4th annual AMERICAN FRINGE FESTIVAL opens in Paris, November 15-17, with nine new films

We don't normally cover openings in Paris, but in this case it's a festival of new American movies, "on and of the margins of the U.S.," as the press release explains, and featuring the international premieres of nine independent films. Another reason for coverage is that the curators of this fest are two people that TrustMovies has very much enjoyed knowing and working with over the past years: Richard Peña, former program director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and Livia Bloom Ingram of Icarus Films, both of whose film knowledge and personal taste we've found to be very much worth our attention.

Notes Mr. Peña, à-propos this fest, “Much of what is acclaimed as ‘indie production’ in the U.S. today differs little from Hollywood commercial product in anything except budget. American Fringe reveals that the defiant and irreverent spirit that drove independent cinema pioneers is still very much alive if not often enough seen or celebrated. Moreover, in addition to exploring new cinematic ideas and forms, these films often focus on the margins of American society⁠—regionally, sexually, politically.” Bloom Ingram adds, “Each year, as we view the latest new American films in search of our annual selection for American Fringe, I’m inspired anew. Though these nine artists may still be ‘under the radar,’ each film is a singular display of talent, craft, vision and commitment to fierce independence.”

From what I can gather, the films will be shown at Paris' prestigious La Cinémathèque française  You can learn all about this year's program (in English) at this site, and in French at this one. While I had big plans to see several of this year's movies, I ended up having time to view only two -- though both were very much worth my time.

GREEN HOUSE -- directed by Armando Lamberti and written by Lamberti and the film's star, Brian May (shown above and above) -- proves a deadpan hoot boasting maybe the most gorgeous color palette I've seen in ages. I could watch it again just to drown in that uber-saturated cinematography (by Matthew Cherchio). It also offers perhaps the most all-out annoying character to be seen in cinema this past decade. As played by Mr. May, this is a guy you'll want to grace with a fat lip about every 60 seconds. This has got to be some sort of record-setting asshole, and Mr. May gives him an all-stops-out nastiness coupled to a certain reticent quality that helps render the character bizarrely special.

The movie's ending, as well as its end credits sequence, delights in a fuck-you-all insouciance that you'll either revel in or hate. Either way, Green House is something else indeed.

At the other end of the spectrum is the remarkably moving, thought-provoking and utterly serious documentary entitled SEADRIFT -- about the eponymously titled seaside community in Texas where, back in 1979, a Vietnamese refugee made national news by shooting and killing a local crabber. How and why this happened is explored in hindsight by filmmaker Tim Tsai by looking at historical records and interviewing the surviving folk from both the original local (and very white) Seadrift shellfishing community, and that of the immigrant Vietnamese who were "rescued" and moved to the USA, once we Americans pulled out of Vietnam after wreaking havoc there for more than a decade.

Mr. Tsai is even-handed in his exploration of now and then, of the locals and the Vietnamese, and what he shows us are people on both sides who were buffeted about by circumstance in some cases beyond their control. How the Vietnamese were summarily dumped into locations like Seadrift without any preparation for either them or the communities into which they were thrust could hardly help but stir up bad feelings. It was, as one participant notes, "a fast culture shock."

From early annoyance through eventual anger and finally violence, the documentary progresses. Of course we see nationalism and racism front and center (hello, KKK!) but we also see, eventually, some coming to terms with past sins and present feelings so that growth is made. One of the major moments comes as the daughter of the victim of the shooting talks about how one of the most famous wartime photos from Vietnam, together with the subject of that photo, has changed the way she looks at things.

Seadrift ends with an historical/political idea so on-the-mark it ought to be heard worldwide -- and certainly by those who still feel, after all that has transpired over there, that the USA had a good reason to be in Vietnam.

In addition to these two worthwhile films, there are seven more (including one short subject) on the American Fringe schedule. You can view all the programs by clicking here (for English) or here (for French). And if you happen to be in Paris this week, well, lucky you!

Note to filmmakers: 

There is no fee to submit your film 

to the next edition of American Fringe. 

Simply go to this site, enter your name, email, film title, 

logline, and screener link; your film will be considered.

Tomorrow: PANORAMA EUROPE FILM FEST returns to MOMI and Bohemian National Hall

Coming back for its ninth year, the popular PANORAMA EUROPE FILM FESTIVAL co-sponsored by The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY, and Bohemian National Hall in New York City, begins tomorrow, Friday, May 5, and runs until Sunday, May 21, 2017 at MOMI and the BNH. Below is the complete schedule, with info (taken from the press release) on each of the 17 films and/or personal appearances:

OPENING NIGHT
King of 
the Belgians 
With co-director Jessica Woodworth in person, followed by Q&A and opening reception FRIDAY, MAY 5, 7:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 7:00 P.M. at Bohemian National Hall 2016 Venice Film Festival Belgium/Netherlands/Bulgaria. Dirs. Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth. 2016, 94 mins. With Peter van der Begin, Bruno Georis, Lucie Debay. In English, Flemish, French, Bulgarian with English subtitles.

This “enormously appealing” (Variety) faux-documentary is a delightfully loopy comic road trip through Eastern Europe. While visiting Istanbul, the (somewhat awkward) King of Belgium receives word that Wallonia has seceded from his country, a national crisis that necessitates his immediate return. But when a sudden electrical storm makes flying impossible, he finds himself forced to make the journey by car. Joining a bus full of female folk singers, the king embarks on a wayward odyssey through the Balkans that will take him from a Bulgarian yogurt festival to a drunken night in Serbia, all captured on camera by a wry British documentarian along for the ride. Played to the deadpan hilt, this irresistibly goofball geopolitical satire touches delicately on the state of Europe today.

Far from Home (En otra casa) 
With Notes sur l’émigration. Espagne 1960
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / U.S. premiere Spain. Dir. Vanessa Rousselot, 2015, 54 mins. In Spanish with English subtitles.

They come from Latin America to Spain in search of employment to support their families back home. Taking jobs as caregivers, nannies, and housekeepers, they become part of someone else’s household, thousands of miles—and worlds removed—from their own. Who are these women? What drove them to leave everything behind to start a new life overseas? With her eternally patient camera, documentarian Vanessa Rousselot shines a compassionate spotlight on a group of women living on the fringes of Spanish society. Preceded by Notes sur l’émigration. Espagne 1960. Spain. Dirs. Jacinto Esteva, Paolo Brunatto, 1960. 19 mins. In French with English subtitles. This short documentary examines the motives of Spanish workers who migrated to Switzerland in the late 1950s, turning into a caustic yet sometimes melancholic reflection on the land they left behind.

Swagger
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 4:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / New York premiere Nominated for 2017 César and Lumière Awards for Best Documentary France. Dir. Olivier Babinet, 2016, 84 mins. In French with English subtitles.

The banlieue housing projects outside Paris have been the setting for many a gritty saga of desperation and despair. Swagger is not one of those movies. Instead, this joyously innovative documentary immerses viewers in the hopes, dreams, and rich inner lives of eleven teenagers growing up in one of France's most diverse neighborhoods. With thrilling flights of fantasy—including musical numbers and an imaginative science-fiction sequence—Swagger offers a refreshing, much-needed counter-perspective on the minority experience in France.

Letters 
from War 
SUNDAY, MAY 7, 2:15 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image 2016 Berlin Film Festival Portugal. Dir. Ivo Ferreira, 2016, 105 mins. With Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova, Ricardo Pereira. In Portuguese with English subtitles.

The letters of renowned Portuguese novelist António Lobo Antunes to his wife form the basis of this gorgeous, sublimely stirring saga of love and war. Written in the 1970s while the author was stationed in Angola during the Portuguese Colonial War, the letters recount his experiences working in a military hospital, his growing disillusionment with the conflict, and, above all, his yearning for his wife and child. The combination of Lobo Antunes’ rapturously beautiful prose and the luscious black and white cinematography yields an exquisite aesthetic experience.

I, Olga Hepnarova (Já, Olga Hepnarová)
SUNDAY, MAY 7, 4:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image TUESDAY, MAY 9, 7:00 P.M. at Bohemian National Hall Czech Republic/Poland/Slovakia/France. Dir. Petr Kazda & Tomás Weinreb. 2016, 105 mins. With Michalina Olszanska, Martin Pechlát, Klára Melíšková. In Czech with English subtitles.

Based on an infamous true crime that shocked Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, I, Olga Hepnarova is the riveting account of a woman driven to do the unthinkable. Michalina Olszanska delivers a performance of mesmerizing intensity in the title role, a young lesbian who is abused at home and bullied at school. Disillusioned with society, she plots her revenge upon the world—a horrifying act of violence that is unleashed on a fateful summer day in 1973. Strikingly shot in gritty black and white, this spare, unsettling character study immerses viewers in the damaged psyche of a woman on the edge.

Safari 
SUNDAY, MAY 7, 7:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image Austria/Denmark/Germany. Dir. Ulrich Seidl. 2016, 90 mins. In German, English, Afrikaans with English subtitles.

Austria’s master of unsettling provocation, whose films include Import, Export, Dog Days, and The Paradise Trilogy, returns with one of his most incendiary statements yet. Training his characteristically impassive camera on a group of European hunters on holiday in Namibia, Seidl records, with disquieting detachment, as they stalk and kill zebras, giraffes, and other big game for sport. By turns, disturbing and mesmerizing, this impossible-to-shake (and not-for-the-squeamish) documentary raises serious questions about colonialism’s legacy, the ethics of killing for recreation, and the nature of humans. 

Europe, 
She Loves
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 7:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / U.S. premiere 2016 Berlin Film Festival/Panorama Switzerland/Germany. Dir. Jan Gassmann, 2016, 110 mins. In English, Spanish, Estonian, Greek with English subtitles.

Amidst the fractious political climate of modern-day Europe, four couples in four cities—Seville, Dublin, Tallinn, and Thessaloniki—go about their everyday lives, their private fears and struggles laid bare with extraordinary intimacy. Contending with everything from unemployment to heroin addiction, they surf uncertainty with often nothing more than their love for one another to see them through. Jan Gassmann’s up-close-and-personal documentary examines the political via the personal—and, in the case of the film’s unabashedly raw sex scenes, the very personal. Far from gratuitous, they’re at the heart of the director’s plea for tenderness in a world consumed by chaos.

Mariupolis SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / U.S. premiere 2016 Berlin Film Festival/Panorama Lithuania/Germany/France/Ukraine. Dir. Mantas Kvedaravicius, 2016, 82 mins. In Russian and Ukrainian with English subtitles.

In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, life unfolds with almost surreal normalcy while just miles away violence encroaches. Despite the ongoing Russian invasion, residents go about their daily routines: an ensemble rehearses for a dance performance; a cobbler repairs shoes and discusses religion; a man is brought into court for fishing illegally. In a place where daily bomb threats are the norm, these seemingly mundane acts take on an eerie resonance. With spare, lyrical images, director Mantas Kvedaravicius’ trenchant documentary captures the tragicomic strangeness of life in a war zone.

The Erlprince
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 4:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image Poland. Dir. Kuba Czekaj, 2016, 101 mins. With Staszek Cywka, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Sebastian Lach. In Polish with English subtitles.

A dark, science-fiction fairy tale plays out in a rush of moody, mind-scrambling images in this dizzyingly ambitious coming-of-age psychodrama. It charts the complex bond between a misfit teenage physics genius and his overbearing mother, a codependent, practically incestuous relationship that’s disrupted by the reappearance of the boy’s father. Parallel universes, apocalyptic warnings, and mythic wolves: The Erlprince takes viewers down a surreal rabbit hole to evoke the turbulent psyche of a troubled young man reckoning with adulthood.

Sick 
SUNDAY, MAY 14, 1:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image Best Documentary Feature Film Award, Toronto Arthouse Film Festival Croatia. Dir. Hrvoje Mabić. 2015, 95 mins. In Croatian with English subtitles.

This heart-wrenching documentary chronicles a year in the life of Ana Dragicevic, a young Croatian lesbian dealing with the psychological fallout of the years of gay conversion therapy she was forced to undergo as a teenager. As Ana sets out to build a future with her girlfriend, she struggles to move on from her past, tormented by PTSD and consumed with anger at her parents. Director Hrvoje Mabić relates his subject’s story with evocative, mood-drenched imagery and a surplus of empathy. The result is a powerful portrait of a woman in the process of reconstructing her life.

Do Re Mi Fa 
With director Chris Zarb and actor Sean O'Neil
in person, followed by Q&
A SUNDAY, MAY 14, 3:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / U.S. premiere TUESDAY, MAY 16, 7:00 P.M. at Bohemian National Hall Malta. Dir. Chris Zarb, 2016, 143 mins. With Paul Flanagan, Irene Christ, Sean O'Neil, Marc Cabourdin. In English and Maltese with English subtitles.

Four people, four explosive tales of life in contemporary Malta: a birthday party clown struggles to keep his pedophilic urges in check; a depressed actress contemplates an act of unthinkable violence; an American radio DJ finds himself at the center of a firestorm when he speaks out for immigrant rights; and a husband and father buckles under the weight of stress at home and work. As their lives cross paths, each hurtles towards a moment of reckoning. This all-too-rare example of Maltese cinema tackles a host of hot-button issues—from the refugee crisis to mental illness—with a mix of dark surrealism and unflinching candor.

Amerika Square
 SUNDAY, MAY 14, 6:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / New York premiere FIPRESCI Award, 2016 Thessaloniki Film Festival Greece/UK/Germany. Dir. Yannis Sakaridis, 2016, 86 mins. With Yannis Stankoglou, Makis Papadimitriou, Vassilis Kukalani. In Greek with English subtitles.

Hailed as “one of the best European films to date on the subject of immigration” (The Hollywood Reporter), this riveting Greek drama tackles the hot-button issue with a clear-eyed urgency. It charts the intersecting fates of three people living in an Athens housing complex: a local, aging hipster bar owner who falls in love with an African singer; a Syrian refugee who turns to a human trafficker in order to emigrate to Germany; and an unstable, xenophobic nationalist who takes matters into his own hands to stop the influx of migrants. What plays out between them is a bracing, morally complex look at the human side of the immigration debate.

Stanko 
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / U.S. premiere Slovakia. Dir. Rasťo Boroš. 2015, 79 mins. With Peter Kočan, Ivana Kanalošová, Marcel Bobák. In Slovak, Italian, French, English with English subtitles.

This tragicomic road movie handles a sensational subject—human trafficking—with refreshing naturalism. Stanko is a down-and-out deadbeat living on a farm in Italy. In desperate need of money, he accepts the job of smuggling a young woman from Slovakia to Italy, where, unbeknownst to her, she will be forced to work in a brothel. Over the course of the journey, these two outsiders strike up a friendship, leaving Stanko with a stark moral choice: carry out his assignment, or rescue the girl from a life of prostitution. Driven by the surprising rapport between its two non-actor leads, Stanko is an engaging, human portrait of life on Europe’s margins.

The Days that Confused
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 4:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image Estonia. Dir. Triin Ruumet. 2016, 105 mins. With Hendrik Toompere Jr, Juhan Ulfsak, Jaanika Arum. In Estonian with English subtitles.

The raw, risk-taking feature debut from Triin Ruumet captures the feeling of being young, adrift, and drunk on the possibilities of life. It’s set during one summer in 1990s Estonia, where 27-year-old Allar wastes away his days drinking, partying, and cruising in his car. But after a near-death accident leaves him contemplating his life’s direction, Allar finds himself torn between the call of adult responsibility and the allure of reckless abandonment. Bursting with bold stylistic flourishes and spot-on period detail (particularly the propulsive pop soundtrack), The Days That Confused is a heady time capsule of Eastern Europe’s post-Soviet wilderness years.

The Stuff 
of Dreams
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 6:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image Italy. Dir. Gianfranco Cabiddu. 2016, 103 mins. With Sergio Rubini, Ennio Fantastichini, Renato Carpentieri. In Italian with English subtitles.

Art and life mingle amidst sun-kissed Mediterranean locales in this play-within-a-play Italian charmer. When boats carrying a theatrical troupe and a band of mobster convicts are shipwrecked on Asinara, a prison island near Sardinia, it sets into motion a comedy of errors as both actors and criminals alike are commissioned by the island’s warden to stage a production of The Tempest. Mixing Shakespeare’s text with the L’arte della commedia by Neapolitan playwright Eduardo De Filippo, The Stuff of Dreams is an irresistible, Pirandellian play on illusion and reality. 

1945
With director Ferenc Török in person, followed by Q&A SUNDAY, MAY 21, 4:00 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image / New York premiere 2016 Berlin Film Festival / Panorama Hungary. Dir. Ferenc Török. 2017, 91 mins. With Péter Rudolf, Bence Tasnádi, Tamás Szabó Kimmel. In Hungarian and Russian with English subtitles.

Based on the acclaimed short story "Homecoming" by Gábor T. Szántó. Hungary, 1945: in the aftermath of World War II, residents of a remote village struggle to return to normalcy. One summer day, their uneasy peace is shattered by the arrival of two Orthodox Jews, whose presence sets the townspeople on edge. Who are they? And what do they want? As rumors spread that they may be relatives of former residents deported by the Nazis, members of the community—many of whom have benefitted materially from the disappearance of the Jews—are forced to reckon with their own complicity in the atrocities. Shot in evocative black-and-white and set to a haunting score, this riveting exploration of collective guilt fearlessly confronts a traumatic chapter in Europe’s history.

CLOSING NIGHT
The European 
With First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans and director Dirk Jan Roeleven in person and followed by Q&A and reception SUNDAY, MAY 21, 6:30 P.M. at Museum of the Moving Image Netherlands. Dir. Dirk Jan Roeleven. 2016, 90 mins. In Dutch with English subtitles.

This all-access documentary charts two years in the life of Dutch diplomat Frans Timmermans who, as First Vice-President of the European Commission, is one of the foremost leaders of the increasingly fragile European Union. From 2014 to 2016, director Jan Roeleven follows the perpetually-on-the-go Timmermans as he crisscrosses the continent, dealing with everything from the migrant crisis to Brexit. The result is both a candid portrait of a major European power player and a rare, insider’s glimpse into the state of the European Union today.

VENUES AND TICKETS 

Museum of the Moving Image 36-01 35 Avenue (at 37 Street), Astoria, NY 11106. Subway: M, R to Steinway Street or N, W to 36 Avenue. Telephone: 718 777 6888 (recorded information). Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $15 ($11 seniors and students / free or discounted for Museum members). Advance tickets are available online at movingimage.us.

