Evento

International Sign for Choking

Sep 28

(Zach Weintraub, 2012, Blu-ray, 80 min, Olympia, WA)

Local Sightings Film Festival

Friday, Sep 28 at 07:00PM
Returning to Local Sightings after his award-winning debut Bummer Summer, Zach Weintraub's International Sign for Choking allows the viewer room to breathe and reflect as the sumptuous imagery and mood wash over you. Set in Buenos Aires and inspired by his own expat life experiences in Argentina, Choking follows a young American (played by Weintraub himself) who shacks up in a guesthouse and ambles his way through the urban landscape in search of an ex-flame, evading work constraints, befriending local skater-musicians and half-pursuing a courtship with the girl next door (played by American indie darling Sophia Takal). With its Cubist-influenced framings, Weintraub's mise-en-scene captures a modern foreigner's sense of alienation. Cinematographer Nandan Rao, whose The Men of Dodge City also makes its world premiere at Local Sightings, frames the film in tight, sun-drenched natural light. Quiet and contemplative, its no wonder Variety critic Robert Koehler dubbed the project "something of a hipster Ozu film."

International Sign for Choking opens this year's Local Sightings Film Festival - see the festival website for full program details.