San Francisco International Film Festival 2013 (year 56)

[Chris Knipp]

San Francisco International Film Festival 2013 April 25-May 9

[Filmleaf Festival Coverage thread begins: HERE. ]




Links to the reviews:

Act of Killing, The (Joshua Oppenheimer 2012) ND/NF
After Lucia/Después de Lucía (Michel Franco 2012)
Artist and the Model, The (Fernando Truba 2012)
Before Midnight (Richard Linklater 2013)
Chimeras (Mika Matilla 2012)
Cleaner, The (Adrian Saba 2012)
Cold War (Longman Leung, Sunny Luk 2013)
Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski 2013)
Ernest & Célestine Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar 2012)
Eight Deadly Shots (Mikko Niskanen 1972)
Fill the Void (Rana Burshtein 2012)
Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach 2012) NYFF
Futuro, Il (Alicia Scherson 2012)
Habi, the Foreigner (María Florencia Álvarez 2012)
Hijacking, A (Tobias Lindholm2012) ND/NF
In the Fog (Sergei Loznitsa 2012)
Juvenile Offender (Kang Yi-Kwan 2012)
Key of Life (Kenji Uchida 2012)
La Sirga (William Vega 2012)
Last Step, The (Ali Mosaffa 2012)
Leviathon (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Peravel 2012)
Memories Look at Me (Song Fang 2012) NYFF
Museum Hours (Jem Cohen 2012)
Nights with Théodore (Sébastien Betbeder 2012)
Night Across the Street (Raul Ruiz 2012) NYFF
Patience Stone, The (Atiq Rahimi 2012)
Pearblossom Highway (Mike Ott 2012)
Penance (Kiyoshi Kurosawa 2012)
Present Tense (Belmin Söylemez 2012)
Rosie (Marcel Gisler 2013)
Sirga, La (William Vega 2012)
Sofia's Last Ambulance (Ilian Metev 2012)
Something in the Air (Olivier Assayas 2012) NYFF
Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley 2012) ND/NF
Strange Little Cat, The (Ramon Zürcher 2013)
Tall as the Baobab Tree (Jeremy Teicher 2012)
Thérèse Desqueyroux (Claude Miller 2012) R-V
What Maisie Knew (David Siegel, Scott McGehee 20113)
Youth (Justine Malle 2013)



Sfiff56 narrative and documentary feature films in competition announced: The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival announced the films in competition for the New Directors Prize and the Golden Gate Award nominees for documentary feature. The International will award $70,000 in total prizes this year. This year's competitions are comprised of films from 19 countries. Independent juries will select the winners, which will be announced at the Golden Gate Awards, Wednesday, May 8. For more film details, visit sffs.org. [March 5, 2013.]

Official Selections 2013 New Directors Prize (Narrative Feature)

The Cleaner, Adrián Saba, Peru
As a mysterious epidemic eviscerates Lima's adult population -- but spares its children -- a solitary middle-aged forensic worker discovers an orphaned boy at one of his cleanup sites and decides to shelter the traumatized youth until he can find a relative to take him. As time passes, a subtle transformation takes hold of both man and child in this gently haunted and affecting study of social alienation and redemption.

Habi, the Foreigner, María Florencia Álvarez, Argentina/Brazil - North American Premiere
Highlighted by an impressive and subtle performance by Martina Juncandella, first-time director María Florencia Álvarez's film traces a 20-year-old woman's spontaneous attempt to create a new identity for herself as a Lebanese orphan in Buenos Aires. Sensitively examining the role of culture in self-definition, Habi, the Foreigner is a beguiling coming-of-age story detailing the feeling of being an outsider in your own land.

Memories Look at Me, Song Fang, China
In this strong feature debut, Song Fang directs and plays herself as she pays a visit to her parents at their home in Nanjing. Intimate and contemplative, Memories Look at Me muses on life, death and tradition while touching on the essence of family life with a mixture of melancholy and serenity.

Our Homeland, Yang Yonghi, Japan
Based on the director's own experience, this powerful drama tells the story of a family torn between Japan and North Korea. Rie, an ethnic Korean, lives with most of her family in Tokyo. The arrival of the family's son, repatriated 25 years earlier to North Korea, forces the family to navigate difficult political and emotional waters.

