Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Marco Graf, Daniela Demesa, Carlos Peralta
Synopsis: This film from Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón chronicles a tumultuous year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Directed by: Marielle Heller
Cast: Julie Ann Emery, Melissa McCarthy, Jennifer Westfeldt, Christian Navarro, Richard E. Grant
Synopsis: CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? is the true story of best-selling celebrity biographer (and friend to cats) Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) who made her living in the 1970's and 80's profiling the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. When Lee is no longer able to get published because she has fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception, abetted by her loyal friend Jack.
Directed by: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Michael Harney
Synopsis: In this new take on the tragic love story, he plays seasoned musician Jackson Maine, who discovers - and falls in love with - struggling artist Ally (Gaga). She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer, until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
Directed by: David Lowery
Cast: Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Danny Glover, Tika Sumpter, Keith Carradine, Tom Waits, Sissy Spacek
Synopsis: THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford), from his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), who becomes captivated with Forrest's commitment to his craft, and a woman (Sissy Spacek), who loves him in spite of his chosen profession.
Directed by: Jacques Audiard
Cast: John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed
Synopsis: Based on Patrick Dewitts acclaimed novel of the same name, follows two brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. The story, a genre-hybrid with comedic elements, takes place in Oregon in 1851.
Directed by: Richard Eyre
Cast: Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Fionn Whitehead
Smart, elegant, and deeply moving, The Children Act stars two-time Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson in a riveting performance as Fiona Maye, a British High Court judge who, in the midst of a marital crisis, must rule on a life-changing legal case concerning the survival of a teenage boy. At issue whether to order a blood transfusion on the boy (Dunkirk's Fionn Whitehead), a Jehovah's Witness who, just months short of his eighteenth birthday, is refusing on religious grounds the procedure that would save his life. Adapted by Ian McEwan from his own novel, and directed by Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal; Iris), The Children Act is a deeply affecting portrait of strength, devotion, and love, with the incomparable Emma Thompson giving one of the very best performances of her career.
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Melanie Laurent, Lior Raz, Nick Kroll, Michael Aronov, Haley Lu Richardson
Synopsis: The film vividly captures the ingenious and brilliantly executed mission to capture Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Holocaust.Fifteen years after the end of World War II, acting on irrefutable evidence, a top-secret team of Israeli agents travel to Argentina where Eichmann (Kingsley) has been in hiding together with his family under an alias Ricardo Klement and execute an extremely dangerous abduction. In attempting to sneak him out of Argentina to stand trial in Israel while being pursued by the country's right-wing forces, agent Peter Malkin (Isaac) is forced to engage Eichmann in an intense and gripping game of cat-and-mouse with life-and-death stakes.
Directed by: Ethan Hawke
Starring: Alia Shawkat, Ben Dickey
Synopsis: BLAZE is inspired by the life of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas outlaw music movement that spawned the likes of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. The film weaves together three different periods of time, braiding re-imagined versions of Blaze’s past, present and future. The different strands explore his love affair with Sybil Rosen; his last, dark night on earth; and the impact of his songs and his death had on his fans, friends, and foes. The braided storyline terminates in a bittersweet ending that acknowledges Blaze’s profound highs and lows, as well as the impressions he made on the people who shared his journey.
Directed by: Ian Bonhôte
2018 Tribeca Film Festival Selection
A personal look at the extraordinary life, career and artistry of Alexander McQueen. Through exclusive interviews with his closest friends and family, recovered archives, exquisite visuals and music, McQueen is an authentic celebration and thrilling portrait of an inspired yet tortured fashion visionary.
Directed by: David and Nathan Zellner
Cast: Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska
2018 Sundance Film Festival Selection
Samuel Alabaster (Pattinson), an affluent pioneer, ventures across the American Frontier to marry the love of his life, Penelope (Wasikowska). As Samuel traverses the Wild West with a drunkard named Parson Henry (David Zellner) and a miniature horse called Butterscotch, their once-simple journey grows treacherous, blurring the lines between hero, villain and damsel.
Directed by: Marc Turtletaub
Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Irrfan Khan, David Denman, Bubba Weiler, Austin Abrams, Liv Hewson
Agnes, taken for granted as a suburban mother, discovers a passion for solving jigsaw puzzles, which unexpectedly draws her into a new world – where her life unfolds in ways she could never have imagined.
Directed by: Michael Mayer
Cast: Annette Bening, Saorise Ronan, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney, Glenn Fleshler, Michael Zegen, Billy Howle, Brian Dennehy
THE SEAGULL is the heartbreaking and funny story of friends and lovers, all of whom are in love with the wrong person. The movie is timely in its depiction of the tragic consequences of narcissism, particularly on young dreams and romantic love.
Directed by: Bill Holderman
Cast: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Craig T. Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, Alicia Silverstone, Tommy Dewey
Synopsis: Diane (Diane Keaton) is recently widowed after 40 years of marriage. Vivian (Jane Fonda) enjoys her men with no strings attached. Sharon (Candice Bergen) is still working through a decades-old divorce. Carol's (Mary Steenburgen) marriage is in a slump after 35 years. Four lifelong friends' lives are turned upside down to hilarious ends when their book club tackles the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. From discovering new romance to rekindling old flames, they inspire each other to make their next chapter the best chapter.
Directed by: Richard Loncraine
Cast: Joanna Lumley, Celia Imrie, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Hayman, Josie Lawrence, Odra Ové, John Sessions, Sian Thomas, Richard Hope
When 'Lady' Sandra Abbott (Imelda Staunton) discovers that her husband of forty years is having an affair with her best friend, she seeks refuge with her estranged, bohemian, older sister Bif (Celia Imrie). Sandra couldn't be more different to her outspoken, serial dating, free spirited sibling. But it turns out different is just what Sandra needs and she reluctantly lets Bif drag her along to her community dance class, where gradually she starts finding her feet... and romance.
Directed by: Saul Dibb
Cast: Paul Bettany, Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield
Synopsis: March, 1918. C-company arrives to take its turn in the front-line trenches of norther France, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope (Claflin). With a German offensive imminently approaching, the officers (Bettany, Graham, Sturridge) and their cook (Jones) use food and the memories of their lives before the war to distract themselves, while Stanhope soaks his fear in whisky, unable to deal with the dread of the inevitable. A young officer, Raleigh (Butterfield), arrives fresh out of training and abuzz with the excitement of his first real posting –not least because he is to serve under Stanhope, his former school house monitor and the object of his sister’s affections. Each man is trapped, the days ticking by, the tension rising and the attack drawing ever closer…
Directed by: Janus Metz
Cast: Sverrir Gudnason, Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgård
Synopsis: The story of the 1980s tennis rivalry between the placid Björn Borg and the volatile John McEnroe.
Directed by: Paolo Virz
Cast: Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland, Kirsty Mitchell, Joshua Hoover, Joshua Mikel, Christian McKay
"The Leisure Seeker" is the story of a runaway couple going on an unforgettable cross-country journey in their vintage camper. Ella and John are fleeing the suffocating care of their doctors and grown children. He is distracted but strong; she is frail but sharp. Their journey aboard the faithful old camper they call The Leisure Seeker takes them from Boston to Key West. Sharing moments of exhilaration and anguish, they recapture their passion for life and their love for one another on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.
Directed by: Ziad Doueiri
Cast: Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamand Bou Abboud
In today's Beirut, an insult blown out of proportion finds Toni (Adel Karam), a Lebanese Christian, and Yasser (Kamel El Basha), a Palestinian refugee in court.
Note: Film has subtitles.
Directed by: Brian Crano
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Gina Gershon
Anna and Will were each other's first every-things: first kiss, first love, first relationship. Now years on, at Anna's thirtieth birthday party as Will is about to propose, the couple's best friend stands up and makes a drunken toast, suggesting that as their relationship is so functional, equitable and stable, it's threatening to their friends and perhaps they should sleep around before their inevitable marriage. The joke lingers and eventually Anna proposes that they try it, as a sexual experiment. As a couple, with complicity, they venture out of the purely monogamous boundaries of their relationship and in so doing are forced to evolve and grow up.
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The Phoenix Film Society is a program under the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Phoenix Film Foundation, and is a sibling of Phoenix Film Festival, International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, IFP/Phoenix, Arizona Student Film Festival, Peoria Film Fest and Phoenix Critics Circle. The Phoenix Film Foundation is dedicated to promoting diversity and education in the arts, elevating underrepresented voices, and driving the growth of independent film in Arizona. Through film showcases and accessible educational initiatives, we cultivate a vibrant, inclusive cinematic community, utilizing it as a catalyst for personal growth, creative expression, and positive social change.