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Friday, July 27THE STARTUP
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 7:30 PM
Director’s Guild Theater
110 West 57th Street
Synopsis Friends from Queens decide to move to the city together where they hope to experience the fast-paced glamorous world of Manhattan. Once settled into a run-down Harlem brownstone, they soon realize dreams don’t happen overnight. So, to stay afloat, they turn their place into an illegal youth hostel. The start-up business brings them money and beautiful foreign women traveling through, but things take a turn for the worse as chaos and high jinks quickly ensue. ADDITIONAL SCREENING: SUNDAY, JULY 29 CROSSOVER DREAMS
Join us as we present a classic film on big screen and afterwards meet the creative’s behind it all. 
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 3:00 PM
Tinker Auditorium
(inside Florence Gould Hall)
55 East 59th Street
SynopsisRUDY VELOZ, played by Ruben Blades, the real-life Panamanian-born salsa star, is a handsome, talented ''NuYorican'' musician and singer, a star on New York City's ill- paying Latino circuit. Rudy is in his mid-30's and has just signed a recording contract that promises to take him out of Spanish Harlem and make his fortune in the English-speaking, American music market. He can hardly contain his excitement, while his longtime girlfriend, Liz (Elizabeth Peña), is worried about what fame might do their relationship. FOLLOWING THE FILM:/strong> Q & A with Producer: Manuel Arce and Special Guests. SUPER AMIGOS
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 4:15 PM
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street
Synopsis In overcrowded Mexico City, five real-life “social wrestlers” have capitalized on the popularity of Mexico's larger than life Lucha Libre wrestlers to fight for social justice rather than trophies. Wearing custom masks, costumes and capes like the wrestlers who inspired them; these anonymous grassroots superheroes protect their metropolis against injustice. Super Animal challenges bullfighters to leave the bulls alone and fight him instead. After a savage beating kills his boyfriend, Super Gay becomes a champion of gay rights, fighting rampant homophobia. Ecologista Universal battles environmental destruction of every kind, all on foot. Super Barrio is the defender of poor tenants, helping them resist evictions by slumlords cashing in on gentrification. With a mixture of live action, comic book-style animation and a surf guitar soundtrack inspired equally by mariachi music and Batman, Super Amigos shows that with a little imagination, a good heart and the right mask, anyone can activate their communities to triumph over evil. Additional Screening: Saturday, July 28 LA SANTA MUERTE (Saint Death)
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 9:30 PM
Tinker Auditorium
(inside Florence Gould Hall)
55 East 59th Street
Synopsis In Mexico there is a cult that is rapidly growing – the cult of Saint Death. A female Grim Reaper considered a saint by followers but Satanic by the Catholic Church; she is worshipped by people whose lives are defined by danger and violence – criminals, gang members, transvestites, drug addicts and families living in rough neighborhoods. Narrated by Gael Garcia Bernal (“The Motorcycle Diaries”), La Santa Muerte examines the origins of the cult and takes us on a tour of the altars, jails, and neighborhoods in Mexico where the saint's most devoted followers can be found. ADDITIONAL SCREENING: WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 HIJOS DE LA GUERRA (Children of the War)
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 10:30 PM
The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street
Synopsis Children of the War is the first feature-length documentary to tell the story of the world’s largest and most violent street gang, the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. Spanning the Americas with an estimated membership of 100,000 people, the MS-13 has been declared by the FBI to be the fastest-growing and most dangerous street gang in the United States. Through a series of over 80 interviews with the gang’s founders, gang members, experts and academics, as well as footage shot inside jails in El Salvador and on the gang-infested streets of Los Angeles, the film sheds light on the personal reasons for MS-13 membership, the ensuing explosion of violence both inside and outside of the gang, and the complex role social and government policy have played both in containing and aggravating the gang’s proliferation. Additional Screening: Thursday, July 26 NYILFF ON THE EDGE: SHORTS PROGRAM
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 10:30 PM
Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th Street
Synopses CHAPTER 1: COLD TURKEY 15 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL NEW YORK PREMIERE Director: Pedro Resto Chapter 1: Cold Turkey follows T, an aspiring “starving artist” who needs a quick fix to escape the madness that is born out of addiction. CON AMOR, MARGARITA (With Love, Margarita) 7 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL WORLD PREMIERE Writer: David M, Jewelz Lopez Director: Brian Savelson Margarita, a beautiful hardworking cigar roller has aspirations of becoming a singer and dancer in America. Her story culminates in a beautiful dreamlike scene in which visions of Margarita’s past and future flash right before her eyes. L.A. NOIR 10 MIN / BLACK AND WHITE / 16 MM NEW YORK PREMIERE Director: Conrad Jackson A writer/working stiff chases after a mysterious woman haunting him throughout the day, only to find he’s the one being stalked. LA MUJER DE COLUMBUS CIRCLE (The Woman of Columbus Circle) 30 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL WORLD PREMIERE Writer: Freddy Vargas Director: Freddy Vargas Based on a short story by Dominican writer Franklin Gutierrez, La Mujer de Columbus Circle tells how a young investment banker’s chance encounter in the subway with a beautiful, mysterious woman changes both his way of thinking and perception of the world: of what is real and what is not. What begins as a romantic encounter and develops into a possible one-night stand, ends up a life changing event. PAPI 3 MIN / COLOR / 16 MM US PREMIERE Director: Michael Sandoval Summer. Coney Island. Papi, an elderly Dominican and his granddaughter, Maria, have a special bond and way of communicating that they share only with one another. REWIND 30MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL WORLD PREMIERE Director: Will Fonseca Pedro Chinchilla is amazed to find out that he has special powers to rewind time but his powers create a chain reaction that affects the whole neighborhood. SHORTS PROGRAM: LIFE’S A BITCH!
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 4:15 PM
The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street
Synopses BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 20 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL WORLD PREMIERE Director: Danny A. Gonzales Join Danny and Angelo as they journey into self-discovery. Can two Puerto Rican homeboys hang with a blind Jewish Yenta? Can she have a good time with these two knuckleheads? Follow our two heroes as they realize the dark yet colorful world of Agnes, while they roam the streets of New York. DVD 17 MIN / COLOR / 35 MM NEW YORK PREMIERE Director: Ciro Altabas This short film includes: Scene selection/Trailer/selected cut scenes/alternate ending/eliminated scene/video clip/ featurette: “What’s a freak?”/ audio commentary/ character selection and a boy-meets-girl story. GORDO 26 MIN / COLOR / 35 MM NEW YORK PREMIERE Director: Vince Navarro Jorge 'Gordo' Fuentes, late 20’s, is a hardworking, gifted taco maker from Mexico. Recently married and with a baby on the way, Gordo leaves his wildly popular taco stand and travels to America where he hopes to establish a successful Mexican restaurant to earn enough money to bring his family up north. Gordo arrives in Watsonville, CA where he stays with his cousin, Joel, who recognizes Gordo’s taco talent and lands him a job at the local franchise of Cinco de Taco, a national food chain. Appalled at how the chain makes tacos, Gordo sneaks his own ingredients into the fast food restaurant and prepares tacos the way he did in Mexico... HARDLY MARRIED 15 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL NEW YORK PREMIERE Director: Diego M. Nuñez Frank and Leti, teens in love, are all set to lose their virginity when Leti’s mother, Sara, comes home unexpectedly and catches them in the act. Furious, Sara refuses to believe their excuses for the compromising situation and flies off the handle. That’s until Leti confesses that Frank has asked her to marry him. Finding this announcement to be more shocking than the earlier discovery, Sara decides to teach the lovebirds about marriage by enlisting the rapid-fire aid of Frank's parents and the entire community. SUAVECITO (Smoothly) 9 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL WORLD PREMIERE Director: Sandra Beltrao The night is on when smooth operator Brad from “Murray Hill” locks eyes with a gorgeous Latina from the Bronx at a downtown party…that is, until his inner beast comes alive courtesy of some killer pot. THE GIFT 5 MIN / COLOR / DIGITAL NEW YORK PREMIERE Director: S. Escobedo-Altman The Gift is a political comedy that exposes the ordeals of three Mexican immigrants and their adventure across the desert, in pursuit of the Free World. Additional Screening: Thursday, July 26 METEORO (Meteor)PUERTO RICO: A REBIRTH IN CINEMA Over the course of the past two years, Puerto Rico has emerged as a powerful force in international cinema. By providing attractive tax incentives and a strong film commission, Puerto Rico has demonstrated its dedication to supporting quality filmmaking. It should come as no surprise, then, that there's a new wave of filmmakers from P.R. ready to show the world what it’s got. This year, we're proud to present three New York Premieres from La Isla de Boriquen: Puerto Rico.
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 5:00 PM
Director’s Guild Theater
110 West 57th Street
Synopsis In 1960’s Brazil a construction crew is hard at work building a highway deep in the heart of the desert. A military coup in the capitol leaves the men abandoned, literally in the middle of nowhere. But with a good stock of provisions and frequent visits from the local prostitutes, the men are fine. Soon Juliao, an indigenous Indian arrives. He teaches them his culture’s worship of the meteorites. The workers come to believe that fate has abandoned them in a deeply spiritual place and thus the community of Meteoro is born, a place of good humor, gentle anarchy and free love. Before long, they no longer wish to be governed and forget of returning home. Until one day, the government reappears and ascribes dark political motives to the men’s makeshift paradise. Additional Screening: Thursday, July 26 EL CLOWNPUERTO RICO: A REBIRTH IN CINEMA Over the course of the past two years, Puerto Rico has emerged as a powerful force in international cinema. By providing attractive tax incentives and a strong film commission, Puerto Rico has demonstrated its dedication to supporting quality filmmaking. It should come as no surprise, then, that there's a new wave of filmmakers from P.R. ready to show the world what it’s got. This year, we're proud to present three New York Premieres from La Isla de Boriquen: Puerto Rico.
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 12:00 PM
The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street
SynopsisXavier del Monte is a small-town circus clown whose talent and ambition take him to the big city. There, an ad agency selects him as the Hot Dog Clown, the media character of a fast-food campaign that appeals to children and mothers. Success changes his life. He moves into an uptown apartment, buys a new car, enjoys shopping and falls in love. But his employers forbid him from exposing his real self to the public. At the top of his success, Xavier feels empty and, indeed, becomes the clown laughing on the outside and crying on the inside. Now he will have to opt between affluence and happiness. ADDITIONAL SCREENING: Saturday, July 28 PRETENDIENDO (Pretending)
SCHEDULE
Friday, July 27 | 6:15 PM
The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street
Synopsis When the beautiful Amanda is humiliated by her lover and fired from her job, she decides to move to a new town and start over – this time, though, she makes herself into an ugly woman to be taken seriously. When she meets Marcelo, a cocky new coworker and quintessential 'player,' she decides to go one step further and test him by playing both her ugly persona and her real one (whom she now calls Helena) against him. But juggling a double life proves harder than she'd imagined, and when real feelings begin to develop between both Marcelo and Helena, as well as between Marcelo and Amanda, she finds her comedy of errors has turned into an odd and sexy love triangle. Additional Screening: Thursday, July 26  |
