Film Festivals

2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival Announces Film Lineup

[caption id="attachment_3075" align="alignnone" width="550"]Wasteland[/caption]

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), begins Thursday, January 24 and continues through Sunday, February 3, 2013, announced its film line-up for 2013.

SBIFF 2013 will kick off with the U.S. Premiere of Disconnect, directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård and Max Thieriot. Disconnect holds a mirror up to our community and our obsession with all things technical. The story introduces us to a vast collection of characters: A lawyer, an estranged couple, a widowed ex-cop and an ambitious journalist who are all strangers, neighbors and colleagues whose stories collide in this compelling drama about ordinary people desperate for a human connection. Filmed with a somewhat voyeuristic style, Disconnect marks the first fiction feature from Henry-Alex Rubin, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, from an original screenplay by Andrew Stern.

On Closing Night, SBIFF will present the U.S. Premiere of Wasteland, written and directed by Rowan Athale, marking his feature directing debut, and starring Matthew Lewis, Timothy Spall and Iwan Rheon. In this exhilarating heist thriller, a young ex-con hooks up with his best mates to embark on a wild — and risky — revenge scheme after being framed by a local drug kingpin.

SBIFF will present an International Gala Screening of Pablo Larraín’s film, “No,” starring Gael Garcia Bernal. The film, which is about an ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile’s 1988 referendum, was a favorite at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and winner of their Art Cinema Award. Director Pablo Larraín and Gael Garcia Bernal will attend.

Below is the list of World and US Premiere films, followed by the list of titles by sidebar category.

WORLD PREMIERES

A Year in Burgundy USA
Directed by David Kennard
Cast: Martine Saunier
This documentary follows half a dozen wine makers in the Burgundy region of France for one full year, where the beautiful and traditional processes are revealed.

Blumenthal, USA
Directed by Seth Fisher
Cast: Seth Fisher, Brian Cox, Fred Melamed, Laila Robins, Mark Blum, Mei Melancon
Celebrated playwright, Harold Blumenthal, has passed away after succumbing to cardiac arrest while laughing at his own joke. Now, Harold’s estranged and jealous brother, Saul, must confront his personal hang-ups in order to deliver himself from an epic bout of constipation.

Crosstown, USA
Directed by Miriam Kruishoop
Cast: Manny Perez, Vivica A. Fox, Will Green, Noel Gugliemi, Paige Hurd
The promise of a better life is shattered when two families are confronted with the brutal reality of raising their children in Los Angeles. An undocumented immigrant family from El Salvador is forced to sign their 17 year-old son’s life away to the U.S. Military with the false promise of naturalization papers. The other family struggles to prevent a forbidden love affair between their Black teenage daughter and a recently initiated member of the local Salvadoran street gang.

Discovering Mavericks, USA
Directed by Joshua Pomer
Director Josh Pomer captures insider interviews and more than three decades of images and footage to tell the true story of California’s most famous, and notorious, big wave.

Driftwood, USA
Directed by Peter Trow, Jim Brewer
Cast: Shaun Tomson, Matt Becker, Genelle Ives, Joe Rowan, Sam George, Noah Yap, Ammy Naff, Jim Brewer
Narrated by surf legend Shaun Tomson, this beautiful and meditative stand-up paddle board excursion takes Sam George, Noah Yap, Ammy Naff and Jim Brewer through locations including Sri Lanka, Iceland, Colombia, USA, and Nova Scotia.

El Milagro, Spain
Directed by Salomón Shang
A Spanish film crew attempts to expose Peru’s El Milagro, where many children are forced to work in the local landfill amidst horrible health and environmental conditions.

Isolated, USA/UK
Directed by Justin Le Pera
Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Travis Potter
Five world class surfers travel to the journalist dead zone of New Guinea in search of undiscovered waves and find more than they bargained for.

It’s Better to Jump, USA/Israel
Directed by Gina Angelone, Mouna B. Stewart, Patrick A. Stewart
It’s Better to Jump” is a feature-length documentary film that gives voice to the people of the ancient walled city of Akka as they and their city face a very uncertain future.

Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real, UK
Discovery Channel and NHK have joined forces to undertake the most ambitious search ever mounted to find the greatest mystery of the deep, the giant squid. With razor-toothed suckers and eyes the size of dinner plates, tales of the creature have been around since ancient times. The Norse legend of the sea monster the Kraken and the Scylla from Greek mythology might have derived from the giant squid. This massive predator has always been shrouded in secrecy, and every attempt to capture a live giant squid on camera in its natural habitat, considered by many to be the Holy Grail of natural history filmmaking, has failed. Until now.

Occupy the Movie, Canada
Directed by Corey Ogilvie
Featuring: Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Tim Pool
This film sheds a light on a movement known as Occupy who stands against corporate greed. Beginning in 2011, it has quickly become the largest movement since those of the civil rights protests.

Retreat, Canada
Directed by David Cherniack
Cast: Alan Wallace
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.

Sex After Kids, Canada
Directed by Jeremy Lalonde
Cast: Paul Amos, Shannon Meckner, Katie Boland, Kristin Booth, Jay Brazeau
An edgy ensemble comedy about the sexual exploits couples share in the aftermath of children.

Stable Life, USA
Directed by Sara MacPherson
A high-stakes documentary about family, immigration and the hardscrabble world of horse racing

The Signal Hill Speed Run,
Directed by Jon Carnoy, Michael Horelick
Featuring: Ben Harper (narrator)
Narrator Ben Harper explores the history of the world’s first skateboard contest and the subsequent evolution of the daredevil speed run in the small So Cal burg of Signal Hill.

U.S. PREMIERES

About 111 Girls (Darbare 111 Dokhtar), Iraq
Directed by Nahid Ghobadi, Bijan Zamanpira
Cast: Reza Behbudi, Mehdi Saki, Amin Sadeghi
The Iranian president receives a pleading letter from 111 Kurdish women complaining of their inability to find husbands, and says that if the government does nothing, they will commit mass suicide.

Alaska Sessions: Surfing The Last Frontier, Australia
Directed by Frederick Dickerson, Matthew McNeill
Featuring: Mike McCune, Scott Dickerson, Ice Man (Don McNamara), Stephanie Dickerson, Donna Rae Faulkner, Wendy Kinnier McCune
A Homer Alaska local sells his house and buys an old fishing boat to embark on an epic surf adventure up the isolated Alaskan coastline — in the dead of winter

Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard, Australia
Directed by Richard Lowenstein, Lynn-Maree Milburn
Cast: Rowland S. Howard, Genevieve McGuckin, Nick Cave
From myth to legend Rowland Howard appeared on the early Melbourne punk scene like a phantom out of Kafkaesque Prague or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. A beautifully gaunt and gothic aristocrat, the unique distinctive fury of his guitar style shot him directly into the imagination of a generation.

