Amazing Grace, the long-awaited Aretha Franklin film which made its World Premiere at DOC NYC will get an early 2019 theatrical release by NEON, following its Oscar qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles. The film has reportedly been garnering standing ovations during its New York qualifying run.
Sunset by Laszlo Nemes[/caption]
The US trailer debuted for Academy Award winner Laszlo Nemes’ Sunset, Hungary’s entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. The film starring Julie Jakab, Vlad Ivanov, Evelin Dobos, and Marcin Czarnik won the FIPRESCI prize when it screened at the 2018 Venice Film Festival, and had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in 2019.
1913, Budapest, in the heart of Europe as World War I approaches. The young Irisz Leiter arrives in the Hungarian capital with high hopes to work as a milliner at Leiter, the legendary hat store that once belonged to her late parents; but she is quickly sent away by the new owner, Oszkár Brill. While preparations are under way at the store to host important wealthy, royal guests, a man abruptly comes to Irisz looking for Kálmán Leiter, who he says is her brother. Refusing to leave the city, the young woman follows Kálmán’s tracks, her only link to a lost past. Her quest brings her through the dark, dusty streets of Budapest, where only the Leiter hat store shines, into the turmoil of a civilization on the eve of its downfall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV-LRlyI2dQ
Esperpento[/caption]
The New Frontier lineup of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival will spotlight a curated collection of cutting-edge independent and experimental media works by creators who are pushing artistic innovation across new mediums that include VR, AR, mixed reality (MR) and AI.
This year, New Frontier programming encompasses two venues: New Frontier at The Ray and New Frontier Central, each of which will play host to a wide variety of media installations, a VR Cinema and panel discussions. New Frontier Central, a new venue located near The Ray, at 950 Iron Horse Drive, will additionally feature lounge space for Festival goers to meet and relax before and after experiencing the New Frontier program.
Robert Redford, President and Founder of Sundance Institute, said, “For over a decade, New Frontier has pushed the boundaries of the possible, illuminating the potential of technology and storytelling. These independent cross-media artists create new realities for, and with, their work — and the results inspire.”
Of the projects announced today, 48% are directed or led by one or more women, 39% were directed or led by one or more artist of color, and 9% by one or more people who identify as LGBTQIA. 6 were supported by Sundance Institute in development, whether through direct granting or residency Labs. The 33 projects announced today include work from 10 countries.
New Frontier alumni include Doug Aitken, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chris Milk, Nonny de la Peña, Pipilotti Rist and Jennifer Steinkamp.
NONA[/caption]
Nona from husband and wife director/producer team Michael Polish and Kate Bosworth is a harrowing, compassionate thriller that puts a face to Central America’s human trafficking industry. The film starring Sulem Calderon, Jesy McKinney, Giancarlo Ruiz, and Kate Bosworth will open theatrically in New York (Village East Cinema) and Los Angeles (Laemmle’s NoHo 7) on Friday, December 7.
Nona (Sulem Calderon), a young woman in a shantytown in Honduras meets Hecho (Jesy McKinney), a handsome traveler who claims to be nursing a broken heart. Intrigued by his carefree wanderlust, she takes him up on his offer to leave Honduras behind and head toward the United States, where she can finally reunite with her mother. As the pair travels north by car, by bus, by boat, and by foot through Guatemala and Mexico, Nona’s world seems to gloriously open up, as she dreams of opportunity and happiness a few countries away. But when Hecho’s true intentions slowly become clear, her journey turns perilous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dttY00V_7wQ
American Dream/American Knightmare[/caption]
The new documentary film American Dream/American Knightmare, directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Southpaw), which offers an uncensored look into the life of notorious rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, will world premiere on Friday, December 21 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on-air, on Showtime.
In American Dream/American Knightmare, critically-acclaimed director and producer Fuqua delves deep into the life and storied exploits of the iconic Death Row Records co-founder, Suge Knight, as well as the volatile and highly influential era in music that he presided over. Through a series of interviews with Knight, viewers are guided through his world as he personally reveals exactly how it all happened and why it all fell apart. Once described as the “most feared man in hip-hop,” Knight is currently in jail, sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in a 2015 hit-and-run death.
“In this documentary – which took years of research, production and labor to complete – Suge Knight discusses for the first time his complex life in detail,” said Fuqua. “The audience will learn how he built and lost Death Row Records, and his views about the rap music scene. Suge also gives a first-person account and new details about the Las Vegas shooting that took the life of Tupac Shakur and also seriously injured him. This documentary will give viewers more access to Suge’s story than ever before. This is a cautionary tale of one man’s choices and the consequences of his decisions.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ran8XRQ9T6Y
Tito and the Birds / Tito e os Pássaros[/caption]
The nominations were announced today for the 46th Annual Annie Awards™ recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation with the year’s Best Animated Feature nominations include: Early Man, Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks The Internet and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Best Animated Feature-Independent, spotlighting features with a much smaller distribution footprint than major studio releases, include: Ce Magnifique Gâteau!, MFKZ, Mirai, Ruben Brandt, Collector and Tito and the Birds.
The Annie Awards™ cover 36 categories and include Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Feature-Independent, Special Productions, Commercials, Short Subjects, Student Films and Outstanding Individual Achievements, as well as the honorary Juried Awards. The winners will be announced at a black tie ceremony on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Juried Awards will also be presented honoring unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation. Three Winsor McCay Award recipients have been selected by the ASIFA-Hollywood Board of Directors for their exemplary industry careers – Academy Award-winning director, animator and art director, Ralph Eggleston; Frank Braxton (posthumously), the first African-American animator, animation director and guild president; and casting director, voice director and voice actress Andrea Romano. The June Foray Award will be presented to veteran animator, Adam Burke (posthumously) for his significant and benevolent impact on the animation community. Ton Roosendaal, Dutch software developer and film producer, will accept the Ub Iwerks Award for Blender Open Source Animation Software; and a Certificate of Merit will be presented to dedicated ASIFA volunteer, Jason Jones.
From space, at night, Nigeria is awash in light. But the glow almost entirely flares from oil and gas wells. The country, with the world’s largest proven oil reserves, leaves half its population without electricity, and the rest with erratic service.
Take Light, the feature directorial debut from Shasha Nakhai, takes us to her hometown in the country where she grew up, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the ironically-nicknamed “Garden City” where the skies have turned grey. There, she follows the lives of workers for PHED, the previously state-owned Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) which was privatized in 2013. If any public servants anywhere feel unappreciated, they should compare their lot with the likes of Martins, an unflaggingly upbeat and religious family-man and electrical engineer, or Deborah, a sales-representative-turned-debt-collector.
Both face anger and even mob violence on a daily basis as they cut off service to delinquent customers (most of whom have little ability to pay, in a country with 7.5 million jobless). Martins, who has miraculously survived electrocution in the past, climbs poles to cut off dangerous makeshift wiring that is used to steal power. (We also meet Godwin, an “illegal electrician,” who invariably reconnects the “People’s Power” the following night).
The powerlessness closes businesses and forces people to use generators when they can (often bringing them indoors where they often succumb to fires and carbon monoxide poisoning). Even hospitals fall prey, unable to maintain refrigeration in their morgue, forcing them to “dry embalm” corpses.
“Shasha has crafted a film with global implications while maintaining focus on the intimate humanity of the people on screen,” says Tony Piantedosi, Director of Acquisitions at Gravitas. “We are proud to be presenting this powerful documentary to US audiences.”
“This is the film I’ve always wanted to see made about the power situation in Nigeria,” says Director Nakhai, “and I’m excited to finally be able to share it widely with audiences in my hometown of Port Harcourt, Nigeria and around the world.”
“Port Harcourt is the source of my fondest childhood memories,” says Nakhai, who produced the Oscar short-listed Frame 394. “Today, however, the city is much different than what I remember. Perfectly manicured green hedges have turned to black dust—the fallout zone of a fossil-fuel economy.
“Take Light is a film about Nigeria’s energy crisis, with my hometown as the backdrop. It’s about a crisis of electrical energy, but also about other kinds of power struggles – the tensions between people, between past and present, between governments and colonial powers—and about the transformation of it all into a seething, powerful force.
“I want to show the urgency and challenges of transitioning to greener and more egalitarian economies.
“But, this is also a film about the power of hope. With people like Martins, it is about keeping the candle lit in times of darkness and despair, about fighting to remain a good person when corruption is the status-quo, and harnessing the power of humour and religion to make it through each day.”
Take Light can be found on VOD: Comcast, Cox, dish Network, Verizon, Frontier, suddenlink, Mediacom, WOW! Also on iVOD: iTunes, Google play, YouTube, vudu, primevideo, Microsoft, vimeo, redbox.
And Home Video: amazon, Barnes&Noble, Target, Walmart, Baker & Taylor, Alliance, Midwest Tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eu1ToXEvtA
My Country No More[/caption]
Between 2011 and 2016, oil drilling in rural North Dakota reached its peak, setting off a modern-day gold rush in Trenton, North Dakota, population less than 1000. With billions of dollars to be gained in an industry-friendly state with a “reasonable regulation” climate, small towns like Trenton became overwhelmed by an influx of workers, and countless acres of farmland were repurposed for industrial development. My Country No More, a new documentary produced and directed by Rita Baghdadi and Jeremiah Hammerling, follows the rise and fall of the oil boom in North Dakota and paints a portrait of a rural American community in crisis. Through the voices of Trenton’s residents, the film challenges the notion of “progress” and questions the long-term human consequences of short-term approaches to land use, decisions that ultimate affect all Americans, rural and urban alike. My Country No More premieres on Independent Lens Monday, January 7, 2019, 10:00-11:00 PM ET (check local listings) on PBS.
Kalie Rider and her older brother Jed are striving to return to a life of farming after having suffered the loss of their parents’ farm during the 1980s farm crisis. Their uncle’s decision to sell a piece of land for a planned ethanol plant sets off a chain of consequences from which there is no turning back. With the Trenton church being eyed for a diesel refinery, the community becomes divided, with some favoring development and jobs, and others bemoaning the loss of their rural way of life.
“Although the media frenzy surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline has faded, My Country No More reveals how small communities like Trenton, North Dakota are forever changed by the rise and fall of the oil boom,” said Lois Vossen, executive producer of Independent Lens. “Rita and Jeremiah have created a contemplative, beautifully shot film about a town caught between economic opportunity and personal regret. As the foundation of life and identity shifts beneath their feet, the people of Trenton are left asking what is the value of community history and what sacrifices are they willing to make to preserve a vanishing way of life.”
This Is North Preston, the remarkable documentary film by Jaren Hayman which will have its world premiere at Whistler Film Festival on Friday November 30, will be released in Canada by Northern Banner Releasing.
Northern Banner will have a limited theatrical release in Canada starting in the new year, and the film has been picked up in the US by Virgil Films, who will release digitally, also in the new year.
North Preston is the largest black community in the country and started as a safe haven for escaped slaves but has more recently been painted as one of the biggest hubs of pimping & human trafficking in the nation.
This Is North Preston explores how the town of 4,000 has dealt with generations of pimp culture, violence, economic struggle, and constant systemic racism through the eyes of the pimps, trafficking victims, politicians, police, and community members looking to change the narrative.
This Is North Preston not only tells a truly unique story, but also an incredibly important one. While the community has several deep rooted issues it’s facing including an accepted pimp culture and high levels of gun violence, the film explores how and why this is now a reality. The movie also looks at the decades of systemic racism that the town has experienced and continues to experience.
ESPN Films Next 30 for 30 is “42 to 1”, the documentary on Buster Douglas defeating Mike Tyson for the 1990 Heavyweight Championship of the World.
The documentary “42 to 1”, co-directed by Jeremy Schaap and Ben Houser, premieres Tuesday, December 11th at 9:00p.m. ET on ESPN
If you were a sports fan in 1990, you’ll never forget where you were when you heard about Tyson-Douglas. Because, after all, it was impossible.
In sports, we’re used to seeing the improbable. But the impossible is another matter entirely. And on February 11, 1990, while the odds were technically 42-1, it was very much the impossible that happened in a boxing ring in Tokyo, Japan, when James “Buster” Douglas defeated Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship of the world.
The 30 for 30 documentary “42-1” tells the story of just how incredibly unlikely it was. It starts in Columbus, Ohio, where Douglas grew up the son of a boxer, who trained and guided him to become a top-10 heavyweight contender in the mid 1980’s. Of course, it was all in the shadow of the rise of “Iron” Mike Tyson, who became a worldwide phenomenon in a remarkable undefeated run to the undisputed title. And by the time their fight was set, Douglas was lightly regarded, merely a stepping stone for bigger fights for the champion. But on the day they met, a series of extraordinary circumstances led to an unimaginable result.
Featuring rare footage and never before seen images, this is a film about how Douglas pulled off a victory that changed the course of sports history, channeling the absolute best version of himself, if only for one fight, when it mattered most and no one thought it was possible.
Co-Directed by 11-time Emmy Award winner Jeremy Schaap (E:60, The Sporting Life) & 17-time Emmy award and 4-time Edward R. Murrow Award winner Ben Houser (E:60 docs Owen & Haatchi, The Number, Leaf).
Image via YouTube
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY[/caption]
Who would believe it’s 30 years already – the 30th anniversary screening of the seminal romantic comedy When HARRY Met Sally… with stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan and director/producer Rob Reiner in attendance, will kick off the 10th annual TCM Classic Film Festival on Thursday, April 11th
Celebrated director Rob Reiner had no idea he would strike such a chord with audiences by posing the simple question: “can men and women really be friends?” The charming and TIMELESS film explores this idea by following the characters of HARRY (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) over the course of twelve years through a series of chance encounters. When HARRY Met Sally… was an instant hit with audiences and critics alike: the film grossed more than $90 million at the box office and Nora Ephron’s taut, hilarious script garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Orginal Screenplay. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were also both nominated for Golden Globes for their performances, along with director Rob Reiner.
“There are romantic comedies – and then there’s When HARRY Met Sally…” said Ben Mankiewicz, TCM primetime anchor and official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival. “The chemistry between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan makes them part of a legacy that includes the greats of classic movies: Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn; Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell; and Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. And Rob Reiner – utilizing Nora Ephron’s word-perfect screenplay – follows in the rarefied air of the filmmaking giants who made those earlier pictures.”
The 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival, held in the heart of Hollywood Thursday, April 11 – Sunday, April 14, 2019, marks the 10th annual celebration of classic films on the big screen from TCM. The TCM network will also celebrate its 25th anniversary on closing night of the festival.
TCM Primetime host Ben Mankiewicz will serve as official host of the TCM Classic Film Festival. The festival’s official hotel and central gathering point for the tenth consecutive year will be The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which has a longstanding role in movie history and was the site of the first Academy Awards® ceremony. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will also offer special rates for festival attendees. Screenings and events during the festival will be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres and the Egyptian Theatre, as well as other Hollywood venues.
If Beale Street Could Talk[/caption]
Annapurna Pictures released the final trailer for If Beale Street Could Talk a timeless and moving love story set in early-1970s Harlem. Academy Award-winning writer/director Barry Jenkins’ first film since the Best Picture Oscar-winning Moonlight is If Beale Street Could Talk, his adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel – the first English-language feature film based on the work of the author, to whom the movie is dedicated. The film opens in theaters on December 14, 2018.
Set in early-1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk is a timeless and moving love story of both a couple’s unbreakable bond and the African-American family’s empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish Rivers (screen newcomer KiKi Layne). A daughter and wife-to-be, Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny (Stephan James). Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
Through the unique intimacy and power of cinema, If Beale Street Could Talk honors the author’s prescient words and imagery, charting the emotional currents navigated in an unforgiving and racially biased world as the filmmaker poetically crosses time frames to show how love and humanity endure.