Select a year to see lineup:
All entries from 2012:
Romance Joe (Ro-maen-seu Jo)
In his playful first feature, Lee Kwang-kuk (previously assistant director to Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo) expertly weaves several narrative strands into an elegant web and a meditation on storytelling. Viewers find themselves down the rabbit hole in this tale of a filmmaker in search of a story; the intertwined narratives confound and displace expectations, to the point where it seems the film might be narrated by a dead character—but never mind. Lee is in full control, starting the roller coaster with a young, self-possessed barmaid in a remote inn who, in lieu of payment, recalls the time she met a suicidal guy called Romance Joe.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. South Korea. 115 min.
Writer/Director: Lee Kwang-kuk
Producer: Yim Soon-rye
Executive Producer: Kim Sang-yoon
Cinematographer: Jee Yune-jeong
Editor: Son Yeon-ji
Music: Park Jin-seok
Cast: Kim Young-pil, Shin Dong-mi,Lee Chai-eun, Lee David
Thank you to The Korea Society.
Twilight Portrait (Portret v sumerkakh)
Twilight Portrait is a powerhouse collaboration co-written and co-produced by Angelina Nikonova, who directed, and Olga Dihovichnaya, who stars in this dark, provocative, and constantly surprising debut feature. In a modern Russian city where corruption, apathy, and class warfare are the norm, a woman is raped, rather casually, by the police. What follows explodes the conventions of sexual politics and will certainly have viewers talking. This staggering film features great performances and an unvarnished view of life in the age of Putin.
Q&A with the director at both screenings!
2011. Russia. 105 min.
Director: Angelina Nikonova
Writers: Olga Dihovichnaya, Angelina Nikonova
Director of Photography: Eben Bull
Editor: Elena Afanasyeva
Production Designer: Oleg Fedikhin
Cast: Olga Dihovichnaya, Sergei Borisov, Roman Merinov, Sergey Golyudov, Anna Ageeva
[caption id="attachment_2636" align="alignright" width="70" caption="Thank You to Renova USA"]
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Where Do We Go Now? (Et maintenant, on va où?)
OPENING NIGHT GALA
Women of different religions in a remote Lebanese village band together and invent schemes to prevent their men from killing each other in the intractable religious conflict that surrounds their community. This entertaining and unlikely near-musical tears down stereotypes of women in the Middle East and uses humor to explore serious subjects, with one eye toward Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and the other toward Bollywood. Winning audience awards at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals after a successful premiere in Cannes, Labaki’s follow-up to the delicious Caramel is refreshing and unflinching. Inhabited by a cast of characters that promote an alternate vision of unity and sisterhood with irreverence and charming simplicity, the film gives short shrift to conventions and taboos. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2010. France/Lebanon/Italy/Egypt. 100 min.
Director: Nadine Labaki
Writers: Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, Rodney Al Haddad, with the collaboration of Thomas Bidegain
Producer: Anne-Dominique Toussaint
Cinematographer: Christophe Offenstein
Editor: Véronique Lange
Production Designer: Cynthia Zahar
Music: Khaled Mouzanar
Cast: Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Layla Hakim, Nadine Labaki, Yvonne Maalouf, Julien Farhat
Thank you to Sony Pictures Classics.
Teddy Bear
This teddy bear is quite a sight: a gentle giant of a bodybuilder named Dennis, who sculpts his muscles by day and lives quietly at home with his mom at night. At 38, Dennis wants a girlfriend badly, and despite his mother’s resistance (she is a master of emotional manipulation) and his own profound awkwardness, he draws up the courage to find one, even if he has to leave Denmark to do it. Mads Matthiesen’s understated, character-based comedy is utterly engaging, entirely winning, and quite natural, thanks in no small part to his cast of mainly nonactors, including Kim Kold, who plays Dennis.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2012. Denmark. 92 min.
Director: Mads Matthiesen
Writers: Mads Matthiesen, Martin Zandvliet
Producer: Morten Kjems Juhl
Executive Producers: Michael Fleischer, MortenRevsgaard Frederiksen, Karoline Leth, Birgitte Skov
Cinematographer: Laust Trier-Mørk
Editor: Adam Nielsen
Music: Sune Martin
Cast: Kim Kold, David Winters, Elsebeth Steentoft, Lamaiporn Hougaard
Thank you to The Danish Film Institute.
The Raid: Redemption (Serbuan maut)
This sensational genre movie is destined to be the Indonesian action thriller of the year. A police SWAT team storms a housing project ruled by gangsters and inhabited by machete-wielding lowlifes, but the mission has been leaked, the tables are turned, and a dwindling band of elite fighters find themselves massively outnumbered in a lethal game of cat and mouse. What ensues is a relentless and savage succession of close-quarters shoot-outs and punishing martial-arts combat sequences, with each jaw-dropping smackdown unbelievably topping the previous one. This film is wild! A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Q&A with the director at both screenings!
2011. Indonesia/USA. 100 min.
Writer/Editor/Director: Gareth Huw Evans
Producer: Ario Sagantoro
Executive Producers: R. Maya Barack-Evans, Irwan D. Mussry, Nate Bolotin, Todd Brown
Directors of Photography: Matt Flannery, Dimas Imam Subhono
Art Director: Moti D. Setyanto
Action Choreographers: Iko Yuwais, Yayan Ruhian, Gareth Huw Evans
Music: Mike Shinoda, Joseph Trapanese
Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian
Thank you to Sony Pictures Classics.
The Rabbi’s Cat (Le chat du rabbin)
Adapted from the graphic novels of Joann Sfar, The Rabbi’s Cat is a vivid, lively, and imaginative animated film co-directed by Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux. The story takes place once upon a time (not too long ago) in Algiers, where Jewish and Islamic communities existed in relative peace and rabbis and mullahs could be friends. A widower rabbi lives with his voluptuous and dutiful daughter and their pesky cat, who swallows a parakeet and begins to speak, soon driving everyone crazy by insisting on having a bar mitzvah. The Rabbi’s Cat represents two firsts in the 41-year history of ND/NF: the first 3-D feature and the first feature shown as a family film. But please note, the film isn’t suitable for young children, as it includes both violence and subtitles.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. France/Austria. 89 min.
Producer/Directors: Joann Sfar, Antoine Delesvaux|Writers: Sandrina Jardel, Joann Sfar, based on the comic books by Joann Sfar
Editor: Maryline Monthieux
Music: Olivier Daviaud
VOICES: François Morel, Maurice Bénichou, Hafsia Herzi, François Damiens, Mathieu Amalric
Porfirio
Paralyzed from the waist down by a stray police bullet, the title character in Alejandro Landes’s remarkable film spends his days selling minutes on his cell phone, flirting with his comely neighbor—and secretly plotting his revenge. Landes worked on the film for five years, creating a tale that joins the most intimate details of Porfirio’s day-to-day life with an astonishing recreation of his attempt to hijack an airplane.
Q&A with the director at both screenings!
2011. Colombia. 106 min.
Writer/Director: Alejandro Landes
Producer: Francisco Aljure, Alejandro Landes
Executive Producers: Francisco Aljure, Jorge Manrique Behrens, Maja Zimmerman
Cinematographer: Thimio Bakatakis
Editor: Eliane D. Katz
Cast: Porfirio Ramirez Aldana, Jarlinsson Ramirez Reinoso, Yor Jasbleidy Santos Torre
Oslo, August 31st
Daylight lingers at the end of August in Oslo, but the sun is no friend to Anders, a semi-recovered addict facing a new life— which may not be too appealing without his former habits. Adapted from the same novel as Louis Malle’s The Fire Within (1963), this subtle, haunting film follows Anders as he tries to adjust, making love, wandering through Oslo, interviewing for a job, seeing old friends, and trying to get comfortable with his new situation. Joachim Trier’s first feature, Reprise, was a critical highlight of New Directors/New Films 2007, and while that antic fiction was about friendship and hope, this second film, with its traces of Robert Bresson, is something altogether different. A Strand Releasing film.
2011. Norway. 96 min.
Director: Joachim Trier
Writers: Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier, based on the novel Le Feu Follet by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle
Producers: Hans-Jørgen Osnes, Yngve Sæther, Sigve Endresen
Director of Photography: Jakob Ihre
Editor: Olivier Bugge Coutté
Production Designer: Jørgen Stangebye Larsen
Music: Ola Fløttum
Cast: Anders Danielsen Lie, Malin Crépin, Aksel M. Thanke, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Visual artist and musician Terence Nance makes a remarkable leap into the world of feature filmmaking with this wry and inventive lament of romantic longing. After attracting the attention of an intriguing young woman, Nance rushes home to make sure his pad is decent enough for her promised visit. But voice mail tells a different story: she won’t be able to make it tonight. Like many artists from other media turned directors, Nance gleefully ignores standard filmmaking practices, always choosing expressiveness over “correct” form. Live-action sequences and direct-to-the-camera interviews are accented by a variety of animation styles as Nance analyzes his amorous history and his current circumstances. With great humor and remarkable frankness, Nance has created an affecting meditation on love in the new millennium.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. USA. 90 min.
Writer/Editor/Director: Terence Nance
Producers: James Bartlett, Andrew D. Corkin, Terence Nance
Executive Producers: Media MVMT, Paul Bernon, Jason Weissman
Co-Executive Producers: Jocelyn Cooper, Dream Hampton, Hank Willis Thomas , Natasha Logan, Juliet Gilliam
Cast: Terence Nance, Namik Minter, Chanelle Pearson, Dexter Jones, Talibah Lateefah Newman, Alisa Becher, Jc Cain, Rebecca Pinard, Shanté Cozier
Omar Killed Me (Omar m’a tuer)
In the summer of 1991, a wealthy widow was beaten and stabbed to death at a beautiful villa in the south of France. Omar Raddad, the woman’s Moroccan gardener, became the prime suspect because of one bizarre clue: the words “Omar m’a tuer”—a grammatically incorrect phrase that roughly translates as “Omar has kill me” — written in the victim’s blood. Despite gaps in the investigation and no forensic evidence, Raddad was convicted and sent to prison for 18 years. Only Pierre-Emmanuel Vaugrenard, a journalist, believed in his innocence and went to work to prove it. Director Roschdy Zem, who has turned from acting (with Bouajila in Days of Glory) to directing, tells this story of racism, politics, and injustice with the clarity of a documentary and the pacing of a thriller.
2011. France. 85 min.
Director: Roschdy Zem
Writers: Olivier Gorce, Roschdy Zem, based on Pourquois Moi? by Omar Raddad with the collaboration of Sylvie Lotiron
Producers: Jean Bréhat, Rachid Bouchareb
Executive Producer: Muriel Merlin
Director of Photography: Jérôme Alméras
Editor: Monica Coleman
Producti on Design er: François Emmanuelli
Music: Alexandre Azaria
Cast: Sami Bouajila, Denis Popalydés
Now, Forager
A quiet tale about the search for integrity and the perfect mushroom, Now, Forager is a refined delicacy. Lucien and Regina are an urban couple living off the land. They forage for fungi in upstate New York and dream of following the seasonal emergence of exotic varieties across the country. They rent a small apartment, but the instability
of their trade leaves them financially unstable. Regina’s decision to take a job in the kitchen of a hip restaurant offers a more solid opportunity, but it betrays Lucien’s off-the-grid ethos. Cinematically true to its gentle, fragile characters (including those unearthed in the woods), this film is a gift to those who take their slow-food politics seriously. It’s also one of the most romantic independent films of the year.
Q&A with the directors at both screenings!
2012. USA/Poland. 93 min.
Directors: Jason Cortlund, Julia Halperin
Writer: Jason Cortlund
Producers: Julia Halperin, Kit Bland
Director of Photography: Jonathan Nastasi
Editor: Julia Halperin
Music: Chris Brokaw
Cast: Jason Cortlund, Tiffany Esteb, Gabrielle Maisels, Almex Lee
Neighboring Sounds (O som ao redor)
A thrilling debut from a breakout talent, Neighboring Sounds delves into the lives of a group of prosperous middle-class families residing on a quiet street in Recife, close to a low-income neighborhood. The private security firm hired to police the street becomes the catalyst for an exploration of the neighbors’ discontents and anxieties—their feelings exacerbated by the palpable unease of a society that remains unreconciled to its troubled past and present inequities. Meticulously constructed, with unexpected compositions and arresting cuts, this ensemble film is compulsive viewing; you’re never quite sure where things are headed as it builds imperceptibly toward its stunning payoff. With his unmistakable formal gifts and acute eye and ear for the push and pull of modern life, Kleber Mendonça Filho represents the arrival of a major filmmaker.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2012. Brazil. 124 min.
Writer/Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Producer: Emilie Lesclaux
Cinematographers: Pedro Sotero, Fabricio Tadeu
Editors: Kleber Mendonça Filho, João Maria
Art Director: Juliano Dornelles
Cast: Irandhir Santos, Gustavo Jahn, Maeve Jinkings, W.J. Solha, Irma Brown, Lula Terra, Yuri Holanda
O Som Ao Redor - Celular from Cinemascópio Produções on Vimeo.
Thank you to Ancine - Agência Nacional do Cinema.
The Minister (L’exercice de l’État)
French politicians have been in the news a lot lately, making this breathless political thriller especially timely. A cabinet minister in charge of national transportation believes himself to be a man of the people. He wants to be good, but in order to get anything done he must compromise, cajole, bend, and even betray. Tight, sexy, tough, and humane, The Minister, whose original French title translates as “The Exercise of State,” chronicles the transformation of an idealist into a pragmatist. Olivier Gourmet, known to American art-house audiences as the star of films by the Dardennes Brothers (who are among The Minister’s co-producers), provides another memorable portrayal of a man at odds with his principles, and Pierre Schöller, with his second feature, has catapulted himself to the front rank of French filmmakers.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. France. 115 min.
Writer/Director: Pierre Schöller
Producer: Denis Freyd
Executive Producer: André Bouvard
Director of Photography: Julien Hirsch
Editor: Laurence Briaud
Production Design er: Jean-Marc Tran Tan Ba
Music: Philippe Schoeller
Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Michel Blanc, Zabou Breitman
Thank you to Unifrance.
It Looks Pretty From a Distance (Z daleka widok jest piekny)
A Polish village virtually cut off from civilization and seemingly on the verge of dissolution serves as the setting for this brooding, almost wordless drama. The rough and impassive Pawel makes a living scavenging for scrap metal. There’s bad blood between him and the “community” (a more spiteful collection of individuals would be hard to imagine), and when he goes AWOL not long after his girlfriend moves in, the locals begin to loot and vandalize his home. What if he returns? Suffused with an atmosphere of torpor and malignancy, yet punctuated by images of bucolic beauty, It Looks Pretty from a Distance may well have an allegorical dimension, but the camera keeps its distance and all exposition is withheld. Quietly mesmerizing, Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal’s bleak and unflinching vision of a world in an advanced state of entropy is hard to shake.
2011. Poland. 77 min.
Writer/Directors: Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal
Producers: Anton Kern Gallery, Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal
Executive Producers: Filmpolis, Agata Szymańska
Cinematographers: Wilhelm Sasnal, Aleksander Trafas
Editor: Beata Walentowska
Production Designer: Marek Zawierucha
Cast: Marlin Czarnik, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Piotr Nowak, Elzbieta Okupska
How to Survive a Plague
David France’s immersive moving-image document chronicling the rise of AIDS activism shows a movement though the lenses of those who captured it firsthand. Desperate people leveraged the skills they had—some wrote, some lobbied, many marched, and all mobilized— to fight a plague that vast swaths of society saw as just punishment for immoral actions. In calling attention to the hypocrisy and murderous naïveté of such beliefs, the men and women who formed ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) began a political and medical struggle that has resulted in AIDS becoming a manageable condition for those who can access treatment. Unflinching and powerfully told, the film is a blueprint for activists on many fronts. A Sundance Selects Release.
Q&A with director David France and producer Howard Gertler at both screenings!
2012. USA. 109 min.
Director: David France
Writers: David France, T. Woody Richman, Tyler Walk
Producers: David France, Howard Gertler
Executive Producers: Jay Tomchin, Dan Cogan
Co-Producers: Henry van Ameringen, Alan Getz, Peggy Farber, Lindy Linder, Ted Snowdon
Editors: T. Woody Richman, Tyler Walk
Music Supervisors: The Red Hot Organization
Huan Huan
Everyone has something on everyone else in Song Chuan’s touching debut film. Stuck in a rural village, Huan Huan hopes her affair with a married doctor in town will lead to a better life in the city. Her brother has been away for years—and with no male labor at home, her parents don’t want her to leave—so she marries a compulsive gambler. When the doctor’s wife, a big deal in the local government, catches them in the act, she makes life difficult for Huan Huan’s family. And when Huan Huan’s husband discovers the affair, things get even stickier. More than a soap opera, this beautifully shot film captures the dreams and desires, disappointments and regrets, of a life not fully lived.
2011. China. 90 min.
Producer/Writer/Director: Song Chuan
Supervisor: Pingdao Yang
Director of Photography: Wang Xiang
Cast: Tian Yuefang, Liu Xiang
Hemel
A sexually aggressive woman is a dangerous thing — or at least that’s what we’ve been led to believe. Images of the vamp, the damaged innocent, and the prostitute are staples of cinema, but what about the woman who uses sex as a distraction or comfort and isn’t hung up on emotional attachments? Filmmakers have largely ignored her story. This is what makes Hemel such a discovery. Hannah Hoekstra plays a strongwilled, complicated, and vulnerable heroine who longs (perhaps too much) to connect with her elusive father and ultimately find herself. The film follows her raw investigation of both physical and intellectual intimacy.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2012. The Netherlands/Spain. 80 min.
Director: Sacha Polak
Writer: Helena van der Meulen
Producer: Stienette Bosklopper
Director of Photography: Daniël Bouquet, N.S.C.
Editor: Axel Skovdal Roelofs
Music by: Rutger Reinders
Cast: Hannah Hoekstra, Hans Dagelet, Rifka Lodeizen, Mark Rietman, Barbara Sarafian
Thank you to EYE Film Institute Netherlands.
Goodbye (Bé omid é didar)
In his latest film, celebrated Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof creates a dramatic and tense tale set in Tehran, where a young woman is desperately attempting to acquire a visa to leave the country. The beautifully shot film uses the confinement of space to cinematically express claustrophobia; its precise framing catches every subtle expression on the face of the astonishing Leyla Zareh, who plays disbarred human rights lawyer Noora. With her husband exiled to the desert for his political journalism, Noora’s personal isolation and desperation reach unbearable heights when she must make a difficult decision regarding her pregnancy as part of a complex scheme to leave the country.
2011. Iran. 104 min.
Writer/Producer/Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
Executive Producers: Rozita Hendijanian, Dariuosh Ebadi
Director of Photography: Arastoo Givi
Editor: Mohammadreza Muini
Cast: Leyla Zareh, Hassan Pourshirazi, Behname Tashakor, Sima Tirandaz, Fershteh Saderorafai, Roya Teymorian, Shahab Hoseini
Gimme the Loot
Malcolm and Sofia, two determined teens from the Bronx, are the ultimate graffiti-writers. When a rival gang buffs their latest masterpiece, they hatch a plan to get revenge by tagging an iconic NYC landmark, but they need to raise $500 to pull off their spectacular scheme. Over the course of two sun-soaked summer days, the pair travel on an epic urban adventure involving black market spraycans, illicit bodegas, stolen sneakers, a high-wire heist, and a beautiful girl’s necklace that is literally their key to becoming the biggest writers in the city. In his feature film debut, Adam Leon creates a raucous, car-less road trip that is also a hip homage to street-smart kids and the city we love. A Sundance Selects release.
Q&A with the director at both screenings!
2012. USA. 81 min.
Writer/Director: Adam Leon
Producers: Natalie Difford, Dominic Buchanan, Jamund Washington
Co-Producer: Sam Soghor
Editor: Morgan Faust
Director of Photography: Jonathan Miller
Production Designers: Sammy Lisenco, Katie Hickman
Music : Nicholas Britell
Sound: Anthony Thompson
Associate Producers: Lindsay Burdge, Sean Nitollano
Graffiti Advisor: Greg Lamarche
Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoë Lescaze, Melvin Mogoli, Joshua Rivera, Adam Metzger, Greyson “Gordo” Cruz
Generation P
Post-Communist Russia was a place of bewildering change for a people accustomed to a regimented and ostensibly harmonious existence. The arrival of democracy and Pepsi Cola brought the advance of capitalism, with all of its mechanisms and fuzzy messages. Most powerful, perhaps, was the arrival of brand marketing and advertising in a land where propaganda had been perfected. If you could sell Communism to millions with image control, slogans, and songs, just imagine how the first notes of a jingle for German beer might resonate. A metaphysical Mad Men from the go-go 1990s, Generation P is a wonderland of images and ideas that emerged from the rebirth of a nation as a marketer’s paradise.
2011. Russia. 112 min.
Director: Victor Ginzburg
Writers: Victor Ginzburg, Djina Ginzburg, based on the novel Generation P, by Victor Pelevin
Producers: Victor Ginzburg, Djina Ginzburg, Aleksei Riazantsev, Stas Ershov
Executive producers: Andrei Vasiliev, Yury Krestinskiy, Leonid Ogorodnikov, Danil Khachaturov, Vladimir Yakovlev, Andrew Paulson
Director of Photography: Aleksei Rodionov R.G.C.
Editors: Anton Anisimov, Vladimir Markov, Karolina Maciejewska, with the participation of Irakly Kvirikadze
Music: Kaveh Cohen, Michael David Nielsen, Alexander Hacke
CAST: Vladimir Epifantsev, Mikhail Efiemov, Andrey Fomin, Sergey Shnurov, Vladimir Menshov
[caption id="attachment_2636" align="alignright" width="70" caption="Thank You"][/caption]
Found Memories (Histórias que só existem quando lembradas)
Set in a remote area of Brazil where coffee plantations flourished in the 1800s, this finely calibrated film follows Rita, a young, wandering photographer, as she comes to understand life in a community where time has seemingly stood still and people’s traditional roles clash with modern society. The film’s original title, which translates as “Stories That Only Exist When Remembered,” beautifully expresses the theme of Murat’s poetic rendering of the fictive Jotuomba, its inhabitants affectionately wedded to the rituals and land that contain the memories of their lives. Rita’s visit occasions a confluence of generations and cultures that seem to grow organically out of the setting in this extraordinarily accomplished and mature first feature. A Film Movement release.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. Brazil. 98 min.
Director: Julia Murat
Writers: Julia Marat, Maria Clara Escobar, Felipe Sholl
Producer: Fabienne Vonier
Director of Photography: Lucio Bonelli
Editor: Marina Meliande
Music: Lucas Marcier
Cast: Sônia Guedes, Lisa E. Fávero, Luiz Serra, Josias Ricardo Merkin, Antonio Dos San
Thank you to Ancine - Agência Nacional do Cinema.
5 Broken Cameras
Five years ago in the Palestinian town of Bil’in, Emad Burnat bought a camera to record the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Gibreel’s arrival, however, coincided with the Israeli expropriation of land, the advance of settlements, the erection of barriers separating new communities from existing ones, demonstrations by Bil’in residents, and a violent military and settler reaction to these protests that resulted in marchers being wounded and killed. All this is witnessed by five video cameras, each subsequently damaged by bullets or rocks, as well as by Gibreel, who sees his family and community threatened and harassed. The documentary, a collaboration between Burnat and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi, reflects the complex and often surprising relationships many Palestinians and Israelis share despite the difficult political situation that surrounds them. A Kino Lorber release.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. Palestine/Israel/France. 90 min.
Writer/Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
Producers: Christine Camdessus, Serge Gordey, Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
Cinematographer: Emad Burnat
Editors: Veronique Lagoarde-Segot, Guy Davidi
Music: Le Trio Joubran
Fear and Desire
ND/NF celebrates the re-emergence of Stanley Kubrick’s first feature by breaking precedent and presenting a film nearly 20 years older than the festival itself. Directed, photographed, and edited by the talented 24-year-old Kubrick, Fear and Desire was written by his high school classmate, Howard Sackler. Some Kubrick scholars see this wartime drama, about five soldiers behind enemy lines and their encounter with a native woman, as a dry run for Paths of Glory; others see it as the original second half of Full Metal Jacket. Whatever the interpretation, Fear and Desire enjoyed a brief, critically acclaimed run in 1953. But Kubrick, ever the perfectionist, was dissatisfied with the film, and later tried to buy all the prints and withdraw it from general circulation. We are glad he didn’t succeed. A Kino Lorber release.
1953. USA. 72 min.
Producer/Editor/Director/Photographer: Stanley Kubrick
Writer: Howard Sackler
Music: Gerald Fried
Cast: Frank Silvera, Paul Mazursky, Kenneth Harp, Stephen Coit, Virginia Leith
Donoma
Rumored to have been made for about $200, Donoma announces the arrival of an intriguing new talent: Haitian-born, Parisbased Djinn Carrénard. The film is a choral piece chronicling the romantic destinies of three women. High school Spanish teacher Analia suspects that her confrontations with a student mask something else. Chris, a young photographer who’s never been romantically involved, decides she’ll bed the first man she meets, but on one condition: no talking. Salma considers herself an atheist but claims to have stigmata anyway, attracting the attention of the religious Raïné. Marked by fresh, unexpected performances, these stories expand and contract, cross, and then double back. Donoma suggests that the next great wave of French cinema might emerge not from the capital, but from young people in the suburbs armed with digital cameras.
2011. France. 135 min.
Writer/Director: Djinn Carrénard
Director of Photography: Djinn Carrénard
Music: Franck Villabella
Cast: Emilia Derou-Bernal, Laura Kpegli, Salome Blechmans, Sekouba Doukoure, Vicent Perez, Matthieu Longatte, Delphine II, Laetitia Lopez, Marine Judeaux
Crulic: The Path to Beyond (Crulic - drumul spre dincolo)
When Claudiu Crulic, a young Romanian in Poland, was arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, he became a pawn in a Kafkaesque miscarriage of justice and went on a hunger strike to protest his treatment in jail. Anca Damian’s documentary is by turns chilling and heartbreaking — Crulic himself “narrates” the film posthumously, his words voiced by Vlad Ivanov, star of such Romanian New Wave titles as Police, Adjective and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days—but also ironic, with a bit of black humor thrown in. What makes this extraordinary documentary even more compelling is its strong visual style: Damian uses handdrawn, cutout, and collage animation techniques to create a strikingly memorable film.
Q&A with the director at both screenings!
2011. Romania. 73 min.
Producer/Writer/Director: Anca Damian
Co-Producer: Arkadiusz Wojnarowski
Music: Piotr Ziubek
Artwork and Animation: Dan Panaitescu, Raluca Popa, Dragos Stefan, Roxana Bentu, Tuliu Oltean
Sound Design: Piotr Witkowski, Sebastian Wlodarczyk
Voices: Vlad Ivanov, Jamie Sives
Thank you to the The Romanian Cultural Institute.
The Ambassador (Ambassadøren)
Filmmaker-cum-diplomat Mads Brügger puts himself in the center of a narrative maze involving the purchase of diplomatic immunity, a match factory run by pygmies, a hunt for diamonds, and the infinite advantages of being a white diplomat in postcolonial Africa. The consummate agent provocateur— his method has fittingly been described as “Graham Greene meets Borat” Brügger shocks and entertains by using roleplaying and hidden cameras to expose an awful truth. In embracing his character—a chain-smoking, boot-wearing, eccentric diplomat circa 1970—the filmmaker embodies the powers that continue to ruthlessly exploit and abuse all aspects of life in the mineral-rich Central African Republic. One absurd situation after another reveals, with queasy, morbid humor, the complexity of the collusion between old and new masters to maintain the grotesque circumstances of corruption.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. Denmark. 93 min.
Director: Mads Brügger
Writers: Maja Jul Larsen, Mads Brügger
Producers: Peter Engel, Carsten Holst
Executive Producers: Peter Aalbæk Jensen, Peter Garde
Cinematographer: Johan Stahl Winthereik
Editors: Carsten Søsted, Kimmo Taavila, Leif Axel Kjeldsen
Cast: Mads Brügger, Eva Jakobsen
Thank you to The Danish Film Institute.
Las Acacias
One of the discoveries of the 2011 Cannes Critics’ Week, this film takes a 900-mile trip from Asunción, Paraguay, to Buenos Aires in the company of Rubén, a gruff, taciturn truck driver, and the two illegal immigrants—a young woman and her newborn daughter—he is reluctantly transporting. Largely confined to the cramped space of the truck’s cab, Giorgelli’s camera gently observes the passing miles and the quiet, subtly evolving interaction of the trio. As their journey continues, Rubén gradually lowers his defenses and finds himself becoming unexpectedly attached to his passengers, one of whom, for 85 poignant, unforced minutes, is surely the most adorable tot you ever laid eyes on.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. Argentina. 85 min.
Director: Pablo Giorgelli
Writers: Pablo Giorgelli, Salvador Roselli
Producers: Veronica Cura, Ariel Rotter, Alex Zito, Pablo
Giorgelli, Eduardo Carneros, Javier and Esteban Ibarretxe
Executive Producers: Veronica Cura, Ariel Rotter
Director of Photography: Diego Poleri
Editor: Maria Astrauskas
Cast: Germán de Silva, Hebe Duarte, Nayra Calle Mamani
Thank you to the Consulate General of Argentina.
Breathing (Atmen)
The remarkably assured directorial debut from veteran Austrian actor Karl Markovics (best known for The Counterfeiters) creates an interplay between the perilousness of youth and the inevitability of death. Roman is an inmate at a juvenile detention center whose last hope of parole rests on his ability to hold down a job, in this case as a morgue assistant. A chance observation of a body bag sparks the first bit of initiative in a previously aimless life, but a brief reunion with his wayward mother further stymies his search for a sense of purpose. As Roman attempts to connect with a life hanging in the balance, his work leads to remorse, horror, and ultimately a glimmer of illumination. A Kino Lorber release.
Director Q&A at both screenings!
2011. Austria. 90 min.
Writer/Director: Karl Markovics
Producers: Dieter Pochlatko, Nikolaus Wisiak,
EPO Filmproduktion
Music: Herber Tucmandl
Cinematographer: Martin Gschlacht
Editor: Alarich Lenz
Producti on Director: Bernhard Schmatz
Cast: Thomas Schubert, Karin Lischka, Gerhard Liebmann,
Georg Friedrich, Stefan Matousch
Thank you to Kino Lorber and the Austrian Film Commission.
