Film Festivals

Premiere of LETTERS TO JACKIE to Open 2013 AFI DOCS

AFI Docs will open its 2013 edition with the theatrical premiere of LETTERS TO JACKIE written and directed by Oscar^®-winning filmmaker Bill Couturié. The film features letters from the public written to Mrs. Kennedy in the dark shadow of the President’s assassination fifty years ago. The letters are read by 20 of today’s top actors including Bérénice Bejo, Demián Bichir, Jessica Chastain, Chris Cooper, Viola Davis, Zooey Deschanel, Kirsten Dunst, Anne Hathaway, Allison Janney, John Krasinski, Melissa Leo, Laura Linney, Frances McDormand, Chloë Grace Moretz, Mark Ruffalo, Octavia Spencer, Hailee Steinfeld, Channing Tatum, Betty White and Michelle Williams. TLC will premiere LETTERS TO JACKIE as a special television event in November 2013.

Also having its world premiere is DOCUMENTED, written and directed by Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and founder of Define American and co-directed by Ann Lupo. The film explores immigration in America through the lens of Vargas’ personal story as one of the country’s most prominent undocumented immigrants who himself is documenting America’s growing undocumented immigrant movement.

AFI Docs presented by Audi (formerly Silverdocs) returns for its 11th edition June 19-23, 2013.
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“HERBLOCK: THE BLACK & THE WHITE” to Have DC Premiere at AFI DOCS Gala

AFI DOCS announced today its gala presentation of the Washington, DC premiere of HERBLOCK: THE BLACK & THE WHITE written and directed by Michael Stevens. The film, traces the career and influence of the most influential political cartoonist of the 20th century and the people who became his subjects during his 55 years at the Washington Post. His work spanned thirteen presidents, contributed to the downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and President Richard Nixon and garnered three Pulitzer Prizes and the Medal of Freedom.

In the film, Ben Bradlee, Tom Brokaw, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Jules Feiffer, Ted Koppel, Eugene Robinson, Tom Friedman, David Brooks, Gwen Ifill, Rick Hertzberg, Victor Navasky and Richard Cohen give first-hand accounts of Block’s life and work. Jon Stewart and Lewis Black explore the place of political satire in American life.

AFI DOCS presented by Audi (formerly Silverdocs) returns for its 11th edition June 19-23, 2013.
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Gay Erotic Thriller STRANGER BY THE LAKE from Cannes Film Festival to Get US Release

Alain Guiraudie’s erotic gay thriller “STRANGER BY THE LAKE (L’INCONNU DU LAC),” which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard section will be released in the US by Strand Releasing.

Written and directed by Guiraudie, STRANGER BY THE LAKE is set against the backdrop of a cruising spot for men, and centers on Franck (Pierre de Ladonchamps), who finds himself drawn to Michel (Christophe Paou), who may be a killer.
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Godfrey Reggio’s VISITORS to World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3927" align="alignnone" width="550"]Toronto Symphony Orchestra[/caption]

Godfrey Reggio’s VISITORS, with an original score by Philip Glass and presented by Steven Soderbergh, will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September in ‘stunning’ 4K digital projection with live accompaniment by Members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Michael Riesman.

VISITORS is described by the festival as the fourth feature length collaboration between Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi) and famed composer Philip Glass, together with filmmaker Jon Kane. The filmmakers advance their previous work by incorporating body language as non-spoken narrative to join with image and music. Footage of nonverbal human portraits and communication reveals a constant stream of unconscious emotions, barely noticed by most people. Visitors reveals humanity’s trancelike relationship with technology, which, when commandeered by extreme emotional states, produces massive effects far beyond the human species. The protagonist, a wise gorilla, sagely witnesses the antics of Homo sapiens. The film is visceral, offering the audience an experience beyond information about the moment in which we live.

The 2013 Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5 to 15.
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Carlo Verdone and Sabrina Ferilli in “LA GRANDE BELLAZZA” at Cannes Film Festival

Carlo Verdone and Sabrina Ferilli, stars of “LA GRANDE BELLAZZA,” directed by Paolo Sorrentino, and the only Italian film in competition at the 2013 Festival de Cannes. The cast which also includes Sabrina Ferilli, Isabella Ferrari as well as Roberto Herlitzka, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi, Anna Della Rosa and Giusy Merli, Kravos, visited the lounge of Cannes Movie Star at 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

LA GRANDE BELLAZZA is described by the festival as “Aristocratic ladies, social climbers, politicians, high-flying criminals, journalists, actors, decadent nobles, prelates, artists and intellectuals – whether authentic or presumed – form the tissue of these flaky relationships, all engulfed in a desperate Babylon which plays out in the antique palaces, immense villas and most beautiful terraces in the city? They are all there, and they are not seen in a good light? Jep Gambardella, 65, indolent and disenchanted, his eyes permanently imbued with gin and tonic, watches this parade of hollow, doomed, powerful yet depressed humanity. A moral lifelessness enough to make one’s head spin? And in the background, Rome in summer. Splendid and indifferent, like a dead diva?”
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“MIELE” Director Valeria Golino and Lead Actress Jasmine Trinca at Cannes Film Festival

“MIELE”, director Valeria Golino and lead actress Jasmine Trinca in the Cannes Movie Stars Lounge at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. “MIELE” is an official selection in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

MIELE is described as the story of Irene a 30 years old girl who helps suffering people.Terminal patients who want to make shorter the struggle with death, people whose suffering injure the dignity of an human being. One day a 70 years old man in good health, who simply thinks to have lived enough, asks her to help him. The meeting will put to the test Irene’s convictions. It will open a stringent debate between the two. Their relation becomes more and more full of implications and emotional ambiguities.
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LA Jewish Film Festival to Feature THE LAST WHITE KNIGHT to Commemorate Assassination of Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evans

The LA Jewish Film Festival, will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers with the screening of THE LAST WHITE KNIGHT: IS RECONCILIATION POSSIBLE? The Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival will run June 1 – 6, 2013.

THE LAST WHITE KNIGHT: IS RECONCILIATION POSSIBLE? discusses Paul Saltzman’s experience as a civil rights worker in Mississippi in 1965 and his return in 2007 to find the KKK member who had assaulted him. Is reconciliation possible? His assailant was Byron de la Beckwith Jr., whose father, Byron de la Beckwith Sr., murdered NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers

http://youtu.be/85z_pYawYJM
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Mark Cousins, Director of Documentary, “A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM” at Cannes Film Festival

Mark Cousins, director of documentary, “A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM” – official selection at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Classics – in The Cannes Movie Stars Lounge.

“A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM” is described by the festival as a personal and poetic essay by Mark Cousins which explores what cinema tells us about childhood, and what childhood tells us about cinema, by reference to movies from all around the world. The
is also described as the world’s first movie about kids in global cinema … as seen through 53 great films from 25 countries.
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Oscar winning Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci at 2013 Cannes Film Festival

Bernardo Bertolucci, the 9-time Oscar winning Italian director and screenwriter of “The Last Emperor”, whose movies include “Last Tango in Paris” (1972), “The Sheltering Sky” (1990), and “The Dreamers” (2003) in The Cannes Movie Stars Lounge at the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival. During the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Bertolucci was awarded the “Palme d’Honneur” for his life’s work in film.

The director is in Cannes to present his movie, “The Last Emperor”, which is in the 66th Festival de Cannes Classics Selection. Mr. Bertolucci met with the press in the Cannes Movie Stars Lounge for afternoon TV and print interviews.
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Eighteen Projects by African Filmmakers Selected for Durban FilmMart at 34th Durban International Film Festival

Eighteen film projects by African filmmakers have been selected for the finance forum of the Durban FilmMart (DFM) which takes place from July 19 to 22 during the 34th Durban International Film Festival held July 18 to 28 in Durban South Africa.

The Durban FilmMart (DFM) is a co-production and finance market and is a joint program of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). DFM provides filmmakers from across Africa a valued opportunity to pitch projects to financiers, distributors, sales agents and potential co-producers, and participate in meetings, project presentations and a series of master classes and workshops on latest industry trends.

