NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” is joining forces with the American Film Institute (AFI) for an innovative documentary film festival premiere featuring must-watch untold stories of American politics.
Politics-themed and issue-oriented documentaries are more popular than ever. The groundbreaking November”Meet the Press” Film Festival pairs the gravity of NBC News’ political reporting with AFI’s revered industry history, celebrating the 70th and 50th anniversaries, respectively, of both historical institutions. The commanding journalism of “Meet the Press” is a powerful fit with AFI, an institute established in 1967 after President Johnson’s mandate to bring “together leading artists of the film industry, outstanding educators and young men and women who wish to pursue the 20th-century art form as their life’s work.” It is also known for its acclaimed Washington, D.C.-area documentary festival, AFI DOCS.
WHAT: The First-Ever “Meet the Press” Film Festival in Collaboration With AFI will feature seven short-length documentary films produced with a diversity of perspectives.
WHEN: This November in Washington, D.C. Exact dates to be announced.
HOW: Submissions are now being accepted.
More information on this first-ever film festival will be announced in the coming weeks.Terry P.
VIMOOZ is for lovers of independent films + foreign film + documentary + film festivals. We love championing the little films.
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“Meet the Press” Launches Its First-Ever Documentary Film Festival in Honor of Its 70th Anniversary
NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” is joining forces with the American Film Institute (AFI) for an innovative documentary film festival premiere featuring must-watch untold stories of American politics.
Politics-themed and issue-oriented documentaries are more popular than ever. The groundbreaking November”Meet the Press” Film Festival pairs the gravity of NBC News’ political reporting with AFI’s revered industry history, celebrating the 70th and 50th anniversaries, respectively, of both historical institutions. The commanding journalism of “Meet the Press” is a powerful fit with AFI, an institute established in 1967 after President Johnson’s mandate to bring “together leading artists of the film industry, outstanding educators and young men and women who wish to pursue the 20th-century art form as their life’s work.” It is also known for its acclaimed Washington, D.C.-area documentary festival, AFI DOCS.
WHAT: The First-Ever “Meet the Press” Film Festival in Collaboration With AFI will feature seven short-length documentary films produced with a diversity of perspectives.
WHEN: This November in Washington, D.C. Exact dates to be announced.
HOW: Submissions are now being accepted.
More information on this first-ever film festival will be announced in the coming weeks.
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THY FATHER’S CHAIR, Vérité Documentary on Orthodox Jewish Twins Gets Fall Release Date | Trailer
Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora’s Thy Father’s Chair, a vérité documentary focused on Orthodox Jewish twins, who are extreme hoarders, is set for release in theaters in the Fall. The film opens Friday, October 13, 2017, at the Village East Cinema in New York City – a week before its Los Angeles theatrical premiere on Friday, October 20, at Laemmle’s Music Hall.
Thy Father’s Chair brings audiences into the world of Abraham and Shraga, Orthodox Jewish twins who live a secluded existence in their inherited Brooklyn home. Since the death of their parents, they have stopped throwing away anything, hosting stray cats and accumulating all sorts of stuff.
Enraged by the situation, the upstairs tenant threatens to stop paying them rent unless they proceed with a radical cleaning of their apartment, forcing Abraham and Shraga to open their doors to a specialized cleaning company.
What ensues seems, at first, a traumatic invasion of privacy, with the twins fighting to preserve their memories. But little by little, the relationship with the head of the cleaning company begins to deepen — and by painfully separating from most of their belongings, Abraham and Shraga discover a path to a new life.
By the end of the film, the twins are pushed to find new solutions to many unanswered questions: how free are you within the boundaries of your heritage? How do you begin to let go of the past and live your life in the present? How do you confront the loss of your parents and become responsible for yourself?
Thy Father’s Chair is the fourth collaboration between Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora. The previous films they made together, [S]comparse, Odysseus Gambit and Godka Cirka, played at Sundance and several top international film festival and won several awards. They are currently developing other nonfiction and fiction projects together.
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‘THE DIVINE ORDER’, ‘I AM EVIDENCE’ Among Winners of 2017 Traverse City Film Festival
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The Divine Order[/caption]
The 2017 Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), founded by Michael Moore in 2005, wrapped after screening 115 feature films and 66 shorts in its 13th year. For the first time in TCFF history, Moore was unable to attend the festival due to a conflict with his Broadway show “The Terms of My Surrender,” which opened Friday, July 28.
Audience Awards went to “The Divine Order” for Best Fiction Film and “I Am Evidence” for Best Documentary. The Founders Grand Prize went to filmmaker Raoul Peck for his two TCFF selections, “I Am Not Your Negro” and “The Young Karl Marx.”
The 14th Annual Traverse City Film Festival will take place July 31 to August 5, 2018.
2017 TCFF AWARD WINNERS
AUDIENCE AWARDS
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FICTION FILM “The Divine Order” by Petra Volpe Runner Up: “Truman” by Cesc Gay AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM “I Am Evidence” by Trish Adlesic, Geeta Gandbhir Runner Up: “Chasing Coral” by Jeff Orlowski AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT “Viola, Franca” by Marta Savina AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT “Knife Skills” by Thomas Lennon AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST KIDS SHORT “Hola Llamigo” by Charlie Parisi and Christina ChangFOUNDERS AWARDS
FOUNDERS GRAND PRIZE Raoul Peck for “I Am Not Your Negro” and “The Young Karl Marx” FOUNDERS AWARD FOR BEST US FICTION FILM “Mr. Roosevelt” by Noël Wells FOUNDERS AWARD FOR BEST FOREIGN FICTION FILM “The Divine Order” by Petra Volpe FOUNDERS AWARD FOR BEST US DOCUMENTARY FILM “500 Years” by Pamela Yates FOUNDERS AWARD FOR BEST FOREIGN DOCUMENTARY FILM “Cause of Death: Unknown” by Anniken Hoel ROGER EBERT PRIZE FOR BEST FILM BY A FIRST TIME FILMMAKER Pau Faus for “Ada for Mayor” SPECIAL FOUNDERS PRIZE FOR CITIZEN JOURNALISM Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently in “City of Ghosts” Nori Sharif in “Nowhere to Hide” Curt Guyette in “Here’s to Flint” Myron Dewey in “Awake, a Dream from Standing Rock” KNOWLEDGE IS POWER SPECIAL FOUNDERS SCIENCE PRIZE “AlphaGo” by Greg Kohs SPECIAL FOUNDERS PRIZE “Long Strange Trip” by Amir Bar-Lev BUZZ WILSON PRIZE FOR BEST AVANT GARDE FILM “Austerlitz” by Sergei Loznitsa STUART J. HOLLANDER PRIZE FOR BEST FAMILY FILM “Fanny’s Journey” by Lola DoillonSHORT FILM AWARD WINNERS
BEST FICTION SHORT FILM “Retouch” by Kaveh Mazaheri BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM “Ten Meter Tower” by Maximilien Van Aertryck and Axel Danielson LARS KELTO PRIZE FOR BEST COMEDY SHORT FILM “Hot Winter: A Film by Dick Pierre” by Jack Henry Robbins SPECIAL MENTION SHORT FILM “Skull + Bone” by Victoria Rivera SPECIAL MENTION SHORT FILM “It’s Alright” by Nina Knag
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Showtime to World Premiere ERIC CLAPTON: LIFE IN 12 BARS and LOVE MEANS ZERO at Toronto Film Festival
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Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars[/caption]
Showtime will world premiere two riveting films, “Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars” and “Love Means Zero” at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, directed by Oscar(R)-winner Lili Fini Zanuck (Rush, Driving Miss Daisy), is an unflinching and deeply personal journal into the life of legendary 18-time Grammy(R) winner Eric Clapton. Also debuting at TIFF is Love Means Zero, the story of the celebrated yet controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, directed and produced by Jason Kohn (Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)). Following their debuts at TIFF, both documentaries will premiere on Showtime in 2018.
These two films join the esteemed Showtime Documentary Films portfolio that focuses on the lives and legacies of culture-defining and at times controversial figures, including Whitney. “Can I Be Me”, The Putin Interviews, Becoming Cary Grant, the Emmy(R)-nominated Listen To Me Marlon, Risk, which takes viewers closer than they have ever been before to Julian Assange and tells the WikiLeaks story from the inside, and an upcoming documentary film on John Belushi’s life and career.
Told through his own words and songs, Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars is a moving and surprising film about one of the great artists of the modern era – a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and the only artist ever inducted three times into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Spanning more than half a century of legendary popular musical innovation, the film contextualizes Eric Clapton’s role in contemporary music and cultural history. This rare and deeply intimate film reflects on Clapton’s traumatic childhood, his long and difficult struggle with drugs and alcohol and the tragic loss of his son and how he always found his inner strength and healing in music. The documentary features extensive interviews with Clapton himself, along with his family, friends, musical collaborators, contemporaries and heroes – including late music icons B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison. The film is directed by Oscar-winner Lili Fini Zanuck with Passion Pictures’ John Battsek (One Day In September, Searching for Sugar Man) amongst the producers. BAFTA winner Chris King (Amy, Senna) serves as editor.
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Love Means Zero[/caption]
Love Means Zero presents an in-depth look at famed tennis coach Nick Bollettieri. At 85 years old, Bollettieri is a living legend. At his academy in Florida, he raised a generation of champions. Courier. Seles. Agassi. No other coach has matched his success, his dominance or his fame. His greatness, though, came at a terrible price. Broken marriages, financial ruin and perhaps most devastating, a fractured relationship with his surrogate son and most cherished student, Andre Agassi. When Agassi refused to participate in a documentary about his ex-coach, a simple biographical film turned into an investigation of a relationship lost. Love Means Zero not only tells the story of this celebrated yet controversial coach, but also explores the cost of his all-consuming drive for greatness. The film is directed and produced by Jason Kohn. Amanda Branson Gill, Anne White, Jill Mazursky and David Styne also serve as producers.
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Toronto International Film Festival Launches 2017 Midnight Madness Lineup, Opens with Joseph Kahn’s BODIED
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Bodied[/caption]
Midnight Madness has just launched its lineup for the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival, and opens with Joseph Kahn’s provocative World Premiere of Bodied. Midnight Madness also presents the World Premiere of The Disaster Artist, directed by James Franco and based on the making of Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult film, The Room. Kuplowsky also welcomes back several Festival alumni, including David Bruckner, Ryuhei Kitamura, S. Craig Zahler, Hélène Cattet, and Bruno Forzani. A new film directed by Canadian musician Seth A. Smith of Dog Day will also screen, as well as the Canadian Premiere of the acclaimed short-film Great Choice, which will precede the World Premiere of Brian Taylor’s Mom and Dad, starring Nicholas Cage and Selma Blair. Finally, the section will introduce two new feature filmmakers with Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge and the section’s Closing Night presentation of Sôichi Umezawa’s Vampire Clay.
“We can’t wait to unleash Peter on Midnight Madness audiences,” said TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey. “He’s tracked down 10 films that preserve the section’s legendary kick-out-the-jams approach, while still putting his own ruthless stamp on it. Just watch.”
“With my inaugural lineup, I’ve sought to assemble an eclectic group of films that expand and explode traditional definitions of genre and shock cinema,” said Peter Kuplowsky, Programmer for Midnight Madness. “Starting with Joseph Kahn’s proverbial mic-drop Bodied, a transgressive and self-critical battle rap satire produced by Eminem, and ricocheting between occult rituals and brutal brawls, the tropes across these 10 Midnights may be familiar, but the execution always innovates, be it in their distillation, fragmentation or subversion. Some will terrify, and others may mystify, but all will electrify audiences well past the witching hour.”
Under Kuplowsky’s new direction, Midnight Madness will continue to showcase the classically terrifying, as well as boundary-pushing, stylized and innovative films — wiring up and energizing its loyal late-night fang-club!
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 17, 2017.
Films screening as part of the Midnight Madness program include:
Midnight Madness Opening Film.
Bodied
Joseph Kahn, USA
World Premiere
Brawl in Cell Block 99
S. Craig Zahler, USA
North American Premiere
The Crescent
Seth A. Smith, Canada
World Premiere
The Disaster Artist
James Franco, USA
World Premiere
Downrange
Ryuhei Kitamura, USA
World Premiere
Great Choice
Robin Comisar, USA
Canadian Premiere
Let the Corpses Tan
Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani, Belgium/France
North American Premiere
Mom and Dad
Brian Taylor, USA
World Premiere
Revenge
Coralie Fargeat, France
World Premiere
The Ritual
David Bruckner, UK
World Premiere
Midnight Madness Closing Film.
Vampire Clay
Sôichi Umezawa, Japan
World Premiere
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Toronto International Film Festival Announces 2017 Documentary Program, Opens with GRACE JONES: BLOODLIGHT & BAMI
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Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami[/caption]
The Toronto International Film Festival’s 2017 documentary program presents a distinct collection of works from award-winning directors, and will open with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami, a film that captures the legendary performer on and off stage.
The lineup features celebrated filmmakers, including Morgan Spurlock, who reignites his battle with the food industry in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!; Brett Morgen, with his portrait of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; Greg Barker, who grants viewers unprecedented access into President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team in The Final Year; Frederick Wiseman, who takes us behind the scenes of a New York institution in Ex Libris – The New York Public Library; and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who follow three Hasidic Jews who attempt to enter the secular world in One of Us. The TIFF Docs Program is made possible through the generous sponsorship of A+E IndieFilms.
“Resistance is a key theme in this year’s documentaries,” said TIFF Docs Programmer Thom Powers. “We pay witness to rebels challenging the status quo in art, politics, sexuality, religion, fashion, sports and entertainment. They speak powerfully to our times as audiences seek inspirations for battling powerful and corrupt systems.”
The theme of resistance plays out in a diverse range of films, including Jed Rothstein’s The China Hustle, executive produced by Alex Gibney and Frank Marshall, which confronts a new era of Wall Street fraud; Matt Tyrnauer’s Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, which profiles the sexual taboo breaker Scotty Bowers; Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman’s Silas, which portrays Liberian activist Silas Siakor; and Erika Cohn’s The Judge, which follows the first female Shari’a judge, Kholoud Al-Faqih, practicing law in the West Bank.
We gain insights into high-profile figures in the worlds of entertainment and sports in films such as Chris Smith’s JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond – the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton, which examines Jim Carrey’s immersion into the role of Andy Kaufman; Lili Fini Zanuck’s Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars, which delivers the definitive biography of the rock legend; and Jason Kohn’s Love Means Zero, which investigates the controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri and his history with Andre Agassi.
Several films deepen our understanding of black cultural figures, including Sam Pollard’s Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me on the complex career of the multi-talented Rat Pack performer; Kate Novack’s The Gospel According to André on the trend-setting fashion writer André Leon Talley; and Sara Driver’s BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat on the formative years of the acclaimed artist.
TIFF Docs upholds its tradition of featuring films and filmmakers from around the world with films such as Violeta Ayala’s Cocaine Prison on the drug trade in Bolivia; Mila Turajlić’s The Other Side of Everything on the dissident activism of her Serbian mother; Hüseyin Tabak’s The Legend of the Ugly King on the Kurdish filmmaker Yilmaz Güney; Sabiha Sumar’s Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent on the politics of India and Pakistan; and Gustavo Salmerón’s Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle on his eccentric family in Spain. The TIFF Docs closing film is Emmanuel Gras’ Makala, which won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes’ Critics Week and portrays the heroic struggles of a subsistence laborer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7 to 17, 2017.
2017 TIFF Docs Program include:
Azmaish: A Journey through the Subcontinent Sabiha Sumar, Pakistan North American Premiere BOOM FOR REAL The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat Sara Driver, USA World Premiere The China Hustle Jed Rothstein, USA World Premiere Cocaine Prison Violeta Ayala, Australia/Bolivia/France/USA World Premiere Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars Lili Fini Zanuck, United Kingdom World Premiere Ex Libris – The New York Public Library Frederick Wiseman, USA North American Premiere The Final Year Greg Barker, USA World Premiere The Gospel According to André Kate Novack, USA World Premiere Documentary Program Opening Film. Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami Sophie Fiennes, United Kingdom/Ireland World Premiere JIM & ANDY: the Great Beyond – the story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman featuring a very special, contractually obligated mention of Tony Clifton Chris Smith, USA/Canada North American Premiere Jane Brett Morgen, USA World Premiere The Judge Erika Cohn, Palestine/USA World Premiere The Legend of the Ugly King Hüseyin Tabak, Germany/Austria World Premiere Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Gustavo Salmerón, Spain North American Premiere Love Means Zero Jason Kohn, USA World Premiere Documentary Program Closing Film. Makala Emmanuel Gras, France North American Premiere OF SHEEP AND MEN Karim Sayad, Switzerland/Qatar World Premiere One of Us Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, USA World Premiere The Other Side of Everything Mila Turajlić, Serbia/France/Qatar World Premiere Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me Sam Pollard, USA World Premiere Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood Matt Tyrnauer, USA World Premiere Silas Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman, Canada/South Africa/Kenya World Premiere Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Morgan Spurlock, USA World Premiere
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European Premiere of Wim Wenders’ SUBMERGENCE to Open San Sebastian Festival
The European premiere of Wim Wenders’ Submergence will open the 65th edition of the San Sebastian Festival on September 22, 2017. The film which will world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival stars Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy.
The story, shot in Berlin, Madrid, Toledo, different locations in France and Djibouti, was written by Erin Dignam (The Yellow Handkerchief, The Last Face) based on the famous novel of the same name by The Economist correspondent J.M. Ledgard (Giraffe). James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander embody a hydraulic engineer and a bio-mathematician who meet in a hotel on the French coast, where both are preparing their missions. While she works on a project of immersion in the Greenland Sea, he is taken hostage in Somalia.
Submergence is a love story that takes us into the extremely different worlds of our two protagonists, Danielle Flinders (Alicia Vikander) and James More (James McAvoy). They meet by chance in a remote hotel in Normandy where they both prepare for a dangerous mission. They fall in love almost against their will, but soon recognize in each other the love of their lives. When they have to separate, we find out that James works for the British Secret Service. He’s involved in a mission in Somalia to track down a source for suicide bombers infiltrating Europe. Danielle ‘Danny’ Flinders is a bio-mathematician working on a deep sea diving project to support her theory about the origin of life on our planet. Soon, they are worlds apart. James is taken hostage by Jihadist fighters and has no way of contacting Danny, and she has to go down to the bottom of the ocean in her submersible, not even knowing if James is still alive…
The German filmmaker, screenwriter and producer Wim Wenders (Düsseldorf, 1945) has worked during his career in both Europe and the United States, putting his name to some of the most relevant films in the last four decades, including Der Stand der Dinge (The State of Things, 1982), Golden Lion at Venice Festival; Paris, Texas (1984), screened at the San Sebastian Festival after receiving the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Festival; Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, 1987), winner of Best Director in Cannes; and the documentaries Buena Vista Social Club (1999), which garnered over a dozen awards at the Seattle, New York and Los Angeles festivals; Pina (2011), premiered at Berlin and presented in the Zabaltegi Pearls section in San Sebastian, or Salt of the Earth, co-helmed with Juliano Ribeiro Salgado (1914), Un Certain Regard Special Prize and Audience Award in San Sebastian. Founder member of the European Film Academy, in 2002 he chaired the San Sebastian Festival Jury, which awarded the Golden Shell to Los lunes al sol (Mondays in the Sun) by Fernando León de Aranoa.
Scottish actor James McAvoy (Glasgow, 1979) plays the leading part in The Last King of Scotland (Kevin Macdonald, 2006), Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007), The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (Ned Benson, 2014, selected for the Festival’s Pearls section) and Split (M. Night Shyamalan, 2016), in addition to embodying a young Charles Xavier in three films of the X-Men saga.
Swedish actor Alicia Vikander (Gothenburg, 1988), remarkable for her performances of Kitty in Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012), Queen Mathilde in En Kongelig Affære / A Royal Affair (Nikolaj Arcel, 2012) and Ex machina (Alex Garland, 2014), won the 2015 Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her part in The Danish Girl (Gerda Wegener) and will see her performance as Lara Croft take to the screen next year in the latest installment of Tomb Raider (Roar Uthaug, 2018).
The soundtrack is written by Fernando Velázquez (A Monster Calls, The Impossible), once again featuring the Basque National Symphony Orchestra.
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VIDEOS + PHOTOS: Dominican Republican Film WOODPECKERS Sets Release Date
Watch some video clips and photos from the Dominican film Woodpeckers (Carpinteros) directed by Jose Maria Cabral and set in the Dominican Republic’s Najayo Prison. The film which was an official selection at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival will open in theaters on Friday, September 15, 2017 in New York (AMC Empire 25) with a wider national release to follow.
Julián finds love and a reason for living in the last place imaginable: the Dominican Republic’s Najayo Prison. His romance, with fellow prisoner Yanelly, must defeat the distance that separates them by using a sign language created by the inmates in Najayo, called “Woodpecking,” enabling them to effectively communicate and develop personal and even intimate relationships without the knowledge of dozens of guards. Using real prison locations and non-actors throughout, WOODPECKERS is also based on real events.
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VIDEO: Watch New Clip from GOOK Featuring Comedian David So
Check out this brand new clip from GOOK, featuring comedian David So. In the scene, a group of female customers flirt with Daniel, played by David So, and receive the special manager discount.
GOOK directed by Justin Chon opens in Los Angeles August 18th and in NY and other cities on August 25th.
The film follows Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers that run their late father’s shoe store in a predominantly African American community of Los Angeles. These two brothers strike up a unique and unlikely friendship with an 11-year-old African American girl, Kamila. As Daniel dreams of becoming a recording artist and Eli struggles to keep the story afloat, racial tensions build to a breaking point in L.A. as the “infamous” L.A. Riots break out.
Gook Official trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_UxfY-wdaw
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Stony Brook Film Festival Announces 2017 Awards, Catherine Eaton’s THE SOUNDING Wins Best Film
The 22nd Stony Brook Film Festival ran July 20 to 29, and had the largest attendance in the history of the Festival. The Sounding directed by Catherine Eaton walked away with the Jury Award for Best Feature.
Alan Inkles, founder and director of the Stony Brook Film Festival said, “It truly was a magical year where almost every feature and shorts filmmaker attended their screenings to represent their films and host
Q & As. When we add in the sales agents and distributors that attended, we saw our Filmmaker Lounge humming with energy and interaction among filmmakers, talent and industry. As for the films we showed, the audience scores were the best in our 22 years. Great films, great guests and packed houses nightly. It’s what I envisioned for Stony Brook when we started this festival and it was certainly achieved this year.”
Award Winners of 2017 Stony Brook Film Festival
2017 Jury Award – Best Feature The Sounding United States – 93 min Directed by Catherine Eaton. Written by Bryan Delaney and Catherine Eaton. With Catherine Eaton, Teddy Sears, Harris Yulin, Frankie Faison and David Furr. Writer-Director-Actress Catherine Eaton gives a stunning performance as Liv, a mysterious woman residing on an island off the coast of Maine who has chosen to remain silent for years. When she suffers a terrible loss, Liv suddenly begins to speak as she weaves a language out of Shakespeare’s words. After a series of events result in her being committed to a psychiatric hospital, Liv becomes a full-blown rebel, fighting for both her voice and her freedom. A powerful, uplifting drama. Produced by Catherine Eaton, Caitlin Gold, Veronique Huyghebaert, Aliki Paraschis and Jessica Vale. Edited by Marco Perez. Director of Photography: David Kruta. From Corsetless Productions. 2017 Audience Choice – Best Feature (tie) Fanny’s Journey France, Belgium – 94 min Directed by Lola Doillon. Written by Fanny Ben-Ami, Lola Doillon, Anne Peyrègne. With Léonie Souchaud and Cécile De France. In French with subtitles In 1943, after avoiding the authorities with other Jewish children in France for three years, 13-year-old Fanny and her sisters are quickly sent to an Italian foster home. When the Nazis arrive in Italy, their caretakers plan an escape to Switzerland. Suddenly left on their own, eleven children do the impossible. Based on a true story, this moving tale of bravery, strength, and survival features exceptional performances by the young cast. Produced by Saga Blanchard, Marie de Lussigny. Edited by Valérie Deseine. Director of Photography: Pierre Cottereau. A David-Films, Scope Pictures, France 2 Cinéma, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, and Ce Qui Me Meut Motion Pictures production. From Menemsha Films. 2017 Audience Choice – Best Feature (tie) To the Edge of the Sky World Premiere – United States – 118 min Directed by Todd Wider and Jedd Wider. How far would you go to save your son’s life? To the Edge of the Sky follows four families as they fight the FDA to gain access to a potentially lifesaving drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a fatal disease their sons suffer from and the number one genetic killer of boys in the world. With a promising drug on the horizon, we witness the transformation of the mothers of four boys into “the rogue moms” as they become political activists and heroes during their righteous battle against time and the FDA. A challenging and uplifting documentary from Long Island brothers Todd and Jedd Wider (Client 9, God Knows Where I Am). Produced by Brian Ariotti. Edited by Mona Davis and Colin Nusbaum. Director of Photography: Gerardo Puglia. A Wider Film Projects film. 2017 Special Recognition by the Jury – Spirit of Independent Filmmaking Laura Gets a Cat United States – 83 min Written and Directed by Michael Ferrell. With Dana Brooke, Michael Ferrell, Jason Kravits (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Laura is a 30-something unemployed writer living in New York City and struggling with adulthood. She has a ‘weekend’ boyfriend she can’t commit to, friends who seem to have achieved their dreams, and a vivid imaginary life she uses to run away from reality. When she starts a new relationship with a coffee shop barista, real life proves too complicated and she tries to actually run away. Veteran stage actress Dana Brooke shines in this funny, fresh, poignant independent feature. Produced by Michael Ferrell, Chris Prine and Devin Sanchez. Edited by Chris Prine. Director of Photography: Paul Rondeau. From Living Boy Productions. 2017 Special Recognition by the Jury – Achievement in Social Impact Purple Dreams New York Premiere – United States – 72 min Directed by Joanne Hock. This inspirational documentary follows several students from the Northwest School of the Arts, in Charlotte, N.C., after it is chosen to be the first high school permitted to perform the musical The Color Purple. From auditions through opening night and beyond, the filmmakers follow these students as they pursue their dreams while struggling with homelessness, low-income neighborhoods, gang-related violence and single-parent households. A behind-the-scenes look at an amazing group of teachers and students who work relentlessly to put on a triumphant musical production that propels them into a world of opportunity they never expected. Produced by Robin Grey, Sara Patel. Edited by John Disher. Director of Photography: Joanne Hock. From GreyHawk Films. 2017 Jury Award – Best Short Across the Line World Premiere – Israel – 29 min In Arabic and Hebrew with subtitles A film by Nadav Shlomo Giladi A Jewish settler, hurrying home for Shabbat, encounters a stubborn Palestinian hitchhiker. 2017 Audience Choice Award – Best Short Just, Go! Latvia – 11 minutes A film by Pavels Gumennikovs In Latvian with subtitles A young man without legs chases down surprised purse snatchers for the girl he loves. Photo: July 29, 2017 Award winners at the Closing Night Awards reception, 22nd Annual Stony Brook Film Festival presented by Island Federal Credit Union L to R: Jury Award-Best Feature: The Sounding, Catherine Eaton, writer/director/actor/co-producer Audience Choice-Best Feature: To the Edge of the Sky, Todd and Jedd Wider, directors; (tie with Fanny’s Journey, director Lola Doillon, not pictured) Special Recognition by the Jury-Spirit of Independent Filmmaking: Laura Gets a Cat, Michael Ferrell, writer/director/actor/co-producer Special Recognition by the Jury-Achievement in Social Impact: Purple Dreams, Robin Grey, co-producer Jury Award-Best Short: Across the Line Nadav Shlomo Giladi Audience Choice Award-Best Short: Just, Go! Pavels Gumennikovs Photo credits: Nick A. Koridis for the Stony Brook Film Festival
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Peter Machen In Conversation with Filmmaker Doris Dörrie, “FUKUSHIMA, MON AMOUR” | Trailer
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Doris Dörrie[/caption]
Peter Machen spoke to leading German filmmaker Doris Dörrie about her remarkable film Fukushima, Mon Amour which screened at the Durban International Film Festival as part of the German Focus last week.
One of Germany’s leading filmmakers, Doris Dörrie has made several films set in Japan. Her latest film takes place in the evacuated zone of Fukushima where an older geisha has returned to her home in the company of a young German woman who has travelled to the area with a foreign aid organisation. Shot on site, in the aftermath of the nuclear meltdown and the 2011 tsunami that caused it, Fukushima, Mon Amour is remarkable for its fusion of fiction and reality and the way that it tenderly holds the one inside of the other.
I spoke to Dörrie’s about this beautifully judged film, beginning with her initial experience of visiting Fukushima after the meltdown. Dörrie, who has visited Japan many times and made several films in the country, felt a strong need to visit Fukushima in the wake of the devastating disaster. “I have so many friends there and I didn’t want to sit around and get all the information from the news. Everybody in Germany thought all of Japan was radioactively polluted and foreigners pretty much left Japan in those times and nobody wanted to go. So I figured, ‘well I should go’. So I did and I was very struck and overwhelmed by the enormity, the devastation, but also by how people tried to cope.”
“Back then refugees from Fukushima had just moved into these temporary housings and they were trying to come to grips with the fact that they had lost everything within 20 minutes. Which is a very basic human fear – to just lose everything in a moment.”
“And it reminded me so much of the experience my parent’s generation had in World War II. Both my parents lost their place to live and everything in Hanover because of the bombing. I didn’t really know whether I wanted to write about Fukushima or make a documentary about it but I knew that I wanted to talk about it. And then it took a long time to come up with the story. I went back so many times and tried to figure out whether it would be possible to shoot at all in that region because it was still ‘the zone’.”
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Fukushima, Mon Amour[/caption]
On January 1, 2016, the Japanese government decided to open the zone again because, says Dörrie, they did not want to pay the subsidies for the refugees. “People were being asked to move back, but there was nothing to move back to. So that became the nucleus of the film’s story – this old lady goes back to her destroyed house. And there’s nothing there. Nothing whatsoever. “
And was she concerned about the impact on her own long-term health and that of her crew?
“We shot in the former zone for six weeks and I was there for three months. But by then, we had done so much research. I had taken dust samples and I had gotten them analysed by the German Institute for Radioactivity and they had assured me again and again that it would be alright to take a crew there and spend several weeks there. I really tried very hard to be on the safe side because I didn’t want to take on the responsibility for the entire team. I couldn’t do that.”
“So we made very, very sure that it was going to be okay. We all wore dosimeters that keep collecting the accumulated radioactivity that you’re exposed to. And we sent them in after we got back to Germany and we were just lucky that the readings turned out to be totally okay. That was, of course, a bit of luck also. It’s of course not safe to dig in the ground, to sit under a tree, to eat berries. All of that is not safe, of course not.”
Talking about screenings of the film in Japan, Dörrie says that audiences were extremely emotional. “Everybody has a connection to Fukushima somehow. And people are so grateful to us – which really puts me to shame – but they are, because nobody ever shot a feature film in that region. Nobody. And that’s very, very touching to be thanked for. It is bizarre but sometimes it works that way – that foreigners can come in and they talk about traumas. Because they’re not affected by the trauma, sometimes it’s easier to come in from the outside and talk about these things.”
But while cultural distance has its advantages, there are always dangers to telling other people’s stories. Which is why Dörrie says that she always insists on having her perspective in films that deal with other cultures. “Because I wouldn’t dare talk about Japan from a Japanese viewpoint. So that’s why I have the young German in the film, who goes to Japan, who doesn’t know anything about it, who is a fool, the traditional fool, who is very innocent on one hand but also quite ignorant. And I need to have that perspective because that’s, of course, my perspective. As much as I read up and I do research, I’m still ignorant about a lot of things. Because you can never get the inside perspective on a country. So I need to have that perspective from the outside in the story itself.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RJga_xGoSY
via press release.
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for A LIFE IN WAVES, Documentary on Electronic Music Pioneer, Suzanne Ciani
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A LIFE IN WAVES[/caption]
A Life in Waves explores the life and innovations of composer and electronic music pioneer, Suzanne Ciani. Gunpowder & Sky will release the SXSW 2017 documentary on VOD nationwide August 4, 2017.
From her earliest days learning the piano, to her multi-million dollar advertising ventures, to her successes in the world of New Age music, to her recent re-connection with her beloved Buchla synthesizer, the film is a journey into Suzanne’s mind, offering a feminine glimpse into the often complicated world of electronic music.
Utilizing a wealth of archival footage and Suzanne’s endless catalog of music, A Life in Waves is a nostalgic, visually-compelling look at one woman’s journey, and the trials she overcame to succeed in a traditionally male-dominated art form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puLTePqBlQI