Hey New Yorkers, how about a nice contest for your Wednesday? We’re pretty excited about this one: The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center‘s 42nd annual ND/NF (New Directors/New Films) Festival kicks off today, March 20th, and we’re giving away pairs of tickets to four excellent films. Dedicated to the
discovery of new works by emerging filmmaking talent, the festival will
screen 25 features (19 narrative, 6 documentary) and 17 short films
representing 24 countries — all having their New York City premieres.
We have a pair of tickets to give away for each of the following screenings (one screening per winner):
THE ACT OF KILLING (2012) 116min – theatrical cut, 158min – director’s cut
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Country: Denmark
What is one to make of the men who freely admit their involvement—and
pleasure—in the mass killing of millions of Indonesians during that
country’s bloody anti-Communist campaign in the 1960s? American
filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE ACT OF KILLING bypasses the usual
documentary tropes of exposing injustice, instead provoking the viewer
to consider the murderers’ sense of responsibility for their crimes.
Teetering between sheer horror and grotesque comedy, this is a glimpse
into the heart of darkness that’s rarely been achieved in cinema. A Drafthouse Films release.
Playlist writer Jessica Kiang caught “The Act Of Killing” at the Berlin International Film Festival this year and gave it a rare A+ grade in her review, describing the film as “Presenting
a terrifying view of a hidden holocaust and a moral apocalypse in which
the most basic humanities have become twisted beyond recognition, “The
Act of Killing” is a towering achievement in filmmaking, documentary or
otherwise.”
When/Where: March 24th at 2PM – Film Society of Lincoln Center
A HIJACKING (Kapringen) (2012) 99min
Director: Tobias Lindholm
Country: Denmark
On its way to harbor, cargo ship MV Rozen is seized by pirates in the
Indian Ocean. Moving between claustrophobic life on the ship and
negotiations by the freight company in Denmark, Lindholm creates a
climate of unbearable tension with an unexpected climax. The narrative
is based on a true event, and his use of actual locations and people who
have been in similar situations create palpable authenticity. Augmented
by a terrific cast, Lindholm explores the danger of the disparity
between impoverished nations and the developed world. A Magnolia Films
release.
After catching the film at the Venice International Film Festival last year, Oliver Lyttelton gave the film an A grade in his review, calling it “one of the very best pictures of the whole festival…an absorbing, highly moving film that’s lingered heavily on the mind for a couple of days now.”
When/Where: March 22nd at 6:15PM – Film Society of Lincoln Center
STORIES WE TELL (2012) 108min
Director: Sarah Polley
Country: Canada
What is real? What is true? What do we remember, and how do we
remember it? Actor/director Sarah Polley turns from fiction to
nonfiction, in the process cracking open family secrets. Using home
movies, still photographs, and interviews, Polley delves into the life
of her mother, a creative yet secretive woman. But while she is talking
to her own relatives, Polley’s interest lies in the bigger picture of
what families hold onto as truth. STORIES WE TELL is a delicately
crafted personal essay about memory, loss, and understanding. A Roadside Attractions release.
Oliver Lyttelton also saw Polley’s film in Venice and gave it an A- in his review, describing “Stories We Tell” as “a film that tickles both the brain and the
heart, and by some distance Polley’s most consistent, and best, work as a
director to date.”
When/Where: March 29th at 6:15PM – MoMA
UPSTREAM COLOR (2012) 96min
Director: Shane Carruth
Country: USA
Ever since his 2004 debut, filmmaker Shane Carruth has prompted
curiosity over what he’d come up with next. UPSTREAM COLOR meets
expectations but is also starkly different and markedly advanced. It
represents something new in American cinema, exploring life’s surprising
jumps and science’s strange effects. A love story embedded in a kidnap
plot, UPSTREAM COLOR leaps with great audacity through its sequences, a
cinematic simulacrum of the way we reflect on our lives, astonished at,
as in the title of Grace Paley’s fiction collection, our Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. UPSTREAM COLOR opens in NY on April 5.
Rodrigo Perez saw Carruth’s film at Sundance and gave it an A in his review, calling it “thematically rich, layered and hypnotic…a
maddeningly abstract and romantic examination of love, who we are as
lovers, what our love does to one another, and how that’s connected to
the nature of all things.”
When/Where: March 30th at 6:15PM – MoMA
So, how do you enter?
1. Follow us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook.
2. Share one of the stories we posted on our Facebook page today, and
RT one of our stories on Twitter.
3. Tweet the following: “@theplaylist I
want to win the #ND/NFPrize!”
4. Email us with your name, address and Twitter handle, and let us know your first, second and third choices for the screenings you’d like to attend.
5. In your email, answer the following trivia question: After “Primer” in 2004, Shane Carruth tried to mount another picture before “Upstream Color,” but the project never came to pass. What’s the name of this unproduced film?
We’ll be announcing our winners on Facebook and Twitter, so keep an eye out. Good luck!
Update: Contest is closed and winners have been announced. Thanks for playing!
