Nathaniel on the Jury at CIFF
Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
All the Pretty Horses (Greece, 2020)
The Calgary International Film Festival begins today and will run through Sunday, October 4th I'm pleased to share the news that I'm on the International Narrative Feature jury this year (the fun kind of jury duty!) with Nancy Campbell and George Smalz. We're all attending virtually this year, of course, rather than in person...
There are ten competition films in the international program though I can't tell you my feelings about them til after the jury awards are presented. Nevertheless there are more films in the festival than just that one program. Outside of the International Narrative Competition, I'm most curious about Christian Petzold's Undine and the Iranian drama There is No Evil which both won major prizes at Berlinale early this year. There's also Viggo Mortensen's Falling, the Swiss Oscar submission My Little Sister, the gay drama Cicada, and the documentary Stray which is about dogs but takes place in Istanbul where that brilliant cat documentary Kedi was set.
The International Narrative Feature Contenders are...
Cocoon (Germany, 2020)
- ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (Greece) Marital drama about a couple struggling with their new economic reality while doing home repairs for a wealthy client.
- BEAST BEAST (US) High school drama involving theater kids and gun enthusiasts in the South.
- COCOON (Germany) LGBTQ drama about a young girl, her older sister, and high school flings.
- FATHER (Serbia) An unemployed man (Goran Bogdan from Fargo) fights the government to have his kids returned to him from foster care.
- FREELAND (US) Krisha Fairchild (Krisha) stars in this drama about a marijuana grower struggling to go legit with increasing legalization happening around the country
- KALA AZAR (Greece) Enigmatic erotic drama about a couple who collect dead animals from grieving pet owners. Greek star Dimitris Laloz headlines both this one and All the Pretty Horses.
- MARYGOROUND (Poland) Surreal comedy about a 50-something virgin eager to find love.
- THE OUTSIDE STORY (US) After a break-up, a man (Brian Tyree Henry) accidentally locks himself out of his apartment in this comedy
- SHIVA BABY (US) A comedy about a directionless twentysomething (Rachel Sennott) at a funeral service where her highly compartmentalized worlds begin to collide
- THE WOLVES (Mexico) A mother and her Disneyland-loving sons struggle to build a new life in this immigration drama. (I believe it's now streaming on HBO as well.)
Reader Comments (8)
The CIFF is very lucky to have you, with your knowledge and insight you will be an excellent juror.
What a pity the pandemic prevents you from travelling. The line up looks interesting. Enjoy!
Lady Edith -- thank you for saying so :) xo
Very cool! Enjoy. I saw Beast Beast and Falling at Sundance. I also remember the short film Shiva Baby from SXSW.
This year a virtual juror, next year in person!
They will be so pleased to have had your participation, with your enthusiasm, broad knowledge, and fair-mindedness.
Have fun! (Bryan Tyree Henry in a comedy certainly sounds appealing).
Congratulations! Enjoy the Virtual Winter Hot Tub!
Oh, I thought you meant the Chicago International Film Festival.
Nonsense, you deserve the praise. Anytime there is a chance for you to become a juror or fulfill some other function in Vancouver, take the job. We need to find a way to get you on this side of the border for awhile. There's lots of stuff shooting here again. :-)
Oh man. You're so close yet so far. Dagnabbit.
Congrats to CIFF. Awesome choice.