The curious thing about The Visitor (2008)is that even as it goes more or less where you think it will, it still manages to surprise you along the way. Richard Jenkins was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Walter Vale, the man who discovers a pair of illegal aliens, victims of a real-estate scam, living in his New York apartment. After the mix-up is resolved, Vale invites the couple, a young, Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira), to stay with him. An unlikely friendship develops between the retiring, quiet Vale and the vibrant Tarek, and the former begins to loosen up and respond to Tarek’s drumming lessons as if something in him waiting to be liberated has finally been unleashed. All goes well until Tarek is hauled in by immigration authorities and threatened with deportation. His mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), turns up and stays with Vale, sparking a renewed if subdued interest in courtship; however, the wheels of injustice in immigration crush all manner of hopes in post-9/11 America. Writer and director Thomas McCarthy has created a wonderfully measured story about change and renewal and put it all on the shoulders of Jenkins, a largely unheralded but masterful performer whose time for renown has surely come.

Torchlight Cinematheque’s Opening Nights presentation of “A Movie You Haven’t Seen” introduced featured guest, Mr. Mark Fishkin, the Executive Director of the California Film Institute and Founder of The Mill Valley Film Festival along with long-time friend and colleague, Paul Cohen, Executive Director of Torchlight Cinematheque. Arriving directly from its premiere at Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals, the award-winning film, Hunt for the Wilderpeople proved to be an Opening Nights favorite. After the film, an enthusiastic audience was able to participate in a Q&A session with Mr. Fishkin and Mr. Cohen. This discussion focused on the director’s vision for the film and the film’s contributions to this year’s lineup of anticipated indie films soon to be released. “Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the type of film that makes comedy look easy, a well-oiled machine that bounds back and forth from big laughs to heartbreak and back again. One of Sundance 2016’s most guaranteed hits, it’s an adventure of storytelling itself. ” – Sundance, 2016 Hunt for the Wilderpeople has won a variety of awards for Best Narrative and Audience Favorite at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Independent Film Festival of Boston, the Montclair Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Following depressed and anxious attorney Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) who moonlights as a high school wrestling coach, Win Win shows the viewer that sometimes blood isn’t thicker than water when Flaherty finds himself and his family taking in a star athlete from a troubled home. After the screening, Geoffrey Gilmore (Director of the Tribeca Film Festival) and Paul Cohen (Executive Director of Torchlight Cinematheque) joined in a Q&A where they discussed the current and emerging distribution strategies in the film industry. Gilmore and Cohen’s knowledge of both art and commerce took the direction of the conversation from the future of the film industry into a more contemporary discussion of what strides are currently being employed to further innovate the industry.

Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington is a documentary about deceased photojournalist Tim Hetherington directed by Sebastian Junger. Together with his friend and long-term collaborator Sebastian, Tim travelled the world documenting conflicts in Afghanistan, Liberia and Libya among other locations. Best known for their 2010 film Restrepo which was nominated for an Academy Award, the two strived to capture the humanity within conflict situations and with their images they focused on the individuals involved and their experiences of the violence surrounding them. Unfortunately, in 2011 Tim was killed by a mortar blast and this film is a tribute and celebration of the legacy he has left behind and includes Sebastian conducting interviews with those who knew Tim best.

Director Kirby Dick, Producer Amy Ziering, Army Sergeant Myla Haider, and Attorney Susan L. Burke joined us to bring the Academy Award nominated documentary The Invisible War. This groundbreaking documentary sheds light on Military Sexual Trauma within the U.S. military, the men and women who have been victims, and their fight to combat the problem. MST survivors joined Kirby Dick after the film for an in-depth discussion of this sensitive and important topic.

