Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mozhan Marnò in The Stoning of Soraya M. (top); Martin Strel in Big River Man (bottom)
Los Angeles Film Festival 2009 – Saturday, June 20, highlights:
- Starring Academy Award-nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jim Caviezel, and Mozhan Marnò, Cyrus Nowrasteh's The Stoning of Soraya M. (Mann Festival Theater, 3:30 pm) revolves around the true story of a woman who suffers a nasty fate following an arranged marriage. Nowrasteh and Aghdashloo will be among those present for a post-screening discussion about women's rights in Islamic countries and other related issues.
- In Gabriel Mascaro's Um Lugar ao Sol / High-Rise (Landmark 4, 9:45 pm), Rio de Janeiro's wealthy denizens discuss what's like to live in luxury in a country like Brazil, which has one of the worst income gaps in the world.
- Nicolas Winding Refn's Bronson (Mann Festival Theater, 10 pm) tells the story of Michael Gordon Peterson aka Charlie Bronson (Tom Hardy), known as "Britain’s most violent prisoner."
- John Maringouin's curious Big River Man (Majestic Crest, 10 pm), follows endurance swimmer Martin Strel, a now middle-aged, hard-drinking Slovenian who attempts to swim the incredibly wide Amazon River. The festival's release describes it as "a mash up of a Werner Herzog epic and a Saturday Night Live skit."