Film Festivals

Q Cinema, Fort Worth’s Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival Unveils 2014 Lineup; Opens with Romantic Comedy “The 10 Year Plan”

Q Cinema, Fort Worth’s Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival and one of the longest running Gay & Lesbian Film Festivals in the country released the line-up for the 16th film festival, Q Cinema’s Sweet Sixteen, October 9 through 12 at Fort Worth’s own Rose Marine Theater. The Opening Night Centerpiece is The 10 Year Plan directed by JC Calciano, described as a classic romantic comedy that tells the story of Myles and Brody – two friends who make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten years’ time. The Closing Night Centerpiece is the Southwest Premier of My Guys that follows Georgette(Kendall Savage), a 29 year-old, full-figured waitress who has not one, but four BFFs who happen to be gay men.

The line-up is as follows:

Thursday, October 9

6:30 PM, CLUB KING. CLUB KING combines Diaz’s personal reflections with candid interviews and archival footage from the East and West Coast’s hottest queens (including Jackie Beat), go-go boys, and singers like Justin Vivian Bond, resulting in a dizzyingly wild ride. Director Jon Bush, 2013, USA, 65 min.

8 PM, Opening Night Centerpiece: The 10 Year Plan. A classic romantic comedy that tells the story of Myles and Brody – two friends who make a pact to be together if neither finds love in ten years’ time. This film has not only several sexy new leading men (one of which, Michael Adam Hamilton, will be present at the screening along with the director) but also has cameos from the hugely popular webseries Steam Room Stories. Several of the guys (Ben Palacios, Chris Reid, Adam Bucci, Skyler Seymour, Cedric Jonathan, Josh Wise and Jesse Welch) make special appearances in the film as their steam room characters.Director: JC Calciano, 2014, USA, 92 min. Preceded by the short film: Me Tube, 2014, Germany, 4 min. Calciano and Michael Hamilton in attendance

10 PM, Sweet Sixteen Opening Night Party: Tiaras & Tinis, Rose Marine Theater Main Gallery

Friday, October 10

6:00 PM, Bridegoom. On May 7, 2012, the anniversary of Tom’s death, after a year of documenting his own grief, Shane decided to make a video tribute to his partner entitled “It Could Happen To You.” This film, posted on YouTube, received over 3.4 million views and has been translated into over 20 different languages. The impact of Shane’s YouTube video and the raw nerve it touched, tells us this is an important story that needs to be told.

With the incredible support from influential people like Brad and George Takei and Neil Patrick Harris, Bridegroom was successfully funded on July 19, 2012 by over 6,500 people on Kickstarter.com becoming the most funded documentary in the history of crowd funding, and released in the fall of 2013. No admission. Sponsored by Movies that Matter.

7 PM, Pre-screening & autograph reception with Del Shores. Do you own any Sordid Lives memorabilia you would like signed by Del Shores? Bring it! You will also have the opportunity to purchase DVD & BluRay sets of his works to be personally autographed.

8 PM, Friday Night Centerpiece: Del Shores: Naked. Sordid. Reality. Del Shores, creator of the cult franchise Sordid Lives, filmed his hilarious, most successful standup tour to date once again at The Rose Room in Dallas, TX. Del will be hosting with new material, then a screening of the DVD will follow.

This was Shores’ third national tour & in DEL SHORES NAKED.SORDID.REALITY. He shares more sordid stories about his Texas family, reads letters he’s written to the haters (including Newt and Kirk Cameron), acts out scenes from your favorite reality shows (including Hoarders and The Real Housewives) and yes, he will address his new, unexpected, single life.

Del says, “Look, I’ve had a rough few months, okay. I’m bitter and mean and don’t give a shit, so no telling what I’ll say this time!” Shores warns. Written & performed by Del Shores, 84 min.

10 PM, After-party, location TBD and catering provided by City Kitchen Catering Fine Foods.

Saturday, October 11

1 PM, Family Ties Shorts Program, Total Run time 83 min. This shorts compilation highlights five very different films that expose a wide range of family dynamics and relationships that will leave you astounded. This is an emotional roller coaster representing many family ties. These five films include:

Texas Premier A Last Farewell, A portrait of an aging author who must tackle the impossible: finding peace in the wake of a devastating loss. Dir. Casper Andreas, 2014, Sweden, English subtitles, 13 min.

World Premier Coming Out, A look at one girl’s story of coming at out, her mother’s reaction and how playing basketball eases her struggles.Dir. Allysa Defonte, 2014, USA

US Premier Blut, Reis, und Tranen (Blood, Rice & Tears), Tim is 38 and works as a taxi driver, which gives him enough flexibility to take care of his father who suffers from Alzheimer. But does it leave him room for a true romance? Dir. Johannes Rosenstein 2014, Germany, English subtitles, 31 min.

Texas Premier Darkness, A family dispute gradually reveals the source of a male dominated family’s anxieties – a daughter who chooses to dress, and express, as a boy. Going out into the night, she sets off on a journey to find love, and eventually herself, in the colorful underground nightspots of East London. Dir. Simon Savory, 2013, UK, 7 min.

Southwest Premier Electric Indigo, A different look at education, sexuality and human values. Dir. Jean-Julian Collette, 2013, France, 24 min.

3 PM, Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo. The film tells the story of five members of the International Gay Rodeo Association including Dallas’s own, Wade Earp, a descendant of cowboy legend Wyatt Earp. Roping and riding across North America, they buck tradition & bust every stereotype in the book. Director: Matt Livardy, 2014, USA, 92 min. Wade Earp in attendance.

Preceded by the short film: US Premier

Another Way Out Three generations of LGBT Canadians talk about their life journeys. Stark black & white visuals highlight these candid, eloquent self-portraits. Dir: Simone Stock, 2013, Canada, 4 min. Simone Stock, Anna Gutmanis & Georgia Wilder will be in attendance and available for Q&A after the screening.

6 PM, Tru Love, An evocative love story about the intersecting lives of three women. When love finds you, rules and roles don’t apply.

Preceded by Secrets & Toys. A surprise visit, a bumbling bestie, and many years of tight-lipped deception causes EVERYONE’S secrets to hit the fan. Dir. Quentin Lee, 2014, USA, 12 min.

8 PM, Centerpiece Film: Southwest Premier Crazy Bitches. A group of ex Alpha Kappa Phi Sorority girls and a fab gay guy plan a getaway birthday weekend for their friend, Alice. Escaping to a remote ranch the group settles in for several days of gossip, girl time and grub. Writer/Director/Producer: Jane Clark, 2014, USA 97 min. Clark and actor Cathy DuBuono will be in attendance & available for Q&A after the screening.

Preceded by Narcissist, Sometimes one must experience darkness to find a true authentic light. Writer/Director/Producer Eric Casaccio, 2014, USA, 17 min. Casaccio will be in attendance & available for Q&A after the screening.

10:30 PM, VIP Reception & After-Party: Hosted by Flowers on the Square and Louis Lambert. Special guests in attendance: Jane Clark, Cathy DuBuono, Eric Casaccio, Anna Gutmanis, Georgia Wilder & Joseph Antaki. Admission for those with Sponsor and All-Access Passes. A limited number of tickets will be available for purchase at the box office during the festival.