Bohemian National Hall 321 East 73rd Street (between 1st and 2nd Ave), New York, NY 10021. Subway: Q to 72nd Street, 6 to 68 Street Hunter College or 77 Street. Visit www.czechcenter.com for more information. Tickets for Panorama Europe at the Bohemian National Hall are free with RSVP on www.eventbrite.com

2nd annual SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FEST opens -- showcasing timely, issue-oriented films

The 2nd edition of New York's SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FESTIVAL opens this Monday, March 16 and runs  through Sunday, March 22, 2015 at several venues, including the Tribeca Cinemas, Maysles Cinema, The Quad Cinema and SVA. Offering timely and socially engaging films, some of which will have their world and U.S. premieres here, the fest will also include various tributes and industry panels. Films from some 35 countries will be screened at this not-for-profit film festival showcasing socially relevant film content, while raising awareness of social problems and current issues.

The festival was inaugurated last year by Nora Armani, shown at left, actor/filmmaker/Founding Artistic Director of SR, who created the festival in response to the proliferation of violence and violent forms of storytelling. Notes Ms Armani, “I strongly believe that the violence portrayed on our screens and in video games is responsible for the banalization of evil in our societies and the proliferation of violent forms of communication. Most films today encourage mis-representation, reinforce stereotypes and create an escapist passive attitude in youth and adults towards major social issues. In reverse, simply by focusing more on socially relevant themes, positive social change can be promoted through the powerful medium of cinema.”

This year’s lineup includes films that address a wide range of issues including gun control and police brutality, race relations and discrimination, violence against women and women's empower-ment,  LGBT rights, conflict in the mideast, the environment and climate change, the US economy and the oil rush, immigration and exile. The festival opens with the US premiere of the new Turkish/ German/French co-production COME TO MY VOICE (Were Dengê Min) by Hϋseyin Karabey, shown above, which will screen at CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium on March 16th, and is by invitation through the Festival. The film premiered at the Berlinale in 2014 and is sponsored by the German Consulate General in New York in partnership with SR Film Fest and MEMEAC (Middle East Middle East America Center) at CUNY Graduate Center.

Industry Panels will be held at the School of Visual Arts MFA SocDoc (136 W 21st Street, in Chelsea) and will address such issues as film distribution, storytelling and diversity casting. The Festival’s other sponsors and partners include Unifrance, The French Embassy Cultural Services, Cinema Libre Studio, MFA SocDoc School of Visual Arts, The Left Tilt Fund, Alouette Communications, IndiePix, Film Freeway, Final Draft, InkTip, The Candy Factory, Copenhagen Restaurant, Dailymotion, French Morning, Go Magazine, and a number of Industry and Media partners and supporters (see the festival's website for the full listing).

Screenings will take place at Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, NYC; Maysles Cinema, 343 Malcolm X Blvd / Lenox Ave (Between 127th and 128th Streets); The Center for Remembering & Sharing (CRS), 123 4th Avenue near Union Square; and the Quad Cinema on 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. To see the entire slate of films and/or to purchase tickets for this years' roster, simply click here.

RATED SR: Socially Relevant Film Festival hits New York City's Quad Cinema, March 14-20

OK: It's yet another film festival here in NYC, but this one does indeed seem a little different, at least. The Rated SR: Socially Relevant Film Festival New York, a new non-profit film festival running March 14-20, 2014, at New York’s Quad Cinema, offers an international selection of narrative and documentary features representing a dozen nations.

According to its press release, RATED SR "focuses on socially relevant human stories and raises awareness of social problems by offering positive solutions through the powerful medium of cinema. Rated SR believes that through raised awareness, expanded knowledge about diverse cultures, and the human condition as a whole, it is possible to create a better world free of violence, hate and crime.

"Rated SR shines the spotlight on filmmakers (such as Simon Brook, above) who tell compelling, socially relevant narratives across a broad range of social issues without resorting to gratuitous violence and violent forms of movie-making. Rated SR Films are enlightening, uplifting, enter-taining, but most of all artistically appealing. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales each year of the festival will be donated to a charity selected from the fields of: poverty, homelessness, cancer and aging."

Journalist and author Amy Goodman (at right) will deliver the festival’s keynote address on Tuesday, March 18th, and present the “Rated SR Social Justice Award” for raising awareness to issues outside mainstream media. Founded by award-winning actor, filmmaker and curator Nora Armani, the festival will showcase films with human interest stories and socially relevant themes as a response to the proliferation of violence and violent forms of storytelling. Rated SR aims to promote positive social change through the powerful medium of cinema.   

Over thirty narratives (such as Dovid Meyer, above, and Little Bi-Beep, the penultimate photo) and documentary films (Control, below, and From the Black You Make Color, at bottom) will screen -- including twelve feature films which will compete for the Grand Prize: a week-long theatrical engagement at the Quad Cinema, courtesy of the QuadFlix Select Program, and ten documentaries will compete for the documentary prize. The winner will receive a VOD DVD distribution deal courtesy of Cinema Libre Studio, a leader in the distribution of social issue documentaries and independent feature films. To take a look at the complete festival line-up, simply click here and then start browsing.

There are various ticket packages and discounted ticket options available, including a 10-ticket package: $80.00 (up to 2 tickets per title) 3-day weekend pass (Friday March 14- Sunday March 16): $65.00 7-day pass (Friday March 14-20) includes all films and panels: $85.00 Group tickets available for parties of 10 or more: $8.00 per ticket through the outreach program. Any of these various packages can be purchased by clicking here. Individual tickets are available at the Quad Cinema.

A selection of close to 100 film trailers from the festival submissions are viewable here, having garnered close to 100,000 visits to date. Media and other festival partners include the Village Voice, NYFA, Indieflix, Unifrance Films International, Cineuropa, Alouette Communications, FIAF, Samuel Infirmier, Final Draft and Center for Remembering and Sharing. New-York based metalsmith designer Michael Aram has donated a special trophy to be awarded to the recognized Rated SR honoree. The festival awards the Vanya Exerjian award to a film that raises awareness to violence against women and girls, in commemoration of Armani’s late cousin and uncle, victims of a violent hate crime.   

Festival Contact: Education and Community Outreach Coordinator: Constance Du Bois -- outreachsr@gmail.com

NewFest (the NY LGBT film fest) tix on sale now; here's the line-up--plus four reviews

NewFest -- yes the film festival that, although devoted to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered themes, is clearly afraid to give itself a name that might somehow/barely/just-a-tad indicate what kind of a movie fest it is -- recently announced its 2013 (also its 25th anniversary) lineup, press previewed four examples of this year's films, and put its tickets on sale to the general public. Now, if they could just do something about that dreadful name, NewFest, which says absolutely nothing and should ensure that whoever came up with this useless moniker gets a five-year crash course in George Orwell's Newspeak.  

The festival, which exists in partnership with Outfest (now there's a name that at least says something: Why didn't they simply call this one Outfest East) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, opens in a little under two weeks, runs from September 6 through September 11, features the works of filmmakers from James Franco (above is a shot from his and Travis Mathews' Interior. Leather Bar. and Malgoska Szumowska (Elles) to Chris Mason Johnson (The New Twenty) and David Lowery (Ain't Them Bodies Saints) and will screen fifteen narrative features, four documentaries, and thirty-one shorts -- plus some other special events. In addition, this year's fest has found films from the USA, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Israel/Palestine and Poland.

The opening night attraction is Stacie Passon's Concussion (above); closing night's devoted to Mr. Johnson's new film, Test (see review below), while screenings and panels will be taking place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater and at the nearby JCC. You can peruse the entire NewFest schedule -- and order tickets while you're at it -- by clicking here, scrolling down and then clicking on whatever garners your interest. (Other than the official press screenings already caught, I'm going to try my best to see France's gift to the fest, You and the Night (below).

Of the four films screened for the press, three are very worthwhile, though the fourth was so poor on just about every level that it is difficult to believe it would be included in any festival, let alone shown to the press as an example of what NewFest has to offer. Here they are, in alphabetical order -- which also turns out to be their order of preference, so far as I'm concerned....

GEOGRAPHY CLUB 

directed by Gary Entin

screenplay by 

Edmund Entin 

It may take until the close of the film, when the charming end-credits are rolling that you'll realize you've just experienced the coming-of-age of the gay rom-com-melo-dram. Yup. This glossy, smart, sweet little high school movie gets just about everything right and entertains like crazy while doing it. The product of the Entin twins (Gary, who directed) and Edmund, who wrote the screenplay (based on the Brent Hartinger novel), the movie was produced by Michael Huffington (yes!) and Anthony Bretti, and they've stinted on nothing -- from the excellent cast to the cinematography, editing and all else technical. The movie looks like a lovely, glossy Hollywood product that just happens to be GLBT-themed. 

Yes, there's a dose of the After-School Special in all this, but, damn, it's still done well enough to pass muster. The story connects two closeted high-schools boys, one of them an important football player, with a group of kids who've formed a kind of GLBT support group they call the Geography Club. "Nobody'll join, so nobody'll know our secret" is the kind of logic going on here. The Entins get the tone just right: a blend of sweetness and toughness that's reality-based enough to draw us in and hold us through thick and thin. The movie's feel-good but a little sad, too, and thankfully doesn't tie it all up into a neat package. We can't have everything we want, it seems. But we can settle for a better situation. Geography Club is going to make a lot of moviegoers, kids in particular, very happy.

PIT STOP

directed by Yen Tan

written by Tan 

and David Lowery

A gay art film? Yes, indeed -- and a pretty good one, too. The pace is slow, but the feelings, the emotions -- loneliness, need, and fear of connection -- are almost tactile. They will carry you along during this 80-minute depiction of Texan-brand desire amongst gays, straights and maybe bi-sexuals. The sexuality is a little slippery here, more like life and less like movies. Tan's film looks at two men, both tall, rangy and bearded; one pale-skinned, the other somewhat dark. Both have significant others who have not worked out. The lighter man (Bill Heck, below, left) has a ex-wife (current indie queen Amy Seimetz, below, right) and daughter, in both of whose lives he still plays a major part.

The darker man (Marcus DeAnda, below, left) is in the process of breaking up with a younger man and finding it tough. Characters connect, have sex (or don't), talk, wonder, think and stare out into the distance. Yet the dialog, when we get it, is solid and thoughtful, and the performances are very real. 

The loneliness of life in these parts, for these people, comes across as strongly as does their desire, and the film's finale is rich with feeling and possibilities. Like his earlier film Ciao, Pit Stop is elegiac, rueful, and maybe even hopeful.

TEST

written and directed by

Chris Mason Johnson

After 2008's The New Twenty, one of the best ensemble movies of the past decade, filmmaker Johnson now turns his attention to a period piece. But of a special period: San Francisco in the mid 80s, as AIDS was ravaging a portion of society and a "test" for the infection/disease was just now becoming available. TrustMovies didn't realize, until he saw this film and then did a little research, that Mr. Johnson began his career as a ballet and modern dancer. Most of the men in this movie are dancers, as well, as the dancing we see here is pretty damned good, particularly that of the lead actor/dancer, Scott Marlowe, who creates a rather indelible character in this, his first film role. 

This is such a different kind of movie from Johnson's earlier one that I doubt most film-goers would realize that the same man directed both. Test concentrates very much on Mr. Marlowe's character, Frankie, and his growth and change as both a dancer and a gay man. The rest of the ensemble is very good -- Johnson knows how to cast and then draw fine performances all around -- but this is Marlowe's movie. The young man is indeed a fine dancer, riveting to watch when he lets go; as an actor, he also knows how to keep his character close to the vest so that we hang on each expression and word, as Frankie negotiates friendship, sex, solo work and maybe even a little "love."

At 90 minutes, Test is just long enough to work as an interesting character study; a look at a lost, fraught period in gay history; and as a paean to dance and dancers. I can't wait to see what Mr. Johnson turns his hand to next.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VAGINA WOLF?

Directed by Anna Margarita Albelo

Screenplay by Michael Urban,

from a story by Ms Albelo

Other than a funny/dirty title that can't help but be memorable, this sorry movie would seem to prove yet again that lesbians and good movie-making seldom exist in the same frame. (I know there are exceptions to this: But I'm a Cheerleader was fun back in the day, and D.E.B.S. was delightful, but these are too few, too seldom.) I can't but think that NewFest/OutFest and the FSLC must have had another of the L films on tap for us press, but the disc didn't arrive in time for the screening so this replacement was made. Or something.

It's not that Who's Afraid...  is so utterly terrible. There's a nice performance or two buried under all the cliches and tiresome talk. (Agnes Olech and Guinevere Turner turn in some good work.) But I swear there's not a single moment here that hasn't already been done ten times over and better, too. Sorry, but stringing together a bunch of retread material under a cute title is simply not enough. And the leading lady, Ms Albelo, who also directed and came up with this below-standard story, is no "find" on any front. A filmmaker who can waste the likes of Carrie Preston (see A Bag of Hammers for an idea of what Ms Preston is capable!) should hang her head in shame. 

A simple little lesbian rom-com ought not to be this difficult to make fun. Instead the movie proves something to make fun of. It is, in three little words, a vanity production. And it certainly does not belong in front of paying audiences -- at festivals like this one, or elsewhere.

But onward and sideways! As I say, you can check out the entire NewFest roster here. There will surely be at least a few films you'll want to view, including some that may not see a theatrical release here in the USA.

About NewFest 

NewFest is dedicated to bringing together filmmakers and audiences to build a community that passionately supports giving visibility and voice to a wide range of representations of the LGBT experience. We are committed to nurturing emerging LGBT and allied filmmakers. We support those artists who are willing to take risks in telling the stories that fully reflect the diversity and complexity of our lives. And with our newly formed partnership with Outfest, we will become the first national LGBT media arts organization – extending our reach to an even wider audience. For more information, visit NewFest.org.

About Outfest
Founded by UCLA students in 1982, Outfest is the leading organization that promotes equality by creating, sharing and protecting LGBT stories on the screen. Outfest builds community by connecting diverse populations to discover, discuss and celebrate stories of LGBT lives. For over three decades, Outfest has showcased thousands of films from around the world to audiences of nearly a million, educated and mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers and protected more than 20,000 LGBT films and videos. For more information, visit outfest.org.

About the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of the moving image. Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year's most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, LatinBeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, Rendez-vous With French Cinema, and Spanish Cinema Now. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious "Chaplin Award." The Film Society's state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at Lincoln Center, provide a home for year round programs and the New York City film community.

DOC NYC Fest opens in the Village, with smashing new films led by Morris' latest

Beginning this Wednesday and continuing for one week is the inaugural edition of DOC NYC, the new documentary festival that takes place Nov. 3-9 at IFC Center and at NYU’s Skirball Center and Kimmel Center. The festival includes over 40 films and events, including gala screenings, world and U.S. premieres of new documentaries, tributes, panel discussions and more.

