Next Exit and many more not-yet-released movies will premiere in Arthouse Film Festival beginning in September at The Village at SOPAC in South Orange. For info, call 732-870-6012 or visit: www.ArthouseFilmFestival.com
Arthouse Film Festival is moving! After 25 years at AMC Mountainside, the festival will unspool for ten weeks, beginning September 19th at The Village at SOPAC located in the South Orange Performing Arts Center.
Festival founder and director Chuck Rose grew up in Maplewood, and can’t wait to set up shop in sister town South Orange, “My first movie experiences were at the Maplewood Theater. I saw my first Roadrunner cartoon there. I fell in love with cinema at the Maplewood Theater. Over-the-counter popcorn was 25 cents for a large container, but they had a separate machine where you could put in a dime and fill a small bag. I put a lot of dimes in that machine. At that time, South Orange didn’t have a movie theater. Now, The Village at SOPAC is the movie theater for South Orange and Maplewood. Bringing Arthouse Film Festival to SOPAC is a tremendous thrill for me!”
Arthouse Film Festival has been running in New Jersey for 32 years. If you are not one of the thousands of New Jersey film buffs who have attended in years past, just imagine seeing a prestige studio or festival-winning gem before release to the public, then the lights come up, and there in front of you are the creators of the film, ready to answer questions and discuss their work.
Oscar winners and nominees Alan Arkin, Lee Daniels, Frank Darabont, Jesse Eisenberg, Ethan Hawke, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Melissa Leo, Viggo Mortensen, Chazz Palminteri, John Sayles, Aaron Sorkin, Fisher Stevens and David Strathairn have joined Dylan Baker, Michael Gandolfini, Famke Janssen, Danai Gurira, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Derek Luke, Mary Stuart Masterson, David Morse, Connie Nielsen, Joe Pantoliano and Kevin Smith as guest speakers who have come to share their insights with festival participants.
The festival has hosted 1,998 movie premieres with 1,225 guest appearances over the past 32 years.
“The program will always be flexible in order to take advantage of opportunities as they arise,” said festival director Rose. “Wonderful surprises and fantastic celebrities can pop up out of nowhere, so we try to keep the schedule as fluid as possible.
“Even before we started in 1991, I began working to create an international VIP network of actors, directors, screenwriters, producers, journalists and film industry pros whose jobs involve creating and evaluating the cream of Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Telluride, Venice, Berlin, SXSW and the other important film festivals. We also work to ferret out potential hits in the development and production stages so we are ready to pounce on the best films first.”
For details and more information, or to register, contact The South Orange Maplewood Adult School, https://www.ssreg.com/som/classes/classes.asp?catID=418 973-378-7620.
The festival is open to anyone, but seating is limited, so early enrollment is advised. Subscription is $146 for five weeks or $257 for all ten weeks. After September 12th, rates will go up. Also being offered is a specially priced flex ticket so users may choose any eight out of ten nights for their convenience.
Confirmed films and those under consideration for the upcoming festival include:
Amsterdam with Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, director David O. Russell, a murder mystery with the greatest all-star cast assembled this year, sure to be in the thick of the upcoming awards races.
Broker with Song Kang-ho, Dong-won Gang, director Hirokazu Koreeda, a serious drama exploring ethics, choice and money lifted by sweetness, sensitivity, compassion and warmth as Koreeda once again demonstrates that he is one of the best filmmakers working today.
Don’t Worry Darling with Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, director Olivia Wilde, discovering trouble in paradise, a 1950’s experimental company town with the shiny surface of a perfect life reveals something much more sinister lurking beneath its beautiful façade.
Leonor Will Never Die with Sheila Francisco, director Martika Ramirez Escobar, a twisty fantasy about a retired filmmaker who gets sucked into the narrative of her own screenplay in an imaginative adventure at the intersection of art and life.
Memories of My Father with Javier Camara, Nicolas Reyes, director Fernando Trueba, a portrait of a smart, principled, kind man who devoted his life to helping others. Colombia’s Oscar entry, possessing a wonderful ensemble cast, evoking nostalgia and familial love.
Next Exit with Katie Parker, Rahul Kohli, director Mali Elfman, anchored by a pair of spectacular performances, an emotional, powerful road trip of misfits damaged by grief and trauma on self-inflicted paths to destruction unless they can somehow save each other.
Raymond & Ray with Ethan Hawke, Ewan McGregor, director Rodrigo Garcia, Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron produces this story about two half-brothers who reunite at the funeral of their father. Hawke and McGregor grapple with anger, pain, humor, love and a chance to reinvent themselves.
She Said with Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, director Maria Schrader, Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan and Emmy nominee Zoe Kazan star as New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor. Adapted from the best selling memoir She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harrassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.
Sirens with Lilas Mayassi, Shery Bechara, director Rita Baghdadi, as civil unrest boils over in Lebannon, the first all-female metal band from the Middle East struggles to find identity, love and success in a crowd-pleasing doc that plays like a carefully plotted scripted film.
Ticket to Paradise with Julia Roberts, George Clooney, director Ol Parker, Roberts and Clooney return to the rom-com, and boomerang as a couple of neurotic parents who run off to Bali to try and stop their daughter from making the same mistake they did 25 years ago.
White Bird: A Wonder Story with Helen Mirren, Gillian Anderson, director Marc Forster, adapted from the graphic novel by R.J. Palacio, the story revolves around lessons learned and a young Jewish girl hidden away by a boy and his family in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
And more to come!
