UNCLE FRANK World Cinema

Following the film, AFI Director of Programming Sarah Harris leads a conversation between filmmaker Alan Ball and actors Paul Bettany, Peter Macdissi and Sophia Lillis.

Beth has always been keen on her uncle Frank. On the rare occasions whenever he would visit them in rural South Carolina from New York City, she would revel in how he was clever, worldly and different in a good way. When she goes off to college at NYU in the early ’70s, she learns more about his world, including his longtime partner Walid. When a death in the family strikes, Beth and her uncle set out on a road trip to their hometown to confront their family and their pasts.

Director and writer Alan Ball (SIX FEET UNDER, TRUE BLOOD) has spent much of his career contemplating death, and in UNCLE FRANK he tells another story where we face mortality the only way we know how: with life as a mirror. –Eric Moore