Present Tense, Belmin Söylemez, Turkey
A recent divorcée named Mina takes a job as fortune-teller, reading coffee grounds in a cafe, but longs to move to the U.S. Using her own personal experiences and frustrated dreams to inform her work, she offers penetrating psychological readings for her customers and develops a loyal following.

La Sirga, William Vega, Colombia/France/Mexico
Uprooted from her destroyed village by the armed conflict in Colombia, young Alicia tries to start a new life in La Sirga, a ramshackle inn on the shores of a great lake in the Andes highlands. The house belongs to her uncle Oscar, an old solitary hermit. There, on a swampy and murky beach, she will try to settle down until her fears and the threat of war resurface again.

The Strange Little Cat, Ramon Zürcher, Germany - North American Premiere
Initiated in a seminar taught by Béla Tarr and inspired by Kafka's Metamorphosis, this startling debut feature takes place almost entirely within the apartment of a family where relatives gather to prepare dinner, repair a washing machine and talk. With its quirky choreography of movement, sound and words, the film imbues the mundane with an odd sense of otherworldliness.

Tall as the Baobab Tree, Jeremy Teicher, USA/Senegal - U.S. Premiere
Working with local communities and non-professional actors playing roles that mirror their own lives, Jeremy Teicher tells the moving story of a teenage girl who hatches a plan to rescue her sister from an arranged marriage. The film is also the first full-length feature in the Pulaar language of Senegal.

They'll Come Back, Marcelo Lordello, Brazil
A potent exploration of class and adolescence, They'll Come Back tells the story of Cris, a privileged 12-year-old who -- after being left on the side of the road as punishment for her and her brother's constant bickering -- embarks on a journey that will open her eyes to a world she never knew as she tries to find her way home.

Youth, Justine Malle, France
A nuanced portrait of identity coming into focus and a young woman willfully emerging from the shadow of a strong parent, the semi-autobiographical debut feature by the late, great Louis Malle's middle daughter follows an inexperienced college student (Esther Garrel, daughter of Philippe and sister of Louis) whose sexual awakening coincides with her filmmaker father's terminal diagnosis.

In addition to these 10 first features in competition, the New Directors section of SFIFF56 includes 19 out-of-competition films, which will be announced at the Festival's press conference Tuesday, April 2.


Official Selections 2013 Golden Gate Awards (Documentary Feature)

After Tiller, Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, USA
After the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas in 2009, there are now only four doctors left in the country who provide third-trimester abortions for women. After Tiller moves between the rapidly unfolding stories of these doctors, all of whom were close colleagues of Dr. Tiller and are fighting to keep this service available in the wake of his death.

Before You Know It, PJ Raval, USA
Before You Know It explores the fascinating, but until now, rarely seen world of aging gay men. This provocative, poignant and life-affirming documentary details the lives of three different and remarkable individuals, the joys and hardships they experience, the difficulties of aging and being overlooked and also the support and uplift they find in their particular communities.

Chimeras, Mika Mattila, Finland - U.S. Premiere
This revelatory and visually striking documentary follows a pair of political pop artists -- the hugely successful middle-aged painter and sculptor Wang Guangyi and the gifted young photographer Liu Gang -- as they grapple with their place and purpose in a new China of pervasive materialism and Western influence.

Cutie and the Boxer, Zachary Heinzerling, USA
After 39 years of marriage, painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko, have weathered many storms of creative conflict. Clearly the nurturer in the relationship, Noriko endeavors to support her fiery partner while also endeavoring to find space for her own artistic efforts. Capturing them both, at work and at play, the result is a skillfully crafted portrait of art and long-term companionship.

God Loves Uganda, Roger Ross Williams, USA/Uganda
A powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to change African culture with values imported from America's Christian Right, the film follows American and Ugandan religious leaders fighting "sexual immorality" and missionaries trying to convince Ugandans to follow Biblical law.

Inori, Pedro González-Rubio, JapanIn the small mountain community of Kannogawa, Japan, the laws of nature reshape the human blueprint of what used to be a lively town. While the younger generations have gone to the cities, the few people who remain perform the everyday activities with a brave perspective on their history and the cycles of life.

The Kill Team, Dan Krauss, USA
In this chilling documentary, Bay Area-based Dan Krauss (The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club, Golden Gate Award winner, SFIFF 2005) explores the deeply disturbing story of U.S. soldiers, stationed in Afghanistan in 2009, who were convicted of murdering innocent civilians. Their motives, and the culture that enabled their crimes, are as complex as they are nightmarish.

