MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Sumptuous Foodie Films to Pique Appetites of Miami Moviegoers

2014-06-23T18:47:00.001-07:00

The increasing number of intimate and evocative films featuring the tastes, aromas and, ultimately, characters behind food and haute cuisine continues to grow in popularity, proving that moviegoers do indeed enjoy feasting in the dark.

Nimrat Kaur as Ila, The Lunchbox poster; Irrfan Khan as Saajan Fernandes

Topping the culinary-themed feature film list is an Indian import called The Lunchbox (Dabba), by writer/director Ritesh Batra, which has become this year’s highest-grossing foreign language film in the U.S. so far, including a super successful recent run at MDC’s Tower Theater. The universally-themed romantic fantasy is set in Mumbai and builds upon the unexpected meeting of two lonely hearts (a married home cook and a solemn widower) following a mis-delivered lunchbox, which leads to a covert exchange of notes, where the two share their innermost feelings and philosophical musings with one another.

The Hundred-Foot Journey poster; Om Puri, Manish Dayal as Hassan Haji & Helen Mirren as Madame Mallory

MIFF's immensely popular Culinary Cinema series continues next month with an exclusive Miami Film Society members only advance screening July 29th of The Hundred-Foot Journey, the latest by MIFF’s 2013 Career Achievement Tribute director Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolat). This magnificent culinary drama is centered on an Indian family that moves to France and opens an eatery across the street from a three-Michelin-star French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren), who’s icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own escalate into an all out war between the two establishments. Bursting with flavor, this one produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Juliet Blake is based on Richard C. Morais' international bestseller. The expertly woven script is by Steven Knight, who recently did a remarkable job writing and directing the dramatic thriller Locke (2013), and garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Original Screenplay for Dirty Pretty Things (2002).

Chef poster; Emjay Anthony as Percy; John Favreau as Casper

On the local front, and doing extremely well for an independent production, is Chef, a mouth-watering comedy directed, co-produced, written by, and starring Jon Favreau, who plays a chef who loses his restaurant job in L.A. and moves to Miami with his son and sous chef (John Leguizamo). He reinvents himself as the owner and operator of a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family. Upon hitting the road, he discovers his passion, not just for the plate, but also for life—and, along the way, audiences are treated to an endless array of delectable food shots that are every bit as much the star of the film as Favreau's star-studded supporting cast (Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr.)

Le Chef poster; Michaël Youn as Jacky Bonnot and Jean Reno as Alexandre Lagarde

Opening this Friday, June 27th at MDC’s Tower Theater, is Le Chef (Comme un chef), by Daniel Cohen, where Jean Reno stars as veteran chef of a Michelin three-star culinary empire running short on inspiration, when a radical young molecular gastronomic chef (Michaël Youn) enters the picture. This past March, Le Chef, also starring Santiago Segura, was the signature event in MIFF 2014’s second annual Lee Brian Schrager Culinary Cinema series, presented by Plymouth Gin, and was paired with a traditional French bistro buffet at Daniel Boulud’s legendary db Bistro Moderne in the JW Marriott Marquis. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Mike Myers' Directorial Debut: Supermensch - The Legend of Shep Gordon

2014-06-16T21:45:00.001-07:00

You’re likely not a show biz insider if you’re wondering “Who was (or is) Shep Gordon?” He’s the quintessential Hollywood manager, and the subject of Canadian funnyman Mike Myers’ directorial debut, Supermensch – The Legend of Shep Gordon. The homage/doc delivers on behind-the-scenes gossip and insights, but goes beyond the normal showbiz biography, offering deeper reflection on the big questions of life.

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon poster; Shep Gordon & cat at home in Maui

Gordon, who now lives in Maui, flew in from Berlin this past March, to present the film—featured in MIFF 31’s Knight Documentary Competition program—to a multi-generational audience at Regal South Beach. During the Q&A Gordon spoke profoundly about the intrinsic dangers of fame and how today’s society tends to focus far too heavily on achieving fame rather than focusing on the actual craft itself.

Shep was a Long Island kid who went to the University of Buffalo and ended up in Los Angeles where he met Janis Joplin who introduced him to Jimi Hendrix, who suggested Gordon be a manager (after learning he was Jewish). Gordon took the advice, seeing that access to musicians was also access to sex with the women who followed them. One of his early clients, who became a life-long friend, was Alice Cooper. Gordon saw that the unknown Cooper could make a name for himself by marketing notoriety. If the cops closed down a show, the place would be packed the next night. It worked for decades.

Six Degrees of Sheparation; Shep Gordon at Regal South Beach during MIFF 31

Beyond friendship, Gordon was an asset for his clients: “Get the money” was his mantra. He recognized that black entertainers weren’t being paid by promoters, and took an interest in Teddy Pendergrass. Recognizing Pendergrass’s appeal was sex, Gordon organized shows for women only, which turned out to be a shrewd maneuver. Everybody went wild. In the film, Myers delves deep into Gordon’s fast-lane and personal life, showing how he also launched the careers of Emeril Lagasse, Raquel Welch, Sylvester Stallone, Kirk Douglas, the story behind how he masterminded the concept of celebrity chefs, and the list goes on.

Young people should just make stuff, and not worry about the result. "Fame is the industrial disease of creativity," warns Gordon. “There’s nothing about fame that I’ve ever seen that’s healthy,” Gordon goes on to say, “The ones who rose to the top got hurt the worst.” Myers reveals a man who has embraced his dualities: a hard-driving dealmaker who wants everyone to be happy, and a rock ‘n’ roll hedonist who yearns for a family. Against the backdrop of debauchery, he’s a man on a spiritual quest.

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon makes its Miami commercial debut at O Cinema Miami Shores and Regal South Beach Stadium 18 on Friday, June 20th. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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A ‘Loving and Friendly’ Ending…that Began 19 Years Ago in Miami

2014-06-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Two Much film poster; Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas

We were saddened to hear the news of Antonio Banderas' and Melanie Griffith’s split this past weekend, as their whirlwind romance began in Miami during the filming of Fernando Trueba’s romantic screwball comedy Two Much in 1995.

It’s a coincidence that a 35mm Retrospective screening of Two Much has already been programmed as Miami International Film Festival’s contribution to Miami Film Month, on Sunday, June 29th. This year's theme is “movies made in Miami” and after MIFF highlighted its 1995 Opening Night Film, David Frankel’s Miami Rhapsody, in our 30th anniversary retrospective two years ago, turning to our 1996 Opening Night Film, Two Much, was a natural choice.

Scene from Two Much: Daryl Hannah & Melanie Griffith; promo pic with Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, Anotonio Banderas ("twin"), and Daryl Hannah; Two Much wedding scene Antonio Banderas & Melanie Griffith

Two Much is more than just a trip down memory lane to a time when Miami’s cultural renaissance had just begun its explosion. Lincoln Road had just re-invented itself as a pedestrian mall and it was a scene of independent cafes and art galleries, such as the one owned by Art (played by Banderas), the Miami art dealer/con man who is the central character of the film. Two Much captures a time of invention and wild freedom that was a hallmark of Miami life at the time, and it certainly captures the atmosphere that led the on-screen sparks between Banderas and Griffith to a real-life romance and subsequent marriage.

It’s a testament to the strength of Banderas' and Griffith’s long relationship that they were able to issue a statement attesting to the fact that they will be divorcing in “a loving and friendly manner”. See the film where their made-in-Miami love affair first began at the Bill Cosford Cinema on Sunday, June 29th at 1:00 PM – visit Miami Film Month for more details. The screening is FREE (no ticket required), simply RSVP to info@miamifilmfestival.com to reserve your seat. See you at the movies!

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Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr.

2014-06-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Robert De Niro Jr.

When you hear the name Robert De Niro, you think of one of our greatest actors, but there was another man by that name who was a very talented painter. It was his father, Robert De Niro Sr. It’s been more than 20 years since De Niro Sr.’s death at age 71, but his memory remains fresh for his son, Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro, Jr., who says it was his “responsibility” to make a documentary about his father, culminating in a 40-minute film called Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. Directed by Perri Peltz and Geeta Gandbhir, it was featured in MIFF 2014’s DOC-YOU-UP program this past March, with Peltz in attendance to introduce the screening at Paragon Grove. Against a backdrop of archival footage, photographs, and stills of De Niro Sr.'s artwork, De Niro, Jr. reads from his father’s letters and journals, and provides a moving recollection of his father’s personal and professional struggles as part of his own mission to honor and preserve his father’s legacy and artwork.

Two sets of father & son: Robert De Niro Jr. and Robert De Niro Sr.

In the early 1930s, avant-garde European artists escaped the politically charged atmosphere at home and took teaching positions in the US, exposing American art students to the newest European trends. One of the leading teachers was Hans Hofmann, an abstract expressionist painter who set up schools in New York City and Provincetown, Mass. De Niro, Sr. studied in both locations with Hofmann, who called him one of his most promising students ever. In 1945, De Niro, Sr.’s work was included in the Autumn Salon at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of the Century gallery along with that of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. The following year, the 24-year-old artist enjoyed his first solo exhibition at Guggenheim's Gallery—and was greatly admired by his colleagues—until his career was obscured by the pop-art movement, causing him to struggle for recognition in subsequent decades.

Robert De Niro's Sr. SoHo studio as it remains today; Robert De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral (De Niro Jr.'s parents who met as fellow students of Hans Hofmann, and though they separated, remained friends until the end.)

The 70-year-old actor recently opened up about his gay father to Out Magazine, giving readers a tour of his father’s old Soho home and art studio. “It was the only way to keep his being, his existence alive here,” said De Niro Jr., who remains committed to honoring his father's legacy after his death, maintaining the art studio exactly as it was when his father worked there, so that his children can appreciate their grandfather's work. De Niro expressed regrets about not talking with his father about sexuality. “Being from that generation, especially from a small town upstate; I was not aware, much, of it,” he said. “I wish we had spoken about it much more. My mother (Virginia Admiral, married to De Niro Sr. from 1941-1945) didn’t want to talk about things in general, and you’re not interested when you’re a certain age.”

Robert De Niro Sr., Robert De Niro Jr.

As a side note, this month marks Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month), held each year during the month of June, with events (pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts) attracting millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that LGBT individuals have had on history and art locally, nationally, and internationally.

Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr. will premiere Monday, June 9 at 9 PM EST on HBO. [view trailer] —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Seven MIFF Alumni Directors Take Home Awards at Cannes

2014-05-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan with Palme d'Or prize; Winter Sleep poster

We are proud to extend a massive round of applause to an international array of masterful MIFF alumni directors (from Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, Canada, Hungary and Argentina) who took home awards at Cannes this past weekend. Standing O for Turkish filmmaker and writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Three Monkeys, MIFF 2009) who came away with the coveted Palme d’Or, for his 196-minute deeply engrossing drama, Winter Sleep (Kis uykusu), and dedicated this top prize to “the young people in Turkey and those who lost their lives in the last year.” Winter Sleep delves into the everyday existence of Ayudin (Haluk Bilginer), a middle-aged former actor turned comfortably situated mountaintop hotel owner, developing into a multidimensional character study with moral implications resonating far beyond its remote Turkish setting.

The Wonders (Le meraviglie) poster; scene from Alice Rorwacher's The Wonders

Italian director and screenwriter Alice Rohrwacher (Corpo celeste, MIFF 2012) took home Cannes’ Grand Prix in the main competition section as well as a Palme d’Or nomination for her latest dramatic feature, The Wonders (Le meraviglie), a coming of age story set in the northern Italian countryside which follows a part-German, part-Italian family and their beekeeping / honey business, as a change in health and safety laws begin to threaten their future.

Director Wim Wenders on stage at Olympia Theater (MIFF 2006); photographer Sebastião Salgado (The Salt of the Earth)

Oscar-nominated German filmmaker Wim Wenders (MIFF 2006 Career Achievement Tributee, Don’t Come Knocking, and special screening of Buena Vista Social Club) won the Un Certain Regard Special Prize for his new doc-biopic The Salt of the Earth, an impressive ode to photographer Sebastião Salgado, that results in a stunning visual odyssey through his career. The film was co-directed by the shutterbug’s son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, and also won a Special Commendation from the SIGNIS Ecumenical Jury, as did Barcelona-born filmmaker Jaime Rosales (Bullet in the Head (Tiro en la cabeza), MIFF 2009) for his new film Beautiful Youth (Hermosa juventud), where a couple of 20-year-olds, struggling to earn a living in today’s Spain, decide to shoot an amateur porn film, and the birth of their daughter becomes a catalyst for change.

Posters & film stills l to r: Beautiful Youth, Mommy, White God, Jauja

Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan’s (MIFF 2013 with Laurence Anyways) 2014 film, Mommy (view clip), won the Jury Prize in the main competition section, in a shared win with Jean-Luc Godard's latest, Goodbye to Language (Adieu au langage). In Mommy, a widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, encounters new hope when a mysterious neighbor insinuates herself into their household.

Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó (Delta, MIFF 2009) won the Un Certain Regard Grand Prize for his sixth feature film White God (Fehér isten), an emotionally stirring, technically masterful man vs. dog escapade where a lost mutt’s astonishing journey to sanctuary evolves into a full-fledged man vs. beast revolution. This is the tale of an eternal friendship between a girl and a dog in a world where ancestry can decide on life or death.

Argentinian director and writer Lisandro Alonso (Liverpool, MIFF 2008) won the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) prize in the Un Certain Regard section for his new film Jauja, a father (MIFF alum Viggo Mortensen) and daughter journey from Denmark to an unrevealed desert that exists in a realm beyond the boundaries of civilization. Congratulations!! —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Latest Crop of MIFF Titles Exploring the World’s Oldest Profession

2014-05-22T05:53:00.001-07:00

film poster; Marine Vacth and 'client' in Young & Beautiful

Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard in The Immigrant; film poster

Stemming from a long history of silent-era melodramas to the present day, prostitution pays…at the box office and beyond…as evident by the latest crop of complex characters, at times comedic, though more often rife with external struggle and internal turmoil. Five films at MIFF’s 31st edition this past March fit into this somewhat combustible theme, including: Young & Beautiful and The Immigrant, which make their Miami commercial debut on Friday, May 23rd, and Fading Gigolo, Eastern Boys and a special screening of Midnight Cowboy, for those who hadn't seen it and for those who hadn't forgotten it.

French filmmaker François Ozon’s Young & Beautiful (Jeune & jolie) finds 17-year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth) taking up a secret life as a call girl, meeting her clients for hotel-room trysts after attempting to seek solace in the arms of a German boy. In this erotic tale of sexual awakening, Isabelle remains curiously aloof, exhibiting little interest in the encounters themselves or the money she makes. The story is told in four sections, each tied to a season and ending with a Françoise Hardy song. Featured in MIFF 2014’s Cinema 360° presented by Viendomovies program. OPENS Friday, May 23rd at MDC's Tower Theater, Miami Beach Cinematheque and Bill Cosford Cinema.

In The Immigrant, James Gray’s depiction of the unforgiving streets of 1920s New York, Polish immigrant Ewa Cybulski (Marion Cotillard) falls into the cruel trap of prostitution set by a sleazy show-runner (Joaquin Phoenix) in order to save her sister. Cotillard made history as the first French actress to win the Best Actress Oscar (for La Vie en Rose) and is currently in Cannes for the world premiere of yet another remarkable role in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Two Days, One Night (Deux jours, une nuit.) This is also the fourth collaboration of Phoenix and Gray. Featured in MIFF 2014’s America the Beautiful program. OPENS Friday, May 23rd at AMC Sunset Place and AMC Aventura.

Fading Gigolo, Eastern Boys, Midnight Cowboy film posters

Actor-director John Turturro’s hilarious NY comedy, Fading Gigolo, finds Woody Allen as a late-blooming pimp to Turturro’s middle-aged florist-turned hustler, where popular screen sirens Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara turn up as eager clients and Vanessa Paradis plays an orthodox Jewish widow in need of human touch. Featured in MIFF’s CineDwnTwn Gala presented by Miami DDA program. Now screening at Coral Gables Art Cinema and AMC Aventura.

In Robin Campillo’s superbly scripted dramatic thriller, Eastern Boys, a middle-aged Frenchman cruising in the Gare du Nord gets entangled with a group of young Eastern European hustlers and gets more than he bargained for. By turns, a tender love story, a terrifying home-invasion drama and a tense hide-and-seek thriller, features the most unexpected ending of the year. Featured in MIFF 2014’s Cinema 360° presented by Viendomovies program.

John Schlesinger’s ever-impactful Midnight Cowboy (1969) which delivers a provocative look at the streets of New York and the relationship between two small-time hustlers played by  Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. It has become one of the defining symbols of the difficult side of urban life in America and is the only “X” rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. Featured in MIFF 2014's From the Vault program.

Harry Liedtke and Pola Negri in the The Yellow Ticket

Going a bit deeper into the vault, MIFF 2013 held a special screening The Yellow Ticket (1918), a story of courage and hidden identities directed by Victor Janson and Eugen Illès. The first film to explore anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia, it portrays the story of Lea (played by famed Polish actress Pola Negri, Hollywood’s first European silent film star), a young woman who hides her Jewish heritage to study medicine. Pushed towards prostitution to pay the rent, Lea is saved by a beloved professor with a secret of his own. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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BELLE: Politics, Art, History, and Social Conscience

2014-05-15T00:30:00.002-07:00

Iconic 1779 painting depicting Dido Elizabeth Belle and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray

After a nearly a decade, BAFTA-winning British director Amma Asante made a triumphant return to MIFF this past March to present her second feature film, Belle, voted “audience favorite” by Miami Film Society members. Belle also took home the The International Jury of SIGNIS (the World Catholic Association for Communication) award for its “multi-layered depiction of the challenges to the value of human life and dignity wherever a profit-driven system makes commodification of persons acceptable.” In 2005, Asante won MIFF’s Best Dramatic Feature in World Cinema and the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) award for her feature film directorial debut, A Way of Life.

Inspired by a 1779 painting depicting Dido Elizabeth Belle and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray, Belle screenwriter Misan Sagay gathered tiny nuggets of history and wove them into a deeply romantic love story and coming-of-age historical drama that breaks through the aristocratic color barrier. The painting is iconic because it is the first English painting that depicts a black person on the same eye level as a white person. Also, Lady Elizabeth’s hand lies upon Dido´s waist, suggesting affection and equality rather than a subordinate status.

l to r: Oprah Winfrey & Belle director Amma Asante at Oprah's garden party in Montecito, Belle poster, Amma Asante & MIFF executive director Jaie Laplante at Regal South Beach

In the film, Gugu Mbatha-Raw shines as eponymous 18th century character Dido Elizabeth Belle, daughter of an African slave and British naval officer Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode), who imposes upon his chief justice uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and aunt Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson) to embrace Dido into their household. Their sense of decency compels them to agree, but Dido has an unusual status in the home. While she is treated well and educated, she is not allowed to dine with her family, especially when they are entertaining, but she does have a certain degree of status as heiress to her father’s considerable fortune.

Meanwhile, the case of the Zong massacre (where an estimated 142 African slaves were purposely drowned so that their owners could make an insurance claim) comes before Lord Mansfield’s court, and the private issues at home weigh greatly upon him as he struggles toward making a historic decision. There is also a love story at the heart of all the drama that is said to have propelled the abolition of slavery in England.

The film explores a particular time of social change and social conditioning, where we find people responding to Dido on an instinctive level. However, due to the manners, etiquette, and prevailing wisdom of the time they were often held back from being truly authentic. She's the child of a slave and an aristocrat, the child of a black person and a white person, a woman of color in an aristocratic situation. And all of these things were seen by the prevailing wisdom as contradictory. Lo and behold, being a contradiction in society these days could actually be an asset!

l to r (clockwise): Tom Wilkinson (as Lord Mansfield), Sam Reid (as John Davinier) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (as Dido)

l to r (in Belle): Gugu Mbatha-Raw (as Dido) & Sarah Gadon (as Lady Elizabeth); Tom Wilkinson (as Lord Mansfield); Gugu Mbatha-Raw (as Dido) & Sam Reid (as John Davinier)

Oprah Winfrey saw Belle less than a week ago and her passion for the film inspired her to throw an impromptu garden party for the cast at her estate in Montecido California, simply wanting to give the film a great salute and to help spread the word! In a recent #OWNSHOW interview, Karamo Brown asked Asante, “Why should people go and see this film?” Asante replied, “You'll learn something about slavery that I guarantee you did not know. There is an element of slavery that shocked me to the core, and still shocks me to this day. I believe you will come out of this movie feeling better about who we all are.”

Belle hits South Florida theaters—Regal South Beach Cinemas, Paragon Grove 13, AMC Sunset Place, AMC Aventura, Regal Shadowood (Boca Raton), and Cinemark Paradise 24 (Davie)—on Friday, May 16th! [view trailer] — Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Exposing Vivian Maier's Secret Life and Private Passion

2014-05-08T07:00:00.002-07:00

Finding Vivian Maier co-director John Maloof at MIFF 2014 (Regal South Beach); film poster

Shot by shot the world is coming to know the elusive Vivian Maier (1926-2009), a career nanny who left behind a cache of 100,000 negatives of her captivating street photography—images that she zealously hid from the eyes of others. The spellbinding pictures have earned her posthumous recognition by The New York Times as “one of America’s most proficient and insightful street photographers.”

An American of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction, Maier bounced between Europe and the United States before returning, in 1951 on the steamship ‘De-Grass’ to New York City, where she nestled in with a Southampton family to begin her decades-long career as a nanny. In 1956, when Maier moved to Chicago, she enjoyed the luxury of a private bathroom which she used as a darkroom, allowing her to process prints and develop her own rolls of B&W film. As the children she cared for entered adulthood, she was forced to move from family to family, and her rolls of undeveloped, unprinted work began to accumulate.

Maloof Collection Ltd. photos: New York (undated); New York 1953; Character (undated)

Maloof Collection Ltd. photos: Striporama New York 1953; Vivian Maier self-portrait 1955; Chicago 1961

Maier’s photographs and belongings were eventually locked away in storage, until she was no longer able to afford the rent, and in 2007, the facility auctioned them off at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest Side. The immense archive would have likely vanished into obscurity were it not for the intervention of John Maloof, a 26-year-old real estate amateur historian, who purchased a box of her unidentified negatives for $380, later purchasing more once he became consumed by what he discovered, thereby embarking on a crusade to put this prolific photographer in the history books.

Maloof’s newly found obsession led to the fascinating biopic, Finding Vivian Maier, which screened at Miami International Film Festival this past March in the Knight Documentary Competition, where it won the Grand Jury Prize (in a tie with The Overnighters, by Jesse Moss.) In the film, Maloof teams with co-director Charlie Siskel to uncover Maier’s private passion. Following clues, they trace Maier's history through New York City, France, and Chicago, where her strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never-before-seen photographs, films, and interviews with dozens who thought they knew her.

Maloof Collection Ltd. photos: Chicago 1960; Vivian Maier's cameras; Vivan Maier's private bathroom/darkroom in Chicago 1956

Maloof Collection Ltd. photos: Kirk Douglas at Spartacus movie premiere in Chicago1960; pre-PETA fashion; New York (undated)

The personal accounts from people who knew Maier echo one another; “She was eccentric, strong, heavily opinionated, highly intellectual, and intensely private. She wore a floppy hat, a long dress, wool coat, and men’s shoes and walked with a powerful stride. With a camera around her neck whenever she left the house, she would obsessively take pictures, but never showed her photos to anyone. An unabashed and unapologetic original.”