A stunning 5th year of the annual FSU Student Veteran Film Festival (SVFF), began with a warm welcome to directors, David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud and their feature length documentary, The Hornet’s Nest. The screening at the Ruby Diamond Auditorium was resplendent as was the Student Veteran Torchlight Award presentation, complete with an honorarium of $25,000 by FSU President John Thrasher and our distinguished student veterans in recognition of this heartfelt cinematic work. Paul Cohen, Executive Director of the Torchlight Program at FSU, invited Salzberg and Tureaud on stage following the screening for an emotional and insightful Q&A discussing cinema’s ability to tell important stories surrounding issues affecting our returning veterans from their service. The SVFF is an annual part of Florida State University’s campus-wide commitment to become a national beacon of veteran support and success.

Once again, Torchlight Cinematheque had the opportunity to take part in “A Movie You Haven’t Seen” for the 2015 Opening Nights Festival with the nationally acclaimed documentary, Racing Extinction. A Q&A followed with the Academy Award winning director, Louie Psihoyos and the Executive Director of the Torchlight Cinematheque, Paul Cohen. Special guest Adrienne Hall, a former Torchlight Cinematheque Teaching Assistant, described working on this film’s production. Mr. Psihoyos directed the Oscar winning documentary The Cove and now with Racing Extinction has utilized state-of-the-art equipment, and has assembled a team of artists and activists intent on showing the world never-before-seen images that expose issues of endangered species and mass extinction. This film had just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival prior to our Opening Nights screening. Racing Extinction was nominated for an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song at the 2016 Academy Awards. It won the Catalyst Award at the Boulder International Film Festival, was nominated for Best Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and won the International Green Film Award at the Cinema for Peace Awards. It was nominated for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for the 2016 Emmy Awards.

Geoffrey Gilmore surprised audience members with a special introduction of our guest director Gia Coppola’s debut film Palo Alto prior to its national release by Tribeca Films. “This is Gia Coppola’s feature directing debut – her grandfather is Francis Ford Coppola, and Sofia Coppola is her aunt – and she does a lot right here … Her quiet, attentive filmmaking goes a long…” – Manohla Gargis, The New York Times, 2014 Shy, sensitive April is the class virgin, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach Mr. B and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy. Emily, meanwhile, offers sexual favors to every boy to cross her path – including both Teddy and his best friend Fred, a live wire without filters or boundaries. As one high school party bleeds into the next – and April and Teddy struggle to admit their mutual affection – Fred’s escalating recklessness starts to spiral into chaos.

In February of 1943, Major William Wyler went up in a B-17, 16mm camera in hand, on his first combat mission over Bremen with the Ninety-First Bomber Group. On this and the missions that followed, the Hollywood master, then at the height of his career, braved freezing and perilous conditions to get the images he needed, saw his sound man perish on a return trip from a raid over Brest, and refused an order to stop flying combat missions issued by his superiors, worried that he would be taken prisoner in Germany and identified as the Jewish director of Mrs. Miniver. The final result was The Memphis Belle, one of the greatest of the WWII combat documentaries, and it has now been meticulously and painstakingly restored in high definition 4K. Special guest, Catherine Wyler (the late William Wyler’s daughter) participated in an open discussion and Q&A about the film and her father’s work.

The 11th annual Torchlight Cinematheque Opening Nights presentation of “A Movie You Haven’t Seen” on April 14, 2018 brought a familiar face, Mr. Antonio Méndez Esparza. Mr. Esparza is a professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts. The film was presented by Torchlight Cinematheque Executive Director Paul Cohen, who also served as this film’s executive producer. This was the film’s Tallahassee premiere, something very special as the film was made in the area with the support of the community. Life and Nothing More was the first feature-length film produced in Tallahassee. After the film, Mr. Cohen led a discussion and audience Q&A with Mr. Esparza and the two stars of the film, Regina Williams and Andrew Bleechington about the film’s sociopolitical relevance and cinematic realism and improvisational acting. Life and Nothing More had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017. Variety Magazine named the film one of the top 10 best of the festival. The film received two nominations at the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards and brought home the John Cassavetes Spirit Award.

