Here’s the full list of this year’s films:
Narrative Features (in alphabetical order):
“Copenhagen” (Canada) Dir. Mark Raso – New York Premiere
(Winner – Audience Award at the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival) After weeks of traveling through Europe the immature William finds himself at a crossroads in Copenhagen. Not just another European city, Copenhagen is also the birthplace of his father. When the youthful Effy befriends the older William they set off on an adventure to find William’s grandfather. Effy’s mix of youthful exuberance and wisdom challenges William unlike any woman ever has. As the attraction builds and William truly connects with someone for the first time in his life, he must come to grips with destabilizing elements of his family’s sordid past.
“The Girls on Liberty Street” (USA) Dir. John Rangel – East Coast Premiere
(Official Selection, Chicago International Film Festival) Her boyfriend is pulling away. Her sister is growing up too fast. Her brother is falling under a bad influence. Her friends have plans that don’t include her. With one week before she ships off for basic training, Brianna finds herself trying to make sure home will be the same place when she returns.
“I Believe in Unicorns” (USA) Dir. Leah Meyerhoff – New York Premiere (Nominated, SXSW Grand Jury Award, Narrative Feature. BFF Alumni for Twitch and Team Queen) A teenage girl avoids caring for her disabled mother by running away with an older boy in a whirlwind of romance and adventure. As their new relationship turns abusive, she attempts to retreat to a fantasy world but ultimately must learn to face her stark reality and reconnect with the world she left behind. Not even unicorns can save her now.
“The Impeccables ” (Turkey) Dir. Ramin Matin – U.S. Premiere
(Winner – Best Film, Best Director & Special Jury Award at Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival)
Two sisters in their early thirties find themselves isolated in the Aegean summer cottage of their childhood, where they must deal with their uneasy sibling relationship and confront their devastating recent past.
“Intimate Semaphores” (USA) – Dir. T.J. Misny – World Premiere
A collection of three short stories. Each story is a surreal and darkly comic exploration of creative expression and how our artistic impulses have the power to unite us or alienate us. “Helberger In Paradise” stars Kate Lyn Sheil as a New Yorker who returns to her hometown to make good on an anarchistic promise to a deceased lover. “High And Dry” stars Ariane Labed as a privileged street photographer who suspects that her declining eyesight might have disturbing psychological implications. In “The Crumb of It,” a struggling comedian (Jocelin Donahue) and rising star pastry chef (Chioke Nassor) find that their creative pursuits threaten to sabotage their new relationship.
“Menthol” (USA) Dir. Micah Van Hove – New York Premiere
(Official Selection, Santa Barbara International Film Festival) Four male twenty-somethings spend 24 hours reliving their high school glory days. The drugs, video games, and boozing end in a moment of terrible violence, forcing them to bury their guilt in this bleak and unflinching portrait of 21st Century nihilism.
“Movement and Location” (USA) Dir. Alexis Boling – World Premiere
Kim Getty is an immigrant from 400 years in the future, sent back in time to live out an easier life in Brooklyn. It’s a one-way trip of difficult isolation, but in the three years since she landed, Kim has built a life that feels almost satisfying. She has a full time job, shares an apartment with a roommate, and is falling in love. But when she stumbles on a teenage girl who is also from the future, Kim’s remade sense of self is tested.
“My Blind Heart ” (Austria) Dir. Peter Brunner – East Coast Premiere
(Nominated, Tiger Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival) Kurt suffers from the rare Marfan syndrome and is almost blind. After killing his mother, he goes on a journey where the boundaries between perpetrator and victim are blurred. Haunted by her calls, Kurt leaves his assisted living home in distress. Taking to the streets, he meets Conny, a 13-year-old runaway from a broken home. She readily participates in Kurt’s protest against his body, not knowing what moves him or into which abyss his journey is leading.
