International Competition
• October 9–13 [Venues] Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F, Yamagata Citizens’ Hall (Large Hall)
A program that began with the very first YIDFF. Feature-length works were sought from around the world, and from the 1,196 entries emerges a stringent selection of 15 cinematic gems, richly varied and representing the vanguard of world filmmaking.
(Alphabetically shown) |
- Jurors:
- Thom Andersen (USA)
Nicolás Echevarría (MEXICO)
Feng Yan (CHINA)
Gustavo Fontán (ARGENTINA)
Makino Takashi (JAPAN)
Always and Again- FRANCE / 2015 / 79 min
Directors: Chloé Inguenaud, Gaspar Zurita
A room in Sanita, Napoli. A family of women live here. Their voices brimming with emotion, they grumble about housework and worry about their daughters’ relationships. A cinematic inquiry into the tranquility of the everyday.
• Oct. 9 CL | Oct. 12 YC
Dreamcatcher- UK / 2015 / 98 min
Director: Kim Longinotto
Brenda is a supporter of women who are victims of sexual violence. Her compassion and passion as she stands up to the indifference of contemporary American society gives these socially vulnerable women the power to live. Directed by Kim Longinotto (Divorce Iranian Style).
• Oct. 10 CL | Oct. 11 YC
Future June- BRAZIL, THE NETHERLANDS / 2015 / 95 min
Director: Maria Augusta Ramos
São Paulo on the eve of the soccer World Cup. Men leading their everyday lives with loving families and lovers. Director Maria Augusta Ramos (Justice) paints an eloquent picture of the perversity of Brazil’s economic and social policy, showing us the state of citizens who are at the mercy of the absurdity that results.
• Oct. 9 YC | Oct. 11 CL
Hebei Taipei- TAIWAN / 2015 / 91 min
Director: Li Nien-hsiu
Born in China, drifting from place to place since childhood, Li Chung-Hsiao has survived war and poverty. With these memories as a guide, his daughter sets out to retrace his tumultuous life. The dramatic memoir of a foul-mouthed, insolent, yet somehow lovable man.
• Oct. 10 YC | Oct. 13 CL
Homeland (Iraq Year Zero)- IRAQ, FRANCE / 2015 / 334 min
Director: Abbas Fahdel
The everyday life of a large family in Baghdad. Before they know it, the war becomes an extension of the everyday. All too soon, the deaths and losses of those closest to them begin. Two years in the life of a family amidst the Coalition Forces’ 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• Oct. 11 YC | Oct. 12 CL
Horse Money- PORTUGAL / 2014 / 104 min
Director: Pedro Costa
The memories and suffering of Ventura, an elderly immigrant living in the suburbs of Lisbon. Leaving his homeland behind to work abroad, he lived through the Carnation Revolution and the difficulties that followed. The path of a soul wandering through the phantasmal time and space of past, present, and future. Pedro Costa continues the story begun in In Vanda’s Room and Colossal Youth.
• Oct. 10 CL | Oct. 12 YC
I Still Being (Kachkaniraqmi)- PERU, SPAIN / 2013 / 120 min
Director: Javier Corcuera
This work takes us through the sights and sounds of Peru’s three geographic regions: mountainous highlands, seaside, and riversides. The local peoples’ languages and songs join in a polyphonic record of local musical traditions. The overwhelming beauty of the scenery contrasts with the current state of people who are at the mercy of the times.
• Oct. 9 CL | Oct. 13 YC
Our Last Tango- GERMANY, ARGENTINA / 2015 / 85 min
Director: German Kral
The legendary Argentinian Tango pair Maria Nieves and Copes’ story of love and strife. This film captures the sensual and emotionally overflowing beauty of tango through their words and beautifully reproduced dance scenes. Directed by German Kral (Images of the Absence).
• Oct. 10 YC | Oct. 13 CL
Paraguay Remembered- FRANCE / 2015 / 89 min
Director: Dominique Dubosc
The filmmaker returns to Paraguay for the first time in forty years. As he travels, fragments of memories he had forgotten are revived. Personal memories intertwine with those of oppression under dictatorship. Like mirrors, the past reflects the present, and the present reflects the past.
• Oct. 10 YC | Oct. 11 CL
The Pearl Button- FRANCE, CHILE, SPAIN / 2015 / 82 min
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Western Patagonia. This used to be home to native peoples who revered the water and the stars as signs of life. A single button links the European colonizers’ genocide of natives to the victims of the Chilean Pinochet Dictatorship. Memory lies in the depths of the sea, universe, and eternal space-time. Directed by Patricio Guzmán (Nostalgia for the Light).
• Oct. 9 YC | Oct. 10 CL
Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait- FRANCE, SYRIA / 2014 / 92 min
Directors: Ossama Mohammed, Wiam Simav Bedirxan
While worrying about the current situation in his home country of Syria, a filmmaker living in France can only string together images of tortures and killings that overflow on YouTube. “If you were here, what would you be filming?” Wielding her camera, a female director on the ground becomes his eyes and ears.
• Oct. 9 CL | Oct. 12 YC
Toto and His Sisters- ROMANIA / 2014 / 93 min
Director: Alexander Nanau
Toto, a ten-year-old boy in Romania, lives with his two older sisters. All the adults around them are drug addicts and his oldest sister is arrested by the police for dealing drugs. Left to fend for themselves, Toto and his fifteen-year-old sister try to make a future for themselves. This film follows the path of a pure soul struggling to find the light.
• Oct. 9 YC | Oct. 10 CL
Us women . Them women- ARGENTINA / 2015 / 65 min
Director: Julia Pesce
A family of nine women of various ages, all living under the same roof. As one of the elderly comes to the end of her days, a young body gives birth to new life. Life is transferred as if each is a part of all the others: the intimate and sensuous world of women.
• Oct. 10 YC | Oct. 11 CL
We Shall Overcome- JAPAN / 2015 / 129 min
Director: Mikami Chie
An elderly woman named Fumiko lived through the battle of Okinawa. Now she is part of the movement protesting the construction of a new American military base in Henoko. This film captures the complex feelings of those who have had to live their lives alongside military bases. It compels us to share in their yearning to bring an end to this battle. Directed by Mikami Chie (The Targeted Village).
• Oct. 9 YC | Oct. 11 CL
A Young Patriot- CHINA, FRANCE, USA / 2015 / 106 min
Director: Du Haibin
The story of Zhao, a patriotic teen from Shanxi, China. University life, the destruction of his grandparents’ home because of redevelopment, and the corruption of those in power all bring about a subtle change in his patriotic disposition. The rapid transfiguration of contemporary China, as seen through the eyes of a young man. Directed by Du Haibin (Along the Railway).
• Oct. 9 CL | Oct. 12 YC