Something in the Dirt / Animalia
Sun 8/18/2024 • 7PM PDT
Billy Wilder Theater
Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.
Something in the Dirt
U.S., 2022
When two Los Angeles denizens come across a supernatural phenomenon in their apartment building, they naturally decide to exploit it for fame and fortune by making a documentary. It’s H.P. Lovecraft in the era of content. Directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson deliver on the fear and wonder of the former and a sharp, if understated, critique of the latter as the would-be documentaries uncover a secret history of the city as the force exudes its own sinister influence over them.
DCP, color, 116 min. Directors: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead. Screenwriter: Justin Benson. With: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead.
Animalia
France/Morocco, 2023
The undercurrents of tension after a young Moroccan woman from a modest background marries into a wealthy family burst into view when the country is thrown into chaos by a supernatural event. Pregnant and separated from her husband in the confusion, Itto (Oumaïma Barid) must navigate the crisis on her own, a challenge that triggers her own internal crisis of faith and identity. Writer-director Sofia Alaoui keeps the nature of the phenomenon vague but the norms it disrupts in sharp focus in film that blends haunting visual effects with a grounded portrait of a society in flux.
DCP, color, in French, Arabic and Berber with English subtitles. 91 min. Director: Sofia Alaoui. Screenwriter: Sofia Alaoui. With: Oumaïma Barid, Mehdi Dehbi, Fouad Oughaou.