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Morten Tyldum’s THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley to Receive 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at Hamptons International Film Festival

Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF)

THE IMITATION GAME

The 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize of the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) will be awarded to Morten Tyldum’s THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Mark Strong. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation chose the film for its sensitive and moving portrait of the complex, brilliant mathematician who not only created the model for the early computer and for computer language, but whose code breaking skills helped the Allies win World War II. As part of the Festival’s Spotlight section, the film will screen on October 11th at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

Benedict Cumberbatch delivers a monumental performance as British mathematician Alan Turing in Morten Tyldum’s stirring historical drama. Told via flashback, THE IMITATION GAME tracks the young, brilliant, and socially awkward Turing in the early days of World War II as he applies for a top-secret position tasked with decoding the “unbreakable” Nazi cipher machine called Enigma, used to encrypt all military radio transmissions. His work was famously labeled by Winston Churchill as “the greatest single contribution to victory,” but after the war he suffered great personal and professional turmoil as he dealt with his homosexuality in a time when it was illegal. The Weinstein Company will release the film on November 21, 2014.

In addition to the film prize award, HIFF will present the Sloan Screenplay Readings on Sunday, October 12 at 4pm. PALIMPSEST written by Ben Nabors & Michael Tyburski and Evan Schwartz’s TELEVISIONARIES are this year’s featured selections. Avram Ludwig will direct the readings of a terrific cast including Richard Kind, Michael Nathanson, Harris Yulin, Lois Robbins, Tom Brangle and Robert Mobley. PALIMPSEST and TELEVISIONARIES were bothfeatured in HIFF’s Sloan Screenwriters Lab last April.

The October 11th Festival screening of THE IMITATION GAME will be followed by a panel discussion about the use of cryptography and computer science in a historical context, as well as Turing’s impact in the field. The panel will include Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard/Columbia, and Dan Guido, co-founder and CEO of Trail of Bits, an information security firm, and the Hacker in Residence at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering.

The 22nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, October 9-13, 2014.
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FISHING WITHOUT NETS Tackles Somali Pirates

Film Reviews

Filmmaker Cutter Hodierne was awarded the Directing Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival for Fishing Without Nets. Though Hodierne is a first-time feature filmmaker, it was actually his second award-winning trip to Sundance – in 2012, a short version of Fishing Without Nets was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking. The earlier short is worth noting because the feature length version of Fishing Without Nets, which is about Somali pirates, inevitably draws comparisons to last year’s major studio release Captain Phillips, directed by Paul Greengrass. While Hodierne isn’t quite as successful, his film embarks on a story that is more difficult to tell because it is from the perspective of the hijackers rather than those who are hijacked.

Fishing Without Nets is a story about what a desperate man will do to provide a better life for his family. The man in this case is Abdi (Abdikani Muktar Manur), a poor young Somali fisherman whose only way to improve the lives of his wife and son is to go on a raid with pirates who capture ships and hold he crew for ransom. Though Abdi is hesitant, his friend China Boy (Abdiwali Farrah) knows that Abdi knows how to sail the fishing lanes because he is a fisherman, and he pressures Abdi to come with him on a raid. After telling himself “A man is not a man until he can feed his children. Only death can stop me from feeding mine,” Abdi decides to join up with the pirates after using all his money to send his wife and child out of the country, where he hopes to join them once he receives his payment for the raid.

The older pirate leaders remark about how impressionable and easy to manipulate the young recruits are, and Hodierne reveals this by showing the young pirates taking photos of themselves as they pose with the rifles before the raid. It establishes that these pirates seem to think that they’re engaging in a game and not an act of terrorism. Ironically for a fisherman, Abdi admits how fearful he is of drowning. However, it’s clear that he is not just talking about the ocean, but also of drowning in a life of lawlessness.

The ship raiding scenes are similar to those in Captain Phillips, except that these pirates are more successful at taking over the ship. The presentation is also wildly different – there is less disorientating camerawork and the score is far more subdued (in fact, there are few music cues in the entire film). Because of that, it is sometimes hard to forget that you’re not watching a documentary.

After the ship is captured, Abdi’s group is put in charge of a French hostage named Victor (Reda Kateb). Though Abdi and Victor don’t speak the same language, they began to understand each other and Abdi feels growing sympathy for his captive. When the ransom doesn’t come as quickly as they hope, the pirates become increasingly desperate. The situation soon spirals out of control, and Abdi discovers even his wife and son are not safe, especially when other pirates become suspicious of Abdi’s friendliness with their French prisoner.

However, it’s worth noting that although this film attempts to humanize Somali pirates by portraying ship raids from their perspective, Abdi is the only pirate in the film who is depicted sympathetically. While all of the other young pirates are portrayed as being desperate for money and little more than muscle for their older bosses, they are still only in on the raid for the money. As a result, the film doesn’t so much humanize the Somali pirates as a whole but humanizes Abdi as an exception to the other money-hungry, khat-chewing, gun-toting pirates. It’s almost a throwback to the old American Westerns in which all of Native Americans were portrayed as bloodthirsty savages save for one “noble savage” whom was meant to transcend the stereotype. Unfortunately, not much can be dispelled when one noble figure is depicted among a group made up of stereotypes. For example, the scenes between Abdi and Victor reveal how compassionate Abdi is, but the other pirates have no room for that.

Because of that and the film’s borderline deus ex machina ending (or is it? It’s hard to tell considering the final shot) that also manages to leave several narrative thread dangling, Fishing Without Nets is not quite the tour de force that its Sundance awards suggest. It still offers an engaging story about a desperate man and is a tightly-directed film – particularly for a first-time filmmaker – yet I have no doubt that Hodierne will transcend these rookie narrative mistakes in his next film.

Film Review Rating 3 out of 5 : See it … It’s Good

Fishing Without Nets opens in Los Angeles on September 26, New York City on October 3, and VOD on October 21.

http://youtu.be/wRr0VA_HFaE

FISHING WITHOUT NETS

WINNER OF THE 2014 SUNDANCE US DRAMATIC DIRECTING AWARD

Opening in LA September 26, 2014
Opening in NY October 3, 2014
Available nationwide on Digital HD & VOD October 28, 2014

Director:
Cutter Hodierne

Story by:
Cutter Hodierne, John Hibey, David Burkman, Sam Cohan

Producers:
Raphael Swann, John Hibey, Cutter Hodierne, Brian Glazen, Ben Freedman, Stephanie Pinola, Victor Shapiro

Executive Producers:
Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith, Rupert Wyatt, Joe Laconte

Principal Cast:
Abdikani Muktar, Abdi Siad, Abduwhali Faarah, Abdikhadir Hassan, Reda Kateb, Idil Ibrahim
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Kansas’ Tallgrass Film Festival Reveals 2014 Galas and Spotlight Films; Opens with Roger Ebert Film “LIFE ITSELF”

Tallgrass Film Festival

LIFE ITSELF

The 12th annual Tallgrass Film Festival taking place in and around downtown Wichita, Kansas from October 15 through 19, 2014, will open with the Wichita, Kansas theatrical premiere of LIFE ITSELF, and close with acclaimed feature BEFORE I DISAPPEAR. LIFE ITSELF, from critically acclaimed Director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) along with executive producers Martin Scorsese (The Departed) and Steven Zaillian (Moneyball), recounts the inspiring, entertaining and colorful life of world-renowned film critic Roger Ebert–a story that is by turns personal, funny, moving and transcendent. Based on his bestselling memoir of the same name, LIFE ITSELF, explores Roger Ebert’s legacy–his Pulitzer Prize-winning film criticism at the Chicago Sun-Times, his turn as screenwriter of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, his on and off screen relationship with Gene Siskel, all culminating in his ascension as one of the most influential cultural voices in America.

BEFORE I DISAPPEAR

BEFORE I DISAPPEAR, written and direted by Sean Christensen, stars Christensen, Fatima Ptacek, Ron Perlman and Emmy Rossum and won the Audience Award at the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival. Based on the 2013 Academy Award® winning short film CURFEW, at the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister, asking him to look after his eleven-year old niece, Sophia, for a few hours.

THE LIVING directed by Jack Bryan has been selected as the recipient of the Stubbornly Independent Gala prize at this year’s festival. THE LIVING weaves a thoroughly engrossing story with beautiful cinematography, solid direction, and strong performances that never pander, yet never fail to engage. The film conveys a thematic universality applicable to anyone who has ever felt trapped within the confines of a fate seemingly set in motion by one irreversible action, and yet the plot still unfolds in surprising and unpredictable ways.

GONE DOGGY GONE directed by Kansas filmmaker Kasi Brown, and MAD AS HELL directed by Andrew Napier will screen as Thursday Night Spotlight Films. GONE DOGGY GONE is a comedic feature about a couple stuck in a lack-luster marriage who treat their dog like a baby. Working the grind in LA they leave little time for each other, and what free time they have they spend doting on the dog… until it gets kidnapped. What ensues is an outlandish cat-and-mouse adventure as they hunt down the kidnapper, enlist a schlubby PI, find a renewed love of each other, and conquer their fear of parenthood.

In an unlikely version of the American dream, MAD AS HELL follows Cenk Uygur’s transition from unkown talk show host on local public access TV to his role as a national host for MSNBC to the creation and success of his online news commentary show, The Young Turks, which has amassed over one billion views on YouTube. With a mission to speak the truth, Cenk takes on traditional news media and becomes the thorn in their side with his controversial approach of never pulling any punches. Mad as Hell is an example of the changing media landscape and our desire for different voices. We see how Cenk and his loyal team, with their uncensored brand of journalism, navigate the traditional world of news while at the forefront of a burgeoning new media.

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THE DECENT ONE, Documentary About Heinrich Himmler, Sets 2014 Fall Release Dates

Documentary

THE DECENT ONE, a documentary that reveals the secret personal writings and photographs from the private life of Nazi SS Commander Heinrich Himmler, simultaneously providing a remarkably authentic account of the reality of Nazi Germany, will be released this Fall by Kino Lorber.. Winner of the Best Documentary award at the 2014 Jerusalem Film Festival, THE DECENT ONE premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, and will open at Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles on October 10 and at Film Forum in New York on October 1. A national release will follow.

A recently discovered cache of hundreds of personal letters, diaries and photos belonging to the Nazi Gestapo chief seems to reveal a thoughtful, loving husband and devoted father to his daughter. The documents first found in the Himmler’s family house in 1945 were hidden in Tel Aviv for decades and sold to the father of the Israeli documentary filmmaker, Vanessa Lapa. Through readings of Himmler’s and his family’s most personal writings and rarely seen restored film footage from key German archives, Lapa has fashioned a fascinating case study: a portrait of the man responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Second World War, who thought of himself in heroic terms.

On Hitler’s behalf, Himmler formed the country death squads, masterminded its concentration camps and built Nazi Germany’s extermination camps. As the facilitator and overseer of these camps, Himmler directed the killing of some 6 million Jews, between 200,000 and 500,000 Romani people, and an untold number of other victims including homosexuals, Communists, as well as Polish and Soviet citizens.

Psychologists, historians and moralists have long debated how seemingly ordinarily people can do monstrous things. The jaw-dropping discrepancies Lapa discovers between Himmler’s self-image and his historical role casts a new, piercing light on the human capacity for self-delusion and the very nature of evil.

http://youtu.be/XuqgHir41gk
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Takashi Miike to Receive 2014 Maverick Director Award and World Premier Kamisama no iutoori (As the Gods Will) at Rome Film Festival

Rome Film Festival

Takashi Miike

Japanese director, screenwriter, actor, and film producer Takashi Miike, considered one of the most original and prolific auteurs in contemporary cinema, will receive the 2014 Maverick Director Award during the 9th Rome Film Festival, taking place October, 16 to 25, 2014. The award is dedicated to filmmakers who have contributed to the invention of a new, original, and unconventional cinema. Miike will accept his award on the occasion of the world premiere screening of his new film, Kamisama no iutoori (As the Gods Will).

Marco Müller, Artistic Director of the Rome Film Festival, commented on the choice as follows: “For the recurring power of his creative imagination and the courage of his ideas, Miike Takashi is a filmmaker who is absolutely beyond compare. Every one of his films is a breakneck race through a uncannily poetic and surprisingly political imagination. His sense of cinema and the pleasure of filming were already evident in his earliest works (straight-to-video movies and low-budget films); they have effortlessly edged in, despite his current creative speed (three to four films per year), hence his style continues to assert itself each time, both in his adaptation of hit mangas and in commissioned films honed to become blockbusters (which reveal moments of extraordinary figurative concentration). Prolific, nomadic, versatile, stubborn, unnerving (and at times melancholy), Miike has tried his hand at every genre: when he has chosen to shatter them it has always been to recompose them better in unpredictable mixes. Always catching us unprepared (even when you are familiar with the source or the subject, you will be surprised by the direction that the images take), Miike is arguably the least compliant of all the contemporary maverick directors”.

Kamisama no iutoori (As the Gods Will)

Considered by Quentin Tarantino to be “one of the greatest living directors”, Miike has always contributed to pushing the limits of the visible and reconsidering the boundaries that divide “populist” practices, genre and auteur visions in some of the most beloved and controversial films in recent years. A student of Imamura Shohei and Hideo Onchi, since his debut in 1991 with Toppuu! Minipato tai – Aikyachi Jankushon, Miike has rewritten the rules of popular Japanese cinema, creating a universe filled with violent and contradictory emotions that capture the manias and obsessions of life in Japan, with exact critical insight.

His endless filmography counts nearly 100 films: from Audition (1999), listed as one of the “25 Scariest ‘90s Movies” and one of the “20 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die”, to Lesson of the Evil (2012), screened in competition at the Rome Film Festival, Miike has left his mark on the history of genre cinema with his unmistakably brutal, always visually brilliant, cultured and above all, uncensored approach, devoid of all moralism. Competing in the Orizzonti section in Venice in 2004 with Izo, a visionary parable about the presence of evil in history, he returned to the Venice Film Festival three years later with Sukiyaki Western Django, an irreverent pop-punk version of a spaghetti-western. He was in competition again in 2010 with 13 Assassins, a samurai epic set in the Edo period and compared by critics to the best of Akira Kurosawa’s films. In 2011 and in 2013, Miike was at Cannes Film Festival in Competition with Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai and Straw Shield. In 2012 he was at the Rome Film Festival with The Lesson of the Evil and the following year with The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (in competition) and Blue Planet Brothers (out of competition).

His films have become part of the collective imagery of the contemporary world.

Works such as Fudoh: The New Generation (1996), a mutant yakuza-movie, the trilogy D.O.A. – Dead or Alive (1999-2002) or the ultra-violent Ichi the Killer (2001), not to mention impossible –to-classify films such as The Bird People in China (1998), Big Bang Love, Gozu (2003), Juvenile A (2006) and For Love’s Sake (2012), may rightfully claim their place as film classics of our time

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WILD with Laura Dern, FOXCATCHER with Mark Ruffalo, Added to Hamptons Film Festival; Festival Unveils “Conflict & Resolution” Program Film Lineup

Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF)

WILD

Academy award nominee Jean-Marc Vallée’s WILD will have its East Coast Premiere as the Southampton opener of the 2014 Hamptons International Film Festival, on Friday, October 10th. Academy Award-nominated actress Laura Dern will be in attendance for the Kaufman Astoria Studios sponsored premiere and will also participate in HIFF’s signature program “A Conversation With…” on Saturday, October 11th at Bay Street. Vallée will attend the festival on behalf of the film as well. Academy Award® winner Reese Witherspoon stars in this superb adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling 2012 memoir. Devastated by the death of her mother (Laura Dern), Strayed spirals toward self-destruction, ending her marriage and eventually becoming addicted to heroin. Four years later, seeking to leave her scars behind, she embarks on a life-changing journey: a solo, 1,000-mile plus hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. Vallée’s follow-up to DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is an inspiring voyage of pain and discovery, anchored by Witherspoon’s great performance and aided by a terrific supporting cast that includes Laura Dern. The film will be released by Fox Searchlight on December 5, 2014.

FOXCATCHER

Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER is Saturday’s Centerpiece Film, playing at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday, October 11th. The film’s star Mark Ruffalo will attend the festival premiere along with taking part in “A Conversation With…” on Sunday, October 12th at 2pm at Bay Street, which will be sponsored by NYU Langone Medical Center. Based on true events, the film follows Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his revered brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo) as they fall into the orbit of an eccentric multi-millionaire, John du Pont (Steve Carell), with the ambiguous goal of pushing Mark to fame and glory. Nothing quite prepares you for FOXCATCHER, as this riveting stranger-than-fiction tale turns dark and tragic. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film on November 14, 2014.

Now entering its 15th year at HIFF, this year’s Films of Conflict & Resolution (C&R) program consists of a fantastic lineup of four documentaries and a narrative film. The C&R program recognizes and celebrates films that, in creative and enlightening ways, deal with the complex issues and the human dramas associated with war and violence. It also recognizes one of the films in the series with a cash prize of $5,000 and a panel discussion after its screening, encouraging dialogue about the topic and providing a platform to learn, react and engage in worthy causes and issues.

The 22nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival, which will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, October 9-13, 2014.

FULL LIST OF FILMS OF CONFLICT & RESOLUTION

VIRUNGA
Director: Orlando Von Einsiedel
The breathtaking Virunga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site in eastern Congo, is under attack from many sides. With its rich bio-diversity, Virunga is home to the last mountain gorillas and holds a wealth of natural resources. From sweeping vistas to pixelated images of secret meetings, Orlando von Einsiedel fashions together a thrilling first feature documentary, introducing us to the brave people protecting the park: a Belgian conservationist leading the army of park rangers; an ex-child soldier and a young French journalist who covertly film local politicians and international businessmen; and a ranger who has become a surrogate parent to orphaned gorillas. The film is also the winner of the Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award, recognizing a film in the Festival that brings attention to the suffering of animals.

E-TEAM
Director: Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny
Anna, Ole, Fred and Peter, members of the Emergency Team (E-Team) for a respected international human rights organization, are the first people on the scene when there is suspicion of human rights abuses. Entering areas of conflict like Syria or post-Qaddafi Libya, they gather evidence to determine if further investigation is warranted, and often what they find challenges decision makers, holding them accountable. Award-winning filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny take us behind the scenes and on the ground with these very different, yet fearlessly committed individuals as they balance their personal and family life with their intense work life in the field.

CHARLIE’S COUNTRY
East Coast Premiere
Director: Rolf de Heer
Tired of the constant policing, Charlie – portrayed by the regally gray-maned David Gulpilil – stubbornly copes with the encroaching “white man’s laws” into his remote Aboriginal community in Australia’s Northern Territory. He goes back to his roots to live the “old way,” only to set off a chain of events he didn’t see coming. Director Rolf de Heer crafts a subtle portrait of a man caught between two cultures and creates an exquisite showcase for his co-writer, veteran actor Gulpilil (WALKABOUT, RABBIT PROOF FENCE), winner of the Un Certain Regard Best Actor Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
While Joshua Oppenheimer’s groundbreaking documentary, THE ACT OF KILLING, cast a light on the victors of the mid-1960s Indonesian genocide, his equally devastating follow-up, THE LOOK OF SILENCE, focuses on one family’s struggle to understand the horrific murder of their loved one. Adi, a humble optometrist in a rural village, stoically stares at clips from the first film before deciding to confront his brother’s executioners, many of whom are still in power. Opening old wounds, asking the hard questions, and receiving veiled threats, he attempts to start a dialogue between victims and killers who for generations have lived side-by-side in silence.

THIS IS MY LAND
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.

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Lynn Shelton’s LAGGGIES, Starring Keira Knightly to Open Seattle Intl Film Festival’s Women in Cinema,

Seattle International Film Festival

Laggies

Seattle International Film Festival‘s annual Women in Cinema, returns, on Wednesday September 18 to 21, 2014, showcasing exceptional films made by women from around the world. The four-day event will feature 12 exciting features and documentaries. Opening Night takes place at the soon-to-be-opened SIFF Cinema Egyptian, and features Seattle favorite Lynn Shelton’s new film Laggies, starring Keira Knightly.

The festival continues with Danish master Pernille Christensen’s award-winning Someone You Love; stunning foreign Oscar® submissions from Norway (I Am Yours) and the Philippines (Transit); and enlightening new documentaries from Jessica Yu (Misconception), Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik (Stray Dog), and Tina Mascara and Guido Santi (Monk with a Camera). A screening of NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) shorts will also be presented, as well as an eye-opening panel presented by Women in Film on how groundbreaking female filmmakers are eschewing traditional methodologies to get their films made. All of these films and the panel will be held at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

Laggies
d: Lynn Shelton c: Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, USA 2014, 95 min

Having spent her twenties comfortably inert, 28-year-old Megan (Keira Knightley) finds herself squarely in an adulthood crisis with no career prospects, no particular motivation to find one and no one to relate to, including her high school boyfriend. When he proposes, Megan panics and – at least temporarily – hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year-old Annika (Chloë Grace Moritz) and Annika’s world-weary single dad (Sam Rockwell).

Transit
d: Hannah Espia c: Ping Medina, Irma Adlawan, Jasmine Curtis, Marc Justine Alvarez, Mercedes Cabral, Omer Juran, Philippines 2013, 93 min

This affecting and very timely drama deals with the struggle of an extended Filipino family working in Israel but faced with the prospect of separation when a new law threatens their children with deportation. The Philippines’ Oscar Submission.

Inbetween Worlds
d: Feo Aladag c: Ronald Zehrfeld, Abdul Salam Yosofzai, Saida Barmaki, Germany 2014, 102 min

German army commander Jesper forms a bond with his Afghani translator, Tarik, as they try to protect a village from the growing Taliban influence. Gorgeously shot on location in Afghanistan, Inbetween Worlds is fair-handed without becoming overly sentimental or inflammatory.

Rocks in My Pockets
d: Signe Baumane, USA/Latvia 2014, 88 min

Five fantastical animated tales based on the courageous women of Latvian filmmaker Signe Baumane’s family and their battles with madness. With boundless imagination, a twisted sense of humor, and a unique, beautifully textured combination of papier-mâché stop-motion and classic hand-drawn animation, Baumane has produced a poignant and often hilarious tale of mystery, mental health, redemption and survival. FIPRESCI Award, Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Monk With a Camera
d: Tina Mascara, Guido Santi c: Nicholas Vreeland, Khyongla Rinpoche, Richard Gere, USA 2013, 90 min

In this enthralling documentary portrait, Nicholas Vreeland, grandson of fashion icon Diana Vreeland, is headed for life as a high-powered photographer until he undergoes a personal transformation: next stop, life as a Tibetan Buddhist monk.

Misconception
d: Jessica Yu Narrated by: Kyra Sedgwick, USA 2014, 93 min

For almost 50 years, the world’s population has grown at an alarming rate, raising fears about strains on the Earth’s resources. But how true are these claims? Taking cues from statistics guru Hans Rosling, Misconception offers a provocative glimpse at how the world – and women in particular – are tackling a subject at once personal and global.

The Last Season
d: Sara Dosa, USA 2014, 78 min

Amid the bustling world of Central Oregon’s wild mushroom hunting camps, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war, bonding over the search of the elusive and lucrative matsutake mushroom.
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World Premiere of Laura Poitras’s Edward Snowden Documentary CITIZENFOUR Added to 2014 New York Film Festival

New York Film Festival

The World Premiere of Laura Poitras’s CITIZENFOUR has been added to the 2014 New York Film Festival’s Main Slate as a Special Presentation on Friday, October 10 at 6PM in Alice Tully Hall. Poitras will also participate in a FREE HBO Directors Dialogues the following day, October 11 at 4PM, at the Walter Reade Theater. CITIZENFOUR will open theatrically on October 24.

New York Film Festival Director Kent Jones said, “Seeing CITIZENFOUR for the first time is an experience I’ll never forget. The film operates on multiple levels at the same time: a character study (of Edward Snowden)… a real-life suspense story… and a chilling exposé. When the lights came up, everyone in the room was alternately stunned, excited, and deeply troubled. A brave documentary, but also a powerful work from a master storyteller.”

In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was several years into the making of a film about abuses of national security in post-9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four,” who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The film that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely sui generis in the history of cinema: a 100% real-life thriller unfolding minute by minute before our eyes.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center has long been a supporter of Poitras’s work, premiering several of her films throughout the years and honoring her as the 2011 recipient of the 25th anniversary Martin E. Segal Award, given annually to two rising young artists in recognition of exceptional accomplishments. CITIZENFOUR marks the final film in her 9/11 trilogy. The first film, My Country, My Country focused on the Iraq War and had its New York premiere in 2006 at the Film Society’s New Directors/New Films series. My Country, My Country was nominated for an Academy Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Emmy Award. The second installment in the trilogy, The Oath, was about Guantánamo and also received its New York premiere at New Directors/New Films, in 2010. The Oath won the Sundance Cinematography Award, the Edinburgh Film Festival Documentary Jury Award, and a Gotham Award for Best Documentary. Poitras has taught filmmaking at Duke and Yale Universities, and in 2012, her work was selected for the 2012 Whitney Biennial. She is also the recipient of a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship. Her NSA reporting contributed to a Pulitzer Prize awarded to The Guardian and The Washington Post. Along with Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill, she is co-founder of the digital magazine The Intercept. She currently lives in Berlin.
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Director Ana Lily Amirpour “The Bad Batch” Wins Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant

Industry

Rooftop Films awarded fourteen cash and service grants to alumni filmmakers, including The Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant, which was awarded to director Ana Lily Amirpour. Amirpour was feted at a Piper-Heidsieck champagne reception at the spectacular garden rooftop of John Jay College on Monday in New York City and will receive a monetary grant of $10,000 to help finish her new film, The Bad Batch, the follow up to her critically acclaimed feature film debut, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night.

Selected for its grand and bold style of storytelling, Amirpour’s film is a highly twisted, unusual, romantic, and innovative movie set in a future dystopia. In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food. The Bad Batch is a savage love story, like a psychedelic Road Warrior, inspired by films like El Topo and Wild at Heart. Shot in bold saturated hues and stylings of the ’80’s & ’90’s the film will also feature a wicked techno & western-laced soundtrack.

“Piper-Heidsieck has a long history of supporting the cinema, and we’re delighted to continue this tradition by recognizing Ana Lily Amirpour as the first-ever recipient of the Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant,” says Romain Pianet, Senior Brand Director for Piper-Heidsieck. “The grant was created to support grand and bold direction in cinema, and we have selected a filmmaker whose past work and upcoming film exemplifies this direction. We are excited to be able to help bring this film to fruition.

COMPLETE LIST OF 2014 ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS FUND GRANTS:

Rooftop Films / Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant:
Ana Lily Amirpour, The Bad Batch

In a desert wasteland in Texas, a muscled cannibal breaks one important rule: don’t play with your food. The Bad Batch is a savage love story and a psychedelic Road Warrior, inspired by films like El Topo and Wild at Heart, and shot in bold saturated hues and stylings of the 80’s & 90’s, with a wicked techno & western-laced soundtrack.

Rooftop Films / Technological Cinevideo Services Camera Grant:
Rachel Israel, Keep the Change

Based on Israel’s Columbia thesis short film, “Keep the Change” stars non-professional actors Brandon Polanksy and Samantha as two individuals with autism who fall in love. Polanksy stars as David, a man who tries to hide his high-functioning autism, but is nonetheless forced to attend a support group for people with disabilities. There he meets Elisofon’s character, a shy woman with autism.

Rooftop Films / Eastern Effects Equipment Grant:
Christina Choe, Nancy

Nancy, is a psychological drama about a 35-year old serial imposter who lives at home with her abusive, elderly mother. Desperate for love, she creates a fake blog and catfishes a lover, until her hoaxes cause epic and tragic consequences. NANCY will be Christina’s feature directorial debut.

Rooftop Films / Edgeworx Post-Production Grant:
Bernardo Britto, Jacqueline (Argentine)

Starring Camille Rutherford as a “25-year-old French Edward Snowden-type” who takes refuge in Argentina after leaking government secrets, Jacqueline (Argentine) is a live action feature film that will be shot from the perspective of a documentary crew she’s hired to trail her while awaiting the fallout.

Rooftop Films / DCTV Equipment and Services Feature Film Grant
Trey Shults, Krisha

Adapted from an award-winning short film of the same name, KRISHA tells the story of a multi-generational family that is gathering for Thanksgiving. Krisha has not seen her family for ten years, but when she decides to join her family for a holiday dinner, tensions escalate, and Krisha struggles to keep her demons at bay.

Rooftop Films / DCTV Equipment and Services Short Film Grant:
Frances Bodomo, Beatdown
Steven Girard, Floaters Dot Com

Frances Bodomo | Beatdown
Beatdown is a web series that follows a carefree black vigilante girl gang. Our protagonists skip school (“they’re not teaching our history anyways”) to loiter, chat, protect New York’s unprotected, and avenge the crimes that the NYPD won’t touch: from getting their hair petted to “columbusing” to gentrification. It begins as a series of vengeful (and comedic) wish fulfillments that grow bloodier and bloodier … until we start to question & complicate our discourse on brutality, power, female weakness, justice, etc. Beatdown asks the question: when the violence against us isn’t physical, how do we fight it?

Steven Girard | Floaters Dot Com
“Floaters Dot Com” is a half animated, half live-action short film about two men who work for a company that “collects” human beings. Floaters employees beam targeted civilians with a hallucinatory impulse to login to floaters.com, where the victim is sucked into his/her computer and dragged through a slew of websites. After the victim’s deepest fantasies and worst nightmares come true, he/she is “ejected” from the computer’s drive as a Free Trial disk.

Rooftop Films / Domicile NYC Sound Mix Grant:
Jarred Alterman and Ryan Scafuro, American Renaissance

AMERICAN RENAISSANCE is a short documentary that takes place at the largest outdoor Renaissance Faire in America. Knights, wizards, goths, fairies and demons all stood in front of our static lens and slowly, stories began to unfold… A family who chose to raise their 13-year-old son on the road. A Parisian expat, performing as a mime. A young woman who left the “real world” behind after the death of a close friend.

Rooftop Films / Adrienne Shelly Foundation Short Film Grant For Women:
Debra Granik, Second Act

Second Act is a documentary about inmate re-entry. Once released, felons often find themselves held apart from mainstream society, particularly in regards to employment. To survive, many turn to various forms of entrepreneurship. This film follows a man recently released from prison who is attempting to build his own business. In pursuing his dream, the subject of our documentary must navigate the transition from one lifestyle to another, negotiate a new and unfamiliar world, and wrestle with the question of who he is and what he wants.

Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Short Film Grant:
Joanna Arnow, Bad at Dancing
Frances Bodomo, Beatdown
Reka Bucsi, LOVE
Steven Girard, Floaters Dot Com
Efren Hernandez, Ham Heads

Joanna Arnow | Bad at Dancing
Bad At Dancing. A perpetual third wheel and awkward outsider, Joanna increasingly inserts herself into the relationship of her more charismatic roommate Eleanore. The two women test each other’s sexual and emotional boundaries in this surreal dark comedy.

Reka Bucsi | LOVE
An animated short film about love that will show love in three chapters: Longing, Love and Solitude. Haiku-like scenes will show different characters evolving along these states of emotions. The goal is to capture feelings through pictures and surreal situations which are undescribable by words.

Efren Hernandez | Ham Heads
Barry and Larry are the world’s oldest living conjoined twins. After retiring from the sideshow circuit, they move into their brother’s house. Barry is sick and he’s getting worse, Larry not far behind him. As their sickness develops, they take trips to the beach; they waltz together; they fight about the volume on their separate television sets. They look out of their living room window at their old-lady neighbor who drinks too much beer. They play games with their teenage nephew and Larry verbally harasses the doctor who checks up on them. They get visits from old friends and spend every moment of every day together. Whether it is good or bad, it is their life together.

“A record number of entries were received this year and it was tougher than ever to select our winners from what was a stellar crop of films and scripts,” says Dan Nuxoll, programming director of Rooftop Films. “Each of the filmmakers that we awarded grants to this year have screened their impressive work at Rooftop Films events in the past and have demonstrated their talent, passion and perseverance throughout their careers. We are particularly excited to be supporting Ana Lily Amirpour’s latest work. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night screened this summer at Rooftop Films and that film showcases her extraordinary talent and unique flair for bringing unexpected, artful and innovative twists to a genre film. We are confident that The Bad Batch will be an exciting next step for one of the most promising new filmmakers working in independent cinema today. A special thanks to Piper-Heidsieck –and all of our other sponsors, community partners, and audience members– for their significant help and commitment in support of these new and talented films and filmmakers.”

Amirpour was selected to attend the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in 2014 for her script for The Bad Batch and the film is set to begin pre-production this fall and will begin shooting in the spring of 2015. Amirpour’s debut feature film, the Iranian Vampire Western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, premiered in the NEXT section of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, screened to a sold out crowd on the roof of Industry City as part of the Rooftop Films Summer Series, and was opening night selection of the New Directors/New Films series at the MoMA. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night will be released in theaters this autumn by Kino Lorber.

Amirpour joins the ranks of past Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantees, an illustrious group that includes Gillian Robespierre with her indie hit Obvious Child, Lucy Walker with her Academy Award-nominated short documentary The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin, which premiered at Cannes Director’s Fortnight and garnered the FIPRESCI Critics’ award, Keith Miller’s critically acclaimed and Tribeca Film Festival award winning Five Star, and Benh Zeitlin’s Academy Award-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild. Other Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grantees have achieved tremendous success at film festivals and their films have reached audiences worldwide.

image: Romain Pianet, Senior Brand Director for Piper-Heidsieck, presents Ana Lily Amirpour with the inaugural Piper-Heidsieck Rooftop Films Feature Film Grant on the roof of John Jay College Monday night.
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“Black and White” Starring Kevin Costner, “Time Out of Mind” Starring Richard Gere Among First 5 English-Language Films at 2014 Rome Film Festival

Rome Film Festival

Black and White

Rome Film Festival announced the titles of the first five English-language films on the lineup of the ninth edition taking place October, 16 to 25, 2014. The program section Cinema d’Oggi (Cinema Today) will present the European Premiere of Time Out of Mind by Oren Moverman (starring Richard Gere and Jena Malone). The Gala section will present the International Premiere of Trash by Stephen Daldry (starring Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen); the International Premiere of Love, Rosie by Christian Ditter (starring Lily Collins and Sam Claflin) and the European Premiere of Black and White by Mike Binder (starring Kevin Costner, Gillian Jacobs, Jennifer Ehle and Octavia Spencer), presented in collaboration with the independent sidebar Alice nella Città. Finally, the European Premiere of Stonehearst Asylum by Brad Anderson (starring Kate Beckinsale, Jim Sturgess, Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine, Brendan Gleeson, and David Thewlis) will be presented in the Mondo Genere (Genre World) section.

Time Out of Mind marks the return behind the camera for writer-director Oren Moverman. His debut feature, The Messenger, saw him awarded the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Screenplay (with Alessandro Camon). He is also the director of Rampart, a gritty thriller based on a subject by cult writer James Ellroy, who co-wrote the screenplay. Moverman’s new film stars Richard Gere, the icon and star of An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, and Chicago, in a remarkable, ground breaking performance. In Time Out of Mind the famous American actor plays a man in dire straits who is forced to find refuge in a homeless shelter. As he struggles to get by, he also tries to reconnect with his daughter, played by Jena Malone (Return to Cold Mountain, Pride and Prejudice, The Messenger, Hunger Games: Catching Fire).

Trash

Trash is the new film by the award-winning English filmmaker and theatre director Stephen Daldry, director of several of the most beloved films of the past decade, all of which were nominated for an Oscar®: Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. In Trash, a dramatic thriller set in a Brazilian megalopolis, Daldry brings to the screen the eponymous novel by Andy Mulligan. The screenplay is by Richard Curtis, the author of successful comedies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, The Diary of Bridget Jones, and Love Actually. The cast features Rooney Mara, the young actress famous for her roles in The Social Network, Millenium: Men who Hate Women and Her (screened in Rome in 2013), and Martin Sheen, the extraordinary film and television actor, star of masterpieces such as Badlands by Terrence Malick and Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, and winner of the Golden Globe for his role as the US President in the television series The West Wing.

Love, Rosie

Love, Rosie, the film adaptation of the best-selling “Where Rainbows End” by author Cecelia Ahern, is directed by German screenwriter and director Christian Ditter, auteur of the award-winning short films Enchanted and Grounded, and the box-office hit feature French for Beginners. The film tells the story of two young people, Rosie and Alex, who have been best friends since childhood, and are forced to live apart; their relationship will continue in e-mails, letters, text messages, postcards, as they move closer together or farther apart, always on the fine line between friendship and love. The female star of the film is Lily Collins, the actress and model who achieved fame in the film Mirror Mirror, alongside Julia Roberts. The film also features Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games saga) and Christian Cooke (Mercutio in Carlo Carlei’s Romeo and Juliet, presented at the Rome Film Festival in 2013).

Black and White is the new film by director, actor, and screenwriter Mike Binder (The Sex Monster, The Upside of Anger, Man About Town) stars Oscar®-winning actors Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard, JFK) and Octavia Spencer (The Help, Snowpiercer, included in the 2013 Rome Film Festival). Black and White – presented in collaboration with the independent sidebar Alice nella città – explores the tensions caused by the racial divide, focusing on the painful domestic story of lawyer Elliot Anderson who, with his wife, raises his black granddaughter Eloise. When his wife dies, he will be forced to fight for legal custody against Rowena, the child’s grandmother. The two starring actors are joined by Anthony Mackie (Real Steel, The Fifth Estate,Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and Jennifer Ehle (The Ides of March, Contagion, Zero Dark Thirty).

Stonehearst Asylum

Stonehearst Asylum is the latest film by Brad Anderson, the cult director of Session 9, The Machinist, Transsiberian presented at the Berlin Film Festival, Vanishing on the 7^th Street, and The Call. Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”, Stonehearst Asylum is a thriller set in an asylum that conceals an alarming secret. The film features a heavyweight cast including Sir Ben Kingsley (winner of an Oscar® for Gandhi, who has worked for directors such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski, and James Ivory), Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor, Underworld, The Aviator), Jim Sturgess (21, Across the Universe, The Best Offer, Cloud Atlas), Brendan Gleeson (Gangs of New York, Troy, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), and Daniel Thewlis (Total Eclipse, Seven Years in Tibet, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Naked). Stonehearst Asylum also features two-time Oscar®-winner Sir Michael Caine (whose memorable performances have contributed greatly the history of cinema, from Alfie to Batman Begins, Sleuth, The Wilby Conspiracy, The Man Who Would Be King, Hannah and Her Sisters).

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deadCENTER Film Festival announces 2015 dates, opens call for entries

DeadCenter (deadCENTER) Film Festival

The 15th annual deadCENTER Film Festival will take place Wednesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 14, 2015 in downtown Oklahoma City. Filmmakers may submit their films for review now. Films will be selected in the following categories: narrative feature, documentary feature, narrative short, documentary short, animations, student film and Oklahoma film.

New this year, submissions can be made online through submissions platform, Submittable, at www.deadcenterfilm.org.

The early bird deadline is Nov. 30 and entry fees vary based on the type of submission: $40 for narrative and documentary features, $25 for narrative and documentary shorts, animations and Oklahoma films, and $20 for college films. High school films are free to submit.

From hilarious comedies and insightful documentaries to scary horror films and intense dramas, deadCENTER selects a broad slate of films that cater to all tastes. More than 1000 films were submitted in 2014 from Oklahoma and around the world, and 90 were selected for an official screening. The festival added a distribution forum in 2012 to help filmmakers connect with sales agents and distributors.

“For 14 years, deadCENTER has featured over 1,400 quality independent films providing a nationally recognized platform for filmmakers to share their work,” Director of Programming/Festival Director Kim Haywood said. “The level of competition has escalated considerably over the last few years, attracting talent like James Marsden, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Famke Janssen, Wes Studi, Daisy Von Scherler Mayer and Oscar winners Gray Frederickson, Matthew W. Mungle, and Albert S. Ruddy to Oklahoma City. We can’t wait to see what surprises 2015 will hold.”

A record-breaking 25,000 people attended the screenings in 2014, generating an economic impact of more than $1.25 million for Oklahoma City.
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“Finding Fela” “My Prairie Home” Among Lineup for 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival Music Documentary Program, Sound Vision | TRAILERS

Milwaukee Film Festival

Finding Fela

The music documentary program, Sound Vision. returns for the third year, to the 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival, and will feature a lineup of eight outstanding and wide-ranging music documentaries complimented by Soundtrack, a live music series that takes place throughout the Festival at The Hotel Foster.

Blyth Meier, Marketing Director for Milwaukee Film and programmer for Sound Vision is ecstatic about this year’s riveting lineup: “20,000 Days on Earth–about the enigmatic musician, writer and poet Nick Cave–is one I’m incredibly excited to bring to Milwaukee. The timing on this is fantastic as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recently performed here and left us all in awe. What makes it even more special to me on a personal level is that the first time I watched 20,000 Days was at Sundance, sitting across from Cave himself. It was surreal,” shares Blyth. On why she programmed The Talking Heads documentary for the second year in a row, Blyth explains, “Last year’s screening of Stop Making Sensebecame a gigantic dance party–how could we not show it again this year for its 30th anniversary?”

2014 MILWAUKEE FILM FESTIVAL

SOUND VISION

My Prairie Home
(Canada / 2013 / Director: Chelsea McMullan)

http://youtu.be/zWTNcp8GHJo

Simultaneously a look into the life of transgender singer-songwriter Rae Spoon (who uses the gender-neutral pronoun “they”) as well as a celebration of the categorization-defying music they create (fusing folk, country, indie rock, and electronica), My Prairie Home is a truly original portrait of a true original. We follow Rae as they travel across Canada on tour, revealing the evangelical upbringing and forbidden first love that marked their early life intermingled with playfully surreal music videos set at prom or among the dinosaurs in a natural history museum. This documentary is as unique and untraditional as the performer it aims to capture.

Finding Fela
(USA / 2014 / Director: Alex Gibney)

http://youtu.be/937SQ8-6RV4

Fela Kuti: musical pioneer, postcolonial activist, polyrhythmic innovator. Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Audience award-winner Mea Maxima Culpa, MFF 2012) sifts through the contradictions and presents a complex portrait of a man whose artistic legacy is nearly matched by his political activism. Alongside a backstage portrait of “Fela!,” an energetic Broadway show with Bill T. Jones devoted to exploring the life of this Afrobeat pioneer, we discover a man who realized the revolutionary potential that music offered through mesmerizing performance footage and revealing archival interviews. We see Fela warts and all, a man whose work in all aspects of life endures.

20,000 Days on Earth
(United Kingdom / 2014 / Directors: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard)

http://youtu.be/WDlmnXBUoH0

Poet/musician/general enigma Nick Cave aims to lay his creative process bare with this stick of cinematic dynamite blowing up any and all rockumentary conventions. 20,000 Days on Earth takes the form of a loosely staged single day in the life of this cult musician. This hallucinatory blend of documentary and fiction features a therapy session and sudden reappearances of friends from his past (Ray Winstone, Kylie Minogue) alongside a primordial, blistering live performance. For neophytes and diehards alike, this exploration of Cave’s life and music is every bit up to the task of providing a portrait as dynamic and engaging as its subject matter.

This May Be the Last Time
(USA / 2014 / Director: Sterlin Harjo)

http://youtu.be/8uQKOYDH8Qw

A probing examination of a personal history as well as an expansive portrait of cultural expression, This May Be the Last Time lifts the veil on the power of song and storytelling among an American-Indian tribe through the prism of a mysterious disappearance that took place some 60 years prior. Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo re-examines his grandfather’s disappearance while focusing on the tribal hymns sung by the search parties that looked for him, beautiful music filled with hope and forgiveness born out of past tumult. Harjo traces these ancient songs back through time, illuminating a surprising genealogy of cultural influence whose borders expand far beyond that of his southeastern tribe.

The Ballad of Shovels and Rope
(USA / 2014 / Director: Jace Freeman)

http://youtu.be/_rbWbaXv1oo

This foot-stomping, heartwarming journey follows Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, the husband-and-wife folk duo known as Shovels and Rope, as they pack their belongings (along with their beloved dog Townes Van Zandt) into their van and begin a relentless tour in support of their dreams. The Ballad of Shovels and Rope tracks the creation of their critically acclaimed album “O’ Be Joyful,” following this loving couple’s journey from waitress and studio artist to award-winning musical artists, stopping at all of the dive bars and nightclubs along the way and showing the hard work, creativity, and ingenuity that will make you fall in love with this amazing duo.

Revenge of The Mekons
(USA / 2013 / Director: Joe Angio)

http://youtu.be/_Hk_c6e7gv0

Once described by Lester Bangs as “the most revolutionary group in the history of rock ’n’ roll,” genre-bending British outfit The Mekons are now four decades into an ever-evolving career that has netted them endless critical acclaim despite their pursuit of commercial success—success that has constantly eluded them, though this rollicking documentary portrait aims to correct that cultural wrong. With the aid of effusive supporters (Jonathan Franzen, Fred Armisen, Luc Sante), we examine this group as they traverse from their punk rock origins in Thatcher-era England to their current middle age in the vanguard of what is now known as alt-country without ever losing sight of their status as political provocateurs.

Take Me to the River
(USA / 2014 / Director: Martin Shore)

Take Me to the River

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/79138363

An ode to an unprecedented era of creativity, Take Me to the River is a soul-stirring examination of the influence that Memphis and Stax Records held over the music world, a must-see for fans of Muscle Shoals and the Oscar-winning 20 Feet From Stardom. In this film, produced by Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison, we’re granted access to the creative process behind a new album (featuring artists such as Snoop Dogg and Mavis Staples) looking to continue the proud intergenerational and interracial influence of the Memphis music scene, an exuberant celebration of the grooves that stand in defiance of segregation and show the power of creative collaboration toward realizing this utopian ideal.

Stop Making Sense
(USA / 1984 / Director: Jonathan Demme)

Stop Making Sense

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/5804404

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Jonathan Demme’s essential concert film returns to the festival after a run last year that had our audience literally dancing in the aisles. Filmed over the course of two performances, this epic documentary of The Talking Heads, their live-wire frontman David Byrne, and Milwaukee’s own Jerry Harrison is as exuberant a portrait of the live concert experience as we’re ever likely to have on the big screen. Gaining momentum as though the performance is rocketing downhill, this film will be once again the can’t-miss experience of the festival.

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