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Moore’s latest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” continues the probing of beaurocracy and corporate dominance in our everyday lives. But this time, the subject goes beyond General Motors and Moore’s bumbling filmmaking efforts from Flint, Michigan (even he admits that; read that post and you’ll see what I mean).

This time, Moore takes on capitalism and explores its impact on America. He takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and goes looking for answers in Washington, D.C., Manhattan, and elsewhere.

More after the jump, including a trailer…

In Moore’s words: "It’s a crime story. But it’s also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it’s also a love story. Only it’s about an abusive relationship. It’s not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make. It’s a comedy."

The film opens in L.A. and New York on Sept. 23, 2009; wide on Oct. 2). Check out the trailer:

© 2009 Overture Films, LLC All Rights Reserved.

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Garlin is no stranger to comedy, having executive produced HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and been involved in many other projects. He said the festival will likely take place next spring and span a week, including movies, stand-up, sketch comedy and other entertainment.

Moore said if the festival goes well, he’ll start looking into a local book festival in fall 2010.

In some ways, I’m all over these types of projects, as they promote arts and culture. In another way, though, I hate to see my hometown crawling with people all year long. On the other hand, it’s definitely good for business and we don’t really get that many comedy films during the Traverse City Film Festival. .

Any thoughts on the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival?

Image: Jeff Garlin, Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO

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Day Five was a mixed bag. First, my son and I saw "In the Loop," a BBC film directed by Armando Iannucci, whose credits include assorted TV shows, including "I’m Alan Partridge," "Lab Rats," "Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle," and "Genius."

"In the Loop" is a political comedy told in a documentary-style format. The main story is whether or not the U.S. President and the U.K. Prime Minister should back a war. But the action really takes place in the lower echelons. U.S. General Miller (James Gandolfini) and British Secretary of State Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) are not keen on a war, but after Simon accidentally backs military action on TV, he suddenly has lots of friends and fans in Washington, DC.

First of all, there’s a LOT of swearing and f-bombs in this movie. It’s not so much that I’m worried about my son – he’s almost 15 and can take it – but rather, *I* wasn’t that into it. It’s like HBO’s "Deadwood" – the swearing is actually distracting from the storyline. But other than that, this is a funny movie about politics, bureaucracy, and the stuff that goes on in the inner bowels of any government.

Then we saw Michael Moore’s "Roger & Me"; it’s the 20th anniversary of the documentary about Flint, Michigan, and Moore’s attempts to talk with Ford CEO Roger Smith about the decline of the auto industry. The movie holds up, and is just as relevant, if not more so, today.

After the screening, Moore was interviewed by his pal Larry Charles, and also answered a few questions from the audience. The film had a very low budget, which is amazing considering that much of what they filmed went into the movie. It’s not like now, where you can film 1000 hours relatively cheaply and then pick and choose what goes into the film.

I think he said 10 minutes of film cost $400 at the time; plus, they were learning as they went along, so a lot of the film was accidentally ruined when the camera opened or whatever.

Contrary to what you might think, Michael Moore is actually a very shy, introverted guy — and I can attest to this because I’ve interviewed him before. The Michael Moore you see on Fox News and CNN is not the same one who might be sitting behind you in the State Theater in Traverse City on a Tuesday afternoon.

For that reason, it was hard for him to come to terms with being IN "Roger & Me" and seeing himself on camera. But it’s a documentary, and I think it really added to the film to have him in there.

He also told one story about how they were filming a family with kids being evicted from their Flint home on Christmas Eve. He and the film crew were scraping up some money to pay this woman’s rent, but the eviction officer said it was against the law to be giving money to him to keep this family in their home.

Anyway, it’s a great film, and you should really see it if you haven’t yet. It’s both gripping and depressing, and a great example of what a documentary can be with a limited budget and filmmaking knowledge. Buy it on Amazon.

Images: IFC Films; Amazon.com

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Movie: The Answer Man * Official Site	In Theaters: July 24, 2009
Runtime: 95 minutes	Directed by: John Hindman
MPAA Rating: R for language	Gecko Rating:

Jeff Daniels is one of those versatile actors who can do any role and do it well. Comedy, drama, musical, quirky, sad, romantic — you name it, he does it. In “The Answer Man,” he gets to do several of those things all in the same movie.

