The international premiere of director Brian Knappenberger’s THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ (USA, 2014, 105 min) will open the 2014 Hot Docs Festival on Thursday, April 24. Director Brian Knappenberger will be in attendance to introduce the film and participate in post-screening audience discussions.
DOM HEMINGWAY
The 38th Cleveland International Film Festival has selected DOM HEMINGWAY as its Closing Night film on Sunday, March 30, 2014. DOM HEMINGWAY, directed by Richard Shepard and produced by Jeremy Thomas with Nick O’Hagan as co-producer, stars Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, Emilia Clarke, Kerry Condon, Jumayn Hunter, Madalina Ghenea, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.
DOM HEMINGWAY is a larger-than-life safecracker with a cocky swagger who is witty, unhinged, and full of piss and vinegar. After twelve years in prison, he sets off with his partner in crime Dickie (Richard E. Grant) looking to collect what he’s owed for keeping his mouth shut and protecting his boss Mr. Fontaine (Demian Bichir). After a near-death experience, Dom tries to re-connect with his estranged daughter (Emilia Clarke), but is soon drawn back into the only world he knows, looking to settle the ultimate debt.
JADOO
The 12th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA), taking place April 8 to13, 2014, at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles, announced its 2014 lineup of narrative and documentary features and short films for this year’s festival. JADOO, a delightful and delicious exploration of family bonds amidst two feuding brothers’ restaurants in England, will screen as the festival’s Closing Night Gala. JADOO is written and directed by IFFLA alum Amit Gupta, and first premiered at the 2013 Berlinale. It features a wonderful ensemble cast that includes Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, and Madhur Jaffrey.
Fading Gigolo
Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) announced the popular Lexus Audience Award presented to two films for Best Documentary and Best Feature. The winners were Fading Gigolo directed by John Turturro (USA), which won Best Feature, and The Mountain (La montaña) directed by Tabaré Blanchard (Dominican Republic), which won Best Documentary.
A WOLF AT THE DOOR (O LOBO ATRÁS DA PORTA)
Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) which celebrated its 31st anniversary edition March 7 to 16, 2014, culminated in its annual Awards Night Ceremony, with A WOLF AT THE DOOR (O LOBO ATRÁS DA PORTA) walking away with the Knight Grand Jury Prize and the Grand Jury Best Director for the director Fernando Coimbra. A WOLF AT THE DOOR is the complicated, edge-of-your-seat, fact-based story of the disappearance of a young girl in suburban Rio.
The trailer popped up on-line for the Irish short film SCRATCH scheduled to premiere at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival taking place April 16th to 27th, 2014 in New York City. Co-written and directed by Phillip Kelly and co-written and produced by Liam Ryan, SCRATCH tells the story of Eoin (Conor Drum), who is working the night shift at a quiet petrol station. His night is disturbed initially by scratch card addict Ger (Stephen Jones), and then a masked robber who sends their night into a direction they could never have guessed.
Projects developed in past Documentary Labs include Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos’ RICH HILL which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival,
Film Independent announced its filmmakers for the 2014 Documentary Lab, a seven week intensive program designed to help filmmakers who are currently in post-production on their feature-length documentary. This year’s Lab Fellows are Esteban Arguello & Xuan Jiang, Jamie Sisley & Mayuran Tiruchelvam, Suzanne Joe Kai, Robyn Symon, Nick Spark, Andrew James, Jonathan Matthews, and Jen Heck. Designed to help filmmakers who are currently in post-production on their feature-length documentary films, the Documentary Lab has two primary focuses: (1) providing creative feedback and story notes to the selected filmmakers; and (2) helping filmmakers strategize the completion, distribution, and marketing of their film.
Projects developed in past Documentary Labs include Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos’ Rich Hill which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, PJ Raval’s Before You Know It; Hilla Medalia’s Dancing in Jaffa; Nicholas Wrathall’s Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia; Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali Worrall’s Call Me Kuchu; Laura Nix and Julia Meltzer’s The Light In Her Eyes; and Nicole Karsin’s We Women Warriors, among others.
The Cinemalaya Foundation announced the finalists for the New Breed Full Length Feature category and the Directors Showcase for the 2014 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition.
The themes and subject matter of the 2014 Cinemalaya finalists are diverse. Stories include the disappearance of a young girl believed to have been eaten by a crocodile in the marshlands of Agusan del Norte, a friendship among soldiers fighting the Japanese in World War II, and a T’boli epic. The films cover a range of genres, from coming of age stories, romance, epic, comedy and action.
Cinemalaya is an all-digital film festival and competition that aims to discover, encourage and honor cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers. In addition to New Breed category, which is the main competition category, and the Directors Showcase, Cinemalaya has a Short Film competition and other sections for exhibition films. Cinemalaya is a project of the Cinemalaya Foundation and Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Check out the trailer for Mohamed Khan’s FACTORY GIRL which premiered last year at the 2013 Dubai International Film Festival, winning two awards, the Muhr Arab Feature Best Actress Award, for Yasmine Raess, and the FEPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Best Arab Feature award. Factory Girl was written by the director’s wife Wessam Soliman, The film tells the story of one year in the life of Hiyam (played by Yasmine Raees), a young woman working in a clothing factory who falls in love with her supervisor.
The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), announced its lineup for the 2014 Tribeca Talks® and Tribeca Innovation Week’s Future of Film series. The Festival will feature conversations with some of the most prolific and creative directors, producers, writers, actors and industry professionals in film including Academy Award® winners Kevin Spacey, Ron Howard, Michael Douglas, Aaron Sorkin, Thelma Schoonmaker, and Skip Lievsay; Academy Award®-nominated director Lee Daniels and writer Terence Winter; Emmy®-Award-winners Bryan Cranston, Alec Baldwin, and David Simon; as well as Congressman Barney Frank, and legendary boxers Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. The Tribeca Talks panels and events will run during the 13th edition of TFF, taking place April 16 – April 27 at locations around New York City.
The 28th edition of AFI FEST will take place November 6 through 13, 2014, in Hollywood, California. The film festival is the only one of its stature that is free to the public, and is the only festival in North America with a market partner, the AFM (American Film Market).
Submissions are now open and filmmakers are invited to submit narrative, documentary, experimental, animated and short films
IFC Midnight has released the official trailer for Zack Parker’s PROXY , schedule to open theatrically at The IFC Center in NYC and on VOD April 18th, 2014, with nationwide rollout to follow.
Esther (Alexia Rasmussen) feels alone in this world. When she is viciously attacked by a hooded assailant, it almost seems to be a blessing in disguise when Esther finds consolation in a support group, especially from the kindly Melanie (Alexa Havins). The two women strike up a close friendship and Esther’s life of sadness and solitude is opened up to understanding and even acceptance. However, their bond gets increasingly dangerous as they can no longer tell what’s real and what’s in their heads.