Premieres, special sections, and the opening and closing films have been announced for the 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, happening January 2-16, with The Sense of an Ending, directed by Ritesh Batra selected to open the festival and The Comedian, from director Taylor Hackford has been selected to close.
Overall, 190 films will play the festival, with 58 premieres including 9 world premieres, 5 international, 20 North American, and 24 U.S. premieres. PSIFF has also announced films in program sections including “Focus on Poland”, which will highlight several films from the country, along with the “Modern Masters,” “New Voices/New Visions”, “True Stories”, and “After Dark”.
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Among other announced films, Gus Van Sant’s When We Rise, making its North American premiere, will be the Festival’s Gay!La screening, while Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story (U.S.), directed by Brett A. Schwartz and Tampopo (Japan), directed by Juzo Itami, will play as part of the “Dinner and a Movie” section.
Four special presentations are also planned, including the World Premiere of Breakable You (U.S.), the U.S. Premiere of King of the Dancehall (U.S./Jamaica) directed by Nick Cannon, Old Money (Austria) directed by David Schalko and starring Udo Kier, and the North American premiere of The Hippopotamus.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup. The programming team has managed to pull together a plethora of different viewpoints in storytelling from around the world in hopes of generating great discussion sorely needed in these divisive times,” said festival Artistic Director Michael Lerman. “Between the 42 Foreign Language Oscar submissions, each selected to represent their own country in a year that’s more competitive than ever, to the poignant work being made by Modern Masters like Kim Ki-Duk, Ken Loach, Feng Xiaogang and Steve James, to the ever-surprising first and second features in our New Voices/New Visions competition like the unmissable Zoology and Kati Kati, the festival is jam-packed with gems. Along with that, I have to say what a pleasure it is to present the World Premiere of Ritesh Batra’s second feature film, The Sense of an Ending for Opening Night. We were all massive fans of his first feature, The Lunchbox, and we can’t wait to welcome him to Palm Springs.”
The full slate of festival films will be available online December 16. The complete list of currently-announced films is below.
World premieres:
The Beautiful Fantastic (UK/U.S.), Director Simon Aboud
Breakable You (U.S.), Director Andrew Wagner with Holly Hunter, Tony Shalhoub and Alfred Molina
The Concessionaires Must Die! (U.S.), Director America Young
Do It or Die! (U.S), Director Jørn Winther
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends) (U.S./France), Director Colin Hanks
Everybody Loves Somebody (Mexico), Director Catalina Aguilar Mastretta with Karla Souza
Poorna (India), Director Rahul Bose
The Sense of an Ending (UK/U.S.), Director Ritesh Batra
Take Me Home Huey (U.S.), Directors Alicia Brauns and Christine Steele
International premieres:
The 4th Company (Mexico/Spain), Directors Amir Galván Cervera and Mitzi Vanessa Arreola
Call Me Thief (South Africa), Director Daryne Joshua
Julie and the Shoe Factory (France), Directors Paul Calori and Kostia Testut
Tonio (Netherlands), Director Paula van der Oest
Xamou (Greece), Director Clio Fanouraki
North American premieres:
At the End of the Tunnel (Argentina/Spain), Director Rodrigo Grande
Bad Influence (Chile), Director Claudia Huaiquimilla
Dark Skull (Bolivia/Qatar), Director Kiro Russo
The Day Will Come (Denmark), Director Jesper W. Nielsen
Ethel & Ernest (UK/Luxembourg), Director Roger Mainwood with the voices of Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent
Half Ticket (India), Director Samit Kakkad
The Hippopotamus (UK), Director John Jencks with Roger Allam, Matthew Modine and Fiona Shaw
A Jew Must Die (Switzerland), Director Jacob Berger
King of the Belgians (Belgium/Netherlands/Bulgaria), Director Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth
The Liberation of Skopje (Macedonia/Croatia/Finland), Directors Rade Šerbedžija and Danilo Šerbedžija
Mellow Mud (Latvia), Director Renārs Vimba
Mercenary (France), Director Sacha Wolff
Mountain Cry (China), Director Larry Yang
No Dress Code Required (Mexico), Director Cristina Herrera Bórquez
The Spy and the Poet (Estonia), Director Toomas Hussar
Tommy’s Honour (U.S.), Director Jason Connery
The Turkish Way (Spain), Director Luis González
Vincent and the End of the World (Belgium/France), Director Christophe Van Rompaey
When We Rise (U.S.), Director Gus Van Sant with Guy Pearce, Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths and Rosie O’Donnell
The Winter (Argentina/France), Director Emiliano Torres
U.S. premieres:
Barakah Meets Barakah (Saudi Arabia), Director Mahmoud Sabbagh
Behind the Clouds (Belgium), Director Cecilia Verheyden
Blessed Benefit (Jordan/Germany/Netherlands), Director Mahmoud al Massad
Brimstone (Netherlands/Germany/France/Belgium/Sweden/UK), Director Martin Koolhoven with Guy Pearce and Dakota Fanning
Center of My World (Germany/Austria), Director Jakob M. Erwa
Daguerrotype (France/Japan/Belgium), Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa
The Distinguished Citizen (Argentina/Spain), Director Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat
In Between (Israel/France), Director Maysaloun Hamoud
It’s Not the Time of My Life (Hungary), Director Szabolcs Hajdu
J: Beyond Flamenco (Spain), Director Carlos Saura
King of the Dancehall (U.S./Jamaica), Director Nick Cannon with Louis Gossett, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg and Busta Rhymes
The King’s Choice (Norway), Director Erik Poppe
KONELĪNE: our land beautiful (Canada), Director Nettie Wild
Little Wing (Finland/Denmark), Director Selma Vilhunen
Ma’ Rosa (Philippines), Director Brillante Mendoza
Memories of Summer (Poland), Director Adam Guziński
Noces (Belgium/France/Luxembourg/Pakistan), Director Stephan Streker
Past Life (Israel), Director Avi Nesher
Pihu (India), Director Vinod Kapri
Souvenir (Belgium/Luxembourg / France), Director Bavo Defurne with Isabelle Huppert
The Stopover (France/Greece), Director Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin
A United Kingdom (UK), Director Amma Asante with Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo
White Sun (Nepal/US/Qatar/ Netherlands), Director Deepak Rauniyar
X500 (Canada/Colombia/Mexico), Director Juan Andrés Arango
FOCUS ON POLAND
Afterimage (Poland), Director Andrzej Wajda
Ashes and Diamonds (Poland), Director Andrzej Wajda
Memories of Summer (Poland), Director Adam Guziński
The Last Family (Poland), Director Jan P. Matuszyński
United States of Love (Poland/Sweden), Director Tomasz Wasilewski
Zacma: Blindness (Poland), Director Ryszard Bugajski
NEW VOICES/NEW VISIONS
Barakah Meets Barakah (Saudi Arabia), Director Mahmoud Sabbagh
Boundaries (Canada), Director Chloé Robichaud
In Between (Israel/France), Director Maysaloun Hamoud
Julie and the Shoe Factory (France), Director Paul Calori, Kostia Testut
Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), Director Mbithi Masya
Little Wing (Finland/Denmark), Director Selma Vilhunen
Mellow Mud (Latvia), Director Renārs Vimba
The Winter (Argentina/France), Director Emiliano Torres
White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), Director Deepak Rauniyar
Zoology (Russia/France/Germany), Director Ivan I. Tverdovsky
MODERN MASTERS
A Quiet Passion (UK/Belgium), Director Terence Davies
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (U.S.), Director Steve James
After the Storm (Japan), Director Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Commune (Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands), Director Thomas Vinterberg
Daguerrotype (France/Japan/Belgium), Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Frantz (France/Germany), Director François Ozon
I Am Not Madame Bovary (China), Director Feng Xiaogang
I, Daniel Blake (UK/France/Belgium), Director Ken Loach
J: Beyond Flamenco (Spain), Director Carlos Saura
The Net (South Korea), Director Kim Ki-duk
Past Life (Israel), Director Avi Nesher
Personal Shopper (France), Director Olivier Assayas
The Teacher (Slovakia/Czech Republic), Director Jan Hrebejk
The Unknown Girl (Belgium/France), Director Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
TRUE STORIES
Aida’s Secrets (Israel/U.S./Germany/Canada), Directors Alon Schwarz, Shaul Schwarz
Alive and Kicking (U.S./Sweden), Director Susan Glatzer
Beauties of the Night (Mexico), Director María José Cuevas
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (U.S.), Director Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends), (U.S./France), Director Colin Hanks
Forever Pure (Israel/UK/Ireland/Norway), Director Maya Zinshtein
Franca: Chaos and Creation (Italy/U.S.), Director Francesco Carrozzini
Gun Runners (Canada), Director Anjali Nayar
I Am Not Your Negro (U.S./France/Belgium/Switzerland), Director Raoul Peck
I Called Him Morgan (Sweden/U.S.), Director Kasper Collin
Jewel’s Catch One (U.S.), Director C. Fitz
Karl Marx City (U.S./Germany), Directors Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker
Kedi (Turkey/U.S./Germany), Director Ceyda Torun
Keep Quiet (UK/Hungary), Directors Sam Blair, Joseph Martin
KONELĪNE: our land beautiful, (Canada), Director Nettie Wild
Magicians: Life in the Impossible (U.S.), Directors Christoph Baaden, Marcie Hume
No Dress Code Required (Mexico), Director Cristina Herrera Bórquez
Obit. (U.S.), Director Vanessa Gould
Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (U.S.), Directors Adam Schlesinger, Linda Saffire
Take Me Home Huey (U.S.), Directors Alicia Brauns, Christine Steele
The Turkish Way (Spain), Director Luis González
Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? (Israel/UK), Directors Barak Heymann, Tomer Heymann, Alexander Bodin Saphir
Wrestling Alligators (U.S.), Director Andrew Shea
AFTER DARK
Brimstone (Netherlands/Germany/France/Belgium/Sweden/UK), Director Martin Koolhoven
The Girl with All the Gifts (UK/U.S.), Director Colm McCarthy
Under the Shadow (UK/Jordan/Qatar), Director Babak Anvari
The Untamed (Mexico/Denmark/France/Germany/Norway), Director Amat Escalante
Other Announced Films
After Love (Belgium/France) starring Bérénice Béjo
Camera Store (U.S.) starring John Larroquette, John Rhys Davies and Cheryl Ladd
The Girl with all the Gifts starring Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine and Glenn Close
Everything Else (Mexico/US/France) starring Adriana Barraza
Paint It Black (U.S.) directed by Amber Tamblyn and starring Alia Shawkat, Janet McTeer and Alfred Molina
Youth in Oregon (U.S.) directed by Joel David Morre and starring Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place and Josh Lucas.
Insatiable: The Homaro Cantu Story (U.S.), directed by Brett A. Schwartz
Tampopo (Japan), directed by Juzo Itami
Old Money (Austria) directed by David Schalko and starring Udo Kier
Aquarius (Brazil/France), directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho
The Eagle Huntress (UK/Mongolia/U.S.), directed by Otto Bell.
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