JUNGLE Daniel Radcliffe (Yossi), Thomas Kretschmann (Karl)[/caption]
The MIFF Premiere Fund will world premiere six films at the 66th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), including opening night survival thriller Jungle and the joyous Indigenous feature documentary The Song Keepers.
The Premiere Fund, celebrating its tenth anniversary, offers minority co-financing to new Australian quality theatrical (narrative and documentary) feature films that then premiere at MIFF.
Six films will have their red-carpet world premiere screening at this year’s MIFF, as follows:
The Butterfly Tree stars Melissa George (The Good Wife), Ewen Leslie (The Daughter), Ed Oxenbould (Paper Planes) and Sophie Lowe (The Slap) in a visually sumptuous coming-of-age tale of love and loss, tinged with magical realism, from feature debut director Priscilla Cameron and producer Bridget Callow-Wright.
Central Australia’s answer to The Buena Vista Social Club, Naina Sen’s The Song Keepers, from producers Rachel Clements and Trisha Morton-Thomas, tells an incredible story about a hidden musical legacy of ancient Aboriginal languages and German baroque songs that are being preserved by the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir.
From director Eddie Martin (Lionel, All This Mayhem) and producer Sarah Shaw (Snowtown) comes Have You Seen the Listers? which provides a moving personal account of the artistic and commercial rise of Australia’s most renowned street artist, coupled with a deep personal cost.
In Westwind: Djalu’s Legacy, director Ben Strunin portrays Yolngu elder Djalu Gurruwiwi’s quest to pass his people’s ancient songlines and culture to the next generation – with a little help from global pop star Gotye. Producers: Kate Pappas, Ben Pederick, Virginia Whitwell and Nick Batzias (That Sugar Film).
Rabbit is a chilling fairytale feature debut from director Luke Shanahan and producer David Ngo (One Eyed Girl), in which identical twins are linked by more than just DNA, starring Alex Russell (Cut Snake) and Adelaide Clemens (The Great Gatsby).
And Alex Russell also features alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Wolf Creek director Greg McLean’s MIFF opening night selection Jungle in a gloriously tense survival thriller based on the bestselling real-life story of adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Premiere Fund, MIFF looks back at the Fund’s early years with screenings of three classics:
Balibo (2009) the riveting political thriller starring Oscar Isaac and Anthony LaPaglia from Robert Connolly (Paper Planes).
Bastardy (2008), a poetic and impressionistic portrait of the life of Indigenous arts personality Jack Charles from director Amiel Courtin-Wilson (The Silent Eye, MIFF 2017).
Blessed (2009), a powerful and evocative story from director Ana Kokkinos (Head On) of families, love and loss with a star-studded ensemble cast including Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto, Deborra-Lee Furness, William McInnes, Sophie Lowe, Harrison Gilbertson and Reef Ireland.
The Premiere Fund has a proud history of assisting the telling of a diverse range of stories from a diverse range of talent and voices.
Over its ten years:
Nearly 32% of Premiere Fund movies have had female directors (versus Screen Australia-reported industry average of 16%);
Nearly 59% have had female producers (versus industry average of 32%);
41% included youth themes (including Paper Planes);
27% had elements portraying Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Communities (CALDs), with 5% having CALD creative principals (director and/or producer(s));
16% included Indigenous themes and/or characters (including Bran Nue Dae), with nearly 7% having Indigenous creative principals;
13% included LGBTI characters and/or issues, with 18% involving LGBTI creative principals
Some 50% of Premiere Fund movies are helmed by first-time directors
Other key milestones include:
Children’s film Paper Planes grossed almost $10 million at the Australia/NZ box office and won the inaugural CineFest $100,000 film prize in 2014
Premiere Fund titles have won more than 55 awards and more than 280 key festival selections including Berlin (Make Hummus Not War, Tim Winton’s The Turning, Galore, Paper Planes, Bran Nue Dae, Monsieur Mayonnaise, EMO The Musical); Cannes (These Final Hours); Rotterdam (Electric Boogaloo, Not Quite Hollywood); Toronto (Cut Snake, Electric Boogaloo, Paper Planes, Downriver, Balibo, Blessed, Bran Nue Dae, Not Quite Hollywood, Blame, Machete Maidens Unleashed, Mother of Rock, Loved Ones)
Indigenous-themed feature documentary Putuparri & The Rainmakers won the 2015 CineFest $100,000 Film Prize, with Cinefest Jury Chair David Wenham remarking: “A story and characters so compelling and emotionally engaging that it reinforced the power of cinema to entertain, touch us deeply and stay with us forever.”
“We are so proud of the films that have come through the Fund over the last 10 years and we take our hat off to the talented filmmakers that we have the privilege of working with,” said MIFF Premiere Fund Executive Producer Mark Woods. “The talent we have been able to support has been incredible – 19% of Premiere Fund films are directed by alumni of MIFF emerging director workshop Accelerator Lab and 48% advanced their funding at MIFF’s film financing event 37ºSouth Market – so we really do feel like we come on a long journey with these projects.”Film Festivals
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Six MIFF Premiere Fund Films to World Premiere at Melbourne International Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_22831" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] JUNGLE Daniel Radcliffe (Yossi), Thomas Kretschmann (Karl)[/caption]
The MIFF Premiere Fund will world premiere six films at the 66th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), including opening night survival thriller Jungle and the joyous Indigenous feature documentary The Song Keepers.
The Premiere Fund, celebrating its tenth anniversary, offers minority co-financing to new Australian quality theatrical (narrative and documentary) feature films that then premiere at MIFF.
Six films will have their red-carpet world premiere screening at this year’s MIFF, as follows:
The Butterfly Tree stars Melissa George (The Good Wife), Ewen Leslie (The Daughter), Ed Oxenbould (Paper Planes) and Sophie Lowe (The Slap) in a visually sumptuous coming-of-age tale of love and loss, tinged with magical realism, from feature debut director Priscilla Cameron and producer Bridget Callow-Wright.
Central Australia’s answer to The Buena Vista Social Club, Naina Sen’s The Song Keepers, from producers Rachel Clements and Trisha Morton-Thomas, tells an incredible story about a hidden musical legacy of ancient Aboriginal languages and German baroque songs that are being preserved by the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir.
From director Eddie Martin (Lionel, All This Mayhem) and producer Sarah Shaw (Snowtown) comes Have You Seen the Listers? which provides a moving personal account of the artistic and commercial rise of Australia’s most renowned street artist, coupled with a deep personal cost.
In Westwind: Djalu’s Legacy, director Ben Strunin portrays Yolngu elder Djalu Gurruwiwi’s quest to pass his people’s ancient songlines and culture to the next generation – with a little help from global pop star Gotye. Producers: Kate Pappas, Ben Pederick, Virginia Whitwell and Nick Batzias (That Sugar Film).
Rabbit is a chilling fairytale feature debut from director Luke Shanahan and producer David Ngo (One Eyed Girl), in which identical twins are linked by more than just DNA, starring Alex Russell (Cut Snake) and Adelaide Clemens (The Great Gatsby).
And Alex Russell also features alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Wolf Creek director Greg McLean’s MIFF opening night selection Jungle in a gloriously tense survival thriller based on the bestselling real-life story of adventurer Yossi Ghinsberg.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Premiere Fund, MIFF looks back at the Fund’s early years with screenings of three classics:
Balibo (2009) the riveting political thriller starring Oscar Isaac and Anthony LaPaglia from Robert Connolly (Paper Planes).
Bastardy (2008), a poetic and impressionistic portrait of the life of Indigenous arts personality Jack Charles from director Amiel Courtin-Wilson (The Silent Eye, MIFF 2017).
Blessed (2009), a powerful and evocative story from director Ana Kokkinos (Head On) of families, love and loss with a star-studded ensemble cast including Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto, Deborra-Lee Furness, William McInnes, Sophie Lowe, Harrison Gilbertson and Reef Ireland.
The Premiere Fund has a proud history of assisting the telling of a diverse range of stories from a diverse range of talent and voices.
Over its ten years:
Nearly 32% of Premiere Fund movies have had female directors (versus Screen Australia-reported industry average of 16%);
Nearly 59% have had female producers (versus industry average of 32%);
41% included youth themes (including Paper Planes);
27% had elements portraying Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Communities (CALDs), with 5% having CALD creative principals (director and/or producer(s));
16% included Indigenous themes and/or characters (including Bran Nue Dae), with nearly 7% having Indigenous creative principals;
13% included LGBTI characters and/or issues, with 18% involving LGBTI creative principals
Some 50% of Premiere Fund movies are helmed by first-time directors
Other key milestones include:
Children’s film Paper Planes grossed almost $10 million at the Australia/NZ box office and won the inaugural CineFest $100,000 film prize in 2014
Premiere Fund titles have won more than 55 awards and more than 280 key festival selections including Berlin (Make Hummus Not War, Tim Winton’s The Turning, Galore, Paper Planes, Bran Nue Dae, Monsieur Mayonnaise, EMO The Musical); Cannes (These Final Hours); Rotterdam (Electric Boogaloo, Not Quite Hollywood); Toronto (Cut Snake, Electric Boogaloo, Paper Planes, Downriver, Balibo, Blessed, Bran Nue Dae, Not Quite Hollywood, Blame, Machete Maidens Unleashed, Mother of Rock, Loved Ones)
Indigenous-themed feature documentary Putuparri & The Rainmakers won the 2015 CineFest $100,000 Film Prize, with Cinefest Jury Chair David Wenham remarking: “A story and characters so compelling and emotionally engaging that it reinforced the power of cinema to entertain, touch us deeply and stay with us forever.”
“We are so proud of the films that have come through the Fund over the last 10 years and we take our hat off to the talented filmmakers that we have the privilege of working with,” said MIFF Premiere Fund Executive Producer Mark Woods. “The talent we have been able to support has been incredible – 19% of Premiere Fund films are directed by alumni of MIFF emerging director workshop Accelerator Lab and 48% advanced their funding at MIFF’s film financing event 37ºSouth Market – so we really do feel like we come on a long journey with these projects.”
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New York Asian Film Festival Announces Awardees, Lifetime Achievement Award for Eric Tsang
[caption id="attachment_22827" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Eric Tsang[/caption]
The 16th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) will present five awards, including the Star Hong Kong Lifetime Achievement Award to Eric Tsang, two Star Asia Awards, the Screen International Rising Star Award to Thailand’s Chutimon “Aokbab” Chuengcharoensukying, and the Daniel E. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema to South Korea’s Jung Byung-gil.
Gang Dong-won, China’s Duan Yihong will be awarded the Star Asia Award at the 16th New York Asian Film Festival on 1st July 2017. It is in recognition for his entire body of work. It will be presented in person to the actor before screenings of Extraordinary Mission and Battle of Memories at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
This is the first time that a Star Asia Award has been presented to an actor from China. Previous recipients include Donnie Yen, Miriam Yeung and South Korea’s Lee Byung-hun. The festival’s Screen International Rising Star Asia Award recognizing new talent has previously been presented to two actors from China, Huang Bo in 2010 and Jelly Lin in 2016.
“We’re honored to give one of our top awards to Duan Yihong, who we regard as one of China’s greatest modern actors,” said Samuel Jamier, the festival’s executive director. “The cinema of China is now central to our lineup, in recognition that it is not only at the forefront of genre cinema in Asia, but is also making the most perceptive, honest films about human relationships.”
