The Tribeca Film Festival 2017 offered an expanded version with more documentaries, greater emphasis on current political issues, and the addition of several new program elements.  It retained its eclectic nature but has grown into a veritable market of diversified and well received products, reflecting the ecosystem of media and leaving in its programs no relevant approaches, technologies, and communication platforms untouched. Certainly, films remain a cornerstone and the attraction of the festival is reflected by the large number of productions submitted to the fest. Close to 8,000 were submitted this year including 3,372 features.  A team of 40 programmers and screeners selected 97 features of which 45 were documentaries.

Overall the film content of Tribeca’s increasingly diversified program encompassing many non-film fields declined by 20% compared to last year. More virtual reality products were shown this year. Tribeca presented 30 VR projects, premiering most of them. There is a widely shared conviction that Tribeca is an outstanding venue for first class documentaries, a view cemented by this year’s selection of mostly issue or problem oriented productions. Few set objectives guided the selection, though environmental issue and activism were emphasized topics fitting nicely the thematic range of currently produced documentaries. The impact of Netflix, Amazon, and HBO as well as the rise of other video on demand services has established a growing market for independent non-fiction productions. It seems that the festival has become more international since more foreign productions were included in the program as well as a growing number of co-productions.  Whereas in the early days of the festival questions were raised about the disposition of films shown at the fest, it seems clear that a market function of Tribeca has emerged. 60 film productions from last year’s festival have found distributors.  As in past years, most public screenings were sold out, maintaining the box office as an important revenue stream for the fest.  On April 29 Tribeca programmed for its closing night screening The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II in Radio City Music Hall followed by a panel with prominent members of the cast of both productions including luminaries like Francis F. Coppola, Al Pacino, Robert Duval, Robert de Niro and Diane Keaton. The venue, with its 6,000 seats, was sold out and the panel transmitted on the internet had 977, 876 hits.  Whether there were important shifts in the private and corporate or public sector funding for the fest could not be ascertained, though a new initiative by AT&T, the principle sponsor of the festival stands out. Established in 2010 and still unique in the film festival field is the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award which rewards individuals and institutions for ground breaking achievements. Among the  awardees this year were IBM for its Watson cognitive computer system that is instrumental in the artificial intelligence sector,  the GIF search engine GIPHY  serving more than 100 thousand daily users from popular culture and arts and Mike Ebeling who developed with other inventors a 3D printing system for producing a prosthetic limbs,  as well as Vivian D. Nixon who facilitates access to higher education for women with criminal records and is an activist in the criminal justice reform field.  

            Numerous programs run by Tribeca and its film institute support young film makers. AT&T provided funding for AT&T Presents: Untold Stories, a new program for underrepresented minorities. The Tribeca Film Institute curates the project selecting through a greenlight committee one film maker to receive $1 million and $10,000 each for four finalist filmmakers to achieve their career goals. The finished film will premiere at the 2018 film festival and be shown on AT&T’s video platforms. This new initiative between AT&T and the non-profit Tribeca Film Institute is a multi-year cooperative venture.  The partnership synchs with a competition for young filmmakers, The America I Am (TAIA) which was held for the second time spotlighting the next generation of diverse story tellers selected this year from 200 applicants. The five finalists were matched with a professional filmmaker and the grand prize winner will receive $10,000. Another new partnership has been formed by Tribeca Games and Kill Screen which launched the Tribeca Games Festival. It shares insights into the most fascinating games of the past year as well as interactions with industry leaders and game insiders. In 2011 Tribeca was the first major film festival to include gaming in its regular program. 

The festival screened some television productions last year but this year’s edition presented a considerable expansion of television programs made for traditional and digital distribution. In the Tribeca TV group many of these productions were season and new series world premieres including a sneak preview and TV pilots.  Tribeca opened this year for the first time submissions of independently produced TV pilots. Among the channels or companies providing these programs were Comedy Central, Showtime, National Geographic, Hulu, Hulu/MGM, Spike TV, Universal Cable Productions, CNN, SEESO/NBC, Netflix and PBS.  The Handmaid’s Tale, produced by Hulu/MGM was probably the most discussed series and received more press coverage than other Tribeca programs.

As noted, Tribeca presented 45 documentaries this year. The number of submission was higher than last year.  This growth may respond to the Netflix effect noted by Indiewire. More VOD streaming services acquire for the domestic and international markets. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu have an expanding global presence as do subscription cable giants like HBO and Showtime as well as the remaining  theatrical buyers. Their acquisition budgets are growing steadily and these companies have been among the biggest documentary buyers at major film festivals. On the other side there are a growing number of filmmakers who produced documentaries using relatively low cost digital media compared to traditional film making. For the home audience the bigger screens provide much improved images and sound. In the United States theatrical box office revenue has remained stagnant over the last years as has been the number of screens. At home viewing is becoming more popular.

The presence of many issue oriented documentaries was noteworthy. Among the compelling and mostly premiering productions were The Third Industrial Revolution, Eddy Moretti, USA 2017. This groundbreaking documentary presents Jeremy Rifkin and his updated cogent and compelling interpretation of the global economic crisis we are facing as first enunciated in his 2011 book with the same title. Mostly presented in the lecture format Rifkin reviews current issues such as rapidly growing social disparities, the exhaustion of natural resources, the destruction of the environment, and declining economic growth and productivity. These require fast action to achieve sustainable development. The third industrial revolution merges new communication technologies, the progressive development of alternative energy sources and new modes of transportation.    

Manifesto, Julian Rosefelt, Germany 2017 is a feature length hybrid documentary of an installation presented by Rosefelt in Germany and the New York Armory. In a series of film vignettes Cate Blachett plays different characters which question through quotes from the manifestos of eminent writers from Karl Marx  to Lars von Trier’s Dogme 95 the nature of art, the role of communication, and the impact of science. Blanchett’s spellbinding performance, morphing through widely different characters and their contexts, celebrates storytelling and its power to undermine our preconceptions. This is similar to Rifkin’s assault on our socio economic background assumptions. 

The Family I Had, Katie Green & Carlyle Rubin, USA 2017, introduces the viewer to a character study of the members of a boundary breaking pathological family. The portrayal relies solely on the testimony of its members spanning three generations. No outside experts or the filmmakers shape your perception of the story. Charity is a single mother and former drug addict whose 13 year old son, Paris, kills his 4 year old sister Ella. He now spends his life in prison and will not qualifies for a parole hearing until 2033. Charity’s mother Kyla had several dysfunctional marriages, fought  a drug and liquor problem and spent some time in jail before she was acquitted from the charge of murdering her husband. Both daughter and mother agree that they were involved with problematic male figures and that they have been manipulating each other. Charity still suspects that Kyla killed her father and says she was not close to Paris, an assessment Kyla also makes about her own relationship with her daughter. Kyla admits that she is not normal and that mental illness runs in the family. Paris, who is more articulate than his mother and grandmother emphasizes his detachment from them but claims to be very close to Phoenix his sibling which Charity had after Paris was imprisoned. Charity thinks that Ella was killed because Paris wanted to have her by him.  At one point Charity is told by an expert that Paris is a sociopath and three months before Ella was killed Kyla learned from a psychiatrist that Paris had homicidal tendencies.  The Family I had is an outstanding and disturbing documentary that offers superb insights into the psychopathology of a family. The filmmakers show an amazing ability to extract from the family members information about their interpersonal relations and the issues they have confronted, information that most people would hide.  

A Gray State, Erik Nelson, USA, 2017.   Exec produced by Werner Herzog this production reconstructs the life of David Crowly, who served in Iraq and crowdfunded a trailer for a planned film.  As planned, the film would depict a future US society where governmental agencies have taken over, civil liberties have disappeared and the population forced to live under an oppressive government. The trailer and controversial film project was widely acclaimed by conservative and libertarian communities. His five years of  work on Gray State seemed bound for success given his cinematic expertise and military service background. Yet in early  January 2015 David Crowley, his wife, and their young daughter were found dead in their home.  Given the perspective of his project many argued that a shadow US agency had killed him to prevent disclosures.  Nelson and Herzog reviewed Crowley’s vast archives of photos, home videos as well as footage of his work in progress to investigate the alleged government interference. It turns out that he and his family isolated themselves during the last year of their life, withdrawing from social interaction and that there was no evidence of an outside interference. 

The Handmaid’s Tale premiered at Tribeca as a new series produced for HULU/MGM by Bruce Miller.  Based on Margaret Atwood’s book about a modern society the series envisions a dystopian future. The adapted film version reminds us of the present. As Elisabeth Moss who plays Offred in the series observed, Atwood provided revelations similar to messages of 1984 and Brave New World. We encounter in the handmaid’s world the United States transformed into Gilead, a society characterized by a strict Christian fundamentalist ideology where men dominate and women are relegated to the role of servants and if found fertile surrogate tombs. Gilead has been impoverished by past wars and environmental disasters which led to general infertility. Now a strict class structure prevails with gender as a determining factor. The ability to bear children is of great importance. Homosexuality and transgender sex changes are therefore crimes severely punished and power is maintained through torture and death penalties.  The secret service, rather than uniformed police, ensures law and order.  Offred, the principal character had been kidnapped and indoctrinated for her role as a surrogate womb. Her training emphasized the evils of sex and prostitution and the merits of religion which created Gilead. Like the other handmaids she is attached to a senior government functionary of Gilead to bear his children which his wife cannot deliver. She shares the fate of other handmaids who are restricted to shopping and the institutionalized rape performed once a month. Called celebration, the act is performed with brief prayers from the husband while Offred sits in the lap of his wife. Minor infractions are penalized. Handmaids are not allowed to read or engage in communication. But she overcomes her programming and recalls her past life in an open democratic society. Her flashbacks and self-reflection reveal her changes and the degradation of the society she lived in and its transformation into a patriarchal dictatorship. All women were fired from their work and deprived of access to money thus made dependent on men. The series received widespread praise because of the intelligence permeating its presentation and the apparent links to trends in our society. 

Tribeca included in its program some outstanding features. The selection showcased November and Tom of Finland which were acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories and Kino Lorber.  November is an Estonian film, shot in black and white and directed by Rainer Sarnet. Co-produced with the Netherlands and set in the 19^th century Estonia it is a fairy tale love story narrated with imagery derived from ancient Estonian folktales and myths. Impoverished people were trading their souls for power, miracles and protection in a village beset by poverty, the plague, wolves and ghosts.  Kratts are objects the villagers construct to acquire their souls.  What makes November most appealing is the superb cinematography. Tom of Finland, Dome Karukoski, Finland, 2017 (co-produced by Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany) is a superbly executed biopic of Touko Laaksonen, who came to be known as Tom of Finland. Touko expressed his gay phantasies in many drawings of daring male sexual encounters embodied in muscular bodies. Touko’s had to hide his homosexuality and homoerotic drawings because of the moral climate of Finland in the forties and fifties. He was subjected to police crackdowns and harassment when he engaged in hidden affairs.  His art was published in the United States and he visited the West Coast leaving his secret life. 

Claus Mueller,  filmexchange@gmail.com

Key Doc Festivals gathered in one single spot...nextto Jérôme Paillard on stage at Doc Day Mixer may 23 Plage des Palmes

Held from May 2-7 the Polish Film Festival celebrated its 13^th year honoring the distinguished film director Andrezej Wajda and the Wajda School which he established with Wojciech Marczewski in 2002. Numerous productions from graduates of that school as well as the opening film of the festival Afterimage introduced by Marten Scorcese and Ashes and Diamonds by A.Wajda were important parts of the festival program.  Wajda , who passed away in October 2016 days at the age of 90 after Afterimage premiered in Poland, is probably the best known representative of the Polish cinema holding many international awards including the Oscar and Berlin’s Golden Bear for his life time achievements. Poland is probably the most eminent East European film making country and produced 49 feature films in 2016, many receiving several awards for its films from Sundance, the Locarno fest, and the Berlin film festival to name but a few. Success for the Polish film industry is largely due to support from the Polish Film Institute founded 11 years ago when only 800,000-tickets were sold compared to 52 million admissions last year of which 13 million were received by Polish films. The institute provides half of the budget of the films it supports, up to 70% for debut features and co-funds about 30 co-productions each year.   Including single screen facilities Poland has 1600 cinemas and enjoys steady growth in the box office reaching $231 million in 2016, an increase of 16% from 2015. The audience for feature films is expanding with two local VOD services as well as the launch of Netflix in late 2016 which will include local content and Showmax in February 2017.  Support for the Polish Film Festival was provided by public Polish agencies, the Association of Polish Filmmakers, and other sponsors.

Afterimage, Andrezej Wajda, 2016.  In his last feature Wajda continues his presentation of the socio- political turmoil prompted by the rapid changes of post war Poland and he shows in this biopic how an artist is impacted by the rise of Stalinist thinking. He re-constructs the last years of the well-known painter Strzeminski who is oppressed by the proponents of the official socialist realism art form.  As a professor at the Lodz National School of Fine Arts he gained prominence and a following for his abstract painting and his unism theory of arts. With the imposition of communism in Poland, modern art forms were shunned and pressures exerted to conform.  Though physically handicapped, Strzeminski refused to comply with the demands of the Ministry of Culture and its party functionaries. He lost his position at the university, was ejected from the artists’ union, forced to leave his apartment and descended into poverty, a fate mitigated by support from his students. The system prevailed and he died. Wajda presents flawless settings in this film and actors with an outstanding performance such as Boguslaw Linda who plays the painter and Katazyna Kobroin as his daughter. As with his other features the issues enacted are a learning experience for the audience.

The Last Family, Jan P. Matuszynski, 2016. With the actions restricted mostly to their apartment the director dissects in this bio-pic the family of the cult artist Zdislaw Beksinski known for his surrealist post-apocalyptic paintings.  He suffered from an irrational fear of spiders, had strong sexual fantasies, and was obsessed with videotaping his household. His wife Zofia was religious and precariously held the family together while their son Tomasz sufferd from impotence, suicidal ideation, and impulsive neurotic behavior. The family is completed by the mothers of Beksinski and Zofia living in the same apartment, and an occasional friend, an art collector living abroad. Covering 28 years of the family biography we accompany Bekinski through the foibles, aberrations and death of all members of the family and his own passing.  The Last Family reflects is a striking portrait of the micro pathology of a family.

How to be Loved   Woijciech Jerzy Has, 1963    On a trip from Warsaw to Paris Felicja a famous actress that recalls her experience with Wictor, an actor she hid from the Gestapo in her apartment for several years. He was accused of killing a collaborator.  There was no audience he could address in his isolation and he became distressed. Felicja became attached to him, though he did not reciprocate. While she worked in a bar he had no exit from her place.  Her apartment was searched by the Germans and one of the soldiers raped her. After the war, she was not allowed to work as an actress because she was suspected of having worked with the enemy. Wiktor is not able to work, disappears and turns into an alcoholic. When Felicja tracks him down she tries to help him again to no avail. He commits suicide. In 1963 the film received awards at the San Francisco Film Festival for the Best Actress (Barbara Krafftowna) and Best Screenplay. The performances of both in this dark drama is remarkable. The actor Zbigniew Cybulski also excelled in Wajda’s 1958 feature Ashes and Diamonds

Blindness, Ryszard Bugajski 2016    Blindness is directed by Bugajski who worked with Wajda and like him refused to collaborate with the communist regime. His theme for Blindness, coming to terms with the past, is certainly in line with the themes  Wanda covers in his films. In Blindness   he tells the story of Julia Brystygier a woman who worked as a sadistic interrogator in the fifties and was charged with keeping the catholic clergy in line. Now she searches for relief from the horrors she inflicted on others and her cruel treatments of suspects. Now retired, and feeling remorse, she seeks  an audience with the cardinal of Poland. Kept waiting in a home for the blind, she encounter a priest blinded while he was her prisoner. She also interrogated  the cardinal for the secret police. Her discussions with him increase rather than diminish her anxiety.  Her quest for new meaning in her life seemingly cannot be met.  Maria Mamona, who is married to the director, gives an extraordinary performance in this period piece merging her individuality with the role. No matter how deep her angst and nightmares are she retains complete control.

Providing close insights into Wajda’s work is the 2009 documentary Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot. Four young documentary film makers, former students of Wajda, filmed him over several months when he was working on Katyn  a feature on the murder by the soviet secret service of thousands of Polish officers in 1940. Wajda’s style of directing, the interaction with actors and technicians, his sense of mission, as well as his private self in moments of failure and success are recorded in this intimate portrayal.

Claus Mueller  filmexchange@gmail.com

Women in Motion by Kering concluded today their third edition, conversing with Women in the film business about their experience and their contribution to equal rights for women in the industry. The guest of today's talk was actress Diane Kruger, who spoke about being an actress in the US and Europe, the differences and the fight women are giving to get equal pay and equal treatment within the competitive industry. 

Here's a video excerpt from the talk: 

About Diane Kruger 

She starred in In the Fade, Fatih Akin's latest film in the Official Competition, where she plays a mother who lost her child and her husband in a bomb attack. A powerful film about the mourning, injustice and revenge that rest on the shoulders of Diane Kruger, who plays for the first time in German, just like her heroine and fetish actress Romy Schneider. Having played the main roles in the films by Fabienne Berthod and recently in Alice Winocour’s Maryland, she feels very concerned about the question of women’s place in cinema. "Women filmmakers basically have a different view than men filmmakers, it’s deeper," she says. "I think they put the female characters at the center, not at the service of the male roles.” For her, women filmmakers do not get too tied up with seduction. They go straight to the point, and make a cinema that’s more honest. As for the evolution of women's position in the film industry, Diane Kruger is reasonably optimistic: "Even if it’s still incredibly difficult to occupy a place, they manage more and more to create their own space, and each one must do it, and demand, for example, that the actresses be paid the same as the actors!”  The emancipation movement must also come take hold in television with series such as The Bridge, in which Diane Kruger plays the lead role of a criminal investigator. Diane Kruger is stepping for the first time behind the camera to make a short film to encourage young women to dare entering the scientific field. An area that fascinates her, so much so, that she trying her hand at producing a mini-series about Heddi Lamar, a great and misunderstood scientist from the 1940s. "This may enable a new generation to identify with a remarkable woman. Seeing the journey of women like Heddi Lamar can create a purpose." she said with conviction at the final Women in Motion 2017 talk. 

Diane Kruger's biography

Heroine of the latest film by Fatih Akin, In the Fade, a thriller in the Official Competition, where she plays a woman who wants to avenge the death of her husband and son in a bomb attack. Diane Kruger returns to the Croisette, but this time she’s on the other side of the fence as a contender in the Official Competition. After having been mistress-of-ceremonies for the 2007 Festival de Cannes, then member of the jury in 2012 under the presidency of Nanni Moretti, Diane Kruger is in competition this year for the Prix d’interpretation. From Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds to Farewell My Queen by Benoit Jacquot, the German actress has already had the opportunity to display her wide range of talents, and no matter what the director’s language. She is also remembered in the very beautiful role Fabienne Berthod gave her in Sky in 2015, a French director she’s teamed up with and shared an affinity with since her first film Frankie. 

By Martin I. Petrov (original and edited content). 

Adrien Majourel (Project and Festival Manager, FIAPF), Omar De La Cruz (Director FCGD) y Benoit Ginisty (Director General, FIAPF)

With this seal of excellence, the FCGD joins the exclusive community of 47 film festivals in the world including Berlin, Cannes and Venice, who commit to respect the quality standards as defined by the film producers' community

(Cannes, 22 May 2017). The Festival de Cine Global Dominicano (FCGD) received Monday the accreditation of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) as a "COMPETITIVE FEATURE FILM FESTIVAL specialised in First Films", by the hand of its managing director Benoit Ginisty and Adrien Majourel, festival manager of the international organization.

The decision, which was decided unanimously during the FIAPF General Assembly held last May 20 in Cannes, includes the FCGD among the 47 member festivals accredited by the organization. The accreditation process concluded that the festival meets all of the standards and criteria as defined by the community of cinematographic producers associations around the world and acknowledges the work that has been accomplished by the Festival's team to create a quality film event which puts the artistic and economic interests of the films first.

Omar de la Cruz, director of the Dominican Republic Global Film Festival, expressed his enthusiasm because of the endorsement of the FIAPF, "this is a goal that was drawn up and consolidated during the tenth edition. This is an important acknowledgment to the Dominican Republic, the volunteers who work tirelessly to carry out each edition, the national film industry and the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE)."

De la Cruz stressed that with this decision the FCGD becomes the first Caribbean festival with FIAPF accreditation and the third in Latin America next to the International Film Festival of Mar de Plata and the International Film Festival of Cartagena de Indias. "It is an honor and a privilege that demonstrates the quality of the work and how the festival has strengthened in the Dominican Republic and worldwide." The decision was unanimous and extraordinary to know that Adrien Majourel's on-site evaluation during the last edition motivated this news ".

According to FIAPF President, Mr Luis Alberto Scalella, "Since the creation of the Dominican National law on the Promotion of the Film Industry implemented by President Fernandez in 2010, the Dominican Republic has accomplished a fantastic work to promote the film industry and to attract foreign productions. Festival de Cine Global Dominicano is a key part of this strategy and, with this decision, FIAPF recognises the work that has been accomplished by the management team and supports the ambition of the Festival to become pivotal in the Caribean region." Luis Alberto Scalella added: "This accreditation, which acts as a seal of quality, will give new responsabilities to the Festival while providing it with international opportunities."

Dr. Leonel Fernández, former President of the Dominican Republic and President of FUNGLODE, expressed his satisfaction with this new accreditation, and conveyed the enthusiasm of the Foundation to the incorporation of the festival to this organization, reiterating the desire to be an accredited member and working closely with FIAPF through the Dominican Republic Global Film Festival.

While Yvette Marichal, director general of the Directorate General of Cinema of the Dominican Republic, commented that as a country, the Dominican Republic is proud to receive this exclusive accreditation from FIAPF. "Being the only Caribbean festival that has received this seal of excellence is of extreme importance to continue the efforts that have been developing over the years from the FCGD and the film industry of our nation."

The FIAPF, based in BERN, Switzerland and established in 1933, brings together 38 associations of film producers from 31 countries and aims to defend the creative, legal and regulatory interests of the Film Production sector worldwide. In addition, it has an active function towards the cinematographic festivals of the whole world as a regulator of international film festivals.

The 64^TH Sydney Film Festival announces Korean-American actor and The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun will join director and 2017 Cannes Palme d'Or contender Bong Joon-ho, and Australian actor Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) at the Sydney Film Festival in June (7-18).  Their film Okja will premiere at the Festival, direct from sparking controversy in Cannes.

The Festival also reveals former New Zealand Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General candidate Helen Clark will attend with director-producer Gaylene Preston for the World Premiere of her documentary My Year with Helen.

These Festival guests join an incredible line-up with some of the world’s most exciting filmmakers and industry stars, both local and international. 

Festival audiences can see and hear from Oscar-winning actor and political activist Vanessa Redgrave, Hollywood based Emmy-winning actor Ben Mendelsohn, Cannes-winning Indigenous director Warwick Thornton, 2017 Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner Alain Gomis, 2017 Berlinale Golden Bear winner Ildikó Enyedi, Australian director-writer-producer David Wenham, Red Dog director Kriv Stenders, and acclaimed Indigenous actor and director Wayne Blair.

