Sheffield Doc/Fest celebrates its 20th year with a line-up of documentaries screening over five days from June 12 to June 16, 2013. The 120 strong film programme is organized across films in competition as well as thematic sections, also referred to as strands.
This year’s strands include Behind the Beats, The Habit of Art, This Sporting Life, Queer Screen; Resistance, Cross-Platform, First Cut, Best of British, Euro/Doc, Global Encounters, New York Times Op-Docs and Shorts.
Film director Bryan Forbes whose work includes the original 1970s horror classic Stepford Wives and Whistle Down The Wind has died “following a long illness” at the age of 86. Forbes, who started his career as an actor, was married to the actress Nanette Newman, died surrounded by his family at his home in the UK. He was awarded the Dilys Powell Award for outstanding contribution to cinema at the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards in 2006.
13 film projects have been selected for the Sundance Institute’s annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 27 through June 27.
At the Directors Lab, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors, professional actors and production crews to shoot and edit key scenes from their screenplays. Through this intense, hands-on process, the Fellows workshop their scripts, collaborate with actors and find a visual storytelling language for their films. Directors Lab Fellows join five additional projects for the week-long Screenwriters Lab, where they participate in individualized story sessions under the guidance of established screenwriters.
Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s compelling documentary film Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer has been selected to be the Opening Night Film of the 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK.
“How To Follow Strangers” directed by Chioke Nassor and starring Ilana Glazer, co-creator/star of the cult web series, Broad City, will open the 2013 L.E.S* Film Festival on June 13. 2013. The L.E.S* Film Festival shows low budget independent films in all categories: features, shorts, documentaries, experimental, foreign and animation.
The 2013 Rooftop Films Summer Series held across New York City begins on May 10th with a collection of new short films including Gold Party by Nellie Kluz, a recipient of a grant from the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund; Slomo by Josh Izenberg, winner of the jury award for best short documentary at the 2013 SXSW film festival; and Weighting, directed Brie Larson and Dustin Bowser. The Summer Series will wrap August 15-17 with three screenings, including a special sneak preview of David Lowery’s, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.
Below is the full schedule for the 2013 Summer Series.
The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana will launch the 2013 Big Sky Film Series with AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH, director Jacob Hatley’s moving portrait of Levon Helm, the legendary drummer and vocalist for The Band. Hatley and his crew spent nearly three years with Helm at his studio in Woodstock, NY, as Helm miraculously rediscovered his voice after throat-cancer treatment and recorded three Grammy-winning albums before eventually succumbing to the disease last year.
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, awarded A River Changes Course, by Kalyanee Mam, the Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature at the 2013 festival. Among the many reasons, the festival jury said “This film stood out as an entity in terms of subject matter, beauty of filmmaking, elegance of expression, sensitivity, and representation of the people observed as they observe their own situation.” Recognizing local filmmakers, The Kill Team directed by Dan Krauss was the Bay Area Documentary Feature. The jury noted: “We chose this film due to the importance of its subject matter and its moral complexity.”
Other winners include:
Jim Mickle’s horror thriller WE ARE WHAT WE ARE which had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, will have its international premiere in the 2013 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight! section. WE ARE WHAT WE ARE will have it’s U.S. theatrical release this Fall.
The 33rd annual Breckenridge Festival of Film, considered “the longest running film festival in Colorado,” is switching from June back to its September date format and will take place September 19th-22nd, 2013 in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado.
The Ecologico International Film Festival (EIFF) announced that the 6th Edition of the Festival will be held August 18 – August 24, 2013 in the beautiful Italian city of Nardò. EIFF also announced the call for submissions for short, medium and Long Length film entries. UPDATE: Deadline to submit films for the 6th Ecologico International Film Festival pushed back to May 20, 2013 Deadline to submit films for the 6th Ecologico International Film Festival is May 10, 2013.
In the Family, the directorial debut of Patrick Wang, will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 25, 2013. Starring Patrick Wang, along with Sebastian Banes andTrevor St. John, the independent film was reportedly rejected by 30 festivals before its premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival and becoming the critics pick for many leading publications including the The New York Times andTime Out Chicago.