Film Festivals

WORLD WAR Z starring Brad Pitt Opens 35th Moscow International Film Festival

Brad Pitt attends the “World War Z” Screening during the Moscow International Film Festival at Pushkinsky Cinema on June 20, 2013 in Moscow, Russia.

The 35th Moscow International Film Festival kicked off on Thursday, June 20, 2013 with the opening gala premiere of Marc Forster’s WORLD WAR Z starring Brad Pitt. The film revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.

The complete lineup of feature films in competition include:

MATTERHORN dir. Diederik Ebbinge, Netherlands, 2013, 87’

In a small religious village leads Fred a lonely existence. His wife has died and he has lost contact with his son. The only thing he does is go to church and talk with the neighbors. When a stranger suddenly pops up in the village, Fred is getting the color back in his life.

DROGÓWKA (TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT) , dir. Wojtek Smarzowski, Poland, 2013, 118′

The story of seven policemen who are colleagues as well as friends, sharing a fondness for parties, sports cars, and business. Their enclosed world seems to be running smoothly. Everything changes after one of them dies under mysterious circumstances. Sergeant Ryszard Królis accused of murder. Trying to clear his name, he discovers the truth about criminalties in the top ranks of government.

SPAGHETTI STORY dir. Ciro de Caro, Italy, 83’, 2013

Nowadays, four Italian young adults longing to change their lives, yet stuck upon the shelf: Valerio and Kookie, dreaming of their big break, yet still not being independent; Giovanna and Serena, pretending to be adult, yet never having dared to live. Then, the encounter with Mei Mei, a young Chinese prostitute, shines a light on the truth: the gain of one’s freedom is, above all, an inside job.

ROL’ (The Role), dir. Konstantin Lopushansky, Russia, 2013, 132’

The Role is about a brilliant actor in revolutionary Russia who takes on the greatest role of his life – the role of another man. Influenced by the ideas of symbolism and the Silver Age, he decides to slip into the life of his doppelganger – a revolutionary leader in the new Soviet Russia. First intrigued, then obsessed, he flings himself into the role and lives it to the hilt… even when the play of the life he is writing heads towards a tragic finale. Based on true incidents in the lives of Russia’s symbolists, this gripping film explores how far one man will go for the role of a lifetime.

LOS CHICOS DEL PUERTO dir. Alberto Morais, Spain, 78’, 2013

Miguel makes the journey that his grandfather cannot make because he is locked up by his own family. The mission is very simple, go to a funeral and leave an army jacket on the grave of an old man, a friend of his grandfather. Miguel, accompanied by Lola and Guillermo, leaves that island of cement that is the Nazareth neighborhood. He wanders the outskirts of Valencia, looking for a cemetery and faces a deserted city.

ZERRE (PARTICLE), dir., Erdem Tepegöz , Turkey, 2012, 80

How much space does Zeynep take up in this vast universe? This is a city brimming with the struggling and the unemployed; aren’t their lives a bit like the infinite, tiny particles flying through the air? Zeynep is already trying hard to make ends meet when she gets fired from her job at a textile mill. The Particle follows her as she searches for a job. We follow her in and out of workspaces. Zeynep’s world – the streets and homes in Tarlabaşı – are dark and suffocating.

ROSIE dir. Marsel Gisler, Switzerland, 106’, 2013

Lorenz Meran, a successful gay author suffering acute writers’ block, has to leave Berlin and return to eastern Switzerland to provide care for his aged mother, Rosie. When he finds himself confronted with the fact that fun-loving Rosie refuses both outside assistance and a care home, he discovers that he is stuck fast in his small home town of Altstätten. But it is not only his mother’s battle against being dictated to and losing her dignity that he is struggling with. It’s also his own midlife crisis. And when long-kept secrets are suddenly revealed under the tensions of family dynamics, Lorenz almost fails to notice that love is knocking on the front door of his parent’s house…

SAYONARA KEIKOKU (THE RAVINE OF GOODBYE), dir. Tatsushi Ômori Japan,2013, 117’

In a valley, with a dense growth of trees, a baby is killed. The baby’s mother Satomi is arrested as the prime suspect. The police also learn that Satomi is involved in a romantic relationship with her next door neighbor Ozaki. The information was provided by the neighbor’s lover Kanako. Meanwhile, magazine reporter Watanabe, who is covering the story, discovers the shocking fact that Ozaki was involved in a rape case 15 years ago. Even more shocking, the victim in the rape case is Kanako.

KOMA (DISORDER), dir.Archil Kavtaradze, Georgia , 2013, 90’

A young man is arrested and put into prison for a car accident. His two victims in a coma get into a hospital. The director from his own tragic experience shows us the reverse side of Georgia. Where is the edge to cruelty and sadism, how much can a person bear in a world of absurd injustice and total ridicule? What can you do when you confront the system?

SKOLZHENIYE (SLIDE), dir. Anton Rozenberg, Russia, 2013, 117

The main characters of “Slide” are above the law. They are a group of police investigators wallowed in criminal activities. But the up-and-running criminal scheme worked out by the experienced team begins to fail. There appears to be a mole reporting directly to the FSB. When Pepel finds himself in a life-threatening situation he starts thinking about his existence for the first time ever. Once he begins to think he can’t go back to his former self. The team begin to suspect that he is the mole. The former co-workers turn into mortal enemies.

L’AUTRE VIE DE RICHARD KEMP (Back in Crime), director: Germinal Alvarez, 2013, 102’

When Police Captain Richard Kemp investigates a murder, strange similarities to the case bring to mind Pierced Ear, a serial killer who he hunted in vain at the beginning of his career. His only witness is Hélène Batistelli. But a mysterious event sends Kemp back twenty years into the past, to May 1989, the day before the first murder was carried out by Pierced Ear. Kemp tries once again to stop murders from taking place, but a young cop complicates things for him: this ambitious detective is none other but himself, twenty years younger… Hélène, who knows nothing about him, will cross his path…

MAMAROŠ dir. Momčilo Moma Mrdaković , Serbia, Germany, France, Hungary 105′, 2013

Middle-aged cinephile and film projectionist Pera still lives with his mother – and best friend – Mara, in Belgrade. It’s 1999 and when NATO bombs start raining down on Serbia, the two of them become refugees. After a surreal journey, they end up in New York, where Pera realizes that he can no longer do the old job he loved so much. While he and Mara were struggling to survive, the new age of digital projection was born. Then Pera stumbles upon some discarded projectors and his new mission in life becomes clear: he will travel around and show people the magic of Real Cinema – the magic that can only be created by celluoid, mechanical projectors, the silver screen and flickering light.

LEBANON EMOTION director Young-heun Jung, 106′, 2013

A man chases a woman. She runs by and then meets another man. The film shows desolate sights. The director’s intention to show indescribable emotions comes up in the frames.

IUDA (JUDAS) director: Andrey Bogatyryov, 108’, 2013

Judas, a seasoned thief, finds himself in the market square where Christ is giving a sermon and his apostles are collecting alms. He follows them and steals their money, only to be caught red-handed. Nevertheless, the Teacher forgives him. What is more, He invites the thief to become one of His followers and offers him a position as the group’s treasurer. Shocked by Christ’s unexpected offer, Judas decides to join the apostles, if only to figure out what is going on. He gradually starts to comprehend Christ’s message, but feels that the apostles are blindly following their teacher. Judas argues with them, and tries to defend his right to divine the truth of God. But when he fails to make them understand, he realizes that Christ’s teachings may sink into oblivion without benefiting humanity. His solution is to betray Christ. “By killing a man, have I not saved a God?”

A MEMÓRIA QUE ME CONTAM (Memories they told me) Director Lúcia Murat Brasil, 100’, 2012

An ironic drama about defeated utopias, terrorism, sexual behavior and the creation of a myth. A group of friends, who resisted the military dictatorship, and their children will face the conflict between the daily life of today and the past when one of them is dying.

DELIGHT Director Gareth Jones , UK, 101’, 2013

Echo goes looking for her one-time lover and comrade-in-arms, only to fall into a passionate relationship with his son. But sexual abandon triggers the unravelling of a trauma she has long buried for the sake of her children, which now threatens to tear their lives apart. Can eros bring a healing of trauma, or merely its repetition?

The complete lineup of documentary films in competition include:

AND WHO TAUGHT YOU TO DRIVE Director: Andrea Thiele Germany, 84’, 2012

Driving through traffic at home is already stressful enough. Now imagine driving a car in a completely foreign country. Mirela, moving from Germany to India, Jake moving from the USA to Japan and South Korean Hye-Won living in Germany are facing the same problem: they are all forced to obtain a new local driver’s license. Driving lessons soon become lessons in life when our protagonists discover that getting through the day will involve much more than just obeying the rules of the road in their host country.

HOLOCAUST – IS IT A WALLPAPER PASTE? Director: Mumin Shakirov Russia, 56’, 2013

The Karatygin sisters received what many young people dream about – to become famous. This is why they came to participate in a MUZ-TV programme “The Utterly Stunning”. This quiz show usually does not cover topics one would have during exams and unexpectedly the girls were asked what the word “Holocaust” meant. The girls replied that it was some paste for wall paper. This episode of the show received an enormous number of clicks on YouTube and raised a lot of questions about the education in Russia and about the girls themselves. After meeting the girls the author of the film got an idea to arrange a trip for them to Auschwitz in Poland.

THE GENIUS OF MARIAN Director: Banker White Co-director Anna Fritch USA, 84’, 2013

The Genius of Marian follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Her son, the filmmaker, works with her as she attempts to write a book that tributes her mother, the renowned artist Marian Steele. As Pam’s family comes together to support her, they must also prepare for the new reality that Alzheimer’s disease brings.

OJCIEC I SYN Father and son Director: Paweł Łoziński Poland, 58’, 2013

My father and I get into an old camper and head for Paris where, 23 years ago, he dispersed his mother’s ashes in the Luxembourg Garden. Our trip will take two weeks. We’re both documentary filmmakers so we’ve decided to make a film recording the journey. We stop at camper parks or gas stations for the night. We each have a camera to keep the conditions fair and so we’re both the directors and protagonists at the same time. My father is 70, I am 44. We discuss various things – family history, difficult past, my father’s divorces. Any question is allowed. The journey is a pretext to get to know each other a little better. A cinematic-psychological experiment about the father-son relationship. Once in the editing room, will we be able to create a single version that would be acceptable to both?

THE CONDEMNED Director Nick Read Producer Mark Franchetti UK, Russia, 80’, 2013

The film takes viewers into the hidden world of one of Russia’s most impenetrable and remote institutions: Penal Colony 56, a maximum security prison exclusively for murderers. Its 260 inmates have collectively killed nearly 800 people. The documentary delves into the mind and soul of six main characters: The contract killer whose family believed he worked in the oil business. The hard man who has spent more than forty years behind bars. The murderer of six who, by his own admission, is too vicious to ever be let out again. The “downcast” – a killer whose hand even other murderers will not shake. The inmate who, after 20 years in jail, now fears freedom. In charge of the mad and the bad is the prison’s hard line governor, who after 26 years, has been at the penal colony longer than any inmate.

THE CRASH REEL Director: Lucy Walker USA, 109′, 2013

U.S. champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce was at the top of his sport in 2009 when he suffered massive head trauma while training for the 2010 Winter Olympics. What begins as a documentary of a daring and tireless athlete working to become the new face of a growing sport, quickly becomes a chronicle of a young man’s brave journey towards rehabilitation and the understanding of his own limits.

THE DARK MATTER OF LOVE Director: Sarah McCarthy UK, 93’, 2013

Eleven year old Masha Kulabokhova is about to be adopted into fourteen year old Cami Diaz’s family. Masha grew up in a Russian orphanage; Cami was born and raised in Wisconsin and has been the exclusive focus of her parents’ love her whole life. The Dark Matter of Love follows Masha as she leaves Russia to the spend her first year as part of the Diaz family, who have also adopted five year old twin boys Marcel and Vadim. When the reality of bonding with children who have grown up in institutions turns out to be more difficult than they ever imagined, the Diaz’s hire two of the world’s best developmental psychologists to help them build their new family – through science.
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TaorminaFilmFest Pays Tribute to James Gandolfini

TaorminaFilmFest released a statement today on behalf of actor James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack yesteday in Italy. Gandolfini was in Italy to attend the 59th TaorminaFilmFest. In a statement on it’s website, the festival said that Gandolfini had been confirmed to attend the TaorminaFilmFest on June 22 to preside over a TaoClass that the festival dedicated to what it calls “the great interpreters of film and television” and to receive the Taormina City Prize.

Mario Sesti editorial director of Taormina FilmFest and Tiziana Rocca general manager said they had spoken to the actor just a few hours before his death, and that he was very happy to receive the award and visit Italy. “He was the American actor that better than anyone else has been able to interpret the Italian-American with his personality full of contrasts, ambition, pain, humor. He was the face representative of the golden age of television, but also an actor of memorable cinema. We are organizing in this time a tribute that the Taormina FilmFest will dedicate to his career and talent.”

The TaorminaFilmFest continues through Saturday, June 22, 2013 in Taormina, Italy.
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Durban International Film Festival Announces 2013 Film Lineup incl Focus on African Films, American Indies and Films About Sexual Identity

Closing Night Film – Free Angela

From July 18 to 28, 2013, Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) in South Africa, will feature over 250 screenings, including 72 feature films, 48 documentaries and 45 short films. As part of its African Focus this year’s festival will open with ‘ground-breaking African-noir work’ Of Good Report by filmmaker-on-the-rise Jahmil XT Qubeka. Telling the story of a serial killer obsessed with beautiful young girls, the film expands the language of African cinema. The festival’s closing film acknowledges Angela Davis, an important figure in the African diaspora, with the film Free Angela – and all political prisoners, directed by Shola Lynch.

High-profile South African films being showcased include Layla Fourie (which received its world premier at Berlin earlier this year), The Forgotten Kingdom which is set in the movingly beautiful landscape of Lesotho, Felix, which tells the story of a young township boy intent following his dreams of being a musician, and The Good Man, an intriguing look at a globalised reality.

Other local films include Everyman’s Taxi Ian Robert’s anarchic celebration of the new South Africa, Andrew Worsdale’s long-awaited Durban Poison and Khumba, the latest outing from Cape Town animation studio Triggerfish that won best South African film at DIFF 2012 for Adventures in Zambezia and has gone on to widespread commercial success around the world. Blood Tokolosh tells the disturbing story of a man who finds himself under the spell of the mythical Southern African creature, while Angel of the Sky reprises the role of South African pilots during the second world war. Actorholic comes from Oliver Rodger, who gave us last year’s Copposites, and African Gothic is a US/South African co-production based on the Reza de Wet play Diepe Grond.

From further afield, DIFF 2013 presents a number of cinematic gems, most of which are engaged in expanding the language of African cinema while dealing with significant issues around life on the continent. Tall As The Baobab Tree, from Senegal, tells the story of a poor couple who try to sell their daughter off into a forced marriage. Yema, from Algeria, tells the metaphoric story of a how a mother’s relationship with her sons is defined by war and violence, while Virgin Margarida chronicles a dark chapter in Mozambican history. The Battle Of Tabato is a fascinating blend of history, music and surrealism while Le Presidente bends the form of the fiction film while asking fascinating questions. Something Necessary chronicles an intimate moment in the lives of two people from very different sides of history, while It’s Us deals with tribalised violence in Kenya with hope and vibrancy.

This year’s program also showcases films of contemporary Europe and includes the new Sally Potter film Ginger and Rosa which tells the story of two close friends during the liberal years of the 1960s. The Look of Love is the new film from DIFF regular Michael Winterbottom while Me and You is the first film in more than a decade from master filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci.

American Independents includes Wrong the latest film from Quentin Dupieux who gave us the DIFF cult-hit Rubber in 2011 and Spring Breakers from Harmony Korine, the enfant terrible of American independent cinema. Francine tells the small and delicately drawn story of a socially inept woman who has just come of out prison, while The Place Beyond the Pines is the highly anticipated new drama from director Derek Cianfrance who gave us Blue Valentine.

This year DIFF acknowledges the wide diversity of sexual identities with films from Dennis Cotes drama Vic+Flo Saw a Bear which chronicles the relationship between an ex-convict and her much younger lover to the documentary Valentine Road which provides a sociological post-mortem on the death of a young transgender boy to Interior. Leather Bar which examines contemporary masculinity through reconstructing a censored scene from the 1980 Al Pacino film Cruising, DIFF 2013 explores a very broad continuum of sexuality. Laurence Anyways tells the sprawling but immaculately rendered tale of a transgendered man and her female lover. Dust presents a diverse group of siblings forced to confront their unfulfilled lives while Two Mothers portrays the difficult involved in a gay couple adopting a child in progressive Germany.

In keeping with a broad acceptance of diversity, DIFF’s focus includes not only GLBT sexuality but also an exploration of heterosexuality in films such It Felt Like Love in which a young girl is determined to lose her virginity and The Future in which a young girl becomes a sexual companion to a blind former action hero. Una Noche tells of two Cuban boys, one of whom has unrequited feelings for the other, as they attempt to escape across the ocean to Miami.

Documentaries that deal with sexuality gender include Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer, I Am Divine a biopic about the gender-bending singer and artist Divine and Born This Way, about the lives of gay and lesbian people in Cameroon. Then there is the short film Atlantic Avenue which deals with the sexual attraction between a young man and a physically challenged woman.

DIFF 2013 will showcase a selection of films from the current Zombie wave, and headlining this area is the remake of the Evil Dead which conforms in many ways to the classic zombie genre, as does Zombie Fever 3D, one of the first zombie films from Russia. On a more serious note, there’s the slow, mournful and thoroughly beautiful Halley which tells of a man whose body is rotting away. Frankenstein’s Army tells of a secret Nazi lab in which all manner of strange machines have been stitched together with human bodies. Then there’s Harold’s Going Stiff, an ultra-dry British zombie comedy with a big heart.

In addition, DIFF 2013 will screen a host of award-winning films from around the world, including works from many of contemporary cinema’s great masters. From Chinese director Wong Kar Wai comes The Grandmaster, which opened Berlin earlier this year, while Canadian director David Cronenberg descends once more into the darkness with Cosmopolis based on the Don deLillo novel. Takeshi Kitano, the king of stylised violence, delivers Outrage Beyond, while the enigmatic Closed Curtain comes from banned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Deepa Mehta gives us a gorgeously sprawling rendition of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children while Danish dogma director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt will chill you to the bone. Then there’s the exciting news that Ashgar Farhadi, whose A Separation won both the best Foreign Picture Oscar this year as well as best film at DIFF, returns with his latest film The Past.

In addition to the best fiction features from around the world, DIFF 2013 has a wealth of documentaries to satisfy a broad spectrum of tastes and interests, including a strong selection from South Africa. Riaan Hendrick’s The Devil’s Lair transports us deep into a claustrophobic drug den on the Cape Flats, while celebrated local documentary-maker Damon Foster gives us a window into the lives of crocodiles with Touching The Dragon. Angels in Exile is a moving documentary about two proud yet impoverished children who live on the streets of Durban and The Creators pays tribute to the creative power of South Africa’s youth, including acclaimed graffiti artist Faith 47. From further afield, Drama Consult tells the cannily directed story of Nigerian entrepreneurs heading to Europe to explore the possibilities of economic co-operation, while African Metropolis is a collection of short slices of reality from around the continent. The Spirit of 45, from British feature director Ken Loach looks at the enduring influence of the labour movement during the war years while More Than Honey looks at the importance of maintaining the earth’s bee population. Algorithms presents the riveting story of blind chess players in India and Fidai is a very personal story set against the Algerian battle for independence.

For the ninth year, DIFF partners with Wavescape to screen films focusing on surfing cinema and shark stories. Bending Colors (Jordy Smith) chronicles the rise South Africa’s prodigal son who goes from teen sensation to world super star. In Revolution true life adventurer Rob Stewart goes on a mission to reveal the rapidly deteriorating circle of life on planet earth while The Heart and the Sea is a soulful and unpretentious tribute to the surf lifestyle. Other Wavescape films, including Immersion, Desert Rebels and Water From the Moon, take us around the world for some of the sickest waves on the planet.

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THE ACT OF KILLING and PARTICLE FEVER Among Award Winners at 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest

THE ACT OF KILLING directed by Joshua Oppenheimer

THE ACT OF KILLING directed by Joshua Oppenheimer won the Special Jury Award, and shared the 2013 Audience Award for Best Feature with PARTICLE FEVER directed by Mark Levinson at the 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest. In the documentary THE ACT OF KILLING, produced by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog, the unrepentant former members of Indonesian death squads are challenged to re-enact some of their many murders in the style of the American movies they love. PARTICLE FEVER follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start-up of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet, pushing the edge of human innovation.

The Complete 2013 SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST AWARD WINNERS RECAP

Inspiration Award: Nick Fraser
Special Jury Award: The Act of Killing (Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, Den/Nor/UK). MEETMARKET PITCHED.
Special mention to Mothers (Xu Huijing, China 2013, 68mins)
Sheffield Youth Jury Award: God Loves Uganda (Dir. Roger Ross Williams, USA). MEETMARKET PITCHED.
Sheffield Innovation Award: Alma, a Tale of Violence (Dirs: Miquel Dewever-Plana & Isabelle Fougère, France). MEETMARKET PITCHED.
Sheffield Green Award: Pandora’s Promise (Dir. Robert Stone, USA).
Special mention to Fuck For Forest (Dir. Michal Marczak, Germany)
Sheffield Student Doc Award: Boys (Dir. Marc Williamson, UK)
Sheffield Short Doc Award: Slomo (Dir. Josh Izenberg, USA)
The Tim Hetherington Award presented by Sheffield Doc/Fest and Dogwoof: The Square (Al Midan) (Dir. Jehane Noujaim, Egypt/USA)
The EDA award for Best Female-Director awarded by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Inc. Rafea Solar Mama. (Dirs. Mona Eldaief, Jehane Noujaim, Jord/USA/Den/India)

2013 Audience Award for Best Feature: The Act Of Killing (Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark) and Particle Fever (Dir. Mark Levinson. USA)
2013 Audience Award for Best Short Documentary: Slomo (Dir. Josh Izenberg, USA) and Solipsist Part 1 (Andrew Huang, UK)
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ONLY GOD FORGIVES Starring Ryan Gosling Wins Sydney Film Prize at Sydney Film Festival

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

ONLY GOD FORGIVES, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn won the Sydney Film Festival‘s prestigious Sydney Film Prize. Starring Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm, ONLY GOD FORGIVES is described as a brutal and stylish story of betrayal, rage and redemption set in the Thai underworld. This is the second time Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has won the Sydney Prize, previously winning it in 2009 with the British prison thriller Bronson.

“I am very honoured and extremely excited to have received this honorable award from a country that in my opinion has one of the great film histories of the world,” said Nicolas Winding Refn.

BUCKSKIN directed by Dylan McDonald

The FOXTEL Australian Documentary Prize was awarded to BUCKSKIN, directed by Dylan McDonald. The film documents the work of Adelaide resident Jack Buckskin, who is on a mission to renew a once-extinct language and to inspire a new generation to connect with the land and culture of his ancestors.

The Foxtel jury also gave a special mention to MISS NIKKI AND THE TIGER GIRLS, directed by Juliet Lamont, and highly commended Steven McGregor’s BIG NAME NO BLANKET.

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Documentary “THE TALE OF AN PHUC HOUSE” About Vietnamese Victims of Vietnam War Agent Orange to World Premiere at NYIFF

[caption id="attachment_4138" align="alignnone" width="550"]THE TALE OF AN PHUC HOUSE[/caption]

The documentary film “THE TALE OF AN PHUC HOUSE” which follows the everyday lives of twenty disabled children – third generation victims of the Agent Orange warfare that occurred during the Vietnam War ( 1963-1973), has its World Premiere at the 2013 New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) where it is nominated for NYCIFF’s Best Feature Documentary Film.

Directed by Ivan Tankushev, known for his work in animation on shows such as Arthur and Family Guy, the film is described as an objective video tale about the simple life of twenty exceptional young adults – living in a small house near Saigon. In the past six years under the supervision of their adopted father, those children, surviving and living with dignity and pride – an amazing example for anyone with similar physical conditions.

Mr. Quang -“The Father”, founded “An Phuc” in 2006 with the intention to create jobs and find a roof tor those physically disabled boys and girls – most of whom are a third generation Vietnamese , claimed or awaiting to be recognize as Agent Orange victims. Not an easy task to certified those children with such an official Governmental recognition; nor small financial, mental and physical responsibility to take care of them. Nevertheless, in the past six years Mr.Quang is doing just that. He not only dedicates his everyday life to those disables young adults but helps them to become self-respected, financially independent and better human beings.

http://youtu.be/IYWPZIr5uvc
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Top 10 Film Picks of 2013 LA Film Festival

Los Angeles Film Festival opened on Thursday night, June 13, 2013, with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’M SO EXCITED! and runs through Sunday June 23, 2013. The festival will screen nearly 200 feature films, shorts and music videos, and we selected 10 independent narrative films and documentary films from very talented directors, some who might otherwise be overlooked. So here we go 10 films at the 2013 LA Film Festival that definitely deserve a look.

Narrative Feature Film

Forev – USA
(DIRECTORS/WRITERS Molly Green, James Leffler PRODUCERS Stephanie Dziczek, Meg Charlton CAST Noël Wells, Matt Mider, Amanda Bauer)

On a spur of the moment road trip, new friends Sophie and Pete hatch a misguided plan to get hitched. Refreshingly funny and intelligent, this coming-of-age romantic comedy delightfully contemplates how and with whom we fall in love. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/bO3Ws3AKaa4

Forty Years From Yesterday – USA
(DIRECTORS Robert Machoian, Rodrigo OjedaBeck WRITER Robert Machoian PRODUCERS Nick Case, Ryan Watt, Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck CAST Bruce Graham, Suzette Graham, Robert Eddington, Wyatt Eddington, Matt Valdez, Chelsea Word, Elizabeth Overton, Rebekah Mott)

Grief quietly reverberates through a family after a man discovers his wife of forty years has unexpectedly passed away. Filmmakers Rodrigo Ojeda-Beckand and Robert Machoian make their feature directorial debut with this quietly powerful examination of love and loss. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/1SbzJi6RVzI

The House That Jack Built – USA
(DIRECTOR Henry Barrial WRITER Joseph Vasquez PRODUCERS Michael Lieber, Sam Kitt, Hitesh Patel CAST E.J. Bonilla, Melissa Fumero, Leo Minaya, Saundra Santiago, John Herrera, Flor De Liz Perez, Rosal Colon)

[caption id="attachment_4126" align="alignnone" width="550"]The House That Jack Built[/caption]

Complications ensue when street-smart, cash-rich Jack fulfills his fantasy of housing his extended family in a single Bronx apartment complex. E.J. Bonilla heads a dynamic Caribbean-Latino ensemble in this riveting hot house drama. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/Rl_Eh-RDpYg

My Sisterʼs Quinceañera – USA
(DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER Aaron Douglas Johnston CAST Silas Garcia, Samantha Rae Garcia, Becky Garcia, Tanner McCulley, Nicole Streat, Elizabeth Agapito, Josefina Garcia)

[caption id="attachment_4127" align="alignnone" width="550"]My Sisterʼs Quinceañera[/caption]

This lovely naturalistic film focuses on a Latino family in Iowa. The teenage Silas may be the man of the house, but he wears that responsibility lightly, searching for more from his life than the small town mischief he gets into with his best friend. North American Premiere

http://youtu.be/YdSMWQEtPJ4

Pollywogs – USA
(DIRECTORS Karl Jacob, T. Arthur Cottam WRITER Karl Jacob PRODUCERS Karl Jacob, Tracy Utley, Michael Prall CAST Karl Jacob, Kate Lyn Sheil, Jennifer Prediger, Larry Mitchell)

[caption id="attachment_4128" align="alignnone" width="550"]Pollywogs[/caption]

Utterly deflated after a breakup, Dylan splits the city for a well-timed family reunion. Writer/director/star Karl Jacobʼs endearing, witty tale about the search for second chances is gorgeously set against the pristine Minnesota woods of his own hometown. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/XTumZoAoRNY

Documentary Feature Films

All of Me – USA
(DIRECTOR Alexandra Lescaze PRODUCERS Alexandra Lescaze, Deborah Eve Lewis)

[caption id="attachment_4129" align="alignnone" width="550"]All of Me[/caption]

The women of the BBW (Big Beautiful Women) Club celebrate being overweight, and the men who love them don’t want them to change. But what happens when the group decides to undergo weight loss surgery? This startlingly intimate documentary raises fascinating questions about obesity, identity and sexuality. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/VISoaE86U9g

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs – USA
(DIRECTOR Grace Lee PRODUCERS Grace Lee, Caroline Libresco, Austin Wilkin)

Tenacious 97 year old Asian-American Grace Lee Boggs was an unlikely star of the African-American movement. She looks back on her remarkable (and ongoing) lifetime of activism, dedicated to the possibility of a more just future for us all. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/xNTDB_mBTeA

Llyn Foulkes One Man Band – USA
(DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS Tamar Halpern, Chris Quilty FEATURING Llyn Foulkes, Dennis Hopper, George Hermes, Paul Schimmel, Johnny Carson)

[caption id="attachment_4130" align="alignnone" width="550"]Llyn Foulkes One Man Band [/caption]

At 78 years of age, the brilliant, iconoclastic artist Llyn Foulkes, is still fighting the art world and his own demons as he feverishly creates–and then destroys and recreates–deep, three-dimensional paintings that mirror back his personal and artistic obsessions. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/O3aGdoNP7xU

My Stolen Revolution – Sweden
(DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER Nahid Persson Sarvestani FEATURING Nahid Persson Sarvestani, Parvaneh Aref, Nazli Partovi, Monireh Baradaran, Azar Aal-Kanaan)

[caption id="attachment_4131" align="alignnone" width="550"]My Stolen Revolution[/caption]

Thirty years after narrowly escaping Iran and impending imprisonment during The 1979 revolution, filmmaker and activist Nahid Persson Sarvestani sets out to find the friends she left behind. Through the harrowing stories of the women who were not as fortunate as she, Persson is led to her own redemption. North American Premiere

http://youtu.be/8haBngppLzQ

The New Black – USA
(DIRECTOR Yoruba Richen PRODUCERS Yoruba Richen, Yvonne Welbon)

[caption id="attachment_4132" align="alignnone" width="550"]The New Black[/caption]

In this timely documentary, filmmaker Yoruba Richen questions the assumptions about homophobia in the African-American community, setting off an impassioned conversation about gay rights, family history, the role of the Church and the legacy of the civil rights movement. World Premiere

http://youtu.be/GX4XiTSuuF0

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US Film “THE SHARK’S FIN’ Take The Top Prize at New Zealand Mountain Film Festival

The New Zealand Mountain Film Festival announced this year’s program and competition winners; “THE SHARK’S FIN” took the Grand Prize of US$1000 and winner of the Best New Zealand film award went to the film Flow Hunters.

Festival goers will participate in awarding the ‘Peoples Choice’ award during the festival, which runs July 5th to 9th in Wanaka and on July 13th to 14th in Queenstown.

Film Winners:

Grand Prize US$1000
The Shark’s Fin – 25 minutes, by Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen, Josh Lowell, Renan Ozturk, Shannon Ethridge, USA
Legendary alpinist Conrad Anker nurtured a 20 year obsession with The Shark’s Fin, a spectacular unclimbed granite buttress on the 6,310 meter Mt. Meru, in India. In 2008 Anker, with Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk, endured a grueling 18 day push to get within hundreds of feet of the summit, only to be turned back. Three years later, the trio makes tough decision to return

Best New Zealand made Film; The Hiddleston/MacQueen Award NZ$1000
Flow Hunters -24 minutes, NZ, By Jon Forder & Ben Brown
Follow Ben Brown on a 35 day kayak adventure that spans both islands of NZ, see them travel over 8000km, paddle for 24 days and descend 17 rivers. This adventure would lead them to the discovery of remote, new kayaking frontiers. These rivers would demand their humility, but would yield so much achievement and peace in return.

Best Film on Climbing US$200.
Honnold 3.0 – 32 minutes, USA, By Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell, Nick Rosen & Alex Lowther
Alex Honnold has become known as the boldest soloist of his generation. In this dangerous game, how does he balance pure ambition with self-preservation? From highball boulder first ascents to 5.13 free solos, from far-flung trad climbing adventures, to speed records on The Nose, Honnold wrestles with this question in preparation for his biggest adventure yet – the Yosemite Triple.

Best Film on Adventurous Sports and Lifestyles US$200.
One Step Beyond – 57 minutes, by Sébastien Montaz-Rosset, France, subtitles
Géraldine Fasnacht, a world-renowned snowboarder and base jumper, invites us into the small and close-knit community of today’s real life supermen – wingsuit flyers. We join her on a roller coaster ride across the full spectrum of human emotions, catapulting from total euphoria to devastating loss, living life at full force and in glorious technicolor.

Best Film on Mountain Culture and Environment US$200.
Stand – 46 minutes. Canada, By Anthony Bonello.
A Calgary-based oil and gas company has proposed the construction of a 1,170 km pipeline running from Alberta’s tar sands to Kitimat on British Columbia’s west coast. Follow stand up paddle boarders and surfers in the area as they highlight the cultural, sporting and environmental importance of this area.

Best Short Film (15 minutes or less) US$200.
Cascada – 8 minutes, USA, By Anson Fogel & Skip Armstrong
Follow kayakers as they hunt the remote Mexican jungle for the perfect waterfall and the perfect shot. Paddler and cinematographers alike explore a world beyond the expected with the most amazing scenery captured in spectacular clarity.

Best Snow Sports Film US$200.
Further – 26 minutes, Director: Jeremy Jones, USA
Follow Jeremy Jones as he explores some of the world’s most remote terrain while camping deep in the backcountry. His hard work pays off when it leads to clean lines down near-vertical spines and into epic powder bowls. Jones is leading the way in terms of selfpropelled access to some of the most magnificent snow on earth.

People’s Choice
Chosen during the festival
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Human Rights Watch Film Festival Returns to NYC, Opens with Documentary on Tim Hetherington on June 13

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to New York from June 13 to 23, 2013 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the IFC Center. Eighteen documentaries and two fiction films will be featured, including 15 New York premieres. The festival kicks off on June 13 with the HBO documentary Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington.

Traditional values and human rights is one of four themes for this year’s festival — incorporating women’s rights, disability rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The other themes are crises and migration; a focus on Asia; and human rights in the United States.

The festival will launch on June 13 with a fundraising Benefit Night for Human Rights Watch featuring the HBO documentary Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington. The film is Sebastian Junger’s moving tribute to his lost friend and Restrepo co-director, the photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed while covering the Libyan civil war in 2011. The main program will kick off onJune 14 with the Opening Night presentation of Oscar-winning filmmaker Freida Mock’sANITA, in which Anita Hill looks back at the powerful testimony she gave against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and its impact on the broader discussion of gender inequality in America. The Closing Night screening on June 23 will be Jeremy Teicher’s award-winning drama Tall As the Baobab Tree, the touching story of a teenage girl who tries to rescue her younger sister from an arranged marriage in rural Senegal.

Traditional Values and Human Rights: Women’s Rights
Traditional values are often cited as an excuse to undermine human rights. In addition toTall As the Baobab Tree, five documentaries in this year’s festival consider the impact on women. Veteran documentarian Kim Longinotto’s Salma is the remarkable story of a South Indian Muslim woman who endured a 25-year confinement and forced marriage by her own family before achieving national renown as the most famous female poet in the Tamil language. Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief’s Rafea: Solar Mama profiles an illiterate Bedouin woman from Jordan who gets the chance to be educated in solar engineering but has to overcome her husband’s resistance. In Karima Zoubir’s intimately observed Camera/Woman, a Moroccan divorcée supports her family by documenting wedding parties while navigating her own series of heartaches. It will be shown with Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s Going Up the Stairs, a charming portrait of a traditional Iranian grandmother who discovers her love of painting late in life and is invited to exhibit her work in Paris. Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s candid HBO documentary Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer centers on the women of the radical-feminist punk group, two of whom are currently serving time in a Russian prison for their acts of defiance against the government.

Traditional Values and Human Rights: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights
Three films in the program remind viewers that, despite recent strides toward equality, LGBT communities around the world still struggle for acceptance. Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann’s Born This Way is an intimate look at the lives of four young gay men and lesbians in Cameroon, where there are more arrests for homosexuality than in any other country in the world. Yoruba Richen’s The New Black uncovers the complicated and often combative intersection of the African-American and LGBT civil rights movements, with a particular focus on homophobia in the black church. In Srdjan Dragojevic’s drama The Parade, a fight by activists to stage a Gay Pride parade in Belgrade leads to an unlikely alliance in a black-humored look at contemporary Serbia.

Traditional Values and Human Rights: Disability Rights
Harry Freeland’s In the Shadow of the Sun is an unforgettable study in courage, telling the story of two albino men who attempt to follow their dreams in the face of prejudice and fear in Tanzania.

Crises and Migration
Three documentaries highlight the issues of humanitarian aid, conflict and migration. In the Festival Centerpiece, Fatal Assistance, the acclaimed director Raoul Peck, Haiti’s former culture minister, takes us on a two-year journey following the 2010 earthquake and looks at the damage done by international aid agencies whose well-meaning but ignorant assumptions turned a nightmare into an unsolvable tragedy. Danish journalist Nagieb Khaja’s My Afghanistan – Life in the Forbidden Zone shows ordinary Afghans in war-torn Helmand who were provided with hi-res camera phones to record their daily lives, giving a voice to those frequently ignored by the Western media. Marco Williams’ The Undocumented is an unvarnished account of the thousands of Mexican migrants who have died in recent years while trying to cross Arizona’s unforgiving Sonora Desert in search of a better life in the United States.

Focus on Asia
The festival will screen two important documentaries from Asia. In Joshua Oppenheimer’s chilling and inventive The Act of Killing, the unrepentant former members of Indonesian death squads are challenged to reenact some of their many murders in the style of the American movies they love. Marc Wiese’s Camp 14 – Total Control Zone tells the powerful story of Shin Dong-Huyk, who spent the first two decades of his life behind the barbed wire of a North Korean labor camp before his dramatic escape led him into an outside world he had never known. Wiese is the recipient of the festival’s annual Nestor Almendros Awardfor courage in filmmaking for his film.

Human Rights in the United States
Four American documentaries — including festival opener ANITA — highlight human rights issues in our own back yard. 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Filmgoes behind the scenes of the 2011 movement, digging into big-picture issues as organizers, participants and critics reveal what happened and why. Al Reinert’s An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story tells the story of a Texas man who was wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder and was exonerated by new DNA evidence after nearly 25 years behind bars. Lisa Biagiotti’s deepsouth is an evocative exploration of the rise in HIV in the rural American south, a region where poverty, a broken health system and a culture of denial force those affected to create their own solutions to survive.
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Roman Polanski’s VENUS IN FUR to Kick Off Paris Cinema IFF

[caption id="attachment_4053" align="alignnone" width="550"]VENUS IN FUR[/caption]

Director Roman Polanski along with Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner will kick off the 2013 Paris Cinema International Film Festival with their new movie, the comedy VENUS IN FUR, from this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The festival will close with Felix van Groeningen’s latest film, the drama, THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN.

9 movies from all around the world are competing this year: The Battle of Solferino (Age of Panic) by Justine Triet, one we leave (The Moving creatures) by Brazilian Caetano Gotardo;Ilo Ilo by Singaporean Anthony Chen, Eka & Natia Chronicle of a Georgian youth , a Georgian movie codirected by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß, Kid by Fien Troch, All which Will compete for Belgium; Lifelong from Turkish filmmaker Asli Özge, Youth , by Isreali director Tom Shoval and from North America, Prince Avalanche by American director David Gordon Green and Vic + Flo saw a bear (Vic + Flo saw a bear) by French Canadian Denis Côté.

The festival will also honor Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, (A separation) whose last movie The Past won this year’s Best Actress award for Berenice Bejo at Cannes Film Festival

The Paris Cinema IFF will run 28 July – 9 July 2013.
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WATCH Trailers for Films in Utah’s Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3936" align="alignnone" width="550"]G.B.F.[/caption]

The Damn These Heels! (DTH!) LGBT Film Festival in Utah which celebrates its 10th Anniversary, will be held this year during the weekend of July 12-14, 2013. In celebration of the 10th year, DTH! will feature expanded programming with 21 feature films from 9 countries – more than double the films at last year’s festival. The festival opens with G.B.F. and closes with I AM DIVINE.

Below is the complete list of the 10th Annual Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival titles along with trailers:

ANIMALS
Directed by Marçal Forés
Not rated | 94 min | 2012 | Spain
Catalan w/English subtitles
This thriller is a very unconventional coming-of-age tale and an intoxicating blend of fantasy and cold reality as it follows a shy teenager’s perilous period when exciting but troubling sexuality enters into his formerly innocent world.
San Sebastian International Film Festival 2012; BFI London Lesbian + Gay Film Festival

http://youtu.be/8k4zn6GHD8c

BALLROOM RULES
Directed by Nickolas Bird + Eleanor Sharpe
Not rated | 77 min | 2012 | Australia/Germany
A passionate group of Australian same-sex ballroom dancers battle homophobia, injury and personal drama as they pursue their dream of competing at the Gay Games in Germany.

http://youtu.be/kivoyFOZ1ck

BRUNO AND EARLENE GO TO VEGAS
Directed by Simon Savory
Not rated | 97 min | 2013 | UK/USA/France
Earlene arrives at Venice Beach after running from a desperate situation, only to become fast friends with an Australian skater who is also lost. Together, they set out into the desert to find themselves.

CHASTITY BITES
Directed by John V. Knowles
Not rated | 95 min | 2013 | USA
In the early 1600’s, Countess Elizabeth Bathory slaughtered more than 600 young women, believing if she bathed in the blood of virgins that she would stay young and beautiful forever. Still alive today, she’s found a perfect hunting ground.

http://youtu.be/wwoE2howJPk

CONTINENTAL
Directed by Malcolm Ingram
Not Rated | 95 min | 2013 | USA
The story of Continental Baths, a well-known New York City establishment for gays during the late ’60 to 1974.
South by Southwest Film Festival 2013; Frameline Film Festival 2013; BAMcinemaFest 2013

FIVE DANCES
Directed by Alan Brown
Not rated | 83 min | 2013 | USA
FIVE DANCES is a creatively adventurous narrative feature film set in the New York ‘downtown’ modern dance world.
Opening Night, Dance On Camera – Film Society of Lincoln Center 2013

http://youtu.be/ZwpI3NzKeZc

FRAUENSEE (Women’s Lake)
Directed by Zoltan Paul
Not rated | 86 min | 2012 | Germany
German w/English subtitles
A middle-aged couple in the German countryside has unexpected visitors that cause trouble in their already tenuous relationship.
Toronto InsideOut Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival 2012; Frameline San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival 2012

http://youtu.be/yO32CRL0iqA

FREE FALL (Frier Fall)
Directed by Stephen Lacant
Not rated | 100 min | 2013 | Germany
German w/English subtitles
A promising career with the police, a baby on the way – Marc’s life seems to be right on track. Then he meets fellow policeman, Kay.
Opening Night, New Film! MOMA 2013; Berlin International Film Festival 2013

http://youtu.be/Nx-hQkDIkyA

G.B.F. – Opening Night
Directed by Darren Stein
Not rated | 92 min | 2013 | USA
What happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title “gay best friend” for three high school queen bees?
Tribeca Film Festival 2013; Frameline Film Festival 2013; Closing Night – Outfest 2013

http://youtu.be/Z6DJSGrfNbk

GOEGRAPHY CLUB
Directed by Gary Entin
PG-13 | 85 min | 2013 | USA
At Goodkind High School, a group of students of varying sexual orientation form an after-school club as a discrete way to share their feelings and experiences.
Toronto InsideOut Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival 2013

http://youtu.be/oQb2-a685sw

GORE VIDAL: United States of Amnesia
Directed by Nicholas D. Wrathall
Not rated | 83 min | 2013 | USA/Italy
This is an unashamedly opinionated film. In Gore Vidal’s America, the political coup has already happened.
Tribeca Film Festival 2013 – Framline Film Festival 2013

http://youtu.be/wCJlpvPhIPs

HOT GUYS WITH GUNS
Directed by Doug Spearman
Not Rated | 103 min | USA | 2013
Imagine Lethal Weapon if Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were ex-boyfriends.
Frameline Film Festival 2013

I AM A WOMAN NOW
Directed by Michiel van Erp
Not rated | 80 min | 2011 | Netherlands
Dutch, German, French w/English subtitles
The first generation of transsexuals who had their sex change in Casablanca back in the mid-1950s to 1960s take stock of their lives.

http://youtu.be/pXYs3PFUD9s

I AM DIVINE – Closing Night
Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz
Not rated | 90 min | 2013 | USA
How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters’ cinematic muse and an international drag icon.
South by Southwest Film Festival 2013; Frameline Film Festival 2013

http://youtu.be/AUiX5Llrb58

IN BLOOM
Directed by Chris Michael Birkmeier
Not rated | 87 min | 2013 | USA
The relationship of a young couple disintegrates in the dog days of Chicago summer as the neighborhood is being terrorized by a serial killer.
Toronto InsideOut Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival

http://youtu.be/xOH-JUP4k4Y

LAURENCE ANYWAYS – Centerpiece Screening
Directed by Xavier Dolan
Not rated | 168 min | 2012 | Canada/France
French w/English subtitles
An astonishingly crafted exploration of the 10-year relationship of a male-to-female transsexual with her lover.
Opening Night, Un Certain Regard; Winner, Best Actress; Winner, Queer Palm – Festival De Cannes 2013

http://youtu.be/1YjIWEky81M

MARGARITA
Directed by Dominique Cardona + Laurie Colbert
Not rated | 90 min | 2012 | USA
When cash-strapped yuppies fire their teen-aged daughter’s lesbian Mexican nanny, Margarita, they set off a chain of events that lead to her deportation.

PEACHES DOES HERSELF
Directed by Peaches
Not rated | 80 min | 2012 | Germany
Peaches herself likes to describe it as “The Jukebox Musical that got a Sex Change!”
Toronto International Film Festival 2013, Sundance London 2013, BAMcinemaFest 2013

http://youtu.be/KhNhrKNYvSo

THE RUGBY PLAYER
Directed by Scott Gracheff
Not rated | 90 min | 2013 | USA
The film explores the life of Mark Bingham, one of the passengers of United Flight 93 on 9/11.
Winner, HBO Audience Award Best Documentary – Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2013
Toronto InsideOut LGBT Film Festival 2013

SUBMERGE
Directed by Sophie O’Connor
Not rated | 97 min | 2013 | USA
A Gen Y love story presented as a fetish sex drama, submerge explores the need of Gen Y for constant stimulation and instant gratification underpinned by a sense of entitlement.
Frameline Film Festival 2013

http://youtu.be/OCizTM7bnik

WHO’S AFRAID OF VAGINA WOLF
Directed by Anna Margarita Albelo
Not rated | 83 min | 2013 | USA
The day after her fortieth birthday, Anna comes to the conclusion that it’s time for the madness to stop. She lives in her friend’s back yard tool shed, her career as a filmmaker isn’t paying her bills and worst of all it’s been ten years since she’s had a girlfriend.
Frameline Film Festival 2013
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Pedro Almodóvar’s Hilarious New Comedy I’M SO EXCITED to Open Australia’s Melbourne Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_4110" align="alignnone" width="550"]I’M SO EXCITED![/caption]

The 62nd Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will open with the Australian Premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s hilarious comedy, I’M SO EXCITED! (Los Amantes Pasajeros).

With cameo appearances by Penélope Cruz (Volver) and Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), I’M SO EXCITED! features a top-notch cast of Spain, Mexico and Argentina’s finest acting talent, including previous Almodóvar collaborators Antonio de la Torre (Volver), Javier Cámara (Talk To Her, Bad Education) and Lola Dueñas (Volver, Talk To Her). I’M SO EXCITED! opens in the US in late June 2013.

I’M SO EXCITED! is the story of a Mexico-bound flight that runs into trouble when its landing gear malfunctions, and is put in a holding pattern. On board, the flamboyant cabin crew deal with the situation by drugging economy class to sleep and breaking out the tequila and mescaline in business class, where the passengers include a virgin psychic, a dominatrix, a soap star and a corrupt banker.

I’M SO EXCITED! marks the first of 18 days for MIFF, which includes well over 300 films from around the world.

http://youtu.be/gZW68fmlaMI
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