Betrayal (Izmena), Russia
Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov
Cast: Franziska Petri, Dejan Lilic
A man and a woman, two casual acquaintances, learn that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other in this intriguing drama.

Boucherie Halal, Canada
Directed by Babek Aliassa
Cast: Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Fariba Bonakdar, Karim Babin, Christine Aubin Khalifah
A Muslim couple opens a butcher shop in Montreal and wishes to successfully integrate into Quebec society. But the butcher’s father is an imam who sets up a little mosque in the back room and uses it to spread his fundamentalist views. When he is arrested by the RCMP on suspicions of past terrorist activities, his son, torn between love for his wife and allegiance to his father, gets involved in a plot to free him. Fed up by her husband’s unwillingness to stand up to his father’s wishes, the butcher’s wife leaves to live a more fulfilling life away from the muslim community.

Broken, UK
Directed by Rufus Norris
Cast: Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy, Rory Kinnear
Skunk is only 11, but after witnessing a brutal beating, her childhood innocence gives way to fear and danger.

Chaika, Russia/Georgia/Spain/Kazakhstan
Directed by Miguel Ángel Jiminez
Cast: Salome Demuria, Gio Gabunia
A love story between a prostitute and a sailor, reconstructed between two long seasons: the eternal winter of Siberia and summer in the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan.

Chocó, Colombia
Directed by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
Cast: Esteban Copete, Karent Hinestroza
A young, displaced black woman tries to maintain her two children and her husband, a musician who only knows how to play marimba, drink, and gamble.

Danube – Europe’s Amazon, Germany
Directed by Rita & Michael Schlamberger
Romantic coasts and unspoiled nature: the Danube fascinates. It dominates the landscape wherever it flows. The Danube unites and separates at the same time. In the Roman Empire – from its source to its estuary – it formed the frontier to the peoples of the North. Today the big stream flows through ten countries. 1071 kilometres of the Danube still represent national borders.

Family Meals, Croatia
Directed by Dana Budisavljevic
Through the ritual of family meals, the film talks about the importance of feeling accepted by the ones we love.

Fly With The Crane, China
Directed by Li Ruijun
Cast: Xingchun Ma, Long Tang, Siyi Wang
Serenely resigned to his impending death but deeply afraid at the prospect of being cremated, an elderly carpenter seeks to have his last wishes carried out in this gentle, beautifully realized drama from director Li Ruijun

Handmade Cinema, Italy
Directed by Guido Torlonia
Featuring: Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo, Maurizio Millenotti, Gabriella Pescucci
Turning an actor into a character, sewing a precious dress or an antique pair of shoes as if they were art works, building a set but most of all painting it, aging it and making the stage designer’s sketch a beautiful reconstruction all this is Handmade Cinema.

High Plains Doctor: Healing on the Tibetan Plateau, Canada
Directed by Michael Oved Dayan
Featuring: Isaac Sobol
On a doctor’s philanthropic journey to give to the people of Tibet, he receives more than he could ever imagine.

Jackie, Netherlands
Directed by Antoinette Beumer
Cast: Carice van Houten, Jelka van Houten, Holly Hunter
Dutch twin sisters travel to America to help the mother (Holly Hunter) they have never met in this heartwarming, cross-cultural take on the classic American road movie.

Motorway, Hong Kong
Directed by Pou-Soi Cheang
Cast: Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Shawn Yue
A young cop on Hong Kong’s top-secret, high-speed pursuit squad must learn the tricks of the trade from a grizzled veteran as he prepares to capture a legendary getaway driver in this high-octane thriller from action auteur Soi Cheang and legendary producer Johnnie To.

My Awkward Sexual Adventure, Canada
Directed by Sean Garrity
Cast: Jonas Chernick, Emily Hampshire, Vik Sahay
A sexually inept accountant strikes a deal with a worldly but disorganized stripper: he’ll help her with her crushing debt if she helps him become a better lover.

Old Stock, Canada
Directed by James Genn
Cast: Noah Reid, Melanie Leishman
Stock Burton (Noah Reid) is a local legend. A monumental event from his past has frozen
him, sent his family into a tailspin and pitted his small town against him. Now he’s simply chosen to drop out of life and ‘retire’, joining his recently separated Grandfather, Harold, (Jack Daniel Wells) at the Golden Seasons senior’s home, where life is safe, comfortable and worry free.

One Mile Above, China/Taiwan
Directed by Jiayi Du
A young man’s cycle journey to the highest point in Tibet to fulfill his brother’s final wish. Based on a true story.

Perú Sabe: Cuisine as an Agent of Social Change, Perú
Directed by Jesús M. Santos
Featuring: Gaston Acurio, Ferran Adriá
Ferran Adrià, one of the world’s most prestigious chefs, and Gastón Acurio, Latin America’s most influential chef, explore the roots of Peruvian cuisine and its potential to change lives.

Queen of Montreuil, France
Directed by Sólveing Anspach
Cast: Florence Loiret Caille, Eric Caruso
It’s early summer and Agathe is back in France, at home in Montreuil. She has to get over her husband’s death and return to her work as a film director. The unexpected arrival at her house of a couple of Icelanders, a sea lion and a neighbor that she has always desired yet never vanquished will give Agathe the strength to get her life back on track…

Revolution, Canada
Directed by Rob Stewart
Featuring: Rob Stewart, David Hannan, Boris Worm, Emily Hunter, Felix Finkbeiner
REVOLUTION is a film about changing the world, going for it, taking a stand, and fighting for something. A true-life adventure following Director, Rob Stewart (SHARKWATER) over four years and 15 countries discovering there is a lot more than sharks at risk of becoming extinct. Climate change, environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution, and food/water scarcity are reducing the earth’s ability to house humans and we need to start doing something about it now!

Storm Surfers 3D, Australia
Directed by Justin McMillan, Chris Nelius
Featuring: Tom Carroll, Ben Matson
This 3D cinematic adventure follows two of Australia’s greatest surf legends on their quest to hunt down and ride the Pacific’s biggest and most dangerous waves.

The Ballad of The Weeping Springs (Balada le’aviv ha’bohe), Israel
Directed by Benny Toraty
Cast: Yigal Adika, Lirit Balaban, Asher Dagan, Yonatan Dani, Peri Bar Delshdefer
Amram, the son of Avraham Mufredi, turns up at the house of the legendary Persian tar (lute) player, Yosef Tawilla. Amram gives him the score of a work that his father, a member of Tawilla’s ensemble and his partner, wants to see performed before his impending death.

The Body, Spain
Directed by Oriol Paulo
Cast: José Coronado, Belén Rueda, Hugo Silva, Aura Garrido
A woman’s body vanishes from the morgue in mysterious circumstances. In the course of a single night, Inspector Jaime Peña investigates the disappearance with the help of her widower.

The Dealers, Israel
Directed by Oded Davidoff
Cast: Alon Aboutboul, Moshe Ashkenazi, Rami Davidoff, Abdallah El Akal
The story of Rami and Avishay, 27 years old friends that share an apartment in a small Jerusalem neighborhood. They spend their days smoking and playing in a soccer team with other losers, which its coach Zvika is determined to take the “Jerusalem neighborhood cup” with. In need for money they get entangled in a drug deal with Sagi, a local gangster, which forces them to learn the hard way about taking responsibility, loyalty, and friendship. The movie is a humorous view of the colorful, multi culture, unique and somehow funny Israeli society.

The Deflowering of Eva Von End, Netherlands
Directed by Michiel ten Horn
Cast: Vivian Dierickx, Rafael Gareisen
The outcast in her middle-class family, Eva’s life is turned upside down by the arrival of a handsome German exchange student in this satire of petit-bourgeois family life.

The Invisible String, Germany/USA/Japan/Italy
Directed by Jan Bäss
Featuring: Chipper ‘Bro’ Bell, ‘Crazy’ John Brooks
Focusing on the 1970s and ‘80s, including vintage footage from Santa Barbara, this German documentary traces the rise in popularity of Frisbee contests, games and acrobatic exhibitions.

The Night Parade, France
Directed by Geraldine Maillet
Cast: Julie Gayet, Raphaël Peronnaz, Brisa Roché, Bakari Sangaré, Françoise Lebrun
Paris – One night. A woman and a man meet in a restaurant. Sheis beautiful. He falls for her. She is shy, he is bewitched. He talks, she is cautious. He tries, she avoids. She hesitates, he insists. An intense relationship starts then. During the night, masks fall off and the seduction game gives in to sincere feelings. Will this love last over a night ?

The Precocious and Brief Life of Sabina Rivas (La vida precoz y breve de Sabina Rivas), Mexico
Directed by Luis Mandoki
Cast: Greisy Mena, Fernando Moreno
Honduran teenager Sabina Rivas intends to get to the United States, harboring dreams of becoming a famous singer and distancing herself from her former lover, Jovany, now a gang member.

The Silent War, Hong Kong/China
Directed by Felix Chong, Alan Mak
Cast: Xun Zhou, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Mavis Fan, Xuebing Wang, Yong Dong, Lap-Man Sin
An espionage thriller set in the 1950s and adapted from the novel “Year Suan/Plot Against” by May Jia. Tony Leung Chiu Wai plays a blind man who works for a piano tuner. He is recruited for a spy mission because of his exceptional hearing.

Wasteland, UK
Directed by Rowan Athale
Cast: Matthew Lewis, Iwan Rheon
In this exhilarating heist thriller, a young ex-con hooks up with his best mates to embark on a wild — and risky — revenge scheme after being framed by a local drug kingpin.

Water, Israel
Directed by Mohammad Bakri, Ahmad Bargouthi, Mohammad Fuad, Tal Haring, Yona Rozenkier, Nir Saar, Maya Sarfaty, Pini Tavger
Nine directors, Israeli and Palestinian, embarked on a journey to create short films, fiction or documentary, inspired by Water. Water symbolizes the source of possibilities, the primal core of all things.

COMPETITION CATEGORIES

INDEPENDENT FEATURES
Competition

Babygirl, USA/Ireland – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Macdara Vallely
Cast: Yainis Ynoa, Rosa Arredondo, Flaco Navaja

Blumenthal, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Seth Fisher
Cast: Seth Fisher, Brian Cox, Fred Melamed, Laila Robins, Mark Blum, Mei Melancon

Broken, UK – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Rufus Norris
Cast: Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy, Rory Kinnear

Crosstown, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Miriam Kruishoop
Cast: Manny Perez, Vivica A. Fox, Will Green, Noel Gugliemi, Paige Hurd

Jackie, Netherlands – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Antoinette Beumer
Cast: Carice van Houten, Jelka van Houten, Holly Hunter

My Awkward Sexual Adventure, Canada – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Sean Garrity
Cast: Jonas Chernick, Emily Hampshire, Vik Sahay

Old Stock, Canada – U.S. Premiere
Directed by James Genn
Cast: Noah Reid, Melanie Leishman

Sex After Kids, Canada – World Premiere
Directed by Jeremy Lalonde
Cast: Paul Amos, Shannon Meckner, Katie Boland, Kristin Booth, Jay Brazeau

The Discoverers, USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Justin Schwarz
Cast: Griffin Dunne, Dreama Walker, John C. McGinley

Wasteland, UK – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Rowan Athale
Cast: Matthew Lewis, Iwan Rheon

INTERNATIONAL FEATURES
Competition

About 111 Girls (Darbare 111 Dokhtar), Iraq – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Nahid Ghobadi, Bijan Zamanpira
Cast: Reza Behbudi, Mehdi Saki, Amin Sadeghi

Betrayal (Izmena), Russia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov
Cast: Franziska Petri, Dejan Lilic

Boucherie Halal, Canada – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Babek Aliassa
Cast: Abdelghafour Elaaziz, Fariba Bonakdar, Karim Babin, Christine Aubin Khalifah

Chaika, Russia/Georgia/Spain/Kazakhstan – U.S, Premiere
Directed by Miguel Ángel Jiminez
Cast: Salome Demuria, Gio Gabunia

Coming of Age (Anfang 80), Austria – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Gerhard Ertl, Sabine Hiebler
Cast: Christine Ostermayer, Karl Merkatz

Gangs of Wasseypur, India – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Piyush Mishra, Remma Sen, Jaideep Ahlawat, Zeishan Quadri, Pankaj Tripathi

The Deflowering of Eva Von End, Netherlands – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Michiel ten Horn
Cast: Vivian Dierickx, Rafael Gareisen

The Night Parade, France – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Geraldine Maillet

Water, Israel – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Mohammad Bakri, Ahmad Bargouthi, Mohammad Fuad, Tal Haring, Yona Rozenkier, Nir Saar, Maya Sarfaty, Pini Tavger

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Competition

Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard, Australia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Richard Lowenstein, Lynn-Maree Milburn
Featuring: Rowland S. Howard, Genevieve McGuckin, Nick Cave

Blood Brother, USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Steve Hoover
Featuring: Steve Hoover, Rocky Braat

Buzkashi!, Canada – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Najeeb Mirza

Handmade Cinema, Italy – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Guido Torlonia
Featuring: Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo, Maurizio Millenotti, Gabriella Pescucci

Men at Lunch, Ireland – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Seán Ó Cualáin

More Than Honey, Switzerland/Germany
Directed by Markus Imhoof
Featuring: Fred Jaggi, John Miller, Liane Singer

Radioman, UK – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Mary Kerr
Featuring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Eva Mendes, Helen Mirren, Sting, Craig Castaldo, Meryl Streep

Rising From Ashes, USA/Rwanda/UK/South Africa
Directed by T. C. Johnstone
Featuring: Forest Whitaker

Somm, USA
Directed by Jason Wise
Featuring: Bo Barrett, Shayn Bjornholm

The Mosuo Sisters, USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Marlo Poras

SPANISH/LATIN AMERICA CINEMA
Competition

7 Boxes, Paraguay
Directed by Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schembori
Cast: Celso Franco, Victor Sosa, Lali González, Nico García, Paletita, Manuel Portillo

After Lucia (Después De Lucia), Mexico
Directed by Michel Franco
Cast: Tessa La, Gonzalo Vega Jr., Tamara Yazbek, Hernán Mendoza

Chocó, Colombia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Jhonny Hendrix Hinestroza
Cast: Esteban Copete, Karent Hinestroza

Clandestine Childhood, Argentina/Spain/Brazil
Directed by Benjamin Ávila
Cast: Teo Gutiérrez Moreno, César Troncoso

La Sirga, Colombia/France/Mexico – West Coast Premiere
Directed by William Vega
Cast: Floralba Achicanoy, Joghis Seudin Arias

Once Upon a Time Was I, Veronica, Brazil/France – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Marcelo Gomes
Cast: Hermila Guedes, Maeve Jinkings

The Body, Spain – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Oriol Paulo
Cast: José Coronado, Belén Rueda, Hugo Silva, Aura Garrido

The Passion of Michelangelo, Chile
Directed by Esteban Larraín
Cast: Sebastián Ayala, Claudia Celedón

The Precocious and Brief Life of Sabina Rivas (La vida precoz y breve de Sabina Rivas), Mexico – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Luis Mandoki
Cast: Greisy Mena, Fernando Moreno

FUND FOR SANTA BARBARA SOCIAL JUSTICE
Competition

Art of Conflict, Ireland/USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Valeri Vaughn
Featuring: Vince Vaughn (narrator)

El Milagro, Spain – World Premiere
Directed by Salomón Shang

High Plains Doctor: Healing on the Tibetan Plateau, Canada – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Michael Oved Dayan
Featuring: Isaac Sobol

It’s Better to Jump, USA/Israel – World Premiere
Directed by Gina Angelone, Mouna B. Stewart, Patrick A. Stewart

Musicwood, USA/Madagascar – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Maxine Trump
Featuring: Kaki King, Yo La Tengo

Occupy the Movie, Canada – World Premiere
Directed by Corey Ogilvie
Featuring: Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Tim Pool

Revolution, Canada – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Rob Stewart
Featuring: Rob Stewart, David Hannan, Boris Worm, Emily Hunter, Felix Finkbeiner

Stable Life, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Sara MacPherson

The World Before Her, Canada
Directed by Nisha Pahuja
Featuring: Pooja Chopra, Marc Robinson, Ankita Shorey, Ruhi Singh, Prachi Trivedi

SHORT FILMS
Competition

Born Yesterday, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Nate Larkin-Conolly
Cast: Alex Creasia, Maggie Lyons, and Ari Costa

Buzkashi Boys, Afghanistan/USA
Directed by Sam French
Cast: Jawanmard Paiz, Wali Talash, and Fawad Mohammadi

Byron’s Theme, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Bennett Barbakow
Cast: Bennett Barbakow, Max Marbakow, Grace Jackson, Nick Lentz, and Myles Pettengill

Dog Eat Dog, USA
Directed by Sian Heder
Cast: Sean Akers, Ellie Smith, and Sian Heder

F**k The Parents, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Ethan Kuperberg
Cast: Alexandra Barreto, Jill Soloway, and Robin Ruzan

Night Shift, New Zealand
Directed by Zia Mandviwalla
Cast: Anapela Polataivao and Leon Dobrinski

NSFW, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Joseph Armario
Cast: Ben York Jones, Jenny Hou

The Interrogation, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Drew Mylrea
Cast: Loren Lester, Caleb Thomas, Carrie Wampler

The Op Shop, Australia
Directed by Lee Rogers
Cast: Christopher Gist, Lee Rogers, and Paul Kooperman

The Other Side, Israel
Directed by Khen Shalem
Cast: David Fuerstein and Hanan Yehieli

The Tea Party, USA
Directed by Serena Reeder
Cast: Bonnie Loev, Carol Fritz, Angela Buckery, and Anthony Riley

The Test, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Anthony DiBlasi
Cast: Lauren Bowles, and Patrick Fischler

Tiger Boy, Italy- US Premiere
Directed by Gabriele Mainetti
Cast: Francesco Foti, Lidia Vitale, and Simone Santini

ANIMATED SHORTS
Competition

Butterflies, Australia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Isabel Peppard
Cast: Rachel Griffiths, Nicholas Hope, Henry Nixon, Honey Spence

Cicada Princess, USA
Directed by Mauricio Baiocchi
Cast: Stephen Fry

Head Over Heels, UK
Directed by Timothy Reckart
Cast: Nigel Anthony and Ruth Rayyah McCaul

Oh Willy…, Belgium
Directed by Emma De Swaef and Marc Roels

Old Man, USA
Directed by Leah Shore
Cast: Charles Manson and Marlin Marynick

Sleight of Hand, Australia
Directed by Michael Cusack

Yellow Stick Notes| Canadian Anijam, Canada- World Premiere
Directed by Jeff Chiba Stearns
Cast: Marv Newland, Cordell Barker, Chris Hinton, Alison Snowden, David Fine, Janet Pearlman, and Paul Driessen

KOLNOA SHORTS
Competition

Barriers, Israel
Directed by Golan Rise

The Other Side, Israel
Directed by Khen Shalem
Cast: David Fuerstein and Hanan Yehieli

Wherever You Go, Israel- US Premiere
Directed by Ronny Sasson Angel

NON-COMPETITION FILMS

APPLEBOX

Brave 3D
Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell
Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson

Frankenweenie 3D
Directed by Tim Burton
Cast: Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short

