20th Century Women, the new film from Beginners writer/director Mike Mills, will have its world premiere as the centerpiece screening of the 54th New York film festival, it was announced Tuesday. The is the second addition to the event’s lineup, following the reveal of the opening night selection, The 13th, Ava DuVernay’s documentary on race and prison.

Annette Bening heads the 1970s-set film as a single mother raising her teenage son (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann) in a sprawling bohemian house in Santa Barbara, shared by a carpenter (Billy Crudup) and a punk artist (Greta Gerwig). Elle Fanning rounds out the cast as her son’s rebellious friend. The festival pegs 20th Century Women as a “texturally and behaviorally rich new comedy”.

The festival’s director, Kent Jones, said he was “taken aback by 20th Century Women”, in a statement. “It’s made with an extraordinarily unusual level of craft and attention to detail, human and visual, which is now all but extinct,” he said.

Beginners, Mills’ last film, netted a supporting actor Oscar for Christopher Plummer in 2010.

20th Century Women will be released by A24 in December in the US.

The festival runs from 30 September to 16 October. [Source]

The highly anticipated drama “About Ray” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this weekend. The film follows Ray (Elle Fanning) who decides to transition from female to male, while his mother Maggie (Naomi Watts) tries to understand her son’s decision, as well as hunt down his father Craig (Tate Donovan) for legal parental consent.

On Saturday, Fanning and Watts discussed the film with People, sharing some insight into how Fanning prepared for the role. “I had a lot of transgender friends that go to my school, who made the transition over the summer, and they changed their names and used different pronouns…so I was used to that.”

“Reading this story and how current it seems, and it’s not just about a transgender teen. It’s also about a family and how everyone’s dealing with it,” continued Fanning. “I just love Ray and I love his story and really wanted to tell it because he deserves it.”

Watts explained how she spoke with various mothers of transgender kids: “Some of the lines from the film are actually taken from their stories,” which helps add even more authenticity to the film. “When you hear something that says so much and it just connects with truth, it’s so valuable,” she said.

We couldn’t agree more.

“About Ray” opens in theaters Sept. 18. [Source]

Elle’s new movie Low Down will screen at the Sundance Film Festival. I added the first batch of stills featuring Elle Fanning to the gallery.

Elle Fanning will go jazz in “Low Down” alongside John Hawkes, Glenn Close, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage and Flea (what a cast, nice work Jeff Preiss). Official synopsis: This adaptation of Albany’s memoir explores her journey to adulthood while being raised by her troubled father, bebop pianist Joe Albany.

Gallery Link:
— Low Down (2014) > Movie Stills

The new film “Ginger and Rosa” by English filmmaker Sally Potter screened Friday night at the Telluride Film Festival high in the mountains of Colorado. A tale drawn in no small part from Potter’s own life, the movie follows two young girls through a coming-of-age story set against the early ’60s backdrop of nuclear disarmament protests and the Cuban missile crisis. With stirring performances by relative veteran Elle Fanning and newcomer Alice Englert, the film is on the fall festival circuit in search of U.S. distribution.

Their mothers met in the hospital during childbirth, and Ginger (Fanning) and Rosa (Englert) have grown up together. Now teenagers on the cusp of maturity, the two become part of the emerging anti-nuclear protest movement. The relationship between Ginger’s parents (Christina Hendricks and Allesandro Nivola) is strained, with her father’s staunch activism at odds with the demands of home life even as a trio of family friends (Annette Bening, Oliver Platt and Timothy Spall) encourage Rosa’s own interest in the protest movement. When Ginger’s father begins an affair with Rosa, all their worlds crumble. Continue reading  »