Here is a first look at Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom, a dangerously intimate documentary directed by Alba Sotorra that follows a woman commando unit as it takes on ISIS. Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom will World Premiere at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival on Sunday April 29.
When we meet Arian, a 30-year-old commander of the YPJ, the Kurdish-Syrian Women’s Protection Unit, she is struggling to recover from multiple ISIS sniper wounds. But her greatest worry is to be sent home. “If I live an ordinary life, I will be scared of death,” she says.
The words reflect the dual motivations that inspired Kurdish women to literally take arms against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as it gobbled territory and slaughtered villagers in their homeland. She and her all-female comrades know the stakes involved in stopping the ultra-fundamentalist insurgency from overrunning them.
“To them, a piece of fabric is worth more than a woman,” Arian says angrily in an earlier interview from the battlefield. “To end their threat to women, we will fight them until there is no one left.”
But Alba Sotorra’s riveting documentary Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom, is about more than the threat in front of these women. It’s about their camaraderie. And it’s about what they left behind that they would like to see change in the face of a victory over the Islamic extremists.
The documentary jumps regularly between the post-recovery Arian – who wants nothing more than to get back in battle – and the YPJ fighters as they make village-by-village progress to the occupied Syrian city of Kobane, “the heart of Kurdistan.” We witness Arian in her role as a de facto life coach toward fellow soldiers who have left a life where they were only expected to be wives and mothers. “What kind of woman do you want to be?” she repeatedly asks those under her command.
As a fellow fighter named Nupelda offers in advance of the next fire-fight, “Here, there is a goal, to enrich my thoughts and be free.” There is tragedy along with the high ideals. Some of the women we meet en route to Kobane will be injured and killed. But the push forward continues, along with the dreams for a better life than before.
“When the war in Syria broke out, Kurdish women took arms against Daesh (ISIS),” director Sotorra says. “Having followed the news about the atrocities committed in the region, especially against women, I thought it was incredible that a female force was emerging as the fiercest power against these monsters.”
When the YPJ was taking back Kobane and repelling attacks, Sotorra undertook a risky filmmaking mission via contacts in Turkey, arriving in time to see a city in ruins and without power. “I decided to travel to Kobane and meet the women who had led that battle. I wanted to share their feminist struggle and, as a woman filmmaker, it almost felt like my duty to document it.
“It was an adventure. I had no idea what I was getting into. Sometimes I think if I had been aware of all the things I would experience, I wouldn’t have had the courage to go. But ignorance is bliss and this is a story about courage.”
[gallery size="large" link="file" columns="4" ids="28288,28289,28290,28291,28292,28293,28294,28295,28296,28297,28298,28299,28300,28301,28287"]
Terry P.
VIMOOZ is for lovers of independent films + foreign film + documentary + film festivals. We love championing the little films.
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First Look at Women Commandos Fighting Isis in Documentary ‘Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom’ [VIDEO]
Here is a first look at Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom, a dangerously intimate documentary directed by Alba Sotorra that follows a woman commando unit as it takes on ISIS. Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom will World Premiere at the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival on Sunday April 29.
When we meet Arian, a 30-year-old commander of the YPJ, the Kurdish-Syrian Women’s Protection Unit, she is struggling to recover from multiple ISIS sniper wounds. But her greatest worry is to be sent home. “If I live an ordinary life, I will be scared of death,” she says.
The words reflect the dual motivations that inspired Kurdish women to literally take arms against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as it gobbled territory and slaughtered villagers in their homeland. She and her all-female comrades know the stakes involved in stopping the ultra-fundamentalist insurgency from overrunning them.
“To them, a piece of fabric is worth more than a woman,” Arian says angrily in an earlier interview from the battlefield. “To end their threat to women, we will fight them until there is no one left.”
But Alba Sotorra’s riveting documentary Commander Arian – A Story of Women, War and Freedom, is about more than the threat in front of these women. It’s about their camaraderie. And it’s about what they left behind that they would like to see change in the face of a victory over the Islamic extremists.
The documentary jumps regularly between the post-recovery Arian – who wants nothing more than to get back in battle – and the YPJ fighters as they make village-by-village progress to the occupied Syrian city of Kobane, “the heart of Kurdistan.” We witness Arian in her role as a de facto life coach toward fellow soldiers who have left a life where they were only expected to be wives and mothers. “What kind of woman do you want to be?” she repeatedly asks those under her command.
As a fellow fighter named Nupelda offers in advance of the next fire-fight, “Here, there is a goal, to enrich my thoughts and be free.” There is tragedy along with the high ideals. Some of the women we meet en route to Kobane will be injured and killed. But the push forward continues, along with the dreams for a better life than before.
“When the war in Syria broke out, Kurdish women took arms against Daesh (ISIS),” director Sotorra says. “Having followed the news about the atrocities committed in the region, especially against women, I thought it was incredible that a female force was emerging as the fiercest power against these monsters.”
When the YPJ was taking back Kobane and repelling attacks, Sotorra undertook a risky filmmaking mission via contacts in Turkey, arriving in time to see a city in ruins and without power. “I decided to travel to Kobane and meet the women who had led that battle. I wanted to share their feminist struggle and, as a woman filmmaker, it almost felt like my duty to document it.
“It was an adventure. I had no idea what I was getting into. Sometimes I think if I had been aware of all the things I would experience, I wouldn’t have had the courage to go. But ignorance is bliss and this is a story about courage.”
[gallery size="large" link="file" columns="4" ids="28288,28289,28290,28291,28292,28293,28294,28295,28296,28297,28298,28299,28300,28301,28287"]
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2018 San Francisco International Film Festival is a Wrap – ‘Eighth Grade’ and ‘A Thousand Thoughts’ Win Audience Awards
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EIGHTH GRADE[/caption]
After over two weeks of screening 186 films from 45 countries, the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival came to a close on Tuesday, April 17th.
[caption id="attachment_28203" align="aligncenter" width="1280"]
A Thousand Thoughts – A Live Documentary by Sam Green and Kronos Quartet[/caption]
The 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival Festival Audience Awards gave festival-goers the opportunity to select their favorite narrative and documentary features. The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade (USA), with Un Traductor by Rodrigo Barriuso and Sebastián Barriuso (Canada/Cuba) also scoring highly with Festival audiences. The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Sam Green’s A Thousand Thoughts – A Live Documentary by Sam Green and Kronos Quartet, while Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s RBG (USA) was another favorite at the Festival.
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Isabel Coixet’s THE BOOKSHOP to Kick off 2018 Seattle International Film Festival
Isabel Coixet’s The Bookshop will kick off the 44th annual Seattle International Film Festival on Thursday, May 17, 2018. The 2018 Festival runs May 17 through June 10 at venues in Seattle and surrounding cities.
Written and directed by the acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet (Learning to Drive, Elegy) and based on the bestselling novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, the film stars Emily Mortimer (Mary Poppins Returns, The Newsroom), Bill Nighy (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Love Actually) and Patricia Clarkson (House of Cards, The Maze Runner). The film played as a Special Gala selection at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival and was the winner of three Goya Awards in Spain, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Bookshop is Coixet’s follow-up to the indie hit Learning to Drive and is set in a seaside village in England where a grieving widow (Mortimer) pursues her lifelong dream of opening a bookshop. As she introduces the townsfolk to the world’s best literature and stirs a cultural awakening, her efforts are ruthlessly opposed by a powerful local (Clarkson) causing a reclusive resident (Nighy) to join the fight to keep the bookshop open.
“The raw and delicate relationship between tradition and change comes head to head between the two woman characters,” said SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “It’s a gem of a film with incredible performances from the lead actresses, and a celebration of women who persist.”
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VR Experience VESTIGE Acquired by Other Set Ahead of World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_28171" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
“Fractured memories within the black abyss.” From Vestige. Photo credit: Aaron Bradbury.[/caption]
VESTIGE, an emotional, complex, virtual reality documentary, that is set to world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, has been acquired by UK-based VR distributor and sales agent Other Set. The deal marks the second VR acquisition for the company who picked up ZIKR: A SUFI REVIVAL in a historic deal earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. It is the third-ever sale of a virtual reality experience at a major film festival.
Other Set is Andy Whittaker’s latest venture and is a sales and distribution company, specializing in director-driven VR and immersive content from around the world. Other Set is focused on changing how users engage with crucial stories centered on social impact. Prior to Other Set, Andy founded Dogwoof the UK’s documentary powerhouse.
“VESTIGE allows the viewer to experience the healing that can be discovered on the other side of grief and loss. The experience showcases the unique power of the VR medium to connect audiences to Lisa’s very human story on a visceral, emotional level” said Andy Whittaker, founder Other Set.
Antoine Cayrol, producer of the experience and co-founder of AtlasV, said, “As a newly formed company, we’re working to re-focus VR storytelling towards a sustainable indie film production model. With the support of Other Set and our joint mission to share outstanding content we’re thrilled to be able to dive further into the future of distribution and bring the powerful story that is VESTIGE to a wider audience.”
VESTIGE is a 10 minute room-scale VR creative documentary that uses multi-narrative and volumetric live capture to take the viewer on a journey into the mind of Lisa as she remembers her lost love, Erik. Within an empty void, fragments of past memories appear of their life together. As we navigate the space to explore these moments, new memories are triggered revealing new pathways through the story. Over time the memories become entangled with a haunting vision and eventually lead us to the shocking moment of Erik’s death. Every viewing will reveal a different journey towards this moment, revealing the complex world of memory and grief.
Paul Mowbray, producer of the experience and director of NSC Creative, said, “Our studio has been creating immersive experiences across the globe for 18 years but this is our first room-scale VR piece. VESTIGE is really pushing the limits of what can be done with volumetric capture and multi-narrative storytelling right now. Aaron’s success as a leading VR Creator comes from a deep technical knowledge across multiple disciplines combined with a passion to connect with the audience in a profoundly emotional way.”
VESTIGE is directed by Aaron Bradbury and produced by Paul Mowbray, Antoine Cayrol and Jill Klekas Basmajian. The project was created in collaboration with NSC Creative, AtlasV, RYOT and funded through Kaleidoscope’s platform, and was supported by the French CNC. The film also features original music by Starkey.
The film is set for a Spring 2019 release and will be available for the Rift, Vive and Microsoft VR headsets through streaming platforms, Steam, Oculus, VivePort and Microsoft.
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Florida Film Festival Announces 2018 Grand Jury and Audience Award Winners
The Florida Film Festival announced the winners of the 2018 Grand Jury and Audience Awards at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 14th. My Indiana Muse, directed by Ric and Jen Serena, won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, and Prison Logic, directed by Romany Malco Jr. snagged the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. The jury awarded the prize for Best Documentary Feature to TransMilitary directed by Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson; and the prize for Best Narrative Feature to Savage Youth directed by Michael Curtis Johnson.
The 27th Annual Florida Film Festival took place April 6 to 15, 2018, in Maitland and Winter Park, Florida, with Primary Sponsor Full Sail University and Primary Public Partners Orange County Government and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.
SHORTS
Audience Award for Best Midnight Short – Hair Wolf – Directed by Mariama Diallo Special Jury Award for Directing: Caroline – Directed by Celine Held and Logan George Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short – Shahkboy – Directed by Jake Peckar Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short – Flatbush Misdemeanors – Directed by Dan Perlman and Kevin Iso Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short – The Tables – Directed by Jon Bunning Audience Award for Best Short Film – Let My People Vote – Directed by Gilda Ann BraschDOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Special Jury Award for Artistic Vision – The Last Race – Directed by Michael Dweck Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature – My Indiana Muse – Directed by Ric and Jen Serena Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature – TransMilitary – Directed by Gabriel Silverman and Fiona DawsonNARRATIVE FEATURES
Special Jury Award for Performance to Christina Parrish and Andrew Dismukes for Call Me Brother – Directed by David Howe Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature – Prison Logic – Directed by Romany Malco Jr. Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature – Savage Youth – Directed by Michael Curtis JohnsonINTERNATIONAL
Audience Award for Best International Feature – Soufra (USA/Lebanon) – Directed by Thomas Morgan Audience Award for Best International Short – The App (Spain) – Directed by Julián Merino Image via Facebook
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‘América’ ‘Minding the Gap’ ‘Fort Maria’ ‘For Izzy’ Win at 17th Ashland Independent Film Festival [ Complete List of Winners]
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Director of América, Chase Whiteside, accepted the Les Blank Award: Best Feature Length Documentary. Photo by Darren Campbell/AIFF[/caption]
The 17th Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF) officially came to a close today, and announced the highly anticipated juried and audience award-winning films for work screened at the festival, which ran April 12 to 16, 2018.
“120 films made it into our program this year, and 15 of them are receiving the added recognition of a jury or audience award,” said festival director Richard Herskowitz. “I want to congratulate the makers of all 120 of our films for the delight and excitement they brought to our enthusiastic audiences.”
The festival presented its coveted Rogue Award to actor Chris Cooper and director Lynn Shelton. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Cooper has given several notable performances in feature films, including as a union organizer in Matewan, the first of five films he appeared in directed by John Sayles. His performance as the eccentric plant collector John Laroche earned him an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor in Adaptation (2002). Cooper also served as executive producer and narrator of AIFF2018’s opening night film, Intelligent Lives, which explores how our society’s narrow views of intelligence have led to the segregation of people with intellectual disabilities.
Lynn Shelton, proudly based in Seattle, had her first feature-length film, We Go Way Back, win the Grand Jury Award at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival. After her acclaimed My Effortless Brilliance (AIFF2008) and Humpday, she was honored with the John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2010. Your Sister’s Sister (AIFF2012) won Best Ensemble Performance at the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards. In recent years, Shelton has built a successful career as a television series director alongside her feature filmmaking. Her latest film, Outside In (AIFF2018), starring Edie Falco and Jay Duplass, screened at AIFF2018 and is being released by The Orchard.
This year’s Pride Award was presented to Zackary Drucker. Drucker is an independent artist, cultural producer, and trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender, sexuality, and seeing. She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA, among others. Zackary is an Emmy-nominated Producer for the docuseries This Is Me, as well as a producer on the Golden Globe® and Emmy®-winning Amazon series Transparent.
At the conclusion of the Awards Night Ceremony, Herskowitz was joined by Richard Blue, chair of the James Blue Alliance, for an announcement of AIFF’s new James Blue Emerging Filmmaker Award, which will offer a substantial cash award to a social justice filmmaker beginning in 2019. The specifications for this award will be announced in September in advance of the posting of AIFF’s next call for entries.
On the heels of the 17th annual festival, MovieMaker Magazine has named the Ashland Independent Film Festival one of the Top 50 Films Worth the Entry Fee. This is the third time AIFF has been awarded this recognition (2014 and 2015). “We are thrilled and honored to be a part of this prestigious list,” said Herskowitz.
The complete list of award-winning films follows:
JURIED AWARDS
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE América Special Jury Recognition: Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE EDITING Minding the Gap Special Jury Recognition: Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE Fort Maria Special Jury Recognition: Wild Honey BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE CINEMATOGRAPHY Fort Maria Special Jury Recognition: The Last Hot Lick BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT Commodity City Special Jury Recognition: The Last Honey Hunter BEST NARRATIVE SHORT So Much Yellow Special Jury Recognition: GameAUDIENCE AWARDS
[caption id="attachment_28065" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Director Alex Chu received the Varsity Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature for his film For Izzy. Photo by Darren Campbell/AIFF[/caption]
Varsity Audience Award: Narrative Feature:
For Izzy
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Director Aaron Kopptook home the Rogue Creamery Audience Award: Best Documentary Feature for his film Liyana. Photo by Darren Campbell/AIFF[/caption]
Rogue Creamery Audience Award: Feature Length Documentary:
Liyana and Skid Row Marathon (TIE)
Jim Teece Audience Award: Narrative Short:
Game
Audience Award: Documentary Short:
Little Potato
SPECIAL TRIBUTES
Rogue Awards: Chris Cooper and Lynn Shelton Pride Award: Zackary Drucker Indie Institutions: Milestone Films and International Documentary Association
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GENERAL MAGIC, Documentary on Most Influential Silicon Valley Company You’ve Never Heard Of to Premiere, at Tribeca Film Fest
The documentary film General Magic, looks at the rise and fall of the most influential Silicon Valley company you have never heard of, General Magic.
In the early 1990’s, a team of former Apple employees formed the company and took Silicon Valley by storm with their new project, the first handheld, wireless personal computer – the first smartphone. The company and the product were so ahead of their time, that it ultimately failed, and the company closed down. However, General Magic’s former employees have gone on to found eBay, Linkedin and Android, develop the technology that has lead to the iPhone and have become the tech innovators that now lead companies like Samsung, Apple and Facebook. Matthew Maude and Sarah Kerruish’s film show how this team has created a lasting impact of the on the world around us.
[caption id="attachment_28051" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
In 1992, Marc Porat holds up the design of what is now the IPhone in a scene from GENERAL MAGIC[/caption]
General Magic, directed by Matthew Maude and Sarah Kerruish, will World Premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival in the Spotlight Documentary section.
In 1990, a new company called General Magic, a spinoff from Apple, took Silicon Valley by storm. Rumors spread of its innovative new prototype destined to be the “next big thing.” Four years later, the company shipped its first product: a handheld, personal computer—which was essentially a smartphone, even down to the emojis, all the way back in 1994. However, the mid-’90s tech landscape wasn’t ready for an innovation so far ahead of its time—after all, the average consumer didn’t even have email and certainly was not prepared for 21st-century, anytime-anywhere communication. The product flopped, and General Magic shuttered.
General Magic – the documentary feature directed by Sarah Kerruish and Matt Maude tells the story about how great vision and epic failure changed the world as we now know it – from the smartphones that sit in our pockets to an array of technologies we now take for granted today.
Executive produced by Michael Stern, Reynold D’Silva and John Giannandrea, General Magic features members of the original Mac team and the creators of the iPhone, Android and eBay; designers, engineers and entrepreneurs who saw the future twenty years before it happened and help create the future we use today.
Described by Forbes as “the most important dead company in Silicon Valley” and combining rare archive footage with contemporary stories of the General Magicians today, this documentary tracks the progress of anytime, anywhere communication from a thing of sci-fi fiction to our modern day reality.
General Magic TRIBECA SCREENINGS
Fri. 4/20, 5:45 p.m., Cinepolis Chelsea 7- World Premiere
Sat. 4/21, 4 p.m., Cinepolis Chelsea 9
Sun. 4/22, 4 p.m., Cinepolis Chelsea 9
Thurs. 4/26, 5:45 p.m., Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11-3
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MEN DON’T CRY, THE FROG, TO BE FAR Win at 2018 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival [Complete List of Winners]
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Men Don’t Cry[/caption]
The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF) in New York City announced the winners of the Golden Apple Awards for the 15th edition of the festival, and presented the BHFF 2018 Jury Special Mention, as well as the BHFF 2018 Golden Apple Audience Award for Best Picture to MEN DON’T CRY by director Alen Drljević. In MEN DON’T CRY, twenty years after the conclusion of the Bosnian War, a group of Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian men meet to discuss their experiences and process the events that shaped their lives decades ago. MEN DON’T CRY embraces moral uncertainty and examines the effects of time on painful memories. It explores themes of ethnic conflict and the impact, both physical and emotional, that war leaves on its participants.
BHFF 2018 jury statement: “There is a part of social life around us that we have to make visible and which is difficult to make visible. The crisis of masculinity in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina is a topic that has only begun to be addressed and discussed, especially concerning veterans’ trauma and its war implications. MEN DON’T CRY makes a giant step in this direction.”
THE FROG, directed by Elmir Jukić, produced by Ademir Kenović, and starring Emir Hadžihafizbegović, won the BHFF 2018 Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Feature. In THE FROG, Zeko, a barber and a war veteran, attempts to reassemble the pieces of his life by reaching out to his brother Braco, who has been grappling with addiction, and his friend Švabo, a cab driver who spent the war years in Germany and is struggling with his own demons.
BHFF 2018 Jury statement: “The energy this film exudes and enthralls us with is masterfully nuanced in the rhythm of its narration, as well as in the subtle unfolding of characters that capture the spectator and trasfigure her through their life drama. Watching THE FROG engages the audience in a way that has a redemptive effect and results in deep affective bonds with the story and its protagonists.”
Emir Hadžihafizbegović won the BHFF 2018 Jury Award for Best Acting Performance for his role as Zeko in Elmir Jukić’s THE FROG.
BHFF 2018 jury statement: “The unanimously reached decision by the jury on this award is certainly a telltale sign of the force of Emir Hadžihafizbegović’s acting talent and his mastery of the acting craft. Emir Hadžihafizbegović in the role of Zeko in the film THE FROG brings us a luminously moving, darkly troubling and truly loveable character who makes us empathize with his life-story, predicaments, and uncompromising, even if unsettling, humanity.”
Samira Kameli and Sajra Subašić’s TO BE FAR won the BHFF 2018 Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Documentary. In TO BE FAR, the filmmakers attempt to document a refugee center in Bosnia. Denied entry, they instead film the center from afar, reflecting upon the lives of its residents, the services provided to them, and the painful circumstances that brought them to this place.
BHFF 2018 Jury statement: “Through an intriguing and novel anti-documentary perspective, TO BE FAR leaves us thinking ethically and politically about the lines of exclusion and segregation of refugees. It also poses the question of the brutalization of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian society that, despite its recent history of war and mass exile, no longer identifies with the plight of those who lost everything.”
Aleksandra Odić’s GREAT WALL OF CHINA won the BHFF 2018 Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Short Film. In GREAT WALL OF CHINA, the legacy of the conflicts of the 1990s lurks in the background of a family gathering in the Bosnian countryside, as experienced by Maja, a young girl. Maja’s life is upended by the arrival of Aunt Lilija, an impassioned young woman with artistic ambitions.
BHFF 2018 Jury statement: “GREAT WALL OF CHINA makes a deep impression with its poetry of the everyday, and its lyrical images of the lives of women of different generations. The gazes between the main protagonists reveal their complex, untold feelings in a way that is truly remarkable in a cinematic language.”
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THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER Wins Top Award at 2018 Cleveland International Film Festival [ Complete List of Winners]
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THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER[/caption]
After hosting crowds topping 100,000, the 42nd Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) announced the winners of the competitions and awards at the Closing Night Ceremony on Sunday, April 15, 2018. The Drummer and the Keeper, directed by Nick Kelly was awarded the top prize – the Audience Choice Award for Best Film.
The Drummer and the Keeper begins with a pantless man dragging a couch onto a beach. He douses it with gasoline and casually sets it on fire. His name is Gabriel, and he is a drummer for an up-and-coming rock band. His bandmates have had enough of his out-of-control antics, though. He’s constantly drunk, and the couch incident is just one of many. When Gabriel agrees to get help, it’s revealed he’s bipolar. His therapist prescribes medicine and enrolls him in treatment, which includes joining a soccer team with other mental health patients. He reluctantly shows up to practice, where the coach pushes him to befriend Christopher, a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome. Soon Gabriel can’t seem to get rid of Christopher. But as time goes by, Gabriel will discover Christopher is not just the only friend he really has, but also exactly the kind he needs. This funny, moving film examines an anomalous union that seems doomed from the start. However, their unlikely but beautiful friendship will give them both the pieces they’ve been missing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ExhyLIdEHs
The 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival will take place March 27 to April 7, 2019 at Tower City Cinemas.
Winners of 42nd Cleveland International Film Festival
Roxanne T. Mueller Audience Choice Award for Best Film Sponsored by the Callahan Foundation THE DRUMMER AND THE KEEPER, directed by Nick Kelly (Ireland) $15,000 cash prize ReelWomenDirect Award for Excellence in Directing by a Woman Presented with generous support from Deborah Bachman Ratner Dana Nachman (for PICK OF THE LITTER; USA) $10,000 cash prize George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Competition Presented with generous support from The George Gund Foundation MEN DON’T CRY, directed by Alen Drljević (Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany) $10,000 cash prize Nesnadny + Schwartz Portrait Documentary Competition MAY THE SCHWARTZ BE WITH YOU Director’s Award Presented with generous support from Nesnadny + Schwartz LOVE MEANS ZERO, directed by Jason Kohn (USA) $10,000 cash prize New Direction Competition Presented with generous support from CoverMyMeds QUALITY TIME, directed by Daan Bakker (Netherlands, Norway) $10,000 cash prize Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition Presented with generous support from The George Gund Foundation 6 WEEKS TO MOTHER’S DAY, directed by Marvin Blunte (USA, Thailand) $7,500 cash prize Global Health Competition Presented by: Cleveland Clinic Global Patient Services Cleveland Clinic Mikati Center for Liver Diseases Cleveland Clinic R.J. Fasenmyer Center for Clinical Immunology BURDEN OF GENIUS, directed by Tjardus Greidanus (USA) $7,500 cash prize American Independents Competition Presented with generous support from Mike and Nicki Cancelliere LIFE HACK, directed by Sloan Copeland (USA) $7,500 cash prize Local Heroes Competition Presented with generous support from Lauren Rich Fine and Gries Financial MANRY AT SEA ~ IN THE WAKE OF A DREAM, directed by Steve Wystrach (USA) $7,500 cash prize Music Movies Competition Presented with generous support from Jules and Fran Belkin IF I LEAVE HERE TOMORROW: A FILM ABOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD, directed by Stephen Kijak (USA) $7,500 cash prize Ad Hoc Docs Competition Presented with generous support from Anne E. Bloomberg BREAKING THE BEE, directed by Sam Rega (USA) $7,500 cash prize International Narrative Competition Presented with generous support from Tom Piraino and Barbara McWilliams EDIE, directed by Simon Hunter (United Kingdom) $7,500 cash prize FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Feature Film Presented with generous support from OverDrive SCIENCE FAIR, directed by Cristina Maria Costantini and Darren Foster (USA) $2,000 Cash Prize Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film Overall Sponsored by Jive City Recordings BAGHEERA, directed by Christopher Watson (India, United Kingdom) $1,000 Cash Prize Best Animated Short Award* Sponsored by Reminger Co., L.P.A. THE DRIVER IS RED, directed by Randall Christopher (USA) $1,000 cash prize Best Documentary Short Award* Sponsored by Jules and Fran Belkin PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE., directed by Rayka Zehtabchi (USA) $1,000 cash prize Best Live Action Short Award* Sponsored by Anne Bloomberg and Alan Gordon Lipson & Judy Harris SACRED HAIR, directed by Mario Morin (Canada) $1,000 cash prize FilmSlam Student Choice Award for Best Short Film Presented with generous support from OverDrive JOINT CUSTODY, directed by Carlus Fábrega (Spain) $1,000 Cash Prize *These award winners will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards®.
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SCARY MOTHER Wins Top Golden Gate Prize at 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival | Complete List of Winners
[caption id="attachment_24318" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Scary Mother[/caption]
This afternoon the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival announced the winners of the juried Golden Gate Award (GGA) competitions and awarded nearly $40,000 in prizes to emerging and established filmmakers. The jury awarded the Golden Gate prize and $10,000 cash prize to Ana Urushadze for Scary Mother “for its confident tone and unquestioning commitment to its fearless protagonist, a complicated artist caught between motherhood and the wilds of her own imagination.”
The SFFILM Golden Gate Awards have honored deserving filmmakers and their projects for over 60 years, bringing recognition for unique and innovative filmmaking to the Bay Area’s local and international audiences. Among the most significant awards for emerging global film artists in the United States, the Golden Gate Awards embody SFFILM’s commitment to global storytelling and independent filmmaking.
GOLDEN GATE NEW DIRECTORS AWARD (FICTION FEATURE)
The New Directors award is given to a debut feature by an international filmmaker whose work exhibits unique artistic sensibility or vision.
GGA New Directors Award winner: Scary Mother, Ana Urushadze (Georgia/Estonia)
MCBAINE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARD
Special Jury Mention, McBaine Documentary Feature: City of the Sun, Rati Oneli (Georgia/USA/Qatar/Netherlands)
The jury granted this mention to Oneli’s film “for its stunning use of cinematography and sound design that immerses us in a place that is at once stark and stirring.”
McBaine Documentary Feature Award Winner: The Distant Barking of Dogs, Simon Lereng Wilmont (Denmark/Sweden/Finland) – Receives $10,000 cash prize
The jury described the Feature Award winner as “Remarkable, exquisite and unforgettable.”
McBaine Bay Area Documentary Feature Award: The Judge, Erika Cohn (USA/Palestine) – Receives $5,000 cash prize
The jury applauded The Judge for “turning a lens on a charismatic and influential woman who is fighting for equality against all odds, and for its nuanced portrayal of a culture that is often misunderstood.”
GOLDEN GATE AWARDS FOR SHORT FILMS
Special Jury Mention, Narrative Short: Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month, Carlo Francisco Manatad (Philippines)
The jury noted: “Carlo Francisco Manatad’s impressive and rebellious movie, from the opening credits until the very end, explodes with the energy of a Molotov.”
Narrative Short Winner: Shadow Animals, Jerry Carlsson (Sweden) – Receives $2,000 cash prize
In a statement, the jury applauded Shadow Animals for “its masterful control of tone and pacing. Shot from the perspective of a young girl at a dinner party, Jerry Carlsson’s short strikes a delicate balance of dread and intrigue, delightfully incorporating surreal, beautiful dance while exploring group mentality anxieties and the potential of one outsider.”
Documentary Short Winner: Crisanto Street, Paloma Martinez (USA) – Receives $2,000 cash prize
The jury awarded this prize to Paloma Martinez’s film with a statement: “So often overlooked and avoided, the issue of the affordable home crisis gets a front row seat from an unexpected view. With a bold choice to arm an 8-year-old boy with a camera, Crisanto Street skillfully renders a touching and powerful portrait of a family trying to survive on the edges. Never sentimental, Martinez captures the family’s struggle with dignity and the ephemeral possibility of hope.”
Special Jury Mention, New Visions Short: Fair Grounds, Ameer Kazmi (USA/France/Germany)
The jury recognized the film for its “tenacious yet elegant abstract critique and exploration of youthful masculinity.”
New Visions Short Winner: .TV, G. Anthony Svatek (USA/Tuvalu/New Zealand/France) – Receives $2,000 cash prize
The Best New Visions Short Prize was awarded to G. Anthony Svatek’s consideration of Tuvalu’s highly desired national domain suffix. .TV for being “an illuminating and surprising account of the hidden economies of technology and the island nation’s eminent risk of extinction due to climate-change.”
Animated Short Winner: Icebergs, Elrini Vianelli (USA/Greece) – Receives $2,000 cash prize
The jury found Icebergs to be “like looking through the windows of a high-rise—Elrini Vianelli’s short weaves together the small, funny, mundane, and most important moments of its characters’ lives, presenting only snippets of what are full, complex people: the human condition in 10 minutes.”
Bay Area Short First Prize Winner: Weekends, Trevor Jimenez (USA) – Receives $2,000 cash prize
The jury acknowledged that “It is rare that a short film, let alone an animated short with no dialogue, has the depth and narrative arc of a feature. The back and forth travels of a young child between his divorced parents’ dwellings reminds us all of what constitutes family, and what makes a place, something we call home. Perhaps it is somewhere in between.”
Bay Area Short Second Prize Winner: 49 Mile Scenic Drive, Bradley Smith, Tyler McPherron (USA) – Receives $1,500 cash prize
In a statement, the jury noted that “Through thoughtful and captivating use of archival footage and humor, this charming short film tells the history of San Francisco’s iconic 49 Mile Scenic Drive signs and the journey to restore them to their perfectly designed glory.”
GOLDEN GATE AWARD FOR YOUTH WORK
Special Jury Mention: Elle, Florence Winter Hill (UK)
The jury granted this special mention to Florence Winter Hill’s short for “striking an emotional chord for all of us who had to face growing up and letting go of childhood dreams.”
Youth Works Prize: Goodbye Sam, Theo Taplitz (USA) – Receives $1,000 cash prize
The jury lauded “the playful quirkiness of Goodbye Sam for emotionally embracing the power of friendship, making us laugh and cry and wanting to see more of the oddball story of a boy and his pet bird.”
GOLDEN GATE AWARD FOR FAMILY FILM
Special Jury Mention: Bird Karma, William Salazar (USA)
The jury praised Bird Karma for “taking on astonishing depth with playfulness, simplicity, humor, and beauty.”
Family Film Prize Winner: Crisanto Street, Paloma Martinez (USA) – Receives $1,500 cash prize
The jury noted: “One of the rare films that truly shows us the world through a child’s eyes, this multilayered short doesn’t shy away from life’s struggles, but it demonstrates that joy and home can be found everywhere.”
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ROLL RED ROLL, Nancy Scwartzman’s Docu on Stubenville Sexual Assault Case, to World Premiere at 2018 Tribeca Film Fest [Trailer]
Nancy Schwartzman’s debut documentary feature Roll Red Roll, following a notorious high school sexual assault case in Steubenville, Ohio, will world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
Roll Red Roll unpacks toxic masculinity, gender-based violence, sports culture, and the larger systems of complicity at play. With a fast-paced narrative, the storytelling unfolds like a true-crime mystery.
Go behind the headlines of notorious high school sexual assault to witness the social media-fueled “boys will be boys” culture that let it happen. In small-town Ohio, at a pre-season football party, a horrible incident took place. What transpired would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. As amateur crime blogger Alex Goddard uncovers disturbing evidence on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, documenting the assault of a teenage girl by members of the beloved high school football team, questions linger around the collusion of teen and adult bystanders. Roll Red Roll explores the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders in this story, to unearth the attitudes at the core of their behavior. It is a cautionary tale of what can happen when adults look the other way and deny that rape culture exists. With unprecedented access to police documents, exhibits and evidence, the documentary feature unflinchingly asks: “why didn’t anyone stop it?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJze9-ZNIeU
TRIBECA SCREENINGS
Sun. 4/22, 8 p.m., Cinepolis Chelsea 7 – World Premiere Mon. 4/23, 8:30 p.m., Cinepolis Chelsea 3 Tues. 4/24, 6:15 p.m., Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11-1 Sat. 4/28, 5:30 p.m., Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11-4 Sun. 4/29, 5:30 p.m., Regal Cinemas Battery Park 11-4
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2nd SPECTRUM (LGBTQ+)Film Festival Returns to Martha’s Vineyard, Opens with Documentary THE LAVENDER SCARE | Complete Lineup
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THE LAVENDER SCARE[/caption]
The SPECTRUM (LGBTQ+) Film Festival returns for the 2nd year at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, from Thursday April 26 through Sunday, April 29, 2018. This year’s Opening Night Event features the new documentary THE LAVENDER SCARE which describes the federal witch hunt for gays and lesbians within all branches of the U.S. government during the McCarthy Era of the 1950s and 1960s. With little regard for its impact on people’s lives, the finger-pointing at gays and lesbians led to ruined careers, shattered families and even death by suicide. Producer/director Josh Howard is scheduled to appear and conduct a post-screening discussion about his film, followed in the Film Center lobby by a wine and dessert reception (sponsored by Tilton Rental).
In a major coup, this year’s festival will conclude on Sunday, April 29 with the full-day event, ANGELS IN AMERICA, The National Theatre’s production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama recorded last summer in London. Running over seven hours in two parts, this production is the same currently running on Broadway, starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane. Scheduled with a dinner break, patrons from the Cape will have the ability to watch the entire production and still make the last ferry to Woods Hole.
New this year are All-Access Passes as well as SPECTRUM festival t-shirts (for which all proceeds benefit MVRHS’s Gay-Straight Alliance to help fund the students’ trip to the Boston Youth Pride Event held at Boston City Hall on May 19). Also, this year, any student age 13 to 21 will receive free admission to any SPECTRUM event.
Live music will also be added to this year’s offering as part of the post-show reception following the Friday, April 27 screening of the feature BECKS. Local musicians Siren Mayhew and Sean McMahon will play original music while filmgoers participate in the beer and wine reception (sponsored by MVY Radio).
In an effort to help establish a new memorial scholarship for the late Tony Lombardi (who championed the first SPECTRUM Film Festival in 2017), all ticket purchases (both at the door and online) will include an additional one-dollar surcharge per ticket.
On Saturday, April 28 at 4:30pm, past and present members of the U.S. Military will receive free admission to TRANSMILITARY at the door (pending availability).
This year’s full schedule of events:
THURSDAY, APRIL 26
A MILLION HAPPY NOWS (2017) * PG-13
Making its Massachusetts premiere, A MILLION HAPPY NOWS, winner of multiple film festival awards for “Best First Narrative Feature,” tells the story of a veteran soap opera star who retires early in her career to a beach house with her partner/publicist. Her soon-revealed Early Onset Alzheimer’s strains her ability to interact with the public as well as the couple’s relationship – until they find the strength to redefine what they mean to each other.
BELIEVER (2018) * not rated
In one of its first screenings since this year’s Sundance Film Festival, BELIEVER, a new film by Don Argott, follows Dan Reynolds, lead singer of the American rock band Imagine Dragons, who grew up in the Mormon Church. When he noticed the suicide rate spiking amongst teens in his home state of Utah, Reynolds decided to take on the mission to explore how the Church treated its LGBTQ members.
THE LAVENDER SCARE (2017) * not rated
In its Massachusetts premiere, THE LAVENDER SCARE, narrated by Glenn Close, details the fear of gays and lesbians in the government during the time of the Cold War, delving into the careers ruined, the families torn apart and the brave few who rose to create the first Gay Rights movement in America.
FRIDAY, APRIL 27
LOVE, SIMON (2018) * PG-13
In the first Hollywood studio film centered on a gay teen protagonist, LOVE, SIMON is based on a best-selling YA novel, in which a high school boy keeps a huge secret from his family, his friends, and all of his classmates: he’s gay. When that secret is threatened, Simon must face everyone and come to terms with his identity.
BECKS (2017) * PG-13
After a breakup with her girlfriend, a Brooklyn musician (Tony Award-winner Lena Hall) moves back with her Midwestern mother (Oscar-winner Christine Lahti). As she navigates her hometown, playing for tips in a friend’s bar, an unexpected relationship begins to take shape.
SATURDAY, APRIL 28
TRANSMILITARY (2018) * not rated
Currently, over active 15,000 service members in the U.S Armed Forces identify themselves as transgendered. In one of its first screenings since its premiere at last month’s SXSW Festival, the award-winning documentary TRANSMILITARY follows the story of four outstanding soldiers as they contend with a bureaucracy of ignorance and rules that defy their understanding of Self.
DISOBEDIENCE (2018) * R
Directed by Sebastián Lelio (director of the Oscar-winning A FANTASTIC WOMAN) and based on the best-selling novel, DISOBEDIENCE follows a rabbi’s non-practicing, lesbian daughter (Rachel Weisz) as she returns to the world of the Orthodox Jewish community in London, only to find her former lover (Rachel McAdams) married to her cousin.
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
ANGELS IN AMERICA (2017) * not rated
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and considered to be one of the most important plays of the last hundred years, ANGELS IN AMERICA was captured live in performance on the London stage last summer.
Starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane, ANGELS IN AMERICA is a complex, symbolic look at homosexuality and AIDS in America in the 1980s.
Over seven-hours long, this epic event is performed in two parts and is the same production that is simultaneously playing on Broadway:
Part One: Millennium Approaches has a running time of 3 hours and 30 minutes (including two intermissions) and begins at 12:30pm.
There will be a 75-minute break for dinner from 4:00pm to 5:15pm.
Part Two: Perestroika has a running time of four hours (including two intermissions) and begins at 5:15pm, ending at 9:15pm – in time to allow Cape patrons to take the 9:30pm ferry from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole.