Nantucket Film Festival News

A short documentary, Not Just Another Sign, made by John Stanton and Dan Driscoll about the Marshall Gardiner Compass Rose Mural on the side of the Ralph Lauren building will screen before the opening night film at the Nantucket Film Festival. The doc is a look at the history of this sign and, to a lesser extent, the iconic nature of signs in general and the idea of what constitutes public art. Ralph Lauren will be sponsoring the opening night event. And to commemorate the recent restoration of the mural, Ralph Lauren has introduced special merchandisesold exclusively on Nantucket, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the Nantucket Historical Association.

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Here are a few of the films that will screen here next week, with more in future newsletters.

Broken English
Nora Wilder (Parker Posey) is a 30-something Manhattanite working in a posh downtown hotel. Cynical when it comes to love, Nora nonetheless dreams of finding a perfect marriage as ideal as her friend Audrey’s (Drea De Matteo). It doesn’t help that her overbearing mother (Gena Rowlands) takes every opportunity to remind Nora that she’s still unattached. After a series of disastrous dates, she meets Julien (Melvin Poupaud), a seemingly devil-may-care Frenchman.Directed by Zoe R. Cassavetes

Broken English was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The trailer:

Or click here if it won’t play, or there is no image above.

Starlight: Wednesday, June 13th 11:00am, and Saturday, June 16th 5:00pm

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Evening
Hungarian director Lajos Koltai (Fateless) film from Susan Minot and Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Cunningham’s adaptation of Minot’s novel of the same name. Evening explores the emotional and romantic past of a 65-year-old woman with terminal cancer. Ann Grant (Vanessa Redgrave) has lived a rich and rewarding life, but now the time has come for her to leave this world behind.

Or click here if it won’t play, or there is no image above.

Sconset Casino: Wednesday, June 13th 7:00pm and 9:30pm

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Canvas
Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden and Emmy Award winner Joe Pantoliano star along with 11-year-old newcomer Devon Gearhart in this debut feature drama from writer/director Joseph Greco. Inspired by a true story, this critically acclaimed and award-winning film about a family coping with mental illness is full of hope, humor and heartbreaking performances.

John Anderson at Variety writes:
First-rate performances, an uncompromising point of view and a fresh take on a well-worn movie subject — madness — make helmer-scribe Joseph Greco’s debut “Canvas” the kind of indie feature that could easily cross over from festival awards to respectable B.O. success.Auds will experience the joy of discovery in Greco’s fact-based drama — not just in its perspective on schizophrenia and the effect of the disease on one Florida family, but in Joe Pantoliano’s cliche-demolishing performance as a sensitive family man who loves his wife no matter how paranoid, delusional or destructive she becomes.

Or click here if it won’t play, or there is no image above.

Bennett Hall: Friday, June 15th 12:30pm
Unitarian Church: Sunday, June 17th 3:00pm