As the saying goes, The Show Will Go On! Film Fest 919 is proud to announce today the program for its highly-anticipated 3rd edition as a LIVE event with two Opening Nights: Wednesday, October 14 with Amazon’s critically acclaimed ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, and Opening Night at the Green on Thursday, October 15 with MLK/FBI, and will continue Wednesdays through Saturdays, closing on Saturday, October 31 with ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
Film Fest 919 (FF919) embodies the true spirit of a film festival, presenting a diverse breadth of compelling features to the area’s enthusiastic, film-loving audience. Showcasing the season’s most talked-about films selected by Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals, audiences will have an opportunity to see awards-worthy films early on…with a twist! FF919 2020 will offer the best in pandemic viewing using two outdoor venues: The Green at Southern Village and the newly created Drive-in at Carraway Village, made possible by Northwood Ravin.
“In light of these unprecedented times, we are delighted to be able to offer this year’s program in person, enabling all to enjoy an evening under the stars and experience some of the season’s most compelling movies,” commented Founders Randi Emerman and Carol Marshall. “Films are a powerful way to increase our understanding of one another and encourage healthy dialogue especially during this fraught and divisive time and we feel strongly that our program reflects that spirit.”
With two new venues, Film Fest 919 will present two opening night films. Opening Night at the Drive-In at Carraway Village will kick off on Wednesday, October 14 with Amazon Studios’ ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, a fictional account of one incredible night in 1964 where four icons of sports, music and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Based on the award-winning play of the same name and directed by Regina King, the film is inspired by this historic night and the conversations these four formidable figures had on racial injustice, religion and personal responsibility which still resonate more than 40 years later.
Opening Night at The Green at Southern Village will kick off on Thursday, October 15 with MLK/FBI, directed by Sam Pollard based on the newly declassified files exploring the US government’s relentless surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Inspired by the work of historian David Garrow, the film uses recently declassified files to study the FBI’s motives and methods. In the 1950s and ‘60s, when Black people started mobilizing the fight racial discrimination, Hoover saw the movement as a communist plot. Rather than support equality, the FBI sought to undermine King through wiretapping and blackmail, in what former FBI director James Comey calls “the darkest part of the bureau’s history.” King’s life was cut short at age 39. Hoover’s FBI reign lasted 48 years. Today, we see their legacies continue in a new wave of protests and pushback. This film is a crucial way to connect the past to the present.
The fest will close with a special 45th anniversary showing of ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, directed by Jim Sharman and starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf and Richard O’Brien, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Sharman. What better way to celebrate Halloween night during a pandemic?
FF919 is excited to show NOMADLAND and present the second-ever Distinguished Screenwriter Award to writer/director Chloé Zhao. NOMADLAND, the winner of the Venice Golden Lion Award as well as the Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award, is the first film ever to receive both awards. Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West. NOMADLAND is being released by Searchlight Pictures.
The Film Fest 919 Spotlight Award will go to writers/directors/brothers Ian and Eshom Nelms prior to the World Premiere screening of FATMAN, about a rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus who is fighting his business decline. Film stars Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Commented co-founder Randi Emerman, “The Nelms Brothers have a long history with Carol and I, having premiered their very first short film, Squirrel Trap, 16 years ago at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. We’ve seen them grow ever since as filmmakers and are proud to be able to acknowledge what will be a long, creative career.” The film and presentation will be preceded by the World Premiere screening of the short film, GOOD SAMARITANS, written and directed by UNC-Chapel Hill alumni and popular Tar Heel linebacker Jake Lawler.
Film Fest 919 will also present a special virtual discussion around one of the most talked-about documentaries, THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, moderated by Fred Stutzman, founder, and Phil Amalong, VP Marketing of Freedom, the world’s leading solution for digital distraction, along with the film’s director Jeff Orlowski, producer Larissa Rhodes and Tim Kendall, CEO of Moment; former president, Pinterest; and former director of monetization, Facebook.
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