The 49th Annual Nashville Film Festival Announces The 2018 Animated Feature Competition, Special Presentations

The 49th Annual NASHVILLE Film Festival continues its expansion of film screenings with an international roster of twenty-eight Special Presentations, Animated Feature, Spectrum and Spectrum Q films including the world premiere of BENCHED, produced by Robert Deaton and George Flanigen, ON CHESIL BEACH, starring Saoirse Ronan, fresh off her award winning role in Lady Bird, HOT SUMMER NIGHTS, starring Timothée Chalamet, whose role in Call Me By Your Name was critically acclaimed, BRAMPTON'S OWN, starring Rose McIver, Spencer Grammer and Jean Smart, as well as the 50th anniversary screening of ROSEMARY'S BABY, starring Mia Farrow, and a special screening of JURASSIC PARK, starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, BD Wong and Samuel L. Jackson. Other leading talent include Daveed Diggs, Alexander McQueen, John C. McGinley and many more.

Below are the 2018 selections in the categories:

Special Presentations

Benched (World Premiere) - Based on the hit play "Rounding Third", BENCHED is the tumultuous journey of two Little League coaches through an entire season, from their first tentative meeting to the climactic championship game. Cast: Garret Dillahunt, John C. McGinley, Directors: Robert Deaton, George Flanigen, Producers: Lindsey Clark, Brandon Gregory, Fred Roos (USA)

Blindspotting (Tennessee Premiere) - Lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about the intersection of race and class, set against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. Cast: Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Director: Carlos López Estrada, Producers: Keith Calder, Jess Calder, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs (USA)

Brampton's Own (World Premiere) - A struggling minor league baseball player retires and woefully returns to his small hometown, carefully dodging old wounds until confronted with THE ONE that hurts the most - the girl that got away. Cast: Rose McIver, Spencer Grammer, Jean Smart, Scott Porter, Alex Russell, Riley Voelkel, Director: Michael Doneger, Producers: Mark DiCristofaro, Michael Doneger (USA)

Breath (Tennessee Premiere) - Based on Tim Winton's novel and directed by Simon Baker, BREATH is the story of two teenage boys in 1970's Western Australia who befriend an enigmatic surfer. Cast: Elizabeth Debicki, Simon Baker, Samson Coulter, Brock Fitzgerald, Richard Roxburgh, Rachael Blake. Director: Simon Baker, Producer: Simon Baker, Jamie Hilton, Mark Johnson (USA)

Daphne & Velma (Tennessee Premiere) - DAPHNE AND VELMA tells the story of Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley from the Scooby Doo franchise. The mystery-solving teens are best friends but have only met online - until Daphne transfers to Velma's school, Ridge Valley High, stocked with high-tech gadgetry by the school's benefactor, tech billionaire Tobias Bloom. Cast: Sarah Jeffery, Sarah Gilman, Vanessa Marano, Courtney Dietz, Stephen Ruffin, Director: Suzi Yoonessi. Producer: Jaime Burke, Amy S. Kim, Ashley Tisdale, Jennifer Tisdale (USA)

Eighth Grade (Tennessee Premiere) - Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school-the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year-before she begins high school. Cast: Emily Robinson, Josh Hamilton, Elsie Fisher, Missy Yager, Deborah Unger, Director: Bo Burnham, Producers: Eli Bush, Scott Rudin, Christopher Storer, Lila Yacoub (USA)

First Reformed (Tennessee Premiere) - A pastor of a small church in upstate New York starts to spiral out of control after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles, Michael Gaston, Philip Ettinger, Director: Paul Schrader. Producers: Jack Binder, Greg Clark, Gary Hamilton, Victoria Hill (USA)

Harold and Maude - In conjunction with the documentary HAL, we celebrate this cult classic in which a young, rich, and death-obsessed Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral. Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, Director: Hal Ashby, Producers: Colin Higgins, Charles Mulvehill (USA)

Hot Summer Nights (Tennessee Premiere) - A lonely teenage boy is taken under the wing of the town rebel, falls in love with the prettiest girl in town, and gets entangled in a drug ring, all as the deadliest hurricane in New England history barrels towards the coast. Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Maika Monroe, Thomas Jane, William Fichtner, Maia Mitchell, Director: Elijah Bynum. Producers: Dan Friedkin, Ryan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas (USA)

