Abattoir
HORROR - 98 minutes
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Description: A real estate reporter named Julia Talben unearths an urban legend about a house being built from rooms where horrific tragedies have occurred. The investigation ultimately leads Talben and a detective to the enigmatic Jebediah Crone and the answer to the question: How do you construct a haunted house?
Talkforward: Michael Yedwab; moderated by Marie Aronsohn
Sponsored by Black Box Studios & Black Box PAC
After Spring
Documentary - 101 minutes
Directed by Steph Chiing/Ellen Martinez
Description: With the Syrian conflict entering its sixth year, millions of people continue to be displaced. By following two refugee families in transition and aid workers fighting to keep the camp running, viewers will experience what it is like to live in Zaatari, the largest camp for Syrian refugees. With no end in sight for the conflict or this refugee crisis, everyone must decide if they can rebuild their lives in a place that was never meant to be permanent.
Talkback: Directors Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez; Cinematographer Jason Graham Howell; moderated by David Bland
Links: OfficialSite - IMDb - Trailer
American Reds
Documentary - 85 minutes
Directed by Richard Wormser
Description: With the Syrian conflict entering its sixth year, millions of people continue to be displaced. By following two refugee families in transition and aid workers fighting to keep the camp running, viewers will experience what it is like to live in Zaatari, the largest camp for Syrian refugees. With no end in sight for the conflict or this refugee crisis, everyone must decide if they can rebuild their lives in a place that was never meant to be permanent.
Talkback: Director Richard Wormser; Producer Bill Jersey; moderated by Ellen Rand
Links: OfficialSite - IMDb
Sponsored by Adeline Wijnen & The Puffin Foundation, Ltd.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
India - comedy/drama - 163 minutes
Directed by Kabir Khan
Description: A man with a magnanimous spirit tries to take a young mute Pakistani girl back to her homeland to reunite her with her family. The film pulsates with heart and has a story to tell. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry.
Talkforward
Links: OfficialSite - IMDb
Sponsored by NPZ Law Group, Global Immigration Attorneys
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
documentary - 100 minutes
Directed by Greg Palast and David Ambrose
Description: Follow gonzo investigate reporter Greg Palast (BBC, Rolling Stone) as he busts the new Ku Klux Klan - the billionaire bandits that are behind a scheme to purge one million voters of color in November. With the help of Willie Nelson, Rosario Dawson, and detectives Ice-T and Richard Belzer, Palast tracks down the secret billionaires behind Donald Trump!
Talkback with Greg Palast (Director), Sameera Khan (Muslim rights activist), Miss New Jersey USA | Moderated by Marie Aronsohn
Links: IMDb
Sponsored by The Puffin Foundation, Ltd
Carvalho’s Journey
documentary/Biography/history - 85 minutes
Directed by Steve Rivo
Description: A real life 19th century American western adventure story, Carvalho’s Journey traces the extraordinary saga of Solomon Nunez Carvalho 1815-1897 , an observant Sephardic Jew born in Charleston, South Carolina, and his life as a groundbreaking photographer, artist, and pioneer in American history. The film features interviews with scholars and writers, rare archival materials, original landscape cinematography and re-creations of the daguerreotype process. Film provided by The National Center for Jewish Film
Talkback with Steve Rivo (Director), David Oestricher (Lenapes expert), Arlene Hirschfelder (author and historian), Rabbi Steven Sirbu (Temple Emeth)
Links: OfficialSite - IMDb - Facebook
Dukale’s Dream
documentary - 70 minutes
Directed by Josh Victor Rothstein
Description: Hugh Jackman X-MEN's "Wolverine" flies to Ethiopia as part of World Vision's initiative to bring attention to their success in raising people out of poverty. Hugh spends an entire day in the fields with coffee grower Dukale who is working hard to lift his family out of poverty. He learns first-hand about the value of fair trade coffee. Inspired by Dukale, Hugh launches Laughing Man Coffee, trading directly with the growers and donating 100% of the profit to support community development programs and social entrepreneurs around the world.
Talkback with Josh Victor Rothstein (Director) | Moderated by Regina Melnyk (Teaneck High School Fair Trade Adviser)
Links: OfficialSite - IMDb - Facebook
Sponsored by Teaneck Fair Trade & Teaneck High School Fair Trade Student Committee
The Innocents
poland/france - drama - 115 minutes
Directed by Anne Fontaine
Description: In 1945 Poland, a young French Red Cross doctor who is sent to assist the survivors of the German camps discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy during a visit to a nearby convent.
Talkback with Sister Camille D'Arienzo, Angela Bonavoglia (author and journalist) | Moderated by Sandi Klein (Conversations with Creative Women)
Sponsored by Sandi Klein's Conversations with Creative Women
Kid Flix Mix 2016
live action/animated short film - 60 minutes
Hosted by Bob McGrath (Sesame Street)
Description: Thanks to a grant from the Puffin Foundation, children will be admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Once again, TIFF presents the acclaimed New York International Children's Film Festival assortment of its best animated and live action films from around the world. Bob McGrath, of Teaneck and Sesame Street, will introduce the program, which features musical and narrative works from around the world. The collection is guaranteed to delight our youngest filmgoers.
Sponsored by The Puffin Foundation, Ltd and YWCA Bergen Country
Last Cab to Darwin
comedy/drama/romance - 123 minutes
Directed by Jeremy Sims
Description: Rex is a loner, and when he's told he doesn't have long to live, he embarks on an epic drive through the Australian outback from Broken Hill to Darwin to die on his own terms. His journey reveals to him that before you can end your life, you have to live it, and to live it, you've got to share it.
Talkback with Dr. Richard Bosenbluth (Holy Name Medical Center - palliative care specialist) | Moderated by Ellen Rand (author and TIFF co-founder)
Links: IMDb
The Last Laugh
documentary - 88 minutes
Directed by Ferne Pearlstein
Description: Feature documentary about humor and the Holocaust, examining whether it is ever acceptable to use humor in connection with a tragedy of that scale, and the implications for other seemingly off-limits topics in a society that prizes free speech. Features Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried.
Talkback with Ferne Pearlstein (Director), Alan Zweibel (author, playwright, screenwriter, producer, director, actor, comedian, writer for Saturday Night Live) | Moderated by Sandi Klein (Conversations with Creative Women)
Sponsored by Rotary Club of Teaneck
Life, Animated
documentary - 89 minutes
Directed by Roger Ross Williams
Description: A coming of age story about a boy and his family who overcame great challenges by turning Disney animated movies into a language to express love, loss, kinship and brotherhood. Based on the bestseller by Ron Suskind about his autistic son’s astonishing journey back to the world.
OfficialSite - IMDb - Facebook -
Sponsored by Wendy Dessanti, Weichert Realtors & The Township of Teaneck and The Teaneck Board of Education, “Stigma-Free Zone”
Making a Killing:
Guns, Greed, and the NRA
documentary - 103 minutes
Directed by Robert Greenwald
Description: Documentary features personal stories from people across the country who have been affected by gun violence, including survivors and victims' families. The film exposes how the powerful gun companies and the NRA are resisting responsible legislation for the sake of profit - and thereby putting people in danger. The film looks into gun tragedies that include unintentional shootings, domestic violence, suicides, mass shootings and trafficking - and what we can do to put an end to this profit-driven crisis.
OfficialSite - IMDb - Facebook
Sponsored by Senator Loretta Weinberg & National Council of Jewish Women Bergen County Section
A Man and a Woman
France - Romantic Drama - 1966 - 102 minutes
Directed by Claude Lelouche; French/English subtitles
Description: A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their children's boarding school. Slowly they reveal themselves to each other, finding that each is a widow/widower. Much of the film is told wordlessly in action or through hearing their thoughts as they go about their day.
Maya Angelou and Still I Rise
documentary - 114 minutes
Directed by Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack
Description: Dr. Angelou has become a global symbol of peace, humility, and freedom – but parts of her story are not well known. This documentary will reflect on how the events of history, culture, and the arts shaped Dr. Angelou’s life and how she, in turn, helped shape our own world view through her autobiographical literature and activism.
Sponsored by The Teaneck Community Chorus & YWCA of Bergen County
Miss Diamond
documentary - 5 minutes
Directed by Juan Castañeda
Description: An incredibly talented artist and a fierce activist, Miss Diamond knew from a young age that what other people saw, was not who she was. This is the story of survival in a world that often rejects transgender people.
Olympic Pride, American Prejudice
documentary - 82 minutes
Directed by Deborah Riley Draper
Description: Documentary explores the experiences of 18 African American Olympians who defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to win hearts and medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Narrated by Blair Underwood.
OfficialSite - IMDb - Facebook
Sponsored by The Bergen County (NJ) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
documentary - 72 minutes
Directed by Gini Reticker
Description: The remarkable account of the Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country. A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.
Sponsored by The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. Bergen/Passaic Chapter
Projections of America
documentary - 52 minutes
Directed by Peter Miller; English, German, French/English subtitles
Description: Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Riskin headed up a secret film unit that sought to redefine America in the eyes of the world during the darkest days of World War II. The filmmakers created powerful short documentaries that showed America's strength not through images of tanks, but in portraits of farmers, school children and window washers. These films were brilliant, moving portraits of America that were unlike any films ever made before, but seventy years later they are forgotten, hidden away in government archives. Narrated by John Lithgow.
Sponsored by The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. Bergen/Passaic Chapter
Sold
India/England/US - Drama - 94 minutes
Directed by Jeffrey D. Brown
Description: Through one extraordinary girl’s story, Sold illustrates the brutality of child trafficking, which affects millions of children around the globe every year. Produced by two time Academy Award winner Emma Thompson, and starring Gillian Anderson and David Arquette, Sold is a call to action, and a testament to the power and resilience of the human spirit.
Sponsored by Wise Older Women
Strange Victory
Documentary - 1948 - 71 minutes
Directed by Leo Hurwitz
Description: Collaging nonfiction materials, newsreel footage, and Hurwitz's brilliantly-shot scenes, Strange Victory powerfully documents the racism and anti-Semitism of postwar America. Images of stickers saying “Save America – Don't Buy from Jews,” signs that read “For Whites Only,” and photos of Ku Klux Klan lynchings are juxtaposed with footage of Nazi rallies and concentration camp inmates. This seldom-shown work, now beautifully restored from the producer’s original 1948 nitrate interpositive, landed its director on Hollywood’s blacklist.
Sponsored by Five Star Premier Residences of Teaneck
Trapped
Documentary - 90 minutes
Directed by Dawn Porter
Description: From 2011 to 2013, hundreds of regulations were passed restricting access to abortion in America. Reproductive rights advocates refer to these as "TRAP" laws, or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. Trapped interweaves the personal stories behind these regulatory battles: from the physician who crisscrosses the country assuring medical services are available; to the strong women and men who run the clinics; to the lawyers leading the legal charge to eliminate these laws; to the women they are all determined to help.
Sponsored by League of Women Voters of Teaneck, NJ
Waiting
India - Drama - 92 minutes
Directed by Anu Menon; Hindi, English/English subtitles
Description: An elderly man whose wife has been in a coma for eight months meets a terrified young wife whose husband has slipped into coma after a sudden accident. Will grief drive them both insane, or can two lonely strangers support each other?
Sponsored by Bergen County (NJ) Chapter of the Links, Inc.
