Tickets now on sale for Members. Public sale: noon, Wednesday, April 26
Presented by Bread Garden Market, Little Village and FilmScene
DIALOGUE: Director Drew Xanthopoulos in person.
Sunday, May 28, 7pm
Following a World Premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in April, Iowa City gets the next look at director Xantholpoulos's cinematic portrait of three families driven into isolation from the modern world by severe chemical and electrical sensitivities. The eleventh selection of our Vino Vérité series.
The Vino Vérité series features talented new voices and established filmmakers influenced by the vérité tradition in person to present their thought-provoking, chance-taking, and visually-arresting films. Each selection is paired with hand-selected wines from Bread Garden Market.
Tickets: $25 public / $20 for members. Includes wine tasting, film, hors d'oeuvres and filmmaker reception.
6:30 Hors d'oeuvres & wine tasting
7:00 Theater open for seating
7:15 Screening
9:00 Reception with filmmaker, wine and dessert
THE SENSITIVES
"A superbly crafted and poignant account of individuals with debilitating chemical and electrical sensitivities struggling with their isolation." —IndieWire
In director Drew Xanthopoulos's intimate and cinematic documentary, we enter a world apart from our own. It's inhabitants find refuge in isolation from the chemical and electrical impacts of our modern world. Twin brothers Sam and Nathan can barely breathe outside the sterile bubble in the dessert they share with their mother, Karen, who says she passed the sensitivities on to her sons. Joe, a father and grandfather, spends much of his time in a foil-lined room, though he escapes for therapeutic walks in the wilderness. Susie also lives in isolation, but bravely ventures into the modern world to serve as an advocate for sensitives like herself. For all of these individuals, the cause of their ailments—whether from ambient chemicals, genetics, electricity, or even psychogenic reasons—is never clear, but the reality of the effects is undeniably apparent. With his own sensitive approach in telling their stories, Xanthopoulus crafts an enigmatic portrait that does not obsess on answers but nevertheless reflects a bewildering truth.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Drew Xanthopoulos is the director and cinematographer of the forthcoming documentary, The Sensitives (World Premiere, Tribeca 2017). His award-winning documentary short, Western Brothers’ Adventure Story, has screened internationally and is used by youth education programs such as The Young Storytellers Foundation in Los Angeles and the Vimeo Video School. He additionally directs commercials, brand videos, and music videos.
Drew regularly freelances as a narrative, documentary, and commercial cinematographer whose projects have premiered at Berlinale, Sundance, SXSW, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and AFI Docs, among others. He’s most recently been the director of photography for Travis Mathews’ narrative feature Discreet (Berlinale, 2017), Kyle Henry’s forthcoming Rogers Park (2017) and has contributed footage for Terrence Malick’s Voyage of Time.
Tribeca Film Festival (2017) — World Premiere
"The movie promises an intimate look at a widely misunderstood situation — people forced to limit their relationship to the outside world — and a fascinating exploration of what it takes to confront the ailment head-on." —Yahoo Movies
"The Sensitives is more poignant than many docs about victims, as the oppressor is here-to-stay modern technology, a boon to most that undercuts quality of life for an unfortunate few." —Village Voice
"When we spoke to the Tribeca Film Festival programmers just after the lineup was announced, they described Drew Xanthopoulos' film as one of the most cinematic documentaries they'd ever seen. That's partly owing to the fact that Xanthopoulos is an accomplished cinematographer in his own right. Here, he one-man-bands a complex story, following multiple families that struggle with severe chemical and electrical sensitivities. If that sounds nebulous, that's because it is. These conditions are largely undiagnosed and misunderstood, but their effects are undeniable." —No Film School
