LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND – A Review by John Strange
There are two basic types of the “Aliens Arrive in Our Skys” scenario. The first is the outright attack from above (think Independence Day and War of the Worlds). The second is more insidious. It has the aliens taking us via other methods (think V).
Landscape With Invisible Hand uses the second method to take us. They arrive and quickly contrive to make us dependent upon them for everything.
This is a very long story that could just as easily have been an episode of Twilight Zone (think “To Serve Man”). It is hard to watch because the alien’s treatment of humans isn’t harsh, it is more like a master to pet.
I wish I didn’t have any idea of what I was getting into with this film. But I watched the trailers, and it looked interesting. The final trailer (listed below) would have given me a better idea of the true plot of this film. Sadly, this was a film that had me checking my watch periodically. It is well made with decent special effects, but the plot turned me off as I watched the subjugated humans trying to survive day to day. If you can’t handle a “downer” movie, stay away from Landscape with Invisible Hand.
Director: Cory Finley
Cast: Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, Tiffany Haddish, Josh Hamilton, Michael Gandolfini, William Jackson Harper, Brooklynn MacKinzie
MPAA Rating: R (for language and brief violent content)
Selig Rating: 2.5 Stars
Runtime: 105 Min.
Release Date: 08/18/2023
Local Release Locations: AMC NorthPark 15, Angelika Film Center & Café – Dallas, Cinemark Legacy and XD, Cinemark Tinseltown Grapevine and XD
Upon being named a “Top 25 Coolest Film Festival in the World” last month by MovieMaker Magazine, Tallgrass Film Festival presented by Archer Hotels announces the initial offerings of its 21st annual Film Festival to be held October 5-8, in downtown Wichita. With a mix of free and paid events and extensive educational programming, the Festival brings thousands of visitors to the city annually. Tickets and Tallpasses are on sale now at https://TallgrassFilm.org/ for these events with more announcements coming later this month.
The Festival hosts more than 184 films for this 21st edition. Continued partnerships with the Orpheum Theatre, Temple Live (Scottish Rite), Exploration Place, the Advanced Learning Library (all downtown on 1st Street), and Ulrich Museum (on WSU campus) as host venues will be joined by WSU TECH: Niche (124 S. Broadway) as a new venue with a welcome return to the Wichita Art Museum (1400 Museum Blvd.) this year. The Festival is also partnering with the Prairie Fire Race Marathon on Sunday to support runners and to make for a lively downtown weekend.
STANDING IN SOLIDARITY WITH STRIKING GUILDS
Nationally, the Festival has focused on the important issues that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are raising and supporting the filmmakers during this time.
“We’ve carefully worked with SAG-AFTRA to ensure that we are supporting our artists during this time and have worked with films to get clearances needed to be still showcased during the strikes. We stand in solidarity and look forward to celebrating stubborn independence this October,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “Any SAG-AFTRA card members in Kansas can also receive complimentary passes or tickets if they reach out to us this year.”
Additional panels on the issues will be announced at a later date.
VAST, VARIED PROGRAMMING FROM AROUND THE WORLD
The head programmers and screeners combed over submissions from across the world for the past seven months with a record number of films from 70 countries.
“I’m very proud of this year’s program. We have a near-record number of world-premiere feature films which is always a nice addition to what the Festival offers,” Program Director Andre Seward said. “Another positive aspect is the number of films we have from new directors and artists from underrepresented communities. The selection this year perfectly reflects the quality and reputation of the Festival.”
Among this announcement’s highlights are the World Premiere of the feature film STAY AT CONDER BEACH set in Louisiana and directed by Aaron Khandros as well as regional premieres of several Tribeca Film Festival favorites including PLAYLAND, LOST SOULZ and YOUR FAT FRIEND. The closing night film THREE BIRTHDAYS also serves as a regional premiere, directed by Jane Weinstock and stars Josh Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”) and Annie Parisse (“National Treasure”).
The USA premiere of LIBERTY, a short made in Kansas, will also include visiting Tallgrass with star Jim Beaver (“Supernatural”). Another Kansas feature will have its USA Premiere at the Festival with JUST LIKE YOU – ANXIETY + DEPRESSION focused on mental health in these troubling times. Kansas native Jennifer Greenstreet directs the film. A panel discussion on mental health will also be highlighted at the Festival.
“It was another year of incredible submissions and tough decisions,” Short Film Programmer and Operations Manager Hannah Bothner said. “It’s an exciting time for short films and somehow the short films get better and better each year. We’ve created a unique and entertaining program that I cannot wait to show the world.”
CATEGORIES ANNOUNCED TODAY
In the Jake Euker Stubbornly Independent presented by The Cotillion category, films are expected to be under a $750,000 production budget and must be a domestic narrative feature. The winner will receive $5,000 and a Stubbornly Independent Tap Handle.
FREE TIME
Director: Ryan Martin Brown
Producers: Mackenzie Jamieson, Justin Zuckerman, Paula Andrea González-Nasser, Nolan Kelly
Kansas Premiere. RT: 78m/USA
Drew quits his job and then quickly decides he wants it back.
Ray (short) plays with FREE TIME
Director: Joe Lycett
RT: 6m/USA
A daft short film.
I Care About Your Mailbox (short) plays with FREE TIME
Director: Andres Gimenez
RT: 12m/USA
Everybody cares about something, I care about your mailbox.
These films play at WSU TECH: Niche on Sunday, October 8 at 2 pm.
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LOST SOULZ
Director: Katherine Propper
Producers: Andres Figueredo Thomson, Juan Carlos Figueredo Thomson
Regional Premiere. RT: 96m/USA
A young rapper leaves everything behind and embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery, music and friendship in the heart of Texas.
Stuck (short) plays with LOST SOULZ
Director: Brittany Reeber
Kansas Premiere. RT: 10m/USA
Wanda, an introverted stoner, is roped into her roommates’ music video shoot when she finds a kindred spirit in a mouse stuck to a sticky pad.
These films play at Kemper (Exploration Place) on Saturday, October 7 at 3 pm.
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PLAYLAND
Director: Georden West
Producers: Russell Sheaffer, Hannah McSwiggen, Danielle Cooper
Regional Premiere. RT: 72m/USA
Artist-filmmaker Georden West’s debut feature is an expressionist and very queer bricolage, focusing on an atemporal night in the renowned Playland Café.
Dogfriend (short) plays with PLAYLAND
Director: Maissa Lihedheb
Kansas Premiere. RT: 19m/Germany
A date takes an unexpected turn in this meditation on race, politics, and history in Germany.
This Is Concrete (short) plays with PLAYLAND
Director: Alice Gosti and June Zandona
Regional Premiere. RT: 3m/USA
The body becomes architecture in the iconic abandoned military bunkers of Fort Worden National Park (WA, USA) as personal and geographical histories are interwoven in this genre-bending dance.
These films play at the Kemper (Exploration Place) on Friday, October 6 at noon.
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STAY AT CONDER BEACH
Director: Aaron Khandros
Producers: Mike S. Ryan, Mike Bowes
World Premiere. RT: 87m/USA
Conder Beach is a crumbling tourist town on the Gulf Coast, reliant on seasonal commerce and oil rigging. The film draws you into a world that vacillates between reality and metaphor, examining the intangible evils that threaten our society and have crystallized so many into a pattern of self-destruction.
Followers (short) plays with STAY AT CONDER BEACH
Director: Julia Bales
Regional Premiere. RT: 15m/USA
Wendy invites her new neighbors over for dinner, but it doesn’t go as planned.
These films play at the Kemper (Exploration Place) on Saturday, October 7 at noon.
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The third annual Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking presented by Cargill Competition which will provide a $5,000 cash prize and a $10,000 camera rental package from Panavision:
BLACK BARBIE: A DOCUMENTARY
Director Lagueria Davis
Producer: Aaliyah Williams, Lagueria Davis
Kansas Premiere. RT: 100m/USA
Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell, BLACK BARBIE delves into the cross-section of merchandise and representation as Black women strive to elevate their voices and stories, refusing to be invisible.
Jelly (short) plays with BLACK BARBIE: A DOCUMENTARY
Director: Anndi Jinelle Liggett
Regional Premiere. RT: 10m/USA
A young, Black girl with a peculiar fascination with death tries to solve the mysterious case of a missing neighbor while coming to terms with a more personal disappearance.
The films play Friday, October 6 at 1 pm at Scottish Rite/Temple Live.
CHOCOLATE MILK
Director/Producer: Elizabeth Gray Bayne
Kansas Premiere. RT: 92m/USA
Chocolate Milk explores racial inequities in birth and breastfeeding in the US by following the stories of three Black mothers in South Los Angeles over multiple years.
Choices (short) plays with CHOCOLATE MILK
Director: Kameishia Wooten
Regional Premiere. RT 13m/USA
Three very different friends find renewed connection as they await pregnancy results at their Los Angeles High School.
These films play at WSU TECH: Niche on Saturday, October 7 at 4 pm.
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NAME OF THE GAME
Directors: William Forbes & Douglas Skinner
Producers: William Forbes & Douglas Skinner, Shondrella Avery, Lynette Baker, Mike Strong
Regional Premiere. RT: 113m/USA
The untold story of black male exotic dancing in south Los Angeles and how it intersects with the origins of hip hop, gang culture, and kung fu assassins.
This film plays at the Tallgrass Film Center on Saturday, October 7 at 10 pm.
SUMMER OF VIOLENCE
Director: Nicki Micheaux
Producers: Efuru Flowers, Maureen P. Mottley, Sean Riggs, Nicki Micheaux
Regional Premiere RT: 110m/USA
Refusing law school to pursue poetry, a sheltered college grad, cut off from her father’s money, struggles to survive while living in Denver during the Summer of Violence in 1993.
This film plays at the Tallgrass Film Center on Friday, October 6 at 4:30 pm.
THE UNSEEN
Director: J.S. Hampton
Producers: J.S. Hampton, Dean Albright, Brianna Woods
RT: 89m/United States
A witch from the 1850s is transported into the head of her descendant in modern Kansas City, who is tasked with helping get her ancestor’s body back.
Split (short) plays with THE UNSEEN
Director: Vincent Essid
Regional Premiere. RT 15m/USA
When a hopeless romantic teenager discovers that the jukebox in his family’s bowling alley, sends him back to the glory days of it in the 1980s, he must choose between a shot at love in the past or healing the relationship with his father in the present.
These films play at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, October 6 at 10:30 am.
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With a slight name change to celebrate our woman-representing filmmakers this year the Woman Filmmaker Spotlight presented by Fidelity Bank competition will provide a $5,000 cash prize to the winner.
THE FACE OF THE JELLYFISH
Director: Melisa Liebenthal
Producers: Eugenia Campos Guevara, Vanesa Ragonne
Regional Premiere. RT: 75m/Argentina
Marina’s face suddenly changed. One day around her thirties her face ceased to be what it was. Who is she now? Can we be somebody beyond our face, beyond our image?
