Boogaloo and Graham
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 87th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-one pictures had originally qualified in the category.
The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
What We Do in the Shadows
What We Do in the Shadows was voted by 28th Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF28) audiences as overall favorite and X+Y, starring Asa Butterfield and Sally Hawkins, came second. In What We Do in the Shadows, Viago, Deacon, Vladislav and Peter are four vampires sharing a house in Wellington, trying to balance being undead with everyday problems like whose turn it is to wash up, where to find virgin blood and how to dress for a night out when you don’t have a reflection. As a documentary film crew follows them round we learn about each of their histories and what it means to be hundreds of years old in the 21st century. Co-written and starring Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows balances comedy, horror and social commentary perfectly in this hilarious film.
Here is the the official poster and trailer for LAP DANCE, directed by Greg Carter and starring Carmen Electra, Mariel Hemingway, James Remar and Stacey Dash. The film is based on the true story of director Greg Carter and his girlfriend, actress Junie Hoang prior to their move to Los Angeles in 2005. Struggling to pay her bills, Monica takes a job as an exotic dancer and is instantly captivated by the provocative world of sex, drugs and money. But once she gets a taste of the enchanting lifestyle, she has no desire to turn back. Suddenly, Monica’s life quickly spirals out of control as betrayals and power struggles emerge. This once seductive reality now threatens everything Monica cares about. LAP DANCE will be in theaters in NY, LA and Houston on December 5, 2014 and VOD December 9, 2014
Despite pop culture relentlessly promoting the idea of individuality, there is little in our current culture that actually is independent and free. Even “indie” music and film aren’t what they used to be as major corporations commandeer what once was independent and use “indie” as a marketing buzzword. In that sense, the Jersey City radio station WFMU should not exist in the 21st century – it is a commercial-free, all-volunteer, 100% listener-supported radio station sitting on the edge of the largest media market in the United States.
The Tribe
The closing gala and awards ceremony of the 59th Cork Film Festival took place on Sunday night and the Gradam Spiorad na Féile (Spirit of the Festival Award), which was inaugurated at the Festival this year, was won by The Tribe, by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (Ukraine). The Tribe is a powerful dramatic thriller, entirely in Ukrainian Sign Language, with no subtitles, yet made for a hearing audience.
Here is an an exclusive clip from the upcoming film Delusions of Guinevere, directed by Joanna Bowzer (producer, co-writer), and starring Ariana Bernstein (producer, co-writer). In the clip, former child star, Guinevere James, who now at 29, is washed up, overweight, attempting numerous times to make a YouTube video for her “fans.” Delusions of Guinevere opens theatrically in Los Angeles on November 14th at the Arena Cinemas and in New York on December 5th at the Cinema Village.
SEASONS OF LOVE
The full program line-up is released for this year’s 17th Annual African-American Women In Cinema Film Festival taking place November 19th to 22nd in New York City. The Opening Night selection is the New York premiere of Princess Monique’s SEASONS OF LOVE. Starring Gladys Knight, Taraji P. Henson, Method Man and LeToya Luckett, the film follows one couple’s romantic ups and downs, as they struggle to determine the things that matter most in life. The film also features Ana Isabella, a rising star from Puerto Rico. The film is a Lifetime Studios production and will premiere on Lifetime on November 23rd. The festival will close with an awards VIP reception that will take place at the United Nations and the Nigerian Embassy, respectively.
Those Who Feel the Fire Burning by Morgan Knibbe
15 films have been selected for the competition program for feature-length documentary in the upcoming IDFA, the 27th edition of which takes place from November 19 to 30, in Amsterdam. Two of these competitors are local Dutch productions: Around The World in 50 Concerts by Heddy Honigmann and Those Who Feel the Fire Burning by Morgan Knibbe. The jury, made up of Anne Aghion (USA), Talal Derki (Syria), Sandra den Hamer (the Netherlands), Joshua Oppenheimer (Denmark) and Alina Rudnitskaya (Russia) will present the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, with a cash prize of € 12,500.
BIG IN JAPAN
The 11th edition of the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), which takes place December 4-9, 2014 in Nassau and December 10-14, in Harbour Island, Eleuthera will showcase 95 films from 30 different countries, including 48 features and 47 short films of which several are international premieres and all are Bahamian premieres. “LIKE SUNDAY LIKE RAIN” starring, Starring Leighton Meester (Gossip Girls) and Debra Messing (Will And Grace) and Billy Joe Armstrong, will open the festival with a red carpet screening at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island on Thursday, December 4th. American Comedy “BIG IN JAPAN” starring Phillip Peterson, Sean Lowry, David Drury, Alex Vincent, Adam Powers as Mans will close the festival with an evening screening on Sunday, December 7th – also at the Atlantis Theater.
Perpetual Sadness
The Mexican film Perpetual Sadness directed by Jorge Perez Solano, took the top prize Best Feature Film Award – Golden Alexander Theo Angelopoulos at the 55th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Perpetual Sadness tells the story of women in a remote Mexican village in the desert, where they experience solitude and the sorrow of being abandoned. The film “Next to Her,” directed by Israeli Asaf Korman, won the “Silver Alexander.”
IDA
The European Film Academy announced the nominations for the 27th European Film Awards. For the top prize, the European Film of 2014, the nominees include FORCE MAJEURE, IDA, LEVIATHAN, NYMPHOMANIAC DIRECTOR’S CUT – VOLUME I & II and WINTER SLEEP. Andrey Zvyagintsev director of LEVIATHAN (LEVIAFAN), Paweł Pawlikowski director of IDA and Ruben Östlund director of FORCE MAJEURE (TURIST), also received nominations for Best Director. The winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on 13 December in Riga, Latvia, European Capital of Culture 2014.
RETURN OF THE RIVER
The Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon, announced the line-up for its 41st annual survey of new work by regional media artists, the Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival (formerly the Northwest Film & Video Festival), which takes place November 7-15, 2014. This year’s Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival (NWFest41) presents 45+ short and feature films from filmmakers across the Northwest, selected by guest Festival judge Christopher Rauschenberg, much lauded photographer and co-founder of Portland’s trailblazing Blue Sky Gallery. Festival film highlights include Vera Brenner-Sung’s “meditation on displacement and adaptation in the contemporary American West,” BELLA VISTA; John Gussman and Jessica Plumb’s ecologically-minded documentary RETURN OF THE RIVER, concerning water and tribal rights on the Elwha River; Beth Harrington’s THE WINDING STREAM, an examination of the enduring impact of the original Carter Family on the musical landscape; and Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm’s family farming doc, DRYLAND.