Beasts of the Southern Wild | Maryland Film Festival Blog

Posts Tagged 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Opens Today in New York and Los Angeles to Rave Reviews!

Published June 27, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar, Sheilah Kast, Tom Hall

Maryland Film Festival and WYPR 88.1FM have teamed up to bring a new Spotlight Series of highly-anticipated, critically-acclaimed independent films to Baltimore, followed by a radio interview of the filmmaker(s) with WYPR’s Tom Hall. These 10-minute radio interviews follow the film screening and are recorded in front of the live audience, to be played on 88.1FM’s Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast radio show.

The first film in our Spotlight Series was Benh Zeitlin‘s epic BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, which was screened on June 5th at MICA with special guest screenwriter Lucy Alibar. This was an exclusive Friends of the Festival sneak preview.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD opens in theaters today in New York and Los Angeles, and opens at the Charles Theater on Friday, July 13th, the day that Tom’s interview with Lucy Alibar airs on WYPR’s Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast.

Check out this excerpt of a review of BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD in today’s Los Angeles Times:

Director Benh Zeitlin and his co-writer Lucy Alibar, a playwright whose “Juicy and Delicious” was the inspiration, have created characters that are wondrously indelible, distinctive of voice and set them inside a story that will unleash a devastating hurricane, and a flood of emotions, before it is done.

This is a remarkably skilled first feature for the filmmakers and its fusion of fable and soulful reality has been widely embraced on the festival circuit starting with Sundance in January, where it won the top prize. Last month it added the prestigious Camera d’Or at Cannes, marking it essentially the best of the best, and no doubt more notice will deservedly follow.

-Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

Click here for the complete Los Angeles Times review!

Also, check out this excerpt of a review of BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD in today’s The New York Times:

This movie is a blast of sheer, improbable joy, a boisterous, thrilling action movie with a protagonist who can hold her own alongside Katniss Everdeen, Princess Merida and the other brave young heroines of 2012.

– AO Scott, The New York Times

Click here for the complete The New York Times review!

Stay tuned for more films to be announced in the MFF/WYPR Spotlight Series, coming soon!

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Wins FIPRESCI Prize, Caméra d’Or, and Ecumenical Jury Mention at Cannes! (MFF Sneak Preview on 6-5!)

Published May 29, 2012 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Behn Zeitlin, Caméra d'Or, Cannes 2012, FIPRESCI, HOLD BACK, IN THE FOG, Lucy Alibar

Quvenzhané Wallis in BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

MFF alum Behn Zeitlin‘s BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD won the FIPRESCI prize and Caméra d’Or at the 2012 International Cannes Film Festival. The film also received a special mention from the Cannes Ecumenical Jury.

The Maryland Film Festival and WYPR’s Maryland Morning will be hosting a sneak preview of BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD with special guest screenwriter Lucy Alibar on Tuesday, June 5th at the MICA Brown Center. Tom Hall of WYPR’s Maryland Morning will interview Lucy Alibar immediately following the screening. The interview will air on July 13th, when BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD opens at the Charles Theater.

Film Synopsis:
Benh Zeitlin’s BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD whisks you to a surreal realm, where little girls and mythical animals coexist in a bayou called The Bathtub, all intertwined in the cosmic mesh of the universe. Hushpuppy (stunning newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis) relentlessly explores her world for answers, to satisfy her curiosity, and to make her budding mark on a world she’s only beginning to comprehend. Click here for film website.

Screening Information:
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD with special guest Lucy Alibar
Tuesday, June 5th
7:00pm
MICA Brown Center

Seating is limited; Friends of the Festival will be given priority. We have a limited amount of FREE PASSES for current Friends of the Festival. Friends of the Festival: email angie @ mdfilmfest.com with your name in message body for a chance to win free passes.

FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique, or International Federation of Film Critics) is one of the three juries at Cannes (the other two being the official jury and the Ecumenical jury). It was founded in 1930 in Brussels, Belgium and awards prizes to exceptional films at several festivals including Cannes, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, and the Warsaw International Film Festival.

The Caméra d’Or (“Golden Camera”) is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes’ selections. This year’s prize was awarded to Behn Zeitlin for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD also received a special mention from the Cannes Ecumenical Jury, which has bestowed an independent film award to feature films at Cannes since 1974. The purpose of the award is to “honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes.”

Praise for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD:

“One of the most striking films ever to debut at the Sundance film festival”
– Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

“Among the best films to play at Sundance in two decades…Hauntingly beautiful both visually and in the tenderness it shows towards the characters.”
-Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“A startlingly beautiful and daringly creative film that runs free of Hollywood formula.”
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Sundance Update: Children’s Performances Rock the Festival, MFF Alum So Yong Kim’s FOR ELLEN

Published January 29, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Beasts of the Southern Wild, FOR ELLEN, LUV, So Yong Kim, Sundance 2012, THE END OF LOVE

So Yong Kim answers questions after the screening of FOR ELLEN. Her husband and producer, Ryan Smith, is holding their child.

Everyone is talking about the amazing performances from children in this festival. There are many notable performances, maybe starting with writer/director Mark Webbers’ two-year old son, his supporting actor in THE END OF LOVE, and certainly including LUV‘s Mark Rainey, Jr. and the remarkable Quvenzhane Wallis, the six-year old who anchors BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.

The young actress Shaylena Mandigo, another six-year old, plays the title character in MFF alum So Yong Kim’s FOR ELLEN, and gives one of those mostly quiet and powerful performances that perfectly fit the film she’s in. Kim found her in a PE class in Massena, NY where the movie is set. Paul Dano plays her Dad – he’s the center of the film and also gives a great performance. Their scenes together are heartbreaking.

–Jed Dietz, Friday, January 27

Sundance Update: BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD a A Mythic Masterpiece

Published January 24, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, Glory at Sea, Lucy Alibar, Sundance 2012

We had all admired Benh Zeitlin’s short, GLORY AT SEA, sent to us a couple years ago by filmmaker, journalist, and MFF alum Michael Tully.

But, even that couldn’t prepare me for Benh’s first feature, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, premiering here. It came out of the Sundance Labs and was written by Dudley Clendenin’s niece, Lucy Alibar (Dudley has ALS and has been doing that remarkable WYPR series with Tom Hall. I didn’t know about his connection to Lucy and the film until I got emails from him here after I’d seen the film).

Mythic and visually indescribable, the movie deals with the profoundest issues of family and our dangerous disconnect from nature. Anchored by an amazing performance by non actor Quvenzhane Wallis, who is 8 or 9, it is too audacious to be an easy sell. I pray we can show to you in May. It is why Sundance was invented.

–Jed Dietz