Lighthouse 2023: Final Wave Announced, Brittany Snow's PARACHUTE To Open

The festival's buzzy opening night film is the East Coast Premiere of Brittany Snow's PARACHUTE, which won the Best First Feature Award at SXSW 2023 and stars Courtney Eaton, Thomas Mann, Kid Cudi, Francesca Reale, Gina Rodriguez, Joel McHale, and Dave Bautista.

 

The fest's closing night film is the World Premiere of Isabel Ellison and Ryan Guiterman's LOUD & LONGING, a stunning, powerful dissection of trauma and longing starring Max Carpenter, Danny Kornfeld, Ryan Czerwonko, and Isabel Elliso.

 

The fest celebrates its 15th edition this June 7th through the 11th in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

 

Full final wave of titles below:

 

OPENING NIGHT FILM

Parachute (dir. Brittany Snow)

USA, 97 minutes // East Coast Premiere

In her inspiring directorial debut, actress Brittany Snow, who is known for her playful performances in Pitch Perfect and Hairspray, brings to the screen an intimate dramatic account of two young people struggling with emotional challenges and finding comfort in each other’s strengths and deficiencies. Inspired by a whirlwind true story of unconventional romance, Riley, played by Courtney Eaton (Mad Max Fury Road, Yellowjackets), is determined to overcome her issues with body image, food, and love, but soon falls for another addiction: her friend Ethan. Eaton impresses in her highly nuanced role, which garnered her the "Best Performance Award" at SXSW. Her chemistry with co-lead Thomas Mann, with his quiet charisma, is exceptional and charges this film with both optimism and disappointment. The two leads are surrounded by an amazing supporting cast of Kid Cudi, Francesca Reale, Gina Rodriguez, Joel McHale, and Dave Bautista, all led by the sensitivity and honesty of Snow (winner of “Best First Feature Award” at SXSW) and producer Lizzie Shapiro (LIFF favorite Shiva Baby and LIFF 2020 juror).

 

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

Loud & Longing (dirs. Isabel Ellison and Ryan Guiterman)

USA, 94 minutes // World Premiere

Lucy and Lucien are two childhood friends who share a deeply troubled past and struggle to maintain their sanity and sobriety as they cut their teeth in the New York City arts and theater scene. As their breakout moment arrives, both are forced to grapple with a legacy of childhood trauma, addiction, and loss. They must rely on their chosen family of artists and sex workers to help bring them through their dark night of the soul.

 

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS

Scrapper (dir. Charlotte Regan)

UK, 84 minutes

A vibrant and inventive father-daughter comedy that tells the story of Georgie, a resourceful 12-year-old girl who secretly lives alone in a flat in a working-class suburb of London after her mother's death. To survive, she steals bikes and pretends to live with an uncle to keep social workers at bay. When her estranged father, Jason, suddenly arrives, he forces Georgie to confront reality. Initially resistant to his efforts, Georgie eventually realizes that they both have a lot of growing up to do.

 

Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) and newcomer Lola Campbell deliver remarkable performances in this moving and frequently hilarious story. Winner of a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Scrapper is full of spirit, humor, and formal daring that sets it apart from much of British working-class cinema. With irresistible charm and emotional depth, it is a film about two emotionally tangled people navigating the challenges of adulthood and parenthood.

 

Bleecker (dir. Edith Hagigi)

USA, 104 minutes

Intertwining stories of motley characters in NYC's Village being told with heart and humor. The straight face in this pack is Maya, who has come to the Big Apple to find her place in the world. She starts to care about these folks and really tries to help one of them in this brighter-than-bleak slice of life.

 

What Doesn't Float (dir. Luca Balser)

USA, 70 minutes // World Premiere

Seven stories. One city. A disparate group of characters fill out this darkly comedic anthology of New Yorkers at their wits’ end. When the dailiness of urban life is suspended by an unforeseen conflict, each character must make a decision. While the outcomes vary, a unified sense of the city emerges: New York becomes a mirror to the ego, reflecting our true character, while the rest sink to the bottom. Luca Balser’s directorial debut was shot by acclaimed cinematographers Sean Price Williams and Hunter Zimny. The cast includes Pauline Chalamet, and Larry Fessenden.

 

Great Photo, Lovely Life (dirs. Amanda Mustard and Rachel Beth Anderson)

USA, 112 minutes

Photojournalist Amanda Mustard returns home to Pennsylvania to investigate the sexual abuse crimes committed by her grandfather. A visual whirlwind of memories from her family’s archive unravels a world of secrets through interviews, photographs, and home movies. An eight-year cinematic journey, this doc chronicles a granddaughter’s attempt to disrupt a cycle of intergenerational trauma through the voices of the survivors and her grandfather himself.

 

The Maiden (dir. Graham Foy)

Canada, 117 minutes

A perfect summer day ends in tragedy, weaving a cosmic connection between three suburban teenagers. Best friends Colton and Kyle float the river, trade dreams, and spray paint in the local ravine. Like the boys, Whitney explores the ravine, seeking solace by writing and drawing in her diary. But when her best friend abandons her, Whitney disappears.

 

Rose (dir. Niels Arden Oplev)

Denmark, 106 minutes // North American Premiere

Rose follows two sisters, Inger and Ellen, and how their relationship is challenged on an anticipated bus trip to Paris. Inger is not solely on a trip to see Paris; she has a hidden agenda. Tucked in her pocket is a letter from an old boyfriend, her first love, who left her when she was young — an experience that might have spurred the mental illness that she still suffers from.

 

Pain Under the Skin (dir. Mohsen Jafari Rad)

Iran, 60 minutes // World Premiere

In a small village, a man who owns many properties is known as a trustworthy and benevolent person outside the house, but treats his two wives and nine children with strange violence inside the house. This film is the narration of the last child of the family, who is himself a well-known journalist and critic of violence and its visible and hidden dimensions.

 

The filmmaker Mohsen Jafari Rad, who was arrested for his participation in the anti-government protests, died January 18th, 2023, two months after his release from prison. According to the official reports, the 35-year-old documentary filmmaker and critic committed suicide by consuming aluminum phosphide tablets. According to the film’s distributor, Mohsen dedicated his film to “the Iranian women who were subjected to violence.”

 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

12 Days of Terror (dir. Jack Sholder)

South Africa, 87 minutes // Repertory Screening

The year was 1916, and the citizens of New Jersey dared not step in the water for fear of meeting a grim fate in the jaws of a great white shark. For 12 days, the bloodthirsty beast would stalk the normally serene beaches of LBI and the Jersey shore awaiting the next victim to tempt fate by taking a swim. The TV drama from 2004 is based on a true story.

 

Celebrating Julia Reichert – Jersey Girl & Oscar Winner (dir. Steve Bognar)

USA, 30 minutes // World Premiere

A special event celebrating the life and work of Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Julia Reichert, who spent every summer of her childhood as a beach urchin and working class kid on LBI, where her family had a trailer in Holgate.

 

After a four year battle with cancer, Reichert passed away in December 2022. This event will feature clips from Reichert’s 50 years of inspiring and entertaining documentaries, in-person remembrances, and a new short film written and narrated by Reichert herself, in which she tells her story of growing up on LBI and discovering her desire to be a filmmaker in an era when women and working-class people had no clear path to that profession.

 

In-person guests will include Reichert’s husband and filmmaking partner Steven Bognar and her nephew, Jeff Reichert (LIFF alum). Julia, Steven, and Jeff won Oscars in 2020 for their documentary film American Factory (LIFF 2019 Closing Film).

 

The Bastard Sons (dir. Kevin Interdonato)

USA, 84 minutes // World Premiere

Life for a crew of organized criminals is disrupted when Vincent Damiano’s father, the family’s boss, is murdered. Vincent and his ‘bastard’ brothers, a group of orphaned souls raised together, have an idea of who killed their father… his partner Rome. In a valiant and calculated attempt to regain the business and exact vengeance on Rome over the course of one day, the Bastards wage an all out war in order to get their pound of flesh.