ONCE IN A LIFETIME (LES HÉRITIERS), Marie-Castille Mention Schaar’s emotional drama about an inner city high school teacher who enrolls her students in a competition around what it meant to be a teen in a Nazi concentration camp, took home the audience award in the third annual “Wave Film Festival”.
The 36th Durban International Film Festival announced the award-winners at the closing ceremony, prior to the screening of the closing film, The Prophet directed by Roger Allers. The award for the Best Feature Film, went to Sunrise directed by Partho Sen-Gupta. The film was described by the jury as “an uncompromising, brilliantly-crafted film that takes us through a fragmented mind, into a shady world allowing us to enter the reality of Mumbai’s underbelly”. (pictured above)
The award for Best South African Feature Film went to Necktie Youth directed by Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, described by the jury as “a film desperate to reconcile the seemingly disparate realities of its country, and whose urgent questions about South African life are posed with such mischievous energy that they cannot help provoke debate, itself one of the most important responsibilities of cinema.” (pictured above)
Shongwe La-Mer also won the award for Best Direction, for Necktie Youth, “for displaying a unique, contemporary voice weaving together poetic images and a striking view of South African youth with a boldness seldom seen in South African cinema.”
The Best Documentary and Best SA Documentary awards went toBeats of the Antonov directed by Hajooj Kuka and The Dream of the Shahrazad directed by Francois Verster, respectively. The jury awarded Beats of the Antonov “for its story, characters, relevance and visual interpretation,” and for a “story told with grace, while honouring the integrity of the people who gave them access as well as the subject matter.”
The Dream of the Shahrazad was awarded for the way in which “the filmmakers pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone, taking mythology and bringing it into the centre of modernity,” and for being “an ambitious film..(that) addresses life post revolution and what is left after heartbreak.” (pictured above)
Didier Michon for his charismatic and captivating performance in Fevers directed by Hicham Ayouch received the Best Actor Award. (pictured above)
The award for Best Actress went to Anissa Daoud for her portrayal of a determined activist who takes a stand, in an important film Tunisian Spring directed by Raja Amari.
Best African Short Film award went to The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometre 375 directed by Omar el Zohairy. The jury described this as an “exceptional film explores and pushes new avenues in political satire and the cinema.” (pictured above)
Unomalanga and The Witch directed by Palesa Shongwe, and cited by the jury as “a gentle and unexpected film (that) sheds light on the subtleties of relationships between women”, won the Best South African Short Film award.
A new award, the Production Merit Award goes to Rights of Passage directed by Ntombizodwa Magagula, Mapula Sibanda, Lerato Moloi, Valencia Joshua, Zandile Angeline Wardle, Tony Miyambo, Rethabile Mothobi, Yashvir Bagwandeen. (pictured above)
Sabrina Compeyron and David Constantin, won the Best Screenplay Award for “craftily tracking the age-old struggle between capital and labour spanning the end of industry and the disenfranchisement of a society” in Sugar Cane Shadows directed by David Constantin.
Jean-Marc Ferriere, took the honours for Best Cinematography “for creating a distinctive, atmospheric, highly-crafted and visually dynamic world depicted almost entirely in the dark”, in Sunrise directed by Partho Sen-Gupta.
Special Mention for Direction was made of Kivu Ruhorahoza for Things Of The Aimless Wanderer, “for a courageous and single-minded attempt by a director harnessing all means at his disposal to tell a personal, intricate and political story.”
A Special Mention for Best Film was given to Tunisian Spring by Raja Amari, “for it’s powerful depiction of an event that has, and continues to have, resonance in the world.” (pictured above)
Democrats directed by Camilla Nielsson, got a Special Mention for a Documentary,which is “commended for putting a human face on a story that is complex and sometimes almost opaque.” (pictured above)
The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award for the film that best reflects human rights issues went to The Shore Break, directed by Ryley Grunenwald. The jury citation reads “The film powerfully portrays a struggle within a local community regarding foreign mining rights in a pristine environment…(and) concisely and movingly uncovers this complex and urgent matter, which is still under investigation and in need of public support.” (pictured above)
The DIFF Audience Award also went to The Shore Break directed by Ryley Grunenwald.
A further Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Honorary Award was given to The Look of Silence directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, a film that “bravely uncovers the genocide in Indonesia in the 1960’s.”
Arterial Network’s Artwatch Africa Award, for an African film that meaningfully engages with the issues of freedom of expression, went to Beats of the Antonov, directed by Hajooj Kuka. The jury citation said “This compelling film shows how the power of music, dancing and culture sustains the displaced people living in the remote war-ravaged areas of Southern Sudan.” (pictured above)
Don Cheadle’s directorial debut Miles Ahead will make its World Premiere as the Closing Night selection of the upcoming 53rd New York Film Festival taking place September 25 to October 11, 2016. Cheadle, who co-wrote the script, stars as the legendary musician opposite Emayatzy Corinealdi and Ewan McGregor.
New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones said: “I admire Don’s film because of all the intelligent decisions he’s made about how to deal with Miles, but I was moved—deeply moved—by Miles Ahead for other reasons. Don knows, as an actor, a writer, a director, and a lover of Miles’ music, that intelligent decisions and well-planned strategies only get you so far, that finally it’s your own commitment and attention to every moment and every detail that brings a movie to life. ‘There is no longer much else but ourselves, in the place given us,’ wrote the poet Robert Creeley. ‘To make that present, and actual … is not an embarrassment, but love.’ That’s the core of art. Miles Davis knew it, and Don Cheadle knows it.”
Don Cheadle added: “I am happy that the selection committee saw fit to invite us to the dance. It’s very gratifying that all the hard work that went into the making of this film, from every person on the team, has brought us here. Miles’ music is all-encompassing, forward-leaning, and expansive. He changed the game time after time, and New York is really where it all took off for him. Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center… feels very ‘right place, right time.’ Very exciting.”
Miles Davis was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. And how do you make a movie about him? You get to know the man inside and out and then you reveal him in full, which is exactly what Don Cheadle does as a director, a writer, and an actor with this remarkable portrait of Davis, refracted through his crazy days in the late-70s. Holed up in his Manhattan apartment, wracked with pain from a variety of ailments and fiending for the next check from his record company, dodging sycophants and industry executives, he is haunted by memories of old glories and humiliations and of his years with his great love Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). Every second of Cheadle’s cinematic mosaic is passionately engaged with its subject: this is, truly, one of the finest films ever made about the life of an artist. With Ewan McGregor as Dave Brill, the “reporter” who cons his way into Miles’ apartment. The film was produced by Don Cheadle, Pamela Hirsch, Lenore Zerman. Along with Daniel Wagner, Robert Barnum, Vince Willburn and Daryl Porter.
NYFF previously announced Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk as the Opening Night selection and Luminous Intimacy: The Cinema of Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler, the first-ever complete dual retrospective of the experimental filmmakers.
The 18th Maine International Film Festival closed on Sunday and unveiled the winner of its audience favorite award, with Astraea and Come To My Voice tied as the MIFF audience’s favorite.
“We’re thrilled that MIFF audiences once again were adventurous and enthusiastic about exploring and discussing films from around the world,” said Festival Director Shannon Haines. “We had a fabulous slate of guests and an incredible array of films for MIFF audiences to enjoy. We look forward to seeing you all next year”
In the film Astraea, directed by Kristjan Thor, – when an epidemic nearly wipes out the human race, a telepathic teenage girl named Astraea has visions of survivors living in New Brunswick. She leads her doubting brother on a 5000-mile journey through a silent and abandoned America into the snowbound wilderness, hoping to rebuild life as she knew it. As they head north, her clairvoyance intensifies and they encounter a wary young couple, homesteading on a remote lake in Western Maine. The grief and complexity—as well as the excitement and comfort—of encountering other normal humans pits itself against Astraea’s desire to keep moving and find her family. This post-apocalyptic film, spectacularly shot in wintry Maine landscapes, uses sensitivity and intellect rather than special effects to show not what humanity is running from, but what we’re running towards.
https://vimeo.com/118208194
In Come To My Voice, directed by Hüseyin Karabey, which takes place in a snowy Kurdish mountain village, in the east of Turkey, an old woman Berfé and her granddaughter Jiyan are distressed. The only man in the household, Temo, the son of one and the father of the other, was arrested by the Turkish military. The commanding officer has been told that the villagers are hiding weapons, so he arrested all the men and announced that they will be kept in prison until their families hand over the weapons. The problem is that there are no weapons in the village. Desperate, Berfé and Jiyan embark on a long journey, in search of a gun which they could exchange for their beloved Temo. Will the old woman and her innocent granddaughter find a way out of the inextricable Kurdish identity conflict?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Xbi0l61k0
Learning To Drive and Samba were tied for second place and Au Bord du Monde came in third place for the audience favorite award. Forty-four of the 47 films eligible for the award received at least one vote.
Acclaimed actor Michael Murphy was presented the Mid-Life Achievement Award in honor of his diverse career that includes a long-time collaboration with director Robert Altman and work with Woody Allen, P.T. Anderson, Elia Kazan and Oliver Stone. MIFF screened the U.S. premiere of Murphy’s new film Fall before the award presentation on July 16.
For the first time, MIFF hosted the World Filmmakers’ Forum through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Filmmakers from France, Argentina, Turkey and Mexico will show their work and discuss their creative process and the state of international film.
Le Dep, directed by Sonia Bonspille-Boileau will close the 25th edition of First Peoples Festival in Montreal, Canada. The film stars Eve Ringuette (a Jutra nominee for the film Mesnak) Marco Colin, Charles Buckell-Roberston, also in the Mesnak cast, and Yan England.
One evening, in an Outaouais region Amerindian community, Lydia (Eve Ringuette) is just about to close her father’s convenience store where she occasionally works for the night. But an armed and masked individual suddenly bursts inside, and orders her to hand over the cash. However she recognizes the thief from his voice and eyes. Her subsequent decisions will have many consequences in her life.
“The story takes place in an Aboriginal community, and exposes modern Aboriginal problems in Canada, but the emotions I wanted to convey and the characters I tried to create aim first and foremost to develop public awareness”. Sonia Bonspille-Boileau
The film production received a grant from Telefilm Canada’s microbudget program. The producer and director will take part in workshops focusing on this type of production, as part of the professional workshops organized by First Peoples Festival.
Le Dep, distributed by K-Films Amérique, will be released in Quebec on August 7th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwTbICOLPY
TIKKUN, directed by Avishai Sivan is the winner of the The Haggiag Award for Best Israeli Feature Film at the 32nd Jerusalem Film Festival. Tikkkun also won the awards for The Anat Pirchi Award for Best Script, The Haggiag Award for Best Actor to Khalifa Natour for his role in Tikkun, and The Van Leer Award for Best Cinematography to Shai Goldman.
Tikkun follows Haim-Aaron, a bright, Ultra-Orthodox religious scholar living in Jerusalem. His talents and devotion are envied by all. One evening, following a self-imposed fast, Haim-Aaron collapses and loses consciousness. The paramedics announce his death, but his father takes over resuscitation efforts and, beyond all expectations, Haim-Aaron comes back to life. After the accident, try as he might, Haim-Aaron remains apathetic to his studies. He feels overwhelmed by a sudden awakening of his body and suspects this is God testing him. He wonders if he should stray from the prescribed path and find a way to rekindle his faith. The father notices his son’s changed behavior and tries to forgive him. He is tormented by the fear of having crossed God’s will, the night he resuscitated his son.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8hlHhX_H14
HOTLINE, directed by Silvina Landsmann is the winner of the Van Leer Award for Best Documentary Film. Hotline delves into the heart of a small Tel Aviv-based NGO – a human rights organization called the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants – shedding light on its activities and revealing its reality, while observing the functions of an NGO in the democratic arena. The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants is dedicated to promoting the rights of refugees and undocumented migrant workers in Israel. In addition to its direct services through weekly visits to detention centers and its hotline, the NGO’s work also includes legal advocacy and public policy activities. The Hotline works to ensure that existing laws protecting basic human rights are implemented.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN9n45YWJOo
The complete list of 2015 Awards of 32nd Jerusalem Film Festival
The Haggiag Competition for Full-Length Israeli Features
The Haggiag Award for Best Israeli Feature Film granting 120,000 ILS:
Tikkun, directed by Avishai Sivan, produced by Ronen Ben Tal, Moshe and Leon Edery.
Jury: For its very impressive artistic achievement in telling a deep and delicate story with great sensitivity.
The Anat Pirchi Award for Best First Film granting 20,000 ILS
Wedding Doll, directed and produced by Nitzan Gilady.
The Anat Pirchi Award for Best Script granting 10,000 ILS
Avishai Sivan for his film Tikkun.
The Haggiag Award for Best Actor granting 10,000 ILS
Khalifa Natour for his role in Tikkun.
The Haggiag Award for Best Actress granting 10,000 ILS
Asi Levi for her performance in Wedding Dolls.
The Van Leer Award for Best Cinematography granting 9,000 ILS
Shai Goldman for filming Tikkun.
The Haggiag Award for Best Editing granting 10,000 ILS
Reut Han, Yoav Paz and Doron Paz for editing JeruZalem.
Israel Critics’ Forum Award for Best Feature Film
A.K.A. Nadia, directed by Tova Ascher, produced by Estee Yacov-Mecklberg, Haim Mecklberg.
The Audience Favorite Award
JeruZalem, directed by Yoav Paz, Doron Paz, produced by Yoav Paz, Doron Paz, Nir Miretzky and Rotem Levim.
The Van Leer Competition for Israeli Documentary Cinema
The Van Leer Award for Best Documentary Film granting 30,000 ILS
Hotline, directed by Silvina Landsmann, produced by Silvina Landsmann, Pierre-Olivier Bardet.
The Van Leer Award for Best Director of a Documentary granting 18,000 ILS
Nirit Aharoni for her film, Strung Out.
The Haggiag Award for Best Music granting 10,000 ILS
The jury has elected to present this award to a musician who contributed to a documentary: Ophir Leibovitch, for his work in Strung Out.
Honorary Mention to a Documentary
Thru You Princess, directed by Ido Haar, produced by Liran Aztmor.
The jury of the Israeli Feature Film Competition was comprised of Elma Tataragić from the Sarajevo Film Festival, Matthijs Wouter Knol from the Berlin Film Festival/EFM, Turkish director Tayfun Pirselimoğlu and Israeli film critic Yael Shuv.
The Wim Van Leer “In the Spirit of Freedom” Competition
The Cummings Award for Best Feature Film granting 4,000$
Three Windows and a Hanging, directed by Isa Qosja.
The Ostrovsky Award for Best Documentary Film grating 2,000$
The Pearl Button, directed by Patricio Guzman
Honorary Mention
Mussa, directed by Anat Goren, produced by Daniela Rachminov-Sidi, Anat Goren.
The In the Spirit of Freedom jury was comprised of Israeli director and screenwriter Tali Shalom-Ezer, French actress Laëtitia Eïdo and French journalist Hélène Schoumann.
The FIPRESCI International Debuts Competition
The FIPRESCI Award for Best First Film
Songs my Brothers Taught Me, directed by Chloe Zhao.
Honorary Mention to an Israeli Debut
Wedding Doll, directed and produced by Nitzan Gilady.
The FIPRESCI jury was comprised of José Luis Losa García of Spain, Jack Mener of Belgium and Yair Raveh of Israel.
The Israeli Short Film Competition
The Van Leer award for Best Short Feature Film granting 9,000 ILS
Line of Grace, directed by Rotem Kapelinsky, produced by Eyal Shirai.
The Van Leer Award for Best Director of a Short Feature granting 9,000 ILS
Yehonatan Indursky for his film The Cantor and the Sea.
The Van Leer award for Best Short Documentary Film granting 7,000 ILS
Mazal Means Luck, directed by Mazal Ben Yishai, Maaleh Film School.
The Van Leer Award for Best Short Animation Film granting 7,000 ILS
Warm Snow, directed by Ira Elshansky, Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design.
The jury of the Short Film Competition was comprised of Mexican director and producer Gabriel Ripstein, Israeli director and screenwriter Elad Keidan and Israeli director, screenwriter and poet Netalie Braun.
The Experimental Cinema and Video Art Competition
The Lia Van Leer Award, donated by Rivka Saker, granting 12,000 ILS
Factory, directed by Maya Geller.
The Ostrovsky Family Foundation Award granting 8,000 ILS
Last Person Shooter, directed by Boaz Levin and Adam Kaplan.
The jury was comprised of Austrian artist and filmmaker Manu Luksch, Israeli curator Ran Kasmy-Ilan and Israeli curator Edna Moshenson.
The Jewish Experience Competition
The Leah Van Leer Award for Films about Jewish Heritage
Zelda: A Simple Woman, directed by Yair Qedar
The Avner Shalev – Yad Vashem Chairman’s Award for Holocaust-Related Films
My Nazi Legacy: What Our Fathers Did, directed by David Evans.
The International Children’s Films Competition
The Cummings Award for Best Children’s Film granting 3,000$
Paper Planes, director by Robert Connolly
The award-winning and world-renowned French filmmaker Euzhan Palcy will showcase her most celebrated work, A DRY WHITE SEASON (1989), as part of the film’s 25th anniversary at this year’s Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). The film was adapted from a book by the acclaimed South African writer Andre Brink who died earlier this year. Palcy will be honoring Brink on Mandela Day (July 18).
Additionally, in a tribute to her contribution to the South African film industry, Palcy will be honoured at the Simon Sabela Awards on July 19. Karina Brink, Dame Janet Suzman and Thoko Ntshinga will attend both the screening and the awards.
At the time the film was produced, Ms. Palcy (pictured above) was distinguished for being the first black female director to be hired by a major Hollywood studio (MGM) and to direct an anti-apartheid film during Nelson Mandela’s prison sentence. She is also the only woman to have directed Marlon Brando and the first black person to win a French Oscar.
Andre Brink’s book, a narrative about the social movements of South Africa and the 1976 Soweto riots inspired Palcy’s impassioned response to illustrate an accurate account of the reality of apartheid. Palcy made the film in 1989 after doing extensive research undercover in Soweto. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Janet Suzman, Marlon Brando, Zakes Mokae, Susan Sarandon, John Kani, Winston Ntshona, Jürgen Prochnow amongst others.
“We are pleased to be able to present an important work created by a black woman, which highlights and even represents the lost voices of the people of this continent; the unspoken narratives and the untold stories,” says Pedro Pimenta, Director of DIFF. “Her courage to create a work which could stand out and give three dimensional life to Brink’s book, and by association the voiceless at the time, required an enormous amount of bravery. We are proud to be able to salute her at the DIFF this year.”
The South African event will kick off on 17 July with the opening of an exhibition of David James’ still photographs from A DRY WHITE SEASON at the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts. James is the 2011 Society of Cinematographer Lifetime achievement award winner in stills photography and was the official photographer of the 81st to the 84th Oscars ceremonies. The exhibition will run for the duration of the DIFF until the 26 July.
A DRY WHITE SEASON will be screened on Mandela Day at Suncoast on Saturday, 18 July at 20:00. This will be followed by a question and answer session with Ms. Palcy. Her first classic award winning film, SUGAR CANE ALLEY, which Brink apparently screened in secret to his students, celebrates its 30th anniversary and will be screened as a South African premiere at Suncoast on Monday, 20 July at 19:30, in which she will also be in attendance.
Comment from Patrick Aglae director of communications for Euzhan Palcy and producer of A DRY WHITE SEASON: the 25th anniversary tour:
It has been a long journey since we decided to officially screen A DRY WHITE SEASON in South Africa on the big stage. Euzhan Palcy had made the promise to Nelson Mandela to comeback one day to officially screen the film. In March at the Andre Brink’s Memorial at the University of Cape Town she said “Let’s make it happen”. So to do it on the Mandela Day is magnificent. I’d like to thank DIFF’s new leadership to make this dream a reality alongside MGM and Park Circus, its worldwide distribution partner which played a key role to restore this film and make the DCP on time. To make it so fast speaks volume about their respect for the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbNbN3KSkI8
The 2015 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) unveiled the first selections of ten classic Caribbean films for this year’s edition of the Festival.
These ten films will screen in a special sidebar to the main program, in honor of the ttff’s tenth anniversary. The Festival takes place from September 15–29.
“Many people are unaware that there has been a Caribbean film industry for quite some time, or that almost every country in the region has produced feature films,” said Bruce Paddington, ttff Founder and Festival Director. “We are therefore very proud to present ten of the very best classic films from the Caribbean that will help one to appreciate and enjoy the rich diversity of the region.”
Comprising films from nine different countries, the sidebar ranges across the English-, Spanish-, French- and Dutch-speaking sections of the region.
The lineup includes the Jamaican classic, The Harder They Come, and Bim, from T&T.
Memories of Underdevelopment, the oldest film in the lineup, is from 1968, while the most recent, Strawberry and Chocolate, was released in 1993. Both of those films hail from Cuba.
The full slate of films is as follows:
Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Cuba, 1968)
The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, Jamaica, 1972)
Bim (Hugh A. Robertson, Trinidad and Tobago, 1974)
One People (Pim de la Parra, Suriname, 1976)
Sugar Cane Alley (Euzhan Palcy, Martinique, 1983)
One Way Ticket (Agliberto Menéndez, Dominican Republic, 1988)
What Happened to Santiago (Jacobo Morales, Puerto Rico, 1989)
Ava and Gabriel: A Love Story (Felix de Rooy, Curaçao, 1990)
The Man on the Shore (Raoul Peck, Haiti, 1993)
Strawberry and Chocolate (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío, Cuba, 1993)
Caption: A still from The Harder They Come
The 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival rolls into the city of Montreal for its 19th edition from July 14 to August 4, 2015.
The American film, Bob and the Trees, starring Bob Tarasuk, playing himself, as Bob, a fifty-year old logger, struggling to make ends meet in a threatened industry, was awarded with the Crystal Globe at the 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Tarasuk accepted the Festival Grand Prix in person, together with director Diego Ongaro (pictured above).
“This really is a surprise. We had virtually no money to shoot the film so I had to invest my and my wife’s money, and I would like to thank everybody involved in making the film” stated director Ongaro, noting that he still has not found a distributor. Bob Tarasuk, too, expressed his amazement: “I have never won anything so far. Indeed, I have never left the States before, but my grandmother was Czech and my grandfather Ukrainian so I dedicate this award to them.”
The Special Jury Prize went to Austrian director Peter Brunner for the film Those Who Fall Have Wings, a drama on coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
Kosovan Visar Morina received the Best Director Award for his film Babai, a story about a small boy setting off on a journey to find his father.
The Grand Prix for Best Documentary Film went to Helena Třeštíková for Mallory. Life hasn’t been easy on Mallory but after the birth of her son she tries desperately to kick her drug habit, and to stop living on the street. She wants to turn her back on her dark past and help those she knows best – people on the fringes of society. In her latest long-term documentary, Helena Třeštíková demonstrates that even seemingly hopeless lives needn’t be cut short halfway.
The prize for the best film of the East of the West Competition was awarded to social drama The Wednesday Child by the Hungarian director Lili Horváth, a tale of a young girl who wants to secure better circumstances for her child than she had.
OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION
GRAND JURY
Tim League, USA
Angelina Nikonova, Russia
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Iceland
Hengameh Panahi, France
Ondřej Zach, Czech Republic
GRAND PRIX – CRYSTAL GLOBE (25 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
Bob and the Trees
Directed by: Diego Ongaro
USA, 2015
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (15 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
Those Who Fall Have Wings / Jeder der fällt hat Flügel
Directed by: Peter Brunner
Austria, 2015
BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
Visar Morina for the film Babai
Germany, Kosovo, Macedonia, France, 2015
BEST ACTRESS AWARD
Alena Mihulová for her role in the film Home Care / Domácí péče
Directed by: Slávek Horák
Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2015
EAST OF THE WEST – COMPETITION
EAST OF THE WEST JURY
Gaby Babić, Germany
Alexis Grivas, Greece
Tomáš Luňák, Czech Republic
Ivan I. Tverdovsky, Russia
Olena Yershova, Ukraine
EAST OF THE WEST AWARD (20 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
The Wednesday Child / Szerdai gyerek
Directed by: Lili Horváth
Hungary, Germany, 2015
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
The World Is Mine / Lumea e a mea
Directed by: Nicolae Constantin Tănase
Romania, 2015
DOCUMENTARY FILMS – COMPETITION
DOCUMENTARY FILMS JURY
Paolo Bertolin, Italy
Teodora Ana Mihai, Romania
Ivana Pauerová Miloševič, Czech Republic
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM OVER 60 MINUTES (5 000 USD)
Mallory
Directed by: Helena Třeštíková
Czech Republic, 2015
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
The Father Tapes / Vaterfilm
Directed by: Albert Meisl
Austria, 2015
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM UNDER 30 MINUTES (5 000 USD)
White Death / Muerta Blanca
Directed by: Roberto Collío
Chile, 2015
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Women in Sink
Directed by: Iris Zaki
Great Britain, Israel, 2015
FORUM OF INDEPENDENTS – COMPETITION
FORUM OF INDEPENDENTS JURY
Katrin Gebbe, Germany
Michael Málek, Czech Republic
Yeo Joon Han, Malaysia
FORUM OF INDEPENDENTS AWARD
The winning film will be purchased by Czech Television for the flat fee of 5000 EUR.
Tangerine
Directed by: Sean Baker
USA, 2015
AUDIENCE AWARD
Youth / La giovinezza
Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino
Italy, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, 2015
Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema
Richard Gere, USA
Festival President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinematography
Iva Janžurová, Czech Republic
NON-STATUTORY AWARDS
AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI)
Awarded by The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
FIPRESCI JURY
Pamela Cohn, USA, Germany
Swapan Kumar Ghosh, India
Radovan Holub, Czech Republic
Eva Peydró, Spain
Srđan Vucinic, Serbia
Box
Directed by: Florin Şerban
Romania, Germany, France, 2015
THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
THE ECUMENICAL JURY
Michael Otřísal, Czech Republic
Vít Poláček, Czech Republic
Lothar Strüber, Germany
Rita Weinert, Germany
Bob and the Trees
Directed by: Diego Ongaro
USA, 2015
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Song of Songs / Pesn pesney
Directed by: Eva Neymann
Ukraine, 2015
FEDEORA AWARD
Awarded by the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and The Mediterranean (FEDEORA) to the best film from East of the West – Competition
FEDEORA JURY
Ronald Bergan, United Kingdom
James Evans, United Kingdom
Dubravka Lakić, Serbia
Heavenly Nomadic / Sutak
Directed by: Mirlan Abdykalykov
Kyrgysztan, 2015
The Wednesday Child / Szerdai gyerek
Directed by: Lili Horváth
Hungary, Germany 2015
EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD
For the best European film in the Official Selection – Competition and in the East of the West – Competition.
Europa Cinemas Label jury
Erika Borsos, Hungary
Caroline Dragacci, France
David O’Mahony, Ireland
Jens Schneiderheinze, Germany
Babai
Directed by: Visar Morina
Germany, Kosovo, Macedonia, France, 2015
BEST ACTOR AWARD
Kryštof Hádek for his role in the film The Snake Brothers / Kobry a užovky
Directed by: Jan Prušinovský
Czech Republic, 2015
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
The Magic Mountain / La montagne magique
Directed by: Anca Damian
Romania, France, Poland, 2015
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Antonia
Directed by: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Italy, Greece, 2015
Works in Progress 2015
15 selected projects were presented in the Works in Progress 2015. The most promising project selected by the International Jury received the award of 10 000 Euros in services from the event’s partner Barrandov Studios.
THE WORKS IN PROGRESS JURY 2015
Paz Lázaro, Berlin International Film Festival (Germany)
Titus Kreyenberg, unafilm (Germany)
Jan Naszewski, New Europe Film Sales (Poland)
AWARD OF 10 000 EUROS IN SERVICES FOR THE MOST PROMISING PROJECT
Park
Directed by: Sofia Exarchou
Greece, 2015
image via 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
More than 850 people attended the 2015 Maine International Film Festival in Waterville as it kicked off its 18th year with a nearly sold out showing of the Maine premiere of Tumbledown, a feature length film set in western Maine from Portland-based filmmakers Desi Van Til and Sean Mewshaw.
In Tumbledown, a young widow (Rebecca Hall), falls for a brash New York writer (Jason Sudeikis) who barrels into her rural Maine town investigating the death of her husband, folk-music hero Hunter Miles (voiced by Damien Jurado). Hannah is scraping her life back together in a cabin at the foot of Tumbledown mountain, attempting to seal every shred of her husband’s life into a biography. When Andrew, an academic who has a different take on Hunter’s life and death, shows up looking for the truth of this mysterious musician, the pair clash. But gradually they find themselves collaborating to craft Hunter’s story, and beginning to write the next chapter of their lives together. The film also stars Blythe Danner, Griffin Dunne, Joe Manganiello, and Diana Agron.
“The great turnout for opening night shows that audiences are excited for MIFF’s return,” said Festival Director Shannon Haines. “We are incredibly proud of this year’s program, which is a truly diverse mixture of the best of American independent and international films as well as rare and restored prints of cinema classics, and we’re eager for audiences to experience it.”
Acclaimed actor Michael Murphy will be presented the Mid-Life Achievement Award in honor of his diverse career that includes a long-time collaboration with director Robert Altman and work with Woody Allen, P.T. Anderson, Elia Kazan and Oliver Stone. MIFF will present the U.S. premiere of Murphy’s new film Fall before the award presentation on July 16.
For the first time, MIFF will host the World Filmmakers’ Forum through a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. Filmmakers from France, Argentina, Turkey and Mexico will show their work and discuss their creative process and the state of international film.
On July 18, MIFF will offer Maine filmmakers a chance to showcase their work and network with each other during Making It In Maine Day. The day-long event will include a networking brunch and panel discussion at the Colby College Museum of Art.
The 35th edition of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival returns to the Bay Area July 23 to August 9, 2015, and will kick off with director Jonathan John Goldschmidt’s DOUGH (pictured above), a British dramedy about an old elderly Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce) struggling to keep his business afloat until his young Muslim apprentice (Jerome Holder) accidentally drops cannabis in the dough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbSsw_PETLI
The 2015 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival closes with Erez Miller’s EAST JERUSALEM, WEST JERUSALEM, about Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza who sets out to realize his dream of cooperation and dialog between Israelis and Palestinians through music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rODvYehQiXk
The Centerpiece Narrative is MY SHORTEST LOVE AFFAIR, written and directed by Karin Albou, which follows Louisa (Karin Albou)and Charles (Patrick Mimoun), former lovers who, now middle-aged, have crossed paths at an arts festival in Paris. After a night together Louisa winds up pregnant. Together the two try to make their relationship work again.
Following its world premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, THE ARMOR OF LIGHT will screen as the festival’s Centerpiece Documentary. Directed by Abigail Disney, the film follows the journey of Reverend Rob Schenck, a Jewish born evangelical minister who finds the courage to preach about the toll of gun violence in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V8Oc8J8maQ
In keeping with tradition, to highlight the programming in Berkeley, VERY SEMI-SERIOUS has been selected as the Berkeley Big Night film . Winner of the San Francisco International Film Festival Golden Gate Award for Best Bay Area Documentary, VERY SEMI-SERIOUS (former Bay Area filmmaker Leah Wolchock) is an offbeat meditation on humor, art and the genius of the single panel. The film takes an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at The New Yorker and introduces the cartooning legends and hopefuls who create the iconic cartoons that have inspired, baffled—and occasionally pissed off—all of us for decades.
The festival will open in Palo Alto with Yari and Cary Wolinsky’s RAISE THE ROOF, a look at professor Rick Brown who works with his wife Laura to rebuild a series of now vanished synagogues as they track the labor and love that illuminate these glorious pieces of history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPUwxxidhHM
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT will screen for Bay Area audiences following its World Premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival as the Oakland Opening Night film. PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT offers a rare look into Guggenheim’s world: blending the abstract, the colorful, the surreal and the salacious, to portray a life that was as complex and unpredictable as the artwork Peggy revered and the artists she pushed forward.
On Friday, July 31 at the Castro Theater, the SF Jewish Film Festival will present a day of social justice films, : Take Action: Repairing the World One Film at a Time. The five-film lineup embodies the Jewish value of tikkun olam – which suggests humanity’s shared responsibility to heal, repair and transform the world. This event will screen films in collaboration with local organizations to inspire action on the issues presented in the films: Judith Helfand’s BLUE VINYL (2002); Aviva Kempner’s ROSENWALD; Berkeley based filmmaker Rick Goldsmith’s MIND/GAMES: THE UNQUIET JOURNEY OF CHAMIQUE HOLDSCLAW; Melissa Donovan’s ZEMENE and Dara Bratt’s THE SINGING ABORTIONIST.
PLASTIC MAN: THE ARTFUL LIFE OF JERRY ROSS BARRISH, Directed by William Farley and produced by SFJFF co-founder former SFJFF Director, Janis Plotkin, has been selected for the Local Spotlight. PLASTIC MAN: THE ARTFUL LIFE OF JERRY ROSS BARRISH, follows San Francisco’s best known bail bondsman through his journey of breaking the hardworking Jewish family mold he grew up in, to diving head first into the world of art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlfVO1hbj_k
Other new documentaries by local filmmakers working with Jewish themes, include ED & PAULINE and LOVE & TAXES. ED & PAULINE is a film about cinephiles in love…or not. Christian Bruno’s film tells how film critic Pauline Kael and Ed Landberg transformed a small storefront theater in Berkeley into a church for movie lovers. LOVE & TAXES stars Bay Area icon Josh Kornbluth in a semi-autobiographical comedy about his struggles to make ends meet as he begins a relationship during the “Haiku Tunnel” time in his life. The film is directed by his brother Jacob Kornbluth.
In the Next Wave Spotlight, Kevin Kerslake looks at Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, a man with deep passions and aggressive demons, in AS I AM: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DJ AM. An official selection of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, AS I AM: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DJ AM is an insider’s look into the life of the late, great mash-up pioneer. His incredibly complex personal life was lived under the specter of drug addiction.
Additional Next Wave Films include HOT SUGAR’S COLD WORLD, WHEN I LIVE MY LIFE OVER NEXT AGAIN and DANNY SAY’S. With cameos by Jim Jarmusch and Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, HOT SUGAR’S COLD WORLD is a fly on-the-wall look into the life of Nick Koenig (Hot Sugar) as he creates one-of-a-kind music made entirely out of sounds from the world around him. An aging crooner played by Christopher Walken and his daughter played by Amber Heard star in WHEN I LIVE MY LIFE OVER NEXT AGAIN. A look at the life of Danny Fields, the little known Jewish godfather of punk rock is explored in DANNY SAY’S.
Films about Art include PLASTIC MAN: THE ARTFUL LIFE OF GERRY JERRY ROSS BARRISH, PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT and THE ART DEALER.
PLASTIC MAN: THE ARTFUL LIFE OF GERRY JERRY ROSS BARRISH follows San Francisco’s best known bail bondsman through his journey of breaking the hardworking Jewish family mold he grew up in, to diving head first into the world of art. Produced by SFJFF Founder Janis Plotkin and directed by William Farley.
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT offers a rare look into Guggenheim’s world: blending the abstract, the colorful, the surreal and the salacious, to portray a life that was as complex and unpredictable as the artwork Peggy revered and the artists she pushed forward. The film will screen for Bay Area audiences following its World Premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival.
THE ART DEALER is from renowned French director François Margolin (The Flight of the Red Balloon) and follows a Jewish woman who embarks on a journey to recover family paintings stolen by the Nazis. During her investigation, she discovers some family secrets are best kept hidden.
In honor of the 70th Anniversary of the End of the Holocaust WWII, SFJFF will present the following films:
Ordered in April 1945 by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, GERMAN CONCENTRATION CAMPS FACTUAL SURVEY is an official documentary about German atrocities and the concentration camps compiled with footage shot by combat and newsreel cameramen accompanying troops as they liberated occupied Europe. It was to be the film screened in Germany after the fall of the Third Reich – shown to German prisoners of war wherever they were held but it was never shown. Alfred Hitchcock consulted on the editing of the film.
A highly stunning, visual and emotional devastating film IN SILENCE celebrates the musicians whose lives were lost in the Holocaust. The film premiered at the 2014 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Hundreds of survivors from the German concentration camps arrive to the harbor of Malmö, Sweden. While they take their first steps in freedom Swedish news photographers film them. EVERY FACE HAS A NAME follows these survivors 70 years later as they watch this archive footage for the very first time and as they discover themselves, they re-experience the emotions from this special day.
An official selection of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, A NAZI LEGACY: WHAT OUR FATHER’S DID is the story of two sons of high-ranking Nazi officials who must come to terms with their fathers’ pasts, with different results in each son.
Before broadcasting on HBO, CLAUDE LANZMANN: SPECTRES OF THE SHOAH will be shown for festival audiences. The film is a documentary portrait of the French iconoclast, Claude Lanzmann, and the making of his masterpiece Shoah.
Immigration in Israel is addressed in MANPOWER, MUSSA and RED LEAVES. In MANPOWER, immigration police officer Meir, returns from a tour to Buchenwald concentration camp, a prize for decorated policemen, to a brutal deportation of African labor immigrants. An official selection of Hot Docs 2015, MUSSA follows a 12 year old boy who has refused to speak since his parents came to Israel from Ethiopia. In Bazi Gete’s RED LEAVES, an Ethiopian immigrant sets out on a journey through his children’s homes after losing his wife.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyRkVcdNQb0
LGBT films include THOSE PEOPLE, PROBATION and DANNY SAYS. On Manhattan’s gilded Upper East Side, a young painter, Charlie, finds the man of his dreams in an older pianist from across the globe. If only Charlie weren’t secretly in love with his own manipulative best friend, Sebastian, who is embroiled in a financial scandal. In the wake of Sebastian’s notoriety, their tight knit group of friends must confront the new realities of adulthood in THOSE PEOPLE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxRw8jV_0aI
In PROBATION TIME the fragile bonds that make up a family are severely tested when our hero is faced with an intense break up and a sister who is fighting “demons”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukGjdU6Kdz8
Since 1966, Danny Fields has played a pivotal role in music and “culture” of the late 20th century: working for the Doors, Cream, Lou Reed, Nico, Judy Collins and managing groundbreaking artists like the Stooges, the MC5 and the Ramones. An official selection of SXSW 2015, DANNY SAYS follows Fields from Phi Beta Kappa whiz-kid, to Harvard Law School dropout, to the Warhol Silver Factory, to Director of Publicity at Elektra Records, to “punk pioneer” and beyond.
Other highlights include THE GO GO-GO BOYS: THE INSIDE STORY OF CANNON FILMS (dir. Hila Madalia), an official selection of 2014 Cannes Film Festival, about Menahem Golen and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the American Dream turned the Hollywood structure upside down. THE MUSES OF ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER (dir. Asaf Galay) is about the famous Yiddish writer and Nobel Prize winner who wrote with a ‘harem’ of dozens of translators behind him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JngnAk0pKNc