Film Festivals

Palm Springs International Film Festival to honor Robert Zemeckis, Naomi Watts and Helen Hunt

[caption id="attachment_2935" align="alignnone" width="550"]Helen Hunt and John Hawkes in ‘The Sessions’.[/caption]

Director Robert Zemeckis, along with actresses Naomi Watts and Helen Hunt at the Awards Gala will be honored at the 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festivalwhich runs January 3-14, 2013.

PSIFF will present Academy Award® winning director Robert Zemeckis with the Director of the Year Award for Flight, Naomi Watts with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award and Academy Award winner Helen Hunt with the Spotlight Award.

Zemeckis directed Paramount Pictures’ dramatic thriller Flight, starring Denzel Washington currently in theaters.

Watts stars in the Summit Entertainment film The Impossible, based on the true story of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Directed by J.A. Bayona, The Impossible also stars Ewan McGregor and newcomer Tom Holland, with a screenplay by Sergio G. Sánchez adapted from the story by María Belon based on her experiences.

Hunt co-stars in Fox Searchlight Pictures’ The Sessions, based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California–based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien. The Sessions tells the story of a man who lived most of his life in an iron lung who is determined – at age 38 – to lose his virginity. With the help of his therapist and the guidance of his priest, he sets out to make his dream a reality. John Hawkes and William H. Macy also star in a film written for the screen and directed by Ben Levin. The Sessions will be released wide on Friday, November 16.
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2012 Arpa International Film Festival Showcasing Armenian Films Opens in LA November 29 with Comedian Jamie Kennedy’s LOST & FOUND IN ARMENIA

[caption id="attachment_2933" align="alignnone" width="1020"]LOST & FOUND IN ARMENIA[/caption]

The 15th annual Arpa International Film Festival opens on Thursday November 29 and runs through December 2, 2012 at The Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, California showcasing over 60 feature films, documentaries and short films from 17 countries.

This year’s N. American bows include Tobias Tobbell’s (The Drummond Will) British thriller CONFINE starring Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) and supermodel Daisy Lowe in her feature debut . Also showing for the first time in N.America is Aram Sukiasyan’s rock opera WANDERING. ‘Wandering’ is the first such film made in Armenia.

West Coast feature premieres include Nicolas Tackian’s French drama AZAD and Ajay Singh’s endearing family film UPSIDE DOWN (Khalti Doka Varti Paay). The latter film from India was an official selection of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival’s World Cinema section.

These films join the North American premiers of the opening night film Gor Kirakosian’s comedy LOST & FOUND IN ARMENIA (USA), Centerpiece Program Sebastian Siegel’s documentary AWAKENING WORLD (USA), the taboo breaking ZENNE DANCER (TURKEY) and Closing Night Film Armenia’s Official Submission to the Foreign Language Category at the 85th Academy Awards® Natalya Belyauskene’s powerful drama IF ONLY EVERYONE (Armenia) . The Festival will also host acclaimed filmmaker Tsvetana Paskaleva’s revival screening of WOUNDS OF KARABAKH (1994) and Hrach Keshishyan’s special sneak peak of his forthcoming 2013 historical epic feature film, NJDEH. Both filmmakers will be in attendance at Arpa International Film Festival.

15th Annual Arpa International Film Festival Program

OPENING NIGHT GALA Thursday, November 29, 7:30 PM

LOST & FOUND IN ARMENIA (2012)

Country: Armenia, USA

Director: Gor Kirakosian

Writer: Narek Ghaplanyan, Gor Kirakosian, Krist Manaryan

Producer: Maral Djerejian, Valerie McCaffrey

Duration 1:40:00

Language: English

US PREMIERE/Opening Night Film

Lost & Found in Armenia is the story of Bill (Jamie Kennedy), an American tourist who travels to Turkey to get his mind off a bad break up. In a comedic and dangerous turn of events, Bill unknowingly ends up in a small village in Armenia, where he is accused of being a Turkish spy. It is in that small village that he meets a beautiful Armenian girl (Angela Sarafyan), who helps him escape from misfortune.

CENTERPIECE PROGRAM – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 7:30 PM

AWAKENING WORLD (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Sebastian Siegel

Writer: Sebastian Siegel

Producer: Sebastian Siegel

Duration: 0:40:00

Language: English

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE/Centerpiece Program

What fuels an AWAKENING WORLD? That’s what filmmaker Sebastian Siegel sets out to uncover through interviews with renowned authors, and globally recognized artists and leaders. This 1st installment of the 7 year documentary project, LOVE SEX GOD, explores fundamental questions at the core of human fulfillment, such as “what is love?” and “what is the purpose of life?”. Influences on the filmmaker from growing up in Hawaii to immersion in the arts and Indian mythology drive the exploration. Scored discussions are woven into a dialogue culminating in the advocation of a specific methodology as an essential means necessary to perpetuate widespread human joy… . and in the payoff the film drives compassion, and inspires.

ZENNE DANCER (2011)

Country: Turkey

Director: Caner Alper

Writer: Caner Alper, Mehmet Binay

Producer: Caner Alper, Mehmet Binay

Duration: 1:33:00

Language: Turkish with English subtitles

LOS ANGELES PREMIERE/Centerpiece Program

Zenne is the contemporary story of three unlikely friends: Ahmet, a masculine gay man, Can, a male belly dancer (Zenne), and Daniel, a German photo-journalist, who are confronted by a systemic, institutionalized and culturally embedded homophobia that leads to tragedy.

CLOSING NIGHT GALA Saturday, December 1, 2012

IF ONLY EVERYONE (2012)

Country: Armenia

Director: Natalya Belyauskene

Writer: Theresa Varzhapetyan, Michael Poghosian

Producer: Theresa Varzhapetyan

Duration: 1:35:00

Language: Armenian, Russian with English subtitles

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE/Closing Night Film

Armenia’s Official Submission to the Foreign Language Category at the 85th Academy Awards®

This story perhaps touches on the most sensitive string for our nation today, Artsakh. Why did people die, what was the war about, what motivated the heroic deeds? Some have found the answers, others are still searching. But these questions eclipse real lives of real people, whom we often think about the least, unfortunately. Whereas they are living right next to us and maybe are asking the same questions…Our protagonist Gurgen is a common guy, an electronics wiz in a body shop, ostensibly enjoying everybody’s respect and, perhaps, awe. His gloomy appearance may be the reason, or is it his combat merit in the battle for Artsakh? A young Russian girl calls on him, the daughter of his fallen brother in arms…

FEATURE FILMS

AS A BEGINNING (2006)

Country: Armenia

Director: Art Sevada

Writer: Art Sevada

Producer: Art Sevada

Duration: 0:51:45

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

Just behind the slick surface textures of the new Yerevan, beyond its refashioned vistas, mind boutiques, and cooler than thou cafes and restaurants, there is the beating heart of a dreamscape. This is the city’s mythic backdrop, an ongoing essay contest where memory and prospect meet or don’t. Art was at home here. The juxtaposition was inescapable. There was, in the foreground, the stage of the here and now: an Armenian social struggle for stability, an East-meets-West brand of politics and governance, the frazzle-dazzle of an entrepreneurial spirit that was busy expanding the gulf between the haves and have-nots, plus the potential of eye-popping creativity…

AZAD (2009)

Country: France, Armenia

Director: Nicolas Tackian

Writer: Nicolas Tackian

Producer: David Kodsi

Duration: 1:10:00

Language: French with English subtitles

WEST COAST PREMIERE

The word ‘Azad’ means freedom in both Armenian and Kurdish—the core theme in this dramatic feature. An Armenian artist, Mayak is determined to tell his grandfather’s story of survival from the Armenian Genocide through the medium of a graphic novel. Mayak is forced to confront his beliefs and deeply-rooted anger when he meets Mina, a young Kurdish woman who moves into the house he shares with friends. Through their turbulent relationship, both individuals discover profound revelations about their worldviews. A gripping film about one’s identity and self-perseverance.

CONFINE (2012)

Country: United Kingdom

Director: Tobias Tobbell

Writer: Tobias Tobbell

Producer: Emily Corcoran

Duration: 1:30:45

Language: English, Spanish, and French with English subtitles

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

She hid from the world for years. All she wants now is to escape.

CROSSROAD (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Shervin Youssefian

Writer: Shervin Youssefian

Producer: Shervin Youssefian, Danny Simonzad, David Dginguerian, Amy Weber

Duration: 1:35:00

Language: English

Fueled by revenge, Michael sets up a meeting with Clef Robie, the man who murdered his wife and child six years ago. His plans of killing him come to a standstill when unexpected events turn everything he has known upside down. Follow Michael as he slowly discovers that everything in life happens for a reason.

DISAPPEARING BAKERSFIELD (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Sophiah Koikas

Writer: Sophiah Koikas

Producer: Sophiah Koikas

Duration: 2:30:00

Language: English

WORLD PREMIERE

Darris Blue decides to move back home to love and live with her dad but ends up in Disappearing Bakersfield. Disappearing is a vortex and once inside, she’s unable to get out. The call of a ghost and a mystery hostage in the attic of the only hotel in town, The Lonesome Road Hotel, Darris just might be able to help the ghost find her peace which opens Darris’ own heart of her own genocide to her own trapped emotions of her past.

UPSIDE DOWN (2012)

Country: India

Director: Ajay Singh

Writer: Ajay Singh

Producer: Junaid Memon

Duration:1:19:30

Language: Marathi with English subtitles

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Upside Down is the film which will make you forget Majid Majidi’s award winning “Children Of Heaven.”

WANDERING (2011)

Country: Armenia

Director: Arshaluys Harutyunyan

Writer: Aram Sukiasyan

Producer: Aram Sukiasyan

Duration: 1:21:00

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

‘Wandering’ depicts the curious tragedy of a historical injustice victim, a man living in Diaspora. Christianity, immortality of soul, human sins and trespasses, historical injustices, love and purification – these topics are the ideological basis of the film. ‘Wandering’ belongs to the farcical and tragicomic genre and is exceptional in its style. ‘Wandering’ has a structure typical of classical opera: an overture, duets, trios, arias and choral performances with clear development and ideology. ‘Wandering’ is the first such film made in the region’

DOCUMENTARIES

AMERICAN IMAM (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Donya Ravasani

Producer: Donya Ravasani

Duration: 0:19:50

Language: English

Imam Siraj Wahhaj is one of the most prominent and controversial Islamic clerics of the United States. He leads a Muslim community in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. His daughter Hujrah Wahhaj works along side him, reaching out to the Facebook generation in search of its soul. The Imam’s longtime companion Ali Abdul Karim has helped him lead the Islamic community where they settled in the 1980s when the neighborhood was Brooklyn’s roughest ghetto. This is a look behind the scenes of the African-American Muslim community in the United States today.

ARAGIL, THE WHITE STORK (2010)

Country: Armenia

Director: Shirak Khojayan

Writer: Shirak Khojayan

Producer: Shirak Khojayan

Duration: 0:28:26

Language: English

Aragil, The White Stork is a documentary about the life of the white stork and its relationship with the people of Armenia.

ARMENIAN ACTIVISTS NOW! BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT (2012)

Country: USA, Armenia

Director: Robert Davidian

Producer: Robert Davidian

Duration: 0:41:00

Language: English

This documentary shows the birth of activism and the social issues it aims to change in Armenia, as told by the activists themselves.

ARMENIAN ECHOES (2012)

Country: Canada, Armenia

Director: Hagop Goudsouzian

Producer: Hagop Goudsouzian

Duration: 1:48:18

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

Armenian Echoes, timeless rhythms. So much of a peoples’ identity stems from the songs they sing, the music they play and the spirit of their dance. Music is the very essence of the cultural identity of a people. In this film Hagop Goudsouzian continues his 7-month journey through Armenia in pursuit of his dream, the soul of Armenian Music.

ARMENIAN MINSTRELS (2011)

Country: Canada, Armenia

Director: Hagop Goudsouzian

Producer: Hagop Goudsouzian

Duration: 0:55:23

Language: Armenian with English Subtitles

Today’s Armenian Minstrels perform traditional yet contemporary Armenian love songs. With a 700 year history Armenian Minstrels still echo the soul of Armenian Culture. Featuring Professor Tovmas Poghosyan, the Sayat-Nova Minstrel Song Ensemble and impromptu interviews and performances with well known Armenian Minstrels: Minstrel Andranik Ujanci, Minstrel Astghanush, Minstrel Kochar, and Minstrel Makhmour.

ARMENIAN RHAPSODY (2012)

Country: Brazil

Director: Cassiana Der Haroutiounian, Cesar Gananian, Gary Gananian

Writer: Cassiana Der Haroutiounian, Cesar Gananian, Gary Gananian

Producer: Cassiana Der Haroutiounian, Cesar Gananian, Gary Gananian

Duration: 1:02:28

Language: English, Armenian, and Spanish with English subtitles

Armenian Rhapsody is a road movie, made of a polyphony of characters where the faces and the music are the real protagonists. As in a rhapsody, the film is made of a juxtaposition of musical and narrative fragments with variations in theme, intensity and tone.

BORN IN GOMA (2012)

Country: USA, Congo

Director: Chris Carpenter

Producer: Chris Carpenter

Duration: 0:47:45

Language: English and Swahili with English subtitles

Dr. Chris Carpenter travels to Goma, a war-ravaged city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to work at the HEAL Africa hospital. Each day, he cares for the sickest and most desperate children in the region. During his journey, he meets three special patients, each trying to survive in the midst of extreme poverty and violence. Born in Goma follows Isaac, Gisele and Dieume as they work against remarkable odds to regain their health and build brighter futures.

DONKEYMENTARY (2012)

Country: Kenya, Armenia

Director: Arman Yeritsyan, Vardan Hovhannisyan

Producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan

Duration: 0:52:00

Language: English and Swahili with English subtitles

This is a Donkeymentary – a documentary about a small island, just off the coast of Kenya, with 24,000 people, 6,000 donkeys, just 2 cars and a 14-year-old donkey race champion, Shee Famao, whose fondest dream in life is nothing more than having a donkey of his own.

FATHER’S LAND (2012)

Country: Armenia

Director: Anzhela Frangyan & Marianna Abrahamyan

Writer: Anzhela Frangyan & David Sargsyan

Producer: Tiran Hayrapetyan

Duration: 0:18:00

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

Father’s Land tells the story of the grand 9th century Monastery of Tatev.

GENOCIDE MEMOIR (2012)

Country: Australia

Director: Shahane Bekarian

Producer: Shahane Bekarian

Duration: 0:13:58

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

Boghos Tavrayan was about 4 years old, he didn’t know who his parents were, he didn’t know the year of his birth, he didn’t know why they were abhorred, the only thing he knew was his first name. This Genocide Memoir is a short documentary about a survivor of the Armenian Genocide during WWI. Using an interview filmed in 1986 this film is a contemporary view which attempts to convey the ongoing suffering and struggle for justice within Armenians today.

HAMSHEN AT CROSSROADS OF PAST AND PRESENT (2012)

Country: Armenia, Turkey

Director: Lusine Sahakyan

Producer: Lusine Sahakyan

Duration: 1:00:00

Language: Armenian, Hamshen, and Turkish with English subtitles

Lusineh Sahakyan’s documentary Hamshen at Crossroads of Past and Present is dedicated to the current state of the descendants of the Armenians of Hamshen (Hamshentsis); a people who were forcibly Islamicized (”Turkified”) by the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. Today, they live primarily in the provinces of Rizeh and Artvin, as well as in Istanbul and other cities of Turkey. The film presents unique episodes from the history and culture of the once powerful Armenian Principality of Hamshen, and the practice of Islamization, a form of ethnic cleansing. Based on material shot on location, the present-day culture of the Hamshentsis is chronicled: their songs and dances, customs, linguistic situation, as well as their everyday life and occupations, conceptions of their own identity, and the demographic picture.

