Kyle MacLachlan in Ian Iqbal Rashid’s “Touch of Pink,” which will play on opening night at the Lake Placid Film Festival. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
The fifth-annual Lake Placid Film Festival has announced this year’s lineup, with a conscious effort to expand and diversify its program. Held June 2-6 in upstate New York, the event will include almost 60 features (including 12 world premieres), nearly twice as many as in previous years. The festival, formerly the Lake Placid Film Forum, will also host its first competition.
“Though we’ll be hosting twice as many films and therefore bringing twice as many people to Lake Placid, we remain dedicated to keeping the festival accessible, intimate and intellectually rewarding,” festival co-founder Kathleen Carroll said in a prepared statement.
Canadian writer-director Ian Iqbal Rashid’s light-hearted feature, “Touch of Pink” will open the festival. Set to be released July 16 by Sony Picture Classics, the film tells the story of Alim (Jimi Mistry), a gay Canadian expat living in London whose life is turned upside down when he is arranged to be married by his conservative Muslim family back home. Kyle MacLachlan appears as the ghost of Cary Grant, Alim’s would-be mentor.
James Toback’s new feature, “When Will I Be Loved?,” is scheduled to premiere on the fest’s closing night. The film stars Neve Campbell as a young Manhattanite who begins to explore her sexuality; IFC Films will release it in late summer or early fall.
For the first time, the festival will host an emerging filmmaker competition. Narrative entries this year are Brant Sersen’s paintball mockumentary “Blackballed: the Bobby Dukes Story,” Josh Apter’s romance “Delivery Method,” Richard Ledes’ drama “A Hole in One,” Brett C. Leonard’s drama “Jailbait,” and actor Peter Rieget’s directorial debut, “King of the Corner.” The documentary competition will include Tommy Davis’ “Mojados: Through the Night,” Gretchen Berland and Mike Majoros’ “Rolling,” and Dawn Young’s “Water Polo: Beneath the Surface.”
Martin Scorsese will be appearing on behalf of The Film Foundation to present a restored, 180-minute version of Luchino Visconti’s 1963 Italian epic “Il Gattopardo” (The Leopard) and will join in a panel discussion with writer-director Jon Favreau. His “Goodfellas” and “The Last Temptation of Christ” will also play in Lake Placid. The festival also will screen “Metropolis,” a restored print of “The Wizard of Oz,” and early African-American pioneer Oscar Micheax’s “Within Our Gates.” Swedish director Joseph Sarno will screen a new print of his 1968 sexplotation classic, “Igna,” and also premiere “Lust for Laura,” his first film since 1983.
A Canadian sidebar will include Guy Maddin’s “Cowards Bend the Knee,” Robert Lepage’s “La Face Cachee de la Lune” (The Far Side of the Moon), Peter Wellington’s “Luck,” Alanis Obomsawin’s documentary “Our Nationhood,” and Jean-Francois Pouliot’s “Seducing Doctor Lewis,” which Wellspring will release in theaters starting June 25.
[b]Out-of-competition narrative films will include “Zatoichi,” “Primer,” “Reconstruction,” “Dear Frankie,” “Stander,” “Human Error,” “Hair High,” and more. Non-competing docs include “Overnight,” “Chisholm ’72 — Unbought & Unbossed,” “Persons of Interest,” and “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.”[/b]
The festival’s seminars will be held June 1-4, with producer Linda Reisman, director Raoul Peck, and screenwriter Jeremy Pikser. Among the master classes and panels taking place during the festival are a digital filmmaking workshop, a nature walk with cinematographer Haskell Wexler, panels on animation, docs, and exploitation cinema, and more.