These luminaries and many more will join audiences at the premieres of their films, in talks, panels and at Q&A sessions. The Hub at Town Hall will also host FREE Meet the Filmmaker talks: a collaboration between the Sydney Film Festival and Vivid Ideas, part of the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, Vivid Sydney.

International:

• Oscar-winning actor and political activist Vanessa Redgrave and producer and son Carlo Nero | Sea Sorrow | Cannes selected directorial debut by the 80-year-old about the global refugee crisis | Talk at The Hub (Saturday 17 June, 2pm)
   
• Former NZ Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General candidate Helen Clark and director-producer Gaylene Preston | My Year with Helen | Extended Q&A in the Town Hall Vestibule about the year-long project (Saturday 10 June 6:30pm)
   
• 2017 Cannes Palme d'Or contender Bong Joon-ho, Korean-American actor and The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun and Australian actor Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) | Okja | Closing Night | Netflix film starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Daniel Henshall and An Seo-hyun.
   
• Iranian-Dutch director-producer Arash Kamali Sarvestani and co-creator and Manus Island detainee Behrouz Boochani, who will attend via Skype | Chauka Please Tell Us The Time | Documents the life of detainees, made from footage captured secretly on a mobile phone by Boochani | Extended Q&A with Sarvestani and Boochani at Town Hall (Sunday 11 June 2pm)
   
• Samoan New Zealander director Tusi Tamasese | One Thousand Ropes | The director of the first feature film written and directed by a Samoan (The Orator, 2011) presents his latest feature | Extended Q&A at Town Hall (Monday 12 June 4:15pm)
   
• Canadian producer Christina Fon and Cherokee executive producer Stevie Salas (named one of the top 50 guitarists of all time) | RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World | Sounds on Screen
   
• Award-winning Canadian independent filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming | Window Horses – The Poetic Persian Epiphany Of Rosie Ming | Animation voiced all-star US cast, including  Sandra Oh, Ellen Page and Don McKellar | Talk: An Animated Conversation at Town Hall (Saturday 17 June 6pm) | Focus on Canada

Official Competition:

• Haiti-born filmmaker Hébert Peck | I Am Not Your Negro | Oscar-nominated cine-essay on race in America narrated by Samuel L Jackson | Extended Q&A at Town Hall (Tuesday 13 June, 2:30pm)
• Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat | Wolf and Sheep | Europe! Voices of Women in Film | The youngest director ever selected for a Cannes Cinéfondation Residency | Talk: In conversation with European Women Filmmakers (Sunday 11 June, 12pm)
• 2017 Berlinale Golden Bear winner, Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi | On Body and Soul
• 2017 Berlinale Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, French director Alain Gomis | Félicité
• 2016 Venice Silver Lion for Best Director winner, Mexican director Amat Escalante | The Untamed
• Award-winning Syrian-Finnish actor Sherwan Haji | The Other Side of Hope - won the 2017 Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Director

Europe! Voices of Women in Film:
Talk: In conversation with European Women Filmmakers (Sunday 11 June 12pm)

• UK filmmaker Hope Dickson Leach | The Levelling | Leach was last year awarded a £50 000 IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award by Cate Blanchett
• Georgian director-writer Rusudan Glurjidze | House of Others | Debut feature
• 2017 Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee Irish director Neasa Ní Chianáin and producer David Rane | School Life
• Macedonian actor turned artist turned director-writer Teona Strugar Mitevska | When the Day Had No Name
• Swiss actor Rachel Braunschweig | The Divine Order

Other:

• French novelist and filmmaker Amanda Sther | Madame | Toni Collette and Harvey Keitel star in the French romantic comedy.
• NZ director Florian Habicht | Spookers | Freak Me Out | A look at ‘scream park' Spookers, located on the site of a former psychiatric hospital near Auckland.
• Swiss director-writer with disability Manuël von Stürler | Lust for Sight | Screenability | Stürler sets out to define what it means to see when he is told by his doctor that he can’t see colours.
• Indian director Shubhashish Bhutiani | Hotel Salvation | Won the UNESCO Prize at Venice in 2017.
• Thai director-writer Anocha Suwichakornpong | By The Time It Gets Dark | The long-awaited second feature by Suwichakornpong (Mundane History, 2009).
• Shady Srour | Holy Air | Starred in the Oscar-nominated short Ave Maria (SFF 2016).
• Malaysian director-writer Ho Yuhang | Mrs K | Director reunites with veteran Hong Kong action star Kara Wai.
• Filipino director-writer Eduardo Roy Jr. and producer Ferdinand Lapuz | Ordinary People | Humanist drama won the People’s Choice Award at Venice 2016.
• South African director Akin Omotoso | Vaya | The true stories at the heart of this feature came from a writing workshop for homeless people in Johannesburg.
• Nepalese writer-director-producer Deepak Rauniyar | White Sun | Rauniyar’s first feature Highway, 2012, was the first Nepali film ever to be selected for a major international festival. 
• Indian co-director Khushboo Ranka | An Insignificant Man | A portrait of political leader Arvind Kejriwal, aka 'The Bernie Sanders of India'.
• Filipino director-writer-producer Ramona S. Diaz | Motherland | Documentary about the busiest maternity hospital in the world in Manila.
• Canadian producer Hany Ouichou | Those Who Make The Revolution Only Halfway Dig Their Own Graves | Focus on Canada | Based on the Maple Spring student protests in Quebec, 2012.

Australian:

Official Competition:

• Hollywood based Emmy-winning actor Ben Mendelsohn | Una | Official Competition | Stars alongside Rooney Mara in debut feature from celebrated Australian theatre director Benedict Andrews | Talk at The Hub (Saturday 10 June, 2pm)
   
• Cannes-winning Indigenous director Warwick Thornton, producer Brendan Fletcher and film team | We Don’t Need a Map | Opening Night + Official Competition + First Nations | Investigates Australia’s complicated relationship with the Southern Cross | Talk at The Hub (Sunday 11 June, 3.45pm)

Other:

• Director-writer-producer David Wenham | Ellipsis | Directorial debut | Talk: Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture with David Stratton (Monday 12 June 4pm) | Jury Chair of the Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship
   
• Director Kriv Stenders and cast Bryan Brown,  Jenny Wu, Miah Madden and Sean Keenan | Australia Day | Takes place over one Australia Day with an all-star Australian cast | Talk: Diversity on Australian Screens at Town Hall (Friday 16 June 6pm)
   
• Director Kriv Stenders and singer-songwriter Robert Forster | The Go-Betweens: Right Here | Sounds on Screen | Intimate look at ’70s Aussie rock-band The Go-Betweens.
   
• Up and coming actress Danielle Macdonald | Patti Cake$ | Actress in her breakthrough US role from US director Geremy Jasper.
   
• Acclaimed Indigenous actor and director Wayne Blair and cast | Cleverman 2 | The Box Set + First Nations | The first two episodes from the highly anticipated second series of Cleverman.
   
• Director-writer Hollie Fifer, protagonist Joe Moses and producer Rebecca Barry | The Opposition | A David-and-Goliath battle over a slice of Papua New Guinea paradise will screen following court action in Australia.
   
• Director-producer Karina Holden; “shark girl” Madison Stewart; world-famous shark expert Valerie Taylor; marine scientist and free-diver Lucas Handley; research scientist Jennifer Lavers; and environmentalist Tim Silverwood | Blue | DAF| Environmental doco about the state of the earth's oceans with a special focus on the Great Barrier Reef.
   
• Marine scientist and ‘Godfather of Coral’ Dr. John ‘Charlie’ Veron and reef aquarist Zackery Rago | Chasing Coral | Discusses the dire fate of coral reefs by filming the phenomenon ‘coral bleaching' with the Great Barrier Reef taking centre stage.
   
• Director-writer Erica Glynn and producer Darren Dale | In My Own Words | First Nations + DAF | A heartfelt journey of adult Aboriginal students and their teachers as they discover the transformative power of reading and writing for the first time.
   
• Director-writer-producer and Ngarluma man Tyson Mowarin | Connection to Country | First Nations + DAF | Looks at the struggle of the indigenous people of the Pilbara (WA) to preserve cultural heritage from the ravages of a booming mining industry.
   
• Sherpa (SFF 2016) director-writer Jennifer Peedom | Mountain | The world premiere will screen with a live musical score by the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Opera House (VIVID Live).
   
• Director-writer-producer Gregory Erdstein, writer-producer-star Alice Foulcher, actress Isabel Lucas and film team | That’s Not Me | Feature debut from Erdstein influenced by Girls and Bridesmaids | Talk: Low Budget? No Worries at Town Hall (Monday 12 June 6pm)
   
• US TV show Modern Family director Jeffrey Walker and actor and comedian Osamah Sami and members of the film team | Ali’s Wedding | Australia's first Muslim romantic comedy | Talk: Diversity on Australian Screens at Town Hall (Friday 16 June 6pm)
   
• Debut feature from WA based director-writer Stevie Cruz-Martin, and writer-producer-star with disability Daniel Monks | Pulse | Screenability | Body swap drama blending sci-fi with sexual teen angst and identity crisis.
   
• Director-writer Sarah Barton | Defiant Lives | DAF | Documents the rise and triumph of the disability rights movement following eight years of work.
   
• Director Sascha Ettinger Epstein (Destination Arnold– SFF2016) and subject - the “Madame” Simone Kearsley | The Pink House | DAF | About Kalgoorlie's (remote mining town in WA) last original gold rush brothel.
   
• Shaun Gladwell and Leo Faber | Virtual reality pioneers of ground-breaking VR collective BADFAITH present 13 immersive VR works at the Festival Hub | Talk at The Hub (Tuesday 13 June, 5pm)
   
• Award-winning cinematographer Ari Wegner | Lady Macbeth | Adaptation of Nikolai Leskov's novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk.
   
• One of Australia's leading documentary filmmakers Tom Zubrycki and subject and South Sudan refugee Zacharia Machiek  | Hope Road | DAF | A South Sudan refugee takes part in a 40-day fundraising walk from Tweed Heads to Sydney to raise money to build a school in his home town.
   
• WA filmmaker Ben C. Lucas and the film team | OtherLife | Debut feature Wasted on the Young was nominated for the Sydney Film Prize in 2010; new science fiction thriller based on the popular novel, Solitaire, by Kelley Eskridge | Talk: Low Budget? No Worries at Town Hall (Monday 12 June 6pm)
   
• US based, Adelaide born director Matthew Salleh | Barbecue | Gourmet Cinema + DAF | A culinary and cultural exploration of the barbecue traditions across the globe.
   
• Autobiographical doco from director-writer-subject Su Goldfish | The Last Goldfish | DAF | Follows Goldfish's search for her lost family stretching from Australia to Trinidad and WWII Germany.
   
• British born, Australian based documentary filmmaker Luke Walker | PACmen | DAF | Looks into the men behind the SuperPACs (independent political committees that support a candidate with unlimited, often anonymous donations) that persuaded Dr. Ben Carson to run for President.
   
• Director-producer Kate Hickey and US roller dancer Terrell Ferguson | Roller Dreams | DAF | An in-depth look into the vibrant roller skate dancing scene of Venice Beach, California.
   
• Inspirational filmmaker Rhiannon Bannenberg | Rip Tide | Family Program | Perfectly-pitched tween feature filmed around Wollongong, Kiama and Shellharbour (NSW).
   
• Director-writer Kirsten Carthew | The Sun at Midnight | Focus on Canada | Debut feature shot in Canada’s remote Northwest Territory.

