A Quiet Passion[/caption]
A QUIET PASSION starring Cynthia Nixon, and an official selection at the 2016 New York, Toronto and Berlin film festivals, will open in New York on April 14, and at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles on April 21. A national release will follow.
Following Sunset Song, acclaimed British director Terence Davies turns to 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson, and exquisitely evokes Dickinson’s deep attachment to her close-knit family along with the manners, mores and spiritual convictions of her time that she struggled with and transcended in her poetry. Cynthia Nixon delivers a triumphant performance as Emily Dickinson as she personifies the wit, intellectual independence and pathos of the poet whose genius only came to be recognized after her death.
In addition to his two acclaimed semi-autobiographical features Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, Mr. Davies’ films include the gorgeous literary adaptations The House of Mirth, The Neon Bible, The Deep Blue Sea, Sunset Song, as well as Of Time and the City, his masterful exploration of his native city, Liverpool.
A QUIET PASSION written and directed by Terence Davies, reunites Davies with his Deep Blue Sea cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister to create a luminous rendering of the poet’s universe.
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Not publicly recognized during her lifetime, her first volume of works was published posthumously in 1890 after her family discovered forty hardbound volumes containing nearly 1,800 poems.
Independent Film
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A QUIET PASSION, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson Sets Release Dates | Trailer
[caption id="attachment_19428" align="aligncenter" width="1201"] A Quiet Passion[/caption]
A QUIET PASSION starring Cynthia Nixon, and an official selection at the 2016 New York, Toronto and Berlin film festivals, will open in New York on April 14, and at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles on April 21. A national release will follow.
Following Sunset Song, acclaimed British director Terence Davies turns to 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson, and exquisitely evokes Dickinson’s deep attachment to her close-knit family along with the manners, mores and spiritual convictions of her time that she struggled with and transcended in her poetry. Cynthia Nixon delivers a triumphant performance as Emily Dickinson as she personifies the wit, intellectual independence and pathos of the poet whose genius only came to be recognized after her death.
In addition to his two acclaimed semi-autobiographical features Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, Mr. Davies’ films include the gorgeous literary adaptations The House of Mirth, The Neon Bible, The Deep Blue Sea, Sunset Song, as well as Of Time and the City, his masterful exploration of his native city, Liverpool.
A QUIET PASSION written and directed by Terence Davies, reunites Davies with his Deep Blue Sea cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister to create a luminous rendering of the poet’s universe.
Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Not publicly recognized during her lifetime, her first volume of works was published posthumously in 1890 after her family discovered forty hardbound volumes containing nearly 1,800 poems.
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Ghanian Film and Film Independent Spirit Award Nominee NAKOM Sets March 3rd Release Date | Trailer
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Nakom[/caption]
Nakom, directed by the female team of TW Pittman and Daniela Norris, and nominated for the John Cassavetes Film Independent Spirit Award for the best new film made for under $500,000, will be released by Corinth Films. The film, starring Jacob Ayanaba, Justina Kulidu, Shetu Mussah, Grace Ayariga, Aziz Abdul, Esther Issaka, Mamudu Asigiri, and Thomas Kulidu, will open Friday March 3rd at New York’s Cinema Village in Manhattan.
Set in present day Ghana, Nakom follows Iddrisu, a talented medical student who is summoned home by his sister after their father’s sudden death. Iddrisu reluctantly returns home to the village of Nakom, buries his father and temporarily assumes the head of the impoverished household and farm, inheriting not only the delicate task of planting a successful crop but also a debt left by the deceased patriarch that could destroy the family. Attempting to maintain part of his studies from the confines of a small hut, Iddrisu becomes increasingly frustrated with the incessant physical and emotional needs of those around him, the demanding toil of the land and lack of rain. A contentious relationship with his uncle Napolean, to whom the sizeable debt is owed, is further complicated by the unplanned pregnancy of Napolean’s granddaughter who was sent to live with Iddrisu’s family. As the new patriarch grapples with tradition and familial duty, he is met with varying shades of contempt by both family and villagers who compare him with his father expecting a resemblance. Iddrisu’s patience and wisdom are tempered by the strange paradox created by his faith in God and desire for control, the latter of which he cannot have so long as he stays in Nakom. As circumstances swell, Iddrisu suddenly begins to realize that no future for him exists in the place where he is needed the most, even despite an offer by the village Chieftain to remain in Nakom to become an elder and marry his daughter. [gallery size="medium" type="rectangular" ids="20737,20738,20746,20745,20744,20743,20742,20741,20740,20739"]
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11 Indie Filmmakers Awarded “Filmed in NC” Grants
Eleven indie filmmakers have been awarded “Filmed in NC” grants, an initiative to support indie filmmakers in North Carolina. The grants are funded by the NC Film Office and awarded through the Cucalorus Film Foundation. The eleven projects awarded range from narrative features to short docs and were chosen from 59 submissions.
Embracing the diversity of the film industry, the “Filmed in NC” Grants are supporting five female directors, three projects from African American filmmakers, and one genderqueer filmmaker. Filmmakers will present a portion of their ongoing work at the 23rd annual Cucalorus Film Festival, taking place November 8 to 12, 2017.
Grant recipients are:
Alex Nomick for Sweet Nothing, a narrative about a college student struggling with his sexuality;
Alicia Inshiradu for What The River Knows, a short chronicling the six months of a young married couple’s tragic life;
Anna R. Jones for Chairman Jones – An Improbable Leader, a documentary about North Carolina’s first African American school board chairman;
Anthony Reynolds for Times Like Dying, a feature about a vengeful farming family;
Brendan & Jeremy Smyth for Mohmmed, a poetic look into forgotten refugees;
Christopher Baker for Sarah’s Big Day, about a girl and her imaginary friend;
Joanne Hock for Martin Hill: Camera Man, a documentary about an obsessed hoarder of filmmaking tools;
Katina Parker for A Love Supreme: Black, Queer and Christian in The South, documenting the journey to reconcile Black Queer Christians with their families;
Laura Hart McKinny for Extraordinary Ventures, a story of employment of teens and adults on the autism spectrum;
Molly Lewis for Paradise: Downhill Skateboarding, about the downhill skateboarding culture of Western North Carolina;
Ricky Kelly for Black Beach/White Beach: A Tale of Two Beaches, about the racial tensions that arise in Myrtle Beach during two national bike festivals every spring.
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MOONLIGHT Partners with President Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ Mentoring Program
In celebration of Black History Month, MOONLIGHT is partnering with My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a mentoring program started by President Obama’s Administration for young men of color
to empower them with the resources and support to achieve their full potential regardless of circumstance.
The screenings kicked off earlier this week in Los Angeles with My Brother’s Keeper and attended by dozens of young men from several local high schools. After the film, Mike Muse of My Brother’s Keeper moderated a talk-back session with the students and MOONLIGHT’s Oscar-Nominated stars Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, writer/director Barry Jenkins, and writer Tarell Alvin McCraney. A screening and talk back with high schoolers in New York is also set for next week.
MOONLIGHT chronicles the life of Chiron, a boy growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami, Florida. Lauded by critics and audiences alike, the film is nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Naomie Harris). To date, MOONLIGHT has won the Golden Globe® for Best Picture – Drama and was nominated for an additional five Golden Globes®, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali). The film is also nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards, and additionally is the this year’s recipient of the Spirits’ Robert Altman Award, which honors an outstanding ensemble cast in a motion picture. MOONLIGHT has been named the Best Picture of 2016 by the Gotham Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, The National Society of Film Critics, and The New York Times, among many others.
[gallery type="rectangular" size="medium" ids="20507,20511,20510,20509,20508"]
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YOUTH IN OREGON Starring Frank Langella, Christina Applegate, Sets February 2017 Release Date
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Youth in Oregon[/caption]
Youth in Oregon, directed by Joel David Moore will be released in 2017 via Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films. The film will be released in U.S. theaters and VOD on February 3, 2017.
Youth in Oregon, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is set to screen at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival, stars Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place, Josh Lucas, Nicola Peltz and Alex Shaffer.
“This beautiful film tackles one of humanity’s most universal dilemmas, told through the lens of an estranged, intimacy-parched family that has to bear the burden of a patriarch’s decision to leave them all behind,” Moore said of the drama.
Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place and Josh Lucas star in this moving family road trip dramedy. Raymond Engersoll (Langella) aims to reach Oregon in time for an appointment to legally end his life under the state’s laws, but his headstrong daughter (Applegate) sends her unwilling husband (Crudup) along for the ride, convinced they can talk him out of the scheme before he reaches his destination. Along the way Engersoll works to reconcile with his estranged son (Lucas) and convince his tuned-out wife (Place) of the veracity of his purpose. Tribeca Film Festival
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Sean Ellis’ World War II drama, ANTHROPOID Sets US Release Date
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Anthropoid[/caption]
Sean Ellis’ World War II drama, ANTHROPOID, will be released in the US via Bleecker Street on Friday, August 12, 2016, after its World Premiere as opening night film of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
The film is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czech operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich.
Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution, was the Reich’s third in command behind Hitler and Himmler and the leader of Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. The film follows two soldiers from the Czech army-in-exile, Josef Gabčík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), who are parachuted into their occupied homeland in December 1941. With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city under lock down, they must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, an operation that would change the face of Europe forever.
Directed by Sean Ellis (Metro Manila, Cashback) from a screenplay by Ellis and Anthony Frewin, the film also stars Charlotte Le Bon, Ana Geislerová, Harry Lloyd, Bill Milner and Toby Jones. Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon and Sean Ellis produced.
Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street commented, “Sean Ellis’ film drops you right into the center of resistance in WWII and takes viewers on an emotional ride all the way through its heart-stopping finale. We’re proud to partner with Mickey and Pete on this film which we feel will resonate with adult audiences this summer.”
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Watch TRAILER for THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING Starring Selena Gomez
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THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING[/caption]
The trailer has been released for the new Netflix original film, The Fundamentals of Caring which will premiere exclusively on the service on Friday, June 24, 2016.
Based on the novel by Jonathan Evison and written, directed and produced by Rob Burnett,The Fundamentals of Caring stars Paul Rudd, Craig Roberts, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Ehle, Megan Ferguson and Frederick Weller.
The film follows the story of Ben, a retired writer who becomes a caregiver after suffering a personal tragedy. After 6 weeks of training, Ben meets his first client, Trevor, a foul-mouthed 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy. One paralyzed emotionally, one paralyzed physically, Ben and Trevor take an impromptu road trip to all the places Trevor has become obsessed with while watching the local news, including their holy grail: the World’s Deepest Pit. Along the way, they pick up a smart-mouthed runaway and a mother-to-be who help test the pair’s survival skills outside of their calculated existence as they come to understand the importance of hope and true friendship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSXn-lIs4Y0
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Watch TRAILER for Todd Solondz’s Hilarious WEINER-DOG Starring Danny DeVito
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WEINER-DOG[/caption]
IFC Films has released the official trailer for Wiener-Dog, directed by Todd Solondz, about a dog and her life as she passes from owner to owner. The film opens in theaters on June 24.
Wiener-Dog, starring an all-star cast that includes Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn, and Zosia Mamet, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Wiener-Dog tells several stories featuring people who find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading a certain kind of comfort and joy. Man’s best friend starts out teaching a young boy some contorted life lessons before being taken in by a compassionate vet tech named Dawn Wiener. Dawn reunites with someone from her past and sets off on a road trip picking up some depressed mariachis along the way. Wiener-Dog then encounters a floundering film professor, as well as an embittered elderly woman and her needy granddaughter—all longing for something more.
Twenty years ago, Todd Solondz took the Sundance Film Festival by storm when Welcome to the Dollhouse won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Festival. Since then he has gone on to establish himself as one of the most uncompromising voices working in film. Wiener-Dog is vintage Solondz, brimming with brilliantly caustic and truthful observations about the human condition. He has a unique ability to find humor in the darkest of subject matter, allowing an empathetic light to shine on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C7OewoxnKI
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COMING SOON: Saban Films to Release Zack Whedon’s COME AND FIND ME
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Aaron Paul[/caption]
Saban Films has acquired writer/director Zack Whedon’s (“Halt and Catch Fire,” “Southland”) feature debut COME AND FIND ME, for release in the US.
Come and Find Me, stars multiple Emmy™ Award Winner Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad,” Eye in the Sky, Need for Speed) and Annabelle Wallis (Annabelle, X-Men: First Class). The Whedon penned script appeared on the 2012 Black List.
The thriller follows David (Paul) who must track down the whereabouts of his mysterious girlfriend (Wallis), after he realizes she’s not who she was pretending to be.
“It’s surprising that this is Zack’s first feature,” said Saban Films’ Bill Bromiley. “His filmmaking pulls together all the elements of a great thriller – intriguing characters, clever dialogue, and expert pacing. It makes sense that the script attracted such A-list talent. We love this film and know audiences will too.”
Automatik’s Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Midnight Special), Motion Picture Capital’s Leon Clarance (Sense8) and Oddfellows Entertainment’s Chris Ferguson (Afflicted) produced Come and Find Me. Laure Vaysse and Jo Monk executive produced.
Zack Whedon is a producer on AMC’s “Halt and Catch Fire.” He has worked on “Southland” and “Rubicon” and also co-created Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog with brothers Joss and Jed.
Out of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Saban Films recently acquired North American distribution rights to Walter Hill’s Tomboy, A Revenger’s Tale starring Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, Anthony LaPaglia, and Caitlin Gerard; Colm McCarthy’s The Girl with All the Gifts starring Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, and Sennia Nanua; and John Michael McDonagh’s War on Everyone starring Michael Peña, Alexander Skarsgård, Theo James, and Tessa Thompson.
Additional upcoming titles in the Saban Films slate include: Rob Zombie’s 31, starring Sheri Moon Zombie, Golden Globe® Nominee Malcolm McDowell, Jeff Daniel Phillips and Meg Foster; Renny Harlin’s action comedy Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville; sci-fi horror film Cell starring Golden Globe® nominee John Cusack, Academy Award® nominee Samuel L. Jackson and Isabelle Fuhrman; and I Am Wrath with John Travolta.
Since the company’s launch in 2014, Saban Films has released The Homesman, starring Academy Award® winners Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank, which world premiered in Cannes; Tracers starring Taylor Lautner; Philip Martin’s The Forger starring John Travolta; American Heist starring Hayden Christensen, Academy Award® Winner Adrien Brody, Jordana Brewster, Tory Kittles and Aliaune “Akon” Thiam; Some Kind of Beautiful starring Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek and Jessica Alba; Man Up starring Simon Pegg and Lake Bell; MI-5 starring Kit Harington, Jennifer Ehle and Tuppence Middleton; Alex and Benjamin Brewer’s The Trust starring Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood; and Tom Tykwer’s A Hologram for the King starring two-time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks, which World Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival with Saban partnering with Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions on the theatrical release.
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Sundance Award-Winning Film MORRIS FROM AMERICA Gets A Summer Release
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MORRIS FROM AMERICA[/caption]
The Sundance Film Festival Award-winning film MORRIS FROM AMERICA will be available exclusively on DirecTV beginning July 7th. It will open theatrically in select cities on August 19th.
Written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Chad Hartigan (This is Martin Bonner), and starring Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, Lina Keller and Markees Christmas, Morris from America won two prizes at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and a Special Jury Award for Robinson.
A heartwarming and crowd-pleasing coming-of-age comedy with a unique spin, Morris from America centers on Morris Gentry (Markees Christmas, in an incredible breakout performance) a 13-year-old who has just relocated with his single father, Curtis (Craig Robinson) to Heidelberg, Germany. Morris, who fancies himself the next Notorious B.I.G., is a complete fish-out-of-water—a budding hip-hop star in an EDM world. To complicate matters further, Morris quickly falls hard for his cool, rebellious, 15-year-old classmate Katrin. Morris sets out against all odds to take the hip-hop world by storm and win the girl of his dreams.
Morris from America will screen at the upcoming BAMcinemaFest 2016 in Brooklyn, New York.
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Epic Love Story ALI AND NINO To Get US Release
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Ali and Nino[/caption]
Asif Kapadia’s “epic love story” Ali & Nino which premiered earlier this year at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival will be released in the US via IFC Films.
The epic love story Ali & Nino, is one of the most original works of Twentieth Century literature. Since its initial publication in 1937, the acclaimed novel has been translated into 33 languages worldwide with nearly 100 reprints.
The film is directed by Asif Kapadia, who won the best documentary Oscar for Amy, and the cast includes Maria Valverde (Exodus: Gods and Kings), Adam Bakri (Omar), Mandy Patinkin (Homeland) and Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, Wonder Woman).
Ali Khan and Nino Kipiani live in Baku, the cosmopolitan, oil-rich capital of Azerbaijan, which, at the beginning of the twentieth century, is a melting pot of different cultures. Ali is a Muslim, with his warrior ancestors’ passion for the desert; and Nino is a Christian Georgian girl with sophisticated European ways. The two have loved each other since childhood and Ali is determined that he will marry Nino, despite their cultural differences, but there is not only the obstacle of their different religions and parental consent to overcome. The First World War breaks out and Baku’s oil becomes the focus of Russia’s vie for power. As the war plays out and control of the Caucuses changes hands, Ali and Nino find themselves swept up in Azerbaijan’s fight for independence.
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Netflix Making Series Based on Indie Film DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
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Dear White People (Roadside Attractions)[/caption]
Netflix is creating / re-creating Dear White People, a comedy series based on writer/director/producer Justin Simien’s critically-acclaimed, Sundance award-winning satirical indie film released in 2014.
The 10-episode, 30-minute series will go into production later this year and will premiere on Netflix around the world in 2017.
Set among a diverse group of students of color as they navigate a predominantly white Ivy League college where racial tensions are often swept under the rug, Dear White People is a send up of “post-racial” America that also weaves a universal story about forging one’s own unique path.
The series will be written by Simien (Dear White People), who will also direct the first episode. Devon Shepard (House of Lies, Weeds), Stephanie Allain Bray (Hustle & Flow, Dear White People) and Julia Lebedev (The Dinner, Dear White People) serve as executive producers.
The original film first gained traction in 2012 with a concept trailer, underwritten by director Simien’s tax refund. By 2014, the crowd funded movie made a splash at film festivals, earning the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
“Justin is a gifted storyteller whose bold, unique vision is perfectly suited to Netflix,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President of Original Content at Netflix. “His original film Dear White People announced the arrival of a fresh, creative voice that had everyone talking, and we’re excited to have Justin create this new series for our members worldwide.”
Writer/director/producer Simien said, “During the film’s release, I had the pleasure to speak with hundreds of students and faculty across a variety of college campuses dealing with these very issues in real time. I’m so grateful to have this platform – not only to give a voice to those too often unheard in our culture, but to also tell great stories from new points of views. From day one, Lionsgate has been remarkably supportive of the vision for the show, and working with Netflix is every bit as harmonious as I’d imagined it would be. Bringing this show to such a vibrant platform is an honor I don’t take lightly.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uag2G0J6iqw