INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILMS | |
A spicy high-quality selection of recent award-winning international independent feature films. |
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DEFICIT |
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| Dir. Gael Garcia Bernal
AIFF is proud to present DEFICIT, the first feature film written and directed by Hollywood superstar Gael Garcia Bernal. Deficit is one day in the life Cristobal, a twenty-something year old snob high-class guy, a hip-hop fan who studies economics and is the son of a corrupt high rank Mexican politician. Through his character the film explores a certain strata of Mexican society and its relationship with other social classes. Under the surface of a party hides a story that touches upon the loss of innocence —the acceptance that a political status quo is gradually coming to an end in Mexico. From Bernal’s production notes:
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LA ZONA |
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   | Dir. Rodrigo Pla Teenager Alejandro lives in The Zone, an enclosed, residential haven of wealth and privilege in the middle of Mexico DF, protected by private security guards, surrounded by shocking poverty. In the early hours of his birthday, three kids from the slums break into one of the Zone’s houses. In the bungled robbery that follows, an old woman is killed, but her housemaid escapes and warns security. The guards take swift, brutal action: two of the young intruders are shot dead. The third - Miguel - escapes and flees deeper into the Zone. A group of resident's meet at Alejandro's family home, and quickly decide not to report the event to the authorities, but to track the intruder down themselves and administer their own justice. The manhunt begins. Directed by Rodrigo Pla, one of the rising starts of Mexican cinema, LA ZONA is a confronting high-octane thriller that won multiple prizes at festival worldwide. Director statement: LA ZONA sets out to issue a warning about the shape of things to come, to alert the audience to a way of life that is drawing ever closer. |
ABSURDISTAN |
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   | Dir. Veit Helmer
- Winner Best International Feature Film Somewhere between Asia and Europe lies the god-forsaken desert village of Absurdistan, which a grand total of 14 families somehow manage to call home. For the village, the biggest problem is water…but for the village women, the biggest problem is their lazy men, who won’t lift a finger to remedy the situation. Tired of their lack of efforts, the village women take up the cry “No water, no sex”, leaving the good-for-nothing men scratching their empty heads. Soon a crazy war of the sexes breaks out, dividing the village in two with barbed wire and threatening to keep the women and men of Adsurdistan separated for time to come.... A delightful surrealistic comedy from the award-winning director of TUVALU and GATE TO HEAVEN, full of gorgeous dream-like moments, flamboyant humour and Monty-Pythonesque absurd situations. Nominated for the Sundance Film Festival 2008 Grand Jury Prize. |
BOARDING GATE |
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| Dir. Olivier Assayas
Indie cult actors Asia Argento and Micheal Madsen team up with acclaimed and unpredictable director Olivier Assayas for this eye-catching erotic thriller. Sexy ex-prostitute Sandra, has left his dangerous ex-lover and her London past behind and fled to Hong-Kong in search of fresh start. In need of papers and money, she becomes involved with an attractive young couple willing to help her. But nothing turns out as expected for Sandra and she finds herself trapped in a sordid game of violence and manipulation. Playing with the sexy noir and revenge-thriller genres more than sticking to any formal rules, Assayas built BOARDING GATE on an artful skeleton of plot twists and impressionistic moments, leaving his actors free to carry the film with their performances. With a stunning Asia Argento showing once again how comfortable she can be in playing sexually-charged, border-line vixens in a role that is tailor-made for her roughed-up and unrestrained sexuality. |
NIGHT TRAIN |
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| Original title: YE CHE
Wu Hongyan works at the court in the province of Shaanxi in China, where she executes women condemned to death. In spite of her macabre job, she travels every weekend to a town nearby to join the parties organized by a marriage bureau. The result of her dating is widely unsuccessful and she doesn’t seem able to escape her loneliness until she meets the mysterious Li Jun. What Wu Hongyan can’t imagine is that Li Jun’s wife is the last of the women she executed... Shot in the inhospitable industrial landscape of China's western provinces, Yinan Diao’s NIGHT TRAIN is not afraid to confront difficult themes and to show the bleakest side of modern China. Having flown under the radar of Chinese censors and written and directed by Yinan Diao, author of the subversive UNIFORM, NIGHT TRAIN is a chilling drama of attraction and revenge confirming him as one of the most subversive talents in Chinese cinema today. Presented in collaboration with De Filmfreak. www.filmfreaks.nl |
NEW AMERICAN INDIE CINEMA | |
In collaboration with Quiet City director Aaron Katz, IAFF presents a multi-faced selection of brand new feature films aimed at highlighting some of the most interesting emerging US indie talents today. All films are premiering in The Netherlands. Curated by Aaron Katz and Steve Holmgren. |
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LUKE AND BRIE ARE ON A FIRST DATE |
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| Dir. Chad Hartigan
LUKE AND BRIE ARE ON A FIRST DATE, but the hazards of this term, and the incessant need for casualness keep their evening ebbing and flowing between flirtations and misunderstandings. For Luke, it’s a night filled with questions and opportunities, if he can only keep Brie’s interest away from three smarmy office workers, two hipsters with a pizza, and one "old friend". Over the course of the date, the two will navigate both the social jungle of Los Angeles and the complicated landscape of attraction, leaving Luke to wonder if it’s even been a date at all. Written and directed by Chad Hartigan and shot in five days with minimal budget, LUKE AND BRIE ARE ON A FIRST DATE marks the debut of another talented young director with an intimate and minimalist film in pure Mumblecore fashion. Introduced by DANCE PARTY USA DANCE PARTY USA, the critically acclaimed debut of writer/director Aaron Katz, author of indie (and IAFF07) favourite QUIET CITY, introduced Katz’s talent for intimate, naturalistic storytelling, with a simple story full of authentic characters and inspired realistic dialogue. Apathetic teens Jessica and Gus meet at a Fourth of July party in Portland. They drink, talk and watch fireworks, sharing simple moments together. Throughout the course of the night they spontaneously get closer to each other but everything changes after Gus confronts her with a troubling secret. "One of the best films of the year" - The New York Sun “Aaron Katz's pitch perfect portrait of modern teen life is as simple as it is effective. Shot on a shoestring budget and boasting great performances from newcomers Anna Kavan and Cole Pensinger,"Dance Party USA" is an edgy little treasure worth exploring.” |
FINALLY, LILLIAN AND DAN |
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| Dir. Mike Gibisser FINALLY, LILLIAN AND DAN is a consideration of young love and its delicacy: its hope and exhilaration, as well as its loneliness, turbidity, and naivete. Lillian lives in a quiet yet comfortable isolation, sharing an apartment with her grandmother, an aging widow. Their dependence on one another is mutual, simultaneously making them whole and holding them back. Dan's dependence is more tactile. Living in more tortured solitude, his attempts at human connection are carried out in the only way he can manage: compulsive fits and starts. After a chance meeting, Lillian and Dan bump and misstep their way towards one another in a love story that is awkward and small, that stutters and spits, with its worry lines on its face and its heart on its sleeve. "Almost a silent movie ... played out—brilliantly, subtly played out, second by second, step by step—not in words, but almost entirely in the characters' gestures, body language, and facial expressions. An absolutely astonishing piece of ultra-low-budget filmmaking." Introduced by - HAMILTON Set in the outskirts of Baltimore, HAMILTON is a lot like a quiet summer day. It is sweet, serene, and unconcerned with the manipulations of a traditional plot. Lena a recent mother, tries to track down her boyfriend Joe. Joe may or may not be somewhere in the neighbourhood mowing lawns. As the film unfolds we get to know Lena and the people around her. Each person seems on the cusp of something big, yet lulled, and happy to be, by the calm of summer. Delicately meditative and beautifully shot, HAMILTON exists in the moment when big decisions are put off a just little bit longer and small pleasures are truly appreciated. |
GREAT WORLD OF SOUND |
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| Dir. Craig Zobel Award-winning bittersweet comedy GREAT WORLD OF SOUND follows Martin, as he applies for a job at a company training prospective “music producers”. During training he pairs up with another new employee, Clarence, a middle aged man trying to change his career path. As record producers, the two travel to towns where the company has placed newspaper ads to find undiscovered musicians. They are seeking talent for the record label- signing new artists and giving them a chance to let their music be heard… for a small fee. It’s going great at first, but soon Martin and Clarence begin to question whether the company is as virtuous as it promises to be in its promise to give people their dream. “A fascinating new genre hybrid and one the most impressive and promising feature debuts since Richard Linklater's SLACKER.” – The Movie Guide |
THE PLEASURE OF BEING ROBBED |
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| Dir. Joshua Safdie THE PLEASURE OF BEING ROBBED, selected as closing film at the prestigious Cannes Director's Fortnight, is copiously tenderhearted and gleefully playful. Though set in New York and featuring sincere, truthful actors, the movie seems to take place in some alternate reality where imagination and a genuine a curiosity about life are the norm. Eleonore Hendricks plays Eléonore, a nice girl with a bad habit of casual theft. The movie follows her on a series of adventures that take her to Boston, back to New York, and eventually to the Central Park Zoo. THE PLEASURE OF BEING ROBBED draws you into a world completely separate from everyday life. When its short running time has elapsed it returns you, almost as if from a dream, to the real world, imploring you to take notice of the wonderful things that you see every day. “A charming indie title, suffused with the spirit of the French New Wave of the early sixties and possessed of a quirky likeability.” - Screen International “Like an extended version of one of his many clever shorts, Safdie's aspirations aren't much loftier than amusing us with Elaine's vignetted escapades, but his breezy flavor of analog Gondry-esque inventiveness (including a full-size, homemade polar bear!) and early-Truffaut breeziness make him one to watch.” - Premiere Magazine |
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY |
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| Dir. Barry Jenkins MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY, set in San Francisco, explores the relationship between Micah and Jo, two African-American twenty-somethings who wake up in bed together after a one night stand. At first it seems that they will go their separate ways, but circumstances lead them to spending more time together. They visit a black history museum, a city park, and eventually Micah's apartment. The day turns into night and Micah and Jo shift from emotional distance to surprising intimacy to misunderstanding and back again. As they discuss everything from relationships to what it means to be young and black in a city with very little diversity, MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY emerges as a flawlessly honest portrait of two young Americans trying to connect. |
MOMMA’S MAN |
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| Dir. Azazel Jacobs MOMMA’S MAN chronicles the increasingly anxious dilemma of Mikey, a young husband and father who stops off at his parents’ loft during a business trip to New York and finds himself emotionally unable to leave. Unsure of his own motivations, he makes up excuses about why he’s staying as his flight is delayed, his flight is canceled; but while his doting mother (the director’s mother) is more than happy to enable his procrastination, his father (venerable avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs, the director’s real father) grows suspicious of his sons changes of plans. Ignoring their concern, Mikey moves back into his room and immerses himself in childhood memorabilia and as days go by he becomes more entrenched in his childhood sanctuary. Winner of the prestigious FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Award and permeated by a darkly comic pitch reminiscent of Jim Jarmush, MOMMA’S MAN is a deeply personal take on a universal experience: the fear of growing up. "This is Independent Film Defined." - The New York Times “An extraordinary movie in every way.” – The Rolling Stone Magazine “A beautiful, wise, shaggy, poker-faced comedy of discombobulation.” Introduced by SALT KISS On a secluded island off of Rio, the carefree Rogério struggles to bring his recently engaged best friend back to the good life. |
A TASTE OF KOREA | |
In recent years the rise of Korean cinema in Europe and in the US continued relentless and in a seemingly unstoppable matter. Few other world cinematographies as Korea’s seem able to conjure arthouse quality, technical innovation and pure entertainment in their productions. In collaboration with Korean filmmaker and film critic Kim Kyung-Mook, IAFF 2008 is proud to present a vibrant selection of new features and shorts from Korea. All films are premiering in The Netherlands. |
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MILKY WAY LIBERATION FRONT |
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| Original title: Eun-ha Hae-bang Jeon-sun
Rookie filmmaker Young-jae got dumped by his girlfriend, Eun-ha who’s been supportive and patient to his garrulity. He has got a gorgeous casting and investment plan but his scenario is stuck with his writer’s block. For the worse, as frustration piles up, Young-jae finally got into aphasia and the production company owner intends to entrust Young-jae’s project into the hands of two Mongolian twins, aka The Genius Filmmakers. Entangled with love and work, how can this fledgling director find a way out? Another gem sprouting from the fertile Korean indie ground, MILKY WAY LIBERATION FRONT introduces the quirky talent of Yoon Seong-ho. Compared to some of Woody Allen’s early productions, Yoon’s film surprises with sardonic humour and a keen eye for silly, over the top situations and characters. |
THE DESCRIPTION OF BANKRUPTCY |
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| Original title: Pa-san-eui Ki-sul You hear so many horrible accidents and crimes from TV and newspapers. But they don't surprise you anymore. You may think they are just a part of your daily life. Since around 2000 in Korea, there have been tons of strange murders. There are no killers and no suspects, but people are murdered every day. Someone calls them, "social murders". However, these everyday terrible crimes do not shock anybody. They are just filling a small corner of a newspaper. No alarms and no surprises. No efforts to stop them. What has thrown you into such a dead apathy? Director’s Note:
"With a rhythmical editing style and indifferent, ironic narration, this film turns the dry climate that threatens to evaporate individuals from society into a poetic guerilla video. " |
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