Colombian-American filmmaker Mateo Márquez’s film THE INVADERS, featuring actress Isra Elsalihie will celebrate its world premiere this week in Colorado as an Official Selection of the 2018 Vail Film Festival.
Jayla, a Muslim-American teen, is being followed as she walks the streets of the neighborhood in which she has always lived. Terror and confusion take over as Jayla attempts to outrun the powerful, swift-moving menace that pursues her even into the supposed safety of her own home. As Anti-Muslim sentiment spreads through Western societies, THE INVADERS imagines a not too distant future in which an exaggerated fear of Islam has replaced moral or humanitarian regard.
THE INVADERS has been written and directed by New York City-based Mateo Márquez and is a co-production between Mateo Márquez Films and Cup of Joe Film.
THE INVADERS World Premiere at Vail Film Festival on Saturday, April 7 at 1:30 PM at Theater 2 at Blue Starlite Cinema in Colorado.
Films
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Horror Short Film THE INVADERS Starring Isra Elsalihie to World Premiere at Vail Film Festival | Trailer
Colombian-American filmmaker Mateo Márquez’s film THE INVADERS, featuring actress Isra Elsalihie will celebrate its world premiere this week in Colorado as an Official Selection of the 2018 Vail Film Festival.
Jayla, a Muslim-American teen, is being followed as she walks the streets of the neighborhood in which she has always lived. Terror and confusion take over as Jayla attempts to outrun the powerful, swift-moving menace that pursues her even into the supposed safety of her own home. As Anti-Muslim sentiment spreads through Western societies, THE INVADERS imagines a not too distant future in which an exaggerated fear of Islam has replaced moral or humanitarian regard.
THE INVADERS has been written and directed by New York City-based Mateo Márquez and is a co-production between Mateo Márquez Films and Cup of Joe Film.
THE INVADERS World Premiere at Vail Film Festival on Saturday, April 7 at 1:30 PM at Theater 2 at Blue Starlite Cinema in Colorado.
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Cannes Classics to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
Cannes Classics at the upcoming 2018 Cannes Film Festival will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, with world premiere of a 70mm print of the director’s 1968 masterpiece, introduced by filmmaker Christopher Nolan.
Set for Saturday, May 12, 2018, the screening will be introduced by filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who will be attending the Festival de Cannes for the first time. The screening will also be attended by members of Stanley Kubrick’s family including his daughter Katharina Kubrick and Stanley’s long time producing partner and brother-in-law Jan Harlan.
Nolan will also participate in a Cannes Masterclass, set for Sunday, May 13, during which he will discuss his award-winning filmography and also share his passion for the singular work of Stanley Kubrick.
For the first time since the original release, this 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative. This is a true photochemical film recreation. There are no digital tricks, remastered effects, or revisionist edits. The original version will be presented to recreate the cinematic event audiences experienced 50 years ago. A longtime admirer of the late American auteur, Nolan worked closely with the team at Warner Bros. Pictures throughout the mastering process.
With 2001: A Space Odyssey, director Stanley Kubrick redefined the limits of filmmaking and cemented his legacy as one of the most revolutionary and influential film directors of all time. Originally released in 70mm Cinerama roadshow format on April 3, 1968, the film ignited the imaginations of critics and audiences alike and its impact continues to resonate to this day.
Christiane Kubrick said, “I’m delighted that Cannes has chosen to honour 2001: A Space Odyssey. If Stanley were alive today, we know he would be in admiration of the films of Christopher Nolan. And so, on behalf of Stanley’s family, I would personally like to thank Christopher for agreeing to introduce this very special screening.”
Nolan said, “One of my earliest memories of cinema is seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 70mm, at the Leicester Square Theatre in London with my father. The opportunity to be involved in recreating that experience for a new generation, and of introducing our new unrestored 70mm print of Kubrick’s masterpiece in all its analogue glory at the Festival de Cannes is an honour and a privilege.”
Thierry Frémaux said, “Stanley Kubrick in the Official Selection! It is a great honour for the Festival de Cannes to host the 50th anniversary celebration of one of the most extraordinary films in the history of cinema. And to welcome to the Festival for the first time Christopher Nolan, whose presence creates a precious bond between past and present, without which cinema would have no history.”
2001: A Space Odyssey will return to select U.S. theatres in 70mm beginning May 18, 2018.
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THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED, Assia Boundaoui’s Personal Story of FBI Surveillance, to World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival
A personal journey that unfolds like a thriller, The Feeling of Being Watched charts journalist Assia Boundaoui’s investigation into a secret FBI counterterrorism probe of her Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago – code-named “Operation Vulgar Betrayal”- and its enduring impact on her family and community. The Feeling of Being Watched will World Premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, running April 18 to 29, 2018.
In the village of Bridgeview, Illinois, where director Assia Boundaoui grew up, most of her Muslim-American neighbors think they have been under surveillance for over a decade. While investigating their experiences, Assia uncovers hundreds of pages of declassified FBI documents that prove her hometown was the subject of one of the largest counterterrorism investigations ever conducted in the U.S. before 9/11.
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The Feeling of Being Watched[/caption]
With unprecedented access, The Feeling of Being Watched weaves the personal and the political as it follows the filmmaker’s examination of why her community—including her own family—fell under blanket government surveillance. Assia struggles to disrupt the government secrecy shrouding what happened and takes the FBI to federal court to compel them to make the records they collected about her community public. In the process, she confronts long-hidden truths about the FBI’s relationship to her community. The Feeling of Being Watched follows Assia as she pieces together this secret FBI operation, while grappling with the effects of a lifetime of surveillance on herself and her family.
The Feeling of Being Watched was written and directed by Assia Boundaoui and produced by Boundaoui and Jessica Devaney. Director of photography was Shuling Yong and the film was edited by Rabab Haj Yahya with illustrations by Molly Crabapple and original music by Angélica Negrón. Executive producers are Jim Butterworth, Daniel J. Chalfen, Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Debra Mcleod, Jay K. Sears, Bill Harnisch, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Alexa Poletto, Michael D. Mann, Barry W. Rashkover, and Vijay Dewan.
Assia Boundaoui is an Algerian-American journalist who has reported for the BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, VICE, and CNN. Her debut short, a film about hijabi hair salons for the HBO Lenny documentary series, premiered at Sundance in 2018, and she has worked in an editorial capacity on the production of a number of documentaries, including HBO’s Emmy Award-winning Manhunt (2013). Assia has a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University and is fluent in Arabic. The Feeling of Being Watched is her feature debut.
Tribeca Film Festival Screenings
Saturday, April 21, 6:45 pm Cinepolis Chelsea 2, 260 W. 23rd St. (at 8th Ave.) Sunday, April 22, 7:30 pm Cinepolis Chelsea 3, 260 W. 23rd St. (at 8th Ave.) *A special extended Q&A panel discussion will follow the screening Wednesday, April 25, 5:45 pm Regal Battery Park 3, 102 North End Ave. (at Murray St.) Thursday, April 26, 5:00 pm Cinepolis Chelsea 6, 260 W. 23rd St. (at 8th Ave.)
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BEING SERENA, Intimate Documentary Series on Tennis Superstar Serena Williams, Debuts May 2 on HBO | trailer
HBO Sports is teaming up agin with IMG’s Original Content group for a five-part documentary series chronicling tennis icon Serena Williams at a pivotal moment in her personal and professional life. Being Serena debuts Wednesday, May 2 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, followed by other new episodes subsequent Wednesdays at the same time.
Being Serena will give viewers unprecedented access to Williams during her pregnancy, new motherhood and marriage, while documenting her journey back to supremacy on the court. Viewers will experience her life from every angle as the intimate first-person show delves into her landmark career, family life and expanding role as a businesswoman and investor in the worlds of tech, fashion, fitness and philanthropy.
“HBO is honored to work with Serena Williams on such a personal project,” says Peter Nelson, executive vice president, HBO Sports. “Even though she has been in the spotlight since her teenage years, Serena continues to capture the imagination. With our partners at IMG, we look forward to giving viewers a revealing, behind-the-scenes portrait of her life on and off the court.”
“Serena Williams is a force unlike any other,” says Mark Shapiro, co-president of WME and IMG. “Her entire life is one of the hero’s journey, and it has been a privilege to work with her as she enters this next phase. HBO was an incredible partner in developing a unique look into Serena’s world, and we look forward to sharing this all-access story with the world in May.”
Serena Williams, 36, is one of the most dominant forces tennis has ever seen, with 39 Grand Slam titles, four Olympic Gold Medals and the most women’s singles match victories in Grand Slam history. Her supremacy on the court earned her Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year honors in 2015 and made her a four-time winner of the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, first in 2002 and most recently in 2015.
In Jan. 2017, Williams bested her sister Venus in the final match of the Australian Open, marking her seventh time winning that singles event. Four months after her historic victory, Williams revealed that she and her fiancé, Alexis Ohanian, were expecting their first child, confirming that she was eight weeks pregnant when she won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title. On Sept. 1, Williams gave birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. Williams and Ohanian wed soon after in a stunning ceremony before family and friends in New Orleans on Nov. 16.
Williams will return to the tennis circuit this spring to compete in her first Grand Slam event of the year at the French Open in late May.
For more than a decade, HBO Sports has been responsible for some of the most compelling unscripted sports programming, with a stylish and contemporary approach marked by unrestricted access. “Hard Knocks,” launched in 2001 in partnership with NFL Films, has won 15 Sports Emmy(R) Awards, and the groundbreaking all-access reality franchise “24/7” has earned 18 Sports Emmy(R) Awards.
Being Serena marks the third collaborative docu-series for HBO Sports and IMG. The first was 2016’s “Gonzaga: The March to Madness,” chronicling the Gonzaga men’s basketball team’s march to its 18th consecutive NCAA men’s basketball tournament berth, followed by 2017’s Primetime Emmy(R) nominee “UConn: The March to Madness,” spotlighting the powerhouse University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team as it sought a fifth consecutive national championship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udW7HcmDMJY
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Documentary I AM EVIDENCE on Shocking Number of Untested Rape Kits in America, Sets HBO Premiere Date | Trailer
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I Am Evidence[/caption]
Produced by Mariska Hargitay, star of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and directed by Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir, I Am Evidence exposes the alarming trend of unsolved rape cases. The eye-opening documentary debuts Monday, April 16 (8:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT), on HBO.
Despite the power of DNA to solve crimes, hundreds of thousands of rape kits, containing crucial DNA evidence, are currently languishing untested in police-evidence storage rooms across the country. Behind each one of these kits is a sexual-assault survivor waiting for justice to be served, and a perpetrator potentially evading prosecution.
I Am Evidence exposes the alarming trend of unsolved rape cases, revealing how a flawed system has historically mistreated sexual assault survivors and showing how victims, advocates and some forward-thinking law enforcement officials are challenging the status quo.
Spotlighting four resilient women in the Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles areas as they trace the fates of their kits and re-engage in the criminal justice process, this powerful film also follows survivors, advocates, prosecutors and police officials who are leading the charge to work through the backlog and hold perpetrators accountable. Putting a human face on this deplorable injustice and neglected issue, I Am Evidence is a timely call to action, asserting that survivors matter.
In 2009, Wayne County, Mich. Prosecutor Kym Worthy was shocked to uncover over 11,000 untested rape kits in a run-down police annex warehouse. Though the backlog was partially due to a lack of finances, reports showed that officers often didn’t believe the overwhelmingly black and poor victims. “They were violated in the most intimate of ways and nobody gave a damn,” laments Worthy.
Mariska Hargitay, a longtime advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, offered her support to Worthy in her efforts to end the rape kit backlog in Detroit and the state of Michigan and bring justice to survivors. Hargitay’s role as Lieutenant Olivia Benson on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” had opened her eyes to these issues and inspired her to found the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004.
“I Am Evidence, literally. My name is on a box, on a shelf that’s never been tested,” says Ericka, one of thousands of women across the U.S. whose rape kits, containing DNA evidence that could identify their attackers, have never been opened. Ericka reported that she was raped on her 21st birthday, and after going through the arduous process of getting a rape kit done at a local hospital, she remembers going with her father to speak to a detective. The detective told Ericka and her father that nothing would happen with her kit, offering to show them thousands of untested kits waiting to be processed before hers.
Cleveland began the long and daunting process of working up cases on its backlogged kits in 2013. As Tim McGinty, former Cuyahoga County prosecutor in Cleveland says, “These rape kits are the best bargain in the history of law enforcement. Four hundred dollars a rape kit, and one in four results in an indictment. One in four of the four is a serial rapist. I’ve never seen an opportunity like this in law enforcement.”
Out of more than 5,000 tested, there have already been 1,935 DNA matches in CODIS, the national criminal database, but the challenge lies in prioritizing cases by urgency. Investigator Nicole DiSanto’s latest assignment is tracking an alleged three-time offender. (Serial rapists have made up one-third of the cases from the city’s backlogged kits.) DiSanto visits Danielle, a 1997 victim, who is easily able to identify her attacker in a photo lineup. DiSanto eventually finds the man in North Carolina, and news of his arrest gives Danielle closure. I Am Evidence reveals that he was convicted of her rape and kidnapping more than 20 years after the crime.
In Los Angeles, 12,000 untested kits were unearthed (and even more destroyed, due to the LAPD’s misjudgment of the statute of limitations). Among the kits opened was Helena’s, who was abducted at a car wash and raped at age 17 in 1996. Helena spent years trying to learn what happened to her rape kit, and eventually discovered, with the help of an ex-DA, that the DNA matched Charles Courtney, a long-distance truck driver who targeted women along his route. One of his other victims, Amberly, was abducted and raped in 1998 in Fairfield, Ohio.
In 2001, funding allowed police to test Amberly’s kit, which also identified Courtney, who was already in CODIS for a sex offense against his wife. He took a plea deal for 30 years in prison. Despite information provided by Fairfield police, however, Helena’s case fell through the cracks in LA and the statute of limitations expired. She was only able to obtain justice after the DA used a loophole to charge Courtney for money he’d taken from her.
Police are often woefully underprepared to deal with sexual assault victims, but even when perpetrators are arrested, many prosecutors don’t aggressively pursue these cases, which Worthy admits are some of the hardest to prosecute due to “victim blaming.” Now a mother of adopted daughters, Worthy was assaulted herself when she was in law school and wants the system to be better for her children.
So far, the results of Detroit’s testing have been far-reaching, linking to CODIS hits in 39 states and garnering nationwide attention. Still, it’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of untested kits remain nationally. Ericka assumed her case would never be addressed? – ?until she met Worthy. Now Ericka says she feels “very free,” and urges women in her position to “press forward because I feel strong, stronger than I’ve ever known I could feel.”
I Am Evidence had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and has since screened at AFI Docs Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival and many other festivals. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at both the Provincetown and Traverse City festivals.
Producer Mariska Hargitay, who appears in the film, won an Emmy(R) and Golden Globe for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”; she also serves as an executive producer on the show and has directed episodes. After receiving numerous letters from survivors, she founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004. Its mission is to transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and its initiative, End the Backlog, aims to eliminate the backlog of hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in the U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_b1SbbSu6Y
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Daniel Roebuck’s Critically Acclaimed Family Film GETTING GRACE Now Playing in Theaters | Trailer
“Getting Grace,” is all about a spunky teenaged girl with terminal cancer who decides to make her own funeral arrangements, and sets in motion a plan that affects all of those around her. The critically-praised family film from director and star Daniel Roebuck, opened in theaters across the USA on Friday, March 23; and is now playing at fifty-nine locations across the country, with another fifty locations planned for expansion over the next three weeks.
Daniel Roebuck is a widely recognized star from over one-hundred feature film roles (including “The Fugitive”, “U.S. Marshalls” and the current Christian theatrical hit “Let There Be Light“) as well as from the enormously successful TV series recurring roles in “LOST” and 8-seasons of “Matlock” with Andy Griffith. During the recently completed, multi-city Bus Tour, Roebuck was joined in different cities by other cast members, including newcomer Madelyn Dundon in the title role and film veteran Marsha Dietlein. “Getting Grace” tells the story of a teenaged girl’s unusual response to a terminal cancer diagnosis. Other stars include Dana Ashbrook, Timothy Goodwin and Duane Whitaker. The film is rated PG-13 and has already won the best picture accolade at two, major film festivals.
Audiences would be hard-pressed to find a more likable protagonist in any film. GRACE, the title character, is funny, sarcastic, empathetic and riveting. But, unfortunately, she is going to die.
Although Grace’s time is short, her positive impact on the world around her is monumental. The story is about a young girl who knows that she is dying. Grace goes into a funeral home to learn about death and ends up teaching the disenfranchised funeral director, BILL, about life.
We soon learn that while trying to “hedge the bet” about her afterlife possibilities she is also trying her best to prepare her mother, VENUS, for a future without her only child. Venus, we learn, is not dealing with the sad imminent truth well and is reverting to her old ways of drinking and “drugging.” Simultaneously, Grace humorously hijacks an ironically named “EMBRACE LIFE” class offered by her hospital for children dealing with their own fatal diseases and moves it to the funeral home. Not only does she do her best to teach the adults in her life to live their lives to the fullest, she has the same effect on her peers. And she discovers love, herself.
Grace is also desperately searching for someone to take care of her mother. Will it be Bill, REVEREND OSBURN (the hospital’s chaplain) or RON, the charismatic and successful author of a book about the afterlife. Once those around her actually “GET” Grace (meaning they finally understand her), every one of them is able to transition to their own new life.
“Getting Grace” is an extraordinary story with a lead character who affects a chain of positive events in the lives of all she comes in contact with…be they doctors or morticians or her own mother. Through Grace, her loved ones learn that life need not be lived long to be lived fully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5j28U_ocVU
GETTING GRACE – March 23 Theatres
Alabama
Regal Mobile Stadium, Mobile, AL
Arizona
Harkins Arizona Mills 25, Tempe, AZ
Harkins Superstition Springs, Mesa, AZ
California
Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica, CA
Edwards Fairfield Stadium, Fairfield, CA
Regal Fresno 22, Fresno, CA
Regal Merced 13, Merced, CA
Ontario Palace Stadium 22, Ontario, CA
Regal Long Beach Stadium 26, Long Beach, CA
Conneticut
AMC Plainville Stadium, Plainville, CT
Florida
Regal Citrus Park Stadium, Tampa, FL
Cypress Creek Station, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Oveido Mall Stadium, Oveido, FL
Pointe Orlando Stadium, Orlando, FL
Regal Sawgrass Stadium, Sunrise, FL
South Beach Stadiu, Miami Beach, FL
Park Place Stadium 16, Pinellas Park, FL
Belltower Stadium 20, Fort Myers, FL
Regal Beach Blvd. Stadium, Jacksonville, FL
Georgia
Hollywood24 @ I-85, Chamblee, GA
Austell Stadium, Austell, GA
Hawaii / Pacifica
Regal Dole Cannery 18, Honolulu, HI
Guam Megaplex Stadium, Guam
Illinois
Round Lake Beach Stadium, Round Lake Beach, IL
GQT Willow Knolls 14, Peoria, IL
Indiana
New Albany Stadium 16, New Albany, IN
Village Park Stadium 17, Carmel, IN
Kansas
B&B Overland Park 16, Overland Park, KS
Kentucky
Regal Bowling Green 12, Bowling Green, KY
Minnesota
Marcus Shakopee Cinema, Shakopee, MN
Marcus Hastings Cinema, Hastings, MN
Marcus Elk River Cinema, Elk River, MN
Regal Eagan Stadium, Eagan, MN
Missouri
St. Louis Stadium, Hazelwood, MO
New York
Elmwood Center 16, Buffalo, NY
Henrietta Stadium 18. Rochester, NY
North Carolina
Stonecrest at Piper Glenn, Charlotte, NC
Crossroads Stadium 20, Cary, NC
Greensboro Grand 16, Greensboro NC
Greenville Grand Stadium, Greenville, NC
Ohio
Chakeres Springfield 10, Springfield, OH
Oklahoma
Spotlight 14, Norman, OK
Promenade Palace 12, Tulsa, OK
Oregon
Movies on TV Stadium, Hillsboro, OR
Pennsylvania
U.E.C. College 9, State College, PA
Regal Riverview Plaza, Philadelphia, PA
Regal Cinema Oaks 24, Oaks, PA
Harrisburg Stadium 14, Harrisburg, PA
AMC Allentown 16, Allentown, PA
AMC Center Valley 16, Center Valley, PA
Tennessee
Regal Opry Mills Stadium, Nashville, TN
Streets of Indian Lake Stadium, Hendersonville, TN
Pinnacle Stadium, 18, Knoxville, TN
Texas
Edwards Marq’E Stadium, Houston, TX
Regal West Oaks Mall 14, Houston, TX
Regal Metropolitan Cinemas, Austin, TX
Regal Fiesta Stadium, San Antonio, TX
Washington
Parkway Plaza Stadium, Tukwila, WA
West Virginia
Morgantown Stadium 12, Morgantown, WV
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Watch First trailer for Mr. Rogers Documentary WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
Earlier this week, on the 90th birthday of Fred Rogers, Focus Features released the new trailer for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom). “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and will open in theaters on June 8, 2018.
A feature documentary about the lessons, ethics and legacy of iconic children’s television host, Fred Rogers. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? looks at children’s television host Mr. Rogers’ hard-fought campaign to influence generations of kids and adults in the ways of kindness.
Fred Rogers led a singular life. He was a puppeteer. A minister. A musician. An educator. A father, a husband, and a neighbor. Fred Rogers spent 50 years on children’s television beseeching us to love and to allow ourselves to be loved. With television as his pulpit, he helped transform the very concept of childhood. He used puppets and play to explore the most complicated issues of the day—race, disability, equality and tragedy. He spoke directly to children and they responded by forging a lifelong bond with him—by the millions. And yet today his impact is unclear. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? explores the question of whether or not we have lived up to Fred’s ideal. Are we all good neighbors?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwktRDG_aQ
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Air Jordan 1 Shoe Documentary ‘Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1’ to Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival | Trailer
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UNBANNED: THE LEGEND OF AJ1[/caption]
Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1, the documentary that tells the origin story of the Air Jordan 1 shoe, will premiere as a Special Screening at the 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival. Directed and written by Dexton Deboree, the film follows the iconic shoe from its unlikely beginnings to its role in disrupting long-established rules of the NBA, changing the game of basketball, birthing sneaker culture and influencing a social and cultural revolution.
“We are honored to premiere our film at the Tribeca Film Festival for so many reasons. Los York, many of our film’s cast members and much of the story itself, are rooted in the culture of NYC and we are proud to introduce the true story of AJ1 to one of our hometowns,” Deboree exclaims. “The film captures the raw, rebellious, eclectic and diverse spirit of culture in and around basketball and beyond, something our film has very much in common with New York City. Nothing is more fitting than to premiere with Tribeca at the historic Beacon Theatre especially, this year where the lineup celebrates American diversity,” he adds.
The first feature documentary from Los York Entertainment, Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1 is the true story about the shoe that changed the world. Through interviews with Spike Lee, Chuck D, Anthony Anderson, Michael B. Jordan, Lena Waithe, Kenya Barris, DJ Khaled, Aleali May and many more including Michael Jordan himself, this film explores the power of the AJ1 across social and political spectrums and how it has broken barriers between female and male fashion, self-expression, identity, empowerment and more.
Tribeca Film Festival has been the launching pad for many groundbreaking films including Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story, Nas: Time is Illmatic and most recently, Kobe Bryant’s Oscar®-Winning Animated Short Dear Basketball from acclaimed director Glen Keane.
“At Tribeca we are always looking for documentaries that shift our perspectives to tell us stories in new and exciting ways,” said Cara Cusumano, Director of Programming, Tribeca Film Festival. “The enduring cultural impact of the AJ1 is an entertaining, thrilling, surprising ride, and one that we can’t wait to share with audiences at the Beacon on April 27th.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p79nXVeyj4s
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Watch Chiwetel Ejiofor as Pastor Carlton Pearson in COME SUNDAY Trailer
Netflix has released the Trailer for Come Sunday, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, that premiered earlier this year at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film is directed by Joshua Marston whose first film, Maria Full of Grace, won an Audience Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Come Sunday, also starring Martin Sheen, Jason Segel, Condola Rashad, Lakeith Stanfield and Danny Glover will launch on Netflix on April 13, 2018.
In the film, internationally-renowned pastor Carlton Pearson, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor – experiencing a crisis of faith – risks his church, family and future when he questions church doctrine and finds himself branded a modern-day heretic. Based on actual events.
Every Sunday, Bishop Carlton Pearson—evangelical megastar, brilliant orator, and television host with millions of followers—preaches the fundamentalist gospel to six thousand supplicants at his Higher Dimensions Church. He’s the pride and joy of his spiritual father, Oral Roberts, and the toast of Tulsa. One day, rattled by an uncle’s suicide and distraught by reports of the Rwandan Genocide, Pearson receives an epiphany. Suddenly it’s crystal clear—God loves all humankind; everyone is already saved, whether Christian or not; and there is no hell. But these ideas are heretical, violating sacrosanct doctrines.
The next Sunday, when Pearson unveils this theology of inclusion to his flock, shock waves sweep the enormous hall. Church leaders and members begin to defect in droves, and his empire topples. Based on the true story of a controversial and courageous man of God, Come Sunday elegantly and respectfully captures the authentic texture and tone of Pearson’s devout world, never resorting to hyperbole. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s tour-de-force performance embodies the effusive charisma and grounded humility of a character with everything to lose, yet even more to gain by heeding his convictions. Sundance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVQFWvm_fbU
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Filmfest Dresden Unveils 30th Anniversary Lineup of 270 Short Films with Focus on ‘Europe’
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Athina Rachel Tsangari: The Capsule[/caption]
The 30th Filmfest Dresden, one of the most renowned and best-endowed short film festivals in Europe, running from April 17 to 22, 2018, unveiled this year’s anniversary program of 270 short films, as well as panel discussions and other events, enticing short film fans from across the world once more to the capital city of Saxony. One main focus this years is on “Europe”, bringing 30 years of European and the festival’s history together in several programs.
Each year, the festival centrepiece consists of the International and National Competitions: 69 short films from a total of 2,200 submissions are in the running this year for the ten “Golden Horsemen” and four special prizes. In the International Competition section, a total of 23 animation and 19 fictional films are going to be screened in seven programmes during the festival week. These include short films from 28 countries, with France and Canada leading the way here, as well as seven co-productions.
In addition to its Competition sections, the 30th Filmfest Dresden also has an extensive array of 27 special programs. For young audiences, there are five children and youth programs for differing age groups with the latest and most exciting short films from throughout the world. International short film entertainment under the open skies can again be enjoyed by all at the Festival Open-Air event on Dresden’s Neumarkt square. This is drawing the crowds on the festival weekend with a special program for the whole family.
* The Unfinished Adventure Named Europe
The great European dreams after the end of the Cold War are now being overshadowed by crises. And Europe is wrestling with its identity. These conflicts and confrontations, as well as the inner plurality of the European construct are also reflected in short film. In the three “A Path to Freedom”, “Border Regions” and “Europe Is Falling Apart” programs, which embrace both historic and current perspectives and are intended to explore the utopian as indeed the dystopian horizons here, Filmfest Dresden is looking back on 30 years of Europe. Among others, the themes include the euphoria in Germany immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the question about the geographic and formal-aesthetic borders of Europe, as well as the unvanquished nationalism in the fortress of Europe. The films in the “Focus Europe” program debunk their discourse as being “post-truth”, while providing thought-provoking impulses and posing questions: How can the political regression within the EU be brought to an end? And does the Europe project still have a chance?
Competition nominations of 30 FILMFEST DRESDEN
International Competition
(OO), Seo-ro Oh (South Korea) AABA / GRANDFATHER, Amar Kaushik (India) AFTER SCHOOL KNIFE FIGHT, Caroline Poggi (France) AMOR, Isabel Lamberti (Netherlands) APRES LE VOLCAN / AFTER THE VOLCANO, Léo Favier (France) AURORE, Mael Le Mée (France) COPA-LOCA, Christos Massalas (Greece) COUP DE GRÂCE, Salomé Lamas (Portugal) DAS GAVETAS NASCEM SONS / THE SOUNDS FROM THE DRAWERS, Vitor Hugo (Portugal) DEER BOY, Katarzyna Gondek (Belgium/Croatia/Poland) HAVE HEART, Will Anderson (United Kingdom) HOT TEA, Marcel Tigchelaar (Netherlands) HYPERTRAIN, Fela Bellotto/Etienne Kompis (Switzerland) KÖTELÉK / BOND, Judit Wunder (Hungary) KUCKUCK / CUCKOO, Aline Höchli (Switzerland) LA SOUPE / THE SOUP, Nicos Synnos (Cyprus) LANCUSZKI / CHAINLETS, Alicja Blaszczynska (Poland) LE TEMPS QU’IL FAUT / AS LONG AS IT TAKES, Abeille Tard (Canada) LES HOMMES-POISSONS / THE DEEP ONES, Guillaume Chevalier (France) LUPUS, Carlos Gomez Salamanca (Colombia/France) MARFA, Greg & Myles McLeod (United Kingdom) MIN BÖRDA / THE BURDEN, Niki Lindroth von Bahr (Sweden) MR. ANXIETY GOES ON A DATE , 4inaroom (Moldova/Romania) MUTEUM, Aggie Pak Yee Lee (Estonia) NEGATIVE SPACE, Max Porter/Ru Kuwahata (France) NOS DÉSIRS / THE WAY WE LOVE, Raphaël Lefèvre (France) PANTHEON, Ange-Régis Hounkpatin (France) PAUL EST LA / PAUL IS HERE, Valentina Maurel (Belgium) PŘÁTELSKÉ SETKÁNÍ NAD SPORTEM / FRIENDLY SPORT MEETING, Adam Koloman Rybanský (Czech Republic) RABBIT’S BLOOD, Sarina Nihei (Japan/United Kingdom) RETOUCH, Kaveh Mazaheri (Iran) RUPTURE, Yassmina Karajah (Canada/Jordan) SCRATCHY, Marv Newland (Canada) SREČNO, ORLO! / GOOD LUCK, ORLO!, Sara Kern (Austria/Croatia/Slovenia) TESLA: LUMIÈRE MONDIALE / THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT , Matthew Rankin (Canada) THE ABSENCE OF EDDY TABLE, Rune Spaans (Norway) VEUILLEZ NE PAS TENTER D’OUVRIR LES PORTES / SEE THE SHADOWS STRAIGHTEN, Baptiste Martin-Bonnaire (France) YAL VA KOOPAL / MANED & MACHO, Shiva Sadegh Asadi (Iran) YOM CHOL / ANOTHER DAY, Daniel Pakes (Israel) теория заката / THE THEORY OF SUNSET, Roman Sokolov (Russia) מכתב אהבה לבחור שהמצאתי / A LOVE LETTER TO THE ONE I MADE UP, Rachel Gutgarts (Israel)National Competition
AND THE MOON STANDS STILL, Yulia Ruditskaya ATTAK, Ruben Meier CHUCKWALLA, Korinna Krauss DAS SATANISCHE DICKICHT – DREI, Willy Hans ENDLING, Alex Schaad ENTSCHULDIGUNG, ICH SUCHE DEN TISCHTENNISRAUM UND MEINE FREUNDIN, Bernhard Wenger HALMASPIEL, Betina Kuntzsch IMPERIAL VALLEY (CULTIVATED RUN-OFF), Lukas Marxt JOY, Abini Gold KOSMOS Maa, Jakob Mäsel LIEBE, Oliver Adam Kusio LINK, Robert Löbel LOVE ME, FEAR ME, Veronica Solomon MASCARPONE, Jonas Riemer MEGATRICK, Anne Isensee MINDEN RENDBEN, Borbála Nagy NACH DEM FEST, Hannes Schilling NACHTSTÜCK, Anne Breymann NEKO NO HI / ねこ の ひ,Jon Frickey NIKOTYNA, Ewa Wikiel NOSTALGIC LOVE, Joscha Bongard NOT MY TYPE, Gerd Gockell NY _ THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF SPACE, Michał Banisch RÄUBER & GENDARM, Florian Maubach SOG, Jonatan Schwenk THE TRAIN, THE FOREST, Patrick Buhr U MEĐUVREMENU, Mate Ugrin
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Watch First Trailer for Neo-Noir Thriller UNDER THE SILVER LAKE Starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough
The first trailer is here for Under the Silver Lake, the contemporary neo-noir thriller from writer-director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows), starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, and Topher Grace. The film will be released in theaters on June 22, 2018.
From the dazzling imagination that brought you It Follows comes a delirious neo-noir fever dream about one man’s search for the truth behind the mysterious crimes, murders, and disappearances in his East L.A. neighborhood.
Sam (Andrew Garfield) is a disenchanted 33-year-old who discovers a mysterious woman, Sarah (Riley Keough), frolicking in his apartment’s swimming pool. When she vanishes, Sam embarks on a surreal quest across Los Angeles to decode the secret behind her disappearance, leading him into the murkiest depths of mystery, scandal, and conspiracy in the City of Angels.
From writer-director David Robert Mitchell comes a sprawling, playful and unexpected mystery-comedy detective thriller about the Dream Factory and its denizens—dog killers, aspiring actors, glitter-pop groups, nightlife personalities, It girls, memorabilia hoarders, masked seductresses, homeless gurus, reclusive songwriters, sex workers, wealthy socialites, topless neighbors, and the shadowy billionaires floating above (and underneath) it all. Mining a noir tradition extending from Kiss Me Deadly and The Long Goodbye to Chinatown and Mulholland Drive, Mitchell uses the topography of Los Angeles as a backdrop for a deeper exploration into the hidden meaning and secret codes buried within the things we love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgUesU1pz4
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Edward Norton Produced ONE OCTOBER, Chronicling Clay Pigeon’s NY Street Interviews Sets Release Date | Trailer
One October, the documentary chronicling radio host Clay Pigeon as he talks to a diverse cross-section of people throughout New York city, exploring a microcosm of themes and issues including race, religion, economics, politics and culture, will be released nationally starting Friday, May 11.
Filmed entirely in October of 2008, a time when gentrification is rapidly displacing the working and middle classes, Wall Street is plummeting, and then-Senator Barack Obama is making his first presidential bid, One October is a lyrical time capsule that captures the heart and spirit of New York. When seen from our current vantage point, the film foreshadows the roiling political upheaval spreading across the country today in 2018. Directed by Rachel Shuman and executive produced by three-time Academy Award® nominee Edward Norton (“Primal Fear,” “American History X” and “Birdman”), this captivating feature documentary, which had its World Premiere at the 2017 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, chronicles intrepid radio host Clay Pigeon as he talks to a beautifully diverse cross-section of people throughout the city, exploring a microcosm of themes and issues including race, religion, economics, politics and culture. With today’s news filled with ratings-hungry, sensationalist headlines and political pundits yelling over one another, Pigeon is quite the antithesis with his man-on-the-street style interviews, offering an authentic, warm-hearted and more humanitarian approach to journalism.
Maysles Cinema in Harlem, NYC, where several of the scenes in the documentary were filmed, will host a week-long theatrical release of One October, screening along with the short documentary THE MONOLITH, directed by Angelo J. Guglielmo, Jr., about pioneering NYC artist Gwyneth Leech, starting Friday, May 11. One October will also be released nationally on VOD on May 11 via Passion River Films on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Microsoft XBOX and other digital platforms. The film will also screen nationwide in select cities.
One October begins with Pigeon, a radio host from WFMU in Jersey City, NJ, who takes to the streets of New York City to talk to everyday citizens about their lives, their dreams and their relationships in the face of uncertain change in a transforming city. As part of what he calls a “radio experiment,” this transplanted Iowan roams the streets bearing a handheld recorder and a kindly probing nature: “Has he popped the question?” “When is the last time you’ve had a regular roof over your head?” “Do you love America?” These revealing interviews are woven between vivid scenes of New York’s eccentric byways, which together reveal a city—and a nation—at a crossroads.
During his neighborhood rambles, Pigeon meets people like Kristin, an optimistic young woman who has just arrived from the Midwest; Mark, a union construction worker still dusty from his workday and deeply in debt; Nicole, a transgender woman looking for an accepting community; and Stacie, a single mother in Harlem worried about gentrification.
Pigeon’s encounters interweave with observational passages that poignantly reveal urbanist and author Jane Jacobs’s (The Death and Life of Great American Cities) idea of the “ballet of the good city sidewalk”: rollerskaters wind their way through Central Park, city dwellers seek blessings for a motley group of pets on St. Francis Day, observant Jews toss breadcrumbs into the Hudson River on Rosh Hashanah, and Muslims mark the end of their Ramadan fast with Eid al-Fitr prayers and expressions of forgiveness. Amid these celebrations of daily life we see the shifting landscape of the city: big-box stores and mega-chains rapidly replace independent businesses, giant glass buildings are erected where flea markets once stood, and luxury condos loom over small brick tenements.
Nuanced, cinematic and often humorous, One October charts the chasm between one’s desires and one’s means, explores the urgent need to conserve the old amid the glorification of the new, and affirms the notion that a varied streetscape is essential to the health of a dynamic metropolis.
https://vimeo.com/260800683
“I wanted to make a film in response to the homogenization and hypergentrification of neighborhoods in New York City and chose to set it in October 2008, a tumultuous moment when the housing market collapse was becoming a worldwide economic crisis and much of the country was swept up in Obama’s presidential campaign,” said One October director Rachel Shuman. “In retrospect, almost exactly a decade later now, I am releasing the film in another period of change in our country, and I hope that it will present a story of diversity and resiliency that unites people.”
Edward Norton is an environmental, social and civic activist who has substantially contributed to the development of the cultural and civic life of the city. When asked why he wanted to become involved in this film, Norton stated, “Like E.B. White’s classic ‘Here is New York,’ One October captures the complexity of our culture at a moment in time and distills the zeitgeist of optimism and hope surrounding the election of Barack Obama. Viewed today, it’s especially poignant and inspiring.”