Restorations:

• Director-producer Pat Fiske | Rocking The Foundations
• Director Samantha Lang and producer Sandra Levy | The Well

Feminism & Film: Sydney Women Filmmakers, 1970s & ’80s:

• Co-directors Susan Lambert and Sarah Gibson | Behind Closed Doors
• Filmmakers Martha Ansara and Jeni Thornley | Film for Discussion
• Co-directors Megan McMurchy, Margot Nash, Margot Oliver and Jeni Thornley | For Love or Money: A History of Women and Work in Australia
• Producer Martha Ansara | First Nations | My Survival as an Aboriginal
• Co-directors Helen Grace and Erika Addis | Serious Undertakings
• Director Laleen Jayamanne | A Song of Ceylon
• Filmmaker Carolyn Strachan | Two Laws
• Director Margaret Dodd | This Woman is Not a Car
• Co-directors Robin Laurie and Margot Nash | We Aim to Please 

T

he 2017 SFFF, Sweet Sixteen edition (Crest Theatre & Esqurie IMAX Theatre - June 16-18 & 23-25, 2017) is coming to life with our delightful poster!

The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) announced today the latest slate of programming for its 19^th edition, running June 14-18. The added programming includes an awards presentation for actress Aubrey Plaza, who will receive the festival's inaugural Next Wave Award, which recognizes those who have exciting and distinctive voices, take artistic risks, and have a passionate commitment to independent film. Plaza, who stars in and produced the festival's Closing Night Film, INGRID GOES WEST, will receive the honor at a ceremony on Sunday, June 18 at Fishermen Hall in Provincetown. She will also star in THE LITTLE HOURS which she produced and has recently received critical acclaim for her role on the FX series, "Legion."

Additionally, the festival announced a special presentation with Julie Klausner and Scott King, the creators of Hulu's hit original series "Difficult People" and a special screening of a new documentary from acclaimed filmmakers Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested (with Junger in attendance), as well as daily breakfast panels and more.

The added programming is listed below:

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

EPISODIC TV SPECIAL PRESENTATION: THE CREATIVE GENIUSES BEHIND "DIFFICULT PEOPLE," PRESENTED BY HULU - Saturday, June 17, 2:30pm, Art House 2

Join Julie Klausner (creator, executive producer, writer, star) and Scott King (executive producer, showrunner) as they share clips from the upcoming third season and talk about their hilarious and wildly irreverent comedy series "Difficult People," about two aspiring NYC comedians in their mid-30s (Klausner and "Billy on the Street" star Billy Eichner) who aren't living up to their potential, hate just about everything and everyone - except for each other. Learn how the project caught the attention of executive producer Amy Poehler and is the stopping-place for a broad swath of guest stars from Nathan Lane to Kathie Lee Gifford to Seth Meyers and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Moderated by Kyle Turner, a freelance writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been featured in Paste Magazine, The Village Voice, Playboy, Slate, Vice, Brooklyn Magazine, and Indiewire's /Bent.

HELL ON EARTH: THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS (directed by Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested) - Sunday, June 18, 2pm, Art House 1

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and best-selling author Sebastian Junger and his Emmy-winning filmmaking partner, Nick Quested, chronicle Syria's descent into the unbridled chaos that allowed the rise of the Islamic State, better known as ISIS. This documentary delves into the real stories and persons in the conflict, giving a human face on the ground to what are just headlines and news clips to the rest of the world. Discovering the motivations, consequences and human toll from the war raises questions of how outside forces have influenced the situation, including the West.

*Sebastian Junger will be in attendance.

PIFFtalks

PIFFtalks: SCREEN ADAPTATIONS: FROM BOOKS AND FILMS - Thursday, June 15, 3pm, Harbor Lounge, 359 Commercial Street

Join writer/producer Mark Protosevich (OLD BOY, I AM LEGEND, POSEIDON) and author Casey Sherman (Boston Strong, The Finest Hours) in a discussion about the challenges of adapting films from other original source material. Sherman's telling of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings was most recently adapted to the screen in the 2017 film PATRIOT'S DAY directed by Peter Berg. Protosevich will speak to the creative undertaking of adapting among other classic films, the 2003 South Korean classic film OLD BOY, directed by auteur filmmaker Park Chan-wook, for Spike Lee and his current project FLASH GORDON with director Matthew Vaughn. Moderated by award-winning journalist Ari Karpel.

PIFFtalks: WOMEN IN FILM AT PIFF - Friday, June 16, 10am, Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford Street

It wasn't long ago that women directors only accounted for 7% of the selections at the Cannes Film Festival. Meanwhile, 50% of PIFF's 2017 narrative feature selections are directed by women, continuing the Festival's long tradition of support. Join us for a conversation about being filmmakers, by directors and producers who just happen to be women. Panelists include: Noël Wells (MR. ROOSEVELT) and Katherine Dieckmann (STRANGE WEATHER). Moderated by Loren King, Boston Globe correspondent.

PIFFtalks: SEBASTIAN JUNGER - Saturday, June 17, 10am, Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford Street

Join us for a special conversation with award-winning writer, director, journalist Sebastian Junger. Known for his wide range of best-selling books, The Perfect Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont, and War. His documentary films include the Academy-Award nominated RESTREPO, WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT LINE FROM HERE?, and KORENGAL. His new film, HELL ON EARTH: THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS, is screening at this year's festival. Moderated by journalist and author Mark Harris, former executive editor of Entertainment Weekly and author of Five Came Back.

PIFFtalks: CAPTURING A TRUE STORY - Sunday, June 18, 10am, Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford Street

Every documentary has a huge responsibility to its viewers - to tell the truth. Join us to discuss the magic and pitfalls of capturing real events in order to tell a true story with respect to the people who lived it. How does the camera, direction editing and other filmmaking tools affect reality? Panelists include festival directors: Hope Litoff (32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE), Trish Adlesic (I AM EVIDENCE), and Andrew Rossi (BRONX GOTHIC). Moderated by Steven Raphael, Founder/President, Required Viewing.

PIFFplus

ANCHOR AWARD: JOHN AND GUI YINGLING - Wednesday, June 14, 6:30pm presentation before Opening Night Screening, Fishermen Hall, 12 Winslow Street

Each year, we recognize one of our generous community business partners who provides extraordinary support for the festival and our other year-round programs. Through his services as a longtime member of the Provincetown Film Society board, John Yingling along with his son Gui with whom he operates several local establishments including Bubula's, Local 186, Enzo's, and Spiritus Pizza, represent a vital part of the Provincetown community and have a steadfast commitment to giving back in time and resources. John and Gui win special kudos from our staff and volunteers by providing free pizza from Spiritus and an annual thank you party for our amazing volunteers.

BOOK SIGNING - MAKE TROUBLE: JOHN WATERS - Thursday, June15, 5pm-7pm, MAP, 220 Commercial Street

Pop culture icon, New York Times bestselling author and renowned filmmaker of such cult masterpieces as HAIRSPRAY, PINK FLAMINGOS and SERIAL MOM advises the graduating class of the Rhode Island School of Design to 'get busy and make trouble' in his new graphic book Make Trouble. In the book, Waters uses his sly wisdom and wealth of experience to encourage the younger generation to embrace chaos, be nosy, and challenge the status quo, while simultaneously urging anyone embarking on a creative path to be both pragmatic and disciplined. Notable quotes include: "Remember, a 'no' is free. Ask for the world and pay no mind if you are initially turned down.""Don't hate all rich people. They're not all awful. Believe me. I know some evil poor people, too.""Use technology for transgression, not lazy social living." Meet John Waters...

EVAN LAWSON FILMMAKERS' BRUNCH - CELEBRATING FILMMAKERS ON THE FRONT LINE - Sunday, June 18, 12pm, Sage at the Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial Street

Recipient of the 2016 Freedom Award from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund for his HBO film SUITED, director Jason Benjamin will share his experiences working with the transgender community and with veterans for his upcoming film RETURNING. A screening of the film will take place at AMP Gallery, 432 Commercial Street on Sunday, June 18 at 4:30pm. The Evan Lawson Filmmakers' Benefit Brunch honors the legacy of former board president Evan Law- son, who was a longtime advocate for Provincetown and its artists. Tax-deductible tickets are $250 at the box office and online.

SHORT FILM SCREENING: "RETURNING" (directed by Jason Benjamin) - Sunday, June 18, 4:30pm, AMP Gallery, 432 Commercial Street

After studying technique and theory of documentary filmmaking, four Florida veterans apply what they've learned to examine the Sarasota County Veterans Treatment Court system. This short documentary illustrates how the judicial system works with, and not against, local veterans. Through the treatment court, veterans are provided mentoring, counseling and other tools that focus on rehabilitation instead of incarceration. The veterans court is led by a compassionate circuit court judge who takes on each case with considerate justice. Meet the filmmakers: director Jason Benjamin, executive producer John Secor, and the veterans featured in the film.

2017 HBO AWARDS PRESENTATION - HBO PRESENTS THE AUDIENCE AWARDS - presentation during Closing Night Party, Sunday, June 18, 9pm, The Waterford Inn - Spindler's, 386 Commercial Street

HBO has long been known for connecting audiences around the world to compelling content that is both groundbreaking and popular. Likewise, they are uniquely poised to present our discerning audiences picks for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best Short Film. The 2016 Audience Awards went to: THE INNOCENTS directed by Anne Fontaine for Best Narrative Feature; THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS: YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE by Morgan Neville, and POLITICAL ANIMALS by Jonah Markowitz and Tracy Wares (tie) for Best Documentary Feature; and TERRITORY directed by Eleanor Mortimer for Short Documentary Award.

JOHN SCHLESINGER AWARD FOR FIRST TIME DIRECTOR - presentation during Closing Night Party, Sunday, June 18, 9pm, The Waterford Inn - Spindler's, 386 Commercial Street

In memory of John Schlesinger, this special award is given to first-time doc/narrative feature film directors at our Closing Night Awards presentation. John Schlesinger's (1926-2003) work includes such highly acclaimed films as MIDNIGHT COWBOY, MARATHON MAN, THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY and COLD COMFORT FARM. Mr. Schlesinger's films reveal a keen social awareness, a fascination with love's complexities, and a penchant for drawing out big performances. An actor himself, he helped to make stars out of such performers as Julie Chris- tie, Dustin Ho man and John Voight, and has the distinction of directing eight different actors in Academy Award-nominated performances. 2016 winners include BLOOD STRIPE directed by Remy Auberjonois for Best Narrative Feature; OFF THE RAILS by Adam Irving for Best Documentary Feature.

HERE MEDIA PRESENTS: QUEER SHORTS AWARD - presentation during Closing Night Party, Sunday, June 18, 9pm, The Waterford Inn - Spindler's, 386 Commercial Street

Debuting a new award for 2016, HERE MEDIA presented the Jury Award for Best QUEER SHORT, which was chosen from those shorts presented in our QUEER SHORTS program.

Awarding it again in 2017, this award comes with recognition and distribution by HERE MEDIA, including streaming of the winning short across HERE MEDIA properties.

JURIED SHORTS AWARDS - presentation during Closing Night Party, Sunday, June 18, 9pm, The Waterford Inn - Spindler's, 386 Commercial Street

A team of film industry professionals will also present awards for Best Narrative Short Film; Best Animated Short Film; Best New England Short Film; and Best Student Short Film. 2016 winners include THUNDER ROAD directed by Jim Cummings for Best Narrative Short Film; GLOVE directed by Alexa Haas and Bernardo Britto for Best Animated Short Film; BLACK CANARIES directed by Jesse Kreitzer for Best New England Short Film; THE MINK CATCHER directed by Samantha Buck for Best Student Short Film; and MAIS DURO! directed by Camila Saldarriaga. The 2017 jurors are: Dilcia Barrera, Sundance Film Festival Short Film Programmer; Bernardo Britto, director (PIFF 2016 Best Animated Short Film, GLOVE), and director Lauren Wolkstein (THE STRANGE ONES, PIFF 2017).

The Provincetown International Film Festival runs June 14 - 18, 2017 in Provincetown, MA. Purchase festival passes and individual tickets at www.provincetownfilm.org/festival. 

The full festival schedule is available online at: www.provincetownfilm.org/festival.

The 2017 Next Wave Award is sponsored by the Chlotrudis Society. Major sponsors of the 2017 Provincetown International Film Festival include: HBO, the Visitor Tourism Board, the 

 Petros presents Greek Delicacies at Opening/Closing Nights!

On Thursday, June 1, at 21: 00 we will take a walk through Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest (Kuun metsän Kaisa, Finland, 2016, 84' ), a magical documentary by Finnish director Katja Gauriloff.  A family chronicle, a chronicle of a friendship, a history of an old continent and ancient legends poetically intertwine in a magical documentary about Sami people, whose way of life and culture were pushed on the path of imminent extinction. The godmothers of the opening film of the new edition of Isola  Cinema, istrian vocal group Frčafele, will co-create the magic mood in the House of Culture.

A stone's throw away, at the Isola's Lighthouse, the first set of short films will open the Video on the Beach section. With the sea behind the cinema screen the first set of short films from the section the Video on the Beach will be played – united under the title Beyond the Memory. Video on the Beach is a traditional section of the Kino Otok – Isola Cinema international film festival that has for years countered the gentle sea breezes with edgy shorts by emerging filmmakers of various proveniences.

The film day in Isola will start at 13:00 in Art Kino Odeon with the film by a young director Dane Komljen All the Cities of the North (Svi severni gradovi, Dane Komljen, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2016, 100')  telling stories from the other times, about the cities on the North and the South. The afternoon will continue at 17: 00 in Art kino Odeon with the programme of shorts called Memories from the festival Diagonale where we will follow a trail of memories of everyday life that are exposed to an extreme situation. Films will be accompanied on the screen by  the Festival Diagonale representative, Marius Hrdy. At 19:00 we will travel along the border to Trieste, Yugoslavia, to the mid- 1950s, when the Piazza Ponterosso in central Trieste became a favourite shopping destination for the citizens of Yugoslavia. The director of the film, Alessio Bozzer will open the journey to the times of coexistence between capitalism and socialism.

For the first time, Isola Cinema will splash to the House of Culture in Cerknica, Filmsko gledališče Idrija and Kinogledališče Tolmin with the film Trieste, Yugoslavia, and at 20:30 to Kosovel Culture House in Sežana with the film Overseas by italian director and this year's guest Loredana Bianconi. 

The 64^th Sydney Film Festival program was officially launched today bySydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley.

“The Sydney Film Festival is a collection of perspectives from many of the world’s most interesting storytellers, who reflect our shared desire to understand today’s world – from refugees and gender rights, to attitudes about country and community,” said Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley.

“From the heart of the ancient Pilbara, to the rubble of besieged Aleppo, or messages from the universe delivered 40 years later, filmmakers go to incredible lengths and dedicate many years of their lives to inspire, enlighten and entertain us.”

“A film Festival is the one place where all of these perspectives come together and offer us a temperature reading of the global zeitgeist: of who, what, where and why we are today,” he said.

Sydney Film Festival has gone from strength to strength in recent year, since 2011 attendance has increased by 62% to 178,500 filmgoers.  In 2017 the Festival will present 288 films from 59 countries including 37 World Premieres, bringing together hundreds of international and local stories.

Opening and Closing Nights

The 2017 Festival opens with the world premiere of acclaimed Indigenous director Warwick Thornton’s Official Competition contender We Don’t Need a Map, presented by Distinguished Partner, Lexus Australia.  Thornton will be in attendance to present his documentary on Opening Night, which investigates Australia’s relationship to the Southern Cross through colonial and Indigenous history to the present day.

Closing the Festival is celebrated Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Cannes Competition contender Okja, starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and An Seo-hyun. Bong will attend the Festival to present his film, which has its world premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

Official Competition 10^th anniversary

The Official Competition celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2017, marking a decade of awarding the $60,000 cashSydney Film Prize for audacious, cutting-edge and courageous cinema. 

Among the 12 films selected to compete are Warwick Thornton’s We Don’t Need a Map and celebrated Australian theatre director Benedict Andrews’ debut feature Una, starring Emmy-winning actor Ben Mendelsohn.

Also screening in Competition are exciting new works from acclaimed directors Sofia Coppola (The Beguiled), Alain Gomis (Félicité), Michael Haneke (Happy End), Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro), Nana & Simon (My Happy Family), Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul), Aki Kaurismäki (The Other Side of Hope) and Amat Escalante (The Untamed). The Official Competition also features debut features from groundbreaking Afghan woman director Shahrbanoo Sadat (Wolf and Sheep) and Singapore’s Kirsten Tan (Pop Aye).

The winner of the Sydney Film Prize is announced at the Festival’s Closing Night Gala on Sunday 18 June. Previous winners include: Aquarius (2016), Arabian Nights (2015); Two Days, One Night (2014); Only God Forgives (2013); Alps (2012); A Separation (2011); Heartbeats (2010); Bronson (2009); and Hunger (2008).

The competition is endorsed by FIAPF, the regulating body for international film festivals, and is judged by a jury of five international and Australian filmmakers and industry professionals.

Attending the Festival to present the premiere of their films are eight filmmakers and actors:  Australian Cannes-awarded director Warwick Thornton (We Don’t Need a Map), Australian Emmy-winning actor Ben Mendelsohn (Una), Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul), French director Alain Gomis (Félicité), actor Sherwan Haji (The Other Side of Hope), Mexican director Amat Escalante (The Untamed), Afghan female director Shahrbanoo Sadat (Wolf and Sheep), and Haitian American producer Hébert Peck (I Am Not Your Negro).

Thornton, Mendelsohn, and Peck will also join the Sydney Film Festival conversation for FREE Vivid Ideas talks at the Festival Hub, after the screenings of their films.

THE PROGRAM

The Festival’s diverse film programs promise cinematic treasures to be discovered every day. From the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary, showcasing 10 outstanding Australian documentaries; to 15 big-ticket films in Special Presentations at The State, presented by Princess Cruises.

There are also 46feature films, including prize-winners of the world’s most prestigious festivals; and 35 international documentaries tackling essential contemporary topics, from some of the world’s most renowned documentarians.

WORLD PREMIERES + DAFS

World premieres at the Festival include six Australian feature films beginning with Australia Day, Red Dog director Kriv Stenders’ hard look at the frayed edges of Australian society, with an all-star Australian cast (Bryan Brown, Shari Sebbens, Isabella Cornish, Matthew Le Nevez, and Sean Keenan).

Festivalgoers will be the first to see David Wenham’s directorial debut feature Ellipsis, a touching love letter to Sydney; tween feature Rip Tide with leading actress Disney star Debby Ryan; and inventive sci-fi thriller OtherLife from talented Australian director Ben C. Lucas. 

Ten documentaries will contest the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary from Blue - an investigation into the state of the earth’s oceans dedicated to creating awareness and change - to The Pink House, the story of Kalgoorlie’s last original gold rush brothel, told through the eyes of Madame Carmel, 70, and its longest-serving lady of the night, BJ. 

Other Australian stories competing include:  Barbecue, Connection to Country, Defiant Lives, Hope Road, In My Own Words, The Last Goldfish, PACmen and Roller Dreams.

VIVID Live, Sydney Film Festival and the Australian Chamber Orchestra will present Mountain LIVE, the World Premiere of Jennifer Peedom’s Mountain with live musical score by the ACO, at the Opera House on Monday 12 June, 3:00pm.

Also playing in the Sounds on Screen program is Kriv Stenders’ documentary looking at 1970s Aussie rock-band The Go-Betweens in The Go-Betweens: Right Here.

French romantic comedy Madame, starring Toni Collette and Harvey Keitel, also has its world premiere at the Festival.

FILMS FROM CANNES

The Festival will screen ten films direct from the CannesFilm Festival.

Four films are in the running for the Palme d'Or: Sofia Coppola’s seductive new thriller The Beguiled, starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning; acclaimed Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Okja starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and An Seo-hyun; celebrated German director Fatih Akin’s In the Fade starring Diane Kruger; and master Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Happy End starring Isabelle Huppert.

Four films coming from Cannes to the Sydney Film Festival are directorial debuts: Sea Sorrow, from 80-year-old Oscar-winning actor and UK based political activist Vanessa Redgrave; Wind River from US screenwriter Taylor Sheridan - starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen; New Jersey story Patti Cake$ from US director Geremy Jasper – which gives Australian actress Danielle Macdonald a breakthrough role; and Brigsby Bear, a comedy with Saturday Night Live’s Kyle Mooney from US director Dave McCary.

Also screening at the Festival from Cannes is Napalm, the latest documentary, set in North Korea, by renowned French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, now 91, and direct from Cannes Classics, the restored version of Luis Buñuel’s 1967 Belle de Jour.

Two films screening at Cannes are also contenders for the Festival’s Sydney Film Prize: The Beguiled and Happy End.

Attending the Festival to present their films are: Australian actor Danielle Macdonald (Patti Cake$), Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Okja), and Vanessa Redgrave (Sea Sorrow – with the support of Screen Australia’s Gender Matters Initiative). Redgrave will also join film commentator Margaret Pomeranz In Conversation at Sydney Film Festival, for a FREE Vivid Ideas talk at the Festival Hub (Saturday 17 June, 2pm) after the screening of her film.

FEATURES supported By UNSW Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences & special PRESENTATIONS Presented By Princess Cruises 

The Festival will present new features from great cinematic storytellers, from prize-winners of the world’s most prestigious festivals, to exciting new works from ground-breaking filmmakers.

Home-grown Muslim comedy Ali’s Wedding, sophisticated romance Call Me By Your Name, set in the Italian countryside, and haunting micro-budget love story A Ghost Story, made in secret starring Rooney Mara and Oscar-winner Casey Affleck made, are among some of the films to screen in the Special Presentations at the magnificent State Theatre, presented by Princess Cruises.

Other feature highlights, supported by the University of New South Wales Sydney include:  Terrence Malick’s love story Song to Song, set in the Texas music capital of Austin and starring Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett; Tropfest winner Alethea Jones’ feature debut Fun Mom Dinner starring Toni Collette and Molly Shannon, Cannes Critics’ Week’s closing comedy Brigsby Bear starring Saturday Night Live’s Kyle Mooney; and the exquisite tale of a transgender woman from Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio, Berlin award-winner A Fantastic Woman.

INTERNATIONAL DOCS

Closer to home, The Great Barrier Reef takes centre stage in Sundance winner Chasing Coral, which raises awareness of the dire fate of coral reefs by filming the phenomenon ‘coral bleaching’. Laura Poitras’ follow-up to her Oscar winning Citizenfour is Risk, a portrait of controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange filmed over six years. And also brought to the screen is the story of the Bruce McLaren: the humble New Zealander who became a superstar of Formula 1 (McLaren).

Other highlights include The Farthest, a passionate documentary on NASA’s Voyager space program and the far-reaching probes launched 40 years ago, Grand Jury Prize winner at Sundance Last Men in Aleppo, - a portrait of White Helmet volunteers of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, and Sundance award-winning Filipino documentary Motherland filmed in the busiest maternity hospital in the world.

