A Gray State, the A&E IndieFilms acclaimed documentary feature from Erik Nelson and executive produced by Werner Herzog, has been acquired by First Run Features. The film, which had its world premiere at this past Tribeca Film Festival to critical praise, will receive a US theatrical release this November along with an awards push. Following the theatrical run “A Gray State” will make its television debut on A&E.
In 2010 David Crowley, an Iraq veteran, aspiring filmmaker and charismatic up-and-coming voice in fringe politics, began production on his film “Gray State.” Set in a dystopian near-future where civil liberties are trampled by an unrestrained federal government, the film’s crowd funded trailer was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning online community of libertarians, Tea Party activists as well as members of the nascent alt-right.
In January of 2015, Crowley was found dead with his family in their suburban Minnesota home. Their shocking deaths quickly become a cause célèbre for conspiracy theorists who speculate that Crowley was assassinated by a shadowy government concerned about a film and filmmaker that was getting too close to the truth about their aims. Directed by “Grizzly Man” producer Erik Nelson and Executive Produced by Werner Herzog, “A Gray State” combs through Crowley’s archive of 13,000 photographs, hundreds of hours of home video, and exhaustive behind-the-scenes footage of David’s work in progress to reveal what happens when a paranoid view of the government turns inward — blurring the lines of what is real and what people want to believe.
“’A Gray State’ is a deep dive into some of the fault lines that are fracturing America,” said Erik Nelson. “It’s a dark ride through the tunnel of conspiracy culture, the trauma experienced by many veterans, celebrity worship, gun obsession, and the unforeseen consequences of an addiction to social media. But it is a dark ride that tries to point a way to the light.”Films
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A GRAY STATE, Documentary on Mysterious Deaths of Filmmaker David Crowley and His Family, Gets US Release
A Gray State, the A&E IndieFilms acclaimed documentary feature from Erik Nelson and executive produced by Werner Herzog, has been acquired by First Run Features. The film, which had its world premiere at this past Tribeca Film Festival to critical praise, will receive a US theatrical release this November along with an awards push. Following the theatrical run “A Gray State” will make its television debut on A&E.
In 2010 David Crowley, an Iraq veteran, aspiring filmmaker and charismatic up-and-coming voice in fringe politics, began production on his film “Gray State.” Set in a dystopian near-future where civil liberties are trampled by an unrestrained federal government, the film’s crowd funded trailer was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning online community of libertarians, Tea Party activists as well as members of the nascent alt-right.
In January of 2015, Crowley was found dead with his family in their suburban Minnesota home. Their shocking deaths quickly become a cause célèbre for conspiracy theorists who speculate that Crowley was assassinated by a shadowy government concerned about a film and filmmaker that was getting too close to the truth about their aims. Directed by “Grizzly Man” producer Erik Nelson and Executive Produced by Werner Herzog, “A Gray State” combs through Crowley’s archive of 13,000 photographs, hundreds of hours of home video, and exhaustive behind-the-scenes footage of David’s work in progress to reveal what happens when a paranoid view of the government turns inward — blurring the lines of what is real and what people want to believe.
“’A Gray State’ is a deep dive into some of the fault lines that are fracturing America,” said Erik Nelson. “It’s a dark ride through the tunnel of conspiracy culture, the trauma experienced by many veterans, celebrity worship, gun obsession, and the unforeseen consequences of an addiction to social media. But it is a dark ride that tries to point a way to the light.”
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Kino Lorber to Release LET THE CORPSES TAN (Laissez bronzer les cadavres) | Trailer
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s latest film Let The Corpses Tan (Laissez bronzer les cadavres), has been acquired by Kino Lorber for release in the US, following its North American debut at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
The film stars acclaimed Romanian-American actress Elina Löwensohn (Schindler’s List, A Very Long Engagement), Stéphane Ferrara (Alexander) and Hervé Sogne (SK1, JCVD) and was photographed in cinemascope by Manuel Dacosse (Amer, Evolution, Axolotl Overkill), the directors’ longtime director of photography.
A gang of thieves absconding with 250kg of stolen gold arrives at the abode of a listless artist caught in a bohemian love triangle. The scenario quickly escalates into a desperate day-long firefight between cops and robbers throughout the remote ruins of a Mediterranean hamlet — and genre and art-house tropes collide in a relentless reverie of action spectacle, exquisitely photographed on Super 16mm film. TIFF
This eagerly anticipated follow up to Amer (2009) and The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2013) had its world premiere at the 2018 Locarno International Film Festival and a U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest, in Austin, TX.
Let The Corpses Tan will play at other upcoming fall and winter festivals before a summer 2018 theatrical release – followed by a fall SVOD, VOD and physical media launch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cx48AN5_y8
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VIDEO: Watch Indie Thriller MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND Trailer
Here is the new trailer for the indie thriller Most Beautiful Island written and directed by Ana Asensio, and winner of Grand Jury Prize at the 2017 SXSW. The film starring Ana Asensio, Natasha Romanova, David Little, Nicholas Tucci, Larry Fessenden, Caprice Benedetti will open in select cities on November 3rd.
Most Beautiful Island is a psychological thriller set in the world of undocumented female immigrants hoping to make a life in New York City. Shot on Super 16mm with an intimate, voyeuristic sensibility, Most Beautiful Island chronicles one harrowing day in the life of Luciana, a young immigrant woman struggling to make ends meet while striving to escape her past. As Luciana’s day unfolds, she is whisked, physically and emotionally, through a series of troublesome and unforeseeable extremes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1AZFpQex3Q
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Ittetsu Nemoto Is Not Your Ordinary Monk in THE DEPARTURE | Trailer
The Departure directed by Lana Wilson (After Tiller) is described as poetic and deeply moving look at a former punk-turned-Buddhist priest in Japan who has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live.
The documentary film which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival will open in New York at the Metrograph Theater on Friday, October 13. It will be followed by a release in Los Angeles on Friday, October 20, with other cities to follow.
A 44-year-old Tokyo native, Ittetsu Nemoto loves riding his motorcycle and dancing all night in clubs. But he’s also a Rinzai Zen priest, who lives with his wife, mother and baby son at a temple in the remote countryside of Gifu prefecture, Japan. There, over the last ten years, he has become famous for his work in combating suicide. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between the people he counsels and himself. With astonishing access and artistry, Wilson’s camera captures Nemoto at a crossroads, when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQNXOl8Nbw
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VIDEO: Watch Trailer for Indie Drama BARRACUDA Starring Allison Tolman
The official trailer debuted for Barracuda, directed by Julia Halperin and Jason Cortlund; and starring Allison Tolman, Sophie Reid and JoBeth Williams.
Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films will release Barracuda in select cities on October 6th.
Merle (Allison Tolman, FX’s “Fargo”) finds her life beginning to splinter when Sinaloa (newcomer Sophie Reid), the musician half-sister she never knew existed, appears on her doorstep in Texas. Initially distrustful of this enigmatic woman, a bond quickly forms between the two.
As Merle allows her half-sister into her life, Sinaloa reveals a quiet fury through her music, and her fierce attachment begins to place Merle’s career aspirations, her relationship to her mother, and even her impending marriage, in jeopardy. Merle fights to keep her world together while Sinaloa’s increasingly intense and erratic behavior threatens to erupt into something darker.
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Philip Gelatt’s THEY REMAIN will World Premiere at Portland’s H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival
They Remain, the highly anticipated film, written and directed by Philip Gelatt (Europa Report) and adapted from Laird Barron’s short story “-30-”, will World Premiere at the 2017 H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival on Saturday, October 7th.
“We are extremely honored to be showing this genre-bending thriller to our highly engaged audience even before it makes its theatrical run next year,” said Brian Callahan, Festival Director. “The film has already been acquired for distribution by Paladin, and the producers of They Remain know that it is a perfect fit for the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Laird Barron has been a guest at the festival in the past, and it’s only fitting that the feature film adaptation of his story premieres to the best audience in the world.”
They Remain defies categorization and journeys into the shadowy realm where nature, science, and the supernatural co-exist in horrific symbiosis. William Harper Jackson (“True Story”) and Rebecca Henderson (“Mistress America”) star as two scientists investigating the root of environmental changes and strange animal behavior at a remote site where a Manson Family-style cult committed atrocities. The isolated location, the unraveling of their relationship, and the biome itself begin to lead them down a path of doom where primeval forces threaten to consume them. Whether you’re a fan of author Laird Barron or a fan of cosmic horror cinema, you will not want to miss this screening.
Barron’s novels, short fiction, and poems have earned him a substantial readership among aficionados of fantasy, noir, horror, and sci-fi, and have twice won him the Shirley Jackson Award. Gelatt, similarly, combines multi-disciplinary experience as a graphic novelist and comic book creator for the “Indiana Jones” franchise, and for such companies as Dark Horse Comics and Oni Press, with his background as a video game writer for such companies as Crystal Dynamics and Frictional Games, and on “Rise of The Tomb Raider” (for which he won the WGA Award). With this pedigree, it is unsurprising that They Remain succeeds in splicing these various strains of pop culture DNA into a unique and imaginative cinematic hybrid.
The 22nd Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival takes place October 6 to 8th at the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon.
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THE NEWSPAPERMAN: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEN BRADLEE to Debut on HBO
Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, credited with taking down President Richard Nixon in 1974 after the Post broke the Watergate story, exposing the largest political scandal in American history, is the subject of the documentary The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee.
Told primarily in his own words, The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee is an intimate portrait of this formidable man, tracing his remarkable ascent from a young Boston boy stricken with polio to the one of the most pioneering and consequential journalistic figures of the 20th century when it debuts Monday, December 4, exclusively on HBO.
Ben Bradlee’s career spanned the most critical moments of the second half of the 20th century. As a foreign correspondent for Newsweek in the ’50s, Bradlee cut his teeth reporting from the frontlines of wars in the Middle East. In Washington, he befriended young Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy and later gained unprecedented access to the White House. By the ’70s, he had transformed the Washington Post from an undistinguished local paper into a national powerhouse, publishing the Pentagon Papers, breaking Watergate and challenging the New York Times for supremacy.
Taking on the political establishment and ushering in a new era of investigative journalism, the tough-talking, chain-smoking Bradlee came to epitomize the modern newspaper editor. Today, when the First Amendment and the press are under constant attack, Bradlee’s fortitude in the face of withering criticism has never been more relevant.
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee delves into the highs and lows of Bradlee’s personal life and career, and features previously unseen home movies, photographs, archival footage and interviews with a who’s who of American journalism, Washington insiders, and family and friends who knew him best, including: Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Quinn Bradlee, Courtland Milloy, David Maraniss, David Remnick, Don Graham, George Vaillant, Henry Kissinger, Ben Bradlee Jr., Jim Hoagland, Jim Lehrer, John Dean, Norman Lear, Richard Cohen, Robert Kaiser, Robert Redford, Sally Bedell Smith, Sally Quinn, Tina Brown and Tom Brokaw.
John Maggio (“Looking for Lincoln”) directs; Peter Kunhardt, Teddy Kunhardt and George Kunhardt (HBO’s Emmy(R)-winning “Jim: The James Foley Story“) produce.
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VIDEO: Watch New Trailer for Angelina Jolie’s FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER
Netflix has released a new trailer for the critically acclaimed film First They Killed My Father, directed by Angelina Jolie. The film is the adaptation of Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung’s gripping memoir of surviving the deadly Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1978.
The story is told through her eyes, from the age of five, when the Khmer Rouge came to power, to nine years old. The film depicts the indomitable spirit and devotion of Loung and her family as they struggle to stay together during the Khmer Rouge years. First They Killed My Father is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_SpNqLwzI
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Video: Gross-Out Award Winning Comedy ASSHOLES Releases New Trailer
Assholes, the gross-out comedy from writer/director Peter Vack, and winner of the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award at SXSW 2017, has released a new trailer. The film will be released in New York City on October 6th, LA on October 13th and on Cable+Digital VOD on October 24th.
In Assholes, Adah and Aaron are sober drug addicts who meet in their psychoanalyst’s waiting room. They have sex, discover they share an anal fetish, relapse on poppers, conjure a demon, and kill Adah’s brother. When their faces turn into Assholes, Adah’s parents stage a reality show intervention to get the couple sober again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mzk0XtjeGo
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VIDEO: Lena Olin Captivates in MAYA DARDEL Trailer + Film Sets Release Date
Here is the trailer for Maya Dardel, the story of poet and novelist, Maya Dardel, who announces she is going to kill herself and needs an heir and executor. Young male writers drive up the mountain to compete for the position. The film that world premiered at 2017 SXSW Film Festival, will open in theaters on October 27, 2017 in New York at Village East Cinema, on October 27. 2017 in Los Angeles at Laemmle Santa Monica. Additional cities nationwide to follow.
Maya Dardel is directed by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak, and stars Lena Olin, Rosanna Arquette, Nathan Keyes, Alexander Koch, Jordan Gavaris and Chris Voss.
Maya Dardel depicts the final weeks leading to the ambiguous disappearance of Maya Dardel (Olin), an internationally respected poet and novelist, who lived until 2016 in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Maya announces on National Public Radio that she intends to end her life and that young male writers may compete to become the executor of her estate. They are challenged intellectually, emotionally, erotically, until one of them begins to fathom Maya’s end game.
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Insightful and Funny Docu Film TAKE MY NOSE… PLEASE! Sets Release Date | Trailer
The insightful and funny Take My Nose… Please! by Joan Kron goes in depth with a comedic take from the top female comedians on the subject of women and plastic surgery and their career as artists. Interviews, clips and commentary from some of our legendary comics including Roseanne Barr, Phyllis Diller, the late Joan Rivers,Judy Gold, Julie Halston, Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykies, Lisa Lampanelli, Giulia Rozzi, and Adrianne Tolsch add to the magic of this film.
Take My Nose… Please! is the debut feature film from longtime former Allure Magazine editor now turned filmmaker, Joan Kron. For Joan, at the amazing age of 89 years-old, documentary film making is now her new career.
The film will open exclusive one week engagements in New York on October 6 at the Village East Cinemas, and then October 13 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Monica in Santa Monica. It will open nationally following these cities.
Take My Nose… Please! is a seriously funny and wickedly subversive look at the role comedy has played in exposing the pressures on women to be attractive and society’s desire/shame relationship with plastic surgery. More than 15 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the US in 2014. And 90% of them on were done on women. Yet, for those who elect to tinker with Mother Nature, especially for high-profile women, plastic surgery is still a very dark secret. Funny women, though, are the exception. From Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers to Roseanne Barr and Kathy Griffin, comedians have been unashamed to talk about their perceived flaws, and the steps taken to remedy them. For these dames, cosmetic surgery isn’t vanity, it is affirmative action – compensation for the unfair distribution of youthfulness and beauty.
By admitting what their sisters in drama deny, comic performers speak to women who feel the same pressures, giving them permission to pursue change (or not to) while entertaining us.
Take My Nose… Please! follows two comedians as they deliberate about going under the knife. Emily Askin, an up-and coming improv performer, has always wanted her nose refined. Jackie Hoffman, a seasoned headliner on Broadway and on TV, considers herself ugly and regrets not having the nose job offered in her teens. And maybe she’d like a face-lift, as well. As we follow their surprisingly emotional stories, we meet other who have taken the leap – or held out.
Putting it all in perspective are psychologists, sociologists, the medical community and cultural critics. And for comic relief and the profundity only comedians can supply. The film includes commentary from Roseanne Barr, Phyllis Diller, the late Joan Rivers,Judy Gold, Julie Halston, Lisa Lampanelli, Giulia Rozzi, Bill Scheft, and Adrianne Tolsch.
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS:
Audience Award – Miami International Film Festival Audience Award – Berkshire International Film Festival Official Selection – Newport Beach International Film Festival; San Francisco Doc Fest; Arizona International Film Festival; Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival; San Luis Obispo Film Festival; Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival; and more
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VIDEO: Watch ALL I SEE IS YOU Trailer Starring Blake Lively as Blind Wife
Blake Lively and Jason Clarke play a couple with an almost perfect marriage in All I See Is You, which opens in select theaters on October 27th. All I See Is You is directed by Marc Forster, and also stars Danny Huston and Yvonne Strahovski.
Gina (Blake Lively) and husband James (Jason Clarke) have an almost perfect marriage. After being blinded as a child in a nearly fatal car crash that claimed her parent’s lives, Gina depends on James to be her eyes—a dependence that appears to solidify their passionate relationship. She sees her world in her own vivid imagination with help from James’ descriptions. Despite her disability, the two enjoy a colorful existence in Bangkok, Thailand where James works in insurance and Gina explores life in a foreign country. It seems the only real hardship this loving couple faces is difficulty conceiving a child but when Gina is given the opportunity to have a corneal transplant and regains her vision, their life and relationship are upended. Gina now sees the world with a new sense of wonder and independence which James finds threatening. It is only when Gina suddenly begins to lose her sight again that she finally realizes the disturbing reality of their marriage and their lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTTaFg2Sq9Y