All will be available through digital platform Kino Marquee & select physical theaters in Jan & Feb 2021
January 8
THE REASON I JUMP
Directed by Jerry Rothwell
Winner: Audience Award, World Documentary – Sundance Film Festival
Nominee: Best Feature, Best Director – IDA Documentary Awards
Nominee: Best Cinematography – Critics Choice Documentary Awards
Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida’s revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. It opens a window for audiences into an intense and overwhelming, but often joyful, sensory universe.
Moments in the lives of each of the characters are linked by the journey of a young Japanese boy through an epic landscape; narrated passages from Naoki’s writing reflect on what his autism means to him and others, how his perception of the world differs, and why he acts in the way he does: the reason he jumps. The film distils these elements into a sensually rich tapestry that leads us to Naoki’s core message: not being able to speak does not mean there is nothing to say.
January 22
IDENTIFYING FEATURES
Directed by Fernanda Valadez
Writers Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero
Winner: Audience Award, World Dramatic – Sundance Film Festival
Winner: Best Screenplay, World Dramatic – Sundance Film Festiva
lNominee: Best International Feature – Gotham Awards
Middle-aged Magdalena (Mercedes Hernandez) has lost contact with her son after he took off with a friend from their town of Guanajuato to cross the border into the U.S., hopeful to find work. Desperate to find out what happened to him—and to know whether or not he’s even alive—she embarks on an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous journey to discover the truth. At the same time, a young man named Miguel (David Illescas) has returned to Mexico after being deported from the U.S., and eventually his path converges with Magdalena’s. From this simple but urgent premise, director Fernanda Valadez has crafted a lyrical, suspenseful slow burn, equally constructed of moments of beauty and horror, and which leads to a startling, shattering conclusion. Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Audience and Screenplay Awards at the Sundance Film Festival. – New Directors/New Films
February 19
TEST PATTERN
Written and Directed by Shatara Michelle Ford
“Everything is about sex, except sex, which is about power.” – Oscar Wilde
BlackStar Film Festival 2019 – Lionsgate/STARZ Producer AwardNew Orleans Film Festival 2019 – Narrative Features Jury Award
TEST PATTERN is part psychological horror, part realist drama set against the backdrop of national discussions around inequitable health care & policing, the #metoo movement, and race in America. The film follows an interracial couple whose relationship is put to the test after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and her white boyfriend drives her from hospital to hospital in search of a rape kit. The film analyzes the effects of the systemic factors and social conditioning women face when navigating sex and consent within the American patriarchy, along with exploring institutional racism from a black female point of view.
January 15
ACASĂ, MY HOME
Directed by Radu Ciorniciuc
WINNER – Sundance World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography
NOMINEE – European Film Awards – Best European Documentary
NOMINEE – IDA Documentary Awards – Best Cinematography
OFFICIAL SELECTION – DOC:NYC Winner’s Circle
NOMINEE – Cinema Eye Honors – Spotlight Award
In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, an abandoned water reservoir just outside the bustling metropolis, the Enache family lived in perfect harmony with nature for two decades, sleeping in a hut on the lakeshore, catching fish barehanded, and following the rhythm of the seasons. When this area is transformed into a public national park, they are forced to leave behind their unconventional life and move to the city, where fishing rods are replaced by smartphones and idle afternoons are now spent in classrooms. As the family struggles to conform to modern civilization and maintain their connection to each other, they each begin to question their place in the world and what their future might be. With their roots in the wilderness, the nine children and their parents struggle to find a way to keep their family united in the concrete jungle. With an empathetic and cinematic eye, first-time filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc offers a compelling tale of a family living on the fringes of society in Romania, fighting for acceptance and their own version of freedom.
February 5
M.C. ESCHER: JOURNEY TO INFINITY
Directed by Robin Lutz
M.C. Escher: Journey To Infinity is the story of world famous Dutch graphic artist M.C Escher (1898-1972). Equal parts history, psychology, and psychedelia, Robin Lutz’s entertaining, eye-opening portrait gives us the man through his own words and images: diary musings, excerpts from lectures, correspondence and more are voiced by British actor Stephen Fry, while Escher’s woodcuts, lithographs, and other print works appear in both original and playfully altered form. Two of his sons, George (92) and Jan (80), reminisce about their parents while musician Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash) talks about Escher’s rediscovery in the 1970s. The film looks at Escher’s legacy: one can see tributes to his work in movies, in fiction, on posters, on tattoos, and elsewhere throughout our culture; indeed, few fine artists of the 20th century can lay claim to such popular appeal.
