The 8th Annual KEY WEST FILM FESTIVAL has announced its official 2019 lineup, including more than 115 films and V/R pieces shown throughout the 5-day festival, which runs November 20-24. Nearly half of the feature films at the festival will be Florida festival premieres. 

Special events this year include previously announced appearances by Florida native Kimberly Peirce and legendary actor Tom Skerritt, who will be honored with the prestigious Golden Key Awards on the 20th Anniversary of Boys Don’t Cry and the 40th Anniversary of Alien, respectively. The fourth annual Golden Key for Costume Design will also take place, this time honoring Arianne Phillips (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

New to the program this year is the “Kibbitz with Critics” series, in which the curating critics share two of their favorite films from the last year over brunch. Film critics in attendance will participate in the 5th Annual Critics Panel, moderated by Eric Kohn, and collaborate to decide the winner of KWFF’s fourth annual Critics Prize.

CRITICS FOCUS – OPENING NIGHT

THE IRISHMAN, dir. Martin Scorsese

CRITICS FOCUS – CLOSING NIGHT

WAVES, dir. Trey Edward Shults

CENTERPIECE SCREENING

JUST MERCY, dir. Destin Daniel Cretton

MARRIAGE STORY, dir. Noah Baumbach

GOLDEN KEY AWARD WINNERS

Kimberly Peirce

Tom Skerritt

4th ANNUAL GOLDEN KEY FOR COSTUME DESIGN

Arianne Phillips

SPOTLIGHT

AFTER PARKLAND, dir. Emily Taguchi and Jake Lefferman

AMERICAN SPECTRUM

DRIVEWAYS, dir. Andrew Ahn

SAINT FRANCES, dir. Alex Thompson

TROOP ZERO, dir. Bert & Bertie

DOCUMENTARIES

A WOMAN’S WORK: THE NFL’S CHEERLEADER PROBLEM, dir. Yu Gu

BULLY. COWARD. VICTIM. THE STORY OF ROY COHN, dir. Ivy Meeropol

MIDNIGHT TRAVELER, dir. Hassan Fazili

PAHOKEE, dir. Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan

RAISE HELL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS, dir. Janice Engel

THE INFILTRATORS, dir. Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra

WELL GROOMED, dir. Rebecca Stern

LGBTQ FILMS

AND THEN WE DANCED, dir. Levan Akin

CIRCUS OF BOOKS, dir. Rachel Mason

CUNNINGHAM, dir. Alla Kovgan

END OF THE CENTURY, dir. Lucio Castro

MAPPLETHORPE (DIRECTOR’S CUT), dir. Ondi Timoner

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, dir. Céline Sciamma

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

ATLANTICS, dir. Mati Diop

BACURAU, dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles

OUR TIME MACHINE, dir. Yang Sun and S. Leo Chiang

SYNONYMS, dir. Nadav Lapid

THE WHISTLERS, dir. Corneliu Porumboiu

KIBBITZ WITH CRITICS

AMERICAN FACTORY, dir. Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar

THE FAREWELL, dir. Lulu Wang

FLORIDA FOCUS

A NAME WITHOUT A PLACE, dir. Kenny Riches

ERROL FLYNN’S GHOST: HOLLYWOOD IN HAVANA, dir. Gaspar González

ICE PALACE, A LOVE LETTER, dir. Mark C. Burns

SHORTS PROGRAMS 

World Comedy I

World Comedy II

World Student Docs/Drama

Animation + FL Student Docs/Drama

FL Docs

World Drama/Thriller

FL Psych/Thriller

Florida and World Student Comedy

FL Student Comedy

Environmental Docs & Animation

Havana Shorts

Virtual Reality

 

For more information, visit the official KWFF website.

About the Author

Norman Gidney is a nearly lifelong horror fan. Beginning his love for the scare at the age of 5 by watching John Carpenter's Halloween, he set out on a quest to share his passion for all things spooky with the rest of the world.