Film Festivals

2013 Beaufort International Film Festival to run February 13 – 17, Announces Finalists

Death By China – Peter Navarro

The Beaufort International Film Festival scheduled for February 13 – 17, 2013 in Beaufort, South Carolina, is gearing up to be a huge event. Tickets officially went on sale earlier this week.

Read more
15 Films added to 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival line-up

[caption id="attachment_3118" align="alignnone" width="550"]A Royal Affair[/caption]

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which begins Thursday, January 24, 2013, has added 15 films to the already stellar lineup of films being showcased at this year’s festival, including three Academy Award nominees, two World Premieres and two US Premieres.

“We’ve added some fantastic new films that broaden the scope of the program and embody the international spirit of the festival,” commented Michael Albright, SBIFF’s Director of Programming.

World Premieres being added are:

ANGELS IN EXILE, South Africa – World Premiere
Directed by Billy Raftery
Narrated by Charlize Theron
An 8-year journey that challenges viewers to look past the violent and often graphic image of homeless youth and see them for what they are…children.

RETREAT, Canada – World Premiere
Directed by David Cherniack
A documentary that follows the trials and tribulations of thirty-five Westerners as they go through an intense eight-week meditation retreat in Thailand led by Alan Wallace.

U.S. Premieres being added are:

MADDENED BY HIS ABSENCE (J’enrage de son Absence), France – US Premiere
Directed by Sandrine Bonnaire
Deeply affected by the death of his son in a car accident nine years ago, Jacques (William Hurt) struggles to come to terms with his past.

SHYAMAL UNCLE TURNS OFF THE LIGHTS, India – US Premiere
Directed by Suman Ghosh
An 80-year-old Kolkata retiree is determined to turn off the streetlights after sunrise, but finding someone to take him seriously proves a battle against indifference and complacency

Oscar nominated films added are:

A ROYAL AFFAIR (En kongelig affære), Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany (Academy Award® nominee)
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel
This sumptuous historical drama from writer-director Nikolaj Arcel (screenwriter of the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) chronicles the scandalous love triangle between a queen, her German doctor, and the mad King of Denmark.

HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, USA
Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary
Directed by David France
A vital documentary that traces the history of the AIDS activist coalitions ACT UP and TAG, whose radical initiatives broke crucial new ground in the fight against HIV in the 1980s and 1990s.

WAR WITCH (Rebelle), Canada
(Academy Award® nominee)
Directed by Kim Nguyen
In Sub-Saharan Africa, a 14-year-old girl tells her unborn child the story of her life at war. It all started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.

In addition, the following are also added to the program:

BEIJING FLICKERS, China– West Coast Premiere
Directed by Yuan Zhang
Dumped, fired, evicted and abandoned by everyone, a down-on-his-luck man finds solace with a circle of equally ill-fated friends, in this touching and lighthearted drama from independent Chinese auteur Zhang Yuan.

BEYOND THE HILLS, Romania/France
Directed by Cristian Mungiu
A young Romanian woman sets out to retrieve her childhood friend from her “captivity” in a remote Romanian monastery, and soon comes into violent conflict with the archaic strictures of this traditional community.

MUMBAI’S KING, India
Directed by Manjeet Singh
A young boy comes of age in a Mumbai slum while dealing with his long-suffering mother and violent father, in this gently observational portrait crafted in the tradition of the great neorealist classics.

STEEL, Italy
Directed by Stefano Mordini
In a working class town off the coast of Italy just miles from paradise, Anna and Francesca, two teenage girls spend their last summer of innocence before high school.

SOUND CITY, USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Dave Grohl
Multitalented musician Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana fronts a mission to resurrect the rapidly vanishing human touch behind the creation of music.

STILL MINE, Canada
Directed by Michael McGowan
An elderly couple fights against local authorities in rural New Brunswick to build their final home.

STUDENT, Kazakhstan – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Darezhan Omirbayev
A solitary philosophy student commits a calculated violent crime against the backdrop of Kazakhstan’s growing inequality, institutional corruption, and a ruthless underworld in this contemporary adaptation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

THE PUNK SYNDROME, Finland/Norway/Sweden
Directed by Jukka Kärkkäinen, J-P Passi
Punk music is about being a voluntary outcast. What if the outcasts want acceptance? Turning punk on its head, the mentally challenged members of Pertti Kurikka’s Name Day find acceptance in the music they create.

via Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Read more
The international premiere of Stoker Starring Nicole Kidman to Close 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam

The international premiere of Stoker, the English debut of South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Thirst, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), will close the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam on Saturday February 2.

Park has won many awards, including the Alfred Bauer Award of the Berlin film festival (for I’m a Cyborg) and the jury prize of the Cannes film festival (for Oldboy and Thirst).

The closing film is a psychological drama/thriller starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre), Matthew Goode (A Single Man, Watchmen) and Nicole Kidman (The Hours, The Others). Stoker is the script writing debut of actor Wentworth Miller (Prison Break).

Stoker is about the girl India (Wasikowska), whose father dies in an auto accident. Her Uncle Charlie (Goode), who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother Evelyn (Kidman). Soon after his arrival, she comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, this friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
Read more
SXSW Film 2013 to Open With The Incredible Burt Wonderstone Plus Announces 6 Films

[caption id="attachment_3114" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Incredible Burt Wonderstone[/caption]

SXSW 2013 will open with the world premiere of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Starring Steve Carell, and Steve Buscemi, with costars Carrey, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin and James Gandolfini, the film is described by the festival as a “hilarious, uproarious comedy.” As superstar Vegas magicians and former best friends Burt and Anton grow to secretly loathe each other, their long-time act implodes, allowing an ambitious rival street performer the big break he’s been waiting for.

Joining The Incredible Burt Wonderstone are 6 films including Alex Winter’s Napster documentary Downloaded, the long awaited Evil Dead remake and new films from Harmony Korine and Joe Swanberg. The documentary Good Ol’ Freda and the debut of Everyone’s Going to Die complete the first 6 films announced for the 20th SXSW Film Conference and Festival.

Downloaded (World Premiere)
Director: Alex Winter

Downloaded is a documentary that explores the rise and fall of Napster and the birth of the digital revolution. It’s about the teens that helped start this revolution, and the artists and industries who continue to be impacted by it.

Drinking Buddies (World Premiere)
Director/Screenwriter: Joe Swanberg

You know what makes the line between “Friends” and “More Than Friends” really blurry? Beer.
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Joe Swanberg

Everyone’s Going to Die (World Premiere)
Director/Screenwriter: Jones

A guy whose life is falling apart, meets a girl whose life can’t get started. Two people, one chance, a million reasons why not. A story of weirdness and redemption with talking cats, roller-skating beavers and nobody dying.
Cast: Nora Tschirner, Rob Knighton, Kellie Shirley, Madeline Duggan, Stirling Gallacher

Evil Dead (World Premiere)
Director: Fede Alvarez, Screenwriters: Fede Alvarez & Rodo Sayagues

Five friends, holed up in a remote cabin, discover a Book of the Dead that unwittingly summons up dormant demons which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left to fight for survival.
Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore

Good Ol’ Freda (World Premiere)
Director: Ryan White

Good Ol’ Freda tells the story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: the Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (World Premiere)
Director: Don Scardino, Story by Chad Kultgen & Tyler Mitchell and Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley. Screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley

As superstar Vegas magicians and former best friends Burt and Anton grow to secretly loathe each other, their long-time act implodes, allowing an ambitious rival street performer the big break he’s been waiting for.
Cast: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, with Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini and Jim Carrey

Spring Breakers (US Premiere)
Director/Screenwriter: Harmony Korine

Four sexy college girls plan to fund their spring break getaway by burglarizing a fast food shack. But that’s only the beginning…
Cast: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, Gucci Mane
Read more
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Thematic Program and Tribute to Honor Jessica Yu

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has announced its 2013 Thematic Program and Tribute celebrating the work of Academy Award winning filmmaker Jessica Yu.

The program will be curated by Amir Bar-Lev director of the documentary films “Fighter” (2001), “My Kid Could Paint That” (2007), and “The Tillman Story” (2010). He co-produced the documentary “Trouble The Water” (2008), which won the 2008 Full Frame Grand Jury Award and was a 2009 Academy Award Nominee. Bar-Lev is currently directing “Happy Valley”, about the Penn State scandal.

The festival will honor Jessica Yu with the Full Frame Tribute and will feature a retrospective of her work. Yu is a director of both documentaries and scripted films. She won an Oscar® for Best Documentary Short for “Breathing Lessons” (1996), a film about Mark O’Brien, a poet confined to an iron lung. Her latest film for Participant Media, “Last Call at the Oasis” (2011), is a chronicle of the water crisis. Her documentaries include the award-winning features “Protagonist” (2007), “In the Realms of the Unreal” (2004), and HBO’s “The Living Museum” (1998), and the shorts “Meet Mr. Toilet” (2012) and “The Kinda Sutra” (2009).

Both Yu and Bar-Lev will attend the festival. Specific titles for the Thematic Program and Full Frame Tribute, along with additional attending guests, will be announced in March.

The 16th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will be held April 4-7, 2013, in Durham, N.C.
Read more
2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival Announces Festival Winners, The Sapphires Win Top Prize

[caption id="attachment_3102" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Sapphires[/caption]

The Sapphires (Australia) directed by Wayne Blair, and based on the real-life story of an all-female Aboriginal singing group in 1960’s Australia that went from folk to soul with unexpected success, received the Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (USA) directed by Ramona Diaz received the Audience Award Best for Documentary Feature.  This documentary is about the dilemma the rock band Journey faces to replace their lead singer Steve Perry after he quits the band. They eventually find the perfect solution via YouTube: a street kid who fronted a Filipino cover band.

The FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year jury selected Fill the Void (Israel), directed by Rama Burshtein, “for portraying a culture usually depicted in stereotypical terms, with subtlety, sympathy and sensuality and employing a style that is intimate, but not intrusive.” In the film, an 18-year-old in Tel Aviv’s Hassidic community must choose between her heart’s desire and familial duty in a drama that make the conventions of the marriage plot feel brand new.

The New Voices/New Visions selected The Cleaner (Peru) directed by Adrian Saba.   The film tells the story of a mysterious and deadly epidemic in Lima, Perù, where a depressed and isolated man cleans up after the dying. When he takes in a frightened young boy who has lost his mother, he’s quietly transformed by the experience of caring for another human being.

The Cine Latino Award was presented to Blancanieves(Spain), directed by Pablo Berger, which was the Opening Night film of the Festival.   This silent movie is an adaptation of Snow White, where the daughter of a famous bullfighter is mistreated by her wicked stepmother. When she runs away and joins a band of dwarfs, her natural bullfighting talent is discovered, but her stepmother plots to bring her down.

Stolen Seas (Somalia/Kenya/UK/Italy), directed by Thymaya Payne, received The John Schlesinger Award, which is presented to a first-time documentary filmmaker.  Stolen Seas presents the inside story of Somali piracy. The filmmakers spent three years in some of the world’s most dangerous places, talking to pirates, hostages, hostages’ relatives, and the shipping company executives caught up in this deadly culture clash.

Jump (Ireland/UK), directed by Kieron J. Walsh, received the HP Bridging the Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders and Hewlett Packard, which honors the film that is most successful in exemplifying art that promotes bringing the people of our world closer together. In the film, a fateful New Year’s Eve throws half a dozen characters into cross-purposes in this complex, wildly inventive and occasionally giddy mix of crime caper, romance and moral tale from Northern Ireland.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival, held from January 3-14, 2013, screened 182 films from 68 countries.

The complete list of award winners are:

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
The Sapphires (Australia)

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (USA)

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Fill the Void (Israel)

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor of the Year in a Foreign Language Film
Cosimo Rega, Salvatore Striano and Giovanni Arcuri from Caesar Must Die (Italy)

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign Language Film
Emilie Dequenne from Our Children (Belgium)

New Voices/New Visions Award
The Cleaner (Peru) – Winner
7 Boxes (Paraguay) – Honorable Mention

Cine Latino Award
Blancanieves(Spain) – Winner
Sadourni’s Butterflies (Argentina) – Honorable Mention

The John Schlesinger Award
Stolen Seas (Somalia/Kenya/UK/Italy) – Winner
Far Out Isn’t Fair Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (USA) – Honorable Mention

