The 2015 Gold Coast International Film Festival announces an exciting slate of films for this year’s festival taking place Nov. 9 to 15 in venues throughout the north shore of Long Island, including two theaters in Port Washington—Soundview Cinemas, 7 Soundview Market Pl., and Bow Tie Cinemas, 116 Main St. Once again, everyone is invited to join in for an exciting week of films, parties, filmmaker Q-and-As and more. The fifth anniversary of the festival will feature over 60 films.
The festival kicks off with an intimate conversation with award-winning writer, director and producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) being held on the campus of LIU Post, 720 Northern Blvd., on Nov. 9. This event will include a special screening of Spurlock’s new short film Crafted.
Free tickets to all screenings are available for veterans and current military personnel, courtesy of 1-800-Flowers.com. For tickets, visit www.goldcoastfilmfestival.org.
Win two tickets by commenting with your favorite movie on our Facebook page.
At Soundview Cinemas
Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
The Benefactor
Dir. Andrew Renzi | USA | English | 92 min | Narrative
Richard Gere shines as Franny, an eccentric philanthropist trying to reconnect with his deceased best friend’s’ daughter (Dakota Fanning) and her young husband (Theo James). Although impossibly charming, Franny’s motives and lifestyle bring about larger moral questions, in this surprising and engaging drama.
Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m.
(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies
Dir. Yael Melamede | USA | English | 90 min | Documentary
Presented in partnership with the Nassau County Bar Association. This humorous and engaging documentary, inspired by the work of behavioral economist Dan Ariely, interweaves personal stories, expert opinions, behavioral experiments, and archival footage and creates a fascinating and insightful inquiry into why people lie and the very real effects it can have. Q-and-A with Director Yael Melamede and Ethics law experts Kevin Kearon, Esq., Steven Leventhal, Esq. and Omid Zareh, Esq. Optional CLE credit will be offered at the event for practicing attorneys.
Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m.
Autism In Love
Dir. Matt Fuller | USA | English | 76 min | Documentary
With remarkable thoroughness and compassion, director Matthew Fuller examines the everyday realities of autistic adulthood, showing how the members of this often-misunderstood community cope with the challenge of keeping romance alive over the years. Q-and-A with Pat Schissel of the Asperger Syndrome & High Functioning Autism Association and Kate Palmer of The Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership, Inc.
2 p.m.
Landfill Harmonic
Dir. Graham Townsley, Brad Allgood | USA | Spanish/English with Eng. subtitles | 84 min | Documentary
The Recycled Orchestra, a youth group playing instruments made entirely out of garbage, is catapulted into the global spotlight when their story goes viral and is featured on 60 Minutes. This amazing and inspirational doc is a testament to the power of music and the resilience of the human spirit. Presented in partnership with Residents for a More Beautiful Port Washington.
3:30 p.m.
Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey Of Chamique Holdsclaw
Dir. Rick Goldsmith | USA | English | 57 min | Documentary
Sponsored by the Katz Institute for Women’s Health of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Two-time Academy Award nominee Rick Goldsmith crafts an intimate profile of Chamique Holdsclaw, who became the best and most famous women’s basketball player on the planet until her career was derailed by depression and near-suicide. Since leaving the WNBA, she has become a powerful mental health advocate and role model. Q-and-A with Director Rick Goldsmith, WNBA superstar and subject of the film Chamique Holdsclaw and North Shore-LIJ Health System distinguished experts in psychiatry, sports medicine and women’s health.
5 p.m.
When I Live My Life Over Again
Dir. Robert Edwards | USA | English | 98 min. | Narrative
In this warm comedy of music, career comebacks and family dysfunction, aspiring artist Jude (Amber Heard) heads to the Hamptons home of her father (Christopher Walken), an over-the-hill crooner desperately charting his musical comeback.
6 p.m.
Mustang
Dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven | France/Turkey | Turkish with English subtitles | 95 min | Narrative
In this poignant, eloquent drama, five sisters in a Turkish village play with boys while walking home from school. The perceived immorality of their play has unexpected consequences, and when the girls’ parents begin to turn their home into a prison, they must band together to fight back against the limits imposed on them. Direct from the Cannes Film Festival, and France’s official submission to the Academy Awards.
8 p.m.
Mafia And Red Tomatoes
Dir. Giulio Manfredonia | Italy | Italian with English subtitles | 100 min | Narrative
A unique mix of comedy and drama in the story of an unlikely group of volunteers in the south of Italy who form a farm collective on land confiscated from a jailed Mafioso, who unexpectedly returns and is not pleased with what’s become of his property. Q-and-A with Fabio Troisi of the Italian Cultural Institute.
8:30 p.m.
Frank And Cindy
Dir. G.J. Echternkamp | USA | English | 101 min | Narrative
A delightfully dark comedy about a young aspiring filmmaker who comes back home to his unpredictable mom (Rene Russo) and unexpectedly starts an online documentary about his stepfather (Oliver Platt), an overweight alcoholic who was in an 80s one-hit-wonder band. Ironically, what started as a joke evolves into something else—a brutal, but often hilarious look at a flawed family coming to terms with the past and each other.
Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1:30 p.m.
My Friend Victoria
Dir. Jean-Paul Civeyrac | France | French with English subtitles | 95 min | Narrative
Adapted from a story by Nobel-laureate Doris Lessing, My Friend Victoria is a complex, poignant portrait of a black woman in contemporary Paris whose destiny is shaped by France’s attitudes on class and privilege. This superbly acted, distinctly fresh take on racial identity is an acutely intelligent achievement by a director whose time has surely come.
4 p.m.
Hellohello
Dir. Maria Blom | Sweden | Swedish with English subtitles | 97 min | Narrative
This warm-hearted Swedish comedy follows Disa—40ish, a bit dumpy and way too accommodating—who is stuck in a rut after her husband leaves her for a twiggy new model, and her mother and work colleague continue to boss her around. With the help of a new man in her life, she learns to take care of herself, but is she up for the challenge?
4:30 p.m.
Top Spin
Dir. Mina T. Son, Sara Newens | USA | English and Mandarin with English subtitles | 81 min | Documentary
An inside look at an offbeat sport, Top Spin turns one of America’s favorite pastimes on its head and reveals a coming-of-age story where success and failure come down to mere millimeters. The film follows three fiercely committed teenagers as they battle their way through the world of elite, competitive table tennis and trade dreams of the prom and graduation for the Olympics and winning gold. Q-and-A with film subject Michael Landers, who is from Long Island.
At Bow Tie Port Washington Cinemas
Friday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
We Are Twisted F*cking Sister
Dir. Andrew Horn | USA | English | 139 min | Documentary
The mesmerizing, wickedly appealing and never-before-told story of the first ten grueling years leading up to Twisted Sister’s legendary career, as they cross-dressed their way to headlining every club from Long Island beach bars to New Jersey bowling alleys, recounted by the band themselves, their managers and some of their most devout fans. Q-and-A with Director Andrew Horn and Twisted Sister members Jay Jay French, Mark “The Animal” Mendoza and Comanager Joe Gerber
Over the past five years, the festival has brought the latest Hollywood hits and Indie favorites to standing-room-only audiences throughout the Gold Coast of Long Island. With A-list celebrities and unforgettable events, GCIFF has become the “go-to” festival for film buffs and the public. It is also the last major film festival on the east coast before awards season. The festival is produced by the Gold Coast Arts Center.
Previous honorees and special guests of the festival and the Gold Coast Arts Center include film industry VIPs Francis Ford Coppola, Hugh Grant, Baz Luhrmann, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino, Ed Burns, Bruce Dern, Isabella Rossellini, Eli Wallach, Gabriel Byrne, Bill Plympton, Phil Donahue, Phylicia Rashaad, Joan Allen, Jay McInerney and Michael Cuesta, as well as composer Morton Gould, artists James Rosenquist, Oleg Cassini, Edwina Sandys and Bob Gruen, comedian Susie Essman, Broadway stars Kelli O’Hara, Melissa Errico and Savion Glover, and four-time Oscar winner for production and costume design Catherine Martin.
Sponsors and partners of this year’s GCIFF include founding partners the Town of North Hempstead and Douglas Elliman Real Estate, longstanding major partners LIU Post and Nassau County IDA as well as AMC Networks, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Panavision, A.L. Sarroff Fund, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, J.M. Kaplan Fund, The Katz Center of North Shore–LIJ Health System, LVR Rental, Samar Hospitality, The Andrew Hotel, Stella Artois and The Amsterdam at Harborside as well as 1-800-Flowers, WLIW21, New York Women in Film & Television, Anton Publications, Blank Slate Media, Care Connect and many others.
The Gold Coast Arts Center is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting and supporting the arts through education, exhibition, performance and outreach. For over 20 years they have brought the arts and arts in education experiences to tens of thousands of people throughout our region through their School for the Arts, which offers year-round classes in all visual and performing arts to students of all ages and abilities; free public art gallery; concert and lecture series; outreach programs, which each year bring artist residencies, after-school programs, school assemblies, teacher training workshops and parent-child workshops to students, senior citizens, teachers and others in underserved communities throughout our region; year-round film screening and discussion series; and Gold Coast International Film Festival, now in its fifth year. The Arts Center is an affiliate of the John F Kennedy Center for the for the Performing Arts: Partners in Education Program and National Gallery of Art, both located in Washington DC.
