Dances With Film Los Angeles: Anxiety, Infidelity, Personal Discovery

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 16 June 2023 17:43

Written by Brad Balfour

Dances With Film has been running since 1998 as an independent film fest outside the realm of Hollywood royalty and bringing together independent film makers. This year’s DWF runs from June 22nd to July 2 at TCL Chinese Theaters, with shorts, features, docs and more that are stirring, heartfelt, funny, and offbeat.

BIBI, written and directed by Christopher Beatty,  is a gripping psychological thriller that delves into the unraveling mind of Vivian Ashwood, a grieving mother struggling to cope with her tragic loss. Haunted by her past and tormented by a mysterious stalker, Vivian's grasp on reality begins to slip as she battles her anxieties and dependencies on prescription medication and alcohol. Vivian's world blurs as her routine nightmares merge with her waking reality, leaving her trapped in a disorienting web of fear and uncertainty.

Katie’s Mom, is a comedy influenced by The Graduate, but told from the perspective of a protagonist inspired by Mrs. Robinson. Directed by Tyrrell Shaffner, Katie’s Mom is about Nancy Rosenfeld (Dina Meyer), a nurturing mom and recent divorcée, whose beloved Jewish/Christmas mashup holiday celebration with her adult children is derailed when she falls for Alex Rojas (Aaron Dominguez), her daughter's charming new boyfriend. Their electrifying affair upends her status quo and sets her on a path to becoming the woman she was meant to be. 

Heightened, from director Sara Friedman, is a comedic story about facing the hardships of anxiety. Following a mental breakdown, social anxiety and OCD-riddled Nora (Sara Friedman) returns to Maine to live with her emotionally distant parents (Sarah Clarke and Xander Berkeley). While she undergoes court-ordered psychiatric treatment, Nora’s world is further upended when she is assigned to volunteer at a local state park. Her awkward assignment actually shows promise when her anxiety subsides in the company of her new supervisor Dusty (Dave Register), who is dealing with crippling issues of his own. Maybe Nora and Dusty can help each other overcome the obstacles their socially complicated world presents to them.

Check the festival’s website for more info on additional films and events around the Dances With Film fest.

To learn more, go to: https://danceswithfilms.com/

Dances With Film Los Angeles
June 22 - July 2, 2023

TCL Chinese Theatres
6925 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90028

Cinecittà in Manhattan with Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2023

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 31 May 2023 21:25

Written by Brad Balfour

The Hummingbird 

The summer festival season brings the return of the open skies and the Open Roads. Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà present the 22nd edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, running from June 1 to 8, 2023.

Open Roads: New Italian Cinema features an extensive lineup of contemporary Italian films, mixing emerging talents and longtime veterans; commercial and independent fare; and outrageous comedies, gripping dramas, and captivating documentaries. The opening-night screening is Francesca Archibugi’s latest feature The Hummingbird, adapted from Sandro Veronesi’s Strega Prize-winning novel, an at once epic and intimate chronicle of love and familial ups and downs that spans six decades and three generations, featuring Pierfrancesco Favino, Berenice Bejo, Laura Morante, Nanni Moretti, and others.

Other films being screened include Gianni Amelio’s Lord of the Ants, a deeply stirring biopic of the poet/playwright Aldo Braibanti; Roberto Andò’s 12th feature Strangeness, which stars Toni Servillo as Nobel Prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello, who, on a trip to his native Sicily in 1920, encounters a pair of gravediggers/aspiring actors and unexpectedly arrives at the idea for what will ultimately become his signature work.  This year’s presentation includes a focus on Mario Martone, one of the key Italian filmmakers of the past 40 years, who has completed 17 features since his 1992 theatrical feature debut Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician. Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà pay homage to Martone (a perennial presence in the Open Roads lineup) by showcasing his most recent fiction film, Nostalgia, alongside two essential works from earlier in his career: 1995’s Troubling Love (co-written with Elena Ferrante) and 2014’s Leopardi.

To learn more, go to: https://www.filmlinc.org/festivals/open-roads-new-italian-cinema/

Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2023

June 1 - 8, 2023

Film at Lincoln Center - Walter Reade Theater
165 W 65th St.
New York, NY 10023

NewFest Pride: Queer Cinema Around the World & NYC

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 30 May 2023 20:00

Written by Brad Balfour

Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Held at New York’s SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street) and online, NewFest Pride celebrates Pride Month with a slate of LGBTQ+ cinema. Founded in 1988, NewFest is New York’s largest presenter of LGBTQ+ film & media and the largest convener of LGBTQ+ audiences in the city. NewFest Pride, running June 1st to the 5th, is a mini festival for Pride Month, with nine films (six narrative features and three documentaries). The festival also includes filmmaker Q&As and social events for attendees.

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture is a documentary follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of homophobia amongst Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946. Director Sharon “Rocky” Roggio chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations, and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice.  In Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto, two teenage Mexican-American loners in 1987 El Paso explore a new, surprising friendship and the tough road to self-discovery. The screening will be followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Having a special free outdoor screening at Meatpacking District's Gansevoort Plaza is the documentary Stroll. Stroll examines the history of New York’s Meatpacking District, from the perspective of transgender sex workers who lived and worked there. Filmmaker Kristen Lovell, who walked “The Stroll” for a decade, reunites her community to recount the violence, policing, homelessness, and gentrification they overcame to build a movement for transgender rights. The screening will include an introduction by directors Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker, producer Matt Wolf, and the subjects of The Stroll.

Screening exclusively on virtual platforms is Before I Change My Mind, from director Trevor Anderson. Before I Change My Mind follows an androgynous teen forging a complicated bond with the bully at their new school, set against the backdrop of 1980s America. The film will be followed by a virtual filmmaker Q&A.

This is a sampling of the NewFest Pride films being shown. NewFest’s mission statement is “…to give voice and visibility to the wide scope of LGBTQ+ experiences through films and programs that entertain, educate & empower.”

To learn more, go to: https://newfest.org/newfest-pride/

NewFest Pride
June 1 - 5, 2023

SVA Theatre
333 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011