Nazif Mujic in “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”[/caption]
Bosnian actor Nazif Mujic, winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actor at 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, for his performance in “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker” passed away on February 18, 2018. He was 48.
The Berlin International Film Festival issued a statement:
Berlinale Mourns the Loss of Nazif Mujić
The Berlin International Film Festival was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Nazif Mujić, who passed away on February 18, 2018.
In 2013, Nazif Mujić was a guest of the Berlinale Competition with Danis Tanović’s documentary drama An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, in which he re-enacts an episode from his own life as scrap collector in Bosnia and Herzegovina together with his family. Nazif Mujić was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtFrHUktgP8Film Festivals
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RIP: Berlinale Mourns the Loss of Silver Bear Award-Winning Bosnian Actor Nazif Mujic
[caption id="attachment_27121" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Nazif Mujic in “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”[/caption]
Bosnian actor Nazif Mujic, winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actor at 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, for his performance in “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker” passed away on February 18, 2018. He was 48.
The Berlin International Film Festival issued a statement:
Berlinale Mourns the Loss of Nazif Mujić
The Berlin International Film Festival was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Nazif Mujić, who passed away on February 18, 2018.
In 2013, Nazif Mujić was a guest of the Berlinale Competition with Danis Tanović’s documentary drama An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, in which he re-enacts an episode from his own life as scrap collector in Bosnia and Herzegovina together with his family. Nazif Mujić was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtFrHUktgP8
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53rd Karlovy Vary IFF to Honor Austin Film Society Founded by Richard Linklater with Tribute
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Richard Linklater[/caption]
The 53rd Karlovy Vary IFF will dedicate a special section to the Austin Film Society, which was founded in 1985 by Richard Linklater, who will be among guests of the program focusing on filmmakers from Texas. AFS began as a film club that attracted students, artists and cinema die-hards which quickly grew into an institution supporting film culture and film production in a vibrant and growing Texas film community.
Founder and Artistic Director Richard Linklater commented on the Karlovy Vary honor with the following: “I’m so proud that AFS is receiving this incredible honor from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. KVIFF is fully committed to the discovery of new voices. It’s deeply humbling that they’ve chosen to tribute AFS by shining a light on the community of independent artists that we’ve worked so hard to nurture. With this series of films, KVIFF celebrates creativity and uniqueness of vision, which have been the only consistent themes in the many wonderful films that have come out of Texas over the past 40 years.”
Made in Texas: Tribute to Austin Film Society will present nine feature-length films and two programs of short films. Slacker, the iconic first feature of the Austin Film Society’s founder Richard Linklater, takes us to roam around Austin’s streets during an ordinary hot Texas day, meeting one-of-a-kind locals and eccentrics. Contemporary western action El Mariachi, the debut feature by Robert Rodriguez, tells the story of a kind-hearted musician who accidentally gets entangled in a web of violence.
Offbeat indie The Slow Business of Going by Greek writer-director Athina Rachel Tsangari showcases a more experimental side of film production coming from Austin. The documentary scene will be represented by Laura Dunn’s The Unforeseen, a striking, deeply poetic take on the clash between greedy developers and the local community defending the environment of the recreational area in Barton Springs.
Among the recent films from Texas, the festival will show Take Shelter, the award-winning psychological thriller of Cannes favourite Jeff Nichols, David Zellner’s minimalistic drama Kid-Thing, Bob Byington’s witty comedy Somebody Up There Likes Me and Andrew Bujalski’s retro stylised drama Computer Chess, set in a software programmers’ community, as well as a program of contemporary short films by notable up-and-coming Texas filmmakers.
The section will also include Last Night at the Alamo directed by a pioneer of Texas independent film scene, Eagle Pennell, and shot two years before the foundation of the Austin Film Society. Other early works will include a program of six shorts originally curated by Jonathan Demme as a snapshot of the punk and new wave scenes of Austin in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Made in Texas: Tribute to Austin Film Society
Last Night at the Alamo (Eagle Pennell, 1983) Slacker (Richard Linklater, 1991) El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez, 1992) The Slow Business of Going (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2000) The Unforeseen (Laura Dunn, 2007) Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols, 2011) Kid-Thing (David Zellner, 2012) Somebody Up There Likes Me (Bob Byington, 2012) Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski, 2013) Jonathan Demme Presents: Made in Texas (program of six short films from 1980s) Program of recent short films from Texas
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“The War Has Ended” and “Tropical Memories” Win Prizes at the 2018 Berlinale Co-Production Market
Three monetary prizes were awarded to selected narrative film projects at the Berlinale Co-Production Market which was held from February 17 to 21, 2018.
The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, endowed with 20,000 euros, was presented on Sunday to the project The War Has Ended, represented by the producers from Madants, Poland, Match Factory Productions, Germany and Transfax Film Productions, Israel. The prize money is intended as a project development grant from the European film subsidy organization Eurimages. The first Eurimages Co-Production Development Award in Berlin in 2015 went to the project 3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon), directed by Emily Atef, and the resulting completed film is celebrating its premiere at this year’s festival in Competition.
The VFF – (Film and Television Producers Rights Association) from Munich awarded its VFF Talent Highlight Award, endowed with 10,000 euros, to the project Tropical Memories (dir: Shipei Wen), presented at the Co-Production Market by producer Jing Wang from the People’s Republic of China. Each year since 2004, the VFF has honored a promising project by up-and-coming filmmakers from the “Talent Project Market”, organised by the Berlinale Co-Production Market in cooperation with Berlinale Talents. This year, producers Maya Fischer from Israel, and Charlotte de La Gournerie from Denmark were also nominated. They pitched their projects to participants of the Berlinale Co-Production Market and each received a nomination prize of 1,000 euros.
The ARTE International Prize this year also goes to the project The War Has Ended by director Hagar Ben Asher. ARTE bestows the 6,000 euro prize on an artistically outstanding project drawn from the selection of the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
At the 15th Berlinale Co-Production Market, the producers of the 36 selected narrative film projects also meet potential co-producers and financiers. The more than 1,300 one-on-one meetings with potentially matching partners among the total of 600 participants are meticulously planned ahead of time. Books for possible screen adaptations and series projects are also presented. They are the focus of “Books at Berlinale” and “CoPro Series” respectively. The team received more than 2,100 requests for meetings this year. More than 270 films that came to the market looking for partners have since become completed films. Five of those are screening this year at the Berlinale.
Image: Eurimages Co-Production Development Award 2018 – front row: Marek Rozenbaum (Transfax), Beata Rzeźniczek (Madants), Klaudia Smieja (Madants), Catherine Trautmann (Eurimages), Hagar Ben Asher (Director), Doreen Boonekamp (Eurimages Award Jury); back row: Martina Bleis (Berlinale Co-Production Market), Roberto Olla (Eurimages), Francine Raveney (Eurimages), Csaba Bereczki (Eurimages Award Jury) © Lydia Hesse / EFM 2018
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Guy Maddin, Evan & Galen Johnson’s New One-Take Short ACCIDENCE Premieres at 68th Berlin International Film Festival | Trailer
The new one-take short Accidence from Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, will receive its world premiere on Tuesday 20th February, 2018 at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.
Accidence is based on music composed by Ensign Broderick, an enigmatic experimental songwriter from Toronto, Canada. The song, officially titled “Accidence PSA,” is found on his forthcoming album Feast of Panthers, to be released on March 9, 2018. To illuminate his unique creative process, Ensign Broderick recently shared two alternate versions of the song as an accompanying Triptych.
In a deadly and maddeningly endless loop of crime and punishment, Accidence explores the narrative potential of the mundane architectural projection. In Maddin’s words, “Every balcony is a poem, a chant — a muscle! But whoever lives with that extra blueprint luxury of a balcony lives on the wrong side of a cross-section, on the busy, narrative-addled side of something like an ant-farm window, a brazen architectural arrangement selling cheap peeks into the naked sideshows of the quotidian — even the grisly. Step right up! Behold! A ten story wall of solid twitching muscle!”
Based on the metaphor that we are each our own victims, each of us the worst perpetrators of our own worst traumas, and each the most tireless prosecutors of the crimes we commit against ourselves, Accidence follows the nightmarish cycle of a man who hurls to his death a doppelganger of himself from an apartment balcony, and is then pursued by a detective who is yet another doppelganger. The perpetrator is pursued from apartment to apartment, to the homes of his parents, and of his girlfriend, flats where he seeks sanctuary from persecution. By the end of the film, the perpetrator joins his victim in death as he is hurled from the balcony by his lookalike pursuer of justice, who promptly considers himself a perp, and who is promptly dogged by yet another lookalike agent of justice. And endless loop of crime and punishment is thus established. Everyone else living in the apartment block, at least those visible out on their balconies, is also caught in their own personal loops of varying activities. We all live in loops, each of us condemned to repeat ourselves in essential ways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV0pK6BerHw
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Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Lineup for 23rd Rendez-Vous with French Cinema
Barbara Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the celebrated annual series showcasing the variety and vitality of contemporary French filmmaking, returns to the Film Society of Lincoln Center for the 23rd edition, from March 8 to 18, 2018, with 24 diverse films on display.
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Sarasota Film Festival Unveils 20th Anniversary Edition Poster
The Sarasota Film Festival unveiled the special edition 20th Anniversary poster for the upcoming 2018 festival designed by local designer, Kelsey Hunt-Dolan. This year the festival will take place April 13th through the 22nd, 2018.
This year’s artwork represents the 20th celebration of the Sarasota Film Festival and the lasting impact from various artists. The Roman numerals “XX” on the poster commemorate the historic 20 year anniversary for the festival. John Ringling’s David statue, a replica of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s original masterpiece, is known as the symbol of Sarasota and resides in The Ringling Museum courtyard. John Ringling carved this statue between the mid-19th to early 20th century as a momentum for local artists. He had hoped to open a school of art prior to his demise, but left this statue behind to inspire future artists.
“We are very pleased with this year’s collaborative effort at designing our twentieth anniversary poster containing Michelangelo’s Statue of David, one of the most beautiful pieces of art known to man and a symbol of our great city,” said Mark Famiglio, President of the Sarasota Film Festival. “In these last 20 years, we have watched the festival evolve into a captivating and engaging showcase of diverse films, highlighting the unique and distinct voice from artists nationally and internationally. We look forward to the next 20 years as we salute our community and film lovers from around the world.”
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MY DAYS OF MERCY to Open, POSTCARDS FROM LONDON to Close 2018 BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival
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MY DAYS OF MERCY[/caption]
The 32nd edition of BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival which takes place from March 21st to April 1st, 2018, announced the Opening and Closing Night Galas films. MY DAYS OF MERCY opens the Festival on Wednesday March 21, with POSTCARDS FROM LONDON closing the Festival on Saturday March 31.
Tali Shalom-Ezer’s MY DAYS OF MERCY will open the Festival on Wednesday March 21st . Powered by stirring performances from Ellen Page and Kate Mara , Shalom-Ezer’s follow up to PRINCESS is a poignant love story between two women from vastly different backgrounds and opposing political views.
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POSTCARDS FROM LONDON[/caption]
The European Premiere of Steve McLean’s stylish and sexy POSTCARDS FROM LONDON will feature as the Closing Night Gala. The film tells the story of beautiful teenager Jim (Harris Dickinson, BEACH RATS) who, having travelled from the suburbs, finds himself in Soho where he falls in with a gang of unusual high class male escorts ‘The Raconteurs’. Set in a vibrant, neon-lit, imaginary vision of Soho, this morality tale manages to be both a beautifully shot homage to the spirit of Derek Jarman and a celebration of the homo-erotic in Baroque art.
