Age Range: 18
Flicker Lounge
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Flicker Lounge
Girls’ POV Shorts
Girls’ POV Shorts
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Flicker Lounge
Girls’ POV Shorts
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Flicker Lounge
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Short Films Three
Girl’s POV Shorts
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Short Films Three
Boy
Using his own childhood hometown as a luscious backdrop, Oscar®-nominated director Taika Waititi delivers a delightfully playful, delicately poignant film that gracefully scales comedy and drama and is simply a joy to watch. It is 1984, Michael Jackson rules the airwaves, and eleven-year-old “Boy” lives with his kid brother and a slew of cousins in a small, dirt-poor community tucked away amongst the lazy beaches of rural New Zealand. Boy spends his days trying to impress crush Chardonnay with his “Thriller” dance moves and fantasizing about the day his father will come home from jail to take him on amazing adventures. When his father finally does return, it is not for familial bonding, but to dig up the bag of money he hid while running from the police and to set up in the garage with his gang of hapless hooligans. It isn’t long before Boy realizes that his father is not the combination war hero/deep sea diver/rugby captain that he imagined him to be — but a loutish, selfish buffoon whose opulent delusions are even more childish than his own. It is a coming of age story for both father and son.
Prayers for Peace
This poignant animated memoir reveals the final thoughts of the artist’s younger brother, who was killed in the current conflict in Iraq. Drawn with pastels on a slate chalkboard, the materials used to create the film are a metaphor for the impermanence of life.
Something Left, Something Taken
On their way to a forensics lecture, a young couple hitch a ride with a stranger who they slowly discover is none other than the Zodiac Killer — the infamous serial killer who has never been caught. As he veers off the highway to take a “shortcut” through the woods, they decide to leave evidence for the police. An award-winning dark comedy from the creators of last year’s Electric Car.
Journey to Cape Verde
An animated “carnet du voyage,” or journey diary, the film recounts the artist’s sixty-day-long trek through Cape Verde. With no mobile phone, no watch, no plans for what comes next, and only the bare essentials in his backpack, our traveler explores mountains, villages, the sea, a talking tortoise, goats, music, people — and an essential part of himself.
The Bellies
Fat capitalists dine on genetically altered snails in this nightmarish tales of gluttony and greed.
I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone
The arrival of a new student in school changes everything in Leonardo’s life. This 15-year-old has to deal with the jealousy of his long-time friend Giovana while trying to sort out the feelings he has for a new friend.
Tales of the Night 3D
NYICFF welcomes renowned animator Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar) to present his newest film. Tales of the Night is Ocelot’s first foray into 3D animation and extends the shadow puppet style of his Princes and Princesses into the third dimension, with silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed backgrounds bursting with color and kaleidoscopic patterns like a Day-Glo diorama. The film weaves together six exotic fables each unfolding in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom, the African plains, and even the Caribbean Land of the Dead. In Ocelot’s storytelling, history blends with fairytale as viewers are whisked off to enchanted lands full of dragons, sorcerers, werewolves, captive princesses, and enormous talking bees – and each fable ends with its own ironic twist.
A Hard Day’s Night
Sitting at #1 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the best reviewed movies of all time, A Hard Days Night is “one of the great life-affirming landmarks of the movies” (Roger Ebert) and “pure infectious joy” (Kenneth Turan). Shot at the height of Beatlemania following their triumphant first US visit and Ed Sullivan appearances, and while the group occupied the top five spots on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, the film captures all the exhilaration, excitement, and optimistic energy that defined the early Beatles phenomenon. Shot in black-and-white, mock cinéma vérité style, director Richard Lester follows the foursome as they run from frenzied fans, poke fun at managers, cops, and other establishment types, and generally revel in their own youthful exuberance. Much has been said about the innovative quick-cut edits, the hand-held cameras, cutting to the beat, and the film’s other lasting influences — but whether you care about that kind of stuff or not is besides the point. When else can you spend 88 minutes smiling and feeling so positive about life?
First Position
One of the most talked about films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, First Position follows six astoundingly gifted, unbelievably disciplined young dancers vying for a spot in the Youth America Grand Prix. Considered one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world, the NYC showcase provides students the opportunity to dance for scholarships to the world’s top dance schools and land contracts with renowned companies. Joan Sebastian, 16, from Cali, Colombia dances to create a better life for himself and his family. Miko, 12, from Palo Alto, pursues her love of ballet with the help of (or perhaps in spite of) her perfectionist Tiger Mom. Michaela, 14, was adopted as a toddler from war-torn Sierra Leone and fights through injury to overcome stereotypes that keep many black dancers out of the spotlight. And then there’s Gaya from Israel, who at only 11 years old dances with a poise, control and maturity that is simply astonishing to behold. With tensions building as we progress to the make-or-break finals, the film supplies all the drama you would expect — but even more than a dance movie, First Position captures the universal trials and triumphs of childhood across all walks of life.
Yellow Submarine
An icon of psychedelic pop culture, Yellow Submarine is a colorful musical spectacle and an exhilaratingly joyful cinematic experience for all ages — filled with visual invention, optical illusions, word play, and glorious, glorious music. Once upon a time…or maybe twice…there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, 80,000 leagues under the sea it lay, a place where beauty, happiness, and music reigned supreme. But this peaceful harmony is shattered when the Blue Meanies invade with their army of storm bloopers, apple bonkers, snapping turtle turks, and the menacing flying glove in an attempt to stop the music and drain Pepperland of all color and hope. Now it’s The Beatles to the rescue, as our animated heroes team up with Young Fred and the Nowhere Man and journey across seven seas to free Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, make peace with the Meanies, and restore music, color, and love to the world.
But beyond all the music and whimsy, Yellow Submarine is a landmark in animation, with Heinz Edelmann’s inspired art direction conjuring up a non-stop parade of wildly different styles and techniques. From the paper-doll residents of Pepperland, to the tinted photography of the soot covered roofs and smokestacks of Liverpool, the menagerie of fanciful characters in the Sea of Monsters, the kaleidoscopic color-splashed rotoscoping of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, the vertigo inducing op-art of the Sea of Holes, and the triumphant euphony of the It’s All Too Much finale, the film is simply a joy.
Ninja Kids!!!
From the twisted mind of Takashi Miike (whose The Great Yokai War will make a great NYICFF “Midnight Madness” screening if we ever get around to it) comes an insane new kids’ flick about a feuding ninja school — a riotous action-packed kung-fu comedy that easily earns all three exclamation points in its title. Little Rantaro comes from a long line of low-ranking ninjas, so when the time comes to leave the family farm to enter ninja school himself he is determined to study hard. Yet despite their dedication in star-throwing, explosives, and rock-climbing, Rantaro’s first year class is so inept that the headmaster declares an early summer vacation and sends them all home. But the youngsters will get to earn their stars yet — after being challenged by a rival clan, the first-years must race to ring the bell at a mountaintop temple to save the school. Brilliant in its excess and bursting with joyous energy from the infectious young cast, the film is loaded with non-stop visual gags, dopey villains, adorable ninja trainees, and one very informative “friendly ninja trivia commentator” (as well as a musical back-story about a ninja-turned-hairdresser, sung mock operatic under a shower of falling flower petals). To quote one reviewer: Your jaw will drop like an elevator with a snapped cable. Be sure to stay for the end credits!
Echoes of the Rainbow
Winner of the Crystal Bear (youth audience award) at the Berlin Film Festival and Hong Kong’s official entry for this year’s Oscars®, Echoes of the Rainbow is a graceful and emotionally powerful tale based on the filmmaker’s real-life childhood. It’s the spring of 1969 and the world will have to wait another six months before Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon — but our young hero “Big Ears” is running through the streets of Hong Kong with a goldfish bowl on his head, Big brother Desmond (played wonderfully by Cantopop heartthrob, Aarif Lee) is a gold-medal track star and ace student who plays guitar and nurtures a nascent romance with soft-spoken cutie pie Flora. Meanwhile, their parents work their fingers to the bone running a tiny neighborhood shoe store. Their dream is simple: all they want is for their children to have a better life than they did — and this mood of nostalgic optimism and yearning is reflected perfectly by the sappy 60’s pop ballads wafting from big brother’s transistor radio. But the sunny tone soon darkens as the family is beset by a slumping economy, social unrest, and the onset of Hong Kong’s annual typhoons — presaging an even more wrenching family tragedy. This wonderful, bittersweet saga is almost epic in scale, evoking good times and bad times, love and loss, with sincerity, humor, and tenderness.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below
Makoto Shinkai is perhaps the world’s finest animator and his brilliant new feature delivers frame after frame of jaw-dropping photorealistic splendor: skyscapes of unspeakable majesty, a butterfly on a twig, a blade of grass — all are rendered with such astounding delicacy and precision that you mourn their passing once the image has left the screen. The story is a modern-day Orpheus tale with a sci-fi twist that pays tribute to the great works of Hayao Miyazaki — especially Princess Mononoke — with its demonic spirit-gods and magnificent forest creatures. Asuna spends her afternoons alone in the mountains, using her crystal radio to listen to haunting songs from somewhere far away. One afternoon, a wild bear-like creature attacks and Asuna is saved by Shun, a boy with strange powers who comes from a mythical underworld beneath the Earth that is a gateway to the afterlife. When Asuna returns the next day to find him gone, she decides to leave the world of the living behind and follow him.