Selected Documentaries

Blindness (South Africa): Directed by Sarah Ping Nie Jones and produced by Jean Meeran
Behind the Falls (South Africa): Directed by Rowan Pybus and produced by Sydelle Willow Smith
Miners Shot Down (South Africa): Directed/Produced by Rehad Desai, produced/written and co-directd by Anita Khanna and produced by Brian Tilley
Not Just a Stripper (South Africa): Directed and produced by Izette Mostert
GTI – Paradise in Hell (Rwanda): Directed and produced by Yves Montand
Searching for Janitou (Algeria): Directed by Mohamed el Amine Hattou and produced by Anusha Nandakumar and co-produced by Claire Mazeau-Karoum
Unearthed (South Africa): Directed and produced by Jolynn Minnaar
We Want Development (Kenya): Directed by Phillipa Ndisi-Hermann and produced by Atieno Odenyo

Selected Fiction Projects

Andani and the Mechanic (South Africa): Directed and produced by Sara Blecher
Black Sunshine (Ghana): Directed by Akosua Adoma Owusu and co-produced by Julio Chavezmontes and Angele Diabang
Five Fingers for Marseilles (South Africa): Directed and produced by Michael Matthews and written and produced by Sean Drummond
Free the Town (Kenya): Directed by Nikyatu Jusu and produced by Vincho Nchogu
Life More or Less (Nigeria): Directed by Julius Morno and produced by Kinsley Madueke
Njangi- Fifty Fifty (Cameroon): Directed and produced by Victor Viyuoh
Sea Monster (South Africa): Directed by Anthony Silverston and co-produced by Stuart Forrest and Mike Buckland
Solidarity (Zambia): Directed by Rungano Nyoni and produced by Juliette Grandmont
The Bill (South Africa): Directed by Nosipho Dumisa and produced by Travis Taute
Whiplash (South Africa): Directed by Meg Rickards and produced by Jacky Lourens

The 4th edition of the Durban FilmMart takes place from July 19-22 2013, during the 34th edition of the DIFF (18-28 July 2012).

Image: From top left clockwise

Julius Morno (Life More or Less – Nigeria); Victor Viyuoh (Njangi- Fifty Fifty – Cameroon); Rehad Desai (Miners Shot Down – South Africa); Izette Mostert (Not Just a Stripper – South Africa); Phillipa Ndisi-Hermann (We Want Development – Kenya); Nikkia Moulterie
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Mountainfilm Reveals Full 35th Film Line Up incl “URANIUM DRIVE-IN,” “MAIDENTRIP”

[caption id="attachment_3895" align="alignnone" width="550"]Uranium Drive-In[/caption]

The 35th Mountainfilm in Telluride festival will run Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 to May 27, 2013 in Telluride, Colorado OA and according to Festival Director David Holbrooke, “This is one of the strongest years for documentaries that we’ve ever seen.” “From films we scouted at the earlier festivals in the year — Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca — to our own submissions, there just seemed to be an unusual number of really fine films for consideration.”

The films range from shorts of just a few minutes to feature-length films, and they cover a spectrum of topics that ranges from adventure and action sports to pressing environmental and social issues.

Highlighted films include:

The Crash Reel – Directed by Lucy Walker whose past Mountainfilm screenings include Waste Land and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, the film profiles professional snowboarder Kevin Pearce, one of the very few competitors to ever stand above Shaun White on a podium, and his recovery from a traumatic brain injury suffered in half-pipe training. With Walker and Pearce, in person.

Maidentrip – Directed by Jillian Schlesinger and winner of the SXSW Audience Choice award, the film portrays teenage sailor Laura Dekker and her record-setting solo trip around the world.

Manhunt – Directed by Greg Barker, Manhunt traces with meticulous detail the two-decade hunt for Osama bin Laden. With Barker and a CIA analyst and a CIA operative, in person.

Dirty Wars – Directed by Richard Rowley who followed investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of international bestseller Blackwater, to shed light on America’s murky covert wars in Afghanistan, the Arabian peninsula, Somalia and beyond. With NY Times and International Herald Tribune columnist Roger Cohen, in person.

Rising From Ashes – Directed by T. G. Johnstone and produced and narrated by Forest Whitaker. Rwandan genocide survivors struggle to realize their dream of forming a national cycling team.

God Loves Uganda – Directed by Roger Ross Williams whose Academy Award-winning short Music by Prudence and star Prudence Mathena, so moved Mountainfilm audiences in 2010, this film focuses on American Christians who go to Uganda to proselytize while also bringing an anti-gay message. With Williams, in person.

Life According to Sam – Directed by Sean and Andrea Nix Fine, this film tells the story of Sam Berns who suffers from progeria, an extremely rare and fatal disease, and of the courageous fight by his parents to save his life. With the Fines, in person, and Berns, by skype.

Keeper of the Mountains – Directed by Allison Otto, this short documentary profiles Elizabeth Hawley who has tracked, recorded and archived every Himalayan expedition of the past half-century. With Otto, in person.

Uranium Drive-In – Directed by Suzan Beraza, whose film Bag It galvanized Mountainfilm audiences in 2010 and won that year’s Audience Choice award, this is a world premiere about a controversial uranium processing facility planned just upwind of Telluride. With Beraza, in person.

Film info via Mountainfilm in Telluride
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11th African Diaspora International Film Festival – Chicago Releases 2013 Lineup; Opening Night Film “AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE”

[caption id="attachment_3890" align="alignnone" width="550"]African Independence[/caption]

The Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival – Chicago (ADIFF- Chicago) will celebrate its 11th anniversary in Chicago from June 13 to June 20, 2013. The festival will kick off with the Chicago Premiere of Opening Night Film African Independence, written, directed and produced by scholar, filmmaker and PBS History Detectives host, Professor Tukufu Zuberi.

African Independence retraces the history of the independence movement throughout Africa using archival footage as well as interviews with such personalities as President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Hon. SamiaYaaba Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah- Ghana’s first President,President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa and many others.

ADIFF-Chicago will also screen the Chicago Premiere of award winning film from Senegal The Pirogue by Moussa Toure, an official selection in the Un Certain Regard section of 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This powerful drama in which a group of 30 men and a woman sail to Europe in a pirogue, facing the sea and the possibility of never reaching their destination in exchange for the myth of a better life in Europe.

Chicago based Malagasy filmmaker/actor/producer Haminiaina Ratovoarivony will present the Chicago premiere of his fiction film Legends of Madagascar , a road movie set in Madagascar that offers a fresh, young and contemporary perspective on his country. The festival will also screen the Chicago premiere of Haitian film Maestro Issa Saieh by France Voltaire, a musical documentary that traces Maestro Issa’s contributions to the music scene in Haiti between 1942 and 1959.

[caption id="attachment_3891" align="alignnone" width="550"]Hill and Gully[/caption]

Other films to be presented in the festival include Hill and Gully (pictured above) by New York based independent filmmaker Patrice Johnson Chevannes, an urban Cinderella story set during 2008, the historic election year of Barack Obama; award-winning French/Algerian documentary Here We Drown Algerians by Yasmina Adi about the vicious attack by French police on a peaceful march in Paris by Algerians supporting the independence of their country on October 17, 1961; Senegal/Switzerland/Luxembourg musical documentary Return to Gorée by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud which follows Senegalese musician and current Culture Minister of Senegal, Youssou N’Dour, as he recruits musicians to prepare for a concert on the Gorée Island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to honor its victims.

Also in the program are award-winning drama from Malawi Seasons of a Life by C. Shemu Joyah, a moving story about women who fights back using the Malawi legal system; award-winning short Swiss drama Objection VI by Rolando Colla about the life and death of an asylum seeker in Switzerland; the fascinating docu-drama set in French Guiana Aluku Liba, Maroon Again by Nicolas Jolliet which follows a young maroon who leaves the mines to return to his roots and traditional lifestyle; the African drama newly released on DVD Borders by Mostefa Djadjam which is a companion piece to The Pirogue as both films focus on African immigrants travelling towards Europe looking for a better life; a multicultural, multigenerational vision and presentation of the Shakespeare play Tango McBeth by Philadelphia based independent filmmaker Nadine M. Patterson; the race film from Venezuela Mestizo by Mario Handler which follows the struggles of an emotionally tortured young man son of a white rich property owner and of a poor fisher woman; and the beautiful drama from Mozambique Nelio’s Story by Solveig Nordlund about the life and dreams of a young child soldier who escapes the war and becomes a healer.

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