OPENING NIGHT // SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW

Mattie and James are in love. But too many mornings and too many miles apart have taken a toll on them. As they struggle with the distance between New York and Chicago, their visits become reminders of the difficulties, not the pleasures, of their relationship. Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig follow Hannah Takes the Stairs with this South x Southwest sensation, an intimate portrayal of longing and confusion. Swanberg co-stars with Gerwig, and Gerwig co-directs with Swanberg, creating a film that resonates deeply and leaves scars that fade but can't heal.

DIRECTOR IN ATTENDANCE - July 12 screening only

VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE

Frownland might be Lodge Kerrigan's Napoleon Dynamite. A self-described “troll from under the bridge,” the painfully awkward Keith Sontag spends his days selling coupons door-to-door and his evenings trapped in a squalid apartment situated in an outer ring of New York. Finding even the most basic human communication a challenge, Sontag staggers through an uncaring city, attempting to aid a suicidal friend, evict an unctuous roommate and simply attain some measure of self-respect. With Frownland, Bronstein has made a bold and bracing film that is both a savage black comedy and a ragged love letter to an earlier era of independent film. Both the film and its hero are raw, confrontational and unforgettable.—Northwest Film Forum

VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE

In the confusion following a massive power outage, an awkward demolition derby driver (Will Oldham) vanishes, setting in motion a series of events affecting his pregnant girlfriend, his helplessly car-less father, a pack of boy scouts, a lactose intolerant roller rink employee, an woman in search of her dog, and his best friend—a girl named Turkeylegs. Cars drive circles in the dirt, a woman attends her own funeral, the sun rises sideways and an orange vehicle trades hands again and again. “A revelation... The Guatemalan Handshake holds a place in my heart that is normally reserved for Easter candy”—Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite).

"LOL is a somewhat stunning mirror on the ways we say things without using words. Swanberg reveals himself to be one of the most emotionally astute young filmmakers working today"— Cinematical.com.

Alex, Tim, and Chris view the women in their lives through computer screens and camera-phones, struggling to balance their online fantasies and addictions with the demands of real life. This up-to-the-second feature intimately explores masculinity in the new millennium, as a new generation tries to decipher the mixed messages of modern relationships and technology, and offers an honest portrait of how the latest tools of communication can help us click or turn us off.

The title refers to the couples who inhabit the world with their eyes and limbs wrapped around one another. Susan, a painter who toils as a waitress at night, and Arin, a videographer, meet on the Internet and start up a relationship based on silence. Their affair is a bit of an art project: They generate piles of notes and discuss even the most sensitive of subjects in writing but speak to each other only via videocassette…Buice and Crumley demonstrate that they have a lot to say about 21st-century relationships and about the alienation that can thrive in a culture where encounters occur more often in cyberspace than in the real world.— The Village Voice

Ry Russo-Young's debut is a heartbreaking story of two estranged sisters reunited at an isolated farmhouse in the dead of winter. When the events take an unexpected turn, the sisters revisit their dark and dangerous past. “Silence from a Sunday afternoon audience is a good thing with a challenging drama like Orphans , a stark, solemn drama about two adult sisters still coming to terms with the death of their parents and the emotional baggage. It's a strong drama of heartache with two lead performances that are honest, blemishes and all…a true discovery.”—IndieWIRE

Dillon, Parker, and Hot Dog are in a band, stuck playing low-paying shows and working dead-end jobs. When they get the chance to move to Montreal for a regular gig at a downtown club, they jump at it. But the road from no-name indie act to rock-star fame is a bumpy ride. Shot in Kingston, Ontario and edited with a breezy staccato rhythm, director Rob Fitl's first feature is a rough-and-tumble look at a young local band chasing their dreams—and occasionally their nightmares. Indie rock may be dead, but DIY filmmaking is alive and kicking in Canada as well.

Funny Ha Ha started Mumblecore, and six years later still delights and upsets. “Bujalski's accomplished, seductive debut film is such a slice of life that it has no real beginning or end but is all middle. That's appropriate, perhaps, for a portrait of a nascent twentysomething struggling in the cocoon of a post-student apartment and a string of temporary jobs and even more ephemeral relationships. Played with note-perfect uncertainty by Kate Dollenmayer, Marnie opens the film at a tattoo parlor, where the proprietor refuses to oblige her because she's drunk. This foiled attempt at permanency sets the tone for the half-conscious, non-articulated efforts at contact and clarity in coffeeshops, at casual parties, and on park benches. Although capturing formlessness, Bujalski's film is cannily shaped itself.”— Boston Phoenix

Bujalski's second feature solidified him as a generation's most eloquent mumbler. Bujalski's ultra-realistic characters—literate, humorous and angst-ridden—are the kind of people you know and love...and sometimes wish would just go away for awhile. Aspiring rock star Alan arrives in NY from Boston, eager to start a band. He heads for the apartment of one of his old friends, Lawrence and hangs around with him and his girlfriend, who becomes his manager. While Funny Ha Ha, garnered Cassavetes comparisons, Mutual Appreciation actually plays like Bujalski's answer to Shadows.