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| Viva Cuba Libre: Rap is War! is a documentary on music censorship in Cuba. |
This Thursday Nashville will go on an eight-day World Tour of fifty countries via 250 films. The 44th Annual Nashville Film Festival l(NaFF) will run from April 18-25, 2013 at the Green Hills Theater.
Acclaimed World Cinema films presented include Kon-Tiki (Norway) and Post Tenebras Lux (Mexico). Kon-Tiki (Directors Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg), Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film, is the story of legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal's epic 4,300 miles crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947. His mission? To prove it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Post Tenebras Lux is a Mexican film whose director, Carlos Reygadas, won Best Director at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Hispanic narrative shorts include The Companion and Behind the Mirrors (both from Peru) and A World for Raul (Mexico). Hispanic feature films include Here Comes the Devil (Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano) and Viva Cuba Libre: Rap is War! (Director Jesse Acevedo) and 3 (Pablo Stoll). Here Comes the Devil which swept the Texas fest's horror prizes last fall. It is the story of parents whose children are lost on a family trip near caves in Tijuana. When they reappear without explanation, clearly they are not who they used to be.
Viva Cuba Libre: Rap is War! is a Music City feature from the USA and Cuba directed by Jesse Acevedo. In a small town outside of Havana, two kids—the Cruz brothers—are beaten up in their own home by the police for listening to the music of Los Aldeanos. Risking his freedom and his life, documentary filmmaker Jesse Acevedo takes the viewer inside the revolution brewing within Cuba. Using hidden cameras, he exposes a society where people live in fear and where the Cruz brothers were wrongfully taken into custody. The film centers on an emotional interview the brothers’ mother and asks if Los Aldeanos will be the lost voice of a lost generation, or the sound of the future. 3 is a comedy from Uruguay about “three people condemned to the same, absurd fate: being a family.”
NaFF, whose presenting sponsor is Nissan North America, is one of only 42 film festivals worldwide whose picks for the Best Short Narrative and Animation competitions automatically qualify recipients for Academy Award. More than $37,000 plus television broadcasting contracts will be awarded to innovative filmmakers, including prizes for Tennessee directors, best film by a black filmmaker, and best Hispanic film. NaFF partners year- round with local cultural and ethnic groups and provides programs for senior citizens, challenged teens and student filmmakers.“Because of our Academy Award qualifier status, we tend to receive an impressive amount of short film entries each year,” said Artistic Director, Brian Owens. “This year we had more submissions than ever before. The films we selected represent every corner of the world, from the United Kingdom, Israel, and Spain to Slovenia, China, and Iraq. It will be like a mini World Cinema category with ten times as many films!”
For the Festival schedule and ticket purchases go to nashvillefilmfestival.org Tickets will also be available at the NaFF Box Office in the downstairs lobby of Regal Green Hills Cinema, which opens April 17. Regular ticket price per film $12, college students and senior citizens with ID $8, and member prices from $4 to $7 off each ticket. Tuesday, April 23, NaFF will host a free event: “an epic battle for movie geek supremacy.” At 8:00 PM at the Crow's Nest located at 2221 Bandywood Dr. teams can win 10 film vouchers ($120 value), plus $50 in Crow's Nest gift cards.
For more information including descriptions of eight special feature presentations and a NaFF slideshow, go here.
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| In 3 an unhappily remarried father tries to get back into the home and lives of his daughter and ex-wife. |
