Alex Gibney’s excellent new documentary, Zero Days, is infused with a sense of urgency, relevance, and terrifying propinquity. You’ll never look at your cell phone the same way again.

The way countries fight wars has evolved away from the sea (19^th century) and the sky (20^th century) to what it is today: a bunch of 0’s and 1’s in mind-bogglingly complex computer codes with the enormous potential to shut down a country’s entire nervous system, rendering them vulnerable to danger and destruction. It’s the 21^st century, and the name of the game is cyber warfare. Nations have already caught on whether they can talk about it or not, something viewers will either accept or be infuriated by. The documentary tells the story of Stuxnet, a kinetic cyber weapon of potential mass destruction, which was behind various reactor failures in Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility during President Obama’s first year in office.

Interviewing a range of professionals and people in-the-know, from Symantec coders to government insiders, nuclear physicists, and one anonymous NSA source that becomes the mother load of insider intel, Gibney and producing partner Marc Shmuger approach the subject of Zero Days as a techno-thriller choking on red tape, brimming with confidential state secrecy and mysterious agendas. As the source of Stuxnet unravels to something that ultimately makes it “look like a back-alley operation,” Zero Days will grip the viewer in ways that something like All The President’s Men must have been gripping when it opened people’s eyes to the Watergate scandal.

In the post-Snowden era of leaked information, it’s often humorous to see how much Gibney still runs into dead-ends and walls. Frustratingly, at a certain stage, there is a bit too much focus on finger pointing, which will give conspiracy theorists who have deluded anti-government stances more rope than they deserve. But Gibney pulls back on the politics just in time to conclude the frightening findings on a note of openness and discussion. If cyber warfare is the new normal, which technological advancement has turned into a foregone conclusion, nations need to start talking about it honestly and openly. Engaging from start to finish, Zero Days reminds us that Gibney is at his very best when documenting universal subjects as opposed to the Going Clear and Man In The Machine docs of last year, which, though compelling in their own right, are limited by the very nature of their own subjects.

Rating:
8/10

The official Apple website posted a black-and-white photo of former CEO Steve Jobs with the text “1955-2011” on the night of Oct. 5, 2011, and within minutes the Internet was ablaze with reflections on Job’s untimely death to pancreatic cancer. Wired quickly followed, with a memorial splash page, a completely black background accompanied by quotes from influential public figures. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg thanked Jobs for “showing that what you build can change the world.” Just when it seemed like the entire Internet might have collectively gone somber, the satirical newspaper The Onion spoke up with the headline, “Last American Who Knew What The F*** He Was Doing Dies.”

It was a death that seemed to cut people deep, and director Alex Gibney, inspired by the world’s response to man who didn’t save lives but made things, sought out to understand just how that response came to be. What he learned turned into Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, a documentary that takes an unflinching look, maybe for the first time, at the man behind our most beloved devices.

Time can certainly bring perspective, and what makes The Man in the Machine different from earlier made-for-TV documentaries, and certainly different from the 2013 feature-length film Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher, is Gibney is not too shy to derail some of the legend. Jobs is a figure people like to romanticize, a pioneer who dropped out of school to pursue creative passions instead. A man who stood up to the 1980 version of Goliath (IBM), and dared to make something based on values like quality and aesthetic purity. But Gibney, known for pulling the curtain on some big-league scams with his documentaries Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, isn’t so interested in expanding upon the Jobsonian myth. The overall tone feels a bit critical, even to the point of editorializing at times.

This works to mixed results. The Man in the Machine is the first time that Jobs’ former girlfriend (and mother of his child), Chrisann Brennan, is featured in a substantial and honest way. Through an endearing interview where Brennan at once seems to fall in love with Jobs again and re-experience the rejection, the filmmakers pan down on a legal document showing Jobs trying to frame his ex-girlfriend as a woman with multiple partners, so he can shirk parenthood and continue playing with circuit boards in his garage. That’s the interview a definitive documentary on Jobs needed to get. Also nice is a thread that continues throughout on Jobs’ attraction to Buddhism and enlightenment. Filmmakers even manage to track down a monk he interacted with on the week of the Apple I’s creation. Considering Jobs eventually would die after trying nine months of alternative medicine, it’s nice to see how Eastern traditions were such a large part of his life and who he aspired to be. But even these parts poke some fun—the monk jokes that he’s still not sure if that first logicboard qualifies as enlightenment.

It’s worth interrupting here to note that an interview with Joe Nocera, a Time magazine technology reporter, shows some of the problems with being critical of Jobs. Brand loyalists love Apple, perhaps to irrational levels. Nocera recalls writing stories on questionable Apple practices—backdating stock options, shifting profits offshore, bad working conditions in their Chinese factories—and getting nothing but hate in the comments. People love Apple. They don’t want to hear it. So while I think this section of the movie drags the most (at one point during the Foxconn section, Jobs largely disappears), perhaps some of my reluctance in viewing can be rooted back to the movie’s greatest obstacle: Jobs has a lot of fans. However, I think this part of the movie that shifts from firsthand interviews to news segments about Apple’s misdeeds (with occasional quips from Jobs from old interviews) just feels too much like editorializing. It feels like the film is trying too hard to be contrarian to what’s already been done on the man. The movie becomes more about Apple than about Jobs, and no matter how much we can speculate that he had to have known, he simply is not the company. Without directly tying him to the events in China, it feels like a stretch. As though the movie’s main theme is “How Apple is not as good as you think,” and not about the man himself.

But for those who have kept up-to-date on past Jobs-based films, the attempt to be different does often still pay off. It’s nice to focus on 1998 onward, rather than the Apple II as Jobs does, as that’s where most of his current legacy is based. It always feels a little bit disingenuous when Jobs’ narratives focus on 1975-85, and that romantic rags-to-riches story, because Apple hasn’t been a startup for a really long time. For its part, The Man in the Machine feels grounded in reality, it feels comprehensive and well-researched. It also feels a little unbalanced, too eager to overcompensate for all the worship Jobs has received in films of yesteryear. But when former employees are shown on screen literally crying as they read a letter to the editor they wrote about Jobs on his passing, it seems to most documentarians the next question would have been, “Why are you crying?” Maybe Gibney’s obsession with “the machine” (both the beginning and the ending posit the question of why we’re so intimate with these mere objects) kept him from capturing the human story that’s very much a part of creating and using technology as well.

Humorous, uplifting, terrifying, heartbreaking, tense and inspirational, normally it’d be nice if a film was able to successfully conjure up just one of these feelings. Sunshine Superman, the fantastic début of Marah Strauch, manages to pull them all off in what is bound to be one of the most entertaining and interesting documentaries of the year. It is the story of aerial cinematographer and creator of BASE jumping Carl Boenish who is responsible for some of the most breathtaking feats to come out of the emerging extreme sport. Carl was an incredibly eccentric, likable and talented aerial cinematographer/BASE jumper whose dedication to both crafts breathes so much life into nearly every moment of the film.

The film starts out with a somewhat overlong introduction to Carl, giving us a glimpse at his early childhood battle with polio as well as stories illustrating his dedication and work ethic. One of the more amusing tidbits being a story of how he beat every boy in his class in a foot race despite difficult circumstances. From there, we see it was Carl’s work on John Frankenheimer’s 1969 film The Gypsy Moths that ignited and fused together his two passions which would eventually lead to the creation of BASE jumping and many thrilling, sometimes illegal jumps. Amidst his skydiving work, Carl began to really test his limits with highly dangerous and exhilarating jumps like the ones he (and others) perform at the rock formation El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The El Capitan jumps also feature some of the most incredible footage the film has to offer thanks to the wealth of Carl’s footage the filmmakers were able to include as well as the makeshift contraptions Carl would use to elevate the footage beyond the simple point-and-shoot. Most of the film however is focused on two things, Carl’s relationship with his wife, Jean Boenish, and his jumps at the Troll Wall in Norway.

