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Sundance Institute Selects 11 Artists with VR and Emerging Media Storytelling Projects for New Frontier Story Lab

[caption id="attachment_13653" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Sundance Institute[/caption] Sundance Institute has selected six projects for the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which supports independent artists working at the cutting-edge convergence of film, art, media, live performance and technology. The New Frontier Story Lab is a week-long intensive that empowers creatives with individualized story sessions, conversations about key artistic, design and technology issues and case study presentations from experts in diverse related disciplines. Past participants include Roger Ross Williams, Yung Jake, Chris Milk, Hasan Minhaj, Tommy Pallotta, Navid and Vassiliki Khonsari, Karim Ben Khelifa, Tracy Fullerton and Yasmin Elayat. The Lab takes place May 17-22 at the Sundance Resort in Utah, under the guidance of Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Founding Director Michelle Satter and Kamal Sinclair, Director of New Frontier Lab Programs. Sinclair said, “Our New Frontier Story Lab brings accomplished Fellows together to experiment with their projects as they continue to break new ground and challenge the ever-evolving medium. Interactions at the Lab empower these emerging new media creators, explore different styles of storytelling and new ways of engaging audiences through experiential art.”
Meet the creative teams and projects selected for the 2017 Sundance Institute New Frontier Story Lab:
Belle of the Ball Rosie Haber and Silas Howard Belle of the Ball is an interactive VR experience, blurring the lines between documentary and fiction. Collaboratively created with queer and trans houseless youth in New York City, take the journey they face every day as they turn to the streets for resources, survival, and friendship. As day turns into night, you fall into the arms of your chosen family at an underground drag ball. 3D glitter never looked so good. Silas Howard is an award-winning director and writer for feature and documentary film, music video, web series and television. Howard’s career took off in 2001, when his first feature film, By Hook or By Crook premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, ultimately winning five Best Feature awards across the festival circuit. Recent television credits include Transparent, This Is Us, The Fosters, Faking It and Hudson Valley Ballers. This summer he’ll direct his third feature, A Kid Like Jake, starring Claire Danes, Jim Parsons and Octavia Spencer. On June 21, 2017 Showtime will release his latest feature documentary on six trans and gender nonconforming activists, titled More Than T. Rosie Haber is an aesthetically minded writer and director. They took home the audience award at LA Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Festival and were nominated for a 2017 GLAAD award for their digital doc series New Deep South—the third episode of which premiered at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. Haber has also been a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and a fellow at both Yaddo and MacDowell artist colonies. They are a writer on the upcoming film adaptation of the classic transgender novel Stone Butch Blues. The Incident VR Series (Dinner Party, Eps 1) Charlotte Stoudt and Laura Wexler The Incident is a VR anthology series that immersively dramatizes true-life unexplained mysteries. Inspired by Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, each 10-15 minute episode provides a thrill ride into the supernatural; a gripping emotional story; and an exploration of the often unacknowledged social, psychological, or political tensions that inform the Incident’s central mystery. Episode One, “Dinner Party,” is based on the true story of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple who reported America’s first nationally known UFO abduction incident in 1961. Laura Wexler is a writer and producer whose writing credits include Pandora’s Box, in development at Amazon Studios; the nonfiction book, Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America (Scribner); and journalism pieces published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. Producing credits include The Stoop Storytelling Series, a live show and podcast featuring “ordinary” people telling the extraordinary true tales of their lives. Charlotte Stoudt is a writer-producer currently on Showtime’s Homeland. She has worked extensively as a dramaturg, developing new plays at venues including The Kennedy Center, Baltimore’s Center Stage, the Ojai Playwrights Festival and BAM. Holding a doctorate from Oxford University, she has written on the arts for the Village Voice, Variety, Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio. T3511 Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Toshiaki Ozawa T3511 is a post-genomic true love story of a biohacker’s growing relationship to an anonymous donor. Told through an immersive living sculptural installation, T3511 draws the viewer into an emerging world of ubiquitous genomic sequencing, biobanking, and commodification of human biological materials. Heather Dewey-Hagborg is a transdisciplinary artist and educator who is interested in art as research and critical practice. She has shown work internationally at events and venues including the World Economic Forum, Shenzhen Urbanism and Architecture Bienniale, the New Museum, and PS1 MOMA. Her work has been widely discussed in the media, from the New York Times and the BBC to TED and Wired. She is an Assistant Professor of Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a 2016 Creative Capital award grantee in the area of Emerging Fields. Toshiaki Ozawa’s history at Sundance