Intrigue & Pandemics at the 18th Making Waves New Romanian Cinema Film Fest

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 27 March 2024 18:37

Written by Brad Balfour

MMXX

Taking place across three Manhattan venues (IFC Center, Roxy Cinema New York, and DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema), the 18th edition of the Making Waves New Romanian Cinema Film Festival showcases the best of contemporary Romanian filmmaking and a couple of unmissable cult classics. Running March 27 to April 2, the festival includes the US premiere of Cristi Puiu's uncompromising MMXX, a 4-episode anthology set against the start of the COVID pandemic.

Libertate by Tudor Giurgiu and Occasional Spies by Oana Bujgoi Giurgiu, are both historical reenactments of lesser-known chapters of the Romanian Revolution and World War II, respectively. Thrill-seekers can get their fix with Boss by Bogdan Mirică, a unique exploration of the noir genre within the current landscape of Romanian cinema.

Documentary aficionados can unlock the past with Vlad Petri’s inventive mix of archival material and literary fiction in Between Revolutions, and immerse themselves in a nuanced examination of a bewildering case of bureaucratic absurdity with Ilinca Călugăreanu’s darkly humorous A Cautionary Tale.

To learn more, go to: https://makingwaves.filmetc.org

Making Waves New Romanian Cinema
March 27 - April 2, 2024

IFC Center
Roxy Cinema New York
Firehouse Cinema

Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection Film Series Looks Back at 1974

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 21 March 2024 19:55

Written by Brad Balfour

1974 was a year that shook cinema as auteurs, punks, outsiders, and fledgling visionaries converged. Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection - 1974, running March 22 to the 28th at the Paris Theater in NYC is a look back at that momentous year and the works of directors such as John Waters, Martin Scorsese, and John Cassavetes.

Several lucky patrons at Saturday's 11:15am show of The Conversation will be selected at random to receive an exclusive mini-poster, personally signed by Francis Ford Coppola! Introducing the 6:30 pm show of Chinatown on March 22 will be noted entertainment journalist Jordan Hoffman (freelance critic and member of the New York Film Critics Circle).

On March 23, Introducing the 11:15 am show of The Conversation will be journalist and filmmaker Laura Poitras, whose works often deal with the intersection of technology, privacy and the creative spirit. Over the years, her documentary journalism has been recognized with an Academy Award, the George Polk Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Peabody Award. The 2:00 pm show of The Traveler on March 23 will be Introduced by filmmaker and author Godfrey Cheshire, co-founder of the Iranian Film Festival New York and author of In the Times of Kiarostami: Writings on Iranian Cinema. Introducing the 9:25 pm show of Female Trouble on March 23 will be John Early, comedian (Now More Than Ever) and actor (The Afterparty, the upcoming Stress Positions). John once asked his Search Party co-star, John Waters, for help adopting a baby.

Introducing the on March 24th show at 1:35 pm of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three will be Bruce Goldstein, Repertory Artistic Director at Film Forum. Introducing the 6:55 pm show of A Woman Under the Influence on March 26 will be Columbia University Film Professor Annette Insdorf. Ms. Insdorf is the moderator of the popular Reel Pieces series at Manhattan’s 92Y, where she has interviewed over 300 film celebrities.

The 7:00 pm show of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore on March 28 will be Introduced by Stephanie Zacharek, film critic at TIME. Ms. Zacharek is the recipient of a Newswoman’s Club of New York award, and was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Films being screened are:

• Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (New 35mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive)
• Amarcord (shown in 35mm)
• Badlands (shown in 35mm)
• Blazing Saddles
• California Split
• Chinatown (shown in 35mm)
• The Conversation (Shown in 35mm. Several patrons, selected at random at the show, will receive an exclusive mini-poster, personally signed by Francis Ford Coppola)
• Female Trouble
• Foxy Brown (New DCP restoration)
• The Parallax View (shown in 35mm)
• The Phantom of Liberty (shown in 35mm)
• Solomon King
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (shown in 35mm)
• The Traveler
• A Woman Under the Influence (shown in a new restored 35mm print)

To learn more, go to: https://www.paristheaternyc.com/

Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection - 1974
March 22 - 28, 2024

The Paris Theater
4 West 58th Street
New York, NY 10019

11th Annual Socially Relevant Film Festival New York

Details

Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 12 March 2024 14:26

Written by Brad Balfour

Now in its 11th installment, the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival, NY (SRFF) covers a broad range of social issues from film makers the world over. Running March 13 to 18th at venues across NYC, the festival has 53 films, with the Official Selection, including the short films lineup, being featured virtually as well as in person screenings. The themes grouping films together include 100 Years of Armenian Cinema, Black History Month, BIPOC films, Aging and Disability, Women, LGBTQI+, and more. 

On Sunday, March 17th is a special spotlight screening of the 1966 Armenian film Barev Yes Em (Hello It's Me). One of the historic milestones of Armenian cinema, inspired by the lives of two physicists and with the participation of three actors from Soviet cinema’s hall of fame: Rolan Bykov (Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev), Armen Dzhigarkhanyan (Zero City and The Assassin of the Tsar from Karen Shakhnazarov) and Margarita Terekhova (The Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky) in her film debut.Hello, Hello It’s Me was released in the Soviet Union in the spring of 1966 to wide acclaim and is now presented in a new restoration which was previously shown at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 in the Cannes Classics section.

Other films being screened include:

• Bleecker
• Citrotoxic
• From Life to Life
• I Am Gitmo
• Maya
• Valley of Exile
• Return to Eden
• Trust in Love

And many more

"We’re proud to have had the opportunity to present 700 socially relevant films from 40 countries over the past 10 years. The work of talented and dedicated filmmakers has offered us the bonus of learning about the human condition, filmmaking, and ways of engaging an audience, as the first steps towards raising awareness of social issues." Festival Founding Artistic Director Nora Armani said.

To learn more, go to: https://www.ratedsrfilms.org/

11th Annual Socially Relevant Film Festival New York
March 13 - 18, 2024

Various venues in NYC and Online