What is it like to lead men in the heart of a war? What is it like to come home after the chaos? Perhaps we never would have known without photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis’s daring trek into Afghanistan to capture the true life of a leader; Dennis put himself on the front line with just a video camera and a slim bulletproof vest to showcase the skills and vigor of Sergeant Nathan Harris. However the story continues when Harris is sent home just weeks before his mission ends, with a bullet in his hip. Hell and Back Again seamlessly transitions from stunning war reportage to an intimate, visceral portrait of one man’s personal struggle at home in North Carolina, where Harris confronts the physical and emotional difficulties of re-adjusting to civilian life with the love and support of his wife, Ashley. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Hell and Back Again takes you into a world that only valiant war veterans have experienced.

The 10th anniversary Torchlight Cinematheque’s Opening Nights presentation of “A Movie You Haven’t Seen” showcased director Mark Webb’s Gifted. This is Mr. Webb’s second film presented at “A Movie You Haven’t Seen,” his first being (500) Days of Summer. The distinguished panel guest for this 10th presentation was California Film Institute Executive Director and Mill Valley Film Festival founder Mark Fishkin. Torchlight Cinematheque’s Executive Director Paul Cohen was the event’s presenter. Gifted is a heartwarming drama about a man raising his prodigious niece, played by the incredibly young and talented Mckenna Grace. The conversation after the film focused on the importance of supporting film as a community. This film was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and Octavia Spencer won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture.

Blue Valentine (2010)stormed the independent cinema world as an Official Selection of the Cannes, Toronto, and Sundance Film Festivals. Nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, this cinematic masterpiece is, without a doubt, unlike any other. Focusing on the raw acting talent of both Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, director Derek Cianfrance takes his audience into a world where the story’s raw and realistic plot line manages to not only break the viewer’s heart, but piece it back together simultaneously. Centered around a young married couple, Blue Valentine illustrates Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy’s (Michelle Williams) love in such a way that it reflects the characters’ streams of consciousness. The viewer crosscuts through and lands straight into important events that lead up to the decisions the characters make in the final scene. The two are consumed by the harsh realities of life and desperately fight to keep their family together. Coming from dysfunctional, broken homes, neither Dean nor Cindy ever knew what it was like to live peaceful, harmonious lives. This emotionally fascinating film of a marriage on the rocks is expertly executed by director Derek Cianfrance, who won a Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Filmmaker for his work with Blue Valentine. With two of the strongest actors by his side, no one can deny that Cianfrance creates an unusually powerful film. Ryan Gosling was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Half Nelson and Michelle Williams was nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in Blue Valentine and Brokeback Mountain.

This season on February 20th, 2012, Geoffrey Gilmore (Director of the Tribeca Film Festival) brought a gripping movie titled Being Flynn from Sundance 2012 to Tallahassee’s annual Seven Days of Opening Nights for another sold out cinema evening. He also surprised the audience with the film’s director Paul Weitz and producer Andrew Miano. Adapted from Nick Flynn’s 2004 memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Being Flynn, starring Robert De Niro, Julianne Moore and Paul Dano, is about an estranged father (De Niro) and son (Dano) who the universe has suddenly pushed together again. Between drugs, alcohol, a homeless shelter and literature the two must figure out how to deal with their past as well as their present in a tense and melancholy situation. Following the showing, Torchlight Cinematheque Executive Director Paul Cohen joined Geoffrey Gilmore in a Q&A with the director and producer where discussions of the making of the movie, how the film business is transforming, evolved to a rich contemporary conversation of independent cinema.

The 10th anniversary Torchlight Cinematheque’s Opening Nights presentation of “A Movie You Haven’t Seen” showcased director Mark Webb’s Gifted. This is Mr. Webb’s second film presented at “A Movie You Haven’t Seen,” his first being (500) Days of Summer. The distinguished panel guest for this 10th presentation was California Film Institute Executive Director and Mill Valley Film Festival founder Mark Fishkin. Torchlight Cinematheque’s Executive Director Paul Cohen was the event’s presenter. Gifted is a heartwarming drama about a man raising his prodigious niece, played by the incredibly young and talented Mckenna Grace. The conversation after the film focused on the importance of supporting film as a community. This film was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and Octavia Spencer won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture.