Mammoth Lakes Film Festival Announces Inaugural Line Up

Details

Category: Entertainment News

Published on Friday, 01 May 2015 07:18

Written by A&E Contributing Editor

CURRENT FILM SLATE BELOW

OPENING NIGHT FILM

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (USA) - Director: Alex Gibney

Steve Jobs' image was ubiquitous, but who was the man on the stage? From Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, 'Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine' is a critical examination of Jobs who was at once revered as an iconoclastic genius and a barbed-tongued tyrant. A candid look at his legacy, the film is evocative and nuanced.

NARRATIVE FEATURES PROGRAM

Asco (Brazil) - Director: Ale Paschoalini

Utilizing limited dialogue and unique camera work, this accessible film explores themes of love and revenge in a fantastical and surreal manner.  Arty, it has an intense, surreal and comic emotional thrust that engages the viewer as together we experience the poisonous destruction of a broken heart.

Birds of Neptune (USA) - Director: Steven Richter

A sexy drama around two vulnerable sisters, living in their deceased parents' home in Portland (shot on location).  A smooth-talking young man begins an affair with one of the sisters, only to then move in on the other sister.  A teenage neighbor feels he has to step in to protect the two beautiful sisters from the interloper and themselves.

Diamond Tongues (Canada) - Director: Brian Robertson, Pavan Moondi

Edith Welland is an actress. Things haven't been going very well. When her ex-boyfriend becomes an actor on a whim and almost immediately books a leading role, Edith decides if she's going to get ahead, she'll need to get ruthless.

Fantasticherie di un Passeggiatore Solitario - Reveries of a Solitary Stroller (Italy)  - Director: Paolo Gaudio

A combination live-action and animation tale of a 20ish pair of friends, who discover a mysterious manuscript in a library. Together the couple head out on a fantastical and magical adventure to discover its origin, and find they are more than friends in the process.  The amazing visuals, in the vein of Terry Gilliam, dazzle the eye.

Female Pervert (USA) -  Director: Jiyoung Lee

In this quirky, slightly perverted tragi-comic tale, one attractive young woman's perverse sexual fantasies interfere with her ability to have a real relationship. (Mature)

The Incredible Adventure of Jojo (and his annoying sister Avila) (USA) - Director: Brian Schmidt;

When young Jojo is thrown into the woods and forced save his little sister, he also learns to get along with her in this adventure tale filled with ravenous wolves, raging rivers, and a crafty old hobo. It's about life and love being a grand adventure, and how you can squeeze one more person into it, even if it's your annoying little baby sister.

Proud Citizen (USA)- Director: Thomas Southerland

After winning second place in a play writing contest, a Bulgarian woman travels to small town Kentucky for the premiere of her play. Expecting southern hospitality, she instead finds an America full of dichotomy in this funny, heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking meditation on the comfort (and discomfort) of strangers. (B/W)

They Look Like People (USA) - Director: Perry Blackshear

Suspecting that those around him are actually malevolent shape-shifters, a troubled young man questions whether to protect his only friend from an impending war, or from himself.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES PROGRAM

20 Years of Madness (USA) - Director: Jeremy Royce

When the eccentric cast of a mid-90s Public Access show in Detroit reunite after 20 years to make a new episode, they are forced to take a hard look at their lives and reconcile their teenage dreams with the realities of adulthood.

Autism in Love (USA) -Director: Matt Fuller

The story of four adults with autism spectrum disorders as they search for and manage love and relationships. Their stories, heartbreaking and brave, take audiences on a journey that urges them to question and reevaluate their own ideals of what it means to love and be loved. 

Cartel Land (USA) - Director: Matthew Heineman

With unprecedented access, This riveting, on-the-ground look at the journeys of two modern-day vigilante groups and their shared enemy - the murderous Mexican drug cartels.  CARTEL LAND is a chilling, visceral meditation on the breakdown of order and the blurry line between good and evil. 

The Chinese Mayor (China) - Director: Hao Zhou 

Granted remarkable access to the daily business of a high-ranking mainland Chinese official, HaoZhou's "The Chinese Mayor" offers a fascinating verite portrait of the collision between progress, politics, corruption and citizens' rights in a rapidly changing People's Republic. This is the China that the authorities there don't want you to see.

The Cult of J. T. Leroy (USA) -Director: Marjorie Sturm

JT's life and death sprang open a Pandora's box of powerful questions about literature and culture, identity and celebrity, and the reality of the society we live in. A teen prostitute, addicted to heroin and infected with HIV, J.T. was encouraged by a therapist to write his life story--a bizarre tale that perplexes to this day.

Omo Child: The River and the Bush (USA) - Director: John Rowe

For generations people in the Omo Valley (southwest Ethiopia) believed some children are cursed and that these 'mingi' children must be killed. Lale Labuko, a young educated man decided one day he would stop this horrific practice. This beautiful film shot over a five year period follows Lale's journey to change an ancient practice.

Dying to Know (USA) - Director: Gay Dillingham

This intimate portrait celebrates two complex, controversial characters that shaped a generation. Two 1960's Harvard psychology professors began probing the edges of consciousness through experiments with psychedelics-Timothy Leary, the LSD guru and Richard Alpert. The film invites us into the future and the biggest mystery of all: death.