SXSW 2012: (Almost) Full Features Lineup Drops
Oh boy, oh boy! It's an exciting day when a big film festival like SXSW announces their entire lineup in one fell swoop, and they've done just that with the exception of the Midnighters lineup which will follow on February 8th. There are a ton of exciting features and we'll have plenty of coverage as the festival draws near. A few notable titles include the world premiere of the already hailed 21 Jump Street, Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture follow-up Girls (actually an HBO show), The Mars Volta/At the Drive-In co-founder Omar Rodriguez Lopez's Los Chidos, Drew Goddard's Joss Whedon co-written The Cabin in the Woods, and, of course, another awesome festival bow for everyone's favorite action movie in decades, Gareth Evans's The Raid.
Over the course of nine days, 130 features will screen at SXSW 2012. The program features 51 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 1,957 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,387 U.S. and 570 international feature-length films. This year SXSW moved up submission deadlines a month earlier than previous years, and still saw a 7% increase in its overall submissions over 2011, with a record number of 5,243 total.
Check back for much more soon. Here is the full lineup:
NARRATIVE FEATURE
COMPETITION
This year's 8 films were selected from 1,112 submissions. Each film
is a World Premiere.
Films screening in Narrative Feature Competition are:
Booster
Director/Screenwriter: Matt Ruskin
When Simon's brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is
asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother
acquitted.
Cast: Nico Stone,
Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail (World Premiere)
Eden
Director:
Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by:
Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim
A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into
prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a
desperate plea to survive. Cast: Jamie Chung,
Matt O'Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz (World
Premiere)
Gayby
Director/Screenwriter: Jonathan Lisecki
Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in
their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way - even
though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight. Cast:
Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, Mike Doyle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Jack Ferver (World
Premiere)
Gimme the Loot
Director/Screenwriter: Adam Leon
When Malcolm and Sofia's latest graffiti masterpiece is
buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal,
and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest writers in the
City. Cast: Tashiana Washington, Ty
Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze, Sam Soghor
(World Premiere)
Los Chidos (Germany / Mexico / USA)
Director/Screenwriter: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
The Gonzales family tries hard to hold on to their beautiful
Latino traditions of misogyny and homophobia when a tall, white, industrialist
stranger appears, challenging their place in the exploitative food chain. Cast: Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales
Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez, (World Premiere)
Pilgrim Song
Director: Martha Stephens, Screenwriters: Martha Stephens,
Karrie Crouse
A pink-slipped music teacher ponders his stalled
relationship and place in the world during an arduous trek across Kentucky's
Sheltowee Trace Trail. Cast: Timothy
Morton, Bryan Marshall, Karrie Crouse, Harrison Cole, Michael Abbott Jr.
(World Premiere)
Starlet
Director: Sean Baker, Screenwriters: Sean Baker, Chris
Bergoch
The film explores the unlikely friendship between
21-year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two
women whose worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley.
Cast: Dree
Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian
(World Premiere)
The Taiwan Oyster
Director: Mark Jarrett, Screenwriters: Mark Jarrett, Jordan
Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett
Two Ex-Pat Kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a
quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman. Cast: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
COMPETITION
This year's 8 films were selected from 845 submissions. Each film is
a World Premiere.
Films screening in Documentary Feature Competition are:
Bay of All Saints
Director: Annie Eastman
As the last of the notorious water slums is demolished in
Bahia, Brazil, will three single mothers face homelessness or rally for a
better life? (World Premiere)
Beware of Mr. Baker
Director: Jay Bulger
Ginger Baker is the original rock 'n roll madman junkie
drummer superstar who everyone thought was dead but somehow survived 50+ years
of heroin abuse, disastrous experiments and 5 marriages on 4 continents. (World
Premiere)
The Central Park Effect
Director: Jeffrey Kimball
The film reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who
grace Manhattan's celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful,
full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of
migration. (World Premiere)
Jeff
Director: Chris James Thompson
A documentary about the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during
the 1991 summer of his arrest for the murder of 17 people in Milwaukee. (World
Premiere)
Seeking Asian Female
Director: Debbie Lum
When an American man with "yellow fever" meets a
Chinese woman half his age online, documenting their attempt to build a
marriage from scratch reveals hilarious and troubling complications for the
couple and the filmmaker. (World Premiere)
The Sheik and I
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on
the theme of "art as a subversive act," independent filmmaker Caveh
Zahedi (I am a Sex Addict) is
threatened with a fatwa. (World Premiere)
The Source
Directors: Jodi Wille, Maria Demopoulos
The Source Family was a radical experiment in '70s utopian
living. Their popular restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the
darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals led to their dramatic undoing.
(World Premiere)
Welcome To The Machine
Director: Avi Zev Weider
Upon fathering triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores
the nature of technology, seeking answers about what it means to be human.
(World Premiere)
HEADLINERS
Big names, big talent:
Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and
gala film events with some major and rising names in cinema.
Films screening in Headliners are:
21 Jump Street
Directed by:
Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Screenplay by: Michael Bacall, Story by:
Michael Bacall & Jonah Hill
Police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) get
sent back to high school as undercover cops in the action-comedy 21 Jump Street. Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle,
with Ice Cube (World Premiere)
BIG EASY EXPRESS
Director: Emmett Malloy
Emmett Malloy's latest film invites us aboard a train
ride unlike any other with Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic
Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show.
(World Premiere)
The Cabin in the Woods
Director: Drew Goddard, Screenwriters: Joss Whedon &
Drew Goddard
Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen.
If you think you know this
story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and
Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods,
a mind-blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out. Cast:
Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris
Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford (World Premiere)
Decoding Deepak
Director: Gotham Chopra
Filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year on the road decoding
his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra. (World Premiere)
Girls
Director/Screenwriter: Lena Dunham
Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the HBO show is a comic
look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in
their early 20s.
Cast: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam
Driver (World
Premiere)
The Hunter (Australia)
Director: Daniel Nettheim, Screenplay by: Alice Addison,
Novel by: Julia Leigh, Original Adaptation by: Wain Fimeri
A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian
wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving
Tasmanian tiger.
Cast: Willem
Dafoe, Frances O'Connor, Sam Neill (U.S. Premiere)
Killer Joe
Director: William Friedkin, Screenwriter: Tracy Letts
A garish, Southwestern tale - a violent black comedy about a desperate
Texas debtor (Hirsch) who plots to kill his mother with help of his family
(Haden Church, Gershon). They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a
contract killer (McConaughey) to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their
teenage daughter (Temple) as a retainer. The film is based on Pulitzer Prize
winner Tracy Letts' (August: Osage County)
award winning play. Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Emile
Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church (U.S. Premiere)
MARLEY (UK / USA)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
The definitive life story of Bob Marley -
musician, revolutionary, legend - from his early days to his rise to
international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the
film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews
with the people that knew him best. Directed by Academy-Award-Winner Kevin
Macdonald. (North
American Premiere)
NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
High profile narrative features receiving their World, North
American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
Films screening in Narrative Spotlight are:
The Babymakers
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar, Screenwriters: Peter Gaulke,
Gerry Swallow
Unable to impregnate his wife, Tommy and friends rob a sperm
bank - to get Tommy's long-ago donated sperm back. The crazy plan goes
hilariously awry and shows how far a couple will go to create a new life.
Cast: Paul
Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon (World Premiere)
Crazy Eyes
Director: Adam Sherman, Screenwriters: Adam Sherman, Dave
Reeves & Rachel Hardisty
Just another story about love.
Cast: Lukas Haas,
Madeline Zima, Jake Busey, Tania Raymonde, Regine Nehy (World Premiere)
Do-Deca-Pentathalon
Director/Screenwriter: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics.
Cast: Mark Kelly,
Steve Zissis, Elton LeBlanc (World Premiere)
Fat Kid Rules The World
Director: Matthew Lillard, Screenwriters: Michael M.B.
Galvin, Peter Speakman
Troy, a depressed overweight teenager, gets sucked into the
punk rock world by Marcus, a charming street musician. But when Troy discovers
Marcus' drug addiction, he suddenly must figure out the true boundaries of
friendship.
Cast: Jacob
Wysocki, Matt O'Leary, Billy Campbell, Lilli Simmons, Dylan Arnold (World Premiere)
frankie go boom
Director/Screenwriter: Jordan Roberts
a flick by bruce about his little brother frank who's a
crybaby fuck who shouldn't do lame-ass embarrassing shit if he dozn't want
people 2 see it
Cast: Charlie
Hunnam, Chris O'Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth (World Premiere)
Hunky Dory (UK)
Director: Marc Evans, Screenwriter: Laurence Coriat
From the producer of Billy
Elliot comes this funny, coming of age film featuring songs from artists
such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty
Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra. Cast:
Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne
(North American Premiere)
In Our Nature
Director/Screenwriter: Brian Savelson
Taking place over a single weekend, an estranged father and
son accidentally end up in the same country house with their two girlfriends.
Cast: Zach
Gilford, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Gabrielle Union (World Premiere)
Keyhole (Canada)
Director: Guy Maddin, Screenwriters: Guy Maddin, George
Toles
I'm only a ghost... but a ghost isn't nothing.
Cast: Isabella
Rossellini, Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, Tattiawna Jones (U.S. Premiere)
See Girl Run
Director/Screenwriter: Nate Meyer
What happens when a 30-something woman allows life's
"what ifs" to overwhelm her appreciation for what life actually is.
Disregarding her current obligations, she digs into her romantic past in hopes
of invigorating her present.
Cast: Robin
Tunney, Adam Scott, Jeremy Strong, William Sadler, Josh Hamilton (World Premiere)
Small Apartments
Director: Jonas Åkerlund, Screenwriter: Chris Millis
When Franklin Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he
must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of
his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him. Cast: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan,
Johnny Knoxville, Juno Temple (World Premiere)
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Director/Screenwriter: Bob Byington
Time flies for everyone:
Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal, and a woman
they both adore. A deadpan fable about
time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.
Cast: Keith Poulson,
Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Kevin Corrigan (World Premiere)
DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World,
North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
Films screening in Documentary Spotlight are:
$ELLEBRITY
Director: Kevin Mazur
Renowned
celebrity photographer, Kevin Mazur, gives us an all access pass to the life
behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera. Candid, revealing and
bold interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez,
Elton John and more, take us inside the blurred lines of privacy, pliable
journalism, celebrity, fame and what it feels like to be consumed. (World
Premiere)
America's Parking Lot
Director: Jonny Mars
Pull up a front row seat as two die-hard fans of 'America's
Team' spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas
Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America's Parking Lot. (World Premiere)
The Announcement
Director: Nelson George
On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Earvin "Magic" Johnson made
the stunning announcement that he was HIV-positive and would be retiring from
basketball immediately. The Announcement
gets to the core of Magic's incredible personal journey. (World Premiere)
Beauty Is Embarrassing
Director: Neil Berkeley
A funny, irreverent and inspirational look into the life and
times of one of America's most important artists, Wayne White. (World Premiere)
Brooklyn Castle
Director: Katie Dellamaggiore
Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school
budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an
intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high
school's champion chess team. (World Premiere)
Code of the West
Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
Frames a high stakes showdown in the halls of the Montana
State Legislature. The future of medical
marijuana is at stake. (World Premiere)
Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes.
Director: M. Slinger
A true document of the art and culture of glass pipe-making.
It is the first film to ever bring to light this invisible sub-culture in a
comprehensive and well-informed format. (World Premiere)
Girl Model
Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon
Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in
Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side
of the fashion industry. (U.S. Premiere)
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters
Director: Ben Shapiro
Acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson's 10-year quest to
create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of
small-town American life -- filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect
renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world. (World Premiere)
Just Like Being There
Director: Scout Shannon
Through the eyes of Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and the gig
poster community, Just Like Being There
focuses on poster artists, the music they commemorate, MONDO film posters,
fans, bloggers, galleries, collectors and everything in between. (World
Premiere)
Scarlet Road (Australia)
Director: Catherine Scott
The film follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex
worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the
rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele - people
with disability. (North American Premiere)
Trash Dance
Director: Andrew Garrison
A choreographer finds beauty and grace in
garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors
to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway,
two dozen sanitation workers -- and their trucks -- inspire an audience of
thousands.
(World Premiere)
Waiting For Lightning
Director: Jacob Rosenberg
From the producers of Step
into Liquid, comes the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who
jumped China's Great Wall and created a new movement in sport. (World Premiere)
Wikileaks: Secrets & Lies (UK)
Director: Patrick Forbes
The in-depth story of Wikileaks told by all the key players.
Sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making at the
lawless frontier of new technology and mainstream media. (North American
Premiere)
WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
This documentary examines the fascinating evolution and
legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of real life
superheroes who continue to fight the good fight both on and off the screen.
(World Premiere)
EMERGING VISIONS
Audacious,
risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape that demonstrate raw innovation
and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.
