Nashville Film Festival

Previewing the Nashville Film Festival

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Will Ferrell and Harper Steele in WILL & HARPER. Courtesy of Netflix.

The always exquisitely curated Nashville Film Festival opens on Thursday, September 19 and runs through September 25 with a diverse menu of cinema. The Nashville Film Festival is the oldest running film festival in the South (this is the 55th!) and is an Academy Award qualifying festival. The program includes a mix of indies, docs and international cinema, including world and North American premieres.

Programming Director Lauren Thelen says, “I’m impressed, honored and excited to screen this year 150 films from 25 countries. I continue to be impressed by the diverse range of cinema out there, and I’m eager to see how our audience will react.”

I’ve sampled the program and, later this week, will recommend three films by new directors and an indie doc with 100% African-American voices.

The Nashville Film Festival embraces its home in Music City and emphasizes films about music, like Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, Fanny: The Right to Rock, The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile and Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues from the three most recent fests. That’s the case with this year’s fest opener, Devo, and the closer, This Is a Film About the Black Keys. There’s some insider buzz about Songs from the Hole.

One sure fire crowd-pleaser will be the Netflix doc Will & Harper, featuring a road trip by Will Farrell and his longtime friend, former SNL writer Harper Steele, who has transitioned.

See it here first: several films in the program have already secured distribution and will be available to theater and/or watch-at-home audiences. Before just anybody can watch them, you can get your personal preview at the Nashville Film Festival: Will & Harper, Bob Trevino Likes It, In the Summers, Exhibiting Forgiveness and Endless Summer Syndrome.

Check out the program and buy tickets at the festival’s Film Guide. Watch this space in a couple days for my NashFilm recommendations. Here’s the festival trailer.

RELATIVE: a loving, but insistent investigation

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Photo caption: A scene from Tracey Arcabasso Smith’s RELATIVE. Courtesy of Gravitas.

Relative is filmmaker Tracey Arcabasso Smith’s reflective exploration of intergenerational sexual abuse in her own family.   As Smith lovingly, but insistently, interviews her family members, she uncovers an epidemic of abuse in generation after generation.  Relative becomes ever more powerful as Smith refuses to sensationalize, but stays centered on the strength and humanity of the women on camera.  Finally, Relative takes us to how the cycle of abuse can be broken. 

This is a brilliantly edited film (by Jeremy Stulberg, Ian Olds and Natasha Livia Motola) – first person testimonies are inter-cut with the home movies of a lively family – a family we now understand was stained with corrosive secrets. 

Relative is the first feature for director Arcabasso Smith. (BTW the unadorned word Relative is a great title for this story.)

I screened Relative for the 2022 Nashville Film Festival. It’s now available to stream on Amazon (included with prime), AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube. 

LA CHIMERA: six genres for the price of one

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Photo caption: Carol Duarte and Josh O’Connor in LA CHIMERA. Courtesy of Neon.

The star of the Italian genre-shifter La Chimera is really its director, Alice Rohrwacher, with her inventive storytelling. Rohrwacher’s story does have a protagonist, Arthur (Josh O’Connor – the marriage-age Prince Charles in The Crown); when we meet him, he is grubby, weary and returning to a Tuscan village where his heart has been broken by a woman and where he has been betrayed by friends. We wonder what has drawn this Italian-speaking Englishman back to a place that hasn’t treated him well.

He shows up at the villa of Flora (Isabella Rossellini), the mother of his disappeared girlfriend, Beniamina. Flora adores him, and her new housekeeper/companion/voice student Italia (Carol Duarte) is quite taken by him. He is also welcomed by a rabble of village ne’er-do-wells, as rowdy and vibrant as Arthur is surly, and as course as Arthur is cultured.

It turns out that these vulgar roughnecks are tombaroli – nighttime robbers of ancient Etruscan graves, who then sell the artifacts to a more sophisticated fence, to be trafficked in the shady marketplace of antiquity dealers, collectors and ethically-challenged museums. It turns out that Arthur, who seems to know a lot about archaeology, has a gift in water witching the locations of undiscovered tombs.

La Chimera, which has started out as a dramatic portrait of a man broken and alienated, becomes a heist procedural, and then a comic thriller, and a charming romance (as Italia gives Arthur “Italian lessons” in gestures, not vocabulary). There’s a sudden break in the fourth wall, a dream sequence with magical realism and even an homage to Mack Sennett. All the while, the tombaroli serve as a comic Grek chorus, right up to a neo-noir ending, dotted with yet more magical realism.

Here’s where La Chimera was a success for me. I always wanted to know what would happen next. I was continually surprised by the changes in tone. The Wife, however, thought that Rohrwacher threw in at least one genre too many.

