hi everyone~ here is the schedule of films that play this coming week. For those of you who attended the MANHATTAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, I hope you enjoyed the program. I have tallied your votes (everyone on the ballot got more than one vote), and next week I will let you know how your Reel Pizza votes compared with the rest of the planet when I announce the world wide winners! If you have any comments about the program I would be interested. Thanks! and See you soon. -Lisa
Fri Oct 3 -Thurs Oct 9 MY OLD LADY(PG-13)107min5:30 & 8:00 Seventy-five year-old playwright Israel Horovitz has adapted his 2002 play into this affecting, delightful comedy and domestic drama starring Kevin Kline, Kirsten Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith.He plays a broke, thrice divorced, recovering alcoholic loser who just inherited a large apartment in a charming Paris neighborhood from his estranged father.When he arrives to sell the place for the cash, he discovers that a feisty old woman and her daughter live there, and, to his horror, also learns that due to an arcane and peculiar French real estate law, they are allowed to stay until the matron dies, and he must pay them a monthly fee.This situation leads all three to take a look at the choices they have made in their lives. trailer
Fri Oct 3 - Mon Oct 6 CALVARY (R)100min 6:00 & 8:30 Brendan Gleeson gives a brilliant performance as a good priest on the northwest coast of Ireland who ministers to a disparate town of flawed, wounded and spiritually bankrupt parishoners.The story starts with an anonymous death threat against the man by a long ago victim of clerical sexual child during his confession; the minister has a week to get his affairs in order.He spends that time comforting his distressed grown daughter (Kelly Reilly), and caring for his flock (including Chris O’Dowd and Domhnall Gleeson) whose various problems are scurrilous and comic.This is the second film from director John Michael McDonagh (The Guard). trailer Tues Oct 7 - Thurs Oct 9 THE TRIP TO ITALY(NR)108min6:00 & 8:30 Their first journey through northern England was such a blast that it only seemed like a good idea to do it again.Rob Bryden and Steve Coogan set out traveling along the coast of Italy with director Michael Winterbottom.Their fictionalized selves follow in the footsteps of the great Romantic poets Shelley and Byron, travelling from Liguria thru Tuscany, Rome, and Amalfi, ending in Capri and, while dining on mouthwatering meals at high end restaurants, indulge in sparkling banter and hilarious conversation.The comic interludes weave with quiet moments of self-reflection on friendship, family and career. trailer
Do you receive our snail mail schedule and have an "RR" or " HC" in your
(old, pre-911) address? Especially in Penobscot, Bernard, West Tremont,
Hancock, Eastbrook, Sedgwick, Bass Harbor, and one individual each from
Lubec, Machias, Seal Cove, Stonington, Stockholm, Tremont and
Brooksville. Our mailing program will no longer mail in bulk prices to
these addresses. I would LOVE to update them! We are totally glad to
mail you the schedule, but prefer to pay the reduced rate. Please reply
to me with your name and correct street address. I will mail them out
this time, (they will come with a first class stamp on them) but there
are MANY of you and it's cost prohibitive to have to send them first
class. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!
-Lisa
_______________________________________________
Reel Pizza mailing list
Thank you everyone who participated for making MIFF By-the-Sea #6 a fabulous weekend. We had a blast, and look forward to #7 next year!
This weekend (Sunday 9/21 at 2pm, free admission) is the final film (Ocean Frontiers: A New Era in Ocean Stewardship) in this year's Summer Environmental Film Series, a program of environmental films with speakers that we have presented with the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club over the last six years. Recently, Chris and I were selected us to receive their Environmental Business Award at their recent annual dinner for our work with them on this ongoing series. We are delighted to be partners with the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club and thank them for this honor. The free environmental film matinees will return next spring!
Below is how our upcoming week's schedule looks. Happy Equinox and cover your gardens tonight!
Tues Sept 16 - Mon Sept 22 BOYHOOD (R)164min5:00 & 8:15 STARTS Tues Sept 16.Director Richard Linklater’s latest film is a piece of ground-breaking cinema.Filmed several days a year over twelve years from 2001 - 2013, it seamlessly tells the fictional story of a boy growing up, from age 6 to 18, using the same actors who grow and age over the course of the story.Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play divorced parents, she the single mom, he the slacker but always fun dad, of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his older sister Samantha (the director’s daughter Lorelei Linklater) who we follow through moves and new schools, bullies and girlfriends, vacations and birthdays, right up to Mason’s highschool graduation.It is beautiful, dramatic, audacious, wonderful storytelling.Earned 3rd place in MIFF Audience Award vote. trailer
Fri Sept 19 - Thurs Sept 25 THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY(PG)122min6:00 & 8:30 The Kadam family, displaced from their native India, relocate to a quaint village in the south of France, the perfect place to open an Indian restaurant where son Hassan, a culinary ingénue can showcase his talents.When Mme. Mallory (Helen Mirren) the chilly proprietress of a Michelin-starred classical French restaurant just across the street hears about this, her protests escalate to all-out war.But Hassan has a passion for both French haute cuisine and the competition’s enchanting sous-chef Marguerite which he uses to magically fuse the two cultures’ cuisines that Mme. Mallory cannot ignore.A stimulating triumph over exile, blossoming with passion and heart, it is a portrayal of two worlds colliding and one boy’s drive to find the comfort of home, wherever he may be. trailer Tues Sept 26 - Thurs Sept 28 FINDING FELA(NR)119min5:30 & 8:00 Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side) has made a thought-provoking portrait of the life of Nigerian radical activist Fela Kuti, who courageously worked against the dictatorship and for democracy in his homeland, and a pioneering musician who, in the 1970s, fathered the Afro-Beat style, a fusion of Jazz, traditional West African beats, Funk, Highlife and psychedelic rock.Scenes from the wildly popular and Tony award-winning Broadway show directed by Bill T. Jones, and a trove of rare archival footage and interviews with family and colleagues bring out the story of this hedonistic yet inspirational man who fought for the rights of the oppressed and whose legacy is in his music. trailer
Sun Sept 21 SIERRA CLUB SUMMER SERIES FREE MATINEE OCEAN FRONTIERS: A New Era in Ocean Stewardship(NR) 80min 2pmFree This beautiful and inspiring film travels on a voyage to seaports and watersheds across United States where unlikely allies, including wildlife biologists, farmers, wetland ecologists, sport and commercial fishermen, port operators, snorkelers, and citizens all embark on a new course of cooperation in ocean management and stewardship to sustain the sea and our ocean economies. Featured speaker is Gretchen Noyes Hull of the Gulf Aquarium and Marine Station Cooperative.The Sierra Club offers this series for no charge to get people focused on the environment. trailer
We are nearly at our MIFF By-the-Sea weekend. The films look fabulous this year, and we hope you have found something that piques your interest. Tickets for the festival are $8 (no big tickets, please) and are on sale now, plus we have discount passes for six and twelve admissions (2 per film screening). You can try calling me during the day to order, or get them thru the boxoffice during our regular hours; they also will be on sale at the door for every show (August is over!). Remember our parking lot will be limited this weekend as we will be setting up the tent, as usual, for the opening night reception to which we welcome you. We will be welcoming our honored guests with food by the inimitable Sassafrass Catering, beverages by our dear neighbors and friends Atlantic Brewing Company, and music provided this year by MDI HS's fabulous jazz men COMBO 12 featuring Breaux Higgins, Simon Robertson, Ethan Craigo, Kevin Elk and our own dear Pierce Vincenty. Tickets are $15 for this festive event. There is a way to see all the films; just go to the italicized titles in order below. A full festival pass, which includes the opening, is $90. Sadly we have had to cancel our special Rock-n-Reel screening of SEVEN CHANCES. And also sadly, our closing party has had to be relocated, due to circumstances beyond our control, so if you are feeling festive on Monday evening after the last screening is out (around 10pm), come to the cinema for some wacky short films that Chris and Colin have collated for your enjoyment.
NEWS FLASH - This just in! MIFF By-the-Sea honored guest and Academy Award winner Ernest Thompson will be shooting a new music video for a song he wrote with Maine’s own Justin Jaymes in Bar Harbor on Saturday, September 13. Anyone of any age — no experience or acting background required — interested in being in the video is invited to meet Ernest at noon on Saturday, September 13 out front of Reel Pizza Cinerama. Sounds like fun and they are looking for a crowd. Come by and Spread the word!
Tuesday we are back to normal with a three day run of LAND HO! and the start of a week-long run of BOYHOOD, a runner-up for this year's Audience Award at the big MIFF. (The first place winner for the Audience Award was FORGOTTEN KINGDOM - playing Sat 5:45 and Sun 4:15.)
I think that is it! Hope to see you this weekend. -Lisa, Chris and Colin
ps I heard that one of the trailer links I sent was wrong in the previous email; here is the correct link to SUMMER OF FLYING FISH (I hope!)
(plan on seeing the titles in italics if you want to get to every show)
FRI 4:00 - 6:00 CATERED OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION (tickets $15) 5:30 - 7:08 HEAVENLY ANGLE(guest) 6:00 - 7:35 TAKE ME TO THE RIVER 7:45 - 9:03 A CHAIR FIT FOR AN ANGEL 7:45 - 8:42 EXTENDING THE PLAY (guest) 9:15 - 10:52 BREATHING EARTH 9:30 - 10:44 KUMU HINA 11:00 - 12:25 IMPROVISION SAT 2:30 - 4:05 THE BETTER ANGELS 2:45 - 4:20 THE SUMMER OF FLYING FISH 4:15 - 5:13 EXTENDING THE PLAY (guest) 4:30 - 5:32 ME-MADE SHORTS(guests) 5:45 - 7:21 FORGOTTEN KINGDOM 6:15 - 7:33 SOUTHWEST HARBOR CONNECTION (guests) 7:30 - 9:08 HEAVENLY ANGLE (guest) 8:15 - 9:33 WORLD SHORT FILMS 10:00 - 11:42 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT 10:00 - 10:56 ROCK-N-REEL SEVEN CHANCES cancelled :( SUN 2:30 - 3:57 PAULETTE 2:45 - 4:12 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT 4:15 - 5:51 FORGOTTEN KINGDOM 4:30 - 5:48 WORLD SHORT FILMS 6:00 - 7:37 BREATHING EARTH 6:30 - 7:48 A CHAIR FIT FOR AN ANGEL 8:00 - 9:02 ME-MADE SHORTS (guests) 8:30 - 9:44 KUMU HINA MON 5:00 - 6:35 THE BETTER ANGELS 5:15 - 6:33 SOUTHWEST HARBOR CONNECTION (guests) 6:45 - 8:12 PAULETTE 7:15 - 8:50 THE SUMMER OF FLYING FISH 8:30 - 10:05 TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
Tues Sept 16 - Mon Sept 22 BOYHOOD (R)164min5:00 & 8:15 STARTS Tues Sept 16.Director Richard Linklater’s latest film is a piece of ground-breaking cinema.Filmed several days a year over twelve years from 2001 - 2013, it seamlessly tells the fictional story of a boy growing up, from age 6 to 18, using the same actors who grow and age over the course of the story.Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play divorced parents, she the single mom, he the slacker but always fun dad, of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his older sister Samantha (the director’s daughter Lorelei Linklater) who we follow through moves and new schools, bullies and girlfriends, vacations and birthdays, right up to Mason’s highschool graduation.It is beautiful, dramatic, audacious, wonderful storytelling.Earned 3rd place in MIFF Audience Award vote. trailer Tues Sept 16 - Thurs Sept 18 LAND HO!(R)95min6:00 & 8:00 This very funny, anecdotal comedy and observational character study tells a tale of an eccentric odd couple, two brothers-in-law, once married to sisters, who are now alone.Mitch is a retired surgeon and party animal, a mischievous character who buys two tickets to Iceland and shows up at refined and soft-spoken Colin’s house to take him on the journey.They set off on a picturesque road trip from trendy Reykjavik to the rugged, volcanic outback hoping to reclaim their youth.It is both a classic bawdy road comedy and a candid exploration of aging, loneliness and friendship.Co-directors are Aaron Katz (Cold Weather) and Martha Stephens (Passenger Pigeon). trailer
Hi Yes we are still doing business. With the preparations for the film festival on the front burner (and the upheaval of school starting...), this email slipped by. Films listed here start TONIGHT!
Please notice the MIFF By-the-Sea film festival schedule in the separate email notice. We have lots going on next weekend, including on Fri Sept 12, a catered (by Sassafrass Catering and Atlantic Brewing Company) opening reception for our special guests in the afternoon plus a latenight special edition of Improvision. We will have shows both Sat and Sun afternoons in addition to our evening schedule. It is possible to see all the films. Email me if you are interested in the exact order to make that work! You can get a pass for $90 to see all 16 programs plus the reception. A bargain!! We also have discount cards for fewer screenings that can be used for one or two people per screening. All the MIFF tickets are on sale at the box office now.
On Sun Sept 21, we have our final scheduled free Sierra Club Matinee of the season. Tonight I travel to the annual dinner of the Maine Sierra Club to receive their Environmental Business Award for our work with them on this film series. I think we have been doing this for 6 years! It's a nice honor.
Please notice the odd playdates for BOYHOOD. It will run for seven days directly after the film festival - Tuesday thru Monday - a full week, just not a normal one!
I think that is all for now; Happy September!
-Lisa
9/5 - 9/11 A MOST WANTED MAN(R)121min6:00 & 8:30 9/5 - 9/8 GET ON UP (PG-13)138min5:30 & 8:15 9/9 - 9/11 CHINESE PUZZLE(R)117min[partly in French with subtitles]5:30 & 8:00
9/19 - 9/25 THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY(PG)122min6:00 & 8:30 9/23 - 9/25 FINDING FELA!(NR)119min5:30 & 8:00 9/21 OCEAN FRONTIERS: A New Era in Ocean Stewardship(NR) 80min 2:00Free
Fri Sept 5 - Thurs Sept 11
A MOST WANTED MAN(R)121min6:00 & 8:30
In this smart, tense adaptation of a 2008 John LeCarré novel, directed by Anton Corbijn (The American) no one is who he or she seems.In his final leading role, actor Philip Seymour Hoffman gives a convincing and complex performance of a German spymaster, Gunther Bachmann whose post-9/11 job is to monitor a Muslim neighborhood in Hamburg where the trade center attacks were hatched.When a mysterious, tortured Chechen immigrant laying claim to a shady inheritance shows up in his territory, he finds himself dealing with several untrustworthy agents, played by Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright and Willem Dafoe to discern the man’s true identity and motives. trailer
Fri Sept 5 - Mon Sept 8
GET ON UP (PG-13)138min5:30 & 8:15
The Godfather of Soul, the hardest working man in showbusiness, James Brown, has his life story told in this free-form new biographical film from director Tate Taylor (The Help).An impoverished kid from South Carolina, abandoned by his mother (Viola Davis) and abused by his alcoholic father (Lennie James) until being taken in by his aunt (Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer) and with the help of his lifelong best friend (Nelson Ellis), Mr. Brown (with a powerful portrayal by Chadwick Boseman, 42) went on to become one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. The film, as well as the man and his music, is mesmerizing, dynamic and unforgettable.trailer
Tues Sept 9 - Thurs Sept 11
CHINESE PUZZLE(R)117min[partly in French with subtitles]5:30 & 8:00
The Gallic counterpart to Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, director Cédric Klapisch’s third and final outing (after L’Auberge Espagnole and Russian Dolls) with Xavier (Romain Duris) and college friends, gay pal Isabelle (Cécile De France), ex-girlfriend Martine (Audry Tautou) and mother of his children Wendy (Kelly Reilly) finds Xavier following Wendy and kids to New York City after she leaves him for another man.Isabelle already lives there and Martine travels there on business, bringing the four international friends together again.Consistently funny, it is a seductive and light-hearted ode to the City and a charming end to the characters’ trilogy. trailer
Fri Sept 12 - Mon Sept 15
MIFF By-the-Sea #6
Over this weekend we are, for a sixth year, hosting a best-of selection of films and guest filmmakers from this summer's Maine International Film Festival in Waterville.The films -- both live action and animated, including documentaries, fiction features, and three collections of short films -- hail from MDI and around the world and will be screening at various times throughout the weekend; each film, save one, will screen twice.Please pick up the green MIFF By-the-Sea flyer for film descriptions, guest schedules and start times; individual tickets and discount passes are available now; ask us at the ticket booth!
Why should I attend a film festival?Good question! We think it is important to support small films lacking distribution.Some films on this year’s roster are made by or about your friends and neighbors.Others come from farther afield, part of the excellent program curated by the good folks at the Maine Film Center who present the ME Int’l Film Festival.We deliberately choose films without distribution for the fest. This year’s MIFF Audience Award went to Forgotten Kingdom (in fest); 2nd place was a tie, Take Me to the River (in fest) and Alive Inside playing Sept 2 - 4; and in 3rd - Boyhood, is coming on this schedule. See separate email for schedule and film descriptions.
Tues Sept 16 - Mon Sept 22
BOYHOOD (R)164min5:00 & 8:15
STARTS Tues Sept 16.Director Richard Linklater’s latest film is a piece of ground-breaking cinema.Filmed several days a year over twelve years from 2001 - 2013, it seamlessly tells the fictional story of a boy growing up, from age 6 to 18, using the same actors who grow and age over the course of the story.Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play divorced parents, she the single mom, he the slacker but always fun dad, of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his older sister Samantha (the director’s daughter Lorelei Linklater) who we follow through moves and new schools, bullies and girlfriends, vacations and birthdays, right up to Mason’s highschool graduation.It is beautiful, dramatic, audacious, wonderful storytelling.Earned 3rd place in MIFF Audience Award vote. trailer
Tues Sept 16 - Thurs Sept 18
LAND HO!(R)95min6:00 & 8:00
This very funny, anecdotal comedy and observational character study tells a tale of an eccentric odd couple, two brothers-in-law, once married to sisters, who are now alone.Mitch is a retired surgeon and party animal, a mischievous character who buys two tickets to Iceland and shows up at refined and soft-spoken Colin’s house to take him on the journey.They set off on a picturesque road trip from trendy Reykjavik to the rugged, volcanic outback hoping to reclaim their youth.It is both a classic bawdy road comedy and a candid exploration of aging, loneliness and friendship.Co-directors are Aaron Katz (Cold Weather) and Martha Stephens (Passenger Pigeon). trailer
Fri Sept 19 - Thurs Sept 25
THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY(PG)122min6:00 & 8:30
The Kadam family, displaced from their native India, relocate to a quaint village in the south of France, the perfect place to open an Indian restaurant where son Hassan, a culinary ingénue can showcase his talents.When Mme. Mallory (Helen Mirren) the chilly proprietress of a Michelin-starred classical French restaurant just across the street hears about this, her protests escalate to all-out war.But Hassan has a passion for both French haute cuisine and the competition’s enchanting sous-chef Marguerite which he uses to magically fuse the two cultures’ cuisines that Mme. Mallory cannot ignore.A stimulating triumph over exile, blossoming with passion and heart, it is a portrayal of two worlds colliding and one boy’s drive to find the comfort of home, wherever he may be. trailer
Tues Sept 26 - Thurs Sept 28
FINDING FELA!(NR)119min5:30 & 8:00
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side) has made a thought-provoking portrait of the life of Nigerian radical activist Fela Kuti, who courageously worked against the dictatorship and for democracy in his homeland, and a pioneering musician who, in the 1970s, fathered the Afro-Beat style, a fusion of Jazz, traditional West African beats, Funk, Highlife and psychedelic rock.Scenes from the wildly popular and Tony award-winning Broadway show directed by Bill T. Jones, and a trove of rare archival footage and interviews with family and colleagues bring out the story of this hedonistic yet inspirational man who fought for the rights of the oppressed and whose legacy is in his music. trailer
SIERRA CLUB SUMMER SERIES FREE MATINEE
Sun Sept 21 OCEAN FRONTIERS: A New Era in Ocean Stewardship(NR) 80min 2pmFree
This beautiful and inspiring film travels on a voyage to seaports and watersheds across United States where unlikely allies, including wildlife biologists, farmers, wetland ecologists, sport and commercial fishermen, port operators, snorkelers, and citizens all embark on a new course of cooperation in ocean management and stewardship to sustain the sea and our ocean economies. Featured speaker is Gretchen Noyes Hull of the Gulf Aquarium and Marine Station Cooperative.The Sierra Club offers this series for no charge to get people focused on the environment. trailer
Hi Everyone Here is the schedule for our 6th (!) MIFF By-the-Sea film festival which runs next weekend here at Reel Pizza. We look forward to welcoming a terrific slate of films and guest filmmakers.
Tickets are available now at the box office. Big Tickets cannot be used for admission during these four days. See you soon! -L
Below is the daily schedule for Sept 12 - 15 2014 Individual Tickets for all films are $8, available in advance at Reel Pizza box office. THIS YEAR! Discount Passes! 10 admissions (limit 2 per screening) $70; 6 admissions (limit 2 per screening) $45 Full Festival pass (for one admission/screening) good for all events $90
FRI 4:00 - 6:00 CATERED OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION (tickets $15) Screen one 5:30 - 7:08 HEAVENLY ANGLE (guest) 7:45 - 9:03 A CHAIR FIT FOR AN ANGEL 9:30 - 10:44 KUNA HINA 11:00 - 12:25 IMPROVISION Screen two 6:00 - 7:35 TAKE ME TO THE RIVER 7:45 - 8:42 EXTENDING THE PLAY (guest) 9:15 - 10:52 BREATHING EARTH SAT Screen one 2:30 - 4:05 THE BETTER ANGELS 4:15 - 5:13 EXTENDING THE PLAY (guest) 5:45 - 7:21 FORGOTTEN KINGDOM 7:30 - 9:08 HEAVENLY ANGLE (guest) 10:00 - 10:56 ROCK-N-REEL SEVEN CHANCES Screen two 2:45 - 4:20 THE SUMMER OF FLYING FISH 4:30 - 5:32 ME-MADE SHORTS (guests) 6:15 - 7:33 SOUTHWEST HARBOR CONNECTION (guests) 8:15 - 9:33 WORLD SHORT FILMS 10:00 - 11:42 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT SUN Screen one 2:45 - 4:12 A HARD DAY’S NIGHT 4:30 - 5:48 WORLD SHORT FILMS 6:00 - 7:37 BREATHING EARTH 8:00 - 9:02 ME-MADE SHORTS (guests) Screen two 2:30 - 3:57 PAULETTE 4:15 - 5:51 FORGOTTEN KINGDOM 6:30 - 7:48 A CHAIR FIT FOR AN ANGEL 8:30 - 9:44 KUNA HINA MON Screen one 5:15 - 6:33 SOUTHWEST HARBOR CONNECTION (guests) 7:15 - 8:50 THE SUMMER OF FLYING FISH Screen two 5:00 - 6:35 THE BETTER ANGELS 6:45 - 8:12 PAULETTE 8:30 - 10:05 TAKE ME TO THE RIVER 10:00 - ? CLOSING PARTY AT LOMPOC CAFE
*= guest speaker DOCUMENTARIES: BREATHING EARTHGermany/U.K./Turkey/Mexico/Japan/Italy/France 2012 97min [in GERMAN with subtitles] Fri 9:15; Sun 6:00 trailer Artist and architect Susumu Shingu has had a lifelong "dialogue with the wind and with water." For many years he has been creating sculptures that reveal the hidden energies of these elements. Their surfaces move to the same wind that we feel, they absorb it, change and morph and change again. Susumu lives according to this principle of acceptance and absorption; at 75, he has retained the imagination and curiosity of the child who built flying machines and racing cars 70 years ago. Now he wants to create wind-powered artistic communities. The great German director Thomas Riedelsheimer (Rivers and Tides, Touch the Sound) documents this combination of passionate environmental story and moving exploration of creativity with characteristic eloquence and lustrous imagery.
A CHAIR FIT FOR AN ANGELCanada/USA/Finland 2014 78min [partly in FRENCH & FINNISH with subtitles] Fri 7:45; Sun 6:30trailer "There are many ways to express ideas, and eloquence is sometimes possible without words." --Director, Raymond St-Jean. This genre-bending documentary looks at the cultural legacy of America's most successful utopian society: the Shakers. The Shakers are artisans and innovators, whose maxim 'beauty rests on utility' inspired the creation of minimalist furniture and architectural designs that influenced modern functionalism. They live a simple life, with an emphasis on work, imbued by a profound spirituality. They wrote work songs and spiritual hymns of exquisite beauty and danced to the point of ecstasy during religious meetings. Inspired by this music and dance, Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen created Borrowed Light, a dance piece that explores communal life and individual sacrifice. Shot in Finland and the United States, the film features breathtaking dance sequences from Borrowed Light, music by The Boston Camerata, and footage from the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, ME, the last active Shaker community in existence. St-Jean's goal: "to make a simple, uncluttered film that stays focused on essentials." The result: a stunningly beautiful -- transcendent -- documentary in word, song and dance.
*EXTENDING THE PLAYUSA/Luxembourg 2014 57min Fri 7:45; Sat 4:15 trailer In this true love and basketball story, an American married couple follows their dreams to Europe. But Extending the Play is not only about basketball. It is a unique story about redemption, opportunity, passion, love, humility and the trials and tribulations that arise while chasing a dream. The story examines the lives of Kasey and Bracey Ulin, husband and wife, who are currently two of the top basketball players in Luxembourg. Coming from opposite coasts in the USA, they both had intriguing individual journeys leading up to their meeting in 2007 in Germany. Although some major conflicts arose resulting in being away from basketball during the prime of their careers, they have since returned overseas to finish off their amazing storybook careers, even as they think about what the future holds for them. Featuring footage of MDI native Bracey Ulin (née Barker), her high school career in Bar Harbor, her college tenure as a star Maine Black Bear, and interviews with her father, MDIHS coach Burt Barker.
KUMA HINA Fiji/USA 2013 74min Fri 9:30; Sun 8:30trailer Imagine a world where a little boy can grow up to be the woman of his dreams, and a young girl can rise to become a leader among men. Welcome to Kumu Hina's Hawai'i. At a time when gender non-conforming people are marginalized and mistreated the world over, Kumu Hina presents an intimate portrait of a proud and confident mahu (transgender) teacher who is passing on ancient Hawaiian culture and traditions to her students as she searches for love and a fulfilling romantic relationship in her own life. Physically large and covered in striking tattoos, Hina is an important and respected person throughout Hawai'i. As her arduous journey unfolds, her Hawaiian roots and values give her the strength and wisdom to persevere, offering a powerful documentary glimpse of the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized society of modern day Hawai'i, and an understanding of the true meaning of aloha -- unconditional love and respect for all.
TAKE ME TO THE RIVERU.S.A. 2013 95min Fri 6:00; Mon 8:30trailer On the heels of Twenty Feet from Stardom and Muscle Shoals comes an ode to creation, a reverent and exuberant love letter to talent past and present recorded in crisp tones and played with wide smiles. In the face of pervasive discrimination and segregation, the inter-generational and inter-racial musical influence of Memphis is celebrated ecstatically by the royalty of blues and their heirs. The film brings multiple generations of award-winning Memphis and Mississippi Delta musicians together, through the creative process of recording a historic new album, to re-imagine the utopia of racial, gender and generational collaboration of Memphis in its heyday. Director and record producer Martin Shore allows the hardworking session musicians to do what comes naturally -- create an effusion of great rhythms and stories. Performers include seventysomething firecracker Mavis Staples and scratchy-voiced scene stealer Charles "Skip" Pitts -- the bigger the personality, the more entertaining the tales. The spirit and soul of the blues, printed on wax by Stax and Hi Records, is evoked once more -- and it's sweet to the ears. Featuring Terrence Howard, William Bell, Snoop Dog, Mavis Staples, Otis Clay, Lil P-Nut, Charlie Musselwhite, Bobby 'Blue' Bland, Yo Gotti, Bobby Rush, Frayser Boy, The North Mississippi All-Stars and many more. Executive produced by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads).
FEATURES: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (New Digital Restoration!) UK 1964 87min Sat 10:00; Sun 2:45trailer Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A Hard Day's Night, in which the bandmates play slapstick versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems, including the title track, "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Should Have Known Better," and "If I Fell," this deliriously entertaining movie reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video.
THE BETTER ANGELSUSA 2014 95min Sat 2:30; Mon 5:00trailer Produced by MIFF Midlife Achievement Award winner Terrence Malick, and first-time directed by his recent editor, A.J. Edwards, The Better Angels is about Abraham Lincoln as a boy. But Spielberg’s Lincoln this is not -- shot in haunting black and white and, much influenced by Malick's work, imbued with a poetical reverence for nature. In 1817 Indiana, the entire nation, only 40 years old and a few years removed from a second war of independence, is raw. Men, women, and children alike battle nature and disease to survive in remote log cabins. This is young Abraham Lincoln's world. Spanning three years of the future president's childhood, this film explores his family, the hardships that shaped him, the tragedy that marked him forever, and the two women who guided him to immortality. And yet, The Better Angels is more a story of the land that we inhabit than that of one of our most revered men.
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOMUSA/South Africa 2013 96min [in SOTHO with subtitles] Sat 5:45; Sun 4:15 Winner of MIFF 2014 Audience Award trailer When Atang returns to his ancestral land of Lesotho, South Africa, to bury his father, he reconnects with the mystic landscape and hardships of village life he thought he'd left behind. Writer-director Andrew Mudge crafts an intimate tale of a soul grown used to the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg who must quickly adjust to the more spiritual rhythms of the Basotho people. In Lesotho, Atang meets Dineo, a young schoolteacher he knew as a child, falling in love and rekindling feelings about his people and his past. As their relationship develops, Atang begins to encounter villagers who lead him further on an unexpected, often mystical, journey into his past. Taking his inspiration from the films of David Lynch, John Sayles, and Nicolas Roeg, Mudge crafts a lyrical, humanist portrait of a young man attempting to find his place in the world, both geographically and spiritually. Mudge has created an intimate, moving portrait of lives in transition, and the sacrifices people must make in order to connect with each other in a meaningful way.
*HEAVENLY ANGLE USA 2014 98min Fri 5:30; Sat 7:30 trailer From Ernest Thompson -- Oscar winner, On Golden Pond creator, and last year's guest at MIFF -- comes a hoot with a heart. Heavenly Angle follows a has-been Hollywood director as he tries to swindle New Englanders into investing in a film he doesn't plan to make, only to find out that there may be no better place to make a movie with real people. This riotous follow-up to last year's Thompson-led film, Time and Charges, is, like that film, made in collaboration with the students of his filmmaking workshops in New Hampshire. But the result here is as slickly funny as anything that's come down the Hollywood pike in years, a hilarious satire with a very human core and message, embodied by the non-pros who Ernest has guided here, and by Joe Deleault, who composed the infectious score, featuring the legendary Natalie MacMaster.
PAULETTE France 2013 87min [in FRENCH with subtitles] Sun 2:30; Mon 6:45 trailer A crowd-pleasing, truly charming comedy from France, Paulette tells the story of a grouchy old woman living alone in the projects on the outskirts of Paris, her meager retirement pension not enough for her to make ends meet. When she notices some curious trafficking outside her building one night, Paulette sees it as a sign of fate. As an ex-pastry chef, with a gift for commerce and cooking, she decides to start selling cannabis, attaining instant success with the help of her friends who stumble onto her newfound career. Still, there are other dealers and police to contend with, as well as her own son, a cop... But Paulette's creativity and ingenuity, which stood her in good stead all her years running her cafe, are her trump cards here.
THE SUMMER OF FLYING FISH Chile/France 2013 95min [in SPANISH with subtitles] Sat 2:45; Mon 7:15trailer "An enticing first fiction feature… Set in what should be a vacation paradise, it charts the coming to consciousness of a teenage girl, who, in a single summer, has her first love affair and discovers another world -- that of the Mapuche Indians, who are being displaced from their land by men like her wealthy, brutish, arrogant father. Guess whose side she's on?" --Amy Taubin, Film Comment. "Some years ago I visited one of these astounding mansions in the south of Chile. A daughter of the owner told me a story about her father, who tried by all means -- even dynamite -- to get rid of the fish that had invaded his lake. With a natural passion for power issues, in no time I took it as a starting point… I needed to find the right language to evoke this privileged, powerful class and the violence it uses to protect its interests and maintain the status quo… I wanted to film the tension, the atmosphere of restrained violence which grabbed me by the neck since the very first step I took inside this property…" --Director Marcela Said.
SHORT FILMS PROGRAMS: A celebration of the short film form in its many genres: dramatic (domestic and international), animation, documentary, and experimental. Both Programs offer a balanced sampling of provocative filmmaking: a tasting menu, if you will!
*MAINE-MADE SHORT FILMS62min Sat 4:30; Sun 8:00 Death, Taxes and Apple Juice Director Tamar Halpern 8min Wondering if life has passed her by, 10-year-old Claire is comforted by a glass of Chardonnay as 7-year-old Hannah helps Claire file her taxes. James Gilmore: That Ain't Me Director Mike Robida 9min Poignant black and white music video of the musician exercising his musical talents inside an abandoned concert hall. Monsura is Waiting Director Kevin Newbury 15min After years of performing their act, an homage to the giant butterfly Monsura, two sisters face a dramatic parting of the ways, as one gets married. Ursula Co-Directors Anna Rios, Sarah Françoise 16min A young girl is given a day to do whatever she wishes. In Winter Director Allison Perna 5min A contemplation of winter's inherent mystery by a Unity College student. Another Day (COA) Director Rowan Kase 5min A painstakingly shot analog/digital hybrid, a dark meditation on the materiality of the moving image. Excerpts from McDougal Family History (COA) Director Polly McAdam 4min A family history of outlaws. farmers, and family -- stories told by two generations and animated by the third.
WORLD SHORT FILMS78min Sat 8:15; Sun 4:30 Requiem for a Robot Austria/USA Director Christoph Rainer 6min Rob, a worn-out robot with a corrupt memory, drowns his sorrows in alcohol and asks himself the essential question: What did he do wrong? Animation Hotline USA Director Dustin Grella 7min Ever feel like your life could use an animated rendition? Well, your request can be granted using the Animation Hotline! Voices Thrown Silent USA Director Paul Armstrong 45min Two ventriloquists find camaraderie after enduring the loneliness and disapproval of performing with interracial dummies. Balcony Kosovo Director Lendita Zeqiraj [in ALBANIAN with subtitles] 20min Shot in one bravura take, a young boy perches atop his family's balcony, where concerns for his safety compete with passersby's personal melodramas.
*THE SOUTHWEST HARBOR CONNECTION 78min Sat 6:15, Mon 5:15 This past year, two films have been made by residents of Southwest Harbor, one by a more-seasoned filmmaker, the other by a young man just starting out. Please join us and them to share their films.
RICHARD ESTES: MY CAMERA IS MY SKETCHBOOK Director Thom Willey 2013 53min Watch Richard Estes of Northeast Harbor, one of the world's foremost contemporary realist artists, describe his journey from his boyhood home in Illinois to the life of famous artist in New York and Maine as he reveals his influences and techniques to filmmaker and Southwest Harbor resident Thom Willey. It's a candid look through the eyes of the artist.
THE SEARCH FOR THE WHITE ROSE Director Peter Logue 2014 25min The White Rose was a resistance movement in Nazi Germany that was led by five students and one professor at the University of Munich in 1942 and 1943. They published and widely distributed six leaflets that called upon their nation to rise against the government. This documentary explores the legacy that was left behind by the members of the White Rose after they were caught and executed by the Gestapo.
SEVEN CHANCES - Rock & REEL 56min Sat 10:00 trailer Buster Keaton’s 1925 comedy is unrivaled for visual virtuosity and hilarity. He stars as a romantically jinxed young man who must marry by 7pm in order to inherit $7million. Fate seems to thwart every effort he makes to woo his true love, so he publically announces his predicament, providing him with a throng of potential but aggressive would-be brides. In a rousing and brilliantly choreographed crucial sequence, he flees an avalanche of suitors while dodging the hostile forces of nature that seem to conspire against him. Our screening will feature live accompaniment by local musicians.
IMPROVISION ~85min Fri 11:00 Check out our wacky collaboration with the talented ImprovAcadia crew! With the sound turned off, this ever-changing group of up and coming comedians improvises the dialogue, music tracks, and sound effects to a cheesy, grade-B movie that they have never seen before! Their talents make the pictures on the screen way funnier than they were ever anticipated. Its a totally new show every time. Don't miss out on all the fun.
