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THE BACKLANDS SHALL SEA
A Q&A with director Rodgigo Cesar will follow this 40-minute film
November 25, 2024
This contender for Best Live Action Short from Brazil follows an ocean-fascinated cowboy from the Brazilian backlands who discovers that the farm where he has worked all his life will be sold, so he abandons everything to finally get to know the sea.
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SATURN RETURN
Separate links will be provided for both the film and the Q&A with director/screenwriter Isaki Lacuesta (which can then be watched online separately)
November 22, 2024
Spain's official submission for Best International Film is set in the late 1990s, when art and culture are in full swing in Granada. Against that background, an indie band is about to change the music scene -- but before they can create their new album, the band has to go through its worst possible moment.
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THE WRITER
Separate links will be provided for both the film and the Q&A(wh ich can then be watched online separately) with Austin Glasser and Luke Madenwald, who together wrote and directed this film
November 19, 2024
Jefferson White (YELLOWSTONE, CIVIL WAR) stars as a self-isolated writer navigating the pressure of the film industry, his family, and the looming presence of his father, only to lose himself to his ambitions.
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JULIE KEEPS QUIET
Separate links will be provided for both the film and the Q&A with director/screenwriter Leonardo Van Dijl (which can then be watched online separately)
November 18, 2024
Belgium's official submission for Best International Film is set at an elite tennis academy. After the coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club's players speak up -- except for their star, who decides to keep quiet.
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BOTTLE GEORGE
This 13-minute short film will be followed by a Q&A with director Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi
November 17, 2024
Oscar-nominated director Dice Tsutsumi returns for another shot at the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, this time using stop-motion animation to explore the darkness of addiction and the strength of family.
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NEITHER DONKEY NOR HORSE
Q&A guests: director/screenwriter Robin Wang and co-screenwriter Jesse Aultman
October 29, 2024
The contender for this year's Best Live Action Short (Telluride Film Festival premiere and Student Academy Awards Winner) is set amidst the outbreak of the 1910 Manchurian Plague, when a young Chinese doctor must defy prejudices of both the East and the West to champion his groundbreaking theory of the disease -- and seek the truth that will heal it.
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SALTBURN
Q&A Guests: actors Rosamund Pike, Barry Keoghan, Alison Oliver & Archie Madekwe, with free popcorn and soft drinks for all guests!
December 16, 2023
In this latest film produced, written and directed by Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell (PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN), an Oxford University student finds himself drawn into the world of a charming and aristocratic classmate, who invites him to his eccentric family's sprawling estate for a summer never to be forgotten.
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FOUR SOULS OF COYOTE
Q&A with director/screenwriter Aron Gauder
December 6, 2023
Hungary's official submission in this year's race for Best International Film is the animated story of Native American protesters confronting an oil pipeline project placed down the hill from their ancestral land. As the grandfather evokes the tale of Creation, he reminds all of us that we need to find our place in the great circle of creatures.
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2018 - EVERYONE IS A HERO
Q&A with director/co-screenwriter Jude Anthany Joseph
December 3, 2023
India's official selection in this year's race for Best International Feature is a disaster film set during the 2018 Kerala Floods, where people from all walks of life faced catastrophic consequences and put in collective efforts to survive the calamity.
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DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
Q&A with director/screenwriter Radu Jude and actress Ilinca Manolache
December 2, 2023
With 100% critical positives from Rotten Tomatoes, Romania's official entry in this year's race for Best International Feature is a black comedy about an overworked and underpaid production assistant has to shoot a workplace safety video.
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THUNDER
Q&A with director/screenwriter Carmen Jaquier
November 30, 2023
Switzerland's official entry in the race for Best International Feature is set in the year 1900, after the mysterious death of her sister prompts a young novitiate to leave the convent and return to her small village, where a reunion with three childhood friends leads her to discover that faith and desire can sometimes be intertwined.
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TRACES
Q&A with director/screenwriter Dubravka Turic
November 29, 2023
Our next contender in the race for Best International Feature comes from Croatia, the story of a young anthropologist experiencing an identity crisis -- the last surviving member of a once-large family whose internal struggles are suddenly reflected in the mystical symbols which are the focus of her research.
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ANATOMY OF A FALL
Featuring a Q&A with screenwriter Arthur Harari
November 18, 2023
This year's winner of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival (with 96% positive critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes) is about a woman suspected of her husband's murder, leaving their blind son faced with a moral dilemma as the sole witness.
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MARRY MY DEAD BODY
Q&A with director/screenwriter Wei-Hao Cheng
November 12, 2023
Taiwan's official entry in the race for Best International Feature is an action comedy with a surprisingly heartfelt twist, about a police officer who finds a red wedding envelope, only to discover that the sender is a ghost awaiting reincarnation who's asking for the officer's hand in marriage.
