2008 Three Rivers Film Festival: Film Listing

Fri Nov 14 — 7:30 — Harris
Sat Nov 15 — 6:15 — Harris
Winner of Best Director and Best Cinematography at this year's Sundance Film Fest, this compelling indie drama by first time director Lance Hammer is infused with a bracing, gritty realism. It’s the lyrical tale of an uneasy human triangle set in the Mississippi delta. There's bad blood between Lawrence and Marlee, who used to be his twin brother's girlfriend. Shot using only available light, the southern landscapes are wide, flat, wet and strewn with debris. The inhabitants (all played by non-professional actors) seem as if they might be swallowed up at any moment. Variety called Hammer's personal film "an extraordinary debut." (Lance Hammer; USA; 2007; 96 min)

Watch the trailer ... NYTimes review.

Sat Nov 8 — 6:00 — Harris
Wed Nov 12 — 8:45 — Harris
"The best movie about teen angst since Donnie Darko" — Village Voice
Bullied by classmates and locked in silence by Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, Ben finds solace through online video games. As the relentless attacks push him over the edge and out of control, his online dream girl, Scarlite, appears to him and helps him devise a perfect plan to confront the bullies and make them pay for their torment. Director Balthazar's dazzling debut blends fantasy and harsh social realism, based on a true story, to bring us an utterly original and important film. Reminiscent of the same kind of alienation Donnie Darko captured, it won the audience award at the Montreal World Film Festival. With subltitles. (Nic Balthazar; Belgium; 2007; 90 min)

Watch the trailer ... Visit the official site.

Sun Nov 9 — 8:00 — Regent Square
This great American Western is finally available in a new 35mm print. You can now revel in the legendary first pairing of this stunning couple (the late, great Paul Newman with Robert Redford) on the big screen! It's the story — ever so loosely based on historical fact — of two charming bank robbers who fall for the same girl, and they flee to Bolivia when the law gets too close. The film won Oscars for Best Screenplay ("Who are those guys?"), Best Song ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"), Best Score and Best Cinematography. (George Roy Hill; USA; 1969; 110 min)

Presented in cooperation with McGuire Woods.

Watch the trailer ... Paul Newman obit.

Mon Nov 17 — 8:00 — Regent Square
Thu Nov 20 — 8:00 — Regent Square
One of Germany’s foremost filmmakers, award-winning Doris Dörrie, drew from Yasujiro Ozu's classic Tokyo Story for this elegant ode to discovery. It is a beautifully acted tale of life, love and renewal. We follow Trudi and Rudi, a middle-aged couple who are like two cabbage rolls side by side. When Trudi learns Rudi is ill, she wants him to see his family one last time. Their plans to travel to Tokyo are unexpectedly disrupted when Trudi herself dies. Left with her suitcase, Rudi pushes on to Tokyo, where he discovers a new understanding of his wife and of himself. With subtitles. (Doris Dörrie; Germany; 2007; 122 min)

Presented in cooperation with Silk Screen festival.

A reception follows the Nov 20 show, sponsored by Pitt Arts.

Watch the trailer ... Hollywood Reporter review.

Sat Nov 8 — 7:00 — Regent Square
Sun Nov 9 — 5:00 — Regent Square
Italian writer-director Silvio Soldini (Bread and Tulips) returns with another beautifully made gem. This absorbing drama brilliantly renders an increasingly familiar nightmare: an upper middle-class family whose comfortable lives suddenly disappear. The day after a lavish birthday party, Elsa (Margherita Buy) discovers that her husband was out-maneuvered by his former partners, and pushed out of the company he helped found. He hasn't worked in months. Soon, the altered circumstances begin to bite, causing a schism in the marriage, and further strain with their 20-year-old daughter. Margherita Buy, one of Italy's greatest actresses, is simply magnificent as the lead in this honest and ultimately optimistic film about love and commitment. With subtitles. (Silvio Soldini; Italy; 2007; 116 min)

Watch the trailer ... NYTimes review.

Tue Nov 11 — 8:00 — Regent Square
Lawrence "Deuce" Skurcenski has been a fixture at Pittsburgh area high school and college sporting events for more than 50 seasons. As statistician for the WPIAL and PIAA, he’s witnessed more than 9,000 basketball games and more than 3,000 football contests. This captivating documentary from Pittsburgh natives, Joe and Mark Graziano, focuses on his life and his passion as a stat keeper. Woodland Hills head coach George Novak, Steelers QB Charlie Batch, PIAA Executive Director Brad Cashman, Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt and Steelers play-by-play announcer Bill Hillgrove are just a few of the many notable sports personalities providing testimony about this local sports legend. The movie soundtrack features tracks from noted Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa. (Joseph & Mark Graziano; USA; 2008; 72 min)

Meet "Deuce" at the 7:00 reception; film begins at 8:00. Q+A with the directors after the screening.
Presented in cooperation with Pittsburgh City Paper.

Watch the trailer ... Penn Hills Progress story.

Sat Nov 8 — 3:30 — Melwood
Sun Nov 9 — 1:30 — Melwood
This beautiful film recreates the legend of Eréndira, a young Purépecha woman who became an icon of bravery in the 16th century during the destruction of indigenous Mexico by Spanish conquistadors. Her struggle is like that of Joan of Arc, with fratricidal power in a closely related group, amidst apocalyptic chaos. But Eréndira stood up against the social conventions prohibiting women from active participation in warfare. Through her extreme courage Eréndira won the respect of the tribal leaders and became a symbol of resistance and the preservation of her culture. Performed entirely in the original Purépecha language, this film is a unique historical account that was nominated for four Ariel awards (Mexican Oscars). With subtitles. (Juan Mora Catlett; Mexico; 2007; 114 min)

Watch the trailer.

Sat Nov 15 — 3:15 — Melwood
Sun Nov 16 — 12:00 — Melwood
Fifty years later, an important piece of film history is finally getting its due. The Exiles chronicles 12 hours in the life of American Indians trying to survive off the reservation. Its director, Kent Mackenzie, had just graduated from USC and this was his first film. His account of the dusk-to-dawn hours in a community — the once-prosperous Bunker Hill section of L.A. — unfolds without artifice, its acting unpolished. But Mackenzie (who died in 1980 after making just one other feature) had an ear for the poetry of ritualized interaction, and an eye for the hard light of the city. This semi-doc narrative crackles with the kind of raw energy reminiscent of John Cassavetes' works or the New Wave films from the same period.

After a grand premiere at the 1961 Venice Film Festival, The Exiles was shelved. Now thanks to a superb UCLA restoration and the efforts of Milestone Film (who partnered last year on Killer of Sheep), this 50-year-old film is one of the freshest movies out there. (Kent Mackenzie; USA; 1958-61; 72 min)

Watch the trailer ... Roger Ebert review ... Recent LA Weekly story.

Mon Nov 10 — 7:00 — Melwood [Retrospective Program]
Thu Nov 13 — 8:00 — Melwood [Current Work & Artist Talk]
Wed Nov 19 — 7:30 — Melwood [Retrospective Program]
We are pleased to bring the world-renowned filmmaker to Pittsburgh. Ernie Gehr is one of the most celebrated and internationally recognized experimental filmmakers working today. A self-taught artist, Gehr (b. 1943) established himself as one the true masters of film form. He rose to prominence in the 1970s, when his medium of choice was 16mm film. His graceful style and subtle, poetic sensibility greatly influence the avant-garde cinema. His artistic productivity continues to the present day, working with digital video but also with "magic-lantern" slides and other early cinematic mechanisms.

Recent retrospectives at MoMA (called "a masterpiece" by the NYTimes and "a revelation" by J. Hoberman), the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Musée du Cinema in Brussels, and the San Francisco Cinematheque have honored his life's work.

Gehr has received numerous awards for his work including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Maya Deren Award from the American Film Institute. He’s taught and lectured at San Francisco Art Institute, the University of California at Berkeley, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While in Pittsburgh, Gehr will give talks for Pittsburgh Technology Council, and Carnegie-Mellon University on art and technology.

Gehr has unique insight on how new technologies have affected both emerging and established artists of the moving image.

He will discuss this and present a program of his newest digital work, Nov 13 in the Melwood Screening Room, including New York Lantern and two world premieres.

He will be the keynote speaker for our first annual Three Rivers Film Symposium on Nov 14.

Programs of Gehr's most influential films including Serene Velocity will be presented on Nov 10th and 19th.

Presented in cooperation with Pittsburgh Technology Council.

A reception follows the 8:00pm show on Thu Nov 13.

Sat Nov 15 — 2:00 — Regent Square
New 35mm print! In the late '50s, after three decades of show business success, The Three Stooges contemplated retirement. Then, in 1958, Columbia syndicated the entire Stooges film library to television and the Stooges were rediscovered by baby boomers. Local TV legend Paul Shannon of WTAE's popular children’s show "Adventure Time" was one of the first hosts to present the Stooges to this new audience. They soon became one of the most popular and highest-paid live acts in America, and went on to make a series of popular full-length films. The films were aimed at the kiddie-matinee market, and most were less violent slapstick than the TV Stooges. In Have Rocket, Will Travel, their first feature, janitors Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe accidentally launch themselves into space on a collision course with the planet Venus, where they find a giant flame-breathing tarantula, and a talking unicorn whom they befriend. (David Lowell Rich; USA; 1959; 76 min)

Presented in cooperation with Edgewood Foundation and Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.

WTAE's Eleanor Schano is scheduled to attend.

Sat Nov 8 — 8:00 — Melwood
Organized by Takeshi Murata and featuring new videos by Yoshi Sodeoka, Ben Jones, Devin Flynn, Eric Wareheim and Tim Heidecker, Eric Fensler, Ara Peterson and Dave Fischer, Melissa Brown and Siebren Versteeg, Billy Grant and Takeshi Murata. Also in the night's program: selected local films to be announced, and the recently-restored animations of Adam Beckett projected on 16mm film; this will be the Pittsburgh premiere for many of these visionary American independent works from the early '70s.

Murata will present these short works as well as a live video performance by Nate Boyce and live audio performance by Robert Beatty. Boyce will merge new and extant analog and digital video and sound to form entirely new work; he lives and works in San Francisco. Beatty is a master of electronic sonic manipulations, performing solo under the name Three Legged Race. Murata's work has been exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, MoMA and Deitch Projects.

This event and Takeshi Murata's scheduled appearance would not have been possible without the Mattress Factory art museum. Their show PREDRIVE will feature work by Murata.

An hors d'oeuvres reception follows this show.

Sat Nov 15 — 1:30 — Harris
Sun Nov 16 — 12:00 — Harris
Fri Nov 21 — 7:30 — Harris
Filmed in Ireland and based on a Maeve Binchy short story, How About You follows the tale of free-spirited Ellie, a young woman with a short fuse left in charge of the residential home run by her older sister over the Christmas Holidays. While most of the residents have left to spend time with their families, four cantankerous residents remain. Naturally, the film boasts a stellar cast of Oscar winners: Vanessa Redgrave as a retired screen beauty, Imelda Staunton and Brenda Fricker as spinster sisters, and Joss Ackland as a reformed alcoholic judge. This gentle comedy kicks in as the impatient Ellie must deal with their outrageous demands, leading to plate-smashing confrontations. (Anthony Byrne; UK; 2007; 90 min)

Presented in cooperation with Alpern Rosenthal.

Watch the trailer.

Mon Nov 17 — 7:30 — Harris
Tue Nov 18 — 7:30 — Harris
This is the light-hearted story of 80-year-old Maria, a retired French teacher who lives alone, and nobody knows that she leads a secret life — even the admirer she gives private lessons to. Once a month she visits the casino where she plays a roulette wheel. She has perfected a system of winning that’s supposed to help her with an ambitious plan: trying to recover some priceless jewelry from her past. All of her machinations get the attention of a young professional gambler, who befriends the lady to figure out her system. This is the debut feature film from director Szylko, who worked as a journalist. She studied Film and Television in London. With subtitles. (Izabela Szylko; Poland; 2008; 80 min)

Presented in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Council.

Watch the trailer.

Thu Nov 13 — 7:00 — Harris
Fri Nov 14 — 9:30 — Harris
In 1958, celebrated photographer Bert Stern pondered a friend's advice to take some pictures of the Newport Jazz Festival. Instead, Stern decided to produce a full-fledged movie of the event. It was his only film. Breaking many cinematic taboos, Stern (who would later shoot photographs of Marilyn Monroe just before her death) recreated the look of his still photography into motion with a display of rich human observation, and some of the most remarkable scenes of live jazz on screen. Now, for its 50th anniversary, we are presenting this great doc in a new 35mm print. When it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, rumors of an American New Wave swirled. Although the emphasis is on the performances of such legendary artists as Louis Armstrong, Anita O’Day, Mahalia Jackson, Thelonious Monk, and Dinah Washington, Stern's camerawork is what Newsweek called, "dizzyingly beautiful." (Bert Stern; USA; 1960; 85 min)

Presented in cooperation with 90.5 WDUQ-FM.

Watch a clip ... Read the A.V. Club review.

Sat Nov 15 — 10:00 — Regent Square
"A French-language meta-movie parody par excellence." — Variety.
Audiences laughed and cheered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival for this hilarious reality/fiction drama about action-star Jean-Claude Van Damme. He plays himself – an aging actor whose career in Hollywood is all but washed up. Returning to Brussels, he lands in the middle of a bank heist, where he’s expected to actually save the day. He’s faced ninjas, wild animals, and space aliens, but in JCVD he’s confronted with the naked truth of his own career: dreadful roles, worldwide ridicule, drug addiction, bad haircuts and a messy divorce. The wickedly crisp script realistically captures the comedy inherent in the day-to-day life of a superstar. Through it all Jean Claude Van Damme delivers – with intelligent, sophisticated humor – his best work yet. In English and French with subtitles. (Mabrouk El Mechri; Belgium; 2008; 96 min)

Watch the trailer ... JCVD at Toronto FF.

Sun Nov 9 — 2:00 — Harris
Tue Nov 11 — 7:30 — Harris
This epic marks veteran director Yoji Yamada's 80th feature film (The Hidden Blade, Love and Honor). Here he authenticates Japan's wartime history by showing, in quietly chilling detail, how the nation turned on its own citizens when they expressed dissident ideas. The story opens in Tokyo in 1940 when the peaceful life of the Nogami family suddenly changes when the father is arrested and accused of being a Communist. His wife Kayo works frantically from morning to night to maintain the household and bring up their two daughters. WWII breaks out and casts dark shadows on the entire country, but Kayo still tries to keep her cheerful determination, and sustain the family with her love. This is an emotional drama of a mother and an eternal message for peace. With subtitles. (Yoji Yamada; Japan; 2008; 133 min)

Presented in cooperation with Silk Screen festival.

Kabei at the Berlinale ... Watch the trailer.

Sat Nov 15 — 7:00 — Regent Square
Sun Nov 16 — 1:00 — Regent Square
Legendary director Andrzej Wajda (Man of Iron) has always been a controversial filmmaker, and at 81, he's lost none of his fire. With this film — nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar — he tells the tragic story of how Soviet troops captured thousands of Polish officers and intellectuals, imprisoned them, and then systematically executed them in 1940. Mass graves were discovered by German troops in 1943 in the Katyn Forest. But the Soviets denied responsibility for the massacres. It blamed the Germans and forced the post-war Polish state to do the same. Wajda's father was one of the executed officers, and calls it the "Katyn lie." This fleet-footed epic centers on an imprisoned Polish Army captain and the resourceful wife who waits for him. While it examines large issues of war, politics and honor, Wajda always brings the story back to its fundamental object, the captain’s journal from the prison camp. The Soviet Union did not release documents acknowledging the massacres until 1990. With subtitles. (Andrzej Wajda; Poland; 2008; 120 min)

Presented in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Council.

2008 Lincoln Center retrospective ... Watch the trailer.

Sun Nov 16 — 2:00 — Melwood
Tue Nov 18 — 7:30 — Melwood
Fri Nov 21 — 9:30 — Harris
This stylish shoot 'em up is an impressive first feature from Pgh Filmmakers alumnus (and Robert Morris grad) Thomas Dixon. With nods to Memento and Pulp Fiction, it is first presented with a non-linear narrative, puzzle-like. The premise follows a big city mob boss who's been betrayed by four criminal "associates." With only hours until his imminent arrest, he calls in his deadliest cleaner to seek revenge: the inscrutable Korean. All the clues are there for your deciphering pleasure — money, guns, broads — not to mention all the Pittsburgh actors and locations you'll spot. (Thomas Dixon; USA; 2008; 98 min)

Melwood screenings will be preceded by local filmmaker Michael Maraden's Of Lost Souls.

Visit the official site ... Watch the trailer.

Thomas Dixon is scheduled to attend the Nov 21 show. A reception will follow the Nov 21 show.

Sun Nov 16 — 8:00 — Regent Square
Tickets are $15, or two punches from a Six-Pack Pass.
This restored print of legendary director Josef von Sternberg's acclaimed melodrama was nominated for Best Picture in 1928, and won its lead actor, Emil Jannings, the first-ever Best Actor Oscar. It tells the story of a Hollywood extra (Jannings) called upon to play a general in a movie about the Russian Revolution. But he’s no ordinary extra. He is Sergeus Alexander — former commanding general of the Russia army! And in a cruel twist of fate, the director of the movie happens to be an old adversary (William Powell), who delights in humiliating the general. Even the costume department bullies him. When Alexander is directed to give a speech to a group of actors playing soldiers, he loses his grip on reality. The Last Command is one powerful movie with brilliant acting all-around, and is enhanced by Alloy Orchestra's live music — a stirring combination of found percussion and state of the art electronic synthesizers. For years Alloy has captivated Pittsburgh audiences performing with Blackmail, Phantom of the Opera and other silent classics. (Josef von Sternberg; 1928; USA; 85 min)

Presented in cooperation with Pittsburgh magazine.

Alloy Orchestra homepage ... Not Coming review.

Fri Nov 7 — 7:30 — Harris
Sat Nov 8 — 1:30 — Harris
"Uncommonly elegant and evocative" — NYTimes. If you’ve ever walked through Katz Plaza in the heart of Pittsburgh's Cultural District, you've seen the work of sculptor Louise Bourgeois: those amazing, oversized eyeballs and 25-foot-high bronze fountain. This film portrait is a journey inside the life and imagination of Bourgeois. Co-directed by Marion Cajori, who died in 2006, and art critic Amei Wallach, this creative probe reveals much about the woman and the artist.

For six decades Bourgeois was at the forefront of her field, but always on her own powerfully inventive and disquieting terms. In 1982, at the age of 71, she became the first woman to be honored with a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Starting back in 1993, Bourgeois invited the filmmakers into her ritualistic process by which memories become embodied in her art. Their intimate conversations reveal a quick wit as well as festering recollections of her girlhood. Along with guided first-person tours of her sculptures, this is a privileged look into the psyche of a fascinating artist. (Marion Cajori and Amei Wallach; USA; 2008; 99 min)

Director Amei Wallach is scheduled to appear at both screenings.
Presented in cooperation with Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

The screening opening night Fri Nov 7 is a special event and includes reception (at Melwood) following the show.
The screening on Sat Nov 8 is regular price.

Watch the trailer ... Wallach interview.

Fri Nov 21 — 8:00 — Melwood
Experimental filmmaker Craig Baldwin is back in town to present his new film — a radical hybrid of spy, sci-fi, Western, and even horror genres. Mu musters the creative audacity — make that recklessness — to take up within its absurdly impossible "collage-narrative" style, the profoundly serious issue of the militarization of space. Based (mostly) on historical fact, the occult rituals of three seminal figures in post-war California (JPL founder Jack Parsons, L.Ron Hubbard, and Marjorie Cameron), and with newly-shot live-action footage, Baldwin inter-cuts both fiction and non-fiction archival material to weave a dense, farcical tale of mind-control, subterranean intrigue, and aerospace speculation…all done in pulp serial form to boot! (Craig Baldwin; USA; 2008; 109 min)

Mock Up On Mu will be preceded by Who is Bozo Texino? — former Portland and current Braddock filmmaker Bill Daniel's experimental documentary on modern day hoboes and boxcar grafitti. Daniel has worked with Balwin on many of his films and was cinematographer on Mock Up On Mu.

Craig Baldwin and Bill Daniel are scheduled to appear.

Baldwin in Senses of Cinema's Great Directors critical database, and at Canyon Cinema.

Fri Nov 14 — 7:30 — Melwood
Sat Nov 15 — 5:00 — Melwood
Azazel Jacobs’ film, The GoodTimesKid, was a sleeper hit in last year's film festival, and Momma's Man is poised to do the same. Jacobs' heartfelt indie drama is superbly crafted, funny, and utterly poignant. The story revolves around Mikey who’s visiting his parents in New York and inexplicably finds himself unable to return to his wife and infant in California. Entrenched in the adolescent sanctuary of his parental home, he is forced to choose between his life then and his life now. Filled with wry humor and authenticity, the film is a profoundly touching, universal ode to that terrifying time when one must grow up and embrace adulthood once and for all. Conceived initially as a love letter to his unique childhood, Jacobs cast his own parents as "the parents" (his father Ken is a celebrated avant-garde filmmaker; his mother Flo is a painter) elevating it beyond mere fiction and turning it into something much deeper. (Azazel Jacobs; USA; 2008; 94 min)

Watch the trailer ... Entertainment Weekly calls it "a true vision."

Thu Nov 13 — 7:00 — Regent Square
Sun Nov 16 — 3:30 — Regent Square
Named best narrative feature at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, and called "heartbreakingly tender" by the New York Times, My Father My Lord observes the strict family life of Abraham, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, his wife, and their young son. The inquisitive boy worships his father but rebels against him in the small, seemingly harmless ways all children do. This sensitively directed film depicts the staggering price a family can pay for an obsession with ritualistic observance. Abraham is devoted to his family, but speaks with the same absolute certainty that all fundamentalists — be they Jewish, Muslim or Christian — voice their beliefs. As this powerful film suggests, Abraham’s binding of Isaac can have subtle parallels in today’s world, often with unanticipated consequences. With subtitles. (David Volach; Israel; 2007; 73 min)

Presented in cooperation with the Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival.

Watch the trailer ... Village Voice review.

Fri Nov 7 — 7:30 — Melwood
This funny valentine to Pittsburgh ponders that whole "coming home" dilemma for so many talented folks who have followed their dreams elsewhere. It chronicles Carl Kurlander's decision to leave his life behind as a screenwriter and producer in Hollywood (St. Elmo's Fire, Saved By The Bell) and move back home to teach at Pitt. We follow Carl as he searches for (with much self-deprecating humor) a more meaningful life — even appearing on "Oprah" — only to find that Pittsburgh itself was experiencing a mid-life crisis. This heartfelt documentary asks what a once-great industrial city still needs to do to reinvent itself. It stars the City of Pittsburgh, and features many of its best-loved ambassadors. (Carl Kurlander; USA; 2008; 85 min)

Tickets for opening night, Nov 7, are $25 and include the opening Gala, at Melwood following the film.
Presented in cooperation with Steeltown Entertainment Project.

(Note: On November 28, as part of "Pittsburgh's Homecoming Weekend" celebrating the city's 250th birthday, Pittsburghers everywhere are invited to come home for a special Thanksgiving weekend red-carpet screening of this film at The Byham Theater.)

Wed Nov 19 — 7:00 — Regent Square
Sat Nov 22 — 2:00 — Regent Square
One of the most gifted directors working today, Amos Gitai (Kadosh, Kedma) has turned his talents to the elusive subject of memory. He has (brilliantly) cast the aging but still absolutely riveting Jeanne Moreau (Jules et Jim) in a quiet but intense performance as Madame Gornick, a woman who prowls around her apartment listening to her television set. Her parents died in the Nazi concentration camps, but she has told her children little about her past. Meanwhile, her son Victor is trying to assemble pieces of their family legacy through photographs, letters and memorabilia. It is a history of two conjoined families — French on his father's side and Jewish on his mother's. Victor really only knows the French side; the Jewish half is full of gaps. This is perhaps the film Gitaï was born to make, a masterpiece of Holocaust memory that uses not one frame of footage from the disaster. With subtitles. (Amos Gitai; France; 2008; 89 min)

Presented in cooperation with the Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival.

Hollywood Reporter review ... 2008 MoMA series

Sun Nov 9 — 2:00 — Regent Square
Fri Nov 21 — 8:00 — Regent Square
SOLD OUT!
With stunning camerawork and striking compositions, Carl Theodor Dreyer convinced the world that movies could be art. This silent masterpiece details the last hours of the young maiden who died for God and France. Similar to a passion play, it details her trial, imprisonment and final execution. Unusual at the time was an emphasis on the actors' facial features. Dreyer shot most of the film in close-up to tell the story through their expressions. Critic Pauline Kael wrote that Renee Falconetti's portrayal of Joan of Arc "may be the finest performance ever recorded on film." (Carl Theodor Dreyer; France; 1928; 82 min)

Performing live with the film, is the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh with composer Richard Einhorn's score for chorus, orchestra and soloists. Tickets are $25 and are only available through ProArts (412-394-3353).

These are the only shows NOT included with the Silver Screenie pass.

Sun Nov 9 — 4:00 — Melwood
Sat Nov 15 — 7:00 — Melwood
Special Jury Prize winner at Sundance. Working in a country obviously not his own, director/co-writer Chris Smith (American Movie, The Yes Men) has nevertheless created a superbly incisive portrait. The Pool is the story of Venkatesh, a boy who works at a hotel on the west coast of India. He sees from his perch in a mango tree, a luxuriant garden and pool hidden behind a wall. The shimmering pool, in which no one seems to swim, is a window onto a world he can hardly imagine. He ekes out a living cleaning hotel rooms and selling plastic bags on the street with his 11-year-old sidekick, Jhangir. The film recognizes the ways poverty can trap its victims into a kind of eternal childhood — making it more comfortable to stay put than to move forward. It recalls the neorealist work of Satyajit Ray, where the line between fiction and reality blurs. In English and Hindi with subtitles. (Chris Smith; USA; 2008; 95 min)

Presented in cooperation with Silk Screen festival.

Watch the trailer ... Interview with the director ... Read the Variety review.

Sat Nov 22 — 8:00 — Regent Square
Closing night's program of shorts by local film and video artists sprang from a promotional film, simply called Pittsburgh, which was commissioned in 1958 for the city's bicentennial. It's believed there were several versions of Pittsburgh, in an attempt to please a large committee with conflicting views. But the final version (28 minutes) pleased no one, and the project was shelved. For 20 years the camera negatives, the out-takes and the print rolls were in storage. In 1978 the 35mm print rolls and all of the camera negatives were given to Pittsburgh Filmmakers, by Ted Hazlett and the project's primary funder, the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Foundation.

Each short film in Pittsburgh Reframed (at 250) is two minutes and fifty seconds long, and will include sections of the original footage, reconfigured. Local artists participating include: Tess Allard, Mike Bonello, Tony Buba, Olivia Ciummo, Brian Cohen, Matthew R. Day, Carolina Loyola Garcia, Anna Hawkins, Ben Hernstrom, Charlie Humphrey, Thad Kellstadt, Brady Lewis, Michael Mallis, Jesse McLean, Bob Rutkowski, Elizabeth Seamans, Minette Seate, Chris Smalley, Josh Tonies and Lucian Wintrich. (total program: approx 90 min)

The project is supported by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.
Tickets for Closing Night are $15, including a reception with the artists, next door at Concept Art Gallery.

The original footage, which was recently inspected, cleaned and copied to high-definition video, will run on a loop in the lobby of the Regent Square Theater.

1979 Pittsburgh Press story part 1 ... part 2.

Fri Nov 14 — 10:00 — Regent Square
Finally — the hilarious horror-musical spoof Pittsburghers have been waiting for! It's the year 2056. An epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. But alas, a savior emerges: GeneCo, a biotech company that offers organ transplants…for a price. But for those who can't keep up with their payments, collection is the responsibility of skilled assassins ordered to recover company property (each organ has a barcode stamped on it) by any means necessary. With 20 amazing rock opera ballads ranging from blood-chillingly gothic to deliciously deviant and tearjerking-ly sentimental, in addition to sexy, messy, and divinely choreographed numbers, Repo! will leave viewers humming, singing, and slicing for days. The all-star cast includes Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman, Paris Hilton, Bill Moseley, Alexa Vega, with a cameo by Joan Jett. (Darren Lynn Bousman; USA; 2008; 98 min)

Director Darren Lynn Bousman is scheduled to appear.
Presented in cooperation with Eerie Horror Fest.

Watch the trailer ... Visit the official site.

Sat Nov 8 — 4:30 — Regent Square
Mon Nov 10 — 9:00 — Regent Square
Only the French could craft a thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy about cheating. Like "Woody Allen-meets-Eric Rohmer [Variety]," this beautiful film blends French drama and American screwball comedy. Wry, observant and touching, Shall We Kiss is a very contemporary story of a man and a woman who meet by chance on the street and spend the evening talking, laughing and getting along famously. At the end of the night, the woman declines the man’s offer of "a kiss without consequences." Like any great relationship movie, the plot also involves the dependable best friends. With humor and honesty this film will have you answering the question, "Oui Oui!" With subtitles. (Emmanuel Mouret; France; 2008; 102 min)

Presented in cooperation with Simpson & McCrady.

Watch the trailer ... Read the Variety review.

Space is devoted in the Film Festival each year for a competitive selection of shorts — a program for media artists to present work that allows them to creatively take risks, break new ground or challenge the viewer. Within the categories of experimental, narrative, animation, and documentary, there are 21 shorts. Submissions are from regional artists, as well as national and international artists. Prizes donated by Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Kodak.
PROGRAM A
Fri Nov 14 — 9:30 — Melwood
Sat Nov 22 — 2:00 — Melwood
A Pig’s Ear, Grant Barbeito; The Dirt on You, Jeremy Braverman; El Abuelo, Dino Dinco; Balaton Monks, Mark Edgington; Crushed, Michael Feldman; Invoice, Adriane Little; In the A.M. of Dec. 26th, Paula Malcomson; Natural Selection: The Rise of the Proletariat, Michael Mallis; Streetcar Named Perspire, Joanna Priestley; Finding Matty’s Voice, Jaclyn Spirer.
PROGRAM B
Mon Nov 17 — 7:30 — Melwood
Sat Nov 22 — 4:00 — Melwood
The Ville, Amy Bench; The Great Melt, Ben Bigelow; Case Histories in Psychotherapy, Tony Gault; Communion, Markus Kirschner; Lake Affect, Jason Livingston; Symphony, Erick Oh; The Cave: an Adaptation of Plato’s Allegory in Clay, Michael Ramsey; Emotive, Vanessa Sas; Peekers, Mark Steensland; Thurston, Mark Wickline; Today I Baled Some Hay to Feed the Sheep the Coyotes Eat, Will Zavala.

Presented in cooperation with Kodak.

A reception will be held following the 2:00pm show on Nov 22.

Thu Nov 13 — 9:00 — Harris
Sat Nov 15 — 3:45 — Harris
Sun Nov 16 — 2:00 — Harris
Winner of the top award at numerous film festivals (including Rotterdam, this eloquent documentary and debut film for the director is a sublime contemplation of time, memory, and mortality. Director Mercedes Álvarez was three years old when her parents left La Aldea, a village in the barren northern Spanish Soria region. She was the last child born there. Now, only 14 people remain. Soon this village, like so many other rural communities, will be deserted and without fanfare, will disappear. Though her film is intensely personal, Alvarez yields the spotlight to the dwindling but tenacious villagers. The passing years have made them natural historians and philosophers. A stunning film, it dissolves the personal into the universal, the fleeting into the timeless yet is also a great comedy, depicting peculiar characters, their observations and the way they react to their changing surroundings. With subtitles. (Mercedes Alvarez; Spain; 2005; 110 min)

Read the FIPRESCI review ... Read the Strictly Film School review.

Sat Nov 8 — 2:15 — Regent Square
Sat Nov 15 — 8:30 — Harris
Wed Nov 19 — 7:30 — Harris
"I'm honored to have my songs be part of this love story." — Neil Diamond

Buzz from the festival circuit is zeroing in on this sleeper. It’s the unforgettable real story of a homegrown Milwaukee couple: "Lightning" (Neil Diamond impersonator Mike Sardina) and his wife "Thunder" (Claire, who does a great Patsy Cline too). Heartfelt and honest, this duo makes you want to quit your day job and run to the nearest karaoke bar. Decked in sequins, Thunder and Lightning were a true phenomenon, rocking out in front of 30,000 happy fans until an accident changed everything. We get access behind the curtain with this inspiring couple, from their humble beginnings to the threshold of their fame. The filmmaker's use of confessional video journals results in some of the most heartbreaking moments you'll ever see in a documentary. Song Sung Blue is often hilarious, occasionally a tearjerker, but always riveting. You’ll never forget these authentic American dreamers. (Greg Kohs; USA; 2008; 87 min)

Watch the trailer ... Read the Not Coming review.

Tue Nov 11 — 8:00 — Melwood
After playing the Venice, Munich, Prague and Sarajevo Film Festivals, The Speed of Life is finally making it to ours. Set in New York City, the film tells the story of a 13-year old boy who escapes the streets by stealing video camera from tourists. Sammer wants to travel to far away lands and explore the world, a world he sees primarily through the stolen videotapes. As he looks at the footage, his imagination unfurls and lifts him from his harsh life. An assortment of characters stand in his way: an ailing foster mom, an older brother getting out of prison, a juvie probation officer who doesn't like juveniles, an ex-con who steals puppies, and an old man who thinks he can fly. Speed is a beautiful, quirky movie incorporating actual found footage and other people's home video footage. Co-written by Chatham University lecturer Marc Nieson. (Ed Radtke; USA; 2007; 84 min)

Ed Radtke is scheduled to attend. A reception follows the show.

Watch the trailer ... Visit the official site.

Wed Nov 12 — 7:30 — Regent Square
"For those seeking a palette cleanser after a steady diet of Hollywood product, it's as invigorating as a perfect sorbet." — Newsweek. Only a handful of directors utilize the unique language of film to its fullest. One of those artists, Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is featured in the current Carnegie International, where his video installation Unknown Forces drew rave reviews. In Syndromes and a Century, he revisits the structure of his earlier feature films, Blissfully Yours and Tropical Malady to create a languid, lyrical, organic, and contemplative exposition on the malleability and impermanence of a person's sense of place. The narrative thread is loosely based on his parents who were both doctors, and his memories about growing up in a hospital environment. But it is presented through a series of allusive, repeating images. These striking visuals — from smoke going up the flue of a hospital exhaust system to a basement full of prosthetic limbs – create an impressionistic meditation on the persistence and elusiveness of human memory. With subtitles. (Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Thailand; 2006; 105 min)

Presented in cooperation with Life on Mars the 2008 Carnegie International.
Douglas Fogle, curator of Life on Mars the 2008 Carnegie International, is scheduled to introduce the film.

Watch the trailer ... Review at Reverse Shot.

Fri Nov 7 — 7:30 — Regent Square
Sat Nov 22 — 4:30 — Regent Square
In 1956, Tamas Szilagyi fled his native Hungary after the Soviets invaded, landing in Pittsburgh. He eventually became a beloved and respected history teacher and coach at the Kiski School in Saltsburg, PA. He’s the subject of this documentary produced by well-known actor David Conrad, a Kiski graduate (and Edgewood native). We feel a sense of privilege getting to know this colorful character through his wonderful stories, old photos, and the testimony of those he inspired. His journey back to Hungary, returning for the first time in 50 years, is touching and exhilarating. Szilagyi, it turns out, is as comfortable giving a history lesson on the streets of Budapest as he is in a classroom, or around a kitchen table. The film is beautifully edited with lots of fascinating archival footage and great Hungarian music. (David Conrad; USA; 2008; 79 min)

Presented in cooperation with Pair Networks.

Conrad and Szilagyi are scheduled to attend the Nov 7 screening.

The screening opening night Fri Nov 7 is a special event and includes reception (at Melwood) following the show.
The screening on Sat Nov 22 is regular price.

KDKA segment on the film.

Thu Nov 13 — 8:45 — Regent Square
Sat Nov 15 — 4:30 — Regent Square
Winner for Best Director at Cannes FIlm Festival this year. A magnificently intense, brooding tale of family brought low by a twisted chain of deceits, it is distinguished by director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's extraordinarily painterly imagery — further evidence that he’s one of the finest filmmakers working today. It's the story of a politician who's involved in a car accident and then asks his driver to take the rap and a short jail sentence, in return for a tempting financial reward. It's just the first of many lies; inevitably, the driver's wife and son are also affected, and soon all four are trapped in a tangled web of fear, desire, doubt and guilt. It's almost Dostoyevskian in its astute psychological insight and its dark sense of moral and dramatic irony. Furthermore Ceylan's pioneering exploration of digital camerawork has helped create an extraordinary film. With subtitles. (Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Turkey/ France/ Italy; 2008; 109 min)

Watch the trailer ... Three Monkeys at Cannes.

Sat Nov 8 — 8:00 — Harris
Mon Nov 10 — 9:00 — Harris
Serbia's entry for the 2007 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, The Trap is getting extensive notoriety with festival screenings. A modern day film noir, it perfectly captures the woes of a society riddled with fresh wounds. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of post-Milosevic Serbia, The Trap is a claustrophobic thriller that asks what a human life is worth. A father faces a tough moral dilemma in this when his son requires an expensive, lifesaving operation. A mysterious stranger offers a solution, but the question is how far the father is willing to go to save his son. With subtitles. (Srdan Golubovic; Serbia; 2007; 115 min)

Watch the trailer ... Hollywood Reporter review.

Fri Nov 14 — 7:30 — Regent Square
This Polish film is the work of a born filmmaker. The story revolves around six-year-old Stefek and his 17-year-old sister Elka during the long summer holidays. She works evenings in a bar while preparing for a job with a large international company. One day, at the railway station, they see a man who Stefek believes is the father who abandoned him at birth. Stefek and Elka have developed a life in which "tricks" or games influence the course of events. Stefek embarks on a new sequence of games of chance in which he hopes to win back his lost father, turning up at the station every day to prolong their encounters. This is only the director 's second feature, but it is a real charmer, conjuring up sunny days and a world of provincial childhood that is both nostalgic and evocative. With subtitles. (Andrzej Jakimowski; Poland; 2007; 96 min)

Presented in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Council.

Watch the trailer ... Read the Variety review.

Wed Nov 12 — 8:00 — Melwood
Polish director Jerzy Stuhr will present his gripping film of crimes and misdemeanors that spans two generations. It's the tale a former secret police officer under Polish socialism who faces the consequences of his past actions. Meanwhile, an unscrupulous student finds a briefcase, a coat, and a cell phone on a train. When the phone begins to ring, it sets off a shocking series of events that changes their lives forever. With subtitles. (Jerzy Stuhr; Poland; 2007; 112 min)

Actor, screenwriter and director Jerzy Stuhr (The Big Animal) has won a host of Polish and international film awards, including the 2005 Life Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival. Internationally he's best known for his role as the slow-witted hairdresser in Kieslowski's White. In Poland youngsters know him as the voice of Donkey in the Polish version of Shrek. In Stuhr’s long and distinguished career he’s worked alongside such legends as Krzysztof Kieslowski, Agnieszka Holland, Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi.

Stuhr is scheduled to appear. Tickets are $15, and include a reception.

Presented in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Council.

Watch the trailer.

Sat Nov 8 — 9:30 — Regent Square
Mon Nov 10 — 7:00 — Regent Square
Straight from this year's New York Film Festival comes one of the boldest films in recent years. Waltz with Bashir can only be described as an animated documentary, an ingenious and provocative blending of animation techniques with sharp-edged, often unsettling personal testimony. In it, the filmmaker takes a journey toward discovering the truth about an Israeli Army mission he participated in during the first Lebanon War of the early 80s. Intrigued by the recurring nightmare of a friend who's chased in his dream by the ghosts of the dogs he shot during the war, director Ari Folman comes to realize how much he suppressed his own memories. Interviewing friends who served with him, Folman's memories of the conflict gradually begin to emerge. Through animation the film magically illustrates historical imagination — that place in our minds where actual lived experiences combine with fears, fantasies and justifications. (Ari Folman; Israel/Germany/France; 2008; 90 min)

Film print courtesy Sony Pictures Classics.
Presented in cooperation with the Pittsburgh Jewish-Israeli Film Festival.

Watch the trailer ... Read the Village Voice review.

Tue Nov 18 — 8:00 — Regent Square
Wed Nov 19 — 9:00 — Regent Square
Renowned director/screenwriter Krzysztof Zanussi premiered this dark comedy in Poland just eight weeks ago. It is a story about a wealthy businessman spoiled by his rich lifestyle, who finds out that he’s suffering from serious heart disease. Only a transplant can save his life. While in the hospital — by sheer coincidence — he meets a young man who's lost interest in living due to his unhappy love life, as well as just losing his job. The young man is the perfect donor. All he needs is help in leaving this world. A mediator named "Angelo" suddenly arrives on the scene ... a fallen angel. With subtitles. (Krzysztof Zanussi; Poland; 2008; 95 min)

Presented in cooperation with the Polish Cultural Council.

Watch the trailer.

Sun Nov 9 — 5:00 — Harris
Wed Nov 12 — 7:00 — Harris
Premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, this is the absorbing tale of cellist, singer-songwriter, avant-garde composer, and disco-hit producer, Arthur Russell. As a teen, Russell — already a trained cello player — left his home in Iowa and joined a Buddhist commune in San Francisco. Somewhere between living in the commune and two music conservatories, he met and worked with Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass. Russell created music that spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art. Now, more than 15 years since his untimely death from AIDS at the age of 40, his work is finally finding an audience. Director Matt Wolf incorporates rare archival footage and commentary from Arthur's family, friends, and closest collaborators to tell this poignant and important story. (Matt Wolf; USA; 2008; 70 min)

Presented in cooperation with Pittsburgh's Out magazine.

The Nov 12 screening will be followed by a reception underwritten by Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Watch the trailer ... Read the NYTimes review.

Sat Nov 8 — 4:00 — Harris
Mon Nov 10 — 7:00 — Harris
Assarat shows "wondrous sustained command [NYTimes]" in his debut film, a sweet and sensitive romance in a wounded landscape. During the reconstruction of Tsunami devastated Thailand, a mysterious architect from Bangkok arrives in the near-ghost town. Searching for a place to live he meets a beautiful young hotel manager. When their relationship takes a romantic turn, this small community's newly achieved equilibrium begins to crack once again. This quiet narrative of suggestion and hushed emotions takes an unexpected twist. A lovely and foreboding film, it recalls the aesthetic delicacy of the filmmaker's contemporary Thai director, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. With subtitles. (Aditya Assarat; Thailand; 2007; 92 min)

Presented in cooperation with Silk Screen festival.

Read the NYTimes review.

Films alphabetically