Alegrias Riojanas (short) plays with THE FACE OF THE JELLYFISH
Director: Velasco Broca
RT: 29m/Spain
An ophthalmologist’s confession gets interrupted when the priest who was attending him leaves in an emergency.
These films play at the Tallgrass Film Center on Saturday, October 7 at 6:30 pm.
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THREE BIRTHDAYS
Director: Jane Weinstock
Producers: Andrea Miller, Chris Collins, James Welling
Regional Premiere. RT: 90m/USA
In 1970, at the height of the sexual revolution, an idealistic academic couple and their 17-year-old daughter wrestle with revolutionary ideas around sex, race, and class.
Photo Of The Day (short) plays with THREE BIRTHDAYS
Directors: Mac Eldridge & Tom Dean
Kansas Premiere. RT: 12m/USA
A photo from their past ignites a conversation about the possibility of an open marriage between a husband and wife.
These films play at the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday, October 8 at 7 pm as the closing night gala.
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VALLEY OF EXILE
Director: Anna Fahr
Producers: Anna Fahr, Lara Abou Saifan
Regional Premiere. RT: 107m/Lebanon
Two sisters arrive in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley at the onset of the Syrian war, embarking on a journey into exile that tests their loyalty to their country, their family, and each other.
This film plays at the Tallgrass Film Center on Thursday, October 5 at noon.
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WILDER THAN HER
Director: Jessica Kozak
Producers: Shannon Reilly, Kimberly Hwang, Chelsea Davenport
Kansas Premiere. RT: 88m/USA
After the death of their best friend Bea, tight-knit friends attempt to reconnect on an annual camping trip. Still, things grow increasingly strange and uncomfortable in the isolated forest as their friendship unravels.
This film plays at the Kemper (Exploration Place) on Saturday, October 6 at 3 pm.
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Super Deep Down (short) plays with WILDER THAN HER
Director: Lauren Sevigny and Lexi Pappas
Regional Premiere. RT: 16m/USA
Three friends take a weekend getaway to commemorate a divorce and “move on,” but accidentally awaken spirits who take their wish to heart.
This film plays at the Kemper (Exploration Place) on Saturday, October 6 at 3 pm.
Made over 6 years, director Jeanie Finlay charts the rise of writer and activist Aubrey Gordon from anonymous blogger to NYTimes best-selling author and beloved podcaster. Her aim? – a paradigm shift in how we see fat people and the fat on our bodies.
How To Carry Water (short) plays with YOUR FAT FRIEND
Director: Sasha Wortzel
Regional Premiere. RT: 15m/USA
This punk rock fairytale doubles as a portrait of Shoog McDaniel — a fat, queer, and disabled photographer working in and around northern Florida’s vast network of freshwater springs, the state’s source of precious drinking water.
Forward Fast (short) plays with YOUR FAT FRIEND
Director: Lorraine Sovern
Kansas Premiere. RT: 3m/USA
While embarking upon a process of archival and preservation, a filmmaker dives into a stark exploration of self as she discovers the seeds of patriarchy and misogyny already planted and steeping the imagery of her childhood films.
These films play at the Scottish Rite (Temple Live) on Friday, October 6 at 10 am.
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For our Murmurations category, we highlight Spanish cinema in honor of our local Miro mural at Ulrich Art Museum.
THE VISIT AND A SECRET GARDEN
Director: Irene M. Borrego
Producers: Irene M. Borrego, Renata Sancho, Mariangela Mondolo-Burghard
USA Premiere. RT: 65m/Spain
A film that reflects on memory and oblivion, Art and the creative process; posing the question of what it means to be an artist and a woman.
Arnasa (short) plays with THE VISIT AND A SECRET GARDEN
Director: Raúl Barreras
Regional Premiere. RT: 15m/Spain
Sitting on a hill, Inaxio mourns the death of his wife. His grandson Ekaitz seems to have been invoked by his song and returns to the farmhouse to take care of his grandfather and the animals that provide them with food and company.
These films will play at Wichita Art Museum on Saturday, October 7 at 12:30 pm.
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THE VOLUNTEER
Director: Nely Reguera
Producer: Adrià Monés, Álex Lafuente, Maria Drandaki
Regional Premiere. RT: 99m/Spain & Greece
Marisa, a recently retired doctor, decides to leave everything and travel to a refugee camp in Greece, where they seem to need people exactly like her.
This film plays at WSU TECH: Niche on Friday, October 6 at 11 am.
TOBACCO BARNS
Director: Rocio Mesa
Producer: Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo, Jana Díaz-Juhl, Pau Brunet, Belén Sánchez
Regional Premiere. RT: 98m/ Spain
Seven-year-old Vera and Nieves, teenage natives, driven by the sense of adventure and the need to find oneself respectively, will be connected to a magical creature that will change how they see their reality.
Cuando Crece La Hierba (short) plays with TOBACCO BARNS
Director: María Monreal
RT: 3m/Spain
To question is to grow. Because not everything is easy to understand… even when you’ve grown up.
Cherubs (short) plays with TOBACCO BARNS
Director: Anne-Sophie Bine
Regional Premiere. RT: 18m/USA
At summer arts camp, a reserved 13-year-old girl feels seen for the first time when an older counselor takes her under his wing.
These films play at WSU TECH: Niche on Friday, October 6 at 2 pm.
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Tim Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers Category sponsored by Moeder and Associates showcases our state filmmakers with both features and short films.
HEAD COUNT
Directors: The Burghart Brothers (Jacob and Ben)
Producers: Austin Wagoner, Tristan Barr, David Gim
Kansas Premiere. RT: 80m/USA
After escaping prison, Kat finds his revolver pointed at his head by an unknown assailant. As the empty rounds click away, Kat tries to remember how he got here, one bullet at a time.
Kid Ugly (short) plays with HEAD COUNT
Director: Jazmin Aguilar
Regional Premiere. RT: 12m/USA
A notorious outlaw named Bottle Tooth Guapo, runs into their biggest fan Lazlo, who is determined to be their sidekick.
These films play at the Orpheum Theatre on Friday, October 6 at 4 pm.
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JUST LIKE YOU – ANXIETY + DEPRESSION
Director: Jennifer Greenstreet
Producers: Chad Swenson, Mauria Stonestreet, Karen Arkin, Jennifer Greenstreet
USA Premiere. RT: 78m/USA
10 brave kids, 2 Emmy award-winning journalists, 1 clinical psychologist at Columbia University, and 1 determined mother take on the fear and stigma plaguing the mental health community, leaving us enlightened, empowered, and equipped to either live life or lift up life with these challenging and even life-threatening conditions.
boy/beast (short) with JUST LIKE YOU – ANXIETY + DEPRESSION
Director: Andrew Shaw
North American Premiere. RT: 7m/Australia
The darkness at the edge of a boy’s play threatens to turn him into a beast. A meditation on violence and the grief that underpins it.
These films play at the Advanced Learning Library on Friday, October 6 at 2:30 pm.
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In This Neighborhood (short) with JUST LIKE YOU – ANXIETY + DEPRESSION
Director: Lilly Lion
Producer: Ellena Rosenthal & Lilly Lion
Regional Premiere. RT: 10m/USA
Caught between a fragmented mind and a fuzzy grasp on reality, Kate seeks a fresh start to her life. After breaking into her estranged family home, she discovers a piece of mail which leads to a downward spiral of paranoia, alarm for family safety, and an unquestionable certainty she’s being targeted. Our film explores how Kate’s mental health combined with poverty, lack of safety nets, and systematic hurdles ultimately determines her fate.
This films play at the Advanced Learning Library on Friday, October 6 at 2:30 pm.
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PENITENTIA
Director/Producer: Chris Lawing
Kansas Premiere. RT: 90m/USA
Young attorney, Ale Villacaño, takes a pro bono prison rights base and gets quickly drawn into a criminal web and corporate negligence.
Liberty (short) plays with PENITENTIA
Director: Chris Lawing
USA Premiere. RT: 16m/USA
Liberty is the story of a disgraced journalist who flees to a small midwestern town to rebuild her life, only to find deadly corruption pursuing her at every turn.
These films play at the Orpheum Theatre on Friday, October 6 at 7 pm as the Friday night gala.
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STELLA
Director: Tyler Doehring
Producers: Tyler Doehring/Pablo Diego
Kansas Premiere. RT: 79m/USA, Italy, and France
A documentary about a humble pizzeria, and a beloved cuisine’s quest for its first Michelin Star.
Death & Ramen (short) plays with STELLA
Director: Tiger Ji
RT: 14m/USA
After botching his suicide, a ramen chef goes on an unintended late-night odyssey with the Grim Reaper. They share a bowl of noodles and discover what it means to be human.
These films play at WSU TECH: Niche on Saturday, October 7 at 1 pm.
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THE WOMAN OF STARS AND MOUNTAINS
Director: Santiago Esteinou
Producers: Santiago Esteinou, Javier Campos Lopez, Axel Pedraza, Jose Miguel Diaz Salinas
Regional Premiere. RT: 100m/Mexico & USA
Rita Patiño, an indigenous woman from Mexico, was found by a human rights organization inside a Kansas psychiatric hospital, where she had been involuntarily confined, for 12 years.
This film plays at Kemper (Exploration Place) on Sunday, October 8 at 4 pm.
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All the following films will be shown in the Tim Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers shorts block, a local favorite. These films will be featured on Saturday, October 7 at 10 am at the Orpheum Theatre.
Don Johnson Is Not Your Man
Directors: Kathryn Lunte, Felicia Ferrara
RT: 12m/USA
Set in the late 80s in Ohio, this coming-of-age story follows a young teenage girl who observes her older brother’s obsession with the TV show Miami Vice and his descent from selling cookies at the mall to dealing cocaine.
Emerging Artists
Director: Lindsey Doolittle
RT: 7m/USA
Emerging Artists is an art program for adults with developmental delays, but this film is about people and their art, not their disabilities.
GOBABYGO
Director: Matt Crow
World Premiere. RT: 4m/USA
Engineering and Physical Therapy Students from Wichita State collaborate to modify a toy car for a child with spina bifida to drive.
Hole In The Ground
Director: Gina Bryant
Kansas Premiere. RT: 5m/USA
In the aftermath of a brutal attack on their homestead, a husband and wife discuss their futures.
Homecoming
Director: Adler Moss
RT: 7m/USA
When he is forced to come home after a tragedy occurs in his family, Freddy, a first-year music student, must reckon with his past to create a brighter future.
I Am…Brihanna Jayde
Director: Kris Bailey
RT: 13m/USA
The 2023 Kansas All-American Goddess gives viewers and listeners a glimpse of the Drag Queen life and what it means to live life authentically as a gay man.
Mal-Adjusted
Directors: Rylee Dulaney
Kansas Premiere. RT: 6m/USA
A young woman battles her fixation with her favorite role-playing game, Castles and Creatures.
