3000 NIGHTS
Mai Masri
Palestine, France, Qatar, Jordan, UAE, Lebanon, 2015
103 minutes, Color
In Person: Director Mai Masri
Documentary filmmaker Mai Masri (Beirut Diaries) turned to fiction to convey what she learned through deep research into the condition of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons. It is 1980. Layla (Maisa Abd Elhadi) is unaccountably thrown into a police van on a rainy night and then convicted of abetting a young accused Palestinian she picked up hitchhiking. That is just the door to the rabbit hole: Amid the tensions and inevitable rebellion of Palestinian political prisoners and Israeli criminals thrown together, Layla finds that she is pregnant. She gives birth, chained to a bed, and is allowed to keep the child, a boy who has ready aunties in her cellmates. Shot in a former military prison in Jordan, 3000 Nights has a striking authenticity. Layla is a real, if composite, character, and her boy, raised Room-like in a prison, is a cipher and a symbol of the Palestinian experience.—Judy Bloch (In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles)
A GOOD AMERICAN
Friedrich Moser
Austria, 2015
100 minutes, Color
In Person: Director Friedrich Moser and subject William Binney
William (Bill) Binney, the “good American” of this film’s title, will likely look familiar: We first met this genius code-breaker and NSA whistleblower in the Edward Snowden profile Citizenfour. Friedrich Moser’s documentary gives the thoughtful Binney his own forum, and his message is devastating. The attacks of 9/11 could have been prevented but for the fog of bureaucracy, or what the Guardian called “a lethal cocktail of incompetence, arrogance and greed…. Moser join[s] the dots just as Binney might connect his metadata.” ThinThread, the surveillance program on which Binney worked, could pick up any electronic signal on earth and filter it for targets while protecting the privacy the Constitution demands. The agency, however, chose to commission a different, more costly system from the private sector; weeks before 9/11, ThinThread was decommissioned. When it was brought back too late, it functioned very well—to spy on American citizens.—Various sources
FESTIVAL PREVIEW | CINE CUBANO | FIRST FEATURE | JUSTICE MATTERS
THE LIGHTER SIDE | RHYTHMS ON AND OFF THE SCREEN | TRUST NO ONE
HOW TO TELL YOU’RE A DOUCHEBAG
Tahir Jetter
USA, 2016
80 minutes, Color
Ray Livingston is a relationship-blogging hack who writes Brooklyn’s infamous blog “Occasionally Dating Black Women.” The well-written, controversial blog has generated some notoriety, but Ray is chafing from an overextended stay in New York, romantic ennui, and a stagnating writing career. After a particularly crappy week, he goes off on a tirade and harasses a gorgeous, random woman, only to discover that it’s Rochelle Marseille, one of New York’s up-and-coming authors. Trying to make amends to preserve his media clout, Ray is stunned when Rochelle gives him more than he ever expected. Brimming with exciting new talent, How to Tell You’re a Douchebag is a fresh, buoyant comedy delivered with a twist for a generation addicted to its screens and digital accounts. First-time feature director Tahir Jetter intelligently retools old rom-com formulas to give us this smart and meaningful tale of a misogynist who falls in love.—Sundance Film Festival
A PATCH OF FOG
Michael Lennox
UK, 2015
92 minutes, Color
A Patch of Fog is an unnerving thriller, a modern-day morality tale, and a kind of anti-bromance detailing the relationship between a mildly kleptomaniacal professor and a troubled security guard. Sandy Duffy (Conleth Hill of Game of Thrones) leads a comfortable life in Belfast. He is a university professor and a regular guest on a popular television arts program, and his one novel, though published many years ago, is still in print and regarded a classic. Sandy has a habit of nicking things, and shoplifting has become the one thrill in his overly domesticated life. When Sandy gets caught by security guard Robert (Stephen Graham of Boardwalk Empire), his life is turned inside out. Every time the beleaguered professor is certain he’s shaken off his blackmailer, he is reminded that, in a world where so much is captured on camera, it’s hard to avoid leaving a trail.—Toronto International Film Festival
TANNA
Martin Butler, Bentley Dean
Australia, Vanuatu, 2015
99 minutes, Color
On the lush tropical island of Tanna, the conviction of two star-crossed lovers will change their tribe’s culture forever. This visually breathtaking film is the first to be shot entirely in the island nation of Vanuatu and features nonprofessional actors whose performances bring vibrancy to a story based on real events. Mischievous youngster Selin is encouraged to be more like her older sister Wawa, who is being readied to undertake the ceremony that will recognize her as a grown woman of the Yakel tribe. But Wawa is rebellious in her own way: She and Dain, the handsome grandson of the tribal chief, are in love. When Wawa is betrothed to a man from another tribe as part of an effort to resolve island hostilities, she must choose between loyalty to her clan and her own heart.—Palm Springs International Film Festival (In Nauvhal with English subtitles)
VIVA
Paddy Breathnach
Ireland, Cuba, 2015
100 minutes, Color