AMERICAN THIEF

USA 2020 - DCP - 78 minutes

In English

Director: Miguel Silveira

Producer: Michel Stolnicki

Screenplay: Miguel Silveira, Michel Stolnicki, Missy Hernandez

Cinematography: John Wakayama Carey

Cast: Xisco Maximo Monroe, Khadim Diop, Ben Becher, Josefina Scaro

Wow! What a discovery AMERICAN THIEF is! Four years in the making but fresher than today, this wildly original, truly thrilling film has the immediacy, daring and perspective of only the best cinematic triumphs of recent years—yet it’s a true American indie, shot because it had to be, and introducing us to several great talents. Toncruz and Diop are teenage hackers. Diop wants to awaken society to the reality of overreaching government surveillance programs, while Toncruz wants to use technology to avenge his father’s murder. As Toncruz connects to internet criminals on the deep web, Paul Hunter, a disgruntled and possibly somewhat askew video blogger, rants about political conspiracy theories. Both Paul and Toncruz are contacted by a mysterious, nameless figure who claims to be able to provide what they all need to expose the truth. Meanwhile, an artificial intelligence programmer observes what unfolds as she attempts to contain the monster she’s created. AMERICAN THIEF leads up to an astonishing climax on Election evening 2016. Wow! Did we say that already?

Sponsored by Nancy Sanford

North American Premiere QUEEN LEAR

Turkey 2020 - DCP - 84 minutes

In Turkish with English subtitles

Director, Cinematography: Pelin Esmer

Producers: Dilde Mahali, Pelin Esmer

Sunday July 12

Funny, sweet, modest and, in its own way, profound. Not a bad combo! QUEEN LEAR travels with a group of women and a female-led documentary crew, captained by director Pelin Esmer, to where no mere KING Lear has gone before! 16 years ago, a handful of peasant women from the mountains of southern Turkey formed a theater group. The women acted out their own life stories in the village, and the play changed their lives. Now, they take to the road with an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” following dusty and risky roads to remote, forgotten villages in the mountains of Turkey that are hardly reached by even drinking water. The play delicately becomes “Queen Lear” in the hands of the group. The troupe’s and villagers’ discoveries may parallel your own as you watch this remarkable cinematic odyssey.

Sponsored by Patricia Clark

North

American Premiere

White Riot

United Kingdom 2020 - DCP - 80 minutes In English

Director: Rubika Shah

Producer: Ed Gibbs

Screenplay: Rubika Shah, Ed Gibbs

Cinematography: Susanne Salavati

Monday July 13

A country deeply divided about immigration. Racism rearing its ugly head again. A generation rebelling to change and make a world that’s different and better. Sound familiar? This could describe the U.S. in the present day. Or the U.K. in 1976, when Rock Against Racism was founded in collaboration with musically and politically terrific punk bands including The Clash, Steel Pulse and Tom Robinson to form the biggest—and certainly the most energetic and musically charged—civil rights movement in British history. WHITE RIOT is director Rubika Shah’s inspirational and incendiary documentary about a cause that brought black and white, music and politics, energy and intelligence together in a truly revolutionary way. It’s a kick to watch—and to hear!

Sponsored by Joan Phillips-Sandy