HP Bridging the Borders Award
Jump (Ireland/UK) – Winner
When Day Breaks (Serbia/Croatia/France) – Honorable Mention
Read more
Perspektive Deutsches Kino Program Lineup at 2013 Belinale, to Open with Stephan Lacant’s Freier Fall

[caption id="attachment_3096" align="alignnone" width="550"]Stephan Lacant’s film Freier Fall[/caption]

The Perspektive Deutsches Kino program at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival will open with Stephan Lacant’s film Freier Fall. Max Riemelt (Kay), Katharina Schüttler (Bettina) and Hanno Koffler (Marc) are the protagonists in a love triangle, in which Marc and Bettina are expecting a child at the same time as Marc falls in love with his colleague Kay.

Three of the fictional films – Silvi (directed by Nico Sommer), DeAD (directed by Sven Halfar) andEndzeit (directed by Sebastian Fritzsch) – were self-produced by their respective filmmakers. Silvi is unmistakably set in Berlin. In it the 47-year-old title character (Lina Wendel) starts afresh after separating from her partner. DeAD is exquisite pulp fiction from Hamburg: following his mother’s suicide, cool Patrick (Tilman Strauß) shows up at his unknown father’s 60th birthday party and immediately makes it clear that things are about to escalate. And Endzeit depicts survival after a catastrophe, when a young woman (Anne von Keller) turns hunter to still her hunger.

Two fictional film-academy works explore the boundaries between fictional and documentary film. Anne Zohra Berrached’s Zwei Mütter portrays in an almost documentary style a couple’s wish for a child (Sabine Wolf and Karina Plachetka) and their discovery that most sperm banks do not provide services to same-sex couples. In his 60-minute film Die Wiedergänger, director Andreas Bolm avoids presenting the world in documentary form, but instead seeks the point where fiction begins. The outcome is an artistically austere film about loss and eternal return.

Perspektive Deutsches Kino film lineup

Chiralia by Santiago Gil

DeAD by Sven Halfar

Die mit dem Bauch tanzen (Dancing with Bellies) by Carolin Genreith (documentary)

Einzelkämpfer (I Will Not Lose) by Sandra Kaudelka (documentary)

Endzeit (End of Time) by Sebastian Fritzsch

Freier Fall (Free Fall) by Stephan Lacant

Kalifornia by Laura Mahlberg

Metamorphosen by Sebastian Mez (documentary)

Silvi by Nico Sommer

Die Wiedergänger (The Revenants) by Andreas Bolm

Zwei Mütter (Two Mothers) by Anne Zohra Berrached
Read more
Nine More Films Added to Competition Program for 2013 Berlin International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3094" align="alignnone" width="550"]Side Effects[/caption]

Another nine films have been selected for the Competition Programme of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. Among the nine films is the International Premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects starring Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum and the World Premiere of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s Parde (Closed Curtain).

Camille Claudel 1915
France
By Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus, Humanity, Flanders)
With Juliette Binoche, Jean-Luc Vincent
World Premiere

Elle s’en va (On my Way)
France
By Emmanuelle Bercot (Clément, Backstage, Les infidèles)
With Catherine Deneuve
World Premiere

Epizoda u životu berača željeza (An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker)
Bosnia and Herzegovina/France/Slovenia
By Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land, Hell, Circus Columbia)
With Senada Alimanovic, Nazif Mujic, Sandra Mujic, Semsa Mujic
World Premiere

Gold
Germany
By Thomas Arslan (Dealer, Vacation, In the Shadows)
With Nina Hoss, Marko Mandic, Uwe Bohm, Lars Rudolph, Peter Kurth, Rosa Enskat, Wolfgang Packhäuser
World Premiere

La Religieuse (The Nun)
France/Germany/Belgium
By Guillaume Nicloux (The Flying Children, A Private Affair, That Woman)
With Pauline Etienne, Isabelle Huppert, Louise Bourgoin, Martina Gedeck
World Premiere

Layla Fourie
Germany/South Africa/France/Netherlands
By Pia Marais (The Unpolished, At Ellen’s Age)
With Rayna Campbell, August Diehl, Rapule Hendricks
World Premiere

The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman
USA
By Fredrik Bond – feature debut
With Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Til Schweiger, Rupert Grint, James Buckley
International Premiere

Parde (Closed Curtain)
Iran
By Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Offside, This Is Not A Film) and Kambozia Partovi (The Fish, Café Transit)
With Kambozia Partovi, Maryam Moghadam,Jafar Panahi, Hadi Saeedi, Azadh Torabi, Agha Olia, Zeynab Khanum, Boy
World Premiere

Side Effects
USA
By Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies, and videotape; Erin Brockovich, Haywire)
With Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum
International Premiere

Read more
Slamdance Film Festival Announces 2013 Jury

Slamdance announced today the Jury for the 19th Annual Slamdance Film Festival, which includes many of the minds behind SXSW, Woodstock, etc. The Slamdance Awards will be presented on January 24th during the awards ceremony.

“We are thrilled to have such independent filmmaking revolutionaries judging this years diverse slate of films,” stated Peter Baxter, Slamdance President & Co-Founder.

The 2013 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 18 — 24, 2013 in Park City, Utah, at the Treasure Mountain Inn: 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060.

The 2013 Slamdance Competition Jurors:

Nancy Schafer is currently a consultant who works in independent film. Until July 2012 she was Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Festival and Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises. Prior to joining Tribeca, she created and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas for eight years. Schafer has worked on several films including John Sayles’ Sunshine State and Limbo and Robert Byington’s Olympia and Shameless. She began her film production career on The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Schafer is a graduate of the University of Virginia and currently resides in Manhattan.

Meira Blaustein is the Co-founder / Executive Director / Programmer of the Woodstock Film Festival, which was launched in 2000 and has quickly become one of the most respected and influential regional film festivals in the US. The Woodstock Film Festival will be entering its 14th year in October 2013. Blaustein has over twenty years of experience in filmmaking, writing, producing and directing numerous projects including her full-length documentary For Love of Julian, narrated by Susan Sarandon and distributed by Wellspring Media. She is currently in development on a number of full length fiction and non- fiction feature length films. Blaustein is a freelance writer and blogger and has served as juror, speaker, mentor and panelist at a variety of film festivals and special events in Norway, England, Texas and New York.

Dan Schoenbrun is the Communications & Programming Coordinator at the Independent Filmmaker Project, the nation’s oldest and largest non-profit for independent filmmakers. At IFP, Dan works year-round as part of the programming team, where he helps manage the organization’s Emerging Narrative screenplay program, Independent Filmmaker Labs (for filmmakers in post-production on their first feature), Festival Forum (a community-based interest group for film festival professionals), and a new partnership with Brooklyn’s rerun Theater. Dan also oversees IFP member events and screenings, and serves as the Associate Editor of Filmmaker Magazine. In addition to his work at IFP, Dan has served on programming committees for several film festivals, included the Hamptons and Nantucket, and recently was on the jury for the 2012 Brooklyn Film Festival.

Brian Knappenberger a Director, Writer and Producer has created numerous documentaries and?feature films for the Sundance Channel, PBS FRONTLINE/World, The Travel Channel, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. He is also Executive Producer of the 23 part Bloomberg Television documentary series Bloomberg Game Changers. His films have explored the changing politics and tensions in post- 9/11 southern Afghanistan in Life After War and abuses of power and freedom of speech with the killing of a journalist in Ukraine in A Murder in Kyiv.

Sheri Candler is a digital marketing strategist who assists filmmakers in building an engaged & robust online community for their work. She directs digital marketing strategy for non profit film distribution & filmmaker education organization The Film Collaborative; she co-authored a book of case studies for filmmakers called Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, and she regularly speaks about using social media on panels and workshops at industry events including AFM, DGA, NSI Canada, & Danish Film Directors Association. She can be contacted on Twitter: @shericandler, Facebook: Sheri Candler Marketing and Publicity, & Google Plus.

Daniel J. Harris produced the documentary collective feature I Want to be an ?American for Slamdance Film Festival 2013. He originally trained in animation and worked on shows like The Simpsons and The Ren & Stimpy Show and produced the documentary Kurt and Courtney for Nick Broomfield. He wrote and directed? Slamdance/Locarno jury winner The Bible and Gun Club. He is working on The Fabulous Las Vegas, a feature documentary about a Kaapse Klopse (Cape Town Minstrel) troupe based in Lentegeur, Mitchell’s Plain, as it attempts to beat the competition in this year’s carnival season best-of-show. He’s also working on Meet Julie Wilson, about the legendary cabaret singer, currently shooting in New York. www.danieljharris.com

Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal are a filmmaking team who use actor centric methods. Their debut feature Stranger Things won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival and at the 2010 Woodstock Film Festival, as well as Best U.K. Feature at the 2011 Rain- dance Film Festival. They are currently developing their second feature, Bright As Day, which was a selection of the 2012 Sundance Creative Producing Lab.

Chris Gore, is a comedian, writer, and regular on G4TV’s “Attack of the Show”, hosts his own groundbreaking podcast called PodCRASH. He likes Batman, zombies and long walks on my back. The founder and longtime editor-in- chief of the seminal magazine Film Threat, Gore is also a critically acclaimed film director, writer and producer. He is the author of Chris Gore’s Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide, currently in its fourth edition, and has served on countless festival panels and juries. Chris is also a founding co-host of Slamdance’s annual Hot Tub Summit.

Skizz Cyzyk is a filmmaker/writer/musician/artist who has held positions at MicroCine-Fest, Maryland Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, and has served on juries at many other festivals. This is Skizz’s 17th year as a Slamdance projectionist, tenth year on the Slamdance advisory board, and sixth non-consecutive year on the Slamdance jury. He has been making films since 1983, currently in various stages of production on? documentaries about Rev. Fred Lane, the Catonsville Nine, and a 1981 “music war.” He also writes for music and film magazines, is on the Board of Directors for Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, plays punk rock ukulele with Go Pills, and plays drums for indie-pop sensations The Jennifers, surf/garage band Garage Sale, and Mink Stole & Her Wonderful Band.

Paul Rachman is a founding filmmaker, programmer and east coast director for the Slamdance Film Festival. From a successful music video career he went on to direct his first feature film Four Dogs Playing Poker and in 2006 American Hardcore is his first documentary feature film premiered at the Sundance film festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. He is currently finish a new feature documentary Lost Rockers.
Read more
Mary Bacarella is New Managing Director of Seattle International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3085" align="alignnone" width="550"]Michelle Quisenberry, Carl Spence and Mary Bacarella Photo: Getty Images [/caption]

Mary Bacarella, a long-time Space Needle executive, has been named Seattle International Film Festival Managing Director effective February 1, 2013. Ms. Bacarella will lead the organization in tandem with Artistic Director Carl Spence and succeed Deborah Person, who has served as SIFF’s managing director since 2005.

“Mary is the perfect choice to build on SIFF’s significant accomplishments and lead the organization going forward,” said Michelle Quisenberry, SIFF board president. “Mary has been involved with SIFF for 15 years and has a deep passion for the organization, she is a recognized community leader, savvy business executive, and understands SIFF’s vision for the future.”
Read more
International Film Festival Rotterdam Announced The Nominees and Jury for 2013 Hivos Tiger Awards

[caption id="attachment_3083" align="alignnone" width="550"]It Felt Like Love[/caption]

The International Film Festival Rotterdam announced the sixteen nominees and the jury of the Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. The three winners of the Hivos Tiger Awards will be chosen by a jury of five, among them artist Ai Weiwei.

The winning films will be selected by Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamedarya – who has been banned from acting in film, theatre and television for the past two years, by Russian screenwriter and filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa (The Revue, My Joy), Dutch director Kees Hin (Shadowland) and artistic director of the Seville European Film Festival José Luis Cienfuegos. Chinese visual artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei (Fairytale, One Recluse) will not be able to attend the festival and will join the jury from his home in Beijing.

The nominees

36, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand, European premiere
Silent Ones, Ricky Rijneke, Netherlands/Hungary, World premiere
Chunmeng (Longing for the Rain), Yang Lina, Hong Kong, World premiere
Dummy Jim, Matt Hulse, United Kingdom, World premiere
Eles voltam (They’ll Come Back), Marcelo Lordello, Brazil, International premiere
Gozetleme Kulesi (Watchtower), Pelin Esmer, Turkey, European premiere
Halley, Sebastián Hofmann, Mexico, European premiere
It Felt Like Love, Eliza Hittman, USA, International premiere
Larzanandeye charbi (Fat Shaker), Mohammad Shirvani, Iran, European premiere
Môj pes Killer (My Dog Killer), Mira Fornay, Slovakia/Czech Republic, World premiere
Noche (Night), Leonardo Brzezicki, Argentina, World premiere
Penumbra, Eduardo Villanueva Jiménez, Mexico, World premiere
Sao karaoke (Karaoke Girl), Visra Vichit Vadakan, Thailand, World premiere
Soldate Jeannette (Soldier Jane), Daniel Hoesl, Austria, European premiere
Su Re (The King), Giovanni Columbu, Italy, International premiere
De wederopstanding van een klootzak (The Resurrection of a Bastard), Guido van Driel, Netherlands, World premiere
Read more
First selections Announced for Bright Future and Spectrum Sections at 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam

[caption id="attachment_3077" align="alignnone" width="550"]Grenzgänger, Florian Flicker[/caption]

The first selections for the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s main sections Bright Future and Spectrum were released and among the many world and international premieres are new works by famous directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Ulrich Seidl, Olivier Assayas, Nakata Hideo and by numerous young talents.

The festival will screen the world premiere of The Complex by Nakata Hideo, director of horror movies (The Ring). Also from Japan comes Japan’s Tragedy by Kobayashi Masahiro, a family drama dedicated to the victims of the 2011 tsunami. Indonesian director Garin Nugroho presents Soegija, a large-scale historical drama that focuses on the life of the first native Indonesian bishop Soegijapranata. Also from Indonesia, Kusuma Widjaja Putu presents his first feature film On Mother’s Head, picturing daily life on the island of Bali.

Bright Future
In Bright Future, the section consists of first or second feature films only. The complete lineup of Bright Future is to be announced 9 January. The first selections are:

World premieres

DEAD BODY WELCOME, Kees Brienen, Netherlands
Fahrtwind – Aufzeichnungen einer Reisenden, Bernadette Weigel, Austria
Foudre, Manuela Morgaine, France
Frankenstein’s Army, Richard Raaphorst, Netherlands/Czech Republic/USA
Matterhorn, Diederik Ebbinge, Netherlands
Of Good Report, Jahmil XT Qubeka, South Africa
On Mother’s Head, Kusuma Widjaja Putu, Indonesia, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Toegetakeld door de liefde, Ari Deelder, Netherlands
Towheads, Shannon Plumb, USA

International premieres

A floresta de Jonathas, Sérgio Andrade, Brazil
Big Boy, Shireen Seno, Philippines
GFP Bunny, Tsuchiya Yutaka, Japan
Ma belle gosse, Shalimar Preuss, France
Sunshine Boys, Kim Tae-Gon, South Korea
Une histoire d’amour, Hélène Fillières, France

European premieres

De ontmaagding van Eva van End, Michiel ten Horn, Netherlands
Die Welt, Alex Pitstra, Netherlands
Four Ways to Die in My Hometown, Chai Chunya, China
Poor Folk, Midi Z, Taiwan, Myanmar, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Ziba, Bani Khoshnoudi, Iran, France

Also selected in Bright Future:

90 Minutes, Eva Sørhaug, Norway
Avanti Popolo, Michael Wahrmann, Brazil
Bassa marea, Roberto Minervini, USA, Italy, Belgium
Blancanieves, Pablo Berger, Spain/France
Carne de perro, Fernando Guzzoni, Chile/France/Germany
Errors of the Human Body, Eron Sheean, Germany, Australia
Kern, Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala, Austria
La playa D.C., Juan Andrés Arango, Colombia, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Leones, Jazmín López, Argentina/France/Netherlands, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
L’étoile du jour, Sophie Blondy, France
Los salvajes, Alejandro Fadel, Argentina, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Mai Morire, Enrique Rivero Huerta, Mexico, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Memories Look at Me, Song Fang, China, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Miss Lovely, Ashim Ahluwalia, India
Nairobi Half Life, David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, Kenya/Germany
Oh Boy, Jan Ole Gerster, Germany
Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses, Yosep Anggi Noen, Indonesia, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Rengaine, Rachid Djaïdani, France
Roland Hassel, Måns Månsson, Sweden
Ship of Theseus, Anand Gandhi, India
Simon Killer, Antonio Campos, USA
Sleepless Night, Jang Kun-Jae, South Korea
Tall as the Baobab Tree, Jeremy Teicher, Senegal
The Boy Is Eating the Bird’s Food, Ektoras Lygizos, Greece
The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, France
The Radiant, The Otolith Group, United Kingdom
Vergiss mein nicht, David Sieveking, Germany
Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Wasteland, Rowan Athale, United Kingdom

Spectrum
Spectrum shows new and recent feature-length work by experienced film makers and artists who provide, in the opinion of IFFR, an essential contribution to international film culture.

World premieres

Hill of Pleasures, Maria Ramos, Netherlands/Brazil
La tendresse, Marion Hänsel, Belgium/France/Germany
Lee Towers: The Voice of Rotterdam, Hans Heijnen, Netherlands
One Day When the Rain Falls, Ifa Isfansyah, Indonesia, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Rio Belongs to Us, Ricardo Pretti, Brazil, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
The Complex, Nakata Hideo, Japan
Harmonica’s Howl, Bruno Safadi, Brazil, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Touch, Shelly Silver, USA
How to Describe a Cloud, David Verbeek, Netherlands

International premieres

Avant que mon coeur bascule, Sébastien Rose, Canada
Éden, Bruno Safadi, Brazil
La souris est sous la table, Cristi Puiu, Romania/France
Le chat est sur la chaise, Cristi Puiu, Romania/France
Le singe est sur la branche, Cristi Puiu, Romania/France
The Russian Novel, Shin Yeon-Shick, South Korea

European premieres

Atambua 39° Celsius, Riri Riza, Indonesia, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
First Comes Love, Nina Davenport, USA
Il futuro, Alicia Scherson, Chile/Germany/Italy/Spain
Japan’s Tragedy, Kobayashi Masahiro, Japan
Lasting, Jacek Borcuch, Poland/Spain
Odayaka, Uchida Nobuteru, Japan/USA
Soegija, Garin Nugroho, Indonesia

Also selected in Spectrum:

11.25 The Day Mishima Chose His Own Fate, Wakamatsu Koji, Japan
Alone, Wang Bing, France/Hong Kong
Après mai, Olivier Assayas, France
Centro Histórico, Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal
Cherchez Hortense, Pascal Bonitzer, France
Comrade Kim Goes Flying, Anja Daelemans, Nicholas Bonner, Kim Gwang Hun, Belgium/North Korea/United Kingdom
El muerto y ser feliz, Javier Rebollo, Spain/Argentina/France
For Love’s Sake, Miike Takashi, Japan
Gegenwart, Thomas Heise, Germany
Ginger and Rosa, Sally Potter, United Kingdom
Grenzgänger, Florian Flicker, Austria
Inori, Pedro González-Rubio, Japan
Jiseul, O Muel, South Korea
Kalayaan, Adolfo B. Alix Jr., Philippines, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film
Kid, Fien Troch, Belgium
La fille de nulle part, Jean-Claude Brisseau, France
La noche de enfrente, Raúl Ruiz, France/Chile
L’enclos du temps, Jean-Charles Fitoussi, France
Les chevaux de Dieu, Nabil Ayouch, Morocco/France/Belgium
Lesson of the Evil, Miike Takashi, Japan
Lore, Cate Shortland, Australia/Germany/United Kingdom
Me and You, Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy
Me Too, Alexey Balabanov, Russia
No, Pablo Larraín, Chile/France/USA
Paradies: Glaube, Ulrich Seidl, Austria/France/Germany
Pearblossom Hwy, Mike Ott, USA/Greece
Post tenebras lux, Carlos Reygadas, Mexico
Reality, Matteo Garrone, Italy
Sightseers, Ben Wheatley, United Kingdom
Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine, USA
The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
Vulgaria, Pang Ho-cheung, Hong Kong
When Night Falls, Ying Liang, South Korea/China
White Epilepsy, Philippe Grandrieux, France
Read more