Festival Year: 2012
Heebie Jeebies Shorts
Flicker Lounge
Short Films Two
Short Films One
Shorts For Tots
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.
Dripped
A fantastic imagining of how Jackson Pollack came upon his “drip” and action-painting style: through devouring (literally) all the styles of the modern past.
The Dancer
This uplifting true story about orphan Satish shows shades of Slumdog Millionaire. Beautiful village and pastoral scenery and quick-cut montages revel in the bustling colors, sounds, tastes, and textures of India, while Satish’s indomitable spirit and joyfulness prevail against all odds.
Bunce
Celebrated actor, playwright, journalist and funnyman Stephen Fry writes and stars in this semi-autobiographical tale — a droll British boarding school comedy about a boy, Fry, with an out-sized vocabulary and taste for sweets, who befriends a small, shy, blond newbie.
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.
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?
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!
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.
The Girl and the Fox
An enemy becomes a friend as a young girl has a life-and-death encounter with a snow fox at dusk in the frozen forest.
Floyd the Android
An inquisitive android can’t seem to keep his head on straight in this playful short on teleportation.
Keenan at Sea
This adorable, hummable tune from NY acoustic pop group The Girls is the theme song for the 2012 festival! “A salty sea and a boat for three as we sail past the coral reef…we wave goodbye to the sandy beach far away…la la la la!”
Extinction of the Sabertooth House Cat
Though scientists have conjectured, none could truly say what caused the demise of the Sabertooth House Cat. But not this hard-hitting documentary reveals startling new evidence to detail the dramatic last moments of one of Earth’s littlest known creatures.
(Notes On) Biology
Probably the most exciting lesson on etoecology you’ll ever receive combines rotoscoping and stop-motion animation to literally illustrate what really goes on during biology class (parents, look away).
Swimming Pool
In a closed swimming pool in the middle of a big city, two outcasts share a night-time swim. But will they be willing to reveal their secrets?
Metro
A young girl chases a mysterious fox through a secret door and into a subterranean wonderland to retrieve her stolen train ticket.
The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven
This remarkable new film is actually a painstaking frame-for-frame restoration and 3D rendering of the original 1961 Wan Laiming masterpiece, a national treasure and China’s most celebrated and accomplished work of animation. Composed of gorgeously flowing animation created by hand from over 130,000 ink drawings and an opulent soundtrack inspired by the Beijing Opera, the film follows the adventures of the magical Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain, a mischievous character who creates havoc by refusing to bow down to the authority of the Celestial Jade Emperor. After stealing a powerful cudgel from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, the cheeky Monkey King challenges the established order of heaven, freeing horses from the imperial stables, disrupting imperial banquets and entering into epic battles with one colorful god after another — while snubbing his nose at the pompous formality of the heavenly court. Based on the classic Chinese story Journey to the West, the original film was made at the height of the country’s golden period of animation and was released just months before the entire film industry was shut down by the Cultural Revolution. It is a truly stunning work of animation and mythological storytelling, far surpassing anything China has produced before or since.
Lotte and the Moonstone Secret
Lotte is back! The beloved girl-dog returns in this utterly charming follow-up to NYICFF 2008 audience favorite Lotte from Gadgetville. The townspeople of Gadgetville are as wacky as ever — still creating kooky contraptions and having cheery adventures. While reminiscing about a past adventure, Lotte’s uncle Klaus tells the story of how he and his friends, Fred and Ville, came to find three magical stones in a hidden temple. Now all Lotte wants to do is unlock the secret of their power – so she convinces her uncle to go on a trip to find his old buddies and piece together the mystery. However, what Lotte and Uncle Klaus don’t know is that they are being followed by two Moon Rabbits — whose only hope of getting back home is locked up in those very same stones! A gentle and quirky journey filled with a cast of silly characters including a lovesick drummer and a man who sleeps all day in order to dream, Lotte and the Moonstone Secret is richly rendered, warm-hearted, good-natured fun for audiences of all ages. Featuring original songs by Latvian pop group Brainstorm! (What, you haven’t heard of them?!)
