Featuring 17 International Award Winning Films During Northern Michigan’s Peak Fall Color.
Download the Frankfort Film Festival Movie Guide! (Adobe PDF)
International Foreign, Shorts and Full Feature Award Winning Films will be presented from festivals held in Cannes, Sundance, Tribecca, Seattle, London, Berlin, Ireland, Barcelona, Bombay and other cities around the world.
Filmmakers will be present at afternoon film showings on Friday & Saturday.
Benzie County, Mich. (October 9, 2014) – The sixth annual Frankfort Film Festival, presented at The Garden Theater in Frankfort, Michigan will take place next weekend, October 16 – 19 during Northern Michigan’s spectacular fall color season. The mission of the Festival is to bring the “Best of” from film events around the world to Benzie County’s beautiful coastal city, Frankfort. Impressive award-winning foreign, short and full feature indie films include Child’s Pose, The Grand Beauty, We Are the Best, Gloria, The Green Prince, Pie Lady of Pie Town, The Cold and the Quiet, Snowpiercer, Our Nixon, Ilo Ilo, Medora, Hypothetically, Cavalry, Art and Craft, Age of Uprising, Ida, and The Gilded Cage will be shown over the four day festival.
The Filmmaker Colleen Griffen who created The Cold and The Quiet, a film that is showing on Friday, October 17 at 4 p.m. will be present at the showing along with lead actress Katie Oellerich. Director Andrew Cohn, filmmaker of Medora, will also be at his movie showing on Saturday, October 18 at 4:30 p.m. Saturday Evening’s film short at 8 p.m – Hypothetically – is a film by Michigan Filmmaker Peter Zinn. Hypothethically is a 7 minute film about two “could be” mob-types who go to a restaurant to discuss “business.” But they do so in such non-committal terms it becomes a verbal joust with many comedic turns and rhyme schemes that keep the audience guessing, “Are these guys for real?” Hypothetically includes actors Joe Forbrich, Mickey Sumner and Vincent Pastore. Hypothetically will be followed by the full feature film Calvary described by Indiewire as “an inventive whodunit with a pitch black heart”
In addition to the international films shown, four short films by students from the Interlochen Motion Picture Arts program also be shown, one per day, over the course of the film festival. Interlochen’s Motion Picture Arts program provides students with a progressive interdisciplinary education through writing, critical studies, and hands-on curriculum.
Live music will be featured prior to Friday, Saturday and Sunday final films of the evening.
Passes for the four-day film festival are $85 for the entire weekend. Individual tickets for each showing are $10 and can be purchased one-hour in advance of each showing. A Director Sponsor pass includes two VIP passes for the weekend and access to the opening night party at the Garden Theater. A listing of the festival schedule and weekend passes are available online at frankfortgardentheater.com. Attendees of the Frankfort Film Festival can vote for the John P. Vinkemulder Audience Award for “best film”.
Visit Benzie County during the Frankfort Film Festival
Frankfort, Michigan is the biggest “small town” in Benzie County, located along M-22, a picturesque and well-known color tour route in Northern Michigan. In addition to the Frankfort Film Festival, visitors can also explore fall color along the Lake Michigan shoreline, climb the Sleeping Bear Dunes, stay in charming lodging locations, discover art galleries, wineries, breweries and farm-to-table dining establishments.
There are numerous choices for lodging in Benzie County from resorts to cabins on the lake. Visitors who book two or more consecutive nights at one of many participating lodging locations in Benzie County can sign up for a special package on the website called “Benzie Treasure Trove”, which includes free or special rate restaurant, sightseeing, kayak and golfing opportunities, and much more. See www.visitbenzie.com for more information.
The Frankfort Film Festival 2014 Schedule starting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, October 16 and ending at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 19.
2014 FFF Movie Lineup
Download the Frankfort Film Festival Movie Guide! (Adobe PDF)
CHILD’S POSE – Drama – THURSDAY 1PM – 112 min./R
A sharply crafted family thriller, CHILD’S POSE pivots on a riveting performance by Gheorghiu (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU, BEYOND THE HILLS) as a steely, upper-class Bucharest architect determined to keep her 30-something deadbeat son out of jail after a deadly car crash. How far will she go to convince the police, eyewitnesses and even the victim’s family that her son was not recklessly speeding? A spellbinding drama of social commentary and psychological realism, this caustic look into the corrupt heart of the Eastern European bourgeoisie twists into a brilliantly ambiguous study of obsessive motherly love.
The Grand Beauty – Drama/Comedy –THURSDAY 3:30PM
142 min./Unrated
Journalist Jep Gambardella (the dazzling Toni Servillo, Il divo and Gomorrah) has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and social circles, but when his sixty-fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
We Are The Best – Drama, Musical, Comedy -THURSDAY 8PM
102min./Unrated
WE ARE THE BEST! is Moodysson’s adaptation of his wife Coco’s graphic novel about three young misfits growing up in early ’80s Stockholm. Pixieish, mohawk-sporting Klara (Mira Grosin) and her best friend Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) are 13-year-old rebels looking for a cause. Despite having no instruments-or discernible musical talent-the two put all their energy into forming an all-girl punk band, recruiting their shy, classical guitar-playing schoolmate Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) as the third wheel. With tender affection for his young characters and the period in which his film is set, Moodysson paints an ebullient and sharply observant portrait of DIY spirit and growing up different.
Gloria – Drama – FRIDAY NOON
108min./R
Gloria is a “woman of a certain age” but still feels young. Though lonely, she makes the best of her situation and fills her nights seeking love at social dance clubs for single adults. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair — until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever.
GLORIA is Chile’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards (R), and stars Paulina García in a tour de force performance that captured the Silver Bear Best Actress Award at this year’s Berlin Film
The Green Prince – Documentary, Special Interest – FRIDAY 2PM
101min/PG-13
Set against the chaotic backdrop of recent events in the Middle East, Nadav Schirman’s THE GREEN PRINCE retraces the details of a highly unprecedented partnership that developed between sworn enemies. In the style of a tense psychological thriller, this extraordinary documentary recounts the true story of the son of a Hamas leader who emerged as one of Israel’s prized informants, and the Shin Bet agent who risked his career to protect him.
Sundance Film Festival 2014 Audience Award – Best Documentary, World Cinema
Moscow International Film Festival 2014 – Audience Award
Docaviv Awards 2014 – Best Editing
Pie Lady of Pie Town – Documentary – FRIDAY 4PM- double feature
28:35min./Unrated/Video Welcome Clip from Director
In a town with no traffic light, gas station, grocery store or motel, one thing is certain: pie equals love. Why did Kathy Knapp, a successful businesswoman, decide to leave her charmed life to bake pie in a dusty town with no traffic light, no gas station, no motel? The area is teeming with Old West history and hardy characters. The film illustrates Kathy’s resolve, heartache, healing, and how pie is a vehicle for love and peace. You’ll see an alien, a dummy, feel connections to deep space, and hear some finger-snapping tunes. You’ll want pie. Welcome to Pie Town, New Mexico. The name is no joke.
The Cold and The Quiet – Drama/Mystery – FRIDAY 4PM- double feature
73min./Unrated
Isolated over the Christmas holiday by her own anxiety, a young college student finds herself responsible for a strangers troubled children as she struggles with the unsettling connection between her own unraveling mental stability and the cold, quiet dark of their broken home.
Snowpiercer – Science Fiction & Fantasy – FRIDAY 8PM
126 min./R
In this sci-fi epic from director Bong Joon Ho (The Host, Mother), a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet. The final survivors board the SNOWPIERCER, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine. When cryptic messages incite the passengers to revolt, the train thrusts full-throttle towards disaster.
Our Nixon -Documentary, Special Interest – SATURDAY 12:30PM
84min./Unrated
Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Young, idealistic and dedicated, they had no idea that a few years later they’d all be in prison. This unique and personal visual record, created by H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin, was seized by the FBI during the Watergate investigation, then filed away and forgotten for almost 40 years. OUR NIXON is an all-archival documentary presenting those home movies for the first time, along with other rare footage, creating an intimate and complex portrait of the Nixon presidency as never seen before.
Ilo Ilo – Drama – SATURDAY 2:30PM
99 min./Unrated
Set in Singapore during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Ilo Ilo chronicles the day-to-day drama of the Lim family – troublesome grade-schooler Jiale and his overstressed parents, Heck and Leng. Comfortably middleclass and with another baby on the way, they hire Teresa, a Filipino immigrant, as a live-in maid and nanny. An outsider in both the family and Singapore itself, Teresa initially struggles to manage Jiale’s antics and find her footing in her new community. The two eventually form a unique bond, but just as Teresa becomes an unspoken part of the family, unforeseen circumstances in an uncertain economy will challenge the new normal yet again.
Medora – Documentary, Special Interest – SATURDAY 4:30PM
82min./Unrated/
Filmmaker & Actor onsite
Years ago, Medora was a booming rural community with prosperous farms, an automotive parts factory, a brick plant, and a thriving middle class. The factories have since closed, crippling Medora’s economy and its pride. The population has slowly dwindled to around 500 people. Drug use is common, the school faces consolidation, and as one resident put it, “This town’s on the ropes.” Medora follows the down-but-not-out Medora Hornets varsity basketball team over the course of the 2011 season, capturing the players’ stories both on and off the court.
Hypothetically – Comedy – SATURDAY 8PM double feature
7min./Unrated
/Director from Michigan!
In this short spoof on the mob genre, two ‘could be’ mob-types walk into a restaurant and discuss ‘business.’ But they do so in such non-committal terms it becomes a verbal joust with comedic turns and rhyme schemes, leaving the audience guessing: ‘are these guys for real?’
Calvary – Drama/Comedy – SATURDAY 8PM double feature
100min./R
CALVARY’s Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter (Kelly Reilly) and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moral – and often comic – problems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in, and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary.
Art and Craft – Documentary/Special Interest – SUNDAY NOON
89min./Unrated
Mark Landis has been called one of the most prolific art forgers in US history. His impressive body of work spans thirty years, covering multiple styles and periods. And while the copies could fetch impressive sums on the open market, Landis isn’t in it for money, but instead donates his fakes to museums across the country. When Matthew Leininger, a tenacious registrar in Cincinnati, discovers the ruse and organizes an exhibition of the work, Landis must confront his legacy and a chorus of museum professionals clamoring for him to stop. However, it’s not so clear that he can. Landis is a diagnosed schizophrenic whose elaborate con is also a means to cultivate connection and respect – feeding what he now understands as an outright “addiction to philanthropy.”
Age of Uprising – Drama/Action & Adventure -SUNDAY 2PM
122min./PG
An epic drama set in 16th century France against a backdrop of feudalism in decline, AGE OF UPRISING: THE LEGEND MICHAEL KOHLHAAS stars Mads Mikkelsen (A ROYAL AFFAIR, VALHALLA RISING, Hannibal) as a well-to-do horse merchant who resorts to fanatical and violent extremes to obtain justice after a nobleman openly and illegally humiliates him by stealing two of his horses. Adapted from Heinrich von Kleist’s novella, a classic of German Romanticism, MICHAEL KOHLHAAS was previously adapted for film in 1969 by Volker Schlöndorff and served as the inspiration for E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime.
Ida – Drama -SUNDAY 4:30PM
80 min./PG-13
From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes IDA, a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, discovers a dark family secret dating from the terrible years of the Nazi occupation. 18-year old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation.
The Gilded Cage – La Cage Dorée – Comedy -SUNDAY 7:30PM
90 min./NR/French w/ Eng Subs
For 30 years Maria and José Ribeiro have been living in one of the most exclusive districts of Paris. Everybody loves this nice couple of Portuguese immigrants. So, the day Maria and José announce their wish to return to Portugal, everybody is crushed. No, they just can’t let them do a thing like that…!
European Film Awards 2013 – Audience Award
CinEuphoria Awards 2014 – Best Ensemble
Interlochen Motion Picture Arts
A showing of four Interlochen MPA shorts, one per day, over the course of the film festival.
The Motion Picture Arts program provides students with a progressive interdisciplinary education through writing, critical studies, and hands-on curriculum. We will show five Interlochen MPA shorts over the film festival preceding five feature films.
