The Harlem International FIlm Festival starts Thursday and you need to go takes a look at their slate. To be honest Harlem is one of the greatest unheralded film festivals you will run across. In all seriousness they pick great films you really should be watching.
On of the things that I love about the festival is that they don't care if the film has played in NYC before, they ill just show it because it's good. Ultimately they just care about great films and they want to make sure you've seen them. As a result three of the best films I've seen in 2020 BLACK EMPEROR OF BROADWAY, HIGHER LOVE and PRISON WITHIN are playing the fest despite playing other New York Fests. Simply put Harlem is one of the best programmed festivals you'll ever see (especially if you love small gems)
Regrettably I don't know if I am going really be able to wade in this year. Life happened. However I am hoping to grab a film here and there. If I do get to see things look for reviews.
However not to worry we've previously covered some of the films so in order to help you pick films I'm posting links to the reviews that ran previously:
BLACK EMPEROR OF BROADWAY
SEVEN SHORT FILMS ABOUT (OUR) MARRIAGE
HIGHER LOVE
OPEKA
PRISON WITHIN
REVIVAL
RIGHT GIRLS
UMBRELLA DANCE FOR HONG KONG
Take a look at the reviews and pick something.
And while you're at it go through the Harlem film list and pick something great to watch- trust me you won't be disappointed.
Showing posts with label Harlem International Film Festival 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harlem International Film Festival 2020. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2020
Friday, August 28, 2020
THE 2020 HARLEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL announces line-up for 15th edition (September 10-13)
Lanie Zipoy’s THE SUBJECT is the Opening Night selection, with Craig Davidson’s ISLAND OF BASEBALL making the film’s world premiere on Closing Night
Gavin Guerra’s LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE will be the Friday Night Spotlight and Charles Mudede’s THIN SKIN Is the Centerpiece selection
New York, NY (August 28, 2020) – The 2020 Harlem International Film Festival (Hi) today announced official selections for its 15th edition taking place virtually September 10-13. The film festival opens with two films aimed squarely at current issues with Lanie Zipoy’s thriller about a documentarian haunted by the Harlem teen’s murder he caught on film in THE SUBJECT, set as the Opening Night selection, followed by Gavin Guerra’s documentary on voter suppression, LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE, selected for the Friday Night Spotlight. Saturday’s Centerpiece Screening selection will be Charles Mudede’s THIN SKIN, the film adaptation of Ahamefule Olue’s Off-Broadway musical hit play, with the film festival wrapping things up by celebrating the Centennial celebration of the Negro Leagues with the Closing Night selection of Craig Davidson’s documentary ISLAND OF BASEBALL.
The four-day film festival which has become an underrated showcase of relatively undiscovered international cinematic gems and local New York filmmaking talent will put the NYC spotlight on 94 film presentations (32 features, 47 shorts, 9 webisodes, 5 music videos, and 2 VR/360 projects) representing over 25 countries. World premieres include Davidson’s ISLAND OF BASEBALL, as well as Rich Gold’s IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAD DOG COLL, Daniel Gabriel’s MOSUL, Bahati Best’s THE PATTERSON: ANOTHER BRONX TALE, Sakina Samo’s WAITING, and 5 short films as well.
Harlem International Film Festival’s Program Director, Nasri Zacharia, said. “Like many film festivals, we have made the decision to present our slate of essential cinema virtually this year, but that decision has only intensified our desire to cull great world cinema that might have been otherwise overlooked, and deserves a spotlight, as well as to continue our efforts to truly showcase the filmmakers and the setting of our beloved home neighborhoods of Harlem, Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, which we call the HUB”.
Zipoy’s THE SUBJECT opens the film festival with its tale of a successful white documentary filmmaker, played by Jason Biggs who is dealing with the aftermath of his last film, in which the filmmaker caught the murder of a black teen on camera. Now he is haunted by the death, and his possible role in the murder. The film also stars Emmy nominee Aunjanue Ellis and Anabelle Acosta. Guerra’s LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE could not be more timely, sharing first person accounts from participants in the Civil Rights Movement and looking at present day activists fighting to preserve the hard fought right to vote and battle the growing efforts to suppress that right.
Mudede’s THIN SKIN takes the Centerpiece slot with an adaptation of Ahamefule Olou’s Off-Broadway hit musical play Now I’m Fine, about a harrowing period in the comedian and musician’s real life. A fever dream of recollections of Oluo’s life’s experiences escaping a go-nowhere office life dominated by a proselytizing boss, a broken marriage and a wacky mother, with his two young daughters in tow, his ultimate challenge becomes an illness that literally causes his skin to dissolve. The Harlem International Film Festival will close with the world premiere of Davidson’s ISLAND OF BASEBALL. The film tells the almost forgotten story of how some of the greatest black U.S. ballplayers of all time became legends in Cuba playing integrated baseball there before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in the U.S.
Other films making their world premieres include three documentaries; Gold’s IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAD DOG COLL about one of the Bronx’s infamous, most wanted mafia killers; Gabriel’s MOSUL follows several key individuals involved in reclaiming the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS); Best’s THE PATTERSON: ANOTHER BRONX TALE details the history of the Bronx as told through the microcosm of the Patterson projects; and Samo’s Pakistani drama WAITING focuses on a young woman trapped by the progress of her mother’s dementia.
Once again, the Harlem International Film Festival will feature the work of local NYC talent, including a showcase of short films made by filmmakers from Harlem, Upper Manhattan, and the Bronx. Films like: the experimental piece set in the Harlem Housing Projects (Christopher Seda’s COLORS), and with themes of de-gentrifying (Washington Kirk’s FREDERICK DOUGLASS BOULEVARD AKA FOOD & DRINK BOULEVARD AKA FDB), paying homage to Langston Hughes (Kenneth Sousie’s HOLD FAST TO DREAMS: GOODNIGHT, HARLEM), the struggles of being the sole woman of color in an office environment (Monique Lola Berkley’s I HATE THIS FKN’ JOB), and a look at the history of two notable buildings on Harlem’s Sugar Hill that housed influential individuals such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Louise Thompson-Patterson, Elizabeth Catlett, and Paul Robeson, among many others (Karen D. Taylor’s IN THE FACE OF WHAT WE REMEMBER: ORAL HISTORIES OF 409 AND 555 EDGECOMBE AVENUE) are among some of the films putting forward the work of those film artists, as well as celebrating the hub of the city that the film festival calls home.
For Film festival passes, tickets, and more information on the Harlem International Film Festival go to http://HarlemFilmFestival.org
2020 Harlem International Film Festival official selections
Gavin Guerra’s LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE will be the Friday Night Spotlight and Charles Mudede’s THIN SKIN Is the Centerpiece selection
New York, NY (August 28, 2020) – The 2020 Harlem International Film Festival (Hi) today announced official selections for its 15th edition taking place virtually September 10-13. The film festival opens with two films aimed squarely at current issues with Lanie Zipoy’s thriller about a documentarian haunted by the Harlem teen’s murder he caught on film in THE SUBJECT, set as the Opening Night selection, followed by Gavin Guerra’s documentary on voter suppression, LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE, selected for the Friday Night Spotlight. Saturday’s Centerpiece Screening selection will be Charles Mudede’s THIN SKIN, the film adaptation of Ahamefule Olue’s Off-Broadway musical hit play, with the film festival wrapping things up by celebrating the Centennial celebration of the Negro Leagues with the Closing Night selection of Craig Davidson’s documentary ISLAND OF BASEBALL.
The four-day film festival which has become an underrated showcase of relatively undiscovered international cinematic gems and local New York filmmaking talent will put the NYC spotlight on 94 film presentations (32 features, 47 shorts, 9 webisodes, 5 music videos, and 2 VR/360 projects) representing over 25 countries. World premieres include Davidson’s ISLAND OF BASEBALL, as well as Rich Gold’s IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAD DOG COLL, Daniel Gabriel’s MOSUL, Bahati Best’s THE PATTERSON: ANOTHER BRONX TALE, Sakina Samo’s WAITING, and 5 short films as well.
Harlem International Film Festival’s Program Director, Nasri Zacharia, said. “Like many film festivals, we have made the decision to present our slate of essential cinema virtually this year, but that decision has only intensified our desire to cull great world cinema that might have been otherwise overlooked, and deserves a spotlight, as well as to continue our efforts to truly showcase the filmmakers and the setting of our beloved home neighborhoods of Harlem, Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, which we call the HUB”.
Zipoy’s THE SUBJECT opens the film festival with its tale of a successful white documentary filmmaker, played by Jason Biggs who is dealing with the aftermath of his last film, in which the filmmaker caught the murder of a black teen on camera. Now he is haunted by the death, and his possible role in the murder. The film also stars Emmy nominee Aunjanue Ellis and Anabelle Acosta. Guerra’s LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE could not be more timely, sharing first person accounts from participants in the Civil Rights Movement and looking at present day activists fighting to preserve the hard fought right to vote and battle the growing efforts to suppress that right.
Mudede’s THIN SKIN takes the Centerpiece slot with an adaptation of Ahamefule Olou’s Off-Broadway hit musical play Now I’m Fine, about a harrowing period in the comedian and musician’s real life. A fever dream of recollections of Oluo’s life’s experiences escaping a go-nowhere office life dominated by a proselytizing boss, a broken marriage and a wacky mother, with his two young daughters in tow, his ultimate challenge becomes an illness that literally causes his skin to dissolve. The Harlem International Film Festival will close with the world premiere of Davidson’s ISLAND OF BASEBALL. The film tells the almost forgotten story of how some of the greatest black U.S. ballplayers of all time became legends in Cuba playing integrated baseball there before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in the U.S.
Other films making their world premieres include three documentaries; Gold’s IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAD DOG COLL about one of the Bronx’s infamous, most wanted mafia killers; Gabriel’s MOSUL follows several key individuals involved in reclaiming the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS); Best’s THE PATTERSON: ANOTHER BRONX TALE details the history of the Bronx as told through the microcosm of the Patterson projects; and Samo’s Pakistani drama WAITING focuses on a young woman trapped by the progress of her mother’s dementia.
Once again, the Harlem International Film Festival will feature the work of local NYC talent, including a showcase of short films made by filmmakers from Harlem, Upper Manhattan, and the Bronx. Films like: the experimental piece set in the Harlem Housing Projects (Christopher Seda’s COLORS), and with themes of de-gentrifying (Washington Kirk’s FREDERICK DOUGLASS BOULEVARD AKA FOOD & DRINK BOULEVARD AKA FDB), paying homage to Langston Hughes (Kenneth Sousie’s HOLD FAST TO DREAMS: GOODNIGHT, HARLEM), the struggles of being the sole woman of color in an office environment (Monique Lola Berkley’s I HATE THIS FKN’ JOB), and a look at the history of two notable buildings on Harlem’s Sugar Hill that housed influential individuals such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Louise Thompson-Patterson, Elizabeth Catlett, and Paul Robeson, among many others (Karen D. Taylor’s IN THE FACE OF WHAT WE REMEMBER: ORAL HISTORIES OF 409 AND 555 EDGECOMBE AVENUE) are among some of the films putting forward the work of those film artists, as well as celebrating the hub of the city that the film festival calls home.
For Film festival passes, tickets, and more information on the Harlem International Film Festival go to http://HarlemFilmFestival.org
2020 Harlem International Film Festival official selections
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