NEW YORK — The Manhattan Film Festival (www.manhattanfilmfestival.org) has announced its 2012 line-up. The festival runs June 21 to July 1 and will feature a total of 142 films, including 30 international films.
Marcio Garcia's Open Road, which stars Camilla Belle, Andy Garcia, and Colin Egglesfield, has been selected as the opening night feature narrative. Ana Nogueira and Eron Davidson's
Roadmap to Apartheid was selected as opening night feature documentary. Directors Ana Nogueira and Eron Davidson draw on their first-hand knowledge of the issues to take close look at the apartheid analogy commonly used to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Narrated by Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple), the film is as much a historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa as it is a film about why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today.
Opening night will kick off with a variety of short films, including Bryce Dallas Howard's When You Find Me, Jerry Digby's
Hearts Gamble, and Josh Levy's
The Immigrant, which stars Dave Foley, Deb Theaker, Michael Cera, Margaret Cho, and Will Forte. Closing the festival will be Jesse Wolfe's
Eye of the Hurricane, which stars Melanie Lynskey, Campbell Scott, Grant Collins, and Nicola Peltz. The film tells the story of a small Everglades community struggling to put their lives back together in the wake of a devastating hurricane. The film is told through the eyes of a determined child, a troubled adolescent, a wounded parent and a loyal friend.