Film Festivals

John Turturro’s Comedy FADING GIGOLO Starring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara to Open 2014 Boulder International Film Festival | VIDEO: Watch Trailer

The 10th Annual Boulder International Film Festival taking place February 13 to 16, 2014, will open with the comedy FADING GIGOLO, directed, written by and starring John Turturro, co-starring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis and Liev Schreiber, on Feb. 13, 2014. Making its world premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, FADING GIGOLO follows a pressed for money, mild 50-ish florist named Fioravante (John Turturro) who becomes a male escort to get by. It turns out that Fioravante has an enormous talent for his new profession, until he falls hard for a potential client. This means big trouble for Murray the Pimp (Woody Allen), who is hauled into Hasidic Court.

http://youtu.be/gs-dHL1e7qA
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VIDEO: Watch Bisexual Shirin Get Over Being Dumped in APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR Set to Premiere at Sundance Film Festival

Check out this amazing clip from the new film APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR set to premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. In APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR, written, directed by and starring Iranian American filmmaker Desiree Akhavan, Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite. She fails miserably in her attempt at all identities, and being without a cliché to hold onto can be a lonely experience. After being dumped by her girlfriend Maxine, Shirin faces an unimaginable task: trading the idyllic lesbian haven of Park Slope for a shared artist’s loft in Bushwick. Unable to let go of the memories of their excruciating highs and lows, the endearingly superficial narcissist finds herself plotting to win back her ex.

via Indiewire
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Seven Films Selected for 43rd New Directors/New Films

Richard Ayoade’s THE DOUBLE (UK)

Seven films have been picked as official selections for the 43rd New Directors/New Films Festival (ND/NF), presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and taking place March 19 to 30, 2014. Representing eleven countries from around the world, the initial seven selections are Richard Ayoade’s THE DOUBLE (UK), Benedikt Erlingsson’s OF HORSES AND MEN (Iceland), Abdellah Taïa’s SALVATION ARMY (L’Armée du salut) (France/Morocco/Switzerland), Ben Rivers and Ben Russell’s A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS (Estonia/France), Roberto Minervini’s STOP THE POUNDING HEART(Belgium/Italy/USA), Albert Serra’s STORY OF MY DEATH (Història de la meva mort) (Spain/France), and Vivian Qu’s TRAP STREET (Shuiyin Jie) (China).

The seven official selections include:

THE DOUBLE (2013) 93 min
Director: Richard Ayoade
Country: UK
Richard Ayoade has built a loyal following with his hilariously off characters, notably the one he plays in the TV series The IT Crowd and those that inhabit his 2010 directorial debut, SUBMARINE. His cerebral, visually arresting follow-up, THE DOUBLE, based on Dostoevsky’s 1846 novella, enters slightly darker territory, and recalls the stylizations of Terry Gilliam. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as both Simon James, a humdrum worker drone, and James Simon, his gregarious doppelgänger, the film is set within both the claustrophobic confines of Simon’s bureaucratic workplace and his paranoid mind. Aided by a stellar supporting cast (including Wallace Shawn, Mia Wasikowska, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, and Chris O’Dowd), THE DOUBLE firmly establishes Ayoade as a leading voice in contemporary cinematic comedy. A Magnolia Pictures release.

OF HORSES AND MEN (2013) 80 min
Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Country: Iceland
The debut feature by celebrated stage director Benedikt Erlingsson announces the arrival of an innovative new cinematic voice. Set almost exclusively outdoors amid stunning Icelandic landscapes, the film features in equal parts a cast of exquisite short-legged Icelandic horses and human characters—including the terrific Ingvar E. Sigurdsson and Charlotte Bøving as meant-for-each-other but put-upon lovers—illuminating with great inventive flair the relationship between man and beast. Several narrative strands defined by the way each character relates to their horse recount a variety of situations according to the particulars of the seasons, resulting in a surprising and sometimes humorous symbiosis between horses, humans, and nature.

SALVATION ARMY (L’Armée du salut) (2013) 81 min
Director: Abdellah Taïa
Countries: France/Morocco/Switzerland
Like the book it’s based on—Abdellah Taïa’s own 2006 landmark novel—the Moroccan author’s directorial debut is a bracing, deeply personal account of a young gay man’s awakening that avoids both cliché and the trappings of autobiography. First seen as a 15-year-old, Abdellah (Saïd Mrini) habitually sneaks away from his family’s crowded Casablanca home to engage in sexual trysts with random men in abandoned buildings. A decade later, we find Abdellah (now played by Karim Ait M’hand) on scholarship in Geneva, involved with an older Swiss professor (Frédéric Landenberg). With a clear-eyed approach, devoid of sentimentality, this wholly surprising bildungsfilm explores what it means to be an outsider, and with the help of renowned cinematographer Agnès Godard, Taïa finds a film language all his own: at once rigorous and poetic, and worthy of Robert Bresson in its concreteness and lucidity.

A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS (2013) 98 min
Directors: Ben Rivers and Ben Russell
Country: Estonia/France
As collaborators, Ben Rivers and Ben Russell, two intrepid and nomadic talents of experimental film and art, have created one of the most bewitching cinematic experiences to come along in a great while. In A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS, Robert A.A. Lowe, the celebrated musician behind Lichens and Om, gives a strangely affecting, perhaps even trance-inducing performance as the film’s Parsifal figure, a quixotic man who embarks on a quest for utopia—the holy grail of infinite truth, self-knowledge, and spiritual connectedness. He finds some measure of it in three seemingly disparate contexts: in a small collective community on a remote Estonian island, in isolation in the northern Finnish wilderness, and onstage fronting a black metal band in Norway. While his experience seems to be a perpetual one of home, exile, and return, for us, it is purely magical.

STOP THE POUNDING HEART (2013) 100 min
Director: Roberto Minervini
Countries: Belgium/Italy/USA
Sara (Sara Carlson, playing herself) is part of a devout Christian goat-farming family with 12 children, all home-schooled and raised with strict moral guidance from the Scriptures. Set in a rural community that has remained isolated from technological advances and lifestyle influence—no phones, TVs, computers, or drunken teen brawls—the subtly narrative film follows Sara and Colby, two 14-year-olds with vastly different backgrounds who are quietly drawn to each other. In Minervini’s intimate documentary-style portrait—the third in the Italian-born filmmaker’s Texas trilogy—Sara’s commitment to her faith is never questioned. It’s the power of the director’s nonintrusive handheld-camera style that reveals his protagonist’s spiritual and emotional inner turmoil about her place in a faith that requires women to be subservient to their fathers before becoming their husbands’ helpers. By also presenting an authentic, impartial portrayal of the Texas Bible Belt, Minervini allows for the humanity and complexity behind the stereotypes to show through.

STORY OF MY DEATH (Història de la meva mort) (2013) 148 min
Director: Albert Serra
Countries: Spain/France
No one else working in movies today makes anything remotely like the films of Catalan maverick Albert Serra, a cerebral oddball and improbable master of cinematic antiquity. Known for his unconventional adaptations of Cervantes’s Don Quixote (HONOR OF THE KNIGHTS) and the Biblical parable of the Three Kings (BIRDSONG), Serra here stages the 18th-century passage from rationalism to romanticism as a tussle between two figures of legend, Casanova and Dracula. Against a backdrop of candlelit conversation and earthy carnality, Serra sets in motion contrasting ideas about pleasure and desire, alternating between winding philosophical dialogue and wordless passages of savage beauty. Winner of the top prize at the 2013 Locarno Film Festival, the film is both a painterly feast for the eyes, abounding with art-historical allusions, and an idiosyncratic, self-aware revamping of the costume melodrama.

TRAP STREET (Shuiyin Jie) (2013) 94 min
Director: Vivian Qu
Country: China
Notions of surveillance and observation are turned inside out in TRAP STREET, producer Vivian Qu’s first turn as a director. While surveying city streets for a digital-mapping company, engineer Qiuming catches sight of Lifen, a beautiful young woman. Immediately smitten, he follows her to a street that doesn’t appear on any map or even a GPS. In between his other gigs—installing security cameras, sweeping hotel rooms for electronic bugs—he tries to get to know this alluring stranger. And he does—sort of. But things take a disturbing turn when Qiuming is accused of stealing secrets from the lab where Lifen works, and the mystery, as well as the paranoia, deepens from there. Noir in tone, and a great representation of the newest generation of Chinese filmmakers, TRAP STREET is a bold story about who is really watching whom that, while firmly embedded in the current cultural context of China, could happen to any one of us.
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Human Rights Watch Film Festival Heads to Toronto; Opens with THE SQUARE on Feb 27, Closes on March 6 with HIGHWAY OF TEARS

Matthew Smiley’s hard-hitting documentary HIGHWAY OF TEARS

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns for its 11th year in Toronto with eight films that the festival describes as bravely bearing witness to human rights violations in Canada and around the globe, and make an impassioned call for social change through their empowering stories of perseverance, resilience and hope. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival opens at Toronto International Film Festival TIFF Bell Lightbox on February 27 with THE SQUARE (2013), director Jehane Noujaim’s (Control Room) thrilling documentary chronicle of activism, unrest and revolution in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and closes on March 6 with the world premiere of Canadian director Matthew Smiley’s hard-hitting documentary HIGHWAY OF TEARS (2013).

Narrated by Nathan Fillion (Castle), HIGHWAY OF TEARS chronicles the notorious, decades-long string of murders and disappearances of young Indigenous women along British Columbia’s Highway 16. Addressing similar issues to Those Who Take Us Away, the 2013 report released by Human Rights Watch, the film explores how this systemic violence is linked to the effects of generational poverty, residential schools, and high unemployment rates on First Nations reserves. TIFF and Human Rights Watch welcome the film’s director Matthew Smiley and producer Carly Pope alongside Human Rights Watch researchers in the Women’s Rights Division, Samer Muscati and Meghan Rhoad for a special introduction to the screening. Meghan Rhoad is also the author of Those Who Take Us Away.

Other highlights include Harry Freeland’s IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN (2012), an intimate and emotional documentary that follows two Tanzanian men afflicted with albinism — a condition viewed with superstitious fear and murderous hatred in their country — as they pursue their dreams in the face of virulent prejudice; Rithy Panh’s 2013 Un Certain Regard prize-winner, THE MISSING PICTURE (2013), which uses handmade clay figurines and detailed dioramas to recount the suffering of Panh’s family at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime following the communist victory in Cambodia in 1975; and director Yuval Adler’s first feature BETHLEHEM (2013), about a young Palestinian man who is recruited as an informant by the Israeli secret service Shin Bet, and finds himself caught between two very different kinds of loyalty when he discovers that his employers are plotting to assassinate his radical brother.

This year’s lineup also includes first-time feature filmmaker Marta Cunningham’s VALENTINE ROAD (2013), which investigates the 2008 murder of openly gay California teenager Larry King by his school crush Brandon McInerney and paints a shocking portrait of the homophobia, sexism, racism and classism that inform the lives of America’s youth; Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Academy Award–winning SAVING FACE (2012), which addresses one of Pakistan’s most unique, and horrific, social problems — the alarmingly frequent acid attacks on women, many of them perpetrated by spouses or other close family members — through the stories of two survivors attempting to bring their assailants to justice and move on with their lives; and a startling look at global capitalism in action with award-winning documentarian Rachel Boynton’s BIG MEN (2013), which takes audiences inside the rapacious world of the global energy industry.
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BELLE and Master Animator Hayao Miyazaki’s THE WIND RISES to Open 2014 Portland International Film Festival

The 37th Portland International Film Festival (PIFF 37) opens on February 6th with two films – THE WIND RISES, the final work from master animator Hayao Miyazaki, will screen at at OMSI and Cinema 21, and the critically-acclaimed feature BELLE, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Emily Watson, and Tom Wilkinson screens at the Whitsell Auditorium, located in the Portland Art Museum. The festival will run through the February 22nd, 2014.

