42 Seconds of Happiness by Christina Kallas – USA – 95’
Screenings:
Sunday, November 6th at 5:30pm at TONIA MARKETAKI;
Monday, November 7th at 3pm at TONIA MARKETAKI
Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A.
Press Screening:
Sunday, November 6th at 11am at TONIA MARKETAKI
Press and awards:
Best Feature Film at WTxFF, Best Ensemble Cast at Harlem International Film Festival, Indie Spirit Award and Best Ensemble Cast at Princeton Independent Film Festival, Nominated for the Emerging Director Award at the Academy Award-Qualifying St. Louis International Film Festival (November 11 to 14, 2016)
‘Complex, compelling and defying expectation!’ (from Dallas Film Commission’s Award Announcement)
‘The Indie Spirit Award goes to a film that stands out for being extremely innovative. It should come as no surprise that that film, this year, is the impressive and engrossing 42 Seconds of Happiness. Christina Kallas is not afraid to experiment and push the envelope, and as a result, creates a fresh, intelligent movie experience that offers people something different and unique.’ (from Princeton Independent Film Festival’s Award Announcement)
‘Complex, compelling and defying expectation!’ (from Dallas Film Commission’s Award Announcement)
‘Complex, compelling and defying expectation!’ (from Dallas Film Commission’s Award Announcement)
‘A gem in the festival circuit!’ (Selig Polyscope)
‘What Kallas does with the split screens, with the hurricane and the looming catastrophe that has actually already happened, with the fast-paced, sometimes violent cuts, with camera movement that reminds my scholarly mind of dogme 95, the close-ups of a few seconds which reveal whole, long stories, ultimately leads to a film that is a purifying experience. It is loud, messy, complicated – but above all: human, beautiful and excruciatingly real.’ (Milos Ciric)
‘The only film I ever watched where the fondness and appreciation expanded and ripened long after I watched the film.’ (Daphne Taylor Street)
‘Eventually, the film leads us to a large table, and we, the audience, sit down at a dinner party with the film’s characters. I used that phrasing very intentionally. I didn’t feel like I was merely watching a dinner party scene in a movie. I felt like I was there, uncomfortable, wanting to leave, knowing that the level of obnoxiousness and pained tension was growing from bad to much worse, and I felt stuck at that table with them. And as uncomfortable as that scene was, it gets worse and more uncomfortable from there, and I felt stuck and trapped in those scenes, too. Trapped, in the room with these characters, watching everything play out.’ (Seligfilmnews)
‘One of the most successful elements is Kallas’ ability to craft complex characters and therefore complex relationships. 42 Seconds of Happiness is at times a master class in the satisfying moment, scene or scene sequence.’ (Paula Goldberg)
‘It’s the first ensemble film I’ve watched where I related to every couple’s (broken and together) awkward moments. Oh gawd, there was one point I almost reached through the screen and grabbed a glass of wine for myself!’ (Justina Walford)
‘Just watched the film for the second time last night. When I was at Cannes this May there was a Romanian film (SIERANEVADA) that a lot of the critics thought was the most amazing thing, and 42 Seconds of Happiness accomplishes exactly what that film did in less than half the time.’ (John Wildman)
‘It is clear that with 42 SECONDS OF HAPPINESS (her feature film debut as a director), Kallas’ desire is to push the boundaries of what cinema can be capable of. Her maverick style of filmmaking is the kind of filmmaking that adhered me to the great directors of independent cinema, such as John Cassavettes, John Sayles, Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson. 42 SECONDS OF HAPPINESS is alive and free to surprise us in different cinematic ways.’ (Thomas Stephen Quang)
‘Raw at its core. At first, the film’s technique sent my senses reeling as I am typically a single focus person but as the film increased in intensity, I found it not only acceptable but necessary to explain the ins and outs of these characters all of whom seem to have zero filter and thus tend to go straight to the damage and leave out the pressure or current that created the storm. I give this film a Category 4 rating with a small note that it is definitely not for the young or easily offended. If you, as an adult, don’t walk around with blinders on and oblivious to real life, you will note the raw truth portrayed in this film.’ (Brandon Edwards, The Planet)
Christina Kallas
Awarded filmmaker, book author and professor for film. 42 Seconds of Happiness (2016), an intense and remarkable indie film currently in the festival circuit is her debut feature as a director. It won Best Feature Film at WTxFF, Best Ensemble Cast at Harlem Int’l Film Festival, Indie Spirit Award and Best Ensemble Cast at Princeton Independent Film Festival. Kallas is nominated for the Emerging Director Award at the St. Louis Int’l Film Festival 2016. She is currently editing her sophomore feature as a director, The Rainbow Experiment. Prior to relocating to NYC, she has worked for over 15 years as a screenwriter and producer. Screen credits include the feature films Mothers (2010), Best Foreign Language Film entry at the 83rd Academy Awards; The Commissioner (1998), starring John Hurt, in Official Competition at the Berlin Int’l Film Festival; I.D., a PolyGram film production (1994); as well as several Best TV-awarded series.
From 2005 to 2013 Kallas was President of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE.) She was honored for her outstanding contribution to the international writers’ community including the European Screenwriters Manifesto and the World Conference of Screenwriters. She is teaching at Columbia University’s and Barnard College’s Film Programs since 2011, and is the author of six books in her three writing languages, including Creative Screenwriting: Understanding Emotional Structure and Inside the Writers’ Room (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2010 & 2014).
