Palm Springs International Film Festival 2022 Souvenir Book

THE

33RD ANNUAL

P ALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

JANUARY 6 – 17 2022

PSFILMFEST.ORG

k c a B e m o c l e W

Palm Springs International Film Festival

Palm Springs, Hollywood’s playground since back in the day.

Play among the stars A Proud Sponsor:

VisitPalmSprings.com

THE

33RD ANNUAL

P ALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

WELCOME Board of Directors ���������������������������������������������������������������������4 Chairman of the Board �������������������������������������������������������������5 Artistic Director �������������������������������������������������������������������������7 Community Welcome ���������������������������������������������������������������8 Mayor ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9 Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians ����������������������������� 11 FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE Map �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13 Ticket & Festival Info ������������������������������������������������������������� 14 Sponsors ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21 Beyond the Festival ���������������������������������������������������������������� 27 Community Screening ������������������������������������������������������������ 29 Programming Team ����������������������������������������������������������������� 33 Festival Staff ����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 34 Festival Awards ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 38 Film Awards ������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 44 FILM PROGRAMS Opening Night ������������������������������������������������������������������������� 51 Closing Night ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 53 Gayla! Presentations �������������������������������������������������������������� 54 Talking Pictures ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 58 Big Screen ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 65 Sound Track............................................................................... 74 Modern Masters....................................................................... 83 Cine Latino ������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 91 Local Spotlight ������������������������������������������������������������������������� 96 Awards Buzz............................................................................102 Queer Cinema Today.............................................................125 New Voices New Visions......................................................130 True Stories.............................................................................136 World Cinema Now...............................................................146 INDEXES Film Schedule �������������������������������������������������������������������������164 Films by Region ���������������������������������������������������������������������172 Film Index �������������������������������������������������������������������������������174 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org Psfilmfest.org

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Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

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3 january 6 – 17, 2022

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

David L. Baron Esq.

Aftab Dada

Vice Chairman, Treasurer

Sidney D. Craig Secretary

Helene Galen

Vice Chairman

Mary Ann LaBahn Chair of Education

Vice Chairman

Patrick Mundt Assistant Secretary

JoAnn McGrath

John Pinkney

Assistant Secretary

Scott White

Vice Chairman

Vice Chairman

Jan Salta

Executive Board Member

Aubrey Serfling

Executive Board Member

MEMBERS

Stephen Breimer Board Member

Jaci Fitzsimonds

Jim Bruner

Michael Childers Board Member

Board Member

Bob Deville

Robert Dickey

Michele Finney

Eric Garner

Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns

Patti Grundhofer

Gary D. Hall

Wendy Hope-Heckmann

Geoff Kors

Michelle Krans

Kevin McGuire

Lee Morcus

Marie E. Pinizzotto, M.D., MBA

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Carol Kaplan

Terri Ketover Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Donna MacMillan

Peter Mahler

Katherine Malkin

Tristan Milanovich

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Garry Kief

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Emeritus: Mark C. Adams Fritz Frauchiger In Memoriam

Jack Grundhofer In Memoriam

David Ready, Esq., Ph.D Board Member

Catharine Reed Board Member

Linda Shirvanian Board Member

Dominique Shwe Board Member

Ellen Sneider Board Member

Tim Hanlon James R. Houston In Memoriam

Cydney Osterman Madeline Redstone

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Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

WELCOME WELCOME

LETTER FROM THE FESTIVAL CHAIRMAN I take great pleasure in welcoming you to this year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Gathering with our audiences in front of the big screen to collectively share the best new films the world has to offer takes on a renewed significance this year. At a time when many of us are still limited in our ability to travel, the 130 films curated for this year’s program by artistic director Lili Rodriguez and her talented staff of programmers allow us to journey to 70 countries from every region of the world without ever leaving the Coachella Valley.

Harold Matzner Chairman of the Board

Our festival offers something to suit every filmgoer’s taste — from escapist comedies and edgeof-your-seat thrillers to deeply moving dramas and eye-opening documentaries. The festival is widely regarded throughout the industry as the festival that screens almost all of the submissions to the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards®. This year we’re bringing you nearly 40 of those films in our Awards Buzz program.

No festival would be complete without a taste of Hollywood, so we invite you to don your finest attire and celebrate with us in person at this year’s Film Awards, which opens the festival on Thursday, January 6 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. We’ll kick off this year’s awards season by honoring some of the biggest A-list movie stars and filmmakers in the world. It’s the only event in the valley where you can celebrate among Hollywood’s best and brightest, see the glitz and glamour of the red carpet with stars like Will Smith, Penélope Cruz, Kristen Stewart, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Hudson and more Oscar® hopefuls, and enjoy a fabulous dinner in our elegantly decorated ballroom. And it’s all for a good cause, raising more than $2.5 million for the Palm Springs International Film Society’s year-round mission.

I want to thank our presenting sponsor and proud partner, American Express; our title sponsor, City of Palm Springs; and our Film Awards host Mary Hart and Entertainment Tonight for helping to make this one of the most exciting events in Palm Springs. Mary will once again emcee the Film Awards ceremony and interview stars for Entertainment Tonight to provide immediate national news coverage that no other festival can get.

Our major sponsors are assisted by our wonderful team of individual underwriters, including Helene Galen, JoAnn McGrath, Patti Grundhofer and Jordan Schnitzer, and myself. Our entire board of directors donates more than $1 million annually to this benefit for the Palm Springs International Film Society. It’s our pleasure to continue the legacy of our late friends and supporters such as our founder, Sonny Bono, our former chairman, Earl Greenburg, and our past major donors, James and Jackie Lee Houston.

We hope you join us in ringing in a very happy new year at the festival!

Harold Matzner Chairman of the Board

5 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM SOCIETY The Palm Springs International Film Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness.

Film Society membership brings you admission to sneak preview screenings and special events, early box office access to the Palm Springs International Film Festival and Palm Springs ShortFest, and discounts on festival tickets, passes, merchandise, and more.

Membership also supports our year-round work to provide educational programs that serve thousands of youth and adults of diverse means and backgrounds in the Coachella Valley, as well as college students from across the Southern California region and visiting filmmakers from around the world.

Become a Film Society member to begin using your benefits today!

Visit www.psfilmfest.org/membership.

The Film Society extends our gratitude to all our members with an extra special thank you to the following: CHAIRMAN LEVEL MEMBERS: Heather Burek, Clement Chan, Mark Coleman & Terence Kissack, Clara DiFelice, Linda Friedman, Rob Moon & Bob Hammack, Peter M Hirsch & Michael Bakish, Bobbi Lampros, Athalie & Adnan LaPamuk, Mary Clare Lynch & Dr Carlos J Ledezma, David Liggett & Mark Hawk, Don Lorack, Mary Lynch, Harold Matzner & Shellie Reade, Donald S. Metzner, Edward Monie, Mark Prior & Luc Bernard, Laurence Rickels, Stephanie Stroughter, John Wendell & Mark Okun PREMIERE LEVEL MEMBERS: Michael Amara & Les Young, Bipin B. Bharatwal, Gene S. Brandt, Tom Carlock & Rich Schirrmacher, Susan Chalfen & Daniel Silvers, Marman Cordova, John & Soheila Crane, Liza Ivins & Rick Moran, Stephen Lind & Patrick Mundt, Joseph Palacios, Marie E. Pinizzotto MD MBA, Gail A. Pischak, Deb Schwarz, Lori & Aubrey Serfling, Dr. Barry Johnson & Dr.Tulika Singh, Marilyn Taketa

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PRODUCER LEVEL MEMBERS Ken & Vicki Alterwitz, Dara & Erika Altobelli, Sherrie Auen & Catharine Reed, Adrian Bernotti & Ralph Vicero, Mario Bertucci, Clifford Campbell, Andre Caraco, Karen & Nate Cheney, Anita & Goerge Cooks, Garret Demarest & Tim Murphy, Robert Dobier, Lee Elster, Seth Evans, Expedia Cruises, Harlan Eyre, Donna & Garrett Falzone, Susan & Barry Fisher, Glenn Flood, Linda Friedman, Joseph Giarrusso, Carol Goldwasser, Sally Goodman, Susan Goodman, Jeanette Gray, Rhonda & Brett Hartzell, Denise Haslam, Ralph and Natalie Hirshorn, Cynthia Hutchinson, Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad, Nancy Italia, Chris Jara & Don Taffurelli, Marcia Jones, Kurt Kaltschmidt, Carol & Bill Kaplan, Jim Bochnski & Don Kasper, Laurie Krueger, Mary Ann LaBahn, Pat & Gary Leach, Mindy Levy Peckar, Brenda Lonsbury-Martin & Glen Martin, Dr. & Mrs. Michael Lovy, Susan & Rod Lubeznik, JoAnn McGrath, Jennie L. Mingolelli, J Michael Naughton, Phong Nguyen, Tom O’Brien, Marsha & Bill Pachter, Alex Parker, Cole Parker, Stephen Polacheck, Dr Lara Ramdin, Leslie Roth, Marcella Ruble, Esme Ryan, Marvin Salles & Geoffrey Ballah, Glenn Saxby, Arlene & Arthur Schwimmer, Gloria Scoby, Julie Spira, Mary Kay Stolz, Thomas Swedenburg, Andra Tackacs, Victoria Till, V Ferris Todd, Mike & Sally Traidman, George & Carla Van Hoomissen, Mac Van Wielingen, Richard G. Wilkinson, Ken Williams, James Zachman, Anthony Zarrillo, Dr. Les Zendle & Jerry Hanson Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

WELCOME WELCOME

LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR It feels so good to say hello again.

Lili Rodriguez Artistic Director

It’s hard to believe that it has been two whole years since we last met here. Strangely, it feels as if PSIFF 2020 was both just yesterday and an eternity ago. The team here at the Palm Springs Film Society has kept busy with year-round member screenings and ShortFest, but we sure missed mounting this festival in 2021, and we’re endlessly grateful that we have you as an audience to return to.

So much has changed since January 2020. As such, this year’s festival looks different from previous editions. At the top of our priorities has been our commitment to mounting the truest form of the festival that we’ve all come to know and love while maintaining the safest environment possible. For us, that meant bypassing virtual screenings and figuring out a way to celebrate the movies together — appropriately — in front of the big screen.

In PSIFF tradition, our programmers have dedicated over a year to exploring the world and bringing you a vibrant selection of today’s international and local cinema. As always, you’ll find films that run the gamut — from feel-good fun to urgent, socially driven work.

The world is ever-evolving and filmmakers are there to capture it all.

Although we’ve yet to put the pandemic behind us and continue to face new challenges, we’re grateful to have this moment together with you and want to make PSIFF 2022 a celebration of art and life. What better way to do so than with music and film? In the lineup you’ll find two sidebars that do just that: Sound Track, featuring films to get you moving and humming along, and Big Screen, featuring films that explore our favorite art form — the movies.

And of course, there’s this year’s poster, with its happy and welcoming message.

I hope you can sense this celebratory feeling through the films we’ve selected this year and the festival we’ve planned for you. On behalf of the PSIFF team, welcome back.

Lili Rodriguez Artistic Director

7 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

WELCOME

WELCOME Welcome to Palm Springs for the 33rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival!

When then-mayor of Palm Springs Sonny Bono introduced the festival in 1990, he envisioned it as an annual celebration that would help put the city on the map and make it a year-round must-visit destination for visitors from around the world.

Kimber Foster Director, Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism

Whether this is your first time in Palm Springs or you’re a return visitor, I’m sure you’ll agree with us that it’s a destination “like no place else.”

We invite you to return soon.

Since then, it has become one of the largest in North America, growing from five days to 12 days, and attracting A-list celebrities.

Palm Springs is a playground with enduring beauty, a retro vibe and fun in the sun. A smalltown scale combined with urban sophistication is being rediscovered by a new generation of the young and hip who have fallen in love with this enclave of cool. From midcentury modern-style architecture to a stylish and bold new downtown experience, Palm Springs has retained a mix of historic charm and trend-setting design.

Nona Watson Chief Executive Officer, Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce

Over that time, tourism, too, has grown in Palm Springs, bringing with it a host of new attractions, innovative restaurants, world-class art, and unique places to stay.

The city’s vibrant personality is being re-imagined to embrace a new energetic vibe.

Kimber Foster Director, Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism

We welcome visitors and residents with new stylish hotels, exquisite boutique inns, fashionable restaurants, chic shops and boutiques, and unique entertainment venues as well as welcoming public spaces for gathering, celebrating and relaxing.

We invite you to stay and play with us here in Palm Springs.

Nona Watson Chief Executive Officer, Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce

Greetings Film Lovers, Visit Greater Palm Springs and our welcoming hospitality and tourism community are excited to host you as we celebrate the 33rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival! We are back, stronger than ever, and we missed you.

Scott White President and CEO, Visit Greater Palm Springs

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Our sunny oasis is filled with some of the most scenic places to hike, bike, tour, dine, relax, and simply exhale during your stay with us, and with more direct flights than ever, never in our storied history have we been more passionate to show you why Greater Palm Springs has grown to be

one of the most desirable places to work, play, and live year-round.

Again, we wish you a warm welcome—and may you find your oasis of perfection during your stay as you enjoy the festival.

Sincerely,

Scott White President and CEO, Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau

january 6 – 17, 2022

WELCOME

City of Palm Springs Lisa Middleton, Mayor

3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way • Palm Springs, California 92262 Tel: 760.323.8200 • Fax: 760.323.8207 Email: Lisa.Middleton@palmspringsca.gov

City of Palm Springs Lisa Middleton, Mayor

3200 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way • Palm Springs, California 92262 Tel: 760.323.8200 • Fax: 760.323.8207 Welcome film lovers!

Email: Lisa.Middleton@palmspringsca.gov

As Mayor of the City of Palm Springs, I am delighted to welcome you to the 33rd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, one of the largest, most respected, and star-studded film festivals in North America.

In fact, we are thrilled to welcome our City’s signature special event back to Palm Springs in-person — and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the City’s COVID-19 safety protocols seriously. The health and safety of our residents and visitors is our top priority.

The City of Palm Springs is particularly proud to be the Title Sponsor and host of this world-renowned film festival, founded by late Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono. This year, the Festival will attract thousands of filmgoers, just like you, who come to enjoy 130 quality films created by filmmakers from 70 countries.

Not only will you be able to experience the very best in cinema, but you will also be able to enjoy all of the “Uniquely Palm Springs” attractions that you can find nowhere else in the world, including beautiful weather, breathtaking scenery, vibrant shops, restaurants, iconic architecture, a wide array of diverse, comfortable and sophisticated hotels and inns — not to mention an exciting night life!

A special thanks to the Film Festival’s visionary Chairman Harold Matzner, board members, staff, and the many local businesses and volunteers who work so hard to make the Palm Springs International Film Festival such a resounding success every year.

If you are like me, a real movie lover, you are ready to pick your favorite films, settle back into your seat in one of our many comfortable film venues, and prepare to enjoy some of the best cinema in the world. See you at the movies!

Sincerely,

Post Office Box 2743 • Palm Springs, California 92263-2743 Lisa Middleton Mayor of Palm Springs

Post Office Box 2743 • Palm Springs, California 92263-2743

9 january 6 – 17, 2022

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2021

RESORT HOTEL

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2021

S U N S T O N E S PA

THE STEAKHOUSE

january 6 – 17, 2022

WELCOME

11 january 6 – 17, 2022

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FESTIVAL MAP N

H E

Belardo

Calle Encilla

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S. Cahuilla

S. Patencio

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J

J

G G

Tahquitz Canyon Way

V P-

Baristo Road

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P

B

Palm Springs International Airport

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Ramon Road

Sunny Dunes Road San Lorenzo Road Mesquite Ave.

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Mesquite Ave.

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t Pa

Dinah Shore Drive

VENUES AND INFO

lm C

any

on D

rive

/H

wy

111

Cathedral Canyon Drive

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Amado Road

El Cielo

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Alejo Road

Farrell Drive

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il Tra

Avenida Caballeros

Tamarisk Road

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Arenas Road

Farrell Drive

Tachevah Road

try Au ne Ge

D

Sunrise Way

N. Indian Canyon Dr.

N. Palm Canyon Dr.

Vista Chino

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-

A

(ANN) Annenberg Theater at Palm Springs Art Museum (Downstairs) 101 Museum Dr., Palm Springs

G Palm Springs International Film Festival

Administrative Office 1700 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 3, Palm Springs

B (CAM) Palm Springs Cultural Center at Camelot Theatres

H Hilton Palm Springs (Official Host Hotel)

C (MP) Mary Pickford is D’Place

I Festival Store

2300 E. Baristo Rd., Palm Springs

36850 Pickfair St., Cathedral City

D

(PALM) Palm Canyon Theatre 538 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs

E (REG) Regal Cinemas Palm Springs Stadium 9 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs

F (PSHS) Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School 2401 E. Baristo Rd., Palm Springs

V

C

400 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs

777 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 23, Palm Springs

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Festival Ticket and Information Center 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 20, Palm Springs

P Parking

Free Parking is available near or at all venues.

See map for details

V Vaccination Verification Checkpoints

13 january 6 – 17, 2022

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TICKET & FESTIVAL INFORMATION

TICKET PURCHASES & VOUCHER EXCHANGE

TICKETING & EVENT PRICING

The box office will be open to the general public beginning on December 22.

GENERAL ADMISSION........................................... $13 6-PACK........................................................................ $69 12-PACK...................................................................$138 OPENING NIGHT SCREENING AND RECEPTION..................................................... $75 OPENING NIGHT SCREENING ONLY ................ $15 CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING ONLY.................. $15 TALKING PICTURES PROGRAMS............ $15 – $25

Early Bird Access for Palm Springs Film Society Members runs December 19 – 21.

Go to www.psfilmfest.org to order tickets online, or call 800-898-PALM to order by phone

Monday through Friday 9 am – 6 pm

In-person purchases and voucher exchanges may be completed at box office locations during operating hours.

BOX OFFICE HOURS BEFORE THE FESTIVAL

Festival Ticket & Information Center at the Regal 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 20

Palm Springs Film Society members with Early Bird Access December 19 – 21: 9 am – 5 pm General Public December 22 – 23: 9 am – 5 pm December 26 – 30: 9 am – 5 pm January 2 – 6: 9 am – 5 pm We will be closed on December 24, 25, 31 and January 1

DURING THE FESTIVAL

Theater box office locations are open on January 6 – 17 one hour before the first show is scheduled until one half hour after the last show is scheduled to start. Theater box offices are not open on days without screenings at that theater.

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PASS OPTIONS BENEFACTOR PASS........................................... $3,500 CONCIERGE PASS.............................................. $2,750 AMERICAN EXPRESS® FESTIVAL PASS........ $2,500 PLATINUM PASS.................................................. $500* 5-DAY “A” PASS..................................................... $350* 5-DAY “B” PASS..................................................... $350* *advance reservations required PICKING UP TICKETS

Tickets may be picked up at our Festival Ticket and Information Center or at any box office location during operating hours.

PRINT-AT-HOME & MOBILE TICKETS

Avoid the box office and print your tickets at home. Tickets are attached to your order confirmation email in PDF form. Simply open the PDF, print and present your tickets at the screening upon entry. You may also present the PDF on your mobile device.

FESTIVAL MERCHANDISE Merchandise is available online, at the Festival Store located in the Regal Cinemas complex at 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 23, and at Destination PSP at 170 N. Palm Canyon Dr.

january 6 – 17, 2022

TICKET & FESTIVAL INFORMATION

PICKING UP PASSES Benefactor, Concierge, Platinum, 5-Day A and 5-Day B Passes must be picked up at the Festival Ticket & Information Center at the Regal Courtyard.

Festival Ticket & Information Center at the Regal Courtyard 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 20 January 3 – 6: 9 am – 5 pm January 7 – 17: 9 am – 7 pm American Express® Festival Passes must be picked up at the American Express Passholder Lounge.

American Express® Passholder Lounge 789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 16 January 3 – 6: 9 am – 5 pm January 7 – 17: 8:30 am – 8:30 pm

FESTIVAL POLICIES TERMS AND CONDITIONS: By attending the festival, you

agree to abide by the Terms and Conditions, which can be found at www.psfilmfest.org/about/terms-and-conditions.

SCHEDULE CHANGES: Sometimes, for reasons beyond our control, programs must be changed, rescheduled or cancelled.

A daily update on schedule changes may be obtained at www. psfilmfest.org or at the Festival Ticket & Information Center.

Changes will also be posted at each venue. Please check for updates periodically.

REFUND POLICY: Refunds will be issued to anyone who

cannot attend because they are sick, or have a known exposure to COVID-19. Refunds should be requested via email at boxofficemgr@psfilmfest.org. Refunds will only be issued prior to a screening; after a screening has passed, no refunds will be issued.

REFUSAL OF SERVICE: PSIFF reserves the right to refuse

service to anyone for any reason. We enforce this policy to ensure a secure, professional and convenient environment for all of our patrons.

SCANNING: All tickets and passes will be scanned upon

VACCINATION CHECKPOINTS All patrons must provide proof of full vaccination in person and receive a wristband to attend Festival screenings and events. See p. 16 for more information.

789 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Suite 23 January 3 – 6: 9 am – 5 pm January 7 – 17: 8:30 am – 8:30 pm Mary Pickford is D’Place January 7 – 17: 1 hour before first screening – 8:30 pm

entering each screening. They are individually barcoded, allowing only one scan per use. Attempts to duplicate, alter or sell any copies of print-at-home tickets or passes will result in admittance being refused to the event. Tickets and/or vouchers purchased through a third party will not be accepted.

RE-ENTRY PASSES: Anyone (including pass holders) exiting an auditorium with plans to return to that particular screening MUST obtain a Re-Entry Pass in order to be readmitted to a screening. A festival pass or ticket stub and re-entry pass is required for re-entry.

STANDBY TICKETS: When a film screening or event is on

Standby, it means that the ticket allotment has been reached.

Any empty seats are released for sale 10 minutes prior to a screening. Patrons can join the standby line for a chance to purchase these seats. Standby tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and may or may not be sold for some programs.

Passes, cash, credit and vouchers are accepted.

15 january 6 – 17, 2022

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TICKET & FESTIVAL INFORMATION

FESTIVAL ETIQUETTE

SAFETY PROTOCOLS

◦ Saving space in line, or seats for other patrons is not permitted.

To increase everyone’s safety and comfort, we must institute the following protocols for this year’s Festival:

◦ Late seating is not permitted. Festival will not sell tickets or allow seating once the program has begun. Any exception to the lateseating policy is at the discretion of the Festival Venue Manager. ◦ If you need to leave the auditorium for any reason, take your pass or ticket stub and pick up a Re-Entry Pass before you leave. ◦ No one will be re-admitted without their pass or ticket stub and the Re-Entry Pass. ◦ No recording equipment is permitted in the theater auditorium. ◦ No large bags are permitted inside venues; all bags are subject to search. ◦ Please turn off all mobile devices during the film presentation.

No talking or texting permitted during the film presentation. ◦ Smoking is strictly prohibited at all Festival locations, including e-cigarettes and vaping products. ◦ Please complete and return your Audience Award ballot immediately following each screening. ◦ To expedite theater cleaning and seating, please discard your waste in the appropriate containers and exit promptly after your screening. ◦ All theater auditoriums are cleared between show times. Any items left in the auditoriums will be removed and placed in Lost and Found. ◦ Many lines are outside of the theaters. Please dress appropriately for comfort, as it can get warm during the day and cold in the evenings. Theaters may also get chilly.

Valid proof of full vaccination with photo ID is required to enter Festival venues and events. This applies to all Festival and Film Awards patrons, pass holders, volunteers, staff, guests, sponsors, media and vendors. Visit one of our vaccination checkpoints to receive your wristband indicating vaccination.

Full vaccination is defined as 10 days following the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Government-approved vaccines from other countries (e.g., Astrazeneca) will be approved with official documentation.

Acceptable documentation of vaccination includes: original or electronic photo of the CDC vaccination card, or similar documentation issued by another foreign governmental jurisdiction; original documentation from a health care provider that details your vaccination record; or a personal digital COVID-19 vaccine record. For information on approved digital vaccine record providers, visit www.psfilmfest.org/safety.

A negative COVID test or proof of antibodies will NOT be accepted in lieu of proof of vaccination. To keep our patrons safe, no exceptions will be made to this policy.

Each patron will be required to sign a waiver agreeing to the Attendee Promise & Health Acknowledgement found in the FAQ at www.psfilmfest.org/safety. A wristband will be placed on the patron, which will need to be worn for the duration of the festival visit. If the band is removed or lost, they will need to go through the process again. Film Awards attendees will be asked to sign a separate waiver prior to the event.

All patrons, staff, volunteers, etc. will be required to wear masks inside at all venues and events. Masks may be removed by patrons briefly while seated in theater seats to enjoy concessions. Theater capacities will be reduced to no more than 75%.

Refunds will not be issued to those unable to provide proof of vaccination. However, if you are sick or have a known exposure to COVID-19, please do not come to the Festival. Refunds may be requested through email at boxofficemgr@psfilmfest.org.

Depending on current conditions, additional measures may be taken. For full, up-to-date information on our safety policies visit www.psfilmfest.org/safety.

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Eisenhower Health is proud to support the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

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WELCOMES THE

HOT A 18

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I R BALLOON FE

STIVAL

TO THE

LGBT DAYS

TA ST E OF JA LI S

CO january 6 – 17, 2022

Thanks for putting art in the heart of the community Bank of America recognizes the Palm Springs International Film Festival for its success in bringing the arts to performers and audiences throughout the community. We commend you on creating an opportunity for all to enjoy and share a cultural experience.

Visit us at bankofamerica.com/inlandempire.

©2021 Bank of America Corporation | MAP3424741 | ENT-211-AD

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Harold, Thank you and congratulations!

Your brilliant and enthusiastic leadership has had an invaluable impact on the success of the Film Awards, annual festivals, member programs and our city.

With much appreciation,

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FESTIVAL SPONSORS TITLE SPONSOR

PRESENTING SPONSORS

PRODUCING SPONSORS

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FESTIVAL SPONSORS FILM AWARDS PRESENTING SPONSOR & PROUD PARTNER

MAJOR SPONSOR OF FILM AWARDS & FESTIVAL

PLATINUM SPONSORS

SUPPORTING FOUNDATIONS

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FESTIVAL SPONSORS OFFICIAL PURVEYORS

OFFICIAL WINE

OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE PARTNER

OFFICIAL HOST HOTEL

OFFICIAL WORLDWIDE PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO PARTNERS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

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SPONSORS FESTIV AL SPONSORS INTERNATIONAL SPONSORS

CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA

SUPPORTING SPONSORS

PARTY RENTALS

MEDIA SPONSORS

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FESTIVAL SPONSORS PLATINUM HOTEL SPONSORS

PREMIER HOTEL SPONSORS

HOSPITALITY SPONSORS

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midcentury mod streetscapes

desert dreamscapes

otherworldly moonscapes

Connecting film, television, and commercial productions to the resources they need.

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BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

EDUCATIONAL AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMS The Palm Springs International Film Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness. In addition to producing the Palm Springs International Film Festival every January and the annual Palm Springs ShortFest in June, the Film Society proudly offers year-round educational programs that serve thousands of youth and adults of diverse means and backgrounds in the Coachella Valley, as well as college students from across the Southern California region and visiting filmmakers from around the world.

These dynamic and evolving programs encapsulate the Film Society’s vision to use the medium of film to inspire creativity, encourage introspection and compel exploration.

INTERNSHIPS AND MENTORSHIPS College and high school students are provided practical hands-on experience alongside our team of professionals for school credit.

FILMMAKER IN THE CLASSROOM Hands-on workshops on various aspects of filmmaking that pairs filmmakers with visual arts students, bringing professional alumni filmmakers from both ShortFest and local high school graduates, now working in film, to schools through the Coachella Valley.

STUDENT SCREENING DAY Student Screening Day is more than a field trip, it is an opportunity to inspire and be inspired. The screenings expose students to ideas, cultures and people from around the globe.

Representing a diverse range of perspectives and storytelling styles, the films in this series have brought all corners of the world to Coachella Valley youth.

THE ANNENBERG RETREAT AT SUNNYLANDS For the past decade, PSIFF and the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands have partnered to arrange intimate and private daylong Filmmaker Retreats. The retreats host a select group of filmmakers from all over the world with the purpose of providing an informal setting wherein international directors can speak candidly and confidentially about their work and the filmmaking process with other directors from around the world, building an international community among participants.

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BEYOND THE FESTIVAL

COLLABORATIVE SCREENING SERIES • Sunnylands Films on the Great Lawn: Seasonal outdoor screenings for the whole family. Bring a picnic.

• Palm Springs Art Museum Annenberg Theater Summer Film Series: Getting people out of the heat and into the comfort of a cool theater for great films.