Some of these films will be screened in 3-D (unusual for the documentary genre), including the new Herzog, and there'll also be a Bruce Springsteen world-premier. Look for new films, as well as classics, an Errol Morris mini-retrospective, plus an appearancce by Morris himself and the screening of his latest (and, for my money, one of his best in a pile of good ones): TABLOID. This gem of exploration is as hilarious as anything Morris has made since Gates of Heaven, yet it never trashes its very complicated, sad subject and instead leaves you in her bizarre thrall -- wondering, as ever, what in the world might be the "truth." I'll have more to say about Tabloid when it opens commercially. And soon, I hope.

The DOC NYC organizers (click and scroll down) include Raphaela Neihausen, Executive Director; Thom Powers, Artistic Director; plus IFC Center's John Vanco and Harris Dew. The festival's mission: to guide audiences toward inspiring work, while gathering documentary practitioners from many fields and across the generations.  The festival also intends to cultivate new audiences and help expand the distribution of documentaries. All of this is wrapped around the creation of  new social spaces in the area of NYC's Washington Square Park -- fostering fresh connections between residents, while exposing visitors to the kind of opportunities that seem to happen only in New York.

OK: that's a big undertaking. TrustMovies would be happy to see even half of that agenda occur. Meanwhile, you can check out the entire DOC NYC fest here.  Specifically, click here for the roster of films, here for the festival's sponsors, here for the daily schedule, and here to buy tickers.

New York Film Festival begins tomorrow: the very best from fests around the globe

Olivier Assayas, with one of his best-reviewed movies ever; the latest from Kelly Reichardt, Abbas Kiarostami, Mike Leigh, Raul Ruiz, Manoel de Oliveira and, of course, Apitchatpong Weerasethakul (known to some as "Joe" but whose name TrustMovies has been pronouncing phonetically, if not correctly, for years now); a recent round of Romanian cinema and something new from Hong Sang-soo.

What -- that's not enough?  OK:  "Masterworks" from both Japan and Mexico; director "dialogs" with David Fincher, Julie Taymor, Ms Reichardt and "Joe"; the yearly Views from the Avant-Garde (that's one view, above); and a bunch of special events that really do seem special (a Mexican "Dracula", the life and work of Jack Cardiff, the Scorsese/Kent Jones A Letter to Elia). And -- oh, yeah -- a new (I suspect, if history runs true) "big nothing" from the one-and-only Jean-Luc Godard.  Plus cannibals. That's right: Its the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 48th edition of what is arguably the most popular yearly event for Big Apple cinephiles: The New York Film Festival. So line up and just try to get tickets.

But wait: There are actually plenty of seats remaining for many of the films in this year's fest, even if certain attractions are long gone: Fincher's director's dialog and opening night screening of The Social Network (with the ubiquitous Andrew Garfield, above left, and Jesse Eisenberg, at right), the evening showing of Taymor's Tempest, closing night with Mr. Eastwood's Hereafter; and special events like the one-time-only Letter to Elia screening, Mike Leigh: Shooting London, and the never-before-seen-commercially-in-the-U.S. Nuremberg restoration documentary. (As of late Thursday afternoon, 9/23, the above were the sellouts, so far.)

Yet there will be some really wonderful, lesser-known movies on view, too -- from Xavier Beauvois' profoundly moving study of religious faith and its positive uses, Of Gods and Men to three remarkable examples of early Mexican cinema (a still from one of which is shown below) by Fernando de Fuentes, part of the Masterworks program. I'll have more on these Mexican movies next week, including the new ten-director omnibus movie Revolución, which should bring us further up-to-date on Mexico -- if the current issue of The Onion hasn't done that already. I'll also have more to say about Beauvois' film (said to be France's submission for our Best Foreign Language Film "Oscar" and the movie that led France's box-office when it opened there a couple of weeks ago: god, those French are smart!) when it opens here, via Sony Pictures Classics, later this year (or maybe next).

Many of the films shown at this year's fest have already been picked up for release, and others probably will be.  So don't despair if you're too far away from NYC (or too poor -- as I would certainly be without my press pass) to afford to see this great slate. Even with that press pass, I've so far managed to view less than one-quarter of the films I'd wanted to see. (That's a scene from Taymor's The Tempest, with, left to right, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina and Djimon Hounsou -- the latter looking, uh, not like his usual self -- below. I'll see this one next week & report back then.)

So, those of you nearby and with dollars to spend, mark your calendars as "busy" from tomorrow September 24 through October 10.  You can find the complete program of this year's NY Film Fest, in all its glorious detail, here.  Feel free to scroll up and down and then click all the links along the bottom of the black banner headline at top. One good click will surely lead to another....