Starring: Noémie Merlant, Kit Harrington, Meredith Hagner
The FOFIF presents a special preview screening of the new pregnancy horror film, BABY RUBY with writer/director Bess Wohl in conversation. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.
Baby Ruby, the debut feature film by Bess Wohl, tells the story of Jo (Merlant), a successful, French lifestyle entrepreneur who is happily pregnant, awaiting the arrival of her first child. But soon after Jo welcomes baby Ruby home, something starts to feel off– even though she’s assured it’s all perfectly normal. Is something wrong with her? Is something wrong with Ruby? And why are the seemingly perfect neighborhood moms so desperate to befriend her? As Jo fights to protect herself and her baby, she is plunged into a waking fever dream where everyone is a threat and nothing is what it seems. At last, she must confront the truth of her own darkness and contend with the ultimate human sacrifice: the one mothers make for their children.
Starring: Désirée Nosbusch, Bodo Steiger, Simone Brahmann, Jonas Vischer, Helga Tolle
Simone worships a pop singer until he tells her that he does not love her. She feels a murderous rage that threatens to overcome them both.
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Antoine Basler, Nathalie Boutefeu, Alex Descas
Washed-up French director René Vidal (Jean-Pierre Léaud) hopes to turn his career around with an update of Les Vampires, a silent-era masterpiece about about a notorious ring of thieves, led by crafty female crook Irma Vep. René brings in Chinese star Maggie Cheung (Maggie Cheung) to play Vep, but unexpected roadblocks arise on the set. Maggie doesn’t know French, she’s pursued by obsessive lesbian crew member Zoe (Nathalie Richard) and her character’s criminal ways begin to rub off on her.
Starring: Tommye Myrick, Richard Romain, Carol Sutton, Barbara Tasker
Written, produced, and directed by Emmy Award-winning documentarian Horace B. Jenkins and crafted by an entirely African American cast and crew, Cane River is a racially-charged love story in Natchitoches Parish, a “free community of color” in Louisiana. A budding, forbidden romance lays bare the tensions between two Black communities, both descended from slaves but of disparate opportunity—the light-skinned, property-owning Creoles and the darker-skinned, more disenfranchised families of the area. This lyrical, visionary film disappeared for decades after Jenkins died suddenly following the film’s completion, robbing generations of a talented, vibrant new voice in American cinema.
Starring: Bill Gunn, Seret Scott, Maritza Rivera, Billie Allen, Duane Jones
The inimitable Kathleen Collins’s second film tells the story of two remarkable people, married and hurtling toward a crossroads in their lives: Sara Rogers, a Black professor of philosophy, is embarking on an intellectual quest just as her painter husband, Victor, sets off on an exploration of joy. Victor decides to rent a country house away from the city, but the couple’s summer idyll becomes complicated by his involvement with a younger model. One of the very first fictional features by an African-American woman, Losing Ground remains a stunning and powerful work of art for being a funny, brilliant, and personal member of indie cinema canon.
The Future of Film is Female presents a one-night screening of the documentary The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, an exploration of capitalization and the labor force in the happiest place on earth! To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.
In this feature-length, personal essay documentary, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales filmmaker and philanthropist Abigail Disney grapples with America’s profound inequality crisis. The story begins in 2018, after Abigail encounters workers at the company that bears her name struggling to put food on the table. Could she, a descendent, with no role in the multinational conglomerate, use her famous last name to help pressure Disney and other American corporations to treat low-wage workers more humanely? Believing her conservative grandfather, Roy Disney, (Walt’s brother and company co-founder) would never have tolerated employee hunger at “The Happiest Place On Earth,” Abigail reexamines the story of modern American capitalism from the middle of the last century, when wealth was shared more equitably, to today, when CEO’s earn upwards of 800 times more than their average employees. What happened? What Abigail learns-about racism, corporate power and the American Dream is eye-opening, unexpected and inspiring in that it begins to imagine a path to a fairer future for everyone.
Filmed over a two-year period, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales expertly weaves together Abigail’s family story and the stories of Disneyland workers, with commentary from historians, authors, and academics. The film artfully employs archive, animation, and never-before-seen Disney family movies. From the boardroom to the union hall, the film will no doubt jump-start urgently needed conversations about how to make American capitalism work for everyone. As Abigail concludes, “it won’t be easy, but with imagination and courage it can be changed.”
Starring: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Choi Woo-sik, Kim Eui-sung, Kim Su-an
A man (Gong Yoo), his estranged daughter and other passengers become trapped on a speeding train during a zombie outbreak in South Korea.
Starring: Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan
Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond (Tommy Noonan), much to the disapproval of Gus’ rich father, Esmond Sr., who thinks that Lorelei is just after his money. When Lorelei goes on a cruise accompanied only by her best friend, Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell), Esmond Sr. hires Ernie Malone (Elliott Reid), a private detective, to follow her and report any questionable behavior that would disqualify her from the marriage.
Starring: Jaime Hill, Lucas Paul, Ross Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault
Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.
Starring: Natives of the Wild – who have never seen a motion picture… Wild Beasts – who have never had to fear a modern rifle… and – The Jungle…
This April, let The Deuce take you back to a time when movie theaters were Palaces – when entertainment had a capital “E” – and when Thailand was SIAM! Travel to a time long changed in CHANG: A DRAMA OF THE WILDERNESS!! The perils and pitfalls of Jungle life as experienced by Kru and his family (all native Laotians – there are no “actors” in this film!) – confronting and tenuously “mastering” the untamed environment and fearsome wild animals (not actor-animals either!) that stalk the rain forest in which they’ve built their stilted home! (Maybe not ALL the animals are so fearful – Kru’s son, Nah, does have a best-buddy monkey named Bimbo…) Leopards on your lap! Tigers on your tail! Monkeys on your back!! CHANG puts YOU in places you’ve never been and will never want to leave! Mighty! Exciting! Flaming! Fierce! Thrilling! Fascinating! CHANG!! “The producers have requested newspaper writers not to reveal the meaning of the word “Chang”.” Discover for yourself as the enthralled audience of Times Square’s Rivoli Theatre did for the first time back in 1929!
Before unleashing King Kong into the world – directors Cooper and Schoedsack made docu-drama-adventure films as far away from Hollywood as could be imagined – travelling, living, and filming in remotest regions of “exotic” edens such as Persia, Siam, and Sumatra – often at the precarious peril of their own lives… What they brought back from these “unseen lands” thrilled audiences with realism, glimpses into the unknown and the bravado by which they were made – which was readily apparent upon the screen… and now The Deuce brings that thrill to YOU! Because we’re adventurous!!
