Achievement
The Mackintosh Man
United States 1973 – Digital Projection – 98 minutes
In English
Director: John Huston
Producers: John Foreman, John Huston
Screenplay: Walter Hill, based on the novel The Freedom Trap by Desmond Bagley
Cast: Paul Newman, Dominique Sanda, James Mason, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen
Print Courtesy: Warner Brothers
Paul Newman and John Huston are the quintessentially American icons involved in The Mackintosh Man, along with screenwriter (and former MIFF Lifetime Achievement Winner) Walter Hill, but the setting of this crackerjack spy thriller is the U.K. and the lead actress is Dominique Sanda. “Technically, The Mackintosh Man is a Cold War thriller, but politics are so severely subjugated in Walter Hill’s adaptation of Desmond Bagley’s novel The Freedom Trap that the film is part heist, prison breakout, and espionage thriller.… Filmed in gorgeous England and Malta, Mackintosh is a slick and tightly directed thriller about a jewel thief named Reardon (Newman) whose incarceration is a ploy to deal with a convicted Communist double-agent named Slade (Ian Bannen) after the pair breakout from prison. Held captive by his liberators, Reardon escapes their isolated country estate, and later hooks up with a pretty associate named Mrs. Smith (Sanda) to prevent Slade’s escape through Malta…. A manhunt through the bleak Irish fields is tensely choreographed, and a subsequent car chase through narrow country roads seems to have been filmed with the vehicles barreling down at top speed, making simple POV shots incredibly exciting”—
Mark Hasa, KQWK
Sponsored by Suzanne Uhl-Melanson of Ameriprise Financial
Steppenwolf
Switzerland/United Kingdom/France/Italy/United States 1974 –Digital Projection – 117 minutes
In English Director: Fred Haimes
Producers: Melvin Fishman, Richard Herland
Screenplay: Fred Haines, based on the novel by Hermann Hesse Cast: Max von Sydow, Dominique Sanda, Pierre Clémenti, Carla Romanelli, Roy Bosier
Print Courtesy: Contemporary Films
“For Madmen Only” reads the sign at the entrance to the Magic Theater in Steppenwolf. Fred Haines (no stranger to adapting gigantic works to the screen as the co-screenwriter of Joseph Strick’s adaptation of James Joyce’s seemingly unfilmable Ulysses) directs for the only time in this literally fantastic adaptation of Herman Hesse’s celebrated and philosophical novel. Ingmar Bergman’s constant lead actor, Max von Sydow, stars with Sanda in Haines’ fevered adaptation of Hesse’s exploration of the spiritual and sensual elements of human personality. We follow a worldweary writer considering suicide as he reaches midlife. That is until he meets Hermine, a beautiful young woman who shows unusual interest in him and makes him pledge obedience to her as she initiates him into the pleasures of the flesh, including jazz, drugs, and sex. Hermine eventually leads Harry to the Magic Theater, where a delirious dream about some aspect of his personality lurks behind every door—including, perhaps, his homicidal side.
Sponsored by The Living Tree CenterAcupuncture & Oriental Medicine
Une Femme Douce
France 1969 – Digital Projection – 88 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director: Robert Bresson
Producer: Mag Bodard
Screenplay: Robert Bresson, based on the short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Cast: Dominique Sanda, Guy Frangin, Jeanne Lobre, Claude Ollier, Jacques Kébadian
Print Courtesy: Paramount Pictures
Dominique Sanda’s first film is one of the remarkable French director Robert Bresson’s greatest triumphs, the unforgettable Une Femme Douce (known in the U.S. at the time of its release as A Gentle Creature). Based on a Dostoevsky short story, it’s Bresson’s first in color. For a director with whom the word “rigorous” is seemingly always associated, an artist whose belief in the transcendent is reached through the quotidian, the color palette and the beauty of the young Sanda might seem contradictory. But that is not the way Une Femme Douce plays out, beginning with the suicide of Sanda’s Elle, and flashing back through her life through the eyes of her pawnbroker husband as he attempts to understand their troubled marriage and her tragic passing.
Sponsored by Thomas Crisp
8 Presenting Sponsors
Lifetime
Award Honoree: Dominique Sanda
Monday, July 16, 3:30 p.m., RR1 Tuesday, July 17, 9:30 p.m., RR1 Saturday, July 14, 6:30 p.m., RR1
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The Bookshop
United Kingdom/Spain 2018 – DCP – 113 minutes
In English
Director: Isabel Coixet
Producers: Jaume Banacolocha, Joan Bas, Adolfo Blanco, Chris Curling
Screenplay: Isabel Coixet, based on the novel by Penelope Fitzgerald
Cast: Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, Hunter Tremayne, Honor Kneafsey
Print Courtesy: Greenwich Entertainment
England, 1959. Free-spirited widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) risks everything to open a bookshop in a conservative East Anglian coastal town. While bringing about a surprising cultural awakening through works by Ray Bradbury and Vladimir Nabokov (the “scandalous” novel Lolita), she earns the polite but ruthless opposition of a local grand dame (Patricia Clarkson) and the support and affection of a reclusive book loving widower (Bill Nighy). As Florence’s obstacles amass and bear suspicious signs of a local power struggle, she is forced to ask: is there a place for a bookshop in a town that may not want one? Based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s acclaimed novel and directed by Isabel Coixet (Learning to Drive, a top finisher in MIFF’s Audience Award voting in 2015), The Bookshop is an elegant yet incisive rendering of personal resolve, tested in the battle for the soul of a community. Isabel Coixet’s gentle, charming, and thoroughly principled new English-language film walked away with most major awards at her native Spain’s Oscar-equivalent Goya awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
Sponsored by Ted and Barbara Alfond
Friday, July 13, 6:30 p.m., OH
Saturday, July 14, 6:00 p.m., RR3
13 Presenting Sponsors Special Events: Opening Night
Mark Tipton and Les Sorciers Perdus perform a live, newly-composed score! 7th
Heaven
United States 1927 – DCP – 110 minutes
Silent, with English intertitles
Director: Frank Borzage
Producer: William Fox
Screenplay: Benjamin Glazer, Katherine Hilliker, and H.H. Caldwell, based on the play by Austin Strong
Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Albert Gran, David Butler, Marie Mosquini
Print Courtesy: 20th Century Fox
What a treat this evening will be! Last year’s audience burst into the most universal and enthusiastic applause and shouts of joy heard in MIFF’s history for the great silent film Sunrise with a new live score performed by Mark Tipton and Les Sorciers Perdus. The group has a newly composed score ready to premiere with one of the most enchanting movies around (especially for an early Oscar winner for Best Actress, Director and Screenplay). Frank Borzage’s absolutely charming Paris-set romance, 7th Heaven, with early American film icons Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, is simply as wonderful as cinema can get. A simple story of a street sweeper who takes in a young woman in trouble as the two find genuine love, is the basis for something far more. “Borzage’s films—or at least the coherent collection made between the mid-twenties and World War II—are sublime demonstrations of a system of sensual spirituality; products of their director’s uncompromising romanticism and fluent sense of cinemotion. 7th Heaven tracks the transformational love of Farrell and Gaynor from the sewers to the stars, across time and space, and beyond death itself, affirming triumphantly that melodrama can mean much more than just an excuse for a good weep”—Time Out
Sponsored by Camden National Bank
Wednesday, July 18, 6:30 p.m., OH
14 Presenting Sponsors Special Events: Centerpiece Film
Support the Girls
United States 2018 – DCP – 94 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay: Andrew Bujalski
Producers: Houston King, Sam Slater
Cast: Regina Hall, Haley Lou Richardson, Dylan Gelula, A.J. Michalka, Brooklyn Decker
Print Courtesy: Magnolia Pictures
Lisa—played by a spectacularly great Regina Hall (Scary Movie, Girls Trip)—is the last person you’d expect to find in a highway-side “sports bar with curves;” but as general manager at Double Whammies, she’s come to love the place and its customers. An incurable den mother, she nurtures and protects her girls fiercely—but over the course of one trying day, her optimism is battered from every direction. Double Whammies sells a big, weird American fantasy, but what happens when reality pokes a bunch of holes in it? Director/writer Andrew Bujalski’s (Computer Chess) pitch-perfect film, which balances between the comic and the seemingly not-so-funny reality of our culture, is keenly observed, quietly feminist, entirely woman-centric and sympathetic. This is just plain honest, true, artfully scripted, directed, and acted filmmaking.
Sponsored by Karen Heck and Bruce Olson, Tree Spirits of Maine
Sunday, July 22, 7:00 p.m., OH
15 Presenting Sponsors Special Events: Closing Night
Remembering Hal Ashby
In an age of nonconformity and innovation in Hollywood and in the country, Hal Ashby was an iconoclast’s iconoclast, a true original, a Hollywood maverick whose films were distinct and distinctly different. From Harold and Maude to Being There, from Shampoo to Coming Home, from Bound for Glory to The Last Detail, Ashby was beloved by his actors. With an outlook on American culture and politics casually but determinedly anti-establishment, Ashby’s art was always unmistakable. Hal couldn’t join us at MIFF this year—he passed 30 years ago, so he has a good excuse—but through the three films in this modest section devoted to him, he is joining us. Hal is a remarkable new film biography, and we have two of his finest works to show you in magisterial form—Oscar winner for Best Cinematography Bound for Glory in a stunning and rarely seen 35mm print, and Being There, the truly visionary story of an idiot who attains the highest level of power in the U.S. government, in a digital restoration.
Being There
United States 1979 – DCP – 130 minutes
In English
Director: Hal Ashby
Producer: Andrew Braunsberg
Screenplay Jerzy Kosinski, based on his novel
Principal Cast: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart
Print Courtesy: Warner Brothers
The time is almost 40 years ago. Yet here’s a movie that foresees the rise to the heights of power in Washington of an idiot who does nothing but watch TV all day. Certainly Peter Sellers’ Chance the Gardener has very little in common with anyone who might happen to come to mind with that description—he’s a poor and unpretentious man, whatever else he might be. Yet Being There, Ashby’s sly, unique final ’70s masterpiece, looks somehow both prescient and philosophical, comic and tragic, a Zen fable and a wicked satire. Melvyn Douglas took home an Oscar and the film was nominated for a Best Comedy Golden Globe (but is it really a comedy?) along with many other awards. Is it of its time or of ours? In this DCP digital restoration, Being There will be “Being Here” at MIFF for you to decide.
Sponsored by Boy Locksmith
35mm Print! Bound for Glory
United States 1976 – 35mm – 147 minutes
In English
Director: Hal Ashby
Producers: Robert F. Blumofe, Charles Mulvehill
Screenplay: Robert Getchell, based on the autobiography by Woody Guthrie
Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland, Randy Quaid
Print Courtesy: Park Circus Films
A once-in-a-lifetime chance to see one of the most gorgeously shot movies ever in an original 35mm print! The pre-fame life of legendary singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie is the subject of Ashby’s one-of-a-kind film, winner of two Oscars—one for the jaw-dropping cinematography of Dustbowl-era America by the great Haskell Wexler (including the first-ever use of a Steadicam shot)—and a nominee for four more, including Best Picture. NOT nominated—and certainly one of the greatest omissions in Oscar history—was David Carradine’s sly, affecting, natural, and utterly winning incarnation of Woody Guthrie. The film “captures a truth that is idiosyncratically American, as hard as a rock and as exhilarating as a fresh breeze. In his own unobtrusive way, Ashby—working through a magnificent performance by Carradine—has converted technical virtuosity to his own end, creating a richly ambiguous character study that sings and provokes and celebrates”—Molly Haskell, Village Voice. This Land is Your Land, indeed.
Sponsored by Zachary-Allen Wallace
16 Presenting Sponsors Remembering
Hal Ashby
July 17, 9:30 p.m., OH Sunday, July 22, 3:30 p.m., OH
July 19, 3:30 p.m., OH
Tuesday,
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United States 2018 – DCP – 90 minutes
In English
Director: Amy Scott
Producers: Christine Beebe, Lisa Janssen, Jonathan Lynch, Brian Morrow
With: Hal Ashby, Judd Apatow, Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Jane Fonda
Print Courtesy: Oscilloscope Films
Ashby’s singular genius led to an unprecedented string of Oscar-winning films in the 1970s. His legacy is undeniable. And yet, the obsessive and uncompromising nature that brought us these films became his downfall. In Hal, on-camera interviews with Oscar-winning actors Lee Grant, Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Louis Gossett Jr., Jeff Bridges, and more recall how they were empowered by Ashby and granted collaborative freedom. Contemporary directors including Alexander Payne, Judd Apatow, Lisa Cholodenko, and David O. Russell attest to the quiet but powerful influence Ashby has had on their own filmmaking. Behind the camera colleagues Norman Jewison, Robert Towne, Haskell Wexler, and Pablo Ferro stand witness to Ashby’s brilliance as a filmmaker and the forces that led to his undoing. While on the outside Ashby embodied a quintessentially peaceful vibe, internally he was dealing with deeper issues that he then transformed into the main themes of his work. Out of his anti-authoritarian inclinations leftover from a troubled childhood emerged a filmmaker dedicated to making prescient films that challenged racial stereotypes and gentrification; examined military authority; celebrated love that knows no color, age or race; explored sexual politics during a time of national crisis; championed a socialist folk singer; illuminated the plight of veterans and the cost of war; and revealed the dark underbelly of corporate control of American politics.
Sponsored by Mike Perreault
Saturday, July 14, 9:30 p.m., RR1
Monday, July 16, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Remembering Hal Ashby
Hal
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We mean every word of our name at MIFF. We are a film festival, we are a Maine film festival, and we are an international film festival. And, though we took a year off from presenting our annual World Filmmakers’ Forum last year, we are thrilled to be hosting the Forum and its fantastic crew of filmmakers again this year— especially since their films are so terrific!
This year’s MIFF includes films from 33 countries. And it includes some of the most exciting, fresh, imaginative, optimistic and downright thrilling movies in the festival. But the works by our World Filmmakers’ Forum guests are even more so.
Is it a coincidence that all our guests this year are from South or Central America? Perhaps and perhaps not. What the creations of Alana Simões, Santiago Gallelli, and Juliana Rojas have in common is their creativity and vitality—and there’s an abundance of that to be found in the cinema of those regions.
We anticipate some great discussions and look forward to the energy of these fine filmmakers at their films’ showings. Each of our guests is a world-class delight.
U.S. Premiere! Mi Hermano (My Brother)
Mexico 2018 – DCP – 70 minutes
In Spanish and Russian with English subtitles
Director: Alana Simões
Screenplay: Alana Simões, Aldo Alvarez Morales
Print Courtesy: Alana Simões
Alexey was born in Russia and adopted by Gabriela, a single woman in Spain. Later, Gabriela and Alexey adopted Mateo, another child from Siberia. Over the course of nine years, Alexey and Mateo demonstrate what it means to build bonds of reciprocal trust despite the internal conflicts they face. Director Alana Simões says of her first feature, truly a labor of love in more ways than one: “I see this relationship I’ve followed for years now as the purest manifestation of affection: the chosen brotherhood, the shared orphanage.” Mi Hermano is an affecting experience for the film’s subjects and for its audience.
Sponsored by Bria Watson
Alana Simões
Alana Simões is no longer “a filmmaker to watch.” She is a filmmaker who is being watched! And she has a path through South and Central America that, combined with her unique yet sensitive style, has taken her from Brazil (where she was born), through Cuba (where she graduated from Film School), to Mexico, where she currently lives, teaching and making films. As a documentary maker with vision and compassion, her eye and heart are evident in every movie she makes.
Monday, July 16, 6:15 p.m., RR2
Friday, July 20, 3:15 p.m., RR2
Shorts by Alana Simões: Yo Dual, Marti, The Mexican Dream (teaser)
Cuba/Cuba/Mexico 2007/2007/2018 – Digital Projection – 34 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles and in English
Prints courtesy: Alana Simões
Alana Simões is involved in so many interesting projects! Americans will be fascinated by the material she’s currently shooting for a timely documentary series called The Mexican Dream, which focuses on migration across the Mexico-USA border. Instead of showing the northward flow of Mexican migrants searching for a better life, it pictures the opposite: southbound Americans crossing the border to spend the rest of their lives in Mexico. The Chapala Lakeside, 40 km from Guadalajara, lodges the largest community of American expatriates. Many of them are retired baby boomers fleeing the U.S. because of disillusion with our country; however, younger immigrants are seen more and more often in the region. Before this series and her first feature, Mi Hermano, Simões made two extraordinary shorts in Cuba: Yo Dual, following a Cuban artist and the dual aspects of his own personality and of Cuban culture; and Marti, exploring the life of a man whose destiny is sealed with the repetition of misfortunes as he tries to overcome a crime he has committed, one which many might commit under the same circumstances.
Saturday, July 14, 3:15 p.m., RR2
18 Presenting Sponsors World Filmmakers’ Forum
Santiago Gallelli
Santiago Gallelli, usually working with his producing partner Benjamín Doménech, has in a short time become not just the most important young producer in South America, but simply the most important. His projects have ranged from past international co-productions like Madly and Kill Me Please to the two recent films we’re screening here at MIFF: The Queen of Fear, a signature film at Sundance this year, and Zama, just nominated for 11 Argentinian Academy Award equivalents. Remarkably, Gallelli has accomplished this feat in less than a decade.
The Queen of Fear
Argentina 2018 – DCP – 107 minutes In Spanish with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Valeria Bertuccelli
Co-Director: Fabiana Tiscornia
Producers: Santiago Gallelli, Benjamín Doménech, Christian Faillace, Juan Pablo Galli, Matias Roveda, Juan Vera Principal Cast: Valeria Bertuccelli, Gabriel Goity, Darío Grandinetti, Anders Hvidegaard, Stine Primdahl
Print Courtesy: Visit Films
The latest film from the dazzling Argentinian producing team of Santiago Gallelli and Benjamín Doménech, The Queen of Fear is a tour-de-force for its amazing lead actress, Valeria Bertuccelli, who also directed and wrote it. The Sundance Film Festival, where the film premiered, said: “The Queen of Fear (follows) eccentric yet lovable Robertina, a celebrated theatre actress whose onewoman show is set to open in a week. Occupied with half-hearted rehearsals, she tries to distract herself from her husband’s unexplained absence. When she discovers a close friend from her past is dying, she doesn’t hesitate to drop everything and fly across the world to visit him one last time. Their bittersweet reunion forces Robertina to re-examine her priorities and the opulent lifestyle she has fashioned for herself. Steeped in subtle absurdist comedy and featuring a remarkable lead performance at its core, The Queen of Fear is unafraid to explore apprehension and theatricality, questioning what it means to unravel in a world that is so tightly wound. Valeria Bertuccelli [is] a virtuoso storyteller capable of perfectly balancing the pathos and humor of this elegant and meditative story, which promises to charm and disconcert in equal measure.”
Sponsored by Joel and Alice Johnson
Sunday, July 15, 3:30 p.m., RR1
Wednesday, July 18, 3:15 p.m., RR2
Zama
Argentina 2018 – Digital Projection – 115 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Lucretia Martel
Producers: Santiago Gallelli, Benjamín Doménech, Matias Roveda, Vânia Catani, Screenplay: Lucretia Martel, based on the novel by Antonio Di Benedetto
Cast: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Juan Minujín, Nahuel Cano
Print Courtesy: Strand Releasing
Argentina’s Lucretia Martel (La Cienaga) is one of the most revered directors in the world. Her new film, Zama, based on a bonkers but characteristically Argentinian novel from the ’50s that looks back on a country and a culture, is her first in nine years, and has been greeted with the loudest cheers of all. “In the opening shot of this film, the title character, Don Diego de Zama, stands on a beach, striking, on the sand at low tide, what we can infer he considers a heroic pose. Zama’s pose makes a provisionally handsome picture, but the movie doesn’t wait long to puncture its protagonist’s pretension. While he was born in South America, Don Diego is a colonizer from Spain, a functionary in its government stationed far from his wife and children. The governor to whom he’s asked for a letter of transfer, so he may reunite with his family, sets arbitrary conditions before he’ll even consider writing to the king to get the process started. Ms. Martel’s attention to period detail is impeccable. Zama is a mordantly funny and relentlessly modernist critique of colonialism that makes no conclusions, ultimately resting on a scene of verdant nature not entirely stained by humanity.”—Glenn Kenny, rogerebert.com.
Sponsored by Juliet Goodfriend and Marc Moreau
Tuesday, July 17, 3:30 p.m., RR1
19 Presenting Sponsors World Filmmakers’ Forum
Juliana Rojas
Sometimes filmmakers’ success comes out of the blue—a shockingly great debut film or a total about face from previously undistinguished work by an industry veteran. But sometimes a director—or in the case of Juliana Rojas and collaborator Marco Dutra, a pair of directors—reaches a stunning success you really could have predicted from a steady path of increasingly ambitious and fully fulfilled previous work, starting with shorts, moving through promising features and finally culminating in something that makes you just shake your head and say, “Wow!” With Juliana Rojas and collaborator Marco Dutra, a path through stopovers like the Cannes and SXSW Film Festivals took them to that “Wow!” film, Good Manners, and to Maine.
Good Manners
Brazil 2017 – DCP – 135 minutes
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Directors, Screenplay: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Producers: Frédéric Corvez, Clément Duboin, Sara Silveira
Cast: Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Miguel Lobo, Cida Moreira, Andréa Marquee
Print Courtesy: Distrib Films
Want to rediscover the thrill of cinema? Try seeing Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s mind-blowingly subversive Brazilian surprise, Good Manners, “a fairy tale, a horror movie, a romance, a musical and a social parable...ALL-IN-ONE MOVIE!”—Film De Culto. Clara is a care worker living on the outskirts of São Paulo. Struggling to make ends meet, she accepts the position of live-in nanny to the as-yet unborn child of a wealthy single woman named Ana. The two women immediately develop a strong bond, but Ana’s increasingly strange behavior hints at a deep, dark secret. Then, one night, the shocking truth emerges. What starts as an eccentrically styled slice of social realism morphs into something else entirely, without ever compromising the emotional integrity of its characters, nor stretching narrative credibility, no matter how weird things get—and they do get truly weird. To say any more would be to spoil a bit of the breathtaking fun of Good Manners, a movie that’s unafraid of breaking rules and creating new ones.
Sponsored by Abi Manter
Hard Labor
Brazil 2011 – DCP – 99 minutes
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Directors, Screenplay: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Producer: Sara Silveira
Cast: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Gilda Nomacce, Marina Flores
Print Courtesy: Cinema Slate
“The Shining meets a Vittorio De Sica film”—AP, fitting for Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s predecessor to the incredible mixed genres of Good Manners. In Hard Labor, a middle-class couple slowly succumbs to the allures of entrepreneurship and the horrors of a schizophrenic job market. As Helena starts a new business venture (a small grocery store), her white-collar husband Otávio is let go from his job. Determined to stay afloat, Otávio goes on a series of ego-crushing job interviews and is forced to adapt to the needs of a new economy. Helena, now the family’s breadwinner, discovers that the building housing her store has a sinister past. Beautifully translating the evanescent forces of cyber-age economics into a Grand Guignol of kitchen-sink sensibilities, Hard Labor is a true original.
Sponsored by Dorcas Miller and Ben Townsend
Friday, July 20, 9:30 p.m., RR1
Saturday, July 21, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Sunday, July 22, 12:15 p.m., RR2
20 Presenting Sponsors World Filmmakers’ Forum
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Parties & Receptions
Opening Night Party
Friday, July 13, 9:00 p.m.
Castonguay Square
(Just outside the Opera House)
Catered by Silver Street Tavern
Join us for a festive kick-off to MIFF 2018, featuring live music by Jelly Sauce.
Sponsored by Are You Ready to Party??
World Filmmakers’ Forum Party
Thursday, July 19, 7:30–10:00 p.m., 18 Below, 18 Silver Street
This year’s MIFF hosts films from 33 countries. And it includes some of the most exciting, fresh, imaginative, optimistic and downright thrilling movies in the festival. Join us to honor World Filmmakers’ Forum guests Alana Simões, Santiago Gallelli, and Juliana Rojas. Appetizers, cash bar.
Student Filmmakers’ Reception
Saturday, July 21, 2:30 p.m.
Jorgensen’s Cafe
103 Main Street
Connect with some of Maine’s most talented young filmmakers and celebrate their outstanding work. Light refreshments.
Party for Dominique Sanda
Sunday, July 15, 8:30 p.m.
Itali-ah Market & Restaurant
74 Main Street
Come and celebrate the fabulous Dominique Sanda, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.
Maine Film Forum
Saturday, July 21, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Common Street Arts
93 Main Street
You’re invited to Making it in Maine Day at MIFF! Brunch with MIFF filmmaker guests, film festival leaders and educators from across the state, as well as representatives from the Maine Film Office. Special presentation on the History of Women in Film by Andi Isaacs. Refreshments provided by Meridians.
Closing Night Party
Centerpiece Gala Reception
Wednesday, July 18, 8:30 p.m.
Amici’s Cucina
137 Main Street, Waterville
Celebrate returning MIFF favorites
Mark Tipton and Les Sorciers
Perdus after they premiere a newly composed score alongside one of the most enchanting movies in film history. Hors d’oeuvres, cash bar.
Sunday, July 22, 9:00 p.m.
Portland Pie Co.
173 Main Street
Join the MIFF staff to close the festival and celebrate MIFF 21! Delicious slices, cash bar.
Events 22 Presenting Sponsors
Special
Workshops
VJ
Suave: Tilt Brush workshop—for kids!
Monday, July 16, 1:00–3:00 p.m.
Common Street Arts
93 Main Street
VJ Suave teaches students to draw in a virtual 3D environment using Tilt Brush. Tilt Brush VR transports the user inside their drawing so they can walk around their own creations.
In the workshop the participants engage with virtual reality gaining experience in 3D digital drawing techniques. Space is the canvas, the palette is imagination, the possibilities are endless. Students can paint with three-dimensional brushes, stars, lights, and even fire! Experience painting like never before while walking around the art. Free and open to the public.
Children’s Discovery Museum: Mobile Museum
Wednesday, July 18, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Castonguay Square
Visit the Children’s Discovery Museum’s mobile museum with sensory activities in the park! Free and open to the public.
Children’s Discovery Museum: Mobile Museum
Thursday, July 19, 2:00–6:00 p.m.
Castonguay Square
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Mini Pin Hole Cameras
Thursday, July 19, 4:00–6:00 p.m. Common Street Arts
93 Main Street
Explore the Children’s Discovery Museum’s mobile museum with sensory activities and enjoy Art in the Park! Make a simple pin hole camera from cardboard and tracing paper. Design and decorate the outside of the camera and learn about how the first camera and film images were created. Free and open to the public.
MIFF Celebrity Drawing
Tuesday, July 17, 5:30–8:00 p.m.
Common Street Arts
93 Main Street
Draw a MIFF celebrity! Seasoned and aspiring artists are invited to participate in the life drawing program hosted by Common Street Arts. This program provides a unique opportunity for emerging and established artists to hone their drawing skills in a supportive environment. Participants bring their media of choice: charcoal, pastels, paint, clay, etc. and CSA provides the chairs, costumed model, and camaraderie. $5 entry
The Celebrity Drawing session is open to all levels of experience and is with without formal instruction. Scholarships available to high school students. For more information call 872-ARTS or email serena@watervillecreates.org.
MIFF Art Happy Hour
Wednesday, July 18, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Common Street Arts
93 Main Street
Art Happy Hour (MIFF style!) Make your own card print using 35 mm film. Snacks and wine. $25 entry
VJ Suave: Tilt Brush workshop—for adults!
Friday, July 20, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
Common Street Arts
93 Main Street
VJ Suave teaches students to draw in a virtual 3D environment using Tilt Brush. Tilt Brush VR program transports the user inside their drawing so they can walk around their own creations. 3D models and virtual reality videos can be created to share. Students can paint with three-dimensional brushes, stars, lights, and even fire! Experience painting like never before while walking around the art. Free and open to the public.
Special Events 23 Presenting Sponsors
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New Restoration
Andrei Rublev
Russia 1966 – DCP – 183 minutes
In Russian, Italian, and Tartar with English subtitles
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Screenplay: Andrey Konchalovsky, Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolay Grinko, Nikolay Sergeev, Irina Tarkovskaya, Nikolay Burlyaev
Print Courtesy: Janus Films
This is an exciting event: the long-awaited restoration of the full-length version of the film that first brought the unique and legendary Russian filmmaking genius Andrei Tarkovsky (Stalker, Solaris) to worldwide attention. With his second feature, a towering epic that took him years to complete, Tarkovsky waded deep into the past and emerged with a visionary masterwork. Threading together several self-contained episodes, the filmmaker follows renowned icon painter Andrei Rublev through the harsh realities of medieval Russian life, vividly conjuring the dark and otherworldly atmosphere of the age: a primitive hot-air balloon takes to the sky, snow falls inside an unfinished church, naked pagans celebrate the midsummer solstice, and a young man oversees the casting of a gigantic bell. Appearing here in Tarkovsky’s preferred 183-minute cut, the version that was originally censored by Soviet authorities, Andrei Rublev is an arresting meditation on art, faith, and endurance, and a powerful reflection on expressive constraints in the director’s own time, a visually overwhelming masterpiece.
New Restoration Jabberwocky
United Kingdom 1977 – DCP – 105 minutes
In English
Director: Terry Gilliam
Producer: Sanford Lieberson
Screenplay: Terry Gilliam, Charles Alverson, based on the poem by Lewis Carroll
Cast: Michael Palin, Harry H. Corbett, John Le Mesurier, Warren Mitchell, Max Wall
Print Courtesy: Rainbow Releasing, The Film Foundation
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” Lewis Carroll’s poem from Through the Looking Glass goes on to also warn its young hero to “beware the Jubjub bird and shun the frumious Bandersnatch,” but it was the Jabberwocky, as depicted in John Tenniel’s unforgettable original illustration, that seized many young minds, including Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys), who directed his first film outside the Monty Python fold (although still starring the group’s Michael Palin) in this startlingly imaginative 1977 film whimsically based on the poem. Comic and, of course, wildly imaginative, Jabberwocky follows young peasant Dennis Cooper, who has no interest in adventure or fortune, yet is mistaken as the kingdom’s only hope when a horrible monster threatens the countryside. Restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation.
Sponsored by Jabar, LaLiberty & Dubord, Attorneys at Law
New Restoration La Vérité (The Truth)
France 1960 – DCP – 127 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Producer: Raoul Levy
Screenplay: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Simone Drieu, Michèle Perrein, Jérôme Géronimi, Christiane Rochefort, Véra Clouzot
Principal Cast: Brigitte Bardot, Paul Meurisse, Charles Vanel, Print Courtesy: Sony Pictures, The Film Foundation
An Oscar nominee in 1960 and Golden Globe winner that same year, La Vérité has subsequently been almost forgotten, though it’s directed by no less than the great French creator of The Wages of Fear and Diabolique, Henri-Georges Clouzot, and stars the greatest French star of her era, Brigitte Bardot. Forgotten no more, this dazzling new DCP restoration brings the film the attention it deserves. La Verité is a courtroom mystery: “Bardot has killed the man she loves, who also happens to be her sister’s fiancée. But what she’s really on trial for is for being a woman, for being young and for being unconventional. It’s 1960 France that the film really judges and finds wanting. Clouzot fills the frame with dozens of pretentious hypocrites or figures of authority, condemning them all. Bardot, always at the centre, is a beacon of beauty, truth, and liberty. She accepts who she is, chooses to act in freedom, and takes responsibility for her actions. Bardot’s Dominique Marceau is French cinema’s greatest and most romantic existentialist heroine. Bardot in La Vérité is what people claim falsely for Brando in The Wild One She and the film are both great.”—Jose Arroyo, First Impressions Restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment in partnership with The Film Foundation and RT Features.
Sponsored by The Children’s Book Cellar and RE-BOOKS
Sunday, July 15, 12:00 p.m., RR1
Thursday, July 19, 5:00 p.m., RR3
Wednesday, July 18, 9:30 p.m., OH
Saturday, July 21, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Friday, July 13, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, Jul 21, 6:00 p.m., RR3
Re-Discovery 26 Presenting Sponsors
New Restoration Lucía
Cuba 1968 – DCP – 160 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
Director: Humberto Solás
Producers: Raúl Canosa, Camilo Vives
Screenplay: Julio García Espinosa, Nelson Rodríguez, Humberto Solás
Cast: Raquel Revuelta, Eslinda Núñez, Adela Legrá, Eduardo Moure, Ramón Brito, Adolfo, Llauradó
Print Courtesy: Cineteca di Bologna, The Film Foundation
Lucía was a jolt when it first was seen in the U.S. and Europe. Fidel Castro’s Cuba of the ’60s had been so demonized and simplified for its communist government being so close to U.S. territory that the appearance of Humberto Solás’ elegant, complex, gorgeous, “European” black and white masterpiece about three generations of Cuban women in different eras was downright shocking. It was also an exhilarating artistic experience. Solás’ vision in Lucía is of three women, all named Lucía, in three very different eras in Cuban history: the late 19th century, the 1930s, and the film’s own era. This astonishingly rich new restoration is a major rediscovery. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). Restoration funded by Turner Classic Movies and The Foundation’s World Cinema Project.
Sponsored by Jak Peters
New Restoration Picture of Light
Canada 1994 – DCP – 83 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay: Peter Mettler
Producers: Alexandra Rockingham Gill, Peter Mettler, Ingrid Veninger
With: Gavin Connor, Brian Ladoon, Don Lind, Peter Mettler, Kees Verspeek
Print Courtesy: First Run Features
Aurora Borealis: the Northern Lights. We see them in Maine in winter—if we’re very lucky. But you see them more reliably and more spectacularly as you head north. So that’s what Canadian filmmaker Peter Mettler and his brave crew did to make Picture of Light, shown here in a new restoration so those lights haven’t faded. Mettler heads to Canada’s arctic in search of one of Earth’s greatest natural wonders. While combining glimpses of the characters who live in this remote environment with the film crew’s comic and absurd attempts to deal with the extreme cold, the film reveals the paradoxes involved in trying to capture the spectacular light show of the Northern Lights on celluloid. But, non-spoiler alert: they do!
Sponsored by The Jenson Family
New Restoration Sansho Dayo (Sansho the Bailiff)
Japan 1954 – DCP – 124 minutes
In Japanese with English subtitles
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Producer: Masaichi Nagata
Screenplay: Fuji Yahiro and Yoshikata Yoda, based on the short story by Ogai Mori
Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô, Akitake Kôno
Print Courtesy: Janus Films, The Film Foundation
It’s pretty easy to make the case that Kenji Mizoguchi is one of the greatest directors in cinema history, and that case gets easier every year. His sublime and transcendent masterpieces, usually showing a sympathy and reverence for the lives of women, look more and more like masterpieces that will be revered centuries from now (should we still be here). Of all of his films, Sansho Dayo may be the most universally loved, and this new DCP restoration brings it to the screen in its most dazzling form. When an idealistic governor disobeys the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile, his wife and children left to fend for themselves and eventually wrenched apart by vicious slave traders. Under Mizoguchi’s dazzling direction, this classic Japanese story became one of cinema’s greatest masterpieces, a monumental, empathetic expression of human resilience in the face of evil. Restored by KADOKAWA Corporation and The Film Foundation at Cineric, Inc. in New York with sound by Audio Mechanics, with the cooperation of The Japan Foundation. Special thanks to Masahiro Miyajima and Martin Scorsese for their consultation.
Sponsored by Shannon Haines and Norman Shirley
Saturday, July 14, 6:15 p.m., RR2
Wednesday, July 18, 6:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 21, 9:30 p.m., OH
Saturday, July 22, 3:30 p.m., RR1
Wednesday, July 18, 3:30 p.m., OH
Friday, July 20, 9:00 p.m., RR3
Re-Discovery 27 Presenting Sponsors
New Restoration Soleil Ô (Oh, Sun)
Mauritania/France 1970 – DCP – 98 minutes
In French and Arabic with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Med Hondo
Cast: Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel Glissant, Mabousso Lo, Bernard Fresson
Print Courtesy: Cineteca di Bologna, The Film Foundation
Timely? You could say that, or you could say “the more things change….” Whatever you might say, Soleil Ô is a discovery rather than a rediscovery. An amazing work of art from the late ’60s, little seen even at the time and largely forgotten since, made with four years of labor and almost no money in a time when movies could not be made that way, it expresses life from an outsider’s point of view. There’s really nothing else like it, and its restoration is cause for both aesthetic and political celebration. In director Med Hondo’s Locarno Film Festival prize-winner, a black immigrant from Mauritania makes his way to Paris in search of “his Gaul ancestors.” This filmic manifesto denounces a new form of slavery: immigrants desperately seek work and a place to live, but find themselves face to face with indifference, rejection, and humiliation, before heeding the final call for uprising. “Soleil Ô” is the title of a West Indian song that tells of the pain of the black people from Dahomey (now Benin) who were taken to the Caribbean as slaves. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by the George Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project. This restoration is part of the African Film Heritage Project, an initiative created by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers and UNESCO–in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna.
Sponsored by Waterville United Church of Christ
Sunday, July 15, 9:00 p.m., RR3
Monday, July 16, 3:00 p.m., RR3
New Restoration Transatlantic
United States 1931 – DCP – 78 minutes
In English
Director: WIlliam K. Howard:
Screenplay: Guy Bolton, Lynn Starling
Cast: Edmund Lowe, Lois Moran, Myrna Loy, John Halliday, Greta Nissen, Jean Hersholt
Print Courtesy: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Film Foundation, 20th Century Fox
A 1931 Oscar winner, Transatlantic boasts stunning soft focus cinematography from the unrivaled James Wong Howe in its magnificent luxury oceanliner set, and a genuinely suspenseful story told with rapid-fire editing, a swooningly mobile camera and a sharp-tongued script—in Year 4 of the “talkies.” The film exhibits a relatively early performance by Myrna Loy, terrific direction from William K. Howard, and laudatory reviews from the New York Times for bringing “considerably more entertainment than is usual” (we concur) and having “almost as many plots as it has officers.” What more could you want in this lovely restoration? Restored by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation. DCP courtesy of The Film Foundation Conservation Collection at the Academy Film Archive.
Sponsored by Bob and Arleen Lovelace
Restoration Premiere! When You Read This Letter
France 1953 – DCP – 104 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Producers: Jean-Pierre Melville, Paul Temps
Screenplay: Jacques Deval
Cast: Philippe Lemaire, Juliette Gréco, Yvonne Sanson, Robert Dalban, Daniel Cauchy
Print Courtesy: Rialto Pictures
Jean-Pierre Melville’s burgeoning reputation as one of the greatest French directors in history is startlingly augmented by this dazzling new 4K restoration. But it turns out that this film—which Melville himself tended to dismiss as a stepping stone to his other work, including Bob Le Flambeur, Army of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge (shown at MIFF last year)—is a masterpiece of its own, and absolutely of a piece in its dark, ironic, and shadowy moral world with his more celebrated works. Is it strange for a noir to start in a convent? After her parents’ sudden death, Thérèse (Juliette Gréco) decides to leave the convent to run the family business and care for her younger sister, who is involved with local lowlife, Max (Philippe Lemaire). Attempted suicide, blackmail, a rigged car accident, and a one-sided love affair bring this remarkable film to a startling conclusion.
Saturday, July 14, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Friday, July 20, 6:00 p.m., RR3
Monday, July 16, 9:30 p.m., OH
Sunday, July 22, 12:30 p.m., RR1
Re-Discovery 28 Presenting Sponsors
29
The sixth volume of MIFFONEDGE features a suite of immersive sensory experiences. This program asks us to step outside of our
everyday perception and look with fresh eyes. We are thrilled to welcome Brazilian new media artist duo VJ Suave back to MIFFONEDGE. VJ Suave
joins us with an exciting new virtual reality exhibit, Floresta Encantada (Enchanted Forest), in which they take us into a magical forest. Immerse
yourself in the forest scene and explore a virtual world. Susan Bickford’s project (stillness)15 asks us to meditate on the nature of water as we explore
an entire cycle of a reversing falls. An homage to the inspirational power of Maine’s rivers, Susan’s project is a delight for the senses.
About VJ Suave
VJ Suave is a new media artist duo formed by Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga.
Specialists in digital art and moving projection, VJ Suave’s 2D frame-by-frame animations are projected on urban surfaces. Displaying an art concept called digital graffiti, blending technology with street art. Along with their works, the duo proposes a unique moment of connection between the spectator and the city, mixing animated story with real life. The animated projections in movement make the narrative come to life, where the characters can run and color the environments.
Floresta Encantada (Enchanted Forest)
by VJ Suave
In this new installation VJ Suave investigates a new technology: virtual reality, a tool that is able to lead the visitor to other dimensions. Mixing 3D animation, programming, spatial audio and a game creation tool, the artists transport viewers into a magical forest, where they are free to choose their own paths and actions.
The goal is to release the story characters in the city. Now they go further and bring the viewers into their own universe, where they can interact with the scenery, objects, characters, and also with their own bodies.
Through total immersion in the forest’s ambience, the installation invites the public to have a self-aware experience, instigating many reflections. The forests are full, energetic, and powerful places. Nature reminds us who we are and that we are all a part of it. It is necessary to broaden the perception that goes beyond the view, to experience the environment with all the senses.
Open daily 12:00–7:00 pm
July 14–21
Common Street Arts
93 Main Street Free admission
Tilt Brush workshop with VJ Suave
VJ Suave teaches students to draw in a virtual 3D environment using Tilt Brush. The Tilt Brush VR program transports the user inside their drawing so they can walk around their own creations. The subject of the workshop can be adapted and 3D models and virtual reality videos can be created to share.
In this workshop, participants engage with virtual reality and gain experience in 3D digital drawing techniques. Space is the canvas, the palette is imagination, the possibilities are endless. Students can paint with three-dimensional brushes, stars, lights, and even fire! Experience painting like never before while walking around your creation.
30 Presenting Sponsors
© Renato Mangolin
© Renato Mangolin
© Renato Mangolin
Bickford’s approach to art is a deeply ecological one. A Certified Nature Therapy Guide, Bickford also holds an MFA from Maine College of Art and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Winner of the 2017 Maine Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship in Media and Performance, Susan Bickford has been creating interdisciplinary collaborative retreats/performances in nature since 2001. These performances also result in video installations which are shown in traditional art spaces. The (stillness) project is an annual event begun in 2015, migrating through sites along the waterways of Midcoast Maine. She is a lecturer at the University of Maine at Augusta as well as Director of the Danforth Gallery.
(stillness)15, 56:22 rt loop
Susan Bickford welcomes us into a meditation for the fifty-six minute twenty-two second duration of a natural shift in flow at a reversing falls with an interdisciplinary performance of being at its center. She lifts the veil at its edges to reveal her process as a videographer and asks us to virtually sit within this place, become aware of our attention and discover endless wonder from multiple perspectives simultaneously.
Children’s Discovery Museum: Mobile Museum without Walls
Have you ever seen a bug X-ray? Can you build a mini roller-coaster for balls? What happens when you pour all the water into the funnel really fast? Come explore the Children’s Discovery Museum’s mobile Museum without Walls - a series of mini pop-up interactive exhibits that invite you to experiment, tinker, and get a bit messy.
Susan Bickford
31 Presenting Sponsors
The Maine International Film Festival has made every effort to make the schedule and information in this publication as accurate as possible and to ensure that all screenings and performances take place as planned. We cannot be responsible for inadvertent errors and changes in the schedule that are beyond our control. Thank you.
And the Alley She Whitewashed in Light Blue
9:00 p.m. Naila and the Uprising
3:00 p.m. Waiting for Barcelona
6:00 p.m. Djon Africa
9:00 p.m. Crosscurrent
3:00 p.m. Naila and the Uprising
6:00 p.m. Puzzle
9:00 p.m. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
3:00 p.m. White Walls Say Nothing
5:00 p.m. Andrei Rublev
9:00 p.m. Burkinabé Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso
3:00 p.m. Mademoiselle Paradis
6:00 p.m. Transatlantic
9:00 p.m. Sansho Dayo (Sansho the Bailiff)
12:00 p.m. Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable
3:00 p.m. Adam
6:00 p.m. La Vérité (The Truth)
9:00 p.m. Dream of Illumination
12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
1:00–3:00 p.m. VJ Suave: Tilt Brush Workshop for Kids, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
Monday, July 16
12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
5:30–8:00 p.m. MIFF Celebrity Drawing, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
Tuesday, July 17
12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
1:00–4:00 p.m. Children’s Discovery Museum: Mobile Museum, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
4:00–6:00 p.m. MIFF Art Happy Hour, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
8:30 p.m. Centerpiece After Party with Mark Tipton, Amici’s Cucina, 137 Main Street
12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
2:00–6:00 p.m. Children’s Discovery Museum: Mobile Museum, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
4:00–6:00 p.m. Making Mini Pin Hole Cameras, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
7:30–10:00 p.m. World Filmmakers’ Forum, 18 Below, 18 Silver Street
12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
4:30–6:30 p.m. VJ Suave: Tilt Brush Workshop for Adults, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Maine Film Forum, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street
2:30 p.m. Student Filmmakers’ Reception, Jorgensen’s Cafe, 103 Main Street
Wednesday, July 18
Thursday, July 19
Friday, July 20
Saturday, July 21
12:00 p.m. Witkin & Witkin
3:00 p.m. Dream of Illumination 9:00 p.m. Closing Night Party, Portland Pie Co., 173 Main Street
Sunday, July 22
33 Presenting Sponsors MIFF-at-a-Glance Movie Schedule
RR3 Special Events Date 6:00 p.m. The Nothing Factory 9:00 p.m. White Walls Say Nothing 9:00 p.m. Opening Night Celebration, Castonguay Square Friday, July 13 12:00 p.m. The Heiresses 3:00 p.m. Transatlantic 6:00 p.m. The Bookshop 9:00 p.m. The Invisible Hands 12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street Saturday, July 14 12:00 p.m. International Shorts
p.m. Fake Tatoos (Les faux tatouages) 6:00 p.m. No Date, No Signature 9:00 p.m. Soleil Ô (Oh, Sun) 12:00–7:00 p.m. MIFFONEDGE exhibition, Common Street Arts, 93 Main Street 8:30 p.m. Party for Dominique Sanda, Itali-ah Market & Restaurant, 74 Main Street Sunday, July 15 3:00 p.m. Soleil Ô (Oh, Sun) 6:00 p.m.
3:00
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Germany/Mexico/United States 2018 – DCP – 72 minutes
In English, and in German with English subtitles
Director: Maria Solrun
Producers: Jim Stark, Maria Solrun
Cast: Floriane Daniel, Eszter Tompa, Matthias Brenner, Magnús Mariuson
Print Courtesy: Outsider Pictures
Berlin’s gritty Neukolln district. 20-year-old, hearing impaired Adam faces a literal life-and-death decision when his alcoholic mother, a techno musician, is hospitalized and diagnosed with permanent brain damage. She had made him promise to help her die if something like this ever happened. Without anybody to turn to, he becomes determined to end her misery. Only after a chance Tinder date with a girl from Romania pregnant with someone else’s child does Adam begin to see a way out of his crisis. Maria Solrun’s (Jargo) second feature is a showcase for the talents of her son (Magnus Mariuson) in his first leading role. The result? “A beautiful drama that...asks a lot of moral questions and delivers the best possible answers”—Alex
Blanchett, Letterboxd
Sponsored by Ben and Emily Greeley
North American Premiere! And the Alley She Whitewashed in Light Blue
Israel 2018 – Digital Projection – 72 minutes
In Hebrew with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay, Producer: Nili Portugali
Print Courtesy: Nili Portugali
At a time of existential and specific threat to the physical and human environment we live in, architect Nili Portugali takes us on a deeply intimate journey to the Galilean ‘Kaballa’ holy city of Tzfat in Israel. And the Alley She Whitewashed in Light Blue remembers and imagines a childhood journey that unfolds gradually from her present holistic/Buddhist/scientific point of view. Portugali asks: What is the secret of all the great timeless buildings of the past, villages, tents and temples endowed with beauty and soul in which humans feel ‘at home,’ and what is the ancient, essential ‘art of making’ that creates them, in all cultures, in all places and times? Portugali’s quest centers on the birthplace and hometown of her family since the early 19th century, where her grandmother founded a hotel in a small stone building around a patio at the end of an alley in the old city. It’s a trip through time and memory.
Sponsored by Third Row Center in honor of Peter Townsend
Friday, July 20, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 21, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Monday, July 16, 6:00 p.m., RR3
Saturday, July 21, 12:15 p.m., RR2
New Features 36 Presenting Sponsors
Adam
East Coast Premiere! Bears of Durango
United States 2018 – DCP – 61 minutes
In English Director, Producer: Dusty Hulet
Print Courtesy: Dusty Hulet
Dive headfirst into bear dens with the biologists who study the effect of human urban development on bear behavior. “If we want our native biodiversity here, if we want these large carnivores to be back on our landscapes, ultimately we’re going to have to figure out, how do we coexist? How do we share a single landscape?”—Heather Johnson, Ph.D., Lead Wildlife Researcher. Bears of Durango is a unique and very close-up look at the interaction between humans and bears in Durango, Colorado, where humans are expanding their range and bears are losing some of their traditional sources of food. They have to meet‚ and they do, as director Dusty Hulet captures in his entertaining and thought-provoking new documentary.
Sponsored by The Children’s Book Cellar and RE-BOOKS
Shown with: David and the Kingdom
United States 2018 – Blu-ray – 22 minutes
In English
Directors: Brian Paccione, Woodrow Travers
Screenplay: Brian Paccione
With: David Lawrence
Print Courtesy: Brian Paccione, Woodrow Travers
David, living in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, discourses on his predilection for solitude in this unique, truthful, and literally close-to-home documentary.
Blaze
United States 2018 – DCP – 127 minutes
In English
Director: Ethan Hawke
Producers: John Sloss, Ethan Hawke, Ryan Hawke, Jake Seal
Screenplay: Ethan Hawke, Sybil Rosen
Cast: Ben Dickey, Alia Shawkat, Charlie Sexton, Josh Hamilton, Kris Kristofferson
Print Courtesy: IFC Films
“Ethan Hawke’s high-wire biopic tells the story of country blues singer Blaze Foley in a redneck-verité style that’s as delicate as it is daring. Blaze Foley (Benjamin Dickey), is about as unlikely a central character as you’re ever going to see in a movie. When Blaze picks up his guitar and sings, it’s clear that he’s got a gift. Just as often, he sounds like an amateur-night crooner lurching his way through a set at a local roadside dive—which, for much of Blaze, is just what he is. There really was a Blaze Foley, and in the years following his death, a handful of his songs found their way into the repertoire of country superstars like Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, and Lucinda Williams. Blaze, however, is about a sweetly passive and self-destructive anti-star…. And the daring of Ethan Hawke as a filmmaker is that he shapes his scenes not in a conventional way, but as randomly observed slivers of life that amble and glide along to Blaze’s dawdling spirit.... [He] meets and gets to know Sybil Rosen (Alia Shawkat), the aspiring actress who became his wife. They do not, at a glance, seem the likeliest of couples. He’s a towering and inscrutable country boy; she’s Jewish, no-nonsense, and rather petite…. The two have nothing but each other, and that’s enough. Blaze is an experience, one that ever so gently opens your ears, your eyes, and your heart”—Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Sponsored by Joan and Peter Beckerman
Monday, July 16, 3:15 p.m., RR2
Thursday, July 19, 6:15 p.m., RR2
Sunday, July 15, 9:30 p.m., RR1
Friday, July 20, 6:30 p.m., OH
New Features 37 Presenting Sponsors
Burkinabé Rising: The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso/United States/Bulgaria 2017 – Digital Projection – 71 minutes
In English, and in French and Mõõre with English subtitles
Director: Iara Lee
Cast: Serge Bayala, Raissa Compaoré, Ki Léonce, Salia Sanou
Print Courtesy: Cultures of Resistance
Burkinabé Rising showcases creative nonviolent resistance in Burkina Faso. A small, landlocked country in West Africa, Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists. Through music, film, ecology, visual art, and architecture, the people featured in this film are carrying on the revolutionary spirit of Thomas Sankara. After assuming the presidency in 1983, Sankara was killed in a 1987 coup d’état led by his friend and close advisor Blaise Compaoré, who ruled the country for 27 subsequent years. In October 2014, a massive popular insurrection led to his removal. In the fall of 2016, director Iara Lee (Synthetic Pleasures) traveled throughout the country to film Burkinabé Rising. She encountered a remarkable cast of artists, musicians, and activists who are using the country’s artistic traditions to propel forward a message of resistance. Joey le Soldat, a rapper, infuses his lyrics with references to the struggles of the impoverished youth in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital, as well as those of the farmers who toil in the country outside. Marto, Burkina Faso’s most well-known graffiti artist, turns barren city walls into colorful murals decrying injustice. Malika la Slameuse, a women’s rights activist, performs slam poetry that offers a feminist perspective on a male-dominated art form. Serge Aimé Coulibaly uses dance as a form of political resistance, with movement borne from a need to speak out and take action. Burkinabé Rising, like these artists, aims to inspire.
Sponsored by Austin Frederick
Friday, July 13, 6:15 p.m., RR2
Thursday, July 19, 9:00 p.m., RR3
World Premiere!
Charlie Chaplin Lived Here
United Kingdom 2018 – DCP – 45 minutes
In English
Directors, Producers, Screenplay: Seán Martin, Louise Milne
Print Courtesy: Seán Martin, Louise Milne
Last year’s MIFF brought a work-in-progress screening of a new film from two of our favorite filmmakers, Seán Martin and Louise Milne, who joined us all the way from the U.K. And this year? It’s the completed film! We’re delighted to host the world premiere of Charlie Chaplin Lived Here, the filmmakers’ loving, affectionate tribute to and history of one of the world’s preeminent film magicians. Charlie Chaplin Lived Here is a semi-sequel to Lanterna Magicka: Bill Douglas & the Secret History of Cinema, a documentary about Scottish filmmaker Bill Douglas’s lifelong Charlie Chaplin obsession and includes a completion of Bill’s 1969 unfinished 8mm documentary, also called Charlie Chaplin Lived Here, which features never-before-seen footage of Chaplin’s London (a number of locations have long since been demolished), as well as a voiceover from Chaplin’s My Autobiography
Shown with: The Washing Society
United States 2018 – DCP – 44 minutes
In English Directors, Screenplay: Lizzie Olesker, Lynne Sachs
With: Jasmine Holloway, Ching Valdes-Aran, Veraalba Santa
Print Courtesy: Lizzie Olesker, Lynne Sachs
When you drop off a bag of dirty laundry, who’s doing the washing and folding? The Washing Society brings us into New York City’s laundromats and the experiences of the people who work in them. Collaborating together for the first time, filmmaker (and returning MIFF favorite!) Lynne Sachs and playwright Lizzie Olesker observe the disappearing public space of the neighborhood laundromat and the continual, intimate labor that happens there. Inspired by To Joy My Freedom, author Tera Hunter’s depiction of the 1881 organization of African-American laundresses in Atlanta, The Washing Society investigates the intersection of history, underpaid work, immigration, and the sheer math of doing laundry. Drawing on each other’s artistic practices, Sachs and Olesker present a stark yet poetic vision of those whose working lives often go unrecognized, turning a lens onto their hidden stories, which are often overlooked. Dirt, skin, lint, stains, money, and time are thematically interwoven into the very fabric of The Washing Society through interviews and observational moments. The Washing Society creates a dreamlike yet hyper-real portrayal of a day in the life of a laundry worker, both past and present.
Sunday, July 15, 9:30 p.m., OH
Tuesday, July 17, 6:15 p.m., RR2
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The Children Act
United Kingdom 2017 – DCP – 105 minutes
In English
Director: Richard Eyre
Producer: Duncan Kenworthy
Screenplay: Ian McEwan
Cast: Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead, Ben Chaplin, Nikki Amuka-Bird
Print Courtesy: A24
“From the moment she awakens till her head hits the pillow at night, family court judge Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) does little more than think of the children, ruling on whether to separate conjoined ‘Siamese’ twins with one case, before turning around to evaluate whether to allow a 17-year-old Jehovah’s Witness to reject a life-saving blood transfusion that violates his religion. [Fiona’s] job is such that she takes each case rather personally, leaving her very little energy to tend to her devoted, yet woefully neglected husband Jack (Stanley Tucci). The Children Act is that rarest of things: an adult drama, written and interpreted with a sensitivity to mature human concerns—not just the quite personal complexities of maintaining a 30-year relationship with no children of their own, but the more broad-reaching tension between the law and firmly held religious belief. More restrained than director Eyre’s earlier work (Iris, Notes on a Scandal), yet driven by an energy for which he is directly responsible, the wonderfully nuanced film concerns Fiona’s attempts to reconcile these two weighty challenges: there is the fate of the Jehovah’s Witness, Adam Henry (Fionn Whitehead), which rests in her hands, and there is the future of her marriage, which she has successfully shifted to the back burner for so long, but now hangs in the balance”—Peter
DeBruge, Variety
Sponsored by Chris and Andrea Kuhlthau
Crosscurrent
China 2017 – DCP – 116 minutes
In Mandarin with English subtitles Director, Screenplay: Yang Chao
Producers: Ha Bo, Jing Yang, Wang Yu
Cast: Hao Qin, Zhilei Xin, Lipeng Wu, Hongwei Wang, Hualin Jiang, Kai Tan
Print Courtesy: Cheng Cheng Films
Dreamlike, hypnotic, and—in the sublime images of Mark Ping Bin Lee, best known as Wong Kar-Wai’s cinematographer—unbelievably beautiful, Crosscurrent is an immersive introspective journey manifested in an outward journey up the Yangtze River. Mysterious, sublime, and elegiac, director Yang Chao’s odyssey blends breathtaking images with fantasy, poetry, and history to create a complex magical universe. From the Shanghai metropolis to the snow-capped Tibet mountains, Gao Chun steers his cargo up the river that has nurtured a centuries-old civilization. He comes across An Lu, a beautiful woman who appears in a different identity at every port recorded by a poetry book. Longing for her company, he realizes she gradually turns younger as he journeys upstream. He starts to wonder whether An Lu is supernatural or if he is traveling not only in space but also in time. After passing a pagoda that reverberates Buddha’s voice, a flooded town reappearing elsewhere, the grandiose Three Gorges Dam, and many other places where lives have been transformed, he finally arrives at the start of the Yangtze, where he unveils the secret of his past and An Lu.
Sponsored by Jennifer Strode
U.S. Premiere! Djon Africa
Portugal/Cape Verde/Brazil 2018 – DCP – 96 minutes
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Directors: Filipa Reis, João Miller Guerra
Screenplay: João Miller Guerra, Pedro Pinho
Cast: Bitori Nha Bibinha, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Miguel Moreira, Patricia Soso
Print Courtesy: Still Moving
“Written by Pedro Pinho, currently riding high with The Nothing Factory (also at MIFF this year!), this co-production between Portugal and its former colonies Cape Verde and Brazil was one of the more notable world premieres at Rotterdam this year. Accessible and atmospheric, built around an engaging performance by Miguel Moreira as the eponymous Djon, “Djon Africa” is in fact just one nickname adopted by a fellow baptized “Miguel” in honor of his dad, but who grew up in Lisbon chiefly under the care of his grandmother. Following a chance encounter with a stranger, the easygoing Miguel/Djon/Tibars—a Rastafarian who is laid-back on the verge of horizontal—asks his granny about his dad (“a bit of a player and a scoundrel”). Coming into a little money unexpectedly, he decides to go in search of the estranged parent in the latter’s native Cape Verde islands off the African coast. The bulk of the action unfolds in this windswept, colorful archipelago, whose atmosphere is a world away from the gray, bland Lisbon suburb which constitutes our hero’s ‘hood. As the words of a rap tune in the opening moments promises, we ‘feel his ground and the weather of his country’”—Hollywood Reporter
Sponsored by Mid-Maine Global Forum
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July 17, 6:30 p.m., OH
July 22, 12:30 p.m., OH
July 17, 9:00 p.m., RR3
July 22, 3:15 p.m., RR2
July 17, 6:00 p.m., RR3
July 21, 3:15 p.m., RR2
Tuesday,
Sunday,
Tuesday,
Sunday,
Tuesday,
Saturday,
Dream of Illumination
Japan 2018 – Digital Projection – 91 minutes
In Japanese with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Thunder Sawada
Producer: Kazuyuki Kitaki
Principal Cast: Yûya Takagawa, Sara Shida, Ellen, Saki Gotô, Riku Hagiwara
Print Courtesy: Thunder Sawada
Thunder Sawada’s understated, beautiful black-and white film comes from his desire to “persuasively present the rights or perspectives of people who are cowards, traitors, or hateful towards others.” In Dream of Illumination, Sawada’s story is about a man who runs a real-estate business and has considerable power over his beautiful Hokkaido mountain town with his machinations, though he is polite on the surface. He has no allegiance to his area, which he routinely exploits, then moves on. His daughter, about to graduate high school, feels a call to stay in this place, having moved at her father’s behest all her life. There are no grand theatrics in Dream of Illumination, but there is a gripping, honest story of how things change.
Sponsored by The Children’s Book Cellar and RE-BOOKS
Fake Tattoos (Les faux tatouages)
Canada 2018 – DCP – 87 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Pascal Plante
Producer: Katerine Lefrançois
Cast: Anthony Therrien, Rose-Marie Perreault, Lysandre Nadeau, Brigitte Poupart, Nicole-Sylvie Lagarde
Print Courtesy: Seville International
Totally affecting and totally unaffected, Fake Tattoos (Les faux tatouages) is a sweet punk romance from Québec. Does that sound like a contradiction in terms? In Pascal Plante’s Best Canadian Film prizewinner at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, it’s truly not. Theo spends his 18th birthday alone, getting drunk at a brutal punk rock show. There, he meets Mag, a marginal teenager who invites him to spend the night at her place. A love story unfolds between them, but Theo has to move to a small town at the end of the summer, far from a painful past. Fake Tattoos is a refreshing, real discovery from a province literally closer to Waterville than Massachusetts.
Sponsored by Carol Godfrey
U.S. Premiere!
Family First (Chien de garde)
Canada 2018 – DCP – 88 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Sophie Dupuis
Producer: Etienne Hansez
Cast: Théodore Pellerin, Jean-Simon Leduc, Claudel Laberge, Maude Guerin, Paul Ahmarani.
Print Courtesy: Bravo Charlie Films
Family First is a visceral shock to the system, a film so suffused with raw energy and excitement that it calls to mind the rush of early Martin Scorsese. In particular, the Scorsese film Family First brings to mind is Mean Streets, with its story of familial loyalty in a shady world, and in the incandescent performance of Théodore Pellerin, whose vitality the young Robert De Niro would have envied. In Sophie Dupuis’ astonishing first feature, JP lives with his brother Vincent, his mother Joe and his girlfriend Mel in a small apartment in the Verdun section of Montréal. Constantly walking a tightrope, JP tries to maintain a balance between his own life with his girlfriend, their dreams for a steadier future, and the numerous needs of his family, for which he feels responsible, including the “debt collecting” job he is doing for his underworld uncle, who he has always seen as a kind of father figure. His mercurial companion at home and on their shakedown job is his mesmeric younger brother, a kind of insane, yet kind of innocent, psychopath. This is filmmaking pure and simple.
Sponsored by Nancy Bixler and Michael Hudak
Wednesday, July 18, 9:30 p.m., RR1
Thursday, July 19, 6:30 p.m., OH
New Features 40 Presenting Sponsors
Saturday, July 21, 9:00 p.m., RR3 Sunday, July 22, 3:00 p.m., RR3 Friday, July 13, 9:30 p.m., OH Sunday, July 15, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable
United States 2018 – DCP – 90 minutes
In English Director, Producer: Sasha Waters Freyer
With: Geoff Dyer, Jeffrey Fraenkel, Matthew Weiner, Laurie Simmons, Erin O’Toole, Tod Papageorge
Print Courtesy: Greenwich Entertainment
Forged by his own words and images, Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable is a stunningly intimate portrait of a man who both personified his era and transformed it. It’s the first documentary film on the life and work of acclaimed photographer Garry Winogrand—the epic storyteller in pictures of America across three turbulent decades. His artistry encompassed the heartbreak, violence, hope, and turmoil of postwar America, from the frenzy of its urban core to the alienation of its emergent suburbs. Decades before digital technology transformed how we make and see pictures, Garry Winogrand made hundreds of thousands of them, creating an encyclopedic portrait of America in the process. When he died suddenly at age 56 in 1984, Winogrand left behind more than 10,000 rolls of film—more than a quarter of a million pictures! These images capture a bygone era: the New York of Mad Men and the early years of the Women’s Movement, the birth of American suburbs, and the glamour and alienation of Hollywood. In addition to hundreds of iconic photographs, this film uses rarely seen 8mm color home movies, as well as newly discovered audio tapes of Winogrand, which are the only non-staged media of the artist in existence. This is a film about a particular man, a particular artist, but also about nothing less than our culture.
Sponsored by Nancy Sanford
Monday, July 16, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 21, 12:00 p.m., RR3
The Heiresses
Paraguay/Uruguay/Germany 2018 – DCP – 95 minutes
In Spanish and Guarani with English subtitles Director, Producer, Screenplay: Marcelo Martinessi Principal Cast: Ana Brun, Margarita Irun, Ana Ivanova, Nilda Gonzalez, María Martins, Alicia Guerra Print Courtesy: Distrib Films
Chela and Chiquita, both descended from wealthy families in Asunción, Paraguay, have been together for over 30 years. But recently their financial situation has worsened, and they begin selling off their inherited possessions. When their debts lead to Chiquita being imprisoned on fraud charges, Chela is forced to face a new reality, having to find her way in a world of matters to which Chiquita previously tended. As Chela settles into her new life, she encounters the much younger Angy. This understated, keenly observed film won a Best Actress prize for Ana Brun’s beautifully played performance as Chela at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. There’s not a single false note to The Heiresses
Sponsored by RE-BOOKS
and The Children’s Book Cellar
I Am Not a Witch
United Kingdom/France/Germany 2017 – DCP – 93 minutes
In English, and in Nyanja with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Rungano Nyoni
Producers: Juliette Grandmont, Emily Morgan
Cast: Maggie Mulubwa, Margaret Z. Mwale, Mirriam Nata, John Ng’Ambi, Becky Ngoma
Print Courtesy: Film Movement
When eight-year-old Shula turns up alone and unannounced in a rural Zambian village, the locals are suspicious. A minor incident escalates to a full-blown witch trial, where she is found guilty and sentenced to life on a state-run witch camp. There, she is tethered to a long white ribbon and told that if she ever tries to run away, she will be transformed into a goat. As the days pass, Shula begins to settle into her new community, but a threat looms on the horizon. Soon she is forced to make a difficult decision—whether to resign herself to life on the camp, or take a risk for freedom. I Am Not a Witch marks the birth of a significant new screen voice, first-time Zambian female filmmaker Rungano Nyoni, with this striking fairytale-satire, likely to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
Sponsored by Jessica Shoudy
Saturday, July 14, 12:00 p.m., RR3
Wednesday, July 18, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Tuesday, July 17, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Thursday, July 19, 3:15 p.m., RR2
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U.S. Premiere! The Invisible Hands
Italy/United States 2018 – DCP – 92 minutes
In English
Director: Marina Gioti
Producers: Marina Gioti, Georges Salameh
Screenplay: Alan Bishop, Marina Gioti
Principal Cast: Alan Bishop, The Sun City Girls
Print Courtesy: Marina Gioti
Maverick underground American/Lebanese musician and ethnomusicologist Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, Sublime Frequencies) lands as a stranger in Cairo, soon after the 2011 uprisings, and teams up with three young Egyptian musicians for the translation of his old songs into Arabic. Under Bishop’s mentorship, this unlikely collaboration transforms into a band, The Invisible Hands. Structured around fly-on-the-wall scenes, archival ghost apparitions, absurd cameos, and poetic diary narrations by Bishop, and unfolding between the two critical elections that marked the post-Arab Spring period in Egypt, The Invisible Hands juxtaposes the tragicomedy of politics and art-making in the so-called periphery. Director Marina Gioti says “We knew Alan through music. So did his all-Egyptian band. We all met him separately at two different stops of his last tour: Athens and Cairo. We soon realized that we were witnessing a musical experiment, actually the most ambitious that this unconventional musician has ever been involved in: to produce his most accessible album to date in a language he doesn’t speak, Arabic. The repurposing of songs for different markets and languages is not a new concept in music. However, poetic content featuring themes about creeping globalism, gun fantasies, waterboarding, torture, and military madness—outré even for English—was quite unusual.”
Sponsored by Karen Young
Madeline’s Madeline
United States 2018 – DCP – 93 minutes
Director: Rosalyn Decker
Screenplay: Rosalyn Decker, Donna di Novelli
Producers: Krista Parris, Elizabeth Rao
Cast: Helena Howard, Molly Parker, Miranda July
Print Courtesy: Oscilloscope Pictures
Madeline’s Madeline centers on Madeline (Helena Howard in a stunning debut), a teenager still living at home who has become an integral part of a prestigious experimental New York theater troupe. When the workshop’s ambitious director (Molly Parker) pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother (Miranda July) into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle rips out of the rehearsal space and through all three women’s lives. “Rosalyn Decker’s film, the best thing I saw at Sundance this year, is built around tension and chaos: its unruly scenes emerge out of disorder, out of chants and shrieks and fractured images, and always threaten to fade back into abstraction. The focus slips; the camera drifts. Whispers and wails intrude. A simple dialogue exchange might suddenly splinter into tight-angled close-ups of a face; a shot might disintegrate into a shimmering field of red. But one senses a method in this madness. The narrative might be shattered, but the film’s slipstream of emotion is powerful and inescapable. As Madeline, the nineteen-year-old Howard—an explosively gifted performer—seizes your attention. Madeline’s Madeline is at once intoxicated by the world and deeply terrified of it.”—Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice
Sponsored by Lisa Oakes
Mademoiselle Paradis
Austria/Germany 2018 – DCP – 97 minutes
In German and French with English subtitles
Director: Barbara Albert
Producers: Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Michael Kitzberger
Screenplay: Kathrin Resetarits and Barbara Albert, based on the novel by Alissa Walser
Cast: Maria Dragus, Devid Striesow, Lukas Miko, Katja Kolm, Maresi Riegner
Print Courtesy: First Run Features
Director Barbara Albert makes visible the invisible in this extraordinary true story from 18th century Vienna. Maria Theresia Paradis, a gifted pianist and friend of Mozart, who lost her eyesight as a child, regains it through an innovative medical technique. This miracle comes at a price, and she is forced to choose between an ordinary life in the light or an extraordinary life in the darkness as a virtuoso. Nominated for 14 Austrian Film Awards, including Best Film, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.
Sponsored by Patricia Clark
New Features 42 Presenting Sponsors
p.m., RR3
20, 6:15 p.m., RR2
19, 9:30 p.m., RR1
July 21, 6:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 14, 9:00
Friday, July
Thursday, July
Saturday,
Sunday, July 15, 12:30 p.m., OH
Friday, July 20, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Memoir of War (La Douleur)
France 2018 – DCP – 127 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Director: Emmanuel Finkiel
Producers: Julien Deris, Yael Fogiel, David Gauquié, Laetitia Gonzalez, Etienne Mallet, Michel Merkt, Vincent Roget, Nathalie Vallet
Screenplay: Emmanuel Finkiel, based on the novel by Marguerite Duras
Cast: Mélanie Thierry, Benoît Magimel, Benjamin Biolay, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Emmanuel Bordieu
Print Courtesy: Music Box Films
Graced by a simply sensational breakout performance by Mélanie Thierry, Memoir of War is a haunting and hypnotic adaptation of seminal author Marguerite Duras’ autobiographical novel, The War: A Memoir. In 1944 Nazi-occupied Paris, Marguerite Duras (Thierry) is an active Resistance member alongside her husband, Robert Antelme. When he is deported to Dachau by the Gestapo, she dives into a desperate struggle to get him back, and enters into a high-risk game of psychological cat and mouse with French Nazi collaborator Rabier (Benoît Magimel). But as the months wear on without word of the man she loves, Marguerite must begin the process of confronting the unimaginable. Through subtly expressionistic images and voiceover passages of Duras’s writing, director Emmanuel Finkiel evokes the inner world of one of the 20th century’s most revolutionary writers—and creates one of the most memorable movies of the year.
Sponsored by Kathryn Slott
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
United States 2018 – DCP – 90 minutes
In English
Director: Desiree Akhavan
Producers: Michael B. Clark, Cecilia Frugiuele, Jonathan Montepare, Alex Turtletaub
Screenplay: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele, based on the novel by Emily M. Danforth
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Jennifer Ehle, Marin Ireland, Sasha Lane, John Gallagher Jr., Forrest Goodluck
Print Courtesy: FilmRise
Based on Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post follows Chloë Grace Moretz’s Cameron, dazedly sent to a gay conversion therapy center after getting caught with another girl in the backseat of a car on prom night. The center is supposed to help young people repent for “same sex attraction” and, through religiosity and punishment, “convert” to heterosexuality. Cameron forms an unlikely family with an amputee stoner, the improbably named Jane Fonda (Sasha Lane), and her Native American friend (Forrest Goodluck) in order to survive—and stay true to themselves. Funny, horrifying, righteously angry, and full of life, The Miseducation of Cameron Post is an unforgettable and timely film experience, with a bill outlawing conversion therapy recently passed by the Maine legislature. Speakers on the bill will attend a post-screening discussion on July 17.
Sponsored by Ray and Martha Phillips
U.S. East Coast Premiere! Modified
Canada 2018 – DCP – 87 minutes
In English and in French with English subtitles
Director, Producer: Aube Giroux
Print Courtesy: Aube Giroux
Modified is an award-winning documentary-memoir—partially shot in Maine (where its director, Aube Giroux, lived in Lincolnville for four years) and eastern Canada, that asks why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labeled on food products in Canada and the United States, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world. Interweaving the personal and the political, the film is anchored in the filmmaker’s relationship to her mother, a gardener and food activist who battled cancer during the film’s production. Their intimate mother-daughter investigative journey, fueled by a shared love of food, reveals the extent to which the agribusiness industry controls our food policies, making a strong case for a more transparent and sustainable food system.
Sponsored by Nicholson, Michaud & Company
Friday, July 13, 9:30 p.m., RR1
Monday, July 16, 3:30 p.m., OH
Tuesday, July 17, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Thursday, July 19, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Sunday, July 15, 12:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 21, 6:30 p.m., OH
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Naila and the Uprising
United States/Palestine 2018 – DCP – 76 minutes
In English, and in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles
Director: Julia Bacha
Producers: Rula Salameh, Rebekah Wingert
Cast: Naila Ayesh, Zahira Kamal, Naima Al-Sheikh, Azza Al-Khafarneh, Roni Ben Efrat
Print Courtesy: Just Vision
When a nation-wide uprising breaks out in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a young woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family, and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in a movement that aims at world recognition of the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time. Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila and a fierce community of women at the frontlines, whose stories weave through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history—the First Intifada in the late 1980s. Using evocative animation, intimate interviews, and exclusive archival footage, this film brings out of anonymity the courageous women activists who have remained on the margins of history—until now. While most images of the First Intifada paint an incomplete picture of stone-throwing young men front and center, this film tells the story that history overlooked—of an unbending, nonviolent women’s movement at the head of Palestine’s struggle.
No Date, No Signature
Iran 2018 – DCP – 104 minutes
In Persian with English subtitles
Director: Vahid Jalilvand
Producers: Ehsan Alikhani, Ali Jalilvand
Screenplay: Vahid Jalilvand, Ali Zarnegar
Principal Cast: Amir Aghaee, Zakieh Behbahani, Saeed Dakh, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Alireza Ostadi, Hediyeh Tehrani
Print Courtesy: Distrib Films
Winner of Best Director and Best Actor Orizzonti Awards at the Venice Film Festival, No Date, No Signature is an Iranian psychological thriller in the vein of A Separation in which all levels of Iranian society teeter on the edge of legality. A seemingly minor traffic collision has far-reaching consequences in this story of a well-meaning medical examiner haunted by a child’s death he might have prevented. As the story unfolds, his fate becomes inextricably bound up with that of the grieving family. In only his second feature, Vahid Jalilvand coaxes brilliantly understated performances from a superb cast for this compelling, considered meditation on guilt and grief.
Sponsored by John and July Bielecki
The Nothing Factory
Portugal 2017 – DCP – 177 minutes
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Director: Pedro Pinho
Producers: Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, João Matos, Susana Nobre, Leonor Noivo, Pedro Pinho
Screenplay: Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo, and Pedro Pinho, based on an idea by Jorge Silva Melo
Cast: José Smith Vargas, Carla Galvão, Njamy Sebastião, Joaquim Bichana Martins, Danièle Incalcaterra
Print Courtesy: Memento Films
“An energetic ensemble piece from documentarist Pedro Pinho, making his fiction debut.... The film centers on a lift factory in the Lisbon area, whose owners start sneakily removing the equipment to sell it off, leaving the workforce to fear the worst. The workers decide to stay put, even if it means twiddling their thumbs on the silent factory floor (a sequence that provides some hauntingly eloquent images). Seeing off unwanted visits from suits and police, they find themselves considering the option of running the factory themselves, now that management has absconded entirely. Hovering on the sidelines is a mysterious, wild-haired man who expresses an interest in the factory early on. He seems at once a social theorist, commenting in voice-over on the present cracks in the capitalist system, and an activist affiliated to a pan-European group of left-wing thinkers. The wild-card moment comes when the workers burst into an impromptu song-and-dance number; the result isn’t quite Jacques Demy, but it brings an incongruous and welcome burst of ebullience. Some ostriches also put in a memorable out-of-nowhere appearance”—Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily
Monday, July 16, 9:00 p.m., RR3
Wednesday, July 18, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Saturday, July 14, 12:15 p.m., RR2
Sunday, July 15, 6:00 p.m., RR3
Friday, July 13, 6:00 p.m., RR3
Tuesday, July 17, 3:00 p.m., OH
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Papillon
United States/Serbia/Montenegro/Malta 2018 – DCP – 133 minutes
In English
Director: Michael Noer
Producers: Ram Bergman, Roger Corbi, David Koplan, Joey McFarland
Screenplay: Aaron Guzikowski, based on the book by Henri Charrière
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek, Eve Hewson, Tommy Flanagan, Nina Senicar, Roland Møller
Print Courtesy: Bleecker Street Films
Director Michael Noer’s new screen version of Henri Charrière’s astonishing autobiographical story of endurance, determination, and spirit is a memorable retelling of the 1973 version that starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Here, Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim) and Rami Malek (Mr. Robot, Short Term 12) are the mesmeric centers on this tough and harsh—yet exhilarating— tale. This is the epic story of Henri “Papillon” Charrière (Hunnam), a safecracker from the Parisian underworld who is framed for murder and condemned to life in the notorious penal colony on Devil’s Island. Determined to regain his freedom, Papillon forms an unlikely alliance with quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega (Malek) who, in exchange for protection, agrees to finance Papillon’s escape, ultimately resulting in a bond of lasting friendship.
Pick of the Litter
United States 2018 – DCP – 81 minutes
In English
Directors, Producers: Dana Nachman, Don Hardy Jr.
Screenplay: Dana Nachman
Print Courtesy: IFC Films
Seriously cute. And unbelievably useful! Guide dogs. Or, to start out with, potential guide dog puppies. Pick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from the moment they’re born and begin their quest to become Guide Dogs for the Blind, the ultimate canine career. Cameras follow these pups through a two-year odyssey as they train to become dogs whose ultimate responsibility is to protect their blind partners from harm. Along the way, the dogs meet a community of dedicated individuals who train them to do amazing, life-changing things in the service of their human. The stakes are high, and not every dog can make the cut. Only the best of the best, the pick of the litter, make the grade. Audience Award winner at Cinequest San Diego.
Sponsored by Christopher Hastings Confections
Puzzle
United States 2018 – DCP – 103 minutes
In English Director: Marc Turtletaub
Producers: Wren Arthur, Peter Saraf, Guy Stodel
Screenplay: Oren Moverman, Natalia Smirnoff
Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Irrfan Khan, David Denman, Austin Abrams, Bubba Weiler
Print Courtesy: Sony Pictures Classics
Agnes (Kelly Macdonald of Boardwalk Empire and Trainspotting), taken for granted as a suburban mother, discovers a passion—and an unbelievable aptitude—for solving jigsaw puzzles. Unexpectedly drawn into a new world, her life unfolds in ways she could never have imagined when she meets fellow puzzle-lover Robert (Irrfan Khan, of The Lunchbox and The Life of Pi). Jigsaw puzzles as a metaphor? Well, maybe. Producer Marc Turtletaub’s (Little Miss Sunshine) directorial debut, written by Oren Moverman (Time Out of Mind, The Messenger), Puzzle is simply a joy to solve.
Sponsored by SBS/Carbon Copy
Saturday, July 14, 6:30 p.m., OH
Friday, July 20, 9:30 p.m., OH
Sunday, July 15, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Friday, July 20, 3:30 p.m., RR1
Saturday, July 14, 3:30 p.m., RR1
Wednesday, July 18, 6:00 p.m., RR3
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World Premiere!
Central Maine Writer and Actor
Bobby Keniston introduces
The Reprogramming of Jeremy
United States 2018 – Digital Projection – 102 minutes
In English
Director: Gail Wagner
Screenplay: Bobby Keniston
Cast: Sean Wagner, Matthew Furman, Daniel C. Davis, Alexandra M. Ford, Kevin Meinhaldt
Print Courtesy: Gail Wagner
Central Maine writer and actor Bobby Keniston introduces the world premiere of a new film based on his play. Jeremy is a shy and bullied teen with a secret. It’s a secret someone told the whole town, and now everyone Jeremy loves wants him to change. But can you change who you really are? Should you? The Reprogramming of Jeremy is a fictional docudrama in interview format about the journey of the family, friends, and acquaintances of Jeremy, a shy, closeted, bullied teen who is outed and sent to a special conversion camp to be re-programmed.
Sponsored by Joan Phillips-Sandy in memory of Kristen Gilbert
Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland
United States 2018 – DCP – 105 minutes
In English
Directors: Kate Davis, David Heilbroner
Print Courtesy: HBO
What a powerhouse of a film Say Her Name is! We feel it has a real shot at a Best Documentary Oscar next year—and this is a rare chance to see it on the big screen. The film explores the mysterious death of Sandra Bland, a politically active 28-year-old African American who, after being arrested for a traffic violation in a small Texas town, was found hanging in her jail cell three days later. Dash cam footage revealing her violent arrest went viral, leading to national protests claiming that this was an example of raciallymotivated murder. The filmmakers followed the two-year case beginning shortly after Sandra’s death, exploring what happened to Sandra Bland, and what we may learn from her tragedy. The answer, without giving anything away: a lot! Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland is an unforgettable experience.
Sponsored by Lauren Shaw and Paul Feinberg
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
United States 2018 – DCP – 98 minutes
In English Director: Matt Tyrnauer
Producers: Josh Braun, Corey Reeser
With: Scotty Bowers, Peter Bart, Robert Hofler, William Mann
Print Courtesy: Greenwich Entertainment
“Matt Tyrnauer’s doc is a look at Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, ...a man whose role as Hollywood’s ‘pimp to the stars’ was known only to an inner circle until the publication of his book, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, five years ago. What could have been a merely sensationalistic exposé of the private lives of then-closeted screen luminaries instead emerges, in the hands of documentarian Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City), as a nicely filledout look at two different eras: one secrecy-ridden and dedicated to the preservation of illusion, the other wide open and blasé about personal predilections. The ever-affable Bowers quickly became known for fulfilling any desire that his customers might request. The sensational revelations of his book, which were many, involved clandestine liaisons Bowers facilitated (usually beginning with his own participation) involving Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Cole Porter, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and even Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, whom he insists were not physical with each other”—Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter.
Sponsored by The Sanborn Clan
Saturday, July 14, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 21, 12:30 p.m., RR1
Monday, July 16, 6:30 p.m., OH
Wednesday, July 18, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Saturday, July 14, 9:30 p.m., OH
Wednesday, July 18, 9:00 p.m., RR3
New Features 46 Presenting Sponsors
Shake Sister Shake
United States 2018 – DCP – 82 minutes
In English
Director, Producer, Screenplay: Lisa Eismen
With: Marcia Ball, BB Queen, Peaches Staten, Heather Crosse, Lala Craig
Print Courtesy: Argot Pictures
A new look at an old genre, Shake Sister Shake takes us on a musical journey with female blues artists in a world dominated by men. Shake Sister Shake is a celebration of women, and a celebration of the blues. And yup, there’s a correlation! Chicago-born Australian director Lisa Eismen has a sharp eye and a sharper ear for some sharp music from women who range from the well-known (Marcia Ball) to the lesser-known (BB Queen)—with two things in common: their gender and their craft. Also featuring illuminating interviews with Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.
Sponsored by Peter and Lee Lyford
The Third Murder
Japan 2017 – DCP – 124 minutes
In Japanese with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Hirokazu Kore-Eda
Producers: Kaoru Matsuzaki, Hijiri Taguchi
Cast: Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Mikako Ichikawa, Izumi Matsuoka
Print Courtesy: Film Movement
At the just-concluded Cannes Film Festival, Hirokazu Kore-Eda walked away with the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters, capping an amazing filmography that has established him as the preeminent Japanese filmmaker of his time. The Third Murder, not yet opened in the U.S. as MIFF starts, is the predecessor to his new triumph. Winner of six Japanese Oscar equivalents, The Third Murder is the powerfully moving story of a man struggling to find the truth while questioning his own faith in the law. Leading attorney Shigemori takes on the defence of a murder-robbery suspect. Shigemori’s chances of winning the case seem low; his client freely admits his guilt. As Shigemori digs deeper, he hears the testimonies of the victim’s family and the once confident detective begins to doubt whether his client is the murderer after all—and if the system he’s part of has anything to do with justice.
Sponsored by Lee Feigon
Thrasher Road
United States 2018 – DCP – 86 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay: Samantha Davidson Green
Producer: Maria Rosenblum, Jonathan Wysocki
Executive Producer: Jordan Green
Cast: Allison Brown, Christian Kohn, Joe Rogers
Print Courtesy: Samantha Davidson Green
Vermont filmmaker Samantha Davidson Green brings her idiosyncratic road movie about a dog, a detour, and a second chance to MIFF for its first screenings outside her home state. While on their way home from broken dreams in L.A., including a busted relationship (that just might not be busted), an accident strands pregnant Chloe and her geriatric dog, Thrasher, on the highway. Unwelcome rescue comes from her estranged dad, Mac, who takes them on a disastrous detour toward a second chance. Shot on location in 20 states across the U.S., this comic, poignant, homemade, and true film has its roots in northern New England, but its home throughout our culture.
Sunday, July 15, 3:30 p.m., OH
Thursday, July 19, 9:30 p.m., OH
Friday, July 13, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Tuesday, July 17, 3:15 p.m., RR2
Saturday, July 14, 12:30 p.m., RR1
Sunday, July 15, 6:15 p.m., RR2
New Features 47 Presenting Sponsors
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North American Premiere! Waiting for Barcelona
Spain/Denmark 2018 – DCP – 85 minutes
In English, and in Spanish and Wolof with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Juho-Pekka Tanskanen
Producer: Isabella Karhu
Print Courtesy: Syndicado Film Sales
Love affairs, friendships, and the police on his heels. One of Europe’s young homeless men lets us into his life. Barcelona’s labyrinthine streets are the epitome of romantic city life—as long as you don’t live on them. 27-year-old Mou does. He left his homeland as a 12-year-old and has since lived a homeless life around Las Ramblas. Mou is not just streetwise; he is also a popular man and a loyal friend. A love affair with a Spanish girl gives him hope for a new life, but the past and the mental pressures of an impossible situation catch up with his otherwise positive spirit. An upbeat film about one of Europe’s invisible lives, filmed at street level in striking black and white, reminiscent of the social-realist and political tradition of street photography. Finnish filmmaker Juho-Pekka Tanskanen adroitly avoids the cliché of “giving Mou a voice”—Mou already has one. Waiting For Barcelona is a portrait at eye-level with Mou himself, where politics is rooted in the tough personal experiences of the tourist-filled streets.
The War in Between
United States 2018 – DCP – 66 minutes
In English
Director: Ricardo Ferraris
Producer: Stefano Gallini Durante
Print Courtesy: 7th Art Releasing
The War in Between covers an incredible story: the bond between combat veterans and rescued wolves, both suffering from PTSD. In a “back to nature” therapy, men and animals learn how to trust each other to heal. Founded by Desert Storm veteran Matt Simmons and psychologist Lorin Lindner, Lockwood Animal Rescue Centre (LARC) is a 20-acre sanctuary located in Frazier Park, California. In this stunning location, surrounded by green trees and mountains, veterans and wolves fight against fear and depression. With this documentary, Italian filmmaker Riccardo Ferraris gets right to the heart of an extraordinary relationship. “It’s the first documented case of a cross-species simultaneous therapy” says Ferraris. Forty wolves currently live at LARC, all rescued from roadside attractions, breeders, and other exploitative situations. The veterans working in the Sanctuary understand all the wolves’ depression, because they have the same thing. The trust is crucial: “After the shock of a war, soldiers realize that they can have a pure connection, because having a relationship with an animal is having a relationship,” says Lindner. The War in Between documents a slow transition: what veterans find at LARC, working with the animals and getting back to nature, is that they belong. “What I see here with the veterans is the rekindling of the 13-year-old-boy before the trauma. It’s amazing to be accepted in a pack that usually accepts only its own offspring. It’s a miracle,” says Simmons. We witness this miracle in The War in
Sponsored by RE-BOOKS and The Children’s Book Cellar
Shown with:
Casualties
United States 2018 –DCP – 11 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay: Holly Voges
Producer: Lisa Joyce
Cast: Nathan Darrow, Lisa Joyce, Kolette Tetlow, Jaxon Bartok Print Courtesy: Holly Voges, Lisa Joyce
James, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, has an unsettling nighttime episode involving his family. From two of the makers of last year’s hit MIFF short, Fell, Holly Voges and Lisa Joyce.
Sunday, July 15, 9:15 p.m., RR2
Tuesday, July 17, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Sunday, July 15, 3:15 p.m., RR2
Monday, July 16, 9:30 p.m., RR1
New Features 48 Presenting Sponsors
Between
White Walls Say Nothing
Argentina 2017 – DCP – 70 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
Directors, Screenplay, Producers: Gates Bradley, Jonny Robson
Print Courtesy: 7th Art Releasing
Buenos Aires is a complex, crazy and wonderful city. It has European style and a Latin American heart. Oscillating between dictatorship and democracy for over a century, its citizens have faced brutal oppression and economic disaster, as well as gigantic hope and affluence. Malraux called it “the capitol of an Empire that never existed.” Throughout all this, successive generations of activists and artists have taken to the streets of this city to express themselves through art—graffiti, if you will. What we see in White Walls Say Nothing is quite stunning as art and as politics. Art has given the walls a powerful and symbolic role: they have become the city’s voice. This tradition of expression in public space, of art and activism interweaving, has made the streets of Buenos Aires into a riot of color and communication, giving the world a lesson in how to make resistance beautiful.
U.S. Premiere!
Painter Jerome Witkin Introduces
Witkin & Witkin
United States/Mexico 2018 – DCP – 90 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay: Trisha Ziff
Producers: Isabel del Río, Trisha Ziff, Luis Arenas
Principal Cast: Jerome Witkin, Joel-Peter Witkin
Print Courtesy: Trisha Ziff
Witkin & Witkin explores the worlds of somewhat estranged identical twins who just happen to be among the pre-eminent artists of their time, working in different though related visual arts. Joel-Peter is a renowned photographer of arranged, dream-like images; Jerome is a life-long educator and painter whom some have compared to Edward Hopper. Witkin & Witkin is an intensely human film which addresses the philosophy of the artists’ practices, their art, and their personal relationship. Through the voices of the women in their lives—the wives, models, studio assistants, collectors, and their older sister—director Trisha Ziff brings us into their worlds. As are its subjects, the film is concerned with visual perception and the relationship between painting and photography. It builds a narrative of life, loss, and following one’s bliss. Filmed over four years, Witkin & Witkin spans a crucial time period in the brothers’ lives, when events both planned and unplanned change their realities, as well as their perceptions of themselves and each other. You will not forget the art of either of these men—or this film. Nor will you cease exploring the fascinating questions it raises about art and the meaning of brotherhood.
Sponsored by Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
Friday, July 13, 9:00 p.m., RR3
Thursday, July 19, 3:00 p.m., RR3
Friday, July 20, 6:30 p.m., RR1
Sunday, July 22, 12:00 p.m., RR3
New Features 49 Presenting Sponsors
Elysia
2018 – DCP – 24 minutes
In English Director, Screenplay: Noah LePage
Producer: Ramsee Chand
Cast: Elysia Roorbach
A young girl spends one day in the afterlife attempting to reconnect with her mother.
Invisible Hands
2018 – DCP – 18 minutes
In English Director: Grace Yu
Featuring Railroad Square’s very own Nancy Bixler, this documentary examines the art of “art handling” behind the Colby College Museum of Art’s exhibitions.
The Growth of Whiting
2017 – DCP – 5 minutes
In English DIrectors, Producers: Dylan Shaw, Jenna DeFrancisco, James Lindberg
With: Kim Finnerty, Elmer Whiting
A farm in Auburn, Maine has been transformed into a space for people with developmental disabilities.
Empath
2017 – DCP – 10 minutes
In English Director, Screenplay, Producer: Emily Gillis
Cast: Vanessa Opitz, Mark Bedell, Pete Haase, Julie Moulton, Anthony Brian Carignan, Isaiah Gillis
A woman encounters the darker side of being empathetic to a stranger.
Sponsored by David and Lisa Lessard
Saturday, July 14, 3:30 p.m., OH
Saturday, July 21, 3:30 p.m., OH
The Golden Mask
2018 – DCP – 5 minutes
In English Director, Screenplay, Producer: Josh Outerbridge
Cast: Louis Outerbridge, Lincoln Outerbridge
A child visiting an antique shop learns dark secrets about an object he finds there.
Omphaloskepsis
2017 – DCP – 9 minutes
In English Director, Screenplay: Will Berry
Producer: Zander Kim
Executive Producer: Ginny Liberto
Cast: Rhea Amin, Charlie Stewart, Noelle Austin, Claudia Jones
An experimental film exploring one woman’s fear/obsession with the navel.
50 Presenting Sponsors Maine Shorts
Popul[asian]: 356
2018 – DCP – 19 minutes
Director: Annie Lee
This documentary asks: what does it mean to be an Asian sudent at Colby College?
David’s Voice
2018 – DCP – 15 minutes
In English
Director: Graham Hill
Producers: Chad Carbone, Graham Hill
A classically trained vocalist performs musical theatre on miniature stages with action figures.
The Ten Mile Yard Sale
2017 – DCP – 9 minutes
In English
Directors, Producers: Mark Cooley, Derek Ellis
The yard sale stretching from Cornville to Skowhegan is the subject of this doc.
Maine Shorts
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Animated Shorts
Smoke-n-Suds
United States 2017 – DCP – 13 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay, Producer: George Nicholas
Cast: Vince Martin, Jillian Laganelli, George Nicholas Guy in the 1980’s East Village encounters a cool couple and spends an unforgettable evening with them.
Satan’s in Heaven
United Kingdom/India 2017 – DCP – 4 minutes
In English Director, Producer: Cholesterol Jones Donald Trump’s been elected President, and the cherubs are leaving!
That Long and Lonesome Road to Grandma’s
United States 2017 – DCP – 14 minutes
In English
Director: Felipe Di Poi Tamargo
Sue and Kath blossom into cool and liberated teens on a road trip to visit Grandma.
Cerulia
Mexico 2017 – DCP – 13 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Sofìa Carillo
Winner of the Mexican Oscar-equivalent for Best Animated Short, a hallucinatory stop motion film.
Sponsored by RE-BOOKS and The Children’s Book Cellar
Saturday, July 14, 12:30 p.m., OH
Thursday, July 19, 6:30 p.m., RR1
The Vastness of Everything & Everywhere
United States 2018 – DCP – 2 minutes
Director: Rosemary Santoro
A bit of nifty whimsy (despite the title).
If All Hinges Upon Oneself
United States 2017 – DCP – 1 minute
In English
Director: Nancy Andrews
Animators: Gaia Lopez Barrera, Wayne Biebel, Allie Gay, Jolie Lau, Lydia Merrick, Arielle Moreau, Austin Orecchio
An illustrated poem about existence.
52 Presenting Sponsors
Soap & Shadows
United States 2017 – DCP – 8 minutes
In English Director, Screenplay: Donna Mae Foronda
Producer: Leo Maselli
Cast: Tara Young, Chris Wong
A couple in bed envisions what is making that strange sound outside their window.
#42 Dream – Always Carry a Guest
Toothbrush
United States 2018 – DCP – 17 minutes
In English Director, Screenplay, Producer: Alvin Sexton
A guy winds up in Hell and meets wretches fighting over soup!
Animated Shorts
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Into the Blue
Croatia 2017 – DCP – 19 minutes
In Croatian with English subtitles
Director: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
Producers: Zoran Dzeverdanovic, Vlaho Krile, Barbara Vekaric
Screenplay: Christina Lazaridi, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
Cast: Natasa Dangubic, Dominik Duzdevic, Gracija Filipovic, Marija Kohn, Andro Rezic, Vanesa Vidakovic Natrlin
13 year old Julija finds that rejection from her best friend awakens violence.
The Right Choice
United Kingdom 2017 – DCP – 10 minutes
In English
Director: Tomisin Adepeju
Screenplay, Producer: Vijay Varman
Cast: Michelle Greenidge, Krystine Atti, Obi Iwumene
Set in the future, a couple sets about creating their designer baby, and must confront uncomfortable questions.
Nosotros Solos
Argentina 2017 – DCP – 16 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay: Mateo Bendeskey
Producers: Florencia Clérico, Mateo Bendeskey
Cast: Vicente Correa, Lucrecia Garrido, Monica Raiola, Claudio Rangnau
The family dynamic turns incendiary for two teenage siblings.
Lambeth Lights
United Kingdom 2017 – DCP – 24 minutes
In English
Director, Screenplay: Luca Bertoluzzi
Producers: Will Preston George, Davo McConville
Cast: Harry Macqueen, Imogen Morris, Bill Fellows
Goodbye
Turkey 2017 – DCP – 9 minutes
In Turkish with English subtitles
Director, Screenplay, Producer: Ali Akin
A “fish of divorce” suffers when his owners split up.
Sponsored by Rachel Hawkins
Sunday, July 15, 12:00 p.m., RR3
Saturday, July 21, 9:30 p.m., RR1
An homage to Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights involving a homeless man and a blind news vendor.
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Presenting Sponsors
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Festival Staff
Mike Perreault, Festival Director
Ken Eisen, Programming Director
Alan Sanborn, Technical Director
Jessica Shoudy, Assistant Director, MIFFONEDGE Vol. 6 Curator
Karen Young, Shorts Programmer
Nate Towne, Festival Publicist
Austin Frederick, Operations Specialist
Lisa Lessard, Guest Services Coordinator
Arleen King-Lovelace, Guest Services Coordinator
Julia Sidelinger, Volunteer Coordinator, Guest Bag Coordinator
J-sun Bailey, Technical Coordinator
Bria Watson, Associate Programmer
Nancy Bixler, Associate Programmer
Jak Peters, Associate Programmer
Byron Greatorex, Print Shipping
Eshani Chakrabarti, Festival Intern, Box Office
Tom Crisp, Festival Intern, Box Office
Hannah FitzGerald, Box Office
David Martin, Festival Intern, Box Office
Deni Merrill, Office Assistant, Box Office
Sally Ann Hart, Special Events Coordinator
Festival Venue Managers
Samantha Bryan, Waterville Opera House Venue Manager
Dianna Wendell, Railroad Square Cinema Venue Manager
Rachel Hawkins, Waterville Opera House Assistant Venue Manager
Zach Allen-Wallace, Railroad Square Cinema Assistant Venue Manager
Festival Projectionists and Technical Crew
Rick Harmon, Head Projectionist
J-sun Bailey
Izzy Labbe
Jak Peters
Logan Rollins
Alan Sanborn
Additional Festival Support
Graphic Design: Lisa Oakes, Lavender Designs
T-Shirt Printing: Black Dog Graphics
Web Support: Anchour
MIFF 2018 Trailer: Jak Peters
Photography: John Meader, Niko Hample
Maine Student Film and Video Festival Judges
Huey Coleman
Tom Crisp
Austin Frederick
David Martin
Railroad Square Cinema Staff
Nancy Bixler
Jill Lawrence
Deni Merrill
Ray Pelkey
Jak Peters
Alan Sanborn
Adelia Scheck
Zachary-Allen Wallace
Bria Watson
Waterville Opera House Staff
Tamsen Brooke Warner, Executive Director
Michelle Sweet, Assistant Executive Director
Tony Gerow, Technical Director
Erik Thomas, Program Manager
Emilienne Ouellette, Box Office Manager
Jayson Murray, Venue Technician
Maine Film Center Board of Directors
Jill Gordon, President
Uri Lessing, Vice President
Craig Day, Treasurer
Jeff Matranga, Secretary
Karen Heck
The mission of the Maine Film Center is to enrich, educate and entertain the community through film and art.
66 Presenting Sponsors
Festival Staff
Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree Dominique Sanda, Actor: 1900 (Novecento), The Conformist, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Going Away (Un beau dimanche),
The Inheritance, The Mackintosh Man, Steppenwolf, Une Femme Douce
Nancy Andrews, Director: If All Hinges Upon Oneself
Will Berry, Director/Writer: Omphaloskepsis
Allison Brown, Actor: Thrasher Road
Mark Cooley, Director/Producer: The Ten Mile Yard Sale
Samantha Davidson Green, Director/Writer: Thrasher Road
Robert “Cholesterol Jones” Davis, Director, Producer: Satan’s in Heaven
Kate Davis, Director: Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland
Derek Ellis, Director/Producer: The Ten Mile Yard Sale
Donna Mae Foronda, Director/Writer: Soap & Shadows
Santiago Gallelli, Producer: The Queen of Fear, Zama
Aube Giroux, Director/Producer: Modified
Etienne Hansez, Producer: Family First (Chien de garde)
David Heilbroner, Director: Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland
Dusty Hulet, Director/Producer: Bears of Durango
Lisa Joyce, Producer/Actor: Casualties
Isabelle Karhu, Producer: Waiting for Barcelona
Bobby Kenniston, Writer: The Reprogramming of Jeremy
Kazz Kitaki, Producer: Dream of Illumination
Christian Kohn, Actor: Thrasher Road
Jean-Simon Leduc, Actor: Family First (Chien de garde)
Mangus Mariusun, Actor: Adam
Ygor Marotta, Member: VJ Suave
Seán Martin, Director/Writer/Producer: Charlie Chaplin Lived Here
Louise Milne, Director/Writer/Producer: Charlie Chaplin Lived Her
Max Mooney, Editor: David and the Kingdom
George Nicholas, Director/Writer/Producer/Actor: Smoke-n-Suds
Lizzie Olesker, Director/Writer: The Washing Society
Josh Outerbridge, Director/Writer/Producer: The Golden Mask
Brian Paccione, Director/Writer: David and the Kingdom
Ceci Perez, Member: VJ Suave
Nili Portugali, Director/Writer/Producer: And the Alley She Whitewashed in Light Blue
Joe Rogers, Actor: Thrasher Road
Juliana Rojas, Director/Writer: Good Manners, Hard Labor
Lynne Sachs, Director/Writer: The Washing Society
Rosemary Santoro, Director: The Vastness of Everything & Everywhere
Dylan Shaw, Director/Producer: The Growth of Whiting
Alana Simões, Director/Writer: Mi Hermano, Yo Dual, Marti, The Mexican Dream
Maria Solrun, Director/Producer: Adam
Jim Stark, Producer: Adam, Mi Hermano, Witkin & Witkin
Juho-Pekka Tanskanen, Director, Writer: Waiting for Barcelona
Woodrow Travers Director/Writer: David and the Kingdom
Gail Wagner, Director: The Reprogramming of Jeremy
Jerome Witkin, Subject: Witkin & Witkin
PLEASE NOTE: Guests may not be present at all screenings of their films. All guests are subject to change. Unscheduled guest appearances are also possible.
67 Presenting Sponsors Festival Guests
68 Presenting Sponsors Index #42 Dream - Always Carry a Guest Toothbrush 53 1900 (Novecento) 6 7th Heaven 14 Adam 36 And the Alley She Whitewashed in Light Blue 36 Andrei Rublev 26 Ashby, Hal 16, 17 Bears of Durango 37 Being There 16 Blaze 37 The Bookshop 13 Bound for Glory 16 Burkinabé Rising: The Art of Resistance in 38 Burkina Faso Casualties 48 Cerulia 52 Charlie Chaplin Lived Here 38 The Children Act 39 The Conformist 6 Crosscurrent 39 David and the Kingdom 37 David’s Voice 51 Djon Africa 39 Dream of Illumination 40 Elysia 50 Empath 50 Fake Tattoos (Les faux tatouages) 40 Family First (Chien de garde) 40 Gallelli, Santiago 19 Garden of the Finzi-Continis 7 Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable 41 Going Away (Un beau dimanche) 7 The Golden Mask 50 Good Manners 20 Goodbye 54 The Growth of Whiting 50 Hal 17 Hard Labor 20 The Heiresses 41 I Am Not a Witch 41 If All Hinges Upon Oneself 52 The Inheritance 7 Into the Blue 54 The Invisible Hands 42 Invisible Hands (short) 50 Jabberwocky 26 La Vérité (The Truth) 26 Lambeth Lights 54 Lucía 27 The Mackintosh Man 8 Madeline’s Madeline 42 Mademoiselle Paradis 42 Maine Student Film & Video Festival 63 Memoir of War (La Douleur) 43 MIFF-at-a-Glance Movie Schedule 32, 33 MIFFONEDGE 30, 31 Mi Hermano (My Brother) 18 The Miseducation of Cameron Post 43 Modified 43 Naila and the Uprising 44 No Date, No Signature 44 Nosotros Solos 54 The Nothing Factory 44 Omphaloskepsis 50 Papillon (new) 44 Pick of the Litter 45 Picture of Light 27 Popul[asian]: 356 51 Puzzle 45 The Queen of Fear 19 Re-Discovery 26–28 The Reprogramming of Jeremy 46 The Right Choice 54 Rojas, Juliana 20 Sanda, Dominique 6–8 Sansho Dayo (Sansho the Bailiff) 27 Satan’s in Heaven 52 Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland 46 Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood 46 Shake Sister Shake 47 Simõez, Alana 18 Smoke-N-Suds 52 Soap & Shadows 53 Soleil Ô (Oh, Sun) 28 Steppenwolf 8 Support the Girls 15 The Ten Mile Yard Sale 51 That Long and Lonesome Road to Grandma’s 52 The Third Murder 47 Thrasher Road 47 Transatlantic 28 Une Femme Douce 8 The Vastness of Everything & Everywhere 52 Waiting for Barcelona 48 The War in Between 48 The Washing Society 38 When You Read This Letter 28 White Walls Say Nothing 49 Witkin & Witkin 49 World Filmmakers’ Forum 18–20 Yo Dual, Marti, Mexican Dream 18 Zama 19