Jurassic Park - In director Steven Spielberg's three-time Academy Award®-winning blockbuster JURASSIC PARK paleontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler and mathematician Ian Malcolm are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, BD Wong, Samuel L. Jackson, Director: Steven Spielberg. Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen (USA)

Leave No Trace (Tennessee Premiere) - A man and his 13-year-old daughter are living in a park when a small mistake tips them off to authorities and changes their lives forever. Cast: Ben Foster, Thomasin McKenzie, Dale Dickey, Dana Millican, Jeff Korber, Director: Debra Granik. Producers: Anne Harrison, Linda Reisman, Anne Rosellini (USA)

Mississippi Requiem (World Premiere) - A collection of four short films based on stories written by William Faulkner. Cast: James Franco, Topher Grace, Alicia Witt, Amy Smart, Beth Grant, Marianna Palka, Xosha Roquemore, Directors: Arkesh Ajay, Kelly Pike, Jerell Rosales, Marta Savina. Producers: Ariane Ackerberg, Cecilia Albertini, Juanita Cepero, Aaron Edmonds (USA)

Never Goin' Back (Tennessee Premiere) - Jessie and Angela, high school dropouts, are taking a week off to chill at the beach. Too bad their house got robbed, rent's due, they're about to get fired, and they're broke. Cast: Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone, Kyle Mooney, Aristotle Abraham II, Joel Allen. Director: Augustine Frizzell. Producers: Liz Cardenas, Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, David Lowery.

On Chesil Beach (Tennessee Premiere) - In the summer of 1962, a young couple of drastically different backgrounds experience an awkward and fateful wedding night. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emily Watson, Samuel West, Anne-Marie Duff, Billy Howe, Bebe Cave, Director: Dominic Cooke, Producers: Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley (United Kingdom).

Rosemary's Baby 50th Anniversary - A young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Director: Roman Polanski. Producer: William Castle (USA)

Animated Feature Competition

The Big Bad FOX and Other Tales (Tennessee Premiere) - Whoever thinks that the countryside is calm and peaceful is mistaken. Cast: Kamel Abdessadok, Jules Bienvenu, Guillaum Bouchéde, Directors: Benjamin Renner, Patrick Imbert, Producers: Damien Brunner, Didier Brunner, Vincent Tavier (France)

Cocolors (Southeast US Premiere) - There is a world in which ash fills the sky and the earth. Humanity, fearing the ash, had no choice but to cover themselves in protective suits and gigantic masks and live deep within the underground. Cast: Yuuki Takada, Sawako Hata, Mutsuki Iwanaka, Masaki Terasoma, Yoshiko Kamei, Yayoi Nakazawa, Director: Toshihisa Yokoshima, Producers: Jumpei Mizusaki, Ittatsu Shimizu (Japan)

Virus Tropical (Tennessee Premiere) - Paola is born in a traditional Colombian family, or at least that is what they try to be. Cast: María Cecilia Sánchez, Alejandra Borrero, Diego Le?n Hoyos, Director: Santiago Caicedo, Producers: Carolina Barrera Quevedo, Santiago Caicedo (Colombia)

Spectrum

Dark River (Tennessee Premiere) - Following the death of her father, Alice returns to her home village for the first time in 15 years, to claim the tenancy to THE FAMILY farm she believes is rightfully hers. Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean, Emse Creed-Miles, Aiden McCullough, Shane Attwooll, Director: Clio Barnard, Producer: Tracy O'Riordan (United Kingdom)

Into the Okavango (Tennessee Premiere) - Botswana's Okavango Delta is one of the planet's last remaining true wildernesses, but studies have shown it is shrinking. A group of intrepid scientists embark on a four-month, 1500-mile journey upriver to the Okavango's source to investigate why. Director: Neil Gelinas. Producer: Neil Gelinas (Angola, Botswana, USA)

Lost In America (Tennessee Premiere) - LOST IN AMERICA follows director Rotimi Rainwater, a former homeless youth, as he travels the country to shine a light on the epidemic of youth homelessness in America. Cast: Rosario Dawson, Jewel, Halle Berry, Jon Bon Jovi, Senator Patrick Leahy. Director: Rotimi Rainwater, Producers: Brent C. Johnson, Mike C. Manning, Steve Vasquez Jr., Randy Sinquefield (USA)

McQueen (Tennessee Premiere) - Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence. Cast: Alexander McQueen, Director: Ian Bonhôte. Producers: Andee Ryder, Nick Taussig, Paul Van Carter (United Kingdom).

Nico, 1988 (Tennessee Premiere) - The last year of singer Nico's life, as she tours and grapples with addiction and personal demons. Cast: Trine Dyrholm, John Gordon Sinclair, Anamarie Marinca, Sandor Funtek, Director: Susanna Nicchiarelli, Producers: Valérie Bournonville, Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Joseph Rouschop (Belgium, Italy)

Ryiuchi Sakamoto: Coda (Tennessee Premiere) - RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA is an intimate portrait of the Oscar-winning film composer as both artist and man. Cast: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Director: Stephen Schible, Producers: Eric Nyari, Stephen Schible (Japan, USA)

Under the Tree (Tennessee Premiere) - When Baldwin and Inga's next door neighbours complain that a tree in their backyard casts a shadow over their sundeck, what starts off as a typical spat between neighbours in the suburbs unexpectedly and violently spirals out of control. Cast: Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson| Edda Björgvinsdóttir, Sigurður Sigurjónsson,Þorsteinn Bachmann. Director: Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Producers: Grímar Jónsson, Sindri Páll Kjartansson, Thor Sigurjonsson (Iceland)

Spectrum Q

The Gospel of Eureka (Tennessee Premiere) - Love, faith and civil rights collide in a southern town as evangelical Christians and drag queens step into the spotlight to dismantle stereotypes. Cast: Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Directors: Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri. Producer: Charlotte Cook (USA)

Porcupine Lake (Tennessee Premiere) - A story of bravery and the secret world of girls during a fateful summer when adulthood has not yet arrived, but childhood is quickly vanishing. Cast: Charlotte Salisbury, Lucinda Armstrong Hall, Christopher Bolton, Delphine Roussel, Hallie Switzer, Director: Ingrid Veninger. Producers: Ingrid Veninger, Melissa Leo, Randi Kirshenbaum (Canada)

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (Tennessee Premiere) - A deliciously scandalous portrait of UNSUNG HOLLYWOOD legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars. Cast: Scotty Bowers, Peter Bart, Robert Hofler, William Mann, Director: Matt Tyrnauer. Producer: Josh Braun, Corey Reeser (USA)

To a More Perfect Union (Tennessee Premiere) - The award-winning documentary that tells the story of civil rights icon Edie Windsor and her landmark case that changed history. Cast: Edie Windsor, Roberta Kaplan, Rosie O'Donnell, Jeff Toobin, Nina Totenberg, Evan Wolfson, Lillian Faderman, Director: Donna Zaccaro. Producers: Paula Heredia, Donna Zaccaro (USA)

The NASHVILLE Film Festival offers individual screening tickets, membership prices as low as $45 and more. To learn more, and to see the most updated agenda, visit https://nashvillefilmfestival.org.

ABOUT NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL

In May 2018, the NASHVILLE Film Festival will celebrate its 49th annual event with 10 days of can't miss film premieres, red carpet events and informational panels featuring industry leaders. The Festival, which was voted one of "50 Film Festivals worth the entry fee" by MovieMaker Magazine, highlighted as One of the Best Film Festival Prizes by Film Festival Today and named by Brooks Institute as one of the top 5 film festivals in the U.S., presents the best in World Cinema, American indies, documentaries, and numerous short form programs by veteran masters, up-and-coming directors, and first-time filmmakers. With Oscar Award qualifying status and numerous well-attended shorts programs, the NASHVILLE Film Festival has screened many prize-winning narrative and animated shorts including 13 Assassins, (500) Days of Summer, Cyrus and Academy Award nominees, I Am Love, Ajami, and Dogtooth. Celebrity honorees and participants have included Oprah Winfrey, Susan Sarandon, William Shatner, William H. Macy, Al Gore, Nicole Kidman, Danny Glover, Vincent D'Onofrio and many more. Additional information on the festival and its 2018 schedule can be found at nashvillefilmfestival.org.