Maier, dubbed Mary Poppins by some, recorded a mind-boggling collection of compelling scenes and peculiarities of Urban America in the second half of the twentieth century. Interesting bits of Americana, the demolition of historic landmarks for new development, the invisible lives of various groups of people and the destitute, the final go-around at the legendary stockyards (with kids in tow!), as well as some of Chicago’s most cherished sites were all meticulously catalogued by Maier.

Maloof Collection Ltd. photos: A child's curiosity (undated); Canada 1950s; Christmas Eve in New York 1953

But as Maloof meets people who knew Vivian, new questions arise about her life and work. Would she have even wanted this attention? That we will never know. But it would be more tragic to not safeguard the physical legacy of her intense passion for the benefit of sharing it with future generations.

Finding Vivian Maier will make its commercial debut in Miami at O Cinema Wynwood, O Cinema Miami Shores, and Miami Beach Cinematheque on Friday, May 9th. [view trailer] —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive: Cultured Vampirism

2014-04-30T19:14:00.001-07:00

Vampire of the Coast (1909); Alice Hollister in The Vampire (1913); Bela Lugosi as Dracula

The history of vampire films dates back to the era of silent films with Vampire of the Coast (1909), cited as “the first silent vampire film," though it’s actually a pirate film and has nothing to do with vampires. Several years later came Italian-American director Robert Vignola's The Vampire (1913), a 38-minute silent vamp melodrama which did not include undead bloodsucking fiends but 'vamps', which were femmes fatales inspired by a 1897 Rudyard Kipling poem called “The Vampire," written as kind of commentary on a painting of a female vampire by Philip Burne-Jones exhibited in the same year.

Only Lovers Left Alive poster image -- Tom Hiddleston & Tilda Swinton; on set -- actors Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, director Jim Jarmusch

Fast forward to present day to experience American independent film director extraordinaire Jim Jarmusch's latest masterwork, Only Lovers Left Alive, a sensually languid vampire tale set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, which Indiewire recently touted as “The Only Vampire Movie You Need to See.” Jarmusch manages to transport you into an atmosphere of cultured decadence and debauchery, and when the film ends you have to jump back out somehow.

Adam (Tom Hiddleston), an underground musician living in a decrepit Detroit Victorian—deeply dismayed by the direction of contemporary human activities—reunites with his irrepressibly stylish, well-read, and enigmatic lover Eve (Tilda Swinton), following her arrival from Tangiers by way of Paris. Their love story has already endured multiple centuries, but their debauched utopia is soon disrupted by Eve’s wild and uncontrollable younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska).

Scenes from Only Lovers Left Alive with Tilda Swinton; "Lovers" Tilda Swinton & Tom Hiddleston

Ava is out to party and doesn’t have much respect for Adam and Eve’s more refined approach to vampirism—which includes no longer draining the blood of humans since humans are “polluted.” They get their disease-free vials of fresh plasma from such sources as hospitals (biting necks these days is way too unsanitary), and swigging the precious gore from finely-cut sherry snifters.

This is Swinton's third film with Jarmusch, acting in his last two features, The Limits of Control and Broken Flowers, and to echo what Devin Faraci from Badass Digest said about the film, "They can stop making vampire films now, because Jim Jarmusch has made the ultimate one. Only Lovers Left Alive takes the vampire as poet, as rock star, as junkie, as morose philosopher, as doomed lover to a place of such absolute perfection that any further examination of the type seems a waste of time."

Featured in MIFF 2014's Cinema 360° presented by Viendomovies program this past March, Only Lovers Left Alive makes its Miami commercial debut on Friday, May 9th. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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MIFF Award Winner Rocks with Impressive Debut

2014-04-24T04:46:00.001-07:00

Two weeks in advance of its highly-awaited Miami commercial debut, this year's Lexus Audience Award winner is already taking a commanding lead as one of the year’s most successful independent films.

Woody Allen, John Turturro

Following its opening weekend, Italian American actor, writer, and filmmaker John Turturro's Fading Gigolo brought some very good news to distributor Millennium Entertainment grossing an impressive $198,399 from just five theaters. With an average of $39,680, it marks the second best limited debut of the year, after “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

In the film, Woody Allen is a late-blooming pimp to John Turturro’s middle-aged florist-turned hustler, as legendary screen sirens Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara turn up as eager clients and Vanessa Paradis plays an orthodox Jewish widow in need of human touch.

John Turturro and MIFF director Jaie Laplante on stage at Olympia Theater; John Turturro on the Red Carpet

John Turturro, who flew in from Italy to receive MIFF’s 2014 Career Achievement Award, presented by Miami DDA, this past March at Olympia Theater’s Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. Turturro greeted the packed house, humbly stating, “I appreciate everyone’s appreciation of what I’m attempting to portray” and emphasized that he considered this honor to be a “mid-career achievement award.”

A compelling video of Turturro's multi-faceted career was created by MIFF alumnus director Jokes Yanes (Eenie Meenie Miney Moe, MIFF 2013), followed by an onstage chat with David Edelstein, chief film critic for New York Magazine and NPR's Fresh Air, who told the crowd that Turturro was “truly one of his existential heroes.” Turturro spoke about Woody Allen’s unbelievable generosity, the friendship the two of them share, and Allen’s remarkable ability to come up with zingers on the spot. The Tribute capped off with the presentation of Fading Gigolo, Turturro’s latest directorial achievement, and an after-party, sponsored by 88 Rue du Rhone, held at the stunning Epic Hotel. View Flickr Gallery.

Glimpse Turturro of after-party at Epic Hotel

In a recent Indiewire article, Millennium Entertainment CEO Bill Lee said “Fading Gigolo is performing better than we had even hoped. Propelled by fantastic word of mouth we saw a spectacular jump from Friday to Saturday - which goes to show that audiences were craving a funny and heartfelt film. That fact that Woody Allen is featured in a hilarious lead role was clearly a big draw. John Turturro has created a romantic comedy that is truly speaking to audiences- young, old, male and female. We're proud to be part of bringing this very special film to as many people as possible.”

Scene from Fading Gigolo with John Turturro and Sofia Vergara

Fading Gigolo is slated to open in Miami on Friday, May 2nd. — Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Award-winning GABRIELLE, an Authentic Québécois Heart-Tugger

2014-04-16T17:02:00.002-07:00

Gabrielle producer Luc Dery of micro_scope, Gabrielle director Louise Archambault, MIFF director Jaie Laplante at Regal South Beach

Opening this Friday is French-Canadian filmmaker Louise Archambault’s second feature film, Gabrielle (after mother and daughter tragi-comedy Familia) and the latest from Academy Award® nominated mirco_scope producers Kim McCraw and Luc Déry of Incendies (MIFF 2011) and Monsieur Lazhar (MIFF 2012).

Gabrielle is a truly tender heart-tugger recently featured at MIFF 2014 in the Cinema 360° presented by Viendomovies program. Gabrielle (played by Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, a gifted singer with Williams syndrome in real life) yearns to strike out on her own and find love but is held back by her condition. Her situation comes to a head when she falls for a similarly challenged and dashingly handsome young man, Martin (Alexandre Landry), whom she meets through an arts and recreation center for individuals with special needs, Le Muses de Montréal, where they both sing in the choir.

Alexandre Landry and Gabrielle Marion-Rivard in Gabrielle

The two embark on an uncensored relationship, with no ulterior motives besides genuine affection, but encounter well-intended resistance from their families and social workers who fear they’re unable to handle an adult romance. The headstrong Gabrielle strives to prove them wrong with a few hurdles along the way.