SCREENABILITY

New to the Festival is Screenability, an exciting platform for screen practitioners with disability in partnership with Screen NSW and the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.

Curated by Guest Programmer Sofya Gollan, six cutting edge works will be showcased - features My Name is Emily and Pulse, documentary Lust for Sight, and short films Drumming is Like Thunder, Struck, and The Milky Pop Kid– all by filmmakers with disability.

Filmmakers with disability, Australian Daniel Monks (Pulse), and Switzerland’s Manuël von Stürler (Lust for Sight), will attend the Festival as guests to introduce their screenings. All Screenability filmmaker Q&As and introductions will be Auslan interpreted.

The Festival has also expanded its access and inclusion policy, introducing audio described and open captioned screenings, and a relaxed screening (My Life as a Zucchini) to compliment the Festival’s program - which includes over 90 English-subtitled films.

Festival Venues

Randwick’s iconic Ritz Cinema– celebrating its 80th birthday this year – has been added to the Festival’s wide Sydney footprint, which returns to the State Theatre, Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Opera Quays, Dendy Newtown, Skyline Drive In Blacktown, Art Gallery of NSW, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, Casula Powerhouse, SFF Outdoor Screen at Pitt Street Mall, and the Festival Hub at Sydney Town Hall.

The Festival’s outdoor screen, SFFTV @ Pitt St - presented by distinguished partner Princess Cruises - returns to Pitt St Mall.  Audiences can catch SFF trailers, red carpet footage and short films on the giant, double-sided screen. 

Also screening: an eye-popping international animated shorts showcase curated by the Festival’s Animation Programmer Malcolm Turner, and clips of four films from the National Film and Sound Archive, along with a selection of vintage Sydney footage.

14 Festival feature films will screen at Randwick’s Ritz Cinema, five at Casula Powerhouse in Sydney’s south west, and 26 at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne for audiences on Sydney’s North Shore.

LEXUS AUSTRALIA SHORT FILM FELLOWSHIP

For the second year, the Festival’s Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship will award four filmmakers the largest cash fellowship (AU$200,000 annually) for short film in Australia. On Tuesday 13 June, the four fellows will be announced, selected from 20 shortlisted Australian filmmakers by a jury chaired by actor David Wenham.  Once announced the fellows will commence production of their films, which will premiere at the 65th Sydney Film Festival in 2018.  The Fellowship is a partnership between Lexus Australia and Sydney Film Festival. 

The Festival will also host the world premieres of the 2016 Lexus Australia Short Film Fellowship Fellows: Anya Beyersdorf (How the Light Gets In), Brooke Goldfinch (Outbreak Generation), Alex Murawski (Snow) and Alex Ryan (Red Ink), supported by Lexus Australia.

short film AWARDS

Ten finalists in the Dendy Awards, Australia’s longest running short film competition, now in its 48^th year, will also screen over two sessions on 17 and 18 June. Three prize winners: The Dendy Live Action Short Award, The Rouben Mamoulian Award and the Yoram Gross Animation Award, will be announced at the Festival’s Closing Night, together with the Event Cinemas Australian Short Screenplay Award.

EUROPE! VOICES OF WOMEN IN FILM

In partnership with European Film Promotion and Screen International Sydney Film Festival will present Europe! Voices of Women in Film: a program of 10 new films from vital European women filmmakers.

From Ireland to Denmark, and Portugal to Macedonia, Europe! Voices of Women in Film shines a spotlight on emerging women filmmakers who are working to redress gender imbalance in the industry.

The program is enriched by seven industry guests from across the continent, who will introduce their films and take part in a public talk:  In Conversation with European Women Filmmakers.

In attendance to present their films to Festival audiences are: Award winning Georgian filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze (House of Others), acclaimed Irish filmmakers Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane (School Life), Swiss actress Rachel Braunschweig (The Divine Order), promising UK filmmaker Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling) - who was last year awarded the IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award of £50k presented by Cate Blanchett, Macedonian filmmaker Teona Strugar Mitevska (When the Day Had No Name), and Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat (Wolf and Sheep), the youngest ever selected for a Cannes Cinéfondation Residency – at 20 years old.

YOUTH

Since 2016, changes to classification restrictions have made over 50% of the program accessible to audiences 15+. A new Youth Pass introduced this year allows for cheaper tickets for film lovers aged 18-24. Festival films will now cost young people just $72 for a bundle of six-tickets. Tickets for under 18s are just $13.

FAMILY

The Family Films program returns with six films screening at the Festival in daytime sessions over the weekend. Tweens will relish the world premiere of Australian feature Rip Tide, featuring Disney star Debby Ryan, The Sun at Midnight, and My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, starring the voices of indie heroes Jason Schwartzman and Lena Dunham. 

Kids and adults will love this program equally, designed to bring festival-quality feature-length films suitable for a variety of ages, such as the Oscar-nominated stop-motion My Life as a Zucchini and the superhero crime-fighting adventure Phantom Boy.

ANIMATION

The AnimationShowcase returns to the Festival with three special events, curated by specialist Malcolm Turner. Short animated gems from all around the world can be found within the International AnimationShowcase, the wicked Animation After Dark Program, and Family Program - curated for younger audiences.  Short films for animation fans of all ages will also screen for free at Pitt Street Mall.

SOUNDS ON SCREEN

Sounds on Screen covers everything from Whitney Houston to the Sex Pistols in celebrating the stories of inspiring music and musicians through a selection of six films. 

From high-profile documentarian Nick Broomfield’s Whitney 'Can I Be Me', to Red Dog Director Kriv Stenders’ look at legendary Aussie rock-band The Go-Betweens in The Go-Betweens: Right Here, to a look into the psyche of John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten, the outspoken Sex Pistol punk icon, in The Public Image is Rotten. With talks about music films and rocking parties, music lovers can take the Festival experience to the next level.

THE BOX SET

Also screening first at the Festival are the first two episodes of Wayne Blair and Leah Purcell’s highly anticipated second series of Cleverman returning with its stellar cast: Iain Glen (Game of Thrones), Golden Globe nominee Frances O’Connor (The Missing), Hunter Page-Lochard (The Sapphires), and Rob Collins (The Lion King on stage). 

Cleverman’s innovative blend of mythology, futuristic thrills and impressive creatures and effects created by world-renowned Weta Workshop (Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit trilogy, Avatar) will be seen first by Festival-goers before screening on ABC TV.

ESSENTIAL KUROSAWA presented by The Japan Foundation

The Sydney Film Festival’s retrospective program Essential Kurosawa: Selected by David Stratton, gives audiences a chance to see 10 films by the great Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa - from Rashomon (1950) to Ran (1985) - with specially imported 35mm prints courtesy of The Japan Foundation and Toho Co. Ltd.

RESTORATIONS

Five Restorations will give audiences the opportunity to see other cinema classics the way they were intended.

Three Australian films will screen: The Year My Voice Broke (1987) by director John Duigan starring Noah Taylor and Ben Mendelsohn, psychological drama The Well (1997), starring Pamela Rabe and Miranda Otto, and Pat Fiske’s outstanding 1985 documentary on a NSW union’s past endeavours to preserve Sydney’s parks, neighbourhoods and historical buildings in Rocking the Foundations (1985).

Australian filmmakers Pat Fiske, John Duigan, Samantha Lang and producer Sandra Levy, will present their films at the Festival.

Two international masterpieces restored to be screened at the Festival include: a 20th anniversary screening of minimalist masterpiece Taste of Cherry (1997) by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, together with companion piece: 76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Abbas Kiarostami (2016), crafted by his friend and collaborator, photographer Seifollah Samadian; and tour de force of erotic cinema, in a new restoration which premieres in Cannes this year, Belle de Jour (1967) starring Catherine Deneuve.

PUNK

Punk fans can get excited by the Festival’s homage to the genre with Smash it Up: Celebrating 40 Years of Punk Rock 1977-2017 curated by programmer Richard Kuipers.

Five explosive films will screen: deliriously demented punk rock fairytale Desperate Living (1977) from the ‘Pope of Trash’ John Waters, satirical fantasy Jubilee (1978), about England on the brink of punk-fuelled destruction, legendary documentary into the LA punk rock scene circa 1980, The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), Julien Temple’s classic 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle (1980) about the rise and disintegration of the Sex Pistols, and The Sex Pistols tell their own story in the same filmmaker’s reply 20 years later in The Filth and The Fury (2000).

A talk on the punk phenomena in Australia - Smash it Up: A Queen’s Birthday Conversation– and Queen’s birthday bash/party featuring Australian band Nancy Vandal, will provide a well-rounded education on the birth of punk.

FEMINISM & FILM

The Sydney women’s movement of the 1970s and ’80s is celebrated under the banner Feminism & Film: Sydney Women Filmmakers, 1970s & ’80s in three showcases: Personal & Political, Disruptive & Deconstruction, and Culture & Collaboration. Nine films (five features and four shorts) made during the era will be screened.

Curated by Guest Programmer Susan Charlton, a selection of bold, stirring, and witty films such as:  For Love or Money: A History of Women and Work in Australia (1983), a high point of feminist documentary filmmaking; the formally rigorous, visually lush study of gender and possession, A Song of Ceylon (1985); and two ground-breaking Indigenous documentaries: My Survival as an Aboriginal (1979), and Two Laws (1981); will revive the diverse influences and intentions of the women who made the films.

Women filmmakers from all three Feminism & Film programs will take part in Suffragette City: Sydney, Feminism & Film Discussion Panel, with curator Charlton about Sydney in the 1970s and ‘80s and feminism/s and filmmaking – both then and now.

FOCUS ON CANADA

The Festival in partnership with the Government of Canada presents Focus on Canada: to celebrate its 150th anniversary of Confederation.  The Festival will be screening a strong selection of seven Canadian films representing the themes for the anniversary: diversity, inclusion, reconciliation, environment and youth.

The spotlight is firmly on Canada with First Nation films: Maliglutit, a thrilling Arctic version of John Ford’s classic western The Searchers; Angry Inuk, a look at the anti-sealing movement’s adverse impact on Inuit communities; RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World, a stomping tribute to Native American musicians. Also screening: Maudie starring Ethan Hawke and Sally Hawkins about painter Maud Lewis; Window Horses – The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming; The Sun at Midnight, and Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves, alongside a selection of short films.

Four Canadian filmmakers will present the screening of their films: director-animator Ann Marie Fleming (Window Horses – The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming), director Simon Lavoie (Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves), director Kirsten Carthew (The Sun at Midnight), and producer Christina Fon (RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked The World) together with Apache musician Steve Salas– named one of the world’s top 50 guitarists of all time.

 FREAK ME OUT

Sydney Film Festival’s weird, wonderful and completely whacked-out Freak Me Out program, curated by Richard Kuipers, returns with seven twisted films to Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Newtown; and the Skyline Drive In Blacktown. 

Film fans with a taste for the bizarre will be challenged by full-tilt assaults from evil board game thriller Game of Death, killer-virus-bloodbath-meets-corporate-satire Mayhem, a SXSW smash hit with rising Australian actor Samara Weaving starring alongside The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun (who also appears in Closing Film Okja), and Better Watch Out with Australian stars Levi Miller, Ben Oxenbould and Olivia DeJonge.

Freak Me Out will also screen its first-ever documentary: Spookers, a look inside the lives of the actors who play killer clowns and zombie brides at the Southern Hemisphere’s largest ‘scream park’, with the New Zealand-based filmmaker Florian Habicht attending the Festival to present his film. 

Cult classic Oscar-winning horror comedy An American Werewolf in London, is also playing under the full moon at the Skyline Drive In.

