Before heading off to do some American indie film festing (essentially playing catch up), AFF organizers offered a location scouting tour of Wroclaw. Meant to flaunt the versatility of the city of less than one million but a very diverse “ownership” history, we visited the White Stork Synagogue (fascinating multi-floor restoration process decades in the making), a visit to the Old Town/the University of Wroclaw/the Ossolineum, Market Hall and Centennial Hall before grabbing some grub. In the vid, you’ll also find the ease of festing: from hotel room door to the screening room venue in 4 minutes flat. Moving from the heart of the city, to the heart of the AFF, were the first screenings part of the US in Progress.
First out of the gate was singer turned producer turned filmmaker Haroula Rose and Once Upon a River (look for my video interview soon), and the next in line was Initials S.G. which was presented by producer Ivan Eibuszyc. The US in Progress features projects that are in what could be called the embryonic stages — some more advanced in the process than others. I then capped off the day with what was IONCINEMA.com’s Most Anticipated American Indie film for 2018.
After Venice Film Festival premiere and a private market screening in Toronto during TIFF, a rare fest premiere was set for Rick Alverson’s The Mountain. His fifth feature film, also second collaboration with producer Ryan Zacarias happens to be number two for actor Tye Sheridan who flew over to the fest to represent this and A.J. Edwards’ sophomore film, which I will end up seeing tomorrow. Here is the post screening Q&A:
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
