MVFF47 - RSVP Guide

Painter and sculptor Titus Kaphar brings his sense of wonder to the big screen with this affirming debut. The writer-director delivers a wrenching and deeply felt excavation of family, particularly the bonds that exist between fathers and sons.

André Holland delivers a tour de force performance as Tarrell Rodin, a successful painter, husband, and father haunted by nightmares of childhood abuse suffered at the hands of his hard-tasking father La’Ron (John Earl Jelks in a breakthrough performance). While preparing for a new gallery installation, Tarrell encounters a rude awakening when his father suddenly reappears in his life, a development that sends him spiraling. But with the insistence of his long-suffering mother Joyce (Oscar® nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) and support of his wife Aisha (Andra Day), Tarrell confronts buried memories in his path to healing. In observing Tarrell’s complicated journey to self, the film teases out the usefulness of art as a medium for breaking the cycle of generational trauma. Radiating pain and love, tenderness and bitterness, sometimes all in the same scene, Exhibiting Forgiveness confronts the limits of unconditional love while withholding judgment of its characters.

Expected In Person Guest

After not-so-quietly quitting his restaurant job, aspiring rapper Khalid quits NYC for a paid gigolo gig in Bulgaria that he found on Facebook. Arriving in a seaside hamlet to spend some “adult time” with middle-aged Raya, he quickly discovers she’s neither available, nor alive. Undaunted, Khalid finds menial labor at the dock and gradually charms the locals with his charisma, all except for his foul-tempered boss Gyorgi. It doesn’t help that Khalid has taken a shine to Gyorgi’s winsome ex, Ina. With a winning combination of Bay Area bigheartedness, Brooklyn moxie, and a dollop of Eastern European humor, Tam High graduate Crystal Moselle (The Wolfpack) and codirector-breakout star Derrick B. Harden’s joyous fish-out-of-water tale is something to behold. With the sly sensibility of an early Jarmusch film and the ebullience and flow of a Spike Lee joint, The Black Sea is refreshing as a cool drink on a hot summer day.

Expected In Person Guest

While searching on Facebook for her estranged father, a young woman finds a man (John Leguizamo) with the same name, a caring father figure, who also could use a friend.

An accidental connection blossoms into a loving father-daughter-like relationship in writer-director Tracie Laymon’s gentle and deeply personal feature debut. Upbeat Lily (Barbie Ferreira) strives to please everyone around her, including her narcissistic, deeply disinterested father Robert Trevino (French Stewart), a jerk who blames his daughter for everything wrong in his life and ghosts her. In desperate need of a real friend, Lily finds one when she discovers a different Bob Trevino (John Leguizamo) while searching for her estranged dad on Facebook. This Bob is the opposite of her difficult parent: a decent, ethical, and warm married man who could use a new friend himself. Ferreira and Leguizamo are wonderful together; their vulnerable performances touch the heart in a winning film that reminds us that the spontaneous bonds we make can be sometimes far more enriching and loving than the family ties we’ve been assigned.

Expected In Person Guest

A former US Army mechanic with PTSD (Sonequa Martin-Green) has a most unusual “best friend”—her late colleague (Natalie Morales) from a tour in Afghanistan, still a motor-mouthed constant companion despite the inconvenience of death.

Uneasily back in civilian life after an eight-year US Army hitch, Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) has a BFF who’s maybe a little too “forever”: Fellow mechanic Zoe (Natalie Morales), her inseparable colleague during a tour in Afghanistan, one that Zoe ultimately did not survive. There’s a comedically supernatural—or perhaps just psychological—aspect to Merit’s wisecracking companion, whom no one else can hear or see. Merit has PTSD, which she copes with poorly by running from a veterans’ support group (led by counselor Morgan Freeman), ostensibly to deal with her crusty Vietnam vet grandfather’s (Ed Harris) weakening health. But her demons won’t leave Merit alone until she confronts them. Executive produced by Kansas City Chief Travis Kelce, Kyle Hausman-Stokes’ debut feature was inspired by his own Army experiences in Iraq—and by an ongoing epidemic of US military veteran suicides. Its engagingly singular mix of wit, warmth, and tough issues won the Audience Award at SXSW this year.

Expected In Person Guest

This beautifully understated Western is the story of a son raised by two fathers, one from the European East and one from the American West. On the cusp of the 20th century, somewhere on the American frontier, Igor, an immigrant and recent widower, struggles to raise his two-year-old son Ivo on his own. When his American friend and mentor Duncan decides to move his horse-breeding business and young family to California, Igor and Ivo join the wagon train headed West. Co-directors Biliana and Marina Grozdanova command the mise-en-scene with effortless elegance, and their mostly non-professional actors offer astonishing performances rich with verisimilitude and depth. The cast includes Igor Galijasevic, a Bosnian refugee, and his real-life young son Leo, as well as professional horse wrangler Duncan Vezain and his family, also playing versions of themselves transported in time. A tender and resonant tale of friendship, faith, and resolve.

Expected In Person Guest

After her boyfriend dumps her, down-on-her-luck actress Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera, In the Heights) moves back into her family’s home and discovers that her imaginary childhood nemesis—the monster in her closet (Tommy Dewey, Casual)—is real. Abandoned by her man, mother, and best friend, Laura finds solace in the charming monster’s arms as her rage grows after her ex recasts her role in the musical they wrote together. Caroline Lindy’s delightful directorial debut spins a dark, whimsical tale of comedy, romance, and musical theater set to the beat of Broadway showtunes. Barrera dominates the screen of this beauty-and-the-beast fable as Laura taps into the monster lurking within her.

Expected In Person Guest

It’s 10pm on October 11th, 1975, and the Not Ready for Prime Time Players are definitely not ready. Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and John Belushi (has anyone seen Belushi?) are in alternating states of confusion, excitement, rage, disbelief, and blissfully buzzed. If SNL producer Lorne Michaels can’t pull these impossibly loose ends together within 90 minutes, his career is over before it’s begun, and NBC’s risk-averse execs will be proven right: Live sketch comedy on TV can never beat old Johnny Carson reruns. Jason Reitman (MVFF Award Recipient 2009) delivers a deliciously dizzying behind-the-scenes panoptic view of the lights (some toppling onto the stage), cameras (like producer Dick Ebersol’s beloved Polaroids), and action (loads of it) leading up to the moment Chevy Chase broke late-night television’s fourth wall and proclaimed to the world, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”