This David vs. Goliath story tracks the struggle of 560 miners in a Mojave desert town, who fought back successfully against the giant Rio Tinto Group, a multinational global mining corporation that drastically cut the workers’ benefits when the union contract expired.

Preceeded by:

RICKETS explores accidental landscapes. The footage was taken on a boat trip along the Hudson River in the fall. By overexposing the image and shooting into the sun through a fence, the water became its own gaseous and biological landscape. RICKETS strips down the narrative of aesthetic into the simplest terms. The film travels from point A to point B–white to black.

Louis Smart, a sculptor born in the Ozarks, continues in the human figure tradition of Michelangelo and Rodin. Using the “lost wax method,” we see him creating a walking woman, from the modeling session, through the bronze pour, to the patina. Few people get to experience the wonders of a sculptor pouring molten bronze and the finishing of a beautiful and sensuous work of art. This film lets everyone in on the rare process. The labor involved to create a graceful figure is full of hammers and tongs, but the result is breathtaking.

The filmmaker will be in attendance along with Louis Smart. Mr. Smart’s artwork will also be on display.

To view more of Mr. Smart’s work, visit: http://www.louissmartsculpture.com/.

Sponsored by:

AFTRA-Kansas City

The concept of summer school gets a viciously clever twist in this black comedy about the meltdown of public education. It is a harrowing but often hilarious look at just what it might take to teach today’s kids. Detention is a rare combination of brains and chutzpah that gets us thinking, even as it entertains. Just when you think you’ve got this story figured out, it goes somewhere else. In the end, what looks like a conventional thriller ends up being a meditation on teacher/student relationships, brainwashing and free will.

Please note: Tickets for films showing at Tivoli Cinemas and Screenland are available online, at our FF ticket table during the festival and at the venue 1/2 hr before the film begins. Tivoli and Screenland do not sell these tickets at their box offices.

An astonishingly beautiful and poignant sketchbook, a collection of fragmentary episodes captured during ten years of travels. It is a gathering up of intimately shared moments with friends and strangers, rendered with a sense of mystery, wonderment, and sly humor.

Preceded by:

A Hero of Our Time (1987)

Based on the story by Mikhail Lermontov, an obsessed jilted lover (Dennis Hopper) sets out on a violent path to reclaim his stolen love.

Please note: Tickets are available at our FF ticket table at the Tivoli 1/2 hr before the film begins. Tivoli Cinemas does not sell these tickets at their box office.

The journey of a young man, Corey, yearning for kinship until one day discovers he has a deaf autistic grandfather he has never known and is determined to make a connection. The family ties and secrets unknown to the young man have surfaced, and subsequent events unfold. A powerful, emotional and continuous twist of events that leads to shocking conclusion.

This film is presented in ASL (American Sign Language) with English subtitles.

Sponsored by:

The Whole Person

Sign Language Specialists

Follow two good friends in this hilarious road movie as they embark on a tour of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales of Northern England, eating, chatting and driving each other crazy. The film stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR is the story of “Sgt. Cole Lewis” who, mentally and physically scarred by his time served in Iraq and Afghanistan, finds humanity, compassion and friendship in a group of similarly injured veterans in the psychiatric ward at a remote Veterans Hospital. The group, ranging from guys left behind from WWII and Vietnam, to those recently injured in the Middle East, slowly become Lewis’ new family. Along with them, he will attempt to redefine his sense of self, and find a new place in the world. Through humor and pathos, Lewis becomes a ray of hope in the ward, as the men find a way to combat their post-war grief. However, just as their luck starts to change, Lewis soon faces his fiercest battle yet.

Director Manning wanted to use his art to shed light on PTSD, a crippling disease. Inspired by Nina Berman’s PURPLE HEARTS BACK FROM IRAQ, a book of essays and tragically beautiful photographs which tells the story of 20 servicemen and women who were wounded in the Iraq War and their hard road to recovery; Manning began to seek out men and women in the military to interview to get a sense of why and how they did what they did. It was during these months of interviews and encounters that he discovered the perils of PTSD. These conversations inspired the various characters and events in the film.

The accomplished, multi-ethnic cast, is led by emerging star MICHAEL CUOMO (Bandslam), who delivers a haunting performance as “Lewis.” Hollywood veteran IAIN SMITH (A-Team; Wanted; Children of Men) serves as the film’s Executive Producer, overseeing all aspects of sales and distribution. Academy Award-winning SOOPUM SOHN (Island to Island) is the Cinematograher, creating a “fly-on-the-wall” experience that is painfully intimate. The film also features breakout performances from JD WILLIAMS (“The Wire,” “Oz”) as “Jerome” and MONIQUE GABRIELA CURNEN (The Dark Knight, Half Nelson) as “Lisa”. The supporting cast shines with stellar performances from JOSE YENQUE (Traffic, Beginners), WILMER CALDERON (Annapolis, Good Time Max), (WILL ROGERS (“Gossip Girl,” “Law & Order”), DAVID FONTENO (“The Good Wife”), (NOAH MILLS (Sex & the City 2), JOHN LEIGHTON (Nobody’s Fool), FRANK HARTS (“Law & Order“) and SETH BARRISH (Margot at the Wedding), with TINA SLOAN (Black Swan, “Guiding Light”) and ALAN DALE (“Lost,” “The O.C.”).

Happy New Year is not a documentary. It is a narrative feature inspired by the real lives and experiences of those brave men and women who served their country and have since returned in desperate need of our help. It is a hard-hitting portrait of the human cost of war, the “living dead,” who are not counted among the casualties on the battlefield. It is a universal story focusing on a group of men struggling with life after trauma.

“If you look at Vietnam, you had about 3-1 in terms of those injured and survived versus those who died. Now you’ve got at least 16-1. A lot of the country hasn’t really realized that a lot of injured soldiers and Marines have come back and have to fight this, or live with this for possibly all of their lives.”’ Bob Woodruff, award-winning journalist and best-selling author.

AMC Theatres Kansas City FilmFest is very happy to have the opportunity to present “Happy New Year” to just its second audience. A 30-minute Q&A with Lorrel Manning (writer/directer) and Michael Cuomo (leading actor/producer) follows the film. Pending travel finalization, the Q&A will either be conducted by Elvis Mitchell, Jeff Goldsmith or Jeph Scanlon, the festival programmer. There will be a reception in the Marquee Lounge immediately following.

Please note: Because of circumstances beyond our control we have had to adjust our opening night film schedule. “The Devil’s Double” is no longer scheduled to be shown. As a result we have decreased the Opening Night ticket price to $10. Passport holders will now be admitted to this screening and Military personnel (Active or Veteran) will receive a 50% off discount by using the code: ‘military’ (no single quotes, all lowercase) during checkout. You will be required to present your military ID when you pick up your ticket.

The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war. Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Director. Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Come join Robert Altman’s wife Kathryn Altman as well as actor Michael Murphy and M*A*S*H lyricist Michael Altman as they talk about the Kansas City native who inspired an entire generation of filmmakers. A moderated Q&A will immediately follow the film. A portion of the proceeds from the screening will be donated to The Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund, a new program designed by the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City to help local filmmakers realize their visions more fully. 

The Robert Altman Emerging Filmmakers Fund

The Film Commission of Greater Kansas City is in the process of creating a sustainable fund designed to help filmmakers get their short film productions off the ground. This new fund will leverage individual, institutional, charitable and corporate support to reach critical mass. The goal is to give up to 10 local filmmakers grants of anywhere between $1K to $5K to realize their visions.

Link For Donations

http://bit.ly/AltmanFund

Kathryn Altman

Kathryn Altman is the wife of the late Robert Altman. They met in 1959 when he was directing an episode of the television series Whirlybirds, and were married soon after. She is the mother of visiting artist, Robert Reed Altman.

Michael Murphy

Michael Murphy’s on-screen career began when Robert Altman cast him in his World War II television series, Combat! They later worked together on M*A*S*H*, Brewster McCloud, Nashville, Tanner ’88, Kansas City & Tanner on Tanner. He has also had notable roles in films directed by Woody Allen, Peter Weir, Oliver Stone, Elia Kazan, Tim Burton, Paul Thomas Anderson and John Sayles.

His office door simply says, “Track & Field Coach.” His life says infinitely more.

His name is Al Buehler. Chances are you don’t know him. When you watch this film, you will wish you did, whether or not you’re a fan of track and field.

Al Buehler has touched and enriched the lives of thousands of athletes including Olympians Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carl Lewis, as well as Duke icons Grant Hill, Shane Battier, and Coach K. And the lives of thousands more who have never owned a pair of track shoes.

For 55 years, Al Buehler has inspired countless athletes and met enormous challenges…breaking new ground in women’s athletics, international sport, and race relations. During the height of segregation in the South, Buehler formed a lasting friendship with Dr. LeRoy Walker, the Head Track Coach at the all black North Carolina Central University. Buehler invited Walker’s team to train on Duke’s state-of-the-art track. At the time, Duke’s campus and bleachers above the track were segregated. Few knew of the brotherhood formed by Buehler-Walker and their teams. The two couldn’t change what was happening in the stands, but they could change what was happening on the track.

In 1968, when John Carlos and Tommie Smith were asked to leave the Olympic Village in Mexico City, a familiar face showed up to drive them safely to the airport…Coach Buehler. As John Carlos, Olympic bronze medalist recalled, “When I needed someone to be there, God sent an individual such as Al Buehler.”

When Duke’s Ellison Goodall approached Buehler about running at Duke, he took her under his wing, and the Duke women’s track team was born. And it was Buehler who gave up every men’s scholarship he had to help start Title IX at Duke. “Al Buehler had the foresight to realize that women can be athletes too,“ noted Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic Gold Medalist, who competed against Goodall.

Buehler’s career spanned four Olympics, but he never let his success get in the way of his deep desire to help athletes become better people. “There are a lot of great men and there are a lot of great coaches, but there are not a lot of great coaches that are great men. And Coach Buehler was definitely one of those,” said Carl Lewis, 9-time Olympic Gold Medalist.

Coach Buehler has been thinking about finish lines his entire life. He believes finish lines are something to prepare for; and in his world, they should be a place not of endings but of beginnings…in Coach’s view of life, we really do start at the finish line.

Now at 80 years old, Al Buehler faces his latest challenge – an inoperable benign brain tumor. Starting at the Finish Line – the story of Al Buehler, the leader, the inspiration, the man everyone who’s ever known him loves to call simply “Coach.”

Morgan Spurlock needs 600 million media “impressions” -– articles, blog posts, tweets, TV spots, etc. — about The Greatest Movie Ever Sold to get full benefit from the corporate sponsors of his new documentary that explores product placement in movies.

The Sundance premiere’s audience included representatives of companies such as POM Wonderful, JetBlue Airways, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Sheetz Convenience Stores and Amy’s Kitchen. All had cooperated with Spurlock but had not seen the movie until the premiere.

Inspired by a product placement for the Nissan Rogue in an episode of the TV show Heroes, Spurlock set out to make a movie about product placement in film and co-promotion, connecting films with tie-ins to everything from fast-food meals to clothing, cars, and even cruises. The documentary recreate this relationship in the most blatant way. Spurlock directly pitched companies on the idea of funding his movie in return for prominent mention in the film.

The movie tracks Spurlock through awkward and funny pitch meetings with advertising gurus, and brand managers. One of the oddest encounters is with a man who claims to be a “neuromarketer.” He uses MRI technology to scan people’s brains to see how they respond to movie trailers and other advertising. He says the effective ones activate the part of brain linked to desire, craving and sex.

POM signed on to be the headline sponsor for a cool $1 million. But to get the full million, Spurlock needs not only 600 million media impressions, but also must get the film to do $10 million in box office and sell 500,000 DVDs, according to the contract.

From the surviving 13 hours of film of Clouzot’s failed attempt at making Inferno in 1964 comes a documentary which offers a fascinating, partial reconstruction of Inferno while chronicling the production’s disintegration. Clouzot, director of the suspense thrillers Diabolique and The Wages of Fear, had written the story of a jealous husband and his mental breakdown. His cast included Serge Reggiani and Romy Schneider as his leads. His financial backers had given him an unlimited budget after seeing rushes of his innovative visual experiments with lighting, lenses and makeup. In interviews with surviving cast and crew a few clues emerge as to what went wrong. For a meticulous, detail-obsessed filmmaker like Clouzot, the unlimited budget was a curse as much as a boon. The documentary tantalizes us with what might have been.

Please note: Tickets for films showing at Tivoli Cinemas and Screenland are available online, at our FF ticket table during the festival and at the venue 1/2 hr before the film begins. Tivoli and Screenland do not sell these tickets at their box offices.