Films screening in Emerging Visions are:
Black Pond (UK)
Directors: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, Screenwriter: Will
Sharpe
An ordinary family is accused of murder when a stranger dies
at their dinner table. Stars BAFTA-winner Chris Langham and British Comedy
Award Winner Simon Amstell. Cast: Chris
Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue, Colin Hurley, Will Sharpe (North
American Premiere)
Dollhouse (Ireland)
Director/Screenwriter: Kirsten Sheridan
Five street teens break into a house in a rich Dublin suburb
for a night of partying. But games are twisted into something more emotional
and ultimately out of control through a series of surprising revelations. Cast: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley
Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe (North American Premiere)
Eating Alabama
Director: Andrew Beck Grace
A quest to eat locally becomes a meditation on community,
the South and sustainability. Eating
Alabama is a story about why food matters. (World Premiere)
Electrick Children
Director/Screenwriter: Rebecca Thomas
Rachel, a 15-year-old fundamentalist Mormon, believes she's
had an immaculate conception by listening to rock and roll. She flees to Las
Vegas to escape an arranged marriage, seeking answers to her mysterious
pregnancy.
Cast: Julia
Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane (North American Premiere)
Extracted
Director/Screenwriter: Nir Paniry
A scientist is trapped in the memories of a criminal and
must solve a crime in order to get back home to his family.
Cast: Sasha Roiz,
Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Nick Jameson, Brad Culver (World Premiere)
Francine (Canada / USA)
Director/Screenwriter: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky
Academy-Award-winner, Melissa Leo, plays Francine, a woman struggling
to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in
prison.
Cast: Melissa Leo,
Keith Leonard, Victoria Charkut (North American Premiere)
Funeral Kings
Director/Screenwriter: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus
For three 14-year-old boys at St. Mark's Middle School, it's
always a good day for a funeral.
Cast: Dylan
Hartigan, Alex Maizus, Jordan Puzzo, Charles Odei, Kevin Corrigan (World Premiere)
Hard Labor (Brazil)
Director/Screenwriter: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Helena prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood
grocery store. She hires a maid. But when her husband Octavio is suddenly fired
from his job, Helena is left to support the family alone.
Cast: Helena
Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Marina Flores (U.S. Premiere)
La Camioneta - The Journey of One American School Bus
Director: Mark Kendall
On a 3,000-mile adventure across the borders between the
Americas, La Camioneta follows the
journey of one out-of-service American school bus as it is repaired, repainted
and resurrected into a Guatemalan camioneta. (World Premiere)
The Last Fall
Director/Screenwriter: Matthew A. Cherry
An NFL
journeyman struggles to deal with life's complexities after his professional
career is over at age 25.
Cast: Lance Gross,
Nicole Beharie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Harry Lennix, Keith David
(World Premiere)
Leave Me Like You Found Me
Director/Screenwriter: Adele Romanski
Big trees, broken hearts. The story of a lovesick couple's
breakup & makeup while camping in the wilds of California. Cast: Megan Boone, David Nordstrom
(World Premiere)
PAVILION
Director/Screenwriter: Tim Sutton
Max, a quietly troubled 15-year-old, leaves his lakeside
town to live with his father on the sun-blasted fringe of suburban
Arizona. What begins in a calm and lush
environment ends in a drastic, frayed confusion. Cast: Max Schaffner, Zach Cali, Cody Hamric, Addie Barlett, Aaron Buyea
(World Premiere)
Sun Don't Shine
Director/Screenwriter: Amy Seimetz
Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad
things.
Cast: Kate Lyn
Sheil, Kentucker Audley, AJ Bowen, Kit Gwinn, Mark Reeb (World Premiere)
Sunset Stories
Directors: Silas Howard, Ernesto Foronda, Screenwriter:
Valerie Stadler
When May returns to LA and runs smack into JP, the man she
left behind, past and present collide sending them on a twenty-four hour
journey in search of what they lost.
Cast: Monique
Curnen, Sung Kang, Joshua Leonard, Mousa Kraish, Michelle Krusiec (World Premiere)
Tchoupitoulas
Director: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
Three young brothers' immersive journey into the sensory
wonders of the New Orleans night.
(World Premiere)
Thale (Norway)
Director/Screenwriter: Aleksander L. Nordaas
The film revolves around huldra, a mythical, tailed
creature, found by two crime scene cleaners in a concealed cellar. Someone's been keeping her down here for
decades, for reasons soon to surface. Cast:
Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Erlend Nervold, Morten Andresen (North
American Premiere)
Wildness
Director/Screenwriter: Wu Tsang
A magical-realist portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic
bar in Los Angeles that provides a safe space for Latin/LGBT immigrant and
queer art communities to come together in love and conflict.
WOLF
Director/Screenwriter: Ya'ke Smith
A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son
has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads
towards a total mental collapse.
Cast: Irma P.
Hall, Mikala Gibson, Jordan Cooper, Shelton Jolivette, Eugene Lee (World Premiere)
24 BEATS PER SECOND
Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians,
with an emphasis on documentary.
Films screening in 24 Beats Per Second are:
Amor Cronico (Cuba / USA)
Director: Jorge Perugorria
Weaving footage of singer Cucu Diamantes' Cuban tour into a
fictional love story. The result is an
energetic display of her glamorous and infectious performance style and a
fascinating portrait of Cuba today.
Cast: Cucu Diamantes, Adela Legra, Liosky Clavero, Andres Levin, Jorge
Perugorria (World Premiere)
Bad Brains: Band in DC
Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan
How four young men from DC changed music forever. (World
Premiere)
Charles Bradley: Soul of America
Director: Poull Brien
The incredible late-in-life rise of 62-year-old aspiring soul
singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album rocketed him from a hard life in the
projects to Rolling Stone magazine's top 50 albums of 2011.
(World Premiere)
Daylight Savings
Director: Dave Boyle, Screenwriters: Dave Boyle, Michael
Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura
After a devastating breakup, musician Goh Nakamura hits the
road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow
musician Yea-Ming Chen.
Cast: Goh
Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani (World Premiere)
Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir (Iceland / Denmark)
Director: Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
At the tender age of 70 she started making music - and then
she couldn't stop! A tribute to the Danish/Icelandic artist and late bloomer
Sigrídur Níelsdóttir.
Paul Williams Still Alive
Director: Stephen Kessler
A documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter
Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol. (U.S.
Premiere)
Rock 'N' Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen (UK)
Director: Don Letts
Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Billie Joe
Armstrong and others discuss the incredible life and work of the world's
foremost rock 'n' roll photographer, Bob Gruen.
(North American Premiere)
Sunset Strip
Director/Screenwriter: Hans Fjellestad
The 100-year history of the loudest street on the planet,
The Sunset Strip. (World Premiere)
Under African Skies
Director: Joe Berlinger
Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible
journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he
received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa
designed to end the Apartheid regime.
Uprising: Hip Hop & The LA Riots
Director: Mark Ford
20 years after riots ripped through Los Angeles, Uprising documents how hip hop
forecasted - and some say ignited - the worst civil unrest of the 20th century.
(World Premiere)
SX GLOBAL
A diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including
premieres, interactive documentaries and shorts.
Films screening in SX Global are:
BIJUKA (India)
Director: Ashtar Sayed, Screenwriter: Dr. Mahendra Purohit
Inspired by a true event. Scarecrow tells the true story of
a young woman who is attempting to escape from an abusive arranged marriage. Cast: Arti Rautela, Amit Purohit (North
American Premiere)
Crulic - The Path to Beyond (Romania / Poland)
Director: Anca Damian
The animated documentary feature-length "Crulic - The Path
to Beyond" tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33-year-old Romanian who
died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike.
Cubaton - El Medico Story (Estonia / Sweden)
Director: Daniel Fridell
El Medico - a Cuban house doctor who wants to become a
cubaton star - is facing a serious choice between serving the state and
becoming a popstar. (North American Premiere)
Her Master's Voice (UK)
Director: Nina Conti
Watching someone talk to themselves has never been so
interesting. (World Premiere)
ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (Italy / Germany)
Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they
stay in Italy, or leave it? (North American Premiere)
Mustafa's Sweet Dreams (Greece / UK)
Director: Angelos Abazoglou
Mustafa, a 16-year-old pastry shop apprentice dreams of
becoming a famous baklava chef in Istanbul. (North American Premiere)
Pompeya (Argentina)
Director: Tamae Garateguy, Screenwriters: Tamae Garateguy,
Diego A. Fleischer
When a film director hires two screenwriters to make a gangster
movie, a fiction feast starts: femmes fatales, mobs fighting for the same
neighborhood and a limitless hero who defies every movie concept. Cast: José Luciano González, Joel Drut,
Chang Sung Kim, Vladimir Yuravel, Miguel Forza de Paul
(U.S. Premiere)
¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Germany / The
Netherlands / Argentina / Chile)
Director: Victor Kossakovsky
Haven't we all wondered at some point what was happening
just at this moment beneath our very feet at the other side of the planet?
FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals
around the world.
Films screening in Festival Favorites are:
Beast
(Denmark)
Director/Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe
How long will you go, to hold on to the person you love?
Cast: Nicolas
Bro, Marijana Jankovic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
The Comedy
Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Robert Donne, Colm
O'Leary
Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his
father's estate, Swanson (Tim Heidecker), a desensitized, aging Brooklyn
hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise
of redemption or the threat of retribution.
Cast: Tim
Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen
Dreams of a Life (UK / Ireland)
Director: Carol Morley
An imaginative quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and
solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she
lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of
London. (North American Premiere)
God Bless America
Director/Screenwriter: Bobcat Goldthwait
Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had
enough of the downward spiral of America.
With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest,
cruelest, and most repellent members of society. Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr (U.S. Premiere)
The Imposter (UK)
Director: Bart Layton
In 1994 a 13-year-old disappears without trace in Texas.
Three years later he resurfaces in Spain with accounts of a horrifying kidnap.
His family is overjoyed - but all is not as it seems.
Indie Game: The Movie (Canada)
Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky
With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of artist:
the indie game designer. These innovators design and program their distinctly
personal games in the hope that they may find connection and success.
KID-THING
Director/Screenwriter: David Zellner
A fever-dream fable about Annie, a rebellious girl
devoid of parental guidance or a moral compass.
She roams the countryside looking for adventure, and finds it one day in
the form of an abandoned well. Cast:
Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, David Wingo
Last Call at the Oasis
Director: Jessica Yu
A powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be
the central issue facing our world this century.
Lovely Molly
Director: Eduardo Sanchez, Screenwriters: Eduardo Sanchez,
Jamie Nash
Exploring the parallels between psychosis, addiction and
demonic possession, Lovely Molly
tells the story of what really happens before the exorcist arrives.
Cast: Gretchen
Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden (U.S. Premiere)
The Raid (Indonesia)
Director/Screenwriter: Gareth Huw Evans
Rama and his special forces team fight their way through a
rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug
lord.
Cast: Iko Uwais,
Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno
WE ARE LEGION: The Story of the Hacktivists
Director: Brian Knappenberger
We Are Legion takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the
radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience
for the digital age.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Live Soundtracks, cult re-issues and much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected
and unique film event one-offs.
Films screening in Special Events are:
An Evening With Sacred Bones Records
Director: Jacqueline Castel
Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones presents an evening
of original and curated programming of music videos, short films, works in
progress, and a rare screening of their first film production, Twelve Dark
Noons. (World Premiere)
Bernie
Director: Richard Linklater, Screenwriters: Richard
Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth
Based on real-life events, this dark comedy follows Bernie
Tiede, his recently deceased friend Marjorie Nugent and District Attorney Danny
Buck Davidson who is determined to get to the bottom of the crime. Cast: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew
McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
Director: Drew Denicola
A feature-length documentary about the massive critical
acclaim, dismal commercial failure, and enduring legacy of pop music's greatest
cult phenomenon, Big Star. (Work in Progress)
Casa de mi Padre
Director: Matt Piedmont, Screenwriter: Andrew Steele
Will Ferrell plays a Mexican rancher who must defend his
father's home against the country's most infamous drug lord. Cast: Will Ferrell, Gael García
Vernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman
Girl Walk // All Day
Director/Screenwriter: Jacob Krupnick
A feature-length dance music film that combines freestyle
dance with the daily chaos of New York City, set to Girl Talk's recent mashup
album, All Day. Cast: Anne Marsen, John
Doyle, Daisuke Omiya
Re:Generation
Director: Amir Bar Lev
5 DJ's Turn the Table on The History of Music.
Renga (UK)
Directors: Adam Russell, John Sear
A
ground breaking feature-length show controlled entirely by the audience using
laser pointers. It is the first viable example of a standalone interactive
experience capable of running in commercial movie theatres. (North American
Premiere)
The Oyster Princess (1919)
with original live score by Bee vs. Moth (Germany)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch, Screenriters: Hanns Kraly
& Ernst Lubitsch
The Oyster
Princess
is Ernst Lubitsch's tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the
spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs.
Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time. (World Premiere)