Residency
Director: Drew Wagner
RT: 4m/USA
A new homeowner discovers a hidden tape recorder with a message from the former resident.
Slow Dance
Director: Micah Streeter
World Premiere. RT: 6m/USA
A break-up in reverse.
Step 9
Director: Tom Hipp
Kansas Premiere. RT: 11m/USA
A small-town interrogation goes awry.
The Ballad Of Rich And Champ
Director: Caleb Voyles
Regional Premiere. RT: 13m/USA
A suave, classy, pool hustler who embodies 70s American Spiritualism risks it all when a loaded stranger bets big on his table.
The Wheat Harvest
Director: Paul Dechant
RT: 10m/USA
The rhythms of a typical day during the summer wheat harvest in western Kansas.
Take a trip to the dark side and indulge your taste for wild films, outrageous events, and shocking surprises all under one roof. World-famous genre festival Fantastic Fest is back for its eighteenth edition featuring 29 World Premieres, 24 North American Premieres, and 18 U.S. Premieres. The festival will once again possess Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX from September 21st – 28th. Badges are available now at FantasticFest.com.
“The Fantastic Fest team is ready to take you on a journey you won’t ever forget. We’ve taken the best week of the year and supercharged it: more movies, more parties, more fun,” says Festival Director Lisa Dreyer. “If you want to see the best new movies from around the world first with the best audience, Fantastic Fest is the place to be.”
The opening night film for Fantastic Fest 2023 is the world premiere of Legendary Pictures’ THE TOXIC AVENGER, a hilarious and action-packed reimagining of the classic Troma film from director Macon Blair that features an all-star cast including Peter Dinklage who will pick up the infamous mop to become the toxic hero that no one knew they needed (or wanted) as well as Jacob Tremblay and Taylour Paige with Elijah Wood and Kevin Bacon.
Fantastic Fest is also honored to present one of Angus Cloud’s final performances in the world premiere of the thriller YOUR LUCKY DAY. Cloud gives an incredible performance as a charismatic and opportunistic criminal in the tense debut feature from Dan Brown.
“The Fantastic Fest team was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Angus Cloud. His performance in YOUR LUCKY DAY immediately won over our team, and we want to pay tribute to his talents and life at the festival,” says Director of Programming Annick Mahnert.
The closing night film will be the world premiere of Director Nahnatchka Khan’s slasher-comedy from Prime Video and Blumhouse Television, TOTALLY KILLER. Starring Kiernan Shipka as a time-traveling teen out to stop the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer,” TOTALLY KILLER is equal parts comedic charm and tense thrills. Shocking kills will keep the Fantastic Fest audience on their toes, and the outrageous 1980s setting will be a fitting lead-in to the closing night festivities.
Other major studio films include NEON’s noir thriller EILEEN, director William Oldroyd’s pitch-perfect adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s acclaimed novel, starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway, 20th Century Studios’ sci-fi epic THE CREATOR from FF alumnus Gareth Edwards, Paramount+’s PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES, a prequel to the iconic Stephen King novel, and Bleeker Street’s stone age thriller THE ORIGIN.
Fantastic Fest is also proud to present the World Premieres of two highly anticipated limited series: the second season of HBO’s 30 COINS, from renowned Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia, and Netflix’s THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER from genre maestro Mike Flanagan.
Other World Premieres include:
· Director JT Mollner’s STRANGE DARLING, starring Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. Shot on gorgeous 35mm film by Giovanni Ribisi in his feature debut as Cinematographer.
· JACKDAW, an outrageously entertaining action film from Jamie Childs (The Sandman and His Dark Materials).
· A brand new installment of our favorite found footage horror anthology V/H/S/85 from Shudder.
“We took 24 hours off after last year and dove straight into planning this year’s gonzo adventure; it’s going to be outrageous,” says Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Fantastic Fest founder Tim League. “First-timers to the festival, I suggest setting an annual reminder for the end of September for the rest of your life. Once you’ve tasted Fantastic Fest, you are family. We’ll see you at this year’s reunion.”
The Parties
Fantastic Fest has something to tempt everyone this year.
· Celebrated Austin indietronica band The Octopus Project will provide an immersive, sonically sinister opening night performance.
· Live events throughout the week with Maltin On Movies, Horror Queers, The Kingcast, The Diesel System, a Ghoulish Book Fair and more!
· Chicago’s Deadly Prey Gallery will transform The Highball with a display of original movie art from Ghanaian artists, including a special Fantastic Fest commission.
· Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher of The Found Footage Festival fame return with a new mixtape of video oddities to confuse and delight.
· And finally, Fantastic Fest essentials like 100 Best Kills, the Fantastic Feud, the Fantastic Debates and an epic Closing Night Party will round out the week.
Inglorious Critters & Glorious Restorations
This year’s repertory sidebar is dedicated to creepy crawlies. Centered around the North American Premiere of the spider-infested horror film VERMIN, Fantastic Fest programmers in partnership with the American Genre Film Archive are bringing you a trio of critters to haunt your nightmares, with THE NEST, BUGGED!, and CENTIPEDE HORROR. Our friends at AGFA are also bringing two newly restored 35mm prints to the fest: the artful nightmare MESSIAH OF EVIL, and THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW.
Formed in 2009, the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to preserving the legacy of genre movies through collection, conservation, and distribution.
Other notable restorations at the fest include the 2k restoration of Paul Vecchiali’s Giallo thriller THE STRANGLER, Bleeding Skull’s new preservation of the infamous underground queer crime movie BLONDE DEATH, and a gorgeous 4k restoration of Gregg Araki’s NOWHERE from Strand Releasing.
We’re also bringing back Burnt Ends, our sidebar dedicated to micro-budget outlier cinema. With esoteric World Premieres like Kenichi Ugana’s splatterific VISITORS (COMPLETE EDITION) and Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic THE ALL GOLDEN, this idiosyncratic sidebar also includes the Texas Premiere of Vera Drew’s acclaimed and infamous THE PEOPLE’S JOKER (for real this time!).
Join Our Cult
A variety of badges are available for purchase to attend the festival. CULT MEMBER badge purchasers will receive 3 free months of Alamo Season Pass, in addition to exclusive merchandise and events.
We are proud to present 94 feature films and episodics, as well as a variety of short film selections to be announced at a later date — all showcasing World, North American, U.S. and Regional Premieres. See below for the full lineup of feature film programming at this year’s festival.
FILM LINEUP BELOW:
30 COINS (Season 2, Episodes 1 & 2)
Produced in Spain for HBO Europe, 2023
World Premiere, 110 min
Director – Álex de la Iglesia
Welcome to hell.
100 YARDS
China, 2023
US Premiere, 108 min
Directors – Xu Haofeng & Xu Junfeng
Shen An wages war on the streets of Tianjin after losing control of his martial arts academy in a humiliating duel with his father’s apprentice.
ACID
France, 2023
North American Premiere,99 min
Director – Just Philippot
In a world messed up by climate change, a girl and her divorced parents must cross a devastated France under strange clouds pouring acid rain.
THE ALL GOLDEN
Canada, 2023
World Premiere, 64 min
Director – Nate Wilson
In veteran Fantastic Fest filmmaker Nate Wilson’s kaleidoscopic and labyrinthine deconstructionist satire, a laid-up polyamorous bicycle courier discovers that her older, scholarly boyfriend has been keeping a sinister secret in his closet.
THE ALTMAN METHOD
Israel, 2022
North American Premiere, 101 min
Director – Nadav Aronowicz
A struggling actress questions her husband’s account of a brutal act of heroism that has won him national recognition and saved his failing business.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 130 min
Director – Thomas Cailley
Emile’s dad moves him to southern France, where his mom is held in a facility for patients afflicted with an illness that mutates them into animals.
ANIMALIA
France, Morocco, Qatar, 2023
Texas Premiere, 91 min
Director – Sofia Alaoui
Separated from her husband during a state of emergency, pregnant Itto is stranded in a village, where she starts to experience mysterious phenomena.
BABY ASSASSINS 2
Japan, 2023
US Premiere, 101 min
Director – Hugo Sakamoto
The Baby Assassins have been suspended from the Assassin Guild and it’s hard to find a new job when you’ve got a fanboy assassin duo out to kill you.
BARK
Germany, 2023
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Marc Schölermann
A businessman tied to a tree deep in the woods struggles to convince an outdoorsman to cut him free after the hunter sets up camp to watch him die.
BLONDE DEATH (Presented by Bleeding Skull)
USA, 1984
World Premiere of Restoration, 98 min
Director – James Dillinger aka James Robert Baker
Bleeding Skull presents a tale of death, drugs, and Disneyland in James Robert Baker’s essential chapter of queer cinema history.
BLOOD DINER
USA,1987
90 min
Director – Jackie Kong
A brain in a jar orders his cannibal nephews to dismember call girls in their diner’s kitchen to patch together a perfect body for an ancient goddess.
THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 102 min
Director – Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry returns with a tongue-in-cheek satire about an idiosyncratic filmmaker who will do anything to execute his vision.
BUGGED! (Presented by AGFA and Troma)
USA, 1996
82 min
Director – Ronald K. Armstrong
Following a freak lab accident, a woman hires the Dead and Buried Exterminators to rid her house of some overgrown crickets but they all soon realize the bugs are radioactive beasties with a lust for blood!
CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT
USA, Italy, 1980
North American Premiere,173 min
Art historian Thomas Negovan offers a new cut of one of the most decadent movies ever made, using outtakes to reconcile the film to its original script.
CENTIPEDE HORROR (Presented by AGFA and Error 4444)
Hong Kong, 1982
94 min
Director – Keith Li
After his sister dies under mysterious circumstances while on vacation, Wai Lun decides to take matters into his own hands. Soon enough, he discovers a family curse, battling wizards, and centipedes.
COBWEB
South Korea, 2023
US Premiere, 135 min
Director – Kim Jee-woon
Director Kim Jee-woon’s ravishing and raucous tale of a director trying to finish his magnum opus in the censorship-prone 1970s Korean film industry.
THE COFFEE TABLE
Spain, 2022
North American Premiere, 90 min
Director – Caye Casas
Sometimes a gaudy coffee table is just a coffee table, and sometimes it’s the catalyst for a nightmarish descent into ruination.
CONANN
France, Luxembourg, Belgium, 2023
US Premiere, 105 min
Director – Bertrand Mandico
Fantastic Fest favorite Bertrand Mandico is back with his uniquely beautiful and bizarre time-traveling spin on the myth of Conan the Barbarian.
CONCRETE UTOPIA
South Korea, 2023
Texas Premiere, 130 min
Director – Um Tae-hwa
A magnetic Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon lead this dark, high-stakes disaster parable of Korea’s fevered obsession with real estate and class forms.
