Film Festivals

Indie Romantic Comedy, NOT ANOTHER HAPPY ENDING to Close Edinburgh International Film Festival

The indie romantic comedy, NOT ANOTHER HAPPY ENDING starring Karen Gillan and Stanley Weber, has been selected as the Closing Night film of the 67th Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

NOT ANOTHER HAPPY ENDING is directed by John McKay (Crush, We’ll Take Manhattan), and also stars Amy Manson, Iain de Caestecker, Kate Dickie, Freya Mavor, Gary Lewis and Henry Ian Cusick.

When struggling, maverick publisher Tomas Duval discovers his only successful author Jane Lockhart is blocked he knows he has to unblock her or he’s finished – with her newfound success, she’s become too damn happy and she can’t write when she’s happy. The only trouble is, the worse he makes her feel, the more he realizes he is in love with her…

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BREATHE IN Starring Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan to Open Edinburgh International Film Festival

Award-winning director-writer Drake Doremus’ new film, BREATHE IN, starring Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan, will be the Opening Night film at the 67th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

BREATHE IN director Drake Doremus, winner of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for LIKE CRAZY, said: “I’m very excited that BREATHE IN has been selected to play the Edinburgh International Film Festival and to be given the opening night slot is overwhelming. I now look forward to visiting Edinburgh and celebrating not just the event but the Festival’s recognition of a film I am incredibly proud of.”

As summer turns to fall, music teacher Keith Reynolds (Guy Pearce) privately reminisces about his days as a starving artist in the city. While his wife, Megan (Amy Ryan), and daughter, Lauren (Mackenzie Davis), look forward to Lauren’s final year of high school, Keith clings to those evenings he’s called on to sub as a cellist with a prestigious Manhattan symphony. Megan decides the family should host a foreign exchange student. Sophie (Felicity Jones), a British high school senior, settles in comfortably, but soon challenges the family dynamics. She reinvigorates the impulsiveness of Keith’s personality which ultimately pushes their seemingly perfect family into unfamiliar territory.
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“Toussaint Louverture” to Open 2013 The People’s Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3880" align="alignnone" width="550"]Toussaint Louverture[/caption]

The second annual People’s Film Festival (TPFF) runs May 30 –June 2, 2013 in Harlem, New York at The Magic Johnson Theater, and kicks off with the feature film “Toussaint Louverture” a two-part epic film directed by Philippe Niang, depicting the life of the Haitian leader. Louverture (Jimmy Jean-Louis) led the first successful slave revolt in world history, defeating Napoleon Bonaparte and winning independence from France.

Other films on the lineup include the North American premiere of “25,000 Miles,” a film about Swiss endurance athlete Serge Roetheli’s thirst for adventure and desire to raise money and awareness for children suffering across the globe propelled him to run a distance equal to the earth’s circumference; and “Bullets over Brownsville,” described as a cautionary tale that chronicles the lives of four Brooklyn housing project residents caught in an absurd web of violence.”

See the film lineup
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Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Announces 2014 Dates

After another year of of drawing record attendance and selling out a record 46 events , the annual four-day Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will definitely be back for 2014. The 17th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is confirmed for April 3-6, 2014.

The 2013 festival screened 96 films, including 10 World Premieres, 9 North American and 2 US Premieres. In other good news, in February, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences notified Full Frame that it had been chosen as an Academy Award® qualifying festival in the Documentary Short Subject category. Full Frame is also a qualifying event for the Producer Guild of America Awards.
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Hollywood producer Hunt Lowry to Receive 2013 Oklahoma Film ICON Award at deadCenter Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3876" align="alignnone" width="640"]deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma[/caption]

Hollywood producer and Oklahoma City native Hunt Lowry will receive the 2013 Oklahoma Film ICON Award at at 2013 deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma. This year’s festival is June 5 to 9, and features a lineup of 115 comedies, dramas, hard-hitting documentaries and short films from Oklahoma and around the world

The Oklahoma Film ICON Award is given annually to an outstanding Oklahoman whose success in the film industry brings honor to the state and helps increase the profile of the local film industry. This is the second year for the award. Last year’s recipients were Oscar-winning producer Gray Frederickson and actor James Marsden from Stillwater.

Lowry, a Casady grad, is best known for producing the Oscar-winning epic “The Last of the Mohicans” and the legal thriller “A Time to Kill,” starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson. He started his career on classic comedies like “Airplane!” and “Top Secret” before shifting gears to bring the intense family drama “Surviving” home to be filmed in Oklahoma City. He captured the teen market with his Gaylord Films “A Walk to Remember,” “What a Girl Wants,” “A Cinderella Story,” and the “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.” During the past decade, Lowry has produced successful comedies like the “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie,” and “Thou Shalt Laugh.” Independent film lovers hail the cult classic “Donnie Darko” as Lowry’s masterpiece.
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Documentary “THE ACT OF KILLING” Wins Top Jury and Audience Awards at International Madrid Documentary Festival

[caption id="attachment_3873" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Act of Killing[/caption]

The Act of Killing, by Joshua Oppenheimer, Chistine Cynn and Anonymous won the top prizes, the Jury First Prize and the Audience Award at the just wrapped Documeta Madrid – International Madrid Documentary Festival. The jury commented,“We award the first prize to a film that raised considerable controversy and succeeded at making us feel extremely uncomfortable through a unique construction of fantasy and horror that elicits a brutal reality that remains in impunity.” The filmmakers received a trophy and 10,000 € Euro.

Complete list of official awards:

OFFICIAL SELECTION – FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILMS

FIRST PRIZE OF THE JURY,
The Act of Killing,  by Joshua Oppenheimer, Chistine Cynn & Anonymous.

SECOND PRIZE OF THE JURY,

[caption id="attachment_3874" align="alignnone" width="550"]Metamorphosen[/caption]
Metamorphosen, by Sebastian Mez.

SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE JURY,
Vergiss mein nicht (Forget me not), by David Sievking

SPECIAL MENTION OF THE JURY
Terra de Ninguém (No man’s land),by Salomé Lamas

AUDIENCE AWARD TO THE BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILM,
The Act of Killing,  by Joshua Oppenheimer, Chistine Cynn & Anonimous.

OFFICIAL SELECTION – SHORT LENGTH DOCUMENTARY FILM

FIRST PRIZE OF THE JURY,
Gwizdek (The Whistle), by Grzegorz Zariczny.

SECOND PRIZE OF THE JURY,
La strada di Raffael  (Raffael’s way),by Alessandro Falco

SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE JURY,
Madera (Wood), by Daniel Kvitko

AUDIENCE AWARD TO THE BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM,
Geluiden voor Mazin (Sounds for Mazin), by Ingrid Kamerling

NON OFFICIAL AWARDS

CANAL + award to the best Spanish Documentary
Pepe el Andaluz, by Alejandro Alvarado & Concha Barquero.

FREAK Special Award
Geluiden voor Mazin (Sounds for Mazin), by Ingrid Kamerling

MASTER IPECC Special Award to the Best Short Documentary Film
A Conserveira, by David Battle.

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Brooklyn Film Festival Announces Lineup for 2013 Festival, themed MAGNETIC; Opens with HairBrained

[caption id="attachment_3871" align="alignnone" width="550"](USA) Dir. Billy Kent[/caption]

Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) announced the film line-up for its 2013 festival, themed MAGNETIC, scheduled to run from May 31 through June 9 in Brooklyn, New York. The festival will open with Festival alumnus Billy Kent’s HairBrained starring starring Brendan Fraser, Alex Wolff, Julia Garner and Parker Posey. In the film, 14-year old genius/outcast Eli Pettifog (Wolff) is rejected from Harvard, he ends up at Ivy-League wannabe Whittman College. It’s hate at first sight. Eli’s 41-year-old dorm mate Leo (Fraser), a former gambler whose world has imploded, has dropped out of life to enroll in college. This odd duo become unlikely friends.

Opening Night Film:

HairBrained (USA) Dir. Billy Kent – World Premiere
Brooklyn Film Festival alumnus Billy Kent (The Oh In Ohio – BFF 2006 Audience Award) returns with his latest feature film HairBrained, a madcap coming-of-age comedy filmed in New York and starring Brendan Fraser, Alex Wolff, Julia Garner and Parker Posey. When 14-year old genius/outcast Eli Pettifog (Wolff) is rejected from Harvard, he ends up at Ivy-League wannabe Whittman College. It’s hate at first sight. Eli’s 41-year-old dorm mate Leo (Fraser), a former gambler whose world has imploded, has dropped out of life to enroll in college. This odd duo become unlikely friends.

Closing Night Film:

Cut to Black (USA) Dir. Dan Eberle – World Premiere
BFF 2008 alumnus Dan Eberle (The Local) , writes, produces, directs and stars as a disgraced ex-cop hired by a wealthy former friend to rid his estranged daughter Jessica of a stalker. Shot in lavish black and white tones, Cut to Black is a gorgeous cinematic tribute to classic noir, set against stark, gritty urban modernity.

Narrative Feature Highlights:

Detonator(USA) Dir. Damon Maulucci & Keir Politz – East Coast Premiere
Starring Lawrence Levine, Joe Swanberg, Sophia Takal, Ben Fine and Robert Longstreet
A story of revenge and deceit over the course of one long night in Philadelphia when Sully, the former frontman of a prominent Philly punk band, confronts his troubled past. With Brooklyn Film Fest alumns Lawrence Levine and Sophia Takal (2010 Best Feature – Gabi on the Roof in July).

Somewhere Slow(USA) Dir. Jeremy O’Keefe – East Coast Premiere
Jessalyn Gilsig – from ‘Glee’ and ‘Vikings’ – gives a fearless performance as a woman on the
edge in this intimate, raw and at times funny tale of two unlikely outlaws fleeing from life on a
road trip through New England.

Flying Blind (UK) Dir. Katarzyna Klimkiewicz – New York Premiere
A passionate post 9/11 love story of an older woman with a younger Muslim man in a world
where security is paramount and nothing is what it seems. A timely exploration that raises
questions about the new reality of drone strikes and urban terror plots.

Sleeping with the Fishes (USA) Dir. Nicole Gomez Fisher – World Premiere
Brooklyn filmmaker Nicole Gomez Fisher tells the story of Alexis Fish (Gina Rodriguez), a
woman whose life as she once knew it no longer exists. After the death of her cheating husband,
Alexis returns home to pick up the pieces.

Narrative Feature Line-Up (In Alphabetical Order):

A Wife Alone (USA) Dir. Justin Reichman – World Premiere
Black Out (The Netherlands) Dir. Arne Toonen – East Coast Premiere
Cut to Black (USA) Dir. Dan Eberle – World Premiere
Detonator (USA) Dir. Damon Maulucci & Keir Porlitz – East Coast Premiere
Emmanuel and the Truth About Fishes (USA) Dir. Francesca Gregorini – East Coast Premiere
Giraffes (Jirafas) (Cuba) Dir. Enrique Álvarez – USA Premiere
HairBrained (USA) Dir. Billy Kent – World Premiere
Hank and Asha (USA) Dir. James E. Duff – East Coast Premiere
Sado Tempest (Japan) Dir. John Williams – East Coast Premiere
Sleeping with the Fishes (USA) Dir. Nicole Gomez Fisher – World Premiere
Soft in the Head (USA) Dir. Nathan Silver – New York Premiere
Somewhere Slow (USA) Dir. Jeremy O’Keefe – East Coast Premiere

Documentary Feature Highlights:

Dragon Girls(Germany) Dir. Inigo Westmeier – USA Premiere
Winner, 2013 Hot Docs Best International Feature Dragon Girls tells the story of three Chinese girls training to become martial arts experts far away from their families and homes. Their intense daily regimen takes place at the Shaolin Kung Fu School, located right next to the Shaolin Monastery in central China, where Kung Fu originated.

Mr. Angel (USA) Dir. Dan Hunt – New York Premiere

Buck Angel was born female yet knew he was male on the inside. This intimate documentary follows him for six years, tracing his aspirations to become a porn star. A moving story about universal lessons of acceptance, which also challenges our notions of gender and sexuality. Without Shepherds(Pakistan) Dir. Cary McClelland – New York Premiere A rare and essential glimpse into the turbulent reality of Pakistan today, following six Pakistanis who are navigating different aspects of society, including Imran Khan – a former cricket star who is now competing in the first national election in ten years.

Furever(USA) Dir. Amy Finkel – New York Premiere
Brooklyn filmmaker Amy Finkel explores the growing world of pet memorials, where grieving pet owners engage in taxidermy, cloning, mummification, freeze-drying, and many other methods to keep the memory of their pet alive.

Documentary Line-Up (In Alphabetical Order):

Ben: In the Mind’s Eye (USA) Dir. Iva Radivojevic – New York Premiere
Caffe Capri (USA) Dir. Casimir Nozkowski – World Premiere
Cavedigger (USA) Dir. Jeffrey Karoff – East Coast
Dragon Girls (Germany) Dir. Inigo Westmeier – USA Premiere
Exit Point (Poland) Dir. Jagoda Szelc – USA Premiere
Eternal Amazon (Brazil) Dir. Belisario Franca – USA Premiere
Forbidden Voices (Switzerland) Dir. Barbara Miller – New York Premiere
Furever (USA) Dir. Amy Finkel – New York Premiere
Glass Eyes of Locust Bayou (Canada) Dir. Simon Mercer – USA Premiere
A Hole in the Sky (France) Dir. Antonio Tibaldi & Àlex Lora Cercós – USA Premiere
Miles & War (Germany/Switzerland) Dir. Anne Thoma – USA Premiere
Mr. Angel (USA) Dir. Dan Hunt – New York Premiere
Not For Sale (USA) Dir. Matthew C. Levy – New York Premiere
The Real Motel Life (USA) Dir. Winnie Cheung – World Premiere
Rogalik (Poland) Dir. Pawel Ziemilski – USA Premiere
Scattered (USA) Dir. Lindsay Lindenbaum – USA Premiere
Venom & Fire (USA) Dir. Brandon Faris – USA Premiere
Without Shepherds (Pakistan) Dir. Cary McClelland – New York Premiere
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Sheffield Doc/Fest Celebrates 20 Years With A Lineup of 120 Films and a New Section on Films About Film

Sheffield Doc/Fest celebrates its 20th year with a line-up of documentaries screening over five days from June 12 to June 16, 2013. The 120 strong film programme is organized across films in competition as well as thematic sections, also referred to as strands.

This year’s strands include Behind the Beats, The Habit of Art, This Sporting Life, Queer Screen; Resistance, Cross-Platform, First Cut, Best of British, Euro/Doc, Global Encounters, New York Times Op-Docs and Shorts.

A new strand, Films on Film, screens an iconoclastic feature film together with the doc about that film. Titles include The Exorcist (Director’s Cut) plus The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist, introduced by its writer and presenter Mark Kermode, and Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal Apocalypse Now plus Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse with the film’s renowned editor and sound designer Walter Murch. Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, The Wrath of God will run alongside his classic documentary My Best Fiend which explores his tempestuous relationship with actor Klaus Kinski, whilst John Waters’ Female Trouble is shown with I Am Divine.

The Doc/Fest Retrospective this year is dedicated to Shohei Imamura. Known mostly for his fiction films (The Eel, Vengence is Mine) Imamura also made several timeless documentaries that tread the line between documentary and fiction. Regarded as one of the leaders of post-war Japanese cinema, Doc/Fest will present A Man Vanishes, Karayuki-san, the making of a Prostitute, In Search of Returned Soldiers, Malaysia and In Search of Returned Soldiers, Thailand.

Among the feature World Premieres are UK filmmaker Fred Burns’ entertaining Basically, John Moped, about the proto-punk scene of the 1970s. Including interviews with current and ex-Johnny Moped members, including Chrissie Hynde (who was sacked twice) and Captain Sensible (who will attend screening with filmmaker), the film also features archive footage from the Roxy club in Covent Garden, shot by the legendary Don Letts. Samantha Grant’s A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times tells the story of Jayson Blair, a promising, young reporter who incited a plagiarism scandal that brought the New York Times to what publisher Arthur Sulzburger dubbed a “low-point in the 152 year history of the paper.” John Murray and Emer Reynolds’ Here Was Cuba is the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and how in 1962 the earth teetered on the very brink of nuclear holocaust – a timely story with nuclear brinkmanship high on the international agenda today. Yorkshire filmmaker John Lundberg unveils an intricate web of post-war intrigue in Mirage Men. The film follows Paul Benowitz who reported sightings of UFOs to the US Air Force, a call which destroyed his family and eventually landed him in an insane asylum. In Project Wild Thing filmmaker David Bond becomes the Marketing Director for Nature. Children are spending too much time on the sofa and not enough outside, but can David market Nature, a free, wonder-product, to apathetic consumers, and to his own family? In The Secret Life of Uri Geller – Psychic Spy? filmmaker Vikram Jayanti investigates the many hints dropped by controversial spoon-bender Uri Geller about his secret life as a psychic spy for intelligence agencies on three continents over 40 years. And Toby Amies’ The Man Whose Mind Exploded about Drako Oho Zahar Zahar – his wonderful past and extraordinary present, will also receive its World Premiere at Doc/Fest.

Sebastian Junger’s homage to his good friend, Which Way is the Front line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington (EU Premiere), shows how the photographer captured an intimate understanding of wartime aggression through his photography by genuinely befriending the soldiers and rebels he followed. Marina Zenovich’s Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (International Premiere) looks at the legendary comedian’s life and legacy, including exclusive access to widow Jennifer Lee Pryor and the Pryor Estate. Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller (EU Premiere) sensitively probes the divisive issue of late term abortions in America. Shane and Wilson tell the story of the four surviving doctors determined to carry on their work in the wake of the murder of their colleague George Tiller and amidst constant pro-lifer hostilities. Rick Rowley’s cinematic Dirty Wars (EU Premiere) blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction storytelling when he follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller “Blackwater”, into the hidden world of America’s covert wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond.

Doc/Fest will screen the UK Premiere of the director’s cut of The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s extraordinary work which challenges former Indonesian death squad leaders to re-enact their real-life mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.

In other highlights: Greg Camalier’s Muscle Shoals takes us to the small Alabama town with an amazing output of memorable recordings; Jeanie Finlay’s The Great Hip Hop Hoax follows Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain who reinvent themselves as West Coast Homeboys after they were signed by Sony. Kari Ann Moe’s Braveheart (UK Premiere) is a tribute to political diversity. During the 2011 elections in Norway Moe followed four bright and politically engaged teenagers preparing for the youth elections in Oslo’s schools. But the excitement of open debate is shattered in the aftermath of the right wing terror attacks where 77 Labour party youths were cruelly massacred. In 9.79 Sheffield-based filmmaker Daniel Gordon depicts a fascinating period of athletics drug testing in its infancy – the 1988 Seoul Olympics – where steroid abuse became an open secret amongst athletes. In Drill Baby Drill, Lech Kowalski’s probing camera records the farmer rebellion against proposed fracking in Eastern Poland by energy corporation Chevron who intend to develop shale gas mining in Europe. Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier introduces us to a rebellious English farmer in The Moo Man. Steve Hook, with his unruly herd of 55 spirited but stress-free cows, sells raw milk direct to customers while delivering the occasional polemic about the benefits of raw milk, supermarkets and TB. Filmmakers Elena Tikhonova & Dominik Spritzendorfer explore the zany, sonic universe of Soviet era DIY electronic music-making in Electro Moscow (UK Premiere). And in Google and the World Brain, Ben Lewis explores the most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet: Google’s master plan to scan every book in the world. Google says they are building a library for mankind, but others are sceptical about their intentions.

Other titles screening include: Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish, the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity; Roger Williams God Loves Uganda, a powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to change African culture with values imported from America’s Christian Right; Mikka Mattila’s Chimeras weaves the two intersecting tales of contemporary Chinese artists and explores their mutual struggle with their frustrated love for art, family, and country.

Other highlights include Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer which screens as part of Yoko Ono’s Meltdown; Lucy Walker’s Crash Reel in which the acclaimed documentarian delves into the world of U.S snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s recovery and attempts to regain his former sporting life following his near fatal injury at the Montreal Olympics; John Akomfrah’s The Stuart Hall Project which traces how a very bright young Rhodes scholar from colonial Jamaica, became one of Britain’s most eminent thinkers; and Kim Longinotto’s Salma about a young Muslim girl in a South Indian village was kept locked in a small room for 25 years and forbidden to study. Salma started writing poetry on scraps of paper, which she managed to sneak out of the house and eventually found their way into the hands of a publisher.

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Documentary “Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer” to Open 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest

Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s compelling documentary film Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer has been selected to be the Opening Night Film of the 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK.

Filmed over the course of six months, the film tells the incredible story of three young women: Nadya, Masha and Katia. As members of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, they performed a 40 second “punk prayer” – disguised in their now famous colourful balaclavas – inside Russia’s main cathedral, which led to their arrest on charges of religious hatred.

Lerner and Pozdorovkin not only gained unparalleled access and exclusive footage to the trial that reverberated around the world but also observed up close the three young women and their families as they fight back against a justice system that seems impervious to logic.

The 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest will run June 12 – 16, 2013

http://youtu.be/fW92sPezOMs
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“How To Follow Strangers” Set to Open 2013 L.E.S* Film Festival

“How To Follow Strangers” directed by Chioke Nassor and starring Ilana Glazer, co-creator/star of the cult web series, Broad City, will open the 2013 L.E.S* Film Festival on June 13. 2013. The L.E.S* Film Festival shows low budget independent films in all categories: features, shorts, documentaries, experimental, foreign and animation.

“How To Follow Strangers” is the true story of a woman who died in her apartment and it took people a year to find her body decomposing in a crisp Chanel suit. A young man becomes obsessed with this urban tragedy and disappears, wondering if anyone will notice. A young woman who shares his commuting schedule DOES notice. And when he resurfaces, she decides to follow him setting of a chain of events that may eventually bind them together…

The L.E.S* Film Festival runs June 13 – 23rd at Landmark Sunshine Cinemas, Anthology Film Archives, The Crosby St Hotel and other Lower East Side venues in New York City.

How to Follow Strangers: Trailer from Chioke Nassor on Vimeo.
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Full Schedule Released for Rooftop Films 2013 Summer Series

The 2013 Rooftop Films Summer Series held across New York City begins on May 10th with a collection of new short films including Gold Party by Nellie Kluz, a recipient of a grant from the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund; Slomo by Josh Izenberg, winner of the jury award for best short documentary at the 2013 SXSW film festival; and Weighting, directed Brie Larson and Dustin Bowser. The Summer Series will wrap August 15-17 with three screenings, including a special sneak preview of David Lowery’s, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.

Below is the full schedule for the 2013 Summer Series.

2013 Summer Series Schedule

Friday, May 10
This is What We Mean by Short Films (Short Films)
Opening Night of Rooftop Films 17th Annual Summer Series will feature grand stories in little packages, with some of the greatest new short films from all around the world. Shorts will be announced soon.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Saturday, May 11
Frances Ha (Dir. Noah Baumbach)
Frances wants so much more than she has, but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. “Frances Ha” is a modern comic fable in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption. Courtesy of IFC Films.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Friday, May 17
Brothers Hypnotic (Dir. Reuben Atlas) NY Premiere
Free Screening
For the eight members of the electrifying Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, brotherhood is more than an idea, it’s a literal fact, and music is more than something they play. It’s a way of life. Filmmaker Reuben Atlas will be in attendance to introduce the film and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble will perform live following the screening.
Venue: Outdoors at MetroTech Commons, Bridge Street & Johnson Street, Downtown Brooklyn

Saturday, May 18
New York Mayhem (Short Films)
In NYC, you’re always on the edge of adventure. Rooftop heads to the wilds of Industry City (just two subway stops from Manhattan) for local filmmakers’ danger and chaos, dark humor and gritty beauty.
Venue: The rooftops of Industry City, 220 36th Street at 3rd Avenue, Sunset Park

Friday, May 24
Love Hurts (Short Films)
Romantic short films that express the beauty and anguish of love, with animation, drama and dark sexy comedy.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Saturday, May 25
The Kings of Summer (Dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts)
New York Special Screening
“The Kings of Summer” is a unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends – Joe, Patrick and the eccentric and unpredictable Biaggio – who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. Courtesy of CBS Films
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Friday, May 31
Trapped (Short Films)
Short films about people, babies and bunnies trapped in unusual situations, with dark dramas, weird comedies and even more surreal documentaries set to confound and astonish.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Saturday, June 1
The Dirties (Dir. Matt Johnson) NY Premiere
Matt and Owen are best friends, who are constantly bullied by a group they call The Dirties. When an assignment goes awry, the friends hatch a plan to enact revenge on their high school tormentors.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Friday, June 7
That Impending Sense (Short Films)
World-renowned pianist Bruce Levingston performs the Philip Glass’ “Dracula Suite” to presage a night of eerie and mysterious short films.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Saturday, June 8
Twenty Feet From Stardom (Dir. Morgan Neville)
Special Free Sneak Preview
Presented in partnership with the Academy’s Oscars Outdoors series
Meet the unsung heroes behind the greatest music of our time. Special performance by film’s subject Darlene Love. Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Wednesday, June 12
Interface Innovation (Short Films)
Free Screening
A collection of new short films featuring datamoshed moments and postmodem lifestyles, accompanied by new interactive works from the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center and the CITE Game Innovation Lab, both at NYU-Poly
Venue: Outdoors at MetroTech Commons, Bridge Street & Johnson Street, Downtown Brooklyn

Friday, June 14
New York Non-Fiction (Short Films)
Whether you walk into “the city,” or stay in the outer boroughs (or further, in obscure and dangerous places), New York can be an overwhelming place, packed with people hurrying, hustling, huckstering. For some, it may seem apocalyptic (and on one day last October, if not in May, it was apocalyptic). Though the city may be losing some of its local color, there are still hidden corners where rugged urbanity prevails. But one great thing about New York is that no matter how tough its exterior, the core of our denizens know that our real strength is in community, support, and events like these where we can all come together.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Saturday, June 15
Absurd Animation (Short Films)
Outlandish animated creatures in outrageous situations.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Tuesday, June 18
The Central Park Five (Dir. Sarah Burns, Ken Burns, Dave McMahon)
Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, “The Central Park Five” tells the story of how five lives were upended by the rush to judgment by police, a sensationalist media and a devastating miscarriage of justice. Courtesy of Florentine Films.
Venue: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave & E 47th St, Manhattan

Thursday, June 20
Love Letter to the Fog / The Biggest-Smallest (Live Documentary Performance by Sam Green)
Free Screening
Rooftop and River to River present Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green, teaming up with two local musical outfits, the Quavers and yMusic, to create a night of outdoor music and live cinema.
Venue: Pier 15, John Street and the East River, Financial District

Saturday, June 22<
Tiger Tail in Blue (Dir. Frank V. Ross)
“Tiger Tail in Blue” is about a young married couple, Christopher & Melody, that work opposite schedules to remain financially afloat as Chris bangs out his first novel while working nights as a waiter. Never seeing each other is taking its toll, as the two rarely get a chance to engage one another. Chris finds the attention he craves in the past and Brandy, a saucy co-worker.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Tuesday, June 25
The Genius of Marian (Dir. Banker White, Anna Fitch)
Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
An intimate family portrait that explores the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease, the power of art and the meaning of family. “The Genius of Marian” follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease as her son, the filmmaker, documents her struggle to hang on to a sense of self.
Venue: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave & E 47th St, Manhattan

Thursday, June 27
Drinking Buddies (Dir. Joe Swanberg) NY Premiere
Presented in partnership with BAMcinemaFest
Luke and Kate are co-workers at a Chicago brewery where they spend their days drinking and flirting. They’re perfect for each other, except that they’re both in relationships. But you know what makes the line between “friends” and “more than friends” really blurry? Beer. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Venue: Outdoor parking lot at BAMcinématek (Fort Greene), Fulton Street and Ashland Place, Brooklyn

Friday, June 28
Crystal Fairy (Dir. Sebastián Silva) Special Sneak Preview
Presented by Rooftop Films and Indiewire
A hilariously unpredictable comedy about a self-involved young American searching for a secret hallucinogenic cactus in the desert of Chile. Courtesy of IFC Films.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Saturday, June 29
Unexplored America (Shorts Films)
Leading into the 4th of July, Rooftop takes an honest look at authentic Americana, in all its absurd glory.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

Tuesday, July 2
WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL (Dir. Ben Nabors)
Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
William Kamkwamba, a young Malawian, builds a power-generating windmill from junk parts to rescue his family from famine, transforming his life and catapulting him on to the world stage. His fame and success lead him to new opportunities and complex choices about his future, distancing him from the life he once knew.
Venue: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave & E 47th St, Manhattan

Wednesday, July 3
Our Nixon (Dir. Penny Lane)
Free Sneak Preview
Presented with Socrates Sculpture Park.
Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Young, idealistic and dedicated, they had no idea that a few years later they’d all be in prison. “Our Nixon” is an all-archival documentary presenting those home movies for the first time, along with other rare footage, creating an intimate and complex portrait of the Nixon presidency as never seen before. Courtesy of Cinedigm.
Venue: The lawn in Socrates Sculpture Park, 3134 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City

Saturday, July 6
Belleville Baby (Dir. Mia Engberg) NY Premiere
A long distance call from a long lost lover makes her reminisce about their common past. She remembers the spring when they met in Paris, the riots, the vespa and the cat named Baby. A film about love, time and things that got lost along the way.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Monday, July 8
Bending Steel (Dir. David Carroll, produced by Ryan Scafuro)
Free Screening
A remarkable and intimate documentary exploring the lost art of the old time strongman, and one man’s struggle to overcome limitations of body and mind. Featuring a live performance by professional strongmen from the movie prior to the film.
Venue: The Beach in Coney Island, W 12th and the beach, right near Luna Park

Friday, July 12
Sundance Shorts (Short Films)
Highlights from the vital Sundance 2013 selections include wild, weird and wonderful short films that define the genre, at the forefront of cutting edge storytelling.
Venue: The rooftops of Industry City, 220 36th Street at 3rd Avenue, Sunset Park

Saturday, July 13
Brasslands (Dir. Meerkat Media Collective) NY Premiere
Free Screening
Presented by Rooftop Films and Arts Brookfield
Devoted American musicians, Serbian brass heavyweights, and a Gypsy trumpet master collide at the world’s largest trumpet festival.
Venue: Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center), 220 Vesey Street (between West Street and the Hudson River), Financial District

Thursday, July 18
Newlyweeds (Dir. Shaka King)
Special Sneak Preview
Brooklyn residents Lyle and Nina blaze away the stress of living in New York City, but what should be a match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry. Courtesy of Phase 4 Films.
Venue: The roof of Trilok Fusion Center for the Arts, 143 Waverly Avenue at Myrtle Avenue, Clinton Hill

Friday, July 19
i hate myself 🙂 (Dir. Joanna Arnow) World Premiere
Nebbishy NYC filmmaker Joanna Arnow documents her yearlong relationship with racially charged poet-provocateur James Kepple. What starts out as an uncomfortably intimate portrait of a dysfunctional relationship and protracted mid-twenties adolescence, quickly turns into a complex commentary on societal repression, sexuality and self-confrontation through art.
Venue: On the roof of Industry City (882 3rd Ave, Brooklyn)

Saturday, July 20
Short Term 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton)
Special Free Sneak Preview
Presented in partnership with the Academy’s Oscars Outdoors series
“Short Term 12” follows Grace (Brie Larson), a young supervisor at a foster-care facility, as she looks after the teens in her charge and reckons with her own troubled past. Courtesy of Cinedigm.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Thursday, July 25
Towheads (Dir. Shannon Plumb)
Special Sneak Preview
A harried New York mother struggling as an artist searches for a happy (if slightly unhinged) hybrid of the two. In her debut feature, Shannon Plumb’s charming Chaplin-like characters light up the screen with visual playfulness.
Venue: The roof of Trilok Fusion Center for the Arts, 143 Waverly Avenue at Myrtle Avenue, Clinton Hill

Friday, July 26
Animation Block Party
Some call it punk rock, some call it grass roots, but labels aside, NYC-based Animation Block Party is the premier animation festival of the East Coast.
Venue: The lawn of Greenpoint High School for Engineering and Automotive Technology, 50 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg

Saturday, July 27
INDUSTRIANCE ™: Black Out (Short Films)
Hanging on to old habits, hoping for new means, humanity begets change through technology and industry, labor and artistry. A striking program of short films, including Eva Weber’s illuminating documentary “Black Out.”
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Wednesday, July 31
Domestic (Dir. Adrian Sitaru) NY Premiere
Free Screening
Presented with Socrates Sculpture Park.
Wonderfully surreal, painfully real, this is the story of children, adults and animals who live together trying to have a better life, but sometimes death comes unexpectedly. In the bittersweet comedy “Domestic” it is all about us, people who eat the animals that they love and the animals that love people unconditionally.
Venue: The lawn in Socrates Sculpture Park, 3134 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City

<Thursday, August 1
The Expedition to the End of the World (Dir. Daniel Dencik) NY Premiere
A real adventure film – for the 21st century. On a three-mast schooner packed with artists, scientists and ambitions worthy of Noah or Columbus, they set off for the end of the world: the rapidly melting massifs of North-East Greenland.
Venue: The Waterfront Museum aboard the 914 Lehigh Valley Barge #79, In the water at 290 Conover Street, Red Hook

Friday, August 2
North of South, West of East (Dir. Meredith Danluck) NY Premiere
Free screening presented with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Forest City Ratner
The desire to be entertained becomes hyper-realized as Meredith Danluck’s multi-screen installation creates a fully immersive non-linear cinema experience in MetroTech commons. The audience will sit at the center of the viewing space, surrounded on all four sides by screens as all the separate channels of the film play simultaneously, each storyline competing for the audience’s attention. A one-of-a-kind cinema-going experience, North of South, West of East takes the chronic existential crisis that is the American identity and turns it inside out, laying the classic components of comedy, thrill, violence, love and death neatly side by side, all at once.
Venue: Outdoors at MetroTech Commons, Bridge Street & Johnson Street, Downtown Brooklyn

Saturday, August 3
Cutie and the Boxer (Dir. Zachary Heinzerling)
Special Sneak Preview
This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of renowned “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role of assistant to her overbearing husband, Noriko seeks an identity of her own. Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Thursday, August 8
12 O’Clock Boys (Dir. Lotfy Nathan) NY Premiere
Part of Rooftop’s SXSW weekend
Pug, a young boy growing up on a combative West Baltimore block, finds solace in a group of illegal dirt bike riders known as The 12 O’Clock Boys. Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories.
Venue: The lawn of Greenpoint High School for Engineering and Automotive Technology, 50 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg

Friday, August 9
Awful Nice (Dir. Todd Sklar) NY Premiere
Part of Rooftop’s SXSW weekend
Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when their father dies and leaves them the family lake home. A series of hilarious mishaps and costly misadventures follow as they attempt to restore the house and rebuild their relationship.
Venue: The rooftops of Industry City, 220 36th Street at 3rd Avenue, Sunset Park

<Saturday, August 10
Elena (Dir. Petra Costa) NY Premiere
Part of Rooftop’s SXSW weekend
Intimate in style, “Elena” delves into the abyss of one family’s drama, revealing at once the inspiration that can be born from tragedy.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Thursday, August 15
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (Dir. David Lowery)
Special Sneak Preview
“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” tells the tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Courtesy of IFC Films.
Venue: Outdoors at the Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, Queens

Friday, August 16
F— for Forest (Dir. Michal Marczak) NY Premiere
Berlin’s F— for Forest is one of the world’s most bizarre charities: based on the idea that sex can change the world, the NGO raises money for their environmental cause by selling home-made erotic films on the Internet.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

Saturday, August 17
Rooftop Shots (Short Films)
Closing Night! Rooftop concludes with the sharpest shorts in the world, fired into the night sky one last time, the films fading like fireworks.
Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

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“A River Changes Course,” “The Kill Team” Win Top Documentary Film Awards at San Francisco International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3841" align="alignnone" width="550"]A River Changes Course[/caption]

The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, awarded A River Changes Course, by Kalyanee Mam, the Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature at the 2013 festival. Among the many reasons, the festival jury said “This film stood out as an entity in terms of subject matter, beauty of filmmaking, elegance of expression, sensitivity, and representation of the people observed as they observe their own situation.” Recognizing local filmmakers, The Kill Team directed by Dan Krauss was the Bay Area Documentary Feature. The jury noted: “We chose this film due to the importance of its subject matter and its moral complexity.”

Other winners include:

Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners
Documentary Feature: A River Changes Course, Kalyanee Mam (Cambodia/USA 2012)
* Winner receives $20,000 cash prize

[caption id="attachment_3751" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Kill Team[/caption]

Bay Area Documentary Feature: The Kill Team, Dan Krauss (USA 2012)
* Winner receives $15,000 cash prize

[caption id="attachment_3842" align="alignnone" width="550"]Present Tense[/caption]

New Directors Prize: Present Tense, Belmin Sölyemez (Turkey 2012)
* Winner receives $15,000 cash prize

[caption id="attachment_3843" align="alignnone" width="550"]La Sirga[/caption]

Honorable Mention: La Sirga, William Vega (Colombia/France/Mexico 2012),The Cleaner, Adrián Saba (Peru 2012)

[caption id="attachment_3844" align="alignnone" width="550"]Nights with Theodore[/caption]

FIPRESCI Prize: Nights with Theodore, Sébastian Betbeder (France 2012)

Golden Gate Award Short Film Winners
Narrative Short: Ellen Is Leaving, Michelle Savill (New Zealand 2012)
* Winner receives $5,000 cash prize

Documentary Short: Kings Point, Sari Gilman (USA 2012)
* Winner receives $5,000 cash prize
Special Jury Prize: Home, Thomas Gleeson (New Zealand 2012)

Animated Short: Kali the Little Vampire, Regina Pessoa (Canada/France 2012)
* Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

Bay Area Short, First Prize: 3020 Laguna St. In Exitum, Ashley Rodholm, Joe Picard (USA 2013)
* Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

Bay Area Short, Second Prize: More Real, Jonn Herschend (USA 2012)
* Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

New Visions: Salmon, Alfredo Covelli (Israel/Italy 2012)
* Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

Family Film: Luminaris, Juan Pablo Zaramella (Argentina 2012)
* Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

Family Film Honorable Mention: I’m Going to Mum’s, Lauren Jackson (New Zealand 2012), Jonah and the Crab, Laurel Cohen (USA 2012)

Youth Work: The Dogmatic, Lance Oppenheim (USA 2012)
* Winner receives $1,500 cash prize
Youth Work Honorable Mention: Last Stop Livermore, Nat Talbot (USA 2012)

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