Toys in the Attic
The NYICFF 2010 Grand Prize winner is back, in a new English language version, featuring the voices of Forest Whitaker, Joan Cusack and Cary Elwes. Legendary Czech stop-motion animation master Jiri Barta’s first feature in over 20 years is a diabolically inventive tale, four parts Toy Story and one part David Lynch, as a group of abandoned toys stage an ambitious rescue of their kidnapped friend. Set behind the doors of a dusty attic, the adorable doll Buttercup plays mom to a motley family of castaways: the station master Teddy Bear, clay-animated Schubert, and the Quixotic marionette knight Sir Handsome. In this enchanted world every day is a birthday, until a mysterious black cat kidnaps the beloved Buttercup and takes her to the Land of Evil ruled by the villainous Head of State, a maniacal Cold War military bust who commands an army of mechanical, mustachioed cockroaches and an all-seeing spying eye. Both a spooky children’s fairy tale and Soviet-era allegory, Toys in the Attic marks a career highpoint for Barta, who was among the first to raise stop-motion animation to an art form, paving the way for modern hits like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Magic Piano 3D
NYICFF is proud to present the US Premiere of Magic Piano, the virtuosic stop-motion masterpiece from the Academy Award®-winning producer of Peter and the Wolf, set to Chopin’s etudes in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth. Magic Piano will be screened in 3D with live concert piano accompaniment by Derek Wang. The film, part of the Flying Machine series, is a soaring tale of a girl who takes off into the open skies and travels the globe on a flying piano in search of her father. Other musical animation in the program includes Metro and award-winning films Luminaris and The Maker. Little Postman, pl.ink!, and Night Island — also from the Flying Machine series — will be accompanied by Anna Larsen. Derek Wang and Anna Larsen are Young Scholars from the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.
Salaam Dunk
One part More than a Game, two parts Bad News Bears, this thoroughly charming and eye-opening sports doc offers a glimpse of hope and possibility for life in Iraq through the vantage point of a girls college basketball team. In its second year of existence, the American University of Iraq women’s team has never won a single game – not surprising in a culture where team sports are strictly for men and when most of the players have never touched a basketball (some even show up to tryouts in high heels!). Yet what they lack in talent they make up for in spunk, executing every drill and taking every direction from Connecticut English teacher-turned coach Ryan, whose earnestness sometimes plays like parody as he rallies his motley but endearing group into game shape. Through interviews and homemade video diaries, team members share their experiences before leaving war-torn homes and finding refuge at the university, where Kurds, Sunnis, Christians and Shiites are all welcome. Though the basketball is laughable (they lose one game 68 to 2), filmmaker David Fine captures every pass and nail-biting free throw as if he was filming for ESPN, and provides an overcoming-the-odds spirit so strong that the viewer can’t help but cheer for the rag-tag team. But the true heroes are the girls off court. Though a world apart from the lives led by most New York girls, what comes through in the film are not the differences but the similarities.
A Monster in Paris 3D
NYICFF 2012 opens with a classic misunderstood-monster tale, a warm-hearted musical about the power of song featuring Django Reinhardt-style gypsy guitar and honey-toned vocals courtesy of Sean Lennon. Paris, 1910. The streets of the city are flooded. A mist-enshrouded Eiffel Tower looms over a temporary lake and the alleyways sport makeshift bridges so Parisians can go about their daily routines. But spirits are high for the citizens of this romantic city, including those of Emile, a lovelorn film projectionist, and his inventor friend Raoul, whose enthusiasm for breaking rules places him and Emile at the center of some unintentional mischief after they sneak into a scientist’s laboratory greenhouse and unwittingly let loose a monster onto the soggy streets of Paris. Yet this terrible monster turns out to have a sad and sensitive soul — as well as musical talent — and when cabaret singer Lucille discovers the beast hiding backstage at the music hall, he dons a cape and hat and joins her act, instantly wowing the crowd with his silky smooth voice and hot guitar licks. Yet despite his peaceful demeanor, the City of Lights is in a panic, as the rotten rogue of a mayor plunges his police force headlong into a chaotic monster hunt that uses both the sweeping backdrops of Paris and 3D effects to the fullest.