• Toronto International Film Festival Announced 2014 Winners, “The Imitation Game” “Beats of the Antonov” Win People’s Choice Awards

    The Imitation GameThe Imitation Game

    The Toronto International Film Festival announced award winners from the 39th Festival which wrapped on Sunday evening.  This year marked the 37th year that Toronto audiences were able to cast a ballot for their favorite Festival film, with the Grolsch People’s Choice Award. This year’s award went to Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game. 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 prosecuted by the UK government in 1952 for homosexual acts which the country deemed illegal. The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Grolsch. The first runner up is Isabel Coixet’s Learning to Drive. The second runner up is Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent.

    Beats of the AntonovBeats of the Antonov

    The Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award went to Hajooj Kuka for Beats of the Antonov. Beats of the Antonov follows refugees from the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Sudan as they survive displacement and the trauma of civil war. Music, a cornerstone of their traditions and identity, becomes itself a vehicle for survival. First runner up is David Thorpe’s Do I Sound Gay?and the second runner up is Ethan Hawke’s Seymour: An Introduction.

    What We Do in the ShadowsWhat We Do in the Shadows

    The Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award went to Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement for What We Do in the Shadows. The film follows three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life’s obstacles — like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. First runner up is Kevin Smith for Tusk and the second runner up is Jalmari Helander for Big Game.

    The winner of the Vimeo Award for Best Canadian Short Film goes to Randall Okita for The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer. The jury remarked, “For its bold blend of live action and digital animation to produce a striking meditation on the nature of memory and its legacy, the jury awards the Vimeo Award for Best Canadian Short Film to Randall Okita’s The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer.”The award offers a $10,000 cash prize.

    The jury gave an honorable mention, “For its entirely unexpected development of a science fiction high concept into something alternately heartbreaking and humorous, the jury gives an honorable mention to Rob Grant’s What Doesn’t Kill You.”

    The winner of the Vimeo Award for Best International Short Film goes to Sotiris Dounoukos’s A Single Body (Un seul corps). The jury remarked, “For its extraordinary exploration of the value of friendship, hope, and aspiration in an unusually brutal and austere environment… and world — made especially heartbreaking by striking performances by Doudou Masta and Mexianu Medenou — the jury awards the Vimeo Award for Best International Short Film to Sotiris Dounoukos for A Single Body.” The award offers a $10,000 cash prize.

    The jury gave an honorable mention, “For its charming absurdist comedy about loneliness, identity, and the art of finding yourself, the jury gives an honourable mention to Atsuko Hirayanagi for Oh Lucy!.”

    Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira)Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira)

    The Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira). The jury remarked, “For its immense sophistication and craftsmanship in telling a brave story bridging two disparate worlds, its generosity of spirit, masterful use of music, and exquisite performances that fuel the film’s power as both an intimate love story and a profound statement on the value of passion, family and community, the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira.” This award is made possible thanks to Canada Goose and comes with a cash prize of $30,000.

    Bang Bang BabyBang Bang Baby

    The City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film goes to Jeffrey St. Jules for Bang Bang Baby. The jury remarked,“For its ingenious mixing of genres, sophisticated blend of tones and ability to create its own strange, tragicomic and original world without sacrificing any richness in regards to story, character and emotion, the jury recognizes as Best Canadian First Feature Film Bang Bang Baby by Jeffrey St. Jules.” The award carries a cash prize of $15,000.

    Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations is awarded to Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind. The jury remarked, “For Oren Moverman’s sensitive and human depiction of homelessness, and Richard Gere’s remarkable performance, the FIPRESCI jury is pleased to grant the Special Presentations prize to Time Out of Mind.”

    Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI) for the Discovery programme is awarded to Abd Al Malik for May Allah Bless France!(Qu’Allah bénisse la France!) The jury remarked, “The FIPRESCI jury is pleased to grant the Discovery prize for a story of a youth displaced in their own country, struggling to find the balance between chaos and serenity, on the strength of art, music and human spirit. While the startling cinematography is purely black and white,

    As selected by a jury from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere goes to Shonali Bose for Margarita, with a Straw. Jury members include Lekha Shankar (India), Hannah Fisher (China) and Anderson Le (Hawaii). The jury remarked, “Margarita, with a Straw is both universal and groundbreaking. Director Shonali Bose and actress Kalki Koechlin have jointly created a character and a world that embody a love letter to life, with all its highs and lows, in spite of overwhelming physical limitations.”

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  • 20 Films Selected for 2014 Hamptons International Film Festival’s Golden Starfish Competition + Hilary Swank and Joel Schumacher Confirmed for “A Conversation With…”

    GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEMGETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM

    The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) announced more of its extensive lineup of signature programs for the 22nd annual festival. Since the festival’s inception, “A Conversation With…” has been an integral part of HIFF, and this year Hilary Swank and Joel Schumacher will participate in individual talks as part of the annual program. In another signature program, 20 films have been selected for this year’s Golden Starfish competition, including the US premieres of Melanie Laurent’s BREATHE, Gabriel Mascaro’s AUGUST WINDS, and Tamara Erde’s THIS IS MY LAND, and the East Coast premieres of Peter Strickland’s THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY and Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz’s GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM. HIFF will take place on Columbus Day Weekend, from October 9-13.

    “A Conversation With…” Joel Schumacher will take place on Saturday, October 11th at 11:00am at Bay Street in Sag Harbor. Jess Cagle, Editorial Director of People and Entertainment Weekly, will lead the talk and will present Schumacher with the Golden Starfish Lifetime Achievement in Directing Award. Hilary Swank’s “A Conversation With…” will be held on Sunday, October 12th at 3pm at Bay Street. Along with this Master Class discussion moderated by Variety Executive Editor, Steven Gaydos, she will also be honored with Variety’s Creative Impact in Acting Award. Swank is attending on behalf of the Corcoran-sponsored Sunday Centerpiece film, THE HOMESMAN, which will mark its East Coast premiere at HIFF.

     FULL LIST OF GOLDEN STARFISH COMPETITION FILMS

     GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Narrative Feature

    AUGUST WINDS “Ventos de Agosto” (Brazil)

    AUGUST WINDS “Ventos de Agosto”AUGUST WINDS “Ventos de Agosto”

    US Premiere
    Director: Gabriel Mascaro
    On a tiny coastal village in Brazil, Shirley and Jeison pass the time by working on a coconut plantation. On their spare time, he dives for seafood while she sunbathes and dreams of being a tattoo artist. Their restless but tranquil life is provoked as intense tropical storms approach, washing ashore a corpse. Drawing on his documentary roots, Gabriel Mascaro deliberately eschews a traditional narrative in favor of an atmospheric and lyrical approach. Weaving the textures of the landscape with superb, natural performances, Mascaro delicately reveals a thoughtful and, sometimes humorous, meditation on life and death.

    BREATHE “Respire” (France)
    US Premiere
    Director: Melanie Laurent
    Famed actress Melanie Laurent (INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, ENEMY) steps behind the camera for BREATHE, an assured and refined look at fragile adolescent friendships.  Entering the private world of Charlie and Sara, whose raw attraction quickly makes them inseparable, we see tenderness turn sour as Sarah shifts her attention to a young pilot, leaving Charlie heartbroken. Superbly acted by Josephine Japy (Charlie) and Lou De Laage (Sara), BREATHE is an honest look at young friendships, where passion can easily turn into obsession and the harsh reality of trying to find your voice means you may be left lost, wounded, and devastated. 

    THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (United Kingdom)

    THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY

    East Coast Premiere
    Director: Peter Strickland
    Similar to a larva transforming into a caterpillar only to cocoon and bloom into a butterfly, Peter Strickland’s THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY shifts and twists from a classic melodrama into a perverse and psychedelic sadomasochistic lesbian experience – all done with an artists eye for mood and detail. Both the gothic scenery and haunting score envelop the senses and manipulate the viewer into a feeling of frenzy. Elevated by powerful and sensual performances by the two leads, Strickland’s strange film achieves a unique beauty and profundity somewhere between David Lynch’s MULHOLLAND DR. and Luis Buñuel’s BELLE DE JOUR.

    GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM “Gett” (Israel, France, Germany)
    East Coast Premiere
    Directors: Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
    This final piece of the trilogy by Israeli siblings Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz explores the unfolding of a marriage under the jurisdiction of a rabbinical court in which a Jewish marriage may only end if the husband presents a “gett,” a divorce document, to his wife. Calling attention to a male-dominant process that can take years, sometimes decades, and set entirely in the courtroom, this brilliantly written and acted film reveals the slow dissolution of a marriage between Vivane (Ronit Elkabetz) and Elisha (Simon Abkarian). Balancing the seriousness of what’s at stake with an often-humorous tone, GETT offers a deeply moving take on an otherwise painful process.

    LITTLE ACCIDENTS (United States)
    New York Premiere
    Director: Sara Colangelo
    A haunting portrait of the unintended consequence, LITTLE ACCIDENTS follows the wake of tragedy in small town America where a mining disaster leaves 10 dead and the delicate social fabric of a community in tatters. When the son of the chief executive goes missing, his wife; the lone survivor to the disaster, Amos; and Owen, a local boy left fatherless by the tragedy, become bound to one another by their shared grief and through a series of shocking revelations. A stunning work by first-time feature filmmaker, Sara Colangelo, it features a stellar cast, including Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook and Chloe Sevigny.

     

    GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Documentary Feature

    THE GREAT INVISIBLE (United States)
    New York Premiere
    Director: Margaret Brown
    On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded devastating communities throughout the Gulf Coast of the United States. Eleven lives were lost, the natural ecosystem was destroyed, and the pollution forced countless local businesses to shut down. Margaret Brown’s THE GREAT INVISIBLE, winner of the Grand Jury prize at SXSW, is a thought provoking and complex human drama that lifts the curtain on a corrupt and negligent industry driven by greed. With harrowing testimonies from survivors, families, local fisherman, an others perpetually effected by the disaster, Brown seeks to tell a sobering and layered account of a tragedy still unfolding.

    KILLING TIME (The Netherlands)

    KILLING TIMEKILLING TIME

    New York Premiere
    Director: Jaap Van Hoewijk
    On June 12, 2013 in Huntsville, Texas, preparations take place for the lethal injection of Elroy Chester, a man convicted of the rape of two teenage girls and the murder of their uncle. After 15 years on death row, Chester will be executed at precisely 6:00PM. While his family prepares to say goodbye, the victims and their family prepare for closure. KILLING TIME is the emotional follow up to the 1995 film, PROCEDURE 769, WITNESS TO THE EXECUTION, which examined those who came to Chester’s court sentences. Returning to Texas once more, director Jaap van Hoewijk turns his lens on the people most affected as they pass the final hours.

    THIS IS MY LAND (France)
    US Premiere
    Director: Tamara Erde
    “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela, and artist-filmmaker Tamara Erde’s first feature length film examines how the shared, complex and charged history of Israel and Palestine is taught to the next generation in this volatile region. Does it fuel conflict or encourage peace? How much freedom does the Ministry of Education give teachers? Through dialogues, debates, celebrations and field trips at six independent schools, this fascinating documentary observes how young minds are shaped by what is said and, just as importantly, by what is unspoken.

    VELVET TERRORISTS (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia)

    VELVET TERRORISTS VELVET TERRORISTS

    US Premiere
    Director: Pavol Pekarčík, Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes
    Charged as terrorists, but now hailed as heroes three Czechoslovakian’s recount and reenact their odd and fascinating tales of armed resistance against the old communistic powers. Three portraits by three directors. A presidential assassination foiled through sheer laziness, a botched political tribune bombing due to alcoholism and a notorious bulletin board bomber who wanted nothing more than to blow up…you guessed it. Each story may be different, but the sentiment is the same: actions are what define you and even if you don’t hurt anyone or change anything, they still may be recognized for better or for worse.

     

    GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Narrative Short Film
    Featuring brave, innovative and remarkable stories, the Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Short Film honors new talent in the field. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize and qualify for consideration at the Academy Awards for Best Live Action/Animated Short Film.

    CUTAWAY (Canada)
    US Premiere
    Director: Kazik Radwanski
    Told through close details of hands and objects, this film intimately portrays uncertainty and loss.

    THE BABY “LA BAMBINA (BACHE)” (Italy, Iran)
    North American Premiere
    Director: Ali Asgari
    Narges and her friend are calling everyone they can think of with an unusual request.  They urgently need someone to look after her baby for a night or two…

    ALL WE SHARE “ALLT VI DELAR” (Sweden)
    North American Premiere
    Director: Jerry Carlsson
    Two arborists, Samir and Sara, are hired to cut down a perfectly healthy tree. This, and the urgency with which it needs to be done, surprises them but they agree and as they work, comprehension dawns.

    TZNIUT (USA)
    East Coast Premiere
    Director: David Formentin
    A Hasidic woman in Brooklyn discovers she has an STD. Although limited by her social standing in a deeply Orthodox community, she seeks the origin of her illness.

    THE BIGGER PICTURE (United Kingdom)
    North American Premiere
    Director: Daisy Jacobs
    Using seven-foot-tall characters in life-size sets, THE BIGGER PICTURE uniquely animates a stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent.

     

    GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD: Documentary Short Film
    Our inaugural Golden Starfish Award for Best Documentary Short Film highlights some of the year’s most interesting opinions and viewpoints and is sure to capture your imagination. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize. 

    THE QUEEN “LA REINA” (Argentina)
    East Coast Premiere
    Director: Manuel Abramovich
    Memi is 11 years old, and she is going to be Queen of the Carnival. It’s a dazzling honor, but you have to suffer to be beautiful.

    ONCE UPON A TREE “HET MEISJE EN DE BOOM” (The Netherlands)
    North American Premiere
    Director: Marleen van der Werf
    Sitting in her favorite oak tree, 11-year-old Filine encounters little wonders in the natural world around her. Filine doesn’t like changes that much. She sometimes wishes she could be a tree and everything would stay the same.

    JUTRA (Canada)
    US Premiere
    Director: Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
    Through the ingenious repurposing and animation of archival footage, a remarkable and revealing documentary homage to filmmaker Claude Jutra pulls us deep inside the life, times and imagination of the artist.

    ABANDONED GOODS (United Kingdom)
    North American Premiere
    Directors: Pia Borg, Edward Lawrenson
    From 1946 to 1981 a psychiatric hospital in the UK allowed its patients to create art. After the dissolution of the asylum only around 5,500 pieces survived. This is their story.

    AN IMMORTAL MAN (USA)
    US Premiere
    Directors: Josh Koury, Myles Kane
    Baseball legend Ted Williams lived his life in the public eye and his death, like his life, will be forever frozen in time – however this time (contrary to the instructions in his will) via cryostasis. 

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  • Director Sharon Greytak and Actress Sally Kirkland Talk About Their Film ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN Now Playing in Theaters

     sharon-greytak-sally-kirkland-archaeology-of-a-woman1

    Award-winning indie filmmaker Sharon Greytak’s ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN, starring Oscar nominated/Golden Globe winner Sally Kirkland is playing at Village East Cinema Sept. 12-18.   ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN, is described as a gripping drama of a woman’s fierce determination to save her mind from spiraling into delusion as she attempts to keep a chilling secret from her past buried. 

    We recently sat down with director Sharon Greytak, one of the only disabled filmmakers directing, writing and producing from a motorized wheelchair, and Sally Kirkland, sporting a bandaged knee, the result of knee surgery. Earlier this year Sally fell, breaking her leg in two places while attending the Studio City Film Festival to receive an award for Best Actress.

    VIMOOZ: The film took a while to be released, why did it take so long?

    Sharon Greytak: That’s a great first question. 

    Sally Kirkland: Well you did 2 edits

    Sharon Greytak: Yes. I did the initial edit and then I decided to do a bit more editing. I describe the process as being like a rose, and you want to remove anything that takes away from the beauty of it. So I simplified a couple of things – I sort of pruned away a few things that I thought would make it stronger.

     sally-kirkland-archaeology-of-a-woman1

    VIMOOZ: Now Sally, we have to ask about the topless scene. How did you react when you read that in the script?

    Sally Kirkland: I liked it. A little bit of history you may not know, I was the first nude actress in American theater in 1968 with Terrence McNally’s Sweet Eros.  I’ve been nude in so many films you can’t believe it. I loved that she did that because it got me a chance to show people about dementia and the Alzheimer – people who don’t know where they are, or what they are doing.

    Here she is, putting her bra in the refrigerator; it is such a classic piece of writing to demonstrate the pathetic stage of Margaret.

    I felt great, to answer your question.

    VIMOOZ: Is there anything you will not do in a film?

    Sally Kirkland: Ah no.

    sharon-greytak-archaeology-of-a-woman1

    VIMOOZ: The story is very original. Where did you get the idea?

    Sharon Greytak: It stemmed from my experience with my own mother who was starting to have some issues of confusion and some really early signs of dementia. 

    In many movies, you always see a character that’s in the late stages of Alzheimer, spiraling downhill.  The audience is superior and watching this poor character – it is so sad and a tearjerker.   You never see a character that is functioning socially, but is having these terrible moments in the early stages of dementia. And I thought, how do you show a character like that?  Where they are fiercely independent, they are very verbal, and they are use to running their own lives.  And they are certainly not going to give in and say OK this is it.  That is the character that I wanted to portray.

    VIMOOZ: Tony-winner Victoria Clark plays Sally’s daughter and the resemblance is amazing.  How were you able to make that connection with casting?

    Sally Kirkland: A lot of people say that.

    Sharon Greytak: I went for the best talent – the best actress I can get. I worked with a casting director who helped me. I went from an isolated writer one day to having managers and agents calling setting up meeting the next.

    VIMOOZ: Sally, You’ve been in the business a very long time.

    Sally Kirkland: Since 1960

    VIMOOZ:  Do you stay up to date with all the latest stuff like social media?     

    Sally Kirkland: I’m a Facebook freak. I was on the plane the other day Facebooking everybody.  And I have friends coming in town for a movie premiere and I’m literally chatting away with them on the plane.

    VIMOOZ: What about Twitter and Instagram?

    Sally Kirkland: I use Twitter, but not as much as Facebook.  I do not know how to do Instagram yet. 

    VIMOOZ: What about you Sharon?

    Sharon Greytak:  I do. Of course

    Sally Kirkland: You have to. Well, you have to tell the story.

    Sharon Greytak: You do.

    Sally Kirkland: Ok. So I get the call from my agent, and he says, “I have this fabulous role for you. “ And it was Friday, and I said, “great, when can I see it?”  He replied, “I’ll send it with a messenger.” The messenger came and I read it in an hour and 20 minutes or something and I thought, “Oh my God, I have to do this role”

    But it’s Friday now, and all the offices are closed, so I couldn’t think what to do with my patience, my energy and determination. And so I went to Facebook and I looked up Sharon Greytak and there she was. She didn’t have a picture but she had a page and I requested her to be my friend. 

    But I didn’t mention the film because I thought that might be overboard. But I just wanted to get my foot in the door. So then what happened?

    Sharon Greytak: I had no idea she had the script.  And when the breakdowns went out, I thought it was funny, all of a sudden my IMDB rating skyrocketed.    On Facebook, everyone was friending me left and right. I was telling friends that this was hysterical. I found this humorous. And I’m going through the list and I see Sally Kirkland. And I was like, “Really, Sally Kirkland?” So I accepted. And the weekend goes by and Monday I get a call saying, be at your phone on Tuesday, Sally Kirkland will call you.   I had no idea she had the script all weekend.  And on Tuesday she called and we talked on the phone for 3 hours.

    Sally Kirkland: It was an hour.

    Sharon Greytak:  It was 3 hours.

    Sally Kirkland: We talked for 3 hours? I want you to put that on record.

    VIMOOZ: It’s on record.

    Sally Kirkland: So yes, I was by my phone, and 7:30 she called. And we talked about the script, the character.  It was so gratifying that somebody outside of myself got the character and understood what I was writing.  And she was so smart about it.

    And we exchanged some personal stories, and it was a done deal.  This is it. I don’t want to see anyone else.

    VIMOOZ: I’m glad we ask that question.

    VIMOOZ: What are 2 things we don’t know about Sally Kirkland.

    Sharon Greytak: Should I step outside the room?

    Sally Kirkland: I’m deaf in my left ear. I have tinnitus in my right ear. And I’m in love with Michael Fassbender.

    VIMOOZ: What about you Sharon?

    Sharon Greytak: Oh no.  I’m a director, you don’t get that stuff from me.

    VIMOOZ: That counts as one, two more to go.

    Sharon Greytak: My eyes are 2 different colors.

    VIMOOZ:  What colors? 

    Sharon Greytak:  I think one is green and one is blue, which is the same as David Bowie.  There you go.

     

    Credits: Photography by Tazaca Simpson

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  • BFI London Film Festival Unveils 2014 Film Lineup; to Open with THE IMITATION GAME

    THE IMITATION GAMETHE IMITATION GAME

    The 58th BFI London Film Festival unveiled a lineup of  245 fiction and documentary features, including 16 World Premieres, 9 International Premieres, 38 European Premieres and 19 Archive films including 2 Restoration World Premiere’s.1 There will also be screenings of 148 live action and animated shorts.  The 58th BFI London Film Festival will run Wednesday 8 – Sunday 19 October 2014.

    The Festival opens with the European Premiere of THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Director Morten Tyldum returns to the Festival with a film about Alan Turing, one of the world’s greatest innovators and pioneer of modern-day computing, who is credited with cracking the German Enigma code.

    The European Premiere of FURY will close the Festival, directed by David Ayer whose End of Watch appeared in LFF Official Competition in 2012, this Second World War epic stars Brad Pitt as Wardaddy, a battle-hardened army sergeant who commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. 

    Among the other Galas are the American Express Gala of Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER, the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multimillionaire and two champion wrestlers, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. The Accenture Gala is the audacious thriller WHIPLASH, about a young jazz drummer under the tutelage of a ruthless and fearsome maestro starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. We are delighted to welcome a new Official Airline Partnerto this year’s Festival, Virgin Atlantic who will present the European Premiere of Jason Reitman’s MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN starring Adam Sandler and Ansel Elgort with a racy voiceover by Emma Thompson. The May Fair Hotel Gala is the European Premiere of biopic-drama WILD starring Reese Witherspoon, adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby from Cheryl Strayed’s extraordinary account of her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trails. The Centrepiece Gala supported by the Mayor of London is the World Premiere of TESTAMENT OF YOUTH based on Vera Brittain’s memoir of World War 1 starring Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Hayley Atwell, Emily Watson and Dominic West. The Festival Gala is Mike Leigh’s MR. TURNER starring Timothy Spall as the great British artistJ.M.W. Turner whose paintings evoked the moving image before there was cinema. The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of THE BATTLES OF CORONEL AND FALKLAND ISLANDS.

