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Films to See at the Big Apple Film Festival
Over 100 films in five days, from November 2-6
Goodfellas will be screened on the final day of the Big Apple Film Festival
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Tonight at 6 p.m. begins the Seventh Annual Big Apple Film Festival, which runs until Saturday, November 6. Over 100 films will be screened as part of this year’s festival, with the intention of “supporting and promoting independent films and filmmakers from the New York City metropolitan area,” according to Big Apple’s website. With a cause as important as that, you should check out as many films as you can.
Each night is broken into programs and divided between two theaters. Here are only some of the many films that sound particularly interesting to us, including a 20th anniversary screening of Goodfellas and a few starring Academy Award nominees (for more information about the festival, please click here):
Tuesday, November 2
The Weird World of Blowfly
Program 3, Theater 1 (93 minutes)
This surprising documentary portrait reveals the influential and incendiary work of provocative and pioneering singer/songwriter Clarence Reid. Often hilarious and always controversial, Clarence records and performs as his alter ego Blowfly, the original dirty rapper. But before his X-rated career began, Clarence was instrumental in the Florida soul scene of the 1960s and ‘70s; he wrote Top Ten songs for Miami’s greatest R&B acts and recorded what might be the world’s first rap song in 1965. Shot over the course of two years, the film follows Clarence today and examines his 50-year career as he continues to strive for success and recognition in the music industry. The film examines Clarence’s personal and professional contradictions, explores his legacy, and celebrates his musical and cultural significance as a rapper and soul music legend.
Slate
Program 4, Theater 2 (14 minutes)
Working all night, a film editor is overcome by the odd sensuality and rhythm within the raw footage he is cutting.
Wednesday, November 3
Laugh and Die
Program 6, Theater 2 (6 minutes)
A comedy about a well known clown who can´t laugh anymore due to a very weird disease: Laughing Cancer. The more he laughs, the less he lives.
The Restaurateur
Program 7, Theater 1 (57 minutes)
A portrait of Danny Meyer, one of America’s pre-eminent restaurateurs. We follow the creation of Tabla & Eleven Madison Park in New York City for 11 months in 1998, through countless delays and screw ups.
Wonder…
Program 8, Theater 2 (73 minutes)
What do you get when you cross Mumblecore with elements of Dogme 95 and Paris J’Taime? The Wonder Project, a feature length film made up of nine shorts. What sets it apart from other collaborative features is the fact that each Wonder Project film is comprised of the exact same lines of dialogue.
Thursday, November 4
Yankeeland: In The Shadow of the Stadium
Program 9, Theater 1 (98 minutes)
A film about the last year of the old Yankee Stadium and the first year of the new ballpark. The film documents the neighborhood’s reaction to the construction of one of the world’s most expensive athletic facilities in one of the United States’ poorest congressional districts.
12 Floors Up
Program 11, Theater 1 (19 minutes)
A dark comedy that follows movie producer Spencer Hawkins as he tries to survive a pretentious Manhattan cocktail party. As he attempts to navigate his way through the evening unscathed, Spencer stumbles upon eccentric guests, annoying stories, and a murder.
Friday, November 5
The Position
Program 13, Theater 1 (13 minutes)
Young ingenue Hope Turnell arrives dressed-to-kill for a job interview in a high-powered Manhattan firm. Dazzled by the wealth, privilege and power around her, she soon finds the interview drifting into unexpectedly intimate territory and must decide how much of herself she is willing to surrender for the role she has long desired.
The Don of 42nd Street
Program 14, Theater 2 (76 minutes)
A mob comedy about Tony, a mob boss, who has a stroke, and his “artsy” twin brother, J.B., who is forced to take his place. However well intentioned, J.B.’s unconventional methods raises suspicion amongst the other mob bosses.
Harvest
Program 16, Theater 2 (105 minutes)
Three generations of a family come together one summer, around the eventual passing of the patriarch of the family, a WWII veteran. Gathered at the family home and in and around their beautiful shoreline town, years of resentment and betrayal within the family surface, and the grandson, a college student, does his part to hold them all together, growing up in the process.
Saturday, November 6
Daniel
Program 18, Theater 1 (24 minutes)
A closeted young cabby in a small seaside town struggles to suppress his cross-dressing habits and a vicious impulse to kill those who question his sexual orientation.
Montana Amazon: The Adventures of the Dunderheads (with post-screening Q & A)
Program 21, Theater 2 (90 minutes)
The Dunderheads are an eccentric Montana family who’ve been in the mountains too long. When 18 year old Womple (Haley Joel Osment) accidentally kills his best friend, his Grandmother Ira (Olympia Dukakis) flees for Canada with Womple and his older sister (Alison Brie). The socially dysfunctional family leaves a trail of comic confusion and ultimately tragedy in their wake as they collide head on with the modern world in this poignant fable for people everywhere who don’t fit in.
Circus Maximus
Program 23, Theater 2 (80 minutes)
With a pending deadline looming and multiple obstacles mounting, an established screenwriter attempts to complete an entire screenplay within a weekend. Circus Maximus unfolds as the characters involved come to life in their respective stories.
Goodfellas (20th Anniversary Screening with Special Guests)
Program 24, Theater 1
Martin Scorsese’s timeless masterpiece: Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners success, but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy?