set her on a course to become a storyteller in her own right. Williams has produced the acclaimed films Our Song and Another First Step; developed The Gatecrashers, a cross-platform storyworld, and Chinafornia, an animated Web series; and collaborated on motion comics for Torchwood, among others. In 2014, she joined the
Lucasfilm Story Group, the team charged with developing narrative cohesion and connectivity within the Star Warsuniverse. Williams will take the stage to discuss her career and personal evolution as a storyteller, from feature filmmaker to cross-platform storyworld builder.

The Deeper They Bury Me (Interactive Presentation)
Written and directed by Angad Singh Bhalla & Ted Biggs; Produced by Anita Lee for the National Film Board of Canada, Storyline Entertainment
An interactive encounter with one of America’s most renowned political prisoners, The Deeper They Bury Me plunges users into the universe of Black Panther activist Herman Wallace, who was held in solitary for over 40 years at Louisiana’s notorious Angola penitentiary. Within the time allotted for a prison phone call—20 precious minutes—users navigate between his tiny cell and his dream of freedom, a fantasy home he envisions through a collaborative art project with artist Jackie Sumell. Sparse, poetic animation evokes his segregated New Orleans childhood and his courageous efforts to build community within a prison system that keeps over 2.3 million citizens behind bars. Join the creators of this compelling portrait of defiance for an immersive live presentation of the interactive experience and a panel discussion featuring leading activists and thinkers. World Premiere.

Immersive Storytelling Goes Global: A Live StoryCode Dispatch (Panel)
Moderated by Mike Knowlton (Co-founder, StoryCode)
StoryCode’s growth into six continents over the past three years has been fueled by an international appetite for new storytelling methods, tools, and experiments. Though still in its infancy, this worldwide phenomenon takes on myriad forms in each region it conquers. StoryCode chapter organizers will share happenings and breakthroughs around the country and the world, and discuss where we are headed in terms of emerging genres, cross-pollination of disciplines, technology, and artistic achievement. Panelists include Kel O’Neill (StoryCode LA), Diliana Alexander (StoryCode Miami), Michael Epstein (StoryCode San Francisco), and Kelli Anderson (StoryCode Washington DC).

The Making of a Connected Crime Scene (Talk)
Presented by Lance Weiler & Nick Fortugno
Join Lance Weiler and Nick Fortugno for a special collaborative think-and-do session. Over the course of 90 minutes, attendees will see and experience the inner workings of what it takes to build a massive collaborative effort like Sherlock Holmes & the Internet of Things. The presentation will pull back the curtain on a yearlong experiment with 1,000 collaborators working in 20-plus countries. Learn methods and solutions that can help you design and build immersive, engaging storytelling projects.

Producing for Impact: Finding the Story (Panel)
Moderated by Colin Fitzpatrick (Guardian Labs, WNET, Al Jazeera America) 
As nonfiction crosses platforms, producers have more options than ever to reach, inspire, and activate audiences. The way a production is presented allows producers to realize specific audience end goals previously unobtainable without immense budgets. Tactics using comprehensive data visualization, compelling personal narratives, and sourcing from social media allow journalism and documentary producers today to appeal to emotion as well as the facts when creating issue-driven stories. Producers on this panel will discuss their own projects—from documentary film and interactive docs to social programs and digital newsrooms—and how to create meaningful and moving stories with goals beyond business as usual.Presented in partnership with The Producers Guild of America New Media Council & PGA East Documentary Committee.

Pry
Created by Danny Cannizzaro & Samantha Gorman (Performance)
Danny Cannizzaro and Samantha Gorman will perform excerpts from Pry, an app experience that fuses cinema, video game, and the novella into what the LA Weekly calls “Charlie Kaufman by way of an acid trip.” Six years ago, James, a demolition expert, returned from the Gulf War. Explore James’s mind as his vision fails and the past collides with the present. What happens to story when instead of turning a page, readers open or shut the protagonist’s eyes, pull apart his memories, or read his thoughts infinitely scrolling in every direction? For more, go to prynovella.com.

Small Star Seminar (Performance)
Presented by Cory McAbee
For the first solo music project created by Cory McAbee (Crazy and Thief, The American Astronaut), the filmmaker/musician takes the stage as a motivational speaker who urges people to give up their goals, stop reaching for the stars, and start looking for the stars within their own minds. “Small Star Seminar” features optimistic songs about quitting, accepting one’s own limitations, and the power of sitting quietly. McAbee will address the theory of “Deep Astronomy” and answer questions from the audience. Part of a larger storytelling project, the performance will be documented for an upcoming feature film written and directed by McAbee.

The Working Screenwriter (Talk)
Presented by Mike Jones (Pixar)
Big dreams, wild risks, and seven-figure sales are all part of the typical screenwriter mythos. Yet most of these writers have had a different career, one where a few highs barely make up for the many lows. Working screenwriters must look at the long arc of a career where no models exist. How does a life in the screen trade fit into an everyday life? How do writers maintain their spark among constant rejection, wide financial fluctuations, and family stress? How does failure affect style? And how does a writer change? Mike Jones has never made seven figures. Yet for 15 years he has maintained a screenwriter’s turbulent life while writing for independent producers, major studios, and now Pixar. In this talk, Jones will outline how he built a steady career through checkered success, but became a better storyteller through failure.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org

2015 PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILM LINE-UP

Portland Film Festival announced the feature film competition programs, opening and closing screenings, music and midnight sections, tribute presentations, north-west, and special screenings for the 2015 Portland Film Festival.  The 3rd Annual festival is a week long event of 214 screenings of feature length and short films from around the world, red carpet world premieres, tributes to filmmaking legends, more than 50 hours of professional workshops, nightly after-parties and more.

The third annual Portland Film Festival will take place September 1 - 7th, 2015, in Portland, Oregon, at seven venues throughout the city, including historic area theatres and community venues.

"Portland audiences are the most enthusiastic, film-savvy crowds in the nation, and we're proud to bring them a stellar festival schedule this year.  We've created an incredibly diverse and large program of films and events that honor cinema legends, celebrate new approaches and experimentation in film, and showcase the best in contemporary cinema," said Josh Leake, Portland Film Festival Founder and Executive Director.

Portland Film Festival's weeklong extravaganza will include:

• Lifetime achievement tributes for Academy Award-winning stop-motion pioneer Will Vinton and acclaimed creature sculptor and puppet maker Wendy Froud, who will be recognized for her work as a fabricator on Yoda for "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," and contributions to such films as "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth.
• Zombie Day Apocalypse. A live all-day Labor Day event featuring several thousand festivalgoers as extras in a Guinness Book World Record-setting film shoot, "Zombie Day Apocalypse", to be directed by George Cameron Romero, son of legendary filmmaker George A. Romero. Event will include a night time screening of a surprise zombie film.
• One of the largest educational platforms for a film festival anywhere. Lead by award-winning professionals in their fields, this year's festival will offer over 70 workshops, classes, panels and networking events for actors, screenwriters, and filmmakers.
• Screenplay Competition. Four finalists from 380 submissions have been chosen to be read by actors live to an audience. One finalist will win a  production grant worth $20K.

A jury of industry professionals and acclaimed filmmakers will be presenting awards to competition films in the following categories: Jury Award for Feature Doc, Jury Award for Narrative Feature, Audience Award for Feature Doc, Audience Award for Feature Narrative, plus additional awards to be announced.

NARRATIVE COMPETITION

10 films to celebrate the best of independent cinema by filmmakers who push the boundaries with imagination and style. 

• 6 Angry Women  / U.S. (Director: Sridhar Reddy, Screenwriters: Alexandra Bennett, Barbara Figgins, Katelin Healy, Danielle McConnell, Fawzia Mirza, Alison Plott, Sridhar Reddy) A young, unarmed black teenager is shot by a white neighborhood watchman, and it is up to a jury of six women to determine if the man is guilty of murder. Cast: Alexandra Bennett, Barbara Figgins, Katelin Healy, Danielle McConnell, Fawzia Mirza, Alison Plott. WORLD PREMIERE
• Aimy in a Cage / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Hooroo Jackson) A creative teenage girl is placed into a mind-altering procedure to civilize her, while news of a virus epidemic spreads throughout the world. Cast: Crispin Glover, Allisyn Ashley Arm, Terry Moore, Paz de la Huerta, Michael William Hunter. WORLD PREMIERE
• As Good as You / U.S. (Director: Heather de Michele, Screenwriter: Gretchen Michelfeld) A woman chases her dream to start a family by asking her late wife's brother to be her sperm donor and craziness ensues. Cast: Laura Heisler, Anna Fitzwater, Raoul Bhaneja, Annie Potts, Bryan Dechart, Peter Maloney. WORLD PREMIERE
• Divine Access / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Steven Chester Prince) Jack Harriman becomes a spiritual celebrity after debunking an evangelical host of a local public-access TV show.  Cast: Billy Burke, Gary Cole, Patrick Warburton, Sarah Shahi, Joel David Moore, Adrienne Barbeau. NORTHWEST PREMIERE
• Drama  / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Sophie Mathisen) Life is a difficult script to learn.  Cast: Sophie Mathisen, François Vincentelli, Jonathan Burteaux, Tom Wren, Nicole da Silva. WORLD PREMIERE
• For Love & Broken Bones / South Africa (Director: Tebogo Malope, Screenwriters: Tebogo Malope, Libby Dougherty) When a lonely and isolated debt collector falls in love with his latest assignment, he must choose to follow his heart. Cast: Mduduzi Mabaso, Lerato Mvelase, Mashala Letsoalo. WORLD PREMIERE
• The Makings of You / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Matt Amato) Frank Wallis and Judy Meadows are comfortably numb to their lives, but when a chance encounter brings them together, their love for each other reignites life's sweet, unimagined possibilities. Cast: Jay Ferguson, Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• Odd Brodsky / U.S. (Director: Cindy Baer, Screenwriters: Cindy Baer, Matthew Irving) A quirky comedy about following your dreams. Cast: Tegan Ashton Cohan, Matthew Kevin Anderson, Scotty Dickert, Jim Hanks. NORTHWEST PREMIERE
• Oloibiri / South Africa (Director: Curtis Graham, Screenwriter: Samantha Iwowo) Based on true events, a story about the first oil well drilled in Nigeria and how the impact affects a small Nigerian Delta Village and the lives of those involved. Cast:  Diana Colmar-Espinosa, Bradley Gordon, Olu Jacobs. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• Touched with Fire  / U.S. (Director: Paul Dalio, Screenwriter: Sophie Mathisen) Two manic depressives meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance that brings out all of the beauty and horror of their condition. Cast: Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby, Griffin Dunne, Bruce Altman, Christine Lahti. WEST COAST PREMIERE

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

10 new films from around the world that tackle real life stories with bold vision and energy. 

• Audition / U.S. (Director: Matt Herron) A romance is portrayed by one hundred actors who compete for two lead roles and a chance to perform the final terrifying scene. WORLD PREMIERE
• Business of Amateurs / U.S. (Director: Bob DeMars) An ex-athlete turned filmmaker seeks answers regarding student-athlete rights and discovers uncorrected injustices. WORLD PREMIERE
• Congo Beat the Drum / Israel, Jamaica (Director: Ariel Tagar) A musical journey into the forgotten corners of Jamaican reggae and its past champions. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• Generation Maidan / Ukraine (Director: Andrew Tkach) A group of Ukrainian filmmakers capture history in the making. What began as a peaceful protest, turned into revolution and finally war. U.S. PREMIERE
• I Am Thalente / South Africa, U.S. (Director: Natalie Johns) A homeless teenager from South Africa attracts international attention with his effortless style on a skateboard and is invited to travel to the US to skate with the pros.  NORTHWEST PREMIERE
• Kings of Kallstadt / Germany, U.S. (Director: Simone Wendel) A humorous documentary about German small village life and its famous American relatives: Donald Trump and Heinz Ketchup. WORLD PREMIERE
• Lost and Found / Japan, U.S., Canada (Directors: Nicolina Lanni, John Choi) One year after Japan's largest earthquake, beachcombers along the Pacific Northwest coastline started finding Japanese items washing ashore. In turn, the unlikeliest of friendships, across two continents, were forged in the wake of this massive natural disaster. WORLD PREMIERE
• Made in Japan / Japan, U.S. (Director: Josh Bishop) A journey through music, marriage and the impact of the corporate world on the dreams of one woman. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• Sweet Micky for President / Haiti, U.S. / (Director: Ben Patterson) Musician Pras Michel of the group The Fugees goes up against the corrupt government of Haiti by mobilizing a presidential campaign for controversial pop star Sweet Mickey. NORTHWEST PREMIERE
• Tyke: Killer Elephant / Australia (Directors: Susan Lambert and Stefan Moore) Tyke the circus elephant breaks free in front of thousands of onlookers. Her break for freedom leaves the city in shock and sparks a global battle over the use of performing animals. WEST COAST PREMIERE

OPENING NIGHT FILM (DOCUMENTARY)

• GRU-PDX / Brazil, U.S. (Director: Daniel Barosa) Set amidst the rich contemporary music scene of Portland, Oregon, Brazilian indie band Quarto Negro journeys to the city to record their second album. During a six month stay, they discover the highs and lows of  musical life in Portland, and that recording their new album isn't a task for the faint of heart. WORLD PREMIERE

OPENING NIGHT FILM (NARRATIVE)

• Birds Of Neptune / U.S. (Director: Daniel Steven Richter, Screenwriters: Steven Richter, Flavia Rocha and Michael Lea) Two sisters live alone in their Portland childhood house trying to keep memories of a mysterious past intact. When a man enters their world and starts to pull at the fragile threads holding everything in place, they find themselves facing harsh truths about their past. Cast: Britt Harris, Molly Elizabeth Parker, Kurt Conroyd. NORTHWEST PREMIERE  

CLOSING DAY  EVENT - ZOMBIE DAY APOCALYPSE

To be held on Labor Day during the festival, a special all day and night event will set a Guinness Book of World Records for 'most extras in a short film'. Director George Cameron Romero, son of iconic horror director George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead), will direct. Award-winning makeup artists will oversee effects for an anticipated cast of thousands. Event will also include a nighttime surprise zombie film screening.

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

• Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around The World / U.S. (Director: Dana Nachman)The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the city of San Francisco join forces to grant a five-year-old boy's wish to become Batman for a day, drawing worldwide attention. PORTLAND PREMIERE

TRIBUTE: VISIONARIES

Special tribute events, awards, and discussions with masters of cinema, celebrating  visionary pioneers of their field. 

• Will Vinton - The world renowned Claymation® pioneer and Academy Award winner Will Vinton will receive a lifetime achievement award for his innovative contributions to the history of animation. Event will also include a 30th anniversary screening of his legendary stop-motion classic, "The Adventures of Mark Twain," and his Academy Award Winning Short, "Closed Mondays." 
• Wendy Froud - An American doll-artist, creature sculptor, and puppet-maker, Wendy Froud is a profound contributor to the history of pop culture and cinema.  She is best known for being a member of the fabrication team of the iconic character Yoda for the 1980 film "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" and also fabricated timeless creatures for the Jim Henson films "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth".  In appreciation of her work, LucasFilms will generously share unique behind the scenes archival images from her Star Wars work, and Wendy will be honored with a lifetime achievement award. 
• Amy Vincent - Trailblazing cinematographer Amy Vincent created an indelible impression with her debut feature film, "Eve's Bayou", and she's been making unforgettable images ever since in a series of classic films, including "Hustle and Flow", "Black Snake Moan", and "Footloose". For its 10 year anniversary, she will screen "Hustle and Flow' and offer insight into the making of the fan favorite. 

MUSIC MAVERICKS

Honoring musicians, music and culture, these documentaries celebrate a diversity of genres and influences through the power and love of music. 

• Congo Beat the Drum / Israel, Jamaica (Director: Ariel Tagar) A musical journey into the forgotten corners of Jamaican reggae and its past champions. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• The Glamour & the Squalor / U.S. (Director: Marq Evans) The story of Marco Collins, a legendary Seattle DJ who played the music that defines the 90's grunge generation. Featuring: Carrie Brownstein, Shirley Manson, Macklemore,

Mike McCready, Ben Gibbard, Kurt Cobain. PORTLAND PREMIERE

• Morphine: Journey of Dreams / U.S., Italy (Director: Mark Shuman) The in-depth tale of the "low-rock" nineties Boston band who blazed like a comet across the global music scene. Interviews with Henry Rollins, Joe Strummer, Dana Colley, Steve Berlin, Mark Sandman,Billy Conway. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• The Whole Gritty City / U.S. (Director: Richard Barber) An immersion into the world of three New Orleans school marching bands. WEST COAST PREMIERE

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Unique one-time film events, marquee names, and highlights of the best of modern film. 

• Bereave / U.S. (Directors: Evangelos Giovanis, George Giovanis, Screenwriter: George Giovanis) Garvey thinks he has figured out how to die alone. When his beloved wife goes missing; he must live to save her. Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Jane Seymour, Keith Carradine, Vinessa Shaw, Mike Starr, Mike Doyle. PORTLAND PREMIERE
• The Frontier / U.S. (Director: Oren Shai, Screenwriters: Oren Shai & Webb Wilcoxen) A desperate young woman discovers a violent gang of thieves at a desert motel and hatches a plan to steal their loot. Cast: Kelly Lynch, Jim Beaver, Izabella Miko, Liam Aiken. PORTLAND PREMIERE
• Like Me / U.S. (Director: Michael Kuell) A documentary about NYC comedian and actor Micah Sherman attempts to overcome his lack of boundaries and social anxiety to find his digital voice through social media.  Featuring: Micah Sherman, Hannibal Burress, Jim Gaffigan, Grace Helbig, Maria Bamford, Janeane Garofalo. WORLD PREMIERE
• The Makings of You / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Matt Amato) Frank Wallis and Judy Meadows are comfortably numb to their lives, but when a chance encounter brings them together, their love for each other reignites life's sweet, unimagined possibilities. Cast: Jay Ferguson, Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• The Resurrection of Jake the Snake / U.S. (Director: Steve Yu) A documentary portrait of legendary wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts as he charts his personal and professional comeback while battling crippling addictions. Cast: Jake Roberts, Dallas Page, Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, Adam Copeland. NORTHWEST PREMIERE
• This is Happening / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Ryan Jaffe) Two estranged siblings. Five pounds of pot. One runaway grandmother. Cast: James Wolk, Mickey Sumner, Judd Nelson, Cloris Leachman. WEST COAST PREMIERE
• We are Twisted F***ING SISTER / Germany, U.S. (Director: Andrew Horn) A documentary about the history of the iconic 80's metal band Twisted Sister, tracing their origins in the bar scene of early 1970s Long Island to their pre-MTV rise as a popular regional, New York-based band in the mid 1970s and early 1980s. U.S. PREMIERE
• Yosemite / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Gabrielle Demeestere) Set in 1985, intertwining tales of three fifth grade friends unfold as the threat of a mountain lion looms over Palo Alto. Cast: James Franco, Henry Hopper, Calum John, Alec Mansky, Everett Meckler. PORTLAND PREMIERE

MIDNIGHT SPOTLIGHT

After dark movies full of wonderfully weird, provocative, and comedy highlights of new cinema. 

• Dude Bro Party Massacre III / U.S. (Directors: Tomm Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, Jon Salmon, Screenwriters: Michael Rousselet, Alec Owen, Ben Gigli, Brian Firenzi, Jon Salmon, Joey Scoma, Michael E. Peter, Mike James, Timothy Ciancio, Tomm Jacobsen) A hysterical and bloody twist on 80's slasher flicks, in which a dorky loner must infiltrate a party-centric fraternity to solve the murder of his twin brother. Cast: Alec Owen, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Patton Oswalt, Larry King, Nina Hartley, Greg Sestero. PORTLAND PREMIERE
• Mega Summer Hit: A Slam Dunkumentary / U.S. (Director: Ryan Max O'Meila, Screenwriters: Thomas Kellogg, Kyle Newacheck, Ryan Max O'Meila)A mockumentary about a social media contest that sends its makers into the deepest corners of their minds as they struggle to finish the film. Cast: Thomas Kellogg, Kyle Newacheck, Ryan Max O'Melia, Blake Anderson, Adam Devine, Anders Holm. WORLD PREMIERE
• Space Program / U.S. (Director: Van Neistat, Screenwriters: Van Neistat, Tom Sachs)Two female astronauts go to Mars in a handmade space program to answer humankind's ultimate question...are we alone? A provocative collaboration between acclaimed artist Tom Sachs and director Van Neistat. WEST COAST PREMIERE

NORTHWEST

Celebrating narrative and documentary films made in the Northwest area, as well as unique films made by Northwest filmmakers. 

• The Black Sea / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Brian Padian) Five friends arrive at a beach house on the Oregon Coast for a holiday weekend, where one of them mysteriously disappears overnight. Cast: Cora Benesh, Erin McGarry, Corrina Repp. WORLD PREMIERE
• Deep Dark / U.S. (Director, Screenwriter: Michael Medaglia) A failed sculptor, is about to end it all until he finds a strange, talking hole in the wall. Cast: Sean McGrath, Anne Sorce, Denise Poirier. US PREMIERE
• Vintage Tomorrows / U.S. (Director: Byrd McDonald)A documentary about the Steampunk movement's explosive growth, origins, and cultural significance, which explores the fundamental question: what can we learn about tomorrow from Steampunk's playful visions of yesteryear? NORTHWEST PREMIERE
• The 2015 PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL is Oregon's largest film event of the year, with 80 narrative and documentary feature films and 134 short films selected out of 3500 SUBMISSIONS.

• This week long extravaganza also includes over 75 MASTER CLASSES, TWO LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT TRIBUTES, and an unprecedented live event featuring SEVERAL THOUSAND FESTIVAL GOERS AS EXTRAS in a record-setting ZOMBIE DAY EVENT.

For Full festival line-up and info to purchase passes and tickets, go to: www.portlandfilmfestival.com 

FSLC ANNOUNCED THE COMPLETE LINEUP FOR PROJECTIONS AT THE 53RD NYFF

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the complete lineup for Projections at the 53rd New York Film Festival, taking place from Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4. This year’s lineup, which includes 14 programs, presents an international selection of film and video work that expands upon our notions of what the moving image can do and be. Drawing on a broad range of innovative modes and techniques, including experimental narratives, avant-garde poetics, crossovers into documentary and ethnographic realms, and contemporary art practices, Projections brings together a diverse offering of short, medium, and feature-length work by some of today’s most vital and groundbreaking filmmakers and artists. 

“We think of Projections, now in its second year, as the festival’s ever-shifting zone of discovery, a survey of inventive and unconventional work that updates and challenges our idea of what constitutes experimentation in cinema,” said Dennis Lim, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Director of Programming and one of the curators of Projections. “In the spirit of its venerable predecessor, Views from the Avant-Garde, the program remains committed to the experimental film tradition, but it has been no less important for us to bring new voices and fresh approaches into the mix. This year we have a more varied slate than ever, one that I hope audiences will find invigorating in its breadth, and for its implicit assertion that there are still myriad ways to reimagine the possibilities of cinema and its relationship to the world.“
 
This year, the NYFF welcomes a new collaboration with the curated video on demand service MUBI, which will be a dedicated sponsor of the Projections section. Several titles from past Projections lineups will be made available on MUBI leading up to the festival, and a selection from the 2015 lineup will be offered after premiering. Details on the films and schedule will be announced at a later date.    

Highlights in Projections this year include the U.S. Premiere of two new films from Ben Rivers (A Distant Episode, THE SKY TREMBLES AND THE EARTH IS AFRAID AND THE TWO EYES ARE NOT BROTHERS; Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s return to the festival after Leviathan with the World Premiere of Ah humanity!, co-directed with Ernst Karel; andWorld Premieres from previous Kazuko Trust Award winners Dani Leventhal (Hard as Opal, co-directed with Jared Buckhiester), Laida Lertxundi (Vivir para Vivir / Live to Live), and Michael Robinson (Mad Ladders). This year’s recipient of the Kazuko Award, which recognizes artistic excellence and innovation and is awarded to an emerging filmmaker in the Projections lineup, will be announced in early October.  

Other World Premieres of note include returning regulars to Projections (and formerly Views from the Avant-Garde): Janie Geiser (Cathode Garden), Jim Finn (Chums from Across the Void), Jodie Mack (Something Between Us), Fern Silva (Scales in the Spectrum of Space), Mike Stoltz (Half Human, Half Vapor), and Vincent Grenier (Intersection).

Directors with medium- and feature-length works in this year’s selection include Nicolas Pereda (Minotaur), whose work has shown in New Directors/New Films and Art of the Real previously; FIDMarseille award winner Riccardo Giacconi (Entangled / Entrelazado); and Isiah Medina (88:88), whose film was a selection at the recent Locarno Film Festival and will screen at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. 

Several esteemed contemporary visual artists will also make their first appearance at the NYFF this year, including James Richards (Radio at Night), Basim Magdy (The Everyday Ritual of Solitude Hatching Monkeys), Simon Fujiwara (Hello), Michael Bell-Smith (Rabbit Season, Duck Season), Takeshi Murata (OM Rider), Jon Rafman (Erysichthon), and Cécile B. Evans (Hyperlinks or It Didn’t Happen).

