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Film Festivals
MoMA's "Iberoamerican Images - The State of The Art" This May 1-14
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 28 April 2014 10:54
- Written by Brad Balfour
Still from Mute.
For over 15 years, Ibermedia has been essential in the ascent of Latin American, Spanish, and Portuguese filmmaking. The intergovernmental agency began with seven member countries; today films from over 20 member countries appear on festival schedules and in cinemas the world over.
Ibermedia facilitates and finances co-productions of documentaries and fiction films between its Spanish- and Portuguese-language member countries, and grants money for international distribution and promotion. Professional film organizations from each country sponsoring a proposal select the projects to be helped by the Ibermedia umbrella, thus ensuring each project’s autonomy. Ibermedia has supported over 600 films and provided training for filmmaking professionals
MoMA’s fourth biannual Ibermedia -The State of The Art program offers a number of films that have U.S. distribution and/or a healthy festival run behind them. The museum will present a treasure trove of offerings from filmmakers who seldom get to show their work in the U.S.
Perhaps her most accomplished feature yet, Mercedes Moncada Rodríques' stunning, heartbreaking Magic Words (Breaking a Spell) opens the festival with a weeklong run.
Films by promising new talents from Uruguay, Cuba, and Colombia appear alongside work by seasoned filmmakers like Brazil’s Lúcia Murat, capturing a stirring picture of the state of the medium today, in all its variety and splendor.
Several filmmakers will be present to introduce their films, and on May 3, a special screening and round-table discussion takes place at New York University’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center in conjunction withthe exhibition. All films are in Spanish with English subtitles, unless otherwise noted.
The series is organized by Film Department Curator Jytte Jensen with curatorial intern Jesse Cumming. Prints courtesy the filmmakers and Films Boutique, Film Movement, Habanero Films, Memento Films, Sony Pictures Classics, Talga Films, and Urban Distribution International.
Screening Schedule
Thursday, May 1
7:00p
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
2012 Mexico/Guatemala 82 min]
Written and directed by Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez
In the vein of Chris Marker’s finest essay films, Mercedes Moncada’s Magic Words is both sweeping and deeply personal, exploring 40 years of Nicaraguan history with a voice that is equally erudite, poetic, and indignant. Tracing the fraught Sandinista revolution throughout the 1980s and its aftermath, Moncada examines the impact of grand ideologies, politics, and lingering memories on communities and individuals, in many ways still left raw and reeling. To echo a quote from Marker’s Sans Soleil, Moncada seems to demand: “Who says that time heals all wounds?” Introduced by Moncada.
Friday, May 2
4:00
El Mudo (The Mute)
2013 Peru/Mexico 90 min.
Written and directed by Daniel Vega Vidal, Diego Vega Vidal
With Fernando Bacilio, Lidia Rodríguez, Juan Luis Maldonado
Judge Constantino Zegarra has earned his name as an incorruptible stalwart with an impressive conviction rate. Impervious to sob stories and appeals, he has also earned many enemies, any one of whom could be behind a conspiracy that leaves him demoted and—after a bullet strikes him in the neck—mute. Smart and shrewd (a kind of black comedy version of Michael Haneke’s Caché), The Mute is an exciting and exceedingly fresh take on the political thriller.
7:00
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
Saturday, May 3
1:30
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
4:00
Yvy Maraey: Tierra sin mal (Yvy Maraey: Land without Evil)
2013 Bolivia/Mexico 107 min.
Written and directed by Juan Carlos Valdivia
Based on a story by Valdivia, Elio Ortíz.
With Valdivia, Ortíz
A well-off metropolitan filmmaker hoping to retrace the trail of an early Swedish documentarian travels to the Bolivian highlands in search of savages. Once there, however, he finds his privileged cultural position met with ire more often than awe. Including allusions to documentary classics like Nanook of the North, Valdivia’s film moves beyond the plot itself to probe larger questions of memory, the politics of representation, and the power of cinema, all with sophistication and grace. Valdivia will be present.
