The Weinsten Company has released the official trailer for ABOUT RAY directed by Gaby Dellal and World Premiere as a Special Presentation at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film which features an all star cast including Naomi Watts, Elle Fanning, Susan Sarandon, Sam Trammel, Linda Emond and Tate Donovan will open in theaters on Friday, September 18th.
ABOUT RAY tells the stirring and touching story of a family of three generations living under one roof in New York as they must deal with a life-changing transformation by one that ultimately effects them all. Ray (Elle Fanning) is a teenager who has come to the realization that she isn’t meant to be a girl and has decided to transition from female to male. His single mother, Maggie (Naomi Watts), must track down Ray’s biological father (Tate Donovan) to get his legal consent to allow Ray’s transition. Dolly (Susan Sarandon), Ray’s lesbian grandmother is having a hard time accepting that she now has a grandson. They must each confront their own identities and learn to embrace change and their strength as a family in order to ultimately find acceptance and understanding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_86baBTbNtUFilms
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Elle Fanning is Transgender Teen in ABOUT RAY to World Premiere at Toronto Film Fest | TRAILER
The Weinsten Company has released the official trailer for ABOUT RAY directed by Gaby Dellal and World Premiere as a Special Presentation at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film which features an all star cast including Naomi Watts, Elle Fanning, Susan Sarandon, Sam Trammel, Linda Emond and Tate Donovan will open in theaters on Friday, September 18th.
ABOUT RAY tells the stirring and touching story of a family of three generations living under one roof in New York as they must deal with a life-changing transformation by one that ultimately effects them all. Ray (Elle Fanning) is a teenager who has come to the realization that she isn’t meant to be a girl and has decided to transition from female to male. His single mother, Maggie (Naomi Watts), must track down Ray’s biological father (Tate Donovan) to get his legal consent to allow Ray’s transition. Dolly (Susan Sarandon), Ray’s lesbian grandmother is having a hard time accepting that she now has a grandson. They must each confront their own identities and learn to embrace change and their strength as a family in order to ultimately find acceptance and understanding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_86baBTbNtU
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Toronto International Film Festival to Hold Live Script Read of Rob Reiner’s Classic “The Princess Bride”
The Princess Bride script is the subject of the Jason Reitman Live Read at the upcoming 40th Toronto International Film Festival. Jason Reitman Live Read is a unique event in which classic movie scripts are read by contemporary actors. The script of Rob Reiner’s “beloved classic” will be presented to audiences in a one-take read-through with Reitman narrating stage direction.
“The Princess Bride premiered at the Festival in 1987 and has captured audiences’ imaginations ever since,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. “To have this title return on the occasion of our 40th Festival, and be re-explored by a contemporary cast, is pure magic.”
Who will avenge Inigo Montoya’s father? Who will fill the inimitable Fezzik’s enormous shoes? Who will breathe new life into the part of Miracle Max? The cast for the Live Read will be announced by Jason Reitman on Twitter (@JasonReitman) in the days leading up to the event.
The Festival previously welcomed Reitman and all-star casts for live table reads of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights and Alan Ball’s American Beauty.
Jason Reitman created Live Read in October 2011, in collaboration with Elvis Mitchell, for the film society of Los Angeles County Museum of Arts (LACMA). The six-month hit series featured Breakfast Club (Jennifer Garner and Aaron Paul), The Apartment (Steve Carell and Natalie Portman), The Princess Bride (Paul Rudd), Shampoo (Bradley Cooper and Kate Hudson), The Big Lebowski (Seth Rogen), and Reservoir Dogs, which featured an all-African American cast including actors Laurence Fishburne and Terrence Howard.
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10 to 20, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYgcrny2hRs
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CMT to Premiere Original Documentary JOHNNY CASH: AMERICAN REBEL on September 12
CMT will air the original documentary, Johnny Cash: American Rebel that celebrates the life and artistry of the late Man in Black as captured through the unique perspective of his greatest songs. The film combines original interviews with his family and friends featuring John Carter Cash,Rosanne Cash, Carlene Carter, Eric Church, Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Clive Davis, Merle Haggard,Kris Kristofferson, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, Rick Rubin,Willie Nelson and more. For the first time, Cash’s children, John Carter Cash and Rosanne Cash, along with June Carter’s daughter Carlene Carter, will appear together in a film about Johnny Cash. “Johnny Cash: American Rebel” premieres on the 12th anniversary of his passing on Saturday, September 12 at 9 pm ET/PT.
Johnny Cash: American Rebel is built around 12 essential Johnny Cash tracks spanning four decades that each deliver the passion, musicality and messages against war, injustice, racism and prejudice, including “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Jackson,” “San Quentin,” “Man In Black,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Ring of Fire,” “Hurt” and more. Each song illustrates a chapter in his life, as well the story of an ever-changing America from the 1950s to modern day, as told through interviews, archival concert footage, photographs and personal artifacts from the Cash family.
“Country music to me is not beer drinking, you done me wrong, darling, I’m going to bust your head kinda songs. It does have a social conscience. My songs do. It’s the music of the people, so it’s got to point out from time to time some of the problems of the people.”
– Johnny Cash
“The way he related to an audience and who he was on stage, was his best self. He had an intimate relationship with his audience and he worked out a lot of his problems under the spotlight.” – Rosanne Cash
“There were so many different facets to him, such an undefinable depth to his character. You could see it in his eyes and it brought on mystery, and it brought on a need for, perhaps, understanding him in a deeper way and this is part of the appeal of who the man was.” – John Carter Cash
“All he had to say, ‘Hello I’m Johnny Cash’ and you knew there was no one else in the world. You don’t have any question if you heard him on radio, if you heard him on television. You don’t say ‘Who is that?’ It’s not that kind of artist that can be duplicated, fungible. You knew it was Johnny Cash.” – Clive Davis
“I’ve always felt like Johnny Cash was such a great influencer on my life. He is the one who changed my life. If I hadn’t shook hands with him backstage at the Opry, back when I was still in the army, I’d have never got out of the army.” – Kris Kristofferson
“He was a poet, he was an activist, he was an American, he was a Patriot, he was a military man, he was an outlaw. He was a voice I think for the collective.” – Sheryl Crow
To see a sneak peek of “Johnny Cash: American Rebel,” click on the trailer here.
Derik Murray and Paul Gertz from Network Entertainment executive produce. Jordan Tappis directs and Derik Murray co-directs. Jayson Dinsmore, Lewis Bogach and John Miller-Monzon executive produce for CMT.
Johnny Cash: American Rebel marks the latest in a series of original documentaries from CMT. The first, “Urban Cowboy: The Rise and Fall of Gilley’s” premiered to critical acclaim has been seen by more than 9 million viewers. Over 5 million viewers tuned in for “Morgan Spurlock’s Freedom: The Movie, which premiered last month.
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Colombian Film EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT Looking at 2016 Release Date in US | TRAILER
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (El abrazo de la serpiente) by Colombian director Ciro Guerra, and winner of the Art Cinema award in Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival will be released in the US via Oscilloscope Laboratories. The film is scheduled for an early 2016 theatrical release.
Filmed in black and white, and starring Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Nilbio Torres Antonio Bolivar, Yauenkü Migue, EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT tells the epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-trascending friendship, between Karamakate, an amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people, and two scientists that, over the course of 40 years, travel through the Amazon in search of a sacred plant that can heal them. Inspired by the journals of the first explorers of the Colombian Amazon, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes.
Ciro Guerra (b. 1981, Río de Oro, Colombia) studied film and television at the National University of Colombia. He made several award-winning shorts and, aged 21, debuted with the feature film The Wandering Shadows (La sombra del caminante, 2004), which won an award at the San Sebastián IFF. He followed this up with The Wind Journeys (Los viajes del viento), which was premiered at Cannes in 2009 in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Both films were subsequently screened at numerous IFFs (including Cannes, Toronto, Rotterdam, Tribeca and Locarno), winning 40 international awards; they were also chosen as Colombia’s Academy Award submissions and have been distributed in twenty countries. The Wind Journeys was selected by critics as one of the top ten most important works in Colombian film history. Embrace of the Serpent is the director’s third film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ff7TcnqHUc
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Horror Film THE HALLOW from Sundance Sets November 6th Release Date | TRAILER
Horror film, THE HALLOW directed by Corin Hardy, and an Official Selection of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, will be released in theaters on November 6th via IFC Midnight. THE HALLOW stars Joseph Mawle, Bojana Novakovic, Michael McElhatton, and Michael Smiley.
Deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland dwells an ancient evil. Feared by the nearby superstitious villagers as cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, their secrets have been kept from civilization and remain on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he must now ensure his family’s survival from their relentless attacks. With his feature debut, acclaimed visual stylist Corin Hardy displays an innate talent for the macabre, approaching the medium with a cocksure confidence in his construction of the modern horror fable. Relying upon a precise and layered technical elegance, The Hallow seethes with an uncommonly sophisticated terror that uncoils effortlessly into an atmosphere of disquieting intensity and primal dread. Corin Hardy is an award-winning filmmaker, whose live action and animated work mixes the macabre, the beautiful and the epic to visually dazzling results. Corin studied Special Effects at Wimbledon School of Art before making his award-winning stop-motion short film Butterfly in 2003. This led into directing music videos, beginning with Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and ‘Bedshaped’ and continuing with films for a mix of mainstream acts including The Prodigy, Biffy Clyro, Olly Murs, Paolo Nutini and The Rizzle Kicks as well as underground indies The Horrors, Dry The River, The Horrible Crowes – and recently the 9 minute crime epic for Devlin and Ed Sheeran’s Watchtower, all produced with Academy Films. For the past 10 years Corin has been writing and developing four of his own horror-based feature film projects with production companies in UK & US these include: The Hallow with Occupant Films, Refuge with Big Talk Films, Frogz Legz with Brilliant Films and F E S T with Pari Passu. Corin is also attached to direct Element Pictures teen thriller Where There’s Darkness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL5WfklIB-o
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Mexican Director Arturo Ripstein to Be Honored at 2015 Venice International Film Festival
Mexican director Arturo Ripstein will be honored at the upcoming 72nd Venice International Film Festival as celebration of his fiftieth year as a filmmaker. The ceremony will take place on the night of the presentation of his latest film, La calle de la amargura.
The Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera stated: “Arturo Ripstein is the most vital, tenacious and original director of the generation that made its debut in the mid-Sixties, the heir of the golden age of Mexican studio films and the forerunner of the new generation of contemporary authors such as Carlos Reygadas, Guillermo del Toro and Nicolas Pereda, each of whom in their own way, recognizes the profound debt that they owe to his work. In his so many unforgettable films, most of them co-written with Paz Alicia Garciadiego, Ripstein has brought to life a restless and afflicted universe, populated with characters pathetically on the verge of the abyss into which they are destined to fall. The strange blend of beauty and brutality, compassion and violence, irony and sadness, adds a wholly personal dimension to his cinema, which delves its roots into popular tragedy and the atmospheres of melodrama, which he cleverly re-elaborates. These elements are also to be found, their power and beauty intact, in his latest film, which the Venice Film Festival has the pleasure of presenting in its world premiere screening”.
The awards ceremony for this honor will take place before the screening of the film, which is scheduled for Thursday September 10th, in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande.
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World Premiere of Mika Kaurismäki’s THE GIRL KING Added to 2015 Montreal World Film Festival | TRAILER
The Montreal World Film Festival has added the world premiere of The Girl King, directed by Mika Kaurismäki to its official competition. “I was seduced by Michel-Marc Bouchard’s script,” says producer Arnie Gelbart. “It’s an unusual story of an extraordinary woman. The characters are very contemporary, young, ambitious and full of passion, torn between duty and desire, and it’s all been brought to the screen by a great director.” The international cast features Swedish stars Malin Buska and Michael Nyqvist, Canadians Sarah Gadon and Lucas Bryant, Finnish actress Laura Birn, French actor Hippolyte Girardot, veteran Belgian actor Patrick Bauchau and German actors Peter Lohmayer and Martina Gedeck. The Quebecer François Arnaud is also part of the cast and Guy Dufaux was the director of photography. The English version of the script has been written by awarded Linda Gaboriau.
The Girl King was scripted by Quebec playwright Michel-Marc Bouchard who had great success in 2012 with his play on the life of Queen Christina of Sweden when it was staged in Montreal TNM and later at the Stratford Festival.
It’s the 1600s and Queen Christina is set on making Sweden the most sophisticated country in Europe. Having been raised as a prince under strict Lutheran control, the enigmatic, flamboyant, and unpredictable queen faces powerful resistance in her quest to educate her subjects and end the bloody Thirty Years War between the Protestants and Catholics. Amidst all this, Christina struggles to come to terms with an irresistible passion for her lady in waiting, the stunning Countess Ebba Sparre. Her quest to understand love runs parallel with her quest to understand humanity and the violent and restrictive forces conspiring against her. Torn between the conflict of political and personal aspirations, Christina chooses to make one of the most controversial decisions in history.
Born in Orimattila, Finland in 1955, Mika Kaurismäki studied film in Germany and his first film, his graduation production, THE LIAR (1980), was an overnight sensation; it marked the beginning of the cinema of the Kaurismäki brothers and started a new era in the Finnish cinema. Eventually, Mika established a base and second home in Brazil and concentrated on international co-productions, among them, CONDITION RED (1995), L.A. WITHOUT A MAP (1998), HONEY BABY (2004), BRASILEIRINHO (2005, shown at the MWFF), THREE WISE MEN (2008), BROTHERS (2011) and ROAD NORTH (2012).
The MWFF runs from August 27 to September 7, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ags39i275ro
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Archive Gala of 59th BFI London Film Festival to World Premiere of New Restoration of Anthony Asquith’s SHOOTING STARS
The Archive gala screening at the 59th BFI London Film Festival will be the world premiere of a new restoration of Anthony Asquith’s Shooting Stars (1928). Asquith’s first film as co-director and scriptwriter, Shooting Stars is a fascinating drama set behind the scenes at a contemporary film studio. Newly restored by the BFI National Archive, Shooting Stars will be presented with a new live score by John Altman, BAFTA and Emmy award-winning composer whose work includes Titanic and Goldeneye.
Shooting Stars is a dazzling debut which boasts a boldly expressionist shooting style, dramatic lighting and great performances from its leads. Annette Benson (Mae Feather) and Brian Aherne (Julian Gordon) play two mis-matched, married stars and Donald Calthrop (Andy Wilkes) a Chaplin-esque star at the same studio, with whom Mae becomes romantically involved. Chili Bouchier, Britain’s first sex symbol of the silent era, plays a key role as an actress/bathing beauty, an attractive foil to the comic antics of the comedian. The film manages to operate as a sophisticated, modern morality tale, while it’s also both an affectionate critique of the film industry and a celebration of its possibilities. It teases the audience with its revelations of how the illusions of the world of film-making conceal ironic and hidden truths.
Asquith (son of the former Prime Minister Herbert Asquith) had privileged access to see Chaplin making The Circus on a trip to Hollywood and he had also been behind the scenes at German film studios. Both influences are clearly seen in the film. Asquith went on to have a hugely successful international career in the sound era with films such as Pygmalion, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Browning Version and The VIPs.
The film has been meticulously restored by a team of BFI experts from materials held in the BFI National Archive, making this the definitive restoration to stand alongside those of previous BFI restorations of Asquith’s Underground (1928) and A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929).
Robin Baker, Head Curator, BFI National Archive said, “We are delighted to be showcasing this remarkable film in a brilliant new restoration achieved after months of work from our dedicated teams at the BFI. Shooting Stars is a fascinating debut from one of Britain’s greatest film-makers and to see it with a newly commissioned score performed live in the Art Deco splendor of the Odeon Leicester Square promises to be a very special experience.”
The new score by composer, John Altman, has been written for a twelve piece ensemble playing multiple instruments. It is full of a lively jazz influence, inspired by some of the sheet music for the popular song “Ain’t She Sweet” which is seen on screen in the film. Altman is both an authentic and accomplished jazz musician as well as a BAFTA and Emmy award winning composer of music for the big screen. He has composed, orchestrated and conducted for many films including the period music for James Cameron’s Titanic, and he composed the tank chase sequence in the James Bond film GoldenEye and won the Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music for Hear My Song.
John Altman said, “For the new score I have been inspired by dance band sounds and Duke Ellington in 1927. It’s not a slavish period recreation but I have tried to find an appropriate way of reflecting some of the plot twists and ironic deceptions through a series of interlinked musical themes. The score will be played by a very versatile group of musicians and we will end up using almost as many instruments as a complete orchestra through the whole film. I hope that the music will carry audiences effortlessly through the emotional highs and lows of this brilliant film.”
There were famously two opposing reviews published in Variety, one British, one American, with the British review disparaging the film and the American giving it a strong thumbs-up. The film is now however fully appreciated as one of the few undisputed masterpieces of British silent cinema. Only Alfred Hitchcock has a higher critical reputation than Asquith in this period of late silent British cinema.
Credits:
SHOOTING STARS (UK 1928)
Director, AV Bramble, co-directed by Anthony Asquith.
Producer: H. Bruce Woolfe.
Screenplay: Anthony Asquith and J. Orton
Shooting Stars is a dazzling debut from first-time filmmaker Anthony Asquith, audaciously taking the
film industry itself as the theme.
Despite the director credit going to veteran director A.V. Bramble, this is demonstrably the original work of rising talent Anthony Asquith, exhibiting all the attention-grabbing bravado of a young filmmaker with everything to prove. His original story offers sardonic insight into the shallowness of film stardom and Hollywood formulas by use of ironic counterpoint. He flaunts his dynamic cinematographic style and upgrades design and lighting by bringing in professionals.
Synopsis
A love triangle develops on set in a British movie studio filmed at Cricklewood in NW London, where a western and a slapstick comedy are being filmed back-to-back. Mae Feather (Annette Benson), a spoiled star jilts her husband, played by Brian Aherne for the comedian played by Donald Calthrop. In one of the best opening scenes of British silent cinema the handsome Brian Aherne appears as a cowboy, with his ‘gal’ in a calico frock in a classic ‘western’ rural romantic scene. The dove she cradles in her hands pecks at her viciously and the illusion is suddenly dispelled as the camera tracks back to reveal a studio’s wooden sets. She becomes the screeching prima donna while her co-star husband remains calm, slightly amused and dignified as the entire studio staff tries to catch the offending bird. He is, in other words the real thing – he is his star persona. She on the other hand is entirely unlike her nice-girl character and is unwilling to give up the romance of the movies for the real thing. The situation spins rapidly out of control.
Shooting Stars marked the fiction feature debut of British Instructional Films which went on to produce a short-lived but significant run of very good late silent features including several which have been restored and released by the BFI in recent years: Walter Summers’ The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands(1928), Asquith’s Underground (1928), A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929).
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San Sebastian Festival to Honor Original KING KONG Directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack with a Retrospective
The 63rd San Sebastian Festival will dedicate a retrospective to directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, masterminds of the iconic King Kong (1933). Merian C. Cooper (1893-1973) and Ernest B. Schoedsack (1893-1979) were, in the golden age of Hollywood, one of the strangest and most exciting creative twosomes ever to come out of Hollywood. The coming edition of the San Sebastian Festival will recover their work in a cycle dedicated to their films.
Acclaimed for generations as the masterminds of the iconic King Kong (1933), Cooper and Schoedsack’s contribution to cinema didn’t stop at this masterpiece. Their career began with two masterpieces in the history of documentary filmmaking, Grass; A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) and Chang (1927). They later made fantasy, drama, adventure and mystery movies, some of which are now cult titles: The Four Feathers (1929), The Most Dangerous Game (1932), The Last Days of Pompeii (1935), Dr. Cyclops (1940), Son of Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949).
GRASS; A NATION’S BATTLE FOR LIFE
MERIAN C. COOPER, MARGUERITE HARRISON, ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK (USA) 1925
Cooper and Schoedsack’s debut behind the cameras took the shape of this anthropological documentary classic shot in the spectacular landscapes of Iran. The everyday life of the Bakhtiari tribe, in the former Persia, and their migration in search of pastures for their livestock: 50,000 people and their flocks must cross natural obstacles and overcome harsh atmospheric conditions to find food for their animals.
CHANG
MERIAN C. COOPER, ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK (USA) 1927
Cooper and Schoedsack’s second cinematic adventure took them to the forests of Thailand. A documentary with elements of fiction where the directors give free rein to their passion for exotic settings and sense of spectacle thanks to this fascinating tale of a man’s struggle against the beast.
THE FOUR FEATHERS
MERIAN C. COOPER , ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK , LOTHAR MENDES (USA) 1929
Schoedsack and Cooper made the first sound adaptation of the famous colonial novel by A.E.W. Mason, taken to the screen on several occasions. The Sudanese adventures of Lieutenant Faversham, accused of cowardice by his friends, are the perfect excuse for the directors to impress upon the original narration the verve and dynamism so typical of their films. This was their first collaboration with a recurring actress in their filmography, Fay Wray.
RANGO
ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK (USA) 1931
Two years before shooting their masterpiece, King Kong, Cooper and Schoedsack fantasized about relations between men and monkeys in this tale of adventures set in the Sumatran forests with its anthropological vocation. However, as was usual in their films, their ability to narrate fables always imposed itself upon the simple observation of reality.
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK, IRVING PICHEL (USA) 1932
Adaptation of a classic tale by Richard Connell, Cooper and Schoedsack used this film as a testing ground for the mind-boggling nightmare atmospheres that would culminate in King Kong the following year, since both titles were shot on the same sets. Adventure cinema merges with a gothic tale in a cruel, savage film of frenzied scenes that still raise eyebrows even today.
BLIND ADVENTURE
ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK (USA) 1933
Cooper and Schoedsack abandon the exotic settings so often found in their films to take us to the London of detective mysteries. Here, their fetish actor, Robert Armstrong, plays an American lost in the London fog ensnared in a complicated plot that feels like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
KING KONG
MERIAN C. COOPER, ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK (USA) 1933
The best known monster film in the history of cinema, a mythical title that gave us one of the most lasting icons of the seventh art. The sad tale of the giant gorilla who loses his kingdom for an impossible love is not only a dreamlike take on the Beauty and the Beast myth, recovered by intellectuals and artists all over the world, but a fabulous display of special effects, spectacle, imagination and poetry in its purest state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0WpKl2A_2k
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Slamdance to Release the Wrestling Doc THE RESURRECTION OF JAKE THE SNAKE | TRAILER
Slamdance will partner with the filmmakers of The Resurrection of Jake the Snake for the multi-city theatrical release of the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival favorite documentary beginning in Portland, Oregon on September 2nd. The Portland Film Festival will host the film’s release with a special event screening of the documentary and a Q&A session moderated by UFC superstar Chael Sonnen with Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Diamond Dallas Page and director Steve Yu. The event format is a key element of the film’s continuing theatrical release with personal appearances by Jake “The Snake” Roberts, filmmakers and special guests.
The theatrical release marks the initiation of Slamdance Presents, a new distribution moniker for Slamdance’s world premier programs dedicated to creating theatrical and other innovative commercial opportunities for independent filmmakers.
The inspiring documentary feature opened the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and went on to win critical acclaim as well as this unique theatrical distribution partnership with Slamdance Presents. When The Resurrection of Jake the Snake screens at Portland Film Festival, it may very well be the first time two festivals have come together to support a nationwide release of an independent film.
Directed by Steve Yu, The Resurrection of Jake the Snake documents one of the most famous professional wrestlers in the world, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, as he battles his personal demons in a struggle to reclaim his life and the family that had given up on him. The feature-length documentary is also features Diamond Dallas Page and Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon). Diamond Dallas Page is the film’s producer.
We’re thrilled that Slamdance believes enough in our documentary to pursue this innovative theatrical strategy,” said the film’s director Steve Yu, “As filmmakers we were fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, and capturing Jake’s incredible story was as compelling as any fictional narrative – except this was 100% real.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwntL5wVWk
Find Tickets Now
Portland Film Festival. Portland, OR.
Wednesday September 2, 2015. 8:15pm.
Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan Portland, OR 97219
Tickets Here
Living Room Theater. Portland, OR.
September 6-11, 2015. 341 SW Tenth Avenue Portland, OR 97205
Tickets Here
Landmark Midtown Art Cinema. Atlanta, GA.
September 18-24, 2015. 931 Monroe Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
Tickets Here
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Hip Hop Fashion Doc FRESH DRESSED to Premiere on CNN | TRAILER
FRESH DRESSED, director Sacha Jenkins’ exuberant chronicle of hip hop and urban fashion – and their global influence on pop culture – will premiere as a CNN Films broadcast with limited commercial interruptions on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 9:00pm Eastern on CNN/U.S., the network announced today.
Produced by Peter Bittenbender, Nasir Jones, and Marcus Clarke for Mass Appeal, FRESH DRESSED traces how fat-laced sneakers, Kangol hats, Cazal sunglasses, and graffiti jackets inspired the style and vibe of rap artists and high fashion designers, through its expression of aspirational swagger that gave voice – and visage – to a culture whose passionate originality and artistry took the world by storm. The music-drenched, fun-to-watch history features interviews with music and fashion entrepreneurs from the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and today, including Dapper Dan, Pharrell Williams, April Walker, Karl Kani, Daymond John, Carl Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Russell Simmons, Sean “Puffy” Combs, Damon Dash, Riccardo Tisci, Guy Wood, and many more.
Deconstructing the evolution of the industry are VOGUE editor-at-large André Leon Talley, Kanye West, designer Marc Eck?, professor Elena Romero of City College of New York, professor Todd Boyd of the University of Southern California, and more. As the industry blossomed from independent, small companies to corporate mass market producers, it spawned a generation of innovative creators with successful brands such as FUBU, Rocawear, Cross Colours, Phat Farm, Karl Kani, and Sean Jean.
The film follows how the most successful brands often leveraged music and acting talent endorsements to generate brand awareness that commanded dedicated floor space inside America’s top department stores, Europe and New York fashion week runway shows, fashion awards, and hundreds of millions of dollars in apparel and accessory sales. Later, market saturation, fickle consumer tastes, and merchandiser resistance changed again in ways that challenged and eventually consolidated “urban market” apparel manufacturers.
FRESH DRESSED premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it was acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films and StyleHaul for domestic theatrical distribution and, shortly thereafter, by Dogwoof for international theatrical distribution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLCAh_qqrqE
FRESH DRESSED will also be available on Apple TV and will simulcast via CNNgo. The film will encore on CNN on Sept. 3 at 10:45pm, and on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 8:00pm and 10:00pm. All times Eastern.
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Takashi Miike’s Comedic Vampire Action Thriller YAKUZA APOCALYPSE Headed to US Theaters | TRAILER
Samuel Goldwyn Films will release legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike’s comedic vampire action thriller YAKUZA APOCALYPSE in the US. The martial arts extravaganza and end-of-the-world spectacle premiered as part of the Directors’ Fortnight program at the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival. The film will screen in the Midnight Madness program at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival running September 10–20, 2015. Samuel Goldwyn Films is planning an October 9, 2015 release.
In YAKUZA APOCALYPSE, fearsome Yakuza boss Kamiura is also a bloodsucking vampire. One day, men arrive from a competing clan and deliver him an ultimatum: Play nice or die. Kamiura refuses and, during a fierce battle, is torn limb from limb. With his dying breath, he passes on his vampire powers to his loyal lieutenant, Kageyama. His first order of business is to avenge his mentor, setting him on a collision course with the seemingly unstoppable foreign syndicate, and take his place as the new Yakuza boss.
One of Japan’s most prolific, adventurous and successful filmmakers, Takashi Miike has directed nearly 100 films. He has been thrilling audiences worldwide with movies such as “Audition” (1999), “Ichi the Killer” (2001) and “13 Assassins” (2010). Now, Miike returns to the hard-driven style of his early filmmaking career with YAKUZA APOCALYPSE.
According to Peter Goldwyn of Samuel Goldwyn Films: “Taskashi Miike is a master of this genre and we are excited to bring his latest film, a sort of return to his origins, out to North American audiences. The film is an exciting mix of gangster-vampire action that only Miike can deliver.”
Filmmaker Takashi Miike stated: “I wonder if it’s really okay to let this film loose outside of Japan. As it’s not anything anyone can deal with on their own, it’s best to watch with friends.”
YAKUZA APOCALYPSE is directed by Takashi Miike from a screenplay by Yoshitaka Yamaguchi. Film stars Hayato Ichihara, Yayan Ruhian (“The Raid” and “The Raid 2”) and Lily Franky. Film is produced by Yoshinori Chiba, Shinichiro Masuda, Shinjiro Nishimura and Misako Saka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn1fNww2XG8