Divine Order (2017) opens friday

I bet you didn't know that until the early 1970's women could not vote in Switzerland. They didn't have many rights either since the Divine Order of things was to defer to the men. DIVINE ORDER is a film about the vote to give women the vote in what one would think would have been a progressive country.

Focsing on a woman named Nora who lives in a small town the film is an account of how women who didn't think to much about politics became political and worked to get women the vote.

Tat may sound dry and bumpy, but the truth is the film is a charming tale of one woman, her family and her growing circle of friends at a moment where things changed. While the conclusion of the story may seem like a given one that is not the case. The truth of the matter is that nothing is certain and as the end credits state women were still fighting for ome rights until very recently.

That the film works as well as it does is thanks to the fact that the film is ultimately about characters. Unlike the recent SUFFRAGETTE which at times seemed to be about the poltis more than the people, DIVINE ORDER never leaves its characters. There is more going on than the right to vote, this about one woman and her friends looking to change their lives on all sorts of levels-even sexual. I laughed out loud and I was moved to tears.

This is a wonderful wonderful movie.

Highly recommended

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR MY FIRST FILM FEST 2, NOVEMBER 10-12

Second annual festival for kids features family-friendly selections from around the world, silent classics, thoughtful documentaries, and more 

 Plus special animation workshop and work-in-progress screening of footage from upcoming feature Ferdinand

I Kill Giants

New York, NY (October 18, 2017) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the second edition of My First Film Fest, which aims to bring the singular excitement and vibrancy of the festival experience to burgeoning movie lovers, November 10-12.

This year’s lineup offers a bounty of selections appropriate for children of all ages—adults included. This weekend-long event brings action, adventure, and creativity to the Upper West Side, featuring under-the-radar titles from around the world, cartoon showcases, cherished anime features, as well as free educational screenings of films that promote cultural awareness and diversity.

Highlights include a work-in-progress presentation of upcoming animated feature Ferdinand, with the director in person and a special hands-on animation workshop; the U.S. Premiere of I Kill Giants, an exhilarating emotional odyssey based on the acclaimed comic-book series by Joe Kelly, with the author in person; the spectacularly gorgeous animated adventure Mune: Guardian of the Moon; a selection of the best short films from this year’s New York International Children’s Film Festival; a restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s personal favorite of his own films, The Gold Rush; dance drama Polina, about a ballerina following her dreams, with filmmakers Valérie Müller & Angelin Preljocaj in person; family favorite Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory on 35mm; and more.

Organized by Florence Almozini, Rufus de Rham, and Tyler Wilson.

Tickets go on sale October 26. Special family passes and ticket prices will be available! Learn more at filmlinc.org.

My First Film Fest 2 is sponsored by Go-Go Squeez and Noosa Finest Yoghurt, which will be sampled during the festival.

Acknowledgments:New York International Children’s Film Festival; UniFrance

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS

The Best of the 2017 New York International Children's Film Festival: Kid Flix 2TRT: 77mExplore new worlds without leaving the theater! Kid Flix 2 includes a selection of shorts made up of audience favorites and award winners from the 20th-anniversary edition of New York International Children’s Film Festival, the nation’s largest film fest for kids and teens.
Ages 8 and upSaturday, November 11, 2:30pm

Outdoor Cinema
Tatiana Poliektova, Russia/Australia, 2014, 3mThe best cinema of all reflects what is right in front of us, in this homage to all things that capture our eye.

Riceballs
Shingo Usami, Australia, 2015, 10mA father and son work their way past loss to strengthen cultural bonds in the unlikeliest of places: the lunchbox.

Nino & Felix
Marta Palazzo & Lorenzo Latrofa, Italy, 2015, 8mNino and Felix, two boys thrown together by circumstance, must learn to work it out in fantastical fashion to find common ground.

Little Mouse
Ervin B. Nagy, Hungary, 2016, 7mEleven-year-old “Little Mouse” is a naturally gifted swimmer who earned a spot at the Bucharest Youth Championship. Will she have what it takes to out-lap the big kids?

Welcome to My Life
Elizabeth Ito, USA, 2015, 9mThe animated high-school challenges of T-Kesh, your average Monster-American teenager.

Roger
Sonia Cendón, Sara Esteban, Arnau Gòdia, Ingrid Masarnau, & Martí Montañola, Spain, 2016, 7mRoger is used to being the leading man in a stop-motion series. But when his good luck runs out on set, he must learn how to claw his way back…

Einstein-Rosen
Olga Osorio, Spain, 2016, 9mSummer, 1982. Teo claims he has found the fabled Einstein-Rosen Bridge through space and time. His brother Óscar doesn’t believe him… at least not for now.

Dogtor
Rhea Dadoo, USA, 2016, 3mIt’s about friendship and reflecting on personal journeys. Also, dogs!

Heads Together
Job, Joris, & Marieke, Netherlands, 2016, 21mThree friends must walk a day in each other’s shoes… and legs, and torsos.

The Gold Rush
Charlie Chaplin, USA, 1925, 35mm, 95mChaplin’s personal favorite among his films is a beautifully constructed comic fable of fate and perseverance, set in the icy wastes of the Alaskan gold fields. In this vast landscape packed with avalanches, wildlife, and prospectors, the incomparable Gentleman Tramp seeks his fortune, but faces more than he bargained for. The movie features some of Chaplin's most famous setpieces, including him elegantly cooking and eating his boot to fend off starvation, and performing a table ballet with two dinner rolls. The Gold Rush seamlessly blends action, slapstick, and sentiment, making it one of the most beloved of the filmmaker’s works. Restoration of the original 1925 silent film with a recording of Chaplin's score, reconstructed and conducted by Timothy Brock.Ages 6 and upFriday, November 10, 4:00pmSaturday, November 11, 12:30pm

I Kill Giants
Anders Walter, UK/USA, 2017, 104mSmart, rebellious, and unafraid to speak her mind, precocious teenager Barbara Thorson (Madison Wolfe) lives in two worlds. There is the turbulent reality of school and home, where she deals with bullying and parents who are out of the picture. And then there is the rich imaginary life she’s created, in which she is a fearless hunter of monstrous giants who threaten her town. But as Barbara’s fantasies turn increasingly dark, it becomes clear: the real demons are the ones she battles within herself. Based on the acclaimed comic-book series by Joe Kelly, this exhilarating emotional odyssey immerses viewers in the mind of a young woman taking on life’s challenges in her own way.
Ages 13 and upSaturday, November 11, 6:30pm (Q&A with Joe Kelly)

Miss Kiet’s Children
Peter Lataster & Petra Lataster-Czisch, Netherlands, 2016, 115mDutch with English subtitlesDutch elementary-school teacher Kiet Engels’s classroom is unique. Made up entirely of immigrant students, most of them refugees from the Middle East, it includes 9-year-old Haya, who rebels by spurning Dutch in favor of her native Arabic; Leanne, a bright 6-year-old Syrian girl overcoming bullying; and Jorj, a class clown whose antics conceal emotional scars. This empathetic, beautifully observed documentary chronicles the children’s stumbles and successes as they deal with both the ordinary challenges of growing up as well as the added pressures of adjusting to a new culture. Guiding them through it all is Miss Kiet, whose loving patience is a testament to the impact a good teacher can make. An Icarus Films release. New York PremiereMiss Kiet’s Children opens at Film Forum on December 13.Ages 10 and upSunday, November 12, 5:00pm

Mune: Guardian of the Moon
Alexandre Heboyan & Benoît Philippon, France, 2014/2017, 86mEnglish-dubbed versionThis rollicking animated adventure conjures a mythic world in which the sun and moon are controlled by ancient caretakers who have regulated their cycle for centuries. When Mune, a timid young forest creature, is appointed the new guardian of the moon, things quickly go haywire, as the sun is stolen and everything goes dark. Can Mune step up and bring light back to the world? A visual spectacular that makes striking use of both 3-D CGI and 2-D hand-drawn animation, this innovative French production brings to life a richly realized universe sure to capture the imagination of young viewers. Featuring the voice talents of Christian Slater, Patton Oswalt, and Ed Helms. A GKIDS release.
Ages 6 and upSunday, November 12, 3:00pm

Polina
Valérie Müller & Angelin Preljocaj, France, 2016, 108mFrench and Russian with English subtitlesBursting with dazzling dance sequences, this arresting tale of self-discovery charts a young woman’s journey to find both her place in the world and her own artistic voice. Growing up in Russia, Polina (Anastasia Shevtsova) studies classical ballet with one goal: to make it into the corps of the Bolshoi. But when she at last achieves what was supposed to be her dream, the headstrong Polina chooses instead to travel to France to train in modern dance. It’s the beginning of an odyssey that will open up new creative horizons while forcing her to rely only on herself. Juliette Binoche co-stars in this refreshingly real look at what it means to risk everything for a dream. An Oscilloscope Laboratories release.
Ages 13 and upFriday, November 10, 6:30pm (Q&A with Valérie Müller & Angelin Preljocaj)

Princess Mononoke
Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, 1997, 134mJapanese with English subtitlesHayao Miyazaki’s breathtaking epic spirits viewers away to a folkloric world of gods, demons, and magic. After he’s stricken with a fatal curse, a young prince journeys westward in search of a cure, only to find himself embroiled in an epic struggle between humans and animals—led by Princess Mononoke, aka San, a fierce warrior woman raised by wolves—for control of the ancient Deer God’s forest. Overflowing with imagination and visual beauty, this modern-day masterpiece stands as a singular achievement in animation: a morally complex, feminist fable with an impassioned message of ecological stewardship.
Ages 13 and upSaturday, November 11, 9:15pm

Revolting Rhymes
Jan Lachauer & Jakob Schuh, UK, 2016, 58mDid you know that Little Red Riding Hood was really a fearless wolf warrior? And that Cinderella’s Prince Charming wasn’t so charming after all? In this whimsical collection of new short animations based on the book by Roald Dahl, the big bad wolf himself narrates the real stories behind fairy-tale favorites, from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Droll, clever, and just a touch twisted, these delightfully irreverent takes on the warm and fuzzy stories we all grew up with offer feisty female protagonists in place of shrinking-violet princesses. A GKIDS release.
Ages 6 and upSunday, November 12, 1:30pm

Weirdos
Bruce McDonald, Canada, 2016, 85mIt’s the summer of 1976. America is celebrating its bicentennial, AM rock rules the radio, and in Nova Scotia, Canada, closeted teenager Kit (Dylan Authors) is preparing to run away from home. Accompanied by his quasi-girlfriend Alice (Julia Sarah Stone) and guided by the spirit of Andy Warhol, Kit hitchhikes his way along the coast in search of adventure and his estranged, bohemian artist mother (Molly Parker). But a life-changing night and a series of hard-earned realizations soon force him to face what he’s trying to outrun. Shot in crisp black and white and set to a lovingly curated vintage soundtrack, this proudly offbeat road movie celebrates the joys of being different. A MUBI release.
Ages 13 and upSunday, November 12, 7:15pm

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Mel Stuart, USA, 1971, 35mm, 100mA perennial favorite for children and adults alike, this musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s fanciful novel stars Gene Wilder as the zany, top-hatted recluse Willy Wonka. Against all odds, the indigent Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) finds a winning ticket to tour the candy mogul’s factory and potentially earn a lifetime supply of chocolate. Chaperoned by his sickly Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson), Charlie must compete against four more-privileged children, who, one by one, are forced out of the race, as their candy-related moral failures are put to song by the Oompa Loompas.
Ages 8 and upFriday, November 10, 9:15pm

Work-in-Progress Screening & Workshop: FERDINAND 
Total run time: 70mThis year's My First Film Fest is pleased to feature a work-in-progress presentation of Ferdinand, a new heartwarming animated comedy adventure from the creators of Rio and Ice Age, coming to theaters December 15. Following a sneak preview of footage from the upcoming film, director Carlos Saldanha will discuss the animation process and how his team brought Munro Leaf's beloved book to life. After this presentation (approximately 30 minutes), the animators of Ferdinand will hold an animation workshop for attendees.

Ferdinand tells the story of a giant bull with a big heart. After being mistaken for a dangerous beast, he is captured and torn from his home. Determined to return to his family, he rallies a misfit team on the ultimate adventure. Set in Spain, Ferdinand proves you can’t judge a bull by its cover. From Blue Sky Studios and Carlos Saldanha, the director of Rio and inspired by the beloved book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson, Ferdinand features an all-star cast that includes John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Gina Rodriguez, Anthony Anderson and many more. A Twentieth Century Fox release.
Saturday, November 11, 4:30pm**Animation workshop to follow in the Furman Gallery

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is devoted to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema. The only branch of the world-renowned arts complex Lincoln Center to shine a light on the everlasting yet evolving importance of the moving image, this nonprofit organization was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international film. Via year-round programming and discussions; its annual New York Film Festival; and its publications, including Film Comment, the U.S.’s premier magazine about films and film culture, the Film Society endeavors to make the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broader audience, as well as to ensure that it will remain an essential art form for years to come.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Shutterstock, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. 

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on Twitter. 

6th Annual Key West Film Festival Announces Official Lineup, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water as Opening Night Film

Critics Focus Program Features Curated Films from  
Los Angeles Times Film Critic Kenneth Turan and Time Out New York Film
Editor Joshua Rothkopf

October 18, 2017, New York, NY – The 6th Annual Key West Film Festival announced today its official 2017 lineup. As Florida recovers from the devastating effects of Hurricane Irma, Key West Film Festival organizers are hoping the event will deliver light and joy during a challenging time through the power of cinema by showcasing some of the medium’s brightest talents, past and present, through what is quickly becoming a critical stop on the fall festival circuit just as awards season gets underway.

KWFF presents its 3rd Annual Critics Focus program, which will feature Los Angeles Times Film Critic Kenneth Turan kicking off the festival by presenting Guillermo Del Toro’sThe Shape of Water accompanied by an exclusive video introduction from the director. Turan will be joined in a post-screening discussion by Time Out New York’s film editorJoshua Rothkopf who has chosen Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying to close the festival. Rothkopf will lead a discussion of the film following the closing night screening.

Director of Programming Michael Tuckman says, “As so many communities in the Keys have been torn apart this year by matters out of their control, we’ve sought to focus our programming on the theme of bringing communities together, no matter how disparate their interests may seem. We’ve espoused Key West’s motto of being ‘One Human Family,’ and the films in the program show us the strength we have when we don’t turn our backs on ‘others’ and instead simply come together for the communal experience of enjoying great cinema. Kenny and Josh’s selections for Opening and Closing night lead the way in this mission, and we couldn’t be more excited about this year’s program and participation.”

This year's Centerpiece film will be Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name, featuring a discussion with Rothkopf, Turan and Brian Brooks and Eugene Hernandez of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Other critics in attendance will include Eric Kohn of Indiewire, Shirrel Rhodes of the Key West Citizen, Alison Willmore of Buzzfeed News, David Fear of Rolling Stone, Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere, and Steve Dollar, participating in panel discussions and collaborating to award KWFF’s second annual Critics’ Prize.

The awarding of the second annual Golden Key for Costume Design will also take place, this time honoring Mark Bridges and featuring a screening of his 2011 Oscar winner The Artist. Deborah Nadoolman Landis, a Costume Design Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will present the award to him via satellite.

The festival will take place in Key West from November 15 through 19, and includes special event screenings and a curated selection of over 30 feature films encompassing narrative features, documentaries, foreign language cinema, LGBTQ cinema, and works by Florida filmmakers. The complete line-up is as follows:

CRITICS CHOICE
The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro, 2017. Opening Night
Last Flag Flying by Richard Linklater, 2017. Closing Night

CENTERPIECE SCREENING
Call Me By Your Name by Luca Guadagnino, 2017

SPOTLIGHT
I, Tonya by Craig Gillespie, 2017
Borg/McEnroe by Janus Metz Pedersen, 2017
The Leisure Seeker by Paolo Virzi, 2017

SECOND ANNUAL GOLDEN KEY FOR COSTUME DESIGN
Mark Bridges

DOCUMENTARY
Anatomy of a Male Dancer by David Barba, James Pellerito, 2017
A River Below by Marc Grieco, 2017
Quest by Jon Olshefski, 2017
Dealt by Luke Korem, 2017
Brimstone and Glory by Viktor Jakovleski, 2017

LGBTQ
Freak Show by Trudie Styler, 2017
After Louie by Vincent Gagliostro, 2017
Saturday Church by Damon Cardasis, 2017
The Fabulous Allan Carr by Jeffrey Schwartz, 2017
God's Own Country by Francis Lee, 2017

NARRATIVES & SHORTS
Dog Years by Adam Rifkin, 2017
Lucky by John Carroll Lynch, 2017
Abundant Acreage Available by Angus MacLachlan, 2017
World Narrative shorts showcase
Documentary shorts showcase

FOREIGN
The Square by Ruben Ostland, 2017
Spettacolo by Jeff Malmberg, Chris Shellen, 2017
The Other Side of Hope by Aki Kaurismaki, 2017
The Divine Order by Petra Volpe, 2017
Scarred Hearts by Radu Jude, 2016

FLORIDA FOCUS
I Am Another You by Nanfu Wang, 2017
Love in Youth by Quincy Perkins, 2017
An American in Texas by Anthony Pedone, 2017
The Definites by Sam Coyle, 2017
Florida shorts showcase

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A new program featuring films worthy of a second look
Dawson City: Frozen Time by Bill Morrison, 2016
Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski, 2017
50th Anniversary 4K restoration of Monterey Pop by DA Pennebaker, 1968

In addition to supporting local filmmakers through their Florida Focus showcase of films made in the Sunshine State and the 3rd Annual Brett Ratner Florida Student Filmmaker Showcase, KWFF organizers are committed to helping the community at large affected by Hurricane Irma and will be hosting a silent auction throughout the festival with a unique chance to win movie paraphernalia generously donated by film distributors and individuals including Sony Classics, IFC Films, Magnolia Pictures, Lionsgate Films, Neon andAngela Bassett among others. All proceeds will go to help relief efforts in the state.

Festival venues include the historic San Carlos Institute, where the campaign for Cuba’s independence from colonial powers was planned in 1892.  The Key West Film Festival has equipped the San Carlos with DCP technology, and it will host gala screenings. Other screening venues include the Tropic Cinema, Key West Theater and the Studios of Key West.

Visit kwfilmfest.com for full program information, a schedule of events and travel and lodging details.

About the Key West Film Festival
 

Each year, the Key West Film Festival offers a diverse, entertaining, and artistically rigorous selection of films represented through a broad array of categories that offer opportunities for filmmakers, both aspiring and established, to commune and exchange ideas with each other while showing their work to audiences in an historic and artistically vibrant tropical paradise. Creativity, diversity, sustainability, and beauty are the cornerstones of the Key West Film Festival, an annual celebration of film and filmmakers, which is set to take place this year on November 15-19, 2017.

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES THE LOST YEARS OF GERMAN CINEMA: 1949–1963, NOVEMBER 15-23

Highlights include a trio of films by unsung master Helmut Käutner, plus rarely screened works by Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and others

The Haunted Castle

New York, NY (October 19, 2017) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces The Lost Years of German Cinema: 1949–1963, a 13-film series of under-appreciated and rediscovered gems from the postwar era, November 15-23.

Our sense of German film history is founded largely upon the prewar masterpieces by Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau, and G. W. Pabst, and then the iconoclasm of the New German Cinema directors of the 1960s and ’70s, such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Alexander Kluge, Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta, and Volker Schlöndorff. Less well-known are the films produced after the fall of the Third Reich and before the signing of the Oberhausen Manifesto in 1962, which jump-started a new kind of national cinema. Closer inspection of this in-between period reveals a wealth of eclectic and innovative filmmaking, featuring established masters (like Fritz Lang and Robert Siodmak) returning to Germany to conclude their careers, foreign directors passing through, and under-recognized talents (such as Helmut Käutner) reinventing the genre film. This series, presented in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival and Goethe-Institut, spotlights this rich, unsung, and fascinating period and its exceptionally diverse body of films, capturing a generation’s effort to newly define German identity.

The Lost Years showcases three films by Käutner, responsible for “some of the most beguiling German films since the war” (The New York Times), including the revelatory Black Gravel, misunderstood as anti-Semitic and thus heavily re-edited upon release in 1961, and now screening uncensored in a new digital restoration; Sky Without Stars, a humanist heart-wrencher about lovers on either side of the Berlin Wall; and Redhead, a nuanced portrait of an unfulfilled housewife (German superstar Ruth Leuwerik) who seeks adventure only to find herself entangled in an international conflict.

Other highlights include Konrad Petzold’s The Dress, a still-timely adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about a power-hungry leader, The Emperor’s New Clothes; The Devil Strikes at Night, Robert Siodmak’s 1958 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee; actor Peter Lorre’s sole directorial effort The Lost One, in which he plays a guilt-ridden Nazi-era scientist; and Kurt Hoffmann’s gonzo The Haunted Castle, which embodies a horror film, musical, and razor-sharp satire all at once.

Tickets go on sale November 2 and are $14; $11 for students and seniors (62+); and $9 for Film Society members. See more and save with the 3+ film discount package or All Access Pass. Learn more at filmlinc.org.

Organized by Dennis Lim and Dan Sullivan, and co-presented with Goethe-Institut. This program was selected from the retrospective curated by Olaf Möller and Roberto Turigliatto at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival, organized in partnership with the Deutsches Filminstitut, in collaboration with the Cinémathèque suisse and German Films.

A talk with critic and programmer Olaf Möller will take place at the Goethe-Institut, 30 Irving Place, on November 14 at 7pm.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONSAll films screen at the Walter Reade Theater (165 West 65th Street) unless otherwise noted.

