Cinema

Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps, and other sordid souls, is a place that reeks of death and hopelessness, where a lonely vampire is stalking the town’s most unsavory inhabitants. But when the boy meets a girl, an unusual love story begins to blossom…blood red. The first Iranian Vampire Western, Ana Lily … +

Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse headline this musical comedy about a Hollywood star who returns to the Broadway theater when no producer wants him for a movie. Egos clash between the movie star, his lithe ballerina co-star, and their effete director–and the show bombs in out-of-town tryouts. But the initial failure convinces the stars to work together, re-creating the Musical to entertain … +

Lucky is a young woman who embarks on an Oz-style adventure into the dreamworld of CAPRICE, her favorite fashion magazine. Director Joanna Hogg’s graduation film, starring a then-unknown 26-year-old Tilda Swinton stretches away from the minimalism that would define her later career. A Technicolor surreal dream paying homage to the legendary Powell & Pressburger’s RED SHOES and cheekily crossing paths with the … +

Poet Kevin Young (Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Poetry Editor for The New Yorker) and Dr. Tammy Kernodle (Distinguished Professor of Musicology at Miami University of Ohio) explore topics and themes of the Harlem Renaissance through music and poetry, including Young’s own. The Ambassador Chorale of Florida Memorial University, a South … +

The brilliance of a young Isabelle Huppert lends quiet intensity to this piercing period elegy. Budapest, 1936: Szilvia (Lili Monori), a wealthy heiress to an enormous family fortune, befriends Irén (Huppert), a young shopgirl of modest means. Unable to give birth, Szilvia offers Irén money in exchange for conceiving a child with her husband (Jan Nowicki) on her behalf—a transaction that blurs … +

What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930s and 40s and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of Cellphone and Bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for Snow White and Cat Woman, and a technological trailblazer who perfected a secure radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes … +

Deserving comparison with the work of Pedro Costa, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Souleymane Cissé, This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection marks the introduction of a major filmmaker and the final powerhouse performance of a remarkable actress. The late Mary Twala Mhlongo, recognizable from Beyoncé’s blockbuster musical Black Is King, gives a heartbreaking career-capping performance as Mantoa, an 80-year-old woman who has … +

After toiling for years in bit-parts, aspiring actress Nina Wu (Ke-Xi Wu, who also co-wrote the script based on her own personal experiences) finally gets her big break with a leading role in a spy thriller set in the 1960s. The part, which calls for nudity and explicit sex scenes, is made all the more challenging thanks to the director’s unending belittlements. … +

“[Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci] are on magnificent form in a drama about love and mortality that is all the more powerful for its restraint.” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of twenty years, are travelling across England in their old campervan visiting friends, family and places from their past. Following a life-changing diagnosis, their time … +

“Young lovers move over – Sukowa and Chevallier bring to life an unforgettable lesbian couple. A Cause for celebration.” —Lisa Nesselson, Screen International “Quietly groundbreaking. Entirely unique and uniquely vital.” —Mark Keizer, Variety France, 2020, 95 min, Dir. Filippo Meneghetti, Not Rated, French with English subtitles, Magnolia Pictures Viewing Window: 72 hours (once viewing is started) Price: $12 Two retired women, Nina … +

“Combines stunning cinematography, evocative sound design and hints of magical realism to create a visionary work of devastating power.” —Anjana Janardhan, Sight & Sound Mexico/Spain, 2020, 94 min, Dir. Fernanda Valadez, Not Rated, Spanish with English subtitles, Kino Lorber Viewing Window: 5 days Price: $12 Middle-aged Magdalena (Mercedes Hernandez) has lost contact with her son after he took off with a friend … +

With unfettered access to the Zappa family trust and all archival footage, Zappa explores the private life behind the mammoth musical career that never shied away from the political turbulence of its time. Alex Winter’s assembly features appearances by Frank’s widow Gail Zappa and several of Frank’s musical collaborators including Mike Keneally, Ian Underwood, Steve Vai, Pamela Des Barres, Bunk Gardner, David … +

“[Director Itay] Tal’s style has a simultaneous simplicity and density that has an affinity with the works of Lucrecia Martel and Michael Haneke. Rarely does a debut feature showcase a talent so fully formed. This is a remarkably potent film.” —Glenn Kenny, The New York Times Anat (Naama Preis, winner of the Jerusalem Film Festival award for Best Actress) has never been … +

“Love can be born in a single glance” : Louis Malle’s 1958 film Les Amants  explores the monotony of marriage and how one woman rediscovers the power of love through an affair with a stranger. First, take in some of our more sultry works at a 3:30pm tour of A Universe of Things at The Wolfsonian, then see the film that resulted in … +

Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes (Skyfall, The Ferryman) directs Simon Russell Beale, Adam Godley and Ben Miles who play the Lehman Brothers, their sons and grandsons. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside. Dreaming of a new life in the new world. He is joined by his two brothers and an American epic … +

FilmGate Miami’s Swamp DOCS brings up a conversation series exploring current issues affecting the South East Region of the US. This event provides informative support to documentarians and digital journalists. We at FilmGate Miami are stoked to have this officially open to the public. The Swamp Docs event features a pitch session segment for projects that need assistance & guidance followed by … +

The iconic Merce Cunningham and the last generation of his dance company is stunningly profiled in Alla Kovgan’s documentary, through recreations of his landmark works and archival footage of Cunningham, John Cage, and Robert Rauschenberg.  CUNNINGHAM traces Merce’s artistic evolution over three decades of risk and discovery (1944-1972), from his early years as a struggling dancer in postwar New York to his emergence … +

No one believes Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) when he discovers his new next door neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) is a vampire. With his best friend and girlfriend in tow, Charlie turns to the only person who can help convince the masses that their quaint suburban neighborhood is in peril: late night horror show host Peter Vincent (Roddy MacDowall). 35 years since … +

The MIAMIsFF Series presents “Focus on: 2019 Festival Winners” at the Deering Estate. As the first shorts program of 2020 at the Deering Estate Theatre, it will feature 6 short films that were all winners at the 2019 festival. Enjoy a cocktail reception at 6:00 p.m. followed by a wonderful Short Film ‘Making of’ Workshop with Dir. Memo Sauceda, winner of the … +

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth, and arguably most personal, film from the writer-director is a paean to Hollywood’s golden age, an era whose end was … +

Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters – four young women each determined to live life on her own terms … +