14 Films Screened During Last Days of Festival

By Maui Now Staff

The end is near.

The last four days of the FirstLight Film Festival commence this afternoon at 4 p.m. in the MACC’s Castle Theater with “Muscle Shoals.”

Alicia Keys, Bono, Keith Richards, Jimmy Cliff, Mick Jagger, Gregg Allman, Aretha Franklin and many other living legends help tell the incredible and incredibly true story of Muscle Shoals, a small Alabama town with big sound, where many of rock’‘n soul’s most amazing songs were recorded.

At 6 p.m. take in “Reaching for the Moon.”

Before she went on to find success as a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and poet laureate of the United States, Elizabeth Bishop (Miranda Otto) journeyed to Brazil for inspiration and found both that and also met architect Lota de Macedo Soares (Glória Pires), who became the loves of each other’s lives. In English & Portuguese with English subtitles

Then, at 8 p.m. is “La Grande Bellezza” or “The Great Beauty.”

At 65, a one-time-wonder reminisces on the extravagant nightclub, party, and café moments in his life to find Rome in all its glory: timeless, absurd, exquisite and always beautiful. Winner of four European Film Awards: Best Picture, Director and Actor! Italy’s ‘Official Oscar Submission.’

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Then tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 3, the screenings continue with “The Spectacular Now” at 2 p.m.

Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”) and Brie Larson star in this insightful dramedy from the screen writers of “500 Days of Summer.” With sly humor and an intensity of feeling, the film creates a vivid, three-dimensional portrait of youth confronting the funny, thrilling and perilous business of young modern love and adulthood.

At 5 p.m., Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, Academy Award nominees Angela Bassett and Jennifer Hudson, Grammy Award winner Mary J. Blige, Grammy nominees Nasir Jones and thus far glaringly un-awarded Tyrese Gibson co-star in “Black Nativity.”

This musical drama about faith, healing and family is based on the play by Langston Hughes.

A fan of American Idol and the like?

You might enjoy Friday night’s last film.

“One Chance” screens at 7:30 p.m.

Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and amateur opera singer becomes an instant YouTube phenomenon after wowing audiences worldwide with his phenomenal voice on Simon Cowell’s “Britain’s Got Talent.”

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On Saturday, Jan. 4, the entertainment fires back up at 2 p.m. with “Casting By.”

Featuring a massive who’s-who star list, the promo asks, “What do Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Richard Gere, Robert Duvall and DianeLane and 20+ more A-Listers interviewed for this doc have in common? Casting Director Marion Dougherty. A one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes Hollywood legend. “

At 4 p.m. is the foodie flick “Spinning Plates.”

The winner of “Best Documentary” at last spring’s Maui Film Festival, it is a documentary about three extraordinary restaurants and the incredible people who bring them to life. A world-renowned chef competes for the ultimate restaurant prize in Chicago, while privately battling a life-threatening condition. A 150-year-old restaurant in Iowa is still standing only because of an unbreakable bond with the community. And a fledgling Mexican restaurant in Tucson struggles as its owners risk everything to survive and provide for their young daughter.

At 6 p.m. is “The Broken Circle Breakdown.”

This love-at-first-sight melodrama about a sweeping romance between a tattoo shop owner and a foot-stomping bluegrass band leader just earned five nominations from the European Film Awards (Europe’s “Oscars”®) for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress! Belgium’s ‘Official Submission’ to the Academy Awards® Best Foreign Language Film category. In Flemish with English subtitles.

The last showing of Saturday night is “Bettie Page Reveals All” at 8 p.m.

The real Bettie Page emerges from the veil of myth and rumor via audio interviews taped a decade prior to her death in 2008. With earthy, razor-sharp wit, Bettie tells her life story — from humble beginnings as one of six children in an impoverished southern family, to high school salutatorian, to scandalous 50s pin-up model, to shocking retirement in 1957 at the peak of her modeling career. Sharing rare details about her short-lived first marriage and many torrid affairs, this keen insider’s glimpse follows Bettie through decades of broken marriages, born-again Christianity, and bouts of mental illness, before her ultimate return to the public eye in the early 90’s, unaware of her cult status.

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On Sunday, Jan. 5, Former Labor Secretary and Economics professor at U.C. Berkeley Robert Reich takes it to the street, Wall Street, in his compelling documentary on the 1%, 99% and everything in-between.

“Inequality for All” screens at 2 p.m.

At 4 and 5 p.m., enjoy a two-for-one (ticket) double feature beginning with the pro-hemp flick “Bringing it Home” which aims to show how non-psychoactive industrial hemp is a brilliant, viable, sustainable game-changing alternative.

At 5 p.m. is a “guaranteed eye-opener for Maui and beyond.”

“GMO OMG” invites you to journey to Haiti, Paris, and Norway, get ejected from the lobby of agra-giant Monsanto and explore the answer to the ultimate question: “Is it even possible to reject the food system currently in place, or have we lost something we can’t ever get back?”

Lastly, at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday is “Sweet Dreams.”

Rwandan artist Kiki Katese’s “humanity at its best” documentary explores triumph over adversity with such images as drumming circles, tribal dancing and enjoying ice cream for the first time.

Tickets are $15 for single screenings, while $48 VIP Fast Pass tickets grant priority admission to four films and can be shared among family and friends.

Children ages 12 and under are invited to attend any G or PG rated film for free and, as always, there is complimentary admission to most major film industry guild members.