Williams syndrome is a genetic disorder that often slows cognitive skills while increasing sociability and musical talent. The syndrome affects 1 in 10,000 people worldwide—an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people in the United States, and is known to occur equally in both males and females and in every culture.

l to r: Gabrielle poster; Brigitte Hubmann (Téléfilm Canada), MIFF director Jaie Laplante, Joane Boyer (Quebec Delegate to Southeast US), & filmmaker Louise Archambault (GABRIELLE) at VeoCanada Happy Hour sponsored by Telefilm Canada and Quebec (The Standard Hotel, Miami Beach)

A rarely covered subject; not only involving characters with Williams syndrome, but also revolving around a developmentally challenged couple’s quest to have a relationship and explore their sexuality, proves to be a winner.

Chosen by the selection committee at Téléfilm Canada to represent Canada for the 2014 foreign language Oscar race, Archambault creates a character whose zest for life, regardless of struggle, is inspiring and contagious and evidently part of the reason Gabrielle Marion-Rivard won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards, where Gabrielle also walked away with the top award of the year, Best Motion Picture.

Gabrielle opens Friday, April 18th at Coral Gables Art Cinema, where director Louise Archambault is scheduled to join the audience immediately after the 7:00 PM screening for a Q&A via Skype (live) from Beijing, where she will present the film at the Beijing International Film Festival. The following week, Gabrielle opens at MDC's Tower Theater on Friday, April 25th. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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MIFF Titles Rack Up Record Noms at Mexican Academy of Film Awards

2014-04-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Scene from Heli

Scoring an impressive 14 nominations each, two feature films from our 2014 Close-Up on Mexico lineup featured in Cinema 360° presented by Viendomovies program—Heli and La jaula de oro—tied for the most nominated films at the Ariel Awards, Mexico’s Academy of Film awards, presented by the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.

Scene from La jaula de oro

Amat Escalante’s Heli, is a dramatic tale where 12-year-old Estela falls for a young police cadet who wants to marry her, bringing unexpectedly shocking consequences upon her family; and Diego Quemda-Díez’s road movie drama, La jaula de oro, involving three Guatemalan teens who flee their homeland for a better life in the US, but must first escape the dangers of human traffickers in Mexico.

Scene from The Amazing Catfish; Scene from Club Sandwich

In the Best Picture category, four out of the five nominees were featured at MIFF 2014; in addition to Heli and La jaula de oro, Claudia Sainte-Luce’s The Amazing Catfish (Los insólitos peces gato) involving an ailing single mother of four, who brings misfit Claudia into her home for a “temporary“ stay, and Fernando Eimbcke’s Club Sandwich, a droll comedy of another single mother who must face her 15-year-old son’s inevitable departure from the nest when a girl his own age piques his interest.

Director Diego Quemada-Díez (La jaula de oro) at Regal South Beach; Director Fernando Eimbcke (Club Sandwich) at Paragon Grove

Diego Quemada-Díez and Fernando Eimbcke, both of whom were in attendance at MIFF this year, are also up for Best Director Ariels.

Also receiving multiple nominations in key craft categories were Sebastian Hofmann’s Halley and Rafa Lara’s Cinco de mayo: The Battle (Cinco de Mayo: La Batalla) both of which were featured at MIFF 2013, along with Gracia Querejeta’s 15 Years + 1 Day (15 años y 1 día) from Spain and Carlos Lechuga’s Melaza from Cuba, both of which which were nominated in the Iberoamericana Film of the Year category.

The 56th edition of the Ariel Awards, considered the most prestigious award in the Mexican motion picture industry, will take place in Mexico City on Monday, May 26th. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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Ectotherms: a Hot Topic After MIFF 2014

2014-03-30T18:45:00.001-07:00

scene from Ectotherms

Consult any dictionary, and it'll tell you that an ectotherm is a cold-blooded animal, dependent on outside sources of heat to regulate its body temperature. According to the creative vision of Cuban-American, Miami-born filmmaker Monica Peña, though, it's a word synonymous with Miami teenagers. The local film is an impression of Miami as it is lived, not imagined: a sultry city where family heritage, urban plight, and a unique landscape intersect to create a youth culture like no other in the world.

Following its World Premiere at MIFF 2014, Ectotherms is gaining worldwide attention. Most recently, its review in Variety labels it "a hybrid creation," and goes on to say: "It’s a familiar life-in-the-day structure, but the generational and socio-economic context feels fresh, turning up moments of bleak beauty and occasional spacy humor. Incorporating East and West coast hipster trends with immigrant influences and Middle American norms, Miami youth culture is evidently as much a hybrid creation as Peña’s own filmmaking."

Avoiding the typical New York or LA route of filmmaking can be a risk, but Peña did so and flourished with her debut feature. Her aim was to accurately capture the flavors of a city so commonly referred to as a melting pot, and glamorized by connotations of spring break. For that, she didn't need a budget, she just needed to jump in.

Ectotherms director Monica Peña; Ectotherms cast & crew at MIFF 2014 (Regal South Beach)

Peña delves under the many layers of Miami's youth culture with a non-professional cast and experimental style to present an organic glimpse into life as an adolescent in perpetual summer. The sun isn't the only thing soaked up by Ectotherms' group of four curious teens. In an environment buzzing with activity and unique cultural collaborations, they absorb surroundings. Edgy and brash, Peña doesn't follow formula. She uses fiction to display the most non-fictional aspects of Miami. Its artistic perception of reality removes the sugarcoating of misconceptions to construct something more jagged and honest.

Most alluring is the way Ectotherms portrays the charming reckless abandon that only adolescents can truly harness. Its non-existent budget seems to only boost its authenticity and its grungy soundtrack reflects the tastes of each young mind explored. The film takes a hands-off approach in an attempt to remain true to life, as if peering down a microscope at the blending of diverse cells. As Peña puts it in her director's statement, "We learned to become unattached to the movie we wanted to make and instead developed a higher sensitivity for the cinematic in our lives."

Ectotherms will be available to stream online for ONE WEEK ONLY for a $5 (or more!) donation to finance the next moves for our no-budget film. Thu 4/3 - Thu 4/10. Secret link to come. —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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A Wolf at the Door Receives Warmest Welcome

2014-03-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

Scene from A Wolf at the Door

Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Coimbra's debut feature film, A Wolf at the Door (O Lobo atrás da porta), was the big winner at Miami International Film Festival’s 31st edition, nabbing the coveted Knight Grand Jury Prize and Best Director awards in the Knight Competition, which features first-time feature filmmakers from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Based on a real-life event in suburban Rio, the multilayered pulse-pounder follows compelling characters as they chase their suspicions to frightening heights. Most impressive to the critics was this drama's ability to combine human emotion with animal instinct.

A Wolf at the Door poster; director Fernando Coimbra in the spotlight at MIFF 2014 (Regal South Beach)

Coimbra dabbles with ideas of hell, as it hath no fury like a woman scorned. When the clingy mistress of unfaithful husband Bernardo decides to play the kidnapping game, frustration and fear take over in the struggle to recover his daughter. Coimbra masterfully depicts a creepy transition from play-fighting to real crime in a film which tackles a heavy theme: consequences. In A Wolf at the Door, first impressions are flimsy. What initially seems harmless can ultimately lead to ruin.

Previously scooping awards for Best Brazilian Film at Rio Film Festival, and the Horizons Award for Best Film at San Sebastián Film Festival, A Wolf at the Door is set to land in cinemas in its native Brazil on May 29th. If you haven't yet caught on to the film that's quickly developing a high profile, stay tuned for a US release later this summer! —Tatyana Chiocchetti

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The Amazing Catfish (or Los Insolitos peces gatos, dir. by Claudia Saint-Luce)

2014-03-16T17:28:00.001-07:00

Claudia is a loner. She lives by herself, has no family or friends, and even lacks any connections with her coworkers. The Amazing Catfish is about her finding love. With it, she also finds a family and friends that will last her a lifetime.

Claudia meets Martha and her four children at the hospital while she was resting after a bout with appendicitis. They are both released on the same day, so Martha offers to feed Claudia dinner. Claudia winds up spending the night. Instead of going home the next morning, she takes the two youngest of the group to school. She does this a few times and eventually nestles herself into their family. They all confide in her and depend on her to take care of errands when they cannot. And they all visit Martha together each time she is readmitted into the hospital.

Martha, a strong single mother of four children by three different fathers, is HIV-positive. Not that the family particularly minds; they all continue to grow and maintain a positive attitude up until the end. Claudia is able to fill in the gaps and act as a stand-in mother when the youngest of the bunch have childhood curiosities, such as what it’s like to kiss someone on the lips or what happens when you drink too much rum. She also becomes one of the kids, needing help in the ocean because she cannot swim or turning to Mom when she needs a confidante of her own. Claudia becomes the daughter Martha never had.

One aspect of the film that strikes me is that there are no adult male leads in this movie. The eldest sister claims to have a boyfriend, but he is only briefly acknowledged. Martha’s husband has passed, as has Claudia’s father, and so the family functions without a patriarch. What I once dismissed as coincidence I now think was a subtle but firm feminist message; Saint-Luce added no male characters because, plain and simple, Martha and Claudia did not need one.

Though we do not witness Martha’s final moments, this movie will still move you. Her final words to her children are touching and heartfelt, most notably her words to Claudia; they will stick with you long after you leave the theater. The overarching emotion in the film is Claudia’s joy, though the tears streaking down your face after leaving the theater may lead you to a different conclusion. Claudia may rarely show overt happiness, but she now has a reason to get up in the morning, a purpose in life. She has found a place where she feels safe and knows that her new family will always accept her with open arms.

On the surface, it is easy to feel sentiment for a family after the loss of a loved one. Frequent moviegoers can attest that stories about the terminally ill abound, however, this story is different, and it quickly became my favorite film of this year’s Miami International Film Festival. This is not simply an emotional investment into Martha’s family. We also feel specifically for Claudia who has found love in her life and not in the typical rom-com way. She finally has someone, or several someones, with whom she can share her life. What could be more joyous than that? -Zoë Brown

For a Dark Sense of Humor: Here's the Deal (2013)

2014-03-13T19:16:00.002-07:00

Legend has it, when Ferdinand II reigned as king in the 15^th century – what is today known as the city of Aragon, Spain – he spoke with a lisp. His subjects – in an effort to emulate the king – also began to speak with a lisp, and that lisp soon spread across the country. As with any legend nowadays, I was able to quickly debunk it upon a simple Google search. The “Spanish lisp” is not so much a lisp as it is simply the way they speak, however, that hasn’t quite stopped me from making jokes at the expenthe of my good friend Jothé who hailth from Madrid.

Lucky for me, the Spanish people I run into have always been good humored despite their accent never failing to come up in conversation upon meeting one. Alejandro Marzoa is no exception to Spanish good humor with his entry at this year’s Miami International Film Festival – Here’s the Deal.

Here’s the Deal follows the story of Manuel and Suso – two good friends who are down on their luck amidst Spain’s faltering economy. Suso used to operate a series of newsstands but began to lose revenue thanks to the growing popularity of non-print media (those damn Internetz!). Manuel – the owner of a crumbling construction company – is a widower with an adult daughter and a young son. In an effort to escape from the unfortunate reality of their lives, Manuel and Suso spend many an afternoon fishing but even seem to fail at that. One evening, after another fishing getaway turning up empty, they stumble upon a package washed ashore at the beach. Manuel inspects the contents to discover the white powdery contained within. A terrified Suso is soon convinced by the affable Manuel that the drugs are their key to financial stability – becoming an unlikely duo of cocaine cowboys.

The film is subtle in its approach to comedy, offering punch lines veiled in danger. As where many comedies are aware of their comedic intention – Here’s the Deal is a complex, emotional rollercoaster that doesn’t look back to see if you’re laughing in much the same way as Breaking Bad did in its earlier seasons – before Vince Gilligan made the world cry.

As the film went on I couldn’t help but notice that Suso’s choice in clothing began to vaguely remind me of a certain someone.

A longshot?
Maybe.
Coincidence?
“Yeah, bitch!”

Here’s the Deal went seemingly unnoticed at this year’s Miami International Film Festival, which is a shame because it is certainly one of this year’s hidden gems.

"Will You Be My Boyfriend?" Uncensored Innocence of Gabrielle

2014-03-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

By Raychel Lean, Miami Future Cinema Critic

If, like myself, you’re not much of a hugger, embracing Gabrielle may not come easy at first. But when it does, the connection made will stay with you long after you’ve left the cinema. Watching Louise Archambault’s film is a bit like listening to rain drum outside the window while you lay warm in bed. It’s the universal medicine you didn’t know you needed.

Gabrielle, by Louise Archambault

Gabrielle is a belated coming-of-age story following a 22-year-old woman wrestling against the frustration of having Williams syndrome, a genetic condition and learning disability. She yearns for the independence she knows she's unable to handle, and aches to be alone with her “darling,” Martin. Both are talented members of Les Muses de Montreal, a choir made up of developmentally disabled singers, but discouraged from spending time alone because they’re not a “normal” couple.

With the type of liveliness usually seen in children, the lovers build a relationship without games or pretense. With no ulterior motives besides affection, they’re simply themselves, and it’s refreshing to watch. The audience are shown beauty in the uncensored condition, as though let in on a secret. Although not free in the traditional, "grown-up" financial sense, she is free because she’s unafraid of life. Sensitive Gabrielle practices freedom of expression. She sings, socializes, and doesn’t allow doubt to filter her. She’s freer than a lot of us will ever allow ourselves to be.

Gabrielle, by Louise Archambault

Two strategically placed moments of silence amongst gentle French melodies mark the most emotionally pivotal moments in the film. This is not “to cut the budget” as Archambault jokes, but to extend sensitivity, “it was really a gut feeling for me to do that.”

Archambault creates a character whose enthusiasm towards life, regardless of struggle, is impossible to ignore. Her smile is consistently present, and never limited to her mouth. Reigning free all over her face, it’s contagious, and evidently part of the reason Gabrielle Marion-Rivard won Best Actress at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards. With this feature, Archambault wants to tease out your sensitive side. Go on, let her. It’d be rude not to.

A Character Study in "How To Kill a Man"

2014-03-13T11:18:00.002-07:00

What would it take to kill a man?

One of two questions presented, and answered, in Chilean Director-screenwriter Alejandro Fernandez Almendras’ To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre).

Meek and middle-aged Jorge (Daniel Candia) rarely fights back, a fact that becomes obvious when he allows the neighborhood bully, Kalule (Daniel Antivilo), and his gang to mug him. Jorge’s son is especially upset of the news his father brings home. He attempts to confront the hoodlum and get back his father’s diabetic kit, only to get shot--an incident that lands Kalule in prison.

The film skips to two years later, after Kalule has been released from prison. The family is continuously tormented as they suffer his wrath. And though they file complaints multiple times, it becomes clear that the police will not help, leaving Jorge with no choice but to defend his family (and his pride) himself.

And the second question arises: What is it like to kill a man?

Candia plays the role as an everyday man well. You will empathize. And though initially frustrated with the painfully passive protagonist, you'll find to be surprisingly relieved to see him finally standing up for himself, even in the midst of committing a heinous crime. And yet, as is the case in all facets of life, there are always consequences, which are immediately evident as the film nears its resolution.

According to Almendras, there was no storyboarding during production. He decided on the camera angles the night before they began shooting. This was especially interesting to learn, considering there are some unique wide-angled shots and some with excessive headroom, a method the director explained he chose to depict the family being crushed under the pressures of their harassment. Though not often seen in film, these methods worked beautifully in To Kill a Man. --Anna Xiques

Papi Shorts Program 1: "Grace" and "Chub"

2014-03-13T09:57:00.005-07:00

“Graça” (a.k.a. Grace) dir. by Anna Clara Peltier, Brazil, 2013

The first (and in my opinion, best) short of the program follows an adolescent girl during her synchronized swimming practice. Grace is going through puberty and has just gotten her first period, a moment that is changing her both inside and out. Her body aches and her mind wanders. Grace cannot bend her body like she once could, despite the dedication she has for the sport. She rebels against her swim coach, who makes no exceptions for a process that every woman experiences, even if the pain is overwhelming for her. This seems to motivate Grace not to continue to swim, but instead to learn about herself and explore her body.

This film was beautifully, yet delicately, done. The water imagery places a balance between the hard work she does during her team practice and the calm exploration she does of her growing body. Without too much emphasis on her imagination, we can easily see how her interests are changing and expanding as she matures. The title of the film and name of our main character reflect the skill she needs to be a swimmer, but also suggest that she is growing more than simply as a swimmer. She has her entire life ahead of her; perhaps synchronized swimming is not what her body wants to pursue.

"Chub" dir. by Samuel Albis, USA, 2014

An obese boy and a goth girl team up to conquer bullying. Diego, our main protagonist, has always been treated differently because of his weight. He gets shoved in the lunch line, his bike is stolen out from under him, and he is called awful names regularly- it is very possible that the others do not even know his real name. His life changes when he meets Steph. Steph is an intimidating girl who commands authority: she will not put up with anyone who has anything negative to say about her. She teaches Diego to “fuel the fire” within him to recover his bike and stand up for himself. He does some personal growing and is finally able to take back his bike and his life.

This short preaches self-confidence and self-worth, but not in the right way. Diego is able to take back what is his through retaliation, a tactic that rarely works for people being bullied by real-life aggressors. This is not the right message for any victim of bullying; retaliation will either get a victim into trouble or will cause him or her even more harm. Why did Diego have such a faltering relationship with his overprotective mother? If this story was written by a 15-year-old, it would be understandable that his mother is characterized so negatively, but truthfully, she was his only ally. She could have been Diego's true hero.

This short was made in Miami and unsurprisingly became a crowd favorite. A story about bullies is always admired, because who doesn’t love a movie about an unlikely hero who learns how to be brave and stand up for him or herself? Self-esteem must be honed in youth, but self-confidence will not be found when victims sink to the level of the bullies that torment them. -Zoë Brown

The Humor in Hypocrisy: Here's the Deal & To Kill a Man

2014-03-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

By Raychel Lean, Miami Future Cinema Critic

If a middle-aged Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were ever to go fishing and find a packet of blow on the beach, it might play out somewhat like Here’s the Deal. Beneath Suso and Manuel’s learned adult sensibilities, there’s that flicker of mischief. But – wait – is that actually… cocaine? Hold on a moment while they put their glasses on. Yep, ten kilos of it.

Alejandro Marzoa‘s debut, set in northern Spain, is not unlike “Breaking Bad” in that it has an entertaining angle on an over-explored topic. His characters’ idiotic yet charming urge to experiment fuels the decision to become “associates” in a “construction” business, through which they discover it’s not too late to have a mid-life crime-spree.

Here's the Deal, by Alejandro Marzoa

Marzoa creates a hypocrisy and absurdity that's amusing to watch. When family ties tangle with drug deals, it becomes evident that – like cocaine – large amounts of cash can mess with a brain. Although public advocators of a clean lifestyle, they separately morph into the kid of guy they wouldn’t want their daughter to marry or their son to become. Gradually, the contents of a blue sports bag intoxicate a childhood friendship until a decision must be made: to deal or not to deal?

Here's the Deal, directed by Alejandro Marzoa

A different kind of poison is explored in To Kill a Man. Revenge grows to sinister heights in Alejandro Fernández Almendras' third feature film, which not only wonders about what drives a “good” man to kill, but also delves into what happens after he does. When gentle middle-aged Jorge (Daniel Candia) chooses to defend his family’s honor by following feeling as opposed to law, he lands in a place of ethical obscurity.

To Kill a Man, directed by Alejandro Fernández Almendras

After years of tolerating evil "pranks" played on himself and his family and receiving only vague help from the police, he quietly snaps. Passive aggression is aggression after all, and, as said by director Alejandro Fernández Almendras in the Q&A after the screening, "We're not made to kill people."

Almendras plays with the empathy of his audience, as their pity for a desperate man is stretched until it can go no further. Sinister and sad, To Kill a Man ponders what’s left to do when authorities will no longer help. The film's low budget of $200,000 is evident at times, yet its simplicity doesn’t take away from its influence. As Almendras puts it, “There was only one shot to get it right.”

To Kill a Man, by Alejandro Fernández Almendras

The Riddles We Leave Behind: Finding Vivian Maier

2014-03-11T09:01:00.001-07:00

By Raychel Lean, Miami Future Cinema Critic

Imagine you dropped dead right now. A slightly morbid thought, I’m aware, but just humor me for a second. All right, so you’re dead. Your life, up to the moment you began reading this paragraph, is a finished project. There’s nothing more you can add, not a single detail you can scribble in or erase, because time’s up – sorry. Pencils down, stop writing, and face the front. Even if you were mid-sentence, whatever you created within your allotted time will simply have to suffice. What have you left behind?

Aside from wondering how your loved ones may react, maybe you’re also quietly hyperventilating at the thought of someone going through your private things, or reading that diary you’ve been keeping under your bed. Man, you’d die if anyone ever saw that. Oh, wait…

Vivian Maier/John Maloof Collection

Vivian Maier’s collection belonged to just that group of paraphernalia. In Finding Vivian Maier, director John Maloof intricately documents the story of a woman no longer among us, who gave little away yet left so much behind. Wearing her camera as a necklace, she sauntered through life collecting moments in photograph form. But God forbid anyone ever laid eyes on what she created. Her every effort was kept behind lock and key, guarded by a peculiar “mean streak.” Posthumous, however, all bets came off. Like a magpie after metal, Maloof identified gold in a box of film. With one unwitting gamble of $380 at an auction, he unearthed and exposed a trail leading to 150,000 negatives. Now Maier’s secrets are out of the darkroom, developed for all to see.

Under the cover of a modest nanny, Maier practiced street photography in public places around the world. Finding Vivian Maier sprinkles shots of her work between interviews with people who knew her, even lived with her, and yet had no knowledge of her talent. Maloof stares boldly into any murky corner of her life with intent to shed light on it, following every lead in an attempt to acquire answers. Bouncing off information from each interview, his curiosity takes him as far as France to deliver an un-mailed letter. Although burning questions about her background remain alight, Maloof’s sense of whimsical urgency in finishing what Maier began translates into a film which both honors and betrays the self-proclaimed “mystery woman.”

Vivian Maier/John Maloof Collection

In a single frame, Maier manages to capture scenes of disgust amongst beauty, strength in weakness, and grace within tragedy, in ways that can dilate even the most uncultured eye. (And there’s even a few “selfies” in the mix.) Maier’s story, like her images, resonates long after the screening as it becomes evident that what Maloof has to tell us is bigger than just one film. The more answers he provides, the more questions are born. In casting light on the fascinating and, often, contradictory hues of a single woman, one is led to wonder about the point of self-expression. If creativity isn’t shared with others, then what is it? Art is an expression of personality, but it seems Vivian had so much to say that it overshadowed her courage to speak.

Vivian Maier/John Maloof Collection

Paradoxically comfortable and uncomfortable around people, Maier had the courage to explore a city while personally quarantined from it, as though she could never organically capture humanity while a part of it. In Finding Vivian Maier, Maloof remains as informative as one can be without knowing the entire story, allowing Maier a belated expression of who she was, and what she saw in the world. His mission continues to be providing the outlet of exhibition that Maier may or may not have been waiting for in her lifetime, as he nudges towards bringing her recognition in the art world. In the Q&A after the screening, he referred to his now emotional connection to her and her work as coincidence, “It was just the right things coming into line at the right time.”

Ultimately, this contemplative review of the life and work of a closeted lady begs the question: what riddles will we leave behind? And who might be there to figure them out?

Discovering "Every Character Under the Sun" This Year

2014-03-10T15:23:00.003-07:00

The Miami International Film Festival's theme this year, “Every Character Under the Sun,” has been portrayed clearly in at least three of the films presented thus far.

What is sweeter than a pre-adolescent romance? A silver romance between Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer in Director George Radford’s adaptation of Elsa & Fred.

When Fred, a grumpy old man who has recently lost his wife, moves in next door to Elsa, a transformation begins. The tenacious Elsa begins to win him over, and Fred awakens from the stupor and defeatist mentality with which he had arrived.

Though there were some questionable camera shots and hard cuts, the story is tender enough to pull at your heartstrings.

Spanish Director-writer Patxi Amezcua reflects his appreciation for creating tension in his film, Séptimo, starring Ricardo Darín and Belén Rueda.

In the film, Darín plays Sebastián, a father, attorney, and soon-to-be divorcée, who becomes frantic as he discovers his children have disappeared while playing their usual game of running down the stairs of their Argentine apartment building. With his talent, also seen in Césc Gay's Una pistola en cada mano (featured at the festival last year), Darín impeccably portrays a father's desperation, which is evident as he climbs and descends the stairs calling out to his children, knocks on every neighbor's door, and gets physical with anyone he suspects.

In fact, Darín's character, Sebastián, is what makes this film worthwhile. The twists and turns were simply not enough to engage. The story falls flat, with important details left unanswered. It seems Séptimo didn't quite cover all of its bases.

Before mentioning Fading Gigolo and its main character, Fioravante, I should mention the character of John Turturro himself. The director, writer, and lead actor of the film, Turturro sat down with renowned film critic David Edelstein before the screening for a short Q&A. In this interview, Turturro described his experience coming up with the story and organizing it into a reputable screenplay, as well as his relationship with Woody Allen, both professionally and on a personal level. And when asked a number of unsettling questions, such as the recent allegations against Allen, Turturro handled the situation in a professional manner, stating that he had nothing to discuss on the matter because--simply put--it was none of his business.

On to the main character in the film: Turturro plays Fioravante, a manly man, as Sofia Vergara's character implies, who has been coaxed into sleeping with women for money by Murray (Woody Allen), his old friend and now pimp. Though not a likely candidate for a gigolo in terms of his physique, Murray convinces him that he has a "sex appeal" about him and that he'd be perfect for the job. At first, Murray seems to be the highlight of the film, with the typical Allen humor and his endearing nature, but Fioravante raises intrigue as he enters his new profession with surprising ease and poise. And yet, his humanistic characteristics quickly reveal themselves as a moral question arises: the vulnerability of their female clients and whether or not they are taking advantage of them.

Besides its upstanding story, Fading Gigolo also comes with an outstanding cast (Sharon Stone and Liev Schreiber are in it, too!), as well as an Allen-esque soundtrack. Unfortunately, there are no more showings at the festival this year, but I would urge anyone to watch it. --Anna Xiques

Séptimo review: Despite its twists and turns, Paxti Amezcua's 'Séptimo' has the feel of a typical Hollywood film.

2014-03-10T14:00:00.006-07:00

Maybe you don’t go to the movies with your family too often because that usually entails having to translate for mami and papi what’s happening on screen and why the audience is laughing. The last time you got dragged along to a theater with them was to watch Mr. Bean’s Holiday in which they kicked and screamed with laughter while you texted your friends about putting money together for a bottle of Bacardi Limon to go to a party at so-and-so’s house, later that evening. Maybe your parents don’t have a particularly refined taste when it comes to films, and after all, who could blame them when all they have access to are dubs of bad 80’s action flicks on Telefutura. Or perhaps all this time their ironic sense of humor has been too far advanced for you to even grasp and you’ve been out-hipstered at your own game.

If you’ve seen Taken, chances are, that probably means you’ve seen Séptimo– Paxti Amezcua’s sophomore screening at the Miami International Film Festival and the film’s world premier in the United States. In Séptimo, the story centers on a man living in Argentina named Sebastian– a crooked lawyer in much the same way as Saul Goodman– but a much more successful one at that. He loves his two young children and has an estranged ex-wife, Delia, whom he refuses to sign divorce papers for. Delia’s father’s health is in decline at his home in Spain so she would like to take the kids with her while she cares for him through his last remaining months. One morning when Sebastian has the kids, they race him down the stairs of his apartment building while he takes the elevator. After being stuck in the elevator for a few minutes, he arrives to the lobby to find that his children have gone missing.

Ricardo Darín plays the suit-wearing alpha male gentleman to great effect, resembling a Hispanic Daniel. While the film features excellent work from the actors as well as the director, it falls short in its resolution of the events. Does Séptimo perpetuate the acceptance of a patriarchal system in which it’s okay for men to be irresponsible womanizers and women must be saints? If you're looking for a film to enjoy with your Spanish-speaking family members, Séptimo is up there on the list of films to see. Tickets for Séptimo have sold out for both of its screenings but an additional third screening will be offered on Sunday, March 16^th at the Regal South Beach.

-James Duran

Default (dir. by Simon Brand)

2014-03-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

These days, a hijacking movie is about as common as an American politician invoking 9/11. Recently, we have seen Oscar nominated Captain Phillips, the brand new Non-Stop, the aptly titled Danish film The Hijacking, et cetera; each take on a new approach to frighten us with the notion of modern-day pirates. But are these tales of piracy or of terrorism? Default explores this dichotomy by exposing media sensationalism.

A news crew is on its way home from the Seychelles when their still-grounded plane is taken over by a group of armed men. This is not a coincidence; the leader of the criminal group, who calls himself Atlas, sought them out in order to air his grievances about a piece they ran a few months back on a young man on trial for piracy. He sets up a mock interview and begins a debate that neither the hostages nor the aggressors can come to a consensus on: what makes a terrorist different from a pirate?

The media has twisted the definition of terrorist to refer to atrocities that originate in the Middle East, fueled by religious motives. Pirates, on the other hand, operate almost exclusively off the coast of the horn of Africa, in violent attempts to collect money. Why has the media characterized them this way? Terrorism, after all, by definition, is the use of force or intimidation to achieve a goal. The goals of a terrorist and a pirate are admittedly different. Middle Eastern terrorists are religious extremists and Somalian pirates want money; however, Atlas argues that the goals are not what should dictate our perception of these criminals, but instead it should be fear.

This film’s strong story and message carry it to the very end. It was shot from a first person perspective, but we see both the point of view of the hostages and the captors. Inter-cut between scenes of panic inside the plane is footage from their network, closely watching the situation unfold from the outside. This provides us a third point of view, where another reporter from their network happens to be located. With its strong message about media sensationalism, the characterization of the network itself leaves a little to be desired. Brand could have satirized the broadcast which would have driven the theme home, but he instead uses it simply to propel the story. This does not in any way take away from the film though; the writing is able to accomplish its purpose without the use of any other elements.

Default is an intense thriller, not recommended for the faint of heart. Even amid the moral lessons it preaches, this movie still makes your spine tingle and your heart pound. No other hijacking thriller out there can compare to this work, and makes it a must-see at this year’s Miami International Film Festival. -Zoë Brown

MIFF 2014 Miami Future Cinema Critics

2014-03-06T07:43:00.002-08:00

STAY TUNED...

For the second successive year, Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), March 7–16, 2014 will be posting Miami Future Cinema Critics blogs on this page beginning on Monday, March 10th.

The aim of the program is to provide Miami-based film aficionados with a fascinating opportunity to discover new cinema - outside of the roughly 600 films that are commercially released in the U.S. annually, and learn new ways to develop their voice and attract new audiences for their own critical work. Our 2014 Miami Future Cinema Critics include: Zoe Brown, James Paul Duran, Raychel Lean, and Anna Xigues.