THE CREATOR
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere,133 min
Director – Gareth Edwards
From director/co-writer Gareth Edwards (ROGUE ONE, GODZILLA) comes an epic sci-fi action thriller
set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence.
CRUMB CATCHER
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 103 min
Director – Chris Skotchdopole
An anxiety-inducing chamber piece that will make you fondly remember the worst high-pressure sales pitch you’ve ever delivered (or endured).
THE CULT OF AGFA TRAILER SHOW (Presented by AGFA)
USA, 2023
World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 77 min
Director – Joseph A. Ziemba & Bret Berg
The world premiere 35mm screening of AGFA’s wildest mixtape yet.
THE DEEP DARK
France, 2023
International Premiere, 100 min
Director – Mathieu Turi
A group of coal miners unintentionally free a bloodthirsty creature after accompanying a professor down to a hidden crypt discovered deep in the mine.
DIVINITY
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 88 min
Director – Eddie Alcazar
A mad scientist’s serum grants perfect bodies and immortality, but at a cost: rampant infertility leads to an undying society based only on pleasure.
DOOR
Japan, 1988
North American Premiere, 94 min
Director – Banmei Takahashi
A lonely housewife is held hostage in her own apartment by an increasingly deranged door-to-door salesman in this forgotten home invasion masterpiece.
EILEEN
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 97 min
Director – William Oldroyd
Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
ENTER THE CLONES OF BRUCE
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere, 94 min
Director – David Gregory
In the wake of Bruce Lee’s sudden death, film studios rushed to capitalize on the irreplaceable icon, and a new subgenre was born — Bruceploitation.
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (Episodes 1 & 2)
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 120 min
Director – Mike Flanagan
Roderick Usher, CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, must face his past when brutal and mysterious incidents start affecting his family.
FALLING STARS
USA, 2023
North American Premiere, 80 min
Directors – Richard Karpala & Gabriel Bienczycki
Three brothers set out on the first night of Harvest to check out the desiccated remains of the witch that their friend has buried in the desert.
THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS
Spain, 2023
US Premiere, 97 min
Directors – Burnin’ Percebes
After his best friend falls to his death and shatters into pottery shards, Juan uncovers a secret world of living golems in this offbeat comedy.
FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL VOL. 10
USA,2023
Texas Premiere, 85 min
Directors – Joe Pickett & Nick Prueher
Joe Pickett (THE ONION) and Nick Prueher (LATE SHOW) take you on a guided tour through their latest and greatest VHS finds.
FOUR’S A CROWD
Spain, 2022
Texas Premiere, 100 min
Director – Álex de la Iglesia
Two unexpected passengers complicate an Uber driver’s plan to declare his feelings for one of his regular customers during a 300 km drive to Madrid.
A GUIDE TO BECOMING AN ELM TREE
Ireland, 2023
North American Premiere, 75 min
Directors – Skye & Adam Mann
Padraig (James O Healy) is pulled into a dark world of Irish Mythology and magic as he struggles to deal with his past actions.
I’LL CRUSH Y’ALL
Spain, 2023
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Kike Narcea
A retired boxing champion and his dog must defend his family’s country farm from wave after wave of gangsters in this bloody, bare-knuckle brawler.
IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, 2023
Texas Premiere, 97 min
Director – Kenneth Dagatan
A Filipino girl living under Japanese occupation learns the tragic consequences of making deals when a fairy’s gifts extract pounds of flesh.
THE INVISIBLE FIGHT
Estonia, Latvia, Greece, Finland, 2023
North American Premiere, 115 min
Director – Rainer Sarnet
After martial artists take out his Soviet post on the China border, a mechanic seeks kung fu mastery at a monastery in this wuxia-inspired comedy.
JACKDAW
UK, 2023
World Premiere, 97 min
Director – Jamie Childs
Former motocross champion Jack Dawson embarks on a dark odyssey through his decaying Rust Belt town after being double-crossed by the local kingpin.
THE JAR (CHARON)
USA, 1984
World Premiere of Restoration,85 min
Director – Bruce Tuscano
After hitting an old man with his car, Paul is left with a jar holding a demonic creature that opens a portal to strange worlds and psychotic visions.
KENNEDY
India, 2023
US Premiere, 144 min
Director – Anurag Kashyap
Kennedy works as a contract killer for a corrupt police commissioner with the hope of exacting vengeance on the man who murdered his son.
KILL DOLLY KILL
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 79 min
Director – Heidi Moore
Dolly Deadly is out to win Serial Killer of the Year, and she’ll violate all sense of good taste to snatch the crown and look fabulous while doing it.
KILLING ROMANCE
South Korea, 2023
Texas Premiere, 107 min
Director – Lee Won-suk
A toxic masculinity-bashing karaoke musical phantasmagoria from the magical mind of LEE Won-suk, KILLING ROMANCE will stick in your head for months.
KIM’S VIDEO
USA, UK, France, 2023
Texas Premiere, 86 min
Directors – David Redmon & Ashley Sabin
An aspiring filmmaker with fond memories of browsing the shelves of a defunct NY video store attempts to rescue its singular collection of VHS tapes.
THE LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY
USA, 2023
World Premiere,90 min
Director – Francis Galluppi
A traveling salesman and a waitress face down two murderous bank robbers while waiting for gas at the last pump before a hundred miles of desert.
THE LAST VIDEO STORE
Canada, 2023
World Premiere, 83 min
Directors – Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford
Blaster Video’s only employee teams up with his best customer’s daughter to fight off an onslaught of B-movie baddies made real by a VHS necronomicon.
LETTERS TO THE POSTMAN
UK, England, 2022
US Premiere, 61 min
Director – Felix Dembinski
A naive postman finds himself corresponding with a mysterious woman in Felix Dembinski’s auspicious and bewitching folk fable.
MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW
UK, 2023
North American Premiere, 124 min
Director – Jake West
A hilarious, action-packed documentary chronicling the fascinating life of indie filmmaker Cliff Twemlow and the industry he built in Manchester, UK.
#MANHOLE
Japan, 2023
Texas Premiere, 99 min
Director – Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
The premise is a simple one: After a night of hard drinking on the night before his wedding, a man falls into an open manhole. How will he escape?
MESSIAH OF EVIL (Presented by AGFA and Radiance Films)
USA, 1974
World Premiere of 35mm Restoration, 90 min
Directors – Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck
AGFA and Radiance Films present a brand new, restored 35mm print of Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’ artful nightmare.
MUSHROOMS
Poland, 2023
World Premiere, 75 min
Director – Paweł Borowski
An old lady stumbles upon a lost couple while picking mushrooms. They beg for help getting out of the forest, but she senses that something is off.
THE NEST (Presented by AGFA and Shout! Factory)
USA, 1988
89 min
Director – Terence H. Winkless
Roaches have never tasted flesh… Until now.
NOWHERE
USA, 1997
Texas Premiere of 4K Restoration, 83 min
Director – Gregg Araki
A bunch of LA teens realize they’re witnessing the apocalypse as they seek out a wild party in this 4K restoration of Gregg Araki’s cult classic.
ONE-PERCENTER
Japan, 2023
North American Premiere, 85 min
Director – Yûdai Yamaguchi
An aging stuntman caught in a brutal feud between yakuza gangs finally shoots the pure action thriller he’s been obsessing over his entire career.
THE ORIGIN
UK, 2023
North American Premiere, 87 min
Director – Andrew Cumming
A group fights for survival against an unknown adversary in this stone age thriller.
THE OTHER LAURENS
Belgium, France, 2023
North American Premiere, 117 min
Director – Claude Schmitz
When his niece shows up at his door looking for help, shaggy-dog P.I. Gabriel Laurens is unwittingly drawn into his twin’s shady criminal underworld.
THE PEOPLE’S JOKER
USA, 2022
Texas Premiere, 92 min
Director – Vera Drew
The Joker finds new purpose in Gotham City after transitioning and opening an illegal comedy club in Vera Drew’s handcrafted superhero genre parody.
PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES
USA, Canada, 2023
World Premiere, 87 min
Director – Lindsey Anderson Beer
In 1969, a young Jud Crandall and his childhood friends band together to confront an ancient evil that has gripped their hometown. PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES is a terrifying prequel based on chapters from Stephen King’s novel “Pet Sematary.”
PROJECT SILENCE
South Korea, 2023
North American Premiere,101 min
Director – Tae-gon Kim
A car pileup on a foggy bridge pits survivors against a pack of vicious dogs in this satirical horror pitched between THE HOST and TRAIN TO BUSAN.
PROPERTY
Brazil, 2022
North American Premiere, 101 min
Director – Daniel Bandeire
A gang of disenfranchised farmhands traps a traumatized woman in her armored car in Daniel Bandeira’s Brazilian take on the home invasion.
RAGE
Mexico, 2023
North American Premiere, 93 min
Director – Jorge Michel Grau
The only child in a rundown gated community mourns his mother’s death as suspicious events lead him to suspect that his father may be a werewolf.
RESTORE POINT
Czech Republic, 2023
North American Premiere, 108 min
Director – Robert Hloz
A detective investigates a double homicide in a near-future world where technology allows those who die violently to be rebooted from a data backup.
RIDDLE OF FIRE
USA, 2023
US Premiere, 113 min
Director – Weston Razooli
Three children go on an epic quest to uncover the password for their TV, finding themselves in their own video game-like adventure in the real world.
RIVER
Japan, 2023
US Premiere, 86 min
Director – Junta Yamaguchi
Kikaku Theater Group, the team behind our 2021 Audience Award winner BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES, returns with more two-minute time loop hijinks.
THE SACRIFICE GAME
USA/CANADA, 2023
US Premiere, 100 min
Director – Jenn Wexler
Disillusioned demon worshipers end a string of grisly murders by interrupting a boarding school’s quiet Christmas in this ‘70s-era Satanic Panic romp.
SALEM
France, 2023
International Premiere, 115 min
Director – Jean-Bernard Marlin
A former gang member begins to believe that his daughter will be their slum’s new messiah after a rival curses the neighborhood with his dying breath.
SCALA!!!
UK, 2023
North American Premiere, 96 min
Directors – Jane Giles & Ali Catterall
The story behind London’s legendary Scala Cinema, which screened the most outrageous movies before it was sued and shuttered for showing A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
SLEEP
South Korea, 2023
US Premiere, 95 min
Director – Jason Yu
Somnambulism takes on a frightful new meaning in this clever, claustrophobic Korean chiller from former Bong Joon-ho assistant director Jason Yu.
SO UNREAL
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 95 min
Director – Amanda Kramer
Amanda Kramer’s documentary collage looks back at the subgenre of films concerned with cyberspace, hackers, and the first days of the internet.
SPOOKTACULAR!
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 105 min
Director – Quinn Monahan
A new documentary tells the warts-and-all story behind America’s first horror theme park, Spooky World.
SRI ASIH: THE WARRIOR
Indonesia, 2022
North American Premiere, 133 min
Director – Upi Avianto
An aspiring boxer discovers she’s a reincarnation of the goddess Asih in this Indonesian superhero movie focused on punching terrible men in the face.
STOPMOTION
UK, 2023
World Premiere, 93 min
Director – Robert Morgan
A stop-motion animator puts up with her overbearing, sick mother in Robert Morgan’s haunting debut.
STRANGE DARLING
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 96 min
Director – JT Mollner
One day in the life of a serial killer.
THE STRANGLER
France, 1970
US Premiere of 2K Restoration, 95 min
Director – Paul Vecchiali
A killer and a detective cross paths as they hunt for an answer to their respective feelings of loneliness in the world premiere of the restoration of this 1970 Giallo.
SUBURBAN TALE
India, 2023
World Premiere, 89 min
Director – Stephen Alexander
A young woman reluctantly returns home for her estranged sister’s wedding only to discover that her family is hiding a possessed boy in their home.
SUITABLE FLESH
USA, 2023
Texas Premiere,100 min
Director – Joe Lynch
A casual, intimate encounter with a patient leads a psychologist into the cosmic, kinky world of Lovecraftian horror headlined by Barbara Crampton and Heather Graham.
THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE BARN
Norway, 2023
World Premiere, 96 min
Director – Magnus Martens
After inheriting an old cabin in Norway, an American family moves there with the intention of turning the adjoining barn into a bed and breakfast. They end up disturbing a barn elf who will go to deadly lengths to drive the family away.
TIGER STRIPES
Malaysia, Taiwan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, 2023
US Premiere, 95 min
Director – Amanda Nell Eu
A dreamy horror fairy tale about a teenage girl who notices strange, transformative changes in her body soon after getting her first period.
TOTALLY KILLER
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 106 min
Director – Nahnatchka Khan
When the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” returns 35 years after his first murder spree to claim another victim, 17-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) accidentally travels back in time to 1987, determined to stop the killer before he can start.
THE TOXIC AVENGER
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 102 min
Director – Macon Blair
A horrible toxic accident transforms downtrodden janitor Winston Gooze into a new evolution of hero: THE TOXIC AVENGER!
TRIGGERED
Philippines, 2023
North American Premiere, 113 min
Director – Richard V. Somes
Procuring a job as a night watchman as a re-entry back into civilian life, ex-soldier Miguel finds himself caught in a gun battle between a drug cartel and a corrupt police unit.
UFO SWEDEN
Sweden, 2022
North American Premiere, 115 min
Director – Victor Danell
A rebellious teenager seeks out the help of a disgraced meteorologist’s ufology society to locate her father years after he vanished into thin air.
THE UNCLE
Croatia, Serbia, 2022
US Premiere, 104 min
Directors – David Kapac & Andrija Mardešić
A family prepares for their uncle’s Christmas visit, but the festivities are dampened by the fact that he’ll return in a few days to celebrate again.
V/H/S/85
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 110 min
Directors – David Bruckner, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Natasha Kermani, Mike Nelson, & Scott Derrickson
The iconic found footage series returns with an array of explosive, bloody scares set in a decade obsessed with serial killers and the Satanic Panic.
VERMIN
France, 2023
North American Premiere, 100 min
Director – Sébastien Vaniček
A critter collector’s purchase of a venomous spider turns his entire apartment building into a death trap after it escapes from its shoebox enclosure.
VISITORS (COMPLETE EDITION)
Japan, 2023
World Premiere, 61 min
Director – Kenichi Ugana
A rock ‘n’ roll band drop in unannounced on a friend and find themselves plummeting into a wackadoo reverie of monsters and mayhem.
THE WAIT
Spain, 2023
North American Premiere,99 min
Director – F. Javier Gutiérrez
The gamekeeper of a wealthy man’s rural hunting grounds accepts a bribe from the local hunting guide, which spirals downward into dire consequences.
WAKE UP
France, 2023
World Premiere, 90 min
Directors – RKSS
Gen Z activists are violently picked off by a deranged night watchman after sneaking into an environmentally destructive big-box furniture store.
WE ARE ZOMBIES
France, Canada, 2023
International Premiere, 80 min
Directors – RKSS
Canadian filmmaker collective RKSS returns with a hilarious, violent take on a post-apocalyptic world where zombies are misunderstood, unalive citizens.
WHAT YOU WISH FOR
USA, 2023
US Premiere, 101 min
Director – Nicholas Tomnay
A down-and-out sous-chef gets more than he bargained for when he steps into the life of an old culinary school pal, a private chef for the über-rich.
WHEN EVIL LURKS
Argentina, Uruguay, 2023
US Premiere, 99 min
Director – Demián Rugna
Two brothers uncover a deadly secret festering in their village and are soon in a race to contain a demon threatening to extinguish their community.
WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS
USA, 2023
US Premiere, 92 min
Directors – John Adams, Zelda Adams, & Toby Poser
After a fatal trespassing incident, Eve steals a terrifying artifact from a fellow carnival performer in the hope of bringing her parents back.
YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME
Australia, 2023
Texas Premiere, 96 min
Directors – Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell
A strange woman desperate for shelter from a harrowing storm picks the wrong trailer to seek refuge… or did she choose exactly right?
YOU’RE NOT ME
Spain, 2023
World Premiere,98 min
Directors – Marisa Crespo & Moisés Romera
Aitana shows up at her estranged parents’ home for a surprise Christmas visit and discovers they’ve replaced her with a strange live-in caretaker.
YOUR LUCKY DAY
USA, 2023
World Premiere, 89 min
Director – Dan Brown
After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.
Greenpoint Film Festival – Into The Spotlight Green Carpet 2023
Brooklyn’s Greenpoint Film Festival announced the winning films and filmmakers following the conclusion of its 12th edition. Piotr Stasik’s Film For Aliens was a two-time winner, taking home the Best Narrative Feature award as well as the festival’s Grand Jury Award. Thaddeus D. Matula’s Into The Spotlight won Best Documentary Feature.
The Greenpoint Film Festival also announced the films/filmmakers selected for their coveted R2W2 Accelerator and Mentorship Prizes. Maegan A. Houang won the GFF23 Short to Feature Accelerator Prize for her “audaciously original and promisingly groundbreaking work” in Astonishing Little Feet, and Alex Spott won the GFF23 Talent Mentorship Prize for the “clarity of vision and creativity” showcased in her film No Other Gods But Me. The Short to Feature Accelerator Prize consists of in-kind consultation services in development, financing, production to distribution that will lay the groundwork to propel the short film into the production of the feature film version of it, while the Talent Mentorship Prize consists of coaching the winning talent to help best position themselves in the market and to lay the groundwork for having a sustainable talent career.
Greenpoint Film Festival Creative Director Ricardo Vilar, said, “This was a wonderful edition of the film festival, highlighted by a coming together of filmmakers both local and as far away as Europe and Asia to share their films with us and connect with each other, here in North Brooklyn. It was exciting to hear audience members and their fellow filmmakers give feedback with conversations inspired by the thought provoking subjects and entertaining cinema they had just watched. Presenting these awards was a perfect way to wrap up a fantastic event celebrating truly independent film.”
Additional winners included Anne Hu’s Lunchbox (Best Narrative Short Film), Alex Ramsey’s Limbo (Best Documentary Short Film), and Chen Sing Yap’s Feeling The Apocalypse (Best Animation Film). Honorable mentions went to Lorena Russi’s A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms, Manal Fadlala’s Achromatism, Sam Motamedi’s Repentance, Noam Argov’s Sulam, and Simon Schneider’s Zeitpunkt X.
Following a standing room only screening of Michał Kwieciński’s Filip at the Polish Consulate, the Greenpoint Film Festival presented four days of screenings, panels, and interactive presentations at The Boiler / ELM Foundation (191 N. 14th Street) which included interactive conversations with a computer-generated killer whale for audience members waiting to take their seats the next screening. The lineup has strong representation from Poland, as well as a respectful nod to Ukraine courtesy of the Opening Night presentation of Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Roslowski’s dramatic feature The Hamlet Syndrome and Orr Bortman’s short documentary Lesyk a.k.a. Words of Wisdom. Eventual award-winner Piotr Stasik headed a special workshop, “How to Make a Documentary in One Day,” for young, aspiring filmmakers (21 years-old or less), and the Closing Night presentation of Saim Sadiq’s Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner Joyland concluded the festival with a special pre-recorded interview with Sadiq and cast members with Siddhant Adlakha following the screening.
This year the Greenpoint Film Festival also teamed up with New York City’s largest soundstage company – Broadway Stages, highlighting their commitment to renewable energy and eco-friendly production utilizing “green” venue dressings, including a Step-and-Repeat made of wood with replaceable logos.
To find more information on the Greenpoint Film Festival, please visit: https://greenpointfilmfestival.org/.
2023 Greenpoint Film Festival Filmmaker Awards
Grand Jury Award Film For Aliens
Director: Piotr Stasik
Best Narrative Feature Film Film For Aliens
Director: Piotr Stasik
Best Documentary Feature Film Into The Spotlight
Director: Thaddeus D. Matula
R2W2 Short to Feature Accelerator Prize Astonishing Little Feet
Director: Maegan A. Houang
R2W2 Talent Mentorship Prize No Other Gods But Me
Director: Alex Spott
Best Narrative Short Film Lunchbox
Director: Anne Hu
Best Documentary Short Film Limbo
Director: Alex Ramsey
Best Animation Film Feeling The Apocalypse
Director: Chen Sing Yap
Honorable Mentions A History of Sitting in Waiting Rooms
Director: Lorena Russi
The Great Monster Yonggary aka Yongary, Monster from the Deep / Daegoesu Yonggari
Film at Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema announce “Korean Cinema’s Golden Decade: The 1960s,” a sweeping retrospective that features 24 films from this remarkable period in Korean film history. The series will run from September 1–17 and is one of the largest retrospectives ever of 1960s Korean Cinema outside of Korea, including many rarely screened films, several presented on 35mm archival prints.
Long before Bong Joon Ho, Hong Sangsoo, and Park Chan-wook catapulted South Korean cinema onto the world stage, the foundation of their country’s film industry formed in the aftermath of the Korean War. The period kickstarted a wealth of eclectic and innovative filmmaking that culminated in the 1960s. Closer inspection of this decade, now widely considered Korea’s premier film renaissance, reveals the arrival of seminal works from auteurs such as Kim Ki-young, Shin Sang-ok, Yu Hyun-mok, Kim Soo-yong, and Lee Man-hee, alongside a meteoric rise and reinvention of genres—from melodramas and period epics to action, horror, war, and giant monster movies. Although the military dictatorship still imposed tight constraints throughout this era, what these filmmakers managed to accomplish under such conditions, in arthouse fare and unabashed popular entertainment alike, continues to reverberate and inspire to this day. This September, Film at Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema are thrilled to showcase this rich period and its remarkably varied films, encapsulating a generation’s collective endeavor to define a national cinema.
Highlights include Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid, one of the unquestionable masterpieces of Korean cinema which tells the story of a bizarre ménage à trois formed between a music teacher, his wife, and their increasingly assertive housemaid; Kang Dae-jin’s The Coachman, the first Korean film to win a major overseas award, the Silver Bear (Special Jury Prize) at the 1961 Berlin Film Festival; Hong Eun-won’s A Woman Judge, the second Korean feature to be directed by a woman and considered lost for more than 50 years until a 16mm print was recovered in 2015; Special Agent X-7, a highly entertaining and beautifully shot color spy film from Chung Chang-wha (The King Boxer), which was also long considered lost until the 35mm print was discovered in 2013; Kim Kee-duk’s The Great Monster Yonggary aka Yongary, Monster from the Deep, Korea’s first monster movie and an entertaining take on Godzilla and Gamera “that’s long on rampages and short on sensible behavior”; Shin Dong-hun’s The Story of Hong Gil-dong, South Korea’s very first animated feature film which follows the iconic Robin Hood-like figure Hong Gil-dong and was considered lost until 2008; and A Day Off, Lee Man-hee’s spare, lyrical film concerning the strained relationship of a poor young couple, belatedly recognized as one of the decade’s masterpieces after censors refused to allow its release.
The series will also include conversations following select screenings. After the September 2 screening of Yu Hyun-mok’s seminal Aimless Bullet, audiences will be treated to a discussion about the growth of the Korean film industry and major trends and filmmakers in Korean cinema in the 1960s—a not to be missed primer for the series as a whole; and on September 3, a conversation will follow the international premiere of the newly restored The Marines Who Never Returned, and how Lee Man-hee’s breakthrough feature became the first Korean movie to gain national theatrical distribution in the U.S.
Organized by Young Jin Eric Choi, Goran Topalovic, and Tyler Wilson. Co-presented by Subway Cinema in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Center New York and the Korean Film Archive.
Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, August 3 at 2pm, with an early access period for FLC Members starting at noon.Tickets are $17; $14 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $12 for FLC Members. See more and save with a 3+ Film Package ($15 for GP; $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $10 for FLC Members) or All-Access Pass: $125 for General Public and $99 for Students. Add dinner at Café Paradiso, located in FLC’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, with our $30 Dinner + Movie Combo.
Enjoy two films for the price of one at select double features! Valid on September 2 & 17 with The Story of Hong Gil-dong + Hopi and Chadol-bawi , September 9 & 16 with The Great Monster Yonggary + Space Monster Wangmagwi, and September 14 with A Swordsman in the Twilight + Special Agent X-7. Discount automatically applied when adding both tickets to your cart; double features excluded from 3+ Film Package.
“Korean Cinema’s Golden Decade: The 1960s” is sponsored by MUBI GO. With MUBI GO, you can get a free ticket every week to see the best new film in a theater near you, plus a wide selection of films to stream any time, from iconic directors to emerging auteurs. All carefully chosen by MUBI’s curators.
Opening September 1, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum will present Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970 s, the first North American museum exhibition dedicated to Korean Experimental art (silheom misul) and its artists, whose radical approach to materials and process produced some of the most significant avant-garde practices of the 20th century.
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS
Films will screen at the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th St).
The Housemaid / Hanyo
Kim Ki-young, 1960, South Korea, 108m
Korean with English subtitles
One of the unquestionable masterpieces of Korean cinema, The Housemaid tells the story of Dong-sik, a married music teacher living in a working-class area. One of his students arranges for another young woman to work as the housemaid for Dong-sik and his family; meanwhile, the student expresses her own physical desires for Dong-sik, who rebuffs her. But the whole episode is witnessed by the housemaid, who launches her own, ultimately more successful effort to seduce Dong-sik. The housemaid becomes pregnant, and thus a bizarre ménage à trois is formed between Dong-sik, his wife, and their increasingly assertive housemaid. The Housemaid is an emotional roller coaster; characters’ stated desires so often contradict their actions that roles and positions are constantly in flux. Restored in 2008 by the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) and the World Cinema Foundation at HFR-Digital Film laboratory. Additional funding provided by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, and Qatar Museum Authority. Saturday, September 2 at 9:00pm
Saturday, September 9 at 6:00pm
Thursday, September 14 at 4:00pm
Aimless Bullet / Obaltan
Yu Hyun-mok, 1961, South Korea, 107m
Korean with English subtitles
Banned in 1961 for its scathing critique of postwar reconstruction but now widely hailed as one of the greatest Korean films ever made, Yu Hyun-mok’s breakout feature was this unrelentingly bleak, noir-tinged melodrama set in the aftermath of the Korean War. The film follows the tragic bond between two brothers living with their surviving family in a Seoul slum called Liberation Village. While Cheol-ho, an accountant suffering from a toothache he can’t afford to treat, struggles to scrape together a meager existence, the senseless consequences of the war gradually tear at the seams of his family and push his younger brother, Young-Ho, to a desperate measure. An on-location tour through the traumatized atmosphere of Korea’s capital, Aimless Bullet artfully blends expressionist and neorealist styles within a grimly introspective portrait of a nation left shattered by hatred and fear—touching on everything from military prostitution and economic inequality to the exploitations of the film industry itself. Restored in 2015 by the Korean Film Archive. Saturday, September 2 at 6:00pm (post-screening discussion on the growth of the Korean film industry and major trends and filmmakers in 1960s Korean cinema)
Wednesday, September 6 at 6:15pm
Tuesday, September 12 at 4:00pm
The Coachman / Mabu
Kang Dae-jin, 1961, South Korea, 98m
Korean with English subtitles
An aging widower with two sons and two daughters makes a living operating a horse-drawn cart but, in a city that is modernizing after the destruction of the Korean War, automobiles are quickly rendering such carts obsolete. The Coachman is a drama told with warmth and sympathy about a family trying to lift its way out of poverty and into the middle class. The father, played by the iconic Kim Seung-ho, represents many older residents of the time who were not able to cope with the rapid social changes of the era. The Coachman was the first Korean film to win a major overseas award, receiving the Silver Bear (Special Jury Prize) at the 1961 Berlin Film Festival. Although now somewhat overshadowed by its contemporaries The Housemaid and Aimless Bullet, The Coachman remains a crowd-pleaser and a revealing portrait of a society in transition. Restored in 2021 by the Korean Film Archive. Tuesday, September 5 at 8:30pm
Saturday, September 16 at 2:15pm
A Woman Judge / Yeopansa
Hong Eun-won, 1962, South Korea, 86m
Korean with English subtitles
The second Korean feature to be directed by a woman, A Woman Judge is a revelatory directorial debut from Hong Eun-won that is loosely inspired by a true story. The film revolves around Jin-sook, a newly appointed judge who is facing mounting pressure from her jealous husband and his family to conform to the traditional expectations of a housewife. As compelling as this family melodrama is in itself, the film is particularly remarkable for its sudden tonal shift in the third act, transforming seamlessly into a detective procedural before culminating in a riveting courtroom climax. It was considered lost for more than 50 years (the fate of Hong’s two subsequent directorial efforts), but then a 16mm print was recovered by the Korean Film Archive in 2015. Though the film is plagued with severe deterioration and missing footage, the story of a fearless woman who fought against societal norms, told by a director who herself broke the boundaries of her time, bursts through the noise and resonates to this day. Digitally mastered in 2015 by the Korean Film Archive. Tuesday, September 5 at 6:30pm
Monday, September 11 at 8:45pm
Goryeojang
Kim Ki-young, 1963, South Korea, 89m (Film Festival Version)
Korean with English subtitles
Set in a famine-inflicted village that practices the custom of abandoning the elderly in the mountains once they reach the age of 70, the story follows the trials of Guryong (Kim Jin-kyu) as he goes through life with a disability due to an incident that happened in childhood, while trying to maintain his humanity in an environment filled with fear, greed, and superstition. Likely influenced by Keisuke Kinoshita’s The Ballad of Narayama (1958), Goryeojang is another masterpiece from Kim Ki-young (The Housemaid ) that works as both a dark fairy tale and a reflection on South Korea’s April 1960 Revolution (protests that led to the resignation of president Syngman Rhee). With flawless mise-en-scène, elaborate sets, and atmospheric black-and-white cinematography, the film effectively brings to light the inherent corruption of human society, and the disastrous consequences of fear-based politics. Restored in 2019 by the Korean Film Archive. The original screenplay has been utilized to provide on-screen description of the missing scenes (the third and the sixth reels), for which only audio remains. Sunday, September 3 at 6:00pm
Wednesday, September 6 at 4:15pm
Saturday, September 9 at 8:30pm
The Marines Who Never Returned / Dora-oji Anneun Haebyeong
Lee Man-hee, 1963, South Korea, 110m
Korean with English subtitles
International Premiere of the 4K restoration
Lee Man-hee’s breakthrough feature, The Marines Who Never Returned, is simultaneously among his most acclaimed films and one of the greatest Korean War films ever made. Produced within 10 years of the armistice, the film centers on a squad of marines who happen across a newly orphaned girl in the battlefield, Young-hui. Taking her under their wings, the marines form a heartwarming bond with Young-hui that lifts their spirits as they take on increasingly dangerous odds. The Marines Who Never Returned was a gargantuan production with the full support of the Korean military and the use of live ammunition and explosives that lend the combat sequences a rarely achieved level of authenticity. But what elevates the film as a classic is its warmth and humor, brought to life by the heartfelt camaraderie amongst the soldiers and their newly adopted daughter. The first Korean film to achieve a nationwide commercial release in the United States, the film is presented here in a beautiful 4K restoration version for the first time outside of Korea. Restored in 2022 by the Korean Film Archive. Sunday, September 3 at 3:00pm (post-screening discussion on Lee Man-hee’s breakthrough feature and how it became the first Korean movie to gain national theatrical distribution in the U.S.)
