Almost Normal
Friday, 2 – 4:15 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
Saturday, 5 – 7 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
North Carolina premiere
92 minutes
Brad, a gay man approaching a midlife crisis, is tired of always being different because he’s gay. He just wants to be “normal.” Suddenly, he is yanked back in time to when he was in high school, but with one major difference – the world is now gay and being straight is considered deviant behavior.
Director/Writer: Marc Moody Producer/Editor: Sharon Teo Cinematographer: Richard Sherman Production Company: Tenure Track Productions Cast: J. Andrew Keitch, Joan Lauckner, Tim Hammer, Nils Haaland
At Last
Friday, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, 6:15 – 8:15 p.m.Diana Wortham Theatre presented by Sonopress
North Carolina premiere
97 minutes
Mark and Sara are inseparable friends growing up in Grosse Pointe, Mich. When Mark’s family moves to New Orleans, the pair write each other constantly. But when Mark’s mother begins hiding the letters, both believe they have been rejected and the letters stop. Fast forward 30 years. Mark, now in his 40s, discovers the letters hidden decades ago. Is there a chance to recapture their once-in-a-lifetime love? Inspired by a true story.
This film contains adult content.
Director: Tom Anton Producer: Jim Davis Editor: Michael Rafferty Cinematographer: Roberto Schaefer Production Company: Anything for Love Cast: Martin Donovan, Kelly Lynch, M.C. Gainey, Brooke Adams
Devaki
Friday, 4:45 – 6:45 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
U.S. premiere
90 minutes
A story of two women in India: One, a young rural woman named Devaki is auctioned off to the highest bidder and forced into a marriage with a 70-year-old man. The other, Nandini, from an urban area, has come to Devaki’s village to work as an activist. Disillusioned, Nandini returns to the city but quickly learns that her life there is no different from Devaki’s. The film makes an introspective journey into the lives of two women coming from strikingly different backgrounds but sharing similar fates.
Director: Bappaditya Bandopadhyay Producer: K.D. Singh Writer: Ashish Roy Editor: Rajeev Jhaveri Cinematographer: Rana Dasgupta Production Company: Splash Mediaworks Cast: Perizaad Zorabian, Suman Ranganathan
Fall to Grace
Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
Saturday, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
North Carolina premiere
87 minutes
An irate father throws his son’s basketball out the window. Follow it to a new girlfriend. A spoiled brat speeds off in her boyfriend’s car. Follow it to a bad idea. The good girl is saving up for a plane ticket. Follow her as hope takes off. As these individual stories intersect and collide, heartache ignites into remarkable hope. Fall to Grace reminds us of the invisible threads connecting us to one another, creating a net to catch us when we fall.
This film contains adult content.
Director/Writer: Mari Marchbanks Producer: Vicky Boone Editor: Chris Roldan Cast: Sarah Minske, Jessie Acosta, Kristofer Rostropovich
For Catherine
Saturday, 12 – 2 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
World premiere
107 minutes
Catherine and Duo have been together for two years when she departs for Oxford University, leaving him heartbroken. In his frenzied state, he boxes everything he owns and ships it … to himself. Somewhere between Point A and Point A, the parcels, of course, get lost. When his friend Travis finds Duo on the floor of a bare apartment, Travis and a host of well-meaning characters, including the delivery guy, try their best to get Duo back to the path of the essentially sane.
This film contains adult language.
Director/Producer/Writer: Ethan Hunter Editor: Evan Schafer Cinematographer: Ed Fickle Production Company: 207 Pictures Cast: Grant Henry, Travis Barkley, Catherine Campbell, Bru Rodriguez, Cleve Williams, Nikki Talley
Four Lane Highway
Friday, 2 – 4 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
Saturday, 4 – 6 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
North Carolina premiere
110 minutes
Stuck in a small college town in Maine and living in the shadow of his famous writer father, Sean takes off with his best friend for New York City to find Molly, a painter and former love. The journey, fueled by a deep sense of longing, loss and the memories of their relationship unfolds with a buoyant comic energy.
Director/Writer: Dylan McCormick Producer: Christopher Roberts Editor: David Klegsbrun, Gary Levy Cinematographer: Randy Drummond Production Company: Orchard Films Cast: Fred Weller, Greer Goodman, Reg Rogers, Elizabeth Rodriguez
Hooray for Mr. Touchdown
Friday, noon – 1:30 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
Saturday, 6:30 – 8:15 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
North Carolina Premiere
80 minutes
Deke Chambers is a Prohibition-era football hero who becomes the unwitting pawn in a bookmaking scheme. A love-struck coed and an enterprising reporter also seek to exploit him, but in mutually exclusive ways. Deke’s preoccupation with the meaning of existence matches him with an eccentric physics professor whose experiments cause Deke to dematerialize whenever he is aroused in any way. All of these disparate interests miraculously come together to thwart the efforts of the gangsters intent on fixing the big game.
Director/Writer: Rod Bingaman Producer: Maura Shea Editor: Rod Bingaman, Maura Shea Cinematographer: Jeff Preston Production Company: Ma & Pa Pictures Cast: Amy Brienes, Jeff Bearden, Gael Schaefer, Matt Loney
Novem
Friday, 4 – 6 p.m.
Saturday, 11:15 p.m. – 1:15 a.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre presented by Sonopress
Sunday, 4 – 6 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
North Carolina Premiere
103 minutes
In May 1973, nine college students spent a week recording music at a remote studio. During that session, they produce nine introspective original songs that preserve their mood, hopes and fears for generations to come. But on the way back to campus, they have an accident and all nine are killed. Their music disappears for over 30 years, until it is accidentally purchased by a college student at a garage sale.
Director/Producer: Brad Kimmel Writer: Brad Kimmel, Pat O’Connor Editor: Ben Woehler, Richard Riley Cinematographer: Scott Sniffen Production Company: Bradley David Productions Cast: Tim Acres, Brad Crittenden, Josh Gifford, Dustin Sellers, Eric Hill, Sherry Cothran, Jamee Paul, Duncan May, Brian Reed
Pearl Diver
Friday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Saturday, 12:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre presented by Sonopress
North Carolina premiere
97 minutes
The 20-year-old murder of their mother continues to haunt two sisters when a farming accident brings past and present into conflict. Marian is a mother who lives in the Mennonite farming community where she grew up, while her younger sister, Hannah, left the community to pursue a writing career in Chicago. When Marian’s 6-year-old daughter, Rebecca, is badly injured in a farming accident, sister Hannah returns home to help. As the two sisters struggle with the circumstances surrounding Rebecca’s accident and how to pay for her medical treatment, their opposing worldviews drive them towards a confrontation and reconciliation over their shared past, a past that simultaneously divides them yet binds them together.
Director/Writer: Sidney King Producer: Sidney King, Daniel Lowe Editor: Emily Koonse Cinematographer: John Rotan Production Company: Proud Cut Films Cast: Joey Honsa, Amy Jean Johnson, Yevgeni Lazarev, Brian Boland
Room
Saturday, 10 p.m. – midnight
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
World Premiere
Room 6 is a terrifying psychological thriller – in the tradition of films like Jacob’s Ladder – about a woman, Amy Roberts, whose fiance is taken away by an ambulance after a nearly fatal car crash. Amy befriends another driver in the crash, Lucas, and the two learn there’s no record of their loved ones being taken to any hospital. As reality breaks down around them, they follow a path of clues that lead them to a mysterious place that cannot possibly exist.
This film contains adult content.
Director: Mike Hurst Producers: Chuck Speed, Danny Wayne Writers: Mike Hurst, Mark A. Altman Editor: Kevin Greutert Cast: Christine Taylor, Shane Brolly, Mary Pat Gleason, Chloe Moretz, Ellie Cornell, Jerry O’Connell Production Company: CFQ Films
The Tenants
Friday, 7 – 9 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, lower
Saturday, 8:45 – 10:45 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
North Carolina premiere
96 minutes
Harry Lesser, a Jewish-American writer, is the last remaining tenant in a New York tenement and is desperately trying to finish the novel he’s been working on for almost 10 years. Willie Spearmint, an African-American writer, has been illegally squatting in another apartment in the same building. When they meet, they eventually overcome their distrust of each other and begin working together. Racism, competition and a romantic triangle create dramatic conflicts between the two men, ultimately ending in a violent life-and-death struggle. Based on the acclaimed 1971 novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Bernard Malamud, this story has taken almost 35 years to make it to the screen.
This film contains adult language.
Director: Danny Green Producer: H. Wiersma, R. Emmett, G. Furla, C. Bongirne Writer: David Diamond Editor: Michael Duthie Cinematographer: David Dubois Production Company: The Tenants, Inc. Cast: Dylan McDermott, Snoop Dogg, Rose Byrne, Seymour Cassel
Truce
Saturday, 10 a.m. – noon
Saturday, 8:45 – 10:45 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre presented by Sonopress
113 minutes
A family drama set on a cattle ranch in Northern California, revolving around Harry Dodds, a rancher raising his granddaughter after her mother dies tragically in a car accident. Harry struggles to overcome past mistakes, poor health and a bad economy to hold onto his ranch and live up to the promise he made to his daughter on her deathbed to provide a good home for his granddaughter. The film strives to honor American cattle ranchers and their struggle to preserve the land and our Western heritage.
Director/Writer: Matthew Marconi Producer: Matthew Marconi, James Dodds Editor: Rick Rapoza Cinematographer: Takuji Murata Production Company: Top Knot Productions Cast: Buck Taylor, Samantha Droke, Michaela Lange, Barry Tubb, George Kennedy
Zombie Honeymoon
Friday, 10:45 p.m. – 12:45 a.m.
Saturday, 11:15 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Fine Arts Theatre, upper
North Carolina premiere
83 minutes
Newlyweds Denise and Danny are on an idyllic honeymoon down the Jersey shore. Basking in the glow of their nuptials on a beach at dawn, the couple’s bliss is interrupted when a mysterious figure inexplicably emerges from the waves and mauls Danny. Rushed to the hospital, pronounced dead on arrival, Danny suddenly awakes – a very changed man. With startling complexity, Zombie Honeymoon treads the fine line between satire and drama, as Denise and Danny struggle with their appalling new reality – a harrowing descent into a hellish nightmare that stretches the concept of commitment to its breaking point.
This film contains adult material.
Director/Producer/Writer: Dave Gebroe Editor: Gordon Grinberg Cinematographer: Ken Seng Production Company: Hooligan Pictures Cast: Tracy Coogan, Graham Sibley, Tonya Cornelisse, David M. Wallace, Neal Jones
Nine Lives
Friday, 10 p.m. – nidnight
Sunday 12:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre presented by Sonopress
115 minutes
By depicting nine different individuals at emotional crossroads, Nine Lives examines how we so often find ourselves captive in relationships, both past and present. Indeed, these situations are too often of our own making – and we have no idea how to extricate ourselves from the cages we have constructed. Director Rodrigo Garcia plumbs the depths with this study of nine stunning women who meet the travails and disappointments of life with a resilience that is at once heartening and heartbreaking.
This film contains adult content.
Director/Writer: Rodrigo Garcia Producer: Julie Lynn Editor: Andrea Folprecht Production Company: Mockingbird Pictures Cast: Elpida Carrillo, Robin Wright Penn, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Holly Hunter, Amanda Seyfreid, Amy Brenneman, Sissy Spacek, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Kathy Baker
The Passenger
Saturday, 3 – 5 p.m.
Sunday, 3 – 5:30 p.m.
Diana Wortham Theatre presented by Sonopress
126 minutes
Michelangelo Antonioni’s third and final English-language film, The Passenger, was a bit mangled upon its U.S. release in 1975. In a later interview Antonioni remarked, “There has not been a film of mine that has completely satisfied me. Well, The Passenger would have completely satisfied me if I had been able to include all of the parts I was forced to cut out because of its length.” Well, 30 years later, Sony Classics is giving viewers a chance to see Antonioni’s film in a fully-restored and remastered print that is closer to the filmmaker’s intentions. The Passenger tells the story of a jaded television reporter (played by Jack Nicholson) who assumes the identity of a dead man while at a hotel in a north African country, not knowing that the man was a notorious arms smuggler. With its dangling flashbacks, long takes, deep spaces and hovering sense of violence, The Passenger is one of the strongest films in Antonioni’s enduring study of identity and apartness.
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni Producer: Carlo Ponti Writer: Michelangelo Antonioni, Mark Peploe, Peter Wollen Editor: Michelangelo Antonioni, Franco Arcalli Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli Music:Ivan Vandor Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cast: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre, Ian Hendry, Stephen Berkoff
