BAMcinématek announces the complete lineup for the sixth annual BAMcinemaFest, a festival of American independents with 24 New York premieres, one US premiere, and one world premiere, Jun 18—29

Closing Night—25th anniversary of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, co-presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with Lee and cast in attendance

Centerpiece—Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer

Spotlight—’s They Came Together

The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor for BAMcinemaFest, BAMcinématek, and BAM Rose Cinemas.

Brooklyn, NY/May 6, 2014—BAMcinématek announces the complete main slate for the sixth annual BAMcinemaFest (Jun 18—29), a 12-day festival presenting premieres of emerging voices in American independent cinema. “New York’s best showcase” (The New Yorker), this year’s festival features 24 New York premieres, one US premiere, and one world premiere. Closing the festival is a special 25th anniversary screening of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989), co-presented with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and as previously announced, the festival opens with the New York premiere of Richard Linklater’s monumental coming-of-age epic Boyhood, already one of the most widely acclaimed films of the year.

“Not only does BAMcinemaFest 2014 represent the top emerging American independent cinema of the year, but it is bookended by two veritable titans of American cinema—one who calls Fort Greene home,” says Gabriele Caroti, director of BAMcinématek. “The screening committee, comprised of programmers Nellie Killian, David Reilly, and Ryan Werner, scoured more submissions and festivals than ever before. Alongside brand new work, this year we’ve turned back the clock 25 years to when Spike Lee shot Do The Right Thing just a few miles away from BAM. A deep, heartfelt thanks to the Academy for co-presenting this timeless, prescient cinematic milestone—still as powerful, subversive, and revolutionary now as it was a quarter century ago.”

“News Corp and The Wall Street Journal are strongly supportive of community and of creativity, and BAM is a uniquely creative community,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp, which publishes The Wall Street Journal. “There is no doubt that this festival will bring together cutting-edge cinema and honor monumental movies whose influence stretches far beyond its walls and screen. Out of a dark theater in Brooklyn will shine a light of entertainment and enlightenment.”

In Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated Do the Right Thing, the streets of Bed-Stuy boil and tensions run high on Brooklyn’s hottest day of the year. Loaded with an amazing supporting cast (including Samuel L. Jackson, John Turturro, and Rosie Perez) and music by Public Enemy, Do the Right Thing swings effortlessly from satire to social commentary. Upon its release, praised the groundbreaking film as coming “closer to reflecting the current state of race relations in

America than any other movie of our time,” and 25 years later it remains an important cultural touchstone for a very different Brooklyn. This landmark event, presented on the Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater, will feature a Q&A with Lee and members of the cast and crew including Danny Aiello, Bill Nunn, Giancarlo Esposito, and more. The screening will kick off a 12-day retrospective, looking back on three decades of remarkable Spike Lee Joints and commemorating the 15th anniversary of BAMcinématek, which launched in 1999 with a survey of Lee’s career. More information about the 25th anniversary screening and retrospective to be announced.

Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer is this year’s BAMcinemaFest Centerpiece, screening Wednesday, June 25 in its New York premiere with Bong in person at the BAM Harvey Theater. In his first English-language film, Korean genre maverick Bong (The Host) mounts a visually breathtaking dystopia in which all the survivors of Earth’s new Ice Age are packed aboard a perpetual-motion locomotive. Equal parts allegory and thriller, this ambitious adaptation of the popular French graphic novel follows a railway Spartacus (Chris Evans) and his band of ragtag revolutionaries as they break out of the cramped caboose to liberate the train from its decadent ruling class, led by an evil prime minister played by an uproarious (and barely recognizable) Tilda Swinton. Snowpiercer is a Radius-TWC release and opens June 27.

As a special Spotlight screening on Monday, June 23, BAMcinemaFest presents the New York premiere of David Wain’s They Came Together with Wain, , and in person at the BAM Harvey Theater. More than a decade after the release of cult summer camp spoof , Wain and co-writer reteam to lampoon the rom-com with this sidesplitting send-up. The concept is familiar: Molly (Poehler) runs a small Upper West Side sweets store; Joel (Rudd) works for the big candy conglomerate that’s opening across the street. After a bookstore meetcute sparked by a shared, uncanny love of fiction, their initial rivalry leads to improbable romance and Wain and Showalter’s absurdist hijinks gleefully rip to shreds every cliché in the book. They Came Together is a Lionsgate release and opens June 27.