NYU King Juan Carlos I Center
53 Washington Square South.
Sunday, May 4
2:00
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
5:00
Yvy Maraey: Tierra sin mal (Yvy Maraey: Land without Evil)
Writer/director Juan Carlos Valdivia will be present.
Monday, May 5
4:00
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
Tuesday, May 6
4:00
No
2012 Chile/Mexico 118 min.
Directed by Pablo Larraín
Screenplay by Pedro Peirano, based on the play by Antonio Skármeta.
With Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers
Set during the 1988 Chilean referendum challenging the rule of President Augusto Pinochet, the fast-moving, entertaining (and Oscar-nominated) No concludes Pablo Larraín’s unofficial trilogy of films detailing life under the former dictator. Gael García Bernal plays René, a bright young ad man enlisted to boost the “No” campaign. To recreate the feel of the era (and seamlessly integrate actual ads and television reports), Larraín shot the film on U-matic magnetic tape.
7:00
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
Wednesday, May 7
4:00
Palabras mágicas (Para romper un entendimiento) (Magic Words [Breaking a Spell])
7:00
A Memória que me contam (Memories They Told Me)
2013 Brazil/Chile 95 min.
Directed by Lúcia Murat
Screenplay by Murat, Tatiana Salem Levy
With Franco Nero, Irene Ravache, Simone Spoladore.
Though the film is set in present-day Brazil, the past hangs palpably over Memories They Told Me. With their friend and former comrade Ana on her deathbed, a group of aging revolutionaries are reunited and forced to grapple with their former accomplishments, failures, and lingering resentments. Wary of self-aggrandizing nostalgia or romanticism, Murat offers an honest, complicated look at youthful idealism and the often uneasy overlap between the personal and the political. In Portuguese; English subtitles.
Thursday, May 8
4:00
La Jaula de oro (The Golden Dream)
2013. Mexico/Spain 102 min.
Directed by Diego Quemada-Diez
Screenplay by Quemada-Diez, Lucia Carreras, Gibrán Portela
With Brandon López, Rodolfo Domínguez, Karen Martínez
One of the most promising debut features in years and winner of the Un Certain Regard award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, The Golden Dream is an assured and impressive addition to a time-honored cinematic tradition of tracing the arduous journey from Central America to “el norte.” Drawn from hundreds of real-life interviews the director conducted with past immigrants, the film balances a vital and unflinching urgency with moments of tranquil lyricism.
7:00
El Mudo (The Mute)
Friday, May 9
4:00
La Demora (The Delay)
2012. Uruguay/Mexico 84 min.
Directed by Rodrigo Plá
Screenplay by Laura Santullo
With Roxana Blanco, Néstor Guzzini, Carlos Vallarino
Forced to care for her increasingly dependent father and three children between shifts at the local textile factory, María feels the world closing in. Unable to afford professional care or secure help, she makes a rash and desperate decision as a means of escape. With an impeccable sense of detail in every shot—whether emphasizing wide-angle symmetry or tight, claustrophobic framing—The Delay is a testament to cinematic restraint and efficiency, eschewing fanfare for a lean and assured austerity. 35mm print.
7:00
No. 2012. Chile/Mexico. Directed by Pablo Larraín. Screenplay by Pedro Peirano, based on the play by Antonio Skármeta. With Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers.
Saturday, May 10
4:00
Yvy Maraey: Tierra sin mal (Yvy Maraey: Land without Evil).
7:30
La Sirga (The Towrope)
2012. Colombia/Mexico 88 min.
Written and directed by William Vega
With Floralba Achicanoy, Joghis Seudin Arias.
As the distraught Alicia arrives at her uncle’s cabin in the Colombian Andes, having escaped a war that left her home village decimated, she attempts to rebuild her life while grappling with lingering fears. With emphasis on sound and visual poetics over dialogue—recalling the hazy, languid worlds of 1970s Andrei Tarkovsky—Vega evocatively details the anxiety of negotiating an unfamiliar environment, even one where beautiful scenery still hints at a hidden menace.
