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Film Countries Archives: United States

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A woman is sitting on a couch as she holds a landline to her ear. Two other women intensely observe her.

Get Away [short film]

  Michael Gabriele

  United States     16 minutes

Synopsis

A group of friends embark on a weekend getaway to a secluded vacation rental in the desert. With minimal entertainment options, they decide to dust off an old horror film on VHS tape. Their seemingly innocent choice soon morphs into a nightmare as they encounter a series of eerie and inexplicable coincidences, blurring the lines between the on-screen terror and the chilling reality surrounding them.

This film screens as part of the Shorts 3: After Dark – Twisted Tales & Shadows of Innocence program.

  

 English 

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Close up of the crown of flowers on a girl's head, as she looks down. Behind her we blurry a late afternoon sky.

waking up in silence [short film]

  Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi

  Germany, Ukraine     18 minutes

Synopsis

Displaced by war, Ukrainian children explore their new home, a former Wehrmacht military barrack now serving as a refugee camp. Making the surrounding fields and parking lots their playgrounds, the children find ways to inhabit the space as their own existing between the historical resonances of two wars almost a century apart.

This film screens as part of the Shorts 4: Documentary – In Motion program.

  

 Russian, Ukrainian with subtitles

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A woman and two men sit in a dimly lit dining hall, having a meal. A Christmas tree stands behind them.

The Holdovers

  Alexander Payne

  United States     133 minutes

Synopsis

Nobody likes teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) — not his students, not his fellow faculty, and not the headmaster, who all find his pomposity and rigidity exasperating. With no family and nowhere to go over the Christmas holiday in 1970, Paul is forced to remain at school to supervise students who are also unable to go home. After a few days, only one holdover remains — a trouble-making 15-year-old named Angus (Dominic Sessa), a good student whose bad behavior threatens to get him expelled. Joining Paul and Angus is head cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), an African-American woman whose son was recently lost in Vietnam.

In his latest film, Alexander Payne, the Oscar-winning writer-director of The Descendants and Sideways, goes back to the ’70s of his youth, telling a nostalgic and comedic story of three very different shipwrecked people who together learn they are not beholden to their past, but can choose their own futures.

  

 English 

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Mark Johnson, P.G.A., Bill Block, David Hemingson
  •   David Hemingson
  •   Kevin Tent, ACE
  •   Eigil Bryld
  •   Paul Giamatti, Da'vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
  •   Mark Orton
  •   Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra, Chris Stinson
  •   Miramax, Gran Via Production
  •   https://www.focusfeatures.com/the-holdovers

Sponsors

Comedy Program Sponsor

Logo: The Second City 329x75

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Two friends in their early twenties look up at a tree in a park at night. One of them drinks from a can.

Geranios [short film]

Lou Marino
Chile
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A man in a dark trench coat stands on a hill overlooking a vast landscape and open sky. A winged statue sits behind him.

Anselm

Wim Wenders
Germany
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In a countryside home, Mahito Maki sits at a table facing a humanoid man in a bird costume. Both have serious gazes.

The Boy and the Heron

Hayao Miyazaki
Japan
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A mysterious man wearing a hat and leather gloves, looks through a monocular at an unseen view in Paris, France.

The Killer

  David Fincher

  United States     118 minutes

Synopsis

After a fateful miss, an assassin (Michael Fassbender) battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal. Working with the efficiency and expediency of a lifelong professional—while listening to The Smiths’ greatest hits to keep him focused–the unnamed killer crisscrosses the world, from Paris to the Dominican Republic, New Orleans to Florida, and New York finally to Chicago, to tie up any and all loose ends.

In his latest film, award-winning director David Fincher (The Social Network, Gone Girl), operating at the same high level of precision and skill as his protagonist, crafts a sleek and witty thriller about murder, routine, and one man’s obsessive attention to detail. Featuring a bewitching cameo by Tilda Swinton and a pulsating get-under-your-skin soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Killer is a cool and clever demonstration of genre filmmaking from a master of the form.

  

 English 

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Ceán Chaffin, p.g.a.
  •   Andrew Kevin Walker
  •   Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton

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A man in a dark trench coat stands on a hill overlooking a vast landscape and open sky. A winged statue sits behind him.

Anselm

Wim Wenders
Germany
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A woman looks to the side, resting her chin on her hands.

Eric LaRue

Michael Shannon
United States
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A pale woman in a yellow dress looks over her shoulder, her black hair cascading down her back. A man stands behind her.

Poor Things

Yorgos Lanthimos
United States, United Kingdom, Ireland
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A high angle of a man wearing a backpack walking down the shoreline next to the blue ocean.

The Mission

  Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine

  United States, India     104 minutes

Synopsis

In 2018, a shocking event made headlines around the world: A young American missionary, John Chau, was killed while attempting to contact one of the world’s most isolated Indigenous peoples in the South Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal. Combining an amazing collection of archival videos with soul-searching interviews with his father, friends, and colleagues, this absorbing documentary recounts the complex journey of a well-meaning and passionate — though perhaps misguided — man.

From Emmy-winning co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (Boys State) and Oscar-winning producer Simon Chinn (Man on Wire), The Mission digs deep into a host of profound issues. It interrogates the same kind of anthropological documentary that it draws from, and asks penetrating questions about the lines between faith and fanaticism, exploration and exploitation, and imagination and destruction.

  

 English, Hindi, Latin, Onge, Piraha, Sarikoli with subtitles

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Will Cohen, Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine
  •   Doug Bock Clark, Carolyn Bernstein
  •   Lightbox, Mile End Films

Sponsors

Documentary Program Sponsors

Logo: WTTW (2019)Cynthia Stone Raskin

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A girl in a warm hooded coat leads a horse by the bridle.

The Echo

Tatiana Huezo
Mexico, Germany
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A man kneels next to a little girl while a soldier holds out his hands.

Green Border

Agnieszka Holland
Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium
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A woman in a red swimsuit smiles as she stares at something. Behind her, the vast blue ocean glistens in the sunlight.

The Love Stories of Liv S.

Anna Luif
Switzerland
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