Neo noir and more: Tallahassee Film Festival screens 50 movies Labor Day weekend

With some 50 films and more than two dozen filmmakers expected to attend, the Tallahassee Film Festival unspools Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3-4, with a kaleidoscopic array of independent features, short films, documentaries and foreign-language titles, highlighted by Sunday’s 4k digital restoration screening of David Lynch’s 1997 hallucinogenic neo-noir "Lost Highway" at the IMAX theater in downtown’s Challenger Learning Center.

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Other venues include Cap City Video Lounge and the Hyatt House Gathering Room, in the Railroad Square Art District; the Seminole Room of the Marriott Residence Inn & Suites; and The Bark, which hosts a Saturday night “Giallo Disco” party, with a DJ and video projections.

There also is a VIP/filmmakers brunch Sunday morning at Charlie Park’s rooftop lounge, overlooking Cascade Park.

VIP ($70) and All-Access passes ($40), and single-show tickets, are available online at tallahasseefilmfestival.com. All-Patrons can also buy tickets at the screenings.

Each year the festival highlights prize-winners and audience favorites from major festivals such as Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca, and offers a showcase for fresh discoveries of new, fiercely independent work. Here’s a quick peek at some highlights.

'The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See ‘Titanic’ '

The Finnish dramedy, a favorite at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, is a pandemic-era hero’s journey, as a blind cinephile confined to a wheelchair makes a risky solo trip to visit his online sweetheart for the first time. The film will be presented with a professional live transcription for the blind and visually impaired, courtesy of blindCan.org.  (Saturday, 11:30 a.m., Residence Inn & Suites, Seminole Room).

'TLH Shorts – Brew the Right Thing'

An assortment of short films made in Tallahassee about Tallahassee includes documentaries about the eviction crisis at the Meadows Mobile Home Park, the unionization of local Starbucks franchises, and the progressive social impact of coffee shops, including Midtown’s Ology Coffee, which also will host a coffee pop-up at the screening. Look for other shorts blocks devoted to comedy, drama, experimental and romance themes.  (Saturday, 1:15 p.m., Residence Inn & Suites, Seminole Room).

'Quantum Cowboys'

Experimental animation meets live action in this cosmic Western that plays out in a dozen different realities, with an all-star cast that includes David Arquette, Neko Case, and Lily Gladstone (who also stars in a second Tallahassee Film Festival feature, ‘The Unknown Country’). The soundtrack is by Howe Gelb, best known for his work in the band Giant Sand. (Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Cap City Video Lounge).

'Naked Gardens'

Florida-centric filmmakers Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan (“Pahokee”) turn their cameras once again to the Sunshine State in this observational documentary set at a family naturist resort. The non-cheesy perspective on the nudist experience finds there’s a lot more to the subculture than meets the eye. (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., Cap City Video Lounge).

'Riotsville, USA'

There’s a riot going on, and the U.S. government incited it. Filmmaker Sierra Pettengill’s documentary exclusively utilizes archival footage to expose the militarization of local police departments by the government in the late 1960s, staging uprisings with actors for training sessions in fake towns known as Riotsvilles, built on military bases. (Saturday, 5:15 p.m., Hyatt House, Gathering Room).

'Freedom’s Path'

Jacksonville actor R.J. Cyler (“Emergency”) and “Trainspotting’s” Ewen Bremner star in this Civil War drama about a Union deserter who is taken in by a community of freed slaves who run a portion of the Underground Railroad. (Saturday, 8 p.m., Residence Inn & Suites, Seminole Room).

'Secret Screening'

A new film from a rising-star cult filmmaker will be screened. No pass or ticket required! (Sunday, 4:15 p.m., Cap City Video Lounge).

'The Integrity of Joseph Chambers'

Writer-director Robert Machoian (2010 TFF alum) and actor Clayne Crawford (“The Killing of Two Lovers”) have a way with dark Americana and the perils of masculinity. They double down in this new drama,  in which a would-be Rambo marches off on a solo hunting expedition that Variety likened to a “one-man ‘Deliverance.’” (Sunday, 6 p.m., Cap City Video Lounge).

Follow @tallyfilmfest on Instagram and Twitter, or visit tallahasseefilmfestival.com, for more information and updates.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Film Festival rolls out 'Lost Highway' among 50 movies