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THE LOST LEONARDO, the Whole Story of the Most Talked About Painting of the Century.

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THE LOST LEONARDO is the inside story behind the Salvator Mundi, the most expensive painting ever sold at $450 million. From the moment the painting is bought for $1175 at a shady New Orleans auction house, and the restorer discovers masterful Renaissance brush strokes under the heavy varnish of its cheap restoration, the Salvator Mundi’s fate is determined by an insatiable quest for fame, money and power. As its price soars, so do questions about its authenticity: is this painting really by Leonardo da Vinci?

Unravelling the hidden agendas of the richest men and most powerful art institutions in the world, THE LOST LEONARDO reveals how vested interests in the Salvator Mundi are of such tremendous power that truth becomes secondary.

Now playing at our Encino and Pasadena theaters, this Friday we are expanding this fabulous documentary to our Claremont, Glendale, Santa Monica, Newhall, and North Hollywood venues as well.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES by Andreas Koefoed:

This is a film about the incredible journey of a painting, the Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World, possibly by Leonardo da Vinci. It is a true story, yet a fairytale worthy of H.C. Andersen: A damaged painting, neglected for centuries, is fortuitously rediscovered and soon after praised as a long-lost masterpiece of divine beauty. At its peak in the spotlight, it is decried as a fake, but what is revealed most of all is that the world around it is fake, driven by cynical powers and money.

The story lays bare the mechanisms of the human psyche, our longing for the divine, and our post-factual capitalist societies in which money and power override the truth. The painting becomes a prism through which we can understand ourselves and the world we live in. To this day there is no conclusive proof that the painting is – or is not – a da Vinci and as long as there is a doubt, people, institutions, and states can use it for the purpose that serves them the most.

Making this film has been a huge team effort. The producers, writers, editor, and DOP have worked side-by-side and devoted so much of themselves to the project. For that I am deeply grateful. It has been a fantastic voyage into secret worlds that are otherwise entirely inaccessible. Worlds in which anything can be bought and sold, where prestige, power, and money play out beneath the beautiful surface of the art world.

The main character is the painting. Brooding over it is its restorer, Dianne Modestini, who began working on it just after losing her husband, Mario, a world-famous restorer himself. For Modestini the restoration becomes a symbiotic process of mourning in which the painting and Mario at times become one. After she lets go of the painting, it is locked away in a freeport somewhere, leaving Dianne feeling alone, and criticized for her work. Did her restoration go as far as to transform a damaged painting into a Leonardo? She is forced to defend herself and her integrity, and seek closure on the painting and her grief.

What fascinates — and disillusions — me is that art is being used for economic speculation and as a token in political games. Art is a beautiful manifestation of human feelings and expressions throughout history. In my view, art belongs to humanity. Instead of being publicly accessible, it is hidden away in freeports and used for cynical and speculative purposes.

None of the prominent institutions involved in the story – The National Gallery, Christie’s, the Louvre, or states of France and Saudi Arabia – wanted to talk, perhaps unsurprisingly. The supposedly independent scientific and scholarly approach to the painting is under enormous political pressure. In the end, not only the painting is lost, but also the truth itself. The painting, a product of the very Renaissance that valued freedom of science and art, ultimately becomes a victim of vested interests and power games. As Jerry Saltz says in the film, the story is “a telling fable of our time.”

I hope the film will engage, surprise and intrigue the viewers who themselves become detectives in the story, leaving them with a question: What do I believe to be the truth?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS4NJgdPITk

ON BROADWAY, Featuring interviews with Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, Hal Prince, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen, Opens Friday.

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As theater goers prepare for the return of Broadway after an unprecedented absence of eighteen months, Kino Lorber is proud to release Academy-Award nominee Oren Jacoby’s documentary ON BROADWAY, an enlightening and moving tribute to one of the most vibrant legacies of New York City, and the inside story of Broadway’s last self-reinvention as told by an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, Hal Prince, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen.
ON BROADWAY opens August 27 at the Laemmle Royal, Laemmle Claremont, Laemmle Town Center 5, and Laemmle Playhouse 7 theaters as well as September 3 at the Laemmle Newhall.
Helen Mirren
Broadway was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 70s with talk of tearing down theaters and replacing them with parking lots; the plays were considered obsolete and audiences severely declining. The documentary explores how, thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inclusion and the sometimes-uneasy balance between art and commerce, an industry on the verge of extinction not only avoided collapse, but managed to reinvent itself and come back stronger.
James Corden
Legends of the stage and screen take us behind the scenes of Broadway’s most groundbreaking and beloved shows, from “A Chorus Line” to “Angels in America” and “Hamilton,” offering a hurly-burly ride through Times Square, once again the main street of American show business.

 

Ian McKellen
Also featured are interviews with some of today’s most influential playwrights, directors, choreographers, performers and producers such as Alexandra Billings, David Henry Hwang, Oskar Eustis, Nicholas Hytner, Jack O’Brien, George C. Wolfe, Daniel Sullivan, Trevor Nunn, Julie Taymor, Sonia Friedman, Jeffrey Seller and Tony Kushner. They tell the stories of the remarkable changes they helped initiate or witnessed over the past 50 years, the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic on the theater community, and track the breakthrough works and artists which made Broadway into a venue where one can find everything—from the experimental and iconoclastic to the mainstream and commercial.
Hugh Jackman

“A sunset view of the New York City skyline, speckled with lights, while George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” plays. Old Broadway marquees. Moving snapshots from a Broadway of more recent past — a flight of Hogwarts wizards, the swinging and snapping Temptations, the triumphant gaze of a brown-skinned Alexander Hamilton. ON BROADWAY sure knows how to work a theater-lover’s heart.” (Maya Phillips, New York Times)

Christine Baranski

“Enhanced by a wealth of archival footage and clips from notable productions, the theatrical history lesson flows smoothly and proves consistently entertaining.” (Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp7gOGR-mHY

 

Movie Review Roundup: SEARCHING FOR MR. RUGOFF, THE MEANING OF HITLER, THE MACALUSO SISTERS, EMA.

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Our fine local daily could not cover some excellent recent films so we are mandating a quick recap of film critics’ assessments in other outlets to get these titles get a booster shot of attention:

SEARCHING FOR MR. RUGOFF: Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film “an enthralling documentary that movie buffs everywhere will want to see… as essential as any chapter of “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.” Dean of American film critics Leonard Maltin wrote, “It’s rare that a documentary affects me on a personal level but this evoked a flood of memories. The film captures a time and place when movies really mattered to a whole generation. I’m not saying it was better or worse than it is today–just different.” Nicolas Rapold of the New York Times admitted he “got the warm-and-fuzzies from seeing the love here for moviegoing and exhibition, which [Rugoff] goosed with gonzo showmanship.”

THE MEANING OF HITLER: Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote, “we go into THE MEANING OF HITLER craving that millimeter of insight, of intrigue and revelation. And the film provides it. It ruminates on Hitler and the Third Reich in ways that churn up your platitudes.” “Myth-busting at its most vital,” wrote Sheri Linden of the Hollywood Reporter. Eric Kohn of Indiewire was forceful: “The movie isn’t just another cautionary tale; it’s a jagged intellectual wake-up call that cuts deep, and America can’t hear it enough.”
THE MACALUSO SISTERS: As of this writing, the new Italian film The Macaluso Sisters still boasts a rare “100% Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with praise such as: “Haunting and powerful.” (New York Times); “In just her second feature after the taut street-stand-off drama A Street In Palermo seven years ago, Dante sets a firm seal upon her cross-disciplinary emergence as a director of unusually vivid empathy.” (Variety); “Dante’s film, beautifully done, is never more resonant than when reminding us of the lingering impact of childhood drama and the devastating nature of childhood trauma.” (Times [U.K.]).

The L.A. Times did review the combustible new Chilean film EMA. Katie Walsh called Pablo Larraín’s (Jackie, Neruda) latest “a darkly sensual fable of motherhood and the modern family.” Hannah Strong of Hyperallergic wrote, “In an age of sanitized mainstream cinema, it’s thrilling to watch a film that revels in carnal pleasures.” Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Byrnes called the film “mesmerising,” adding, “With a pulsing, angular reggaeton soundtrack from Chilean-American composer Nicolas Jaar, the film throbs and leaps rather than walks.” Check out EMA‘s red band trailer.

The Beautiful, Universally Acclaimed Italian Film THE MACALUSO SISTERS Opens Friday.

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We open the beautiful new Italian film The Macaluso Sisters this Friday at the Newhall, Playhouse, Royal and Town Center, as well as August 20 at the Claremont. As of this writing, Emma Dante’s movie, about how a tragedy changes the lives of five sisters in Palermo, boasts a rare “100% Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with praise such as:

“Haunting and powerful.” (New York Times);

“In just her second feature after the taut street-stand-off drama A Street In Palermo seven years ago, Dante sets a firm seal upon her cross-disciplinary emergence as a director of unusually vivid empathy.” (Variety);

“Dante’s film, beautifully done, is never more resonant than when reminding us of the lingering impact of childhood drama and the devastating nature of childhood trauma.” (Times [U.K.]).

Unfortunately, our usually excellent hometown daily erred and did not assign a film critic to publish a review. To make up for it, here’s the entirety of Beatrice Loayza’s full New York Times Critic’s Pick review:

“No mere sun-kissed coming-of-age film, The Macaluso Sisters opens on a blissful day filled with young love and beachside longing that is tragically upended by an accident that has everlasting reverberations.

“The Italian filmmaker Emma Dante, best known as a director of avant-garde theater and opera, adapted the film based on her acclaimed play of the same name. Here, she imagines the ripple effects of a sister’s death across generations with metaphysical grace and hints of fantasy, straying from the plot-reliant mold of most human dramas toward something more haunting and powerful.

“Five orphaned sisters — Katia, Lia, Pinuccia, Maria, and Antonella — live alone in a lively apartment in Palermo, Sicily, where they sustain themselves by loaning out pigeons for ceremonies and events. On their day off, they head to the beach, passing through a field peppered with enormous dinosaur figurines and initiating a pop music-scored dance party upon their arrival. These magical moments are grounded by the cinematographer Gherardo Gossi’s tactile photography, which accentuates the youthful vitality of the sisters’ bodies and the playful chaos of their movements.

“Following the death of a sister, Dante skips ahead to a future in which the group — now played by a different group of actresses — are middle-aged and broken, each in their own particular way. They remain in the same apartment, while ghostly manifestations of their missing sister create a stark contrast between their aging bodies and those of their brimming younger selves.

“A third act shows three sisters in old age and in mourning. Yet the apartment and its white cabinet — adorned with an etching of a beach — looks the same. By the end, Dante stages a transcendent confrontation with the impermanence of the body, destined to degrade, yet sustained by the memories and relationships that have come to define it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZHR_7GwV6o

“Musicals give cinema another dimension…You can be grotesque and profound at the same time.” Leos Carax, Marion Cotillard & Adam Driver on their new musical ANNETTE.

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A dreamy fantasia, Annette is French auteur Leos Carax’s English-language debut is a musical whose experimental approach to its emotional extremes is an ambitious return for the director. The screenplay is by Ron Mael and Russell Mael of Sparks and Carax from an original story, music and songs by the band. The plot follows a stand-up comedian (Adam Driver) and his opera singer wife (Marion Cotillard) and how their lives are changed when they have their first child. Writing in New York Magazine, critic Bilge Ebiri called Annette “an altogether weirder, more troubling and personal film than one might expect…this astoundingly beautiful picture will stand the test of time.” Laemmle Theatres opens the film this Friday, August 6 at the Claremont, Glendale, Monica Film Center, Newhall, NoHo, Playhouse and Town Center.

Following are excerpts from interviews with Carax, Cotillard and Driver in the film’s the Cannes Film Festival press book:

Interview with Leos Carax

Q: When did you did you first encounter the music of Sparks?

A: When I was 13 or 14, a few years after I discovered Bowie. The first album of theirs I got (stole, actually) was Propaganda. And then, Indiscreet. Those are still two of my favorite pop albums today. But later, for years, I wasn’t really aware of what Sparks was doing, because by the age of 16, I started to focus on cinema.

Q: And when and how did you meet brothers Ron and Russell Mael?

A: A year or two after my previous film, Holy Motors, came out. There’s a scene in which Denis Lavant plays a song from Indiscreet in his car: “How Are You Getting Home?” So they knew I liked their work, and contacted me about a musical project. A fantasy about Ingmar Bergman, trapped in Hollywood and unable to escape the city. But that wasn’t for me: I could never do something that is set in the past, and I wouldn’t make a film with a character called Ingmar Bergman. A few months later they sent me about 20 demos and the idea for Annette.

Q: What has been your relationship to musical films? Even in your older films it feels like at times musicals are itching to break out of them. You often had these incredible set pieces with characters expressing themselves through song and dance. Is the idea of making a musical something you’ve been thinking about for a long time?

A: Ever since I began making films. I had imagined my third film, Lovers on the Bridge, as a musical. The big problem, my big regret, is that I can’t compose music myself. And how do you choose, work with, a composer? That worried me.

I didn’t watch many musicals when I was young. I remember seeing Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise, around the same time I discovered Sparks. I eventually saw American, Russian, and Indian musicals later. And of course, Jacques Demy’s films.

Musicals give cinema another dimension — almost literally: you have time, space, and music. And they bring an amazing freedom. You can direct a scene by following the music’s lead, or by going against the music. You can mix all sorts of contradictory emotions, in a way that is impossible in films where people don’t sing or dance. You can be grotesque and profound at the same time. And silence, silence becomes something new: not just silence in contrast with spoken words and the sounds of the world, but a deeper one.

Interview with Marion Cotillard

Q: How much did you like Leos Carax’s films before you came on board for the Annette adventure?

I’m not sure how old I was exactly when I saw Lovers on the Bridge for the first time, but I know I already wanted to be an actress. I’d loved the film, its gracefulness, its poetry – I was overwhelmed. But then again, there was Juliette Binoche whose character, performance, and radiance swept me off my feet at the time. I fell in love with Leos Carax’s artistry, and I saw all of his films over time, up until his latest, Holy Motors, which I think is a masterpiece.

Q: Annette‘s script is a very peculiar affair, halfway between a traditional narrative and an opera libretto, accompanied by Sparks’ songs. How di you react when you first read it?

A: When I received the script, I already knew the film was entirely sung, and the narrative was only made up of songs. I was already sold, as it were. I felt so lucky to be able to lay my hands on this piece. And then I was totally won over as I read it – I related both to the uplifting element of the operatic musical and the profound darkness of what the film is about.

Q: Did you still hesitate in any way before embarking on the project?

A: I  immediately  wanted  to  work  with  Leos, but I wasn’t sure I could bring all that the character required. Leos is a rare filmmaker and makes very few films. It necessarily adds to the pressure, to the fear of not being able to match up to him as an artist. So I did hesitate a little. I asked my singing teacher if I could in no time learn how to live up to what was expected of me, even though I obviously couldn’t possibly become an opera singer in just a few weeks. We knew from the outset that we had to come up with a method for the opera singing part – and blend my voice with that of a professional singer. Still, it was a huge challenge. My teacher told me it’d be difficult, it’d take a lot of work, but that we could be confident. I needed his blessing to say “Yes.”

Q: How familiar were you with Sparks’ music before working on this project? How does it inspire you?

A: I wasn’t familiar with their music at all but as a teenager, I just loved Rita Mitsouko’s “Singing in the Shower” and I found out later it was written by Sparks. Then I met with them for this project – and I was overwhelmed by their commitment to and faith in the film. Sparks has always been involved in the project, from its early days. There’s something liberating when you actually get down to work, for artists who have been a part of this project for so long, who fought to bring it to completion. The film was getting made, and they knew it, and we all shared in the joy of working all together for the benefit of a special project and of special artists.

Q: Leos Carax is best known for being a painstaking filmmaker on set and for addressing the actors almost by whispering into their ears. Did you experience that yourself?

A: He’s both very specific on set and very flamboyant. He’s totally in love with his job, with the set, with the filmmaking process, the actors, and he’s highly respectful – as an actor, it’s wonderful to feel watched and cared for by an artist such as him. What struck me on set is how much he keeps track of every detail – how well a piece of clothing fits, how you convey what you intend to portray and so forth. He was so focused, and all the more so as the shoot was particularly challenging because Leos was intent on having all the songs performed live. On most traditional musicals, you record your songs during preproduction and then you lip-sync on set. But on this project, Leos wanted everything to be live. It made the shoot even more challenging – we’d be singing in very awkward positions, like backstroking or faking cunnilingus, which are very challenging postures that technically affect your singing. But this is the kind of effect Leos was looking for – he wanted voices to be altered, thwarted by reality.

Q: Tell us about your approach to singing and music, precisely. How did you work with the singer Catherine Trottmann, whose voice was blended with yours for the opera singing part?

A: We knew from the start that I couldn’t take on the opera singing all by myself. It’s just impossible to reach a soprano’s vibrato in barely three months of training. So we decided to blend my voice with that of a professional singer, but we only found her after we wrapped the shoot, which made things even more difficult. I had a wonderful time with Catherine Trottman as I almost found myself in the position of a film director
– I’d give her directions on how to adjust her voice, on the songs’ meaning etc. It was both complicated to pass on part of my performance to someone else and extremely inspiring.

Interview with Adam Driver

Q: What was it about the project that made want to be a part of it, not only as an actor but as a producer?

A: That  it  was  Leos.  That  it  was  a  musical the Sparks wrote. There were all these big sequences that required rehearsal, big set pieces, a lot of moving parts. All of it sounded like a challenge but that the result could be singular.

Q: What was it about Leos Carax’s previous work that made you interested in collaborating with him? Were there any films of his that you particularly liked or were inspired by?

A: The actors seemed to have such freedom in them. And the shots are incredible. They ask a lot of the people making them. Hard to pick a specific one. There are moments and sequences in all of them that are unforgettable.

Q: What was Leos’ directing style like on set?

A: Hard to summarize but from my perspective he’s living every moment along with his actors and crew; so he’s not leading with a bullhorn, it’s more from a place of focus. He’s doesn’t miss a detail. He’s great at balancing moments of complete spontaneity within heavy choreography. He’s hilarious. He’s one of the great directors of all time.

Q: Much of the dialogue is sung. What did you do to prepare for the musical aspect of the role? What was the rehearsal process like?

A: As far as the music was concerned, I met with Michael Rafter, who I had worked with on Marriage Story. I drilled the songs with him for months. The Sparks and Leos were very clear with what sound they were going for and that the storytelling was the priority. We pre-recorded everything as a back-up but we sung everything live as well. I don’t know what percentage made it in the movie but I think the majority.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSbZjinqI-Q

 

Special One Night Return Engagements of Roy Andersson’s Tour de Force ABOUT ENDLESSNESS in Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, Pasadena and West L.A. July 19.

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In case you missed it in May, you’ll have another chance to see ABOUT ENDLESSNESS, one of the year’s sleeper greats, on the big screen July 19 at the Claremont, Newhall, Glendale, Playhouse or Royal. It’s on several lists as one of the best films released in the first half of 2021. Writing in the National Review, Armond White described the film as “a series of tableaux depicting mankind’s fragility and guilt” and “a moral, artistic tour de force.” Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian called it “a masterpiece. Utterly unique. A mesmerizing odyssey to the heart of existence.”

ABOUT ENDLESSNESS is a reflection on human life in all its beauty and cruelty, its splendor and banality. We wander, dreamlike, gently guided by our Scheherazade-esque narrator. Inconsequential moments take on the same significance as historical events: a couple floats over a war-torn Cologne; on the way to a birthday party, a father stops to tie his daughter’s shoelaces in the pouring rain; teenage girls dance outside a cafe; a defeated army marches to a prisoner-of-war camp.

Simultaneously an ode and a lament, ABOUT ENDLESSNESS presents a kaleidoscope of all that is eternally human, an infinite story of the vulnerability of existence.

“Give Roy Andersson 76 minutes, and he’ll give you the universe.” ~ David Ehrlich, IndieWire

An official selection of the Venice Film Festival (where Andersson won the Silver Lion for Best Director), the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1YlILv8eMo

Documentarian Morgan Neville on Transforming 10,000 Hours of Very Raw Footage into ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN.

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ROADRUNNER is the latest from Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?). It’s unflinching look at chef, writer, adventurer, and provocateur Anthony Bourdain and it reverberates with his presence because it’s culled from 10,000 hours of raw footage from his TV shows. It’s “raw” in that most of it is from outtakes, but also in the sense that Bourdain’s technique to help his interview subjects open up was to get very personal with them first.

From Eric Kohn’s recent interview with Neville in Indiewire:

Q: How much footage do you estimate you went through?

A: There was anything from 60 – 100 hours of footage per episode. There were 96 episodes of “Parts Unknown.” That’s just “Parts Unknown.” Then there was “No Reservations” and “Cook’s Tour.” Not all the raw footage exists for those episodes, but it does for certain seasons. Of course, we didn’t go through all the footage, that would’ve taken years and years. We probably went through 10,000 hours. We had six of us all looking at footage, sometimes double-timed, because there was so much to go through. I love archive docs, and this was a unique one because the camera was always there and running. It becomes its own weird, interesting verite thing. It has a behind-the-scenes quality that feels raw, which I wanted to carry over into the telling of it.

Q: How did you narrow down the process?

A: We were going through footage for at least a year. Anytime there was an episode that he talked about or a crew member mentioned, we’d go through those episodes. There were definitely a number of episodes that were easy wins. A lot of the domestic ones. Or whenever Tony was on a beach. You can see that he’s in a different gear in those episodes. It’s pretty easy to tell early in a scene where Tony is phoning it in or actually wants to learn about a person. Those scenes floated to the top pretty quickly.

Q: Given how much of his shows were infused with his personality, what surprised you about the way he came across in this additional footage?

A: One of the biggest challenges early on was not to make the film feel like the show. Among the things that really surprised me was that he was fundamentally a shy person. Once you hear that, it makes sense — you can see that in him — but I don’t think it’s otherwise obvious. He overcame it in a big way, but there was always a part of him that was a little walled off.

When I was first talking to people who worked on the show, they would say, “Tony had this technique, and we didn’t know it was his technique.” When he was shooting a scene with someone he didn’t know, he would open up about himself in a really raw way. The crew would be sitting there wondering when he’d get to the point of speaking about the subject. Eventually he would, but by speaking about himself, he would get other people comfortable talking about themselves.

Of course, they cut all that stuff out of the show. But the raw footage has a lot of Tony revealing a lot about himself to people — knowing it was never intended for broadcast. It was part of who he was. I remember talking to David Simon about Tony and he said the first time he met Tony, the first thing he said was, “Oh, you’re from Baltimore. I tried to score heroin once there and couldn’t.” To which Simon replied, “Then you must have been a terrible junkie.”

Read Kohn’s full piece here.

This behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon is enjoying universal acclaim:

“It feels like an essential document, created in the radical no-reservations spirit in which he lived.” ~ Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
“An intimate and fascinating portrait of the beloved celebrity chef and television globe-trotter. It is also, inevitably, a spiritual investigation into why his life ended.” ~ Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“It does what Bourdain’s work did: ROADRUNNER makes you want to jump on a plane, discover a new place, a new culture, eat a great meal, and make a new friend. What could be more valuable?” ~ Jason Bailey, The Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmtJFKMFU1c

“It’s Not Easy to Show Your Life as Undocumented People. But We are Ready…Because It is Time.” The Filmmaker & the Subjects on the Making of I CARRY YOU WITH ME.

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Based on a true love story, the decades-spanning romance I Carry You with Me begins in Mexico between an aspiring chef and a teacher. Their lives restart in incredible ways as societal pressure propels the couple to embark on a treacherous journey to New York with dreams, hopes, and memories in tow. We’ll open this moving film this Friday at our Playhouse and Town Center theaters, with additional venues in the subsequent weeks.

Reviews have been glowing. “A gay story and a border story, told in the universal language of love, family, and dreams.” (Entertainment Weekly). “Ravishing and unshakable, Ewing’s authentic film feels like the crossbreed between a painful memory and a hopeful dream about a place, a relationship and a fight for acceptance that’s not political but entirely humanistic.” (Remezcla) “Dreams make up both the form and substance of I Carry You with Me, Heidi Ewing’s accomplished narrative feature debut.” (Washington Post)

The director Heidi Ewing, center, on the set of “I Carry You With Me.” Courtesy of Loki Films.

The New York Times recently published a Nicolas Rapold piece headlined “When Truth Melds With Fiction: Making I Carry You with Me. Here is the beginning of the piece:

“Heidi Ewing knew her friends Iván García and Gerardo Zabaleta for seven years before learning the full story of their journey. Iván and Gerardo first fell in love in the 1990s in Mexico, where they had to keep their relationship a secret. They emigrated separately to the United States, with Iván crossing the border first on foot at great risk.

“In New York, the men eventually thrived as restaurateurs, and today run two Williamsburg establishments. But, Ewing learned, the couple remained undocumented, like millions of others.

“Ewing, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker (“Jesus Camp”), recognized a captivating romance when she saw one. But how could she portray her friends’ in-between status, living in a world that kept forcing them to conceal basic facts of their existence?

“In I Carry You with Me , now in theaters, Ewing found her own in-between path by filming a hybrid fiction. Spanning childhood through adulthood, from Mexico City to New York, it’s the rare movie that both stars actors — Armando Espitia plays Iván and Christian Vázquez plays Gerardo — and the people being portrayed.

Vázquez, left, with Ewing on set. Courtesy of Loki Films

“But the project — Ewing’s first fiction feature — looked a little different at first.

““It was so trial-and-error, because when they first told me their story, my go-to was, ‘This is a beautiful documentary,’” Ewing said one morning at a Lower East Side eatery.

“Beginning around 2013, she filmed significant moments in Iván and Gerardo’s lives — birthdays, restaurant openings, Cinco de Mayo. She also shot interviews with them (carefully lit and partly inspired by “My Dinner with Andre”). While gathering these materials for several years, she continued to make movies with her longtime co-director, Rachel Grady: “Detropia,” “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” and “One of Us.”

“Heidi Ewing directed a film about two of her friends and their love story, both following them in real life and using actors to portray them in narrative moments.” Here are the first few paragraphs:

“But her documentary about her friends kept posing certain challenges. Hardly any archival photos or video of Iván and Gerardo existed, for example. And she usually steered clear of documentary productions that did not have a “current-day evolution of a story or narrative,” as she put it.

“There was also the question of doing justice to her friends’ romance.

““You want to see somebody fall in love. A documentary camera is never there — at the bar, the restaurant, the street corner, the subway, the bus, the glance between two people,” Ewing said.

“She decided to cast actors to dramatize Iván and Gerardo’s history together. The couple gave their full support.

Christian Vázquez as Gerardo, and Armando Espitia as Iván in “I Carry You With Me.” Courtesy of Alejandro Lopez Pineda/Sony Pictures Classics

Read the rest of the piece on the New York Times website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKH-PKU2hsQ