As The Anchorage International Film Festival embarks on its 18th season, we want to thank our incredible community for all of the support we have received over the years. Anchorage, and Alaska as a whole, is a melting pot of culture and talent that is unrivaled.
Before I became involved with AIFF, I had very little idea how this festival impacted so many lives. From our local student filmmakers, to our seasoned professionals and visiting filmmakers, AIFF has become a great resource to share ideas, knowledge and network with the creative community. AIFF has always been and will continue to be an advocate for our independent film community, which has grown significantly over the past several years.
It is no secret that Alaska is a magical destination, and because of that, it brings people together in unexpected ways. In the dead of winter, AIFF offers a bright light for 10 days every season. During our festival, we are fortunate enough to welcome several filmmakers from all over the world, creating lasting memories and friendships.
As the film industry changes, it is becoming more important than ever that we support independent film, and the surrounding community. The Anchorage International Film Festival is looking forward to sharing the work of so many talented storytellers this season and for years to come.
Thank you very much for your support and patronage. Gather up your friends and families and join us for 10 days of amazing stories from around the globe while we celebrate Films Worth Freezing For.
After years of being a neglectful father, a womanizing TV star decides to crash his estranged daughter’s vacation in Big Sur. FUNNY STORY is a tragicomedy you never saw coming. Filled with memorable characters and top-notch performances, FUNNY STORY teaches us about the destructive power of narcissism, the healing power of forgiveness, and our willingness to do karaoke after drinking enough tequila.
Christmas 1944. Soviet soldiers invade Hungary and drag every young ethnic German woman away from a small village and transport them to a Soviet labour camp where they are forced to work in the coal mines under inhuman conditions. This is where Irén meets fellow prisoner Rajmund, who decides to teach her how to survive. While she is determined to return home to her little daughter and family, history and fate have a different plan: Irén and Rajmund fall in love. Based on a true story.
'Eternal Winter' is the very first feature film about the 700,000 Hungarian victims of the Soviet labour camps whose stories remained untold for over 70 years.
Valentine Hermann, an out-of-work New York actor has travelled to Berlin to the summer to discover his German roots and stay at the 'datsche' or summer cottage that his dead grandfather has left to him. Only the datsche isn’t actually in Berlin, it’s out in in former East Germany on a garden allotment colony that's full of old people who seem to think the Berlin Wall never fell, and where not everybody is foreigner-friendly. Especially not Gregor, a neighbour with passions for hedge-trimming and nationalism. Which is a problem for Valentine, since he happens to have a refugee hiding in his datsche attic.
Adam blames the bad timing of his arrival in Germany as the reason why his application for asylum has been denied. But now he faces deportation - that is if he is found. Valentine allows Adam to stay at the datsche and promises not to tell anyone about him. But it’s not long before Valentine tires of the quiet allotment life and accidentally invites some random people from the internet to join him in his garden. Cue Maria, a beautiful and mysterious Greek woman; Zorro, a charming Argentinian drug dealer, and Stefan, a bumbling blond Bavarian who travels with his own tent and gun. Adam is not happy about the new arrivals, and nor is Gregor….
In a small town filled with secrets, three sisters are forced to cling to each other as they cope with loss and a father who's growing increasingly obsessed with the rapture he thinks is coming.
After the passing of her grandmother, a businessman’s daughter goes back to her birthplace. After a little while, she receives the visit of her former classmates but their reunion take an unexpected turn.
From writer/director Desiree Akhavan and based on the celebrated novel by Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post follows Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) as she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after getting caught with another girl in the back seat of a car on prom night. Run by the strict and severe Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle) and her brother, Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.)—himself an example of how those in the program can be “cured”—the center is built upon repenting for “same sex attraction.” In the face of intolerance and denial, Cameron meets a group of fellow sinners including the amputee stoner Jane (Sasha Lane), and her friend, the Lakota Two-Spirit, Adam (Forrest Goodluck). Together, this group of teenagers form an unlikely family as they fight to survive.
“Kupal” is the story of a hunter and a taxidermist, called “Dr. Ahmad Kupal”. On the last day of the year, moments before the turn of the year, he faces an unexpected challenge.
Julia is a photojournalism student living in Kyiv, immediately after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. She is pursuing her studies in photojournalism with a goal of moving abroad to Germany. She continues her volunteerism at the Kyiv military hospital, though it begins to weigh on her.
A group of troubled teens from a low-income community break into “Los Ricos”, the local mansion with a border fence, and spend the day pretending to be rich in order to forget their difficult lives.
On a summer day in 1945, an Orthodox man and his grown son return to a village in Hungary while the villagers prepare for the wedding of the town clerk's son. The townspeople – suspicious, remorseful, fearful, and cunning – expect the worst and behave accordingly. The town clerk fears the men may be heirs of the village's deported Jews and expects them to demand their illegally acquired property back.
Director Ferenc Török paints a complex picture of a society trying to come to terms with the recent horrors they’ve experienced, perpetrated, or just tolerated for personal gain. A superb ensemble cast, lustrous black and white cinematography, and historically detailed art direction contribute to an eloquent drama that reiterates Thomas Wolfe’s famed sentiment: you can’t go home again.
