WORLD WAR Z Director Marc Forster
Swiss-German director, producer and screenwriter Marc Forster, whose most recent film WORLD WAR Z starring Brad Pitt is currently in theaters will preside over the jury for the 2013 Zurich Film Festival (ZFF), taking place September 26 – October 6.
THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL
Anne Bogart and Holly Morris’ THE BABUSHKAS OF CHERNOBYL, Jamie Meltzer’s FREEDOM FIGHTERS and Jimmy Goldblum and Adam Weber’s TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR are the winners of the 2013 San Francisco Film Society SFFS Documentary Film Fund award. The awards totaling $100,000 support feature-length documentaries in postproduction.
Keanu Reeves directs MAN OF TAI CHI
Keanu Reeves’ MAN OF TAI CHI is among the initial lineup of films screening at this year’s Fantastic Fest taking place September 19-26 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline. Keanu Reeves stars in and makes his directorial debut in the multi-lingual narrative, MAN OF TAI CHI. Partly inspired by the life of Reeves’ friend, stuntman Tiger Chen, MAN OF TAI CHI tells the story of a young martial artist whose unparalleled Tai Chi skills land him in a highly lucrative underground fight club. As the fights intensify so does his will to survive and his desire to protect his way of life.
The 2013 Fantastic Fest will open with the world premiere of Robert Rodriguez’s MACHETE KILLS on September 19, 2013. Robert Rodriguez along with Danny Trejo and Alexa Vega, both featured in the film, are expected to be in attendance at the premiere. The festival will be held in Austin, Texas at the new Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline location from September 19-26, 2013.
Bill Siegel’s documentary THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI, that premiered earlier this year at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival will be released in the US by Kino Lorber. The documentary film opens in New York at the IFC Center on August 23rd with a national rollout planned through the summer and fall.
Alex Gibney’s Lance Armstrong documentary, THE ARMSTRONG LIE which tells the unfolding story of Armstrong’s life and career over the last four years.will be released by Sony Pictures Classics. No exact release date was announced.
Feel worn out by summer blockbusters yet? You’re not the only one – in a summer in which many $200+ million films seem to be bombing, it seems like audiences are looking for something that doesn’t involve zombies, aliens, explosions, or superheroes… maybe something with more story and less special effects
However, with so many independent releases out there it’s likely some great ones escaped your notice. So here is a list of five films I’ve seen in the first half of 2013 that I think are worth your time. Keep in mind, these aren’t necessarily the best indie films of 2013 – I haven’t seen them all – but here are five that I think should not be overlooked.
The documentary “I AM BREATHING” which played at many prestigious international film festivals will make its U.S. theatrical premiere in New York Sept. 6-12 at IFC Center and in Los Angeles Sept. 13-19 at Laemmle Music Hall with additional national screenings to follow. In I AM BREATHING, filmmakers Emma Davie and Morag McKinnon craft a life-affirming portrait of the last months of Neil Platt, a 34-year-old architect and father from England diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease also known as Motor Neuron Disease (MND) in the UK.
American Dreams in China
The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled the first round of titles set to premiere in the Galas and Special Presentations programs at the 38th Toronto International Film Festival. This first slate of films includes 40 world premieres from filmmakers including: Bill Condon, Steve McQueen, Sylvain Chomet, John Carney, Jean-Marc Vallée, Atom Egoyan, Amma Asante, Godfrey Reggio, Jason Reitman, John Wells, Denis Villeneuve, Don McKellar, Jasmila Žbanić, Justin Chadwick, Mike Myers, Liza Johnson, Richard Ayoade, David Gordon Green, Ralph Fiennes, Paul Haggis, Manuel Martín Cuenca, Jason Bateman, Bertrand Tavernier and Matthew Weiner.
The Toronto International Film Festival will close with the world premiere of Daniel Schechter’s sly crime story LIFE OF CRIME. Based on Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch, the closing night Gala features a stellar cast including Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, yasiin bey (a.k.a. Mos Def), Isla Fisher, Will Forte, Mark Boone Jr, and Tim Robbins.
The world premiere of the WikiLeaks movie’ THE FIFTH ESTATE will open the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 5. A dramatic thriller based on real events, directed by Bill Condon THE FIFTH ESTATE reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. The film, based on the book Inside WikiLeaks by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and the Guardian book WikiLeaks by David Leigh and Luke Harding, will be released in North America on October 18, 2013.
Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore announced the lineup of 150 plus films for his ninth annual Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), to be held July 30 to August 4 in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival kicks off with Woody Allen’s latest film “BLUE JASMINE”. After a stretch of films set abroad, his latest work brings us back to American soil, where a wealthy New York socialite, played by Cate Blanchett, moves to San Francisco to escape her faltering marriage to a wealthy Wall Street executive, played by Alec Baldwin.