Films Now Showing
See the hilarious and heartbreaking one-woman show, first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, that inspired the BBC's award-winning TV series FLEABAG, recorded live at London's National Theatre. Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (FLEABAG, KILLING EVE) and directed by Vicky Jones, "Fleabag" is a rip-roaring look at a self-described "greedy, perverted, selfish, apathetic, cynical, depraved,…morally bankrupt woman," whose playing breaking of the fourth wall belies her need to connect as well as a tragic secret from her past. Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose. Playing to sold-out audiences in New York and London, don't miss your chance to see this "legitimately hilarious show" (The New Yorker) on the big screen. Directed by Vicky Jones. Written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Runtime 100 min.
As far as Hank (Jeremy Gardner, who also co-directs and penned the script) is concerned, his secluded and comfortable life with his girlfriend, Abby (Brea Grant, BEYOND THE GATES, HALLOWEEN II, DEXTER), has been ideal. Abby, on the other hand, feels impatient that their relationship hasn't progressed in 10 years, and is ready to call it quits. When she disappears without so much as a goodbye, Hank is devasted. To make matters worse, a monster has begun showing up late at night, pounding at his door. A creature-feature meets break-up movie, AFTER MIDNIGHT is yet another impressive horror-dramedy from co-directors Gardner and Christian Stella (THE BATTERY) and was a resounding hit at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. "Something different. Something great!" – Rue Morgue. DIR/SCR Jeremy Gardner; DIR Christian Stella; PROD Justin Benson, Arvind Harinath, David Lawson Jr., Aaron Moorhead. U.S., 2019, color, 83 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: SONGBIRD (2018)
A troubled musician discovers a magic camera he can use as a weapon. DIR/SCR Helen Baldwin; SCR/PROD Howard Kingkade. U.S., 2018, color, 17 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Jean Simmons is simultaneously sexy and creepy as a Los Angeles heiress who will do anything to get the man she wants. In this case, it's ultimate noir hero-chump Robert Mitchum, who blithely believes he can handle his unhinged paramour's electrifying passion. Director Otto Preminger helms this doomed romance with an almost suffocating precision, creating what auteur Jean-Luc Godard hailed as one of the 10 best Hollywood films ever. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/PROD Otto Preminger; SCR Frank S. Nugent, Oscar Millard, from the story by Chester Erskine. U.S., 1953, b&w, 91 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
A comic book-obsessed serial killer's sinister plan to train his son to be his replacement is interrupted when the young boy lures a well-meaning stranger, Holton (Chase Williamson, BEYOND THE GATES, JOHN DIES AT THE END, VICTOR CROWLEY), back to their secluded farm, and the outsider threatens to expose the family's terrifying secret. Also starring Lauren Ashley Carter (DARLIN', JUG FACE, THE MIND'S EYE, THE WOMAN), Jerry G. Angelo (AMERICAN WARFIGHTER, BETTER CALL SAUL, THE RAMBLER) and indie horror favorite Matt Mercer (CONTRACTED, CONTRACTED: PHASE II, THE MIND'S EYE.) DIR/SCR/PROD Tom Botchii Skowronski; PROD Jerry G. Angelo, Kodi Saint Angelo, Erik Bernard. U.S., 2019, color, 78 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: LA LLORONA (2018)
An undead bride changes the life of a man in pain. DIR/SCR/PROD Jeremy Angel; SCR Joseph Castellanos; PROD Brandon Trayner. U.S., 2018, color, 23 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[EL DESPERTAR DE LAS HORMIGAS]
2019 Oscar® Selection, Costa Rica
In this subtle, arresting portrait of a young woman's emancipation, Isa (Daniella Valenciano) lives with her husband Alcides (Leynar Gomez) and their two young daughters in a small Costa Rican town, surrounded by loving family and friends. But when Alcides begins to pressure Isa to have a third child — a son — her world slowly begins to unravel. The idea of cutting back on her burgeoning dressmaking business to allow her to care for another child is not something Isa relishes, but her concern seems to float right over Alcides' head. As her feelings of desperation intensify, Isa takes fate into her own hands. Mixing naturalistic details of family life with surreal flourishes, THE AWAKENING OF THE ANTS compassionately charts Isa's determined journey to carve her own path. Winner, Best Costa Rican Film, 2019 Costa Rica International Film Festival; Winner, Ibero American Competition Award, 2019 Seattle International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Antonella Sudasassi Furniss; PROD Amaya Izquierdo. Costa Rica/Spain, 2019, color, 94 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Belmonte is a successful painter with a show going up in the National Gallery of Montevideo, but the recently divorced 43-year-old can't shake a looming sense of dread and depression. The only cure for his blues is his 10-year-old daughter Celeste, who is reluctant to spend time with him while her mother is on the verge of giving birth to her little brother. This slyly humorous observation of an artist in crisis is a beautifully-lensed portrait of a father-daughter relationship. Winner, Best Screenplay, 2018 Mar del Plata Film Festival; Official Selection, 2018 Toronto, San Sebastián and Santa Barbara film festivals.
DIR/SCR/PROD Federico Veiroj; PROD Charles Barthe, Fernando Franco, Juan José López. Uruguay/Spain/Mexico, 2018, color, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Known for her dark and macabre art work, painter Dezzy (Dora Madison, DEXTER) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by taking every drug in sight. After a few nights spent with her debauchery-loving friends, she notices she's finally painting again, but she's also developing a strange desire for blood. "A sleazy, rock 'n' roll vampire fable, BLISS may find [director Joe] Begos at his darkest and most introspective, but there is a sick sense of humor and a sense of rock 'n' roll fun that drives this tale of addiction, ambition and vampirism." – Daily Grindhouse. DIR/SCR/PROD Joe Begos; PROD Josh Ethier, Lyle Kanouse, Caroline Metz, Graham Skipper, Audrey Wasilewski. U.S., 2019, color, 80 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: EFFIGY (2019)
A young woman finds a strange doll that begins having an unusual effect on her. DIR/SCR/PROD Matthew Friend. U.S., 2019, color, 16 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Veteran safecracker Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea) has enough on his hands trying to get away clean with the spoils from a daring B&E, without having to shield his "ward" — voluptuous Gladden (Jayne Mansfield) — from his rough and randy crew. The psychosexual dynamics of David Goodis' tale grow steadily darker as Nat tries to outrun his destiny. Featuring noir favorite Duryea at his world-weary best, and a surprising turn from Martha Vickers (THE BIG SLEEP), the guilt-laden caper is given a stylized visual workout by whiz-kid director Paul Wendkos. This is one of the few films of the late '50s to capture the fatalistic feel of classic noir. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Paul Wendkos; SCR David Goodis, from his novel; PROD Louis W. Kellman. U.S., 1956, b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Five courageous Salvadoran women — poor, single mothers working as street vendors — have decided to embark on an unlikely dream: they want to become theater actresses. After forming their own company, they undertake the challenge of putting on a play to channel their tough life stories on stage. What begins as an experiment turns into an opportunity to transform their lives, but will they be able to face the past and overcome their fears, traumas and dark secrets? Filmed over 18 months, this intimate, observational documentary bears witness to the process the women undergo while creating their play, as they discover themselves as victims and victimizers in a cycle of multigenerational violence and start a journey toward healing. (Note adapted from La Jaula Abierta Films.) Winner, Audience Award, Global Section, 2019 SXSW Film Festival; Winner, Latitud Award, 2019 DocsBarcelona. DIR/SCR/PROD Marlén Viñayo; PROD André R. Guttfreund. El Salvador, 2019, color, 82 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Presented by WETA TV26
Winner of the Best New Director Award at this year's Goya Awards, Arantxa Echevarría's powerful debut is a modern-day "Romeo and Juliet," focused on two star-crossed teens from Madrid's marginalized Roma community. Carmen (Rosy Rodríguez), the daughter of street vendors living on the outskirts of Madrid, is busy preparing for her upcoming wedding, driven by her parents to settle down and look forward to a life in the traditional role of wife and mother. But when she crosses paths with Lola (Zaira Romero), an ambitious, rebellious graffiti artist who refuses to confirm to their community's strict patriarchal norms, the pair find themselves caught in the throes of first love and between two seemingly irreconcilable worlds. DIR/SCR/PROD Arantxa Echevarría; PROD Pilar Sánchez Díaz. Spain, 2018, color, 103 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Presented in collaboration with SPAIN arts & culture as part of Mujeres de Cine, an initiative created to showcase Spanish films by women filmmakers.
AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA CAMARISTA]
2019 Oscar® Selection, Mexico
In her multi-award-winning feature debut, theater director Lila Avilés turns the monotonous workday of Eve (Gabriela Cartol), a chambermaid at a high-end Mexico City hotel, into a beautifully observed film rich with detail. Set entirely in an alienating hotel environment with extended scenes taking place in the guest rooms, hallways and cleaning facilities, this minimalist, yet sumptuous, movie brings to the fore Eve's hopes, dreams and desires. As with Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA, which is set in the same city, THE CHAMBERMAID salutes the invisible women caretakers who are the hard-working backbone of society. (Note adapted from New Directors/New Films.) Winner, Best First Feature, 2019 Ariel Awards; Winner, Best First Work, 2019 Havana Film Festival; Winner, Jury Prize, 2018 Marrakech International Film Festival; Winner, Best Mexican Feature Film, 2018 Morelia International Film Festival; Winner, Cine Latino Award, 2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival; Winner, Best New Director, 2018 Portland International Film Festival; Winner, Golden Gate Award, 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2018 San Sebastián, Toronto, London and AFI FEST film festivals; 2019 New Directors/New Films. DIR/SCR/PROD Lila Avilés; SCR Juan Carlos Marquéz; PROD Tatiana Graullera. Mexico/U.S., 2018, color, 102 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted. Union members who present their member cards will receive the AFI Member discount.
Gael García Bernal's sophomore feature, following 2007's DEFICIT, is a gritty melodrama with comic flourishes, which centers on the fortunes of Cagalera (Benny Emmanuel) and Moloteco (Gabriel Carbajal) — two inseparable teens from San Gregorio Atlapulco, a Mexico City neighborhood still struggling to rebuild after the 2016 earthquake. Desperate to get out, the pair strive to buy a place in the electrician's union and earn some serious cash, and decide to take a shot at the opportunity by any means necessary. But those means quickly take a turn for the criminal as the friends get swept into a spiral of lies and deception from which there seems to be no escape. Official Selection, 2019 Cannes, Shanghai, San Sebastián and Santiago film festivals. DIR/PROD Gael García Bernal; SCR Augusto Mendoza; PROD Marta Núñez Puerto, Thomas Benski. Mexico, 2019, color, 95 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Cop Johnny Kelly (Gig Young) has had enough of Chicago, both in the mean streets and on the chilly domestic front. He'd run off with his exotic dancer girlfriend Sally "Angel Face" Connors (Mala Powers) if he could only get his hands on enough scratch to stake them to a new start. Thus begins one long, fantastical night in the Windy City, where saints and sinners collide in a pile-up of crimes, and Johnny's dreams and nightmares all come true. This noir oddity, narrated by the city itself, is a low-rent masterpiece of B-moviemaking, evocatively shot by John L. Russell (PSYCHO) and featuring a stellar cast led by noir favorites Marie Windsor and William Talman. Wally Cassell plays the unforgettable "Mechanical Man." (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/PROD John H. Auer; SCR Steve Fisher. U.S., 1953, b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[MANOS LIMPIAS]
Shot over the course of seven years, CLEAN HANDS documents the human drama, personal struggle, innocence and salvation of one family in Nicaragua surviving against the backdrop of Central America's largest garbage dump, La Chureca. The children have never been to school, and their mother Blanca is often overcome with rage. When an American philanthropist hears of their plight, she builds them a small house in the country on a plot of land they can farm. But as the family adjusts to their new surroundings, life grows even more complicated. (Note adapted from Chicago Latino Film Festival.) Winner, Best Documentary, 2019 Cinequest San Jose Film Festival; Winner, Jury Award, Best Documentary, 2019 San Diego Latino Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Chicago and New York Latino film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Michael Dominic. Nicaragua/U.S., 2019, color, 98 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA CORDILLERA DE LOS SUEÑOS]
When the sun rises in Chile, it has to scale hills and walls of rock before it reaches the peaks of the mountains. Because the Andes are everywhere, and yet they remain unknown territory to most of the country's inhabitants, Patricio Guzmán (NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT, THE PEARL BUTTON) sets out on a journey through the mountains, his somber narration accompanying elegant aerial shots of their stunning topography. But Guzmán's Andes are not just an impassive mountain range; the journey along their peaks also serves as a reconstruction of Chile's history and an attempt at finding lost memory. After exploring the desert and the sea in his previous two films, Guzmán concludes his personal Chilean trilogy with the mountain ranges of his native land and the histories carved into them. (Note adapted from Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.) Winner, Golden Eye Documentary Prize, 2019 Cannes Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Munich, Karlovy Vary and Toronto film festivals. DIR/SCR Patricio Guzmán; PROD Renate Sachse. Chile/France, 2019, color, 85 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
As the classic noir era waned, director Samuel Fuller came out blasting with the first of a series of wildly original crime thrillers. This one starts as a pulpy policier, with a pair of L.A. cops (Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta) hunting the killer of an exotic dancer in Little Tokyo. It twists into a heated romantic triangle, with both cops falling for a key witness (Victoria Shaw). A rare film to explore the Nisei experience in America, it features a compassionate take on the Japanese-born cop's torment at falling for a Caucasian woman. As usual, Fuller's kinetic inspirations sometimes collide with stilted exposition — watch out for flying shrapnel. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/SCR/PROD Samuel Fuller. U.S., 1959, b&w, 82 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Troubled college freshman Luke (Miles Robbins, HALLOWEEN, THE X-FILES) suffers a violent family trauma and resurrects his imaginary childhood friend, Daniel (Patrick Schwarzenegger, SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE), to help him cope. Charismatic and full of manic energy, Daniel helps Luke to achieve his dreams, before pushing him to the very edge of sanity and into a desperate struggle for control of his mind — and his soul. Also starring Mary Stuart Masterson, Sasha Lane and Hannah Marks. "Echoes of...ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE TENANT-era Polanski run throughout the film, but DANIEL ISN'T REAL is very much its own distinct fever dream of chimerical unease." – The Austin Chronicle. DIR/SCR Adam Egypt Mortimer; SCR Brian DeLeeuw, from his novel; PROD Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller, Lisa Whalen, Elijah Wood. U.S., 2019, color, 96 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: SUICIDE BY SUNLIGHT
A vampire is forced to restrain her bloodlust to regain custody of her daughters. DIR/SCR Nikyatu Jusu; SCR R. Shanea Williams; PROD Nikkia Moulterie. U.S., 2018, color, 17 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[DÍAS DE LUZ]
World Premiere
This beautifully integrated, multi-threaded narrative seamlessly interweaves six stories set in radically different locations across Central America, ranging from the tropical forests of Guatemala to the skyscrapers of Panama City. When a solar storm leaves the region without power, myriad dramas unfold over the course of five days during which all conveniences of modernity are stripped away. In Costa Rica, a pastor and his daughter worry for the future of their church, while in El Salvador, a grandmother and grandson make an arduous journey into the city. A husband and wife reconnect in Honduras, as a young couple nurses a mysterious stranger back to health in Guatemala. Meanwhile, in Nicaragua, a young woman prepares for her quinceañera and in Panama, a housekeeper grows exasperated with her demanding employer. This landmark work of collaboration boldly highlights the work of six talented young directors from across Central America and creates a moving, honest snapshot of life across the region. DIR/SCR Mauro Borges, Enrique Pérez Him; DIR Julio López, Enrique Medrano, Sergio Ramírez, Gloria Carrión; PROD Karolina Hernández, Isabella Galvez, Natalia Hernández, Servio Tulio Mateo, Francisco Morales, Ingrid Stalling. Panama/Costa Rica/El Salvador/Honduras/Guatemala/Nicaragua, 2019, color, 87 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[LOS DÍAS DE LA BALLENA]
Catalina Arroyave Restrepo's vibrant, kinetic debut takes place on the streets of Medellín, where Cristina (Laura Isabel Tobón Ochoa) and Simón (David Escallón), two young graffiti artists from very different worlds, fall in love against a backdrop of gang unrest and family drama. Committed members of a socially-minded art collective, the pair finds themselves in trouble after helping to produce a zine critiquing the extortionary practices of a local criminal gang. When the gang retaliates by defacing a wall at an old house that the collective uses as a refuge, Cristina and Simón decide to rebel by covering the threatening graffiti with a beautiful painting of a whale. This honest and exuberant coming-of-age tale paints a picture of youth as joyous as it is challenging. Winner, CherryPicks Female First Feature Award and Special Jury Mention, 2019 SXSW Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Buenos Aires and Cartagena film festivals. DIR/SCR Catalina Arroyave Restrepo; PROD Jaime Guerrero Naudin, Natalia Agudelo, Nicolás Herreño. Colombia, 2019, color, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Sibling bonds are both rekindled and tested in the achingly alive feature debut from Diana Peralta. Rita (Sasha Merci) and Carolina (Darlene Demorizi), two high-spirited sisters raised in New York, travel to the Dominican Republic to reunite with their estranged brother Dante (Héctor Aníbal) and to clean out their grandparents' old home before it is sold. As they rifle through the remnants of their family's legacy, shared joys, pains and traumas resurface that they must confront once and for all. Sensitively attuned to the intricacies of sibling relationships — from the playful teasing to the way a favorite childhood song can trigger an impromptu dance party — DE LO MIO is a richly human look at cherishing the past while learning to let go. (Note adapted from BAMcinemaFest.) Official Selection, 2019 Los Angeles Latino, BAMcinemaFest and New York Latino film festivals. DIR/SCR Diana Peralta; PROD Alexandra Byer, Michelle Peralta. U.S., 2019, color, 74 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Humphrey Bogart is Ed Hutcheson, veteran editor of the New York Day, which is about to be sold to its main competitor. With only hours left before the presses stop, "Hutch" decides to go out in a blaze of glory, taking down Tomas Rienzi (Martin Gabel) — the city's biggest racketeer. One of the most exciting and elegiac movies ever made about the fourth estate, the film is as relevant today as when writer/director (and former reporter) Richard Brooks made it — an eerily prescient eulogy for old-school journalism. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/SCR Richard Brooks; PROD Sol C. Siegel. U.S., 1952, b&w, 87 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Following Henry (David Call, THE SINNER), a field surgeon suffering from PTSD after a combat tour in the Middle East, Larry Fessenden's (WENDIGO, THE LAST WINTER) DEPRAVED brings a completely fresh perspective to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." When Henry builds a man out of body parts in a makeshift lab in Brooklyn, his creation, Adam (Alex Breaux, WHEN THEY SEE US), begins to become aware of his true nature. Not only must the newly existent creature navigate a strange new world, but he is also faced with the rivalry between Henry and his conniving collaborator Polidori (Joshua Leonard, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) — and their vastly different ways of handling the chaotic situation. "DEPRAVED works like a master class in DIY horror filmmaking." – BloodyDisgusting.com. DIR/SCR/PROD Larry Fessenden; PROD Chadd Harbold, Jenn Wexler. U.S., 2019, color, 114 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: IT CRAWLED IN THROUGH THE WINDOW
A couple is awoken by something crawling in through their window. DIR/SCR/PROD Isaac Ruth; DIR/PROD Ali Petre. U.S., 2019, color, 3 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Academy Award®-winning director Asif Kapadia (AMY) takes an unprecedented look at the meteoric rise and abrupt fall of Argentinian soccer superstar Diego Maradona in this immersive portrait of an icon. Piecing together more than 500 hours of previously unseen footage, Kapadia covers Maradona's difficult family life, his massive fame as the captain of the Napoli and Argentinian national soccer teams, his run-ins with the mafia and everything in between. On the pitch he was a god, but all good things must come to an end — even for this idol of the soccer world. Official Selection, 2019 Cannes, Karlovy Vary and Locarno film festivals. DIR/SCR Asif Kapadia; PROD James Gay-Rees, Paul Martin. Argentina/UK, 2019, color, 130 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[DIVINO AMOR]
Directed by Gabriel Mascaro (NEON BULL), this audacious and unsettling dystopian romance is set in 2027 Brazil, where religious fundamentalism, universal DNA registration and euphoric mega-church dance parties reign supreme. By day, deeply pious forty-something civil servant Joana (Dira Paes) is on a mission to help struggling couples avoid divorce, using her position as a government notary to give special guidance to the potential divorcees who come her way. By night, she is part of Divine Love, an unorthodox — to say the least — couples' therapy group that she and her husband Danilo (Julio Machado) attend as they struggle to fulfill their dream of becoming parents. But when the miraculous intervenes in their efforts, it seems that no one can truly accept the implications. Winner, Best Feature Film, 2019 Guadalajara International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Sundance, Berlin and Miami film festivals. DIR/SCR Gabriel Mascaro; SCR/PROD Rachel Daisy Ellis; SCR Esdras Bezerra, Lucas Paraizo. Brazil/Uruguay/Denmark/Norway/Chile/Sweden, 2019, color, 101 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
75th Anniversary
Nominated for seven Oscars®, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Actress, this is the epitome of hardboiled film noir, as jaded insurance man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) and bored housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) team up to murder her husband and collect on the policy. They fool ace insurance inspector Edward G. Robinson, but getting away with murder turns out to be a full-time job. L.A.'s car-centric sprawl isolates the couple and provides cover for their scheming — from its empty streets and offices to mundane markets, garages and commuter train stations. Billy Wilder and detective fiction maestro Raymond Chandler penned the screenplay, adapting the novel of another hardboiled great, James M. Cain. DIR/SCR Billy Wilder; SCR Raymond Chandler, from the novel by James M. Cain; PROD Joseph Sistrom. U.S., 1944, b&w, 107 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
This fall, the worldwide phenomenon DOWNTON ABBEY becomes a grand motion picture event, as the beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance. Written by series creator Julian Fellowes and starring the original cast, including Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Matthew Goode, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton.
DIR Michael Engler; SCR/PROD Julian Fellowes; PROD Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge. UK, 2019, color, 122 min. RATED PG
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[DEMOCRACIA EM VERTIGEM]
Once a nation crippled by military dictatorship, Brazil found its democratic footing in 1985 and then, in 2002, elected a hugely popular political disrupter: steel worker-turned-activist Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva. Under his watch, 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty, and the country rose to international prominence. In 2010, Lula passed the presidential baton to his prodigy, a fierce female guerrilla named Dilma Rousseff. But beneath their sunny legacy, rumblings of populist rage and institutional corruption seeped into the mainstream — much of it abetted by a partisan judge who fed news outlets sensational, deeply flawed corruption reports that targeted Lula, Dilma and anyone else who refused to scratch the backs of powerful politicians and special-interest groups. With remarkably intimate access, this sharp documentary, directed by Petra Costa (ELENA), follows Brazil's embattled leaders as they grapple with a scandal born out of their country's fascist past and inflamed by a furious and ideologically divided nation. (Note adapted from Sundance Film Festival.) Official Selection, 2019 Sundance, CPH:DOX, San Francisco and Hot Docs film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Petra Costa; SCR Carol Pires, David Barker, Moara Passoni; PROD Shane Boris, Joanna Natasegara, Tiago Pavan. Brazil, 2019, color, 113 min. In Portuguese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Local TV legend Count Gore De Vol (Dick Dyszel) returns Oct. 26 to present another terrifying film with interactive games, prizes and more! (Also screening Oct 31, film only)
Forty-odd years after it was made, this Oscar®-winning classic remains one of the scariest movies ever to darken the silver screen. When her young daughter (a pea soup-spewing Linda Blair) starts to exhibit some demonic behavior, Georgetown mother (Ellen Burstyn) is forced to turn to a young priest for advice. His diagnosis: demonic possession. The cure: an exorcism, performed by Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). We will be screening "The Version You've Never Seen," the 2000 re-issue, including the famous "spider walk" sequence. DIR William Friedkin; SCR/PROD William Peter Blatty, from his book. U.S., 1973, color, 132 min. RATED R
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Boozy Assistant DA Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) reels from a stifling marriage into an affair with the mysterious Thelma Jordon (Barbara Stanwyck). He's so smitten and besotted, he misses the warning signs: Thelma has a sickly aunt loaded with dough and spends lots of time in the arms of shadowy and sinister Tony Laredo (Richard Rober). Something bad is bound to happen…and when it does, Cleve winds up working both sides of the law. Noir master Robert Siodmak does a spellbinding job with a terrific script, and Stanwyck — the "Queen of Noir" — offers a terrific, two-faced turn in one of her most rarely screened films. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Robert Siodmak; SCR Ketti Frings, from a story by Marty Holland; PROD Hal B. Wallis. U.S., 1950, b&w, 100 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[HUACHICOLERO]
Living with his mother and working as a farmhand, 14-year-old Lalo (Eduardo Banda) believes buying a smartphone for his high-school crush is the only surefire way to her heart. When his mother must use his savings to pay medical bills, Lalo decides to approach the local huachicoleros for help, who quickly enlist his aid in their business of illegally siphoning gas to take advantage of the country's shortage and re-sell on the black market. As Lalo naively becomes more involved with the huachicoleros' work, an uneasy air of violence pervades the world around him, while investigators narrow their search for those responsible. (Note adapted from Tribeca Film Festival.) Official Selection, 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. DIR/SCR Edgar Nito; SCR Alfredo Mendoza; PROD Victor Leycegui, Annick Mahnert, Joshua Sobel. Mexico/Spain/UK/U.S., 2019, color, 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted. Union members who present their member cards will receive the AFI Member discount.
[LAS NIÑAS BIEN]
This meticulously crafted, vibrant social satire from Alejandra Márquez Abella (SEMANA SANTA) examines Mexico's crumbling upper-middle class during the country's 1982 debt crisis through the unravelling of one woman's perfectly-manicured world. Sofia (Ilse Salas) and Fernando (Flavio Medina) have everything — houses, cars, servants and impeccable taste. But when Fernando's inherited family business begins to go downhill, cracks start appearing in their perfect façade, and the world around them slowly — imperceptibly at first — shifts. As the money depletes and they're faced with financial strain, Sofia's status as queen bee among her cliquey, well-to-do friends takes a nosedive. But as everything she once valued is falling apart, Sofia begins to realize that there might be more to life than she thought. Winner, Best Actress (Ilse Salas), 2018 Havana Film Festival; winner, Best Actress (Salas), Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up and Best Original Music, 2019 Ariel Awards; Winner, Directors to Watch Award, 2019 Palm Springs International Film Festival; Winner, Special Jury Prize, Ibero American Competition, Seattle International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2018 Toronto, Rome, Chicago and Morelia film festivals. DIR/SCR Alejandra Márquez Abella; PROD Maria Jose Cordova, Rodrigo Sebastian González, Rafael Ley, Gabriela Maire. Mexico, 2018, color, 93 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
70th Anniversary
Olivia de Havilland won the Best Actress Oscar® for her portrayal of Catherine Sloper, a painfully shy, young woman from a wealthy, unhappy family in New York City's Gilded Age. When Catherine's aunt (Miriam Hopkins) is charged with helping her navigate New York's high society, Catherine catches the eye of handsome Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), and a whirlwind romance leads to a proposal of marriage. But her father (Ralph Richardson) suspects the penniless suitor is a fortune hunter. Eight Oscar® nominations and four wins, including Best Art Direction, Costumes and Original Score for Aaron Copland. DIR/PROD William Wyler; SCR Ruth Goetz, Augustus Goetz, from their play and the novel "Washington Square" by Henry James. U.S., 1949, b&w, 115 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
*October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month*
Co-presented with Aha! Moment, DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project, LadyDocs Corner Café
Post-screening panel discussion, details coming soon.
This year, Spooky Movie has curated some of the best short films from around the world that shine a spotlight on the evils lurking within childhood and children.
PUMPKIN BITCH
Siblings battle headless demons on All Hallows’ Eve. DIR/SCR/PROD Mick Thomas; PROD Tim O'Hearn. U.S., 2019, color, 11 min.
BELLS (2019)
A father learns the secret behind his son's strange nightly ritual. DIR/SCR/PROD Ben Botwick; PROD Lizzie Minges. U.S., 2019, color, 6 min.
SNAGGLETOOTH
The only thing worse than going to the orthodontist is going at midnight. DIR/SCR Colin Bishopp; PROD Joe Sikoryak. U.S., 2018, color, 9 min.
ATOMIC ED
Ed is given no choice when he is confronted by a local motorcycle gang. DIR Nicolas Hugon; SCR Cyril Delouche; PROD Mathieu Lesueur. France, 2018, color, 18 min.
LA NORIA (2018)
In this animated fantasy, a boy encounters strange creatures that turn his life upside-down. DIR/SCR/PROD Carlos Baena. PROD Sasha Houdek-Korellis. Spain, 2018, color, 12 min.
LLORA CONMIGO
A teen is forced to face an infamous Mexican legend. DIR/SCR/PROD Camilo Urdaneta; SCR/PROD Jose Cañas, Camille St Gal De Pons. U.S., 2018, color, 15 min.
DELIRIA (2018)
Something bad is about to happen on a particularly slow, hot afternoon. DIR/SCR Tomas Stark; PROD Niklas Panthell. Sweden, 2018, color, 9 min.
SOMETHING IN THE DARKNESS
Six-year-old Verónica is trying to overcome her fear of the dark. DIR/SCR/PROD Fran Casanova. Spain, 2017, color, 14 min. In Spanish with English subtitles.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA FIERA Y LA FIESTA]
In this dark and playful metafiction, filmmakers Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas (SAMBA, SAND DOLLARS) revive the memory of cult director Jean-Louis Jorge, a well-known figure in his home county of the Dominican Republic, where his transgressive body of work is often seen as a precursor to Pedro Almodóvar. Reuniting a group of old friends who ran with Jorge in the 1970s, the film tracks their attempt to shoot his unfinished film – an outlandish musical entitled LA FIERA Y LA FIESTA. Former starlet and muse Vera V (Geraldine Chaplin) assumes the role of director, while producer Victor (Jaime Pina) sets out to find financing, and Vera's longtime choreographer Henry (Udo Kier) oversees the complex musical numbers. However, when shooting commences, reality, fantasy, fiction and memory begin to merge as conflict seeps into the troubled production. Official Selection, 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas; PROD Rafael Elias Munoz, Gabriel Tineo. Dominican Republic/Argentina/Mexico, 2019, color, 90 min. In English, Spanish and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[YA ME VOY]
After 16 years of living alone, working three jobs and collecting bottles in Brooklyn to send money back home, undocumented immigrant Felipe is ready to return to his family in Mexico, and to meet the son he last saw at eight months old. But when he lets the family know his plans, Felipe finds they need him to stay and continue to earn. Not to be deterred, Felipe continues working, stopping at nothing to reunite with his family as soon as possible. Shot over the course of two years, this touching and personal document of a worker on the margins is a hopeful exploration of the immigrant experience and a lovely portrait of one man's determination. Official Selection, 2018 Hot Docs, DOC NYC and DOCSMX film festivals. DIR/PROD Lindsey Cordero, Armando Croda; SCR/PROD Josh Alexander. U.S./Mexico, 2018, color, 74 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Preceded by short film: A 3 MINUTE HUG
In May 2018, the Border Network for Human Rights worked with border patrol to organize an event called #AbrazosNoMuros (#HugsNotWalls), in which families separated by deportations could embrace for three minutes along the border between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso. The incredibly emotional moment was documented in this powerful short. Winner, Special Jury Mention, 2019 Hot Docs Festival. DIR/SCR Everardo González; PROD Daniela Alatorre, Elena Fortes. Mexico/U.S., 2019, color, 30 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted. Union members who present their member cards will receive the AFI Member discount.
The latest film from the provocative auteur Peter Strickland (BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO, THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY) is a stylish art-horror masterpiece, with kooky black comedy interwoven. Recently separated and looking to begin dating again, Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste, SECRETS & LIES) purchases a bewitching red dress from a mysterious London department store. She looks sharp, but the dress carries a curse that creates a deadly fashion emergency for everyone who wears it. Hayley Squires, Leo Bill, Julian Barratt, Gwendoline Christie, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Strickland-regular Fatma Mohamed round out the excellent cast. The eerie atmospheric score is by Cavern of Anti-Matter. DIR/SCR Peter Strickland; PROD Andrew Starke. UK, 2018, color, 118 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera's powerfully inventive docu-thriller — a prison escape drama in reverse — tells the incredible true story of Marco and Viri, two members of the Dreamer-led National Immigrant Youth Alliance who embark on a mission to stop deportations from within a for-profit immigration detention center. Intentionally getting themselves detained, the two young activists find themselves living among hundreds of multinational immigrants — all imprisoned without trial. As they discover a nightmarishly complex institution, they work undercover to impede some of the imminent deportations. Interlacing documentary footage of the real "infiltrators" with scripted re-enactments, THE INFILTRATORS is both a gripping account of a high-stakes mission and an urgent, vital portrait of a group of inspirational young people fighting for their community. Winner, Audience Award, Best of Next! and NEXT Innovator Award, 2019 Sundance Film Festival; Winner, Rogue Award, 2019 Ashland Independent Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Miami, SXSW, Hot Docs and New York Latino film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Cristina Ibarra, Alex Rivera; SCR Aldo Velasco; PROD Daniel J. Chalfen, Darren Dean. U.S., 2019, color, 95 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[TIERRA ADENTRO]
In his documentary feature debut, filmmaker Mauro Colombo immerses himself in the Darién Gap, a dense and mysterious jungle that divides Panama and Colombia. At the dangerous border between the two countries, guerrillas, immigrants, indigenous people, farmers, drug traffickers, local police and wild animals cross paths. Colombo approaches the jungle and its array of characters from an anthropological perspective and focuses on finding meaning in this no man's land as a metaphor for the wildness within us. INLAND is an urgent, political film, recording the deforestation of this area, which affects not only the locals living there, but also the whole world. It transports the spectator to the heart of the conflict and allows viewers to experience the intensity of the jungle itself. (Note adapted from Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam.) Winner, Best Documentary, 2019 Panama International Film Festival; Winner, Yellow Robin Award, 2019 Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam. DIR/SCR Mauro Colombo; PROD Abner Benaim. Panama, 2019, color, 70 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
José (magnetic newcomer Enrique Salanic) lives with his mother (Ana Cecilia Mota) in Guatemala City, where he ekes out a living working at a restaurant, while she sells sandwiches at bus stops. In a country dominated by the conservative views of the church, living as an openly gay man is hard for José to imagine. But when he meets the attractive and gentle Luis (Manolo Herrera), a migrant from the rural Caribbean coast, they pursue an unexpected relationship, which pushes José to rethink his life and identity. This neorealist tale is both a nuanced look at being gay in Central America and a gripping and beautifully honest story about one young man's struggle to find himself. (Note adapted from Outsider Pictures.) Winner, Queer Lion, 2018 Venice Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Santa Barbara, Glasgow, Dublin, Miami, San Diego Latino, Hong Kong, Chicago Latino and OUTshine film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Li Cheng; SCR/PROD George F. Roberson. Guatemala/U.S., 2018, color, 85 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Bud Corliss is suave, charming and handsome — the ideal catch for any young woman in 1950s America. But when his girlfriend unexpectedly becomes pregnant, throwing a wrench in his avaricious social-climbing, Bud becomes a literal lady-killer. This rare example of widescreen Technicolor noir is a Douglas Sirk-style melodrama turned homicidal. Matinee idol Robert Wagner threw a wicked curve into his career by playing one of the most amoral heels in Hollywood history, and the film also garnered much controversy for its frank handling of pregnancy. Gerd Oswald's feature directing debut is a rarely screened look at the underbelly of American affluence in the 1950s. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Gerd Oswald; SCR Lawrence Roman, from the novel by Ira Levin; PROD Robert L. Jacks. U.S., 1956, color, 94 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
KNIVES AND SKIN follows an investigation into a young girl's disappearance from a small town in the rural Midwest, led by an inexperienced local sheriff. As a ripple of fear and suspicion spreads among the town's residents, some relationships are destroyed, and others are strengthened. This mystical teen noir presents coming of age as a life-long process and examines the profound impact of grief on the town's teenagers as they experience an accelerated loss of innocence. "Jennifer Reeder's new film is a cult favorite in the making…[It] sits at the nexus of TWIN PEAKS, DONNIE DARKO and RIVER'S EDGE...Strange, funny, beautiful and profoundly melancholic, KNIVES AND SKIN begs to be seen big and loud." — Birth. Movies. Death. DIR/SCR Jennifer Reeder; PROD Brian Hieggelke, Jan Hieggelke. U.S., 2019, color, 111 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: FIVE COURSE MEAL
A couple agrees to take part in a mysterious experiment for money. DIR/SCR/PROD James Cadden, from a story by Josh Saltzman; PROD Bannister Bergen, Aron Levitz. Canada, 2018, color, 6 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[EL VAMPIRO DEL LAGO]
In this nail-biting, ZODIAC-esque thriller inspired by real Venezuelan serial killer Zacarias Ortega, young writer Ernesto Navarro begins digging into an ongoing multiple murder case while searching for the subject of his next novel. Following the tracks of an elusive killer who decapitates his victims and drains their bodies of blood, he comes across an old investigation that bears an eerie resemblance to the current case. When he finds Jeremias Morales, the retired police detective who had been in charge of the investigation in the 1970s, he becomes embroiled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that spans decades and extends beyond the realm of the living. Winner, Audience Award, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, 2018 Festival del Cine Venezolano; Official Selection, 2018 Austin and Cine Las Americas film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Carl Zitelmann, from the novel by Norberto Jose Olivar; PROD Rodolfo Cova. Venezuela, 2018, color, 102 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
75th Anniversary
"I shall never forget the weekend Laura died," intones newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), the Svengali-esque benefactor to the titular young beauty (Gene Tierney) and rival for her affections alongside her fiancé (Vincent Price). Investigating this seemingly dead-end case is tough-guy detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews), whose snooping pays off in surprising ways. One of the foundational "films noir" cited in Nino Frank's seminal article for L'Écran français that coined the term, LAURA earned five Oscar® nominations, with a win for Joseph LaShelle's black-and-white photography — though David Raksin's memorable score (#7 on AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores) was overlooked. DIR/PROD Otto Preminger; SCR Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Reinhardt, from the novel by Vera Caspary. U.S., 1944, b&w, 88 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
This intimate, innovative portrait of legendary Chilean activist, poet and performance artist Pedro Lemebel — famous for his outrageous, unapologetically political performances, sharp tongue, flamboyant costumes and groundbreaking media savvy — won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at this year's Berlinale. Shot during an eight-year period before Lemebel's death in 2015, Joanna Reposi Garibaldi's visual and sonic essay mixes archival materials, personal interviews and home movies to pay tribute to an uncompromising artist who became an emblem of queer culture in Pinochet-era Chile; Lemebel held up a mirror to machismo and homophobia in all walks of Chilean society, spearheading an LGBTQ rights movement that was impossible to ignore. Winner, Teddy Award, Best Documentary, 2019 Berlin International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Guadalajara International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Joanna Reposi Garibaldi; PROD Paula Sáenz-Laguna. Chile/Colombia, 2019, color, 96 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[QUE SEA LEY]
Dozens of women waving green handkerchiefs walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in May for the world premiere of this powerful documentary directed by Juan Solanas (NORTHEAST, UPSIDE DOWN). Symbolic of Argentina's growing pro-choice movement, the color green appears throughout the film, as Solanas documents the impressive fight waged by women across the county in the run-up to a parliamentary vote on a bill to decriminalize abortion and provide it free of charge in national clinics. Combining searing personal testimonies with footage of mass mobilizations in support of the bill, LET IT BE LAW documents the determination of women working to secure the right to physical self-determination, revealing an urgent, vital and ongoing struggle. Official Selection, 2019 Cannes and San Sebastián film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Juan Solanas; PROD Victoria Solanas. Argentina/France/Uruguay, 2019, color, 86 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[BATIDA DE LISBOA]
North American Premiere
On the outskirts of Lisbon, an underground electronic music scene is exploding, as contemporary Afro-Portuguese sounds draw from myriad influences, giving traditional roots a modern twist. This raw, energetic look at a burgeoning movement spans generations and chronicles a creative community as it struggles to find an identity and a place within its own city. Filmed with an insider's perspective — Lisbon-born, London-based Rita Maia is a club DJ and Vasco Viana is a cinematographer — LISBON BEAT invites you to join a party that never ends. Winner, 2019 IndieLisboa IndieMusic Award 2019; Official Selection, 2019 Sheffield Doc/Fest. DIR/SCR Rita Maia, Vasco Viana; PROD João Matos, Leonor Noivo, Luísa Homem, Pedro Pinho, Susana Nobre, Tiago Hespanha. Portugal, 2019, color, 65 min. In English, Portuguese and Creole with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA MALA NOCHE]
Sex worker Dana (Noëlle Schönwald) pours all of her earnings — and more — into the costly, life-saving treatments which sustain her critically-ill daughter in Colombia. Increasingly in debt to her contemptible ex-lover and current pimp (Jaime Tamariz) – a local kingpin who trafficks young girls, Dana is also wrestling with opioid addition. When she sees a glimmer of hope in a client with whom she forges a strong bond, she decides to plan an escape. Completely frank and free of judgement, Gabriela Calvache's striking narrative debut is a shrewd, tough look at the devastating impacts of human trafficking and sex slavery. Official Selection, 2019 SXSW, Guadalajara and Edinburgh film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Gabriela Calvache; PROD Geminiano Pineda. Ecuador/Mexico, 2019, color, 94 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
George Miller made a triumphant return to the Mad Max universe with this inventive 2015 revisioning of his post-apocalyptic tale. Following the utter collapse of civilization, a tyrannical warlord, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) rules from his desert fortress, the Citadel, which sits upon an aquifer of fresh water, a resource that he hordes from the masses he rules over. His fiercest warrior and driver of the War Rig, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), defects along with his harem of five wives, attempting to outrun him across the Wasteland in search of her lost home. Along the way, she forms a tenuous alliance with a mysterious loner, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy). Also starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. DIR/SCR/PROD George Miller; SCR Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris; PROD Doug Mitchell, P.J. Voeten. Australia/U.S./South Africa, 2015/2016, b&w, 120 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Directed by Alexandre O. Philippe (78/52, DOC OF THE DEAD, THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS), MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN reveals the chilling, untold origins of Ridley Scott's cinematic masterpiece ALIEN, rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, parasitology, H.P. Lovecraft's fiction, the art of Francis Bacon and the symbiotic genius of writer Dan O'Bannon, designer H.R. Giger and Scott. "With its passionate contributors and lofty ideas, MEMORY: THE ORIGINS OF ALIEN demonstrates that, if nothing else, the study of a film can be as exciting as the film itself." — The Wrap. DIR/SCR Alexandre O. Philippe; PROD Kerry Deignan Roy. U.S., 2019, color, 95 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: ANACRONTE (2019)
In this animated tale, Anacronte and the Sorcerers of Evil put humanity's happiness to the test. DIR/SCR/PROD Raúl Koler; DIR Emiliano Sette; SCR Sabrina Pace. Argentina/Mexico, 2019, color, 15 min. In Spanish with English subtitles.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
With nine million residents and only 45 government-provided ambulances, Mexico City's population must rely on a cutthroat industry of private, for-profit paramedics. This immersive documentary transports you into the Ochoa Family Ambulance — and into the heart of the frenzied action, as the unlicensed EMTs barrel through the streets, chasing their next patient. As the camera catches intimate family moments between father and sons, it also captures the crucial and painful decisions faced when they have to balance their own survival with that of their patients. Winner, Special Jury Award for Cinematography, 2019 Sundance Film Festival; Winner, Grand Jury Award, 2019 Sheffield Doc Fest; Special Mention, 2019 CPH:DOX; Winner, Best Documentary Feature, 2019 Guadalajara International Film Festival; Winner, Best Documentary, 2019 Hong Kong International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Sarasota, Montclair, Jerusalem, Hot Docs, Full Frame and AFI DOCS film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Luke Lorentzen; PROD Kellen Quinn, Daniela Alatorre, Elena Fortes. Mexico/U.S., 2019, color, 81 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted. Union members who present their member cards will receive the AFI Member discount.
Miles Davis: horn player, bandleader, innovator. Elegant, intellectual, vain. Callous, conflicted, controversial. Magnificent, mercurial. Genius. The very embodiment of cool. The man with a sound so beautiful it could break your heart. The central theme of Miles Davis' life was his restless determination to break boundaries and live life on his own terms. It made him a star. For the people who loved him most, it also made him incredibly difficult to live with. Again and again, in music and in life, Miles broke with convention — and when he thought his work came to represent a new convention, he changed it again. Miles' bold disregard for tradition, his clarity of vision, his relentless drive and constant thirst for new experiences made him an inspiring collaborator to fellow musicians and a cultural icon to generations of listeners. It made him an innovator in music — from bebop to "cool jazz," modern quintets, orchestral music, jazz fusion, rock 'n' roll and even hip-hop. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, studio outtakes and rare photos, MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL tells the story of a truly singular talent and unpacks the man behind the horn.
DIR/PROD Stanley Nelson; PROD Nicole London. U.S., 2019, color, 115 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
After reuniting with his childhood sweetheart, Nishi is savagely murdered by a hulking hooligan on the floor of a diner. Literally running back from the light, he resurrects himself, determined to change his toxically nebbish ways. Nishi embarks on an adventure that leads him and a ragtag crew all the way from shootouts on the streets of Tokyo to inside the belly of a whale. Mixing animation styles and blending genres, this gonzo, cult classic anime starts with a bang and never takes its foot off the gas. DIR/SCR Masaaki Yuasa, from the manga by Robin Nishi; DIR Kôji Morimoto; PROD Yutaka Suzuki. Japan, 2004, color, 103 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
After successfully beating a murder charge for selling faulty e-cigarettes at an EDM festival, Tim seeks revenge by running an absurd campaign to unseat the San Bernardino District Attorney. Fueled by ego and ignorance, he tries to surmount his lack of experience, funds and likeability by personally connecting with unsuspecting constituents. It does not go well. Follow Tim Heidecker's (TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB!; Jordan Peele's US) delusional attempt to enter the world of politics alongside his longtime collaborator and On Cinema co-host Gregg Turkington aka Neil Hamburger (2015's ENTERTAINMENT) in this hilarious political satire. (Note adapted from Magnolia Pictures.) DIR/SCR/PROD Eric Notarnicola; SCR/PROD Tim Heidecker; SCR/PROD Gregg Turkington; PROD Andrew Porter. U.S., 2019, color, 86 min. RATED R
AFI Member passes accepted.
Cold, ruthless Claude (Vince Edwards) has no prospects in his young life, so he decides to stake his place in the world as a hired killer. But when he's sent to sunny California to kill a gangland witness, his sudden discovery of "ethics" could prove fatal. This ultra-low-budget gem from director Irving Lerner was shot in only seven days, with a strangely hypnotic pace and a spare, haunting musical theme by guitarist Perry Botkin. It is a personal favorite of director Martin Scorsese, who's admitted this film's stylistic influence on TAXI DRIVER — particularly the Travis-in-training sequences. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Irving Lerner; SCR Ben Simcoe, Ben Maddow; PROD Leon Chooluck. U.S., 1958, b&w, 81 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
This film marked the transition of actor Dick Powell from romantic musical lead to film noir tough guy. Playing Raymond Chandler's detective and knight errant Philip Marlowe, his search for a singer named Velma leads him through a tangled web of blackmail and murder. Along the way, he finds himself embroiled with a wealthy man's unscrupulous gold-digging wife (Claire Trevor) and the stepdaughter who despises her (Anne Shirley). Mike Mazurki gives a standout performance as the mentally challenged, physically powerful ex-con Moose Malloy, who hires Marlowe to find Velma. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Edward Dmytryk; SCR John Paxton, from "Farewell, My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler; PROD Adrian Scott. U.S., 1944, b&w, 95 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[AZ ÉN XX. SZÁZADOM]
30th Anniversary
Recently restored by the Hungarian National Film Archive, Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi's 1989 debut is a fractured fairy tale set during the turn of the century Belle Époque era about two sisters, Lili and Dóra (Polish actress Dorota Segda, in a dual role), separated as young street urchins and raised separately by two mysterious top-hatted gentlemen. Lili grows up to become a passionate anarcho-feminist, the mastermind behind an imminent political assassination plot while Dóra has become a cunning adventuress, adept at separating foolish rich men from their wallets. Z (Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky, from Andrei Tarkovsky's THE MIRROR and NOSTALGIA) is the man who, having met both sisters separately but believing them to be the same person, unwittingly loves them both. "MY 20TH CENTURY is a jeu d'ésprit, a whimsical erotic fantasia of central Europe, a millennial meditation on modernity, all in black-and-white and infused with the spirit of early cinema, with distinct touches of Buster Keaton and a playful attitude to sex, comparable to Milan Kundera." — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian. Nearly 20 years after making MY TWENTIETH CENTURY, Enyedi made a triumphant return to the international stage with her 2017 Golden Bear winner ON BODY AND SOUL, the top award, serving as a perfect bookend to the Camera d'Or for best first feature film that she won at Cannes in 1989. DIR/SCR Ildikó Enyedi; PROD Gábor Hanák. Hungary/West Germany/Cuba, 1989, b&w, 89 min. In Hungarian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
4K digital restoration by the Hungarian National Film Archive.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Jacques Tourneur's other great contribution to the noir canon is this paranoid thriller, made 10 years after OUT OF THE PAST. Jittery James Vanning (Aldo Ray) is being followed around sweltering L.A. by nosy insurance investigator Ben Fraser (James Gregory), as well as gangsters played by Brian Keith and Rudy Bond, who know that Vanning knows too much about a heist they pulled the year before. When the gangsters grab Vanning and take him for a ride, the past comes crashing back in a classic noir flashback, transporting the action to wintry Wyoming, where Vanning was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anne Bancroft and Jocelyn Brando (Marlon's sister) co-star in this slick thriller with cinematography by Burnett Guffey (BONNIE AND CLYDE). DIR Jacques Tourneur; SCR Stirling Silliphant, from the novel by David Goodis; PROD Ted Richmond. U.S., 1956, b&w, 78 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[APUNTES PARA UNA PELICULA DE ATRACOS]
U.S. Premiere
Elías León Siminiani’s (MAPA) latest film follows a documentary filmmaker who has always fantasized about making a heist film. After a thwarted Madrid bank robbery in 2013 leads to the arrest of notorious gang leader Flako, "Robin Hood of Vallecas," he decides to contact the jailed bandit. Much to his surprise, he receives a reply and embarks on a friendship with the infamous heist-master. Blending video diary with animated sequences and archival footage, Siminiani crafts a stranger-than-fiction homage to the heist film. Official Selection, 2018 San Sebastián International Film Festival; 2019 Guadalajara and BAFICI film festivals. DIR/SCR Elías León Siminiani; PROD Stefan Schmitz, María Zamora. Spain, 2018, color, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA ARRANCADA]
Brazilian filmmaker Aldemar Matias crafts a sensitive snapshot of family life amidst cultural transition in this portrait of a young runner facing uncertainty about her future on Cuba's national team. With her father in prison, Jenniffer lives with her doting mother Marbelis – the strong-willed manager of a government fumigation center – and her adventurous brother Yeyo, who is preparing to move to Chile. A recent injury has led Jenniffer to consider quitting her athletic career — but she's equally unsure about finding her place as part of a generation torn between tradition and modernity. Seen from the perspective of a mother and daughter navigating various crossroads together, this quietly powerful, subtly humorous and poignant documentary is a thought-provoking insight into daily Cuban life. Official Selection, 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Aldemar Matias; PROD David Hurst. Cuba/Brazil/France, 2019, color, 63 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[カメラを止めるな! aka KAMERA O TOMERU NA!]
In this newly-crowned undead masterpiece, made for just $25,000, the makers of a low-budget zombie film are shooting in an abandoned water filtration plant when their hot-tempered director, Higurashi (Takayuki Hamatsu), has a meltdown and abandons the set. As the actors and crew await his return, a real zombie apocalypse begins. Upon his return, Higurashi is delighted by the turn of events and insists that the camera operator continue filming until the bitter end — which turns out the be the beginning of something else entirely. "A marvelously inventive horror-comedy [that] breathes new life into the zombie genre." — Variety. DIR/SCR Shin’ichirô Ueda, from the play by Ryoichi Wada; PROD Koji Ichihashi. Japan, 2017, color, 96 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Preceded by: AN EVIL FOUR ALL SEASONS
A four-part anthology all set in the same townhouse of horrors. DIR/SCR/PROD B. John Holmes; PROD Joseph Wray, Chris Ferrer, Chris Campbell, Jessica Pilco. U.S., 2019, color, 17 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[PECADO ORIGINAL]
Eva, a sexually frustrated housewife, seduces local artist Luis when he drops off one of his paintings, only to be caught in the act by her priggish husband Adrian, who has come home early after a failed attempt at a promotion. In a curious turn of events, Adrian decides to challenge Luis to a series of increasingly ridiculous competitions to assert his manliness and try to win back his wife. This debut film is a riot, with the absurdity of fragile masculinity on full display. Winner, Best Foreign Film, 2018 Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles; Winner, Best Comedy, 2018 Milan International Filmmaker Festival; Winner, Best Actress (Maia Nikiphoroff), 2018 Lakecity International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Chicago Latino and Cinequest San Jose film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Jean Lee; SCR/PROD Maia Nikiphoroff; PROD Miriam Louise Arens, Álvar Carretero de la Fuente, Cesar Di Bello. Paraguay/U.S., 2018, color, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
75th Anniversary
Loyal and lovely Carol Richman (Ella Raines) is "one hep kitten" as she high-heels her way through the noir demi monde, searching for the one woman who can save her boss from a murder rap. Director Robert Siodmak and DP Elwood "Woody" Bredell wring every juicy bit of shadowy mystery from the novel by master of suspense, Cornell Woolrich. Famous for Elisha Cook, Jr.'s manic interlude as a wigged-out jazz drummer in orgiastic frenzy, this is a truly seminal noir classic. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Robert Siodmak; SCR Bernard C. Schoenfeld, from the novel by Cornell Woolrich; PROD Joan Harrison. U.S., 1944, b&w, 87 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Mercenary pickpocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) and a brassy streetwalker named Candy (Jean Peters) find themselves frantically playing both ends against the middle when some purloined microfilm puts them in the crossfire between Communist spies and federal agents. Samuel Fuller's punchy and apolitical thriller sides with society's marginalized miscreants at a time when the nation was being torn apart by McCarthy-era ideology. Featuring a memorable Oscar®-nominated turn by character actress Thelma Ritter as the sage grafter, Moe. Many consider this Fuller's signature work: smart, savvy and stylish — a cinematic slap in the face that's a perfect blending of Fuller's tabloid style and 20th Century Fox's polished craftsmanship. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/SCR Samuel Fuller, from a story by Dwight Taylor; PROD Jules Schermer. U.S., 1953, b&w, 80 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[崖の上のポニョ]
Legendary storyteller Hayao Miyazaki dives into the sea to explore the magical world of Ponyo, a goldfish princess who forms a friendship with the land-dwelling boy Sôsuke. Enchanted by her new friend, Ponyo transforms into a little girl in order to spend more time with Sôsuke on land. But will her migration throw off the delicate balance between sea and land? A beautiful tale of friendship, attuned to the sensibility of younger viewers but containing much wisdom about caring for the environment and respect for nature.
English-dubbed version features the voices of an all-star cast, including Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Noah Cyrus, Betty White, Lily Tomlin and Cloris Leachman.
DIR/SCR Hayao Miyazaki; PROD Steve Alpert, Toshio Suzuki. Japan, 2008, color, 101 min. Dubbed in English. RATED G
AFI Member passes accepted.
After years spent tracking down international criminals, a trip to a remote jungle prison turns the tables and forces Chinese cop Xin (Gu Shangwei) to become human prey, to fight for his freedom and to save his own life. A Cambodian-set take on THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, THE PREY sets itself up to be the latest high-octane successor in THE RAID horror-action genre. "THE PREY ticks all the boxes for genre fans. Feverish fisticuffs, ricocheting bullets, bloodshed, sadism, an indestructible hero and lip-smacking villainy." — Screen Daily. DIR/SCR/PROD Jimmy Henderson; SCR Michael Hodgson, Kai Miller. Cambodia, 2018, color, 93 min. In Chinese, Thai and Mandarin with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Two L.A. cops, Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff) stumble onto the money trail from an East Coast robbery. Nightclub singer Lilli Marlowe (Ida Lupino), who handled some of the hot cash, agrees to help them hunt the culprit. But when Cal and Lilli fall for each other, the law suddenly takes a backseat to larceny. The "dirty cop" trend of the 1950s reached its apotheosis with this wicked, booze-fueled thriller, with writer-producer-star Lupino burning bright among the burly tough guys. Although it's more character study than thriller, director Don Siegel shows flashes of the brilliance about to be unleashed in the 1956 sci-fi classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Don Siegel; SCR Ida Lupino; SCR/PROD Collier Young. U.S., 1954, b&w, 81 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[EL PROYECCIONISTA]
José María Cabral's follow-up to 2017's WOODPECKERS is a road movie infused with a love of cinema. Lonely and isolated, Eliseo is a projectionist infatuated with a woman he sees on a particular reel of film. After the reel is lost in an accident, Eliseo is plunged into a search for the woman's true identity. Setting out across the most remote and poorest areas of the Dominican Republic, Eliseo must appeal to all he knows as he hunts for clues. Picking up a reluctant protégé on his journey, he embarks on a trip that will not only open his mind, but also his heart. Official Selection, 2019 Miami Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD José María Cabral; PROD Juan Basanta. Dominican Republic, 2019, color, 94 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Alfred Hitchcock's landmark 1960 thriller has lost none of its power to shock, despite its familiar place and frequency of reference within the pop culture firmament. Impulsively fleeing a dead-end job with $40K of her employer's money, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stops at the Bates Motel for the night. The motel keeper, Norman (Anthony Perkins), seems nice, but his mother is another story. Hitchcock deploys his entire arsenal of suspense-creating skills, honed over four decades of moviemaking, but in surprising, expectation-defying, even iconoclastic ways. Bernard Herrmann's celebrated score remains one of the most powerful examples of the fully integrated use of music in cinema. DIR/PROD Alfred Hitchcock; SCR Joseph Stefano, from the novel by Robert Bloch. U.S., 1960, b&w, 109 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
"Money isn't dirty, just people." Fred MacMurray reprises his DOUBLE INDEMNITY persona as a cop investigating a bank robbery who, after falling for the suspect's girlfriend (Kim Novak, in her screen debut), hatches a scheme with her to kill her boyfriend and keep the money. The script is by Roy Huggins, creator of TV's THE FUGITIVE, and underrated director Richard Quine displays mastery of film noir conventions. DIR Richard Quine; SCR Roy Huggins, from novels by Bill S. Ballinger and Thomas Walsh; PROD Jules Schermer. U.S., 1954, b&w, 88 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
50th Anniversary
An unforgettable late-'60s counterculture masterpiece, Robert Downey, Sr.'s PUTNEY SWOPE remains a vital provocation on race, pop culture and America. Putney Swope, the only African-American exec at his ad firm, is unexpectedly elected its president and turns the industry on its ear through a series of outrageous, taboo-busting TV commercials, strewn throughout the film like comedic landmines. As Swope becomes the Generalissimo of Madison Avenue, Downey takes no prisoners and skewers the entire political spectrum. Essential viewing. (Note courtesy of American Genre Film Archive.) DIR/SCR/PROD Robert Downey, Sr. U.S., 1969, color/b&w, 84 min. RATED R
2K digital restoration by The Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation.
AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA QUIETUD]
In Pablo Trapero's daring follow-up to THE CLAN, sisters Mia and Eugenia, played by Martina Gusmán (LION'S DEN) and Oscar® nominee Bérénice Bejo (THE ARTIST) respectively, reunite when their father suffers a stroke. Eugenia returns to the family estate, where Mia has been living with their parents, enduring a tense relationship with their mother Esmeralda (Graciela Borges, LA CIENEGA). The reunion between the three women is bittersweet, and the disconcertingly close sisters quickly clash over petty disagreements, while long-buried grievances and dark family secrets bubble to the surface. Set against the backdrop of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship, THE QUIETUDE infuses family drama with a political dimension and the tragic underpinnings to match, crafting a disquieting and compelling of a family in turmoil. Official Selection, 2018 Venice, Toronto, Hong Kong and Palm Springs film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Pablo Trapero; PROD Axel Kuschevatzky. Argentina, 2018, color, 111 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. RATED R
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[LA TORTUE ROUGE]
Studio Ghibli's first-ever international co-production, this moving, mostly hand-drawn and dialogue-free animated feature is a parable about man and nature, life and death, from Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit. A man is shipwrecked on a desert island. He builds a raft, intent on returning home, but an enormous red sea turtle causes it to capsize. The man builds a bigger raft, but the red turtle again destroys his work. Enraged, the man clubs the turtle, but instead of killing it, a mysterious transformation occurs. Official Selection, 2016 Cannes and Toronto film festivals; AFI FEST 2016. DIR/SCR Michaël Dudok de Wit; SCR Pascale Ferran; PROD Pascal Caucheteux, Vincent Maraval, Grégoire Sorlat, Toshio Suzuki. Japan/France/Belgium, 2016, color, 80 min. RATED PG
AFI Member passes accepted.
The REEL ROCK Film Tour, one of climbing's greatest celebrations, returns this fall with four new world premieres. In a battle for El Capitan's coveted Nose speed record, rock legends Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold go head to head with Yosemite climbers Jim Reynolds and Brad Gobright. Highball bouldering ace, Nina Williams, flexes her muscles and tests her nerves of steel well into the no-fall zone. In rural Utah, worlds collide with conservative Mormon coal miners encountering an influx of out-of-town climbers with surprising results. Two adventurous Brits, Hazel Findlay and Maddy Cope, also pursue first ascents in wild and remote Mongolia. Run time approx. 100 min., including a 20-min. intermission.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Recently engaged Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) stumble upon a castle in the middle of the night that is definitely not a hunting lodge for "rich weirdos." A jump to the left and a step to the right later, they find themselves as guests of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry). The sweetest of sweet transvestites, Frank-N-Furter does his best to make them shiver with anticipation at what he has in store for everyone at the Annual Transylvanian Convention. A satirical, musical tribute to classic science fiction and horror B-movies, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW has become a beacon and a touchstone, and for generations of fans young and old, a way of life. DIR/SCR Jim Sharman; SCR Richard O'Brien, from his musical play; PROD Michael White. UK/U.S., 1975, color, 100 min. RATED R
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Set in Argentina during the mid-1970s, this hypnotic thriller directed by Benjamín Naishtat (EL MOVIMIENTO) follows Claudio, played by Darío Grandinetti (TALK TO HER, WILD TALES), a middle-aged lawyer whose picture-perfect life begins to unravel when a Chilean private detective comes to his seemingly placid town and starts asking questions. Against the backdrop of the military dictatorship and the "Dirty War," Naishtat approaches this turbulent era in his country's history obliquely and mysteriously, building a quiet mood of foreboding and impending doom. (Note adapted from Toronto International Film Festival.) Winner, Best Actor (Grandinetti), 2019 Guadalajara International Film Festival; Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Actor (Grandinetti), 2018 San Sebastián International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2018 Toronto, CPH:PIX, Rotterdam and Miami film festivals, 2019 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. DIR/SCR Benjamín Naishtat; PROD Emmanual Chaumet, Federico Eibuszyc, Rachel Daisy Ellis, Barbara Sarasola-Day, Marleen Slot, Ingmar Trost, Dan Wechsler, Jamal Zeinal Zade. Argentina/Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany/Belgium/Switzerland, 2018, color, 109 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Nearing the end of his legendary directing career, Michael Curtiz produced and directed this intricately plotted thriller in which tony seductress Paulie Nevins (Carol Omhart) and her lover (Tom Tryon), overhearing plans for a jewel robbery, hatch a scheme to deliver themselves from Paulie's possessive husband (James Gregory). The film features "discoveries" Ohmart, Tryon and Broadway star Elaine Stritch (in her first film role), plus Nat King Cole singing "Never Let Me Go" in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel. You'll only see this at Noir City! (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/PROD Michael Curtiz; SCR Alford Van Ronkel, Frank Tashlin, John Meredyth Lucas. U.S., 1956, b&w, 95 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[LOS TIBURONES]
Rosina ticks away the days of a restless summer in her sleepy beachside town, until she spots an ominous dorsal fin on one of her habitual ocean swims. Though many are unsure whether her encounter was real, rumors of sharks spread and unsettle the town. Unperturbed by the panic, Rosina shifts her focus to her summer job and her enigmatic coworker, Joselo, who ignites in her an odd, conflicted attraction she hasn't quite reckoned with before. With his affections starting to wane — and the shark still circling in her thoughts, Rosina resolves not to be easily dismissed. (Note courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.) Winner, Directing Award, 2019 Sundance Film Festival; Winner, Special Jury Prize, Best Actress and Best Screenplay, 2019 Guadalajara International Film Festival; Winner, FEISAL Award and Special Jury Prize, 2019 BAFICI; Winner, Best Fiction Film, 2019 Toulouse Latin American Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Seattle and Munich film festivals. DIR/SCR Lucía Garibaldi; PROD Isabel Garcia, Pancho Magnou Arnábal. Uruguay/Argentina/Spain, 2019, color, 80 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Lacey (Olunike Adeliyi, AMERICAN GODS, CHAOS WALKING) is a socially detached loner cursed with immortality and the never-ending tedium of her existence. In her attempt to keep her compulsions in check, she seeks out the darkest souls humanity has to offer. Lacey must now face her own inner demons, while simultaneously finding her next meal. A sequel to HE NEVER DIED (Spooky Movie 2015), SHE NEVER DIED is the amazing sophomore feature from award-winning filmmaker Audrey Cummings (BERKSHIRE COUNTY). DIR Audrey Cummings; SCR Jason Krawczyk; PROD Zach Hagen, Bill Marks, Jennifer Mesich. Canada, 2019, color, 90 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: BITCH, POPCORN & BLOOD
A popcorn seller turns her life around when two strangers show up at the bar. DIR/SCR Fabio Soares; SCR Mike Zonnenberg; PROD Mélanie Beyl. France, 2014, color, 16 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[SEM SEU SANGUE]
In this high-art, high school zombie love story, shy loner Silvia has an electric connection with Artur, the new skateboarding bad boy who's been kicked out of every other school in town. The chemistry is unmistakable, and the young lovers are inseparable until tragedy strikes. Paralyzed with grief on a family vacation, Silvia turns to voodoo in hopes of bringing Artur back to her by any means necessary. Dreamy and atmospheric, this polished debut takes a meditative approach to genre filmmaking, while exploring the limits of obsession. Official Selection, 2019 Cannes and Karlovy Vary film festivals. DIR/SCR Alice Furtado; SCR Leonardo Levis; PROD Aline Mazzarella, Matheus Peçanha, Thiago Yamachita. Brazil/France/Netherlands, 2019, color, 104 min. In Portuguese and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[CANCIÓN SIN NOMBRE]
North American Premiere
Melina León became the first female Peruvian director to screen a film at the Cannes Film Festival with this breathtaking noir-tinged debut, inspired by a real child trafficking case reported on by her father, journalist Ismael León, at the height of Peru's political crisis during the 1980s. Shot in stunning black and white to reflect news footage of the period, SONG WITHOUT A NAME follows Georgina (Pamela Mendoza), a young Quechua woman whose newborn baby is snatched away moments after its birth in a downtown Lima clinic, where she had been lured by the promise of free medical assistance. Stonewalled by a Kafkaesque and indifferent legal system, Georgina's desperate search leads in circles until she approaches journalist Pedro Campas (Tommy Párraga), a man struggling with his own deep distrust of the authorities. As Pedro uncovers a tangled web of fake clinics and abductions, it is clear that the corruption runs deep and that pursuing the story means risking everything. Winner, CineVision Award, 2019 Munich Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Cannes Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Melina León; SCR/PROD Michael J. White; PROD Inti Briones. Peru/Spain/U.S./Chile, 2019, b&w, 97 min. In Spanish and Quechua with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[EL CHATA]
Although Samuel has enough talent to be a boxing champion, he seems destined to receive blows like a punching bag, as a mere sparring partner. His former coach Joe, who is training a new prospect, decides to put him to the test. Unable to feed his family and with temptations all around him, Samuel only thinks about getting back in the ring to prove that his time in prison has changed him and that he is reformed and determined to win back his family's affections. However, back in the old neighborhood once again, he learns the hard way that a fresh start won't be so easy and that he has no alternative but to keep his gloves on at all times. While the possibility of migrating seems to offer a fresh start, Samuel knows that no matter where he goes, he will never be able to escape his turbulent past. (Note adapted from Studio Creativo.) Honorable Mention, Best Narrative Feature, World Cinema, 2018 Urban World Film Festival; Official Selection, 2018 International Film Festival Rotterdam and Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Gustavo Ramos Perales; SCR Xenia Rivery; PROD Carmen E. Díaz. Puerto Rico, 2018, color, 75 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Danish culinary entrepreneur and Noma co-founder Claus Meyer has kickstarted a gastronomic revolution in Bolivia's capital of La Paz with the opening of Gustu, a fine-dining restaurant and cooking school for the country's impoverished youth. Kenzo, a hunter raised in the Bolivian Amazon, and Maria Claudia, a native of the Andean altiplano, have resettled in La Paz to pursue careers in the culinary arts. Under the tutelage of Meyer, these young Bolivians work toward a better future as they attempt to establish their country as the world's next great culinary destination. This sumptuous documentary is an inspiring story of resilience and mentorship, viewed through the powerful lens of food. More than just a delicious documentary, it is a celebration of the art of gastronomy and the importance of paying opportunities forward. (Note adapted from Tribeca Film Festival.) Official Selection, 2019 CPH:DOX and Tribeca film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Michael Yuchen Lei; PROD Abby Davis, Kevin Iwashina, Jess Kwan, Andrew Renzi. U.S./Bolivia/Denmark, 2019, color, 85 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
In this extraordinary follow-up to his landmark debut IXCANUL, Jayro Bustamante shifts his focus from rural Guatemala to the denizens of Guatemala City, once again setting his sights on an individual caught between two ostensibly irreconcilable worlds. When handsome and charismatic Pablo (Juan Pablo Olyslager) arrives at his affluent family's home, everyone is eagerly awaiting the return of their beloved son, devoted father and caring husband. When Pablo – a seemingly exemplary pillar of Guatemala City's Evangelical Christian community – announces that he intends to leave his wife for another man, it sends shock waves through the family. As he tries to acclimate to his new life in the city's gay subculture with the liberated Francisco (Mauricio Armas Zebadúa), his ultra-religious family does everything in its power to get their prodigal son back on track – no matter the cost. (Note adapted from Film Movement.) Winner, Best Cinematography, 2019 Guadalajara International Film Festival; Official Selection, 2019 Berlin, Miami, Seattle, Frameline and Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Jayro Bustamante; PROD Gérard Lacroix, De Jesus Peralta Orellana Marina, Nicolas Steil, Edgard Tenembaum. Guatemala/France/Luxembourg, 2019, color, 107 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Inspired by THE TWILIGHT ZONE, this four-film anthology revolves around a mysterious old movie palace where tales of terror reside. THE GIFT, a dark drama; THE BOOKWORM, a creature feature; ABDUCTED, a sci-fi story; and ENDANGERED, a horror segment, are the films one unsuspecting young woman is compelled to watch before her own fate is revealed. DIR/SCR/PROD Tom Ryan; SCR/PROD Russell Hackett; PROD Diane Hackett, Melanie Ryan, Todd Staruch. U.S., 2019, color, 90 min. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
[VUELVEN]
Issa López's (CASI DIVAS) acclaimed third feature was declared one of the 19 best films of 2017 by Guillermo del Toro and has found fans in such giants of the horror and fantasy worlds as Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. Ten-year-old Estrella is followed by the ghost of her mother, who was killed by a local cartel. She joins a gang of children orphaned by Mexico's drug violence, and when the cartel targets them, supernatural forces come to their aid. This dark fable has been compared to everything from CITY OF LOST CHILDREN to PAN'S LABYRINTH and marks a bold new voice in genre cinema. Winner, Best Director, 2017 Fantastic Fest; Winner, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Paola Lara), Best Actor and Best Editing, 2017 Screamfest; Winner, Best Film, Best Director and Best Child Actor (Lara), 2018 Mexican Cinema Journalists Awards; Official Selection, 2018 Neuchâtel, Bucheon International Fantastic and Chicago Latino film festivals. DIR/SCR Issa López; PROD Marco Polo Constandse. Mexico, 2017, color, 83 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Handsome Steve Cochran with the perpetual five o'clock shadow racked up a slew of noir credits before his premature death in 1965, including WHITE HEAT, PRIVATE HELL 36 and THE DAMNED DON'T CRY. Here, he's an ex-con who's never been with a woman. Ruth Roman (STRANGERS ON A TRAIN) is a dime-a-dance dame with no use for sappy men. A hotel room, a dirty cop and a gunshot add up to the perfect jumpstart for a fugitives-on-the-run love story. Cochran was never more vulnerable, Roman never sexier than in this picture. Imagine GUN CRAZY, scripted by John Steinbeck — it's that good. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Felix E. Feist; SCR Art Cohn, Guy Endore; PROD Henry Blanke. U.S., 1951, b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
[TARDE PARA MORIR JOVEN]
During the summer of 1990 in Chile, a small group of families lives in an isolated community below the Andes, building a new world away from the urban excesses, buoyed by the emerging freedom that followed the recent end of the dictatorship. In this time of change and reckoning, 16-year-olds Sofía and Lucas and 10-year-old Clara – neighbors in this dry land – struggle with parents, first loves and fears as they prepare for a big party on New Year's Eve. Winner, Best Director, Locarno Film Festival 2018; KNF Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival 2019; Official Selection, 2018 New York, Mill Valley, London and Chicago film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Dominga Sotomayor Castillo; PROD Rodrigo Teixeira. Chile/Brazil/Argentina/Netherlands/Qatar, 2018, color, 110 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
Despite Orson Welles' full decade away from a Hollywood director's chair, Charlton Heston lobbied Universal to hire him for this edgy thriller and prevailed. Amazingly consigned to the bottom half of a double bill when first released, the film has enjoyed cult status ever since, and is now acknowledged as one of the high points of both film noir and Welles' oeuvre. It is renowned for its legendary opening sequence as witnessed by Mexican DEA Mike Vargas (Heston) and his American wife (Janet Leigh) — a long and intricate tracking shot, where a car bomb planted on the Mexican side of a seedy border town explodes across the U.S. border, killing a wealthy businessman and his girlfriend. But the crime scene is on the turf of Welles' sheriff Hank Quinlan, a hulking, sweaty and maniacal presence who investigates the case according to his own perverse agenda. Russell Metty's celebrated cinematography — all slanted angles and inky nighttime lighting — and a colorful cast that includes Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dennis Weaver add flair to this suspens classic. DIR/SCR Orson Welles, from the novel "Badge of Evil" by Whit Masterson; PROD Albert Zugsmith. U.S., 1958, b&w, 95 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
70th Anniversary
T-men investigating a flood of phony $20 bills spring convicted counterfeiter Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) from the joint to use him as an undercover operative. But Tris is only stringing the Feds along until he makes a score and scoots to Mexico with his red-hot squeeze, Meg (Barbara Payton). The double- and triple-crosses come fast and furious, as no one's sure who's a crook and who's a copper. This hasty and hard-edged B-movie from director Richard Fleischer features exceptional camerawork by cinematographer Guy Roe. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR Richard Fleischer; SCR Earl Felton, George Zuckerman; PROD Bryan Foy. U.S., 1949, b&w, 78 min. NOT RATED
Newly restored 35mm print courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive.
AFI Member passes accepted.
After the sudden loss of his son Gabriel, Jorge (Oscar Martínez, THE DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN, WILD TALES) travels from his home in Bolivia to New York looking for closure from Sebastian, Gabriel's boyfriend he never knew existed. Unsurprisingly, the two men clash over Jorge's inability to accept his son for his true identity. Meanwhile, Sebastian channels his pain into a play to honor his lost love. Working through his own grief, Jorge befriends Rosaura, played by the ever-resplendent Pedro Almodóvar muse, Rossy de Palma (WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN). Adapted from his own 2015 hit play, writer/director Rodrigo Bellott's gripping drama is an important tale of acceptance and the power of art. Official Selection, 2019 Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival. DIR/SCR/PROD Rodrigo Bellott; PROD Elisa Lleras, Rodrigo A. Orozco. Bolivia/U.S., 2019, color, 105 min. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
No AFI Member passes accepted.
In the early 1950s, America's obsession with organized crime was whetted by televised Congressional hearings, and Hollywood cashed in with a slew of "exposé" films. Paramount took the high road with this star-studded thriller about crusading attorney John Conroy (Edmond O'Brien), who returns to his hometown to root out corruption. Will his childhood pal Jerry McKibbon (William Holden), now a cynical reporter, be an ally or an adversary? And why does Conroy's father (Ed Begley), a veteran cop, not want to spearhead a criminal investigation? This film is a rarity returned to circulation that, sadly, is timely once again — with a knockout finish that takes audiences completely by surprise. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR William Dieterle; SCR Warren Duff, from a story by Horace McCoy; PROD Irving Asher. U.S., 1952, b&w, 85 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
Teenaged Tolly Devlin is the lone witness when a trio of hoodlums kills his father. As an adult ex-con, Devlin (played by Cliff Robertson) dedicates himself to avenging the murder. After rescuing a female drug courier, he uses her to gain access to the syndicate. When the FBI offers him a deal as an informant, Devlin strings them along while hatching a plan to eliminate his father's killers. But revenge is so sweet that Devlin doesn't know when to stop. One of Samuel Fuller's punchiest smash-mouth crime dramas, UNDERWORLD U.S.A. uses the never-ending war between cops and crooks as the backdrop to an all-consuming vendetta. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/SCR/PROD Samuel Fuller. U.S., 1961, b&w, 99 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
When amateur criminals Mickey (Bill Skarsgård, ASSASSINATION NATION, DEADPOOL 2, IT and IT CHAPTER 2) and Jules (Maika Monroe, IT FOLLOWS, THE SCENT OF RAIN & LIGHTNING) break into a suburban home, they stumble upon a dark secret and two sadistic homeowners (Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick) who will do anything to keep it from getting out. "Sick, twisted and absolutely bonkers and revels in every minute of it — begs to be seen with a crowd." — BloodyDisgusting.com. DIR/SCR Dan Berk, Robert Olsen; PROD Garrick Dion, Allan Mandelbaum, Tim White, Trevor White. U.S., 2019, color, 88 min. RATED R
Preceded by: THE GHOST OF HANK WILLIAMS
A ghost-hunting couple find themselves in the hotel where Hank Williams died. DIR/SCR/PROD Ari Selinger; PROD Lexi Tannenholtz. U.S., 2019, color, 15 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.
The disappearance of a young black girl triggers fearful unrest in a small, racially mixed American town. After police arrest a white transient with no alibi, rumors and suspicion threaten to erupt in a full-blown race riot. This provocative film, shot on a miniscule budget in the northern California towns of Marysville and Yuba City, is a marvel of suspenseful filmmaking, and packs a punch for modern audiences who thought these lessons were learned long ago. Oscar®-nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Editing, with stunning work in the final reel by cinematographer Ernest Laszlo, this film is a rarity that is still terrifying and timely. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/PROD Leo C. Popkin; DIR/SCR Russell Rouse; SCR/PROD Clarence Greene. U.S., 1951, b&w, 86 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
75th Anniversary
Gotham College professor Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) becomes obsessed with a woman's portrait in a shop window near his men's club. While admiring the painting, he meets its flesh-and-blood subject (Joan Bennett) and is willingly lured up to her apartment for some champagne. When the woman's boyfriend bursts in and gets the wrong idea, a lethal scuffle ensues, and before you can say "poor sap," Wanley agrees to dump the body and cover up the death. As in SCARLET STREET, Robinson and director Fritz Lang make a great team, with the former perfectly evoking the dangerous pathos of a middle-aged man tempted by youth. (Note courtesy of American Cinematheque.) DIR Fritz Lang; SCR/PROD Nunnally Johnson, from the novel "Once Off Guard" by J. H. Wallis. U.S., 1944, b&w, 107 min. NOT RATED
AFI Member passes accepted.
San Franciscan Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) disappears after witnessing a gangland killing. Police think his wife Eleanor (Ann Sheridan) will lead them to her husband, but she never wants to see him again. Enter newspaperman Dan Legget (Dennis O'Keefe), who charms Eleanor with stunning results. This shot-on-location thriller is one of the best cinematic depictions ever of mid-20th-century San Francisco. (Note courtesy of Noir City.) DIR/SCR Norman Foster; SCR Alan Campbell, from the story "Man on the Run" by Sylvia Tate; PROD Howard Welsch. U.S., 1950, b&w, 77 min. NOT RATED
Restored 35mm print courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive.
AFI Member passes accepted.
Pennywise isn't real. But Wrinkles is. WRINKLES THE CLOWN explores the story of the infamous freaky clown from Naples, Florida, who makes a living being hired by parents to terrorize their naughty children. Back in 2014, a video took the internet by storm. This terrifying, blurry CCTV footage shows a young girl sleeping in her bed when a drawer under it begins to open. Out crawls the freakiest clown imaginable. The figure stands and stares at the girl, then turns toward the camera, grasps it and shuts it off. Latching onto the fears of parents everywhere, this footage and other unsettling videos became a viral sensation, garnering jokes from late-night talk hosts and an interview on a local NBC station, and quickly becoming a real-life urban legend. Soon after, people in Florida were able to hire — via Craigslist and from stickers around town — this clown, now known as Wrinkles, to terrify their children into behaving. Director Michael Beach Nichols (WELCOME TO LEITH) takes a fascinating deep dive into the cultural phenomena of coulrophobia, or fear of clowns, tracking one man's development into his own legend and much, much more. (Note adapted from Fantastic Fest.) DIR/SCR Michael Beach Nichols; SCR Christopher K. Walker; PROD Jennie Bedusa, Mike Dill, Jon Lullo, Brendan Walter. U.S., 2019, color, 75 min. NOT RATED
Preceded by: PLASMID
A nurse fights for her life when her house is invaded. DIR/SCR Roshni Bhatia; PROD Virginia Blatter. U.S., 2018, color, 14 min.
No AFI Member passes accepted.