This year’s Festival includes the return of the popular PIFF After Dark program, showcasing midnight movies like Ti West’s (THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL) THE SACRAMENT and Ari Folman’s (WALTZ WITH BASHIR) THE CONGRESS. Seven animated features on the lineup include THE APOSTLE, MY MOMMY IS IN AMERICA AND SHE MET BUFFALO BILL, and the latest film by Portland-born animator Bill Plympton, CHEATIN’. Other highlights of PIFF 37 include screenings of Tsai Ming-Liang’s (WHAT TIME IS IT OVER THERE?) STRAY DOGS, Rithy Panh’s THE MISSING PICTURE, Doug Pray’s (HYPE!) LEVITATED MASS, François Ozon’s (SWIMMING POOL) YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL, Jillian Schlesinger’s MAIDENTRIP, Alain Guiraudie’s STRANGER BY THE LAKE, Anthony Chen’s ILO ILO and Claude Lanzmann’s (SHOAH) THE LAST OF THE UNJUST.

THE WIND RISES

THE WIND RISES

In THE WIND RISES, Miyazaki, co-founder of the legendary Studio Ghibli, eschewing his typically fictional characters ensconced in a fantasy world, instead brings to life the story of Jiro Horikoshi, visionary designer of one of history’s most beautiful airplanes—the prototype for the Zero WWII fighter. Adapted from Miyazaki’s own serialized manga, which was itself inspired by Tatsuo Hori’s 1937 story of the same name, this epic tale of love, invention, and hope spans decades, sweeping through great historical moments of 20th-century Japan. In what he has said is his last film, the winner of dozens of international awards, Miyazaki dazzles with his usual beautifully rendered flourishes, but this time exploring a grounded, evolved, and sophisticated nostalgia that is a fitting final celebration of art, science, and the impulse to create.

http://youtu.be/imtdgdGOB6Q

BELLE

BELLE

Often missing from the gorgeous settings, romances, and sophisticated language of English period dramas is the institution at the foundation of that refined life: slavery. Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle’s (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) lineage—the illegitimate, biracial daughter of a Royal Navy admiral in 18th-century Britain—affords her wealth and certain privileges, but the color of her skin keeps her on the outside looking in. Left to wonder if she will ever find love or acceptance, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England— and end her question, “How may I be too high in rank to dine with the servants but too low to dine with my family?”

http://youtu.be/Wtdk6owFj2o

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BOYHOOD by Richard Linklater Added to Sundance Film Festival 2014 Program Lineup

BOYHOOD by Richard Linklater, has been added to the program lineup for the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and will premiere on Sunday, January 19, 2014, at the Eccles Theatre. The 2014 Festival takes place January 16 to 26 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. With the addition of Boyhood, the 2014 Festival will present 121 feature-length films.

BOYHOOD / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Richard Linklater) — Filmed over short periods from 2002 to 2013, Boyhood is a groundbreaking cinematic experience covering 12 years in the life of a family. At the center is Mason, who with his sister Samantha, are taken on an emotional and transcendent journey through the years, from childhood to adulthood. Cast: Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater.
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25 Films to Compete for Golden Bear for Best Short Film at 2014 Berlin International Film Festval

La Casona (The Big House) by Juliette Touin

25 films from 21 countries will compete for the Golden Bear for Best Short Film and the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festval. The films on the lineup range in subjects from groups of men clenching pump guns against their chests AS LONG AS SHOTGUNS REMAIN (Tant qu’il nous reste des fusils à pompe), and naked women running with broad smiles through Macao’s pristine nature TAPROBANA, to parents from the Cuban countryside trying to comprehend their twelve-year-old son’s suicide A PARADISE (Un Paraíso).

Berlinale Shorts 2014:
Afronauts, Frances Bodomo, USA, 13’ (IP)
BIRDS, Ulu Braun, Germany, 15’ (WP)

La Casona (The Big House), Juliette Touin, Cuba, 25’ (IP)

darkroom, Billy Roisz, Austria, 13’ (WP)

Do serca Twego (To Thy Heart), Ewa Borysewicz, Poland, 10’ (IP)

Im Tekhayekh, Ha’Olam Yekhayekh Elekha (Smile, and the World Will Smile Back), Familie al-Haddad/Ehab Tarabieh/Yoav Gross, Israel / Palestinian Territories, 21’ (WP)

Kamakura (Snow Hut), Yoriko Mizushiri, Japan, 5’ (WP)

LABORAT, Guillaume Cailleau, Germany, 21’ (WP)

Marc Jacobs, Sam de Jong, Netherlands, 17’ (WP)

Om Amira, Najy Esmail, Egypt, 25’ (IP)

Optical Sound, Elke Groen/Christian Neubacher, Austria, 11’ (WP)

Person to Person, Dustin Guy Defa, USA, 18’ (IP)

Raconte-moi des salades (Salad Days), Olias Barco, Belgium / France, 10’ (WP)

As Rosas Brancas (The White Roses), Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal / USA, 20’ (WP)

Sky Lines, Nadine Poulain, Serbia, 10’ (IP)

Solo te puedo mostrar el color (I Can Only Show You the Color), Fernando Vílchez Rodríguez, Peru, 26’ (WP)

Symphony no. 42, Réka Bucsi, Hungary, 10’ (WP)

Tant qu’il nous reste des fusils à pompe (As Long As Shotguns Remain), Caroline Poggi/Jonathan Vinel, France, 30’ (WP)

Taprobana, Gabriel Abrantes, Portugal / Sri Lanka / Denmark, 24’ (WP)

Three Stones for Jean Genet, Frieder Schlaich, Germany, 7’ (WP)

Unogumbe (Noye’s Fludde), Mark Dornford-May, South Africa, 35’ (EP)

Un Paraíso (A Paradise), Jayisha Patel, Cuba, 14’ (WP)

Washingtonia, Konstantina Kotzamani, Greece, 24’ (WP)

WONDER, Mirai Mizue, France / Japan, 8’ (WP)

Xenos, Mahdi Fleifel, Denmark / United Kingdom, 13’ (WP)

(WP = World premiere, IP = International premiere)

Members of the International Short Film Jury (in alphabetical order):

Edwin (Indonesia)
The director Edwin was born in 1978 in Surabaya, Indonesia and studied graphic design at Universitas Kristen Petra in Surabaya. He then studied film at Institut Kesenian Jakarta. In 2009 he was a guest at the Berlinale with his short film Trip to The Wound. That same year, his feature film debut Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly received the Fipresci Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Postcards from the Zoo is his second feature film for which he also wrote the screenplay. The film celebrated its world premiere at the 62nd Berlinale and was presented in Competition. Edwin is now working on his third feature.

Nuno Rodrigues (Portugal)
Curator and festival programmer Nuno Rodrigues is a co-founder and the artistic director of the Portuguese film festival Curtas Vila do Conde. In 1999, he founded Agência – Portuguese Short Film Agency, where he is now a member of the board of directors, and handles the promotion and distribution of Portuguese short films on international markets. Since 2005 he has been the director and coordinator of the Solar Gallery in Vila do Conde, where he has curated numerous exhibits. In recent years, he has also been active as a film producer, and in 2013 he became vice president of Short Circuit, a network for film and video art distribution in Europe.

Christine Tohme (Lebanon)
Christine Tohme is a curator and director of Ashkal Alwan–The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, established in 1994. Over the years, the non-profit organization has been committed to the production, facilitation and circulation of artistic practices across a range of disciplines and media. Its platforms include “Home Works”, a forum on cultural practices; “Home Workspace Program” (HWP), a free international arts programme at the post-graduate level; and Video Works, a video production grant. In 2006, she received the Prince Claus Award for her work in arts practices and the civic sphere.
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Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Unveils 2014 Lineup; Opens with PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KATRINA GILBERT

PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KATRINA GILBERT

More than 130 non-fiction films are announced as the official selections for the 11th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, which takes place February 15-23 in Missoula, Montana. Continuing a tradition with HBO Documentary Films, the festival’s opening night will once again center on an early look at an upcoming film from the network’s documentary film division. PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KATRINA GILBERT is described as a searing and heartfelt portrayal of a single mom who struggles under the poverty line despite working a full-time job. Paycheck is executive-produced by Maria Shriver, and is part of the Emmy-winning journalist’s series “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink.”

The festival has embraced comedy as its theme for 2014, which will be anchored by a live set from renowned comic Tig Notaro. Other strands of note include “Made in Montana”, which showcases films shot in or created by filmmakers living in Big Sky Country, and “The Wild 50,” a collection of films selected to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Wilderness Act, the screenings of which will be free to the public.

2014 FEATURE COMPETITION

A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times
A World Not Ours
Alive Inside
Bending Steel
Death Metal Angola
Rent a Family
This Ain’t No Mouse Music
Trucker and the Fox (Ranande va roobah)
Whitey: United States of America V. James J. Bulge
Who Took Johnny

2014 BIG SKY AWARD COMPETITION

Art is War
Momenta
Occupy the Farm
Transmormon
Uranium Drive-In
Where God Likes To Be
White Earth

2014 SHORT COMPETITION

Bhiwani Junction
Blessed Fruit of the Womb
Can’t Stop the Water
Eddie Adams: Saigon ‘68
Herd in Iceland
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
The Record Breaker
Stay Where You Are
Vacant Seat
What I Hate About Myself

2014 MINI-DOC COMPETITION

Adrift
Eugene
Finding Home
Haenyeo: Woman of the Sea
Jared Lyell
Of Cows and Men
Shaped on all Six Sides
Shell Game
The Pixel Painter
Yapawarnti Palu Rijikarrijani (Children Playing)
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VIDEO: See Singer Lauryn Hill as Narrator in Trailer for CONCERNING VIOLENCE Set to Premiere at Sundance Film Festival

Lauryn Hill, performing in New York’s Central Park

Concerning Violence

Singer Lauryn Hill, is the narrator of a new documentary called CONCERNING VIOLENCE, “a bold, fresh, and compelling visual narrative about the African liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s,” that is set to premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival taking place Janaury 16 to 24, 2014. Concerning Violence is directed by Göran Hugo Olsson, whose earlier film The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975 played in the World Cinema Documentary Competition in the 2011 festival.

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Oscar Shortlisted THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN Wins Top Juried Award at 2014 Palm Springs International Film Festival

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN

The 25th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) announced this year’s juried award winners of the Festival, held from January 3 to13, 2014. From the 46 of the 76 official Foreign Language submissions to the Academy Awards screened at this year’s Festival, the Oscar shortlisted THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Belgium), directed by Felix van Groeningen was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film went to Mads Mikkelsen from THE HUNT (Denmark) directed by Thomas Vinterberg, which is on the Oscar shortlist, and Bérénice Bejo from THE PAST (Iran), directed by Asghar Farhadi, received the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film.

The New Voices/New Visions selected MEDEAS (USA) directed by Andrea Pallaoro. The film is an archetypal tale of adultery, rendered with exquisite strokes in this slow burning rural psychodrama, the first feature from an Italian-born filmmaker working in the US. The New Voices/New Visions competition included 12 new international talents making their feature film debut at the Festival, with the additional criteria that the films selected are currently without U.S. distribution. The jury presented a special mention to LEFT FOOT RIGHT FOOT (Switzerland), directed by Germinal Roaux.

The Cine Latino Award, was presented to two films HELI (Mexico), directed by Amat Escalante and LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED (Spain) directed by David Trueba. Special Mention went to GLORIA (Chile).

FINDING VIVIAN MAIER (USA), directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, received The John Schlesinger Award, which is presented to a first-time documentary filmmaker. The film is a compelling, eye-opening introduction to an anonymous and mysterious woman who recently found posthumous fame as a giant of 20th century photography.

WALESA. MAN OF HOPE (Poland), directed by Andrzej Wajda, received the HP Bridging the Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders and Hewlett Packard, which honors the film that is most successful in exemplifying art that promotes bringing the people of our world closer together. The Cinema Without Borders Special Jury Award went to PLOT FOR PEACE (South Africa) directed by Carlos Agulló and Mandy Jacobson.

The complete list of award winners are:

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
TBA

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
TBA

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Belgium), directed by Felix van Groeningen

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film
Mads Mikkelsen from THE HUNT (Denmark), directed by Thomas Vinterberg

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film
Bérénice Bejo from THE PAST (Iran), directed by Asghar Farhadi

New Voices/New Visions Award
MEDEAS (USA), directed by Andrea Pallaoro – Winner
LEFT FOOT RIGHT FOOT (Switzerland), directed by Germinal Roaux – Special Mention

Cine Latino Award
HELI (Mexico), directed by Amat Escalante and LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED (Spain), directed by David Trueba – Winner
GLORIA (Chile), directed by Sebastian Lelio – Special Mention

The John Schlesinger Award
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER (USA), directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel – Winner

HP Bridging the Borders Award
WALESA. MAN OF HOPE (Poland), directed byAndrzej Wajda – Winner
PLOT FOR PEACE (South Africa), directed by Carlos Agulló and Mandy Jacobson – Special Jury Award
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SF IndieFest Announces Sweet 16 Lineup; Opens With Ari Foleman’s THE CONGRESS, Closes with Cannes Film Festival Award-Winning Film BLUE RUIN

Ari Foleman’s THE CONGRESS

The San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF IndieFest) returns for its Sweet 16th year from February 6 to 20, 2014 at the Roxie and Brava Theaters in San Francisco and at Oakland’s New Parkway Theater. The festival launches its 2 weeks of film programs on Thursday, February 6th at the Brava Theater in San Francisco with director Ari Foleman’s THE CONGRESS, based on Stanislaw Lem’s classic sci-fi novel. This futuristic blend of animation and live action stars Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm and Paul Giamatti.

Matt Wolf’s TEENAGE

Matt Wolf’s latest film TEENAGE will screen as the festival’s Centerpiece film on Sunday, February 9th at the Roxie Theater. Based on the book by Jon Savage and narrated by actors Jena Malone, Ben Whishaw, Julia Hummer and Jessie Usher, TEENAGE looks at the birth of the iconic figure of the teenager using archival material, Super 8 recreations and diaries of actual mid-century teenagers, resulting in an unconventional pop historical film.

BLUE RUIN

After two weeks and 78 films, SF IndieFest will close the Sweet 16 edition with a screening of the Cannes Film Festival award-winning film BLUE RUIN on Sunday, February 16th at the Roxie Theater. Director Jeremy Saulnier (SF IndieFest Alum, MURDER PARTY) is expected to be on hand for his dark comedy about revenge.

Focus on Animated Films

In addition to the Opening Night Film THE CONGRESS, SF IndieFest features some of the best independent animation films from around the globe. Canadian co-directors Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver will be in attendance for a screening of their Toronto International Film Festival award winning, psychedelic animated road movie ASPHALT WATCHES; Bill Plympton’s new feature CHEATIN‘ offers a unique look at romance and jealousy; and AN ANIMATED WORLD, a shorts program of animated films featuring a wide range of styles and innovated new ideas, rounds out the diverse animated programming.

Local Flavor

Taping into the vast array of Bay Area filmmakers, SF IndieFest presents two local films.REMEMBER YOU’RE SPECIAL follows an aspiring rapper in Oakland and his best friend; a PhD student as they face adulthood with student debt, complicated relationships, and adjusted ambitions. Featuring a cast and crew of all local, first time filmmakers, REMEMBER YOU’RE SPECIAL make its World Premiere at the festival. Additionally, the latest short film from San Francisco based filmmaker Vincent Gargiulo, DELUTH IS HORRIBLE, a series of vignettes chronicling a few lonely people in Duluth, Minnesota, searching for a connection in a bleak winter,will also be making its World Premier.

World Class Independent Cinema

Year after year, SF IndieFest premiers some of the best independent foreign cinema from around the globe and the 2014 edition is no exception. This years selection features: the lively Chinese romantic comedy set in China during the 60’s and 70’s, THE LOVE SONGS FROM TIEDAN; Chad’s Foreign Language Oscar Entry GRIGRIS, an uplifting story of young man with dreams of becoming a dancer; and the Mexican film REZETA, about a carefree, young woman who’s lifestyle changes when she meets a young man cleaning her trailer during a commercial shoot.

Additional Highlights

Other can’t miss films in this year’s SF IndieFest include: DOOMSDAYS, a self-proclaimed “pre-apocalyptic comedy,” with director Eddie Mullens expected to be in attendance; Joe Begos debut feature ALMOST HUMAN, about a man who returns to wreak havoc upon a small town; the West Coast Premiere of HANK: 5 YEARS FROM THE BRINK, the latest from Academy Award winning director Joe Berlinger, a riveting portrait of former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson; Kestrin Pantera’s LETS RUIN IT WITH BABIES, a exploration of relationships when they reach ‘That Point’; two adolescent brothers confront changing relationships, nature and their own mortality in Daniel Patrick Carbone’s HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES; and THE WAIT, from writer/director M. Blash, starring Jena Malone and Chloë Sevigny as two sisters who contemplate their mother’s resurrection following a mysterious phone call.

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Jon Favreau’s New Indie Film CHEF to Kick Off 2014 SXSW + First 6 Films Announced

VERONICA MARS starring Kristen Bell.

The world premiere of CHEF, Jon Favreau’s new indie film, has been selected to open the South by Southwest Film Festival – SXSW Film 2014 set to take place March 7 to 15, 2014 in Austin, Texas. Favreau wrote, directed and stars in the comedy that also features Sofia Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo,Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr. Favreau plays Carl, a chef who loses his job and decides to launch a food truck business, while attempting to reunite his estranged family. Six additional films have been selected to premiere at the festival including VERONICA MARS starring Kristen Bell.

The six additional premieres include:

BREAK POINT (World Premiere / SXsports screening)
Director: Jay Karas, Screenwriters: Gene Hong & Jeremy Sisto
Two estranged brothers reunite to make an improbable run at a grand slam tennis tournament. The mismatched pair, with some unlikely help from a precocious 11-year-old boy, re-discover their game and their brotherhood.
Cast: Jeremy Sisto, David Walton, Joshua Rush, J.K. Simmons, Amy Smart

CREEP (World Premiere)
Director: Patrick Brice, Screenwriter: Patrick Brice & Mark Duplass
When a videographer answers a Craigslist ad for a one-day job in the outer-exurbs, he finds his client is not at all what he initially seems.
Cast: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY
Director: Brannon Braga
As with the legendary original series, FOX’s new COSMOS is the saga of how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. The series is hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge, transporting viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest — and the smallest — scale. Executive Produced by Ann Druyan, Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga and Mitchell Cannold.

DOC OF THE DEAD (World Premiere)
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
The definitive zombie culture documentary, from the makers of The People vs. George Lucas. Doc of the Dead traces the rise and evolution of the zombie genre, its influence on pop culture, and investigates the possibility of an actual zombie outbreak.

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (World Premiere)
Director: Christian Larson
A documentary following the final tour of the hugely successful band Swedish House Mafia. The film depicts the EDM scene at its peak as well as telling a story of friendship and success. (United Kingdom)

VERONICA MARS (World Premiere)
Director: Rob Thomas, Screenwriters: Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero
Years after walking away from her past as a teenage private eye, Veronica Mars gets pulled back to her hometown, an ex-boyfriend with baggage, and an unraveling murder mystery.
Cast: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Krysten Ritter, Francis Capra, Percy Daggs III, Ryan Hansen, Gaby Hoffman, Chris Lowell, Tina Majorino, Jerry O’Connell
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