2017 PS Film Festival
2017 Best of Fest Archive
Browse films below or view the entire schedule HERE.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
The only U.S. bank prosecuted for mortgage fraud in the wake of the financial meltdown of 2008, Abacus was definitely not “too big to fail.” Hoop Dreams filmmaker James turns expectations upside down with this immensely sympathetic portrait of a Chinese community bank charged with malfeasance. Read More
Running Time: 88
The Age of Shadows
South Korea’s Oscar® entry is a riveting suspense film set in the 1920s when Japanese occupying forces use double agents to ferret out resistance leaders. Bravura filmmaking from the director of I Saw the Devil and The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Winner: Best Film, Korean Film Critics’ Awards. Read More
Running Time: 139
Alive and Kicking
Who knew that 1920s-1940s swing dancing (the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug, etc.) is positively thriving in this Internet age? Director Susan Glatzer’s marvelously entertaining documentary chronicles past masters of the form and puts the spotlight on the young acolytes who continue to spread the gospel. Read More
Running Time: 88
At the End of the Tunnel
When he discovers his neighbors are bank robbers planning to tunnel beneath his home, resentful, wheelchair-bound Joaquín (Leonardo Sbaraglia from Wild Tales) decides to make the most of the opportunity in this taut, unpredictable thriller. Read More
Running Time: 120
Behind the Clouds
In this later-in-life love story, two people meet again after more than 50 years. Once they were a couple, but their lives took them along different paths. Now, they are both single again. Can sparks still fly? Read More
Running Time: 108
A Billion Colour Story
A liberal, middle-class, irreligious mixed Muslim-Hindu family gets a rude awakening when they move into a poorer part of Mumbai and encounter religious fundamentalism for the first time. Shot in black and white and told through the idealistic eyes of the family’s smart, 11-year-old son, this is a heart-warmer. Read More
Running Time: 115
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds
This delicious double portrait of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher is a hilariously unguarded, remarkably intimate peek at Hollywood royalty, undying family bonds, and showbiz fortitude. “This very funny, engrossing movie couldn’t be more mainstream or more delectable.” The New York Times Read More
Running Time: 95
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends)
The Palm Desert band Eagles of Death Metal was performing at the Bataclan theater in Paris in November 2015 when terrorists opened fire, killing 89 people. The best friends who formed the band lead us through the horror and its aftermath in this moving documentary about the power of friendship and rock and roll. Read More
Running Time: 87
Ethel & Ernest
An entertaining and heart-warming story about two ordinary people who fall in love in extraordinary times, this poignant animated feature provides a hilarious and touching tribute to author Raymond Briggs’ parents, and illustrates the immense social change that swept over the UK through the 20th century. Read More
Running Time: 94
Everybody Loves Somebody
Living a picture-perfect life while in the fog of heartbreak, successful Mexican-American obstetrician Clara is on the verge of letting love back into her life just as her ex, Daniel, unexpectedly reappears, forcing a major life reappraisal in this funny and bittersweet bilingual romantic comedy. Read More
Running Time: 90
Frantz
Ozon is in top form in this beautiful and haunting tale, set in Germany in the aftermath of World War I, in which a grieving young woman falls in love with her dead fiancé’s French friend. “Astonishingly beautiful… a profound look at alienation and grief.” Indiewire Read More
Running Time: 113
I Am Not Your Negro
In 1979, James Baldwin set out to write a biography of his friends, the slain civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. He didn’t finish it. But decades later, filmmaker Raoul Peck, brilliantly deploying Baldwin’s prophetic words, completes the journey. Winner: Audience Award Best Documentary,... Read More
Running Time: 93
Jewel’s Catch One
For 40 years the L.A. disco Catch One thrived against all odds as a haven for the black and brown LGBT community, thanks to the tenacity of its remarkable founder, Jewel Thais-Williams, who is celebrated in this vibrant history of the “West Coast Studio 54.” Read More
Running Time: 90
The King’s Choice
Classical cinema in the best sense of the phrase, Eric Poppe’s (1,000 Times Good Night) perfectly realized World War II drama chronicles the tense days before and after the Norwegian monarch King Haakon VII (Jesper Christiansen) made the decision to resist the invading German army. Read More
Running Time: 133
Mountain Cry
Set against China’s rugged Taihang Mountains and superbly photographed by Patrick Murgia, Larry Yang’s forceful melodrama tells of the love between a mute widow and the man responsible for the death of her husband. A gorgeous film with the feel of a timeless allegory. Winner: Best Director, Screenplay, Shanghai. Read More
Running Time: 107
My Life as a Zucchini
Delightful, brightly-colored stop-motion animation makes this sensitive coming-of-age story about an orphan nicknamed Zucchini all but irresistible. Submitted for the Academy Award® in the Animated Feature category and again as Switzerland’s FLO entry, it will charm children and adults alike. Winner: Best Feature and Audience... Read More
Running Time: 70
Neruda
No director Pablo Larraín’s second outstanding feature of the season (after Jackie) is less a biopic than a mystery thriller, inspired equally by history—the period when poet and Communist Pablo Neruda was forced into hiding and eventually fled Chile—by Neruda’s literary imagination, film noir and magical realism. Read More
Running Time: 108
No Dress Code Required
Bórquez’s memorable doc follows a same-sex couple, Víctor and Fernando, as they fight for the right to be married in their home town of Mexicali, Baja California. A rallying cry for equality and a testament to the power of ordinary people to become agents of change. Read More
Running Time: 92