Thursday, September 7 at 4:00pm
Friday, September 15 at 4:00pm
The Devil’s Stairway / Ma-ui Gyue-dan
Lee Man-hee, 1964, South Korea, 110m
Korean with English subtitles
With the Diabolique-tinged The Devil’s Stairway, featuring a striking setting and superbly executed black-and-white photography, Lee Man-hee (A Day Off) added to the list of Korea’s most accomplished psychological thrillers. The film takes place in a gothic-looking two-story hospital and focuses on an ambitious doctor who stands on the verge of becoming chief surgeon by marrying the hospital owner’s daughter. However, a clandestine affair the doctor is having with one of the nurses puts his plans in jeopardy. When the doctor’s lover becomes jealous and events start spinning out of control, he takes drastic measures to cover up the affair. Actor Kim Jin-gyu as the doctor and Moon Jeong-sook (one of Lee Man-hee’s favorite actresses) as the nurse both excel in their roles, completely convincing in their depictions of betrayal, revenge, and guilt-induced paranoia. Restored in 2015 by the Korean Film Archive. Friday, September 8 at 6:30pm
Friday, September 15 at 8:45pm
The Red Muffler / Ppalgan Mahura
Shin Sang-ok, 1964, South Korea, 105m
Korean with English subtitles
Shin Sang-ok, a pivotal figure in the South Korean film industry—as a prolific director, producer, and a studio mogul running Shin Films—had a soaring box-office hit on his hands with The Red Muffler. Taking place near the end of the Korean War, the story is centered around a tough but kindhearted air force major, his mentorship of a rookie pilot, and his relationship with a hostess working at a local bar (star Choi Eun-hee and director Shin’s wife) with whom he has a history. Featuring exciting battles in the air (the first-ever application of aerial cinematography in Korean cinema), heartbreaking romance on the ground, and even a musical number, this precursor to Top Gun is a blockbusting, rousing, and romanticized tribute to South Korea’s jet-fighter pilots, and a perfectly packaged piece of popular entertainment of its time. Restored in 2012 by the Korean Film Archive. Tuesday, September 5 at 4:00pm
Sunday, September 10 at 8:00pm
Wednesday, September 13 at 4:15pm
The Barefooted Young / Maenbal-ui Cheongchun
Kim Kee-duk, 1964, South Korea, 116m
Korean with English subtitles
A new genre emerged in South Korea in the 1960s. This was the first decade in which youth culture- strongly influenced by the West- clearly distinguished itself from the values and lifestyle of older generations. Of the ”youth films” that emerged depicting and celebrating this culture, Kim Kee-duk’s The Barefooted Young is by far the best known. Mixing humor and social critique in its story of a poor young troublemaker who falls in love with a wealthy ambassador’s daughter, the film highlights not only Korea’s stark class divisions, but also its widening generation gap, with increasingly wild youth and ever more alarmed parents. Nearly banned by censors, the film enjoyed huge commercial success, turning lead actors Shin Sung-il and Eom Aeng-ran into the decade’s most famous on- and off-screen couple. Digital mastered in 2011 under the supervision of the Korean Film Archive. Friday, September 1 at 6:15pm
Tuesday, September 12 at 8:30pm
The Empty Dream / Chunmong
Yu Hyun-mok, 1965, South Korea, 71m
Korean with English subtitles
A young man and woman under anesthesia for oral surgery meet in a shared dream and fall into an increasingly bizarre love triangle with their dentist. So begins Yu Hyun-mok’s lusty and sinister headtrip of a film, which takes Tetsuji Takechi’s pink film Daydream as its jumping-off point and playfully nods to Yu’s own tooth-ached protagonist in Aimless Bullet while becoming something altogether unclassifiable. A nearly wordless mashup of Freudian ideas played out on strikingly stylized sets, loosely connected by a referential, oddball soundtrack ranging from Johann Strauss’s “On the Blue Danube” to the theme song of René Clément’s pulpy Joy House, The Empty Dream is a wildly imaginative surrealistic gem ripe for rediscovery. Digitally mastered in 2022 by the Korean Film Archive. Wednesday, September 6 at 8:30pm
Sunday, September 10 at 6:00pm
Wednesday, September 13 at 8:30pm
A Bloodthirsty Killer / Sal-inma
Lee Yong-min, 1965, South Korea, 94m
Korean with English subtitles
Classic Korean horror films tend to spring from certain templates, the most common being a story about a woman who is deceived, betrayed, and killed before coming back as an angry ghost to exact her revenge. A Bloodthirsty Killer sticks to this formula, but in all other respects it is unique among its contemporaries. This is thanks in part to director Lee Yong-min’s distinctive style, exaggerated and slightly absurd, with characters behaving in bizarre and unpredictable ways, and the plot lurching quickly from one supernatural twist to the next. Lee also possesses a talent for producing striking visual imagery, despite the difficult conditions under which the film was shot. Korean audiences in the 1960s were surely more impressionable than the horror fans of today, but there is much in this film that will catch even contemporary viewers unawares. Restored in 2021 by the Korean Film Archive. Friday, September 8 at 9:00pm
Sunday, September 17 at 5:30pm
The Seashore Village / Gaenma-eul
Kim Soo-yong, 1965, South Korea, 35mm, 94m
Korean with English subtitles
The prolific Kim Soo-yong (who directed 109 films between 1958 and 2000) brings a meditative and frank sensuality to his screen adaptation of Oh Yeong-su’s novel of the same name, which trains its focus on the women of a remote fishing island commonly left widowed by its dangerous surrounding sea. After one newlywed loses her husband during a fishing expedition, she falls into another relationship with a predatory suitor that leads to their exile to the mountains. A deep and searching exploration of community that sneaks in gestures of sapphic desire, The Seashore Village offers a fascinating, radical examination of postwar Korea’s fractured sense of identity and unfolds in sumptuous, on-location black-and-white cinematography. Restored in 2011 by the Korean Film Archive. Monday, September 4 at 4:15pm
Friday, September 8 at 4:15pm
Sunday, September 17 at 8:00pm
Let’s Meet at Walkerhill / Wokeohileseo Mannapsida
Han Hyeong-mo, 1966, South Korea, 96m
Korean with English subtitles
Two country bumpkins (Twist Kim and Seo Yeong-chun) meet on a train bound for Seoul. One of them is hoping to locate his long-lost daughter in the big city, and the other is looking for a former sweetheart who may now be an up-and-coming nightclub singer. During their search, fish-out-of-water hijinks ensue that stitch together music and dance performances at various Seoul nightclubs and dance halls featuring top stars of the time, including the Park Chun-seok Orchestra, Hyeon Mi, Lee Geum-hee, and Lee Mi-ja. Han Hyeong-mo, one of Korea’s leading filmmakers of the 1950s and known for “women’s pictures” (e.g., Madame Freedom), delivers this charming musical comedy during the late stage of his career. Ultimately, this film is a loving time capsule that gives a front-row view of the music scene of South Korea of the mid-1960s, long before K-pop would take over the world. Digitally mastered in 2013 by the Korean Film Archive. Sunday, September 3 at 12:45pm
Tuesday, September 12 at 6:15pm
Special Agent X-7 / Sunganeun yeongwonhi
Chung Chang-wha, 1966, Hong Kong/South Korea, 106m
No sound, with English subtitles
Legendary action filmmaker Chung Chang-wha (The King Boxer) lights up the screen with his own take on the spy genre. The Korean Intelligence Agency dispatches its top agent, X-7 (Nam Koong-won), to put a stop to a gold-smuggling operation run by North Korean spies in Hong Kong. During his mission, X-7 meets a mysterious woman (Jang Jung-moon) who offers to deliver North Korean secret documents in exchange for 50,000 dollars. Beautifully filmed on locations in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, Special Agent X-7 is full of car chases, spy gadgets, secret lairs, and surprising plot twists—all under the impeccable direction of Chung. After seeing this film, Sir Run Run Shaw (founder of the Shaw Brothers Studio) didn’t think twice about signing an exclusive contract with Chung. Long considered lost, the 35mm print of Special Agent X-7 was discovered in 2013 in Hong Kong, without the sound. Digitally mastered in 2014 by the Korean Film Archive. Sunday, September 3 at 8:00pm
Thursday, September 14 at 8:30pm
The Goddess of Mercy aka The Great Tyrant / Daepokgun
Lim Won-sik, 1966, Hong Kong/South Korea, 97m
Korean with English subtitles
A reimagining of the tale of princess Miao Shan, an incarnation of Bodhisattva Guanyin in Chinese Buddhist teachings, this second collaborative project between the Shaw Brothers Studio and Shin Films marked a high point in Hong Kong-Korea coproductions. Featuring grandiose battles, heavenly miracles, and even song-and-dance numbers, the film spares no expense in delivering sheer spectacle. Two separate versions of the film were shot simultaneously, with Hong Kong actress Li Li-hua and Korean actress Choi Eun-hee each appearing in the titular role. Only the Hong Kong version was known to exist until 2017, when the Korean Film Archive discovered the Korean version, titled The Great Tyrant, among the Shaw Brothers collection. This will mark the first time the Choi Eun-hee version has ever been screened outside of Korea. Digitally mastered in 2017 by the Korean Film Archive. Due to the incomplete nature of the sound elements, 10 minutes of audio is missing from the feature. Monday, September 4 at 8:30pm
Monday, September 11, at 6:30pm
The Great Monster Yonggary aka Yongary, Monster from the Deep / Daegoesu Yonggari
Kim Kee-duk, 1967, South Korea, 35mm, 79m
English-dubbed version
Born out of a nuclear explosion, Yonggary, another misunderstood monster destroying everything in its path, appears on Inwangsan mountain and drives everyone in Seoul into a panic! The authorities are helpless. Can anyone stop Yonggary?! Inspired by kaiju (giant monster) movies, director Kim Kee-duk (The Barefooted Young) set out to make the first Korean monster movie, and enlisted the aid of technical experts from Japan—making this the first collaboration of its kind between South Korea and Japan. The film was released in the United States in 1969 by American International Pictures under the title Yongary, Monster from the Dee p; later it received the Mystery Science Theater 3K treatment, where it was described as a “monster film that’s long on rampages and short on sensible behavior.” What better way to experience this landmark in Korean kaiju cinema than by seeing Yonggary’s lack of sensible behavior on the big screen—and on the only surviving 35mm print. Friday, September 1 at 4:15pm
Saturday, September 9 at 2:15pm
Saturday, September 16 at 8:30pm
Space Monster Wangmagwi / Ujugoein Wangmagwi
Gwon Hyeok-jin, 1967, South Korea, 82m
Korean with English subtitles
Dastardly aliens initiate an invasion of Earth by releasing an enormous creature, Wangmagwi, in the middle of Seoul and waiting as the monster demolishes everything in its path. The incident disrupts the wedding plans of an air force pilot (Nam Kung-won) whose fiancée (Kim Hye-kyeong) is waiting at the wedding hall. The bride-to-be ends up being captured and carried away by Wangmagwi, King Kong–style. Space Monster Wangmagwi, which opened before The Great Monster Yonggary and was accused of plagiarism by Yonggary’s production company, is a bit of a silly hodgepodge. It is part allegory on the Korean War, part kids’ movie, and part comedy, with skits performed by popular comedians as they encounter the monster. In addition to its historical importance, and with a poorly designed rubber suit that is anything but convincing, this film can best be enjoyed as a fun and campy low-budget genre romp. Saturday, September 9 at 4:00pm
Wednesday, September 13 at 6:30pm
Saturday, September 16 at 6:30pm
The Story of Hong Gil-dong / Hong Gil-dongjeon
Shin Dong-hun, 1967, South Korea, 70m
Korean with English subtitles
Hong Gil-dong is an iconic figure in Korean literature and pop culture who first appeared in the mid-19th century as the protagonist of an adventure novel, The Story of Hong Gil-dong. So it’s no surprise that South Korea’s first animated feature film would center on Gil-dong, in this case in an adaptation by director Shin Dong-hun of his younger brother Shin Dong-woo’s popular manhwa (comic) Lucky Adventurer, Hong Gil-dong (serialized from 1965 to 1969 in Children’s Chosun Ilbo). Born the illegitimate son of a government official—which automatically makes him a social outcast—Gil-dong leaves home, spends time training in martial arts under Master Baekwun, and becomes a leader of a group of bandits who steal from corrupt officials in order to punish them and help the poor. The film was considered lost until a 16mm print was discovered in Japan in 2008; it was blown up to 35mm before undergoing digital restoration. Restored in 2021 by the Korean Film Archive. Saturday, September 2 at 2:15pm
Sunday, September 17 at 2:15pm
Hopi and Chadol-Bawi / Hopiwa Chadolbawi
Shin Dong-hun, 1967, South Korea, 70m
Korean with English subtitles
After the enormous success of Shin Dong-hun’s The Story of Hong Gil-dong, a sequel was planned, but the director ended up parting ways with the original production company due to creative disagreements. This in part explains why, for his second animated feature, he focused on Hopi and Chadol-Bawi, the two supporting characters from the Hong Gil-dong manhwa. A companion piece to The Story of Hong Gil-dong as much as a delightful standalone adventure, the film tells the story of a tiger-skin-wearing thief, Hopi, who turns over a new leaf after being trained in martial arts by Master Sakpung and ultimately defends the country from an attack by a Jurchen general. Building off the big trial-and-error learning experience of making The Story of Hong Gil-dong, Shin and his animation team let loose with Hopi and Chadol-Bawi, creating a gorgeously colorful mixture of hand-drawn art styles that feels more confident and experimental than its precursor, but no less rich with humor and sword-and-magic thrills. Restored in 2021 by the Korean Film Archive and the Image Power Station. Saturday, September 2 at 4:00pm
Sunday, September 17 at 3:45pm
Mist / Angae
Kim Soo-yong, 1967, South Korea, 78m
Korean with English subtitles
An atmospheric work by an immensely talented filmmaker, Mist has taken its place as one of the high points of 1960s South Korean cinema. Based on a famous 1964 modernist novel by Kim Seung-ok titled Journey to Mujin, Kim Soo-yong’s film tells the story of a middle-class office worker in Seoul who takes a trip to his rural hometown. As he revisits the place of his youth, familiar locations and people trigger flashbacks of his troubled past. At the same time, he meets a young schoolteacher who yearns to escape from the confines of her everyday life. Powered by magnetic performances from Shin Sung-il (the most prolific actor in Korean film history) and Yoon Jeong-hee (who years later would play the lead in Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry), Mist offers experimental blurring of past and present that captures the restlessness and disappointment of an entire generation of dreamers. Restored in 2011 by the Korean Film Archive. Friday, September 1 at 8:45pm
Sunday, September 10 at 4:00pm
Burning Mountain / Sanbul
Kim Soo-yong, 1967, South Korea, 80m
Korean with English subtitles Burning Mountain is set in a southwestern rural village during the Korean War in the early 1950s.Partisan soldiers fighting on the side of North Korea are hiding out in the mountains. Meanwhile, the village is filled with widows and single women, having lost the entire male population to war or forced conscription. One day, a deserter from the North Korean People’s Army begins hiding out in a nearby bamboo forest. A widow, Jeom-rye (whose husband fought for the South), brings him food, and they start a sexual affair. However, another widow, Sawol (whose husband fought for the North), soon discovers their secret. Shot in widescreen with sharp black-and-white visuals, this 80-minute film is dramatically tense and visually stunning, despite the limited resources available to director Kim Soo-yong. A completely unique perspective on the Korean War, as well as a timeless fable about human instinct and desire. Restored in 2021 by the Korean Film Archive. Sunday, September 10 at 2:00pm
Saturday, September 16 at 4:30pm
A Swordsman in the Twilight / Hwanghonui Geomgaek
Chung Chang-wha, 1967, South Korea, 35mm, 80m
Korean with English subtitles
Before he started working for the Shaw Brothers Studio and kicked off the martial arts movie craze in the West with The King Boxer, Chung Chang-wha built the foundations for action and genre filmmaking in South Korea. Set during the Joseon Dynasty period, A Swordsman in the Twilight introduces us to a lone bamboo-hat-wearing swordsman (Nam Koong-won) who appears in a lawless village. And while what follows may be a standard revenge story, Chung employs long shots to film action sequences that—in contrast to the more acrobatic and energetic style of Hong Kong wuxia—consist primarily of graceful and restrained movements of swordsmen in hanbok facing off against each other. Action is framed against the backdrops of Korean landscapes and palace architecture, the meetings of the swords ever brief, and ultimately deadly. Confidently directed and tightly edited, this film is a rare example of a distinctly Korean-style sword-fighting film that only Chung could have made. Monday, September 4 at 6:30pm
Thursday, September 14 at 6:30pm
A Day Off / Hyuil
Lee Man-hee, 1968, South Korea, 74m
Korean with English subtitles
Heo-wook and Ji-youn are a young couple, desperately poor, who can meet only on Sundays. Without any money to go to a cafe, they wander the windswept streets and parks of Seoul. Their future is bleak and their relationship appears strained. And they face a crisis: Ji-youn is pregnant. Unable to support a child, she tells Heo-wook that she wants an abortion. Forgotten in storage for 37 years after censors refused to allow its release, A Day Off was belatedly recognized as one of the decade’s masterpieces. Clearly influenced by European auteurs such as Antonioni and Resnais, Lee Man-hee’s spare, lyrical images express everything that the film’s physically and spiritually exhausted heroes struggle to put into words. Poetic and rich, A Day Off is, for all its bitter pessimism, a kind of love letter to the expressive potential of cinema. Restored in 2017 by the Korean Film Archive. Monday, September 4 at 2:30pm
Thursday, September 7 at 6:30pm
Monday, September 11 at 4:30pm
Eunuch / Naesi
Shin Sang-ok, 1968, South Korea, 35mm, 93m
Korean with English subtitles
A tale of doomed romance and palace power games, Eunuch follows two forlorn lovers who end up in the service of the king: one after being forced to become a eunuch, and the other after being sent away by her father to the royal harem. Set in the Joseon Dynasty era, with beautiful cinematography and production design, Eunuch stands out among Shin Sang-ok’s costume dramas as an especially lush widescreen technicolor entertainment that takes a step into exploitation cinema with sprinkles of sensuous eroticism and bursts of violence. At the same time, it also serves as a critique of the oppressive social structure of the past, especially when it comes to the role of women. Living within the suffocating confines of the royal palace, the queen and the court ladies have only two choices: to suppress their need for fulfillment, or to be punished for excesses that go against Confucian social norms. Thursday, September 7 at 8:15pm
Friday, September 15 at 6:30pm
I like the idea behind Heart of Stone. There is a multi-national organization made up of operatives from many nations, divided into teams based on a deck of playing cards. They do their work clandestinely.
Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot), 9 of Hearts, is embedded with an MI-6 team as support, not a field agent. The team is sent to capture a reclusive arms dealer. The op goes horribly wrong, possibly because of an opposing set of operatives in addition to the arms dealer’s forces.
The enemy team is as impressive as the good guys. The tech used by both sides is also impressive. But the most impressive part of the movie is not the tech, it is the old-fashioned hutzpah and ability of the agent on the ground.
The action flies around the world to exotic locations using technology ala the James Bond (and the Fast and Furious) films.
This film is fast-paced without leaving its audience behind with its twists and turns. The audience will be men of any age (Gal Gadot, for gosh sake!) and, well, anyone who likes good action films!
Director: Tom Harper
Cast: Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo, Jing Lusi, Paul Ready, Matthias Schweighöfer, BD Wong, Alia Bhatt
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action, and some language)
Earlier this year, Match Me If You Can, played here in Dallas, TX at the Dallas International Film Festival, where it was an Official Selection and won a Special Jury Prize. One of my writers attended the screening at the festival and, like me, loved the film.
Kip Parsons (Georgina Reilly) is a woman after my own heart. She is a computer programmer and a nerd (like me!). Her luck at finding a boyfriend was wearing on her spirit. Lucky for her she had a posse, actually co-workers at her job, who joined her in her nerdly adventures.
One night, her pet hermit crab, Jones-the-Crab, clicked on the “I Promise” dating site link. Kip had been drinking and decided that filling out the questionnaire was an okay idea. At least until the expected email from the service told her she was “unmatchable” and suggested she get a dog.
The blog entry, which she expected to be seen by three people went viral and was seen by tens of thousands! Suddenly she is a web personality, whether she wants to be or not.
This is the type of rom-com I can truly get behind. My people (nerds) are at the forefront of this story. From Kip with her friends to the zombies they play roleplaying games against, to the thousands of lonely nerds who find a hero in the young lady, this is a well-written, beautifully directed film. And it has several actors and actresses that you’ll recognize, which is unusual for a small independent film.
I had a great time watching Kip work her way through this debacle. Will she find love? Will she get a dog? I even found tears in my eyes at the end. Like Jenn, the other Selig Film News writer, I will be looking to own a copy of this film so I can re-watch Match Me If You Can from time to time in the future.
Director: Marian Yeager
Cast: Georgina Reilly, Wilson Bethel, Brian George, Billy Armstrong, Veronica Wylie, Jennifer Griffin, Kanwar Singh
MPAA Rating: NR
Selig Rating: 5 Stars
Runtime: 104 Min.
Release Date: 08/11/2023
Release Locations: opens in New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, and in the Los Angeles area, as well as on Amazon and iTunes
Academy Award-nominated Producer and Director Marc Turtletaub’s latest feature film is the delightful, JULES. Our Gadi Elkon talked with Marc about the film, Jules, Sir Ben and so much more!
How do you deal with the paradoxes and pitfalls of changing the past? How do you deal with the feelings resulting from what it takes to regain one dear to you? This is what the movie Aporia is asking of us, and the characters in the film.
When her husband, Mal (Edi Gathegi), was run over and killed, Sophie (Judy Greer) and their daughter (Faithe Herman) was left in a pit of despair and misery. Barely able to move forward, she discovers that there might be a way to reverse the action that took away her husband. In her misery, does she stop to consider the results of taking this action? Or is her need to regain her beloved Mal just too much to allow her to think straight?
This is a very dark film filled with characters dealing with the results of their decisions and actions. It is intense and thought-provoking in a way I have not experienced in a film in decades, if ever. Don’t watch this on a date unless the two of you have a VERY solid relationship. It might result in conversations that, perhaps, are best left in the movie theater.
Director: Jared Moshé
Cast: Edi Gathegi, Judy Greer, Payman Maadi, Faithe Herman
