The 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival taking place 11th to the 15th of November, continues to impress with its film lineup. The
festival revealed the lineup for Tastes – a new section in the film program focusing on culinary themed films, B-Side program – focusing on music themed films, and American Specials, which presents the Mexican premieres of US films.
Tastes program includes outstanding films from the international circuit of culinary cinema, including Cooking Up a Tribute by Luis González and Andrea Gómez (Mexican Premiere), about El Celler de Can Roca, the world’s best restaurant, which decided to shut down temporarily to go on the road and tour America; Sergio Herman: F***ing Perfect by Willemiek Kluijfhout (Latin American Premiere), which portrays one of the 50 best chefs in the world, who is a perfectionist obsessed with culinary excellence; and Baja Tastes by Roberto Najera (World Premiere), a first work made in Tijuana that introduces us to the culinary delights, variety and fusion of the Baja California peninsula.
The B-Side program will have the most outstanding films in which music is a delight for both the ear and the eye. The tuneful world of Arcade Fire in Reflektor Tapes come together with the hip-hop rhythms created by Pharrell Williams for Dope, along with Office, by the Hongkongese director, Johnnie To, who breathes fresh air to this program by bringing a beautiful, nimble, musical cinema.
Dope (Mexican Premiere)
Dir. Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood, Brown Sugar, Talk to Me)
Cast: Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons
Soundtrack by Pharrell Williams
Premiered at Sundance.
Arcade Fire: The Reflektor Tapes
Dir. Hervé Martin-Delpierre (Daft Punk Unchained; Sport, mafia et corruption)
Cast: Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Arcade Fire
Office (Latin American Premiere)
Dir. Johnnie To
Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Wang Ziyi, Lang Yueting
Premiered at Sundance.
In the new Film Program section, American Specials, which presents the Mexican premieres of US films that have won critical acclaim and set box-office records, the Festival has recently confirmed the Mexican premiere for Black Mass and The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Additionally, the lineup will include the following premieres:
The Hollow Point (World Premiere)
Dir. Gonzalo López-Gallego (El Rey de la Montaña, Nómadas, Apolo 18)
Cast: Ian McShane, Lynn Collins, Patrick Wilson
Max Rose (Latin American Premiere)
Dir. Daniel Noah (Twelve)
Cast: Illeana Douglas, Kerry Bishé, Jerry Lewis.
Premiered at Festival de Cannes in 2013
El Ganzo (Latin American Premiere)
Dir. Steve Balderson (Hell Town, Occupying Ed, The Far Flung Star)
Cast: Mark Booker, Magdalena del Rio, Anslem Richardson.
The Festival also confirmed the Mexican talent that will take part in gala events and Industry activities, among them: Eugenio Derbez, José María Yazpik, Manolo Caro, Tenoch Huerta, José Carlos Ruíz, Sebastián Aguirre, Sophie Alexander-Katz, José María Torre, Sofía Espinosa, Ianis Guerrero, Rosa María Bianchi, Jaime Garza, Adriana Paz, and many others.
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James Franco, Christian Slater, Garrett Clayton, Keegan Allen, Molly Ringwald and Alicia Silverstone will lead the cast of King Cobra, the sophomore feature film from writer/director Justin Kelly. The film marks the second collaboration between Kelly and Franco, who previously starred in Kelly’s acclaimed feature directorial debut 
Winners of the awards of the 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival were announced over the weekend and the Tokyo Grand Prix Award went to Nise – The Heart of Madness, directed by Roberto Berliner. Roberto Berliner’s exclaimed, “I wish I could speak in Portuguese but let’s see if I can find some words (in English). It was a very cruel job. I worked for 13 years on this film. I wrote and rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote because Nise is such an important person who is a revolutionary figure. Only a few people know about her so it was my responsibility to show her to the world. In life, sometimes we know that we are doing something special, and I felt that way in the making of this film.” He also expressed his deepest appreciation towards his wife and children because he had spent so little time with them while shooting his film.
The Japanese Cinema Splash Best Picture Award winner was Director Hiroshi Shoji with his film, Ken and Kazu. The 29- year-old up and coming director had transformed what was a short film into a feature film. “When I finished the short film five to six years ago, I realized there was room for more background depiction, so I made a feature film,” he explained. “I made Ken and Kazu without any financial backup. I only spent 2 million yen on the film, but TIFF chose my film and I received a prize. This proved that fair screening is conducted at TIFF and why I want TIFF to become a larger film festival.” Lastly when asked about the independent film industry in Japan, Hino commented, “I wanted to make the best film in Japan. And as I was writing the screenplay, I had a clear image of who I wanted the actors to be and how I wanted to shoot this film. It’s important to have a clear vision of what you want to do in indie filmmaking.”
The Island Funeral directed by Pimpaka Towira won the Best Asian Future Film Award. Towira shared her story behind the scenes. “This is my second feature film and it is an honor to screen it at TIFF. There are many problems in Southern Thailand at the moment, which I wanted to portray in my film. Also, I thought the heroine should be a Muslim so casting took time. Heen Sasithorn is a well-knownTahi actress who was in New York when I thought of casting her for this film. We communicated via the internet and she agreed to be in this film. Heen expressed the theme of the film just as I wanted her to. The chemistry between the actors in this film was also just perfect,” Towira reflected.
The Spirit of Asia Award by the Japan Foundation Asia Center winner was A Simple Goodbye directed by Degena Yun. Line Producer Zhao Yanming spoke on behalf of the film crew at the press conference. “Degena is very happy to receive this prize since this is her first feature film. This films is Degena’s life story and the issues she had with her parents. This award will give us the opportunity to come back to Japan and shoot a film which is more than we could wish for!”
Mustafa Kara won the Award for Best Director and WOWOW Viewer’s Choice Award went with his film Cold of Kalandar. He quietly commented that “I think this was one of the longest and most difficult films at TIFF this year. In Turkish, Kalandar means ‘new year’ but it also takes on the connotation of rituals and traditions in certain regions. Therefore, the title of my film can be interpreted as ‘The Coldness of Time’ or even ‘The Hardest Times’. That is, it is portraying time and the vicious cycle of life.” With such a complex theme, Kara expressed his gratitude that this film was accepted by the audience and the judges.
Family Film directed by Olmo Omerzu won the Award for Best Artistic Contribution. “I am glad and honored to win this award. I received a very warm and great response from the people of Tokyo which was surprising,” Omerzu said. His film was not a classic drama structure but he was pleased to see how open the audience was towards his film. On the theme of a parent abandoning the child, Omerzu explained, “When preparing the script, I knew people whose parents had left them at the age of 15-16. People who read the script were criticizing the parents but I think that once you become 50-60 years old, you want to start another life for yourself. So I think the theme of this film is reality.”
The Audience Award winner was the Italian film God Willing directed by Edoardo Falcone. “This is a very Italian film in spirit. I felt it was accepted lovingly at TIFF and was happy to see the audience enjoy my film. Thank you very much,” beamed Falcone. As a comedy film director, he shared what it takes to make a good movie. “Obviously you have to make people laugh! Irony is important in Italian films—irony with a touch of intelligence. But Italy makes a lot of comedy films so making something different is important. I was able to do that with this film,” he said.
The Award for Best Actress went to Gloria Pires in Nise – The Heart of Madness directed by Robert Berliner, which was also the Tokyo Grand Prix Award. Berliner expressed his joy once again. “Receiving such great prizes is something that we always expected, but there are so many good films that we only have a small percentage of winning.” He also said that even without a prize, he was already very satisfied. “When making this film, I felt like I was dealing with something special. And even if I didn’t receive this prize, I was already very happy that this film was screened at TIFF. But this film can have more appearance in the world thanks to this award. I am very excited about that. That the jury recognized the quality of my film,” Berliner said.
The complete list of winners of 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival
Competition
Tokyo Grand Prix: Nise – The Heart of Madness (directed by Robert Berliner)
Special Jury Prize: All Three of Us (directed by Kheiron)
Award for Best Director: Mustafa Kara (Cold of Kalandar)
Award for Best Actress: Gloria Pires (Nise – The Heart of Madness)
Award for Best Actor: Roland Møller, Louis Hoffman (Land of Mine)
Award for Best Artistic Contribution: Family Film (directed by Olmo Omerzu)
WOWOW Viewer’s Choice Award: Cold of Kalandar (directed by Mustafa Kara)
The Audience Award: God Willing (directed by Edoardo Falcone)
Asian Future
Best Asian Future Film Award: The Island Funeral (directed by Pimpaka Towira)
The Spirit of Asia Award by the Japan Foundation Asia Center: Director Degena Yun A Simple Goodbye
Japanese Cinema Splash
Best Picture Award: Ken and Kazu (directed by Hiroshi Shoji)
Samurai Award
Director Yoji Yamada, Director John Woo
ARIGATO Award
Kirin Kiki, Akihiro Hino, Suzu Hirose, Mamoru Hosoda, Lily Franky
The 2015 Lone Star Film Festival at Sundance Square (
The festival will close on Sunday evening with Charlie Kaufman’s newest feature, ANOMALISA (pictured above). Kaufman, known for such films as AN ETERNAL SUNSHINE ON A SPOTLESS MIND and BEING JOHN MALKOVICH brings something different with this film. It is his first stop motion animation feature and has been receiving high marks.
LSFF has a jam packed lineup that includes The Weinstein Company’s Oscar hopeful CAROL starring Cate Blanchett, THE ADDERALL DIARIES starring James Franco & Amber Heard, TUMBLEDOWN with Jason Sudeikis, MOJAVE featuring Mark Wahlberg and Garrett Hedlund, MEADOWLAND with Texas native Luke Wilson and Olivia Wilde, SIR DOUG AND THE GENUINE TEXAS GROOVE (pictured above); the much anticipated documentary about Texas’s own Doug Sahm, KRISHA the breakout hit from Austin’s South By Southwest and a slew of other highly talked about independent films.
“We are so excited for the city of Fort Worth to get to experience another great year of fantastic films,“ said the festival’s Director Chad Mathews.
In between the screenings there will be several panel discussions that include the likes of Malcolm McDowell, Bill Paxton, and Joanna Kerns. The topics will range from career conversations, screenwriting, women in film and much more. There will also be a key note address from well-known film critic David Edelstein of New York Magazine and NPR fame.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has reached the Other Israel Film Festival, with the Palestinian film, Degrade, deciding to withdraw from the upcoming festival. One of the closing night films of the Other Israel Film Festival, a New York festival calling for dialogue and conversation, Degrade has pulled out of the festival as a result of the impact of the Jewish-Arab conflict reaching new heights in Israel.
Degrade, by the brothers Tarzan and Arab Assad, which exposes the diversity of life in Gaza through individuals at a hair salon, was scheduled for its NY premiere at the Festival after a successful run at Cannes and Toronto film festivals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjVPSnnSp58
The Other Israel Film Festival, a non-political festival focused on Israel’s minority populations, is presented by JCC Manhattan as a platform for conversation and dialogue. Isaac Zablocki, Executive Director of the festival, commented: “In these polarizing times, it is more important than ever to hear each other’s voices and create a culture of dialogue. The silencing and boycotting of arts and education only hurts those aiming to create positive change and hear the other side.”
According to the film’s European sales agent, Elle Driver, who contracted the rights for the screening with the film festival, the producers are removing the film from all Jewish related festivals.
Closing night of the Other Israel Film Festival will still feature the previously-scheduled, award winning “Women in Sink” by Iris Zaki, a documentary which also follows women in an Arab-Israeli-owned hair salon who discuss their views on politics, history, and love.
The 
The 51st Chicago International Film Festival announced the winners of its Audience Choice Awards. SPOTLIGHT directed by Tom McCarthy (pictured above) won the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative English-Language Feature, MUSTANG directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven won the award for Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Foreign-Language Feature, and WHERE TO INVADE NEXT directed by Michael Moore won the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The documentary, THE C WORD, which takes on the institutions preventing meaningful progress in the ways we currently treat cancer, will have its NYC premiere at 
Actor and comedian Mike Epps will host the 2016 
The 2015 NewFest, New York’s LGBT Film Festival, concluded its 27th anniversary year with a sold-out screening of GIRLS LOST. Following the Closing Night Gala screening, 
School of Babel (La Cour de Babel), Julie Bertuccelli’s observational documentary follows a group of newly arrived immigrant teens as they begin their studies at La Grange-aux-Belles secondary school in Paris and prepare for entry into the French educational system.
At the center of this dramatic transition is teacher Brigitte Cervoni, a wise and patient woman charged with guiding a diverse class of 11- to 15-year-olds hailing from countries including Tunisia, Ireland, Senegal, China, Serbia and Brazil. Part psychologist and part surrogate mother, Cervoni helps her students cope with problems ranging from homesickness to emotional trauma while instilling in her students a sense of self-worth and mutual respect. As the teens adjust—and some begin to blossom—the results are illuminating, moving and exhilarating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4yHTfbYaEI
School of Babel is screening as part of the