Let the Fire Burn, Jason Osder, USA
In 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department dropped two pounds of military explosives on the house belonging to the radical black liberation group known as MOVE. Constructed entirely of archival materials and judicious intertitles, the film cannily juxtaposes startling images from the bombing, the resulting fire -- left to burn for over an hour -- and their aftermath to create a vivid portrait of a tragic injustice.

Rent a Family Inc., Kaspar Astrup Schröder, Denmark - U.S. Premiere
Filmmaker Kaspar Astrup Schröder's (The Invention of Dr. Nakamats, SFIFF 2009) alternately fetching, absorbing and offbeat documentary revolves around a 44-year-old Japanese family man who owns and operates a professional stand-in business that rents out fake relatives, spouses, friends and parents to a rapidly growing Japanese customer base "desperate...to cover up a secret."

A River Changes Course, Kalyanee Mam, Cambodia/USA
Bay Area filmmaker Kalyanee Mam presents an intimate and moving portrait of the vanishing world of rural farmers and fishermen in Cambodia. Focusing on three families in vivid cinéma vérité style, Mam reveals how the encroaching modern world is destroying the rich and sustaining cultures of the past and forcing the young to seek work in factories or plantations.

The Search for Emak Bakia, Oskar Alegria, Spain
In 1926, avant garde artist Man Ray shot a film titled Emak Bakia, a Basque expression that means "Leave me alone." Intrigued by the fanciful conundrums and coincidences of Ray and his art, filmmaker Oskar Alegría ignores Ray's dictum and sets out to plumb the mysteries of Emak Bakia, leading to an unforgettable journey of whimsical discoveries and charming surprises.

Sofia's Last Ambulance, Ilian Metev, Germany/Bulgaria/Croatia
On the front lines of a degraded emergency-care system in Sofia, Bulgaria, an over-extended, yet emphatically humane, paramedic crew hurtles frantically from one call to the next in a dilapidated ambulance. Filmed primarily through the lenses of three dashboard-mounted cameras, Sofia's Last Ambulance unfolds in a series of unflinching, real-time vignettes shot over the course of two years.

In addition to these 12 features by emerging filmmakers in the documentary competitions, the Golden Gate Awards also will include competitors in six other categories. These films will be announced at the Festival press conference on Tuesday, April 2.

[Chris Knipp]

Opening, closing, and centerpiece films announced.

SFIFF56 Opening Night: What Maisie Knew
April 25; Screening 7:00, Party 9:30 Castro Theatre and Temple Nightclub
Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel and Actor Onata Aprile Expected!





The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival opens with a screening of What Maisie Knew.

In this contemporary adaptation of Henry James's 1897 novel of the same name, Scott McGehee and David Siegel focus on the effects of a marriage's unraveling as viewed through the eyes of a couple's six-year-old daughter. Shuttling between narcissistic parents and bemused but compassionate parental stand-ins, young Maisie comes face to face with the mercurial world of grown-ups who are anything but. With Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Onata Aprile, Steve Coogan.


SFIFF56 Centerpiece: Inequality For All
May 4; Screening 6:30, Party 8:30 Sundance Kabuki Cinemas and Roe
Director Jacob Kornbluth and Subject Robert Reich Expected!



At the center of the Festival is an extraordinary event featuring an impassioned new film by a celebrated director followed by a chic lounge party at one of San Francisco's hottest nightspots, Roe. Be part of one of the Festival's most anticipated events. For more film and party details, visit sffs.org.

In this Inconvenient Truth for the economy, the Sundance Special Jury Award-winning Inequality For All introduces former Secretary of Labor (and current UC Berkeley professor) Robert Reich as an inspirational and humorous guide in exploring the causes and consequences of the widening income gap in America and asks what is means for the future of our economy and nation. Passionate and insightful, Reich connects the dots for viewers by providing a comprehensive and significantly deeper understanding of what's at stake if we don't act.


SFIFF56 Closing Night film: Richard Linklater's Before Midnight
May 9; Screening, 7:00, Party 9:00 Castro Theatre and Ruby Skye *
Director Richard Linklater Expected!



They're still the same romantic, articulate and gorgeous couple that met on a train in Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995), but now, nearly 20 years on, Jesse and Céline (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) are approaching middle age and facing questions of commitment, family and, as ever, the staying power of love. Before Midnight, with a funny and touching screenplay cowritten by Linklater and his two lead actors, is that rare sequel (rarer still: a sequel to a sequel) that not only delivers the charm and energy of its antecedents but adds layers of poignancy, standing firmly on its own as a mature observation of love's pleasures and discontents. With Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Prior, Charlotte Prior.

[Chris Knipp]

Oscar's recommendations of recent Spanish language films below. To look for at the SFIFF.

Violeta Went to Heaven (Chile, Andrés Wood). But this just came out in NYC, so not likely.
After Lucia (Mexico, Michel Franco). Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
A Gun in Each Hand (Cesc Gay, Spain).
Tanta Agua/So Much Water (Uruguay,Ana Guevara, Leticia Jorge, Knight Grand Jury Prize at MIFF )
Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)

But Post Tenebras Lux also is getting a US theatrical release soon, so it may not be in the SFIFF. "Carlos Reygadas’ Cannes Prize-Winning POST TENEBRAS LUX has US Theatrical Premiere Wednesday, May 1 at Film Forum" -- recent message from Susan Norget, NYC agent.

P.s.: Oscar, though there are a few other Spanish language films, I think of these the only one of these in the SFIFF is
AFTER LUCIA.

The others are:
CRYLTAL FAIRY by the Chilean Sebastian Silva (THE MAID) but it may be mostly in English, with Michael Cera, and it looks a bit silly.
THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL by the Spanish director FernandoTrueba, but it is more international, with Jean Rochefort and Claudia Cardinale, those glamorous oldsters, and is in Spanish, French, and Catalan.
MAI MORIRE is by Enrique Rivas (Mexican). This is in Spanish despite the Italian title.
THE CLEANER (Adrián Saba, Peruvian born in Madrid). Set in Lima, at a time of plague. Spanish title EL LIMPIADOR.
IL FUTURO (Alicia Scherson, whose PLAY SFIFF 2005 I liked). But this one is in Italian, and in English when Rutger Hauer is on screen. An adaptation of the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño’s novella, Una novelita lumpen.
Two others with the festival blurbs:
HABI, THE FOREIGNER (María Florencia Álvarez’s, about a Lebanese orphan in Buenos Aires.)
LA SIRGA (William Vega, about a Colombian refugee building a house in the Andes)

As for Portuguese:
Included in the SFIFF 2013 slate is Raul Ruiz's THE NIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. I saw it at the 2012 NYFF and have reviewed it.
They would have done well to include the Brazilian Marcelo Lordello's THEY'LL COME BACK, which is good. Bit it's not in the lineup.

CORRECTION (22 April 2013) THEY'LL COME BACK is included in the SFIFF lineup.

[Chris Knipp]

The opening press conference was held and now the entire program of films can be found on the SFIFF website. To access the list click on the word "FILMS" below.

FILMS

There are 158 films in all in 31 languages -- 67 narrative features and 28 documentaries, 63 shorts. Further breakdowns: 51 countries represented (this would include co-productions), 25 films by women directors.

[Chris Knipp]

Here's the complete April 2 press conference day online release from the 2013 SFIFF with its links. To find all of the SFIFF films with blurbs, schedule of screenings, and an image, go to FILMS.

SFIFF56 Runs April 25 - May 9

The San Francisco Film Society today announced the complete schedule of films and events that will make up the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, running April 25 - May 9 at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, New People Cinema and the Castro Theatre in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

Browse the full public program info at festival.sffs.org.

Find press releases, high-resolution film stills and awardee images, logos, program guides and more at sffs.org/pressdownloads.

SFIFF 2013 by the Numbers:

158 Films
180 Filmmakers and Industry Guests Expected
51 Countries Represented
67 Narrative Features
28 Documentary Features
63 Shorts
25 Women Directors
31 Languages

Highlights from today's press conference included these announcements:

The 2013 Founder's Directing Award will go to Philip Kaufman, who will be honored with an onstage tribute and a screening of his San Francisco-set classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). Read the full press release for details.

Julie Delpy will join director Richard Linklater for the Closing Night screening of Before Midnight, and the pair will also participate in an in-depth conversation focusing on the creation of their groundbreaking trilogy (A Conversation with Richard Linklater, May 8). Visit festival.sffs.org for more details.

SFIFF has launched A2E: Artist to Entrepreneur, a four-day lab designed to match independent filmmakers with cutting-edge tools for digital distribution, outreach and audience engagement. This pilot program will bring filmmakers and tech pioneers together to collaborate and confront the challenges facing artists today in getting their work seen, connecting with audiences and building community. Read the full press release for more details.

The Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award will be given to media artist Jem Cohen, in a tribute program that will include a screening of his new feature film Museum Hours (April 28). Read the full press release for more details.

Bay Area connections abound at SFIFF56, with local icons like Philip Kaufman, Rick Prelinger and Robert Reich (subject of Centerpiece film Inequality for All), local directors like Les Blank (Spend it All), Jacob Kornbluth (Inequality for All), Dan Krauss (The Kill Team) and Kalyanee Mam (A River Changes Course) and Bay Area focus in films like Google and the World Brain and Big Sur.

Browse the complete list of SFIFF56 press releases here, including the previously-announced Opening, Closing and Centerpiece programs, Steven Soderbergh's State of Cinema Address, the Festival's tribute to industry pioneer Ray Dolby, and more.

[Chris Knipp]

Press screenings.
So far four have been announced. Probably a few more will come up. Those offered are as follows. I will skip FILL THE VOID because I saw it at the NYFF last fall.


Variety Club FILL THE VOID
Thursday April 4 (Rama Burshstein, Israel, 90 min)
2:00 pm Festival dates: Wed May 1, 6:30 pm, Kabuki; Thu May 2, 4:00 pm, Kabuki
out 3:30 pm Larsen Associates RSVP: larsenassc@aol.com

Director Rama Burshtein and actress Hadas Yaron are available for in person interviews, Thursday, May 2nd. Please let Larsen Associates know if you are interested in an interview. You must attend this screening if you plan to interview. No DVDs will be made available. Capsule pieces may be written for this film’s Festival screenings, but ALL major stories must be held for the theatrical opening later this year.

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Variety Club WHAT MAISIE KNEW (Opening Night film)
Monday April 8 (Scott McGehee and David Siegel, USA, 93 min)
11:00 am Festival date: Thu April 25, 7:00 pm, Castro
out 12:35 pm Allied-THA RSVP: Meghan.hurder@gmail.com

Codirectors Scott McGehee and David Siegel and actress Onata Aprile will be available for interviews on Thursday April 25. Please contact Meghan Hurder at Allied-THA know if you are interested in an interview. Capsule pieces may be written for this film’s Festival screening, but ALL major stories must be held for the theatrical opening later this year.

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Variety Club THE PATIENCE STONE
Thursday April 11 (Atiq Rahimi, France, 102 min)
2:00 pm Festival dates: Mon April 29, 6:30 pm, Kabuki; Tue April 30, 8:45 pm, Kabuki
out 3:45 pm Larsen Associates RSVP: larsenassc@aol.com

Director Atiq Rahimi is available for in person interviews on Monday, April 29. Please let Larsen Associates know if you are interested in an interview. You must attend this screening if you plan to interview. No DVDs will be made available. Capsule pieces may be written for this film’s Festival screenings, but ALL major stories must be held for the theatrical opening later this year.

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Variety Club BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Closing Night film)
Thursday April 18 (Richard Linklater, USA, 108 min)
2:00 pm Festival date: Thu May 9, 7:00 pm, Castro
out 3:50 pm Larsen Associates RSVP: larsenassc@aol.com

Director Richard Linklater and Actress Julie Delpy are available for in person interviews, Thursday, May 9. Please let Larsen Associates know if you are interested in an interview. You must attend this screening if you plan to interview. No DVDs will be made available. Capsule pieces may be written for this film’s Festival screening, but ALL major stories must be held for the theatrical opening later this year.

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[Johann]

You are unstoppable.
Keep those fine reviews coming in...

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'll do my best.

[Chris Knipp]

Tue., April 16, 2013.

The public screenings and other events of the SFIFF begin in a week. Meanwhile I have been watching some press screenings and viewed some screener dvd's. Plus nine of the festival roster of films are ones I've already posted on before at Lincoln Center events last year and this. Links to all I've covered so far are below. More will come shortly. This week there is a screening of the closing night film, Richard Linklater's BEFORE MIDNIGHT, with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Some commercial release films I can only post "previews" of and that includes BEFORE MIDNIGHT and WHAT MAISIE KNEW (with Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan and Alexander Skarsgård), the opening night film, directed by those two guys who made THE DEEP END and the pointless UNCERTAINITY, David Siegel and Scott McGehee. I like this one probably most of anything they've done so far. Some of the titles linked below were reviewed in earlier series as indicated: NYFF (2012 New York Film Festival), ND/NF (2013 New Directors/New Films), and R-V (2013 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema) in New York.



JEM COHEN, RECIPIENT OF SFIFF 2013 POV AWARD

[Chris Knipp]

Ali Mosaffa: THE LAST STEP (2012)

A fiercely ingenious film by Ali Mosffa, who wrote, directed, and starred in it with Leila Hatami of A SEPARATION. This is Mosaffa's second film but his first was way back in 2005. I loved this new one. And yet I thought it was too complicated, too ambitious. Maybe I'm not sure. It certainly is a head trip, and fun. And I am sure the 46-year-old Mosaffa is another Iranian filmmaker to be reckoned with now though. And so far, or at the moment, he may have managed not to get in trouble with the mullahs.

[Chris Knipp]

Richard Linklater: BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013)

The unprecedented third in the Linnklaer-Hawke-Delpy "Before" series, each nine years apart, is the SFIFF closing night film. A full review will appear here on theatrical release 24 May 2013. The work is as polished as ever, but it doesn't succeed quite as well now that Jesse and Céline are a longtime cohabiting couple and not a romantic pair meeting and reuniting, mainly because Delpy's neurotic argumentativeness, honed in her own two relationship pictures 2 DAYS IN PARIS and 2 DAYS IN NEW YORK, seems exaggerated. But this may be like Apted's "Up" series in fictional form, and if it continues there could be a richer iteration next time. Anyway many fans of the format will love this, with the squabbling.

[Chris Knipp]

Andrew Bujalski: COMPUTER CHESS(2013)

Here's a really fun, or annoying new oddity -- depending on your orientation. Forget Mumblecore. This is more like Nerdcore. Bujalski has recreated with terrifying accuracy the trappings, visual style, and people of a ca. 1980 weekend conference when computer chess was in its early stages, notbly using ancient Portapak video equipment. As a Guardian writer noted, this deadpan evocation is among other things "a wide-eyed appreciation for just what humble, shabby beginnings the digital revolution sprang from." Preview. Watch for a full-length review when it's released theatrically in July. Or you can find reviews from Sundance (pro: Vadim Rizov, Mike D'Angelo; con: Justin Chang, Todd McCarthy) or the Berlinale (European publications like the Guardian). I find this maybe better to think about than to actually watch, but it's definitely one of the more memorably unique items in the SFIFF.

[Chris Knipp]

Ramon Zürcher: THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT (2013)

Probably the most admired debut film of the Berlinale. Dennis Lim described it for the NY Times: "The Strange Little Cat, which originated in a seminar with Béla Tarr, the director of The Turin Horse, revolves around the well-worn scenario of a family gathering but defies convention at every turn. The domestic environment in the movie, with its hyperactive children and pets, short-circuited cross-talk and roaring kitchen appliances, is at once highly choreographed and buzzing with life; everyday actions and conversations take on a syncopated strangeness and a balletic grace."

It's more often compared to Jacques Tati than Béla Tarr. But Tati was French. Zürcher is Swiss, living in Berlin. His familial Twittering Macine works like clockwork. It's more smooth and ingenious than quirky and funny.

[Chris Knipp]

Justine Malle: YOUTH (2013)

A fictionalized memoir and debut feature by Louis Malle's daughter, who's now 39, about herself at 20 when her father was suddenly diagnosed with a fatal wasting disease and she had to try to cope with her own immaturity and sexual inexperience at the same time as her exams and her father's sudden decline. Stars Esther Garrel, herself daughter of a famous French director, Philippe Garrel. This seeks to evoke the New Wave style in both its style and images and its cultural references and has some sad and beautiful moments, but I wish it were better, braver, and simpler. And better cast. Only 72 minutes.

[Chris Knipp]

William Vega: LA SIRGA (2012)

A young woman in Colombia runs away from political disaster (her parents are dead, the house burned down) to her uncle by a vast lake in the Andes. She helps him repair a ramshackle inn for tourists, but tourists don't seem likely to come in this much admired metaphorical debut feature that focuses on atmosphere rather than narrative. Debuted at Cannes last May, shown at many festivals since.