Hard Truths
Synopsis
For his 23rd film, legendary British filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to the stark domestic dramas he’s known for, like his 1971 feature debut Bleak Moments (a ChicagoIFF Gold Hugo winner) and his blistering, Cannes-winning 1993 breakthrough Naked. Reunited with Leigh for the first time since his 1996 multiple Oscar nominee Secrets and Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. In stark contrast, Pansy’s easygoing younger sister Michele is a single mother whose family life and hair salon are brimming with warmth.
Fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous, Hard Truths takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Georgina Lowe
- Mike Leigh
- Tania Reddin
- Dick Pope BSC
- Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone
- Gary Yershon
- Richard Kondal, Jennifer Eriksson, Alison Thompson, Mark Gooder, Andrew Karpen, Kent Sanderson, Javier Méndez, Javier Pons, Ollie Madden, Daniel Battsek, Gail Egan
- Cornerstone, Film4, Mediapro, Thin Man Films, Creativity Media
- https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/hard-truths
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Harvest
Synopsis
The earthy tones of untamed nature, shot with stunning vibrancy by filmmaker Sean Price Williams, color a nameless medieval village somewhere in England that seems to exist out of time. A tight-knit community of villagers is suspicious of outsiders, and spend their days laboring for the generally affable landowner Charles Kent. Things begin to change when Kent’s nefarious cousin claims ownership over the land and installs plans for massive change. A cartographer is hired, maps are drawn, and the architecture of profit-driven, capitalistic agriculture begins to manifest.
Rich, textured visuals and impeccable performances create a lived-in universe that feels uncannily adjacent to our own. Unfolding over the course of a single hallucinatory week, the English-language debut of “Greek Weird Wave” godmother Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg, 2010) is a breathtaking, atmospheric fable that satirizes modernity and its chaotic fallout.
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Film Credits
- Rebecca O’Brien, Joslyn Barnes, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Marie-Elena Dyche
- Joslyn Barnes, Athina Rachel Tsangari
- Matt Johnson, Nico Leunen
- Sean Price-Williams
- Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling, Rosy McEwen, Arinzé Kene, Thalissa Teixeira
- Nicolas Becker, Ian Hassett, Caleb Landry Jones, Lexx
- Harvest Film Limited
- https://www.the-match-factory.com/catalogue/films/harvest.html
Sponsors
International Competition Program Patron
Jacolyn and John Bucksbaum Family Foundation
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The Knife
Synopsis
Late one night, while Chris (Nnamdi Asomugha), his wife (Aja Naomi King), and their two daughters are sleeping upstairs in their home, Chris hears an intruder. Unsettled and scared, he warily investigates, and finds himself face-to-face with a stranger in his kitchen. Chris reacts impulsively to protect his family, and his response sets in motion a night that will have far-reaching consequences.
This stunning, compact thriller — which also marks star Asomugha’s directorial debut — takes place over the course of a few hours. A frantic family takes quick action. Throngs of police arrive to investigate the scene. And a bullish white detective (The Fighter’s Melissa Leo) sets the family in her sights, willing to do whatever it takes to quickly resolve the case. As tensions escalate between the family and police, The Knife sharply explores the ways in which a Black family experiences a tenuous relationship with security, justice, and the American dream.
Screenings & Events
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Film Credits
- Nnamdi Asomugha, Jonathan T. Baker, Ami Werges
- Nnamdi Asomugha, Mark Duplass
- Alejandro Mejia
- Nnamdi Asomugha, Melissa Leo, Aja Naomi King, Manny Jacinto, Amari Price, Aiden Price
- Mark Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Jay Duplass, Shuli Harel, Chijioke Asomugha, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, Rao Meka
- iAm21 Entertainment, Duplass Brothers Productions
Sponsors
Black Perspectives Program Sponsor
Film Patrons
Lynn and Doug Steffen
In Partnership With
With Support From
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La Cocina
Synopsis
Tensions are already running high as the day begins in a bustling Times Square kitchen — money is missing from the till, and suspicions have fallen on line cook Pedro (Raúl Briones). A zealous dreamer with a knack for making trouble, Pedro is on thin ice. His tumultuous affair with Julia (Rooney Mara), a waitress battling her own demons, is no secret. But today, their interpersonal chaos begins to seep into the relentless pace of the kitchen as its workers grind to feed the hungry maws of the dining room’s tourists. As Pedro spirals out of control, he threatens to take the whole kitchen down with him.
Alonso Ruizpalacios (A Cop Movie, 2021) returns to the Festival with a stylistically dazzling, darkly poignant tribute to the often invisible immigrants whose unrelenting work in kitchens feeds this country’s voracious appetite. La Cocina is a daring, tragic ode to the folly of the American Dream.
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Film Credits
- Ramiro Ruiz, Gerardo Gatica, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Lauren Mann, Ivan Orlic
- Yibrán Asuad
- Juan Pablo Ramírez
- Raúl Briones, Rooney Mara, Anna Díaz, Motell Foster, Oded Fehr, Eduardo Olmos
- Marco Polo Constandse, Alexis García, Cristina Garza, José Nacif, William Olsson, Patrick Pfujena, Elizabeth Woodward
- Filmadora MX, Panorama, Astrakan Film AB, Seine Pictures, Fifth Season
- https://lacocinamovie.com
Sponsors
In Partnership With
With Support From
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The Last Republican
Synopsis
In our deeply partisan times, there’s nothing like Hot Tub Time Machine to bring people together. Equal parts humorous and harrowing, The Last Republican tracks conservative Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger’s unwavering fight to hold Donald Trump accountable for the January 6 insurrection, as chronicled by fellow Illinoisian and self-avowed liberal filmmaker Steve Pink — famous for the Hot Tub movies. It’s an unlikely pairing, but that’s part of the point: The Last Republican is a rare political documentary about finding common ground.
Pink follows the Congressman through one of the most difficult years of his life: 2021, when Kinzinger voted to impeach the President and was selected — somewhat unwillingly, it turns out — to serve on the January 6 Committee. Ostracized by his party, mocked by the media, and facing death threats, Kinzinger wrestles with the consequences of his actions. But he ultimately remains committed to his conscience, offering a hopeful glimpse of the future of America.
Screenings & Events
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Film Credits
- Jason Kohn, Chapin Wilson, Robb Bindler, Sarafina DiFelice, Steve Pink
- Ted Feldman
- Joshua Salzman
- Adam Kinzinger, Sofia Kinzinger, Austin Weatherford, Maura Gillespie
- Kevin Morris
- MCDC
Sponsors
Documentary Program Partner
Documentary Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
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