Raymond & Ray
Exclusivity is among the Santa Fe International Film Festival’s selling points, with attendees able to see films before wide releases. The following films won’t be viewable elsewhere until six months after Santa Fe’s event, says Jacques Paisner, the festival’s artistic director and the former director of programming at Jean Cocteau Cinema. Note that some are being screened at multiple times and locations.
BROKER
In this narrative South Korean feature by director Hirokazu Koreeda (After the Storm), a mother leaves her infant in a baby box facility on a rainy night. Two strangers secretly take the child home, planning to find suitable parents to adopt him. The next day, the mother unexpectedly returns, then calls the authorities when she discovers that her baby is missing. It turns out that detectives have been investigating the two strangers for six months, waiting to catch them in the act of stealing and selling babies on the black market. 2:30 p.m. Oct. 21 and 5 p.m. Oct. 22, Center for Contemporary Arts, 129 minutes, $15
CALL JANE
In this American narrative feature starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver, 1960s homemaker Joy’s pregnancy leads to a life-threatening heart condition. She must navigate an all-male medical establishment unwilling to end her pregnancy and save her life, leading her to join forces with a visionary women’s activist. The film is the first and only directed by Phyllis Nagy since her 2005 TV film Mrs. Harris. 6:40 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, Jean Cocteau Cinema, 121 minutes, $15
CROWS ARE WHITE
After decades of living a secret life, a filmmaker travels to a strict Japanese monastery in search of guidance in this American film with Japanese dialogue, directed by Ahsen Nadeem (Bertha Benz: The First Driver). There’s one problem: The only monk who’s willing to help him prefers ice cream and heavy metal music to meditation. 2:20 p.m. Oct. 21, Jean Cocteau Cinema, 100 minutes, $15
ENYS MEN
No trailer available
A wildlife volunteer’s daily observations of a rare flower off the Cornish coast turn into a metaphysical journey that forces her to question what is real and what is nightmare in this English narrative feature directed by Mark Jenkin (Bait). The movie, in Cornish with English subtitles, is set in 1973 and shot on 16mm film. 12:15 p.m. Oct. 21, Jean Cocteau Cinema, and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Center for Contemporary Arts, 91 minutes, $15
POWERLANDS
A young Navajo filmmaker investigates the displacement of Indigenous people and devastation of the environment by chemical companies exploiting the land where she was born. She embarks upon a personal and political journey as she learns from Indigenous activists on three continents. The documentary feature is directed by Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso, who will attend the showing. 12:15 p.m. Oct. 23, Jean Cocteau Cinema, 76 minutes, $15
RAYMOND & RAY
Two half-brothers (Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor) are reunited at their terrible father’s funeral in this narrative feature directed by Rodrigo García. They experience anger, pain, and ... grave digging. 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, Center for Contemporary Arts, 100 minutes, $15
THE THIEF COLLECTOR
In 1985, Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre, one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, vanished after being cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. As shown in this documentary directed by Allison Otto, it was rediscovered more than three decades later in an unlikely place. Q&A with Otto follows the screening. 2:15 p.m. Oct. 22, John Cocteau Cinema, 96 minutes, $15
WILDCAT
No trailer available
A young British soldier struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return from the war in Afghanistan. He ends up in the Amazon rainforest where he meets an American scientist and together they raise an orphaned baby ocelot. This American documentary feature is directed by Melissa Lesh (Fairy Shrimp) and Trevor Beck Frost (Person of the Forest). 10 a.m. Oct. 22, and 7:15 p.m. Oct. 23, Center for Contemporary Arts, 105 minutes, $15
By Brian Sandford