Madeline's Madeline

press release: The What is Family? Film Festival will feature 10 films centered around defining family in a modern context. While family in the past was often a rigid term meant for biological relations and what is known as the nuclear family, the films curated in this festival reflect a more fluid definition of family. The stories of these films represent a diverse range of family types from biological to communal, and from extended family to the feeling of family that comes from a best friend. This festival includes films ranging from documentaries and dramas to comedies and thrillers. We hope you will join us in celebrating all the forms of family that are vital to the human experience.

Madeline's Madeline (2018)

USA | 94 min | NR | DCP | Dir. Josephine Decker

Fri November 2 | 11:00 PM

Madeline (newcomer Helena Howard) has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop's ambitious director (Molly Parker) pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother (Miranda July) into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and through all three women’s lives.

"The film is anchored at every turn by newcomer Helena Howard's big, brash and brilliant lead performance." - Andrew Lapin (NPR)