Sony Pictures has picked up first-time feature filmmaker Branden Kramer’s cyber-suspense thriller RATTER, starring Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”).
RATTER debuted in competition at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and will have its Los Angeles Premiere on Sunday, June 14, at 9:40pm PST in the Nightfall section of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Written and directed by Kramer, RATTER is based on the short film Webcam, which has been viewed more than six million times on Vimeo. Benson stars as Emma, a graduate student living alone in New York City. She is being watched by a “Ratter” who stalks her by hacking into all of her personal technology–laptop, cell phone, and other web connected devices–to record her most intimate moments. Eventually the video feeds aren’t enough and the stalker moves from the virtual to the physical – with disturbing consequences.
The film also stars Matt McGorry (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Rebecca Naomi Jones (The Switch).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4dNU6AQJUFilm Festivals
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Sony Pictures to Release Branden Kramer’s Cyber-Suspense Thriller RATTER | VIDEO
Sony Pictures has picked up first-time feature filmmaker Branden Kramer’s cyber-suspense thriller RATTER, starring Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”).
RATTER debuted in competition at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and will have its Los Angeles Premiere on Sunday, June 14, at 9:40pm PST in the Nightfall section of this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival.
Written and directed by Kramer, RATTER is based on the short film Webcam, which has been viewed more than six million times on Vimeo. Benson stars as Emma, a graduate student living alone in New York City. She is being watched by a “Ratter” who stalks her by hacking into all of her personal technology–laptop, cell phone, and other web connected devices–to record her most intimate moments. Eventually the video feeds aren’t enough and the stalker moves from the virtual to the physical – with disturbing consequences.
The film also stars Matt McGorry (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Rebecca Naomi Jones (The Switch).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si4dNU6AQJU
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Watch Official TRAILER for Documentary The Babushkas of Chernobyl
The official trailer was released today for the documentary The Babushkas of Chernobyl, directed by Holly Morris and Anne Bogart, and World Premiering at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.
For nearly 30 years a community of unlikely heroines have lived in Chernobyl’s post-nuclear disaster “dead zone.” Stylish and stubborn, these fascinating women have survived, and even thrived, on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They arethe last survivors of a community who refused to leave their ancestral homes after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. But the babushkas aren’t the only risk-takers: scientists, bureaucrats and even young men and women called “Stalkers” (who break in illegally to pursue their video game-inspired fantasies) explore the dystopian Zone and seek out its radioactive grandmas. First-time feature documentary filmmakers Holly Morris and Anne Bogart’s portrait of a community tells a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one’s own destiny and the subjective nature of risk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5pLPUH5eDs&feature=youtu.be
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Group Calls for Boycott of 2015 London Israeli Film and Television Festival
The UK Guardian newspaper has published a letter from a group of “artists, producers, and concerned citizens” calling for the boycott of the 2015 London Israeli Film and Television Festival.
In the letter, the group directs disappointment at the cinemas and BAFTA saying, “We, the below listed artists, producers, and concerned citizens, are disappointed and saddened to see that Curzon, Odeon, Bafta and other cinemas are hosting the London Israeli Film and Television Festival.”
The letter goes on to say, “By hosting it, these cinemas are ignoring the 2004 call by Palestinian civil society for sanctions against Israel until Israel abides by international law and ends its illegal displacement of Palestinians, discrimination against them, and occupation of their land.”
The group denied that the boycott is directed at the filmmakers, saying “This is not a request to refuse to show films by individual film-makers, but to reject the involvement and financial support of the Israeli state. We call on these cinemas to stand with the oppressed Palestinian people and to take no part in presenting the festival.”
The group includes:
Saleh Bakri Actor
Frank Barat Activist
Leah Borromeo Film-maker
John Brissenden University lecturer
Brad Butler Artist
Sophie Carapetian Artist
Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso Performer
Tania El Khoury Artist
Gareth Evans Curator
Jordan Flaherty Director
Mahdi Fleifel Film-maker
Ramzi Haddad Producer
Umama Hamido Artist
Doug Holton Theatre maker
Annemarie Jacir Director
Ewa Jasiewicz Producer
Aki Kaurismäki Director
Sharon Kivland Artist, educator
Peter Kosminsky Director
Paul Laverty Screenwriter
Mike Leigh Director
Ken Loach Director
Miriam Margolyes Actress
Serenella Martufi Artist
Karen Mizra Film-maker
Jenny Morgan Documentary film-maker
Mira Nair Director
Rebecca O’Brien Producer
Monika Pampus Teacher
Miranda Pennell Film-maker
Agueda Perucho Film editor
John Pilger Film-maker
Sebastian Rex Writer
Abir Saksouk Architect
Petra Serhal Artist
Souheil Sleiman Sculptor
Stanley Schtinter Film-maker
Hind Shoufani Director
John Smith Film-maker
Paul Stroud Composer
SERET – London Israeli Film and Television Festival will be showcasing a program of feature films, shorts, documentaries and TV series, created by Israel’s most talented film and television makers, with many enjoying their UK premieres, from June 11-21, 2015. See the lineup on the festival’s Facebook page.
Pictured above: APPLES FROM THE DESERT – תפוחים מן המדבר playing at the 2015 SERET – London Israeli Film and Television Festival.
Updated: 6/12/15.
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2015 PBS Online Film Festival to Feature 25 Independent Short Films
PBS announced that the Webby Award-nominated PBS Online Film Festival will return for a fourth year June 15 – July 17, 2015, and will feature 25 short-form independent films. The PBS Online Film Festival showcases powerful and engaging stories from filmmakers across the country.
“PBS, and its member stations, prides itself as the home for independent film,” said Ira Rubenstein, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS Digital. “With the Online Film Festival, and the early viewing access we’re providing to millions of Roku customers, PBS and its member stations have the opportunity to bring unique, high-quality independent film to a highly engaged, digitally savvy audience.”
Short films featured in the 2015 PBS Online Film Festival include:
Alaska Public Media
“I Am a Fly Fisher”
After surviving cancer, Pudge Kleinkauf decided to spend her life doing what she loves: fly fishing.
“I Am an Alaska Native Dancer”
Follow Haliehana Stepetin, a master Alaska Native dancer born in Akutan, AK.
CAAM
“Vimana”
In the year 2021, India is on the verge of colonizing a new homeworld, but their advance team of astronauts remains suspended above the planet caring for their ailing captain and become the only hope for a fresh start.
CET/Think TV
“Sinner Victim Saint”
A newlywed husband who has recently lost his wife in a tragic car accident experiences a dark turn of events that teaches him the power of sacrifice.
“To Kill or Not to Kill”
A romantic comedy screenwriter needs to deliver a dark thriller if she wants to keep her job.
KLRU-TV Austin PBS
“Once Again”
After 20 years, filmmaker John Moore uses home movies, animation, and live action footage to recall and recreate his childhood struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
“Ex-Votos”
A helpless mother takes her ill daughter on a pilgrimage to the Huichol Mountains for the festival of Saint Francis.
“Sugarless Tea”
Through humble restraint, an Indian man strives to achieve his goal of seeing his twin brother after fifty four years of separation.
KQED (Film School Shorts)
“Banana Trip”
Three South Korean college boys head to Florida for spring break.
“11-Minute Mile”
An arrogant day-trader is delayed at an airport during the Boston Marathon bombings.
Latino Public Broadcasting
“Migrant Heroes”
An indigenous Harvard grad pioneers Spanish- and Mixtec-language radio programming in the U.S.
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
“#TheFutureisCrowdFunded”
A couple’s relationship is in jeopardy due to a successful crowdfunded venture.
“Disorder”
A young man wakes up only to find his condition has gotten the best of him. Again.
NBPC and Film Independent’s Project Involve
“Counter”
Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin spends a day in a Southern town’s diner right before a march with Dr. King.
PIC
“The Fishing Club”
One of Hawai?i’s last pristine shorelines is about to be turned into a large resort, and group of close friends, The Fishing Club, are determined to stop it.
POV
“Good Soil”
Against the Garzweiler II coal pit, Brothers Helmut and Joachim Meier run the nursery they built 30 years ago until the very end.
“20/Nothing”
This experimental film takes an in-depth look at a life with no depth perception as it follows Evan Smith, a man who lost his left eye many years ago.
StoryCorps and POV
“The Last Viewing”
Allen Hoe tells the story of a chance encounter with a stranger who knew his son, Army 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, who died in Iraq.
Twin Cities Public Television
“Great Lakes Aurora Hunters”
Follow a group of photographers as they attempt to capture the elusive Northern Lights.
“Seed Art”
Take a peek behind-the-scenes at the Minnesota State Fair to see how intricate seed art is made.
UNC-TV
“Un Buen Carnicero”
An immigrant butcher reveals how freedom is tied to convenience on the eve of July 4th.
“Kilroy was Here”
A WWII pilot hanging helplessly from his tangled parachute is discovered by orphaned children.
“Helpless”
Leah and Chayse confess their true feelings in the school library while an unknown malice lurks nearby.
Vision Maker Media
“Isabelle’s Garden”
“Isabelle’s Garden” is an uplifting story of a community coming together in reciprocity, through the hopes and dreams of a young, Choctaw girl and her garden.
Vermont PBS
“11 Paper Place”
A love story about two sheets of paper who meet in a recycle bin.
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LA Premiere of DOPE at 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival
The official Los Angeles premiere of the film DOPE took place on Monday night at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live as a pre-festival screening at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.
EXCLUSIVE – Co-Executive Producer Sean Combs and Executive Producer Pharrell Williams seen at Open Road Films Los Angeles Premiere of “Dope” in partnership with the LA Film Fest on Monday, June 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Open Road Films/AP Images)
Cast members in attendance included Shameik Moore, Kiersey Clemons, Kimberly Elise, Quincy Brown, Chanel Iman, A$AP Rocky, Tyga, Tony Revolori, Blake Anderson, and Kap G. Also in attendance was director/writer Rick Famuyiwa, producers Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi, executive producer Pharrell Williams, co-executive producer Sean Combs and co-producer Mimi Valdes.
EXCLUSIVE – A$AP Rocky seen at Open Road Films Los Angeles Premiere of “Dope” in partnership with the LA Film Fest on Monday, June 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Open Road Films/AP Images)
DOPE premieres nationwide on June 19.
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2015 Los Angeles Film Festival to Close with Live Read of Fast Times at Ridgemont High
For Closing Night of the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival, writer/director/producer/actor Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Grindhouse, Hostel, Inglorious Basterds) will direct a Live Read of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film, which came out in 1982, was directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Cameron Crowe.
Stephanie Allain, Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival had this to say about the historic event, “I can’t think of a better way to close this year’s Festival than with a Live Read! Eli Roth is directing a quintessentially LA story, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
“We’re so pleased to have Eli Roth lead the Live Read of one of his favorite films,” said Elvis Mitchell, Film Independent Curator.
The 21st edition of the Los Angeles Film Festival will run June 10 to 18, 2015.
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SWEATY BETTY Wins Top Awards at 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival
Joseph Frank and Zachary Reed won the Best Feature Film award, as well as the Grand Chameleon Award for Sweaty Betty (pictured above) at the 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival which wrapped up on Sunday with a gala evening at new BFF venue, the Wythe Hotel. Alison Bagnall’s Funny Bunny nabbed two awards, best actor for Olly Alexander (shared with Ágúst Örn B. Wigum for Whale Valley) and Best Editing, for Kentucker Audley, David Barker, and Caleb Johnson.
Wildlike nabbed three awards, including Best Actor (female) for Ella Purnell, Best Screenplay for director Frank Hall Green and Best Producer for Julie Christeas, Green, Joseph Stephans, and Schuyler Weiss while world premiere New York City film But Not For Me nabbed the Audience Award for Best Feature Narrative, as well as the Best Original Score award for Rafael Leloup with Ryan Carmichael, Marcus Carl Franklin, Quazzy Faffle and Elena Urioste.
Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli’s Frame by Frame nabbed the festival’s Spirit Award for documentary and shared the Audience Award with Neal Broffman’s film Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi.
“We’re so pleased with this year’s festival,” said Director of Programming Bryce J. Renninger. “The films, filmmakers, audiences and sponsors all truly exemplify the diversity and spirit of Brooklyn and we look forward to the BFF continuing to be a vibrant part of Brooklyn’s cultural landscape.”
This year we brought more filmmakers with their first or second film to New York audiences than ever before. We staged the festival in all new venues and neighborhoods, and it proved to be a great success,” said Marco Ursino, BFF’s Executive Director. “After 18 years, the festival feels as fresh as ever.”
This year’s event screened 108 features and shorts from 26 countries and over 70 filmmakers attended, performing Q&A sessions after their screenings, supporting the work of other artists, and attending the festival’s various panels and parties.
Complete list of Winners:
GRAND CHAMELEON AWARD
Best Feature Film: Joseph Frank and Zachary Reed for Sweaty Betty
BEST IN CATEGORY
Best Animation: Sol Friedman for Day 40
Best Experimental film: Clayton Allis & Alfie Lee for In The Future Love Will Also
Best Short Subject: Bartek Konopka for From Bed Thou Arose
Best Short Documentary: Danya Abt for Eric, Winter To Spring
Best Documentary: Florian Schewe and Katharina Von Schroeder for We Were Rebels
Best Feature Film: Joseph Frank and Zachary Reed for Sweaty Betty
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award in the Animation Category: Bob Blevins & Bradly Werley for T.P.
Audience Award in the Experimental Film Category: Clayton Allis & Alfie Lee for In the Future Love Will Also
Audience Award in the Narrative Short Category: Daisy Zhou for How to Be a Black Panther
Audience Award in the Short Documentary Category: Sean Ryon and Lea Scruggs for Born Into This
Audience Award in the Documentary Category (tie): Neal Broffman for Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi and Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli for Frame by Frame
Audience Award in the Feature Length Narrative Category: Ryan Carmichael for But Not for Me
SPIRIT AWARDS | Festival’s Favorite
Spirit Award in the Narrative Short Category: Graham Chychele Waterston for And It Was Good
Spirit Award in the Exp. Film Category: Janna Kyllästinen & Anne-Katrine Hansen for Division Avenue
Spirit Award in the Short Doc Category: Dir: Elizabeth Lo & Melissa Langer for Treasure Island
Spirit Award in the Documentary Category: Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli for Frame by Frame
Spirit Award in the Animation Category: Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano for Love in the Time of March Madness
Spirit Award in the Feature Category: Vinko Moderndorfer for Inferno
Best Brooklyn Project: Harvey Mitkas for Devil Town
CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT
Best Actor (male): Ágúst Örn B. Wigum for Whale Valley and Olly Alexander for Funny Bunny
Best Actor (female): Ella Purnell for Wildlike
Original Score: Rafael Leloup with Ryan Carmichael, Marcus Carl Franklin Quazzy Faffle and Elena Urioste for But Not for Me
Best Editing Award: Kentucker Audley, David Barker, and Caleb Johnson for Funny Bunny
Best Cinematography Award: Robert Machoian for God Bless the Child
Best Screenplay Award: Frank Hall Green for Wildlike
Best Producer Award: Julie Christeas, Frank Hall Green, Joseph Stephans, and Schuyler Weiss for Wildlike
Best New Director Award: Robert Gregson for The Refrigerator
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Clean Energy Documentary CATCHING THE SUN to World Premiere at LA Film Festival | TRAILER
The documentary CATCHING THE SUN, directed by Shalini Kantayya, which explores the global economic race to lead the the clean energy future, will World Premiere in Documentary Competition at the 2015 LA Film Festival.
Director Kantayya uses interwoven character dramas spanning the US and China to tell the story of the global energy transition from the perspective of workers and entrepreneurs building solutions to income inequality and climate change with their own hands.
Catching the Sun is anchored on the hope and heartbreak of unemployed American workers seeking jobs in the solar industry. An unlikely ensemble of characters contrast with preconceived notions about who is at the forefront of a transition to clean energy: Eddie Wiltz, a college dropout with few job opportunities who seeks training as a solar installer; Debbie Dooley, a Green Tea Party activist who takes on Georgia’s utility monopoly; Van Jones, a Bay Area activist who goes to Washington to elevate the national conversation on green jobs and implement policy, and; Wally Jiang, an ambitious Chinese CEO pursuing global markets in this rapidly growing industry.
“I set out to do a small film about American workers, and ended up telling a global story unfolding in real time,” says director Kantayya. “The story took me through innumerable twists and turns as I tried to understand the larger global economics that impact whether American workers get jobs in the clean-tech industries of the future. Catching the Sun is a global documentary and reflects my point of view as a global citizen.”
With countries like China investing in innovative technologies and capitalizing on this trillion-dollar opportunity, the documentary has already caught the attention of government officials and leaders in the industry. Kantayya hopes the film will serve as the catalyst to propel America as frontrunner in this industrial race.
Director Kantayya adds, “The oil economy has created monopolies and concentrated wealth and power in the hands of the few. I was fascinated by the idea that solar power could democratize and decentralize energy in a way that rebuilds the ladder of economic opportunity in the U.S.”
The film’s World Premiere will take place on Thursday, June 11, 2015 at the Regal Cinemas LA Live (1000 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FzqgS-M5Eo
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THE DARK HORSE, ROMEO IS BLEEDING Win Top Awards at 2015 Seattle International Film Festival
The 2015 Seattle International Film Festival announced the winners of the 2015 Golden Space Needle Audience and Competition Awards. The Dark Horse, directed by James Napier Robertson is the big winner, taking the Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Film, and Best Actor for Cliff Curtis. In The Dark Horse – winner of six New Zealand Film Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Actor – Cliff Curtis (Whale Rider) gives a stunning and inspirational performance as New Zealand legend Genesis Potini, a bipolar speed chess champion who helps turn around the lives of some 15,000 Maori children by teaching them the intricacies the game.
Other winners include Alfonso Gomez-Rejon of “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” wins Best Director, “Romeo is Bleeding” wins Best Documentary; Nina Hoss (“Phoenix”) wins Best Actress, “Liza, The Fox-Fairy,” “The Great Alone,” and “Chatty Catties” Win Grand Jury Prize Awards for Best New Director, Documentary and New American Film
Carl Spence, SIFF’s Artistic Director, says, “Our 41st Festival was another fantastic celebration of storytelling in all its forms. We presented everything from the storied cinematic past (archival screenings celebrating Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation and live read of the late Stewart Stern’s Rebel Without a Cause), to the iconic (Kevin Bacon!), to the independent (Jason Schwartzman and his new comedy 7 Chinese Brothers). With a record 92 countries represented this year and sold-out shows every night, this year’s Festival was bigger than ever, but it also fittingly included a proper send-off of an iconic movie house, the Harvard Exit. It also highlighted Seattle’s great continuing movie houses including our own SIFF Cinema Egyptian and SIFF Cinema Uptown. And I love that we bookended the Festival this year with two stellar comedies, kicking off with our Opening Night film Spy (the number one movie in America this weekend) and finishing with our hilarious Closing Night indie The Overnight. Starting and ending with laughter while traveling the world in between is a great way to mark another whirlwind 25-day celebration of cinema.”
SIFF 2015 GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AUDIENCE AWARDS
SIFF celebrates its films and filmmakers with the Golden Space Needle Audience Awards. Selected by Festival audiences, awards are given in five categories: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Short Film. This year, nearly 90,000 ballots were submitted.
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST FILM
The Dark Horse, directed by James Napier Robertson (New Zealand 2014)
First runner-up: Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter (USA 2015)
Second runner-up: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (USA 2015)
Third runner-up: Shaun the Sheep, directed by Richard Starzak, Mark Burton (UK 2015)
Fourth runner-up: Good Ol’ Boy, directed by Frank Lotito (USA 2015)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST DOCUMENTARY
Romeo is Bleeding, directed by Jason Zeldes (USA 2015)
First runner-up: Paper Tigers, directed by James Redford (USA 2015)
Second runner-up: The Glamour & The Squalor, directed by Marq Evans (USA 2015)
Third runner-up: The Great Alone, directed by Greg Kohs (USA 2015)
Fourth runner-up: Frame by Frame, directed by Mo Scarpelli, Alexandria Bombach (Afghanistan 2014)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (USA 2015)
First runner-up: George Ovashvili, Corn Island (Georgia 2014)
Second runner-up: Peter Greenaway, Eisenstein in Guanajuato (Netherlands 2015)
Third runner-up: Susanne Bier, ASecond Chance (Denmark 2014)
Fourth runner-up: Ross Partridge, Lamb (USA 2015)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST ACTOR
Cliff Curtis, The Dark Horse (New Zealand 2014)
First runner-up: Ian McKellen, Mr. Holmes (UK 2015)
Second runner-up: Jason Segel, End of the Tour (USA 2014)
Third runner-up: Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon, Henri Henri (Canada (Québec) 2014)
Fourth runner-up: Jacir Eid, Theeb (Jordan 2014)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST ACTRESS
Nina Hoss, Phoenix (Germany 2014)
First runner-up: Kalki Koechlin, Margarita, with a Straw (India 2014)
Second runner-up: Rebecka Josephson, My Skinny Sister (Sweden 2015)
Third runner-up: Regina Case, The Second Mother (Brazil 2015)
Fourth runner-up: Ghita Nørby, Key House Mirror (Denmark 2015)
GOLDEN SPACE NEEDLE AWARD – BEST SHORT FILM
Even the Walls, directed by Sarah Kuck, Saman Maydáni (USA 2015)
First runner-up: Submarine Sandwich, directed by PES (USA 2014)
Second runner-up: Stealth, directed by Bennett Lasseter (USA 2014)
Third runner-up: Personal Development, directed by Tom Sullivan (Ireland 2015)
Fourth runner-up: Bihttoš, directed by Elie-Máijá Tailfeathers (Canada 2014)
LENA SHARPE AWARD FOR PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Frame by Frame, directed by Mo Scarpelli, Alexandria Bombach (Afghanistan 2014)
This award is given to the female director’s film that receives the most votes in public balloting at the Festival. Lena Sharpe was co-founder and managing director of Seattle’s Festival of Films by Women Directors and a KCTS-TV associate who died in a plane crash while on assignment. As a tribute to her efforts in bringing the work of women filmmakers to prominence, SIFF created this special award and asked Women in Film Seattle to bestow it.
SIFF 2015 COMPETITION AWARDS
SIFF announced three Competition Awards for Best New Director, Best Documentary, and Best New American Film (FIPRESCI). Winners in each juried competition received $2,500 in cash, while the New American Cinema competition winner was also awarded the FIPRESCI prize.
SIFF 2015 BEST NEW DIRECTOR
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Liza, the Fox-Fairy (Hungary 2015), directed by Károly Ujj-Mészáros
JURY STATEMENT: For its lively, inventive visual wit and offbeat look at romantic delusion involving a haunted Hungarian nurse, a long-suffering police sergeant, and the ghost of a ’50s Japanese pop singer, we have given this year’s New Directors Prize to Károly Ujj-Mészáros.
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Corrections Class (Russia/Germany 2014), directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky
JURY STATEMENT: For the director’s brave and unflinching handling of a young ensemble.
Festival programmers select 12 films remarkable for their original concept, striking style, and overall excellence. To be eligible, films must be a director’s first or second feature and without U.S. distribution at the time of their selection. The New Directors Jury is comprised of Brandon Harris (Filmmaker Magazine), Amy Nicholson (L.A. Weekly), and Alison Willmore (Buzzfeed).
2015 Entries:
A Blast (d: Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands 2014, North American Premiere)
Bonifacio (d: Enzo Williams, Philippines 2014, North American Premiere)
Corrections Class (d: Ivan I. Tverdovsky, Russia/Germany 2014, North American Premiere)
Liza, the Fox-Fairy (d: Károly Ujj-Mészáros, Hungary 2015, North American Premiere)
Love, Theft and Other Entanglements (d: Muayad Alayan, Palestine 2015, North American Premiere)
A Matter of Interpretation (d: Kwang-kuk Lee, South Korea 2014, North American Premiere)
Morbayassa (d: Cheick Fantamady Camara, Guinea 2015, North American Premiere)
My Skinny Sister (d: Sanna Lenken, Sweden/Germany 2015, North American Premiere)
Short Skin (d: Duccio Chiarini, Italy 2014, North American Premiere)
Under Construction (d: Rubaiyat Hossain, Bangladesh 2015, World Premiere)
Vincent (d: Thomas Salvador, France 2014)
Waterline (d: Michal Otlowski, Poland 2014, North American Premiere)
SIFF 2015 BEST DOCUMENTARY
GRAND JURY PRIZE
The Great Alone (USA 2015), directed by Greg Kohs
JURY STATEMENT: Our Grand Jury Prize goes to a film that stopped all of us in our tracks. One of the joys of the film festival experience is discovering a film that works so well on every level. This is an inspiring film about one man’s story that is both intimate and epic – we were knocked out by the filmmaker’s achievement in crafting a visually stunning, completely engrossing narrative about one extraordinary human being.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZES
Romeo is Bleeding (USA 2015), directed by Jason Zeldes
JURY STATEMENT: For its strength in demonstrating the power of art to change lives.
Sergio Herman: F**king Perfect (Netherlands 2015), directed by Willemiek Kluijfhout
JURY STATEMENT: Which we found to be an exquisitely made film about a FUCKING PERFECT artist.
Unscripted and uncut, the world is a resource of unexpected, informative, and altogether exciting storytelling. Documentary filmmakers have, for years, brought these untold stories to life and introduced us to a vast number of fascinating topics we may have never known existed-let alone known were so fascinating. The Documentary Jury is comprised of Jannat Gargi (Vulcan Productions), Janet Pierson (SXSW), and Anne Rosellini (producer, Stray Dog, Winter’s Bone).
2015 Entries:
Cooking Up a Tribute (d: Luis González & Andrea Gómez, Spain 2015, North American Premiere)
Dreams Rewired (d: Martin Reinhart, Thomas Tode, & Manu Luksch, Austria 2015, North American Premiere)
The Glamour & The Squalor (d: Marq Evans, USA 2015, World Premiere)
The Great Alone (d: Greg Kohs, USA 2015, World Premiere)
In Utero (d: Kathleen Gyllenhaal, USA 2015, World Premiere)
License to Operate (d: James Lipetzky, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Mountain Spirits (d: Singing Chen & Kuo-Liang Chiang, Taiwan 2014, US Premiere)
Paper Tigers (d: James Redford, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Romeo Is Bleeding (d: Jason Zeldes, USA 2015)
Sergio Herman, F**KING PERFECT (d: Willemiek Kluijfhout, Netherlands 2015, North American Premiere)
War of Lies (d: Matthias Bittner, Germany 2014, US Premiere)
SIFF 2015 BEST NEW AMERICAN CINEMA
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Chatty Catties (USA 2015), directed by Pablo Valencia
JURY STATEMENT: The FIPRESCI jury at the 41st edition of the Seattle International Film Festival bestows its International Critics’ Prize to a film that – with an enormous amount of risk-taking – innovatively expands stylistic and narrative boundaries. With a fresh view on intimate relationships, director Pablo Valencia creates an unexpected and utterly original emotional landscape in Chatty Catties.
Festival programmers select 9 films without U.S. distribution that are sure to delight audiences looking to explore the exciting vanguard of New American Cinema and compete for the FIPRESCI Award for Best New American Film. The New American Cinema Jury is comprised of members of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI): Pamela Cohn, André Roy, and Dennis West.
2015 Entries:
Chatty Catties (d: Pablo Valencia, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Circle (d: Aaron Hann & Mario Miscione, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Fourth Man Out (d: Andrew Nackman, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Front Cover (d: Ray Yeung, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Good Ol’ Boy (d: Frank Lotito, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Happy 40th (d: Madoka Raine, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Me Him Her (d: Max Landis, USA 2015, World Premiere)
A Rising Tide (d: Ben Hickernell, USA 2015, World Premiere)
Those People (d: Joey Kuhn, USA 2015, World Premiere)
SIFF 2015 FUTUREWAVE AND YOUTH JURY AWARDS
YOUTH JURY AWARD FOR BEST FUTUREWAVE FEATURE
Seoul Searching (USA/South Korea 2015), directed by Benson Lee
JURY STATEMENT: For its diverse and relatable characters, quality mix of emotion and comedy, and accurate and respectful representation of teens, the 2015 FutureWave Youth Jury Prize goes to Seoul Searching.
YOUTH JURY AWARD FOR BEST FILMS4FAMILIES FEATURE
When Marnie Was There (Japan 2014), directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
JURY STATEMENT: For its beautiful and detailed animation, realistic sound design, and original, bittersweet tale of mystery the Films4Families Jury awards When Marnie Was There.
WAVEMAKER AWARD (GRAND PRIZE)
In recognition of superior artistic and technical achievement.
Audio Input(USA), directed by Sho Schrock-Manabe
JURY STATEMENT: For its insightful and engaging portrait of podcasting, an audio art form, through a collage of interviews and images.
FUTUREWAVE AUDIENCE AWARD
Minimum Max (USA), directed by Josh Ovalle
PRODIGY CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS
Each winner will be awarded a $1000 scholarship to the Prodigy Camp.
I’m Not Here (South Africa), directed by Jack Markovitz
Minimum Max (USA), directed by Josh Ovalle
SIFF 2015 SHORT FILM JURY AWARDS
All short films shown at the Festival are eligible for both the Golden Space Needle Audience Award and Jury Award. Jurors will choose winners in the Narrative, Animation, and Documentary categories. Each jury winner will receive $1,000 and winners in any of the three categories may also qualify to enter their respective films in the Short Film category of the Academy Awards®.
LIVE ACTION
GRAND JURY PRIZE
The Chicken (Croatia, Germany), directed by Una Gunjak
JURY STATEMENT: An expertly crafted narrative that explores life and death through the eyes of a young girl. With a film full of authentic performances, Iman Alibalic is extraordinary as the six-year-old protagonist who receives a live chicken from her father for her birthday, and soon realizes it’s meant for dinner. This is an emotional film with a production quality that continues to move the story along and underscore the realities of life in a war zone.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Hole (Canada), directed by Martin Edralin
JURY STATEMENT: Hole is a brave exploration of human sexuality and yearning for intimacy through the eyes of a lonely, forgotten, disabled man in the heart of Toronto. Ken Harrower delivers a captivating performance that transcends any labels or limitations and speaks to the need for human connection.
DOCUMENTARY
GRAND JURY PRIZE
Bihttos (Canada), directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
JURY STATEMENT: For its ambitious approaches to visual storytelling and imaginative recounting of an exceptional family history.
