2nd annual SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FEST opens -- showcasing timely, issue-oriented films

The 2nd edition of New York's SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FESTIVAL opens this Monday, March 16 and runs  through Sunday, March 22, 2015 at several venues, including the Tribeca Cinemas, Maysles Cinema, The Quad Cinema and SVA. Offering timely and socially engaging films, some of which will have their world and U.S. premieres here, the fest will also include various tributes and industry panels. Films from some 35 countries will be screened at this not-for-profit film festival showcasing socially relevant film content, while raising awareness of social problems and current issues.

The festival was inaugurated last year by Nora Armani, shown at left, actor/filmmaker/Founding Artistic Director of SR, who created the festival in response to the proliferation of violence and violent forms of storytelling. Notes Ms Armani, “I strongly believe that the violence portrayed on our screens and in video games is responsible for the banalization of evil in our societies and the proliferation of violent forms of communication. Most films today encourage mis-representation, reinforce stereotypes and create an escapist passive attitude in youth and adults towards major social issues. In reverse, simply by focusing more on socially relevant themes, positive social change can be promoted through the powerful medium of cinema.”

This year’s lineup includes films that address a wide range of issues including gun control and police brutality, race relations and discrimination, violence against women and women's empower-ment,  LGBT rights, conflict in the mideast, the environment and climate change, the US economy and the oil rush, immigration and exile. The festival opens with the US premiere of the new Turkish/ German/French co-production COME TO MY VOICE (Were Dengê Min) by Hϋseyin Karabey, shown above, which will screen at CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium on March 16th, and is by invitation through the Festival. The film premiered at the Berlinale in 2014 and is sponsored by the German Consulate General in New York in partnership with SR Film Fest and MEMEAC (Middle East Middle East America Center) at CUNY Graduate Center.

Industry Panels will be held at the School of Visual Arts MFA SocDoc (136 W 21st Street, in Chelsea) and will address such issues as film distribution, storytelling and diversity casting. The Festival’s other sponsors and partners include Unifrance, The French Embassy Cultural Services, Cinema Libre Studio, MFA SocDoc School of Visual Arts, The Left Tilt Fund, Alouette Communications, IndiePix, Film Freeway, Final Draft, InkTip, The Candy Factory, Copenhagen Restaurant, Dailymotion, French Morning, Go Magazine, and a number of Industry and Media partners and supporters (see the festival's website for the full listing).

Screenings will take place at Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, NYC; Maysles Cinema, 343 Malcolm X Blvd / Lenox Ave (Between 127th and 128th Streets); The Center for Remembering & Sharing (CRS), 123 4th Avenue near Union Square; and the Quad Cinema on 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. To see the entire slate of films and/or to purchase tickets for this years' roster, simply click here.

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Film Festivals, International cinema, Nora Armani, socially relevant cinema, SR SOCIALLY RELEVANT FILM FESTIVAL,

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Add to your must-see list Giuseppe Tornatore's gorgeous tale of obsessive love THE BEST OFFER

Have movies given us a more splendid story-teller than Giuseppe Tornatore? I don't think so. From Cinema Paradiso through The Legend of 1900, Malèna, The Unknown Woman and Baarìa, film after film is packed with everything I love about movies -- being able to lose myself in a story at once strange, wonderful and absolutely riveting and so gorgeously designed and photographed that each becomes an instant classic. Now we have THE BEST OFFER, yet another amazement from this beauty-besotted, quality-over-quantity artist.

Signore Tornatore, shown at left, has brought together a swell international cast for this English-language movie, each member working at top form and joining to make a near-perfect ensemble quartet. The milieu is the international art world, specifically the auction house owned by Virgil Oldman (a terrific Geoffrey Rush, below, center), a man who seems as remote from actual life and emotion as might be possible. Possessing an eye for art that is pretty extraordinary, Oldman has managed to run, over the years, a fine little scam, with the help of his friend Billy (Donald Sutherland), in which Billy helps sell paintings not worth all that much for higher prices, while allowing Oldman to acquire others that are likely to grow exponentially in value. Considered to be the expert in art evaluation, as well as the top auctioneer, Oldman is riding high.

Then he is asked to evaluate and handle the auctioning of the estate owned by an ultra-reclusive heiress, and bit by bit his life changes and expands -- as does that of the heiress.

In to this mix comes Robert, a young man whom Oldman often uses to repair watches and other mechanical items from the estates he handles. Robert is played by Jim Sturgess (above) in his most boyish, charming and winning mode. And if you know Sturgess' work, this is very winning.

The heiress, whom we do not see for some time, is played by Dutch actress Sylvia Hoeks, above, chosen no doubt for her beauty and exotic quality as much as for her acting skills. She delivers on all three fronts.

What Tornatore has given us is a mystery as much as anything else. But it is also very much a love story, and an obsessive one, at that. Oldman will do things and go places utterly new to his world, and we follow, entranced by the beauty and strangeness of it all. Performances could hardly be better, particularly those of Rush and Sturgess, and the visual delights here are simply non-stop. I hope I live long enough to see more of this filmmaker's wonderful work, and that he keeps at it long after I'm gone.

The Best Offer, via IFC Films and running not a minute too long at 128 of them, is available now on DVD (if any movie deserves the Blu-ray treat-ment, it's this one) but, oddly, not available via digital rental. Netflix really ought to have this one on streaming. It has garnered an IMDB rating of 7.8 from over 51,000 viewers -- which is nothing to sneeze at, movie fans.

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Art, Giuseppe Tornatore, International cinema, Italian film, THE BEST OFFER,

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