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27th Boston Film Festival Program Schedule, September 16–22, 2011
OPENING NIGHT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2011
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6:45PM “Certainty” — World Premiere
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| Director: |
Peter Askin |
| Writer: |
Mike O'Malley |
| Starring: |
Adelaide Clemens, Tom Lipinski, Valerie Harper, Bobby
Moynihan, Giancarlo Esposito, Tammy Blanchard,
Kristen Connolly |
| Synopsis: |
Dom McGuire had it all figured out until his best friend sobered up, his sister
lost 100 pounds and his fiancée rediscovered her religion. |
| Run Time: |
1:30 |
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8:45PM “After Fall, Winter” — World Premiere
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| Director/Writer/ Producer: |
Eric Schaeffer |
| Starring: |
Eric Schaeffer, Lizzie Brochere, Deborah Twiss,
Heather Aitken |
| Synopsis: |
AFTER FALL, WINTER is a dangerous, sexy, poignant and at times darkly funny
story about two people who desperately want intimacy but have fashioned lives of
reclusively and emotional fracture which ultimately spells the doom of their
great love. AFTER FALL, WINTER begins with Michael, in his mid forties, suicidal about his
writing career, which once flourished and now is on a downturn. He leaves his
home in New York and goes to Paris in hopes of igniting his passion for writing
and life. He also has a penchant for S and M. Soon after is arrival he meets
Sophie, a sexy, smart, soulful, nurse who helps dying people transition to the
after world. She and Michael instantly have chemistry albeit combative. Sophie
has a secret. Her other job is being a dominatrix. Throughout the film, Sophie
is nursing a little girl, Anais, who is dying of leukemia. |
| Run Time: |
2:10 |
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011
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12:00–2:15PM Shorts Program 1
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| Title: |
The Small Assassin |
| Director: |
Chris Charles |
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| Title: |
The House I Keep |
| Director: |
Jhene Erwin |
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| Title: |
Legacy |
| Director: |
Einar Thorsteinsson |
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| Title: |
My Name is Julius |
| Director: |
Titi Yu |
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| Title: |
Pie |
| Director: |
Jon Rosenbloom |
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|
| Title: |
Light |
| Director: |
Kosta Nikas |
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|
| Title: |
Sad Robot |
| Director: |
David Wendl |
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|
| Title: |
Salvation Road |
| Director: |
Ka'ramuu Kush |
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|
| Title: |
Le Miroir |
| Director: |
Sebastien Rossignol |
|
3:00–4:30PM Panel Roundtable
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| From Script to Screen: Sam Jaeger (Parenthood) Director/Actor/Writer; Academy
Award® nominee Keith Dorrington, Writer/Producer of The Fighter; Eric Schaeffer,
(Gravity) Director/Actor/Writer |
|
5:00PM “Holy Man: The USA vs. Douglas White” — World Premiere
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| Director/Producer: |
Jennifer Jessum |
| Writer/Producer: |
Simon Joseph |
| Starring: |
Martin Sheen, Narrator |
| Synopsis: |
Holy Man is the story of Douglas White, an 88 year old- Lakota Sioux medicine
man from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, who spent 17 years in
federal prison for a crime he did not commit. During the making of this film,
filmmakers uncovered new evidence of White's innocence and brought the case back
to Federal Court. Holy Man offers a rare glimpse into the mysterious world of