The complete BAMcinemaFest 2014 slate includes:

. OPENING NIGHT: Boyhood (Richard Linklater) NY Premiere Narrative An IFC Films release.

. CLOSING NIGHT: 25th anniversary of Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee) Co-presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

. CENTERPIECE: Snowpiercer (Bong Joon Ho) NY Premiere Narrative A Radius-TWC release.

. SPOTLIGHT: They Came Together (David Wain) NY Premiere Narrative A Lionsgate release.

. 10,000KM (Carlos Marques-Marcet) NY Premiere Narrative In this groundbreaking and moving look at 21st-century relationships, long-term couple Alexandra and Sergi live together in Barcelona, where they’re planning to start a family. But when she accepts a yearlong residency in LA, the pair decides to stay together despite the long distance. Using video chat to stay in touch—and attempt some awkward cybersex—they soon discover the limits of their digital connection, confronting a distance even the Internet can’t diminish. Winner of the Special Jury Award at SXSW for Best Acting, and opening with a virtuoso 20-minute long take that registers the painful push and pull between romantic commitment and individual desires, 10,000KM is a candid exploration of love in the age of the pixel.

. Approaching the Elephant (Amanda Rose Wilder) NY Premiere Documentary Without imposing traditional authority or structure, New Jersey’s Teddy McArdle Free School allows children to set their own rules and choose whether or not to attend classes. The teachers struggle to create a learning environment that instills the values of democracy and critical thinking, but an ongoing clash between two students tests the limits of the system. Evoking both the immersive style of Frederick

Wiseman and such fictional dystopias as Lord of the Flies, Wilder crafts an inspired portrait of unfettered childhood within a radical model of education.

. Appropriate Behavior (Desiree Akhavan) NY Premiere Narrative Writer-director-star Akhavan helms this deadpan comedy about a bisexual Iranian-American woman adrift after a break-up. Finding new digs in Bushwick and a daycare job at a kindergarten film school, 20-something Shirin oscillates from conservative family gatherings (where she remains closeted) to hip Brooklyn parties and cold sexual encounters—punctuated with flashbacks to simpler times with her ex. Drawing comparisons to Annie Hall and Girls, this debut feature introduces a sharp new voice in independent cinema.

. Concerning Violence (Göran Hugo Olsson) NY Premiere Documentary Set to the voice of Lauryn Hill reading Frantz Fanon’s anti-colonialist call to arms, The Wretched of the Earth, this mesmerizing assemblage of rarely seen archival footage brings to light nine of the most pivotal episodes in the history of African revolution. Documenting decades of uprisings, from the Angolan War of Independence to the Mozambique Liberation Front and beyond, director Göran Hugo Olsson’s (The Black Power Mixtape 1967—1975) propulsive and endlessly provocative docu-essay interrogates the role of violent revolt in the dismantling of colonial power and offers an impassioned tribute to the sacrifices made in the pursuit of liberation. A Kino Lorber release.

. Ellie Lumme (Ignatiy Vishnevetsky) NY Premiere Narrative Film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky makes the leap to filmmaking with his debut narrative work, a self- described “ghost story without a ghost.” When 22-year-old Ellie meets a slightly older, seemingly infatuated stranger, he soon becomes a constant—and unwelcome—presence in her life. As their relationship grows increasingly disturbed, this meticulously shot, subtly supernatural tale blossoms into a haunting psychological riddle.

. Evolution of a Criminal (Darius Clark Monroe) NY Premiere Documentary In this unique, autobiographical documentary, filmmaker Darius Clark Monroe revisits his journey from honors student to convicted felon at the age of 16. Feeling the anxiety of his family’s financial troubles, Monroe planned a bank heist that netted $140,000 in cash but landed him in jail for three years. Contemplating the ramifications of his crime, Monroe gathers interviews with relatives, accomplices, and victims, who react to his efforts to make amends in unpredictable ways. His unflinching and cathartic confrontation with his past examines how the effects of one bad decision reverberate throughout a community.

. For the Plasma (Bingham Bryant & Kyle Molzan) World Premiere Narrative In a remote house in Maine, two old friends analyze CCTV footage of the surrounding forest to predict shifts in global financial markets. From this cryptic premise grows a lo-fi mind-bender of intimate scale and startling relevance that flirts with sci-fi and horror conventions even as it subverts them. To the strains of an electronic score, For the Plasma juxtaposes pastoral imagery with surveillance technology, every shade and shadow captured in gorgeous 16mm.

. The Foxy Merkins (Madeleine Olnek) NY Premiere Narrative Fresh off the bus in New York City, Margaret embarks on a career as a lesbian prostitute, servicing upper-class Manhattanites under the tutelage of Jo, a straight and streetwise grifter with a knack for picking up women. Olnek’s raucous buddy comedy and Independent Spirit Award nominee (co-written with the two stars, Lisa Haas and Jackie Monahan) is an all-female riff on My Own Private Idaho by way of Midnight Cowboy, filled with eccentric characters and clever cameos, including Girls’ Alex Karpovsky as a shady merkin salesman.

. Happy Christmas (Joe Swanberg) NY Premiere Narrative Post-break-up and without a plan, Jenny (Anna Kendrick) moves in with her brother (Swanberg) and his wife () for the holidays, but her arrival triggers a whirlwind of drunken hijinks and irresponsible behavior that upsets the family’s balance. The ever-prolific Swanberg follows his indie hit Drinking Buddies with this charmingly relaxed comedy shot in 16mm, featuring Lena Dunham as

Jenny’s outspoken high school friend and a scene-stealing performance by the director’s two-year-old son. A Magnolia Pictures release. Opens July 25.

. Happy Valley (Amir Bar-Lev) NY Premiere Documentary In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, many Penn State fans reacted with outrage—not over Sandusky’s actions, but to the dismissal of Joe Paterno, the popular head coach who shielded him from prosecution. Interviewing key parties, including Paterno’s family and one of Sandusky’s victims, director Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story) wades fearlessly into the controversy, probing the “football first” culture to better understand whether Paterno, the university, and the community turned a blind eye to the unspeakable.

. The Heart Machine (Zachary Wigon) NY Premiere Narrative Cody (John Gallagher Jr.) carries on a virtual relationship with Virginia (BAMcinemaFest regular Kate Lyn Sheil), who’s in Berlin studying abroad for six months—or so she says. As Cody becomes convinced that Virginia may, in fact, be in New York, he develops an increasingly unhealthy fixation with tracking her down. Part love story, part moody paranoid thriller in the vein of The Conversation, The Heart Machine is a tense, trenchant tale of obsession and alienation for the digital age.

. I Origins () NY Festival Premiere Narrative Director Cahill’s luminous, Brooklyn-set follow-up to his acclaimed Another Earth (BAMcinemaFest 2011) further plumbs the romantic and metaphysical dimensions of science. A molecular biologist (Michael Pitt) studying the evolution of the eyes finds his romance with an enigmatic young woman inextricably linked to a potentially earth-shaking scientific breakthrough. Intelligent and provocative, I Origins is a lush sophomore effort from one of independent filmmaking’s most intriguing voices. A Fox Searchlight release. Opens July 18.

. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (David Zellner) NY Premiere Narrative In this absurdist adventure tale based on an urban legend, a Tokyo office assistant (Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi) becomes irrationally fixated on a scene in the Coen Brothers’ Fargo in which a briefcase full of money is hidden beneath a blanket of snow. With stolen atlas in hand, she ditches her overbearing mother and dead-end job, taking off for the Midwest plains in search of the buried treasure. Indie veterans David and Nathan Zellner journey to the edges of film-fueled obsession in this beguilingly off-kilter character study infused with deadpan humor and rapturous widescreen imagery.

