Stanley Tucci’s FINAL PORTRAIT which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for release in the U.S. Written and directed by Tucci, FINAL PORTRAIT stars Geoffrey Rush, Armie Hammer, Clémence Poésy, Tony Shalhoub and Sylvie Testud.
FINAL PORTRAIT is the story of the touching and offbeat friendship between American writer and art-lover James Lord and Alberto Giacometti, as seen through Lord’s eyes and revealing unique insight into the beauty, frustration, profundity and sometimes the chaos of the artistic process. Set in 1964, while on a short trip to Paris, Lord is asked by his friend, Giacometti, to sit for a portrait. The process, promises Giacometti, will take only a few days and so Lord agrees — ultimately wondering “how much longer can it go on like this?”
“Giacometti’s work and life and Lord’s poignant memoir have fascinated me for years. To finally bring my adaptation to the screen with this extraordinary cast and crew has been indeed a pleasure and to have Sony Classics distributing is a great honor,” said Tucci.Independent Film
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Sony Pictures Classics to Release Stanley Tucci’s FINAL PORTRAIT
Stanley Tucci’s FINAL PORTRAIT which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for release in the U.S. Written and directed by Tucci, FINAL PORTRAIT stars Geoffrey Rush, Armie Hammer, Clémence Poésy, Tony Shalhoub and Sylvie Testud.
FINAL PORTRAIT is the story of the touching and offbeat friendship between American writer and art-lover James Lord and Alberto Giacometti, as seen through Lord’s eyes and revealing unique insight into the beauty, frustration, profundity and sometimes the chaos of the artistic process. Set in 1964, while on a short trip to Paris, Lord is asked by his friend, Giacometti, to sit for a portrait. The process, promises Giacometti, will take only a few days and so Lord agrees — ultimately wondering “how much longer can it go on like this?”
“Giacometti’s work and life and Lord’s poignant memoir have fascinated me for years. To finally bring my adaptation to the screen with this extraordinary cast and crew has been indeed a pleasure and to have Sony Classics distributing is a great honor,” said Tucci.
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Watch Kirsten Dunst Levitate in a Forest in New Trailer for WOODSHOCK
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Woodshock[/caption]
Yes, Kirsten Dunst levitates in a forest, in the new trailer for Woodshock, the hypnotic first feature from Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. The film also starring Joe Cole and Pilou Asbæk will open in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, September 22nd.
The exquisite feature film debut of visionary fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy (Rodarte), Woodshock is a hypnotic exploration of isolation, paranoia, and grief that exists in a dream-world all its own. Kirsten Dunst stars as Theresa, a haunted young woman spiraling in the wake of profound loss, torn between her fractured emotional state and the reality-altering effects of a potent cannabinoid drug. Immersive, spellbinding, and sublime, Woodshock transcends genre to become a singularly thrilling cinematic experience that marks the arrival of the Mulleavy siblings as a major new voice in film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpscZ_YD-ns
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Native American Filmmakers, Erin Lau and Shaandiin Tome Selected for 2017 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab
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Sundance Institute[/caption]
Two Native American filmmakers, Erin Lau (Native Hawaiian) and Shaandiin Tome (Diné), have been selected to participate in the 2017 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab.
The Lab takes place May 14 to 19 in Santa Fe, NM. During the Lab, Fellows work with a cast, crew, and supervising producer to shoot workshop versions of scenes from their short films under the expert creative mentorship of Program alumni and other established industry professionals and Program staff. The Lab encourages Fellows to hone their storytelling and technical skills in a hands-on and supportive environment. After the Lab they will receive targeted support from supervising producers, grants to fund the production of their short films and will attend the annual Native Forum at the January 2018 Sundance Film Festival for ongoing support on their projects.
N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache), director of the Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program, said, “We welcome Erin and Shaandiin to the Sundance Institute family and look forward to watching them create and collaborate with the advisors in this unique space. Supporting Native and Indigenous storytellers is crucial to the Institute’s mission and has helped launch the careers of some of the most innovative Native storytellers working today.”
Three generations of Native artists have been supported since the founding of the Institute, with the goal of identifying and further uplifting Indigenous voices of the fourth generation within film and culture. The Native Program has built and sustained a unique support cycle for Indigenous artists through grants, labs, mentorships, fellowships, the platform of Sundance Film Festival, and screenings in Native communities to inspire new generations of storytellers. The Institute has established a rich legacy of commitment to Native filmmaking, supporting more than 300 Native and Indigenous filmmakers over the years, including Taika Waititi (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muskogee), Billy Luther (Diné/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo), Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiaq), Aurora Guerrero (Xicana), Sydney Freeland (Diné), Blake Pickens (Chickasaw), Ciara Lacy (Kanaka Maoli),Razelle Benally (Oglala Lakota/Dine) and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. (Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe).
The filmmakers serving as Creative Advisors for this year’s Native Lab include: Andrew Ahn (Spa Night), Bernardo Britto (Yearbook), Sydney Freeland (Diné) (Drunktown’s Finest; Deidra & Laney Rob a Train) and Blackhorse Lowe (Diné) (Shimasani; 5th World; Chasing the Light).
Artists and projects selected for the 2017 Native Filmmakers Lab:
The Moon and the Night
Erin Lau (Native Hawaiian)
Set in rural Hawai’i, a teen is forced to confront her ex-convict father after he enters her beloved pet in a dogfight.
Native Hawaiian Filmmaker Erin Lau received her bachelor’s degree in film production from the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH) in 2014. During her time there, she wrote and directed several shorts, including Little Girl’s War Cry. The script, which focused on domestic violence against women and children, was selected out of a 1,000+ submissions by the Film Raro Competition to be one of six fully funded and produced films in the Cook Islands. Once completed, the film went on to win the 2013 Eurocinema Student Film Award and has screened around the world including festivals located in New Zealand, France, Guam, Fiji and Canada. Erin also crafted a short documentary titled, Ka Pua (The Flower), which focused on the life of her great grandmother who, until her death at the age of 94, cared for her mentally handicapped granddaughter. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Film Directing at Chapman University’s Dodge College of the Arts and will graduate in Spring of 2018.
Mud (Hastl’ishnii)
Shaandiin Tome (Diné)
On the last day of her life, a woman struggles to accept the extent to which her life has been affected by addiction.
Shandiin Tome graduated cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a BFA in Film and Digital Media Production. She is an alumna of the 2016 Sundance Full Circle Fellowship. As an aspiring new filmmaker, her experience ranges working in small roles to key positions in major motion pictures, documentaries and independent films. In the past year, Tome resided in Los Angeles, working on several productions and learning more about independent film by interning with Sundance Institute. She currently lives in Albuquerque, aiming to bring resonating imagery in convergence with story while illustrating her perspective as a Diné woman.
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Jason Barrett’s Romantic Comedy THE NAKED POET to be Released in US by ArtMattan Films | Trailer
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The Naked Poet[/caption]
Jason Barrett’s The Naked Poet, a smart, heartfelt drama about infidelity and sexual desire, will be released in the US by ArtMattan Films.
Directed and produced by talented independent British filmmaker Jason Barrett – who also stars in the film – The Naked Poet is the story of Lazarus, a young poet exploring the difficulties associated with matters of the heart.
He finds himself caught up in a love triangle and confronting the painful and confusing decision of choosing between his long-term girlfriend Louise and newfound love Simone while dealing with his responsibilities as a father to his only child from a past relationship.
Release in the UK in late 2016, The Naked Poet is a comedy-drama with a predominantly Black cast – including UK gone Hollywood actor Aml Ameen (The Maze Runner, Sense8) – which offers a complex, multidimensional portray of life, love and friendship within the young, middle class Black British community.
The Naked Poet had its US Premiere as the Opening Night Film of the 2016 African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) and will have its Chicago Premiere screening as the Centerpiece of ADIFF Chicago, in June 2017.
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Stephen Cone’s Coming-of-Age Lesbian Drama PRINCESS CYD to Be Released in US in Late 2017
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Princess Cyd[/caption]
The Chicago-set coming-of-age drama Princess Cyd, starring Rebecca Spence (Joe Swanberg’s “Easy”) and Jessie Pinnick (“Shameless”), which world premiered at the 2017 Maryland Film Festival will be released in the US later this year by Wolfe Releasing.
Princess Cyd follows 16-year-old athlete Cyd Loughlin (Pinnick) while visiting her novelist aunt (Spence) in Chicago over the summer. Eager to escape life with her depressive single father, Cyd falls for a girl in the neighborhood, while she and her aunt gently challenge each other in the realms of sex and spirit.
Princess Cyd marks an ongoing relationship between director Stephen Cone and Wolfe, following their release of his acclaimed dramas Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (which also had its world premiere at the Maryland Film Festival) and The Wise Kids. The film was produced by Grace Hahn, Madison Ginsberg and Stephen Cone.
“It is impossible to overstate how important the faith and support from Wolfe Releasing has been to my development as a filmmaker over the past several years,” Cone said. “This kind of partnership is a dream and a pleasure.”
Stephens commented, “We are thrilled to work with Stephen again. He is a wonderfully talented filmmaker and has a unique voice in a crowded field of independent cinema.”
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COLUMBUS and UNREST Selected for Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Fellowship
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Unrest[/caption]
Sundance Institute has selected two acclaimed works from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival: Columbus, from director and screenwriter Kogonada, and Unrest, a documentary directed by Jennifer Brea for its Creative Distribution Fellowship. The fellowship is a new initiative to support filmmaking teams seeking a more entrepreneurial approach to the release of their work.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Columbus and Unrest are perfect examples of the creative spirit of independent filmmaking, and this new Fellowship will provide them with resources, mentorship and tactical support to pioneer independent pathways to audiences. This entrepreneurial approach to marketing, distribution and audience building empowers independent filmmakers to release their own films, on their own terms, while retaining their rights.”
The Creative Distribution Fellowship, inspired by Sundance Institute’s long-standing Labs, will provide Columbus and Unrest with tools, resources and exclusive distribution deals in an immersive and nurturing environment. Each film will receive grants to fund marketing and distribution expenses. The Institute is working closely with the film teams to devise and execute tactics that will allow them to connect with their audiences in new and innovative ways. The filmmakers will serve as their own distributors, working with a network of professional vendors and digital retailers, with all theatrical and digital revenue flowing back to them. As a core part of the Fellowship, the producers of Columbus and Unrest are committed to sharing lessons learned from their creative distribution. These lessons will create “best practices” to help guide future independent filmmakers.
The Institute has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and build audiences for Columbus and Unrest, which is open through Thursday, June 1.
Danielle Renfrew Behrens, producer of Columbus, said, “Many films have attempted to self-release over the years, but until recently filmmakers haven’t had the tools needed to reach their targeted audience. We’ve turned down more traditional distribution offers in the hopes of determining if this is a viable way forward for indie films with identifiable niche audiences. We’re thrilled to have Sundance Institute’s aid and guidance in navigating this new terrain, and hopefully creating a guide that other independent films can follow.”
Jennifer Brea, producer/director of Unrest, said, “We can’t wait to connect our film directly with its audience, combining a bespoke theatrical release with innovative ways of reaching those who would not be able to see the film in theaters. With the aid of the Creative Distribution Fellowship we’ll be able to actively engage with our viewers, encouraging an experience that will last far beyond the end of the film.”
Columbus stars John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Parker Posey, Rory Culkin and Michelle Forbes and world premiered in the NEXT section at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. In the film, Casey (Richardson) lives with her mother in a little-known Midwestern town haunted by the promise of modernism. Jin (Cho), a visitor from the other side of the world, attends to his dying father. Burdened by the future, they find respite in one another and the architecture that surrounds them. Vanity Fair wrote that Columbus “is a clever and compelling exploration into how physical structures can come to represent emotional landmarks in our personal lives, and the drive we have to share them with others.” Columbus will be released, starting theatrically, in August.
Unrest chronicles director and Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea, who was struck down at 28 by a fever that left her bedridden. Doctors told her it’s “all in your head.” Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families’ stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot. The film will have a theatrical release prior to airing as part of PBS’s ‘Independent Lens’ series in 2018.
The Creative Distribution Fellowship is part of Sundance Institute’s Creative Producing Program. Founded in 2011, the Program has empowered filmmakers navigating the changing business of independent film with online resources, live workshops and a network of allied organizations. Films it has supported include Upstream Color (Director: Shane Carruth), BURN (Directors: Brenna Sanchez and Tom Putnam), Cronies (Director: Michael Larnell), Western (Directors: Bill Ross and Turner Ross), First Girl I Loved (Director: Kerem Sanga), NUTS! (Director: Penny Lane) and HITS (Director: David Cross).
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TOMORROW EVER AFTER, Ela Thier’s Award-Winning Comedic Drama, Opens May 5th | Trailer
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Tomorrow Ever After[/caption]
Ela Thier’s poignant comedic drama about the times we are living in, Tomorrow Ever After, opens May 5 in NY and LA, followed by additional cities and a VOD opening in June. The film stars Ela Thier, Nabil Viñas, Ebbe Bassey, Memo, Matthew Murumba, and Daphna Thier.
Tomorrow Ever After won Best American Indie at the Fort Lauderdale international Film Festival, Best Feature Film and the Audience Choice Award at the Moondance International Film Festival, and Best Director at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival.
Shaina is a historian who lives 600 years in the future. War, poverty, pollution, greed, exploitation, depression, loneliness: these are things that she’s read about in history books. And while she studied this dark period of history (in which we are living) when money is viewed as more important than people, she has never, in the flesh, seen humans hurting other humans.
Until now.
While visiting a group of physicists who experiment with time travel, Shaina is accidentally stranded in the year 2015. Here she involves herself with a group of friends who are as lovable as they are flawed. As the harsh realities of their lives unfold, she learns what no history book could have taught her.
Old habits, however, are hard to break, and Shaina can’t help but assume that everyone around her is honest, generous, and caring, as she works to recruit the help that she needs to get back home.
While most futuristic films depict a dystopia that is even colder and more mechanical than our own, this film takes a bold departure from the sci-fi genre by exploring the possibility of a future in which caring and compassion govern our societies. What if the future of humanity and the planet turns out exactly as we would want it to be?
Writer/Director and Star of “Tomorrow Ever After”, Ela Thier is known for creating laugh-out-loud comedies that surprise audiences by evolving into heartbreaking dramas with profound messages about the human condition. Her award-winning feature, “Foreign Letters”, is a memoir about her own immigration experience. The film has shown in over 140 film festivals world-wide, and was released by Film Movement and Go2Films (2012).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZor1JlAL-E
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Poster + Watch the Trailer to Yiddish-Language Hit MENASHE
A24 has released the poster and trailer for the critically-acclaimed, Yiddish-language hit Menashe. The film is directed by Joshua Z. Weinstein and stars Menashe Lustig and Ruben Nyborg. Menashe opens in theaters on July 28.
Set within the New York Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Menashe follows a kind but hapless grocery store clerk trying to maintain custody of his son Rieven after his wife, Lea, passes away. Since they live in a tradition-bound culture that requires a mother present in every home, Rieven is supposed to be adopted by the boy’s strict, married uncle, but Menashe’s Rabbi decides to grant him one week to spend with Rieven prior to Lea’s memorial. Their time together creates an emotional moment of father/son bonding as well as offers Menashe a final chance to prove to his skeptical community that he can be a capable parent. Shot in secret entirely within the Hasidic community depicted in the film, and one of the only movies to be performed in Yiddish in nearly 70 years, Menashe is a warm, life affirming look at the universal bonds between father and son that also sheds unusual light on a notoriously private community. Based largely on the real life of its Hasidic star Menashe Lustig, the film is a strikingly authentic and deeply moving portrait of family, love, connection, and community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83UoZcdX__Y
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Nuns Gone Wild in Red Band Trailer for Sundance Hit THE LITTLE HOURS
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Alison Brie, Kate Micucci and Aubrey Plaza appear in The Little Hours by Jeff Baena, an official selection of the Midnight program at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. © 2016 Sundance Institute.[/caption]
The Little Hours directed by Jeff Baena has released the red band trailer, and immediately you will see why Bill Donohue, of the Catholic League proclaimed “It is trash. Pure trash.” Good funny trash, that is. The film which premiered earlier this year at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival will be release in select cities on June 30th, followed by a national rollout.
In The Little Hours, medieval nuns Alessandra (Alison Brie), Fernanda (Aubrey Plaza), and Ginevra (Kate Micucci) lead a simple life in their convent. Their days are spent chafing at monastic routine, spying on one another, and berating the estate’s day laborer. After a particularly vicious insult session drives the peasant away, Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly) brings on new hired hand Massetto (Dave Franco), a virile young servant forced into hiding by his angry lord. Introduced to the sisters as a deaf-mute to discourage temptation, Massetto struggles to maintain his cover as the repressed nunnery erupts in a whirlwind of pansexual horniness, substance abuse, and wicked revelry.
The film also stars Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Jemima Kirke, Adam Pally and Nick Offerman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYycHr4RsJw
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Poster + Watch Official Trailer for Indie Film THE BOOK OF HENRY Starring Naomi Watts
The Book of Henry Colin Trevorrow more known for blockbusters like Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed, is taking a detour and directing the upcoming indie film The Book of Henry starring Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts
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Bette Gordon’s Psychological Thriller THE DROWNING Starring Julia Stiles, to Open in Theaters on May 10th | Trailer
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The Drowning[/caption]
Bette Gordon’s psychological thriller, The Drowning, based on Border Crossing, the controversial novel about violence in children by noted Booker Prize-winning author Pat Barker will open in theaters on May 10th, 2017.
The Drowning, starring Julia Stiles, Josh Charles, Avan Jogia, Tracie Thoms and Leo Fitzpatrick, is the story of a forensic psychologist who is haunted by his expert witness testimony that sent a young boy to prison for a chilling murder. When the boy later reappears in his life, he is drawn into a destructive, soul-searching reinvestigation of the case. An erotic thriller with no let up in tension, The Drowning celebrates the genre with electrifying performances. Complex, riveting and unafraid to tread deep, murky psychological waters, this is a story of shifting identities that will keep you guessing until the very end.
The Drowning premiered at the most recent Woodstock Film Festival and went on to screen at film festivals around the world including Warsaw, Sao Paulo, Napa Valley and Savannah. The Drowning marks Gordon’s second collaboration with producer Jamin O’Brien and Paladin which also released her film Handsome Harry featuring Jamey Sheridan, Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn and Campbell Scott in 2010.
A pioneer in American Independent Cinema, Bette Gordon is known for her bold explorations of themes related to sexuality, violence and power including her feature length debut from her own original screenplay, Variety (1984), a beautifully seductive film about voyeurism and pornography, that Film Comment calls “a unique feminist thought experiment that doubles as a love letter to Fear City-era New York.” Luminous Motion (2000) was produced by Ted Hope and Anthony Bregman and stars Deborah Kara Unger in a breathtaking performance. Gordon’s film Handsome Harry premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival (2009) and was released theatrically by Paladin to rave reviews. The film features a stellar ensemble cast including Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, Campbell Scott, Jamey Sheridan. The film critic John Powers has said, “Gordon’s willingness to explore dangerous territory puts her miles ahead of most filmmakers.” Gordon is a film professor at Columbia University.
The Drowning was adapted for the screen by Stephen Molton and House of Cards showrunner Frank Pugliese, and is being released by Paladin and Electric Entertainment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waqa7wbTpMM
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Watch Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek in First Trailer for Indie Thriller BUSTER’S MAL HEART
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BUSTER’S MAL HEART[/caption]
BUSTER’S MAL HEART starring Rami Malek of the USA Network hit Mr. Robot, has released the official trailer.
In this bold thriller peppered with dark humor and interlocking mystery, an eccentric mountain man is on the run from the authorities, surviving the winter by breaking into empty vacation homes in a remote community. Regularly calling into radio talk shows — where he has acquired the nickname “Buster” — to rant about the impending Inversion at the turn of the millennium, he is haunted by visions of being lost at sea, and memories of his former life as a family man.
Buster (Rami Malek) was once Jonah, a hard-working husband and father whose job as the night-shift concierge at a hotel took its toll on his psyche and, consequently, his marriage to the sensitive Marty (Kate Lyn Sheil) — until a chance encounter with a conspiracy-obsessed drifter (DJ Qualls) changed the course of their lives forever. As the solitary present-day Buster drifts from house to house, eluding the local sheriff at every turn, we gradually piece together the events that fractured his life and left him alone on top of a snowy mountain, or perhaps in a small rowboat in the middle of a vast ocean — or both, in this visceral mind bender that will provoke discussion long after it turns your world upside-down.
BUSTER’S MAL HEART, written and directed by Sarah Adina Smith, opens theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on April 28th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-NGiCB-6js