PLACE AND TIME— PORTLAND, MAINE

USA 2020 - 10 minutes, in English Directors, Producers: John T. Meader, Shawn E. Burke

The title says much. The images and sound say the rest. Ace MIFF photographer John Meader and equally exemplary sound recordist Shawn Burke combine forces on a moment in space and time on November 17, 2019 in Portland. The idea of adding audio to stills is a way to add depth and time to the viewing of still imagery. By focusing on a specific area, in this case greater Portland, they give the viewer a thoughtful way to see and hear the waterfront without the sense of action expected in video or film footage. We see and hear anew. —Ken Eisen

Maine Premiere

Aloners

South Korea 2021 - DCP - 91 minutes, in Korean with English subtitles

Director, Screenplay: Hong Seong-eun

Producer: Lee Seung-won

Cast: Jeong Da-eun, Seo Hyun-woo, Jeong-hak Park, Gong Seung-Yeon

Print Courtesy: Film Movement

Jina is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion. When one day she’s tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire, her icy armor is threatened. At the same time, she must navigate an incessantly ingratiating new neighbor, and increasingly urgent phone calls from her father, leaving Jina teetering on the edge of an existential crisis. —Saidah Russell

Sponsored by Shannon Haines

New England Premiere ARTHUR RAMBO

France 2021 - DCP - 87 minutes, in French with English subtitles

Director: Laurent Cantet

Screenplay: Fanny Burdino, Laurent Cantet, Samuel Doux

Producer: Marie-Ange Luciani

Cast: Rabah Nait Oufella, Bilel Chegrani, Antoine Reinartz

Print Courtesy: Playtime

With such triumphs as HEADING SOUTH, THE CLASS and TIME OUT, Laurent Cantet established himself as one of the leading French filmmakers of the 21st century. And with his latest, ARTHUR RAMBO, he dives headfirst but characteristically coolly into some of our current world’s malaise. Young French Arab writer Karim D’s work is a literary sensation, taking the French book, political and cultural worlds by storm. But at the top of the world, he falls when a series of provocative, incendiary tweets written under the pseudonym “Arthur Rambo” are attributed to him. Karim says he intended them as satire. That does not fly as well as his other writing has. —Ken Eisen

Sunday, July 10 9:30 P.M. | RR1

Thursday, July 14 3:00 P.M. | RR3

Tuesday, July 12 6:15 P.M. | RR2

Friday, July 15 3:30 P.M. | WOH

Saturday, July 16 3:15 P.M. | RR2

And So I Stayed

USA 2021 - DCP - 91 minutes, in English

Directors, Producers: Natalie Pattillo, Daniel A. Nelson

Writer: Natalie Pattillo

With: Kim Dadou Brown, Nikki Addimando, Tanisha Davis

Print Courtesy: Fourth Act Film

AND SO I STAYED is an award-winning documentary about survivors of abuse fighting for their lives and spending years behind bars. This is the story of how the legal system gets domestic violence wrong. It is a moving portrait of Kim, Tanisha, and Nikki, three survivors whose strikingly similar stories are separated by over 30 years. None of them were believed, and each of them was criminalized for fighting back.