Now this is going to be fun! Beginning last night with the outdoor Popcorn Flick screening of POLTERGEIST and for the final three weeks of October, Enzian is bringing all kinds of ghoulish goings-on to the Central Florida cultural landscape. You may not recognize us (especially with the Haunted Swamp and Walk of Terror on Halloween weekend), but there will be plenty of laughs, frights, freak-outs, and (in some cases) buckets of gore gracing our screen in the coming days.
The 10th anniversary screening of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, accompanied by Producer Robin Cowie who’ll be in attendance for intro and Q&A, takes place tomorrow (Saturday) night at 12 midnight. This has gotten tons of publicity, so you may want to get there early. Next up on Tuesday, 10/13, at 9:30 as part of our Cult Classics series, is Tim Burton’s Oscar-winning look at one of the worst film directors of all time, the infamous ED WOOD (Plan 9 From Outer Space). An incredible cast, including Johnny Depp, Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi), Bill Murray, and Sarah Jessica Parker help bring the period to life. This is followed on Saturday, October 17 at 12 midnight, by one of the most notoriously repulsive and controversial films of our generation, Ruggero Deodato’s CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, and the first of our three MovieJoint presentations. To say there’s a cult following for this movie would be an understatement, but you’ve been warned…A week later on October 24 at 12 midnight will be Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s south-of-the-border vampire action-fest, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. The fun cast includes George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Salma Hayek, Juliette Lewis, and Cheech Marin. Following that will be another Cult Classic series presentation, THE EXORCIST, on Tuesday, October 27 at 9:30 PM. Still terrifying, this notorious supernatural thriller stars Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, and Jason Miller. Your mother does what in hell?!? And closing out the month for a two-night engagement on October 30 & 31 at 12 midnight will be perhaps the greatest zombie movie of them all—George Romero’s original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in glorious (or is that gorious?) b&w 16mm.
So there’s truly something in the Halloween spirit for everyone’s tastes and stomachs. Come join us if you dare…
How can you go wrong this weekend at Enzian? The 15th annual South Asian Film Festival, co-presented with the Asian Cultural Association, is finally here and it’s a doozy! From Saturday morning, October 3, to Monday evening, October 5, a wonderful, award-winning, and diverse group of 5 films will be gracing Enzian’s screen as part of our 15th anniversary of celebrating Indian film, history, and culture. From an acclaimed master like Santosh Sivan to the directorial debut of a Mira Nair’s noted screenwriter (Sooni Taraporevela) to a Student Academy Award winner (Gregg Helvey), this is a lineup that’s certainly “Beyond Bollywood” with truly something for everyone. With four Southeast Premieres and one Florida Premiere, along with tasty treats and beverages like samosas, chicken tika, Kingfisher beer, and mango lassis, you won’t have to go far to have a uniquely delicious and rewarding experience.
This year’s program includes Santosh Sivan’s mesmerizing, Kashmir-set fable, TAHAAN; Manish Acharya’s hilarious, Christopher Guest-like satire, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS; Faiza Ahmad Khan’s brilliant short doc feature about super-low-budget filmmaking in small-town India, SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON (5-Star reviews from both the Orlando Sentinel & Orlando Weekly!); Gregg Helvey’s stunning, Student Oscar-winning short, KAVI; and this year’s Audience Award winner for Best Narrative Feature at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, Sooni Taraporevela’s LITTLE ZIZOU, an exhuberant comedy about Mumbai’s Parsi community. For more on the films and ticket info, check out http://enzian.org/festival/south_asian/
From the better-late-than-never department I wanted to give a shout-out to September’s FilmSlam winners. The monthly showcase for in-state produced short films actually took place a couple of weeks ago while I was attending the Toronto Film Festival, and a solid crowd of almost 90 local indie film lovers, family members, and filmmaker friends came out to show their support and voice their opinions. Taking 1st Place and (time permitting) earning a bye into December’s Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase (which can lead to a spot in April’s Florida Film Festival) was Aron Chapman and Natalie Vazquez Rivera’s THE TRANSPLANTED LIFE. This doc from Clermont explores the life of an organ transplant patient by showing life on dialysis as well as the dramatic changes once the transplant has taken place. Congratulations to Aron and Natalie.
Kudos also to the 2nd and 3rd Place finishers, Dean Zarbaugh and Marti Rivera’s ICE from Winter Park, and Jason Giraulo’s PARTING from Palm Coast. Remember that October’s FilmSlam will take place as usual at 1:00 PM on the second Sunday of the month, 10/11, and the submission deadline for the upcoming Brouhaha in December is Friday, 10/23. Entry info is available here, www.enzian.org/festivals/brouhaha, so be sure to get your short films in now!
The lineup for the 15th annual South Asian Film Festival, produced in conjunction with Jasbir Mehta and the Asian Cultural Association, is ready to go and it looks like a good one. Always one of Enzian’s more popular special programs on its cultural circuit, this year’s festivities on October 3 - 5 will include 3 narrative features, 1 doc feature, and 1 narrative short, while boasting 4 Southeastern premieres and 1 Florida premiere along with 4 Audience Award winners from the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and the 2009 Gold Medal winner for the Student Academy Awards. All in all it’s a highly acclaimed group of films featuring a host of popular and talented actors including Anupam Kher, Sarika, Rahul Bose, Shabana Azmi, Ajay Naidu, Ayesha Dharkar, Boman Irani, Sohrab Ardeshir, and John Abraham.
Opening and closing the festival will be the latest work from Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist), TAHAAN, a stunningly shot, fable-like story about an eight-year-old boy in Kashmir struggling to gain back his best friend, a beloved pet donkey. Told with warmth and humor, the film has been compared to the work of Satyajit Ray and some of the great films of Iranian cinema. Next up is Manish Acharya’s LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS, a hilarious Christopher Guest-like mockumentary about a Desi Idol singing contest being held at a hotel in New Jersey. Sunday morning brings Faiza Ahmad Khan’s award-winning and highly entertaining documentary, SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON, an inside look at a super-low budget and self-taught film director in a factory town who specializes in Hollywood and Bollywood spoofs and has embarked on his most ambitious project to date. This will be preceded by Gregg Helvey’s Student Oscar-winning short, KAVI, about a young boy who dreams of a normal life but must try to lead his family out of bonded labor in a brick kiln. And last but not least, Mira Nair’s long-time screenwriter, Sooni Taraporevela, makes her directorial debut with LITTLE ZIZOU, a charming and rich portrait of Mumbai’s Parsi community.
In case you didn’t catch it already online or at the theater, details have been revealed regarding the lineup for this year’s 12th annual Manhattan Short Film Festival and it looks like a good one! From 428 entries received from 36 countries, the curators for the festival have selected the following 10 films for exhibition all over the world the week of September 20th:
Julius Onah’s THE BOUNDARY (USA)
Daniel Wirtberg’s LOVE CHILD (Sweden)
Alcides Soares’ MOZAMBIQUE (Mozambique)
Jeremy Clapin’s SKHIZEIN (France)
Jorge Molina’s PARKING (Spain)
Martina Amati’s A’MARE (Italy)
Sandy Widyanata’s PLASTIC (Australia)
Isabel De Ocampo’s MIENTE (Spain)
Yehezkel Lazarov’s LASHABIYA (Israel)
Sam Donovan’s HAMMERHEAD (UK)
So there you have it. Over 500 screenings in 173 cities on 5 continents, but the only place you can see this terrific program of shorts in Orlando—one of only 3 cities in the state of Florida hosting the event—is Enzian on Tuesday, 9/22, at 6:30 PM. Get your tickets early so you don’t miss out.
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