5 Days 50 Films
Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, set in the majestic setting of Mammoth Lakes, California, five hours north of Los Angeles by car and thirty minutes south of the entrance to Yosemite National Park, has announced its line-up of screenings and events for the festival’s second edition.
The five-day festival will take place over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, May 25 -29, 2016, and includes a tribute to legendary director Joe Dante, four Gala events,14 films in Narrative and a Documentary Competition, as well short film screenings, Q&As, and a Saturday morning Indie cartoon program for children. The festival will also include nightly gala events that celebrate the excitement and discovery of visionary filmmaking.
Gala events include the Opening Night Screening and Party for Operation Avalanche, Centerpiece Sierra Spirit Award Presentation to iconic filmmaker Joe Dante, Spotlight Screening of acclaimed documentary Beware The Slenderman, a Gala Closing Night Screening for Sonita, and a closing night Awards Party.
Discounted lodging through the festival’s lodging partner Sierra Nevada Resort & Spa can be purchased with a 20% discount on by calling in or booking online at http://thesierranevadaresort.com/ CODE – Theater)
All screenings and special events will take place in Mammoth Lakes, at venues including the Edison Theatre, the Forest Service Visitor’s Center Theater, the Minaret Cinemas, as well as the Mono Lake Visitor’s Center.
CURRENT FILM SLATE BELOW:
OPENING NIGHT GALA SCREENING & PARTY
Operation Avalanche (USA) -Director: Matt Miller
In 1967, during the height of the Cold War, four undercover CIA agents sent to NASA to pose as a documentary film crew discover one of the biggest conspiracies in American history. Opening Night Party will include entertainment by Ouroboros Shadow Pictures, an innovative shadow picture company.
SPOTLIGHT GALA SCREENING
Beware The Slenderman (USA) – Director:Irene Taylor Brodsky
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky, tells the story of a Boogeyman lurking on the internet and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. Ms. Taylor Brodsky will be present for Q&A.
*Also in documentary feature competition
CENTERPIECE GALA TRIBUTE & SCREENING – HONORING JOE DANTE
On Saturday evening we honor legendary director Joe Dante with our inaugural Sierra Spirit Award. The Sierra Spirit Award is given to an iconic and visionary filmmaker who inspires audiences, breaks boundaries, and has created visionary entertainment that has touched generations. Joe Dante’s tremendous body of work exemplifies storytelling passion and skill. We are proud to present a screening of Mr. Dante’s classic 1987 film Innerspace, followed by a conversation with Mr. Dante. Special guest appearance by actor Robert Picardo (Innerspace, Gremlins 2).
CLOSING NIGHT GALA SCREENING & AWARDS PARTY
Sonita (Iran) -Director:Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
The inspiring story of Sonita Alizadeh, an 18-year-old Afghan refugee in Iran, who thinks of Michael Jackson and Rihanna as her spiritual parents and dreams of becoming a big-name rapper. Her family has a very different future planned for her: as a bride she’s worth $9,000.
*Also in documentary feature competition
NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
All The Colors Of The Night (Brazil) – Director: Pedro Severin
Iris wakes up in her spacious seafront apartment, discovers a body in the living room and enlists the help of other women, setting off a spiral of redemption in an atmospheric drama of dark imagery and questionable reality.
Baby Bump (Poland) – Director:Kuba Czekaj
11-year-old Mickey House is no longer a child. But who is he? He has no clue. He has no friends. He hates what’s happening to his body. Reality and imagination blend together in a toxic mix. Growing up is not for kids.
Bodkin Ras (Netherlands) -Director:Kaweh Modiri
A young fugitive searches for a nonexistent home, in a small town called Forres, a Scottish town well-hidden between the Highlands and the North Sea. The characters in this town are all real people with traumas whose stories are incorporated into the film script, in which documentary and fiction are blended together.
Buddymoon (USA) –Director:Alex Simmons
Flula Borg (Pitch Perfect 2) stars in this buddy-flick comedy. Jilted groom David is convinced by his excitable best man, played by Flula, to continue with his planned honeymoon, a backcountry trek in the mountains of Oregon, in this comedic ode to friendship and the great outdoors.
Mad (USA) -Director:Robert Putka
A tragicomedy about a matriarch who passes the point of a nervous breakdown, her two daughters that don’t give a damn, and the heat-seeking missiles of resentment they toss at each other.
Last Summer (Italy) – Director:Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli
On a luxury yacht off the coast of Italy, a young mother has four days to leave her son with a lasting memory of her before she loses custody of him for many years. Starring Academy Award nominated actress, Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim, Babel).
On The Rocks (USA, World Premiere) -Directors: Ariel Gardner & Alex Kavutskiy Dallas struggles to get ahead in life. As he is dealing with his father passing he must overcome the day to day obstacles that prevent him from making progress. When he thinks he has taken one step forward he soon will see that he took two steps back.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Atlan (Iran) – Director:Moeen Karimoddini
Ali is a Turkman horse trainer. Horses are his life. His horse Ilhan has won him so many prizes. Ali is planning to use Ilhan’s and his other horses’ awards money to pay for his wedding. But not everything goes favourably in the course of events.
Beware The Slenderman (USA) – Director:Irene Taylor Brodsky
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky, tells the story of a Boogeyman lurking on the internet and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. Ms. Taylor Brodsky will be present for Q&A.
*Also Spotlight Gala Screening
Helmut Berger, Actor (Austria) -Director:Andreas Horvath
A relentless, yet intimate portrait of the legendary actor Helmut Berger who epitomized the exuberant jet set lifestyle of the 70s, and now reigns over a run down two-room apartment at the outskirts of his hometown Salzburg, Austria. The film exposes the brusqueness of his character for what it really is: a cry for attention, closeness and intimacy.
Learning To See (USA) -Director:Jake Oelman
Insect photographer Robert Oelman’s transformational journey to find and document the Amazon’s strangest creatures. His quest culminates with a New York City gallery show where he finally shares his striking and magical images with the general public.
Myrtle Beach (USA) -Directors:Michael Fuller & Neil Rough
Like a darker less whimsical Vernon Florida, Myrtle Beach profiles a charismatic cast of local eccentrics, survivors and lone wolves.
Sonita (Iran) -Director:Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami
The inspiring story of Sonita Alizadeh, an 18-year-old Afghan refugee in Iran, who thinks of Michael Jackson and Rihanna as her spiritual parents and dreams of becoming a big-name rapper. Her family has a very different future planned for her: as a bride she’s worth $9,000.
*Also Closing Night Gala Screening
Under The Sun (Russia) – Director:Vitaly Mansky
Despite continuous interference by government handlers, director Vitaly Mansky managed to document life in Pyongyang, North Korea in this fascinating portrait of one girl and her parents as she prepares to join the Korean Children’s Union on the ‘Day Of The Shining Star’ (Kim Jong-Il’s birthday).
