Copwatch, directed by Camilla Hall, is a true story of WeCopwatch, an organization whose mission is to film police activity as a non-violent form of protest and deterrent to police brutality. The documentary will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, April 23rd.
The Copwatch documentary profiles several WeCopwatch members – revealing how their mission to film police activity and brutality has impacted their lives. “Copwatch is not about what happened in front of the cameras, but it’s about those who stood behind them. It’s about a sense brotherhood that developed through the shared trauma of standing up to police brutality,” shares Camilla.
Some of the people featured in the documentary include:
Jacob Crawford (co-founder) who has spent the last 15 years with a camera in his hand documenting police activity.
David Whitt (co-founder) a young father who lived in Ferguson and started filming after Michael Brown’s “Hands Up” shooting.
Kevin Moore (Baltimore) awoke to the screams of his friend and neighbor Freddie Gray. He grabbed a camera and ran outside, filming as police dragged the injured young man into the back of a paddy wagon. Freddie Gray would die from the injuries and Kevin’s video, like those before his, were shown to the entire world by news broadcast and online. Like Ramsey, Kevin became a target for making his voice heard and was arrested shortly after he filmed the video while attending a protest.
Ramsey Orta who captured Eric Garner’s final words “I Can’t Breathe” on his cell phone in currently incarcerated, however we’re looking into phone opportunities for him. Capturing Garner’s death was life changing for Ramsey, the only person from the scene of the fatal Staten Island arrest to go to jail.
The director Camilla Hall explains the inspiration for Copwatch: “The idea for COPWATCH came out of a call I had with an ex-cop some time ago. He told me how it was normal to go after people who had filmed the police, whether looking up warrants or enforcing traffic stops, anything possible to harass people who had tried to film them. I had been reading about Ramsey Orta and Kevin Moore, who had both been arrested after they filmed their videos. I tried to get in contact with Ramsey, only to be shut down by his lawyers, but refused to give up and managed to reach him through Jacob Crawford, the founder of WeCopwatch. Those initial conversations started a bigger conversation about how to tell the story of the group as a whole. I couldn’t understand why no one was telling the story behind people who film the police. I started to raise the money from friends and family to scrape through shoots with a young DP, Adriel Gonzalez. We’d borrow lavalier mics and anything we could to make sure we didn’t miss a moment. The story moved very fast but we had to keep shooting. Bow and Arrow Entertainment jumped on board and helped us to take the film to the next level.”
“In many ways, I am an unlikely director for this film, but at the time, there were no other options. I spent weeks at the start looking for others to direct but the story moved faster and faster; the story mattered more to me than the role. I had the access and, for whatever reason, the group trusted me as I was willing to go through hell to shoot what I needed to get. We were shot at on numerous occasions, spent a week without running water, and dealt with situations where we had no idea what was going to play out. In many ways, I became a confidant for each person in WeCopwatch, they opened up and revealed themselves in a way that seemed to be part of a process for them. I was drawn to them because they had allowed me to understand – for the first time – what it was like to grow up hounded and harassed by the cops because of where they’d been born or what they looked like. As a journalist, I knew that if they were communicating this to me, then others would also be able to learn from them.”
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival brings together visionaries across industries and diverse audiences to celebrate the power of storytelling. A platform for independent filmmaking, creative expression and immersive entertainment, Tribeca supports emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning filmmakers, curates innovative and interactive experiences, and introduces new technology and ideas through panels, premieres, exhibitions, and live performances.
Founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2001, following the attacks on the World Trade Center, Tribeca has evolved from an annual event to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan to a gathering place for filmmakers, artists, innovators, and the global creative community. Through programs that embrace storytelling in all of its expansive forms—film, TV, online work, VR/AR, and music—TFF reimagines the cinematic experience and explores how art can unite communities.
Tribeca Film Festival started in 2002 and takes place in New York, NY, USA
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Tribeca 2017: COPWATCH Profiles WeCopwatch whose Mission is to Film Police Activity and Brutality | Trailer
Copwatch, directed by Camilla Hall, is a true story of WeCopwatch, an organization whose mission is to film police activity as a non-violent form of protest and deterrent to police brutality. The documentary will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday, April 23rd.
