THE 2016 DIFF OFFICIAL SELECTIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS
CENTERPIECE GALA SELECTION
OTHER PEOPLE
Director: Chris Kelly
Country: USA, Running Time: 97min
A struggling New York City comedy writer, fresh from breaking up with his boyfriend,
moves to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Living with his conservative father and
younger sisters, David feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother worsens,
he tries to convince everyone (including himself) he’s “doing okay.” The film stars Molly
Shannon and Jesse Plemons.
CENTERPIECE GALA SELECTION
Queen of the South - Pilot
Director: Charlotte Sieling
Country: USA, Running Time: 42min
Based on the global best-selling novel “La Reina Del Sur,” by internationally-acclaimed
author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, QUEEN OF THE SOUTH tells the powerful story of
Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga), a woman who is forced to run and seek refuge in
America after her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico. In the
process, she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the
very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run.
PREMIERE SERIES
COMPLETE UNKNOWN
Director: Joshua Marston
Country: USA, Running Time: 90min
As a man (Michael Shannon) contemplates moving to a new state with his wife for her
graduate program, an old flame (Rachel Weisz) - a woman who often changes identities
- reenters his life at a birthday dinner party.
HIGH-RISE
Director: Ben Wheatley
Country: UK, Running Time: 119min
HIGH-RISE stars Tom Hiddleston as Dr. Robert Laing, the newest resident of a luxurious
apartment in a high-tech concrete skyscraper whose lofty location places him amongst
the upper class. Laing quickly settles into high society life and meets the building’s
eccentric tenants: Charlotte (Sienna Miller), his upstairs neighbor and bohemian single
mother; Wilder (Luke Evans), a charismatic documentarian who lives with his pregnant
wife Helen (Elisabeth Moss); and Mr. Royal (Jeremy Irons), the enigmatic architect who
designed the building. Life seems like paradise to the solitude-seeking Laing. But as
power outages become more frequent and building flaws emerge, particularly on the
lower floors, the regimented social strata begins to crumble and the building becomes a
battlefield in a literal class war.
MORRIS FROM AMERICA
Director: Chad Hartigan
Country: USA/Germany, Running Time: 89min
A heartwarming and crowd-pleasing coming-of-age comedy with a unique spin, Morris
from America centers on Morris Gentry, a 13-year-old who has just relocated with his
single father to Heidelberg, Germany. Morris, who fancies himself the next Notorious
B.I.G., is a complete fish-out-of-water—a budding hip-hop star in an EDM world. To
complicate matters further, Morris quickly falls hard for his cool, rebellious, 15-year-old
classmate Katrin.
SING STREET
Director: John Carney
Country: Ireland/USA/UK, Running Time: 105min
SING STREET tales us back to 1980s Dublin seen through the eyes of a 14-year-old-boy
named Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who is looking for a break from a home strained by
his parents’ relationship and money troubles, while trying to adjust to his new inner-city
public school where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer
of hope in the mysterious, über-cool and beautiful Raphina (Lucy Boynton), and with the
aim of winning her heart he invites her to star in the band’s music videos. There’s only
one problem: he’s not part of a band…yet. She agrees and now Conor must deliver what
he’s promised – calling himself “Cosmo” and immersing himself in the vibrant rock trends
of the decade, he forms a band with a few lads, and the group pours their heart into writing
lyrics and shooting videos.
A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS
Director: Natalie Portman
Country: Israel/USA, Running Time: 98min
Based on Amos Oz's international best-seller, A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS is the
story of Oz's youth at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of
the State of Israel. The film details young Amos' relatinship with his mother and his birth
as a writer, looking at what happens when the stories we tell, become the stories we live.
THREE DAYS IN AUGUST – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Johnathan Brownlee
Country: USA, Running Time: 96min
Starring Barry Bostwick, Meg Foster, and Mariette Hartley, the film is about an Irish
American artist who is forced to confront her past when both sets of parents come
together over a weekend for her to paint a family portrait.
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
ARIANNA
Director: Carlo Lavagna
Country: Italy, Running Time: 84min
At the age of nineteen, Arianna still hasn’t had her first period. The hormones that her
gynaecologist has prescribed don't seem to have any effect on her development. In the
heat of the silent summer afternoons she spends in the family’s hunting lodge in Tuscany,
she starts inquiring about her body and her past, to finally face with the true nature of her
sexuality and her true identity.
FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE
Director: Maris Curran
Country: USA, Running Time: 82min
Sherwin is a good man, flawed like any other, but deeply invested in his family and in love
with his wife, Fiona. When she returns from visiting her estranged and ill mother and acts
distant, he shows concern. Their conversations lead to fights, the worst in their marriage.
Fiona no longer sees herself as a mother; she does not want children. Sherwin is
confused and angry. The life they have built begins to break down. And before there can
be resolution, Fiona dies, in an auto accident after driving distractedly on the freeway.
Sherwin is devastated. All that is dear to him — his wife, his sense of self and his future,
vanish. In the middle of his grief, Sherwin receives a phone call from the person he least
expects, Fiona’s mother. She invites him to visit her in rural Maine, saying: “it might do us
both some good.” Sherwin decides to go to Maine, and embarks on an unlikely journey
of healing, compassion and empathy.
HALFWAY
Director: Ben Caird
Country: USA, Running Time: 103min
Starring Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side) and Jeff DeMunn (The Walking Dead),
HALFWAY tells the story of a recently released convict who faces the conflict of enduring
ties with his old criminal world while struggling to adapt to life on probation as the only
black man in a conservative white farm town. Among prisoners released in 30 states in
2005 roughly 68% were rearrested within 3 years with over 75% rearrested within 5 years.
Halfway wants to bring to light that there is a serious systematic failure within the
American prison system, where a lack of opportunity for those who have transgressed in
their past seems to guarantee a future behind bars.
IN VIEW – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Ciaran Creagh
Country: Ireland, Running Time: 93min
Ruth’s life is one of burgeoning guilt dominated by rage, alcoholism, depression and selfloathing
which has its origins in a once-off drunken indiscretion with a work colleague
some years previous. Having lost all that was dear to her, Ruth is still trying to seek out
help but is coming to realize that there is only one course of action that may placate her
soul. To end her life so as her organs can be donated to help others which will, in her
mind, be payback for her perceived sins.
MR. PIG
Director: Diego Luna
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 100min
Eubanks (Danny Glover), an old-school pig farmer from California, leaves his foreclosed
family farm and sets off on a road trip to Mexico with Howard, his last beloved and very
large pig. Ambrose must smuggle Howard across the border to find him a new home. As
they embark across Mexico, Eubanks’ drinking and deteriorating health begin to take a
toll, derailing their plans. His estranged daughter, Eunice (Maya Rudolph), shows up
unexpectedly and joins them on their adventure. Driven by strong convictions and
stubbornness in his old ways, Ambrose forges ahead to make sure he finds Howard the
home he deserves and potentially mend many of the relationships that mean the most to
him.
TRANSPECOS
Director: Greg Kwedar
Country: USA, Running Time: 85min
On a remote desert highway, a makeshift Border Patrol checkpoint is manned by three
agents: Flores (Gabriel Luna): with an uncanny ability to track; Davis (Johnny Simmons):
joined the Border Patrol with dreams of romancing señoritas and riding on horseback;
Hobbs (Clifton Collins Jr): one of the old guard who believes a college degree can’t stop
a bullet. It's like most boring days, but soon the contents of one car will change everything.
What follows is a journey to uncover the surreal, frightening secrets hidden behind the
facade of this lonely outpost. The end of the path may cost them their lives along a border
where the line between right and wrong shifts like the desert itself.
WHITE GIRL
Director: Elizabeth Wood
Country: USA, Running Time: 88min
Summer, New York City. A college girl falls hard for a guy she just met. After a night of
partying goes wrong, she goes to wild extremes to get him back.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
THE BAD KIDS
Directors: Keith Fulton, Lou Pepe
Country: USA, Running Time: 101min
At a remote Mojave Desert high school, extraordinary educators believe that empathy
and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures.
This coming-of-age drama watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in
the lives of these so-called "bad kids."
BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Director: Garrett Zevgetis
Country: USA, Running Time: 90min
Off a dirt road in rural Maine, a precocious 20-year-old woman named Michelle Smith
lives with her mother Julie. Michelle is quirky and charming, legally blind and diagnosed
on the autism spectrum, with big dreams and varied passions. Searching for connection,
Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal” through a
provocative fringe community. Will she take the leap to experience the wide world for
herself? Michelle’s joyful story of self-discovery celebrates outcasts everywhere.
FARMER/VETERAN – WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: Alix Blair, Jeremy M. Lange
Country: USA, Running Time: 82min
After three combat tours in Iraq, Alex Sutton attempts a fresh start hatching chickens and
raising goats on 43 acres in rural North Carolina. Alex embraces life on the farm with his
new love Jessica, but cycles between a state of heightened alert and “feeling zombified”
from a cocktail of prescriptions meant to stabilize his injured mind. When Jessica
becomes pregnant, the dark past Alex has tried to escape -the loss of his first family, the
war he was forced to leave- closes in on him. The farm becomes another battleground.
Farmer/Veteran attempts to reconcile the identity of a perfect soldier with the reality of a
haunted man determined to hold onto the best chance at peace he has ever known.
HOOLIGAN SPARROW
Director: Nanfu Wang
Country: China, Running time: 84min
Traversing southern China, a group of activists led by Ye Haiyan (AKA Sparrow) protest
a scandalous incident where a school principal and a government official allegedly raped
six school girls. Sparrow becomes an enemy of the state, but detentions, interrogations,
and evictions can’t stop her protest from going viral.
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE
Director: Patrick Shen
Country: USA, Running Time 81min
In our race towards modernity, amidst all the technological innovation and the rapid
growth of our cities, silence is now quickly passing into legend. Beginning with an ode to
John Cage’s seminal silent composition 4’33”, the sights and sounds of this film delicately
interweave with silence to create a contemplative and cinematic experience that works
its way through frantic minds and into the quiet spaces of hearts. As much a work of
devotion as it is a documentary, In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative exploration of our
relationship with silence, sound, and the impact of noise on our lives.
THE PEARL
Directors: Jessica Dimmock, Christopher LaMarca
Country: USA, Running Time: 97min
THE PEARL explores the raw emotional and physical experience of being a middle aged
to senior transgender woman against the backdrop of post-industrial logging towns in the
Pacific Northwest. The film leans into the struggle of those who were reared and
successful as men and have reached middle age or later with a burdensome secret they
can no longer keep to themselves.
SONITA
Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Country: Germany/Iran/Switzerland, Running Time: 91min
Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the
2016 Sundance Film Festival, SONITA tells the inspiring story of Sonita Alizadeh, an 18-
year-old Afghan refugee in Iran, who thinks of Michael Jackson and Rihanna as her
spiritual parents and dreams of becoming a big-name rapper. For the time being, her only
fans are the other teenage girls in a Tehran shelter. And her family has a very different
future planned for her: as a bride she's worth $9,000. Iranian director Rokhsareh Ghaem
Maghami poignantly shifts from observer to participant altering expectations, as Sonita's
story unfolds in an intimate and joyful portrait.
TEXAS COMPETITION – SPONSORED BY PANAVISION
BOOGER RED
Director: Berndt Mader
Country: USA, Running Time: 96min
Booger Red is a hybrid narrative/documentary film where fictional journalist, Onur Tukel,
investigates the true case of the ‘Mineola Swingers Club’ trials. In 2006, seven people
were sentenced to life for purportedly running the largest child sex ring in Texas history--
inside of a swingers club in Mineola, Tx. Onur, portraying a veteran reporter, interviews
the actual defendants and lawyers involved in the trials. On his journey through the seedy
underbelly of east Texas, Onur is forced to confront his own history with abuse while he
discovers that the allegations at the root of his investigation might have never happened.
DAYLIGHT’S END – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: William Kaufman
Country: USA, Running Time: 105min
Shot in Dallas and points ranging from East Texas to the West Texas town of Rio (pop.
3) along the famed Route 66, the film is a hard driving action-horror-thriller starring Johnny
Strong, Lance Henriksen and Louis Mandylor. It focuses on a rogue drifter who's on a
vengeful hunt, years after a mysterious plague has devastated the planet and turned most
of humanity into blood-hungry creatures. When he stumbles across a desperate band of
survivors in an abandoned police station, the drifter reluctantly puts his own thirst for blood
on hold and agrees to help them defend themselves, only to realize that his mission of
revenge and theirs may in fact coincide.
