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SEE Pics from Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s “DON JON” Movie

New images have been released for the comedy film DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which premiered earlier this year at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. DON JON will released in theaters on September 27, 2013.

Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to “pull” a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn’t compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright, beautiful, good old fashioned girl. Raised on romantic Hollywood movies, she’s determined to find her Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset. Wrestling with good old fashioned expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against a media culture full of false fantasies to try and find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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WATCH Trailer for Indie Drama “THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE” Starring Jennifer Hudson

A new trailer has been released for the indie drama THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE starring Jennifer Hudson, about two boys struggling to survive on their own against all odds in a sweltering summer in New York City. THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER AND PETE, directed by George Tillman, Jr., will be released in theaters on October 11, 2013.

During a sweltering summer in New York City, 13-year-old Mister’s ( Skylan Brooks) hard-living mother (Jennifer Hudson) is apprehended by the police, leaving the boy and nine-year-old Pete (Ethan Dizon) alone to forage for food while dodging child protective services and the destructive scenarios of the Brooklyn projects. Faced with more than any child can be expected to bear, the resourceful Mister nevertheless feels he is an unstoppable force against seemingly unmovable obstacles. But what really keeps the pair in the survival game is much more Mister’s vulnerability than his larger-than-life attitude.

http://youtu.be/5RsnZF6-cUY
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San Francisco Film Society Announces 3 Screenwriter Finalists for 2014 Djerassi Screenwriting Residency

Djerassi Resident Artists Program

The San Francisco Film Society, in partnership with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, announced the finalists for the 2014 Djerassi Residency Award / San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship, given annually to encourage the career of an emerging or established screenwriter. The fellowship is one of a number of screenwriting initiatives offered by Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s innovative and dynamic filmmaker services program.

The Djerassi Residency Award / San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship provides uninterrupted time for work, reflection and collegial interaction, making this award unique in its capacity to provide a screenwriter with an inspiring and supportive environment in a stunningly beautiful rural location. Located 40 miles south of San Francisco in the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, this residency offers living and work-studio accommodations and all meals from August 5 through September 3, 2014, at no cost to the recipient. The finalists were selected from applications submitted in response to an international call for entries.

FINALISTS
Bretten Hannam — SPEAK THE WOLF
A rebellious Métis teenager finds himself at a youth boot camp in the far north. After accidentally shooting a staff member, he flees into the Arctic, where he encounters a young Inuit hunter. Stranded in a remote hunting camp, they are forced to face their inner demons in order to survive.

Kate Marks — MIRACLE MAKER
A washed up miracle maker, crippled by the problems and demands of a desperate world, runs away from her destiny and uncovers the land beyond her control.

Lea Nakonechny — A SWEETER WORLD
After falling on hard times when his bees die off, Jim Wiebe kills a competing beekeeper for his honey. Finding refuge in a Hutterite colony, he sees a chance at salvation. But how long can a guilty man stay in a place where the number one rule is to love thy neighbor?

Previous recipients of the Djerassi Residency Award are Joshua Zeman (2013) for his scientific drama Collider, Julie Tosh (2012) for her science fiction-infused family drama Program Rose, Adam Chanzit (2011) for his psychological thriller The 15th Stone and Kathryn Mockler (2010) for her project Weak People Are Fun to Torment.
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REVIEW: THÉRÈSE

All screen adaptations of classic novels face the same inevitable obstacle: though they need not best their source material, they must work twice as hard as an original film to justify their existence. Why watch an adaptation of Jane Eyre, of Pride and Prejudice, or of Madame Bovary when those original texts are so celebrated and so readily available?

François Mauriac’s 1927 novel Thérèse Desqueyroux may not be as well known on this side of the Atlantic as those novels, but it is nevertheless a French classic. The literary origins of the late Claude Miller’s adaptation, which has its United States premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center are manifestly and regrettably obvious. The events of the film take place over many years and lack the propulsive dramatic force of stories crafted directly for the screen. The last third of the movie does not build to climax but simply and unsatisfyingly peters out. Miller’s direction, meanwhile, is pedestrian at best: this is not a movie made up of striking, original images. His visual choices convey little about the characters or the narrative.

But there is something else about the film that hearkens back to prose fiction, and particularly to the novels of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Thérèse herself. She is a fascinating creature, one we cannot help but find compelling even if we would not, perhaps, want to deal with her in real life. If the film deserves to exist at all – and I’m not sure it does – that is due to Audrey Tatou’s performance in the lead role, which is truly remarkable. It’s safe to assume that readers of Mauriac’s novel are privy to Thérèse’s innermost emotions, but viewers of Miller’s film have to rely primarily on Tatou’s performance to figure out what is going on inside her character’s head. She effortlessly telegraphs each of Thérèse’s thoughts and feelings to the audience, despite the fact that the character is nearly always acting a very different role in front of her family.

The press materials for the film compare Thérèse to Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina, which is certainly valid: she, like both of them, is trapped in an unsatisfying marriage; she, like them, yearns for the city while imprisoned in the stultifying country. She is ultimately separated from her child, toward whom she has never expressed much maternal feeling. But Emma is a fool and Anna is a martyr, and Thérèse is something harder and slipperier. Deliberately or not, she owes far more to Kate Croy, the anti-hero of Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove, than to the long list of suicidal women who populate so many nineteenth-century novels. Kate is manipulative, conniving, and amoral, but she is not without feeling. Tatou’s performance, indeed, is strongly reminiscent of Helena Bonham Carter’s as Kate in the 1997 adaptation of that novel, easily one of the most successful adaptations of a complex nineteenth-century text. The minds behind that movie were smart enough to shape their story into something undeniably cinematic. Despite the relative age of the source material, it feels new.

THÉRÈSE, alas, feels no such thing. Though changes were certainly made to the source material, the film nevertheless plays like an old book that has been translated directly – and uncreatively – to the screen. Thérèse struggles against the bonds of her family and the staid, bourgeois society of which they are a part; Tatou struggles equally against the bonds of a movie that does not really know what to do with her. It is a crying shame that one of her most complex and accomplished performances came to be in so undeserving a movie.

“THÉRÈSE”
dir. Claude Miller
feat. Audrey Tatou, Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier
MPI Pictures
110 minutes, NR

http://youtu.be/MzRWaFMQFbw
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New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 23

There are a number of excellent indie releases coming out this weekend, and if you can’t get to your local art house theater (or, even worse, you don’t HAVE a local art house theater), most of them will be available soon either on VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray. Good news for all of us indie and foreign film fans, right?

DRINKING BUDDIES

Director: Joe Swanberg
Starring: Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson, Ron Livingston
It’s one of my favorite films I’ve seen this year so far, so I can’t recommend Drinking Buddies enough. Director Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs) and the cast, including Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson and Ron Livingston, made this film without scripted dialogue. Wilde and Johnson play co-workers at a Chicago brewery who seem like they are perfect for each other, but they’re currently involved with other people. Now factor in their daily drinking, and Drinking Buddies ends up being one of those wonderful indie “romantic comedies” that exposes the mainstream entries in that genre as completely artificial. If it isn’t playing at a theater by you yet, it’s already available on VOD and iTunes.

THE FROZEN GROUND

Director: Scott Walker
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Vanessa Hudgens, John Cusack, Dean Norris, 50 Cent
The first feature by New Zealand writer/director Scott Walker stars the unlikely duo of Nic Cage and Vanessa Hudgens. Cage is an Alaskan State Trooper and Hudgens is a woman who escaped a serial killer. John Cusack plays the real-life 1980s serial killer Robert Hansen, who murdered at least 17 women. If nothing else, that cast list makes this worth a look, and if you don’t catch it in theaters it’s already scheduled for an October 1 DVD and Blu-ray release.

THE GRANDMASTER

Director: Kar Wai Wong
Starring: Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang, Hye-kyo Song, Chen Chang
Ip Man is a revered figure in the history of martial arts, training many venerable martial arts including Bruce Lee. Though there have been other films about Ip Man — most notably 2008’s Ip Man and its 2010 sequel both starring Donnie Yen — The Grandmaster stars Infernal Affairs’ Tony Leung and was directed by frequent Leung collaborator Kar Wai Wong. Together they have created a slower-paced film about Ip Man that approaches the iconic martial artist less as an action movie hero and more as a philosopher. One important note: the film has been recut for the version that will be screened in the U.S. (which is presented by Martin Scorsese, no less), but it’s no clear how extensive those cuts are yet.

SHORT TERM 12

Director: Destin Cretton
Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Stephanie Batriz, Rami Malek
Short Term 12 made the festival rounds earlier this year and flew a bit under the radar. Lots of films do that, but Short Term 12 has since received nearly unanimously glowing reviews and won the Audience Award at the SXSW Festival. Brie Larson portrays a supervisor at a foster home who finds it difficult to balance her past and current relationships with the troubled lives of the children she works with every day. If it’s as good as critics have been saying and that words gets out, there will probably be many more awards in the future for Short Term 12.

SCENIC ROUTE

Directors: Kevin & Michael Goetz
Starring: Josh Duhamel, Dan Fogler, Miracle Laurie, Christie Burson
Being that I live in New York City I don’t have to worry about my car breaking down in the middle of the desert (but trust me, we have lots of other things to be concerned about!) According to Scenic Route, the problem isn’t just the concern of how you’re going to get out of that situation, it’s who you’re with. Josh Duhamel and Dan Fogler star as old friends whose friendship begins to unravel when they are isolated together on a desert road once their car breaks down. Or did their friendship already unravel and now they finally have a chance to tell each other how they really feel? It’s also available for streaming and will be available on DVD/Blu-ray on September 17.

THÉRÈSE

Director: Claude Miller
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier
This adaptation of the 1927 French novel was the final film directed by visionary French director Claude Miller before his April 2012 death. It stars Amelie’s Audrey Tautou as the title character, who seeks to break out of social expectations of women when she realizes her husband has little concern for her. Though it’s certainly a story that has been done before in film, I doubt it’s been done looking this cinematically beautiful before.

PARADISE: FAITH (PARADIES: GLAUBE)

Director: Ulrich Seidl
Starring: Maria Hofstätter, Nabil Saleh, Natalya Baranova, Rene Rupnik
After debuting a year ago at the 2012 Venice Film Festival (where it was awarded a Special Jury Prize and a Best Film in Competition prize) and appearing in festivals around the globe, Paradise: Faith is finally getting a limited release in the United States. Maria Hofstätter stars as Anna Maria, an Austrian woman who is completely devoted to her ultra-religious views. However, the reemergence of her estranged husband threatens her religious bliss. Paradise: Faith will also be out on DVD on October 22.

THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI (Documentary)

Director: Bill Siegel
How much left is there to say about a man who is generally regarded to have once been the world’s most famous athlete? Perhaps everything about his life in the ring has been told, so director Bill Siegel (who worked on the influential documentary Hoop Dreams) looks at perhaps the most controversial period in Ali’s life outside of the ring: when he was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to serve in Vietnam after he was drafted and was unable to box.

OTHER NOTABLE WEEKEND INDIE, FOREIGN & DOCUMENTARY RELEASES:

UNA NOCHE (ONE NIGHT)
SAVANNAH
THE CONSPIRACY
THE UNITED STATES OF FOOTBALL (DOCUMENTARY)

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REVIEW: Drinking Buddies

Appearances are often deceiving. Two people who might appear to be perfect for each other on the surface by the way they interact might be incompatible once things get deeper. In DRINKING BUDDIES, a romantic comedy from writer/director Joe Swanberg (V/H/S), pretty and playful Kate (Olivia Wilde) works as a marketer at a Chicago-area brewery. Though she is in a relationship with the pedantic Chris (Ron Livingston), she clearly has better chemistry with one of the brewers she works with, Luke (Jake Johnson). However, the outgoing Luke is engaged to Jill (Anna Kendrick), a somewhat shy special education teacher.

Just from reading the description of those characters you might think that Kate and Luke are a better fit for each other, and on the surface that’s obvious. While they’re together they’re flirty and playful. Kate in particular is clearly struggling with the romantic feelings she has for Luke, and while the two are always talking they never talk about what’s going on between them. On the other hand, Jill and Chris seem to have a connection of their own – Chris is the type of guy who doesn’t think Kate is sophisticated enough for him (he stops making out with her to give her a John Updike book to read. Yeah, he’s THAT guy). He doesn’t even like the free beer Kate gives him! Nonetheless, Jill is still compatible with Luke – it’s really the “interesting, polite gentleman” (as Jill calls Chris) who is the odd man out. But that still leaves the question of what becomes of Luke, Jill, and Kate.

Drinking Buddies is an exercise in body language and brilliant camera work. Because Kate and Luke never talk about their relationship (or lack thereof), shots are built around their symbolic physical closeness and distance. Because of what is seen and not said, it’s an incredibly tense movie despite being about relationships – as a viewer you almost want to cut in and state the obvious to all the main players. But that’s what makes Drinking Buddies such a fun movie. Swanberg could have gone the easy route by making Kendrick’s Jill an ice queen (after all, that’s how most mainstream romantic comedies do it), but just because Kendrick’s Jill is mousier than Wilde’s Kate doesn’t mean she’s not right for Luke.

If you like your movies subtle, Drinking Buddies is a wonderful film. I immediately wanted to watch it again to see what I missed of the actors telling a story without stating the obvious. In particular, I was blown away by Wilde – I’ve only seen her in big-budget films like TRON: Legacy and Cowboys & Aliens, so I never suspected she could pull off a subtle role like this. If mainstream romantic comedies have burned you out on their silliness, Drinking Buddies will restore your faith in the genre.

Also, look for an uncredited Jason Sudeikis as Kate and Luke’s goofy boss, Gene Dentler (who is oddly credited as “Himself”).

Review Rating: 4 out of 5 : See it …… It’s Very Good

http://youtu.be/Dj9Q92s97Uc
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James Franco erotic drama “INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR” to be Released by Strand Releasing | TRAILER

Strand Releasing announced earlier this week that the James Franco and Travis Mathews’ erotic drama “INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and went on to screen at the Berlin Film Festival, will be released either later this year or in early 2014.

Inspired by the 1980 thriller “Cruising” starring Al Pacino, “Leather Bar” recreates the 40 minutes of gay S&M footage that is rumored to have been cut from the film by director William Friedkin.

Val Lauren stars as the Pacino character, while Franco and Mathews also appear on camera.

“I am so excited and pleased that this unusual film has found the perfect home. We are so proud of this and happy to be working with Strand Releasing,” said Franco.

“Strand has a long history of pioneering queer art films that challenge the norms of the day; we really couldn’t ask for a better fit for our film,” added Mathews.

http://youtu.be/rgAzEiUAn8o
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REVIEW: Sparrows Dance

The clock is ticking; the days are passing, as she sits behind closed doors, paralyzed by fear.

SPARROWS DANCE, directed by Noah Buschel, explores the life of a former actress (Marin Ireland) who has been sequestered in her apartment for a year. Her daily existence is plagued by fear. This fear serves to clog her life, until she meets Wes the plumber (Paul Sparks).

She is a young woman who wanders from room to room, existing in total fear. She has many crutches used to stave off her ‘fear of’. Her days are spent in utter isolation; her existence is one of self-imposed exile. Each day passes with her engaging in simple routines: sleeping, eating, exercising and watching T.V. Her daily sustenance is conveyed to her door. It is through this door that she communicates with the outside world.

She lives vicariously through the lives of the people in the old movies. While scarfing down a wrap, she watches an old movie in which the male character cheats on his wife. She has a forlorn expression on her face. A look that says: ‘I am right to be in a state of solitude.’

She also witnesses a crime in progress from her window and she dials 911. She acts, while the other witnesses look on in fear. It shows that in spite of her phobia her humanity shines forth.

One day her toilet overflows, water is everywhere and the neighbor alerts her to the problem by banging on her door. Her reaction to this intrusion is to withdraw under her bedcovers. Eventually, she utters a response: “I’ll take care of it.” She contacts a plumbing company and they agree to send a plumber. She struggles with this and requests that service be provided via phone. In the end, she is forced to give in.

Wes, the plumber, is intelligent, confident, and empathetic. He enters her solitary life and gently attempts to prod her out of her shell. Soon, he has her dancing, smiling and sharing her fears. She is swept off her feet. Wes encourages her to venture forth onto the stage of life. She is overcome with immense fear at his prodding. She wrestles with her phobia and lashes out at Wes.

Will she vanquish her fears? Only time will tell…

The director/writer, Noah Buschel, is brilliant in his portrayal of agoraphobia. The music is effectively interspersed throughout the film. The lighting techniques implemented are truly commendable. It is a sensitive and captivating portrayal of this phobia.

http://youtu.be/pWuq198T15k
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New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 16

This weekend is a relatively quiet one in terms of major Hollywood releases (expecting people will be out enjoying the final weekends of summer?), but it’s a vibrant one for indie and foreign releases. At least two of them are among the most talked-about movies of the year, and several had their premieres back at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and are finally making their ways out to the masses. Be sure to keep your eyes on some of the films being released this weekend as many of them of will continue expanding to more areas in the following weekends.

New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 16

LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER

LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER

Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Forest Whitaker, David Oyelowo, Lenny Kravitz, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Because its release is wider than most indie films you’ve probably heard all about Lee Danisels’ The Butler, a film loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen, an African American who served as a White House butler for decades. It’s already the subject of all sorts of awards talk, and while I felt the movie was uneven it’s important to note there is a great family drama here if you can get past the distraction of famous actors doing terrible impressions of former presidents (especially Robin Williams and John Cusack).

JOBS

JOBS
Director: Joshua Michael Stern
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, J.K. Simmons, Matthew Modine
Even before everyone you know had an iPod, Steve Jobs was a monumental figure in computers and business. This biopic went into production shortly after Jobs’ death in late 2011. The film stars Ashton Kutcher as Jobs, and while the commercials for the movie have been filled with immense praise, it’s worth noting that most reviews since it premiered back at Sundance have been largely negative — particularly focusing on Kutcher’s performance.

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS

AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS
Director: David Lowery
Starring: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Keith Carradine
The buzz on this crime drama about an outlaw reuniting with his wife and the sheriff who tries to stop them has been huge after winning two awards at Sundance. If nothing else, see it because David Lowery is a director that many have pegged as one of the next big names.

AUSTENLAND

AUSTENLAND
Director: Jerusha Hess
Starring: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Jennifer Coolidge, Bret McKenzie, Jane Seymour
Director Jerusha Hess is best known for co-writing Napoleone Dynamite and Austenland, based on the 2007 novel, fits in her quirky work. It stars Keri Russell as a devoted Jane Austen fan going to a Jane Austen theme park (?) to meet the love of her life. The real question is — who would open a Jane Austen theme park?

CUTIE AND THE BOXER (Documentary)

CUTIE AND THE BOXER

Director: Zachary Heinzerling
Though most of us probably wouldn’t want to peer into the inner workings of two people in a forty year marriage, Cutie and the Boxer won the Documentary Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival. It tells the story of painter Ushio Shinohara, famed for his boxing art, and his wife Noriko, who feels marginalized in her role as Ushio’s assistant.

YOU WILL BE MY SON (TU SERAS MON FILS)

YOU WILL BE MY SON (TU SERAS MON FILS)
Director: Gilles Legrand
Starring: Niels Arestrup, Lorànt Deutsch, Patrick Chesnais
Though it was first released in it’s native France over two years ago, this family drama starring Gilles Legrand (War Horse, A Prophet) as a father who owns a winery who sees another man’s son as a far more suitable successor than his own son has earned rave reviews from just about every critic who has seen it.

OTHER NOTABLE WEEKEND INDIE, FOREIGN & DOCUMENTARY RELEASES:
THE HAPPY SAD
STANDING UP
SPARK: A BURNING MAN STORY (Documentary)
THE AMERICAN GANDHI

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12 Filmmakers Are Grant Recipients of 2013 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund

ROOFTOP FILMS & AT&T FEATURE FILM GRANT:Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA

Rooftop Films which wraps up it’s Summer Series this weekend, announced the 2013 Filmmakers’ Fund grantees. Rooftop Films’ Founder and Artistic Director, Mark Elijah Rosenberg, said of the grants: “Every year, it is an honor for us at Rooftop to be able to support a new crop of amazing films thanks to the support of our community—our audience, partners and sponsors. We are proud to reflect the diversity of our community by awarding grants to a wide range of films this year, from comedies and wild new media projects to serious films addressing global political issues. Each of these filmmakers previously screened at our festival, so it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to give something back to them and help them make new films which will soon astonish the world.”

The 2013 Grantees are:

ROOFTOP FILMS & AT&T FEATURE FILM GRANT: Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA
ROOFTOP FILMS & EASTERN EFFECTS EQUIPMENT GRANT: Todd Rohal, SWEET CHEEKS
ROOFTOP FILMS & EDGEWORX POST-PRODUCTION GRANT: Zachary Treitz & Kate Lyn Sheil, MEN GO TO BATTLE
ROOFTOP FILMS EQUIPMENT GRANT: Keith Miller, FIVE STAR
ROOFTOP FILMS & ADRIENNE SHELLY FOUNDATION SHORT FILM GRANT FOR WOMEN: Heather Courtney, Untitled Texas documentary
ROOFTOP FILMS & DCTV EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES GRANTS:
Darius Monroe Clark, EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL
Sam Green, THE GREAT HEART OF HUMANITY
Natalie Paul, SWEET TEA
ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS’ FUND SHORT FILM GRANTS:
Riley Hooper, WORLD’S LONGEST YARD SALE
Yung Jake, KICKSTARDER
Mike Plante, GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE
Tom Schroeder & Lisa Paclet, ISLAND

Jonas Carpignano, A CHJANA
Determined and courageous Burkinabé friends, Ayiva and Abas, must persevere through the difficult journey across Africa on their way to finding new opportunities in Europe. But with their family and new home, local hostility and intolerance all hanging in the balance, Ayiva and Abas must consider what price a ‘better life’ is really worth. Rooftop screened Carpignano’s award-winning short film, A Chjana in 2012 and Bayou Black in 2011.

Todd Rohal, SWEET CHEEKS
Sweet Cheeks is the story of two nine-year-old brothers, Tyson and Tyler Butterfield, growing up among the twenty-four adopted children that live together in a one-room house where they eat, sleep, and get raised up by their loving parents. The boys find a gift for their mother inside of an abandoned mailbox which leads them on a mission where they run afoul of a slick reverend with strange ideas about love, steal a car from a daredevil hobo, get chased by a 6-inch tall man in a balloon, and confront Jesus Christ in heaven above. Sweet Cheeks exists in the uncharted territory located somewhere between the Our Gang shorts of the 1930s, Paper Moon, Night of the Hunter, Duck Soup and Forbidden Zone. Rooftop screened Rohal’s short films Knuckleface Jones and Hillbilly Robot in 2000 and 2001 and his feature-length films The Guatemalan Handshake in 2006 and The Catechism Cataclysm in 2012.

Zachary Treitz & Kate Lyn Sheil, MEN GO TO BATTLE
In the fall of 1861, most Americans predicted that the War Between the States would end by Christmas. Henry and Francis Mellon couldn’t care less. The two are struggling to hold on to their crumbling estate while bracing for another winter in central Kentucky. Living together in the last remaining structure on their family’s hemp farm, the two have become suffocatingly close. Francis’ practical jokes become more and more antagonistic until the night he accidentally injures Henry in a fight. Henry disappears in the night, leaving Francis alone to discover the hardship and deprivation that the war has in store for him. Rooftop has screened numerous films starring Kate Lyn Sheil, and showed Treitz’s short films The Mean Time (2008) and We’re Leaving (2011).

Sam Green, THE GREAT HEART OF HUMANITY
The Great Heart of Humanity is a new feature-length ‘live documentary’ by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green. The film, which is inspired loosely by the Guinness Book of Records, will weave together portraits of record-holding people places and things to create a meditation on fate and the outer contours of the human experience. The film will be screened with live narration and live soundtrack performed by the chamber group yMusic. Rooftop Films screened Sam Green’s film “Pie Fight ’69” (co-directed with Christian Bruno) in 2000 and his live documentaries Fog and The Biggest Smallest in 2013.

