Archive for the 2023 FILMS Category

2023 (USA) 103 minutes

Directed by: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss

John Chau, a young American missionary, went missing in 2018 while attempting to contact one of the world’s most isolated indigenous peoples on remote North Sentinel Island. Longtime collaborators and Emmy Award-winning directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss uncover the gripping story through
exclusive interviews and unprecedented access to Chau’s secret plans, personal diaries, and video archives. THE MISSION deftly examines the eternal mythology of exploration that inspired him, the evangelical community that supported his quest, and Chau’s father’s heartbreak when a youthful thirst for adventure became a dangerous obsession. A National Geographic release.

2023 Telluride Film Festival
2023 BFI London Film Festival

Incline Village Cinema – December 2 – 8:30pm

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2023 (USA) 93 minutes

Directed by: Matthieu Rytz

Director Matthieu Rytz presents a fascinating and compelling documentary about secret organizations mining metals in the sea floor, for use in green technology. As the world seeks solutions for the climate crisis, battery-powered vehicles have emerged as a key component to the solution. But these large batteries need valuable metals, and corporations are turning to deep sea mining in the Pacific Ocean to get these lucrative deposits. Deep Rising follows a mining startup as it attempts to open up swaths of the ocean floor to mining. Featuring incredible ocean photography alongside thought-provoking geopolitical, scientific, and corporate discussions, Rytz’s newest documentary examines every side of the green energy revolution. Narrated by Jason Momoa, Deep Rising illuminates the vital relationship between the deep ocean and sustaining life on Earth.

2023 Sundance Film Festival

Crystal Bay Casino Crown Room – December 2 – 2:00pm

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2023 (USA) 105 minutes

Directed by: Josh Tickell

A striking wake-up call for the entire world, this dramatic and gorgeously shot doc focuses on the power of regenerative farming to transform the Earth, and how soil health is the key to all health. Filmmakers Rebecca and Josh Tickell dig into the impact contemporary agriculture has on everyday lives, with celebrities including Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, and Donald Glover introducing us to farmers, scientists, and concerned citizens on the literal ground working to save the planet. The film delves into the financial and political drivers behind farming decisions, including a look at the unsettling racial history of American agriculture, the role of government lobbyists, and the influence of chemical companies like Monsanto. Ultimately it delivers a hopeful message as a growing number of innovative farmers find strategies to not only produce nutritional food, but also revive our faltering ecosystem.

2023 Tribeca Film Festival – Winner Human/Nature Award

Crystal Bay Casino Crown Room – December 2 – 4:00pm
Welk – Hyatt Vacation Club at Northstar Lodge – December 1 – 6:00pm

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2023 (USA) 4 60-minute episodes

Directed by: Scott Z. Burns

This series from Apple TV+ is a bracing drama from writer, director and executive director Scott Z. Burns that introduces a near future where the chaotic effects of climate change have become embedded into our everyday lives. Four interwoven stories about love, work, faith and family from across the globe will explore the intimate, life-altering choices that must be made when the planet is changing faster than the population. Every episode is different, but the fight for our future is universal. And when the fate of humanity is up against a ticking clock, the battle between courage and complacency has never been more urgent. Are we brave enough to become the solution to our own undoing before it’s too late?

Scott Z. Burns is a screenwriter, director, producer, and playwright. His work in film includes producing An Inconvenient Truth, as well as An Inconvenient Sequel and Sea Of Shadows. Burns’ writing credits include The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!, Contagion, Side Effects and The Laundromat. Burns’ credits as a director include PU-239 and The Report. On stage, Burns’ play The Library was produced at The Public Theater and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New American Play.

Scott Z. Burns will be present to introduce this series as well as participate with a Q & A afterward.

2037: A RAVEN STORY
Directed by: Scott Z. Burns
As nations fight over the Earth’s fate, Rebecca (Sienna
Miller), Marshall (Daveed Diggs), and Junior (Matthew
Rhys) all see their plans go up in smoke.

Incline Village Cinema – December 9 – 2:00pm

2046: WHALE FALL
Directed by: Scott Z. Burns
Rebecca, a marine biologist, strives to connect with a
humpback whale (voiced by Meryl Streep) before it’s
too late.

Incline Village Cinema – December 9 – 3:00pm

2047: THE FIFTH QUESTION
Directed by: Gregory Jacobs
As Miami’s waters rise, Rabbi Zucker gets an intriguing
offer from the father (David Schwimmer) of a young
woman preparing for her bat mitzvah.

Incline Village Cinema – December 10 – 2:00pm

2066: LOLA
Directed by: Scott Z. Burns
Natasha (Gemma Chan), a single Mom in London,
braves the world of artificial companionship, until she
rents a partner (Tahar Rahim) she can’t forget.

Incline Village Cinema – December 10 – 3:00pm

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2023 (VENEZUELA, USA) 100 minutes

Directed by: Miguel Angel Ferrer

Leo (Carlos Manuel Gonzalez) is a blue collar worker with a musical past living in the remote city of Acarigua, nestled in the Venezuelan inland empire. Haunted by financial debt and problems at home, he does anything to stay afloat.

One day, his younger brother Alex (Anyelo Lopez) who has been deaf since birth, offers him a solution: to participate in a musical contest in the capital, Caracas, performing a song that he has written himself because the first prize may solve all his economic problems.

Forced by circumstance, Leo must take a leap of faith, unearth his dormant musical talent and do the impossible to change his and his brother’s future by joining their voices in an unforgettable journey.

2023 Monterrey International Film Festival – Best Film

Official Selection from Venezuela in the Best International Feature
category for the 2024 Academy Awards.

Incline Village Cinema – December 3 – 6:00pm

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2023 (FRANCE) 145 minutes

Directed by: Tran Anh Hung

Trần Anh Hùng won Best Director at Cannes for this sumptuous and impossibly romantic film that pays tribute to love, food, and joie de vivre. Based on a Marcel Rouff novel, The Taste of Things stars Juliette Binoche as Eugénie, a renowned 19th-century chef who partners with the gourmet Dodin (Benoît Magimel) to create gustatory pleasures. They’ve become lovers over the years, but Eugénie refuses to marry him, citing a desire to maintain her independence. That tension brings additional spice to a film inclined to linger over delicious dishes, charting a nuanced and touching relationship between strong-willed, deeply affectionate individuals with intertwined yet separate lives. Trần (The Scent of Green Papaya, Norwegian Wood) deftly presents this culinary world as a reminder of how our passions give us meaning. The cast is superb, with Binoche especially divine as a witty, elegant cook who sees in every meal the possibility for creativity and personal expression. No wonder Dodin adores Eugénie so — viewers will feel the same.

2023 Cannes Film Festival – Best Director – Nom. – Palme d’Or

Official Selection from France in the Best International Feature
Film category for the 2024 Academy Awards.

Incline Village Cinema – December 2 – 6:00pm

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2023 (USA) 97 minutes

Directed by: William Oldroyd

Based on the book of the same name by bestselling author,
Ottessa Moshfegh and set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts
winter, EILEEN is the story of a young secretary named Eileen
(Thomasin McKenzie) who becomes enchanted by Rebecca
(Anne Hathaway), the glamorous new counselor at the prison
where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn
when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a
sinister path. William Oldroyd’s EILEEN is a neo-noir that upends
audience expectations with each new twist and turn, leading to
jaw-dropping revelations and an unforgettable finale.

2023 Sundance Film Festival

Northstar Village Cinema – December 2 – 6:00pm

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2023 (JAPAN) 125 minutes

Directed by: Wim Wenders

Kõji Yakusho mesmerizes as Hirayama, a contented middle aged man living a structured life as a Tokyo toilet cleaner in Wim Wenders’ poetic and contemplative new film. The drama weaves together short stories that reveal how Hirayama’s deep passion for music, books, and tree photography enriches his daily routine.
As the film elegantly unfolds, unexpected encounters add detail to the façade of Hirayama’s generosity and simplicity. Wenders’ delicate filmmaking captures Tokyo’s essence through carefully framed shots, enhancing the viewer’s connection with the city. Music, mainly 1960s pop, becomes a narrative thread, reflecting Hirayama’s emotional state. His moods resonate with classics from Nina Simone and Van Morrison, the Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun,” and even Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.” It’s impossible not to be engrossed by Yakusho’s captivating, subtle, and passionate performance, for which he won the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes, where the film also deservedly won the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

2023 Telluride Film Festival
2023 New York Film Festival
2023 Cannes Film Festival – Best Actor – Ecumenical Jury Prize

Official Selection from Japan in the Best International Feature Film category for the 2024 Academy Awards.

Incline Village Cinema – December 1 – 8:15pm

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2023 (USA) 113 minutes

Directed by: Todd Haynes

In this sharp new romantic drama from director Todd Haynes, a sly battle of wills ensues when an actress (Natalie Portman) spends time with the housewife (Julianne Moore) she’s been hired to portray: a former tabloid queen whose shocking affair with an underage schoolboy made headlines 20 years earlier. The onceillicit lovers are married now, with a couple of kids, but the legacy of the scandal still stirs up a tangled web of emotions. Where is the line between research and flirtation, between naiveté and delusion? Where does assumption end and judgment begin? No stranger to the complexity of relationships, Haynes of Far from Heaven and Carol fame, once again resists easy answers, instead offering plenty of stunning revelations, with family secrets revealed, surprise motivations surfaced, and audience expectations engrossingly subverted.

2023 Cannes Film Festival – Nominated Palme d’Or
2023 New York Film Festival
2023 Chicago International Film Festival

Incline Village Cinema – December 1 – 6:00pm

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2023 (USA) 129 minutes

Directed by: Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan deliver stunning
performances as Leonard Bernstein and his wife, actress Felicia
Montealegre, in this intimate portrait of a marriage that spanned
more than 25 years. Bernstein was an indispensable figure in
the history of classical music, as a conductor, composer, pianist,
and educator. Certainly, the dominant American conductor of
the late 20th century, he accomplished as much as anyone in
making “serious” music intelligible to a broad audience. With
breathtaking sweep, Maestro reflects on Bernstein’s life, career,
and marriage with Felicia, which endured through his many
liaisons. The film marks Cooper’s return to the director’s chair
following his triumphant A STAR IS BORN. Co-scripting with
Josh Singer, he’s also among its producers along with Martin
Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Against an evolving film canvas
of black-and-white and color, his extraordinary portrayal captures
Bernstein’s bold and charismatic conducting style, animated by
music from the maestro himself.

2023 Venice Film Festival
2023 New York Film Festival
2023 AFI Film Festival

Incline Village Cinema – November 30 – 5:30pm

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