But by bit, and rarely overtly, Rohrwacher unspools the mysteries of the backstory. Why is Arthur here? What happened to Beniamina? What is Arthur’s bond to these trashy scalliwags? Does Arthur have a professional training, a supernatural gift or both? By the end, we have a pretty good idea of the answers – well enough to make the story coherent without Rohrwacher spoonfeeding us all the exposition.

When I think about it, other than the novelty of the graverobbing, the plot points are individually familiar – a bitter release from prison, heartbreak from losing a love, the heist, the noirish fatalism. What keeps us on our toes is the inventiveness in the film’s evolving tone.

However, my head was also more involved than my heart, probably because I cared about the the Flora ad Italia characters so much more than I cared about Arthur.

The cast is very good, with Rossellini (what a treasure!) and Duarte as the standouts.

I appreciate a filmmaker who is always aware that she’s storytelling in cinema, instead of, for example, just filming a play. Rohrwacher takes full advantage of the opportunities to vary sequence, construction, and mood. La Chimera is a Must See for cinephiles.

CYPHER: the year’s most original movie?

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Photo caption: Tierra Whack in CYPHER. Courtesy of Hulu.

Filmmaker Chris Moukarbel toys with us in Cypher, an ingenious narrative in the form of a pseudo documentary about rapper Tierra Whack.

As in any music doc, we meet Whack (smart, genuine and naturally charming) and trace her artistic emergence. Whack’s real life team and Moukarbel’s real-life crew play themselves. Fifteen minutes in, they meet a fawning fan in a diner, an interesting woman who soon veers into conspiracy talk. Whack continues with a world tour, on the road to shooting a music video. Whack and Moukarbel are unsettled when secretly-filmed video of them shows up on social media. Moukarbel is hounded by the unbalanced daughter (Biona Bradley – perfect) of the woman in the diner. The intrusions become increasingly menacing, and are tied to the same conspiracy theory. Reeling, the film crew visits the daughter, but the threats only escalate, all the way to a showdown on a video shooting set.

It’s hard to tell when the story dips in and out of fiction, and this is definitely not a movie you’ve seen before. Cypher reminds us that we can enjoy and appreciate moies, even when we’re not sure what’s going on.

I screened Cypher for the Nashville Film Festival. Cypher is now streaming on Hulu.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE: revoking one’s own celebrity

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Shere Hite in THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE. Courtesy of IFC Films.

The Disappearance of Shere Hite: This film, a triumph for director Nicole Newnham (Crip Camp), explores the life and times of the groundbreaking sex researcher and best-selling author. A woman of uncommon confidence, determination and resourcefulness, Hite sailed into the face of the patriarchy. Denied resources and respect by the academic establishment, her guerilla research uncovered pivotal truths of female sexuality and spoke them for the first time. The resulting sensation brought fame, acclaim and notoriety to Hite, accompanied by both financial success and a vicious backlash. The persistence of that backlash, and its personal toll, caused Hite to essentially revoke her own celebrity. Hite did not suffer fools, and was fearless until she wasn’t.

We meet a slew of Hite’s intimates in this superbly sourced film and gain insight into her personality. Shere Hite speaks to us directly in file footage and in her writings, voiced by Dakota Johnson.

For those of us who were roaming the earth in the 1970s, it’s still jarring to see the cultural resistance to what we now accept as biological fact. For those experiencing this story for the first time, it’s astonishing and powerful. I understand that women under age forty-five, having missed Shere Hite’s moment of ubiquitous media presence, are responding strongly to this film.

I screened The Disappearance of Shere Hite for the Nashville Film Festival, and it topped my Must See at NashFilm. It opens in theaters this weekend.

Under the radar at NashFilm

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Raymond David Taylor in CATERPILLAR. Courtesy of NashFilm.

While the Nashville Film Festival has its share of high-profile movies, don’t miss the gems that are screening under the radar. These movies are why we go to film festivals. Here are my top picks.

  • Caterpillar: In this riveting documentary, we meet David, an engaging man who is consumed by changing one aspect of his appearance – the color of his eyes. He decides to seek cosmetic iris implant surgery at a shady clinic in India. Is his problem the color of his eyes, or that he is obsessed with the color of his eyes? David’s loving but unfiltered mother is very important to him, but she is damaged herself and ill-equipped to communicate with or support him emotionally. In India, David meets other patients, who seem to have more superficial rationales for the surgery than does David. They have all been enticed by commercials on YouTube, and neither David or his fellow patients have asked the question – why is this procedure not legal in the US or any developed nation? Caterpillar becomes a profound exploration of body image, swirling amid issues of race, sexuality and gender identity. David is easy to root for, right through a series of MOG moments. David’s intensely personal and harrowing journey is expertly told by director Lisa Mandelup in her second feature. NashFilm hosts what is only the second screening for Caterpillar, which premiered at SXSW.
  • A Strange Path: With a trippy beginning, writer-director Guto Parente lets us know that we’re in for a bizarre, often absurd, but ultimately redemptive experience. After growing up with his mother in Portugal, the twenty-something filmmaker David (Lucas Limeira) returns to his native Brazil to premiere his first feature at a film festival. It’s the very onset of the COVID pandemic, and the festival is postponed, his flights are canceled, his hotel closes, and David finds himself marooned in the lockdown. He shows up on the doorstep of his long-estranged father, and has increasingly surreal interactions with him. It turns out that David is on a strange path to a destination that he does not, and the audience cannot, anticipate. A Strange Path, which swept the international film awards at Tribeca, is like a COVID fever dream. In a good way.
  • Cypher: Filmmaker Chris Moukarbel toys with us in this ingenious narrative in the form of pseudo documentary about rapper Tierra Whack. As in any music doc, we meet Whack (smart, genuine and naturally charming) and trace her artistic emergence. Whack’s real life team and Moukarbel’s real-life crew play themselves. Fifteen minutes in, they meet a fawning fan in a diner, an interesting woman who soon veers into conspiracy talk. Whack continues with a world tour, on the road to shooting a music video. Whack and Moukarbel are unsettled when secretly-filmed video of them shows up on social media. Moukarbel is hounded by the unbalanced daughter (Biona Bradley – perfect) of the woman in the diner. The intrusions become increasingly menacing, and are tied to the same conspiracy theory. Reeling, the film crew visits the daughter, but the threats only escalate, all the way to a showdown on a video shooting set. It’s hard to tell when the story dips in and out of fiction, and this is definitely not a movie you’ve seen before.
  • Dusty and Stones: For an unadulterated Feel Good movie, it’s hard to beat this little documentary that layers on the improbabilities. It’s about a Country Western duo from Swaziland (since renamed Eswatini) who get a chance to visit Nashville and compete in a Texas country music festival. Who knew there was a Country Western music scene in Swaziland, complete with line dancing and Stetsons? There are plenty of nuggets here., beginning with the guys’ unbounded joy at hearing their music recorded with the very best Nashville studio equipment and session musicians. And they explain to the denizens of an African-American barbershop that they are headed for a country music festival in a small East Texas town. And, sitting in a Nashville motel, they contemplate their first Taco Bell cuisine. It’s a little movie, but it’s a hoot. Dusty and Stone will appear in person at NashFilm.

Also see my Previewing the Nashville Film Festival and Must See at NashFilm . Check out the program and buy tickets at the festival’s Film Guide. 

Lucas Limeira in A STRANGE PATH. Courtesy of NashFilm.

Must See at NashFilm

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Shere Hite in THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE. Courtesy of NashFilm.

The Nashville Film Festival opens tomorrows and runs through October 4. Overall, it’s a strong program, but here are two films that you shouldn’t miss.

  • The Disappearance of Shere Hite: This film, a triumph for director Nicole Newnham (Crip Camp), explores the life and times of the groundbreaking sex researcher and best-selling author. A woman of uncommon confidence, determination and resourcefulness, Hite sailed into the face of the patriarchy. Denied resources and respect by the academic establishment, her guerilla research uncovered pivotal truths of female sexuality and spoke them for the first time. The resulting sensation brought fame, acclaim and notoriety to Hite, accompanied by both financial success and a vicious backlash. The persistence of that backlash, and its personal toll, caused Hite to essentially revoke her own celebrity. Hite did not suffer fools, and was fearless until she wasn’t. We meet a slew of Hite’s intimates in this superbly sourced film and gain insight into her personality. Shere Hite speaks to us directly in file footage and in her writings, voiced by Dakota Johnson. For those of us who were roaming the earth in the 1970s, it’s still jarring to see the cultural resistance to what we now accept as biological fact. For those experiencing this story for the first time, it’s astonishing and powerful. I understand that women under age forty-five, having missed Shere Hite’s moment of ubiquitous media presence, are responding strongly to this film.
  • Caterpillar: In this riveting documentary, we meet David, an engaging man who is consumed by changing one aspect of his appearance – the color of his eyes. He decides to seek cosmetic iris implant surgery at a shady clinic in India. Is his problem the color of his eyes, or that he is obsessed with the color of his eyes? David’s loving but unfiltered mother is very important to him, but she is damaged herself and ill-equipped to communicate with or support him emotionally. In India, David meets other patients, who seem to have more superficial rationales for the surgery than does David. They have all been enticed by commercials on YouTube, and neither David or his fellow patients have asked the question – why is this procedure not legal in the US or any developed nation? Caterpillar becomes a profound exploration of body image, swirling amid issues of race, sexuality and gender identity. David is easy to root for, right through a series of MOG moments. David’s intensely personal and harrowing journey is expertly told by director Lisa Mandelup in her second feature. NashFilm hosts what is only the second screening for Caterpillar, which premiered at SXSW.

Also see my Previewing the Nashville Film Festival and Under the Radar at NashFilm. Check out the program and buy tickets at the festival’s Film Guide. 

CHARM CIRCLE: you think YOUR family has issues?

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Raya Burstein and Uri Burstein in CHARM CIRCLE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

In the superbly structured documentary Charm Circle, writer-director Nira Burstein exquisitely unspools the story of her own bizarre family. At first, we meet Burstein’s father, a sour character who inexplicably is about to lose his rented house, which has become unkempt, even filthy. He is mean to Burstein’s apparently sweet and extraordinarily passive mother, and the scene just seems unpleasant.

But then, Nira Burstein brings out twenty-year-old videos that show her dad as witty, talented and functional. We learn a key fact about the mom, and then about each of the director’s two sisters.

Some of the publicity about Charm Circle describes the family as eccentric, but only one daughter is a little odd – three family members are clinically diagnosable. Charm Circle is a cautionary story of untreated mental illness and the consequences of failing to reach out for help.

This is Nira Burstein’s first feature, and she has two things going for her: unlimited access to the subjects and a remarkable gift for storytelling. Charm Circle works so well because of how Burstein sequences the rollout of each family member’s story.

The Nashville Film Festival returns in a few days, and I attended a screening of Charm Circle, with a Nira Burstein Q&A at NashFilm two years ago. It went on to play both the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and Cinequest, and can now be streamed on the Criterion Channel.

Previewing the Nashville Film Festival

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Photo caption: Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal in Raoul Peck’s FOE, screening at the Nashville Film Festival. Courtesy of Amazon Studios.

The Nashville Film Festival opens on Thursday, September 28 and runs through October 4 with a diverse menu of cinema. The Nashville Film Festival is the oldest running film festival in the South (this is the 54th!) and is an Academy Award qualifying festival. The program includes a mix of indies, docs and international cinema, including world and North American premieres.

The Nashville Film Festival embraces its home in Music City and emphasizes films about music, like Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, Fanny: The Right to Rock, The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile and Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues from the two most recent fests. That’s the case with this year’s fest opener: Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive.

The closing night feature is Foe, a drama from Oscar nominated director Raoul Peck (I Am Not a Negro) that stars fellow Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal.

See it here first: several films in the program have already secured distribution and will be available to theater and/or watch-at-home audiences. Before just anybody can watch them, you can get your personal preview at the Nashville Film Festival: Foe, La Chimera, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Fingernails, Flora and Son, Eileen, The Taste of Things, Silver Dollar Road and The Disappearance of Shere Hite.

I love covering Nashfilm in person, but I’ll be covering remotely this year; that just leaves more pig-forward delicacies from Peg Leg Porker and Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint for you.

Check out the program and buy tickets at the festival’s Film Guide. Watch this space for Nashville Film Festival recommendations. I’ll be back in a couple days with my recommendations.

FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK: triple-threat trailblazers

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Photo caption: Fanny in FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK. Courtesy of PBS.

Fanny: The Right to Rock documents the first all-female rock band to get signed by a major record label and churn out five albums. Fifty years ago, the band Fanny was breaking ground for women musicians – and for lesbians and Filipinas. Women rockers were a novelty in the early 1970; imagine layering on LGBTQ identity and Asian-American heritage.

Although you probably haven’t heard of them, this was no garage band. They had a major label record deal, European tours, and hung out with big name peers. Unlike many male bands of the period, Fanny didn’t crash and burn due to drug use or clashing egos. They just never caught on with record-buyers.

FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK. Courtesy of PBS.

It’s pretty clear that sexism in the music industry and media, combined with maybe being a little ahead of their time to deny Fanny stardom. Too bad – I would have loved to listen to them in their heyday.

Their music fits right into the stuff I was listening to in the 1970s. I’m guessing that the reason why I hadn’t heard of them is that they didn’t get played on FM radio in the Bay Area.

These women can still really rock in their 70s, and they’re a hoot. Tomorrow night, May 17, they’ll perform for one time at the Whisky A-Go-Go to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of their now infamous club performance at the Whisky.

Fanny in FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK. Courtesy of PBS.

Fanny: The Right to Rock is filled with colorful anecdotes from back in the day. Todd Rundgren, an important early associate of Fanny, and Bonnie Raitt appear as eyewitnesses. Cherie Curry of the Runaways, Cathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s and Kate Pierson of the B-52s testify to Fanny’s trailblazing status.

I screened Fanny: The Right to Rock last year at the Nashville Film Festival. On May 22, you can watch it on your very own television when It will be broadcast on PBS and begin streaming on on PBS.ORG and the PBS APP.