Darius Monroe Clark, THE EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL
Deep in the heart of Texas, what begins as an innocent tale of family, sacrifice, and financial hardship quickly escalates into a true-crime thriller. Fusing together compelling interviews, striking re-enactments, and home video, we are forced to ask ourselves how a 16 year old honor roll student evolved into a bank robber. Rooftop screened Monroe’s short film Train in 2011.

Natalie Paul, SWEET TEA
It’s a hot afternoon in gentrified Brooklyn, when Nicki, a tough native Brooklynite meets for the first time her boyfriend’s “baby mother” Amy – who turns out to be a Southern blond belle. The two women, as opposite as they are, challenge each other and somehow come to see each other in ways only the other can. Sweet Tea explores the reality of complicated relationships and complicated people – and how they desperately try to hang on, move on, make things work or let things go. Rooftop Films screened Natalie Paul’s first short film, Everything Absolutely (co-directed with Terence Nance) in 2013.

Keith Wilson, FIVE STAR
Five Star follows Primo and John as they face the challenges of urban manhood. For Primo, who turned Blood at age 12 (in the movie and in real life), this includes understanding what it means to be a father and an honest man. John has to decide if gang life is the path for him. Connecting them is John’s father, who was Primo’s mentor, and whose recent death by a supposedly stray bullet sets the story in motion. Based closely on real life elements, the distinction between the story in the movie and events in the ‘real world’ is intentionally blurred. Five Star is a follow up to Keith Miller’s award winning feature Welcome to Pine Hill (Rooftop 2012), which was based off his short filmPrince/William (Rooftop 2010).

Heather Courtney, Untitled Texas Project
“Untitled Texas Project” will follow one Planned Parenthood clinic’s struggle to survive in a state that has made massive cuts in family planning funding, and vilified Planned Parenthood in particular. In their efforts to get rid of abortion, Texas state legislators have also restricted access to contraception, women wellness exams, and pre-cancer screenings, resulting in 76 clinics either closing completely or cutting family planning services. This short documentary explores the human side of policy decisions, as we follow a year-in-the life of one west Texas clinic and the fall-out for their patients. Rooftop screened Courtney’s feature documentaries Letters from the Other Side (2006) and Where Soldiers Come From (2011).

Riley Hooper, THE WORLD’S LONGEST YARD SALE
Now in its 26th year, the world’s longest yard sale runs from Michigan to Alabama the first weekend of every August. It’s a massive exchange of not only goods, but also cultures, customs, ideas, and narratives. Riley Hooper’s short documentary focuses on objects being sold and bought along the route of the sale to reveal personal stories about the people buying and selling them — universal stories of family histories, love, loss, nostalgia, and the human experience. Rooftop screened Hooper’s film Flo in 2013.

Yung Jake, KICKSTARDER
“ayo this Yung Jake. i’m about to drop the most interactive rap video ever. 4 reel. it’s gonna be a video that automatically inserts my supporters; the people who have my back from day one (through day 30) of the time that KS is release will be forever embedded into the video, they jus have to pay a little. my day 1-30 niggas. yeah, so whatever img you want can be dragged onto the video wherever/whenever and publicly displayed for the world to see. like on my shirt or you can be in the background of the shot in my hood. prices range on how dope the area of insertion is. Rooftop Films screened my Datamosh video in 20013 that’s how they found me. email kickstarder@gmail.com to inquire about pre-ordering img spots.”

Mike Plante, GIUSEPPE MAKES A MOVIE
In Ventura, CA, Giuseppe Andrews makes movies in his trailer park. A former child actor, Giuseppe is inspired by the crazy independent filmmakers of history: Cassavetes, Bunuel and Fassbinder… and now has 30 features of his own. With a handwritten script, a video camera, an acting ensemble of neighbors and homeless men and a few hundred bucks, we follow Giuseppe and crew as he sets out to make a feature film in just two days and shows that filmmaking is not for a small elite group but for everyone. Made by Adam Rifkin and by Mike Plante, whose Orbit(film): Earthshort played at Rooftop in 2012.

Tom Schroeder & Lisa Paclet, ISLAND
Isola del Giglio is the smallest island of the archipelago that includes Elba and Monte Cristo. One of the three small villages on the island, Campese, serves as a summer vacation retreat for middle class Italian families. Island will be a 12 minute animated film documenting the course of one day in Campese rendered in an impressionistic, sketchbook style. Rooftop screened Paclet’s film Ursonate (2006) and three of Schroeder’s films: Bike Ride (2002), Bike Race(2011) and Marcel, King of Tervuren (2013).

descriptions via Rooftop Films
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‘THE HUNT’ ‘THE ACT OF KILLING’ ‘NORTHWEST’ Make The Oscar Shortlist as Danish Candidate for Foreign Language Film

3 Danish films – “THE HUNT”, “THE ACT OF KILLING” and “NORTHWEST” have made the shortlist to be the film submitted as the Danish candidate in the Foreign Language Film category for the Academy Awards. The films have been selected by a committee set up by the Danish Film Institute and film industry organizations. The final candidate is expected to be announced on Thursday, 26 September.

THE HUNT by Thomas Vinterberg

THE HUNT by Thomas Vinterberg
Following a tough divorce, 40-year-old Lucas has a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of reestablishing his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things go awry. Not a lot. Just a passing remark. A random lie. And as the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand. Soon the small community finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

THE ACT OF KILLING by Joshua Oppenheimer

THE ACT OF KILLING by Joshua Oppenheimer
In a country where killers are celebrated as heroes, the filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders to dramatise their role in genocide. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

NORTHWEST by Michael Noer

NORTHWEST by Michael Noer
A gangster film set in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Casper, 18, the oldest of three siblings, survives life on the streets by committing burglaries for the neighborhood boss, Jamal. When Casper gets an offer to work for Jamal’s rival Björn, he jumps at the chance for a better life, making his way into a world of drugs and prostitution. As things escalate between Björn and Jamal, Casper finds himself and his family dead center of a conflict that threatens to destroy them.

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REVIEW: THE HAPPY SAD

When Stan’s girlfriend of six months, Annie drops the bomb on him that she has been preoccupied more recently and not fully committed to their relationship, he becomes unsettled. Reminding her of their agreement to always be candid about the things that happen in their lives, she elaborates to the truth of her infatuation for and brewing relationship with Mandy. Baffled to say the least Stan admits that he no longer wishes to date Mandy, for now. Meanwhile, Marcus and Aaron are looking for ways to spice up their relationship, at the exact moment when their sexual peak is seemingly in reach; agreeing to explore an “open relationship” the two attempt to set boundaries for their trysts, collectively which they assume would lead to mountains of fun for these liberal New Yorkers, marked by exploratory flings.

Unsure of her reasoning for sharing such news, Annie is caught between temptation, uncertainly, and possible feelings both for Mandy with whom she is only an acquaintance, while Aaron and Marcus try to find ways to not fall out of love with each other all the while falling into the idea of being with other men. Realizing that they may not trust each other the way that they thought, tension grows as the two are trying to hide their actual experiences when they are not together. Sharing an apartment has seemed to make the two more distant than ever, if that makes any sense.

A twist of fate, maybe, or oddly coincidental, the two couples plights intertwine in an extremely provocative manner. Erotic Dreams are brought to fruition, morals are tested, lies maintained, relationships altered and developed, all under the New York City skies. Hows that for a smorgishborg of events. Thanks to director Rodney Evans, you are given a first class ticket to a “powerful, and timely, narrative film exploring issues of sexuality, fidelity, and race in contemporary America.” Hold on for this thrill ride

Note to the general public: The Happy all have a sense of sadness, its an irony of life; nothing is perfect, and cheers to those who have figured that out. The winners in life are risk takers, that ambitious crop of persons who have the courage to obtain, by any means necessary. Forgive as you will, forget what you may, cause at the end of the day its about perseverance, and your ability to cope, or better yet to thrive not just survive in relationships, the same as life. Bare witness to a cast of very good performances, and bouts with living life on life’s term, all while trying a hand at monogamy. A tough task !

The Happy Sad Official Site

http://youtu.be/GKp_fZ4M-zE
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