ParaNorman 3D
Directed by Chris Butler, Sam Fell
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Wreck It Ralph 3D
Directed by Rich Moore
Cast: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch

CINESONIC

Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard, Australia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Richard Lowenstein, Lynn-Maree Milburn
Cast: Rowland S. Howard, Genevieve McGuckin, Nick Cave

Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation, Canada – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Laura Archibald
Featuring: Oscar Brand, Judy Collins, Tom Chapin, Kris Kristofferson

Harana, Phillippines/USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Benito Bautista
Featuring: Florante Aguilar, Celestino Aniel

In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey, Canada
Directed by James Cullingham

One Track Heart, USA/India – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Jeremy Frindel
Cast: Rick Rubin, Jason Becker, Ram Dass, Krishna Das

Punk in Africa, South Africa/Czech Republic/Zimbabwe/Mozambique – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Keith Jones, Deon Maas
Featuring: Paulo Chibanga, Michael Fleck, Ivan Kadey, Ruben Rose, Warwick Sony

KOLNOA

Hannah Arendt, Germany/Luxembourg/France
Directed by Margarethe von Trotta
Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Axel Milberg

Out in the Dark, Israel/USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Michael Mayer
Cast: Nicholas Jacob, Michael Aloni, Jameel Khouri, Alon Pdut

The Ballad of The Weeping Spring (Balada le’aviv ha’bohe), Israel – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Benny Toraty
Cast: Yigal Adika, Lirit Balaban, Asher Dagan, Yonatan Dani, Peri Bar Delshdefer

The Dealers, Israel – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Oded Davidoff
Cast: Alon Aboutboul, Moshe Ashkenazi, Rami Davidoff, Abdallah El Akal

Water, Israel – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Mohammad Bakri, Ahmad Bargouthi, Mohammad Fuad, Tal Haring, Yona Rozenkier, Nir Saar, Maya Sarfaty, Pini Tavger

PAN ASIA

Fly With The Crane, China – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Li Ruijun
Cast: Xingchun Ma, Long Tang, Siyi Wang

Motorway, Hong Kong – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Pou-Soi Cheang
Cast: Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Shawn Yue

One Mile Above, China/Taiwan – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Jiayi Du

Pieta, South Korea
Directed by Ki-duk Kim
Cast: Jeong-jin Lee, Min-soo Jo

The Mosuo Sisters, USA – West Coast Premiere
Directed by Marlo Poras

The Silent War, Hong Kong/China – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Felix Chong, Alan Mak
Cast: Xun Zhou, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Mavis Fan, Xuebing Wang, Yong Dong, Lap-Man Sin

REEL NATURE

10 Deadliest Sharks, USA
Directed by Moira Mann

Danube – Europe’s Amazon, Germany
Directed by Rita & Michael Schlamberger

Elephant Whisperer, Iceland
Directed by Jóhann Sigfússon
Featuring: Katherine Wogan (Narrator)

Hawaii: Islands of the Fire Goddess, UK
Directed by Michael deGruy

Incredible Suckers, USA
Directed by Michael deGruy
Featuring: Michael deGruy, Bruce Robison

Monster Squid: The Giant Squid Is Real, UK

Tempest From The Deep, USA
Directed by Michael deGruy

The Octopus Show, USA
Directed by Michael deGruy
Featuring: Shari Belafonte, Michael deGruy

SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

Charles Lloyd, Arrows Into Infinity, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Dorothy Darr, Jeffery Morse

Mommy, I’m A Basterd!, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Max Barbakow
Featuring: Margo Barbakow, Bennett Barbakow, Jeff Barbakow, Wendy Reynolds, Lynn Reynolds, William Bradford Reynolds, Bobbi Smith

The Condor’s Shadow, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Jeff Mcloughlin

The Racket Boys, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Brandon Willer
Cast: Paul Haapaniemi, Dannikke Walkker, Brandon Willer

The Santa Ynez River Wilderness, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Michael James Love

SCREEN CUISINE

A Year in Burgundy USA – World Premiere
Directed by David Kennard
Cast: Martine Saunier

Family Meals, Croatia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Dana Budisavljevic

More Than Honey, Switzerland/Germany/Austria
Directed by Markus Imhoof
Cast: Fred Jaggi, John Miller, Liane Singer

Perú Sabe: Cuisine as an Agent of Social Change, Perú – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Jesús M. Santos
Featuring: Gaston Acurio, Ferran Adriá

Somm, USA
Directed by Jason Wise
Featuring: Bo Barrett, Shayn Bjornholm

Spinning Plates, USA
Directed by Joseph Levy
Cast: Grant Achatz, Thomas Keller

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Barbara, Germany
Directed by Christian Petzold
Cast: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld

Bound by Flesh, USA
Directed by Leslie Zemeckis
Featuring Lea Thompson, Nancy Allen

Caesar Must Die, Italy
Directed by Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani

In The Shadow, Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland
Directed by David Ondricek

Kon-Tiki, UK/Norway/Denmark
Directed by Joachim Renning, Espen Sandberg
Cast: Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård

Laurence Anyways, Canada/France
Directed by Xavier Dolan
Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye

Modest Reception (Paziraie sadeh), Iran
Directed by Mani Haghighi
Cast: Taraneh Alidoosti, Mani Haghighi, Saeed Changizian, Esmaeel Khalaj, Saber Abbar

No, Chile/France/USA – West Coast Premiere / International Gala
Directed by Pablo Larraín
Cast: Gael García Bernal

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself, USA
Directed by Tom Bean, Luke Poling
Cast: Ken Burns, Ric Burns

Queen of Montreuil, France – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Sólveing Anspach
Cast: Florence Loiret Caille, Eric Caruso

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

Sister, France/Switzerland
Directed by Ursula Meier
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Martin Compston

The Sapphires, Australia
Directed by Wayne Blair
Cast: Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy

TO THE MAXXX

Alaska Sessions: Surfing The Last Frontier, Australia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Frederick Dickerson, Matthew McNeill
Featuring: Mike McCune, Scott Dickerson, Ice Man (Don McNamara), Stephanie Dickerson, Donna Rae Faulkner, Wendy Kinnier McCune

Discovering Mavericks, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Joshua Pomer

Driftwood, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Peter Trow, Jim Brewer
Cast: Shaun Tomson, Matt Becker, Genelle Ives, Joe Rowan, Sam George, Noah Yap, Ammy Naff, Jim Brewer

Isolated, USA/UK – World Premiere
Directed by Justin Le Pera
Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Travis Potter

Storm Surfers 3D, Australia – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Justin McMillan, Chris Nelius
Featuring: Tom Carroll, Ben Matson

The Invisible String, Germany/USA/Japan/Italy – U.S. Premiere
Directed by Jan Bäss
Featuring: Chipper ‘Bro’ Bell, ‘Crazy’ John Brooks

The Signal Hill Speed Run, USA – World Premiere
Directed by Jon Carnoy, Michael Horelick

WARNERS ARCHIVE

Dial M For Murder
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly

Singin’ in the Rain
Directed by Stanley Donen
Cast: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor

The Shining
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall

SHORT FILMS

Documentary Shorts:

Brute Force, USA
Directed by Ben Steinbauer
Cast: Brute Force

Georgena Terry, USA
Directed by Amanda Zackem
Cast: Georgena Terry

Jujitsuing Reality, USA
Directed by Chetin Chabuk
Cast: Scott Lew

Just Add Water, Thailand- US Premiere
Directed by Franck Janin and Luc Janin

Mr. Twister- USA- World Premiere
Directed by Clay Westervelt
Cast: Brian Tolley

The Art of Boxing, USA- US Premiere
Directed by Andrew Flakelar
Cast: Newton Kidd

The Bronzer, USA
Directed by Peyton Wilson

SANTA BARBARA FILMMAKERS

SB Short Films:

A Tiny Portal, USA
Directed by Stephanie Gumpel
Cast: Stephanie Gumpel, Ann Benson, Richard Riehle, and Alan Collett

Jack, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Grace Jackson
Cast: Jack English

Memorial, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Jason Hallows
Cast: Tony Alvarez, Sarah Prikryl, Melody Zara, and Craig Welzbacher

Ride, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Chris Yasko
Cast: Seinn Schlidt

The Condition, USA
Directed by René Caballero
Cast: Brett Sherry, Aleksandr Filen, Kelly Wood, Kelly Decker, Marianne Madsen, and Matt Dumont

The Chef at the Little Washington, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Michael Pyon
Cast: Patrick O’Connell

The Meter, USA- World Premiere
Directed by Roy Hathon
Cast: Patrick Hubbard, Kevin Saunders

This is Caroline, USA
Directed by Danny Abel
Cast: Hannah Pearl Utt, Blake Berris, Zoe Farmingdale, and Leora Kalish

YOUTH CINEMEDIA

Baba Uncensored, USA

Cosmic Warrior: A Journey from LA to Albuquerque, USA

In the Studio with Nani Chacon, USA

LA Freeway Kids: the Restoration of an Olympic Mural, USA

Mictlan Murals in Boyle Heights, USA

Rhythmetik’s First Time: the making of a music video, USA

Santa Clara Pueblo, USA

The Crenshaw Wall with King CRE8, USA

Undocubus Puganini Po’kwin, USA

Willie F. Herrón III, USA

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Dutch Film The Resurrection of a Bastard to Open 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam

The world premiere of De wederopstanding van een klootzak (The Resurrection of a Bastard) by Guido van Driel will open the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Wednesday 23 January. The film stars Yorick van Wageningen (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Juda Goslinga and Goua Robert Grovogui. Recently deceased Dutch actor Jeroen Willems plays in one of the smaller roles.

The Resurrection of a Bastard, Van Driel’s fiction feature début, is also selected for the festival’s Hivos Tiger Awards Competition.

The Resurrection of a Bastard
An old Frisian farmer bent on revenge. A criminal from Amsterdam barely surviving a liquidation. An illegal immigrant with uncertain prospects. Eventually, they meet under an ancient oak tree. Beyond the last town.
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French Film Azad Wins 15th Arpa International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3067" align="alignnone" width="550"]BEST DOCUMENTARY Feature Award for THE SUFFERING GRASSES WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT, IT IS THE GRASS THAT SUFFERS[/caption]

The 15th Arpa International Film Festival (AFFMA.org) ran from Thursday, November 29 to Sunday, December 2, 2012, at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, and showcased over 60 films from around the globe.

The festival culminated with a Gala event and awards ceremony at which filmmakers, sponsors, and honored guests were celebrated.

BEST PICTURE was awarded to Nicolas Tackian for his French drama AZAD

BEST DIRECTOR kudos was delivered to Caner Alper and Mehmet Binay for the Turkish film ZENNE DANCER.

BEST SCREENPLAY Award was given to Arshaluys Harutyunyan for the Armenian drama WANDERING

The BEST DOCUMENTARY Feature Award for THE SUFFERING GRASSES: WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT, IT IS THE GRASS THAT SUFFERS was presented to Yara Lee.

Eddie Deleon Melikyan accepted the award for BEST SHORT FILM for directing JUST LIKE HER.

Also present at the ceremony were the 2012 special award honorees. Presenters such as filmmaker Haik Gazarian and actress Valentina Rendon presented Hrach Titizian with the Breakthrough Actor of the Year Award; actress Heather McComb presented Michael Poghosian the Artist of the Year Award; actor/filmmaker Sebastian Siegel awarded Frances Fisher the Career Achievement Award; AFFMA Founder Sylvia Minassian presented Lusine Sahakyan, director of “Hamshen at Crossroads of Past and Present” (Armenia,Turkey) with the prestigious Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award; Actress Anoush NeVart presented the Arpa Foundation Award to recipient USC Shoah Foundation, The Institute For Visual History And Education. The award was accepted by Dr. Stephen D. Smith, MBE, PhD who spoke about the merits of supporting independent cinema and archiving efforts such as those by the Shoah Foundation. And Achievement in International Cinema Award was accepted by “Lost & Found in Armenia” (Armenia, USA) director, Gor Kirakosian.
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Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Announces 2013 Film Lineup, Opens With Nina Davenport’s First Comes Love

First Comes Love by Nina Davenport

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival announced the official selections for the 10th annual festival, being held February 15-24, 2013 at the Historic Wilma and Crystal Theaters in downtown Missoula, Montana. The 2013 program was curated from more than 1000 entries from around the globe. The opening night film, Nina Davenport’s “First Comes Love,” will be free and open to the public, courtesy of HBO Documentary Films.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Host 2013 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony

Actor, writer and director Joseph Gordon-Levitt who has appeared in seven films at the Sundance Film Festival, including Mysterious Skin, Brick, and (500) Days of Summer will host this year’s, 2013 Sundance Film Festival feature film Awards Ceremony on January 26, 2013, in Park City, Utah.

Gordon-Levitt’s feature film directorial debut, Don Jon’s Addiction, will also screen in the out-of-competition Premieres section at the 2013 Festival, and Gordon-Levitt is an Artist Trustee of Sundance Institute.

The Festival takes place January 17-27, 2013 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
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2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival to Honor Actor Leonardo DiCaprio

The 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, in its 28th year, will honor Academy Award® nominated actor Leonardo DiCaprio with the American Riviera Award. DiCaprio, whose latest film Django Unchained was released to critical acclaim and box office success this Christmas, will be honored on Friday, February 1 at the Arlington Theatre.

“We are thrilled to be honoring Leonardo DiCaprio with the American Riviera Award, in a year where he has shown us another layer of his immeasurable talent” commented Durling. “His performance in Django Unchained reaffirms that he is the most relevant actor of this generation.”

The American Riviera Award was established to recognize an artist who has had a strong influence on American Cinema. DiCaprio will join an illustrious group of past recipients, including frequent collaborator director Martin Scorsese (2012): Annette Bening (2011), Sandra Bullock (2010), Mickey Rourke (2009), Tommy Lee Jones (2008), Forrest Whitaker (2007), Philip Seymour Hoffman (2006), Kevin Bacon (2005) and Diane Lane (2004).

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Disconnect Starring Jason Bateman to Open 2013 Santa Barbara International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3056" align="alignnone" width="550"]Disconnect[/caption]

The 28th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (January 24-February 3), will open the 2013 Festival with the U.S. Premiere of LD Entertainment’s Disconnect, directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård and Max Thieriot. Opening night will take place at the Arlington Theatre on Thursday, January 24, 2013, with director and cast expected to attend.

“Disconnect is a visceral and timely film experience – and an extraordinary way to start the 28th edition of SBIFF,” remarked Executive Director Roger Durling.

Disconnect holds a mirror up to our community and our obsession with all things technical. The story introduces us to a vast collection of characters: A lawyer, an estranged couple, a widowed ex-cop and an ambitious journalist who are all strangers, neighbors and colleagues whose stories collide in this compelling drama about ordinary people desperate for a human connection.

Filmed with a somewhat voyeuristic style, Disconnect marks the first fiction feature from Henry-Alex Rubin, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, and is produced by Mickey Liddell and Jennifer Monroe of LD Entertainment and William Horberg of Wonderful Films from an original screenplay by Andrew Stern. Disconnect screened at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012, and will be released by LD Entertainment on April 19, 2013.

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Seattle International Film Festival Announces Lineup for 2013 Women in Cinema festival

[caption id="attachment_2828" align="alignnone" width="600"]GINGER & ROSA[/caption]

The Seattle International Film Festival announced today the official lineup for the 2013 Women in Cinema festival. The Women in Cinema, produced by SIFF, and sponsored by OSKA in addition to LUNAFEST, will run January 23-27, 2013.

“After a ten-year hiatus, we are excited to revive SIFF’s popular festival devoted to women directors. There is an abundance of extraordinary films directed by women this year and we look forward to showcasing a lively selection of the best new films from around the world,” said SIFF Artistic Director, Carl Spence. The 2013 Women in Cinema festival will showcase 10 feature films and a program of shorts from women filmmakers all around the globe.

Women in Cinema 2013 will open with Margarethe von Trotta’s biopic, HANNAH ARENDT (Germany, 2012) about the philosopher famous for her controversial reporting on the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann and her shocking conclusion of “the banality of evil,” to describe the ordinariness of the Holocaust’s perpetrators. Actress Barbara Sukowa gives what is “

The festival will close with GINGER & ROSA (United Kingdom, 2012), the story of two best friends (Elle Fanning and Alice Englert) growing up in Great Britain during the sixties. The girls discover that with the newfound freedom of the sexual revolution comes a heavy price in this salutary tale. Turning her lens on her own generation, ORLANDO writer-director Sally Potter looks back on the roots of feminism with admiration for the idealism of her young heroine, and also with a keen eye for the naïveté of that age and that time. The film also stars Oliver Platt, Timothy Spall, Jodhi May, Alessandro Nivola, Christina Hendricks and Annette Bening.

“With women directors working in every cinematic genre, SIFF celebrates a broad range of films with women at the helm at the Women in Cinema festival,” said SIFF Director of Programming, Beth Barrett. Women in Cinema will also include presentations of following celebrated films: THE DANDELIONS (dir. Carine Tardieu, France), 2012 Locarno Film Festival Audience Award-winner LORE (dir. Cate Shortland, Australia/Germany/UK), MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN (dir. Deepa Mehta, Canada/UK), SATELLITE BOY ((dir. Catriona McKenzie, Australia), 2012 Fantastic Fest Award-winner VANISHING WAVES (dir. Kristina Buozyte, Lithuania/France/Belgium), and THE WORLD BEFORE HER (dir. Nisha Pahuja, Canada).

Additional Women in Cinema programs will include a selection of female-helmed short films and the festival forum, Beyond the Director.
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Palm Springs International Film Festival Announces Film Eligible for Cine Latino Award at 2013 Festival

[caption id="attachment_3053" align="alignnone" width="550"]La Playa D. C.[/caption]

The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival(PSIFF) announced the new Cine Latino Award, which will be presented to the best Iberoamerican film screening at the Festival scheduled to run January 3-14, 2013. Sponsored by the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) and the University of Guadalajara Foundation/USA, the winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.

This year’s eligible films are:

7 Boxes (Paraguay), Director: Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori

After Lucia (Mexico), Director: Michel Franco

Beauty (Argentina), Director: Daniela Seggiaro

Blancanieves (Spain/France), Director: Pablo Berger

Checkmate (Dominican Republic), Director: José María Cabral

Clandestine Childhood (Argentina/Brazil/Spain), Director: Benjamín Ávila

The Cleaner (Peru), Director: Adrian Saba

The Clown (Brazil), Director: Selton Mello

The Dead Man and Being Happy (Spain), Director: Javier Rebollo

Drought (Mexico), Director: Everardo González

The Girl (USA/Mexico), Director: David Riker

Here and There (Spain/USA/Mexico), Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza

La Playa D. C. (Colombia/Brazil/France), Director: Juan Andrés Arango García

Multiple Visions (The Crazy Machine) (Mexico/France/Spain), Director: Emilio Maillé

The Passion of Michelangelo (Chile/France), Director: Esteban Larraín

Sadourni’s Butterflies (Argentina), Director: Darío Nardi

The Sleeping Voice (Spain), Director: Benito Zambrano

The Snitch Cartel (Colombia), Director: Carlos Moreno

Tabu (Portugal/Brazil/France/Germany), Director: Miguel Gomes

The End (Spain), Director: Jorge Torregrossa

Una Noche (Cuba/UK/USA), Director: Lucy Mulloy

White Elephant (Argentina/Spain/France), Director: Pablo Trapero
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Rome Film Festival to Honor Director Quentin Tarantino

The 7th Rome Film Festival (Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma) will honor director Quentin Tarantino with the Career Achievement Award. The American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, winner of an Oscar® for Pulp Fiction, the author of Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill:Vol.1, Kill Bill:Vol.2 and Inglourious Basterds, will receive the award on January 4th on the occasion of the gala screening of the new film he has written and directed, Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo Di Caprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington. The celebrated film-composer Ennio Morricone will be presenting the award to the director.
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Isabella Rossellini, Hélio Oiticica And Richard Foreman In The Forum Expanded Program at 2013 Berlin International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_3045" align="alignnone" width="550"]Hélio Oiticica by Cesar Oiticica Filho[/caption]

The 8th Forum Expanded film program of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival will feature the work of Isabella Rossellini, Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, and Richard Foreman. Isabella Rossellini returns to the festival to showcase her new work, Mammas, described as the continuation of the Green Porno series of short films, which she presented at the Berlinale in 2008. Once again, the actress and director takes on a broad range of different animal roles – this time round in order to explore the maternal instincts of different species.

Another key focus of this year’s Forum Expanded program is the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, who died in 1980. The festival will present the film Hélio Oiticica, a documentary by Cesar Oiticica Filho, the artist’s nephew and curator for his estate. Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, the co-curator of this section of the program, presents a selection of historical Super 8 film material with and by Oiticica.

Richard Foreman is another guest at this year’s Forum Expanded. The founder of the legendary New York Ontological Hysteric Theatre returns to the big screen for the first time in over 30 years with his film Once Every Day. The piece is edited together from loops, ellipses and fragments to form a congenial cinematic realization of his unique approach to theatew and will be receiving its European premiere at HAU Hebbel am Ufer.
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2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival to Screen Foreign Language Oscar Shortlist and Canadian Films

[caption id="attachment_3043" align="alignnone" width="550"]War Witch[/caption]

The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will screen eight of the nine films selected to advance in the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards® and in partnership with Telefilm Canada will screen 12 Canadian features. The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is scheduled from January 3-14, 2013.

The foreign language films on the Oscar shortlist, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Amour (Austria), Director Michael Haneke
War Witch (Canada), Director Kim Nguyen
A Royal Affair (Denmark), Director Nikolaj Arcel
The Intouchables (France),Director Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
The Deep (Iceland), Director Baltasar Kormákur
Kon-Tiki (Norway), Director Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
Beyond the Hills (Romania), Director Christian Mungiu
Sister (Switzerland), Director Ursula Meier

The Canadian film line-up includes:

Camion (Canada) – Refreshingly honest and precisely observed, this Quebecois drama examines the lives of a trucker and his two estranged sons after the former is involved in a terrible crash. Director: Rafaël Ouellet. Cast: Julien Poulin, Patrice Dubois, Stéphane Breton, Jacob Tierney, Noemie Godin-Vigneau.

The End of Time (Canada/Switzerland) – A meditative, free-associative but entirely engrossing contemplation of the nature of time by the innovative non-fiction filmmaker Peter Mettler. Director: Peter Mettler. Cast: George Mikenberg, Jack Thompson, Richie Hawtin, Rajeev Agrawal, Julia Mettler.

The Final Member (Canada/Iceland/Italy/USA) – Forget Hollywood, the funniest comedy of the year may be this documentary about the Icelandic Phallological Museum. That’s right, a penis museum. Join “Siggi” Hjartarson on his quest to find the one thing that will make his museum complete – a human penis. Director: Jonah Bekhor, Zach Math.

The Fruit Hunters (Canada) – Environmental docs come in all shapes and sizes, but you won’t have seen any as appetizing as this sensual, seductive tribute to nature’s sweetest bounty. Join Bill Pullman and the fruit detectives in their quest for a wider world of taste sensation. Director: Yung Chang. Cast: Bill Pullman. US Ppremiere.

Inch’Allah (Canada) – Every day young Canadian obstetrician Chloe crosses the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, fraternizing with locals on both sides of the border but increasingly pushed towards taking a stand of her own. A thoughtful, humane take on the Israel/Palestine divide. Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.Cast: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Sivan Levy, Yousef Sweid. International Premiere.

Inescapable (Canada/South Africa) – Rubba Nadda follows her hit Cairo Time with this timely thriller about a father returning to Syria to try to find his missing daughter. Director: Ruba Nadda. Cast: Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson, Oded Fehr, Saad Siddiqui. International Premiere.

Laurence Anyways (Canada/France) – Xavier Dolan’s terrifically stylish love story is set in 1990s Montreal and stars Melvil Poupaud as a transgender man whose decade-long relationship with his lover Frédérique makes for a dazzling and entertaining mini-epic. Director: Xavier Dolan. Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye, Monia Chokri.

Margarita (Canada) – A cash-strapped middle-class Toronto family reluctantly fires their Mexican-born nanny Margarita, only to discover just how indispensable she really is. Unfortunately she is also illegal, which makes everything that much stickier in this quirky lesbian-themed comedy-drama. Director: Laurie Colbert, Dominique Cardona. Cast: Nicola Correia Damude, Patrick McKenna, Christine Horne, Claire Lautier, Maya Ritter, Marco Grazzini.

Midnight’s Children (Canada/UK) – Salman Rushdie adapts his own monumental novel – a picaresque that doubles as a history of modern India – into a rich, sprawling, unruly movie, full of romance, satire, magic and anger. Director: Deepa Mehta. Cast: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Rahul Bose, Ronit Roy, Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan, Charles Dance.

Molly Maxwell (Canada) – Molly Maxwell is a precocious 16-year-old who attends an alternative school where every student is perceived to be a prodigy. Molly develops a close relationship with a young teacher who opens her world but the relationship potentially threatens her future. Director: Sara St. Onge. Cast: Lola Tash, Charlie Carrick, Krista Bridges, Rob Stewart. World Premiere.

Still (Canada) – An exquisite love story wrapped in a classic tale of modernity versus tradition. James Cromwell plays a farmer who is determined to provide a comfortable home for his ailing wife and is confronted by the realities of their situation. Director: Michael McGowan. Cast: James Cromwell, Genevieve Bujold, Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart. US Premiere.

War Witch (Canada) – Canada’s Foreign Language Oscar submission, this award-winning, harrowing tale of a young African girl’s kidnap by rebel soldiers features an astonishing performance by its non-professional lead. Punctuated with moments of magic and wonder, this is a powerful testament to human resilience in the darkest of times. Director: Kim Nguyen. Cast: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Ralph Prosper, Mizinga Mwinga.
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