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Saturday, 16th

DAYS OF HARVEST
(10:15 a.m.; also 10 p.m. April 19)

Stop us if you've heard this before: A naïve but horny teen (Marco d'Agostin) finds his hormones accelerated one hot summer by a worldly older student (Lavinia Longhi), when suddenly his reckless, head-turning prodigal brother shows back up. The payoff to Marco Righi's debut feature is only slightly more novel than its setup, but the handsomely shot movie's appeal is all in the details: the magic-hour light in the Emilia-Romagna wine country, the sexual tension that radiates like waves of heat, the backdrop of a household under the waning, warring influences of Communism and Catholicism. In Italian with (almost absurdly helpful) subtitles. —JIM RIDLEY

★THE SONS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
(noon; also 8:30 p.m. April 19)

Tim Wolff's overstuffed but very entertaining doc pays tribute to the pioneers who advanced gay rights a decade before Stonewall by assimilating into New Orleans' Mardi Gras social hierarchy. Actually, "assimilating" isn't the right word: By throwing the most lavish (and least stuffy) balls ever seen in that hearty-partying town, drag krewes had straight socialites begging to join in — while chipping away at the city's institutional homophobia in the wake of a notorious gay-bashing murder. The interviews are warm and candid; the vintage clips are beyond amazing; the footage of 70-year-old men trying on 10-foot suits is never not funny — and I guarantee you will not see a movie this year with better costumes. Wolff will attend. —JIM RIDLEY

★DOMAINE
(3 p.m.; also 5:30 p.m. April 19)

Strangely familiar and yet one-of-a-kind, Domaine is something of a throwback to the European art cinema of the 1970s, when racy new efforts by Bertolucci and Fassbinder rubbed shoulders with those more bizarre, ambisexual, black-turtleneck imports that filled out college screening programs before fading into obscurity. Imposing French superstar Béatrice Dalle commands the screen as a self-destructive mathematician whose slinky Eurotrash demeanor has made her a role model of sorts for her young gay nephew Pierre (Isaïe Sultan). Glowering stalkers, "Sprockets"-like dance clubs, and Dalle's haute couture fill out Patric Chiha's debut feature like an elegant theorem: No wonder it topped John Waters' 2010 Top 10 list in Artforum. In French with subtitles. —MICHAEL SICINSKI

★INUK
(3:15 p.m.; also 2:45 p.m. April 19)

Troubled teen Inuk — who as a child witnessed his father's death in collapsing ice — ends up in a children's home in the remote Arctic city Uummannaq, where he reluctantly accompanies dogsled seal hunter Ikuma on a multi-day hunt. Through Inuk, who discovers his own ice-reading ability, Ikuma regains his confidence as a hunter, worn down by alcoholism and the landscape-changing effects of global warming. This remarkable film was made in brutal conditions with a nonprofessional cast, including children from the "Children's Home Uummannaq" and actual Arctic hunters. Ole Jørgen Hammeken is especially entrancing as Ikuma; and I would predict for him a fruitful acting career if he didn't already have his hands full leading dogsled expeditions and counseling disadvantaged children at the Uummannaq facility. Filmmaker Mike Magidson will attend. In Greenlandic with subtitles. —TONY YOUNGBLOOD

★KINYARWANDA
(5:30 p.m.; also 3 p.m. April 19)

Taking its name from the official language of Rwanda, this Sundance award winner tells the intertwining stories of Rwandans during the 1994 genocide, including a Hutu/Tutsi husband/wife, their daughter, a minister, and a commander in the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Previous films on the subject have oversimplified the issues or told the story from an outsider's perspective; but this film — the first dramatic work conceived and produced by Rwandans — gives voice to all sides, including a former machete man haunted by his horrific crimes. We're also introduced to heroes overlooked in the media reports, such as the head mufti of Rwanda — the representative of the country's Muslims, who signed a fatwa condemning the atrocities and offered Tutsis refuge. This powerful, important work brings to light the hatred, confusion, racism, frenzy, heroism and love in a country's darkest hour. Director Alrick Brown will attend. —TONY YOUNGBLOOD

★THE INTERRUPTERS
(6 p.m.; also 1 p.m. April 17)

From director Steve James, whose 1994 film Hoop Dreams was one of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of the past two decades, comes this up-close look at "violence interrupters" from Chicago violence prevention organization CeaseFire. Accepting that bringing an end to gang activity is an unrealistic goal in the foreseeable future, they have one simple, though exceptionally difficult, goal: to stop people from killing each other. James follows three interrupters, all former gang members and ex-convicts, as they get tips on potential flare-ups and do their best to mediate before the shooting starts, and he also captures devastating scenes of the emotional carnage gang violence leaves in its wake. The storyline involving interrupter Ameena Matthews is particularly fascinating. A former gang enforcer whose father, notorious Chicago gang leader Jeff Fort, is serving a life sentence, Matthews is fearless and street-savvy, and her ability to break down the walls of even the toughest gang members is remarkable. The movie's 167-minute running time might be a tad longer than needed, but regardless, it's highly recommended. Produced by James and Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here. —JACK SILVERMAN

★BUCK
(7 p.m.; also 3 p.m. April 19)

Even audiences who think "bridle" has something to do with weddings will be engrossed by this Sundance prize-winner. John Wayne's got nothing on the hero of first-time director Cindy Meehl's moving documentary: Buck Brannaman, the real-life inspiration for The Horse Whisperer, a quiet man whose abusive childhood served as the impetus for working with troubled horses and their equally troubled owners. Equal parts cowboy wisdom and Zen and the Art of Horse Training, his training clinics are surprisingly compelling — especially when he's forced to deal with a violent colt that attacks one of his ranch hands. —LANCE CONZETT

BOB AND THE MONSTER
(7:45 p.m.; also 12:15 p.m. April 19)

Many rock fans don't know the name Bob Forrest, but it wasn't meant to be that way. As singer for L.A. freak-punk luminaries Thelonious Monster — contemporaries of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Circle Jerks, X and Fishbone (subjects of their own NaFF doc this year, Everyday Sunshine, screening 2:45 p.m. April 19) — Forrest carved out a name for himself as a volatile, poetic and captivating frontman destined for greatness ... and as a junkie. This ultimately touching documentary — through personal interviews, celebrity commentary, archival footage and a variety of animations — chronicles the rise and total fall to rock bottom that led Forrest to reanimate himself as an influential and respected substance-abuse counselor. His unconventional and empathetic approach to treatment — and outspoken opposition to many more conventional forms of it — have made him a controversial figure to some and a guru to others. Filmmaker Keirda Bahruth will attend. —ADAM GOLD

BLOOMINGTON
(8 p.m.; also 12:15 p.m. April 19)

It's the oldest story in the book: A former child star, known for her role on a cult-hit sci-fi TV program, decides to attend college in Bloomington, Ind., where she begins an affair with her femme-fatale psych professor. But refreshing as it is to see a lesbian relationship treated as the plot rather than a plot device, writer-director Fernanda Cardoso's execution never lives up to her oddball setup. Oh, and a note to the raincoat crowd: There isn't any nudity, so don't even go there. Cardoso will attend. —D. PATRICK RODGERS

★ROAD TO NOWHERE
(8 p.m.; also 12:30 p.m. April 17)

Remember when Godard made a movie called Nouvelle Vague? That's Monte Hellman making a movie called Road to Nowhere — a title that could represent most everything the director has ever made, from the enigmatic Jack Nicholson western The Shooting to his great self-destroying '70s racing movie Two-Lane Blacktop. We haven't had a chance to see this modern-day noir about a movie director lured by his leading lady (Shannyn Sossamon) into a web of deceit extending from the Smokies to Europe, but I can't imagine a cinephile alive who wouldn't want to see Hellman's first new feature in two decades on the big screen. Hellman and screenwriter/Variety executive editor Steven Gaydos — who played the Nixon-masked robber in Hellman's 1974 classic Cockfighter, now under restoration — will attend. —JIM RIDLEY

THE BIG UNEASY
(9 p.m.; also 12:30 p.m. April 19)

Directed by legendary actor, comedian, writer, voice-over extraordinaire, and self-proclaimed "part-time" New Orleanian Harry Shearer, this documentary is more parts Principal Skinner than Derek Smalls, as the renaissance man anatomizes — through two sets of independent experts, a whistleblower and John Goodman — the man-made disaster that occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The film breaks down the boondoggles, willful ignorance and implied cover-up that preceded and succeeded the flooding of New Orleans, essentially bringing a moral and ethical indictment down on the Army Corps of Engineers for their complicity in fostering infrastructural failings that could've easily saved lives. While this subject matter, and many of these claims, have been covered to great extent, Shearer does a pretty good job of making a case you, the jury, can understand. Celebrity narrators include Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Francis Ford Coppola and Trent Reznor, who wants to educate you like an animal. Shearer will attend. —ADAM GOLD

★BELLFLOWER
(10 p.m.)

Jackass meets Bottle Rocket in this very strange indie romance, about an amateur inventor/LA dirtball (played by writer-director-star Evan Glodell) who has a whirlwind romance with a woman he meets in a cricket-eating contest. Then comes the heartbreak. And the flamethrowers. And the apocalypse. If all this were played as a quirky cartoon, Bellflower would be rough going, but Glodell makes it more like a lost, grubby '70s exploitation flick, populated by characters imported from a more realistic slice-of-life movie. Bellflower doesn't have a strong raison d'être, but it's endearingly crackpot, with a plot that's like one long, drunken dare. Glodell will attend. —NOEL MURRAY

PIG
(10 p.m.; also 7:45 p.m. April 19)

Either you'll figure out the mystery early on in this self-serious B-movie making its world premiere, or the paint-dry pacing will leave you begging for something, anything to actually happen. A man (Mad Men/Buffy the Vampire Slayer vet Rudolf Martin) wakes up in the desert with no memory of his identity. He's nursed back to health by a mysterious single mom, and they go on a quest to find "Manny Elder," a name he found scribbled on a piece of paper in his pocket. Cookie-cut from the M. Night Shyamalan mold, the entire plot seems built around the inevitable "gotcha" twist. Unfortunately, the story plays too loose with the clues, and the only "gotcha" happens when the credits roll and you realize you've just wasted the last hour and a half. Writer-director Henry Barrial will attend. —TONY YOUNGBLOOD