Presented by guest programmer and VTIFF member Ravi Venkataraman Postwar film noir becomes a powerful vehicle to explore America’s racial injustices in Carl Franklin’s tense, atmospheric debut. Adapted from the hard-boiled best-seller by Walter Mosley—the first in a series of mystery novels following gumshoe Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins—Devil in a Blue Dress is told through the […]
Presented by guest programmer and VTIFF member Ravi Venkataraman When John Woo’s Hard Boiled dropped in 1992, his days in Hong Kong were numbered. Hard Boiled capped a run of classic bullet operas—The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head—that rendered violence as poetry and blasted Woo into the Hollywood system. A year later, […]
Shot guerilla-style in 14 days in the Bronx, Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut feature is a one of the most visually striking movies of the year. A rough-and-tumble, sun-dappled stateside kin to the life-on-the-margins tales of Andrea Arnold, Mad Bills to Pay is seen through the bleary eyes of Rico, a 19-year-old Dominican-American hustler who’s content […]
Island of Marajó, Amazon rainforest. 13-year-old Marcielle (Tielle) lives by the riverbanks with her father, mother, and three siblings. Prompted by her mother’s words, she idolizes her older sister, who supposedly escaped their poverty by “finding a good man” on the barges that ply the region. As Tielle matures, her idealized visions shatter, leaving her […]
Island of Marajó, Amazon rainforest. 13-year-old Marcielle (Tielle) lives by the riverbanks with her father, mother, and three siblings. Prompted by her mother’s words, she idolizes her older sister, who supposedly escaped their poverty by “finding a good man” on the barges that ply the region. As Tielle matures, her idealized visions shatter, leaving her […]
Shot guerilla-style in 14 days in the Bronx, Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut feature is a one of the most visually striking movies of the year. A rough-and-tumble, sun-dappled stateside kin to the life-on-the-margins tales of Andrea Arnold, Mad Bills to Pay is seen through the bleary eyes of Rico, a 19-year-old Dominican-American hustler who’s content […]
Electric Eye presents First of the Month Films We’re pleased to welcome filmmaker Brian Brightly for this screening. He will share his film La Boheme, a short inspired by the Puccini opera, and participate in a discussion about his work after the show. Bob Rafelson and his producing partner Bert Schneider first made their mark […]
Live improvised score by Matt Hagen + Will Andrews (aka Willverine) Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the German silent cinema. Suffering under the tyrannical rule of Rudolf II in […]
Director of the Month: Akira Kurosawa Without a doubt one of the 20th century’s most influential pieces of storytelling, movie or otherwise, Akira Kurosawa’s breakout international sensation, Rashomon, represents a clear inflection point in the history of cinema. In this riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, four […]
Born into a family of influential Zionist thinkers and archaeologists whose work helped shape the ideology of early Israel, filmmaker Orly Yadin sets out to examine the foundations of the worldview that defined her upbringing. The film unfolds as a metaphorical archaeological excavation: digging through layers of family history, ideology, and memory, and exploring how national […]
This screening is sold out. We will start an in-person waitlist one hour before the screening in case we are able to release last-minute tickets. Born into a family of influential Zionist thinkers and archaeologists whose work helped shape the ideology of early Israel, filmmaker Orly Yadin sets out to examine the foundations of the […]
Distinguished Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi specializes in kaleidoscopic portraits of people living amid anxiety and uncertainty. His latest, Pompei: Below the Clouds, which caps a a conceptual trilogy about the intersection of everyday life and spiritual life in Italy, is among his most striking and monumental works. Shot in beautiful black and white, the film […]
Distinguished Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi specializes in kaleidoscopic portraits of people living amid anxiety and uncertainty. His latest, Pompei: Below the Clouds, which caps a a conceptual trilogy about the intersection of everyday life and spiritual life in Italy, is among his most striking and monumental works. Shot in beautiful black and white, the film […]
Is it overstating things to call Pee-wee’s Big Adventure one of the high-water marks of American comedic cinema? Well, maybe, but it’s very, very funny and has definitely achieved “comedy classic” status. When his beloved bicycle is stolen by his nemesis, Francis Buxton (boo!), Pee-wee (Paul Rubens) goes on a cross-country trek to recover it, taking […]
Shorts | Arabic w/English subtitles | 2010-2012 | 75 min The Sudan Film Factory is a project of the Goethe-Institut Sudan. The project’s mission is to train young Sudanese talents in the area of filmmaking – script writing, directing, cinematography, and editing. Through the films created, Sudanese daily lives and worlds, stories and thoughts, dreams, […]
Presented by Main Street Landing Animation, 60 minutes In English or Musical/No Dialogue Recommended for all ages! A kaleidoscopic showcase of the best short film and animation from around the world. Program includes films from Sweden, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Australia, the UK, and the United States. The Little Bird and the Leaf Switzerland Animation, […]
Mugabe, Me and a Million Tampons is a documentary gonzo odyssey into the darkness of a nation held in fear and torn apart by corruption. Beginning in South Africa, a disillusioned photojournalist is employed to document a charity trying to organise the transportation of women’s sanitary aid into Zimbabwe. Frustrated by the complications; packing a […]
This feature-length documentary film tells the story of a few Icelandic people, not afraid to stand out from the crowd, who are taking a different path towards a more sustainable future. Academics, politicians, farmers, scientists and visionaries all demonstrate how the isolated country of Iceland could – with a little help from their friends – […]
Synopsis Celebrating the Vision of Muhammad Yunus from micro-credit to social business. What if you could harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty, hunger, and inequality? To some, it sounds impossible. But Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is doing exactly that. Yunus did his part to fight poverty by […]
Director: Teddy Mattera | 2004 | 98 minutes English with some Tswana, Afrikaans & Zulu, w/English subtitles Presented with Arts Riot as part of the BAMF movie and dinner series Watch Global – Eat Local Synopsis Traditional beliefs say that the souls of the dead will not join their ancestors until the mourners cry at […]