“Paradise Cruise” (Israel) Dir. Matan Guggenheim – U.S. Premiere
(Winner, Audience Award at Israel Film Festival in Paris, BFF Alumni for Crickets) Dora spends her time photographing Israeli military funerals and commemoration ceremonies. She is trying to capture the face of a soldier that haunts her. When she meets Yossi, a rebellious young man just out of military service, they begin to fall in love. They have an unwritten contract to never speak of their past. But they cannot escape, and their love is put to the ultimate test in this neo-noir drama.
“Preoccupied” (USA) Dir. Brendan Gibbons – World Premiere Two New York investment bankers attempt to shut down the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011, creating their own counter movement called Bankers Unite. But if this is what the ‘One Percent’ looks like, it may be time to get out of the market.
“Rezeta” (Mexico) Dir. Gerardo Gatica – East Coast Premiere (Winner – Grand Jury Prize, Best Narrative Feature at Slamdance Film Festival) Rezeta is a 21-year-old model born in Albania who arrives in Mexico after making a living out of her beauty all around the globe. She soon meets Alex, a tattooed musician who cleans up the trailer where she waits during a commercial photo shoot. They quickly become friends, and then their relationship becomes something more. This is the story of their complicated romance, set against a backdrop of bands, parties and everyday life in modern Mexico.
“Traffic Department ” (Poland) Dir. Wojtek Smarzowski – New York Premiere
(Winner – Best Supporting Actor & Best Screenplay at Polish Film Awards, BFF Alumni for Rose and The Dark House) Seven friends, officers of the Warsaw’s traffic police department, are leading seemingly fulfilled lives. They work together, party together, together they play jokes, cut small deals and sport fast cars. Their small world gets rocked when one of them is found murdered. Sargent Król becomes a chief suspect in the case. He manages to escape arrest and as a fugitive tries to prove his innocence. Slowly he begins to uncover a corruption scheme, which points towards high circles of authority in police and politics.
“Victoriana” (USA) Dir. Jadrien Steele – East Coast Premiere (Winner – New Vision Award at Cinequest San Jose Film Festival, BFF Alumni for Just Make Believe) When Sophie Becker convinces her husband Tim, a struggling author, to invest her inheritance in a Victorian townhouse in Brooklyn, what begins as a classic American dream turns into a Dostoyevskian nightmare. After Sophie is involved in a fatal accident, the couple is faced with financial ruin, and must make a fateful decision that not only attracts the attention of the police, but also reveals long-hidden truths about themselves and their marriage.
Documentary Features (in alphabetical order):
“Born to Fly” (USA) Dir. Catherine Gund – New York Premiere
“Born to Fly” harnesses the thrill and energy of Elizabeth Streb’s Brooklyn-based STREB Extreme Action Company. Inter-cutting archival footage from decades of STREB performances with verité moments between Streb, her partner Laura and their collaborators, the documentary follows Streb over the course of a year as she reflects on her influences, evolution, and inventions, all while preparing for her greatest public performance.
“Boy Saloum” (France) Dir. Audrey Gallet – U.S. Premiere
They are thirty years old. They have fire in their bellies. They have charisma. In 2011, a few young Senegalese rappers created a social movement called Y’en A Marre (Enough Is Enough). Little did they know that their protest against an oppressive regime would bring about an epic encounter with history. Boy Saloum is their story, an intimate portrait of Senegalese culture as a country fights for its rights.
“Glena” (USA) Dir. Alan Luebke – New York Premiere
(Nominated, Grand Jury Prize, Best Documentary Feature at Slamdance Film Festival)
Glena was living the American Dream: successful career, two happy children, long-term relationship, and a beautiful family home. Then one day, with no background or training, she decided to give cage fighting a try.
“Hotline” (USA) Dir. Tony Shaff – U.S. Premiere
(Official Selection, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2013 BFF Exchange Pitch Panel alumni)
“Hotline” is a feature-length documentary about the intense connections made between strangers over the telephone, and explores these anonymous conversations that people are often too hesitant to have with those closest to them. From crisis centers to psychics and sex workers, this documentary eavesdrops on the inner-workings of hotlines and puts faces to the voice on the other end of the line.
