By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

A TASTE OF THE 49th CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Posted Monday, August 19th, 2013 - Comments Off on A TASTE OF THE 49th CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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For Immediate Release: Aug. 19, 2013
 First Round of Titles Announced for This Year’s Festival, Oct. 10 – 24
 
CHICAGO, IL (August 19, 2013) – Cinema/Chicago and The Chicago International Film Festival, the oldest competitive film festival in North America, are proud to announce the first 21 feature-length and short films, a preview of the more than 150 films that will be presented during the 49th Chicago International Film Festival, October 10 – 24, 2013. The line-up includes a richly diverse array of films from the United States, Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

“These first titles are just an appetizer to what is turning out to be a feast of fantastic films,” said Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago International Film Festival Michael Kutza. “For 49 years we have discovered new ways of looking at the world through film and this year is no different. From spine-tingling thrillers to contemporary drama, as well as documentaries and award-winning debuts, this first sampling of our program already shows what a robust showcase of new films we will offer this October.”

“I am very excited about this year’s Festival lineup,” added Programming Director of the 49th Chicago International Film Festival Mimi Plauché. “We have spent the past year watching thousands of entries, consulting with our international film advisors and scouting the most important film festivals around the globe to bring Chicago audiences the best of the best. These first titles offer moviegoers a glimpse of what they can expect this year: a thought-provoking, exciting and cutting-edge program.”

Films Include: 

  •  Big Bad Wolves (Directors: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado • Israel): When the lead suspect in a brutal child murder is released due to a police blunder, a vigilante police detective and a grieving father take the law into their own hands in this fantastically intense, darkly funny revenge thriller from one of the pioneers of Israeli horror cinema.
  •  Blue is the Warmest Color (Director: Abdellatif Kechiche • France): Teenager Adèle’s life is turned upside down the night she meets blue-haired Emma in this scandalous winner of the top prize at Cannes. Adèle’s passionate sexual awakening and the couple’s ensuing relationship – spanning several years – are depicted in searing, intimate detail with sharp, controlled direction and breathtaking performances from the two leads.
  • Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me (Director: Chiemi Karasawa • USA): A ferocious, funny and poignant portrait of the one-of-a-kind Broadway legend as she reaches her 87th year, “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me” showcases the brash, uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner both onstage and off. Stritch’s inimitable personality is on full display in this hilarious, affectionate tribute.
  •  The Girls on Liberty Street (Director: John Rangel • USA): A teenager on the verge of leaving for the army, Brianna spends her last week at home trying to mend tensions with her friends and family. Eschewing melodrama, the film imbues this simple story with a deft style and effortlessly natural performances, creating an assured portrait of a young woman in transition.
  •  Grigris (Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun • Chad): Despite a paralyzed leg that keeps him on the fringes of society, Grigris comes alive at the local nightclub, tearing up the dance floor every night. When a relative falls critically ill, the desperate Grigris turns to black market kingpin Moussa to pay the hospital bills and soon finds himself in over his head.
  • Heli (Director: Amat Escalante • Mexico): In a misguided attempt to finance his elopement with 12-year-old Estela, police cadet Beto steals two large packages of cocaine, setting off a string of increasingly violent consequences for him and for Estela’s family in this unflinching look at the cycle of drugs and violence in contemporary Mexico.
  • The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (Director: George Tillman • USA): During a sweltering summer in New York City, 13-year-old Mister’s hard-living mother (Jennifer Hudson) is apprehended by the police, leaving Mister and his nine-year-old brother Pete alone to forage for food while dodging child protective services and the destructive scenarios of the projects. “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete” is a beautifully observed, moving film about salvation through friendship.
  •  Like Father, Like Son (Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu • Japan): The lives of success-driven architect Ryota and his shy wife Midori are turned upside down when they discover that, due to a hospital mix-up six years earlier, their son Keita is not their own. The foundations of their identities as loving parents begin to crumble as they meet their biological child.
  • The Missing Picture (Director: Rithy Panh • Cambodia): How do you document a genocide when no footage of the atrocities exists? Rithy Panh attempts to answer this question in this Cannes prize-winning film recounting a childhood under the Khmer Rouge, illustrating his memories with hand carved clay figures. This innovative documentary explores the intersection of historical memory and the power of images.
  • Monsoon Shootout (Director: Amit Kumar • India): As heavy monsoon rains lash Mumbai, rookie cop Adi raises his gun to a criminal and must decide whether or not to pull the trigger. “Monsoon Shootout” presents three alternate scenarios, each sending Adi spiraling on a downward journey that pits him against fate and a system that presents a quagmire of moral ambiguity.
  •  My Sweet Pepper Land (Director: Hiner Saleem • Iraq): A godforsaken border town in newly-autonomous Kurdistan serves as the setting for this Western-inspired tale of justice and honor. Both Baran, a former Kurdish independence war hero, and Govend, a beautiful young woman defying tradition to become a teacher, are determined to see order and civilization restored to their damaged country.
  • The Priest’s Children (Director: Vinko Bresan • Croatia): Troubled by his small island’s rapidly dwindling population, the dogmatic young Father Fabijan sabotages the town’s birth control. Soon the picturesque island town is awash with pregnant women, and the absurd unintended consequences of the plan begin piling up in this irreverent, hilarious dark comedy.
  • Salvo (Directors: Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza • Italy): Mafia hitman Salvo is solitary, callous, and ruthless. His deep-rooted cold-bloodedness is tested, however, when, on his latest job, he discovers his target’s sister, a blind woman named Rita. Disturbed by her unseeing stare, Salvo spares her life, fully aware of the inexorable consequences of this ill-fated choice.
  •  Under The Rainbow (Director: Agnès Jaoui • France): “Look At Me” writer-director-star Agnès Jaoui returns with a witty, charming, modern day mélange of familiar fairy tales. When young Laura meets Sandro at a party, she thinks she may have met her Prince Charming. And then she meets Maxime. Laura must choose between them as they, and their families, deal with the tragicomic realities of romance.
  •  Walesa: Man of Hope (Director: Andrzej Wajda • Poland): Legendary director Andrzej Wajda tells the inspiring story of Lech Walesa, Nobel laureate and Poland’s first post-Soviet president. The charismatic Wałesa rises from the shipyard to union leadership and becomes the voice and face of the growing solidarity movement, standing up to the feared Soviet Union and leading Poland’s fight for independence.
  • Die Welt (Director: Alex Pitstra • Tunisia): In the summer of 2011, Tunisia is finally free of its dictatorial shackles, but 23-year-old Abdallah still dreams of escaping to Europe. Following a chance encounter, Abdallah’s passion to reach the other side of the Mediterranean burns brighter than ever before, prompting a desperate gamble for escape.
  •  Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Director: Arvin Chen • Taiwan): Introvert Weichung’s measured life as a family man is shaken when a chance encounter revives feelings from his long suppressed gay past, forcing him to choose between love and security. Fantastical flourishes color this bittersweet romantic comedy that is all at once wise and funny in its exploration of formal notions of family, sexuality, and friendship.
  •   Short Films: Highlights from this year’s program include: 23-year-old Tim attempts to seduce the ladies, but his stutter gets in the way in “Stammering Love.” In “Needle,” a young girl’s feelings about her parents’ divorce are explored when she goes to get her ears pierced. A teenager develops an awkward attraction in “Peach Juice.”

