YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THESE FILMS ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 13
A UNITED KINGDOM
UK – 2016 – 111 minutes
Director: Amma Asante
WORLD CINEMA NOW
U.S. Premiere
Belle director Amma Asante returns with another stirring interracial love story, this time based on the 1948 marriage between Prince Seretse of Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and an English clerk. Their union affronts her parents and his, his subjects, her superiors and both governments, and jeopardizes British colonial rule in southern Africa.
Eyes on the Prize: Foreign Language Oscar Directors in Discussion
On Monday, January 9, Scott Feinberg of the Hollywood Reporter moderated a fascinating panel with five directors who had their films submitted the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for consideration for the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Film. The directors offered great insight into what went into the making of their films, they were –
Xavier Dolan, IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD
Claude Barras, MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI
Asghar Farhadi, THE SALESMAN
Erik Poppe, THE KING’S CHOICE
Hannes Holm, A MAN CALLED OVE
MAD WORLD
Hong Kong – 2016 – 100 minutes
Director: Wong Chun
WORLD CINEMA NOW
Hong Kong director Wang Chun’s admirable debut feature is the portrait of a former stockbroker suffering from bipolar disorder. “An empathetic character study of a troubled young man trying to contain his inner chaos in a maddening city where space, sympathy and sanity are at a premium.” Clarence Tsui, Hollywood Reporter
Polonsky’s quirky, loose-limbed movie offers insight and comedy by turns as a middle-aged Israeli couple take decidedly different roads after mourning the death of their son: she goes back to work, but he embarks on a weed-enhanced picaresque with the neighbors’ stoner son… Winner: FIPRESCI prize, Best Israeli Film, Best First Film, Jerusalem.
Fifteen years after her father killed herself, Petra Epperlein returns to her hometown in former East Germany to investigate his links with the Stasi and how the apparatus of state control maintained Communist rule. This boldly stylized film is a potent reminder of how the politics is always, ultimately, personal.
Based in part on the 2012 murder of a gay Chilean teen, this impressive debut film from musician Alex Anwandter is a powerful treatise on Chile’s generational divide, an engrossing tale of betrayal and redemption, and a stirring testament to a father’s love.
Fri, Jan 13 – 4:30 PM – Mary Pickford
Sun, Jan 15 – 5:00 PM – Regal
Actor, Andrew Bargsted to attend (January 15 only).
VACATION PALM SPRINGS “DREAM VACATION” WINNER WILL RECEIVE:
* A Four (4) night stay for up to 4 people in a luxury 3-bedroom Palm Springs vacation rental home during the 2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Winner will also receive the following:
* Opening -or- Closing Night Screening and Gala Reception – 4 Tickets
* Festival Screening Passes – 4 non-transferable passes, good for all regular screenings
Must be at least 25 years of age to enter this contest.
No purchase necessary.
One entry per person; employees of PSIFF are not eligible.
BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT
Mexico – 2016 – 92 minutes
Director: María José Cuevas
TRUE STORIES
This vibrant, sometimes heartbreaking documentary is a fresh, fun and moving tribute to Mexico’s burlesque queens of the 1970s and ’80s, and a portrait of five fabulous former showgirls coping with their “golden years” in very different ways.
Alison Maclean’s piquant, sharp-edged adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s first novel is partially a free-floating accumulation of insights into the twinned professions of teaching and acting and partially a drama about life inspiring art-or perhaps the other way around? “Complex, compelling and challenging.” Screen
She was 13 and he was 40 when he was imprisoned for their taboo affair. Now, 15 years later, Una confronts the man who destroyed her life. Rooney Mara and Ben Mendolsohn star in this explosive adaptation of David Harrower’s Tony-winning play Blackbird.
