Terry P.

VIMOOZ is for lovers of independent films + foreign film + documentary + film festivals. We love championing the little films.

National Board of Review Announces 2017 Award Winners – THE POST, LADY BIRD, JANE and More…

[caption id="attachment_24371" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Lady Bird[/caption] The National Board of Review today named THE POST as Best Film of the Year, Greta Gerwig as Best Director of the Year for LADY BIRD, FOXTROT for Best Foreign Language Film, and JANE for Best Documentary. NBR President Annie Schulhof said, “THE POST is a beautifully crafted film that deeply resonates at this moment in time. We are so thrilled to award it our best film as well as to honor the wonderfully talented Greta Gerwig as our Best Director.” The National Board of Review’s awards celebrate excellence in filmmaking with categories that include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Original and Adapted Screenplay, Breakthrough Performance, and Directorial Debut, as well as signature honors such as the Freedom of Expression and the NBR Spotlight Award. The honorees will be feted at the National Board of Review Awards Gala, hosted by Willie Geist, on Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at Cipriani 42nd Street. Below is a full list of the 2017 award recipients, announced by the National Board of Review: Best Film: THE POST Best Director: Greta Gerwig, LADY BIRD Best Actor: Tom Hanks, THE POST Best Actress: Meryl Streep, THE POST Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, THE FLORIDA PROJECT Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, LADY BIRD Best Original Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, PHANTOM THREAD Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, THE DISASTER ARTIST Best Animated Feature: COCO Breakthrough Performance: Timothée Chalamet, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Best Directorial Debut: Jordan Peele, GET OUT Best Foreign Language Film: FOXTROT Best Documentary: JANE Best Ensemble: GET OUT Spotlight Award: WONDER WOMAN, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot NBR Freedom of Expression Award: FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER NBR Freedom of Expression Award: LET IT FALL: LOS ANGELES 1982-1992
Top Films
BABY DRIVER CALL ME BY YOUR NAME THE DISASTER ARTIST DOWNSIZING DUNKIRK THE FLORIDA PROJECT GET OUT LADY BIRD LOGAN PHANTOM THREAD
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
A FANTASTIC WOMAN FRANTZ LOVELESS SUMMER 1993 THE SQUARE
Top 5 Documentaries
ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL BRIMSTONE & GLORY ERIC CLAPTON: LIFE IN 12 BARS FACES PLACES HELL ON EARTH: THE FALL OF SYRIA AND THE RISE OF ISIS
Top 10 Independent Films
BEATRIZ AT DINNER BRIGSBY BEAR A GHOST STORY LADY MACBETH LOGAN LUCKY LOVING VINCENT MENASHE NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER PATTI CAKE$ WIND RIVER
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Slamdance Film Festival Announces 2018 Feature Film Competition Lineup + Russo Fellowship Award

[caption id="attachment_25678" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Rock Steady Row[/caption] The Slamdance Film Festival today unveiled its narrative and documentary feature film competition lineup for its 24th edition, taking place January 19 to 25, 2018 in Park City, Utah. The feature competition lineup will showcase 10 narrative and eight documentary features. All competition films are feature-length directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million and without U.S. distribution. Captain America: Civil War directors and alumni Anthony and Joe Russo are partnering with Slamdance for the inaugural Russo Fellowship award. The award winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize and mentorship from the Russo brothers in the development of the winner’s next project at their new Los Angeles-based studio. Every participating filmmaker at the 2018 festival is eligible for this prize. The award will be presented annually. “The Russo brothers exemplify our ‘by filmmakers for filmmakers’ paradigm,” says Slamdance co-founder and president Peter Baxter. “They are joined by a great number of dedicated alumni who’ve shown when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, Slamdance’s independent and grassroots film community really can do it themselves.” “Born out of rejection, Slamdance’s artist-led group continues to discover cutting edge talent creating work outside of convention. Our 2018 competition lineup is daring, varied, and vivid. It represents the spirit of our time and leads us into the future.”
2018 Slamdance Film Festival Feature Film Competition Lineup