Black Gravel / Schwarzer Kies
Helmut Kautner, West Germany, 1961, 117mGerman with English subtitlesThe underrecognized Kautner’s best-known film is this rugged, paranoiac noir set in the West German village of Sohnen around the site of an American airbase in progress. A trucker, who illegally sells black gravel as a side hustle, unceremoniously reunites with a former lover who has moved to Sohnen with her new, American husband, only for them to accidentally off a younger couple. Naturally, a cover-up ensues. Kautner’s portrayal of the ongoing presence of anti-Semitism, even after Germany’s denazification, strangely landed it in hot water with the Central Council of Jews in Germany and led to a scene being cut; this new digital restoration, which premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale, returns the censored scene to this seminal yet too-little-seen work of postwar cinema. New digital restoration!Friday, November 17, 9:15pmSunday, November 19, 6:00pmThursday, November 23, 6:00pm

The Devil Strikes at Night / Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam
Robert Siodmak, West Germany, 1957, 35mm, 104mGerman with English subtitlesSiodmak returned to Germany in the mid-1950s following a long, successful run making influential noirs in Hollywood, and The Devil Strikes at Night is one of the undeniable standouts of his late period. Based on the true story of serial killer Bruno Ludke (played here by Mario Adorf), the film chronicles Ludke’s murderous exploits on the periphery of the Third Reich during World War II and the investigation into his crimes, led by an intrepid detective who encounters no shortage of resistance from the state as he searches for the culprit. The Devil Strikes at Night was West Germany’s nominee for the 1958 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and it is still captivating today as a gripping and visually striking thriller that gives away to a sardonic indictment of political corruption. 35mm print courtesy of the Goethe-Institut.Wednesday, November 15, 4:30pmSunday, November 19, 8:30pm

The Dress / Das Kleid
Konrad Petzold, East Germany, 1961/91, 35mm, 88mGerman with English subtitlesIn this politically alert adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Emperor’s New Clothes (formally banned for ten years and shelved for decades until its completion in 1991), travellers Hans and Kumpan come to a city encircled by a gargantuan wall, in which strange things seem going on and a tyrannical, vain emperor demands that they craft a new wardrobe for him that will inspire fear and servility among his subjects. Petzold’s parable about the Berlin Wall and the despotism that kept it in place has taken on a new resonance in the USA and around the world in the age of refugees, border concerns and, of course, Trump’s wall.
Sunday, November 19, 2:00pmTuesday, November 21, 7:00pm

The Eighth Day of the Week / Ósmy dzień tygodnia
Aleksander Ford, Poland/West Germany, 1958, 35mm, 84mPolish with English subtitlesAleksander Ford finished editing this film in the FRG after it was shelved by censors in the People’s Republic of Poland (it wasn’t released in Poland until 25 years after its completion). This tale of two lovers concerns a young man (Zbigniew Cybulski) and woman (Sonja Ziemann) who escape the city to spend a few undisturbed hours together in the countryside; the ecstasy of their love gives way to the agony of modern life as everyday circumstances conspire to obstruct their path to romantic bliss.  Ziemann and Cybulski are magnetic, lending humor, compassion and dimension to this portrait of human connection amid communist Poland’s housing crisis.
Sunday, November 19, 4:00pmTuesday, November 21, 9:00pm

The Fair / Kirmes
Wolfgang Staudte, West Germany/France, 1960, 35mm, 102mGerman with English subtitlesIn this sober picture of social disorder in Nazi Germany, the body of an Wehrmacht officer who attempted to desert after having been ordered to execute women and children is discovered at the construction site for a fairground carousel in the Eigel fifteen years after his disappearance; panic grips the village’s residents, but his parents and his younger sister know all too well what his fate was… Staudte’s drama is a damning portrait of the sense of safety in denialism in the FRG, a measured and compelling reckoning with the inhumanity of the Nazi years and the collective refusal to fully come to terms with them after the fall of the Third Reich. 35mm print courtesy of the Goethe-Institut.Thursday, November 16, 9:00pm (Introduction by Olaf Möller)Friday, November 17, 2:30pm

The Glass Tower / Der gläserne Turm
Harald Braun, West Germany, 1957, 35mm, 105mGerman with English subtitlesOne of the most significant films of West German cinema in the 1950s, The Glass Tower stars Lilli Palmer as a tycoon’s wife who, no longer content merely to be one of her husband’s many possessions, turns to both adultery and her first love: the theater. A rich melodrama that slowly mutates into something like a courtroom procedural, this film offers an especially bold and critical portrait of Konrad Adenauer’s FRG as a locus of cold modernity with a stultifying rigid conception of beauty, harmony and freedom. The Glass Tower can be seen as a precursor to the later work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder in its sophisticated use of the tropes of melodrama to undertake incisive social critique.
Wednesday, November 15, 9:00pm (Introduction by Olaf Möller)Tuesday, November 21, 4:30pm

The Haunted Castle / Das Spukschloß im Spessart
Kurt Hoffmann, West Germany, 1964, 35mm, 101mGerman with English subtitlesThis hilarious satire of the FRG’s economic turnaround unexpectedly assumes the form of a kind of horror musical laden with special effects (with a score by the great composer Friedrich Hollaender, his last). Charlotte (Liselotte Pulver) inherits an old castle near Bonn—and a tremendous amount of debt. But, luckily for Charlotte, the castle is haunted by five ghosts who resolve to help dig her out of her financial hole. Their approach proves to be, shall we say, unconventional, and Charlotte comes to wonder whether this spectral assistance might be more trouble than it’s worth. The Haunted Castle is more than a whacky, entertaining curio; it’s also a sneakily political parable about Germany’s road to recovery following the fall of the Third Reich.
Saturday, November 18, 8:45pm

The Lost One / Der Verlorene
Peter Lorre, West Germany, 1951, 35mm, 98mGerman with English subtitlesIn his sole directorial effort, Peter Lorre (who also cowrote the film) plays a Nazi-era scientist who is forced to murder his fiancee after he discovers that she is surreptitiously selling data from his secret research to the enemies of the Third Reich. Lorre based his character on a real-life German scientist who committed suicide in a displaced persons camp, and his performance reverberates with echoes of his most iconic role, in Fritz Lang’s M. The Lost One is a chilling meditation on the legacy of violence and guilt with which Germany became saddled in the postwar period and a virtuosic achievement by its director/star/co-writer, cementing him as one of Germany’s all-time major cinematic figures. 35mm print courtesy of the Goethe-Institut.Wednesday, November 22, 9:00pmThursday, November 23, 1:30pm

Redhead / Die Rote
Helmut Kautner, West Germany/Italy, 1962, 35mm, 94mGerman with English subtitlesOne of Kautner’s final films before his turn to television is also among his most personal. Ruth Leuwerik stars as Franzizka, a woman who, on the cusp of 40, has grown terribly bored with her husband and their lifestyle; so she flees to Venice, stumbling into an affair with an Englishman. Soon, she discovers that he has a vengeful agenda stemming back to the Third Reich, and she finds her life in a state of upheaval once more. Kautner’s desire to tell postwar Germany bitter truths about itself anticipated the New German Cinema, and he said “[Leuwerik] who for many years was the immaculate lady of German society, the tender loving mother, was here a modern, broken figure, a secretary who lived with two men and fell prey to a third in Venice—that was something which people just didn’t want to see in her.” 35mm print courtesy of Deutsche Kinemathek.Friday, November 17, 5:00pmSaturday, November 18, 4:30pm

Roses Bloom on the Moorland / Rosen blühen auf dem Heidegrab
Hans Heinz König, West Germany, 1952, 35mm, 82mGerman with English subtitlesA gothic synthesis of the heimatfilm and the horror movie ripe for rediscovery, Roses Bloom on the Moorland follows the plight of a young village girl pressured by her family into spurning her childhood love and marrying a wealthy farmer. But our heroine’s plight comes to bear an eerie resemblance to a local legend concerning a brutish Swedish soldier’s misdeeds during the Thirty Years’ War… Featuring gloomy, atmospheric set design by the great German art director Max Mellin, this tale, pervaded by a sense of doom yet speckled with moments of unexpected grace, is an evocative condensation of the young FRG’s neuroses and everyday worries. 35mm print courtesy of the Goethe-Institut.Wednesday, November 15, 2:30pmWednesday, November 22, 7:00pmThursday, November 23, 8:30pm

Sky Without Stars / Himmel ohne Sterne
Helmut Kautner, West Germany, 1955, 35mm, 108mGerman and Russian with English subtitlesKautner’s signature film is a black-and-white, almost-neorealist story of love obstructed by the border separating the GDR and the FRG. Anna (Eva Kotthaus), an East German factory worker, sneaks over to the West, abducts her own son, and in the process meets and falls in love with a compassionate cop named Carl (Erik Schumann)—thus beginning a slow-burning romance filled with daring, unsanctioned visits to their respective sides of the Iron Curtain. Suffused by a sense of tragic fatalism, this absorbing tale of lovers on the run makes an affecting and persuasive argument about the terrible consequences of erecting walls between people. 35mm print courtesy of the Goethe-Institut.Friday, November 17, 7:00pmWednesday, November 22, 4:30pmThursday, November 23, 3:30pm

The Tiger of Eschnapur / Der Tiger von Eschnapur
Fritz Lang, West Germany/France/Italy, 1959, 35mm, 101mGerman with English subtitlesAfter his long and prolific Hollywood career, Fritz Lang (Metropolis) returned to Germany at the behest of producer Artur Brauner and embarked on an ambitious two-film project that would become known as his “Indian Epic.” The source material was the novel The Indian Tomb by Thea von Harbou (Lang’s ex-wife and former collaborator), a book Lang had initially been hired to direct as a silent film in 1921, before being fired and replaced by Joe May. In this, the first of the two films, Lang tells the story of a German architect (Paul Hubschmid) who arrives in India to build a temple for a Maharaja, whereupon he promptly falls in love with the Maharaja’s intended bride (Debra Paget), whom he narrowly saves from becoming the titular tiger’s latest meal. Impeccably directed on a modest budget, with a thrilling cliffhanger ending, Lang’s late-career triumph proves the old adage that the enemy of art is the absence of limitations. 35mm print courtesy of Deutsche Kinemathek.Saturday, November 18, 6:30pm

White Blood / Weißes Blut
Gottfried Kolditz, East Germany, 1959, 35mm, 88mGerman with English subtitlesA tense combination of military thriller and melodrama, directed by one of the most formally resourceful genre masters at DEFA, White Blood is a masterful reckoning with moral unease at the dawn of the nuclear age. A young military officer returns to the GDR after having spent some time in the USA and contracting incurable radiation poisoning. But the sole doctor who can help him is an enemy of his family and a staunch opponent of the atom bomb, and so this matter of life or death goes from being an existential struggle to a philosophical one. White Blood is a singularly gripping work and a profound historical snapshot of the international anxiety aroused by nuclear proliferation.
Wednesday, November 15, 7:00pm (Introduction by Olaf Möller)Tuesday, November 21, 2:00pm

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
The Film Society of Lincoln Center is devoted to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema. The only branch of the world-renowned arts complex Lincoln Center to shine a light on the everlasting yet evolving importance of the moving image, this nonprofit organization was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international film. Via year-round programming and discussions; its annual New York Film Festival; and its publications, including Film Comment, the U.S.’s premier magazine about films and film culture, the Film Society endeavors to make the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broader audience, as well as to ensure that it will remain an essential art form for years to come.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Shutterstock, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.organd follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

Japan Society Film Presents Barbara Hammer's Documentary about Influential Filmmaking Collective Ogawa Productions, Followed by Ogawa's Masterpiece 'Sanrizuka – Heta Village'

  

Devotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions

Saturday, November 11 at 4 PM

**Introduction and Q&A with director Barbara Hammer moderated by documentary filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda

Lesbian feminist artist and filmmaker Barbara Hammer (whose life work is currently being celebrated throughout New York City) screens her documentary about the influential and controversial Japanese filmmaking collective Ogawa Productions that most famously made films about the lives of farmers who stood in direct opposition to the construction of Narita International Airport on their land. Shot shortly after the death of the influential founding filmmaker Shinsuke Ogawa, this probing documentary utilizes archival material and firsthand interviews with Ogawa’s closest collaborators to parse out the complex, fascinating inner workings of one of Japanese cinema’s most uncompromising film movements.

"My film came alive when I interviewed the previously unheard voices of the few women that were in the collective and who had been relegated to the kitchen during their life in the commune." - Barbara Hammer, Hammer! Making Movies out of Sex and Life (The Feminist Press, The City University of New York, 2010).

2000, 84 min., digital, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Barbara Hammer.

This screening is co-organized with Carmel Curtis and Staci Bu Shea, curators of Barbara Hammer: Evidentiary Bodies at the Leslie Lohman Museum for Gay & Lesbian Art on exhibition from October 7, 2017 – January 28, 2018.

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

≥≥RELATED MONTHLY CLASSICS SCREENING:

Sanrizuka – Heta Village

Saturday, November 11 at 7:00 pm

In the summer of 1968, Ogawa Productions, led by visionary filmmaker Shinsuke Ogawa, entrenched themselves in the middle of the site of violent conflict wherein ongoing resistance to the construction of the Narita International Airport was demonstrated by local farmers, activists and students. Committing their lives to documenting the farmers’ struggle, the collective produced their most famous series of seven films known as the “Sanrizuka Series.” Amidst increasing police violence and tragedy, this meditative sixth film in the series focuses on life in Heta village itself, documenting its customs and people through eleven quiet scenes that convey deep empathy for the villagers and their experiences.

1973, 146 min., digital, b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Shinsuke Ogawa.

“The first of two masterpieces by Ogawa Productions” - Markus Nornes, author of Forest of Pressure: Ogawa Shinsuke and Postwar Japanese Documentary (University of Minnesota Press, 2006).

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors and students/$5 Japan Society members.

≥≥ UPCOMING

FILM SERIES: Yuzo Kawashima X Ayako Wakao

December 2 & 3

Just ahead of his centenary, Japan Society presents three brand-new 4K restorations of director Yuzo Kawashima’s collaborations with legendary actress Ayako Wakao. Known for his acidic urban comedies and satires, the highly modern Kawashima (1918-1963) left behind 51 films, all of which remain criminally underseen in the U.S. These bold Kawashima gems featuring the luminous Wakao, full of playful visual surprises and sharp social commentary, offer a rare opportunity to reintroduce a master filmmaker who bridges the gap between the classical Japanese cinema of the 1950s and the New Wave of the 1960s. Featured films include Women are Born Twice, Elegant Beast, and The Temple of Wilde Geese. 

“Kawashima is a director whose non-existence in the West is a sorrowful grievance which ought to be redressed.” — Slant Magazine

Tickets: $13/$10 seniors & students/$9 Japan Society members

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, btw First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 & 7 at 42nd St-Grand Central Station or the E & M at Lexington and 53rd St.)

Abel Edwards (2004)

Story of the life and times of Abel Edwards, or more to the point his clone. The original Edwards was a Walt Disney like film maker/business man who died on the eve of the opening of his Florida theme park. decades later, after mankind has moved into space when a deadly virus reduced human population by 90% the Abel Edwards corporation is floundering. In an effort to get back on track they decide to clone their founder and so begins the life and times of the clone. We watch in flashback the life of the clone Edwards as his life is recounted at a probate hearing concerning his wealth and company.

this off beat film with echoes of Disney and Citizen Kane was shot entirely on green screen sets. The fact that I'm recounting that first kind of tells you I'm not particularly fond of the film, since there isn't much to say beyond that. An okay film, that is almost bland. This is the life of a man who is not his own, it's an interesting concept but it never really amounts to much with the story kind or arcing in ways that you can kind of predict. It doesn't help that the green screen sets are unevenly handled and while their use clearly allowed for the film to be made cheaply, the effect is far from realistic.The effect is similar to several films released to DVD by Alpha Video under their New Cinema banner rather than things like Sky Captain, Immortal or any other film shot similarly, However you forgive cheapness in the Alpha titles since they somehow make it charming and here they really don't.

Despite some occasionally beautiful black and white images this really doesn't have much to recommend it and given the choice I'd take a pass.(I somehow think that with out Steven Soderbergh's name attached as a producer this film would have been buried)

Brief word on OUT OF NOTHING (2017)

Stunning in almost every way imaginable OUT OF NOTHING is a film that came from nowhere to absolutely delight me. A beautiful and moving film it deserves to find its audience now that the film has hit VOD thanks to October Films.

The film is the tale of several men who seek to break the land speed records on motorcycles at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Its a film that puts us into the shoes of the men and makes us willing co-conspirators in their quest for fame.

Beautifully shot the film has images that will haunt you for long after the film has ended. I'm not talking about the racing, though that is spectacular but rather the landscapes and what should be everyday images, all of which have been photographed to turn them into high art.

Director Chad DeRosa has made an amazing film and it demands to be seen.

Highly recommended.

Abar The First Black Superman (1977)

This legendary film was nigh impossible to see for years. I had heard it was so incendiary that no one would run it. I heard it was lost because the distributor was so small it went bankrupt and disappeared. I heard all sorts of weird stories from people who had never seen it but had heard about it...

I eventually picked it up on low budget DVD and put it aside, but it wasn't until Turner Classic ran it that I actually saw it now I'm left wondering what the hell was that?

A black doctor studying heart disease moves into a white neighborhood and is abused by his neighbors. He refuses to move because he needs the large house for his experiments. When a near riot happens outside of his house he is rescued by Abar and his motorcycle driving men. Abar tries to talk the doctor to move back to the ghetto but he refuses.Eventually Abar becomes the doctor's bodyguard.  However once tragedy strikes the doctor gives Abar the serum he had been working on and Abar becomes a god-like being correcting the wrongs of the world.

While the film is very much a political manifesto, the film is also very much an exploitation film with a wicked guitar riff that plays during the occasional action sequences. The film is also completely and utterly out there with several unexpected and "WTF was that" twists and turns. By the time Abar becomes god-like you will be staring at the screen wondering what everyone connected with the film was thinking---and drinking or smoking. Its just out there. One line at the very end almost caused my father and myself to choke to death in complete and utter disbelief. Its one of those lines where you look at each other and go-"did she really just say that?" Oh yes she did.

I have no idea what to say.

Too long by 20 minutes and so goofball at times this film is not going to be for all audiences. At the same time if you want off the beaten path do see this ASAP.

2017 PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES LINE-UP

The 2017 PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL, PRESENTED BY COMCAST, will screen 152 narrative and documentary films October 30^th through November 5^th, 2017, at Portland’s iconic Laurelhurst Theater. 

The festival will include special opening and closing night screenings and parties, a Pittock Mansion Gala, educational panels, workshops, special presentations and daily networking events and opportunities throughout the festival.

This year’s fifth edition will present two opening and closing night films (a documentary and a narrative film on each night) and feature and short films in the following sections: Narrative and Documentary Competition Feature, Narrative and Documentary Spotlight, Shorts, Indigenous Voices, Portland Lens, and Special Screenings. This year, 89 of the films programmed (59%) were directed by women.

Said Josh Leake, Portland Film Festival Founder and Executive Director, “Hearing from independent voices has never been more important as it is today. This year’s movies, panels and programs are from engaging new filmmakers, the best of new indie film, and icons of classic cinema. We’re proud to present this year’s program - especially our Portland and Indigenous Voices sections, which will screen films each day to local audiences. In one week, we will present more independent cinema than most theaters screen in a year.”

Comcast is the Presenting Sponsor of the 2017 Portland Film Festival.  Supporting Sponsors include: Koerner Camera, SAG-AFTRA, ABI Insurance, Whole Foods, Portland Monthly, Crank PDX, The Oregonian, Plum Tree Mortgage, KINK FM, Pro Photo Supply and others.

Established in 2013, the Portland Film Festival is one of Oregon’s largest film festivals, and was named “one of the coolest film festivals in the world,” by MovieMaker Magazine.

All screenings will take place at the historic Laurelhurst Theatre at 2735 E. Burnside Street. Tickets, general info and merchandise will be at the Laurelhurst throughout the festival.. Presenting Sponsor Comcast will host The Comcast VIP Lounge at the Cardinal Club, 18 NE 28^th Ave.

 

Complete festival lineup, passes, and individual tickets available:

www.portlandfilm.org

  

Festival Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8RDsVi03J8

This year’s festival highlights include:

·      Oregon Governor Kate Brown has declared Oregon the State
of “Independent Film” and Mayor Ted Wheeler has proclaimed Portland the “City of Film” during the Festival. The festival will screen over 152 films from around the world, 89 of which were directed by women.  

·      You can catch a Portland made film every day. 

·      November is National American Indian Heritage Month. Each day, a film will be shown in a new section, Indigenous Voices.

·      A percentage of this year’s ticket sales will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Portland and the Wild Salmon Center. 

·      Lead by award-winning professionals in their fields, this year’s festival will offer over a diverse selection of educational workshops, classes, panels and networking events for actors, screenwriters, and filmmakers.  

·      Special event highlights include the annual film industry speed networking event, a cinematic history walking tour of Portland, and an opening champagne toast.

·      Special festival guests include: veteran filmmaker Joe Dante, Aisha Tyler, Shia LaBeouf, and screenwriters Sam Hamm, David Arata, Leslie Dixon, Miguel Tejada-Flores, Jeremy Lipp, and Randall Jahnson.

·      Over ten short film programs and events, including screenings of work by local Portland filmmakers, and a special program of films created by youth in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Portland.

FEATURE FILM PROGRAM BELOW: