NEW FEATURES Saturday, July 8 6:40PM | MFC 2 Tuesday, July 11 3:20PM | MFC 3
RICEBOY SLEEPS Canada 2022 - DCP - 117 minutes, in English and in Korean with English subtitles Director, Screenplay: Anthony Shim Producers: Bryan Demore, Anthony Shim Cast: Choi Seung-yoon, Ethan Hwang, Dohyun Noel Hwang, Anthony Shim, Hunter Dillon, Jerina Son Print Courtesy: Sphere Films
After a mysterious family tragedy, So-Young, a Korean single mother, moves her young son, Dong-Hyun, to Canada with the hope of giving him a better life. As the years pass, we witness the toll racism, illness, cultural assimilation, and familial resentment take on their relationship and Dong-Hyun’s tumultuous coming of age. In only his second feature film, director Anthony Shim—partially inspired by his own childhood—crafts an incredibly impactful, visually expansive, and emotionally resonant portrait of a mother and son living parallel lives in a strange and confounding new world. It’s a sweeping and ambitious cinematic vision, one that feels consistently grounded by heartbreaking and thoughtful performances, palpable intimacy, and searing tenderness. Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival’s coveted Platform Prize in 2022, Riceboy Sleeps solidifies Shim’s promise as an emerging director to watch. –SR Sponsored by Mid-Maine Global Forum
Monday, July 10 4PM | WOH Wednesday, July 12 6:20PM | MFC 3
Eastern U.S. Premiere
SHOE SHINE CADDIE USA 2023 - DCP - 62 minutes, in English Director, Print Courtesy: Leonard Manzella Producers: Leonard Manzella, Simo Nylander With: Adrian Spears
“The homeless” are an abstract group of humans to most. But Shoe Shine Caddie humanizes the unhoused experience by capturing the irresistible spirit of 61-year-old Adrian Spears. After years of incarceration, he’s surviving on the streets of San Luis Obispo, California by shining shoes on a street corner, while fighting for custody of his three-year-old daughter. Adrian is also bursting with vitality and wit, truly his own man. Movie actor (as “Leonard Mann”) turned therapist turned director Leonard Manzella returns to MIFF with this truly lovely portrait of a man looking down at people’s shoes, but also out at the world. —KE
Shown With
OLD MAN AT THE CORNER STORE USA 2023 - 8 minutes, in English Director: Nadav Heyman, Anabella Casanova Screenplay, Print Courtesy: Nadav Heyman Producers: Cheryl Mann, Collin Del Cuore Cast: Zoe Rawlings, Fen Del Cuore, Mher Khachatryan, Adrian Dela Rosa, Nadav Heyman, Donte Cooley A stooped old man, seemingly barely functional, is the object of scornful attention from the neighborhood kids until…they discover there’s more going on there than they had imagined possible, or that they have going on for themselves…. —KE Sponsored by Nancy Sanford
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Maine International Film Festival 2023 MIFF.ORG