• New York’s Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Lineup for Mountainfilm 2014; Opens with “Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo”

    Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay RodeoQueens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo

    For its fifth year, Mountainfilm returns to New York City, November 21 to 23, for a weekend of documentaries about adventure, environment, and culture. But mainly adventure. The Opening Night film will be Matt Livadary’s Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo, which covers a year in the lives of extraordinary cowboys and cowgirls as they follow their dreams, no matter how wild or daunting. And the series will close with Valley Uprising, narrated by Peter Sarsgaard. The highly anticipated doc about the epic history of climbing in Yosemite National Park and the countercultural roots of outdoor sports features digitally animated archival photography, spectacular climbing footage, and interviews with Yosemite greats—from pioneers like Yvon Chouinard, Royal Robbins, Lynn Hill, and John Long to cutting-edge modern athletes like Dean Potter and Alex Honnold.

    This year’s lineup also includes three shorts programs: Crossing Boundaries, a trio of films featuring protagonists who cross different kinds of boundaries, real or imagined; Risk & Reward, a series of shorts, culminating in the featurette Walled In, about people who live on the line between risk and reward; and Water, three films broadly about finding joy in and above water.

    FILMS, DESCRIPTIONS & SCHEDULE
    All screenings will take place at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street

     Emptying the Skies
    Douglas & Roger Kass, USA, 2014, HDCAM, 78m
    Just as The Cove (Mountainfilm 2009) exposed the tragic slaughtering of the dolphins of Taiji, Emptying the Skies serves European migratory songbirds with a similar purpose. Fighting the good fight against the poachers who slaughter the birds to sell to chefs are fearless activists and the novelist Jonathan Franzen, a devoted amateur ornithologist whose story in The New Yorker inspired this documentary.

    Screening with:
    Fear of Flying
    Conor Finnegan, Ireland, 2012, digital projection, 9m
    In this lovely animated short, a bird tries to overcome his greatest fear.
    Saturday, November 22, 6:00pm (Emptying the Skies director Roger Kass in person)

    The Grand Rescue
    William A. Kerig, Meredith Lavitt & Jenny Wilson, USA, 2013, HDCAM, 53m
    Mountain rescue is always a risky proposition, so those who are attracted to the job tend to be strapping, young, and full of verve (and nerve). This was definitely the case in 1967, when a group of seven national park rangers in the Grand Tetons risked their lives to save an injured climber. On August 22, Gaylord Campbell was climbing the north face of the Grand Teton with a friend when a boulder broke free and showered them with rocks, leaving Campbell with compound fractures. During the rescue attempt, which took three days, Campbell was critical of the methods and decisions made by his saviors every turn of the way. The Grand Rescue tells this legendary story for the first time on film.

    Screening with:
    Sufferfest 2: Desert Alpine
    Cedar Wright, USA, 2014, digital projection, 27m
    When Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright undertook the adventure they called “Sufferfest” in the summer of 2013, they meant for the name to be tongue-in-cheek. The goal of the trip was to string together climbing mountain peaks in California by road biking, and indeed proved to be full of suffering. But also fun. But mostly suffering. They swore they would never attempt anything like it again. Yet, in Sufferfest 2: Desert Alpine, they once again endeavor to bike and climb, this time in the desert Southwest. Climbing 45 desert towers, using hybrid road/mountain bikes as their only transportation, Honnold and Wright set out for another adventure worthy of the name.
    Saturday, November 22, 8:30pm (The Grand Rescue director Meredith Lavitt in person)

    Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo
    Matt Livadary, USA, 2014, DCP, 93m
    During his first—and last—college rodeo practice, Chris Sherman’s collegiate roping team discovered his sexual orientation. After that, he couldn’t find a roping partner, lost his scholarship, and dropped out of school. Sherman’s story is just one of many. Some gay cowboys have endured intolerance that has led to suicide attempts. At the International Gay Rodeo Association, however, the old West meets the new, providing everyone an opportunity to compete in the challenging sport and do so in a supportive, courageous community. Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo follows a year in the lives of extraordinary cowboys and cowgirls as they follow their dreams, no matter how wild or daunting.
    Friday, November 21, 6:00pm (Director Matt Livadary and producer Erin Krozek in person)

    Valley Uprising
    Peter Mortimer & Nick Rosen, USA, 2014, digital projection, 95m
    Valley Uprising is the much-anticipated documentary from Sender Films about the epic history of climbing in Yosemite National Park and the countercultural roots of outdoor sports. Narrated by Peter Sarsgaard, this film features digitally animated archival photography, spectacular climbing footage, and interviews with Yosemite greats—from pioneers like Yvon Chouinard, Royal Robbins, Lynn Hill, and John Long to cutting-edge modern athletes like Dean Potter and Alex Honnold.Valley Uprising tells the story of the bold men and women who broke with convention and redefined the limits of human possibility in America’s legendary national park.
    Sunday, November 23, 8:00pm 

    Crossing Boundaries Shorts
    Whether a boundary is real or imagined, crossing over is usually left to mavericks, visionaries, and the exceptionally brave. The lead characters in these three documentaries all cross different kinds of boundaries. In 14.c, a young black athlete excels in a sport that normally has little diversity: climbing. Duke from Duke and the Buffalo is a rancher who has made an alliance with a large conservation group. Frank Moore envisioned returning to fly-fish in France 60 years after landing on the beaches of Normandy, and his dream became a reality in Mending the Line.
    Sunday, November 23, 3:30pm (14.c subjects Kai & Connie Lightner + Duke and the Buffalo director Alfredo Alcantara in person)

