• “History of Fear” “The Overnighters” and “The Last Season” Take Top Feature Prizes at San Francisco International Film Festival

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    History of FearHistory of Fear

    The 57th San Francisco International Film Festival, earlier this month, announced the winners of the juried Golden Gate Award and New Directors Prize competitions. This year the Festival awarded nearly $40,000 in prizes to emerging and established filmmakers from 13 countries around the globe. For more than 50 years, SFIFF’s Golden Gate Awards have honored deserving films independent of commercial concerns, heralding unsung excellence and exposing local and international audiences to unique and innovative works. 

    The New Directors jury was composed of Filmmaker Magazine Editor-in-Chief Scott Macaulay, Fandor cofounder Jonathan Marlow and writer Ella Taylor.

    New Directors Prize: History of Fear, Benjamín Naishtat (Argentina/France/Germany/ Qatar/Uruguay)
      —  Winner receives $10,000 cash prize 

    In a statement, the jury noted: “From an unusually strong slate of first films, the jury chose History of Fear, a slyly assured reflection on suburban paranoia from Argentine director Benjamín Naishtat. There may or may not be a predatory invasion (or two, or three) of a wealthy Buenos Aires enclave. But the movie’s subject, rendered with one eyebrow subtly cocked, is the rising panic of its residents, an indiscreetly charmless bourgeoisie crippled by nameless terrors. Goosing both his characters and his audience with intimations of horror, Naishtat makes expert use of the implicit with a wit and visual flair unusual in a novice filmmaker.”

    Special Jury Recognition: White Shadow, Noaz Deshe (Italy/Germany/Tanzania), The Amazing Catfish, Claudia Sainte-Luce (Mexico)

    “Special mention also goes to Israeli director Noaz Deshe’s White Shadow, a viscerally stylish neo-noir about the victimization of albinos in an African country ruled by superstition; and to The Amazing Catfish, a warm and exhilaratingly unpredictable dramedy from Mexican filmmaker Claudia Sainte-Luce about the impact of a mysterious stranger on a family struggling with imminent tragedy.”

    The Golden Gate Award Documentary feature competition jury was comprised of filmmaker Rob Epstein, journalist Nathan Heller, and Film Society of Lincoln Center Co-Executive Director Lesli Klainberg.

    Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners

    The OvernightersThe Overnighters

    Documentary Feature: The Overnighters, Jesse Moss (USA)
      —  Winner receives $10,000 cash prize

    The jury noted in a statement: “Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters, which follows a pastor’s efforts to house job-seekers in an insular North Dakota town, is exceptional as an exercise of narrative craft, as a feat of immersion journalism, and as an intimate portrait of one man’s struggles. In driving to the heart of local discontent, the documentary is admirably fair-minded, yet it is Moss’ alertness as a filmmaker that lets him stay close to the story as its subjects take unexpected, sometimes shocking, turns. The result illuminates a messy confluence of American interests: faith, altruism, family, opportunity, and the search for honest self-expression.”

    The Last SeasonThe Last Season

    Bay Area Documentary Feature: The Last Season, Sara Dosa (USA)
      —  Winner receives $5,000 cash prize

    The jury noted: “The Last Season, a remarkable documentary about rare-mushroom hunting in the Oregon woods, sweeps away the topsoil of the Pacific landscape to reveal the multilayered social legacy of distant wars. Along the way, it unearths affinities and affections that challenge common ideas about family. With integrity of craft, first-time director Sara Dosa here claims the high standard of Bay Area documentary filmmaking for a new generation.”

    Special jury recognition: Return to Homs, Talal Derki (Syria/Germany)

    The jury noted: “Turning the stuff of headlines into intimate personal history, Talal Derki’s Return to Homs uses extraordinary access — footage from young rebels’ private meetings and urban battles — as a window onto the Syrian conflict. The film’s light-footed coverage captures the spirit of an uprising driven by mobile technology, while its emotional immediacy brings to life one rebel’s slow progression from peaceful protester to violent revolutionary. This is the rare film valuable both as a revelatory news document and as a moving story out of time: a private narrative that maps the broader course of conflict and idealism in the region.”

    The Golden Gate Award Short Film jury consisted of journalist Jonathan Kiefer, author Vendela Vida and filmmaker Diana Williams.

    Golden Gate Award Short Film Winners

    Narrative Short (tie): The Birds’ Blessing, Serge Mirzabekiantz, (Belgium)
    So You’ve Grown Attached, Kate Tsang (USA)
      — Winners each receive $1,000 cash prize 

    Documentary Short: The High Five, Michael Jacobs (USA)
      — Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

    Animated Short: The Missing Scarf, Eion Duffy (Ireland)
      — Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

    Bay Area Short (tie): Santa Cruz del Islote, Luke Lorentzen (USA)
    No One but Lydia, Rob Richert (USA)
      — Winners each receive $1,250 cash prize

    New Visions Short: Numbers & Friends, Alexander Carson (Canada)
      — Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

    The Family Film jury was teacher Donna Lee, writer Nicki Richesin and artist Jeena Wolfe.

    Family Film: The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo, Dice Tsutsumi (USA)
      —  Winner receives $500 cash prize
    Family Film Honorable Mention: The Numberlys, WIlliam Joyce, Brandon Oldenburg (USA)

    The Youth Works jury was Davis Avila, Sophie Edelhart and Julia Pollak, all local high school students.

    Youth Work: Epitaph, Charles Blecker (USA)
      —  Winner receives $500 cash prize
    Youth Work Honorable Mention: Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, Lily Yu, Judy Lee, Jeremiah Mellor (USA)

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  • Sheffield Doc/Fest Announces 2014 Lineup; MINERS SHOT DOWN Among Opening Films

    MINERS SHOT DOWN MINERS SHOT DOWN

    From Saturday 7th June to Thursday 12th June, Sheffield Doc/Fest will screen new work by Martin Scorsese, Penny Woolcock, Kim Longinotto, Peter De Rome, Marshall Curry, Alex Gibney and will recognise Laura Poitras with the Inspiration Award. The festival welcomes Grayson Perry, Sue Perkins, John Pilger, Jon Snow, and Chair of Arts Council England Peter Bazalgette to talk about their varied careers in film and TV documentary, as well as music legends Brian Eno and Kevin Rowland, artist Jeremy Deller and astronaut Captain Eugene Cernan.

    On Saturday 7th June the festival kicks off with three must-see events: at City Hall the European premiere of Florian Habicht’s PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS attended by band-members Jarvis Cocker, Nick Banks, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey and Mark Webber; at the Devil’s Arse cavern Thomas Balmes’ award-winning HAPPINESS will transport the audience to a tiny mountain village in a remote corner Bhutan which is finally getting electricity and television; and at the Sheffield Showroom Rehad Desai’s heavy-hitting MINERS SHOT DOWN about the 2012 strike in South Africa which led to the murder of 34 miners by the police in a bid to break the strike will launch the South African focus.

    Also screening are the World Premiere of UNEARTHED in which director Jolynn Minnaar journeys to the heart of the fracking industry which threatens an impoverished South African region, SHIELD AND SPEAR in which Peter Ringbom follows some of South Africa’s artists exploring what it means to live and work in the new democracy, and NELSON MANDELA: THE MYTH & ME a personal odyssey for filmmaker Khalo Matabane investigating Nelson Mandela’s legacy and the meaning of freedom, reconciliation and forgiveness.

    Also among the 21 World Premieres at this year’s festival are: A 50 YEAR ARGUMENT, Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s new film which rides the waves of literary, political, and cultural history as charted by The New York Review of Books, America’s leading journal of ideas for over 50 years; STOP AT NOTHING: THE LANCE ARMSTRONG STORY, in which Alex Holmes tracks down some of Lance Armstrong’s closest cohorts and sworn enemies to uncover the biggest fraud in sport history; space biography THE LAST MAN ON THE MOON, with former astronaut Captain Eugene Cernan attending the festival; ATTACKING THE DEVIL: HAROLD EVANS AND THE LAST NAZI WAR CRIME which tells the story of Sir Harold Evans’ decade long fight for justice for victims of Thalidomide drug poisoning, with Harold Evans appearing at the festival; Adrian McCarthy’s ROUGH RIDER which tackles the controversial topic of drug use within the cycling community, attended by sports journalist Paul Kimage; green doc ECOCIDE- VOICES FROM PARADISE investigating the devastating effects the 2010 BP oil spill has had on the Gulf ecosystem; ONE ROGUE REPORTER written and directed by disillusioned tabloid reporter Rich Peppiatt who will attend the festival to present this merciless dissection of his former trade; and THE GIRL WHO TALKED TO DOLPHINS, the shocking story of one of science’s most audacious interspecies experiments.

    Festival audiences will also have the chance to attend the World Premiere of Kim Longinotto’s new film LOVE IS ALL on Wednesday 14th June at Chatsworth. Set to a stunning soundtrack by Richard Hawley, this new BBC NORTH, BBC STORYVILLE and BFI commission, produced by Crossover and Lone Star with BFI archive footage, explores a century of love and courtship on screen. From cinema’s very first kisses, through the disruption of war to the birth of youth culture, gay liberation and free love, we follow courting couples flirting at tea dances, kissing in the back of the movies, shacking up and fighting for the right to love.

    Music docs and live music are firmly established as part of the Doc/Fest DNA and this year will see more than a dozen musical moments. The festival will close on 12th June at The Crucible with Saint Etienne giving a world premiere live performance of their original soundtrack to Paul Kelly’s HOW WE USED TO LIVE. Indie pop duo Summer Camp will play live for the first time for the UK Premiere of Charlie Lyne’s BEYOND CLUELESS which unravels the 1990’s high school movie genre; British Sea Power are back with Robert Flaherty’s MAN OF ARAN and Penny Woolcock’s FROM THE SEA TO THE LAND BEYOND; Goldfrapp will play a live soundtrack to Victor Sjöström’s 1924 silent classic HE WHO GETS SLAPPED starring the great silent film actor Lon Chaney; and playing outside the festival as a special treat for families, Sean O’Hagan’s High Llamas will play live to original FELIX THE CAT animated shorts.

    Highlight music docs include Eric Green’s BEAUTIFUL NOISE about Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine; NOWHERE IS HOME sees directors Kieran Evans and Paul Kelly (Finisterre) reunite to film the final nights of Dexys London residency last year, with band-members Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Paul Kelly making an appearance; and in FINDING FELA Alex Gibney looks back at Fela Kuti’s legacy, weaving together a multi-layered narrative with rare footage, star-studded interviews and a musical adaptation, featuring live performance of Antibalas and attended by Fela’s former manager Rikki Stein.

    The INTERACTIVE elements of Doc/Fest span across the festival with films, games and sessions taking place in several Sheffield venues. The brand new Interactive Exhibition Space in the Millennium Galleries will feature 15 docs to play, touch and experience across multiple devices from tablets to Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headsets. The Interactive Exhibition will be open until late every night to allow time for festival goers to explore after busy days of sessions and screenings. Six of these interactive docs are shortlisted for the Innovation Award: animated web doc IRANORAMA which goes to the heart of Iranian society little known outside its borders; innovative National Geographic produced KILLING KENNEDY; Kat Cizek’s New York Times Op-Doc A SHORT HISTORY OF THE HIGHRISE which looks at 2,500 years of vertical living; Brenda Longfellow, Glenn Richards and Helios Design Labs OFFSHORE which explores the dark waters of the global offshore oil industry in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion; Samuel Bollendorff and Olivia Colo’s shocking BURN OUT which investigates the increasing number of public suicides in France; and LAST HIJACK INTERACTIVE, a true tale of survival in Somalia told from the pirate’s perspective. Nonny de la Pena uses 3D technology to present journalism in a new immersive way with a new work presented in the SIF space; and Anagram launch their much anticipated DOOR IN TO THE DARK – a blindfolded journey into the psychology of navigation. Out on the streets Blast Theory’s I’D HIDE YOU offers an online, interactive game of stealth and cunning, played through the eyes and bodies of runners.

    On the 8th and 9th June British performer Nathan Penlington brings the brilliant CHOOSE YOUR OWN DOCUMENTARY live to the Crucible Studio; an unmissable story of obsession that the audience can steer using remote controls. Acclaimed “live storytelling” documentarian Sam Green comes to Sheffield with THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS, a playful and beautifully poetic meditation on humanity, loosely inspired by the Guinness World Records book series.

    ART will run throughout Doc/Fest as installations, in films, and in sessions. The Millennium Gallery will feature two installations: Vicki Bennett’s CONSEQUENCES which explores the wondrous and catastrophic nature of cause and effect and the concept of the copy and the original by placing subject matter side by side to construct a new narrative, and Doc/Fest’s first original commission for a gallery exhibit is a piece from South Korea-based Heavy Industries curiously titled MY LIFE AS A BLOODY SHEFFIELD BUTTER KNIFE, funded by Arts Council England. And AGNES GOES LIVE will be in Sheffield after evolving within the Serpentine Gallery’s website and will be taking questions from Ben Vickers, Curator of Digital at the Serpentine Galleries and members of the audience. In the film programme in the Habit of Art strand includes ALASDAIR GRAY: A LIFE IN PROGRESS, a film by Kevin Cameron that provides an intimate portrait of Scottish writer and artist Alasdair Gray. Nancy Kates’ documentary features the life of author, critic and activist Susan Sontag. REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG shows a writer who defied the high-brow, patriarchal expectations of traditional academia and embraced the New York City’s nocturnal art scene in the 1960s. Marina Abramovic has created a Random Act Documentary DANGEROUS GAMES looking at children in war and Academy Award nominated documentary maker Lucy Walker directs DAVID HOCKNEY IN THE NOW, a short about vivacious and prolific artist David Hockney.

    In sessions controversial artist Grayson Perry will talk about his passion for documentary and offer some revealing insights in to his creative process at Sheffield City Hall; and Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England, will be in conversation with Head of Film4.0 Anna Higgs about the future for interactive and digital arts.

    Other highlight sessions include Jon Snow who will discuss his extensive career in television and share some highlights with the audience at the Crucible; Sue Perkins talking about the making of THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF; Sundance award-winner Ondi Timoner discussing the rapidly shifting entertainment industry landscape alongside a screening of 3 short films: OBEY THE ARTIST, AMANDA F-ING PALMER ON THE ROCKS and RUSSELL BRANDS THE BIRD in A TOTAL DISRUPTION, and renowned filmmaker and journalist John Pilger in conversation, followed by a screening of his new work UTOPIA which investigates ostracism and racism in the most disadvantaged Aboriginal area in Australia.

    SEX, taboos and discovery are at the heart of this year’s REVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS strand, with films including GOODBYE GAULEY MOUNTAIN: AN ECOSEXUAL LOVE STORY, a story of love and anti-mountain top removal activism, and Sunny Bergman’s globe-trotting SLUT PHOBIA? which conducts interviews with members of the public in a travelling tent, asking if there is something array with our conception of female sexuality. Sessions and workshops continue the consciousness revolution as Barbara Carrellas, author of Ecstasy is Necessary, and Annie Sprinkle, porn star/performance artist, bring their unique participatory workshop ECSTASY, BREATHING AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS to Doc/Fest, teaching techniques to aid creative processes and sharing their thoughts and discoveries on ecstatic energy as a tool to change the world; Carrellas will also present MAKING IT SEXY – NEW WAYS OF UNLOCKING CREATIVE POTENTIAL an innovative investigation of how Tantric and Taoist sex techniques can have benefits beyond the bedroom and into the workplace.

    This year’s QUEER strand includes THE CASE AGAINST 8 which traces the fight against Proposition 8, taking us behind the scenes of one of the most significant civil rights trials in America’s history, and Ethan Reid’s x-rated portrait of a ground breaking erotic filmmaker, PETER DE ROME GRANDFATHER OF GAY PORN which will enjoy its World Premiere at Doc/Fest alongside screenings of some of Peter de Rome’s work, presented by the 90-year-old director himself.

    The BEST OF BRITISH film strand is exceptionally strong with a diverse range of film screenings including: Penny Woolcock’s latest doc GOING TO THE DOGS which focuses on the criminal subculture of the dog fighting world and man’s conflicted relationship with dogs; a tragic look at Britain’s current foodbank situation in the world premiere of KIDS ON THE BREADLINE; and the World Premiere of MR SOMEBODY which tells the story of Huddersfield’s local eccentric Jake Mangle-Wurzel, and welcomes the man himself to the festival.

    Showcasing challenging political films, Doc/Fest’s RESISTANCE strand examines conflicts and protests in the UK and abroad with World Premieres of WE ARE MANY, which tells the story of the largest anti-war march in history, featuring a cast including Damon Albarn, Richard Branson, Danny Glover, and Hans Blix, and music by Simon Russell and Brian Eno, the latter of whom will be in attendance; and STILL THE ENEMY WITHIN, a moving examination of the 1984 miners’ strike told through archive footage and interviews with those who fought back. Continuing a focus on the miners’ strike, 30 years since it happened, Jeremy Deller will visit the festival to present his 2011 film BATTLE OF ORGREAVE which stages a powerful reenactment of a violent confrontation that took place at Orgreave coking plant at the height of the strikes. Also taking up the theme of Resistance, RETURN TO HOMS follows Syrian rebel Abdul Basset and his fearless crew over a two-year period which saw Homs destroyed by violence; and seven-part autobiographic film PROFESSION: DOCUMENTARIST featuring 7 independent Iranian female documentary film makers – Shirin Barghnavard, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Farhnaz Sharifi, Mina Keshavarz, Sepideh Abtahi, Sahar Salahshoor and Nahid Rezaei – talking about their concerns, challenges and personal and professional lives.

    GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS strand features fascinating stories brought back from across the globe including a glimpse into the high-adrenaline world of women’s roller derby in DERBY CRAZY LOVE, following Montreal team ‘New Skids on the Block’ as they prepare for their biggest battle yet; Marshall Curry’s POINT AND SHOOT capturing an adventure travel documentary which became a harrowing war experience; documentary filmmaker and wedding photographer Doug Block combines the two in 112 WEDDINGS, revisiting some of the couples for whom he made wedding videos, finding both happiness and tragedy; THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG documenting Andrew Leavold’s seven year search for dwarf Filipino super-star Weng Weng, once the Philippines biggest cultural export; and VISITORS, a striking visual poem exploring ideas of humanity and nature, directed by Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi) in association with Steven Soderbergh and set to a mesmerising score by Philip Glass.

    This year’s awards ceremony hosted by Jeremy Hardy will take place on Thursday 12 June at 11.30am at Sheffield Showrooms. With awards including:

    SPECIAL JURY

    In competition for the Special Jury Prize are: LIFE ITSELF, a documentary portrait of late film-critic Roger Ebert based on his memoir of the same name; Jesse Moss’ Sundance award-winning THE OVERNIGHTERS telling the story of a church pastor facing backlash for allowing homeless men refuge in his church; ALL THIS MAYHEM which charts the rise and fall of ex-pro-skateboarding brothers Ben and Tas Pappas – directed by Eddie Martin who used to skate with the brothers and accompanied by an appearance from Tas Pappas; and IN THE SHADOW OF WAR, a powerful exploration of 4 young people’s struggle to rebuild broken relationships and heal mental and physical scars 20 years on from war in Bosnia Herzegovia; NON FICTION DIARY which examines the momentous social and political changes that beset the country in the 1990s via the first serial murder case in the country’s history; Goran Olsson’s CONCERNING VIOLENCE, combining extraordinary archive footage depicting the most daring moments in struggles for liberation around the world with passages from Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, narrated by singer Lauryn Hill; and Rory Kennedy’s re-examination of the final chaotic weeks that brought the Vietnam war to a close in LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM, alongside, NIGHT WILL FALL and ATTACKING THE DEVIL: HAROLD EVANS AND THE LAST NAZI WAR CRIME.

    GREEN

    The Green Jury will deliberate between nominees A DANGEROUS GAME, Anthony Baxter’s follow-up to his 2011 documentary YOU’VE BEEN TRUMPED, in which he continues to challenge Donald Trump’s construction of a luxury golf course on coast of Aberdeen; gripping true-crime tale THE GALAPOGOS AFFAIR: SATAN CAME TO EDEN which tells the story of Galapogos Island settlers in the 1930s through home movie footage, testimonies of present-day islanders and a star-studded voice cast; and climate-change doc LAST CALL which investigates the writing of 1972 book The Limits to Growth which warned that global growth was not environmentally sustainable and asks why it went ignored.

    YOUTH

    Five films have been selected for consideration by the 2014 Youth Jury; Brian Knappenberger’s gripping biography of THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY – THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ; the inspiring Iran-based SEPIDEH about a teenage stargazer; WEB JUNKIE which explains how China came to be the first country to officially recognise internet addiction as a clinical disorder; French doc THE SCHOOL OF BABEL; and opening night film HAPPINESS.

    2014 sees Sheffield Doc/Fest being recognised by the Academy Awards for the first time as an Oscar-qualifying festival in the category of Short Doc. The documentary short that wins in this year’s Doc/Fest short film category will go on to qualify for the 2015 Academy Awards.

    In keeping with Sheffield’s current penchant for cycling – as Tour de Cinema pedals along towards the Grand Départ in July – Doc/Fest has a new film strand: HELL ON WHEELS. Alongside the World Premiere of STOP AT NOTHING: THE LANCE ARMSTRONG STORY, films will include Alex Gibney’s doc THE ARMSTRONG LIE and GREG LEMOND – SLAYING THE BADGER, a film by John Dower examining the fierce rivalries within the cycling world.

    Each year Sheffield Doc/Fest selects a filmmaker to focus on and this year sees a retrospective of the works of Agnès Varda. The Greek-French film director and professor is internationally renowned for her filmmaking, photography and art installations which often provide social commentary within an experimental style. Four films have been chosen to represent Varda’s work, THE GLEANERS AND I, THE BEACHES OF AGNES, VAGABOND and CLEO FROM 5 TO 7.

    Also looking back through the sands of cinema is Films on Film, a strand pairing documentary explorations with the feature films they examine, including Sidney Lumet’s 1975 DOG DAY AFTERNOON and THE DOG, about the real man who inspired Al Pacino’s character; two 1944 propaganda films made by Alfred Hitchcock for the British Ministry of Information – BON VOYAGE and AVENTURE MALGACHE – alongside NIGHT WILL FALL which retraces the story of another unfinished propaganda film which for decades was known as ‘the missing Hitchcock’. Parallel to the screening of this documentary, the Forum strand will present the World Premiere of the missing film, which has been reconstructed by the Imperial War Museum in London.

    And finally, Doc/Fest will also honour late Canadian documentary filmmaker and friend of the festival, Peter Wintonick by screening his award-winning, provocative portrait of linguist, intellectual and political activist Noam Chomsky from 1992 MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA, and PILGRIMAGE which touchingly documents an around-the-world trip with his filmmaking daughter Mira-Burt Wintonick, exploring the future of documentary film and image-making. The festival will also introduce a new award, The Peter Wintonick Award which will celebrate activist filmmaking. The winning film will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Thursday 12th June.

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  • Docs on the Arab Spring, LGBT Issues, Women’s Rights and More Among 22 Films Featured in NYC’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival

    Private ViolencePrivate Violence The 25th edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will run from June 12 to 22, 2014 with a program of 22 films that bring human rights struggles to life through storytelling, and remind us that film can be a powerful source of change and inspiration. The festival is co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center. Twenty documentaries and two fiction films will be featured, including 19 New York premieres and an unprecedented 16 features by women. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is especially proud to be celebrating its 25th anniversary. What began as a series of films shown on a modest-sized television in a small New York City theater is now experienced on the big screen by over 100,000 passionate audience members in more than 20 cities worldwide. “Twenty-five years is quite a milestone and we would like to acknowledge the enthusiastic support of our audience, which has allowed the festival to grow into what it is today,” said John Biaggi, festival director at Human Rights Watch. “This anniversary is also an opportunity to reflect on the fact that human rights concerns have only increased. One look at the breadth of this year’s program confirms that the festival is even more crucial today.” This year’s program is organized around five themes: Armed Conflict and the Arab Spring; Human Rights Defenders, Icons and Villains; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights; Migrants’ Rights; and Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights. E-TEAME-TEAM The festival will launch on June 12 with a fundraising Benefit Night for Human Rights Watch featuring Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman’s Sundance award-winner E-TEAM, which follows four intrepid activists from Human Rights Watch’s Emergencies Team as they investigate and document war crimes on the front lines of Syria and Libya. Director Cynthia Hill and executive producer Gloria Steinem will be present on June 13 for the Opening Night screening of the HBO documentary Private Violence. Exploring the fact that the most dangerous place for a woman is her home, the film tells the stories of Deanna Walters, a woman who seeks justice after being kidnapped and brutalized by her estranged husband, and Kit Gruelle, a domestic violence survivor who now helps women find justice for themselves. Scheherazade’s DiaryScheherazade’s Diary The Closing Night screening on June 22 will be Scheherazade’s Diary, a tragicomic documentary that follows women inmates through a 10-month drama therapy/theater project set up by director Zeina Daccache at the Baabda Prison in Lebanon. Through “Scheherazade in Baabda,” these “murderers of husbands, adulterers and drug felons” reveal their stories—tales of domestic violence, traumatic childhoods, failed marriages, and forlorn romances. Armed Conflict and the Arab Spring A number of timely films in this year’s program unfold against the backdrop of pro-democracy movements across the Arab world. Abounaddara Collective Shorts from Syria are films created by Abounaddara, a collective of self-taught Syrian filmmakers whose short documentaries exploring the reality of life in their war-torn country have been posted online every week since the 2011 uprising began. The Mulberry HouseThe Mulberry House In Rachel Beth Anderson and Tim Grucza’s First to Fall, two students in Canada abandon their peaceful lives to return to their home country of Libya to join the fight to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. Scottish-Yemeni director Sara Ishaq’s The Mulberry House follows a journey by the filmmaker back to her father’s home in Yemen after a decade-long absence. Return to HomsReturn to Homs The Sundance World Documentary Grand Prize-winner Return to Homs takes viewers to the front lines of the Syrian conflict as two young men who are determined to defend their city abandon peaceful resistance and take up arms. The festival is pleased to present the film’s director, Talal Derki, and producer, Orwa Nyrabia, both Syrians, with its 2014 Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking. Human Rights Defenders, Icons and Villains Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of BelarusDangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus In addition to the Benefit Night film E-TEAM, four documentaries explore the lives of compelling figures on both sides of the human rights spectrum. Consisting of smuggled footage and uncensored interviews, Madeleine Sackler’s HBO documentary Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus follows the courageous actors of the Belarus Free Theatre, an acclaimed troupe that defies Europe’s last remaining dictatorship. The Green PrinceThe Green Prince Nadav Schirman’s Sundance Audience Award-winner The Green Prince is a real-life thriller about the complex relationship between a Palestinian informant and his Israeli Shin Bet handler. A top prize-winner at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me, by the South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane, uses conversations with politicians, activists, intellectuals, and artists to question the meaning of freedom and reconciliation, and challenges Mandela’s legacy in today’s world. Watchers of the SkyWatchers of the Sky Edet Belzberg’s Sundance double award-winner Watchers of the Sky, inspired by Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “A Problem From Hell,” interweaves the stories of four extraordinary humanitarians whose lives and work embody the vision of Rafael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who created international law on stopping genocide and holding leaders accountable. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck StoryPrivate Violence Three documentaries highlight LGBT issues in the United States. Sandrine Orabona and Mark Herzog’s Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story focuses on former Navy SEAL Chris Beck who, after decades of fighting for American ideals, discovers a new appreciation of liberty and happiness as he embarks on his most challenging mission: transitioning to Kristin and beginning life as a transgender woman. To Be Takei To Be Takei Out in the Night is blair dorosh-walther’s story of four African-American friends, who, out for a night in Greenwich Village in 2006, became known in the media as a “Gang of Killer Lesbians” when they defended themselves from the sexual threats of an older man. In Jennifer Kroot’s To Be Takei, Star Trek’s inter-galactic helmsman George Takei explores his private and public personas—from being William Shatner’s nemesis to becoming a gay activist—as he prepares his dream project: a musical based on his childhood inside a Japanese-American internment camp. Migrants’ Rights  Evaporating Borders Evaporating Borders A visual essay in five parts, Iva Radivojevic’s Evaporating Borders examines how tolerance, identity and nationalism collide over migration issues on the island of Cyprus, one of the easiest entry points to Europe. Mano Khalil’s The Beekeeper relates the touching story of Ibrahim Gezer, a displaced Kurdish beekeeper from southeast Turkey, and his integration into Switzerland. Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights The HomestretchThe Homestretch Eight films—including festival opener Private Violence and closing night’s Scheherazade’s Diary—look at the rights of women and children across the globe. Jasmila Zbanić’s drama For Those Who Can Tell No Tales tells the story of an Australian tourist whose summer holiday in Bosnia-Herzegovina leads her to discover the silent legacy of wartime atrocities in a seemingly idyllic town on the border of Bosnia and Serbia. Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly’s The Homestretch follows three homeless but ambitious teens in Chicago as they fight to stay in school, graduate, and build a future. Sepideh – Reaching For the StarsSepideh – Reaching For the Stars Centered in a public hospital in Nicaragua, Alessandra Zeka and Holen Sabrina Kahn’s A Quiet Inquisition looks at Dr. Carla Cerrato, an Ob/Gyn who struggles with her conscience as she is forced to navigate between a new law that bans all abortions and her training in medical protocols that enable her to save lives. Berit Madsen’s Sepideh – Reaching For the Stars introduces viewers to a young Iranian woman who follows her passion for astronomy and dares to dream of a future as an astronaut. The Supreme PriceThe Supreme Price The Indo-Canadian filmmaker Richie Mehta’s stirring drama Siddharth is the tale of a father’s journey across India in search of the young son he sent away to work in a factory but fears has been taken by child traffickers. Joanna Lipper’s The Supreme Price charts the perilous evolution of the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria, focusing on Hafsat Abiola, an activist who returns to her embattled home to fight for democracy and women’s rights. In conjunction with this year’s film program, the festival will present the exhibit The Unraveling: Journey Through the Central African Republic Crisis, a photographic investigation by Marcus Bleasdale that exposes a massive human rights crisis unfolding in a country that few people even knew existed. It will be featured in the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater for the duration of the festival.  

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  • Documentary FIX About Heroin Addicts in the Bronx to World Premiere at SOHO International Film Festival

    THE FIX, a new documentary exploring life after heroin addiction in the Bronx

    THE FIX, a new documentary exploring life after heroin addiction in the Bronx, will have its world premiere at the SOHO International Film Festival on May 19. 

    Directed by Laura Naylor (Duck Beach to Eternity), THE FIX follows Junior, a young father trying to turn his life around after years of heroin addiction, as he joins forces with a group of fellow hepatitis-C-infected former users in the Bronx to fight the disease in their community. Knitting personal narratives together with a profile of innovative programs at a methadone clinic, the film explores the concept of storytelling as an instrument of change and gives a powerful voice to marginalized members of society. 

    THE FIX, a new documentary exploring life after heroin addiction in the Bronx

    Junior lives in a homeless shelter with his wife and young daughter and has recently gotten clean after 20 years of addiction, jail, and violence. Like most injection drug users, Junior has contracted hepatitis C, a chronic disease that will, left untreated, cut short his life. Traumatized by his past but determined to change, he seeks treatment for his addiction at a methadone clinic in the Bronx, where he is offered a grueling, year-long hepatitis C treatment that could potentially save his life.

    We learn that Junior has not seen his oldest daughter in ten years, having lost custody of her because of his heroin addiction. Overcome with guilt and regret, he is now determined not to repeat history with his second child. Despite severe side effects from the treatment, he pushes forward.

    THE FIX, a new documentary exploring life after heroin addiction in the Bronx

    Gradually gaining momentum in his recovery, Junior trains as a peer educator at his clinic and joins forces with other former junkies to fight the hepatitis C epidemic in the Bronx. Charged with helping other addicts, Junior and the others begin to feel a sense of purpose in their own lives.

    As part of their training, the peer educators participate in a storytelling workshop conducted by The Moth, an award-winning non-profit dedicated to the art of telling true stories live. Junior finds his voice and begins to transform into a powerful leader and storyteller. In the face of treatment-induced memory loss and a fear of failure, he takes to the stage at events from downtown Manhattan to Governor’s Hall at the New York State capitol.

    With a sense of spiritual and physical renewal, Junior improbably reunites with his first daughter and vows to be the positive paternal presence his family needs going forward. Because of his hepatitis C cure, he now has the time that he needs.

    The SOHO International Film Festival runs May 15 to 22, 2014 at Village East Cinemas in New York City.

    http://youtu.be/TxO7Tf6GR8M

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  • Fashion Documentary “Dior and I” Set for Late U.S. 2014 Release

    Dior and I

    Frédéric Tcheng’s fashion documentary “Dior and I” which premiered to strong reviews earlier this year at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, will be released in the US later this year, by Entertainment One Films (eOne).  Filmmaker Frédéric Tcheng follows up his work on fashion films, including Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel and Valentino: The Last Emperor, with another masterful exploration of a towering fashion institution.

    Dior and I

    In Dior and I, one enters the storied world that is the House of Christian Dior with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons’ highly anticipated first Haute Couture collection as the iconic brand’s new Artistic Director. From conception through its ultimate exhibition, the process is shown to be a true labor of love by the stoic Simons and a dedicated, charming, and often humorous team of collaborators. Beautifully melding the everyday, pressure-filled components of fashion with an elegant reverence for the history of Dior, Tcheng’s colorful homage to the seamstresses of the atelier is nothing short of magical.

    Frédéric TchengFrédéric Tcheng

    Director Frédéric Tcheng is a French-born filmmaker who co-produced, co-edited, and shot Valentino: The Last Emperor, the 2009 hit documentary shortlisted for a Best Documentary Academy Award. He co-directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (2011), and has collaborated on films with such varied personalities as the poet Sarah Riggs, the fashion brand H&M, Jimmy Choo, Ferragamo and Vogue, among others.

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  • Philadelphia International Children’s Film Festival Announces 2014 Lineup

     NOCTURNA. Directed by Adrià García & Víctor MaldonadoNOCTURNA. Directed by Adrià García & Víctor Maldonado

    The Philadelphia Film Society announced the full line-up of the second Philadelphia International Children’s Film Festival (PICFF). Partnering with New York International Children’s Film Festival, one of the longest running and acclaimed children’s film festivals on the circuit, the three-day festival, held Friday, June 6 – Sunday, June 8, 2014,  will offer a variety of animated, live-action and experimental short and feature films from all around the world.

    The event will be held exclusively at the PFS Roxy Theater, 2023 Sansom Street, Philadelphia. Tickets will be available online and at the theater box office beginning Friday, May 23, 2014.  

    In support of youth programming throughout the city, the Philadelphia Film Society will donate $1.00 for every ticket purchased online to ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships. ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships’ mission is to keep Philadelphia’s youth safe and active by facilitating supervised activities in the dangerous after school hours.

    The Philadelphia International Children’s Film Festival is sponsored by Comcast Xfinity and Whole Foods Markets.  

    The full list of films, representing 11 countries, includes:

    ANINA

    ANINA

    Directed by Alfredo Soderguit
    Uraguay//80 min//In Spanish with English Subtitles//Ages: 7+

    Anina Yatay Salas always seems to be finding trouble. Her name is a palindrome – meaning it reads the same both backwards and forwards – and tends to be the basis of teasing amongst her classmates. Anina takes her frustrations out on another girl, Yisel, eventually landing both girls in the principal’s office. There they are each handed an envelope and told they must carry it around for one week, seal unbroken, before returning to discover the punishment inside. The curiosity entices Anina to follow Yisel and sneak a look into her envelope. Anina quickly learns that she has more in common with Yisel than the uncommon punishment.

    BOY AND THE WORLD

    BOY AND THE WORLD

    Directed by Alê Abreu
    Brazil//80 min//No Dialogue// Ages: 5+

    The remarkable second feature film by Brazilian artist Alê Abreu brings to screen a strikingly unique visual style to show the world through the eyes of a young boy. A child, Cuca, is born in a small village, where he lives a life of quiet wonder, exploring all that the countryside has to offer. His cozy life is shattered when his father leaves for the city, prompting him to embark on a quest to re-unite his family. As Cuca’s small world expands, soft imagery gives way to more complex visuals. The story depicts a clash between village and city, indigenous and imperial, hand crafted and mechanized, rich and poor. The film’s music guides his journey along the way.

    OPENING NIGHT FILM

    EARTH TO ECHO

    EARTH TO ECHO

    Directed by Dave Green
    Starring Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestadt
    USA//100 min//English//Ages: All

    Tuck, Munch and Alex are a closely bonded trio of inseparable friends, but their time together is coming to an end. Their neighborhood is being destroyed by a highway construction project that is forcing their families to move away. But just two days before they must part ways, the boys find a cryptic signal has infected their phones. Convinced something bigger is going on and looking for one final adventure together, they set off to trace the messages to their source and discover something beyond their wildest imaginations: hiding in the darkness is a mysterious being, stranded on Earth, and wanted by the government. This launches the boys on an epic journey full of danger and wonder, one that will test the limits of their friendship and change all of their lives forever.

    SPECIAL GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE!

    Screening will be followed by a Q&A with Producer Adam Panay and star Astro (Brian Bradley)!

    JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART

    JACK AND THE CUCKOO CLOCK HEART

    Directed by Mathieu Malzieu & Stéphane Berla
    France//89 min//English//Ages: 8+

    Jack is born on a day so cold that his heart freezes. In its place he is given a mechanical wind-up heart, which comes with some very peculiar rules – the gravest of which is that he is forbidden from falling in love. Yet when a chance encounter with an equally unusual girl sends him on a journey from his native Edinburgh to Andalusia, Jack decides to challenge the rules that govern his very existence.

    MINUSCULE: VALLEY OF THE LOST ANTS

    MINUSCULE: VALLEY OF THE LOST ANTS

    Directed by Hélène Giraud & Thomas Szabo
    France//89 min//No dialogue//Ages: 5+ 

    Amongst the remains of an abandoned picnic basket, a newborn ladybug finds himself caught in the middle of a territory war between a group of black and red ants. When the black ants find that their hill has come under attack by the army red ants, a furious and humorous chase scene ensues, with the ladybug swooping in to save the day. The unique combination of real life landscapes – a micro-world shot in extreme and stunning close-up – and wonderfully animated creepy-crawlies engaging in playful antics, will leave the viewer both dazzled and amused.

    NOCTURNA

    Directed by Adrià García & Víctor Maldonado
    Spain, France//88 min//English//Ages: 5+

    Visually stunning and wildly inventive, this film explores the mysteries of the night in a sweeping nocturnal adventure full of Alice in Wonderland-like characters and moody, dream-inspired landscapes. Have you ever wondered why your hair looks funny in the morning or where the sounds outside your window come from at night? A young boy named Tim finds out after an unusual discovery on the rooftop of his orphanage plunges him into the secret world of Nocturna, inhabited by curious creatures who control the night.

    PATEMA INVERTED

    PATEMA INVERTED

    Directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura
    Japan//99 min//Japanese with English subtitles//Ages: 9+

    The captivating new feature from Time of Eve director Yasuhiro Yoshiura is a sci-fi adventure about two kids separated by opposite gravities. Patema, the young princess of an underground society, spends her time exploring through the the tunnels and caverns of her world. On her latest expedition, she stumbles into a world that is above the surface, a place of reversed physics. There she meets Age and discovers that this new world, Aiga, comes with a tyrannical leader who has brainwashed the population against the ‘sinners who fell into the sky.’ Together Patema and Age discover the secret that keeps their two worlds apart.

    SHORTS PROGRAMS 

    KID FLIX MIX 

    Animation//62min// In English or No Dialogue//Ages 4-8

    Hello World  by Eric Serre (France, 2012, 5 min.).

    Sky Color  by Peter H. Reynolds (2012, 7 min.).

    On The Wing  by Vera Myakisheva (Russia, 2012, 6 min.).

    The Lovely Letter L  by Evan Spiridellis (2012, 2 min.).

    Hopfrog by Leonid Shmelkov (Russia, 2012, 4 min.).

    What is Music? By Christian Robinson (2013, 4 min.). 

    I Want my Hat Back by Galen Fott (2013, 9 min.).

    Snowflake by Natalia Chernysheva (Russia, 2012, 5 min.)

    Monstersymponie by Kiana Nagshineh (Germany, 2012, 4 min.).

    The Mole at Sea by Anna Kadykova (Russia, 2012, 5 min.).

    The New Species by Katerina Karhánková (Czech Republic, 2013, 6 min.).

    Big Block Sing-Song: Hair by Warren Brown (Canada, 2012, 2 min.).

    My Mom is an Airplane(Russia/USA, 2013, 6.5 min).

    PARTY MIX 

    72min//In English or with English Subtitles//Ages 8+

    Carpark by Ant Blades (UK, 2013, 2 min).

    Rabbit and Deer by Péter Vácz (Hungary, 2013, 16 min.).

    The Dam Keeper by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo (2013, 18 min.).

    The Big Beast by Pierre Luc Granjon (France, 2013, 7 min.)  The Centipede and the Toad by Anna Khmelevskaya (France, 2012, 10 min.).

    The Princess, the Prince and the Greed-Eyed Dragon by Bin-Ha To / Jakob Schuh (Germany, 2011, 7min)

    Portlandia: Rat’s Book by Rob Shaw (USA, 2013, 3.5min)

    Tome of the Unknown by Patrick McHale (USA, 2013, 8min)

    SPECIAL EVENTS

    10 DAY FILM CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

    120min/Award Ceremony

    During the 2013-14 school year, the 10 Day Film Challenge took place in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and Florida. Participating students had 10 school days to create a 4-minute short film. Each challenge featured statewide screenings and award programs. In previous years, that’s where the 10 Day Film Challenge ended. Through a partnership with the Philadelphia Film Society, the 2014 10 Day Film Challenge CHAMPIONSHIPS program was created . The CHAMPIONSHIPS is the new culmination of the 10 Day Film Challenge, featuring short films created by high school student filmmakers from around the country. The top films from the statewide Challenges will be viewed and vie for the coveted title of Overall Best 10 Day Film of 2014. With the help of the Film Society, the 10 Day Film Challenge looks to expand to all 50 states across the USA.

     

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  • Ashland Independent Film Festival Gets A New Executive Director

    ashland independent film festival

    The Ashland Independent Film Festival has selected the CFO of High Sierra Music, Inc., Berkeley, CA to its top job. David Margulies of Ashland will succeed Anne Ashbey as the festival’s new executive director. Pam Notch, president of the AIFF board, described Margulies as “intelligent, dynamic and resourceful, with proven successes in his field. Dave brings over 19 years of festival experience to AIFF. During his professional tenure, Dave has developed deep relationships with key sponsors and partners, garnered numerous in-kind donations and demonstrated his acumen in fundraising.”

    “I am deeply honored to have been selected for this position,” Margulies said. “I’m a huge fan of the festival. I have a passion for the arts and bringing transformation through the lens of human experience. I look forward to collaborating with AIFF’s incredible staff, board, volunteers and community supporters to build upon the festival’s success and ensure a brighter future for independent film in Southern Oregon.”

    Margulies is well acquainted with AIFF, having served on the advisory board for two years from July 2012 to June 2014. “Dave’s incredible success in building and running a well-regarded music festival from the ground up has all the ingredients needed to not only strengthen AIFF but also take it to new levels,” Notch said. “Combine that with his existing experience and relationship with AIFF as an advisory council member, and he is a great fit for the film festival.”

    Ashbey resigned recently after two years in the festival’s top position. She will continue to be a part of the organization as a member of AIFF’s Board of Directors. Margulies, 55, a New Jersey native, is the CFO, Co-Owner and Co-Producer of High Sierra Music, Inc of Berkeley, CA, managing over 100 staff and 500 volunteers and an event budget exceeding $1 million. He will continue to work with the 4-day annual festival.

    Margulies has also worked for over five years at Sony Music Entertainment as their Regional Director of A & R, and as Managing Editor for College Media Journal of New York for seven years.

    “AIFF offers an unsurpassed festival experience that has become a vital part of our community and cultural life,” says Margulies. “You can expect me to be looking for opportunities to expand the audience, garner more support and build the exposure.”

    Margulies earned a degree in business management from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. He moved to Ashland in 2005 with his family. “Coming from a business background, high on my list is to make the festival financially stronger,” he said. “We’re a non-profit arts organization, so we face the same financial challenges others do.”

    AIFF is a widely recognized and highly regarded festival, screening 80-plus independently made documentaries, features and shorts at the Varsity Theatre, the historic Ashland Armory and the Ashland Street Cinema each year. Praised by filmgoers for the intimate access it affords to filmmakers, and by filmmakers for its warm and intelligent reception given to the filmmakers, the Ashland Independent Film Festival was named one of the “Top 25 Coolest Festivals in the World” by MovieMaker magazine, and holds the number two spot in the “Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker in 2014, Top Towns.” The National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the National Endowment for the Arts have each twice awarded AIFF with rare festival support grants.

    The 14th annual Ashland Independent Film Festival will be celebrated April 9-13, 2015.

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  • Tribeca Film to Release Documentary on Hip-Hop Luminary, Nas “TIME IS ILLMATIC”

    TIME IS ILLMATIC 

    Tribeca Film is acquiring North American rights to Time Is Illmatic, which had its world premiere as the opening night of the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary is directed by multimedia artist, One9, written by Erik Parker, and produced by One9, Parker, and Anthony Saleh. It follows the trajectory of Nas’ 1994 landmark debut album, Illmatic — widely considered one of the most important and revolutionary albums in hip-hop. Tribeca Film is planning a simultaneous theatrical and VOD release in October along with performances by Nas in select cities. Additionally, educational youth screening series will complement the release.

    Time Is Illmatic traces Nas’ influences and the insurmountable odds he faced in creating the greatest work of music from hip-hop’s second golden era. The film tracks the musical legacy of the Jones family — handed down to Nas from his jazz musician father, Olu Dara, the support of his Queensbridge neighborhood crew, and the loyalty of his younger brother Jabari “Jungle” Jones. Twenty years after its release, Illmatic is widely recognized as a hip-hop benchmark that encapsulates the sociopolitical outlook, enduring spirit, and collective angst of a generation of young men searching for their voice in America. Time Is Illmatic was supported by The Ford Foundation’s Just Films and Tribeca Film Institute’s Tribeca All Access program.

    Hip-hop luminary and multi-platinum artist, Nas, released his debut album Illmatic in 1994, and he has gone on to sell over 20 million albums worldwide. The legendary Queens rapper is widely recognized as a visionary and lauded for a seminal body of work that spans a two-decade career.

    “I want to thank Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal & the Tribeca Film family for all of the love & support they’ve given Time Is Illmatic,” said Nas . “It is an honor to be in partnership with them. I feel there is a cultural kinship bonded by the city of New York.”

    “We began this journey with filmmakers One9 and Erik Parker when they conceived of the idea for the film in 2010 and supported them with funding through the Tribeca Film Institute to complete their vision,” said Jane Rosenthal, Co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises. “We were privileged to open the 2014 Festival with the world premiere of this powerful story of an artist’s journey through the toughest of conditions and times. The film is unique. Nas is the truest of artists, reflecting his community. Tribeca was founded on community and filmmaking and we could not be more proud of our continuing association with a work as honest and inspirational as Time is Illmatic.”

    “With Time is Illmatic, Erik and I wanted to celebrate Nas’ groundbreaking album, Illmatic, and shed light on the socio-economic conditions that created it. Most importantly, we wanted to show how one piece of art gave hope to those searching for their voice in America,” said One9. “We are confident that our partnership with Tribeca will give the proper platform for this important American experience.”

    The deal for the film was negotiated by Nick Savva, Vice President of Acquisitions for Tribeca Film and David Koh, Dan Braun, Josh Braun for Submarine Entertainment with Liesl Copland for WME on behalf of the filmmakers.

     

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  • Manfred Kirchheimer’s Restored legendary NYC film “Stations Of The Elevated” to Premiere at BAMCinemaFest

     Stations of the Elevated

    APD’s Cinema Conservancy program announce the upcoming release of Stations of the Elevated (1981), a 45-minute independent documentary directed, produced and edited by Manfred Kirchheimer, in a new restoration. Shot over the course of 1977 on lush 16mm color reversal stock, the film weaves together vivid images of elevated subway trains crisscrossing New York City’s gritty urban landscape. With a complex soundtrack that combines the ambient sounds of the city with the music of Charles Mingus and Aretha Franklin, the film is an impressionistic portrait of and tribute to a New York that has long since disappeared. 

    On Friday, June 27 BAMCinemaFest will present the world premiere of APD/Cinema Conservancy’s new restoration of Stations of the Elevated on the Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater. The event begins with a live performance by legendary jazz ensemble the Mingus Dynasty, the original Charles Mingus legacy band. The first band Sue Mingus organized after Charles’ death in 1979, this acclaimed orchestra continues to interpret Charles Mingus’ more than 300 compositions, and will perform as a prelude to Kirchheimer’s jazz-inflected documentary. Tickets go on sale May 14, 2014 here: http://www.bam.org/film/2014/bamcinemafest2014.

    The newly restored version of the film will be released in theaters this fall accompanied by other works by Manfred Kirchheimer.  The restoration process includes both re-mastered image and sound.

    Director of Cinema Converancy Jake Perlin stated, “I was hypnotized by Stations from the first time I saw the video cassette, just like the twenty plus times I have seen it since.  When thinking of dream projects for Cinema Conservancy, it was at the top of the list.  Working with Manny to be able to bring the film back to audiences in this beautiful version and have it premiere on the enormous screen in the Harvey, is thrilling!”

    “In 1977 when Stations of the Elevated was filmed, illegal graffiti on New York’s subway trains was considered the scourge of the city. Mayors and passengers called it vandalism; attack dogs were let loose to scare and apprehend the perpetrators–kids with names and messages they wanted to ‘get up.’ Today, museums, advertisers and celebrities court the graffiti writers and display their work. With the careful HD restoration of the film, it lives again in all its blazing glory”, said Manfred Kirchheimer.

    Among the first-ever documentations of graffiti on film, Stations of the Elevated captures the height of the 1970s graffiti movement in New York, featuring the work of early legends including Lee, Fab 5 Freddy, Shadow, Daze, Kase, Butch, Blade, Slave, 12 T2B, Ree, and Pusher. In a period when the graffiti covering New York’s subway system was largely dismissed as vandalism, with mayor Ed Koch threatening “if I had my way I wouldn’t use dogs, but wolves [to keep writers out of the train yards],” Kirchheimer explored graffiti as a form of self-expression and a reaction to New York’s social and economic conditions, an artistic counterpoint to the “legalized vandalism” dominating the city’s visual landscape in the form of corporate advertising. Juxtaposing the colorful imagery of ‘tagged’ cars with shots of carefully hand-painted billboards depicting hamburgers and bikini-clad women, Stations of the Elevated forces audiences to ask: “What is urban art, and what role does it play in the daily life of a city?”

    The film premiered at the 1981 New York Film Festival, but lacking appropriate music licenses, Stations of the Elevated was never theatrically released in the United States. In the 30 years since its completion it has been rarely screened, developing a cult amongst cinephiles and jazz- and graffiti-lovers. After two years of working to secure appropriate licenses for its soundtrack, APD’s Cinema Conservancy program will finally make this crucial cultural document and cinematic experience available to the public in 2014 with a theatrical run. 

    Filmmaker Manfred Kirchheimer (b. 1931) immigrated to New York with his family as a child, escaping Nazi Germany to settle in Washington Heights. After studying at Hans Richter’s Institute of Film Techniques at the City College of New York, he spent many years working in the film industry while self-financing his own independent films. A long-time professor at the School of Visual Arts, Kirchheimer has documented New York with an observant, sympathetic eye for decades, in films including We Were So Beloved (1986), Claw (1968), Short Circuit (1973), Bridge High (1975) and Colossus on the River (1963).

    Now, 33 years after it’s initial release and coming back home, Stations of the Elevated’s new transfer can be seen with a fresh pair of eyes having its world premiere at BAMCinemaFest, Friday, June 27th at 8:00pm at the BAM Harvey Theater.

    Details regarding the film’s theatrical re-release this fall will be announced in the coming months.

    Cinema Conservancy is the releasing program of Artists Public Domain, a New York-based non-profit production and distribution company. Cinema Conservancy helps to ensure the legacy and public availability of crucial works of American Independent cinema. Previous Cinema Conservancy releases include Jamel Shabazz Street Photographer, the John Hubley Centennial, Nothing But a Man, Little Fugitive, Northern Lights and The Color Wheel. APD’s recent productions include Towheads, Another Earth, and The Forgiveness of Blood.

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  • Academy Announces 2014 Student Academy Award Winners

    student academy awards-41st

    Fifteen students have been selected as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 41st Student Academy Awards® competition.  They will arrive in Los Angeles for a week of industry activities that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 7, at 6 p.m., at the DGA Theater in Hollywood.  The medal placements – gold, silver and bronze – in the five award categories will be announced at the ceremony. 

    The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):

    Alternative
    “Oscillate,” Daniel Sierra, School of Visual Arts, New York
    “Person,” Drew Brown, The Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida

    Animation 
    “Higher Sky,” Teng Cheng, University of Southern California
    “Owned,” Daniel Clark and Wesley Tippetts, Brigham Young University, Utah
    “Yamashita,” Hayley Foster, Loyola Marymount University, California

    Documentary
    “The Apothecary,” Helen Hood Scheer, Stanford University
    “One Child,” Zijian Mu, New York University
    “White Earth,” J. Christian Jensen, Stanford University

    Narrative
    “Above the Sea,” Keola Racela, Columbia University, New York
    “Door God,” Yulin Liu, New York University
    “Interstate,” Camille Stochitch, American Film Institute, California

    Foreign Film
    “Border Patrol,” Peter Baumann, The Northern Film School, United Kingdom
    “Nocebo,” Lennart Ruff, University of Television and Film Munich, Germany
    “Paris on the Water,” Hadas Ayalon, Tel Aviv University, Israel

    This year saw first-time honors go to Tel Aviv University, Israel, and The Northern Film School, United Kingdom, in the foreign competition.  Academy members voted the winners from a field of 49 finalists, announced earlier this month.

    The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards. They include John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, Trey Parker and Spike Lee.

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  • North American premiere of Umin Boya’s KANO is Centerpiece Selection for New York Asian Film Festival

     KanoKano

    Umin Boya’s Kano has been selected as the Centerpiece selection for this year’s New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), taking place June 27 to July 14, 2014. Returning for its 13th edition, the New York Asian Film Festival is one of North America’s leading festivals of popular Asian Cinema.

    Umin Boya’s Kano, produced and co-written by Taiwan’s hitmaker Wei Te-Sheng (Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, Cape No.7), is an epic sports tale, based on a true story from Taiwan’s colonial past, about an underdog mixed-race high-school baseball team that beat the odds and earned the right to travel to Japan in 1931 to compete in a national tournament. In order to succeed against their elite competition, the team had to overcome their ethnic differences and find a way to utilize their individual strengths in order to come together as a true team. The screening will mark the film’s North American Premiere.

    NYAFF’s Korean Actor in Focus program will welcome Lee Jung-jae to New York City and present some of his most notable films as well as two exciting recent releases: Han Jae-rim’s historical comedy-drama The Face Reader, and Park Hoon-jung’s epic gangster thriller New World.

    3D Naked Ambition 3D Naked Ambition

    Early highlights among the first group of titles announced include Philip Yung’s explosive female-juvenile-delinquent drama May We Chat; Benny Chan’s resurrection of the heroic bloodshed genre The White Storm; Lee Kung-lok’s porn-industry comedy 3D Naked Ambition (NYAFF’s first 3-D movie!); superstar Andy Lau in Allen Yuen’s heart-busting police thriller Firestorm; Juno Mak’s hopping-vampire homage Rigor Mortis, along with the classic that inspired it, Ricky Lau’s Mr. Vampire; and Chow Yun-fat reuniting with director Wong Jing in the gambling comedy From Vegas to Macau.

    The Eternal ZeroThe Eternal Zero

    The legendary Takashi Miike will also be represented at NYAFF once again with his outrageous gangster comedy based on a popular manga, The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji. Korean cops take on a criminal mastermind in Jo Ui-seok and Kim Byung-seo’s thriller Cold Eyes; Takashi Yamazaki’s Japanese WWII kamikaze pilot drama The Eternal Zero; and Anna Broinowski’s Aim High in Creation, a behind-the-scenes look at the North Korean film industry, are also set to screen. 

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  • deadCENTER Film Festival to open with Winterbottom’s improv comedy “The Trip to Italy”

     The Trip to ItalyThe Trip to Italy

    The official opening night film for the 14th annual deadCENTER Film Festival will be the improv comedy “The Trip to Italy,” screening at 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 12 at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  The 14th annual deadCENTER Film Festival will take place Wednesday, June 11 through Sunday, June 15 at five locations in downtown Oklahoma City. 

    “The Trip to Italy” is a semi-fictional improvised tour of Italy from director Michael Winterbottom starring two of Britain’s best loved comedic actors: Oscar nominee Steve Coogan (Philomena) and Rob Brydon.  In the long awaited follow-up to the smash hit comedy “The Trip,” Coogan and Brydon embark on a new culinary road trip around Italy in the summer, where they enjoy mouthwatering meals in the gorgeous surroundings of Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and Capri. They riff on subjects as varied as Batman’s vocal register, Pompeii, the artistic merits of Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill,” and compete on who can do the best Michael Caine impersonation.

    The film is rated PG-13.  Running time is 1 hour, 55 minutes. 

    http://youtu.be/DtlEQ6y8Rp8

    Michael Winterbottom is a British director who brought Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Simon Baker and Jessica Alba to Oklahoma in 2009 to create a filmed version of the acclaimed crime novel, “The Killer Inside Me,” by Oklahoma novelist Jim Thompson.

    FrankFrank

    At 8:30 p.m., “Frank,” directed by Lenny Abrahamson and starring Oscar nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Fassbender, will receive its Oklahoma premiere screening in the Access Midstream Theater at Harkins Bricktown.

    “Frank,” a quirky comedy that electrified audiences at its Sundance Film Festival debut, is the story of Jon, a young wannabe musician, who discovers he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.  Running time 95 min.

    http://youtu.be/Wk-hWzq67w4

     

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