Twenty-five years after her uncle died of AIDS, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo delves into the secrecy surrounding his death in the documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart.
Memories of a Penitent Heart, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, will have its national broadcast premiere on the PBS documentary series POV (Point of View) on July 31, 2017.
Like many gay men in the 1980s, Miguel moved to New York City in search of a life out of the closet; he found a career in theater and a rewarding relationship. Yet in the midst of the AIDS crisis, his devout Catholic mother pressured him to repent for his homosexuality on his deathbed. Twenty-five years later, his niece Cecilia Aldarondo breaks the silence surrounding her uncle’s death, sifting through conflicting memories of a man she never really knew. She locates Miguel’s estranged partner and begins to unlock long-dormant family secrets.
Through home movies, audio recordings, family photos, letters and interviews, Cecilia Aldarondo’s Memories of a Penitent Heart reconstructs her uncle Miguel’s New York life, one he lived far from his family, especially his religious mother. Along the way, her investigation untangles a knot of family secrets, denials and repressed conflicts.
Born and raised in the 1970s in Puerto Rico, Miguel Dieppa was a gay man eager to leave the island in search of Broadway fame in New York City.
Aldarondo’s investigation begins with a two-year search for Miguel’s long-time partner, Bob, who disappeared after Miguel’s funeral. When she eventually finds him, he is living in Pasadena, California, as Father Aquin, a Franciscan monk. Through the reminiscences of Aquin and others who knew him, Miguel emerges as a charismatic and vivacious actor and playwright, struggling to live comfortably in his own skin.
We see glimpses into Miguel’s restlessness in his autobiographical play, Island Fever: “I guess that’s a diagnosis for my case. It’s that feeling that creeps on up on those who have known wide spaces, or long to do so.”
Miguel seems eternally torn between two identities. His New York friends know him as Michael, a freedom-loving gay thespian, while to his family in Puerto Rico he remains Miguel, the obedient son who downplays his sexuality.
Unexpectedly, Miguel begins to get sick, and although he refuses to be tested, telltale skin lesions on his legs indicate AIDS as the underlying illness.
Miguel’s illness places Bob on a collision course with Miguel’s mother, Carmen, as the two come to represent opposing faces of faith. Fearing that her son is not yet “dead to life but dead to grace,” Carmen feels Miguel can only find redemption if he repents.
Delving into her family’s trove of secrets, Aldarondo’s Memories of a Penitent Heart examines the light and dark sides of faith and how we fight over the memories of those we love. In the director’s intensely personal film, Miguel’s friends and family reflect on their imperfect relationships. Considering her own flaws, Miguel’s sister (Aldarondo’s mother) Nylda reflects, “The bottom line is that we all need to survive and we use different ways of surviving, according to our gifts, our limitations and our circumstances.” That prompts her daughter to ask, “Can’t we survive and look out for others as well?”
Memories of a Penitent Heart is a brave and honest exhumation of buried resentments that ultimately reveals how reflections on grief, betrayal and love bring us closer to reconciliation.
Films
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Cecilia Aldarondo Delves into the Secrecy Her Uncle’s Death In MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART | Trailer
Twenty-five years after her uncle died of AIDS, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo delves into the secrecy surrounding his death in the documentary Memories of a Penitent Heart.
Memories of a Penitent Heart, which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, will have its national broadcast premiere on the PBS documentary series POV (Point of View) on July 31, 2017.
Like many gay men in the 1980s, Miguel moved to New York City in search of a life out of the closet; he found a career in theater and a rewarding relationship. Yet in the midst of the AIDS crisis, his devout Catholic mother pressured him to repent for his homosexuality on his deathbed. Twenty-five years later, his niece Cecilia Aldarondo breaks the silence surrounding her uncle’s death, sifting through conflicting memories of a man she never really knew. She locates Miguel’s estranged partner and begins to unlock long-dormant family secrets.
Through home movies, audio recordings, family photos, letters and interviews, Cecilia Aldarondo’s Memories of a Penitent Heart reconstructs her uncle Miguel’s New York life, one he lived far from his family, especially his religious mother. Along the way, her investigation untangles a knot of family secrets, denials and repressed conflicts.
Born and raised in the 1970s in Puerto Rico, Miguel Dieppa was a gay man eager to leave the island in search of Broadway fame in New York City.
Aldarondo’s investigation begins with a two-year search for Miguel’s long-time partner, Bob, who disappeared after Miguel’s funeral. When she eventually finds him, he is living in Pasadena, California, as Father Aquin, a Franciscan monk. Through the reminiscences of Aquin and others who knew him, Miguel emerges as a charismatic and vivacious actor and playwright, struggling to live comfortably in his own skin.
We see glimpses into Miguel’s restlessness in his autobiographical play, Island Fever: “I guess that’s a diagnosis for my case. It’s that feeling that creeps on up on those who have known wide spaces, or long to do so.”
Miguel seems eternally torn between two identities. His New York friends know him as Michael, a freedom-loving gay thespian, while to his family in Puerto Rico he remains Miguel, the obedient son who downplays his sexuality.
Unexpectedly, Miguel begins to get sick, and although he refuses to be tested, telltale skin lesions on his legs indicate AIDS as the underlying illness.
Miguel’s illness places Bob on a collision course with Miguel’s mother, Carmen, as the two come to represent opposing faces of faith. Fearing that her son is not yet “dead to life but dead to grace,” Carmen feels Miguel can only find redemption if he repents.
Delving into her family’s trove of secrets, Aldarondo’s Memories of a Penitent Heart examines the light and dark sides of faith and how we fight over the memories of those we love. In the director’s intensely personal film, Miguel’s friends and family reflect on their imperfect relationships. Considering her own flaws, Miguel’s sister (Aldarondo’s mother) Nylda reflects, “The bottom line is that we all need to survive and we use different ways of surviving, according to our gifts, our limitations and our circumstances.” That prompts her daughter to ask, “Can’t we survive and look out for others as well?”
Memories of a Penitent Heart is a brave and honest exhumation of buried resentments that ultimately reveals how reflections on grief, betrayal and love bring us closer to reconciliation.
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VIDEO: Watch Official Trailer for BRAD’S STATUS Starring Ben Stiller
Amazon Studios has released the trailer for the indie film Brad’s Status, written and directed by Mike White, and starring Ben Stiller, Michael Sheen, Luke Wilson. The film which also stars Jemaine Clement, Jenna Fischer and Austin Abrams, will be released in theaters on September 15th, 2017.
When Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) accompanies his college bound son to the East Coast, the visit triggers a crisis of confidence in Brad’s Status, writer and director Mike White’s bittersweet comedy. Brad has a satisfying career and a comfortable life in suburban Sacramento where he lives with his sweet-natured wife, Melanie (Jenna Fischer), and their musical prodigy son, Troy (Austin Abrams), but it’s not quite what he imagined during his college glory days. Showing Troy around Boston, where Brad went to university, he can’t help comparing his life with those of his four best college friends: a Hollywood bigshot (White), a hedge fund founder (Luke Wilson), a tech entrepreneur (Jemaine Clement), and a political pundit and bestselling author (Michael Sheen). As he imagines their wealthy, glamorous lives, he wonders if this is all he will ever amount to. But when circumstances force him to reconnect with his former friends, Brad begins to question whether he has really failed or is, in some ways at least, the most successful of them all.
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2017 HollyShorts Film Festival Unveils Competition Short Films Lineup
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Super Sex[/caption]
The Academy Awards® qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival unveiled today it’s official lineup of in-competition short films for the upcoming 13th edition of the festival. HollyShorts, which is LA’s biggest shorts film festival takes place August 10 to 19 at the TCL Chinese Theater, Roosevelt Hotel, Harmony Gold Theater and other venues throughout Hollywood. This year’s festival received an all time record of 4,000 submissions from 65 countries. 400 shorts will compete for the Best Short Film Prize and Grand Jury Prize, Best Director among other top categories.
2017 HollyShorts official selections include: Walking Dead’s Emma Bell’s Directorial debut horror short Scratch; Matthew Modine’s comedy Super Sex starring his daughter Ruby Modine, Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, Ed Asner and Efren Ramirez; John Stamos’s short Ingenue-ish; Julia Barnett’s Chasing Grace Produced by Connie Britton starring Christopher Backus, and Lydia Tracy; Joshua Shultz’s Strobe starring Sammi Hanratty; Brett Gursky’s Graffiti starring Cassie Scerbo; Erin Elder’s Penny Sucker starring James Paxton; Russell Simpson’s Home starring Sharon Lawrence and Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Jack Henry Robbins Hot Winter: A Film By Dick Pierre; Bill Plympton’s animated short Cop Dog, Spike Lee’s Lil Joints $15 Dollar Kicks Directed by Jenn Shaw. Tye Sheridan and Nikola Todorovic co-founders of VR production company Aether will oversee the first-ever VR Experience at this year’s HollyShorts.
As previously reported the festival will open with a special screening of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece Full Metal Jacket on Thursday August 10 followed by a Q&A with Matthew Modine.
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Watch the Trailer + Poster for Award-Winning MARJORIE PRIME Starring Jon Hamm, Geena Davis
FilmRise has released the poster and official trailer for the Sundance Film Festival award-winning drama Marjorie Prime, starring Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Tim Robbins and Lois Smith. The film, written and directed by Michael Almereyda will be released in New York City and Los Angeles on August 18th with national rollout to follow.
Eighty-six-year-old Marjorie spends her final, ailing days with a computerized version of her deceased husband. With the intent to recount their life together, Marjorie’s “Prime” relies on the information from her and her kin to develop a more complex understanding of his history. As their interactions deepen, the family begins to develop ever diverging recounts of their lives, drawn into the chance to reconstruct the often painful past.
Built around exceptional performances from a veteran cast, Marjorie Prime shines a light on an often-obscured corner in the world of artificial intelligence and its interactions with mortality. Bringing us robustly into the future, Michael Almaryeda’s poetic film forces us to face the question—If we had the opportunity, how would we choose to rebuild the past, and what would we decide to forget?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7PtcOLJDco
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Mohamed Diab’s CLASH, Egypt’s Street Protest Drama, to Open in Theaters August 25 | Trailer
Mohamed Diab’s CLASH, a film set entirely within the confines of a police van in Cairo, Egypt, two years after the Arab Spring, will get a release in the US beginning late August, 2017.
An official selection at Cannes, London, Cairo, and Palm Springs film festivals, among others, CLASH will open at New York’s Village East Cinema on Friday, August 25, 2017, before a national rollout during the fall.
Dramatizing the mass protests and political unrest after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian army, CLASH takes viewers inside a society struggling with violent street protests – and in a state of chaotic breakdown.
Stuck together in a small moving cell, journalists, elderly men and women, teenagers, and demonstrators from opposing political, ideological and religious affiliations, are forced to work together in order to face police brutality and stifling heat.
Furthermore, as the general public grows increasingly angry and threatens to harm the police (and even those arrested by them, often mistaking diverse groups as a single enemy faction), it becomes pressing for them to find a way out. But can the detainees overcome their differences? Can Egypt build a new social order in the face of internal violence and the breakdown of its democratic institutions?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmcXa2MaKw4
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VIDEO: Watch The First 3 Minutes of Flying Lotus’ ‘Weird’ ‘Gross’ KUSO
Check out the first 3 minutes of Kuso, the ‘weird’ ‘gross’ movie that reportedly had audience members walking out of the theater, when it premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
Broadcasting through a makeshift network of discarded televisions, KUSO depicts the aftermath of Los Angeles’s worst earthquake nightmare. Viewers travel between screens and aftershocks into the twisted lives of the survived, experiencing a hallucination that is half-Cronenberg, half-Ren & Stimpy.
The debut film from acclaimed producer and rapper Flying Lotus, KUSO is a blistering, fever dream of filmmaking that uses music, special effects and animation to take a unique look at the dark history of America.
KUSO marks the feature directorial debut from Steve, the filmmaking alter-ego of Steve Ellison, better known as music producer, DJ and rapper Flying Lotus. Ellison’s name has become synonymous with creative innovation, having released five seminal studio albums, a slew of audio-visual marvels and, in the process, gaining two Grammy nominations including one for his work on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”.
Produced by Eddie Alcazar, and featuring Hannibal Buress (NEIGHBORS, Broad City), Anders Holm (Workaholics, The Mindy Project), Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Eastbound and Down), and iconic Funk musician George Clinton, the film also includes an original score and musical collaborations with Aphex Twin and Akira Yamaoka.
The film is now playing in theaters in Los Angeles and on SHUDDER.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yodbDPX0DO0
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Mickey Lemle’s THE LAST DALAI LAMA? Takes a Fresh Look at the 14th Dalai Lama at 80 | Trailer
THE LAST DALAI LAMA? from filmmaker Mickey Lemle grants viewers intimate access to the Dalai Lama and those who have been touched by his vast influence from George W. Bush to the film’s accomplished composer, Philip Glass. The film will open at IFC Center in New York City on Friday, July 28.
THE LAST DALAI LAMA? takes a fresh look at what is truly important for the 14th Dalai Lama at 80: The ongoing confrontation between Tibetans and China; His Holiness’s influence in political and spiritual spheres; his work with educators and neuropsychologists; and his personal feelings on aging, dying and the question: Will there be a fifteenth Dalai Lama, or will he be the last Dalai Lama?
The film artfully weaves sequences from director Mickey Lemle’s groundbreaking film COMPASSION IN EXILE: The Story of The 14th Dalai Lama (1992), with contemporary footage including intimate interviews with His Holiness and follow up questions shot decades apart; accounts from The Dalai Lama’s family and close friends; and conversations with those he’s inspired since his exile from Tibet in 1959.
The Dalai Lama’s impact on the West has grown over the 25 years since Lemle’s earlier film. In THE LAST DALAI LAMA? we see teachers in British Columbia incorporating “Emotional Intelligence” and non-violent conflict resolution in grade school classes, and neuropsychologists and behavioral therapists who have begun using cutting edge technology to research how to overcome negative afflictive emotions like anger and hatred.
Original music score composed and performed by Philip Glass and Tibetan music phenom, Tenzin Choegyal.
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South African Film THE WOUND (INXEDBA) Wins Awards at Durban Film Festival
The Wound (Inxeba), which had its African premiere in competition at the Durban International Film Festival, won both Best Director for John Trengrove and Best Actor for Nakhane Touré at the festival. This is a latest in the film’s award-winning streak, which has seen it pick up a number of accolades from all around the world.
“From the very beginning, the process of making Inxeba was characterized by intense collaboration and risk taking. This film demanded everything from those who came on board”, says director John Trengrove. “I am so grateful to the incredible cast and crew who put their faith and trust in this journey. This film is a testament to their efforts. I want to dedicate this award to the silent and faceless queers throughout the African continent who face insurmountable obstacles every day in a struggle for identity and dignity”.
‘The Wound’, which premiered internationally at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama, was a 2014 Durban FilmMart project.
‘The Wound’ will open nationwide in South Africa on February 2, 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I&t=3s
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MACHINES, Rahul Jain Sundance Award Winning Debut Film, Sets U.S. Release Date | Trailer
Machines, the debut documentary film from director Rahul Jain, and winner of the Special Jury Award for Cinematography at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival will be released in the U.S. beginning Wednesday, August 9, at New York’s Film Forum. The film is set to expand nationwide in September, 2017.
Returning to his childhood home of Sachin in India’s Gujarat state, Rahul Jain documents a striking visual paradox: intensely sensual images of colorful fabrics produced in a Dickensian factory in which men and children work tirelessly for a pittance, some barefoot. They are some of the 45 million workers that support the $40 billion Indian textile and garment industries.
Punctuating stunning Steadicam shots, where Mr. Jain’s camera takes viewers into dark, damp and sometimes fiery working spaces, are sparse and sharp testimonials from the workers describing their own experiences – as well as their failed efforts at improving working conditions. One man asks rhetorically: “But what is poverty anyway? Poverty is harassment, Sir.”
Uniquely combining ravishing visuals with social advocacy, Machines weaves a moving portrait of people toiling amid pulsating machines, bubbling vats of dye, and colorful, billowing cascades of textiles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkV-eeXrlUg
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9 Short Films by Italian Directors in Venice Intl. Film Critics’ Week SIC@SIC Short Films Program
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The Last Miracle (L’ultimo miracolo) by Enrico Pau[/caption]
Nine short films by Italian directors, who have not yet directed a feature film, will have their world premiere at the 2nd SIC@SIC (Short Italian Cinema @ Settimana Internazionale della Critica).
The short films program is part of the 32nd Venice International Film Critics’ Week, an independent and parallel section organized by the National Union of Italian Film Critics’ (SNCCI) during the 74th Venice International Film Festival (August 30 – September 9, 2017).
After premiering in Venice, the short films presented at SIC@SIC will be promoted at an international level by the Department for International Promotion of Contemporary Cinema of the Istituto Luce-Cinecittà through a series of initiatives and festivals, such as, the Mostra de Cinema Italià de Barcelona (Short Films Competition section) programmed in Spain in December 2017. Furthermore, the short films will be made available for industry professionals through the online platforms Festival Scope Pro and Italian Short Film Video Library – a tool for the promotion of Italian short films realized by the Centro Nazionale del Cortometraggio (Italian Short Film Center) in collaboration with Istituto Luce-Cinecittà. Last but not least, at the end of November 2017 they will attend the TSFM – Torino Short Film Market, organized by the Italian Short Film Center.
After screening at the first edition of SIC@SIC, the seven short films selected in 2016 have been traveling the world. In less than nine months, they have already attended almost fifty festivals and cinematic events, including, Film Festival Rotterdam, DocLisboa, BFI Flare, London LGBT Film Festival, Lima Independeiente – Festival Internacional de Cine, Lovers Film Festival – Torino LGBTQI Visions and Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema di Pesaro. Some of the directors of the “class” of 2016 are now working on their first feature film.
SIC@SIC 2017 – THE LINEUP
Adavede by Alain Parroni Due (Two) by Riccardo Giacconi Les fantômes de la veille (Ghosts of Yesterday) by Manuel BilliI l legionario (The Legionnaire) by Hleb Papou MalaMènti (MeanMinds) by Francesco Di Leva Piccole italiane (Little Italian Girls) by Letizia Lamartire Le visite (Visiting Day) by Elio Di Pace Special event – Opening short film Nausicaa – L’altra Odissea (Nausicaa – The Other Odyssey) by Bepi Vigna Special event – Closing short film L’ultimo miracolo (The Last Miracle) by Enrico Pau
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Jennifer Brea’s Sundance Award-Winning Documentary UNREST Gets a Fall Release
The Sundance award-winning film Unrest in which Jennifer Brea documents her fight to overcome Myalgic Encephalomyelitis aka Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, will be released in the US in the Fall. The will open in New York on September 22, followed by Los Angeles and San Francisco on September 29, with a nationwide release to select cities to follow. Unrest will open in theaters in the U.K. on October 20. This was first exclusively reported by Variety.
Unrest world premiered in the documentary competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize for editing. It has since screened at SxSW, CPH:DOX, HotDocs, River Run (Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature), Nashville Film Festival (Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature), and the Sheffield Doc/Fest (Illuminate Award), among other festivals.
Jennifer Brea is an active Harvard PhD student about to marry the love of her life when suddenly her body starts failing her. Hoping to shed light on her strange symptoms, Jennifer grabs a camera and films the darkest moments unfolding before her eyes as she is derailed by M.E. (commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), a mysterious illness some still believe is “all in your head.”
In this story of love and loss, newlyweds Jennifer and Omar search for answers as they face unexpected obstacles with great heart. Often confined by her illness to the private space of her bed, Jen is moved to connect with others around the globe. Utilizing Skype, she unlocks a forgotten community with intimate portraits of four other families suffering similarly.
Jennifer Brea’s wonderfully honest portrayal asks us to rethink the stigma around an illness that affects millions of people. Unrest is a vulnerable and eloquent personal documentary that is sure to hit closer to home than many could imagine.
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13 Film Projects to Receive Funding from Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund
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Félicité[/caption]
13 film projects including Berlin Film Festival award winning Felicité by Alain Gomis, have been recommended for funding at the 26th jury session of the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF).
Five film projects from Bangladesh, Palestine, Brazil, Afghanistan and Uruguay were nominated for production funding. In the additional WCF Europe funding program, four projects from Tunisia, Brazil, Argentina and Egypt were nominated for production funding. In the special program WCF Africa, two projects from South Africa and Sudan / South Africa were nominated for funding.
Two films were nominated for distribution funding in Germany, including Felicité by Alain Gomis, which was awarded the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prix at the Berlinale 2017.
The latest funding recommendations also include projects by Berlinale Talents alumni, as well as projects that were once in search of co-producers and so participated in the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
Production Funding WCF
The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, director: Muayad Alayan (Palestine), Production: PalCine Productions (Palestine) and Manderley Films GmbH (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 50.000 euros. Director Muayad Alayan is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents (2016). Iron Stream, director: Kamar Ahmad Simon (Bangladesh), Production: Beginning Film (Bangladesh) and Weydemann Bros. (Germany). Feature Film. Funding: 40.000 euros. Director Kamar Ahmad Simon is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents (2012). The Fever, director: Maya da Rin (Brazil). Production: Enquadramento Produçoes (Brazil), Still Moving (France) and Komplizen Film (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 40.000 euros. Thus Spoke the Money Changer, director: Federico Veiroj (Uruguay). Production: Oriental Features (Uruguay) Pandora Filmproduktion GmbH (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 48.500 euros. The Orphanage, director: Shahrbanoo Sadat (Afghanistan). Production: Wolf Pictures (Afghanistan) and Adomeit Films (Germany / Denmark). Feature Film. Funding: 60.000 euros.WCF Europe
Weldi, director: Mohamed Ben Attia (Tunisia), Production: Nomadis Images (Tunisia) and Les Films du Fleuve (Belgium). Feature film. Funding: 40.000 euros. Director Mohamed Ben Attia received the GWFF Best First Feature Award for his feature debut Inhebbek Hedi which was shown in competition at the Berlinale 2016. Overgod, director: Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil). Production: Desvia (Brazil) and Snowglobe (Denmark). Feature film. Funding: 60.000 euros. The project was chosen for Berlinale Co-Production Market (2015). Muere, Monstruo, Muere!, director: Alejandro Fadel (Argentina). Production: La Unión de los Ríos (Argentina) and Rouge International (France). Feature film. Funding: 40.000 euros. The project was chosen for Berlinale Co-Production Market (2017). Amal, director: Mohamed Siam (Egypt), Production: Artkhana (Egypt) and Andolfi Films (France). Documentary. Funding: 30.000 €. Director Mohamed Siam is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents (2012).WCF Africa
A Kasha, director: Hajooj Kuka (Sudan) Production: Big World Cinema (South Africa). Feature film. Funding: 40.000 €. Director Hajooj Kuka is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents (2016). Sew the Winter to my Skin, director: Jahmil X.T (South Africa). Production: Spier Moving (South Africa). Feature film. Funding: 60.000 €.WCF Distribution Funding in Germany
Felicité Director: Alain Gomis (Senegal / France). Distribution: Grandfilm (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 10.000 €. Silver Bear Grand Jury Prix at Berlinale 2017 German release: August 31, 2017 Frenzy (original title: Abluka) Director: Emin Alper (Turkey). Distribution: Grandfilm (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 5.500 €. German release: October 18, 2017