Sunday, May 11
2:00
Melaza (Molasses)
2012. Cuba/Panama 80 min.
Written and directed by Carlos Lechuga
With Yuliet Cruz, Armando Miguel Gómez, Luis Antonio Gotti
With the closure of their town’s sugar mill, a young couple, Aldo and Monica, are pushed to the point of desperation as they struggle to preserve their personal passions and principles. While these are potentially the makings of an overwrought drama, director Carlos Lechuga deftly defies the film’s title and delivers a work this is neither sickly sweet nor exceedingly dark. With acutely drawn characters, a subtle wit, and an understated style that never sacrifices humanism for the cerebral, Molasses heralds the arrival of a distinct new voice in world cinema.
5:00
A Memória que me contam (Memories They Told Me). 2013. Brazil/Chile. Directed by Lúcia Murat. Screenplay by Murat, Tatiana Salem Levy. With Franco Nero, Irene Ravache, Simone Spoladore. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 95 min.
Monday, May 12
4:00
La Sirga (The Towrope) 2012. Colombia/Mexico. Written and directed by William Vega. With Floralba Achicanoy, Joghis Seudin Arias. 88 min.
7:00
La Jaula de oro (The Golden Dream) 2013. Mexico/Spain. Directed by Diego Quemada-Diez. Screenplay by Quemada-Diez, Lucia Carreras, Gibrán Portela. With Brandon López, Rodolfo Domínguez, Karen Martínez. 102 min.
Wednesday, May 14
4:00
Melaza (Molasses)
2012. Cuba/Panama. Written and directed by Carlos Lechuga. With Yuliet Cruz, Armando Miguel Gómez, Luis Antonio Gotti. 80 min.
7:00
La Demora (The Delay)
2012. Uruguay/Mexico. Directed by Rodrigo Plá. Screenplay by Laura Santullo. With Roxana Blanco, Néstor Guzzini, Carlos Vallarino. 35mm. 84 min.
Iberoamérican Images: The State of the Art
May 1–14, 2014
The Museum of Modern Art
Directors Gitai, Pawlikowski Have Local Premieres at New York Jewish Film Festival
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 06 January 2014 22:51
- Written by Jack Angstreich
This year's New York Jewish Film Festival, hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum, runs from January 8th to 23rd, 2014, and features several notable premieres as well as welcome revivals.
New works by distinguished directors include films by Marcel Ophuls, Diane Kurys, Amos Gitai and Pawel Pawlikowski.
Older titles in the series include a 30th anniversary screening of Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders, along with two features selected by the director, a three-film focus on Otto Preminger, and a salute to the legendary titles and poster designer, the late Saul Bass including a rare screening of his one feature, the psychedelic sci-fi thriller Phase IV.
In Gitai's moving Ana Arabia, a young Israeli journalist visits a group of adjacent houses in the midst of which an orchard endures somewhere in the center of Jaffa. Here, several Palestinian Arab families live including one where the mother has recently died, an Auschwitz survivor that had fallen in love with a Muslim and converted to Islam.
Remarkably, the action of the entire feature transpires in a single, complexly choreographed take. Gitai resists the bravura attractions of a similar experiment like Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, preferring to closely and sympathetically observe the subtle interactions of his fascinating cast of characters. The acting and dialogue are in line with Gitai's consistent high standard — his body of work is truly impressive.
Shooting almost entirely away from direct sunlight, the director and his cinematographer achieve an attractive digital image, although not without a real loss of sensuality relative to Gitai's previous features. In conjunction with the screening of Ana Arabia, Gitai will also be leading a free master class on January 19th.
Pawlikowski garnered merited attention for his wonderful first two features; with his new film, Ida, about the discovery by a young convent girl in postwar Poland of her Jewish roots, one hopes that his reputation will be cemented.
Like Ana Arabia, Ida is especially strong in atmosphere, vividly conjuring the period, an effect enhanced by fine performances from its adroit cast. The monochrome digital image here is handsome but lacks the intensity that it could have had in the 35-millimeter format.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center
70 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-6595
212 875 5610
http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/new-york-jewish-film-festival-2014
Museum of the Moving Image Wants You To 'See It Big'
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Friday, 13 December 2013 15:51
- Written by Renzo Adler
The Godfather
The Museum of the Moving Image (6-01 35th Ave, New York, NY) proudly features the work of talented cinematographers in their new exhibition series See It Big: Great Cinematographers, which runs until December 29, 2013. Including work by Gordon Willis, Vittorio Storaro, Vilmos Zsigmond, Néstor Almendros, Raoul Coutard, and James Wong Howe, these are films that are bigger than big, the kind of films that take full advantage of the cinema screen to command your attention.
One of the highlights of the show is a pristine digital projection of The Godfather, the restoration of which was overseen by Francis Ford Coppola, and will be screened December 28.
Dario Argento’s vibrant giallo horror classic Suspiria will be shown on December 15, along with bizarre prison escape flick/Tom Waits starring vehicle from Jim Jarmusch, Down By Law. And for those of you looking for something truly epic in scale, there’s David Lean’s 1965 epic Doctor Zhivago.
Other films being screened include:
- McCabe and Mrs. Miller
- How Green Was My Valley
- Children of Men
- Black Narcissus
- Empire of the Sun
- Fat City
- The Big Combo
- Night of the Hunter
All films will be screened in the Museum of the Moving Image’s sumptuous Redstone Theater. So why hunch over your desktop or squint your eyes looking at a tablet, when you can see some of the best films ever made in one of New York’s true temples to cinema.
To learn more, go to: http://www.movingimage.us/
See It Big: Great Cinematographers
November 8 - December 29, 2013
The Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Ave.
New York, NY 11106
The 5th "In French With Subtitles" Fest
- Details
- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Friday, 06 December 2013 19:02
- Written by Brad Balfour
Amour et Turbulences
With comedies, dramas, thrillers, dark comedies or family movies, the In French With English Subtitles Festival once again offers the diversity and vitality of film from France, the first movie-making country in Europe.
In this 5th edition, this selection reflects a new generation of actors, scriptwriters and directors who are now leading for French cinema. And after every screening there will be a Q&A for the audience to quiz the creators, with host Jerry Carlson leading the debate. Taking place from December 6-8th at The Florence Gould Hall, the festival presents films not yet seen in other venues including a World Premiere for closing night. Each screening and questions/answers are followed by a buffet prepared by the following chefs:
- Jean-Louis Dumonet, Chef JLD Consulting, NY
- Jean-Louis Gerin, NECI Vermont
- Claude Godard, Madison Bistro - Jeanne & Gaston, NY
- Sylvain Harribey, Sofitel NY
- Pierre Landet, Felix NY
- Bernard Liberatore, Core Club, NY
The hall is located within the French Institute-Alliance Francaise (FIAF) but FIAF is not affiliated with "In French With English Subtitles, Inc." and played no role in the planning or production of this film festival.
Gala Night is Friday December 6th 2013 at 7:15 pm
Love is in the air / Amour et Turbulences
On her way back from New York to Paris, where she's soon to be married, Julie finds herself sitting next to Antoine, an attractive cad whom she dated 3 years earlier. She'll do everything she can to avoid him, whereas he's counting on the 7-hour flight to win her back! The spectator will to travel back in time and witness their encounter, their love affair, their break-up... Many extraordinary, romantic, and caustic scenes that will make this journey the most moving one of their lives.
Miserere / La marque des anges-Miserere
In Paris, Lionel Kasdan, a retired police captain, investigates a strange murder: a choirmaster has been found dead in his church, his eardrums shattered, no witnesses.. Frank Salek, an Interpol agent who risks being suspended by his superiors because of his excessive behavior, is on the trail of a secret organization that specializes in kidnapping children. When Salek hears about the choirmaster's death, he thinks he's found a link with his own investigation and accepts to team up with Kasdan. But the more the investigation progresses, the more Salek seems to lose his footing, as though caught up by a deeply buried secret. From then on, the two men will plunge into an affair that finds its source in World War Two's darkest hours.
Tour de Force / La grande boucle
François is passionate about the Tour de France. Fired by his boss and dumped by his wife, he sets off on the Grande Boucle one day ahead of the professional cyclists. Initially alone, others, inspired by his defiance, quickly join him. The obstacles are numerous, but the rumor of his feat spreads. The media goes wild and the crowd cheers him on. The Tour's yellow jersey is enraged. François must be stopped!
Dead Man Talking
Forty-year-old William Lamers, an anonymous criminal sentenced to death for murder is soon to be executed. The procedure is about to take place in an atmosphere of general indifference and neither the condemned man's family nor the relatives of his victims have bothered to come to witness the execution. Only a journalist from local newspaper has turned up to watch the "show."
As the law does not define the duration a condemned prisoner's final words, Lamers will take advantage of this legal void to unwind the story of his life to avoid the death sentence. What was a mere formality rapidly becomes the major issue of a political campaign.
Family Matters / La Fleur de l’âge
Gaspard Dassonville is 63 years old. His lifestyle is half that: a famous television producer, he accumulates thirty-year-old girlfriends and stubbornly ignores any ageing signs. But old age suddenly hits him with a thump: Gaspard is obliged to take in his father, Hubert, who can no longer live alone. An unmanageable old man, Hubert upsets his son's arrangements with illusory youth. The duo becomes a trio when Zana, a nurse's aid with dubious references and a wild imagination, arrives. Both fascinated in their own way by this highly unconventional woman, father and son clash and rediscover each other.
The Big Bad Wolf / Le grand méchant loup
Once upon a time in 2012, three brothers lived happily. One day their mom fell into a coma. So Henri, Philippe, and Louis suddenly started wondering about the meaning of their lives and were swamped by a wave of existential doubts. An entirely new situation for this bourgeois trio in their forties, one which opened a door to the novel and indeed the forbidden... and to the big bad wolf! Remake of 3 p’tits cochons, a Quebec film directed in 2008 by Patrick Huard, this comedy inspects adult life - with a hint of impertinence – a life that is not so far from a children’s fairy tale.
Billy and Buddy / Boule et Bill
Everything begins at the SPCA. A young cocker spaniel lies dejectedly in his cage. He can't find the master of his dreams. Suddenly, a young boy appears, his hair as red as the cocker spaniel's coat. Birds of a feather stick together: it's love at first sight. For Billy and Buddy, it's the beginning of a great friendship. For Billy's parents it's the beginning of trouble... and … of a great family adventure!
The Scapegoat/Au bonheur des ogres
There are those who say that the Malaussène clan are strange, shady, abnormal. But, when you look closely, you note that happiness reigns in this joyfully chaotic family ruled over by a mother who is endlessly falling in love and who has had children by men spread out all over the place. For Benjamin Malaussène, a professional scapegoat in a department store, and the oldest brother responsible for this brood, life is never boring. But when accidents occur wherever he passes by, attracting the attention of the police and his work colleagues, it rapidly becomes vital for him to know why and how these things keep happening, and above all who has got it in for him. To get some answers, Benjamin Malaussène must carry out his own investigation alongside an intrepid journalist nicknamed Aunt Julia.
Trapped/Piégé
A patrol falls into an ambush. At the end of the fight, Denis steps on a landmine. If he lifts his foot, he dies. Stuck in the middle of the desert, he explodes silently and must resist.
To learn more, go to: http://infrenchwithenglishsubtitles.com/?lang=en
In French With English Subtitles Festival
December 6 - 8, 2013
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022
