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EVA HESSE[/caption]
EVA HESSE, a documentary film by Marcie Begleiter, about the art and life of Eva Hesse will be released in the U.S. in April by Zeitgeist Films.
EVA HESSE will open at
Film Forum in New York on April 27, and at
Laemmle Monica Film Center on May 13. Many other cities will follow.
As the wild ride of the 1960’s came to a close, Eva Hesse was cresting the wave of a swiftly rising career. One of the few women recognized as central to the New York art scene, she had over 20 group shows scheduled for 1970 in addition to being chosen for a cover article in ArtForum Magazine. Her work was finally receiving both the critical and commercial attention it deserved.
EVA HESSE deepens the understanding of this extraordinary artist, not only in terms of her ground-breaking work, but also the life that provided the fertile soil for her achievements. With dozens of new interviews, high quality footage of Hesse’s artwork and a wealth of newly discoverd archival imagery, the documentary not only traces Eva’s path but engages in a lively investigation into the creative community of 1960’s New York and Germany.
Born in Hamburg in 1936 to a German-Jewish family, the artist’s fierce work ethic may have developed from a complex psychology that was formed, in part, as a Jew born in Nazi Germany. Having escaped the fate of her extended family, Eva and her older sister Helen were sent out on one of the last Kindertransports (trains that carried Jewish children to safety) and was eventually reunited with their parents in Holland. They made their way to New York in 1940 but her family struggled to make a new home. The remaining years of Hesse’s youth were difficult, and through dealing with these challenges she discovered herself as an artist early in life. The passion and serious attention she gave to her work led her first to Yale and then to playing a central part in the New York art scene of the sixties. Hesse’s cohort, major artists such as Dan Graham, Richard Serra, Nancy Holt, Carl Andre, Robert and Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Eva’s husband Tom Doyle and her friend, writer Lucy Lippard, speak candidly and with great passion about the 60’s, Eva’s work and her life.
When Eva Hesse died in May 1970, at 34 years of age from a brain tumor, the life of one of that decade’s most passionate and brilliant artists was tragically cut short. As Jonathon Keats wrote in Art and Antiques Magazine “Yet the end of her life proved to be only the beginning of her career.” Her work is now held by many important museum collections including the Whitney, MoMA, the Hirschhorn, the Pompidou in Paris and London’s Tate Modern and Cologne’s Ludwig Museum.
2016 is proving to be a banner year for Eva Hesse; in addition to the film’s domestic and international release, “Diaries” a book of her journal entries will be published in May by Yale University Press. Also, the artist’s work is included in many landmark exhibitions this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aov6R8qmf10
EVA HESSE Director’s statement:
I have an abiding interest in the art and life of Eva Hesse. The work moves me deeply in the mysterious way that powerful art can function. It’s hard to categorize; inhabiting a space that moves fluidly between media and ideas. The work made me want to know more about the artist and that led to Lucy Lippard’s “Eva Hesse”, the first book written on the artist after her early death in 1970. This volume includes fragments from Hesse’s unpublished journals and quotes from the single interview she gave in her lifetime.
I connected strongly with the voice and heart that came through in these short quotes and began to search out more material from Hesse’s archive. Like Eva, I also have roots in the European Jewish community, a history that comes with many opportunities as well as inherent challenges. The female perspective is also very strong in her writing as is her ambition and bravery.
No biography in English has been published, so I decided to go visit those unpublished journals at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio where they are housed. Given a pair of white gloves, I sat for a week in their rare manuscripts library, reading through hundreds of pages. The journals told a deep and compelling story about this remarkable woman’s journey. It was characterized by loss, but more importantly for me, by a triumphant commitment to work and living life to its fullest. By week’s end I had fallen for the woman as I had for the work and began a series of projects of which this film is the latest incarnation.
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Blanca Engström in GRANNY’S DANCING ON THE TABLE[/caption]
The 6th World Cinema Spotlight at the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival will feature films under the theme Animating the Image, focusing on frame-by-frame animation.
Whether hand-drawn, stop-motion, CGI, motion capture or a combination thereof, animation recalls the illusory magic of the earliest days of cinema, a surprisingly simple “trick” that continues to enthrall and inspire—when presented in succession, a series of still images transform to appear in motion.
Adaptable to a variety of eclectic approaches—exemplified by this year’s Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award recipient Aardman Animations, the collage of Lewis Klahr’s Sixty Six and the variety of styles employed by multiple artists in Penny Lane’s surprising and singular documentary NUTS!—animation endures as one of the most satisfying and versatile techniques in cinema.
WORLD CINEMA SPOTLIGHT PROGRAMS
Granny’s Dancing on the Table (Sweden/Denmark 2015) – Taking place within the quiet serenity of the dense Swedish woods, isolated from civilization, Hanna Sköld’s intense drama delivers a harrowing tale of abuse, psychological imprisonment and the power of imagination to withstand painful circumstances. Enchanting stop-motion animation captures 13-year-old Eini’s worldview as she silently struggles against her father’s brutal control and envisions the dysfunctional family history that led to her grandmother’s rebellious travels and her own pale and powerless existence.
Life, Animated (USA 2016) – The power of cinema has rarely been revealed as strongly as in this documentary about an autistic man named Owen Suskind who, as a boy, discovers a way to communicate with his parents through Disney movies. Now a young man, Owen is getting ready to live on his own, and the film shows his successes and struggles as he embarks on this huge step.
NUTS! (USA 2015) – Penny Lane’s documentary—comprised of archival material, animated sequences and the occasional talking head—blooms into an incredible almanac of early 20th-century quackery and innovation as she focuses on JR Brinkley, an early broadcasting baron, direct-mail pioneer and an evangelical proponent of goat-testicle implants. An empire built on spurious claims and fear mongering seems unstoppable—until the American Medical Association dares to question its foundations.
Persistence of Vision Award: An Afternoon with Aardman Animations – Established in 1997, the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award honors the achievement of filmmakers whose main body of work falls outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking. This year, we recognize the team behind beloved animation studio Aardman. Join co-founder Peter Lord for an in-depth conversation and a filmic celebration of the studio’s 40th anniversary.
Phantom Boy (France/Belgium 2015) – When a kingpin with a face only Picasso could love threatens to bring down New York City’s infrastructure, a seriously ill boy with a unique, ghostly superpower teams up with a bedridden crusading cop to stop him. The team behind A Cat in Paris (SFIFF 2011) delivers another dose of enchanting 2D animation along with a story that blends absurd humor with an emotionally potent tale of a child rising about troubling circumstances.
Shorts 3: Animation – A retirement home resident attempts to woo with music. A participant in a primal scream class gets more than he bargained for. And a child is made to drink blood from deer antlers. These imaginative, often hilarious story-based animations mingle with non-narrative works that ply their magic with light and sophisticated processing techniques in this wide-ranging program.
Shorts 5: Family Films – In this eclectic international collection of short films for young audiences, an array of colorful characters—of the human, animal and monster varieties—learn how to help one another and work together in fun and sometimes surprising ways. Works range from new student films to those by veteran artists such as Nick Park of Aardman Animations, Disney animator Glen Keane, YouTube favorite Simon Tofield (and his fussy fat cat), and Oscar-winning SFIFF alum Brandon Oldenburg.
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A scene from Lewis Klah’s SIXTY SIX[/caption]
Sixty Six (USA 2015) – Sixties pop-art heroines and DC comic-strip heroes are suffused with the passions of Greco-Roman gods in Lewis Klahr’s short film compilation spanning 14 years of filmmaking, chosen by the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis as one of the best films of 2015. Lovers of melodrama, all your paper-doll superstars are here, but an individual heart beats beneath the vivid imagery.
Chloé Leriche’s first feature-length film, BEFORE THE STREETS (Avant les rues), will be released in Quebec, Canada, on April 15th.
The film will play in Cinéma Beaubien (MTL), Cinéma du Parc (English sub-titled version), Station Vu – Cinéma de quartier (MTL), Cinéma Guzzo Méga-Plex Pont-Viau (Laval), Cinéma Guzzo place Jacques-Cartier in Longueuil, Cinéma Le Clap (Québec), La Maison du cinéma (Sherbrooke), Cinéma RGFM Joliette and Cinéma Le Tapis Rouge (Trois-Rivières).
BEFORE THE STREETS world premiered in competition at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in the Generation section, and closed the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois film festival 2016.
Young Shawnouk kills a man during a robbery and flees into the forest. Deciding to return to his Atikamekw village in Québec, he tries to redeem himself using traditional cleansing rituals.
BEFORE THE STREETS celebrates a revival of native culture and its traditions, as embodied by the very actors who participated in the film. The first dramatic feature shot in the native language of Atikamekw, the film boasts a cast composed almost entirely of non-professionals living and working in the villages where the film was shot. The story takes place in Manawan, while a forest fire closes in on the nearby village of Wemotaci.
Chloé Leriche[/caption]
Chloé Leriche is a self-taught writer, director, and editor who has produced a dozen short films since 2001; her work has won several international film festival awards. She worked for Wapikoni Mobile, encouraging young people from different native tribes in Québec and Ontario to express themselves through cinema.
FARE, a feature-length thriller filmed entirely inside a moving car over three days, 
MEN & CHICKEN[/caption]
The “inventively bizarre and outlandish comedy” MEN & CHICKEN directed by acclaimed, Oscar-winning director Anders Thomas Jensen will open in New York and LA on April 22nd.
MEN & CHICKEN starring David Dencik (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) was an official selection of the 
VIKTORIA[/caption]
The Bulgarian film VIKTORIA, directed by Maya Vitkova will be released in the U.S. by Big World Pictures.
Official Selection at Sundance, Rotterdam, AFI Fest and a number of other prestigious film festivals, and winner of numerous awards, VIKTORIA will open at the 
LES COWBOYS[/caption]
LES COWBOYS directed by Thomas Bidegain, and starring Finnegan Oldfield, featuring John C. Reilly will be released theatrically on June 24th, opening in NY at 
WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT[/caption]
Award-winning documentary WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT will be released on iTunes and VOD nationwide on March 15.
Directed by Mathew Ramirez Warren, WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT tells the story of Latin boogaloo, a colorful expression of 1960s Latino soul, straight from the streets of New York City. From its origins to its recent resurgence, it’s the story of a sound that redefined a generation and was too funky to keep down.
WE LIKE IT LIKE THAT explores this fascinating, though often overlooked, bridge in Latin music history, showcasing the musical style that was born in the barrios of NYC and would eventually spawn a generation of chart-topping music artists and a global music movement that is once again alive and well today.
In the 1960s, a generation of musicians from East Harlem, the South Bronx and parts of Brooklyn fused Afro-Cuban music with R&B, jazz, funk and rock to create Latin boogaloo. It was a period of revolution and social awakening and young Latinos in search of their identity adopted Latin boogaloo as their soundtrack.
Much of this music was released by Alegre, Cotique and Fania Records during the 1960s and 70s. But as salsa, a more traditional style of Latin music, grew in popularity by the 1970s, some say the Latin boogaloo was killed off, not by the fans, but by cultural and industry politics.
By the 2000s, after decades of obscurity, the artists who made Latin boogaloo popular finally began to get the recognition they deserved, with the help of DJs and new bands such as DJ Turmix, The Boogaloo Assassins and Ray Lugo & the Boogaloo Destroyers, that pay tribute to the genre.
The cast of musicians and their personal stories told in We Like it Like Thatare as vibrant and enduring as the unforgettable rhythms they created. Some of the notable artists include Joe Bataan, a former gang leader who spent several years in prison before starting a band and becoming known as the “King of Latin Soul” and continues to be one of the most popular and active Latin boogaloo luminaries working today; Ricardo Ray, a Juilliard trained piano player who along with his singer, Bobby Cruz, recorded the first known Latin boogaloo “Lookie, Lookie” and went on to enjoy international fame in Latin music; Johnny Colon, the influential multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader who was a key player in the boogaloo scene and behind the first major latin boogaloo hit, “Boogaloo Blues,” a controversial song at the time for its chorus “LSD’s got a hold on me;” Jimmy Sabater, the late singer and percussionist for the Joe Cuba Sextet who helped write “Bang Bang,” the first boogaloo song to break through as a national hit; Pete Rodriguez, the bandleader whose group created “I Like it Like That,” the biggest Latin boogaloo hit of the 1960s and a repeat chart topper when it was covered in the 1990s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c–UlUha8nY
Additionally on March 11, “We Like It Like That: The Story of Latin Boogaloo Volume One” original motion picture soundtrack will be released digitally on Fania Records, featuring 14 classic latin boogaloo tracks from legendary music icons featured in the film such as Pete Rodriguez (“I Like It Like That”), Joe Bataan (“Ordinary Guy,” “Subway Joe”), Richie Ray (“Lookie Lookie”), Ray Barretto (“New York Soul”), Eddie Palmieri (“Azucar”), LeBron Brothers (“Summertime Blues”) and more.
I Fall Down[/caption]
The ultra low-budget indie feature film I Fall Down is now available on iTunes in North America and Ireland.
The Prairie Gothic drama was shot over two and a half years around Edmonton, Alberta. Writer/Director Christopher White harkens back to the tragic silent monster movies from cinema’s golden age, like The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“In those films, the ‘monsters’ are nothing more than mistreated, unloved freaks,” he explains. “It’s not just the imagery that I borrowed, its their humanity and the audience’s empathy for these outcasts”. He credits the black-and-white reversal film for defining the tone and mood of the picture. “There’s a grit to the image, it pops, fizzles and it isn’t perfect. You get changing shades of grey which mirror the characters’ conflicts and relationships.”
Starring Emma Houghton and Tom Antoni, I Fall Down tells the story of Annessa (Houghton), a lonely teenage girl with a troubled past, hoping to leave her life behind. After a failed suicide attempt she meets Charlie (Antoni), a disfigured, child-like man who lives alone in a woodland shack. Although their mutual loneliness draws them together, their lives begin spiralling out of control when confronted by an intolerant world and Charlie’s own violent, primal nature.
The film debuted at the 2015 Macabre Faire Film Festival (Hauppauge, NY) followed by the inaugural Censured in Canada Film Festival (Toronto, ON). Critics have hailed it as a “modern Gothic story” and “an adult fairy tale”, praising Houghton for her captivating performance. She earned a Best Actress nomination at the 2014 Rosie Awards Gala alongside five other nominations for the picture, including Best Cinematography (David Baron) and Best Dramatic Production.
https://youtu.be/wYdUpJ2yjTg
https://youtu.be/kGmKl0XvXok
https://youtu.be/ZgNbWZFLjsg
https://youtu.be/ulnMS7ZCTno
https://youtu.be/PXd7sDEDIFE
BOOM BUST BOOM[/caption]
Monty Python Terry Jones’ new feature documentary BOOM BUST BOOM investigates the worldwide economic crash of 2008, and how we can avoid another global collapse in the future.
BOOM BUST BOOM will open theatrically on March 11 in New York (Village East Cinema), followed by release on iTunes and On Demand on March 15.
Analyzing the direct link between the unstable financial system and our reliance on mainstream economics, the film puts a spotlight on the mistakes of the past some politicians and central bankers would like us to forget. A mix of live action, animation, puppetry and song, the film charts the ancient cycle of boom and bust and offers the world a solution.
BOOM BUST BOOM features high profile advocates for change such as John Cusack, journalists Paul Mason and John Cassidy plus leading experts including the Chief Economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, and Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman, Robert Shiller and Paul Krugman.
The documentary is a result of a meeting between writer, director, historian and Python Jones and economics professor and entrepreneur Theo Kocken, BOOM BUST BOOM is co-written by Jones and Kocken and co-directed by Jones with son Bill Jones and Ben Timlett, AKA Bill & Ben Productions.
Inspired by the film, students from Rethinking Economics (who also appear in BOOM BUST BOOM) announce a brand new current affairs and education website, launching in late March. Economy will be a rich mix of new and diverse content with a global perspective from comedy pieces and live event video to vox-pops, innovative social content, explainers, commentary plus art & illustration. With support from BOOM BUST BOOM executive producers Cardano Education, Economy is on a mission to change the way we think about economics and make it more relevant to people’s lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XtnZDNXCKM
THE EYES OF MY MOTHER[/caption]
THE EYES OF MY MOTHER, the “hauntingly beautiful and shockingly original” debut from filmmaker Nicolas Pesce, has been acquired by Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, for release.
The film fuses classic horror ingredients with gothic black-and-white imagery and was called the “discovery of this year’s Sundance” by Indiewire’s Eric Kohn. It also features a breakout performance from newcomer Kika Magalhaes. Magnet is planning a 2016 theatrical release.
In the film Magalhaes plays Francisca, a young woman who has been unfazed by death from an early age. Francisca’ mother, a former surgeon, imbued her with a thorough understanding of the human anatomy. When tragedy shatters the family’s idyllic life in the countryside, Francisca’s deep trauma gradually awakens some unique curiosities. As she grows up, her desire to connect with the world around her takes a distinctly dark form.
The film was rapturously received by critics at Sundance. “It contains some of the most memorable, almost poetic visual compositions in a very long time” wrote Roger Ebert.com critic, Brian Tallerico. Variety was equally enthusiastic, calling the film “a Sundance standout” and “an impressive, highly original horror fable” while Vulture dubbed it “a slick, simmering nightmare.” Eric Kohn added that “Francisca is a movie monster for the ages.”
“Nicolas Pesce has crafted an auspicious and unforgettable debut that immediately establishes him as one of the most exciting genre filmmakers to watch today,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “This is the kind of film Magnet was started for.”
“I’m very excited for the film to have found a home with Magnet,” said Nicolas Pesce. “They’re responsible for releasing so many of the movies that inspired me, so to be included in this family is incredible. The life they’ve given to both foreign and domestic genre films is unparalleled, so for THE EYES OF MY MOTHER to be released through them is a dream come true.”
THE EYES OF MY MOTHER was produced by Jacob Wasserman, Schuyler Weiss, and Max Born and executive produced by Borderline Films’ Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin and Josh Mond under their new Borderline Presents label. Filmmaker Nicolas Pesce recently signed with United Talent Agency and Washington Square Films, while lead actress Kika Magalhaes was snatched up by Anonymous Content.
They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile[/caption]
Timed to Music Freedom Day 2016, BBC Worldwide North America will release Johanna Schwartz’s “timely and powerful” feature documentary They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile.
They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile will open theatrically on March 4 in New York (Village East Cinema) and April 1 in Los Angeles (Laemmle Santa Monica Theater) with additional markets to follow.
Music is the beating heart of Malian culture, but when Islamic jihadists took control of northern Mali in 2012, they enforced one of the harshest interpretations of sharia law by banning all forms of music. Radio stations were destroyed, instruments burned, and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death.
Overnight, the country’s revered musicians were forced into hiding or exile, where most remain — even now. But rather than laying down their instruments, these courageous artists fought back, standing up for their freedoms and using music as a weapon against the ongoing violence that has ravaged their homeland.
They Will Have To Kill Us First is director Schwartz’s debut feature, and follows Songhoy Blues andmusicians Kharia Arby, Fadimata “Disco” Walet Oumar,and Moussa Sidi as they each deal with the unfathomable situation in different ways. Telling the story of the uprising of Touareg separatists, revealing footage of the jihadists, and capturing life at refugee camps where both money and hope are scarce, Schwartz and her indefatigable, mainly female, crew chart the perilous journeys to war-ravaged cities, as some of Mali’s most talented musicians set up and perform at the first public concert in Timbuktu since the music ban.
Co-written by Schwartz and Andy Morgan, renowned journalist and former manager of Grammy® Award winning band Tinariwen, They Will Have To Kill Us First is produced by Sarah Mosses of Together Films and executive produced by Andre Singer (The Act of Killing) alongside Stephen Hendel, Victoria Steventon, OKAY Africa and Knitting Factory Entertainment.
They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile, features an original score by Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and a commissioned soundtrack featuring Songhoy Blues, Kharia Arby, Fadimata “Disco” Walet Oumar, Moussa Sidi and many more to be released on March 4 timed to the film’s release and Music Freedom Day 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TX7ybW6nAQ