Sunday, October 12

2:30 PM, End of Season Sale, Contraplano (Plan B) & Foreign Relations

Southwest Premier End of Season Sale Two ageing men meet on the street on a rainy night. The city no longer awaits them. They both like men, but their sexual identity is entirely different: one likes words without flesh, the other likes flesh without words. Dir. Eli Glazer, 2014, Israel, English subtitles, 35 min. US Premier

Contraplano (Plan B) In an apartment, two guys have a meeting. Apparently, it’s a romantic dinner. Apparently, it’s all about illusion. Between ‘me’ and ‘another one’, there’s the paradox: how to care for a relationship in a world designed for individuals? Dir. Gus Stevaux, 2013, Brazil, English subtitles, 15 min. Nudity

Foreign Relations, Touring in Europe, shy Tom meets a sexy, but ambiguous Greek & flirty tour guide. Dir Reid Waterer, 2014, USA, 25 min.

4PM BFFs. Two friends, one lie, five couples and the three days that could change everything. Kat and Samantha have been best friends for years. When Samantha convinces a reluctant Kat to take advantage of a couple’s weekend retreat by pretending to be lovers, they’re hoping for some time by the pool and maybe a few good stories. How hard could it be? Instead, they find themselves immersed in an intensive workshop with real couples who are fighting to save their relationships. As the “Closer to Closeness” weekend progresses, Kat and Samantha are made to face their own shortcomings and, by default, begin to believe their own cover story. When the lines of friendship begin to blur, they are faced with asking themselves: could it actually be there is something there or has this weekend just worked a Jedi mind trick on them? Director: Dir. Andrew Putschoegl, 2014, USA, 90 min

Preceded by the short film: Cortometraje (Speechless), Dir. Christina Barnuevo, 2012, English subtitles, 14 min.

6 PM Closing Night Centerpiece: Southwest Premier My Guys Meet Georgette(Kendall Savage), a 29 year-old, full-figured waitress who has not one, but four BFFs who happen to be gay men. As the only woman in this entourage, Georgette relishes being the center of attention and knowing her ‘Guys’ always have her back…especially when dealing with her redneck family, nosy neighbor and boss from hell. But wait, Georgette’s life is about to get way more complicated. Director: Joseph Antaki, 2014, Canada, 81 min. Sexual situations.

Preceded by the short film: World Premiere We Are Fine, No words are needed in this visually stimulating film. Dir. Simon Savory, 2014, UK/Australia, 5 min.

7:30 PM Awards & Closing Night Party, Rose Marine Theater Main Gallery
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Morten Tyldum’s THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley to Receive 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Hamptons International Film Festival

THE IMITATION GAME

The 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize of the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) will be awarded to Morten Tyldum’s THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Mark Strong. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation chose the film for its sensitive and moving portrait of the complex, brilliant mathematician who not only created the model for the early computer and for computer language, but whose code breaking skills helped the Allies win World War II. As part of the Festival’s Spotlight section, the film will screen on October 11th at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a monumental performance as British mathematician Alan Turing in Morten Tyldum’s stirring historical drama. Told via flashback, THE IMITATION GAME tracks the young, brilliant, and socially awkward Turing in the early days of World War II as he applies for a top-secret position tasked with decoding the “unbreakable” Nazi cipher machine called Enigma, used to encrypt all military radio transmissions. His work was famously labeled by Winston Churchill as “the greatest single contribution to victory,” but after the war he suffered great personal and professional turmoil as he dealt with his homosexuality in a time when it was illegal. The Weinstein Company will release the film on November 21, 2014.

In addition to the film prize award, HIFF will present the Sloan Screenplay Readings on Sunday, October 12 at 4pm. PALIMPSEST written by Ben Nabors & Michael Tyburski and Evan Schwartz’s TELEVISIONARIES are this year’s featured selections. Avram Ludwig will direct the readings of a terrific cast including Richard Kind, Michael Nathanson, Harris Yulin, Lois Robbins, Tom Brangle and Robert Mobley. PALIMPSEST and TELEVISIONARIES were bothfeatured in HIFF’s Sloan Screenwriters Lab last April.

The October 11th Festival screening of THE IMITATION GAME will be followed by a panel discussion about the use of cryptography and computer science in a historical context, as well as Turing’s impact in the field. The panel will include Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard/Columbia, and Dan Guido, co-founder and CEO of Trail of Bits, an information security firm, and the Hacker in Residence at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering.

The 22nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, October 9-13, 2014.
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Kansas’ Tallgrass Film Festival Reveals 2014 Galas and Spotlight Films; Opens with Roger Ebert Film “LIFE ITSELF”

LIFE ITSELF

The 12th annual Tallgrass Film Festival taking place in and around downtown Wichita, Kansas from October 15 through 19, 2014, will open with the Wichita, Kansas theatrical premiere of LIFE ITSELF, and close with acclaimed feature BEFORE I DISAPPEAR. LIFE ITSELF, from critically acclaimed Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) along with executive producers Martin Scorsese (The Departed) and Steven Zaillian (Moneyball), recounts the inspiring, entertaining and colorful life of world-renowned film critic Roger Ebert–a story that is by turns personal, funny, moving and transcendent. Based on his bestselling memoir of the same name, LIFE ITSELF, explores Roger Ebert’s legacy–his Pulitzer Prize-winning film criticism at the Chicago Sun-Times, his turn as screenwriter of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, his on and off screen relationship with Gene Siskel, all culminating in his ascension as one of the most influential cultural voices in America.

BEFORE I DISAPPEAR

BEFORE I DISAPPEAR, written and direted by Sean Christensen, stars Christensen, Fatima Ptacek, Ron Perlman and Emmy Rossum and won the Audience Award at the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival. Based on the 2013 Academy Award® winning short film CURFEW, at the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister, asking him to look after his eleven-year old niece, Sophia, for a few hours.

THE LIVING directed by Jack Bryan has been selected as the recipient of the Stubbornly Independent Gala prize at this year’s festival. THE LIVING weaves a thoroughly engrossing story with beautiful cinematography, solid direction, and strong performances that never pander, yet never fail to engage. The film conveys a thematic universality applicable to anyone who has ever felt trapped within the confines of a fate seemingly set in motion by one irreversible action, and yet the plot still unfolds in surprising and unpredictable ways.

GONE DOGGY GONE directed by Kansas filmmaker Kasi Brown, and MAD AS HELL directed by Andrew Napier will screen as Thursday Night Spotlight Films. GONE DOGGY GONE is a comedic feature about a couple stuck in a lack-luster marriage who treat their dog like a baby. Working the grind in LA they leave little time for each other, and what free time they have they spend doting on the dog… until it gets kidnapped. What ensues is an outlandish cat-and-mouse adventure as they hunt down the kidnapper, enlist a schlubby PI, find a renewed love of each other, and conquer their fear of parenthood.

In an unlikely version of the American dream, MAD AS HELL follows Cenk Uygur’s transition from unkown talk show host on local public access TV to his role as a national host for MSNBC to the creation and success of his online news commentary show, The Young Turks, which has amassed over one billion views on YouTube. With a mission to speak the truth, Cenk takes on traditional news media and becomes the thorn in their side with his controversial approach of never pulling any punches. Mad as Hell is an example of the changing media landscape and our desire for different voices. We see how Cenk and his loyal team, with their uncensored brand of journalism, navigate the traditional world of news while at the forefront of a burgeoning new media.

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Takashi Miike to Receive 2014 Maverick Director Award and World Premier Kamisama no iutoori (As the Gods Will) at Rome Film Festival

Takashi Miike

Japanese director, screenwriter, actor, and film producer Takashi Miike, considered one of the most original and prolific auteurs in contemporary cinema, will receive the 2014 Maverick Director Award during the 9th Rome Film Festival, taking place October, 16 to 25, 2014. The award is dedicated to filmmakers who have contributed to the invention of a new, original, and unconventional cinema. Miike will accept his award on the occasion of the world premiere screening of his new film, Kamisama no iutoori (As the Gods Will).

Marco Müller, Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival, commented on the choice as follows: “For the recurring power of his creative imagination and the courage of his ideas, Miike Takashi is a filmmaker who is absolutely beyond compare. Every one of his films is a breakneck race through a uncannily poetic and surprisingly political imagination. His sense of cinema and the pleasure of filming were already evident in his earliest works (straight-to-video movies and low-budget films); they have effortlessly edged in, despite his current creative speed (three to four films per year), hence his style continues to assert itself each time, both in his adaptation of hit mangas and in commissioned films honed to become blockbusters (which reveal moments of extraordinary figurative concentration). Prolific, nomadic, versatile, stubborn, unnerving (and at times melancholy), Miike has tried his hand at every genre: when he has chosen to shatter them it has always been to recompose them better in unpredictable mixes. Always catching us unprepared (even when you are familiar with the source or the subject, you will be surprised by the direction that the images take), Miike is arguably the least compliant of all the contemporary maverick directors”.

Kamisama no iutoori (As the Gods Will)

Considered by Quentin Tarantino to be “one of the greatest living directors”, Miike has always contributed to pushing the limits of the visible and reconsidering the boundaries that divide “populist” practices, genre and auteur visions in some of the most beloved and controversial films in recent years. A student of Imamura Shohei and Hideo Onchi, since his debut in 1991 with Toppuu! Minipato tai – Aikyachi Jankushon, Miike has rewritten the rules of popular Japanese cinema, creating a universe filled with violent and contradictory emotions that capture the manias and obsessions of life in Japan, with exact critical insight.

His endless filmography counts nearly 100 films: from Audition (1999), listed as one of the “25 Scariest ‘90s Movies” and one of the “20 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die”, to Lesson of the Evil (2012), screened in competition at the Rome Film Festival, Miike has left his mark on the history of genre cinema with his unmistakably brutal, always visually brilliant, cultured and above all, uncensored approach, devoid of all moralism. Competing in the Orizzonti section in Venice in 2004 with Izo, a visionary parable about the presence of evil in history, he returned to the Venice Film Festival three years later with Sukiyaki Western Django, an irreverent pop-punk version of a spaghetti-western. He was in competition again in 2010 with 13 Assassins, a samurai epic set in the Edo period and compared by critics to the best of Akira Kurosawa’s films. In 2011 and in 2013, Miike was at Cannes Film Festival in Competition with Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai and Straw Shield. In 2012 he was at the Rome Film Festival with The Lesson of the Evil and the following year with The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (in competition) and Blue Planet Brothers (out of competition).

His films have become part of the collective imagery of the contemporary world.

Works such as Fudoh: The New Generation (1996), a mutant yakuza-movie, the trilogy D.O.A. – Dead or Alive (1999-2002) or the ultra-violent Ichi the Killer (2001), not to mention impossible –to-classify films such as The Bird People in China (1998), Big Bang Love, Gozu (2003), Juvenile A (2006) and For Love’s Sake (2012), may rightfully claim their place as film classics of our time

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WILD with Laura Dern, FOXCATCHER with Mark Ruffalo, Added to Hamptons Film Festival; Festival Unveils “Conflict & Resolution” Program Film Lineup

WILD

Academy award nominee Jean-Marc Vallée’s WILD will have its East Coast Premiere as the Southampton opener of the 2014 Hamptons International Film Festival, on Friday, October 10th. Academy Award-nominated actress Laura Dern will be in attendance for the Kaufman Astoria Studios sponsored premiere and will also participate in HIFF’s signature program “A Conversation With…” on Saturday, October 11th at Bay Street. Vallée will attend the festival on behalf of the film as well. Academy Award® winner Reese Witherspoon stars in this superb adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling 2012 memoir. Devastated by the death of her mother (Laura Dern), Strayed spirals toward self-destruction, ending her marriage and eventually becoming addicted to heroin. Four years later, seeking to leave her scars behind, she embarks on a life-changing journey: a solo, 1,000-mile plus hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Vallée’s follow-up to DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is an inspiring voyage of pain and discovery, anchored by Witherspoon’s great performance and aided by a terrific supporting cast that includes Laura Dern. The film will be released by Fox Searchlight on December 5, 2014.

FOXCATCHER

Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER is Saturday’s Centerpiece Film, playing at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday, October 11th. The film’s star Mark Ruffalo will attend the festival premiere along with taking part in “A Conversation With…” on Sunday, October 12th at 2pm at Bay Street, which will be sponsored by NYU Langone Medical Center. Based on true events, the film follows Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his revered brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo) as they fall into the orbit of an eccentric multi-millionaire, John du Pont (Steve Carell), with the ambiguous goal of pushing Mark to fame and glory. Nothing quite prepares you for FOXCATCHER, as this riveting stranger-than-fiction tale turns dark and tragic. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film on November 14, 2014.

Now entering its 15th year at HIFF, this year’s Films of Conflict & Resolution (C&R) program consists of a fantastic lineup of four documentaries and a narrative film. The C&R program recognizes and celebrates films that, in creative and enlightening ways, deal with the complex issues and the human dramas associated with war and violence. It also recognizes one of the films in the series with a cash prize of $5,000 and a panel discussion after its screening, encouraging dialogue about the topic and providing a platform to learn, react and engage in worthy causes and issues.

The 22nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival, which will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, October 9-13, 2014.

FULL LIST OF FILMS OF CONFLICT & RESOLUTION

VIRUNGA
Director: Orlando Von Einsiedel
The breathtaking Virunga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site in eastern Congo, is under attack from many sides. With its rich bio-diversity, Virunga is home to the last mountain gorillas and holds a wealth of natural resources. From sweeping vistas to pixelated images of secret meetings, Orlando von Einsiedel fashions together a thrilling first feature documentary, introducing us to the brave people protecting the park: a Belgian conservationist leading the army of park rangers; an ex-child soldier and a young French journalist who covertly film local politicians and international businessmen; and a ranger who has become a surrogate parent to orphaned gorillas. The film is also the winner of the Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award, recognizing a film in the Festival that brings attention to the suffering of animals.

