Films

  • DVD: Canadian Sci-Fi Horror Film The Corrupted Gets A Summer Release Date

    The Canadian sci-fi horror film The Corrupted will be released this summer on DVD, VOD,by Eagle One Media. Directed by John Klappstein and Knighten Richman, The Corrupted, features Keltie Squires, Shaun Tisdale (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil), Ashley Tallas, Jeremy Hook, and Anuj Saraswat.

    Shot in Alberta, Canada, The Corrupted was nominated for six (Alberta Media Production Industry Association) AMPIAS Awards including Best Feature, Best Special Effects, and Best Screenplay. 

    The Corrupted is described as “Spring Break meets HP Lovecraft. Where it’s all fun and games…until someone gets infected.”

    A man quietly strums his guitar at the edge of a tranquil lake in the middle of the night. Through the darkness a beautiful young woman emerges along the shoreline, silent and mysterious. She approaches and whispers
    something into his ear. When she beckons, he has no choice but to follow. When his friends arrive for a weekend of partying, its obvious…something in him has changed. What did the woman tell him? Why does he seem so
    distant? Where did she take him? The Corrupted is an intellectual sci-fi horror thriller feature film produced in Canada and directed by John Klappstein and Knighten Richman.

    http://youtu.be/g011KyNH4JY

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  • Marijuana Documentary California 90420 Headed to Netflix for 420 Day

    Feature documentary CALIFORNIA, 90420 that focuses on the rapidly growing marijuana trade in California and profiles leaders of California’s marijuana legalization efforts, will expand to meet the anticipated increased demand prior to National Weed Day, April 20, 2013, aka 420 day.

    Recently available on DVD, Amazon VOD, iTunes and Free on Hulu, CALIFORNIA 90420 will be released on Netflix around 4/20/2013, a date celebrated as a holiday each year in the marijuana community.

    California’s Proposition 19 campaign to legalize recreational marijuana was narrowly defeated, but is widely regarded as paving the way for the passage of Washington and Colorado’s recreational marijuana laws.  Dale Sky Jones, the current president of Oaksterdam University and newly elected chair of California’s 2016 legalization campaign, is prominently featured in the film.

    Directed by Dean Shull, CALIFORNIA, 90420 offers viewers an in-depth look into Oaksterdam University, the nation’s first college preparing students for careers in the medical marijuana industry and the epicenter of California’s legalization efforts.

     

    http://youtu.be/eIYShFZcWuc

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  • Baltimore’s 12 O’Clock Boys Biker Film to be Released in the US

    Fresh off its world premiere at SXSW, Oscilloscope Laboratories announced that it will release Lotfy Nathan’s debut feature, 12 O’Clock Boys, in the US. The film is is next scheduled to screen at the Hot Docs and Full Frame Documentary Festivals, among others. O-Scope will continue to roll the film out to more festivals prior to its theatrical, DVD, and digital releases.

    The 12 O’Clock Boys are a notorious urban dirt bike pack in Baltimore. Converging in groups and invading the streets, they dangerously–yet magnificently–make their presence known as they pop wheelies and weave in and out of traffic at excessive speeds, all the while taunting the police who must obey a self-imposed “no chase” rule for fear of endangering the public. Nathan frames the three-years-in-the-making narrative through the eyes of the adolescent Pug – a kid from the Westside eager to join the 12 O’Clock Boys’ ranks. Pug reveres the Boys’ every move, and Nathan follows this young man through some of the most pivotal years of his life, providing a compelling and intimate personal story within the broader depiction of the wild, dynamic world of the 12 O’Clock Boys.

    Filmmaker Lotfy Nathan said, “Oscilloscope’s great. I really hope they don’t f*&k this up.”

    http://youtu.be/5oU0fiFn_IM

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  • Documentary “American Meat” Premieres in New York City

    [caption id="attachment_3333" align="alignnone" width="550"]Farmer Joel Salatin in American Meat[/caption]

    The pro-farmer documentary American Meat will open on Friday, April 12, 2013 at New York City’s Cinema Village for its first theatrical screening. The Friday, April 12th opening of American Meat will include a grass carpet entrance, and one of the farmers featured in the film, Joel Salatin, will be dropped off on a tractor.

