Life and Other Problems Livet og andre problemer
Synopsis
When a juvenile giraffe named Marius was euthanized by the Copenhagen Zoo a decade ago, the decision sparked an international outcry. But filmmaker Max Kestner was more intrigued than flabbergasted, and uses the provocative incident as a launching pad for this wry and provocative essay film about life, death, biology, genetics, human and animal consciousness, and, well, just about everything else.
Jumping around the planet for a plethora of fascinating interviews — including Italian microbiologist Donato Giovannelli and Oxford veterinarian Charles Foster, who lives as a wolf to better understand them — the film explores the nature of life at a brisk pace, mixing the massive and the microscopic with the existential and the scientific using the lightest of touches. (The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” makes for a memorable framing device.) Fascinating and funny, Life and Other Problems delves into the quandaries of existence while offering no single solution.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Vibeke Vogel
- Max Kestner
- Michael Aaglund
- Maria Von Hauswolff, Sturla Brandt Grøvlen, Max Kestner
- Karen Lloyd, Bengt Holst, Charles Foster, Sheldrake Brothers, Sam Watts, Michael Levin
- Maxwell Sterling
- Bullitt Film
- https://www.bullittfilm.dk
Sponsors
Documentary Program Partner
Documentary Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
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You can’t get what you want but you can get me [short film]
Samira Elagoz, Z WalshNetherlands, Finland, Germany, United States
Learn more...
The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells
Synopsis
Chicago icons past and present come together in this inspiring documentary about artistic practice and political activism. As celebrated sculptor Richard Hunt crafts his monument to civil rights icon Ida B. Wells, “The Light of Truth,” the film weaves together Hunt’s story with the captivating history of his subject, Ida B. Wells. In connecting artist and activist through Hunt’s towering 35-foot-high Bronzeville-based sculpture, the film reveals their analogous missions to battle racism and forge new paths for Black Americans.
A moving testament to Hunt, an influential artist, and Wells, notable for her anti-lynching organizing and role in the suffragist movement, The Light of Truth is a monument to public art, the spirit of protest, and two essential Black Chicago pioneers dedicated to freedom and perseverance.
Media
Film Credits
- Laurie Little, Rana Segal, Vincent Singleton
- Rana Segal
- Tom Desch, Rana Segal
- Kimmer Olsak, Vincent Singleton
- Michelle Duster, Richard Hunt, Catrina Evans
- Tyler Traband
- Rana Segal, Laurie Little, Michael Smith, Mary Ann Johnson, Chaz Ebert
- Luminist Films, RavensVoyage Productions
- http://amonumentforidabfilm.com
Sponsors
Black Perspectives Program Sponsor
Documentary Program Partner
Documentary Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
Film Patrons
Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson
In Partnership With
With Support From
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Memoir of a Snail
Synopsis
Visionary stop-motion animation director Adam Elliot returns to the Festival (Mary and Max, 2009) with a film eight years in the making. As a girl whose young life is troubled by misfortune, Grace (voiced by Sarah Snook) seeks comfort in her loving twin brother Gilbert and her pet snails. But when the siblings are forcibly separated after the death of their father and placed in foster homes at opposite ends of Australia, Grace’s loneliness causes her to withdraw into her shell — much like her beloved pet snails.
Years pass and her sorrow grows, until one day she strikes up an odd friendship with Pinky (Jacki Weaver), an eccentric older woman with a glowing outlook on life and kindness to spare. At once gloomy, affecting, and hopeful, Memoir of a Snail is a beautiful testament to the power of friendship and resilience in the face of adversity.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Liz Kearney, Adam Elliot
- Adam Elliot
- Bill Murphy ASE
- Gerald Thompson
- Sarah Snook, Eric Bana, Jackie Weaver, Kodi Smit-McPhee
- Elena Kats-Chernin
- Robert Connolly, Robert Patterson
Sponsors
Film Patrons
Bill Melamed and Jamey Lundblad
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Color Book
Synopsis
On a whim, single father Lucky decides to take his 11-year-old son Mason to experience an American rite of passage: his first baseball game. It seems simple enough. But Lucky, bereft after a recent personal tragedy and navigating his son’s Down syndrome on his own, encounters a series of obstacles that will test his patience and his confidence as the two set out across Atlanta.
Photographed in vivid black-and-white with echoes of neorealist landmarks like Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and Vittorio de Sica’s The Bicycle Thief, David Fortune’s subtle and elegantly conceived feature debut is brimming with authenticity and heart. With A Thousand and One co-star Will Catlett delivering another magnetic and sympathetic portrayal of a strong, nurturing Black man, Color Book is an intimate and resonant portrait of the unique, tender relationship between father and son.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Kiah Clingman, Kristen Uno, Autumn Bailey-Ford
- David Fortune
- Oriana Soddu
- Nikolaus Summerer
- Will Catlett, Brandee Evans
- Dabney Morris
- Two Lewis, Naturi Naughton, Korstiaan Vandiver, Tyler Edgarten
- Color Book, LLC
Sponsors
Black Perspectives Program Sponsor
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Compensation (1999)
Synopsis
This bold, original Chicago drama, newly restored for its 25th anniversary, follows two love stories set in the city’s Black community. Although they’re set nearly a century apart, they also echo each other in salient ways. Both star deaf actress Michelle A. Banks and Exhibiting Forgiveness star John Earl Jelks, and each tracks a unique couple as they confront the specter of parallel pandemics—tuberculosis in the first story; AIDS in the second—and a complex set of intersecting challenges involving issues of race, gender, class, education, and ability.
Innovatively crafted and shot in luminous black-and-white, the film blends archival footage of early 20th century Black Chicago with silent movie techniques like ornate title cards and a ragtime score. Inspired by Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem of the same title, Zeinabu irene Davis’s debut feature is a time capsule of two eras and a graceful and universal tale of love, tragedy, and Black American life.
Screenings & Events
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Film Credits
- Zeinabu irene Davis, Marc Arthur Chéry
- Marc Arthur Chéry
- Zeinabu irene Davis
- Pierre Désir
- John Earl Jelks, Michelle A. Banks, Nirvana Cobb, Kevin L. Davis, Christopher Smith
- Wimmin with a Mission Productions
Sponsors
Black Perspectives Program Sponsor
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