Lakota religion, their intimate connection to the land, and a provocative expose
of the systemic injustice that Native Americans face in the criminal justice
system. |
| Run Time: |
1:24 |
|
7:00PM “Take Me Home” — East Coast Premiere
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| Director/Writer/ Producer: |
Sam Jaeger |
| Producer: |
Jane Kosek |
| Starring: |
Sam Jaeger, Victor Garber, Bree Turner, Lin
Shaye, Amber Jaeger |
| Synopsis: |
For Thom and Claire, running from your problems is the best way to face them. |
| Run Time: |
1:37 |
|
9:15PM “96 Minutes” — East Coast Premiere
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| Director/Producer: |
Aimee Lagos |
| Producer: |
Lee Clay, Justin Moore Lewy, Charlie Mason, Paul Gilreath |
| Starring: |
Brittany Snow, Evan Ross, Christian
Serratos, J. Michael Trautmann, and David Oyelowo |
| Synopsis: |
Four kids. One night. One shocking act slams them headlong into each other,
hurtling them toward a life-changing end. These 96 minutes will change
everything... |
| Run Time: |
1:40 |
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011
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12:00–2:15PM Shorts Program 2
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| Title: |
Commerce |
| Director: |
Lisa Robertson |
| |
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| Title: |
Demon's Dilemma |
| Director: |
Hanjin Park |
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| Title: |
La Pièce (The Piece Coin) |
| Director: |
Marc Joly-Corcoran |
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|
| Title: |
LonelyGirl48 |
| Director: |
Stephanie Testa |
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|
| Title: |
La Migala |
| Director: |
Jaime Dezcallar |
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|
| Title: |
Ties |
| Director: |
Jake Topkis |
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|
| Title: |
Love, Lots of It |
| Director: |
Rob Feld |
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|
| Title: |
Your Way Home |
| Director: |
Pietro Nigro Famulari |
| |
|
| Title: |
Au milieu de nulle part ailleurs (Nowhere Elsewhere) |
| Director: |
Annick Blanc |
|
3:00PM “How to Start a Revolution” — World Premiere
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| Director: |
Ruaridh Arrow |
| Producer: |
Richard Shaw |
| Starring: |
Gene Sharp, Jamila Raqib, Robert Helvey |
| Synopsis: |
HOW TO START A REVOLUTION is the remarkable untold story of Nobel Peace Prize
nominee Gene Sharp, the world's leading expert on non-violent revolution. This
new film (from first time director Ruaridh Arrow) reveals how Gene's work has
given a new generation of revolutionary leaders the weapons needed to overthrow
dictators. It shows how his 198 steps to non-violent regime change have inspired
uprisings from Serbia to Ukraine and from Egypt to Syria and how his work has
spread across the globe in an unstoppable wave of profound democratic change.
How To Start A Revolution is the story of the power of people to change their
world, the modern revolution and the man behind it all. |
| Run Time: |
1:27 |
|
5:00PM “Catching Hell” — Northeast Premiere
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| Director: |
Alex Gibney, Academy Award® winner |
| Producer: |
ESPN |
| Synopsis: |
In CATCHING HELL, Alex Gibney examines sports scapegoats and our need to heap
years of blame onto a single event. Chicago Cubs fanatic Steve Bartman reached
for what he thought was a foul ball, as the Cubs were about to clinch their
first World Series appearance in 58 years. Though a series of events caused the
Cubs' loss, Bartman's interference made him the country's most "famous sports
fan." Bill Buckner was arguably one of the Boston Red Sox best first-baseman,
but will forever be remembered for the ground ball that slipped through his legs
in the 1986 World Series. Buckner and his family's lives were forever changed.
Gibney begs the question not how can sports forgive these men, but how can Steve
Bartman and Bill Buckner forgive us? |
| Run Time: |
1:40 |
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7:15PM “Fully Loaded” — East Coast Premiere
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| Director: |
Shira Piven |
| Producers: |
Adam McKay, Tom Burruss |
| Starring: |
Paula Killen, Lisa Orkin, Dweezil Zappa, David Koechner, John
Farley, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Danny Pudi |
| Synopsis: |
Fully Loaded is a dark comedy that follows Lisa and Paula, cool single moms out
for a night on the town. When Paula's sexy hookup with a total stranger turns
out to be a sketchy confrontation with reality, the women hit the road a little
drunk, but very high on love/lust and what could have been. |
| Run Time: |
1:16 |
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8:45PM “The Pill” — Northeast Premiere
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| Director/Writer/ Producer |
J. C. Khoury |
| Starring: |
Noah Bean, Rachel Boston, Anna Chlumsky, Dreama Walker |
| Synopsis: |
Worried that he has gotten the free-spirited Mindy pregnant after an unprotected
one-night stand, Fred feigns romantic interest and sticks by her side for twelve
hours to make sure she takes both doses of the morning-after pill. |
| Run Time: |
1:23 |
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 — Boston Filmmakers Night
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(shown with “Give Me a Shot of Anything” at 6:41PM)
6:30PM “The Hub”
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| Director: |
Jonathan Walley |
| Synopsis: |
This film explores some of the faces around Boston that truly bring the city to life. |
| Run Time: |
0:11 |
6:41PM “Give Me a Shot of Anything: House Calls to the Homeless” — World Premiere
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| Director: |
Jeff Schwartz |
| Producers: |
James Pilott, Jeff Byrd
Dr. Jim O'Connell will particpate in Q&A |
| Synopsis: |
GIVE ME A SHOT OF ANYTHING is a story about courage, caring and survival. The
film follows Boston street doctor Jim O'Connell and his extraordinary team as
they make house calls to the homeless, delivering life-saving medical care and
offering their patients a chance to feel whole again. The film provides a
uniquely intimate view into the world of the homeless and the people who care
for them. GIVE ME A SHOT OF ANYTHING challenges us to look past the existing
prejudices we may have, and examines how we as a society treat our least
fortunate. This is one city's response to America's health care needs. |
| Run Time: |
1:21 |
|
8:15PM “First Position” — U.S. Premiere (World Premiere at 2011 TIFF) |
| Director: |
Bess Kargman |
| Synopsis: |
Over 1 million kids take ballet worldwide but 99.9 percent of them will never
make it into a professional company. First Position follows six talented 9 to
19-year-old dancers as they prepare for an international competition that has
the power to transform their careers overnight. Widely known as the "Junior
Olympics of ballet," Youth America Grand Prix awards more than just medals--it
offers full scholarships to the best ballet schools in the world. In this
economy, winning a scholarship can mean the difference between making it as a
dancer or relinquishing a dream. |
| Run Time: |
1:30 |
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
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4:45PM “The Rescuers” — East Coast Premiere
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| Director/Producer |
Michael King |
| Producer: |
Joyce D. Mandell |
| Starring: |
Sir Martin Gilbert, Berl Shor, Gustav Goldberger |
| Synopsis: |
While Stephen Spielberg's "Schindler's List" illuminated the previously
little-known story of a German businessman who saved thousands of Jews for the
concentration camps during WWII, there were many such heroes who defied the
Nazis and their own governments to save countless Jews from a similar
fate—chief among them the 12 diplomats whose efforts are documented in this
riveting documentary from Emmy-winning filmmaker Michael King. The film traces
the journey of Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist, who
teams up with Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocaust historian, to travel
across 15 countries and three continents interviewing survivors and descendants
of the diplomats who rescued tens of thousands of Jews from the unspeakable
horrors of the Nazi death camps. Michael King, Joyce D.
Mandell and Regional Director Anti-Defamation League, Derrek L.
Shulman, and TV Journalist Liz Walker will
participate in a Q&A. |
| Run Time: |
1:30 |
|
7:00PM “The Education of Dee Dee Ricks” — Special Private Screening
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| Director: |
Perri Peltz |
| Producer: |
Lisa R. Cohen |
| Executive Producer: |
Jane Rosenthal, Sheila Nevins for HBO |
| Featuring: |
Dee Dee Ricks |
| Synopsis: |
THE EDUCATION OF DEE DEE RICKS is and intimate story chronicling the lives of
two very different women who share an unlikely friendship as they both struggle
with their breast cancer diagnosis. This moving documentary shines a light on
the great disparity in health care between the rich and poor in America, where
millions of poor people who are uninsured don't have the means or access to
fight this terrible disease. |
| Run Time: |
1:15 |
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8:45PM “Serial Buddies” — Special Sneak Peek Screening
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| Director: |
Keven Undergaro |
| Producer: |
Maria Menounos |
| Executive Producer: |
Thomas Lynch |
| Synopsis: |
Gregory is a devout Catholic who wants to kill evil people in order to grant
them safe passage to heaven, Gary is an assembly worker at a trophy shop who
wants to kill prospective trophy winners to ease production demand, Graham is
Gary's intern who will do anything to become a trophy maker and Vinny Van Go
drives a road emergency van because he likes to visit accident scenes. A
coincidental encounter forces these four dim-witted rejects to join forces and
embark upon an idiotic and altogether hilarious road trip adventure —
encountering the likes of skinheads, fraternity jocks, sorority babes, missing
children, bikers, porn-stars, clowns, and Kathie Lee Gifford! If the boys aren't
careful they might just become human, in what is "the very first serial killer
buddy movie of all time." |
| Run Time: |
1:31 |
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
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5:00PM “Thespians” — East Coast Premiere
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| Director: |
Warren Skeels |
| Producer: |
Brenda Egedy Kolb |
| Synopsis: |
Follow four high school thespian troupes to the largest thespian competition in the world. Following the themes of impact and value that theatre has in education. |
| Run Time: |
1:31 |
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7:00PM “The Trouble With the Truth” — World Premiere
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| Director/Writer: |
Jim Hemphill |
| Producers: |
Daniel Farrands, Thommy Hutson |
| Starring: |
Lea Thompson, John Shea, Danielle Harris, Keri Lynn Pratt |
| Synopsis: |
A divorced couple reconnects on the eve of their daughter's wedding and realizes that their own relationship has more than a few unresolved issues. |
| Run Time: |
1:36 |
|
9:00PM “Fort McCoy” — North East Premiere
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| Directors: |
Kate Connor, Michael Worth |
| Producer: |
Eric Stoltz |
| Starring: |
Eric Stoltz, Kate Connor, Andy Hirsch, Camryn Manheim, Lyndsy Fonseca, Johnny Pacar |
| Synopsis: |
FORT McCOY is based on a true story when the Stirn family lived next to a Nazi POW camp in Wisconsin during W.W.II.
It is a coming of age story beset with tragedy, a love story between a Jewish soldier and Catholic girl, and the journey
of one man (Eric Stoltz) struggling to find his worth in a war that does not want him. |
| Run Time: |
1:40 |
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 — CLOSING NIGHT
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6:45PM “Bunraku” — Fresh from the Toronto Film Festival
|
| Director: |
Guy Moshe |
| Starring: |
Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, Gackt |
| Synopsis: |
A mysterious drifter (Josh Hartnett) and an ardent young Japanese warrior Yoshi (Gackt) both arrive in a town that has been terrorized by outrageous and virulent criminals. Each is obsessed with his separate mission, and guided by the wisdom of The Bartender (Woody Harrelson) at the Horseless Horseman Saloon, the two eventually join forces to bring down the corrupt and contemptuous reign of Nicola (Ron Perlman), the awesomely evil "woodcutter" and his lady Alexandra (Demi Moore), a femme fatale with a secret past. This classic tale is re-vitalized and re-imagined in an entirely fresh visual context, set in a unique world that mixes skewed reality with shadow-play fantasy, a place where even the landscape can betray you. Heroes triumph here only because the force of their will transforms and transcends both space and time. The world of BUNRAKU is past and present, fantasy and reality, Samurai and Western all combined. Like SIN CITY and 300, it gives classic conflict a whole new graphically supercharged dynamic. Resonating through a wide range of cultures and showcasing a mind-blowing array of martial arts disciplines, BUNRAKU is a fresh arena for breathtaking fight action. |
| Run Time: |
2:05 |
|
9:00PM “Certainty” — Reprise Showing
|
| Director: |
Peter Askin |
| Writer: |
Mike O'Malley |
| Starring: |
Adelaide Clemens, Tom Lipinski, Valerie Harper, Bobby
Moynihan, Giancarlo Esposito, Tammy Blanchard, Kristen Connolly |
| Synopsis: |
Dom McGuire had it all figured out until his best friend sobered up, his sister
lost 100 pounds and his fiancée rediscovered her religion. |
| Run Time: |
1:30 |
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