Festivals - FCAD 2020 : Discover the films presented in the Premiere section

By Mulder, 21 august 2020

Bad education (USA)
Directed by Cory Finley
Produced by Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Julia Lebedev, Mike Makowsky, Oren Moverman, Eddie Vaisman
Written by Mike Makowsky
Starring Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ray Romano, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, Rafael Casal, Annaleigh Ashford
Music by Michael Abels
Cinematography : Lyle Vincent
Edited by Louise Ford
Production companies : Automatik, Sight Unseen, Slater Hall
Distributed by HBO Films
Release date : September 8, 2019 (TIFF), April 25, 2020 (United States), September 13 2020 (OCS)
Running time : 108mns
Synopsis : Frank Tassone and Pamela Gluckin run a popular Long Island school that is on its way to becoming the best in the United States. Their school is generating record admissions and exponential revenues. But an embezzlement scandal may soon come to light and threaten everything they have built. Frank is forced to maintain order and secrecy by any means possible...

How I became a superhero (Comment je suis devenu Super-Héros) (France)
Directed by Douglas Attal
Written by Cédric Anger, Douglas Attal, Gérald Bronner, Melisa Godet and Charlotte Sanson
from Gerald Bronner's How I Became a Superhero.
Starring Pio Marmaï, Leïla Bekhti, Vimala Pons, Swann Arlaud and Benoît Poelvoorde
Artistic Director: Jean-Philippe Moreaux
Costumes : Maïra Ramedhan Levi
Cinematography : Nicolas Loir
Storyboard : Eric Gandois
Production: Alain Attal, Marie Jardillier and Emma Javaux
Production companies: Trésor Films; Artémis Productions (co-production)
Distribution companies: Warner Bros. France
Release date: December 16, 2020 (France)
Running time : 97mns
Synopsis : Paris 2020. In a society where superhumans are trivialized and perfectly integrated, a mysterious substance providing superpowers to those who don't have any is spreading. Faced with the increasing number of incidents, Lieutenants Moreau and Schaltzmann are in charge of the investigation. With the help of Monté Carlo and Callista, two former vigilantes, they will do everything possible to dismantle the traffic. But Moreau's past resurfaces and the investigation becomes more complicated...

Critical Thinking (USA)
Directed by John Leguizamo
Produced by Scott Rosenfelt, Jason Mandl
Written by Dito Montiel
Starring John Leguizamo, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Angel Bismark Curiel, Will Hochman, Corwin Tuggles, Jeffry Batista, Zora Casabere, Ramses Jimenez, Rachel Bay Jones, Michael Kenneth Williams
Music by Chris Hajian
Cinematography : Zach Zamboni
Edited by Jamie Kirkpatrick
Production companies : Chaplin/Berkowitz Productions, Cinema Vertias, Hialeah Park Studios, Perfect Balance
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment (United States)
Release date : September 4, 2020 (United States)
Running time : 117mns
Synopsis : Miami, 1998. Poverty eats away at the city, families are torn apart and the unequal system pushes disadvantaged youth to the brink. But for a tight-knit group of teenagers, there is a way out. Through a game that disregards the origin of the players, because the only thing that matters is how they play it. A game that gives everyone his chance; namely chess. Mister "T" Martinez, a fervent defender of this game of strategy and a passionate coach, will lead these pupils on a battlefield which is totally foreign to them: the national chess championship .

Don’t tell a soul (USA)
Written and directed by Alex McAulay
Produced by Chris Mangano, Merry-Kay Poe
Starring Jack Dylan Grazer, Fionn Whitehead, Rainn Wilson, Mena Suvari, Richard Fike, Abigail Esmena Froehle
Music by Joseph Stephens
Cinematography : Guillermo Garza
Edited by Ben Baudhuin
Production companies : Mangano Movies & Media, Unbridled Film
Distributed by Saban Films (United States)
Running time : 84mns
Synopsis: Joey and Matt are two brothers from a working-class family in Kentucky. These troubled teenagers decide to break into a vacant house to steal a box full of cash to pay for their sick mother's medical expenses. As they leave the scene of the crime, they are chased into the nearby woods by a security guard who accidentally falls into an abandoned well. Joey and Matt are faced with a dark dilemma: help the guard and risk being punished for their crime, or leave him at the bottom of the hole without being sure that someone will come to his rescue?

Resistance (United Kingdom, France, Germany & United States)
Written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz
Produced by Claudine Jakubowicz, Dan Maa, Thorsten Schumacher, Carlos García de Paredes, Patrick Zorer, Jonathan Jakubowicz
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Clémence Poésy, Félix Moati, Matthias Schweighöfer
Music by Angelo Milli
Cinematography : M.I. Littin-Menz
Edited by Alexander Berner
Production companies : Bliss Media, Epicentral Studios, Ingenious Media, Neptune Features, Panteleon Films, Rocket Science, Vertical Media
Distributed by IFC Films (United States), Warner Bros. Pictures, (Germany)
Release date : March 27, 2020 (United States)
Running time : 120mns
Synopsis: During the Second World War, in 1942, Marcel Mangel, under the name Marcel Marceau, joins the French Resistance under the influence of his brother Simon and his cousin Georges Loinger. Thanks in part to his art of mime, he will help save many Jewish orphaned children, whose parents were killed by the Nazis.

Sons of Philadelphia (Sounds of Philadelphia)
Written and directed by Jeremie Guez
Produced by Aimee Buidine, David Hinojosa, Julien Madon, Christine Vachon
Based on Brotherly Love by Pete Dexter
Starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Joel Kinnaman, Maika Monroe, Paul Schneider, Ryan Phillippe
Music by Séverin Favriau
Cinematography : Menno Mans
Edited by Damien Keyeux, Brett M. Reed
Production company : Cheyenne Films, Killer Films, Brookstreet Pictures
Distributed by Les Bookmakers / The Jokers (France)
Release date : December 30, 2020 (France)
Running time : 90 minutes
Synopsis : Peter, élevé au sein d’une famille de la mafia irlandaise de Philadelphie, apporte un soutien sans faille à son cousin Michael avec qui il a grandi. Mais la ville change, et les Italiens gagnent du terrain. Michael ne supporte pas cette concurrence et réagit de plus en plus violemment. Peter, affecté à jamais par le drame ayant détruit sa famille trente ans auparavant, tente de le raisonner. Mais le passé trouble de la famille ressurgit…

The professor and the madman (Ireland, France, Iceland, United States, Mexico, Belgium, United Kingdom & Hong Kong)
Directed by P.B. Shemran
Produced by Nicolas Chartier, Gastón Pavlovich
Written by Todd Komarnicki, P. B. Shemran
Starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Marsan
Music by Bear McCreary
Cinematography ; Kasper Tuxen
Edited by Dino Jonsater
Production companies :
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment (United States)
Release date : May 10, 2019 (United States), November 29, 2019 (France) (DVD)
Running time : 124mns
Synopsis: In 1857, the Scottish lexicographer and philologist James Murray began compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, estimating that this monumental task would take him between five and seven years. The Professor also decides to launch a call for submissions, hoping to receive the help of many volunteer contributors from around the world. Chester Minor, an American military surgeon suffering from schizophrenia, will submit more than 10,000 entries for the dictionary while he is interned in a British mental hospital for the murder of an innocent man.

Wander (Canada & USA)
Directed by April Mullen
Produced by Tim Doiron, Andre Relis, April Mullen, Chad A. Verdi, Douglas Falconer, Mary Aloe
Written by Tim Doiron, April Mullen
Starring Aaron Eckhart, Tommy Lee Jones, Katheryn Winnick, Heather Graham, Raymond Cruz
Cinematography : Russ De Jong
Production companies : Wango Films, Verdi Productions, VMI Worldwide, Aloe Entertainment, Falconer Pictures
Running time : 94mns
Synopsis: Arthur Bretnik is a private detective with a heavy past, mentally unstable and obsessed with conspiracies. After being hired to investigate a possible murder cover-up in the small town of Wander, he finds himself immersed in a world of lies and deception. For Arthur, all these murders could be part of the same conspiracy, the one that caused the death of his daughter a few years earlier. In his quest for justice, Arthur's sanity is severely tested. Increasingly paranoid, he finds it difficult to distinguish reality from fiction and wonders if he is just another pawn in a case that is beyond him.

Wendy (USA)
Directed by Benh Zeitlin
Produced by Becky Glupczynski, Dan Janvey, Paul Mezey, Josh Penn
Written by Benh Zeitlin, Eliza Zeitlin
Starring Devin France, Yashua Mack, Gage Naquin, Gavin Naquin, Ahmad Cage, Krysztof Meyn, Romyri Ross
Music by Dan Romer
Cinematography : Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
Edited by Affonso Gonçalves
Production companies : TSG Entertainment, Department of Motion Pictures, Journeyman Pictures
Distributed by Condor Distribution (France), Searchlight Pictures (United States)
Release date : February 28, 2020 (United States), December 9 2020 (France)
Running time : 112mns
Synopsis: Wendy and her brothers are adventurous and mischievous children. After long nights of watching trains go by through their bedroom window, they meet a mysterious boy named Peter who offers to take them to his island. There, they discover a whole new world, a place suspended in time where they no longer grow up...

(Source : press release)