MVIFF Opening ReceptionThe MV International Film Festival promises to excite and entertain with stories that celebrate films and cultures of the world with subjects that will touch hearts and souls. This year’s line-up of films relay stories about the resilience and strength of the human spirit, of transformative love, and the importance of roots, family, and community.

Our official OPENING NIGHT GALA,  September 8th begins on the picturesque shores of Ferry Boat Pond adjacent to the Tisbury Market Place, with the ocean across the way – painting a dazzling tableau under a glittering tented party; a peaceful gathering with unique food, libations, live music and a spectacular sunset…

The MV Film Society honors actress and humanitarian Sharon Stone with the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society Global Citizen Award for her charitable work and philanthropy across the globe. The award will be presented to Ms. Stone on Friday, September 9 at 7:00pm in the MV Film Center prior to the screening of the remarkable French dramedy, FATIMA – click here for more information and to purchase tickets)

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Sharon Stone and Sam Harris in AN UNDENIABLE VOICE

Among the ten finalists of the Short Films Juried Competition on Saturday, September 10, is the World Premiere of documentary short, AN UNDENIABLE VOICE co-directed by Price Arana and Adam Rothlein, produced and featuring Ms. Stone. The winner of Best Overall Short will be announced at the conclusion of the program.

TO SEE OUR SHORT FILM COMPETITIONS TEN FINALISTS CLICK HERE

FOR INFORMATION ON THE ANIMATION SHORTS SHOWCASE CLICK HERE

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LISTED BELOW IS A COMPLETE LISTING OF OUR 2016 MVIFF FEATURE FILMS

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE OR NAME OF AN INDIVIDUAL FILM TO SEE MORE DETAILS AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL SHOW. THANK YOU!


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AFERIM! – Romania, directed by Radu Jude. Set in early 19th century Romania, a policeman, Costandin, is hired by a nobleman to find a Gypsy slave who has run away from his estate after having an affair with his wife. Together with his son, they set out in search for the gypsy slave.

“Shot in black and white with fade-out transitions, the movie harks back to classic westerns. But it’s also distinctly modern.”- Stephanie Merry, Washington Post


Cemetary PosterCEMETERY OF SPLENDOR Thailand, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A group of soldiers in a small town on the Mekong River in northern Thailand are struck with a bizarre sleeping illness.They are transferred to a temporary clinic in a former school. The memory-filled space becomes a revelatory world for housewife and volunteer Jenjira, as she watches over Itt, a handsome soldier with no family visitors. Jen befriends young medium Keng who uses her psychic powers to help loved ones communicate with the comatose men. Magic, healing, romance and dreams are all part of Jen’s tender path to a deeper awareness of herself and the world around her.

“If you haven’t seen a Weerasethakul film yet, here’s a good opportunity, but leave your expectations at the door. There’s no one like him.” – G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle


MV5BOTAyNjc4MjA2Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzY3MzIwNjE@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_COURT – India, directed by Chaitanya Tamhane. Winner of top prizes at the Venice and Mumbai film festivals, Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court is a quietly devastating, absurdist portrait of injustice, caste prejudice, and venal politics in contemporary India. An elderly folk singer and grassroots organizer, dubbed the “people’s poet,” is arrested on a trumped-up charge of inciting a sewage worker to commit suicide.

“This isn’t your typical courtroom drama about an idealistic attorney with a savior complex per se. The film dramatizes how authorities can systematically police thought and harass radicals with bogus charges.” – Martin Tsai, LA Times


PRESENTATION OF THE MV FILM SOCIETY GLOBAL CITIZEN AWARD TO SHARON STONE plus screening of the film, FATIMA – France, directed by Philippe Faucon.

v1-8Fatima lives on her own with two daughters to support: 15-year old Souad, a teenager in revolt, and 18-year old Nesrine, who is starting medical school. Fatima speaks French poorly and is constantly frustrated by her daily interactions with her daughters. Her pride and joy, they are also a source of worry. To ensure the best possible future for them, she works odd hours as a cleaning woman. One day, she takes a fall on the stairs. On leave, Fatima begins to write to her daughters in Arabic that which she has never been able to express in French.

“This poignant slice-of-life dramedy proves as modest in length (78 minutes) as it is generous in rueful insight and emotional complexity.” – Justin Chang, Variety


v1-10ICAROS: A VISIONPeru, directed by Leonor Caraballo and Matteo Norzi. FOLLOWED BY A Q&A WITH DIRECTOR MATTEO NORZI.

Her medical options exhausted, an American woman travels to the Amazon in search of a miracle. Thanks to a young ayahuasca shaman who is losing his eyesight, she learns instead to confront her ‘susto’: the disease of fear. Centered on the nightly ceremonies that are the main feature of shamanic retreats, ‘Icaros’ revels in darkness, replicating a shamanic journey.

“This trippy work maps the intersections of West and East, body and spirit, faith and terror with beguiling grace.” Peter Debruge, Variety


MADLYMadly-Poster-v1-Final (1) – International, directed by Gael García Bernal, Sion Sono, Sebastián Silva, Mia Wasikowska, Anurag Kashyap, and Natasha Khan. FOLLOWED BY A POST-SCREENING Q&A VIA SKYPE WITH PRODUCER ERIC MAHONEY

A global anthology film featuring innovative love stories from the some of the world’s most visionary directors.The film takes a passionate trip around the world exploring modern love in all of its dizzying, sweet complications, culminating into one iconoclastic, feature-length anthology of six 15-minute vignettes.

“With ‘Madly’, the international cool set comes together to make an omnibus film about passionate love, spanning place and sexuality…” Variety


MIA MADRE – Italy, directed by Nanni Moretti. FOLLOWED BY A CLOSING NIGHT PARTY AT LA SOFFITTA RESTAURANT.

An Italian filmmaker Margherita, tries to cope with her mother’s terminal illness while working on a new movie with a bombastic American actor  played by John Turturro.  Away from the shoot, Margherita tries to hold her life together as her beloved mother’s illness progresses, and her teenage daughter grows ever more distant.

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“Moretti’s exploration of loss is unquestionably affecting, and “My Mother” has powerful moments …” Jay Weissberg, Variety

“Good, strong, understated filmmaking is enlivened by Moretti’s characteristic wry blend of drama and humor.” – Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter

Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Won Prize of the Ecumenical Jury


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NEON BULL – Brazil, writer-director Gabriel Mascaro offers a wild, sensual, and utterly transporting story of a bull handler who dreams of a career in the world of fashion.The gorgeous cinematography gives us a rare glimpse at life behind the scenes on the Brazilian rodeo circuit; the unique and endearing society and the people who habitat it.

“Visually ravishing and sexually provocative, Neon Bull offers an unforgettable portrait of a changing Brazil, at once earthy and arty.” – Peter Howell, Toronto Star.


OUR LITTLE SISTERv1-2 – Japan, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, revolves around three sisters who live in their grandmother’s home after the death of their father, and the arrival of their thirteen-year-old half sister. The Huffington Post writes, “Our Little Sister is a film of surpassing beauty and sensitivity, a fully realized insight into family, a simple story of three sisters living together who are joined by their half sister. It unfolds patiently, with elegance and understanding.”

INCLUDES OPENING NIGHT GALA RECEPTION UNDER A GLITTERING TENT ON THE  SHORES  OF THE LAGOON AT TIBURY MARKETPLACE, ADJACENT TO THE FILM CENTER. THERE WIL BE ASIAN THEMED FOOD, LIBATIONS AND LIVE MUSIC. 


v1-5PEOPLE PLACES THINGS – USA, directed by James C. Strouse. Will Henry is a newly single graphic novelist and professor in NYC balancing parenting his young twin daughters and a classroom full of students while exploring and navigating the rich complexities of new love and letting go of the woman who left him. 

“Small, smart and inescapably independent, “People Places Things” has its own offbeat and charmingly low-key way of seeing the world.” Kenneth Turan, LA Times


v1RAMS – Iceland,  directed by Grimur Hakonarson. This charming, stunningly shot drama focuses on two Icelandic brothers and sheep farmers, who must come together after years of estrangement from a decades old family feud in order to save the special breed passed down for generations from extinction. Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival and Best Narrative Feature at the Hampton’s Film Festival.


RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN – Korea, directed by Hong Sang-soo.  A film director falls for a young painter – twice.

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Quite by accident, a film director arrives in town a day early. With time to kill before his lecture the next day, he stops by a restored, old palace and meets a fledgling artist. She’s never seen any of his films, but knows he’s famous. They talk. And together, they go to her workshop to look at her paintings, have Sushi and Soju.

“No filmmaker better understands the revelatory properties of small talk and soju, and few could make the art of repetition seem so rife with possibilities.” – Justin Chang, LA Times


 

The-InnocentsTHE INNOCENTS – Poland, directed by Anne Fontaine. Set in 1945 Poland, a young French Red Cross doctor is sent to assist survivors of a concentration camp and discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy at a nearby convent. Balancing the many heartbreaks of ‘The Innocents’ with ease, director Anne Fontaine is able to weave together some loaded themes – the influence of religion on the devoted, the unique ways in which women bond with each other and the importance of remembering history and the horrors of war.


v1-4THE PRESIDENT Georgia, directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. A brutal dictator comes face to face with the injustices committed by his regime when his country is taken over by revolutionists. The President and his family rule their land with an iron fist, enjoying lives of luxury and leisure at the expense of their population’s misery. When a coup d’état overthrows his brutal rule and the rest of his family flees the country, the President is suddenly left to care for his young grandson and forced to escape.


v1-3THE TENTH MAN – Argentina, directed by Daniel Burman, is a kind-hearted story about a son re-entering the world of his father, the world he left long ago. Singer songwriter, Usher plays an unofficial patriarch of a small bustling community in the Jewish quarter in Buenos Aires with aplomb. The film’s beautiful details provide rich and multi-layered textures and the observations of human behavior are accurate and loving.


v1-9THE WAVENorway, directed by Roar Uthaug. The mountain pass above the scenic, narrow Norwegian fjord Geiranger, collapses and creates an 85-meter high violent tsunami. A geologist is one of those caught in the middle of it.

“The intimate focus, juxtaposed with the unsettling beauty of the backdrop and the eerie stillness of the aftermath, brings a novel twist to the well-worn disaster movie format.” The Observer (UK)

 “A new take on the traditional Hollywood disaster film.” Cine Premiere, Spain


 

1THE WEEKEND SAILOR – Mexico, directed by Bernardo Asuago. The Weekend Sailor is a new feature documentary about the unexpected victory of the Mexican yacht Sayula II in the first crewed sailing race around the world in 1974. The most demanding sailing quest in history. In 1973, the United Kingdom organized the first head to head sailing race around the world, inviting expert crews from Europe and other countries against each other. an inexperienced Mexican man also signed up. In his fifties, with a crew that included his wife, son, family and friends. His name, Ramon Carlín. A weekend sailor. And he beat every competing nation.


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THE WONDERS – Italy, directed by Alice Rohrwacher

A family of beekeepers living in the Tuscan countryside finds their household disrupted by the simultaneous arrival of a silently troubled teenage boy and a reality TV show intent on showcasing the family.

“What’s worth wondering at is the way writer-director Alice Rohrwacher illustrates the private world of an authentic and genuinely loving family.” – Matthew Lickona, San Diego Reader


Renee Balter - Titticut FolliesThe Festival includes an exhibition of the enchanting artwork of Renee Balter, curated by Featherstone Center for the Arts, which opens on September 6 at the Film Center’s Marilyn Meyerhoff lobby. The paintings will be on display through September 20.

Featured image: “Titticut Follies” (r)


The Short Films Competition is a festival favorite! A Jury has vetted hundreds of short films for the annual short film contest. A short list of 10 films will be shown during the festival with a $1,000 grand prize going to the jury’s top pick.

The MV International Film Festival will continue its display of animated shorts with a showcase, the Animated Shorts Showcase, curated by Bill Plympton, an Academy Award nominee for his animated films. His cartoons have appeared in a variety of well-known publications, including the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Vogue.

Click here to purchase an ALL-ACCESS PASS

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