FEARnyc Fest Scares Up Some Cinematic Horror Fun

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 23 September 2016 16:43

Written by Renzo Adler

Ah, fall. The crisp air, the sound of leaves crunching beneath your feet, the proliferation of pumpkin spiced beverages and confections. Oh yes, and demons, monsters, mask murderers, and other things that go bump in the night inhabiting theaters. FEARnyc is returning to Cinema Village (22 East 12th St, New York). Running October 21 - 27, this fest features a whopping 65+ horror films, combining all time classics and new up-and-comers.

Films include:

• Night of the Living Dead
• Psycho
• Hocus Pocus
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• The Lost Boys
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3
• Carnival of Souls
• Lost Creek
• Head
• The Dark Tapes

The festival also features special events screenings. FW Murnau’s 1926 silent classic, Faust, will be accompanied by live music from Ben Singer of Modern Robot. 1980’s camp-fest (and study on werewolf anatomy), Monster Squad, will be presented with a Q&A featuring cast members Duncan Regehr (Count Dracula) and Tom Noonan (Frankenstein's Monster) live and in person!

Dead Awake, the latest film from Final Destination writer Jeffrey Reddick, will premiere at the fest, along with the anticipated remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast, and new documentaries. Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (a look back on the film based on the Stephen King novel) and Resurrecting Carrie (a look back at the musical, based on the movie, based on the Stephen King novel). 1978’s pea-soup-soaked-screamer, The Exorcist, will be opened by a live seance conducted by a “renowned psychic”, and a screening of Halloween will include a Halloween party with candy and games for the audience.

 So when you need some respite from a world of daily grinds and toxic elections, why not take a jaunt to FEARnyc and have a GOOD scare for a change?

To learn more, go to: http://www.fearnyc.com/

FEARnyc
October 21 - 27, 2016

Cinema Village
22 E 12th St.
New York, NY 10003

54th New York Film Fest at Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 15 August 2016 15:56

Written by Brad Balfour

The 13th

Featuring work from around the world from new and legendary directors alike, the 54th New York Film Festival focuses on a theme of “internal landscapes” and “the urgency of self-realization.”

Running from September 30 to October 16 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the festival opens with The 13th, Selma director Ava DuVernay’s documentary on the loophole in the 13th Amendment that allowed for a progression from slavery to the horrors of mass incarceration and the prison industry.

20th Century Women is the Centerpiece film. Directed by Mike Mills, this World Premiere is warm, funny, and a work of passionate comedy.

James Gray’s Lost City of Z, starring Charlie Hunnam as a British explorer on a quixotic search for a lost city in the Amazon, closes the festival.

The 54th New York Film Festival’s main slate features a selection of 25 films from around the globe. Among the other main slate of films are:

• Certain Women
  Directed by Kelly Reichardt
  
  
• Elle
  Directed by Paul Verhoeven
  
  
• Graduation / Bacalaureat
  Directed by Cristian Mungiu
  
  
• I, Daniel Blake
  Directed by Ken Loach
  
  
• Julieta
  Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
  
  
• Manchester by the Sea
  Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
  
  
• Neruda
  Directed by Pablo Larraín
  
  
• Paterson
  Directed by Jim Jarmusch
  
  
• Personal Shopper
  Directed by Olivier Assayas
  
  
• Sieranevada
  Directed by Cristi Puiu

• Things to Come / L’Avenir
  Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve
  
  
• The Unknown Girl
  Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
  
  
• Yourself and Yours
  Directed by Hong Sangsoo

It wouldn’t be a festival without a slate of revivals too.

Kenji Mizoguchi’s classic ghost tale, Ugetsu Monogatari, is on display with a pristine new restoration. Marlon Brando’s sole shot at directing, One-Eyed Jacks, loosely based on the life of Billy the Kid, was the last film shot at Paramount using the VistaVision (an early form of widescreen) and has been restored under the supervision of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

Gillo Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers, a film that is woefully always relevant, follows Algeria’s brutal fight for independence from France, is being screened with a new 4K restoration.

The NYFF also features a section called Convergence, a slate of “non-traditional film experiences” that use virtual reality, augmented reality, and installations that explore themes of war, religion, domestic violence, and life in a hyper connected world.

To learn more, go to: http://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2016/

54th New York Film Festival
September 30 - October 16, 2016

Film Society of Lincoln Center
144 W 65th St.
New York, NY 10023

Women Texas Film Festival: Sugar, Spice, & Grit

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 04 August 2016 22:36

Written by Casey Hernandez

The Women Texas Film Festival, held at the Texas Theatre (231 W Jefferson Blvd, Dallas, TX 75208), showcases the range and depth of female driven visual stories. This film festival isn’t just made of sugar and spice, it's got some grit and gasoline, too.

WTxFF (August 19 - 21, 2016) screens qualified films that have women in at least one key creative role: Writer, Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Composer. The festival also hosts virtual reality demos, game room, Q&As with filmmakers, panel discussions, a master class, exclusive parties, and a gala night with filmmaker red carpet.

In 42 Seconds of Happiness a circle of friends reunite for a weekend away to celebrate the same sex wedding of a member of their group. Yet, despite their best efforts to behave themselves, a series of surprise plans, unexpected arrivals and exposed secrets lead to an explosion of drama that, coupled with the flammable combination of hurt feelings, unresolved tensions, and lots of wine cannot be contained.

Girl Asleep, a vibrant portrayal of Australian adolescence, follows Greta Driscoll as her bubble of obscure loserdom is burst when her parents throw her a surprise 15th birthday party and invite the whole school! Perfectly content being a wallflower, suddenly Greta's flung far from her comfort zone into a distant, parallel place -- a strange world that’s a little frightening and a lot weird, but only there can she find herself. Equal measures Wes Anderson and Lewis Carroll, Girl Asleep is an enchanting journey into the absurd -- and sometimes scary -- depths of the teenage mind.

The festival also has multiple specialized tracks of short films. The “Video Mix Tape” shorts program takes audience members on a visual ride that ranges from the high comedy of a brother and sister who can’t stop bickering as they attempt to choose a casket for a loved one, and two couples that must do some fast thinking to outsmart a magical board game that has transported them to the Old West, to the emotional lows and heart-wrenching drama of a little boy determining the fate of a piggy bank he has come to love, and a prostitute that must make a hard choice in order to provide for her autistic son.

The “Youth” shorts program, many of which were directed by local up-and-coming female filmmakers, features films that deal with the conflicts and hurdles ever-present in the lives of young women, be it dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, escaping poverty, getting out of a day at work in order to head out to the beach, navigating the dating world, or being a transvestite in the unforgiving religious culture in Pakistan.

To learn more, go to: http://womentxff.org

The Women Texas Film Festival
August 19 - 21, 2016

The Texas Theatre
231 W Jefferson Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75208