ANIMATION
GRAND JURY PRIZE
The Mill at Calder’s End (USA), directed by Kevin McTurk
JURY STATEMENT: There exists a tendency to laud the new-new stories, new techniques, new talent. With the animation award, the jury is pleased to celebrate a film that is decidedly old-school, breathing life into a bygone style, iterating in a story tradition that is centuries old. For this fusion of the modern and classic, we are happy to award Kevin McTurk for The Mill at Calder’s End.
Short Film Juries 2015:
Live Action: Stefanie Malone (NFFTY), Bobby McHugh (World Famous), and Tracy Rector (Longhouse Media).
Documentary and Animation: Courtney Sheehan (Northwest Film Forum), Jason Sondhi (Vimeo curator), Alex Stonehill (Seattle Globalist).
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2015 New York Asian Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Opens With PORT OF CALL
The 2015 New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which will take place from June 26 to July 8 at the Film Society and July 9 to 11 at SVA Theatre (333 W. 23rd Street) unveiled the film lineup, which will showcase 52 feature films, including 1 World Premiere, 3 International Premieres, 13 North American Premieres, 5 U.S. Premieres, and 14 films making their New York City debuts. The festival will be attended by 18 international filmmakers and celebrity guests traveling from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. The New York Asian Film Festival is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema.
NYAFF’s Opening Night presentation will be the North American Premiere of Philip Yung’s Port of Call (pictured above). The film centers on the brutal murder of a 16-year-old Hunan girl who moves to Hong Kong with her family and falls into prostitution. Winding through time and grounded by Christopher Doyle’s gauzy cinematography, the film follows both the story of the young girl’s descent into sex work and the grizzled detective (Aaron Kwok) who obsessively works to solve the murder. Kwok is astonishing here in a career-best performance, with all the tics and haggard body language of a man beaten down by the violence that threatens to drown him at every turn.
The Centerpiece Presentation will be the North American premiere of Sabu’s Chasuke’s Journey, which was in Competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. According to Variety, the film finds “Sabu in his most fun-loving element, stirring Okinawa’s magical folk art into a Capraesque yarn that flirts with ideas of fate and self-determination, but really just revels in a rich tapestry of human experience. [The film is also] full of whimsical twists and high-octane action.”
The lineup also includes the World Premiere of Fire Lee’s black comedy Robbery; the International Premiere of Anh Sang-hoon’s erotic period actioner Empire of Lust; the North American Premieres of Chen Jiabin’s directorial debut A Fool, Daihachi Yoshida’s fantasy-drama Pale Moon, Lau Ho-leung’s action-comedy Two Thumbs Up, and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s slacker/rock drama La La La at Rock Bottom (previously announced); and the U.S. premiere of Yee Chih-yen’s high-school noirMeeting Dr. Sun. Other exciting highlights include Kulikar Sotho’s gorgeous meditation on Cambodia’s tragic Khmer Rouge past and its impact on the present, The Last Reel; Ryuichi Hiroki’s ensemble love-and-sex drama Kabukicho Love Hotel; Boo Ji-young’s superb labor-rights underdog drama Cart; and Sion Sono’s berserk rap musical Tokyo Tribe.
The 14th edition of the NYAFF will feature five focus programs: “Hong Kong Panorama”; “New Cinema from Japan”; “Taiwan Cinema Now!”; “Myung Films: Pioneers and Women Behind the Camera in Korean Film”; and “The Last Men in Japanese Film,” a joint tribute to Ken Takakura and Bunta Sugawara, both of whom passed away last November.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v3Ghk52i4o
The 2015 New York Asian Film Festival lineup
OPENING NIGHT FILM
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
PORT OF CALL | 踏血尋梅
PHILIP YUNG, 2015 | CAST: AARON KWOK, MICHAEL NING, JESSIE LI
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 121 MINUTES
A police detective (Aaron Kwok, in a career-defining role) tracks down the murderer of a young prostitute in this brutal thriller directed by Philip Yung and shot by master cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
CHASUKE’S JOURNEY | 天の茶助
SABU, 2015 | CAST: KENICHI MATSUYAMA, ITO OHNO, REN OHSUGI, YUSUKE ISEYA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES
A celestial tea server descends to Okinawa in order to save a young girl, falls in with a gang of losers, enjoys ramen, finds unwarranted celebrity, and fights against predestination written by heavenly hacks who copy Hollywood blockbusters.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
To be announced
ABASHIRI PRISON | 網走番外地
TERUO ISHII, 1965 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, KOJI NANBARA, TETSURO TAMBA, TORU ABE
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 92 MINUTES
The first entry in Toei’s hugely successful Abashiri Prison yakuza film series, directed by Teruo Ishii, established Ken Takakura’s superstar status. If you want to understand Ken’s enormous popularity, this is the film that started it all. In many ways, this is the invention of the Japanese man.
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
BANGLASIA 孟加拉殺手
NAMEWEE, 2015 | CAST: NIRAB HOSSAIN, SAIFUL APEK, NAMEWEE, ATIKAH SUHAIME
MALAYSIA | MALAY, ENGLISH, MANDARIN, AND HOKKIEN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 91 MINUTES
From the director of festival fave foodie flick Nasi Lemak 2.0 comes this wild and crazy Western full of musical numbers and humor so slaphappy it’ll leave your head spinning. It was banned in Malaysia for being too political, so we’re proud to screen it.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF THE NEW DIGITAL REMASTER
BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY | 仁義なき戦い
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1973 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, HIROKI MATSUKATA, NOBUO KANEKO, KUNIE TANAKA, GORO IBUKI
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 99 MINUTES
Quite possibly the ultimate yakuza movie, Kinji Fukasaku’s dark, gritty classic stars Bunta Sugawara (in the role that made his career) as a former soldier who turns to organized crime and claws his way up the yakuza underworld in postwar Hiroshima. .
BROTHERHOOD OF BLADES | 繡春刀
LU YANG, 2014 | CAST: CHANG CHEN, CECILIA LIU, WANG QIANYUAN, ETHAN LI, NIE YUAN
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DIGITAL PROJECTION | 106 MINUTES
One of the best Chinese period action films in recent memory, this overlooked blood-red gem is packed with superbly choreographed fight scenes, riveting drama, and performances to match.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
CAFÉ. WAITING. LOVE | 等一個人咖啡
CHIANG CHIN-LIN, 2014 | CAST: VIVIAN SUNG, BRUCE, MEGAN LAI, MARCUS CHANG
TAIWAN | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 120 MINUTES
Three years after his record-breaking debut, You Are the Apple of My Eye, writer-director Giddens Ko penned this irresistibly zany romantic comedy, based on his book of the same name—but this time with Chiang Chin-lin in the director’s seat.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
CART | 카트
BOO JI-YOUNG, 2014 | CAST: YUM JUNG-AH, MOON JUNG-HEE, KIM YOUNG-AE, KIM KANG-WOO, HWANG JEONG-MIN, CHUN WOO-HEE
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
In this pro-union flick, the 99% rise up after a bunch of female employees at a chain retail giant (think Wal-Mart) get laid off via text message. When they decide to go on strike, management calls in the thugs…
CITY ON FIRE | 龍虎風雲
RINGO LAM, 1987 | CAST: CHOW YUN-FAT, DANNY LEE, SUEN YUET, ROY CHEUNG
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35mm | 100 MINUTES
Ringo Lam’s classic heist-gone-bad flick is the movie that made Chow Yun-fat (playing an undercover cop) a star and provided Quentin Tarantino with the basis for Reservoir Dogs. The film features heartbreak to spare for the little people trying to eke out a living at the end of a gun.