NARRATIVE FEATURES
Birds Without Feathers (USA) World Premiere Director: Wendy McColm Screenwriter: Wendy McColm Desperate for human interaction, six emotionally damaged individuals risk self respect, shedding their disillusionment in a last grasp for happiness. A cruel-world comedy populated by struggling Instagram stars, Russian cowboys, Self-help gurus and more, their lives collide and crash in astounding ways. Cast: Wendy McColm, Lenae Day Cooper Oznowicz, William Gabriel Greer, Sara Estefanos, and Alexander Stasko Charlie And Hannah’s Grand Night Out (Belgium) World Premiere Director: Bert Scholiers Screenwriter: Bert Scholiers Two Girls. One Night. Magical Candy Consumed. Twenty-somethings, Charlie and Hannah, find themselves strolling through the city as events take a wildly surreal turn. Transported to a trippy galaxy, filled with cosmic wisdom and contradictions, the pair learn to realize the search for love can take many forms. Cast: Evelien Bosmans, Daphne Wellens, Patrick Vervueren Fake Tattoos (Canada) US Premiere Director: Pascal Plante Screenwriter: Pascal Plante Shy Theo finds himself unexpectedly kicked in the heart by a punk-rock romance on his 18th birthday as Mag bursts into his life for a rollicking encounter. Set against a backdrop of music and mayhem, this coming-of-age tale, explores the thrashing fragility of summer love as life choices and separation loom with no true answers in sight. Cast: Anthony Therrien, Rose-Marie Perreault Fish Bones (USA) World Premiere Director: Joanne Mony Park Screenwriter: Joanne Mony Park Hana, a Korean immigrant on winter break, is caught between worlds. While struggling to find peace with her conservative mother and the expectations surrounding her future, Hana finds herself falling for Nico, a tender and affectionate Latina music producer. Cast: Joony Kim, Cris Gris Human Affairs (USA) World Premiere Director: Charlie Birns Screenwriter: Charlie Birns This richly earnest drama follows Geneviève, a surrogate who must reckon with her ambivalence about the pregnancy and her precarious feelings for the parents-to-be. Cast: Dominic Fumusa, Kerry Condon, David Harbour, Julie Sokolowski Lovers (Denmark) US Premiere Director: Niels Holstein Kaa Screenwriter: Magnus B. B. Lysbakken In the streets, parks and cafes of Copenhagen, a triptych of love stories come to vivid life. Framed with a superb naturalism, these tales through the seasons tackle the ever rising tide of loneliness and self-doubt that can come in the face of new love. Cast: Marie Mailand, Niklas Herskind, Nina Terese Rask M/M (Canada, Germany) World Premiere Director: Drew Lint Screenwriter: Drew Lint Wayward Canadian, Matthew, crushed by the isolation of being new to Berlin, turns his sexual desires toward Matthias that spiral into a dark fixation of assumed identity. Soon, this obsessive power struggle between the two, careens toward brutal passion and violence in a bid for dominance. Cast: Antoine Lahaie, Nicolas Maxim Endlicher Rock Steady Row (USA) World Premiere Director: Trevor Stevens Screenwriter: Bomani Story Demented chaos rules this bizarro-world college campus where the reigning gang-frats target a freshman, who dare crosses their path. Trapped between a blaze of twisted ‘Mad Max’ style power games, he shrewdly plays both sides, fueling apocalyptic-sized battles that escalate to ensnare the school Dean who’s coming unglued. Cast: Heston Horwin, Diamond White, Logan Huffman, Isaac Alisma, Allie Marie Evans, Larry Miller, Peter Gilroy Songs in the Sun (Denmark) US Premiere Director: Kristian Sejrbo Lidegaard Screenwriter: Allan Hyde, Kristian Sejrbo Lidegaard Off the coast of Denmark, young Anna discovers she is the only lifeline to ailing childhood friend Julie and Sonja, Julie’s apathetic mother. Over the course of one momentous afternoon, Anna will learn the healing power of belief and myth-making in everyday living Cast: Emma Sehested Høeg, Charlotte Munck, Victoria Carmen Sonne The Starry Sky Above Me (France) US Premiere Director: Ilan Klipper Screenwriter: Ilan Klipper, Raphaël Neal Bruno is happy to live out his days luxuriating in the existential highs and lows only a brilliant literary mind can appreciate. But when his loved ones seek to intervene with the help of a psychiatrist, Bruno’s bohemian lifestyle may in fact be the perfect anecdote to the colorless, PC lives they didn’t know they hated. Cast: Laurent Poitrenaux, Camille Chamoux, Marilyne Canto, Alma Jodorowsky, François Chattot, Michèle Moretti, Frank Williams
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Circus Ecuador (Ecuador, USA) World Premiere Directors: Ashley Bishop and Jim Brassard James and Ashley travel to the jungles of Ecuador to make a documentary about a school being built for an indigenous community only to discover that the community may or may not be involved in aliens, gold smuggling, human trafficking, and murder. Freedom for the Wolf (Germany, USA) Director: Rupert Russell From Hong Kong to Tunisia to Bollywood, people are fighting against elected leaders dismantling freedom and democracy. These seemingly disparate international stories are cohesively tied into what is happening in the US to reach some very compelling conclusions. Ingrid (USA) World Premiere Director: Morrisa Maltz An intimate look at a woman who left her life as a successful fashion designer and mother in Texas to become a reclusive hermit, immersed in nature, focused solely on creating art. Instant Dreams (Netherlands) North American Premiere Director: Willem Baptist An essayistic quest for the secret of instant film, the magic appeal of Polaroid and what that tells us about the fascinating relationship we have with the photographic image. Man on Fire (USA) World Premiere Director: Joel Fendelman Grand Saline, Texas was a sleepy, unremarkable town–until a white preacher lit himself on fire to protest the town’s racism in 2014. MexMan (USA) World Premiere Director: Josh Polon Germán is a young artist and filmmaker struggling to complete his first feature film and express his undying love to a girl, while secretly living at an airport and trying to stay sane. Mr. Fish: Cartooning From The Deep End (USA) Director: Pablo Bryant This personal documentary follows a controversial political cartoonist as he struggles to provide for his family and stay true to his creativity in a world where biting satiric humor has an ever-diminishing commercial value. Sunnyside (Belgium, Netherlands) North American Premiere Director: Frederik Carbon On a seaside mountain in Northern California two old friends (one a visionary architect and the other an influential sound artist) dream, talk, live, and create.
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Women Filmmakers to Shine at 2017 Whistler Film Festival