The Norway jumps bring about the most emotional and gripping scenes in the entire film beginning with the lead up to Carl and Jean’s world-record setting jump off the Troll Wall. This section of the film is truly wonderful as the dread and tension that builds in these scenes is among the best editing work I’ve seen in a film this year.

In a film filled with no shortage of death-defying stunts and wildly impressive jump sequences, Jean Boenish quietly becomes the most interesting element of the film. Seen as somewhat of an outsider at first by other jumpers, we see Jean’s development into an incredible BASE jumper in her own right take form over her years with Carl. While both are a little strange and eccentric in some ways, they appear a perfect fit when seen together in Carl’s old 16mm footage. And most importantly, Jean becomes arguably the strongest and bravest person in the film with her accomplishments in BASE jumping and the way she perseveres despite the tragedy such a passion can cause.

Like Jean, Carl is among the most interesting people you’ll find on screen this year. From the beginning of the film Carl is someone to root for and get invested in, one of the most charming personalities in a film this year, and I don’t think there’s a single shot where Carl isn’t sporting the most genuine of smiles. This was a guy who loved what he was doing and inspired those around him. His enthusiasm is so apparent and contagious that you feel like joining him on a thrilling jump, and that’s coming from someone with a crippling fear of heights.

With a documentary that entertains and intrigues as much as this one does, it’s hard to focus on the negative aspects of the film. But one of its biggest issues is Strauch’s over reliance on documentary crutches, such as over-produced reenactment scenes. While meant to make the film more captivating, these reenactments simply distract from subject matter and archival footage that is already so interesting that any cutting away just lessens the effect of the film. At times it rather played like a poor man’s Alex Gibney documentary, relatively unsurprising given Gibney is an executive producer on the film. Still, despite these flaws, Strauch does more right than wrong resulting in an incredible début film.

Sunshine Superman is available in theaters in limited release on May 22.

Mr. Holmes

Ian McKellen and director Bill Condon collaborate for the first time since 1998’s Gods and Monsters to offer their talents to the long-running Sherlock Holmes franchise with Mr. Holmes. McKellen plays the detective at an advanced age facing his greatest enemy of all: time. Resigned to a countryside cottage where a housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her aspiring sleuth son (Milo Parker), Holmes looks back on his life as his mind—his greatest treasure—begins to fade. He can only remember fragments of an unsolved case involving a mysterious woman, which haunts him every day.

Split into three narrative threads, Mr. Holmes is the cinematic equivalent of a juicy page-turner (it’s based on a 2005 novel by Mitch Cullin). Condon darts from mystery to the another moments before we uncover a tantalizing clue, resulting in a terrific sense of narrative propulsion one wouldn’t expect to find in a movie about such meditative subject matter. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing an elderly Mr. Holmes once you’ve seen McKellen work, which is no big surprise; what it a surprise is how close Linney and Parker come to stealing the show.

Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine

Coming off the controversial success of Going Clear, Alex Gibney and his research and production machine dissect the career of Steve Jobs, a man whose work people fell in love with, but whose temperament was often notoriously nasty. Delving into the private life of the deceased visionary as he built what would become the great tech empire of the century, the film thoroughly outlines Jobs’ accomplishments and influence, mostly to set the stage for its real goal. Jobs’ unsavory, vaguely monstrous approach to both his personal relationships and business dealings have been well documented before, but Gibney and his team explore the disagreeable side of Jobs’ character more comprehensively than any other piece of media to date.

The issue with the film is its scope: It simply tries to cover too many topics and dates and pivotal events and facets of Jobs as a man. Information piles up so quickly that by the end of the film I was struggling to remember what happened in the first half. The more incisive final act of the film, which exposes controversies like Apple’s employee-less foreign operations company in Ireland (where income taxes are more manageable than in the states), is the highlight, and a film more focused on these kind of indictments may have been more intriguing.

Saint Laurent

In Saint Laurent, Bertrand Bonello (House of Tolerance) casts Gaspard Ulliel as Yves Saint Laurent to explore the French designer’s peak years, from 1967 to 1976. If it were acceptable to issue difficulty levels to movies, I’d give this one a nine: its plot is about as graspable as a puddle of spilt champagne. What we see is essentially a free-form sequence of moments, whose significance is often more than elusive. Cinematically, though, almost everything looks interesting, if not flat-out brilliant. The colors pop, the costumes are breathtaking, and the staging is off-putting, in a way. A notable moment when Ulliel smiles directly into the camera, for instance, sends chills down your spine.

The movie’s length (150 minutes) is, by far, the biggest barrier to entry. Bonello is in super-stylized, artsy mode throughout, and that means some sections are glacial and abstract and only pay dividends after you’ve left the theater; whether or not this is a good thing depends entirely on your taste. As a portrait of a man, Saint Laurent is surprisingly unflattering, and that’s a good thing, an eschewing of the hagiography cliché.

Now that the Sundance Film Festival is over, it’s time to start preparing for Austin’s South by Southwest Film Festival. Over the years, SXSW has been the premiere festival for indie films such as Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture, Short Term 12, and last year’s Chef.

This year’s festival spans nine days and 145 feature films–60 from first-time filmmakers, 100 world premieres, and 11 U.S. premieres. A few highlights from the schedule include a sneak-peek at Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, the latest from David Gordon Green, Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs doc, Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River, Paul Feig’s Spy and the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard. There will also be a special presentation of George Miller’s The Road Warrior (just in time for the hotly anticipated Fury Road).

SXSW 2015 Film Line-up

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Ten world premieres, ten unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling. Selected from 1,372 films submitted to SXSW 2015.

6 Years
Director/Screenwriter: Hannah Fidell
A young couple bound by a seemingly ideal love begins to unravel as unexpected opportunities spin them down a volatile and violent path and threaten the future they had always imagined. Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Ben Rosenfield, Lindsay Burdge, Joshua Leonard, Jennifer Lafleur, Peter Vack, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Molly McMichael, Jason Newman (World Premiere)

The Boy
Director: Craig Macneill, Screenwriters: Craig Macneill, Clay McLeod Chapman
THE BOY is an intimate portrait of a 9-year-old sociopath’s growing fascination with death. Cast: David Morse, Rainn Wilson, Jared Breeze, Bill Sage, Mike Vogel, Zuleikha Robinson, Aiden Lovekamp (World Premiere)

Creative Control
Director: Benjamin Dickinson, Screenwriters: Benjamin Dickinson, Micah Bloomberg
In near future Brooklyn, an ad executive uses a new Augmented Reality technology to conduct an affair with his best friend’s girlfriend…sort of. Cast: Benjamin Dickinson, Nora Zehetner, Dan Gill, Alexia Rasmussen, Reggie Watts, Gavin McInnes, Paul Manza, Himanshu Suri (World Premiere)

Funny Bunny
Director/Screenwriter: Alison Bagnall
Funny Bunny is a serious comedy about a friendless anti-obesity crusader and a trust fund manchild who vie for the heart of a reclusive animal activist and incest survivor, releasing her demons and forming an unlikely ‘family’ in the process. Cast: Kentucker Audley, Joslyn Jensen, Olly Alexander, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Josephine Decker, Louis Cancelmi, Grace Gonglewski, Nicholas Webber, Caridad de la Luz (World Premiere)

The Grief of Others
Director/Screenwriter: Patrick Wang
Based on Leah Hager Cohen’s critically-acclaimed novel, a family struggles with a tragic loss when an unexpected visitor arrives. She stirs the pain of past betrayals but might also offer an unforeseen gift: a way out of their isolating grief. Cast: Wendy Moniz, Trevor St. John, Oona Laurence, Jeremy Shinder, Sonya Harum, Mike Faist, Rachel Dratch, Chris Conroy (World Premiere)

KRISHA
Director/Screenwriter: Trey Edward Shults
When Krisha returns for a holiday gathering, the only things standing in her way are family, dogs, and turkey. Cast: Krisha Fairchild, Robyn Fairchild, Bill Wise, Chris Doubek, Olivia Grace Applegate, Chase Joliet, Alex Dobrenko, Bryan Casserly, Augustine Frizzell, Trey Edward Shults (World Premiere)

Manson Family Vacation
Director/Screenwriter: J. Davis
The story of two brothers: one who’s devoted to his family, the other who’s obsessed with the Manson Family. Cast: Jay Duplass, Linas Phillips, Leonora Pitts, Tobin Bell, Adam Chernick, Davie-Blue (World Premiere)

Quitters
Director: Noah Pritzker, Screenwriters: Noah Pritzker, Ben Tarnoff
A teenager’s family falls apart, so he goes in search of a better one.
Cast: Benjamin Konigsberg, Mira Sorivno, Greg Germann, Kara Hayward, Kieran Culkin, Morgan Turner, Saffron Burrows, Scott Lawrence (World Premiere)

Sweaty Betty
Directors/Screenwriters: Joseph Frank, Zachary Reed
On the border of Washington DC, two stories of big dreams take place – a family is determined to turn their 1000 pound pig into the Redskins’ football team mascot, and two teenage fathers scheme a better life for themselves and their children. Cast: Rico Mitchell, Seth Dubose, Floyd Rich III, Chris Rich, Tarich Rich, Floyd Rich V, Chrissy Rich, Charlotte the Pig, Cassy the Dog (World Premiere)

Uncle John
Director: Steven Piet, Screenwriters: Erik Crary, Steven Piet
Uncle John is an intimately told story that revolves around the struggle to keep a mysterious disappearance unsolved. Cast: John Ashton, Alex Moffat, Jenna Lyng, Ronnie Gene Blevins (World Premiere)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Selected from 1,018 submissions, ten world premieres, ten real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices.

Breaking a Monster
Director: Luke Meyer
Breaking a Monster chronicles the break-out year of the band Unlocking The Truth, as the 12 and 13-year-old members first encounter stardom and the music industry, transcending childhood to become the rock stars they always dreamed of being. (World Premiere)

Deep Time
Director: Noah Hutton
Ancient oceans teeming with life, Norwegian settlers, Native Americans and multinational oil corporations find intimacy in deep time. (World Premiere)

FRAME BY FRAME
Directors: Alexandria Bombach, Mo Scarpelli
After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own – reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves. (World Premiere)

Madina’s Dream
Director: Andrew Berends
An unflinching and poetic glimpse into a forgotten war, Madina’s Dream tells the story of rebels and refugees fighting to survive in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. (World Premiere)

Peace Officer
Directors: Scott Christopherson, Brad Barber
A former sheriff will stop at nothing to confront the SWAT team he founded. (World Premiere)

Poached
Director: Timothy Wheeler
Obsessive egg thieves rob the nests of rare birds while a UK national police force tries to stop them. Poached delves into the psychology of these criminals, showing that when passion turns it can destroy the very object of one’s desire. (World Premiere)

The Sandwich Nazi
Director: Lewis Bennett
Deli owner Salam Kahil is an art collector, a former male escort, an amateur musician, and a sandwich maker to the homeless in Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhood but his true passion is talking about blowjobs. (World Premiere)

She’s The Best Thing In It
Director: Ron Nyswaner
Broadway legend Mary Louise Wilson teaches her first acting class, smashing her students’ red carpet illusions. An examination of acting and the sacrifices required, featuring Frances McDormand, Melissa Leo, Tyne Daly, Valerie Harper and others. (World Premiere)

Twinsters
Directors: Samantha Futerman, Ryan Miyamoto
Imagine there was someone out there who you’d never met, looked exactly like you and was born on your birthday. Twinsters is the story of two strangers who discovered they were potentially twin sisters separated at birth. (World Premiere)

A Woman Like Me
Directors: Alex Sichel, Elizabeth Giamatti
By creating a fictional character based on herself, filmmaker Alex Sichel learns how to navigate a terminal disease with grace and humor. (World Premiere)

HEADLINERS

Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with major & rising names in cinema.

BRAND: A Second Coming
Director: Ondi Timoner
BRAND: A Second Coming follows comedian/author Russell Brand’s evolution from addict & Hollywood star to unexpected political disruptor & newfound hero to the underserved. Brand is criticized for egomaniacal self-interest as he calls for revolution. (World Premiere)

Ex Machina
Director/Screenwriter: Alex Garland
Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine, makes his directorial debut with the stylish and cerebral thriller Ex Machina, starring Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander. Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander (North American Premiere)

Get Hard
Director: Etan Cohen, Screenwriters: Story By Adam McKay And Jay Martel & Ian Roberts, Screenplay By Jay Martel & Ian Roberts And Etan Cohen
With a ten-year stint in San Quentin hanging over his head, yuppie Brad hires city Darnell to toughen him up for prison life. Cast: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Alison Brie, Craig T. Nelson. (World Premiere)

Hello, My Name is Doris
Director: Michael Showalter, Screenwriters: Laura Terruso, Michael Showalter
An isolated 60-year-old woman is motivated by a self-help seminar to romantically pursue a younger coworker, causing her to stumble into the spotlight of the local hipster social scene. Cast: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Stephen Root, Elizabeth Reaser, Jack Antonoff, Natasha Lyonne, Tyne Daly. (World Premiere)

Love & Mercy
Director: Bill Pohlad, Screenwriters: Oren Moverman, Michael Alan Lerner
Love & Mercy presents an unconventional portrait of Brian Wilson, iconic leader of the Beach Boys. Cast: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti (U.S. Premiere)

Manglehorn
Director: David Gordon Green, Screenwriter: Paul Logan
Reclusive small town locksmith, A.J. Manglehorn, who has never recovered from his losing his true love embarks on a new tenuous relationship with a local woman he meets at the bank. Cast: Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Harmony Korine, Chris Messina (U.S. Premiere)

Spy
Director/Screenwriter: Paul Feig
Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is an unassuming, deskbound CIA analyst, and the unsung hero behind the Agency’s most dangerous missions. But when her partner (Jude Law) falls off the grid and another top agent (Jason Statham) is compromised, she volunteers to go deep undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent a global disaster.
Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Peter Serafinowicz, Morena Baccarin and Jude Law (Premiere)

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
Director: Alex Gibney
An evocative portrait of the life and work of Steve Jobs that re-examines his legacy and our relationship with the computer. (World Premiere)

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT

High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

7 Chinese Brothers
Director/Screenwriter: Bob Byington
A man unaccustomed to telling the truth learns to at least describe it. Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Tunde Adebimpe, Eleanore Pienta, Olympia Dukakis, Stephen Root (World Premiere)

The Automatic Hate
Director: Justin Lerner, Screenwriters: Justin Lerner, Katharine O’Brien
When Davis Green’s alluring young cousin Alexis shows up on his doorstep, he discovers a side of his family that had been kept secret his entire life. As the two get closer, they set out to uncover the shocking secret that tore their families apart. Cast: Joseph Cross, Adelaide Clemens, Richard Schiff, Yvonne Zima, Vanessa Zima, Catherine Carlen, Caitlin O’Connell, Ricky Jay, Deborah Ann Woll (World Premiere)

Bone in the Throat
Director: Graham Henman, Screenwriters: Graham Henman, Mark Townend
Bone in the Throat based on celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s novel of the same, is a gritty fast paced story about a young ambitious chef who is mixed up with the East End London mob. While showing off his culinary skills, he finds himself trapped. Cast: Ed Westwick, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Graves, Vanessa Kirby, John Hannah, Steve Mackintosh, Andy Nyman (World Premiere)

The Final Girls
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson, Screenwriters: M. A. Fortin, Joshua John Miller
Max and her friends are mysteriously transported into a famous 1980s horror movie that starred Max’s mother, a celebrated scream queen. Reunited, they team up to fight the film’s maniacal killer and find their way back home. Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Adam DeVine, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Alexander Ludwig, Nina Dobrev (World Premiere)

Fresno
Director: Jamie Babbit, Screenwriter: Karey Dornetto
Fresno is a comedy that follows lonely but stoic lesbian Martha (Natasha Lyonne), whose sister Shannon (Judy Greer), a sex addict with no impulse control and a long history of poor decisions, winds up back in Fresno cleaning hotel rooms with her. Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Judy Greer, Aubrey Plaza, Fred Armisen, Jessica St. Clair, Molly Shannon, Michael Hitchcock, Ron Livingston (World Premiere)

The Frontier
Director: Oren Shai, Screenwriters: Webb Wilcoxen, Oren Shai
A desperate young woman, on the run from the law, discovers a violent gang of thieves at a desert motel and hatches a plan to steal their loot. Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Kelly Lynch, Jim Beaver, Izabella Miko, Jamie Harris, AJ Bowen, Liam Aiken (World Premiere)

The Goob
Director/Screenwriter: Guy Myhill
The Goob combines the dirty roar of stock car thunder with the visceral vision of a teenage boy’s first love. Cast: Liam Walpole, Sean Harris, Sienna Guillory (North American Premiere)

I Dream Too Much
Director/Screenwriter: Katie Cokinos
Dora Welles is an imaginative college grad ready to experience all the excitement of life. Instead she finds herself in snowy upstate New York caring for her reclusive great aunt (who has lived a much more exciting life than anyone realizes). Cast: Eden Brolin, Diane Ladd, Danielle Brooks, James McCaffrey, Christina Rouner (World Premiere)

Ktown Cowboys
Director: Daniel (DPD) Park, Screenwriters: Danny Cho, Brian Chung
Against the alluring backdrop of LA’s Koreatown, 5 legendary partiers go out for one more night of “Ktown” debauchery, eventually growing up by throwing down like they did in their glory days. Cast: Danny Cho, Bobby Choy, Peter Jae, Sunn Wee, Shane Yoon, Eric Roberts, Steve Byrne, Kim Young Chul, Simon Rhee, Daniel Dae Kim (World Premiere)

Lamb
Director/Screenwriter: Ross Partridge
When a man meets a young girl in a parking lot he attempts to help her avoid a bleak destiny by initiating her into the beauty of the outside world. The journey shakes them in ways neither expects. Cast: Oona Laurence, Ross Partridge, Scoot McNairy, Jess Weixler, Lindsay Pulsipher, Joel Murray, Tom Bower, Jennifer Lafleur (World Premiere)

Life in Color
Director/Screenwriter: Katharine Emmer
With no place to live, two strangers are stuck house sitting together. To get back on their feet, this odd couple reluctantly help each other overcome the very personal obstacles that are holding them back in life and from each other. Cast: Josh McDermitt, Katharine Emmer, Adam Lustick, Fortune Feimster, Jim O’Heir (World Premiere)

The Little Death
Director/Screenwriter: Josh Lawson
An outrageous romantic comedy about sex; secrets; fate; fetish; told through the lives and desires of five ordinary couples. Cast: Bojana Novakovic, Josh Lawson, Damon Herriman, Kate Mulvany, Patrick Brammall, Kate Box, Alan Dukes, Lisa McCune, Erin James, TJ Power (U.S. Premiere)

Mania Days
Director/Screenwriter: Paul Dalio
Two manic-depressive poets meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance which brings out all the beauty and horror of their condition until they have to choose between sanity and love. Cast: Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby, Christine Lahti, Griffin Dunne, Bruce Altman (World Premiere)

Night Owls
Director: Charles Hood, Screenwriters: Seth Goldsmith, Charles Hood
After Kevin has a one night stand with Madeline, he discovers she’s actually his boss’ jilted mistress. When she takes a bottle of sleeping pills, Kevin has to keep her awake… and over the course of the night they begin to fall for each other. Cast: Adam Pally, Rosa Salazar, Rob Huebel, Peter Krause, Tony Hale (World Premiere)

Wild Horses
Director/Screenwriter: Robert Duvall
A Texas ranch family’s idyllic life unravels as the Texas Rangers reopen and investigate a 15 year-old missing person case. Cast: Robert Duvall, James Franco, Josh Hartnett, Luciana Duvall, Adriana Barraza, Jim Parrack, Angie Cepeda, Devon Abner (World Premiere)

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT

Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. premieres at SXSW.

Bikes vs Cars
Director/Screenwriter: Fredrik Gertten
The bicycle, an amazing tool for change. Activists and cities all over the world are moving towards a new system. But will the economic powers allow it? (World Premiere)

Bounce: How the Ball Taught the World to Play
Director: Jerome Thélia, Screenwriters: John Fox, Jerome Thélia
Bounce: How the Ball Taught the World to Play takes us to the far reaches of the globe and the deep recesses of our ancient past to answer the question: Why do we play ball?(World Premiere)

A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story
Director: Sara Hirsh Bordo
From the producers of the most viewed TEDWomen event of 2013 comes A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story, a documentary following the inspiring journey of 25-year-old, 58-pound Lizzie from cyber-bullying victim to anti-bullying activist. (World Premiere)

Deep Web
Director/Screenwriter: Alex Winter
Deep Web gives the inside story of one of the the most important and riveting digital crime sagas of the century — the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, the entrepreneur alleged to be “Dread Pirate Roberts,” leader of online black market Silk Road. (World Premiere)

For Grace
Directors: Kevin Pang, Mark Helenowski
A documentary about food, family and sacrifice: The kitchen became Curtis Duffy’s refuge after an unimaginable tragedy. Now as one of the country’s most renowned chefs, he’s building his dream restaurant – but at another point of personal crisis. (World Premiere)

For the Record
Director: Marc Greenberg
For the Record explores the “steno culture,” tracking several court reporters and captioners as they strive to attain the Guinness title of World’s Fastest Court Reporter. (World Premiere)

GTFO: Get The F% Out
Director: Shannon Sun-Higginson
Almost half of all gamers are women; yet, female gamers are disproportionately subject to harassment and abuse. GTFO seeks to investigate misogyny in video game culture and questions the future of this 20 billion dollar industry. (World Premiere)

Kingdom of Shadows
Director: Bernardo Ruiz
The drug war casts a dark shadow on the lives of a Mexican nun, a U.S. Federal agent and a former drug smuggler who wrestle with the far-reaching repercussions on both sides of the border. (World Premiere)

Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro
Directors: Michael LaHaie, Christopher Wilcha
In Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro, comedian Tig Notaro travels across the country in order to put on a series of performances in the homes, back yards, barns, and basements of her most loyal fans. (World Premiere)

Out To Win
Director: Malcolm Ingram
Out to Win is a documentary film that serves as an overview and examination of lives and careers of aspiring and professional gay and lesbian athletes who have fought and struggled to represent the LGBT community and their true selves. (World Premiere)

Raiders!
Directors: Jeremy Coon, Tim Skousen
In 1982, two 11 year-olds in Mississippi set out to remake Raiders of the Lost Ark. After seven turbulent years, they finished every scene except one. 30 years later, they attempt to finally finish their fan film and realize their childhood dream. (World Premiere)

Rolling Papers
Director: Mitch Dickman
In 2014, recreational marijuana sales began in Colorado. With all eyes on ground zero of the green rush, The Denver Post appointed the world’s first marijuana editor. Pot is legal, journalism is ignited and The Cannabist is covering it as it unfolds. (World Premiere)

Sneakerheadz
Directors: David T. Friendly, Mick Partridge, Screenwriter: David T. Friendly
An in-depth look into the exploding subculture of sneaker collecting and the widespread influence it has had on popular culture around the world. (World Premiere)

Son of the Congo
Director/Screenwriter: Adam Hootnick
Serge Ibaka’s improbable journey has taken him from the violence of Congo to the top of the NBA. In Son of the Congo, Ibaka returns home, hoping his basketball success can help rebuild a country and inspire a new generation to dream of a better life. (World Premiere)

Stone Barn Castle
Director: Kevin Ford, Adrien Brody
Stone Barn Castle is a documentary portrayal of the pursuit of dreams and the distance one must travel to achieve them. (World Premiere)

Tab Hunter Confidential
Director: Jeffrey Schwarz
In the 1950s, Tab Hunter was number one at the box office and on the music charts. Nothing, it seems, can damage his skyrocketing career. Nothing, that is, except for the fact that Tab Hunter is secretly gay. (World Premiere)

T-Rex
Directors: Drea Cooper, Zackary Canepari
17-year-old Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields from Flint, Mich. dreams of being the first woman in history to win the gold medal in Olympic boxing. But in order for her to succeed, she’ll need to stand her ground both inside and outside the ring. (World Premiere)

VISIONS

Visions filmmakers are audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape who demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.

Ava’s Possessions
Director/Screenwriter: Jordan Galland
Ava is recovering from demonic possession. With no memory of the past month, she must attend a Spirit Possessions Anonymous support group to figure out what happened. Ava’s life was hijacked by a demon, now it’s time to get it back. Cast: Louisa Krause, Whitney Able, Deborah Rush, William Sadler, Zachary Booth, Wass Stevens, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, John Ventimiglia, Jemima Kirke, Stella Schnabel (World Premiere)

Babysitter
Director/Screenwriter: Morgan Krantz
A dysfunctional L.A. family hires a mysterious babysitter who changes their lives in this modern twist on the Mary Poppins narrative. Cast: Max Burkholder, Daniele Watts, Valerie Azlynn, Lesley Ann Warren, Amy Landecker, Kitty Patterson (World Premiere)

Barge
Director: Ben Powell
Dry land’s misfits find purpose and direction twenty-eight days at a time as the steady hands of a towboat due for the port of New Orleans. (World Premiere)

Disaster Playground
Director: Nelly Ben Hayoun
Hollywood relies on Bruce Willis to save the world in Armageddon, but who are the real-life heroes seeking to save our civilization from the next major asteroid impact? (World Premiere)

God Bless the Child
Directors: Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, Screenwriter: Robert Machoian
After their mother leaves at dawn, Harper, 13, spends the day looking after her four younger brothers, uncertain whether or not her mother will return. Cast: Harper Graham, Elias Graham, Arri Graham, Ezra Graham, Jonah Graham (World Premiere)

Honeytrap
Director/Screenwriter: Rebecca Johnson
Honeytrap is a tragic teen romance, set in London and inspired by true events. It tells the story of 15 year old Layla, who sets up the boy in love with her to be killed. Cast: Jessica Sula, Lucien Laviscount, Ntonga Mwanza, Naomi Ryan, Danielle Vitalis, Lauren Johns, Savannah Gordon-Liburd, Tosin Cole (North American Premiere)

Just Jim
Director/Screenwriter: Craig Roberts
In a small town where people talk to themselves we meet Jim. Sixteen,mediocre looking and frankly quite boring. Things change dramatically when Dean moves in next door. They quickly become friends and set on a journey together to help Jim come of age. Cast: Emile Hirsch, Craig Roberts (World Premiere)

Naz & Maalik
Director/Screenwriter: Jay Dockendorf
Two closeted Muslim teens have their Friday afternoon ruined by FBI surveillance when their secretive behavior and small-time scheming start to look like fledgling steps toward violent radicalism. Cast: Curtiss Cook Jr., Kerwin Johnson Jr., Annie Grier, Anderson Footman, Bradley Custer, Ashleigh Awusie (World Premiere)

Nina Forever
Directors/Screenwriters: Chris Blaine, Ben Blaine
A fucked up fairy tale. Holly loves Rob and tries to help him through his grief – even if it means contending with his dead girlfriend Nina, who comes back, bloody and broken, every time they make love. Cast: Abigail Hardingham, Cian Barry, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Elizabeth Elvin, David Troughton (World Premiere)

The Nymphets
Director/Screenwriter: Gary Gardner
A well-to-do 30-something man invites two rowdy young girls to party in his loft, leading to a night of provocation and cruelty, all in the name of getting laid. Cast: Kip Pardue, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Jordan Lane Price, Paulina Singer (World Premiere)

One & Two
Director: Andrew Droz Palermo, Screenwriters: Andrew Droz Palermo, Neima Shahdadi
Two siblings discover a supernatural escape from a troubled home, but find their bond tested when reality threatens to tear their family apart. Cast: Kiernan Shipka, Timothee Chalamet, Elizabeth Reaser, Grant Bowler (World Premiere)

Petting Zoo
Director/Screenwriter: Micah Magee
A story of love, sex and teen pregnancy in San Antonio, Texas. Petting Zoo is the portrait of a young woman coming into her own, in an environment that does not always present ideal circumstances. Cast: Devon Keller, Austin Reed, Deztiny Gonzales, Kiowa Tucker (North American Premiere)

Planetary
Director: Guy Reid, Screenwriter: Steve Watts Kennedy
A contemplative exploration into what it means to live on Earth, the roots of our current crises, and the change in perspective that could transform our shared future. (World Premiere)

Sailing A Sinking Sea
Director: Olivia Wyatt
Sailing a Sinking Sea is a feature-length experimental documentary exploring the culture of one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in Asia, the Moken of Thailand and Burma. (World Premiere)

Uncle Kent 2
Director: Todd Rohal, Screenwriter: Kent Osborne
In a desperate search to create a follow-up to Joe Swanberg’s 2011 film Uncle Kent, Kent Osborne travels to a comic convention where he confronts the end of the world. Cast: Kent Osborne, Kate Herman, Lyndsay Hailey, Jennifer Prediger, Steve Little, Joe Swanberg (World Premiere)

Unfriended
Director: Leo Gabriadze, Screenwriter: Nelson Greaves
Ushering in a new era of horror, Universal Pictures’ Unfriended unfolds over a teenager’s computer screen as she and her friends are stalked by an unseen figure who seeks vengeance. Cast: Shelley Hennig, Moses Jacob Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, Courtney Halverson, Heather Sossaman (U.S. Premiere)

A Wonderful Cloud
Director/Screenwriter: Eugene Kotlyarenko
When Eugene’s ex-GF Katelyn lands in LA to disband their business, the two of them must negotiate between past tensions and future possibilities, in this raw bittersweet rom-com that walks the line between fiction and reality. Cast: Kate Lyn Sheil, Eugene Kotlyarenko, John Ennis, Vishwam Velandy, Rachel Lord, Lauren Avery, Elisha Drons, Niko Karamyan, Tierney Finster, Mikki Olson (World Premiere)

EPISODICS

Featuring innovative new work aimed squarely at the small screen, Episodic tunes in to the explosion of exciting material on non-theatrical platforms, including serialized TV, webisodes and beyond.

Angie Tribeca
Director: Steve Carell, Screenwriters: Steve Carell, Nancy Carell
From the minds of Steve & Nancy Carell comes the new TBS comedy Angie Tribeca, a wildly satirical take on police procedurals starring Rashida Jones, Hayes MacArthur, Jere Burns, Deon Cole and Andree Vermeulen. Cast: Rashida Jones, Hayes MacArthur, Deon Cole, Andree Vermeulen, Jere Burns (World Premiere)

The Comedians
Director: Larry Charles
Pilot Written by Ben Wexler, Matt Nix, Larry Charles, Billy Crystal
Episode Two Written By: Ben Wexler
In FX’s The Comedians, Billy Crystal plays a comedy legend who is reluctantly paired with Josh Gad, an edgier up-and-coming star, in an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at a fictional late night sketch comedy show where egos and generations collide. Cast: Billy Crystal, Josh Gad (World Premiere)

iZOMBIE
Director: Rob Thomas, Screenwriters: Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero-Wright
From Rob Thomas and based on the comic book, the CW Network’s iZOMBIE centers on Olivia “Liv” Moore, a bright young woman who’s also a newly turned zombie. She clings to her humanity by working in the city morgue and helping the police investigate unsolved murders. Cast: Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, David Anders (World Premiere)

