Chavela, directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, is the captivating portrait of barrier-breaking Mexican ranchera singer Chavela Vargas whose international fame peaked after a triumphant return to the stage at the age of 71. The film will open at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday October 4th and at the Nuart in Los Angeles on October 6. A national release will follow.
Born in Costa Rica in 1919, Chavela Vargas ran away to Mexico City as a teenager to sing in the streets. By the 1950s she had become a darling of the city’s thriving bohemian club scene, delivering her performances with a raw passion and unique voice. Challenging mainstream Mexican morals by dressing in pants, drinking tequila, and smoking cigars while singing love songs intended for men to woo women and refusing to change the pronouns, Chavela was a bold, rebellious, sexual pioneer who defied gender and sexuality stereotypes at a time when being “out” was often dangerous.
Chavela, winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize and the Best Documentary Feature Audience Award at Outfest, and winner of the Audience Award at Frameline (San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival), and Official Selection at 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, HotDocs and Seattle International Film Festival, centers around a 1991 interview–the singer’s first public appearance after 12 hard years lost to alcoholism and heartbreak. Her amazing comeback began when Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, who had featured her music in many of his films, played an instrumental role in elevating her career to international acclaim. Whenever he introduced her to the public, he would kneel down to kiss the stage before she performed at renowned venues like New York’s Carnegie Hall, Paris’ L’Olympia Theatre, and Madrid’s Plaza de España.
In her lifetime, Chavela was credited with recording 80 albums, received a Latin Grammy for Lifetime Achievement, and was the second woman to win Spain’s most prestigious artistic award, the Grand Cross of Isabel, the Catholic. She was close to many prominent artists and intellectuals including Juan Rulfo, Agustín Lara, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Dolores Olmedo, José Alfredo Jiménez, Lila Downs, and Joaquin Sabina. Chavela also appeared in the 1967 movie La Soldadera, Werner Herzog’s Scream of the Stone and Julie Taymor’s Frida, and sang “Tú Me Acostumbraste” (“Because of You, I Got Accustomed”) in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel. Chavela passed away in 2012 at the age of 93.
Films
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CHAVELA, Award-Winning Documentary about Legendary Lesbian Singer Sets Fall Release Date | Trailer
Chavela, directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, is the captivating portrait of barrier-breaking Mexican ranchera singer Chavela Vargas whose international fame peaked after a triumphant return to the stage at the age of 71. The film will open at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday October 4th and at the Nuart in Los Angeles on October 6. A national release will follow.
Born in Costa Rica in 1919, Chavela Vargas ran away to Mexico City as a teenager to sing in the streets. By the 1950s she had become a darling of the city’s thriving bohemian club scene, delivering her performances with a raw passion and unique voice. Challenging mainstream Mexican morals by dressing in pants, drinking tequila, and smoking cigars while singing love songs intended for men to woo women and refusing to change the pronouns, Chavela was a bold, rebellious, sexual pioneer who defied gender and sexuality stereotypes at a time when being “out” was often dangerous.
Chavela, winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize and the Best Documentary Feature Audience Award at Outfest, and winner of the Audience Award at Frameline (San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival), and Official Selection at 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, HotDocs and Seattle International Film Festival, centers around a 1991 interview–the singer’s first public appearance after 12 hard years lost to alcoholism and heartbreak. Her amazing comeback began when Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, who had featured her music in many of his films, played an instrumental role in elevating her career to international acclaim. Whenever he introduced her to the public, he would kneel down to kiss the stage before she performed at renowned venues like New York’s Carnegie Hall, Paris’ L’Olympia Theatre, and Madrid’s Plaza de España.
In her lifetime, Chavela was credited with recording 80 albums, received a Latin Grammy for Lifetime Achievement, and was the second woman to win Spain’s most prestigious artistic award, the Grand Cross of Isabel, the Catholic. She was close to many prominent artists and intellectuals including Juan Rulfo, Agustín Lara, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Dolores Olmedo, José Alfredo Jiménez, Lila Downs, and Joaquin Sabina. Chavela also appeared in the 1967 movie La Soldadera, Werner Herzog’s Scream of the Stone and Julie Taymor’s Frida, and sang “Tú Me Acostumbraste” (“Because of You, I Got Accustomed”) in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel. Chavela passed away in 2012 at the age of 93.
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Official Poster for MARSHALL Starring Chadwick Boseman
Before MLK and Malcom X, there was Thurgood Marshall. Check out the brand new OFFICIAL POSTER for MARSHALL, starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, Sterling K. Brown, and James Cromwell. MARSHALL hits theaters October 13th.
Long before he sat on the United States Supreme Court or claimed victory in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that desegregated schools, Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) was a young rabble-rousing attorney for the NAACP. The new motion picture, MARSHALL, is the true story of his greatest challenge in those early days – a fight he fought alongside attorney Sam Friedman (Josh Gad), a young lawyer with no experience in criminal law: the case of black chauffeur Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown), accused by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing (Kate Hudson), of sexual assault and attempted murder.
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Sundance-Winning RUMBLE: THE INDIANS WHO ROCKED THE WORLD Gets Summer Release Date | Trailer
RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World, a powerful movie about the role of Native Americans in contemporary music, featuring some of the greatest music stars of our time, will be released in theaters this Summer via Kino Lorber.
The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the festival’s World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling.
Following its world premiere, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World received the Best Music Documentary Film Award at the Boulder International Film Festival and will play at several key film festivals nationwide.
A New York theatrical premiere is set for July 26, 2017, at New York’s Film Forum – before a national expansion during the summer, including a full awards-qualifying release at Landmark’s NUART Theatre in Los Angeles starting August 25, 2017.
Written and directed by Catherine Bainbridge (Reel Injun), written and co-directed by Alfonso Maiorana, and Executive Produced by Stevie Salas and Tim Johnson, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World exposes a critical missing chapter of Rock history, revealing how Indigenous musicians helped shape the soundtracks of many generations.
The film stars Link Wray, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Jesse Ed Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Randy Castillo, Taboo, Martin Scorsese, Quincy Jones, Steven Tyler, Steven Van Zandt, Iggy Pop, Tony Bennett, George Clinton, Slash, Taylor Hawkins, Robert Trujillo, and many more.
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TRUE TO THE GAME Starring Late Nelsan Ellis, Vivica Fox, Columbus Short Sets Release Date | Trailer + Poster
True To The Game, an adaptation of Teri Woods’ fan favorite and NY Times best-selling novel of the same name, and starring the late Nelsan Ellis, will debut in theaters nationwide on September 8, 2017.
Featuring an all star cast including Vivica Fox, Columbus Short, Andra Fuller, Draya Michele, Nafeesa Williams, newcomer Erica Peeples and the late Nelsan Ellis, True To The Game chronicles the love story of a charismatic drug lord, Quadir (Columbus Short) and Gena, a young woman from the projects of Philadelphia. Set in the 1980s in Harlem, NY, this exciting story comes to life as it shows their journey of love while navigating the nuances of the drug game, and their movement towards positivity when tragedy strikes.
“I am humbled and honored to have partnered with Manny Halley and Imani Motion Pictures to bring the True To The Game vision to life. As my fans have been anticipating this release for years, I am anxious for the loyal readers to view this adaptation on the big screen,” says Teri Woods, Author of True To The Game.
“As a fan of Teri Woods and her creative contributions to depict the reality of urban life, I am excited to have acquired the rights and bring her vision to life. True To The Game is a favorite because it highlights everything that all people want: financial prosperity, love and happiness. However, it also shows that there is a heavy price associated with those things in the street life. The film will highlight the impact of consequences of self motivated actions that that alter the lives of many,” says Manny Halley, CEO of Imani Motion Pictures.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JV5dTITBxY
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SPIELBERG, New Documentary on Famous Director to Debut on HBO
Steven Spielberg, one of the most famous filmmakers in the world, will be the subject of a new documentary SPIELBERG that will debut exclusively on HBO on Saturday, October 7, 2017. Directed and produced by award-winning documentarian Susan Lacy, the feature-length documentary examines Spielberg’s filmography in depth, revealing how his experiences fed his work and changed it over time.
Steven Spielberg has built an unrivaled catalogue of groundbreaking films over the course of his nearly 50-year career. Charting the evolution of this iconic figure, Lacy draws on nearly 30 hours of exclusive interviews with the director, who opens up about his bittersweet childhood and lifelong obsession with moviemaking, his precocious early work as a TV “wunderkind,” his rise to fame through an incredible string of blockbusters, his later forays into more serious dramatic films, and the personal and professional relationships he’s cultivated through the years.
SPIELBERG also includes insights from members of Spielberg’s family, as well as friends and colleagues, plus clips and behind-the-scenes footage from many of his milestone films, including “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Arc,” “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Bridge of Spies” and many more.
Lacy interviewed more than 80 subjects for the film, ranging from A-list celebrities, to directors and producers, to industry insiders, including J.J. Abrams, Christian Bale, Drew Barrymore, Cate Blanchett, Francis Ford Coppola, Daniel Craig, Daniel Day-Lewis, Brian de Palma, Laura Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Richard Dreyfuss, Ralph Fiennes, Harrison Ford, David Geffen, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Holly Hunter, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ben Kingsley, Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas, Liam Neeson, Martin Scorsese, Oprah Winfrey and Robert Zemeckis.
The result is a remarkably intimate portrait that combines Spielberg’s compelling first-person narrative with an in-depth exploration of the creative process and craftsmanship that have set him apart, highlighting themes such as separation, reconciliation, patriotism, humanity and wonder, which recur throughout his work.
Susan Lacy is the creator and former executive producer of the celebrated WNET series “American Masters,” which is shown on PBS nationwide. She has won countless awards, including ten Primetime Emmys(R) for Outstanding Documentary Series and 12 Peabody Awards. As executive producer of “American Masters,” Lacy produced a library of 250 films exploring the lives of America’s most enduring cultural icons, from Charlie Chaplin to James Baldwin to Bob Dylan. She has also directed films on subjects as diverse as Leonard Bernstein, David Geffen, Joni Mitchell, Judy Garland, Paul Simon, Rod Serling and Lena Horne.
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Watch New Trailer for Weird Film KUSO, Debut Film from Rapper Flying Lotus
Check out the new trailer that was released today for KUSO, the debut film from acclaimed producer and rapper Flying Lotus, that premiered earlier this year at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film will be released in theaters in Los Angeles, and on SHUDDER nationwide on July 21st, 2017.
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ3GJxzVkIs
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Luciana Farah’s SOMEBODY CLAP FOR ME to World Premiere at Zanzibar International Film Festival | Trailer
Somebody Clap For Me from Brazilian director Luciana Farah, will have its world premiere at the 20th edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival taking place July 8 to 16, 2017.
A rollercoaster ride from grassroots poetry to the political heart of Uganda, this captivating labour of love provides a fascinating window into life in a country in which three-quarters of the population is under 25. Linking Uganda’s oral tradition to its 21st Century culture of hip-hop and slam poetry, the film brings its protagonists to the fore, providing a constantly shifting portrait of a Kampala-based youth movement that uses spoken word to challenge the oppressive restraints of Ugandan society and the increasing constraints on freedom of speech under current president Yoweri Museveni.
As Farah chronicles the resurfacing of village bonfire storytelling traditions in the form of open-mic poetry events, we meet some of the scene’s key actors, including Roshan, a mixed race Ugandan who has grown up in the UK, Ugly Emcee, a freedom-of-speech activist who reveals himself to be the grandson of Idi Amin, and Medals the Born Again Politician, who challenges the status quo with both his conviction and command of political pastiche.
The film, which was shot over the course of three years with a crew of East African film students, follows these and other poets as they go about their daily lives in Kampala, the eclectic individual portraits building to form a cross-sectional vision of a country trying to shed its past and create a more inclusive and democratic reality, despite the conservative forces that are attempting to hold on to power.
What begins as a documentary about a grassroots poetry collective, twists and turns unpredictably as it takes viewers into the political and cultural heart of contemporary Uganda. Fuelled by the universal themes of love and identity and made using unconventional filmmaking techniques, Somebody Clap for Me was produced with the support of Maisha Film Lab and the Doha Film Institute.
“I am extremely happy for Somebody Clap for Me to be premiering at ZIFF,” said Farah. “The festival has a long history of supporting independent African cinema and it is fitting that the film will receive its first public screening at one of Africa’s leading film festivals.”
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Poster + Watch Trailer for South African Film THE WOUND (Inxeba)
The South African film The Wound (Inxeba) has won the Best Film Award in the International New Talent Competition, at the 2017 Taipei Film Festival ahead of its African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival on July 14.
The film, the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.
The Wound which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama went on to win a string of awards.
At Cinema Jove, the Valencia International Film Festival, The Wound was awarded the Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film, as well as the Best Actor Award for Nakhane Touré.
At one of the world’s longest-running film festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, The Wound won the Audience Award for Best Feature.
At the 41st Frameline, San Francisco’s international film festival, held from 15 to 25 June and where 147 films were screened, The Wound won the First Feature Award.
Shortly before that, it was awarded the prize for Best Feature Film at the 32nd Lovers Film Festival, an LGBTQI festival held in Turin, Italy.
In April, the film received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative at the 19th annual Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I
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Human Trafficking Documentary Thriller THE WRONG LIGHT In Theaters July 14th | Trailer
The Wrong Light, a documentary thriller set in Northern Thailand on harrowing tales of girls rescued by hero that fall apart, will open in theaters on Friday, July 14th, 2017.in New York at Cinema Village, and on Friday, July 21, 2017 in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Monica Film Center.
The film directed by Josie Swantek Heitz and Dave Adams won the Grand Jury Prize – NJ Films at the Montclair Film Festival.
Amidst growing international concern about human trafficking, a nonprofit organization named COSA was founded in 2005 by Mickey Choothesa with the stated mission of serving as a refuge for at-risk and trafficked girls in Northern Thailand. Mickey, a self-described war photographer-turned-activist with an “upstream” prevention approach to trafficking, promoted COSA as a sanctuary providing educational opportunities for young girls. His work drew international donors, a steady stream of western visitors, and global press attention.
Filmmakers Josie Swantek Heitz and Dave Adams were fascinated by the story of two young girls who had been sold into the sex trade by their parents and were later rescued by COSA. They believed they had found a harrowing and uplifting story of heroism worthy of a feature-length documentary. With this in mind, they traveled to Thailand where they interviewed many of the rescued girls at COSA and travelled to their villages to speak with their families.
Unexpectedly, their conversations with both the girls and their families contradicted Mickey’s version of their stories, making the truth that much more elusive. Reluctantly, they became subjects in the film, revealing the story as it unfolded for them. THE WRONG LIGHT is the fascinating and troubling account of their quest to find answers and tell the real story of COSA, its work, and its impact on the young girls.
Who is Mickey Choothesa? Who are these girls? And who is responsible for their representation and exploitation?
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30 for 30 Documentary GEORGE BEST: ALL BY HIMSELF Sets ESPN Air Date | Trailer
The 30 for 30 documentary, “George Best: All by Himself,” directed by BAFTA award-winning director Daniel Gordon (Hillsborough), recounts the tale of the beloved but bedeviled soccer superstar George Best.
The film will debut on Tuesday, July 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN leading into the Manchester United vs Manchester City game.
He was one of the best soccer players of all time; a handsome, charismatic lad from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who worked wonders with the ball and thrilled Great Britain. But George Best was also the lead in a Shakespearean tragedy fueled by drink and excess and depression. This 30 for 30 film tells his story through evocative footage and testimony by those who knew him at his best – and at his worst.
There’s a lot of ground to cover – from his electric debut with Manchester United at the age of 17, through the glory years that brought ManU the 1968 European Cup, to his adventures in the North American Soccer League. “George Best: All by Himself” will make viewers understand why an estimated quarter million people lined the route of his funeral cortege in 2005.
“I wanted to make a film that dug beneath the surface of the caricature of ‘Britain’s First Pop Star Soccer Player’ and tell a tale of emotional depth that takes us on George’s rollercoaster journey of a life,” said director Daniel Gordon. “This is a cautionary tale. It is a story of addiction and what can happen to someone who has so much at such a young age, who reaches unimaginable heights – and then hits the ‘self-destruct’ button throughout the rest of his descent to rock bottom.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvU3xW1QjCY
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Poster + Watch Trailer for Award Winning Documentary ICARUS
Netflix has released the trailer and poster for Bryan Fogel’s award winning documentary Icarus, set to launch globally on Netflix on August 4, 2017.
In the audacious documentary Icarus, director Bryan Fogel’s bold gambit was this: to investigate doping in sports, Fogel (an amateur bike racer) would dope himself, observe the changes in his performance, and see if he could evade detection. In doing so, he was connected to a renegade Russian scientist, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, a pillar of his country’s “anti-doping” program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program.
When the truth is more complex than imagined, and accusations of illegalities run to Russia’s highest chains of command, the two realize they hold the power to reveal the biggest international sports scandal in living memory. Exemplifying the special bond between filmmaker and subject, this is a vital portrait of the sacrifice some people will make to stand up for truth. Icarus places you at the heart of an international game of cat and mouse, where a miscalculation can cost you your life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXoRdSTrR-4
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Actress Kristen Bell Records New Song “Tell Me How Long” for CHASING CORAL
Actress and singer Kristen Bell has recorded a new song “Tell Me How Long” for the upcoming original documentary Chasing Coral, directed by Jeff Orlowski. Written by Dan Romer and Teddy Geiger, the song is a rousing plea about the climate crisis and the devastating phenomenon silently raging underwater – the global bleaching of coral reefs.
“I was moved and inspired by Chasing Coral and its message of hope for our planet’s future,” said Kristen Bell. “I feel a responsibility to care for the Earth in whatever way I can and I was honored to lend my voice to the original song. As we strive to make a better world for our children, I hope this film will ignite real action in advancing climate solutions in our global communities.”
Romer’s previous film scores include the Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild, Gleason, Finders Keepers, and the Emmy-winning Jim: The James Foley Story. “Tell Me How Long” co-writer Teddy Geiger is a singer-songwriter and producer, known for his compositions “Stitches”, “Treat You Better”, “Mercy”, and “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back”.
Orlowski’s previous film, Chasing Ice, received an Academy Award-nomination for Best Original Song for “Before My Time”, written by J. Ralph and performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6fHA9R2cKI