Sony Pictures has picked up first-time feature filmmaker Branden Kramer’s cyber-suspense thriller RATTER, starring Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”).
RATTER debuted in competition at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and will have its Los Angeles Premiere on Sunday, June 14, at 9:40pm PST in the Nightfall section of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Written and directed by Kramer, RATTER is based on the short film Webcam, which has been viewed more than six million times on Vimeo. Benson stars as Emma, a graduate student living alone in New York City. She is being watched by a “Ratter” who stalks her by hacking into all of her personal technology–laptop, cell phone, and other web connected devices–to record her most intimate moments. Eventually the video feeds aren’t enough and the stalker moves from the virtual to the physical – with disturbing consequences.
The film also stars Matt McGorry (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Rebecca Naomi Jones (The Switch).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4dNU6AQJUTerry P.
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Sony Pictures to Release Branden Kramer’s Cyber-Suspense Thriller RATTER | VIDEO
Sony Pictures has picked up first-time feature filmmaker Branden Kramer’s cyber-suspense thriller RATTER, starring Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”).
RATTER debuted in competition at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and will have its Los Angeles Premiere on Sunday, June 14, at 9:40pm PST in the Nightfall section of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Written and directed by Kramer, RATTER is based on the short film Webcam, which has been viewed more than six million times on Vimeo. Benson stars as Emma, a graduate student living alone in New York City. She is being watched by a “Ratter” who stalks her by hacking into all of her personal technology–laptop, cell phone, and other web connected devices–to record her most intimate moments. Eventually the video feeds aren’t enough and the stalker moves from the virtual to the physical – with disturbing consequences.
The film also stars Matt McGorry (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Rebecca Naomi Jones (The Switch).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4dNU6AQJU
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Terrence J, Draya Michele, Mack Wilds Attend DOPE LA, NYC Screenings
Screenings were held in New York City and LA for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival fave DOPE which opens nationwide on June 19.
Open Road Films hosted a special New York press screening of Sundance fave DOPE at AMC Loews 19 in Manhattan. Actor and recording artist Mack Wilds (pictured above)and television & radio personality Angela Yee hosted the screening.
Actor/tv personality Terrence J (pictured above) and lifestyle marketing specialist Miss Diddy hosted a private screening of DOPE at Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles.
Attendees included reality show personality Draya Michele.
DOPE is produced by Forest Whitaker, executive produced by Pharrell Williams, and co-executive produced by Sean Combs, and stars Shameik Moore, Kimberly Elise, Chanel Iman, Quincy Brown, Zoe Kravitz and A$AP Rocky.
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Watch TRAILER for Rose McGowan’s DAWN to Debut FREE on Youtube
Check out the new trailer to the critically acclaimed film which had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival followed by a successful theatrical run, the taut directorial debut from Rose McGowan, DAWN, which will debut June 21st only on Youtube.
Realizing that her passion lies in filmmaking, Rose McGowan’s breakthrough directorial debut, DAWN, is a disturbing tale of a young girl’s budding sexuality and one’s desire to experience the unknown. Dawn (Tara Barr) is a quiet young teenager living in Kennedy era America who longs for something or someone to free her from her sheltered life. When she strikes up an innocent flirtation with the boy who works at her local gas station (Reiley McClendon), she thinks that he is perhaps the answer to her teenage dreams. Though when she invites the boy and his friends into her otherwise cloistered world, she gets a lot more than she bargained for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yT4Qk3vbfA&feature=youtu.be
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Watch Red Band TRAILER for THE OVERNIGHT Starring Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman
THE OVERNIGHT directed by Patrick Brice and starring Taylor Schilling, Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman, released a new red band trailer. The Overnight premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and will be released by The Orchard on June 19, 2015.
Writer/director Patrick Brice’s second feature is described as a painfully funny take on thirty something sexual frustration and parenthood.
Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, have recently moved to Los Angeles’ Eastside from Seattle. Feeling lost in a new city, they are desperate to find their first new friends. After a chance meeting with Kurt at the neighborhood park, they gladly agree to join family pizza night at the home. But as it gets later and the kids go to bed, the family “playdate” becomes increasingly more revealing and bizarre as the couples begin to open up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96fX_tk9Kgw
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Watch Official TRAILER for Documentary The Babushkas of Chernobyl
The official trailer was released today for the documentary The Babushkas of Chernobyl, directed by Holly Morris and Anne Bogart, and World Premiering at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.
For nearly 30 years a community of unlikely heroines have lived in Chernobyl’s post-nuclear disaster “dead zone.” Stylish and stubborn, these fascinating women have survived, and even thrived, on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They arethe last survivors of a community who refused to leave their ancestral homes after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. But the babushkas aren’t the only risk-takers: scientists, bureaucrats and even young men and women called “Stalkers” (who break in illegally to pursue their video game-inspired fantasies) explore the dystopian Zone and seek out its radioactive grandmas. First-time feature documentary filmmakers Holly Morris and Anne Bogart’s portrait of a community tells a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s own destiny and the subjective nature of risk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5pLPUH5eDs&feature=youtu.be
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Group Calls for Boycott of 2015 London Israeli Film and Television Festival
The UK Guardian newspaper has published a letter from a group of “artists, producers, and concerned citizens” calling for the boycott of the 2015 London Israeli Film and Television Festival.
In the letter, the group directs disappointment at the cinemas and BAFTA saying, “We, the below listed artists, producers, and concerned citizens, are disappointed and saddened to see that Curzon, Odeon, Bafta and other cinemas are hosting the London Israeli Film and Television Festival.”
The letter goes on to say, “By hosting it, these cinemas are ignoring the 2004 call by Palestinian civil society for sanctions against Israel until Israel abides by international law and ends its illegal displacement of Palestinians, discrimination against them, and occupation of their land.”
The group denied that the boycott is directed at the filmmakers, saying “This is not a request to refuse to show films by individual film-makers, but to reject the involvement and financial support of the Israeli state. We call on these cinemas to stand with the oppressed Palestinian people and to take no part in presenting the festival.”
The group includes:
Saleh Bakri Actor
Frank Barat Activist
Leah Borromeo Film-maker
John Brissenden University lecturer
Brad Butler Artist
Sophie Carapetian Artist
Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso Performer
Tania El Khoury Artist
Gareth Evans Curator
Jordan Flaherty Director
Mahdi Fleifel Film-maker
Ramzi Haddad Producer
Umama Hamido Artist
Doug Holton Theatre maker
Annemarie Jacir Director
Ewa Jasiewicz Producer
Aki Kaurismäki Director
Sharon Kivland Artist, educator
Peter Kosminsky Director
Paul Laverty Screenwriter
Mike Leigh Director
Ken Loach Director
Miriam Margolyes Actress
Serenella Martufi Artist
Karen Mizra Film-maker
Jenny Morgan Documentary film-maker
Mira Nair Director
Rebecca O’Brien Producer
Monika Pampus Teacher
Miranda Pennell Film-maker
Agueda Perucho Film editor
John Pilger Film-maker
Sebastian Rex Writer
Abir Saksouk Architect
Petra Serhal Artist
Souheil Sleiman Sculptor
Stanley Schtinter Film-maker
Hind Shoufani Director
John Smith Film-maker
Paul Stroud Composer
SERET – London Israeli Film and Television Festival will be showcasing a program of feature films, shorts, documentaries and TV series, created by Israel’s most talented film and television makers, with many enjoying their UK premieres, from June 11-21, 2015. See the lineup on the festival’s Facebook page.
Pictured above: APPLES FROM THE DESERT – תפוחים מן המדבר playing at the 2015 SERET – London Israeli Film and Television Festival.
Updated: 6/12/15.
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2015 PBS Online Film Festival to Feature 25 Independent Short Films
PBS announced that the Webby Award-nominated PBS Online Film Festival will return for a fourth year June 15 – July 17, 2015, and will feature 25 short-form independent films. The PBS Online Film Festival showcases powerful and engaging stories from filmmakers across the country.
“PBS, and its member stations, prides itself as the home for independent film,” said Ira Rubenstein, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS Digital. “With the Online Film Festival, and the early viewing access we’re providing to millions of Roku customers, PBS and its member stations have the opportunity to bring unique, high-quality independent film to a highly engaged, digitally savvy audience.”
Short films featured in the 2015 PBS Online Film Festival include:
Alaska Public Media
“I Am a Fly Fisher”
After surviving cancer, Pudge Kleinkauf decided to spend her life doing what she loves: fly fishing.
“I Am an Alaska Native Dancer”
Follow Haliehana Stepetin, a master Alaska Native dancer born in Akutan, AK.
CAAM
“Vimana”
In the year 2021, India is on the verge of colonizing a new homeworld, but their advance team of astronauts remains suspended above the planet caring for their ailing captain and become the only hope for a fresh start.
CET/Think TV
“Sinner Victim Saint”
A newlywed husband who has recently lost his wife in a tragic car accident experiences a dark turn of events that teaches him the power of sacrifice.
“To Kill or Not to Kill”
A romantic comedy screenwriter needs to deliver a dark thriller if she wants to keep her job.
KLRU-TV Austin PBS
“Once Again”
After 20 years, filmmaker John Moore uses home movies, animation, and live action footage to recall and recreate his childhood struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
“Ex-Votos”
A helpless mother takes her ill daughter on a pilgrimage to the Huichol Mountains for the festival of Saint Francis.
“Sugarless Tea”
Through humble restraint, an Indian man strives to achieve his goal of seeing his twin brother after fifty four years of separation.
KQED (Film School Shorts)
“Banana Trip”
Three South Korean college boys head to Florida for spring break.
“11-Minute Mile”
An arrogant day-trader is delayed at an airport during the Boston Marathon bombings.
Latino Public Broadcasting
“Migrant Heroes”
An indigenous Harvard grad pioneers Spanish- and Mixtec-language radio programming in the U.S.
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
“#TheFutureisCrowdFunded”
A couple’s relationship is in jeopardy due to a successful crowdfunded venture.
“Disorder”
A young man wakes up only to find his condition has gotten the best of him. Again.
NBPC and Film Independent’s Project Involve
“Counter”
Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin spends a day in a Southern town’s diner right before a march with Dr. King.
PIC
“The Fishing Club”
One of Hawai?i’s last pristine shorelines is about to be turned into a large resort, and group of close friends, The Fishing Club, are determined to stop it.
POV
“Good Soil”
Against the Garzweiler II coal pit, Brothers Helmut and Joachim Meier run the nursery they built 30 years ago until the very end.
“20/Nothing”
This experimental film takes an in-depth look at a life with no depth perception as it follows Evan Smith, a man who lost his left eye many years ago.
StoryCorps and POV
“The Last Viewing”
Allen Hoe tells the story of a chance encounter with a stranger who knew his son, Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, who died in Iraq.
Twin Cities Public Television
“Great Lakes Aurora Hunters”
Follow a group of photographers as they attempt to capture the elusive Northern Lights.
“Seed Art”
Take a peek behind-the-scenes at the Minnesota State Fair to see how intricate seed art is made.
UNC-TV
“Un Buen Carnicero”
An immigrant butcher reveals how freedom is tied to convenience on the eve of July 4th.
“Kilroy was Here”
A WWII pilot hanging helplessly from his tangled parachute is discovered by orphaned children.
“Helpless”
Leah and Chayse confess their true feelings in the school library while an unknown malice lurks nearby.
Vision Maker Media
“Isabelle’s Garden”
“Isabelle’s Garden” is an uplifting story of a community coming together in reciprocity, through the hopes and dreams of a young, Choctaw girl and her garden.
Vermont PBS
“11 Paper Place”
A love story about two sheets of paper who meet in a recycle bin.
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LA Premiere of DOPE at 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival
The official Los Angeles premiere of the film DOPE took place on Monday night at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live as a pre-festival screening at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.
EXCLUSIVE – Co-Executive Producer Sean Combs and Executive Producer Pharrell Williams seen at Open Road Films Los Angeles Premiere of “Dope” in partnership with the LA Film Fest on Monday, June 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Open Road Films/AP Images)
Cast members in attendance included Shameik Moore, Kiersey Clemons, Kimberly Elise, Quincy Brown, Chanel Iman, A$AP Rocky, Tyga, Tony Revolori, Blake Anderson, and Kap G. Also in attendance was director/writer Rick Famuyiwa, producers Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi, executive producer Pharrell Williams, co-executive producer Sean Combs and co-producer Mimi Valdes.
EXCLUSIVE – A$AP Rocky seen at Open Road Films Los Angeles Premiere of “Dope” in partnership with the LA Film Fest on Monday, June 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Open Road Films/AP Images)
DOPE premieres nationwide on June 19.
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SWEATY BETTY Wins Top Awards at 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival
Joseph Frank and Zachary Reed won the Best Feature Film award, as well as the Grand Chameleon Award for Sweaty Betty (pictured above) at the 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival which wrapped up on Sunday with a gala evening at new BFF venue, the Wythe Hotel. Alison Bagnall’s Funny Bunny nabbed two awards, best actor for Olly Alexander (shared with Ágúst Örn B. Wigum for Whale Valley) and Best Editing, for Kentucker Audley, David Barker, and Caleb Johnson.
Wildlike nabbed three awards, including Best Actor (female) for Ella Purnell, Best Screenplay for director Frank Hall Green and Best Producer for Julie Christeas, Green, Joseph Stephans, and Schuyler Weiss while world premiere New York City film But Not For Me nabbed the Audience Award for Best Feature Narrative, as well as the Best Original Score award for Rafael Leloup with Ryan Carmichael, Marcus Carl Franklin, Quazzy Faffle and Elena Urioste.
Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli’s Frame by Frame nabbed the festival’s Spirit Award for documentary and shared the Audience Award with Neal Broffman’s film Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi.
“We’re so pleased with this year’s festival,” said Director of Programming Bryce J. Renninger. “The films, filmmakers, audiences and sponsors all truly exemplify the diversity and spirit of Brooklyn and we look forward to the BFF continuing to be a vibrant part of Brooklyn’s cultural landscape.”
This year we brought more filmmakers with their first or second film to New York audiences than ever before. We staged the festival in all new venues and neighborhoods, and it proved to be a great success,” said Marco Ursino, BFF’s Executive Director. “After 18 years, the festival feels as fresh as ever.”
This year’s event screened 108 features and shorts from 26 countries and over 70 filmmakers attended, performing Q&A sessions after their screenings, supporting the work of other artists, and attending the festival’s various panels and parties.
Complete list of Winners:
GRAND CHAMELEON AWARD
Best Feature Film: Joseph Frank and Zachary Reed for Sweaty Betty
BEST IN CATEGORY
Best Animation: Sol Friedman for Day 40
Best Experimental film: Clayton Allis & Alfie Lee for In The Future Love Will Also
Best Short Subject: Bartek Konopka for From Bed Thou Arose
Best Short Documentary: Danya Abt for Eric, Winter To Spring
Best Documentary: Florian Schewe and Katharina Von Schroeder for We Were Rebels
Best Feature Film: Joseph Frank and Zachary Reed for Sweaty Betty
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award in the Animation Category: Bob Blevins & Bradly Werley for T.P.
Audience Award in the Experimental Film Category: Clayton Allis & Alfie Lee for In the Future Love Will Also
Audience Award in the Narrative Short Category: Daisy Zhou for How to Be a Black Panther
Audience Award in the Short Documentary Category: Sean Ryon and Lea Scruggs for Born Into This
Audience Award in the Documentary Category (tie): Neal Broffman for Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi and Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli for Frame by Frame
Audience Award in the Feature Length Narrative Category: Ryan Carmichael for But Not for Me
SPIRIT AWARDS | Festival’s Favorite
Spirit Award in the Narrative Short Category: Graham Chychele Waterston for And It Was Good
Spirit Award in the Exp. Film Category: Janna Kyllästinen & Anne-Katrine Hansen for Division Avenue
Spirit Award in the Short Doc Category: Dir: Elizabeth Lo & Melissa Langer for Treasure Island
Spirit Award in the Documentary Category: Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli for Frame by Frame
Spirit Award in the Animation Category: Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano for Love in the Time of March Madness
Spirit Award in the Feature Category: Vinko Moderndorfer for Inferno
Best Brooklyn Project: Harvey Mitkas for Devil Town
CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT
Best Actor (male): Ágúst Örn B. Wigum for Whale Valley and Olly Alexander for Funny Bunny
Best Actor (female): Ella Purnell for Wildlike
Original Score: Rafael Leloup with Ryan Carmichael, Marcus Carl Franklin Quazzy Faffle and Elena Urioste for But Not for Me
Best Editing Award: Kentucker Audley, David Barker, and Caleb Johnson for Funny Bunny
Best Cinematography Award: Robert Machoian for God Bless the Child
Best Screenplay Award: Frank Hall Green for Wildlike
Best Producer Award: Julie Christeas, Frank Hall Green, Joseph Stephans, and Schuyler Weiss for Wildlike
Best New Director Award: Robert Gregson for The Refrigerator
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Clean Energy Documentary CATCHING THE SUN to World Premiere at LA Film Festival | TRAILER
The documentary CATCHING THE SUN, directed by Shalini Kantayya, which explores the global economic race to lead the the clean energy future, will World Premiere in Documentary Competition at the 2015 LA Film Festival.
Director Kantayya uses interwoven character dramas spanning the US and China to tell the story of the global energy transition from the perspective of workers and entrepreneurs building solutions to income inequality and climate change with their own hands.
Catching the Sun is anchored on the hope and heartbreak of unemployed American workers seeking jobs in the solar industry. An unlikely ensemble of characters contrast with preconceived notions about who is at the forefront of a transition to clean energy: Eddie Wiltz, a college dropout with few job opportunities who seeks training as a solar installer; Debbie Dooley, a Green Tea Party activist who takes on Georgia’s utility monopoly; Van Jones, a Bay Area activist who goes to Washington to elevate the national conversation on green jobs and implement policy, and; Wally Jiang, an ambitious Chinese CEO pursuing global markets in this rapidly growing industry.
“I set out to do a small film about American workers, and ended up telling a global story unfolding in real time,” says director Kantayya. “The story took me through innumerable twists and turns as I tried to understand the larger global economics that impact whether American workers get jobs in the clean-tech industries of the future. Catching the Sun is a global documentary and reflects my point of view as a global citizen.”
With countries like China investing in innovative technologies and capitalizing on this trillion-dollar opportunity, the documentary has already caught the attention of government officials and leaders in the industry. Kantayya hopes the film will serve as the catalyst to propel America as frontrunner in this industrial race.
Director Kantayya adds, “The oil economy has created monopolies and concentrated wealth and power in the hands of the few. I was fascinated by the idea that solar power could democratize and decentralize energy in a way that rebuilds the ladder of economic opportunity in the U.S.”
The film’s World Premiere will take place on Thursday, June 11, 2015 at the Regal Cinemas LA Live (1000 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FzqgS-M5Eo
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Restored THE THIRD MAN Starring Orson Welles to Get Two Week Theater Run |TRAILER
Carol Reed’s Film Noir masterpiece THE THIRD MAN (1949), starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles, will run at Film Forum from Friday, June 26 through Thursday, July 9 (two weeks), in a new 4K restoration – its first major restoration ever.
In rubble-strewn postwar Vienna, pulp Western writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives to meet up with his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to find that he’s dead — or is he? As the supremely naïve Cotten descends through the levels of deception, and discovers his friend’s corruption, the moral choices loom. A triumph of atmosphere — with its Vienna locations (including the gigantic Riesenrad Ferris Wheel and the dripping sewers), its tilted camera angles, shadows, and unforgettable zither theme — and with its stars in perhaps their most iconic roles: bereted Trevor Howard at his most Britishly military; Alida Valli, truly enigmatic and Garboesque; and Welles, arriving in one of the greatest star entrances ever (he added the famous “cuckoo clock” speech to Graham Greene’s original script); and topped by its legendary, almost endlessly drawn-out final shot.
A rare collaboration of legendary producers Alexander Korda and David O. Selznick, THE THIRD MAN was Reed’s second collaboration with novelist/screenwriter Greene. An instant critical and commercial sensation, it won the Palme D’Or at Cannes, the British Film Academy’s Best British Film award, and three Oscar nominations: for director Reed, editor Oswald Hafenrichter, and cinematographer Krasker, with a win for the latter’s expressionist, now iconic b&w cinematography. Anton Karas’ haunting “Third Man Theme,” performed by the composer on a zither, was a worldwide hit.
THE THIRD MAN remains the only movie on both the American Film Institute and British Film Institute Top 100 lists of, respectively, the greatest American and British films of all time (the Brits named it their Number One), as well as being as well as being named The Greatest Foreign Film of All Time… by the Japanese.
The award-winning team at Deluxe Restoration carried out the new 4K digital restoration of THE THIRD MAN on behalf of Studiocanal. Following rigorous comparison of different available elements, the 4K scan was done from a fine grain master positive struck from the original camera negative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QWLAndD1E
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Official Poster and Watch Trailer for UNEXPECTED, in Theaters July 24
Here is the poster and trailer for UNEXPECTED, the debut pic from writer-director Kris Swanberg that premiered in the U.S. Dramatic competition section at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film is executive produced by Peter Gilbert (Hoop Dreams) and Chris Webber. UNEXPECTED is in theaters and on demand July 24, 2015.
Samantha Abbott (Cobie Smulders), is a dedicated and passionate teacher at an inner-city Chicago high school. Just as she is coming to terms with her school closing, Samantha faces some life-changing and unexpected news: she is pregnant. After breaking the news to her supportive live-in boyfriend John (Anders Holm) and opinionated mother (Elizabeth McGovern), Samantha learns that one of her most promising students, Jasmine (newcomer Gail Bean), has landed in a similar but very different situation. As the women navigate their ambitions for the future, whether tackling the painfully hilarious realities of pregnancy or challenging each other to think beyond motherhood, Samantha and Jasmine forge an unlikely friendship that will challenge their perspectives and leave a lasting impact on one another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ANgqpiIzU