The good folks at the Dallas Film Society have released their full program for the Dallas International Film Fest 2015. Like in past years, it is a wide and diverse program that includes festival faves like Slow West (pictured), The Wolfpack, and Results alongside world premieres such as Cameron Nelson's Some Beasts and Carmen Marron's Endgame. A German showcase, Latin showcase, and plenty of great documentaries round out the program. The festival runs April 9-19.
Check out the full list below and let us know what you're excited to see.
Opening Night Film presented by U.S. Risk/Kara & Randall Goss
I'LL
SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS (USA)
Director: Brett Haley
Cast: Blythe Danner; Martin Starr; Sam
Elliott; Malin Akerman; June Squibb; Rhea Perlman; Mary Kay Place
I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS, directed by Brett
Haley, had its World Premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it
received a standing ovation for its star, Blythe Danner. The film stars Ms.
Danner as a widow who's settled into her life and her age, until a series of events
propel her into a renewed engagement with people and the world around her.
Centerpiece Film
PLAYING
IT COOL (USA) - North American
Premiere
Director: Justin Reardon
Cast: Chris Evans; Michelle Monaghan; Luke
Wilson; Aubrey Plaza; Topher Grace; Anthony Mackie
It's this generation's SWINGERS meets (500)
DAYS OF SUMMER. The story is fresh, quirky, and weirdly relatable as this
young, slightly pretentious man falls for an unlikely girl, and will stop at
nothing to get her even after realizing she's already in a relationship.
Premiere Series
5
FLIGHTS UP (USA)
Director: Richard Loncraine
Cast: Morgan Freeman; Diane Keaton; Cynthia
Nixon
Over one crazy weekend, a long-time married
couple discovers that finding a new apartment is not about winding down, but
starting a new adventure.
ENDGAME
(USA) - World Premiere
Director: Carmen Marron
Cast: Jon Gries; Efren Ramirez; Rico
Rodriguez; Justina Machado
A coming of age movie about a young man, struggling to step out of his brother's shadow, who reluctantly joins the school chess team after a family tragedy and discovers both solace and self-worth.
LOVE
& MERCY (USA)
Director: Bill Pohlad
Cast: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks,
Paul Giamatti
LOVE & MERCY presents an unconventional
portrait of Brian Wilson, the mercurial singer, songwriter and leader of The
Beach Boys. Set against the era defining catalog of Wilson's music, the film
intimately examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of the icon
whose success came at extraordinary personal cost.
MANGLEHORN (USA)
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Harmony Korine,
Chris Messina
Left heartbroken by the woman he loved and
lost forty years ago, A.J. Manglehorn (Al Pacino) is an eccentric small-town
locksmith toiling away at his work while constantly consumed inside by memories
of the great love he let slip through his fingers. This humble locksmith's
daydreams have a surreal quality. We see life through the lens of his
experience, tinged by a hard-won wisdom that's equal parts pragmatism and
whimsy as he tries to start his life over again with the help of a new friend
(Holly Hunter). David Gordon Green's MANGLEHORN weaves humor and insight to
guide Al Pacino in one of his strongest performances in years.
RESULTS (USA)
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Cast: Kevin Corrigan; Guy Pearce; Cobie
Smulders; Brooklyn Decker; Anthony Michael Hall; Constance Zimmer; Giovanni
Ribisi
Recently divorced, newly rich, and utterly
miserable, Danny (Kevin Corrigan) would seem to be the perfect test subject for
a definitive look at the relationship between money and happiness. Danny's
well-funded ennui is interrupted by a momentous trip to the local gym, where he
meets self-styled guru/owner Trevor (Guy Pearce) and irresistibly acerbic
trainer Kat (Cobie Smulders). Soon, their three lives are inextricably knotted
both professionally and personally.
SLOW
WEST (United Kingdom/New
Zealand)
Director: John Maclean
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee; Michael Fassbender;
Ben Mendelsohn; Caren Pistorius; Rory McCann
At the end of the 19th century,
sixteen-year-old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) journeys across the American
frontier in search of the woman he loves. He is joined by Silas (Michael
Fassbender), a mysterious traveler, and hotly pursued by an outlaw along the
way.
THE
WOLFPACK (USA)
Director: Crystal Moselle
Locked away from society in an apartment on
the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Angulo brothers learn about the outside
world through the films that they watch. Nicknamed the Wolfpack, the brothers
spend their childhood re-enacting their favorite films using elaborate homemade
props and costumes. Everything changes when one of the brothers escapes, and
the power dynamics in the house are transformed. The Wolfpack must learn how to
integrate into society without disbanding the brotherhood.
X+Y (United
Kingdom)
Director: Morgan Matthews
Cast: Asa Butterfield; Sally Hawkins; Rafe
Spall; Eddie Marsan
Preferring to hide in the safety of his own
private world, Nathan struggles to connect with people, often pushing away
those who want to be closest to him, including his mother, Julie. Without the
ability to understand love or affection, Nathan finds the comfort and security
he needs in numbers and mathematics.
Narrative Feature Competition
ABOUT
A GIRL (CHARLEEN MACHT SCHLUSS) (Germany)
Director: Mark Monheim
Cast: Jasna Fritzi Bauer; Heike Makatsch;
Aurel Manthei; Simon Schwarz; Sandro Lohmann; Lauritz Greve; Dorothea Walda
Charleen, 15, quick-witted and sassy, is Kurt
Cobain's biggest fan and wonders why "growing up" has to be so complicated. One
day, feeling especially melodramatic and rebellious, she decides to pull the
plug on her life. Luckily, she fails - and discovers what fun life and love can
really be!
ECHOES
OF WAR (USA) - World premiere
Director: Kane Senes
Cast: James Badge Dale; Ethan Embry; William
Forsythe; Maika Monroe
A Civil War veteran returns home to the quiet
countryside, only to find himself embroiled in a conflict between his family
and the brutish cattle rancher harassing them.
LADYGREY
Director: Alain Choquart
Cast: Peter Sarsgaard; Jérémie Renier; Emily
Mortimer; Claude Rich; Liam Cunningham
South Africa, 10 years after the end of
Apartheid. A South African black and white community located at the foot of the
Drakensberg Mountains, lives in the trauma of unsolved killings. None of them
has forgotten but they all choose to remain silent. A young woman, who has just
arrived in the community, will shatter the fragile balance...
RADIATOR (United Kingdom)
Director: Tom Browne
Cast: Richard Johnson; Gemma Jones; Daniel
Cerqueira
A dark, difficult comedy concerning the middle
aged Daniel who returns home to help his elderly parents, Leonard and Maria who
live in squalor, eccentrically.
SOME
BEASTS (USA) - World Premiere
Director: Cameron Nelson
Cast: Frank Mosley; Lindsay Burdge; Heather
Kafka
Living in an insular farming community, Sal
Damon, a modern-day Thoreau, seeks solace from a past relationship in
Appalachia. After his neighbor dies and he discovers a feral child living on
the lam, he must reconcile his place in a world that lives outside of the law.
SWEET
KANDY (USA)
Director: Nicholas Peate
Cast: Reginald "Reg" E. Cathey; Charles "Charlie"
Robinson; Novella Nelson; Marco St. John
Bored and dissatisfied with her small town life,
18 year-old Kandy wants and needs a change. She gets her chance when she meets
Val, a charming drifter. They run away together. Needing money, Val agrees to
deliver a drug package, but when the deal goes wrong he is arrested. In love,
out of luck and locked up, Val risks everything to escape and find Kandy before
she marries another man and he loses her forever. Set amid the heat and funk of
New Orleans, SWEET KANDY is a tale of two young lovers looking for a chance.
Cast includes actual inmates from the Louisiana State penitentiary.
THIS
ISN'T FUNNY (USA)
Director: Paul Ashton
Cast: Katie Page; Paul Ashton; Edi Gathegi;
Anthony LaPaglia; Mimi Rogers; Gia Carides; David Pasquesi; Danielle Panabaker
Eliot, a stand-up comedian with severe anxiety
disorder, meets Jamie, a perpetual traveler who can't settle down. They fall in
love. They push each other's buttons. Sometimes meeting the right person at the
wrong time can be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Documentary Feature Competition
THE
AMINA PROFILE (Canada) ♥
Director: Sophie Deraspe
Amina
Arraf, a pretty Syrian-American revolutionary who's having an online affair
with Montrealer Sandra Bagaria, launches the provocatively named blog A Gay
Girl in Damascus. As the Syrian uprising gains momentum, the blog attracts a
huge following. But it's Amina's subsequent abduction that sparks an
international outcry to free her.
BARGE (USA)
Director: Ben Powell
Dry land's misfits find purpose and direction twenty-eight
days at a time as the steady hands of a towboat due for the port of New
Orleans. From a green deckhand following his father and grandmother into the
family business, to a former convict working his way to First Mate, job by job;
as long as the boat's moving they're making money.
CARTEL
LAND (USA/Mexico) ♥
Director: Matthew Heineman
Filmmaker Matthew Heineman embeds himself in
the heart of darkness as Nailer, "El Doctor," and the cartel each vie to bring
their own brand of justice to a society where institutions have failed. CARTEL
LAND is a chilling meditation on the breakdown of order and the blurry line
between good and evil.
FRAME
BY FRAME (USA) ♥
Director: Alexandria Bombach; Mo Scarpelli
After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban
regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free
press in a country left to stand on its own - reframing Afghanistan for the
world and for themselves.
HOLBROOK/TWAIN:
AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY (USA)
Director: Scott Teems
Featuring: Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Emile
Hirsch
Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain is an icon of
American theatre. Since first walking onto the stage in 1954, Holbrook has
performed his one-man show on Broadway, in all fifty states, in twenty
countries, behind the Iron Curtain, and before five U.S. Presidents. Millions
have seen the Tony and Emmy award-winning show, and countless actors and
scholars have been influenced by the work. This documentary celebrates the
sixtieth consecutive year of Holbrook's one-man masterpiece. This is the epic
story of "Mark Twain Tonight!" This is the story of an American odyssey.
WELCOME
TO LEITH (USA) ♥
Director: Michael Beach Nichols; Christopher
K. Walker
A white supremacist attempts to take over a
small town in North Dakota.
WESTERN
(USA/Mexico)
Director: Bill Ross; Turner Ross
For generations, all that distinguished Eagle
Pass, Texas from Piedras Negras, Mexico was the Rio Grande. But when darkness
descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new
reality that threatens their way of life.
Documentary Showcase
BEING
EVEL (USA)
Director: Daniel Junge
Featuring: Johnny Knoxville; Tony Hawk; Travis
Pastrana; Robbie Madison; Mat Hoffman
Millions know the man, but few know his story.
In BEING EVEL, Academy Award® winning
filmmaker Daniel Junge (SAVING FACE) and actor/producer Johnny Knoxville take a
candid look at American daredevil and icon Robert "Evel" Knievel, while also
reflecting on our voracious public appetite for heroes and spectacle.
DO I SOUND GAY? (USA) ♥
Director: David Thorpe
Featuring: David Sedaris;
Dan Savage; Tim Gunn; Margaret Cho
Uncomfortable with sounding "too gay," journalist and
filmmaker David Thorpe meets with a speech pathologist to discover his true
voice. What began as a personal journey quickly became a larger examination of
sexuality and identity. A witty and insightful documentary, DO I SOUND GAY?,
reminds us that being comfortable and authentic in your own voice--no matter how
it sounds--is ultimately what's most important.
FRESH DRESSED (USA)
Director: Sacha Jenkins
With
funky, fat-laced Adidas, Kangol hats, and Cazal shades, a totally original look
was born--Fresh--and it came from the black and brown side of town where another
cultural force was revving up in the streets to take the world by storm.
Hip-hop, and its aspirational relationship to fashion, would become such a
force on the market that Tommy Hilfiger, in an effort to associate their brand
with the cultural swell, would drive through the streets and hand out free
clothing to kids on the corner.
RAIDERS!:
The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (USA)
Director: Jeremy Coon; Tim Skousen
In 1982, two 12 year-olds in Mississippi set
out to remake their favorite film: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It took seven
turbulent years that tested the limits of their friendship and nearly burned
down their mother's house. By then end, they had completed every scene except
one... the explosive airplane scene. Thirty years later, they attempt to finally
realize their childhood dream by building a replica of the 75-foot "Flying
Wing" plane from RAIDERS in a mud pit in the backwoods of Mississippi... and then
blow it up! This is the story behind the making of what is known as "the
greatest fan film ever made."
SHE'S
THE BEST THING IN IT (USA)
Director: Ron Nyswaner
Featuring: Frances McDormand; Melissa
Leo; Tyne Daly; Estelle Parsons; Valerie Harper; Charlotte Rae; Doug Wright.
At
age 79, veteran character actor Mary Louise Wilson has won a Tony but can't get
a job on stage. So she returns to her hometown, New Orleans, to teach her first
acting class to skeptical members of the YouTube generation. While demanding
emotional honesty from her students, she examines the sacrifices she's made for
her career and wonders whether her life has been successful. Eventually her
love of acting is rekindled.
World Cinema presented by the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
THE
AMBASSADOR TO BERN (A BERNI KOVET) (Hungary)
Director: Attila Szász
Cast: János
Kulka; Tamás Szabó Kimmel; József Kádas; Rozi Lovas; Rémusz Szikszai; Mónika
Balsai; Laszlo I. Kish
First-time
director Attila Szász's political thriller chronicles the day of August 16,
1958, when two Hungarian immigrants break into the Hungarian embassy in Bern
and take the ambassador hostage. As the Swiss police surround the building and
a group of Hungarian immigrants shows up on the street to demonstrate, a tense,
twist-filled hostage drama plays out behind the closed doors of the embassy.
The screenplay by Norbert Köbli ('The Exam') is based on a true story about the
aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
A
BORROWED IDENTITY (Israel)
Director: Eran Riklis
Cast: Tawfeek Barhom; Ali Suliman
Eyad is given a chance to be the first and only Arab
accepted into a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Jerusalem. Being an
outsider, Eyad wants to belong, even if he doesn't know exactly to whom or to
what. But then he falls in love with Naomi, a Jewish girl, and is forced to
leave the school when their relationship is uncovered, Eyad faces a decision
that will change his life forever.
THE
CUT (KESIK) (Germany/France/Poland/Italy/Canada/Turkey)
Director: Fatih Akin
Cast: Tahar Rahim; Simon Abkarian; Makram
Khoury; Hindi Zahra; Kevork Malikyan
Mardin, 1915: one night, the Turkish police round up all
the Armenian men in the city, including the young blacksmith, Nazaret
Manoogian, who is separated from his family. Years later, after managing to
survive the horrors of the genocide, he hears that his two daughters are also
still alive. He becomes fixated on the idea of finding them and sets off to
track them down.
HOLLOW
(DOAT HON) (Vietnam)
Director: Ham Tran
Cast: Kieu Chinh; Jayvee Mai The Hiep; Ngoc
Hiep Nguyen
A young girl falls into a river and drowns.
When her body is found in a remote village along the river, her uncle arrives
to claim her body, only to find that she is very much alive. But when she
returns to her family, unexplainable occurrences lead them to believe she is
possessed.
JASMINE
(Hong Kong/USA) - North American Premiere
Director: Dax Phelan
Cast: Jason Tobin; Eugenia Yuan; Byron Mann;
Sarah Lian
JASMINE is a gripping and chilling
psychological thriller about a man still struggling to come to terms with his
grief nearly a year after his wife's unsolved murder.
KUNG
FU KILLER (YI GEN REN DE UL LIN) (China/Hong Kong) - US Premiere
Director: Teddy Chan
Cast: Wang Baoqiang; Donnie Yen
A vicious killer, Fung (Wang Baoqiang), is going around Hong Kong killing top martial arts
experts, leaving a secret weapon called the Eaves Swallow as his calling card. When convicted killer and kung fu expert Hahou (Donnie Yen) hears of this,
he offers to help the police catch the killer in return
for his freedom.
THE
LOOK OF SILENCE (Denmark/Finland/Indonesia/Norway/UK)
♥
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
In Joshua Oppenheimer's companion piece to the
Oscar®-nominated THE ACT OF KILLING, a family of survivors of the 1965
Indonesian genocide discovers how their son was murdered and the identity of
the men who killed him. The youngest brother is determined to break the spell
of silence and fear under which the survivors live, and so confronts the men
responsible for his brother's murder - something unimaginable in a country
where killers remain in power.
LOVE
AT FIRST FIGHT (LES COMBATTANTS) (France)
Director: Thomas Cailley
Cast: Kevin Azais; Adele Haenel
Facing an uncertain future and a dearth of choices in a
small French coastal town, Arnaud meets and falls for the apocalyptic-minded
Madeleine, who joins an army boot camp to learn military and survival skills to
prepare for the upcoming environmental collapse. Intrigued and excited by
Madeleine, Arnaud signs up too. They soon realize the boot camp is harder than
they had imagined, but the experience cements them together as the young couple
continues to explore their love.
MARGARITA,
WITH A STRAW (India)
Director: Shonali Bose; Nilesh Maniyar
Cast: Kalki Koechlin; Sayani Gupta; William
Moseley; Revathy
In this inspirational love story, a Delhi university
student and aspiring writer afflicted with cerebral palsy leaves India for New
York University, where she falls for a fiery young activist. MARGARITA, WITH A
STRAW is a consistently rewarding portrait of a young woman coming of age,
making mistakes, and finding the unpredictable path of her own desire.
TAJRISH:
AN UNFINISHED STORY (Iran) -
US Premiere
Director: Pourya Azarbayjani
Cast: Mohammad Reza Forootan, Shaghayegh
Farahani; Afshin Hashemi; Shirin Yazdanbakhsh
Soroor and Amir first met 20 years ago. Since
then, she has been widowed and is now the single mother of child and he got
married, but their friendship has remained.
WORDS
WITH GODS (Mexico)
Directors: Guillermo Arriaga, Hector Babenco,
Álex de la Iglesia, Bahman Ghobadi, Amos Gitai, Emir Kusturica, Mira Nair,
Hideo Nakata, Warwick Thornton
Cast: Demian Bichir; Emir Kusturica; Yilmaz
Erdogan; Sarai Givaty; Pooneh Hajimohammadi
Words
with Gods features nine powerful stories of faith, created by some of the
world's most celebrated filmmakers. A dramatic spectrum of beliefs are
represented, with each filmmaker speaking about the one closest to the culture
they depict in their story: Warwick Thornton deals with Aboriginal Spirituality,
Héctor Babenco with Umbanda, Mira Nair with Hinduism, Hideo Nakata with Shinto
Buddhism, Amos Gitai with Judaism, Álex de la Iglesia with Catholicism, Emir
Kusturica with Orthodox Christianity, Bahman Ghobadi with Islam and Guillermo
Arriaga with Atheism. The film is a panoramic global story that confronts birth
& death, fateful choices and faith lost & found.
German Spotlight presented by Lufthansa Airlines
CONCRETE
LOVE - THE BOHM FAMILY (DIE BOEHMS - ARCHITEKTUR EINER FAMILIE) (Germany/Switzerland)
Director: Maurizius
Staerkle-Drux
Gottfried Böhm is regarded as
Germany's preeminent Architect. His father, wife and three sons are all
architects as well. Professional collaboration within the family appears to be
an equally fertile and fragile proposition.
DAS
BOOT (1981; West Germany)
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Jürgen Prochnow; Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch, Martin
Semmelrogge
DAS BOOT
is an epic film that unfolds almost entirely in the cramped confines of a Nazi U-Boat
during World War II. Director Wolfgang Peterson captures an intimate,
claustrophobic world in this classic German repertory film.
FITZCARRALDO
(1982; Germany/Peru)
Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale,
José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes
Set in
South-America at the turn of the 19th century, FITZCARRALDO is loosely based on
historic events from the life of rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarraldo.
Award-winning German writer/director Werner Herzog's films are known for their
epic quality and this one is no exception.
METROPOLIS
(1927; Germany)
Director: Fritz Lang
Cast: Alfred Abel, Brigitte
Helm, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodor Loos
In Iconic
German director Fritz Lang's pioneering science-fiction film, METROPOLIS - set
in a futuristic urban dystopia - a man loses his hands, head, and heart to
change the city he calls home.
NOWITZKI:
THE PERFECT SHOT (Germany) -
North American Premiere
Director: Sebastian Dehnhardt
Featuring: Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban, Steve
Nash, Donnie Nelson, Holger Geschwinder, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd
NOWITZKI: THE PERFEST SHOT is a feature length
documentary about NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki, friendship, and what it really
takes to fulfill your dreams.
STATIONS
OF THE CROSS (KREUZWEG) (Germany)
Director: Dietrich
Brüggemann
Cast: Lea van Acken; Franziska Weisz; Florian
Stetter
Captured in fourteen fixed-angle, single-shot
tableaux, STATIONS OF THE CROSS is an indictment of fundamentalist faith and an
articulation of one teen's struggle to define her own life.
WHO AM
I - NO SYSTEM IS SAFE (WHO AM I - KEIN SYSTEM IST SICHER) (Germany)
Director: Baran bo Odar
Cast: Tom Schilling; Elyas M'Barek; Hannah
Herzsprung; Wotan
Wilke Möhring; Antoine Monot, Jr.;
Trine Dyrholm; Stephan Kampwirth
BENJAMIN
(TOM SCHILLING) is a nobody, an outsider. This changes when he meets the
charismatic MAX (ELYAS M'BAREK). The two of them couldn't be more different,
but they share one mutual interest: hacking. Together with Max's friends,
impulsive STEPHAN (WOTAN WILKE MÖHRING) and paranoid PAUL (ANTOINE MONOT) they
form the subversive hacker group CLAY (CLOWNS LAUGHING @ YOU). CLAY provokes
with hilarious hacks and has the finger on the pulse of a whole generation. For
the first time in his life Benjamin feels like he belongs and even attractive
MARIE (HANNAH HERZSPRUNG) starts to notice him. What started out as fun soon
turns deadly serious, when Benjamin and CLAY are suddenly investigated by
German Secret Service and Europol. With HANNE LINDBERG (TRINE DYRHOLM), the
leading Europol cybercrime investigator, at their heels, Benjamin starts to
realize that he is no longer a nobody, but one of the most wanted hackers of
the world.
Latino Showcase presented by El Creative, Univision
TV & Radio, Colibri
ALICE
IN MARIALAND (ALICIA EN EL PAIS DE MARIA) (Mexico) - US Premiere
Director: Jesús Magaña Vázquez
Cast: Bárbara Mori; Stephanie
Sigman; Claudio Lafarga
Tonatiuh
(33), a young writer with a melancholy demeanor, and Maria (30), a beautiful
model with a sweet gaze, live a tempestuous relationship that ends abruptly in
an automobile accident they experience during one of their violent arguments:
Maria dies and Tonatiuh is left in a coma. During his agony, he reconstructs
details of his relationship with Maria, but in a brief moment of lucidity he
sees Alicia (27), an attractive nurse. Tonatiuh incorporates her into his
memory and turns her into the salvation of his unconscious gloom. A year later,
after he is discharged from the hospital, they meet up. However, Alicia has
amnesia, and for him she is but a fleeting memory. They don't recognize each
other but are attracted and engage in a passionate relationship, almost as
volatile as that of Tonatiuh and Maria, whose memory is ever present, and who
will intercede more and more in Tonatiuh's new relationship, until he decides
to solve this in an unhealthy manner, but that is - apparently - very
effective.
ASCO (Brazil)
Director: Ale Paschoalini
Cast: Guto Nogueira; Sol Faganello
Asco
is the poisonous feeling aroused in a heart broken by the blade of love.
MR.
KAPLAN (Uruguay)
Director: Álvaro Brechner
Cast: Héctor Nogurera; Néstor Guzzini
Jacob Kaplan (Héctor Nogurera), one of many
Jews who fled Europe for South America during World War II, lives an ordinary
life in Uruguay. At almost 76, he's become fed up with his community and his
family's lack of interest in its own heritage. MR. KAPLAN is a crowd-pleasing
black comedy revolving around a Jewish retiree who is convinced the shy, old
German owner of a local seafront restaurant is in fact a former Nazi.
Texas Competition presented by Panavision - Grand Jury Prize winner receives a camera
rental package valued at $30,000 from Panavision.
DON'T
LOOK IN THE BASEMENT 2 (USA)
- World Premiere
Director: Anthony Brownrigg
Cast: Andrew Sensenig, Frank
Mosely; Scott Tepperman; Jim O'Rear; Megan Emerick; Willie Minor
After 40 years the only known survivor of a mass
murder arrives at Green Park mental institution, his presence triggering a
series of increasingly disturbing events.
THE
GUY WITH THE KNIFE (USA) ♥ - World Premiere
Director: Alison Armstrong
Twenty years after he helped put Jon Buice in
a Texas prison, Ray Hill is fighting to free him. Filmed over eight years, THE GUY WITH THE KNIFE traces the history of the
friendship between a prominent gay rights activist and a convicted 'gay bash'
murderer, set against the backdrop of gay rights, victims' rights, and
prisoners' rights, in the harsh Texas justice system.
LONE
STAR HOLY WAR (USA) -
World Premiere
Director: Lindell Singleton
LONE
STAR HOLY WAR is a sports documentary that looks into the pride, passion and
politics of the century-old rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M. This
sports documentary explores the tragic loss of the in-state rivalry and
tradition through a historical review, in-depth interviews with former coaches,
players, fans, sports analysts plus gripping game footage
THE
LOVE INSIDE (USA) - World
Premiere
Director: Andy Irvine; Mark Smoot
Cast: Zachary Knighton; Joey Kern; Kat Foster; Betsy Phillips; Bryon
Brown; Ashley Spillers; Indigo Rael
When Vaughn invites his closest friends to a
cabin in rural Texas to meet his fiancée, he expects a relaxing weekend
reminiscing about the old days. But when a friend arrives with his
ex-girlfriend, long repressed feelings are reawakened and his engagement is
suddenly thrown into doubt in this subversive romantic comedy.
RED ON
YELLA, KILL A FELLA (USA) - World
Premiere
Director: Duane Graves; Justin Meeks
Cast: Bridger Zadina; Michael Berryman; Sawyer Bell; Tina Rodriguez;
Pepe Serna; Edwin Neal
In the autumn of 1900, outlaw Claude Barbee
puts his "retirement plan" into action, attempting to lead his train-robbing
gang across Texas to recover a cash stash hidden after a botched railroad
heist. They soon discover they're being hunted by more than just the law - but
rather a merciless, unexpected evil quite possibly greater than themselves.
SACRIFICE (USA)
Director: Michael Cohn
Cast: Luke Kleintank; Dermot Mulroney; Melora Walters; Austin
Abrams; Brandon Smith; Lewis Tan
HANK
(Luke Kleintank) is a handsome, multi-talented high school student who has just
led his football team to a stunning victory during the biggest game of the
season. Eager scouts are circling and Hank's blue-collar parents, (played by
Dermot Mulroney and Melora Walters), are counting on their golden boy to win a
scholarship to a good college so he can enjoy a brighter future, far away from
their hardscrabble life in Texas. Their younger son, TIM (Austin Abrams) more
of a loser than a winner, idolizes his older brother and persuades Hank and his
friends, KAZ (Brandon Smith) and BENNY (Lewis Tan), to let him tag along on
their celebratory hunting trip. It is a decision they soon regret. Tim's
immature behavior after an accidental shooting leads to a series of bad
decisions, a second wave of tragedy, and a hasty cover-up. Hank finds himself
at the center of a desperate and rapidly deteriorating situation that tests his
moral compass and threatens to destroy his family...and his dream.
THUNDER
BROKE THE HEAVENS (USA) -
World Premiere
Director: Tim Skousen
Cast: Alex Peters; Gavin Howe; Tanner Beard;
Tom Nowicki; Hadley Eure
In a Hansel and Gretel-esque modern fairy
tale, siblings Samantha (13) and William Paul (6) must survive on their own
after a tragedy kills their family. They are placed in an abusive foster home,
but when Samantha overhears that they are to be split up, they escape to live
in a crumbling shack in the woods. Life is hard, but they receive help from a
mysterious source. When supplies run out and William Paul falls ill, Samantha
must find a way for them to survive - before it's too late.
Family Friendly
THE
ADVENTURES OF PEPPER AND PAULA (USA)
Director: Kevin and Robin Nations
Cast: Allie DeBerry; Mindy Raymond; John
Michael Davis; Holt Boggs
Paula, a world champion gunslinger and the
star of a live action Wild West show, is on top of the world, but when her
world literally comes to a crash in the form of a horrible accident, it is up
to her best friend, her dog Pepper, to save her. As Paula recovers from her accident,
Lula Belle (Allie DeBerry of Disney's ANT FARM) takes over the show. But she's
up to no good and it's up to Pepper to run that little filly out of town. The
result is a fun, action packed, heartwarming story that the entire family can
enjoy.
BATKID
BEGINS: THE WISH HEARD AROUND THE WORLD (USA)
Director: Dana Nachman
On one day, in one city, the world comes
together to grant one 5 year old cancer patient his wish. BATKID BEGINS: THE
WISH HEARD AROUND THE WORLD looks at the 'why' of this flash phenomenon. Why
did the intense outpouring of spontaneous support for a child reverberate
around the world and become one of the biggest 'good news stories' ever?
PAPER
PLANES (Australia) - US Premiere
Director: Robert Connolly
Cast: Sam Worthington; Ed
Oxenbould; Deborah Mailman
Dylan
Webber, is an imaginative twelve-year old boy with a knack for folding and
flying paper planes. After discovering his talent could take him to the top at
the World Junior Paper Plane Championship, Dylan prepares to take on powerful rivals.
With a great challenge soaring ahead, and a goal to fly into the number one
spot, there's no telling how far he can go!
PEE
WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985; USA)
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Paul Reubens, Elizabeth
Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger, Judd Omen
Almost as
much fairy tale as adventure, Tim Burton's PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE is a simple
yet brilliantly written story about a boy and his bike.
Deep Ellum Sounds
DARE
TO DRUM (USA) - World Premiere
Director: John Bryant
Featuring: Stewart Copeland
Musical
journeys taken by percussionists often start with a simple rhythmic calling, a
seductive sound that can often lead to extensive travels around the world in
pursuit of permutations and possibilities of percussion. This film speaks to
the uniquely inherent traits that drummers and percussionists possess as
natural explorers of music and sound, and how this particular story explores
the challenge of translating foreign voices of percussive expression into the
dialect of a Western classical orchestra setting. Five accomplished
percussionists and a rock star composer come together with a major American
orchestra to create a groundbreaking work.
THE
JONES FAMILY WILL MAKE A WAY (USA)
Director: Alan Berg
A rural, Pentecostal preacher and a jaded rock
critic form an unlikely alliance that pushes them both in unexpected ways.
Midnight Specials
CLOSER
TO GOD (USA)
Director: Billy Senese
Cast:
In this dark indie thriller, a genetic scientist creates the first human clone.
But an earlier experiment threatens to destroy everything he's built and puts
his family in grave danger.
Jeremy
Childs; Shelean Newman; Shannon Hoppe; David Alford; Jake Speck; Isaac Disney
TURBO
KID (Canada/New Zealand)
Director: Anouk Whissell, François Simard, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Cast: Munro
Chambers; Michael Ironside; Laurence Leboeuf
TURBO KID is a post-apocalyptic, BMX-powered,
blood-splattered love story that follows the epic journey of an orphaned
outcast reluctant to be a hero in the wasteland of an alternate future.
Special Presentations
7
CHINESE BROTHERS (USA)
Director: Bob Byington
Cast: Jason Schwartzman; Eleanore Pienta;
Olympia Dukakis; Tunde Adebimpe; Stephen Root
Larry (Jason Schwartzman) is an unqualified,
unemployable, inebriated prankster who rides a tide of booze onto the glorious
shores of undiscriminating Quick-Lube. Taking a part time job vacuuming cars
and washing windshields, Larry finds himself mixed up with hostile co-workers
and unsatisfied customers, while also finding himself smitten with his lovely
boss, Lupe Torrez (Eleanore Pienta). Will Larry keep it together long enough to
win the girl, provide for man's best friend (his dog Arrow), and do his
grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) proud?
THE
BLUES BROTHERS (1980; USA)
Director: John Landis
Cast: John Belushi; Dan Aykroyd; James Brown;
Cab Calloway; Ray Charles; Aretha Franklin; John Lee Hooker
Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts
together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood
were raised.
BREATHLESS
(1983, USA) - Screening in honor of co-writer
L.M. Kit Carson
Director: Jim McBride
Cast: Richard Gere, Valérie
Kaprisky, Art Metrano, John P. Ryan, William Tepper
Richard
Gere is a petty crook on the run in this 1983 Hollywood remake of Jean-Luc
Godard's French New Wave classic. In their redo of Godard's milestone director
Jim McBride and co-screenwriter, L.M.
Kit Carson provide a more linear narrative than the original, featuring
memorable cinematography and production design setting off L.A. locations.
THE
DAY WEST SHOOK TEXAS (USA) - Work-in-Progress
Screening
Director: Jim Gerik
West,
TX is a tiny town about 18 miles north of Waco well-known amongst Texans for
its baked goods. But on Wednesday, April 17th, 2013, West earned
more of a certain international fame when it was rocked by the explosion of a
fertilizer storage plant. While an accident of this magnitude is often only the
beginning of the devastation, West stands as an example of how a truly
close-knit community reacts in the face of tragedy. Informative eyewitness and first
responder accounts illustrate how the citizens banded together on that day and
continue to rebuild - both physically and in spirit.
DIVINE
ACCESS (USA)
Director: Steven C. Prince
Cast: Billy Burke; Gary Cole; Patrick
Warburton; Sarah Shahi; Joe David Moore; Dora Madison; Barak Hadley; Adrienne
Barbeau
DIVINE ACCESS is a road movie, a buddy picture
and an often sweet, thought provoking story of redemption. Jack Harriman has
seen it all. After he is asked to join a cable access TV show produced by his friend
Bob McCord and humiliating the current host of the show, the Reverend Guy Roy Davis,
Jack becomes a spiritual celebrity and takes to the road on a speaking tour
accompanied by Nigel, a self-proclaimed catcher, Amber, a down on her luck call
girl, and Marian, an enigmatic beauty who challenges Jack's beliefs and
questions whether he has some deeper calling. Forces both natural and
supernatural lead Jack on a journey to discover his own spiritual truth,
culminating in a showdown with Guy Roy Davis.
DO YOU
DREAM IN COLOR? (USA)
Director: Abigail Fuller; Sarah Ivy
Connor, Nick, Sarah and Carina are like most teenagers navigating the
growing pains of high school, but unlike their peers these four teens face
another challenge - they're blind. DO YOU DREAM IN COLOR? is an enlightening
and poignant coming of age story that captures the inspired journey of four
courageous teenagers as they strive to achieve their goals: To be a sponsored skateboarder, to travel the world, to become a
rock star and to be the first family member to graduate high school. Their
extraordinary stories shine a provocative light on both the social and
institutional obstacles faced by people who are blind in the sighted world and
what it takes to surmount these barriers.
THE
HUSTLER (1961; USA)
Director: Robert Rossen
Cast: Paul Newman, Jackie
Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott
With
oppressive visuals set off by brilliant performances from a star-studded cast
lead by Paul Newman, THE HUSTLER looks and feels like the last '40s Film Noir.
THE
LEGO MOVIE (2014; USA)
Director: Phil Lord; Christopher Miller
Cast: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman,
Charlie Day, Alison Brie
THE LEGO
MOVIE is a clever, fun and vibrant world, bringing you back to your childhood
and the creativity that came with playing with Legos.
MOST
LIKELY TO SUCCEED (USA) ♥
Director: Greg Whiteley
The
feature-length documentary MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED examines the history of
education in the United States, revealing the growing shortcomings of
conventional education methods in today's innovative world. The film explores
compelling new approaches that aim to revolutionize teaching as we know it.
After seeing this film, the way you think about "school" will never be the
same.
RAGING
BULL (1980; USA)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy
Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto
Recognized
as one of the best films about boxing, and maybe the best film of Martin
Scorsese's career, RAGING BULL gave audiences a story that shed light on
Italian-Americans' fight for family and survival in mid 20th-century New York.
Shorts Competition
+/- (USA)
Director: Andy Irvine; Mark Smoot
A young couple examines their relationship as
they await the result of a pregnancy test.
{THE
AND} Marcela & Rock (USA)
Director: Topaz Adizes
{THE AND} MARCELA & ROCK is a short
documentary that brings the viewer into the emotional space of a modern day
relationship. This short film is an intimate conversation between a husband and
wife over the obstacles in their union, and is part of the larger interactive
relationship genome project (www.theand.us).
{THE AND} is the best couples therapy that you'll ever witness.
ADJUST-A-DREAM (USA)
Director: Jonathan Wysocki
Trust issues are tested as a gay male couple
shop for their first mattress.
AUDREY
MAKE A MIXTAPE (USA)
Director: James Mackenzie
It's 1988. Audrey hopes to save her crush from
losing his virginity to the queen bee. Weapon of choice? A blank cassette tape.
BAD
GUY #2 (USA)
Director: Chris McInroy
Promotions are good, unless you're bad.
BUTTER
YA'SELF (USA)
Director: Julian Petschek
A banana and a hot dog bun are famous.
CAST
IN INDIA (India/USA)
Director: Natasha Raheja
Iconic and ubiquitous, thousands of manhole
covers dot the streets of New York City. Enlivening the everyday objects around
us, this short film is a glimpse of the working lives of the men behind the
manhole covers in New York City.
THE
CHICKEN (Germany/Croatia)
Director: Una Gunjak
The day-to-day life of a six-year-old girl
growing up during unstable times in Sarajevo is shaken up when a chicken joins
her family.
CROOKED
CANDY (USA)
Director: Andrew Rodgers
Kinder Surprise eggs are enormously popular
around the world. From the foil wrapper to the chocolate shell, the plastic
yolk capsule to the clever toy inside, Kinder eggs are practically a global
rite of childhood. That is, except in the United States, where they're
considered a choking hazard and are illegal. This is the story of a Kinder
smuggler.
CUTAWAY
(Canada)
Director: Kazik Radwanski
Told solely through close details of hands and
objects, this quiet, incredibly perceptive film follows a man through what
should have been an ordinary day but an important appointment changes his life.
DAY 40 (Canada)
Director: Sol Friedman
Cast: John Boylan; Rowie Spodek
In this animated retelling of the Noah's Ark
story, various unholy activities fill the great ship, as the animals discover
the darker side of their nature.
THE
FACE OF UKRAINE: CASTING OKSANA BAIUL (Australia)
Director: Kitty Green
Adorned in pink sequins, little girls from
across a divided, war-torn Ukraine audition to play the role of gold
medal-winning figure skater Oksana Baiul, whose tears of joy once united their
troubled country.
GRAND
ZERO (USA)
Director: Kevin Oeser
A family man returns to his hometown to settle
his parents' estate, but discovers that he is the last person in town who's not
part of a legendary network-marketing pyramid scheme.
HAZE (USA)
Director: Chloe Domont
A well-intentioned young man struggles to
explain last night.
KNOCK
KNOCK (USA)
Director: Jeff Betancourt
Val and her friends play a game that allows
them to communicate with the dead. The Knock Knock Game turns any doorway into
a portal to the hereafter, but the girls soon learn that are rules that should
never be broken.
THE
LITTLE DEPUTY (Canada)
Director: Trevor Anderson
Trevor tries to have a photo taken with his
father.
LOVE
ME TINDER (UK)
Director: Sami Abusamra
An elder woman and a younger man spend an
awkward evening together after meeting on a dating app; a dark comedy about an
encounter between two lonely strangers.
MASTER
HOA'S REQUIEM (USA)
Director: Scott Edwards
In search of his dead wife's grave, a Vietnamese
martial arts master returns 30 years later to the waters that claimed his
family in hopes of putting to rest his hellish past.
MEAT (USA)
Director: Michael Forstein
Desperate for work, Darren agrees to a one-day
trial as a door-to-door meat salesman.
MELVILLE (USA)
Director: James Johnston
Marcus is dealing with some serious shit but
he can't seem to talk to anyone about it.
MULIGNANS (USA)
Director: Shaka King
mulignan(s) /moo.lin.yan(s)/ n. 1.
Italian-American slang for a black man. Derived from Italian dialect word for
"eggplant." See also: moolie. Source: Urban Dictionary and pretty
much every mob movie ever.
MYRNA
THE MONSTER (USA)
Director: Ian Samuels
Myrna the monster, a heart-broken alien
dreamer from the moon, describes her life to a Los Angeles support group. She
talks about her laundromat romance, attempts at becoming an actress, and a
transcendent desert drug trip with her best friend Shelly. Her collective
experiences give her the courage to make her most personal confession and her
most difficult choice. Should she stay or should she go back to her moon lover?
OASIS (USA)
Director: Carmen Jimenez
After her husband dies, Nieves inherits his
job as the super of a decaying apartment complex in New York City. But the job
becomes more difficult than she anticipated when she discovers a disturbing
secret in one of the units.
OH
LUCY! (Japan/Singapore/USA)
Directo: Atsuko Hirayanagi
Setsuko, a 55-year-old single 'office lady' in
Tokyo, is given a blonde wig and a new identity, "Lucy," by her young
unconventional English instructor. "Lucy" awakens desires Setsuko never knew
she had. When the instructor suddenly disappears, Setsuko must come to terms
with what remains - herself.
ONE
HITTA QUITTA (USA)
Director: Ya'Ke Smith
A boy, who has never had to suffer the
consequences for his actions, becomes severely addicted to internet violence,
leading him to act out in violent ways himself.
THE
OUTFIT (USA)
Director: Yen Tan
An outfit unwittingly triggers rumors about
the sexuality of a conservative congressman. Inspired by actual events.
PAPER
WRAP FIRE (USA)
Director: Raymond Yeung
A Chinese teenager is left alone in a
Community Center where he encounters a handsome man which leads to a discovery
that shatters his innocence.
PINK
GRAPEFRUIT (USA)
Director: Michael Mohan
A young married couple brings two of their
single friends out to Palm Springs for a long weekend. It does not go as
planned.
QUESO
FLAMEADO (USA)
Director: Jean Pesce
Crispus is a collector of antique murder
weapons, champion of dogs, and connoisseur of the popular dish, queso flameado.
He also happens to be an assassin for hire.
ROSS
& BETH (New Zealand)
Director: Hamish Bennett
The story of a rough as guts farming couple, a
sudden loss and an unlikely saviour. And cowshit.
SPEARHUNTER (USA)
Director: Adam Roffman; Luke Poling
SPEARHUNTER follow the story of Col. Gene
Morris, who fought to legalize spear-hunting in the state of Alabama and then
proceeded to spend $600,000.00 of his own money building The Spear Hunting
Museum in Summerdale, AL (a museum dedicated to himself and his spear-hunting
prowess). The film also focuses on an offbeat cast of lovers, acolytes, and
critics of the megalomaniacal hunter as they remember his distinctive tactics
for killing and for leaving a legacy.
THE
STOMACH (UK)
Director: Ben Steiner
Frank is a bedridden man in a squalid London
house who is able to communicate with the dead in a most unusual fashion. With
his health failing, he opts to do one last job before quitting the spirit
medium business for good. But some local gangsters have other plans...
SWEEP (USA)
Director: Spencer Gillis
Three men meet in a strained chance encounter
at a local recycling center. A tense exchange transforms into a remarkable bond
transcending their differences, but a startling arrival leads to an
unforgivable parting.
TEETH (UK/HUNGARY/USA)
Director: Daniel Gray; Tom Brown
TREADING
WATER (USA)
Director: Lizabeth Cardenas Franke
After moving back into her childhood home to
take care of her elderly father, an independent woman in her thirties finds
herself reaching a breaking point as she tries to come to grips with her new
reality.
WE'LL
FIND SOMETHING (USA)
Director: Casey Gooden
A couple struggles to choose a restaurant
while visiting New York.
Animated Short Competition presented by REEL FX
BATH HOUSE
(SIMHALL) (Sweden)
Director: Niki Lindroth van Bahr
Six animals meet at the swimming pool. The
horse, the pool's manager, is a dedicated, conscientious friend of order. Over
the year, the premises have become her whole world. Two wolves come to the pool
to bathe. Their relationship is hard to define, but one wolf constantly wields
power over the other. Three mice also visit the pool, but they have a different
agenda altogether...
LAVA (USA)
Director: James Ford Murphy
Inspired by the isolated beauty of tropical
islands and the explosive allure of ocean volcanoes, LAVA is a musical love
story that takes place over millions of years.
MAN ON
THE CHAIR (France/South Korea)
Director: Dahee Jeong
"Man on the chair" is tormented and constantly doubts his very own existence.
It is just merely a picture
that I created... Perhaps could I be also an
image crafted by others?
MEND
AND MAKE DO (UK)
Director: Bexie Bush
Cup of tea? Come and take a seat in Lyn's cozy front room, hear her story of
love during wartime and watch as her belongings come alive with the hope, fear
and humor of one spirited lady.
PALM
ROT (USA)
Director: Ryan Gillis
An old crop-duster discovers a mysterious
crate floating in the Florida Everglades. Bringing the crate onto his airboat
is just the first in a series of decisions he learns to regret.
THE
RAVEN (USA)
Director: Limbert Fabian; Brandon Oldenburg
In this chilling and lyrical reinterpretation
of Edgar Allan Poe's poem, a narrator mourning the loss of his love, Lenore,
wavers on the brink of insanity. Perhaps hallucinating - or not - he sees a
mysterious raven, whispering, "nevermore."
TIMBER
(Switzerland)
Director: Nils Hedinger
A group of logs is about to freeze to death in
a cold, icy desert. When they realize that the only fuel for a warming fire is
their own body, things start heating up.
WORLD
OF TOMORROW (USA)
Director: Don Hertzfeldt
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour
of her distant future.