Nashville Film Festival
The Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) announced the full line-up of feature films in competition and special presentations for the 45th annual Festival, April 17 – 26. NaFF is one of the largest film festivals in the U.S., attracting more than 3,100 submissions. NaFF expects more than 100,000 attendees in 2014.
The Nashville Film Festival, named one of the top five in the U.S. by Brooks Institute, and an Academy Award Qualifier for short films in three categories (animations, narratives and documentaries), has become one of the premier showcases for the best new work of American and international filmmakers. The festival screens films that represent the creative risk filmmakers take to tell powerful and important stories innovatively.
Added Films
Special Presentations
Boulevard | Director: Dito Montiel. USA. 100 minutes.
Starring: Robin Williams, Kathy Baker, Roberto Aguire, Bob Odenkirk, Giles Matthey, J. Karen Thomas.
While Nolan Mack (Robin Williams) and his wife Joy (Kathy Baker) wake up under the same roof each morning, separate bedrooms underscore the disparate worlds they are living in. This steady disconnection prevails in his job at the bank and deserving promotion— emptiness is the essence of Nolan’s life. His emotional journey begins to unfold with a drive down a desolate city street where he encounters a troubled young man named Leo (Roberto Aguire). As lost time slowly awakens Nolan’s secret life, he realizes that truth is opportunity for change.
Calvary | Director: John Michael McDonagh. Ireland / United Kingdom. 100 minutes.
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Marie-Josée Croze.
Father James is a beloved priest in his village, driven by his spiritual integrity. One day, while taking confession, an unseen man tells him that he has only a week to live. The man is going to kill him for the simple fact that he’s done nothing wrong. As he prepares himself for his fate, he continues to care for the souls of his parishioners – a few of them possible suspects. Complicating matters is a visit from his daughter – who has troubles of her own. A Fox Searchlight Release.
The One I Love | Director: Charlie McDowell. USA. 91 minutes.
Starring: Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson.
Ethan and Sophie are a couple whose relationship is on the verge of ending. Their therapist recommends a getaway weekend as an attempt to salvage what’s left of their love. What begins as a relaxing retreat becomes a baffling and bizarre weekend forcing them to embrace the unexpected and find their better selves. A Radius-TWC Release.
World Cinema
Bethlehem | Director. Yuval Adler. Israel / Belgium / Germany. 99 minutes.
Starring: Tsahi Halevi, Shadi Mar’i, Hitham Omari, Michal Shtamler.
Razi is an Israeli secret service officer. Sanfur is his Palestinian informant, the younger brother of a senior Palestinian militant. Razi recruited him when he was just 15, and developed a very close, almost fatherly relationship to him. Now 17, Sanfur tries to navigate between Razi’s demands and his loyalty to his brother, living a double life and lying to both.
Documentary Competition
Happy Valley | Director: Amir Bar-Lev. USA.
State College, Pennsylvania – home to Penn State University – is nicknamed Happy Valley and its most revered citizen was PSU head football coach, Joe Paterno. But in November, 2011, longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts of child sexual abuse and this serene setting became a hotbed of accusations.
Complete List of Feature Films
Special Presentations
American Commune | Directors: Rena Mundo Croshere, Nadine Mundo. USA. 90 minutes.
Boulevard | Director: Dito Montiel. USA. 100 minutes.
Calvary | Director: John Michael McDonagh. Ireland / United Kingdom. 100 minutes.
Dom Hemingway | Director: Richard Shepard. United Kingdom. 93 minutes.
Field of Lost Shoes | Director: Sean McNamara. USA. 94 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
Happy Christmas | Director: Joe Swanberg. USA. 78 minutes.
Ida | Director: Pawel Pawilkowski. Poland. 80 minutes.
Locke | Director: Steven Knight. United Kingdom. 85 minutes.
Lucky Them | Director: Megan Griffiths. USA. 97 minutes.
Obvious Child | Director: Gillian Robespierre. USA. 83 minutes.
The One I Love | Director: Charlie McDowell. USA. 91 minutes.
Words and Pictures | Director: Fred Schepisi. USA. 111 minutes.
World Cinema
The Amazing Catfish | Director: Claudia Sainte-Luce. Mexico. 89 minutes.
Bethlehem | Director. Yuval Adler. Israel / Belgium / Germany. 99 minutes.
Butter on the Latch | Director: Josephine Baker. USA. 63 minutes.
Long Way Home | Director: Måns Nilsson. Sweden / USA. 87 minutes. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE.
Manakamana | Director: Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez. Nepal / USA. 117 minutes.
Metro Manila | Director: Sean Ellis. United Kingdom / Philippines. 115 minutes.
A Story of Children and Film | Director: Mark Cousins. United Kingdom / France. 101 minutes.
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear | Director: Denis Côté. Canada. 95 minutes.
When the World’s On Fire | Director: James Clauer. USA. 70 minutes. WORLD PREMIRE.
Narrative Competition
The Animal Project | Director: Ingrid Vininger. Canada. 90 minutes.
Buzzard | Director: Joel Potrykus. USA. 97 minutes.
Club Sandwich | Director: Fernando Eimbcke. Mexico. 82 minutes.
The Enemy Within | Director: Yorgos Tsemberopoulos. Greece. 107 minutes.
Grace. | Director: Heath Jones. USA. 95 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
The House That Jack Built | Director: Henry Barrial. USA. 90 minutes.
The Identical | Director: Dustin Marcellino. USA. 88 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
The Invisible Collection | Director: Bernard Attal. Brazil. 89 minutes.
Little Brother | Director: Seric Aprymov. Kazakhstan. 97 minutes.
Love Me | Directors: Maryna Gorbach, Mehmet Bahadir Er. Turkey | Ukraine. 90 minutes.
Maryan | Director: Ganapathy Bharat. India | Namibia. 150 minutes.
Noble | Director: Stephen Bradley. Vietnam | United Kingdom. 101 minutes.
Peace After Marriage | Director: Ghazi Albuliwi. USA. 86 minutes.
Something Necessary | Director: Judy Kibinge. Germany | Kenya. 85 minutes.
Test | Director: Chris Mason Johnson. USA. 89 minutes.
Thou Wast Mild and Lovely | Director: Josephine Decker. USA. 94 minutes.
Undiscovered Gyrl | Director: Allison Burnett. USA. 100 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
New Directors Competition
1982| Director: Tommy Oliver. USA. 80 minutes.
9 Full Moons | Director: Tomer Almagor. USA. 103 minutes.
As It Is in Heaven | Director: Joshua Overbay. USA. 86 minutes.
Before I Disappear | Director: Shawn Christensen. USA. 94 minutes.
Chasing Ghosts | Director: Josh Shreve. USA. 93 minutes.
Congratulations! | Director: Mike Brune. USA. 90 minutes.
Drunktown’s Finest | Director: Sydney Freeland. USA. 95 minutes.
Forty Years from Yesterday | Director: Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck. USA. 76 minutes.
I Believe in Unicorns | Director: Leah Meyerhoff. USA. 80 minutes.
Medeas | Director: Andrea Pallaoro. Italy, Mexico, USA. 97 minutes.
OJ: The Musical | Director: Jeff Rosenberg. USA. 90 minutes.
The Resurrection of a Bastard | Director: Guido van Driel. Netherlands. 89 minutes.
Trap Street | Director: Vivian Qu. China. 93 minutes.
White Shadow | Director: Noaz Deshe. Tanzania / Germany. 117 minutes.
Documentary Competition
Art War | Director: Marco Wilms. Egypt, Germany. 84 minutes. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE.
Besa: The Promise | Director: Rachel Goslins. Albania / USA. 90 minutes.
Blackout: On Swan Pond | Director: Scott Colthorp. USA. 95 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
Butterfly Girl | Director: Cary Bell. USA. 76 minutes.
The Case Against 8 | Directors: Ben Cotner, Ryan White. USA. 112 minutes.
Farmland | Director: James Moll. USA. 70 minutes.
Fight Church | Director: Daniel Junge, Bryan Storkel. USA. 84 minutes.
Freedom Summer | Director: Stanley Nelson. USA. 113 minutes.
Happy Valley | Director: Amir Bar-Lev. USA. 98 minutes.
The Human Experiment | Director: Dana Nachman, Don Hardy Jr. USA. 80 minutes.
Kidnapped for Christ | Director: Kate S. Logan. USA / Dominican Republic. 85 minutes.
The Overnighters | Director: Jesse Moss. USA. 100 minutes.
Point and Shoot | Director: Marshall Curry. USA / Libya. 83 minutes.
SlingShot | Director: Paul Lazarus. USA. 97 minutes.
A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness | Director: Ben Rivers, Ben Russell. France / Germany / Estonia / USA. 98 minutes.
The Starfish Throwers | Director: Jesse Roesler. USA. 83 minutes.
Stream of Love | Director: Agnes Sós. Hungary / Romania. 70 minutes. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE.
This Time Next Year | Director: Jeff Reichert, Farihah Zaman. USA. 83 minutes.
WHITEY: The United States of America v. James J. Bulger | Director: Joe Berlinger. USA. 130 minutes.
Music Films / Music City Competition
The 78 Project Movie | Director: Alex Steyermark. USA. 98 minutes.
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory | Director: Michael Rossato-Bennett. USA. 73 minutes.
The Ballad of Shovels & Rope | Director: Jace Freeman. USA. 72 minutes.
Béla Fleck: How to Write a Banjo Concerto | Director: Béla Fleck. USA. 97 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
Brasslands | Director: The Meerkat Media Collective. USA / Serbia. 84 minutes.
A Film About Kids and Music | Director: Ramon Tort. Spain. 101 minutes.
Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me | Director: James Keach. USA. 116 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
I Lay Where I Fall | Director: Andrew Stubbs. USA. 88 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty | Director: Greg Oliver. USA. 80 minutes.
Led Zeppelin Played Here | Director: Jeff Krulik. USA. 90 minutes.
The Road to Fame | Director: Hao Tu. China / Netherlands / Denmark / United Kingdom. 80 minutes.
Take Me to the River | Director: Martin Shore. USA. 95 minutes.
The Winding Stream | Director: Beth Harrington. USA. 90 minutes.
Tennessee First
Banjo Romantika: American Bluegrass Music & The Czech Imagination | Director: Shara Lange. USA. 65 minutes.
Beautiful Jim | Director: Rex Jones. USA. 53 minutes.
Closer to God | Director: Billy Senese. USA. 84 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
A Decade With an Unsigned Rock Band | Director: Criss Cheatham. USA. 81 minutes. WORLD PREMIERE.
Riser: Dierks Bentley | Director: Wes Edwards. USA. 45 minutes.
Something, Anything | Director: Paul Harrill. USA. 88 minutes.
Graveyard Shift
Blood Tokoloshe | Director: Jordan Harland. South Africa. 72 minutes. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE.
Borgman | Director: Alex van Warmerdam. Netherlands. 113 minutes.
The Congress | Director: Ari Folman. Israel / France. 122 minutes.
Proxy | Director: Zack Parker. USA. 120 minutes.
The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears | Director: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani. Belgium. 102 minutes.
Wetlands | Director: David Wnendt. Germany. 105 minutes.
Wild Domestic | Director: Kyle Komline. USA. 74 minutes.
You and the Night | Director: Yann Gonzalez. France. 98 minutes.
About Nissan North America
In North America, Nissan’s operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized as an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.InfinitiUSA.com, or visit the Americas media sites NissanNews.com and InfinitiNews.com.
About the Nashville Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival (NaFF), April 17 – 26, presented by Nissan, brings the world to Nashville in an extended 10-day celebration of film. NaFF is in two locations for the first time: Regal Green Hills Stadium 16 with 200 competition films, educational presentations and parties, and downtown at Walk of Fame Park with free outdoor films nightly and Happy Hour Shorts at Festival Pub. NaFF is a public festival attended by filmmakers and industry insiders and an Academy Award Qualifying Event for short films. In addition to Nissan, NaFF is sponsored by Comcast/Xfinity, Cabedge Design, Regal Entertainment Group, Southwest Airlines, Tennessee Arts Commission and Metro Arts of Nashville. The Festival annually garners notice from the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal online, MovieMaker Magazine, Film Festival Today, IndieWire, Variety, Billboard, New York and Script Magazine.
