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- DirectorJuraj HerzStarsVáclav HalamaFrantisek KetzekM. CirmonováJuraj Herz adapts Bohumil Hrabal's story about a man who works in a junk shop.
- DirectorYance FordStarsYance FordHarvey WalkerKevin MyersWhen filmmaker Yance Ford investigates the 1992 murder of a young Black man, it becomes an achingly personal journey, since the victim, 24-year-old William Ford Jr., was the filmmaker's brother.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsRichard NixonAlso known as The Greater Good, this series of vignettes focuses on the day-to-day work of Kansas City, Missouri police covers the range of circumstances they encounter and the variety of social roles they are asked to play. More than simply chasing down criminals, the police act as counselors, negotiators and arbitrators of civil injustices, minor altercations and petty crimes. Filmed in 1968 at the height of an anti-authoritarian age, the policemen shown are more frequently reasonable, patient and fair than sadistic, inhumane or incompetent. When a policeman does step out of line, the fact that he knows he is being filmed is as revealing as the unguarded asides or unnecessary violence captured by the camera. This is well made, with content similar to the Pittsburgh Police films shot by Wiseman's former collaborator, John Marshall in 1969 and 1970. But because Law and Order was funded by the Ford Foundation for television release, and not for training police officers, it does not feature as many situations that are likely to cause disagreements about how they should have been handled.Frederick Wiseman
- DirectorPeter NicksStarsCat BrooksJonathan CairoBen McBrideTHE FORCE goes inside an embattled urban police department struggling to rebuild trust in one of America's most violent yet promising cities.Oakland police force, "direct cinema lite," http://sensesofcinema.com/2017/festival-reports/full-frame-film-festival-2017/
- DirectorOlympia StoneThe multi-talented outsider artist Richard McMahan is on a quest to painstakingly re-create thousands of famous and not-so-famous paintings and artifacts-- in miniature. From well-loved Picasso and Frida Kahlo paintings to more obscure intricate Maori canoes, McMahan has mastered dozens of genres over 30 years of creating, and he's made most of it on a cluttered kitchen counter using recycled materials. McMahan is also the curator of a mini-museum with a collection that surveys the scope of humanity's visual record. Olympia Stone directs this surprising portrait of a most unusual artist.Miniaturist who makes mini copies of Van Gogh paintings, King Tut's tomb. Pair with Marwencol in a chapter? http://sensesofcinema.com/2017/festival-reports/full-frame-film-festival-2017/
- DirectorFrank StiefelStarsTom WudlA brilliant but tortured 56-year-old artist channels her depression and anxiety into her work.Heaven is a Traffic Jam, which focuses on the art and life of mentally ill artist Mindy Alper. Alper takes the viewer through her battery of pills and medications, as well as her memories of a disapproving father, a distant mother, and a desire to express herself through her art. Director Frank Stiefel brings her line drawings – wiry, uneven, trembling with emotion – to life, turning them into animated sequences that feel like insights into Alper’s beautiful, tormented soul. Her devotion to her loved ones and her drive to connect with others are both evident in her work, most memorably a sculptural bust of her therapist, with whom she has made so much progress. It is Alper’s humour and candour – together with the tenderness with which she is presented – that garnered the film the Full Frame Audience Award (short) and the Full Frame Jury Award (short).
- DirectorTonislav HristovStarsIvan FransuzovAngela JekovaVangel JekovA small and stubborn Bulgarian village facing the Turkish border has been resisting foreign invaders since the times of the Roman and Ottoman Empires. Now its electorate of 38 elderly Bulgarians is deciding on future of Europe. The Great Gate, as the village has been called for centuries because of its location on the doorsteps of the former Ottoman Empire, has found itself in the middle of European crisis, as at night asylum seekers sneak across the border causing fear and unrest. Once again the sleepy and forgotten village has become the most important secret loophole of Europe. Postman Ivan has a new political vision. He decides to run for mayor to bring the dying village to life by welcoming refugees. His opponents want either to close their eyes or close down the border and reintroduce communism. Busy on the campaign trail while delivering the mail, Ivan soon learns that while good intentions are not enough, even the smallest deeds matter.Such an impassioned, paralysed feeling is dramatised to great effect in The Good Postman, a Bulgarian documentary about Ivan, a postman who decides to run for mayor of his small village on the platform of accepting refugees. The Good Postman is beautifully shot, so much that, at times, it feels as though you are watching a fiction film, our lonely protagonist’s craggy face perfectly lit and set against a peeling, painted wall. Throughout the film, you will worry that he will lose to his unqualified, refugee-hating opponent whose sparsely attended political “rally” may or may not remind you of a political candidate on a descending escalator. This opponent provides both a threat and comic relief, due to his extreme laziness and lack of basic understanding. But perhaps the most compelling part of this poignant drama is seeing how Ivan watches television coverage of refugees, the cold glow of the television bouncing against his thin frame. His helplessness is wrenching, as is a scene toward the middle of the film, where Border Patrol agents escort a refugee family out of the abandoned shack in which they have been hiding. In this moment, the audience gasped as loudly as I heard at any film at the festival, and we – together with Ivan – can only watch as they are marched off-screen, out of sight.
Without revealing too much of this remarkable film’s plot, The Good Postman movingly explores questions of looking, engaging and intervening that lie at the heart of Full Frame and its mission as a showcase for global documentary. Our Good Postman does not merely watch the suffering he sees around him or on the news – he bears witness, and he does so alone. At Full Frame, viewers have the gift of bearing witness together and sharing in these works of art; indeed, our need for such a platform and community of practitioners, scholars, and activists is as vital now as it has ever been. - DirectorGary LoveStarsSheila HancockRebecca CalderDeirdre MullinsTwo women, recovering from personal tragedy, take a boat trip through the Scottish Highlands. After a run in with the locals, their relaxing break soon descends into a hellish ordeal.
- DirectorEliza HittmanStarsHarris DickinsonMadeline WeinsteinKate HodgeA Brooklyn teenager spends his days experimenting with drugs and looking online for older men to meet.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsPaul HoldengräberElvis CostelloPatti SmithA look within the walls of the New York Public Library.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsOakes FegleyJulianne MooreMichelle WilliamsTells the tale of two children separated by fifty years. In 1927, Rose searches for the actress whose life she chronicles in her scrapbook; in 1977, Ben runs away from home to find his father.
- DirectorTaichi IshidateNaoko YamadaStarsMiyu IrinoSaori HayamiAoi YûkiA deaf girl, Shoko, is bullied by the popular Shoya. As Shoya continues to bully Shoko, the class turns its back on him. Shoko transfers and Shoya grows up as an outcast. Alone and depressed, the regretful Shoya finds Shoko to make amends.
- DirectorLuca GuadagninoStarsTimothée ChalametArmie HammerMichael StuhlbargIt's the summer of 1983, and 17-year-old Elio is spending the days with his family at their villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, who's working as an intern for Elio's father. They discover the heady beauty of awakening desire.
- DirectorMichal MarczakStarsKrzysztof BaginskiMichal HuszczaEva LebuefA new era is coming, and Warsaw stands uncomfortably at its edge. Art school classmates Christopher and Michal, on the precipice of their own coming of age, restlessly roam their city's streets in search of living forever inside the beautiful moment. Never content with answers, they push each experience to its breaking point, testing what it might mean to be truly awake in a world that seems satisfied to be asleep.
- DirectorAgnieszka SmoczynskaStarsMarta MazurekMichalina OlszanskaKinga PreisIn Warsaw, a pair of mermaid sisters are adopted into a cabaret. While one seeks love with humans the other hungers to dine on the human population of the city.
- DirectorSebastián LelioStarsDaniela VegaFrancisco ReyesLuis GneccoMarina, a transgender woman who works as a waitress and moonlights as a nightclub singer, is bowled over by the death of her older boyfriend.
- DirectorJoachim TrierStarsEili HarboeKaya WilkinsHenrik RafaelsenA confused religious girl tries to deny her feelings for a female friend who's in love with her. This causes her suppressed subconsciously-controlled psychokinetic powers to reemerge with devastating results.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsVicky KriepsDaniel Day-LewisLesley ManvilleSet in 1950s London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover.
- DirectorBarbara LodenStarsBarbara LodenMichael HigginsDorothy ShupenesWanda, a lonely housewife, drifts through mining country until she meets a petty thief who takes her in.
- DirectorJake SzymanskiStarsAndy SambergOrlando BloomFreddie HighmoreA mockumentary that chronicles the prevalence of doping in the world of professional cycling.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsDane ClarkGail RussellEthel BarrymoreDanny is despised by his schoolmates because his father was accused of killing another man and sentenced to death.
- DirectorJim McKayStarsFernando CardonaGilberto JimenezAbel PerezA group of undocumented Mexican immigrants work long hours six days a week, and then savor their day of rest on Sundays on the soccer fields of Brooklyn.
- DirectorJian LiuStarsChanglong ZhuKai CaoJian LiuA city in southern China and a bag containing a million yuan draw several people from diverse backgrounds with different personal motives into a bloody conflict.
- DirectorAndrey ZvyagintsevStarsMaryana SpivakAleksey RozinMatvey NovikovA couple going through a divorce must team up to find their son who has disappeared during one of their bitter arguments.
- DirectorJordana SpiroStarsJill ReneNastashia FullerJohn Earl JelksAngel LaMere is released from juvenile detention on the eve of her 18th birthday. Haunted by her past, she embarks on a journey with her 10 year-old sister that could destroy their future.