Wahoo!! After months of planning, negotiating, previewing, etc. the TCFF board and staff have finally revealed the full lineup of its third film fest! As did the previous two years, TCFF have become the regional premiere of a lot of this season’s most-anticipated films. Steve Snyder, TIME magazine’s assistant managing editor and TCFF’s scheduler, said it best in his tweet about the event:
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9 nights. 60 films. 25 parties & panels. The official @tcfilmfest schedule is here. Experience Cinema: bit.ly/V5dlDN
— Steven James Snyder (@TheSnydes) September 17, 2012
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In less than a month away, the Showplace Icon Theatre in St. Louis Park (definitely my favorite theater in time with its awesome seat-reservation feature) will be the place to be for movie lovers! So before I get to the movies, be sure to get your tickets beginning Wednesday (tickets are $10 for individual passes and $120 for multi-film and party passes).
Here are a sampling of the notable movies, as Minneapolis StarTribune critic Colin Covert have mentioned in today’s article:
Oct 14 – Dustin Hoffman‘s directorial debut Quartet, a character study of retired opera singers starring Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins. This one has a good potential to be noticed by the Academy, after all it’s by the Weinsteins and it doesn’t hurt that it’s written by Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Being Julia and The Pianist).
This just looks so delightful!! Harry Potter fans out there perhaps notice right away the reunion of Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, ahah! I always like lighthearted comedies starring senior seasoned actors and this certainly look like something I’d enjoy.
Oct 16 – The Sessions, an affecting comedy-drama inspired by the true story of a paralyzed polio survivor and the sexual surrogate who helped him lose his virginity in his late thirties. It stars Alexandria, Minn. native John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy.
I have to admit the subject matter is a delicate one as it deals with disability AND sexuality, but I’ve got to admit the trailer looks quite heartwarming and sweet. Apparently the Australian director Ben Lewin, who himself lost the use of his legs to polio, seems to have direct this one with great humor and sensitivity.
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Oct 18 – Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro.
This is so exciting!! Just the other day I read that it won the coveted Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. That’s huge considering many previous Audience Award winners have gone on to win Oscar’s Best Picture, i.e. Chariots of Fire, American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, and The King’s Speech [check out this THR article how other previous TIFF’s audience choice have fared at the Oscar]. Apparently the runner-up was Ben Affleck’s ARGO, which has scored early raves at several film festivals.
Lawrence is the main draw for me here, and interestingly enough, I was also impressed by her in Like Crazy which won Best Feature at TCFF last year. I also like seeing Julia Stiles among the cast, she also stars in It’s a Disaster with America Ferrara, premiering Oct. 13.
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Oct 19 – Not Fade Away, a rock ‘n’ roll coming of age tale set in 1964 New Jersey, the feature directing debut from David Chase, creator of HBO’s The Sopranos.
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Opening & Closing Films
Oct 12 – As I’ve mentioned here, the program will open with the hunger documentary A Place at the Table featuring Jeff Bridges – A documentary that investigates incidents of hunger experienced by millions of Americans, it takes on the food issue from a new angle, shining a light on the 30% of American families—more than 49 million people—that don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
Oct 20 – The festival will conclude with the comedy Lumpy, which was filmed in various Minnesota locations, starring Justin Long and Jess Weixler. The premise definitely has the recipe for an oddball comedy: The best man at Scott (Long) and Kristin’s (Weixler) Arizona destination wedding, Lumpy (Tyler Labine) is the life of the party, until a long, indulgent night leads to his untimely death. Forced to cancel their honeymoon and fly back to Minneapolis to arrange for his funeral, Scott and Kristin meet Ramsey (Timlin) and learn that Lumpy isn’t quite who they thought he was.
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I’ll be blogging more about other movies that’ll be playing at TCFF, but below is the full lineup!
2012 FULL SCHEDULE
October 12
8:30PM: A Place at the Table, directed by Kristi Jacobson & Lori Silverbush, 86m
October 13
10:30AM: Call Me Kuchu, directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malika Zouhali-Worrall, 87m
1:00PM: The Sapphires, directed by Wayne Blair, 99m
3:00PM: The Iran Job, directed by Till Schauder, 93m
5:00PM: The Eyes of Thailand, directed by Tim Vandersteeg, 65m
7:00PM: It’s a Disaster, directed by Todd Berger, 88m
9:00PM: Bro’, directed by Nick Parada, 89m
October 14
11:00AM: Crazy & Thief, directed by Cory McAbee, 52m
12:15PM: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg, 115m
2:45PM: We Are Wisconsin, directed by Annie Eastman, 105m
5:15PM: Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman, 97m
7:15PM: Stag, directed by Brett Heard, 83m
9:15PM: Dead Man’s Burden, directed by Jared Moshe, 93m
October 15
7:00PM: Finding Home, directed by Chars Bonin, 90m
9:00PM: The “Lighter” Side (MN Shorts), Various MN Directors 100m
October 16
6:00PM: Best of MN: Festival Winners!, Various MN Directors, 60m
6:30PM: The Sessions, directed by Ben Lewin, 95m
8:30PM: The Rhymesayers European Tour, directed by Andrew Melby, 105m
October 17
6:45PM: Dust Up, directed by Ward Roberts, 90m
7:00PM: Nobody Walks, directed by Ry Russo-Young, 83m
9:00PM: Opposite Blood, directed by Billy Xiong, 120m
October 18
2:45PM: American Autumn: An Occudoc, directed by Dennis Trainor Jr., 76m
4:45PM: Field Work: A Family Farm, directed by John Helde, 97m
6:30PM: Silver Linings Playbook, directed by David O. Russell, 117m
6:45PM: Pincus, directed by David Fenster, 79m
8:45PM: Carlos Spills the Beans, directed by Brian McGuire, 90m
9:00PM: The “Darker” Side (MN Shorts), Various MN Directors, 110m
October 19
2:15PM: Reportero, directed by Bernardo Ruiz, 71m
4:00PM: A Band Called Death, directed by Jeff Howlett & Mark Covino, 98m
6:00PM: Things I Don’t Understand, directed by David Spaltro, 111m
6:30PM: Not Fade Away, directed by David Chase, 117 min
8:30PM: A Late Quartet, directed by Yaron Zilberman, 105m
9:00PM: Problem Solving the Republic, directed by Elliot Diviney, 95m
October 20
11:00AM: Bay of All Saints, directed by Annie Eastman, 75m
11:30AM: Detropia, directed by Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady, 90m
12:45PM: After I Pick the Fruit, directed by Nancy Ghertnet & Cathleen Ashworth, 93m
1:45PM: Lies, Lust, Betrayal – and Cold-Blooded Murder (Indie Shorts), Various Directors, 81m
2:45PM: Take Care, directed by Scott Tanner Jones, 86m
3:45PM: Ready to Fly, directed by William Kerig, 96m
5:30PM: Dead Dad, directed by Ken J. Adachi, 81m
6:00PM: The Story of Luke, directed by Alonso Mayo, 95m
8:00PM: Lumpy, directed by Ted Koland, 91m
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Well, what do you think of this year’s lineup? Which movie(s) here are you most excited about?
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
The Sessions and Lumpy appeal to me immediately. And along with volunteering, I am vowing to see more films at the Fest this year, for sure ;_D
Yeah, those two look really good indeed! I think Quartet appeals to me the most as I like the cast and curious about Hoffman’s direction. ‘Silver Linings’ looks good too, hopefully some of the filmmakers/cast would attend the screenings too! 😀
Some of these films sounds very interesting, I’ll try to make it to the show as much as I could this year.
I sure hope you would Ted, I could use more help covering the event too!
Some great stuff going there Ruth. I fancy that documentary with Jeff Bridges.
Yeah, that’s a good one and for a good cause too!
The top five selections from what I know:
DETROPIA
QUARTET
THE SESSIONS
THE SAPPHIRES
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
I look forward to seeing a lot of FC coverage of this festival!
Wahoo! Thanks Ryan. Two of them I’m eager to see. Do you have reviews of The Sessions, Quartet and Silver Linings? I didn’t see ’em last week.
I don’t have anything for SESSIONS or QUARTET. SESSIONS I’ll actually be watching tomorrow night, but I heard good things about it from both Lindsay and Jess who saw it at TIFF. As for QUARTET, it was Lindsay who saw that too, and again, came back glowing.
I just commented on your ‘Silver Linings’ post. Let me know what you think of The Sessions. John Hawkes is from MN so I’m hoping he’d attend the screening!
Quartet is one of those movies I adore… I like the senior cast, glad that Lindsay enjoyed it!
I still have never attended a film festival 😦
Anyways, not much is really jumping out at me right now. I do have some interest in the Playbook because of Lawrence and the generally good reviews its gotten, but the Sessions does sound interesting but that’s about it
Nothing interests you? Wow you’re tough to please! 🙂
As you know, QUARTER would be my absolute pick! Loved that film ever since we showed the trailer for the first time earlier this spring! Seems like true delight.
Great pick, Dezzy! I wish you could come here to MN and we’ll watch it together!!
One of these days I should go to film festivals!
I didn’t know that Dustin Hoffman directed a movie. Seems like more actors want to be director these days, and it’s understandable when you love a movie that much. Nice line-up, Ruth. Hope you’re having a great time
Yes you should Andina! Isn’t there a Jakarta Film Fest?? I’d think there’s one, if not then you should start one, ha..ha..
Well speaking of your comment about actors wanting to be directors, stop by tomorrow as I’m working on a poll on that topic 🙂
I love Dustin Hoffman but you gave to wary about his directorial debut. But he has the experience to be great and he’s assembled an excellent cast. Looking forward to seeing that one.
Why are you wary about it? It actually looks pretty good and like you said, he has the filming experience behind him that should help him as a director.
COOOLLLLL!!!\
Wow where does the time go Ruth? I remember TCFF last year. I hope you have as much fun this time!
I just got my press accreditation for LFF and am going to do a similar post today for it… It is a good time to be a blogger huh?
Yeah I know matey, time flies!! I feel like LFF was just a few months ago as well. That’s cool that you’ll be covering that as well, looking forward to it!
I saw The Sessions last week, but I won’t post the review until after my interview with a few of the people involved in the movie. That will be sometime in October. I don’t know what other movies on this list I want to see, but I’ll watch as many as I can when I get the chance.
Hi Jaskee, what did you think of The Sessions? I hope you enjoyed it. Do you live in Mpls area? Your comment makes it sound like you’d be watching as many movies as you can during the film fest 🙂
No, I don’t live in that area. I wish I did have the time to go out to that film fest though. I was just saying that I’ll watch those movies whenever I can. I’ve been seeing way more movies than I thought I ever would over the past five or six months and I’m still trying to watch as many as possible.
The Sessions might be a movie that will put John Hawkes in position to get some critical acclaim due to his performance and I also think William H. Macy was pretty good. I don’t want to get into specifics, because I don’t want to spoil it, t but he movie wasn’t great overall.
There’s a movie review that I’m going to post tomorrow that with performances that will almost certainly end up being nominated for some awards this year. In my opinion, it’s a great film and is one of the best of the year.
Oooh, I’m curious now. I’ll be sure to check that out, thanks!
Quartet, The Silver Linings Playbook, The Sessions, The Sapphires, and A Late Quartet are at the top of my list. A solid lineup of films here.
Indeed Josh, thanks!
Ok I was about to say this is a disappointing lineup but then I saw The Silver Linings Playbook! I’m definitely going to check it out at TCFF now 😀 Hopefully, I’ll see you there Ruth!
I sure hope so Castor! We’ve missed you in the last two film fest 🙂
I kinda have to agree with Julian and Castor here. Nothing really grabs my attention yet…save Silver Linings Playbook.
Which will you be watching, Ruth? I can’t wait to read more about the TCFF
I’ll try to watch as many as I could T, but for sure the three movies which I include the trailer here are a must-see for me.
Fantastic lineup! I’m very jealous, Ruth! Everything sounds fascintaing, especially Silver Linings Playbook (I love early Oscar buzz)
Oh I’m sure you’ll get to see that when it’s released Fernando, I think it’ll get a big marketing push since the success at TIFF.
Yes! I hope so too. Really looking forward to seeing that one. I’m a big fan of Cooper, Lawrence and, of course, DeNiro.
That’s a pretty stacked lineup. How many do you plan on seeing, Ruth?
I’m hoping to see at least one movie a day so hopefully by the end of it I’ll see about 10 movies, ambitious I know!
A Place at the Table sounds interesting and I’m shocked to hear Hoffman has decided to give directing a go! Did not know about that!
Glad that you learn it here first, Pete! 😉