The First Part of the 2019 Line-Up is Here!
Feature Length Documentaries
JAY MYSELF: Acclaimed photographer Jay Maisel bought a six-story, 72-room building on the Bowery in 1966. Ever since, the site has served as his home, studio and repository for a breathtaking collection of items that inspires his photographic work. But now it must be emptied out following its sale in the largest private real estate deal in NYC history. As Maisel prepares for this monumental move, a true end of an era, he reflects on his life and work for the camera of his mentee, photographer and filmmaker Stephen Wilkes.
COLD CASE HAMMARSKJOLD: In 1961, United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane mysteriously crashed, killing Hammarskjöld and most of the crew. It’s understood that because Hammarskjöld was, at the time, advocating for Congo’s independence, the “crash” was an assassination. With the case still unsolved 50-plus years later, Danish filmmaker (and provocateur) Mads Brügger leads us down an investigative rabbit hole to unearth the shocking truth. PREMIERED AT SUNDANCE 2019
MIKE WALLACE IS HERE: Deemed the “enemy of the people” by our current president, journalism in America is on the chopping block. Lies, fake news, propaganda, and verbal subterfuge threaten to cripple our First Amendment. This fascinating exposé of 60 Minutes’ fearsome newsman Mike Wallace turns his hard-hitting, no-holds-barred journalistic style loose on Wallace himself, who is considered by many to be the inventor of the form. Mike Wallace unflinchingly interrogated the biggest figures of the 20th century. During 50 years on the air, his aggressive reporting style and showmanship redefined what America has come to expect from broadcasters. PREMIERED AT SUNDANCE 2019
Feature Length Narratives
LOST IN PARIS: Filmed in Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon’s signature whimsical style, LOST IN PARIS stars the filmmakers as a small-town Canadian librarian and a strangely seductive, oddly egotistical vagabond. When Fiona’s orderly life is disrupted by a letter of distress from her 88-year-old Aunt Martha (Oscar Winner Emmanuelle Riva) who is living in Paris, Fiona hops on the first plane she can and arrives only to discover that Martha has disappeared. In an avalanche of spectacular disasters, she encounters Dom, the affable, but annoying tramp who just won’t leave her alone. LOST IN PARIS is a wondrously fun and hectic tale of peculiar people finding love while lost in the City of Lights. PREMIERED AT THE TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL
SUMMER 1993: After the passing of mother, six-year-old Frida must adjust to life in the countryside of Catalonia with her aunt and her family. Revealing the aftermath of tragedy through a child’s eyes, Frida rediscovers the building blocks of human intimacy. SUMMER 1993 is an unforgettable film of disarming authenticity, free of sentimentality and beautifully crafted in every way. PREMIERED AT THE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
Documentary Short Films
ALL INCLUSIVE: Under the spell of mass entertainment on the high seas. PREMIERED AT SUNDANCE 2019
GUNS FOUND HERE: A surprisingly non-fictional tragicomedy about how America traces a gun involved in a gun crime back to its owner. PREMIERED AT SXSW 2019
THE HOUSE IS INNOCENT: Trying to overcome their home’s macabre past, a couple realize they need more than a coat of paint.
THE NEXT EDITION: The students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, have to figure out how to channel their fear while maintaining their journalistic integrity, as they publish the first edition of their school newspaper in the aftermath of the deadliest high school shooting on record.
Narrative Short Films
GREEN: An undocumented Turkish pedicab driver, unwittingly draws police attention, endangering his brother, his community, and himself. SUNDANCE 2019 JURY PRIZE WINNER
RUNNER: A Chicago woman goes for a jog and witnesses something she can’t run away from. FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!
THE CLIMB: Kyle and Mike go for a weekend bike ride but Mike has something to say that might ruin the ride. PREMIERED AT SUNDANCE 2018
THREE PAGES: An unassuming middle-aged accountant learns he has only weeks to live. Rather than tell everyone, Martin is determined to learn the three pages of a Bach adagio for piano he’d abandoned as a child.
GUAXUMA: A beloved friendship is gorgeously memorialized in sand from the Brazilian beaches of the filmmaker’s childhood. SXSW 2019 GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNER.