Tag Archives: Outfest

2020 OUTFEST LOS ANGELES — THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON

Tunde Johnson cannot die. But he can’t live, either. On the last night of his life, he is killed by a police officer. Whereupon he immediately wakes up in bed earlier that morning, destined to relive the day again, each time a little differently. Sometimes death comes in the afternoon, on the street, in his car, or on the beach. He’s either alone, or with his best friend Marley, or her boyfriend Soren—who also happens to be sleeping with Tunde.

In THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON, writer Stanley Kalu and director Ali LeRoi have fashioned an ingenious narrative whereby his protagonist gets to live each day like it’s his last—until he gets it right. Starring Steven Silver as Tunde, Nicola Peltz as Marley, and Spencer Neville as Soren, this 2020 Outfest Los Angeles world premiere won this year’s Audience Award for Debut Narrative Feature.

To watch the encore screening this week, please see link below.

THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON

2020 Outfest Los Angeles

Streaming Thursday, September 3, for 24 hours, from 12 am to 11:59 pm.

Ali LeRoi, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019), from top: Steven Silver; Spencer Neville (left) and Silver; The Obituary of Tunde Johnson poster; Silver and Neville; Silver. Images courtesy and © TOOTJ, LLC.

2020 OUTFEST LOS ANGELES — NO HARD FEELINGS

Creating a “pluralistic, post-migrant” cinema—eschewing “a multitude of media (mis)representations that stigmatize narratives of migration as a problem and the migrant body as victim or perpetrator”—writer / director Faraz Shariat captured this year’s Berlinale with a Best Feature Teddy for his feature debut NO HARD FEELINGS.

The story of Parvis (Benny Radjaipour)—the German-born son of Persian immigrants—and Amon (Eidin Jalali)—a recently arrived refugee from Iran—this beautiful, irreverent film (co-written by Paulina Lorenz) is streaming now at 2020 Outfest Los Angeles. See link below for details.

NO HARD FEELINGS

2020 Outfest Los Angeles

Available through Thursday, August 27, until 11:59 pm.

Faraz Shariat, No Hard Feelings (2020), from top: Benny Radjaipour (right) and Eidin Jalali; Radjaipour (2); Radjaipour and Jalali with Banafshe Hourmazdi, artwork by David Uzochukwu; Radjaipour (right); Jalali and Radjaipour. Images courtesy and © the filmmaker, the actors, the photographers, and Jünglinge.

2020 OUTFEST LOS ANGELES — DRY WIND

Sandro (Leandro Faria Lelo)—distracted by sexual jealousy to the point of transfixion—lives in a rural Brazilian factory town where the same cast of characters circle one another at work, in the market, by the company pool, and out in the forests, where male blue-collar laborers meet for sex, real and imagined.

In Daniel Nolasco’s DRY WIND / VENTO SECO—an unrestrained erotic thriller of the school of João Pedro Rodrigues, Julián Hernández, Yann Gonzalez, and Nicolas Winding Refn—the viewer is swept into Sandro’s neon-lit fantasies and dreams as he attempts to supplant a growing sense of alienation and nihilism with the corporeal form of co-worker Maicon (Rafael Theophilo).

The film is streaming now at 2020 Outfest Los Angeles. See link below for details.

DRY WIND / VENTO SECO

2020 Outfest Los Angeles

Available through Tuesday, August 25, until 11:59 pm.

Daniel Nolasco, Dry Wind / Vento seco (2020), from top: Leandro Faria Lelo (left) and Allan Jacinto Santana; Rafael Theophilo; Faria Lelo; Theophilo (left) and Jacinto Santana; Dry Wind / Vento seco film poster; Dry Wind / Vento seco, at the Al Parker club (2); Theophilo (left); Faria Lelo and Jacinto Santana. Images courtesy and © the filmmaker, the actors, the photographers, The Open Reel, and Panaceia Filmes.

2020 OUTFEST LOS ANGELES — IF IT WERE LOVE

Crowd depicts a rave party where young people encounter strong emotional experiences. There are several layers in the piece, but one major layer is the narratives… We have fifteen young people on stage who create this gallery of personal portraits. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, which talks about love, desire, violence and loneliness, and many contradictory emotions. It also deals with the question of how these emotions are shared and “communicated” in a social setting.

Crowd also questions the need for contemporary rituals or the need to reinvent rituals in contemporary culture… [It’s] about how time is perceived or distorted through our emotions. One of the beautiful challenges in this piece was executing the “retouched” movements—slow, cut out loops that are inspired by special effects or movie editing techniques—which was a great technical challenge. But it is not about “imitating” these retouched movements, it is about finding a way to perform them in a very sensitive, very organic and personal way. — Gisèle Vienne

IF IT WERE LOVE / SI C’ÉTAIT DE L’AMOUR—an immersive look at choreographer Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd by filmmaker Patric Chiha—is “a dream based on a performance,” according to its director.

The film, which won the 2020 Teddy for best documentary at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, is streaming now at 2020 Outfest Los Angeles. See link below for details.

IF IT WERE LOVE / SI C’ÉTAIT DE L’AMOUR

2020 Outfest Los Angeles

Available through Monday, August 24, until 11:59 pm.

Patric Chiha, If It Were Love / Si c’était de l’amour (2020). Crowd choreographer Gisèle Vienne in third, eighth, and sixteenth photograph from the top. Images courtesy and © the filmmaker, the choreographer, the dancers, and Aurora Films.

OUTFEST 2019 ENCORE — LABEL ME

In LABEL ME, Waseem (Renato Schuch)—a gay-for-pay hustler from Syria—hooks up with German bourgeois Lars (Nikolaus Benda) in the latter’s Cologne apartment. The sex is good, but Lars is after a deeper connection, attempting to purchase through disclosure the one thing Waseem cannot afford to offer—his vulnerability.

This weekend, OUTFEST 2019 presents an encore screening of this immersive debut by Kai Kreuser.

LABEL ME

Sunday, July 28, at 3 pm.

Chinese 6

6801 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Label Me, from top: Renato Schuch; Schuch (left) and Nikolaus Benda; Benda; Schuch. Images courtesy and © the director, the performers, Outfest, and the International Film School, Cologne.