• UCR Palm Desert: Throughout the year UCR Palm Desert and the Palm Springs Film Society bring various film series and events, including the Oscar® Panel in February.

These dynamic and evolving programs are made possible by the generous contributions of passionate filmgoers like yourself. For more information or to make a donation, please visit: www.psfilmfest.org/support-us/donate

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COMMUNITY SCREENING

MISSION: JOY – FINDING HAPPINESS IN TROUBLED TIMES USA, 2021 90 minutes Directors: Louie Psihoyos, Peggy Callahan With: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Thupten Jinpa Langri Genres: Documentary, Religion/Spirituality, Social Issues

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15 Saturday, January 15 • 3:00 pm • ANN FREE ADMISSION Presented by

Though they come from drastically different backgrounds, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have forged an unlikely friendship over the years, brought together by a common set of values and an irrepressible, mischievous sense of humor. Observing a once-in-a-lifetime exchange, this documentary captures their meeting in Dharamsala, India, where the two friends engage in both playful banter and serious discussion about the difficult but rewarding practice of pursuing joy. Academy Award®-winning director Louie Psihoyos and co-director Peggy Callahan delve into the two men’s experiences with hardship and oppression, but despite their tribulations, both men radiate a palpable sense of delight. Bolstering hard-earned wisdom and fascinating explorations into the neuroscience of happiness, Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times is loaded with practical and profound guidance for leading a more compassionate, exuberant life.

Selected Filmography: The Game Changers (2018), Racing Extinction (2015), The Cove (2009) 29 january 6 – 17, 2022

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DESERT CARE NETWORK

PALM SPRINGS

DESERTREGIONALMEDICALCENTER

With 385 licensed beds, Desert Regional is home to the region's only Level II Trauma Center.

JOSHUA TREE

HI-DESERTMEDICALCENTER is a

179 bed hospital for the Morongo Basin and serves as Joshua Tree’s Emergency Room.

INDIO

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HIGHLIGHTS OF DESERT CARE NETWORK

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NEWBORNSERVICES.Our Level3NICUisthemost advancedintheCoachellaValley.

PRIMARYCARE.Weprovide12primary andspecialtycareclinicsacrossour desertregion.

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(833) 317-0154 Psfilmfest.org

DesertCareNetwork.com january 6 – 17, 2022

! s e e n i m o N 2 2 0 2 e h t o t s n o i t a l u t a r g n o C Hotel Zoso

Ace Hotel & Swim Club Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs Alcazar Palm Springs Avalon Palm Springs Caliente Tropics College of the Desert Palm Springs

Hyatt Suites Palm Springs Ingleside Inn & Melvyn’s Restaurant Kimpton The Rowan Palm Springs L’Horizon Resort & Spa LULU California Bistro

Palm Springs Convention Center & Bureau of Tourism

Parker Palm Springs Renaissance Palm Springs Saguaro Hotel Sonder at V Palm Springs Sparrows Lodge Spencer’s Palm Springs

Colony Palms

Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs

Villa Royale

Ellis Hospitality Services

Marquis Villas

Visit Greater Palm Springs

Grit Development

McCormick’s Palm Springs Car Auctions

VRON Palm Springs

Hilton Palm Springs & Elements Spa

Palm Mountain Resort & Spa

Holiday House 31 january 6 – 17, 2022

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Two Decades of Delivering Your Desert Dreams For 20 years, Bennion Deville Homes has helped you find your place in the desert.

Thank you for helping us become the #1 real estate brokerage in the Coachella Valley.

We are a proud sponsor of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, a marquee event that enriches this magical place you could call home.

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PROGRAMMING TEAM

David Ansen Lead Programmer

Alissa Simon Lead Programmer

Jane Schoettle Programmer & Filmmaker Retreats Producer

David Ansen was Newsweek’s movie critic from 1977 through 2008 and continued to write for the magazine until its last print edition in 2012. He was the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival for five years, and previously served for eight years on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival.

A film curator for more than 25 years, Alissa Simon was named a 1999 Chicagoan of the year for her innovative work at the Art Institute’s Film Center. She also writes for the trade paper Variety, consults for a number of foreign festivals, and has served on numerous international film festival juries.

Jane Schoettle worked for several decades as an International Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival.

She has also programmed extensively for festivals in Miami, Aspen and Palm Springs. She was also most recently the Producer of TIFF’s International Filmmaker Lab and TIFF Writer’s Studio.

Therese Hayes Senior Programmer

Hebe Tabachnik Senior Programmer

Céline Roustan Programmer

A student of Far Eastern Civilization at the University of Washington in Seattle, as well as Indian art and cinema, Therese serves as a consultant on Indian films to several film festivals and institutions.

She is on the board of Film Trust India in Mumbai, and is co-curator for the Stuttgart Indian Film Festival.

Hebe Tabachnik has been a film producer, curator and festival consultant for 20 years, and participated as a juror, project evaluator and panelist in the US, Europe, Latin America, Israel and China. She is Senior Programmer for the Palms Springs, Seattle and Cartagena International Film Festivals, and the Artistic Director for Cine Latino Minneapolis Saint Paul.

Céline Roustan is a short film curator, working for the popular website ShortoftheWeek.com and within the programming departments of the Palm Springs ShortFest, SXSW and TIFF. She also brings short films to audiences as a release strategy consultant. On the feature front, Céline has recently joined the SFFILM programming team.

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PROGRAMMING TEAM / 2022 FESTIVAL STAFF PROGRAMMING TEAM

Jessica Eskelin Programming Manager

Jennifer Van Camp Programming Coordinator

Stephanie Pineda Programming Intern

Jessica Eskelin worked as programming intern, assistant and coordinator before assuming her role as Programming Manager. A true product of the Coachella Valley, she graduated from CCHS, has two associate degrees from College of the Desert and is currently working on her Bachelors from CSUSB, PDC.

Jennifer Van Camp previously worked for the Palm Springs International Film Society from 2011-2016 and happily returns to PSIFF22 as Programming Coordinator. She has lived in the Coachella Valley most of her life, where she is now raising her two amazing children. She also curates and teaches youth yoga classes.

Stephanie Pineda is the current programming intern for PSIFF, and she previously interned for ShortFest in 2019.

She has also worked for Vail Film Festival, Boston International Kids Film Festival and the Holiday Channel. Stephanie is a recent graduate of UCLA, where she studied film, television and digital media.

EXECUTIVE

FESTIVAL OPERATIONS

Liliana Rodriguez, Artistic Director Rhea Woodson, Managing Director

Aaron Ridenour, Technical Director Jody Cole, Theater Operations Manager Phil Del Costello, Theater Operations Assistant Manager Clayton Martin, Print Traffic Manager Max Holm, Print Traffic Coordinator Angelica Ramos Fonseca, Production Manager Debbie Wright, Health Checkpoint Coordinator Jody Grossman, Health Checkpoint Assistant Anthony Doyle, Production Assistant Enrique Ortiz, Production Assistant

ADMINISTRATION Lauren Turletsky, Operations Manager Brynn Hinnant, Office Coordinator Felicia Alford, Accountant Jose Padilla, Accounting Assistant Debbie Ray-Scanlon, Volunteer Manager Jim Gazan, Assistant Volunteer Manager

DEVELOPMENT | MARKETING Kristin Bloomer, Sponsorship & Development Manager Zack Solomon, Membership & Education Manager Caroline Polly, Marketing & Social Media Coordinator Marissa Aguayo, Development Associate Grant Yoshino, Marketing Assistant Ashley Mejia, Social Media Intern Kayla Robles, Marketing & Social Media Intern William Polly, Marketing Intern

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CREATIVE Martin Foster, Designer & Creative Services Manager Joel Hoglund, Publications Coordinator Jesse Knight, Publications Editor Esmé Ryan, Assistant Editor Nathan Cox, Photographer

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2022 FESTIVAL STAFF

PROGRAMMING TEAM

BOX OFFICE

SPECIAL EVENTS

Matt Wigglesworth, Box Office Co-Manager Stephanie Towner, Box Office Co-Manager Edward Thayer, Concierge Manager John Skrabec, Concierge Assistant Tara Dupuis, Credentials Manager Imani Crenshaw, Credentials Assistant Gwen Kibbe, Box Office Supervisor Veronica Aranda, Box Office Supervisor Lorna Schanzenbach, Box Office Supervisor Mark Bowes, Box Office Supervisor Henry Fox, Box Office Supervisor Jeremy Levi, Box Office Supervisor Veronica Aranda, Cashier Michael Flanigan, Cashier Lisa Thomas, Cashier Pat Liedke, Cashier Matthew Aldana, Cashier Judy Malespino, Cashier

Deena Murray, Special Events Manager

FILM AWARDS Christina Sasse, Film Awards Director of Operations & Sales Jessica Jazayeri, Film Awards Manager Scarlett Wilmsen, Film Awards Operations Coordinator Simon Ryder, Film Awards Coordinator Marissa Aguayo, Benefits Coordinator Adrenia Kemp, Film Awards Coordinator Joel Hoglund, Film Awards Program Writer

PUBLICITY Scenario Communications: Steven Wilson, Co-Founder/President Lauren Peteroy Kelly, Vice-President Lindsay Shapiro, Account Executive Grace Hagan, Senior Account Executive Austin Good, Account Administrator

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joe Bowman, Elliott Breeden, Richelle Charkot, Chris Feil, Pam Grady, Greta Hagen-Richardson, Alex Heeney, Stephanie Hough, Ella Kemp, Jesse Knight, Phillip Segal, Cedar Sherbert, Trey Shields, Travis Trew

GUEST RELATIONS Alyssa Lopez, Guest Relations Manager Katie Gilligan, Guest Relations Coordinator Mijoe Sahiouni, Guest Relations Coordinator Jasiri Jenkins-Glenn, Ground Transportation Manager Faten Alshimmary, Guest Relations Assistant Jeffrey Stone, Ground Transportation Assistant

VENUE MANAGERS Milo Adams Addie Allen Steve Bessette Sara Carrasco Steve Csutoras Dan Doody Renae Farias Ruby Flores Aileen Fowler Stephanie Hough Carlo Maldonado

Kate Mason Jenn Misko Garrett Nolan Dael Norwitz Josh Nye Tallpaul O’Connor Jon Olsen Derek Petrillo Angelina Quirante Simon Ryder Jeremy Tipton

PROJECTION TEAM Greg Babush Ryan Smith Freedom Hopkins Talia Kopecki Whitney Miller Chris Bredenberg Brian Morataya Cassady O’Brien

Francisco Aschwanden Curt Heiner Meredith Fox Modestina Weeden Miles Marsico Morgan Murphey Sam La Strapes

2022 SCREENING TEAM Holly Copeland, Margo Handelsman, Suzanne Hogsett, Donna Lawton, Joan Matthias, James Munn, Craig Parish, Shelley Rodriguez, Ed Thayer, Dominique Wulfekuhle

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“We believe the arts are essential to building stronger connections in our community. Cinema as an art form has the power to inspire tolerance, enlighten audiences and bridge cultural distances. Since 2009, we have proudly supported the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

We applaud its work to educate, entertain, initiate cultural dialogue, and celebrate cinematic excellence.”

© 2021 Chihuly Studio. All rights reserved.

–Leslie and Dale Chihuly

CHIHULY

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FESTIVAL AWARDS

FIPRESCI Prizes Selected by a special jury of international critics, the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize will be presented to one of the official Academy Award® submissions for Best International Feature Film. In addition, the jury will award prizes for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay from the Awards Buzz category.

New Voices New Visions Award New Voices New Visions focuses on films that our programmers feel represent the most distinctive new directors to have emerged in the last year. Each of the films in competition represents the filmmaker’s debut or second feature.

CHIHULY Palm Springs International Film Festival award winners each receive a Gilded Emerald Piccolo Venetian with Sunburst Coils created by Dale Chihuly. Inspired by Italian glassmaking and the vessel form, Chihuly began the Venetian series in 1988.

Chihuly is an American artist noted for revolutionizing the studio glass movement and elevating perceptions of the glass medium. Known for ambitious architectural installations in cities, museums and gardens around the world, Chihuly is also a lifelong cinema enthusiast. “I often think that had I not been a sculptor or an artist that I might have liked being a film director,” Chihuly said. His favorite films include A Streetcar Named Desire, Rear Window, The Graduate and Lust for Life.

To learn more about Chihuly and his artwork, please visit www.chihuly.com.

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Documentary Award The Documentary Award will be presented to the film that best opens our eyes to the world around us and the people that inhabit it.

Ibero-American Award Presented to the best Ibero-American film screening at the Festival. This award aims to highlight the tremendous creativity we see in modern Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American films.

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FESTIVAL AWARDS

Young Cineastes Award The Young Cineastes jury is composed of local 14-17-year-old students interested in cinema and the arts.

Local Jury Award Awarded by the Local Jury to a film that, in the spirit of neighborliness, promotes understanding and acceptance among people.

Audience Awards Audiences play an important role in the life of a film.

Filmmakers create their movies with an audience in mind and, in this day and age, content is being driven more and more by audiences themselves, rather than the critics and industry executives. It is only natural that audience awards from festivals play a major role in the marketing and distribution of a film. PSIFF is proud to recognize two special films with the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature.

Bridging the Borders Award At a time when physical, religious, racial, cultural and economic borders divide the population of our planet, efforts to bridge those borders are more important than ever. In that spirit, Cinema Without Borders presents the Bridging the Borders Award to a film that is most successful in bringing the people of our world closer together. The winner of the 2022 Bridging the Borders Award, presented by Cinema Without Borders, is awarded $2,500 by MOZAIK.

THE ENTERTAINER Sculptor John Kennedy (1931 – 2004) is renowned by art lovers and collectors for his graceful bronze figures, which adorn parks, campuses and public buildings around the world.

Two of his most famous sculptures are Spirit of Audrey, dedicated to Audrey Hepburn and located at the UNICEF Headquarters in New York City, and The Entertainer, the official award statuette of the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Inspired by a magazine article about court jesters, Kennedy created a life-size sculpture of a ball-juggling jester titled The Entertainer standing 7 feet 3 inches in 1995. In 1997, the Palm Springs International Film Festival began presenting festival winners with a scaled-down version of the lifesize, and it has been the official award ever since. For more information on John Kennedy’s sculpture, please visit CODA Gallery, www.codagallery.com.

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FILM AWARDS HOST

MARY HART Mary Hart’s extraordinary and unprecedented run as co-host of Entertainment Tonight for 30 years made her as recognizable as many of the big stars she has interviewed. Today, media historians give credit to Hart for her role not only in building the show into a powerhouse, but for also helping to pioneer the genre as a whole.

Hart earned the trust not only of the audience at home but the celebrities she interviewed as well. Personalities would tell her, “Now, I have arrived: Mary Hart has interviewed me.” Her list of subjects includes nearly every major film, television and music star: figures such as George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, the surviving Beatles members, Michael Jackson, Lady Diana and two presidents named Bush and Obama.

Hart was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 1999 and has been honored by numerous organizations including the American Women in Radio and Television and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation. She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest serving entertainment news host. She serves on the Board of Trustees for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and is an ambassador for Childhelp USA, an organization that combats child abuse across America.

She is also on the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center as well as The Israel Project based in Washington, D.C. Hart and her husband, businessman Burt Sugarman, live in Los Angeles and have a son, A.J. 41

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KUDOS. 33RD ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

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VARIETY’S 10 DIRECTORS TO WATCH IN 2022

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Aitch Alberto

Tatiana Huezo

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Mariama Diallo Master

Audrey Diwan Happening

Maggie Gyllenhaal The Lost Daughter

Tatiana Huezo

Prayers for the Stolen

Megan Park

Variety’s 10 to Watch series spotlights emerging writers, actors, producers, directors, comics and cinematographers. Each of these lists is curated by a team of Variety editors, critics and reporters.

The directors selected for this year’s list will be honored in person at a brunch event on Friday, January 7, at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the 11th year that the celebration has been held in Palm Springs. Past recipients of this honor include Wes Anderson, Alfonso Cuarón, Olivia Wilde and Bradley Cooper.

Nikyatu Jusu Nanny

Megan Park The Fallout

Cooper Raiff

Cha Cha Real Smooth

Goran Stolevski

You Won’t Be Alone

Krystin Ver Linden Alice

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BELFAST

VANGUARD AWARD • FOCUS FEATURES WRITER AND DIRECTOR KENNETH BRANAGH CAST INCLUDES CAITRÍONA BALFE, JAMIE DORNAN, CIARÁN HINDS AND JUDE HILL

Film Awards Celebrate the Brightest Stars of the Year at the 33RD Annual Film Awards

SPOTLIGHT AWARD, ACTRESS

INTERNATIONAL STAR AWARD, ACTRESS

DESERT PALM ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, ACTRESS

SPENCER NEON/TOPIC STUDIOS

PARALLEL MOTHERS SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

KRISTEN STEWART

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PENÉLOPE CRUZ

JESSICA CHASTAIN

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD

JANE CAMPION THE POWER OF THE DOG NETFLIX

january 6 – 17, 2022

THURSDAY, JANUARY 6 AT THE PALM SPRINGS CONVENTION CENTER

Toast the year’s top talents at the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s

T

star-studded annual Film Awards celebration.

he Palm Springs International Film Festival’s annual Film Awards returns live on Thursday, January 6 at the Palm Springs Convention Center for another unforgettable celebration of the year’s greatest achievements in filmmaking. For more than 30 years this can’t-miss kickoff to awards season has brought the world’s biggest actors, filmmakers and industry heavyweights to Palm Springs for the hottest event on the city’s cultural calendar. With the support of our presenting sponsor and proud partner, American Express; our title sponsor, the City of Palm Springs; our host Mary Hart and Entertainment Tonight; and our enthusiastic attendees, the Film Awards marks the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Palm Springs International Film Society.

This year’s honorees include some of the world’s most admired actors and filmmakers working at the height of their craft. Jane Campion has once again amazed audiences with her first feature film in more than a decade, the family psychodrama wrapped in a Western, The Power of the Dog, earning her Director of the Year honors. Kenneth Branagh and the marvelous, three-generation ensemble cast of Belfast receive the Vanguard Award for the versatile filmmaker’s intimate coming-of-age story set amid the outbreak of sectarian violence in 1960s Northern Ireland.

A trio of today’s top actresses have made career highlights with their incredible, complex takes on three hugely iconic women: Desert Palm Achievement Award winner Jessica Chastain gets under the surface of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye; Spotlight Award winner Kristen Stewart embodies an embattled Princess Diana in Spencer; and Chairman’s Award recipient Jennifer Hudson mines the darkness that shaped Aretha Franklin in the biopic Respect.

In one of the most poignant performances of her career, International Star Award honoree Penélope Cruz navigates the dramatic twists and turns a woman’s life takes following an unexpected pregnancy in longtime collaborator Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers. Andrew Garfield earns the Desert Palm Achievement Award for his inspired turn as influential Rent playwright Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick ... Boom! And Will Smith, as the coach and father of future tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams (played by magnetic newcomers Demi Singleton and Saniyya Sidney), leads the Ensemble Performance Awardwinning cast of the rousing true story, King Richard.

A reliably star-studded roster of surprise presenters adds to the excitement of the first event of the awards season. For tickets visit www.psfilmfest.org.

MORE HONOREES TO BE ANNOUNCED

CHAIRMAN’S AWARD

DESERT PALM ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, ACTOR

ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE AWARD • WARNER BROS. PICTURES

RESPECT METRO GOLDWYN MAYER PICTURES / UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING

TICK, TICK … BOOM! NETFLIX

CAST INCLUDES WILL SMITH, AUNJANUE ELLIS, SANIYYA SIDNEY, DEMI SINGLETON, JON BERNTHAL AND TONY GOLDWYN

JENNIFER HUDSON ANDREW GARFIELD

KING RICHARD

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Thank You,

Mary Your charm, grace and warmth truly make the Film Awards shine!

Harold Matzner

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Proud Sponsor of the Palm Springs International Film HAROLD Festival

THANK YOU

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Welcome to Palm Springs Your Dream Destination

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PALMSPRINGS.HILTON.COM

january 6 – 17, 2022

OPENING NIGHT

DIONNE WARWICK: DON’T MAKE ME OVER USA, 2021 95 minutes Directors: Dave Wooley, David Heilbroner With: Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Clive Davis, Gloria Estefan, Cissy Houston, Quincy Jones, Alicia Keys, Smokey Robinson, Burt Bachrach Screenwriter: Dave Wooley Genres: Documentary, Biography, Music

This sparkling portrait of the incomparable Dionne Warwick traces her six (and counting!) decades in the music business as trailblazer and force to be reckoned with. From her humble roots singing in New Jersey church choirs, Warwick quickly found success after winning over the notoriously tough crowd at Harlem’s Apollo Theater in 1957, and later would be responsible for some of the most iconic recordings of all time, including “Walk On By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “Don’t Make Me Over.” This star-studded, endlessly enjoyable profile also delves into Warwick’s influential and impassioned activist efforts for the Black and LGBTQ communities, being one of the first celebrities to speak up about the AIDS crisis, and donating all of the proceeds from her 1985 rendition of “That’s What Friends Are For” — over $3 million — to AIDS research. Still as outspoken and tacksharp as ever, Warwick is a true larger-than-life living legend.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 7 Friday, January 7 • 6:30 pm • ANN Friday, January 7 • 6:30 pm • CAM Friday, January 7 • 6:30 pm • PSHS

Presented by

Awards: Special Tribute Award, Toronto International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Dave Wooley First Feature David Heilbroner Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (2018), Stonewall Uprising (2010) 51 january 6 – 17, 2022

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CLOSING NIGHT

THE DUKE UK, 2020 96 minutes Director: Roger Michell Cast: Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode, Jack Bandeira, Aimee Kelly, Charlotte Spencer Screenwriters: Richard Bean, Clive Coleman Genres: Art/Design, Comedy, Drama, Period

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 Sunday, January 16 • 6:30 pm • ANN Sunday, January 16 • 6:30 pm • CAM Sunday, January 16 • 6:30 pm • PSHS

When taxi driver and working-class hero Kempton Bunton stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington in 1961, he became the first and only person in history to successfully rob the National Gallery in London. “I borrowed it, for the greater good,” claims Bunton (played by Jim Broadbent), who sends handwritten ransom notes declaring he will return the painting if the government promises to shell out more money for elderly care. The late Roger Michell (Le Week-End PSIFF 2013, Notting Hill) directs this stranger-than-fiction true story of an unlikely hero, and even more unlikely criminal, with ample warmth and wit. Helen Mirren as Bunton’s dispirited wife Dorothy is in top form, and Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), as the Buntons’ son Jackie, continues his star-on-the-rise status. Funny, moving and a rollicking caper, The Duke is also a bittersweet elegy for Michell, whose reliably cozy body of work is epitomized in this irresistible swan song.

Selected Filmography: Blackbird (2019), Nothing Like a Dame (2018), Le Week-End (2013), Notting Hill (1999) In English.

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GAYLA! PRESENTATIONS

BOULEVARD! A HOLLYWOOD STORY USA, 2021 85 minutes Director: Jeffrey Schwarz With: Robert Osborne, Brooke Anderson, Cari Beauchamp, David Del Valle, Stephen Michael Shearer, Stephen Bock Genres: Documentary, Film-Related, LGBTQ

Thursday, January 13 • 7:30 pm • PSHS Friday, January 14 • 2:00 pm • CAM Sunday, January 16 • 1:00 pm • ANN

When she played Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, silent screen icon Gloria Swanson’s career was reborn. Hoping to stay in the limelight, she came up with the idea — long before Andrew Lloyd Webber did — of transforming Billy Wilder’s 1950 movie into a musical. Swanson hired two young songwriters, Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, who were also lovers (in the closet), and summoned them to her Palm Springs home to create her star vehicle. But their big break took its own gothic turn as Swanson fell for the handsome Stapley (who had his own brush with stardom as an actor), and as the diva became more Desmond-like in her demands, life began to dangerously imitate art. This is just the beginning of Tab Hunter Confidential director Jeffrey Schwartz’s astonishing, archive-rich chronicle whose twists and turns, dreams and disappointments, must be seen to be believed.

Awards: Best Documentary, FilmOut San Diego Selected Filmography: The Fabulous Allan Carr (2017), Tab Hunter Confidential (2015), I Am Divine (2013) In English.

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GAYLA! PRESENTATIONS

SWEETHEART UK, 2021 103 minutes Director: Marley Morrison Cast: Nell Barlow, Ella Rae-Smith, Jo Hartley, Sophia Di Martino, Samuel Anderson, Tabitha Byron Screenwriter: Marley Morrison Genres: Comedy, Coming of Age, Lesbian, LGBTQ

Saturday, January 8 • 7:00 pm • CAM Sunday, January 9 • 2:00 pm • MP Monday, January 10 • 9:00 am • REG

While stuck on summer holiday in sun-soaked Dorset with her gratingly upbeat and “normal” family, socially awkward misfit teen AJ (Nell Barlow in a star-making performance) is convinced she’s about to have the worst week of her life. That all changes when she meets Isla (Ella-Rae Smith), the flirtatious and dreamy local lifeguard, and unexpectedly falls head over heels. After a night of clumsy firsts, AJ finds herself navigating a fleeting first love while also contending with her newfound identity. Writer-director Marley Morrison’s debut feature is at once a feel-good coming-of-age story, an achingly tender romance and a poignant family drama, encompassing many of the gloriously complex pains of young adulthood. With her floral-print bucket hat, rose-tinted sunglasses and unique blend of teen angst and environmentally conscious crusade, Sweetheart introduces the world to an unforgettable new character in the teen film canon.

Awards: Audience Award, Glasgow Film Festival In English.

55 january 6 – 17, 2022

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TRY NOT TO LET SUCH AN AMAZING AMBIENCE GET IN THE WAY OF THE INCREDIBLE VALUE. Imagine top-rate accommodations, oversized rooms, upscale amenities, gorgeous weather, the most favored destination of travelers from all over the world, you’ve got it at the new Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel in California.

Proud sponsor and host hotel for the 2022 Palm Springs International Film Festival RENAISSANCEPALMSPRINGSHOTEL.COM 760.322.6000

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TALKING PICTURES Presented by

In-depth discussions with directors, writers and actors from the year’s top titles

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TALKING PICTURES

JOCKEY USA, 2021 94 minutes Director: Clint Bentley Cast: Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, Moises Arias Screenwriters: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar Genres: Sports, Drama

Veteran character actor Clifton Collins Jr. gives the performance of a lifetime as an injury-riddled jockey in the twilight of his career who finds new purpose when a young jockey, claiming to be his son, arrives at the Arizona track. This gorgeously shot film explores the hardscrabble world of horse racing with unmatched authenticity and a warm, unsentimental heart.

In conversation with:

Actor Lorene Scafaria CliftonWriter/Director Collins Jr.

Awards: U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award – Acting, Sundance Film Festival

Actor Jessica Pressler Molly Parker writer of Journalist, “The Hustlers at Scores”

In English.

Presented by Friday, January 14 • 3:00 pm • ANN Followed by an extended Q&A

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TALKING PICTURES

THE POWER OF THE DOG AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND/UK/USA/CANADA, 2021 127 minutes Director: Jane Campion Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee Screenwriter: Jane Campion Genres: Drama, Western

In 1920s Montana, a charismatic and domineering rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) has his world upended when his brother (Jesse Plemons) brings home a new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and her teenage son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in PSIFF Director of the Year recipient Jane Campion’s exquisite masterpiece.

Selected Filmography: Bright Star (2009), In the Cut (2003), Holy Smoke (1999), The Piano (1997)

In conversation with:

Director Jane Campion

Awards: Silver Lion – Best Director, Venice Film Festival In English.

Presented by

Thursday, January 6 • 2:15 pm • PSHS Followed by an extended Q&A

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TALKING PICTURES

RESPECT USA, 2021 145 minutes Director: Liesl Tommy Cast: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald, Mary J. Blige, Saycon Sengbloh Screenwriter: Tracey Scott Wilson Genres: Biography, Music, Drama

Oscar® winner and PSIFF 2022 honoree Jennifer Hudson takes center stage in this sumptuous biopic of Aretha Franklin, tracing the first two decades of the Queen of Soul’s life, from singing in church choirs to making music history.

Hudson’s monumental performance stands as the definitive tribute to an unforgettable icon.

In conversation with:

Actor Jennifer Hudson

In English.

Presented by Thursday, January 6 • 10:00 am • PSHS Followed by an extended Q&A

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TALKING PICTURES

SPENCER UK/GERMANY, 2021 116 minutes Director: Pablo Larraín Cast: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins, Jack Farthing Screenwriter: Steven Knight Genres: Biography, Drama

The latest poetic and haunting unconventional biopic from director Pablo Larraín (Jackie) centers on Princess Diana (PSIFF 2022 honoree Kristen Stewart) as she toils through a particularly grueling Christmas holiday at the Queen’s estate.

As Diana, Stewart transforms, giving a virtuosic, crowning performance that’s kindling Oscar® buzz.

Selected Filmography: Ema (2019), Jackie (2016), Neruda (2016), The Club (2015)

In conversation with:

Actor Kristen Stewart

In English.

Presented by Thursday, January 6 • 10:00 am • ANN Followed by an extended Q&A

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TALKING PICTURES

THE TENDER BAR BOOK TO SCREEN

USA, 2021 104 minutes Director: George Clooney Cast: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe Screenwriter: William Monahan Genres: Biography, Comedy, Coming of Age, Family Relations

Pulitzer Prize-winning author J.R. Moehringer’s 2005 memoir about growing up in Long Island among a motley crew of father figures who frequent the local pub owned by his uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck in an exceptional, mature performance) is brought to vivid life by director George Clooney and Oscar®-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed).

In conversation with:

Screenwriter William Monahan

Selected Filmography: The Midnight Sky (2020), Suburbicon (2017), The Ides of March (2011) In English.

Presented by Sunday, January 9 • 11:00 am • ANN Followed by an extended Q&A

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TALKING PICTURES

TICK, TICK... BOOM! USA, 2021 115 minutes Director: Lin-Manuel Miranda Cast: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús, Joshua Henry, MJ Rodriguez, Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, Judith Light, Vanessa Hudgens Screenwriter: Steven Levenson Genres: Biography, Musical, Theater

Based on the autobiographical stage musical by the late composer-lyricist Jonathan Larson (Rent), this directorial debut from Lin-Manuel Miranda showcases PSIFF honoree Andrew Garfield in his most riveting and emotionally complex performance yet. Garfield plays Jon, an aspiring Broadway composer traversing love, friendships and art on the cusp of his 30th birthday.

In conversation with:

Actor Andrew Garfield

In English.

Presented by Friday, January 7 • 9:00 am • CAM Followed by an extended Q&A

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BIG SCREEN MOVIES CELEBRATING

MOVIES

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BIG SCREEN

ALIEN ON STAGE UK, 2020 86 minutes Directors: Danielle Kummer, Lucy Harvey With: David Mitchell, Lydia Hayward, Luc Hayward, Mike Rustici, John Elliot, Carolyn White, Jacqui Roe, Scott Douglas, Jason Hill, Peter Lawford Genres: Comedy, Theater, Documentary, Performance

Monday, January 10 • 10:30 am • MP Saturday, January 15 • 7:00 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 10:00 am • PALM

Against all odds, an amateur theater troupe of British bus drivers decides to do something a little — er, a lot — different from their usual family-friendly pantomimes and put on a straightfaced adaptation of the 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien. What the motley crew lack in resources and classical training, they make up for with giddy enthusiasm and guileless dedication. Under the direction of the capable (but perhaps dubious) David, who spends much of rehearsals rubbing his temples as the cast fumble through their lines and the scrappy special effects require “more luck than judgment,” their first performance in Dorset yields a disappointing turnout. Despite this, they are invited to bring their production to London’s West End, where it sells out and becomes a cult hit. Directors Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey lovingly capture every wobbly step, from rehearsals to curtain call, and reveal how a band of local bus drivers can morph into intergalactic — well, stage — heroes.

Awards: Audience Award, Imagine Film Festival In English.

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BIG SCREEN

CLAYDREAM USA, 2021 96 minutes Director: Marq Evans With: Will Vinton, Bill Plympton, Bob Gardiner, Melissa Mitchell, Chuck Duke, Craig Bartlett Screenwriter: Marq Evans Genres: Art/Design, Biography, Documentary

Saturday, January 8 • 9:45 am • MP Friday, January 14 • 4:15 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 11:15 am • REG

Motown-crooning raisins, the mischievous pizza-stealing Noid, anthropomorphized wise-cracking M&Ms. For a period of time the competitive world of television advertising was merely a canvas for the imaginative mind of visionary claymation creator Will Vinton and his eponymous studio. But for Vinton and his trademark moustache, it was the result of an unconventional, counterculture-inspired journey that led him to revolutionize animation and eventually be heralded as the next Walt Disney.

Filmmaker Marq Evans traces Vinton’s unlikely success story through nostalgia-induced animation, the Berkeley protests and countless testimonials from peers and devout fans alike, until a business deal gone awry threatens to end everything.

After amassing dozens of esteemed awards and accolades for decades, the business-naive Vinton faced losing his entire claymation empire to sportswear mega-company Nike and a young, aspiring Portland rapper named Chilly Tee. Selected Filmography: The Glamour & the Squalor (2015) In English.

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BIG SCREEN

EXPOSING MUYBRIDGE USA/UK, 2021 88 minutes Director: Marc Shaffer With: Gary Oldman, Marta Braun, Philip Brookman, Richard Jackson Kushakaak, Richard White, Rebecca Gowers Screenwriter: Marc Shaffer Genres: Documentary, History

Saturday, January 8 • 3:00 pm • ANN Sunday, January 9 • 7:45 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 9:45 am • MP

When his powerful patron Leland Stanford commissioned Eadweard Muybridge to photograph a galloping stallion, the sequence of photographs changed history, foreshadowing the birth of cinema. “The machine cannot lie,” Stanford proclaimed of Muybridge’s camera. He was wrong, as the life and work of the ambitious and deceptive photographer would prove. There was so much more to Muybridge’s story, which unfolded — and unraveled — like a dime novel. Born in England, he became the most important 19th-century landscape photographer of the American West. He changed his name time and again, and stood trial for the murder of his wife’s lover. He was betrayed by Stanford, yet went on to produce his magnum opus of bodies (usually nude) in motion. Marc Shaffer’s fascinating documentary, featuring collector and eloquent fan Gary Oldman, raises questions about art and illusion that speak to our age of “fake news” and Photoshop, while paying tribute to a pioneer whose work influenced artists from Francis Bacon to David Hockney.

Selected Filmography: American Jerusalem: Jews and the Making of San Francisco (2013) In English.

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BIG SCREEN

FIDDLER’S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN USA, 2021 88 minutes Director: Daniel Raim With: Jeff Goldblum, John Williams, Topol, Norman Jewison, Michele Marsh Screenwriters: Daniel Raim, Michael Sragow Genres: Documentary, Jewish Interest

Saturday, January 8 • 7:00 pm • ANN Sunday, January 9 • 9:45 am • REG Sunday, January 16 • 9:00 am • MP

When Norman Jewison was asked to direct the 1971 film version of Fiddler on the Roof, he feared there was a misunderstanding. “I’m a goy,” confessed the Canadian. “What does that matter?” he was reassured, “We want to make a film for everybody.” In celebration of the beloved musical’s 50th anniversary, director Daniel Raim has dug deep into the backstory of how Jewison and his extraordinary team, filming in Yugoslavia and Pinewood Studios in England, created a movie that was seen by practically everybody. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, with copious clips and revealing interviews with everyone from Jewison, composer John Williams, production designer Robert Boyle to all the actors who played Tevye’s daughters, Fiddler’s Journey reveals in rare detail the nuts and bolts of moviemaking. Who knew that cinematographer Oswald Morris covered his lens with ladies’ silk stockings to get the dust-tinged images of the shtetl? It’s just one delicious detail among many in this feast for movie lovers.

Selected Filmography: Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers (2019), Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015), Something’s Gonna Live (2010) World Premiere In English.

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BIG SCREEN

LAST FILM SHOW Chhello Show

INDIA/FRANCE/USA, 2021 110 minutes Director: Pan Nalin Cast: Bhavin Rabari, Bhavesh Shrimali, Richa Meena, Dipen Raval, Alpesh Tank, Paresh Mehta Screenwriter: Pan Nalin Genres: Culture, History

Sunday, January 9 • 9:00 am • CAM Friday, January 14 • 9:00 am • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 7:00 pm • ANN

“I want to become movies,” declares Samay, the nine-year-old hero of writer-director Pan Nalin’s endearing semi-autobiographical crowd-pleaser. Samay’s father objects to his film fanaticism; he has no money for movie tickets, and his remote Indian village is nowhere near any kind of film industry, but Samay isn’t about to let that stop him. Armed with his mother’s home cooking, Samay befriends the cynical projectionist at the local movie theater to learn how movie magic works so he and his friends can create it themselves. As Samay, Rabari has a natural screen presence, and Shrimali plays against him wonderfully. Funny and moving, Last Film Show is a pure love letter to cinema, even opening and closing with dedications to many of the filmmakers who have inspired Nalin, indicating he’s no less mad about movies than his young stand-in.

Awards: Audience Award, Mill Valley Film Festival Selected Filmography: Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), Faith Connections (2013), Valley of Flowers (2006), Samsara (2001) In Gujarati with English subtitles.

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CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA

january 6 – 17, 2022

BIG SCREEN

THE STORY OF FILM: A NEW GENERATION UK, 2021 167 minutes Director: Mark Cousins With: Mark Cousins Screenwriter: Mark Cousins Genres: Documentary

Friday, January 7 • 10:30 am • MP Saturday, January 8 • 10:00 am • PALM Sunday, January 16 • 10:30 am • MP

The prolific, provocative and voracious cineaste, Mark Cousins, follows up his 15-hour The Story of Film: An Odyssey with a new (and briefer) installment. A New Generation looks at how 21st-century filmmakers have expanded cinema’s horizons, how new digital technologies (from iPhones to motion capture) have changed the way we look at the world and how diverse new voices have opened our eyes to new experiences. Whether he’s showing a clip from Joker or Black Panther, a five-hour action movie from India or a documentary from Belarus, the encyclopedic Cousins never fails to stimulate. Examining innovations in comedy, action movies, musicals and documentary, showing how filmmakers find new ways of looking at bodies, demonstrating the connection between Edgar Wright’s 2017 romp Baby Driver and the 1932 musical Love Me Tonight, Cousins’ wide-eyed and wide-ranging survey is a movie lover’s dream come true.

Selected Filmography: The Storms of Jeremy Thomas (2021), Woman Make Film: A New Road Through Cinema (2018), The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011) In English.

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SOUND TRACK MUSIC ON FILM

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SOUND TRACK

BERNSTEIN’S WALL USA, 2021 105 minutes Director: Douglas Tirola Genres: Documentary, Music, Theater

Monday, January 10 • 8:30 pm • REG Friday, January 14 • 7:00 pm • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 11:00 am • ANN

Charismatic, eloquent and furiously talented, Leonard Bernstein rose to fame as conductor of the New York Philharmonic and left his stamp on American culture over several decades of innovation, from his influential televised Young People’s Concerts to his iconic score for West Side Story. But while Bernstein’s artistic contributions are widely recognized, filmmaker Douglas Tirola’s revelatory documentary suggests that some of the most fascinating aspects of the maestro’s story occurred outside the concert hall. Tirola gives equal weight to Bernstein’s deeply held and often controversial political convictions, ranging from his fiery opposition to the Vietnam War to his support for the Black Panthers. The film also sensitively illuminates Bernstein’s tumultuous private life, including his struggles with his sexuality and his unconventional but devoted marriage to his wife Felicia. Forgoing traditional biographical filmmaking techniques in favor of a collage style, employing television interviews, performance footage and personal letters, Tirola has crafted a multifaceted portrait that movingly captures the complexity of his subject.

Selected Filmography: Bloodroot (2019), Brewmaster (2018), Hey Bartender (2013) In English.

75 january 6 – 17, 2022

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SOUND TRACK

BORN IN CHICAGO USA, 2020 77 minutes Directors: Bob Sarles, John Anderson With: Barry Goldberg, Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel, Sam Lay, Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop Screenwriter: Joel Selvin Genres: Documentary, Music

Tuesday, January 11 • 7:00 pm • ANN Wednesday, January 12 • 9:00 am • MP Thursday, January 13 • 11:15 am • REG

The blues may have been born in the Deep South, but it came of age in the Black clubs of Chicago’s South Side, where such legends as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King and Buddy Guy reigned. In the 1960s, white blues-besotted teenagers Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and Barry Goldberg learned at the feet of their idols and brought the blues to the North Side, igniting a blues explosion that changed the face of popular music and resurrected the careers of their mentors.

The joyous Born in Chicago, narrated by Dan Aykroyd, is a music-drenched celebration of this great American art form, featuring a treasure trove of archival footage that includes the likes of Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson and Willie Dixon, and interviews with Charlie Musselwhite, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop and Bob Dylan, who called Bloomfield the best guitarist he’d ever heard.

Selected Filmography: Bob Sarles Bang! The Bert Berns Story (2016), Sweet Blues: A Film About Mike Bloomfield (2013) John Anderson Horn from the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story (2017) In English.

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SOUND TRACK

INVISIBLE: GAY WOMEN IN SOUTHERN MUSIC USA, 2021 106 minutes Director: T.J. Parsell With: Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell Screenwriter: T.J. Parsell Genres: Documentary, Lesbian, Music

Tuesday, January 11 • 7:00 pm • CAM Wednesday, January 12 • 2:45 pm • REG Thursday, January 13 • 9:45 am • REG

It’s time to celebrate country music’s long overdue coming-out party! In an industry as male-dominated and conservativeleaning as the country music scene, it might be surprising to learn that some of the genre’s biggest hits were written and produced by LGBTQ+ women. In this inspiring and illuminating documentary, filmmaker and activist T.J. Parsell offers a platform for a group of lesbian and trans musicians to step out from behind the curtain and share their voices. Writing songs for superstars like Johnny Cash, Reba McEntire and Tim McGraw, the queer artists at the heart of Invisible found ways to continue working within an industry that denied them a stage to perform as their authentic selves. With appearances by music icons Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Chely Wright (one of the first country stars to publicly come out as gay), Invisible weaves deeply personal tales of passion and perseverance in the face of sexism and homophobia alongside a number of toe-tapping musical performances.

Awards: Audience Award, Frameline In English.

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SOUND TRACK

JAZZ FEST: A NEW ORLEANS STORY USA, 2021 95 minutes Directors: Frank Marshall, Ryan Suffern Genres: Documentary, Music

Friday, January 7 • 7:45 pm • REG Saturday, January 8 • 4:15 pm • REG

Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern’s documentary is a celebration of a celebration. For over 50 years, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been paying tribute to the rich culture of Louisiana — the music, the food, the arts and crafts — drawing enormous, happy crowds to bliss out on jazz, the blues, gospel, country and rock. Drawing both on great archival footage and live performances at the 50th anniversary bash, it features such greats as Al Green, Earth Wind and Fire, Herbie Hancock, Katy Perry, B.B. King, Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Ellis Marsalis and his four even more famous musical sons. You’ll also hear Bruce Springsteen’s moving performance in the aftermath of Katrina, when the Big Easy turned out to prove that even in the face of disaster it was ready to party on.

Jazz Fest serves up a generous helping of Southern-fried fun, minus the calories.

Selected Filmography: Frank Marshall The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020), Alive (1993) Ryan Suffern Finding Oscar (2016), Out & Around (2015) World Premiere In English.

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SOUND TRACK

OSCAR PETERSON: BLACK + WHITE CANADA, 2021 81 minutes Director: Barry Avrich With: Billy Joel, Jon Batiste, Herbie Hancock, Ramsey Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Quincy Jones Screenwriter: Barry Avrich Genres: Documentary, Music, Biography

Friday, January 7 • 7:00 pm • REG Saturday, January 8 • 2:30 pm • PALM Wednesday, January 12 • 3:00 pm • CAM

Once referred to by Duke Ellington as the “Maharaja of the keyboard,” Oscar Peterson was one of the greatest and most influential musicians of all time. This exuberant and affectionately crafted documentary from Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich (David Foster: Off the Record PSIFF 2020) mixes archival footage of Peterson, both in performance and interviewed, with enthusiastic and revealing present-day testimonials from his family, colleagues and students, offering an invaluable comprehensive portrait of both the man and his music. Fans of other recent jazz biography docs Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary and What Happened, Miss Simone? will revel in this peek behind the keys at an equally important and inimitable musician, who hailed from Canada but still faced the same racism as his American contemporaries as a touring Black artist.

Selected Filmography: David Foster: Off the Record (2019), Prosecuting Evil (2018), The Reckoning: Hollywood’s Worst Kept Secret (2018), Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World (2017) U.S. Premiere | In English.

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Open for lunch & dinner daily.

Reservations are suggested and available on Resy.com.

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1330 East Palm Canyon Drive Palm Springs, CA 92264 tel. 760 327 2300 hello@sparrowslodge.com

january 6 – 17, 2022

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THREE OF THE VERY BEST IN TWO TOWNS

69830 HWY 111•RANCHO MIRAGE•760.202.4499•WILLIESRM.COM 82

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MODERN MASTERS New films from classic auteurs

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MODERN MASTERS

BENEDICTION UK/USA, 2021 137 minutes Director: Terence Davies Cast: Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Gemma Jones, Ben Daniels, Kate Phillips, Simon Russell Beale Screenwriter: Terence Davies Genres: Drama, Gay, Period

The extraordinary director Terence Davies pours his heart and soul into this ambitious chronicle of the life of Siegfried Sassoon, whose experiences in the trenches of World War I resulted in some of the greatest anti-war poetry ever written.

Jack Lowden plays the idealistic, gay and courageous young Sassoon, whose protest against the slaughter landed him in a mental hospital, where he befriended fellow poet Wilfred Owen and the sympathetic gay psychiatrist Dr. Rivers.

Scrambling chronology, Davies intercuts that vibrant Sassoon with the acerbic and embittered man he became (now played

by Peter Capaldi), a desperate convert to Catholicism who has retreated into marriage and fatherhood with a woman who was well aware of his true desires. Davies’ intimate, heartbreaking epic illuminates the conflicted soul of an artist at war with society and with himself.

Wednesday, January 12 • 3:00 pm • ANN Saturday, January 15 • 4:15 pm • REG

Director Terence Davies

Selected Filmography: A Quiet Passion (2016), Sunset Song (2015), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), The House of Mirth (2000)

Awards: Best Screenplay, San Sebastián Film Festival U.S. Premiere In English.

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MODERN MASTERS

SOUND TRACK MUSIC ON FILM

ONE SECOND Yi miao zhong

CHINA, 2020 104 minutes Director: Zhang Yimou Cast: Zhang Yi, Liu Haocun, Fan Wei, Yu Ailei, Zhang Shaobo Screenwriter: Zhang Yimou, Zou Jingzhi Genres: Drama, Film-Related, History, Period

Matching an epic scope with intimate emotion, legendary auteur Zhang Yimou (Shadow PSIFF 2019) returns his eye to China’s history with this elegant and delightful charmer. Zhang Yi stars as a recent prison escapee in 1975 on the hunt for a newsreel that might feature the daughter he hasn’t seen since his imprisonment. But when the footage is snatched by the orphaned Liu (Liu Haocun), the nameless protagonist gives chase, to rescue and return the film to a pompous projectionist known as Mr. Movie (Fan Wei). Captured with gorgeous visual flair by cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding, Yimou explores themes of national history with his trademark grand sense of scale and, in one of the film’s most dazzling sequences that finds the townsfolk banding together to restore a film print warped by the elements, illustrates the rapturous power of cinema that brings us together.

Awards: Best Director and Best Newcomer, Asian Film Awards

Friday, January 7 • 10:00 am • CAM Thursday, January 13 • 3:00 pm • CAM

Director Zhang Yimou

Selected Filmography: Shadow (2018), House of Flying Daggers (2004), Hero (2002), Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

In Mandarin with English subtitles.

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MODERN MASTERS

THE PACT Pagten

DENMARK, 2021 115 minutes Director: Bille August Cast: Birthe Neumann, Simon Bennebjerg, Nanna Skaarup Voss Screenwriter: Christian Torpe Genres: Biography, Drama, Literature

The latest from Oscar®- and Palme d’Or-winning director Bille August takes on his compatriot, the legendary Danish writer Karen Blixen (a.k.a. Isak Dinesen). But this isn’t the lively, laughing Blixen of the Out of Africa days. This is the sixtysomething, terribly ill Baroness in her twilight years, living a carefully controlled existence at Rungstedlund, her family’s coastal estate north of Copenhagen. Still charismatic and maintaining her image as a literary genius, she delights in manipulating the lives of her younger writer friends. The Pact is based on a book by Thorkild Bjørnvig who, as a talented 30-year-old poet suffering from writer’s block, was offered a Faustian bargain by Blixen (played by a mesmerizing Birthe Neumann). She promises him literary stardom if he obeys her unconditionally, including agreeing to renounce his family.

Under her wing, he finds that his words begin to flow, but his librarian wife and young son wind up paying the price.

Awards: Best Screenplay, Beijing International Film Festival

Tuesday, January 11 • 8:00 pm • CAM Friday, January 14 • 8:30 pm • REG

Director Bille August

Selected Filmography: Lykke-Per (2018), 55 Steps (2017), The Hidden Solider (2017), Marie Krøyer (2012), Les Misérables (1998), The Best Intentions (1992), Pelle the Conqueror (1987)

In Danish with English subtitles.

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MODERN MASTERS

PARALLEL MOTHERS Madres paralelas

SPAIN, 2021 123 minutes Director: Pedro Almodóvar Cast: Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar Genres: Drama, Women

Pedro Almodóvar is one of our most prolific working auteurs, but his output has neither slowed nor diminished in power during the pandemic. Following the lockdown-shot short The Human Voice, he quickly returns with one of his finest and most politically observant films yet, centering on two women giving birth at the same time: a nurturing photographer Janis (Penélope Cruz, in a career-topping performance) and teenager Ana (Milena Smit). When reunited years later, the two form a close bond that will be threatened by a revelation about the birth of their two daughters. Blending his gifts for rapturous female-led melodrama with his Hitchcock-tinged reveals, Almodóvar molds a story of two women that both reflects and grapples with the lingering aftereffects of the Spanish Civil War. Parallel Mothers is Almodóvar on a new level, tackling national themes within a thrilling, intimate scope.

Awards: Best Actress, Venice Film Festival

Saturday, January 8 • 9:00 am • CAM Friday, January 14 • 7:30 pm • PSHS

Director Pedro Almodóvar ©El Deseo. Photo by Nico Bustos.

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

Selected Filmography: Pain and Glory (2019), The Skin I Live In (2013), Broken Embraces (2009), Volver (2006), All About My Mother (1999), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

In Spanish with English subtitles.

87 january 6 – 17, 2022

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MODERN MASTERS

PETITE MAMAN FRANCE, 2021 72 minutes Director: Céline Sciamma Cast: Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne Screenwriter: Céline Sciamma Genres: Drama, Family Relations, Fantasy

In the woods behind the house of her late grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly goes searching for the tree fort where her mother, Marion, played as a child. There she encounters a girl who could be her own mirror image. Her name is also Marion, and when she takes Nelly home with her, the house looks almost the same as her grandma’s, and Marion’s mother walks with the same limp as Nelly’s beloved grandmother.

Best not to say any more about the plot of the enchanting Petite Maman, whose mysteries unfold with the matter-offact simplicity of a fable. In her first film since Portrait of Lady on Fire (PSIFF 2020) the brilliant Céline Sciamma filters her themes of loss, grief and the complex bond between mothers and daughters through the eyes of her imaginative child protagonist.

Awards: Audience Award, San Sebastián International Film Festival

Tuesday, January 11 • 3:00 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 11:15 am • REG Saturday, January 15 • 11:15 am • REG

Director Céline Sciamma ©Claire Mathon

Selected Filmography: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Girlhood (2014), Tomboy (2011), Water Lilies (2007)

In French with English subtitles.

88

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january 6 – 17, 2022

MODERN MASTERS

THE STORY OF MY WIFE A Feleségem Története

HUNGARY/GERMANY/FRANCE/ITALY, 2021 169 minutes Director: Ildikó Enyedi Cast: Léa Seydoux, Gijs Naber, Louis Garrel Screenwriter: Ildikó Enyedi Genres: Drama, Period, Romance

Modern master Ildikó Enyedi follows up her Oscar®-nominated On Body and Soul (PSIFF 2018) with this expansive literary adaptation chronicling the twists and turns of a turbulent marriage. In the film’s opening, Captain Jakob Störr (Gijs Naber) is informed by one of his crew that the secret to lifelong health is to find a wife. Jakob wastes no time in following this advice, proposing to the first woman he meets on dry land, Lizzy (Léa Seydoux), within 10 minutes of meeting her. Shockingly, she accepts, and their rocky marriage spans many years. As a captain at sea, he is habitually absent, and Lizzy’s boredom is so acute that she resorts to suggesting she’s having affairs as a provocation. Adapted from the Hungarian novel by Milán Füst, this visually opulent melodrama is literary and epic in its approach, and the slyly clever and singular Enyedi imbues the 1920s-set material with her trademark postmodern touch.

Awards: Best Director, Otranto Film Festival

Sunday, January 9 • 10:00 am • PSHS Tuesday, January 11 • 9:00 am • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 5:00 pm • PALM

Director Ildikó Enyedi

Selected Filmography: On Body and Soul (2017), Simon, the Magician (1999), Magic Hunter (1995), My Twentieth Century (1989)

U.S. Premiere In English, Dutch, French, German, Italian with English subtitles.

89 january 6 – 17, 2022

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MODERN MASTERS

THE SURVIVOR USA/CANADA/HUNGARY, 2021 129 minutes Director: Barry Levinson Cast: Ben Foster, Vicky Krieps, Billy Magnussen, Peter Sarsgaard, Saro Emirze Screenwriter: Justine Juel Gillmer Genres: Drama, History, Sports

In this searing film based on an incredible true story, Ben Foster gives a full-bodied, transformative performance as Harry Haft, a Polish Jew whose imprisonment at Auschwitz was spent in savage, gladiatorial boxing matches against fellow prisoners for the entertainment of the Nazis. Beginning anew in 1949, Harry comes to America in search of the woman he loved (Dar Zuzovsky) that he met before the war. There, he is helped by a woman (Vicky Krieps) dedicated to helping survivors find their loved ones, but he struggles to adjust to life after the war and reconciling the survivor’s guilt and unfathomable horrors he experienced firsthand. Haft recounts his story to a reporter (Peter Sarsgaard) after becoming a winning prizefighter, believing that enough public attention will help him in his ongoing search for his true love. Directed by Oscar® winner Barry Levinson (Rain Man) and boasting a heavyweight supporting cast that includes Billy Magnussen, Danny DeVito and John Leguizamo, The Survivor is a haunting, heartbreaking story of a man in a lifelong search for redemption and displays Foster’s virtuosity as an on-screen powerhouse.

Saturday, January 8 • 7:30 pm • PSHS Sunday, January 9 • 3:00 pm • ANN Saturday, January 15 • 9:00 am • CAM

Director Barry Levinson

Selected Filmography: Rock the Kasbah (2015), The Humbling (2014), The Bay (2012), Wag the Dog (1997), Bugsy (1991), Rain Man (1988), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), The Natural (1984), Diner (1982)

U.S. Premiere | In English, German with English subtitles.

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CINE LATINO Latinx perspectives and films set in Latin America and beyond

91 january 6 – 17, 2022

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CINE LATINO

THE BEST FAMILIES

THE BOX

PERU/COLOMBIA, 2020 99 minutes Director: Javier Fuentes-León Cast: Tatiana Astengo, Gabriela Velázquez, Gracia Olayo Screenwriter: Javier Fuentes-León Genres: Comedy, LGBTQ

USA/MEXICO, 2021 92 minutes Director: Lorenzo Vigas Cast: Elián Gonzalez, Hernán Mendoza, Hatzín Navarrete Screenwriters: Lorenzo Vigas, Paula Markovitch Genres: Drama, Social Issues, Politics, Coming of Age

Sisters Luzmila and Peta are housemaids at the side-by-side mansions of sisters Carmen and Alicia, two gossipy Peruvian aristocrats who have summoned their extended families for a big birthday bash. In writer-director Javier Fuentes-León’s boisterous and barbed social comedy, this celebration — unfolding as raucous political demonstrations clog the Lima streets outside their walled estates — devolves into open class warfare as amorous entanglements and long-buried secrets explode the party with hilariously chaotic results. Among the guests are a weed-smoking grandma and a gay son who arrives from Spain with his fiancée and, to the astonishment of his former lover, announces his plans to wed a woman. Fuentes-León (who made the groundbreaking 2009 queer Peruvian drama Undertow) choreographs the mayhem with expert farcical timing, skewering the pretensions and prejudices of his blinkered characters with a beguiling mixture of savagery and affection.

Bearing a moral and emotional responsibility far beyond his 13 years, Hatzín arrives alone in the Chihuahuan Desert to collect his father’s remains, which have been recently exhumed from a mass grave. But when the teen catches sight of labor recruiter Mario from a bus window, he realizes that he is his real father, sending the youth on a dogged pursuit of the older man who reluctantly takes him under his wing. With an ad hoc family and a job as Mario’s right-hand man, Hatzín soon becomes part of an exploitative economy that preys on the working class. As Hatzín comes to understand the dark, violent truth about Mario and his taste for corruption, he must weigh the cost of his humanity against turning out like his mentor.

Selected Filmography: The Vanished Elephant (2014), Undertow (2009)

U.S. Premiere

Las Mejores Familias

In Spanish with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 2:00 pm • MP Sunday, January 9 • 7:00 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 8:00 pm • CAM

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La Caja

Awards: Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award, Venice Film Festival Selected Filmography: From Afar (2016)

In Spanish with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 8:30 pm • REG Sunday, January 9 • 2:45 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 3:00 pm • MP

january 6 – 17, 2022

CINE LATINO

MEDUSA

MY BROTHERS DREAM AWAKE

BRAZIL/USA, 2021 127 minutes Director: Anita Rocha da Silveira Cast: Mari Oliveira, Lara Tremouroux, Joana Medeiros, Felipe Frazão, Thiago Fragoso, Bruna G Screenwriter: Anita Rocha da Silveira Genres: Women, Drama, Comedy, Music, Religion/Spirituality

CHILE, 2021 85 minutes Director: Claudia Huaiquimilla Cast: Iván Cáceres, César Herrera, Paulina García, Andrew Bargsted, Julia Lübbert, Sebastián Ayala Screenwriters: Claudia Huaiquimilla, Pablo Greene Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Youth/Teen

By day, beautiful, pious nurse Mariana lives a pristine life as God’s devout servant, backing up her equally faithful best friend Michele in their church’s singing group, The Treasures of the Lord. But by night, Mariana and Michele lead an eerily masked, violent street mob, viciously attacking any woman they believe to be promiscuous — and not letting up until their victim accepts Jesus. But when Mariana is disfigured during an attack, she finds her social circle has little use for imperfection.

When she takes a job at a dingy hospital, Mariana gets a taste of the secular world, exploring her sexuality and questioning her once-unshakeable faith. As intrusive thoughts take over and her church grows increasingly authoritarian, Mariana’s long-suppressed rage explodes, leading to a violent confrontation with the strictures of religion in this sleek, neon-hued thriller.

Cautious, sensitive Angel (Iván Cáceres) and his high-spirited kid brother Franco a.k.a. Flea (César Herrera) know of life’s harsh cruelties all too well, and at far too young an age.

Stuck in a prison-like boys’ reformatory in rural Chile for over a year, the pair make the best of a bad situation through simple dreams of soccer, afternoons at amusement parks and reconnecting with their absentee mother. But as Angel begins to get a sense of life’s possibilities through the influence of a caring art teacher (Paulina García), and a budding relationship with Tiare (Julia Lübbert), the appearance of a combative new inmate (Andrew Bargsted) captures the pair’s attention, leading them to join a fiery mutiny that would shock a nation in this unforgettable new film from director Claudia Huaiquimilla (Bad Influence PSIFF 2017).

Awards: Best Direction, SITGES Selected Filmography: Kill Me Please (2015) In Portuguese with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 7:45 pm • MP Thursday, January 13 • 7:45 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 7:45 pm • MP

Mis Hermanos Sueñan Despiertos

Awards: Best Film, Guadalajara International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Bad Influence (2016) In Spanish with English subtitles.

Thursday, January 13 • 3:30 pm • REG Friday, January 14 • 7:00 pm • REG

93 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

CINE LATINO

THE OTHER TOM

SUNDOWN

MEXICO/USA, 2021 111 minutes Directors: Rodrigo Plá, Laura Santullo Cast: Julia Chávez, Israel Rodríguez Bertorelli Screenwriters: Laura Santullo, Rodrigo Plá Genres: Drama, Family Relations, Social Issues, Health, Borders/Migration

MEXICO/FRANCE/SWEDEN, 2021 83 minutes Director: Michel Franco Cast: Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman Screenwriter: Michel Franco Genres: Drama, Psychological, Crime

Elena (Julia Chávez) is a single mom working paycheck to paycheck, living in a Texas trailer park with her rebellious nine-year-old son Tom (Israel Rodriguez Bertorelli). When Tom grows into a terror at school — refusing to follow directions and becoming aggressive with classmates — he’s quickly diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed medication. But when Tom ends up hospitalized due to the drugs’ dangerous side effects, Elena refuses to continue administering it. As Tom’s behavior intensifies, Elena finds herself facing the unimaginable possibility of losing custody of her son. The latest from directors Rodrigo Plá and Laura Santullo (who wrote the novel on which the film is based) is a powerful tale of resilience and hope about a woman standing up for herself and her son against the callous, profit-driven industry that’s supposed to help her.

Enjoying a luxury vacation on the sun-drenched shores of Acapulco, Neil (Tim Roth) and Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Alice’s two teenagers make the most of the trappings their wealth and​​privilege can afford, including daily massages, cliff-diving and a suite with an infinity pool. When a family emergency calls them back to London, Neil just happens to “forget” his passport, and stays in Mexico where he settles in at a cheap motel and takes up with shop clerk Berenice (Iazua Larios), with no intention of ever returning home. But as Neil quietly strains the bonds of family and responsibility to their breaking point, his moneyed presence begins attracting the wrong kind of attention, leading to an unexpected turn of events in this powerful new drama from one of the masters of contemporary cinema, writer-director Michel Franco (Chronic PSIFF 2016).

El Otro Tom

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Awards: Best International Director, Warsaw International Film Festival

Awards: Silver Star, El Gouna Film Festival

Selected Filmography: Rodrigo Plá A Monster with a Thousand Heads (2015), The Delay (2012) Laura Santullo First Feature

Selected Filmography: New Order (2020), April’s Daughter (2017), Chronic (2015), After Lucia (2012)

In Spanish, English with English subtitles.

In English, Spanish with English subtitles.

Thursday, January 13 • 9:45 am • MP Saturday, January 15 • 7:45 pm • MP Sunday, January 16 • 3:00 pm • CAM

Thursday, January 13 • 2:00 pm • REG Friday, January 14 • 2:45 pm • MP

Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

95 january 6 – 17, 2022

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AWARDS BUZZ

DESERT X 2021 – THE FILM USA/GHANA/GERMANY/MEXICO/SAUDI ARABIA/ COLOMBIA/UK/GUATEMALA, 2021 56 minutes Director: Dylan Robertson With: Neville Wakefield, César García-Alvarez, Zahrah Alghamdi, Ghada Amer, Felipe Baeza, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Nicholas Galanin, Alicja Kwade Genres: Art/Design, Documentary

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

Highlighting films from the Coachella Valley

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Granting audiences an all-access backstage pass to the Coachella Valley’s most recent Desert X exhibition, this aweinspiring documentary peels back the curtain on the many breathtaking works commissioned and curated by artistic director Neville Wakefield and co-curator César GarcíaAlvarez. The 12 visionary artists from eight countries invited to participate in the 2021 exhibition were encouraged to mine the desert for inspiration, resulting in a barrage of dazzling and surreal large-scale works that challenge and confront issues as affecting and endemic as the Native American Land Back movement, climate change, the drought, feminist histories and racism. A celebration of art as well as an exploration of local history, this rich and fast-paced documentary invites viewers to meet the innovative and impassioned artists, marvel at the wondrous art, and never look at the surrounding desert quite the same way again.

Selected Filmography: Aloha Buddha (2011) In English, Spanish, Arabic with English subtitles.

Friday, January 14 • 7:00 pm • ANN Sunday, January 16 • 3:00 pm • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

INVISIBLE VALLEY

MIRACLE IN THE DESERT: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SALTON SEA

USA, 2021 87 minutes Director: Aaron Maurer With: Maricela Daisy, Yaqueline, Gloria Gomez, Claudia Castorena, Mary Ingebrand-Pohlad Screenwriters: Aaron Maurer, Zach McMillan Genres: Documentary, Class/Economics

USA, 2020 78 minutes Director: Greg Bassenian With: Ben Beal, Linda Beal, Michael J. Cohen, Michelle Dugan, Art Gertz, Lana Hall Screenwriter: Greg Bassenian Genres: Documentary, Environment

The Coachella Valley is far more than just the location of Palm Springs, the Salton Sea, the eponymous music festival, and an agricultural bounty. It is also a region of enormous disparities: a racetrack built as a place for rich gearheads to play with their toys abuts a modest public school educating the children of farmers and servants, and northern snowbirds vacation in gated communities and play golf as unhoused migrants in down-at-the-heels unincorporated towns sleep in their sweltering trucks. This vivid documentary casts a wide lens on this diverse population and its jarring contrasts, touching not just on differences of wealth and class but also on the threat of environmental disaster and the precarious position of undocumented workers. Split into four seasons to underline the migratory nature of Coachella residents on both ends of the economic spectrum, Invisible Valley is an astonishing portrait of the fascinating place Palm Springs calls home.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the Salton Sea was a resort destination for water skiers, boaters and bird watchers. But now, the once postcard-ready sight, located 150 miles east of Los Angeles, is an eyesore, a desolate area with a shrinking coastline triggering far-reaching environmental and public health emergencies.

With the already poor air quality declining quickly and the population’s breathing increasingly at risk, efforts to turn the tide have become critical. As told by a gallery of passionate experts, historians and locals, director Greg Bassenian presents an elegantly woven history of the Salton Sea, the development of the region and how it came to be that the “sportsman’s paradise” is now vanishing. Informative, poignant and ultimately hopeful, this essential documentary is a stirring wake-up call for the Imperial Valley that the stakes have never been higher.

In English, Spanish with English subtitles.

In English.

Wednesday, January 12 • 7:00 pm • MP Saturday, January 15 • 11:30 am • PSHS

Tuesday, January 11 • 11:00 am • ANN Wednesday, January 12 • 2:45 pm • MP

Awards: Best Documentary, Borrego Springs Film Festival

97 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

MY NAME IS LOPEZ

PEPE SERNA: LIFE IS ART

USA, 2021 98 minutes Directors: P. David Ebersole, Todd Hughes With: Trini Lopez, Tony Orlando, Dionne Warwick, Jim Brown, Dave Grohl, Joan Gand, Gary Gand Genres: Biography, Documentary, Music

USA, 2022 60 minutes Director: Luis Reyes With: Pepe Serna, Edward James Olmos, Eva Longoria, Richard “Cheech” Marin, Robert Beltran Screenwriter: Luis Reyes Genres: Biography, Documentary, Film-Related

Singer, innovator, legend. Born Trinidad Lopez III to migrant farmworker parents and armed early on with a pawn-shop guitar, young Trini quickly rose from humble origins in Dallas’s violent Little Mexico neighborhood to become a local sensation, interpreting such standards as “Cielito Lindo” and “La Bamba.”

Overcoming intense racial prejudice, and with help from friend Buddy Holly, Trini soon became an international sensation with a string of hits including “A-me-ri-ca,” “Lemon Tree” and his groundbreaking interpretation of “If I Had a Hammer,” which marked the beginning of Latin rock. With a treasure trove of rich archival footage — including a legendary Paris residency where he outshone upstart band The Beatles — and featuring interviews with Dionne Warwick, Tony Orlando and Jim Brown, My Name Is Lopez is a colorful and moving testament to a showbiz legend who reached the pinnacle of stardom, but who never lost touch with his humble roots.

Bursting with exuberance and class, this celebratory documentary reveals the untold cinematic journey of exalted Chicano actor Pepe Serna. Arguably most famous for having a fatal date with a chainsaw in Brian de Palma’s explosive Scarface in 1983, Serna has been in the business for more than 50 years, overcoming a narrow-minded industry with his undeniable suavity and charm. Director Luis Reyes traces the origins of the Corpus Christi-born natural performer as he highlights key roles that showcased Serna’s impeccable craft. Featuring a star-studded lineup of fawning Hollywood legends like Eva Longoria, Edward James Olmos and Cheech Marin, this glowing portrait illuminates the immense joy and hope that the 77-year-old “Energizer Bunny” Serna brought to other Chicanx actors, and how he paved the way for diverse representation on the big and small screens.

Awards: Best U.S. Documentary, AmDocs Selected Filmography: House of Cardin (2019), Mansfield 66/67 (2017), Hit So Hard (2011)

World Premiere In English.

In English.

Saturday, January 8 • 2:30 pm • PSHS Sunday, January 16 • 1:30 pm • CAM

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Friday, January 7 • 1:30 pm • PSHS Saturday, January 15 • 2:00 pm • CAM

january 6 – 17, 2022

LET’S BRING MUSIC

Back to the Classroom Studies show that sudents who are exposed to lessons on a musical instrument score higher on tests, have higher grade point averages, develop organizational and self-discipline skills, and learn about teamwork and collaboration.

The child who is skilled at a musical instrument tends to excel at problem-solving, pattern-recognition, fine-tuned auditory skills, and memorization—not to mention the self-confidence and self-esteem that come with musical performance.

Exposure of all PSUSD students to music lessons, either private or group, is a District and Foundation priority. We believe every student deserves the opportunity to be prepared and to succeed.

Musical instruments enable self-expression and creativity.

Your donation can make a difference in a student’s life!

$300 $20 $50 buys a 5th buys a 3rd buys a 4th grader a recorder

grader a ukulele

grader a keyboard

Visit psusdfoundation.net/donate today to make your donation, or call 760-416-8455!

Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, The Foundation for the Palm Springs Unified School District can improve lives and strengthen our children through public education. Our task is bridging gaps, and providing the resources to improve student academic preparedness across the education continuum.

The Foundation for the Palm Springs Unified School District is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, Federal Tax I.D. #26-1265520.

Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

99 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org psusdfoundation.net | Ellen Goodman, Executive Director

Palm Springs’ Newest & Most Extraordinary Event Space • Indoor & Outdoor Space Available • Special Pricing for Non-Profits, Educators, First Responders & Healthcare Workers • All Vendors Welcome • Events & Accommodation Packages Available

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PALM SPRINGS VACATION RENTALS A CURATED PORTFOLIO OF DISTINCTIVE HOMES Pet-Friendly Fabulous Pools Resort-Style Amenities HOUSE COMPANY

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@laura_lily at Mostero House

acmehouseco.com

(866) 840-9552

january 6 – 17, 2022

CREATIVE ADVERTISING DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT POST-PRODUCTION

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S FILMMAKERS STAMPEDESTUDIOS.COM • HOLLYWOOD, CA january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

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AWARDS BUZZ Step into Oscar® season with this selection of Best International Feature Film contenders.

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AWARDS BUZZ

BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN

BRIGHTON 4TH

ROMANIA, 2021 106 minutes Director: Radu Jude Cast: Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Mălai, Nicodim Ungureanu Screenwriter: Radu Jude Genres: Black Comedy, Drama, Erotic/Sex

GEORGIA, 2021 95 minutes Director: Levan Koguashvili Cast: Levan Tediashvili, Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Giorgi Tabidze, Kakhi Kavsadze Screenwriter: Boris Frumin Genres: Aging/Seniors, Borders/Migration, Drama

After a private sex tape she made with her husband goes viral, Emi (a brilliantly caustic Katia Pascariu) finds herself in scalding hot water. But even with her role and status as a history teacher at a leading Romanian secondary school in jeopardy, and the parents of her students calling for her head on a platter, Emi refuses to back down. As pandemonium reaches a fever pitch, Emi faces a parents’ tribunal in which the line between morality and obscenity begins to smudge in increasingly outrageous and irreverent ways. Sure to raise eyebrows as much as elicit guffaws, the latest from rascally Romanian auteur Radu Jude (I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians PSIFF 2019) is a howlingly funny social comedy of errors and a biting takedown of the hypocrisy surrounding what society deems obscene. Winner of the top prize at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival, Jude’s certifiably bonkers triptych is now Romania’s ballsy submission for the International Oscar®.

This bittersweet drama about a father’s devotion to his son unfolds mostly in the former Soviet émigré enclave of Brighton Beach, New York. It marks the third fiction outing by Georgian director Levan Koguashvili and shares the rueful sense of humor and poignant sweetness of his feature debut Blind Dates (PSIFF 2014). It follows Kakhi, a former Olympic wrestling champ from Tbilisi, who goes to New York to help his adult son, Soso, get his life back on track. Kakhi is a kind, even-tempered, non-judgmental problem solver, but the hapless Soso isn’t exactly a chip off the old block. As Kakhi tries to earn money to help his son, he becomes involved in some cockamamie schemes hatched by other inhabitants of the shabby hostel on 4th Street, where Russian is the lingua franca. The tender screenplay by Boris Frumin captures characters living in the new world in much the same fashion as they did in the old.

Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc

Awards: Golden Bear – Best Film, Berlinale

Awards: Best International Narrative Feature, Best Actor and Best Screenplay, Tribeca

Selected Filmography: The Exit of the Trains (2020), Uppercase Print (2020), I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians (2018), Aferim! (2015), The Happiest Girl in the World (2009)

Selected Filmography: Gogita’s New Life (2016), Blind Dates (2013), Street Days (2010), Women from Georgia (2009)

In Romanian with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 10:00 am • CAM Wednesday, January 12 • 7:00 pm • REG

Saturday, January 8 • 8:30 pm • REG Tuesday, January 11 • 9:15 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 3:00 pm • MP

In English, Georgian, Russian with English subtitles.

103 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

CASABLANCA BEATS

CLARA SOLA

MOROCCO, 2021 101 minutes Director: Nabil Ayouch Cast: Meryem Nekkach, Anas Basbousi, Nouhaila Arif Screenwriters: Nabil Ayouch, Maryam Touzani Genres: Coming of Age, Music, Social Issues

COSTA RICA, 2021 106 minutes Director: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén Cast: Wendy Chinchilla Araya, Daniel Castañeda Rincón, Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Flor María Vargas Chaves Screenwriters: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, Maria Camila Arias Genres: Drama, Erotic/Sex, Religion/Spirituality, Women

Haut Et Fort

On the outskirts of Casablanca, in the infamous Sidi Moumen neighborhood, a new hip-hop class is available for teenagers at the local arts center. Anas, a former rapper, shares his passion for hip-hop with the new generation and shows them how powerful the art form can be when it comes from a raw and genuine place. Director Nabil Ayouch captures Moroccan youth — all its hopes, doubts and dreams — through a musical lens. Once more collaborating with nonprofessional actors, Ayouch blurs the lines between documentary and fiction, devising tight and controlled musical numbers and contrasting them with the spontaneity and authenticity of the dramatic scenes. In this inspiring tale of mentorship, Anas gives all of his students a creative outlet for their frustrations, freeing them from their families’ and society’s expectations.

Selected Filmography: Razzia (2017), Much Loved (2015), Horses of God (2012) In Arabic with English subtitles.

Set in a picturesque village in a remote part of Costa Rica, this mystical feature debut elegantly captures a sheltered 40-yearold woman’s coming of age, as she attempts to unshackle herself from the social and religious customs that have held her back. Exquisitely brought to life by dancer Wendy Chinchilla Araya in her screen debut, Clara is a reluctant faith healer rumored to have been visited by The Virgin years prior, with a deep connection to the nature that surrounds her. Still living with her strict Catholic mother, Clara helps her more liberated teenage niece María prepare for her quinceañera, but complications mount when Clara starts connecting with María’s new boyfriend. Costa Rican-Swedish writer-director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén — whose short Filip was an award winner at Palm Springs International ShortFest 2016 — utilizes the breathtaking scenery and her cast of nonprofessional actors with striking precision as she explores sexuality, religion and liberty through three generations of women.

Awards: Best New Director, Nashville Film Festival In Spanish with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 3:00 pm • MP Thursday, January 13 • 9:15 pm • REG

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Thursday, January 13 • 7:00 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 9:45 am • REG Saturday, January 15 • 6:00 pm • PALM

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

COMPARTMENT NO. 6

COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON

FINLAND, 2021 107 minutes Director: Juho Kuosmanen Cast: Seidi Haarla, Yuriy Borisov, Dinara Drukarova, Julia Aug, Lidia Kostina, Tomi Alatalo Screenwriters: Andris Feldmanis, Livia Ulman, Juho Kuosmanen Genres: Drama, Relationships, Road Movie

LEBANON, 2021 106 minutes Director: Mounia Akl Cast: Nadine Labaki, Saleh Bakri, Nadia Charbel, Ceana Restom, Geana Restom, Yumna Marwan Screenwriters: Mounia Akl, Clara Roquet Genres: Environment, Family Relations, Politics

Audiences who saw writer-director Juho Kuosmanen’s first feature, The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki (PSIFF 2017), heralded the debut of a new talent who understood solitude and the desire for human connection. The same fundamental generosity of spirit elevates his second feature, the beguiling road movie Compartment No. 6, which shared the Cannes Grand Prix prize with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero (also showing in this year’s PSIFF lineup). Set in the late 1980s, the film follows Laura, a Finnish student traveling by train from Moscow to Murmansk to see ancient petroglyphs on the rocky coast. Stricken by the end of a relationship with an older woman, all Laura wants is time to herself to bask in her memories, but she has to share her compartment with Ljoha, an uncouth miner whose drinking, smoking and rude conversation prevents her from pondering, reading or even sleeping. Gradually, over the course of their long journey, an understanding starts to develop between them.

Souraya (Nadine Labaki) and her husband Walid (Saleh Bakri) left Beirut a long time ago to escape social unrest and increasing pollution. But the quiet and peaceful life they share with their daughters and Walid’s mother is disrupted when the government begins building an allegedly “ecological” landfill on the neighboring land. Set in the picturesque Lebanese mountains, their lifestyle is at first sight undeniably idyllic, but the intrusion of the outside world quickly reveals the cracks in their utopia. For her feature debut, Palm Springs International ShortFest alum Mounia Akl crafts a heartfelt and potent narrative around themes of environmental crisis and political corruption. The incredibly nuanced screenplay is a powerful metaphor for the current situation in Lebanon, while also reflecting different facets of Lebanese society. Carried by the stellar performances of the cast, the sharpness and wit of the characters make their evolving family dynamic all the more compelling.

Awards: Grand Prix, Cannes

Awards: NETPAC Award, Toronto International Film Festival

Selected Filmography: The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (2016)

In Arabic with English subtitles.

In Finnish, Russian with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 3:30 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 9:45 am • MP Saturday, January 15 • 10:30 am • MP

Hytti nro 6

Sunday, January 9 • 4:15 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 11:00 am • ANN

105 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

DRIVE MY CAR

DRUNKEN BIRDS

JAPAN, 2021 179 minutes Director: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi Cast: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Masaki Okada, Reika Kirishima, Park Yurim, Jin Daeyeon Screenwriters: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe Genres: Drama, Relationships

CANADA, 2021 104 minutes Director: Ivan Grbovic Cast: Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Hélène Florent, Claude Legault, Marine Johnson Screenwriters: Ivna Grbovic, Sara Mishara Genres: Borders/Migration, Drama

Doraibu mai kâ

Winner for Best Screenplay at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, writer-director Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a collision between the artistic process and the human experience. In the wake of his wife’s sudden death, stage actor-director Yūsuke (Hidetoshi Nishijima) takes on a gig directing Uncle Vanya at a regional theater festival, and finds his solitude broken by a contractual obligation to hire a chauffeur, the similarly haunted Misaki (Tōko Miura). As the tense rehearsals proceed, and Yūsuke is drawn closer to his miscast leading actor Kōji (Masaki Okada), Yūsuke comes to terms with what was left unknown in his marriage. A patient but dynamically built drama of cumulative power, Drive My Car captivates with its observational, sometimes darkly funny approach to grief and the artist’s journey. Deceptively understated but with a seismic impact, here is the film that affirms Hamaguchi as one of the most sharply observant and humane directors working today.

Les oiseaux ivres

Canada’s official selection for the Best International Oscar®, Drunken Birds is an engrossing and unconventional romance following a Mexican laborer who travels to Montreal in search of his long-lost love. The sophomore feature from director Ivan Grbovic stars the captivating Jorge Antonio Guerrero (Roma PSIFF 2019) as Willy, who has fallen for his drug kingpin boss’s wife Marlena. After helping her flee from Mexico, Willy finds himself narrowly escaping his own demise, only to spend the next several years in search of his estranged lover and a new direction in his life. With touches of magical realism and eye-popping cinematography by Sara Mishara, who also cowrote the film’s screenplay, Drunken Birds is an elegant and surprising tale of star-crossed love spanning North America, and the power and perils of new beginnings.

Selected Filmography: Roméo Onze (2011) In French, Spanish, English, Mandarin with English subtitles.

Awards: Best Screenplay and FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes Selected Filmography: Asako I & II (2018), Happy Hour (2015), Touching the Skin of Eeriness (2013)

Saturday, January 8 • 7:00 pm • MP Monday, January 10 • 4:15 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 9:00 am • REG

In Japanese, Korean, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, Indonesian, German, Malaysian with English subtitles.

Wednesday, January 12 • 9:45 am • MP Thursday, January 13 • 10:30 am • REG

106

Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU

THE FALLS

SOUTH KOREA, 2021 121 minutes Director: Ryoo Seung-wan Cast: Kim Yoon-seok, Zo In-sung, Huh Joon-ho, Koo Kyo-hwan, Joung Man-sik, Kim So-jin Screenwriter: Ryoo Seung-wan Genres: History, Thriller

TAIWAN, 2021 129 minutes Director: Chung Mong-hong Cast: Alyssa Chia, Gingle Wang, Yi-wen Chen, Lee-zen Lee, Waa Wei Screenwriters: Chung Mong-hong, Yaosheng Chang Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Family Relations, Social Issues

The year is 1991, and the South Korean government hopes to get one step closer to UN membership by winning the vote of member nation Somalia. But their tiny presence in Mogadishu — which includes career diplomat Ambassador Han and hotshot new arrival Counselor Kang — is thwarted at every turn by their rivals, the North Koreans. When civil war arrives in the capital, both embassies are left with few lifelines and dwindling opportunities for escape as the city descends into violent mayhem. The two groups enter an uneasy truce, combining their resources and ingenuity in a desperate bid for survival.

Thoroughly immersing viewers in an urban war zone, director Ryoo Seung-wan amps up the suspense and high-voltage thrills in several action sequences that electrifyingly capture the diplomats’ desperate attempts at a getaway. As emotionally affecting as it is hair-raising, the film is a rousing testament to the power of shared humanity over political animosity.

In this gripping, character-driven drama, a mother and teenage daughter grapple with an unprecedented and tumultuous moment in their lives while stuck inside during the COVID-19 quarantine. The blue tarp that covers their building while being renovated, blocking out the sunlight, only contributes to their feelings of claustrophobia and entrapment. While they are forced to spend more time together, Xiao Jing (Gingle Wang) has her first inkling that all is not right with her mom, Pin-Wen (Alyssa Chia). What can initially be dismissed as “pandemic jitters” soon escalates as Pin-Wen becomes increasingly obsessed with her husband who left long ago, and suddenly switches from a career in high finance to an entry-level job at a supermarket. Writer-director Chung Mong-hong crafts a complex familial narrative against a backdrop of urban alienation, exploring the fascinating evolution of teen Xiao Jing’s coming of age as her mother’s fragile emotional state thrusts her into the world of adult responsibility.

Selected Filmography: The Battleship Island (2017), Veteran (2015), The Berlin File (2013) In Korean with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 8:00 pm • CAM Tuesday, January 11 • 8:30 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 9:45 am • REG

Pu Bu

Selected Filmography: A Sun (2020), Soul (2013), The Fourth Portrait (2010) U.S. Premiere In Mandarin, Taiwanese with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 8:30 pm • MP Thursday, January 13 • 3:00 pm • MP Sunday, January 16 • 3:00 pm • MP

107 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

FEAR

FLEE

BULGARIA, 2020 100 minutes Director: Ivaylo Hristov Cast: Svetlana Yancheva, Michael Flemming, Kristina Yaneva, Ivan Savov Screenwriter: Ivaylo Hristov Genres: Black Comedy, Borders/Migration, Relationships

DENMARK, 2021 89 minutes Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen Cast: Riz Ahmed, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Alex Lehman, Daniel Karimyar Screenwriter: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Amin Nawabi Genres: Documentary, Gay, Borders/Migration, Drama, Animation

In a period when the subject of immigration is constantly in the headlines, this ironic fable about intolerance is very much a film for our times. It centers on Svetlana (Svetlana Yancheva, a dead ringer for Frances McDormand, as is her tough-as-nails character), a widowed, former school teacher in a blighted village in Eastern Europe where there are no longer any children for her to teach. Several of the locals nurse an unrequited passion for Svetlana, but she brusquely dismisses their advances. These rejections help fuel small-town xenophobia into overdrive when Svetlana reluctantly takes in Bamba (Michael Flemming), a Malian doctor trying to make his way to Germany. This is a humane and beautifully made film that astutely balances drama and absurdist humor with important contemporary issues. It manages the rare feat of being compassionate and provocative while also delivering striking moments that indict small-mindedness.

Current world events lend additional resonance to this compelling animated documentary about a man’s need to confront his past in order to have a future. Afghan-born Amin arrived in Denmark as an unaccompanied minor. Now, at 36, he is a successful academic and will soon marry his longtime boyfriend. But a secret that he has been hiding for over 20 years threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. As he shares his story with his close friend Jonas Poher Rasmussen, the film’s director, animation proves the ideal medium to both mask and reveal this gay man who reinvented himself. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, Flee is one of several extraordinary animated films for adults screening in this year’s festival lineup, including The Crossing, a powerful work about the rewards of perseverance and unbreakable family bonds.

Strah

Flugt

Awards: Best International Documentary, Sundance Awards: Best Film, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Selected Filmography: Losers (2015), Footsteps in the Sand (2010), Emigrants (2002) In Bulgarian, English with English subtitles.

Tuesday, January 11 • 3:00 pm • CAM Wednesday, January 12 • 10:30 am • MP Sunday, January 16 • 8:30 pm • REG

108

Psfilmfest.org

Selected Filmography: What He Did (2015), Searching for Bill (2012), Noget om Halfdan (2006) In Danish, English, Dari, Russian, Swedish with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 2:45 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 9:00 am • CAM Friday, January 14 • 11:00 am • ANN

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

THE GOOD BOSS

THE GRAVEDIGGER’S WIFE

SPAIN, 2021 120 minutes Director: Fernando León de Aranoa Cast: Javier Bardem, Manolo Solo, Almudena Amor Screenwriter: Fernando León de Aranoa Genres: Drama, Comedy, Social Issues, Work/Labor

SOMALIA, 2020 82 minutes Director: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed Cast: Yasmin Warsame, Omar Abdi, Khadar Abdoul-Aziz Ibrahim Screenwriter: Khadar Ayderus Ahmed Genres: Social Issues, Romance, Drama

He’s the soft-spoken, caring type of boss who wants his employees to know they’re truly valued. But behind the benevolent dictator act, Mr. Blanco (Javier Bardem), owner of Blanco Scales, isn’t above tipping his own scales to get exactly what he wants. As he rallies his employees in preparation for an inspection that could earn him a coveted industry prize, Blanco is confronted with the emotional breakdown of right-hand man Miralles, whose disastrous home life has him slipping on the job; recently fired José, whose protest camp outside the factory is attracting unwanted attention; and new intern Liliana, who’s not the demure pushover Blanco expected. As Blanco’s manipulations go awry and the scales of justice tilt away from him, the mask of the “good boss” comes off, leading to a dizzying climax in this razor-sharp satire from writer-director Fernando León de Aranoa.

Outside Djibouti City in the Horn of Africa live Guled, his wife Nasra and their son Mahad. Despite Nasra’s best efforts to conceal her worsening health condition and enjoy the time she has left with her family, Guled can’t ignore her pain. But even though he constantly faces death at his job as a gravedigger, Guled isn’t ready to confront the mortality of someone so near and dear to him. Unable to afford the kidney transplant she desperately needs, Guled must resort to the one solution they had agreed to avoid. In his feature debut, Somali-Finnish director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed crafts a beautiful tale of unconditional love caught in a dire situation, while subtly casting a light on the effects of post-colonialism. Somalia’s first-ever entry for the Best International Oscar® is brought to vibrant life by the captivating performances from its charismatic cast of nonprofessional actors.

Selected Filmography: Escobar (2017), Politics, Instruction Manual (2016), A Perfect Day (2015)

Awards: Amplify Voices Award, Toronto International Film Festival

In Spanish with English subtitles.

In Somalian with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 1:30 pm • CAM Saturday, January 8 • 7:45 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 10:30 am • REG

Sunday, January 9 • 6:00 pm • PALM Monday, January 10 • 2:45 pm • MP Saturday, January 15 • 10:00 am • CAM

El buen patrón

109 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

GREAT FREEDOM

THE HAND OF GOD

AUSTRIA, 2021 116 minutes Director: Sebastian Meise Cast: Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich, Anton von Lucke, Thomas Prenn Screenwriters: Thomas Reider, Sebastian Meise Genres: LGBTQ, Gay, Drama, Social Issues

ITALY, 2021 130 minutes Director: Paolo Sorrentino Cast: Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, Marlon Joubert, Luisa Ranieri, Renato Carpentieri Screenwriter: Paolo Sorrentino Genres: Coming of Age, Comedy, Family Relations

Grosse Freiheit

For 123 years, Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code criminalized homosexuality. Those convicted were sentenced to prison terms of up to 10 years. The statute allowed the authorities to intercept and confiscate love letters and submit them to the court as evidence, as well as encroach on the privacy of these men and expose delicate personal details of their lives to the public. The tender, empathetic Great Freedom tells the story of one man repeatedly persecuted by the law. Hans (Franz Rogowski in a superlative performance) is liberated from a Nazi concentration camp by the Allies only to be transferred to prison to serve out his remaining sentence. Hans refuses to hide who he is and continues to rebel against the system.

Thus, the walls and bars of the penitentiary are a recurring constant in his life. Ironically, it’s in prison that Hans finds his greatest love.

È stata la mano di Dio

Awards: Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard, Cannes

Fabietto Schisa (Filippo Scotti) is a teenage boy like any other growing up in Naples in the 1980s, which is to say he is obsessed with two things: women and soccer superstar Diego Maradona. As Fabietto grows up with, and away from, his adoring and boisterous family in a city undergoing immense turbulence, the arrival of Maradona in his hometown provides a ray of hope in a time of desperate need. Unfurling this young man’s story with elegance and empathy, Oscar®winning writer-director Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty PSIFF 2014) weaves together contemplations of rapture and mortality with the heady adrenaline and confusion that often comes with crossing the threshold from childhood innocence to precarious adulthood. Always lensed with a clean, handsome eye, Sorrentino’s semi-autobiographical, sun-kissed coming-of-age epic immortalizes the mundane, the euphoric and the tragic in a snapshot of pure cinematic poetry.

Selected Filmography: Outing (2012), Still Life (2011)

Awards: Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival

In German with English subtitles.

Selected Filmography: Loro (2018), The Great Beauty (2013) In Italian with English subtitles.

Tuesday, January 11 • 2:00 pm • CAM Sunday, January 16 • 7:00 pm • REG

110

Psfilmfest.org

Friday, January 7 • 2:45 pm • REG Wednesday, January 12 • 4:15 pm • REG Thursday, January 13 • 7:00 pm • ANN

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

A HERO

HIVE

IRAN, 2021 127 minutes Director: Asghar Farhadi Cast: Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Fereshteh Sadrorafaii, Sahar Goldoust, Sarina Farhadi, Saleh Karimai Screenwriter: Asghar Farhadi Genres: Crime, Social Issues

KOSOVO, 2021 84 minutes Director: Blerta Basholli Cast: Yllka Gashi, Çun Lajçi, Kumrije Hoxha Screenwriter: Blerta Basholli Genres: Drama, Social Issues, Work/Labor, Women

Ghahreman

Zgjoi

Awards: Grand Prix and François Chalais Award, Cannes

Like many of the women whose husbands went missing after the Kosovo War, Fahrije (Yllka Gashi in a towering performance) is left processing her grief while attempting to raise two children in her patriarchal village. Between butting heads with her father-in-law’s outdated views and quelling the outbursts of her preteen daughter and young son who miss their father, Fahrije works tirelessly with the other widows to launch her small business selling homemade hot pepper preserves.

But her restless determination and quiet perseverance to reclaim independence from multigenerational burdens is met with pushback from the oppressive misogyny rampant in the village, where even a woman becoming an entrepreneur is considered a radical act. Based on a true story, writer-director Blerta Basholli’s directorial debut is a stunning, haunting portrait of women’s empowerment that made history at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival where it won all three top awards.

Selected Filmography: Everybody Knows (2018), The Salesman (2016), The Past (2013), A Separation (2011)

Awards: World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award and Directing Award, Sundance

In Farsi, Persian, Georgian, English, Russian with English subtitles.

In Albanian with English subtitles.

Monday, January 10 • 7:00 pm • CAM Wednesday, January 12 • 7:30 pm • PSHS Friday, January 14 • 3:00 pm • REG

Monday, January 10 • 3:00 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 9:00 am • REG

Behind some of the most celebrated international titles of the decade, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman PSIFF 2017, A Separation PSIFF 2012) is renowned for weaving thought-provoking and thrilling familial mysteries. His latest follows the amiable and scheming Rahim Soltani (the phenomenal Amir Jadidi) on a temporary prison leave, desperate to settle a years-old debt that has brought shame upon himself and his family. When Soltani jumps at a chance for redemption, built on a dubious act, he sparks a national publicity storm that brings him fame and a shot at a better future. Taut with suspense, this captivating morality play continually contorts the mystery of Farhadi’s compelling characters with each furtive glance, passing comment and questionable act.

111 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

I’M YOUR MAN

LAMB

GERMANY, 2021 102 minutes Director: Maria Schrader Cast: Dan Stevens, Maren Eggert, Sandra Hüller, Hans Löw, Wolfgang Hübsch, Annika Meier Screenwriters: Jan Schomburg, Maria Schrader Genres: Romantic Comedy, Social Issues

ICELAND, 2021 107 minutes Director: Valdimar Jóhannsson Cast: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson Screenwriters: Sjón, Valdimar Jóhannsson Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

Ich bin dein Mensch

Dýrið

There’s a reason Tom (Dan Stevens) seems all too polished and perfect for accomplished yet lonely anthropologist Alma (Maren Eggert): He’s a robot. Given to her for a three-week trial run, Tom is a custom android who constantly recalibrates his own algorithm to perfectly match Alma’s likes and dislikes and grow into her uniquely designed life partner. But as Alma grows increasingly frustrated with his overattention and the reality of a partner who’s merely an extension of herself, she finds Tom’s awkwardness can also be revealing, giving her a fresh perspective on her own many foibles. Director and co-writer Maria Schrader’s startlingly fresh and unconventional high-concept philosophical romance provides a keen insight into the intricacies of human behavior, and strikes a nimble balance between whimsy and melancholy.

High up in the mountains of rural Iceland, Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Gudnason) are a childless couple accustomed to a serene, prosaic routine living with their pets on the farm where they breed sheep. But after discovering an unnatural newborn in their sheep barn, everything as they know it changes. Initially alarmed and perplexed, the couple decides to embrace this impossible being and raise her as their own.

Naming her Ada, the three form an unconventional but warm and loving family unit. But something is lurking in the surrounding mist, and nature may not be so forgiving or accepting of their choice. Drawing inspiration from the macabre fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, the haunting debut feature from director Valdimar Jóhannsson is a darkly enchanting magical realist fable that is now Iceland’s admirably bold entry for the International Oscar®.

Awards: Silver Bear for Best Lead Performance, Berlinale

Awards: Prize for Originality, Cannes

Selected Filmography: Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (2016), Love Life (2007)

In Icelandic with English subtitles.

In German with English subtitles.

Tuesday, January 11 • 7:45 pm • REG Wednesday, January 12 • 11:00 am • ANN Sunday, January 16 • 9:15 pm • REG

112

Psfilmfest.org

Friday, January 7 • 2:45 pm • MP Sunday, January 9 • 3:00 pm • CAM Sunday, January 16 • 8:30 pm • MP

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

LEAVE NO TRACES

LET IT BE MORNING

POLAND, 2021 160 minutes Director: Jan P. Matuszyński Cast: Tomasz Zietek, Sandra Korzeniak, Jacek Braciak, Agnieszka Grochowska, Mateusz Górski, Robert Wieckiewicz Screenwriter: Kaja Krawczyk-Wnuk Genres: History, Thriller, Social Issues

ISRAEL, 2021 101 minutes Director: Eran Kolirin Cast: Alex Bakri, Ehab Elias Salami, Izabel Ramadan, Juna Suleiman, Khalifa Natour, Salim Daw Screenwriter: Eran Kolirin Genres: Jewish Interest, Black Comedy, Social Issues

This gripping drama based on a real-life scandal begins in Poland in 1983, when high-spirited high school student Grzegorz Przemyk (Mateusz Górski) is celebrating passing his exams with friends when he is stopped by police and asked for his identity card. At the time, martial law was suspended, and carrying an ID at all times was not necessary. Grzegorz knows this and argues for his rights as a citizen. Angry at being countered, the militia members haul him and his friend, Jurek, to their headquarters where he is brutally beaten. Jurek is the only witness. In the aftermath, the oppressive regime uses the secret service, the media and the courts to threaten Jurek and other people close to the case, including his parents and Przemyk’s mother, activist and poet Barbara Sadowska.

This satirical adaptation of Sayed Kashua’s darkly ironic, prize-winning novel displays a deep understanding of the code-switching, compartmentalized existence of many Palestinian citizens of Israel. And it also takes note of their limited rights. Sami (Alex Bakri), a Jerusalem-based accountant having an affair with a Jewish colleague, travels with his unhappy wife (the mesmerizing Juna Suleiman) and young son to the village where he was born and where his brother is about to be married. When Sami and his family try to return home later that night, they find that the village has been locked down by the Israeli military, with no entrances or exits allowed and no explanations forthcoming. Trapped in his parents’ home, Sami must come to terms with his past, his heritage and his place in contemporary Israel. Directed with a low-key comic flair by Eran Kolirin (The Band’s Visit PSIFF 2008), Let It Be Morning is Israel’s submission for the International Oscar®.

Zeby nie bylo sladów

Awards: Best Feature Film, Polish Film Festival Selected Filmography: The Last Family (2016), Deep Love (2013), Heaven (2011) In Polish with English subtitles.

Awards: Best Feature Film, Haifa International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Beyond the Mountains and Hills (2016), The Exchange (2011) The Band’s Visit (2007) In Arabic, Hebrew with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 9:00 am • REG Monday, January 10 • 7:45 pm • MP

Tuesday, January 11 • 10:00 am • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 10:00 am • PALM Sunday, January 16 • 2:45 pm • MP

113 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

LINGUI, THE SACRED BONDS

MEMORIA

CHAD, 2021 87 minutes Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Cast: Achouackh Abakar Souleymane, Rihane Khalil Alio, Youssouf Djaoro, Briya Gomdigue, Hadjé Fatimé Ngoua Screenwriter: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Genres: Family Relations, Social Issues, Women

COLOMBIA, 2021 135 minutes Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Cast: Tilda Swinton, Elkin Díaz, Jeanne Balibar, Juan Pablo Urrego, Daniel Giménez Cacho Screenwriter: Apichatpong Weerasethakul Genres: Drama, Mystery

When single parent Amina learns of her teenage daughter Maria’s pregnancy, her life falls into disarray. And when Maria reveals that she does not intend to keep the baby, Amina is even more stunned: having an abortion not only goes against Amina’s religious beliefs, but is illegal in Chad. Desperate, both mother and daughter know they will have to lean on one another and on the support system women have built in order to protect each other from a patriarchal society.

Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun — regarded as one of the first Chadian film directors — explores the strength of the motherdaughter bond while soberingly depicting Chadian society and its morals. Haroun adeptly balances thriller undertones with emotional authenticity in a film elevated by its two strikingly compelling lead performances.

In the middle of a sleepless night and without warning, it struck: a loud, violent thud, heard only by botanist Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton) — a haunting sound that quickly overtakes her life. With the noise appearing more frequently and at random moments, Jessica enlists sound engineer Hernan to duplicate the mysterious thud in a recording studio. But even with an audio approximation, the sound persists and the question remains: is she losing her mind? Or could it be something else? As Jessica falls more out of sync with the world, she travels to the Colombian rainforests in search of the unknowable, forming a deeper understanding of permanence of sound and perhaps an unexpected answer to her mystery. A sensuously intriguing meditation on time, space and memory from modern master of global cinema Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Memoria is Colombia’s entry for the International Oscar®.

Awards: Producers Award, Hamburg Film Festival Awards: Jury Prize, Cannes Selected Filmography: A Season in France (2017), Hissein Habre, une tragedie tchadienne (2016), A Screaming Man (2010) In French with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 3:00 pm • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 10:00 am • CAM

114

Psfilmfest.org

Selected Filmography: Blue (2018), Cemetery of Splendor (2015), Mekong Hotel (2012), Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) In English, Spanish with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 9:45 am • MP Monday, January 10 • 10:30 am • REG Thursday, January 13 • 2:45 pm • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

OLGA

ON THE WATER

SWITZERLAND, 2021 86 minutes Director: Elie Grappe Cast: Nastya Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Jérôme Martin Screenwriters: Elie Grappe, Raphaëlle Desplechin Genres: Coming of Age, Family Relations, Sports

ESTONIA, 2020 107 minutes Director: Peeter Simm Cast: Rasmus Ermel, Aarne Soro, Marko Matvere, Maria Klenskaja, Kalju Orro Screenwriter: Olavi Ruitlane Genres: Coming of Age, Family Relations

It’s 2013 and the primary focus of 15-year-old Ukrainian gymnast Olga (Nastya Budiashkina, making an astounding debut) is to compete in the upcoming European Championships as a prelude to making the Olympic team. But when her investigative journalist mother’s work puts their lives in danger, Olga is sent abroad to Switzerland. Suddenly finding herself navigating an unfamiliar country, Olga struggles to keep up with the rapidly evolving political situation back home while maintaining her intense training regimen. Director Elie Grappe’s impressive debut feature is at once a character study, a sports drama, a portrait of a difficult mother-daughter relationship and a record of living through political upheaval. And just like the characters who execute their gymnastic routines with aplomb, Olga expertly pivots between the personal, political and athletic without ever sacrificing momentum.

A poignant script, attractive production design and appealing performances bring something fresh to familiar coming-ofage tropes in On the Water. It’s set in rural Soviet Estonia in the early 1980s, during a pivotal year in the life of the shy teen protagonist that finds him slowly unlocking his potential.

Balancing gentle humor with the hard facts of life, veteran director Peeter Simm finds strong visuals and the correct tone to deliver the story. Twelve-year-old Andres lives near the banks of Lake Tamula, on what would be the wrong side of the tracks, if there was a railroad. His neighbors include brawling alcoholics, grifting prostitutes and cranky, crippled war veterans. He lives with his strict grandparents who come from the spare-the-rod-and-spoil-the-child school of child-rearing.

Although bullied at school and lacking peer-group friends, Andres refuses to wallow in his problems. Rather, he tries to escape them through fishing.

Vee Peal

Awards: SACD Award, Cannes Critics’ Week In French, Ukrainian with English subtitles.

Selected Filmography: Odinokiy ostrov (2012), Georg (2007), Fed Up! (2005) International Premiere In Estonian with English subtitles.

Thursday, January 13 • 5:00 pm • PALM Friday, January 14 • 7:00 pm • MP

Friday, January 7 • 3:00 pm • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 2:45 pm • MP Sunday, January 16 • 7:45 pm • MP

115 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

AWARDS BUZZ

PLAYGROUND

PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN

BELGIUM, 2021 72 minutes Director: Laura Wandel Cast: Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden Screenwriter: Laura Wandel Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Social Issues

MEXICO, 2021 111 minutes Director: Tatiana Huezo Cast: Mayra Batalla, Marya Membreño, Ana Cristina Ordóñez González Screenwriter: Tatiana Huezo Genres: Women, Drama, Politics, Social Issues, Coming of Age

In the opening shots of this gripping, naturalistic drama, seven-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) weeps inconsolably before her first day at school. Although her father and slightly older brother, Abel, assure her that everything will be fine, Nora seems to have a sixth sense of what is to come. When she witnesses Abel become the target of rampant schoolyard bullying, her fears are confirmed. Desperate to protect her brother, Nora wants to inform adults of the incident, but Abel instructs her to keep quiet. Now caught between branding herself a tattle-tale or allowing her brother to painfully endure, Nora must step forward and make her own moral decision.

Directing like the spiritual heir to the Dardenne brothers, new talent Laura Wandel shoots from the point of view of her pintsized protagonists and surrounds them with a din of sound that rings true.

Deep within the lush green hills outside San Miguel, where snakes, scorpions and other creatures lurk, grade-schooler Ana and her best friends Maria and Paula dig holes in the earth, small enough to crawl into and hide from the heavily armed soldiers that routinely invade their tiny village. Raised by single parent Rita (Mayra Batalla), Ana chafes against the strict rules her mother has put in place — no makeup, no eye contact and keep a shaved head in order to make herself a less enticing target to traffickers. As the trio’s friendship deepens into adolescence, the girls continue to maintain some sense of normalcy amid the chaos. But as the violence intensifies, Ana must confront the reality of what it means to be a young woman in a war zone, in this lyrical, emotionally powerful tale from acclaimed documentarian Tatiana Huezo.

Un monde

Noche de Fuego

Awards: Special Mention: Un Certain Regard, Cannes Awards: FIPRESCI Prize – Un Certain Regard, Cannes

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Selected Filmography: Tempestad (2018), The Empty Classroom (2015)

In French with English subtitles.

In Spanish with English subtitles.

Monday, January 10 • 2:00 pm • MP Tuesday, January 11 • 9:00 am • REG Friday, January 14 • 10:30 am • MP

Friday, January 7 • 7:45 pm • MP Sunday, January 9 • 8:00 pm • CAM Thursday, January 13 • 8:00 pm • CAM

Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

REHANA MARYAM NOOR

SHAMBALA

BANGLADESH, 2021 107 minutes Director: Abdullah Mohammad Saad Cast: Azmeri Haque Badhon, Farzana Bithi, Afia Jahin Jaima Screenwriter: Abdullah Mohammad Saad Genres: Crime, Drama, Social Issues

KYRGYZSTAN, 2021 98 minutes Director: Artykpai Suyundukov Cast: Artur Amanaliev, Nasredin Dubashev, Talant Apyev, Djamilia Sydykbaeva, Taalaykan Abazova Screenwriter: Artykpai Suyundukov Genres: Culture, Drama, Family Relations, Nature

Rehana (Azmeri Haque Badhon) is an assistant medical professor with a steely resolve to always do what’s right. Her hectic daily routine revolves around raising her unruly young daughter, fending off sexist microaggressions at work and being a fair role model to her pupils. But when she witnesses an incident of sexual assault between a colleague and one of her students, Rehana decides to take action, embroiling herself in a scandal that could cost her job. With her reputation and future on the line, Rehana is forced to make one impossible decision after another, caught between standing against a series of gross injustices or becoming a pariah. Writer-director Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s electrifying morality tale was the first Bangladeshi film to play in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and is now the country’s contender for the International Oscar®. As Rehana, newcomer Badhon gives a spellbinding, star-making performance as an altruistic woman pushed to the brink.

Selected Filmography: Live from Dhaka (2016) U.S. Premiere In Bangla with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 9:15 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 10:00 am • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 3:30 pm • REG

Rambunctious seven-year-old Shambala (Artur Amanaliev) lives in a forest high in the striking Tian Shan mountains with his family. With no playmates, Shambala spends his time alone, trying to catch fish with his pants, or dreaming about the vivid folklore told by his beloved grandfather. But life is not as idyllic as Shambala’s surrounding scenery suggests. With his mother dead and his father at sea, Shambala is forced to endure his uncle, a belligerent and abusive drunk. Adapted from Chingiz Aitmatov’s acclaimed novella The White Ship, Shambala is a spectacular vision of Kyrgyz myths and history seen through the lens of a troubled childhood. Director Artykpai Suyundukov labored over the source material for decades, turning it into a lyrical examination of how modernity and tradition clash in present-day Kyrgyzstan. The country’s natural beauty is sumptuously photographed, but the real star is Amanaliev in a wonderfully compelling performance as the titular character.

Awards: Best Director, Kolkata International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Soshlis’ dorogi (1987), Sredi lyudey (1979) In Kyrgyz, English with English subtitles.

Monday, January 10 • 3:00 pm • CAM Wednesday, January 12 • 3:30 pm • REG Thursday, January 13 • 9:00 am • CAM

117 january 6 – 17, 2022

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AWARDS BUZZ

TIGERS

TITANE

SWEDEN, 2020 116 minutes Director: Ronnie Sandahl Cast: Alfred Enoch, Frida Gustavsson, Liv Mjönes Screenwriter: Ronnie Sandahl Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Sports

FRANCE, 2021 108 minutes Director: Julia Ducournau Cast: Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh Screenwriter: Julia Ducournau Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

This fascinating look at the dark side of sports glory offers a coming-of-age drama about a young man’s burning obsession in a world where everything, and everyone, has a price tag.

Based on Martin Bengtsson’s memoir In the Shadow of San Siro, the film follows Martin, one of Sweden’s most promising soccer talents who, at 16, achieves his lifelong dream when he is bought by Inter Milan, a prestigious Italian club. But that dream comes at a high price, resulting in sacrifice, dedication, pressure and — most of all — loneliness, leaving Martin to question whether this life is actually the one he yearned for.

The marvelous lead performance by Erik Enge poignantly depicts Martin’s struggles with the pressures of success. With Tigers, director Ronnie Sandahl continues his run of riveting sports biopics, which includes the screenplays for Borg vs.

McEnroe (PSIFF 2018) and the upcoming Perfect, about gymnast Kerri Strug, for director Olivia Wilde.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and now France’s submission for the International Oscar®, Titane is one of the most fiercely original films in years. After a childhood accident results in a titanium plate inserted in her head, Alexa grows up with a peculiar attraction to metal.

Now an adult, Alexa (Agathe Rousselle) works as an auto show dancer, euphorically grinding and splaying atop the gleaming bodies of cars and trucks. After a series of increasingly bizarre incidents forces her to go on the run, Alexa finds unlikely refuge in the care of a grieving fire captain (veteran French actor Vincent Lindon) who believes her to be his long-lost son.

It’s impossible to guess — or even believe — where filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s second feature goes next. And that’s all part of the fun of this outrageous, audacious, genre-hopping thrill ride that manages to be both wildly unsettling and profoundly moving.

Awards: Flash Forward Award, Busan International Film Festival

Awards: Palme d’Or, Cannes

Selected Filmography: Underdog (2014)

Selected Filmography: Raw (2016)

North American Premiere

In French with English subtitles.

Tigrar

In Swedish, Italian, English with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 9:00 am • REG Tuesday, January 11 • 7:00 pm • MP Sunday, January 16 • 2:00 pm • REG

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Friday, January 7 • 1:15 pm • ANN Friday, January 14 • 2:00 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 8:00 pm • CAM

january 6 – 17, 2022

AWARDS BUZZ

UNCLENCHING THE FISTS

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

RUSSIA, 2021 97 minutes Director: Kira Kovalenko Cast: Milana Aguzarova, Alik Karaev, Soslan Khugaev, Khetag Bibilov, Arsen Khetagurov, Milana Pagieva Screenwriters: Kira Kovalenko, Anton Yarush, Luybov Mulmenko Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Women

NORWAY, 2021 128 minutes Director: Joachim Trier Cast: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum, Maria Garzia Di Meo Screenwriters: Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier Genres: Drama, Romance

Trapped in a dying Russian industrial town, Ada (Milana Aguzarova) is in a perpetual state of unease. At war with her family and her body, she oscillates between a profound desire for freedom and a fear of what it might mean to leave her claustrophobic, but familiar home. Kaur, her oppressive father, exerts an extreme level of control, trying to keep her in a simulated state of prepubescence after an injury further isolates her from the outside world. Though Ada has complicated feelings about leaving her family behind, she is resolute in her commitment, constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to break free. When her older brother, Akim, returns home for a visit, Ada insists that he help her escape.

Director Kira Kovalenko’s sophomore film is a defiant critique of a patriarchal culture populated by weak men and their brutal efforts to maintain dominance.

It’s rare that a good director’s films keep getting better, but that’s the case with Joachim Trier, who continues to provide fresh takes on different genres. He was last in Palm Springs in 2018 with the telekinesis thriller Thelma. Now he’s back with a poignant relationship dramedy featuring another extraordinary heroine, the late-20-something Julie (Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve), who is looking for love and meaning in the modern world. Fluidly and audaciously told in 12 chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue, the film follows intelligent, ambitious but terribly uncertain Julie as she tries on different courses of study and relationships for size, and breaks a few hearts along the way. Unlike Hollywood rom-coms where everything miraculously turns out fine without any real-world repercussions, Trier and his longtime co-writer Eskil Vogt capture the melancholy and uncertainty that come with decisions and mistakes, making this a universal film for the ages.

Razzhimaya Kulaki

Verdens verste menneske

Awards: Un Certain Regard Award, Cannes Awards: Best Actress, Cannes Selected Filmography: Sofichka (2016) In Ossetian with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 3:30 pm • REG Wednesday, January 12 • 3:00 pm • MP

Selected Filmography: The Other Munch (2018), Thelma (2017), Louder Than Bombs (2015), Oslo, August 31st (2011), Reprise (2006) In Norwegian with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 2:30 pm • PSHS Monday, January 10 • 9:45 am • REG Thursday, January 13 • 7:00 pm • CAM

119 january 6 – 17, 2022

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AWARDS BUZZ

YUNI

ZÁTOPEK

INDONESIA, 2021 95 minutes Director: Kamila Andini Cast: Arawinda Kirana, Kevin Ardilova, Dimas Aditya, Marissa Anita, Asmara Abigail Screenwriter: Kamila Andini, Prima Rusdi Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Women

CZECH REPUBLIC, 2021 130 minutes Director: David Ondrícek Cast: Václav Neuzil, Marhta Issová, James Frecheville Screenwriters: David Ondrícek, Alice Nellis, Jan P. Muchow Genres: Biography, History, Sports

Bright, plucky and obsessed with the color purple, Yuni (newcomer Arawinda Kirana in a dazzling performance) is a teenager who dreams of graduating secondary school and attending university far from the confines of her village.

Puncturing the candy-colored world she and her friends have built around themselves, Yuni is proposed to — twice — by men she barely knows. After she rejects both proposals, superstitions arise in the village: if she rejects a third proposal, she will never marry. Now caught between forging her own path ahead and relenting to the community’s rigid expectations imposed upon her, Yuni finds herself at a crucial crossroads. Renowned filmmaker Kamila Andini’s dreamy coming-of-age tale is partly inspired by the late Sapardi Djoko Damono’s poem The Rain in June, which evokes rain falling in the wrong season, echoing Yuni’s experience of growing up before her time. Poetic and effervescent, Yuni strikes with a quiet but lasting power.

Awards: Platform Prize, Toronto International Film Festival Selected Filmography: The Seen and the Unseen (2017), The Mirror Never Lies (2011) In Serang-Javanese (Indonesia) with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 2:45 pm • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 9:45 am • REG Friday, January 14 • 8:00 pm • CAM

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The perils and perks of being an elite athlete in socialist Czechoslovakia provide the backdrop for this engaging biopic of Emil Zátopek (Václav Neužil), a humble boy from Kopřivnice who becomes his country’s greatest Olympian. Zátopek’s onthe-track talent first becomes apparent when he’s forced into a race by his supervisor from the Bata shoe factory in Zlín. A brave, charming and eccentric man of indomitable willpower, Zátopek becomes a favorite of the media who delight in his quips. When he’s asked, “What do you do when you just can’t go on?” he replies, “When I can’t go on, I go harder.” The film also traces one of the great love stories in sports, between Zátopek and his compatriot, the tart-tongued javelin thrower Dana Ingrová (convincingly performed by the formidable Martha Issová).

Awards: Právo Audience Award, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Dukla 61 (2018), In the Shadow (2012) North American Premiere In Czech, English with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 10:00 am • PALM Saturday, January 8 • 2:00 pm • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 3:00 pm • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

Moving the world with images Getty Images is the Official Worldwide Photography & Video Partner of the Palm Springs International Film Festival. january 6 – 17, 2022

Getty Images Entertainment Photographer Matt Winkelmeyer

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PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL

FILM FESTIVAL

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123 january 6 – 17, 2022

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JAN UA RY 2 6 –3 0 , 2 0 2 2

PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

ARTURO SANDOVAL / DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER & BILL CHARLAP JOHN BEASLEY & MONK’ESTRA WITH ALICIA OLATUJA SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2022

ROSIE COHE

THE MILK CARTON KIDS THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2022

LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2022

THE WHITE BUFFALO

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2022

PLUS, THESE ARTISTS: Y LA BAMBA / THE DIP / THEE SACRED SOULS / THE FABULOUS YACHTSMEN / NUTTY / GAND BAND / THE FLUSTERS COURTNEY CHAMBERS / GISELLE WOO & THE NIGHT OWLS / LANCE CONRAD QUARTET / EMILY ROSE & THE RAMBLERS BLASTING ECHO / VINNY BERRY CONNECTION / SHADOW MOUNTAIN BAND BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR NEW BANDS ADDED TO THE BILL!

tickets & info : oa si sm usi c f e st i va l .c o m

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january62-13, january – 17,2020 2022

QUEER CINEMA TODAY Poignant, heartfelt and insightful stories from the LGBTQ community

LOVE, SPELLS AND ALL THAT Aşk Büyü vs.

TURKEY/GERMANY, 2019 96 minutes Director: Ümit Ünal Cast: Selen Uçer, Ece Dizdar, Aysenil Samlioglu, Damla Ersan, Murat Toprak Screenwriter: Ümit Ünal Genres: Drama, Lesbian

Before their scandalized parents separated them, Eren and Reyhan were teenage lovers. Now, 20 years later, the cosmopolitan Eren is returning from Paris to the sun-kissed Turkish island of her childhood in search of working-class Reyhan, determined to rekindle the great love of her life. Reyhan at first wants nothing to do with her, having rebuilt her shattered life with a man. Superstitious, Reyhan is convinced that it was a love spell she once cast that has brought Eren back, and she’s determined to break the spell. But maybe their love was too strong to break. An entrancing tale of obsession, class and magic, this one-of-a-kind love story casts its own spell with its unpredictable twists and turns and delightful tonal switches keeping us happily off balance. Love, Spells and All That won the awards for Best Film at the Istanbul Film Festival and Best Screenplay at Outfest.

Awards: Best Film, Istanbul Film Festival; Best International Narrative Screenplay, Outfest Selected Filmography: Sofra sirlari (2017), The Pomegranate (2011), The Voice (2010) In Turkish with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 8:00 pm • CAM Friday, January 14 • 9:00 am • MP

125 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

QUEER CINEMA TODAY

MONEYBOYS

NO STRAIGHT LINES: THE RISE OF QUEER COMICS

AUSTRIA/TAIWAN/FRANCE/BELGIUM, 2021 118 minutes Director: C.B. Yi Cast: Kai Ko, Chloe Maayan, JC Lin, Yufan Bai Screenwriter: C.B. Yi Genres: Gay, Class/Economics, Erotic/Sex, Romance

USA, 2021 79 minutes Director: Vivian Kleiman With: Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Rupert Kinnard, Mary Wings Genres: Documentary, LGBTQ, Art/Design

Fei (Kai Ko) is a gay prostitute hustling in the city, who sends the money he earns back to his family in the countryside.

Since they willingly accept his offerings, Fei is caught off guard when he returns home and is met with hostility and grave disapproval of his lifestyle. While there, Fei also faces repressed guilt over a betrayal involving his fellow hustler and former lover Xiaolai (J.C. Lin). But when he reunites with Long (Yufan Bai), a young acquaintance looking to get into the business, it could mark the rise of a new beginning for Fei. Writer-director C.B. Yi’s compassionate, elegantly filmed debut feature finds catharsis in Fei’s intimate journey of selfdiscovery, and depicts a romance that dares to be burdened by familial and cultural expectations and the hardship of surviving in the modern world.

Tracing both the growth of the art form and its influence on future artists, Vivian Kleiman’s No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics joyfully assembles the history of queer perspectives in the art of comics. Featuring such formative creators as Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper and the late Howard Cruse, the film takes the audience through the creative process of several artists who translated their own queerness into an art form that had not yet begun to represent them. With commentary from contemporary cartoonists and artists, Kleiman shines a loving, curious light on both their personal experience and their enduring impact on readers and future creators across the queer spectrum. No Straight Lines embodies the lively invention of comic storytelling as much as it honors it, making for an entertaining and sharply drawn portrait of art and identity.

In Mandarin with English subtitles.

Awards: Best Documentary, Outfest In English.

Sunday, January 9 • 10:00 am • PALM Tuesday, January 11 • 5:00 pm • PALM Sunday, January 16 • 7:45 pm • REG

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Sunday, January 9 • 8:30 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 9:00 am • MP Sunday, January 16 • 2:00 pm • PALM

january 6 – 17, 2022

QUEER CINEMA TODAY

THE SWIMMER

VALENTINA

ISRAEL, 2021 90 minutes Director: Adam Kalderon Cast: Omer Perelman, Asaf Jonas, Ofek Cohen, Roy Reshef, Gal Reznik Screenwriter: Adam Kalderon Genres: Drama, Gay, Sports

BRAZIL, 2020 95 minutes Director: Cássio Pereira dos Santos Cast: Thiessa Woinbackk, Guta Stresser, Rômulo Braga, Ronaldo Bonafro, Letícia Franco Screenwriter: Cássio Pereira dos Santos Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Transgender, Family Relations, Teen

At a training camp in the desert, Erez (a captivating Omer Perelman) is one of five swimmers competing for a spot on the Israeli Olympic swim team. Though he has a girlfriend, his love of dancing and Madonna sets him apart in the homophobic camp, where he’s subjected to casual taunts in the locker room and the more overt disdain of the rough Russian immigrant coach. In this fiercely competitive environment, Erez finds himself powerfully drawn to his rival and only friend, Nevo.

But can he risk showing his true feelings? The Swimmer — filled with images of shaved, sculpted bodies — sizzles with suppressed erotic feelings as the conflicted Erez awakens to the challenges he faces as a gay athlete in a hostile environment. Perelman won the Best Actor award at the Jerusalem Film Festival for his intense portrayal of a complex young man who finds himself pitted against the one he desires, and must decide if self-esteem is more important than winning.

Awards: Best Actor, Jerusalem Film Festival

Living her best life in southeastern Brazil’s large, metropolitan center of Uberlândia, trans teen Valentina (Thiessa Woinbackk in a star-making debut) thrives in the anonymity of a bustling city where she is free to be herself, surrounded by supportive friends and the fierce, unwavering love of her single mother Marcia. But when Marcia accepts a new job, the pair relocate to the remote, cloistered community where attitudes are provincial and anonymity is near impossible. To make matters worse, the local high school is reluctant to recognize Valentina under her social name without her estranged father’s signature. When the community keeps finding new, often violent ways to block Valentina’s happiness, she realizes that she must stand her ground. With his warm and affecting debut feature, writer-director Cássio Pereira dos Santos joins a powerful generation of Brazilian filmmakers notable for pushing the envelope on representations of identity and sexuality in cinema.

Selected Filmography: Marzipan Flowers (2014)

Awards: Special Jury Prize for Acting, Seattle International Film Festival

U.S. Premiere

In Portuguese with English subtitles.

In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 2:00 pm • PALM Thursday, January 13 • 9:00 am • MP

Thursday, January 13 • 7:45 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 7:00 pm • MP

127 january 6 – 17, 2022

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MORNING METEOROLOGIST

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PATRICK EVANS

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FIRST TO ALERT YOU ABOUT SEVERE WEATHER

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NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS Unique viewpoints from directors making their first or second feature

THE FALLOUT USA, 2021 92 minutes Director: Megan Park Cast: Jenna Ortega, Maddie Ziegler, Niles Fitch, Will Ropp, Lumi Pollack, John Ortiz, Julie Bowen, Shailene Woodley Screenwriter: Megan Park Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Social Issues, Youth/Teen

Bolstered by new friendships forged under sudden and tragic circumstances, high schooler Vada (Jenna Ortega) begins to reinvent herself, while re-evaluating her relationships with her family, friends and her view of the world. Moving away from her comfortable family routine, she starts taking chances with a series of quicksilver decisions that test her own boundaries and push her in new directions. As she spends more time with Mia (Maddie Ziegler), they grow closer, and Vada slowly redefines herself through their shared experiences, leading her further away from that day and closer to living her life in the now. The Fallout is a compelling exploration of the inexplicable resiliency of life and the hope that emerges out of loss.

Awards: Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award for Narrative Feature, SXSW Film Festival In English.

Friday, January 7 • 2:00 pm • PALM Saturday, January 8 • 9:00 am • MP

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NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS

FARHA

HAPPENING

JORDAN/SWEDEN/SAUDI ARABIA, 2021 92 minutes Director: Darin J. Sallam Cast: Karam Taher, Ashraf Barhom, Ali Suliman Screenwriter: Darin J. Sallam Genres: Coming of Age, Drama, Identity

FRANCE, 2021 100 minutes Director: Audrey Diwan Cast: Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet-Klein, Luàna Bajrami Screenwriters: Audrey Diwan, Marcia Romano, Anne Berest Genres: Drama, Social Issues, Women

It’s 1948 Palestine, and fearless and fiercely intelligent 14-year-old Farha (Ashraf Barhom in an extraordinary debut) has lofty dreams of leaving her village to study in the city alongside her best friend Farida. Despite his initial objections, her father relents, despite tradition and expectations from the townspeople stipulating that she be married off like other girls her age. But in an instant her entire future is upended when war and tragedy envelop her village. Instructed to hide in a locked pantry, Farha watches through the cracks in the wooden door as her home is ravaged, and as opportunities for escape slip further and further away. Based on true events, this powerful and harrowing vision from filmmaker Darin J. Sallam heralds the debut of a masterful new directorial voice.

Anchored by Barhom’s astounding lead performance, Farha is an intense and haunting story of survival and lost innocence.

Based on the 2001 memoir by Annie Ernaux, the sophomore feature from director Audrey Diwan charts the harrowing journey of a young woman’s struggle to get an abortion in the 1960s, when it was still illegal in France. Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei in a star-making performance) is a gifted, workingclass literature student whose life is upended after she discovers she’s pregnant. Now with her academic aspirations in jeopardy and her entire future about to be rewritten, Anne is desperate to resolve the situation before it’s too late, even if it means risking time in prison to do so. Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, Happening is a haunting reminder of a not-so-distant but frighteningly familiar era when a woman’s bodily autonomy was a foreign, punishable concept.

U.S. Premiere In Arabic, English, Hebrew with English subtitles.

L’Événement

Awards: Golden Lion and FIPRESCI Award, Venice Film Festival Selected Filmography: Losing It (2019) In French with English subtitles.

Tuesday, January 11 • 2:45 pm • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 9:00 am • REG Thursday, January 13 • 2:00 pm • MP

Friday, January 7 • 3:30 pm • REG Saturday, January 8 • 9:45 am • REG

131 january 6 – 17, 2022

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NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS

OUT OF SYNC

PAKA (RIVER OF BLOOD)

SPAIN/LITHUANIA/FRANCE, 2021 104 minutes Director: Juanjo Giménez Cast: Marta Nieto, Miki Esparbé, Fran Lareu Screenwriters: Juanjo Giménez, Pere Altimira Genres: Drama, Film-Related, Mystery

INDIA, 2021 101 minutes Director: Nithin Lukose Cast: Basil Paulose, Vinitha Koshy, Nithin George, Jose Kizhakkan, Athul John Screenwriter: Nithin Lukose Genres: Crime, Thriller, Drama

It was oh-so-slight at first: the sound of her handclaps just a millisecond off between action and noise. But for foley artist and sound mixer C (Marta Nieto), those disconcerting fractionof-a-second gaps quickly grow from a second or two to more than a minute, throwing off her work and jeopardizing her career. As C’s grip on the world slips and her life falls further out of sync, her hearing goes well beyond acute: she can actually occupy a physical space and hear past conversations, the mundanities and intimacies of people long vanished. While she develops new strategies to gain control of her life, C is confronted by unexpected revelations and a dark reckoning in this mysterious and unique psychological thriller from Academy Award®-nominated director Juanjo Giménez.

Awards: Best European Film, SITGES

In this crimson-soaked tale of vengeance and romance in patriarchal rural India, star-crossed lovers Johnny (Basil Paulose) and Anna (Vinitha Koshy) are caught in the middle of a decades-long war between their respective families.

After serving time for killing Anna’s father in a brawl, Johnny’s uncle Kocheppu (Jose Kizhakkan) returns home, thwarting the couple’s plans to marry and kicking up the dust of an epic rivalry. Generational trauma and the devastating cycle of abuse highlight writer-director Nithin Lukose’s debut feature, which underlines how hate can fester and permeate through generations, even as the origin of the feud fades into the background. As the men of the families return to their hateful roots, brandishing weapons and spilling blood into the nearby river that bears witness to it all, the future for Johnny and Anna hangs in the balance.

Selected Filmography: Tilt (2001)

U.S. Premiere

U.S. Premiere

In Malayalam with English subtitles.

Tres

Paka

In Spanish with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 7:00 pm • REG Sunday, January 9 • 7:00 pm • MP Monday, January 10 • 5:00 pm • PALM

Sunday, January 9 • 7:00 pm • CAM Monday, January 10 • 7:45 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 3:00 pm • CAM

CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA

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NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS

QUEEN OF GLORY

SMALL BODY

USA, 2021 78 minutes Director: Nana Mensah Cast: Nana Mensah, Meeko Gattuso, Oberon K.A. Adjepong, Adam Leon Screenwriter: Nana Mensah Genres: Comedy, Romance

ITALY/FRANCE/SLOVENIA, 2021 89 minutes Director: Laura Samani Cast: Ondina Quadri, Celeste Cescutti Screenwriters: Marco Borromei, Elisa Dondi, Laura Samani Genres: Religion/Spirituality, Road Movie, Period

Sarah (Nana Mensah) is a gifted Ivy League doctoral candidate, weeks away from following her married boyfriend to Ohio when she receives word that her mother has died. Her death leaves Sarah in charge of executing a week-long, traditional Ghanaian funeral and positions her as the owner of a religious bookstore in the Bronx, pieces of a cultural legacy Sarah is illequipped to manage. As Sarah spends more time in the world her mother built, she is surrounded by a cast of vibrant and eclectic characters. It becomes apparent that, by comparison, Sarah’s life is lonely and sterile after years of rejecting her community in pursuit of assimilation. In her dazzling directorial debut, writer and star Mensah deftly articulates the complicated nature of trying to occupy two distinct identities without ever fully committing to either. Queen of Glory is a compassionate and culturally specific tale of a woman stumbling toward self-acceptance through grief.

New filmmaking talent Laura Samani turns her striking period drama about a grieving young mother into a tale of women’s empowerment, gender fluidity and the possibility of miracles.

Beginning in 1900 on an island in Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, a place with its own specific set of beliefs and rites, we travel with Agata and her stillborn child as she seeks a distant Catholic sanctuary in the mountains, where it is said that such babies can be brought back to life for one short breath, just long enough for them to be baptized. On the road, detached from her community and any source of support, Agata falls in with the feral Lynx, another solo traveler, whose help comes with a price. Boasting remarkable cinematography and a soundtrack that privileges the sounds of nature, the film is spoken entirely in the dialect of the region.

Awards: Best New Director, Tribeca

In Italian with English subtitles.

Piccolo Corpo

U.S. Premiere

In English.

Friday, January 7 • 2:00 pm • REG Sunday, January 9 • 9:45 am • MP Sunday, January 16 • 6:00 pm • PALM

Friday, January 7 • 9:00 am • MP Tuesday, January 11 • 2:00 pm • REG

133 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS

TUG OF WAR

WILDHOOD

TANZANIA/SOUTH AFRICA/GERMANY/QATAR, 2021 93 minutes Director: Amil Shivji Cast: Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika, Ikhlas Gafur Vora, Siti Amina Screenwriters: Amil Shivji, Jenna Cato Bass Genres: Drama, Period, Politics, Romance

CANADA/GERMANY, 2021 108 minutes Director: Bretten Hannam Cast: Phillip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick, Avery Winters-Anthony, Michael Greyeyes Screenwriter: Bretten Hannam Genres: Coming of Age, Identity, LGBTQ, Indigenous

The crown jewel of the “Spice Islands” off the coast of Mainland Tanzania, the lush archipelago of Zanzibar bears a fascinating but troubled history marked by enslavement and colonial oppression. This adaptation of Adam Shafi’s acclaimed novel takes place in 1954, a pivotal moment when simmering revolutionary sentiment threatened to buck centuries of foreign rule. Fighting for his homeland’s independence from the British-backed sultanate, activist Denge (Gudrun Columbus Mwanyika) attempts to evade the government forces hot on his trail. Meanwhile, Indian-Zanzibari Yasmin (Ikhlas Gafur Vora) escapes an arranged marriage to a much older man and seeks shelter in the home of her friend Mwajuma (Siti Amina).

When Denge and Yasmin meet, they quickly form a passionate connection despite the societal barriers between them and the looming threat of the colonial authorities. Bringing this littleknown chapter in the nation’s history to life in richly appointed detail, this stirring, elegant drama marks an ambitious high point in Tanzanian cinema.

Fleeing from their abusive and neglectful father, Link (Phillip Lewitski) and his younger half-brother Travis (Avery Winters-Anthony) set off in search of Link’s mother, whom they had been led to believe was dead. Along the way they encounter Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), a Mi’kmaw dancer, also estranged from his family. A growing attraction between Link and Pasmay, and exposure to Mi’kmaw culture, help Link see a future for himself for the first time. Remarkable performances and beautiful cinematography make for an exquisitely touching and engaging film that’s part road movie, part romance, all told from a queer Indigenous perspective. Signaling the arrival of one of the year’s most compelling and refreshing new cinematic voices, writer-director Bretten Hannam has created an award-winning tale that tackles difficult subjects with delicacy, sweet humor and emotional complexity, all while avoiding clichés and stereotypes.

Selected Filmography: T-Junction (2017)

Selected Filmography: North Mountain (2015)

U.S. Premiere

In English, Mi’kmaq with English subtitles.

Vuta N’Kuvute

In Swahili, English with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 11:15 am • REG Saturday, January 15 • 7:45 pm • REG

134

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Awards: Best Feature Film, Devour! The Food Film Fest

Sunday, January 9 • 2:00 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 7:00 pm • MP Sunday, January 16 • 9:45 am • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

135 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

TRUE STORIES

7 LIVES, 7 LAKES 7 Lagos, 7 Vidas

Nonfiction filmmaking at its most urgent and illuminating

SPAIN, 2021 105 minutes Director: Víctor Escribano With: Dabiz Riaño, Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye, Rubén Fuentes Screenwriters: Víctor Escribano, José Luis López-Linares, Dabiz Riaño Genres: Disability, Social Issues, Road Movie

Smart, cheeky and ready for a challenge, Dabiz Riaño is a successful and happily married Fulbright Scholar whose sudden loss of dexterity in his right hand led to a diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the degenerative condition that attacks the central nervous system and for which there is no known cure. Now a wheelchair user, yet not one to be slowed, Riaño sets out for his grandest adventure yet: spending six months traversing Eastern Europe and swimming in its most scenic lakes. Armed with a miniature GoPro camera, a tricked-out van and the help of two lively assistants, the scientist fulfills his dream of experiencing firsthand the beauty of the natural world in this touching and life-affirming road documentary.

U.S. Premiere In Spanish with English subtitles.

Thursday, January 13 • 11:00 am • ANN Saturday, January 15 • 9:45 am • MP

136

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january 6 – 17, 2022

TRUE STORIES

THE AUTOMAT

BLIND AMBITION

USA, 2021 79 minutes Director: Lisa Hurwitz With: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elliott Gould, Mel Brooks, Colin Powell, Carl Reiner, Howard Schultz Screenwriter: Michael Levine Genres: History, Food

AUSTRALIA/ZIMBABWE, 2021 96 minutes Directors: Robert Coe, Warwick Ross With: Denis Garret, Jean Vincent Ridon, Joseph Dhafana Screenwriters: Robert Coe, Paul Murphy, Madeleine Ross, Warwick Ross Genres: Black/African Diaspora, Food

It’s been over 30 years since the last Horn & Hardart Automat closed, but anyone who dined at these waiter-free art deco palaces — where for a couple of nickels, items like mac and cheese or a strawberry rhubarb pie would pop out of a glass box — remembers them with powerful affection. Among the surprising celebrants with great stories to tell in this charming documentary are Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Elliott Gould. More than a nostalgia trip, The Automat is an illuminating social history, tracing the changing face of America over its almost 100-year history from its start in Philadelphia in 1902 to the closing of the last Horn & Hardart in New York in 1991. Serving rich and poor, open to all, the automats were, for a time, an oasis of modernism and democracy. Lisa Hurwitz’s hugely entertaining documentary was heralded in Forbes as “the most culturally relevant film for post-pandemic America.”

In English.

Driven from their Zimbabwean homeland by civil unrest and economic collapse, four men find their way to South Africa, where they each obtain work in the hospitality industry.

Working in restaurants leads them to discover the world of wine, and utilizing their mentorship, passion, skill and dogged determination, they ultimately form Zimbabwe’s first ever wine-tasting team. Soon they set their sights on earning recognition at the World Blind Wine Tasting Championships in France. Despite numerous unexpected challenges, the team happily assumes the mantle of “game changers” in a global field that has been predominantly white and European. An uplifting tale of optimism and pride, Blind Ambition is a little bit about wine and a lot about hope. When presenting the story of Blind Ambition to potential producers, directors Robert Coe and Warwick Ross pitched it as “the Cool Runnings of the wine world.”

Awards: Audience Award, Tribeca Film Festival Selected Filmography: Robert Coe First Feature Warwick Ross: Red Obsession (2013) In English, Shona, French with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 11:00 am • ANN Sunday, January 9 • 2:00 pm • CAM

Friday, January 7 • 11:15 am • REG Monday, January 10 • 3:00 pm • ANN

137 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

TRUE STORIES

THE CAVIAR CONNECTION

DAUGHTER OF A LOST BIRD

FRANCE, 2021 104 minutes Director: Benoît Bringer Screenwriters: Benoît Bringer, Laurent Richard Genres: Crime, Politics, Journalism

USA, 2021 66 minutes Director: Brooke Pepion Swaney With: Kendra Mylnechuk Potter, April Kowalski Screenwriters: Brooke Pepion Swaney, Kristen Swanbeck Genres: Race/Ethnicity, Family Relations, Indigenous

Peeling back the curtain on how nations such as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan maintain their authoritarian and autocratic rule, this twisty and eye-opening documentary unravels like a nail-biting thriller. A band of courageous investigative journalists and whistleblowers — including incarcerated and targeted Khadija Ismayilova, who continued her intrepid work from prison during her sentence — explains and exposes the intricacies of how deep the rabbit hole of corruption goes, from offering pop stars millions for a performance at a president’s birthday celebration to pampering politicians with caviar and other lavish gifts to blackmailing and attempting to silence voices of dissent. From filmmaker Benoît Bringer — an investigative reporter in his own right who won the Pulitzer Prize for his contribution to the Panama Papers leak — this exposé is as much a cautionary tale to countries whose democracy is currently under threat as it is a tribute to the bravery and resilience of those in the free press, fighting selflessly for human rights across the globe.

Kendra Mylnechuk Potter was adopted and raised by a loving white family, with no knowledge of her Native parentage. She is one of many Native children removed from their families under the Indian Adoption Project, a government sponsored program likened to “cultural genocide.” In this moving and intimate film, Kendra searches for and reconnects with her birth mother, April, who was herself adopted and has survived a tragic life of addiction and homelessness. Brooke Pepion Swaney’s film, seven years in the making, raises knotty questions about identity as a conflicted Kendra, a new mother happily married to a white husband, journeys to her Lummi homeland in Washington state and struggles to reconcile a life of white privilege with her newly aroused Native anger. Where does she belong in the Lummi world, where she’s welcomed as family but feels like a tourist? Swaney’s empathetic camera follows Kendra on a complex journey both painful and beautiful.

In English.

In English, German, Azerbijani with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 11:15 am • REG Wednesday, January 12 • 8:00 pm • CAM Sunday, January 16 • 3:30 pm • REG

138

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Wednesday, January 12 • 7:45 pm • MP Thursday, January 13 • 9:00 am • REG Friday, January 14 • 5:00 pm • PALM

january 6 – 17, 2022

TRUE STORIES

THE FIRST 54 YEARS

GEMMEL & TIM

ISRAEL/FRANCE/FINLAND/GERMANY, 2021 110 minutes Director: Avi Mograbi With: Zvi Barel, Schlomo Gazit, Avi Mograbi Screenwriter: Avi Mograbi Genres: Jewish Interest, Social Issues, Politics

USA, 2021 91 minutes Director: Michiel Thomas With: Gia Banks, Mark Chambers, Jeffrey Drew, Jerome Kitchen, Walter Harris, Samuel Lloyd Genres: Crime, Race/Ethnicity, Politics, LGBTQ

The term “military occupation” has perhaps assumed an abstract definition over time, leaving the phrase open to wayward interpretation. In order to distill the fundamentals of how a military operates and sustains its control, influential provocateur director Avi Mograbi guides the audience through a sobering and vital odyssey using the Israeli occupation of Palestine as a touchstone, beginning with the 1967 Six-Day War up to the present. Compiling numerous, often harrowing, testimonies from Israeli soldiers who were instrumental in either implementing or maintaining the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Mograbi sheds revealing and disturbing light on what may be the longest occupation in modern history. In presenting merely the facts of these soldiers’ actions rather than any philosophical or emotional ruminations on them, Mograbi’s exploration and dissection is a stark, straightforward and chilling treatise on occupational violence and domination.

In January 2019 the dead body of Timothy Dean was found in the West Hollywood apartment of Democratic political donor Ed Buck, setting off a media firestorm. He was the second gay Black man to die at Buck’s hands, following the 2017 death of 26-year-old Gemmel “Juelz” Moore. Both deaths were ruled accidental overdoses. No charges were pressed against Buck until a third “John Doe” victim appeared. The media’s lurid accounts dismissively labeled his victims as “sex workers.” Michiel Thomas’s impassioned and well-researched documentary sets out to reclaim Gemmel and Tim’s complex humanity and their struggles to survive in a world riddled with racism, homophobia, drugs and a political machine that protected powerful white men. With testimony from their bereaved friends and family, and the activists who tirelessly fought to bring Buck to justice, Gemmel & Tim is both a hard-hitting exposé and a moving memorial.

Awards: Best Documentary, European Film Awards

Selected Filmography: That’s Wild (2020), Game Face (2015)

Selected Filmography: Between Fences (2016), Once I Entered a Garden (2012), Z32 (2008), Avenge But One of My Two Eyes (2005), The Reconstruction (1994)

In English.

In Hebrew, English with English subtitles.

Monday, January 10 • 11:15 am • REG Thursday, January 13 • 8:30 pm • REG

Saturday, January 8 • 2:45 pm • REG Tuesday, January 11 • 3:00 pm • ANN Wednesday, January 12 • 9:00 am • CAM

139 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

TRUE STORIES

HOLD YOUR FIRE

THE JUMP

USA, 2021 93 minutes Director: Stefan Forbes With: Rosemary Catalano, Harvey Schlossberg, Antoinette Collarini-Schlossberg Screenwriter: Stefan Forbes Genres: Crime, Social Issues

LITHUANIA/LATVIA/FRANCE, 2020 85 minutes Director: Giedre Žickyté With: Walter Cronkite, Richard Nixon, Simas Kudirka Screenwriter: Giedre Žickyté Genres: Biography, Borders/Migration, Politics

The longest hostage siege in New York history took place in Brooklyn in 1973, after a bungled attempt by four young Black men to steal guns from John and Al’s Sporting Good Store. As the hapless robbers (mistakenly assumed to be radical members of the Black Liberation Army) cut the phone lines and took hostages, a small army of trigger-happy NYPD officers prepared to strike. But a wonky cop with a PhD in psychology, Harvey Schlossberg, urged caution and restraint.

The revolutionary concept of hostage negotiation was born on that fateful night. Stefan Forbes’s gripping documentary has all the tension of Dog Day Afternoon with a Rashomon-like complexity woven in. As all the participants remember it — the surviving robbers, the hostages, the store owner, the police officers — each sees a different story. This largely forgotten event proved to be a turning point in policing, and its message resonates with renewed force in our volatile times.

He’d been denied dignity, liberty and even so much as a passport to see the world beyond the USSR. Working as a radioman aboard Soviet fishing vessels for two decades, Simas Kudirka took his sole shot at freedom on November 23, 1970, while stationed off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. As Kudirka’s ship saddled up beside U.S. Coast Guard cutter Vigilant, the Lithuanian seaman waited for precisely the right moment before making a daring jump off the Soviet ship and onto the deck of the Vigilant. But as Coast Guard brass quickly handed the sailor back to the Russians and he received a 10-year prison sentence, Kudirka’s cause became a potent symbol of the fight for freedom, resulting in nationwide protests and leading to a reckoning between leaders of the world’s most powerful nations. Director Giedre Žickyté’s thrilling documentary is a moving testament to the resilience of one man and the power of community.

Selected Filmography: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (2008), One More Dead Fish (2004)

Awards: Best Documentary, Warsaw International Film Festival

In English.

Suolis

Selected Filmography: Master and Tatyana (2015), How We Played the Revolution (2012) In Lithuanian, English with English subtitles.

Friday, January 7 • 6:00 pm • PALM Saturday, January 8 • 9:00 am • REG Saturday, January 15 • 8:30 pm • MP

140

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Friday, January 7 • 9:45 am • REG Tuesday, January 11 • 3:30 pm • REG Friday, January 14 • 9:15 pm • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

TRUE STORIES

MESSWOOD

MISSION: JOY – FINDING HAPPINESS IN TROUBLED TIMES

USA, 2021 95 minutes Directors: Emily Kuester, Brad Lichtenstein Genres: Social Issues, Sports, Race/Ethnicity

USA, 2021 90 minutes Directors: Louie Psihoyos, Peggy Callahan With: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Thupten Jinpa Langri Genres: Religion/Spirituality, Social Issues

Two Milwaukee high schools have to team up to field a football team. Though only a mile apart, they could be in different worlds. Sherwood High is suburban, public and predominantly white. Messner High is urban, Catholic and Black. Messwood follows these teenage boys as they navigate the hazards of the game and the even trickier obstacles of race, class and economic disparity. The stories of the friendships that develop between the players, and the friendships that don’t develop between their parents, paint a complex portrait of a segregated society that may find common ground on the gridiron, but has a long way to go off the field. This intimate, keenly observant documentary isn’t interested in peddling uplifting Hollywood sports-movie clichés, or scoring polemical points: it invites us into the lives of the families of these young athletes and lets us draw our own conclusions. You’ll come away with opened eyes.

Selected Filmography: Emily Kuester First Feature Brad Lichtenstein When Claude Got Shot (2021), There Are Jews Here (2016) In English.

Thursday, January 13 • 2:45 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 10:00 am • CAM Saturday, January 15 • 9:00 am • REG

Though they come from drastically different backgrounds, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have forged an unlikely friendship over the years, brought together by a common set of values and an irrepressible, mischievous sense of humor.

Observing a once-in-a-lifetime exchange, this documentary captures their meeting in Dharamsala, India, where the two friends engage in both playful banter and serious discussion about the difficult but rewarding practice of pursuing joy.

Academy Award®-winning director Louie Psihoyos and co-director Peggy Callahan delve into the two men’s experiences with hardship and oppression, but despite their tribulations, both men radiate a palpable sense of delight. Bolstering hardearned wisdom and fascinating explorations into the neuroscience of happiness, Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times is loaded with practical and profound guidance for leading a more compassionate, exuberant life.

Selected Filmography: The Game Changers (2018) Racing Extinction (2015) The Cove (2009) In English.

Tuesday, January 11 • 4:15 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 3:00 pm • ANN Sunday, January 16 • 9:00 am • PSHS

141 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

TRUE STORIES

RADIOGRAPH OF A FAMILY

THREE MINUTES – A LENGTHENING

IRAN/SWITZERLAND/NORWAY, 2020 80 minutes Director: Firouzeh Khosrovani With: Soheila Golestani, Christophe Rezai, Farahnaz Sharifi Screenwriter: Firouzeh Khosrovani Genres: Family Relations, Politics

NETHERLANDS/UK, 2021 69 minutes Director: Bianca Stigter With: Helena Bonham Carter Screenwriter: Bianca Stigter Genres: History, Jewish Interest

Firouzeh Khosrovani’s striking and poetic memoir tells the story of her parents’ marriage, a fraught alliance that was emblematic of the tensions that tore 20th-century Iran apart. Her father Hossein, worldly and secular, was studying radiology in Geneva when he married her mother, Tayi, a timid, deeply religious girl who saw “sin everywhere” when she came to live in Switzerland. After she broke her spine in a skiing accident, the couple returned to Iran, which was simmering with the revolutionary spirit that led to the overthrow of the Shah. As her mother becomes radicalized with Islamic fervor, the balance of power in the marriage shifts, and all the trappings of Western culture are gradually removed from their home. Using found footage, old photographs and love letters, and imagining the dialogues between her increasingly estranged parents, Khosrovani’s meditation on the tumultuous culture clash that formed her is a deeply felt work of art.

Rare home-movie footage shot in Poland in 1938 becomes a priceless historical artifact, documenting people and places lost to the Holocaust in this haunting and provocative documentary essay. Director Bianca Stigter utilizes the three minutes of 16mm film shot by American visitor David Kurtz in the Jewish quarter of Nasielsk to craft an original and incisive meditation on history, memory, memorials and the very nature of celluloid. Stigter’s method is simultaneously creative and forensic, but never sentimental. Working with a digitized copy that bears the blemishes left by the deterioration of the original celluloid, Stigter conjures up exactly what she declares in the subtitle: a lengthening. On the image track, the threeplus minutes play out again and again, but Stigter cleverly varies the way she presents the limited material. By the end of the film, the images resonate with a larger meaning, creating an unforgettable and unique memorial.

Awards: Amnesty International Award, IndieLisboa

In English, Polish, German, Yiddish with English subtitles.

Selected Filmography: Fest of Duty (2014), Profession: Documentarist (2014), L’archivio a oriente (2012) In Farsi, French with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 10:30 am • REG Friday, January 14 • 3:30 pm • REG

142

Psfilmfest.org

Tuesday, January 11 • 10:30 am • REG Wednesday, January 12 • 10:30 am • REG Friday, January 14 • 7:45 pm • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

TRUE STORIES

UTICA: THE LAST REFUGE

WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA

USA, 2021 120 minutes Director: Loch Phillipps With: Nasradin Azein, Shelly Callahan, Hassan Abbas Genres: Borders/Migration, Social Issues

USA, 2021 118 minutes Directors: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler With: Jeffery Robinson, Senator Henry Sanders, Chief Egunwale F. Amusan, Mother Lessie Benningfield Randle, Josephine Bolling McCall, Gwen Carr Screenwriter: Jeffery Robinson Genres: Race/Ethnicity, Social Issues

Utica, New York has been called “the city that loves refugees.”

A city decimated in the 1970s by industrial shutdowns, it lost 45% of its population. But it opened its arms to refugees from all over the world, who now make up almost a quarter of the population, and whose ambitions and skills have given Utica a new lease on life. This inspiring documentary begins in 2017 with the arrival of a Sudanese family fleeing persecution, who we will follow for three years, along with refugees from Bosnia, Palestine and elsewhere, as they struggle to reinvent their lives in upstate New York. Though the thriving Refugee Center enjoyed the local support of both Republican and Democratic politicians, its survival was suddenly threatened by the Trump administration’s draconian anti-immigration policies. Would Utica’s enlightened experiment survive the shutdown? Director Loch Phillipps’s intimate and moving documentary allows us to look at this charged issue with fresh, humane eyes.

Selected Filmography: Use Your Head (1996) World Premiere In English.

Saturday, January 8 • 6:00 pm • PALM Sunday, January 9 • 9:00 am • MP Monday, January 10 • 7:00 pm • REG

When Jeffery Robinson suddenly found himself raising his 13-year-old nephew, he realized they would soon need to have The Talk about being Black in America. After 40 years in criminal defense law, Robinson was no stranger to the reality of institutionalized white supremacy, but how to explain that to a child? In Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America, Robinson utilizes his affable nature to examine pivotal moments in American history. From the origin of the modern police force as glorified, armed kidnappers to Nixon’s nefarious blueprint for the destruction of thriving Black communities, Robinson effectively pinpoints why so many aspects of American life have deep roots in racist ideology. Directors Emily and Sarah Kunstler skillfully incorporate numerous nonfiction storytelling devices as Robinson moves beyond his personal narrative to speak to the difficult truth about who we really are, how we got here and why we must move forward together.

Awards: Audience Award, SXSW Selected Filmography: William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (2009) In English.

Monday, January 10 • 7:00 pm • ANN Tuesday, January 11 • 2:45 pm • REG

143 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

144

Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

RDV CANADA CA

CANADA. THE TRUE NORTH, STRONG & TALENTED. CELEBRATING THE BEST IN CANADIAN FILMMAKING AT PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.

145 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

WORLD CINEMA NOW Travel the world without leaving your seat.

ANAÏS IN LOVE Les Amours D’Anaïs

FRANCE, 2021 98 minutes Director: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet Cast: Anaïs Demoustier, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Denis Podalydès, Jean-Charles Clichet Screenwriter: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet Genres: Drama, Romance, Erotic/Sex, Lesbian

Thirty, broke and boundless with romantic energy, Anaïs (Anaïs Demoustier) hurtles through life and lovers with abandon. After moving on from her exasperated boyfriend, she sparks an affair with Daniel (Denis Podalydés), a much older — and much less attentive — book publisher. When that inevitably fizzles out, she has a chance encounter with Daniel’s longtime partner Emilie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a brilliant novelist. Smitten, the ever opportunistic Anaïs crashes a weekend writers’ retreat where Emilie is attending. As an attraction between the two women gradually becomes mutual, fate reveals itself to have other plans. Writer-director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s debut feature is a steamy, sunny romance that offers a delightfully different kind of spin on quarter-life plight. As Anaïs, Demoustier is on fire in every scene, giving a mesmerizing and restless lead performance that always charms even as her tornado of a character threatens to leave a trail of debris in her wake.

North American Premiere In French, English with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 3:00 pm • MP Thursday, January 13 • 8:30 pm • MP

146

Psfilmfest.org

january 6 – 17, 2022

WORLD CINEMA NOW

ANY DAY NOW

BACK THEN

FINLAND, 2020 82 minutes Director: Hamy Ramezan Cast: Aran-Sina Keshvari, Shahab Hosseini, Shabnam Ghorbani, Kimiya Eskandari Screenwriters: Hamy Ramezan, Antti Rautava Genres: Drama, Borders/Migration, Coming of Age, Social Issues

POLAND, 2021 94 minutes Director: Kinga Debska Cast: Alina Falana Screenwriter: Kinga Debska Genres: Comedy, Coming of Age, History

This endearing coming-of-age dramedy centers on an Iranian tween whose family is seeking asylum in Finland and expects news “any day now.” While they wait, Ramin Mehdipour (Aran-Sina Keshvari) lives with his parents and younger sister in a crowded hotel-turned-refugee camp. In spite of their challenging situation, the family maintains their optimism and good cheer, rarely more evident than in the scene in which Ramin’s father (charmingly portrayed by Shahab Hosseini) gives his son some memorable advice on how to interact with the opposite sex. Even though Any Day Now deals with hard realities, it is abuzz with a summery energy and the happiness of childhood memories, and features an irresistible family worth rooting for. Writer-director Hamy Ramezan — himself a refugee from Iran — makes a confident, humanistic feature debut that marks him as an exciting talent to watch.

The “back then” of this delightfully performed, laugh-outloud-funny episodic family dramedy is the mid-1980s in the People’s Republic of Poland. Tween Marta, her little sister Kasia, and their tart-tongued grandmother (who tells the girls gory stories about insurgents rather than fairy tales) all share a room in their tiny apartment. In the adjacent room are the parents, engineer Tadek and factory worker and Solidarity leader El bieta. Tadek has perfected a system for Poland’s ever-present queues: he sends Marta to stand in line until just before the business opens. His wife scoffs, “That line freak would buy a tank if people were queuing up for it!” Times are tough. But while Tadek and El bieta may secretly covet some of the material goods owned by her more prosperous brother, their own quirky family unit is rich in love and kindness.

Ensilumi

Awards: Best Supporting Actor, Beijing International Film Festival In Finnish, Farsi, English with English subtitles.

Thursday, January 13 • 7:00 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 2:00 pm • PALM

Zupa Nic

Selected Filmography: Playing Hard (2018), Plan B (2018), These Daughters of Mine (2015) In Polish with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 10:30 am • REG Monday, January 10 • 2:45 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 10:30 am • REG

147 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

WORLD CINEMA NOW

BALLAD OF A WHITE COW

BROTHER’S KEEPER

IRAN/FRANCE, 2020 105 minutes Directors: Behtash Sanaeeha, Maryam Moghaddam Cast: Maryam Moghaddam, Alireza Sani Far, Pouria Rahimi Sam, Avin Purraoufi, Farid Ghobadi, Lili Farhadpour Screenwriters: Behtash Sanaeeha, Maryam Moghaddam, Mehrdad Kouroshnia Genres: Women, Crime, Social Issues

TURKEY/ROMANIA, 2021 85 minutes Director: Ferit Karahan Cast: Samet Yildiz, Ekin Koç, Mahir Ipek, Nurullah Alaca, Cansu Firinci, Melih Selçuk Screenwriters: Gülistan Acet, Ferit Karahan Genres: Drama, Social Issues, Youth/Teen

Slowly adjusting to her new life as a widow and single mother, Mina (co-director Maryam Moghaddam in a raw and compelling performance) learns that her husband was executed for a crime he did not commit. When all the government has to offer is financial compensation for the mistake, Mina decides to take the matter into her own hands, to find inner peace for herself and her young daughter. Between the repressive system governed by Sharia law and her controlling in-laws, the arrival of a stranger named Reza feels like a life buoy, but Mina’s journey will be an uphill battle. Directors Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha join forces to bring this slow-burning and subtle psychological drama to life, mixing themes of guilt, forgiveness, revenge and sacrifice. With carefully constructed framing, the camera traps Mina within the grip of this system, making her quiet resistance all the more palpable.

Boys may very well be boys, but it’s the adults of director Ferit Karahan’s thrillingly subversive and angry Brother’s Keeper that might need some schoolyard discipline. Set against the backdrop of eastern Turkey during the cruelest of winter months, the simmering Yusuf (Samet Yildiz) seeks medical help after discovering the nearly incapacitated body of his bedwetting bunkmate Memo (Nurullah Alaca). As his clamoring for help continues to fall on deaf ears, Yusuf takes matters into his own hands, revealing the ineptitude of authority and intelligence around him. As the adults squabble over who is at fault for Memo’s ailment, Karahan slyly reveals a corrupt system at work in which pride and rank reign supreme in a school system where education is an afterthought. Inspired by the filmmaker’s own harrowing experience as a Kurdish student at an all-boys boarding school, Brother’s Keeper is startling with its darkly humorous disdain for order and responsibility.

Selected Filmography: Behtash Sanaeeha The Invincible Diplomacy of Mr Naderi (2018), Risk of Acid Rain (2015) Maryam Moghaddam The Invincible Diplomacy of Mr Naderi (2018) In Farsi with English subtitles.

Wednesday, January 12 • 2:00 pm • MP Saturday, January 15 • 2:00 pm • REG

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Okul Tirasi

Awards: FIPRESCI Prize, Berlinale Selected Filmography: Eski köye yeni adet (2018), The Fall from Heaven (2013) In Turkish, Kurdish with English subtitles.

Tuesday, January 11 • 2:00 pm • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 11:15 am • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

WORLD CINEMA NOW

THE CROSSING La Traversée

THE DROVER’S WIFE – THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON

FRANCE/CZECH REPUBLIC/GERMANY, 2021 84 minutes Director: Florence Miailhe Cast: Emilie Lan Dürr, Maxime Gémin, Arthur Pereira, Serge Avedikian Screenwriters: Florence Miailhe, Marie Desplechin Genres: Animation, Drama, Borders/Migration

AUSTRALIA, 2021 109 minutes Director: Leah Purcell Cast: Sam Reid, Leah Purcell, Jessica De Gouw Screenwriter: Leah Purcell Genres: History, Period, Identity, Women

The past two years have been notable for animated dramas such as Flee (also screening in this year’s festival lineup), Josep and My Favorite War that grippingly deal with war, persecution and migration. The Crossing, which utilizes a gorgeous oil-onglass animation technique, also deals with these subjects, but in a more universal way. Both simple and profound, the story is set in a place that seems like Eastern Europe or maybe the Middle East, although the non-specifics of the location reinforce the idea that such things could happen anywhere that hate takes hold. When a small village is looted at night, a family flees, but the two older children, Kyona and Adriel, become separated from their parents. In search of shelter, peace, refuge and their family, the courageous siblings survive incredible challenges. Refusing to be parted from her notebook, artist Kyona bears witness, as do we viewers.

In the sun-baked Australian Outback in 1893, Molly Johnson (Leah Purcell), a mother of four with another on the way, is independent and capable, two qualities necessary for a woman whose partner is away from their homestead for months at a time. When Molly discovers an Aboriginal fugitive and potential mass murderer, Yadaka (Rob Collins), on the doorstep of her isolated farmhouse, she briefly allows him refuge. But it’s the subsequent arrival of a new government-appointed law enforcement agent in the region that triggers a series of events that test Molly’s mission to protect her children at all costs. Loosely inspired by a 1892 short story by Henry Lawson, Aboriginal writer-director-star Purcell has crafted a film (based on her own stage play) that is part thriller, part Western, that layers in a feminist and Indigenous perspective traditionally absent in those genres.

Awards: Innovation Award and Audentia Prize, Festival du nouveau cinéma

Selected Filmography: Here Out West (2021), Black Chicks Talking (2002)

In French, English with English subtitles.

In English.

Monday, January 10 • 2:00 pm • REG Tuesday, January 11 • 9:45 am • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 2:00 pm • REG

Friday, January 7 • 8:30 pm • MP Saturday, January 15 • 9:00 am • MP Sunday, January 16 • 4:15 pm • REG

149 january 6 – 17, 2022

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THE GREAT INDIAN KITCHEN

GREENER PASTURES

INDIA, 2021 103 minutes Director: Jeo Baby Cast: Nimisha Sajayan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, T. Suresh Babu, Ajitha V.M., Sidhartha Siva, Anupama V.P. Screenwriter: Jeo Baby Genres: Drama, Family Relations, Social Issues, Culture, Women

ISRAEL, 2020 90 minutes Directors: Matan Guggenheim, Assaf Abiri Cast: Shlomo Baraba, Joy Reiger, Dov Glickman, Alon Noyman, Gadi Yagil Screenwriters: Matan Guggenhaim, Assaf Abiri Genres: Aging/Seniors, Comedy

Sheifa lehaim

Their everyday lives will be a honeymoon, the new husband insists to his wife in writer-director Jeo Baby’s riveting evisceration of a patriarchal Hindu marriage. But the reality that the unnamed bride faces is a life of never-ending drudgery: cleaning after him and cooking elaborate meals that she can eat only after serving her husband and father-in-law.

A trained dancer, she wants to teach, but her father-in-law considers a working woman dishonorable. Nightly sex is joyless and painful. The husband’s piggishness extends beyond the bedroom, and he becomes enraged at even the slightest criticism. Nimisha Sajayan is enormously sympathetic as a spouse who can do nothing right in the eyes of men while she works slavishly to satisfy their every whim. The brilliance in Baby’s storytelling lies in its repetition of scenes of kitchen prep, cooking, cleaning and awkward bedroom encounters that emphasize the domestic trap encircling the wife.

Awards: Best Feature Film, Indian Film Festival Stuttgart

In this clever humanist comedy from the producer of Maktub (PSIFF 2018), Forgiveness (PSIFF 2020) and Douze Points (PSIFF 2020), 75-year-old widower Dov (Shlomo Baraba) is moved into a nursing home against his will and, unsurprisingly, he can’t stand it. His dreams of buying back his old house and returning to live there are held up since losing his pension. But when Dov realizes that other patients in the nursing home use state-sponsored medical marijuana, he hatches an inspired plan: to reinvent himself as a cannabis entrepreneur. When love, the police and the local mafia enter the picture, Dov finds himself at a crossroads where he has to decide whether he would be willing to risk everything for what really matters to him.

Selected Filmography: Assaf Abiri First Feature Matan Guggenheim Paradise Cruise (2013) International Premiere In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Selected Filmography: Kilometers and Kilometers (2020), The Little God (2018), 2 Penkuttikal (2016) U.S. Premiere Tuesday, January 11 • 7:30 pm • PSHS Wednesday, January 12 • 2:00 pm • CAM

In Malayalam with English subtitles.

Monday, January 10 • 3:30 pm • REG Tuesday, January 11 • 9:00 am • CAM Wednesday, January 12 • 7:45 pm • REG CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA

150

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january 6 – 17, 2022

WORLD CINEMA NOW

HAUTE COUTURE

HINTERLAND

FRANCE, 2021 101 minutes Director: Sylvie Ohayon Cast: Nathalie Baye, Lyna Khoudri, Pascale Arbillot Screenwriters: Sylvie Ohayon, Sylvie Verheyde Genres: Drama, Fashion, Social Issues

AUSTRIA/LUXEMBOURG, 2021 99 minutes Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky Cast: Murathan Muslu, Max von der Groeben, Liv Lisa Fries, Marc Limpach, Stipe Ergec, Aaron Fries Screenwriters: Hanno Pinter, Robert Buchschwenter, Stefan Ruzowitzky Genres: History, Thriller

The crude and the sophisticated interlace in this modern-day Cinderella story set in the behind-the-scenes world of high fashion. Esther (Nathalie Baye) is on the precipice of retirement as Head Seamstress at the Dior Avenue Montaigne workshop when her handbag is snatched in a subway tunnel.

The culprit is Jade (Lyna Khoudri), an aimless 20-year-old who lives in a cramped apartment with her ailing mother, and spends much of her time robbing affluent strangers in the city.

Struck with a bout of guilt, Jade returns the belongings. But rather than turn her in to the police, Esther takes the petty thief under her wing as her dressmaking protégé. Director Sylvie Ohayon’s second feature is a poignant exploration of an unlikely bond between two women who come from vastly different worlds, but who have their own reasons for seeking each other’s company and guidance. The tactile intricacies of the workroom are captured in obsessive detail, making this dramatic confection catnip for fashion lovers.

Selected Filmography: Papa Was Not a Rolling Stone (2014) In French with English subtitles.

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2021 Locarno Film Festival, this boldly expressionist drama set in Vienna in the aftermath of The Great War finds former police inspector Peter Perg (Murathan Muslu) called upon to solve the sadistic murders of his fellow comrades in arms. For the decommissioned lieutenant, the crimes seem like just one more cruel joke in a world he can barely comprehend. He left home to fight for the Austro-Hungarian empire and now, after spending two years as a prisoner of war, he returns to an insignificant new country and a social order that seems upside-down. Bitter but driven by duty and his personal connection to the murdered men, he joins forces with an unflappable coroner (Liv Lisa Fries) to bring the killer to justice. But his former boss, an odious opportunist with a thing for Perg’s wife, seems ready to thwart him at every turn, and the murderer soon has Perg in his sights.

Awards: Audience Award, Locarno International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Narcissus and Goldmund (2020), Patient Zero (2018), Cold Hell (2017), Deadfall (2012), The Counterfeiters (2007), All the Queen’s Men (2001) North American Premiere

Tuesday, January 11 • 11:15 am • REG Saturday, January 15 • 9:15 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 1:30 pm • PSHS

In German with English subtitles.

Wednesday, January 12 • 7:00 pm • ANN Thursday, January 13 • 2:00 pm • CAM Friday, January 14 • 2:00 pm • MP

151 january 6 – 17, 2022

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THE JUDGEMENT

JUNIPER

NETHERLANDS, 2021 130 minutes Director: Sander Burger Cast: Fedja van Huêt, Yorick van Wageningen, Lies Visschedijk Screenwriters: Bert Bouma, Sander Burger Genres: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Drama

NEW ZEALAND, 2021 94 minutes Director: Matthew J. Saville Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Márton Csókás, George Ferrier, Edith Poor Screenwriter: Matthew J. Saville Genres: Black Comedy, Coming of Age, Aging/Seniors

De Veroordeling

As a cynical newsman famously said in John Ford’s 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” In today’s world of “fake news,” it is increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction when influential pundits and the media get involved and muddy the waters to sway public opinion. Based on real events surrounding the notorious Deventer murder case in the Netherlands, and inspired by Dutch TV investigative reporter Bas Haan’s nonfiction book, The Judgement follows Haan (Fedja van Huêt) as he fights for justice when an innocent person suffers a trial-by-media that practically destroys his and his partner’s life. In the tradition of PSIFF audience favorites Accused (PSIFF 2015) and The Verdict (PSIFF 2014), this compelling drama follows the intrepid Haan as he challenges the judicial system, the media and prevailing opinion in an attempt to uncover the truth.

Awards: Best Feature Film, Seattle Film Festival Selected Filmography: Off Track (2017), Hunting & Sons (2010)

After troubled 17-year-old Sam (George Ferrier) is suspended from school, his father Robert (Martin Csokas) picks him up and offers another bit of news that isn’t any better: Sam’s grandmother Ruth (Charlotte Rampling), whom he’s never met, has broken her leg and is coming from England to stay with them in New Zealand where Sam is expected to look after her. Despite his best efforts, the boy’s teenage petulance is no match for his acerbic alcoholic grandmother. Soon the source of Sam’s grief and accompanying dark thoughts are revealed, and while Ruth feels no compulsion to coddle him, she does shake up the hollow predictability of his life. Juniper is not a platitude-ridden narrative about intergenerational family connections — it’s about a highly intelligent, bitter and unrepentant old woman who challenges a depressed young man to claim his life and live it large.

Awards: Best Actress, Bari International Film Festival U.S. Premiere In English.

In Dutch with English subtitles.

Wednesday, January 12 • 7:00 pm • CAM Thursday, January 13 • 4:15 pm • REG

152

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Monday, January 10 • 2:00 pm • CAM Tuesday, January 11 • 9:45 am • REG Friday, January 14 • 10:30 am • REG

january 6 – 17, 2022

WORLD CINEMA NOW

MOTHERING SUNDAY

MY SUNNY MAAD

UK, 2021 104 minutes Director: Eva Husson Cast: Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Sope Dirisu, Patsy Ferran, Emma D’Arcy, Glenda Jackson, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth Screenwriter: Alice Birch Genres: Period, Class/Economics, Erotic/Sex

CZECH REPUBLIC/FRANCE/SLOVAKIA, 2021 85 minutes Director: Michaela Pavlátová Cast: Zuzana Stivínová, Shahid Maqsoodi, Shamla Maqsoodi Screenwriters: Ivan Arsenyev, Yaël Giovanna Lévy Genres: Animation, Social Issues, Women

Set in a grand house in the lush English countryside on Mother’s Day 1924, a young housekeeper named Jane (Odessa Young) keeps one last intimate assignation with her secret upper-class lover, Paul (Josh O’Connor), before he departs to marry another woman. Director Eva Husson turns the genre of prim British period piece on its head with this lushly photographed, languidly paced erotic story of an impossible relationship. But the intimacy is always underscored by the societal pressures of class and postwar grief over an entire generation of young men, a loss achingly portrayed by the privileged, bereaved parents (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman) who reside in the estate. Screenwriter Alice Birch deftly adapts Graham Swift’s best-selling, award-winning novel that, along with a superb cast, paints an exquisite exploration of sex, grief, class and ambition.

Selected Filmography: Girls of the Sun (2018), Bang Gang: A Modern Love Story (2015) In English.

Herra is adrift. A student living in Prague, she feels disconnected from her family and is uninterested in her peers. When she meets Nazir, she quickly agrees to marry him and begin their life in his native city of Kabul. Initially, there is a gulf between her expectations and reality, but over time she develops a respect for, and love of, the place, something that her American colleagues struggle to accept. When they adopt a young son, she finds solace in his mature and compassionate approach to a life steeped in adversity. What results is a deeply nuanced depiction of the varied attitudes Afghans assert around family, patriarchy and the political state of the country. Based on the novel Frišta by journalist Petra Procházková, My Sunny Maad is a lavishly illustrated exploration of one woman’s commitment to honoring the humanity that exists in those around her.

Awards: Best International Animated Film, Guadalajara International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Deti noci (2008), Faithless Games (2003) North American Premiere In Czech with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 10:00 am • CAM Sunday, January 16 • 7:00 pm • MP

Friday, January 7 • 2:00 pm • MP Saturday, January 8 • 2:00 pm • REG

153 january 6 – 17, 2022

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WORLD CINEMA NOW

NEIGHBOURS

NOWHERE SPECIAL

SWITZERLAND/FRANCE, 2021 124 minutes Director: Mano Khalil Cast: Jay Abdo, Serhed Khalil, Sherzad Abdullah, Jalal Al Tawil, Abdeslam Suleiman Abed Screenwriter: Mano Khalil Genres: Borders/Migration, Coming of Age, Jewish Interest

UK/ITALY/ROMANIA, 2020 96 minutes Director: Uberto Pasolini Cast: James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Eileen O’Higgins Screenwriter: Uberto Pasolini Genres: Drama, Family Relations

Nachbarn

In the early 1980s in a Syrian border village, six-year-old Sero dreams of watching cartoons on TV like the city kids.

The inhabitants of his small town live harmoniously, eagerly anticipating the day electricity will come. But things begin to change when a stern stranger from Damascus arrives to instruct the local children. When the new teacher begins preaching hatred of Jews, Sero struggles to reconcile this with his beloved neighbors, a friendly Jewish family, prompting a rude awakening to the realities and absurdities of nationalism. Informed by his own real-life experiences, Kurdish-Swiss director Mano Khalil’s Neighbours is a poignant yet unsentimental look at war through the eyes of a child.

Serhed Khalil’s unaffected performance as Sero anchors the film with sincerity and a necessary touch of levity. The result is a powerful exploration of humanity and the roots of hatred.

Selected Filmography: Die Schwalbe (2016), The Beekeeper (2013), Our Garden of Eden (2010), Bunte Träume (2004) In Kurdish, Arabic, English, Hebrew with English subtitles.

Tuesday, January 11 • 7:00 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 2:30 pm • PSHS Sunday, January 16 • 9:00 am • ANN

154

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John (James Norton) is a 34-year-old window cleaner in Glasgow, and the single dad to four-year-old Michael (Daniel Lamont), a quiet, serious boy who adores his father. The sweetness of their relationship is puzzling when we realize early on that John is looking to find foster parents for his child. Then we discover he has no choice: John has an illness he won’t survive. With the help of social services, John sets out to find the right home for his son. But what if he makes the wrong choice? Written and directed with rare sensitivity, Uberto Pasolini’s understated, quietly devastating film never succumbs to the mawkish. Usually cast as a heartthrob or a villain, Norton is a revelation as the tattooed, uneducated, dedicated John, and the chemistry between him and the uncannily precocious Lamont is indeed something very special.

Awards: Audience Award, Warsaw International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Still Life (2013), Machan (2008) U.S. Premiere In English.

Friday, January 7 • 4:15 pm • REG Saturday, January 8 • 7:45 pm • MP Friday, January 14 • 3:00 pm • CAM

january 6 – 17, 2022

WORLD CINEMA NOW

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN

THE RAPIST

UK, 2021 102 minutes Director: Craig Roberts Cast: Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Rhys Ifans, Jake Davies, Christian Lees, Jonah Lees Screenwriter: Simon Farnaby Genres: Comedy, Sports

INDIA, 2021 132 minutes Director: Aparna Sen Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Arjun Rampal, Tanmay Dhanania Screenwriter: Aparna Sen Genres: Crime, Drama, Gender, Mystery, Psychological

One of the biggest losers and greatest heroes in sporting history, Maurice Flitcroft, gets the big-hearted biopic he deserves in director Craig Roberts’ wildly charming The Phantom of the Open. Oscar® winner Mark Rylance plays the con-artist-cumgolfer, an unpretentious Mancunian crane operator and family man who weasels his way into the 1976 British Open at the age of 46. It’s an underdog story unlike any other; there is no linear “work hard and your dreams will come true” narrative.

Instead, Roberts embraces the unexpected joy and comfort found in messing up and starting over again and again. Such earnest ambition makes sense when considering the team is working from a script by Paddington 2 scribe Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote the book on Flitcroft (subtitled “The World’s Worst Golfer”). No sharp edges, no traps, only good intentions and terrible scores in this delightfully oddball romp and giddy testament to unbridled optimism.

Selected Filmography: Eternal Beauty (2019), Just Jim (2015) U.S. Premiere In English.

In this taut and provocative social drama, Naina (Konkona Sen Sharma) is a criminology professor whose life is shattered after a sexual assault that leaves her hospitalized and another woman dead. While navigating the psychological fallout of the attack, and attempting to reconnect with her husband with whom she has been trying — and failing — to conceive a child, Naina begins to question how a human can evolve into a monster capable of such heinous acts. Her obsession leads her down a dark and unpredictable path, leading her eventually to face her attacker in prison where he awaits the death penalty.

Master filmmaker Aparna Sen (Ek Je Chhilo Raja PSIFF 2019) approaches such thorny and emotionally complex subject matter with a clear-eyed sensitivity and care, offering a rich and powerful experience that manages to feel both epic and intimate.

Awards: Kim Ji Seok Award, Busan International Film Festival Selected Filmography: Ghawre Bairey Aaj (2019), Arshinagar (2015), Goynar Baksho (2013) North American Premiere In Hindi, English with English subtitles.

Thursday, January 13 • 3:00 pm • ANN Sunday, January 16 • 9:00 am • CAM

Saturday, January 8 • 8:30 pm • MP Monday, January 10 • 9:15 pm • REG Thursday, January 13 • 10:00 am • CAM CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA

155 january 6 – 17, 2022

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WORLD CINEMA NOW

REDEMPTION OF A ROGUE

RUN WOMAN RUN

IRELAND, 2020 93 minutes Director: Philip Doherty Cast: Aaron Monaghan, Aisling O’Mara, Kieran Roche Screenwriter: Philip Doherty Genres: Black Comedy, Music, Religion/Spirituality

CANADA, 2021 100 minutes Director: Zoe Leigh Hopkins Cast: Dakota Ray Hebert, Asivak Koostachin, Jayli Wolf, Lorne Cardinal, Braeden Clarke, Sladen Peltier Screenwriter: Zoe Leigh Hopkins Genres: Identity, Relationships, Fantasy, Indigenous

Could Irish writer-director Philip Doherty, also a former playwright, be the new Martin McDonagh? Unique and exhilarating, Doherty’s surreally stylized debut feature is a Bible-inspired, pitch-black comedy about a prodigal son returning to his rural hometown to seek salvation for his sins. And it’s a musical. Jimmy Cullen (Aaron Monaghan) left the village of Ballylough in disgrace. He returns seven years later to visit his dying father and carry out some other plans. Said father is definitely not happy to see him, and his brother greets him with a headbutt. Soon, Jimmy is ready to move on, but the terms of his father’s will state that he cannot be buried on a day with rain, otherwise both sons will be disinherited. Sadly, soggy Ballylough is on the receiving end of a truly Biblical downpour and Jimmy is stuck in place, trying to redeem the guilt and shame of his past.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Beck (Dakota Ray Hebert) even though she’s a real mess. Psychologically stuck after the loss of her mother, Beck is a smoking, drinking, sugar-binging Mohawk woman who lives with her young son in her father’s house. After enduring a medical crisis with an uncertain welcome, Beck actively alienates her family and friends and their constant health advice. One day, the ghost of Tom Longboat (Asivak Koostachin), a legendary Mohawk long-distance runner from a century ago, appears, challenging Beck to better her health and embrace her culture. Predictably, she doesn’t immediately fall in line. Filled with gentle observational humor and a delightful romantic subplot that tempers Beck’s acerbic worldview, Run Woman Run is perfect viewing for anyone who has faced emotional inertia — and isn’t that most of us?

Awards: Best Feature, Galway Film Fleadh

Awards: Best Actor, WorldFest Houston

In English.

Selected Filmography: Kayak to Klemtu (2017) In English, Mohawk with English subtitles.

Saturday, January 8 • 10:30 am • MP Tuesday, January 11 • 7:45 pm • MP Wednesday, January 12 • 8:30 pm • REG

156

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Sunday, January 9 • 7:00 pm • ANN Monday, January 10 • 7:30 pm • PSHS Saturday, January 15 • 7:00 pm • CAM

january 6 – 17, 2022

WORLD CINEMA NOW

SCARECROW

SECRET NAME

RUSSIA/UK, 2020 72 minutes Director: Dmitrii Davydov Cast: Valentina Romanova-Chyskyyray, Anatoly Struchkov Screenwriter: Dmitrii Davydov Genres: Drama, Nature, Religion/Spirituality

FRANCE, 2021 112 minutes Director: Aurélia Georges Cast: Lyna Khoudri, Sabine Azéma, Laurent Poitrenaux, Maud Wyler Screenwriters: Aurélia Georges, Maud Ameline Genres: Drama, Identity, Mystery, Politics, Social Issues, War

One of the farthest-flung republics of contemporary Russia is Sakha (also known as Yakutia) in the northeastern corner of Siberia. Although the population hovers only around 100,000, the vast snowy expanse forms the largest territory of any subnational governing body in the world. Since it is also home to one of earth’s most extreme climates, settlements are few and far between. This unforgettable drama follows a female healer named Scarecrow (Valentina Romanova-Chyskyyray) who lives as a social outcast on the outskirts of one such settlement.

While many of her neighbors shun her by day, it doesn’t prevent them from creeping to her dilapidated cottage by night to beg for her help, for the powers she wields are real. But she uses them at the expense of her own life energy. Unfolding at the intersection of cultures, writer-director Dmitrii Davydov’s haunting drama is both specific and universal, powerfully depicting kindness, self-sacrifice and a mother’s pain.

At the start of World War I, Nélie Laborde (Lyna Khoudri), an ambitious and educated sex worker leaves her dreary and desperate life behind to become a frontline nurse for the Red Cross. When she witnesses an affluent woman, Rose, perish in an explosion, Nélie seizes an opportunity to dramatically advance her social standing by assuming Rose’s identity and inserting herself into the life and home of wealthy widow Madame de Lengwil (a phenomenal Sabine Azéma). Loosely adapting Wilkie Collins’ 1873 novel The New Magdalen, director Aurélia Georges repositions the British tale of class and gender relations to German-occupied France in 1914, though her perspective is thoroughly contemporary.

Georges fuses together a handsome costume drama, a wry social critique and an intense thriller in expert fashion, while Khoudri’s captivating and complex central performance is the glue that holds it all beautifully in place.

Awards: Best Actress and Grand Prize – Full Length Film, Sochi Open Russian Film Festival

Selected Filmography: The Girl and the River (2014), Le cinema francais se porte bien (2012), L ‘homme qui marche (2007)

Selected Filmography: Kostior na vetru (2016)

In French with English subtitles.

Pugalo

La place d’une autre

North American Premiere In Yakut, Russian with English subtitles.

Sunday, January 9 • 9:15 pm • REG Saturday, January 15 • 8:30 pm • REG

Friday, January 7 • 10:30 am • REG Wednesday, January 12 • 9:15 pm • REG Sunday, January 16 • 2:00 pm • MP

157 january 6 – 17, 2022

Psfilmfest.org

WORLD CINEMA NOW

SHANKAR’S FAIRIES

TRUE THINGS

INDIA/HONG KONG, 2021 93 minutes Director: Irfana Majumdar Cast: Jaihind Kumar, Shreeja Mishra, Adwik Mathur, Ghulam Pir Muhammad, Ramchondra Santosh, Amit Sinha Screenwriter: Nita Kumar Genres: Coming of Age, Family Relations

UK, 2021 102 minutes Director: Harry Wootliff Cast: Ruth Wilson, Tom Burke, Hayley Squires Screenwriters: Harry Wootliff, Molly Davies Genres: Drama, Erotic/Sex, Psychological

Against the backdrop of a newly liberated India, a young girl slowly comes to realize the power dynamic between her wealthy family and the man who serves them. Set in 1962 during the India-China war, Shankar’s Fairies follows Anjana, a child who has been born into unfettered privilege. She befriends her family’s servant, a middle-aged father named Shankar, who, while tending to the house’s tasks, shares stories that paint a distinct picture of their culture and heritage.

Her view of Shankar’s position in her home is unquestioned at first, but after his own daughter becomes ill, Anjana begins to contemplate her country’s entrenched class hierarchy. Shankar’s Fairies is the first narrative feature from director Irfana Majumdar, and is written by Majumdar’s mother Nita Kumar, based on her own experiences as a child and the close bond she shared with her family’s servant (also named Shankar).

Daydreaming Kate (Ruth Wilson) has a boring job in a benefits office in a drab English seaside town. Then, into her office walks a cocky, bleach-blond ex-con (Tom Burke) who locks eyes with her and asks her on an instant date. Before she can blink, they’re having hot, rough sex in a parking garage and her life takes a thrilling and dangerous turn. Her lover has Trouble written all over his face, but Kate doesn’t care: she’s addicted to the romantic and sexual rush he provides. Powered by the extraordinary performances of Wilson (Showtime’s The Affair) and Burke (the junkie lover in The Souvenir), whose red-hot chemistry lights up this sharp, sensual psychological character study, True Things will speak to anyone who has ever fallen for Mr. or Ms. Wrong. Director Harry Wootliff brings a strong female point of view to this story of a woman who has to lose herself to find herself.

Awards: Bursary Award, BFI London Film Festival

In Hindi with English subtitles.

Selected Filmography: Only You (2018) U.S. Premiere In English.

Saturday, January 8 • 3:00 pm • CAM Monday, January 10 • 8:00 pm • CAM Friday, January 14 • 9:45 am • MP

Friday, January 7 • 7:00 pm • MP Saturday, January 8 • 9:15 pm • REG Monday, January 10 • 8:30 pm • MP

CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA

158

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january 6 – 17, 2022

Redefining Blockbuster

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159 january 6 – 17, 2022

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Holiday Checklist

Perfect Gifts, Gorgeous Watches, Dior Cruise Essentials & More

Giving Back

A Portfolio of O.C.’s Most Prolific Philanthropists

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Marché Moderne Dazzles in Newport Beach

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INTERVIEWS

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TO S U B S C R I B E V I S I T 160

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there’s always a PARTY at Lulu

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great food! great drinks! great fun!

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all weekend at LULU! Saturday and Sunday Special: Award-Winning Chicken Pot Pie

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D O W N T O W N PA L M S P R I N G S 7 6 0 3 2 7 - L U L U ( 5 8 5 8 ) • L U L U PA L M S P R I N G S . C O M

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KEY

THURSDAY, JANUARY 6 Respect 10:00 am • Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School

Spencer 10:00 am • Annenberg Theater

The Power of the Dog 2:15 pm • Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School

Opening/Closing Awards Buzz Documentaries Queer Cinema Today Talking Pictures

THEATERS REG Regal Palm Springs CAM Camelot Theatres MP Mary Pickford is D’Place ANN Annenberg Theater PALM Palm Canyon Theater PSHS Richards Center for the Arts

at Palm Springs High School

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PROGRAMMING TEAM

FILM SCHEDULE

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FILM SCHEDULE PROGRAMMING TEAM

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PROGRAMMING TEAM

FILM SCHEDULE

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PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM SOCIETY

FILM SOCIETY MEMBERS ARE INVITED TO SEE HOTLY ANTICIPATED FILMS AND MORE AT EXCLUSIVE SCREENINGS 2021 SNEAK PREVIEW SCREENINGS Belfast, Bergman Island, Blue Bayou, C’mon, C’mon, Dear Evan Hanson, Dune, The French Dispatch, House of Gucci, King Richard, Last Night in Soho, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Titane

Become a Film Society member to begin using your benefits today! psfilmfest.org/membership 168

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PETER DAUT

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Rentals available for: Groups Events Corporate Meetings Employee Appreciation Client Appreciation Film Maker Screenings Private Parties New Movies or Old

Featuring first run movies, and

on large screens in comfy recliners with beer & wine and great food including house made Ice Cream and Specialty Popcorn events

D'PLACE for FILM - FOOD DRINKS & FUN

36-850 Pickfair Street Downtown Cathedral City www.DPlaceEntertainment.com

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THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS! The Palm Springs International Film Festival is possible because of your generous comittment, effort and support.

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FILMS

BY REGION PROGRAMMING TEAM

AFRICA Casablanca Beats (Morocco/France) The Gravedigger’s Wife (Somalia/Finland/Germany/France) Lingui, the Sacred Bonds (Chad/France/Germany/Belgium) Tug of War (Tanzania/South Africa/Germany/Qatar)

ASIA Drive My Car (Japan) Escape from Mogadishu (South Korea) The Falls (Taiwan) The Great Indian Kitchen (India) Last Film Show (India/France/USA) Moneyboys (Taiwan/Austria/France/Belgium) One Second (China) Paka (River of Blood) (India) The Rapist (India) Rehana Maryam Noor (Bangladesh) Shambala (Kyrgyzstan) Shankar’s Fairies (India/Hong Kong) Yuni (Indonesia/Singapore/France/Australia)

EUROPE 7 Lives, 7 Lakes (Spain) Alien on Stage (UK) Anaïs in Love (France) Any Day Now (Finland) Back Then (Poland) Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Romania/Luxembourg/ Croatia/Czech Republic/USA) Belfast (UK) Benediction (UK/USA) Brighton 4th (Georgia/Bulgaria/Monaco/Russia/USA) The Caviar Connection (France) Compartment No. 6 (Finland/Russia/Estonia/Germany) The Crossing (France/Czech Republic/Germany) The Duke (UK) Fear (Bulgaria/France)

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Flee (Denmark/France/Sweden/Norway/USA/Holland) The Good Boss (Spain) Great Freedom (Austria/Germany) The Hand of God (Italy/USA) Happening (France) Haute Couture (France) Hinterland (Austria/Luxembourg) Hive (Kosovo/Switzerland/Macedonia/Albania) I’m Your Man (Germany) The Judgement (Netherlands) The Jump (Lithuania/Latvia/France/Germany/USA) Lamb (Iceland/Poland/Sweden) Leave No Traces (Poland/France/Czech Republic) Mothering Sunday (UK) My Sunny Maad (Czech Republic/France/Slovakia) Neighbours (Switzerland/France) Nowhere Special (UK/Italy/Romania) Olga (Switzerland/France/Ukraine) On the Water (Estonia) Out of Sync (Spain/Lithuania/France) The Pact (Denmark) Parallel Mothers (Spain) Petite Maman (France) The Phantom of the Open (UK) Playground (Belgium) Redemption of a Rogue (Ireland) Scarecrow (Russia/UK) Secret Name (France) Small Body (Italy/France/Slovenia) Spencer (UK/Germany) The Story of Film: A New Generation (UK) The Story of My Wife (Hungary/Germany/France/Italy) Sweetheart (UK) Three Minutes - A Lengthening (Netherlands/UK) Tigers (Sweden/Italy/Denmark) Titane (France/Belgium) True Things (UK) Unclenching the Fists (Russia) The Worst Person in the World (Norway/France/Sweden) Zátopek (Czech Republic)

january 6 – 17, 2022

FILMS BY REGION

PROGRAMMING TEAM

LATIN AMERICA The Best Families (Peru/Colombia) The Box (USA/Mexico) Clara Sola (Costa Rica/Sweden/Belgium/Germany) Medusa (Brazil/USA) Memoria (Colombia/Thailand/UK/France/Germany/ Mexico/Qatar) My Brothers Dream Awake (Chile) Prayers For the Stolen (Mexico/Germany/Brazil/Qatar) Sundown (Mexico/France/Sweden) Valentina (Brazil)

MIDDLE EAST Ballad of a White Cow (Iran/France) Brother’s Keeper (Turkey/Romania) Costa Brava, Lebanon (Lebanon/France/Spain/Sweden/ Denmark/Norway/Qatar) Farha (Jordan/Sweden/Saudi Arabia) The First 54 Years (Israel/France/Finland/Germany) Greener Pastures (Israel) A Hero (Iran/France) Let It Be Morning (Israel/France) Love, Spells and All That (Turkey/Germany) Radiograph of a Family (Iran/Switzerland/Norway) The Swimmer (Israel)

NORTH AMERICA The Automat (USA) Bernstein’s Wall (USA) Born in Chicago (USA) Boulevard! A Hollywood Story (USA) Claydream (USA) Daughter of a Lost Bird (USA) Desert X 2021 – The Film (USA/Mexico/Saudi Arabia/ Colombia/UK/Guatemala) Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over (USA)

Drunken Birds (Canada) Exposing Muybridge (USA/UK) The Eyes of Tammy Faye (USA) The Fallout (USA) Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen (USA) Gemmel & Tim (USA) The Good House (USA) Hold Your Fire (USA) Invisible: Gay Women in Southern Music (USA) Invisible Valley (USA) Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (USA) Jockey (USA) Messwood (USA) Miracle in the Desert: The Rise and Fall of the Salton Sea (USA) Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness in Troubled Times (USA) My Name Is Lopez (USA) No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics (USA) Oscar Peterson: Black + White (Canada) The Other Tom (Mexico/USA) Pepe Serna: Life is Art (USA) Queen of Glory (USA) Respect (USA) Run Woman Run (Canada) The Survivor (USA/Canada/Hungary) The Tender Bar (USA) Utica: The Last Refuge (USA) Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (USA) Wildhood (Canada/Germany)

PACIFIC RIM Blind Ambition (Australia/Zimbabwe) The Drover’s Wife – The Legend of Molly Johnson (Australia) Juniper (New Zealand) The Power of the Dog (Australia/New Zealand/UK/USA/Canada)

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FILM INDEX TEAM PROGRAMMING

# 7 Lives, 7 Lakes........................................136

A Alien on Stage............................................ 66 Anaïs in Love............................................146 Any Day Now...........................................147 The Automat.............................................137

D

H

Daughter of a Lost Bird..........................138

The Hand of God....................................110

Desert X 2021 – The Film...................... 96

Happening................................................131

Dionne Warwick:

Haute Couture.........................................151

Don’t Make Me Over.......................... 51

A Hero.......................................................111

Drive My Car............................................106

Hinterland.................................................151

The Drover’s Wife –

Hive............................................................111

The Legend of Molly Johnson.........149 The Duke..................................................... 53

B Back Then.................................................147 Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.....................................103 Ballad of a White Cow...........................148 Benediction................................................ 84 Bernstein’s Wall......................................... 75 The Best Families...................................... 92 Blind Ambition.........................................137 Born in Chicago......................................... 76 Boulevard! A Hollywood Story............... 54 The Box....................................................... 92 Brighton 4th.............................................103 Brother’s Keeper......................................148

C Casablanca Beats....................................104 The Caviar Connection..........................138 Clara Sola..................................................104 Claydream................................................... 67 Compartment No. 6................................105 Costa Brava, Lebanon.............................105 The Crossing.............................................149

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Hold Your Fire..........................................140

Drunken Birds..........................................106

E

I I’m Your Man............................................112 Invisible: Gay Women

Escape from Mogadishu........................107

in Southern Music............................... 77

Exposing Muybridge................................. 68

Invisible Valley............................................ 97

F

J

The Fallout................................................130

Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story............. 78

The Falls....................................................107

Jockey.......................................................... 59

Farha..........................................................131

The Judgement........................................152

Fear.............................................................108

The Jump...................................................140

Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen....... 69

Juniper.......................................................152

The First 54 Years...................................139 Flee.............................................................108

G

L Lamb..........................................................112 Last Film Show........................................... 70

Gemmel & Tim.........................................139

Leave No Traces.......................................113

The Good Boss........................................109

Let It Be Morning....................................113

The Gravedigger’s Wife.........................109

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds.......................114

Great Freedom.........................................110

Love, Spells and All That........................125

The Great Indian Kitchen......................150 Greener Pastures.....................................150

january 6 – 17, 2022

FILM INDEX

PROGRAMMING TEAM

M

T

Medusa........................................................ 93

Parallel Mothers......................................... 87

Memoria....................................................114

Pepe Serna: Life Is Art.............................. 98

Three Minutes – A Lengthening...........142

Messwood................................................141

Petite Maman............................................. 88

Tick, Tick… Boom!..................................... 64

Miracle in the Desert:

The Phantom of the Open....................155

Tigers.........................................................118

The Rise and Fall

Playground................................................116

Titane.........................................................118

of the Salton Sea................................. 97

The Power of the Dog.............................. 60

True Things...............................................158

Prayers For the Stolen............................116

Tug of War................................................134

Mothering Sunday...................................153

Q

U

My Brothers Dream Awake..................... 93

Queen of Glory........................................133

Unclenching the Fists.............................119

Mission: Joy – Finding Happiness

The Tender Bar........................................... 63

in Troubled Times.......................29, 141 Moneyboys...............................................126

Utica: The Last Refuge...........................143

My Name Is Lopez..................................... 98 My Sunny Maad.......................................153

R

N

Radiograph of a Family...........................142

V

Neighbours...............................................154

The Rapist.................................................155

Valentina...................................................127

Redemption of a Rogue.........................156

No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics...............126 Nowhere Special.....................................154

Rehana Maryam Noor............................117 Respect........................................................ 61

W

Run Woman Run.....................................156

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America........................143

O Olga............................................................115 On the Water...........................................115

S

Wildhood..................................................134 The Worst Person in the World...........119

Scarecrow..................................................157 Secret Name.............................................157

One Second................................................ 85

Shambala...................................................117

Oscar Peterson: Black + White.............. 79

Y

Shankar’s Fairies......................................158

The Other Tom........................................... 94

Yuni.............................................................120

Small Body................................................133

Out of Sync...............................................132

Spencer........................................................ 62 The Story of Film: A New Generation... 71

P

The Story of My Wife............................... 89

Z Zátopek.....................................................120

Sundown..................................................... 94

The Pact...................................................... 86

The Survivor............................................... 90

Paka (River of Blood)..............................132

Sweetheart................................................. 55 The Swimmer...........................................127

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Worth the wait.

June 21–27, 2022

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THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS IS PROUD TO BE HOST AND TITLE SPONSOR OF THE

33RD ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AND FILM AWARDS

WELCOME

TO OUR DESERT PARADISE

CALIFORNIA

www.VisitPalmSprings.com