    14.c
    George Knowles, USA, 2014, digital projection, 9m
    Climbers all have a story about how they got started, and 14-year-old Kai Lightner’s introduction is particularly striking—and not only because he’s a brilliant climber. Much like Tiger Woods in golf or the Williams sisters in tennis, he could change the demographics of climbing. This film isn’t about race so much as it’s about family. His single mother has become his regular belay partner, one who also makes sure he maintains straight A’s in school. It’s clear that she wants what’s best for her son, and if that means spending hours with her hands on a belay device and her neck craned upward, so be it.

    Duke and the Buffalo
    Alfredo Alcantara & Josh Chertoff, USA, 2013, digital projection, 16m
    Duke is a cowboy. The buffalo are part of the largest conservation herd of bison in the United States. Every year, Duke organizes a roundup of theses buffalo to inspect the health of the herd and yield income to sustain the Nature Conservancy–owned ranch where the buffalo roam. It turns out that bison aren’t as easily herded as cattle, and each year the roundup tests a lot of cowboy mettle.

    Mending the Line
    Steve Engman & John Waller, USA, 2014, digital projection, 48m
    In 1944, 20-year-old Frank Moore landed on the beaches of Normandy. Crossing through the occupied French countryside, the young soldier daydreamed about coming back in peacetime to fish the bucolic streams. After the war, he returned to the States, married, started a family, and built a life centered around fly-fishing—but he never made it back to those streams in France. Until 2014. Now 90 but with the energy of a far younger man, Moore completes his dream with his wife and son by his side. This extraordinary story of a dream deferred, and ultimately fulfilled, proves that the scars of the past can be healed. Mending the Line was a 2013 Mountainfilm Commitment Grant recipient.

    Risk & Reward Shorts
    All great adventures potentially have an equally great price. For those who make adventure sports a career, the rewards can be great as well. The protagonists in this group of short films, culminating in the featurette Walled In, live on the line between risk and reward.
    Friday, November 21, 8:30pm (Off-Width Outlaw subject Pamela Shanti Pack + Likebomb Skiing director Erik Henriksson in person)

    El Sendero Luminoso
    Renan Ozturk, USA, 2014, digital projection, 7m
    World-renowned free solo climber Alex Honnold went to Mexico in January with the talented Camp4 film crew in hopes of capturing what many regard as the most difficult ropeless climb ever attempted.

    Wedge
    Brecht Vanhof, USA, 2013, digital projection, 4m
    There’s a highly anticipated beast of a winter wave in Newport Beach, California, that rolls in heavy and attracts hordes of brave souls who attempt to drop into its steep face.

    64 mph
    Brett Schreckengost, USA, 2014, digital projection, 3m
    The San Joaquin Couloir is one of Telluride’s most iconic backcountry lines. Greg Hope is one of the town’s best-known rippers. In 64 mph, the two meet for one slough-dodging, high-velocity descent.

    Off-Width Outlaw
    Celin Cerbo, USA, 2013, digital projection, 6m
    In a sport that is not for the weak or easily discouraged, Pamela Shanti Pack excels. One of the most accomplished off-width climbers in the world, Pack seeks out North America’s most challenging inverted and vertical cracks with what she describes as “masochistic fervor.” Off-Width Outlaw follows her quest to establish new routes in the desert climbing mecca of Indian Creek in southeastern Utah.

    The Balloon Highline
    Sébastien Montaz-Rosset, France, 2014, digital projection, 5m
    Slacklining no longer seems to need the expanse of trees, crevasses, or other earthbound objects––only some kind helium and a cool buzz.

    SuperMom
    Mike Douglas, Canada, 2013, digital projection, 10m
    With a graceful style and aggressive lines, Wendy Fisher ruled the women’s big mountain freeskiing scene from 1996 to 2004. She skied Alaskan spines, hucked cliffs, starred in movie segments, won many championships, kept up with male cohorts, and inspired a new generation of female badasses. Then she had kids and traded in the life of a professional skier for being a mom to two red-headed boys. This film checks in with Fisher, who gets the opportunity to see if she’s still got it on the steeps of B.C. and Chile.

    Walled In
    Ben Stookesberry, USA, 2013, digital projection, 35m
    Ostensibly, Walled In is the story of a first descent of the rowdy Marble Fork of the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park by kayakers Ben Stookesbury and Chris Korbulic, but this film poses bigger questions than whether the pair can send a river that flows from above 12,000 feet in elevation to near sea level in less than 30 miles. It asks why they choose to engage in a sport that carries the threat of death, which they witnessed when their partner Hendri Coetzee was eaten by a crocodile in the Congo in 2010 (Kadoma, Mountainfilm 2011).

    Likebomb Skiing
    Erik Henriksson, Sweden, 2014, digital projection, 5m
    Lacking snow, but clearly not courage or poise, Johan Jonsson skis lines that any sane person would avoid.

    Water Shorts
    They say whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting, but we would respectfully add that water is also for playing. Who Owns Water highlights the conflicts that can arise when water becomes scarce, but all three films in this program are broadly about finding joy in and above water.
    Sunday, November 23, 5:45pm (Who Owns the Water directors David Hanson, Michael Hanson & Andrew Kornylak in person)

    Begin Again
    John John Florence & Blake Vincent Kueny, USA, 2013, digital projection, 5m
    Surfer John John Florence continues to reinvent surfing with his extremely powerful, almost inhuman ability to push the boundaries on a wave.

    The Fortune Wild
    Ben Gulliver, Canada, 2014, digital projection, 22m
    If Wes Anderson were inspired to make a surf film, it might look like The Fortune Wild. Director Ben Gulliver creates a witty and lighthearted film about a beautiful wild area—Haida Gwaii, a chain of wave-swept, lushly forested islands off the mainland of British Columbia. Surfing, camping, and foraging for food on the unspoiled beaches, three surfers step away from the modern world and into a quieter (and quirkier) existence that is both more attuned and self-sufficient.

    Who Owns Water
    David Hanson, Michael Hanson & Andrew Kornylak, USA, 2014, digital projection, 48m
    Water wars in the American Southwest desert have always been heated, where water is scarce and droughts are frequent, but the same quarrels are unthinkable in lusher areas of the country. However, that is changing as Georgia, Alabama, and Florida are locked in a battle over water sourced from their once-bountiful rivers. Two young brothers decide to paddle the three rivers in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint River Basin to tell the story of a system that still flows despite being threatened from all sides. Who Owns Water received a Mountainfilm Commitment Grant in 2013.

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  • Richard Gere at Rome Film Festival for European Premiere of “Time Out Of Mind”

    richard gere rome film festival 2014

    Richard Gere is at the 2014 Rome Film Festival where he presented the European premiere of Time Out Of Mind directed by Oren Moverman, in which he plays George, a homeless man who lives on the streets of New York.  Described as “A demanding, intense film, greeted with great interest by the audience of the Rome Film Festival as one of the most interesting directorial experiments of the festival; and yet another great performance by the actor.”

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  • Official Poster for Thriller LATE PHASES Starring Nick Damici

    Late Phases Movie Poster

    The official poster has been released for the thriller LATE PHASES, directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano and starring Nick Damici, Ethan Embry, Lance Guest, Erin Cummings, Rutanya Alda, Tina Louise, Caitlin O’Heaney, Karen Lynn Gorney, Dana Ashbrook, and Tom Noonan.  Late Phases will be released theatrically at the IFC Center in New York starting November 21st with select theaters to follow.

    Crescent Bay is not the ideal place to spend one’s golden years, especially since the once-idyllic retirement community has been beset by a series of deadly animal attacks from the ominous forest surrounding it. When grizzled war veteran Ambrose McKinley (Nick Damici) is forced into moving there by his yuppie son Will (Ethan Embry), the residents immediately take offense to Ambrose’s abrasive personality.  But that take-no-prisoners attitude may be just what Ambrose needs to survive as it becomes clear that the attacks are being caused by creatures that are neither animal nor man, and that the tight-knit community of Crescent Bay is hiding something truly sinister in its midst…

    Following the release of his Here Comes The Devil, as well as his scene-stealing segment “B is For Bigfoot” in the horror anthology The ABCs of Death, Adriån Garcîa Bogliano cements his status as one of the top horror filmmakers coming out of Spain with LATE PHASES.  In a bookend of sorts to his performance in the cult hit Stake Land, Nick Damici commands the screen here, coming on the heels of last year’s Sundance vigilante thriller Cold In July and the critically acclaimed cannibal drama, We Are What We Are.

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  • Big Apple Film Festival Unveils 2014 Lineup; Opens with MANHATTAN ROMANCE, Katherine Waterson and Jerry Stiller To Receive Awards

    MANHATTAN ROMANCEMANHATTAN ROMANCE

    The 11th annual Big Apple Film Festival (BAFF) running November 5 to 9 at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City, announced its lineup of 129 feature-length and short films.  The Big Apple Film Festival will commence on November 5th with the opening night film MANHATTAN ROMANCE, written and directed by Tom O’Brien (Fairhaven), who also stars in the film opposite Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Gaby Hoffmann (Transparent), and Caitlin Fitzgerald (Masters of Sex).   Following the screening Katherine Waterston, who recently appeared as the lead actress in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, will accept the festival’s prestigious “Emerging Talent” award.  Previous winners include Mike Vogel, Jesse Eisenberg, Louisa Krause and Aaron Stanford.

    The festival will present its “Golden Apple Award” to actor/comedian Jerry Stiller.  Best known for his role as Frank Constanza on Seinfeld, Jerry Stiller stars in SIMPLER TIMES, premiering at BAFF on November 8th.  Previous “Golden Apple Award” winners include Cuba Gooding Jr, Morgan Spurlock, Anthony Bregman and Alan Cumming.  Other highlights of this year’s festival will include Q & A’s with filmmakers and actors, as well as networking events, filmmaker receptions and a closing night award ceremony.

    Additional highlights of the 2014 Big Apple Film Festival include:

    BREAD AND BUTTER  directed by Liz Manishil and starring Lauren Lapkus (Jurassic World, Are You Here, Orange is the New Black, Blended), Eric Lange, Harry Groener and Bobby Moynihan(Saturday Night Live, Monsters University).

    FLOATING SUNFLOWERS directed by Francisco Solorzano and starring Anna Chlumsky (Veep), and Lynn Cohen (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire).

    SIMPLER TIMES directed by Steve Monarque and starring Jerry Stiller (King of Queens), Amy Stiller (Tropic Thunder) and Anne Meara (Rhoda).

    AUSTIN TO BOSTON directed by Marcus Haney and produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons.

    THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE directed by and starring Daniel Baldwin (Vampires), along with Lou Diamond Phillips (Courage Under Fire).

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  • U.S. Premiere of Desert Dancer to Open Santa Barbara International Film Festival + Festival to Honor the Cousteau Family and Michael Keaton

    Desert DancerDesert Dancer The 30th Anniversary edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival will kick off Opening Night with the U.S. Premiere of Desert Dancer at the historic Arlington Theatre on Tuesday, January 27, 2015. Directed by Richard Raymond and starring Freida Pinto, Reece Ritchie, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Cullen and Marmama Corlett, Desert Dancer tells the true story of a self-taught dancer pursuing a dream in a suppressed society. Desert Dancer is a powerful and unbelievable true story set in Iran that follows the brave ambition of Afshin Ghaffarian. During the volatile climate of the 2009 presidential election, where many cultural freedoms were threatened, Afshin and some friends (including Elaheh played by Freida Pinto) risk their lives and form an underground dance company. Through banned online videos, they learn from timeless legends who cross all cultural divides, such as Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev. Afshin and Elaheh also learn much from each other, most importantly how to embrace their passion for dance and for one another. Richard Raymond directs the film, which was written by Jon Croker, based on the life story of Afshin Ghaffarian. The film stars Freida Pinto, Reece Ritchie, Tom Cullen, Nazanin Boniadi and Makram J. Khoury. For the first time in 5 years, the SBIFF will present the Attenborough Award For Excellence in Nature Filmmaking to the Cousteau Family – Jean-Michel and his son and daughter Fabien and Celine — for their decades-long commitment to educating the public and discovering the mysteries of the ocean. The award will be presented on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at the Arlington Theatre. Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Michael Keaton with the Modern Master Award, The highest honor presented by the festival.  Michael Keaton will be honored for his distinguished career, including his most compelling performance to date in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, a black comedy that tells the story of an actor (Keaton) — famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself.

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  • Fish (Balık) to Open Inaugural Golden Island International Film Festival in Cpyrus

    Fish Balık

    The Opening Night film for the inaugural Golden Island International Film Festival (GIIFF) will be Fish (Balık), a touching tale about a family that turns to tradition to heal where modern medicine has failed, but find their lives radically altered as they go against nature. The film, by award-winning Turkish Cypriot director Derviş Zaim, will receive its Cyprus premiere on Thursday 6 November at the Girne American University. The director and stars from the film, Bülent İnal and Sanem Çelik, are expected to attend the Kyrenia opening gala event, along with special guest actors Demet Akbağ and Erdal,Özyağcılar who will be the first recipients of GIIFF’s Honorary Cinema Award along with director Derviş Zaim.

    In Fish, Zaim again puts the spotlight on the relationship between humans and nature. A fisherman, his wife and their young daughter who is unable to speak live in a tranquil village on the shores of a lake. Their story starts with the mother relying on local superstition to seek a rare fish she believes can cure her daughter. She finds the fish, but little goes to plan after, and their lives take a series of severe and unexpected turns when the father makes decisions that go against the grain of nature.

    The 1st Golden Island International Film Festival, runs from Thursday 6- Thursday 13 November 2014 in a variety of venues in Cyprus. 

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  • “Siddharth” “Happiness” Win Top Awards at Heartland Film Festival

    SiddharthSiddharth

    “Siddharth,” directed by Richie Mehta won the $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature, and “Happiness” won the $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Feature at the 23rd annual Heartland Film Festival (Oct. 16-25, 2014).  In the Shorts category, “Record”wins $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short and “Showfolk” wins $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Short.  

    The Heartland Film Festival has earned the special designation of being a qualifying festival for the Annual Academy Awards® within the Short Films category. This means that the winner of the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short Film (“Record,” directed by David Lyons) will qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the Annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

    Winners and nominees include:

    $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature
    WINNER: “Siddharth” directed by Richie Mehta (India, Canada)

    Mehendra is a chain-wallah, eking out a living fixing zippers on the bustling streets of New Delhi. To ease his financial woes, he sends 12-year-old Siddharth to work in a distant factory. When the boy doesn’t come home for the Diwali holiday, Mehendra and his wife Suman slowly begin to suspect that he was kidnapped by child traffickers. With few resources and no connections, Mehendra desperately travels to Punjab and Mumbai with the hope that whoever took Siddharth might return him unharmed.

     A powerful family drama both heart-rending and suspenseful, the film is the spellbinding and gorgeously wrought tale of one father’s journey across India in search of his son.

    HappinessHappiness

    $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Feature
    WINNER: “Happiness” directed by Thomas Balmès

    In 1999 King Jigme Singye Wangchuck made his landmark proclamation approving the use of television and the internet in the nation of Bhutan promising to usher in a new modern era. But in his speech, he cautioned the youth of the country: “The TV and the internet in its news and programs, has contents that are both harmful and useful to you and your country. For this reason, we must be careful and selective in using this new resource.” Over a decade later, the remote mountainside village of Laya is still without electricity. Peyangki, a dreamy and solitary nine-year-old monk living in a remote mountainside village yearns for the world to come to him in the form of a flickering television screen. Between studying and prayer, he watches as electrical cables and roads encroach upon his world. Finally, when he is taken to the capital city by his uncle, he discovers a world of cars, toilets and mannequins as they search for the perfect television to bring back to the village.

    $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short
    WINNER: “Record” directed by David Lyons (Australia)

    $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Short
    WINNER: “Showfolk” directed by Ned McNeilage (USA)

    $2,000 prizes for the Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Awards
    “Grand Canal,” directed by Johnny Ma (China)
    “Our Curse,” directed by Tomasz Śliwiński (Poland)

    $2,500 Grand Prize Winner of the High School Film Competition
    “Chris,” directed by Zachary Oschin (USA)

     

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  • Emily Blunt to join jury for IWC Filmmaker Award at 2014 Dubai International Film Festival

    emily blunt

    Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt will be joining the jury for the third annual IWC Filmmaker Award at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).  The IWC Filmmaker Award, launched in 2012 as a collaboration between IWC Schaffhausen and DIFF, offers a cash prize of USD 100,000 to help a talented filmmaker from the Middle East transfer his or her vision from script to screen.  The award will be presented to the winning filmmaker at a star-studded gala on 11 December 2014 

    This year’s winning project will be selected from three shortlisted scripts, which will be assessed by a jury of international film industry experts including Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt. “I’m truly excited about visiting Dubai, and it’s a great honour for me to be a part of the IWC Filmmaker Award jury and support a valuable initiative that promotes the art of film in the Gulf. It will be fascinating to see the scripts and discover forthcoming films that will undoubtedly touch the hearts and minds of audiences in the region and internationally,” commented the British actress. 

    Emily Blunt, who burst into the limelight in 2006 with her brilliant performance in “The Devil Wears Prada”, has played leading roles in “The Young Victoria”, the 2009 period drama about the early life and reign of the iconic British queen, the 2011 thriller “The Adjustment Bureau” and “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”, a romantic British comedy-drama. Emily Blunt most recently starred alongside Tom Cruise in the 2014 science-fiction blockbuster “Edge of Tomorrow”, while her upcoming musical fantasy “Into the Woods” is scheduled for release in December. 

    During the 10th edition of DIFF, the second IWC Filmmaker Award was presented to Emirati director Waleed Al Shehhi for his work “Dolphins”, written by UAE author and poet Ahmed Salmeen. The ninth edition of DIFF saw Iraqi-Emirati director Maysoon Pachachi become the first filmmaker to receive the IWC Filmmaker Award for “Nothing Doing in Baghdad”. 

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  • THE IMITATION GAME, MR. TURNER and WINTER SLEEP Among First Titles Announced for 2014 Lone Star Film Festival

    THE IMITATION GAMETHE IMITATION GAME

    The Lone Star Film Festival (LSFF) in Sundance Square announced eight titles from its 2014 lineup, including THE IMITATION GAME, MR. TURNER and WINTER SLEEP. The festival will take place Nov. 6-9 at the AMC Palace Theater with additional screenings at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. THE IMITATION GAME, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and recently picked up the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), will screen at the 2014 LSFF. 

    Other titles announced include Mike Leigh’s MR. TURNER, a biopic of master painter J.M.W. Turner. For his portrayal of Turner in the film, Timothy Spall won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

    WINTER SLEEP by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, winner of the Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or as well as the FIPRESCI critic’s award, will also screen at the LSFF. Ceylan’s previous film, ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and also screened at the LSFF. Previous to that, Ceylan’s THREE MONKEYS, CLIMATES and DISTANT received their first Fort Worth screenings during Christopher Kelly’s Modern Cinema.

    Additional screenings at the 2014 LSFF include the SXSW Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner THE GREAT INVISIBLE about the Deepwater Horizon spill, the premiere of the locally shot documentary THE ROUGHNECKS by Fort Worth native producer Marty Bowen, and Texas native Ryan Piers William’s sophomore feature X/Y, starring America Ferrera and LSFF alumnusMelonie Diaz.

    The LSFS will also honor Julian Schnabel with its Achievement in Film Directing Award, Ray Benson with the Stephen Bruton Award and Bob ‘Daddy-O’ Wade with the Visionary Award at the 5th Annual Lone Star Film Festival Ball on Friday, November 7.

    List of films and synopses:

    THE IMITATION GAME
    Directed by Morten Tyldum
    Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the genius British mathematician, logician, cryptologist and computer scientist who led the charge to crack the German Enigma Code that helped the Allies win WWII. Turing went on to assist with the development of computers at the University of Manchester after the war, but was persecuted by the UK government in 1952 for homosexual acts, which the country deemed illegal. THE IMITATION GAME recently won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. The award has become to be known as an indicator of the Academy Award for Best Picture. Also stars, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Mark Strong.

    MR. TURNER
    Directed by Mike Leigh
    MR. TURNER explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner. Profoundly affected by the death of his father and loved housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays in the country with aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of the Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty. Directed by Mike Leigh whose film ANOTHER YEAR screened at the LSFF in 2010, MR. TURNER premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where lead actor Timothy Spall won Best Actor honors.

    WINTER SLEEP
    Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
    Aydin, a former actor, runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal with whom he has a stormy relationship and his sister Necla who is suffering from her recent divorce. In winter as the snow begins to fall, the hotel turns into a shelter but also an inescapable place that fuels their animosities. (Cannes Film Festival). Ceylan’s seventh feature won the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where it premiered earlier this year.

    X/Y
    Directed by Ryan Piers Williams
    In this sophomore feature, Ryan Piers Williams stars alongside America Ferrera, Melonie Diaz, Common and Jon Paul Phillips in the character-driven drama centered around four friends living in New York and their interactions with one another as they search for a true sense of balance.  With raw energy, Williams puts a microscope on the wanton desire we all have to connect with someone, the desperate lengths we’ll go to keep that connection, and what happens to us when that connection no longer holds meaning. (Tribeca Film Festival)

    THE GREAT INVISIBLE
    Directed by Margaret Brown
    On April 20, 2010, communities throughout the Gulf Coast were devastated by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Peabody Award winning documentarian Margaret Brown (BE HERE TO LOVE ME, ORDER OF MYTHS) traveled to small towns and major cities across Alabama, Louisiana and Texas to explore the fallout of the environmental disaster. Brown treats her subjects with respect and sensitivity as they provide first-hand accounts of the tragedy from the moment of the explosion to its still unfolding repercussions on the region and its residents.

    THE ROUGHNECKS
    Directed by Richard Cameron White (produced by Marty Bowen)
    The story of the Fort Worth Ridglea Roughnecks, one of the oldest and most intense Pee-Wee football teams in Texas, as they set out to win the Youth football ‘Super Bowl’, their last chance at a title they narrowly lost last year. Producer Marty Bowen (THE TWILIGHT SAGA, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS) presents a film about the team for which he used to play as a young boy growing up in Fort Worth. White directs a character-based documentary with all of the drama of an epic sports story.

    Julian Schnabel presents BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
    Directed by Julian Schnabel (2000)
    Schnabel’s second feature follows the life of poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas, who was harassed by the authorities in his native Cuba for his controversial work and his refusal to hide his homosexuality. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2000 Venice Film Festival BEFORE NIGHT FALLS features a Javier Bardem unknown to American audiences at the time who would go on to receive an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Arenas. For many who missed Schnabel’s first feature about Jean-Michel Basquiat, it would be their first exposure to a brave new voice in filmmaking that brought a much-needed freshness to the biopic genre.

    Candy Clark presents AMERICAN GRAFFITI
    Directed by George Lucas (1973, produced by Francis Ford Coppola)
    Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, AMERICAN GRAFFITI follows four friends over the course of one summer night as they navigate relationships, their futures, and the post-high school decisions that will impact both. Innovative in structure and at times both hilarious and poignant, this coming of age tale remains a classic today and resonated with critics and audiences alike when it was released in 1973. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and 4 Golden Globes, winning Best Picture. Costing a mere $1.27 million to make and market, the film yielded gross worldwide box office revenues of more than $55 million. Candy Clark stars among a cast that includes Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard. For her role as Debbie, Clark was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting role at the 1974 Academy Awards. This screening marks the 30th anniversary of her nomination.

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  • The Revenge of the Green Dragons, produced by Martin Scorsese, to Open Boston Asian American Film Festival

    The Revenge of the Green DragonsThe Revenge of the Green Dragons

    The Revenge of the Green Dragons, produced by Martin Scorsese, makes its Boston debut on October 23rd as the opening night film of Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF). The film will be released in theaters the following day. It is co-directed by Andrew Lau, whose Internal Affairs was remade into the Oscar-winning movie The Departed, and Andrew Loo. It explores the dark world of Asian American gang life in 1980s and ‘90s New York City. A few of the cast members of “Dragons” will be present at its screening at the Brattle Theatre, including Shuya Chang (Casse-tête Chinois, Karma: A Very Twisted Love Story), Shing Ka (The Manchurian Candidate, God’s Land, Grand Gesture), Celia Au(Detachment, The Unity of All Things, Sonic), Carl Li (Math Warriors, Loveless, Pistol Whipped), and Richard Lam.

    George Takei, of Star Trek fame, and his partner Brad Takei will be present at the To be Takei special presentation at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square on November 3rd. The film follows Takei’s journey over seven decades, from a WWII internment camp to the helm of the starship Enterprise to the helm of daily newsfeeds of five milling Facebook fans.

    The BAAFF features 26 films. The full lineup is: Fred Ho’s Last Year, Revenge of the Green Dragons, Shorts Program I (Mandevilla, Why We Rise, Breaking the Rules, Left on Shin Wong, H7N3, Hypebeast), Chu & Blossom, Pretty Rosebud, Can, Shorts Program II (The Corner Table,Cleaner, A Stitch in Time, Samnang, Sukiyaki with Love), 9-Man, 100 Days, Kumu Hina, Shorts Program III (My Name is Asiroh, More than a Face in the Crowd, Descendants of the Past,Ancestors of the Future, M A R K E D), A Leading Man, and To be Takei.

    Also, on October 25th, there will be a free panel discussion with special guests, entitled Asian Americans in Media, at the Tufts Medical Center Wolff Auditorium in Chinatown.

    The screenings run from October 23rd to 26th with special presentations on October 13th and November 3rd. Films will be presented at The Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre, and the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, however most screenings will take place at Emerson College’s Paramount Center.

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  • Watch TRAILER for “Mardan” Iran’s Official Entry for Foreign Film Oscar

    MardanMardan

    Check out the trailer for Batin Ghobadi’s debut feature Mardan, also Iran’s official entry for Oscar for foreign film for the upcoming Academy Awards. The film, which premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows a police officer gripped by a traumatic childhood memory as he searches for a missing man in the rugged mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

    Mardan stars Hossein Hassan, Helan Abdullah, Ismail Zagros and Feyyaz Duman. The film is produced by Bahman Ghobadi (A Time for Drunken Horses, 2000), the older brother of Batin.

    A police officer finds himself haunted by a traumatic childhood memory as he searches for a missing man in the rugged mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, in this striking feature debut by Batin Ghobadi.

    Kurdistan is much in the news these days, and over the years the Festival has been proud to showcase the work of two of its most distinctive filmmakers, Bahman Ghobadi and Hiner Saleem. Now, Ghobadi’s brother, Batin, has emerged with a highly enigmatic and startling first feature film.

    Placing his narrative in the stunning, rugged and wild mountainous landscapes of Iraqi Kurdistan, the younger Ghobadi tells the story of a police officer, Mardan, who is haunted by a disturbing childhood memory.

    Mardan is a serious, brooding officer who is called into action to investigate the disappearance of a young man. The man’s wife is extremely worried that foul play may be involved, as he was carrying a lot of cash, so Mardan sets out with the woman and her young boy to try to solve the mystery.

    But, like Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Mardan is far more than an ordinary police procedural; it features a trip through a man’s mind as well as a journey through the haunting terrain. Both movies, too, are suffused with the sense of an obscure past that gradually, over the course of the film, reveals its true face.

    Mardan is not only one of the most remarkably shot and composed films of the year, but also one of the most shadowy and sublime. Stalking the Kurdish countryside, trying to solve the case of the missing man, Mardan finds himself revisiting his own personal history.

    Ghobadi understands that, while present-day Kurdistan may be the most stable it has been in decades, the past — a violent one, at that — still lingers around the edges of everything. Toronto International Film Festival

    http://youtu.be/UuEUamfpYb8

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  • Abu Dhabi Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Opening + Closing Films, Arab Cinema, Jury, Career Achievement Awards

    FROM A TO BFROM A TO B

    Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) will open, for the first time, with a locally produced film – FROM A TO B by Emirati director Ali Mostafa and Image Nation Abu Dhabi. The closing film of the festival has been confirmed as Disney’s animation film BIG HERO 6, directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. The Festival will open on October 23 and will last until November 1, 2014.

    Famed for the award winning 2009 film CITY OF LIFE, Mostafa’s second full length feature film follows three Western-educated Arab youths who travel 1,500 miles from Abu Dhabi to Beirut in memory of their deceased best friend, who passed away five years earlier.

    From Walt Disney Animation Studios and the team behind Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, comes Big Hero 6, an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax a plus-sized inflatable robot, and robotic prodigy Hiro Hamada who join forces with a team of crime fighters to save San Fransokyo.  

    The festival also announced the full line up for the 2014 edition, which can be found on the Festival’s website adff.ae.

    Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) 2014, will feature seven world premieres of Arab films as part of its showcase of best-in-class Arab and international cinema.  Now in its eighth year, the festival will also host a special programme called “The Arab Diaspora” and the Emirates Film Competition (EFC), which will exclusively showcase productions by Khaleeji filmmakers.

    EL OTTEL OTT

    The Narrative Competition will present five Arabic films. EL OTT, a SANAD supported co-production between Egypt and the UAE, will make its world premiere during the festival. Directed by Ibrahim Elbatout, it is centered around an Egyptian gangster and set in the organ traffic milieu.

    FEVERSFEVERS

    Other SANAD supported films featured in the Narrative Competition are FEVERS by Hicham Ayouch (Morocco, France, UAE, Qatar) and THE VALLEY, by Lebanese director Ghassan Salhab. THE VALLEY is a co-production between Lebanon, France, Germany, Qatar and the UAE and recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    Additionally in this category, Mauritanian Director, Abderrahmane Sissako, will present his latest film TIMBUKTU, which was co-produced with France and Qatar. The fifth Arab film to be featured in the competition is the Iraqi-German co-production MEMORIES ON STONE by Shawkat Amin-Korki.

    The New Horizons Competition, with a total of four Arabic productions, will feature the world premiere of FROM A TO B by Emirati Director Ali Mostafa’s, which will open this year’s Abu Dhabi Film Festival. This section will also host the world premiere of Iraqi production SHEPHERD’S SILENCE by Raad Mushatat.

    SANAD supported title THEEB by Jordanian Director Naji Abu Nowar is also among the selected films. It recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Orizzonti Award for Best Director. Also being screened in this section is THE MAN FROM ORAN by French-Algerian director Lyès Salem as international premiere.

    PIRATES OF SALÈPIRATES OF SALÈ

    In the Documentary Competition, seven out of 17 titles are Arab produced films. This section will feature four world premieres: UM GHAYEB by Nadine Slaib (Egypt, UAE), QUEENS OF SYRIA by Yasmin Fedda (Lebanon, Jordan, UK, UAE), PIRATES OF SALÈ by Merieme Addou and Rosa Rogers (Morocco, United Kingdom, France, UAE), and Emirati production SOUNDS OF THE SEA by Nujoom Al Ghanem. All four films have received support by SANAD.

    RETURN TO HOMSRETURN TO HOMS

    Also participating in the Documentary Competition is the winner of this year’s Sundance Festival, the Syrian-German co-production RETURN TO HOMS by director Talal Derki. The line-up includes IRAQI ODYSSEY, the latest film by Swiss-Iraqi director Samir, as well as THE WANTED 18 by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, which has been showcased at the Toronto International Film Festival 2014 and now celebrates its international premiere in Abu Dhabi.

    Notably, this year’s ADFF will host an entire programme dedicated to Arab directors who migrated from their homelands and speak of their heritage and culture through the expressive art of film. Within this framework called THE ARAB DIASPORA, programmed by Intishal Al Timimi, the Festival unites nine long feature films and three short films, among them Swedish-Lebanese director Josef Fares’ JALLA! JALLA! (2000), INCH’ALLAH DIMANCHE by Algerian-French director Yamina Benguigui (2001), THE POLISH BRIDE by Algerian-Dutch director Karim Traidia (1998) and SALUT COUSIN! by Algerian-French director Merzak Allouache (1996).

    The special programme will also feature MAROCK by Moroccan-French director Laila Marrakchi (2005), SEEDS OF DOUBT by Egyptian-German director Samir Nasr (2005), HEREMAKONO by Mauritanian Abderrahmane Sissako (2002), A NEW DAY IN OLD SANA’A by Yemeni-British director Bader Ben Hirsi (2005) and DÈLICE PALOMA by Algerian-French director Nadir Moknèche (2007).

    The Showcase section includes the World Premiere of Emirati documentary feature AS ONE: THE AUTISM PROJECT, which focuses on a unique theatrical programme for children on the autism spectrum.

    Another seven Arab films will be featured in the Short Film Competition, three of them as world premieres, one as international premiere. Additionally, the Emirates Film Competition will welcome 52 films from the Gulf region this year. The programme includes 45 world premieres.

     Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF 2014) released the names of its jury members, who will select the award winners of this year’s ADFF competitions. ADFF 2014 presents films in the sections Narrative Feature Competition, New Horizons Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Emirates Films Competition and Short Film Competition. The juries will also evaluate the merits of film entries for the Child Protection award, FIPRESCI and NETPAC awards.  

    This year’s Narrative Features jury led by Mumbai-based actor Irrfan Khan will be rounded out by renowned Algerian novelist and academic Waciny Laredj, award-winning American writer-director Steven Shainberg, Australian film director Cate Shortland and the internationally acclaimed award-winning Palestinian actor Ali Suliman. 

    Meanwhile, the panel evaluating the New Horizons section led by Paris-based film producer Catherine Dussart includes the Syrian actor Bassel Al Khayat, Moroccan filmmaker Leila Kilani, Geneva-based Indian filmmaker Anup Singh and influential film critic Charles Tesson, Artistic Director of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.

    Heading the documentary features jury is Brooklyn-based director and cinematographer Christina Voros. The other jury members in this category are Moroccan filmmaker Daoud Aoulad Syad, documentary filmmaker Elyes Baccar from Tunisia, US-Egyptian filmmaker and cinematographer Sherief Elkatsha and video artist and documentary filmmaker Amar Kanwar, from India.

    The Emirates Film Competition (EFC) jury, scouting for the best talents among UAE and GCC filmmakers, will be headed by Moroccan screenwriter and director Farida Benlyazid. The judging body further includes Saudi actor Ibrahim Al Hassawi, Qatari cultural advisor, Fatima Al Remaihi, acting CEO of the Doha Film Institute and director of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival, Abdullah Saleh, playwright, stage actor based in the UAE and Kurdish-Norwegian filmmaker Hisham Zaman. 

    ADFF 2014’s international Short Films Competition will be judged by a panel headed by Bahraini director and producer Bassam Al Thawadi. The jury will also figure director Gustavo Taretto from Argentina, programmer and director Maike Mia Höhne from the Berlin International Film Festival, director Hala Lotfy from Egypt and filmmaker Alexandre Charlet from France. 

    Egyptian award-winning director Marwan Hamed (president), Faisal Al Shamari, director of the UAE Ministry of the Interior Child Protection Centre, UAE media expert Heyam Al Juma, popular actress Nelly Kareem from Egypt and Italian audio-visual expert and lecturer Alessandra Priante are named as the ADFF 2014 Child Protection Awards jury.

    The Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) jury consists of Vietnamese director Dang Nhat Minh (president), US film journalist E. Nina Rothe and Dale Hudson, professor of Film and New Media at New York University of Abu Dhabi. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) jury for ADFF 2014 will include eminent journalists Kirill Razlogov from Russia (president), Subrahmanyan Viswanath from India, Rich Cline from Great Britain, Kais Kasim from Iraq and Tarek Elshenawi from Egypt.

    And finally, this year’s Career Achievement Awards will go to French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb and American producer Edward Pressman for their outstanding contribution to world cinema. Meanwhile, Jordanian director Naji Abu Nowar has been chosen for the Variety Arab Filmmaker of the Year Award.

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