CITY OF THE ANGELS 2010 FILMS

That Evening Sun
Written and directed by Scott Teems
Starring Hal Holbrook, Raymond Makinnon, Walton Goggins, Mia Wasikowska and Dixie Carter

 

Audience Award for Best Narrative Film, South by Southwest

Hal Holbrook caps a remarkable career with his unflinching portrait of irascible farmer, Abner Meecham. This is not a soft, lovable grandpa. Abner rages against the dying of the light, fleeing an old folks home, to return to the land he tilled. One major problem—the Choat family has moved in. Director Scott Teems adapts William Gay’s short story, inviting us to slow down and soak up these widescreen vistas! That Evening Sun is an evocative hymn to the rural South. The stirring ensemble earned Independent Sprit Award nominations for Supporting Actors Raymond Makinnon and Mia Wasikowska (the upcoming Alice in Wonderland!).

 

 

1040
Directed by Evan Jackson Leong

75 Minutes/US and Hong Kong. In English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, with English Subtitles.

Featuring Jaeson Ma, MC Jin, Van Ness Wu, Mike Bickle, MC Hammer, Philip Mantofa, David Wang.

1040 is an explosive documentary that focuses on the rapid changes in Asia and the significant shift of religious landscape in the area known as the “10/40 Window”- the regions between 10 degrees and 40 degrees North Latitude on the Eastern hemisphere. In the film, artist and minister Jaeson Ma takes us on an exciting journey through the Asian countries in the window, showing us the dramatic changes happening on the ground. We visit China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia. Through incisive observations, intimate interviews with prominent leaders and celebrities, and powerful, never-before-heard stories, 1040 dynamically explores a part of our globe that is experiencing vast socioeconomic expansion and profound shift in identity- it is an area that is now nothing less than the frontier of world Christianity.

 

 

After the Storm
Directed by Hilla Medalia

Starring James Lecesne, Gerry McIntyre, and Randy Redd

Audience Choice Award, Best Documentary, Heartland Film Festival

With the earthquake in Haiti dominating our thoughts, we must not forget about the devastation that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In After the Storm, three Broadway artists, James, Gerry and Randy, travel to New Orleans determined to make a difference. To raise funds for a damaged community center, they stage the musical, “Once Upon an Island,” starring local teens. The cast take us inside their lives, inspiring tears and laughter. Will the production come together? And more importantly, how will the community rebuild? This rousing documentary estores our faith in the healing power of art.

 

 

 

Burma VJ
Directed by Anders Ostergaard

 

Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary, Grand Prize, Full Frame Film Festival

How can citizens resist a brutal regime? Burma VJ celebrates the powerful combination of Buddhist monks and video journalists. They take their protests against an oppressive police state to the streets of Rangoon, documenting injustices as they occur. As bullets fly, portable cameras become a tactical weapon in the hands of 27 year-old, “Joshua” and his fellow VJ’s from the Democratic Voice of Burma. Tension mounts as these guerilla filmmakers risk their lives to get the story out. This is the positive side of YouTube—broadcasting the fight for freedom.

 

 

Goodbye Solo
Directed by Ramin Bahrani, Written by Bahareh Azimi and Ramin Bahrani
Starring Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, and Diana Franco Galindo

 

FEPRESCI, International Critics Award, Best Film, Venice Film Festival

Solo, a Senegalese immigrant, answers phone calls with boundless enthusiasm. He embraces each passenger in his taxi cab, thrilled to navigate a land of opportunity. But he’s never encountered so sad and shut down a case as William, a 72-year old requesting a one way trip to Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Iranian-American filmmaker Ramin Bahrani finds warmth, humor and humanity on the margins of society. But Goodbye Solo is no Driving Miss Daisy. It twists and turns in haunting ways, illuminating the passing of one era in America for another. Souleymane Sy Savane was nominated for Best Actor at the Independent Spirit Awards for his stirring first film role as “Solo”.

 

 

Lourdes
Directed by Jessica Hausner

96 Minutes/France, Austria, Germany. In French with English Subtitles.

Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival

Austrian writer-director Hausner’s casts aan ironic eye over the ties between commercialism and spiritual healing in this brilliant and satisfyingly illusive film. Venice-competition film LOURDES sees acclaimed actress Sylvie Testud’s paraplegic pilgrim looking to the divine for physical welfare and wanting life-changing results in the famed town of Lourdes. The subdued and slyly comic register of the performances and the gorgeous, deadpan shooting style (reminiscent of Aki Kaurismäki and Jacques Tati) are the tools Hausner employ to decipher her tale, leaving you to decide whether religion is a sham or the source of salvation.

 

 

 

SERAPHINE
Directed by Martin Provost
Written by Marc Abdelnour and Martin Provost

 

Cesar Award for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography
National Society of Film Critics, Best Actress—Yolanda Moreau

Local villagers consider Seraphine Louis slightly crazy, an eccentric to avoid. She cleans houses by day, but paints at night. Seraphine comes alive before the canvas, celebrating the glory of nature and her God. Her naïve, self-taught paintings may have been lost forever if art dealer Wilhelm Uhde hadn’t discovered Seraphine’s secret. Her fascinating story rivals the wonders of Vincent Van Gogh, another divinely inspired artist driven to madness. Seraphine explores the fine line between genius and insanity. Yet, Seraphine’s firm Catholic faith informs each of her simple, glorious paintings. This majestic film swept the French Oscars.

 

 

Still Walking
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
114 Minutes/Japan. In Japanese with English Subtitles

 

Toronto Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival. Best Director, Asian Film Awards

 

Japanese master Kore-Eda Hirokazu (AFTER LIFE, NOBODY KNOWS) returns to the forefront of world cinema with STILL WALKING - an exquisitely detailed family drama that shines with warmth and understanding. Lushly photographed, and with a sensitive script that incorporates elements of director Kore-Eda's personal experience, STILL WALKING is a moving work of art that recalls the best of Yasujiro Ozu. Fifteen years ago, Junpei, the youngest son of the Yokoyama family died while rescuing a boy from drowning. On the anniversary of his death, the remaining siblings visit the quaint home of their parents with their families in tow. Over the course of a beautiful day, new relatives become acquainted telling stories and squabbling over sizzling tempura and an elegant graveside ritual is performed for Junpei. Complex family dynamics and hidden tensions are slowly revealed in the process..

 

 

Summer Hours
Directed by Olivier Assayas
03 Minutes/France. In French with English Subtitles

 

Toronto Film Festival, New York Film Festival, AFI Film Festival

 

One of the most celebrated films in world cinema today, and a standout hit of the Toronto, AFI and New York Film Festivals, SUMMER HOURS is Olivier Assayas' (IRMA VEP, LES DESTINÉES) latest film superbly acted by some of France's finest performers –Oscar winner Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling and Jérémie Rénier. The divergent paths of three forty-something siblings collide when their mother, heiress to her uncle’s exceptional 19th-century art collection, dies suddenly. Left to come to terms with themselves and their differences, Adrienne (Binoche), a successful New York designer, Frédéric (Berling), an economist and university professor in Paris, and Jérémie (Rénier), a dynamic businessman in China, confront the end of childhood, their shared memories, background and unique vision of the future. Incisively written, Assayas' new film moves effortlessly through its narrative with all the grace of Renoir at the height of his powers..