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Previews
The 34th Annual Portland Int'l Film Festival
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Tuesday, 08 February 2011 06:11
- Written by L E Shannon
The 34th Annual Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) is being held February 10 - 26, 2011 in Portland, Oregon at Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium, the Cinemagic, the Hollywood Theater, and Cinema 21, among other venues.
Presented by the Northwest Film Center, the Festival has provided diverse and innovative films to the Northwest, and this year's Festival showcases 130 compelling new films from more than 30 countries, including regional work.
The Opening Night film is Potiche, from director François Ozon (Under the Sand, Swimming Pool, 8 Women). This comedy stars two of the most acclaimed and beloved French actors of all time, Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.
Fantastic World of František Vláčil
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Sunday, 06 February 2011 23:39
- Written by L E Shannon
The Film Society of Lincoln Center presents The Fantastic World of František Vláčil running 
February 2 -10, 2011 at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater in New York City. Appearing in person are actor Jan Kacer (Valley of the Bees) and critic Peter Hames (author of The Czechoslovak New Wave).
A major figure of the 1960s Czech New Wave, albeit a lesser known one, Vláčil’s preferred themes were conformity vs. free expression, and using history to clarify the present. His films have been called “visual poetry”.
His 13th-century epic Marketa Lazarová was voted the greatest Czech film of all time in a 1998 poll, but Vláčil did not stop there. From his first film in 1960, his work spans the genres from children’s tales to critiques of post-WWII Czech politics and society. Forcibly put into hiatus due to accusations of subversion following the Soviet invasion of 1968, Vláčil returned to filmmaking in the late 1970s and remained active until his death in 1999.
Some of the selections screening are:
Marketa Lazarová (1967)
Based on a novel by Vladislav Vancura, and a must-see on the big screen, “Vláčil’s towering medieval masterpiece has justly been compared to Tarkovsky, Eisenstein and Welles for its expressionistic portrait of a pious young woman, Marketa Lazarová, who finds herself caught in the crossfire of a 
violent internal clan rivalry during the shift from Paganism to Christianity.” With Magda Vášáryová, Josef Kemr
The Devil’s Trap / Dáblova past (1961)
This is the first in Vláčil’s cycle of historical epics, set in 16th-century Bohemia in a drought-stricken village. The local miller and his son come under investigation by an Inquisition priest who believes their prosperous mill to be the work of Satan himself. “[T]his gripping account of free will at odds with religious dogma ranks among Vláčil’s finest work.”
The Valley of the Bees / Údolí vcel (1967)
Vláčil’s second foray into medieval mythology recounts the odyssey of a young man, Ondrej, consigned as a boy to a puritanical order of Teutonic Knights following his attempted sabotage of his father’s marriage to a beautiful younger woman. When the adult Ondrej breaks free of the order and returns to his Bohemian village, his ascetic mentor gives chase in an attempt to win back his acolyte. With Jan Kacer (who introduces the film on Feb. 5), Petr Cepek, Vera Galatíková. 
Adelheid (1969)
Vláčil’s first color film is a romantic drama set in the post-WWII Sudetenland, where a former RAF airman is assigned to inventory the estate of a Nazi war criminal whose daughter is assigned to the airman as a servant. This film marks the departure from historic epics to the legacy of World War II, and was also the first film to reflect the Czech persecution of Germans during the expulsions of the mid-1940s. With Petr Cepek, Emma Cerná, Zdenek Mátl.
Smoke on the Potato Fields / Dym bramborove nate (1976)
Vláčil’s first adult drama after his filmmaking hiatus. After many years in France, a doctor returns to Czechoslovakia and sets up practice at a rural clinic. Newly separated from his wife, he soon develops a fatherly bond with a pregnant young woman turned out by her mother.
For further information, visit www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/vlacil.html.
The Fantastic World of František Vláčil
February 2 -10, 2011
Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
165 W. 65th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.
New York City
(212) 875-5601
ReelAbilities 2011
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Sunday, 06 February 2011 02:53
- Written by L E Shannon
The Third Annual ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival is running February 3 - 8, 2011 at Th
e JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue, and other locations throughout the New York metropolitan area. ReelAbilities is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different abilities.
The festival presents award-winning films, discussions and other engaging programs to bring the community together to explore, discuss and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.
The Opening Night film is Anita, a narrative film directed by Marcos Carnevale (Argentina). A young woman with Down syndrome gets separated from her mother after a bomb explodes at their Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires. She is alone for the first time as she searches for her mother.
The Closing Night film is the documentary Wretches & Jabberers, directed by Gerardine Wurzburg (USA). An accomplished artist and an activist, both with autism, embark on a global quest to change attitudes about autism and intelligence.
Other films are:
Reel Encounters
Various (UK/Australia)
A delightful, diverse collection of groundbreaking short films made by and about different deaf communities from around the world.
Narratives:
Me Too
dir. Antonio Naharro, Álvaro Pastor (Spain)
A recent college graduate with Down Syndrome forges a strong bond with a vivacious workmate, but their burgeoning relationship turns complicated when he professes his love to her.
My Spectacular Theater
dir. Lu Yang (China)
A pirate-DVD seller finds refuge and employment in a Beijing movie theater for the blind. As his relationship to the blind community deepens, he finds love, acceptance, and heartbreak.
Documentaries:
Brain Damadj’d…Take II
dir. Paul Nadler (Canada)
Ten years ago, Paul Nadler was an extreme sportsman, award-winning TV director, and a veritable Casanova to boot. When a car accident leaves him with a traumatic brain injury, he sets out to reaffirm he is still is all of these things.
Crooked Beauty
dir. Ken Paul Rosenthal (USA)
This account of artist-activist Jacks Ashley McNamara traces his journey from troubled childhood to psych ward patient to pioneering mental health advocate.
The Last American Freak Show
dir. Richard Butchins (UK)
A motley crew of performers with disabilities turns the American Freak Show on its head as they travel the country exposing bigotry, bucking expectations and challenging preconceptions, one performance at a time.
The Red Chapel
dir. Mads Brügger (Denmark)
A journalist with no scruples and two Danish/Korean comedians—one a self-proclaimed “spastic” with cerebral palsy—travel to North Korea under the guise of cultural exchange. “Mixing biting humor and incisive investigative skills the troupe exposes a totalitarian regime long suspected of shunning its disabled population.”
Wandering Eyes
dir. Ofir Trainin (Israel)
A former Orthodox Jew and recently diagnosed manic depressive, Gabriel Belhassan is the next big thing in the rock music world. Upon being released from a psychiatric facility, he begins work on a solo album, battling myriad daily challenges.
Warrior Champions
dir. Craig Renaud, Brent Renaud (China/US)
Four Iraq War veterans suffering paralysis and the loss of limbs set out to compete in the Paralympic Games, in this “uplifting testament to the human spirit that challenges every notion of what it means to be disabled.”
All films are followed by discussion with filmmakers and speakers.
Other events:
Diversity on Sesame Street
Emily Perl Kingsley is a writer who joined Sesame Street in 1970. Her experience with her son Jason, who was born with Down Syndrome, inspired her to include people with disabilities into the Sesame Street cast.
FREE Players
Family Residences and Essential Enterprises’ (FREE) jazz ensemble of performers with mental and developmental disabilities.
Returning this year is Flame, the band of 11 musicians/performers with developmental and physical disabilities.
IF Created by Heidi Latsky Dance
Heidi Latsky returns with IF, a community-based dance performance with a diverse cast of 20 that is multi-generational, multiracial and of mixed ability.
Music for Autism
An Interactive, "Autism Friendly" Concert with Broadway’s Jersey Boys’ Dominic Nolfi, Dominic Scaglione and Deborah Hurwitz.
Our Time Theater Company
Our Time is a non-profit organization that uses the arts to improve the confidence and communication skills of children who stutter, ages 8-18. The company showcases two original songs and one original play written by children who stutter: “Magical Place,” written by kids ages 8-12, and performed by Julianna Padilla, age 13; “You Don’t Know Hurt,” written by Linda Gjonbalaj, age 15, and performed by Our Time alumni Danielle Diseu; and Anxiety, written by Our Time alumni Ned Bealy and performed by professional actors Ned Eisenberg and Kathryn Grody. The performance will be followed by a talkback with Julianna, Ned, and Danielle. The company is committed to offering its NYC programming free of charge and providing financial aid for its national program, Camp Our Time.
Whitney Signs: Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork
Whitney Signs is a free American Sign Language gallery tour with voice interpretation of Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork.
This major survey of sculptor Charles LeDray features the artist’s works which inspire reflection on the past and on our common humanity. The exhibition “spans the 1980s to the present and celebrates both the artist’s virtuosity with materials and his uncanny manipulation of scale to create seemingly familiar objects that engage our collective memory.”
Seeing with Photography
This Collective is a group of photographers based in New York City who are visually impaired, sighted and totally blind.
Navigating Disability: An Exploration by 4 Artists
Artists Jacks McNamara, Martin Cohen, Emily Eifler and Scott Ligon navigate unique relationships between disability and creative expressions in this exhibition presented by Fountain Gallery, the premier venue for artists with mental illness, and VSA, the international organization on arts and disability. The installation is on view February 3 through April 28 at The Laurie M Tisch Gallery at The JCC in Manhattan. A reception and talk with Artist Jacks McNamara is being held Saturday evening.
For more information, visit www.reelabilities.org.
ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival
February 3 - 8, 2011
The JCC Manhattan
334 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10023
646-505-5738
877-505-6708 - TTY
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Mostly British Film Festival 2011
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Saturday, 05 February 2011 02:36
- Written by Lynne Shannon
The Mostly British Film Festival is running February 3 - 10, 2011, at the Historic Vogue Theatre 
in San Francisco. The Festival includes 26 classic and new movies--many of them award winners--from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.
The Festival opens with West Is West (dir. Andy DeEmmony), as the saga of a Pakistani immigrant family continues. This film is the sequel to East Is East, which is also being screened at the Festival.
The Closing Night film is Boy (dir. Taika Waititi), a coming of age story from New Zealand that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
In between are such treats as the directing debut of actress Rachel Ward, a new film written and directed by the irrepressible Ricky Gervais and his pal Stephen Merchant, and a new version of Dorian Gray (dir. Oliver Parker) starring Colin Firth and Ben Barnes.
A special highlight is a pair of Sir Michael Caine classics in a salute to British Noir. Get Carter (dir. Mike Hodges) was voted one of the 20 best British films of all time. The Ipcress File (dir. Sidney J. Furie) presented the secret service agent as working-class antihero, the antithesis of James Bond slickness.
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (dir. Craig McCall) is a documentary covering the seven-decade-long career of the famed cinematographer, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston and Michael Powell. Included are clips from his work in The African Queen, Red Shoes and Rambo. “A must-see for film buffs, the documentary describes Cardiff's role in the development and use of Technicolor.” 
In conjunction with this documentary is the screening of Michael Powell’s Black Narcissus, with Deborah Kerr and Jean Simmons, for which Cardiff’s cinematography won him an Academy Award™.
From Australia comes another film that stands the test of time: Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, the film that introduced Mel Gibson to the US. This is considered to be one of the best films to come out of Australia.
Also screening are:
Beneath Hill 60, dir. Jeremy Sims (Australia)
This drama tells the true story of a secret platoon of Australian miners who fight to defend a leaking labyrinthine tunnel under the Western Front during World War I. With Brendan Cowell. Winner Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director, Savannah Film Festival.
Solo, dir. David Michôd and Jennifer Peedom (Australia)
Engrossing documentary about Andrew McAuley, who tried to be the first person to kayak solo across the treacherous Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand. An engineer, he thoroughly planned the trip through extreme variations in weather and waves, attaching a camera to his kayak to allow him to record a visual diary. Winner Best Documentary, Australian Film Institute.
Beautiful Kate , dir. Rachel Ward (Australia)
A haunting drama about a dysfunctional family. With Bryan Brown, Rachel Griffiths, Ben Mendelsohn.
Glorious 39, dir. Stephen Poliakoff (UK)
The story of a British upper-crust family as World War II looms. An adopted daughter becomes suspicious that her politician father may be conspiring to appease Hitler. With Julie Christie, Bill Nighy, Christopher Lee.
Nothing Personal, dir. Urszula Antoniak (Ireland)
A touching drama revolving around a distraught Dutch woman who leaves her married life behind to wander alone through western Ireland. With Lotte Verbeek, Stephen Rea. Winner Best First Film, Locarno Film Festival.
This is a delightful selection and a change of pace from most festivals. (It’s also a nice bit of something for those who just can’t seem to get hooked on football.)
For more information, visit www.mostlybritish.org.
Mostly British Film Festival
February 3 - 10, 2011
Historic Vogue Theatre
3290 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 346-2288