Discovery and rediscovery will also take center stage throughout the weekend. Among the first-timers at the NYFF are Louis Henderson, who has two films in the festival, including the World Premiere of Black Code/Code Noir; and Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, with his bold riff on Roberto Bolaño, Santa Teresa & Other Stories. Projections will also showcase restorations of the late Chick Strand’s Soft Fiction and Curt McDowell’s Confessions, both on 16mm and restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Projections is curated by Dennis Lim (Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center), Aily Nash (independent curator), and Gavin Smith (Editor, Film Comment and Senior Programmer, Film Society of Lincoln Center). 

Tickets are $15 for General Public; $10 for Members & Students, and a $99 Projections All Access Pass will also be available for purchase. Visit filmlinc.org/NYFF for more information. Additional NYFF special events, documentary section, and filmmaker conversations and panels will be announced in subsequent days and weeks.

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. 

Tickets for the 53rd New York Film Festival will go on sale to Film Society patrons at the end of August, ahead of the General Public. Learn more about the patron program at filmlinc.org/patrons. Becoming a Film Society Member offers the exclusive member ticket discount to the New York Film Festival and Film Society programming year-round plus other great benefits. Current members at the Film Buff Level or above enjoy early ticket access to NYFF screenings and events ahead of the general public. Learn more at filmlinc.org/membership.

For even more access, VIP Passes and Subscription Packages give buyers one of the earliest opportunities to purchase tickets and secure seats at some of the festival’s biggest events including Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Nights. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “ An Evening With…” Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. Benefits vary based on the pass or package type purchased. A limited number of VIP Passes and Subscription Packages are still available. For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.org/NYFF.

Films, Descriptions & Schedule

All screenings will take place at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street

Program #1
Friday, October 2, 2:00pm
Friday, October 2, 9:00pm
TRT: 82m

The entanglement of the psychological and physical worlds, as reflected in architecture, domestic space, and everyday objects.

Neither God nor Santa María
Samuel M. Delgado & Helena Girón, Spain, 2015, DCP, 12m
“Since airplanes did not exist, people moved around using prayers; they went from one land to another and returned early, before dawn. In old audio recordings, the voices of pastors speak of the mythical existence of witches and their travels. In the daily life of a woman, the magic of her tales begin to materialize as night falls. Night is the time when travel is possible.”—Samuel Delgado & Helena Girón U.S. Premiere

Something Horizontal
Blake Williams, USA/Canada, 2015, HDCAM, 10m
“Three-dimensional flashes of Victorian domestic surfaces and geometric shadows transform the physical world into a somber, impressionistic abstraction, while elsewhere a specter emerging from the depths of German Expressionism reminds us that what goes up always comes down.”—Blake Williams U.S. Premiere

Analysis of Emotions and Vexations
Wojciech Bakowski, Poland, 2015, digital projection, 13m
“This movie is a representation of my spirit’s volatile state. I used animation with poetic comment to analyze my emotions and vexations. I used pencil drawings in translucent frames to show a state of lightness. On the drawings you can see the elements taken from imagination and from real external sights. I did so because our mental states are built from what we can see and what we remember or imagine in abstraction.”—Wojciech Bakowski U.S. Premiere

Traces/Legacy
Scott Stark, USA, 2015, 35mm, 9m
“Discarded Christmas trees, colorfully arranged flea-market finds, a museum of animal kills, microscopic views of kitchenware, and other overlooked cultural artifacts are interwoven with flickering journeys through mysterious, shadowy realms. Traces/Legacy uses a device called a film recorder to print a series of still digital images onto 35mm film. The 35mm projector can only show a portion of the image at a time, so the viewer sees alterations between the top and bottom half of each frame. The images also overlap onto the optical sound area of the film, generating their own unique sounds.”—Scott Stark

Entangled / Entrelazado
Riccardo Giacconi, Colombia/Italy, 2014, digital projection, 37m
“In quantum physics, if two particles interact in a certain way and then become separated, regardless of how distant they are from each other they will share a state known as ‘quantum entanglement.’ That is, they will keep sharing information despite their separation. This theory used to upset Einstein. In his theory of relativity, no transmission of information could occur faster than the speed of light, therefore he couldn’t understand how the two particles could be simultaneously connected.”—Riccardo Giacconi North American Premiere


Program #2
Friday, October 2, 4:15pm
Saturday, October 3, 2:00pm
TRT: 78m

The raw and the cooked: from elemental particles and nature vs. culture to doomed transcendental urges and, out of the ashes, renewal in fresh visions of the material world.

Prima Materia
Charlotte Pryce, USA, 2015, 16mm, 3m
“Delicate threads of energy spiral and transform into mysterious microscopic cells of golden dust: these are the luminous particles of the alchemist’s dream. Prima Materia is inspired by the haunting wonderment of Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura. It is an homage to the first, tentative photographic records that revealed the extraordinary nature of phenomena lurking just beyond the edge of human vision.”—Charlotte Pryce

Intersection
Vincent Grenier, USA, 2015, DCP, 7m
“On the corner of Brooktondale Rd. and Route 79 near Ithaca is an amazing planting of forget-me-nots and dandelions. An improbable dance between different layers of reality, one organic, the other mechanical, and another the numbing everyday. Timeless fragility jousts with fleeting enamels and the upstanding violence.”—Vincent Grenier World Premiere

Port Noir
Laura Kraning, USA, 2014, digital projection, 11m
“Within the machine landscape of Terminal Island, the textural strata of a 100-year-old boat shop provides a glimpse into Los Angeles Harbor’s disappearing past. Often recast as a backdrop for fictional crime dramas, the scenic details of the last boatyard evoke imaginary departures and a hidden world at sea.”—Laura Kraning

Centre of the Cyclone
Heather Trawick, USA/Canada, 2015, 16mm, 18m
“‘In the province of the mind there are no limits. However, in the province of the body there are definite limits not to be transcended’ (John C. Lilly). An invocation for the transcendence between the corporeal and metaphysical, the passage is guided by marooned sailors, a moment of celestial chance, demolition derbies, and a slipping into the ether.”—Heather Trawick World Premiere

Le Pays Dévasté / The Devastated Land
Emmanuel Lefrant, France, 2015, 35mm, 12m
"A look back to the geological age when humans were just starting to learn to control the powers of nature that had dominated them up to that point. Traces—chemical, consumption, and nuclear—of their existence will remain in the planet’s geological code for thousands or even millions of years. Making use of negative images, Le Pays Dévasté presents an ominous picture of Earth’s future."—Emmanuel Lefrant U.S. Premiere

Cathode Garden
Janie Geiser, USA, 2015, DCP, 8m
“A young woman moves between light and dark, life and death; a latter-day Persephone. The natural world responds accordingly. Neglected negatives, abandoned envelopes, botanical and anatomical illustrations, and found recordings reorder themselves, collapsing and reemerging in her liminal world.”—Janie Geiser World Premiere

Something Between Us
Jodie Mack, USA, 2015, 16mm, 10m
“A choreographed motion study for twinkling trinkets, beaming baubles, and glaring glimmers. A bow ballet ablaze (for bedazzled buoyant bijoux brought up to boil). Choreographed costume jewelry and natural wonders join forces to perform plastic pirouettes, dancing a luminous lament until the tide comes in.”—Jodie Mack World Premiere

brouillard - passage 15
Alexandre Larose, Canada, 2014, 35mm, 10m
“With this project I fabricate sequences by in-camera layering of repeated trajectories inside a path extending from my family’s home into Lac Saint-Charles. The image-capturing process produces a sedimented landscape that gradually unfolds while simultaneously disintegrating under temporal displacement. Approximately 30 long takes begin at the same frame on the film strip, all shot at a high frame rate. My walking rhythm varies for each trajectory, resulting in the space progressively expanding in depth until I reach the edge of a dock. The duration of the long take corresponds to the length of the celluloid reel, a thousand feet of 35mm film.”—Alexandre Larose


Program #3
Friday, October 2, 6:30pm
Saturday, October 3, 4:00pm
TRT: 86m

Disorienting visions, both near and far, of an apocalyptic world reveal the warped landscapes of the Anthropocene.

A Distant Episode
Ben Rivers, UK/Morocco, 2015, 16mm, 18m
“A meditation on the illusion of filmmaking, shot behind the scenes on a film being made on the otherworldly beaches of Sidi Ifni, Morocco. The film depicts strange activities, with no commentary or dialogue; it appears as a fragment of film, dug up in a distant future—a hazy, black-and-white hallucinogenic world.”—Ben Rivers U.S. Premiere

In Girum Imus Nocte
Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Italy, 2015, digital projection, 13m
“I imagine a wooden boat on fire. A fire that illuminates the night and slowly consumes and transforms the fishing boat into coal. A fire that accompanies the traveling distance of the miners and fishermen. Change of a substance from one physical state to another. An entropic event transforming matter and symbols.”—Giorgio Andreotta Calò North American Premiere

Half Human, Half Vapor
Mike Stoltz, USA, 2015, 16mm, 11m
“This project began out of a fascination with a giant sculpture of a dragon attached to a Central Florida mansion. The property had recently been left to rot, held in lien by a bank. Hurricanes washed away the sculpture. I learned about the artist who created this landmark, Lewis Vandercar (1913-1988), who began as a painter. His practice grew along with his notoriety for spell-casting and telepathy. Inspired by Vandercar’s interest in parallel possibility, I combined these images with text from local newspaper articles in a haunted-house film that both engages with and looks beyond the material world.”—Mike Stoltz World Premiere

Occidente
Ana Vaz, France/Portugal, 2014, 16mm/digital projection, 15m    
“Filming in Lisbon in search of the origins of our colonial history, I found copies. Brazilians, the new worlders fluent in glitz, entertain the Portuguese in awe and discomfort, colonial norms applied and reapplied. Chinese porcelain seem to signal hybrids to come: the Chinese dressed as Europeans, the Brazilian maid dressed as a 19th-century European servant. Porcelain from the 15th-century becomes reproducible ready-mades that set the tables for the new colonies—a transatlantic calling. Ouro novo reads new money. As a poem without periods, as a breath without breathing, the voyage travels eastward and westward, marking cycles of expansion in a struggle to find one’s place, one’s seat at the table.”—Ana Vaz     

YOLO
Ben Russell, USA/South Africa, 2015, DCP, 7m
“Filmed in the remains of Soweto's historic Sans Souci Cinema (1948-1998), YOLO is a makeshift structuralist mash-up created in collaboration with the Eat My Dust youth collective from the Kliptown district of Soweto, South Africa. Vibrating with mic checks and sine waves, resonating with an array of pre-roll sound—this is cause and effect shattered again and again, temporarily undone. O humanity, You Only Live Once!”—Ben Russell U.S. Premiere

Ah humanity!
Ernst Karel, Verena Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Japan/France/USA, 2015, DCP, 22m
“Ah humanity! reflects on the fragility and folly of humanity in the age of the Anthropocene.  Taking the 3/11/11 disaster of Fukushima as its point of departure, it evokes an apocalyptic vision of modernity, and our predilection for historical amnesia and futuristic flights of fancy.  Shot on a telephone through a handheld telescope, at once close to and far from its subject, the audio composition combines excerpts from Japanese genbaku film soundtracks, audio recordings from scientific seismic laboratories, and location sound.”—Ernst Karel, Verena Paravel & Lucien Castaing-Taylor World Premiere


Program #4
Saturday, October 3, 1:00pm
Saturday, October 3, 6:00pm
TRT: 74m

When the worlds of fantasy and desire collide in a dissociative dance of bodies in motion, what’s love got to do with it? 

Hard as Opal
Jared Buckhiester & Dani Leventhal, USA, 2015, digital projection, 29m
“A soldier’s trip to Syria is complicated when he accidentally impregnates a friend. Meanwhile, a horse breeder from Ohio is driven away from home by her own desire to become pregnant. In Hard as Opal the lines between truth and fiction, fact and fantasy, are reined in and treated not as fixed, divisive markers but as malleable threads of narrative potential. Buckhiester and Leventhal perform alongside other non-actors who are filmed in their own varying domestic and professional environments. The result is a rich accumulation of narratives held together by questions concerning the nature of objectification, loneliness, and dissociative fantasy.”—Brett Price World Premiere

Confessions
Curt McDowell, USA, 1971, 16mm, 11 min
“How much joy and lust and friendship can be crammed into one 11-minute movie? ‘To put it into words is just not that easy to do.’ After a tearful confession, Curt casts one true love as a leading man and lets the images do most of the talking, so what you know about him is felt. The difference between a messy guy in bloom and a perfect lifeless doll. The beauty of women’s faces and men’s cocks in close-up, and dirty bare feet, stepping forward. A live-wire radio built by editing that switches from folk to blues in a heartbeat. Fanfare, a cum shot, and a burst of applause as the director walks away from the camera, into San Francisco daylight. There’s no happier ending in cinema."
—Johnny Ray Huston, from The Single and the LP

Restored print courtesy of Academy Film Archive. Confessions is the first in a large-scale project at the Academy Film Archive to restore the majority of Curt McDowell’s extant films.

Non-Stop Beautiful Ladies
Alee Peoples, USA, 2015, 16mm, 9m
“I use Super 8 and 16mm film as a vehicle for loose storytelling with history and humor. Simple props and gestures are part of a playful aesthetic. Glimpses into the culture of a place are given while playing with truth and representation. Non-Stop Beautiful Ladies is a Los Angeles street film starring empty signs, radio from passing cars, and human sign spinners, some with a pulse and some without.”—Alee Peoples

Mars Garden
Lewis Klahr, USA, 2014, DCP, 5m
“Mars Garden is episode 5 of my 12-film series Sixty Six, which on its most foundational level, splices Greek mythology with 1960s pop culture. In Mars Garden I employ a light box to excavate the chance superimpositions of the two-sided comic book page in vintage mid-1960s superhero comics.”—Lewis Klahr

The Exquisite Corpus
Peter Tscherkassky, Austria, 2015, 35mm, 19m
“The Exquisite Corpus is based on several different films, with reference to the surrealist ‘exquisite corpse’ technique. It combines rushes from commercials, an American erotic thriller from the 1980s, a British comedy from the 1960s, a Danish and a French porn film (both most likely from the 1970s), an Italian softcore sex movie from 1979, and a (British?) amateur “nudist film.” In addition to the found footage, many indexical signs and images are imprinted upon the film. By focusing on these erotic fragments The Exquisite Corpus brings the body of film itself to the forefront and finds its central theme.”—Peter Tscherkassky U.S. Premiere

Program #5
Saturday, October 3, 3:30pm
TRT: 64m

Soft Fiction
Chick Strand, USA, 1979, 16mm, 54m
“Chick Strand’s Soft Fiction is a personal documentary that brilliantly portrays the survival power of female sensuality. It combines the documentary approach with a sensuous lyrical expressionism. Strand focuses her camera on people talking about their own experience, capturing subtle nuances in facial expressions and gestures that are rarely seen in cinema. The film’s title works on several levels. It evokes the soft line between truth and fiction that characterizes Strand's own approach to documentary, and suggests the idea of softcore fiction, which is appropriate to the film's erotic content and style. It's rare to find an erotic film with a female perspective dominating both the narrative discourse and the visual and audio rhythms with which the film is structured. Strand continues to celebrate in her brilliant, innovative personal documentaries her theme, the reaffirmation of the tough resilience of the human spirit.”
—Marsha Kinder, Film Quarterly

Restored by the Academy Film Archive. Restoration funding provided by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and The Film Foundation.

Lost Note
Saul Levine, USA, 1969/2015, 16mm, 10m
“Scenes drawn from the home and life of Isa Milman (the woman I was then married to) and me, made together with our dog Jesse, our friends Bruce Blaney and Patti Tanaka, their children Sean and Jason, and many others. I began this as a love poem to Isa, but before I finished the film everything had changed. For many of us, 1968/69 was a period of violent transition. The film was formally challenging, editing footage with in-camera superimpositions and cutting black and white with color.”—Saul Levine


Program #6
Saturday, October 3, 5:30pm
TRT: 63m

Minotaur
Nicolas Pereda, Mexico/Canada, 2015, DCP, 53m
“Minotaur takes place in a home of books, of readers, of artists. It’s also a home of soft light, of eternal afternoons, of sleepiness, of dreams. The home is impermeable to the world. Mexico is on fire, but the characters of Minotaur sleep soundly.”—Nicolas Pereda U.S. Premiere

Vivir para Vivir / Live to Live
Laida Lertxundi, USA/Spain, 2015, 16mm, 10m
“The body, a space of production, creates structures for a film.”—Laida Lertxundi
World Premiere

Program #7
Saturday, October 3, 7:15pm
Sunday, October 4, 5:00pm
TRT: 69m

Modern conflicts of labor and race, traced from their complex origins to the chaotic present.

Hello
Simon Fujiwara, Germany, 2015, digital projection, 10m
“Hello explores changes in the working lives of two people: Maria, a Mexican trash picker who separates and collects recyclable materials from landfills to sell by the kilo, and Max, a German freelance computer-animation designer working for the advertising industry in Berlin. The double interview is controlled and manipulated by a computer-generated severed hand that Maria describes as an object once discovered in the trash while working in the violent northern town of Mexicali. This CGI hand was in turn produced by Max who was born with no arms and sought refuge in computer imaging as a means to operate and manipulate a digital reality.”—Simon Fujiwara U.S. Premiere

F for Fibonacci
Beatrice Gibson, UK, 2014, DCP, 16m
“F for Fibonacci takes as its departure point William Gaddis’s epic 1975 modernist novel JR. Unfolding through the modular machine aesthetics of the video game Minecraft, text-book geometries, graphic scores, images from physics experiments, and cartoon dreams blend with images from Wall Street: stock-market crashes, trading pits, algorithms, and transparent glass. As well as the writing of Gaddis, the film draws on the work of little-known British experimental educator and composer John Paynter. Gibson worked closely with 11-year-old Clay Barnard Chodzko on a number of the film’s production elements, commissioning him to design an office in Minecraft and develop an existing character of his, Mr. Money. Gibson and Chodzko’s ramblings on the subject of his protagonist lead the viewer through F for Fibonacci’shallucinatory soup.”—Beatrice Gibson

Black Code/Code Noir
Louis Henderson, France, 2015, DCP, 21m
“Black Code/Code Noir unites temporally and geographically disparate elements into a critical reflection on two recent events: the murders of Michael Brown and Kajieme Powell by police officers in the U.S. in 2014. Archaeologically, the film argues that behind this present situation is a sedimented history of slavery, preserved by the Black Code laws of the colonies in the Americas. These codes have transformed into the algorithms that configure police Big Data and the necropolitical control of African Americans today. Yet how can we read in this present? How can we unwrite the sorcery of this code as a hack? Through a historical détournement the film suggests the Haitian Revolution as the first instance of the Black Code’s hacking and as a past symbol for a future hope.”—Louis Henderson World Premiere

Lessons of War
Peggy Ahwesh, USA, 2014, digital projection, 6m
“Five little narratives—newsworthy stories from the 2014 war on Gaza—retold in order to not forget the details, to reenact the trauma and to honor the dead. The footage is lifted from a YouTube channel that renders the news in animation, fantastic and imaginative, providing several protective layers away from reality. The footage is repurposed here to critique that safe distance from the violence, foregrounding the antiseptic nature of the virtual narrative. Video courtesy of Microscope Gallery.”—Peggy Ahwesh

Scales in the Spectrum of Space
Fern Silva, USA, 2015, DCP, 7m
“Commissioned by the Chicago Film Archive and in collaboration with legendary jazz musician Phil Cohran, Scales in the Spectrum of Space explores the documented histories of urban life and architecture in Chicago. Culled from 70 hours of footage and incorporating 35 different films, Scales in the Spectrum of Space weighs in on the pulse of the Midwest metropolis.”—Fern Silva World Premiere

Many Thousands Gone
Ephraim Asili, USA/Brazil, 2015, digital projection, 9m
“Filmed on location in Salvador, Brazil (the last city in the Western Hemisphere to outlaw slavery) and Harlem, New York (an international stronghold of the African Diaspora), Many Thousands Gone draws parallels between a summer afternoon on the streets of the two cities. A silent version of the film was given to jazz multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee to create an interpretive score. The final film is the combination of the images and McPhee’s real-time “sight reading” of the score.”
—Ephraim Asili


Program #8
Sunday, October 4, 1:00pm
TRT: 65m

88:88
Isiah Medina, Canada, 2014/15, DCP, 65m
“You cannot pay your bill. - . Your heat and lights are cut off. -. You pay. The clocks initially flash 88:88, --:--. You set the clocks. You cannot pay. -. You pay. 88:88. --:--. Repeat. 88:88, --:--. Cut. -. You stop setting your clock to the time of the world. 88:88, --:-- . Subtracted: - : you make do with suspension. 88:88, --:--, -.”—Isiah Medina U.S. Premiere

Program #9
Sunday, October 4, 3:30pm
Sunday, October 4, 7:00pm
TRT: 76m

Life in the Cloud: What are the material and emotional consequences of a digital world that has altered our bodily existence?

Radio at Night
James Richards, Germany/UK, 2015, digital projection, 8m
“Responding to Derek Jarman’s visual strategies and montage techniques, Radio at Night carves out a sensual and sonic space of representation. The video is an assemblage of distorting and looping audiovisual material, including industrial documentation, medical imaging, news broadcasts, and a specially composed soundtrack sung in C minor.”—James Richards

All That Is Solid
Louis Henderson, France/UK/Ghana, 2014, DCP, 15m
“As technological progress pushes forward, piles of obsolete computers are discarded and recycled. Sent to the coast of West Africa, these computers are thrown into wastegrounds such as Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana. The e-waste is recovered and burned to extract the precious metals contained within. Eventually the metals are melted and reformed into new objects to be sold—it is a strange system of recycling, a kind of reverse neocolonial mining, whereby the African is searching for mineral resources in the materials of Europe. Through showing these laborious processes, the video challenges the capitalist myth of the immateriality of new technology, revealing the mineral weight with which the Cloud is grounded to its earthly origins.”—Louis Henderson

Mad Ladders
Michael Robinson, USA, 2015, digital projection, 9m
“A modern prophet’s visions of mythical destruction and transformation are recounted across a turbulent geometric ceremony of rising curtains, swirling setpieces, and unveiled idols from music television’s past. Together, these parallel cults of revelation unlock a pathway to the far side of the sun.”—Michael Robinson World Premiere

Erysichthon
Jon Rafman, Canada, 2015, digital projection, 8m
“Erysichthon is the third and final film in a Dante-esque adventure across the far-flung corners of the Web. Plunging into the depths of Internet obsessions and transgressions, the videos assemble an unsettling parade of images from the mundane to the erotic to the violent, presenting the full breadth and depth of human desires as mediated by the flow of data.”—Jon Rafman World Premiere

Slow Zoom Long Pause
Sara Magenheimer, USA, 2015, digital projection, 13m
“Q: How do we know it’s real?

A: It feels real

Q: What if fake feels real?

A: Then it’s real

Q: What color is the sound of your name?

A: Peach

Q: What comes next?

A: A

Q: Can you think of a thing that itself is a symbol, too?

A: A

Q: Do you know anyone whose name is just one letter?

A: I

Q: If your first name was only one letter, which letter would it be?

A: I”
—Sara Magenheimer
World Premiere

Hyperlinks or It Didn’t Happen
Cécile B. Evans, UK, 2014, digital projection, 22m
“Hyperlinks or It Didn’t Happen is narrated by the failed CGI rendering of a recently deceased actor (PHIL). In an intensification of so-called hyperlink cinema, the lives of a group of digital agents—render ghosts, spambots, holograms—unfold across various settings, genres, and modes of representation. Multiple storylines build, converge, and collapse around overarching ideas of existence without anatomy: the ways in which we live and work within the machine. Throughout, questions are raised about what it means to be materially conscious today and the rights of the personal data we release.”
—Cécile B. Evans


Program #10
Sunday, October 4, 6:00pm
TRT: 84m

Santa Teresa & Other Stories
Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias, Dominican Republic/Mexico/USA, 2015, DCP, 65m
“This film arises from the urgent need to talk about violence from another position, conscious of the over-used statement ‘Third World society places violence at the center of its meaning.’ Accordingly, let’s forget the modes of representation that my cinema has used and consider that where an idea manages to take control and become hegemonic, an anarchic rebellion of multiple narratives, colors, and formats emerges in a drive toward permanent revolution. The Caribbean reinvented European tongues; my montage is inspired by that far-from-standard orality, mutating constantly into different modes of representation as it stalks its freedom.”—Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias U.S. Premiere

Bunte Kuh
Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpour & Parastoo Anoushahpour, Canada, 2015, DCP, 6m
“Through a flood of images and impressions, a narrator attempts to recall a family holiday. Produced in Berlin and Toronto,Bunte Kuh combines a found postcard, a family photo album, and original footage to weave together the temporal realities of two separate vacations.”—Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpour & Parastoo Anoushahpour

The Everyday Ritual of Solitude Hatching Monkeys
Basim Magdy, Egypt, 2014, digital projection, 13m
“Layered and manually altered 16mm footage intertwines with the soundtrack and the narrative, presented through subtitles, to tell the story of a man who moves away from the sea to escape death by water. He soon finds himself alone when his co-workers go to the beach and never return. Society becomes a stranger and his imagination becomes his only friend. He dials a random number and a romantic conversation about loneliness and the absurdity of reality ensues. His world starts acquiring meaning as he realizes part-time-singer monkeys are running the show.”—Basim Magdy World Premiere


Program #11
Sunday, October 4, 8:30pm
Sunday, October 4, 9:00pm
TRT: 98m

THE SKY TREMBLES AND THE EARTH IS AFRAID AND THE TWO EYES ARE NOT BROTHERS
Ben Rivers, UK/Morocco, 2015, 35mm, 98m
A labyrinthine and epic film that moves between documentary, fantasy, and fable, shot against the staggering beauty of the Moroccan landscape, from the rugged terrain of the Atlas Mountains to the stark and surreal emptiness of the Moroccan Sahara, with its encroaching sands and abandoned film sets. Rivers’s work contains multiple narratives, the major strand being an adaptation of “A Distant Episode,” the savage short story by Paul Bowles. The film also features the enigmatic young film director Oliver Laxe, whose on-screen presence becomes interwoven with the multiple narratives that co-exist amid the various settings of Rivers’s cinematic exploration. U.S. Premiere


AMPHITHEATER

Program A
Friday, October 2, 12:00-6:00pm, 9:00-11:00pm, Q&A 9:00pm
TRT: 38m (on loop)

Chums from Across the Void
Jim Finn, USA, 2015, DCP, 18m
“Little Radek, the step-dancing Bolshevik; Machera, the Andean Robin Hood; and Maria Spiridonova, the Russian socialist assassin are your guides for Past Leftist Life Regression therapy. In this third Inner Trotsky Child video, narrator Lois Severin—a former Trotskyite turned suburban housewife—attempts to radicalize the personal fulfillment and self-help scene. Like the Christian fundamentalist activists in the 1970s who prepared the way for the Reagan Revolution, the Inner Trotsky Child movement was a way to cope with life in the Prime Material Plane of Corporate Capitalism and to create a 21st-century revolution of the mind.”—Jim Finn World Premiere

The Two Sights
Katherin McInnis, USA, 2015, DCP, 4m
“Between 1015 and 1021 C.E., the great Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) wrote The Book of Optics (while feigning madness and under house arrest). The Book of Optics debunks theories that the eyes emit rays, or that objects project replicas of themselves, and accurately describes the strengths and weaknesses of human vision. Translations of this work reached the West in the 13th century and influenced Roger Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, and Descartes.The Two Sights is a false translation of this work, using images from the LIFE magazine photo archive.”—Katherin McInnis World Premiere

A Disaster Forever
Michael Gitlin, USA, 2015, digital projection, 16m
“Derived from a 25-year-old cassette tape, transcribed and reenacted on a recording stage, A Disaster Forever positions us on the unfamiliar terrain of an idiosyncratic cosmology. Turning between prismatic abstractions and hand-painted entanglements, a world-system is suspended in the play of light by a voice that floats loose in a cinema for the ear.”—Michael Gitlin World Premiere


Program B
Saturday, October 3, 12:00-6:00pm, 9:00-11:00pm, Q&A 5:00pm
TRT: 34m (on loop)

Terrestrial
Calum Michel Walter, USA, 2015, digital projection, 11m
“The observations of an object in motion: A mobile device captures the trajectories of objects liberated from and bound to earth, against a backdrop of uniquely human dissonance. Terrestrial is in part an attempt to articulate a desire to transcend bodily limits with things like mobile devices and machines etc. while acknowledging an unavoidable level of dysfunction.The film was inspired by an incident in 2014 where a Blue Line train in Chicago failed to stop at its final destination, the O’Hare airport, and eventually came to a stop halfway up the escalator at the airport’s entrance. Terrestrial reimagines this crash as an earthbound machine’s failed takeoff.”—Calum Michel Walter U.S. Premiere

Noite Sem Distância
Lois Patiño, Portugal/Spain, 2015, DCP, 23m
“An instant in the memory of landscape: the smuggling that for centuries crossed the line between Portugal and Galicia. The Gerês Mountains knows no borders, and rocks cross from one country to another with insolence. Smugglers also disobey this separation. The rocks, the river, the trees: silent witnesses that help them to hide. They just have to wait for the night to cross the distance that separates them.”—Lois Patiño North American Premiere

Program C
Sunday, October 4, 12:00-6:00pm, 9:00-11:00pm, Q&A 3:00pm
TRT: 37m (on loop)

Rabbit Season, Duck Season
Michael Bell-Smith, USA, 2014, digital projection, 5m
“In Rabbit Season, Duck Season, a scene from the 1951 Warner Bros. cartoon “Rabbit Fire” is retold as an allegory for the present day. The cartoon’s iconic encounter between the hunter, the rabbit, and the duck frames a web of tightly constructed sequences that move across various forms of video, including traditional animation, live action, and 3-D animation. A loose essay film, the video adopts a variety of tones and genres to touch upon themes of resistance, taste, the construction of meaning, and the exhaustion of choice.”—Michael Bell-Smith

All My Love All My Love
Hannah Black, UK, 2013-15, digital projection, 7m
“In a famous experiment intended to mechanize the procedures of parenting and love, baby monkeys were given ‘wire mothers.’ The experiment failed, just like real mothers sometimes fail. It continues to be cheaper for the complex procedures of care to be performed by women, often impoverished women of color. But the vanguard of tech keeps producing new technologies of love: the Gchat that fills the empty space of a solitary day, for example, or the dancing robot in the video. The ambivalent need for contact remains, as a wound or a breach, threaded through all our relations. The living mother is also a technology, i.e., a social form, and one day she too might be rendered obsolete.”—Hannah Black North American Premiere

Velvet Peel 1
Victoria Fu, 2015, USA, digital projection, 13m
“Velvet Peel 1 depicts performing bodies in cinematic space interacting with flat layers of digital effects. Featuring performers Polina Akhmetzyanova and Matilda Lidberg, their movements are based on physical enactments of touchscreen interfaces. The figures are composited in a variety of settings—scenes from previous exhibition venues and contexts where the work was installed, the artist’s studio during production, appropriated footage from the Internet, desktop screensavers, and abstracted 16mm color film. Layered together to create a “viable” or “habitable” cinematic space, the scenes are simultaneously deconstructed by making the layers of post-production visible, and the flatness of surfaces called to the fore.

OM Rider
Takeshi Murata, USA, 2014, digital projection, 12m
“In a vast desert bathed in neon hues, a misfit werewolf blasts syncopated techno rhythms into the night. Meanwhile, an old man sits at a large, round table in a void-like space, rigidly sipping coffee and rolling snake-eyed dice as the faint sound of the werewolf’s pulsating, phantasmic synth grows louder. Hopping onto his motorcycle, the werewolf tears full speed ahead over forbidding terrain while his hoary counterpart becomes increasingly anxious...”—Takeshi Murata

For more information, please visit:

www.filmlinc.org

https://mubi.com

HELIOS FILM FESTIVAL JOINS FORCES WITH TENTSQUARE FOR FEMALE FILMMAKER CHALLENGE

The Helios Film Festival and TentSquare announced the launch of a “Female Filmmaker Challenge” as part of the film festival’s inaugural edition on October 9-11, 2015. Taking place in Cincinnati, the first year film festival celebrating independent filmmaking with an emphasis on shining a light on local film production, announced it’s first Call For Entries last month.

The "Female Filmmaker Challenge" will be open to female writers, directors, cinematographers and producers to submit a short film up to 15 minutes for a chance to win cash prizes, VIP badges to the 2015 Helios Film Festival and receive a spot on the "Women in Film" panel at the festival. The winner of the website’s contest will receive $500, 2 VIP filmmaker badges, and a spot on a “Women in Film” panel that will take place during the film festival. Choosing the winner of that contest will be actress/filmmaker Pollyanna McIntosh (LET US PREY, THE WOMAN), producer Kerry Fulton (JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOR, ANA Y YO), and director/producer Sylvia Caminer (AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART, TANZANIA: A JOURNEY WITHIN). A staff-chosen winner will receive a $250 prize and a single VIP filmmaker badge.

Festival Director Lana Read said, “We could not be more excited to join forces with TentSquare to host this Female Filmmaker Challenge in our very first year. As filmmakers ourselves, Co-Director Ramsey Stoneburner and I are thrilled that the Helios Film Festival will immediately establish itself as a home for female directors and a film festival they can look to as a place dedicated to putting their work front and center.”

"Film history is rich with so many contributions made by female filmmakers," TentSquare’s Andrew van den Houten added, "and yet those creative voices are heard less often. The community is replete with talented women filmmakers and we're excited to see what they create."

The deadline for entries for the “Female Filmmaker Challenge” is August 28, 2015. The winner will be announced when the Helios Film Festival reveals the lineup of films for its first edition next month.

Application and entry details can be found at https://www.tentsquare.com/challenges/female-filmmaker-challenge-sfcs.

As previously announced, the Helios Film Festival is currently accepting entries through August 31, 2015.

The categories and submission information are on the web site at http://heliosfilmfestival.org.

Top critics Brett Ratner, Eric Kohn and Ann Hornaday at Key West Film Festival

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“Brett Ratner Florida Student Filmmaker Scholarship” Announced

The Key West Film Festival announced a new annual Critics Focus program in which the nation’s top film critics will be invited to curate spotlight selections. This year, Ann Hornaday, Chief Film Critic of The Washington Post, and Eric Kohn, Chief Film Critic of Indiewire, will attend and host audience Q&As with the talent from the films they have selected, which will be announced at a later date. Also announced today is the new annual Brett Ratner Florida Student Filmmaker Scholarship. The festival runs in Key West, Florida from November 18 to 22.
 
As part of the Critics Focus program, some of the nation’s most respected film critics will be invited to curate spotlight films at the festival. Participating critics will be will be invited to return to the festival, as new critics are invited to curate films each year.  The program further marks the Key West Film Festival as a new and vital stop on the fall festival circuit, and is designed to support film criticism while giving audiences greater context and perspective around films through public conversations guided by expert voices.

Program Director Michael Tuckman states, “We want to put a spotlight on film criticism, and support it. Because of the shifting media environment, there are fewer film critics today. Critics have historically supported films and film festivals, and at Key West we want to give back by building a more dynamic relationship between our curated films and the film criticism community, creating a forum for open discussion and the exchange of ideas between real audiences and top critics.”

Ann Hornaday comments, “I’m honored to be invited to participate in the Critics Choice program at this year’s Key West Film Festival. With film criticism facing a number of challenges in a rapidly changing media landscape, it’s gratifying to join a community of film lovers who value what critics can bring to the conversation.”

Eric Kohn, who also serves on the festival’s advisory board, says, “I’m thrilled to participate in the Key West Film Festival’s Critics Choice program to help provide more context for authentic moviegoers as they are given the chance to uncover great movies in a festival environment.  Over the past two years that I’ve had the pleasure of attending the Key West Film Festival, the one thing more impressive than the luxurious weather and beach conditions is the enthusiasm of the audiences at every screening. These aren’t jaded industry insiders, but delightful, colorful personalities from all walks of life who are genuinely excited to discover new movies. It’s this type of attitude that sustains the value of critics as tastemakers today.”

Local film critic for The Key West Citizen, Shirrel Rhoades, will also present a film and will lead a panel discussion of the attending critics.

The Key West Film Festival’s annual Brett Ratner Florida Student Filmmaker Scholarship will begin this year, with a $5000 scholarship award given to a Florida student filmmaker chosen from six participating Florida colleges and universities. Born and raised in Miami Beach, Ratner is one of Florida’s most cherished filmmakers and will present the award to the winning student at a special ceremony at the Festival. The scholarship is designed to put a spotlight on aspiring Florida filmmakers, giving their unique local vision and heritage a national stage.

Brett Ratner states, “I'm thrilled to be coming home to where I first started making films in order to support and recognize the next generation of Florida filmmakers at this vibrant festival.”

Festival Venues include the historic San Carlos Institute, where the campaign for Cuba’s independence from colonial powers was planned in 1892.  The Key West Film Festival has equipped the San Carlos with DCP technology, and it will host gala screenings.  Other screening venues include Eaton Street Theater, the Waterfront Brewery and additional venues to be named later. Host venues for social events include the Hemingway Home and Museum, the Waldorf Astoria Casa Marina, and the Southernmost Mansion.

For full program information, a schedule of events, and travel and lodging details, please visit: kwfilmfest.com

New York Comedy Festival Announces 2015 Lineup Featuring Judd Apatow, Trevor Noah, Bill Burr and More

12TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL WILL RUN NOVEMBER 10-15

• Citi Cardmember Presale Tickets Available August 11 - 16; Tickets Available at www.citiprivatepass.com
• Tickets Available to the General Public on August 17 at www.nycomedyfestival.com

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Marking its 12th year, the New York Comedy Festival (NYCF), presented in association with Comedy Central, announced its 2015 line-up today.  Expanding to six days and running from November 10 –15, the festival will feature some of comedy’s biggest stars performing in New York City’s most prestigious venues, including the Beacon Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Carnegie Hall, Carolines on Broadway, Madison Square Garden, The Theater at MSG, Town Hall and the 92nd Street Y.

Among the many highlights of this year’s festival include Judd Apatow and Friends at Carnegie Hall, Billy Crystal in conversation with David Steinberg at Town Hall, Bill Burr at Madison Square Garden, and Comedy Central’s new host of “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah at Town Hall.  This year’s returning festival veterans include Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin, Gabriel Iglesias, Norm Macdonald, Bill Maher, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman, as well as first-time festival performers Nathan Fielder, John Leguizamo and Iliza Shlesinger.

This year’s NYCF will feature over 200 of the country’s most recognized and emerging comedians performing more than 60 shows throughout the city.  Additional shows will be announced in the fall.

“Our aspiration for the festival has always been bringing together talent from all over the comedy spectrum, featuring comedic greats and highlighting emerging talent in the industry. This year’s line-up is no exception,” said Caroline Hirsch, founder and owner of the New York Comedy Festival and Carolines on Broadway. “Throughout the years, the festival has become a staple in the comedy and New York City communities and we look forward to offering another week filled with big laughs.”

“Performing at Carnegie Hall is a dream come true,” said Judd Apatow. “Not for me but for some foreign twelve year old violinist. But I am sure it will be great!”

“Once again, Comedy Central and NYCF are excited to present a stellar line-up of comedic talent and shows,” said Steve Raizes, Senior Vice President, Comedy Central Consumer Products. “It’s a great opportunity for fans to experience the huge range and styles of comedy that take place in New York City.”

Over the past decade, the New York Comedy Festival has brought memorable performances to some of New York City’s most well-known venues with such talent as Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Louis C.K., Dane Cook, Whitney Cummings, Larry David, Jim Gaffigan, Ricky Gervais, Kevin Hart, Bill Maher, Joel McHale, Tracy Morgan, Tig Notaro, Patton Oswalt, Andy Samberg, and Amy Schumer, among others. The NYCF has also produced informative and entertaining panels including “Id Isn’t Always Pretty: An Evening with Broad City,” “An Evening with the Late Show with David Letterman Writers,” and “Clown Panties and Other Unpleasant Truths: An Evening With Inside Amy Schumer.”

Citi is the official card of the New York Comedy Festival.  Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase presale tickets to NYCF shows through Citi’s Private Pass program. The presale will run from August 11 at 10:00 AM EDT to August 16 at 10:00 PM EDT.  For complete presale details, visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

Tickets for all shows are available to the general public starting August 17 at 10:00 AM EDT.  Tickets can be purchased through the New York Comedy Festival website: www.nycomedyfestival.com.

The 2015 NYCF is presented in association with Comedy Central. Now in its 12th year, the festival is produced by Carolines on Broadway. Sponsors of the festival include Citi, the New York Post, Time Out New York, Variety and the Village Voice.

THE 2015 NEW YORK COMEDY FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

(EVENTS CONFIRMED TO DATE AND ARE SUBJECT TO ADDITIONS)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11

A CONVERSATION WITH PATTON OSWALT – 7:30PM – 92ND STREET Y

MARGARET CHO – THERE’S NO I IN TEAM BUT THERE’S A CHO IN PSYCHO – 8PM – TOWN HALL

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12

NATHAN FIELDER – NATHAN FOR YOU – SNEAK PEAK AND Q & A – 7:30PM – NYU SKIRBALL CENTER

NORM MACDONALD – 7:30 PM – CAROLINES ON BROADWAY (PERFORMING THROUGH SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15)

A CONVERSATION WITH BILLY CRYSTAL AND DAVID STEINBERG – 8PM – TOWN HALL

KATHY GRIFFIN: LIKE A BOSS – 8PM – CARNEGIE HALL

GABRIEL IGLESIAS PRESENTS: COMEDIANS OF STAND UP REVOLUTION – 8PM – BEACON THEATRE

KUMAIL NANJIANI – 10:00PM – NYU SKIRBALL CENTER

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13

SARAH SILVERMAN AND FRIENDS – 8PM – BAM

ILIZA SHLESINGER – 8PM – NYU SKIRBALL CENTER

JOHN LEGUIZAMO IN CONVERSATION – 8PM – 92ND STREET Y

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14

JUDD APATOW AND FRIENDS — 7PM – CARNEGIE HALL

TREVOR NOAH – 7PM – TOWN HALL

AN EVENING WITH BILL MAHER – 8PM – THE THEATRE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

BILL BURR: DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER LAUGHTER? — 8PM — MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

For more information, please visit:

Comedy Central (www.cc.com)

Save the World and Be A Global Citizen

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Where can you see Pearl Jam, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and Coldplay all in the same place? Global Citizen has you covered. The newly released lineup of the Global Citizen Festival, taking place September 26th, in the Great Lawn of Central Park, includes these headliners. Partners, Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE campaign are proud sponsors of the event. GlobalCitizen.org says that “the Festival is timed to coincide with the launch of the United Nations’ new Global Goals designed to fight inequality, protect our planet and end extreme poverty by 2030.”

So how do you get tickets to the star studded, do-good event? Sign up on GlobalCitizen.org to take action to end poverty. Once you've completed the action journey, you will be eligible for a ticket draw. For those not lucky enough to go, the festival will be streamed live from YouTube.com/GlobalCitizen. It's your time to be a part of changing the world. This means supporting the chance for every child to be able to attend school, every woman and girl being protected from violence, and diseases that can be prevented aren't altering the lives of others. Want a chance to be one of the 24,000 winners for this amazing event, sign up now!

(#NYAFF15) |NYAFF Announces 2015 Program and New Teaser Trailer | @subwaycinema

Opening Night film is the North American Premiere of Philip Yung’s crime-thriller Port of Call and Centerpiece Presentation is the North American Premiere of Sabu’sChasuke’s Journey

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Other notable films include the World Premiere of Fire Lee’s Robbery; the International Premiere of Anh Sang-hoon’s Empire of Lust; the North American Premieres of Chen Jiabin’s directorial debut A Fool and Lau Ho-leung’s Two Thumbs Up; and the U.S. Premiere of Daihachi Yoshida’s Pale Moon

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Special focus programs include Hong Kong Panorama; New Cinema from Japan (with a spotlight on director Daihachi Yoshida); Taiwan Cinema Now!; Myung Films: Pioneers and Women Behind the Camera in Korean Film; and The Last Men in Japanese Film, a joint Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara Tribute

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Welcome to the 14th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF). We're back with over 50 new feature films from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and South East Asia, featuring 1 World, 3 International, and 13 North American premieres, as well as an exceptional, all-star lineup of guests from all across Asia, including Hong Kong's superstar thesp Aaron Kwok, legendary director Ringo Lam, and Japan's rising star Shota Sometani.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema announced the lineup for the 2015 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which will take place from June 26 to July 8 at the Film Society and July 9 to 11 at SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd Street). The Closing Night selection will be announced at a later date. North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema will showcase 52 feature films, including 1 World Premiere, 3 International Premieres, 13 North American Premieres, 5 U.S. Premieres, and 14 films making their New York City debuts. The festival will be attended by 18 international filmmakers and celebrity guests traveling from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S.

NYAFF’s Opening Night presentation will be the North American Premiere of Philip Yung’s Port of Call. The film centers on the brutal murder of a 16-year-old Hunan girl who moves to Hong Kong with her family and falls into prostitution. Winding through time and grounded by Christopher Doyle’s gauzy cinematography, the film follows both the story of the young girl’s descent into sex work and the grizzled detective (Aaron Kwok) who obsessively works to solve the murder. Kwok is astonishing here in a career-best performance, with all the tics and haggard body language of a man beaten down by the violence that threatens to drown him at every turn.

The Centerpiece Presentation will be the North American premiere of Sabu’s Chasuke’s Journey, which was in Competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. According to Variety, the film finds “Sabu in his most fun-loving element, stirring Okinawa’s magical folk art into a Capraesque yarn that flirts with ideas of fate and self-determination, but really just revels in a rich tapestry of human experience. [The film is also] full of whimsical twists and high-octane action.”

The lineup also includes the World Premiere of Fire Lee’s black comedy Robbery; the International Premiere of Anh Sang-hoon’s erotic period actioner Empire of Lust; the North American Premieres of Chen Jiabin’s directorial debut A Fool, Daihachi Yoshida’s fantasy-drama Pale Moon, Lau Ho-leung’s action-comedy Two Thumbs Up, and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s slacker/rock drama La La La at Rock Bottom (previously announced); and the U.S. premiere of Yee Chih-yen’s high-school noirMeeting Dr. Sun. Other exciting highlights include Kulikar Sotho’s gorgeous meditation on Cambodia’s tragic Khmer Rouge past and its impact on the present, The Last Reel; Ryuichi Hiroki’s ensemble love-and-sex drama Kabukicho Love Hotel; Boo Ji-young’s superb labor-rights underdog drama Cart; and Sion Sono’s berserk rap musical Tokyo Tribe.   

The 14th edition of the NYAFF will feature five focus programs: “Hong Kong Panorama”; “New Cinema from Japan”; “Taiwan Cinema Now!”; the previously announced “Myung Films: Pioneers and Women Behind the Camera in Korean Film”; and “The Last Men in Japanese Film,” a joint tribute to Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara, both of whom passed away last November.

Though the festival is traditionally rooted in genre film and faithful to popular cinema, NYAFF 2015 continues to feature ambitious pieces of realistic storytelling that delineate themes that unite, rather than isolate, the nations and their cinemas by suggesting what they have in common. The design of this year’s program is to look in both directions: the present and the controversial past, with the inclusion of a number of movies that cast an unblinking eye on the wounds of history (the Khmer Rouge inThe Last Reel or the Cultural Revolution in Red Amnesia). In an age when nationalism has taken firm root in many East Asian countries and political control has spread far and wide, denying cinema its freedom and jeopardizing the existence of some of the most established festivals, this year’s lineup also offers emotional morality tales (Little Big Master, Cart,Socialphobia) and films that speak truth to power (The Whistleblower,Solomon’s Perjury Part 1 & 2, A Fool).

Women come to the fore with both a program highlighting directors and producers currently working behind the scenes in the Korean peninsula, and films from Japan that offer superb female portraits: defiant, fierce… free. The festival also celebrates the beauty of Asian masculinity on screen, with a tribute to the two iconic Japanese actors who set the blueprint for Japanese manhood and cool, praised beyond the archipelago’s borders—Ken Takakura’s death was widely lamented on Weibo (China’s most popular social-media site) and even on state-run China Central Television (CCTV).

After eight successful years of partnership with Japan Society’s Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Films, this year’s diverse selection of Japanese films have been fully integrated with the rest of the Festival’s program, and SVA Theatre’s Silas and Beatrice Theatres has been added to the list of venues. With three days of screenings at the SVA Theatre (June 9-11), we are able to bring downtown audiences the biggest and boldest of Asian cinema’s grand spectacles—sensory feasts that deserve to be experienced on the silver screen (such asBrotherhood of Blades, The Royal Tailor, The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D, and Vengeance of an Assassin).

In addition, five bold focus programs highlight East Asia’s crucial role in today’s ever-changing world of film. And at a time when many major film festivals are more Eurocentric and West-dominated than ever, NYAFF continues to show that the life of cinema is out there.

HONG KONG PANORAMA

Hong Kong cinema’s renewed confidence of the past couple of years shows no signs of abating in 2015. While leading Hong Kong filmmakers continue to deliver blockbusters in Mainland China (such as Tsui Hark’sThe Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D), there’s now even more variety in Hong Kong–focused films, as they continue to look for inspiration in the heydey of 1980s and 1990s local cinema, as evidenced by the crime-thriller Port of Call, the pulpy action-comedy Two Thumbs Up, and the touching contemporary drama Little Big Master. The city of Hong Kong also remains a popular filming location, and is also providing inspiration to Asian-American filmmakers, as can be seen in Emily Ting’s romanceIt’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong. This focus will include Full Strike,Insanity, It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong, Little Big Master, Port of Call, Robbery, The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D, Two Thumbs Up, and retro screenings of City on Fire, Full Alert and Cold War.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

MYUNG FILMS: PIONEERS AND WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA IN KOREAN FILM

Korean cinema has been known internationally primarily through the works of a small group of male directors (Hong Sangsoo, Kim Ki-duk, Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon, and others), but one of its key film production companies, Myung Films, is led by a woman: producer Shim Jae-myung. Myung Films has spearheaded the transformation of the Korean film culture and industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s by establishing new genres and discovering new talent. We are proud to showcase a couple of their recent productions (Cart and Revivre), as well as some of their masterworks (The President’s Last Bang, The Isle, andWaikiki Brothers)as part of a greater focus on women who work behind the scenes. Shim Jae-myung will be in attendance and will be joined by top female directors Yim Soon-rye (The Whistleblower)and Boo Ji-young (Cart), who are known for their uncompromising films dealing with issues of social justice. For these women behind the camera, it’s not just about standing up against patriarchy, oppression, or power but about telling stories of real people and real lives—struggling, folding and sometimes collapsing—perhaps showing that the human condition might be best expressed by women.  

Presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Service New York.

Co-presented with The Korea Society.

NEW CINEMA FROM JAPAN

Japanese cinema continues to surprise with its consistent range and quality of adult stories and excels in its portrayals of female characters. This is certainly true of the works of award-winning filmmaker Daihachi Yoshida (Funuke, Show Some Love You Losers!, Pale Moon, Permanent Nobara). The imaginative genre exercises are also represented, and resplendently so with Sion Sono delivering the wild fun in spades with the hip-hop musical Tokyo Tribes, and the two-part crime mystery Solomon’s Perjury. This focus will consist of Chasuke’s Journey, Kabukicho Love Hotel, La La La at Rock Bottom, Solomon’s Perjury Part 1: Suspicion,Solomon’s Perjury Part 2: Judgement, Taksu, Tokyo Tribe, and a special spotlight on the award-winning filmmaker Daihachi Yoshida, consisting ofFunuke, Show Some Love You Losers!, Pale Moon, and Permanent Nobara.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

TAIWAN CINEMA NOW!

While Taiwan’s domestic film market is relatively small when compared to those of Mainland China, Japan, and South Korea, Taiwan’s creative talent continues to play a vital role in the context of Asian cinema by continuing to deliver smaller quirky local films with distinct Taiwanese flavor and strong appeal to local audiences and the international festival circuit, the latter of which will be highlighted in this focus. The films will include Café. Waiting. Love, Meeting Dr. Sun, Partners in Crime, andSecond Chance.

Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.

THE LAST MEN IN JAPANESE FILM – A Ken Takakura/Bunta Sugawara Tribute

Japanese film legends Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara, both of whom passed away last November, will be the subject of the first joint tribute outside of Japan, which will feature the brand-new 2K remaster of Kinji Fukasaku’s 1973 classic Battles Without Honor and Humanity, screened for the first time in North America. Other titles will includeAbashiri Prison, Cops vs. Thugs, The Man Who Stole the Sun, Nihon Kyokaku-den (Tales of Chivalry in Japan), and Wolves, Pigs and Men—all made with honor and humor by civilized craftsmen, in sharp contrast to prefabricated conveyor-belts products that have conquered Japanese screens.

In the same way that the archetype of American masculinity was defined by the post–World War II generation of tough-guy actors (James Coburn, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood), “Ken-san” and “Bun-chan” have set the blueprint for what it meant to be a man in defeated postwar Japan. Their performances invented Japanese cool, decades before the government figured “cool” was a marketable concept for its soft power ambitions.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity co-presented with Arrow Video.

The 2015 New York Asian Film Festival Award Honorees

Previously announced NYAFF award recipients include Hong Kong’s legendary director Ringo Lam (Lifetime Achievement Award), Hong Kong superstar actor-singer Aaron Kwok (Star Asia Award), and Japanese actor Shota Sometani (Screen International Rising Star Award).

Sponsors: The Kitano Hotel, Hotel Beacon, Møsefund Farm, Manhattan Portage, Well Go USA Entertainment, Arrow Video, China Lion Film Distribution, FlaskingtreeMarketing Group, Epic Proportions, Kirin, and Mizu Shochu; and our media partners: Screen International and Chopsticks NY.

Tickets: will go on sale on June 9 for Film Society Members and June 11 for general public, both at the box office and online.Discounts are available for Film Society members. Read more about the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Screenings will be held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street, between Amsterdam and Broadway), and SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Press Screening Schedule

Screening Venue:

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam

Tuesday, June 9

10:00am PORT OF CALL (121 min)

Thursday, June 11

10:00am A FOOL (105 min)

12:00pm CART (103 min)

The 2015 New York Asian Film Festival Guests include:

Ringo Lam (CITY ON FIRE, FULL ALERT)

Aaron Kwok (PORT OF CALL)

Shota Sometani (KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL, TOKYO TRIBE)

Shim Jae-myung (CART, WAIKIKI BROTHERS)

Daihachi Yoshida(FUNUKE, SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS!, PALE MOON)

Ryuichi Hiroki (KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL)

Sabu (CHASUKE'S JOURNEY)

Yim Soon-rye (THE WHISTLEBLOWER, WAIKIKI BROTHERS)

Boo Ji-young (CART)

Philip Yung (PORT OF CALL)

Yee Chih-Yen (MEETING DR. SUN)

Lee Won-suk (THE ROYAL TAILOR)

Namewee (BANGLASIA)

Kulikar Sotho (THE LAST REEL)

Lau Ho-Leung (TWO THUMBS UP)

Emily Ting (IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG)

Jamie Chung (IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG)

Bryan Greenberg (IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG)

The 2015 New York Asian Film Festival lineup

OPENING NIGHT FILM

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

PORT OF CALL | 踏血尋梅

PHILIP YUNG, 2015 | CAST: AARON KWOK, MICHAEL NING, JESSIE LI

HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 121 MINUTES

A police detective (Aaron Kwok, in a career-defining role) tracks down the murderer of a young prostitute in this brutal thriller directed by Philip Yung and shot by master cinematographer Christopher Doyle.

Director Philip Yung and star Aaron Kwok will attend the screening. Aaron Kwok will be presented with Star Asia Award on June 26.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

CHASUKE'S JOURNEY | 天の茶助

SABU, 2015 | CAST: KENICHI MATSUYAMA, ITO OHNO, REN OHSUGI, YUSUKE ISEYA

JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES

A celestial tea server descends to Okinawa in order to save a young girl, falls in with a gang of losers, enjoys ramen, finds unwarranted celebrity, and fights against predestination written by heavenly hacks who copy Hollywood blockbusters.

Director Sabu will attend the screening.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

To be announced

ABASHIRI PRISON | 網走番外地

TERUO ISHII, 1965 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, KOJI NANBARA, TETSURO TAMBA, TORU ABE

JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 92 MINUTES

The first entry in Toei’s hugely successful Abashiri Prison yakuza film series, directed by Teruo Ishii, established Ken Takakura’s superstar status. If you want to understand Ken's enormous popularity, this is the film that started it all. In many ways, this is the invention of the Japanese man.

Print courtesy of Toei Co., Ltd.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

BANGLASIA 孟加拉殺手
NAMEWEE, 2015 | CAST: NIRAB HOSSAIN, SAIFUL APEK, NAMEWEE, ATIKAH SUHAIME

MALAYSIA | MALAY, ENGLISH, MANDARIN, AND HOKKIEN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 91 MINUTES

From the director of festival fave foodie flick Nasi Lemak 2.0 comes this wild and crazy Western full of musical numbers and humor so slaphappy it’ll leave your head spinning. It was banned in Malaysia for being too political, so we’re proud to screen it.

Director/actor/singer Namewee will attend the screening.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF THE NEW DIGITAL REMASTER

BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY | 仁義なき戦い

KINJI FUKASAKU, 1973 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, HIROKI MATSUKATA, NOBUO KANEKO, KUNIE TANAKA, GORO IBUKI

JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 99 MINUTES

Quite possibly the ultimate yakuza movie, Kinji Fukasaku’s dark, gritty classic stars Bunta Sugawara (in the role that made his career) as a former soldier who turns to organized crime and claws his way up the yakuza underworld in postwar Hiroshima.     .

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

Co-presented with Arrow Video.

BROTHERHOOD OF BLADES | 繡春刀

LU YANG, 2014 | CAST: CHANG CHEN, CECILIA LIU, WANG QIANYUAN, ETHAN LI, NIE YUAN

CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DIGITAL PROJECTION | 106 MINUTES

One of the best Chinese period action films in recent memory, this overlooked blood-red gem is packed with superbly choreographed fight scenes, riveting drama, and performances to match.

Film courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

CAFÉ. WAITING. LOVE | 等一個人咖啡

CHIANG CHIN-LIN, 2014 | CAST: VIVIAN SUNG, BRUCE, MEGAN LAI, MARCUS CHANG

TAIWAN | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 120 MINUTES

Three years after his record-breaking debut, You Are the Apple of My Eye, writer-director Giddens Ko penned this irresistibly zany romantic comedy, based on his book of the same name—but this time with Chiang Chin-lin in the director’s seat.

Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

CART | 카트

BOO JI-YOUNG, 2014 | CAST: YUM JUNG-AH, MOON JUNG-HEE, KIM YOUNG-AE, KIM KANG-WOO, HWANG JEONG-MIN, CHUN WOO-HEE

SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES

In this pro-union flick, the 99% rise up after a bunch of female employees at a chain retail giant (think Wal-Mart) get laid off via text message. When they decide to go on strike, management calls in the thugs...

Director Boo Ji-young and producer Shim Jae-myung will attend the screening.

Presented with the support of the Korean Cultural Service New York.

Co-presented with The Korea Society.

CITY ON FIRE | 龍虎風雲

RINGO LAM, 1987 | CAST: CHOW YUN-FAT, DANNY LEE, SUEN YUET, ROY CHEUNG

HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35mm | 100 MINUTES

Ringo Lam’s classic heist-gone-bad flick is the movie that made Chow Yun-fat (playing an undercover cop) a star and provided Quentin Tarantino with the basis for Reservoir Dogs. The film features heartbreak to spare for the little people trying to eke out a living at the end of a gun.

Director Ringo Lam will attend the screening and will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Print Courtesy of Academy Film Archive.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

COLD WAR | 寒戰
LONGMAN LEUNG, SUNNY LUK, 2012 | CAST: AARON KWOK, TONY LEUNG KAR-FAI, ANDY LAU
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 102 MINUTES
Winner of nine Hong Kong Film Awards, including “Best Film,” Best Director,” “Best Screenplay,” “Best Actor,” and “Best New Performer,” COLD WAR was Hong Kong’s 2012 box office sensation. This cop thriller stars Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Kar-Fai as two high-ranking officers whose rivalry leads to an intense power struggle over an explosive rescue operation.
Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

COPS VS. THUGS | 県警対組織暴力
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1975 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, HIROKI MATSUKATA, KEN TAKAKURA, MIKIO NARITA, NOBUO KANEKO
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 100 MINUTES 
Bunta Sugawara plays a cop so corrupt he’s basically a member of the yakuza—delivering witnesses to his criminal buddies and looking the other way when they murder rivals. But now a war is breaking out and this bad lieutenant is going to have to choose sides.
Print courtesy of the Japan Foundation
Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE

EMPIRE OF LUST | 순수의시대

AHN SANG-HOON, 2015 | CAST: SHIN HA-KYUN, JANG HYUK, KANG HANNA, KANG HA-NEUL

SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 113 MINUTES

A gorgeous period actioner set during the founding days of Joseon Dynasty in the early 14th century, Empire of Lust follows three men who engage in a power struggle within the palace walls, caught in the whirlwind of love, lust, greed, betrayal, and revenge.

Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

A FOOL | 一個勺子

CHEN JIANBIN, 2014 | CAST: CHEN JIAN BIN, WANG XUEBING, JIN SHIJIA

CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES

Chen Jianbin’s directorial debut is a harsh noir about an honest farmer’s efforts to help a young homeless man that instead set off a chain of disasters, serving as a reminder of man’s inhumanity when faced with greed.

China Lion Film Distribution (www.chinalionentertainment.com) has acquired North American rights to A Fool. The release date is yet to be announced. The film is expected to receive a Greater China release in late 2015.

FULL ALERT | 高度戒備

RINGO LAM, 1997 | CAST: LAU CHING-WAN, FRANCIS NG, AMANDA LEE, MONICA CHAN, JACK KAO

HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 98 MINUTES

Ringo Lam’s last great movie before his 12-year retirement is a dark, glittering gem of a police procedural that works both as a heist flick and as a tombstone for both pre-Handover Hong Kong and the action genre.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

U.S. PREMIERE

FULL STRIKE | 全力扣殺

DEREK KWOK & HENRI WONG, 2015 | CAST: JOSIE HO, EKIN CHENG, RONALD CHENG, TSE KWAN-HO, ANDREW LAM, WILFRED LAU

HONG KONG/CHINA | CANTONESE, HAKKA, AND ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 108 MINUTES

Racquet sport becomes martial art when a down-and-out gang of has-beens form a badminton team to win back their self-respect in this hyperactive, totally surreal comedy from Derek Kwok, the co-director of Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

FUNUKE, SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS! | 腑抜けども、悲しみの愛を見せろ

DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2007 | CAST: ERIKA SATO, MASATOSHI NAGASE, HIROMI NAGASAKU

JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 112 MINUTES

Seduction, persecution, prostitution, suicide, and more greet the Wago family’s three siblings who return home for their parent’s funeral after they’re killed while trying to save a kitten. Yoshida’s twisted, smart, and deftly handled first film is as black as a comedy can get, yet wrapped in a lighthearted exterior.

Director Daihachi Yoshida will attend the screening.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

INSANITY | 暴瘋語

DAVID LEE, 2014 | CAST: LAU CHING-WAN, HUANG XIAOMING, ALEX FONG, FIONA SIT, NINA PAW

HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 99 MINUTES

In this psychological thriller produced by Derek Yee (The Great Magician,One Night in Mongkok), a psychiatrist (Huang Xiaoming) is lured to the dark side of the mind by his patient and convicted murderer (Lau Ching-Wan).

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

THE ISLE | 섬

KIM KI-DUK, 2000 | CAST: CHO JAE-HYUN, SUH JUNG, PARK SEONG-HEE, JANG HANG-SEON

SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 85 MINUTES

Kim Ki-duk helped put Korean cinema on the map with this art-house exploitation shocker about a cop on the run who winds up at a floating hotel owned by a woman who might be insane, or just really in love. You are not prepared.

Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service New York.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG

EMILY TING, 2014 | CAST: JAMIE CHUNG, BRYAN GREENBERG, RICHARD NG

HONG KONG/USA | ENGLISH | FORMAT: DCP | 78 MINUTES

This compelling walk-and-talk romance à laRichard Linklater, centered on two Hong Kong expats who randomly cross paths one night, is as much about the attraction between the leads as it is about the love of Hong Kong.

Director Emily Ting and actors Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg will attend the screening.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL | さよなら歌舞伎町

RYUICHI HIROKI, 2014 | CAST: SHOTA SOMETANI, ATSUKO MAEDA, LEE EUN-WOO, ROY (SON IL-KWON)

JAPAN | JAPANESE AND KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 136 MINUTES

Taking place over 24 hours in a Tokyo love hotel, this steamy and poignant character-driven ensemble drama from director Ryuichi Hiroki (Vibrator) looks at ordinary people as they experience life-changing events.

Director Ryuichi Hiroki and star Shota Sometani will attend the screening. Shota Sometani will be presented with the Screen International Rising Star Award.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM | 味園ユニバース

NOBUHIRO YAMASHITA, 2015 | CAST: SUBARU SHIBUTANI, FUMI NIKAIDO, SARINA SUZUKI, KATSUMI KAWAHARA

JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES

From Nobuhiro Yamashita (director of Linda Linda Linda and Tamako in Moratorium) comes this romantic comedy about an amnesiac man who, as the memory of his criminal past slowly returns, tries to find redemption and love through rock music.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

THE LAST REEL |ដុំហ្វីលចុងកាាយ

KULIKAR SOTHO, 2014 | CAST: MA RYNET, ROUS MONY, DY SAVETH, HUN SOPHY

CAMBODIA | KHMER WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 106 MINUTES

This gorgeous and engaging drama about a rebellious Cambodian girl determined to shoot the missing ending of a 40-year-old movie starring her mother is a meditation on Cambodia’s past and present, and the power of art.

Director Kulikar Sotho will attend the screening.    

LITTLE BIG MASTER | 五個小孩的校長

ADRIAN KWAN, 2015 | CAST: MIRIAM YEUNG, LOUIS KOO, WINNIE HO

HONG KONG/CHINA | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 112 MINUTES

Hong Kong’s runaway box-office hit is a powerful drama based on the true story of a principal assigned to a failing rural kindergarten with only five students: if one of them drops out, the school closes.

Presented with the support of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

THE MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN | 太陽を盗んだ男

KAZUHIKO HASEGAWA, 1979 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, KENJI SAWADA

JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 147 MINUTES

A ballsy satire about a high-school science teacher (rock-star Kenji Sawada) who builds an atomic bomb at home and uses it to try to get The Rolling Stones to play in Japan, all the while playing cat and mouse with a police detective sporting a buzz cut (Bunta Sugawara).

Print courtesy of the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute.

Presented with the support of Japan Foundation New York.

U.S. PREMIERE

MEETING DR. SUN | 行動代號孫中山

YEE CHIH-YEN, 2014 | CAST: ZHAN HUAI-TING, MATTHEW WEI, JOSEPH CHANG, BRYAN CHANG

TAIWAN | MANDARIN AND TAIWANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 94 MINUTES

A deadpan high-school noir about two gangs of impoverished boys competing to steal a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (the founding father of the Republic of China) so they can sell it as scrap metal. Schoolyard slapstick becomes a call for Taiwan’s youth to wake up.

Director Yee Chih-Yen will attend the screening.

Presented with the support of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO in New York.

NEW YORK PREMIERE

MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER | 님아, 그강을건너지마오

JIN MO-YOUNG, 2014 | CAST: JO BYEONG-MAN, KANG KYE-YEOL

KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 85 MINUTES

Get Ready for ABFF! Check Out This Year's Exciting Line Up!

Closing night of New York Indian Film Festival

New York Indian Film Festival ended with the New York premiere of the film ‘My Big Fat Bride’ (Dum Laga Ke Haisha), a Yashraj production starring Ayushman Khurana, directed by Sharat Katariya. It’s a sweet romantic comedy, about a small town boy’s forced marriage to a bride of “not-his-choice”, because she’s “fat”, or he’s not “ready”. The film explores the conventional traditions around marriage and relationships, in India and also dwells in to people’s psyche around love and family. Even though the film is very predictable and clichéd and it’s still heartfelt, funny, light and fun. The performances of all the actors are on-the-spot, specially the debutant actress Bhumi Pednekar. The screening was followed by a discussion with the director, where he talked about upcoming releases of this film in US.

There were also wonderful performances by dancers of Bollywood Touch, Indian singer Falu. NYIFF2015 Awards ceremony followed right after, where ‘Labor of Love’ was the big winner with both Best Director and Best Film. Nawazuddin Siddiqui won the best actor for ‘Haraamkhor’ and best actress for Kalki Koechlin. After the award ceremony, the night moved on to the after-party with delicious dinner from Awadh Restaurant. Drinks flowed while the celebrities, filmmakers, actors, organizers, volunteers and everyone else enjoyed the night. There was also a beautiful dance performance by Anu Sahasrabudhe of Mudavis and a lovely fashion show of Indian attires. The closing night of the New York Indian Film Festival was truly joyful celebration of a wonderful event that celebrates Indian Independent films and cinema.

Vishal Bharadwaj to make Shakespearean Comedy trilogy?

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Vishal Bharadwaj (L) with Art Shrian (R)

Vishal Bharadwaj is a very simple man. With him, it’s “what you see, is what you get”. He’s soft spoken, modest and very down to earth. Not something you see a lot in a celebrity from entertainment world, who has 6 National Awards amongst many, and his movies have done multi-millions in business. He’s also very intelligent, a person who’s very clear as to what he wants and what kind of work he wants to do. With his Shakespearean Trilogy of Maqbool (Macbeth), Omkara (Othello) and Haider (Hamlet), he has wowed audience all over the globe. We got a chance to talk to him recently, here are the excerpts

Art Shrian: You have brought Shakespeare to everyday Indian in such an authentic, but still very Indian way. As a filmmaker, what motivates you to make such amazing films?

Vishal Bharadwaj: I always say a film actually represents inner being of a filmmaker, whatever he wants to say, whatever he wants to be. Director is one person who becomes completely emotionally naked. He’s commenting on social environment, whatever he sees and feels, the issues, issues with father, girlfriend, wife, sister, anything. He brings his inner being.

Art Shrian: Your movie also have been great hits and very successful financially. How important is that to you?

Vishal Bharadwaj: Financial aspect is important to the effect that you’re able to make your next film (laughs). If you make such a bad film that people lose their money, nobody is going to put their money on you next time. So it’s important at least to that extent.

Art Shrian: You tell great stories through your films. And you have constantly picked great stories from Shakespeare to Ruskin Bond; and made them even better through your films. What inspires you to accept an existing famous story and convert it into a film? Adaptation v/s original Writing...

Vishal Bharadwaj: It’s a very selfish reason for me. If you judge your work very honestly and if you don’t live in fool’s paradise, then you know if something is better than what you can write originally. I chose those stories which I think are great, timeless, entertaining, juicy, and great characters. To write something like Macbeth will take me 400 yrs.

Art Shrian: Well, I’m sure if Shakespeare was around, he’ll love your adaptations of his work. Specially Maqbool and making Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as unmarried lovers, it just adds such a depth to the characters and the story. But now there is lot of expectations from you and your films. So, do you feel a burden while doing these Shakespearean adaptations?

Vishal Bharadwaj: No, I don’t feel any such burden; the burden is within my own work. I remain honest with my inner feelings, and I know if I’m honest, everything will be taken care of.

Art Shrian: So talking about your latest adaptation Haider, it was amazing how you brought such a complicated story into today’s world. Making such complex characters alive, including the ghost, and in a beautiful setting of Kashmir. It does not seem like a Shakespearean adaptation at all, it’s so relevant and current. But there was also some controversy around the film and its agenda. Did you want to make any kind of statement with the film or was it just your honest adaptation of Hamlet?

Vishal Bharadwaj: I never want to make a statement; I just want to make my honest films. The only film I tried to make a statement with, was “Matroo ki Bijli Ka Mandola”; about condition of farmers and people trying to take their lands and making ugly concrete jungle of multiplexes and malls. That was my most political movie. In Haider, I was trying to explore human conditions of a particular area, where people have gone through a lot, area which has seen violence for more than 25 yrs. So what happens to a family, or a common man, whose roots are not clear on either side? There was lot of controversy, but I’m not part of it. I filmed or showed nothing that was not true. I just made my honest film.

Art Shrian: I think I’ll have to watch it a second time, with less bias (laughing). So, any plans on adapting the funny and comedic side of Shakespeare? I would love to see that and can take credit for that suggestion (laughing).

Vishal Bharadwaj: In the near future, there’s no plan. But definitely after 1 or 2 films I would love to do such comedies. A trilogy of Shakespearean comedy would be great (with a big smile!).

Art Shrian: That will be amazing, can’t wait to see that. Thanks a lot Vishal for making such wonderful films, and we all look forward to continuing to enjoy your work. All the best!

New York Indian Film Festival opens with “Margarita With A STRAW”

Actress Kalki Koechelin

Hansal Mehta,

The 15th New York Indian Film Festival opened at the iconic Paris Theater this year. The lineup of Indian and international celebrities was amazing. From celebrated Indian filmmakers like Vishal Bharadwaj, Hansal Mehta, Shonali Bose, Dev Benegal amongst many; to famous actors like Kalki Koechlin, Mohan Agashe amongst many others; the red carpet was beaming with excellent talent and glamor.

Opening night of the Indian Film Festival at the Paris theater in Midtown began with history in the making. The feature for the night was Margarita With A Straw. It set a new standard for Indian cinema, and brought a seldom heard voice to world cinema; giving us a glimpse of an intimate portrait of love, sex and disability. The story is about Laila (Kalki Koechelin) an outgoing wheelchair bound teenager with cerebral palsy who is absolutely determined to have a normal life despite her challenges, and ends up on embarking on a journey of self-discovery and sexual awakening as she moves from India to New York City to attend NYU. Her growth cause friction in her family, and as secretes begin to spill she learns she’s not the only one in her family that’s struggling.

Here is the official trailer for Margarita With A Straw, starring Kalki Koechlin. This is a tale about a young rebellious woman who embarks on a breathtaking journey of self-discovery. In Cinemas Now!

Kalki Koechelin, Shonali Bose and Sayani Gupta (L-R)

Vishal Bharadwaj (L) and Art Shrian (R)

Simply put it was an actor’s film; it could have not been achieved without the performance of a lifetime by actress Kalki Koechelin. While the themes are universal, the experience is nothing but, yet the film is completely relatable because of the nature of love. The awkwardness, shyness, rejections; it reminds us, we are all just human after all. The same urges, needs, wants, desires, confusions and fears are what guide us all despite physical appearances.  Don’t be surprised if you’re moved and brought to tears by this wonderful film that became a vessel to explore the depths of the writer/director Shonali Bose’s own experiences in love and loss. It’s what gives it a certain genuine charm that would have otherwise been missing.

NYIFF 2015 Official Trailer Promo by NY Dreams Production (www.NYDREAMS.com)

The screening was followed by Q&A with the director & cast of the film. Shonali shared her passion about this subject and her relation to this subject through her own family member who lived with cerebral palsy, which inspired her to make this movie. Kalki talked about the process as an actor to prepare for such a role, where she not only did deep research on the subject but practiced being Laila for over 6 months, before she got in front of the camera. Shonali also shared her struggle to get the movie through Indian censors, asking for over 10 cuts, until she went to review committee which let it pass with only 1 cut and an “A” certificate. The movie has been a sleeper hit doing great business in India and wide recognition worldwide.

To learn more about New York Indian Film Festival 2015, check links below:
http://www.mynewyorkeye.com/awards-and-festivals-news/new-york-indian-film-festival-2015-celebrating-the-best-of-indian-south-asian-cinema
http://www.iaac.us/NYIFF2015/