The Holdovers
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.
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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
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The Hypnosis Hypnosen
Synopsis
This incisive, quick-witted, and cringe-inducing satire opens with André and Vera on the cusp of a business breakthrough. Invited to pitch their app concept at an international workshop for young entrepreneurs, the Swedish duo begins to feverishly prepare. Then, days before the event, Vera books a session with a hypnotherapist in hopes that it will help her quit smoking. Now, she’s suddenly cigarette-free and has a new outlook on life — one that is completely free of social inhibitions. As their big moment approaches, André begins to worry.
This delightfully awkward sendup of modern entrepreneurial culture is an ironic, open-hearted look at what it means to be your authentic self in the face of societal expectations.
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Film Credits
- Mimmi Spång
- Mads Stegger, Ernst De Geer
- Robert Krantz
- Jonathan Bjerstedt
- Asta Kamma August, Herbert Nordrum, Andrea Edwards, David Fukamachi Regnfors, Moa Niklasson, Simon Rajala, Aviva Wrede, Alexandra Zetterberg Ehn, Kristina Braden Whitaker, Karin de Frumerie, Julien Combes
- Peder Kjellsby
- Garagefilm International AB, Film I Väst AB, Mer Film AS, Totem Atelier
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The Killer
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.
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Film Credits
- Ceán Chaffin, p.g.a.
- Andrew Kevin Walker
- Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton
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The Mission
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.
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Film Credits
- Jonathan Chinn, Simon Chinn, Will Cohen, Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine
- Doug Bock Clark, Carolyn Bernstein
- Lightbox, Mile End Films
Sponsors
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Cynthia Stone Raskin
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The People’s Joker
Synopsis
Although it made headlines as a wildly parodic rebuke to corporate IP, The People’s Joker is also a surprisingly intimate and heartfelt film. Quadruple-hyphenate writer-director-effects artist Vera Drew stars as “Joker,” an alt-comedy clown in Gotham City whose journey towards self-actualization is facilitated by her pal The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn) and a vat of feminizing chemicals.
The People’s Joker originated online, with a call for musicians, actors, and filmmakers to contribute to a “queer coming-of-age film” set inside the Batman universe. More than 150 artists responded, and their contributions are woven into this madcap work of comedic resistance. With a supporting cast that includes SNL‘s Sarah Squirm and Tim & Eric regular David Liebe Hart, The People’s Joker is a brilliant take on the personal nature of fandom, a love letter to trans artists and trans creativity, and an uproarious comedy from an exciting new talent.
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Film Credits
- Joey Lyons, Vera Drew
- Bri LeRose, Vera Drew
- Vera Drew
- Nate Cornett
- Vera Drew, Lynn Downey, Kane Distler, Griffin Kramer, Nathan Faustyn, David Liebe Hart, Tim Heidecker, Ruin Carroll, Bob Odenkirk, Scott Aukerman, Trevor Drinkwater, Denali Winter, Bambi Bell, Dan Curry, Daniella Baker, Maria Bamford
- Justin Krol, Quinn Scharber, Ember Knight, Danni Rowan, Elias and the Error
- Brian Alkerton, Riccardo Maddalosso, Bee Frederickson, Leo Kovalik Jr., Joey Lyons
- Haunted Gay Ride Productions
- https://thepeoplesjoker.com
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