Pope, De Niro highlight FLIFF
Festival will include capacity limits, other social distancing rules
At a time when filmgoers need encouragement to return to theaters, the 2020 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival will give its prime screening slots to movies with mass appeal, with features starring Robert De Niro, Pope Francis, James Bond and TV naturalist Jonathan Bird.
The 35th annual festival takes place Nov. 5-22, and will include more than 170 features, documentaries and shorts, with films set everywhere from Dania Beach to Iceland and three dozen other countries.
The films will be shown primarily at three venues, with capacity limits and other social-distancing rules in place: Savor Cinema and the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, and Cinema Paradiso in downtown Hollywood. There also willbe smaller screenings at local restaurants and at least two boat-in-movie nights on the Intra coastal Water way.
The schedule and list of actors and filmmakers accompanying the screenings is still being tweaked, but the festival’s tentpole events are in place.
Opening night
FLIFF 2020 will open with a comedy, “The Comeback Trail,” starring De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones and Zach Braff, along with Emile Hirsch, Eddie Griffin and Palm Beach County actor Kate Katzman.
Set in 1970s Hollywood, “The Comeback Trail” follows two sad-sack movie producers (De Niro and Braff ) indebted to a crime boss (Freeman) and an insurance scam involving an aging western-movie actor (Jones). “The Comeback Trail” will open in theaters nationwide on Nov. 13.
To accommodate social distancing, the film will open Nov. 5-6, at Savor Cinema and Cinema Paradiso, with 7:15 p.m. screenings at each theater on both nights, each with a pre-party and reception. Katzman is slated to receive the festival’s Star on the Horizon award.
Centerpiece night
This year’s mid-festival Centerpiece Film is “Francesco,” a documentary on Pope Francis by Oscar-nominated director Evgeny Afineevsky, who brought the extraordinary “Cries From Syria” to FLIFF in 2017.
Granted unprecedented access to his subject, Afineevsky shares Pope Francis’ exploration of the most pressing issues of our time, including economic disparity, race and gender inequality, the climate crisis, COVID-19, immigration and religious tolerance.
“Francesco” will have screenings 7:45 p.m. Nov. 13 at Savor Cinema and 6:45 p.m. Nov. 14 at Cinema Paradiso, with each film followed by a reception. Again, Afineevsky will be on hand to discuss his work.
Boat-in movies
In a nod to social distancing, FLIFF 2020 will include at least two films showing in a boat-in format at Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Fort Lauderdale (originally planned for Lauderdale Yacht Club). The schedule is still in flux, but the titles will include the
classic James Bond thrillers “Goldfinger” and “Casino Royale.” Stay tuned for more information.
Dinner and a movie
Two films currently are scheduled to be shown over dinner at local restaurants:
“Heartbeats” stars Krystal Ellsworth as a college student and hip-hop dancer who finds love and a new style of dance in India. It screens Nov. 9 at the Tipsy Boar in Hollywood and Nov. 10 at Marando Farms & Ranch in Davie, with Ellsworth and producer Andrea Chung attending. It also will be shown Nov. 17 at GG’s Waterfront Bar & Grill in Hollywood and Nov. 18 at the West in Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort.
“The Ride” travels with a 40-year-old ride-share driver, living with his mom, as he offers spiritual coaching skills to his passengers, whether they like it or not. It will screen Nov. 11 at the Tipsy Boar and Nov. 16 at Jimbo’s Sandbar in Hollywood. Writer, director and star Linas Phillips will attend.
Films begin at 6:45 each night, with the cost of the film added to the bill.
Closing day
FLIFF 2020 will wrap up with the world premiere of the IMAX feature “Ancient Caves” by director and Emmy-Award winning cinematographer Jonathan Bird, host of the public television program “Jonathan Bird’s Blue World.”
Narrated by Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), the film weaves science and adventure as young paleoclimatologist Dr. Gina Moseley travels the globe on a mission to unlock the secrets of the Earth’s climate in the most unlikely places — caves.
The film will be shownat 1, 3 and 5 p.m. Nov. 22 at the AutoNation IMAX 3D theater at the Museum of Discovery and Science. Bird will participate in an audience Q&A after each screening, with a reception to follow.
Information
For a complete list of films, schedules, locations, tickets, festival passes and other updates, call 954-525-3456 or visit FLIFF.com.