The Seattle International Film Festival announced that the Opening Night Film for its 40th annual Festival will be Jimi: All Is By My Side. Musician, actor, and style icon André Benjamin stars as Seattle rock legend Jimi Hendrix in this film from Academy Award®-winning screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). Ridley is scheduled to attend the Opening Night festivities on Thursday, May 15.
THE CASE AGAINST 8
Maryland Film Festival taking place May 7-11, 2014 in downtown Baltimore, continued announcing titles for its 16th annual festival, unveiling 18 feature-length films in addition to the 22 already announced.Today’s announcement included Sundance-premiered titles The Case Against 8, Hellion, and Obvious Child; films from Russia, Uruguay, and Quebec; documentaries about street photographers, art forgers, and a former Wire Actress; Onur Tukel’s vampire comedy Summer of Blood; and Slamdance special jury prize-winner I Play With the Phrase Each Other.
Obvious Child
Rooftop Films in New York City, announced today the feature film lineup for the 18th Annual Rooftop Films Summer Series. This year’s series kicks off at Industry City in Sunset Park with some of the most exciting new short films from around the world on Friday, May 16th, followed by a special sneak preview of Gillian Robespierre’s upcoming A24 release Obvious Child on Saturday, May 17th.
Jeremy Irons, described as one of world cinema’s most compelling and engaging actors, will be the recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting at the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival taking place April 24 to May 8, 2014. The award will be presented to Irons at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday May 1 at the Regency Center.
Actress, director and screenwriter Nicole Garcia will preside over the Jury for this year’s Caméra d’or award for the best debut film at 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In this opportunity to champion an up-and-coming director she joins the ranks of previous Jury Presidents Bong Joon-Ho, Gael García Bernal, Carlos Diegues and Agnès Varda, who have all in the past contributed their experience and passion for cinema to the deliberations.
While crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter have proved to be a boon to many indie filmmakers trying to raise money for their next projects, most filmmakers trying to raise money this way don’t have anywhere near the name recognition of recent successful crowdfunders like Zach Braff, Spike Lee, or Kristen Bell. As many indie filmmakers have learned in the wake of such big-name successes, simply posting the project on a crowdfunding site and talking about it on Facebook or Twitter isn’t always enough to convince dozens of donors open their wallets (even 1990s “It” girl Melissa Joan Hart only raised a fraction of her $2 million goal when she turned to Kickstarter to raise money for a comeback movie). With a glut of indie movies trying to raise money via crowdfunding websites, how can passionate filmmakers get their campaigns noticed?
As for the cast and crew behind indie comedy Tribute to Fluffy, they figured they’d stay ahead of the curve by crowdfunding the old fashioned way.
The documentary Rise Up, West has been added to the lineup for the 44th Annual USA Film Festival, taking place April 22 to 27, 2014 in Dallas, Texas. After a fertilizer plant explosion killed 15 people in the town of West, TX the high school football team helped lead the town’s recovery.
David Woodard, a West native, took the job as West High School coach just months before the blast. He knew he’d spend the next ten games rebuilding a losing football program. He did not know, within months, he’d be rebuilding his own hometown and his own home, destroyed by the explosion. But he was the right man for the job with a focus and dedication that gave his players something and someone to believe during the darkest times of their lives.
CAS & DYLAN
The LA Comedy Festival celebrating its 15th season, will take place at the April 24 to May 4, 2014 at Let Live Theatre and The Other Space. Among the 17 Features screening at the festival are the US Premiere of Jason Priestley’s CAS & DYLAN, starring Richard Dreyfuss as a terminally ill doctor on a last adventure.
An Episode in the Life of An Iron Picker”(“Epizoda u životu berača željeza”)
The Bosnian- Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF) announced the film lineup for its eleventh annual event. A total of 16 films will screen May 1-3, 2014, at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City. They include four feature films, five short films, and seven documentaries.
The films screening at the 2014 BHFF were carefully selected from 33 submissions from 10 countries including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Finland, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the United States, and Canada.
Five-time Emmy winner and Independent Spirit Award nominee Paul Devlin’s new film, THE FRONT MAN, premieres in Los Angeles and then in Orange County at the LA Comedy Festival, followed by screenings at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Director Paul Devlin and star Jim Wood will attend both screenings.
THE FRONT MAN is a departure for filmmaker Paul Devlin, whose documentaries (Power Trip, BLAST!) have won him over a dozen film festival awards, an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a global audience. Thirteen years in the making, THE FRONT MAN is a rare nonfiction rock ‘n roll comedy love story.
TEST written and directed by Chris Mason Johnson will open in Los Angeles, and on VOD platforms, on June 6th and New York on June 13th via Variance Films. TEST which won the award for Outstanding U.S. Dramatic Feature at OUTFEST 2013 stars Scott Marlowe, Matthew Risch, Kristoffer Cusick, Rory Hohenstein, Damon Sperber, and James Sofranko.
Set in the free-spirited San Francisco of 1985, Test lovingly portrays this exciting and harrowing era as young Frankie (Scott Marlowe) confronts the challenges of being an understudy in a modern dance company where he’s taunted to “dance like a man.” Frankie embarks on a budding relationship with Tom (Matthew Risch), a veteran dancer in the same company and the bad boy to Frankie’s young innocent.
The captivating dance sequences were especially choreographed for the film by acclaimed U.S. choreographer Sidra Bell, and the film’s vibrant soundtrack includes work by ’80s icons Jimmy Somerville (Bronski Beat), Klaus Nomi, Romeo Void, Laurie Anderson, Martha and the Muffins, Cocteau Twins and Sylvester.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network today announced the dates for the 87th Oscars. The Academy Awards® presentation will air live on ABC on Oscar®Sunday, February 22, 2015.
Key dates for the Awards season are: