#loftfilmfest
WED 09 – SUN 13
NOVEMBER 2016
”Phantasmagorical programming
and astute choice of guests.”
–Filmmaker Magazine
SPONSORED BY:
THE LOFT CINEMA
3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85716
LoftFilmFest.org
520.322.5638
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Get your Tickets
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS
$10 General Admission
$8 Loft Cinema Members
FESTIVAL PASSES
$125 General Admission
$100 Loft Cinema Members
OFFICIAL FEST SITE
LoftFilmFest.org
ALL SCREENINGS TAKE PLACE AT
OPENING NIGHT
LFF04
ANIMATION, DOCUMENTARY, NARRATIVE SHORTS LFF10
2016 FEST FILM SCHEDULE
LFF12
IN COMPETITION
LFF16
LATE NIGHTS
LFF19
Loft Film Fest
Staff
Loft Film Fest
Awards
CICAE & Audience
Awards
FESTIVAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Kirby Dick Social
Justice Award, named
after the Oscar-nominated
documentary filmmaker,
is presented each year
at the Loft Film Fest to
a filmmaker whose work
displays a galvanizing passion
for social change through
cinema. This year, the Loft
Film Fest is proud to present
the 2016 Kirby Dick Social
Justice Award to acclaimed
cinematographer, filmmaker
and human rights activist
Kirsten Johnson, director of
Cameraperson!
The Loft Film Fest is the only
American festival member of
the CICAE, the International
Confederation of Art Houses.
Founded in 1955, the CICAE
is a network of 4,000
screens and 22 international
film festivals that work
to increase audience for
excellent international
independent films.
The CICAE Award will be
determined by a 3-member
jury, including Oscar®-winning
screenwriter and producer
Diana Ossana (Brokeback
ountain), Urszula Śniegowska,
Artistic Director, American
Film Festival in Wroclaw
Poland and Sydney
Levine, industry blogger
(SydneysBuzz) and author,
with 40 years of experience in
the film industry.
Six films will compete for
the CICAE Award, and these
same films will also be
in the running for our
Audience Choice Award.
Festival patrons will be given
a ballot at the screening
of each film. See the “In
Competition” section to see
which films are eligible.
Peggy Johnson
FESTIVAL DIRECTORS
J.J. Giddings | Jeff Yanc
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Zach Breneman
PROGRAMMING CONSULTANTS
Mike Plante | Aurélie Gomes
FINANCE DIRECTOR
Jonathan Kleefeld
ART DIRECTOR
The Loft Cinema
3233 E. Speedway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85716
Matt McCoy
CONTACT
Jason Denholm
DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATES
Amber Kleefeld & Nick Kelso
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
[email protected]
(520) 795-0844
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
Brenda Rodriguez
OUTREACH COORDINATOR
Daniela Ontiveros
OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
Christian Ramirez
ASSISTANT MANAGERS
Kyle Canfield, Ray Borboa,
Pedro Robles, and Jessi Kyte
The Lofty Achievement
Award is presented each year
at the Loft Film Fest to an
industry professional whose
career and body of work have
significantly contributed to
the world of cinema, and who
continues to inspire, entertain
and enlighten audiences.
This year, the Loft Film Fest
is proud to present the 2016
Lofty Achievement Award
to internationally-acclaimed,
cutting-edge filmmaker
Alex Cox!
Thank you to all of this year’s sponsors!
CONGRESSMAN RON & NANCY BARBER
IN-KIND DONATIONS: Kingfisher, Alejandro’s Tortilla Factory, Isabella’s Ice Cream, Peddlers and Sons, Chilttepica Salsa, Arbuckle Coffee,
Standard Restaurant Equipment, Tucson Tamale Company, Alternative Baking Co. and Brushfire BBQ.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: Opening Night!
LFF04
1 Dominion
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 AT 7:30PM
2 The Lure
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 AT 7:45PM
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
ARIZONA PREMIERE
Sponsored by UA Poetry Center
DIRECTED BY Steven Bernstein
2016, USA, 101 mins., Not Rated
PRESENTED BY THE
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS SERIES
“Dominion is terrific … a daring, demanding meditation on
the poet’s final hours.”
– Jonathan Holland, Hollywood Reporter
Dominion tells the dramatic story of the great Welsh poet
Dylan Thomas (Rhys Ifans, Notting Hill) and his last day of
sentient interaction with the world, for which he was both
idolater and arch nemesis. Drink was his poison, and on that
particularly day in 1953, the poison was delivered via eighteen
double scotches in less than eleven hours. But alcohol was not
his only solace, as his poetic sensibility and his inventive use
of language allowed him to transmogrify his imagined world
into something not only tolerable, but at times beautiful, if
still tinged with the bittersweet and maudlin. How these
contradictory predispositions joined battle might be the
real story of his final hours, as he examines his memory and
experience, his loves and his rage, while looking for meaning
and peace. Featuring a stellar supporting cast including John
Malkovich (Dangerous Liaisons), Rodrigo Santoro (Westworld),
Zosia Mamet (Girls) and Tony Hale (Arrested Development),
Dominion is a revealing, moving and inventive look at a troubled
literary genius.
JOIN US under the stars for the opening night party, featuring
free champagne, delicious light h’ordeuvres and live music
starting at 6:30pm! DIRECTED BY Agnieszka
Smoczyńska
2015, Poland, in Polish with
subtitles, 92 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Sundance Film
Festival, Fantastic Fest WINNER:
10 Awards including Special Jury
Prize, Sundance 2016
“Abetted by impressive lo-fi effects work, the musical
numbers alone come to resemble the wildest dreams of
every Eurovision show producer.”
- Guy Lodge, Variety
One dark night, at water’s edge, a family of musicians
encounter aquatic sirens Silver and Golden. After assuring the
family that they won’t eat them up, the winsome mermaids are
recruited to join the Figs and Dates band at a neon-lit Warsaw
dance club. When Silver becomes romantically entangled with
beautiful blonde bassist Mietek, the more cunning Golden, who
cannot escape her bloodthirsty nature and assimilate, worries
that her sister’s relationship will doom their shared dream of
swimming to a new life in America.
This weird, wild, 1980s-set musical horror film wittily plays
with the lust and repulsion the bewitching sisters create
with their combination of Barbie doll–smooth bodies and
impressively long glittering mermaid tails. With a knack for
both burlesque and the grotesque, first-time feature director
Agnieszka Smoczyńska creates a world saturated in color
and Europop slickness that twists with absurdity and drips
with blood.
PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM The Itching In this handmade,
stop-motion collaboration, a shy wolf tries to connect with a
group of hip, party-loving bunnies, but finds her body in revolt.
Directed by Dianne Bellino, 2016, USA, 15 mins.
With Elvis Mitchell, noted film critic and host of NPR’s The Treatment,
and director Steven Bernstein in person.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
3
LFF05
The Martian with Astronaut
Mark Kelly
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 6:30PM
DIRECTED BY Ridley Scott, 2015, USA/UK, 144
4
Tombstone Rashomon
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 7:30PM
DIRECTED BY Alex Cox, 2016,USA, 83 mins., Not
Rated
mins., Rated PG-13
Closing Night of the Loft Film Fest 2016 will feature a special Science
on Screen presentation of the acclaimed 2015 sci-fi drama The Martian,
with an introduction and post-film discussion with American astronaut,
retired Navy combat veteran and New York Times bestselling author,
Mark Kelly!
SPONSORED BY Congressman Ron and Nancy Barber
Part of Science on Screen at The Loft Cinema
During a manned mission to Mars, astronaut Mark Watney
(Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and
left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds
himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only
meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and
spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is
alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international
scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his
crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue
mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world
comes together to root for Watney’s safe return. Based on
Andy Weir’s best-selling novel, and directed by Ridley Scott
(Blade Runner, Alien), this gripping sci-fi adventure also stars
Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Jeff
Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Donald Glover.
JOIN US after the movie to celebrate The Loft Cinema’s
44th birthday with an outdoor party featuring free snacks
and birthday cake!
A special Work in Progress Premiere screening
with director Alex Cox, 2016 Lofty Achievement
Award winner, in person!
SPONSORED BY Old Tucson Studios
Acclaimed filmmaker Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy,
Walker) appears at the Loft Film Fest for the Work in Progress
Premiere of his latest film, Tombstone Rashomon, filmed at Old
Tucson Studios. This screening will include a career highlight reel
and presentation of the Lofty Achievement Award before the
film, and a discussion with the director and other guests from
the production following the film.
The Gunfight at the OK Corral only happened once, but has
been tirelessly recreated in films, television and western towns
ever since. No one has a monopoly on truth, and in Tombstone
Rashomon, the truth is shared by six conflicting perspectives.
In doing so, the film’s narrative becomes prismatic and the
result is perhaps the most comprehensive telling of the most
important gunfight in American history. Filmed at the historic
Old Tucson Studios by a crew of local filmmakers and recent
film school graduates, Tombstone Rashomon is proud to have
its Work In Progress Premiere at The Loft Film Fest among the
very folks who helped bring it to life!
The Lofty Achievement Award is presented each year at the
Loft Film Fest to an industry professional whose career and body of
work have significantly contributed to the world of cinema, and
who continues to inspire, entertain and enlighten audiences. This year,
the Loft Film Fest is proud to present the 2016 Lofty Achievement
Award to internationally-acclaimed, cutting-edge filmmaker Alex Cox!
Science on Screen is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner
Theatre Foundation with major support from the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF06
5
Neruda
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 7:00PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
SPONSORED BY UA Poetry Center
Chile’s submission for Best
Foreign Language Oscar
PREVIOUS FESTS: Cannes Film
Festival, Toronto International
Film Festival, Telluride Film
Festival,New York Film Festival,
London Film Festival
DIRECTED BY Pablo Larrain
2016, Chile, Spanish with
subtitles, 107 mins., Not Rated
“Pablo Larraín has captured Pablo Neruda in all of his
pomposity, pretense, courage, and undeniable genius.”
The eventful and unorthodox life of the Nobel Prize–winning
poet, politician, committed communist, unapologetic hedonist,
and Chilean cultural icon Pablo Neruda provides plentiful
territory for cinematic exploration. Now, Pablo Larraín, Chile’s
most inventive and provocative contemporary filmmaker,
takes a wholly unique approach to his famous countryman’s
life and work with Neruda, which is set during the poet’s
sojourn underground in the late 1940s. Following the Chilean
president’s outlawing of communism in 1948, Neruda (Luis
Gnecco) and his artist wife Delia (Mercedes Morán) are
forced into hiding.
Meanwhile, Óscar Peluchonneau (Gael García Bernal, who
previously starred in Larraín’s Oscar-nominated No), is an
ambitious police inspector hoping to make a name for himself
by capturing the celebrity fugitive. Elegant and beguiling,
Neruda offers a (fittingly) Nerudian vision of its protagonist.
It’s a metafictional fable that blends historical recreation
with literary and cinematic fabrication. Pushing the limits of
filmic biography, Larraín offers a stimulating and sometimes
startling rumination on the split that can exist between the
person and the persona, the man and the artist.
- Oleg Ivanov, Slant Magazine
The Jazz Loft According to
W. Eugene Smith
6
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 5:00PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
SPONSORED BY The Center for
Creative Photography
DIRECTED BY Sara Fishko
2016, USA, 87 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Full Frame
Documentary Film Festival, DOC
NYC, International Film Festival
Rotterdam
“An exceptionally vivid picture of bohemian life during one of
New York City’s most exciting eras.”
Between 1957 and 1965, groundbreaking LIFE Magazine
photojournalist W. Eugene Smith obsessively photographed
and taped the goings-on at the dilapidated Sixth Avenue loft
he called home. As revealed in this astonishing documentary
time capsule, the “Jazz Loft” became a scene for all-night
jams and recordings, and was a regular meeting place of jazzobsessed bohemians and legendary musicians. What Smith
captured on film and audio tape is a treasure trove of NYC
jazz of the period, including a three-week rehearsal by the
great Thelonious Monk and jazz and classical music lessons
given by the Juilliard-trained Hall Overton. Watching the
1950s turn to the 60s with Smith’s camera pointing out from
his window perch, director Sara Fishko has crafted an artful
and unsentimental portrait of unstable genius and a long-lost
Manhattan. The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith is the
first film to make use of Smith’s vast collection of 4,000 hours
of audio tape and 40,000 photographs from the Jazz Loft - an
archive now housed at the Center for Creative Photography at
the University of Arizona in Tucson.
- John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
With director Sarah Fishko and Leslie Squyres, Head of the Volkerding
Study Center at The Center for Creative Photography,
in person!
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF07
7
Cameraperson
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 2:00PM
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Kirsten Johnson
2016, USA, 102 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Sundance Film
Festival | 8 Awards,
including Best Documentary
Feature, Traverse City & San
Francisco Film Fests
“One of the most original, challenging and sometimes
infuriating documentaries of recent times.”
- Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
A boxing match in Brooklyn; life in postwar Bosnia and
Herzegovina; the daily routine of a Nigerian midwife; an
intimate family moment at home: these scenes and others are
woven into Cameraperson, a tapestry of footage captured over
the twenty-five-year career of documentary cinematographer
Kirsten Johnson. Through a series of episodic juxtapositions,
Johnson explores the relationships between image makers
and their subjects, the tension between the objectivity and
intervention of the camera, and the complex interaction
of unfiltered reality and crafted narrative. A work that
combines documentary, autobiography, and ethical inquiry,
Cameraperson is both a moving glimpse into one filmmaker’s
personal journey and a thoughtful examination of what it
means to train a camera on the world.
The Kirby Dick Social Justice Award, named after the
Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, is presented each
year at the Loft Film Fest to a filmmaker whose work displays
a galvanizing passion for social change through cinema. This
year, the Loft Film Fest is proud to present the 2016 Kirby
Dick Social Justice Award to acclaimed cinematographer,
filmmaker and human rights activist Kirsten Johnson, director
of Cameraperson!
Post-film Q&A with Oscar-nominated director Kirby Dick in person
and director Kirsten Johnson, recipient of this year’s Kirby Dick Social
Justice Award, via Skype!
8 Fire at Sea
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 11:15AM
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Gianfranco Rosi
2016, Italy/France,English and
Italian with subtitles, 114 mins.,
Not Rated
Italy’s submission for the Best
Foreign Language Oscar. 6
awards, including the Golden
Bear at the Berlin International
Film Festival
PREVIOUS FESTS: Berlin
International Film Festival,
Toronto International Film
Festival, Chicago International
Film Festival
Gianfranco Rosi’s beautifully-crafted documentary
observes Europe’s migrant crisis from the vantage point
of a Mediterranean island where hundreds of thousands
of refugees, fleeing war and poverty, have landed in recent
decades. Rosi shows the harrowing work of rescue operations
but devotes most of the film to the daily rhythms of
Lampedusa, seen through the eyes of a doctor who treats
casualties and performs autopsies, and a feisty but anxious
pre-teen from a family of fishermen for whom it is simply a
peripheral fact of life. With its emphasis on the quotidian,
the film reclaims an ongoing tragedy from the abstract
sensationalism of media headlines.
PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM In the Distance It’s calm and
peaceful above the clouds. But the chaos that lurks in the
distance draws closer each night. Directed by Florian Grolig,
2015, Germany, 7 mins.
“Gianfranco Rosi’s beautiful, mysterious and
moving film is a documentary that looks like a neorealist
classic.”
– Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF08
9
Do Not Resist
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 5:00PM
TUCSON PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Craig Atkinson
2016, USA, 72 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Tribeca Film
Festival, Hot Docs, Human
Rights Watch Film Festival
WINNER: Best Documentary
Feature, Tribeca Film Festival
2016
DIRECTED BY Ivan Reitman, 1984, USA, 105 mins., Rated PG
With the Arizona Ghostbusters in person!
“It hits the target every single time - the jokes, the chemistry
onscreen, and the effects all fall into place. Ghostbusters
is as entertaining today as it ever was, a classic to be
treasured by all.”
– Carline Westbrook, Empire
An urgent and powerful exploration of the rapid militarization
of the police in the United States. Starting on the streets of
Ferguson, Missouri, as the community grapples with the death
of Michael Brown, Do Not Resist – the directorial debut of
Detropia cinematographer Craig Atkinson – offers a stunning
look at the current state of policing in America and a glimpse
into the future.
The Tribeca Film Festival winner for Best Documentary
puts viewers in the center of the action – from a ride-along
with a South Carolina SWAT team and inside a police training
seminar that teaches the importance of “righteous violence”
to the floor of a congressional hearing on the proliferation of
military equipment in small-town police departments – before
exploring where controversial new technologies, including
predictive policing algorithms, could lead the field next.
Panel discussion following the movie, moderated by Tucson City
Councilperson Steve Kozachik and featuring Tucson Police Chief
Chris Magnus, Tucson NAACP President Doris Snowden,
and ACLU of Arizona Executive Director Alessandra Soler.
Ghostbusters (1984) 70mm FILM PRINT!
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 7:30PM
10
Who ya gonna call when you want to see the original 1984
comedy classic Ghostbusters on the big screen in spectacular,
ectoplasmic 70mm? Loft Film Fest!
See what happens when New York’s finest spectre-hunters
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson pile
into their converted ambulance to take on the haunted New
York Public Library, demonic pooches from hell, an evil EPA
agent, an angry Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and Sigourney
Weaver’s freaky refrigerator. Hilarity, action and much slimy
transdimensional demon combat ensue. Spawning a sequel,
two animated TV series, a 2016 big screen reboot and an
insanely catchy hit theme song, Ghosbusters is the
guaranteed go-to ‘80s comedy if you’re looking to scare up
some major laughs.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
11
LFF09
A Quiet Passion
12
Lost in Paris
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 1:15PM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 5:00PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Terence Davies
2016, UK, 125 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Berlin
International Film Festival,
Toronto International Film
Festival, New York Film Festival
Now recognized as a genius who committed to paper some
of the most important verse in American literature, Emily
Dickinson was virtually unknown in her lifetime, with fewer
than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems published. A recluse
who eventually boarded herself up in her bedroom, Dickinson
explored her inner self in great detail. As source material, her
story is as poetic as her work itself.
A Quiet Passion is a world of interiors in which Dickinson’s
family plays a key role. Emily, as portrayed by Cynthia Nixon,
led such a deeply introverted existence, it is her encounters with
her mother, father, and sister that provide the hinge around
which the film is structured. These moments, are sensitively
rendered, but it is the seamless manner in which Dickinson’s
luminous poetry is integrated into the film that is the central
joy of A Quiet Passion.
SPONSORED BY Alliance
Française de Tucson
DIRECTED BY Dominique Abel
&Fiona Gordon
2016, France & Belgium, French
with subtitles, 85 mins., Not
Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Telluride Film
Festival, London Film Festival
The inimitable beanpole duo of Fiona Gordon and Dominique
Abel (The Fairy, Rumba) apply their idiosyncratic comic
eccentricity to this wayward tale of being down but not out
in the City of Light. Gordon plays a naïve librarian who leaves
her snowbound home for Paris, to rescue her long-lost aunt
(Emmanuelle Riva, Amour). On arrival, Fiona loses her rucksack
and her bearings but finds homeless Dom (Abel), teaming
with him on a series of absurd adventures that showcase the
pair’s physical elasticity and elegant, Jacques Tati-like comic
timing. The duo mix comic-strip visual sensibility with child-like
innocence and an outrageous sense of mischief.
PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM Fish An elderly couple struggles
to save their pet fish after an accident, and finds a surprising
way to keep it alive. Directed by Saman Hosseinpuor, 2016, Iran,
in Kurdish with subtitles, 4 mins.
1 3 Chicken People
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 1:00PM
In a high stakes world where a single broken feather can
mean a shattered dream, Chicken People follows the trials
and tribulations of those who breed exotic birds in the world
of competitive poultry. In the tradition of Spellbound comes
a feature documentary about three remarkably rich and
diverse personalities who come together to compete in their
shared passion to raise the perfect chicken. The film follows
the struggles and triumphs of these characters, along with a
wide array of competitors-both human and chicken-from the
Ohio National Poultry Show, considered the Westminster of
Chickens, to the Dixie Classic in Tennessee.
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Nicole Lucas
Haimes
2016, USA, 83 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: SXSW Film
Festival, AFI Docs Film Festival
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: Shorts
1 4 Animation Show of Shows
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 4:45PM
TUCSON PREMIERE
Estimated running time: Approximately 90 mins., Not Rated
The Animation Show of Shows returns for its second year
in theaters with 16 extraordinary new films. Highlights
include “About a Mother,” a new folktale with echoes of Shel
Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” Disney/Pixar’s sweet “Piper,” and
the latest in 360º storytelling in Google’s touching father-and
daughter-journey “Pearl” by Academy Award winner Patrick
Osborne. Featuring techniques ranging from hand-drawn to
stop-motion to the latest computer-generated imagery, the 16
films in this program were created by animators from Belgium,
Canada, France, Israel, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Scotland,
the U.K., and the U.S. Their themes range from gay issues and
civil rights, to deeply felt personal stories, to the wacky humor
that animation does so well.
For 16 years, The Animation Show of Shows, founded
and curated by Ron Diamond, has been presenting new and
innovative short films to animation studios, societies,
schools and festivals around the world. Over the years,
32 of the films showcased in the Show of Shows went on to
receive Academy Award nominations, with nine films
winning the Oscar.
FILMS
Stems - Ainslie Hendersen (Scotland)
Shift - Cecilia Puglesi & Yijun Liu (U.S.)
Pearl - Patrick Osborne (U.S.)
Crin-crin - Iris Alexandre (Belgium)
Mirror - Chris Ware, John Kuramoto, Ira Glass (U.S.)
Last summer in the garden - bekky O’Neil (Canada)
Waiting for the New Year - Vladimir Leschiov (Latvia)
Piper - Alan Barillaro (U.S.)
Bøygen - Kristian Pedersen (Norway)
Afternoon Class - Seoro Oh (Korea)
About a Mother - Dina Velikovskaya (Russia)
Exploozy - Joshua Gunn, Trevor Piecham, & John McGowan (U.S.)
Corpus - Marc Héricher (France)
Blue - Daniela Sherer (Israel)
Manoman - Simon Cartwright (England)
All Their Shades - Chloé Alliez (Belgium)
LFF10
15
Narrative Shorts
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 11:30AM
SPONSORED BY The University of Arizona School of Theatre,
Film & Television
Spanning a range of styles, emotions, and techniques, this
year’s collection of short films offers something for everyone.
The vision of these directors is a glimpse into the promising
future of narrative filmmaking. This program is appropriate for
mature audiences only.
Volta A mother and daughter start out from downtown Athens
and head to the northern suburbs of the city.
DIRECTED BY Stella Kyriakopoulos, 2015, Greece, Greek with
subtitles, 10 mins.
Rainbow Party In her quest to be accepted by the popular girls
in her class, Sofia finds herself sacrificing her true friendships
and morals. If you can’t beat them, join them! dIRECTED BY Eva
Sigurdardottir, 2015, Iceland, Icelandic with subtitles, 15 mins.
Two Weeks A young woman’s self-destructive tendencies puts
her relationships at risk. DIRECTED BY Ana Humphrey, 2016, USA,
14 mins.
With director Ana Humphrey in person!
The Mink Catcher Dallas, Texas, 1980: At a high society party, a
gossip columnist hunts down Dallas’ new First Lady to unearth
the truths underneath her legendary mink coat. DIRECTED BY
Samantha Buck, 2015, USA, 12 mins.
B-Bot After the loss of his best friend, a robot must find
happiness in a world destroyed by nuclear war. DIRECTED BY
Bryan McAdams, 2016, USA, 6 mins.
With director Bryan McAdams in person!
¡Mais Duro! In late-90s Colombia, the curious and introverted
Amalia unknowingly begins the universal progression toward
self-awareness. DIRECTED BY Amalia Andrade, 2015, Colombia,
Spanish with subtitles, 13 mins.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: Shorts
LFF11
narrative shorts continued –
Dogwalker A dark-comedy adventure of a young dog walker,
after the unexpected death of one of her favorite clients.
DIRECTED BY Kim Sherman, 2016, USA, 12 mins.
How to Lose Weight in 4 Easy Steps Losing weight and getting
fit has never been easier! Shed those unwanted pounds with
these simple tricks your gym doesn’t want you to know about.
You won’t believe what happens next! DIRECTED BY Benjamin
Berman, 2016, USA, 7 mins.
16
Over During the course of nine wide shots, we watch an
intriguing story unfold. What’s happened in this quiet
neighbourhood? A murder, hit-and-run, an accident? The reality
is profound, and deeply unexpected. DIRECTED BY Jörn Threlfall,
2015, UK, 14 mins.
One Man An 80-year-old man follows the traces left by a car
accident in a story that unravels in reverse. DIRECTED BY Phillipe
Gregoire, 2016, Canada, French with subtitles, 13 mins.
Documentary Shorts
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 2:15PM
Previous iterations of the Loft Film Fest’s Documentary Shorts
have highlighted two eventual Oscar-nominated short films.
This year’s collection of offers a stunningly diverse bunch of
films, with windows into the way people live across the world.
The Carousel A day in the life of The Singing Women of Požega,
a group of enthusiastic elderly women. Through poetic images,
seasoned with a lot of humour, we learn about their views of
love, joy as well as the ephemerality of life. DIRECTED BY Luka
Popadić, 2015, Serbia, Serbian with subtitles, 15 mins.
DaQueen With humor and honesty, DaQueen Yaes narrates a
tour of South Tucson and an account of how she’s made it to
where she is. DIRECTED BY Tom Mickelson & Matty Jonas, 2016,
USA, 7 mins.
With director Matty Jonas in person!
MissMe: The Artful Vandal At the height of a successful career
at a top advertising agency, Montreal-based “MissMe” quit
her job and took to the streets to become an underground
street artist to be a loud, counter-voice to the objectification
of women in mainstream advertising. DIRECTED BY Mohammad
Gorjestani, 2016, Canada, French with subtitles, 4 mins.
Another Kind of Girl For three months, a group of Syrian girls
living in Jordan’s Za’atari Refugee Camp participated in a
media workshop to document their everyday lives - how it
looks, feels and sounds from the ground, at the heart of their
world. This video was filmed by Khaldiya, 17, from Dara’a, Syria.
DIRECTED BY Khaldiya Jibawi, 2016, Jordan, Arabic
with subtitles, 10 mins.
Chekov A heartbroken filmmaker secretly records his sister
reading an embarrassing love letter from his ex-girlfriend.
DIRECTED BY Jack Dunphy, 2015, USA, 5 mins.
Peace in the Valley Eureka Springs, Arkansas, is home to both
the largest outdoor Passion Play in the United States and an
important vote on LGBT rights. This film follows the town’s
inhabitants as they prepare for the historic vote. DIRECTED BY
Donal Mosher & Michael Palmieri, 2016, USA, 15 mins.
Celebrate Now Jennifer Coughlan learned to love Tucson
through the All Souls Procession. When she learns that she has
stage 4 breast cancer, she finds solace and meaning through
her participation in Tucson’s beloved tradition. DIRECTED BY
Leslie Ann Epperson, 2016, USA, 11 mins.
With director Leslie Ann Epperson in person!
Invisible Point Although dancing is illegal in Iran, a mother and
daughter retreat to the desert to practice their art. DIRECTED BY
Tanin Torabi, 2016, Iran, Persian with subtitles, 5 mins.
These C*cksucking Tears This funny and touching documentary
follows Pat Haggerty, the man behind the world’s first and only
gay-themed country music album, Lavender Country, 40 years
after its release. DIRECTED BY Dan Taberski, 2016, USA, 15 mins.
Flower of a Thousand Colours An intimate slice of the life of
Emiliana, a loving single mother of seven who struggles every
day with her environment: a Bolivian mining camp. DIRECTED
BY Karen Vazquez Guadarrama, 2016, Belgium, Spanish with
subtitles, 23 mins.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
2016 Loft Film Fest Schedule
FILMS IN COMPETITION
11AM
12PM
1PM
2PM
3PM
4PM
5PM
6PM
7
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 9
Screen 1
Opening
Night
Party
Screen 3
THURSDAY, NOV. 10
Screen 1
18 The Bride
19 The Brand
6 The Jazz Loft
New Testament
12pm / 96min
2:15pm / 113min
Screen 3
28 Speed Sisters
12:15pm / 78min
36 After the Storm
+
Q&A
5pm / 87min
14 Animation Show of Shows
2pm / 117min
23 T
7:
4:45pm / 90min
FRIDAY, NOV. 11
Screen 1
13 Chicken People
Screen 3
9 Do Not Resist
21 100 Years
12:15pm / 83min
20Son of Joseph
16 Documentary
+
Q&A
Shorts
11:45am / 115min
+
Q&A
5:00pm / 72min
2:30pm / 76min
2:15pm / 120min
35Marinoni: The 38
5:15pm / 90min
Fire in the Frame
SATURDAY, NOV. 12
Screen 1
17 Seasons
11:45am / 97min
Screen 3
15 Narrative Shorts
11:30am / 120min
34I, Daniel Blake 39Trespass
2:15pm / 100min
4:30pm / 99min
24Occupy, Texas +
Q&A
2:30pm / 100min
5
Against Us
+
Q&A
N
7:
37Obit
5:15pm / 93min
SUNDAY, NOV. 13
Screen 1
40Things to Come
11am / 102min
11 A Quiet Passion 25 The Rebound
1:15pm / 125min
4pm / 65min
Screen 3
8
Fire at Sea
11:15am / 114min
7
Cameraperson
2pm / 102min
+
Q&A
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
+
Q&A
12 Lost in Paris
5pm /83min
3
The Ma
w/ Mar
6:30pm /
27C
7p
LFF12 / LFF13
7PM
8PM
9PM
1 Dominion
10PM
11PM
12AM
+
Q&A
7:30pm / 101min
2 The Lure
7:45pm / 92min
10 Ghostbusters
29 The Eyes of My
70mm
Mother
10pm / 76min
7:30pm / 105min
The Chosen Ones
:00pm / 105min
4 Tombstone
Rashomon 7:30pm / 83min
30 Evolution
10pm / 81min
31 Creepy
Color
9:45pm /130min
7:15pm/ 107min
32Staying Vertical
Neruda
:00pm / 107min
9:30pm / 100min
33Another Evil
25Jackson
9:45pm / 90min
7:30pm / 93min
144min
9:45pm / 105min
+
Q&A
8Contemporary artian
rk Kelly
22 Kills on Wheels
+
Q&A
+
Q&A
+
Q&A
Closet Monster
pm / 90min
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF14
17
Seasons
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 11:45AM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
Directed by Jacques Perrin and
Jacques Cluzau
2015, France, French with
subtitles, 97 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Tokyo
International Film Festival,
Seattle International Film
Festival
After traveling the world alongside migrating birds and diving
the oceans with whales and manta rays, Jacques Perrin and
Jacques Cluzaud (Winged Migration) return to more familiar
ground, the lush green forests and megafauna that emerged
across Europe following the last Ice Age. Winter had gone on
for 80,000 years when, in a relatively short period of time
the ice retreated, the landscape metamorphosed, the cycle
of seasons was established and the beasts occupied their
new kingdom. It was only later than man arrived to share this
habitat, first tentatively as migratory hunter/gatherers, then
making inroads in the forest as settled agriculturalists, and
later more dramatically via industry and warfare. Seasons,
with its exceptional footage of animals in the wild, is the
awe-inspiring and thought-provoking tale of the long and
tumultuous shared history that inextricably binds humankind
with the natural world.
“Truly beautiful. Captures the poetry, humor and drama of
wildlife.”
- Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
18
The Bride (La Novia)
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT NOON
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Paula Ortiz
2015, Spain, in Spanish with
subtitles, 96 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: San Sebastián
International Film Festival
WINNER: 17 Awards including
2 Goya Awards: Best Actress
Luisa Gavasa and Best
Cinematography
Based on Federico Garcia Lorca’s classic tragedy, Blood
Wedding, this fervent, sumptuously-lensed romantic drama
from Spanish director Paula Ortiz spins the hot-blooded tale
of a love triangle gone wrong, following two lovers who defy
all moral and social rules as they are swept away by their
forbidden passion. The Bride, The Groom and Leonardo have
formed an inseparable triangle since they were children, but
Leonardo and The Bride possess an invisible, unbreakable and
ferocious bond. The years go by, and The Bride, in anguish,
prepares for her wedding with The Groom in the middle of
the bleached white desert where she lives with her father.
The day before the ceremony, a mysterious beggar knocks on
her door and offers her a chilling piece of advice: “Don’t get
married if you don’t love him.” Taking this advice to heart, on
the day of her wedding, The Bride and Leonardo escape on
horseback to live their love, only to find their transgression will
have devastating consequences. Soaked in Lorca’s fatalistic
romanticism, The Bride is propelled by stunning visuals and
a swooning intensity that builds to a shocking and tragic
conclusion.
“Heady … ecstatic … visceral … a brilliant spin on Federico
Garcia Lorca’s classic play, Blood Wedding.”
- Mia Leonin, Miami New Times
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF15
19
The Brand New Testament
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 2:15PM
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Jaco Van Dormael
2015, Belgium/ France/
Luxembourg, French & German
with subtitles, 113 mins., Not
Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Cannes Film
Festival WINNER: 11 Awards
including 4 Belgian Magritte
Awards. Nominated for a
2016 Golden Globe Award,
Best Motion Picture - Foreign
Language
When Ea gets fed up with her overbearing father (who
happens to be God), she decides to follow in her older brother’s
footsteps by leaving the house, gathering her own apostles,
and writing her own testament.
The Brand New Testament begins with one simple conceit:
God exists! He lives in Brussels and he’s a real bastard, a
petty tyrant to his wife and daughter. His son is known well;
JC managed to escape his father’s grasp and live among us,
getting himself killed in the process. But God has a daughter,
too. Ea is ten years old and has had enough of her father
using humanity as his playthings. When she spies the right
opportunity, she hacks into his computer and leaks to the
entire world via text message their inevitable date of death.
What follows is Jaco Van Dormael’s witty and eccentric
answer to the loaded question: what would you do if you knew
exactly how much time you had left to live? Starring Catherine
Deneuve, Yolande Moreau, Benoit Poelvoorde and Pili Groyne.
“Irresistibly laugh-out-loud and feel-good.”
- Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
2 0 Son of Joseph
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 11:45AM
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Eugène Green
2016, France/Belgium, French
with subtitles, 114 mins., Not
Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Berlin
International Film Festival, New
York International Film Festival,
London Film Festival
One of French cinema’s most distinctive voices, and arguably
its most idiosyncratic stylist, Eugène Green (La Sapienza)
returns with this splendid deadpan comedy/modern day
parable about a young man in search of a father. Newcomer
Victor Ezenfis plays Vincent, a discontented teenager
determined to solve the mystery of his paternity, which
his forbearing mother (Natacha Régnier) has kept strictly
secret. Tracking down pompous publisher Oscar (Mathieu
Amalric, in impeccably snooty form), Vincent finds himself
attempting (with little success) to bond with his self-absorbed
absentee father and venturing into the lofty climes of the
Parisian literary world (deliciously mocked by Green), before
Oscar’s kindly brother Joseph (Fabrizio Rongione) enters the
picture and offers a new paternal alternative. This complex,
unpredictable and humorous story, a buoyant nativity story
reboot intent on skewering French cultural pretensions, sees
Green elegantly mixing genres—mystery story, adventure,
coming-of-age tale, satirical farce—while sustaining the
peculiar tone of enigma and contemplation that result from his
singular shooting style.
“Delightful and beguiling … offbeat French formalist Eugène
Green delivers his most accessible work to date with this
… honey-drizzled, farcically funny fable of an unhappy
teenager seeking a father.”
— Guy Lodge, Variety
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: In Competition
100 Years: One
Woman’s Fight for Justice
2 2 Kills on Wheels
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10
AT 9:45PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
A PRESENTATION OF THE NATIVE EYES
FILM SHOWCASE
DIRECTED BY Melinda Janko
2016, USA, 76 mins., Not Rated
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Atilla Till
2016, Hungary, Hungarian with subtitles,
105 mins., Not Rated
21
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 2:30PM
When Elouise Cobell, a petite Blackfeet
warrior from Montana, started asking
questions about missing money from
government managed Indian Trust
accounts, she never imagined that one
day she would be taking on the world’s
most powerful government. But what
she discovered as the Treasurer of her
tribe was a trail of fraud and corruption
leading all the way from Montana to
Washington DC. 100 Years is the story of
her 30-year fight for justice for 300,000
Native Americans whose mineral rich
lands were grossly mismanaged by
the United States Government. In
1996, Cobell filed the largest class
action lawsuit ever filed against the
federal government. For fifteen long
years, and through three Presidential
administrations, Elouise Cobell’s
unrelenting spirit never quit.
This is the compelling true story of how
she prevailed.
PREVIOUS FESTS: Santa Fe Independent Film
LFF16
2 3 The Chosen Ones
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10
AT 7:00PM
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY David Pablos
2015, Mexico, Spanish with subtitles,
105 mins., Not Rated
Set in the border city of Tijuana, The
An action-comedy about a wheelchair
gang, where two disabled teenagers
gain a mentor in a paralyzed hitman
who enlists them as his partners in
crime. They have little to lose, although
things are never as they first appear. The
boundaries between fantasy and reality
blur as the unlikely heroes stumble from
one close encounter to the next and we
gain an unusual insight into their lives on
the periphery of society. Both a story of
acquiring empowerment by any means
necessary, and a funny and effective
genre exercise, Kills on Wheels is a
completely unique film experience.
PREVIOUS FESTS: Karlovy Vary International
Film Festival, London Film Festival |
Hungary’s submission for Best Foreign
Language Oscar
Chosen Ones follows innocent 14-yearold Sofia (Nancy Talamantes) as she falls
for young Ulises (Oscar Torres), unaware
that he is being forced to operate a
pernicious scheme on behalf of his father
and older brother to lure unsuspecting
girls into the family business of
prostitution and sexual slavery. When
Ulises falls in love with Sofia, he
confesses the truth to her on the eve
of her abduction. The pair attempt an
escape, but they are caught and Sofia
is promptly put to work, leading Ulises
to consider a morally devastating plan
in order to save her. With The Chosen
Ones, director David Pablos (a native of
Tijuana) has crafted an uncompromising
and chilling feature film highlighting the
frightening reality of human trafficking
in Mexico.
PREVIOUS FESTS: Cannes Film Festival,
San Sebastián International Film Festival
WINNER: 7 Awards including Ariel Award,
Mexico, Best Film & Best Director
Festival.
With director David Pablos in person!
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: In Competition
LFF17
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12
AT 2:30PM
2 5 The Rebound
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13
AT 4:00PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12
AT 7:30PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Jeff Barry
2016, USA, 93 mins., Not Rated
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Shaina Allen
2016, USA, 65 mins., Not Rated
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Maisie Crow
2016, USA, 92 mins., Not Rated
Beau Baker, a washed out ‘Occupy,
The Rebound is an insider’s look at
Wall Street’ protester, is woken up on
the streets of NYC with news that his
parents have died and he must return
home to Texas where his parents have
left him in charge of his two teenage
sisters and their estate. This sets Beau
off on a journey to search for and find
the strength to reunite with his sisters,
his past and himself.
This whip-smart dramedy features
a great lead performance from its
screenwriter, Gene Gallerano, along
with fantastic supporting work from
Peri Gilpin (Frasier), Lorelei Linklater
(Boyhood), and a star-making turn from
Catherine Elvir in her debut role
the struggling Miami Heat Wheels
wheelchair basketball team following a
defeat at the national championships.
In community supported wheelchair
basketball programs across the nation,
players push their way physically,
mentally and emotionally through each
season without the recognition or the
resources of mainstream sports.
Debut filmmakers Shaina Allen
(Director) and Mike Esposito (Producer)
step deep inside the lives of three
players as they endure and respond to
adversity, and fight their way to a second
chance. Friends, family, and pride hang
in the balance as these men find an
extraordinary gift in the hand life has
dealt. With each victory, the players, and
their team, get closer to the idea that
anything is possible—and it’s all about
how you rebound.
What does life look like in a place where
the anti-abortion movement has
made access to legal abortion nearly
impossible? Shannon Brewer is the
director of Jackson Women’s Health
Organization, the only remaining
abortion clinic in Mississippi. Barbara
Beavers runs the Center for Pregnancy
Choices and is a leader of the antiabortion movement in Mississippi.
April Jackson is a young mother of
four children faced with another
unplanned pregnancy.
Set against the backdrop of the fight
over the last abortion clinic in Mississippi,
Jackson is an intimate, first-of-its-kind
look inside the issues surrounding
abortion through three women who
stand on all sides of this debate and
live at a turning point for reproductive
healthcare in America.
PREVIOUS FESTS: Brooklyn Film Festival,
PREVIOUS FESTS: New Orleans Film Festival,
Human Rights Watch Film Festival
24
Occupy, Texas
PREVIOUS FESTS: Raindance Film Festival,
Mill Valley Film Festival
With director Jeff Barry in person!
Cinequest
26
Jackson
With director Shaina Allen, producer Michael
Esposito, and star Mario Moran in person!
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF18
2 7 Closet Monster
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 7:00PM
SOUTHWEST PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Stephen Dunn
2016, Canada, English, 90 mins.,
Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Toronto
International Film Festival
WINNER: 10 awards including
Best Canadian Feature at
Toronto International Film
Festival
Written and directed by Stephen Dunn, Closet Monster
features a closeted Newfoundland teen who dreams of
becoming a special-effects makeup artist, and is terrified of
his macho father finding out the truth about his sexuality. A
fresh take on the coming-of-age story, this surreal tale follows
the artistically driven Oscar (Connor Jessup, American Crime)
hovering on the brink of adulthood. Struggling to find his place
in the world after a rough childhood and haunted by images
of a tragic incident, Oscar dreams of escaping his small town.
After he meets a mysterious and attractive new co-worker,
Oscar follows the guidance of his pet hamster Buffy (
voiced by Isabella Rossellini) and faces his demons to find the
life he wants.
PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM Add Contact Just as he does
every weekend, Jaime stumbles home after partying all night.
This time, he encounters some curious travelers Directed by
David Oeo, 2016, Spain, in Spanish with subtitles, 3 mins.
Dunn plays around with perspective and style, but all the
flash doesn’t obscure the film’s emotion and heart, which
are deep and true.”
- Kate Erbland, IndieWIRE
28
Speed Sisters
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 12:15PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Amber Fares
2015, Palestine/USA/Qatar,
Arabic with subtitles, 78 mins.,
Not Rated
A PARTNERSHIP WITH
The Tucson International Jewish
Film Festival
PREVIOUS FESTS: Hot Docs; Doc
NYC; Vail Film Festival
Demolishing stereotypes while avoiding wrecking their cars,
the Speed Sisters are the Middle East’s first all-female race
car team. Demonstrating their high-octane talent, and
the marketing savvy to draw attention to their camerafriendly lineup, this diverse, engaging group competes in
Palestine’s makeshift motor sports circuit across the West
Bank, overcoming Israeli checkpoints and restrictive societal
expectations to become hard-driving role models for a new
generation of young Arab women in the process. Weaving
together their lives on and off the track, the engaging
documentary Speed Sisters introduces viewers to five women
who have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, maledominated Palestinian car racing scene, going further and
faster than anyone thought they could, flattening every
stereotype in their path.
“Speed Sisters is a muscular, unapologetic and surprisingly
feel-good documentary about the Middle East’s first allfemale team of racing drivers.”
– Kevin Mahr, Times (UK)
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: Late Nights
LFF19
29
The Eyes of My Mother
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 10:00PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Nicolas Pesce
2016, USA, English and
Portuguese with subtitles, 76
mins., Rated R
PREVIOUS FESTS: Sundance Film
Festival; Chicago International
Film Festival; Fantasia
International Film Festival
“Shockingly original … equal parts Ingmar Bergman, Tim
Burton and Tobe Hooper .. the discovery of this year’s
Sundance Film Festival.”
In their secluded farmhouse, a mother, formerly a surgeon
in Portugal, teaches her daughter, Francisca, to understand
anatomy and be unfazed by death. One afternoon, a
mysterious visitor horrifyingly shatters the idyll of Francisca’s
family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also
awakening some unique curiosities. Though she clings to her
increasingly reticent father, Francisca’s loneliness and scarred
nature converge years later when her longing to connect with
the world around her takes on a distinctly dark form. Shot in
crisp black and white, the haunting, and at times disturbing,
visual compositions of The Eyes of My Mother evoke its
protagonist’s isolation and illuminate her deeply unbalanced
worldview. Genre-inflected, but so strikingly unique as to defy
categorization, writer/director Nicolas Pesce’s assured feature
debut allows us only an elliptical presence in Francisca’s world,
guiding our imaginations to follow her into peculiar, secret
places.
PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM The Puppet Man. A supernatural
killer stalks a young woman and her friends in a seedy, neonlit dive bar in this short film featuring horror legend John
Carpenter. Directed by Jacqueline Castel, 2016, USA, 9 mins.
– Eric Kohn, Indiewire
30
Evolution
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 10:00PM
This eerily seductive mind-bender is a dark, dreamlike descent
into the depths of the unknown. Ten-year-old Nicolas (Max
Brebant) lives in a remote seaside village populated only by
boys his age and adult women. But when he makes a disturbing
discovery beneath the ocean waves—a dead boy with a red
starfish on his stomach—Nicolas begins to question everything
about his existence. What are the half-remembered images he
recalls, as if from another life? If the woman he lives with is not
his mother, then who is she? And what awaits the boys when
they are all suddenly confined to a hospital? The long-awaited
new film from the acclaimed director of Innocence is awash in
the haunting, otherworldly images of a nightmare.
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Lucile
Hadzihalilovic
2015, France, in French with
subtitles, 81 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Toronto
International Film Festival,
Fantastic Fest, London Film
Festival
“Hadzihalilovic’s latest nightmarish allegory is entirely her
own invention, an open-ended visual feast.”
- Peter Debruge, Variety
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest: Late Nights
31
Creepy
LFF20
32
Staying Vertical
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 9:45PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 9:30PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Kiyoshi Kurosawa
2016, Japan, Japanese with
subtitles, 130 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Berlin
International Film Festival,
London Film Festival, Fantasia
International Film Festival
WINNER: Best Director, Fantasia
International Film Festival
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who made his name with classics Cure
and Bright Future, gets back to his roots by putting the
thumbscrews to the audience with his latest, Creepy. A year
after a botched hostage negotiation with a serial killer turned
deadly, ex-detective Koichi (Hidetoshi Nishijima), and his wife
move into a new house with a deeply strange new neighbor
(Teruyuki Kagawa). His old cop colleagues come calling for his
help on a mysterious case, which may be related to the strange
goings-on next door, in this insidiously-constructed narrative
that braids plot twists on top of plot twists and shock on
top of shock.
DIRECTED BY Alain Guiraudie
2016, France, in French with
subtitles, 100 mins., Not Rated
but appropriate for audiences 18
and above only
PREVIOUS FESTS: Cannes Film
Festival, New York Film Festival,
London Film Festival, Sarajevo
Film Festival
Filmmaker Leo is searching for the wolf in the south of France.
During a scouting excursion he is seduced by Marie, a freespirited and dynamic shepherdess. Nine months later she gives
birth to their child. Suffering from post-natal depression and
with no faith in Leo, who comes and goes without warning,
Marie abandons both of them. Leo finds himself alone, with
a baby to care for. It’s not easy, but deep down, he loves
it. Through a series of unexpected and unusual encounters,
struggling to find inspiration for his next film, Leo will do
whatever it takes to stay standing. Alain Guiraudie follows
Stranger by the Lake (featured at the 2014 Loft Film Fest)
Winner of the Un Certain Regard – Directing Prize at the
Cannes Film Festival with this intimate, heart-stopping tale set
amidst a wilderness in which secret desires are revealed.
3 3 Another Evil
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 9:45PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Carson Mell
2015, USA, 90 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: SXSW Film
Festival, Seattle International
Film Festival
After encountering a ghost in their vacation home, Dan
(Steve Zissis, Togetherness) and his wife Mary (Jennifer Irwin,
Eastbound & Down) consult an exorcist. Unsatisfied with the
verdict, Dan goes behind his wife’s back to seek a second
opinion, and secretly hires Os (Mark Proksch, The Office), who
promises to get rid of the beings. Os and Dan spend a week
together in the vacation home exorcising the “EFD” (Evil Fully
Determined) beings, but Dan soon realizes that ridding the
home of evil won’t be as simple as it seems.
Director Carson Mell, a writer for Silicon Valley, creates a
unique world where the viewer never quite knows what will
happen next. The result is a disarming sensation that is funny,
uncomfortable, and creepy in equal measure.
Director Carson Mell in person!
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF21
34
I, Daniel Blake
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 2:15PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Ken Loach
2016, UK, 100 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Cannes Film
Festival, Toronto International
Film Festival, Chicago
International Film Festival
WINNER: Palme d’Or, Cannes
Film Festival 2016
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival,
the latest from legendary director Ken Loach is a gripping,
human tale about the impact one man can make. Gruff but
goodhearted, Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) is a man out of time: a
widowed woodworker who’s never owned a computer, he lives
according to his own common sense moral code. But after a
heart attack leaves him unable to work and the state welfare
system fails him, the stubbornly self-reliant Daniel must stand
up and fight for his dignity, leading a one-man crusade for
compassion that will transform the lives of a struggling single
mother (Hayley Squires) and her two children. Graced with
humor and heart, I, Daniel Blake is a moving, much-needed
reminder of the power of empathy from one of the world’s
greatest living filmmakers.
“One of Loach’s finest films, a drama of tender devastation
that tells its story with an unblinking neorealist simplicity
that goes right back to the plainspoken purity of Vittorio
De Sica.”
- Owen Gleiberman, Variety
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
LFF22
35
Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 5:15PM
Giuseppe Marinoni found his calling when he transitioned from
champion cyclist to master bike craftsman. But after years
hunched over toxic fumes, his passion almost killed him. Now
age 75, Marinoni is back in shape, and decides to attempt the
world hour record for his age group on a legendary bike he built
with his own hands almost 40 years ago.
“Another remarkable senior gets the spotlight in this
wonderful, inspiriting doc about a legend of the cycling
world.”
- David Noh, Film Journal International
TUCSON PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Tony Girardin
2015, Canada and Italy, English,
French and Italian with subtitles,
90 mins., Not Rated
36
PREVIOUS FESTS: Vancouver
International Film Festival,
Hot Docs
After the Storm
37
Obit
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 2:00PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 5:15PM
TUCSON PREMIERE
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Hirokazu Koreeda
2016, Japan, Japanese
with subtitles, 117 mins.,
Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Cannes Film
Festival, Toronto
International Film Festival
The latest narrative from acclaimed director Hirokazu
Koreeda’s (Our Little Sister, Like Father Like Son, I Wish) follows
Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) as he dwells on his past glory as a prizewinning author while wasting the money he makes as a private
detective on gambling, barely able to pay child support. After
the death of his father, his aging mother (Kirin Kiki) and
beautiful ex-wife (Yoko Make) seem to be moving on with their
lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family,
Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to
find a lasting place in the life of his young son (Taiyo Yoshizawa)
- until a stormy summer night offers them a chance to truly
bond again.
DIRECTED BY Vanessa Gould
2016, USA, 93 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Tribeca Film
Festival, AFI Docs Film Festival,
Traverse City Film Festival
There are only a handful of editorial obituary writers in the
world, and none are better than at The New York Times, where
obits have become some of the best writing in journalism. Obit
is the first documentary to look into the world of editorial
obituaries, and the film invites some of the most essential
questions we ask ourselves about life, memory and the
inevitable passage of time. What do we choose to remember?
What never dies?
The writers de-emphasize the death, and tell stories of lives
lived in extraordinary ways, often below the radar. With this
comes uncommon insights – insights only the rare obituary
writer could have – into the passage of generations, the
astonishing cycle of life, the ebb and flow of time, and culture
as it appears to accelerate and vanish at the same time.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
Loft Film Fest
38
LFF23
Contemporary Color
39
Trespass Against Us
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11 AT 7:15PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12 AT 4:30PM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Bill Ross IV & Turner
Ross
2016, USA, 107 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Tribeca
Film Festival, Seattle
International Film Festival |
WINNER: Best Editing and
Best Cinematography in a
Documentary Feature, Tribeca
Film Festival 2016
In the summer of 2015, legendary musician David Byrne staged
an event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to celebrate the art
of Color Guard: synchronized dance routines involving flags,
rifles, and sabers. Recruiting performers that include the
likes of St. Vincent, Nelly Furtado, Ad-Rock, and Ira Glass to
collaborate on original pieces with 10 color guard teams from
across the US and Canada, Contemporary Color is a beautifully
filmed snapshot of a one-of-a-kind live event filled with music,
movement and joyful energy, from the acclaimed directors of
the award-winning 2012 documentary, Tchoupitoulas.
DIRECTED BY Adam Smith
2016, UK, 99 mins., Rated R
PREVIOUS FESTS: Toronto
International Film Festival,
London Film Festival
Trespass Against Us is set across three generations of the
Cutler family who live as outlaws in their own anarchic corner
of Britain’s richest countryside. Chad Cutler (Oscar-nominated
actor Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs) is heir apparent to his
bruising criminal father, Colby (Golden Globe-nominated actor
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard) and has been groomed to spend
his life hunting, thieving and tormenting the police. But with
his own son, Tyson (Georgie Smith) coming of age, Chad soon
finds himself locked in a battle with his father for the future
of his young family. When Colby learns of Chad’s dreams for
another life he sets out to tie his son and grandson into the
archaic order that has bound the Cutler family for generations.
He engineers a spectacular piece of criminal business involving
a heist, a high-speed car chase and a manhunt, which leaves
Chad bruised and bloodied and with his very freedom at stake.
4 0 Things to Come
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 AT 11:00AM
ARIZONA PREMIERE
DIRECTED BY Mia Hansen-Løve
2015, France, French with
subtitles, 102 mins., Not Rated
PREVIOUS FESTS: Berlin
International Film Festival,
Toronto International Film
Festival, New York Film Festival
WINNER: Best Director, Berlin
International Film Festival 2016
What happens when the life you’ve worked so hard to build
falls apart all at once? Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert, in a radiant
performance) is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled
existence, juggling a rich life of the mind with the day-today demands of career and family (including frequent visits
to her drama queen mother, played by the legendary Édith
Scob). But beginning with the bombshell revelation that her
husband of twenty-five years is leaving her, one by one the
pillars of Nathalie’s life start to crumble. For the first time in
ages, she finds herself adrift, but also with a newfound sense of
liberation. With nothing to hold
her back, Nathalie sets out to define this new phase of her life
and to rediscover herself. Winner of the Best Director award at
the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, the new film from
Mia Hansen-Løve (Eden) is an uncommonly intelligent, soulsearching look at what it means to create a life of one’s own.
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE
THIS GUIDE PROVIDED BY THE LOFT CINEMA AND ZOCALO MAGAZINE