includes lighting and cinematography for films Angela (1995), I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), Buffalo 66 (1998), America Psycho (2000), Closer (2001), On_Line (2002), Personal Velocity (2002), Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2006), Patti Smith: Dream of Life (2008). A 2004 effort with Vincent Gallo and Chloe Sevigny, The Brown Bunny, simultaneously made Cahiers du Cinema’s yearly top 10 and was named worst film in Cannes’s history by Roger Ebert. Ozawa’s 2015 collaboration with Laurie Anderson, Heart of a Dog, was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. Past artist and photographer collaborators include: Matthew Barney, Mike and Doug Starn, Richard Avedon, Albert Watson, Bruce Weber, Mario Testino, Leandro Katz, Isaac Julien, Mario Sorrenti, Terry Richardson, Enrique Badulescu, Anthony Cotsifas, Rankin, Santiago & Mauricio, Barnaby Roper, Toni Dove, Luke DuBois, and Marina Zurkow. Counterpoint Griffin Frazen In a time when technology is creating extraordinary extensions of human capabilities, the boundaries of private space have never been more vulnerable to penetration. Counterpoint is a narrative virtual reality film about a military drone operator who develops a perversely intimate relationship with his target. Griffin Frazen is a designer and director. He holds a master’s degree in architectural design from Princeton University. He won an Emmy in 2015 for outstanding main title design for Manhattan. Over the last three years, Frazen has worked as an independent director and designer for a range of mediums, at a variety of scales, including music videos, concerts, web and interactive projects. Currently, he is working with Here Be Dragons and SITU Research. A Ritual of Exile: Blood Speaks Poulomi Basu and Debra Anderson A Ritual of Exile: Blood Speaks is a transmedia activism and WebVR project that investigates the causes and consequences of normalized violence against women perpetrated under the guise of tradition. Focused on the ritual of Chaupadi in Nepal, viewers experience the brutal exile of women forced to live in isolation during their menstrual periods and following childbirth. Poulomi Basu is a storyteller, transmedia artist and women’s rights activist, whose work documents the role of women in isolated communities and conflict zones. Poulomi’s ongoing work, A Ritual Of Exile, won the FotoEvidence Book Award 2017, Magnum Emergency Fund 2016, and was a W.Eugene Smith Finalist 2016. Her book, Centralia, is currently shortlisted for the MACK First Book Award and will be displayed in Photo London 2017. Additionally the Magnum Foundation also awarded her the What Works 2016 Human Right Fellow grant and she was nominee for the FOAM Paul Huff award in 2017 and 2015. She won the Firecracker 2nd place in 2015 for Mothers of ISIS Fighters which is due for an exhibition on Poetics of War and Secrecy in Oxford 2017. Debra Anderson is a VR producer, director and entrepreneur who made her Cinematic VR debut in 2015 with In\Formation, a documentary in VR about VR featuring pioneers in the medium. She is currently co-creating and producing A Ritual of Exile: Blood Speaks, a WebVR storyworld that investigates normalized violence against women through the lens of Chaupadi, an illegal religious practice in Nepal. Debra is Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Datavized, a software company building a 3D publishing platform for collaborative creation and distribution of immersive content on the web. Anderson founded and organizes the Women in VR Meetup in New York, designed and instructs the first Digital Development: WebVR course at Parsons School of Design, and has produced WebVR works for The National Film Board of Canada and Mozilla Corporation. Inside a Mind at War Sutu and Charles Henden “When you sign up for the military you know that you might witness death, but you never receive any training to learn how to cope with it,” explained American-Iraq War Veteran Scott England. This immersive virtual reality project explores the banality and horrors of war and England’s battle with mental illness through hand-drawn illustrations of places based on his memories. Sutu is an Australian artist exploring the intersection of creativity, technological innovation and social justice. Over the last decade, he pioneered new technologies for telling stories in new ways. Through his work with Big hART, Australia’s leading arts and social Justice organization, he has directed community development projects including Neomad – the Gold Ledger, an award-winning comic book that is currently optioned to become animated series. He is the founder of EyeJack, an Augmented Reality art publishing company. Sutu has been commissioned to create immersive VR experiences for Doctor Strange and Google. His work has won Webby, FWA, ATOM, Ledger and JMAF awards and he was a nominee for the 2015 Eisner and Future of Storytelling Awards. Charles Henden is a creative engineer with a passion for bringing interactive worlds to life. With a career stretching from licensed movie titles on the Nintendo Wii to real-time sports simulations on the PlayStation 4, nothing has excited Charles more than his current work with the emerging potential of VR, AR and Mixed Reality platforms. Amelia Winger-Bearskin (Creative Observer) Amelia Winger-Bearskin will attend this year’s Lab as Creative Observer; she’ll reflect on the learnings generated over the week and share those reflections through Sundance Institute’s website, newsletter and social platforms. Winger-Bearskin is an artist, creative director and organizer who develops cultural communities at the intersection of art, technology and advocacy. She founded and directed the DBRS Innovation Labs, co-founded VRSalon.org and the Stupid Hackathon, and her project credits include Imagination Codes and #Drowning.
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Native American Filmmakers, Erin Lau and Shaandiin Tome Selected for 2017 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab

[caption id="attachment_13653" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Sundance Institute[/caption] Two Native American filmmakers, Erin Lau (Native Hawaiian) and Shaandiin Tome (Diné), have been selected to participate in the 2017 Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab. The Lab takes place May 14 to 19 in Santa Fe, NM. During the Lab, Fellows work with a cast, crew, and supervising producer to shoot workshop versions of scenes from their short films under the expert creative mentorship of Program alumni and other established industry professionals and Program staff. The Lab encourages Fellows to hone their storytelling and technical skills in a hands-on and supportive environment. After the Lab they will receive targeted support from supervising producers, grants to fund the production of their short films and will attend the annual Native Forum at the January 2018 Sundance Film Festival for ongoing support on their projects. N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache), director of the Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program, said, “We welcome Erin and Shaandiin to the Sundance Institute family and look forward to watching them create and collaborate with the advisors in this unique space. Supporting Native and Indigenous storytellers is crucial to the Institute’s mission and has helped launch the careers of some of the most innovative Native storytellers working today.” Three generations of Native artists have been supported since the founding of the Institute, with the goal of identifying and further uplifting Indigenous voices of the fourth generation within film and culture. The Native Program has built and sustained a unique support cycle for Indigenous artists through grants, labs, mentorships, fellowships, the platform of Sundance Film Festival, and screenings in Native communities to inspire new generations of storytellers. The Institute has established a rich legacy of commitment to Native filmmaking, supporting more than 300 Native and Indigenous filmmakers over the years, including Taika Waititi (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui), Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), Sterlin Harjo (Seminole/Muskogee), Billy Luther (Diné/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo), Andrew Okpeaha MacLean (Iñupiaq), Aurora Guerrero (Xicana), Sydney Freeland (Diné), Blake Pickens (Chickasaw), Ciara Lacy (Kanaka Maoli),Razelle Benally (Oglala Lakota/Dine) and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. (Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe). The filmmakers serving as Creative Advisors for this year’s Native Lab include: Andrew Ahn (Spa Night), Bernardo Britto (Yearbook), Sydney Freeland (Diné) (Drunktown’s Finest; Deidra & Laney Rob a Train) and Blackhorse Lowe (Diné) (Shimasani; 5th World; Chasing the Light). Artists and projects selected for the 2017 Native Filmmakers Lab: The Moon and the Night Erin Lau (Native Hawaiian) Set in rural Hawai’i, a teen is forced to confront her ex-convict father after he enters her beloved pet in a dogfight. Native Hawaiian Filmmaker Erin Lau received her bachelor’s degree in film production from the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH) in 2014. During her time there, she wrote and directed several shorts, including Little Girl’s War Cry. The script, which focused on domestic violence against women and children, was selected out of a 1,000+ submissions by the Film Raro Competition to be one of six fully funded and produced films in the Cook Islands. Once completed, the film went on to win the 2013 Eurocinema Student Film Award and has screened around the world including festivals located in New Zealand, France, Guam, Fiji and Canada. Erin also crafted a short documentary titled, Ka Pua (The Flower), which focused on the life of her great grandmother who, until her death at the age of 94, cared for her mentally handicapped granddaughter. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Film Directing at Chapman University’s Dodge College of the Arts and will graduate in Spring of 2018. Mud (Hastl’ishnii) Shaandiin Tome (Diné) On the last day of her life, a woman struggles to accept the extent to which her life has been affected by addiction. Shandiin Tome graduated cum laude from the University of New Mexico with a BFA in Film and Digital Media Production. She is an alumna of the 2016 Sundance Full Circle Fellowship. As an aspiring new filmmaker, her experience ranges working in small roles to key positions in major motion pictures, documentaries and independent films. In the past year, Tome resided in Los Angeles, working on several productions and learning more about independent film by interning with Sundance Institute. She currently lives in Albuquerque, aiming to bring resonating imagery in convergence with story while illustrating her perspective as a Diné woman.
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RIP: ‘SILENCE OF THE LAMB’ ‘RACHEL GETTING MARRIED’ Director Jonathan Demme Dead at 73

[caption id="attachment_22078" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Jonathan Demme[/caption] Academy Award wining director Jonathan Demme died in New York on Wednesday morning after reportedly battling esophageal cancer and suffering complications from heart disease. He was 73 years old. Demme directed blockbusters such as The Silence of the Lambs, and Philadelphia, but he never strayed too far from the indie world, directing the indie comedy Something Wild starring Melanie Griffith, and introducing Ray Liotta; and Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway. In addition to indie films, Demme directed documentaries on high profile subjects including the Pretenders, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela, along with two documentaries about Haiti, 1988’s Haiti Dreams of Democracy and 2003’s The Agronomist. Recently, Demme directed the 2016 music documentary Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids. Demme is survived by second wife Joanne Howard and their three children: Ramona, Brooklyn and Jos.
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Cinematographer Frederick Elmes to Receive AFI 2017 Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal

[caption id="attachment_22051" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Frederick Elmes[/caption] Cinematographer Frederick Elmes (AFI Class of 1972) will receive the American Film Institute (AFI) 2017 Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal. This honor recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of an AFI alumnus or alumna who embodies the qualities of filmmaker Franklin J. Schaffner: talent, taste, dedication and commitment to quality storytelling in film and television. Applauding the ongoing career of the influential artist who has lensed such films as ERASERHEAD (1977), RIVER’S EDGE (1986), BLUE VELVET (1986), WILD AT HEART (1990) and THE ICE STORM (1997), as well as TV’s OLIVE KITTERIDGE and THE NIGHT OF, the presentation of the Schaffner Medal will take place at the AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to Diane Keaton in Hollywood on June 8, 2017. Over the past five decades, Elmes has brought to life stories from cinema’s most fearless iconoclasts — including John Cassavetes, David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee and AFI Life Achievement Award honoree Diane Keaton, with whom he collaborated on her directorial debut HEAVEN (1987). He has received a Primetime Emmy® nomination, two Film Independent Spirit Awards and a New York Film Critics Circle Award, among other accolades, and is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). From among an elite community of nearly 5,000 AFI graduates, Elmes joins an esteemed group of past recipients that includes Darren Aronofsky (BLACK SWAN), Lesli Link Glatter (HOMELAND), Patty Jenkins (WONDER WOMAN), Janusz Kamiński (SCHINDLER’S LIST), David Lynch (BLUE VELVET), Terrence Malick (THE TREE OF LIFE) and Wally Pfister (THE DARK KNIGHT). The Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of a graduate of the AFI Conservatory or the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women who symbolizes the legacy of Franklin J. Schaffner. The distinguished recipients of the Schaffner Alumni Medal are: David Lynch (1991), Edward Zwick (1992), Randa Haines (1993), Martin Brest (1994), Jon Avnet (1995), Carl Franklin (1996), John McTiernan (1997), Amy Heckerling (1998), Mimi Leder (1999), Terrence Malick (2000), Darren Aronofsky (2001), Todd Field (2002), John Dahl (2003), Patty Jenkins (2004), Paul Schrader (2005), Marshall Herskovitz (2006), Gary Winick (2007), Mark Waters (2008), Steve Golin (2009), Janusz Kamiński (2010), Steven Rosenblum (2011), Wally Pfister (2012), Stuart Cornfeld (2013), Anne Garefino (2014), Caleb Deschanel (2015) and Lesli Linka Glatter (2016).
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A DATE FOR MARY, MOONLIGHT, LOVING Win at Irish Film and Television Academy Awards

[caption id="attachment_21876" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] A Date for Mad Mary[/caption] A Date for Mad Mary was crowned the Best Film, and Charleigh Bailey took home the award for Best Supporting Actress Film for her performance, at the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) Film & Drama Awards in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgAkhspus8A Colm Meaney received the IFTA for Best Lead Actor Film for his portrayal of the late Martin McGuinness in Nick Hamm’s The Journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18ZN_lZvL7A Three Awards went to Richie Smyth’s debut feature The Siege of Jadotville, with Smyth accepting the award for Best Director Film and Jason O’Mara receiving Best Supporting Actor Film. The film also won for VFX (Windmill Lane VFX). Peter Foott Picked up the IFTA for best Script for The Young Offenders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_JHsiQTTmg Best Lead Actress in Film was awarded to Loving star Ruth Negga. Best International Film was Moonlight; Best International Actor Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea, Best International Actress was Emma Stone for La La Land. The prestigious George Morrison Feature Documentary Award went to Dave Clarke and Ciarán Deeney, the team behind Colm Quinn’s Mattress Men. Best Short Film went to Dave Tynan for viral project Heartbreak while Animated Short went to IADT graduate Vincent Gallagher for stop motion project Second to None. The Rising Star award sponsored by the Irish Film Board went to The OA and Property of the State actor Patrick Gibson, who accepted his award from Bleed for This actor Ciarán Hinds. Highlights for drama categories are led by Vikings team Morgan O’Sullivan & James Flynn accepting the coveted title of Best Drama, with an additional award for Best Make-Up & Hair for Dee Corcoran & Tom McInerney on the History Channel series shot in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Best Lead Actor in Drama this year goes to Cillian Murphy for Peaky Blinders with Amy Huberman taking the Best Lead Actress in Drama for new homegrown series Striking Out which was presented by Stephen Rea. Another flagship achievement in original Irish drama is James Phelan’s award for Best Script Drama for Centenary comedy Wrecking the Rising. Supporting acting talent in drama sees Charlie Murphy honoured for Happy Valley and Ned Dennehy for Irish language western series An Klondike. Consolata Boyle of Florence Foster Jenkins achieved the award for Best Costume Design for this, her sixth award of a total nine Irish Academy nominations to date. Seamus McGarvey came out on top of the Director of Photography category for his work on Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, and Nick Emerson for Best Editing on Billy O’Brien’s I Am Not A Serial Killer. The Secret Scripture took double craft awards with Derek Wallace awarded the IFTA for Best Production Design and Brian Byrne taking the award for Best Original Music. The Siege of Jadotville took home its third award for Best VFX, which went to Tim Chauncey of Windmill Lane VFX. Juanita Wilson’s second feature Tomato Red earned the award for Best Sound tonight, for the work of Niall Brady, Ken Galvin & Steve Fanagan.
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Julie Perini Wins 2017 Oregon Media Arts Fellowship to Fund ‘The Story of Butch Lesbian Freedom Fighter rita bo brown’

Julie Perini has been selected by The Northwest Film Center, Oregon Arts Commission, and Portland Film Office as the winner of the 2017 Oregon Media Arts Fellowship (OMAF). Julie Perini is a Portland-based media who works in experimental and documentary film and video, installations, and live events. Originally from Poughkeepie, NY, she has been exploring her immediate surroundings with cameras since age 15 when she discovered a VHS camcorder in her parent’s suburban home. Perini’s work often explores the areas between fact and fiction, the staged and improvised, and the personal and political, often in response to social movements happening locally and globally. Perini’s work has exhibited and screened internationally at such venues as the Centre Pompidou-Metz (France), Artists’ Television Access (San Francisco), Visible Evidence XX (Stockholm), The Horse Hospital (London), Cornell Cinema (Ithaca, NY), Microscope Gallery (New York City), among others. She has been awarded artist residencies at Yaddo, Signal Fire, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program and is currently employed as an Associate Professor in the School of Art + Design at Portland State University. She has received grants and fellowships in support of her work from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Regional Arts and Culture Council, the Oregon Arts Commission, and The Precipice Fund. The $5,500 Fellowship award will go towards funding The Gentleman Bank Robber: The Story of Butch Lesbian Freedom Fighter rita bo brown, a feature-length documentary that tells the story of bo brown, a white working-class butch from Klamath Falls, Oregon who was a member of the revolutionary George Jackson Brigade, an underground, militant revolutionary prison abolitionist group based in Seattle, Washington in the 1970s. As a member of the George Jackson Brigade, bo became known as “The Gentleman Bank Robber” for combing her butch style of dress with a polite way of demanding funds from bank tellers, one of the ways the Brigade funded its militant activities to protest military aggression, injustice, and exploitation. The Oregon Media Arts Fellowship supports filmmakers who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the media arts. Jurors reviewed 42 submissions from applicants throughout the state, weighing artistic merit, the potential of the proposed activity to advance the artist’s work, and the feasibility of the projects proposed. The Fellowship is funded by the Oregon Arts Commission and the Portland Film Office and administered by Northwest Film. The application deadline for the 2018 Oregon Media Arts Fellowships is January 1, 2018
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RIP: Egyptian Film Critic, Journalist and Film Historian Samir Farid Dead at 73

Egyptian film critic, journalist and film historian Samir Farid died on Tuesday after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 73. In 2002, Samir Farid won the state award for excellence in the arts. He was also awarded the Cannes Film Festival Gold Medal in both 1997 and 2000. Earlier this year, he was given the honorary Berlinale Camera Award at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival. In 2014, he was the head of the Cairo International Film Festival. The Berlin International Film Festival issued a statement: The Berlin International Festival mourns the loss of renowned film critic and author Samir Farid who died after a long illness on April 4. Samir Farid was highly esteemed as a film expert, and his opinions and advice were cherished worldwide. As a film critic he also accompanied the Berlinale over decades. In February 2017 the Festival awarded Farid a Berlinale Camera, an honour bestowed upon film personalities to whom the Berlin International Film Festival feels particularly indebted. He first trained his sharp eye for film during his studies at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts at the Academy of Arts in Cairo. In 1965 he began his career as a critic at the Egyptian daily Al-Gomhoreya, where he worked for 38 years. During this period, he co-founded the National Festival of Short and Documentary Films (1970), the National Festival of Feature Films (1971), as well as the Egyptian Film Critics Association (1972). As of the 1970s, Farid was also a member of the FIPRESCI, the international federation of film critics. Over the course of his long career, he used his extensive knowledge while serving as a jury member at many world-renowned film festivals. For a few years during the 1980s, he was also a correspondent for the trade magazine Variety. In 2004 he began working for the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. Farid was the author and translator of more than 60 books on Arab and world cinema. “With Samir Farid we have lost an important voice from the Arab world. His commitment and passion for cinema were unrivalled. With his death I have also lost an old friend,” states Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.
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Montclair Film Announces Student Winners of 2017 Emerging Filmmaker Competition

Montclair Film announced the winners of the 2017 Emerging Filmmaker Competition (EFC), a program that screens work by students in grades 4-12 from the Tri-State Area and beyond. This year, over 90 films were submitted in three categories: Cinemaniacs (grades 4-6), Storytellers (grades 7-9), and Visionaries (grades 10-12). Winning films were selected by a group of educators and industry professionals, and all winning films will be screened at the Montclair Film Festival’s EFC Showcase on Saturday, April 29, at 11:00 a.m. at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ. Montclair Film has also selected 15 students from across the area to participate in the Montclair Film Festival’s Junior Jury. The jurors will review a selection of films, meet with industry professionals to learn about the process of jury deliberation, adjudicate, and select a winning film for the festival’s Junior Jury Award, to be given on Saturday, May 6th, 2017. The Montclair Film Festival, in conjunction with the Montclair Special Education Parents Advisory Council (SEPAC), will also be featuring two Sensory Friendly screenings for families this year. Sensory friendly screenings feature lowered sound, raised house lights, and the freedom for young people with sensory sensitivities to move, speak, and view films in a friendly, judgement-free environment. This year’s screenings will be INTO THE WHO KNOWS!, screening Sunday, April 30 at 11:00 a.m. at the Clairidge (suggested for children ages 6 and up), and SWIM TEAM on Friday, May 5 at 4:30 p.m. at the Bellevue (suggested for ages 12 and up). The Montclair Film Festival will also feature a public art reception on Saturday, May 6 at 2:00 p.m. at the Investors Bank Film & Media Center, showcasing a collaborative student Air/Water Art Installation, co-presented by the Montclair Cooperative School that focuses on this year’s Community Climate Action Campaign. The piece, featuring thousands of re-purposed plastic bottles and mixed materials, will be on display throughout the Montclair Film Festival on the rear façade of the building, located at 505 Bloomfield Avenue. The reception is free and open to the public. “As our Education programs continue to grow, we’re incredibly proud of these students, both as filmmakers and film lovers,” said Montclair Film Education Director Sue Hollenberg. “We remain dedicated to creating meaningful experiences for students of all ages, and the diversity and reach of these programs are a demonstration of our commitment to teaching the art of film. We congratulate all of our students on their outstanding work.”
2017 EMERGING FILMMAKER COMPETITION WINNERS
Cinemaniacs (Grades 4-6) Grand Prize Narrative GREAT AUNT’S DISGUISE Hanmer Elementary Liv Hammer Cora Tinker Edie Carson Grand Prize Comedy HOW TO MAKE A FILM FOR DUMMIES The Pingry School Jordan Miller Vared Shmuler Jenna Hauser Meher Khan Storytellers (Grades 7-9) Grand Prize Comedy & Grand Prize Narrative SOCK MONSTER Middletown High School South Victoria Pater Courtney Voehl Olivia Parauda Cassidy Anontucci Milla Shinder Erik Pedersen Special Jury Prize Comedy BULLFROG Union Catholic Regional High School Zachary Reichgut Grand Prize Experimental IMPERCEPTIBLE Montclair Kimberley Academy Luke Gardiner Grand Prize Documentary PROJECT IDENTITY South Orange Middle School Alex Ferrandiz Sam Cohen Lucia Garritano Robin Kalderen Ray Feinleib Visionaries (Grades 10-12) Grand Prize Comedy TINY Middletown High School South Matt King Special Jury Prize Comedy (tie) THE INDUBITABLE MOLLY DAVIS Montclair Kimberly Academy Lily Jones Special Jury Prize Comedy (tie) PLANET OF THE DOGS Montclair High School Owen Plofker Grand Prize Experimental 1600 Middletown High School South Charlotte Larish Lisa Merola Maria Dragone Sage Levine Special Jury Prize Experimental THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS Columbia High School Jacob Hirsch Grand Prize Narrative PERSONAL SPACE Montclair High School Lucia Ledesma Aidan Champeau Jake Weinberg Lilli Herrick Jacob Manthy Petra Fox Jake Diamond Special Jury Prize Narrative (tie) BLACK & WHITE REVENGE Montville Township High School David Champion Jeff Gallup Heather Giudice Samantha Grossman Alec Grossman Jack Motherway Paul Riccio Veronica Tullo Special Jury Prize Narrative (Tie) FIND Morristown High School Kylee Strasser Grand Prize Documentary & Social Impact XENOPHOBIA The Hudson School Sean Riller-Miltner Special Jury Prize Documentary LOVE SHOULDN’T HURT Montclair High School Blythe Bahramipour Special Jury Prize Social Impact BEHIND CLOSED DOORS Passaic County Technical Institute Tiffany Cano Special Jury Prize Social Impact THE HURDLE Passaic County Technical Institute Tyrese Watkins THE 2017 JUNIOR JURY Abby Berberian, Bridgewater Raritan High School Aidan Champeau, Montclair High School David Chun, Millburn Alison Cottingham, Montclair Kimberley Academy Tyrell Dickerson, Academy 360 Soula Garcia, Bloomfield High School Hank Greenberg, Montclair High School Jackson Healey, Middletown High School South Kianni, Keys, Newark Academy Reymond Lamb, Montclair High School Noah Levine, Livingston High Daniel Mathis, Montclair High School Gabrielle Narcisse, Kent Place School Sophia Raines, West Orange High School Kayleen Silva, Ridgefield Park
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‘8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS’ and ‘SWEETHEART DEAL’ Win True Productions + SIFF Documentary Filmmakers Grants

[caption id="attachment_21780" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Sham, Yaman and Lulu in Lesbos, Greece, September 2015 (Amanda Bailly) (8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS – Amanda Bailly)[/caption] Amanda Bailly’s film 8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS and co-directors Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller’s film SWEETHEART DEAL have been awarded filmmaking grants in the 2016 True Productions + SIFF $50,000 Documentary Filmmakers Grant program. True Productions founder Dwayne Clark, and his wife Terese Clark, have generously pledged to underwrite an annual $50,0000 grant for three years, this being the second year. “We are committed to producing true stories and both these documentaries touch our hearts. Both my wife and I are children of immigrants and we understand the plight of the immigrant. But we are especially touched by those seeking refuge from violence. In addition, when it comes to the topic of heroin addiction, we see Seattle and nearby communities struggling with solutions. We hope by supporting SWEETHEART DEAL, that we can keep the problem top of mind and perhaps spark more conversations around prevention,” said Dwayne Clark. “I am so grateful to True Productions + SIFF for investing in the story of this single Syrian mother and her children, who had no other option but to travel in a raft across the sea with smugglers,” director Amanda Bailly said. “It is through human stories like this one that I hope our country can understand what it means to close our doors to the millions of people in need of refuge.” 8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS is the story of one woman’s personal revolution in the context of one of the greatest human rights crises of our time. The film weaves between the intimate story of a fierce single mother of two from Syria, and an immersive experience of their eight-day journey to safety. Elisa Levine and Gabriel Miller’s film SWEETHEART DEAL, produced by Peggy Case, follows the lives of four women whose lives are ruled by heroin, and there is no help in sight – except from a ponytailed eccentric living in a Winnebago parked on Seattle’s notorious Aurora Avenue. “When Mary Ellen Mark and Martin Bell made STREETWISE back in 1984, they chose Seattle because it was considered America’s most livable city. They wanted to show that if the issue of homeless kids could be a problem in wholesome Seattle, it had to be a problem everywhere. The same holds true today for heroin addiction,” director Elisa Levine said. “This incredible support from True Productions + SIFF comes at a crucial point in our post-production process. We so look forward to sharing SWEETHEART DEAL with SIFF audiences when it is completed.” “Continuing with our second consecutive year, we are thrilled to have selected two powerful documentaries for the True Productions + SIFF Documentary Filmmaking Grant,” said Interim Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS and SWEETHEART DEAL have tackled the issues of immigration and heroin addiction with such grace and thoughtfulness, and thanks to the dedication of Dwayne and Teresa Clark and True Productions, both films will be equipped with the necessary tools for launching into the festival and exhibition world.”
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Filmmakers: The Academy Launches 2017 Student Academy Awards Competition

[caption id="attachment_21755" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its 43rd Annual Student Academy Awards® on Thursday, September 22, in Beverly Hills. Pictured (left to right): Foreign Animated film winner Ahmad Saleh, Animated film winner Echo Wu, Animated film winner Carter Boyce and Animated film winner Alicja Jasina.[/caption] The Academy is now accepting entries for its 2017 Student Academy Awards® competition. All Student Academy Award® winners become eligible for Oscars® consideration. The entry deadline for submissions is Thursday, June 1. New this year, the competition has expanded to allow two options for students at international film schools to submit their films. In addition to CILECT-member schools submitting one student film per international film school category, international students may now enter films that qualify through film festivals recognized by the Student Academy Awards Executive Committee. The U.S. competition is open to all full-time undergraduate and graduate students whose films are made within the curricular structure of an eligible accredited institution. For the third year, students are asked to submit their films online using FilmFreeway, a widely used festival and competition platform. The 44th Student Academy Awards presentation will be held on Thursday, October 12, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Past winners have gone on to receive 57 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 10 awards. This year one 2016 Student Academy Award winner received an Oscar nomination in the Documentary Short Subject category: Daphne Matziaraki, a Gold Medal winner in the Documentary category for “4.1 Miles.” Past Student Academy Award winners include acclaimed filmmakers Pete Docter, Cary Fukunaga, John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Robert Zemeckis. In 1972, the Academy established the Student Academy Awards to provide a platform for emerging global filmmakers by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work.
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Film Independent Selects 10 Indie Filmmakers for 2017 Documentary Lab + Launches Fiscal Sponsorship Program

[caption id="attachment_21677" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Brooklyn/Alaska, Erica Sterne[/caption] 10 filmmakers and six projects have been selected for Film Independent’s 2017 Documentary Lab. The 2017 Doc Lab is a five-week intensive program designed to support filmmakers who are currently in post-production on their feature-length documentaries. “We’re thrilled to bring together this group of talented filmmakers for the seventh year of our Documentary Lab and provide them with career support and mentorship that will help elevate their unique visions and fully realize the potential of their stories,” said Kushner. This year’s Documentary Lab Advisors and Guest Speakers include Jennifer Arnold (Tig, A Small Act); Nels Bangerter (Editor, Cameraperson); Peter Broderick (President, Paradigm Consulting); Greg Finton (Editor, He Named Me Malala); Keith Fulton (The Bad Kids); Simon Kilmurry (Executive Director, International Documentary Association); Peter Nicks (The Force); Lou Pepe (The Bad Kids); and Chris Perez (Partner, Donaldson + Callif LLP). The organization also launched its new Fiscal Sponsorship Program, open to all types of eligible projects at every stage including documentary and fiction films and interactive media. Fiscal sponsorship is a legal arrangement between a 501(c)3 and an independent artist that gives them the eligibility to apply for grants and solicit tax-deductible donations for their project. “In response to what our members have told us they need, we’re happy to deepen our support by offering Fiscal Sponsorship, helping filmmakers gain access to new sources of project funding,” said Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development. The 2017 Documentary Lab projects and Fellows are: Brooklyn/Alaska, Erica Sterne – director/producer Teenage boys from tough Brooklyn neighborhoods discover the natural world on an unlikely adventure through the remote Alaskan wilderness and are transformed by the physical and emotional challenges encountered along the way. Minding the Gap, Bing Liu – director/producer, Diane Quon – producer Bing, a 25-year-old Chinese-American skateboarder and filmmaker, returns to his hometown and reconnects with two skateboarders: Keire, an African-American 17-year-old and Zack, a white 23-year-old, who all share a history of childhood trauma. Over the next three years, their freewheeling lives unravel as they figure out who they hope to be. Shadow of His Wings, Lucas Habte – director/producer, Isidore Bethel – producer/editor Hoping to understand his Ethiopian father’s history of forced migration, an American filmmaker moves to Addis Ababa and falls in love with a young man who soon must flee homophobic death threats at home to become France’s first LGBT refugee from Ethiopia. A Taste of Sky, Michael Lei – director/producer In the dizzying heights of Bolivia’s capital of La Paz a gastronomical revolution is offering the possibility of hope to the country’s impoverished youth. We follow the trials and tribulations of GUSTU, the innovative cooking school and world-class restaurant of South America’s poorest country. A Woman’s Work, Yu Gu – director, Elizabeth Ai – producer Football and feminism collide in this feature documentary that follows three former NFL cheerleaders as they battle against their former teams and the NFL to reverse 50 years of illegal employment practices. Waiting for Kate…(female is not a genre) Amy Goldstein – director/producer, Anouchka van Riel –producer Waiting for Kate…(female is not a genre) takes us on the roller coaster of contemporary pop stardom, with an unprecedented inside look at the euphoric highs and destructive lows on the cutting edge of today’s music industry. image via Brooklyn/Alaska, Erica Sterne
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75th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sets Date of January 7, 2018

[caption id="attachment_19566" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Meryl Streep accepts the Cecil B. Demille Award at the 74th Annual Golden Globes Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA on Sunday, January 8, 2017.[/caption] The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will present the 75th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. The ceremony will air on NBC live coast-to-coast. In January, NBC’s telecast of “The 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards” averaged 20.0 million viewers and a 5.6 rating (+2%) in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research. That represented a year-to-year gain of 1.5 million persons or 8% versus the prior year’s 18.5 million viewers, making it the second most-watched “Golden Globes” in the last 10 years.
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Meet the creative teams and projects selected for the 2017 Sundance Institute New Frontier Story Lab:

2017 EMERGING FILMMAKER COMPETITION WINNERS