COLD WAR | 寒戰
LONGMAN LEUNG, SUNNY LUK, 2012 | CAST: AARON KWOK, TONY LEUNG KAR-FAI, ANDY LAU
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 102 MINUTES
Winner of nine Hong Kong Film Awards, including “Best Film,” Best Director,” “Best Screenplay,” “Best Actor,” and “Best New Performer,” COLD WAR was Hong Kong’s 2012 box office sensation. This cop thriller stars Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Kar-Fai as two high-ranking officers whose rivalry leads to an intense power struggle over an explosive rescue operation.
COPS VS. THUGS | 県警対組織暴力
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1975 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, HIROKI MATSUKATA, KEN TAKAKURA, MIKIO NARITA, NOBUO KANEKO
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 100 MINUTES
Bunta Sugawara plays a cop so corrupt he’s basically a member of the yakuza—delivering witnesses to his criminal buddies and looking the other way when they murder rivals. But now a war is breaking out and this bad lieutenant is going to have to choose sides.
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
EMPIRE OF LUST | 순수의시대
AHN SANG-HOON, 2015 | CAST: SHIN HA-KYUN, JANG HYUK, KANG HANNA, KANG HA-NEUL
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH LIVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DCP | 113 MINUTES
A gorgeous period actioner set during the founding days of Joseon Dynasty in the early 14th century, Empire of Lust follows three men who engage in a power struggle within the palace walls, caught in the whirlwind of love, lust, greed, betrayal, and revenge.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
A FOOL | 一個勺子
CHEN JIANBIN, 2014 | CAST: CHEN JIAN BIN, WANG XUEBING, JIN SHIJIA
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES
Chen Jianbin’s directorial debut is a harsh noir about an honest farmer’s efforts to help a young homeless man that instead set off a chain of disasters, serving as a reminder of man’s inhumanity when faced with greed.
FULL ALERT | 高度戒備
RINGO LAM, 1997 | CAST: LAU CHING-WAN, FRANCIS NG, AMANDA LEE, MONICA CHAN, JACK KAO
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 98 MINUTES
Ringo Lam’s last great movie before his 12-year retirement is a dark, glittering gem of a police procedural that works both as a heist flick and as a tombstone for both pre-Handover Hong Kong and the action genre.
U.S. PREMIERE
FULL STRIKE | 全力扣殺
DEREK KWOK & HENRI WONG, 2015 | CAST: JOSIE HO, EKIN CHENG, RONALD CHENG, TSE KWAN-HO, ANDREW LAM, WILFRED LAU
HONG KONG/CHINA | CANTONESE, HAKKA, AND ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 108 MINUTES
Racquet sport becomes martial art when a down-and-out gang of has-beens form a badminton team to win back their self-respect in this hyperactive, totally surreal comedy from Derek Kwok, the co-director of Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West.
FUNUKE, SHOW SOME LOVE YOU LOSERS! | 腑抜けども、悲しみの愛を見せろ
DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2007 | CAST: ERIKA SATO, MASATOSHI NAGASE, HIROMI NAGASAKU
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 112 MINUTES
Seduction, persecution, prostitution, suicide, and more greet the Wago family’s three siblings who return home for their parent’s funeral after they’re killed while trying to save a kitten. Yoshida’s twisted, smart, and deftly handled first film is as black as a comedy can get, yet wrapped in a lighthearted exterior.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
INSANITY | 暴瘋語
DAVID LEE, 2014 | CAST: LAU CHING-WAN, HUANG XIAOMING, ALEX FONG, FIONA SIT, NINA PAW
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 99 MINUTES
In this psychological thriller produced by Derek Yee (The Great Magician,One Night in Mongkok), a psychiatrist (Huang Xiaoming) is lured to the dark side of the mind by his patient and convicted murderer (Lau Ching-Wan).
THE ISLE | 섬
KIM KI-DUK, 2000 | CAST: CHO JAE-HYUN, SUH JUNG, PARK SEONG-HEE, JANG HANG-SEON
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 85 MINUTES
Kim Ki-duk helped put Korean cinema on the map with this art-house exploitation shocker about a cop on the run who winds up at a floating hotel owned by a woman who might be insane, or just really in love. You are not prepared.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
IT’S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG
EMILY TING, 2014 | CAST: JAMIE CHUNG, BRYAN GREENBERG, RICHARD NG
HONG KONG/USA | ENGLISH | FORMAT: DCP | 78 MINUTES
This compelling walk-and-talk romance à laRichard Linklater, centered on two Hong Kong expats who randomly cross paths one night, is as much about the attraction between the leads as it is about the love of Hong Kong.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL | さよなら歌舞伎町
RYUICHI HIROKI, 2014 | CAST: SHOTA SOMETANI, ATSUKO MAEDA, LEE EUN-WOO, ROY (SON IL-KWON)
JAPAN | JAPANESE AND KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 136 MINUTES
Taking place over 24 hours in a Tokyo love hotel, this steamy and poignant character-driven ensemble drama from director Ryuichi Hiroki (Vibrator) looks at ordinary people as they experience life-changing events.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM | 味園ユニバース
NOBUHIRO YAMASHITA, 2015 | CAST: SUBARU SHIBUTANI, FUMI NIKAIDO, SARINA SUZUKI, KATSUMI KAWAHARA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
From Nobuhiro Yamashita (director of Linda Linda Linda and Tamako in Moratorium) comes this romantic comedy about an amnesiac man who, as the memory of his criminal past slowly returns, tries to find redemption and love through rock music.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
THE LAST REEL |ដុំហ្វីលចុងកាាយ
KULIKAR SOTHO, 2014 | CAST: MA RYNET, ROUS MONY, DY SAVETH, HUN SOPHY
CAMBODIA | KHMER WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 106 MINUTES
This gorgeous and engaging drama about a rebellious Cambodian girl determined to shoot the missing ending of a 40-year-old movie starring her mother is a meditation on Cambodia’s past and present, and the power of art.
LITTLE BIG MASTER | 五個小孩的校長
ADRIAN KWAN, 2015 | CAST: MIRIAM YEUNG, LOUIS KOO, WINNIE HO
HONG KONG/CHINA | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 112 MINUTES
Hong Kong’s runaway box-office hit is a powerful drama based on the true story of a principal assigned to a failing rural kindergarten with only five students: if one of them drops out, the school closes.
THE MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN | 太陽を盗んだ男
KAZUHIKO HASEGAWA, 1979 | CAST: BUNTA SUGAWARA, KENJI SAWADA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 147 MINUTES
A ballsy satire about a high-school science teacher (rock-star Kenji Sawada) who builds an atomic bomb at home and uses it to try to get The Rolling Stones to play in Japan, all the while playing cat and mouse with a police detective sporting a buzz cut (Bunta Sugawara).
U.S. PREMIERE
MEETING DR. SUN | 行動代號孫中山
YEE CHIH-YEN, 2014 | CAST: ZHAN HUAI-TING, MATTHEW WEI, JOSEPH CHANG, BRYAN CHANG
TAIWAN | MANDARIN AND TAIWANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 94 MINUTES
A deadpan high-school noir about two gangs of impoverished boys competing to steal a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (the founding father of the Republic of China) so they can sell it as scrap metal. Schoolyard slapstick becomes a call for Taiwan’s youth to wake up.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER | 님아, 그강을건너지마오
JIN MO-YOUNG, 2014 | CAST: JO BYEONG-MAN, KANG KYE-YEOL
KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 85 MINUTES
In Jin Mo-young’s critically acclaimed documentary—which is also the most successful independent film in Korean history—a couple who have been married for 76 years face death with dignity and the strength of love.
NIHON KYOKAKU-DEN (TALES OF CHIVALRY IN JAPAN) | 日本侠客伝
MASAHIRO MAKINO, 1964 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, KINNOSUKE NAKAMURA, HIROKI MATSUKATA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 98 MINUTES
The first film in Toei’s immensely popular ninkyo film series chronicles a bitter feud that brews and breaks out between two rival yakuza clans. Honor is stained, blood is shed, hilarity does not ensue.
U.S. PREMIERE
PALE MOON | 紙の月
DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2014 CAST: RIE MIYAZAWA, MITSUYO KAKUTA, SOSUKE IKEMATSU
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 126 MINUTES
A housewife turns to a sophisticated embezzlement scheme to support an affair with a college student in NYAFF director-in-focus Daihachi Yoshida’s mesmerizing fantasy-drama.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
PARTNERS IN CRIME | 共犯
CHANG JUNG-CHI, 2014 | CAST: WU CHIEN-HO, TENG YU-KAI, CHENG KAI-YUAN, YAO AI-NING
TAIWAN-HONG KONG | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 88 MINUTES
Director Chang Jung-chi’s second feature and follow-up to Touch of the Light (Taiwan’s foreign-language Oscar entry in 2012) is an atmospheric and taut high-school mystery-drama centered on the apparent suicide of a student.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
PERMANENT NOBARA | パーマネント野ばら
DAIHACHI YOSHIDA, 2010 | CAST: MIHO KANNO, EIKO KOIKE, CHIZURU IKEWAKI, YOSUKE EGUCHI
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: HDCAM | 99 MINUTES
A happy-go-wacky relationship film about a recently divorced woman (Miho Kanno) who returns with her young daughter to her tiny hometown. There, she reunites with her mother (Mari Natsuki) who runs the only hair salon in town, Permanent Nobara, an extraordinary place that provides a signature perm and a shame-free confessional for the local women to discuss their most personal love and sex issues.
THE PRESIDENT’S LAST BANG | 그때그사람들
IM SANG-SOO, 2005 | CAST: HAN SUK-KYU, BAEK YOON-SIK, SONG JAE-HO
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 104 MINUTES
One of the most controversial Korean movies of all time, Im Sang-soo’s black comedy tells the tale of the 1979 assassination of military dictator President Park by the head of the Korean CIA. It’s all the more relevant today because Park’s daughter is currently president of Korea.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
RED AMNESIA |闖入者
WANG XIAOSHUAI, 2014 | CAST: LU ZHONG, SHI LIU, FENG YUANZHENG, QIN HAO, AMANDA QIN
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 115 MINUTES
Beijing Bicycle director Wang Xiaoshuai’s latest film is a blood-curdling mystery about the harassment of an elderly widow, and her haunting by a mysterious young boy who brings back ghosts of past choices, moral compromises, and the long shadows of the Cultural Revolution.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
REVIVRE | 화장
IM KWON-TAEK, 2014 | CAST: AHN SUNG-KI, KIM QYU-RI, KIM HO-JUNG
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 93 MINUTES
Legendary 78-year-old Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek (Beyond the Years, Chihwaseon: Painted Fire) delivers a powerful and vital film—his 102nd!—about the indignities of old age and the inferno of suppressed desire, anchored by a commanding performance from veteran actor Ahn Sung-gi (Nowhere to Hide) as a marketing director who finds himself attracted to a younger employee while dutifully tending to his dying wife.
U.S. PREMIERE
RIVER ROAD | 家在水草丰茂的地方
LI RUIJIN, 2014 | CAST: TANG LONG, GUO SONGTAO
CHINA | YUGUR WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES
Bartel and Adikeer, two Yugur ethnic minority brothers, set out with their camel across the deserts of northwestern China in search of their parents in this masterfully lensed nomadic road movie.
WORLD PREMIERE
ROBBERY | 老笠
FIRE LEE, 2015 | CAST: DEREK TSANG, J. AIRE, LAM SUET, STANLEY FUNG
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 90 MINUTES
An absurdist blood-soaked Grand Guignol with attitude to burn, Fire Lee’s indie black comedy about an overnight shift in a convenience store starts with a simple robbery, then moves on to mass murder, terrorist bombings, police shoot-outs, and even the afterlife.
NEW YORK PREMIERE (U.S. CONTINENTAL PREMIERE)
THE ROYAL TAILOR | 상의원
LEE WON-SUK, 2014 | CAST: HAN SUK-KYU, KO SOO, PARK SHIN-HYE, YOO YEON-SEOK
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 127 MINUTES
An eye-popping historical comedy about the king’s tailor (played by Korean icon Han Suk-kyu) encountering a younger rival. It’s a stylish fashion showdown as the queen favors the younger needle-slinger, while the king sticks with his more stately (and stodgy) designer.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
RUINED HEART: ANOTHER LOVE STORY BETWEEN A CRIMINAL AND A WHORE
KHAVN (aka KHAVN DE LA CRUZ), 2014 | CAST: TADANOBU ASANO, NATHALIA ACEVEDO, ELENA KAZAN
THE PHILIPPINES/GERMANY | FORMAT: DCP | 73 MINUTES
Neon-smeared pop poetry materializes on screen in this (almost) dialogue-free gangland art flick shot in the slums of Manila and starring Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer) and shot by longtime Wong Kar Wai cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
EAST COAST PREMIERE
SECOND CHANCE | 逆轉勝
KUNG WEN-YEN, 2014 | CAST: WEN SHANG-YI, P.J. HUANG, ANGEL YAO, JASON WANG
TAIWAN | MANDARIN AND TAIWANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 105 MINUTES
Like Rocky except for billiards instead of boxing, and if Rocky Balboa was a Type-A, overachieving schoolgirl, this flick features a who’s who of billiard champs as it becomes a fist-pumping sports movie.
U.S. PREMIERE
SOCIALPHOBIA | 소셜포비아
HONG SEOK-JAE, 2014 | CAST: BYUN YO-HAN, LEE JOO-SEUNG
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 100 MINUTES
Four friends track down a cyberbully only to find that she’s hung herself. But two of them are convinced it’s murder, and the film becomes a grungy, realistic murder mystery set in the twitchy world of social media.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
SOLOMON’S PERJURY PART 1: SUSPICION | ソロモンの偽証 前編
IZURU NARUSHIMA, 2015 | CAST:RYOKO FUJINO, ANNA ISHII, TOMITA MIU, SHIMIZU HIROYA
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 121 MINUTES
In the first of a twisty two-parter, high-school students find the dead body of one of their classmates in the snow. Not convinced by the conclusion that he killed himself, they begin an investigation that eventually leads them to conducting a mock trial at school.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
SOLOMON’S PERJURY PART 2: JUDGEMENT | ソロモンの偽証 後編
IZURU NARUSHIMA, 2015 | CAST: RYOKO FUJINO, ANNA ISHII, MIU TOMITA, HIROYA SHIMIZU
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 149 MINUTES
Wrapping up the multitude of mysteries from the first part, the second film focuses on the trial, where both shocking and subtle revelations send irrevocable tremors through the high school and the adults surrounding the case.
THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN 3D | 智取威虎山
TSUI HARK, 2014 | CAST: ZHANG HANYU, TONY LEUNG KA-FAI, LIN GENGXIN, YU NAN, TONG LIYA, HAN GENG, CHEN XIAO
CHINA | MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 141 MINUTES
Tsui Hark (Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame) is back doing what he does best: delivering a popcorn thrillride. This adaptation of Qu Bo’s adventure novel, set in the late 1940s, mixes elements of spy movies, Chinese civil war sagas, and Mainland People’s Liberation Army actioners into a 3D blockbuster spectacle that was custom-made for the big screen.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
TAKSU | 欲動
KIKI SUGINO, 2014 | CAST: YOKO MITSUYA, TAKUMI SAITOH, KIKI SUGINO, TOM MES
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 97 MINUTES
Two couples find their needs and desires driving them further apart in this intensely erotic and melancholy drama set in Bali.
NEW YORK PREMIERE
TOKYO TRIBE
SION SONO, 2014 | CAST: RYOHEI SUZUKI, DAIS YOUNG, NANA SEINO, SHUNSUKE DAITO, TAKUYA ISHIDA, YUI ICHIKAWA, MIKA KANO, SHOTA SOMETANI, SHOKO NAKAGAWA, RYUTA SATO
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 116 MINUTES
Told almost entirely in hip-hop, Sion Sono’s berserk rap musical about warring gangs in Tokyo is full of tanks, B-boy battles, and so many baroque visual flourishes that the entire movie feels like Versailles stabbing you in both eyes.
Tokyo Tribe will be released in the U.S. by XLrator Media in the Fall of 2015.
NEW YORK PREMIERE (INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL PREMIERE)
TWENTY | 스물
LEE BYEONG-HEON, 2015 | CAST: KIM WOO-BIN, LEE JOON-HO, KANG HA-NEUL
KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 115 MINUTES
Three friends enter their twenties with sex on the mind, easy access to soju, and absolutely no clue how to navigate college, money, or women… or really anything else in the world. A painfully hilarious reminder about how awkward the transition into adulthood can be.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
TWO THUMBS UP | 衝鋒車
LAU HO-LEUNG, 2015 | CAST: FRANCIS NG, SIMON YAM, PATRICK TAM, MARK CHENG
HONG KONG | CANTONESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 102 MINUTES
Old-school Hong Kong action-comedy at its finest, Two Thumbs Up stars Simon Yam and Francis Ng as ex-cons who disguise themselves as policemen to pull a heist. But it turns out they kind of like being cops…
NORTH AMERICAN FESTIVAL PREMIERE
VENGEANCE OF AN ASSASSIN | เร็วทะลุเร็ว
PANNA RITTIKRAI, 2014 | CAST: CHUPONG CHANGPRUNG, NATHAWUT BOONRUBSU, PING LUMPRAPLOENG, NISACHON TUAMSUNGNOEN
THAILAND | THAI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | DIGITAL PROJECTION | 99 MINUTES
The final film from action legend Panna Rittikrai (Ong-Bak films)—the kinetic master of mayhem—pulls out all the stops to deliver a rough-and-ready action flick sporting everything from badass games of soccer to gun fu.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
VIOLATOR
DODO DAYAO, 2014 | CAST: VICTOR NERI, ANTHONY FALCON, R.K. BAGATSING
THE PHILIPPINES | TAGALOG WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 115 MINUTES
The sole horror movie in this year’s lineup, Violator sees five men become trapped at a police station during a typhoon with a young man who claims to be Satan. A barebones indie that achieves a kind of monumental evil majesty as it progresses.
WAIKIKI BROTHERS | 와이키키브라더스
YIM SOON-RYE, 2001 | CAST: LEE EOL, PARK WON-SANG, HWANG JUN-MIN
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 35MM | 109 MINUTES
In this modern Korean classic, a failed cover band returns to the lead guitarist’s hometown to try to get a fresh start, but the past, women, booze, and drugs threaten to break them apart.
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
THE WHISTLEBLOWER | 제보자
YIM SOON-RYE, 2014
SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 113 MINUTES
The All The President’s Men of bioresearch, Yim Soon-Rye (one of Korea’s few female directors) turns in a sharply suspenseful powerhouse thriller based on the true story of one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 21st century.
WOLVES, PIGS AND MEN | 狼と豚と人間
KINJI FUKASAKU, 1964 | CAST: KEN TAKAKURA, SANAE NAKAHARA, SHINJIRO EBARA, KINYA KITAOJI
JAPAN | JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: 35MM | 95 MINUTES
Kinji Fukasaku’s first yakuza masterpiece is an angry tale of three brothers who walk and work the mean streets of a postwar Tokyo slum and buy themselves a world of trouble over a bag of stolen cash.
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South African film AYANDA to Open 36th Durban International Film Festival
The South African film AYANDA, directed by Sara Blecher has been selected as the opening night film of the 36th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) which takes place from July16 to 26 this year.
Set in the vibrant, Afropolitan community of Johannesburg’s Yeoville, Ayanda is a coming-of-age story of a twenty-one year old Afro-hipster, who embarks on a journey of self-discovery when she has to fight to save her late father’s legacy – a motor repair shop – when it is threatened with closure. She’s thrown into a world of greasy overalls, gender stereotypes and abandoned vintage cars once loved, now in need of a young woman’s re-inventive touch to bring them back to life again.
The film stars Fulu Mugovhani (of Scandal fame) and Nigerian actor OC Ukeje, with a star South African cast including Ntathi Moshesh, Kenneth Nkosi, Jafta Mamabola, Thomas Gumede, Sihle Xaba and veteran star of stage and screen Vanessa Cooke.
“We are pleased that this feel-good film will open this year’s festival,” says Pedro Pimenta, Director of the DIFF. “The opening film of this, the most prestigious international film event in SA, needs to reflect a clear priority established by the festival to reach and develop local audiences.”
This is the second opening night film at DIFF for director Sara Blecher. Her film Otelo Burning opened the 2011 edition of DIFF to critical acclaim. “We are very proud of Ayanda and are thrilled to have it selected as the opening film at this year’s festival. The film had a very successful screening in Cannes last monthwe look forward to screening it to festival-goers in Durban,” says Blecher.
“Ayanda offers an interesting and positive convergence of talents style , resources and distribution potential for the film market.” says Pimenta. “There is a real sense that reaching an audience has been the most important motivation equally shared by the filmmakers and their financiers in its creation.”
“Ayanda celebrates the diversity of our country and revels in the fact that we are a multi-cultural, colourful and exciting melting pot of Africa,” says co-producer Terry Pheto. “With this film we have tried to capture the Afropolitan nature of our country and the energy of its people.”
“What is also particularly encouraging in terms of the South African film industry is that the film, originally titled, Andani and the Mechanic, was a project in the 2013 Durban FilmMart, the co-production and finance forum of the DIFF and the Durban Film Office.” says Pimenta. “The film is one of five titles that have been part of the DFM process over the years that will be screened this year at DIFF.”
The festival includes more than 200 theatrical screenings and a full seminar and workshop programme, as well as the Wavescapes Film Festival, and various industry initiatives, including the 8th Talents Durban (presented in cooperation with the Berlinale Talents) and the 6th Durban FilmMart co-production market (presented in partnership with the Durban Film Office).
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Cinedigm to Release LIFE Starring Robert Pattinson in Fall 2015 | VIDEO
Following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Cinedigm has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Anton Corbijn’s LIFE, starring Dane DeHaan (Life After Beth; Kill Your Darlings; Place Beyond The Pines), Robert Pattinson (Twilight, Cosmopolis, Maps To The Stars), and Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Sexy Beast, Schindler’s List ). LIFE will open with a theatrical, digital and television VOD release beginning in Fall 2015.
Corbijn’s follow-up to A Most Wanted Man, LIFE captures the nuances and complexities of the relationship between photographer and subject in a way rarely seen or understood by someone outside the business. In a nod to Corbijn’s own past experience, the film is told from the perspective of the Life photographer Dennis Stock (played by Pattinson) who meets and profiles Dean (DeHaan) for the magazine, turning out some of Dean’s most iconic photographs.
“Life gorgeously chronicles the back story behind the 1955 photo spread that brought moody young heartthrob James Dean to the attention of the American public seven months before his death,” said Yolanda Macias, Cinedigm’s Executive Vice President of Acquisitions. “Beautiful to look at, powerful to experience, Life, using an Eisenhower-era America as prism, brilliantly presages America’s coming celebrity culture.”
The film was produced by Iain Canning’s See-Saw Films (The King’s Speech, Slow West), and is the second project in an ongoing collaboration between Corbijn and Canning, following their work together on Control. The script was written by Luke Davies (Candy, Lion).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0Zym0vFWw