BAYOU MAHARAJAH: THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF JAMES BOOKER
Steve McQueen’s “12 YEARS A SLAVE” will open, and and New Orleans filmmaker Lily Keber’s “BAYOU MAHARAJAH: THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF JAMES BOOKER” will close the 2013 New Orleans Film Festival. “Both of the films were produced in New Orleans and represent the burgeoning film scene in the city,” says Jolene Pinder, Executive Director of the New Orleans Film Society.
THE ILLNESS AND THE ODYSSEY
The 3rd Guam International Film Festival (GIFF) will expand from 3 to 6 days, and showcase over 45 films, including films from the 2013 Festival de Cannes and from Japan Short Shorts Film Festival, from Tuesday, September 24, through Sunday, September 29, 2013. GIFF 2013 will also feature ‘THE ILLNESS AND THE ODYSSEY’ as its centerpiece film and ‘ALAGWAY (BREAKAWAY)’ as its closing night film.
ROCK THE CASBAH
The Toronto International Film Festival announced the addition of 3 Galas and 19 Special Presentations to the 2013 Festival program, including 12 World Premieres. The festival will be the first to premiere films by directors Fred Schepisi, Alberto Arvelo, Reha Erdem, Dexter Fletcher, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, Megan Griffiths, Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Kevin Macdonald, Arie Posin, Charlie Stratton, Nils Tavernier and John Turturro. The 38th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5 to 15, 2013.
A Place in Heaven
The Toronto International Film Festival today announced the Contemporary World Cinema lineup featuring the best in cinema from around the globe. The programme presents the latest works from filmmakers Danis Tanović, Clio Barnard, Dante Lam, Götz Spielmann, Avi Nesher, Toa Fraser, Alexey Uchitel, Jan Hrebejk, János Szász, Noh Young-Seok, Mohammad Rasoulof and Alain Guiraudie.
HollyShorts opens this week on Thursday August 15 with it’s first ever opening feature film, David Rodriguez’s star-studded dramedy LAST I HEARD. LAST I HEARD stars Paul Sorvino, Michael Rapaport, Renee Props, Andrea Nitolli and Lev Gorn. The film which features the first onscreen pairing of mafia movie legends Sorvino and Chazz Palminteri (The Usual Suspects), focuses on what it’s like to be a powerful NY mobster coming home from prison after 20 yrs, and all that you have left are the memories of who you used to be.
Matthew Modine will be honored with the 2013 Indie Maverick Award at the upcoming 9th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival taking place August 15-22. As part of the celebration, Modine will showcase his purposefully provocative short film JESUS WAS A COMMIE on opening night.
These Final Hours
The 62nd Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) ended on August 11 after 17 days screening 320 films, and the MIFF Premiere Fund-supported Zak Hilditch’s THESE FINAL HOURS was awarded the title of best Australian feature along with a $5000 cash prize. The TeleScope Award was presented by the Film Critics Circle of Australia to Danish film NORTHWEST.
BLOOD BROTHER, Director, Steve Hoover
The Daedalus Project, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s annual fundraiser to end the spread of HIV/AIDS, will launch its first-ever film festival on August 16-18 at The Varsity Theatre on Main Street in Ashland, Oregon. The Daedalus Film Fest, produced in partnership with the Ashland Independent Film Festival and Coming Attractions Theatres, includes a slate of 5 bold, original, award-winning documentaries about the ongoing global HIV/AIDS crisis.
ABO SO Juan Francisco Pardo
The trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) announced the first section of its program of films for its 2013 edition, the Caribbean features section. Twenty-two feature-length Caribbean and diaspora films—ten fiction films and 12 documentaries—will screen at the ttff/13, which runs from 17 September–01 October. The 22 films come from 14 Caribbean countries, and all but one will be making their local premiere at the Festival. In addition five of the films will be world premieres, nine will enjoy their Caribbean premiere, and two their international premiere.
The 11th Morelia International Film Festival (FICM), which will take place from October 18 to 27, 2013, unveiled the Official Selections in competition. The competition is composed of a total of 88 titles, including 11 titles in the Mexican feature film section of the competition and 11 titles from Michoacán, 43 short films and 23 Mexican documentaries complete the Official Selection.
A PROMISE (UNE PROMESSE), by French director and scriptwriter Patrice Leconte, starring Rebecca Hall, Alan Rickman, and Richard Madden, as well as 4 new films in the Out of Competition and Venezia Classici sections, will complete the program of the 70th Venice International Film Festival, taking place 28 August to 7 September 2013.
CBGB
The film “CBGB” will have its US festival premiere at the opening film of this year’s CBGB Music & Film Festival the five-day festival/conference that will take place in New York City from Wednesday, October 9 to Sunday, October 13, 2013. Based on the behind-the-scenes story of the beginnings of the US punk movement, CBGB features a talented ensemble cast channeling the prime movers of the era.