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Angelina Jolie’s Controversial Ethiopian Drama DIFRET Finally Gets Release Date | TRAILER

The controversial award-winning film DIFRET, directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari and executive produced by Angelina Jolie Pitt, finally has a release date in time for the awards season. DIFRET which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival where it won the World Cinematic Dramatic Audience Award, and the Panorama Audience Award for Best Fiction Film at the Berlin Film Festival 2014, will be released on October 23. Difret is a powerful drama based on a true story. In Addis Ababa, lawyer Meaza Ashenafi has established a network providing poor women and children with free legal representation. She takes on the case of 14-year-old Hirut who is abducted and raped on her way home from school and shoots dead her tormentors as she escapes. Accused of murder, Hirut may face the death penalty even though she was acting in self-defence – for in rural Ethiopia the tradition of ‘Telefa’ or marriage by abduction still exists. The NY Post’s Page Six reported that the woman who said she inspired the project, Aberash Bekele, had reportedly sought an injunction on the night of its Ethiopian premiere to block its release, saying she didn’t give filmmakers permission to use her story. However, the matter was eventually settled out of court.
Three hours outside of Addis Ababa, a bright 14-year-old girl is on her way home from school when men on horses swoop in and kidnap her. The brave Hirut grabs a rifle and tries to escape, but ends up shooting her would-be husband. In her village, the practice of abduction into marriage is common and one of Ethiopia’s oldest traditions. Meaza Ashenafi, an empowered and tenacious young lawyer, arrives from the city to represent Hirut and argue that she acted in self-defense. Meaza boldly embarks on a collision course between enforcing civil authority and abiding by customary law, risking the ongoing work of her women’s legal-aid practice to save Hirut’s life. Beneath the layer of polite social customs, an aggressively rooted patriarchy perpetuates inhospitable conditions for women in this engrossing and significant film, based on a real-life story. Ethiopian writer/director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari portrays, with panoramic beauty, the complexity of a country’s transformation toward equal rights, featuring the courageous generation that dares to own it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz4NbqGeEZQ
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Official Poster + Watch 2nd Trailer for Documentary HE NAMED ME MALALA | TRAILER

Fox Searchlight has released the official poster and second trailer for the documentary HE NAMED ME MALALA from acclaimed documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman). HE NAMED ME MALALA opens in select theaters on Friday, October 2nd 2015. HE NAMED ME MALALA is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old (she turned 18 this July) was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund. Documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) shows us how Malala, her father Zia and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide. The film gives us an inside glimpse into this extraordinary young girl’s life – from her close relationship with her father who inspired her love for education, to her impassioned speeches at the UN, to her everyday life with her parents and brothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ghiYve6k68 “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” – Malala Image: Malala Yousafzai in HE NAMED ME MALALA. Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
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Jose Nestor Marquez’s sci-fi thriller, REVERSION, Follow-up to ISA, Gets a Fall 2015 Release

Filmmaker Jose Nestor Marquez’s sci-fi thriller, REVERSION will be released on October 9, 2015 in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, with a wider national release to follow. Filmmaker Jose Nestor Marquez created REVERSION intertwining technology and identity, a continuation of the theme from his 2014 feature film ISA, which premiered on the Syfy channel. REVERSION centers on Sophie Clé (Aja Naomi King), a delighted user of the Oubli, a wisp of high-tech jewelry that wraps behind the ear and uses neuroscience to help its users experience their most joyful memories as if they were happening for the first time. In addition to being the head of marketing for the company that makes this revolutionary memory-enhancing wearable device, she is also the daughter of its inventor, Jack Clé (Colm Feore). Sophie’s most joyful memory is the last day she saw her mother alive, fifteen years earlier. But on the eve of the Oubli’s worldwide launch, a stranger named Isa (Jeanette Samano) kidnaps Sophie, setting off a chain of events that remind us all, you can’t escape what you can’t forget. REVERSION is directed and Co-written by Jose Nestor Marquez (pictured above) (Ana Maria in Novela Land) and stars Aja Naomi King (How to Get Away With Murder), Colm Feore (Gotham, The Chronicles of Riddick), Gary Dourdan (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Being Mary Jane) and Jeanette Samano (ISA, Speechless).
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Jewish Doc “THE PRIME MINISTERS: Soldiers and Peacemakers” Sets Release Date

THE PRIME MINISTERS: Soldiers and Peacemakers, the follow up to the critically acclaimed “The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers”, will open at the AMC Empire in New York on Friday, October 9, and at the Royal in Los Angeles and Town Center in Encino on Wednesday, October 14. A national release will follow. Directed by Richard Trank, the documentary film, THE PRIME MINISTERS: Soldiers and Peacemakers, the fourteenth production of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s two-time Academy Award®- winning Moriah Films, follows the experiences of the late Ambassador Yehuda Avner during the years he worked for Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin. Based on Ambassador Avner’s best-selling book, The Prime Ministers, the film examines Rabin’s election as the country’s first native born Israeli leader in 1974, his negotiating the first bilateral treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1975, the dramatic events surrounding Israel’s rescue of hostages in Entebbe in 1976, the tense relationship between newly elected US President Jimmy Carter and Rabin, and Rabin’s subsequent downfall in a financial scandal involving his wife Leah. The movie also explores Ambassador Avner’s decision to work for Menachem Begin when he surprised the world in 1977 by being elected the Prime Minister of Israel. It looks at the drama behind Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem, the Camp David negotiating process, the difficult relationship between President Carter and Menachem Begin as well as the tense relations that arose between Begin and President Reagan over the 1982 Lebanon War. The documentary also recounts Begin’s decline after the death of his beloved wife Aliza, and Yehuda Avner’s career as a diplomat in the UK and Australia before returning to Israel to work with Yitzhak Rabin not long before his assassination in 1995, after he had been elected a second time as Israel’s Prime Minister. Starring the voices of Michael Douglas as Yitzhak Rabin and Christoph Waltz as Menachem Begin and introducing Nicola Peltz as the voice of Esther Cailingold, THE PRIME MINISTERS: Soldiers and Peacemakers is full of emotion and rich history with rare, never before seen photos and film footage. https://vimeo.com/74139176
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JAMES WHITE Starring Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon Sets Fall 2015 Release Date

JAMES WHITE, the directorial debut from writer/director Josh Mond and starring Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon and Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi has set a Fall release date of November 13th via The Film Arcade. The film which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the “Best of Next” Audience Award, is “a coming-of-age story about a young New Yorker struggling to take control of his self-destructive behavior in the face of momentous family changes.” A confident and closely observed directorial debut by MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE producer Josh Mond, JAMES WHITE explores loss and the deep relationship between a mother and son. James White (Abbott) is a troubled twenty-something trying to stay afloat in a frenzied New York City. He retreats further into a hedonistic lifestyle, but his mother’s battle with a serious illness forces James to take control of his life. As the pressure mounts, James must find new reserves of strength or risk imploding completely. Shot on location in New York City with an intimate visual style, the film follows its lead into deep, affecting places while still maintaining its fragile humanity. The film marks the first lead film role for stage and screen actor Christopher Abbott, whose previous film and TV credits include HELLO, I MUST BE GOING, THE SLEEPWALKER and “Girls.” JAMES WHITE is considered a high profile release for the distributor The Film Arcade, and as a result the film will receive a traditional theatrical release followed by an awards campaign highlighting the career-best performances by Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. Both actors topped Indiewire’s Sundance Criticwire poll for Best Lead Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
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Fantastic Fest 2015 Reveals 2nd Wave of Films + Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE LOBSTER to Open

Fantastic Fest announced the second wave of films, including the US Premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos’ THE LOBSTER as the opening night film. Joining THE LOBSTER is a “dazzling” array of the year’s most anticipated genre films from directors including Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic THE MARTIAN, Ben Wheatley’s HIGH-RISE and Jeremy Saulnier’s GREEN ROOM. The lineup also includes World Premieres from South Korea (Lee Sang-woo’s DIRTY ROMANCE), Denmark (Bo Mikklesen’s WHAT WE BECOME), United Kingdom (Gareth Bryn’s THE PASSING) and Puerto Rico (Angel Manuel Soto’s LA GRANJA). And for the first time in Fantastic Fest history, the festival is world premiering a film out of the United Arab Emirates, Majid Al Ansari’s electrifying cat-and-mouse thriller, ZINZANA. See below for the full lineup of newly announced film titles for Fantastic Fest 2015. APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD France, Belgium, Canada, 2015 US Premiere, 90 min Director – Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci In an alternate history where Napoleon’s heirs rule France, scientists and scholars have gone missing for years, leaving behind a world deprived of their technological innovations. In this land powered by coal and steam, young April searches for her missing scientist parents. ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM Japan, 2015 US Premiere, 110 min Director – Eiichiro Hasumi The most heart-warming, touching coming-of-age tale of 2015 just also happens to be the story of how one classroom of kids gets trained as assassins so they can kill their teacher before he destroys Earth. BASKIN Turkey, 2015 US Premiere, 97 min Director – Can Evrenol It’s a quiet night on the beat for a mobile unit of Turkish police until they’re called out to support a squad encountering trouble in a remote building. BELLADONNA OF SADNESS Japan, 1973 Regional Premiere, 86 min Director – Eiichi Yamamoto A young and in love Jeanne is attacked by the local lord and makes a pact with the Devil himself in one of the most important rediscoveries of this year. Never before released in the US, this seminal psychedelic masterpiece has been painstakingly restored in 4k digital. THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT France/Belgium/Luxembourg, 2015 North American Premiere, 110 min Director – Jaco Van Dormael When Ea gets fed up with her overbearing father (who happens to be God), she decides to follow in her older brother’s footsteps by leaving the house, gathering her own apostles, and writing her own testament. THE CLUB Chile, 2015 US Premiere, 98 min Director – Pablo Larraín In a secluded Chilean village, four men lead a quiet life, trying to redeem themselves of their past sins. Their existence is threatened by the arrival of a man whose own secret may reveal all which the four have worked to forget. COZ OV MONI 2 Ghana/Romania, 2014 North American Premiere, 63 min Directors – King Henry Blackson & FOKN Bois Beaten, robbed and left for dead, Wanlov and M3NSA are back and looking for revenge. But first, singing. And lunch. Prepare yourself for “the world’s second first pidgin musical”! DEMON Poland/Israel, 2015 US Premiere, 94 min Director – Marcin Wrona A day after discovering human remains in the backyard of their new home, a man begins experiencing strange things which come to a head on his wedding night. DIRTY ROMANCE South Korea, 2015 World Premiere, 94 min Director – Lee Sang-woo In Lee Sang-woo’s follow up to last year’s I AM TRASH, Chul-joong is too busy forcing his friend to sexually please his developmentally disabled sister to notice someone may want to actually love her for who she is. EVOLUTION France, 2015 US Premiere, 81 min Director – Lucile Hadzihalilovic Lucile Hadzihalilovic returns to directing with a surreal tale of a young boy on a remote island who develops a mysterious illness and is subjected to sinister medical treatments. FEBRUARY United States/Canada, 2015 US Premiere, 93 min Director – Osgood Perkins The lives of two high school students will be linked together when they’re forced to stay at their boarding school over the winter break and an evil presence starts to stalk them. GREEN ROOM United States, 2015 US Premiere, 94 min Director – Jeremy Saulnier Green Room is a brilliantly crafted and wickedly fun horror-thriller starring Patrick Stewart as a diabolical club owner who squares off against an unsuspecting but resilient young punk band. GRIDLOCKED Canada, 2015 World Premiere, 110 min Director – Allan Ungar A tactical assault officer is saddled with a hard partying star out to rehabilitate his image – and avoid jail time – in this throwback to the odd couple buddy action flicks of the early ‘90s. HARD TO GET South Africa, 2014 Regional Premiere, 94 min Director – Zee Ntuli Supremely confident ladies man TK may have bitten off more than he can chew when he sets his sights on Skiets, a township beauty with an edge who sets the pair off on a non-stop rollercoaster ride through the local underworld. HIGH-RISE United Kingdom, 2016 US Premiere, 118 min Director – Ben Wheatley Laing, a young doctor, joins a community in a luxury building in Thatcher’s England, who exile themselves from society and gradually divide into violent tribes. THE KEEPING ROOM United States, 2015 Texas Premiere, 95 min Director – Daniel Barber In the waning days of the Civil War, three southern women (Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld and newcomer Muna Otaru) defend themselves from two Yankees in Daniel Barber’s second film. KLOVN FOREVER Denmark, 2015 International Premiere, 90 min Director – Mikkel Nørgaard Five years have passed since the first KLOWN, and with their friendship at risk of fracturing forever, Frank must follow Casper to America… with typically disastrous results. L’AFFAIRE SK1 France, 2014 Texas Premiere, 120 min Director – Frédéric Tellier Frederic Tellier’s tight police procedural recreates the events around the decade-long search and trial of “The Beast of the Bastille,” France’s first serial killer, who was tracked down using DNA evidence. LA GRANJA Puerto Rico, 2015 World Premiere, 100 min Director – Angel Manuel Soto The lives of a midwife, a young boxer, a mute kid and a young couple collide unexpectedly in a story about the desperate pursuit of happiness on the streets of Puerto Rico. LAZER TEAM United States, 2015 World Premiere, 93 min Director – Matt Hullum When Earth is threatened by an advanced alien race, our only hope lies in four morons, the self-proclaimed “Lazer Team.” THE LOBSTER Ireland, Greece, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, 2015 US Premiere, 119 min Director – Yorgos Lanthimos Somewhere in the near future, single people face a choice: Join a program to find a mate in forty-five days or be transformed into an animal. LUDO India, 2015 US Premiere, 92 min Directors – Q & Nikon Time and space collide when a possessed game grabs hold of two friends eager for a sinful night of sex and drugs in Indian auteur Q’s first foray into horror. MAN VS SNAKE United States/Canada/Italy/Japan, 2015 World Premiere, 93 min Directors – Andrew Seklir and Tim Kinzy 1984. One shiny quarter. 44.5 hours of continuous play. The race to be the first gamer in history to score one BILLION points. Until recently, Timothy McVey (not the terrorist) thought he had — for all these years — held the world record on Nibbler. Note: a Nibbler cabinet will be available in the lobby for the duration of Fantastic Fest for attendees to attempt to break the current world record. THE MARTIAN United States, 2015 Special Screening, 120 min Director – Ridley Scott Get ready to be blown away by Fox’s latest action-packed 3D adventure, THE MARTIAN starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig with a special screening of the upcoming film directed by Ridley Scott. THE MARTIAN is the story of what happens during a manned mission to Mars, when Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. MEN AND CHICKEN Denmark, 2015 US Premiere, 100 min Director – Anders Thomas Jensen Mads Mikkelsen as only his longtime absurdist Danish collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen could conceive, a chronic masturbator with a hair-trigger temper, desperately searches for his true identity. THE MIND’S EYE United States, 2015 US Premiere, 87 min Director – Joe Begos On the heels of his Fantastic Fest debut ALMOST HUMAN, Joe Begos returns with a classic battle of good versus evil. A drifter with suppressed psychic powers must learn to unleash them to save the woman he loves. THE MISSING GIRL United States, 2015 US Premiere, 89 min Director – A.D.Calvo Mort, a lonely and disillusioned owner of a comic book shop, has fallen for his new employee Ellen, a smart, aspiring graphic novelist. A dark past and a missing girl, however, will complicate their story more than anyone can imagine. THE PASSING United Kingdom, 2015 World Premiere, 87 min Director – Gareth Bryn After their car is driven off the road and crashed into a river, a young couple on the run is taken in by a simple man living with his secrets in his isolated home. RABID DOGS France, 2015 US Premiere, 99 min Director – Eric Hannezo Four violent criminals escaping a robbery take a man, an ailing child and a young woman on a nightmarish road trip in this remake of Mario Bava’s near-lost Euro-crime nasty. RIVER Canada/Laos, 2015 US Premiere, 88 min Director – Jamie M. Dagg In the south of Laos, an American volunteer doctor becomes a fugitive after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman. When the assailant’s body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control. TOO LATE United States, 2015 Regional Premiere, 107 min Director – Dennis Hauck A troubled private eye trawls through the belly of Los Angeles looking for a missing young woman, slowly revealing a careful web of intrigue, lies and connections. WHAT WE BECOME Denmark, 2015 World Premiere, 85 min Director – Bo Mikkelsen An idyllic suburban summer is shattered with the outbreak of an unexplained disease. With residents forced into quarantine with no explanation, the situation quickly spirals out of control. THE WITCH Canada/United States, 2015 Texas Premiere, 90 min Director – Robert Eggers Sixty years before the Salem witch trials, a Puritan moves his family away from civilization to a homestead which shares its borders with inescapable evil. YAKUZA APOCALYPSE Japan, 2015 Texas Premiere, 115 min Director – Takashi Miike After a yakuza vampire boss is struck down, his most loyal disciple takes it upon himself to avenge his mentor’s death and eliminate the assassins and their giant plush frog leader in Miike’s classic yakuza tale turned inside out. ZINZANA United Arab Emirates, Jordan, 2015 World Premiere, 91 min Director – Majid Al Ansari Talal wakes up in a cell with no memory of the night before with no I.D. and no escape. Nothing can prepare him, however, for the arrival of a brilliant psychopath and the games he wants to play.
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U.S. premiere of MISS SHARON JONES! to Open 2015 DOC NYC

The 2015 DOC NYC taking place, November 12 to 19, 2015, will kick off with the U.S. premiere of Barbara Kopple’s new film Miss Sharon Jones! as the Opening Night selection. The film follows the rhythm & blues performer Sharon Jones as she battles cancer and prepares for a comeback with her band The Dap-Kings.
Two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) follows R&B queen Sharon Jones over the course of an eventful year, as she battles a cancer diagnosis and struggles to hold her band the Dap-Kings together.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” says fast-talking Dap-Kings guitarist and announcer Binky Griptite, “the star of our show — the super soul sister with the magnetic je ne sais quoi — Miss Sharon Jones!” Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings kick in with their funky, revivalist rhythm and blues backed by hard-driving horns. And so begins this deeply soulful documentary about the singer’s year-long battle with cancer, and her struggle to hold her career together and return to what she loves most: the stage. Jones has been called “the female James Brown,” and her energy is a wonder to behold both on and off stage. For years she struggled in her music career, being told she was “too black, too short, too old,” so she took alternate jobs as a Rikers Island corrections officer and an armoured-car guard. Her breakthrough didn’t come until midlife when she joined up with the Brooklyn-based Dap-Kings. We watch as they try to work around Jones’ treatment to complete their 2014 album Give the People What They Want and during preparation for a months-long world tour. By the end of this film, what you’ll want is more and more of Miss Sharon Jones.
The festival will also hold its second annual Visionaries Tribute where Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to Jon Alpert, Barbara Kopple and Frederick Wiseman. “We’re delighted to give Lifetime Achievement Awards to three extraordinary filmmakers who continue to dazzle us with outstanding new work,” said DOC NYC artistic director Thom Powers. “On November 12, there’ll be a gathering of documentary talent like none other.”
Jon Alpert co-founded New York’s Downtown Community Television (DCTV), the country’s oldest non-profit community media center. He is the winner of 15 Emmy Awards and the recipient of three DuPont-Columbia Awards; his documentaries include One Year in the Life of Crime, Baghdad ER, and the Oscar-nominated shorts Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province and Redemption. Alpert’s latest film is Mariela Castro’s March. Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, having won for both Harlan County USA and American Dream. In 1991, Harlan County USA was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Kopple’s other celebrated films include Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson, Wild Man Blues, Shut Up & Sing, Running From Crazy, A Conversation With Gregory Peck, Hot Type: 150 Years of The Nation, and her latest, Miss Sharon Jones! Frederick Wiseman is a pioneer of observational documentary filmmaking, starting with his acclaimed 1967 debut Titicut Follies. He is the recipient of the George Polk Career Award and the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion, among many honors. Wiseman has directed dozens of films, from early classics such as High School and Law and Order to recent works La Danse, Boxing Gym, Crazy Horse, At Berkeley, National Gallery, and his latest, In Jackson Heights.
Last year’s Lifetime Achievement recipients were Albert Maysles, DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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2015 Urbanworld Film Festival Reveals Complete Lineup; Opens With “Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ” Closes With “A Ballerina’s Tale”

The 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival announced all of the films that will be showcased at the upcoming festival taking place September 23-27, 2015 at Manhattan’s AMC Empire 25 on 234 West 42nd Street. BET’s Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ will serve as the opening night film at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. The biographical tribute to the former heavyweight champion, directed and executive produced by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, will connect the fighter’s boxing prowess as well as his social media activism, to the millennial audience to reveal Ali’s meaning in the world today. Premiering on BET Wednesday, September 23 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, the special features exclusive interviews with family, friends and admirers including Muhammad Ali’s daughter and niece Laila Ali and Shaya Ali, LL Cool J, Ludacris, T.I., Nas, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Ray Lewis, Tyrese, Rosie Perez, David Banner, Michael Eric Dyson, Billie Jean King, Walt Frazier, Jim Brown, Ronnie Essett, Sway Calloway, Wood Harris, Jeffrey T. Sammons, Godfrey C. Danchimah, Richard Sherman, J. Ivy and Common. A Q&A with filmmakers will follow. A Ballerina’s Tale will close the festival on Saturday, September 26 at 8:30pm. The film is an intimate look at a crucial period in the career of principal dancer Misty Copeland of American Ballet Theatre (ABT). It follows Misty from her triumphant lead performance in Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center through her painful injury and recovery that followed, to her return to ABT and subsequent pop cultural icon status. The documentary, directed by Nelson George, also examines issues of race and body image in the elite ballet world. Sundance Selects will release the film theatrically and on VOD on October 14. After the screening, there will be a Q&A with Copeland and George. 2015 Urbanworld Film Festival SLATE OPENING NIGHT FILM Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ – Directed by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons & Chike Ozah (USA) – Presented by BET Networks CLOSING NIGHT FILM A Ballerina’s Tale – Directed by Nelson George (USA) – Presented by Sundance Selects SPOTLIGHT FILMS 3 ½ Minutes, 10 Bullets – Directed by Marc Silver (USA) – Presented by HBO Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives – Directed by Bobbito Garcia (USA) The Man In 3B – Directed by Trey Haley (USA) – East Coast Premiere NARRATIVE FEATURE FILMS After School – Directed by Carlos Melendez & Mauricio Mendoza (USA) – New York Premiere A Girl Like Grace – Directed by Ty Hodges (USA) – New York Premiere Breaking Through – Directed by John Swetnam (USA) – US Premiere Carmin Tropical – Directed by Rigoberto Perezcano (Mexico) – New York Premiere – Presented by NewFest in Partnership with Outfest Chapter & Verse – Directed by Jamal Joseph (USA) – World Premiere Flow – Directed by Fenar Ahmad (Denmark) – US Premiere Honeytrap – Directed Rebecca Johnson (UK) – New York Premiere Knucklehead – Directed by Ben Bowman (USA) Last Night – Directed by Harold Jackson III (USA) Pocha – Directed by Michael Dwyer (USA) – New York Premiere Primero De Enero (January 1st) – Directed by Erika Bagnarello (Dominican Republic) – New York Premiere Riding 79 – Directed by Karola Hawk Gonzalez (Puerto Rico) – New York Premiere Somewhere In The Middle – Directed by Lanre Olabisi (USA) – New York Premiere The Stockroom – Directed by Victor Cruz (USA) – World Premiere The Two Of Us – Directed by Ernest Nkosi (South Africa) – New York Premiere DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS Anatomy of a Dress – Directed by Flora Pérez-Garay (Puerto Rico) – New York Premiere Can You Dig This – Directed by Delila Vallot (USA) – New York Premiere Dramatic Escape – Directed by Nick Quested (USA) – World Premiere Hate Crimes in the Heartland – Directed by Rachel Lyon (USA) In Football We Trust – Co-Directed by Tony Vainuku and Erika Cohn (USA) – New York Premiere Romeo is Bleeding – Directed by Jason Zeldes (USA) Tap World – Directed by Dean Hargrove (USA) We Like It Like That – Directed by Mathew Ramirez Warren (USA) – New York Premiere DOCUMENTARY SHORTS By Jamal Joseph: A Life Transformed by the Arts – Directed by Mike De Caro (USA) – World Premiere Looking at the Stars – Directed by Alexandre Peralta (Brazil) – New York Premiere Quest for Cuba: Questlove Brings the Funk to Havana – Directed by Jauretsi & Daniel Petruzzi (USA) – Presented by Okayplayer Films & Jill Newman Productions NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS #American – Directed by Nate Parker (USA) – New York Premiere 1440 & Counting – Directed by Tony Gapastione (USA) – New York Premiere 2nd Life – Directed by Jake Alexander McAfee (USA) – New York Premiere Ackee & Saltfish – Directed by Cecile Meke (UK) About That… – Directed by Damien Smith (USA) – New York Premiere Amishi – Directed by Malinda Kaur (UK) Ana – Directed by Renee Marie Petropoulos (USA) – New York Premiere Bad Hunter – Directed by Sahim Omar Kalifa (Belgium) – New York Premiere Beyond The Passage – Directed by Terrence Jones (USA) – New York Premiere Blackcard – Directed by Pete Chatmon (USA) Boxed In – Directed by Tasha Smith (USA) – New York Premiere Charlotte – Directed by Angel Kristi Williams (USA) – New York Premiere Clean – Directed by Gabriel Wilson (USA) – World Premiere Debt to Society – Directed by Tristan Daley (USA) – New York Premiere Dream – Directed by Nijla Mu’min (USA) – New York Premiere Dubois – Directed by Kaz Ové (Trinidad & Tobago) – New York Premiere Fanta Face – Directed by Yaa Boaa Aning (USA) – World Premiere Forgiving Chris Brown – Directed by Marquette Jones (USA) – World Premiere Gang – Directed by Clayton Vomero (USA) – US Premiere Human Behavior – Directed by Carey WIlliams – New York Premiere In the Clouds – Directed by Marcelo Mitnik (Argentina) – New York Premiere King of Guangzhou – Directed by Quester Hannah (China) Late Expectations – Directed by Laurie Arakaki (USA) – World Premiere Lia – Directed by Ethosheia Hylton (UK) – World Premiere Love for Passion – Directed by Nathan Hale Williams (USA) Mandala – Directed by Guan Xi (China) – New York Premiere Marianne – Directed by Tomisin Adepeju (UK) – New York Premiere Only Light – Directed by Evita Castine (USA) Roubado – Directed by Erica A. Watson (USA) – New York Premiere Since I Laid Eyes – Directed by Adel Morales South Arcadia Street – Directed by Melanie D’Andrea (USA) – New York Premiere Standing8 – Directed by Michael Molina Minard (USA) Stanhope – Directed by Solvan Naim (USA) – New York Premiere Stomach – Directed by Javier Kühn (UK/Spain) – World Premiere Taking Chance – Directed by Jerry Lamothe (USA) – World Premiere Tap Shoes & Violins – Directed by Dax Brooks (USA) – New York Premiere The Call – Directed by Zamo Mkhwanazi (USA) – New York Premiere The Cycle – Directed by Michael Marantz (USA) – New York Premiere The Loyalist – Directed by Minji Kang (South Korea) The Reunion – Directed by Carmen Elly Wilkerson (USA) – New York Premiere The Trade – Directed by Michael A. Pinckney (USA) – World Premiere The Trophy Thief – Directed by Dave Edwardz (USA) – New York Premiere The Walk – Directed by Alonso Alvarez Barreda (Mexico) – New York Premiere The Waltz – Directed by Trevor Zhou (USA) – World Premiere Times of Competition – Directed by Toti Loureiro & Ruy Prado (Brazil) – New York Premiere Tough – Directed by Alfonso Johnson (USA) – New York Premiere Wait Till the Wolves Make Nice – Directed by Jess dela Merced (USA) – New York Premiere Wayward – Directed by Kira Richards Hansen (Denmark) – New York Premiere Welcoming Arms – Directed by Roseanne Ma (USA) – New York Premiere When Fragile Things Break – Directed by Shanika Warren-Markland (USA) – New York Premiere
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World Premiere of Angelina Jolie Pitt’s BY THE SEA to Kick off AFI FEST 2015 | TRAILER

The world premiere of Angelina Jolie Pitt’s BY THE SEA will kick off AFI FEST 2015 on Thursday, November 5. BY THE SEA follows an American writer (Brad Pitt) and his wife (Angelina Jolie Pitt) who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis. The film is written, directed, produced by and starring Academy Award winner Jolie Pitt and co-produced by and starring Academy Award winner Pitt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lENyWGjAzdI “Time and again, Angelina Jolie Pitt has proven herself an artist of the highest caliber,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “It is an honor for AFI to celebrate her latest story with its World Premiere – and in doing so – to shine a proper light upon her boundless creative energies as actor, director, writer and producer.” “AFI has long supported the boldness and experimentation that accompanies provocative cinema,” said Jolie Pitt. “As a filmmaker, and on behalf of our cast and crew, I am honored to launch the film at the Opening Night Gala for AFI FEST.” The 29th edition of AFI FEST will take place November 5–12, 2015 in the heart of Hollywood.
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ROOM Starring Brie Larson, William H. Macy to Open 2015 Aspen Filmfest | TRAILER

ROOM, directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, William H. Macy and Joan Allen, will open 2015 Aspen Filmfest on Friday, Sept. 25. Based on the international best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue, this emotional journey demonstrates he triumphant power of a mother’s love even under the darkest of circumstances. The Aspen Filmfest audience will be the first to see the narrative feature outside of its Toronto International Film Festival premiere earlier in the month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C6fZ-fwDws “Aspen Film is honored to open our 37th Aspen Filmfest with such an anticipated title,” said Aspen Film Executive Director John Thew. “ROOM is sure to set the stage for our forthcoming impressive and diverse program.” One of Colorado’s longest running film festivals, the 37th Aspen Filmfest runs Friday, Sept. 25 – Wednesday, Sept. 30 at Paepcke Auditorium and Isis Theater in Aspen and the Crystal Theatre in Carbondale.
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2015 Camden International Film Festival Reveals Slate of Feature and Short Films

The 2015 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) announced the slate of feature and short films for its 11th edition, which will take place September 17-20, 2015 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine. CIFF will present over 60 features and short films from across the globe, the country and the state, with filmmakers attending nearly every screening. Highlights of this year’s program include Locarno titles Machine Gun or Typewriter, The Ground We Won and Locarno winner Olmo and the Seagull (pictured above), fresh from TIFF: climate change doc This Changes Everything; and Points North alums Containment and Drawing the Tiger. In addition to the titles below, CIFF will screen a sidebar program of historic ethnographic films with support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a program celebrating the home movie archives of Charles Norman Shay in collaboration with Northeast Historic Film, and the Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking Shorts List, whose titles will be announced at the festival next month. The Camden International Film Festival will announce their Points North Documentary Forum lineup of films, speakers and panels on Thursday, August 27. 2015 CAMDEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES ABOVE AND BELOW Nicolas Steiner | Switzerland, Germany | 2015 ALL THINGS ABLAZE Oleksandr Technyski, Aleksey Solodunov, Dmitry Stoykov | Ukraine | 2014 ALMOST THERE Aaron Wickenden, Dan Rybicky | United States | 2014 BEST OF ENEMIES Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon | United States | 2014 BREAKING A MONSTER Luke Meyer | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! CONTAINMENT Peter Galison, Robb Moss | United States | 2015 Filmmakers in attendance! Points North Alum! DEMOCRATS Camila Nielsson| Denmark | 2014 DRAWING THE TIGER Amy Benson, Ramyata Limbu, Scott Squire | United States | 2015 Filmmakers in attendance! Points North Alum! ELEPHANT’S DREAM Kristof Bilsen | Belgium | 2014 Filmmaker in attendance! FRAME BY FRAME Alexandria Bombach, Mo Scarpelli | United States | 2015 Filmmakers in attendance! FROM THIS DAY FORWARD Sharon Shattuck | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF Alex Gibney | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! THE GROUND WE WON Christopher Pryor | New Zealand | 2015 HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD Jerry Rothwell | United Kingdom, Canada | 2015 I AM THE PEOPLE (JE SUIS LE PEUPLE) Anna Roussillon | France | 2014 IN TRANSIT Albert Maysles, Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Ben Wu, David Usui | United States | 2015 Filmmakers in attendance! KINGS OF NOWHERE Betzabé García | Mexico | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! MACHINE GUN OR TYPEWRITER Travis Wilkerson | United States | 2015 MERU Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | United States | 2015 OF THE NORTH Dominic Gagnon | Canada | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! OLMO AND THE SEAGULL Petra Costa, Lea Glob | Denmark, Brazil, Portugal, France | 2015 Producer in attendance! PEACE OFFICER Scott Christopherson, Brad Barber | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER Chad Gracia | Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States | 2015 SAILING A SINK SEA Olivia Wyatt | United States | 2015 Filmmakmer in attendance! TELL SPRING NOT TO COME THIS YEAR Saeed Taji Farouky, Michael McEvoy | United Kingdom | 2015 (T)ERROR Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! THANK YOU FOR PLAYING David Osit, Malika Zouhali-Worrall | United States | 2015 Filmmakers in attendance! THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING Avi Lewis | Canada, United States | 2015 THOSE WHO FEEL THE FIRE BURNING Morgan Knibbe | Netherlands | 2014 TOTO AND HIS SISTERS Alexander Nanau | Romania, Hungary, Germany | 2014 T-REX Drea Cooper, Zackary Canepari | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! UNCERTAIN Anna Sandilands, Ewan McNicol | United States | 2015 Filmmakers in attendance! UNTITLED Work-in-Progress Screening Ian Cheney | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! WESTERN Bill Ross, Turner Ross | United States | 2015 Filmmaker in attendance! 2015 CAMDEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SHORT FILMS 70-SOME YEARS Riley Hooper | United States | 2015 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE Jarred Alterman, Ryan Scafuro | United States | 2015 BODY TEAM 12 David Darg | United States | 2015 CLAUDE LANZMANN: SPECTRES OF THE SHOAH Adam Benzine | United Kingdom | 2015 CHOP MY MONEY Theo Anthony | United States | 2014 DENALI Ben Knight | United States | 2015 DIVER Christoph Gelfand, Caroline Losneck | United States | 2015 Dirigo Short! Made in Maine! ERIC, WINTER TO SPRING Danya Abt | United States | 2014 THE FACE OF UKRAINE: CASTING OSKANA BAIUL Kitty Green | Australia | 2015 FARM Christoph Gelfand | United States | 2015 Dirigo Short! Made in Maine! HERETIX: UP AND RUNNING Francis Decky | United States | 2015 Dirigo Short! Made in Maine! HOTEL 22 Elizabeth Lo | United States | 2014 THE LAND Erin Davis | United States | 2015 THE LAST BARN DANCE Ted Richardson, Jason Arthurs | United States | 2015 LAST PYRAMID Dave Schachter | United States | 2015 Dirigo Short! Made in Maine! LETTER TO SUBI Genevieve Carmel | United States | 2015 LUCHADORA River Finlay | United States, Mexico | 2014 THE MANY SAD FATES OF MR. TOLEDANO Joshua Seftel | United States | 2015 MY GAL, ROSEMARIE Jason Tippet | United States | 2015 NEW MISSION Christopher Giamo | United States | 2014 OBJECT Paulina Skibinska | Poland | 2015 OF THE UNKNOWN Eva Weber | United Kingdom | 2014 PINK BOY Eric Rockey | United States | 2015 THE REAGAN SHORTS Pacho Velez | United States | 2015 Points North Alum! SEEDING FEAR Craig Jackson | Canada | 2015 SPEARHUNTER Luke Poling, Adam Roffman | United States | 2014 TERRITORY Eleanor Mortimer | United Kingdom | 2015 THINGS Ben Rivers | United Kingdom | 2015
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Narrative and Documentary Competition Films at 2015 Hamptons International Film Festival Incl. FRENCH BLOOD, RAMS, TIKKUN

The 23rd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival revealed the films in the Narrative and Documentary Competition. The jury will select winners in each category; awards will be announced in a ceremony in East Hampton on Monday, October 12. The feature films in this year’s Narrative Competition include Matt Sobel’s Take Me to the River, Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent, Avishai Sivan’s Tikkun, Grímur Hákonarson’s Rams, and Diastème’s French Blood. This year’s Documentary Competition feature films include the World Premiere of Jon Fox’s Newman, David Shapiro’s Missing People, Jean-Gabriel Périot’s A German Youth, Michael Madsen’s The Visit, and Ilinca Calugareanu’s Chuck Norris Vs. Communism. The jury deciding the winners of the 2015 Hamptons International Film Festival Narrative and Documentary Competition includes Michael H. Weber, screenwriter of 500 Days of Summer and The Fault in Our Stars; Dan Guando, head of U.S. Production and Acquisitions at The Weinstein Company; Josh Charles, star of television’s The Good Wife and Masters of Sex; Marshall Fine, renowned author, journalist and film critic; and Sarah Lash, acquisitions consultant at Conde Nast Entertainment. EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (Colombia) East Coast Premiere Director: Ciro Guerra Inspired by the real experiences of explorers in the Amazon, Embrace of the Serpent centers on the relationship between Karamakate, a shaman of an extinct tribe carrying secrets and traditions, and two scientists in search of a sacred plant, capable of immense healing. Opting for powerful black and white cinematography, director Ciro Guerra tracks their parallel stories over 40 years with trips deep into the jungle. Winner of the top prize at the Cannes Directors Fortnight, the film intimately captures the thirst for knowledge and the ravages of colonialism that have destroyed the harmony and balance at the heart of the indigenous way of life. RAMS (Iceland) East Coast Premiere Director: Grímur Hákonarson Brothers Gummi (Sigurdur Sigurjonsson) and Kiddi (Theodor Juliusson) live side-by-side but have not spoken in forty years. Stubborn and competitive, they only communicate via handwritten notes delivered by their loyal sheepdog Somi. When a deadly virus threatens their prize-winning sheep and livelihood, they are forced to come together to save their unique family breed, and themselves, from extinction. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award in Cannes, Rams details the hardships of daily farm work in remote Iceland with humanism and humor. Stunningly combining otherworldly landscapes and powerful performances, director Grímur Hákonarson expertly builds this gentle comedy to reveal a deeper and emotionally moving tale. TAKE ME TO THE RIVER (USA) East Coast Premiere Director: Matt Sobel Accompanying his parents to a Nebraskan family reunion couldn’t be more uncomfortable for Ryder (Logan Miller), a gay Californian teenager. For his mother’s sake he agrees to act “normal,” but nonetheless attracts some unwanted attention from his conservative relatives. The only one who seems to like him is 9-year-old Molly (Ursula Parker), but a strange encounter between the two of them raises many questions and places Ryder at the center of a long-buried family secret. A superbly acted drama from first-time filmmaker Matt Sobel, Take Me to the River reveals itself through Ryder’s perplexed point of view, unfolding in an atmosphere of mystery and trepidation. TIKKUN (Israel) East Coast Premiere Director: Avishai Sivan Haim-Aron (Aharon Traitel) is considered an illui (a prodigy) at his Yeshiva. He is absorbed in his studies to such a degree that he completely isolates himself from the outside world, going days without eating or sleeping. When a near death experience changes his perspective on life, he starts to slowly explore life outside of his secluded ultra-orthodox community and begins to doubt his faith. Seeing Haim-Aron’s transformation torments his father (Khalifa Natour) with nightmares in which he is instructed to perform Tikkun (rectification). With its riveting performances and the arrestingly beautiful black and white cinematography, Avishai Sivan’s haunting film is sure to linger long in your imagination. FRENCH BLOOD (France) (pictured in main image above) US Premiere Director: Diastème Marco (Alban Lenoir) is a young Neo-Nazi and skinhead who, along with his friends, terrorizes the lower-class suburbs of Paris hoping to clear out the “scum” that is polluting the pure, white landscape of their beloved country. Spanning almost 3 decades in Marco’s life as he struggles to understand his own anger and brutal actions, this evocative and moving portrait—the sophomore effort from writer-director Diastème—offers a rare and unsettling look into the rise of xenophobia in France. With a brilliant performance by Lenoir, this poignant drama distinguishes itself as a unique and powerful work by an emerging talent.
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