FIRST NATIONS

The Festival together with Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department continues support for First Nation storytelling.  The First Nations program will showcase important films by First Nation filmmakers from across Australia and around the world. 

Australian First Nation films to screen are: Warwick Thornton’s Opening Night film and Official Competition contender We Don’t Need a Map, two episodes of Wayne Blair and Leah Purcell’s highly anticipated second series of Cleverman, Tyson Mowarin documentary about the battle to preserve Australia’s 40,000-year-old cultural heritage in the Pilbara in Connection to Country, and Erica Glynn’s story of adult Aboriginal students learning to read and write for the first time in In My Own Words.

Four short films and a retrospective screening of two ground-breaking Australian documentaries: Essie Coffey’s My Survival as an Aboriginal, considered to be the first documentary directed by an Australian Indigenous woman; and the 1981 documentary, Two Laws, made by the Borroloola Aboriginal Community, will also screen.  As well as two remarkable Canadian First Nations from Focus on Canada: Angry Inuk and Maliglutit.

GOURMET CINEMA

Gourmet Cinema fans can take a culinary and cultural exploration of the barbecue traditions across the globe in Barbecue, by Adelaide filmmaking duo Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker.

Screenings will be paired with a six-course gastronomic journey to locations explored in the film at The Meat & Wine Co or an exotic South American BBQ at Casula Powerhouse’s Bellbird following a screening at Dendy Opera Quays or Casula Powerhouse; film-only options are also available.

The Festival has once again teamed up with 12 of Sydney’s favourite restaurants in the CBD, Cremorne, Newtown and Randwick, to provide Dining Delights: special gourmet experiences throughout 12 Festival days and nights.

THE HUB

The Festival Hub at Town Hall is a 360 degree Festival experience, with filmmaker talks, panels, parties, contemporary art, and now an forward-looking daily virtual reality (VR) program, curated by the brilliant VR collective BADFAITH. 

Open to the public all nights, and select days from 8-18 June, The Hub is also a pop up bar, with all events FREE except the VR sessions.  Discount tickets to Festival films ($10) can also be snapped up to selected screenings at the Hub Box Office daily.

Sydney Contemporary’s Barry Keldoulis has also curated the works of four painters:  Sam Holt, Jess MacNeil, Rochelle Haley and Ron Adams, to juxtapose the concept of space, using an age-old medium against the backdrop of VR: art’s most recent incarnations. 

Foxtel Movies Photobooth will be back in action for Festival snaps.

VIRTUAL REALITY AT THE HUB

Artist Shaun Gladwell and producer Leo Faber from edgy VR content collective BADFAITH have curated a VR program of 13 unflinchingly raw and highly immersive VR experiences across four packages for Sydney Film Festival fans looking for next level engagement.  Playful, imaginative and intimate, these works will open minds and expand imaginations with Japanese robots, dance battles on the streets of Sydney, an Antarctic dive, a trip around the earth, and the story of evolution itself.

International and national premieres from the world’s top visual artists and directors including the hit of Sundance, Orbital Vanitas, and the first feature narrative VR, Miyubi, from Canada will transport audiences to the cutting edge of this new medium.

All VR experiences are 15+ and cost $19.90 per person, except Life of Us which costs $19.90 for two people.

VR curators Shaun Gladwell and Leo Faber will also talk about this cutting edge new medium. 

TALKS

The heart and soul of the Festival are the filmmakers and guests whose wide range of knowledge, skills, talents and points of view, come together create films which open a window into other worlds and experiences. 

The FREE Festival Talks, create a space for audiences, filmmakers and industry professionals to progress a dialogue about the important topics and issues of the year, addressed in Festival films.   

FREE In Conversations at the Festival Hub

Together with Vivid Ideas, part of the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, Vivid Sydney, Sydney Film Festival presents five talks and panels.

Hollywood based Emmy-winning Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, will discuss his extraordinary career and his latest film Una, in Competition for the Sydney Film Prize. 

Activist and Oscar-winning actor Vanessa Redgrave, will join Margaret Pomeranz following the screening of her directorial debut – at 80 years of age – of her documentary Sea Sorrow, about the global refugee crisis. 

Cannes-winning Indigenous director Warwick Thornton will join the conversation with Sandy George following the screening of his Official Competition contender We Don’t Need a Map.  The talk will further the themes in his film, which investigates Australia’s relationship with the Southern Cross from astronomical, Indigenous and colonial history to the present day.

Emerging women directors and industry trailblazers from Europe join Europe! Voices of Women in Film, the Festival’s program of 10 new feature films from vital European women filmmakers, and topical subjects such as the industry gender gap.

Virtual reality pioneers Shaun Gladwell and Leo Faber will talk experience engineering, creativity and their ground-breaking new collective BADFAITH, at the Hub.  A mash-up of art, film and experimental experiences, this is a chance to find out what is at the cutting edge of the new medium. 

FREE Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture

David Stratton, former director of the Sydney Film Festival (1966 – 1983), film critic and author, will be in conversation with one of Australia’s most respected actors, David Wenham, for the Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture, at the Art Gallery of NSW.

The Marrickville-born star will talk about his incredible career, from his theatre heritage to 1998 screen breakthrough in The Boys and later SeaChange, to international stardom in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Lion. Wenham will also discuss his new incarnation behind the behind the camera, making his directorial debut as a part of the epic The Turning, and his latest directorial outing Ellipsis premiering this year’s Festival.

FREE After the Movie Discussions in the Treasury Room

The Festival has arranged for extended Q&As to take place with visiting directors after highly topical films have screened, beginning with Dutch co-director Arash Kamali Sarvestani, in conjunction with The Refugee Advice and Casework Service. 

Kamali Sarvestani’s extraordinary project:  Chauka Please Tell Us the Time (also screening at ACMI), documents the day to day life of detainees on Manus Island from footage captured secretly on a mobile phone by co-creator Iranian-Kurdish journalist and detainee Behrouz Boochani.

Producer Hébert Peck, will discuss his Oscar-nominated cine-essay on race in America (I Am Not Your Negro) narrated by Samuel L Jackson, with Documentary Australia Foundation’s Mitzi Goldman.

New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston will discuss her year-long project (My Year with Helen) about former NZ Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General candidate Helen Clarke; and Tusi Tamasese, director of One Thousand Ropes and of the first-ever Samoan feature (The Orator, 2011), will talk about his approach to storytelling with the Sydney Morning Herald’s Garry Maddox.

FREE Talking Movies in the Treasury Room

The Australian filmmakers of Australia Day and Ali’s Wedding discuss the realities of multiculturalism in Australian cinema in ‘Diversity on Australian Screens’

Australian filmmakers behind That’s Not Me and OtherLife will provide an insiders’ guide to low budget filmmaking in ‘No Budget? No Worries’.

Author of new book Miller and Max: George Miller and the Making of a Film Legend, Luke Buckmaster will tell everything there is to know about: ‘Things You Never Knew About Mad Max’.

Punk phenomena in Australia gets a revival in ‘Smash It Up: A Queen’s Birthday Conversation’ after Derek Jarman’s iconoclastic genre-buster Jubilee.

And Sydney Film Festival Animation programmer Malcolm Turner has ‘An Animated Conversation’ with an icon: AnnMarie Fleming, the world-renowned animator of Window Horses.

FREE PARTIES AT THE HUB

To celebrate the Australian premiere of Kate Hickey’s Roller Dreams documentary about California’s skate-dance scene, the Festival will bring the Venice Beach vibes to The Hub with the Roller Boogie Party featuring Alex Dimitriades (aka the Boogie Monster) and Soul-of-Sydney DJ Phil Toke, complete with skate-dancers (Sunday 11 June 9:00pm).

A crash and burn punk party featuring Australian band Nancy Vandal alongside former roadie for The Damned, DJ Richard Kuipers, will mark the Queen’s birthday (Monday 12 June 9:00pm), following the screening of Derek Jarman’s 1978 cult classic Jubilee.

And Australian indie-icons The Go-Betweens will be venerated in a party that celebrates their indelible music, with DJs covering everything from enduring early singles to the band’s final ARIA-winning album Oceans Apart (Thursday 15 June 9:00pm).
 

...and yet some stayed very ZEN!

 

Wishing you all much success on the festival circuit!

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> FIRST WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN CANNES

 

 

Cannes 2017: The Critics Awards

The FIPRESCI Jury awarded three prizes: two in the Official Selection – one for the Competition and one for "Un Certain Regard" –, and a third one for either "The Critics Week" or the "Directors' Fortnight". Prize in the Official Selection / Competition:  "120 Beats Per Minute" (BPM – Beats Per Minute / 120 battements par minute)  by Robin Campillo (France, 2017, 140 min), "A film about love. A film about life....

 

Un Certain Regard 2017 Awards

Un Certain Regard 2017 presented in competition 18 films hailing from 22 different countries. 6 of the works were first films. The Opening film was BARBARA by Mathieu Amalric. Under the presidency of Uma Thurman (actress - United States), the Jury was comprised of Mohamed Diab (director - Egypt), Reda Kateb (actor - France), Joachim Lafosse (director - Belgium) and Karel Och (artistic direct...

 

The 2017 Ecumenical Jury awards its Prize to Hikari (Radiance) by Naomi Kawase

The 2017 Ecumenical Jury awards its Prize to Hikari (Radiance) by Naomi Kawase (Official Competition)         Misako, a young woman who provides audio-description, rend...

 

Agnès Varda wins l'Oeil d'Or Documentary Prize for Visages Villages

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The winners of the 20th Cinéfondation Selection

The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Cristian Mungiu and including Clotilde Hesme, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Barry Jenkins and Eric Khoo, has awarded the 2017 Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films.     ...

 

Semaine de la Critique Closing Ceremony ambiance

    ...

 

Jury Oecuménique met with Dario Vigano sent by Vatican to Cannes to deliver a message from Pope Francis

Dario Vigano came to Cannes with a short text on Cinema to share " Cinema Stories of Hope" and a message from the Pope. I have translated this paragraph for you. The french text is available here. Communicating hope and trust in our time, is the title chosen by the pope for the 51st world day for social communication (May 28), to attract the attention of all media and information professionals, the entire community, to being promoters of the true and honest stories, not t...

 

Cristian Mungiu and the Jury have announced the winners of the 20th Cinéfondation Selection

The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Cristian Mungiu and including Clotilde Hesme, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Barry Jenkins and Eric Khoo, has awarded the 2017 Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films.   The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 16 student films, chosen out of 2 600 entries coming from 626 fi...

 

 

Winners 2017 | La Semaine de la Critique

The prizes and awards given by the partners of La Semaine de la Critique are &nb...

 

The Alfonso Cuarón's Cinema Masterclass of Wednesday, May 24th

After the Masterclass with Clint Eastwood, yesterday it was the turn of the Mexican director, Alfonso Cuarón, winner of seven Oscars for Gravity, to talk about his experiences as a filmmaker with the French critic, Michel Ciment.       &nb...

 

Coppola The flavor of the day

  Coppola Press Conference for The  Beguiled, which was not very beguiling -- in fact it sucked.  Glossy high budget scraggly story about a wounded soldier taken in by a house fill of femmes, with solid gold cast (Kidman, Farrel, Durst and Fanning) which helps viewers overlook some of the contrivances of the script as the pic falls apart in the second part and becomes an unintentional black comedy instead of the romantic drama it started out as.  Set in a handsome southern ...

 

 

> CANNES MARKET NEWS AND PREVIEWS   

 

Doc was the new star in Cannes - Doc Day, Don was here ...mixing with the best doc fests...

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The Marché du Film takes its final bow this year with record-breaking numbers

The past 10 days have seen record-breaking numbers: 12,324 registered participants, 3,820 films on sale, 1,522 screenings and 5,300 viewings of VR contents. Afghanistan, Honduras, Macau, Mali and Uzbekistan saw their first time at the Marché, while there was an increase in participants from Asia.   Thank you for making this year's Marché such a wonderful event and we hope it has been fruitful for you. If you missed some Festival and Marché films in Cannes, you c...

 

Recreation Media announced that they have boarded 2 animations – Two Tails and Princess in Wonderland

Premier Los Angeles-based film company Recreation Media has come on board to sell two family adventure animated feature films, Two Tails and Princess in Wonderland. Both films, currently in production, are produced by Licensing Brands, one of the largest animation studio in Eastern Europe and Russia.   Recreation is handling worldwide rights excluding CIS and Baltics to the mid-range budget films. The company sealed deals for multiple territories at the Canne...

 

Meet our superb team of bloggers in Cannes

Still smiling but busy discovering the largest festival in the World, with our experienced staff of Cannes veterans!     Jaleel Chandler   Manette  Asta   Elaine   DeHart   ...

 

Party with Dominican Republic Fiends...and rum!

With Yvette Marichal Film Commissioner Dominican Republic. I like Rum, when my lens cap fell in my glass...i had to... ...

 

 

Party with Vision Film, Lise Romanoff and a view

Lise Romanoff CEO Vision Films with Adam  Wright EVP Sales and Acquisitions with Ruediger w. KUEMMERLE produccer of Ultimate  A terrace with a superb view on the Red Carpet. ...

 

 

A new dimension for Winston Baker Forums in Cannes

Toasting at the Closing partywith my logo and my partners at Winston Baker Amy Baker, Katherin Winston and Dennis Dembia (Rogers & Cowan) ...

 

BYUN Sung-Hyun's Bulhandang Keeps Cannes Audience on Toes

  Out of Competition Films do not get nearly the same amount of attention as other films in The Festival. Bulhandang (The Merciless) by Byun Sung-Hyun shows that this, perhaps, should not always be the case. Greeted by a thin red carpet turnout, the four main actors were greated with a thunderous applause in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. The audience appeared to be extremely excited about the film as an applause broke out with every production company that appeared on scre...

 

Stars Sparkle At The AMFAR Gala

With every year comes a new Cannes Film Festival and with every Cannes Film Festival comes the prestigious amfAR Gala! The annual amfAR Gala is always a star-studded event and this years gala did not disappoint. With celebs such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Will Smith, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Chastain, Eva Longoria, and Nicole Kidman it was truly a night to remember. With all the glitz and glamour of the event it's far too easy to lose sight of why everyone gathers together for s...

 

 

The Troma Party at Le Petit Majestic, Special Performance by Mystery!

    Lloyd Kaufman Presents: The Tromariffic Cannes Troma Party! With Special Performance by Mystery! La Petite Majestic 17:00 (9:00pm), May 22nd (6 Rue Tony Allard, Cannes, France 06400)     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, N.Y., May 21, 2017-  Greetings from Tromaville!   On May 22nd, The Troma Team will throw its infamous Tromariffic Cannes Troma Party with a very sp...

 

 

Who Will Win the Palme D'or?

The bets are open! On Sunday, May 28, one film will win the Palme d'or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. Two days before the end of the event, the predictions are buzzing around as everyone tries to guess who will win this supreme award of world cinema. 5Chopard  revealed that this year's edition was unique with diamonds and a market value of 25 000€ So far the predicted favorites are Happy End, Les Proies, L'Amant Double, and 120 Beats Per Minute.  ...

 

Showings tonight - Cannes Film Festival - Day 11

  D'après Une Histoire Vraie - 7:00pm, 1h50 - Grand Théâtre Lumière  Delphine (Emmanuelle Seigner) is a writer who reaches success after publishing a novel dedicated to her mother. She soon starts to receive annonoymous letters accusing her of exposing her family to the public. She suffers from writers block and depression when she meets an interesting and seductive woman (Eva Green) who understands her better than anyone. Directed by Roman Polanski. ...

 

Aus Dem Nichts - Red Carpet Premiere

Last night was the red carpet showing of Aus Dem Nichts or In The Fade, by it's english title. The film was directed by Faith Akin and starred Diane Kruger as a woman who had just lost her son and husband in a vicious bomb attack set by unknown enemies. Throughout the film, Katja (Kruger) is faced with judgement and scrutiny not only from the police, but also her loved ones, making her period of mourning all taht more difficult. Diane Kruger delivers such a powerful performance as the p...

 

 

Showings in competition - Day 10 - Cannes Film Festival

L'amant Double - 7:00pm, 1h47 - Grand Théâtre Lumière  Chloé, a fragile young woman, falls in love with a psychoanalyst named Paul. She moves in with him after a few months and soon realizes that he is hiding apart of his identity. Directed by François Ozon, in competition for the Palme d'Or, Cannes Best Actress, Cannes Best Director, Cannes Best Actor, Cannes Best Screenplay, Cannes Jury Prize, Cannes Grand Prix. Aus Dem Nichts - 10:00pm, 1h59 - ...

 

AmfAR Event

The foundation for AIDS research holds an annual event in Antibes, France during the Cannes Film Festival. It's known as the AmfAR Gala and it may be one of the most prestigious parties and is held in one of the nicest hotels in the world. So, obviously, it's a big deal.  Celebrities like Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman, Nikki Minaj, Leonardo DiCaprio, and so many more that it would take up the whole article if I tried to list them. The main goal of this event is to r...

Movies that Matter with Wim Wenders and Dario Vigano (Vatican) - An initiative from Festival Sacred for Beauty

An Inspiring Panel took place May 25 at 2pm at The American Pavilion in Cannes on "Responsibility of filmmakers in making movies that matter", with Dario Vigano, prefect at Secretariat of Commuincation in Vatican, Wim Wenders and Anne Facerias (Festival Sacré de la Beauté) www.festivalsacredelabeaute.org moderated by Bruno Chatelin. 

 

Dario Vigano brought us a message from the Pope. I have translated this paragraph for you.

"Communicating hope and trust in our time, is the title chosen by the pope for the 51st world day for social communication (May 28), to attract the attention of all media and information professionals, the entire community, to being promoters of the true and honest stories, not to mention confidence in today and tomorrow. "I would like," said Pope Francis, "to contribute to the search for an open and creative style of communication that is never willing to give evil a first role, but which seeks to highlight the possible solutions, inspiring An active and responsible approach to the people to whom the information is communicated. I would like to invite to offer to the men and women of our time stories marked by the logic of the "good news". This is what we  (always) expect from good cinema." Pope Francis Read the full message

.. 

 

Media Luna has acquired the rights to the Egyptian feature in post-production “Sheikh Jackson” by Amr Salama

Set in 2009 when the news of Michael Jackson’s death took the world by storm affecting many people in the world, the films follows an Islamic cleric who in his school days used to be obsessed with the King of Pop and now faces an identity crisis. “We are proud to lead this young talented director to cross borders with such a delicate story, told with such an original tone and visionary in its way, that has the potential to touch the hearts of people no matter where...

 

 

Katya Kan Film Celebrity Artwork Launch inspired by celebrities artists of the film industry.

 

  At the American Pavillion, Cannes Film Festival 4-6pm   We would I appreciate you using the following #ashtags for the night when sharing your event selfies and photos!    @the_american_pavillion @_katya_kan @sheepish_pr @hp @cannes_filmfestival #artlaunch #wecan #reinventmemories    We are looking forward to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Cannes Festival which is just about to close together. Sooooo, let's the fun begin!   ...

 

ANIMATION DAY IN CANNES MAY 23

Discover the trailers of the Animation Day in Cannes

Animation Day Awards and Networking Watch the video ambiance

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Very big coverage for ADIC 2017

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Quote of the month and very nice ad and article in Animation Magazine may issue from our partner

Interview for La Radio du Cinéma with Patrice Cailler Interview in french, live from loud Cannes ...

 

 

Release From Heaven Opening film Animation Day in Cannes and winner of Animation that Matters Award

Ali Noori Oskouei Director and Seyed Vahid Olyaee Producer with their prize fro Animation That Matters Award.   The film opened Animation Day May 22, 8:00 pm - Gray 1 and received the next day THE ANIMATION THAT MATTERS AWARD - ANIMATION DAY IN CANNES 2017  In a war torn country, a female writer and teacher has to accompany two of her students on a life changing journey.   Sareh is a school teacher who writes comic strips. Due to a happening, she...

 

 

Warm Success for Animation Day in Cannes and full house at screening in Palais - second screening by demand

Animation Day in Cannes Discoveries played to a full house, we have been able to play the program a second time, by demand...! Filmmakers of the Showcases we able to present their work in front of the buyers and professionals attending. ...

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Palmarès Un Certain Regard 2017

Le Jury et les lauréats Un Certain Regard 2017 © Christophe Bouillon / FDC     Un Certain Regard 2017 a proposé dans sa compétition 18 films venus de 22 pays différents. 6 d’entre eux étaient des premiers films. Le film d’ouverture était BARBARA de Mathieu Amalric. Présidé par Uma Thurman (actrice - Etats-Unis), le Jury était composé de Mohamed ...

 

 

Le Jury oecuménique 2017 attribue son Prix au film : Hikari (Vers la lumière)

Le Jury oecuménique 2017 attribue son Prix au film : Hikari (Vers la lumière) de Naomi Kawase (Compétition Officielle)     ...

 

Le jury de L’OEil d’or récompense Agnès Varda et JR pour leur film Visages, villages

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Les films primés par les partenaires de la 49e Quinzaine des Réalisateurs :

 La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs est une section non compétitive mais certains de nos partenaires attribuent des prix, remis lors de la cérémonie de clôture. ART CINEMA AWARD  The Rider de Chloé Zaho     Le prix SACD ...

 

Cristian Mungiu et son Jury annoncent le Palmarès de la 20e édition de la Cinéfondation

Le Jury de la Cinéfondation et des courts métrages présidé par Cristian Mungiu et composé de Clotilde Hesme, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Barry Jenkins et Eric Khoo, a décerné les prix de la Cinéfondation lors d’une cérémonie salle Buñuel, suivie de la projection des films primés.   La Sélection comprenait 16 fi...

 

Interview de Thierry de Peretti UNE VIE VIOLENTE

Au Miramar At the Miramar   8:30    BRIGSBY BEAR Dave McCary (1H37/VOSTF) 11:00    GRAND PRIX NESPRESSO : MAKALA ...

 

 

Palmarès 2017 | La Semaine de la Critique

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La Leçon de Cinéma d'Alfonso Cuarón du mercredi 24 mai

© Eliott Piermont/ FDC Après la Leçon de Cinéma de Clint Eastwood, c’était hier au tour du réalisateur mexicain, Alfonso Cuarón, couronné de sept Oscars pour Gravity, de livrer ses expériences de cinéaste en compagnie du critique français Michel Ciment pour lui donner la réplique. Amusé, rieur, et à la fois ému, le r&e...

 

Le message du Pape au monde des médias et de la communication : Communiquer l'espérance et la confiance en notre temps

“Festival Sacré de la Beauté” | 70ème Festival de Cannes, 25 mai 2017 CINEMA, RÉCIT D’ÉSPERANCE Msgr Dario Edoardo Viganò Préfet du Secrétariat pour la Communication Saint Siège, à cannes le 25 pour participer au panel sur la place dela spiritualité dans le cinéma, et making movies that matter (au pavillon américain)   Lors d'un récent voyage &a.. 

 

Lancement à Cannes du Global Chinese Film Festival

PLUS 3 Mouthwatering ‘Tastes’ of Perfection.
Honoree Announcements Coming Next Week!