VIMooZ

Film Review: MATCH starring Patrick Stewart

Film Reviews

At its very core, MATCH is a mystery.

In its initial minutes, it appears to be a jovial comedy about Tobi (Patrick Stewart), an eccentric Julliard dance instructor and Lisa (Carla Gugino), a woman who comes to interview him for her dissertation on the history of dance while accompanied by her disinterested husband Mike (Matthew Lillard). The fact that Tobi is so quirky and artsy and Mike is a straight-laced police officer who seems uncomfortable with the interview because he assumes Tobi is gay seems like the opening minutes are a setup for a conventional comedy. But writer/director Stephen Belber, who wrote and directed the little-seen 2008 Jennifer Aniston comedy Management, doesn’t settle for a script full of gags about a manly man uncomfortable with another man’s assumed sexual orientation. Instead, MATCH is one of the most startlingly moving dramas of the 2014 festival season and is sure to make an impact upon its general release in 2015.

The interview setup instead leads the trio to Tobi’s Inwood apartment, where he enjoys regaling them with stories of his life’s work. In fact, based on earlier brief glimpses of his rather humdrum life, Tobi just seems overjoyed to have the opportunity to speak to others. But once the group is in Tobi’s apartment, the questions become increasingly personal and it becomes apparent that there is much more to this story than a dissertation. That leads this film down storytelling paths that a viewer would have never expected. Films can often contain so few surprises, and then something like MATCH comes along and virtually brings a twist to every single scene.

Of course, the star here is Patrick Stewart. Stewart has already amassed a body of work that proves that he is one of the great dramatic actors. He has nothing left to prove – in fact, if he spent the rest of his life trading in on his X-Men and Star Trek fame on the convention autograph circuit nobody would blame him – yet it is a testament to his dedication to his craft that he still seeks out opportunities to flex his acting muscles. MATCH is perhaps his finest non-theater performance in over a decade. It’s wonderful to see Stewart in a role that he can sink his teeth into.

Gugino, an actress who has never quite found a role to define her career, has found the ability to match Stewart. The film digs within her character, but in many ways she is the “everywife” who can never find her own life separate from her husband. Her performance is deeply sorrowful, but at the same time full of strength. She has so much more to offer than her small roles in Mr. Popper’s Penguins and Spy Kids, and it is about time that filmmakers have noticed that.

Beleber has not only directed a dramatically intense film, but he has written a script full of both humorous and poignant dialogue. Early in MATCH (when it still appears to be a comedy), Stewart’s character comments on the softness of the jacket belonging to Gugino’s character. He says:

“Oh my God! This is softer than a baby’s ass! Oh, is that inappropriate? I know nothing about baby ass, it just seemed like nice image.”

It’s a hilarious line that indicates that Tobi is a man being complimentary, but also concerned how this interview will portray him. Though not all of the dialogue in MATCH is hilarious, much of it reveals the same truths as this one does.

At only 90 minutes, MATCH is the rare rollercoaster drama that will floor you, yet provide a satisfying story in that timing. It is because of the combination of Beleber’s writing and directing and Stewart and Gugino’s acting that MATCH is a must-see for anyone who appreciates indie dramas.

RATING 5 out of 5: MUST See it …… It’s EXCELLENT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q15WAor16pE
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27 Short Films on Lineup for 2015 Berlin Intl Film Festival

Berlin International Film Festival

Take What You Can Carry

27 short films from will be competing at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival, as well as the nomination for best short film at the European Film Awards and the first-ever EUR 20,000 Audi Short Film Award.

This year’s members of the International Short Film Jury are documentary filmmaker and curator Madhusree Dutta, Turkish artist Halil Altındere, and producer and festival director Wahyuni A. Hadi from Singapore. Screening in competition are the latest works of Nadav Lapid, Amit Dutta, Jennifer Reeder, Matt Porterfield, artist duos Daniel Schmidt & Alexander Carver, Mischa Leinkauf & Matthias Wermke in collaboration with Lutz Henke, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, among many others.

What images have the power to dispel the pleasure found by some in being a soldier? Israeli director Nadav Lapid asks himself this question and then discovers an image that is able to do exactly that in Lama? (Why?). In Japan, there’s a new term since Fukushima: “atomic divorce”. It is what the many divorces are called that have been filed all over Japan in the aftermath of the catastrophe. Christian Bau attempts to capture this phenomenon in Snapshot Mon Amour. David Muñoz visits a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon. The production of his film El Juego del Escondite (Hide & Seek) relates directly to the question of what enables a refugee to remain the subject of his or her own narrative. Then there is the quintessence of artist intervention in public space – the raising of white flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge last summer in New York City – which can be seen as either an affront or a chance: the documentary Symbolic Threats by Leinkauf, Wermke and Henke offers a number of interpretations.

Matt Porterfield’s Take What You Can Carry tells of a young woman who is a foreigner in Berlin – and in doing so portrays Generation Y, with performance group Gob Squad as its mouthpiece. Jennifer Reeder’s Blood Below the Skin gives a glimpse of the tender and tangled web of love and dependency between a mother and her daughter that goes beyond the traditional allocation of roles.

Berlinale Shorts 2015:

Architektura, Ulu Braun, Germany, 15’ (WP)
Bad at Dancing, Joanna Arnow, USA, 11’ (WP)
Blood Below the Skin, Jennifer Reeder, USA, 32’ (WP)
Chitrashala (House of Painting), Amit Dutta, India, 19’ (WP)
Däwit (Daewit), David Jansen, Germany, 15’ (WP)
Dissonance, Till Nowak, Germany, 17’ (WP)
Hosanna, Na Young-kil, South Korea, 25’ (DP)
La Isla está Encantada con Ustedes (The Island is Enchanted with You), Alexander Carver & Daniel Schmidt, USA / Switzerland / Australia, 28’ (IP)
El Juego del Escondite (Hide & Seek), David Muñoz, Spain, 23’ (WP)
Kamakshi, Satindar Singh Bedi, India, 25’ (WP)
Lama? (Why?), Nadav Lapid, Israel, 5’ (IP)
Lembusura, Wregas Bhanuteja, Indonesia, 10’ (IP)
Lo Sum Choe Sum (3 Year 3 Month Retreat), Dechen Roder, Bhutan, 20’ (WP)
maku (veil), Yoriko Mizushiri, Japan, 6’ (WP)
The Mad Half Hour, Leonardo Brzezicki, Argentina / Denmark, 22’ (WP)
Mar de Fogo (Sea of Fire), Joel Pizzini, Brazil, 8’ (WP)
Of Stains, Scrap & Tires, Sebastian Brameshuber, Austria / France, 19’ (IP)
Pebbles at Your Door, Vibeke Bryld, Denmark, 18’ (WP)
Planet Ʃ, Momoko Seto, France, 12’ (WP)
San Cristóbal, Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo, Chile, 29’ (WP)
Shadowland, John Skoog, Sweden, 15’ (IP)
Snapshot Mon Amour, Christian Bau, Germany, 6’ (WP)
Superior, Erin Vassilopoulos, USA, 16’ (IP)
Symbolic Threats, Mischa Leinkauf, Matthias Wermke & Lutz Henke, Germany, 16’ (WP)
Take What You Can Carry, Matt Porterfield, USA / Germany, 30’ (WP)
The, Billy Roisz & Dieter Kovačič, Austria, 13’ (WP)
YúYú, Marc Johnson, France / Spain / USA, 15’ (WP)
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Isabel Coixet’s NOBODY WANTS THE NIGHT to Open 2015 Berlinale

Berlin International Film Festival

The 65th Berlin International Film Festival will open on February 5 with the world premiere of Nobody Wants the Night, by Spanish director Isabel Coixet.

The Spanish-French-Bulgarian co-production takes place in 1908, in the Arctic seclusion of Greenland. The adventure film focuses on courageous women and ambitious men who put anything at stake for love and glory.

The ensemble cast includes international stars such as French actress and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche (Camille Claudel 1915, The English Patient), Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi (Babel,The Brothers Bloom) and Irish film artist Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects, Miller’s Crossing). Filming took place in Bulgaria, Norway and Spain.

“I’m very pleased that Nobody Wants the Night will open the 2015 Berlinale. Isabel Coixet has created an impressive and perceptive portrait of two women in extreme circumstances,” says Dieter Kosslick, director of the Berlinale. “It will also be the first film to be screened in Dolby Atmos® in our Berlinale Palast.”

Six films by Isabel Coixet have already been presented in various sections of past Berlinale programmes, including My Life Without Me (2003) and Elegy (2008) in Competition. In 2009 Isabel Coixet was member of the festival’s International Jury.
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DGA Announces 2014 Feature Film Nominees

Awards, VIMOOZ

The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson

Directors Guild of America today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2014.

“In a year full of excellent films, DGA members have nominated a stellar group of passionate filmmakers,” said Directors Guild of America President Paris Barclay. “Inspiring and artistic, these five directors made films that left an indelible impact not only on their fellow directors and members of the director’s team, but on audiences around the world. Congratulations to all of the nominees for their terrific work.”

The winner will be named at the 67th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, February 7, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Wes Anderson
The Grand Budapest Hotel
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

This is Mr. Anderson’s first DGA Award nomination.

Clint Eastwood
American Sniper
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

This is Mr. Eastwood’s fourth DGA Award nomination, all in this category. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Million Dollar Baby in 2004 and for Unforgiven in 1992. He was also nominated in this same category for Mystic River in 2003. Mr. Eastwood was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)

This is Mr. Iñárritu’s third DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Babel in 2006. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for “Best Job” (Proctor and Gamble) in 2012.

Richard Linklater
Boyhood
(IFC Films)

This is Mr. Linklater’s first DGA Award nomination.

Morten Tyldum
The Imitation Game
(The Weinstein Company)

This is Mr. Tyldum’s first DGA Award nomination.
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BOY MEETS GIRL Transgender Romantic Comedy Sets Release Date

News

BOY MEETS GIRL, starring newcomer Michelle Hendley, a transgender girl from Missouri in her first role, opens in theaters in February.

BOY MEETS GIRL opens in New York at the Village East on February 6, expands to Gaslamp 15 in San Diego, The Angelika in Washington DC, the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro, VT on February 13th and the Noho 7 in Los Angeles on February 27th.

BOY MEETS GIRL stars newcomer Michelle Hendley, a transgender girl from Missouri in her first role, and Michael Welch who most will remember from the popular Twilight film series. Michelle Hendley, the person at the center of the story was initially spotted on YouTube by director Eric Schaeffer (My Life Is In Turnaround, If Lucy Fell, and Fall). Schaeffer, who wrote and directed the romantic comedy, contacted Hendley out of the blue and brought her out to Los Angeles for an audition. The startled Hendley agreed only after Schaeffer spoke to her parents to convince them he was legit.

BOY MEETS GIRL is a poignant coming of age comedy about three twenty-somethings living in rural Kentucky. Robby (Michael Welch, Twilight) is a car mechanic, Ricky (Michelle Hendley) is a gorgeous transgender girl working in a coffee shop and Francesca (Alexandra Turshen) is a beautiful debutante.

Lamenting the lack of eligible bachelors in her small rural town, Ricky finds herself attracted to Francesca when the two meet in the coffee shop. Ricky and Francesca strike up a friendship, and maybe a little more, which forces Robby to face his true feelings for Ricky. The story is further complicated when Francesca’s Marine fiancé Michael (Michael Galante) returns from overseas.

BOY MEETS GIRL arrives just as another transgender story has struck a national chord in the media. The sad story of Leelah Alcorn* only increases the need for a deeper conversation about gender and orientation which this film presents to the larger media. The film presents a positive sex/human story in our pop culture which crosses all gender and orientation lines.

BOY MEETS GIRL will begin its platform theatrical release on February 6 with a VOD release expected on April 6. The film is distributed by Wolfe Releasing and the commercial release of the film follows a successful domestic and international film festival run where it received dozens of awards, critical reviews and legions of ardent fans and landed on three of the top thirty Films of The Year lists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNdW9TzxGrk&feature=youtu.be
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Montclair Film Festival Announces 2015 Poster Contest Winner

Montclair Film Festival

Montclair resident and graphic designer Amanda Ansorge’s design has been selected to serve as the Montclair Film Festival (MFF)’s 2015 Festival Campaign.

The design, selected from dozens of submissions to the festival’s annual Poster Contest, features a beautiful text treatment and swirling imagery against a bright yellow background and marks an exciting new direction for the festival’s brand. The design will be utilized in 2015’s MFF posters, banners, publications and advertising as the 2015 festival’s signature image.

“Amanda has created a beautiful design and we are so pleased to be able to showcase her work,” said MFF Executive Director Tom Hall. “Working under the leadership of our Marketing Committee leaders and Board Members Kelly Coogan Swanson and Lisa Ingersoll, MFF continues to build an exciting brand that maintains a deep connection to our community.”

Amanda Ansorge is a graphic designer and the Art Director for Red Hot Magazine, a bimonthly about Red Bank and its surrounding area. She has branded and designed publications for numerous New Jersey destinations, including Asbury Park, Englewood, and the Ironbound District in Newark. Amanda is a graduate of Brown University, and pursued graduate studies in industrial design at Pratt Institute. A New Jersey native, Amanda lives in Montclair with her husband and two sons.

“I’m so honored to have my design represent the Montclair Film Festival,” Ansorge said.
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Controversial Doc FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD Sets US Release Date

Documentary

FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD, a documentary film by Henry Corra and Reggie Nicholson is set to open in the US in February 2015.

This award-winning documentary has screened at numerous international film festivals including IDFA, Hot Springs Doc Fest and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The film will open in New York at Cinema Village on Wednesday, February 25 (the day of Reggie Nicholson’s birthday), and at the Noho 7 in Los Angeles on Friday, March 13. A national release will follow.

In a recurring poetic image, 17-year-old Regina Diane Nicholson swings between heaven and earth on a breathtakingly high cliff by the sea. Reggie is a tomboy struggling with a terminal illness, her parents, and her dream of making a film before she dies. She impresses us with her loving, strong personality and wisdom beyond her years, as well as her morbid sense of humor.

When director Henry Corra met 17-year-old filmmaker Regina Nicholson at a film festival, he agreed to help her make a feature film. What developed over nearly two years is a powerful friendship and poignant relationship between Reggie and Henry. He became her collaborator, friend and defender in her fight to find artistic and personal freedom. When Reggie turns 18 and can make decisions legally on her own, things become even more intense.

FAREWELL TO HOLLYWOOD is a poetic fairytale about love and death, holding on and letting go, one that invites us to discuss the relationship between filmmaker, subject and family. An eclectic mix of images with the intimacy of a video diary or home movie, it is filmed both by Henry and by Reggie and supplemented by their text message exchanges, images from her favorite movies, and fairytale-like scenes with songs that together form a heartwarming, but also heartbreaking and controversial ode to Reggie’s life.

It’s a raw and unexpected love story about the commitment of two people to art, poetry, care, and the potential beauty of every moment together, to the very end.

http://youtu.be/pWIohJHlhO0
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2015 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Official Selections

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

A DOG NAMED GUCCI, Gorman Bechard

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival announced the lineup for the 2015 festival, which includes a record number of screenings.

Now in its 12th year, the festival runs from February 6-16 across four venues in downtown Missoula, Montana, and will include four competitions in the Feature, Short, Mini-Doc, and Big Sky Award categories. Competition films, thematic strands, Big Sky Doc Shop events, and special presentations will be announced in mid-January.

2015 BIG SKY DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL OFFICIAL SELECTIONS –

1971, Johanna Hamilton, 80 minutes
20/NOTHING, Rachel Stevens, 6 minutes
A DOG NAMED GUCCI, Gorman Bechard, 83 minutes
A LINE IN THE SAND, Justin Clifton & Chris Cresci, 2 minutes
ABDULAI, Aidan Avery, 14 minutes
ABOVE ALL ELSE, John Fiege, 95 minutes
ABOVE THE ALLEY, BENEATH THE SKY, Dominic Gill, 24 minutes
ALMOST THERE, Dan Rybicky & Aaron Wickenden, 93 minutes
AN HONEST LIAR, Justin Weinstein & Tyler Measom, 90 minutes
AND WE WERE YOUNG, Andy Smentanka, 111 minutes
BACK ON BOARD: GREG LOUGANIS, Cheryl Furjanic, 86 minutes
BADGER CREEK, Randy Vasquez & Jonathan Skurnik, 8 minutes
BAJA’S SECRET MIRACLE, Eliana Alvarez Martinez,12 minutes
BARD IN THE BACKCOUNTRY, Cindy Stillwell & Tom Watson, 56 minutes
BASHIR’S VISION, Daniel Roher, 15 minutes
BEDEVIL, Sam Carroll, 67 minutes
BEING EVEL, Daniel Junge, 100 minutes
BELLY OF THE BEAST, Rob Norton, 15 minutes
BIG MOCCASIN, Chelsea Moynehan & Andrew Moynehan, 66 minutes
BILL ORHMANN: LOOKING FOR THE TRUTH. Rob Norton, 8 minutes, 2012
BILLY MIZE AND THE BAKERSFIELD SOUND, William Saunders, 95 minutes
BLACKSUN, Jon Bougher & Kohl Threlkeld, 7 minutes
BLENDHER, John Frank Freeman, 11 minutes
BLINDSIGHT, Bob Sacha, 16 minutes
BOYS WITH BROKEN EARS, Nima Shayeghi, 80 minutes
BRAVE NEW WILD, Oakley Anderson-Moore, 75 minutes
BREAK KIDS, Emily Kassie, 8 minutes
BROKEN CITY POETS, Ariane Wu, 29 minutes
BROKEN LANDSCAPES, Michael T. Miller, 13 minutes
BROKEN SONG, Claire Dix, 71 minutes
BUGARACH, Sergi Cameron, Ventura Durall & Salvador Sunyer, 90 minutes
BY BLOOD, Sam Russell & Marcos Barbery, 63 minutes
CAILLEACH, Rosie Reed Hillman, 14 minutes
CHILDREN OF THE ARCTIC, Nick Brandestini, 94 minutes
CJ HENDRY: PEN ON PAPER, Rob Norton, 3 minutes
COACHING COLBURN, Jeff Bemiss, 16 minutes
COMIC BOOK HEAVEN, E.J. McLeavey-Fisher, 12 minutes
CONTROVERSIES, Ryan Mckenna, 22 minutes
COUNTING THE DEAD, Catharine Axley, 7 minutes
CRAZY CARL AND HIS MAN BOOBS, Mike Woolf, 50 minutes
CROOKED CANDY, Andrew Rodgers, 6 minutes
DAUGHTERS OF EMMONAK, Graeme Aegerter, Bobby Moser & Samantha Andre, 17 minutes
DAVID & ME, Ray Klonsky & Marc Lamy, 69 minutes
DAVID HOCKNEY IN THE NOW, Lucy Walker, 6 minutes
DESERT HAZE, Sofie Benoot, 109 minutes
DIVIDE IN CONCORD, Kris Kaczor & Dave Regos, 83 minutes
DO YOU DREAM IN COLOR?, Abigail Fuller & Sarah Ivy, 76 minutes
DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN, John Pirozzi, 107 minutes
DRY SEASON, Max Good & Tyler Trumbo, 8 minutes
DRYDEN: THE SMALL TOWN THAT CHANGED THE FRACKING GAME, Chris Jordan-Blochm 11 minutes
F-LINE, Silvia Turchin, 9 minutes
FIGHTER BY NATURE, JP Keenan & Aryelle Cormier, 28 minutes
FINDING TRACTION, Jaime Jacobsen, 57 minutes
FISHTAIL, Andrew Renzi, 61 minutes
FLORENCE, ARIZONA, Andrea B. Scott, 77 minutes
FOR ALL, Rachel Stevens, 15 minutes
FUNGIPHILIA RISING, Madison Mcclintock, 13 minutes
GARDENERS OF EDEN, Anneliese Vandenberg & Austin Peck, 62 minutes
GAUCHO DEL NORTE, Sofian Khan, 58 minutes
GIAP’S LAST DAY AT THE IRONING BOARD FACORY, Tony Nguyen, 25 minutes
GNARLY IN PINK, Benjamin Mullinkosson & Kristelle Laroche, 7 minutes
GODKA CIRKA, Àlex Lora & Antonio Tibaldi, 10 minutes
GROWING HOME, Faisal Attrache, 21 minutes
HEARTS AND MINDS, Peter Davis, 112 minutes, 1974
HIGHRISE (An interactive documentary), Katerina Cizek
HINOKI FARM, Akiro Hellgardt, 29 minutes
HIP HOP-ERATION, Bryn Evans, 93 minutes
HOLLOW (An Interactive Documentary), Elaine Mcmillion
HOTEL 22, Elizabeth Lo, 8 minutes
HUNGRY HORSE, Pieter ten Hoopen, Tim McLaughlin & Brian Storm, 43 minutes
IN COUNTRY, Mike Attie & Meghan O’Hara, 80 minutes
ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, 9 minutes
JALANAN, Daniel Ziv, 107 minutes
JORDANNE, Zak Razvi, 5 minutes
JUNK STUDIO, Kier Atherton, 7 minutes
KOSMA, Sonja Blagojevic, 75 minutes
KUNG FU ELLIOT, Matthew Bauckman & Jaret Belliveau, 128 minutes
LA ALFOMBRA ROJA, Iosu Lopez, 12 minutes
L.A. MINER, Thomas Wood, 24 minutes
LA REINA, Manuel Abramovich, 19 minutes
LADY BE GOOD: INSTRUMENTAL WOMEN IN JAZZ, Kay Ray, 80 minutes
LAST STOP IN SANTA ROSA, Elizabeth Lo, 5 minutes
LITTLE HERO, Marcus A. McDouglad & Jennifer Medvin, 10 minutes
LIVES WORTH LIVING, Eric Neudel, 60 minutes
LOVE AND TERROR: ON THE HOWLING PLAINS OF NOWHERE, Dave Jannetta, 100 minutes
LUCHADORA, River Finlay, 12 minutes
MEET THE HITLERS, Matt Ogens, 83 minutes
MIE NISHI, Bruno Caticha, 19 minutes
MINERS SHOT DOWN, Rehad Desai, 86 minutes
MR FOGG, Joseph Dixon, 17 minutes
NATURAL LIFE, Tirtza Even, 76 minutes
NOW EN ESPANOL, Andrea Meller, 67 minutes
OMA EN OPA (Grandma and Grandpa), Charlotte de Bekker, 8 minutes
OMID, Jawad Wahabzada, 9 minutes
ON BEAUTY, Joanna Rudnick, 30 minutes
ONE YEAR LEASE, Brian Bolster, 11 minutes
OUT OF DEEPWOOD, Craig Weflen, 23 minutes
PERSONAL GOLD, Tamara Christopherson, 89 minutes
POUTERS, Paul Fegan, 17 minutes
RETURN OF THE RIVER, Jessica Plumb & John Gussman, 70 minutes
REUNIONS, Naomi Wise, 10 minutes
RUHR RECORD, Rainer Komers, 45 minutes
SALAD DAYS, Scott Crawford, 104 minutes
SANTA CRUZ DEL ISLOTE, Luke Lorentzen, 19 minutes
SHEILD AND SPEAR, Petter Ringbom, 89 minutes
SHOWFOLK, Ned McNeilage, 23 minutes
SIBLINGS ARE FOREVER, Frode Fimland, 85 minutes
SIGHTLINES, Genevieve Bicknell, 16 minutes
SILENCED, James Sipone, 102 minutes
SILENCING THE THUNDER, Eddie Roqueta, 27 minutes
SLOW SEASON, John Fiege, 6 minutes
SOFT VENGENCE: ALBIE SACHS & THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA, Abby Ginzberg, 86 minutes
TERRANCE, Joris Debeij, 6 minutes
THE AGE OF LOVE, Steven Loring, 78 minutes
THE ALAN LANE STORY, Tyler Pfiffner & Kimberly Kozub, 15 minutes
THE CASE OF THE THREE SIDED DREAM, Adam Kahan, 87 minutes
THE DISEASE, Nathaniel Maddux, 15 minutes
THE HIP HOP FELLOW, Kenneth Price, 79 minutes
THE IMMORTALISTS, Jason Sussberg & David Alvarado, 79 minutes
THE LAST SEASON, Sara Dosa, 80 minutes
THE LAST SMALLHOLDER, Francis Lee, 9 minutes
THE LAST STOP IN SANTA ROSA, 5 minutes
THE ORCHESTRA, Francesco Merini & Helmut Failoni, 60 minutes
THE ORPHAN GIRL, Yarrow Kraner, 20 minutes
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS, Edward Lovelace & James Hall, 83 minutes
THE SOWER, Julie Perron, 77 minutes
THE VOW, Cameron Zohoori, 40 minutes
THE WHALE HUNT, (An interactive documentary), Jonathan Harris
THE YEAR WE THOUGHT ABOUT LOVE, Ellen Brodsky, 68 minutes
THERE WILL BE NO STAY, Patty Dillion, 71 minutes
TO LIVE DELIBERATELY, Marshall Granger, 10 minutes
TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR, Adam Weber & Jim Goldblum, 84 minutes
TONGUE RIVER HOME, Eliza Goode, 5 minutes
TOP SPIN, Sara Newens & Mina T. Son, 76 minutes
TREASURE ISLAND, Elizabeth Lo & Melissa Langer, 7 minutes
TRUE SON, Kevin Gordon, 72 minutes
UNDER THE BED, Michael Galinsky & Suki Hawley, 11 minutes
UNPLUGGED, Mladen Kovacevic, 51 minutes
WAR WITHIN THE WALLS, Courtney Marsh, 28 minutes
WE ARE THE ONES, Jon Michael Shink, Michael Skinner, 62 minutes
WELL NOW YOU’RE HERE, THERE’S NO WAY BACK – 109 minutes
WHERE I CAN’T BE FOUND, Arjun Talwar, 15 minutes

JOHN COHEN RETROSPECTIVE –

ROSCOE HOLCOLM FROM DAISY, KENTUCKY, 29 minutes
MOUNTAIN MUSIC OF PERU, 58 minutes, 1984
GYPSIES SING LONG BALLADS, 28 minutes, 1982
DANCING WITH THE INCAS, 58 minutes, 1991
THE HIGH LONESOME SOUND, 68 minutes, 1963
END OF AN OLD SONG, 27minutes, 1970
SAM GREEN RETROSPECTIVE –
THE LOVE SONG OF BUCKMINSTER FULLER (w/Yo La Tengo), 2012
CLEAR GLASSES, 4 minutes
LOVE LETTER TO THE FOG (A Cinematic Study of Fog In San Francisco), 2013, 10 minutes
UTOPIA, PT. 3: THE WORLD’S LARGEST SHOPPING MALL, 2009, 13 minutes
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, 28 minutes
LOT 63, GRAVE C, 10 minutes, 2006
THE FABULOUS STAINS: BEHIND THE MOVIE, 1999, 11 minutes
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, 2003
RAINBOW MAN/JOHN 3:16
THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS, 60 minutes (w/live score by Brendan Canty, Todd Griffin, & Catherine McRae)

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Palm Springs Intl Film Fest Announces 2016 Dates

Palm Springs International Film Festival

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) has announced that the dates of next year’s festival will be January 1-11, 2016, for the 27th edition.

The festival will host a New Year’s Eve celebration for all attending festival guests on Dec. 31 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival will begin on Friday, January 1 with all day screenings and the Opening Night screening followed by a reception at the Palm Springs Art Museum. The festival’s Awards Gala will be held on Saturday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. This year’s star-studded event, hosted by Mary Hart, honored Robert Duvall, the cast of The Imitation Game, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Richard Linklater, Julianne Moore, David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Redmayne, J.K. Simmons and Reese Witherspoon. Closing Night will take place on Sunday, January 10 with the Best of the Fest screening on Monday, January 11.

“The Palm Springs International Film Festival has always been the first major event of the calendar year and we plan on continuing that tradition,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “Our festival has become an important stop on the awards season trail for both actors and filmmakers as well as our strong showcase of foreign language cinema.”

The 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival runs until January 12, 2015.
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Florida Film Critics Pick “Birdman” as Best Film, but “The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wins Most Awards

Awards

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel walked away with the most trophies at the 2014 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Ensemble and Best Art Direction/Production Design; while Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman won the top honors of Best Picture and Best Actor for Michael Keaton. Also making a strong showing was Richard Linklater’s 12 years in the making Boyhood, which won for Best Director as well as Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette.

In the Documentary category, the Roger Ebert overview Life Itself took home top honors, while the Indonesian film The Raid 2 won Best Foreign Film. The Florida Film Critics Circle also bestowed its annual Golden Orange Award on Miami’s Borscht Corp. and its Borscht Film Festival. Borscht Corp. is an organization composed of what the organization described as tireless champions of independent filmmaking.

COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS:

Best Picture:

Birdman
Runner-up: Boyhood

Best Director:

Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Runner-up: Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman

Best Actress:

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Runner-up: Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Best Actor:

Michael Keaton – Birdman
Runner-up: Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler

Best Supporting Actor:

J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Runner-up: Edward Norton – Birdman

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Runner-up: Emma Stone – Birdman

Best Ensemble:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Runner-up: Boyhood

Best Original Screenplay:

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
Runner-up: Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
Runner-up: Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)

Best Cinematography:

Interstellar (Hoyte Van Hoytema)
Runner-up: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert D. Yeoman)

Best Visual Effects:

Interstellar
Runner-up: Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Art Direction/Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Runner-up: Interstellar

Best Score:

Under the Skin (Micah Levi, aka Micachu)
Runner-up: Gone Girl (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)

Best Documentary:

Life Itself
Runner-up: Citizenfour

Best Foreign-Language Film:

The Raid 2
Runner-up: Force Majeure

Best Animated Film:

The Lego Movie
Runner-up: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Pauline Kael Breakout Award:

Damien Chazelle (writer/director: Whiplash)
Runner-up: Gugu Mbatha-Raw (actress: Belle, Beyond the Lights)

Golden Orange:

The Borscht Corp.

The Golden Orange Award, given for outstanding contribution to film in Florida, is awarded to the Borscht Corp. for their tireless championing of independent filmmaking. Fresh and vital, they are a non-profit group that affords filmmakers a place to work outside of the box and produce work that has garnered international attention. As their profile grows so does original, local film production’s profile. Since 2005, Borscht has been about creativity and a devout allegiance to the film scene in South Florida. They have been shining ambassadors for the region and are showing no signs of slowing down.
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WATCH Trailer for Indie Horror Film “It Follows”

Horror + Scifi

David Robert Mitchell’s indie horror film, It Follows, scheduled to screen in the Park City At Midnight section of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival just before it opens in theaters on March 27th, 2015, has a new trailer.

Starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi and Lili Sep, It Follows is about a teenager who finds herself haunted by nightmarish visions and the inescapable sense that something is after her after a strange sexual encounter.

http://youtu.be/9tyMi1Hn32I
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9 Foreign Language Films Advance in Oscar® Race

Awards

Tangerines (Estonia)

Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 87th Academy Awards®.

Eighty-three films had originally been considered in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Argentina, “Wild Tales,” Damián Szifrón, director;

Estonia, “Tangerines,” Zaza Urushadze, director;

Georgia, “Corn Island”

Georgia, “Corn Island,” George Ovashvili, director;

Mauritania, “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako, director;

Netherlands, “Accused,” Paula van der Oest, director;

Poland, “Ida”

Poland, “Ida,” Paweł Pawlikowski, director;

Russia, “Leviathan,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;

Sweden, “Force Majeure,” Ruben Östlund, director;

Venezuela, “The Liberator”

Venezuela, “The Liberator,” Alberto Arvelo, director.

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2014 are being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 15. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

The shortlist will be winnowed down to the category’s five nominees by specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and, for the first time, London. They will spend Friday, January 9, through Sunday, January 11, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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