Camden International Film Festival Announces 2016 Festival Slate

CAMDEN, Maine, August 23, 2016 – The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) has announced the slate of feature and short films for its 12th edition, which will take place September 15-18, 2016 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine. CIFF will present over 70 features and short films from across the globe, the country and the state, with filmmakers attending nearly every screening. Recognized as one of the top documentary film festivals in the world, this year’s slate includes more international titles than ever before with filmmakers in attendance at nearly every screening.

CIFF will open with Morgan Spurlock’s Rats, shortly after its premiere in Toronto, with Spurlock and producer Jeremy Chilnick in attendance. The film will air on Discovery in October. Additional highlights include award-winning titles from Europe (Brothers, Gulistan, Land of Roses and Dead Slow Ahead) spotlight selections (Cameraperson, Kate Plays Christine and Contemporary Color) alongside 2014 Points North alum What Tomorrow Brings.

“We are beyond thrilled with this year’s festival program,” says Ben Fowlie, Executive Director of the Points North Institute, and founder of the Camden International Film Festival. “This year’s slate is an incredibly engaging collection of films that calls attention to the power of documentary form both as art, and as a way to experience the world around us. We’re honored to provide a platform to highlight the inspiring vision and creative voices of this incredible group of emerging and established storytellers living and working in all corners of the globe.”

Showtime Documentary Films joins the Camden International Film Festival in 2016 as the festival’s Title Sponsor. “We’re excited to partner in such a meaningful way with Showtime Documentary Films, a company who champions great documentaries and this field,” said Caroline von Kuhn, Managing Director of the Points North Institute.

The 12th Camden International Film Festival is a program of the Points North Institute, an expanded media arts organization established in July 2016. Building on CIFF’s 11-year history, the Points North Institute will continue to build a unique, interdisciplinary community of filmmakers, artists, journalists, industry leaders and local audiences, forming a creative hub where stories and talent are discovered, collaborations are born, and the future of nonfiction media is shaped.

In February of this year, CIFF was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for the Documentary Short Subject Award. The Festival will screen over 35 shorts, and will also continue its long-time partnership with Cinema Eye Honors, screening the 2017 short-listed Short Documentaries, which will be announced September 15 from Camden. In 2016, CIFF received nearly 1400 submissions, nearly double the total in 2015.

The Points North Forum’s robust lineup of masterclasses, roundtables, panels, industry delegates and Points North Fellows will be announced on Thursday, August 25, with additional programs being announced shortly thereafter. The complete lineup of 2016 Features and Shorts may be found on the Points North Institute website.

2016 Camden International Film Festival Features

ALL THIS PANIC
Jenny Gage | United States | 2016
Shot over a three-year period with unparalleled intimacy and access, All This Panic is a feature length documentary that takes an intimate look at the interior lives of a group of teenage girls as they come of age in Brooklyn.

ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Michal Marczak | Poland | 2016
Many of us know the freedom of our twenties—unfettered by responsibilities or mortality, inventing ourselves in the rush of the moment. All These Sleepless Nights viscerally summons that feeling, chronicling life across two Warsaw summers when students Kris and Michal resolve to experience life to the limit.

BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Garrett Zevgetis | United States | 2016
In a celebration of outcasts everywhere, a precocious young blind woman disappears into quirky obsessions and isolation. With humor and bold curiosity, she chases love and freedom in a surprising sex-positive community on her path to self-discovery. Filmmaker in attendance!

BROTHERS
Aslaug Holm | Norway | 2015
Brothers is the story of Markus and Lukas, sons of documentary filmmaker Aslaug Holm. She has filmed her two boys over an eight year period, from Lukas’ very start at primary school into their teens. Brothers has been called the documentary version of Boyhood.

CAMERAPERSON
Kirsten Johnson | United States | 2016
What does it mean to film another person? How does it affect that person – and what does it do to the one who films? Filmmaker in attendance!

COMMAND AND CONTROL
Robert Kenner | United States | 2016
Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Robert Kenner and based on the critically acclaimed book of the same name by Eric Schlosser, Command and Control is a chilling, minute-by-minute account of the long-hidden and deadly accident at a Titan II missile complex in Arkansas in September 1980.
Producer in attendance!

CONTEMPORARY COLOR
Turner Ross and Bill Ross IV | United States | 2016
Ten of the country’s elite color guard teams – the flag-flipping, sequin-studded creme de la creme of the “sport of the arts” – sync steps with musical luminaries for a bacchanalia of beats, sabre-spinning, and glitter cannons.

DEAD SLOW AHEAD
Mauro Herce | Spain | 2015
The freighter Fair Lady crosses the ocean. The hypnotic rhythm of its gears reveals the continuous movement of machinery devouring its workers: the last gestures of the old sailors’ trade disappearing under the mechanic and impersonal pace of 21st century. Perhaps it is a boat adrift, or maybe just the last example of an endangered species. Although we don’t know it, the engines are still running, unstoppable.

DO NOT RESIST
Craig Atkinson | United States | 2016
The urgent Do Not Resist tells the blood-boiling story of how good old American technology is making our streets look more like Fallujah. The film offers a rare glimpse into the increasingly disturbing realities of American police culture. Filmmaker in attendance!

EL REMOLINO (THE SWIRL)
Laura Herrero Garvin | Mexico | 2016
Esther and her brother Pedro, a farmer defending his identity, live in El Remolino, a small community on the banks of the Usumacinta River, in Mexico. We follow the journey of their internal cycles and the greater natural cycle they face each year with the coming of the floods. Filmmaker in attendance!

FOLLOWING SEAS
Tyler Kelley, Araby Williams | United States | 2016
The dream: to be free-free from bosses, rent, and red tape. In 1960 Bob and Nancy Griffith set out on their 53-foot sailboat to chase that dream, literally to the ends of the earth. Raising three children at sea, they made the sacrifices a truly self-determined life demands. Filmmakers in attendance!

GULISTAN, LAND OF ROSES
Zayne Akyol | Canada, Germany | 2016
They belong to the armed wing of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is also an active guerrilla movement. The mission of these female fighters? Defend Kurdish territory in Iraq and Syria, and defeat ISIS, all while embodying a revolutionary ideal advocating female empowerment. Filmmaker in attendance!

THE HAPPY FILM
Ben Nabors | United States | 2016
Can you impact on your own happiness? Most of us have grappled with career goals, relationships and even our own happiness. But how many of us have taken the time to really explore what can make us happy? Would it be meditation, therapy, drugs, or something else? Could you achieve happiness by design? Filmmaker in attendance!

THE ISLAND AND THE WHALES
Mike Day | United Kingdom, Scotland | 2016
The pilot whale hunters of the Faroe Islands believe that hunting is vital to their way of life, but when a local professor makes a grim discovery about the effects of marine pollution, and the seabirds populations collapse, environmental changes threaten to change the community and their way of life forever. Filmmaker in attendance!

KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE
Robert Greene | United States | 2016
A gripping, nonfiction psychological thriller, Robert Greene’s Kate Plays Christine follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards, Listen Up Philip) as she prepares for her next role: playing Christine Chubbuck, a Florida newscaster who committed suicide live on-air in 1974.

LA LAGUNA
Aaron Schock | Mexico | 2016
Set within the rainforests of southern Mexico, La Laguna explores the waning moments of childhood through the story of a Mayan boy’s remarkable journey from childhood to adolescence. Filmmaker in attendance!

LA NATURA DELLE COSE (THE NATURE OF THINGS)
Laura Viezzoli | Italy | 2016
A philosophical and emotive immersion in that precious period of life that is the end of life, through one year of meetings between the author and a man who is terminally ill with ALS. A journey into the human soul, a dialogue about love, pain and the need for freedom. Filmmaker in attendance!

THE LAND OF THE ENLIGHTENED
Pieter-Jan De Pue | Belgium | 2015
In this seamless blend of fictional and documentary form, we experience a stunning cinematic journey into the beauty of war-tormented Afghanistan. Shot over seven years on evocative 16mm footage, first-time director Pieter-Jan De Pue paints a whimsical yet haunting look at the condition of Afghanistan left for the next generation.

LES SAUTERS (THOSE WHO JUMP)
Estephan Wagner | Denmark | 2016
In northern Morocco lies the Spanish enclave of Melilla: Europe on African Land. On the mountain above live over a thousand hopeful African migrants, watching the land border, a fence system separating Morocco and Spain.

LIBERATION: THE USER’S GUIDE
Alexander Kuznetsov | France | 2016
Residents at the Tinskoi Psychoneurological Institute in Siberia have modest dreams: to find love and have children-to live independently and pay their own bills. But many may never attain even these simple goals.

LIFE ANIMATED
Roger Ross Williams | United States | 2016
Theinspirational story of Owen Suskind, a young man who was unable to speak as a child until he and his family discovered a unique way to communicate by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney animated films. This emotional coming-of-age story follows Owen as he graduates to adulthood and takes his first steps toward independence.

NATIONAL BIRD
Sonia Kennebeck | United States | 2016
Three courageous whistleblowers break the silence around the U.S. drone war – a decision that will change their lives forever. Filmmaker in attendance!

NEW YORK CUTS
Luke Loretnzen | United States | 2015
Six hair salons in New York City, each with a unique personality, are explored as places of social gathering. Touching on themes of ethnicity, class, and community, conversations between stylists and clients are observed and intertwined in this portrait of urban multiculturalism. Filmmaker in attendance!

NEWTOWN
Kim A. Snyder | United States | 2016
Joining the ranks of a growing club to which no one wants to belong, a cast of characters within Newtown, Connecticut interconnect, weaving an intimate story of resilience. Trace the aftermath of the worst mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history, the traumatized community and their new sense of purpose. Filmmaker in attendance!

NORMAN LEAR: JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU
Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing | United States | 2016
How did a poor Jewish kid from Connecticut bring us Archie Bunker and become one of the most successful television producers ever? Norman Lear brought provocative subjects like war, poverty, and prejudice into 120 million homes every week. He proved that social change was possible through an unlikely prism: laughter.

THE PEARL
Jessica Dimmock and Christopher LaMarca | United States | 2015
The Pearl is an intimate profile of 4 transgender women that come out in their senior years. Set against the backdrop of logging towns in the Pacific Northwest, the cinematic story is not about becoming a woman, it explores what it means to leave behind living as a man. Filmmaker in attendance!

PESCATORI DI CORPI (FISHING BODIES)
Michele Pennetta | Switzerland | 2016
The film follows the crew of the Alba Angela, a clandestine fishing boat, as their destinies cross path with Ahmed, a refugee who now lives illegally on the boat that, before becoming his home and prison, brought others like him to Sicily. An intimate portrait of indifference in the face of immigration. Filmmaker in attendance!

PETER AND THE FARM
Tony Stone | United States | 2016
Tony Stone’s documentary Peter and the Farm, a beautiful yet haunting mosaic of the seemingly idyllic life of Peter Dunning, a charismatic organic farmer who for 37 years has presided over the 187-acre Mile Hill Farm in rural Vermont.

THE PRISON IN TWELVE LANDSCAPES
Brett Story | United States, Canada | 2016
A film about the prison from the places we least expect to find it. Filmmaker in attendance!

RATS – Opening Night Film
Morgan Spurlock | United States | 2016
Inspired by Robert Sullivan’s New York Times bestselling book, RATS goes deep beneath the surface to explore the lives of man’s greatest parasite. Director Morgan Spurlock unveils a new form of documentary horror storytelling, journeying around the world to bring viewers face to face with rats while delving into our complicated relationship with these creepy creatures. Filmmaker in attendance!

RETURN TO CUBA – WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF WALKER EVANS
Ross McDermott | Cuba, United States | 2016
Five world-renowned photographers travel to Cuba just weeks before the historic U.S.-Cuba reconciliation. Retracing the footsteps of legendary photographer Walker Evans, they reinvent his iconic 1930s images at a new historical tipping point. Filmmaker in attendance!

SACRED COD
David Abel, Andy Laub, Steve Liss | United States | 2016
Sacred Cod is a feature-length documentary about the collapse of the historic cod population in New England and the controversial measures that scientists and policymakers are using to restore the region’s iconic species. Filmmakers in attendance!

SALAMANCA
Ruslan Fedotow, Aleksandra Kulak | Russian Federation | 2015
Here, in Salamanca, the past is more precious then the present. Filmmakers in attendance!

SALERO
Mike Plunkett | Bolivia, United States | 2015
When the future arrives to Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, one of earth’s most secluded places, a young salt gatherer becomes the last link to the old world. Filmmaker in attendance!

SONITA
Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami | Germany | 2015
18-year-old Sonita is an undocumented Afghan illegal immigrant living in the suburbs of Tehran. She fights to live the way she wants: As a rapper in spite of all her obstacles she confronts in Iran and her conservative family.

STARLESS DREAMS
Mehrdad Oskouei | Iran | 2015
An unforgettable cinematic portrayal of restored innocence and humanity. Starless Dreams plunges us into the lives of seven young girls sharing temporary quarters at a correction center on the outskirts of Tehran. Oskouei, one of Iran’s most prominent directors spent seven years securing access to this all-female facility.

WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS
Beth Murphy | United States | 2015
What Tomorrow Brings goes inside the first all-girls’ school in a conservative Afghan village for an intimate look at what it means to be a girl growing up in Afghanistan today. Filmmaker in attendance! Points North Alum!

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE
Heidi Brandenburg, Mathew Orzel | Peru | 2016
In this tense and immersive tour de force, audiences are taken directly into the line of fire between powerful, opposing Peruvian leaders – President Alan Garcia and indigenous leader Alberto Pizango – who will stop at nothing to keep their respective goals intact. Filmmaker in attendance!

ZERO DAYS
Alex Gibney | United States | 2016
Zero Days is a cautionary tale of technology, power, unintended consequences, morality, and the dangers of secrecy.

Press Contact:
Caroline von Kuhn, Managing Director
[email protected], 917-355-6310

About the Points North Institute:
Established in 2016, the Points North Institute is a launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. Building on the success of the Camden International Film Festival, the Points North Institute’s mission is to bring together a unique, interdisciplinary community of filmmakers, artists, journalists, industry leaders and local audiences, forming a creative hub on the coast of Maine where new stories and talent are discovered, collaborations are born, and the future of nonfiction media is shaped. Programs include the annual Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, as well as a year-round calendar of artist development initiatives that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice.

Founded in 2005 and recognized as one of the top documentary film festivals in the world, the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) brings the finest non-fiction cinema to the coast of Maine, showcasing over 80 documentary films from around the globe each fall. Running concurrently with CIFF, the Points North Forum provides documentarians with opportunities for professional development and creative inspiration. Past industry participants include representatives from HBO, A&E, BBC,CNN, Discovery, PBS, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance Institute, Vimeo and Kickstarter.

The 2016 Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum will take place September 15-18 in Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine. CIFF is supported in part by the Title Sponsors: Showtime Documentary Films and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as Premier Sponsors: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, CNN Films, CoPilot and Vimeo. For more information, visit http://pointsnorthinstitute.org/ciff/