HUMBLE THE POET (2011)

Country: USA, Canada

Director: Brendan Nahmias

Producer: Brendan Nahmias

Duration: 0:12:28

Language: English

With tattoos and a turban, Humble the Poet is a Sikh hip-hop artist from Toronto, Canada whose message is expressed with a twist. He harnesses the power of the spoken word with music, re-defining the immigrant experience in a bold fashion. Take a ride inside the mind of Humble as he navigates the line between two cultures, aiming to define himself as a hip-hop artist, while reconciling his identity as a modern Sikh.

MEMORIES WITHOUT BORDERS (2012)

Country: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey

Director: Mehmet Binay, Levon Kalantar, Ayaz Salayev

Producer: M. Caner Alper, Harutyun Mansuryan, Nailia Babayeva

Duration: 0:54:22

Language: Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Turkish with English subtitles

In 2010, a UK-based peacebuilding organization, Conciliation Resources, brought a team of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Turkish directors together to make a film exploring parallels and differences in how Turks, Armenians and Azerbaijanis remember the past and see their future. The result is a subtly provocative meditation on collective memory, personal discovery and borders in the mind, across a region as divided by historical narratives as it is by closed borders and frontlines.

MY MOTHER’S VOICE (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Mark Friedman

Writer: Kay Mouradian

Producer: Mark Friedman, Kay Mouradian

Duration: 0:25:04

Language: English

My Mother’s Voice is the compelling story of fourteen-year-old Flora Munushian, her survival from the 1915 Armenian Genocide and how she finds her way to America to marry a man she knows only from a paragraph. Her voice is the voice of all the victims of the 1915 genocide, a story that must not be forgotten.

RETURN TO ASBURY (2012)

Country: USA

Director: David Norian

Writer: David Norian

Producer: Dot Gain Films

Duration: 0:10:00

Language: English

Return to Asbury tells the story of how Armenian-Americans once gathered every summer in the New Jersey beach town of Asbury Park, and what happens when they return to that same place 40 years later.

SO FAR FROM HOME (2009)

Country: Canada

Director: Lorne Shirinian

Writer: Lorne Shirinian

Producer: Lorne Shirinian

Duration: 0:5:43

Language: English

A narrative documentary of the journey from Turkey to Canada of a 5-year old orphan survivor of the Armenian Genocide.

THE SUFFERING GRASSES: WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT, IT IS THE GRASS THAT

SUFFERS (2012)

Country: USA, Syria, Arab Republic, Turkey

Director: Iara Lee

Producer: Iara Lee

Duration: 0:51:45

Language: English and Arabic with English subtitles

With thousands dead and counting, the ongoing conflict in Syria has become a microcosm for the complicated politics of the region, and an unsavory reflection of the world at large. Against the backdrop of the Arab Spring and the complicated politics of the region, this film explores the Syrian conflict through the humanity of the civilians who have been killed, abused, and displaced. In all such conflicts, it is civilians, women and children, families and whole communities, who suffer at the leisure of those in power. When elephants go to war, it is the grass that suffers.

TONI AND ROSI (2012)

Country: USA, UK, Austria

Director: Todd Murray, Will Wyatt

Producer: Todd Murray, Will Wyatt

Duration: 0:58:00

Language: English

Toni and Rosi Grunschlag were Viennese piano prodigies destined for triumph on the concert stages of Europe until the Nazi occupation of Austria shattered their world and irrevocably changed their destiny. Left to fend for themselves in a hostile Austria, they were forced to flee their native land and begin new lives far away from all that they loved. ‘Toni and Rosi’ turned to what they could trust: their music and each other.

TUMOR, IT’S IN THE SYSTEM (2012)

Country: USA, Australia, Canada

Director: Cindy Pruitt, Valerie McCaffrey

Producer: Valerie McCaffrey, Cindy Pruitt

Duration: 1:07:00

Language: English

This documentary reveals how alternative cures for cancer have been suppressed since the 1930’s and how the bureaucratic regulatory system has maintained chemotherapy and radiation as the only choice of treatment for over 100 years. Citing testimonials to the horrors of chemo and radiation adjacent to those who have secretly cured their cancer with alternative means, this film is a call to action for the freedom to publicize alternative cures, and a call to people to demand the freedom to make better choices.

VIOLINS IN WARTIME (2011)

Country: Israel

Director: Yael Katzir

Writer: Yael Katzir

Producer: Yael Katzir, Dan Katzir

Duration: 0:46:04

Language: English and Hebrew with English subtitles

Israel 2006. An intimate chronicle of the violinmaker Amnon Weinstein whose son is at the front during the Second Lebanon War. Amnon takes part in master classes for young violinists taught by famed musicians Ida Haendel and Shlomo Mintz. A moving story about the power of music and the violins in wartime.

VOYAGE TO AMASIA (2011)

Country: USA, Armenia, Turkey

Director: Randy Bell

Producer: Randy Bell, Eric Hachikian

Duration: 1:24:15

Language: English, Armenian, and Turkish with English subtitles

Voyage To Amasia’ is a feature documentary inspired by Eric Hachikian’s piano trio of the same name. Amasya, Turkey is the city from which Eric’s grandmother fled during the Armenian Genocide. The filmmakers made a real voyage to Amasia, tracing a path through the past, telling Eric’s family’s story and the story of the current people of Turkey and Armenia.

WOMEN AT WAR: FORGOTTEN VETERANS OF DESERT STORM (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Christie Davis

Writer: Christie Davis

Producer: Christie Davis, Dennis Davis

Duration: 1:16:16

Language: English

The feature documentary ‘Women At War: Forgotten Veterans of Desert Storm’ takes an intimate look at women soldiers’ wartime experiences on the toxic battlefields of 1991’s Operation Desert Storm and their heartbreaking battles with Gulf War Illnesses since they’re returned home. Carol Williams and three other female veterans fight the government for proper treatment and benefits in their search for answers to their mysterious Gulf War illnesses. They wonder why they’ve been abandoned by the government they risked their lives to serve. Twenty years later, their war isn’t over.

SHORT FILMS

140 DRAMS (2012)

Country: Armenia

Director: Oksana Mirzoyan

Writer: Oksana Mirzoyan

Producer: Emily Mkrtichian, Anahid Yahjian

Duration: 0:18:00

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

140 Drams tells the story of a young boy who must go to the store by himself for the first time. Things get complicated when the 140 Drams his mother gave him for milk are not enough, and he has to make a difficult choice. The experience of this young boy becomes a kaleidoscope through which the landscape of a modern Armenia emerges. Through bits and pieces, fragments of conversation and glimpses of the insides of a single bedroom apartment, this film tries to put together a picture of this country, right now.

4 MINUTES (2011)

Country: USA

Director: Stephen Sepher

Writer: Stephen Sepher

Producer: Stephen Sepher

Duration: 0:15:30

Language: English

Four ex special ops are en route to transport a well-known heart surgeon when they find themselves targeted by an unknown enemy in the mountainous terrains of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

AFTER WATER THERE IS SAND (2012)

Country: USA, Armenia

Director: Saro Varjabedian

Writer: Saro Varjabedian

Producer: Mira El Koussa

Duration: 0:17:45

Language: English and Armenian with English subtitles

Tamar, an 80-year-old widow, visits her Armenian homeland to fulfill her recently-deceased husband’s last wish: to take a family photo in front of Mount Ararat. However, her daughters, Armine and Lori, are less than interested in going to mount Ararat, and hope that the trip will allow Tamar to let go of her grief and find joy in her life. The three women are accompanied by Hripsime, a loud-mouthed, sprightly taxi driver as their guide. With the Armenian countryside as their backdrop, the women struggle to find new meaning in their lives and broaden their relationships. Once they arrive at Ararat, they are surprised to learn that the picture Tamar wants to take won’t come as easily to them as they had hoped…

299: BARBARIANS INSIDE THE GATES (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Frederikos

Writer: Nick Mann

Producer: Nick Mann

Duration: 0:15:00

Language: English

In a world, where ancient mythology collides with present day discord, a rogue warrior who would be king, finds himself in the throes of an existential crisis. But it is not until he summons the spirit of 299 Spartans to help charge a hapless band of Greeks into a battle of economic proportions to reclaim the country’s sovereignty, does our anti-hero realize he is but a mere pawn in a larger, divine plan. Cast includes Arkidies Vasileas, Phillip Berg, Vasilia Niles, and introducing Pheenix. Art by Jamese

THE EPIPHANY (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Ella Hatamian

Writer: Ella Hatamian

Duration: 0:17:42

Language: English and Armenian with English subtitles

It’s January 5th, Armenian Christmas Eve, and the Hatamian family only has 15-minutes to complete their preparations for the annual holiday feast. Chaos ensues.

HIGH CARD TRUMPS (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Geoffrey Quan

Writer: Stacey Parshall Jensen

Producer: Frances Chang

Duration: 0:05:56

Language: English

Lois, a headstrong woman and soon-to-be champion grandmother, is anxious to share her good news with the volunteers of her monthly Support-Our-Troops bake sale. But when an Arab mother joins them, Lois’s pride and her definition of patriotism are challenged.

HOLLYWOOD & HAMMER (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Ryan Green

Writer: Ryan Green, Nathaniel Eyde (story)

Producer: Nathaniel Eyde

Duration: 0:11:55

Language: English

A man dressed as THOR wanders Hollywood Blvd, looking for tips. He becomes the subject of scorn and ridicule when he claims to be the actual Norse God of Thunder. The problem is, it might just be true.

HYEPOWER (2011)

Country: USA

Director: James Jay Ellis

Duration: 0:08:15

Language: English and German with English subtitles

Based on the original music video HiiiPower by Kendrick Lamar, Nazo Bravo leads the audience through personal perspectives of his own cultural heritage – and that of millions of first and second generation Armenians now living in America – with his vibrantly personal debut music video HyePower.’Hye’ is Armenian for its own rich identity. And the word ‘Power’ is a hopeful reference to the dreams of many of Nazo’s own friends and others throughout the world for a better life ahead. Rooted in the tragedy of what is commonly called The Armenian Genocide and the recent murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul, Turkey, the video also traces resonant social luminaries such as John Lennon and Muhammad Ali.

JOLLY B. FIERCE (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Allison Arachea

Writer: Allison Arachea

Producer: Angelica Robinson

Duration: 0:22:00

Language: English and Tagalog with English subtitles

Filipino drag queen, Jolly B. Fierce, leaves the glitter, lights and wigs to travel to America; where he will be faced with the decision to reconcile with his estranged family, for the sake of his dying mother.

JUST LIKE HER (2011)

Country: USA

Director: Eddie Melikyan

Writer: Eddie Melikyan

Producer: Avi Quijada

Duration: 0:18:18

Language: English

Just Like Her embarks us on the emotional journey of Ashley Marston as she prepares a Thanksgiving dinner for her family. Unable to suppress the urge to speak about the taboo, it quickly becomes violent when she blames her father for her mother’s suicide.

LATER THAN USUAL (2012)

Country: Canada

Director: David Hovan

Writer: David Hovan

Producer: David Hovan

Duration 0:06:15

A day in the life of an elderly couple. The non verbal interactions between the two make for sometimes funny and at other times poignant moments throughout the film. This couple has lived so long together that they have nothing left to say to each other. Living in an isolated state in their old house, they go about their daily routines, until…

MACHINEHEAD (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Micah Gallagher

Writer: Micah Gallagher

Producer: Micah Gallagher

Duration: 0:12:00

Machinehead is a stop-motion short film that follows a puppet as he travels through four unique rooms representing different stages of intellectual and spiritual development. It’s an abstract representation of someone trying to find meaning and purpose. The short features puppet animation and pays homage to revolutionary stop-motion artists such as Jan Svankmajer and the Quay Brothers in style and content.

MAKE IT A GREAT DAY (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Joshua Jones

Writer: Daniel Klein

Producer: Joshua Jones, Daniel Klein

Duration: 0:06:40

Language: English

Mother Nature’s peculiar sense of irony creates a convoluted path of survival for a newborn chick with unfortunate timing.

METZARENTS (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Hayk Hambartsum

Writer: Hayk Hambartsum

Producer: Shahe Barsoumian

Duration: 0:35:00

Language: English and Armenian with English subtitles

Metzarents is the story of Vahag, a struggling actor in Los Angeles who reconnects with his long dormant Armenian roots when he is offered to play the role of the poet Misak Metzarents in a play.

MIDNIGHT FISTFIGHT (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Robert Nazar Arjoyan

Writer: Robert Nazar Arjoyan, David Lafian

Producer: Robert Nazar Arjoyan

Duration: 0:23:34

Language: English and Armenian with English subtitles

Rage-filled Gev, a first generation American, must learn to get along with his sister’s straightlaced boyfriend Alec, whom he accompanies to a ‘zhamo,’ a ritualistic and centuries-old Armenian tradition, where men meet to settle grievances of honor but rarely leave unscathed.

MOSSADEGH (2011)

Country: USA

Director: Roozbeh Dadvand

Writer: Roozbeh Dadvand, Nathaniel C. Leonard

Producer: Amber Beard, Marina Davis, Grace K. Lee

Duration: 0:23:33

Language: English and Farsi with English subtitles

Iran. 1959. It is six years after the CIA orchestrated coup that overthrew democratic Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh from power. Now living under house arrest and suffering from a life-threatening condition, Mossadegh must decide whether or not to trust a brilliant American physician that is sent to treat him.

MOVING STORIES (2012)

Country: France, USA

Director: Nora Armani

Writer: Nora Armani

Producer: Nora Armani

Duration: 0:18:16

Language: English

The story of two women linked by an apartment from which one is moving out the other in. For the first one this is a definitive move and the closing of a chapter, while for the second it is just a stage, and the start of a new life.

PARALLAX (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Paul DeNigris

Writer: Paul DeNigris

Producer: Paul DeNigris, Steve Briscoe, Laura DeNigris

Duration: 0:22:00

Language: English and Arabic with English subtitles

Daniels, a U.S. Army infantryman with a hatred for all Arabs, is injured in a convoy ambush and rescued by Iraqi civilian Hassan and his son Jabir. As the three of them hide from the insurgents, Daniels learns that his prejudices and his hatred have been misplaced and comes to respect Hassan and Jabir as human beings. Making a sacrifice himself in order to save his new friends from the insurgents, Daniels emerges from the experience with a renewed perspective.

PAYING FOR IT (2011)

Country: USA

Director: Lauren Lillie

Writer: Lauren Lillie

Producer: Narineh Hacopian

Duration: 0:21:43

Language: English

While on a weekend getaway with her boyfriend, 18-year-old Deidre discovers a call girl passed out in their hotel hallway. She decides to help her. During their ensuing hours together, Deidre opens up to this woman in a way that she isn’t capable of confiding in anyone else. What is it that these two women learn they have in common?

PRIVATE SUN (2011)

Country: Palestinian Territories

Director: Rami Alayan

Writer: Rami Alayan

Producer: Rami Alayan, Muayad Alayan

Duration: 0:25:00

Language: Arabic with English subtitles

Mariam is instructed by her doctor to sunbathe in order to reverse the vitamin D deficiency that is causing her a bone illness. But with nosy neighbors, an overbearing sister-in-law and Israeli surveillance planes, private moments under the sun are precious and rare.

QUITTER (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Garen Mirzaian

Writer: Garen Mirzaian

Producer: Tomohisa Imagawa

Duration: 0:16:26

Language: English

A young man is inspired to make a healthy change in his life only to realize the source of his inspiration is slowly turning into his nemesis.

SECRET OF LIGHT (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Vahram Hakobyan

Writer: Vahram Hakobyan

Producer: Vahram Hakobyan, Autumn Fawn

Duration: 0:13:13

Language: English

Princess of Light returns to her father’s kingdom to face Dark Devil and restore light in Valley of Hope.

THREE COLORS IN BLACK AND WHITE (2008)

Country: Armenia

Director: Art Sevada

Writer: Harutyun Kbeyan

Producer: Armen Hambardzumyan

Duration: 0:14:03

Language: Russian and Armenian with English subtitles

A mentally ill young man sees everything that is happening in Yerevan with a bit of an exaggerated eye.

TOUJOURS (2011)

Country: USA

Director: Sona Tatoyan

Writer: Sona Tatoyan

Producer: Ted Feldman, Andrei Bowden-Schwartz, Sona Tatoyan

Duration: 0:8:28

Language: English and French with English subtitles

A woman reignites an old unconsummated love affair with fatal consequences.

VAI, KIKOS, VAI… (2009)

Country: Armenia

Director: Aviva Barkhoudarian

Writer: Aviva Barkhoudarian

Producer: Aviva Barkhoudarian

Duration: 0:07:00

Language: Armenian with English subtitles

The story of Kikos’ death, inspired by the classic Hovhannes Tumanyan story.

VENA AMORIS (2012)

Country: USA

Director: Armando Hermosilla

Writer: Armando Hermosilla

Producer: Sergio Arroyo, Akbar Farooq

Duration: 0:15:38

Language: English

Vena Amoris is about celebrating life with hope in our hearts and an eye toward the future. This film depicts how easy it is to live a happy life when we’re surrounded by friends and family who love us and how easy it is to stray when left alone. James (Christopher Newell) is a successful and attractive businessman who will be married tomorrow, but before he is married he has to goose step his way past a beautiful temptress and endure painful torture at the hands of his fiancé’s father (Allan Charof). Will James’ love be strong enough to get him through the gauntlet to his wedding day, or will he be swayed by the promise of pleasure and impending pain that threaten to crush his dream of being a good and faithful husband?

VENUS VS. MARS (2011)

Country: USA

Director: Talin Malekian

Writer: Talin Malekian

Producer: Talin Malekian, Nansia Movidi, Jeffrey DeChausse

Duration: 0:15:22

Language: English

In a world bound by deception, how will a young impressionable artist overcome society’s lure of grandeur in order to unite with her inner voice and become highly valued?

VUCCIRIA (2011)

Country: Italy

Director: Michele Di Salle

Writer: Michele Di Salle

Producer: Massimo Sigillo Massara

Duration: 0:07:20

Language: Italian with English subtitles

Under a cloudy sky a young lady walks around the streets of the town. Outside a shop she sees herself in a mirror. Her reflection is much colorful. Curiosity draws Elisa closer to the mirror and with one touch she is in a new world. The lady is now in a new world, a market full of strange characters…
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Canada’s Whistler Film Festival to Open 2012 Edition With Michael McGowan’s STILL

[caption id="attachment_2930" align="alignnone" width="550"]Still[/caption]

The Whistler Film Festival opens on Wednesday, November 28 and runs through Sunday, December 2, 2012 in Whistler, British Columbia Canada.

Canadian writer and director Michael McGowan’s STILL (Western Canadian Premiere) is this year’s WFF Opening Night Gala presentation, an inspirational film based on the true story of 88 year old Craig Morrison, who took on the bureaucrats and the challenges of building a home from scratch with equal aplomb. WFF’s Closing Night Gala film is the World Premiere of THE SHEEPDOGS HAVE AT IT by Canadian director, John Barnard and featuring Saskatchewan rock band The Sheepdogs.

Additional World Premieres include: BIRD CO. MEDIA by Vancouver director Jason Bourque, THE MOVIE OUT HERE directed by David Hicks, MAD SHIP directed by David Mortin, STATUS QUO? directed by Karen Cho; and TEMPTING FEAR directed by Mike Douglas.

The complete 2012 lineup:

World Premieres:
BIRD CO. MEDIA (Canada) Dir. Jason Bourque
THE MOVIE OUT HERE (Canada) Dir. David Hicks
BRUCE COCKBURN PACING THE CAGE (Canada) Dir. Joel Goldberg (World Premiere of Director’s Cut)
MAD SHIP (Canada) Dir. David Mortin
STATUS QUO? (Canada), Dir. Karen Cho
THE SHEEPDOGS HAVE AT IT (Canada) Dir. John Barnard
North American Premiere:
BLOOD PRESSURE (Canada) Dir. Sean Garrity

Canadian Premieres:
BETWEEN US (USA) Dir. Dan Mirvish
FEW WORDS (France) Dir. Candide Thovex
I AM NASRINE (UK/Iran) Dir. Tina Gharavi
KNIFE FIGHT (USA), Dir. Bill Guttentag
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ROSALIND LEIGH (Canada) Dir. Rodrigo Gudiño
WHITE DEER PLAIN (China) Dir. Wang Quan’an
56UP (UK) Dir. Michael Apted

English Canadian Premieres:
BEAUTY AND THE BREAST (Canada), Dir. Liliana Komorowska
DRIVING TO THE EDGE (Dérapages) (Canada) Dir. Paul Arcand
FAIR SEX (Canada) Dir. Martin Laroche
KARAKARA (Canada/Japan) Dir. Claude Gagnon
OMERTÄ (Canada) Dir. Luc Dionne

Western Canadian Premieres:
AMERICAN MARY (Canada) Dir. Jen and Sylvia Soska
ANNA KARENINA (UK) Dir. Joe Wright
ALL THAT YOU POSSESS (Tout ce que tu possèdes) (Canada) Dir. Bernard Émond
FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (Japan) Dir. Goro Miyazaki
HIT ‘N STRUM (Canada) Dir. Kirk Caouette
HOME AGAIN (Canada) Dir. Sudz Sutherland
IN THE HOUSE (Dans La Maison) Dir. François Ozon
LOVE MARILYN (USA) Dir. Liz Garbus
MEET THE FOKKENS (Netherland) Dir. Rob Schröder and Gabrielle Provaas
MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE (Canada) Dir. Sean Garrity
PICTURE DAY (Canada) Dir. Kate Melville
STILL (Canada) Dir. Michael McGowan
THE PAINTING (France) Dir. Jean-François Laguionie
THE RABBI’S CAT (France) Dir. Antoine Delesvaux and Joann Sfar
ZARAFA (France) Dir. Rémi Bazançon

BC Premieres:
ALTER EGOS (Canada) Dir. Jordan Galland
IT’S A DISASTER (USA) Dir. Todd Berger
MARS AND AVRIL (Canada) Dir. Martin Villeneuve
READY TO FLY (USA) Dir. William Kerig

Whistler Premiere:
THE MOUNTAIN RUNNERS (USA) Dir. Brian Young and Todd Warger
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Beaufort International Film Festival Announces 2013 Dates

The Beaufort International Film Festival returns to the historic waterfront city for its seventh year and will feature approximately 30 independent films and screenplays between February 13 and 17, 2013 at the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Center for the Performing Arts. The festival concludes with an awards ceremony on February 17. The schedule will be announced in early 2013
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Deadlines Approaching for Filmmaker Entries to 56th San Francisco International Film Festival

The San Francisco Film Society is now accepting submissions for the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, recognized throughout the world as an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country’s most beautiful cities. Works in all genres, forms and lengths are considered. The final deadline for short films Monday December 3, and the final deadline for features Monday December 10.