Mr. Robot
Director: Sam Esmail
Mr. Robot is a psychological thriller about a young programmer who works as a cyber-security engineer by day and a vigilante hacker by night. The USA Network series stars Rami Malek (24) and Christian Slater (Adderall Diaries). Cast: Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin (World Premiere)

UnREAL
Director: Peter O’Fallon, Screenwriters: Marti Noxon, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro
From Co-Creators Marti Noxon (Mad Men) and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (Sequin Raze), Lifetime’s highly-anticipated scripted series UnREAL is a provocative drama that gives a fictitious behind-the-scenes glimpse into the chaos surrounding the production of a dating competition program. Cast: Shiri Appleby, Constance Zimmer, Craig Bierko, Freddie Stroma (World Premiere)

24 BEATS PER SECOND

Showcasing the sounds, culture & influence of music & musicians, with an emphasis on documentary. New for 2015: Open to Music badgeholders

808
Director: Alexander Dunn, Screenwriters: Alexander Dunn, Luke Bainbridge
The heart of the beat that changed music. (World Premiere)

All Things Must Pass
Director: Colin Hanks, Screenwriter: Steven Leckart
All Things Must Pass is a feature documentary that explores the rise and fall of Tower Records, and the legacy forged by its rebellious founder, Russ Solomon. (World Premiere)

THE DAMNED: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead
Director: Wes Orshoski
From Lemmy filmmaker Wes Orshoski comes the story of the long-ignored pioneers of punk, The Damned. (World Premiere)

Danny Says
Director: Brendan Toller
Danny Says is a documentary unveiling the amazing journey of Danny Fields. Fields has played a pivotal role in music and culture with seminal acts including: the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, MC5, Nico, the Ramones and beyond. (World Premiere)

Dominguinhos
Directors: Joaquim Castro, Eduardo Nazarian, Screenwriter: Di Moretti
Dominguinhos reveals this genius of Brazilian music, creator of a deeply authentic, universal and contemporary work. The film values the sensory cinematic experience, a journey driven by Dominguinhos himself. (U.S. Premiere)

The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson
Director/Screenwriter: Julien Temple
The most extraordinary rock ‘n’ roll story of recent times. A legendary musician diagnosed with incurable cancer who managed to defy his death sentence. (World Premiere)

Gloria
Director: Christian Keller, Screenwriter: Sabina Berman
A bold and compelling tale of ambition, betrayal and redemption, Gloria, based on a true story, chronicles the life of international pop star Gloria Trevi, the “Mexican Madonna.” Cast: Sofía Espinosa, Marco Pérez, Tatiana Del Real, Ximena Romo (U.S. Premiere)

Hot Sugar’s Cold World
Director: Adam Bhala Lough
After a very public break-up with his internet-famous girlfriend, Nick Koenig (aka Hot Sugar) – a brilliant young musician – takes a magical journey around the world to find new sounds for his album, and find himself. (World Premiere)

JACO
Directors: Paul Marchand, Stephen Kijak, Screenwriters: Paul Marchand, Robert Trujillo
JACO tells the story of Jaco Pastorius, a self-taught, larger-than-life musician who changed the course of modern music. Never-before-seen archive unveils the story of Jaco’s life, his music, his demise, and the lasting victory of artistic genius. (World Premiere)

The Jones Family Will Make a Way
Director/Screenwriter: Alan Berg
A rural, Pentecostal preacher and a jaded rock critic form an unlikely alliance that pushes them both in unexpected ways. (World Premiere)

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
Director/Screenwriter: Brett Morgen
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is a raw and visceral journey through Kurt Cobain’s life and his career with Nirvana through the lens of his home movies, recordings, artwork, photography, and journals.

Landfill Harmonic
Directors: Brad Allgood, Graham Townsley
Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra, a youth group that plays instruments made entirely from trash. When their story goes viral, they are catapulted into the world spotlight. However, a recent event could present their biggest challenge. (World Premiere)

Made in Japan
Director/Screenwriter: Josh Bishop
Made in Japan is the remarkable story of Tomi Fujiyama, the world’s ?rst Japanese country music superstar. It is a funny yet poignant multi-cultural journey through music, marriage, and the impact of the corporate world on the dreams of one woman. (World Premiere)

Mavis!
Director: Jessica Edwards
Her family group, the Staple Singers, inspired millions and helped propel the civil rights movement with their music. After 60 years of performing, legendary singer Mavis Staples’ message of love and equality is needed now more than ever. (World Premiere)

A Poem Is A Naked Person
Director: Les Blank
A time capsule of Les Blank’s take on Oklahoma in 1974 about Leon Russell and his band, with Willie Nelson, George Jones, and some amazing eccentric characters. At least two major critics have declared it the best film ever made on Rock and Roll. (World Premiere)

Sir Doug and the Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove
Director: Joe Nick Patoski, Screenwriters: Joe Nick Patoski, Jason Wehling
Wild hippie cowboy musician with too much music inside, takes his talent from San Antonio to San Francisco to Austin and the world. (World Premiere)

Theory of Obscurity: a film about The Residents
Director/Screenwriter: Don Hardy
Theory of Obscurity tells the story of the renegade sound and video collective The Residents. A story that spans over 40 years and is clouded in mystery. Many details surrounding the group are secret, including the identities of its members. (World Premiere)

They Will Have To Kill Us First
Director: Johanna Schwartz, Screenwriters: Johanna Schwartz, Andy Morgan
Islamic extremists have banned music in Mali, but its world-class musicians won’t give up without a fight. From conflict, to exile, to homecoming, this film follows the story of Mali’s musicians as they fight for their right to sing. (World Premiere)

We Like It Like That
Director: Mathew Ramirez Warren
We Like It Like That tells the story of Latin boogaloo, a colorful expression of 1960s New York City Latino soul. From its origins to its recent resurgence, it’s the story of a sound that redefined a generation and was too funky to keep down. (World Premiere)

Y/OUR MUSIC
Directors: David Reeve, Waraluck Hiransrettawat Every
The sounds of Thailand from ricefield to leftfield. (North American Premiere)

SXGLOBAL

A diverse selection of International filmmaking talent, featuring innovative narratives, artful documentaries, premieres, festival favorites and more.

15 Corners of the World
Director/Screenwriter: Zuzanna Solakiewicz
Imagine the sound that can be touched and seen by each of us. You can see unknown corners of the world. Just let your eyes follow your ears. (U.S. Premiere)

The Avian Kind
Director/Screenwriter: Shin Yeon-Shick
A novelist’s search for his wife, who disappeared from view 15 years ago. Cast: KIM Jeong-Suk, Soy KIM, JUNG Han-Bi (North American Premiere)

The Ceremony
Director/Screenwriter: Lina Mannheimer
France’s most famous dominatrix, two close friends and two lovers share their innermost thoughts about love, friendship, dominance and submission – as we meet the unusual and fascinating author Catherine Robbe-Grillet and her inner circle. (North American Premiere)

Free Entry
Director/Screenwriter: Yvonne Kerékgyártó
Free Entry is an adventurous journey to adulthood as two 16-year-old girls risk their first steps towards independence, in different ways at the biggest international summer festival of Hungary. Cast: Luca Pusztai, Ágnes Barta, Péter Sándor, Róbert Kardos, Ádám Kovács, Barnabás Janka, Tibor Szolár, Anna Nemes, Katica Nagy (North American Premiere)

Good Things Await
Director: Phie Ambo, Screenwriters: Phie Ambo, Maggie Olkuska
Niels is one of the last idealistic farmers in the agricultural country of Denmark. But Niels’ ways of farming in accordance with the planets and the primal instincts of the animals are not too popular with the authorities. (U.S. Premiere)

Invasion
Director: Abner Benaim
Invasion documents the US military siege of Panama that ousted dictator Noriega 25 years ago while wreaking untold collateral damage. It sets out to shatter the willful amnesia of a country all too eager to bury its troubled past.

Limbo
Director/Screenwriter: Anna Sofie Hartmann
A small town on the outskirts of Denmark. Two women – a teenage girl and her schoolteacher – build a strange connection that transforms both of them. A subtle, beautiful, personal film on the state of youth and the uncertainty of being. Cast: Annika Nuka Mathiassen, Sofía Nolsøe (North American Premiere)

Monte Adentro
Director/Screenwriter: Nicolás Macario Alonso
Monte Adentro explores the universe of one of the last muleteer families in Colombia and follows the lives and mule train of two brothers as they get together for an epic mule driving journey to the highest peaks of the Andes. (North American Premiere)

FESTIVAL FAVORITES

Acclaimed standouts & selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.

Adult Beginners
Director: Ross Katz, Screenplay: Jeff Cox, Elizabeth Flahive
Out of a job after a disastrous product launch, a big-city yuppie retreats to his suburban childhood home, in this heart-warming and hilarious film about crashing hard, coming home and waking up. Cast: Nick Kroll, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Joel McHale (U.S. Premiere)

Being Evel
Director: Daniel Junge, Screenwriters: Daniel Junge, Davis Coombe
Millions know the man; few know his story. Academy Award-winning director Daniel Junge and producer Johnny Knoxville take a candid look at American daredevil Evel Knievel, while reflecting on our voracious public appetite for heroes and spectacle.

Best of Enemies
Directors: Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon
Best of Enemies is a behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex.

City of Gold
Director: Laura Gabbert
City of Gold is a documentary portrait that takes us into Jonathan Gold’s universe to tell the improbable story of a revolution inspired by the pen, but driven by the palate.

Entertainment
Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington
En route to meet his estranged daughter and attempt to revive his dwindling career, a broken, aging comedian plays a string of dead-end shows in the Mojave desert. Cast: Gregg Turkington, John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan

Finders Keepers
Directors: Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel
Finders Keepers follows recovering addict and amputee John Wood in his stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction.

Heaven Knows What
Directors: Joshua Safdie, Benny Safdie, Screenwriters: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie
The latest from acclaimed sibling directors Josh and Benny Safdie (Daddy Longlegs) blends fiction, formalism and raw documentary as it follows a young heroin addict who finds mad love in the streets of New York. Cast: Arielle Holmes, Caleb Landry Jones, Buddy Duress, Necro

The Last Man on the Moon
Director: Mark Craig
One man’s part in mankind’s greatest adventure… (North American Premiere)

The Look of Silence
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Director Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up to the earth-shattering, Academy Award® nominated The Act of Killing.

Lost River
Director/Screenwriter: Ryan Gosling
A family tries to hold on to their home in the ruins of a disappearing city. Cast: Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith, Reda Kateb, Barbara Stele, Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn (US Premiere)

Ned Rifle
Director/Screenwriter: Hal Hartley
Ned Rifle is the third and final chapter of Hal Hartley’s tragicomic epic begun with Henry Fool (1998) and continued with Fay Grim (2007). In this swiftly paced and expansive conclusion, Henry and Fay’s son, Ned, sets out to find and kill his father. Cast: Liam Aiken, Martin Donovan, Aubrey Plaza, Parker Posey, Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, Robert John Burke, Bill Sage, Karen Sillas (US Premiere)

The Overnight
Director/Screenwriter: Patrick Brice
Two families meet at the park and set up a playdate that has unexpected outcomes for all. Cast: Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Taylor Schilling, Judith Godrèche

Results
Director/Screenwriter: Andrew Bujalski
A take on self improvement culture in America – with all it’s promise and absurdity – stuffed into a peculiar romantic comedy. Cast: Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker, Constance Zimmer

Salt of the Earth
Director: Wim Wenders, Juliano Riberio Salgado, Screenwriters: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Wim Wenders
For the last 40 years, photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, which is a tribute to the planet’s beauty.

Unexpected
Director: Kris Swanberg, Screenwriters: Kris Swanberg, Megan Mercier
An inner-city high school teacher discovers she is pregnant at the same time as one of her most promising students and the two develop an unlikely friendship while struggling to navigate their unexpected pregnancies. Cast: Cobie Smulders, Anders Holm, Gail Bean, Elizabeth McGovern

The Visit
Director/Screenwriter: Michael Madsen
This film documents an event that has never taken place – man’s first encounter with intelligent life from space.

Welcome to Leith
Directors: Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.

Western
Directors: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Experiential cinema, cult re-issues & much more. Our Special Events section offers unusual, unexpected & unique one-off film events.

7 Days In Hell
Director: Jake Szymanski, Screenwriter: Murray Miller
A fictional documentary-style expose on the rivalry between two tennis stars who battled it out in a 1999 match that lasted seven days. Cast: Andy Samberg, Kit Harrington, Michael Sheen, Will Forte, Lena Dunham, Fred Armisen, Mary Steenburgen, Karen Gillan, John McEnroe, Serena Williams (World Premiere)

Doug Benson & Master Pancake interrupt Leprechaun 3 (1995)
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
“The directness with which this movie went to video is apparent in nearly every single element.” Tim Brayton, Antagony and Ecstasy. Cast: Warwick Davis, John Gatins, Lee Armstrong

Jonathan Demme Presents Made In Texas
Directors: Louis Black, Mark Rance
The restoration of six films made in Austin in the early 1980s including David Boone’s Invasion of the Aluminum People. The program was originally curated by Jonathan Demme and presented at the Collective for Living Cinema in NYC. (World Premiere)

The Road Warrior
Director: George Miller, Screenwriters: Terry Hayes, George Miller
In the post-apocalypse future, where humans fight over the few remaining stores of gasoline, Mad Max offers to drive a tanker through a gauntlet of psychos to safety on the coast. Special Q&A to follow with George Miller. Cast: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Virginia Hey, Emil Minty, Kjell Nilsson, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, David Slingsby, Steve J. Spears

A Space Program
Director: Van Neistat, Screenwriters: Van Neistat, Tom Sachs
The artist Tom Sachs and his team of bricoleurs build a handmade space program and send two female astronauts to Mars. Cast: Sam Ratanarat, Mary Eannarino, Tom Sachs, Evan Murphy, Chris Beeston, Pat McCarthy, Nick Doyle, Kevin Hand, Jeff Lurie, Jared Vandeusen (World Premiere)

Trainwreck
Director: Judd Apatow, Screenwriters: Amy Schumer, Judd Apatow
Blockbuster filmmaker Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This Is 40) directs Universal Pictures’ Trainwreck, starring breakout comedic actress Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer). Cast: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Brie Larson, Colin Quinn, Vanessa Bayer, Tilda Swinton, Lebron James, John Cena (Debut of a Work in Progress)

Vertical Cinema
Director: Sonic Acts
Vertical Cinema is a series of ten newly commissioned large-scale works by experimental filmmakers and audiovisual artists, which are presented on 35mm celluloid and projected vertically with a custom-built projector. (North American Premiere)

In 2008, when legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong announced that he would return from retirement and compete in the Tour de France once again (he’d won seven years straight, from 1999 to 2005), director Alex Gibney saw an incredible opportunity to tell the story Armstrong’s resurgence and began filming a documentary called The Road Back, chronicling the cyclist’s triumphant return. For the next few years, Gibney followed Armstrong around, developed a close relationship with him, and found himself becoming emotionally wrapped up in the cycling legend’s comeback story (which he admits in the film.) Armstrong placed 3rd in the 2009 Tour de France, and according to Gibney, it was “the perfect ending for the film I wanted to make.”

Early this year, after viciously denying accusations of doping for years, Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey on national television (following the surfacing of overwhelming blood test evidence) that he had, indeed, been taking performance enhancing drugs all along, tarnishing his career and all seven Tour de France wins, which he was subsequently stripped of. Out of necessity, Gibney’s film transformed radically, the result of which is the newly named The Armstrong Lie, an endless parade of archival footage of Armstrong stonewalling doping allegations made cringe-worthy in light of his recent confession.

The first hour of the film recalls Armstrong’s youth, when his hyper-competitiveness was untamed and he bullied his way around the cycling world. He was clearly prideful to a fault, which Gibney suggests later fed into his staunch refusal to concede and admit guilt. It’s impressive, in a twisted way, watching how good he was at lying; Armstrong’s alpha-male conviction and unblinking retorts sound convincing, even with knowledge of the irrevocable truth floating around our heads. It’s uncomfortable to watch him unleash his wrath on these poor reporters, whose accusations were vindicated only after years of denunciation from the millions who considered Armstrong a hero and wore his famous “Livestrong” bracelets proudly.

What complicates things is that Armstrong (a testicular cancer survivor) did a lot of good with his Livestrong campaign, which raised an unprecedented amount of money to help cancer patients across the globe. Is the money dirty, like his cycling career? I’m not so sure. But it’s almost unbearable to watch Armstrong ducking behind his Livestrong supporters like a shield when asked about doping at press conferences. It’s moral ugliness on the highest level.

Gibney goes into great detail about the lengths professional cyclists go to to evade drug testing and illegally enhance their performances (the sport has a long reputation of being dirty.) Aside from the typical pill-popping, some athletes would even transfuse drug-infused blood into their veins during a race inside standby buses as police and citizens stood mere feet away. The audacity of it all is so ludicrous it’s a wonder Armstrong got away with it for as long as he did.

Armstrong’s one-note personality isn’t interesting enough to make the two-hour running time engaging throughout. Watching him lie through his teeth is fascinating at first, but Gibney lays it on too heavy, rehashing the same points over and over. What’s troubling is that Gibney absolves himself of any association with Armstrong, even going so far as to scornfully, definitively proclaim that the cyclist “cheated”  his way through his career in his film narration. Surely, after following Armstrong so closely for several years, he must have known something was up. Is he really trying to play dumb here? The film really begins to curdle due to Gibney’s ethical shakiness.

It’s still up in the air whether or not Armstrong rode clean in the 2009 Tour de France. He certainly didn’t dominate like he had in the past, which you could chalk up to his advancing age, or other things. He denies to this day that he took any illegal substances during the race. Is it his ego talking again? It’s saddening to think it. The Armstrong Lie is a tragic portrait of an egotistical, compulsive liar who dodged so many bullets it’s almost mythical.

Watch trailer for The Armstrong Lie:

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced more titles today in six of their programmes. After last week’s announcement of Galas and Special Presentations, TIFF has revealed the line-ups for TIFF Docs, City to City, Midnight Madness, TIFF Kids, TIFF Cinematheque, and Vanguard today.

The Midnight Madness programme is dedicated to showing off some of the world’s wildest new films. This year’s selections include opening film Dredd 3D starring Karl Urban, Seven Psychopaths starring Colin Farrell and The ABCs of Death, the anthology horror film with 26 directors each making a short about a letter of the alphabet. This is also the first year Midnight Madness will have at least one of their films in 3D.

The City to City program was created in 2009 to profile cities around the world with new, exciting filmmakers. This year’s selection is Mumbai which joins the list of other cities chosen for the program including Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Buenos Aires.

TIFF Docs, formerly caled Real to Reel, focuses on documentaries from around the world. Plenty of major documentaries have premiered at TIFF including last year’s Best Documentary winner Undefeated. This year some of the documentaries playing include new works by Ken Burns and Alex Gibney. The festival also revealed documentaries that will be playing in their Wavelengths and Masters programmes.

The Vanguard programme focuses on new, original, provocative and boundary-pushing films. Some titles included in the Vanguard line-up this year include the remake of Nicolas Winding Refn`s Pusher and Sightseers, director Ben Wheatley`s (Kill List, Down Terrace) new film.

TIFF Kids is dedicated to programming children`s films at the festival. Two of the more high-profile titles playing this year are Finding Nemo 3D and Hotel Transylvania.

TIFF Cinematheque is a new programme this year that shows classic films restores. Titles this year include Alfred Hitchcock`s Dial M for Murder and a new 4K restoration of Roman Polanski`s Tess.

The list of all the titles announced today are below. Way Too Indie will be covering the Toronto International Film Festival this year which runs from September 6 – 16th. To find out more information about the festival go to www.tiff.net/thefestival

Midnight Madness:
Dredd 3D – (Pete Travis) (Opening Film)
Seven Psychopaths – (Martin McDonagh)
No One Lives – (Ryuhei Kitamura)
Hellbenders 3D – (JT Petty)
The Lords of Salem – (Rob Zombie)
Aftershock – (Nicolas Lopez)
The Bay – (Barry Levinson)
Come Out and Play – (Makinov)
The ABCs of Death – (Various)
John Dies at the End – (Don Coscarelli)

City to City:
The Bright Day – (Mohit Takalkar)
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part One – (Anurag Kashyap)
Gangs of Wasseypur – Part Two – (Anurag Kashyap)
Ishaqzaade – (Habib Faisal)
Miss Lovely – (Ashim Ahluwalia)
Mumbai’s King – (Manjeet Singh)
Peddlers – (Vasan Bala)
Shahid – (Hansal Mehta)
Shanghai – (Dibakar Banerjee)
Ship of Theseus – (Anand Gandhi)

TIFF Documentaries:
9.79* – (Daniel Gordon)
Artifact – (Bartholomew Cubbins)
A World Not Ours – (Mahdi Fleifel)
The Act of Killing – (Joshua Oppenheimer)
As if We Were Catching a Cobra – (Hala Alabdalla)
Camp 14 — Total Control Zone – (Marc Wiese)
The Central Park Five – (Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns)
Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story – (Brad Bernstein)
Fidaï – (Damien Ounouri)
First Comes Love – (Nina Davenport)
The Gatekeepers – (Dror Moreh)
The Girl from the South – (José Luis García)
How to Make Money Selling Drugs – (Matthew Cooke)
Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp – (Jorge Hinojosa)
London – The Modern Babylon – (Julien Temple)
Lunarcy! – (Simon Ennis)
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God – (Alex Gibney)
Men At Lunch – (Seán Ó Cualáin)
More Than Honey – (Markus Imhoof)
No Place on Earth – (Janet Tobias)
Reincarnated – (Andrew Capper)
Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out – (Marina Zenovich)
The Secret Disco Revolution – (Jamie Kastner)
Shepard & Dark – (Treva Wurmfeld)
Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky – (Barry Avrich)
State 194 – (Dan Setton)
Storm Surfers 3D – (Christopher Nelius and Justin McMillan)
The Walls of Dakar – (Abdoul Aziz Cissé)

Wavelengths:
Bestiaire – (Denis Côté)

Masters:
The End of Time – (Peter Mettler)

TIFF Kids:
Ernest & Célestine – (Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier)
Finding Nemo 3D – (Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich)
Hotel Transylvania – (Genndy Tartakovsky)
Igor & the Cranes’ Journey – (Evgeny Ruman)

TIFF Cinematheque:
The Bitter Ash – (Larry Kentz)
The Cloud Capped Star – (Ritwik Ghatak)
Dial M for Murder – (Alfred Hitchcock)
Loin du Viêtnam – (Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais)
Stromboli – (Roberto Rossellini)
Tess – (Roman Polanski)

TIFF Vanguard:
90 Minutes – (Eva Sørhaug)
Beijing Flickers – (Zhang Yuan)
Berberian Sound Studio – (Peter Strickland)
Blondie – (Jesper Ganslandt)
Here Comes the Devil – (Adrian Garcia Bogliano)
iLL Manors – (Ben Drew)
Motorway – (Soi Cheang)
Painless – (Juan Carlos Medina)
Peaches Does Herself – (Peaches)
Pusher – (Luis Prieto)
Room 237 – (Rodney Ascher)
Sightseers – (Ben Wheatley)
Thale – (Aleksander Nordaas)
The We and the I – (Michel Gondry)