2018 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary A at Real Art Ways

Every year Real Art Ways brings the Oscar Nominated Short Films to our Cinema. We’re the only place you can go in central Connecticut to experience some of the most celebrated short films in the world.

All three categories are offered – Animation, Live Action and Documentary (Programs A & B). This is your annual chance to see all of these nominees before the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 4.

Documentary Shorts Program A

Traffic Stop
Directors: Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, USA, 30 minutes
In June 2015, a 26-year-old African-American elementary school teacher named Breaion King was pulled over by a white police officer for a routine traffic stop. The incident escalated into a violent arrest, followed by a conversation about race in America between King and another white officer while he drove her to the station.

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Director: Frank Stiefel, USA, 40 minutes
Artist Mindy Alper has spent almost all of her 56 years combating severe depression and anxiety, using medication, electroconvulsive therapy and psychiatry to help her. Art has always been her most effective outlet, with drawing and sculpture offering her the tools to give voice to her fears and mental battles.

Edith + Eddie
Directors: Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wrights, USA, 29 minutes
In 2014, 96-year-old Edith Hill and 95-year-old Eddie Harrison are married, unconcerned that one is African American and the other is white. The newlyweds are forced apart, however, when one of Edith’s daughters, unhappy about the relationship, forces her mother to leave her Virginia home and move to Florida.

Every year Real Art Ways brings the Oscar Nominated Short Films to our Cinema. We’re the only place you can go in central Connecticut to experience some of the most celebrated short films in the world.

All three categories are offered – Animation, Live Action and Documentary (Programs A & B). This is your annual chance to see all of these nominees before the Academy Awards on Sunday March 4.

Animated Shorts:

Dear Basketball (The Winner!)
Director: Glen Keane, USA, 5 minutes
On the eve of his retirement from basketball, NBA legend Kobe Bryant describes his love for the game, which began when he was a young child. From his youthful dreams of glory to his 20-year career, Bryant describes how he and basketball have given each other all they have.

Negative Space
Directors: Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, France, 5 minutes
Even though Sam’s father is hardly ever home because he is often away on business trips, he is able to connect with his son by teaching him how to pack a suitcase.

Lou
Directors: Dave Mullins and Dana Murray, USA, 7 minutes
Lou, the guardian of the lost and found box at an elementary school, tries to teach young bully J.J. that giving to the other kids will make him feel better than stealing from them.

Revolting Rhymes
Directors: Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, UK, 29 minutes
The Wolf from the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” reveals the true and twisted story of his adventures and those of other characters in his world, including Snow White, Cinderella and Jack, the climber of beanstalks. The film is based on the much-loved rhymes written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Sir Quentin Blake.

Garden Party
Directors: Victor Claire and Gabriel Grapperon, France, 7 minutes
A luxurious villa and its grounds have become home to amorous, hungry and accident-prone frogs and toads. While they enjoy the bounties on offer, including caviar and macaroons, the amphibians uncover the whereabouts of the villa’s owner.

Film synopses by deadline.com

Lost Property Office (additional film)

Weeds (additional film)

Achoo (additional film) 

Academy Award Nominee: Documentary Feature

Agnès Varda and JR have things in common: a passion for and the exploration of images in general, and more precisely, for places and for ways of showing, sharing, and exhibiting them. Agnès chose cinema. JR chose to create open air photography galleries.

When Agnès and JR met in 2015, they immediately wanted to work together, to shoot a film in France, far from cities, during a trip in JR’s photographic (and magical) truck. Through chance encounters and prepared projects, they reached out to others, listening to them, photographing them, and sometimes putting them on posters.

This film also tells the story of Agnès and JR’s friendship, which grew stronger throughout the film shoot, between surprises and teasing, and while laughing about their differences.

Straight from our friends at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, where their annual showings attract sold-out audiences.

The British Arrows is a celebration of the best work the UK advertising industry has to offer, honoring the best ideas, best craftsmanship, and best commercials of the year. Watching the commercials in a cinematic setting provides a unique communal screening experience.

From high-tech extravaganzas to wacky British comedy—including outstanding performances by children, animals, and A-listers—this celebration of commercial creativity presents the UK’s most innovative and daring pieces of advertising. The 2017 program includes content made for the web and television, as well as public service announcements intended to raise social awareness.

The program can be a unique cross cultural experience, as audiences try to figure out brands and products that are not available in the U.S., but are cleverly conveyed. It’s a unique experience for American audiences to view ads that are not invested in the hard sell; rather, generating interest in products and services through humor, pathos and dynamic cinematography.

One-Time Screening
Monday, February 5 – 7:30 PM

In 2016, GRAMMY-nominated trio Above & Beyond left the electronic world behind, risking it all to go acoustic.  Their new film Above & Beyond Acoustic – Giving Up The Day Job, follows the group’s unlikely journey from the DJ booth to the Hollywood Bowl.

From the re-imagining of songs in Abbey Road Studios to their presentation in iconic global venues from the Sydney Opera House to New York’s Beacon Theater, San Francisco’s Greek Theater and finally the Hollywood Bowl.  With a traveling party of 17 musicians, and an additional 34 of Los Angeles’ finest classical players, the new film is an intimate behind the scenes look at one of the world’s biggest electronic dance groups as they separate the song from the beats and try something new.

Paul Dugdale with Scheme Engine (Ed Sheeran: Jumpers For Goalposts, The Rolling Stones Olé, Olé, Olé!:  A Trip Across Latin America) directed the live concert at The Hollywood Bowl, and Myles Desenberg of BAFTA-nominated production company Archer’s Mark, directed the behind-the-scenes documentary of the act on tour.

Above & Beyond: Giving Up The Day Job is a beautiful and lush concert film with documentary footage giving fans an inside look at the band.

With A Ghost Story, acclaimed director David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Pete’s Dragon) returns with a singular exploration of legacy, loss, and the essential human longing for meaning and connection.

Recently deceased, a white-sheeted ghost (Academy Award-winner Casey Affleck) returns to his suburban home to console his bereft wife (Academy Award-nominee Rooney Mara), only to find that in his spectral state he has become unstuck in time, forced to watch passively as the life he knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away.

Increasingly unmoored, the ghost embarks on a cosmic journey through memory and history, confronting life’s ineffable questions and the enormity of existence.

An unforgettable meditation on love and grief, A Ghost Story emerges ecstatic and surreal—a wholly-unique experience that lingers long after the credits roll.

One Time Only – Film + Discussion

Panel Discussion

On Tuesday, September 19, after the film, stay for a panel discussion moderated by Sarah Croucher, Executive Director, NARAL Pro-Choice CT who will speak about the effects of the anti-choice movement in Connecticut.

BIRTHRIGHT: A WAR STORY is a feature length documentary that examines how women are being jailed, physically violated and even put at risk of dying as a radical movement tightens its grip across America.

The film tells the story of women who have become collateral damage in the aggressive campaign to take control of reproductive health care and to allow states, courts and religious doctrine to govern whether, when and how women will bear children.

The documentary explores the accelerating gains of the crusade to control pregnant women and the fallout that is creating a public health crisis, turning pregnant women into criminals and challenging the constitutional protections of every woman in America.

Post-Film Panel Discussion on Tuesday, September 19

MODERATOR:

Sarah Croucher
Executive Director, NARAL Pro-Choice CT

PANELISTS:

Luchina Fisher
Co-Executive Producer and Writer of Birthright: A War Story

OB-GYN
Hartford GYN Center

Samantha R.
Volunteer Clinic Escort from Hartford GYN Center. Clinic escorts help walk patients in and out of the clinic and ensure that they feel safe on the sidewalk when anti-choice protestors are present.

A Movie in the Afternoon. Every Day.

At 32, Michal (Noa Kooler), an Orthodox Jewish woman, is finally looking forward to the comfort and security of marriage, when she is blindsided by her fiancé’s decision to call off the wedding with only a month’s notice.

Unwilling to return to lonely single life, Michal decides to put her trust in fate and continue with her wedding plans, believing Mr. Right will appear by her chosen date.

Confident she will find a match made in heaven, she books a venue, sends out invitations and buys a wedding dress, as her skeptical mother and sister look on with trepidation.

During Michal’s month-long search for a spouse, she enlists the help of two different matchmakers, goes on a series of disastrous blind dates and finds an unexpected connection with a charming but utterly unsuitable pop star (Oz Zehavi) – all while dismissing pleas by concerned friends and family members that she reconsider her risky plan.

As the day of the ceremony grows closer and no suitor appears, Michal puts everything on the line to find happiness.

Band Aid, the refreshingly raw, real, and hilarious feature debut from Zoe Lister-Jones, is the story of a couple, Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally), who can’t stop fighting.

Advised by their therapist to try and work through their grief unconventionally, they are reminded of their shared love of music. In a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, they decide to turn all their fights into song, and with the help of their neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen), they start a band.

A story of love, loss, and rock and roll, Band Aid is a witty and perceptive view of modern love, with some seriously catchy pop hooks to boot.

A Movie in the Afternoon. Every Day.

Based on author David Grann’s nonfiction bestseller, “The Lost City of Z” tells the incredible true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), who journeys into the Amazon at the dawn of the 20th century and discovers evidence of a previously unknown, advanced civilization that may have once inhabited the region.

Despite being ridiculed by the scientific establishment who regard indigenous populations as “savages,” the determined Fawcett – supported by his devoted wife (Sienna Miller), son (Tom Holland) and aide-de-camp (Robert Pattinson) – returns time and again to his beloved jungle in an attempt to prove his case, culminating in his mysterious disappearance in 1925.

An epically scaled tale of courage and passion, told in writer/director James Gray’s classic filmmaking style, “The Lost City of Z” is a stirring tribute to the exploratory spirit and a conflicted adventurer driven to the verge of obsession.

A Movie in the Afternoon. Every Day.

He was the pride of Bayonne, New Jersey, a man who went fifteen rounds in the ring with Muhammad Ali, and the real life inspiration for Rocky Balboa.

But before all that, Chuck Wepner (Liev Schreiber) was a liquor salesman and father with a modest prizefighting career whose life changed overnight when, in 1975, he was chosen to take on The Greatest in a highly publicized title match.

It’s the beginning of a wild ride through the exhilarating highs and humbling lows of sudden fame-but what happens when your fifteen minutes in the spotlight are up?

Driven by a committed performance from Liev Schreiber, Chuck is a refreshingly human tale of resilience and redemption. Elisabeth Moss, Naomi Watts, Jim Gaffigan and Ron Perlman costar.

In October 1965, The Beatles were faced with an impossible task—produce a new album of original music for a Christmas release. Within one month, The Beatles had emerged with what many consider to be one of their greatest albums—Rubber Soul.

They even had time to create a double A-side single, “We Can Work It Out” backed by “Day Tripper.” Both sides of the single, as well as the album, hit number one on the charts.

In Deconstructing The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, composer/producer Scott Freiman walks Beatles fans young and old through the creation of Rubber Soul.

Learn the stories behind the creation of “Norwegian Wood,” “In My Life,” “Nowhere Man,” and other classic Beatles songs. Mr. Freiman conducts an educational journey into the creative process of The Beatles performances and recording sessions.

HELD OVER.

A Movie in the Afternoon. Every Day.

The year is 1940, London. With the nation bowed down by war, the British ministry turns to propaganda films to boost morale at home. Realizing their films could use “a woman’s touch,” the ministry hires Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) as a scriptwriter in charge of writing the female dialogue.

Although her artist husband looks down on her job, Catrin’s natural flair quickly gets her noticed by cynical, witty lead scriptwriter Buckley (Sam Claflin).

Catrin and Buckley set out to make an epic feature film based on the Dunkirk rescue starring the gloriously vain, former matinee idol Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy).

As bombs are dropping all around them, Catrin, Buckley and their colorful cast and crew work furiously to make a film that will warm the hearts of the nation.

A Movie in the Afternoon. Every day.

The real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during World War II.

In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (portrayed by two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh, a European Film Award nominee for the Academy Award-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care.

When their country is invaded by the Germans, Jan and Antonina are stunned and forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Brühl of Captain America: Civil War).

To fight back on their own terms, the Żabińskis covertly begin working with the Resistance and put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk.

50th Anniversary Release! Looks and sounds better than ever.

On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love, the first and only Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade’s spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll.

Monterey would launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast that included Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, the Byrds, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar.

With his characteristic vérité style, D. A. Pennebaker captured it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend destroying his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his.

The complete program of performers and songs:

1. The Mamas & the Papas – “California Dreamin'”
2. Canned Heat – “Rollin’ and Tumblin'”
3. Simon & Garfunkel – “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”
4. Hugh Masekela – “Bajabula Bonke (The Healing Song)”
5. Jefferson Airplane – “High Flyin’ Bird” and “Today”
6. Big Brother and the Holding Company – “Ball ‘n’ Chain”
7. Eric Burdon & The Animals – “Paint It Black”
8. The Who – “My Generation”
9. Country Joe and the Fish – “Section 43”
10. Otis Redding – “Shake” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”
11. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Wild Thing”
12. The Mamas & the Papas – “Got a Feelin'”
13. Ravi Shankar – “Dhun” (“Dadra and Fast Teental”)

Milestones of a Spiritual Life

This eye-opening documentary, comprising footage shot by various filmmakers in more than 25 countries, explores how different religious practices and rituals from around the globe help reveal our common humanity.

The film immerses the viewer in the daily use of faith and spiritual practice. At a time when religious hatreds dominate the world’s headlines, this film explores faith as primary human experience, and how people turn to ritual and prayer to navigate the milestones and crises of private life.

The film’s director commissioned or sourced footage from top independent filmmakers from a wide range of religious traditions, with each team contributing a single scene.

The film, sweeping in its global reach, yet intensely intimate, is a tour de force that unifies these scenes into a single work, told without narration, without experts and, for long stretches, without words at all.

Director Thomas Lennon has been nominated three times for an Academy Award, winning in 2007.

Part of the 30th Connecticut LGBT Film Festival

This sweeping documentary takes the viewer on a wondrous tour of same-sex desire from ancient times to Victorian crimes in an expedition of erotic history, poetry and visual art.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker John Scagliotti (Before Stonewall) explores how the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the growth of LGBT political power in the 1990s cleared the path for artists and scholars to re-discover pre-20th century same-sex desires.

Weaving dozens of expert interviews with art and poetry, he revels in lesbian love spells from ancient Rome, homoerotic verses of Michelangelo, censored chapters of the Kamasutra, Native American two-spirit rituals and more.

Director John Scagliotti will be present for a Q&A after the film.

About the Speaker

John Scagliotti Director/Producer
If you care about gay history, John Scagliotti is somebody you should know about.

In 1973, along with his late partner Andrew Kopkind, Scagliotti at Boston’s WBCN created The Lavender Hour, which became the first regularly-scheduled gay-themed program on commercial radio.

In the mid-1980’s, Scagliotti produced the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Before Stonewall.” “Stonewall” is a compelling and still timely look at the roots of the gay and lesbian movement in the US prior to 1969.

And in the early 1990’s, Scagliotti was the moving force behind “In The Life,” the first television series on LGBT life playing on U.S. public television.

His newest project is “Before Homosexuals,” an introduction to the little known stories of LGBT people from deep in human history.

Three short films will play before the feature:

The Closet   (Northeast Premiere)
Directed by Yago Mateo, 2016, UK, 3 min
Martin bought a closet, but not just any closet. This one has attitude.

Scar Tissue    (East Coast Premiere)
Directed by Nish Gera, 2017, Netherlands, 14 min, In English and Arabic with English subtitles
Sami has fled his war-torn hometown of Aleppo for a safer life in Amsterdam and hopes to build a life there as an openly gay man. Most of all, he hopes to escape the ghosts of the past that still haunt him. A chance encounter brings him face to face with the self-assured, direct and sensual Johan. As the night progresses, secrets are revealed that force them to confront some harsh truths about the very different worlds they come from.

Time is the Longest Distance    (New England Premiere)
Directed by Bryan Powers, 2016, USA, 15 min
Adam arrives at his father Jack’s nursing home to share news of a major change in his life, hoping to bridge the distance between them before Jack’s Alzheimer’s becomes too advanced. While things do not go as planned, Jack’s chance encounter with a teenaged boy provides Adam with an unexpected way to find the acceptance he seeks.