Patrick MacLeod
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Welcome to Weekly Best, Gulfshore Life’s new blog highlighting the best of the best of Southwest Florida. Check back every Thursday for a new post.
More than 40 features, short films and documentaries will be screened over three days (Nov. 5-8) at the Naples International Film Festival. That’s a lot—too many to be physically consumed over one weekend, even if you wanted. So, let’s make this easier for you. We’ve highlighted the top-hyped films that are starting to stand out from the pack.
Racing Extinction: You may know director Louis Psyhoyis’s last film, The Cove, when it opened the inaugural festival in 2009. Or, from when it went on to win an Academy Award. Psyhoyis’s follow up is in the same vein as The Cove, an edge-of-your-seat documentary that goes deep undercover in the world of wildlife poaching.
Code:Debugging the Gender Gap: The provocative documentary has created headlines for its look into the lack of women in computer science. It’s the return for director Robin Hauser Reynolds, who won the festival’s Neapolitan award for her last documentary Running for Jim. Code got people buzzing at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Frank and Cindy: In 2007, director G.J. Echternkamp made a documentary about his odd couple parents: Frank, the aging rock star stepfather; and Cindy, the groupie turned wife and mother. Now, he directs the Hollywood take on his mother and stepfather with big-name stars Renee Russo and Oliver Platt.
Krisha: This is director Trey Edward Shults’ first film, and he’s already receiving accolades. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the South By Southwest Film Festival. And he’s already getting compared to John Cassavetes. The gripping drama concerns Krisha, who returns home to family she once abandoned.
Song of the Sea: The tale of a young boy and girl who go on an adventure to save the spirit world was nominated for the best animated feature Academy Award earlier this year. It’s the follow up to the similarly nominated The Secret of Kells (2009). Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 99 percent approval rating.
