The 11th Annual Key West Film Festival announced its official 2022 lineup of more than 75 films including major fall films from Rian Johnson, Sarah Polley, Noah Baumbach, Ethan Coen, Hirokazu Kore-ada, Luka Dhont, Ondi Timoner and Billy Corben. The 5-day festival runs November 16th-20th, 2022.
To open the festival, Daniel Craig returns in GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MURDER MYSTERY, from the surprise 2019 hit Knives Out, reprising his role as detective Benoit Blanc, heading off to Greece with a new case to crack and a fresh ensemble of suspects to rattle (Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson).
In the closing night feature WOMEN TALKING, Sarah Polley directs one of the greatest ensembles of women ever assembled. Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley star as women in an isolated religious colony struggling to reconcile with their faith after a series of sexual assaults.
Other spotlight films include WHITE NOISE, the latest film from Noah Baumbach, whose last film Marriage Story played at KWFF 2019. The film, which opened the New York Film Festival, stars Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle and Adam Driver as a middle-aged academic Jack whose already askew suburban family life is disrupted by a mysterious “airborne toxic event.”
The star-studded spotlight films will be joined by the 20th Anniversary screening of the seminal Florida film ADAPTATION, which will feature screen legend Chris Cooper being honored in person with the prestigious Golden Key Award. Rounding out the Spotlight titles is THE INSPECTION, for which director Elegance Bratton will be presented the Golden Key for Breakthrough Director as his film draws on his own perspective of homophobia in the armed forces to frame the experience of a newly enlisted Marine (Jeremy Pope) going through boot camp on Parris Island, S.C.
Erin Lee Carr will be honored with the Golden Key for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking. Ms. Carr will attend the festival and participate in a discussion of her body of work with Alissa Wilkinson of Vox.com. Erin Lee Carr is a two-time Emmy nominated producer, director, executive producer, and writer. Her work is known for exploring criminal justice, femininity, and virality. Most recently, she directed the two part docuseries for HBO Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall. In 2021, she directed Britney Vs Spears, which premiered on Netflix in September, 2021 and was the #1 most- watched film on the platform in 25 countries. Her break-out film was Mommy Dead And Dearest, which premiered at the SXSW and Hot Docs Film Festival in 2017. Currently, Erin is working with HBO on a forthcoming docuseries and documentary feature.
This year’s LGBTQ films, programmed with the assistance of Eugene Hernandez, the newly named Executive Director of the Sundance Film Festival, and Brian Brooks of Cinetic Media, include Belgium’s official entry to the Academy Awards, CLOSE directed by Lukas Dhont; ALL MAN: THE INTERNATIONAL MALE STORY, recounting the story of the famous Mens’ catalog “International Male”; the steamy Israeli swimming thriller THE SWIMMER; and FINDING HER BEAT, which follows a group of Asian women redefining gender roles after being locked out of the world of Taiko drumming. The film is produced by longtime Key West winter visitor, Keri Pickett.
Documentaries take center stage at the festival this year, with music, food, wildlife, space, family and even nudists staking their claim. LOVE, CHARLIE tracks the epic rise and fall of chef Charlie Trotter, and will be accompanied by a wine tasting prior to the film. Making its Florida premiere is Ethan Coen’s JERRY LEE LEWIS: TROUBLE IN MIND. Former Golden Conch winner Ondi Timoner (Mapplethorpe, 2018) and native Floridian returns with her acclaimed film LAST FLIGHT HOME. Another KWFF alumnus, Ryan White (Coded, 2022) presents his Mars rover documentary GOOD NIGHT OPPY. Swim with whales as the human elements of these glorious animals are revealed in PATRICK AND THE WHALE. And speaking of revealing, Patrick Beslin and Ivete Lucas (Pahokee, 2019) return to the festival with NAKED GARDENS, about the largest naturist colony in America in Jupiter, FL.
International films include Brazil’s official entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film, MARS ONE, and Academy Award nominee Hirokazu Kore-ada’s BROKER, which is also Japan’s official entry for the Oscars. Kore-ada’s last film, Shoplifters, also played at KWFF 2018, where it won the Golden Conch for Best Foreign Language film before going on to being nominated for an Oscar in the same category.
Florida gets its moment in the sun with the special Florida Focus section. Films include South Florida-based directors Margaret Cardillos’ STRANGERS TO PEACE, Robert Requejo Ramos’s SOUTH BEACH SHARK CLUB – both alumni of KWFF – and Central Florida-based director Eric Bendick’s PATH OF THE PANTHER. Also showing will be a special outdoor, poolside screening of Billy Corben’s GOD FORBID, about the former pool boy who took down the Jerry Falwell, Jr, empire.
Special screenings this year include an 80 Anniversary screening of CASABLANCA, which will feature a free-to-the-public conversation about the art of screenwriting between Florida Keys Film Commissioner Chad Newman and Academy Award nominated writer-director and 2019 Golden Key Award winner, Kimberly Peirce.
Returning for the 7th year in a row is the annual Golden Key for Excellence in Costume Design presented to this year’s honoree, Jennifer Johnson, whose most recent work in Andrew Dominik’s BLONDE can be seen on Netflix.
The shorts programs and Florida feature films were curated from over 1000 submissions, with entries from nearly all 50 states and dozens of countries.
The 8th Annual Critics Panel also returns, in which top film critics will join in person to cover the seismic changes in the industry this year. Past critics have included Kenneth Turan, Jen Yamato and Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times, Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, Eric Kohn of Indiewire, Emily Yoshida of New York Magazine, David Fear of Rolling Stone, Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York