Greater Farmington Film Festival Releases 2016 Schedule

Mike Tyrkus

9 years ago

Farmington-Hills based nonprofit organization kickstART farmington announced the film lineup and schedule for the 2016 Greater Farmington Film Festival earlier this month and it looks like they will be offering a great selection of films this year. The Greater Farmington Film Festival takes place March 3-6, 2016 with a selection of recently released feature films and documentaries that engage the heart and mind, explore important contemporary issues, and inspire action: good films for a better world.

You can find the full film line up and schedule for the 2016 Greater Farmington Film Festival below. Overall, the festival provides a unique opportunity for audiences to enjoy these inspiring films as none of these films have been released widely in Michigan, and several will enjoy their Michigan debut.

In addition, the Greater Farmington Film Festival invites the public to attend the 2016 Festival Preview Party on Thursday evening, February 18th, from 7:00-10:00 PM at the Riviera Cinema in Farmington Hills. The event is free and includes food, live music, a silent auction, a cash bar, as well as trailers for the films appearing at this year’s festival.

Tickets for the festival are on sale now at Greater Farmington Film Festival and are $5.00 each or a full festival pass can be purchased for $30.00 (seven films for the price of six; the children’s film The Best of the New York International Children’s Film Festival is presented FREE).

2016 GREATER FARMINGTON FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

FILM: How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change
WHO: Directed by Josh Fox (Documentary, 125 m)
WHEN: March 3, 2016 at 7:30 PM, Smith Theatre at Oakland Community College
SUMMARY: How do we come to terms with the reality that our atmosphere is becoming damaged beyond the tipping point? Documentarian Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Gasland, takes on this question with personal passion and global reach. When Fox realizes, after much soul searching, that the answers for how to respond to the degradation of our environment cannot be found in his own back yard, he travels to twelve countries on six continents to connect with communities that are already facing grave effects of climate change. What he finds is a complicated mix of tragedy and inspiration in the various ways climate change is affecting our value systems. How to Let Go of the World delivers a sobering portrait of the state of climate change, and takes stock of what makes humans survivors, and our societies so creative and resilient.

FILM: The Hunting Ground
WHO: Directed by Kirby Dick (Documentary, 100 m)
WHEN: March 4, 2016 at 7:00 PM, Farmington Civic Theater
SUMMARY: The statistics are staggering. One in five women in college are sexually assaulted, yet only a fraction of these crimes are reported, and even fewer result in punishment for the perpetrators. From the intrepid team behind The Invisible War comes a piercing, monumental exposé of rape culture on campuses, poised to light a fire under a national debate. Since the film’s premiere at Sundance, it had been screened at the White House and hundreds of college campuses across the country. The documentary has inspired new laws in New York and California and changes in campus policies.

FILM: The Judgment
WHO: Ddirected by Stephan Komandarev (Drama, in Bulgarian with English subtitles, 107 m)
WHEN: March 4, 2016 at 9:15 PM, Farmington Civic Theater
SUMMARY: The Judgment centers on Mityo, a desperate man who, after losing everything that has mattered to him – his wife, his work and the confidence of his son, Vasko, starts smuggling illegal Syrian immigrants into Bulgaria through a steep mountain pass on the border with Turkey and Greece. Left at the mercy of the Judgment Mountain and seeking help from his estranged son, Mityo is trying to atone for a terrible sin committed twenty-five years before. Winner of the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Heartland Film Festival.

FILM: Best of the New York International Children’s Film Festival
WHO: Various directors (Animated Shorts, 60 m)
WHEN: March 5, 2016 at 10:30 AM, Farmington Civic Theater (FREE)
SUMMARY: A group of musically inclined ants face off against a lumberjack threatening to take down their tree in Pik Pik Pik. Being different isn’t so bad in Bunny New Girl and Zebra. Sometimes even our family members can feel like strangers in My Big Brother, Eyes, and Oscar-nominated Me and my Moulton. Fantasies create new worlds and endless possibilities in 5.80 Meters, Larisa Can Fly, and Submarine Sandwich. One special object can inspire anyone, big or small, in The Elephant and the Bicycle and Cookie-Tin Banjo, and a fly and a spider go to war in a common bathroom in Minuscule: The Private Life of Insects – Brushing.

FILM: Prescription Thugs
WHO: Directed by Chris Bell (Documentary, 86 m)
WHEN: March 5, 2016 at 3:00 PM, the Riviera Cinema
SUMMARY: Americans consume 75% of the world’s prescription drugs. After losing his own brother to the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse, documentarian Chris Bell sets out to demystify this insidious addiction. Bell’s examination into the motives of big pharma and doctors in this ever-growing market leads him to meet with experts on the nature of addiction, survivors with first-hand accounts of their struggle, and whistleblowers who testify to the dollar-driven aims of pharmaceutical corporations. Ultimately his investigation will point back to where it all began: his own front door. Bell follows up his rousing Bigger Stronger Faster, which pulled back the curtain on steroid use in the U.S., with a galvanizing exposé of the legal prescription drug business in this country. While the war rages against illegal drug use, Bell attempts to break the hardened correlation that legal means safe.

FILM: Landfill Harmonic
WHO: Directed by Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley (Documentary, 84 m)
WHEN: March 5, 2016 at 7:00 PM, Farmington Civic Theater
SUMMARY: Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group that plays instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. Under the guidance of idealistic music director Favio Chavez, the orchestra must navigate a strange new world of arenas and sold-out concerts. However, when a natural disaster strikes their country, Favio must find a way to keep the orchestra intact and provide a source of hope for their town. The film is a testament to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit. Winner of the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival.

FILM: Under the Same Sun
WHO: Directed by Mitra Sen (Drama, in Hindi with English subtitles, 93 m)
WHEN: March 5, 2016 at 9:15 PM, Farmington Civic Theater
SUMMARY: In Mitra Sen’s profoundly compassionate drama, only children can soothe the rage of a grieving heart. Karim, an injured fugitive, is welcomed like a beloved brother by three orphaned boys in a remote Rajasthani oasis of Hindu and Muslim harmony. This simple human kindness disrupts the smooth and certain arc of the young man’s mission and threatens his very identity. Karim soon discovers how these Hindu and Muslim children share the bond of one family, following each other’s traditions and living together under one roof in peace – a complete contrast to his childhood, which was void of music, color, and love. As the village children prepare to perform the Ramayana, the classic Hindu tale of good vs. evil, Karim wrestles with his true purpose in life and his desire to find his family. Amidst the town’s holy festival, a place so full of life, Karim must act wisely to find his way home.

FILM: A Month of Sundays
WHO: Directed by Matthew Saville (Drama, 109 m)
WHEN: March 6, 2016 at 1:00 PM, Holocaust Memorial Center
SUMMARY: Divorced and unfulfilled, real estate agent Frank Mollard can’t do anything right, be it selling houses, getting over the death of his mother, or connecting with his teenage son. But when he receives a call from an elderly woman who confuses him for her son, Frank is thrown into the stranger’s life and surprises himself by developing a close bond with her. The unexpected relationship wakes Frank up and inspires him to reconnect with the people he’s been neglecting. A Month of Sundays is a film about ordinary people and improbable salvation.

For more information on the Greater Farmington Film Festival please visit:
Greater Farmington Film Festival

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.