Sean Baker's comedy drama Tangerine will be the highlight of the first night of the 19th Motovun Film Festival 26 July. This cool indie story about a sexual worker's revenge rampage was shot entirely by a cell phone – the same thing that triggers troubles in this year's final film, Perfect Strangers. The story about a funny group of friends who are to find out in an awkward way that they do not know each other so well after all will mark the end of this edition of MFF on 30 July.
Every opening of Motovun Film Festival is a well-kept secret until the very last moment. Last year the audience lit up the square with sparklers, the year before that "selfies" were made and the one before that audience proudly raised their Motovun passports in the air. We're in for a surprise once again at the 19th opening, but the film to be screened in the town square on 26 July is now known.
Transgender sexual worker's chaotic drama shot by cell phone
The comedy drama "Tangerine" (US, 2015, 87'), directed by Sean Baker, leads the new generation of films shot using new technologies, standing out among them as the best (and the most attractive) film entirely made by a cell phone. Three iPhones 5s, equipped with anamorphic lenses, were used for the making of this story about a transgender sexual worker who, having been released from prison on Christmas Eve, sets out on a revenge rampage in the filthy streets of Hollywood. Driven by rage and jealousy, Sin – Dee searches the whole town, jumping from one chaotic situation into another, in order to find her boyfriend and pimp Chester and the woman he cheated her with. The film's pulsating energy is but a cover for an incredibly true empathy emerging on the surface as gentle melancholy in the moments of the most intense laughter. This multi-awarded film premiered at the last year's Sundance Film Festival.
Cell phones are to blame for everything!
Italian comedy drama "Perfect Strangers" (Italy, 2016, 97') by acclaimed director Paolo Genovese that won Best Script Award at Tribeca Film Festival will close this year's program of Motovun Film Festival on 30 July. The little thing we all have in our pockets, the indispensable piece of electronics that keeps all our juicy conversations, messages and photos, is to blame for the troubles met by the protagonists of "Perfect Strangers". A group of friends getting together for a dinner decides to play a seemingly innocent game. They put their cell phones on the table and read aloud the messages they receive during the evening, not having a clue how little do they really know about each other. The relaxed get-together turns into a funny mass argument.
