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As previously announced, Director Emilio Martínez Lázaro’s El Otro Lado de la cama (The Other Side of the Bed), starring Paz Vega of Sex and Lucia fame, is the Festival’s Opening Night Film. It screens at 7:30 p.m. at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, the Festival’s longtime home. French Director Danièle Thompson’s Jet Lag will be the Festival’s Closing Night Film on March 1st. Academy Award nominee Juliette Binoche (Chocolat, The English Patient) stars in this romantic comedy, which matches two strong-willed characters who could not be less suited for each other. It will screen following the Festival Awards Ceremony at the Gusman Center. The Closing Night Street Party will take place immediately afterward on East Flagler Street. Both El Otro Lado de la cama and Jet Lag are part of Festival’s Premiere program.
“We are extremely proud of the 20th-anniversary program. We have assembled a wide variety of outstanding film – pictures that tell compelling stories from an incredible range of cultural perspectives,” said MIFF Director Nicole Guillemet of the Festival feature lineup, which includes 65 features and three long shorts. MIFF will present its first Career Achievement Award to Spanish Director Carlos Saura, the creator of such films as Mamá Cumple Cien Años (Mama, There's a Man in Your Bed). Set for Wednesday, February 26th, at the Gusman, the evening includes a screening of Saura’s latest film, Salomé. Eden, a Polish animated feature from writer/director Andrzej Czeczot, is the Festival’s Midweek Animation Premiere. An adult-oriented “animated feast of color and sound,” the film took 60 artists five years to complete. Richly sensual, it deals with a post-Eden world where good and evil battle continuously for control. The screening at MIFF is the film’s US premiere.
MIFF is presenting two especially important films under the Big Picture: Issues For Our Time banner. The Day My God Died, from Director Andrew Levine, deals with child trafficking in Bombay, where some observers estimate that 200,000 girls are kept as sex slaves. The film is narrated by Tim Robbins and Winona Ryder. Pandemic: Facing AIDS, from Director Rory Kennedy, tells the poignant stories of individuals in Brazil, India, Russia, Thailand and Uganda, who, facing the specter of death, strive to live with meaning and dignity. A discussion will follow both films and will feature prominent public figures as participants. Admission to the discussion, set for Saturday, March 1st, at the Regal Cinemas in South Beach, is free.
A second special discussion on Sunday, February 23rd, at the Gusman will center on two Festival films that deal with the importance of "free radio" as a means of political empowerment and social change. The two films are Oscar®-winner Jonathan Demme's much-anticipated documentary, The Agronomist: A Work In Progress, which focuses on Radio Haiti Inter founder Jean Dominique, and Uma Onda No Ar, the inspiring story of Brazil's Radio Favela from Director Helvécio Ratton.
The Festival is also introducing a new program aimed at supporting new Ibero-american filmmakers, Encuentros Miami. Seven up-and-coming filmmakers are being brought in as part of Encuentros from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. Over the final three days of the Festival, their work will be shared with distributors, co-producers and possible financiers with the ultimate goal of getting their films exhibited to larger audiences. “We already have many first- and second-time Ibero-american directors represented in this year’s Festival. Our goal is to nurture the next generation of filmmakers,” Guillemet said. As part of the Festival program, MIFF will once again offer free screenings on South Beach, this year at Nikki Beach Club. Called BeachStock, the musically themed four-film series includes Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme’s classic 1984 concert film on David Byrne and Talking Heads; Victor/Victoria, the gender-bending farce starring Julia Andrews; a 25th-anniversary edition of Grease; and Hairspray, the John Waters campy romp. To view the Miami International Film Festival's full program of events and sponsors, click here. |
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