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  • Sun Valley Film Fest to Honor Clint Eastwood, Unveils Lineup

    Sun Valley Film Festival

    The Sun Valley Film Festival unveiled its film lineup and will honor Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood with its inaugural Lifetime Vision Award at the 4th annual Festival, March 4-March 8, 2015.

    The SVFF Lifetime Vision Award pays tribute to an individual who has provided the keen insight, influence and initiative to fulfill a creative vision. In addition to the special presentation to Mr. Eastwood, the 2015 Sun Valley Film Festival has added a 5th day of signature programming including Coffee Talks with Bruce Dern and Bill Paxton.  More than 60-curated films will screen followed by filmmakers Q&A sessions. 

    The following is a featured selection of the 2015 SVFF films. The film slate can be viewed here.  

    NARRATIVE

    The Barber * SPECIAL SNEAK PEEK SCREENING
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Basel Owies
    Writer: Max Enscoe
    Producer: Travis Knox
    Cast: Scott Glenn, Chris Coy, Stephen Tobolowsky, Kristen Hager
    The life of a small town’s beloved barber is turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Eugene Van Wingerdt has been a pillar of this community for years but no one in this small town knows that he may be hiding a deadly secret. John LaRue has been hunting for a serial killer who, thanks to a lack of evidence, was released from custody only to disappear. Convinced that Van Wingerdt is the guy, LaRue has arrived in his small town not to expose him instead he wants to learn how to kill. Only the best can teach him how to get away with it.
    U.S.A./92 min

    Cut Bank
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Matt Shakman
    Writer: Roberto Patino
    Producers: Mickey Barold, Dan Cohen, Mark Manuel, Ted O’Neal, Laura Rister, Edward Zwick
    Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Teresa Palmer, Bruce Dern, Billy Bob Thornton, John Malkovich, Oliver Platt
    Dwayne McLaren (Liam Hemsworth) dreams about escaping small town life in Cut Bank, Montana, “the coldest spot in the nation,” with his vivacious girlfriend Cassandra (Teresa Palmer). When Dwayne witnesses an awful crime, he tries to leverage a bad situation into a scheme to get rich quickly but he finds that fate and an unruly accomplice are working against him. Thrust into the middle of a police investigation spearheaded by the local sheriff (John Malkovich), everything goes from bad to worse in this all-American thriller. Directed by Matt Shakman and also starring Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Dern, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Oliver Platt.
    U.S.A./93 min

    Felix and Meira
    Director: Maxime Giroux
    Writers: Maxime Giroux, Alexandre Laferrière
    Producers: Sylvain Corbeil, Nancy Grant
    Cast: Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron, Luzer Twersky
    Félix and Meira is a calling card for its young director, Maxime Giroux; a story of an unconventional romance between two people living vastly different realities mere blocks away from one another. Each lost in their everyday lives, Meira(Hadas Yaron), a Hasidic Jewish wife and mother and Félix (Martin Dubreuil), a Secular loner mourning the recent death of his estranged father, unexpectedly meet in a local bakery in Montreal’s Mile End district. What starts as an innocent friendship becomes more serious as the two wayward strangers find comfort in one another. As Felix opens Meira’s eyes to the world outside of her tight-knit Orthodox community, her desire for change becomes harder for her to ignore, ultimately forcing her to choose: remain in the life that she knows or give it all up to be with Félix. Giroux’s film is a poignant and touching tale of self-discovery set against the backdrops of Montreal, Brooklyn, and Venice, Italy.
    Canada/105 min
    French/English/Yiddish

    Imperial Dreams
    Director: Malik Vitthal
    Writers: Malik Vitthal, Ismet Prcic
    Producers: Katherine Fairfax Wright, Jonathan Schwartz, Andrea Sperling
    Cast: John Boyega, Glenn Plummer, De’aundre Bonds
    A 21-year-old reformed gangster’s devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.  Once back, Bambi must choose between honoring his commitment to his young son, and yielding to temptation with the local gang’s promises of easy seed money to jump-start their enterprise.  As he grapples to build a future, Bambi begins a dangerous dance with the gangster life he has been so committed to escaping.
    U.S.A./87 min

    IS THIS THE REAL WORLD
    Writer/Director: Martin McKenna
    Producer: Deborah Barlow
    Cast: Sean Keenan, Susie Porter, Greg Stone, Charlotte Best
    With an eye for beautiful details in the everyday, this stunning film is an intimate and profoundly moving vision of family, teen love, rebellion, and the consequences of being afraid to grow up. Living in a coastal town in Australia, 17-year-old Mark is a smart kid from a chaotic family. He has thrown away a scholarship to a private school and found himself at the local public high school, where he butts heads with an overbearing principal. At home, Mark is dealing with a jail-bound brother, a sickly grandmother, and an alcoholic mother. When Mark finds his first real love, he sees an opportunity to escape all the competing forces in his life. Told through the fragmented and heightened senses of a boy on the cusp of manhood, this is a dreamy story about what it means to be alone and how valuable it is to feel connected.
    Australia/91 min.

    It’s Us  **Work in Progress screening**
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Writer/Director: Colin Thompson
    Producers: Colin Thompson, Jon Dishotsky
    Cast: Colin Thompson, Eliza Coupe, Jay Hayden, Andrew Friedman, Annabelle Gurwitch
    A volatile young couple moves from Los Angeles to Vermont to try and save their marriage. Both work in the entertainment world; he a talent agent, she in costume design, and have decided to point the finger at the city and business in which they work instead of looking in the marital mirror.  Vermont provides some respite, but at the end of the day, wherever they choose to live, they are who they are. 


    This is a movie about love and marriage and the dark spaces that can be born in between.
    U.S.A./100 min

    National Geographic Channel’s Killing Jesus  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Cast: Haaz Sleiman, Stephen Moyer, Rufus Sewell, Emmanuelle Chriqui, John Rhys-Davies, Eoin Macken, and Kelsey Grammer
    It’s a story nearly the whole world knows, with more than 2.2 billion people around the globe following the teachings and principles of Jesus of Nazareth. But the intimate historical details of his life and the political collusions that led to his brutal demise bring new context to the familiar story. Produced by Scott Free Productions and based on the New York Times best-selling book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, Killing Jesus dives deep inside the historical story of a man whose message and preachings led to his persecution and execution by a group of conspirators who saw him as a threat to their power.
    Morocco, U.S.A./135 min

    Land of Leopold  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Akis Konstantakopoulos
    Writers: Christopher Pinkalla, Drake Shannon
    Producers: Matthew Helderman, Joe Aliberti
    Cast: Ray Wise, Christopher Pinkalla, Drake Shannon, Scottie Thompson
    Leopold Rawlins is a troubled drifter suffering from a bad past and worse present. Living in and out of prison and out on the streets, Leopold winds up being deemed insane by the state and sent to the Milton Way House. Searching for redemption, Leopold uncovers new unlikely friends and an adventure that tests his limits.
    U.S.A./81 min

    THE MIDNIGHT SWIM
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Writer/Director: Sarah Adina Smith
    Producers: Mary Pat Bentel, Jonako Donley
    Cast: Lindsay Burdge, Jennifer Lafleur, Aleksa Palladino, Ross Partridge, Beth Grant
    Spirit Lake is unusually deep. No diver has ever managed to find the bottom, though many have tried. When Dr. Amelia Brooks disappears during a deep-water dive, her three daughters travel home to settle her affairs. They find themselves unable to let go of their mother and become drawn into the mysteries of the lake.
    U.S.A./88 min.

    Slow West
    Writer/Director: John Maclean
    Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Conor McCaughan, Rachel Gardner
    Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn, Caren Pistorius, Rory McCann
    Set at the end of the 19th Century, SLOW WEST follows the story of sixteen-year-old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as he journeys across the American Frontier in search of the woman he loves and accompanied by a mysterious traveller named Silas (Michael Fassbender).
    U.K., New Zealand/84 min.

    SOLD
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Jeffrey Brown
    Writers: Joseph Kwong, Jeffrey Brown
    Producer: Jane Charles
    Executive Producer: Emma Thompson
    Cast: Gillian Anderson, David Arquette, Seema Biswas, Susmita Mukherjee, Niyar Saikia
    SOLD is a narrative, feature film adaptation of the globally acclaimed novel by Patricia McCormick.
    Based on true stories, SOLD, is the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen year old, trafficked from a pastoral, rural village in Nepal to a gritty brothel/prison in Kolkata, India.
    Through one extraordinary girl’s journey, SOLD illustrates the brutality of child trafficking, which affects millions of children globally every year. 
    SOLD is a call to action, and a testament to the power and resilience of the human spirit. 
    India/95 min.

    Up The River  *WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Writer/Director: Ben Greenblatt
    Producers: Nick Shore, Brendan McHugh
    Cast: Lindsay Burdge, Will Brill, Adam David Thompson, Nathalie Love
    On a weekend trip to the Hudson Valley, Rebecca finds herself in between places. Traveling with her fiancé Thomas, and their friends Willy and Laura, Rebecca is anxious about transitioning from being a student to a professional and is torn between lust and love. As the trip unfolds, she struggles through emotional uncertainty, doubtful of her relationship with Thomas and intrigued by his best friend Willy’s bold advances. Nerves are pushed, wills broken, secrets exposed and relationships tested. Thomas and Rebecca may never recover from this weekend.
    U.S.A./76 min.

    X/Y
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Writer/Director: Ryan Piers Williams
    Producers: Jason Michael Berman, Kwesi Collisson, America Ferrera, Ryan Piers Williams
    Cast: America Ferrera, Melonie Diaz, Ryan Piers Williams, Jon Paul Phillips, Common, Dree Hemingway
    A look at the lives and interactions of a group of friends living in New York.
    U.S.A./82 min

    Zero Point  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Co-Creators: Gregory Bayne, Christian Lybrook
    Director: Gregory Bayne
    Writers: Gregory Bayne, Christian Lybrook
    Cast: Lisa King Hawkes, Vince Morales, Nora Thornton, Aaron Kiefer, Ben Chappel
    When children begin dying mysteriously, Dr. Alex Embry, driven by a hidden tragedy, becomes obsessed with finding the cause. What begins as a small, regional investigation soon expands into a global race to find the source of a growing epidemic that threatens to wipe out an entire generation.
    A sci-fi detective series set against the backdrop of increased shale oil exploration, the global proliferation of GMOs, and growing effects of climate change, ZERO POINT unfolds the story of human colony collapse through those who have survived the wreckage of their own lives only to confront a world dying off from the wrong end.
    U.S.A./47 min.
    * IDAHO SERIES PILOT

    DOCUMENTARY

    #ChicagoGirl – The Social Network Takes on a Dictator
    Writer/Director: Joe Piscatella
    Producers: Joe Piscatella, Mark Rinehart
    From the Chicago suburbs an American teenage girl helps coordinate the Syrian revolution. With social media, she helps her network expose regime atrocities. But as the violence rages everyone in her network must choose the best way to fight a dictator: Facebook or AK-47s.
    U.S.A., Syria/74 min.
    English/Arabic

    vAdd the Words 
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Directors: Michael D. Gough, Cammie Pavesic
    Producers: Michael D. Gough, Cammie Pavesic
    Executive Producers: Eugene Boyle, Gary Winterholler, Sean Small
    Since 2006 the LGBT community and human rights supporters have asked Idaho lawmakers to add the words sexual orientation and gender identity to the Idaho Human Rights Act. It is still lawful in this state to fire someone or refuse services or housing because of how they identify. For 8 years they were told, “we can’t this year because of the political climate. Be patient, and we will get to it next year.” With their left hands covering their mouths to symbolize how Idaho legislators have worked to silence them, they have begun an effective civil disobedience campaign.
    U.S.A./79 min.
    * IDAHO FILM

    Ann Sothern: The Sharpest Girl in Town  **Work in Progress Screening**
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director/Producer: Mike Kaplan
    Starring: Ann Sothern
    Featuring: Robert Osborne, Malcolm McDowell, Loretta Young, Gavin Lambert, Aljean Harmetz, Annie Ross
    ANN SOTHERN is often called the most under-appreciated star of the movies’ Golden Age – a brilliant comedienne (KID MILLIONS, BROTHER ORCHID), a compelling dramatic actress (A LETTER TO THREE WIVES, THE WHALES OF AUGUST) and a first-rate musical performer (LADY BE GOOD, PANAMA HATTIE).  Lucille Ball, her long-time friend and frequent co-star, called her “the best comedienne in the business.” Baby boomers know her two hit television series—PRIVATE SECRETARY and THE ANN SOTHERN SHOW (1953-1961) – in which she created TV’s first independent, working woman. This segment of THE SHARPEST GIRL IN TOWN, a work-in-progress documentary about Sothern, focuses on the creation, history and contributions to the cultural phenomenon that was “Maisie,” the street-smart, working-class show girl who became the movie’s first modern feminist and made Sothern a superstar.
    U.S.A./54 min

    Dog Days of Winter
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Brian Gilmore
    Executive Producer: Gene Gilmore
    Producers: Caleb Young, Stanley Larsen
    “Dog Days Of Winter” is a retrospective on the start up of organized freestyle skiing during the early 1970’s in America. Told from the point of view of some of the most influential pioneers of the sport, “Dog Days” tells the story of key people and events that set the stage for the birth of the sport, the spirit that freestyle is rooted in, factors that took the “free” out of freestyle and reflections on what has become of the sport today.
    U.S.A./65 min
    * IDAHO FILM

    The Empowerment Project
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director/Producer: Sarah Moshman
    Producer: Dana Michelle Cook
    Documentary Shooter: Vanessa Crocini
    The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things is the incredible journey of 5 female filmmakers driving across America to encourage, empower, and inspire the next generation of strong women to go after their career ambitions.
    Driving over 7,000 miles from Los Angeles to New York over the course of 30 days, the documentary spotlights 17 positive and powerful women leaders across a variety of lifestyles and industries.
    Created for women by women, they challenge the audience to ask themselves, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid to fail?”
    U.S.A./99 min

    Far From Home
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Galen Knowles
    Producer: Phil Hessler
    Director of Photography: Galen Knowles
    Sometimes the most beautiful forms of life can thrive in the most unfavorable conditions. At the age of two, his mother left the family in Uganda and reappeared nine years later, arranging Brolin’s emigration to the United States to join her in Boston’s suburbia. Brolin’s transition into American society was disheartening. Facing bullying and depression, Brolin saw little hope for the future. He was twelve when he saw snow for the first time, and as unlikely as it sounds, he found sanctuary in the snowboarding community on the icy slopes of Massachusetts. The film tells Brolin’s story from being raised in Uganda to rallying the support of an entire nation in his goal to make history in the 2018 Olympics as the first snowboarder to represent an African country.
    U.S.A., Uganda/73 min.

    Finders Keepers
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Directors: Clay Tweel, Bryan Carberry
    Producers: Ed Cunningham, Seth Gordon, Adam Gibbs, Bryan Carberry
    Shannon Whisnant has a nose for a bargain. But when he bought a used grill at a North Carolina auction, the severed human foot he found among its ashes was not part of the deal. Soon the gruesome discovery becomes the toast of the infotainment world, and the new owner spies a golden opportunity to cash in on the media frenzy, until struggling addict and amputee John Wood recognizes his missing member and demands his own foot back. It is the stuff of documentary legend.
    U.S.A./82 min

    Free to Rock  **Work in Progress Screening**
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Jim Brown
    Producers: Nick Binkley, Jim Brown, Doug Yeager
    Narrated by: Kiefer Sutherland
    Free to Rock is a documentary film directed by 4-time Emmy winning filmmaker Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. Rock & Roll spread like a virus across the Soviet Union despite Communist attempts to outlaw it. Thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western freedoms helped fuel the nonviolent implosion of the Soviet regime. Free to Rock features Presidents, diplomats, spies and rock stars from the West and the Soviet Union who reveal how rock and roll music was a contributing factor in ending the Cold War. 
    U.S.A., Russia/61 min

    Gardeners of Eden
    Directors: Austin Peck, Anneliese Vandenberg
    Producers: Austin Peck, Anneliese Vandenberg
    Production Company: RYOT Films
    Africa’s elephants are hurtling towards extinction to fuel the worldwide ivory trade. While conservationists howl and corrupt governments fail to address the ongoing slaughter, one brave family has been working for decades to stem the tide, one elephant at a time. Gardeners of Eden is a gripping, first-person experience inside the operations of Kenya’s David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. From the frontlines of the crisis, we witness their heroic efforts to stop the poachers in the bush, rescue the orphans of slain elephants and raise them by hand, until one day, returning them to their home in the wild.
    Kenya/62 min

    Gaucho del Norte 
    Directors: Sofian Khan, Andres Caballero
    Producers: Sofian Khan, Andres Caballero
    “Gaucho del Norte” tells the story of a Patagonian sheepherder recruited to work in Idaho. The nomadic two-year journey follows Eraldo Pacheco and his herd of more than a thousand sheep across a lonely, rugged landscape — from the harsh beauty of wintry high desert, to the lush summer mountains.   Living in isolation, Eraldo faces the ups and downs of a psychologically demanding job far away from his home and family.
    Patagonia, U.S.A./58 min.
    * IDAHO FILM

    Girl From God’s Country  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Writer/Director/Producer: Karen Day
    Executive Producers: C.K. Haun, Karen Meyer, Eileen Barber, Arlene Vidor, Tracey Goessel, Boise State University, Idaho Film Collections, Peppershock Studios
    A documentary about Nell Shipman, Idaho’s first female independent filmmaker and animal-actor advocate. In 1921, Shipman refused a studio contract with Sam Goldfish (not yet Goldwyn) and moved to Priest Lake with a zoo of 70 wild animals to write, direct, act and produce films that portray women as self-reliant heroines in the wilderness. Shipman performed her own stunts and offered the first nude scene in film history. Her uncanny rapport with her wild animal actors earned her fame in her most successful film, THE GIRL FROM GOD’S COUNTRY. This documentary reveals the forgotten legacy of Shipman and an entire generation of female silent film pioneers from around the world. Rare footage from these early filmmakers, including Zora Neale Hurston, prove these women deserve the recognition they’ve never received.  Geena Davis and Hollywood’s Director of Women in Film discuss how the gender-inequities Nell and her counterparts faced perpetuate in today’s media industry. If you want to influence how women’s capabilities are perceived by future generations—don’t miss the world premiere of GIRL FROM GOD’S COUNTRY.
    U.S.A./63 min.
    * IDAHO FILM

    National Geographic Channel’s Hubble’s Cosmic Journey  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Executive Producer: Ben Bowie
    Producer/Director: Christopher Riley
    Narrator: Neil deGrasse Tyson
    Hubble’s Cosmic Journey is a celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 25 years orbiting our planet. Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Hubble’s Cosmic Journey is the story of one of the most remarkable advances in modern technology, as told by the people who designed, built, launched, operated and repaired the legendary observatory.
    U.S.A./48 min

    IDBDR – Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Sterling Noren
    Featuring: Jon Beck, Justin Bradshaw, Paul Guillien, Tom Myers, Rob Watt, Bill Whitacre, Sterling Noren
    The IDBDR documentary provides an in-depth look into the creation and first expedition of the IDBDR, a scenic ride across the state of Idaho, beginning in Jarbidge, NV and finishing at the Canadian border. The route has been created specifically for dual-sport and adventure motorcyclists who are interested in exploring Idaho’s remote backcountry. This 1,300-mile south-to-north route utilizes mainly dirt roads and leads riders across mountain ranges to isolated lookout towers, natural hot springs, old west mining towns, historic cemeteries, and the infamous Magruder Corridor and Lolo Motoway.
    U.S.A./72 min
    * IDAHO FILM

    Idaho Wine, From Bud to Taste Bud  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Drew Allen
    Producer: Rhea Allen
    The Idaho wine making tale is ripe and ready for picking. Not only to promote local business, but to increase economic viability and to highlight Idaho’s vineyards and wineries in the national arena. This feature length documentary will explore from bud to taste bud including Idaho culinary arts. It’ll highlight the past, the fruitful future, educate and explore modern agricultural (specifically viticultural) practices by seamlessly blending the voices of those whose lives are impacted by the Idaho wine industry.
    U.S.A./72 min.
    * IDAHO FILM

    Most Likely to Succeed
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Greg Whiteley
    Producer: Adam Leibowitz
    For most of the last century, entry-level jobs were plentiful, and college was an affordable path to a fulfilling career.  That world no longer exists. The feature-length documentary MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED examines the history of education, revealing the growing shortcomings of our school model in today’s innovative world. The film follows students in a school created to prepare graduates for the innovation era. There, over the course of a school year, ninth graders take on ambitious, project-based challenges that promote critical skills rather than rote memorization and, indirectly, bring to life new approaches that revolutionize school as we know it.
    U.S.A./86 min

    Omo Child: The River and the Bush
    Director: John Rowe
    Producers: John Rowe, Tyler Rowe
    For many generations people in the Omo Valley [southwest Ethiopia] believed some children are cursed and that these ‘cursed’ children bring disease, drought and death to the tribe. The curse is called ‘mingi’ and mingi children are killed.
    Lale Labuko, a young educated man from the Kara was 15 years old when he saw a child in his village killed and also learned that he had 2 older sisters he never knew who had been killed. He decided one day he would stop this horrific practice.
    Filmed over a five year period we follow Lale’s journey along with the people of his tribe as they attempt to change an ancient practice.
    Ethiopia/89 min.
    English/Kara

    Personal Gold
    Director: Tamara Christopherson
    Producer: Sky Christopherson
    Writer: James Lockard
    Reed Albergotti of The Wall Street Journal describes PERSONAL GOLD as ‘Miracle meets Moneyball’, a film with a behind-the-scenes look into how four underdog women cyclists become America’s hope for a medal at the 2012 London Olympics after the men’s team is banned during the Lance Armstrong drug scandal.
    The underfunded women turn to volunteers, including their husbands and a ‘Quantified Self’ experiment using ‘Data not Drugs’ in an attempt to do the impossible; win the first U.S. Women’s Track Cycling medal in over 20 years.
    U.S.A./88 min

    Nat Geo WILD’s Secret Garden  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Jan Haft
    Script: Gerwig Lawitzky, Thassilo Franke
    Narrator: Nancy Giles
    The garden has long epitomized paradise, and many of us derive great pleasure in creating our own Garden of Eden. With the help of nature, we fashion a world of beguiling scents and colors – but many of the creatures that live here go unnoticed, leading secretive and mysterious lives.  Stunning high definition footage and time-lapse photography reveal the vibrant colors of the seasons as we journey into an unknown and exotic wilderness that is our own back garden. 
    U.S.A./45 min

    Stray Dog
    Director: Debra Granik
    Producers: Anne Rosellini, Victoria Stewart
    Harley-Davidson, leather, tattooed biceps: Ron “Stray Dog” Hall looks like an authentic tough guy. A Vietnam veteran, he runs a trailer park in rural Missouri with his wife, Alicia, who recently emigrated from Mexico. Gradually, a layered image comes into focus of a man struggling to come to terms with his combat experience. When Alicia’s teenage sons arrive, the film reveals a tender portrait of an America outside the mainstream. Stray Dog is a powerful look at the veteran experience, a surprising love story, and a fresh exploration of what it takes to survive in the hardscrabble heartland. 
    U.S.A./105 min.
    English/Spanish

    True Appaloosa * INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Conor Woodman
    Executive Producer: Clare Handford
    A 69-year old horse-woman from California sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the truth about the origins of the Appaloosa spotted horse. Back in the saddle for the first time in 12 years, she crosses one of the world’s highest mountain ranges in search of a lost valley. There, she hopes to discover whether the experts have been wrong all along, and that the true source of the North American Appaloosa horse in Asia – and not Europe as the history books would have us believe. An inspirational adventure story inspired by a lifelong passion for horses.
    U.S.A., Pakistan/73 min

    Unbranded  **Work in Progress Screening**
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Director: Philip Baribeau
    Producer: Dennis Aig
    Featuring: Ben Masters, Ben Thamer, Thomas Glover, Jonny Fitzsimons
    Four young men take an unprecedented journey on adopted mustangs from the Mexican to the Canadian border through the backcountry of the American West. Their goal: to prove the worth of the iconic horses that are the subject of often bitter controversy. As they cover the 3000 miles of often unforgiving landscapes, the riders succumb to the contradictory tensions of camaraderie and rivalry. Filmed almost exclusively by first-time feature director Phillip Baribeau, who was with the riders nearly every mile of the way. As with so many Western films, Unbranded’s story is a metaphor for the decisive actions needed to preserve wild places and their animals and the personal and political conflicts that threaten these national treasures. 
    U.S.A./106 min

    Nat Geo WILD’s Wild Yellowstone  * WORLD PREMIERE
    * Filmmakers in Attendance
    Executive Producers: Karen Bass, Curt Morgan, Chad Jackson, Joseph Sorge, Shon Tomlin
    Producers: Joe Kennedy, Tom Stephens
    Yellowstone is a place of wonder. All life is focused on thing. Survival. There’s no place in Earth like Wild Yellowstone. Our cameras take a deep look into this gorgeous land and the animals that reside here.
    U.S.A./49 min

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  • 2015 Dallas Intl Film Festival Announces First 10 Films

    PLAYING IT COOLPLAYING IT COOL

    The 9th annual Dallas International Film Festival taking place April 9-19, 2015, announced the first 10 films, including the North American premiere of PLAYING IT COOL, a romantic comedy starring Chris Evans and Michelle Monaghan.

    Making its world premiere at this year’s Festival is the Civil War drama ECHOES OF WAR, starring James Badge Dale, Ethan Embry and William Forsythe.

    Director John Landis will receive the Dallas Star Award at Dallas Film Society Honors on Friday, April 17 at the Highland Hotel in Dallas. The Dallas Star Award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to modern cinema and the advancement of the art of film. The award presentation will be followed by a special screening of John Landis’s 1980 comedy classic THE BLUES BROTHERS on Saturday, April 18. John Landis has left a lasting impression on the film world as director of many iconic comedies such as NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE, ¡3 AMIGOS!, COMING TO AMERICA, TRADING PLACES, and INTO THE NIGHT. John Landis also wrote and directed AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and the groundbreaking theatrical short MICHAEL JACKSON’S THRILLER.

    The Festival will also celebrate the incredible life and career of Texas writer, actor and producer L.M. Kit Carson by featuring his 1983 film BREATHLESS. Carson is recognized for writing the Palme d’Or winning PARIS, TEXAS, and also for inventing the first ‘mockumentary’ with his film DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY.

    5 FLIGHTS UP 
    Director: Richard Loncraine
    USA
    Cast: Morgan Freeman; Diane Keaton; Cynthia Nixon
    Synopsis: Over one crazy weekend, a long-time married couple discovers that finding a new apartment is not about winding down, but starting a new adventure.

    BEING EVEL 
    Director: Daniel Junge
    USA
    Synopsis: Millions know the man, but few know his story. In BEING EVEL, Academy Award® winning filmmaker Daniel Junge (SAVING FACE) and actor/producer Johnny Knoxville take a candid look at American daredevil and icon Robert “Evel” Knievel, while also reflecting on our voracious public appetite for heroes and spectacle.

    ECHOS OF WAR (World premiere)
    Director: Kane Senes
    USA
    Cast: James Badge Dale; Ethan Embry; William Forsythe; Maika Monroe
    Synopsis: A Civil War veteran returns home to the quiet countryside, only to find himself embroiled in a conflict between his family and the brutish cattle rancher harassing them.

    HOLLOW
    Director: Ham Tran
    Vietnam
    Cast: Kieu Chinh; Jayvee Mai The Hiep; Ngoc Hiep Nguyen
    Synopsis: A young girl falls into a river and drowns. When her body is found in a remote village along the river, her uncle arrives to claim her body, only to find that she is very much alive. But when she returns to her family, unexplainable occurrences lead them to believe she is possessed.

    JASMINE
    Director: Dax Phelan
    USA
    Cast: Jason Tobin; Byron Mann; Sarah Lian
    Synopsis: JASMINE is a gripping and chilling psychological thriller about a man still struggling to come to terms with his grief nearly a year after his wife’s unsolved murder.

    THE BLUES BROTHERS
    Director: John Landis
    USA
    Cast: John Belushi; Dan Aykroyd; James Brown; Cab Calloway; Ray Charles; Aretha Franklin; John Lee Hooker
    Synopsis: Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood were raised.

    THE LOOK OF SILENCE
    Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
    Denmark/Finland/Indonesia/Norway/UK
    Synopsis: In Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to the Oscar® nominated THE ACT OF KILLING, a family of survivors of the 1965 Indonesian genocide discovers how their son was murdered and the identity of the men who killed him. The youngest brother is determined to break the spell of silence and fear under which the survivors live, and so confronts the men responsible for his brother’s murder – something unimaginable in a country where killers remain in power.

    PLAYING IT COOL (North American Premiere)
    Director: Justin Reardon
    USA
    Cast: Chris Evans; Michelle Monaghan; Luke Wilson; Aubrey Plaza; Topher Grace; Anthony Mackie
    Synopsis: It’s this generation’s SWINGERS meets (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. The story is fresh, quirky, and weirdly relatable as this young, slightly pretentious man falls for an unlikely girl, and will stop at nothing to get her even after realizing she’s already in a relationship.

    WELCOME TO LEITH
    Director: Michael Beach Nichols; Christopher K. Walker
    USA
    Synopsis: A white supremacist attempts to take over a small town in North Dakota.

    WESTERN
    Director: Bill Ross; Turner Ross
    USA/Mexico
    Synopsis: For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, Texas from Piedras Negras, Mexico was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.

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  • SIBLINGS ARE FOREVER Wins Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

    SIBLINGS ARE FOREVERSIBLINGS ARE FOREVER

    The 2015 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival revealed the winners in the festival’s four competition categories and SIBLINGS ARE FOREVER which documents Norweigan siblings Magnar and Oddny won the Feature Award.

    MINI-DOC AWARD – (15 minutes and under)

    Winner: CAILLEACH, directed by Rosie Reed Hillman
    Artistic Vision Award: OMID, directed by Jawad Wahabzada
    Jury statements: CAILLEACH is a portrait of Morag, an 86-year old woman who revels in her aloneness on the Isle of Harris in the house in which she was born. This stunning film reconciles how time can stand still while the years pass by in rhythmic ruggedness.
    The craft of storytelling is alive in OMID, which looks in the face of contemporary cinema to open the eyes of the world.
    Jury: Filmmakers John Cohen and Adam Singer; Tracy Rector, Longhouse Media

    SHORT FILM AWARD – (15 and 40 minutes in length)

    Winner: LA REINA, directed by Manuel Abramovich
    Jury statement: LA REINA is a devastating combination of artistic vision, storytelling, cinematic composition, and perspective as we follow the experience of a young, privileged Argentinian girl who is pushed to excel in a way that one imagines extends to every facet of her life. It is truly devastating – in the best sense of that word.
    Jury: Alexandra Hannibal, Tribeca Film Institute; Christoph Green, Trixie Film; Noland Walker, ITVS

    BIG SKY AWARD –
    Presented to a film that artistically honors the character, history, tradition and imagination of the American West.

    Winner: LOVE AND TERROR ON THE HOWLING PLAINS OF NOWHERE, directed by Dave Janetta.
    Artistic Vision Award: FISHTAIL, directed by Andrew Renzi
    Jury statement: FISHTAIL presents a quiet nostalgic beauty for a way of life that has drifted from mainstream consciousness. Its poetic, intimate story, portrayed through magnificent cinematography, shows a vibrant American West in which the ranchers connect deeply with their work and the land.
    Jury: Producer Sandy Itkoff; Julie Campfield, ro*co films; Nikki Hayman, POV

    FEATURE AWARD – (over 40 minutes in length)

    Winner: SIBLINGS ARE FOREVER
    Jury statement: SIBLINGS ARE FOREVER is a poetic and warm portrayal of the siblings Magnar and Oddny, whose existence and everyday life seems frozen in time. Capturing the beauty of family ties, as well as of the Norwegian landscape. Stunning cinematography.
    Jury: Brian Newman, Sub-Genre Media; Journalist Erik Augustin-Palm; Mia Desroches, National Film Board of Canada; Tracy Rector, Longhouse Media.

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  • First Films Revealed for Art of the Real Doc Fest in NY

    Iec LongIec Long 

    The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the initial selections for Art of the Real, the second annual documentary-as-art festival, taking place April 10-26. 

    Opening Night will premiere new works by João Pedro Rodrigues & João Rui Guerra da Mata (The Last Time I Saw Macao,Mahjong), Eduardo Williams, and Matt Porterfield (I Used to Be Darker), and all filmmakers will be in attendance. The U.S. Premiere of Rodrigues & Guerra da Mata’s Iec Long, screening this week at the Berlinale, mixes archival footage, photographs, figurine-based reconstructions, and oral testimony in an eclectic depiction of a derelict Macao fireworks factory. Argentinian director Williams’s spellbinding and enigmatic I Forgot, which will also have its U.S. Premiere, follows a group of Vietnamese teenagers as they stave off boredom by leaping from one building to the next. A North American Premiere, Porterfield’s Take What You Can Carry, in competition at the 2015 Berlinale shorts program, is a delicate portrait of a young American woman in Berlin (Hannah Gross) attempting to reconcile her need for a stable sense of identity with her itinerant lifestyle.

    The lineup will also feature The Actualities of Agnès Varda, a retrospective of the filmmaker’s work in the context of her career-long focus on merging fact and fiction. Varda will be in attendance for several screenings, and the spotlight will feature many new digital restorations, including her debut feature, La Pointe Courte, the landmark Vagabond, and all of her “California Films” (Lion’s Love, Documenteur, Mur Murs, Black Panthers, Uncle Yanco). The spotlight will also feature some of Varda’s most celebrated documentaries, such as Daguerrotypes and The Gleaners and I. Varda is a longtime favorite of the New York Film Festival, and several of her works will return to the big screen at the Film Society, including Documenteur(NYFF ’81), The Gleaners and I (NYFF ’00), Lions Love (NYFF ’69), and Mur Murs (NYFF ’80).

    The films in Repeat as Necessary: The Art of Reenactment trace a partial history of reenactment as its own medium, an act of repetition that often leads to revelation. Recent films like The Act of Killing and The Arbor have called attention to its uses, but reenactment has a rich history as an invaluable mode of documentary art, employed as a tool of dramatization, an investigative strategy, and a means of creating art from the archive. The spotlight will feature works by a wide range of artists and filmmakers working today and over the past several decades, from Jean Eustache, Juan Downey, and Harun Farocki to Elisabeth Subrin, Ming Wong, Simon Fujiwara, Jill Godmilow, and many more.

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  • SNL Documentary to Open 2015 Tribeca Film Festival

    live fom new york documentary The world premiere of the “Saturday Night Live” documentary Live From New York!, will open the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, April 15.  “Saturday Night Live” has been reflecting and influencing the American story for 40 years. Live From New York! explores the show’s early years, an experiment that began with a young Lorne Michaels and his cast of unknowns, and follows its evolution into a comedy institution. Archival footage is interwoven with stolen moments and exclusive commentary from “SNL” legends, journalists, hosts, crew and others influenced by the comedy giant. Live From New York! captures what has enabled “SNL” to continually refresh itself over nearly 800 episodes and keep America laughing for 40 years.  Live From New York! is directed by Tribeca alum Bao Nguyen and produced by JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker. Tickets for the TFF 2015 Opening Night Gala go on sale on March 23 at tribecafilm.com/festival. The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 15 to April 26. “’SNL’s’ contribution to the arts and to pop culture has been—and continues to be—groundbreaking, and Live From New York!offers an inside look at the show’s inimitable ability to both reflect and impact American news, history and culture,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. “This is the story of a creative journey from pilot to institution and a tribute to the moments that kept us laughing and talking long after the episodes aired. We are excited to welcome Bao Nguyen back to Tribeca to open our 14th Festival with the world premiere of Live From New York!.” “After 40 years, the timing just felt right,” said Lorne Michaels. “The selection of Live from New York! to open the 14th Tribeca Film Festival is personally gratifying to me on several levels. Having hosted SNL three times, and guested on several occasions, I speak from a first-hand experience about “SNL’s” rightful place in our culture as well as a welcome addition to our Festival,” said Robert De Niro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. “’Saturday Night Live’ is such a revered institution and we really wanted to make a film that reflected its significance not just to the American comedic tradition but also to American culture and society,” said director Bao Nguyen. “I want to thank Lorne Michaels for allowing us to film in the storied halls of Studio 8H.   I’d also like to thank JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker for trusting me with their creative vision. Finally, I can’t thank Tribeca enough for all their support. We couldn’t dream of a better place to world premiere Live From New York! than at New York City’s own Tribeca Film Festival.”

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  • Black Women Film Summit Announces 2015 Festival Finalists

    blackwomenfilmsummit 

    The Black Women Film Network (BWFN) announced the finalists who will screen their films at the Black Women Film Festival taking place during the Black Women Film Summit on March 5-7, 2015 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. 

    The finalists are:

    “The Same Difference” – Nneka Onuorah (New York, NY)
    “Your Love” – Laila Petrone (Los Angeles, CA)
    “Black Girl in Paris” – Kiandra Parks (Wilmington, DE)
    “Queen” – Brittany Fennell (Jersey City, NJ)
    “Hands to the Sky”- Kimberly Townes (Los Angeles, CA)
    “New Heights” (web series) – Jenna Bosco (Jersey City, NJ)
    “Bristol Place” – LaShunda Smith (Buford, GA)
    “Rapunzel Jackson” – Malia Dawkins (Studio City, CA)
    “Untold” – Letia Solomon (Gardena, CA)
    “Grey” –  Janlatae Miller (Marietta, GA)
    “The Productive Live” – Mike Ray (Atlanta, GA)

    The Summit will open on Thursday, March 5 with a screening of the Season 4 premiere episode of Centric TV’s “Single Ladies” and close on Saturday, March 7 with a 40th Anniversary screening of the classic film Mahogany featuring a special performance by recording artist and “Empire” actress V. Bozeman.

    A three-day cultural celebration set during Women’s History Month, the Black Women Film Summit consists of the inspiring “Untold Stories” luncheon, the Black Women Film Festival and various seminars and activities that will connect key industry players with aspiring entertainment professionals.

    During the Summit, several VIPs will be honored at the “Untold Stories” Luncheon for their career achievements and their “untold” secrets to success. The luncheon also serves as a fundraiser for scholarships for students entering the film and television industries. 

    The 2015 Untold Stories Luncheon Honorees are:

    Will Packer – CEO – Will Packer Productions
    Robi Reed – VP, Talent Casting – BET Networks
    Lamman Rucker – Actor – Why Did I Get Married, Too?
    Logan Browning – Actress – VH1’s “Hit the Floor”
    Shante Bacon – CEO/Founder – 135th Street Agency
    Tomika DePriest – BWFN Chair Emeritus
    Tia Powell – Publisher – Georgia Film Source Book

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  • Full Frame Doc Film Fest Reveals 2015 Tribute Award Honoree

     full frame documentary film festival

    The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will honor Marshall Curry with the 2015 Tribute Award, presenting a retrospective of his work; and this year’s Thematic Program will be curated by filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal. 

    Curry is a two-time Academy Award®–nominated documentary director, producer, cinematographer, and editor. His first film, Street Fight, won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, AFI/Discovery SilverDocs Festival, and Hot Docs Film Festival. It also received the Jury Prize at Hot Docs and was nominated for a Writer’s Guild of America Award, an Oscar®, and an Emmy. Curry’s next film, Racing Dreams, won the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival Jury Prize for Best Documentary. His film If a Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front won the Sundance Film Festival award for Best Documentary Editing and was nominated for an Academy Award®. Curry’s most recent film, Point and Shoot, won Best Documentary at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, an IDA Award, and a Cinema Eye Honors Award. Curry’s films have been broadcast nationally on PBS, and have played around the world on the BBC, HBO Latin America, and others. Curry also served as executive producer of Mistaken for Strangers, which opened the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013.

    For this year’s Thematic Program, Full Frame will focus on the complex moral questions around documentation, tapping filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal to curate.

    Jennifer Baichwal has been directing and producing documentaries for 20 years. Her films include Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles, about enigmatic expatriate novelist Paul Bowles; The True Meaning of Pictures,about the work of Appalachian photographer Shelby Lee Adams; Manufactured Landscapes, about the work of artist Edward Burtynsky; Act of God, about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning; Payback, a documentary adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth; and Watermark(co-directed by Edward Burtynsky), about human interaction with water around the world. Her films have screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs Film Festival, and Sundance Film Festival, and have won an International Emmy Award for Best Arts Documentary, the Toronto Film Critic’s Association prize for Best Canadian Film, the Canadian Media Awards prize for Best Documentary, and numerous other awards.

    “The ethics and politics of representation have preoccupied me since I started making films two decades ago,” said Baichwal. “It came to a head in 2003 with The True Meaning of Pictures. I realized that by showing the photographs of Shelby Lee Adams in our film, we were subject to exactly the same criticism leveled against him for taking them. And I knew we had to address this in some way beyond having people argue about whether the representation was ethical or not. I also realized that there is no overall rule for tackling these issues: each context, each situation, demands its own complex, delicate, honest, ethical approach.”

    The 18th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will be held April 9-12, 2015, in Durham, N.C., with Duke University as the presenting sponsor. 

     

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  • THE SURFACE Starring Sean Astin to Open Gasparilla Film Fest

    the surface

    The Florida Premiere of the film “The Surface“, starring Mimi Rogers, Chris Mulkey and Sean Astin will open the 2015 Suncoast Credit Union Gasparilla International Film Festival, taking place March 24 – 29, 2015.

    Directed by Gil Cates, Jr., the movie tells the story of two strangers, both at the end of their rope, who suddenly meet in the middle of the unpredictable waters of Lake Michigan.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1gHRRzIqiU

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  • “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” Win Top Awards at Sundance

    Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,

    Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is the Winner of the U. S. Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic and the Audience Award – U.S. Dramatic at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

    Accepting the award, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon said “I want to thank entire cast and crew actors, Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke, RJ Cyler, Connie Britton, Nick Offerman and Molly Shannon. This movie was about processing the loss and celebrate the life of a beautiful man, my father. So thanks again for this opportunity.”

    The winners and awards of 2015 Sundance Film Festival

    Winner of the Directing Award: U.S. Documentary:
    Cartel Land    , directed by Matthew Heinema

    Winner of the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic:
    The Witch    , directed by Robert Eggers

    Winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary:
    The Wolfpack    , directed by Crystal Moselle

    Winner of the U. S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic:
    Me and Earl and the Dying Girl    , directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

    Winner of the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact:
    3 ½ Minutes,     directed by Marc Silver

    Winner for U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Collaborate Vision:
    Advantageous, directd by Jennifer Phang

    Winner for U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Excellence in Editing:
    Dope    , edited by Lee Haugen

    Winner of the Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic:
    The Diary of a Teenage Girl    , cinematography by Brandon Trost

    Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: U.S. Dramatic:
    The Stanford Prison Experiment    , screenplay by Tim Talbott

    Winner of Audience Award: U.S. Documentary:
    Meru    , directed by Jimmy Chin and E. Chai Vasarhelyi

    Winner of the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic:
    Me and Earl and the Dying Girl    , directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

    Winner of the Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary:
    Cartel Land    , by Matthew Heineman

    Winner of the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Break Out First Feature:
    (T)error    , directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

    Winner for U. S. Documentary Special Jury award for Verité Filmmaking:
    Western,     directed by Bill Ross and Turner Ross

    Winner of the Audience Award: Best Of Next
    James White    , directed by Josh Mond

    Winner of the Audience Award for World Cinema Dramatic:
    Umrika, directed by Prashant Nair

    Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting:
    The Second Mother    , Regina Casé and Camila Márdila

    Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting:
    Glassland    , Jack Reynor

    Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography:
    Partisan    , Germain McMicking

    Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award:
    The Summer of Sangaile    , directed by Alanté Kavaïté

    Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize:
    Slow West    , directed by John Maclean

    Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award:
    How to Change the World,     edited by Jim Scott

    Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact:
    Pervert Park    , directed by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors

    Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Unparalleled Access:
    The Chinese Mayor,     directed by Hao Zhou

    Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award:
    Dreamcatcher,     directed by Kim Longinotto

    Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize:
    Russian Woodpecker,     directed by Chad Gracia

    Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize:
    The Stanford Prison Experiment,     directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

     

     

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  • Winners and Awards of 2015 Slamdance Film Festival

     ACROSS THE SEAACROSS THE SEA

    The 21st Slamdance Film Festival announced the feature and short film recipients of this year’s awards in the Audience, Jury, and Sponsored Categories. 

    “Congratulations to the winners of Slamdance and indeed to all of the filmmakers this year. The 2015 festival has shown us once again that if you want to see the best of real independent film, Slamdance is the place to be,” stated Peter Baxter, Slamdance President and Co-founder. 

    AUDIENCE AWARDS

    Audience Award for Narrative Feature: ACROSS THE SEA, dir. by Nisan Dağ & Esra Saydam
    Damla is a Turkish immigrant estranged from her homeland; she lives in New York City with her husband, Kevin, and they’re expecting their first child. But Damla is still haunted by memories of her first love and when she returns to Turkey with Kevin she has to confront a troubling secret from her past.

    Audience Award for Documentary Feature: SWEET MICKY FOR PRESIDENT, dir. by Ben Patterson
    Music and politics collide when international music star Pras Michel of the Fugees returns to his homeland of Haiti, following the devastating earthquake of 2010, to mobilize a presidential campaign for Haiti’s most controversial musician: Michel Martelly aka Sweet Micky. The politically inexperienced pair set out against a corrupt government, civil unrest, and a fixed election.

    JURY AWARDS – NARRATIVE

    This year’s Slamdance Narrative Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Richard Lorber, Todd Looby and Emilie Upczak. 

    Jury Award for Narrative Feature: TIRED MOONLIGHT, dir. by Britni West
    “A masterful fusion of cinematic vision and poetic narrative, Tired Moonlight effortlessly transports you from the prosaic surroundings of its poignant characters’ lives into a realm of unexpected beauty and spiritual authenticity with an unforced craftsmanship.”
    The award winner was granted $3,500 in legal services from Pierce Law Group.

    Jury Honorable Mention for Narrative Feature: THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE, dir. by Perry Blackshear
    “With rare filmmaking skill, brains, precision and outstanding performances, Perry Blackshear and his cast and crew silence critics who claim very small and contained films like this can’t be riveting and brilliant.”

    Jury Honorable Mention for Narrative Feature: ACROSS THE SEA, dir. by Nisan Dağ & Esra Saydam
    “Through transcendent cinematography trained on the mystical Mediterranean setting and wonderful minute of uncertain love, directors Nisan Dağ and Esra Saydam provide a beautiful, intense and honest look at a relationship in peril.”

    JURY AWARDS – DOCUMENTARY

    This year’s Slamdance Documentary Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Paige Williams, Josh Leake and Bryan Storkel.

    Jury Award for Documentary Feature: SWEET MICKY FOR PRESIDENT, dir. by Ben Patterson
    “Sweet Micky For President takes the audience on an unbelievable, wild ride through difficult Haitian politics, in a story that is both entertaining and educational. The film is an enormous accomplishment for first-time director Ben Patterson and is a great example of why Slamdance exists – to celebrate new works by new directors whose films can help change our perspective on the world – one story at a time.”
    The award winner was granted $3,500 in legal services from Pierce Law Group.

    Jury Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature: 20 YEARS OF MADNESS, dir. by Jeremy Royce
    “Reminding us that it’s never too late to chase your dreams, 20 Years of Madness is brimming with stunning cinematography, eccentric characters and a heartfelt story about the desire to do something great while confronting the reality of failure.”

    Jury Award for Documentary Short: THE SOLITUDE OF MEMORY, dir. by Juan Pablo González
    “Juan Pablo González paints a vivid and eloquent portrait of a devoted father and the love for his son, drawing deep emotions from the viewer through his use of gorgeous cinematography, moving music and an incredibly honest, trusting main subject.”
    The award winner qualifies for the Annual Academy Awards®.

    Jury Honorable Mention for Documentary Short: DOLPHIN LOVER, dir. by Kareem Tabsch
    “Storytelling is an art form, and this film is a prime example of using this medium in a beautiful way to tell a seriously fucked-up, but very true and engaging story.”

    JURY AWARDS – SHORT FILMS

    The below Short Film Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Sarah Cornell, Rory Haines and Elle Schneider. 

    Jury Award for Narrative Short: STAY AWAKE, dir. by Jamie Sisley
    “Stay Awake exhibits a remarkable empathy for characters who find themselves trapped in an unenviable moral dilemma. The cast’s stand-out performances convey a depth of emotion few short films are able to achieve.”
    The award winner qualifies for the Annual Academy Awards®.

    Jury Honorable Mention for Narrative Short: 09:55 – 11:05, INGRID EKMAN, BERGSGATAN 4B, dir. by Christine Berglund & Sophie Vukovic
    “A complex, captivating and thoughtful slice of humanity. Delicately shot, with beautiful performances from both women, the film sears itself into your emotional core and remains there for days.”

    Jury Award for Animation Short: THE PRIDE OF STRATHMOOR, dir. by Einar Baldvin
    “The Pride of Strathmoor is akin to a short, unpleasant trip to the insane asylum. The Poe-esque rendering of madness is perfectly complemented by the inventively textured animation.”
    The award winner qualifies for the Annual Academy Awards®.

    Jury Honorable Mention for Animation Short: HIPOPOTAMY, dir. by Piotr Dumala
    “An outstanding display of technical craft, the authentic animation style of Hipopotamy accentuates the uncomfortable story.”

    The below Short Film Jury Prizes were selected by esteemed industry members Eve Cohen and Dan Brawley. 

    Jury Award for Experimental Short: RED LUCK dir. by Mike Olenick
    “If anything represents the experimental spirit of Slamdance, it’s this tin-foiled caper – an original and striking film full of layered and unexpected images. The film manages to offer a million different narrative paths – from dark and funny to weird and sparkly. A perfect example of a singular experimental work that is easy to watch again and again.”

    Jury Award for Anarchy Short: DEVIANCE, dir. by Aron Kantor
    “Deviance is the kind of raunchy nonsense that Slamdance embraces. A perverse pleasure diving in and out of reality that left us half-boned and just slightly numb from laughing. If anarchy at Slamdance is an anti-genre, then Deviance is the battle cry of ‘fuck the system.”

    Jury Honorable Mention for Anarchy Short: SEA DEVIL, dir. by Dean C. Marcial & Brett Potter
    “A mythological tale without true beginning or end, this cinematic anarchy short pushes the edges of traditional storytelling, weaving three stories into one, and leaves you hanging. A bold work full of questions, puzzles and refreshing choices – another blazing Borscht experiment.”

    SPECIAL AWARDS

    Spirit of Slamdance Award: THINK INK, dir. by Wally Chung
    The Spirit of Slamdance is awarded by the filmmakers of Slamdance 2015. It goes to the filmmaker who best embodies the spirit of the festival, creatively promoting their film, joyfully participating in screenings and events, and generally putting good energy into the festival. 

    The Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking awards were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Amber Benson, Todd Berger, Kent Osborne, and Damon Russell. 

    Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Grand Prize: COMING TO, dir. by Lindsey Haun, DP Spencer Rollins, starring Jacob Demonte-Finn
    “A film that includes a little bit of everything in a very short time. Mystery, laughs, an impressive performance, and some mighty fine camerawork and cinematography. And like any great short film, it has you desperately wanting to know what happens next.”
    The award winner was granted a 512gb Digital Bolex D16 Camera.

    Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Honorable Mention: THE CHARACTER STUDY, dir.& DP Luke Pelizzari
    “Creating tension in any film is hard, but to do it so effectively and gracefully with a very simple premise is truly an achievement of storytelling.”

    Digital Bolex Fearless Filmmaking Honorable Mention: ISOBEL, dir. by Marie Jamora, DP Jason McLagan
    “Perfectly capturing the theme of filmmaking on your own terms, this short highlights the magic and wonder of childhood when anything is creatively possible.”

    Kodak Director’s Prize: DETRITUS, dir. by T.J. Misny
    Given on behalf of Kodak to a promising new filmmaker making bold, film-worthy directorial choices. The filmmaker was awarded a $10,000 credit for Kodak film stock to be used on their next proj

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  • Miami International Film Festival Reveals 2015 Film Lineup

    Sidetracked (Las ovejas no pierden el tren)Sidetracked (Las ovejas no pierden el tren)

    Miami International Film Festival released the full roster of films selected to screen during its 32nd edition, taking place March 6 – 15, 2015.

    This year’s Festival showcases 125 films, including 94 feature films and documentaries, 18 short films, 11 student films and 2 works-in-progress, produced and directed by both renowned and emerging talent from 40 countries. 

    The Festival opens with the Florida premiere of Director Damián Szifron’s Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) from Argentina, boasting an all-star cast of Argentina’s biggest stars in an epic comedy of unfettered, delicious revenge. 

    The Festival closes with the International Premiere screening of Sidetracked (Las ovejas no pierden el tren) from Spain, directed by Álvaro Fernández Armero and starring Spanish box office sensations Inma Cuesta and Raúl Arévalo. This hilarious film follows a comically rudderless couple in mid-thirties life crisis, with stalled careers, an adorable lonesome son, and dysfunctional siblings who nearly steal the show.

     The 11 films selected for the Knight competition are:

    Aurora (Chile, directed by Rodrigo Sepúlveda) *North American Premiere
    Blue Blood (Sangue azul) (Brazil, directed by Lírio Ferreira) *North American Premiere
    Butterfly (Mariposas) (Argentina, directed by Marco Berger) *North American Premiere
    Invasion (Invasión) (Panama, directed by Abner Benahim) *North American Premiere
    Life is Sacred (Denmark / Ireland / Norway / Colombia, directed by Andreas Dalsgaard, Viviana Gómez & Nicolás Servide) *North American Premiere
    Los Hongos (Colombia / France, directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia) *US Premiere
    The Obscure Spring (Las oscuras primaveras) (Mexico, directed by Ernesto Contreras) *US Premiere
    The Project of the Century (La obra del siglo) (Cuba, Argentina, Germany directed by Carlos Machado Quintela) *North American Premiere
    The Strongest Man (USA, directed by Kenny Riches)
    Sunstrokes (Las insoladas) (Argentina, directed by Gustavo Taretto) *North American Premiere
    Voice Over (La voz en off) (Chile, directed by Cristián Jiménez) *US Premiere Co-Presented with Film Comment Selects 2015 at the NYC’s Film Society of Lincoln Center.

    Jordan Alexander Ressler Foundation Screenwriting Prize

    3 Beauties (3 Bellezas) (Venezuela, screenplay by Carlos Caridad Montero) *North American Premiere
    Ben’s at Home (Canada, screenplay by Dan Abramovici and Mars Horodyski)
    Cut Snake (Australia, screenplay by Blake Ayshford)
    East Side Sushi (USA, screenplay by Anthony Lucero)
    A Girl at my Door (Dohee-ya) (Korea, screenplay by Jung July)
    Innocent Killers (Asesinos inocentes) (Spain, screenplay by J.M. Asensio and Gonzalo Bendala)*World Premiere
    Love at First Fight (Les combattants) (France, screenplay by Thomas Cailley and Claude Le Pape)
    On the Road, Somewhere (Algun lugar) (Dominican Republic, screenplay by Wendy Muniz and Guillermo Zouain) *World Premiere
    Posthumous (USA, screenplay by Lulu Wang) *North American Premiere
    Preggoland (Canada, screenplay by Sonja Bennett)
    Set Fire to the Stars (UK, screenplay by Andy Goddard and Celyn Jones) *International Premiere
    Someone Else (USA, screenplay by Nelson Kim) *World Premiere
    Tango Glories (Fermin  glorias del tango) (Argentina, screenplay by Oliver Kolker)
    Theeb (Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, UK, screenplay by Naji Abu Nawar)
    They are All Dead (Todos están muertos) (Spain, Germany, Mexico, screenplay by Beatriz Sanchís) *US Premiere
    Tour de Force (Hin und weg) (Germany, screenplay by Ariane Schröder) *US Premiere

    Knight Documentary Achievement Award. 
    Films eligible for this Award are:

    13 Million Voices (USA, directed by Janelle Gueits) *World Premiere
    Being Evel (USA, directed by Daniel Junge)
    Before We are Forgotten (Antes de que nos olviden) (Mexico, directed by Matías Gueilburt) *US Premiere
    Best of Enemies (USA, directed by Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville)
    City of Gold (USA, directed by Laura Gabbert)
    Dawg Fight (USA, directed by Billy Corben) *World Premiere
    Finding Gastón (Buscando a Gastón) (Peru, directed by Patricia Perez)
    The Holders (USA, directed by Carla Forte) *World Premiere
    Hot Girls Wanted (USA, directed by Jill Bauer, Ronna Gradus)
    Invasion (Invasión) (Panama, Argentina, directed by Abner Benahim) *North American Premiere
    Iris (USA, directed by Albert Maysles)
    Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (USA, directed by Brett Morgan)
    The Land of Many Palaces (China, UK, directed by Ting Song, Adam James Smith)
    Life is Sacred (Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Colombia, directed by Andreas Dalsgaard, Viviana Gomez, Nicolas Servide) *North American Premiere
    The Lost Aviator (Australia, directed by Andrew Lancaster) *North American Premiere
    The Muses of Bashevis Singer (Israel, directed by Shaul Betser, Asaf Galay)
    Paco de Lucía: A Journey (Paco de Lucia: la búsqueda) (Spain, directed by Curro Sánchez Varela)*North American Premiere
    Playing Lecuona (Spain, Colombia, directed by Pavel Giroud, Juan Manuel Villar) *North American Premiere
    The Record Man (USA, directed by Mark Moorman) *World Premiere
    The Salt of the Earth (La sel de la terre) (Brazil / Italy / France, directed by Juliano Ribeiro Salgado & Wim Wenders) *2015 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature
    Sweet Micky for President (USA, Haiti, Canada, directed by Ben Patterson)
    Tea Time (La once) (Chile, USA, directed by Maite Alberdi) *North American Premiere
    This Is My Land (France, Israel, Palestine, Poland, directed by Tamara Erde)
    This Is What It Is (Esto es lo que hay) (France, directed by Léa Rinaldi) *World Premiere

    Lexus Ibero-American Opera Prima Competition: A distinguished jury will select from the following five first-time feature filmmakers from Latin America, Spain and/or Portugal for a $10,000 cash award presented by Lexus:

    3 Beauties (3 Bellezas) (Venezuela, directed by Carlos Caridad Montero) *North American Premiere
    Easy Sex, Sad Movies (Sexo fácil, películas tristes) (Argentina / Spain, directed by Alejo Flah)*International Premiere
    In the Grayscale (En las gamas de gris) (Chile, directed by Claudio Marcone) *World Premiere
    On the Road, Somewhere (Algun lugar) (Dominican Republic, directed by Guillermo Zouain)*World Premiere
    They are All Dead (Todos están muertos) (Spain, Germany, Mexico, directed by Beatriz Sanchís)*US Premiere

    Park Grove Shorts Competition:

    60 Candles (Uruguay, directed by Ana Guevara and Letícia Jorge) *World Premiere (Screens with Voice Over program)
    The Bigger Picture (U.K. directed by Daisy Jacobs) *2015 Oscar-nominee (Screens with A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Contemplating Existence program)
     Distance (USA, directed by Ismael Gomez III) (Screened as part of From A Distance Shortsprogram)
    Freddie of Wynwood (USA, directed by Fabian Cardenas) *World Premiere (Screens with The Holders program)  
    Maalu (Australia, Sri Lanka, directed by Sanjay De Silva) *World Premiere (Screens with The Land of Many Palaces program)
    Miami (Portugal, directed by Simão Cayatte) *North American Premiere (Screens with From A Distance Shorts program)
    Old Bay (USA, directed by Lena Rudnick) (Screened with Ghost Stories Shorts program)
    She Bought it in Zarautz
     (Zarautzen erosi zuen) (Spain, directed by Aitor Arregui) *North American Premiere (Screens with Flowers program)
    Thread (Malaysia, directed by Virginia Kennedy) *North American Premiere (Screens with From A Distance Shorts program)
    A Tree in the Sea (United Arab Emirates, directed by Shahir Zag) *World Premiere (Screens withFrom A Distance Shorts program)
    Young Lions of Gypsy (A ciambra) (Italy, directed by Jonas Carpignano) (Screens with Ghost Stories Shorts program)

    FESTIVAL NON-COMPETITION CATEGORIES:

    CINEDWNTWN GALAS Presented By Miami Downtown Development Authority

    Everybody Leaves (Todos se van) (Colombia, directed by Sergio Cabrera) *North American Premiere
    Kamikaze (Spain, directed by Álex Pina) *North American Premiere
    The Pilgrim – Paulo Coehlo’s Best Story (Não pare na pista) (Brazil, Spain, directed by Daniel Augusto) *International Premiere
    Playing Lecuona (Spain, directed by Pavel Giroud & Juan Manuel Villar) *North American Premiere

    FLORIDA FOCUS: Nine films by Sunshine State filmmakers and directors.

    Dawg Fight (USA, directed by Billy Corben) *World Premiere
    Distance (USA, directed by Ismael Gomez III) (Screens as part of From a Distance Shorts program)
    Freddie of Wynwood (USA, directed by Fabian Cardenas) *World Premiere (Screens with The Holders program)  
    The Holders (USA, directed by Carla Forte) *World Premiere
    Papa Machete (USA, directed by Jonathan David Kane) (Screens with The Architecture of Color program)
    Posthumous (USA, directed by Noah DeBonis) (Screened with Ghost Stories Shorts program)
    The Record Man  (USA, directed by Mark Moorman) *World Premiere
    The Sun Like A Big Dark Animal (USA, directed by Christina Felisgrau & Ronnie Rivera) (Screens with The Architecture of Color program)
    The Wizard (El mago) (USA, directed by David Liz) *US Premiere (Screens with Ghost Stories Shorts program)

    CINEMASLAM features the best works of some of Miami’s most brilliant student filmmakers. This year’s 5th annual competition includes work from students Zachary Burgh, Frederick Criswell, Carlos Cuervo, Melissa Gomez, Patricia Joaquim & Karina Rey, Rita Pereyra, and Timothy Wilcox of Miami Dade College; Luis Galvis and Tyler Huyser from University of Miami, Adonis Lugo from Miami International University; and Ransey Padilla from Center of Cinematography, Arts and TV Miami. The Audience Award winner will be voted on during the screening and announced at the Patrón Opening Night Party at the Freedom Tower of Miami Dade College.

    MIAMI MANIFESTO: Film experiences that engage the audience with political headlines beyond your average daily read.  The films in this special section, debuting at the Festival this year, will feature extended post-screening conversations with the filmmakers, and lively debates about the extended issues presented in their films.  Inbetween the two screenings, a reception hosted by SundanceNow DocClub will take place at Coral Gables Art Cinema.

    Best of Enemies (USA, directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville)
    Life is Sacred (Denmark / Ireland / Norway / Colombia, directed by Andreas Dalsgaard, Viviana Gomez & Nicolas Servide) *North American Premiere

    SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS:

    Tough Ain’t Enough: Conversations with Albert S. Ruddy (USA, directed by Gregory J. Bradley)
    Habana (Cuba, directed by Edouard Salier) (Screens with From A Distance Shorts program)
    The Last Flight of Hubert Le Blon (Hubert le blonen azken hegaldia) (Spain, directed by Koldo Almandoz) *North American Premiere (Screens with The Lost Aviator program)
    The Windows(Las ventanas) (Cuba, directed by Maryulis Alfonso Yero) *North American Premiere. (Screens with Venice program)

    AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL: Three cinematic love letters to the strong independent character of the United States.

    Posthumous (USA, directed by Lulu Wang) *North American Premiere
    Someone Else (USA, directed by Nelson Kim) *World Premiere
    Spring (USA, directed by Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead)

    VISIONS: Provocative and stirring three feature-length visual experiences guaranteed to test the limits and take viewers to the extreme.

    A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (En duva satt pa en gren och funderade pa tillvaron) (Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, directed by Roy Andersson)
    Magical Girl (Spain, directed by Carlos Vermut)
    White God (Fehér isten) (Hungary / Germany / Sweden, directed by Kornél Mundruczó)

    REEL MUSIC: Five documentaries emanating the global power of music.

    13 Million Voices (USA, directed by Janelle Gueits) *World Premiere
    This Is What It Is (Esto es lo que hay) (France, directed by Léa Rinaldi) *World Premiere
    Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (USA, directed by Brett Morgan)
    Paco de Lucía: A Journey (Paco de Lucía: la busqúeda) (Spain, directed by Curro Sánchez Varela)*North American Premiere
    Sweet Micky For President (USA / Haiti / Canada, directed by Bob Patterson)

    CINEMA 360° Presented by ViendoMovies: A vibrant and dynamic selection of eight narrative works, from both accomplished and emerging filmmakers, including an international selection of dramas, comedies, suspense thrillers, neo-westerns, and innovative docudramas.

    The Architecture of Color (A arquitetura da cor) (Brazil, directed by José Henrique Fonseca and Priscila Lopes) *World Premiere
    Beautiful Youth (Hermosa juventud) (Spain, directed by Jaime Rosales) *US Premiere
    Ben’s at Home (Canada, directed by Mars Horodyski)
    Black Souls (Anime nere) (Italy, directed by Francesco Munzi)
    Ciudad Delirio (Colombia, Spain, directed by Chus Gutiérrez)
    Cut Snake (Australia, directed by Tony Ayres)
    The Dinner (I nostri ragazzi) (Italy, directed by Ivano de Matteo)
    The Farewell Party (Mita tova) (Israel, Germany, directed by Sharon Maymon and Tal Granit)
    Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira) (Canada, directed by Maxime Giroux)
    Flowers (Loreak) (Spain, directed by Jon Garaño, Jose Mari Goenaga)
    The Fool (Durak) (Russia, directed by Yuri Bykov)
    Guidance (Canada, directed by Pat Mills) *US Premiere
    Innocent Killers (Asesinos inocentes) (Spain, directed by Gonzalo Bendala) *World Premiere
    Panama Canal Stories (Historias del canal) (Panama, directed by Carolina Borrero, Pinky Mon, Luis Franco, Abner Benaim and Pituka Ortega Heilbron) *International Premiere
    Phoenix (Germany, directed by Christian Petzold)
    Preggoland (Canada, directed by Jacob Tierney)
    Sand Dollars (Dólares de arena) (Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexico, directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas)
    A Second Chance (En chance til) (Denmark, directed by Susanne Bier) *US Premiere
    Set Fire to the Stars (UK, directed by Andy Goddard) *International Premiere
    Shrew’s Nest (Musarañas) (Spain, France, directed by Juanfer Andrés, Esteban Roel)
    Tango Glories (Fermín: glorias del tango) (Argentina, directed by Hernán Findling, Oliver Kolker)
    Theeb (Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, UK, directed by Naji Abu Nawar)
    Tour de Force (Hin und weg) (Germany, directed by Christian Zübert) *US Premiere
    Venice (Venecia) (Cuba, Colombia, directed by Kiki Álvarez) *US Premiere
    Warsaw 44 (Miasto 44) (Poland, directed by Jan Kosama)

    SPOTLIGHT ON ASIAN CINEMA Presented by TV5MONDE: A collection of seven feature length films by both acclaimed and emerging French filmmakers. Zhang Meng’s Uncle Victory is the opening night film of the program.

    In the Name of My Daughter (L’homme quón aimait trop) (France, directed by André Téchiné)
    Ladygrey (France, Belgium, South Africa, directed by Alain Choquart) *International Premiere
    Love at First Fight (Les combattants) (France, directed by Thomas Cailley)
    Saint Laurent (France, directed by Bertrand Bonello)
    The Price of Fame (La rançon de la gloire) (France, directed by Xavier Beauvois) *US Premiere
    Three Hearts (3 coeurs) (France, directed by Benoît Jacquot)
    Weekends in Normandy (Week-ends) (France, directed by Anne Villacèque)

    SPOTLIGHT ON ASIAN CINEMA: A collection of seven films from both Asian and Asian American directors. Zhang Meng’s Uncle Victory is the opening night film of the program.

    A Girl at my Door (Dohee-ya) (Korea, directed by Jung July)
    A Hard Day (kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da) (Korea, directed by Seong-hun Kim)
    The Land of Many Palaces (China, directed by Ting Song, Adam Smith)
    The Liar (Geojinmal) (Korea, directed by Kim Dong-myung) *North American Premiere
    Partners in Crime (Kong heng) (Taiwan/China, directed by Chang Jung-Chi)
    Scarlet Innocence (Madam Ppang-Deok) (Korea, directed by Yim Pil-sung)
    Uncle Victory (Shengli) (China, directed by Zhang Meng)

    CULINARY CINEMA:  Returning for a third mouthwatering year, a playful pairing of Foodie Films with fantastic Local Restaurants, Sponsored by Frederick Wildman & Sons

    The Culinary Cinema category schedule is comprised of five distinct film & restaurant pairings:

     City of Gold (USA, directed by Laura Gabbert) – Saturday, March 7 at 3:30 p.m. / Screening paired with 1:00 p.m. lunch at Juvia Miami Beach (1111 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach)
    East Side Sushi (USA, directed by Anthony Lucero) – Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 p.m. / Screening paired with 9:00 p.m. dinner at SUSHISAMBA Coral Gables in The Westin Hotel on Ponce de Leon (180 Aragon Avenue Coral Gables)
    Finding Gastón (Buscando a Gastón) (Peru, directed by Patricia Pérez) – Monday, March 9 at 6:50 p.m. / Screening paired with 8:30 p.m. dinner at La Mar by Gastón Acurio at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (500 Brickell Key Drive, Miami)
    Natural Resistance (Italy / France, directed by Jonathan Nossiter) – Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. / Screening paired with 8:45 p.m. dinner at Quattro Gastronomia Italiana (1014 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach)
    Rewined (Vinodentro) (Italy, directed by Ferdinando Vicentini Orniani) – Thursday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. / Screening paired with 9:00 p.m. dinner at Macchialina Taverna Rustica (820 Alton Road, Miami Beach) *North American Premiere 

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  • New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival Unveils 2015 Lineup

    When Marnie Was ThereWhen Marnie Was There

    The New York Int’l Children’s Film Festival announced the complete lineup for its 2015 event, which runs February 27-March 22.

    The Oscar® qualifying film festival will be held at New York’s DGA Theater, IFC Center, Scholastic Theater, SVA Theatre, and Village East Cinema.

    Highlights include US and North American feature film premieres of Studio Ghibli’s When Marnie Was There (Japan), BBC’s Enchanted Kingdom 3D(UK), Mune (France), and Moomins on the Riviera (France), the US premiere of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (Various Countries), the east coast premiere of the new Aardman feature Shaun the Sheep the Movie (UK), six Oscar®-qualifying short film programs,Best of Aardman Shorts, a collection of four decades of short films from Aardman Animations, and a special program of Nick Park’s Wallace & Gromit Shorts. The Festival will culminate in the Closing Night Celebration, which will include the announcement of the 2015 award winners and a special program of the Best of the Fest short films.

    OPENING NIGHT FILMS:

    SHAUN THE SHEEP THE MOVIE – East Coast Premiere, Animation, UK, Mark Burton/Richard Starzack; No Dialogue. 
    The newest film from stop-motion maestros, Aardman Animations – a grass-fed, farm-to-screen adventure brimming with humor, charm, and wit. Shaun the Sheep, the woolly stop-motion star whose vocal range is limited to bleats and baas, first appeared in Nick Park’s 1995 Oscar®-winning Wallace and Gromit adventure. In his first feature film, Shaun tires of the everyday routine on Mossy Bottom Farm and concocts a plan to lead his flock in rebellion.

    WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE – North American Premiere, Animation, Japan, Hiromasa Yonebayashi; In Japanese with English subtitles.
    The newest feature from Japan’s famed Studio Ghibli is a sweeping story of friendship, mystery, and discovery that delivers stirring emotions and breathtaking animation as only Ghibli can. When shy, artistic Anna moves to the seaside to live with her aunt and uncle, she stumbles upon an old mansion surrounded by marshes, and the mysterious young girl, Marnie, who lives there. The two girls instantly form a unique connection and friendship that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality.

    CLOSING DAY FILMS:

    ENCHANTED KINGDOM 3D – North American Premiere, Documentary, UK, Patrick Morris/Neil Nightingale; In English.
    The creators of BBC’s groundbreaking Walking with Dinosaurs 3Dand Earth take us on a spell-binding journey through seven realms of with extraordinary timelapse photography. Sweeping aerial shots and macro and micro lensed 3D, propel us from enchanted forests to the boiling edge of the underworld, from celestial ice-capped mountains and lava-spewing volcanoes to crashing waterfalls and deep fantastical seas. Narrated by Idris Elba.

    KAHLIL GIBRAN’S THE PROPHET – US Premiere, Animation, Various Countries, Roger Allers; In English.
    The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, is among the most popular volumes of poetry ever written, selling over 100 million copies in forty languages since its publication in 1923. The timeless verses have been given enchanting new form in this painterly cinematic adventure about freedom and the power of human expression. Written and directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), the film intersperses Gibran’s elegant verses with stunning animated sequences by Festival favorite filmmakers Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), Bill Plympton (Guide Dog), and a host of award-winning animators from around the world. Featuring the voices of Liam Neeson, Salma Hayak, and Quvenzhané Wallis, and music from Damien Rice, Glen Hansard, and Yo-Yo Ma.

    NYICFF 2015 FEATURE FILMS (ALPHABETICAL):

    BALLET BOYS – Documentary, Norway, Kenneth Elvebakk; In Norwegian with English subtitles.
    Ballet Boys takes us through four years in the lives of three young dancers. The only boy dancers in a world of girls, they strive to get into Norway’s most prestigious ballet academy. Beautifully constructed, slow-motion dance sequences and life-altering auditions provide a pulse of drama throughout their journey, but the film is ultimately the story of their friendship, disappointments, victories, first loves, dreams, and doubts.

    BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – New York Premiere, Live Action, France, Nicolas Vanier; In French with English subtitles.
    A story of friendship, courage, and loyalty set against the jaw-dropping scenery and alpine panoramas of the Haute Maurienne-Vanoise region of France. Sebastian lives with his grandfather, César, in a vertiginous mountain village, where he crosses paths with a giant and dirty Pyrenean Mountain Dog who the locals have dubbed “the Beast” for allegedly killing their livestock. But Sebastian sees something good in the misunderstood canine and befriends the animal, renaming her “Belle.” Their budding friendship is put to the test when Nazis march into town looking to root out a band of resistance fighters who are guiding Jewish refugees to neighboring Switzerland.

    HOCUS POCUS ALFIE ATKINS – East Coast Premiere, Animation, Norway, Torril Kove; In English.
    Academy Award® winning director Torill Kove’s first feature film is a refreshingly warm and intimate tale based on beloved children’s book character Alfie Atkins. Seven-year-old Alfie dreams of owning a dog, but his father insists that he is too small for such a big responsibility. Undaunted, Alfie finds an unlikely ally in George, a kindly magician who performs tricks for the neighborhood kids and has just adopted a puppy of his own. Lovingly animated with thoughtful, honest character interactions, Hocus Pocus offers an emotionally and visually rich cinema experience for audiences of all ages.

    JELLYFISH EYES – Live Action/Animation, Japan, Takashi Murakami; In Japanese with English subtitles.
    Pop art superstar Takashi Murakami makes his feature film debut with a campy, genre-defying adventure that mixes lo-fi Japanese disaster movie, new kid-on-the-block coming-of-age story, andPokémon-style anime with a delirious abundance of wonderfully imagined magical creatures. Setting Murukami’s fantastical animated designs in an otherwise live action film, Jellyfish Eyes tells the story of Masashi, a young boy who moves to a sleepy town in the Japanese countryside in the wake of a natural disaster.

    LANDFILLHARMONIC – East Coast Premiere, Documentary, USA, Brad Allgood/Graham Townsley; In Spanish with English subtitles.
    The world generates over a billion tons of garbage a year, much of it ending up in poor rural communities like Cateura, Paraguay, where over 2,000 families survive by separating garbage for recycling. When a teen music program there can’t afford new instruments, a garbage picker named Cola fashions a violin from an empty oil tin – thus inspiring the Recycled Orchestra. The film follows the young musicians as they reach even greater heights, performing concerts in the US, Europe, and Asia – even sharing the stage with heavy metal super-group, Metallica.

    LOU! – US Premiere, Live Action, France, Julien Neel; In French with English subtitles.
    Twelve-and-a-half-year-old Lou lives alone with her absurdly immature mother, Emma. Her mom has been in a funk lately, eating junk food in her pajamas, playing video games, and generally behaving more like a teen than her on-the-cusp-of-adolescence daughter. But all this changes with arrival of the new bohemian neighbor, Richard, who ignites her goofy mother’s romantic interests. Neel has turned the French comic and animated TV series into a quirky, mom and daughter buddy movie, with vibrant and brilliantly kitschy bubble-gum production design and plenty of cringe-worthy, awkward comedic situations.

    MOOMINS ON THE RIVIERA – North American Premiere, Animation, Finland/France, Xavier Picard; in English.
    Sixty years ago, when Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson launched the Moomin comic strip, little did she know it would reach 20 million daily readers in more than 40 countries. In celebration of her 100th birthday, French director Xavier Picard brings Jansson’s carefree and adventurous Moomin family to life, with delicately animated characters set within beautifully designed and colored backgrounds, and the comic’s traipsing storylines translated to the screen with just the right amount of absurdity and humor.

    MUNE (3D) – North American Premiere, Animation, France, Alexandre Heboyan/Benoît Phillippon; In English.
    A world of wonder, magic and mythology is the setting in this sumptuously animated CGI adventure about a land divided between the realms of day and night. As legend has it, the first Guardian of the Sun threw a harpoon into the cosmos and roped the sun to bring light and warmth to all of humanity. Then the Guardian of the Moon lured the moon to the Land of Darkness to provide a balance to the sun and supply the world with dreams. At a momentous ceremony to appoint the two new guardians, an accident seems to occur; the heir apparent is passed over, and the title Guardian of the Moon is bestowed on the waif-like Mune, a small and frightened forest faun who seems wholly unprepared to take on such a weighty responsibility.

    SATELLITE GIRL AND MILK COW – New York Premiere, Animation, South Korea, Chang Hyung-yun; In Korean with English subtitles.
    Festival award-winning Wolf Daddy director Chang Hyung-yun has created a wholly original, exuberantly outrageous, sci-fi love story unlike anything before it. An orbiting, out-of-commission female satellite picks up a lovelorn pop song on its radio antenna and descends to Earth to try to discover who could be the source of such heartfelt emotions. On the way, it is transformed into the titular Satellite Girl, complete with Astroboy-like rocket shoes and weapon-firing limbs, while the balladeer in question — a loser twenty-something playing at an open mic in a coffee shop — meets the fate that befalls all broken-hearted lovers: he is turned into a farm animal (albeit one who can walk around in a poorly-fitting human suit).

    SECRETS OF WAR – New York Premiere, Live Action, Netherlands, Dennis Bots; In Dutch with English subtitles.
    Netherlands, 1943. Best friends Tuur and Lambert spend their time dreaming up adventures and discovering secret passages in the caves and forests that surround their close-knit village. Homemade wooden pistols serve as props in their playful war games, as they make light of the conflict that is building all around them. When new girl Maartje enters their social circle, the boys’ friendship faces a challenge typical of adolescence – and Lambert begins to feel more and more like the third wheel. Secrets of War, with its lush backdrops and strong emotional performances from three young leads, expertly balances the universality of shifting young friendships with the moral complexity of war.

    WOLFY, THE INCREDIBLE SECRET – US Premiere, Animation, Belgium/France, Grégoire Solotareff/Eric Omond; in English.
    Though they’re from opposite ends of the food chain, Wolfy and Tom (a wolf and rabbit, respectively) are best friends. Wolfy has always believed he was an orphan, until one day a gypsy tells him that his mother is still alive in the distant dynasty of Wolfenberg, Land of the Wolves. Despite his fear, Tom agrees to accompany his friend as they venture far from their peaceful countryside home. They arrive in the midst of Carne Festival— a grand meeting of the world’s most renowned carnivores — and Wolfy’s quest for self-discovery quickly turns into Tom’s quest for survival. This beautifully animated film is based on the wildly popular French children’s book series LouLou from writer and director Grégoire Solotareff.

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