- "Bones & All" with Timothée Chalamet debuts in Iowa City a month ahead of its wide release.
- The movie is part of a new film festival.
- University of Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate David Kajganich wrote the screenplay.
An Iowa theater has booked an early screeningforan award-winning Timothée Chalametmoviemore than a month ahead of its Nov. 23wide release.
“I think we’re actually going an hour before (the New York screening)," said Ben Delgado, the programming director at FilmScene, the nonprofit cinema in Iowa City.
After taking homea Silver Lion award and a Marcello Mastroianni Awardat the Venice Film Festival, "Bones & All" is making its Midwestpremierein Iowa City at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6 at the Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St.
The film will be part of Iowa City's Refocus Film Festival, a new event from FilmScene, co-founded by filmmaker Andrew Sherburne ("Saving Brinton," "Hockeyland").
"To be one of the first stops in America coming off of the Venice Film Festival is huge.We’re able to help bring the world to Iowans," said Liz Gilman, the executive producer forProduce Iowa, the state's media production office. “(FilmScene) is starting to plant their flag… and it should be on the circuit for more filmmakers to come here.”
What is 'Bones & All'?
More:FilmScene's Refocus Film Festival announces dates after COVID-19 delays in 2020
The showcase of this year's Refocus Film Festival, "Bones & All" is a filmadaptation of theCamille DeAngelis novel of the same name.
The new movie is directed by Luca Guadagnino ("Suspiria,""Call Me By Your Name") with a screenplay from University of Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate David Kajganich, who's collaborated with Guadagninoon other projects like "A Bigger Splash."
The pitch forthe movie is one that Sherburne notes "is kind of an eyebrow raiser."The film is billed as part romance and part horror film, following a pair of lovers played by Taylor Russell and Chalamet, as they journey across the United States.
“Getting 'Bones & All,' in particular,is huge because one of the things we want this film festival to do is create a tighter bond between the state of Iowa — specifically Iowa City — and the film industry and recognize that role that we play and the connections that we have here," Sherburne said.
In 2021, FilmScene was also one of a few dozen theaters across the nation that was a satellite location for the remote Sundance Film Festival.
According to Sherburne both DeAngelis, the novelist, andKajganich, the screenwriter, will be attending the Oct. 6 screening of the film in Iowa City.
"It's wonderful that we can have people on both ends of (the adaptation) process to speak to it that night," said Sherburne.
“It’s nice to have this film be the one that opens the festival and also has the strongest tiesto Iowa City and the Writers'Workshop," Delgado said. "The synergy is good and hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the weekend and the festival going forward.”
What is the Refocus Film Festival?
The Refocus Film Festival is partially a revival of the festival with the same name held at the University of Iowa in the 1960s through thelate 1970s.
The festival brought out cinematographers, film editors, directors and more, according toa 1974 Press-Citizen article. The following year, the Press-Citizenreferred tothe film festival as the“second biggest crowd-getter”at the UI annual homecoming celebration.
As the new festival is held in Iowa City, a UNESCO City of Literature, the theme of the revamped programming is"adaptation."
How that theme is represented from movie to moviecan range from something like "Bones & All," a fairly straightforward film adaptation of a novel of the same name, to "The Afterlight,"which is a bit more abstract.
"It’s all footage from different eras of film and cinema across the world… It’s all people who are no longer alive, so the idea is that theyare all people who are gone but their work remains," Delgado explained. "There’s a lot of recontextualization that makes their original artwork… into a completely new piece, but it’s not an adaptation of any one thing."
How toget tickets to the Refocus Film Festival?
The festival is scheduled to have 26 pieces of programing, consisting of films and performances,from Oct. 6-9, including "Bones & All," which kicks everything off at a yet-to-be-determined time.
According to Sherburne, the best way to get tickets for the event is to purchase a festival pass, which starts at $65 for a five-film pass to $230 for a full festival pass. FilmScene members will have discounted passes.
Passholders will get early access to tickets for the featured films, with those who hold more expensive passes getting first pick on Monday, Sept. 19. Once pass holders have reserved tickets, the remainder will go on sale to the general public on Sept. 23.
Guests for the week are still being locked, but the festival is planned to have directors, writers and other guest speakers.
For Gilman, who is also the state of Iowa's film commissioner, her hope for Refocus is that it continues to attract storytellers to the Hawkeye state.
"Remember, 'Field of Dreams,' that was an adaptation of a book," she said. "We've seen the power of what that can do for the state. Who knew we'd end up with a big sporting empire here? But it all started with that adaptation of a story that happened in Iowa City."
Passes, tickets and more information pertaining to the Refocus Film Festival can be found throughrefocusfilmfestival.org.
Press-Citizen reporter Paris Barazza contributed to this article.
Isaac Hamletcovers arts, entertainment and culture at the Des Moines Register. Reach him at ihamlet@gannett.comor 319-600-2124, follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet.