HOW TO ENTER Entry form and information: sffs.org

Founded in 1957, SFIFF is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. Refreshingly intimate for a festival of its size and scope, the Festival combines a range of marquee premieres, international competitions, compelling documentaries, new digital media work, live music performances and star-studded gala events.

SFIFF is deeply rooted in the finest traditions of film appreciation both as an art form and as a meaningful agent for social change. SFIFF 2012 presented 289 screenings of 174 films in 41 languages from 45 countries, and brought nearly 300 filmmaker and industry guests to the Festival from more than 20 countries around the globe. More than 70,000 enthusiastic filmgoers flocked to San Francisco to celebrate the best of international cinema.

The Festival’s awards and prizes recognize the best of international and Bay Area talent by honoring superior innovation in documentary, narrative, animation, experimental and television works.

Golden Gate Awards including a juried award for Best Documentary Feature with a $20,000 prize; Best Bay Area Documentary Feature with a $15,000 prize; and awards totaling $20,000 in other categories of shorts, youth-produced and family films.

New Directors Prize A juried cash award of $15,000 to the director of a first-time narrative feature at the Festival.

FIPRESCI Prize Awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics. SFIFF is one of only three festivals in the U.S. selected to present this prestigious award.

Audience Awards for Best Narrative and Best Documentary Features.

[source: SFIFF]
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Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt and Other Winners of 2012 Leeds International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_2918" align="alignnone" width="550"]Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt [/caption]

The 26^th Leeds International Film Festival ended on Sunday November 18th, after 18 days packed with 270 screenings and events, and an audience of 35,000. The Hunt was voted by Leeds 2012 audiences as overall favorite from 140 feature films, and a record 14,196 completed votes were cast.

The film is described by the festival as Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s best film since Festen, The Hunt is a gripping, provocative and devastating drama about a respected member of a close-knit Danish community whose life is destroyed when a young girl accuses him, falsely, of abuse. Winner of Best Actor in Cannes, Mads Mikkelsen plays Lucas, a 40-year-old, good-natured primary school teacher who is recently divorced and trying to rebuild his relationship with his son. Once the accusation is made, Lucas is deemed guilty by the community-turned-mob, ostracized, and hunted by his former friends and neighbors.

Other winners include:

THE LEEDS 2012 MÉLIÈS D’ARGENT WINNERS

Leeds International Film Festival is the UK representative of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation and as such holds its Méliès d’Argent competition in the UK for fantasy film. The Méliès d’Argent Jury consisted of Dr Patricia MacCormack, Dominic Brunt and Dave Bryan and announced the following winners:

Best European Fantasy Feature Film

Winner: Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal (Dir. Boris Rodriguez, Denmark/Canada, 2011)

Special Mentions: Sightseers (Dir. Ben Wheatley, UK, 2012) + Thale (Dir. Aleksander L Nordaas, Norway, 2012)

Best European Fantasy Short Film

Winner: The Fright (El Espanto) (Dir. J.J. Marcos, Spain, 2012)

Special Mentions: Blinky (Dir. Ruairi Robinson, Ireland / USA, 2011) + Photo (Dir. J Enrique Sanchez, Spain, 2011)

The Méliès d’Argent Jury said:

“Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal pipped the others to the post by virtue of its sheer charm and, in the grand traditions of ‘anti-hero’, introduces a character with whom you are happy to invest your emotion and time into. The movie perfectly balances that very difficult task of mixing horror and dark comedy and as such will have appeal to a wide variety of genre fans. Expertly crafted by first time feature director Boris Rodriguez, the movie is well paced with great characterization and a climax which will give even the most hardened horror fan that sense of sentimental satisfaction that is so often missed.”

Both Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal and The Fright will now go forward to compete for the coveted Méliès d’Or at Sitges International Festival of Fantastic Film in Spain in 2013.

THE LEEDS 2012 SHORT FILM CITY WINNERS

The International Short Film Jury, judging the Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition and World Animation Award, consisted of Jacqueline Chell (UK), Wannes Destoop (Belgium), Marlena Lukasiak (Poland), Mike McKenny (UK), and Erik Rosenlund (Sweden).

Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition 2012

Winner: Mon Amoureux (My Sweetheart) (Dir. Daniel Metge, France)

Special Mentions: The Return (Kthimi) (Dir. Blerta Zeqiri, Kosovo) + Frozen Stories (Dir. Grzegorz Jaroszuk, Poland)

The International Short Film Jury said of the Winner:
“The jury was blown away by the emotional force of this subtle but impactful film. With skilled and beautifully observed performances that enhance a stunning, perfectly paced script, Mon Amoureuxstood out as a deeply personal story – but one of social value that is too rarely told and shared with audiences.”

World Animation Award 2012

Winner: The Pub (Dir. Joseph Pierce, UK)

Special Mention: Body Memory (Dir. Ülo Pikkov, Estonia)

The International Short Film Jury said of the Winner:

“The jury was unanimous in its praise of this film. The Pub manages to seamlessly combine form and narrative, making excellent use of very distinctive rotascope animation – accentuating and exacerbating the character traits of the many familiar faces of ‘the pub’. Capturing a sincere and earnest slice of life, the film manages to be grotesque and beautiful, repulsive yet captivating – all the while being completely recognisable and grounded in reality.”

The National Short Film Jury, judging the British Short Film Competition and Yorkshire Short Film Competition, consisted of David Lilley, Kathryn Penny and Alex Ramseyer-Bache.

British Short Film Competition 2012

Winner: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared by Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan)
Special Mentions: Worm (by Bert & Bertie) + Dylan’s Room (by Layke Anderson)

The National Short Film Jury said of the Winner:

“The judges felt this was truly different film and an assault on the senses. As soon as the audience has made a judgement on the film the rug is pulled out from under their feet! A brilliant combination of darkness and levity. Wonderfully acted, puppeteered and animated. The judges couldn’t wait to see the film again and look forward to seeing more from these directors.”

Yorkshire Short Film Competition 2012

Winner: The Farmer’s Wife (by Francis Lee)
Special Mention: Kiss (by Cathy Brady)

The Natonal Short Film Jury said of the Winner:
“This was a clear winner for the judges. A fantastic central performance and a poignant journey for the central character. Wonderful contrasts of rugged and delicate. A stylish and dignified film which tackled a sad story against a bleak backdrop without being at all depressing.”

The 27^th Leeds International Film Festival will run from 8th to 22nd November 2013.
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Last Week to Check Out DOC NYC Fest at the IFC Center and SVA Theaters!

We told you guys about it last week, but this year’s DOC NYC Fest is truly shaping up to be one of the premiere film festivals in the entire City. The programming is impeccable, on-point, and there is an almost giddy feeling in all of the recent screenings- whether it was watching the astounding doc about story-book creator and illustrator Tomi Ungerer (whose work turned towards pornography later in life) in director Brad Bernstein’s nspiring Far Out Isn’t Far Enough, or the brilliant homage to Wonder Woman and other great female heroines in recent pop culture in Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s Wonder Women, to the plight of the New York City taxi driver in Joshua Z Weinstein’s excellent Drivers Wanted, to Treva Wurmfeld’s Shepard and Dark- the fascinating story of the forty-plus year friendship between actor and playwright Sam Shepard and pal Johnny Dark- which managed somehow to be incredibly exhilarating and haunting, simultaneously (no mean feat that!) Also of note: Girl and a Gun, Artifact, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, Rafea-Solar Mama, and Sweet Dreams…Not to mention a NYC-heavy rotation of wonderful documentaries-including Zipper, about the fate of Coney Island’s Boardwalk and park, the above mentioned Drivers Wanted, and Men at Lunch- the story behind the iconic photo of eleven steel workers casually having lunch while sitting atop a steel beam, precariously dangling 59 stories above New York.

The DOC NYC Fest ends this Thursday evening, (November 15th) with a gala screening of Ken Burns’ Central Park Five, which focuses upon the five African-American and Latino youths who were wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 Central Park Jogger rape and battery case. Ken Burns and members of the cast will also be there in person.

The DOC NYC Festival must become a must-view for ANY film fan in the City. Get your tickets here- it is truly an embarrassment of riches just trying to decide what to see!
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Last Week to Check Out Amazing DOC NYC Fest at the IFC Center and SVA Theaters!

We told you guys about it last week, but this year’s DOC NYC Fest is truly shaping up to be one of the premiere film festivals in the City. The programming is impeccable, on-point, and there is an almost giddy feeling in all of the recent screenings- whether it was watching the astounding doc about story-book creator and illustrator Tomi Ungerer (whose work turned towards pornography later in life) in director Brad Bernstein’s nspiring Far Out Isn’t Far Enough, or the brilliant homage to Wonder Woman and other great female heroines in recent pop culture in Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s Wonder Women, to the plight of the New York City taxi driver in Joshua Z Weinstein’s excellent Drivers Wanted, to Treva Wurmfeld’s Shepard and Dark- the fascinating story of the forty-plus year friendship between actor and playwright Sam Shepard and pal Johnny Dark- which managed somehow to be incredibly exhilarating and haunting, simultaneously (no mean feat that!) Also of note: Girl and a Gun, Artifact, Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, Rafea-Solar Mama, and Sweet Dreams…Not to mention a NYC-heavy rotation of wonderful documentaries-including Zipper, about the fate of Coney Island’s Boardwalk and park, the above mentioned Drivers Wanted, and Men at Lunch- the story behind the iconic photo of eleven steel workers casually having lunch while sitting atop a steel beam, precariously dangling 59 stories above New York.

The DOC NYC Fest ends this Thursday evening, (November 15th) with a gala screening of Ken Burns’ Central Park Five, which focuses upon the five African-American and Latino youths who were wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 Central Park Jogger rape and battery case. Ken Burns and members of the cast will also be there in person.

The DOC NYC Festival must become a must-view for ANY film fan in the City. Get your tickets here- it is truly an embarrassment of riches just trying to decide what to see!
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The Show Still Goes On: Doc NYC Starts Tonight at IFC Center in NYC

DOC NYC – Yes- The Show (Still) Goes On!
November 8-15 at the IFC Center and SVA Theatre

Festival to Partner with Echelon Donates for City Harvest Food Drive
During Event to Benefit Hurricane’s Neediest Victims

“One of the city’s grandest events.” – The Wall Street Journal

“[Has] shot to the top tier of our most essential festivals list.” – New York Magazine

Jared Leto brings his film-about-his-band Artifact to the Opening Night of the Doc NYC Festival, Thursday, November 8th, 2012, and will be there in person.

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2012 – Despite the setbacks Hurricane Sandy put in its way, DOC NYC organizers are pleased to say that the 3rd annual festival is set to launch, as planned, this Thursday, November 8 through November 15, with eight documentary-filled days of films, special events, panels, and masterclasses at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave.) and SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd St.).

With the festival’s production hub, the IFC Center, closed last week, most of its staff dealing with power outages and displacement, and the serious effect the storm has had on ticket sales, there’s been a big impact on preparations—but the show will indeed go on. Said DOC NYC Artistic Director, Thom Powers: “There’s no question that the hurricane was a blow to us. Normally, we’d anticipate 40% of our ticket sales to happen during the week of the power outage, so we have a lot to make up. But we’re determined give our filmmakers and audiences the best festival possible.”

And it’s set to be a terrific festival! In addition to the 115 films and events, starting with opening night presentations Artifact and Venus and Serena, the festival will welcome dozens of special guests (several from out of town): Jared Leto, Andy Summers, Antony Hegarty, Pete Seeger, Rufus Wainwright, Ice-T, and some of the country’s top documentary filmmakers, including Ken Burns, Barbara Kopple, Alex Gibney, Jonathan Demme, Joe Berlinger, Rory Kennedy, and Michael Moore. In addition to post-screening discussions with these and other participating filmmakers and film subjects, the five men wrongly incarcerated for the crime detailed in the closing night film, The Central Park Five, will be brought together for the first time since their release for an onstage discussion.

DOC NYC organizers are also pleased to announce that the festival has partnered with Echelon Donates—a non-profit founded by fans of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, featured in Artifact—to run a food drive to help those most seriously affected by Hurricane Sandy, during this year’s event. From November 8-11, film-goers will be able to drop off non-perishable items for City Harvest, at collection boxes located in the SVA Theatre.
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Gulf Film Festival Announces 2013 Dates

The Gulf Film Festival (GFF), described by the festival as “the home of bold, experimental, and the best of Arab cinema from the Gulf countries and the rest of the world” have announced that the sixth edition will be held from April 11 to 17, 2013 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Ben Affleck’s Argo to Open 2012 Leeds International Film Festival on Thursday

[caption id="attachment_2885" align="alignnone" width="550"]Argo[/caption]

Ben Affleck’s new thriller Argo has been announced as the Opening Gala film of this year’s Leeds International Film Festival. Argo, based on the remarkable true story of a CIA expert posing as a fake film producer in order to infiltrate Iran at the time of the hostage crisis in 1979 and rescue a group of stranded Americans, will open the annual festival at Leeds Town Hall on Thursday November 1, 2012.

The Official Selection will close with Michael Haneke’s second Palme d’Or winnerAmour, a drama about the bond of love between an elderly couple in their eighties, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva.

Other new feature film highlights in the Official Selection include Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt, Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Tribeca award winners Lucy Mulloy’sUna Noche and Kim Nguyen’s War Witch, and Dominga Sotomayor’s Rotterdam Tiger Award winner From Thursday Till Sunday.

The Retrospectives section will include an appearance by leading Russian filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky, who will attend the festival as part of a focus on his early work. Best known for cult favorite Runaway Train, the focus will screen five of his early Soviet works from his directorial debut The First Teacher in 1965 to Asya’s Happiness, A Nest of Gentlefolk, Uncle Vanya, and his Cannes prize-winner Siberiade. The work of legendary Japanese actress and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka (1909-77) will also be honored at the festival with a selection of her finest performances in films by Yasujirô Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Kenji Mizoguchi, and two rarely shown features she directed herself, The Eternal Breasts (1955) and Girls of Dark(1961).

Fanomenon section, considered the home of cult films at Leeds International Film Festival,will include Ben Wheatley’s long-awaited Sightseers, a pitch-black story of a camping holiday killing spree across Yorkshire and the Lakes, together with some of the most anticipated genre films of the year: Antiviral (Dir. Brandon Cronenburg), Citadel (Dir. Ciaran Foy), John Dies at the End (Dir. Don Coscarelli),The Legend of Kaspar Hauser (Dir. Davide Manuli), and V/H/S (Dirs. Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg). Fanomenon 2012 also features a special focus on the growth of genre filmmaking in Yorkshire with screenings of Before Dawn (Dir. Dominic Brunt), When the Lights Went Out (Dir. Pat Holden), and the world premiere of new feature Heretic (Dir. Peter Handford).

Cinema Versa section is the home of documentaries inspired by the underground festival aesthetic with two major themes of human rights and music films. Highlights among the human rights films selection for 2012 include: Anand Patwardhan’s acclaimed epic Jai Bhim Comrade, one of the best documentaries of the year, about the culture of India’s Dalits, dehumanized in the traditional caste system as ‘untouchables’; the extraordinary 1/2 Revolution, featuring unmissable first person camcorder reportage from the streets of Cairo, smuggled out of the country in a pram after the filmmakers were arrested by the secret police; and the UK Premiere of Back to the Square, tracking the changes in the lives of five ordinary Egyptians after the overthrow of Mubarak. Music films in Cinema Versa 2012 range across every style and genre including: the UK Premiere of Charles Bradley: Soul of Americaabout the world-weary Brooklyn soul man, who made it big in his ‘60s after paying his dues over the decades as a James Brown impersonator; the wonderfully entertaining tale of the first tour of China by a UK punk band, dogged veterans Sham 69 in This Band is so Gorgeous; and Jobriath AD, profiling the fascinating career of the first openly gay pop star.

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Jason Wolos’ debut feature Trattoria Kicks Off Lineup for 2012 San Francisco Cinema by the Bay Festival

[caption id="attachment_2881" align="alignnone" width="1020"]A scene from Jason Wolos’ TRATTORIA, the Opening Night film at Cinema by the Bay, November 9-11 at New People Cinema [/caption]

The San Francisco Film Society announced the program lineup for the fourth annual Cinema by the Bay festival, November 9 – 11 at New People Cinema. The three-day festival will feature new work produced in or about the San Francisco Bay Area and will open with Jason Wolos’ debut feature Trattoria. Set in the world of San Francisco’s competitive restaurant culture, a popular chef and his son must reconnect and heal their past through cooking if they want to save their relationship and change the direction of their lives.

The program lineup:

Friday, November 9    OPENING NIGHT
7:00 pm Trattoria
Jason Wolos    Director Expected
Set in the world of San Francisco’s competitive restaurant culture, Trattoria serves up familial drama and foodie delights. Chef Sal Sartini and his second wife Cecilia have just opened a new restaurant and are trying to generate the reviews and buzz that are critical to success. When Sal’s estranged son Vince comes to visit and help out in the restaurant, underlying tensions are brought to the surface. It becomes clear that Chef Sartini has lost his way by focusing so intensely on his success, and with the help of his son he must rekindle his passion for food and for life. (USA 2011. 82 min. Written by Jason Wolos, Dawn Rich. Photographed by Frazer Bradshaw. With Tony Denison, John Patrick Amedori, Lisa Rotondi, Kandis Erickson. Fine Dining Productions.)

Saturday, November 10
2:30 pm Casablanca mon amour
John Slattery    Director Expected
This fiction/nonfiction hybrid presents two bright and humorous Moroccan college students, Hassan and Abdel, as they journey from Casablanca over the Atlas mountains to the Sahara desert. Hassan, in the midst of creating a media project, uses the trip to investigate how Morocco has been depicted in popular culture and used in Hollywood staples such as Casablanca (of course) and The Jewel of the Nile, among others. The conceit ingeniously allows us to see how the country has been figured in film, while also showing us the country itself and how Moroccans view their own nation through the lens of Hollywood. (USA/Morocco 2012. 79 min. In French, Arabic and English with English subtitles. Written by John Slattery. Photographed by Fara Akrami. With Abdel Alidrissi, Hassan Ouazzani, Amin Chadati, Fraida Bouazzaoui. Zween Works.)

5:00 pm Essential SF
Essential SF is an ongoing compendium of the Bay Area film community’s most vital figures and institutions. H.P. Mendoza, Judy Stone, Wholphin, Terry Zwigoff and others yet to be announced will be feted at this short ceremony. An outgrowth of SF360.org’s Essential SF column and a key event in the Film Society’s Cinema by the Bay festival, this event shines a light on the region’s legendary idiosyncratic and multifaceted contributions to the filmmaking world. Past Essential SF honorees include Les Blank, Canyon Cinema, Joshua Grannell (aka Peaches Christ), Rick Prelinger and Marlon Riggs, among others. Free admission.

7:00 pm Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet
Jesse Vile    Subject Expected
In 1980, guitarist Jason Becker appeared to be destined for international stardom when he signed with David Lee Roth’s band at the age of 20. That same year, he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and was given 3-5 years to live. Now, more than 20 years since his diagnosis, Jason’s story is far from over. Through home movies, photographs and concert footage, this documentary presents an affectionate portrait of a gifted teenager who realized his wildest dreams at an early age and is still creating and thriving due to the care and love of his devoted family and fans. (USA 2012. 90 min. Photographed by Carl Burke. Edited by Gideon Gold.)

9:30 pm Amity    World Premiere
Alejandro Adams    Director Expected
A divorced Air Force sergeant rents a limousine to celebrate his daughter’s high school graduation, but when only a few hours before the ceremony his daughter rejects his overtures to celebrate with him, he decides to spend the evening with the limo driver. As they drink and loosen up, their camaraderie gives way to an awkward but somehow therapeutic violence, and their misadventures throughout the evening ratchet up the tension to expose an underbelly of pain. Reminiscent of the early work of Neil Labute, Amityunflinchingly presents a version of masculinity that is deeply insecure, sadistic and ultimately powerless. (USA 2012. 80 min. Written by Alejandro Adams. Photographed by Alejandro Adams. With Greg Cala.)

Sunday, November 11
2:00 pm Moving Image at the End of the World: Shorts from Headlands Center for the Arts
Presented in person by Brian Karl, Program Director, Headlands Center for the Arts
2012 marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Headlands Center for the Arts, one of the most vital creative organizations in the Bay Area and the country. Headlands’ mission is to support artistic culture by providing the environment and means for artists to produce innovative work and to connect such practitioners to audiences of all sorts, and their residencies are among the most sought-after around the world. Ranging from the wonderfully humorous to the devastatingly beautiful, this not-to-be-missed program of short films consists of works that have been made at Headlands throughout the years.

4:15 pm A Conversation with Lucy Gray
Scintillating San Francisco-based artist Lucy Gray will be on hand for an intimate talk about her work and the creative impulse. While Gray is recognized for her compelling photographs — including the “Big Tilda” exhibition at the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival — her artistry is not merely limited to photography. This unique event will feature a screening of her magical debut short film Genevieve Goes Boating, followed by two scene readings from her latest creative venture A Stage of Her Own, a play based on the life and work of theater producer Irene Selznick. Writer Steven Winn will moderate the discussion.

6:00 pm The Revolutionary Optimists    Work-in-progress screening
Maren Grainger-Monsen, Nicole Newnham    Directors Expected
Lawyer turned social advocate Amlan Ganguly doesn’t rescue children; he empowers them through education and activism to battle poverty and transform their lives and communities. The Revolutionary Optimists follows Amlan and the children he works with — Shika, Salim, Kajal and Priyanka — as they staunchly fight against the forces that oppress them. Shot over the course of three years, this film vividly captures the vibrancy of India while taking us on an intimate journey with these children, during which we witness not only the changes they are able to make in their neighborhoods, but also the changes within each of them. (USA 2012. 83 min. Photographed by Jon Shenk, Ranu Ghosh, Ranjan Palit. Edited by Andrew Gersh, Mary Lampson. Helianthus Media.)

8:30 pm CXL    World Premiere
Sean Gillane    Director Expected
Nolan, an aspiring writer, feels stuck: he is frustrated with his career, his relationships, the world and ultimately with himself. Unable to keep from displaying his considerable disdain, he focuses on everything wrong in his life as he treads the same dissatisfying paths. When he meets the stunning and unpredictable Cassie, she invites him to let down his guard and enjoy the world around him. Nolan slowly gives in to Cassie’s exuberance, but just as he begins to change his perspective, circumstances conspire to throw his already fragile psyche into turmoil in this poignant and darkly comedic debut feature. (USA 2011. 90 min. Written by Theo Miller. Photographed by Sean Gillane. With Cole Smith, Lisa Greyson. Briana Eason, Amir Motlagh. Playlist.)
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