11th Annual Rural Route Film Festival Set for This Weekend at Moving Image

With a mission to highlight films that take the road less traveled, the Rural Route Film Festival returns to Museum of the Moving Image with its eleventh edition. Now through 26, 2015, the Festival will feature nineteen films-from sixteen countries (and seven continents)-with filmmakers in person and live musical performances.

Festival director Alan Webber said, "This year's Rural Route line-up has come together as an exceptional schedule of brand new films, in-person guests, and live music, with an emphasis on bold, independent women behind and in front of the camera (and instrument) that we're excited to showcase at Museum of the Moving Image."

Highlights include the New York premiere of Edén, Elise DuRant's debut feature inspired by her childhood experience in Mexico, starring Will Oldham; the world premiere of Down Down the Deep River, an experimental narrative about growing up in New Hampshire by Will Sheff of indie band Okkervil River (with a live music performance and Q&A with Sheff); and a special preview screening of Sailing a Sinking Sea, Olivia Owens Wyatt's gorgeously shot documentary exploring the culture of the seafaring Moken people of Thailand and Myanmar, co-presented with the Margaret Mead Film Festival.

The Festival also features the New York premiere of Stream of Love (Szerelempatak), Ágnes Sós's look at love and sex among the senior citizens of a rural Transylvanian village, and Laura Citarella and Verónica Llinás's Dog Lady (La Mujer de los perros), about a woman who lives on the outskirts of Buenos Aires with a pack of stray dogs, a film that was made with an all-female crew and which debuted to great acclaim at New Directors/New Films earlier this year.

Rural Route has increasingly incorporated music into its programming, which fits with the Festival's aim "to showcase unique, authentic cultures," as Webber notes. In addition to the live performance by Will Sheff with his film, the Festival features two musical groups: The Main Squeeze Orchestra, an all-female accordion troupe, will perform on Saturday, July 25, at 4:30 p.m. before a screening of Alison Bagnall's film Funny Bunny (which stars musician Olly Alexander), and Mariachi Flor de Toloache, the first and only established all-female mariachi band, will perform on Sunday, July 26, at 7:00 p.m. before the closing night film Edén. (Note: Barbara Oldham will perform a solo alphorn set at the Rural Route Opening Night event on Friday, July 24, at 9:00 p.m. before a selection of short films at the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm).

In addition, the Festival slate includes Christopher Kirkley's Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in It (Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai), starring Tuareg blues guitarist Mdou Moctar in a loose remake of Prince's Purple Rain, set amidst the vibrant musical culture of the Tuareg in the Sahel and Sahara of Niger.

Rural Route will also debut a new Very Best of Blu-ray disc at the festival, featuring ten short films (shot on seven continents) from THE PAST five years the event has been based in Queens. These will be available for purchase in the Museum Store and at the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm.

The full schedule is included below. Tickets for MOMI screenings are $12 ($9 seniors & students / free for Museum members at the Film Lover level and above). Advance tickets are available online at movingimage.us.

About Rural Route Films
Organized by Alan Webber, the Rural Route Film Festival was created to highlight works that deal with unique people and places outside of the bustle of the city. Taking in a Rural Route program is like choosing the road less travelled, and learning something new about our constantly amazing world. For more information, visit ruralroutefilms.com

SCHEDULE FOR 'RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL,' JULY 24-26, 2015
Unless otherwise noted, screenings take place in the Sumner M. Redstone Theater or the Celeste and Armand Bartos Screening Room at Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue in Astoria, New York. Tickets for MOMI screenings are $12 adults ($9 seniors and students / $6 children 3-12) and free for Museum members at the Film Lover level and above. Advance tickets are available online at http://movingimage.us. Ticket purchase includes same-day admission to the Museum's galleries.

PREVIEW SCREENING
Sailing a Sinking Sea
With director Olivia Owens Wyatt in person
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 7:00 P.M.
Presented in collaboration with the Margaret Mead Film Festival
U.S. Dir. Olivia Owens Wyatt. 2015, 65 mins. In Thai, Burmese, Moken with English subtitles. The Moken are a seafaring community and one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in Asia, traditionally spending eight months out of the year in thatch-roofed wooden boats. Sailing a Sinking Sea weaves a visual and aural tapestry of Moken mythologies and present-day practices. Viewers will swim under the sea past fishes and mermaids, sail boats across turquoise waters, land on thirteen different islands, step inside sea shanties on stilts, delve into the minds of shamans, become possessed through the worship of sea gods, dance between lovers, and emerge drenched in Moken mythology.

Rural Route Opening Night Short Films & Party
With live musical performance by Barbara Oldham, and followed by a party at Coffeed
LOCATION: At the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm, 37-18 Northern Boulevard, Long Island City, NY 11101
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 9:00 P.M.
Just as European mountain villagers communicated to one another for centuries, Barbara Oldham (founding member of the Quintet of the Americas) will play a set on the legendary alphorn, overlooking the Manhattan skyline, to announce the start of the show. Followed by a program of short films including Border Patrol (Germany. Dir. Peter Baumann. 2014. 15 mins.), Witnesses (U.S. Dir. David Eisenberg. 2014. 19 mins.), Layover (U.S. Dir. Vanessa Renwick. 2014, 7 mins.), Travel Log: Antarctica (U.S. Dir. Alan Webber. 2015, 2 mins.), Isola del Giglio (Italy. Dir. Tom Schroeder. 2014, 10 mins.), Borderland (Norway. Dir. Aleksander Olai Korsnes. 2014, 15 mins.), and Wawi (Australia. Dir. Michael Portway. 2014, 10 mins.).
For ticket information and film descriptions, visit ruralroutefilms.com

Stream of Love (Szerelempatak)
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2:30 p.m.
Romania. Dir. Ágnes Sós. 2013, 70 mins. New York Premiere. In Hungarian with English subtitles. Love and desire fill the minds of villagers in a Hungarian-speaking village in Transylvania, even in their old age. Time has stood still here, and although most of the village's inhabitants are elderly, they are refreshingly young at heart. Stream of Love is a funny, surprising, and heartwarming documentary that reveals how the ancient game of love and romance is still being played in this remote village, with its aura of bygone days.

Funny Bunny
With director Alison Bagnall, DP Ashley Connor, and actress Joslyn Jensen in person
Preceded by live music by the Main Squeeze Orchestra (Kaufman Courtyard, 4:30 p.m.)
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 5:00 p.m.
U.S. Dir. Alison Bagnall. 2015, 85 mins. The new dark comedy from Alison Bagnall, best known as the writer of Buffalo 66, features an offbeat love triangle. After being kicked out of his ex-wife's house, Gene meets a peculiar young man named Titty (Olly Alexander), an emotionally arrested 19-year-old who sued his own father to win back his inheritance. Gene soon discovers that Titty has an ongoing online relationship with the intriguing and beautiful, Ginger (Joslyn Jensen), a reclusive factory farm activist. Together they make a pilgrimage to meet her, and wind up forming a close bond as they vie for Ginger's heart. Preceded by Wayward Fronds. (U.S. Dir. Fern Silva. 2014, 13 mins. New 16mm print!)

Down Down the Deep River
Preceded by a live musical performance by Will Sheff of Okkervil River (in the theater) and followed by a discussion
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 7:30 p.m.
U.S. Dir. Will Sheff. 2014, 42 mins. World Premiere. New Hampshire, 1987: The sci-fi fantasy world of two bullied sixth-grade boys invades reality and changes their lives forever. An explosion of the music video into a narrative film, Down Down the Deep River was grown from the recent work of acclaimed indie band Okkervil River, and directed by front man Will Sheff. Preceded by Vindmoller (Denmark. Dir. Margaret Rorison. 2014, 3mins. 16mm) and Interstates (U.S. Dir. Jeffery Chong. 2014, 3 mins. 16mm).

Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in It (Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai)
SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2:00 P.M.
Niger. Dir. Christopher Kirkley. 2015, 75mins. In Tuareg with English subtitles. Starring Tuareg blues guitarist Mdou Moctar, Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in It is the first-ever Tuareg-language feature, and a loose remake of Prince's Purple Rain. The film tells the Universal story of a musician trying to make it against all odds, set against the backdrop of the raucous subculture of Tuareg guitar. Preceded by Anar (Dir. Christopher Kirkley. 2012, 4 mins.) Moctar's autotune music video, shot in Israel and Spain, is accompanied by footage from the spaghetti western, Tuareg: The Desert Warrior, starring Mark Harmon.

Dog Lady (La Mujer de los perros)
SUNDAY, JULY 26, 5:00 P.M.
Argentina. Dirs. Laura Citarella, Verónica Llinás. 2015, 95 mins. In Spanish with English subtitles. Verónica Llinás co-directs and gives a memorable performance as a woman who lives with a pack of stray dogs in a shack she built herself in the plains on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The nameless "Dog Lady" does not use money, does not even speak. She forages for food, gathers water, and has a sexual encounter. She is an unexplained, mythic character wandering the periphery of the city, living freely off what nature provides. A notable selection at New Directors/New Films and the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Dog Lady was filmed over the course of three years with an all-female crew and Llinás's own dogs.

Edén
With Elise DuRant in person
Preceded by live music by Mariachi Flor de Toloache (Kaufman Courtyard at 7:00 p.m.)
SUNDAY, JULY 26, 7:30 p.m.
Mexico/U.S. Dir. Elise DuRant. 2014, 95 mins. New York premiere. In Spanish with English subtitles. With Sonia De Los Santos, Will Oldham, Diana Sedano. Inspired by writer-director Elise DuRant's own childhood experiences in 1980s Mexico, Edén is an intimately rendered film about coming home. Nine-year-old Alma is forced to leave Mexico with her artifact-smuggling father, John (played by Will Oldham). Years later, after her father's death, she returns to Mexico to confront the man responsible for their emigration. But she finds more than she was looking for, in the form of a new cultural identity and old secrets that are revealed. Preceded by Camino del Agua. (Colombia. Dir. Carlos Felipe Montoya. 2014, 8 mins.)