Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF), which has established itself into the world of International Cinema, has today released the first list of films in competition category.

A total of 87 films have been included in this list. The list has maximum films, totaling 20 from India while USA (15 Films) ranks second and Germany (9 Films) at third.  Besides India, the remaining 67 films are from Germany, USA, Canada, Spain, France, China, Finland, Austria, Singapore, Iran, Ireland, England, Poland, Israel and Switzerland.

The selectors have chosen these films from 1711 entries received so far. This list of selected films includes 13 feature films, 13 Documentary Feature Films, 09 Short Documentary Films, 12 Animation Short Films, 35 Short fiction films and 03 Feature, 01 Documentary Feature and 01 Animation Feature film have been selected for special screening.

These films have been selected by a selection board of 20 members of which 13 are Indian and 07 are from abroad.

Some of the selected feature films are:  ‘Teenkahon ( Three Obsessions)’(Bengali - India ), ‘Ek Hota Vaalya (Marathi- India), ‘My Enemies’ (Canada), ‘Until Ahmed Returns’ (Iran), ‘Wildlike’ (America), ‘Absolution’ (Finland & Ireland).

The second and final list of selected films will be released in November this year.

The JIFF people are extremely happy with the number of entries. In comparison to last year, this year there is an increase of 30% in the number of entries. This clearly indicates that JIFF is gaining worldwide reputation and prestige. 

Epitaph

For its 19th edition, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has composed an adventurous Main Competition presented by Postimees with a varied mix of genres from urban tragicomedy to historical drama and even a documentary co-produced by North Korea. The line-up is showcasing 18 films from 21 countries  - seven of them being world premieres, three international and eight European premieres.

Festival director Tiina Lokk says: “Unlike with the First Features Competition, with the Main Competition we set out to study the relationship of auteur cinema and films with ‘bigger’ commercial potential and productions. Of course, we never make compromises on the quality and originality, looking for an authentic artistic position that has maintained ties to the uniqueness of the cultural environment they come from.”

“I’m really pleased with the selection of countries and the genre versatility of the programme, having directors at very different stages in their career. What we have is a mix of different ways of storytelling coming from different continents and cultures that are competing with each other, but also having a lot in common in terms of values and messages,” she added.

World Premieres

Armenian director-scriptwriter David Safarian returns to directing after a 20-year hiatus with Armenia-Netherlands-Germany co-production 28:94 Local Time - telling a story of a family of theatre workers during the civil war and electricity crisis in Jerevan in 1992. 

Safarian, having once worked on films with Andrei Tarkovsky, creates his own language of cinematic poetry presenting an elaborate mix of reality and fantasy, present and past, reminiscent of the auteur cinema of the 70s and 80s. 

Bulgarian director Iglika Triffonova, whose first film Letter to America won the Special Jury Prize at Istanbul and screened in Tallinn, presents a Bulgaria-Sweden-Netherlands co-production The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and His Son.

The film is an emotionally tense Hague court and investigation drama based on the true events of the trial of Serbian military commander Milorad Krstić, showing the moral and judicial challenges of the different parties trying to present their versions of a past that the rest of the world is eager to forget.

Presenting a collection of urban stories about looking for love while at the same time losing touch with other people, Georgian director Vano Burduli, who won a Silver St. George with The Conflict Zone at the Moscow International Film Festival, takes us on a journey through the steets, backyards, porches and bedrooms of the scenic Georgian capital of Tbilisi in the Georgia-Russia co-production The Summer of Frozen Fountains.

A journey - serving as a physical and a religious challenge - is a central motif in the Mexican film Epitaph which follows three conquistadors in 1519, sent on a mission by Hernan Cortez to look for sulfur on an active volcano. 

The writer-directors Rubén Imaz and Yulene Olaizola (who won awards at festivals such as Fribourg and Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema with her film Intimacies of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo) study the three protagonists' physical and emotional struggles and recollections of their violent conquests, resonating with the lush scenery of the volcano that threatens to erupt any second.

In Orizont, the Romanian writer-director Marian Crisan, who won awards at Locarno and Buenos Aires IFIC withMorgen and a Cannes Palme d’Or for short film Megatron, creates an increasingly unsettling sense of imprisonment, as a family that has just opened a roadside guesthouse encounters local mobsters trying to get a cut of the profit in exchange for ‘protection’. 

Witnessing with barely contained unease and shame as his estranged wife is gradually seduced by the charming mob boss, Lucian, the stubborn head of the family plots possible countermeasures. 

A love triangle even more unconventional can be found in Let Her Cry by Sri Lankan director Asoka Handagama, who won awards at Tokyo and San Sebastian for Flying With One Wing and Him, Here, After. A Hindu professor is having an affair with a young student who starts emotionally blackmailing his wife. 

Faced with a threat of social humiliation, she invites the manipulating girl to live with the pair, pushing the domestic situation into unknown territories.

Award-winning Latvian auteur Laila Pakalnina returns to Tallinn with her Latvia-Estonia co-production Dawn, a re-take on the Soviet propaganda story of the young martyr Pavlik Morozov, who turns his state-betraying father in to authorities and then has to face his family's anger. 

A participant in last year's Baltic Event Co-Production Market's Works in Progress showcase in Tallinn, the film studies the subconscious suffering of people living in a totalitarian system that idealizes the image of the hero and everyone's inevitable failure in becoming one. 

International Premieres

The peculiarities of a communist system are also scrutinised in Under the Sun (a.k.a. In the Rays of the Sun) by award-winning director and activist Vitaliy Manskiy  (a.k.a. Vitaly Mansky, Pipeline), presenting an astonishing documentary about the hardships of making a documentary in North Korea. 

After receiving a permit for making a film, the director experienced the North Korean authorities taking over the production, staging all the scenes and dialogues of the characters. He presents a subversively filmed documentary exposing ideo-political machinations of the totalitarian regime, while also building an emotional connection with the repressed people. 

In her second feature Bride, Spanish director Paula Ortiz gives a powerful free adaptation of the play Blood Weddingby Federico García Lorca, telling the story of a triangle of close childhood friends set in confusion by a planned marriage between two of them. 

The filmmaker materializes all the symbolic elements of the play on screen, making a personal, fully allegorical and metaphorical version with a high sense for visual beauty.

In the Russian film Insight, Berlinale-awarded writer-director Aleksandr Kott (Pugalo) balances between drama and melodrama, exploring the ironic twist of fate of a man who has just lost his sight, but might have found the woman of his life. 

European Premieres

Protégé of acclaimed director Abbas Kiarostami, director Morteza Farshbaf who was awarded for Mourning at Busan and Tallinn Black Nights, delivers his second feature - the graceful and intimate drama Avalanche. Hospital nurse Homa is experiencing alienation and insomnia during a snow-heavy winter, with her marriage and social relations getting clogged like the snowy roads while details from her desires and dreams start to present themselves in reality.

In the Netherlands-Sweden-Bulgaria co-production The Paradise Suite and Taiwan's  Zinnia Flower fates of total strangers are intertwined by unfortunate events. 

The former, the Netherlands' submission to the Oscars foreign language film category, directed by Joost van Ginkel, follows six strangers from different parts of the world whose paths cross in the underground sex slave business of Amsterdam. 

Zinnia Flower by Tom Lin, whose Winds of September won prizes at the Golden Horse Awards and Shanghai film festival, is a tale of two people mourning the loss of their loved ones in the same car accident. A highly personal film from a director with similar experiences.

Socially unaccepted love stories are backbones in Belgian film Black by directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and the US film The Automatic Hate by Justin Lerner. 

Fast-paced, stylised and soaked with violence, Black presents a Shakespearean tragedy of two lovers caught up in a contemporary Brussels gang war, while The Automatic Hate intrigues with a romantic incest tale.

In the bittersweet comedy Happy Hour by German director Franz Miller, a trio of now single middle-aged men go on a bonding trip to Ireland. Their tale is a tragicomic study of the endangered concept of manhood, highlighted by the mens' incapability to have a good time and get along with one another.

South Korea's Oscar foreign language category submission The Throne by Lee Joon-ik and Kazakhstan's submission to the Oscars Stranger by Yermek Tursunov employ historical narratives about individuals in existential conflict with their surroundings. In the former film, based on a true event, a prince falls into disgrace and is punished by his father with fatal imprisonment, while in The Stranger a lone hunter defies the Soviet regime by refusing to participate in WWII with unexpected reactions from his fellow countrymen. 

The 19th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will run 13-29 November with the awards ceremony on 27 November. Industry@Tallinn will run 16-20 November. 

Full Main Competition Line-up
(english title/original title/director/country)

1. 28:94 Local Time (28:94 Teghakan Zhamanak) - dir. David Safarian, Armenia-Netherlands-Germany
2. Avalanche (Bahman) - dir. Morteza Farshbaf, Iran
3. Black - dirs. Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Belgium
4. Bride (La Novia) - dir. Paula Ortiz, Spain
5. Dawn (Ausma) - dir. Laila Pakalnina, Latvia-Estonia 
6. Epitaph (Epitafio) - dirs. Yulene Olaizola & Rubén Imaz, Mexico
7. Happy Hour - dir. Franz Müller, Germany-Ireland
8. Insight (Слепая любовь) - dir. Aleksander Kott, Russia
9. Let Her Cry - dir. Asoka Handagama, Sri Lanka
10. Orizont - dir. Marian Crisan, Romania
11. Stranger (Zhat) - dir. Yermek Tursunov, Kazakhstan
12. The Automatic Hate - dir. Justin Lerner, USA
13. The Paradise Suite - dir. Joost van Ginkel, Netherlands-Sweden-Bulgaria
14. The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and His Son - dir. Iglika Triffonova, Bulgaria-Sweden-Netherlands
15. The Summer of Frozen Fountains (Gakinuli shadrevnebis tselitsadi ) - dir. Vano Burduli, Georgia-Russia
16. The Throne (Sado) - dir. Lee Joon-ik, South Korea
17. Under the Sun (В лучах Солнца) -Vitaliy  Manskiy, Russia-Germany-North Korea-Czech Republic-Latvia.
18. Zinnia Flower (Bai ri gaobie) - dir. Tom Lin, Taiwan

Trailers: https://goo.gl/XrttW4
Photos: https://goo.gl/2Jhlqr

Under the Sun The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and His Son

117 SHORT FILMS are part of the OFFICIAL SELECTION for the13º Bogotá Short Film Festival / Festival de Cortos de Bogotá

OFFICIAL SELECTION - NATIONAL COMPETITION

NATIONAL COMPETITION FICTION

- Sara, Ingrid Pérez – Colombia. 2015
- Se venden conejos, Esteban Giraldo – Colombia. 2015
- Becerra, Jerónimo Atehortúa – Colombia. 2015
- Mala maña, Fabián Hernández – Colombia. 2015
- Hombre, Juan Pablo Ríos – Colombia. 2015
- Camino del agua, Carlos Montoya – Colombia. 2014
- La ofrenda, Javier Gutiérrez y Greg Slagle – Colombia. 2015
- Los Kaotikos, Mauricio Leiva-Cock - Colombia. 2015
- Morir en Cali, Fernando Galeano – Colombia. 2015
- El diáfano, Marco Paredes – Colombia. 2015
- Niño de Metal, Pedro García-Mejía - México / Colombia. 2014
- El embudo, John Alberto Chaparro – Colombia. 2015
- El sabor que nos queda, Mónica Bravo – Colombia. 2015

NATIONAL COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY

- Cuadro, Daniel Mateo Vallejo – Colombia. 2014
- H2O, Jean Loui Camacho y Alejandro Calderón – Colombia. 2014
- Alzadas en letras, Andrés Camilo Poveda – Colombia. 2015
- Echo chamber, Guillermo Moncayo - Francia / Colombia. 2014
- La batalla del Nueve, William Fernando Martínez – Colombia. 2015
- Nostalgia del futuro, Mónica María Mondragón – Colombia. 2014
- Villas del progreso, Daniela Reyes y Alejandra Vanegas – Colombia. 2014

NATIONAL COMPETITION ANIMATION

- Arena, Luisa López – Colombia. 2015
- Control Z, Eri Yojana Pedrozo y Jehisel Ruth Ramos – Colombia. 2014
- El espacio habitado, Camila Pérez – Colombia. 2014
- Sinfonía del viaje a la Luna, Sandra Reyes – Colombia. 2014
- Zipacón, María Paulina Ponce – Colombia. 2015

NATIONAL COMPETITION VIDEOCLIP

- A tu manera (Herencia de Timbiquí), Jose Varón – Colombia. 2015
- Antes de morir (LosPetitFellas Ft. Denise Gutiérrez), Christian Schmidt – Colombia. 2015
- La palmera voladora (Milmarías), Christian Schmidt – Colombia. 2015
- Pensar y pensar (Las Áñez y Edson Velandia), Jerónimo Sarmiento – Colombia. 2015
- Exploradora (Elsa y Elmar), Sublime Melodía – Colombia. 2015
- Madafunkies (Crew Peligrosos), Camilo Echeverri – Colombia. 2015
- Bembé (Sultana ft. La Ru-k), Jaime Osorio – Colombia. 2014
- Sombras (Telebit), Fluxus, Árbol Naranja – Colombia. 2014
- Jaguar (Pablo Trujillo), Sergio Manrique – Colombia. 2015
- Apiádate (Nigga, Fumaz Bolivar, Garo, Lince), Mario Grande – Colombia. 2014
- Inventándome (Estados Alterados), Pascui Rivas – Colombia. 2015


OFFICIAL SELECTION - INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FICTION

- Champion (Campeón), Måns Berthas - Suecia. 2015
- It is good to wander the world (Es bueno deambular por el mundo), Denis Spiridonov - Rusia. 2015
- Blood below the skin (Sangre bajo la piel), Jennifer Reeder - Estados Unidos. 2015
- Another empty space (Otro lugar vacío), Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro - Brasil. 2015
- Ranga, Nikhil Talegaonkar - India. 2015
- Lifeline (Línea de vida), Bin Li - China. 2015
- Mamci i udice (Baits and hooks / Cebos y anzuelos), Luka Popadic - Serbia. 2014
- Zero M2, Matthieu Landour - Francia. 2015
- Nueva vida (New life), Kiro Russo - Argentina. 2015
- Matka Ziemia (Mother Earth / Madre Tierra), Piotr Zlotorowicz - Polonia. 2014
- Listen (Escucha), Hamy Ramezan - Dinamarca. 2014
- Triuksmadarys (The noisemaker / El Ruidoso), Karolis Kaupinis - Lituania. 2014
- Før våren (Before spring / Antes de la primavera), Mary Hasavari - Noruega. 2015
- Sumo Road - The Musical (Sumo Road - El Musical), Ken Ochiai - Japón. 2015
- Ghettotube, Saïd Belktibia - Francia. 2015
- 600$, Oriol Cardus - España. 2014
- A gyoztes (The winner / El ganador), Dávid Géczy - Hungría. 2014
- Coro dos amantes (Chorus / Coro), Tiago Guedes - Portugal. 2014
- Bellissima (Gorgeous / Bellísima), Alessandro Capitani - Italia. 2015

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY

- Punkt wyjscia (Starting point / Punto de partida), Michal Szczesniak - Polonia. 2014
- London reflects (Reflejos de Londres), Javier Dampierre, Jokin Pascual - España. 2015
- Le boudin, Salomé Lamas - Portugal. 2014
- A girl's day (El día de una chica), Rosa Hannah Ziegler - Alemania. 2014
- Blue signal (Señal azul), Michael Yaroshevsky - Canadá. 2014
- Cavernicole (Cave man / Cavernícola), Ombline Ley - Francia. 2015
- Chellina / da Beast, Zoeteke Lugthart - Países Bajos. 2014
- Una storia normale (A normal story / Una historia normal), Michele Vannucci - Italia. 2015
- Dotyk wolnosci (Touch of freedom / Un toque de libertad), Arshad Sardar Khan - Polonia. 2015
- Isfilma par dzivi (Short film about life / Cortometraje sobre la vida), Laila Pakalnina - Letonia. 2014
- Ik laat je gaan (Letting you go / Dejarte ir), Kim Faber - Países Bajos. 2014
- Incendio/Rescate (Fire/Rescue), Juan Renau - Argentina. 2015
- The funeral Singer (El cantante de funerales), Thanh Hoang, Vietnam. 2015
- No news from home (Sin noticias de casa), Patrick Zocco - Francia. 2015
- Mister James (Señor James), Hannes Schilling - Israel. 2015


INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION ANIMATION

- A single life (Una vida sencilla), Job Roggeveen, Joris Oprins, Marieke Blaauw - Países Bajos. 2014
- Face (Rostro), Jurgis Krasons - Letonia. 2014
- Changeover, Mehdi Alibeygi - Irán. 2014
- Das Leben ist hart (Life is hard / La vida es dura), Simon Schnellmann. Alemania. 2015
- El modelo de Pickman (Pickman's model), Pablo Ángeles - México. 2014
- Grouillons nous (Hurry up / Apúrense), Margot Reumont - Bélgica. 2015
- Go to City ELE (Go a Ciudad ELE), Wenyu Li - China. 2015
- Razgovor (Conversation / Conversación), Ana Horvat - Croacia. 2015
- My grandfather was a cherry tree (Mi abuelo era un cerezo), Tatiana Poliektova, Olga Poliektova - Rusia. 2015
- Respirer sous l'eau (Breathing under water / Respirando bajo el agua), Gwendoline Gamboa - Bélgica. 2015
- Very lonely cock (Un gallo muy solitario), Leonid Shmelkov, Rusia. 2015
- Druciane oprawki (Woolen cogwheels / Engranajes de lana), Bartosz Kedzierski - Polonia. 2014
- Life Smartphone (Vida Smartphone), Lin Xie Cheng - China. 2015
- Smart monkey (Mono astuto), Vincent Paronnaud, Nicolas Pawlowski - Francia. 2014
- You know me (Tú me conoces), Yagnik Raj - Jordania. 2015
- Somewhere down the line (En algún lugar más allá), Julien Regnard - Irlanda. 2014
- Wplyw zmniejszenia populacji chrzeszczyka zlocistego na zycie milosne pani Krystyny (What impact does the decrease of the population of beetler platinus takes on Christina's love life? / ¿Qué impacto tiene la disminución de la población de beetler platinus en la vida amorosa de Christina?), Marta Magnuska - Polonia. 2014
- Sous tes doigts (Under the fingers / Bajo los dedos), Marie-Christine Courtès - Francia. 2015
- Portrait of a wind-up maker (Retrato de un juguetero), Darío Pérez - España. 2015
- Tigres à la queue leu leu (Tigers tied up in one rope / Tigres amarrados en una cuerda), Benoît Chieux - Francia. 2014
- Yöperhonen (Nocturnal butterfly / Mariposa nocturna), Annika Dahlsten - Finlandia. 2015
- Zápletka (The entangled / Los enredados), Stanislav Sekela - República Checa. 2014
- Zimbo, Juan Medina, Rita Basulto - México. 2015
- Shift, María Cecilia Puglesi, Yijun Liu - Estados Unidos. 2015


INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION EXPERIMENTAL

- Središte vremena (In the center of time / En el centro del tiempo), Zeljko Saric - Croacia. 2015
- Revulshk!, Julia Bouteville - Francia. 2014
- 2.57k, Eva Colmers - Canadá. 2015
- 34, Emilie Berteau, Voinot Julien - Francia. 2014
- Un homme sans (A man without / Un hombre sin), Frédéric Hainaut - Bélgica. 2014
- Ignition (Ignición), Lotti Bauer. Suiza, 2015
- Corpus, Marc Hericher - Francia. 2015
- All rot (Toda la prodredumbre), Max Hattler - Reino Unido. 2015
- A place I've never been (Un lugar en el que nunca he estado), Adrian Flury - Suiza. 2015
- Paradies (Paradise / Paraíso), Max Philipp Schmid, Suiza. 2015
- Mar de fogo (Sea of fire / Mar de fuego), Joel Pizzini - Brasil. 2014
- A.D.A.M., Vladislav Knezevic - Croacia. 2014
- José, Natalia Behaine - Colombia. 2015


INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION VIDEOCLIP

- Wild frontier (The Prodigy), Mascha Halberstad - Países Bajos. 2015
- Rafael Castro: Ciúme (Rafael Castro), Daniel Bruson - Brasil. 2015
- Ice fist (Vampillia), Toshikazu Tamura, Ai Sugaya - Japón. 2014
- In the pines (St.Lô.), Olya Tsoraeva, Bélgica. 2014
- Nunca es suficiente (Natalia Lafourcade), Martín Bautista - México. 2015
- Señorita (Vince Staples), Ian Pons Jewell - Estados Unidos. 2015
- Glore (Radkey), Nicos Livesey - Estados Unidos. 2015
- Stonefist (Health), NAKED FACES (Kitao Sakurai and Andrew Barchilon) - Estados Unidos. 2015
- New coke (Health), John Famiglietti - Estados Unidos. 2015
- Alas de hierro (The chamamas), Julio Abad y Oliver G. Tavizón - Estados Unidos, México. 2015

Check these partner festivals calling October 30 onwards

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NARRATIVE FEATURE NOMINEES:

HONOR THY FATHER (Philippines)

Director: Erik Matti

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

THE KIDS (Taiwan)

Director: Sunny Yu

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

MADONNA (South Korea)

Director: Shin Su-won

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

MIDORI IN HAWAII (USA)

Director: John Hill

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

PALI ROAD (USA)

Director: Jonathan Lim

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

ROBBERY (Hong Kong)

Director: Fire Lee

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

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE NOMINEES:

AMERICAN EPIC (USA)

Director: Bernard MacMahon

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

CROCODILE GENNADIY (USA)

Director: Steve Hoover

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

HEBEI TAIPEI (Taiwan)

Director: Li Nien Hsiu

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

IN FOOTBALL WE TRUST (USA)

Director(s): Tony Vainuku, Erika Cohn

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

REMAKE REMIX RIP-OFF (Turkey)

Director: Cem Kaya

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

THE SEVENTH FIRE (USA)

Director: Jack Pettibone Riccobono

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

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

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

45 YEARS (UK)

Director: Andrew Haigh

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

DHEEPAN (UK)

Director: Jacques Audiard

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

JAFAR PANAHI’S TAXI (Iran)

Director: Jafar Panahi

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

KRISHA (USA)

Director: Trey Edward Schultz

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

MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART (China)

Director: Jia Zhang-ke

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

MUSTANG (France, Germany, Turkey)

Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven

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

RIGHT NOW WRONG THEN (South Korea)

Director: Hong Sang-soo

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

SON OF SAUL (Hungary)

Director: László Nemes

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

YELLOW FLOWERS ON THE GREEN GRASS (Vietnam)

Director: Victor Vu

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

YOUTH (Italy, France, Switzerland, UK)

Director: Paulo Sorrentino

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

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

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

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

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

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

HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT (2015)

Director: Kent Jones

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

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

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

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

The ​APEFF ​is ​a ​comprehensive ​program ​unlike ​any ​finance ​conference ​being ​offered ​today! ​Through ​a ​combination ​of ​keynotes, ​presentations, ​and ​panel ​discussions, ​industry ​leaders ​will ​address ​investment, ​financing ​and ​growth ​strategies ​within ​the ​film, ​TV ​and ​gaming ​sectors, as well as a focus on breaking into the China market and co-production packaging with the intent to shoot on location in Hawaii. The conference will be held at one of HIFF’s major sponsors, The Modern Honolulu Hotel.

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

Oscar Documentary Lab: Anatomy of Oscar Docs

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

Roger Ebert Foundation Young Film Critics Program

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

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

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

What:   35th Hawaii International Film Festival presented by Halekulani

When: November 12 – 22, 2015

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

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

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

Hawaii International Film Festival

Established in 1981, the Hawaii International Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of cultural exchange and media awareness in the Pacific Rim. HIFF is a premier international film event that has won the praise of governments, filmmakers, scholars, educators, programmers and film industry leaders across the globe. HIFF’s programming has two particular mandates: to be a festival of record for emerging films from Asia, the Pacific, and North America and to present the top festival films from around the world, annually screening films from over 45 countries. HIFF also presents educational content and panels in the fields of film and music, and mobile entertainment and gaming. These transmedia programs reflect HIFF’s commitment to exhibiting innovative creative content coming from the Asia Pacific Rim. Visit hiff.org.

Established in 1963 by Amos Vogel and Richard Roud this year’s 53rd edition of the New York Film Festival turned out to be a signature cross cultural event. Held at the Lincoln center arts complex it presented a full range of features, shorts and documentaries and special screening events with many film makers and industry specialists present.  Continuing the festival’s long standing tradition no jury judged the productions or provided awards and most film makers were present to discuss their work. Drawing on a captive audience of more than 5000 members of the Film Society of Lincoln Center most public screenings in the four venues of gather festival, the Walter Reade, Alice Tully Hall, and the two screening facilities of the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center were booked out.  This year a larger number of journalists and industry representatives showed up for the press screenings. 

The main slate included 28 features with Miguel Gomes film ARABIAN NIGHTS taking up three slots. The slate had eight films from the USA, five from France, ten co-productions and three from Canada, South Korea and Romania. In the shorts programs part five productions were in the International and five in the new Genre Stories sections, followed by eight in the animation and ten in the New York sections.  In  Special Events  outstanding productions  ranged from a  portrait of   Brian De Palma, the anniversary screening of  the Coen Brothers O BROTHER  WHERE ART THOUGH to  Laszlo Nemes  extraordinary SON OF SAUL selected by the Film Comment magazine. In the fifth edition of Convergence 14 sessions were devoted to screenings, panels, and various interactive experiences, all open to the public at no charge. Cineastes had an appealing menu of Revivals, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, including De Palma’s BLOW OUT, Kurosawa’s RAN,   the magnificently restored HEAVEN CAN WAIT by Ernst Lubitsch, King Hu’s A TOUC H OF ZEN, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME by John Ford, and the rarely screened THE MEMORY OF JUSTICE followed by an enlightening discussion with its director Marcel Ophuls. The growing Spotlight on Documentary part of the program had nine world and North American premieres in addition to 3 released earlier.  The selection included new work by well-known film makers like Laura Poitras, Michael Camerini & Shari Robertson and Frederick Wiseman. Themes ranged from biographical  oriented  productions to  US

immigration conflicts, community representation and investigative reporting.  The Retrospective featured the cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler. In the Projections section the emphasis was placed with international productions on “what the moving image can do and be...drawing on innovative modes and techniques  ...” from experimental narratives to ethnographic studies. Arranged in eleven programs with 27 short and three feature length films and three programs with 9 shorts which were looped continuously free and open to the public on separate days Projections provided a comprehensive overview of cutting edge filmmaking. As in the past three festival editions HBO sponsored daily talks with film makers and industry experts which were free to the public, dialogues which HBO has been sponsoring throughout the year. At the festival the seminars and Q&A discussions included from this year main slate the path breaking directors  Hou Hsiao-hsien (THE ASSASSIN),  Jia Zhangke (MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART), Michael Moore (WHERE TO INVADE NEXT),  Laszlo Nemes (SON OF SAUL) and Todd Haynes (CAROL).  To foster creativity among new film makers and writers the Film Society continued projects started several years ago.  Athina Rachel Tsangari  whose film CHEVALIER  was  selected for the festival  serves as the Filmmaker in Residence this year,  30 promising young film makers participated in seminars with established artists in the two day Artist Academy, and  eight  emerging writers became part of the NYFF Critics Academy  covering the festival under the mentorship of established journalists and other experts.

Among the numerous films which impressed me most were

SON OF SAUL, Laszlo Nemes, Hungary, 2015.  The narrow focus of the film recreates the death factory of Auschwitz, its gas chambers and crematoria, through the experience of Saul, who is a member of the Sonderkommando. It depicts what he sees and his work in the Sonderkommando   with Kapos. He is driven by the quest to get a religious burial for a boy who survived the gas chamber.  In  relatively brief close ups and shallow focus shots the camera records the killing chambers through which Saul moves to find a rabbi. During his search the activities of   commando members forced to herd their fellow Jews into the gas chambers and burn them are presented as is transporting them to be shot when there was no more space for their cremation. Members of the Sonderkommando knew that they will be murdered too thus were the walking dead.  Saul is recruited to help in the preparation for a revolt in early October 1944.  The film is based on extensive research and confronts the viewer with an utterly realistic presentation if the hellish killing chambers, forceful imagery not to be found in any other feature dealing with this topic. In his attempt to secure a proper burial for the boy, Saul shows a moral fiber as do the rebellious member of the camp, a humanity lost to the walking dead forced to kill and the SS and German military running the death factory. Yet the Son of Saul succeeds in conveying the complex interaction between members of the Sonderkommando, Kapos and the SS.

Communication in the film is restricted to a bare minimal exchanges and the multi layered sound track contains only natural elements which are frequently exaggerated. There is no political or historical contextualization of Auschwitz, provided by most other productions on that theme.  The viewer is forced to be become part of the film, an immersion and visceral experience that was one of the principle objectives of the director Laszlo Nemes. The film succeeds with an extra ordinary performance of Geza Rohreig in the role of Saul Auslaender and an uncompromising focus on his mission in the death factory. Giving the boy a proper burial safeguards the element of humanity.

For this viewer Son of Saul created a primal cognitive experience rather than generating an emotional involvement, thus radically differs from other holocaust themed productions such as Schindler’s List. For Laszlo the viewer is not supposed to emerge “safe” from this film. Viewers are engulfed by the color and sound track of the production which in part replace traditional dramatic motions.   As Lazslo explains his low intensity approach shows the everyday life in the factory of death and the simplicity of its operation. There is a sharing of the experience of members of the Sonderkommando rather than imposing an external perspective of the holocaust.  Neither a confessional point of view, identification of the villains or a seduction of the audience prevail.  Being lost in the presentation is part of the viewers’ experience. Lazslo reminds me of Berthold Brecht’s attempt to create through the Verfremdungs Effect (alienation impact) a mode of presentation which prevents the audience from an emotional identification with a play’s or film’s story and character. Son of Saul certainly succeeded in achieving that goal and as his first film it is a stunning achievement for Laszlo Nemes.

CAROL, Todd Haynes, USA, 2015   Carol is a flawless persuasive masterpiece exploring an evolving lesbian relation between a well established upscale suburban married mother, Carol, played by Cate Blanchett, and  Ronney Mara as Therese, an aspiring photographer working as a sales girl in a department store. Carol is alienated from her husband and Therese lives a fairly isolated life without close friends. Set in the early fifties’ prevailing mind set opposing gay behavior which is faithfully rendered by the film, the nuanced rise of their involvement overcoming social and legal obstacles has a compelling appeal.  Both decide to travel together, a journey interrupted by a detective hired by Carol’s husband who has filed for divorce and custody of their daughter. Fearing the consequences Carol terminates their relation yet in a memorable sequence gives up her claim to their child. Both actresses play their roles in an impeccable subdued manner with Therese presenting throughout a formidable somehow detached translucent beauty. Separated from Carol she has become established professional but decides to resume the relation. The attraction is more powerful than the straight life she is leading.

MOUNTAIN MAY DEPART, Jia Zhangke,   China, France Japan, 2015   An outstanding commentary on the development of capitalism in China from 1999 on and  its impact is told through the story of Shen Tao and two friends, Liangzi and Shen who are competing for her. Lianzi is a blue collar mining worker and Shen a business man driven by greed. Strongly influenced by a realistic documentary approach the film maker presents three phases in the life of the protagonists changing for each episode the aspect ratio of the film, from narrow to wide frame. The narrative covers the courtship and the reluctant marriage to the entrepreneur,   Tao’s son Dollar visiting from Hong Kong his divorced mother after 15 years have passed and the final sequence in Australia where Dollar and his father live in a luxury environment. By now Tao supports the treatment of Liangzi who cannot pay the hospital bills, a man who had no future. In Australia Dollar barely speaks Chinese and is totally enstranged from his alcoholic and gun touting father.  In this epic feature we are confronted with a subtle yet obvious indictment of capitalist development in China.  Zhang identifies through his depiction of interposal elations trends that also hold for Western societies. A firm sense of identity is lost in our rapidly changing society where individuals become disconnected from disappearing communities or from families shaped by a consumer defined culture. Communication technologies have changed peoples’ interaction and self-expression by removing elements of authenticity.  From Zhangke’s perspective their sense of history, belonging and intimacy is fading.

THE WITNESS, James Solomon, USA, 2015  Reconstructing  what happened  in the Kitty Genovese case , the widely covered 1964 Queens rape and murder of a young woman, Solomon records the recent attempt of her brother Bill tracking down witnesses, reviewing police records and other evidence  to understand  and recover Kitty’s story.  The Genovese case attracted attention since the New York Times reported that 38 individuals witnessed the crime yet did not act to prevent it. They did not call the police for help withdrawing instead to their apartments. Their reaction reflected urban social disengagement. The documentary provides a compelling refutation of the NY Times story and shows that there were only a couple of people noting the murder who called the police and intervened.  The New York Times investigative report was readily embraced by the public since it fit the popular negative perception of the sixties period of insecurity, of the prevalence and fear of crime, of isolated uncaring individuals and the decline of communities. This context created plausibility for what happened to Kitty Genovese. From a journalistic perspective it generated a story which was too good not to embrace. When the New York Times revisited the story since its accuracy had  been questioned the paper had to admit that its principle points were wrong and that the story had not be vetted thoroughly.  Yet the original story now considered a legend had taken on a power of its own and the counter version did not gain much traction. Still today the original narrative is invoked in discussions of urban alienation and disconnection.  As to the genesis of the original New York Times story which had been strongly supported by the metro editor Blumenthal the rush to publish was probably influenced by the fear of not speaking up, a silence as it had prevailed at the Times during the Holocaust years.

WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, Michael Moore, USA, 2015 Focusing on services and benefits other nations offer which are missing in the United States Moore identifies in his frequently humorous documentation insights into opportunities enjoyed by citizens and the reasons why the United States has fallen so far behind. Here the living standard, satisfaction and expectations are lower and unresolved problems transform the USA into a land of unlimited problems. Thus Moore invades foreign countries to steal their ideas and solutions which could be applied to the problems the USA is facing. In interviews with officials and ordinary people he frequently encounters surprise and disbelief about archaic and regressive US conditions.  In Europe business men invoke the obvious, that the wellbeing of the laborers enhances their productivity as do shorter work weeks. Long legally mandated vacations and supplementary compensations for holidays serve that goal. The same holds for low cost national health care system open all individuals and available in most European countries. Further public education is considers as a right and not an entitlement, thus there are no fees for attending public schools and universities. Among true specific lessons to be learned are Germany coming to terms with its past while the US is reluctant about it. Healthy food that is served without the option of coca cola in a French school cafeteria is less expensive than US school food; Finland rose to the first rank in international school comparisons after abandoning competitive tests and ratings of their students. Obsession with tests is rather common in the United States, which now holds the 29th rank. Portugal has embraced for the last 15 years a policy of decriminalizing drugs since addiction is considered a health issues. By now there are virtual no drug problems in that country.  Providing an effective equal role to women Iceland enjoyed considerable economics growth over the last years and successfully prosecuted male senior executives for causing the bankruptcy of Iceland’s major banks.  

As in past editions the New York Film Festival is successfully expanding offering a wide range of programs and special events satisfying the needs of a faithful audience.

Claus Mueller

filmexchange@gmail.com

Japan Content Showcase (JCS), organized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Foundation for Promotion of Music Industry and Culture (TIMM), UNIJAPAN (TIFFCOM) and the Association of Japanese Animations (TIAF), took place in GRAND PACIFIC LE DAIBA, Tokyo from October 20th (Tue) to 22nd (Thu). During 3 days of the period, it welcomed 24,291 participants, the largest number in its history.

This year JCS marks the 4th year as the multi-content market featuring music, films and animation. The high-powered seminars with hot topics including VOD business were held and received great response from the market participants. Many pitching sessions and matching events were also held and provided beneficial business opportunities and networking among participants from all over the world. Market screening and showcase live were successful in gathering attention from the industry professionals who looked for uprising talents from Japan.

Reflecting the growing importance as a multi-content marketplace representing Asia, JCS achieved the highest records in number of exhibitors, buyers and participants throughout our history thanks to your continuous cooperation and support.

Daredevil: Into the Ring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Daredevil", courtesy of NetFlix

 

As a child, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) lost his eyesight in an accident. However, all of his other senses were heightened, allowing him to hear, feel, and foresee more than regular people. At first, he treated his abilities as a curse, but later he learnt to appreciate them and decided to use them to fight evil. By day, the now grown-up Matt is a more-or-less effective lawyer in New York, and by night, he becomes a fearless guardian of the city. When the neighbourhood of Hell’s Kitchen, where he and his friends live, is flooded by crime and corruption, Murdock takes up the challenge—no matter the injuries or personal costs involved. The creators of the Daredevil series, Drew Goddard and Steven S. DeKnight, and the director of the pilot episode, Phil Abraham, invite the audience to a fascinating journey into the heart of darkness; a journey that also shows a different side to the popular myths about superheroes.

 

Original title: Daredevil: Into the Ring
Director: Phil Abraham
Cinematographer: Matthew J. Lloyd

Produced by: ABC Television Studio, Marvel Television 

Distribution: NetFlix
USA, 2015

Fargo: The Crocodile's Dilemma

 

 

 

Gomorrah: Il clan dei Savastano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Gomorrah", courtesy of HBO Poland Sp. z o. o.

 

Matteo Garrone’s 2008 crime drama Gomorrah, based on the hard-hitting, controversial novel written by Roberto Saviano, was a fascinating and utterly complex insight into the reality of the Neapolitan-based mafia called Camorra. Using both works of art as a basis for something entirely new, Gomorrah’s showrunner Stefano Sollima, who also directed the pilot episode, not only supplemented this spellbinding world with its original narrative, character arcs, and overtones, but also added many stylistic touches that made it the Italian counterpart of the famous American show The Wire. Gomorrah’s protagonist is a guy called Ciro—a young, charismatic, and arrogant henchman for Naples’ Savastano crime family. He is loyal, brave, and ruthless, quickly earning his bosses’ trust and making himself an indispensable part of the organization’s structure. Will he be able to make all of his big dreams come true without sacrificing the man he was before?

 

Original title: Gomorra - La serie: Il clan dei Savastano
Director: Stefano Sollima
Cinematographer: Paolo Carnera

 

 

 

Jordskott: Del I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Jordskott", courtesy of Sveriges Television

 

Police negotiator Eva Thörnblad goes back to her home town for the funeral of her tragically deceased father. At the same time she has to confront her inner demons, as it was in this place that her beloved daughter disappeared mysteriously seven years earlier. The woman is going through an emotional breakdown, but suddenly, and initially against her will, she becomes a part of a complex police investigation connected with cases of other missing children. Henrik Björn, the series showrunner and director of the pilot episode, continues the commendable tradition of the Scandinavian crime show and creates a suggestive, hallucinatory atmosphere reminiscent of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks. Jordskott’s creator invites the audience into a world in which nothing is what it seems—a place surrounded by cool lakes and misty forests that can inspire fear with its dark secrets, but also fascinate with the silent beauty of nature’s indifference.
 

Original title: Jordskott: Del I
Director: Henrik Björn
Cinematographer: Pelle Hallert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manhattan: You Always Hurt the One You Love

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Manhattan", courtesy of Lionsgate Television

 

Among the hundreds of crucial events in the history of the world, building a functional atomic bomb was one of the most significant ones, though at the time it was shrouded in secrecy. Showrunner Sam Shaw’s Manhattan is a fictionalized tale about the men who made that leap of faith into the atomic era, and the women who stood morally beside them. Directed by Thomas Schlamme, the pilot episode throws the audience within the confines of the Manhattan Project’s top-secret, government-made little New Mexico town of Los Alamos. There, hundreds of scientists isolated with their families from the outside world, including Frank Winter, work against the clock and face various moral dilemmas. Is it really worth creating something that will end the war but at the same time change the world forever? Will playing God come back to haunt those that attempt it? And, finally, can one afford to do nothing and hope that the world will fix itself?

 

Original title: Manhattan: You Always Hurt the One You Love
Director: Thomas Schlamme
Cinematographer: John Lindley

 

 

Pact, The: Victim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "The Pact", courtesy of HBO Poland Sp. z o. o.

 

A big city means big pay cheques, big corporations, and big secrets. As well as even bigger scandals when some of those secrets spill into the public. Piotr Grodecki is an overly ambitious investigative journalist who is concerned with the truth and nothing but the truth. When one of the articles he has written provokes a social and media outrage, making life much harder for quite a number of people, he realizes that truth has many different faces. Partly based on a Norwegian mini-series called Mammon, but using its structure and elements to different ends and building a world from scratch, The Pact, with pilot episode directed by Marek Lechki, is a thrilling TV show that deals with many of the crucial aspects of modern times, among them the tension between journalistic ethics and the chaotic presence of digital reality, and the role of opinion-forming media in a world which seems to be slowly forgetting the difference between truth and fiction.

Original title: Pakt: Ofiara
Director: Marek Lechki
Cinematographer: Paweł Flis

 

 

 

Penny Dreadful: Night Work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Penny Dreadful", courtesy of HBO Poland Sp. z o. o.

 

Ethan Chandler is a charming American gunslinger who has come to Victorian London to earn a quick buck. This is a down-to-earth man who only trusts what he sees with his own eyes. When he is hired by the hypnotic Vanessa Ives and mysterious Sir Malcolm Murray, his world starts to collapse. His new employers show him London’s dark underbelly, far beyond anything that a normal person can comprehend, in which an eternal war is raging between human beings and supernatural creatures preying on people’s naivety and lack of knowledge. Inspired by legendary literary horror tales and their famous characters, including Victor Frankenstein, Mina Harker, and Dorian Gray, Penny Dreadful’s showrunner John Logan and the pilot’s director, Juan Antonio Bayona, invite their audience on a journey into the heart of darkness. A tale which blends reality and fiction that is dangerous and tenebrous, but at the same time elegant and sensual.

 

Original title: Penny Dreadful: Night Work
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Cinematographer: Xavi Giménez

Produced by: Showtime Networks, Desert Wolf Productions, Neal Street Productions

Distribution: Home Box Office (HBO)

Polish distributor: HBO Poland Sp. z o. o.
UK, USA, Ireland, 2014

 

 

 

Sense8: Limbic Resonance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Sense8", courtesy of FX Network

 

Eight people of different backgrounds, nationalities, races, religions, and skin colours, living under dissimilar conditions in different parts of the world—people who could not have ever met personally—start to share a bizarre connection that will mark them for the rest of their lives. Before they even know what is happening and understand their odd visions, a clandestine organization with sinister intentions is already treading on their heels. Sense8 is a TV series like no other, with the narrative unravelling on different continents and with the use of numerous genre conventions, while the characters present a fascinating range of worldviews and philosophies. This all enables the show’s creators, J. Michael Straczynski and Andy and Lana Wachowski (who also directed the pilot episode), to reflect on such themes as human identity and the concept of heterogeneity, to break cultural and social taboos, and to provoke admiration for the world’s beauty depicted on the screen.

 

Original title: Sense8: Limbic Resonance
Director: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Cinematographer: Christian Almesberger, Frank Griebe, Danny Ruhlmann, John Toll

Sirens: The Sinking Woman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Sirens", courtesy of July August Productions and HOT

 

Weird events start to transpire in Eliat, a busy Israeli port town. One of them involves the discovery of the corpse of a naked and unnaturally obese woman, who, under closer observation, seems to be a hardly recognizable version of a girl who vanished from the face of the Earth 17 years before. Police officer Shelly Rajuan, sister of the deceased, investigates the whole matter but only uncovers more mysteries. Was the woman’s horrific death somehow linked to the human trafficking in the region? Or maybe it has something to do with the seemingly unstoppable wave of African immigrants coming to Israel’s shores, thus evoking xenophobia and racism among the local community? Sirens is a show that is part solid procedural drama, part poignant thriller, and part timely tale about the modern world. Showrunners Shahar Magen and Adam Sanderson (who directed the pilot episode) present a raw, pessimistic, and uncompromising TV series that is not easily forgotten.

 

Original title: Betoolot: The Sinking Woman
Director: Adam Sanderson
Cinematographer: Nadav Hekselman

   

 

 

 

 

Trapped: Episode #1.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "Trapped", courtesy of RVKstudios

 

Siglufjörður is a small Icelandic town in which there are far more family dramas than crime mysteries. However, not long before the events depicted on the screen, two teenagers are trapped in an old warehouse that is lit on fire by someone. What is more, the pilot episode wastes no time and brings a mutilated corpse to the town’s shore, which arrives together with a large ferry from Denmark. Not only is the killer on the loose and soon to touch Icelandic soil without any consequences, but there is also a powerful snowstorm coming towards the town which will isolate it from the outside world. Andri tries to solve the hideous crime, but the police seem to be powerless. Time is almost up. Soon everyone will be trapped in a situation with no easy way out. Baltasar Kormákur, Trapped’s showrunner and the pilot’s director, presents a devilishly stylish and whimsical TV series about people and real monsters that are only acting like people.

 

Original title: Trapped: Episode #1.1
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Cinematographer: Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson

True Detective: The Long Bright Dark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still from "True Detective", courtesy of HBO Poland Sp. z o. o.

 

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson play two homicide detectives, Rust Cohle and Martin Hart, who become a part of an investigation concerning a serial killer with a flair for ritualistic murders. Finding the true criminal will take many, many years and make them question everything they have ever believed in. True Detective’s pilot is set in Louisiana, which looks like a nihilistic wasteland filled with instances of religious nightmares—a state in which the oneiric beauty of the landscapes is inextricably linked to the ugliness of human nature, hidden away in narrow confines of small houses. By combining an intriguing metaphysical experience with this brutal reality, and confronting film noir and the buddy movie genre with a mystical atmosphere, the first episode of Nic Pizzolatto’s series, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, creates a believably nightmarish reality in which, however, one would like to stay for a long time.

 

Original title: True Detective: The Long Bright Dark
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw

Produced by: Passenger Film Studio, Parliament of Owls, Neon Black, Anonymous Content, Home Box Office (HBO)

Distribution: HBO Enterprises

Polish distributor: HBO Poland Sp. z o. o.
USA, 2014

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Last night, glasses clinked in Cottbus to celebrate 25 years of Eastern European cinema in Lusatia, 25 years of intercultural dialogue and 25 years of taking pleasure in film. The opening of the 25th FilmFestival Cottbus in the large auditorium of the Staatstheater Cottbus was attended by the who's who of politics, business and media.

"It is not uncommon for Cottbus to be mentioned in the same breath as Venice or Karlovy Vary", is how the Governing Mayor of Cottbus, Holger Kelch, expressed his joy at the especially large number of nations featured in "his" city to mark the anniversary. The official start was made by a first in the history of the festival - a television film, POLIZEIRUF 110:

BEYOND THE BORDER by the broadcaster rbb. "Television is involved in almost all cinema films, usually as a co-production partner," stated Programme Director Bernd Buder to explain the decision. "A German-Polish co- production with a German-Polish team of investigators - that sets a strong example. Moreover, this instalment of Polizeiruf was shot in the vicinity:

in Frankfurt/Oder." The rbb presenter Petra Gute charmingly hosted the evening, announcing a number of highlights in the Jugendstil auditorium.

Musical accompaniment was provided by Cottbus's rock ' n' roll veteran Russ Marasus, with other musicians from Cottbus eventually joining the jam session on stage. Among the special guests at the opening was the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, HE Monique van Daalen, who was delighted that Cottbus would also showcase Dutch cinematography this year:

On the one hand, the "globalEAST" section will cast a view to joint productions of our north-western neighbour and Eastern Europe, on the other, the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus, taking place in the frame of the film festival, will also place a thematic focus on the Netherlands. During her speech the Ambassador stroke a more serious note when she addressed the current migrant crisis: "In the public perception the East of Europe has become a transit lounge for hundreds of thousands of people. Our gaze follows that of the media reporting on this transit: It gets caught where the passage becomes difficult - at the borders. 'Borders'

is a word that, in the EU context, had only been used with the attribute 'green' until very recently. Today we know that Europe needs to earn this adjective back."

In the three competitions and ten further programme sections, the audience is invited to around 200 films from more than 40 nations at various venues.

In addition to the six traditional ones, the Stadthalle Cottbus, Weltspiegel, Glad-House-Saal, Obenkino, Kammerbühne, and the large auditorium of the Staatstheater Cottbus, further venues will be open for the first time as a one-off: the visitors' centre of the Gutsökonomie Schloss and Park Branitz, the Cottbuser Stadthaus, the Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk and the Raumflugplanetarium Cottbus.

The festival is substantially supported by the State of Brandenburg, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the City of Cottbus as well as the MEDIA - Creative Europe programme of the European Union. The festival opening was supported by the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB) and media.connect Brandenburg.

Staged for the third time from October 15-18 in New York City the Chelsea Film Festival focused on Women in Film and Media and presented sixty six productions from twenty three countries of which the majority were directed, produced and written by women.  The non-profit international festival was organized with cooperation from the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology and exceeded last year’s success. In 2013 47 films from 24 countries were shown to 4000 people. This year there was a significant increase in the number of films and the audience grew to about 5000. More than 1000 productions were submitted and 19 feature length films and 47 shorts selected for the program.

Virtually all productions were world, U.S. or New York premieres. The festival was founded by its directors Ingrid and Sionia Jean-Baptiste with the goal of serving international emerging film makers and showcasing their first or second film. By offering  many issue themed shorts, documentaries and feature length productions  the festival  followed the mission it had has been since its inception “making the world a better place”, thus showcasing films with specific messages and facilitating their distribution.  

The festival offered five professional panels with industry experts. Themes ranged from film investments and funding independent productions, the redefinition of distribution through on-demand options, to the progression of a production from concept to distribution. Also finding also a most responsive audience Several Apple Store Events, free and open to the public, were offered covering Women in Hollywood, Social Issues in Filmmaking, and Making a Feature on a Micro Budget.

The festival has set up the Chelsea Film Institute which offers throughout the year free arts training to underprivileged youth in New York’s Chelsea area for which funds were raised during the red carpet opening and closing ceremonies.  Expanding its screening program, a partnership  with the local Bow Tie Cinemas  has been established for a monthly program the Kino and Vino series showing a film each second Monday. It will start on November 9th with the grand prize winning feature P.T.S.D. by Cedric Godin. An estimated $70,000 in prizes is awarded by the jury, an amount that might increase given the continued growth of the Chelsea Film Festival.

SOLITARY, Sasha Krane, United States, UK 2015;   The opening film SOLITARY demonstrates the devastating impact an early hidden child hood trauma in a single parent broken family has on Nora.  It turns her into an alcoholic incapable of maintaining relations, a condition worsening when she is forced to live with her disabled father. Images from her past are haunting her in the house she returned to and her condition deteriorates. Drunk driving she causes the death of her close friend who was about to get married and is sentenced to a prison term. In jail she is sexually abused by a guard and assaulted by a female cell mate which prompts a fight and a longer prison term. Her sister secures her release and she finally reveals the repressed memory which had such devastating consequences. As a child she had been raped by her father and could never articulate and share her pain. Yet at the end she levels with her aging father and forces him to admit his crime. In her role as Nora Katherine Lee McEwan who is also the film’s writer and producer delivers an impressive performance. The film certainly presents a powerful narrative and was well enacted and staged. Yet its message of the severe damage caused by family based sex abuse may have been more effective if told in a more subdued way.

