THE SON : Other Film Festivals

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It will be presented as the CENTERPIECE FILM at the Hamptons Intarnational Film Festival.

The festival opens on October 7.


Jo

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THE SON will premiere in London on October 10!

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THE SON will be part of the American Film Institute Festival scheduled from Nov 2-6, 2022!


fest.afi.com/

THE SON

A drama that follows a family as it struggles to reunite after falling apart, THE SON centers on Peter (Hugh Jackman), whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby) is upended when his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) appears with their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who is now a teenager. The young man has been missing from school for months and is troubled, distant and angry. Peter strives to take care of Nicholas as he would have liked his own father to have taken care of him while juggling work, his and Beth’s new son, and the offer of his dream position in Washington. However, by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto the Nicholas in the present. The film is directed by Academy Award® winner Florian Zeller and was written by Zeller and Academy Award® winner Christopher Hampton.

AFI FEST 2022 Announces Dates

We’re thrilled to announce that AFI FEST 2022 will take place Nov. 2-6, showcasing transformative stories from groundbreaking artists. You won’t want to miss the 36th edition of the longest running international film festival in Los Angeles which will feature an exciting lineup of narrative and documentary work, as well as post-screening Q&As with cast and crews from the year’s best films.

AFI also announced that because of the ongoing uncertainty due to the pandemic, AFI FEST will expand its programming with nonfiction films traditionally presented at AFI DOCS in Washington, DC.

“AFI’s goal is to provide a safe environment for artists and audiences alike,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “Uniting our events this year to be held in the fall will allow us to achieve this at a standard worthy of AFI and the storytellers who devote their lives to inspire and educate.”

Filmmakers are invited to submit fiction, documentary, experimental and animated short films through Film Freeway.

AFI FEST will have submission deadlines — early, official and final — for fiction shorts (under 40 minutes) and nonfiction shorts (under 40 minutes). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI FEST as a qualifying festival for the Live Action and Animated Short Film categories for the annual Academy Awards®.

SHORT FILM SUBMISSION DATES – Learn more

Early Deadline – Wednesday, March 2

Official Deadline – Wednesday, April 20

Final Deadline – Wednesday, June 15

Filmmakers can email [e-mail] for more information about the submissions process.

For sponsorship opportunities at AFI FEST 2022, contact Sarah Kim at [e-mail].

Program highlights from AFI FEST 2021 include the Opening Night World Premiere of tick, tick…BOOM!; World Premieres of Halle Berry’s directorial debut BRUISED, SING 2 and SWAN SONG starring Mahershala Ali; Red Carpet Premieres of KING RICHARD directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and starring Will Smith, Pedro Almodóvar’s PARALLEL MOTHERS and THE POWER OF THE DOG directed by Jane Campion and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee; and the Indie Contenders roundtable featuring Caitriona Balfe (BELFAST), Nicolas Cage (PIG), Colman Domingo (ZOLA), Ann Dowd (MASS), Dakota Johnson (THE LOST DAUGHTER) and Simon Rex (RED ROCKET).

To learn more about AFI FEST, visit FEST.AFI.com.

AFI FEST film festival – Los Angeles – November 2-6, 2022

[jo]

Hugh... at his neighborhood theater

[jo]

[jo]

He did make it to a Q&A session!

[jo]

From October 7th through the 11th, East Hampton, Southampton, Montauk and Sag Harbor host the Hamptons International Film Festival. In its 18th year, the festival is a celebration of independent film-making that draws around 15,000 people each year.

I wonder how these people, who are likely from the various neighborhoods of the Hamptons would rate a movie like THE SON.
Of course it would likely be special as it features one the sons of the neighborhood


Btw, there was also another screening of THE SON at Vancouver International Film Festival recently.

[jo]

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An opposing view --

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An Instagram story sent to and reposted by Florian Zeller said that there was a STANDING OVATION after the screening of the film at the Hampton Film Festival.

Jo

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Oct 10, 2022 5:13:28 GMT -5 jo said:

An opposing view --

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[mamaleh]

The wonderful Jackman’s Landing Twitter and Facebook pages have a link to the entire Hamptons Film Festival interview with Hugh.

Ellen

[jo]

Florian Zeller was also at the London Film Festival.

The film is described as British in origin ( presumably because of the producers).

London is where his plays have been successfully staged and well-received.

[jo]

Translation --

Vanessa Kirby saying that Hugh Jackman is beautiful and that Laura Dern is the kindest person. Everything we wanted to know.

[jo]

A report from THE EVENING STANDARD - UK.

CULTUREFILM
Hugh Jackman wrote to Oscar-winning director asking to be cast in The Son
Florian Zeller and Vanessa Kirby walked the red carpet at the UK premiere of The Son at the BFI London Film Festival.
Florian Zeller and Vanessa Kirby (Ian West/PA)
Florian Zeller and Vanessa Kirby (Ian West/PA) / PA Wire

By Ellie Iorizzo

6 hours ago
Screenwriter and director Florian Zeller said he was impressed and moved by Hugh Jackman’s “honesty and humility” when he received a letter from the Hollywood star asking to be cast in his latest film.

The Son is the follow-up to Zeller’s two-time Academy Award winning film The Father, which starred Sir Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

The new drama features Jackman in the title role opposite Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern and Zen McGrath, as well as the return of Sir Anthony in a minor role.


At the film’s UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, Zeller told the PA news agency: “For The Son I had no-one specific in mind when I wrote the scripts, apart from Anthony Hopkins was the only one that was already in my mind when I wrote the script, who by the way was the first one who read the scripts when I finished it, and so he’s the first one who said yes to the project.


“Hugh Jackman came to me, he heard about the fact that I was working on the adaptation.

“And so he wrote me a letter and he said, ‘If you already had a conversation with someone forget about the letter, but if not, I would love to meet with you to tell you why I should be the one’, and I was very impressed and moved by his honesty and humility to do that.


“We met and I was not planning to offer the role, just first meeting. And after five minutes, I think I stopped the conversation and I said yes, for you.

“Because I felt strongly that he was deep down completely connected to the emotions that I wanted to explore and that he would do something that was profound and unexpected.”

The Son follows Jackman’s character Peter, whose life with his new partner Beth (Kirby) is upended when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) appears with their troubled teenage son Nicholas (McGrath).

Despite his success with The Father, Zeller said he did not feel pressure because it was “so important to me to tell that story”.

He told PA on World Mental Health Day: “It’s an emotional journey, but it’s about guilt, about how guilt makes us blind somehow and it’s also about people struggling with depression, which is another epidemic around the world.

“It’s like creating a mirror in which people can watch themselves and question themselves, and to open a conversation about mental illness.”



Zeller returned to collaborate with “dear friend” Sir Christopher Hampton on the script, following their success with The Father, which saw Sir Anthony win an Oscar for best actor in a leading role.


Speaking about offering Sir Anthony a small role in the second film, Zeller added: “To make a film, it’s a very sentimental journey, so we are very close.


What the papers say – October 11
“So I sent him the script and he got back to me three hours later to say, ‘Yeah I want to do it’.

“So it was straight away and generous of him because it’s not a big part, it’s an intense scene and somehow it’s the opposite of what we did in The Father so it was a challenge.”


British actress Kirby, 34, said she wanted to be involved in The Son because she thought the story was “really brave”.

She told PA: “I loved The Father so much, it was my favourite film from that year, so I knew that he’d (Zeller) do something arresting and compelling and challenging more than anything, and I liked that it was about trauma that we inherit, we don’t process as families.

“I just really supported the courage to tell a story about teenage depression and the complexities of a family trying to deal with it, not knowing how to face it and epigenetics, basically, of how we inherit things if we don’t heal.

“And the fact that that was the message, I think it’s really profound, and I felt really honoured to be a small part.”

Kirby said it was a “delight” working alongside Wolverine actor Jackman.

“He’s so fun, he’s too fun. He’s magic, he’s absolutely magic. He’s everything that everyone always expected him and more. He’s kind, warm, funny and generous, so generous,” she said.

“He was really beautiful and his family are amazing. It’s a real family feeling especially because it was mid-Covid so we were in this little bubble ourselves, it was a pleasure.”


Talking about Sir Anthony, Kirby added: “I did a tiny part in a TV drama years ago, when I was really young, I knew nothing.

“And he sat with me in his dressing room and I asked him 1,000 questions about his process and how he does things and he gave me so much wisdom and so much advice and I really took it in, so it’s a real honour to share the screen with him again.”

The film is part of a trilogy of plays Zeller wrote, which also includes The Mother.

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http://instagram.com/p/CjjM4FSKW-X

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