. L for Leisure (Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn) US Premiere Narrative It’s Baywatch meets Rohmer in this gauzy, sun-kissed paean to vacation. Shot on glorious 16mm, L for Leisure follows a group of quasi-intellectual grad students circa 1993 as they jet off to various international destinations (Baja, France, Iceland, and beyond) in search of adventure. This deliciously retro first feature from directing duo Kalman and Horn boasts impromptu Greco-Roman wrestling, a boogie-boarding dog, and extended discussions about everything from alternative universes to Michael Jordan—all set to a blissed-out synth-pop soundtrack.

. Life After Death (Joe Callander) NY Premiere Documentary Having grown up in the shadow of war and genocide, charismatic but directionless Rwandan orphan Kwasa finds the guidance—and financial aid—he seemingly needs from a charity-minded Christian couple from the US. This multi-layered documentary begins with a wry examination of evangelical zeal, but slowly reveals that Kwasa’s benefactors are turning a blind eye to his puckish scheming and unrepentant carousing. Laced with comic touches, Life After Death is a clear-eyed portrait of both Rwandan youth struggling to rise above their country’s troubled history and the well-intentioned outsiders eager to help.

. Low Down (Jeff Preiss) NY Premiere Narrative Based on Amy Albany’s () memoir of her turbulent adolescence with her father, legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany (), this richly evocative drama charts the pianist’s crippling struggles with heroin addiction. Graced with tour de force performances by a star-studded cast including Glenn Close, Peter Dinklage, and (Game of Thrones) and a marvelous, moody

soundtrack featuring Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk, and Albany himself, this moving elegy to a bygone era by the multi-talented Preiss (cinematographer for the revered Chet Baker documentary Let’s Get Lost) poetically captures the seedy romance of the 1970s LA jazz scene.

. Memphis (Tim Sutton) NY Premiere Narrative In a raw, seemingly autobiographical star turn, underground blues singer-poet Willis Earl Beal plays a musician who claims to have mystical powers but can’t seem to finish his next album. Trying the patience of his girlfriend and his producer, he drifts from Baptist church to bar to recording studio in a struggle to regain his creative spark. BAMcinemaFest 2012 alum Tim Sutton (Pavilion) treads the line between documentary and fiction in this sumptuously photographed, daringly abstract portrait of an iconic city, which features a haunting original soundtrack and supporting performances from legendary Stax musicians Larry Dodson and John Gary Williams. A Kino Lorber release.

. The Mend (John Magary) NY Premiere Narrative Mat, a reckless drifter pushing 40, shows up unexpectedly at his gainfully employed brother Alan’s Harlem apartment—and never leaves, turning his seemingly stable sibling’s life upside down. In this deliriously unhinged, unpredictable debut feature, Magary steers this dark comic tale of brotherly love and hate into increasingly freewheeling, nihilistic territory, the sense of disorientation heightened by a modern classical score.

. The Notorious Mr. Bout (Tony Gerber & Maxim Pozdorovkin) NY Premiere Documentary Known as the “Merchant of Death,” Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout achieved international notoriety following his 2008 arrest for supplying weapons to terrorists. This riveting, often black-comic documentary shows two Viktor Bouts: the amiable, upbeat family man who viewed himself as an entrepreneur and the ruthless criminal mastermind who abetted murderers. Bolstered by Bout’s own firsthand accounts and remarkable home video footage of his globe-trotting exploits, The Notorious Mr. Bout masterfully reveals both the man and the myth.

. Other Months (Nick Singer) NY Premiere Narrative After returning home from college, Nash dabbles in plumbing and maintains vague aspirations of becoming a writer, reveling in the cheap thrills of sex, alcohol, and the dance floor to wade through his post-grad listlessness. Divided into three chapters (February, July, and November) and partly based on Singer’s acclaimed short, Other Months traces the descent of its enigmatic protagonist in a rush of moody, surreal imagery, exhilaratingly shot by talented young DP Justin Zweifach.

. Something, Anything (Paul Harrill) NY Premiere Narrative In the wake of a life-altering tragedy, Southern newlywed Peggy confronts a profound spiritual crisis and sets out on a quest to discover a higher purpose. Without knowing what she seeks, Peggy jeopardizes her marriage, career, and friendships to find fulfillment. Harrill’s impressive debut feature is a meditative and quietly transfixing study of a woman attempting to put her life back together.

. Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (Josephine Decker) NY Premiere Narrative Psychosexual tensions boil over in this hair-raising erotic drama, set on an idyllic farm in the Kentucky countryside. When hired hand Akin (DIY staple Joe Swanberg) arrives to help out for the summer, he becomes increasingly entangled with the mysterious and emotionally manipulative relationship between farmer (Robert Longstreet) and daughter. Using time-lapse photography and shifting points of view, Decker imbues the bucolic scenery with a mounting sense of dread that evokes John Steinbeck and David Lynch.

. Wild Canaries (Lawrence Michael Levine) NY Premiere Narrative Brooklyn DIY meets classic screwball mystery in this witty whodunit. Husband and wife team Levine (Gabi on the Roof in July) and Takal (Green, BAMcinemaFest 2011) star as a perpetually bickering couple who suspect something’s amiss when their elderly neighbor suddenly drops dead. Channeling The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora, Levine and Takal recruit their roommate (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat) to join the case, and the investigation that ensues takes them on a whirlwind tour of Kings County that yields both breezy comic delights and some sinister discoveries.

Special events, shorts, the complete festival schedule, and press screenings to be announced.

In its first five years, BAMcinemaFest has presented the New York premieres of many high-profile American indies, including David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013), Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12 (2013), Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me (2012), Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture (2010), Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson (2009), Andrew Haigh’s Weekend (2011), Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel (2011), Lynn Shelton’s Humpday (2009), and many others, along with spotlight screenings of Academy Award-nominated films Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop (2009) and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012).

For press information, please contact Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] Hannah Thomas at 718.724.8002 / [email protected]

About BAMcinématek The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of Spike Lee, BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, Vincente Minnelli (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, and William Friedkin, but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, BAMcinématek programmed the first US retrospectives of directors Arnaud Desplechin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Hong Sang-soo, and, most recently, Andrzej Zulawski. From 2006 to 2008, BAMcinématek partnered with the Sundance Institute and in June 2009 launched BAMcinemaFest, a 16-day festival of new independent films and repertory favorites with 15 NY feature film premieres; the sixth annual BAMcinemaFest runs from June 18—29, 2014.

Credits

The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAMcinemaFest, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcinématek.

Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM.

Brooklyn Brewery is the preferred beer of BAMcinemaFest.

Delta is the official airline of BAMcinemaFest.

BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Time Warner Inc. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided by the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation and Summit Rock Advisors.

BAMcinemaFest is programmed by Nellie Killian, David Reilly, and Ryan Werner with assistance from Gabriele Caroti.

Special thanks to all participating filmmakers and their creative teams. Additional thanks to Jonathan Sehring, Shani Ankori, Mark Boxer & Lauren Schwartz/IFC Films; Spike Lee; Patrick Harrison & Bettina Fisher/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; John Sloss, Dana O’Keefe, Linzee Troubh & Kate Hurwitz/Cinetic Media; Adam Kersh & Rob Scheer/Brigade Marketing; Brian Belovarac & Laura Coxson/Janus Films; Alison Hughes/Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy; Glen Sanders/Fresh Air Flicks; Eric Demby/Brooklyn ; Josh Braun/Submarine Entertainment; Gary Palmucci & Jonathan Hertzberg/Kino Lorber; Diana Loomis, Russell

Nelson & Sarah Peters/Fox Searchlight Pictures; Sara Sampson; Brianna Grinbaum & Chela L. Johnson/Lionsgate; Rene Ridinger/MPRM Communications; Jason Ishikawa/The Film Sales Company; Jake Perlin, Kate West & Andrew Adair/Artists Public Domain/Cinema Conservancy; Tom Quinn, Jason Janego, Liza Burnett Fefferman & Caroline McKenzie/Radius-TWC; Eamonn Bowles, Neal Block, Matt Cowal, Arianne Rocchi, John von Thaden, Dana Vladimir & Danielle McCarthy/Magnolia Pictures; Molly Thompson & Eu-Hua Chua/A+E Studios; Sue Mingus & Sarah M. Williams/Jazz Workshop, Inc.

General Information

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a bar menu and dinner entrées prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.