Schedule:
12pm: Porcelain War
The Davis Theater
Synopsis
Directors: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
Producers: Aniela Sidorska, Paula Dupré Pesmen, Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann
United States, Ukraine, Australia, 88 min, 2024
Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, this powerful and affecting portrait of a group of citizen fighters in Ukraine reflects a more sensitive side of the conflict. In between waging war to defend their homeland, Slava Leontyev and Anya Stasenko are skilled ceramic artists, molding and painting precious porcelain figurines of folkloric creatures. Meanwhile, their closest friend Andrey, a former painter, has struggled to create his art; instead, he’s struggling to keep his family safe. Their cameras show their love for each other, for the sun-drenched countryside and bucolic forests of their homeland, and their art—at the same time training, preparing, and enduring the brutality of battle. With beautiful touches of animation, a soulful soundtrack of Ukrainian dirges, and a sense of hope, humor, and humanity, Porcelain War is a "poignant" (Variety) "combination of whimsy and devastation" (Wall Street Journal) about the power of art and the will to survive.
2:30pm: Apolonia Apolonia
The Davis Theater
Synopsis
Director: Lea Glob
Producer: Sidsel Lønvig Siersted
Denmark, Poland, 116 minutes, 2023
A portrait of the artist as a young woman, Apolonia Apolonia is among the year’s most celebrated and fascinating documentaries. Shortlisted for this year’s Academy Awards and winner of top prizes at festivals around the world, the film follows 13 years in the life of charismatic French painter Apolonia Sokol, from her days as a bohemian student at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, to her travails as a millionaire-sponsored artist in Los Angeles and beyond. "Bittersweet [and] "beguiling" (New York Times), "astonishing [and] affectionate" (RogerEbert.com) and "an impressively idiosyncratic, far-reaching work" (Variety), the film charts Apolonia’s winding course through the (often male-dominated) art-world and her close relationships with two other women, her best friend Ukrainian feminist activist Oksana Shachko, and the documentary’s director Lea Glob. As she reveals profound questions about female identity and friendship, art and commerce, filmmaker and protagonist, life and death, Glob is "utterly captivated by her subject, and the result leaves us just as transfixed" (POV Magazine).
5:15pm: Union
The Davis Theater
Synopsis
Directors: Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Producers: Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone
US, 102 min, 2024
Christian Smalls is the charismatic leader of the Amazon Labor Union, a first-of-its-kind grassroots organization fighting for those toiling away in the warehouses of the billion-dollar behemoth. Combining high-stakes drama and you-are-there observational intimacy, Union unfolds in real time over 2021 and 2022, as Smalls and his colleagues rally fellow workers, sabotage anti-union meetings, give away hot dogs, and strive to build a movement. But this is no simple "David vs. Goliath" story. Award-winning directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story have crafted a portrait of solidarity and struggle that is far more "smart and compellingly complicated" (The Hollywood Reporter). Call it David versus the widespread systemic forces that keep the working class powerless and divided. Winner of a Special Jury Award at Sundance, Union is "astounding [and] "brilliant" (New York Times), "gripping…[and] an immediate and necessary rallying cry for audiences everywhere" (IndieWire).
8:15pm: Look Into My Eyes
The Davis Theater
Director: Lana Wilson
Producers: Kyle Martin, Lana Wilson
US, 105 min, 2023
Can psychics really foretell your future? Commune with the dead? Or even read your pet’s mind? Enter the world of clairvoyants, mediums, and seers in this revelatory portrait of supposedly paranormal practitioners and their clients, as they seek to find answers—and healing—with each other. After making high-profile celebrity docs on Taylor Swift (Miss Americana) and Brooke Shields (Pretty Baby), award-winning filmmaker Lana Wilson sets her compassionate lens on these very different performers, and finds unexpected poignancy and humor in their lives and work. Called one of Sundance’s "best documentaries [and] marvelously nuanced and fascinating" (New York Times), Look Into My Eyes is an intriguing journey, riding the line between truth and fakery, and the palpable emotional reality that can exist in between. "Mesmeric [and] moving" (IndieWire) and "surprisingly effective" (RogerEbert.com), this quiet, remarkable film offers an intimate view into not only the supernatural but also the fragility of human nature.
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