MY DAYS OF MERCY is written by BAFTA nominated British writer Joe Barton (THE RITUAL & IBOY) and the film is produced by Ellen Page, Kate Mara, Christine Vachon & David Hinojosa. POSTCARDS FROM LONDON is Steve McLean’s long-awaited follow-up to his 1994 Sundance and Indie Spirit-nominated drama POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA.
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2018 MidWest WeirdFest Announces Full Program, Opens with Wisconsin Premiere of PICKINGS
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PICKINGS[/caption]
The MidWest WeirdFest today announced the full program for its second annual film festival – a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird – which will take place March 9-11, 2018 at the Micon Cinemas Downtown in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Opening the festival is the Wisconsin premiere of PICKINGS from director Usher Morgan. In this neo-noir, western, thriller a short-tempered mobster and his gang of thugs try to shake down a neighborhood bar. But they’re soon confronted with the wrath of its owner: a mysterious southern mother with a dangerous past. PICKINGS is a twisting, blood-drenched, super-stylized, thrill ride, sure to delight fans of Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL and Robert Rodriguez’s SIN CITY.
And for closing night, MidWest WeirdFest presents director Amara Cash’s DADDY ISSUES. A compelling and at times confronting film that tracks a bizarre love triangle: Maya, a desperate young artist, is unaware that her new girlfriend is involved in an emotionally charged, co-dependent, fetish relationship with a neurotic and drug-addicted sugar daddy: a man who is also Maya’s biological father. All three lovers are oblivious to the dark secret of their entanglement, and revelation will change them, forever…
“This year’s festival program runs a weird and wonderful gamut, ranging from the boldest and bloodiest in sci-fi and horror, through documentaries of the strange and macabre, to twisting thrillers and erotic underground dramas” says festival director Dean Bertram, an Australian expatriate and veteran of the international film festival scene. “Whether you want to be thrilled, terrified, mesmerized or titillated you’re going to find an abundance of entertaining films in this unique cinematic smorgasbord.”
Some other fantastic titles the festival announces today include:
CANNIBALS AND CARPET FITTERS (Dr: James Bushe) A ragtag group of carpet layers are sent on a job to an old English country house in the middle of nowhere. They soon discover it’s a trap set up by a savage cannibalistic family. The carpet fitters must fight for their lives or risk ending up as the evening’s dinner. Horrific delights abound in this gore filled dish of a horror comedy, that tastes like a wickedly decadent blend of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
IMPOSSIBLE HORROR (Dr: Justin Decloux) Lily, an insomniac filmmaker, hears a sinister scream outside her window every night. Determined to help the screaming person, she heads into the darkness of her neighbourhood. There she meets Hannah, a veteran “scream hunter”, obsessed with putting a stop to the nightly occurrence. The young women join forces to solve the bloodcurdling mystery, and quickly discover that its source may be an otherworldly threat that drives its victims into madness – and Lily and Hannah are next.
THE MILWAUKEE MAFIA: FRANK BALISTRIERI (Director: Jason Love)
Frank Peter Balistrieri (AKA “Mr. Big”, “Big Frank”, “Mr. Slick”, and “Mad Bomber”) was the most notorious and dangerous Mob Boss in Milwaukee’s history. In this documentary, learn about the secret world of organized crime through the lens of the most dangerous man in Milwaukee. Known for using car bombs to murder his enemies, Frank Balistrieri was willing to do anything to keep his power over the city.
OFFICER PIGSLEY (Director: Kevin Losani, Michael J. Widger) In a a city full of superheroes and monstrous villains, a clumsy police officer stumbles upon an evil conspiracy. He has to decide whether it’s worth taking the law into his own hands – and risking his life – to save a city that despises him. An indie epic, that bats miles above its meager budget, and delivers laughs, gasps, and feels.
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Architecture & Design Film Festival Returns to LA in Spring 2018, Opens with BIG TIME
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BIG TIME[/caption]
The Architecture & Design Film Festival returns to Los Angeles this Spring, from March 14 to 18, 2018, at the historic Los Angeles Theatre Center, providing the film capital of the world a unique lens to explore architecture and design. ADFF: LA will bring a selection of 30+ compelling short length and feature films. The screenings will explore the life and work of revered architects and designers such as desert modernist Albert Frey, contemporary starchitect Bjarke Ingels, and fashion designer Dries van Noten. Films will also cover timely topics such as the power of design to instill positive change and the building of a model city to solve urban problems.
Kicking off with the Short Films Walk (SFW: LA) on March 10, design aficionados are invited to explore the Helms Bakery District, where six showrooms including Arcana Books, Harbour Outdoor, H.D. Buttercup, Scandinavian Designs, Room & Board and Vitra will open their doors and screen over 24 short film documentaries throughout the day from 10am-7pm. The event will conclude with a public screening of Building Hope: The Maggie’s Centres, a beautifully shot film by award-winning director Sarah Howitt that tells the story of Maggie’s, their approach to cancer care, and the role that great design plays in the cancer support they offer. The film will be followed by a talk with Frances Anderton, host of KCRW’s DnA.
ADFF: LA opens on Thursday, March 14 with BIG TIME, a documentary by Kaspar Astrup Schröder that follows Bjarke Ingels during the course of seven years while he struggles to finish his biggest project yet, letting viewers into his creative process and compromises along the way. The following evening, Liam Young of SCI-Arc’s M.A. in Fiction and Entertainment program will curate a selection of experimental films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK0mGdMKMW4
Other film highlights include:
Albert Frey: Part 1 – The Architectural Envoy, directed by Jake Gorst, is about the unpretentious Swiss-born mid-20th century architect. The first of a two-part film series produced by Design Onscreen, this film explores Albert’s early life and work in Europe to his New York architectural accomplishments in the 1930s, including the famed Aluminaire House, the Canvas Weekend House, features of the New York Museum of Modern Art, as well as his Kocher-Samson Building in Palm Springs.
The Experimental City explores the story of Athelstan Spilhaus, a visionary scientist and futurist comic-strip writer in the 1960s. Frustrated by the growing problem of urban pollution, he assembled a team of experts to develop a bold experiment: the Minnesota Experimental City (MXC). MXC would be the city of the future, a domed metropolis for 250,000 pioneering residents, built from scratch using cutting-edge technology to prevent urban sprawl and pollution. Things didn’t quite go as planned, as explored in Chad Friedrichs’ fascinating look back at the would-be city of tomorrow.
DRIES, a film about the notoriously private fashion designer Dries Van Noten, who allows a filmmaker to accompany him in his creative process and rich home life for the first time. The film offers an insight into the life, mind and creative heart of a master fashion designer who, for more than 25 years, has remained independent in a landscape of fashion consolidation and globalization.
Other festival highlights include Breakpoint, a short mockumentary that follows the founder of LASVIT, a company that revived the Czech glass making craft; Made in Ilima, a film about MASS Design’s conservation-focused primary school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; REM, a film by Tomas Koolhaas; and for St. Patrick’s Day, a screening of Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect.
Additionally, ADFF will transform the Los Angeles Theatre Center lobby into an immersive lounge area for attendees to enjoy between screenings. The lounge will include VR films including one by Gary Hustwit and Sam Green that explores the work of architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller; an exhibition called “The Original Comes from Vitra” that focuses on authenticity in the design and manufacturing process; short films displayed on the Sony Ultra-Short Throw 4K HDR Home Theater Projector; furniture supplied by Vitra and Poliform; and a pop-up book store.
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Tsai Ming-Liang’s VR Film THE DESERTED to Hong Kong Premiere at 2018 Hong Kong International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) will introduce the future of cinema to audiences – the Hong Kong premiere of Tsai Ming-Liang’s The Deserted, HTC’s first virtual reality (VR) Chinese language film. World-renowned Taiwanese master TSAI Ming-Liang and Golden Horse Award Best Leading Actor LEE Kang-Sheng will lead the Hong Kong audience through an unparalleled eye-opening VR experience, and share their thoughts and visions of this cinematic innovation in a Master Class.
Winner of the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival with Vive L’amour (1994), TSAI Ming-Liang has established himself as one of contemporary cinema’s most accomplished auteurs. In addition to bringing films into the art world, he has been constantly exploring multi-media and new technology in filmmaking. The Deserted, his debut VR work, is an attempt to break the established dichotomy of traditional cinema, and create an interactive film experience that blurs the lines between reality and creative expression.
The work is an elliptical tale of love, death and memory, starring LEE Kang-Sheng as a man recuperating from an illness in the mountains. Unable to communicate with his late mother or the female ghost next door, his only companion is a lone fish who swims with him in the bathtub. The Deserted offers a dreamlike 3D experience which immerses viewers in the construction of the scenes, and the characters’ personal journeys.
The 55-min piece is a milestone in Chinese language cinema and selected for the first-ever Virtual Reality competition at the Venice Film Festival. It received overwhelming response at the Golden Horse Festival, selling out all 13 sessions within seconds. The Deserted is supported by HTC VIVE, ZOTAC and the Academy of Film of Hong Kong Baptist University.
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2018 Black Women Film Summit Unveils Shorts Lineup + Opening Night Film “A Wrinkle in Time!”
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A Wrinkle in Time[/caption]
The 2018 Black Women Film Summit organized by Black Women Film Network (BWFN) will take place March 9 to 10, 2018 at Atlanta Technical College. This two-day event will celebrate the work of women of color in film and television and provide attendees with networking opportunities, information and resources to further their careers in the industry.
Opening Night of the Summit is Friday, March 9, when BWFN will take over Regal Atlantic Station at 6pm for an evening at the movies with A Wrinkle in Time! BWFN will celebrate the premiere of Ava DuVernay’s masterpiece by buying out a theater and supporting this historic release during its opening weekend.
The Summit continues Saturday, March 10 at Atlanta Technical College beginning at 9am with the BWFN Short Film Festival and a full day of informative classes.
2018 Black Women Film Summit Shorts Lineup
The following shorts have been selected for the 2018 Summit and will screen from 9am to 3pm: “Valerie Morgan: TV Qualified” – Directed by LaQuanda Plantt Based solely on her obsession with medical television shows, Valerie Morgan attempts to gain employment in the medical field. “Distorted” – Directed by Tai Anderson Two sisters meet to put their father to rest when they get an unexpected knock at the door, turning their night upside down. “Broken Branches” – Directed by Chris Anthony Hamilton Keith returns home from an evening out with a male companion to find his 18-year-old son Eric home from college a day early. Eric confronts his father who attempts to explain his lifelong struggle with his true sexual identity. Feeling betrayed, Eric is unable to reconcile his father’s truth and leaves Keith feeling guilted, shamed and searching for a sign of hope to repair his relationship with his son. “In the Field” – Directed by Tesia Walker “In The Field” follows an ambitious local reporter, John Landon, who witnesses a police-related shooting of a black girl outside a toy store on Christmas Eve. John is tasked with interviewing the girl’s family to get the scoop that will bring him national fame. However, he finds that getting the exclusive involves more than just being there first. “Horse & Buggy” – Directed by Sherie Hodge The objective of this piece was to visually capture the remarkable story of Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms. “Horse & Buggy” is a story of sheer determination and how one candidate attests to why Atlanta is truly the city where impossible dreams take form. “BlacKorea” – Directed by Christine Swanson The story is set in the late 80’s in Chicago. Two children, born to a Korean mother, and African-American father are forced to live with the tangled consequences of their parents’ decisions, while struggling to traverse new life in the Windy City. “Least Suspect” – Directed by Bobby Huntley Five former sorority sisters reunite, forming their own “Secret Society” to deceive men out of cash and jewels, when one of them unknowingly crosses the nephew of a Russian Mob Boss. “Soul Fire” – Directed by Janlatae’ Mullins A couple dances together every day as they fight for the love they once shared. “The Tree of Palimpsest” – Directed by Ingrid Agbo Palimpseste, an old ceramist and storyteller in her spare time, is regularly solicited by Iba and Emeka, two young brawling brothers, to settle their daily conflicts. Rather than offering them a simple answer, Palimpsest finds the perfect analogy between their childish concerns and the life of an African historical figure. So begins the journey in the past of those women and men who made Africa. “Dirty Money” – Directed by Ciara Boniface As addictions and murky loyalties swirl around them, three women desperate to escape their surroundings rob a group of drug dealers and find themselves fighting through a night that will change their lives forever.2018 Black Women Film Summit Classes
The schedule for the 2018 BWFN Summit classes is as follows: 9:00am – 10:30am – “Finding Your Funny with Cocoa Brown” – Actress Cocoa Brown shows you how to incorporate funny into any situation. Also how to create your funny through developed improv skills. 10:00am -12:00pm – “Kids Acting Class” – For kids ages 7-17. Actors will gain confidence for audition and study using the Primal 5 tool of the Chubbuck Technique. 10:00am – 12:00pm – “Protect Your Legal Work” – Learn from attorney Zakiya Watson-Caffe on how to protect your brand/work from legal issues or theft. 10:00am – 12:00pm – “Marathon Mindset for Actors” – Would you rather be a trend or you rather be Ralph Lauren? Actress Jasmine Burke shares how she has sustained 10 years in the film industry using her mind set. This conversation is for SERIOUS ARTISTS ONLY. 10:00am – 12:00pm – “Red Carpet Hosting” – Broadcast journalist Summer Jackson will give you tips on how to host and interview celebrities on the red carpet. 11:30pm – 1:00pm – “Hair, Makeup & Wardrobe for Film & TV” – Learn from experienced professionals on how to enter and be successful in the film industry for hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Guest panelists are Gocha Hawkins, Denise Tunnel, and Moe Grant. 12:30pm – 2:30pm – “Audition Tips with Rhavynn Dummer” – Learn from a professional casting director on the correct and effective techniques for auditioning. 12:30pm – 2:30pm – “Screenwriting with AZ Yeamen” – In this two-hour workshop, writers will learn how to create dynamic 3-dimensional characters, the superhuman antagonist to intensify your story, and the science of loglines to master your 90-second pitch. 12:30pm -2:30pm – “A Conversation with Zane” – Best-selling author Zane talks about future projects and will answer your questions on selling your work. 12:30pm – 2:30pm – “How to Pitch to Network Television” – HaJ House shares her experience pitching to Networks and production companies from the creator perspective. 3:00pm – 4:00pm – “All You Ever Wanted to Know About SAG-AFTRA” – Learn the benefits and what it means to be a part of the Screen Actors Guild. Registration for this session is FREE.
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Joe Berlinger to Curate Thematic Program and Jehane Noujaim to Receive Tribute at 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
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Joe Berlinger, Jehane Noujaim[/caption]
Delving into the fascinating genre of true crime, filmmaker Joe Berlinger will curate the 2018 Thematic Program of the 2018 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which will feature films that follow individual cases and consider the ways documentary uniquely represents the complexities, and limitations, of the American judicial system. For the Tribute, Full Frame will honor Jehane Noujaim’s illustrious body of work and showcase her lauded films exploring themes of resilience, freedom, democracy, and free speech.
Academy Award®-nominated filmmakers Berlinger and Noujaim will both be in attendance at the 21st annual festival, held April 5 to 8, 2018, in Durham, North Carolina.
Exploring themes of crime and punishment, Berlinger will draw from his own work on the subject, as well as influential work by other filmmakers. A leading voice in nonfiction film and television for the past two decades, Berlinger’s films include the landmark documentaries Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, and Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru, among many others. Crude, about oil pollution in the Amazon Rainforest, won 22 human rights, environmental, and film festival awards and triggered a high-profile First Amendment battle with oil-giant Chevron. Berlinger’s Under African Skies, documenting the 25th Anniversary of Paul Simon’s Graceland album, was nominated for three primetime Emmy awards, including Outstanding Nonfiction Special. In addition to his feature documentary work, Berlinger has created many hours of crime-related unscripted series for television, including Gone: The Forgotten Women of Ohio, Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders, and Killing Richard Glossip. Berlinger is currently in production on a narrative film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, about infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, starring Zac Efron, Lily Collins, and John Malkovich.
“Joe Berlinger brings unparalleled vision to the subject of true crime,” said Full Frame Artistic Director Sadie Tillery. “Examining complicated accusations of wrongdoing and the legal proceedings that follow, his films make palpable the intricacies and tensions involved in these cases, in both the courtroom and the surrounding communities. They’ve not only impacted the lives of the people involved and even the outcomes of cases, they’ve also shaped the documentary form itself. We are honored to have Berlinger curate this year’s Thematic Program and to see this subject matter through his lens.”
“Having had the honor of exhibiting many of my films at Full Frame since the festival’s inception, it’s tremendously gratifying to come back this year to curate the Thematic Program that I have so enjoyed as an audience member in years past,” said Berlinger. “It’s also very timely to put a spotlight on true crime. While much has (deservedly) been made about the explosion of interest in this genre in recent years due to such breakouts as Serial, The Jinx, and Making A Murderer, crime and punishment has been a staple of documentary storytelling from the earliest days of nonfiction filmmaking. There’s no better time than now to examine the evolution of the genre by presenting some its milestone films.”
Past curators of Full Frame’s Thematic Program include Amir Bar-Lev, R.J. Cutler, Chris Hegedus, Steve James, D A Pennebaker, and Lucy Walker.
For the 2018 Tribute, Full Frame will recognize Jehane Noujaim, presenting a retrospective from her distinguished career. Noujaim earned a B.A. in Film and Philosophy at Harvard, and lives in Cairo and New York City. Noujaim’s impressive proportion of award-winning titles includes Academy Award®-nominated film The Square, which was widely hailed as the definitive film about the Arab Spring, and earned the Audience Award at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals. Her explosive 2004 film Control Room, about Al Jazeera and its coverage of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, was one of the first documentaries to examine modern media bias. It was described by A.O. Scott of the New York Times as “an indispensable example of the inquisitive self-questioning democratic spirit.”
Noujaim’s work has been nominated by the DGA, IDA, Independent Spirit Awards and several Critics Associations, and has exhibited at international festivals, has screened in theaters and been broadcast globally. In collaboration with Angelina Jolie, Noujaim most recently executive produced 2018 Academy Award®-nominated animated feature The Breadwinner. In 2006, Noujaim won the TED Prize, an annual award in which the recipients are granted a wish. Noujaim’s TED Prize wish, to create a day in which the world comes together through film, was the catalyst for the international multimedia event Pangea Day, broadcast live across the globe.
“We are thrilled to celebrate Jehane Noujaim’s work with our 2018 Full Frame Tribute,” said Tillery. “With intimacy and urgency, Noujaim’s films allow us to see global issues unfold through personal accounts. They introduce us to unforgettable people and bring new perspective to international events.”
“I am deeply grateful for this tribute, as Full Frame is such a special place for me,” said Noujaim. “I came to Full Frame in my twenties with my first film, Startup.com, co-directed with Chris Hegedus and produced by D A Pennebaker, they loved the festival, and introduced me to it. I felt I had found family. We came back to Full Frame with Control Room almost fifteen years ago. To return now, at a time when I feel we are living in an age of digital Control Rooms on steroids, feels right. There will be a lot to talk about!”
Most recently, Full Frame has honored filmmakers Kirsten Johnson, Marshall Curry, Steve James, and Stanley Nelson with the Full Frame Tribute.