Chinese-language films in this year’s selection include Yang Shupeng’s Blood of Youth, Han Han’s Duckweed, Liu Yulin’s Someone to Talk To, Zhang Yang’s Soul on a String, Leste Chen’s Battle of Memories and Extraordinary Mission, directed by Alan Mak and Anthony Pun.
The Excellence in Action Cinema Award will be presented to South Korea’s Jung Byung-gil. The maverick director is a former guest of the festival in 2008 when he attended the international premiere of his debut feature Action Boys. He returns to New York almost a decade later with his reinvention of action cinema, The Villainess, which will be the closing film.
The NYAFF will honor the great Eric Tsang with the Lifetime Achievement Award. This is a change from the previously announced awardee Tony Leung Ka-fai, who is unfortunately no longer able to attend the festival due to extenuating circumstances. The festival describes Tsang as the perfect choice in a year in which the festival is championing first-time filmmakers from Hong Kong. Although best known as an actor, Tsang’s most vital contribution to Greater China cinema is as an investor, producer and supporter of new directors. The festival is showing his new film Mad World by first-time director Wong Chun, also attending.
The festival will screen 57 feature films over 17 days. The festival opens on 30 June with the international premiere of Thai high-school thriller Bad Genius and closes on 16 July with the U.S. premiere of South Korean revenge thriller The Villainess. The festival’s centerpiece gala is Mikhail Red’s ecological thriller Birdshot from the Philippines.
The festival this year launches its competition for first- and second-time directors whose films are receiving their North American premiere at the festival. The seven films competing are Bad Genius (Thailand), Birdshot (Philippines), A Double Life (Japan), Jane (South Korea), Kfc (Vietnam), and With Prisoners (Hong Kong).
The 16th New York Asian Film Festival will be held at Film Society of Lincoln Center June 30 to July 13, 2017; and SVA Theater from July 14 to July 16, 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZVtP80s2RE
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Actress Lauren Hutton to Receive Maine International Film Festival’s Mid-Life Achievement Award
Actress Lauren Hutton will receive the Maine International Film Festival‘s 2017 Mid-Life Achievement Award at a special ceremony held at the Waterville Opera House on the evening of July 20.
“Lauren’s immediacy and talent was always evident on the screen, as it is now, a presence and intelligence and pride that is unique and distinct, and that was made for lights and drama and comedy,” said MIFF Programming Director Ken Eisen. “It’s a pleasure to welcome her and her fine films to MIFF this year, and to honor her film career with our annual Midlife Achievement Award.”
The award presentation will be held after a screening of American Gigolo, a romantic crime film directed and written by Paul Schrader, on Thursday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Waterville Opera House. The film centers on a male escort (played by Richard Gere) who is framed for a murder he did not commit. Hutton will be in Waterville for several days of the festival with screenings of The Gambler, A Wedding, and Welcome to L.A. Last year, actor Gabriel Byrne was presented with the Mid-Life Achievement Award. Previous winners include Glenn Close, Jonathan Demme, Peter Fonda, Ed Harris, Sissy Spacek, and John Turturro, among others.
“As we celebrate an incredible MIFF milestone this year – our 20th anniversary – we could not have asked for a more interesting special guest than Lauren, whose groundbreaking career has crossed genres as well as decades,” said Festival Director Shannon Haines.
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Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival Announces 2017 Lineup + “Travel Ban Sidebar”
[caption id="attachment_22807" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Director Sotho Kulikar of The Last Reel accepts the Founders’ Prize for Best Film with Michael Moore at Traverse City Film Festival[/caption]
Michael Moore today revealed the films selected to screen in the 13th Traverse City Film Festival, taking place July 25 to 30, 2017 in Traverse, Michigan. In addition to announcing new venues, the festival will feature a curiously titled program titled Travel Ban Sidebar, featuring “seven daring and beautiful stories that celebrate our connected world.”
Michael Moore’s letter announcing 2017 Traverse City Film Festival lineup:
Today is the big day, the day we reveal the films of the 13th Annual Traverse City Film Festival, July 25-30, which will bring over 1000 movies to scenic Northern Michigan.
Big change has come to the festival and the world since we last gathered on the beautiful shores of TC to celebrate movies, but there are still some things you can always count on at the TCFF: the volunteers will be friendly, the out-of-town filmmakers will learn that pasties aren’t just for burlesque shows, and we will always show Just Great Movies.
The movies I’ve selected this year are bold, brave, larger-than-life stories that made me laugh, and sometimes cry, but always left me with a sense of hope and wonder. I can’t wait for you to see them.
As you go through this incredible list of movies, please note some of this year’s special happenings:
- Two new (temporary) big screens: Kirkbride Hall at Grand Traverse Commons and the newly renovated auditorium in Central High School–transformed into cinemas by the same technical geniuses who remade the State Theatre, City Opera House, Old Town Playhouse, Con Foster Museum, and our other venerable venues into world-class movie theaters. Check ’em out, they’ll be this year’s hot tickets. (Central Grade School is closed for the summer, but returns next year!)
- The Travel Ban Sidebar, featuring seven daring and beautiful stories that celebrate our connected world.
- The Buzz — free movies and events, all day — will be moving around to different venues this year. Look for the FREE listings in every timeslot.
- Panels are also on the move. No longer stuck at the City Opera House every morning, we’re changing up the times and locations of the free daily panels so that more people can enjoy them.
- Food on Film is Supersized. Enjoy more special screenings featuring candid conversations with chefs and filmmakers and sample bites of food inspired by the films.
- Our most popular offerings return better than ever — The Woz, Kids Fest (now in beautiful Clinch Park), movies for #Tweens, Movies on a Boat, and some midnight frights and delights.
- Movies Around the Bay now goes further around the bay with the addition of the beautiful new Lyric Theatre in Harbor Springs kicking things off. Enjoy a week of movies before the festival begins and help relieve your schedule log jam.
- Great guests! Film lover, critic, and historian extraordinaire Leonard Maltin will be joining us in TC. You’ll see him around the fest as well as recording his Nerdist Podcast, Maltin on Movies. And speaking of movies and podcasts, TC’s adopted son Doug Benson returns bringing new funny friends, and maybe running into another TCFF 2017 funnyman, guest Gilbert Gottfried.
- The 117 feature films and the filmmakers we’re announcing today are just the beginning. Exciting announcements will follow in the coming days.
- And if the hologram system we’ve been testing succeeds, you’ll see me floating above the Open Space on clear, moonless nights.
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Argentine Actor Ricardo Darín to Receive Donostia Award at San Sebastian Film Festival
Argentine actor Ricardo Darín will receive a Donostia Award on September 26 at the 65th edition of the San Sebastian Festival, at the screening of his film The Summit (La cordillera). The Festival’s most important honorary award acknowledges the career of the Argentine actor, who has worked with filmmakers including Adolfo Aristarain, Juan José Campanella, Fabián Bielinsky, Fernando Trueba, Pablo Trapero, Cesc Gay and Santiago Mitre.
The Summit (La cordillera) is written and directed by Santiago Mitre; and stars Dolores Fonzi, Érica Rivas, Elena Anaya, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Alfredo Castro, Paulina García and Christian Slater. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and will be screened on Tuesday 26 at the Kursaal Auditorium. Warner Bros Pictures will release the film in Spanish cinemas on September 29.
The Summit (La cordillera) is set at a Summit for Latin American presidents in Chile, where the region’s geopolitical strategies and alliances are in discussion, Argentine president Hernán Blanco endures a political and family drama that will force him to face his own demons. He will have to come to two decisions that could change the course of his public and private life forever: one regarding a complicated emotional situation with his daughter, and the other, the most important political decision of his career.
Ricardo Darín is known for El hijo de la novia (Son of the Bride, 2001, nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award), Luna de Avellaneda (Moon of Avellaneda,2004) and El secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes, 2009, Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award), all three directed by Juan José Campanella. In 2007 he made his directorial debut with the film La señal alongside Martín Hodara, with whom he repeated the experience this year on Nieve negra (Black Snow).
His filmography also includes the role of a professor of Criminal Law in Tesis sobre un homicidio (Thesis on a Homicide, Hernán Goldfrid, 2012), a desperate father in Séptimo (7th Floor, Patxi Amezcua, 2013), an explosives expert in Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales, Damián Szifron, 2014), which competed in Cannes and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, and his part as the President of Argentina in La cordillera (The Summit). He is also a member of the cast on the latest film by the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, as yet untitled, on which he will share the credits with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.
The Donostia Award culminates a list of more than 20 national and international wards including five Silver Condors, two Konex, two Sur by the Argentine Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences Awards, a Goya, a José María Forqué, a Gaudí, a CEC (Cinema Writers Circle) award, a Feroz, a Platino Audience Award, a Sant Jordi, awards at the Valladolid, Havana and Biarritz festivals, the aforementioned Silver Shell in San Sebastian, the Honorary Platino received last year and the Gold Medal for Merits in the Fine Arts he will receive this year. All recognize the extraordinary career of an actor who has worked indistinctly in television, cinema and theatre (with the award-winning Algo en común, Art and Escenas de la vida conyugal).
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New York Film Festival Unveiled 2017 Official Poster Designed by Richard Serra
The Film Society of Lincoln Center unveiled today the poster for the 55th New York Film Festival taking place September 28 to October 15, 2017, designed by sculptor, filmmaker, and video artist Richard Serra.
NYFF posters are a yearly artistic signature of the film festival, and Serra joins a stellar lineup of artists whose work has been commissioned for the festival, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, and last year’s artist, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. can be found below.
“Richard Serra’s work has never stopped growing in my mind and memory,” said New York Film Festival Director Kent Jones. “During every one of my many visits to MoMA’s 2007 retrospective and to the permanent installations in Dia:Beacon, alone or with loved ones, I could feel everyone’s sense of the possible opening a couple of clicks wider. I was excited that he agreed to design this year’s NYFF poster, but when I saw the design I was taken aback—so wondrously elemental, and in such absolute harmony with the art of cinema.”
Serra says his design for this year’s poster effectively reflects and references the camera eye, explaining, “The image I selected for the poster is the interior of an 80’ tower sculpture in Qatar which functions as an aperture and seemed to me to make sense.”
One of the preeminent artists of the 20th century, Richard Serra has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work, which emphasizes materiality and a unique engagement with the viewer. His most well-known works are large-scale steel sculptures, placed creatively in space to invite a dynamic, interactive experience. Serra has been a consistent participant in documenta, the Venice Biennale, and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Annual and Biennial over the last 30+ years. He has had solo exhibitions across the globe, in cities including Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Doha, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, Madrid, and Naples. In 2005, eight large-scale works by Serra were installed permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and in 2007 The Museum of Modern Art, New York presented a major retrospective of the artist’s work.
Serra has been awarded numerous prizes and awards, including a Fulbright Grant; National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; The Carnegie Prize; Praemium Imperiale, Japan Arts Association; Leone d’Oro; Premios Principas de Asturias and Chevelier of the French Legion of Honor; among others. An overview of the artist’s work in film and video will be on view at the Kunstmuseum Basel from May to October 2017; and the artist’s recent drawings will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam from June to September 2017.
The complete list of NYFF poster artists:
Larry Rivers, 1963
Saul Bass, 1964
Bruce Conner, 1965
Roy Lichtenstein, 1966
Andy Warhol, 1967
Henry Pearson, 1968
Marisol (Escobar), 1969
James Rosenquist, 1970
Frank Stella, 1971
Josef Albers, 1972
Niki de Saint Phalle, 1973
Jean Tinguely, 1974
Carol Summers, 1975
Allan D’Arcangelo, 1976
Jim Dine, 1977
Richard Avedon, 1978
Michelangelo Pistoletto, 1979
Les Levine, 1980
David Hockney, 1981
Robert Rauschenberg, 1982
Jack Youngerman, 1983
Robert Breer, 1984
Tom Wesselmann, 1985
Elinor Bunin, 1986
Sol Lewitt, 1987
Milton Glaser, 1988
Jennifer Bartlett, 1989
Eric Fischl, 1990
Philip Pearlstein, 1991
William Wegman, 1992
Sheila Metzner, 1993
William Copley, 1994
Diane Arbus, 1995
Juan Gatti, 1996
Larry Rivers, 1997
Martin Scorsese, 1998
Ivan Chermayeff, 1999
Tamar Hirschl, 2000
Manny Farber, 2001
Julian Schnabel, 2002
Junichi Taki, 2003
Jeff Bridges, 2004
Maurice Pialat, 2005
Mary Ellen Mark, 2006
agnès b., 2007
Robert Cottingham, 2008
Gregory Crewdson, 2009
John Baldessari, 2010
Lorna Simpson, 2011
Cindy Sherman, 2012
Tacita Dean, 2013
Laurie Simmons, 2014
Laurie Anderson, 2015
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2016
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BECKS, LIYANA, SKID ROW MARATHON Among Winners of 2017 LA Film Festival Awards
[caption id="attachment_22794" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Becks[/caption]
Today the LA Film Festival announced the winners of the 2017 Festival at the Awards Reception, with the U.S. Fiction Award going to Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Daniel Powell for Becks, which made its World Premiere at the Festival.
The World Fiction Award went to Diego Ros for The Night Guard (El Vigilante), which made its North American Premiere at the Festival.
The Documentary Award went to Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp for Liyana, which made its World Premiere at the Festival.
The LA Muse Awards were given to two films, one fiction and one documentary. The LA Muse Documentary Award went to Mark Hayes for Skid Row Marathon, which made its World Premiere at the Festival. The LA Muse Fiction Award went to Savannah Bloch for And Then There Was Eve, which made its World Premiere at the Festival.
The Audience Award for Documentary Feature Film was given to Skid Row Marathon, directed by Mark Hayes; and the Audience Award for Fiction Feature Film went to The Keeping Hours, directed by Karen Moncrieff.
Announced earlier were the winners of The Danny Elfman Project: Rabbit and Rogue competition:
13, Justine Quinones
The Bridge, Matt Eckholm
Dandelion, Catherine Fauteux
A Day for Manuel, JB Minerva
Gamelan, Cornelia Nicolăeasa
A Glory Sewn, Travis Dixon
Lakesong, Douglas Gibbens & Konstantina Mantelos
Natural Promotion, Sean Oliver
Urge, Pieter Coudyzer
Awards were given out in the following categories:
U.S. Fiction Award
Winner: Becks, directed by Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Daniel Powell
Screenwriter: Elizabeth Rohrbaugh, Daniel Powell, Rebecca Drysdale
Producer: Alex Bach, Elizabeth Rohrbaugh, Daniel Powell
Cast: Lena Hall, Mena Suvari, Christine Lahti, Dan Fogler, Rebecca Drysdale, Hayley Kiyoko, Michael Zegen
Film Description: After a crushing breakup, an aimless singer-songwriter moves in with her ultra-Catholic mother and strikes up an unexpected friendship with the wife of an old nemesis. World Premiere
U.S. Fiction Cinematography Award presented by Aputure
Winner: Everything Beautiful is Far Away, cinematography by Christian Sorensen Hansen and Pete Ohs
Directors: Pete Ohs and Andrea Sisson
Country: USA
Screenwriter: Pete Ohs
Producer: Saul Germaine, Andrea Sisson, Pete Ohs
Cast: Julia Garner, Joseph Cross, C.S. Lee
Film Description: This arthouse science fiction fable is set on an isolated desert planet, where a man who is looking for parts to repair his robotic companion teams up with a young woman who is searching for an imaginary lake. World Premiere
The U.S. Fiction Jury awarded the following special mentions:
Special Mention for Breakout Performance: Auden Thornton of Beauty Mark
Country: USA
Director: Harris Doran
Screenwriter: Harris Doran
Producer: Harris Doran, Penny Edmiston, Gill Holland, Kiley Lane Parker, Bridget Berger, Corey Moosa
Cast: Auden Thornton, Catherine Curtin, Laura Bell Bundy, Jeff Kober, Madison Iseman, Deirdre Lovejoy
Film Description: Inspired by true events, when a poverty-stricken young mother and her three-year-old son are evicted, she turns to the only person she knows with any money – the man who abused her as a child. World Premiere
Special Mention for Directing: Bruce Thierry Cheung of Don’t Come Back from the Moon
Country: USA
Screenwriter: Bruce Thierry Cheung, Dean Bakopoulos
Producer: Jay Davis, Lauren Hoekstra
Cast: Jeffrey Wahlberg, Zackary Arthur, Alyssa Elle Steinacker, Cheyenne Haynes, James Franco, Rashida Jones
Film Description: The men of a small town on the edge of nowhere mysteriously disappear, one by one, leaving women and children behind to fend for themselves in a desolate and dreamlike world. World Premiere
World Fiction Award
Winner: The Night Guard (El Vigilante), directed by Diego Ros
Country: Mexico
Screenwriter: Diego Ros
Producer: Diego Ros
Cast: Leonardo Alonso, Ari Gallegos, Lilia Mendoza, Héctor Holten
Film Description: A security guard at a construction site learns about a crime that took place the night before and becomes entangled in a series of mysterious events that unravel over the course of a single night. North American Premiere
The World Fiction Jury awarded the following special mention:
Special Mention for Excellence in Storytelling: On the Beach at Night Alone (Bamui Hae-Byun-Eoseo Honja), directed by Hong Sangsoo
Country: South Korea
Screenwriter: Hong Sangsoo
Producer: Hong Sangsoo
Cast: Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Kwon Haehyo, Jung Jaeyoung, Song Seonmi, Moon Sungkeun, Ahn Jaehong, Park Yeaju, Karl Feder, Mark Peranson, Bettina Steinbrügge
Film Description: Younghee is an actress who is stressed by a relationship with a married man in Korea. On the beach she wonders: Is he missing me, like I miss him? North American Premiere
Documentary Award
Winner: Liyana, directed by Amanda Kopp and Aaron Kopp
Country: Swaziland / USA / Qatar
Producer: Amanda Kopp, Aaron Kopp, Sakheni Dlamini, Daniel Junge, Davis Coombe
Featuring: Gcina Mhlophe
Film Description: The epic tale of a young Swazi girl on a dangerous quest to save her twin brothers is brought to life with captivating animation from the imaginations of five talented orphan children in Swaziland. World Premiere
LA Muse Fiction Award
Winner: And Then There Was Eve, directed by Savannah Bloch
Screenwriter: Savannah Bloch, Colette Freedman
Producer: Jen Prince, Jhennifer Webberley
Cast: Tania Nolan, Rachel Crowl, Mary Holland, Karan Soni, Anne Gee Byrd, John Kassir
Film Description: After the sudden disappearance of her husband, a woman enlists the help of his coworker to fill in the missing pieces. World Premiere
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Skid Row Marathon[/caption]
LA Muse Documentary Award
Winner: Skid Row Marathon, directed by Mark Hayes
Screenwriter: Mark Hayes
Producer: Gabriele Hayes, Doug Blush
Cast: Judge Craig Mitchell, Ben Shirley, Rafael Cabrera, Rebecca Hayes, David Askew
Film Description: On LA’s Skid Row, a criminal court judge organizes a running club comprised of homeless, recovering and paroled men and women who seek to rediscover their sense of self-worth and dignity. World Premiere
The LA Muse Jury awarded the following special mentions:
Special Mention for Acting: John Carroll Lynch of Anything
Country: USA
Director: Timothy McNeil
Screenwriter: Timothy McNeil
Producer: Louise Runge, Ofrit Peres, Micah Hauptman
Cast: John Carroll Lynch, Matt Bomer, Maura Tierney, Margot Bingham, Micah Hauptman
Film Description: After the death of his wife, a man moves from Mississippi to a run-down Hollywood apartment, where he meets someone new. World Premiere
Special Mention for Excellence in Storytelling: The Classic, directed by Billy McMillin
Country: USA
Screenwriter: Billy McMillin
Producer: Christopher Leggett, Rafael Marmor, Timm Oberwelland, Billy McMillin
Cast: Mario Ramirez, Joseph Silva, Sammy Hernandez, Stevie Williams, Javier Cid, Lorenzo Hernandez, Alfred Robledo
Film Description: Two predominantly Latino high schools square off annually in one of the oldest and most heated football rivalries in the country: the East LA Classic. It doesn’t get more American than this. World Premiere
Nightfall Award
Winner: Serpent, directed by Amanda Evans
Screenwriter: Amanda Evans
Producer: Greig Buckle
Cast: Sarah Dumont, Tom Ainsley
Film Description: When a young couple take a getaway aimed at reviving their romance, they find themselves trapped in a tent with a venomous snake and a backlog of secrets, and realize that only one of them can make it out alive. World Premiere
The Nightfall Jury awarded the following special mention:
Special Mention for Acting: Kate Nhung of The Housemaid
Country: USA/Vietnam
Director: Derek Nguyen
Screenwriter: Derek Nguyen
Producer: Timothy Linh Bui
Cast: Nhung Kate, Jean-Michel Richaud, Kim Xuan, Rosie Fellner, Phi Phung, Kien An
Film Description: After an orphaned Vietnamese girl is hired to be a housemaid at a haunted rubber plantation in 1953 French Indochina, she unexpectedly falls in love with the French landowner and awakens the vengeful ghost of his dead wife. North American Premiere
Award for Short Film
Winner: A Funeral for Lightning, directed by Emily Kai Bock. USA/Canada.
Film Description: Seven months pregnant and stuck in a sleepy corner of Tennessee, a young woman begins to question the promises made by her charismatic husband.
The Shorts Jury awarded the following special mentions:
Special Mention for Excellence in Storytelling: Balloonfest, directed by Nathan Truesdell. USA
Film Description: Cleveland attempts to overcome its nickname, “The Mistake by the Lake,” by launching a bunch of balloons.
Award for Documentary Short
Winner: Black America Again, directed by Bradford Young. USA
Film Description: Inspired by Common’s Black America Again, this portrait is a celebration of the beauty, strength, perseverance and spirit of the black community in these troubling times.
Audience Award for Fiction Feature Film
Winner: The Keeping Hours, directed by Karen Moncrieff
Producers: Jason Blum, John Miranda
Cast: Lee Pace, Carrie Coon, Sander Thomas, Amy Smart, Ana Ortiz, Ray Baker
Film Description: Years after the death of their son and their subsequent estrangement, a couple reunites under supernatural circumstances. World Premiere.
Audience Award for Documentary Feature Film
Winner: Skid Row Marathon, directed by Mark Hayes
Producers: Gabriele Hayes, Doug Blush
Featuring: Judge Craig Mitchell, Ben Shirley, Rafael Cabrera, Rebecca Hayes, David Askew
Film Description: On LA’s Skid Row, a criminal court judge organizes a running club comprised of homeless, recovering and paroled men and women who seek to rediscover their sense of self-worth and dignity. World Premiere
Audience Award for Short Film
Winner: Swim, directed by Mari Walker
Country: USA
Film Description: As summer draws to a close, a young trans girl finds freedom in a secret midnight swim.
Audience Award for Web-series
Winner: High & Mighty, directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada
Country: USA
Description: Perpetually stoned, drunk, and unemployed, Chelo Chavez is an unlikely superhero.
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Locarno Festival to Honor French Filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub with Pardo d’onore Manor Award
French filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub will receive the Pardo d’onore Manor award at the 70th Locarno Festival on Friday, August 11. The 70th Locarno Festival will be held from August 2 to 12, 2017.
Born in France in 1933 and now resident in Switzerland after living in Germany and Italy, Jean-Marie Straub has been (re)writing cinema – in three of Switzerland’s four national languages – throughout a career that stretches back over sixty years. Much of this lifetime in film was spent with his partner in art and life, Danièle Huillet (1936 – 2006). Having learned his trade as an assistant on set to Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson, Straub joined Huillet in plowing a distinct furrow across the field of 20th century cinema, centered on the real, together with the expressive tools to show and convey it: radical, rigorous filmmaking, in which the superfluous gives way to the essential. Often featuring a non-professional cast, the ideal palette for a direct rapport with words, the work of Straub and Huillet is anti-spectacular and profoundly political, but never slips into propaganda.
Following a 1963 debut with the antimilitarist short Machorka-Muff, Straub and Huillet’s first full-length film, Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (1967), clearly set a course for their future output, in which film would be, literally, the seventh art. Often “at the service” of literature, theater, music and painting, their films are powerful re-elaborations of landmark figures such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Kafka, Mallarmé, Pavese, Brecht, Engels, Cézanne, D. W. Griffith and many others, all firmly bound by a strict ethic of the gaze. In 1970 their film Les yeux ne veulent pas en tout temps se fermer, ou Peut-être qu’un jour Rome se permettra de choisir à son tour marked a definitive peak of alienation in the acting in their filmmaking, with even fiction requiring and achieving maximum adherence to the real, rejecting interpretation and with it any possible equivocation.
Straub has always had close ties with Locarno, entrusting many of his premieres to the Festival audience. The many important titles presented here over his long career include his full-length debut, Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach, featured in the main program in 1968, Antigone, shown in Piazza Grande in 1992, and Kommunisten screened Fuori Concorso in 2014.
Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of the Locarno Festival: “It is a special honor to be able to recognize the personality and achievement of Jean-Marie Straub during the 70th Festival. Not just because of the close ties between Straub and Huillet and the Locarno Festival, but above all because their films hold a unique and special place in the history of modern film and are still an undeniable influence on various directors. ‘Rigorous’ is a term that has often been used to describe their practice; watching their films again one also feels how much freedom pulses through every frame – something that is absolutely necessary to ‘digital’ filmmaking. The films of Straub and Huillet have so much to say to us: perhaps that’s why the recent retrospectives dedicated to their work, in 2016 at MoMA in New York, the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, were so well received. I am especially proud that Jean-Marie Straub should be in attendance at Locarno, and I am quite sure that our audience will give him the reception that great directors of his caliber deserve.”
Recipients of the Pardo d’onore award at past Festivals include Samuel Fuller, Jean-Luc Godard, Ken Loach, Sydney Pollack, William Friedkin, Jia Zhangke, Alain Tanner, Werner Herzog, Agnès Varda, Michael Cimino, Marco Bellocchio and, in 2016, Alejandro Jodorowsky. From this year the Pardo d’onore is supported by Manor.
Image: Jean-Marie Straub (Printemps 2010). © Diane Arques via olivierpere
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THE BIG SICK to Open, ARRIVAL to Close Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Trailers
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The Big Sick[/caption]
This year’s 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will open with director Michael Showalter’s unconventional romantic comedy The Big Sick, and close with director Denis Villeneuve’s mysterious sci-fi Arrival, in which one of the main roles was played by Jeremy Renner, one of the festival’s guests this year and a recipient of the President’s Award.
The Big Sick
Like many other comedians, Kumail wants to escape the small stages of out-of-the-way clubs and perform before a large audience. Yet he fails to impress the man capable of arranging an appealing engagement for him, and, what’s more, his new show on his Pakistani origins slips into a boring monologue. Kumail also struggles with his parents, who would rather see their son as a lawyer married to one of the Pakistani girls they keep trying to fix him up with. Things get even more complicated when he meets Emily and falls for her quirkiness and sense of humour. The question of whether to tell his parents about his girlfriend, who meets none of their basic criteria, seriously complicates Kumail’s life. The film’s husband-and-wife co-writers, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, based their film on their own life story, thus reinforcing its authenticity. Add to this the sense of lightness and immediacy typifying the film’s direction, and we get a fun and candid comedy that avoids the usual rom-com clichés.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX3Regj6nAg
Arrival
When several giant ships of unknown origin appear at over a dozen locations on Earth, top teams of scientists set out to study them. The American team is headed by physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) and linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams), who join forces in order to show that the extraterrestrial visitors are a threat to mankind only if we fail to communicate with them. One of the most original science fiction movies of recent years, Arrival cemented director Denis Villeneuve’s position as one the most closely watched directors working today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLO4X6UI8OY
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Uma Thurman and Jeremy Renner to Receive Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s President’s Award
Uma Thurman (Asatur, dp) Actor Jeremy Renner, and actress Uma Thurman will be presented with the President’s Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
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Milwaukee Film Announces Expansion, Leases Oriental Theatre for 31 Years
Milwaukee Film has signed a 31-year lease to operate the Oriental Theatre beginning July 1, 2018, signaling tremendous future growth for the organization and ensuring that the Milwaukee Film Festival will be a part of the community for years to come.
“The Oriental Theatre is a treasure. I have visited hundreds of cinemas worldwide and the Oriental Theatre is my favorite. It is magical to see 1,000 of our members fill the main house at our monthly screenings,” says Jonathan Jackson, Artistic & Executive Director of the nonprofit Milwaukee Film. “Our nine-year-old organization securing long-term control of this cinema is a momentous occasion. We have cemented our permanence in Milwaukee and intend to greatly expand our cultural, economic, and educational impact on our community.”
Opened in 1927 as a “movie palace,” the Oriental Theatre is not only a beloved local landmark, but has also been recognized nationally as a top ten movie theater by Entertainment Weekly and USA Today. Milwaukee Film seeks to revitalize the space through investments in the infrastructure and upgrades to the projection and sound, creating a superior customer experience and making the Oriental Theatre a state of the art historic cinema. While designs have yet to be completed, the organization is committed to maintaining the existing aesthetics and character of this iconic Milwaukee building.
In order to support the growth of the organization and successfully meet the demands of running a world class film institution, a fundraising initiative has already begun. A total of $3 million of a $10 million goal has been raised so far, with Chris Abele, Milwaukee County Executive and Milwaukee Film Co-Founder and past Board Chair, making a personal contribution of $2 million.
“From day one, every person involved in Milwaukee Film – from staff, to volunteers, to the Board, to our dedicated 3,600 members – has been driven by the goal of not simply creating a film festival, but creating one of the best and biggest film festivals in the world,” states Chris Abele. “This announcement brings us closer to that goal. It isn’t the culmination or an end point, it’s the start of the next chapter.”
In addition to Abele, Milwaukee Film Co-Founders, the Herzfeld Foundation, led by Herzfeld Foundation President and past Milwaukee Film Board Chair Bill Haberman and Herzfeld Foundation Vice President and Milwaukee Film Board Member Carmen Haberman, has committed $1 million to the initiative.
Milwaukee Film deeply appreciates its sustained nine-year relationship with Landmark Theatres, noting that the organization’s remarkable growth could not have happened without renting the Oriental Theatre for its monthly member screenings and the annual film festival.
Beginning with Jackson’s vision of the enormous opportunity that would be provided by Milwaukee Film operating the Oriental Theatre, over the last five years Milwaukee Film’s Board of Directors and staff thoroughly vetted the idea and financials of operating a year-round, non-profit cinema, developing a business plan one year ago that was unanimously approved by its now 32-person Board of Directors.
In 2004, Boris Gohkman, father of Tim Gohkman, Director of New Land Enterprises, purchased the Oriental Theatre building after a several year pursuit. The trust and faith of Tim Gohkman in Milwaukee Film’s vision has been unparalleled.
“We are excited to partner with Milwaukee Film because it presents a truly unique opportunity to fuel Milwaukee’s cultural renaissance,” states Tim Gohkman. “As a key Milwaukee institution, Milwaukee Film is uniquely positioned to energize North Ave., Farwell Ave., and the entire city with year-round programming. For years, I have considered the Milwaukee Film Festival my favorite annual event in Milwaukee, I just can’t wait to see what they do next.”
At the Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee Film intends to program the best of international and American independent fiction and documentary films, including traditional weekly releases mixed with repertory selections, event cinema engagements, programming for families, and various themed film festivals and series throughout the year as well as the annual flagship Milwaukee Film Festival.
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Galway Film Fleadh Announces Short Film Highlights of 2017 Program
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An Béal Bocht[/caption]
This year the Galway Film Fleadh in Galway, Ireland, will present a total of fourteen short film programs in the festival’s ever growing and increasingly diverse line-up, featuring a rise in short film co-productions from around the globe including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Norway, Lebanon and the United States.
The competitive short film program showcases an exciting mix of drama, documentary and animation, with the winners of the Tiernan MacBride Award for Best Short Drama and the James Horgan Award for Best Short Animation gaining eligibility for Oscar consideration.
This year’s short animation program features an abundance of styles from old school stop-motion to dark comedy. Highlights include an adaptation of the classic Irish Novel An Béal Bocht by Tom Collins and the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders produced Sorry I Drowned, inspired by a letter found on the drowned body of a refugee fleeing from war.
The short documentaries explore a variety of subjects from the therapeutic power of tattoos to Olympic dreams, from urban cowboys to vintage motorcycles, the latter being the focus of Charlie Endean’s directorial debut, Open Road.
All of these and more including the return of Oscar winner Benjamin Cleary co-directing his new film WAVE;, the Irish premiere of A Drowning Man, hot after competing in Cannes; the directing debuts of The Gate Theatre Director Selina Cartmell, for her Filmbase/RTE funded film The Date and the renowned MTV VMA nominated Music-Video director Brendan Canty with his film For You; and Ireland’s own top model Laragh McCann goes behind the camera for her first time for her debut film Day.
In addition to the curated program of over seventy short films in a mix of Irish, English and foreign languages, the festival will premiere two programs of films funded by the Irish Film Board: Short Stories and Frameworks Animations.
As well as screenings, the short film forum will return to the festival after last year’s bumper turnout. This panel discussion is dedicated to emerging and established short filmmakers in all genres, with a focus on strategies and advice from international film festivals and short film programmers. Following the panel there will be an opportunity for discussion, debate and networking.
The Galway Film Fleadh shorts program runs every day from Wednesday July 12th to Sunday July 16th.