In a relative few short years BAMcinemaFest, about to celebrate its eighth year, has easily become one of New York City’s most endearing festivals. With a varied mix of domestic and international films, dramas and comedies, and always some irreverent fare, the festival is a staple of New York City’s June summertime film season.
“This year’s annual snapshot of the best of American independent cinema is excitingly eclectic, ranging from a formally adventurous re-imagining of post-World War I France to a vampy tribute to 60s erotica shot (and projected!) on 35mm film,” says Gabriele Caroti, director of BAMcinématek. “We’re thrilled to welcome the great Ira Sachs and Todd Solondz both who join us for the first time with this year’s Opening Night and Centerpiece films Little Men and Wiener-Dog. And we’re proud and honored to host our first three-time festival alumnus, Tim Sutton (Pavilion, BAMcinemaFest 2012; Memphis, BAMcinemaFest 2014), whose audaciously atmospheric Dark Night screens as this year’s Closing Night film.”
Indeed, Solondz and Sachs, the former with the return of his Welcome to the Dollhouse heroine Dawn Weiner and his highlighting the ‘grotesque suburban landscape,’ and the always-introspective Sachs with his look at the ‘complexities of gentrification,’ and co-starring Paulina Garcia, who won the Silver Bear for her performance in 2013’s Gloria, make our list of the BAMcinemaFest’s must-see films. See that list below in date order, which also includes much awaited NYC premieres for two films with Black talent I’ve selfishly been waiting months to see: The Alchemist Cookbook from director Joel Potrykus and starring Ty Hickson (co-star of 2012’s Gimme The Loot) and Amari Cheatom (Newlyweeds, 2013) and Morris From America, starring Craig Robinson from NBC’s The Office and his partially self-titled sitcom from last summer, Mr. Robinson, in his first true (and fantastically acted) dramatic role as the father to a fish-out-of water teenager struggling with their relocation to Heidelberg, Germany.
Also look out for films from Naima Ramos-Chapman (And Nothing Happened) and veteran filmmaker Rodney Evans (Persistence of Vision) in the Shorts Program (Wednesday, June 22, 9:30pm).
Return to Bold As Love early next week for a review of Morris From America, and find the entire BAMcinemaFest lineup, including special events, HERE.
THE ALCHEMIST COOKBOOK – NY Premiere
Directed by Joel Potrykus
With Ty Hickson and Amari Cheatom
USA – 82 min.
Thursday, June 16 – 9:40pm at BAM Rose Cinemas
Young outcast Sean has isolated himself in a trailer in the Michigan backwoods, setting out on alchemical pursuits with his cat Kaspar as his sole companion. Filled with disdain for authority, he’s escaped a society that has no place for him, but when he turns to black magic to crack nature’s secret, he rouses a malevolent force that threatens to dismantle both his otherworldly goals and his very being. This micro-budget genre-bender echoes the absurdist, visceral tones in Potrykus’s previous films, Buzzard and Ape, which were showcased in a BAMcinématek retrospective in 2015. An Oscilloscope Laboratories release.
Shows with short film The Puppet Man, 9 min.
WIENER-DOG (Centerpiece film – NY Premiere)
Directed by Todd Solandz
With Ellen Burstyn, Kieran Culkin, Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, Greta Gerwig, Tracy Letts
USA – 87 min.
Friday, June 17 – 7:30pm at Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater
Two decades into a career of mining the varieties of human dysfunction, celebrated independent filmmaker Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness) casts new light on the grotesque suburban landscape through the eyes of man’s best friend. As a hapless female Daschund makes her way through a series of troubled owners—including a failed screenwriter (DeVito), an embittered octogenarian (Burstyn), and the resurrection of Solondz’s cult heroine Dawn Wiener as a veterinary assistant (Gerwig)—Solondz crafts an outlandish, sometimes surreal portrait of all-American malaise. Elegantly shot by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Edward Lachman (Carol), the latest comedy from one of American cinema’s most uncompromising artists is rich in existential despair, scatological humor, and unexpected compassion. An Amazon Studios/IFC Films release.
FRAUD – NY Premiere
Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp
USA – 52 min.
Sat, June 19 – 2pm at BAM Rose Cinemas
While digging through the cyber-heaps of footage readily available on YouTube, filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp (Marcel the Shell) came upon more than 100 hours of home movie video documenting the birthday parties, afternoons spent at the playground, and mall trips of an unknown American family. Commenting on the fluid natures of digital storytelling and voyeurism, Fleischer-Camp masterfully re-edited the footage to create Fraud, a provocative narrative that paints a wild new portrait of the family and their day-to-day lives. A found-footage film in the truest sense, Fraud explores what happens when a new, unexpected narrative is imposed on the virtual detritus of our lives.
Shows with short film A Meaning Full Life, 13 min.
collective:unconscious – NY Premiere
Directed by Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker, Lauren Wolkstein
USA – 78 min.
Mon, June 20 – 9:45pm at BAM Rose Cinemas
Five of New York’s most innovative independent directors adapt each other’s dreams for the big screen in this ambitious omnibus film. Formally audacious and wildly unpredictable, this cinematic descent into the surreal ranges from the ominous to the absurd: a gym class is conducted from inside a volcano; the Grim Reaper hosts a chilling game show; one man’s risky quest changes a brainwashing tower signal; former prison inmates reflect on their first moments of freedom; and a mother-to-be realizes a beast is growing in her womb. Producer Dan Schoenbrun’s (The School is Watching, BAMcinemaFest 2015) project captures the hypnotic visions that result when gifted filmmakers are given unlimited creativity. And as one of those filmmakers is the transcendent forming Frances Bodomo, of Afronauts and Boneshaker short film fare, then the film’s proposed high quality is a given.
MORRIS FROM AMERICA – NY Premiere
Directed by Chad Haritgan
With Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, Lina Keller
USA/Germany – 91 min.
Fri, Jun 24 – 6:45pm at BAM Rose Cinemas
A heartwarming and crowd-pleasing coming-of-age comedy with a unique spin, Morris from America centers on Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas, in an incredible breakout performance) a 13-year-old who has just relocated with his single father, Curtis (Craig Robinson) to Heidelberg, Germany. Morris, who fancies himself the next Notorious B.I.G., is a complete fish-out-of-water—a budding hip-hop star in an EDM world. To complicate matters further, Morris quickly falls hard for his cool, rebellious, 15-year-old classmate Katrin. Morris sets out against all odds to take the hip-hop world by storm and win the girl of his dreams. Chad Hartigan’s (This is Martin Bonner, BAMcinemaFest 2013), Morris from America won two prizes at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and a Special Jury Award for Robinson, who has been receiving tremendous praise for his touching and nuanced performance in his first dramatic role. Poignant and funny in equal measure, Morris from America is a delightfully original take on growing up, following your dreams, and finding your voice.
TINY: THE LIFE OF ERIN BLACKWELL – NY Premiere
Directed by Martin Bell
USA – xx min.
Sat, June 25 – 2pm at BAM Rose Cinemas
Thirty-two years after the landmark documentary Streetwise introduced viewers to an indelible teenage girl known as Tiny—then a 14-year-old prostitute living on the streets of Seattle—director Martin Bell revisits the tumultuous life of Erin Blackwell. Chronicling her rocky path from drug addiction and poverty to an all-too-fragile stability as the mother of ten children, this intimate follow-up—produced by the late, legendary photographer Mary Ellen Mark, who chronicled Blackwell’s life for 32 years—is a compassionate portrait of a woman scarred by life, but who remains resilient.
Shows with Bell’s original film Streetwise, 91 min.
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