He plays Arlen Faber, a self-help guru who’s written scores of books on the “Me and God” brand during the past 20 years. But Arlen is crotchety and cynical, and basically just wants to be left alone from the millions of fans he has worldwide. That’s why he never does any public readings or reveals his true identity to anyone. Only his agent Terry Fraser (Nora Dunn) knows his true identity. Not even the mailman (Tony Hale) has a clue that the guy he’s delivering mail to all these years is the one and only Arlen Faber.

But things start to change when Arlen has a sudden back spasm that lays him out on the floor. Receiving no help from his disgruntled agent, he finally crawls out the door and down the street to the nearest chiropractic clinic, newly opened by overprotective single mom Elizabeth (Lauren Graham) who straps her young son Alex (Max Antisell) into his car seat like he’s heading for the moon.

This movie has some very funny moments, like Arlen’s record player playing the same tune over and over as he lies paralyzed on the floor. But also some tragedy, too. Like the local bookstore / trader owner, Kris (Lou Taylor Pucci) who just got out of rehab and talks Arlen into giving him free advice, then Arlen can give him five books for each question. Even HE doesn’t believe his own crap. He just wants the books out of his house. But Kris is near financial ruin and can’t afford to pay for the books.

Lauren Graham always has this girl-next-door quality, like someone you’d like to be friends with. She does that in this movie, too. And the pairing of her and Daniels – their characters become romantically entangled – works on several levels. He needs her to get out in the world. She needs him because he’s surprisingly good with her son. And they genuinely like each other. They just need to get over themselves to make a go of it.  

If you like quirky, romantic, heartfelt, funny movies, then check out “The Answer Man.” It’s much more than a romantic comedy or dramedy or whatever you want to call it. This is one movie that defies being categorized, and is all the better for it.

Image: Magnolia Pictures

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Yesterday, I saw “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” and it was such a thrill to be in the presence of the great Paul Mazursky, who directed that film, as well as many other greats, including “An Unmarried Woman,” “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” and “Enemies: A Love Story.” Read some of Mazursky’s thoughts on filmmaking and working with stars like Natalie Wood  and Elliott Gould here.

Last night, my son and I saw “Big Fan,” a tragicomedy starring Patton Oswalt as a guy with a major fan-crush on his favorite New York Giants player. But things turn dicey when he follows the player one night and events occur that puts his beloved team in serious jeopardy.

“Big Fan” was more dramatic than I anticipated – I thought it would be funnier – but it’s still a great movie and character study on obsessive sports fans. It also starred Kevin Corrigan, whom I just realized played the pivotal character of Finn Garrity in “Damages” last year. I covered that show for CliqueClack – read my reviews here.

Both Kevin Corrigan and Patton Oswalt (pictured) were present at the screening, with Oswalt answering most of the questions afterwards. He was hilarious! Among other things, he said, “Don’t tell anyone about Traverse City. You guys are in your own little magic bubble up here, with gentle cherry mist and fudge; do you have leprechauns massage your feet for you?" He said the laid-back vibe here is quite different from other festivals like Sundance, where it’s rush-rush-rush and “no oxygen.”

More after the jump, including Nazi Zombies…

Then we wandered downtown to the State Theatre and saw the midnight showing of “Dead Snow” a gore-tastic movie about Nazi Zombies terrorizing a group of college students at a remote cabin. Every time blood would spurt out of someone’s head or intestines would be yanked out of a body, the audience would groan and applaud wildly. It was a hoot. And the movie drew all sorts of people, including lots of skinheads and punks. Sitting next to me was a heavily pierced guy with a mohawk (he was very nice, though).

Tonight, I may try to get to “Outtakes from Bruno” and/or “Humpday.” This weekend, I’m looking forward to “Mike’s Surprise” (Michael Moore’s screening of some unknown film), as well as the 20th Anniversary showing of “Roger and Me” and some other films.

Image: Zuma Press; IFC Films

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What strikes me about the film is that most movies in the 1960s focused on the younger generation – the Woodstock generation. But this film concentrated on two wealthy, upper middle-class couples living in L.A. I was coveting their homes and cars and swimming pools, but of course, under the facade are  bunch of issues – sexual issues, in this case.

If you’re not familiar with the story, it follows two couples, played by Natalie Wood and Robert Culp, and Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon, all contemplating what it means to be married and whether you can fool around outside the marriage and have it all be ok. They start out believing it IS ok, but by the end of the movie, when it comes down to whether they can swap spouses and be ok with it, that’s another story.

A few notes from Paul Mazursky:

A colleague said the film would be considered “dirty,” but Mazursky told him, “If I get Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, then it wouldn’t be dirty.” So it was a matter of casting the right actors.

He was “a little uptight” about auditioning three women who needed to sit naked in a room in the  movie, and joked that he did the auditions with his wife, Betsy, in the room. At least, I think he was joking. Maybe he was serious.

During the scene at the nightclub, when the foursome is entering the room, Robert Culp bumped into an extra played by Bill Cosby, his co-star in “I Spy” at the time.

On making movies about the upper middle class, Mazursky said “I treat them with affection, but my tendency is to have some satire in it … not that I was one of them. I was broke at the time I made this movie,” driving a brown and white Studebaker rather than the Jaguars and Cadillacs most Hollywood players owned. 

Mazursky and his wife Betsy went to the Esalen Institute, the center depicted in the opening scenes of the movie; he said they were “a version of of Bob and Carol.”

On getting the actors to strip down to their undies, even though they were covered by blankets and other things, “in those days, actresses like [Wood and Cannon] didn’t show their breasts,” Mazursky said. “Natalie had pasties on, which you didn’t see.” He added that “those were the greatest undies I’ve ever seen.” It’s true – the women’s undergarments in that movie are absolutely gorgeous!

“Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” actually changed the course of history in the movies, because “up until this picture, they were reluctant to do a movie like this,” he said.

On the pot-smoking scene, Mazursky said, “I’m sure that Culp had smoked, but Natalie, I don’t really know.  Cary Grant introduced Dyan to acid.” (She was recently divorced from Grant when this movie was made.)

On the scene with Dyan and the psychiatrist, Mazursky said, “She was brilliant. No scene that I’ve ever done has been better than that scene with Dyan and the psychiatrist.” As a side note, that was Mazursky’s real-life psychiatrist, whom “later flipped, cracked up,” he said. “Because of me, I think.”

Mazursky said of the cast: “It was a very good cast. It’s hard to think of anyone else in this film. Elliott Gould is a very funny guy, and Natalie Wood was at a crossroads at this point. Her career had slowed down, and she was cautious about what to do next. But she read the script and loved it, and that was it.”

Robert Culp’s entire wardrobe in the movie came from his own closet, except for one thing. “I gave him the beads,” said Mazursky.

He said Quincy Jones was the first one to see the film, and he encouraged Mazursky to keep the “Hallelujah Chorus” at the beginning of the film, “and he added a few riffs here and there.”

As for whether the movie has a moral, Mazursky says, “If you have a message, let Western Union send it. That’s one thing I don’t like to do in my movies.”  

On using “What the World Needs Now” for the ending song, Mazursky said when he first heard it, “I got goosebumps.”

The cast kept asking for eight weeks how the movie would end, and whether the two couples would swap partners in bed. Mazursky said, “It was in the script, but it was unclear how it would go. I said, ‘I don’t know. Let’s wait and see.”

Any differences in the audiences then and now? Not really, he said. “I screened it for about 1000 people in the Czech Republic two years ago, and they went nuts over it. So it still seems to work.” It absolutely does.

Image: Zuma Press; Amazon.com

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Movie: Troubled Water * Official Site	In Theaters: Making the rounds at film festivals
Runtime: 115 minutes	Director: Erik Poppe
MPAA Rating: Not rated	Gecko Rating:

The opening night movie of the Traverse City Film Festival was "Troubled Water." A Norwegian film with English subtitles, it tells the story of a young man just released from prison after serving eight years for a terrible crime.

A gifted organist, Jan (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen) is a quiet young man who’s doing his best to move on with his life after serving prison time. He takes a job at a church and befriends the female priest, Anna (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and her son Jens (Fredrik Grondahl).

But Jan’s past comes back to haunt him in a big way. The woman, Agnes (Trine Dyrholm), whose life was turned upside down by his past crime pays a visit to the church. We learn that she’s a teacher who lives with her husband and two adopted daughters. Her husband has taken a job in another country, mainly to try and move beyond their horrible past, especially since the perpetrator has just been released from prison.

It’s a film that covers a lot of issues, including grief, forgiveness, redemption, and human nature. What I love is that it’s subtle – not an "in your face" type of movie – and the story grabs you right from the beginning and carries you along until the end credits. And while you can see certain storylines playing out, there’s a few twists and turns along the way.

The director, Erik Poppe, answered questions after the film’s screening. A few tidbits:

• Poppe tried many times to get permission to use Paul Simon’s "Bridge Over Troubled Water" in the film. Simon wasn’t interested, and it wasn’t until Poppe sent two representatives to New York with a copy for Simon to screen that he finally said yes. Apparently, he doesn’t usually – if ever – allow his songs to be used in films. But "Troubled Water" made such an impact that he said yes.
• The lead actor, Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, had no experience playing the organ before the movie started production. He learned along the way, and I can tell you, his playing in this film is nothing short of magnificent. Hearing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on a pipe organ in a church? Powerful!
• Real prisoners were used in the prison scenes, because the filmmakers weren’t allowed to bring extras in for the filming. Poppe said the prisoners really got into it and were sorry when filming wrapped. And the prisoners were especially disturbed that they’d have to inflict harm on the lead actor during the filming.
• A life-sized doll was created to be used as a stand-in for a character during dangerous water sequences. The doll was actually lost in the water during filming, which was ironic, because it followed the plot of the film, as well.

"Troubled Water" Trailer:

Image: Michael Moore and director Erik Poppe, Jane Boursaw

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I attended the opening night movie, "Troubled Water," a thoughtful film on redemption and forgiveness, Norwegian with subtitles. It tells the story of a young man just released from prison after serving eight years for a terrible crime. A gifted organist, Jan (Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen) is on a quiet path to redemption, playing in a church and even winning the heart of the church’s pastor and her young son. But he’s soon forced to confront his past when a woman whose life has been forever scarred by his actions visits the church with her class.

Plus, I sat next to a lovely gentleman who works for Warner Bros. in television sales, and when I told him I’m the assistant editor at TV Squad, he said, "Hey, we work for the same company!" The two companies recently merged. So we exchanged business cards and who knows, maybe we’ll meet up at another film this week! I make so many new friends at the film festival every year.

The director of "Troubled Water," Erik Poppe, was in the audience and answered questions after the screening. It’s always great to hear the inside scoop on a film that you’ve just seen, especially one as well-made as "Troubled Water."

Afterwards, I wandered down to the Traverse City Open Space, where they’re playing free movies each night — "Men in Black" last night — on a massive inflatable screen. How fun to see hundreds of people – families, couples, and children – on blankets and chairs watching a great movie. There were even boats moored in the harbor. How cool would it be to watch a movie from your boat?!

As always, the festival runs like a well-oiled machine, thanks to the efforts of founder Michael Moore and hundreds of volunteers promoting the cause of "Just Great Movies!"

Tonight: "The Answer Man," "Woodstock: The Director’s Cut," and possibly "Harmony and Me," if I have it in me to be cognizant enough for the midnight movie!

Image: Jane Boursaw

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Looks like a great lineup of films and special guests. There will be daily morning panel discussions with film industry guests, and free movies shown at the Open Space at night. Paul Mazursky will be on hand for this year’s Tribute to a filmmaking legend. His films include "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," "An Unmarried Woman," and "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice."

Tickets go on sale to Friends of the Film Festival on Sunday, July 12, at 12 noon on a walk-up basis at the Front Street cybercafe box office. At 6 p.m. that day, Friends can buy tickets by phone and online. Public ticket sales start Saturday, July 18, for walk-up only starting at 12 noon. Phone and Internet sales start at 6 p.m. Tickets for regular movies are $9; opening and closing night films are $25.

For more info and to see a schedule, check out the Traverse City Film Festival site. Here’s just a few of the films I’ll be seeing and reviewing for Film Gecko:

The Answer Man. Jeff Daniels stars as Arlen Faber, the reclusive author of a best-selling spirituality guide titled "Me and God" who is still hiding from his answer-seeking fans twenty years after the publication of his wildly popular book. Faber is forced to admit that he might not have all the answers when his life collides with Elizabeth, a chiropractor and a single mother, and Kris, a fresh-out-of-rehab bookstore owner.

More after the jump…

Big Fan. Comedian Patton Oswalt stars as Paul Aufiero, a working-class Staten Islander whose life revolves around his obsession with the New York Giants. Paul sees the opportunity of a lifetime when he spots the Giants’ star quarterback Quantrell Bishop at a nearby gas station, but things take a turn for the worse after he follows Bishop to a Manhattan night club. A misunderstanding results in Paul receiving a bad beating from the player he idolizes. Paul’s devotion is put to the test when his family pressures him to take legal action against his hero, leaving the fate of his beloved Giants’ season squarely in his hands.

The Cove. Winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this riveting documentary exposes the disturbing practices of the dolphin trade in Japan in dare-devil fashion. A gripping film that plays as part heist thriller and part expose, "The Cove" follows activist Richard O’Barry (the man who trained Flipper) on an "Ocean’s Eleven"-style operation as he and a team of fellow activists infiltrate the cove in Taiji, Japan in order to document the fishing practices that result in the death of tens of thousands of dolphins annually.

Dead Snow. Embracing the campy gore-fest tradition of films like "The Evil Dead," this outlandish horror flick follows a group of Norwegian medical students vacationing in an isolated cabin in the snowy Norwegian Alps. Something goes terribly wrong, and the group is suddenly overwhelmed by Nazi zombies bent on finding successively more clever ways of dismembering the campers.

Examined Life. Witness intellectual gymnastic performances from some of the world’s top minds in this philoso-doc that pulls prominent scholars out from their journals and classrooms and into places and spaces that hold particular resonance for their ideas. Featuring such celebrities of the cerebral realm as Cornel West (riffing on Plato and jazz from the back of a cab), Peter Singer (on consumption on Fifth Avenue) and Slavoj Zizek (who rants about environmentalism while wandering through a dump), director Astra Taylor’s documentary aims to offer a lively introduction to the ideas of some of today’s most influential thinkers.

Food, Inc. An eye-opening expose of the dark side of our nation’s agri-business industry, "Food, Inc." builds on the works of authors Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore’s Dilemma") and Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation") to tear the veil off Big Agriculture. The film takes on the business of food from farm to fork, showing the steps our food takes to get from industrial feedlots to fast food chains and supermarkets, as well as showing the political decisions that led to the current state of affairs.

The Garden. Nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, this film presents three years in the life of the nation’s largest urban community garden, located in South Central Los Angeles — the same neighborhood devastated by the 1992 Rodney King riots. After a 12-year run of overwhelming success in the hands of hardworking farmers, the South Central Farm comes under threat by wealthy developers and an unsupportive local government. Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy (who will be present at the screening) navigates the bureaucratic battle between the farmers, developers and city hall in this fascinating document about grassroots activism and the strength of community.

Harmony and Me. The latest film from director Robert Byington (whose film "Registered Sex Offender" is also playing in this year’s TCFF) is a crowd-pleasing, quirky, sad-sack slacker comedy about a guy who seems to want nothing more from life than to cultivate misery. Harmony (played by musician Justin Rice) had his heart broken by his ex-girlfriend months ago and he still masochistically refuses to let go of the pain. His only solace comes from re-telling his tale of woe to the often deaf ears of his oddball friends and family.

Humpday. Ben (Mark Duplass) is a 30ish guy with a steady job, settling quietly into married life. But when his globetrotting pseudo-Bohemian college buddy Andrew (Joshua Leonard) shows up unannounced at his doorstep, the two fall back into their old ways. Their natural spirit of one-upmanship during a night of heavy drinking leads the guys to a mutual dare to shoot and star in a film to be entered in an amateur adult film festival. Their gimmick? To make a dude-on-dude "erotic art film" featuring themselves — two straight guys — as the leads. Even after sobriety kicks in the next day, the guys are too macho to back down from their dare.

Julie & Julia. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams star in Nora Ephron’s captivating film about the early days of renowned chef Julia Child’s career, and Julie Powell’s attempt — more than forty years later — to cook and blog her way through all 524 recipes in Child’s definitive "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in just 365 days. Child’s sojourn to Paris in the 1940s where she fell in love with cooking is set against Powell’s modern life in Queens, New York. Directed by Nora Ephron, the film weaves the two stories together, paralleling the lives of two women who discover their passions using fearlessness and lots of butter.

Learning Gravity. Thomas Lynch (who will be present at the screening) is an Irish-American whose family has owned and operated funeral homes in Southeastern Michigan for the three generations. He’s also a renowned writer whose poems and essays on the lives of those who work with death have won numerous awards and served as the inspiration for the HBO series "Six Feet Under."

A Matter of Size. Herzl is overweight and still living with his mother. His diet group isn’t going so well either; they’ve given him the boot after he manages to gain 28 pounds in two months. After landing a new job as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant, he discovers the world of sumo wrestling and convinces three of his chubby chums to join him in starting a sumo club. A lighthearted comedy about self-acceptance, this festival fave has already been picked up for a Hollywood remake. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

No Impact Man. How much of your lifestyle would you give up to save the planet? This environmental documentary follows Manhattan-based author Colin Beavan as he pledges to put an end to his complacent consumerism and make zero environmental impact for a year, living without electricity, eating only locally grown food and even giving up toilet paper. The only potential snag is that Beavan has to drag his Starbucks-addicted, shopaholic wife and their toddler daughter along for the ride.

Outtakes from Bruno. World Premiere! For the first time anywhere, festivalgoers in Traverse City will see scenes that were too hot for the brand new comedy hit, "Bruno." Director Larry Charles takes you behind the scenes and shares clips no one will see anywhere else — except at the TCFF. Security will prohibit the videotaping of these never-to-be-released "Bruno" excerpts. Only adults 17 years and older will be admitted.

Patrik, Age 1.5. Happily married Swedish gay couple Sven and Goran are missing just one thing: a child. So they decide to adopt. But a clerical error at the adoption agency means that instead of the 1.5-year-old Patrik they were expecting, they get a homophobic 15-year-old boy with a police record. Will Patrik give up his tough-guy ways, or will he drive a wedge through the happy couple’s marriage?

Roger and Me: The 20th Anniversary. This year the festival that Michael Moore founded and runs pays tribute to his debut documentary, the film that forever changed the course of documentary filmmaking. In his mid-30s, Moore ran bingo games in his hometown of Flint to fund a movie about GM chairman Roger Smith and the closing of a Flint factory that resulted in the elimination of over 30,000 jobs. Its 1989 Telluride premiere gave audiences their first taste of the blend of scathing wit, moments of human tragedy and satire that has become a signature of Moore’s body of work. Sadly, Moore’s prescient portrait of a city in decline is even more relevant now than it was twenty years ago. Special guests from the film will be present at the screening.

Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie. The clown prince of peace, Wavy Gravy has been an institution for decades. Securing his place in history with his unforgettable presence at Woodstock, Wavy has been on a mission that reaches beyond political, economic and cultural divisions. Director Michelle Esrick spent ten years following Wavy Gravy around the globe and documenting the amazing journey of this true servant to humanity. Much more than a Ben and Jerry’s flavor, Wavy Gravy is living proof that you can make the world a better place and have fun doing it. In person: producer David Becker, director Michelle Esrick, Wavy Gravy.

Troubled Water. This film from director Erik Poppe tells the story of a young man just released from prison after serving eight years for a terrible crime. A gifted organist, Jan is on a quiet path to redemption, playing in a church and even winning the heart of the church’s pastor and her young son. But he is soon forced to confront his past when a woman whose life has been forever scarred by his actions visits the church with her class.

Valentino: The Last Emperor. Filmed during the last year of legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani’s reign over the world of high fashion, this documentary offers a glimpse into the beauty and opulence of Valentino’s haute couture lifestyle. Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer gained unprecedented access into Valentino’s realm, following the designer (and his troupe of five pugs) around the globe from yachts and private planes to design studios as he prepares his final collection for a lavish show in Rome. In person: director Matt Tyrnauer, producer Matt Kapp, Ted Alexandre.

Winnebago Man. A superstar on the Internet but almost unheard of elsewhere, Jack Rebney had a bit of unwanted fame thrust upon him when outtakes of his profane tirades from RV sales videos shot over 20 years ago found their way online. Writer/director Ben Steinbauer’s fascination with these viral videos and his quest to track down the somewhat reclusive Rebney are the subject of this hilarious new documentary. In person: producer Joel Heller, writer/producer/editor Malcolm Pullinger, and director Ben Steinbauer.

Woodstock: The Director’s Cut. Forty years ago, half a million people of all colors, shapes, sizes, ages and sexes attended the Woodstock Music and Art Fair at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in rural New York. The little fair became rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous event, an iconic representation of a generation’s ideals. We’ll recreate this seminal time and place with the magnificent restoration of the Director’s Cut, the Oscar-winning documentary that completely and poignantly captures the landmark music celebration. Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin are just a few of the greatest performers in history preserved in this film. In person: Wavy Gravy, Country Joe McDonald.

Image Credits: Amazon.com; Sony Pictures

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