Samuel Goldwyn Films will release legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike’s comedic vampire action thriller YAKUZA APOCALYPSE in the US. The martial arts extravaganza and end-of-the-world spectacle premiered as part of the Directors’ Fortnight program at the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival. The film will screen in the Midnight Madness program at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival running September 10–20, 2015. Samuel Goldwyn Films is planning an October 9, 2015 release.
In YAKUZA APOCALYPSE, fearsome Yakuza boss Kamiura is also a bloodsucking vampire. One day, men arrive from a competing clan and deliver him an ultimatum: Play nice or die. Kamiura refuses and, during a fierce battle, is torn limb from limb. With his dying breath, he passes on his vampire powers to his loyal lieutenant, Kageyama. His first order of business is to avenge his mentor, setting him on a collision course with the seemingly unstoppable foreign syndicate, and take his place as the new Yakuza boss.
One of Japan’s most prolific, adventurous and successful filmmakers, Takashi Miike has directed nearly 100 films. He has been thrilling audiences worldwide with movies such as “Audition” (1999), “Ichi the Killer” (2001) and “13 Assassins” (2010). Now, Miike returns to the hard-driven style of his early filmmaking career with YAKUZA APOCALYPSE.
According to Peter Goldwyn of Samuel Goldwyn Films: “Taskashi Miike is a master of this genre and we are excited to bring his latest film, a sort of return to his origins, out to North American audiences. The film is an exciting mix of gangster-vampire action that only Miike can deliver.”
Filmmaker Takashi Miike stated: “I wonder if it’s really okay to let this film loose outside of Japan. As it’s not anything anyone can deal with on their own, it’s best to watch with friends.”
YAKUZA APOCALYPSE is directed by Takashi Miike from a screenplay by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi. Film stars Hayato Ichihara, Yayan Ruhian (“The Raid” and “The Raid 2”) and Lily Franky. Film is produced by Yoshinori Chiba, Shinichiro Masuda, Shinjiro Nishimura and Misako Saka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn1fNww2XG8Foreign Language Films
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Takashi Miike’s Comedic Vampire Action Thriller YAKUZA APOCALYPSE Headed to US Theaters | TRAILER
Samuel Goldwyn Films will release legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike’s comedic vampire action thriller YAKUZA APOCALYPSE in the US. The martial arts extravaganza and end-of-the-world spectacle premiered as part of the Directors’ Fortnight program at the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival. The film will screen in the Midnight Madness program at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival running September 10–20, 2015. Samuel Goldwyn Films is planning an October 9, 2015 release.
In YAKUZA APOCALYPSE, fearsome Yakuza boss Kamiura is also a bloodsucking vampire. One day, men arrive from a competing clan and deliver him an ultimatum: Play nice or die. Kamiura refuses and, during a fierce battle, is torn limb from limb. With his dying breath, he passes on his vampire powers to his loyal lieutenant, Kageyama. His first order of business is to avenge his mentor, setting him on a collision course with the seemingly unstoppable foreign syndicate, and take his place as the new Yakuza boss.
One of Japan’s most prolific, adventurous and successful filmmakers, Takashi Miike has directed nearly 100 films. He has been thrilling audiences worldwide with movies such as “Audition” (1999), “Ichi the Killer” (2001) and “13 Assassins” (2010). Now, Miike returns to the hard-driven style of his early filmmaking career with YAKUZA APOCALYPSE.
According to Peter Goldwyn of Samuel Goldwyn Films: “Taskashi Miike is a master of this genre and we are excited to bring his latest film, a sort of return to his origins, out to North American audiences. The film is an exciting mix of gangster-vampire action that only Miike can deliver.”
Filmmaker Takashi Miike stated: “I wonder if it’s really okay to let this film loose outside of Japan. As it’s not anything anyone can deal with on their own, it’s best to watch with friends.”
YAKUZA APOCALYPSE is directed by Takashi Miike from a screenplay by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi. Film stars Hayato Ichihara, Yayan Ruhian (“The Raid” and “The Raid 2”) and Lily Franky. Film is produced by Yoshinori Chiba, Shinichiro Masuda, Shinjiro Nishimura and Misako Saka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn1fNww2XG8
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Danish War Drama LAND OF MINE to Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
Martin Zandvliet’s war drama “Land of Mine” will open the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival’s brand new section, Platform. The film, Zandvliet’s third, unearths a lesser known chapter of Danish postwar history
Taking place in May 1945 only a few days after the end of the war, the film tells the story of how a group of German prisoners of war were brought to Denmark and forced to disarm the two million land mines that had been scattered along the West Coast by the German occupying forces. In charge of the enfeebled young men performing the dangerous task is Sergeant Carl Leopold Rasmussen. Like so many of his fellow Danes, he has a deep hatred for the Germans after having suffered five years of hardships during the occupation. He lets his rage rain down on the prisoners, until one day a tragic incident makes him change his view of the enemy even if it may be too late. Actor Roland Møller takes his first lead as the Danish sergeant in charge of the prisoners. Møller made his screen debut in Tobias Lindholm and Michael Noer’s prison drama “R” and went on to perform in Lindholm’s “A Hijacking” and Noer’s “Northwest”. Among the Danish cast is also Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (“A Royal Affair”), while the young Germans all are amateur actors, discovered through Berlin-based casting expert Simone Bär who has collaborated with Michael Haneke, among others. Zandvliet’s debut feature “Applause” (2009) received numerous awards, with quite a few directed at the film’s lead actress Paprika Steen. The film was selected for the Toronto Film Festival, as was Zandvliet’s second feature, “A Funny Man” (2011), which also enjoyed great domestic success with a total of 10 Robert and Bodil awards, Denmark’s highest film distinctions.
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Italian “17-Year Old Virgin” Comedy SHORT SKIN Sets US Release Date | TRAILER
Breaking Glass Pictures will release in the US, the Italian coming-of-age comedy SHORT SKIN, directed by Duccio Chiarini, about a 17-year-old virgin who wants to have sex but he has a problem – he suffers from a painful disorder called phimosis or tight foreskin. The film premiered at the 2014 Venice Film Festival and was awarded Best Debut Film prize at the Ciak d’oro 2015.
Short Skin will premiere at Cinema Village in NYC on October 9, and then released on VOD and DVD on October 20.
Edoardo (newcomer Matteo Creatini) [is] a 17-year-old virgin. This summer, he and his best friend vow to lose their virginity. There’s just one problem: Edoardo is suffering from a disorder called phimosis – a painful condition in which the foreskin is too tight to be pulled back. Edoardo is also secretly dealing with the antics of his crazy friends and family — bickering parents with their own sexual issues, a sister obsessed with her dog’s sexuality, his leering best friend Arturo, his pink haired alt neighbor Elisabetta and his dream girl Bianca, who has decided to move to Paris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQKgvzX-KqA&feature=youtu.be&a
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Kenyan LGBT Award-winning Film STORIES OF OUR LIVES to Open 2015 Harlem International Film Festival
Award-winning film STORIES OF OUR LIVES that documents the hidden personal stories of lovers, fighters, rebels and the community histories that characterize the criminalized queer experience in Kenya, will open the 2015 Harlem International Film Festival on September 9.
The filmmakers and cast risked their very lives to bring to life this insightful series of vignettes based on true stories collected for the STORIES OF OUR LIVES project.
STORIES OF OUR LIVES, Nairobi-based visual artist Jim Chuchu‘s first ever feature film, premiered at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival, and also screened at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Special Jury Award, and 2nd Place Panorama Audience Award, Fiction Film.
The stories in this extraordinary film anthology are united by a commitment to telling the truth about the lives and love of gay and lesbian people in Kenya. In Ask Me Nicely, a pair of schoolgirls, much to their own surprise, fall passionately in love. In Athman, two men working on a tea plantation address the fact that one man’s feelings for his friend have evolved. A young woman dreams of transforming genders, and living openly with her girlfriend. Filmed in chiaroscuro shades of black and white, each story unfolds with an honesty that is heartbreaking in its simplicity. Based on real life experiences that were collected by an artists’ collective in Kenya, the material proved so revelatory that a decision was made to adapt it to the screen. With little more than a couple of lights and a small camera, the crew of actors and technicians made this anthology over the course of eight months. Underneath every story depicted on camera is the reality that even to speak the truth out loud is a dangerous and subversive act. Members of the Collective are still forced to remain anonymous in order to protect themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaDs333V-vo The 2015 Harlem International Film Festival runs September 9-13, 2015.
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“Scariest Movie of All Time” GOODNIGHT MOMMY” Releases Official Trailer
Radius has released the trailer for the Austrian horror film GOODNIGHT MOMMY that premiered at the Venice Film Festival and the internet is calling the film “the scariest of all time.” Directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the film is about nine-year-old twin brothers who are waiting for their mother. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before. The children start to doubt that this woman is actually their mother. It emerges an existential struggle for identity and fundamental trust.
GOODNIGHT MOMMY is set for release in the US on September 11th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kXpUaQpXMA
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Guy Édoin’s “Ville-Marie” to World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
Canadian filmmaker Guy Édoin’s second feature film Ville-Marie will World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival as a “Special Presentation”. “It is a great honour that Ville-Marie will have its world premiere at TIFF, a festival that has seen me grow and evolve as a filmmaker over the course of my five films” declared the director.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2WPgCyKlQ
The film stars Monica Bellucci (Spectre), Pascale Bussières (When Night Is Falling), Patrick Hivon (À l’origine d’un cri) and Aliocha Schneider (Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme), who has also been selected as one of four TIFF RISING STARS 2015. Designed to find the next generation of Canadian actors poised for international careers, TIFF Rising Stars draws homegrown talent into the bright spotlight provided by the annual September Festival.
An actress (Monica Bellucci) in town shooting a film, hopes to reconcile with her son (Aliocha Schneider). A paramedic (Patrick Hivon), haunted by his past struggles, is under the watchful eye of a nurse (Pascale Bussière) who is trying to keep the emergency room running at Ville Marie Hospital, where these four lives will come together and take an unexpected turn.
Written by Guy Édoin, in collaboration with Jean-Simon DesRochers, Ville-Marie was the very first Canadian script to be officially selected for L’Atelier de la Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Guy Édoin’s creative team includes Director of photography Serge Desrosiers; Artistic Director David Pelletier; Costume Designer Julia Patkos; Editor Yvann Thibaudeau; and Music Composer Olivier Alary who worked in collaboration with Johannes Malfatti.
The film received financial support from SODEC, Téléfilm, provincial and federal tax credits as well as the Harold Greenberg Fund. Ville-Marie is produced by Félize Frappier of Max Films Media, distributed in Canada by Filmoption International, and sold worldwide by Films Boutique. Ville-Marie will be released in theaters on October 9th, in Quebec, Canada.
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French Coming of Age Film BREATHE Gets US Release Date
BREATHE, described as a taut coming-of-age tale of the depths and escalating passions in female friendships, and starring talented newcomers Joséphine Japy and Lou De Laâge as two young girls whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark and dangerous turn, will open at the IFC Center in New York on September 11th, and at the Laemmle Royal in LA on September 18th. A national release will follow.
BREATHE is the second feature by actress-turned-director Mélanie Laurent ( Inglorious Basterds, Beginnings ), and her assured adaptation of the French young-adult novel of the same name.
Charlie (Joséphine Japy) is seventeen and bored. Her estranged parents are too caught up in their own drama to pay much attention to her. School holds no surprises either and Charlie grows tired of her staid friends. Enter Sarah (Lou De Laâge), a hip new transfer student who brings with her an alluring air of boldness and danger. The two girls form an instant connection. Sarah brings the excitement Charlie so desperately seeks, and Charlie is a stable influence on the wild child. Through shared secrets, love interests and holiday getaways, their relationship deepens to levels of unspoken intimacy, which eventually leads to jealousy and unrealistic expectations, and the teens soon find themselves on a trajectory toward a jarring outcome.
Already well-known as an actress in her native France, Mélanie Laurent ’s international breakthrough was her portrayal of Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, for which she shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast with her co-stars. Her numerous credits include Beginners in which she played Ewan McGregor’s girlfriend, the Golden Globe-nominated film The Concert, and Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Ms. Laurent will next be seen in the Angelina Jolie-directed film By the Sea, co-starring Ms. Jolie and Brad Pitt, as well as in French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s Eternité. Her next directorial effort is Demain, a documentary about the environment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXncAEif-zY
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THE DEMONS Directed by Philippe Lesage to World Premiere at San Sebastian International Film Festival
The Demons, directed by Quebec director Philippe Lesage, will get its world premiere in official competition at the 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival (Donostia Zinemaldia) in Spain, which runs Sept. 18 to 26. The Demons will be competing for the Concha de Oro, the festival’s top prize, awarded in the past to such luminaries as Francis Ford Coppola, Claude Chabrol, Bahman Ghobadi, François Ozon, Peter Mullan and Arturo Ripstein. “I’m very honoured and happy to see my first feature selected in official competition at the prestigious San Sebastian festival,” said Lesage. “Bravo to our entire team!”
The film’s exceptional cast is mostly made up of children and teenagers, some making their first appearance on screen. The young actors include Édouard Tremblay-Grenier, Yannick Gobeil-Dugas, Vassili Schneider, Sarah Mottet, Mathis Thomas, Théodore Pellerin and Rose-Marie Perreault. They play alongside such seasoned professionals as Laurent Lucas, Pascale Bussières, Bénédicte Décary and younger talents including Victoria Diamond and Pier-Luc Funk.
With the city of Montreal shaken by a series of kidnappings of young boys, a sensitive 10-year-old named Félix lets his imagination run wild as he comes to the end of his school year. Nothing much ever seems to happen in the quiet suburbs where he lives, but Félix is afraid of everything: his parents’ impending divorce, the maniacs who target little boys, his weird neighbours, even the AIDS epidemic. Slowly but surely, the child’s imaginary demons begin to resemble those of the real, disturbing world around him.
Before venturing into fiction, Philippe Lesage made four feature-length documentaries: Pourrons-nous vivre ensemble ? (2007), Comment savoir si les petits poissons sont heureux ? (2009), Ce cœur qui bat (2010) andLaylou (2011). Centred on life in a Montreal hospital, Ce cœur qui bat won the prize for best Canadian film and most promising Canadian film at the 2010 Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM), as well as the prize for best feature documentary at the 2012 Jutras. In 2011, Lepage was honoured with a retrospective of his works at the Cinémathèque Québécoise called Découvrir Lesage, giving the public a chance to see his early films. Between his many projects, Lesage also taught filmmaking at the European Film College in Denmark. His first two feature dramas – Copenhague A Love Story and The Demons – have been selected at a number of festivals and will open in cinemas in 2015 and 2016. His next feature, Genèse, is now in pre-production, with shooting slated to begin in the summer of 2016.
Produced by Galilé Marion-Gauvin and Philippe Lesage for Les Films de l’Autre in collaboration with Unité Centrale, The Demons is written and directed by Philippe Lesage (2012 Jutra for best documentary, Ce cœur qui bat). The crew includes Dominique Noujeim, associate producer; Nicolas Canniccioni, director of photography; Marjorie Rhéaume, artistic director; Marcel Chouinard and Pascal Van Strydonck, sound (with overall design by Olivier Calvert); and Mathieu Bouchard Malo, editing. The Demons received funding from the SODEC, Téléfilm Canada, the CALQ, Super Écran and La Société Radio-Canada , as well as federal and Quebec tax credits.
The film is distributed in Canada by Funfilm Distribution and will open in Quebec cinemas on Oct. 30.
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Watch Red Band TRAILER for PRINCE directed by Sam De Jong, in Theaters on August 14th
VICE released the Red Band Trailer for PRINCE directed by Sam De Jong and winner of 2015 Berlinale – Honorary Mention: Crystal Bear for Best First Feature. PRINCE will be released in theaters and on VOD platforms August 14th.
Seventeen-year-old Ayoub (Ayoub Elasri) has a lot on his plate: his father (Chaib Massaoudi) is a junkie, his mother (Elsie de Brauw) is a lonely divorcé, and his sister (Olivia Lonsdale) is falling in with the wrong crowd. Haunted by his father’s terrible reputation, Ayoub can’t get the attention of Laura (Sigrid ten Napel), the most beautiful girl in the neighborhood. He does, however, gain the attention of Kalpa (Freddy Tratlehner), an eccentric, purple Lamborghini-driving, psychotically violent local criminal. Falling in with Kalpa, Ayoub tries to enlarge his status (and wallet) enough to win Laura over, but soon finds that his new life is far more than he bargained for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgXbuIcGInA
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African Music Documentary TANGO NEGRO gets NYC and Chicago Theatrical Release | TRAILER
The music documentary Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango will be released in Chicago and in New York City for a one week run starting on August 14, 2015. In Chicago, Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango will play at Facets Cinematheque (1517 West Fullerton Ave.) and in New York City at MIST Harlem (46 West 116th). The film will also screen in Washington DC at the Goethe Institute (812 Seventh St, NW) in the context of the 9th Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival.
Tango Negro explores the expression of Africanness inherent in the dance of the “tango” and the contribution of African cultures to the dance’s creation. Angolan director, Dom Pedro, details the dance’s early cultural significance as a depiction of the social life of captured African slaves and provides an expansive compilation of musical performances and interviews from tango enthusiasts and historians alike. Tango Negro provides a novel insight into the depth of tango’s sub-Saharan African musical influence, a presence that has crossed oceans and endured the tides of forced bondage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1OCMY06u7M
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Pakistani Film, DUKHTAR (Daughter), Sets U.S. October Release Date | TRAILER
DUKHTAR (Daughter), a film written, produced and directed by Afia Nathaniel, and Pakistan’s Official Submission for Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, will open in New York at Cinema Village on October 9, and in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall on October 16. The opening weekend of DUKHTAR in New York will coincide with the International Day of the Girl Child and will feature special Q+As after the screenings. A national release will follow.
DUKHTAR premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at numerous international film festivals including Busan, Sao Paulo, London, Stockholm, Dubai and Palm Springs, winning several awards along the way including “Best Director” and Audience Award for “Best Feature Film” at South Asian International Film Festival, Jury Award “Best World Feature” at Sonoma International Film Festival and Audience Award “Best Feature Film” at Créteil International Women’s Film Festival.
In a village in Pakistan, a young mother Allah Rakhi (Samiya Mumtaz) kidnaps her ten-year old daughter Zainab (Saleha Aref) to save her from a child marriage. Pursued by her husband’s family and the groom’s henchmen, they escape onto the open mountainous highway where seeking help Allah Rakhi convinces a reluctant Sohail, (Mohib Mirza) a cynical ex-Mujahid truck driver, to take them on-board. Described by Variety as “Crisp Grandeur”, the film unfolds against the surreal landscapes of northern mountainous Pakistan all the way to the vibrant city of Lahore as the deadly hunt for mother and daughter intensifies.
Shot in 30 days in below freezing conditions mostly in the disputed territory between Pakistan and India with more than 200 extras, and chase scenes filmed on the world’s highest altitude roads, helmed by a first-time female director-producer with an all-male crew of 40 men, this feminist road-trip movie has created history in the fledgling independent film industry of Pakistan.
Director Afia Nathaniel says, “The seed of the film is inspired by the true story of a mother from the tribal areas of Pakistan who kidnaps her two daughters and seeks a new future for them. The story resonated with me deeply because in Pakistan, I come from a humble family of very strong women, women who have endured extremely tough lives in hope of a better one for their children. So while studying Film Directing at Columbia University in New York, I penned a fictional screenplay for this road-trip thriller. The mother’s journey into the unknown would raise important questions about the price we are willing to pay for freedom, dignity and love in a time when modernity, tradition and fundamentalism have come to a head. In the ten years that it took me to make this film, I became a mother to a daughter myself and the issue of child marriage became even more personal. Every year, around the world, nearly 15 million girls lose their childhood to marriage and for me this is an unacceptable reality. And so the determination to make the film and have it seen by audiences never left me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo5xat8WLjU
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Watch TRAILER for Psychological Thriller TOM AT THE FARM
Here is the official trailer for the the psychological thriller Tom at the Farm, written and directed by Xavier Dolan. Tom at the Farm which also stars Xavier Dolan along with Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Lise Roy, and Evelyne Brochu will be released unrated in the U.S. in theaters and on VOD platforms on August 14, 2015.
From the creative mind of Xavier Dolan (Mommy, Heartbeats) comes the psychological thriller Tom at the Farm. After the sudden death of his lover, Guillaume (Caleb Landry Jones of Heaven Knows What), Tom (Dolan), travels from his home in the city to a remote country farm for the funeral. Upon arriving, he’s shocked to find that Guillaume’s family knows nothing about him and was expecting a woman in his place. Torn between his own grief and that of the family, Tom keeps his identity a secret but soon finds himself increasingly drawn into a twisted, sexually-charged game by Guillaume’s aggressive brother (Pierre-Yves Cardinal of Through the Mist), who suspects the truth. Stockholm syndrome, deception, grief, and savagery pervade this stirring tale from Dolan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZNzJhTczZQ