With the so-called “99 Percent” currently bent on making rich people across America feel their pain, this might be the perfect week for that other “1 Percent” to get away for a little “R&R” in the Hamptons.
This week marks the beginning of the 19th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival. From Thursday Oct. 13 through Monday Oct. 17, America’s elite can enjoy screenings of some of the world’s best films, while breathing air that doesn’t sting of pepper-spray and weeks-old B.O.
According to its website, “the Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate Independent film – long, short, fiction and documentary – and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all”.
There is plenty to see at this year’s HIFF, but for S&A readers, here are a few that may tickle your extra-extra-fancy:
Family Portrait In Black and White
(Documentary, 2011, dir. Julie Ivanova)
Synopsis:
“A tender and tragicomic tale of unusual family dynamics, generational gaps and cultural anachronisms, FAMILY PORTRAIT IN BLACK AND WHITE is a captivating study of modern dilemmas in the former Eastern Bloc. In Ukraine, reigning ethnic xenophobia has resulted in a number of Caucasian mothers abandoning their unwanted bi-racial children in orphanages. Mrs. Olga Nenya is a hearty, fierce foster mother who shelters sixteen mostly bi-racial children in an old Soviet farmhouse with few modern conveniences, and puts all of the children to work. Already outsiders in their own country, the children struggle to adopt Mrs. Nenya’s Soviet-era mentality. Filmmaker(s) expected to be in attendance for post-screening Q&A at both screenings.”
Broken Doors
(Short Film, 2011, dir. Goro Toshima)
Synopsis:
“Rico and Starr, a young, homeless couple, struggling to survive on the streets of Hollywood, confront one of the biggest challenges of their lives…an unexpected pregnancy.”
Broken Doors (trailer) from goro toshima on Vimeo.
Blood In The Mobile
(Documentary, 2010, dir. Frank Piasecki Poulsen)
Synopsis:
In this searing investigative documentary, director Frank Piasecki Poulsen blows the whistle on the traffic of rare “blood minerals” used to build nearly every cellular device known to man. He traces these minerals to the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, the beleaguered nation home to the UN’s largest peacekeeping operation of all time, a closed airspace, and a death toll surpassing WWII. In his investigations, Poulsen discovers a universal refusal––by Nokia, Congolese bureaucrats, and UN officials, among others––to verify claims of the minerals’ peaceful harvest, adding fuel to a seemingly unquenchable fire and threatening a people already torn apart by war.
FYI– Not to exclude a S&A fave, but since there doesn’t seem to be a readily available trailer for it on-line, I didn’t mention the Orlando Bloom-led film The Good Doctor, which also co-stars Taraji P. Henson. And for the record, to who ever might think it isn’t worth marketing their film to the particular viewing-demographic that she brings to the table, if I was in the “1 Percent” and happened to be at the HIFF this week, I’d likely see the film just because Taraji is in it. I’m just saying . . .
And to any S&A readers who manage to make it out to the HIFF (and I’m quite certain that some of you are in that “1 Percent”), me and the rest of the “99 Percent” anxiously await your opinion on any films that you get a chance to view. For more information on the films being screened at the HIFF, click HERE.
