SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Santa Barbara International Film Festival had added 15 more films to this year's line up which kicks off Thursday, January 24th.
According to organizers:
"We've added some fantastic new films that broaden the scope of the program and
embody the international spirit of the festival," commented Michael Albright,
SBIFF's Director of Programming.
World Premieres being added
are:
ANGELS IN EXILE, South Africa – World
Premiere
Directed by Billy Raftery
Narrated by Charlize Theron
An
8-year journey that challenges viewers to look past the violent and often
graphic image of homeless youth and see them for what they
are...children.
RETREAT, Canada - World
Premiere
Directed by David Cherniack
A documentary that follows the trials
and tribulations of thirty-five Westerners as they go through an intense
eight-week meditation retreat in Thailand led by Alan Wallace.
U.S.
Premieres being added are:
MADDENED BY HIS ABSENCE
(J'enrage de son Absence), France - US Premiere
Directed by Sandrine
Bonnaire
Deeply affected by the death of his son in a car accident nine years
ago, Jacques (William Hurt) struggles to come to terms with his
past.
SHYAMAL UNCLE TURNS OFF THE LIGHTS, India – US
Premiere
Directed by Suman Ghosh
An 80-year-old Kolkata retiree is
determined to turn off the streetlights after sunrise, but finding someone to
take him seriously proves a battle against indifference and
complacency
Oscar nominated films added are:
A ROYAL
AFFAIR (En kongelig affære), Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany
(Academy Award® nominee)
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
This
sumptuous historical drama from writer-director Nikolaj Arcel (screenwriter of
the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) chronicles the scandalous love
triangle between a queen, her German doctor, and the mad King of
Denmark.
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, USA
Academy
Award® nominee for Best Documentary
Directed by David France
A vital
documentary that traces the history of the AIDS activist coalitions ACT UP and
TAG, whose radical initiatives broke crucial new ground in the fight against HIV
in the 1980s and 1990s.
WAR WITCH (Rebelle),
Canada
(Academy Award® nominee)
Directed by Kim
Nguyen
In Sub-Saharan Africa, a 14-year-old girl tells her unborn child the
story of her life at war. It all started when she was abducted by the rebel army
at the age of 12.
In addition, the following are also added to the
program:
BEIJING FLICKERS, China– West
Coast Premiere
Directed by Yuan Zhang
Dumped, fired, evicted and abandoned
by everyone, a down-on-his-luck man finds solace with a circle of equally
ill-fated friends, in this touching and lighthearted drama from independent
Chinese auteur Zhang Yuan.
BEYOND THE HILLS,
Romania/France
Directed by Cristian Mungiu
A young Romanian woman sets out
to retrieve her childhood friend from her "captivity" in a remote Romanian
monastery, and soon comes into violent conflict with the archaic strictures of
this traditional community.
MUMBAI'S KING,
India
Directed by Manjeet Singh
A young boy comes of age in a
Mumbai slum while dealing with his long-suffering mother and violent father, in
this gently observational portrait crafted in the tradition of the great
neorealist classics.
STEEL, Italy
Directed by
Stefano Mordini
In a working class town off the coast of Italy just miles
from paradise, Anna and Francesca, two teenage girls spend their last summer of
innocence before high school.
SOUND
CITY, USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Dave
Grohl
Multitalented musician Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana
fronts a mission to resurrect the rapidly vanishing human touch behind the
creation of music.
STILL MINE, Canada
Directed by
Michael McGowan
An elderly couple fights against local authorities in rural
New Brunswick to build their final home.
STUDENT,
Kazakhstan – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Darezhan Omirbayev
A
solitary philosophy student commits a calculated violent crime against the
backdrop of Kazakhstan's growing inequality, institutional corruption, and a
ruthless underworld in this contemporary adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and
Punishment.
THE PUNK SYNDROME,
Finland/Norway/Sweden
Directed by Jukka Kärkkäinen, J-P
Passi
Punk music is about being a voluntary outcast. What if the outcasts
want acceptance? Turning punk on its head, the mentally challenged members of
Pertti Kurikka's Name Day find acceptance in the music they create.
The film festival runs from Thursday, January 24th through Sunday, January.
For more information, click here.
