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 EARTH Germany/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 ANGEL Canada/USA/Finland 2014 78min [partly in FRENCH & FINNISH with subtitles] Fri 7:45; Sun 6:30 trailer
"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 PLAY USA/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 8:30 trailer
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 RIVER U.S.A. 2013 95min Fri 6:00; Mon 8:30 trailer
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 2:45 trailer
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 ANGELS USA 2014 95min Sat 2:30; Mon 5:00 trailer
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 KINGDOM USA/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 7:15 trailer
"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 FILMS 62min 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 FILMS 78min 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.
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