If you are looking for an affordable way to see a few films and find out what True/False is all about, consider picking up our Gateway package. This offer allows you to reserve tickets to three films off of a select list of nine, which we’ll introduce below. You can then pick up your tickets at our box office beginning on Thursday, February 28th. But you’ll have to act soon. Gateway sales end tomorrow, February 22nd, at 6 p.m.
The first film, playing Thursday night at The Blue Note, is The Expedition to the End of the World. This travelogue follows a group of scientists and philosophers as they travel on a three-mast schooner through the unexplored inlets of Northeast Greenland. The crew’s meditations on matters great and small are punctuated by an excellent and unconventional score, ranging from opera to heavy metal. This film is sure to be a powerful experience on the big screen.
Next up is No, a interesting mix of historical fact and fiction, recounting the time an intrepid group of madmen took on a Chilean military dictatorship. This film blends archival material with fictional scenes shot on reconstructed 80s style cameras to create a unified retro aesthetic. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times discussed the film with its director Pablo Larraín at last summer’s Cannes film festival. No is also nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
Crash Reel is the latest from Lucy Walker, director of the T/F 2010 hit Wasteland. It tells the story of Kevin Pearce, once arguably the world’s greatest snow boarder, who suffered a terrible crash. The film transforms seamlessly from a high-adrenaline sports movie into a poignant and inspiring tale of recovery and brotherly love. Walker discusses how she became interested in telling this story to fellow T/F filmmaker Ondi Timoner in the video below.
Gateway includes three films dealing with the fascinating and frequently morally hazy subject of intelligence and counter-terrorism. The first, Manhunt, talks with the CIA analysts and agents who spent over 20 years tracking down Osama bin Laden. The film turns the record of their frustrations, ethical conflicts and ultimate triumph into a compelling detective story. The Daily Beast spoke with three of these analysts about their reactions to seeing their story on the big screen.
The Gatekeepers is built around interviews with the six men who have headed the Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agency. The film revisits the history of the post-1967 Arab-Israeli conflict from this fascinating new perspective. Director Dror Moreh spoke with the Times of Israel about getting these secretive men to open up for his camera and the perplexing implications of what they said.
Dirty Wars follows journalist Jeremy Scahill on a noirish journey from dusty huts outside Abottabad to seedy D.C.-area motels to the halls of Congress as he uncovers the unpleasant facts about the activities of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the organization empowered by the Obama administration to oversee an expanded “kill list”. Scahill and director Rick Rowley talk in depth about the film in the clip below from Democracy Now.
Winter Go Away is a powerful survey of life in Russia during last winter’s presidential elections. Avoiding all talking heads, the film captures the rallies, protests and backroom meetings directly, creating an important document of the hope, frustration and confusion of the political moment.
Cutie and the Boxer, a breakout hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, observes the difficult relationship of an aging bohemian couple, the “action painter” Ushio Shinohara and wife of 40 years, Noriko. This intimate exploration of the problems of love and art is an impressive directorial debut for Zachary Heinzerling, who introduces his film in the clip below.
After Tiller follows the lives and work of the four doctors left in all of America who perform late term abortions. While clearly made with a point of view, the film avoids any lionizing or demonizing, instead providing a much needed human context for this most divisive of issues.
This diverse selection of films offers a real cross section of this year’s fest. And just a reminder, this package will only be available for another 24 hours.
