Posts Tagged 'Verena Paravel'

TWELVE MORE FEATURES ANNOUNCED FOR MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL 2013!

Published April 16, 2013 Uncategorized 2 Comments
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Good Ol' Freda production still horizontal

GOOD OL’ FREDA

Maryland Film Festival is proud to announce a dozen more titles for our 2013 edition, bringing the total number of features revealed to 36 thus far.  Our fifteenth annual festival, which will take place May 8-12 in downtown Baltimore, has expanded to 5 days and will include approximately 50 features and 9 shorts programs.  We will also present a silent classic with an original score performed live by the Alloy Orchestra and a favorite film selected and hosted by legendary director John Waters!

The diverse round of titles announced today includes work from Finland, Mexico, Austria, and Israel, and such titles as Zach Clark’s holiday-themed, darkly comic White Reindeer; Alex Winter’s riveting look at the rise and fall of Napster, Downloaded; Jessica Oreck’s experiential documentary about a family of reindeer herders, Aatsinki; and Calvin Reeder’s surreal, horror-tinged mindbender about a mysterious loner, The Rambler.

More MFF 2013 lineup announcements are coming soon! If you haven’t seen them yet, make sure to check the 24 features we announced last week! For all the latest information, continue to visit this blog, and follow us at facebook.com/MarylandFilmFestival and on Twitter, @MdFilmFestival.

Today’s announced features for Maryland Film Festival 2013 are:

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16 ACRES

16 Acres (Richard Hankin) From the editor and co-producer of Capturing the Friedmans comes this riveting and nuanced documentary look at the rebuilding of Ground Zero—one of the most architecturally, politically, and emotionally complex urban renewal projects in history.

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AATSINKI: THE STORY OF ARCTIC COWBOYS

Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys (Jessica Oreck) One year in the life of a family of reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland yields an immersive study of hard work, hard earned leisure, and an intricate bond between man and nature. From the director of Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo.

Before You Know It (P J Raval) This observational documentary raises the curtain on a profoundly neglected segment of the LGBT community, its senior population, as three gay men residing in very different regions of the U.S. face new life challenges.

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BLUEBIRD

Bluebird (Lance Edmands) In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman’s tragic mistake shatters the balance of the community, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences.

Downloaded (Alex Winter) With remarkable insight and access, this documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of Napster, taking a close look at the internet mavericks and musicians involved and the lasting global impact of peer-to-peer file sharing.

Here_Comes_The_Devil

HERE COMES THE DEVIL

Here Comes the Devil  (Adrián García Bogliano) From Mexico comes this horror film concerning disappeared children and panicked parents, offering ever-escalating thrills as it heads to increasingly bloody, diabolical, and even psychedelic territory.

Fill the Void (Rama Burshtein) This drama set in Tel Aviv’s Orthodox community centers around 18-year-old Shira, who faces unexpected life challenges when her older sister dies.

Good Ol’ Freda (Ryan White) Freda Kelly was just a shy Liverpudlian teenager when she was asked to work for a local band hoping to make it big. That band was The Beatles, and Freda was their devoted secretary and friend for 11 years; this documentary tells her story—and the story of the world’s most famous band through her eyes.

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MUSEUM HOURS

Museum Hours (Jem Cohen) From the director of Benjamin Smoke and Instrument comes this gentle and expertly crafted drama about a Vienna museum guard and the friendship he forms with a woman visiting town to care for a sick friend.

THE RAMBLER_Lindsay Pulsipher and Dermot Mulroney shooting_photo by Juliana Halvorson

THE RAMBLER

The Rambler (Calvin Reeder) Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, and Natasha Lyonne star in the latest psychotronic vision from the director of The Oregonian, in which a mysterious loner, newly released from prison, sets out on a journey filled with bizarre characters and warped experiences.

We Always Lie to Strangers (AJ Schnack and David Wilson) A documentary story of family, community, music and tradition, built over five years and set against the backdrop of Branson, Missouri, one of the biggest tourist destinations in America.

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WHITE REINDEER

White Reindeer (Zach Clark) After an unexpected tragedy, Suzanne searches for the true meaning of Christmas during one sad, strange December in suburban Virginia. From the director of Vacation! and Modern Love Is Automatic.

Previously Announced Titles for 2013:

12 O’CLOCK BOYS (Lotfy Nathan)

AFTER TILLER (Martha Shane and Lana Wilson)

AUGUSTINE (Alice Winocour)

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO (Peter Strickland)

COMPUTER CHESS (Andrew Bujalski)

DRINKING BUDDIES (Joe Swanberg)

HIT & STAY (Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk)

I AM DIVINE (Jeffrey Schwarz)

I USED TO BE DARKER (Matt Porterfield)

IF WE SHOUT LOUD ENOUGH (Gabriel DeLoach and Zach Keifer)

IT FELT LIKE LOVE (Eliza Hittman)

LEVIATHAN (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel)

THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY (Sophie Fiennes)

PIT STOP (Yen Tan)

POST TENEBRAS LUX (Carlos Reygadas)

PRINCE AVALANCHE (David Gordon Green)

SWIM LITTLE FISH SWIM (Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar)

A TEACHER (Hannah Fidell)

THIS IS MARTIN BONNER (Chad Hartigan)

TOUCHY FEELY (Lynn Shelton)

V/H/S/2 (omnibus)

WATCHTOWER (Pelin Esmer)

WILLOW CREEK (Bobcat Goldthwait)

ZERO CHARISMA (Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews)

MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL 2013 LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENTS CONTINUE

Published April 11, 2013 Uncategorized 4 Comments
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iamdivine_Lynn_Davis

I AM DIVINE

Maryland Film Festival continues to announce titles for its fifteenth annual edition today, unveiling a dozen more feature films in their 2013 lineup.  Within this second round of announced titles are two highly anticipated documentaries with Baltimore subjects, Jeffrey Schwarz’s loving and definitive portrait I Am Divine (photo above), and Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk’s Catonsville Nine documentary Hit & Stay; a wide range of international films including Augustine (France), Berberian Sound Studio (UK), Post Tenebras Lux (Mexico), and Watchtower (Turkey); Sundance 2013 breakthrough dramas A Teacher and This Is Martin Bonner; and the latest from David Gordon Green, Prince Avalanche.

MFF 2013 will take place May 8-12 in downtown Baltimore, and lineup announcements will continue next week. Together with the titles revealed in a first announcement Tuesday, today’s news brings the total of announced MFF 2013 titles thus far to twenty-four.

More lineup announcements are coming soon! For all the latest information, continue to visit this blog, and follow us on Facebook and on Twitter, @MdFilmFestival.

The latest announced titles for MFF 2013 are:

Photo still from AUGUSTINE.

AUGUSTINE

Augustine (Alice Winocour) Set in Belle Epoque France, Alice Winocour’s provocative period piece chronicles the sexual awakening of a female patient in a mental hospital for women suffering from “hysteria.”

Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland) In the 1970s, a gifted but reclusive British sound engineer begins having ever-escalating strange experiences the mirror that Italian horror film on which he’s working.

Drinking Buddies (Joe Swanberg) Kate and Luke form a close bond working together at a Chicago craft brewery—but as the line between friendship and romance gets blurry, cracks begin to show, both in the workplace and their personal lives. Starring Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson, and Ron Livingston.

Photo still from Skizz Czyzk and Joe Tropea's HIT & STAY.

HIT & STAY

Hit & Stay (Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk) This Baltimore-made documentary tells the story of the radical priests, nuns, and everyday people who comprised the Baltimore Four and the Catonsville Nine, risking prison to challenge U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

I Am Divine (Jeffrey Schwarz) From the director of Vito comes the definitive documentary look at actor, singer, and drag icon Harris Glenn Milstead, better known as Divine; featuring extensive interviews with John Waters and many others who knew, loved, and worked with Divine.

Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel) Functioning as both an immersive experiential documentary about modern commercial fishing and a feature-length experimental film, Leviathan offers an explosive and chaotic sensory experience like no other.

Photo still from POST TENEBRAS LUX.

POST TENEBRAS LUX

Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas) The director of challenging art-house favorites Battle in Heaven and Silent Light returns with his most personal and transgressive film yet, a masterful meditation on natural wonder, sudden violence, and the human condition.

Photo still from PRINCE AVALANCHE.

PRINCE AVALANCHE

Prince Avalanche (David Gordon Green) Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch star as highway workers with a bumpy history paired for a project in a remote location in this charming blend of comedy and drama from the director of George Washington and Pineapple Express.

Photo still from SWIM LITTLE FISH SWIM.

SWIM LITTLE FISH SWIM

Swim Little Fish Swim (Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar) In this offbeat French/U.S. co-production with notes of deadpan comedy and romance, hardworking Mary’s frustration with her idealistic husband Leeward mounts when a vivacious young French woman enters their life.

Photo still from Hannah Fiddell's A TEACHER.

A TEACHER

A Teacher (Hannah Fidell) Diana, a young suburban high-school teacher, seems to be leading a pleasant, if placid, life—but behind closed doors, she’s risking it all for an affair with one of her students.

This Is Martin Bonner (Chad Hartigan) Fifty-something Martin Bonner looks for a new beginning in Reno, working with released prisoners for a faith-based organization. This subtle and moving character study won the Sundance 2013 Best of Next Audience Award.

Photo still from WATCHTOWER.

WATCHTOWER

Watchtower (Pelin Esmer) Plagued by tragedy and guilt, a man takes a job in a remote corner of Turkey—but the solitary new life he builds for himself is challenged by the arrival of a young woman, also running from her past.

Toronto Film Fest 2012 Wrap-Up from the MFF Programming Team

Published September 18, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
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Director Alice Winocour of AUGUSTINE at TIFF 2012.

TIFF is an eleven-day festival that opens with a burst of excitement palpable throughout this metropolis of 2.5 million people, as buzz films and celebrity sightings become the talk of the town. A very different and almost curious mood permeates the last few days of the festival. Most films have screened twice already, and for their third and final screenings there are fewer filmmakers present, resulting in somewhat smaller crowds in the festival’s 20+ auditoriums—not to mention increasingly bloodshot eyes and a cicada-like chorus of sneezes and sniffles.

That said, the often-lighter crowds and lack of Q+As that mark many screenings make the final days of TIFF a great opportunity for the diehard cinephiles to jump in and smoothly attend 5 or more films a day. That’s exactly what the MFF programming team did, walking away with heaping plates from TIFF’s heaping buffet line of international and indie films (while being mindful not to make contact with the sneezeguard). The results? Some of the very best films we saw at TIFF this year, including:

Actor Nathalia Acevedo of POST TENEBRAS LUX answers questions at TIFF 2012.

POST TENEBRAS LUX – The new film from young provocateur Carlos Reygadas (BATTLE IN HEAVEN, SILENT LIGHT) masterfully touches down on issues of class, family, sex, and animal cruelty. Its sumptuous, otherworldly exterior shots use unconventional lensing to render a rural Mexican landscape but fantastical and warped. Audiences will be puzzling through this challenging film, a narrative with transgressive- and experimental-film elements, for years to come.

IN ANOTHER COUNTRY – Offbeat South Korean humorist Hong Sang-soo brings Isabelle Huppert into his unique comic fold with this story of three French women, all named Anne and all played by Huppert, who visit a small coastal village in S. Korea and encounter the same cluster of offbeat characters. One of the three Annes is a French film director, reportedly modeled after frequent Huppert director Claire Denis (an MFF staff favorite). Winning notes of Bunuel sound throughout, but the voice sounding these notes is singularly Hong’s—and this is both one of his best films and the one most likely to cross over to larger art-house audiences.

Director Don Coscarelli of JOHN DIES AT THE END at TIFF 2012.

JOHN DIES AT THE END—One of TIFF’s most popular programs is its nightly Midnight Madness series, and this new mind-melter from PHANTASM director Don Coscarelli was arguably the best cult film of the fest. Based on the novel of the same name, Philip K. Dick collides with Bill and Ted in this fun, high-energy story of a mysterious new drug that opens minds to other dimensions.

(L to R) TIFF Programmer Andrea Picard, Director Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Director Verena Paravel of LEVIATHAN at TIFF 2012.

LEVIATHAN—This film about large-scale commercial fishing off the coast of New Bedford, MA was perhaps the festival’s most visceral experience, crossing over from documentary into the realm of experimental film as it eschews interviews for violent bursts of location sound and unflinching (and sometimes unrecognizable) imagery of the vessel, the ocean, the sky above, and the bloody culling of each day’s catch. Co-director Lucien Castaing-Taylor directed the acclaimed pastoral documentary SWEETGRASS — also a visually splendid film, but of a very different look and tone.

 

(L to R) HERE COMES THE DEVIL Director Adrían García Bogliano, actor Laura Caro, producer Andrea Hernandez, and actor Francisco Barreiro at TIFF 2012.

HERE COMES THE DEVIL—Also from Mexico, director Adrían García Bogliano‘s gory horror film has one foot rooted firmly in the art-house, drawing heavy inspiration from Peter Weir’s mysterious classic PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK. A Mexican production from an Argentine director backed by U.S. money, this was a prime example of a creative, international genre-film production that knows its audience well.

AUGUSTINE – French director Alice Winocour impresses with this strong debut feature concerning the prevalence of institutionalizing young women under the catch-all diagnosis of hysteria in 19th Century Europe. Young servant Augustine suffers a seizure during a dinner party at her employer’s home. She is quickly whisked off to a psychiatric hospital where she becomes the star subject of the prominent Dr. Charcot’s neurological experiments. As she becomes aware of her illness, she gains insight into the dynamics of her institutionalization and her doctor’s motives, thus altering the balance of power between doctor and patient. Several films on similar subjects have been made in recent years (most notably Cronenberg‘s A DANGEROUS METHOD); what sets this one apart is a decidedly female perspective and an excellent insight into the devastating effects of a repressed, patriarchal society on women’s sexuality. Smart, gritty, and frank in its depiction of the time (with plenty of lessons for the present), this is not your average period costume puff piece.

THE CREMATOR – Chinese director Peng Tao‘s 3rd feature centers on the relationship between Cao, a lonely undertaker, and Xiuqiao, a young woman who is far from home on a journey to uncover the whereabouts of her sister. Cao may know something of the sister’s whereabouts, but is reluctant to share this information with Xiuqiao, until an unforeseen turn of events causes him to divulge. Interspersed with striking tableaus depicting Chinese funerary rites, THE CREMATOR is a beautiful and deliberately paced film that holds many subtle rewards.

– Eric Allen Hatch, Director of Programming

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