Synopsis

Friday, April 27

7 p.m. THE FAIRY with short film LONE-ILLNESS

From the directors of L’iceberg, the Belgian comedy The Fairy follows a hotel clerk as he falls in love with an off-kilter, wish- granting fairy. The opening selection at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight, the movie continues to charm audiences with its loopy, Jacques Tati-inspired romp. The clerk works the night shift in a small hotel near the seaport of Le Havre. One night, a woman arrives with no luggage and no shoes. She tells the clerk that she is a fairy, and she grants him three wishes. However, before she is able to grant the third wish, the fairy mysteriously disappears. The clerk then sets out on a quest to find her, leading the two on a series of freewheeling misadventures. In French, with English subtitles.

In the drama Lone-Illness, loneliness is a feeling and a state of mind – with many questions and few answers. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Screening sponsor: L’Alliance Française de Fresno

Afterward, join the Fresno Filmworks board for a champagne toast to welcome visiting filmmakers and the public to the festival. Admission to the champagne toast is included with a festival pass or with general admission to the opening night film.

Saturday, April 28

12:30 p.m. PINA

From the director of Buena Vista Social Club, the German documentary Pina pays breathtaking tribute to the late choreographer Pina Bausch. “Dance, dance, or we are lost,” were the final words of the legendary Bausch, whose Tanztheater Wuppertal elevated contemporary dance into brilliantly subversive and newly expressive realms. Acclaimed filmmaker Wim Wenders captures the raw, heart-stopping intensity of
the movement and transforms it into a transcendent cinematic memorial. Nominated for a 2012 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the movie features performances by Bausch’s beloved original company members, and it offers an indelible image of an artist with an uncommonly rich creative life.

Featuring a special dance performance from screening sponsor California Arts Academy

Saturday, April 28

3:30 p.m. – Shorts Program #1

Fresno Film Festival short film category
With special filmmaker apperances and Q&A session

Cliffstarter
Director: Nolan Cubero • USA • 3 minutes

Election Day
Director: Zach Wechter • USA • 11 minutes

Echoes of Exxon
Director: Lauren Lindberg • USA • 7 minutes

Nonna si deve asciugare (Grandma Must Get Dry)
Director: Alfredo Covelli • Italy • 15 minutes

Kenya Boys
Directors: Alvin Shen and Harold Escotet • USA • 14 minutes

El viejo yacaré sin dientes (The Old and Toothless Yacare)
Director: Mateo Soler • Uruguay • 17 minutes

What Remains
Director: Benjamin Deutscher • USA • 8 minutes

Saturday, April 28

5:30 p.m. In Conversation with the Vang Brothers

Fresno natives Abel and Burlee Vang, recipients of a Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, will take the stage to show clips from their films and to talk about their award-winning screenplay, The Tiger’s Child. The drama, now in development, tells the story of a 12-year-old Hmong boy whose father is suddenly killed after being coerced into the CIA’s Secret Army in Laos. The boy must decide whether or not to follow in his father’s footsteps in order to provide for his 5-year-old brother.

Abel Vang, pictured left, earned his MFA in film production from USC. His first feature film, Nyab siab zoo (The Good-hearted Daughter), is one of the first Hmong-language movies to begin circulating in American film festivals. Burlee Vang, pictured right, earned his MFA in creative writing from Fresno State, and he co-founded the Hmong American Writers Circle. His first collection of poems, The Dead I Know: Incantation for Rebirth, was published in 2010.

John Moses, the Filmworks program director and a professor of film studies at Fresno City College, will be the moderator.

Saturday, April 28

8 p.m. A SEPARATION

Set in contemporary Iran, the family drama A Separation shows the painful dissolution of a marriage. The movie has won dozens of international honors, including the 2012 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie tells the story of Simin, who wants to leave Iran with her husband, Nader, and their daughter. When Nader refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer’s-suffering father, Simin sues for divorce. Her request having failed, Simin returns to her parents’ home, but their daughter decides to stay with her father. When Nader hires a young woman to assist with his ailing father in his wife’s absence, he hopes that his life will return to normal. However, when he discovers that the woman has been lying to him, he realizes there is more on the line than just his marriage. In Farsi, with English subtitles.

Screening sponsor: Iranian Culture & Art Club of Fresno

Sunday, April 29

1 p.m. Shorts Program #2

Fresno Film Festival short film category
Screening sponsor: ReCyCo Inc. With special filmmaker apperances and Q&A session

L’equip petit (The Little Team)
Directors: Roger Gómez and Dani Resines • Spain • 10 minutes

Tea for Two
Director: David Forster • Australia • 2 minutes

Katieland
Director: Jeremy Santi • Australia • 10 minutes

Plant Life
Director: Curt Steindler • USA • 10 minutes

Queen
Director: Adam Rose • USA • 22 minutes

Co raz zostalo zapisane (Written in Ink)
Director: Martin Rath • Poland • 11 minutes

Tracer Gun
Director: Paul Grellong • USA • 16 minutes

Sunday, April 29

3:30 p.m. A TRIP TO THE MOON & THE EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGE with short film GROUNDED

Directed by Georges Méliès, the revered French filmmaker and illusionist who pioneered the use of special effects in the world’s earliest movies, the classic silent film A Trip to the Moon remains a cinematic landmark. The story depicts the first outer-space adventure in the history of cinema, as six members of the Astronomers’ Club set off on an expedition to the moon, encounter the Selenites and flee their king, and return home to a triumphant parade. The long-lost, hand-painted color version of the film – unseen for more than 100 years until its glorious new restoration – has inspired audiences worldwide. Featuring a newly imagined modern soundtrack by the French band Air.

Cinema’s most unforgettable image is perhaps that of the Man in the Moon being poked in the eye by a rocket ship. The documentary The Extraordinary Voyage examines the magical work of Georges Méliès, the creator of that image and one of the celebrated heroes of Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning movie Hugo. Now, thanks to one of the most technically sophisticated and expensive restorations in film history, A Trip to the Moon can thrill audiences anew. The documentary charts the film’s voyage across an entire century, from the fantastical production in 1902 to the astonishing rediscovery of a color print in 1993, to the premiere of the new restoration at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

The animated drama Grounded shows how one astronaut’s journey through space and life ends on a hostile exosolar planet. Against an ethereal backdrop, the film explores themes of aging, paternal approval, and behaviors inherited through generations.

Sunday, April 29

7 p.m. CHICO AND RITA

From the collaboration between the Oscar-winning director of Belle Époque and Spain’s most legendary illustrator, the animated romance Chico & Rita celebrates the music and culture of Cuba with an epic story of love, passion, and heartbreak. In 1940s Cuba, Chico is a young piano player with big dreams, and Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their hopes and each other from Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood, and Las Vegas. With an original soundtrack by Cuban pianist and Grammy-winning composer Bebo Valdés, the film captures a defining moment in the evolution of jazz. Featuring the music of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, and more. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Before the movie, Filmworks will present four festival awards, including: juried awards for Best Short Film and the third annual John Kelly Award for Excellence in Cinematography, as well as audience awards for Best Short Film and Best Feature Film.

Screening sponsor: Fajita Fiesta