Indies for Indies: Whale

Pittsburgh screening series Indies for Indies kicks off with Amir Motlagh's feature-length debut WHALE, "an elliptical work pulsing with a restlessness of purpose and vision." (BRAINTRUSTdv)

Motlagh shoots on the fly, mixing media to create a picture of a man adrift after a break-up, back home and facing both people from his past and their expectations of who he's become.

The cast is a combination of actors and non-actors (including Motlagh's own Iranian parents), and the film features a score from his band, Shanks and the Dreamers.

Quotes:

WHALE is what Truffaut called the cinema of the future.... It has talent and ambition to spare; Motlagh knows exactly what he wants and he knows how to get it. He's not afraid to be personal, to be slightly obscure and elliptical, to use the freedom that independence gives him. whale is definitely worth seeing and considering for filmgoers and filmmakers alike. (Tom Russell)

** Also screening will be David Lowery's award-winning short film A CATALOG OF ANTICIPATIONS. A stop-motion sequence of stills that "feels like a beautiful narrative photo essay rather than simply a slideshow." (notcoming.com). CMFH Film Reviews called it "simple yet beautifully odd, relatable yet imaginative". It's a haunting film you don't want to miss.

CATALOG was an Official Selection at Slamdance, SXSW, the Palm Springs Short Film Festival, the Maryland Film Festival, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, at Rooftop Films and at AFI Dallas, where it won a Special Jury Prize for short filmmaking.**

Screenings:
Saturday, March 6th: 4:30pm
Monday, March 8th: 7pm
Tuesday, March 9th: 9:30pm

Venue:
The Hollywood Theater
1449 Potomac Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15216

Can't make a screening? You can still support the film by buying a DVD: http://whalethefilm.squarespace.com/store/

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• film
• movies
• dormont
• pittsburgh
• cinema
• whale
• amir motlagh
• shanks and dreamers
• iranian american
• slamdance
• sxsw
• afi dallas
• david lowery
• stop-motion

[anamitra007]

Nice Trailer.