• 4th Napa Valley Film Festival Announces Film Lineup; Opens with “The Imitation Game”

    The Imitation GameThe Imitation Game

    The fourth annual Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF)  returns with a five-day festival showcasing the year’s best new independent films in the four postcard-perfect towns of Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga, November 12 to 16, 2014.  The Festival kicks off Opening Night, Wednesday, November 12, with a Red Carpet screening of The Imitation Game. Fresh off winning the audience award at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival, The Imitation Game, stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Director Morten Tyldum is expected to attend. 

    Film highlights include:

    Alex of Venice – – In actor Chris Messina’s directorial debut feature, Alex (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a workaholic environmental attorney is forced to reinvent herself after her husband (Messina) suddenly leaves the family.

     Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me – An intimate, devastating, and inspiring look at the final tour of musical legend Glen Campbell as he faces the end of his career due to Alzheimer’s disease.

    Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon – Mike Myers will attend the festival with Shep Gordon, the original mega talent manager and subject of Mike’s hilarious, touching and award-winning documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon.

    The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her & Him – A special presentation of a unique cinematic achievement: back-to-back screenings of Ned Benson’s two versions of a film about a marriage falling apart, one from the wife’s perspective and one from the husband’s, starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy.

    Additional sneak previews include:

    The Better Angels – Director A.J. Edwards’ debut feature tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in the wilderness of Indiana. Starring Jason Clarke, Diane Kruger, Brit Marling and Wes Bently

    The Last 5 Years – Based on the 2002 off-Broadway musical, and adapted by writer/director Richard LaGravenese, The Last 5 Years is the story of a couple’s tumultuous relationship, from entanglement to denouement starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan.

    Match – A Seattle couple (Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard) travels to New York to interview an acclaimed former ballet star (Patrick Stewart) for a research project on the dance scene in the 1960’s.

    Escobar: Paradise Lost – The debut feature from writer/director Andrea Di Stephano traces the journey of a young Canadian surfer (Josh Hutcherson) who falls under the spell of a beautiful young woman in Columbia. Unfortunately she also who happens to be the niece of international drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Benicio Del Toro). An edgy crime drama and a soul-searching love story about family ties and loyalty, the film is a look at a dark chapter in the war on drugs and the casualties.

    Documentary Competition:
    #chicagoGirl: The Social Network Takes On A Dictator, Director Joe Piscatella (California Premiere)
    American Native, Director Steven Oritt (World Premiere)
    An Honest Liar, Directors Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom (California Premiere)
    Botso, Director Tom Walters (Bay Area Premiere)
    Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank, Directors Sheila
    Canavan and Michael Chandler (West Coast Premiere)
    Flying The Feathered Edge; The Bob Hoover Project, Director Kim Furst (World Premiere)
    Havana Curveball, Directors Ken Schneider and Marcia Jarmel
    States of Grace, Directors Helen S. Cohen and Mark Lipman
    Underwater Dreams, Director Mary Mazzio
    What the F@#- is Cancer and Why Does Everybody Have It?, Director A.W. Gryphon

    Narrative Competition:
    Amira & Sam, Director Sean Mullin (California Premiere)
    East Side Sushi, Director Anthony Lucero (World Premiere)
    Fall To Rise, Director Jayce Bartok (California Premiere)
    Kinderwald, Director Lise Raven
    Like Sunday, Like Rain, Director Frank Whaley
    Little Accidents, Director Sara Colangelo
    Song One, Director Kate Barker-Froyland (West Coast Premiere)
    Sun Belt Express, Director Evan Buxbaum (California Premiere)
    Teacher of the Year, Director Jason Strouse
    Thank You A Lot, Director Matt Muir (California Premiere)
    The Road Within, Director Gren Wells
    WildLike, Director Frank Hall Green (West Coast Premiere)

    Lounge Features:
    All Stars, Director Lance Kinsey (West Coast Premiere)
    Bar America, Director Matthew Jacobs
    Big In Japan, Director John Jeffcoat (California Premiere)
    Cheatin’, Director Bill Plympton
    Gone Doggy Gone, Directors Brandon Walter and Kasi Brown
    Goodbye To All That, Director Angus MacLachlan (West Coast Premiere)
    Growing Up and Other Lies, Directors Danny Jacobs and Darren Grodsky
    Mudbloods, Director Farzad Nikbakht (Bay Area Premiere)
    Time Lapse, Director Bradley King (Northern California Premiere)
    We’ll Never Have Paris, Directors Jocelyn Towne and Simon Helberg (California Premiere)

    Special Presentations:
    #standwithme, Directors Patrick Moreau and Grant Peelle (World Premiere)
    Big Dream, Director Kelly Cox (Special Sneak Preview)
    Buscando A Gaston (Finding Gaston), Director Julia Patricia Perez (US Premiere)
    Food Chains, Director Sanjay Rawal (West Coast Premiere)
    Hairy Who & the Chicago Imagists, Director Leslie Buchbinder (West Coast Premiere)
    Half The Road: The Passion, Pitfalls & Power of Women’s Professional Cycling, Director Kathryn Bertine
    Harlem Street Singer, Directors Trevor Laurence and Simeon Hutner (West Coast Premiere)
    Harmontown, Director Neil Berkeley
    Last Days In Vietnam, Director Rory Kennedy
    Stretch, Director Joe Carnahan (World Premiere)
    True Son, Director Kevin Gordon
    Impossible Light, Director Jeremy Ambers

    2014 Festival Sidebar – Architecture (sponsored by Blue Homes):
    Henry Hornbostel in Architecture and Legacy, Director Mark Fallone (California Premiere)
    Lutah, Director Kum-Kum Bhavnani (Northern California Premiere)
    Paolo Soleri: Beyond Form, Director Aimee Madsen (Northern California  Premiere)
    Robin Boyd: Australian Beauty, Director Kerry Gardner

    Documentary Short Programs:
    A Stroll the Park: An Asbury Symphony, Albie (World Premiere), Cab City (World Premiere),Crooked Candy (California Premiere), David Hockney in the Now: In Six Minutes, Slomo, The Bulletproof Stockings, The Lion’s Mouth Opens, The Ox, White Earth (Bay Area Premiere), The Invisible Peak

    World Cinema Shorts:
    5 Tropoina Pethaneis (5 Ways 2 Die), Bis Gleich, Chronophobe (California Premiere), Into the Silent Sea, Lan Yen, Rez Carz

    Narrative Shorts:
    His Keeper, Horrible Parents (World Premiere), Last Shot (Nor Cal Premiere), Mediation, My New Apartment, Pin It (Nor Cal Premiere), Snail (Nor Cal Premiere), Team Work (World Premiere), The Gunfighter, An Honorable Man (California Premiere), Care, Gift, Immaculate Reception, Looms, Be My Unfinished (World Premiere), New, One Foot In (World Premiere), Plain Clothes, Salvatore (Nor Cal Premiere), Selling Rosario (World Premiere), The Inheritance, Undercover, Bunion, Humpty (California Premiere), Leonard in Slow Motion, Neighbors, Sure Thing (Nor Cal Premiere), The Motion Picture Co. 1914 (Nor Cal Premiere),The Oven

    Animated Shorts:
    Collectors, Silent, Humanexus, John Doe, Prelude, Sticky, The Box, The Duck, The Missing Scarf, The Umbrella Factory

    Read more

  • Cairo International Film Festival Features Six Foreign Language Films Submitted for the 2015 Academy Awards

    Charlie's CountryCharlie’s Country

    The 36th Cairo International Film Festival taking place November 9 -18, 2014, will feature 6 international films, submitted for the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 2015 Oscars, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The films include Charlie’s Country (Australia), Eyes of a Thief (Palestine), The Light that Shines Only There (Japan), Rocks in My Pocket (Latvia), Timbuktu (Mauritania) and Little England (Greece).

    Charlie’s Country (Australia – 2013) International Competition: Directed by Rold de Heer, the film tells the story of a warrior named Charlie, who lives in a remote indigenous community within the northern region of Australia. As the government increases its stranglehold over the community’s traditional way of life, Charlie becomes lost between two cultures. The film’s leading star, David Gulpilil, earned the Best Actor Award at Un Certain Regard within Cannes Film Festival in 2014.

    Eyes of a Thief (Palestine, 2014)| International Competition: Directed by Najwa Najjar, the film stars Khaled Abol Naga and Souad Massi. Filmed in the heart of the occupied territories of Palestine over the course of 25 days, Eyes of a Thief is based on a true story during the upheavals of the Palestinian Uprising in 2002, offering a glimpse into the Palestinian society and their options of survival and resistance.

    The Light that Shines Only There (Japan, 2014)| Festival of Festivals: Directed by Mipo Oh, the film follows a young man called Tatsuo, who becomes head over heels with his friend’s sister, who is clearly older than him and strives to make a living to save her poor family.  The film was showcased at the closing of Osaka Asian Film Festival and received the Grand Prix at the Montreal World Film Festival.

    Rocks in My Pocket (USA – Latvia, 2014) | Festival of Festivals: Written, produced and directed by Signe Baumane, the animated picture is set in  the late 1920s Latvia, where a pretty young lady, Anna, falls in love with an adventurous entrepreneur. Following their marriage, the husband’s jealousy drives him to hide Anna away in the forest far from other men, where she bears 8 children. The film earned the FIPRESCI award and a Special Jury Mention from Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

    Timbuktu (Mauritania, 2014)|Prospects of Arab Cinema: Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, the film traces the vivid transformation of the city of Timbuktu, which lies on the Mauritanian borders with Mali. A popular city recognized for its illustrious culture and openness to the world; it’s even said to be the place where African and Arab heritage and civilization were born. Timbuktu has turned into a bloodbath by extremist groups, which banned everything – starting from music to football and cigarettes. Sissako garnered two awards from Cannes Film Festival namely; the Francois Chalais Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. He also won the Best Feature Film Award at Jerusalem Film Festival.

    Little England (Greece)|Festival Closer: Directed by Pantelis Voulgaris, the film is set during the interwar period in the Greek island of Andros, where two sisters living in the same house fall in love with the same man. The film has also earned the Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival in June, 2014, in addition to Best Actress and Best Director awards.

    Read more

  • Documentary ‘THE LAST PATROL’ to Debut on HBO November 10

    THE LAST PATROL THE LAST PATROL  

    A few years ago, Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Sebastian Junger (“Restrepo”) planned a walk from Washington, D.C. to New York City along Amtrak railroad lines with his close friend, acclaimed war reporter Tim Hetherington. After Hetherington was killed covering the Libyan civil war in 2011, Junger decided to take the same trip, joined instead by a Spanish photographer who was at Hetherington’s side when he died and two combat vets they’d known in Afghanistan.

    Chronicling their journey, the moving documentary THE LAST PATROL debuts MONDAY, NOV. 10 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT), the day before Veterans Day, exclusively on HBO.

    Other HBO playdates: Nov. 10 (5:15 a.m.), 13 (9:15 a.m., 4:00 p.m.), 16 (1:00 p.m.), 18 (3:00 p.m.) and 22 (8:15 a.m.)

    HBO2 playdates: Nov. 19 (8:15 a.m., 8:30 p.m.), 25 (12:30 a.m.) and 30 (8:15 a.m.), and Dec. 5 (3:00 p.m.) and 8 (10:15 a.m.)

    Junger was accompanied by combat veterans Brendan O’Byrne (previously seen in “Restrepo”) and Dave Roels, as well as acclaimed Spanish photojournalist Guillermo Cervera. Naming their journey The Last Patrol, they walked from D.C. to Philadelphia and then turned west, away from the cluttered Northeast Corridor, and headed for the Allegheny Mountains and Pittsburgh.

    Junger chose railroad lines because, he believes, “they go straight through the middle of everything,” including ghettos, suburbs, farms and woods, and offer the only way to see the country from the inside out. The group decided not to take tents, since brightly-colored nylon attracts too much attention. Instead, they slept under bridges, in abandoned buildings or simply in the woods. This high-speed vagrancy saw them bathing in rivers, getting water out of creeks, cooking over open fires and talking their way past motorcycle gangs, COPS and suspicious homeowners.

    After extensive experience in combat and the loss of good friends, all four men declared they never wanted to go to war again. The goal was to get to know America again after a decade of war, and discuss why combat is so incredibly hard to give up. The Last Patrol recreated the hardship, brotherhood and closeness of combat, without getting fired upon – except once in Pennsylvania.

    In conjunction with the film’s premiere, Manhattan’s Anastasia Photo will present Guillermo Cervera’s first solo exhibition in New York, scheduled to run from Oct. 24 to Jan. 4.  In addition to photos he took during the filming of THE LAST PATROL, the show includes selections from 20 years of documenting armed conflict and social issues around the world.

    Sebastian Junger is a New York-based writer, journalist and filmmaker. THE LAST PATROL concludes his trilogy on war, following 2014’s “Korengal” and “Restrepo,” which he co-directed with Tim Hetherington. “Restrepo” won the 2010 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature the following year. Junger’s accompanying book, “War,” was a New York Times bestseller. His other books include “The Perfect Storm,” which was adapted for the hit feature film of the same name, “Fire” and “A Death in Belmont.”

    Junger’s other credits include the 2013 HBO documentary “Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life And Time Of Tim Hetherington.”

    THE LAST PATROL was directed by Sebastian Junger; producers, Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested; editor, Michael Levine; cinematographer, Rudy Valdez. For HBO: supervising producer, Sara Bernstein; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

    http://youtu.be/Ddambdna4JU

    Read more

  • Cucalorus Film Festival Announces Final 2014 Schedule of 241 Films

    Cucalorus Film Festival

    The Cucalorus Film Festival announced the final film and event line-up for its 20th annual showcase, scheduled for November 12-16, 2014 in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. The five-day event will include 43 narrative features, 21 documentary features, 145 shorts, 34 music videos and 7 works-in-progress along with a deep schedule of multi-disciplinary performances ranging from dance to spoken word and beyond. Among the 241 films being shown at Cucalorus, some notable selections include:

    World Premieres

    Uncensored – a documentary by DC-based director Stephanie Martinez featuring three Colombian journalists recounting the terrifying reality of living through the Escobar cartel and the ongoing struggle to maintain freedom of the press.

    A Better You – From one of the founders of The Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Walsh from HBO’s “Veep”) comes the story of Dr. Ron (Brian Huskey), a revolutionary Los Angeles hypnotherapist, who could solve everyone’s problems but his own.

    Times Like Dying – a thrilling Western set in the Post-Civil War South involving four brothers facing the loss of their family farm; features actorBill Cody. Shot and produced in Wilmington.

    U.S./Eastern/Southeastern Premieres

    Labyrinthus – an edge of your seat thriller about a 14-year-old boy who must complete a sinister computer game that uses real children from his neighborhood as players; part of the newly launched Kids-a-lorus program and recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014.

    Hide and Seek – director Joanna Coates’ provocative drama about a group of young, unmoored adults who retreat to the countryside to test intimate boundaries; winner of the Michael Powell award at EdinburghFilm Festival 2014.

    Felix and Meira – a young married woman from Montreal’s Orthodox Jewish community escapes the bonds of her faith when she meets an artist in her neighborhood who is mourning the loss of his father; won best Canadian feature at Toronto International Film Festival 2014.

    Spring – Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s intriguing indie drama blends romance and horror together in this ultimately uplifting film about a young man who flees California to find himself working on a farm in Italy and falling in love with a woman who carries a dark secret.

    The Tribe – a smashing hit at this year’s Cannes film festival, this outstanding Ukranian feature follows a gang of deaf-mute students who spend their nights running a prostitution ring at the local truck stop.

    The Age of Love – a charming documentary that follows the humorous adventures of thirty seniors in Rochester, NY who sign up for a Speed Dating event exclusively for 70- to 90-year-olds.

    Other Noteworthy Films

    Force Majeure – directed by Ruben Ostlund, this award-winning, brilliantly funny psychodrama tells the story of a model Swedish family on a skiing holiday in the French Alps when an avalanche strikes;Sweden’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film for Oscars 2014; winner of Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2014.