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Netflix Nominated Shorts Night
Q&A with executive producer Doug Blush & director Kartiki Gonsalves (THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS) and co-director Debra McClutchy & producer Judith Mizrachy (THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT)
February 16, 2023
Please join us for this 80-minute program featuring two of this year's nominees for Best Documentary Short:
THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS, the true story of a couple in Southern India who fall in love with an orphaned elephant, working tirelessly to ensure his survival.
THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, an archival portrait of the unlikeliest of whistle- blowers: the Attorney General's wife gaslighted and kidnapped by her own husband and the rest of the Nixon Administration to keep her quiet.
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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Confirmed Q&A with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro!
February 10, 2023
This extraordinary retelling of the classic tale is a breathtaking achievement in stop-motion animation, as the wooden marionette is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver in this whimsical and technically dazzling musical that follows the mischievous and disobedient Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
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Elvis
Q&A Guests: Oscar nominees Baz Luhrmann and Austin Butler
January 29, 2023
Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor! This epic, big-screen spectacle from visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann is a thoroughly cinematic drama, Elvis' story as seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager (Colonel Tom Parker) over a span of 20 years, from Presley's rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom -- all set against the backdrop of America's evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence.
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Close
Q&A guest: director/co-screenwriter Lukas Dhont
Winner of this year's Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival!
January 14, 2023
BEFORE IT OPENS IN THEATERS! Belgium's official submission in the race for Best International feature is a story of an intense friendship between two 13-year-old boys which becomes the target of homophobic classmates, leading to a sudden tragedy which leaves one of the struggling to understand what happened.
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Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Confirmed Q&A Guest: four-time Oscar-winning producer/director/screenwriter Alejandro Inarritu
January 14, 2023
Mexico's official entry shortlisted by the Academy for Best International Feature
This nostalgic comedy set against an epic journey chronicles the uncertainties of a renowned journalist and documentary filmmaker who returns to Mexico to face his identity, familial relationships, and the folly of his memories -- as well as the past and new reality of his country.
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Eo
Q&A guests: co-screenwriters Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski (who also produced and directed)
January 12, 2023
Shortlisted by the Academy, Poland's official entry in the race for Best International Feature follows the journey of a donkey who encounters people both good and bad, experiencing joy and pain along the way, exploring a vision of modern Europe as seen through his eyes.
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Thirteen Lives
Q&A Guest: producer/director Ron Howard!
January 8, 2023
Based on real-life events, Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Tom Edgerton star in the harrowing story of the remarkable rescue of a group of young boys and their soccer coach trapped by flooding in a system of underground caves.
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A Man Called Otto
Featuring a Q&A with director Marc Forster, actress Mariana Trevino, and screenwriter David Magee -- to be followed by a complimentary wine reception open to all guests.
January 7, 2023
BEFORE IT OPENS IN THEATERS! Based on Sweden's Oscar-nominated A MAN CALLED OVE, Tom Hanks stars as a grumpy widower who's given up on life and wants to end it all -- until he meets his match when quick-witted Marisol moves into the neighborhood, leading to a friendship that will turn his world around.
Free popcorn and soft drinks for all guests!
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All in Favor
Q&A guests: director/screenwriter Santiago Requejo and producer Tono Escudero
January 3, 2023
At the end of his condo's board meeting, one of the landlords ignites a controversy when he tells everyone that he's finally signed a lease on his unit -- and then discloses information about his new renter.
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Babylon
Nominated for five Golden Globes, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)! Q&A Guest: director/screenwriter Damien Chazelle!
December 18, 2022
BEFORE IT OPENS IN THEATERS! Just nominated for five Golden Globes including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)! Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt star in a tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess during an era of unbridled decadence in early Hollywood.
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The Whale
Q&A Guest: Screenwriter Sam Hunter
December 17, 2022
Darren Aronofky's THE WHALE stars Brendan Fraser (just nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor - Drama) as a reclusive English teacher attempting to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.
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The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
Q&A Guests: director Rory Kennedy and screenwriter Mark Bailey
Extremely limited seating: book yours today!
December 14, 2022
Rory Kennedy's latest documentary is a close examination of the 2019 eruption in which 22 lives were lost, viscerally recounting the day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things -- placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature, resilience, and the power of our shared humanity.
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The Unredacted (aka Jihad Rehab)
Q&A Guest: director Meg Smaker
December 13, 2022
Next up in this year's race for Best Documentary Feature follows a group of Guantanamo detainees released into a year-long program of de-radicalization in Saudi Arabia, with the eventual goal of finding jobs and starting families.
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January
100% Positives on Rotten Tomatoes!
Q&A Guests: producers Gints Grube and Inese Boka-Grube
December 12, 2022
Latvia's official entry in the race for Best International Feature is the dark but dreamy coming-of-age story of an aspiring filmmaker searching to find himself against the backdrop of his country's fight for independence.
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Emancipation
Q&A Guests: composer Marcelo Zarvos and re-recording mixer Steve Pederson. Free popcorn, soda & candy for all guests!
December 11, 2022
Will Smith stars in the triumphant story of a man who escapes from slavery, relying on his wits, unwavering faith and deep love for his family to evade cold-blooded hunters and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on his quest for freedom.
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Mars One
Q&A Guest: director/screenwriter Gabriel Martins
December 6, 2022
Brazil's official entry for Best International Film is the story of a lower middle class family forced to go through a series of challenging and profound changes, reinventing themselves and their family ties along the way.
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Safe Place
Q&A Guests: director/screenwriter Juraj Leroti, actor Goran Markovic, and producer Miljenka Cogelja.
December 5, 2022
Croatia's official entry in the race for Best International Film is a truly unique film in which director/screenwriter Juraj Lerotic plays himself in this autobiographical story of a traumatic event which causes a rift in his family's everyday life, fundamentally changing their lives as if they are waging a war invisible to everyone else.
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Cinema Sabaya
Q&A Guests: director/screenwriter Orit Fouks Rotem, Producer Maya Fischer, and actresses Dana Ivgy and Joanna Said
December 5, 2022
Israel's official entry in the race for Best International Film is the story of eight Arab and Jewish women taking part in a workshop hosted by a young filmmaker. With each camera take, the group dynamic forces the women to challenge their beliefs as they get to know one other.
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Exposure
Q&A Guest: director Holly Morris
December 4, 2022
On what may be the last-ever expedition to the top of the world, this Best Documentary Feature contender follows the extraordinary team of European and Muslim women who risk the melting Arctic ice cap, frostbite, polar bears, sexism and self-doubt in this intimate story of resilience and survival as they head to the North Pole.
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Tar
Q&A Guest: Producer/director/screenwriter Todd Field!
December 4, 2022
Set in the international world of Western classical music, TAR stars Cate Blanchett in the title role about a woman widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors -- and the first-ever female music director of a major German orchestra.
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Goddamned Asura
Q&A Guest: director/co-screenwriter Yi-an Lou
December 3, 2022
Taiwan's entry in the race for Best International Film is the story of an 18 year-old who goes out to celebrate his birthday at a crowded night market -- only to end up committing a random shooting.
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All Quiet on the Western Front
Q&A Guests: director/co-screenwriter Edward Berger, actor Felix Kammerer, actor/producer Daniel Bruhl, and composer Volker Bertelmann
December 3, 2022
The story of three teenagers who voluntarily enlist in the German army during WWI, riding a wave of patriotic fervor that quickly dissipates once they face the brutal realities of life on the front as their preconceptions about the enemy and the rights and wrongs of the conflict soon crumble. Even amidst the countdown to armistice, they must carry on fighting until the end with no purpose other than to satisfy the top brass' desire to end the war on a German offensive.
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Aurora's Sunrise
Q&A Guest: director/co-screenwriter Inna Sahakyan
December 2, 2022
Armenia's official selection in the race for Best International Film is based on the true story of genocide survivor who becomes a silent movie star. After losing her family, escaping slavery, and enduring Hollywood greed, Aurora Mardiganian's odyssey is close to unreal as she travels across the globe to tell the world about the Armenian Genocide.
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Narcosis
Q&A Guests: director/co-screenwriter Martijn de Jong and actress Thekla Reuten
December 1, 2022
Next up in the race for Best International Film comes from The Netherlands, the story of a young family that is hit by a tragedy they have to deal with it in their own unique (and and completely unexpected) way. This film ends up being far more than this simple storyline suggests, so we strongly recommend it!
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Argentina 1985
Q&A Guests: producers Victoria Alonso and Axel Kuschevatzky, along with the real-life subject of the film: attorney Luis Moreno Ocampo
November 29, 2022
Argentina's official submission for the Best International Feature is based on the true story of a team of lawyers that risked their lives by taking on the heads of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship in a battle against the odds and a race against time.
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These Final Hours
Q&A Guests: Director/producer Lionel Coleman, actor/producer Joseph Jones, and producer Brian Flaccus
November 28, 2022
Our next contender in the race for Best Live Action Short is set against the backdrop of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, where young Curtis Grimes works his daily hustle in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles. The casual observer of his actions may jump to snap judgments, but as he will tell you: "be careful of what you see, cause truly seeing is not as easy as perceiving, when biases spread like viruses, and not of your own conceiving."
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Last Film Show
Q&A Guests: Director Pan Nalin, producer Dheer Momaya, and music composer Cyril Morin
November 18, 2022
India's official selection for the Best International Film competition tells the story of a young boy who fights heaven and earth to find light that he can catch, control, cut and project to tell stories -- only to find that, to pursue that dream, he must leave everything he loves and take a flight to find the light.
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A Piece of Sky
Q&A Guest: director Michael Koch
November 13, 2022
Switzerland's official entry in the race of Best International Film is set in a remote Alpine village, where the still-young love of Anna and Marco is tested when a brain tumor causes Marco to increasingly lose his impulse control. As relations with the village community growing increasingly tense, Anne tries to preserve a love that in the end outshines even death.
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Luck
Q&A Guest: director Peggy Holmes.
November 12, 2022
Our first entry in the race of Best Animated Feature pulls back the curtain on the millennia-old battle between the organizations of good luck and bad luck that secretly affects all of our everyday lives.
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The Woman King
Q&A with director Gina Prince-Bythewood, producer Cathy Schulman, film editor Terilyn Shropshire & actress Thuso Mbedu
November 6, 2022
Viola Davis and John Boyega star in this historical epic inspired by true events that took place in the Kingdom of Dahomey -- one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Dimensions of Self
Q&A with director Matias Figueroa
November 6, 2022
Our next Best Short contender is described as "A must watch for every new New-Yorker, every old New-Yorker and every ex New-Yorker -- as much of a love letter to the city as it is a love letter to loneliness and the beauty in it, the stage where we perform every time we step outside our door, outside ourselves."
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Triangle of Sadness
Q&A Guest: actress Dolly De Leon
November 5, 2022
The winner of this year's Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival is described as "the perfect comedy for our times: the first English-language film from acclaimed Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, starring Woody Harrelson as a luxury yacht captain whose passengers and crew end up marooned on a desert island.
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Oleg
Q&A Guest: producer Joan Borsten Vidov
November 4, 2022
Our first contender in the race for Best Documentary Feature is the incredible life story of one of the Soviet Union's most beloved actors (often compared to Robert Redford), only to be persecuted, blacklisted and pushed so far to the breaking point that he was ultimately forced to escape to the West -- where he ended up here in Malibu as he sought to achieve the American dream.
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Eternal Spring
Q&A with director Jason Loftus
October 25, 2022
The first of our contenders in the race for Best International Film comes from Canada: a film that combines present-day footage with animation inspired by one of the real-life Chinese activists denounced by their government and subjected to human rights violations -- until they finally respond by executing a bold and perilous plan to hack into state television.
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A Clockwork Orange
Q&A guest: actor Malcolm McDowell!
April 16, 2022
With 93% positives on Rotten Tomatoes and four Oscar nominations (for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE remains one of the most original, daring, unique, and unquestionably memorable films of all time.
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Belfast
Featuring a recorded Q&A with Oscar nominees Kenneth Branagh & Ciaran Hinds
March 18, 2022
Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor! Producer/director/screenwriter Kenneth Branagh's touching take on his own childhood as The Troubles come to Northern Ireland.
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Being the Ricardos
Q&A with actor J.K. Simmons
March 10, 2022
Phenomenal acting brings Aaron Sorkin's terrific script to life as it follows Lucy and Desi through a tumultuous week at the peak of their popularity, only to find themselves facing one crisis that could end their careers -- and another that could end their marriage.
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The Lost Daughter
Q&A with director/screenwriter Maggie Gyllenhaal
March 5, 2022
With nominations for Best Actress (Olivia Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Jessie Buckley), and Best Adapted Screenplay, this story of a woman's beach vacation takes a dark turn when she begins to confront the troubles of her past.
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Ala Kachuu - Take and Run
Q&A with director/screenwriter Maria Brendle
February 28, 2022
This year's nominee for Best Live Action short tells the story of a young woman in Kyrgyzstan desperately seeking a way out after being kidnapped for a forced marriage, threatened with social stigmatization and exclusion as she's torn between her desire for freedom and the constraints of her culture.
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Spencer
Q&A Guest: Best Actress contender Kristen Stewart
January 28, 2022
As voting officially gets underway for this year's Oscar nominations, we open our Second Look Series with another Q&A screening of SPENCER: this time, with Kristen Stewart -- who will be joining us in person after the show!
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Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry
Q&A Guest: director RJ Cutler
January 21, 2022
An intimate look at the young singer-songwriter who's been taking the music industry by storm, navigating life on the road, on stage, and at home while creating the debut album for which she went on to win six Grammy Awards
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Great Freedom
Q&A with director/screenwriter Sebastian Meise
January 21, 2022
This shortlisted title for Best International feature is set in postwar Germany, where the only constant in the life of a man repeatedly imprisoned for being homosexual is his cell mate, a convicted murderer -- and what starts out as revulsion gradually grows to something called love.
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The Good Boss
Q&A with director/screenwriter Fernando Leon de Aranoa
January 20, 2022
This shortlisted contender for this year's Best International Feature (from Spain) stars Javier Bardem in this bitingly sarcastic dark comedy about the seemingly benevolent owner of a company whose hopes for a prestigious business honor are thwarted by a disgruntled former employee who launches a one-man campaign to prevent his ex-boss from winning that award.
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Hive (streaming online)
Includes a Q&A with Executive Producer Elisabeth Moss
January 18, 2022
Kosovo's shortlisted entry for Best International Feature is based on the true story of a woman who sets up her own small business to provide for her family after her husband goes missing -- only to find a patriarchal society that does not support her, forcing her to make a crucial decision.
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Playground
Q&A with director/screenwriter Laura Wandel and actress Maya Vanderbeque
January 17, 2022
Shortlisted for this year's Best International Feature (and the winner of this year's prestigious critics award at Cannes), this film from Belgium focuses on a young girl who rushes in to protect her brother from being bullied by other kids, only to have him insist that she remain silent -- leaving her caught in a conflict of loyalty, torn between children's and adult's worlds.
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Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Q&A with director/screenwriter Pawo Choyning Dorji
December 8, 2021
Bhutan's official submission in the race for Best International Feature Film is the story of an aspiring singer living with his grandmother in the capital of Bhutan who dreams of getting a visa to move to Australia.
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Luzzu
Q&A with director/screenwriter Alex Camilleri
December 7, 2021
Malta's official submission in the race for Best International Feature Film is the story of a man who risks everything to provide for his wife and newborn son by entering Malta's black-market fishing industry.
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Holy Beasts
Q&A with actress Geraldine Chaplin and writers/directors Israel Cardenas and Laura Amelia Guzman
December 6, 2021
Geraldine Chaplin and Udo Kier star Dominican Republic's official submission in the race for Best International Feature Film in this campy sendup of a story about a fading actress who gathers with the remnants of her 70's social circle to shoot her last film.
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Foscadh
Q&A with director Sean Breathnach
December 5, 2021
Ireland's official submission in the race for Best International Feature Film is the story of a recluse suddenly propelled into manhood when his over-protective parents pass away -- leaving him to navigate the choppy waters of trust, vengeance and romance when he inherits a plot of land that stands in the way of a lucrative development.
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Escape from Mogadishu
Q&A with director/screenwriter Seung-wan Ryoo
December 4, 2021
South Korea's entry in the race for Best International Feature Film is based on the true story of diplomats from North and South Korea forced to join forces in a desperate bid for safety as the Somalia civil war erupts in the streets outside of their embassies.
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The Last Forest
Q&A with director/screenwriter Luiz Bolognesi
December 3, 2021
Brazil's entry for Best Documentary Feature uses dense soundscapes along with powerful images which alternate between documentary observation and staged sequences to share the story of the Indigenous community of the Yanomami and their threatened natural environment in the Amazon rain forest.
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Do Not Hesitate
Q&A with director Shariff Korver and actor Joes Brauers
December 2, 2021
As the year's Best International Feature Film contender from The Netherlands, this story of three young soldiers stranded in the scorching desert culminates in an encounter with a local boy -- an encounter that will mark their lives forever.
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I'm Your Man
Q&A with director Maria Schrader
December 1, 2021
Germany's official entry in the race for Best International Feature Film is a romantic comedy with a sci-fi twist starring Maren Eggert as a research scientist who accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment: living with a humanoid robot (Dan Stevens of DOWNTON ABBEY) created to make her happy.
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Oasis
Q&A with writer/director Ivan Ikic
November 30, 2021
As a film student, Ivan Ikic made a documentary about a state-run institution for developmentally disabled young adults, where he learned about a love triangle which ended horribly. 20 years later, he returned to that same facility, spent six months conducting an acting workshop for some of the special needs residents, then cast three of them in a film which recreates that tragic story. The result is Serbia's official entry in the race for Best International Feature.
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Leave No Traces
Q&A with director Jan P. Matuszynski
November 28, 2021
Poland's entry in the race for this year's Best International Feature is based on the true story set in 1983 when the kidnapping of and brutal murder of a high school student by local police shook the communist nation to its core -- turning the only witness into the number one enemy of the state.
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Private Desert
Q&A with producer/director/screen- writer Aly Muritiba and actors Antonio Saboia and Pedro Fasanaro
November 25, 2021
Brazil's official entry in the race for Best International Feature Film is the story of a police officer suspended from the force during an internal investigation, who ends up traveling thousands of miles to search for the woman he's fallen in love with on the internet -- and has suddenly disappeared.
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The Intruder
Q&A with writer/director Natalia Meta
November 24, 2021
Argentina's official entry in the race for this year's Best International Feature Film tells the story of a young woman who begins to confuse herself between the real and the imaginary after suffering a traumatic episode during a trip with her partner.
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Drunken Birds
Q&A with writer/director Ivan Grbovic
November 23, 2021
In Canada's official entry in the race for this year's Best International Feature Film, destinies intersect, moments of magic realism arise, worlds collide, and tensions swell amidst the long days of physical labor as a seasonal worker's quest to find his long-lost love takes him from Mexico all the way to Montreal.
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Heliopolis
Q&A with writer/director Djaffar Gacem
November 21, 2021
This year's submission from Algeria in the race for this year's Best International Feature Film is based on the true story of a small village where the daily life of an Algerian family is upended when the end of World War II sparks demonstrations for independence from French colonial rule -- only to be brutally suppressed by the French army and settler militias.
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Unclenching the Fists
Q&A with writer/director Kira Kovalenko
November 18, 2021
This year's Cannes Film Festival Award winner is also Russia's official entry in the race for this years Best International Feature Film, the story of a young woman in a former mining town struggling to escape the stifling hold of the family that she loves as much as she rejects.
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Raya and the Last Dragon
Q&A Guests: producer Osnat Shurer, screenwriter Qui Nguyen, and directors Don Hall & Carlos Lopez Estrada
October 21, 2021
Our next entry in this year's race for Best Animated Feature is the story of a young warrior and her determined search to find the last dragon and save her entire civilization from an evil threatening to engulf the world.
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One Night in Miami...
Featuring a *new* Q&A with Oscar nom- inated screenwriter Kemp Powers and Best Supporting Actor nominee Leslie Odom Jr (also nominated for Best Song)
April 14, 2021
ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... is the fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gather to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.
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The Letter Room
Q&A guests: Oscar-nominated director/screenwriter Elvira Lind and producer Sofia Sondervan.
April 10, 2021
Another of this year's nominees for Best Live Action Short, THE LETTER ROOM stars Oscar Isaac (INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, EX MACHINA, STAR WARS EP. VIII & IX) as a sympathetic corrections officer assigned to censor incoming letters to prisoners, only to find himself enmeshed in the personal lives of some of the inmates.
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My Octopus Teacher
Q&A guest: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Pippa Ehrlich
April 7, 2021
Nominated for Best Documentary, MY OCTOPUS TEACHER features extraordinary footage of an environmental activist whose daily dives in the frigid waters off South Africa leads him to the den of an octopus, eventually winning the animal's trust as they develop a bond never seen before between human and sea creature.
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A Love Song for Latasha
Q&A guest: Oscar-nominated director Sophia Nahli Allison
April 6, 2021
Nominated for Best Documentary Short, A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA examines the injustice surrounding the shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins at a South Central Los Angeles store, which became a flashpoint for LA's 1992 riots.
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Crip Camp
Q&A guests: Oscar nominees Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
April 1, 2021
Executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, Best Documentary nominee CRIP CAMP takes us back to the early 1970s, when a ramshackle summer camp for "handicapped" teenagers transformed into a freewheeling Utopia and sparked a movement which forever changed societal attitudes and acceptance -- eventually leading to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Collective
Guest host Ella Taylor moderates the Q&A with Best Documentary nominated director Alexander Nanau.
March 27, 2021
Nominated for Best International Film *and* Best Documentary, Romania's COLLECTIVE is an uncompromising look at investigative journalism at its best as a team of newspaper reporters uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians alike, leading to the unexpected deaths of victims whose burns after a night-club fire should have been easily treatable.
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Land
Q&A with producer/director/actress Robin Wright and actor Demian Bichir
February 20, 2021
Robin Wright produced, directed and stars as a bereaved woman seeking out a new life, off the grid in Wyoming. Also starring Kim Dickens and Demian Bichir.
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Palmer
Q&A with director Fisher Stevens and screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero
February 15, 2021
Justin Timberlake stars as an ex-convict who strikes up a friendship with a boy from a troubled home.
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Let Them All Talk
Q&A with director Steven Soderbergh
February 14, 2021
Meryl Streep stars as a famous author who goes on a cruise with her friends (Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest) and nephew (Lucas Hedges) in an effort to find fun and happiness while she comes to terms with her troubled past.
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Funny Boy
Q&A with director Deepa Mehta
February 11, 2021
In the elegant upper class world of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka, a young boy begins to express his homosexuality under the protection and guidance of a determined aunt, until she's forced to choose between her family and her love for a member of the lower-class Sinhalese majority -- a pattern repeated years later when her nephew is confronted by the same choice, at a time when ethnic tensions spill over into civil war.
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Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Q&A with director/screenwriter Eliza Hittman and actress Sidney Flanigan launches 2/6 at 7:30
January 30, 2021
This year's winner of the Dramatic Special Jury Award at Sundance follows a pair of teenage girls as the travel from rural Pennsylvania to New York to seek medical help for an unintended pregnancy.
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Greyhound
Q&A with director Aaron Schneider
January 26, 2021
Tom Hanks produced, wrote the screenplay and stars in GREYHOUND as an inexperienced US Naval commander forced to make his first Atlantic crossing, leading an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine "wolfpack" during the early months of World War II.
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The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Q&A with director Lee Daniels and actors Andra Day and Trevante Rhodes
January 24, 2021
Director Lee Daniel's best film yet features Andra Day's unforgettable performance as the legendary singer, hounded by her government for giving voice to the early civil rights movement only to be betrayed by the men seeking to take advantage of her extraordinary talent -- and her love.
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Promising Young Woman
Q&A with actress Carey Mulligan and producer/director/screenwriter Emerald Fennell
January 23, 2021
Carey Mulligan leads an all-star cast in the story of a young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, who seeks out vengeance against those who cross her path.
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Cherry
Q&A with directors Anthony and Joe Russo and screenwriters Jessica Goldberg and Angela Russo-Ostot
January 23, 2021
Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo directed the highest-grossing film of all time (AVENGERS: ENDGAME); now they're back with a smaller and much more personal film starring Tom Holland (SPIDER-MAN) as an army medic suffering from PTSD who becomes a serial bank robber after his addiction to drugs leaves him in serious debt.
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Toorbos
Q&A with director/screenwriter Rene van Rooyen
January 21, 2021
South Africa's official entry in this year's race for Best Foreign Language Feature is the 1930's story of a young woman's struggle to stay true to herself as her community in South Africa's Knysna forest is slowly assimilated and their unique way of life comes to an end.
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The Endless Trench
Q&A with directors Aitor Arregi, Jon Garano, and Jose Marin Goenaga
January 20, 2021
Spain's entry in this year's race for Best Foreign Language Film is a fictionalized account based on the real-life stories of political refugees marked for death during the Spanish Civil War who remained hidden inside their own homes -- enduring the emotional toll of endless isolation for more than 40 years.
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Better Days
Q&A with director Derek Tsang
January 19, 2021
Hong Kong's entry in the race for Best Foreign Language Film is the extraordinarily moving story of a bullied teenager who forms an unexpected bond with a street thug who agrees to protect her -- all while she copes with the pressures of the national college entrance exams which determine the future for millions of students and their families.
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Boys State
Q&A with directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss
January 18, 2021
The winner of this year's Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature (and one of Barack Obama's personal favorites for 2020) follows what happens when a thousand 17-year-old boys from all across Texas participate in an exercise to create a mock government -- only to reveal some very uncomfortable truths about modern American politics.
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Extracurricular
Q&A with director/writer Ivan-Goran Vitez
January 17, 2021
Croatia's submission for Best Foreign Language Feature submission is a broad satire focusing on the divorced father of a 9 year-old so angry that she can't spend her birthday with him that he shows up at her classroom with a cake...and a gun, prompting the local mayor, journalists, and police chief to milk the situation for their own advantage.
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Acasa, My Home
Q&A with director Radu Ciorniciuc and Raluca Negulescu Balaci of UIPath Foundation
January 16, 2021
When a Bucharest-based investigative reporter started looking into plans to create a nature reserve on the site of an old landfill, he discovered a family of 11 living there -- who would then be relocated, forced to adapt to life in the big city. With no formal training, he decided to become a filmmaker on the spot -- spending the next four years making this highly acclaimed documentary.
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Nova Lituania
Q&A with director Karolis Kaupinis
January 15, 2021
A surprisingly relevant satire about a professor's quixotic quest to convince his government to create a backup state overseas as the country faces invasion prior to World War II -- a story which draws some uncomfortable parallels to the current state of world politics.
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Songs of Solomon
Q&A with direct Arman Nshanian launches
January 13, 2021
Armenia's official entry in this year's race for Best Foreign Language Feature, SONGS OF SOLOMON -- the story of a forbidden friendship between Turkish and Armenian children (including a young musical prodigy), leading to tragic consequences during the ethnic massacres which eventually resulted in the Armenian genocide.
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River Tales
Q&A with director Julie Schroell
January 11, 2021
Against a backdrop of 500 years of disastrous colonization and exploitation, Nicaragua has suffered 72 failed attempts to turn the mythic San Juan River into a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific. When the latest effort prompts a local drama teacher and his students to stage a play protesting plans to create a new "Panama Canal," the teacher is forced to flee for his life.
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The Crossing
Q&A with director Juliana Penaranda-Loftus, border minister Victor Bautista, and activist Gaby Arellano
January 10, 2021
The story of the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis and the small border city willing to help. When desperate refugees fleeing Venezuela are welcomed by a small Colombian border city, a political firestorm erupts. A moving portrait of conflict, suffering, generosity, and the ultimate power of the human spirit.
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The Dissident
Q&A with Malibu Filmmaker Award-winning director Bryan Fogel
January 1, 2021
Three years ago, Malibu's Bryan Fogel won the Best Documentary Oscar for exposing decades of doping by Russia's Olympic athletes. Now, he takes on the Saudis with an investigation into the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi -- which ends up exposing so much more.
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Wolfwalkers
Q&A with directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart
December 31, 2020
The final film in the trilogy of modern Irish folk tales from the same team which brought us the uniquely beautiful animation style featured in THE SECRET OF KELLS and SONG OF THE SEA -- both of which were nominated for Academy Awards!
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A State of Madness
Q&A with director Leticia Tonos
December 30, 2020
Based on the true story of the psychiatrist who took charge of the state-run mental hospital, revolutionizing patient care and pulling the facility out of horrific conditions straight out of the dark ages -- all while trying to save his patients (and himself) from the bloodiest dictatorship in the history of Latin America.
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76 Days
Q&A with director Hao Wu
December 27, 2020
A raw and intimate cinema verite examination of the patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic during the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan, China.
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Blizzard of Souls
Q&A with director Dzintars Dreibergs, cinematographer Valdis Celmins, and composer Lolita Ritmanis
December 26, 2020
The true story of the heavily outnumbered volunteer force which held off the German advance during WWI, afterwards helping Latvia win its independence. Based on a novel by a young soldier who became a national hero, only to be executed by the Russians who then banned his book for 50 years.
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Leap
Q&A with Director Peter Ho-sun Chan and actress Lydia Bai Lang
December 23, 2020
The true story of the four-decade journey by the women's national volleyball team, their individual struggles and collective commitment to Olympics gold. The cast includes ten of the real-life Olympic gold medalists from China's 2016 team -- plus Southern California's Lydia Bai (who plays her mother, famed player/coach Lang Ping).
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Agnes Joy
Q&A with Director Silja Hauksdottir and actresses Katla Margret Thorgeirsdottir and Donna Cruz
December 22, 2020
A moving story of a woman burned out by a job she hates, an unhappy marriage, and a rebellious daughter -- only to have her life completely upended when a new neighbor shows up at their doorstep.
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One Night in Miami...
Q&A with actors Kingsley Ben-Adir, Aldis Hodge & Leslie Odom Jr
December 13, 2020
With 97% positive critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, Oscar-winning Regina King's directorial debut is the fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gather to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.
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I'm Your Woman
Q&A with director Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz, who wrote the script together
December 11, 2020
Rachel Broshnahan (THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL) stars in this 1970's crime drama about a woman forced to go on the run after her husband betrays his partners -- sending her and her baby on a dangerous journey.
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Sound of Metal
Q&A with director/co-screenwriter Darius Marder
December 11, 2020
96% positive critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes! Riz Ahmed (THE NIGHT OF) stars as a heavy-metal drummer whose life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing. Also starring Olivia Cooke (ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL) in this film by Darius Marder (THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES).
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Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Q&A with director Jason Woliner, actress Maria Bakalova, and producer Monica Levinson
December 9, 2020
A satire on Trump's America that follows a Kazakh journalist (Sacha Baron Cohen) who is sent to America by his government to deliver a gift to Vice President Mike Pence. Along the way, his worldview is turned upside down and steadfast beliefs are challenged by his teenage daughter (Maria Bakalova). Rated R for pervasive strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, and language.
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Herself
Q&A with actress/co-screenwriter Clare Dunne and director Phyllida Lloyd
December 9, 2020
Newcomer Clare Dunne co-wrote and stars in the story of a young mother who escapes her abusive husband and fights back against a broken housing system. Setting out to build her own home, in the process she re-discovers herself and ultimately rebuilds her life.
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Time
Q&A with director Garrett Bradley
December 9, 2020
With 99% positive critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, this year's Sundance award-winning documentary explores the decades-long fight by activist and author Sibil Fox
Richardson to free her husband, Robert, following his arrest for a robbery they both committed during a time of desperation. Richardson's intimate home videos help paint a mesmerizing portrait of the power of love to prevail over America's prison-industrial complex.
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Palm Springs
Q&A with director Sam Barbakow & screenwriter Andy Siara
November 23, 2020
The breakout hit from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival stars Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti and J.K. Simmons in this totally unique take on the "time loop" movie, which has racked up a truly impressive 94% "Certified Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
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All In: The Fight for Democracy
Q&A with filmmakers Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes
October 16, 2020
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus teams up with Emmy Award-winning documentarian Lisa Cortes to examine the history of (and current activism against) voter suppression -- a threat to basic civil rights that most people don't even know about.
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