HONKY TONK HEAVEN: LEGEND OF THE BROKEN SPOKE
Directors: Brenda Greene Mitchell, Sam Wainwright Douglas
Country: USA, Running Time: 75min
George Strait, Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, George Jones and Roy Acuff have
all been regulars on stage at the world famous honky tonk, The Broken Spoke. With fifty
years under its belt buckle “the last of the true Texas dance halls” has endured rapid
urban growth and skyrocketing rents due to the passion and hard work of its charismatic,
tenacious owners. More than a history of who played and when at this landmark venue,
the film reveals a universal story about what it takes to maintain a family business in our
increasingly corporate-driven society. Interviews include Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker,
Dale Watson, James Hand, Jesse Dayton, the Waco Brothers and Alvin Crow.
OCCUPY, TEXAS – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Jeff Barry
Country: USA, Running Time: 95min
OCCUPY, TEXAS follows a washed up Occupier (Gene Gallerano) who returns home
after the death of his parents to find himself responsible for his two teenage sisters
(Lorelei Linklater and Catherine Elvir) and his Texas-sized past. The cast also includes
Janine Turner, Nikki Moore, Reed Birney, Paul Benjamin, David Matranga and Peri Gilpin.
SLASH
Director: Clay Liford
Country: USA, Running time 100min
Neil is an introverted, questioning high school freshman. His main social outlet is the
steamy erotic fan fiction he writes about Vanguard, the brawny, galaxy-hopping hero of a
popular sci-fi franchise. When his stories are exposed in class Neil is mortified, but the
fearless, effortlessly cool Julia comes to his defense. An erotic fan fic writer herself, Julia
pushes Neil to publish his stories to an online “adult” forum, where they quickly grab the
attention of the site moderator, Denis. When Neil is invited to present his work at a comic
con live-read event, he has to face the fact that Denis’ interest in him may be more than
simply professional… perhaps like his own feelings for Julia.
TOWER
Director: Keith Maitland
Country: USA, Running Time: 96min
On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas
Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots
were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken
nation left trying to understand. Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation in
a dynamic, never-before-seen way, TOWER reveals the action-packed untold stories of
the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the
worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.
UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT
Directors: Jenna Jackson, Anthony Jackson
Country: USA, Running Time: 108min
In October 2006 a four-year-old from Corpus Christi named Andrew Burd died
mysteriously of salt poisoning. His foster mother, Hannah Overton, was charged with
capital murder, vilified from all quarters, and sent to prison for life. But was this
churchgoing young woman a vicious child killer? Or had the tragedy claimed its second
victim?
DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE
THE ANTHROPOLOGIST
Directors: Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, Jeremy Newberger
Country: USA, Running Time: 80min
THE ANTHROPOLOGIST considers the fate of the planet through the eyes of an
American teenager, whose mother is studying the impact of climate change on
indigenous communities. Environmental anthropologist Susie Crate drags her
teenage daughter Katie along with her to the farthest reaches of the globe.
Featuring commentary from Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of famed
anthropologist Margaret Mead, the film explores how human beings adapt to
catastrophic change.
LIFE, ANIMATED
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Country: USA, Running Time: 89min
LIFE, ANIMATED tells the remarkable story of how Owen found in Disney animation a
pathway to language and a framework for making sense of the world. By evocatively
interweaving classic Disney sequences with verite scenes from Owen’s life, the film
explores how identification and empathy with characters like Simba, Jafar, and Ariel forge
a conduit for him to understand his feelings and interpret reality. Beautiful, original
animations further give form to Owen’s fruitful dialogue with the Disney oeuvre as he
imagines himself heroically facing adversity in a tribe of sidekicks. With an arsenal of
narratives at his disposal, Owen rises to meet the challenges of adulthood in this moving
coming-of-age tale.
LO AND BEHOLD, REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD
Director: Werner Herzog
Country: USA, Running Time 98min
In LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD, the Oscar-nominated
Herzog chronicles the virtual world from its origins to its outermost reaches, exploring the
digital landscape with the same curiosity and imagination he previously trained on earthly
destinations as disparate as the Amazon, the Sahara, the South Pole and the Australian
outback. Herzog leads viewers on a journey through a series of provocative conversations
that reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in
the real world works - from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the
very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.
TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU
Director: Joe Berlinger
Country: USA, Running Time: 115min
TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU, Joe Berlinger’s twelfth feature documentary,
captures internationally renowned life and business strategist and best-selling author,
Tony Robbins, in a revelatory cinéma vérité film that goes behind the scenes of his mega
once-a-year seminar “Date With Destiny," attended by over 2,500 people, to give an
insider look at how one man can affect millions. Granted never before seen access, this
film is an emotional tour de force, pulling back the curtain on Tony Robbins and unveiling
the inner-workings of this life-altering and controversial event, the zealous participants
and the man himself.
WEINER
Directors: Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg
Country: USA, Running Time: 96min
With unrestricted access to Anthony Weiner's New York City mayoral campaign, this film
reveals the human story behind the scenes of a high-profile political scandal as it unfolds,
and offers an unfiltered look at how much today's politics is driven by an appetite for
spectacle.
WORLD CINEMA
DEMIMONDE
Director: Attila Szász
Country: Hungary, Running Time: 88min
The story of three women - a famous prostitute, her housekeeper and their new maid -
living in Budapest of 1910s, whose passionate, bizarre and complex relationship can only
lead to one thing: murder.
DHEEPAN
Director: Jacques Audiard
Country: France, Running Time: 110min
Three Sri Lankan refugees pose as a family to flee their war-ravaged homeland for
France, only to find themselves embroiled in violence in the Parisian suburbs. Winner of
the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Jacques Audiard's (A PROPHET) latest is a
gripping, human, and timely tale of survival.
DISORDER
Director: Alice Winocour
Country: France, Running Time: 101min
Vincent, a French Special Forces soldier just back from Afghanistan, is suffering from
a post-traumatic stress disorder. He is hired to ensure the security of Jessie, the
wife of a rich businessman at their luxurious villa “Maryland.” As he starts experiencing a
strange fascination for the woman he has to protect, Vincent increasingly seems to fall
into paranoia. Unless he is right, and the danger is very real indeed…
JOHNNIE TO’S OFFICE
Director: Johnnie To
Country: Hong Kong, Running Time: 120min
Adapted by actress Sylvia Chang from her hit stage play “Design For Living”, the film is a
musical set in a corporate high-rise immediately before and after the 2008 financial
collapse. The story centers around two assistants starting new jobs at a financial firm.
One naively enters the world of high finance with noble intentions, while the other harbors
a secret. Chow Yun-fat, Eason Chan and Tang Wei star alongside Chang.
KILL ZONE 2
Director: Cheang Pou-soi
Country: Hong Kong, Running Time: 120min
A undercover cop attempts to find the mastermind of a drug syndicate. When his cover is
blown, he winds up in a Thai prison. Surprisingly, he is a bone marrow match for a guard's
daughter.
LAST SUMMER
Director: Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli
Country: Italy, Running Time: 94min
A sailing boat is at anchor in a bay off of a Apulian island. Naomi, a young Japanese
woman, after having lost custody of her six year-old son, Ken, will be spending her last
four days with him on board the boat of her father-in-law. In a hostile environment, Naomi
faces the difficulty of approaching Ken under the controlling glare of the crew. Alex notices
Naomi’s attempts to connect with Ken and eases his control, entering into conflict with
the rest of the crew. When Naomi’s hopes seem lost Ken starts to take an interest in her,
thus reducing the distance between them. The crew, in conflict with the captain, informs
the boat’s owner. Alex, disobeying his employer’s wishes, takes Naomi and Ken to a
beach where they can be alone and bond for the first time. Back on the boat, a timeless
day magnifies the weight of their last goodbye and when Ken falls asleep, Naomi must
leave. Watching the boat sail away, Naomi sees Ken for one last time wearing the mask
she has made for him as a parting gift – the Japanese god of the sea.
MA MA
Director: Julio Medem
Country: Spain/France, Running Time: 111min
Academy Award®-winning actress and producer Penélope Cruz delivers an
extraordinarily emotional performance in ma ma, the newest film from acclaimed director
Julio Medem (SEX AND LUCÍA). Honoring the high melodrama of Pedro Almodóvar and
Douglas Sirk, ma ma follows Magda (Cruz) as she experiences tragedies and miracles
alike. Just as Magda is diagnosed with breast cancer, she meets Arturo (Luis Tosar), a
devoted husband and father in the midst of unspeakable loss. Their chance encounter
leads both down a path of strength, grace, love, and rebirth.
RIVER
Director: Jamie M. Dagg
Country: Canada, Running Time: 88min
In the south of Laos, an American doctor (Rossif Sutherland) becomes a fugitive after he
intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman. When the assailant's body is pulled
from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control.
TAKIM (THE TEAM) – U.S. PREMIERE
Director: Emre Şahin
Country: Turkey, Running Time: 102min
Takim tells the tale of street soccer players from all walks of life in Istanbul who come
together to save their favorite soccer pitch from ruthless developers. The story is loosely
based on the very real urban phenomenon happening in Turkey today as corrupt
construction giants bully the poor to move out and build immense buildings in their
wake. Turgay and Tufan are up against the wall when they are threatened by a
construction company to sell their family land, which also happens to be an hourly rental
soccer field. Facing eviction from the bank on a loan gone bad, and with no options left,
the two turn to the only thing they know: Soccer. Now they must build a strong team and
try to win a famous tournament for the prize money for the sake of both their family and
their land, all in a matter of weeks.
VIVA
Director: Paddy Breathnach
Country: Ireland/Cuba, Running Time: 100min
Jesus is a hairdresser for a troupe of drag performers in Havana, but dreams of being a
performer. When he finally gets his chance to be on stage, a stranger emerges from the
crowd and punches him in the face. The stranger is his father Angel, a former boxer, who
has been absent from his life for 15 years. As father and son clash over their opposing
expectations of each other, Viva becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand
one another and become a family again.
LATINO SHOWCASE
ALL THE COLORS OF THE NIGHT
Director: Pedro Severien
Country: Brazil, Running Time: 71min
Iris lives alone in a spacious apartment by the sea. The green horizon seems to distance
it from the city in comfortable isolation. At nightfall, the place hosts known and unknown
in a frantic party flow. Iris is the main attraction. But on a hung over morning, she finds a
corpse in the living room. As in the distorted reflection of a crooked mirror, Iris feels
repeating steps of her childhood friend, Tiara, a medical student involved in an accident
that resulted in death in the past. Tiara plunges into a spiral of self-pity, sentimental
emptying and violence. The case is well known in town and Iris does not want to become
another ghost in this dark repertoire of stories. In ALL THE COLORS OF THE NIGHT,
reality works as a dimension of imagination, memory and madness.
I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY
Director: Julio Hernández Cordón
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 88min
I PROMISE YOU ANARCHY follows two teenage lovers in Mexico City who become
embroiled in the city’s illegal, narco-run blood trade. Newcomers Diego Calva and
Eduardo Martínez Peña, non-actors the director found on Facebook, give outstandingly
honest and committed performances as young lovers Miguel and Johnny. They skate with
their friends through the chaotic neighborhoods of Mexico City, they revel in their blissful
sexuality, and they make a bit of cash in the illegal blood trade. A contact hooks them up
with some narcos—drug traffickers who need black-market blood, since they can’t go to
hospitals—and it seems like a perfect way to make a lot of money. But the scheme goes
off the rails, and Miguel and Johnny are in over their heads, their eyes opened too late to
the truly disturbing underground network of clinics servicing those injured in the drug
wars.
MAGALLANES
Director: Salvador del Solar
Country: Peru/Colombia/Argentina/Spain, Running Time: 109min
Taxi driver Magallanes (Damián Alcázar) supplements his meager earnings with a job
taking an old man (Federico Luppi) out on daily excursions. This old man is now senile
and frail, but he was once a much-feared colonel in the Peruvian military during its
bloodiest years of conflict with the Shining Path insurgency. Magallanes was his
subordinate. One day a woman enters Magallanes' cab. Celina (Magaly Solier) doesn't
recognize Magallanes, but he remembers her very well. Many years ago, Celina was a
sexual plaything for the Colonel, who kidnapped the young indigenous girl and held her
captive in a hotel room for an entire year. Magallanes has a photograph to prove this —
a photo he can use to blackmail the Colonel's affluent son (Christian Meier). But can this
aging cabbie suddenly transform himself into an extortionist? Or is Magallanes, still in
love with Celina after all these years, in over his head?
ROMANCING APRIL
Director: Joel Núñez
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 90min
A romantic comedy in which a male writer who writes under a female pseudonym falls for
a female journalist who writes under a male pseudonym. When love comes almost always
takes us by surprise and nobody can object.
FAMILY FRIENDLY – SPONSORED BY WHOLE FOODS
LABYRINTH (1986)
Director: Jim Henson
Country: USA, Running Time: 101min
Teenage Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) journeys through a maze to recover her baby brother
(Toby Froud) from a goblin king (David Bowie).
ODDBALL
Director: Stuart McDonald
Country: Australia, Running Time: 95min
The true story about an eccentric chicken farmer (Shane Jacobson) who, with the help of
his granddaughter, trains his mischievous dog Oddball to protect a wild penguin sanctuary
from fox attacks and in the process tries to reunite his family and save their seaside town.
DEEP ELLUM SOUNDS
A FAT WRECK – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Shaun M. Colón
Country: USA, Running Time: 85min
A FAT WRECK tells the story of founders Fat Mike (of the legendary punk band NOFX)
and his ex-wife Erin Kelly-Burkett, spanning the birth, growth, struggles, and survival of
the Fat Wreck Chords label. Half inspirational story of chosen family and community, half
debauchery and occasionally involuntary drug use, the film blazes exciting new ground in
the cinematic genre of puppet-driven punk rock music documentary filmmaking. Arguably
the best film in the history of American cinema featuring a dominatrix spanking a puppet.
MISS SHARON JONES!
Director: Barbara Kopple
Country: USA, Running Time: 93min
Dreams never expire, but sometimes they are deferred. MISS SHARON JONES! tracks
the talented and gregarious soul singer of the Grammy-nominated R&B band Sharon
Jones & the Dap Kings during the most challenging year of her life. Confronting a cancer
diagnosis and her own self doubts, she works to again find her voice and salvage the
career that once eluded her for 50 years.
PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW
Director: Ido Haar
Country: Israel, Running Time: 80min
The true story of the incredible Princess Shaw and the enigmatic composer Kutiman, who
discovers her from the other side of the world. By day, Samantha Montgomery cares for
the elderly in one of New Orleans’s toughest neighborhoods. By night, she writes and
sings her own songs as Princess Shaw on her confessional YouTube channel. Raw and
vulnerable, her voice is a diamond in the rough. Across the globe, Ophir Kutiel creates
video mash ups of amateur Youtube performers. Known as Kutiman, he is a composer,
a musician, and a pioneering video artist embraced by the world of fine art. Kutiman
“transforms sampling into a multimedia art”, whether at his home on a kibbutz in Israel or
at a live performance at the Guggenheim in New York. Two strangers, almost 7,000 miles
apart, begin to build a song. The film unfolds as Kutiman pairs Princess Shaw’s emotional
performances in a beautiful expression of generosity and compassion, revealing the
bonafide star underneath and her fight to never give up on her dreams.
A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY
Director: Keith Maitland
Country: USA, Running Time: 97min
Packed wall to wall with the greatest music from Texas and beyond, with performances
from Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ray Charles, Beck, Alabama Shakes, and
Radiohead, A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY is music to the ears
of fans everywhere. This film highlights the PBS series’ evolution, proving that after 40
years, ACL is more relevant now than ever before. Featuring interviews with dozens of
artists and fans, and untold insights from long-time producer Terry Lickona, A SONG FOR
YOU transcends the TV show and gives audiences a front-row seat and backstage pass
to the greatest performances of the longest running music show in television history.
MAVERICK
COLLECTIVE: UNCONSCIOUS
Directors: Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker,
Lauren Wolkstein
Concept by: Dan Schoenbrun
Country: USA, Running Time: 81min
Five of independent film’s most adventurous filmmakers adapt each other's dreams for
the screen. A man and his grandmother hide out from an ominous broadcast. The Grim
Reaper hosts a TV show. The formerly incarcerated recount and reinterpret their first days
of freedom. A suburban mom's life is upturned by the beast growing inside of her. And a
high school gym teacher runs drills from inside a volcano.
HOTEL DALLAS – U.S. PREMIERE
Directors: Livia Ungur, Sherng-Lee Huang
Country: USA/Romania, Running Time: 74min
Playfully mixing fiction and documentary, HOTEL DALLAS is a surreal parable of
capitalism, communism, and the power of art. In the 80s, in the twilight of communist
Romania, “Dallas” is the only American show allowed on TV. Its vision of wealth and
glamour captures the imagination of millions. Among them are Ilie and his daughter Livia.
He is a small-time criminal and aspiring capitalist; she is in love with the show’s leading
man, Patrick Duffy. After communism falls, Ilie builds the Hotel Dallas, a life-size copy of
the “Dallas” mansion. Livia immigrates to America, becomes an artist, and directs a film
starring Patrick Duffy, as a soap opera character who dies in Texas and wakes up in
Romania, in a hotel that looks just like home.
ORION – U.S. PREMIERE
Director: Asiel Norton
Country: USA, Running Time: 110min
In a future dark age, after civilization has collapsed, there are rumors and prophecies of
a savior to come. A hunter fights to save a maiden from a cannibal shaman and searches
for the world's last city. The film stars David Arquette and Lily Cole
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL (1982)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Country: USA, Running Time: 115min
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to
his home-world.
Defrost – second episode
Director: Randal Kleiser
Country: USA, Running Time: 10min
After being cryogenically frozen for 30 years, Joan Garrison awakens to meet her aged
family. The VR series stars Tanna Frederick, Bruce Davison, Harry Hamlin, Christopher
Atkins, and Carl Weathers.
FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002)
Director: Todd Haynes
Country: USA, Running Time: 108min
The story - which crosses both sexual and racial lines - revolves around a privileged
suburban family whose lives are filled with daily family etiquette, social events at the club,
and an overall desire to keep up with the Joneses. The family is turned upside down when
both husband and wife are faced with choices that not only create a gossip mill for the
entire community but also change their entire lives forever.
LATE BLOOMERS (1996)
Director: Julia Dyer
Country: USA, Running Time: 107min
Who would’ve thought a little one-on-one could get a girl in so much trouble? When high
school basketball coach Dinah Groshardt falls for school secretary Carly Lumpkin, the
uproar reverberates from classroom to locker room, from the principal’s office to the PTA.
A film about true love, tolerance, and naked basketball, LATE BLOOMERS redefines
family values. A movie for everyone who believes it’s never too late to fall in love.
THE LIBERATORS
Director: Cassie Bryant
Country: USA, Running Time: 75min
Medieval art treasures seized by the Nazis go missing at the end of World War II. Were
they destroyed in the chaos of the final battles? Or were these thousand-year-old
masterpieces stolen by advancing American troops? For over forty years, the mystery
remained unsolved. A true detective story, THE LIBERATORS follows a dogged German
art detective through the New York art world and military archives to the unlikeliest of
destinations: a small town on the Texas prairie. The film raises intriguing questions as to
the motivations of the art thief and the whereabouts of the items that, to this day, remain
waiting to be discovered.
SIGNS OF HUMANITY – WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: Willie Baronet, Tim Chumley
Country: USA, Running Time: 90min
Signs of Humanity is a documentary film that explores the inter-related themes of home,
homelessness, compassion and humanity. Artist and professor Willie Baronet has
purchased more than 1,000 homeless signs over the past 22 years, and he uses this
collection to create installations to raise awareness about homelessness. During the
month of July, 2014, Willie and three companions drove across the country, connecting
with more than 100 people on the streets and purchasing more than 275 signs. Signs of
Humanity is a film about that trip.
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF (1966)
Director: Mike Nichols
Country: USA, Running Time: 131min
History professor George (Richard Burton) and his boozy wife, Martha (Elizabeth Taylor),
return late one Saturday night from a cocktail party at the home of the college president,
Martha's father. Martha announces that she invited another couple, newly appointed
instructor Nick (George Segal) and his timid wife, Honey (Sandy Dennis), over for a
nightcap. When the younger couple arrive, the night erupts into a no-holds-barred torrent
of marital angst and verbal tirades.
MIDNIGHT
ANTIBIRTH
Director: Danny Perez
Country: USA/Canada, Running Time: 94min
In a desolate community full of drug-addled marines and rumors of kidnapping, a wildeyed
stoner named Lou wakes up after a crazy night of partying with symptoms of a
strange illness and recurring visions. Without being able to remember anything from the
night before, she struggles to get a grip on the reality of her situation as unusual
conspiracy theories begin to arise.