    Wildlike – an unsettling drama about a young girl who tries to make her way back to Seattle after fleeing her uncle’s home in Alaska; recently premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

    The Hip-Hop Fellow – a documentary following Grammy award winning producer 9th Wonder’s tenure at Harvard University where he explores 40 years of hip-hop history and lays out the case for hip-hop as part of the larger evolution of the universal language of music. 

    Read more

  • Virginia Film Festival Unveils Lineup; Opens with World Premiere of Virginia-Themed and Made “Big Stone Gap”

    Big Stone GapBig Stone Gap

    The 2014 Virginia Film Festival lineup will return to Charlottesville from November 6-9, and officially kick off with the World Premiere of Big Stone Gap, filmed on location in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and based on the popular series of books by noted author and Big Stone Gap native Adriana Trigiani. The film stars Ashley Judd as the small town’s self-appointed middle-age spinster who keeps countless secrets before discovering one of her own that will change her life forever. 5 to 7, the tale of a “cinq-a-sept” romance, and love’s power to conquer even the most insurmountable of obstacles, has been selected as the Centerpiece Film, and for the closing film, the festival will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Dead Poets Society.

    Read more

  • “An Honest Liar” “Evolution of a Criminal” “Waiting for August” Win Top Awards at 23rd Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

    hot springs documentary bill clinton

    Filmmakers and special guests attended Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival held from October 10 – 19, 2014, to celebrate the best in documentary film from around the world, including visits by actor George Takei, the musical family of Arkansas icon Glen Campbell, actress/director/producer Joey Lauren Adams, former Olympic Diving Champion Greg Louganis, producer/director Harry Thomason, Arthur Agee of Hoop Dreams, illusionist James Randi and many more. Former President Bill Clinton made a stop at this year’s festival. Mr. Clinton has been a long-time supporter of HSDFF from its beginnings in 1991 as the first all-documentary film festival in North America. 

    Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me opened the festival on October 10, 2014. Directed and produced by James Keach (Walk The Line) and produced by Trevor Albert (Because of Winn Dixie, Groundhog Day), this powerful portrait of the life and career of great American music icon opened to the viewer the world of the singular talent who created hits like Rhinestone Cowboy, Wichita Lineman and Gentle on My Mind.

    Hot Springs audiences joined actor and activist George Takei on his playful and profound trek for life, liberty, and love as Jennifer Kroot’s To Be Takei closed the festival on Saturday, October 18. Special guest Takei took part in an exclusive Q&A at the conclusion of the film and mingled with guests following the screening event.

    Over seven decades, George Takei boldly journeyed from a WWII internment camp, to the helm of the starship Enterprise, to the daily news feeds of hordes of social media fans. Now a new documentary, To be Takei, takes a closer look at the many roles played by this eclectic 77-year-old actor/activist, whose wit, humor and grace have helped him to become an internationally beloved figure and Internet phenomenon with 7-million Facebook fans and counting.

    The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is an Academy Award®-qualifying festival in the category of Documentary Short Subject. Recipients of the festival’s Spa City Best Documentary Short Award will qualify for consideration in the Documentary Short Subject category of the Annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

    Award winners at the 2014 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival:

    Spa City Best U.S. Documentary Feature (Tie):
    An Honest Liar, dir. Tyler Measom, Justin Weinstein
    Evolution of a Criminal, dir. Clark Monroe

    Spa City Best International Documentary Feature:
    Waiting for August, dir. Teodora Ana Mahai

    Spa City Best Documentary Short (Academy Award®-qualifying short film category):
    Buffalo Dreams, dir. Maurice O’Brien

    Spa City Short Film Special Jury Award for Non-Fiction:
    White Earth, dir. J. Christian Jensen

    Spa City Clyde Scott Best Sports Documentary:
    Happy Valley, dir. Amir Bar-Lev

    Spa City Audience Award:
    Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me, dir. James Keach

    Recipient of the HSDFF 2014 Career Achievement Award:
    Gordon Quinn

    Read more

  • Opening Night of 2014 Abu Dhabi Film Festival with Film “From A to B” by Ali Mostafa | PHOTOS

    From A To B Fadi Rifaai, Fahad Albutairi, Ali Mostafa And Shadi AlfonsFrom A To B Fadi Rifaai, Fahad Albutairi, Ali Mostafa And Shadi Alfons 

    The 8th Abu Dhabi Film Festival kicked off on October 23rd with the movie “From A to B” directed by Ali Mostafa.  The film is the story of three childhood friends who grew apart, travel on a road trip from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in memory of their lost one. If what happens on route does not make them crazy, it just might make them closer.

     Abderrahmane Sissako, Director 'Timbuktu'Abderrahmane Sissako, Director ‘Timbuktu’

    Ali Mostafa, Director 'From A To B'Ali Mostafa, Director ‘From A To B’

    Cheryl Boone Issacs, AMPAS PresidentCheryl Boone Issacs, AMPAS President

    Marcell Gero, Director 'Cain's Children'Marcell Gero, Director ‘Cain’s Children’

     

    Read more

  • “Boyhood” Dominate Nominations for 24th Gotham Independent Film Awards

    Boyhood

    Boyhood

    Read more

  • A. Sayeeda Moreno and Micah Shaffer Win $15,000 to Develop Feature Screenplay for “White” Which Explores Racial Issues and Climate Change

    ,

    A. Sayeeda Moreno and Micah Shaffer A. Sayeeda Moreno and Micah Shaffer

    A. Sayeeda Moreno and Micah Shaffer have been selected to receive this year’s $15,000 San Francisco Film Society / Hearst Screenwriting Grant for development of their script White. The SFFS / Hearst Screenwriting Grant is awarded in the fall of each year to writers residing in the United States who have been practicing for at least five years and who have previously written a minimum of one feature screenplay. 

    “It’s an honor to receive the Hearst Screenwriting Grant, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the San Francisco Film Society at this stage of making our movie,” said Moreno. “The Filmmaker360 program has a great track record of supporting innovative films that advance our collective dialogue, so we’re excited to be in such good company!”

    A. Sayeeda Moreno is a proud native New Yorker, dedicated to the art of directing. Her short film White, funded by ITVS for Futurestates.tv, is also on PBS.org. White screened at SXSW, Tribeca, and BAMcinemaFest, with Precious at the Tri-Continental Film Festival and with Spike Lee’s Crooklyn at the Brooklyn Bridge Film Series. Clarke’s award-winning short Sin Salida aired on HBO/HBOLatino for two years. Her short The Grey Woman premiered at Lincoln Center and won the Hallmark short film competition. Clarke received an MFA in Film from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she was a Dean’s Fellow. She is a Film Independent Fellow for her collaborative screenplay I’m Not Down and is currently developing the feature version of White. 

    Micah Shaffer is a writer, filmmaker, and educator whose work focuses on forging unexpected connections between people and finding humanity in unforeseen places. Shaffer’s first feature documentary Death of Two Sons was awarded the HBO “Life Through Your Lens” Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award and was distributed through Netflix. Shaffer then attended the MFA program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he wrote and directed several short narrative films. Shaffer has written three feature screenplays, including On the Wall, which was a finalist for an Alfred P. Sloan screenwriting award and a selection at Independent Film Week’s Emerging Narrative Forum. He recently completed a fellowship at the Cinema Research Institute, where he is studying the future of the cross-border financing and coproduction of independent film. 

    White
    It’s another sweltering 120-degree winter day with five more days to Christmas and hot is the only season left. The best protection from the sun remains the naturally occurring melanin in one’s skin. Like many valuable natural resources, in this future it is coveted, extracted, bought, sold and stolen. Bato, who is black, enters into a race against time to save his daughter as he is forced to bargain with the new currency of this world.

    Recent Filmmaker360 success stories include Short Term 12, Destin Cretton’s sophomore feature which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013; Ryan Coogler’s debut feature Fruitvale Station, which won the Un Certain Regard Avenir Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013; and Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012, earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and became an indie box office smash.

    Read more

  • Watch EXCLUSIVE CLIP from BITTER HONEY, a Film about Polygamy in Bali. Who Knew?

    Bitter Honey

    Bitter Honey is a feature-length documentary presenting an intimate and emotionally charged portrait of three polygamous families in Bali, Indonesia.  Following these families over a seven year period, the film portrays the plight of Balinese co-wives, for whom marriage is frequently characterized by psychological manipulation, infidelity, domestic violence and economic hardship. The film opened in Los Angeles on October 3, 2014, San Francisco on October 17, Boston at the Apple Cinemas Freshpond on October 24, New York and Chicago onOctober 31, 2014 and Washington DC on November 7, 2014. More cities to be announced.

    http://youtu.be/lEMmp3h8c3E

    Read more

  • “KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON” “THE DAVID DANCE” Win Tallgrass Film Festival Audience Top Awards

    tallgrass film festival audience award winners 2014

    KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON, directed by Al Hicks is the winner of the Vimeo Audience Award Documentary Feature, and THE DAVID DANCE, directed by Aprill Winney is the winner of Vimeo Audience Award Narrative Feature at the12th annual Tallgrass Film Festival. Shot over the course of five years by first time filmmaker Al Hicks, KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON depicts a 23-­year­-old, blind piano prodigy, Justin Kauflin, and music legend and teacher Clark Terry, 89.   A winter drama set in Buffalo, NY, THE DAVID DANCE tells the story of David, who is soft spoken, shy and unsure of himself. However, as his on-air alias ‘Danger Dave,’ the host of “Gay Talk,” he’s poised, witty, and every listener’s best friend! Then life one day throws him a lemon. Past and present intertwine to tell the story of a man learning to love and accept himself.

    Vimeo Audience Awards

    Vimeo Audience Award Short ($500): FOOLS DAY, Dir. Cody Blue Snider
    Runner Up: THE PHONE CALL, Dir. Matt Kirby

    Vimeo Audience Award Documentary Feature ($1,000): KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON, Dir. Al Hicks
    Runner Up: THE LIFE AND MIND OF MARK DEFRIEST, Dir. Gabriel London

    Vimeo Audience Award Narrative Feature:($1,000): THE DAVID DANCE, Dir. Aprill Winney
    Runner Up: A IS FOR ALEX, Dir. Alex Orr

    Programming Awards

    Best Emerging Filmmaker Short: LAUNDRY DAY, Dir. Michael Stevantoni

    Best Kansas Short: COUNTER PARTS, Dir. Patrick Rea

    Golden Strands Documentary Awards

    Outstanding Documentary for Cinematic Legacy: A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES, Dir. Wiktor Ericsson

    Outstanding Documentary in Recognition of Social Action: SILENCED, Dir. James Spione

    Outstanding Documentary: THE OVERNIGHTERS, Dir. Jesse Moss

    Golden Strands Narrative Awards

    Outstanding New Talent: John Diaz, FIVE STAR

    Outstanding Ensemble Cast: The Cast of LOVE LAND, Dir. Joshua Tate

    Outstanding Cinematography: Sean Porter, KUMIKO: THE TREASURE HUNTER

    Outstanding Narrative: MAN FROM RENO, Dir. David Boyle

    Read more

  • New UK Trailer, First in 40 Years, Released for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    A new trailer, the first in four decades, for Stanley Kubrick’s spectacular 2001: A Space Odyssey is released online and will be on cinema screens across the UK from Friday. 2001: A Space Odyssey is released by the BFI, in a 2K digital transfer from Warner Bros., to UK cinemas on 28th November as part of the BFI’s UK-wide season Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder.

    http://youtu.be/lfF0vxKZRhc

    With a screenplay co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke and developed concurrently alongside Clarke’s novel of the same name, 2001: A Space Odyssey was recently voted No. 1 in a Time Out, London poll for the best 100 Sci-Fi films. Critic Roger Ebert described Kubrick’s masterpiece as ‘a stand-alone monument, a great visionary leap, unsurpassed in its vision of man and the universe’.

    Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder will be presented over three months (October – December 2014) with a historical and thematic exploration of the best of this perennially popular and visionary genre.The nationwide release of 2001: A Space Odyssey will be a highlight of the program. 

    Read more