    The nine programme strands are each headlined with a gala, they are: the Love Gala, Alan Rickman’s A LITTLE CHAOS (European Premiere); the Debate Gala, Jon Stewart’s ROSEWATER (European Premiere); the Dare Gala, Xavier Dolan’s MOMMY; the Laugh Gala, Damián Szifron’s WILD TALES; the Thrill Gala, Kristian Levring’s THE SALVATION; the Cult Gala, Jacob Cheung’s THE WHITE HAIRED WITCH OF LUNAR KINGDOM(International Premiere); the Journey Gala, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s WINTER SLEEP; and the Family Gala is Tomm Moore’s SONG OF THE SEA (European Premiere). In addition to which, the previously announced Sonic Gala is Peter Strickland and Nick Fenton’s concert film BJÖRK: BIOPHILIA LIVE.

    OFFICIAL COMPETITION

    The Official Competition line-up, recognising inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, includes the following:
     Peter Ho-Sun Chan, DEAREST
     Peter Strickland, THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (European Premiere)
     Carol Morley, THE FALLING (World Premiere)
     Ana Lily Amirpour, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
     Céline Sciamma, GIRLHOOD
     Daniel Barber, THE KEEPING ROOM (European Premiere)
     Andrey Zvyagintsev, LEVIATHAN
     François Ozon, THE NEW GIRLFRIEND
     Christian Petzold, PHOENIX
     Mohsen Makhmalbaf, THE PRESIDENT
     Julius Avery, SON OF A GUN (European Premiere)
     Abderrahmane Sissako, TIMBUKTU

    FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
    Titles in consideration for the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition recognising an original and imaginative directorial debut are:
     Yann Demange,‘71
     Josephine Decker, BUTTER ON THE LATCH
     Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe, CATCH ME DADDY
     Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, DIFRET
     Franco Lolli, GENTE DE BIEN
     Guy Myhill, THE GOOB
     Adityavikram Sengupta, LABOUR OF LOVE
     Sudabeh Mortezai, MACONDO
     Debbie Tucker Green, SECOND COMING
     Ester Martin Bergsmark, SOMETHING MUST BREAK
     Naji Abu Nowar, THEEB
     Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, THE TRIBE

    DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
    The Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition category recognises cinematic documentaries with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance. This year the Festival is screening:
     Nadav Schirman, THE GREEN PRINCE
     Jean-François Caissy, GUIDELINES
     Randall Wright, HOCKNEY (World Premiere)
     Jason Sussberg, David Alvarado, THE IMMORTALISTS (European Premiere)
     Ulrich Seidl, IN THE BASEMENT
     Sergei Loznitsa, MAIDAN
     Frederick Wiseman, NATIONAL GALLERY
     Sabine Lubbe Bakker & Niels van Koevorden, NE ME QUITTE PAS
     Edward Lovelace & James Hall, THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS (European Premiere)
     Ossama Mohammed & Wiam Simav Bedirxan, SILVERED WATER, SYRIA SELF-PORTRAIT
     Debra Granik, STRAY DOG
     Lynette Wallworth, TENDER (European Premiere)

    BEST BRITISH NEWCOMER
    Closing the Awards section is the prize for Best British Newcomer which highlights new British talent and is presented to an emerging writer, actor, producer or director. This year’s nominees are:
    1. Guy Myhill – Writer/Director THE GOOB
    2. Florence Pugh – Supporting Actor THE FALLING
    3. Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – Actor CATCH ME DADDY
    4. Rebecca Johnson – Writer/Director HONEYTRAP
    5. Taron Egerton – Actor TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
    6. Daniel Wolfe & Matthew Wolfe – Writers/Directors CATCH ME DADDY
    7. Alex Lawther – Supporting Actor THE IMITATION GAME

    STRANDS / PATHWAYS

    The Festival programme is organised into categories clustered around the themes of Love, Debate, Dare, Laugh, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Sonic and Family – an approach designed to help Festival-goers find the films that appeal the most to them and to open up the Festival for new audiences.

    LOVE

    Love is strange, and cinema reaps the fruit of its strangeness. The Love Gala is the European Premiere of Alan Rickman’s sophomore feature A LITTLE CHAOS set in the Court of Versailles starring Rickman himself as King Louis XIV, Kate Winslet as landscape gardener Sabine De Barra, Matthias Schoenaerts as the famous architect Le Nôtre and Stanley Tucci in hilarious form as a court dandy.

    Other titles in this section include: Benoît Jacquot’s 3 HEARTS starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni
    and Catherine Deneuve; Daniel Ribeiro’s romantic tale of the joys and woes of young love, THE WAY HE LOOKS; Ira Sachs’ LOVE IS STRANGE starring Alfred Molina and John Lithgow as life-long lovers; the European Premiere of Shonali Bose’s portrait of a Punjabi teenage girl MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW; a new adaptation of Gustave Flaubert’s classic MADAME BOVARY directed by Sophie Barthes and starring Mia Wasikowska as the eponymous lead; the World Premiere of Corinna McFarlane’s SILENT STORM starring Andrea Riseborough and Damian Lewis; Susanne Bier’s SERENA starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and the European Premiere of BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Matthews’ debut feature X + Y.

    DEBATE

    Debate presents films that rush headfirst and unafraid into some of the stormiest issues of the day. This year’s Debate Gala is the European Premiere of Jon Stewart’s directorial debut ROSEWATER starring Gael Garcia Bernal and based on the real–life ordeal of London-based journalist Maziar Bahari.

    Other highlights in this section include: the European Premiere of Michael Winterbottom’s THE FACE OF AN ANGEL about an American student charged with the murder of her British housemate; the World Premiere of Tom Harper’s House of Commons-set political thriller War Book;  Gabriel Mascaro’s haunting tale of the effects of climate change on a coastal community in Brazil, AUGUST WINDS; Annalet Steenkamp’s documentary about the four generations of her Afrikaner family I, AFRIKANER; Dieudo Hamadi’s NATIONAL DIPLOMA following a group of Congolese high schools students preparing for their exams; Steve James’ newly restored 1994 documentary HOOP DREAMS about the ultra-competitive world of college basketball; and Shira Geffen’s SELF MADE and Eran Riklis’ DANCING ARABS which both explore life on either side of the Palestinian–Israeli divide.

    DARE

    Here you’ll find cinema’s troublemakers and boundary pushers, with films for those who take their movies strong, no sugar. The Dare Gala is Xavier Dolan’s MOMMY which jointly won the Jury Prize in Cannes earlier this year.

    Other highlights in this strand include: Jean-Luc Godard’s first foray into 3D, GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE which jointly won the Jury Prize in Cannes in May and will be presented here at BFI IMAX; New Queer Cinema alumnus Gregg Araki’s WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD starring Eva Green and Shailene Woodley; the World Premiere of Rebecca Johnson’s HONEYTRAP based on the 2008 case of Samantha Joseph, dubbed the ‘honeytrap killer’; Duane Hopkins’ social melodrama BYPASS; Aleksei German’s black and white epic HARD TO BE A GOD completed by his wife and son following German’s death in 2013; and Abel Ferrara’s PASOLINI starring Willem Dafoe as the Italian filmmaker.

    LAUGH

    This year’s comedic crop mine potentially treacherous terrain that some might consider no joke. This year’s Laugh Gala is WILD TALES, a delirious black comedy directed by Damián Szifron with Augustín and Pedro Almodóvar as producers.

    Other titles in this strand include: Director-writer-star Desiree Akhavan’s fearless feature debut APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR; Hungary’s most innovative and controversial director György Pálfi’s new film FREE FALL; the International Premiere of Justin Simien’s razor-sharp satire DEAR WHITE PEOPLE; Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz’ delicate and heart warming comedy LAND HO!; Josh Lawson’s whip-smart sex comedy THE LITTLE DEATH; Emilio Martínez-Lázaro’s SPANISH AFFAIR, a massive box-office hit in its native Spain; and John Boorman’s semi-autobiographical film, QUEEN AND COUNTRY.

    THRILL

    The Thrill strand covers noir, neo-noir, sci-fi, pulp, crime, action and adventure in a programme that’s as sure to inspire wanderlust as it is to set your pulse racing. The Gala presentation for this strand is Kristian Levring’s THE SALVATION, a gripping tale of revenge set in the Old West starring Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green.

    Other highlights in this section include: Diao Yinan’s murder mystery and Berlin winner BLACK COAL, THIN ICE; the European Premiere of Toa Fraser’s thriller THE DEAD LANDS made entirely in the Maori language; Michaël R. Roskam’s THE DROP starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and the late James Gandolfini; the European Premiere of Kriv Stenders’ boldly enjoyable comedy thriller KILL ME THREE TIMES starring Simon Pegg; the World Premiere of Tom Green’s MONSTERS: DARK CONTINENT, a sequel to Gareth Edwards’ 2010 debut Monsters; and Andrew Hulme’s crime thriller, SNOW IN PARADISE.

    CULT

    In the Cult strand, you’ll find a curious selection of films guaranteed to provoke, excite and take you entirely off guard. Welcome to the weird side. The Cult Gala is the International Premiere of Jacob Cheung’s lavish wuxia epic THE WHITE HAIRED WITCH OF LUNAR KINGDOM starring Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing.

    Other highlights in this strand include: Mark Hartley’s latest celebration of exploitation films ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS; David Robert Mitchell’s remarkable shocker IT FOLLOWS; the European Premiere of British director Oliver Blackburn’s latest horror KRISTY; Carter Smith’s ethereal coming-of-age tale JAMIE MARKS IS DEAD; Sion Sono’s Yakuza gangster flick-cum-hip hop musical TOKYO TRIBE and the World Premiere of Alfonso Gomez Rejon’s striking debut THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN inspired by the 1976 classic of the same name.

    JOURNEY

    Whether it’s the journey or the destination, here are films to transport you and shift your perspective. This year’s Journey Gala is Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s extraordinary WINTER SLEEP which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year.

    Other titles in this section include: AFRICAN METROPOLIS, a collection of six short films that explore the complexity of African urban life; Rolf de Heer’s CHARLIE’S COUNTRY starring legendary Australian actor David Gulpilil who won Best Actor in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year; Writer-Director David Oelhoffen’s FAR FROM MEN featuring Viggo Mortensen, Fatih Akin’s THE CUT starring Tahar Rahim; Israel Horovitz’s MY OLD LADY starring Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas; 18 different filmmakers including Warwick Thornton, Justin Kurzel and a debut by Mia Wasikowska contribute to an expansive adaptation of Australian author Tim Winton’s THE TURNING starring Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne and Hugo Weaving; the World Premiere of Bryn Higgins’ ELECTRICITY starring Agyness Deyn; and the World Premiere of Gerry Fox’s MARC QUINN –MAKING WAVES documenting one year in the life of the artist Marc Quinn.

    SONIC

    Like cinema, music has the power to envelop us and move us, both emotionally and physically. This year’s Sonic Gala is Peter Strickland and Nick Fenton’s BJÖRK: BIOPHILIA LIVE, a concert film capturing the extraordinary closing night performance of Björk’s Biophilia project at London’s Alexandra Palace last year.

    Other highlights in this strand include: the European Premiere of James Marcus Harvey’s AUSTIN TO BOSTON about a modern music tour, done the old fashioned way; One9’s documentary NAS: TIME IS ILLMATIC about one of the most influential and important records in hip hop; the European Premiere of Alan Hicks’ KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON about the relationship between legendary Jazz trumpet player Clark Terry and his protégé Justin Kauflin; Mia Hansen-Løve’s EDEN, a fictionalised account of the French house boom that spawned Daft Punk, Michael Obert’s SONG FROM THE FOREST that explores one man’s quest to find and record the music and sound of the remotest parts of the African jungle, Fenar Ahmad’s FLOW, a portrait of Copenhagen’s hip-hop scene; and a BUG SPECIAL: FULL TIME HOBBY devoted to the 10th anniversary of the independent London record label.

    FAMILY

    This year’s Family section has titles from all over the world to suit all ages and tastes, and the Family Gala is the European Premiere of SONG OF THE SEA, director Tomm Moore’s sophomore feature following his Oscar-nominated debut The Secret of Kells.

    Other highlights are the International Premiere of Xavier Picard’s MOOMINS OF THE RIVIERA a glorious animated tale of Tove Jansson’s much-loved characters released in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth; the World Premiere of Christian De Vita’s animated family tale YELLOWBIRD 3D; Jon Wright’s British sci-fi adventure ROBOT OVERLORDS starring Gillian Anderson and Sir Ben Kingsley; Chan Hyung-Yun kooky animated love story THE SATELLITE GIRL AND MILK COW; and Martin Miehe-Renard’s teen drama THE CONTEST – TO THE STARS AND BACK. We will show the UK’s first animated feature, ANIMAL FARM (1954) based on George Orwell’s novella, and directed and produced by John Halas and Joy Batchelor.

    There is a dedicated section for animated shorts for younger audiences which include the World Premiere of Aardman’s new short film RAY’S BIG IDEA in 3D directed by Steve Harding-Hill and the World Premiere of Illuminated Films’new short film ON ANGEL WINGS directed by Dave Unwin and based on a story by Michael Morpurgo.

    As part of our celeberation of 20 years of Dreamworks Animation, we present a special event for younger audiences and animation enthusiasts alike DreamWorks Animation: Taking Flight and Beyond showcasing the work of producer Bonnie Arnold and director Dean DeBlois, who will be joined by Cressida Cowell, author of the highly successful ‘How to Train your Dragon’ series of novels. Exclusive footage from upcoming release The Penguins of Madagascar will also be shown.

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  • THE HOMESMAN Directed by Tommy Lee Jones and Starring Hilary Swank is Centerpiece Film for 2014 Hamptons International Film Festival

    the homesman-tommy-lee-jones-hilary-swank

    THE HOMESMAN starring Hilary Swank will be the Centerpiece film  of the 22nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival held over Columbus Day  Weekend, October 9-13, 2014.  Hilary Swank will attend the film’s premiere and will participate in the festival’s signature program “A Conversation With…”  The festival revealed its “Views from Long Island” section, which focuses on local filmmakers and films with geographic ties to the Hamptons, along with one of its most famous local filmmakers, Bob Balaban, who is this year’s Honorary Chairman.

    Directed by Tommy Lee Jones, THE HOMESMAN is based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize nominee Glendon Swarthout. When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven to the brink, the task of saving them from their surroundings falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a feisty low-life drifter, George Biggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter) head east, where a waiting minister and his wife (Meryl Streep) have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat. Roadside Attractions and Saban Films will release the film on November 14, 2014.“Beginning our 22nd annual film festival announcement with the highly acclaimed film from Tommy Lee Jones as our Centerpiece and having Hilary Swank be a part of our Signature program Conversation with… is the tip of what HIFF will showcase this year,”says Anne Chaisson, Executive Director of the festival.

    The Hamptons International Film Festival unveiled the first three films screening in its “Views from Long Island” section.  Set against the beautiful backdrop of the eastern end of Long Island, the upcoming SHOWTIME® series “The Affair” explores two marriages and the emotional and psychological effects of the affair that disrupts them. The provocative drama stars Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Maura Tierney, and Joshua Jackson and premieres on Sunday, October 12, at 10:00pm ET/PT on SHOWTIME.

    Lou Howe’s GABRIEL, much of which was filmed in the Hamptons, stars Rory Culkin as Gabriel. Longing for stability in the throes of mental illness, Gabriel will stop at nothing until he proposes to his high school girlfriend – never mind the fact that they haven’t seen each other in years. A sure-footed portrait of a young man on the edge, Howe’s debut feature examines our fixation with the nuclear household, and whether or not it’s all it’s cracked up to be.

    The festival will hold the New York premiere of Amagansett resident Volker Schlöndorff’s DIPLOMACY. At the end of World War II, General Dietrick von Choltitz, the governor of Nazi-occupied Paris, received an order to destroy the city if the Nazis were to lose it to Allied Forces. Adapted from the stage and directed by legendary German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff, DIPLOMACY is deeply connected with its moment in history, yet resounds with timeliness in its study of diametrically opposed ideologies and the necessary search for common ground.

    The short film WEENIE will mark its world premiere at the festival. WEENIE was filmedin East Hampton, and filmmaker Dan Roe lives in Sag Harbor, teaching at the Ross School. The film’s main character Weenie is 16. Weenie wants to go to a party. Weenie has just been grounded. Weenie’s mom just doesn’t understand. What will Weenie do?

    Returning for the sixth year, the Suffolk County Film Commission will present their annual Next Exposure Award, with a cash value of $6,000, to one of the full-length features in the “Views From Long Island” section.

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  • ‘Beyond the Lights’ To Open 18th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival – This Week in NYC

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    Beyond the LightsBeyond the Lights

    The 18th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, will take place this weekend September 17-21, 2014, at Manhattan’s AMC Loews 34th Street 14, and various other locations in New York. The festival will screen over 70 films, including 12 world premieres.

    Relativity’s Beyond the Lights, a drama written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees) and produced by Relativity, Relativity Sports, Undisputed Cinema and Homegrown Pictures in association with BET Films, will serve as the opening film at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 18 at the SVA Theater at 333 W. 23rd Street. The story of a talented young musician on the brink of super stardom struggling with the pressure of her new-found success stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle, Larry Crowne), Nate Parker (Red Tails, The Great Debaters), Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) and Emmy Award® nominee Danny Glover (The Color Purple, Lethal Weapon). The film opens nationwide on November 14, 2014. Prince-Bythewood, a longtime supporter of the festival and Independent Spirit Award® winner, is the ambassador for this year’s festivities.

     URBANWORLD 2014 FILM SLATE

    OPENING NIGHT FILM
    Beyond the Lights – Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (USA) – US Premiere

    SPOTLIGHT EVENTS
    Avenues – Directed by Aaref Rodriguez (USA) – Hosted by HBO Latino
    Blood and Bone – Directed by Ben Ramsey (USA) – Hosted by Cinemax – Curated by Urban Action Showcase
    Habla Men – Hosted by HBO Latino
    Purple Rain – Directed by Albert Magnoli (USA) – 30th Anniversary Sing-A-Long
    Sleep Dealer – Directed by Alex Rivera (Mexico) – Hosted by The National Association of Latino Independent Producers
    Urbanworld Underground – Curated by Project Catalyst
     Jo – Directed by April A. Wilson (USA)
     La Solitaria – Directed by Nelson Isava (USA)
     Page 36 – Directed by Nelsan Ellis (USA)
     The Unseen Beauty – Directed by Gabriel de Urioste (USA)
     Touch – Directed by Shola Amoo (United Kingdom)
     Trust & Estates – Directed by Jeanette Bonds (USA)

    NARRATIVE FEATURE FILMS
    Brooklyn – Directed by Pascal Tessaud (France) – US Premiere
    Christmas Wedding Baby – Directed by Kiara Jones (USA) – World Premiere
    Cry Now – Directed by Alberto Barboza (USA) – New York Premiere
    Difret – Directed by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia)
    God Loves The Fighter – Directed by Damian Marcano (Trinidad & Tobago) – New York Premiere
    In the Morning – Directed by Nefertite Nguvu (USA) – World Premiere
    Lake Los Angeles – Directed by Mike Ott (USA) – New York Premiere
    Los Angeles – Directed by Damian John Harper (Mexico) – New York Premiere
    Love Magical – Directed by Justin Foran & Jason Sokoloff – World Premiere
    Montana – Directed by Mo Ali Out of Comp (UK) – US Premiere
    Night Has Settled – Directed by Steve Clark (USA)
    Unsound – Directed by Darious Britt (USA)
    What It Was – Directed by Daniel Armando (USA)

    DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS
    12 Months – Charysse Tia Harper (USA) – World Premiere
    Finding Samuel Lowe – Directed by Jeanette Kong (USA)
    Hating Obama – Directed by Marquis Smalls (USA) – World Premiere
    Lucky – Directed by Laura Checkoway (USA)
    Sewing Hope – Directed by Derek Watson (Uganda) – New York Premiere

    DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS (con’t)
    SODIQ – Directed by Adeyemi Michael (UK)
    The Hip-Hop Fellow – Directed by Kenneth Price (USA) – New York Premiere

    DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
    Bookin – Directed by John Kerkscey (USA)

    ANIMATED SHORT FILM
    Nine – Directed by Wanichaya Phraejunya & Chawalit Kaewmanee (Thailand)

    NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS
    Afronauts – Directed by Frances Bodomo (USA)
    Anatomy of Assistance – Directed by Cory Bowles (Canada) – New York Premiere
    Barrio Boy – Directed by Dennis Shinners (USA)
    Berea – Directed by Vincent Moloi (South Africa) – East Coast Premiere
    Celluloid Dreams – Directed by Jonathan Dillon (USA) – New York Premiere
    Contamination – Directed by R. Shanea Williams (USA) – New York Premiere
    ContentMode x J. Cooper Present “206” Starring David Oyelowo – Directed by J. Cooper (USA)
    For The Birds – Directed by Tara Atashgah (USA/Iran)
    Full-Windsor – Directed by Faraday Okoro (USA) – New York Premiere
    Habeas Corpus – Directed by Booker T. Mattison (USA) – New York Premiere
    Hechki (Hiccups) – Directed by Kartik Singh (USA) – World Premiere
    Hermanas – Directed by Cristina Kotz Cornejo (Mexico) – East Coast Premiere
    Hypebeasts – Directed by Jessica dela Merced (USA)
    Isaiah’s Birthday – Directed by Shawn Gerrard (Canada) – World Premiere
    J-1 – Directed by Geoffrey Guerrero (USA)
    Jaya – Directed by Puja Maewal (India) – New York Premiere
    Jenny & Lalo – Directed by Janine Salinas Schoenberg (USA) – East Coast Premiere
    L’Autre Feme – Directed by marie KA (Senegal) – East Coast Premiere
    Midday Crisis – Directed by Jeff Man (USA) – New York Premiere
    Milk & Honey – Directed by Daniel Pfeffer (USA)
    Missing Grandma – Directed by Adel L. Morales (USA) – World Premiere
    Muted – Directed by Rachel Goldberg (USA)
    One Past – Directed by Juli S. Kobayashi (USA) – World Premiere
    Pitahaya – Directed by Albert Espinosa (Spain) – New York Premiere
    Present Trauma – Directed by Mark D. Manalo (USA) – East Coast Premiere
    Serena Strong – Directed by Philiane Phang (USA) – World Premiere
    Seventh Grade – Directed by Stefani Saintoge (USA)
    Silencio Chino – Directed by Javier Melero De Luca (Venezuela) – US Premiere
    Sketch – Directed by Stephen T. Barton (USA) – New York Premiere
    Strings Attached – Directed by Nelcie Souffrant (USA) – New York Premiere
    The Bravest, The Boldest – Directed by Moon molson (USA) – New York Premiere
    The End Again – Directed by Crystle C. Roberson (USA) – New York Premiere
    Tobacco Burn – Directed by Justin Liberman (USA) – New York Premiere
    Tonsure – Directed by Fred Bumaye (USA) – World Premiere
    Woman In Fragments – Directed by Qun Xhou (USA/China/Japan) – New York Premiere
    Your Love – Directed by Laila Petrone (USA) – World Premiere
    You’re Dead To Me – Directed by Wu Tsang (USA) – New York Premiere

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  • Mat Kirkby’s THE PHONE CALL, Péter Vácz’s RABBIT AND DEER Win at 1 Reel Film Festival

    RABBIT AND DEERRABBIT AND DEER

    The 19th annual 1 Reel Film Festival announced this year’s jury award winners for best narrative and best animated short. Curated by SIFF, the festival brings in over 100 short films from around the world during the three days of the Bumbershoot festival. The 1 Reel Film Festival is known as one of the nation’s most well-attended short film festivals in the United States, drawing nearly 10,000 attendees each year.

    The 2014 1 Reel Film Festival Jury award winners will each be presented with a $500 cash prize.

    1 Reel Film Festival jury award winners:

    Narrative Winner:

    THE PHONE CALL, director: Mat Kirkby (United Kingdom)

    the-phone-call

     

    Jury Statement: The jury awards the Narrative Prize to the short, The Phone Call. This moving film engages the viewer with its bold and authentic approach to mental illness, beautiful cinematography, and dynamic performances from Sally Hawkins and (the voice of) Jim Broadbent. It’s a touching, relevant, and heartbreaking piece of filmmaking that imparts audiences with a tender balance of awareness and empathy. Mat Kirkby’s short film is a small but stunning wonder.

    Special Jury Award:

    THE NEW WEST, director: Peter Edlund (USA)

    Jury Statement: The jury awards the Narrative Prize to the short, The New West. This tense and pulsating short immediately engages the viewer with its crisp and luminous cinematography, heartfelt and dynamic performances, and bold story. It’s a remarkable piece of filmmaking that’s enigmatic and dream-like, yet also startling and haunting. A thriller with much on its mind, The New West is simply compelling.

    Animation Winner:

    RABBIT AND DEER, director: Péter Vácz (Hungary)

    Jury Statement: The jury awards the Animation Prize to the short, Rabbit and Deer. It’s a witty, wild, and wickedly clever piece of animation that experiments with the genre’s form while remaining fantastically entertaining and accessible. Rabbit and Deer is equal parts wacky and profound, taking a unique approach to tell a story of friendship and realms of existence.

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  • San Francisco International Film Festival 2015 Dates and Call For Filmmaker Submissions

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    san francisco international film festival

    The 58th San Francisco International Film Festival will take place April 23 through May 7, 2015), and with tens of thousands in cash prizes is inviting filmmakers to submit their films for entry.  Works in all genres, forms and lengths are considered.  Founded in 1957, SFIFF is the longest-running film festival in the Americas. 

    FIlmmaker Deadlines:
      *  Early deadline Monday, October 6
      *  Regular deadline Monday, November 3
      *  Final deadline for short films Monday, December 1
      *  Final deadline for features Monday, December 8 

    HOW TO ENTER  Entry form and information: sffs.org or withoutabox.com.

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  • Sally Kirkland Stars in ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN Directed by Sharon Greytak

    Archaeology Of A Woman starring Sally Kirkland and Victoria Clarke

    Archaeology Of A Woman, written and directed by renowned indie film director Sharon Greytak, is an intense drama that explores the life of a woman beset by the early stages of dementia. The film stars Oscar nominated/Golden Globe winner Sally Kirkland and Tony-winner Victoria Clark.  

    Archaeology Of A Woman received two Gold Remi Awards at Worldfest-Houston including Lifetime Achievement for Sally Kirkland and Outstanding Independent Films. It was honored with a CINE Golden Eagle Award, and was also an official selection of the Woodstock Film Festival.

    Archaeology Of A Woman starring Sally Kirkland

    Margaret, played superbly and convincingly by Sally Kirkland, is suffering from the early stages of dementia. This is quite evident immediately as the film begins with Margaret at a mall parking lot, where she frantically searches for her car.  She meanders through the sea of cars, totally perplexed at the absence of her means of transport.  Police officers, standing on the sideline, observe her frantic behavior.  The officers approach and offer their assistance.  She is certain she left her mode of transport somewhere in the parking lot, which she emphatically communicates to them.  Eventually, they convince her to accompany them, and they transport her home.  On arrival, the officers spot her car in the driveway.  It is at this juncture that Margaret’s daughter is contacted.  The officers inform the daughter of her mother’s confusion regarding the whereabouts of her vehicle.  Her reaction is one of genuine concern for her mother’s well-being.

    archaeology of a woman Victoria Clark and Sally Kirkland

    Her daughter, Kate, played by the talented Victoria Clarke, is an aspiring chef who resides in the city. She is forced to travel to the suburbs on numerous occasions to deal with her mother’s escapades.   Kate helplessly observes the decline of her mother’s mental acuity. Margaret’s deteriorating health may result in the loss of her home and independent lifestyle.  In her heyday, Margaret (Sally Kirkland) worked as a  newspaper writer.  As a writer, her life was a series of unending words, but today, her life is a series of unending images.

    archaeology of a woman sally kirkland

    As the story unfolds, we are taken on a ride, a ride into the characters mind.  Here, in the recesses of her mind lies the key to unlocking the door to the past. The images on the television have awakened in her a sense of loss, regret and guilt. The guilt is linked to a murder which occurred 30 years ago. We learn of this crime through Margaret’s flashbacks and the news reels that are sporadically humming on the television.  Throughout the film, Margaret tries to communicate her recollection of this crime to Kate. However, Kate thinks her mother isn’t lucid, and doesn’t believe that her mother is somehow entangled in a 30-year- old macabre crime.

    archaeology of a woman Sally Kirkland and James Murtaugh

     Margaret, is the bridge between the past and the present.  She is the link between people and events.  She believes her existence is being threatened and she is being pursued by a police officer.  Is he the officer from her past?   As the character moves through the house she has flashbacks.   Are her recollections accurate? How can we trust the mind of a person plagued with dementia.   She walks into the kitchen, opens the refrigerator, and gently lays her shirt in this locale. How can we trust her mind? Does this murder represent a love she tried to squash by burying it in her subconscious?

    Although the film ending did not live up to my full expectations, considering the amazing and unique storyline that was developed, it is an ingenious exploration of dementia and the effects on a person’s psyche.  It is an original and complex film. The film examines a kaleidoscope of emotions and experiences that are intertwined and interwoven.

    Archaeology Of A Woman is playing at the Village East Cinema, September 12 – 18, 2014. 

    About The Stars:

    Fiercely independent, Oscar-nominated/Golden Globe-winning actress Sally Kirkland is a veteran of over 111 films and 30 years in TV and theatre. It was the film “Anna” directed by Yurek Bogayevicz that brought Kirkland her Oscar nomination, Golden Globe win, the Independent Spirit Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle Award. Kirkland’s first role was in the 1964 Andy Warhol film “13 Most Beautiful Women.” This led to the still controversial film “Coming Apart,” where she starred with Rip Torn, followed by “The Sting” co-starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and “The Way We Were” with Barbra Streisand. She starred in “Revenge” with Kevin Costner, “Best of the Best” with Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones, “Cold Feet” with Tom Waits and Keith Carradine, “JFK” with Kevin Costner, “Cheatin Hearts” with James Brolin and Kris Kristofferson, “Ed TV” with Matthew McConnaughey and “Bruce Almighty” with Jim Carrey.

    Broadway star Victoria Clark received the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as a Drama League honor for her luminous portrayal in the critically acclaimed Craig Lucas musical “The Light in the Piazza” on Broadway. Clark has also starred on Broadway in “The Snow Geese” and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” the Los Angeles revival of “Follies” and starred on Broadway in “Sister Act,” both receiving Tony nominations. She portrayed the role of Gabrielle York in Lincoln Center’s heralded production of “When the Rain Stops Falling,” for which she received a Drama Desk Award Nomination. She also starred opposite Nathan Gunn in the staged production of “The Grapes of Wrath.” Clark was also among the featured performers in “Stephen Sondheim: The Birthday Concert” held at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and televised on PBS. Her selected film credits include “Cradle Will Rock” (Tim Robbins, dir.) and “The Happening” (M. Night Shyamalan, dir.).

    About the Filmmaker:

    Sharon Greytak has written, produced and directed feature-length fiction films, documentaries and experimental shorts. Greytak’s films include the award-winning international documentary “Losing It,” exploring quality of life issues and physical disability shot on three continents.  For “Losing It,” she was the recipient of a Soros/Sundance Documentary Fund grant. Her critically acclaimed narrative feature films include “The Love Lesson,” the story of an unconventional adoption arrangement between two women and their HIV positive heterosexual son, and the award-winning “Hearing Voices,” exploring a model’s private and public identities. Earlier films include the seminal documentary “Weirded Out and Blown Away” and experimental films “Some Pleasure on the Level of the Source” and “Czechoslovakian Woman.”

    In 2012, the UCLA/Sundance Collection acquired three of Greytak’s feature films for their archives. Her work has screened at The Museum of Modern Art, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Village East Cinema, REDCAT Theater, George Eastman House, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Laemmle Theatres, American Cinemateque at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood, Film de Femmes Cretail France and numerous international film festivals.

    She is the recipient of two CINE Awards, the 2012 Burton Blatt Insitute Prize for Leadership in the Arts “for her entire body of work and its importance to the international arts community,” and awards from Athens International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, DoubleTake and Black Maria film festivals. She was a participant in the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, and received fellowships and grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Soros Documentary Fund, the Jerome Foundation, the American Film Institute and ArtsLink CEC International Partners. She is also a Yaddo and MacDowell Fellow. Her films are in the collection of MoMA, UCLA/Sundance Collection, the New Museum of Contemporary Art New York and the Open Society Archive Budapest.

    Credits:

    Director/Writer/Producer: Sharon Greytak
    Producers: Idanna Pucci, Terence Ward
    Line Producer: Petra Ahmann
    Cinematographer: Gus Sacks
    Editors: Ulysses Guidotti, Marian Sears Hunter
    Composer: Heather Schmidt
    Casting: Adrienne Stern
    Production Design: Emmeline Wilks-Dupoise

    Social Media:

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archaeologyofawoman
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArchofaWoman  

     

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  • Camden International Film Festival Reveals 2014 Film Lineup

     HAPPY VALLEYHAPPY VALLEY

    The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) announced its slate of feature and short films in their 10th festival taking place September 25 thru 28, 2014 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine.  CIFF will present over 60 features and short films from all across the globe and from our very own Maine, with filmmakers in attendance at nearly every screening.

    Now entering its tenth year, the Camden International Film Festival presents a snapshot of the cultural landscape through the year’s best non-fiction storytelling.  The festival is recognized as one of the top 12 documentary film festivals in the world, and one of the 12 best small town film festivals in the US. In addition to the festival’s expanded Points North Fellowship, a new partnership with Al Jazeera’s AJ+ to host the first AJ+ live pitch, CIFF announces the main slate of films, which includes Points North Pitch alum In Country and Mateo. In addition to the titles below, CIFF will screen the Cinema Eye Honors’ Nonfiction Short Film Finalists, whose titles will be announced from the festival later this month.

    “We couldn’t be more pleased with this years festival program,” says Ben Fowlie, Founder and Executive Director of the Camden International Film Festival. “Over the past ten years we’ve had the opportunity to share a selection of films that highlight both the creativity and unique ways artists are using to tell stories, and the impact these stories can have on community. This year is no exception.”

    Camden International Film Festival will announce their Points North Documentary Forum line up of films, speakers and panels later this week.

    2014 CAMDEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES

    A GOAT FOR A VOTE
    Jeroen van Velzen | Netherlands | 2014

    A Goat for a Vote follows three students in Kenya competing to become the next school president. Winning the election will not only earn them power and respect, but guarantees a role within Kenyan society in the future. Magdalene has to prove herself in a boy-dominated school that has never been led by a girl. She has the impossible task of uniting all girls in her fight for equal rights. Harry, from the poor side of town, hopes to win so he will be able to take care of his family in the future. He struggles against the popular Said, who is a natural born leader with a disarming smile.

    ACTRESS
    Robert Greene | United States | 2014

    Brandy Burre had a recurring role on HBO’s “The Wire” when she gave up her career to start a family. When she decides to reclaim her life as an actor, the domestic world she has carefully created crumbles around her. Using elements of melodrama and cinema verité, Actress is both a present tense portrait of a dying relationship and an exploration of a complicated woman, performing the role of herself, in a complex-yet-familiar story.

    ALIVE INSIDE
    Michael Rossato-Bennett | United States | 2014

    Alive Inside is an exploration of music’s capacity to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicles the astonishing experiences of individuals who have been revitalized through the simple experience of listening to music. His camera reveals the uniquely human connection we find in music and how its healing power can triumph where prescription medication falls short. This documentary follows social worker Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, as he fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it.

     APPROACHING THE ELEPHANT
    Amanda Rose Wilder | United States | 2014

    It is year one for students Lucy and Jiovanni, and school director Alex at the Teddy McArdle Free School in Little Falls, New Jersey, where classes are voluntary and rules are created by democratic vote. Wilder is there from the beginning, observing an indelible cast of outspoken young personalities as they form relationships, explore their surroundings, and intensely debate rule violations until it all comes to a head.

     ART AND CRAFT
    Sam Cullman and Jennifer Grausman, co-directed by Mark Becker | United States | 2014

    Mark Landis has been called one of the most prolific art forgers in USA history. His impressive body of work spans thirty years, covering a wide range of paintings that could fetch impressive sums on the open market—but Landis isn’t in it for money. Posing as a philanthropic donor, a grieving executor of a family member’s will, and as a Jesuit priest, Landis has given away hundreds of works over the years to a staggering list of institutions. But after duping a tenacious registrar who discovers his ruse and sets out to expose him, Landis must confront his own legacy and a chorus of museum professionals clamoring for him to stop.

    BUGARACH
    Sergi Cameron, Ventura Durall, Salvador Sunyer | Spain, Germany | 2014

    Bugarach is a tiny village in southern France where everyone lives a quiet life, isolated from the world—until the day the international media spreads the news that Bugarach is the only place that will allegedly survive doomsday. The arrival of increasingly outlandish strangers soon begins to disturb the local population and what unfolds is a landscape of existential emptiness.

     DESERT HAZE
    Sofie Benoot | Belgium, Netherlands | 2014

    The American West. A world where human life seems to be impossible. An arid, mythical landscape characterized by the absence of water. But traces start to appear and the film becomes a peculiar portrait of America, between present and past, myth and reality: astronauts preparing for future missions to Mars, Japanese country singers, military archeologists, and many other forms of life.

     E-TEAM
    Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman | United States | 2013

    E-Team is driven by the high-stakes investigative work of four intrepid human rights workers and offers a rare look at their lives at home and in the field. Anna, Ole, Fred, and Peter are four members of the Emergencies Team—or E-Team—the boots on the ground division of a respected, international human rights group. Arriving as soon as possible after allegations of human rights abuse surface, the E-Team uncovers crucial evidence to determine if further investigation is warranted and to give voice to thousands whose stories would otherwise never have been told.

     FLORENCE, ARIZONA – Sneak Preview!
    Andrea B. Scott | United States | 2014

    Florence, Arizona is a cowboy town with a prison problem. Founded in 1866, this bastion of the Wild West is home to 8,500 civilians and 17,000 inmates spread over nine prisons. Through an unconventional lens, Florence, Arizona weaves together the stories of four key residents of Florence, whose lives have all been shadowed in some way by the surrounding prison industrial complex. The result is an intricately crafted cinematic tapestry, threaded through with deep strands of Americana, humor, intimacy, and pathos, revealing as much about ourselves as it does about our modern carceral state.

    THE GREAT INVISIBLE
    Margaret Brown | United States | 2014

    On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the worst oil spill in American history. The explosion still haunts the lives of those most intimately affected, though the story has long ago faded from the front page. At once a fascinating corporate thriller, a heartbreaking human drama, and a peek inside the walls of the secretive oil industry, The Great Invisible is the first documentary feature to go beyond the media coverage to examine the crisis in-depth through the eyes of oil executives, survivors, and Gulf Coast residents who experienced it first-hand.

     HAPPINESS
    Thomas Balmes | France, Finland | 2013

    Peyangki is a dreamy and solitary eight-year-old monk living in Laya, a Bhutanese village perched high in the Himalayas. Soon, the world will come to him: the village will be connected to electricity, and the first television will flicker on before Peyangki’s eyes.

     HAPPY VALLEY
    Amir Bar-Lev | United States | 2014

    The town of State College, the home of Penn State University, lies at the heart of an area long known as Happy Valley. Its iconic figure for more than 40 years was Joe Paterno, the head coach of the school’s storied football team, who took on mythic national stature as “Saint Joe.” But then, in November 2011, everything came crashing down. Former Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of child sex abuse. Filmed over the course of the year after Sandusky’s arrest, Happy Valley chronicles the ensuing firestorm of accusations about who failed to protect Happy Valley’s children. Director Amir Bar-Lev creates a parable of guilt, responsibility, and identity for a small town caught in the glare of the national spotlight.

     IN COUNTRY
    Mike Attie, Meghan O’Hara | United States | 2014

    War is Hell. Why would anyone want to spend their weekends there? Few would mistake Oregon’s grassy fields for the jungles of Vietnam, but war re-enactors try. Dressed in fatigues, these men willingly recreate a war most choose to forget. This at times humorous, but ultimately disquieting, trip into the men’s minds and private lives blurs fantasy with trauma, therapy with nostalgia. The effect is purposefully disorienting—is this harmless enthusiasm for a hobby or unhealthy fandom for a brutal war? In Country is a powerful commentary on a culture that venerates a past from which it hasn’t yet recovered.
    Points North Pitch alum!

     THE IRON MINISTRY
    J.P. Sniadecki | United States | 2014

    Filmed over three years on China’s railways, The Iron Ministry traces the vast interiors of a country on the move: flesh and metal, clangs and squeals, light and dark, language and gesture. Scores of rail journeys come together into one, capturing the thrills and anxieties of social and technological transformation. The Iron Ministry immerses audiences in fleeting relationships and uneasy encounters between humans and machines on what will soon be the world’s largest railway network.

    GUIDELINES (LA MARCHE A SUIVRE)
    Jean-Francois Caissy | Canada | 2014

    Guidelines (La marche à suivre) is a series of tableaux illustrating the occasionally trying existence of young people at a rural secondary school. Emphasizing the contrasts between the regulated environment of the classroom and the beckoning freedom of the great outdoors, the film gradually reveals the interior drama of adolescence, with its shifts from fragility to reckless abandon.

     THE LAST SEASON
    Sara Dosa | United States | 2014

    Amid the bustling world of central Oregon’s wild matsutake mushroom hunting camps, the lives of two former soldiers intersect. Roger, a 75-year-old sniper with the U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam, and Kouy, a 46-year-old platoon leader of Cambodia’s Khmer Freedom Fighters who battled the brutal Khmer Rouge, come together each fall to hunt the elusive matsutake mushroom, a rare mushroom prized in Japanese culture and cuisine. In the woods, the pair discovers more than just mushrooms: they find a new life, and livelihood; and a means to slowly heal the scarring wounds of war. Told over the course of one matsutake mushroom season, The Last Season is a journey into the woods, into the memory of war and survival, telling a story of family from an unexpected place.

    MATEO
    Aaron I. Naar | United States | 2014

    Matthew Stoneman dreamed of pop stardom. Instead, he went to jail, learned Spanish, and emerged as “Mateo,” America’s first white mariachi singer. Mateo is on the brink of completing an album of original songs in Havana. But his estrangement from friends and family, his criminal past, and his love for Cuban women could derail him on his quest for fame.
    Points North Pitch alum!

     MR. DYNAMITE: THE RISE OF JAMES BROWN
    Alex Gibney | United States | 2014

    James Brown changed the face of American music. Soul Brother Number One, as he was known, pioneered the journey from rhythm and blues to funk. More than that, this American legend—who willed himself to life after he was stillborn—was a classic embodiment of the American dream. The son of a “turpentine man” from rural South Carolina, Brown became one the greatest live performers ever known, the “hardest working man in show business,” and a self-made millionaire. With unique cooperation of the Brown estate, this is a definitive documentary biography of the James Brown story and legend, 1933–1974.

     NE ME QUITTE PAS
    Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Niels van Koevorden | Netherlands, Belgium | 2013

    Ne Me Quitte Pas is a tragicomic ode to failure. Set in a village on the edge of Belgium, Bob (Flemish) and Marcel (Walloon) share their solitude, sense of humor and craving for alcohol. They have agreed that suicide is the best way out if worse comes to worst. In that case, they have chosen the perfect spot to do so: under the tree of life of Bob, a retired cowboy. Ne Me Quitte Pas is a Belgian drama about life on the brink of society in all its beauty, modesty and irony. The authenticity of the main characters is painful and confronting, yet entertaining and utterly charming. It is a story about mortality in a place where time seems to stand still.

     THE NOTORIOUS MR. BOUT
    Tony Gerber, Maxim Pozdorovkin | Russia, United States | 2014

    Viktor Bout was a Russian entrepreneur, a war profiteer, an aviation magnate, an arms smuggler and, strangest of all, an amateur filmmaker. Until three days prior to his 2008 arrest on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, Bout kept the camera running, documenting a life spent in the gray areas of international law. Dubbed the “merchant of death,” and portrayed by Nicolas Cage in Lord of War, Viktor Bout can justifiably be called the world’s most famous arms dealer. With unprecedented access to Bout’s home movies and DEA surveillance material gathered during the sting operation to bring him down, The Notorious Mr. Bout is a portrait of a life much mythologized but little understood.

    THE OVERNIGHTERS
    Jesse Moss | United States | 2014

    When hydraulic fracturing unlocks a vast oil field in North Dakota’s Bakken shale, tens of thousands of unemployed men descend on the state with dreams of honest work and a big paycheck. In the tiny town of Williston, busloads of newcomers step into the sad reality of slim work prospects and nowhere to sleep. Over at Concordia Lutheran Church, Pastor Jay Reinke is hell-bent on delivering the migrants some dignity. Night after night he converts his church into a makeshift dorm and counseling center, opening the church’s doors to allow the “Overnighters” – as he calls them. The Overnighters engages and dramatizes universal themes: the promise and limits of re-invention, redemption and compassion.

    POINT AND SHOOT
    Marshall Curry | United States | 2014

    In 2006, Matt VanDyke, a timid 26-year-old with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, left home in Baltimore and set off on a self-described “crash course in manhood.” He bought a motorcycle and a video camera and began a three-year, 35,000-mile motorcycle trip through Northern Africa and the Middle East. While traveling, he struck up an unlikely friendship with a Libyan hippie, and when revolution broke out in Libya, Matt joined his friend in the fight against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. With a gun in one hand and a camera in the other, Matt fought in—and filmed—the war until he was captured by Gaddafi forces and held in solitary confinement for six months. Two-time Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry tells this harrowing and sometimes humorous story of a young man’s struggle for political revolution and personal transformation.

     RICH HILL
    Tracy Droz Tragos, Andrew Droz Palermo | United States | 2014

    Rich Hill, Missouri could be any of the countless small towns that blanket America’s heartland, but to teenagers Andrew, Harley and Appachey, it’s home. As they ride their skateboards, go to football practice, and arm-wrestle their fathers, they are like millions of other boys coming of age the world over. But faced with unfortunate circumstances—an imprisoned mother, isolation, instability, and parental unemployment—adolescence can be a day-to-day struggle just to survive. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, Rich Hill is a moving examination of the challenges, hopes, and dreams of rural America’s youth.

     THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO
    Ian Cheney | United States | 2014

    Who was General Tso? And why are we eating his chicken? The Search for General Tso explores the phenomenon of Chinese American food through the lens of America’s most popular Chinese takeout meal. On a lively journey through restaurants, Chinatowns, and American popular culture, the film unravels the mysterious origins of General Tso’s Chicken—and in the process explores a larger story of immigration and cultural exchange. A quest brimming with mystery and humor ends in a surprisingly poignant visit with the 92-year-old inventor of the chicken that conquered America.!

    SEEDS OF TIME
    Sandy McLeod | United States | 2014

    A perfect storm is brewing as agriculture pioneer Cary Fowler races against time to protect the future of our food. Gene banks of the world are crumbling, crop failures are producing starvation-inspired rioting, and the accelerating effects of climate change are already affecting farmers globally. But Fowler’s journey, and our own, is just beginning: From Rome to Russia and, finally, a remote island under the Arctic Circle, Fowler’s passionate and personal journey may hold the key to saving the one resource we cannot live without: our seeds.

     SILENCED
    James Spione | United States | 2014

    In Silenced, Academy Award nominated documentarian James Spione investigates what really happened inside the USA security establishment after the events of September 11th, 2001 that caused it to radically change course in profound and lasting ways. Exploring the unique courage and character it takes to challenge unethical behavior from within the American national security establishment, Silenced offers a provocative critique of systemic failures of the U.S. government and its draconian over-reactions. The film, through its vivid characters, challenges the national narrative from which our mainstream discourse seldom deviates: of America the victim, of America protecting liberties at home and abroad.

     SONG FROM THE FOREST
    Michael Obert | Germany | 2014

    As a young man, American-born Louis Sarno heard a song on the radio that never let him out of its grasp. He followed the mysterious sounds back to the Central African rainforest, found his music with the Bayaka pygmies, and never came back. Today, 25 years later, Louis is a full member of this community of hunters and gatherers and now has a son, 13-year-old Samedi. Louis travels with his son from the African rainforest to a jungle made of concrete, glass, and asphalt: New York City. Song From the Forest is a modern epic in which the shared journey of father and son steers towards a surprising reversal of roles and gives the viewer an intimation that the African rainforest and urban America, apparently separated worlds, are not all that separate after all.

     TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR
    Jimmy Goldblum, Adam Webber | United States | 2014

    Tomorrow We Disappear is a documentary about Kathputli, India’s last colony of magicians, acrobats, and puppeteers. Since the 1970s, New Delhi’s magicians, puppeteers, and acrobats have called the tinsel slum, the Kathputli Colony, their home. Last year, the government issued relocation permits to the colony residents; the slum is to be bulldozed, cleared for development. Experience the last remnants of this culture born out of folk art and molded by poverty.

     TWO RAGING GRANNIES
    Havard Bustnes | Norway, Denmark, Italy | 2014

    A combination of curiosity and frustration with the status quo drives Shirley and Hinda, two gutsy, nearly 90-year-old American women, to seek answers to the burning question on everyone’s mind: How do we get out of this economic mess? Two Raging Grannies is a touching and thought-provoking documentary that challenges the idea that we must continue to shop, consume, amass, and keep the economy growing. Armed with courage, humor, a long friendship and a zest for life, Shirley and Hinda take to cities and towns across the USA and demonstrate that it is never too late to make a difference.

     VIRUNGA
    Orlando von Einsiedel | United Kingdom | 2014

    In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places in the world and home to the last of the mountain gorillas. In this wild, but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers—including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a caretaker of orphan gorillas, and a Belgian conservationist—protect this UNESCO world heritage site from armed militia, poachers, and the dark forces struggling to control Congo’s rich natural resources. When the newly formed M23 rebel group declares war in May 2012, a new conflict threatens the lives and stability of everyone and everything they’ve worked so hard to protect.

     WAITING FOR AUGUST
    Teodora Ana Mihae | Belgium | 2014

    Georgiana Halmac is turning 15 this winter. She lives with her six siblings in a social housing condo on the outskirts of Bacau (Romania), and their mother Liliana, an economic migrant in Torino, will not be back until the summer. During her mother’s absence, Georgiana is catapulted to the role of new head of the family, and her adolescence is brutally cut short, as she is now responsible for her brothers and sisters. Caught between puberty and responsibility, she moves ahead improvising. Intimate scenes from the daily life of Georgiana and her siblings show both their ingenuity and their fragility.

     WALKING UNDER WATER
    Eliza Kubarska | United Kingdom, Germany, Poland | 2014

    Alexan, the last compressor diver on Mabul Island near Borneo, teaches 10-year-old Sari everything he knows, from dangerous fishing techniques and the temptations of the tourist economy to wisdom about the underwater world. Walking Under Water presents the Badjao tribe’s ancient traditions and collective experience as a magical narrative, spinning the urgent pressures and problems they face into a hybrid of fantasy, fiction and fact. The Badjao people once lived like fish, spending the majority of their time in the water, but with the encroachment of modern civilization, that way of life has become nearly extinct. Breathtaking underwater photography emphasizes this loss and the drought of enchantment on dry land.

    WILD HOME
    Jack Schurman, Robert Schurman | United States | 2014

    Alexan, the last compressor diver on Mabul Island near Borneo, teaches 10-year-old Sari everything he knows, from dangerous fishing techniques and the temptations of the tourist economy to wisdom about the underwater world. Walking Under Water presents the Badjao tribe’s ancient traditions and collective experience as a magical narrative, spinning the urgent pressures and problems they face into a hybrid of fantasy, fiction and fact. The Badjao people once lived like fish, spending the majority of their time in the water, but with the encroachment of modern civilization, that way of life has become nearly extinct. Breathtaking underwater photography emphasizes this loss and the drought of enchantment on dry land.
    Dirigo Doc! Made in Maine!

     

    2014 CAMDEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SHORT FILMS

    3 ACRES IN DETROIT
    Nora Mandray | United States, France | 2013

    A MARRIAGE TO REMEMBER
    Banker White and Anna Fitch | United States | 2014

     ADRIFT
    Frederik Jan Depickere | Belgium, Columbia | 2013

     THE ANIMATED LIFE OF A.R. WALLACE
    Flora Lichtman, Sharon Shattuck | United States | 2013

    BRIDGE TENDER
    Hunter Snyder | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Made in Maine!

     

    CATHEDRALS (KATHEDRALEN)

    Konrad Kästner | Germany | 2013

     CHANGING HANDS: Rocky Ridge Organic Dairy
    Bridget Besaw | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Screens as part of GROWING LOCAL

    CROOKED CANDY
    Andrew Rodgers | United States | 2014

     THE DOGWALKER (HUNDVAKTEN)
    Caroline Ingvarsson | Sweden | 2014

    FOUNDRY NIGHT SHIFT
    Steven Bognar | United States | 2014

    HACKED CIRCUIT
    Deborah Stratman | United States | 2014

     THE HERMIT
    Lena Freidrich | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Made in Maine!

    HOME
    Thomas Gleeson | New Zealand | 2012

     KATAH-DIN
    Taylor Dunne | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Made in Maine!

    THE LAST DAYS OF PETER BERGMANN
    Ciaran Cassidy | Ireland | 2014

    LAST REEL
    Steven Bognar | United States | 2014

    THE LION’S MOUTH OPENS
    Lucy Walker | United States | 2014

    THE MURDER BALLAD OF JAMES JONES
    Jesse Kreitzer | United States | 2014

     NO EXIT
    David Redmon, Ashley Sabin | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Made in Maine!

     NOTES ON BLINDNESS
    Peter Middleton, James Spinney | United Kingdom, United States, Australia | 2014

     ONE YEAR LEASE
    Brian Bolster | United States | 2014

     PARTY LINE
    Alan Magee | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Made in Maine!

    PHOEBE’S BIRTHDAY CHEESEBURGER
    Will Lennon | United States | 2013

     PIG NOT PORK: Farmers Gate Market
    Bridget Besaw | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Screens as part of GROWING LOCAL

    PINK HELMET POSSE
    Benjamin Mullinkosson, Kristelle Laroche | United States | 2014

    SANTA CRUZ DEL ISLOTE
    Luke Lorentzen | United States | 2014

     SEEDING A DREAM: Sheepscot General Store & Uncas Farm
    Bridget Besaw | United States | 2014
    Dirigo Short! Screens as part of GROWING LOCAL

    TWENTY EIGHT FEET: LIFE ON A LITTLE WOODEN BOAT
    Kevin A. Fraser | United States | 2013

     UNLOCKING THE TRUTH
    Luke Meyer | United States | 2013

    Read more

  • 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival Announces Cinema Hooligante Films

     WetlandsWetlands

    The 6th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival, announced its lineup for Cinema Hooligante. Now in its third year, the popular late-night film program expands to include more science fiction, fantasy, and comedy, alongside its traditional repertoire of horror, gore, and cult films. Embracing the mantra “where grown-ups come out to play,” Milwaukee Film adds variety to the mix through a more balanced offering of genres. 

    Also in the lineup this year are two classic films screening in 35mm. John Axford presents Stanley Kubrick’s satirical comedy, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in celebration of its 50th anniversary, (Axford presented Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey at MFF 2013). Rob Reiner’s acclaimed rockumentary, This is Spinal Tap, will also screen in celebration of its 30th anniversary. 

    For those Hooligante fans still recovering from the previous night’s midnight screening, the Milwaukee Film Festival and Milwaukee Record present Bloody Sunday at The Hotel Foster–a hangover party filled with specials on Bloody Marys, free cold pizza, and non-stop horror films onSunday, September 28 from 11am to 3pm.

    2014 MILWAUKEE FILM FESTIVAL

    CINEMA HOOLIGANTE
    Each of these films will push the boundaries of reality, playing with the rules on fantasy, horror, science fiction, comedy, and the very best of cult cinema. Cinema Hooligante is where the grown-ups come out to play.

    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
    (USA, United Kingdom / 1964 / Director: Stanley Kubrick)

    http://youtu.be/1gXY3kuDvSU

    Not just a great black comedy, but one of the greatest films of all time, Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove is vicious and hilarious, a political satire that feels no less fresh and relevant now than it did upon its release 50 years ago. With the Soviet Union and U.S. on the verge of nuclear war, it only takes one loony general (Sterling Hayden) who believes that the Commies seek to destroy our “precious bodily fluids,” a Pentagon war room populated by maniacs (including an unhinged George C. Scott, with Peter Sellers playing both the president and a Nazi scientist), and a patriotic B-52 bomber pilot carrying an atomic payload (the iconic Slim Pickens) to assure our mutual destruction.

     

    Mood Indigo (L’ecume des Jours)
    (France / 2013 / Director: Michel Gondry)

    http://youtu.be/dh3V-dFlmyk 

    Visionary director Michel Gondry returns to the visually spectacular surrealistic love story setting wherein he’s found his greatest success (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep) with Mood Indigo. Colin (Romain Duris) engages in a whirlwind love affair with the beautiful Chloe (Audrey Tautou) only to find Chloe afflicted with a strange malady—a water lily growing in her lungs—that challenges both her health and their relationship. No director is capable of marrying the visually poetic with melancholy as effectively as Gondry, who captures the ecstatic highs and manic lows of love through a series of boundlessly creative sequences.

     

    Patema Inverted (Sakasama No Patema)
    (Japan / 2013 / Director: Yasuhiro Yoshiura)

    http://youtu.be/RQZAXLAV63s

    This stunning anime revolves around a botched scientific experiment that has led to two dramatically different societies: the inverts who have lost their gravity and must live deep underground so as not to fall into the sky, and those who live above and are forbidden to look up for fear of these inverts. Underground princess Patema and rebellious surface-dweller Age refuse to believe in the totalitarian government’s status quo and find one another in this dynamic and intelligent sci-fi allegory. Intelligently exploring ideas about fear of the unknown and prejudice, the film follows Patema and Age as they look to bridge these upside-down worlds and discover the beautiful equilibrium that can come from coexistence.

     

    The Raid 2
    (Indonesia / 2013 / Director: Gareth Evans)

    http://youtu.be/MG9uFX3uYq4 

    An unrelenting exercise in bone-crunching action, The Raid 2 is manna from action-lovers heaven. Undercover cop Rama infiltrates a burgeoning gang war between Arab and Japanese crime syndicates by befriending the son of crime boss Bangun while in prison, insinuating himself into an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse. The perfect antidote for anyone who thought The Departed could’ve done with more face-kicking, director Gareth Evans’ crime epic is packed with action sequences of exquisite intensity. The symphony of mayhem culminates with a nearly 30-minute finale that is among the best ever filmed—it practically demands to be seen on the big screen.

     

    This Is Spinal Tap
    (USA / 1984 / Director: Rob Reiner)

    http://youtu.be/N63XSUpe-0o

    Turn it up to 11 at this year’s MFF with Rob Reiner’s all-time great rockumentary following the exploits of David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and an endless succession of deceased percussionists that form Spinal Tap. With the assistance of eerily accurate details supplied by real-life metal bands, we watch the hilarious exploits of this group on the wane as their misfortune begets smaller and smaller venues (including Milwaukee’s then-fictitious Shank Hall) and larger and funnier insults. An inspiration to every comedic mockumentary that has followed in its footsteps, This Is Spinal Tap hasn’t lost an iota of its verve and energy in the 30 years since its release.

     

    Time Lapse
    (USA / 2014 / Director: Bradley King)

    Trailer: http://vimeo.com/88809713

    Three friends (including MFF 2011 alum Matt O’Leary, Natural Selection) discover a remarkable machine that photographs events exactly 24 hours into the future in this twisting science-fiction action thriller. Found inside an abandoned neighboring apartment, this machine opens up a world of possibilities for the trio to cash in on, but their friendship is tested by an unstable criminal looking to exploit the machine for his own gains. In the proud tradition of past (or is it future?) time-traveling indies such as Timecrimes and Primer, Time Lapse is a film as much about ideas as thrills, combining action, humor, and philosophy with aplomb.

     

    Wetlands (Feuchtgebiete)
    (Germany / 2013 / Director: David Wnendt)

    Trailer: http://vimeo.com/72133858

    A film as unapologetic as the main character it portrays, Wetlands is the adaptation of a novel once thought unfilmable. We follow the explicit exploits of Helen, our skateboarding 18-year-old protagonist whose brazen interest in bodily fluids and female sexuality finds her sharing used tampons, masturbating with vegetables, and exploring all other manner of debauchery. An unfortunate shaving mishap lands her in the hospital with an anal fissure, so she whiles away the hours by scheming to reunite her divorced parents and engaging in ribald flirtation with her handsome male nurse. Unashamed and uncompromising, but filled with infectious energy and a showstopping lead performance, Wetlands is an unforgettable film experience.

    Witching and Bitching (Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi)
    (Spain, France / 2013 / Director: Álex de la Iglesia)

    http://youtu.be/ISqG3zjZZVk

    Alex de la Iglesia (The Last Circus, MFF 2011) is back with his latest go-for-broke genre mash-up, following a group of robbers who hide out in the Basque countryside in the aftermath of an audacious daytime robbery. Little do they know they’ve happened upon the infamous village of Zugarramurdi, home to a coven of vengeful witches—and the robbers happen to be just in time for an ancient ceremony that requires the ultimate sacrifice from its unwilling male participants. Iglesia fills his madcap supernatural spectacle with copious amounts of sex, gore, and comedy, living up to his reputation as Spain’s preeminent master of gonzo filmmaking.

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  • 2014 Austin Film Festival Reveals First Slate of Films; Centerpiece Film to feature Kevin Costner’s “Black and White”

    [caption id="attachment_6549" align="aligncenter" width="550"]Black and White Black and White[/caption] Austin Film Festival (AFF), announced  the first slate of films included in the 2014 lineup of Festival screenings October 23 thru 30, 2014. The complete list of programming at the 21st annual AFF, including short films, competition titles, and Conference panels, will be announced in mid-September.  Black and White from Writer/Director Mike Binder has been selected as the Centerpiece Film. Starring Academy Award-winners Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer, Black and White is the story of a widowed grandfather (Costner) who is left to raise his bi-racial granddaughter. When the little girl’s paternal grandmother (Spencer) seeks custody, a bitter legal battle ensues that forces the uneasy family members to have an honest conversation about life, death, anger and America’s racial divide.  Additional selections include The Sound and the Fury, The Imitation Game, The Homesman, and the World Premieres of 21 Years: Richard Linklater and Dawn Patrol. AFF 2014 EARLY FILMS: CENTERPIECE FILM: Black and White  Writer/Director: Mike Binder (In attendance) Cast in attendance: Jillian Estell Starring Academy Award-winners Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer, Black and White is the story of a widowed grandfather (Costner) who is left to raise his bi-racial granddaughter. When the little girl’s paternal grandmother (Spencer) seeks custody, a bitter legal battle ensues that forces the uneasy family members to have an honest conversation about life, death, anger and America’s racial divide. Also starring Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Ehle, Gillian Jacobs, Bill Burr, Andre Holland, and introducing Jillian Estell. 21 Years: Richard Linklater – World Premiere Director: Michael Dunaway, Tara Wood (In attendance) A spirited look at the first 21 years of writer/director Richard Linklater’s remarkable career, featuring interviews with collaborators Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Billy Bob Thornton, Keanu Reeves, Jack Black, and more. 7 Minutes – World Premiere Writer/Director: Jay Martin (In attendance) Cast in attendance: Luke Mitchell, Leven Rambin Three former high-school friends are forced to commit a brazen robbery that quickly goes horribly wrong. Featuring a cast of Kris Kristofferson, Luke Mitchell, Jason Ritter, and Leven Rambin. Dawn Patrol – World Premiere Writer: Rachel Long, Brian Pittman (In attendance) Director: Daniel Petrie Jr. (In attendance) Cast and Crew in attendance: Scott Eastwood, Rita Wilson, Jeff Fahey, Chris Brochu, Kim Matula, Dendrie Taylor, Matt Meola, Rick Dugdale A surfer-turned-Marine (Scott Eastwood) held at gunpoint tells his tragic story of revenge-gone-wrong to stall his execution. With the screenplay originating out of Austin Film Festival’s 2008 Screenplay Competition, Dawn Patrol (formerly Stranded) was acquired by Dan Petrie Jr and Rick Dugdale at Enderby Entertainment and makes its way back to Texas this October for its World Premiere. One-Eyed Girl – World Premiere Writer: Craig Behenna, Nick Matthews (In attendance) Director: Nick Matthews Cast in attendance: Mark Leonard Winter, Tilda Cobham-Hervey A psychiatrist haunted by the death of a former patient stumbles upon a Doomsday cult and battles to save a teenage girl (Cobham-Hervey) from its clutches. The Homesman – Texas Premiere Writer: Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley A. Oliver, Kieran Fitzgerald Director: Tommy Lee Jones When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven to the brink, the task of saving them from their surroundings falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank).  Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a feisty low-life drifter, George Biggs (Tommy Lee Jones), to join her.  The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife (Meryl Streep) have offered to take the women in.  But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat. The Imitation Game – Texas Premiere Writer: Graham Moore Director: 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 prosecuted by the UK government in 1952 for homosexual acts which the country deemed illegal. The Sound and the Fury – Texas Premiere Writer: Matt Rager, William Faulkner (Novel) Director: James Franco Directed by and starring Academy Award® nominee James Franco, The Sound and The Fury captures the lives and passions of the Compsons, a once proud Southern family caught in a tragic spiral of loss and misfortune. Based on the novel by Noble Prize winner author William Faulkner and considered among the 20th century’s greatest works, The Sound and the Fury encapsulates the universal theme of the death of honor, social injustice and forbidden love. The Texas Promise – World Premiere Director: Vanessa Roth (In attendance) From Academy-Award ® winning documentarian, Vanessa Roth, The Texas Promise is the gripping story of equity, politics, money, and our children as historic decisions are being made about opportunity, the economy, and our democracy. When the Texas legislature cut $5.4 billion from public schools, it affected the daily lives of the 5 million students in Texas public schools and made Texas 49th in the country in per pupil spending.  Texans took to the streets in protest, districts from across Texas sued the state, and ideological battle lines were drawn in Austin.  

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