Film Favorites: FirstLight’s “Sweet Spot” Begins Tonight

By Wendy Osher

The Maui Film Festival returns to the Silver Screen at the Castle Theater with its FirstLight Academy Screenings as part of its 16^th Annual Celebration of Cinema.  The “First Light Sweet Spot” begins today and runs through Tuesday, featuring five days of film screenings, including many critically acclaimed films of 2014.  Additional screenings will be held on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 2 and 3, 2014.

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SWIPE LEFT OR RIGHT

Hilary Swank and Emme Rossum co star in YOU’RE NOT YOU. Courtesy photo.

Below is a tentative list of film screening dates and times, as well as links to movie trailers, and a brief description of films as provided by festival organizers:

• Timbuktu 2 p.m., (97 minutes) a foreign language Academy Award submission from Mauratania.  The magically, serene land of Timbuktu is challenged by the intrusion of the 21st Century.
• The Color of Time 5 p.m., (R/83 minutes) starring James Franco as a Pulitzer Prize winning poet J.K. Williams. Mila Kunis and Jessica Chastain are co-starts.  Eleven different directors explore Williams’ life and myth.
• Song One 7:30 p.m., (PG-13/117 minutes) starring Oscar winner Anne Hathaway. Returning to Brooklyn to help her injured brother, she finds unexpected, yet true love.
• Dear White People 9:30 p.m., (R/108 minutes) a Sundance Special Prize winning comedy.

• Rosewater 2 p.m.; (R/103 minutes) The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart’s screenwriting and directorial debut.  The film is based on the jailing of BBC journalist Maziar Bahariin Iran.
• Glen Campbell I’ll Be Me 5 p.m.; (PG/105 minutes)  Bruce Springsteen, Blake Shelton, Sheryl Crow and Taylor Swift celebrate living legend Glen Campbell, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy winner.
• The Gambler 7:30 p.m., (R/111 minutes) Mark Wahlberg stars; and John Goodman and Brie Larsen co-star. A math professor’s colossal gambling addiction goes haywire.
• Keep On Keepin’ On 9:30 p.m., (R/84 minutes) a documentary that is especially appropriate for jazz aficionados and music lovers. Keep On, Keepin’ On focuses on the life of 93-year-old jazz legend Clark Terry—mentor to Miles Davis, Quincy Jones.

• Beloved Sisters 2 p.m., (NR/150 minutes) a foreign language Academy Award submission from Germany. The film explores the love triangle of poet Friedrich Schiller and two aristocratic sisters in a pastoral and passionate drama.
• My Old Lady 5 p.m., (PG-13/1034 minutes) starring Kevin Kline, Kirsten Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith.  The film is described as a “love-comes-along-when-you-least-expect-it romance.”
• Black or White 7:30 p.m., (NR/98 minutes) Oscar winners Kevin Coster and Octavia Spencer play grandparents competing for custody of their beautiful mixed-race granddaughter.
• Beyond the Light 9:30 p.m., (PG-13/116 minutes) a NY Times Top Ten Film of 2014.  Gugu Mbatha Raw stars in this “uplifting music-driven-gem.”

• Interstellar 1 p.m., (PG-13/169 minutes) starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Harthaway. Described as an “eye-popping-brain-stretching quest to find another Earth.”
• Kill the Messenger 5 p.m., (R/112 minutes) starring two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner who plays fearless Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb, who revealed the CIA’s drug dealing profits.
• A Most Violent Year 7:30 p.m.,( R/124 minutes) a National Board of Review Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress winning film, starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. In the film, the two yearn to live The American Dream.

• Nightcrawler 2 p.m., (R/117 minutes) a NY Times Top Ten Film of 2014, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.  The film is described as “a pulse pounding thriller set in contemporary — if it bleeds it leads journalism and misguided morals — Los Angeles.”
• Citizenfour 5 p.m., (R/104 minutes) the mind-boggling Edward Snowden documentary.
  
• You’re Not You 7:30 p.m., (R/102 minutes) starring Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum.  This film is described as a “funny, moving, defiantly unsentimental look at high-stakes friendship, compassion and love.”

• Ida 2 p.m.,
• The Liberator 5 p.m.,
• Laggies 7:30 p.m.,
• Supermensch 9:30 p.m.

• Chef 12 p.m.,
• Song of the Sea 2 p.m.,
• The Humbling 5 p.m.,
• Selma 7:30 p.m.

***Note: Titles and times may change without notice.

Admission to FirstLight is possible using either the Maui Film Festival’s 4-Film VIP FirstLight FastPasses or by individual ticket purchase through the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Box Office.

Maui FIlm Festival Honoree Brie Larsen stars with Mark Wahlberg in THE GAMBLER. Courtesy photo.

Germany’s Oscar® submission BELOVED SISTERS is one of five FirstLight Foreign Language screenings. Courtesy photo.

Anne Hathaway and Johnny Flynn falling in love in SONG ONE. Courtesy photo.

National Board of Review’s Best Supporting Actress Jessica Chastain stars in its Best Picture, A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, Courtesy photo.

Edward Snowden, a hero to some and traitor to others, tells his story in the stunning documentary CITIZENFOUR. Courtesy photo.

Kevin Costner and Jillian Estell bonding in BLACK OR COLOR. Courtesy photo.

Hilary Swank and Emme Rossum co star in YOU’RE NOT YOU. Courtesy photo.