BECOMING BURLESQUE

The Whistler Film Festival will present an unprecedented number of female focused films, talent, events, and awards throughout its 2017 programs.

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2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards – SWEET COUNTRY Wins Best Film, LOVELESS Wins 3 Awards

The Russian film Loveless won three awards at the 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards including Achievement in Directing for Andrey Zvyagintsev.

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THE DEATH OF STALIN, LADY MACBETH Among First Winners of 2017 British Independent Film Awards

[caption id="attachment_23440" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Death of Stalin[/caption] The Death of Stalin, Lady Macbeth and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, got a jump start at the 2017 – British Independent Film Awards, winning much of the the nine newly created craft award categories. The winners of the 2017 – British Independent Film Awards, will be announced by host Mark Gatiss at the British Independent Film Awards Ceremony on Sunday December 10 at Old Billingsgate. Best Casting SARAH CROWE for The Death of Stalin Best Cinematography ARI WEGNER for Lady Macbeth Best Costume Design HOLLY WADDINGTON for Lady Macbeth Best Editing JON GREGORY for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Best Effects NICK ALLDER and BEN WHITE for The Ritual Best Make Up & Hair Design NICOLE STAFFORD for The Death of Stalin Best Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group CARTER BURWELL for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Best Production Design CRISTINA CASALI for The Death of Stalin Best Sound ANNA BERTMARK for God’s Own Country
The nominees in the BIFA 2017 Craft categories were:
Best Casting SHAHEEN BAIG Lady Macbeth SHAHEEN BAIG, LAYLA MERRICK-WOLF God’s Own Country * SARAH CROWE The Death of Stalin SARAH HALLEY FINN Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DEBBIE McWILLIAMS Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool Best Cinematography sponsored by Blackmagic Design BEN DAVIS Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DAVID GALLEGO I Am Not a Witch TAT RADCLIFFE Jawbone THOMAS RIEDELSHEIMER Leaning Into the Wind * ARI WEGNER Lady Macbeth Best Costume Design DINAH COLLIN My Cousin Rachel SUZIE HARMAN The Death of Stalin SANDY POWELL How to Talk to Girls at Parties HOLLY REBECCA I Am Not a Witch * HOLLY WADDINGTON Lady Macbeth Best Editing JOHNNY BURKE Williams DAVID CHARAP Jawbone * JON GREGORY Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri PETER LAMBERT The Death of Stalin JOE MARTIN Us and Them Best Effects * NICK ALLDER, BEN WHITE The Ritual LUKE DODD Journeyman RONALD GRAUER, BERNARD NEWTON The Death of Stalin DAN MARTIN Double Date CHRIS REYNOLDS Their Finest Best Make Up & Hair Design JULENE PATON I Am Not a Witch JAN SEWELL, MARK COULIER Breathe NADIA STACEY Journeyman * NICOLE STAFFORD The Death of Stalin SIAN WILSON Lady Macbeth Best Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group * CARTER BURWELL Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri FRED FRITH Leaning into the Wind MATT KELLY I Am Not a Witch PAUL WELLER Jawbone CHRISTOPHER WILLIS The Death of Stalin Best Production Design JACQUELINE ABRAHAMS Lady Macbeth * CRISTINA CASALI The Death of Stalin JAMES MERIFIELD Final Portrait NATHAN PARKER I Am Not a Witch EVE STEWART Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool Best Sound * ANNA BERTMARK God’s Own Country MAIKEN HANSEN I Am Not a Witch ANDY SHELLEY, STEVE GRIFFITHS Jawbone JOAKIM SUNDSTRÖM Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri IAN WILSON, BECKI PONTING Breathe
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MEN DON’T CRY and METEORS Win Top Film Prizes at Bratislava IFF

[caption id="attachment_25619" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Men Don’t Cry[/caption] Men Don’t Cry directed by Alen Drljević won the Prize for Best Fiction Film, andMeteors directed by Gürcan Keltek won the Prize for the Best Documentary Film at the 19th Bratislava IFF 2017. The Bratislava IFF Award for Artistic Excellence in World Cinema was bestowed upon one of the most distinctive European actors and a unique director Jean-Marc Barr. The commemorative tile on the Film Walk of Fame for 2017 was dedicated to acclaimed Slovak actress Božidara Turzonovová for his lifelong contribution to Slovak cinema.
Awards of the 19th Bratislava IFF 2017

FICTION COMPETITION
Prize for the Best Fiction Film Men Don’t Cry / Muškarci ne plaču (directed by Alen Drljević, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, 2017) The theme of this year’s edition of the Bratislava International Film Festival was the art of film acting. The jury was unanimous in its choice for Best Film with a film where the ensemble of actors displayed such an intense emotional and inspirational level of acting in dealing with a tragic historical event. We also found it important to emphasize that the film’s main message of reconciliation was so necessary in today’s current political climate. Prize for the Best Director Soleen Yusef for House without Roof / Haus ohne Dach (Germany, Irak, Qatar, 2016) Best Director goes to a new talent, a woman, who had the courage to explore with a sincere sensitivity the men in a very patriarchal society, who also chose to film in a dangerous part of the world, in a nation that has yet to be created, Kurdistan, and who displayed a masterful quality of directing considering that this was her film school graduation debut. Prize for the Best Actress Laetitia Dosch for Montparnasse Bienvenüe / Jeune Femme (directed by Léonor Serraille, France, Belgium, 2017) This actress carried the whole film, from start to finish, with such an honest, authentic and rich performance as she portrayed a woman who in weakness eventually found a strength that inspired all of us in the jury. Prize for the Best Actor Navid Mohammadzadeh for No Date, No Signature / Bedoune Tarikh, Bedoune Emza (directed by Vahid Jalilvand, Iran, 2017) Best Actor goes to a gentleman who displayed such an outstanding range of emotions, who was honest and convincing at every moment of his character’s evolution in dealing with a man who is condemned to tragedy. FIPRESCI Jury Award No Date, No Signature / Bedoune Tarikh, Bedoune Emza (directed by Vahid Jalilvand, Iran, 2017) A convincing example of Iranian cinema dedicated to the ethical labyrinths of modern life. Student Jury Award Montparnasse Bienvenüe /Jeune Femme (directed by Léonor Serraille, France, Belgium, 2017) An authentic and creatively rendered look at the viability of a modern young woman. A convincingly mastered range of her frame of mind during her struggle with herself and the world, performed by Laetitia Dosch.
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Prize for the Best Documentary Film Meteors / Meteorlar (directed by Gürcan Keltek, Netherland, Turkey, 2017) For his strong, sharp, poetic and humanist risk taken. For the intense fragility of his cinematographic choices
SHORTS COMPETITION
Prize for the Best Short Film Islands / Les Iles (directed by Yann Gonzalez, France, 2017) For inviting the audience to an aesthetic orgy where weirdness meets acceptance. Special Mention in Shorts Competition Amateurs / Amateurs (directed by Naveen Padmanabha, India, 2016) A funny space serenade that makes us feel connected in this disconnected world.
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CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Leads Nominations for 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards

Call Me By Your Name

Call Me by Your Name leads the nominations for the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards with eight nods including Best Director and Best Feature.

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THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING Wins IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary

[caption id="attachment_25603" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Other Side of Everything[/caption] The Other Side of Everything wins the Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the 30th edition of IDFA in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam. The Deminer by Hogir Hirori and Shinwar Kamal won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary. At the beginning of the awards ceremony Ester Gould presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend (€ 50,000) to filmmaker Reber Dosky. The festival runs until Sunday.
IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary
Mila Turajlic won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (€ 15,000) for The Other Side of Everything (Serbia, France, Qatar). The prize was presented by the Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science, Mrs. Ingrid van Engelshoven. The film takes place within the walls of a sub-divided apartment in Belgrade. A family portrait that symbolises the political unrest in the country. From the jury report: An apartment becomes a metaphor for both the former Yugoslavia and the current political climate in the region. Through the filmmaker’s lens, we are introduced to her mother – an enlightened woman who has dedicated her life to political activism. Poetically structured, the beauty of this character resonates. The textured cinematic language artfully blends the historical with the personal. In addition, the jury presented the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary (€ 2,500) to The Deminer (Sweden) by Hogir Hirori and Shinwar Kamal. The documentary is a nerve-racking portrait of a Kurdish colonel, who disarmed thousands of roadside bombs and mines armed only with his courage and a pair of wire-cutters. From the jury report: The Deminer is an experiential, universal and global film. It portrays and reflects a part of the world that we rarely encounter in the cinema while capturing the tenacity of a single man confronting impossible odds.
IDFA Competition for First Appearance
Simon Lereng Wilmont won the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance (€ 10,000) for The Distant Barking of Dogs (Denmark, Sweden, Finland). Ieva Ozolina won the IDFA Special Jury Award for First Appearance in memory of Peter Wintonick (€ 2,500) for Solving my Mother (Latvia).
IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary
IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (€ 10,000) was awarded to Martin Benchimol and Pablo Aparo for The Dread (Argentina). The IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary (€ 2,500) went to Last Days in Shibati (France) by Hendrick Dusollier.
IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling
Trine Laier won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling (€ 5,000) for Cosmic Top Secret (Denmark).
IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction
The IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction (€ 5,000) went to Lauren (United States) by Lauren McCarthy.
IDFA Competition for Short Documentary
Zhalanash – Empty Shore (Poland) by Marcin Sauter won the IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary (€ 5,000). The IDFA Special Jury Award for Short Documentary (€ 2,500) went to As We’re Told (Sweden) by Erik Holmström and Fredrik Wenzel.
IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary
The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary (€ 7,500) went to The Long Season by Leonard Retel Helmrich. Maasja Ooms received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary (€ 2,500) for Alicia.
IDFA Competition for Student Documentary
Klaudiusz Chrostowski won the ARRI IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary for Call Me Tony (Poland). He wins € 5,000 and an Amira camera which ARRI will give on loan for the winner’s next production. The IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary was presented to Denise Kelm Soares for I Am (Cuba, Brazil). The award consists of € 2,500 and an Amira camera which ARRI will give on loan for the winner’s next production.
IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs
The IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary (€ 5,000) went to Lenno & the Angelfish (the Netherlands) by Shamira Raphaëla. Astrid Bussink received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Children’s Documentary (€ 2,500) for L I S T E N (the Netherlands).
Other Awards
At the beginning of the ceremony, Ester Gould presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend (€ 50,000) to filmmaker Reber Dosky (The Sniper of Kobani, Radio Kobanî and Meryem). The first Amsterdam Human Rights Award (€ 25,000) was presented on Monday evening to Piripkura (Brazil) by Renata Terra, Bruno Jorge and Mariana Oliva.
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9 Indie Film Projects Win Fall 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants

[caption id="attachment_25598" align="aligncenter" width="1180"] Boots Riley – director of ‘Sorry to Bother You’[/caption] Nine filmmaking teams have been selected to receive a total of $225,000 in funding in the Fall 2017 round of SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants to help with the next stage of their creative process, from screenwriting to post-production. SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to filmmakers whose narrative feature films will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community and/or meaningfully explore pressing social issues. More than $4.5 million has been awarded since the launch of this grant program in 2009, making the SFFILM, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the largest grant-maker to independent narrative films in the United States. Additionally, SFFILM and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation launched a new discretionary loan program for filmmakers in post-production. Open to any previous recipient or alumnus following the first day of production, the first loan in the amount of $25,000 was presented to Sorry to Bother You by writer/director Boots Riley. Applications are currently being accepted for the Spring 2018 round of SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants; the deadline to apply is February 2. SFFILM, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the United States. The SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant program has funded more than 70 projects since its inception, including Geremy Jasper’s Sundance breakthrough Patti Cake$, which closed the 2017 Cannes Director’s Fortnight program, ahead of its summer release; Alex and Andrew Smith’s Walking Out starring Matt Bomer and Josh Wiggins, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival; Chloé Zhao’s Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which screened at Sundance and Cannes in 2015; Short Term 12, Destin Cretton’s sophomore feature which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013; Ryan Coogler’s debut feature Fruitvale Station, which won the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, the Un Certain Regard Avenir Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013; and Ben Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon Beasts of the Southern Wild, which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012 and earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture).
FALL 2017 SFFILM / RAININ FILMMAKING GRANT WINNERS
All About Nina Eva Vives, director; Natalie Qasabian, Eric Fleischman, Sean Tabibian, Eva Vives, producers – post-production – $25,000 Just as Nina Geld’s brilliant and angry stand up kicks her career into high gear, her romantic life gets complicated, forcing her to reckon with what it means to be creative, authentic, and a woman in today’s culture. American Babylon Yvan Iturriaga, writer/director – screenwriting – $12,000 A gripping tale of love and revolution set in the gritty streets of Oakland, California in the months leading up to 9/11. Fremont Babak Jalali, writer/director; Marjaneh Moghimi, producer; Carolina Cavalli, co-writer – development – $22,000 Troubled, edgy, unconventional Donya—an Afghani translator formerly working for the US military—now spends her days writing fortunes for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. As she struggles to put her life back in order, in a moment of sudden revelation, she sends out a message, wrapped in a fortune cookie—an act that sends her on an odyssey of deceit, mystery, and redemption. Jules of Light and Dark Daniel Laabs, writer/director; Jeff Walker, Liz Cardenas Franke, Russell Sheaffe, and Judd Myers, producers – post-production – $25,000 A young woman, Maya, struggles to rebuild her life after surviving a devastating car wreck with her girlfriend. The two are found and rescued by an oil worker, Freddy, who forges an unlikely friendship with Maya in this Texas-set drama. The Last Black Man in San Francisco Joe Talbot, writer/director; Khaliah Neal, Producer – production – $50,000 Jimmie Fails dreams of buying back the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Now living in the city’s last, dwindling Black neighborhood with his oddball best friend Prentice, the two misfits search for belonging in the rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind. Me, My Mom and Sharmila Fawzia Mirza, writer/director; Terrie Samundra, producer/cowriter – screenwriting – $22,000 A queer, Pakistani teen, her Muslim immigrant mother, and a Bollywood heroine’s destinies intertwine in this bittersweet coming of age tale. Monsters and Men Reinaldo Marcus Green, director; Josh Penn, Elizabeth Lodge Stepp, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, and Luca Borghese, producers – post-production – $25,000 Monsters and Men is an interwoven narrative about police violence, racial profiling, and the power of perspective. The story is told in three chapters, each shifting perspective to different protagonists who are from the same Brooklyn neighborhood: a man who captures an act of police violence on his cellphone, an African-American police officer working in the precinct, and a high-school baseball phenom. We follow the unspooling narrative as each is impacted by a violent episode. Mr. Rob Fawaz Al-Matrouk, writer/director – screenwriting – $22,000 The true story of Rob Lawrie, an ex-soldier who left his family in England to help migrants at the infamous Jungle refugee camp in France. Lawrie risked everything to rescue a four-year-old girl, entrusted to him by her father, but was arrested and charged with human smuggling. Raja Deepak Rauniyar, writer/director – screenwriting – $22,000 Raja is a socially-rooted police procedural, a race-against-time thriller, as well as a portrait of Nepal—a complex society on the edge of a new future. A new discretionary loan for filmmakers in post-production open to any previous recipient or alumnus following the first day of production was awarded to: Sorry to Bother You Boots Riley, writer/director; Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Charles King, George Rush, Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams, producers – post-production – $25,000 LOAN Sorry to Bother You tells the story of Cassius Green, a Black telemarketer who discovers a magical key to telemarketing success, propelling him into a macabre universe where he is selected to lead a species of genetically manipulated horse-people.
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THREE BILLBOARD OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Wins Audience Award at Stockholm International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_23572" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri[/caption] The 28th edition of Stockholm International Film Festival wrapped on Sunday, and presented the festival’s Audience Award 2017 to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, directed by Martin McDonagh. The film was also one of the most seen ones throughout the festival. Each year, the Stockholm International Film Festival invites the festivalgoers to select the winner of one of the most important awards of the festival – the Audience Award. The audience nominates their favourite film by voting. This year’s Award goes to Martin McDonagh for the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Runner up is God’s Own Country by Francis Lee followed by Insyriated av Philippe Van Leeuw. The very first Audience Award was handed out in 2009 to Louie Psihoyos documentary The Cove. Other winners include Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Xavier Dolan’s Mommy. Below are the ten most popular films selected by the audience: Insyriated God’s Own Country Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Searing Summer The Party Shape of Water Thelma A Fantastic Woman Call Me by Your Name
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Cork Film Festival 2017 Awards – Irish Short Film WAVE Wins Grand Prix Irish Short

[caption id="attachment_25582" align="aligncenter" width="1201"] Wave[/caption] Irish short film Wave is the winner of the Grand Prix Irish Short at the Cork Film Festival 2017 Awards Ceremony. Benjamin Cleary and TJ O’Grady Peyton’s winning short will now go on the longlist for the 90th Academy Awards in the Live Action Short Film category. Wave tells the story of Gasper Rubicon, who wakes from a coma speaking a fully formed but unrecognizable language. Cleary’s 2015 short, Stutterer won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short at the 88th Academy Awards. The winner of the Grand Prix International Short Award, Mahdi Fleifel’s A Drowning Man (Denmark, Greece, UK), will also automatically qualify for the Academy Awards longlist. Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Cork Film Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark said: “Wave is a very deserving winner, and is a worthy inclusion on the Academy Awards’ longlist. The quality of shorts within this year’s Festival program has been exceptional, highlighting creativity and diversity in both subject matter and form. The Shorts Jury, chaired by BAFTA nominated producer Farah Abushwesha, also selected Linda Curtin’s Everything Alive is in Movement, as the winner of the Best Cork Short, while Best Documentary Short went to Mia Mullarkey’s Mother & Baby, a documentary on survivors of the Tuam mother and baby home, which had its world premiere as part of the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board World Premiere Shorts program. Other prize winners include Untitled directed by Michael Glawogger and Monika Will, which won the Gradam Na Féile Do Scannáin Faisnéise / Award for Cinematic Documentary. The film was created two years after the sudden death of Michael Glawogger by editor Monika Willi who took footage produced during Michael’s filming in the Balkans, Italy, and Northwest and West Africa. The Gradam Spiorad Na Féile / Spirit of The Festival Award went to Rima Das’ Village Rockstars. It follows a young village girl in northeast India who wants to start her own rock band. An honorable mention went to Dafydd Flynn for his performance in Frank Berry’s Michael Inside. The Cork Film Festival Nomination for the 2018 European Short Film Awards was Sebastian Lang’s Container. The Audience Award was won by Frank Berry’s acclaimed Michael Inside, telling the story of an 18-year-old living in Dublin who is sentenced to three months in prison after he is caught hiding drugs for his friend’s older brother. The Cork Film Festival Youth Jury Award went to Last Man in Aleppo, directed by Feras Fayyad. The film allows the viewers to experience the rescue work of Syrian volunteers, The White Helmets. Ms Clark added: “This year audiences had an opportunity to see 115 features, 34 documentaries and 116 shorts. For the majority of the films shown, this was the only chance to see them on the big screen in Cork.” The Cork Film Festival will return for its 63rd edition in November 2018.
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28th Stockholm International Film Festival Awards – JEUNE FEMME Wins Best Film

[caption id="attachment_25578" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Jeune Femme[/caption] French director Léonor Seraille received the Bronze Horse award for Best Film for his film Jeune Femme at the 28th Stockholm International Film Festival. For Ahkeem by Jeremy S. Levine och Landon Van Soest was awarded the prize for Best Documentary.
Winners 0f 2017 Stockholm International Film Festival Award

STOCKHOLM XXVIII COMPETITION
Best Film: Jeune Femme by Léonor Seraille. For its dynamic and astute study of a young woman perennially on the edge in modern society, featuring the most memorably vivacious character. A small-scale story that finds profundity in sharp specificity, along with comedy in tragedy (and vice versa.) Best Debut: I Am Not A Witch by Rungano Nyoni. For its bracingly unique style and story, a film that exposes its viewers to heretofore unforeseen settings and characters with a stunning clarity of vision. An unforgettable debut, which tackles issues of female repression and exploitation with both off-kilter humour and devastating pathos. Best Director: God’s Own Country by Francis Lee. For its beautifully naturalistic and understated approach grappling with themes of maturity, sexuality and acceptance, as well its pragmatic and sympathetic portrayal of farmers’ daily struggles. Best Screenplay: No Date, No Signature by Vahid Jalilvand and Ali Zarnegar. For its methodical exploration of the unspeakable ethical quandaries triggered by shocking tragedy, and its complex and systematic examination of issues of privilege (and lack thereof), guilt and culpability. Best Cinematography: Paul Guilhaum for Ava. For its wonderfully playful and idiosyncratic visual style that hearkens back to a wide swath of cinema history while still forging its own distinct aesthetic. A movie-lover’s movie filled with fantastic iconography. Best Actress: Antonia Zegers for Los Perros. For her subtle and multi-faceted portrayal of a wealthy woman grappling with shifting attractions and desires while wading into increasingly murky moral territory. A performer whose emotions brilliantly shimmer just under the surface. Best Actor: Josh O’Connor for God’s Own Country. For his brave and delicate portrayal of a character seething with rage yet capable of extraordinary empathy. A lived-in performance that captures the full arc of an unsettled young man coming to terms with his lot in life while learning to care for the people around him.
STOCKHOLM XXVIII DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Best Documentary: For Ahkeem by Jeremy S. Levine och Landon Van Soest. This film is a nonjudgmental, intimate and warm portrayal of love and hardship set against the backdrop of police brutality. It depicts, in a very organic way, what it takes to survive as young people today, with the odds stacked against them. Capturing the unpredictability of real life without forcing its morals on the audience.
STOCKHOLM XXVIII SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Best Short Film: Retouch by Kaveh Mazaheri. This is a film defying genre definition – and still it’s a social realist, gender political thriller. With a delicate touch and a sense of humor, it questions traditional ideas on women’s place in society, in Iran and across the world.
STOCKHOLM LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award: Vanessa Redgrave This year’s winner of the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award has been one of the most prominent actors in the world for over five decades and has been named ”the greatest living actress of our time” by Tennesse Williams. She is as brilliant in costume dramas and political documentaries as she is in works of some of the greatest auteurs in cinematic history. With astonishing force and great social commitment, Vanessa Redgrave has made acting her life’s work.
STOCKHOLM VISIONARY AWARD
Stockholm Visionary Award: Pablo Larraín This year’s Stockholm Visionary Award winner is a versatile director with great artistic precision. With a sharp eye directed towards the history of Chile, Pablo Larraín has – via individual life destinies with universal reach – revealed corruption and political deceit on all levels of society. He has redefined the biopic and is constantly broadening our cinematic horizons. With seven brilliant films behind him, Pablo Larraín is a truly visionary filmmaker.
STOCKHOLM IMPACT AWARD
Stockholm Impact Award: Wild Roses by Anna Jadowska For the sensitive depiction of a mother who refuses to abandon her true self, for the portrait of a revolting child that questions an utterly conservative society, for the visually exquisite style that contrasts with a world plunged in prejudice and moral coercion, the Stockholm Impact Award goes to Anna Jadowska for Wild Roses, a metaphor for human resilience.
STOCKHOLM RISING STAR
Stockholm Rising Star: Gustav Lindh The 2017 Rising Star is awarded by the Stockholm Film Festival to a young actor who has already made a powerful impression in several films. With sincerity and a great sense of presence in combination with dramatic precision – he succeeds in touching our deepest emotions. We anticipate a marvelous future within the world of cinema – Gustav Lindh
1 KM FILM
1 Km Film: Nyforelsket by Ville Sörman. This year’s 1 km film scholarship goes to a director with an original voice who accomplishes to put a face on the most complex contemporary emotions. With a visual energy and a sensible touch he cares about the characters on screen, and makes the audience care too. The winner of the 1 km film scholarship goes to Ville Sörman 1 Km Film Special Mention: Min Homosyster by Lia Hietala. A Special Mention goes to a director who has an astute ear for authentic dialogue and manages to establish absolute tonal control between characters and settings. A special mention goes to Lia Hietala.
THE FIPRESCI PRIZE
The FIPRESCI prize: Based On A True Story by Roman Polanski. The FIPRESCI award on the 28th Stockholm International Film Festival goes to the film that is marked with an exceptional quality of cinema language. The genre of ‘paranoic thriller’ is treated by the author as perfectly as it could be and allows him to research some extremely complicated issues without any loss of the enchanted energy of narration. The film considers the very process of an artistic creation as a sophisticated game between an artist and reality based on perpetual mutual manipulations and disguises. The formal brilliance is combined here with a crafty elaboration of every detail. So, the FIPRESCI jury is proudly and reverently announced that its award is going to Roman Polanski for the film D’après une histoire vraie (Based on a True Story).
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