Festival Passes and Theater Information
Festival Passes are on sale now. Pass options include:

Moviegoer (10 regular admissions): $95 for Cinema/Chicago members, $125 for non-members.
Passport (20 regular admissions): $180 for Cinema/Chicago members, $240 for non-members

Passes can be purchased online at www.chicagofilmfestival.com or by calling 312.683.0121.

Festival screenings will be held at the AMC River East 21 Theater (322 E. Illinois St.). The full schedule will be announced on September 17.

Festival Sponsors
Led by Presenting Partner Columbia College Chicago, the 49th Chicago International Film Festival’s sponsors include: Official Airline – American Airlines; Headquarters Hotel – JW Marriott Chicago; Producing Partners: AMC Theaters, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Major Partner: Intersites; Supporting Partners: DePaul University School of Cinema and Interactive Media, Stella Artois, WBBM Newsradio 105.9, Shutterbox Entertainment, Cultivate Studios; Participating Partners: State Farm, AARP, Tres Generaciones®, Second City Computers, Gibson’s Restaurant Group, Creative Technology.
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About Cinema/Chicago
Cinema/Chicago is a not-for-profit cultural and educational organization dedicated to encouraging better understanding between cultures and to making a positive contribution to the art form of the moving image. The Chicago International Film Festival is part of the year-round programs presented by Cinema/Chicago, which also include the International Screenings Program (May-September), the Chicago International Television Competition (April), CineYouth Festival (May), Intercom Competition (October) and year-round Education Outreach and Member Screenings Program.
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon