Celebrate 40 years of premieres by film’s most promising new directors!
New Directors/New Films introduces New York audiences to the work of emerging or not-yet-established filmmakers from around the world. Presented jointly by The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, this renowned festival in past years has uncovered talents like Pedro Almodovar, Darren Aronofsky, Nicole Holofcener, Courtney Hunt, Spike Lee, Kelly Reichardt, and Steven Spielberg.
Don’t miss tomorrow’s stars in ND/NF’s 40th-anniversary season, with many screenings introduced by the directors.
For complete info, please visit newdirectors.org
The festival is going on now and you may purchase tickets at newdirectors.org/ticketslocation for March 23 – April 3, 2011.
I had the pleasure of attending the press screenings for five of these films and will share my brief thoughts of each.
This love story by first time feature film writer/director Maryam Keshavarz is set in Iran, where a girl in a wealthy family develops deeper feelings for her best friend. The teenage girls already rebel by going out to parties and taking drugs, but when they get caught, there are more dire repercussions tha they anticipated. I have not see many middle eastern films, and I will seek them out more after seeing this one.
Rating: Surprising and empathetic film filled with emotion and heartache.
Babou is a carefree soul who floats from job to job and relationship to relationship much to the dismay of her daughter, Esméralda, who is now getting married. When Esméralda lies and tells her fiance’s family that her mother is out of the country and can not attend the wedding, Babou takes a job to get her self on track. Writer/director Marc Fitoussi ended up casting real-life mother/daughter Isabelle Huppert and Lolita Chammah as Babou and Esméralda. What you get is a very funny and poignant look at a mother/daughter dynamic that has turned on it’s head.
Rating: This french film is wonderfully light-hearted, lovely and unpredictable.
As someone who grew up in the 1990s, I found this documentary of Patty Schemel, drummer for the band Hole, especially fascinating. Using footage from many sources such as concerts and home movies, director P. David Ebersole manages to capture what it was like to be in the middle of the grunge revolution while showing the closekit community of the Seattle music scene at that time. Her struggles with addiction are mostly described by Patty herself in various stages of her sobriety.
Rating: You don’t have to like grunge to enjoy, but it certainly helps.
Prudence is struggling to to come to terms with her mother’s death. She deals with her feelings by throwing parties and sneaking out at night. First time french director Rebecca Zlotowski matches the mood of Prudence by the lighting and the closed spaces. Léa Seydoux (Charlotte at the beginning of Inglourious Basterds) is fascinating and withdrawn as Prudence. I was confused at several points as to the circumstances of her mother’s death, but that may have been deliberate to give the audience the same sense of confusion that Prudence was going through.
Rating: Emotional and introspective.
Although this is a story of three women and the sexual harassment they face, the way in which it’s told makes it more than that resulting in a touching and surprisingly uplifting film. I really enjoyed the relationships between the women and how raw and real their performances were. There are so many facets to the stories and each one shows you the ups and downs in the young woman’s life. The characters are completely relatable and keep you engaged. This is an important film because not long after this movie was released, legislation in Egypt changed and sexual harassment is now punishable. Not many films can claim such a feat. This is a very interesting story that entertains and at the same time educates without getting preachy. It shows you what is happening, it’s up to you to decide how to react to it.
Rating: Poignant and entertaining.
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