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Sad new news to report today. Former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, star of the documentary, aptly titled Koch, opening today, died Friday morning at age 88.

According to the NY Times, Mr. Koch’s spokesman, George Arzt, said the former mayor died at 2 a.m. from congestive heart failure. Mr. Koch who had experienced coronary and other medical problems since leaving office in 1989, was recently forced to miss the premiere of his documentary Koch.  Koch which opens today is a brilliant autobiographical documentary film of Mayor Koch that will now serve as a fitting obituary to his life.

The documentary opens at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and Angelika Film Center in New York on February 1. 

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[caption id="attachment_2602" align="alignnone" width="550"]Jenni Rivera in Filly Brown[/caption]

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died Dec. 9 in a plane crash in Northern Mexico. She was 43.

The small jet carrying Ms. Rivera and six other passengers crashed about 3:30 a.m. in the mountainous terrain outside Monterrey, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. There were no survivors

Rivera was also an actress, appearing in the indie film “Filly Brown,” which was shown at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, as the incarcerated mother of Filly Brown, a raw, young Los Angeles hip-hop artist.

In statements on the film’s Facebook page, the filmmakers said

“We wish to offer our most sincere condolences to the family, friends and millions of fans of Jenni Rivera. All who had experienced her powerful, heart-wrenching singing and acting performaces can find solace in the manner in which Jenni triumphed over her own personal adversity. For all of us in the Filly Brown family, including all of you fans, we are blessed to have shared, all too briefly, in yet another facet of this incredible artist. Usted siempre estará en nuestros corazónes.”

“The Filly Brown family is devastated by the tragic loss of our friend and colleague Jenni Rivera today. She was a uniquely talented woman and an inspiration to millions, especially those of us who were lucky enough to work with her. Though she’ll be remembered as a iconic singer, she was also a fantastic actress whose full range of talents the world was just beginning to discover.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her children and family.”

Filly Brown is set for a April 2013 release date.

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Film director Tony Scott jumped to his death Sunday from the the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, California; a suicide note was found inside his black Toyota Prius. Scott, 68, younger brother of mega film producer Ridley Scott, was married to his third and current wife, actress Donna Scott and the couple have twin boys.

Scott, known for his trademark red baseball cap, directed Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder,” Eddie Murphy in “Beverly Hills Cop II,” Will Smith and Gene Hackman in “Enemy of the State,” and Denzel Washington and John Travolta in “The Taking of Pelham 123.”

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French director, Claude Miller, whose films won many awards, including the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the French version of the Oscar, the César, died on April 4 in Paris. He was 70.

Miller wrote and directed, “The Little Thief” about a troubled family and its offspring, other films include “Class Trip,” “A Secret,” “I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive,” and “Alias Betty.”

His last film, “Thérèse Desqueyroux,” which was just selected as the closing film for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is the story of a restless woman who tries to poison her husband, then is punished by him with solitary confinement in her own home.

Source: NYTIMES

 

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French director, Claude Miller, whose films won many awards, including the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the French version of the Oscar, the César, died on April 4 in Paris. He was 70.

Miller wrote and directed, “The Little Thief” about a troubled family and its offspring, other films include “Class Trip,” “A Secret,” “I’m Glad My Mother Is Alive,” and “Alias Betty.”

His last film, “Thérèse Desqueyroux,” which was just selected as the closing film for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is the story of a restless woman who tries to poison her husband, then is punished by him with solitary confinement in her own home.

Source: NYTIMES

 

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[caption id="attachment_2695" align="alignnone" width="550"]Director Jamaa Fanaka (via LA Tiimes)[/caption]

Jamaa Fanaka, director of 1979 independent film”Penitentiary” and who later made headlines with his legal battles with the Directors Guild of America alleging widespread discrimination against women and ethnic minorities in the film and television industry, has died, reports the Los Angeles Times. He was 69.

Fanaka was reportedly found dead in his apartment in South Los Angeles on Sunday with the cause of death likely from complications of diabetes.

Fanaka was still enrolled in the UCLA film school when he wrote, produced and directed his first three feature films, financed with competitive academic grants and funds from his parents: “Welcome Home, Brother Charles” (1975), “Emma Mae” (1976) and “Penitentiary,” which was both a critical and box-office success.

Fanaka went on to write, produce and direct two “Penitentiary” sequels, in 1982 and 1987. His sixth and final film was “Street Wars,” a low-budget 1992 action-drama set in South L.A.

More recently, Fanaka was the outspoken founder of the Directors Guild of America’s African American Steering Committee.

In 1999, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court’s decision to dismiss Fanaka’s race-discrimination lawsuit suit against the Directors Guild in which he claimed it was part of a “conspiracy” to keep women and minorities out of the industry.

And in 2002, the 9th Circuit upheld a district court decision to dismiss Fanaka’s race discrimination lawsuit filed against the major film studios and networks.

source: LA Times

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Mohamed Nasheed featured in the documentary ‘The Island President’ has been ousted from his post as president of the Maldives.

Nasheed says he expects to be jailed after being ousted from his post earlier in the week in what he said was a coup at gunpoint.

The Vice president Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik was installed as president.

Protests against Mr Nasheed’s government started after he ordered the military to arrest the criminal court chief justice.

The Maldives officially Republic of Maldives also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India.

The Island President tells the story of President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a man confronting a problem greater than any other world leader has ever faced–the literal survival of his country and everyone in it.

After leading a twenty-year pro-democracy movement against the brutal regime of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, surviving repeated imprisonments and torture, Nasheed becomes president at 41, only to encounter a far more implacable adversary than a dictator–the ocean. Considered the lowest lying country in the world, a rise of a mere three meters in sea level would inundate the 1200 islands of the Maldives, rendering the country practically unlivable. Unless dramatic changes are made by the larger countries of the world, the Maldives, like a modern Atlantis, will disappear under the waves.

The Island President captures Nasheed’s first year of office, a time when he influences the direction of international events in a way that few leaders have ever done, even in countries many times the size of the Maldives. Nasheed’s story culminates in his trip to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, where we get a rare insider’s look at the political deal-making that goes on at such a top-level global assembly. Nasheed is unusually candid about revealing his strategies–leveraging the Maldives’ underdog position, harnessing the power of media, and overcoming deadlocks through an appeal to unity with other developing nations. When all hope fades for any kind of written accord to be signed, Nasheed makes a stirring speech which salvages an agreement. While Copenhagen is judged by many as a failure, it marked the first time in history that China, India, and the United States agreed to reduce carbon emissions.

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[caption id="attachment_2389" align="alignnone" width="393"]From left: Mike deGruy, Andrew Wight and James Cameron. Photo: Brook Rushton | National Geographic[/caption]

Two filmmakers, Mike deGruy, a biologist and conservationist, and Andrew Wight, a pilot and underwater cave diver, working with filmmaker James Cameron and National Geographic on a documentary film, were killed in a helicopter crash in Australia on Saturday.

Andrew Wight, 52, was the documentary-producing partner of James Cameron and the two recently co-produced Andrew’s first feature film, Sanctum 3D.

Mike deGruy, 60, spent 30 years producing and directing documentary films about the ocean and was the director of undersea photography for Cameron’s Last Mysteries of the Titanic.

Reacting to the deaths, Cameron said, “Mike and Andrew were like family to me. They were my deep-sea brothers, and both were true explorers who did extraordinary things and went places no human being has been. They died doing exactly what they loved most, heading out to sea on a new and personally challenging expedition, having fun in the way they defined it for themselves, which was hardship and toil to achieve something never done before. They were passionate storytellers who lived by the explorer’s code of humor, empathy, optimism, and courage. Their deaths are a tremendous loss for the world of underwater exploration, conservation, and filmmaking.”

Cameron added, “Andrew was kind and loyal, full of life and a sense of fun, and above all, a careful planner who stressed safety to everyone on his team every single day. It is cruelly ironic that he died flying a helicopter, which was second nature to him, like driving a car would be to most people.”

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[caption id="attachment_2385" align="alignnone"]Actor Ben Gazzara was awarded the Donostia prize for lifetime achievement at the 2005 San Sebastian Film Festival in San Sebastian.[/caption]

Actor Ben Gazzara, known for his strong performances on film, television and on Broadway including his role in “The Big Lebowski,” died Friday in Manhattan, New York at the age of 81.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, his lawyer, Jay Julien, said.

Gazzara made his movie debut in 1957 in Calder Willingham’s “The Strange One,” and followed that film with “Anatomy of a Murder”

In addition to the “The Big Lebowski,”other films included Spike Lee’s “Summer of Sam” in 1999, where he played a mobster. He also spent time acting in movies in Italy, where he appeared in Marco Ferreri’s 1981 adaptation of Charles Bukowski’s “Tales of Ordinary Madness”; “Il Camorrista” (1986), directed by Giuseppe Tornatore; and Stefano Mignucci’s “Bandits” (1995).

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Documentary filmmaker Joshua Fox was arrested on Wednesday as he reportedly tried to film a House Science Committee hearing without proper media credentials.

According to the NY Times, Josh Fox, whose HBO documentary “Gasland” raised questions about the safety of the natural gas drilling technique known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was handcuffed and charged with unlawful entry.

Mr. Fox is preparing a sequel to “Gasland  and brought a crew to film a hearing of the energy and environment subcommittee that was looking into an Environmental Protection Agency finding that fracking was probably responsible for groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyo.

Mr. Fox was released by the Capitol police shortly after 1 p.m. with a misdemeanor citation. A court date is set for Feb. 15.

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San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Bingham Ray passed away on January 23 after suffering a stroke while attending the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah’

The San Francisco Film Society regrets to announce that Executive Director Bingham Ray passed away on January 23 while attending the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

“The board of directors and staff of the Film Society are stunned and deeply saddened by the untimely death of our executive director Bingham Ray. We at the Film Society and the entire film community have lost far too early an energetic and visionary impact player who has helped shape the independent film industry for decades in so many important and valuable ways,” said Pat McBaine, SFFS board president. “He shall be dearly missed. Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to Bingham’s family and his legions of friends and colleagues all over the world who loved and respected him.”

Ray brought his well-developed creative and business acumen to the running, reimagining and reinvigorating of a major nonprofit arts organization. Since taking the helm on November 7, 2011 he oversaw and crafted a cohesive plan to strengthen the Film Society’s exhibition, education and filmmakers services programs, including its most successful fall season to date; addressed the strenuous financial concerns facing nonprofit arts organizations today; focused particular attention on the operation of SF Film Society Cinema; connected to the local education community; broadened the outreach and impact of the project development and grants programs; and was well into plans for the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival.

He immediately became a part of the SF film world, hosting a reception at Tosca Café to introduce himself to the community; a special screening of California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown, attended by Governor Jerry Brown and his wife Anne Gust; and a preview of Pina with his old friend Wim Wenders, attended by Francis and Eleanor Coppola, Les Blank, Phil Kaufman and Tom Luddy.

“When Bingham took the job, we were ecstatic,” said SFFS board co-vice president and film producer Jen Chaiken. “It was an enormous vote of confidence for the organization that he was compelled to uproot his life to come run the Film Society. Bingham felt this job honored and tapped into the experience he’d garnered over the past 30 years. Bingham was one of those rare few who everyone knew on a first name only basis. He was one of a kind and will be deeply, deeply missed.”

Ray came to the San Francisco Film Society from New York City, where he recently served as the first run programming consultant to the Film Society of Lincoln Center, executive consultant to the digital distribution company SnagFilms and adjunct professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Ray cofounded October Films in 1991 and served as its copresident until its sale to USA Networks in 1999. October was one of the foremost independent film companies of the 1990s, winning two Oscars and garnering 13 Oscar nominations and top prizes at the Cannes Film Festival on three occasions. Some of October Films’ credits include the internationally acclaimed Secrets & Lies, The Apostle, Cookie’s Fortune, The Celebration, Lost Highway, The Last Seduction and Breaking the Waves.

In September 2001, Ray assumed the post of president of United Artists. During his tenure at UA, the company acquired and/or produced many highly acclaimed films such as No Man’s Land, winner of the 2001 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine, winner of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary and the 2004 Academy Award-nominated Hotel Rwanda. Other United Artists films successfully released during Ray’s tenure include Jeepers Creepers 1 & 2, Nicholas Nickleby, Ghost World, Igby Goes Down and Pieces of April.

In 2007 Ray joined the Los Angeles-based production company Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and held two posts during his three-year tenure, president of Kimmel Distribution and president of creative affairs. In the first post Ray supervised all marketing and distribution plans for the original Death at a Funeral, Talk to Me, Lars and the Real Girl and Synecdoche, N.Y., among others. In the latter he was responsible for the development and production activities of the remake of Death at a Funeral, as well as supervising the development of a seven-film production slate.

Bingham Ray began his career in 1981 as manager/programmer of the Bleecker Street Cinema. He has been on the juries of the Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival and the Film Independent Spirit Awards. He has lectured on film production and development at the City College of New York’s Graduate Film School, Columbia University and New York University.

Ray is survived by his wife Nancy King, their children Nick, Annabel and Becca, and his sisters Susan Clair and Deb Pope.

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San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Bingham Ray reportedly suffered a stroke while at the Sundance Film Festival and remains hospitalized.

In a press release, the SFFS says The San Francisco Film Society regrets to announce that Executive Director Bingham Ray has been hospitalized while attending the Sundance Film Festival.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Bingham for a speedy and full recovery and our sympathies go out to his family and his many friends and colleagues at Sundance and throughout the independent film world,” said Pat McBaine, SFFS board president.

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