VALLEY [Emek], Sophie Artus, Israel, France, 2014;    The closing night film Valley pursued a related theme. In her first feature film Sophie Artus a former teacher who turned filmmaker analyses with finesse the social transmission of violence in apparently dysfunctional families and the impact of the school environment. The films is set in a small town in Northern Israel  and features a trio of teenagers  David, Josh and Linoy who become close friends attending the same high school class.  David, a quiet boy has just moved to the town, loves music and literature and lives with his single withdrawn father, a former security professional not communicating with his son, apart from trying to teaching him how to use a gun. His mother has committed suicide. Josh comes across as an outgoing and aggressive bully and seems to be only attached to his puppy dog, not caring for anything else, though he slowly embraces David as a friend. In his single parent family there is no father and the mother is unable to take care of him and is involved in affairs. His older brother is an unemployed a petty criminal and prone to impulsive violence. He belittles and beats Josh who even has protect his little brother and mother from the violence.  Linoy is an attractive girl with aspiration of becoming an actress or model in the future though she is on her own. There is no support for her. She falls in love with David creating a conflict between the boys. When Josh’s small dog is killed by his brother tensions explode resulting in a fateful violent encounter between the three and Josh’s brother and his buddies. Valley provides an outstanding illustration of the rise of violence shown in its raw imagery and of its family and social context from which there is no escape. This uncompromising film has already received several awards.

DAWN, Romed Wyder, Israel, 2014;   Based on a story by Elie Wisel DAWN is a feature staged like a theatrical play. Set in 1947 four men and one woman from the underground movement and a British officer they are holding spent one night together. They want to trade him for one of their fighters who is supposed to be hanged by the British forces the following morning. Under curfew they are holed up together in an apartment they cannot leave waiting for instructions to either kill or release the officer.  During the hours that follow their characters are shown. We encounter the commander who is a hardened resistance fighter, then the multi-faceted female organizer, a believer who is enmeshed in his prayers and can only love God, and finally cynic who is an apparent patty criminal. The youngest fighter Elisha is the central character completing the group. Their personalities emerge in their interactions. For Elisha any killing posits a moral dilemma, yet he is charged to shoot the officer with whom he speaks and who has a son his age. Elisha is a Holocaust survivor who joined the Zionist underground recently and is played to perfection by Joel Basman who is the only non-professional actor in the film. Elisha is troubled by the apparent ease of his fellow fighters to kill the officer and not swayed by their arguments. As he suggests the killing will not bring to life the fighter who maybe executed by the British and only add to the violence. After the order is given to execute the officer he descends to the basement, appealing to his dead parents “Do not judge me, judge God”.  Elisha’s notion of violence begetting violence appears to be borne out by Israel’s development. Relevant footage is bracketing the film with documentary material about the violent birth of Israel and the current raging conflict with Palestinians. It includes a brief telling scene reenacting an experience Elisha had.  After he is liberated from the concentration camp he refuses to beat a tormentor.  DAWN is an impressive achievement forcing the audience to reflect.

BEAST OF CARDO, Virginia Sanchez Navarro, Dominican Republic, 2014;    The social cage of one’s aristocratic background is an imprisonment from which one cannot escape, specifically in a small Latin American town where everything is known and shared.  Moira the principle protagonist of the film returns to Cardo after living in New York but continues to be pursued in her home town by the image of a loose woman which was attached to her when she lived there. Though her family is wealthy and shares with another aristocratic firmly the domination of the town, Moira is not accepted. A rejection due to her coming from an interracial marriage or and refusal to get involved with men from her background.  High society is suffocating her and she grows close to an aspiring gay fashion designer certainly not socially welcome by her circles. Intermittently there are some surreal scenes yet what struck me most was the ethnographic depiction of the upscale groups, the imagery of a caste life existence. The film is a dramatic social commentary of apparent wasteful lifestyles, devoid of content but rich in conspicuous consumption, hypocrisy, gossip, rumor, prejudice and self-absorption.

Having attended the fest for the first time I was certainly struck by its international character and the quality of the program which is superior to what is offered by similar New York based fests. Its involvement in the Chelsea community is also impressive.

Claus Mueller filmexchange@gmail.com

LE MAGHREB DES FILMS, c’est une plongée dans le meilleur du cinéma maghrébin, principalement d’Algérie, du Maroc et de Tunisie, mais aussi de Libye ou de Mauritanie.

 
Beaucoup d’avant-premières et de films inédits cette année, représentant la force, la diversité, la jeunesse et le talent des cinématographies maghrébines d’aujourd’hui, en présence de leurs auteurs.
 
Plus de soixante films, longs métrages et courts métrages, fictions et documentaires seront présentés.
 
Comme l’an dernier, nos rencontres se délocalisent dans plusieurs lieux de projection parisiens du Louxor à l’Institut des Cultures d’Islam, du Saint-André des Arts à l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, au Club de l’Etoile ainsi que dans une quarantaine de salles en périphérie et en province.

Hassen Ferhani nous fera découvrir en avant-première son documentaire Dans ma tête un Rond-Point (sortie en salles en février 2016) récompensé cette année au FID de Marseille.
 
Au cinéma le Louxor nous proposerons trois œuvres parmi les plus fortes de leur cinématographie respective, cette année. De Leyla Bouzid, A peine j’ouvre les yeux ; de Hicham Lasri The Sea is Behind et du documentariste Malek Bensmaïl Contre-pouvoirs ; trois films dont les sorties en salles sont annoncées pour les tout prochains mois.

Au Saint-André des Arts, un panorama de l’état du cinéma documentaire. Six longs métrages inédits, complétant ceux présentés  au Louxor, témoigneront de la qualité, de la diversité et de la vigueur du genre.

Des hommages seront rendus, des tables rondes conclueront chacun d’eux :
-       à deux figures fondatrices des cinémas tunisien et marocain, Tahar Cheriaa et Nourredine Saïl (en sa présence) qui ont œuvré, entre autre, pour l’émergence d’une véritable cinématographie dans leur pays respectif, mais qui sont aussi les fondateurs des ciné-clubs, de la cinéphilie, de la critique et de l’histoire du cinéma…
-       à Ahmed Bouanani, pionner du cinéma marocain dont l’influence reste grande encore aujourd’hui chez de nombreux cinéastes ; ainsi Daoud Aoulad Syad qui sera honoré à la Maison Européenne de la Photographie, comme photographe et comme cinéaste,
-       à l’académicienne, écrivaine et cinéaste, Assia Djebar, récemment disparue, dans le cadre d’une collaboration avec L’Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d’Ulm.
L’occasion exceptionnelle de découvrir de grands films du patrimoine maghrébin, rares, méconnus, dont nombre d'entre eux sont complètement inédits en France.  
Dans la mesure de leurs disponibilités, les réalisateurs soutiendront la présentation de leur film d’une rencontre avec ses spectateurs.
 
LE MAGHREB DES FILMS c’est aussi des projections à l’année, des rencontres et des débats, avec des journalistes, universitaires, artistes et réalisateurs, issus du Maghreb (ou pas).

Suivez toute l’actualité du Maghreb des Films sur notre page Facebook : Maghreb des films et retrouvez notre programmation, les lieux et horaires sur www.maghrebdesfilms.fr 

Téléchargez la grille complète du programme.