    American Meat is described as a solutions-oriented, macroscopic, “pro-farmer” documentary surveying the current state of the U.S. meat industry. Featuring Fred Kirschenmann, Joel Salatin, Steve Ells, Chuck Wirtz, Paul Willis, and other farmers across America, the film takes an even-handed look at the past and future of animal husbandry and meat production in America. The film explains how America arrived at its current industrial system and introduces the charismatic industry leaders who are working hard to create practical and tangible solutions to change it for the better.

    “The ‘celebrities’ featured in American Meat are the hard-working farmers that feed America and the ones that are doing so in a way that’s better for the planet and the animals,” said Graham Meriwether, director of American Meat. “This premiere isn’t about glitz and glamour; it’s about paying tribute to these small-town heroes and educating the public about these important issues.”

    The film’s New York City premiere concludes a 10-state tour of the film at universities and high schools as part of the film’s yearlong Young Farmer Screening Series.

    http://youtu.be/knNLZvphhfs

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  • DVD Indie: Cult Horror Indie Film “Skew”

    Independent horror feature film SKEW is now available on DVD on Redbox in the U.S.A. and will be available on iTunes April 2nd, 2013. SKEW will be released on DVD in Japan on April 5th, 2013.

    SKEW follows three close friends who head out on an eagerly anticipated road trip with video camera in hand to record their journey.  What starts out as a carefree adventure slowly becomes a descent into the ominous as unexplained events threaten to disrupt the balance between them.  One by one they must struggle with personal demons and paranoia as friendships are tested and gruesome realities are revealed…and recorded.

    Within the same vein as The Blair Witch Project, writer/director Sevé Schelenz creates a first-person account in psychological horror that will keep audiences on edge until its revealing conclusion. 

    The filmmakers announced that SKEW has been accepted in over 50 festivals, won several awards including “Best Feature” (Nevada Film Festival), “Best Director” (Late Night Horror Film Festival) and “Indy Spirit Award” (Horrorfest).  The film has received great reviews and found distribution in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Russia and Japan.

    http://youtu.be/IjwBwuKD8mI

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  • Unmasking The Takeover of Brooklyn in New Documentary “My Brooklyn”

    [caption id="attachment_3328" align="alignnone" width="550"]Fulton Mall in the 1980′s, photo by Jamel Shabazz[/caption]

    by Cecily Witcher

    My Brooklyn is a documentary by Kelly Anderson and Allison Lirish Dean that touches on the gentrification of the Brooklyn borough and how it affects the local Brooklyn residents. A large portion of My Brooklyn explores the downtown area know as Fulton Street that was once home to the famous Albee Square Mall which had a major influence on the community as well as the hip hop world internationally. The Fulton Mall was once the 3rd most profitable shopping district in New York but now that local experience that drew people from all over the world to the Fulton Mall has been stripped with the closing of the Albe Square Mall as well as the local owned stores have been replaced with major chains.

    [caption id="attachment_3329" align="alignnone" width="550"]Arnold cuts hair at Jack’s Barbershop in Downtown Brooklyn[/caption]

    The documentary also touches on the high rises that have been built-in the downtown Brooklyn area that provide enormous tax breaks for the already healthy. The film My Brooklyn is an eye opener with facts that explain why the “gentrification” of Brooklyn is happening with little regards to the community residents that have built up the Fulton Mall area. 

    Cecily Witcher Interviews Kelly Anderson

    http://youtu.be/t3s-DjjA3LI

    Trailer – My Brooklyn

    http://youtu.be/rD_t-OMy3dM

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  • KOCH Documentary Opens in LA March 1

    KOCH, a documentary by Neil Barsky will open in Los Angeles on March 1 at The Royal, Town Center and Playhouse 7.  Film opens in Palm Springs on March 8.

    Former Mayor Ed Koch is described as “the quintessential New Yorker.” Ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. Ed Koch passed away at at the of 88 on February 1, 2013 – the day KOCH documentary opened in NYC.”

    With KOCH, first-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky crafts an intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the town he helped transform. The tumult of his three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election; an infamous 1980 transit strike; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing renewal initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, KOCH thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city in a time of upheaval and reinvention. 

    KOCH is a beautiful documentary examining one man’s fascinating journey into rehabilitating the very unhealthy city of New York in the 1980s.  Sometime stubborn and unapologetic, Koch also opens the door to his much-speculated-about private life, which he doesn’t mind being asked about, so long you don’t mind being told to mind your own business. With his trademark greeting “How I’m Doin, ’’ his combative energy and his charming wit, Ed Koch makes for the perfect documentary subject. Says director Neil Barsky: “Making a documentary about Ed Koch was an easy call. I cannot think of a New Yorker

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  • Documentary You Don’t Need Feet to Dance to Open in NYC March 22

     [caption id="attachment_3143" align="alignnone" width="550"]You Don’t Need Feet to Dance[/caption]

    The documentary You Don’t Need Feet to Dance about African immigrant Sidiki Conde, a man overcoming his disability one day at a time in New York City, will open March 22, 2013 at the Quad Cinema in NYC.

    You Don’t Need Feet to Dance is directed by Alan Govenar and released by First Run Features

    The Story and trailer.

    Alan Govenar’s intimate new documentary reveals the extraordinary life of African immigrant Sidiki Conde, a man overcoming his disability one day at a time in New York City.

    Sidiki was born in 1961, in Guinea, West Africa. At age fourteen, polio left him almost completely paralyzed. Sent to live with his grandfather in a village deep in the forest, Sidiki learned to manage his disability, building his upper-body strength so that he could walk on his hands. When faced with the dilemma of dancing in a coming of age ceremony, he reconstructed the traditional steps by dancing on his hands instead of his feet.

    In time Sidiki ran away to Conakry, Guinea’s capital city, where he and his friends organized an orchestra of artists with disabilities recruited from the city’s streets. They toured the country, striving to change the perception of the disabled. In 1987, he became a member of the renowned dance company Merveilles D’Afrique, founded by Mohamed Komoko Sano. Sidiki became a soloist and served as rehearsal master, composing and directing the company’s repertoire. He also worked as a musician and arranger with Youssou N’Dour, Salifa Keita, Baba Maal and other popular musicians.

    In 1998, Conde’s music brought him to the United States, and he founded the Tokounou All-Abilities Dance and Music Ensemble. In the United States, he has continued to perform and teach, instructing people of all abilities in schools, hospitals and universities, and served as artist in residence at a Bronx public school for children with multiple disabilities.

    InYou Don’t Need Feet to Dance, Sidiki balances his career as a performing artist with the almost insurmountable obstacles of life in New York City, from his fifth-floor walk-up apartment in the East village, down the stairs with his hands and navigating in his wheelchair through Manhattan onto buses and into the subway. Despite the challenges, Sidiki teaches workshops for disabled kids, busks on the street, rehearses with his musical group, bicycles with his hands, and prepares for a baby naming ceremony, where he plays djembe drums, sings, and dances on his hands. | First Run Features

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ufgZfsex8

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  • HBO Announces Lineup of Documentaries for the First Half of 2013

    [caption id="attachment_2951" align="alignnone" width="550"]MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD[/caption]

    HBO has released its lineup of documentaries for the first half of 2013. Among the films are MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, from Alex Gibney (HBO’s Oscar(R)-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side), exposing the systematic abuse of power in the Catholic Church; WHICH WAY IS THE FRONTLINE FROM HERE?: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TIM HETHERINGTON, from Sebastian Junger (the Oscar(R)-nominated “Restrepo”), an unflinching portrait of the late war photographer and filmmaker; and 50 CHILDREN: THE RESCUE MISSION OF MR. AND MRS. KRAUS, the never-before-told story of one couple’s courage during the Holocaust.

    Upcoming HBO documentaries include (in chronological order):

    MEA MAXIMA CULPA: SILENCE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD (debuting Feb. 4), directed by Alex Gibney (HBO’s Oscar(R)-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side), examines the abuse of power in the Catholic Church through the story of four courageous Deaf men who set out to expose the priest who sexually abused them. The film follows a cover-up that stretches from the row houses of Milwaukee through the bare ruined choirs of Ireland’s churches, all the way to the highest office of the Vatican.

    KINGS POINT (March) tells stories of five seniors in an American retirement resort who struggle with love, loss and the changing nature of relationships after losing their spouses. This bittersweet study explores the tension between the desire for independence and the need for community, underscoring America’s ambivalence about growing old. Directed by Sari Gilman.

    AMERICAN WINTER (March) shines a light on people struggling through the country’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, spotlighting families in Portland, Ore., as well as the 211 call centers that offer social service assistance. Produced and directed by Joe and Harry Gantz (HBO’s Emmy(R)-winning “Taxicab Confessions”).

    50 CHILDREN: THE RESCUE MISSION OF MR. AND MRS. KRAUS (April), directed by Steven Pressman and narrated by Alan Alda and Mamie Gummer, tells the dramatic, previously untold story of Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, who traveled to Nazi Germany in spring 1939 to save 50 Jewish children. Amid the impending horrors of the Holocaust, they brought what was to date the largest known group of children to the United States, despite the country’s rigid immigration laws.

    WHICH WAY IS THE FRONTLINE FROM HERE?: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TIM HETHERINGTON (April) focuses on the famed war photographer and filmmaker. Through interviews with family and friends, the film paints an in-depth portrait of Hetherington, who was killed by mortar shells in Libya on April 20, 2011 while covering the Libyan civil war. Directed by Sebastian Junger, who co-directed the Oscar(R)-nominated “Restrepo” with Hetherington.

    MANHUNT: THE SEARCH FOR BIN LADEN (May) recounts the tumultuous decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, culminating in the dramatic raid and assassination in April 2011. Through exclusive footage and dramatic first-person interviews with key figures in Washington, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere inThe Middle East, director Greg Barker (HBO’s “Sergio” and “Koran by Heart”) reveals previously hidden truths about one of the most-examined stories of modern times.

    TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE (May) investigates international organ trafficking and the role the internet plays in the black market exchange. The film explores life-and-death issues surrounding the high demand for organs through candid interviews with people seeking an organ on the black or “grey” market, the traffickers who buy and sell organs to them, and the individuals selling their organs. Produced by Roc Bienstock, Simcha Jacabovici, Bill Cobbin and BrIan Edwards.

    Upcoming HBO Family programming includes:

    A YOUNGARTS MASTERCLASS (Feb., March, April), an ongoing series of half-hour documentaries, follows some of the thousands of high-school students who participate in a program to be mentored by America’s greatest artists in an intimate, interactive classroom environment. Among the legends who serve as mentors on the show are Grammy-winning musician Bobby McFerrin, Tony-winning playwright John Guareand Tony-winning performer Patti LuPone. Directed by Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman (HBO’s Oscar(R)-winning “Strangers No More”).

     

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  • KOCH, documentary about NYC Mayor Ed Koch opens in NYC on February 1 and LA on March 1

    KOCH, a documentary by Neil Barsky chronicling the former NYC Mayor Ed Koch opens in NYC on February 1 and in Los Angeles on March 1.  The film had its World Premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and will have its West Coast Premiere at the 2013 Palm Springs Film Festival. 
     
    Former Mayor Ed Koch is described as the quintessential New Yorker. Still ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, the now 88-year-old Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. 

    With KOCH, first-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky crafts what is described as an intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the town he helped transform. The tumult of his three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election; an infamous 1980 transit strike; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing renewal initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, KOCH thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city in a time of upheaval and reinvention. 

    KOCH is also described as a beautiful documentary examining one man’s fascinating journey into rehabilitating the very unhealthy city of New York in the 1980s.  Sometime stubborn and unapologetic, Koch also opens the door to his much-speculated-about private life, which he doesn’t mind being asked about, so long you don’t mind being told to mind your own business. With his trademark greeting “How I’m Doin, ’’ his combative energy and his charming wit, Ed Koch makes for the perfect documentary subject. Says director Neil Barsky: “Making a documentary about Ed Koch was an easy call. I cannot think of a New Yorker as popular or as polarizing. Ed Koch’s story is in many ways the story of the city.” 

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  • Martin Scorsese and HBO to Make Bill Clinton Documentary

    HBO and Martin Scorsese will partner for a documentary about William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States. According to the press release, the film will be made with Clinton’s full cooperation, and will explore his perspectives on history, politics, culture and the world, with Scorsese producing and directing, and Steve Bing producing.

    “President Clinton is one of the most compelling figures of our time, whose world view and perspective, combined with his uncommon intelligence, make him a singular voice on the world stage,” said Plepler and Lombardo. “This documentary, under Marty’s gifted direction, creates a unique opportunity for the President to reflect on myriad issues that have consumed his attention and passion throughout both his Presidency and post-Presidency.”

    “A towering figure who remains a major voice in world issues, President Clinton continues to shape the political dialogue both here and around the world,” observed Scorsese. “Through intimate conversations, I hope to provide greater insight into this transcendent figure.”

    “I am pleased that legendary director Martin Scorsese and HBO have agreed to do this film,” said President Clinton. “I look forward to sharing my perspective on my years as President, and my work in the years since, with HBO’s audience.”

    William Jefferson Clinton, the first Democratic president in six decades to be elected twice, served as 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, leading the U.S. to one of the longest economic expansions in American history. After leaving the White House, he established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote healthier childhoods and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and private citizens to turn good intentions into measurable results. To date, more than 2,100 Clinton Global Initiative commitments have improved the lives of 400 million people in 180 nations.

    President Clinton was born Aug. 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark. He and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, have a daughter, Chelsea, and live in Chappaqua, NY.

    The Clinton documentary marks Martin Scorsese’s fourth collaboration with HBO, following the documentaries “Public Speaking” (2010) and the Emmy®-winning “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” (2011), and the hit series “Boardwalk Empire,” for which he serves as an executive producer, as well as winning an Emmy® for directing last year.

    Image: President Clinton visits the Clinton Health Access Initiative distribution center in Uganda. While at the center, President Clinton speaks with government representatives to announce CHAI’s new program to scale-up treatment for diarrhea through oral rehydration salts and zinc.

    Photo credit: Barbara Kinney / Clinton Foundation

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  • Beyoncé Documentary to Premiere on HBO on February 16, 2013

     

    Multiple Grammy winner, entrepreneur and actress Beyoncé will be the focus of an intimate feature-length HBO documentary film debuting Feb. 16, 2013, directed by the superstar herself.

    The film is described as a multi-faceted portrait of the 16-time Grammy Award-winning singer, businesswoman, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, wife and mother, showing off the extraordinary gifts that have made her a global phenomenon, and stripping away the veneer of stardom. It includes extensive first-person footage, some of it shot by Beyoncé on her laptop, in which she reflects on the realities of celebrity, the refuge she finds onstage and the transcendent joy of becoming a mother last year.

    The film sheds light on her childhood in Houston, with home movies revealing the close bond she built with her family and charts the challenges Beyoncé felt when she decided to manage her career and build her own company, Parkwood Entertainment. It also captures the intense physical and emotional demands she goes through in the studio, preparing for live performances, running a business and her family life, including her return to the spotlight after the birth of her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in January 2012.

    Beyoncé also serves as the film’s executive producer.

     

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