The Copwatch documentary profiles several WeCopwatch members – revealing how their mission to film police activity and brutality has impacted their lives. “Copwatch is not about what happened in front of the cameras, but it’s about those who stood behind them. It’s about a sense brotherhood that developed through the shared trauma of standing up to police brutality,” shares Camilla.
Some of the people featured in the documentary include:
Jacob Crawford (co-founder) who has spent the last 15 years with a camera in his hand documenting police activity.
David Whitt (co-founder) a young father who lived in Ferguson and started filming after Michael Brown’s “Hands Up” shooting.
Kevin Moore (Baltimore) awoke to the screams of his friend and neighbor Freddie Gray. He grabbed a camera and ran outside, filming as police dragged the injured young man into the back of a paddy wagon. Freddie Gray would die from the injuries and Kevin’s video, like those before his, were shown to the entire world by news broadcast and online. Like Ramsey, Kevin became a target for making his voice heard and was arrested shortly after he filmed the video while attending a protest.
Ramsey Orta who captured Eric Garner’s final words “I Can’t Breathe” on his cell phone in currently incarcerated, however we’re looking into phone opportunities for him. Capturing Garner’s death was life changing for Ramsey, the only person from the scene of the fatal Staten Island arrest to go to jail.
The director Camilla Hall explains the inspiration for Copwatch: “The idea for COPWATCH came out of a call I had with an ex-cop some time ago. He told me how it was normal to go after people who had filmed the police, whether looking up warrants or enforcing traffic stops, anything possible to harass people who had tried to film them. I had been reading about Ramsey Orta and Kevin Moore, who had both been arrested after they filmed their videos. I tried to get in contact with Ramsey, only to be shut down by his lawyers, but refused to give up and managed to reach him through Jacob Crawford, the founder of WeCopwatch. Those initial conversations started a bigger conversation about how to tell the story of the group as a whole. I couldn’t understand why no one was telling the story behind people who film the police. I started to raise the money from friends and family to scrape through shoots with a young DP, Adriel Gonzalez. We’d borrow lavalier mics and anything we could to make sure we didn’t miss a moment. The story moved very fast but we had to keep shooting. Bow and Arrow Entertainment jumped on board and helped us to take the film to the next level.”
“In many ways, I am an unlikely director for this film, but at the time, there were no other options. I spent weeks at the start looking for others to direct but the story moved faster and faster; the story mattered more to me than the role. I had the access and, for whatever reason, the group trusted me as I was willing to go through hell to shoot what I needed to get. We were shot at on numerous occasions, spent a week without running water, and dealt with situations where we had no idea what was going to play out. In many ways, I became a confidant for each person in WeCopwatch, they opened up and revealed themselves in a way that seemed to be part of a process for them. I was drawn to them because they had allowed me to understand – for the first time – what it was like to grow up hounded and harassed by the cops because of where they’d been born or what they looked like. As a journalist, I knew that if they were communicating this to me, then others would also be able to learn from them.”
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Tribeca 2017: Watch a Clip from THE PUBLIC IMAGE IS ROTTEN Documentary on Sex Pistols’ John Lydon | Trailer
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John Lydon in THE PUBLIC IMAGE IS ROTTEN. Photographer: Yamit Shimonovitz.[/caption]
The documentary The Public Image Is Rotten directed by Tabbert Fiiller on John Lydon formerly of Sex Pistols is World Premiering tonight, Friday April 21, at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
After the breakup of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), formed Public Image Ltd (PiL)- his groundbreaking band which has lived on nearly ten times as long as his first one. He has struggled to keep the band alive ever since, through personnel and stylistic changes, fighting to constantly reinvent new ways of approaching music, while adhering to radical ideals of artistic integrity. John Lydon has not only redefined music, but also the true meaning of originality.
Former and current bandmates, as well as fellow icons like Flea, Ad-Rock and Thurston Moore, add testimony to electrifying archival footage (including stills and audio from the infamous Ritz Show). With his trademark acerbic wit and unpredictable candor, Lydon offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of music’s most influential and controversial careers.
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Tribeca 2017: THE SUITCASE Inspired by FBI Investigation of 9/11 Ringleader Muhammed Atta’s Suitcases | Trailer
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Mojean Aria as Joe Franek in THE SUITCASE. Photo credit: Jon Keng.[/caption]
The Suitcase directed by Abi Damaris Corbin is a short film inspired by the FBI investigation of one of the 9/11 hijackers and ringleader Muhammed Atta’s suitcases left at Logan International Airport. The film will premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 22nd.
Stuck in the minutia of life Joe Franek, a Boston-bred baggage handler, fears he’ll never amount to anything. Being a pilot is his goal, but the dream seems far off as financial pressures mount.
When tasked with transferring an incoming bag, Franek cracks and steals from the case owned by Mohammad Atta and destined for American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11th, 2001. The suitcase misses Flight 11, forcing Franek to re-tag it for later departure.
Franek’s world is turned upside down when Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center. All air traffic is grounded, and the chaotic airport is locked down. Tortured by his careless actions, Franek becomes obsessed with tracking down the bag he delayed. Risking his job and sacrificing his security, Franek becomes a suspect, but his act of courage turns him into an unlikely hero and gives him the legacy for which he longed.
Some facts about the film
1. The Suitcase is based on a declassified Review of Investigation Conducted by the FBI of [Mohammed] A2a’s Suitcases at Boston, MA. 2. There are numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/II hijackers’ suitcases that did board the connecting flight from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). 3. The original letter discovered in Muhammed A]a’s suitcase is displayed at the 9/II Memorial & Museum in NYC. The props team created an exact hand-written replica for the film. 4. The prop master spent nearly two months searching the suitcase for the starring role. 5. Airport scenes were shot at San Bernardino International Airport, which is the only airport in Southern California where film crews can access an operational baggage handling system. 6. The Suitcase is a graduate thesis film sponsored by the prestigious Studio Innovation Grant out of George Lucas’ Entertainment Technology Center at USC. 7. The Studio Innovation Grant was created for Abi Damaris Corbin and is the only project out of USC to be sponsored by major studios: Disney, Universal Pictures, Amazon, and technology partners like Equinix, Wipro, and Google. 8. 17 of the top Hollywood film and tech companies collaborated to make this film. 9. This is the first USC film captured and finished in HDR. 10. Abi Damaris Corbin attended college at the age of 14. 11. The crew members for the film represent 10 different countries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz_3Gwpimhc
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Tribeca 2017: CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES Kicks Off Fest and will Debut on Apple Music
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CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES[/caption]
The 2017 Tribeca Film Festival officially kicked off last night with the World Premiere of the documentary Clive Davis: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.
The screening was followed by a special concert featuring performances by Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon and Barry Manilow.
Based on Davis’ 2013 bestselling autobiography, CLIVE DAVIS: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES is a riveting profile of the legendary music man, who is a five-time Grammy winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The film chronicles the historic influence of “The Man with the Golden Ears,” who rose from humble beginnings, and in a compelling journey, became one of the music industry’s most iconic figures. Davis’ career spans a remarkable five-decade career, providing an incredible tour of the most sensational music of the cultural revolution, from the ’60s to the rise of hip-hop. Davis has signed, influenced and driven the careers of many of the most important music artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries including Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Santana, Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Patti Smith, Alicia Keys, Sean “Puffy” Combs, and a great many more who attest to Davis as, in Aretha Franklin’s words, “the greatest record man of all time.” This amazing film is definitive, fascinating and ceaselessly entertaining proof.
Just before the premiere Apple announced that film is headed exclusively to Apple Music.
“Apple is a global innovator that has revolutionized the distribution of music,” said Davis. “It is a touching honor to share the music and unique stories that have shaped my career with millions of Apple Music subscribers around the world. I am overjoyed to work with them to continue this incredible journey!”
Davis added: “It is an incredible milestone to have a film about my life premier on opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival in an iconic venue such as Radio City Music Hall. It will be a moving celebration of music and artistry that hopefully will touch everyone.”
@CliveDavis thank you my friend for a wonderful evening The sound track of our lives @RadioCity @Tribeca Clive you inspire our imagination! pic.twitter.com/GKNOXLh1UK
— Isiah Thomas (@iamisiahthomas) April 20, 2017
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Tribeca 2017: Watch a Clip from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s THE ENDLESS
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Justin Benson as Justin and Aaron Moorhead as Aaron in THE ENDLESS. Photographer: William Tanner Sampson.[/caption]
Here is a clip from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s The Endless, which will make its World Premiere this Friday April 21st at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
The film directed byJustin Benson andAaron Moorhead also stars Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, along with Tate Ellington, James Jordan, Shane Brady and Kira Powell.
THE ENDLESS is the story of two brothers who return to the deal cult from which they fled a decade ago, to find that there might be some truth to the group’s otherworldly beliefs.
Tribeca Film FestivalScreenings:
Friday, April 21st | 9:00 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea -07 – World Premiere
Saturday, April 22nd | 10:00 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea-09
Saturday, April 22nd | 1:45 PM | Cinepolis-01 – P&I
Sunday, April 23rd | 7:45 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea-01
Tuesday, April 25th | 1:45 PM | Cinepolis-01 – P&I
Wednesday, April 26th | 8:45 PM | Cinepolis-04
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THE LAST GOODBYE, First Holocaust Survivor Testimony in Room-Scale VR to World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival
Billed as the first-ever Holocaust survivor testimony in room-scale VR, THE LAST GOODBYE will world premiere on Friday, April 21 at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
In The Last Goodbye, powerful personal testimony of the Holocaust is preserved for the first time in poignant, room-scale VR, as survivor Pinchas Gutter takes audiences with him on his final visit to Majdanek, the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp where his parents and sister were murdered during World War II.
“Today when I see suffering of genocide victims and refugees, I feel their pain. I want my testimony to speak to the world to help avoid that pain. If my testimony can be a warning to the world, it would make my sharing of my own pain worthwhile,” Gutter said.
The photoreal experience presents an entirely new way of capturing truth for the future, encouraging viewers to explore the spaces depicted. USC Shoah Foundation will archive Gutter’s testimony in support of their mission to use testimony as a compelling voice for education and action.
“Just as USC Shoah Foundation forged new frontiers by collecting the world’s largest searchable archive of video testimony from genocide survivors, so too are we proud to be a part of this pioneering project with HERE BE DRAGONS, MPC VR and OTOY Inc.,” USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director, Stephen Smith said. “Every generation needs to bear witness to these atrocities, but our tools for learning and preservation change. We felt that doing the first Holocaust survivor testimony in roomscale VR, for education and preservation purposes, would engage our audience in understanding that the Nazi concentration camp system was highly developed where the SS authorities could kill targeted groups of real or perceived enemies of Nazi Germany. The consequences of such human behavior continue, and the best way to understand it and prevent it from happening again it is to gaze an unflinching eye upon it.”
In late 2016, the team traveled with Gutter to Poland to capture hours of 3D video and tens of thousands of photos on site, to create an experience that enables viewers to virtually walk with Gutter as he revisits the railway car, gas chamber, shower room and barracks of Majdanek. The groundbreaking collaboration of the industry’s top talent integrated a capture pipeline created by OTOY with HERE BE DRAGONS’ 3D video testimony, and brought to life with dozens of photogrammetry artists and engineers from MPC.
Tim Dillon, Head of VR & Immersive Content at MPC said, “Our ambition has been to create entirely an entirely new grammar for what’s possible within a narrative and room scale mix, in a documentary format. We’ve faithfully recreated the rooms of the Majdanek camp so you can inhabit them with Pinchas, you can feel his story by being there with him, eye to eye.”
“It was important that we go beyond spherical 360 video for this particular piece and allow viewers to explore Majdanek with real agency,” said Patrick Milling Smith, president and co-founder, HERE BE DRAGONS. “This freedom of movement contributes to an even more powerful sense of presence while heightening the emotional impact.”
To transport the viewers to Majdanek, the experience will be screened within a custom installation created by acclaimed scenic and production designer, David Korins.
“The ultimate goal of the experience was to build-in a contemplative pulse that people could naturally attach to their own personal landscape; to connect, not only with the atrocity of concentration camps, but grasp how inhumane man can be against man when hate is paramount and emerge as a more enlightened individual.” said Korins.
THE LAST GOODBYE was co-created by award-winning filmmaker Gabo Arora and Ari Palitz, produced by Stephen Smith, Executive Director of USC Shoah Foundation, and co-produced by USC Shoah Foundation, HERE BE DRAGONS, MPC VR and OTOY. An original soundtrack was helmed by audio director Dražen Bošnjak of Q Department. Spatial sound powered by Mach1. 3D stereo stitching by 3D paint\FX.
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Tribeca 2017: 17-Year-Old Daje Shelton Navigates Inner City America in FOR AHKEEM | Trailer
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For Ahkeem[/caption]
For Ahkeem is described as the moving portrait of 17-year-old Daje Shelton, a Black girl in North St. Louis, as she navigates the many challenges of growing up in inner city America with one goal: to graduate high school.
The documentary film from award-winning directors Jeremy S. Levine and Landon Van Soest, had its World Premiere earlier this year at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, and will have its North American Premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Filmed over a three year period, we watch as Daje struggles against countless obstacles to obtain her high school diploma, her only hope of a better future, while navigating life as a teenager in America. The camera quietly follows her as she experiences her first love and explores a challenging new role as a teen mother. Despite the daily struggle to maintain focus in school and graduate, Daje and her family show the strength, resilience, and determination it takes to survive.
People been labeling me a bad kid all my life. You don’t have to really do nothing, people just expect it. So you start to expect it of yourself.” – Daje Shelton
For Ahkeem follows Black teenager Daje Shelton as she comes of age in a rough part of St. Louis. Daje has a fiery and charismatic personality, loves to sing, and hopes to become a comedian or a journalist one day. All this despite never quite believing she’d live to see eighteen.
After a school fight gets Daje expelled and sent to a court-supervised high school, her hopes of being accepted to a good college are dashed. Her mother Tammy, who was also expelled from high school, reminds Daje of how important it is for her to stay the course and graduate..
“I don’t want you to get comfortable thinking this neighborhood and the things around here is the way of life, cus it’s not,” says Tammy.
“There are so many bigger and better things out there, you wouldn’t even believe it.”
We’re with Daje for over two years as she strives to turn things around and maintain focus on school, which becomes even more challenging after suddenly losing a friend to gun violence. She falls in love with Antonio, a charismatic classmate who can identify with the trauma Daje is feeling. Struggling with schoolwork though, Antonio drops out and starts getting into trouble on the streets. Later, Daje learns she is pregnant with a son and wrestles with the heartbreaking reality of raising a Black boy in America today.
At the start of Daje’s senior year, an unarmed Black teen is killed by a police officer in nearby Ferguson, seizing the national spotlight. The incident further awakens Daje to her vulnerable position in the world, reinvigorating her mission to graduate from high school and make a better life for herself and her newborn son, baby Ahkeem.
Through Daje’s intimate coming of age story, For Ahkeem illuminates challenges that many Black teenagers face in America today, and witnesses the strength, resilience, and determination it takes to survive.
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Tribeca 2017: Poster + Watch Exclusive Clip from Elina Psykou’s Dark Coming-of-Age Drama SON OF SOFIA
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The family (Thanasis Papageorgiou, Valery Tscheplanow, Victor Khomut) watches TV in SON OF SOFIA. Photo credit: Dionysis Eftimiopoulos.[/caption]
Here is the poster and an exclusive video clip from Elina Psykou’s Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale, that will world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Although the clip doesn’t reveal too much of the storyline, it does provide a glimpse into the mother-son dynamic that is explored in the film
After her celebrated debut, The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, Elina Psykou returns with Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale that strikes a masterful balance between realism and dreams, much like its young lead.
The story revolves around 11-year-old Misha, who flies from Russia to Athens in the summer of 2004, to join his mother, Sofia, after having spent a long time apart. What he doesn’t know is that there is a father waiting for him there. While Greece is living the Olympic dream, Misha will get violently catapulted into the adult world, riding on the dark side of his favorite fairy tales.
Exclusive Clip
Trailer
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Tribeca 2017: National Geographic to Release Coal Mining Documentary FROM THE ASHES | Trailer
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Deborah Graham at her home in Salisbury, North Carolina. Film still from FROM THE ASHES. Credit: Jonathan Furmanski.[/caption]
From the Ashes, a feature documentary that explores one of the country’s most contentious topics — coal and the mining industry, has been acquired by the National Geographic for release in the US.
Distributed under the National Geographic Documentary Films banner, From the Ashes will have its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, followed by a limited theatrical release this summer and will air globally on National Geographic in 171 countries and 45 languages later in 2017.
Produced by the Academy Award- and Emmy-winning production company RadicalMedia, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Michael Bonfiglio, produced by Sidney Beaumont, and executive produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger — as well as Jon Kamen, Katherine Oliver and Justin Wilkes, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies — From the Ashes captures Americans in communities across the country as they wrestle with the legacy of the coal industry, and what its future should be under the Trump administration.
From Appalachia to the West’s Powder River Basin, the film goes beyond the rhetoric of the “war on coal” to present compelling and often-heartbreaking stories about what is at stake for our economy, health and climate. The film invites audiences to learn more about an industry on the edge and what it means for their lives.
“For over a century, mining and energy companies have been privatizing coal’s profits while socializing its costs. Coal plant pollution kills 7,500 Americans a year and causes many more serious illnesses,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and co-author of the new book “Climate of Hope.” “From the Ashes shows the risks we face as a nation if we continue to rely on coal and examines how Americans in local communities, including in coal country, are helping to lead the transition toward cleaner air and stronger economies.”
From the Ashes builds on Bloomberg’s environmental philanthropic work. Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed over $100 million to move the U.S. away from coal and toward clean energy through its Clean Energy Initiative and Beyond Coal efforts. As a UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Cities and Climate Change, and in partnership with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Bloomberg convened more than 500 global cities at the first-ever Climate Summit for Local Leaders at Paris City Hall during COP21. Beyond Coal, which aims to secure the retirement of half the nation’s coal fleet, has already led to the closure or phasing out of 250 coal-fired power plants and helped to prevent more than 5,550 premature deaths per year. Additionally, Bloomberg Philanthropies supports sustainability in cities around the globe through C40, a network of more than 90 global megacities, and other grants.
“Using media and technology to inform, connect and prompt action is in the DNA of Bloomberg and we’re excited to harness the power of storytelling to reach new audiences and inspire change at such a critical time in our history,” shared Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Katherine Oliver, who also serves as executive producer.
The world premiere of From the Ashes will take place at the Festival Hub at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2017, at 6 p.m. ET. Before the film festival screening there will be a special introduction by Bloomberg, a former three-term mayor of New York City. Immediately following the premiere, there will be a conversation with the director of the film, Bonfiglio, and other special guests to discuss the state of the American coal industry.
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Tribeca 2017: Watch Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell Document Their Relationship in Trailers for FLAMES
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Actors Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell make love in the bathroom. Film still from FLAMES. Photo by Ashley Connor.[/caption]
Here are the new trailers – red band and green band – for FLAMES directed by and featuring real-life couple Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell. Filmed over five years, FLAMES follows the couple from the white-hot passion of first love to the heartbreak of the bitter end.
Flames will World Premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday, April 20.
High on their intense connection, the pair of artists document their relationship’s every beat, from their adventurous sex life, to their performance art collaborations, to a spur-of-the-moment getaway to the Maldives. But when the romantic vacation doesn’t exactly go as planned, the now-former couple are left to decide what to do with their film-in-progress, and for these two filmmakers, the end of the relationship isn’t the end of the story.
As they continue filming, reconstructing what happened and where it all went wrong, lines begin to blur between what was real and what was “the film”—if there’s even a difference anymore. Equal parts performance piece and penetrating rumination on the way some relationships are never finished even after they end, FLAMES is an extraordinary docu-art hybrid- a raw nerve of a film that finds within its unique idiosyncrasies and eccentricities a universally affecting manifesto of heartbreak.
The Couple: Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell
Said to be ushering in a “new grammar of narrative” by The New Yorker, Josephine Decker aims to spark curiosity and wonder in audiences while delving into the ways we classify ourselves and others. Part of Time Warner’s 150 incubator, a recent Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Lab Fellow and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, Josephine Decker premiered her first two narrative features, BUTTER ON THE LATCH and THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY, at the Berlinale Forum 2014. The films were listed #2 and #10 on The New Yorker’s Top Ten List of 2014, played about a hundred festivals around the world (including Torino, London BFI, BAM Cinemafest), won Sarasota Film Festival’s Independent Visions Award, Tangerine Entertainment’s prize for a rising female director and many other awards. Her third narrative feature, starring Molly Parker and Miranda July, is currently in post-production, and this fall, she incubated a dance-theater-film hybrid at Princeton University with butoh choreographer Vangeline. Interested in melding unconventional movement and dance into narrative film, Josephine spent a year in Pig Iron Theater’s Advanced Performance Training to learn theater-based techniques of collaborative writing. She is using that training to create Virtual Reality narratives, including one currently with Wolf Cinema in Berlin and another developed by Kaleidoscope VR, DevLab and The Sundance Institute. Zefrey Throwell is a NYC based artist who uses the mediums of film, performance, photography and painting to orchestrate his inquisitive perspective. 1000 car horn symphonies, a weeklong strip poker critique of modern economics, a massive food fight- Throwell’s projects have been featured in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, NBC, Artforum, Art in America, Artinfo and Modern Painters. Throwell has work in The Museum of Modern Art and other major collections. His films have shown at the Cannes Film Festival and other festivals around the world. He is currently directing three feature films and organizing the longest choir in history- a 10,000 opera singer project that stretches over the alps from Italy to Germany, as well as a 10 cruise ship symphony surrounding Miami Beach. Throwell’s latest feature film “Flames” will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017.Red Band Trailer
Green Band Trailer
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Alex Gibney’s NO STONE UNTURNED Pulled from Tribeca Film Festival
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NO STONE UNTURNED – Alex Gibney[/caption]
The producers of Academy Award-winningAlex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned has withdrawn the film from the upcoming 2017 Tribeca Film Festival citing outstanding legal issues. The film was to have its World Premiere on Sunday April 23.
The documentary takes a look back to 1994, in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland where six men were gunned down and five wounded in a pub while watching a World Cup soccer match. With a police investigation that was perfunctory at best, the case remained unsolved. In this film, Gibney reopens the original case to investigate why no culprit was ever brought to justice.
In a statement, the festival said, “We were notified today from the producers of Alex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned that there are outstanding legal issues surrounding the film and they will need to withdraw the documentary from the Festival. We are very disappointed that audiences will not be able to see the film at Tribeca and we know Alex is equally disappointed that his film will not have its world premiere at the Festival.”
The festival has removed the film from the website and refunded the customers who have purchased tickets.
The producer Trevor Birney, Fine Point Films said in a statement, “We are bitterly disappointed that as a result of ongoing legal issues relating to the subject matter of the film, No Stone Unturned (Director: Alex Gibney) is not yet ready to be screened at Tribeca 2017. No one will feel this disappointment more than the families at the centre of the film, whose quest for justice has been both inspiring and unstinting these last 23 years. It is our deepest hope that these sensitive issues can be resolved as soon as possible so that we can share this important film with the world.”
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TRIBECA 2017: Kino Lorber to Release TOM OF FINLAND Biopic in the US
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Tom of Finland[/caption]
TOM OF FINLAND, Dome Karukoski’s biopic about the life and work of Finnish artist and gay icon Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, has been acquired by Kino Lorber for release in the US.
Dome Karukoski’s Tom Of Finland is set to have its North American premiere at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, after a world premiere at the Goteborg Film Festival in February. It’s also in high demand among LGBTQ U.S. festivals. The film’s world premiere was followed by a release in its home territory, whereTom Of Finland has taken close to $1m at the local box office.
A trailblazing figure in post-World War II erotic art, Touko Laaksonen drew thousands of fantasy-filled, homoerotic images of intensely masculine (and muscular) men, often liberated from the moral codes of their times. Quickly spreading throughout the world, these images went on to play a significant role in the transnational gay liberation movement that continues to make strides to this day, also becoming iconic symbols for generations of LGBT people worldwide.
Director Dome Karukoski is an acclaimed Finnish filmmaker with six features to his credit including The Grump (2014), Heart Of A Lion (2013) and Lapland Odyssey (2010).
The film was produced by Finnish production outfit Helsinki Film, with a screenplay by Aleksi Bardy. The cast includes Pekka Strang, Lauri Tilkanen, Jessica Grabowsky, Taisto Oksanen, Seumas Sargent, Jakob Oftebro and Niklas Hogner.