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.
CHEAP THRILLS directed by E.L. Katz
The Fantasia International Film Festival wrapped up this year’s festival and confirmed record attendance numbers after screening over 131 features from 31 countries and more than 220 shorts over three weeks. Fantasia also announced this year’s prize-winners with SXSW’s Audience Award winner CHEAP THRILLS directed by E.L. Katz winning the New Flesh Award for Best First Feature. BIG BAD WOLVES by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado won the award for Cheval Noir Award for Best Film; and Hou Chi-Jan won the award for Best Director for WHEN A WOLF FALLS IN LOVE WITH A SHEEP.
Tom Hanks CAPTAIN PHILLIPS to open, SAVING MR. BANKS to close 57th BFI London Film Festival
The 57th BFI London Film Festival will open on Wednesday 9 October with the European Premiere of CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy) and starring two time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia). The festival will close on Sunday 20 October with the European Premiere of SAVING MR. BANKS, described as the extraordinary untold story of how one of the most beloved tales of all time, Mary Poppins, was brought to the big screen. SAVING MR. BANKS is directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and also stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and two-time Academy Award- winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day, Howards End) as the London based author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers.
The 9th Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) announced its first films – three Swiss films that will have their world premiere at the upcoming festival. The films are the remake of the youth’s classic THE BLACK BROTHERS by Oscar-winner Xavier Koller, Markus Imboden HILLSIDE, the cinema adaptation of the eponymous bestseller by Markus Werner, as well as the documentary GERGIEV – A CERTAIN MADNESS, in which the photographer Alberto Venzago the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev exception comes into focus.
By now, you’ve likely heard all about LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER, the story of an African-American man who served on the White House staff through eight administrations. In the film Forest Whitaker stars as Cecil Gaines, who is loosely based off actual White House butler Eugene Allen. Of course, don’t be fooled by the marketing – reading the Washington Post article the film was initially based on, shows that the film is fictionalized to a great degree. Because of that, in some ways The Butler is like a real-life version of Forest Gump, though by no means do I mean to compare the obviously completely different protagonists (to be like Forest Gump, Cecil would have had to do something like stop the Cuban Missile Crisis by misplacing JFK’s silverware).
Sometimes a good movie is hard to find. This is the first in a weekly feature here at VIMOOZ covering the most notable releases of non-mainstream films. Though some of these films are in such limited release they might not be playing in your area, it’s a good idea to write down any titles that interest you that you might be able to catch later on VOD or other streaming services.