E-TEAM
Director: Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny
Anna, Ole, Fred and Peter, members of the Emergency Team (E-Team) for a respected international human rights organization, are the first people on the scene when there is suspicion of human rights abuses. Entering areas of conflict like Syria or post-Qaddafi Libya, they gather evidence to determine if further investigation is warranted, and often what they find challenges decision makers, holding them accountable. Award-winning filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny take us behind the scenes and on the ground with these very different, yet fearlessly committed individuals as they balance their personal and family life with their intense work life in the field.

CHARLIE’S COUNTRY
East Coast Premiere
Director: Rolf de Heer
Tired of the constant policing, Charlie – portrayed by the regally gray-maned David Gulpilil – stubbornly copes with the encroaching “white man’s laws” into his remote Aboriginal community in Australia’s Northern Territory. He goes back to his roots to live the “old way,” only to set off a chain of events he didn’t see coming. Director Rolf de Heer crafts a subtle portrait of a man caught between two cultures and creates an exquisite showcase for his co-writer, veteran actor Gulpilil (WALKABOUT, RABBIT PROOF FENCE), winner of the Un Certain Regard Best Actor Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
While Joshua Oppenheimer’s groundbreaking documentary, THE ACT OF KILLING, cast a light on the victors of the mid-1960s Indonesian genocide, his equally devastating follow-up, THE LOOK OF SILENCE, focuses on one family’s struggle to understand the horrific murder of their loved one. Adi, a humble optometrist in a rural village, stoically stares at clips from the first film before deciding to confront his brother’s executioners, many of whom are still in power. Opening old wounds, asking the hard questions, and receiving veiled threats, he attempts to start a dialogue between victims and killers who for generations have lived side-by-side in silence.

THIS IS MY LAND
US Premiere
Director: Tamara Erde
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela, and artist-filmmaker Tamara Erde’s first feature length film examines how the shared, complex and charged history of Israel and Palestine is taught to the next generation in this volatile region. Does it fuel conflict or encourage peace? How much freedom does the Ministry of Education give teachers? Through dialogues, debates, celebrations and field trips at six independent schools, this fascinating documentary observes how young minds are shaped by what is said and, just as importantly, by what is unspoken.

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Lynn Shelton’s LAGGGIES, Starring Keira Knightly to Open Seattle Intl Film Festival’s Women in Cinema,

Laggies

Seattle International Film Festival‘s annual Women in Cinema, returns, on Wednesday September 18 to 21, 2014, showcasing exceptional films made by women from around the world. The four-day event will feature 12 exciting features and documentaries. Opening Night takes place at the soon-to-be-opened SIFF Cinema Egyptian, and features Seattle favorite Lynn Shelton’s new film Laggies, starring Keira Knightly.

The festival continues with Danish master Pernille Christensen’s award-winning Someone You Love; stunning foreign Oscar® submissions from Norway (I Am Yours) and the Philippines (Transit); and enlightening new documentaries from Jessica Yu (Misconception), Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik (Stray Dog), and Tina Mascara and Guido Santi (Monk with a Camera). A screening of NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) shorts will also be presented, as well as an eye-opening panel presented by Women in Film on how groundbreaking female filmmakers are eschewing traditional methodologies to get their films made. All of these films and the panel will be held at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

Laggies
d: Lynn Shelton c: Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, USA 2014, 95 min

Having spent her twenties comfortably inert, 28-year-old Megan (Keira Knightley) finds herself squarely in an adulthood crisis with no career prospects, no particular motivation to find one and no one to relate to, including her high school boyfriend. When he proposes, Megan panics and – at least temporarily – hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year-old Annika (Chloë Grace Moritz) and Annika’s world-weary single dad (Sam Rockwell).

Transit
d: Hannah Espia c: Ping Medina, Irma Adlawan, Jasmine Curtis, Marc Justine Alvarez, Mercedes Cabral, Omer Juran, Philippines 2013, 93 min

This affecting and very timely drama deals with the struggle of an extended Filipino family working in Israel but faced with the prospect of separation when a new law threatens their children with deportation. The Philippines’ Oscar Submission.

Inbetween Worlds
d: Feo Aladag c: Ronald Zehrfeld, Abdul Salam Yosofzai, Saida Barmaki, Germany 2014, 102 min

German army commander Jesper forms a bond with his Afghani translator, Tarik, as they try to protect a village from the growing Taliban influence. Gorgeously shot on location in Afghanistan, Inbetween Worlds is fair-handed without becoming overly sentimental or inflammatory.

Rocks in My Pockets
d: Signe Baumane, USA/Latvia 2014, 88 min

Five fantastical animated tales based on the courageous women of Latvian filmmaker Signe Baumane’s family and their battles with madness. With boundless imagination, a twisted sense of humor, and a unique, beautifully textured combination of papier-mâché stop-motion and classic hand-drawn animation, Baumane has produced a poignant and often hilarious tale of mystery, mental health, redemption and survival. FIPRESCI Award, Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Monk With a Camera
d: Tina Mascara, Guido Santi c: Nicholas Vreeland, Khyongla Rinpoche, Richard Gere, USA 2013, 90 min

In this enthralling documentary portrait, Nicholas Vreeland, grandson of fashion icon Diana Vreeland, is headed for life as a high-powered photographer until he undergoes a personal transformation: next stop, life as a Tibetan Buddhist monk.

Misconception
d: Jessica Yu Narrated by: Kyra Sedgwick, USA 2014, 93 min

For almost 50 years, the world’s population has grown at an alarming rate, raising fears about strains on the Earth’s resources. But how true are these claims? Taking cues from statistics guru Hans Rosling, Misconception offers a provocative glimpse at how the world – and women in particular – are tackling a subject at once personal and global.

The Last Season
d: Sara Dosa, USA 2014, 78 min

Amid the bustling world of Central Oregon’s wild mushroom hunting camps, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war, bonding over the search of the elusive and lucrative matsutake mushroom.
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World Premiere of Laura Poitras’s Edward Snowden Documentary CITIZENFOUR Added to 2014 New York Film Festival

The World Premiere of Laura Poitras’s CITIZENFOUR has been added to the 2014 New York Film Festival’s Main Slate as a Special Presentation on Friday, October 10 at 6PM in Alice Tully Hall. Poitras will also participate in a FREE HBO Directors Dialogues the following day, October 11 at 4PM, at the Walter Reade Theater. CITIZENFOUR will open theatrically on October 24.

New York Film Festival Director Kent Jones said, “Seeing CITIZENFOUR for the first time is an experience I’ll never forget. The film operates on multiple levels at the same time: a character study (of Edward Snowden)… a real-life suspense story… and a chilling exposé. When the lights came up, everyone in the room was alternately stunned, excited, and deeply troubled. A brave documentary, but also a powerful work from a master storyteller.”

In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was several years into the making of a film about abuses of national security in post-9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four,” who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The film that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely sui generis in the history of cinema: a 100% real-life thriller unfolding minute by minute before our eyes.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has long been a supporter of Poitras’s work, premiering several of her films throughout the years and honoring her as the 2011 recipient of the 25th anniversary Martin E. Segal Award, given annually to two rising young artists in recognition of exceptional accomplishments. CITIZENFOUR marks the final film in her 9/11 trilogy. The first film, My Country, My Country focused on the Iraq War and had its New York premiere in 2006 at the Film Society’s New Directors/New Films series. My Country, My Country was nominated for an Academy Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Emmy Award. The second installment in the trilogy, The Oath, was about Guantánamo and also received its New York premiere at New Directors/New Films, in 2010. The Oath won the Sundance Cinematography Award, the Edinburgh Film Festival Documentary Jury Award, and a Gotham Award for Best Documentary. Poitras has taught filmmaking at Duke and Yale Universities, and in 2012, her work was selected for the 2012 Whitney Biennial. She is also the recipient of a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship. Her NSA reporting contributed to a Pulitzer Prize awarded to The Guardian and The Washington Post. Along with Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, she is co-founder of the digital magazine The Intercept. She currently lives in Berlin.
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“Black and White” Starring Kevin Costner, “Time Out of Mind” Starring Richard Gere Among First 5 English-Language Films at 2014 Rome Film Festival

Black and White

Rome Film Festival announced the titles of the first five English-language films on the lineup of the ninth edition taking place October, 16 to 25, 2014. The program section Cinema d’Oggi (Cinema Today) will present the European Premiere of Time Out of Mind by Oren Moverman (starring Richard Gere and Jena Malone). The Gala section will present the International Premiere of Trash by Stephen Daldry (starring Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen); the International Premiere of Love, Rosie by Christian Ditter (starring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin) and the European Premiere of Black and White by Mike Binder (starring Kevin Costner, Gillian Jacobs, Jennifer Ehle and Octavia Spencer), presented in collaboration with the independent sidebar Alice nella Città. Finally, the European Premiere of Stonehearst Asylum by Brad Anderson (starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine, Brendan Gleeson, and David Thewlis) will be presented in the Mondo Genere (Genre World) section.

Time Out of Mind marks the return behind the camera for writer-director Oren Moverman. His debut feature, The Messenger, saw him awarded the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Screenplay (with Alessandro Camon). He is also the director of Rampart, a gritty thriller based on a subject by cult writer James Ellroy, who co-wrote the screenplay. Moverman’s new film stars Richard Gere, the icon and star of An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, and Chicago, in a remarkable, ground breaking performance. In Time Out of Mind the famous American actor plays a man in dire straits who is forced to find refuge in a homeless shelter. As he struggles to get by, he also tries to reconnect with his daughter, played by Jena Malone (Return to Cold Mountain, Pride and Prejudice, The Messenger, Hunger Games: Catching Fire).

Trash

Trash is the new film by the award-winning English filmmaker and theatre director Stephen Daldry, director of several of the most beloved films of the past decade, all of which were nominated for an Oscar®: Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. In Trash, a dramatic thriller set in a Brazilian megalopolis, Daldry brings to the screen the eponymous novel by Andy Mulligan. The screenplay is by Richard Curtis, the author of successful comedies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, The Diary of Bridget Jones, and Love Actually. The cast features Rooney Mara, the young actress famous for her roles in The Social Network, Millenium: Men who Hate Women and Her (screened in Rome in 2013), and Martin Sheen, the extraordinary film and television actor, star of masterpieces such as Badlands by Terrence Malick and Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, and winner of the Golden Globe for his role as the US President in the television series The West Wing.

Love, Rosie

Love, Rosie, the film adaptation of the best-selling “Where Rainbows End” by author Cecelia Ahern, is directed by German screenwriter and director Christian Ditter, auteur of the award-winning short films Enchanted and Grounded, and the box-office hit feature French for Beginners. The film tells the story of two young people, Rosie and Alex, who have been best friends since childhood, and are forced to live apart; their relationship will continue in e-mails, letters, text messages, postcards, as they move closer together or farther apart, always on the fine line between friendship and love. The female star of the film is Lily Collins, the actress and model who achieved fame in the film Mirror Mirror, alongside Julia Roberts. The film also features Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games saga) and Christian Cooke (Mercutio in Carlo Carlei’s Romeo and Juliet, presented at the Rome Film Festival in 2013).

Black and White is the new film by director, actor, and screenwriter Mike Binder (The Sex Monster, The Upside of Anger, Man About Town) stars Oscar®-winning actors Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard, JFK) and Octavia Spencer (The Help, Snowpiercer, included in the 2013 Rome Film Festival). Black and White – presented in collaboration with the independent sidebar Alice nella città – explores the tensions caused by the racial divide, focusing on the painful domestic story of lawyer Elliot Anderson who, with his wife, raises his black granddaughter Eloise. When his wife dies, he will be forced to fight for legal custody against Rowena, the child’s grandmother. The two starring actors are joined by Anthony Mackie (Real Steel, The Fifth Estate,Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and Jennifer Ehle (The Ides of March, Contagion, Zero Dark Thirty).

Stonehearst Asylum

Stonehearst Asylum is the latest film by Brad Anderson, the cult director of Session 9, The Machinist, Transsiberian presented at the Berlin Film Festival, Vanishing on the 7^th Street, and The Call. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”, Stonehearst Asylum is a thriller set in an asylum that conceals an alarming secret. The film features a heavyweight cast including Sir Ben Kingsley (winner of an Oscar® for Gandhi, who has worked for directors such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, and James Ivory), Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor, Underworld, The Aviator), Jim Sturgess (21, Across the Universe, The Best Offer, Cloud Atlas), Brendan Gleeson (Gangs of New York, Troy, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), and Daniel Thewlis (Total Eclipse, Seven Years in Tibet, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Naked). Stonehearst Asylum also features two-time Oscar®-winner Sir Michael Caine (whose memorable performances have contributed greatly the history of cinema, from Alfie to Batman Begins, Sleuth, The Wilby Conspiracy, The Man Who Would Be King, Hannah and Her Sisters).

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deadCENTER Film Festival announces 2015 dates, opens call for entries

The 15th annual deadCENTER Film Festival will take place Wednesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 14, 2015 in downtown Oklahoma City. Filmmakers may submit their films for review now. Films will be selected in the following categories: narrative feature, documentary feature, narrative short, documentary short, animations, student film and Oklahoma film.

New this year, submissions can be made online through submissions platform, Submittable, at www.deadcenterfilm.org.

The early bird deadline is Nov. 30 and entry fees vary based on the type of submission: $40 for narrative and documentary features, $25 for narrative and documentary shorts, animations and Oklahoma films, and $20 for college films. High school films are free to submit.

From hilarious comedies and insightful documentaries to scary horror films and intense dramas, deadCENTER selects a broad slate of films that cater to all tastes. More than 1000 films were submitted in 2014 from Oklahoma and around the world, and 90 were selected for an official screening. The festival added a distribution forum in 2012 to help filmmakers connect with sales agents and distributors.

“For 14 years, deadCENTER has featured over 1,400 quality independent films providing a nationally recognized platform for filmmakers to share their work,” Director of Programming/Festival Director Kim Haywood said. “The level of competition has escalated considerably over the last few years, attracting talent like James Marsden, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Famke Janssen, Wes Studi, Daisy Von Scherler Mayer and Oscar winners Gray Frederickson, Matthew W. Mungle, and Albert S. Ruddy to Oklahoma City. We can’t wait to see what surprises 2015 will hold.”

A record-breaking 25,000 people attended the screenings in 2014, generating an economic impact of more than $1.25 million for Oklahoma City.
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“Finding Fela” “My Prairie Home” Among Lineup for 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival Music Documentary Program, Sound Vision | TRAILERS

Finding Fela

The music documentary program, Sound Vision. returns for the third year, to the 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival, and will feature a lineup of eight outstanding and wide-ranging music documentaries complimented by Soundtrack, a live music series that takes place throughout the Festival at The Hotel Foster.

Blyth Meier, Marketing Director for Milwaukee Film and programmer for Sound Vision is ecstatic about this year’s riveting lineup: “20,000 Days on Earth–about the enigmatic musician, writer and poet Nick Cave–is one I’m incredibly excited to bring to Milwaukee. The timing on this is fantastic as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recently performed here and left us all in awe. What makes it even more special to me on a personal level is that the first time I watched 20,000 Days was at Sundance, sitting across from Cave himself. It was surreal,” shares Blyth. On why she programmed The Talking Heads documentary for the second year in a row, Blyth explains, “Last year’s screening of Stop Making Sensebecame a gigantic dance party–how could we not show it again this year for its 30th anniversary?”

2014 MILWAUKEE FILM FESTIVAL

SOUND VISION

My Prairie Home
(Canada / 2013 / Director: Chelsea McMullan)

http://youtu.be/zWTNcp8GHJo

Simultaneously a look into the life of transgender singer-songwriter Rae Spoon (who uses the gender-neutral pronoun “they”) as well as a celebration of the categorization-defying music they create (fusing folk, country, indie rock, and electronica), My Prairie Home is a truly original portrait of a true original. We follow Rae as they travel across Canada on tour, revealing the evangelical upbringing and forbidden first love that marked their early life intermingled with playfully surreal music videos set at prom or among the dinosaurs in a natural history museum. This documentary is as unique and untraditional as the performer it aims to capture.

Finding Fela
(USA / 2014 / Director: Alex Gibney)

http://youtu.be/937SQ8-6RV4

Fela Kuti: musical pioneer, postcolonial activist, polyrhythmic innovator. Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Audience award-winner Mea Maxima Culpa, MFF 2012) sifts through the contradictions and presents a complex portrait of a man whose artistic legacy is nearly matched by his political activism. Alongside a backstage portrait of “Fela!,” an energetic Broadway show with Bill T. Jones devoted to exploring the life of this Afrobeat pioneer, we discover a man who realized the revolutionary potential that music offered through mesmerizing performance footage and revealing archival interviews. We see Fela warts and all, a man whose work in all aspects of life endures.

20,000 Days on Earth
(United Kingdom / 2014 / Directors: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard)

http://youtu.be/WDlmnXBUoH0

Poet/musician/general enigma Nick Cave aims to lay his creative process bare with this stick of cinematic dynamite blowing up any and all rockumentary conventions. 20,000 Days on Earth takes the form of a loosely staged single day in the life of this cult musician. This hallucinatory blend of documentary and fiction features a therapy session and sudden reappearances of friends from his past (Ray Winstone, Kylie Minogue) alongside a primordial, blistering live performance. For neophytes and diehards alike, this exploration of Cave’s life and music is every bit up to the task of providing a portrait as dynamic and engaging as its subject matter.

This May Be the Last Time
(USA / 2014 / Director: Sterlin Harjo)

http://youtu.be/8uQKOYDH8Qw

A probing examination of a personal history as well as an expansive portrait of cultural expression, This May Be the Last Time lifts the veil on the power of song and storytelling among an American-Indian tribe through the prism of a mysterious disappearance that took place some 60 years prior. Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo re-examines his grandfather’s disappearance while focusing on the tribal hymns sung by the search parties that looked for him, beautiful music filled with hope and forgiveness born out of past tumult. Harjo traces these ancient songs back through time, illuminating a surprising genealogy of cultural influence whose borders expand far beyond that of his southeastern tribe.

The Ballad of Shovels and Rope
(USA / 2014 / Director: Jace Freeman)

http://youtu.be/_rbWbaXv1oo

This foot-stomping, heartwarming journey follows Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, the husband-and-wife folk duo known as Shovels and Rope, as they pack their belongings (along with their beloved dog Townes Van Zandt) into their van and begin a relentless tour in support of their dreams. The Ballad of Shovels and Rope tracks the creation of their critically acclaimed album “O’ Be Joyful,” following this loving couple’s journey from waitress and studio artist to award-winning musical artists, stopping at all of the dive bars and nightclubs along the way and showing the hard work, creativity, and ingenuity that will make you fall in love with this amazing duo.

Revenge of The Mekons
(USA / 2013 / Director: Joe Angio)

http://youtu.be/_Hk_c6e7gv0

Once described by Lester Bangs as “the most revolutionary group in the history of rock ’n’ roll,” genre-bending British outfit The Mekons are now four decades into an ever-evolving career that has netted them endless critical acclaim despite their pursuit of commercial success—success that has constantly eluded them, though this rollicking documentary portrait aims to correct that cultural wrong. With the aid of effusive supporters (Jonathan Franzen, Fred Armisen, Luc Sante), we examine this group as they traverse from their punk rock origins in Thatcher-era England to their current middle age in the vanguard of what is now known as alt-country without ever losing sight of their status as political provocateurs.

Take Me to the River
(USA / 2014 / Director: Martin Shore)

Take Me to the River

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/79138363

An ode to an unprecedented era of creativity, Take Me to the River is a soul-stirring examination of the influence that Memphis and Stax Records held over the music world, a must-see for fans of Muscle Shoals and the Oscar-winning 20 Feet From Stardom. In this film, produced by Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison, we’re granted access to the creative process behind a new album (featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg and Mavis Staples) looking to continue the proud intergenerational and interracial influence of the Memphis music scene, an exuberant celebration of the grooves that stand in defiance of segregation and show the power of creative collaboration toward realizing this utopian ideal.

Stop Making Sense
(USA / 1984 / Director: Jonathan Demme)

Stop Making Sense

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/5804404

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Jonathan Demme’s essential concert film returns to the festival after a run last year that had our audience literally dancing in the aisles. Filmed over the course of two performances, this epic documentary of The Talking Heads, their live-wire frontman David Byrne, and Milwaukee’s own Jerry Harrison is as exuberant a portrait of the live concert experience as we’re ever likely to have on the big screen. Gaining momentum as though the performance is rocketing downhill, this film will be once again the can’t-miss experience of the festival.

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Toronto International Film Festival Announced 2014 Winners, “The Imitation Game” “Beats of the Antonov” Win People’s Choice Awards

The Imitation Game

The Toronto International Film Festival announced award winners from the 39th Festival which wrapped on Sunday evening. This year marked the 37th year that Toronto audiences were able to cast a ballot for their favorite Festival film, with the Grolsch People’s Choice Award. This year’s award went to Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the genius British mathematician, logician, cryptologist and computer scientist who led the charge to crack the German Enigma Code that helped the Allies win WWII. Turing went on to assist with the development of computers at the University of Manchester after the war, but was prosecuted by the UK government in 1952 for homosexual acts which the country deemed illegal. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Grolsch. The first runner up is Isabel Coixet’s Learning to Drive. The second runner up is Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent.

Beats of the Antonov

The Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award went to Hajooj Kuka for Beats of the Antonov. Beats of the Antonov follows refugees from the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Sudan as they survive displacement and the trauma of civil war. Music, a cornerstone of their traditions and identity, becomes itself a vehicle for survival. First runner up is David Thorpe’s Do I Sound Gay?and the second runner up is Ethan Hawke’s Seymour: An Introduction.

What We Do in the Shadows

The Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award went to Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement for What We Do in the Shadows. The film follows three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life’s obstacles — like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. First runner up is Kevin Smith for Tusk and the second runner up is Jalmari Helander for Big Game.

The winner of the Vimeo Award for Best Canadian Short Film goes to Randall Okita for The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer. The jury remarked, “For its bold blend of live action and digital animation to produce a striking meditation on the nature of memory and its legacy, the jury awards the Vimeo Award for Best Canadian Short Film to Randall Okita’s The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer.”The award offers a $10,000 cash prize.

The jury gave an honorable mention, “For its entirely unexpected development of a science fiction high concept into something alternately heartbreaking and humorous, the jury gives an honorable mention to Rob Grant’s What Doesn’t Kill You.”

The winner of the Vimeo Award for Best International Short Film goes to Sotiris Dounoukos’s A Single Body (Un seul corps). The jury remarked, “For its extraordinary exploration of the value of friendship, hope, and aspiration in an unusually brutal and austere environment… and world — made especially heartbreaking by striking performances by Doudou Masta and Mexianu Medenou — the jury awards the Vimeo Award for Best International Short Film to Sotiris Dounoukos for A Single Body.” The award offers a $10,000 cash prize.

The jury gave an honorable mention, “For its charming absurdist comedy about loneliness, identity, and the art of finding yourself, the jury gives an honourable mention to Atsuko Hirayanagi for Oh Lucy!.”

Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira)

The Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira). The jury remarked, “For its immense sophistication and craftsmanship in telling a brave story bridging two disparate worlds, its generosity of spirit, masterful use of music, and exquisite performances that fuel the film’s power as both an intimate love story and a profound statement on the value of passion, family and community, the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira.” This award is made possible thanks to Canada Goose and comes with a cash prize of $30,000.

Bang Bang Baby

The City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film goes to Jeffrey St. Jules for Bang Bang Baby. The jury remarked,“For its ingenious mixing of genres, sophisticated blend of tones and ability to create its own strange, tragicomic and original world without sacrificing any richness in regards to story, character and emotion, the jury recognizes as Best Canadian First Feature Film Bang Bang Baby by Jeffrey St. Jules.” The award carries a cash prize of $15,000.

Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations is awarded to Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind. The jury remarked, “For Oren Moverman’s sensitive and human depiction of homelessness, and Richard Gere’s remarkable performance, the FIPRESCI jury is pleased to grant the Special Presentations prize to Time Out of Mind.”

Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI) for the Discovery programme is awarded to Abd Al Malik for May Allah Bless France!(Qu’Allah bénisse la France!) The jury remarked, “The FIPRESCI jury is pleased to grant the Discovery prize for a story of a youth displaced in their own country, struggling to find the balance between chaos and serenity, on the strength of art, music and human spirit. While the startling cinematography is purely black and white,

As selected by a jury from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere goes to Shonali Bose for Margarita, with a Straw. Jury members include Lekha Shankar (India), Hannah Fisher (China) and Anderson Le (Hawaii). The jury remarked, “Margarita, with a Straw is both universal and groundbreaking. Director Shonali Bose and actress Kalki Koechlin have jointly created a character and a world that embody a love letter to life, with all its highs and lows, in spite of overwhelming physical limitations.”

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20 Films Selected for 2014 Hamptons International Film Festival’s Golden Starfish Competition + Hilary Swank and Joel Schumacher Confirmed for “A Conversation With…”

GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) announced more of its extensive lineup of signature programs for the 22nd annual festival. Since the festival’s inception, “A Conversation With…” has been an integral part of HIFF, and this year Hilary Swank and Joel Schumacher will participate in individual talks as part of the annual program. In another signature program, 20 films have been selected for this year’s Golden Starfish competition, including the US premieres of Melanie Laurent’s BREATHE, Gabriel Mascaro’s AUGUST WINDS, and Tamara Erde’s THIS IS MY LAND, and the East Coast premieres of Peter Strickland’s THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY and Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz’s GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM. HIFF will take place on Columbus Day Weekend, from October 9-13.

“A Conversation With…” Joel Schumacher will take place on Saturday, October 11th at 11:00am at Bay Street in Sag Harbor. Jess Cagle, Editorial Director of People and Entertainment Weekly, will lead the talk and will present Schumacher with the Golden Starfish Lifetime Achievement in Directing Award. Hilary Swank’s “A Conversation With…” will be held on Sunday, October 12th at 3pm at Bay Street. Along with this Master Class discussion moderated by Variety Executive Editor, Steven Gaydos, she will also be honored with Variety’s Creative Impact in Acting Award. Swank is attending on behalf of the Corcoran-sponsored Sunday Centerpiece film, THE HOMESMAN, which will mark its East Coast premiere at HIFF.

FULL LIST OF GOLDEN STARFISH COMPETITION FILMS

GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Narrative Feature

AUGUST WINDS “Ventos de Agosto” (Brazil)

AUGUST WINDS “Ventos de Agosto”

US Premiere
Director: Gabriel Mascaro
On a tiny coastal village in Brazil, Shirley and Jeison pass the time by working on a coconut plantation. On their spare time, he dives for seafood while she sunbathes and dreams of being a tattoo artist. Their restless but tranquil life is provoked as intense tropical storms approach, washing ashore a corpse. Drawing on his documentary roots, Gabriel Mascaro deliberately eschews a traditional narrative in favor of an atmospheric and lyrical approach. Weaving the textures of the landscape with superb, natural performances, Mascaro delicately reveals a thoughtful and, sometimes humorous, meditation on life and death.

BREATHE “Respire” (France)
US Premiere
Director: Melanie Laurent
Famed actress Melanie Laurent (INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, ENEMY) steps behind the camera for BREATHE, an assured and refined look at fragile adolescent friendships. Entering the private world of Charlie and Sara, whose raw attraction quickly makes them inseparable, we see tenderness turn sour as Sarah shifts her attention to a young pilot, leaving Charlie heartbroken. Superbly acted by Josephine Japy (Charlie) and Lou De Laage (Sara), BREATHE is an honest look at young friendships, where passion can easily turn into obsession and the harsh reality of trying to find your voice means you may be left lost, wounded, and devastated.

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (United Kingdom)

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY

East Coast Premiere
Director: Peter Strickland
Similar to a larva transforming into a caterpillar only to cocoon and bloom into a butterfly, Peter Strickland’s THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY shifts and twists from a classic melodrama into a perverse and psychedelic sadomasochistic lesbian experience – all done with an artists eye for mood and detail. Both the gothic scenery and haunting score envelop the senses and manipulate the viewer into a feeling of frenzy. Elevated by powerful and sensual performances by the two leads, Strickland’s strange film achieves a unique beauty and profundity somewhere between David Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DR. and Luis Buñuel’s BELLE DE JOUR.

GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM “Gett” (Israel, France, Germany)
East Coast Premiere
Directors: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
This final piece of the trilogy by Israeli siblings Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz explores the unfolding of a marriage under the jurisdiction of a rabbinical court in which a Jewish marriage may only end if the husband presents a “gett,” a divorce document, to his wife. Calling attention to a male-dominant process that can take years, sometimes decades, and set entirely in the courtroom, this brilliantly written and acted film reveals the slow dissolution of a marriage between Vivane (Ronit Elkabetz) and Elisha (Simon Abkarian). Balancing the seriousness of what’s at stake with an often-humorous tone, GETT offers a deeply moving take on an otherwise painful process.

LITTLE ACCIDENTS (United States)
New York Premiere
Director: Sara Colangelo
A haunting portrait of the unintended consequence, LITTLE ACCIDENTS follows the wake of tragedy in small town America where a mining disaster leaves 10 dead and the delicate social fabric of a community in tatters. When the son of the chief executive goes missing, his wife; the lone survivor to the disaster, Amos; and Owen, a local boy left fatherless by the tragedy, become bound to one another by their shared grief and through a series of shocking revelations. A stunning work by first-time feature filmmaker, Sara Colangelo, it features a stellar cast, including Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook and Chloe Sevigny.

GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Documentary Feature

THE GREAT INVISIBLE (United States)
New York Premiere
Director: Margaret Brown
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded devastating communities throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States. Eleven lives were lost, the natural ecosystem was destroyed, and the pollution forced countless local businesses to shut down. Margaret Brown’s THE GREAT INVISIBLE, winner of the Grand Jury prize at SXSW, is a thought provoking and complex human drama that lifts the curtain on a corrupt and negligent industry driven by greed. With harrowing testimonies from survivors, families, local fisherman, an others perpetually effected by the disaster, Brown seeks to tell a sobering and layered account of a tragedy still unfolding.

KILLING TIME (The Netherlands)

KILLING TIME

New York Premiere
Director: Jaap Van Hoewijk
On June 12, 2013 in Huntsville, Texas, preparations take place for the lethal injection of Elroy Chester, a man convicted of the rape of two teenage girls and the murder of their uncle. After 15 years on death row, Chester will be executed at precisely 6:00PM. While his family prepares to say goodbye, the victims and their family prepare for closure. KILLING TIME is the emotional follow up to the 1995 film, PROCEDURE 769, WITNESS TO THE EXECUTION, which examined those who came to Chester’s court sentences. Returning to Texas once more, director Jaap van Hoewijk turns his lens on the people most affected as they pass the final hours.

THIS IS MY LAND (France)
US Premiere
Director: Tamara Erde
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela, and artist-filmmaker Tamara Erde’s first feature length film examines how the shared, complex and charged history of Israel and Palestine is taught to the next generation in this volatile region. Does it fuel conflict or encourage peace? How much freedom does the Ministry of Education give teachers? Through dialogues, debates, celebrations and field trips at six independent schools, this fascinating documentary observes how young minds are shaped by what is said and, just as importantly, by what is unspoken.

VELVET TERRORISTS (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia)

VELVET TERRORISTS

US Premiere
Director: Pavol Pekarčík, Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes
Charged as terrorists, but now hailed as heroes three Czechoslovakian’s recount and reenact their odd and fascinating tales of armed resistance against the old communistic powers. Three portraits by three directors. A presidential assassination foiled through sheer laziness, a botched political tribune bombing due to alcoholism and a notorious bulletin board bomber who wanted nothing more than to blow up…you guessed it. Each story may be different, but the sentiment is the same: actions are what define you and even if you don’t hurt anyone or change anything, they still may be recognized for better or for worse.

GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Narrative Short Film
Featuring brave, innovative and remarkable stories, the Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Short Film honors new talent in the field. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize and qualify for consideration at the Academy Awards for Best Live Action/Animated Short Film.

CUTAWAY (Canada)
US Premiere
Director: Kazik Radwanski
Told through close details of hands and objects, this film intimately portrays uncertainty and loss.

THE BABY “LA BAMBINA (BACHE)” (Italy, Iran)
North American Premiere
Director: Ali Asgari
Narges and her friend are calling everyone they can think of with an unusual request. They urgently need someone to look after her baby for a night or two…

ALL WE SHARE “ALLT VI DELAR” (Sweden)
North American Premiere
Director: Jerry Carlsson
Two arborists, Samir and Sara, are hired to cut down a perfectly healthy tree. This, and the urgency with which it needs to be done, surprises them but they agree and as they work, comprehension dawns.

TZNIUT (USA)
East Coast Premiere
Director: David Formentin
A Hasidic woman in Brooklyn discovers she has an STD. Although limited by her social standing in a deeply Orthodox community, she seeks the origin of her illness.

THE BIGGER PICTURE (United Kingdom)
North American Premiere
Director: Daisy Jacobs
Using seven-foot-tall characters in life-size sets, THE BIGGER PICTURE uniquely animates a stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent.

GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Documentary Short Film
Our inaugural Golden Starfish Award for Best Documentary Short Film highlights some of the year’s most interesting opinions and viewpoints and is sure to capture your imagination. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize.

THE QUEEN “LA REINA” (Argentina)
East Coast Premiere
Director: Manuel Abramovich
Memi is 11 years old, and she is going to be Queen of the Carnival. It’s a dazzling honor, but you have to suffer to be beautiful.

ONCE UPON A TREE “HET MEISJE EN DE BOOM” (The Netherlands)
North American Premiere
Director: Marleen van der Werf
Sitting in her favorite oak tree, 11-year-old Filine encounters little wonders in the natural world around her. Filine doesn’t like changes that much. She sometimes wishes she could be a tree and everything would stay the same.

JUTRA (Canada)
US Premiere
Director: Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Through the ingenious repurposing and animation of archival footage, a remarkable and revealing documentary homage to filmmaker Claude Jutra pulls us deep inside the life, times and imagination of the artist.

ABANDONED GOODS (United Kingdom)
North American Premiere
Directors: Pia Borg, Edward Lawrenson
From 1946 to 1981 a psychiatric hospital in the UK allowed its patients to create art. After the dissolution of the asylum only around 5,500 pieces survived. This is their story.

AN IMMORTAL MAN (USA)
US Premiere
Directors: Josh Koury, Myles Kane
Baseball legend Ted Williams lived his life in the public eye and his death, like his life, will be forever frozen in time – however this time (contrary to the instructions in his will) via cryostasis.

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