VIMooZ

Sundance Film Festival Award Winning Film 52 TUESDAYS to Get A 2014 U.S. Release

Sundance Film Festival

The Australian film, 52 TUESDAYS, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award, has been acquired by Kino Lorber for release in the U.S. Kino Lorber is planning a limited Spring 2014 release. 52 TUESDAYS is now playing at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival where it is screening in the Generation 14 Plus program.

Sixteen-year-old Billie is blindsided by the news that her mother is planning to transition from female to male and that, during this time, Billie will live at her father’s house. Billie and her mother have always been extremely close, so the two make an agreement they will meet every Tuesday during their year apart. As her mother transitions and becomes less emotionally available, Billie covertly explores her own identity and sexuality with two older schoolmates, testing the limits of her own power, desire, and independence. Sundance Film Festival.

According to the filmmakers, Sophie Hyde’s directorial debut, 52 TUESDAYS, is a one of a kind film. The fascinating aspect of this intimate story is also the unique form representing the chronology of the story, as it was shot every Tuesday for 52 consecutive weeks. The filmmakers had set themselves the same rule, that they could only shoot on Tuesdays up until midnight and only consecutively, so whatever filmed on that day is what happens in the story on that day. The writers, Matthew Cormack and Sophie Hyde, created the structure first before they decided on character and story. Led by the very real performances of the collaborators playing the mother, “James” (Del Herbert-Jane) and teenage daughter “Billie” (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), the actors, all non-professional, were given the script one week at a time and only given the scenes that they were in.
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ALOFT from 2014 Berlin International Film Festival to be Released in U.S.

Berlin International Film Festival, VIMOOZ

ALOFT, written and directed by Claudia Llosa (MILK OF SORROW), and playing In Competition at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for release in the U.S. This is Llosa’s first English Language film. Her last film, MILK OF SORROW won the Golden Bear at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.

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20 FEET FROM STARDOM Wins 2014 ACE Eddie Awards for Best Edited Documentary

Awards

20 FEET FROM STARDOM

The editors of the Oscar-nominated 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival beat BLACKFISH and TIM’S VERMEER to win the award for Best Edited Documentary (Feature) at the 64th annual ACE Eddie Awards. THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY won the award for BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (TELEVISION).

Full List of 2014 ACE Eddie Award Winners

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (DRAMATIC)
Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse

BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (COMEDY OR MUSICAL)
American Hustle, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers & Alan Baumgarten

BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Frozen, Jeff Draheim

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
20 Feet From Stardom, Douglas Blush, Kevin Klauber & Jason Zeldes

BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY (TELEVISION)
The Assassination of President Kennedy, Chris A. Peterson

BEST EDITED HALF-HOUR SERIES FOR TELEVISION
The Office, “Finale”, David Rogers & Claire Scanlon

BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Breaking Bad, “Felina”, Skip MacDonald

BEST EDITED ONE-HOUR SERIES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
Homeland, “Big Man in Tehran”, Terry Kelley

BEST EDITED MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE FOR TELEVISION
Behind the Candelabra, Mary Ann Bernard

BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, “Tokyo,” Nick Brigden

BEST STUDENT EDITING
Ambar Salinas, Video Symphony

via deadline

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HORIZON BEAUTIFUL Among Films on Lineup for Leeds Young Film Festival 2014 | VIDEO Watch Trailer for HORIZON BEAUTIFUL

Leeds Young Film Festival

The U.K.’s Leeds Young Film Festival 2014 runs from 31st March to 11th April featuring films, events, animation and filmmaking workshops, and activities ideal for young people. There will be plenty for older audiences including a Teen Gala, 25th Anniversary screenings of cinema classics and some of the most popular films from the 27th Leeds International Film Festival too. The festival announced a screening of the new film HORIZON BEAUTIFUL, described as a wonderful story about a 12 year old Ethiopian street kid who discovers something more important than fulfilling his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

http://youtu.be/PJeeFjcxHYQ
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San Francisco Film Society Announces Finalists for 2014 Documentary Film Fund

Industry

The San Francisco Film Society announced the 11 finalists for the 2014 SFFS Documentary Film Fund awards totaling more than $75,000, which support feature-length documentaries in postproduction. Winners will be announced in late March. Previous winners include Zachary Heinzerling’s CUTIE AND THE BOXER, which won Sundance’s Directing Award for documentary, was distributed theatrically by RADiUS-TWC and has been nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature; Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s AMERICAN PROMISE, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the festival’s Special Jury Prize in the documentary category; and Shaul Schwarz’s NARCO CULTURA, which premiered to strong reviews at Sundance the same year.

2014 DOCUMENTARY FILM FUND FINALISTS

Anatomy of an American Dream — John Ryan Johnson, director
Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball star and captain in the U.S. Air Force. He is a regional sales manager for Michelin and lives in a beautiful suburban house with his wife and son. For most, this is the American dream, but not for Hood, who could lose all of the above trying to play in the NBA … and he just might. For more information visit anatomyofanamericandream.com.

The Bolivian Case — Violeta Ayala, director
Trying to fly out of Bolivia, three Norwegian teenage girls are arrested with 22 kilograms of cocaine in their luggage, triggering a media storm that would change their lives forever. For more information visit unitednotionsfilm.com.

The Dreamcatchers — Kim Longinotto, director, Teddy Leifer and Lisa Stevens, producers
The Dreamcatchers, Brenda Myers-Powell and Stephanie Daniels-Wilson, are two former prostitutes who use their inside knowledge to help women who are selling sex on the streets of Chicago, and to prevent very young girls from doing the same. This film reveals the true devastation of sexual exploitation: how it affects the women, their families and the communities where they live. For more information visit risefilms.com.

Gennadiy — Steve Hoover, director and Danny Yourd, producer
Gennadiy Mohkenko is an ex-firefighter who, since the fall of the Soviet Union, has been rescuing drug-addicted kids from the streets of Mariupol, Ukraine. Today, there aren’t many kids left, and the war has moved from the streets into homes, but he continues throwing his seemingly endless energy into it. Will he and his family have to pay a price for his devotion? For more information visit gennadiyfilm.com.

In Country — Mike Attie and Meghan O’Hara, codirectors
War is hell. Why would anyone want to spend their weekends there? In Country takes you deep into the world of Vietnam War reenacting. Fantasy and reality collide as combat veterans from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan try to relive a war that most people want to forget. For more information visit incountryfilm.com.

The Joneses — Moby Longinotto, director and Aviva Wishnow, producer
The Joneses is a portrait of Jheri, a 73-year-old transgender trailer park matriarch, who lives in bible belt Mississippi. Reconciled with her family after years of estrangement, and now living with two of her sons, Jheri embarks on a new path to reveal her true self to her grandchildren. Will their family bonds survive?

Mythical Creatures — David Charles, director
Sundance New Frontier Lab project Mythical Creatures is the story of internationally acclaimed artist Gary Baseman. Baseman’s work uncovers the deepest and darkest secrets of his parents’ holocaust experiences in the Ukraine, reimagining them through his art and dream reality. His hybrid approach uses animation, stop motion, performance art and installation to bring the holocaust story to a diverse and new generation. For more information visit garybasemandoc.com.

Rodents of Unusual Size — Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer, codirectors
Rodents of Unusual Size is an offbeat environmental documentary about giant swamp rats invading coastal Louisiana and the defiant people on the edge of the world who are defending their communities, culture and livelihoods from the onslaught of this curious and unexpected invasive species. For more information visit tilapiafilm.com.

Romeo Is Bleeding — Jason Zeldes, director and Michael Klein, producer
Donte Clark’s poetic voice was honed on the violent street corners of a struggling city. Yet rather than succumb to the pressures of Richmond, CA, Clark uses his artistic perspective to save his city from itself. For more information visit RomeoIsBleedingFilm.com.

Street Fighting Man — Andrew James, director and Sara Archambault, producer
In a new America where the promise of education, safety and shelter are in jeopardy, three Detroit men fight to build something lasting for themselves and future generations. For more information visit streetfightingmanthemovie.com.

Western — Bill Ross and Turner Ross, codirectors
Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Mexico are border towns and the vision of the modern frontier. Cowboys and lawmen share the country while international business and multicultural bonds flourish. But when darkness descends, two men in Eagle Pass face a new reality that threatens their way of life. For more information visit rossbros.net.
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London’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival Unveils 2014 Film Lineup

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

DANGEROUS ACTS STARRING THE UNSTABLE ELEMENTS OF BELARUS

The 18th edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London will run from March 18 to 28, 2014 with a lineup of 20 award-winning documentary and feature films. The festival will take place at the Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, Ritzy Brixton and for the first time at the Barbican. 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.

The festival opens on March 20th at the Curzon Soho with the UK premiere of DANGEROUS ACTS STARRING THE UNSTABLE ELEMENTS OF BELARUS attended by the director Madeleine Sackler, the director. The Belarus Free Theatre is an acclaimed troupe that defies Europe’s last remaining dictatorship. With smuggled footage and uncensored interviews, Sackler’s film conveys not only the group’s great emotional, financial, and artistic risks but also their risk of censorship, imprisonment, and exile.

The festival will close on March 28th at the Ritzy with the UK premiere of RETURN TO HOMS, winner of the World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2014. Tamara Alrifai, Middle East/North Africa advocacy and communications director at Human Rights Watch, will discuss the film with a special guest.

This year’s centrepiece event is a special preview of Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny’s E-TEAM, winner of the Excellence in Cinematography Award, Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2014. When atrocities are committed in countries held hostage by ruthless dictators, Human Rights Watch sends in the E-Team (Emergencies Team), a collection of fiercely intelligent individuals who document war crimes and report them to the world.

Other titles within Armed Conflict and the Arab Spring include Rachel Beth Anderson & Tim Grucza’s First to Fall, a story of friendship, sacrifice, and the madness of war. Hamid and Tarek leave their lives as students in Canada and travel to Libya, their homeland, to join the fight to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi although neither of them has ever picked up a weapon. A second-hand video camera becomes Hamid’s ticket to the front, where he documents battles to liberate the city of Misrata. He eventually earns a gun and becomes a fully-fledged soldier with an AK-47 in one hand and his video camera in the other. Meanwhile Tarek joins a training camp and eventually a katiba  — a freedom fighter battalion — in Misrata. In a battle to liberate Zawya, his hometown, Tarek’s life will change forever.  Rachel Beth Anderson & Tim Grucaz will attend festival screenings.

Sara Ishaq, filmmaker of The Mulberry House, (UK premiere) is Yemeni-Scottish. In 2011, after 10 years away, she travels back to Yemen and takes her camera along. She hopes to feel at home in the place that was once so close to her heart, but the complications soon become clear. Outside the gates of her family home, people are protesting President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s authoritarian rule, and Ishaq and her family quickly become caught up in the movement. Ishaq contributes by acting as a local correspondent, sharing news with the international press. In this personal film, Ishaq captures events in her own home throughout this tumultuous period, when multiple changes are afoot. Sarah Ishaq will attend the festival screenings.

In addition to E Team, three other titles play within Human Rights Defenders, Icons and Villains: Watchers of the Sky, Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me and Big Men.

Inspired by Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘A Problem From Hell’, Watchers of the Sky  (UK premiere) (winner of the Documentary Editing Award / US Documentary Special Jury Award for Use of Animation, Sundance Film Festival 2014), is the latest documentary by the award-winning filmmaker Edet Belzberg. In her characteristic cinéma vérité style, Belzberg interweaves the stories of five exceptional humanitarians  — Benjamin Ferencz, Raphael Lemkin, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Samantha Power, and Emmanuel Uwurukundo — whose lives and work are linked together by the on-going crisis in Darfur. Through the stories of these contemporary characters, the film uncovers the forgotten history of the Genocide Convention and its founder Raphael Lemkin, the international lawyer who dedicated his life to preventing genocide.

In Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me, (UK premiere) (winner of the Special Jury Award, IDFA 2013), the filmmaker Khalo Matabane uses conversations with politicians, activists, intellectuals, and artists to question the meaning of freedom, reconciliation and forgiveness—and challenges Mandela’s legacy in today’s world of conflict and inequality. The film juxtaposes Matabane’s inner quest for coherence with the opinions both of people who knew Mandela and of those whose political perspectives were shaped by him. Matabane weighs equally the words of his subjects, leading viewers to question these concepts as well. Khalo Matabane will attend the festival screenings.

A cautionary tale about the toll of American oil investment in West Africa, Big Men reveals the secretive worlds of both corporations and local communities in Nigeria and Ghana. The director, Rachel Boynton, gained unprecedented access to Africa’s oil companies and has created an account of the ambition, corruption, and greed that epitomize Africa’s ‘resource curse.’ The film uncovers the human impact of oil drilling and contains footage of militants operating in the Niger Delta.  Rachel Boynton will attend festival screenings.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights:

Cameroon has more arrests for homosexuality than any other country in the world. For Born This Way (UK premiere) the filmmakers Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann gained intimate access to the lives of four young gay Cameroonians, to offer a portrait of day-to-day life in modern Africa. This is a story of what is possible in the global fight for equality. Shaun Kadlec will attend festival screenings.

Can Candan’s My Child introduces a courageous group of mothers and fathers in Turkey, who are parents of LGBT individuals. They have not only gone through the process of accepting their children for who they are personally, but have taken the next step: to share their experiences with other LGBT families and the public. Seven parents intimately share their experiences as they redefine what it means to be parents and activists in a homophobic and transphobic society. Two of the film’s subjects and two producers will attend festival screenings.

Migrants Rights:

Mano Khalil’s The Beekeeper (UK premiere) relates the story of Ibrahim Gezer, a displaced Kurdish beekeeper from southeast Turkey, and his experience of integration into Switzerland. The turmoil of the decades-long conflict between the Turkish state and the armed Kurdish guerrilla movement, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), robbed Gezer of everything he had: his wife, two of his children, his country, and over 500 bee colonies—his means of making a living. He has been left only with his love for bees and his unshakeable faith in humanity.

A visual essay in five parts, Evaporating Borders, looks at what it means to be displaced and examines the idea of belonging and notions of diaspora, exile, and migration. Filmed on the island of Cyprus, one of the easiest points of entry into Europe, the film explores the lives of asylum seekers and political refugees. Through the microcosm of the current situation on the island, the filmmaker Iva Radivojevic explores tolerance and immigration practices throughout Europe and the Western world—where migrating populations have become subject to a variety of human rights abuses.  Iva Radivojevic will attend the exclusive preview screenings.

Women’s Rights & Children’s Rights:

Scheherazade’s Diary (UK premiere) is a tragicomic documentary that follows women inmates through a 10-month drama therapy/theatre project set up in 2012 by the 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, forlorn romances, and deprivation of motherhood. In sharing their stories, the women of Baabda Prison hold up a mirror to Lebanese society and all societies that repress women.  Zeina Daccache will attend the festival screenings.

Berit Madsen’s Sepideh – Reaching for the Stars, introduces viewers to a young Iranian woman who dares to dream of a future as an astronaut. At night, she stares up at the universe. At home, full of hope and longing, she watches recordings of the first female Iranian in space, Anousheh Ansari. When her father died suddenly six years earlier, Sepideh discovered that she could feel closer to him by watching the stars. And so her dream was born. But not everyone appreciates her boundless ambition. As we follow Sepideh, it becomes clear just how much at odds her dreams are with her current reality and the expectations of those around her.

Jasmila Zbanic’s drama For Those Who Can Tell No Tales (UK premiere) is inspired by the play ‘Seven Kilometers North-East’ written by Kym Vercoe who plays herself in the film. A summer holiday in Bosnia-Herzegovina leads Vercoe, an Australian tourist, to discover the silent legacy of wartime atrocities in a seemingly idyllic town on the border of Bosnia and Serbia. An overnight stay at the Viilina Vlas hotel in Visegrad inexplicably gives way to anxiety and sleepless nights. Back in Australia, she finds out that the hotel was used as a rape camp during the war. Questions around the region’s atrocities begin to haunt her, as does the question of why the guidebook, or the town itself, made no mention of the event. The testimonies she later finds online compel her to return to Visegrad and investigate this hidden history for herself.

Richie Mehta’s drama Siddharth is set in New Delhi. Twelve-year-old Siddharth is sent away by his father, Mahendra, to work in a trolley factory to help support their family. When he fails to return for the Diwali festival, his distraught father begins a desperate search to find his missing son. The authorities believe that Siddharth may have been abducted and trafficked.  Mehta brings to life Mahendra’s moving, tangled, and often futile-seeming journey with a touch that transforms it into both a commentary on modern India and a portrait of one family within that society.

An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, from the acclaimed Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, enlists a cast of non-professionals to reconstruct a harrowing personal ordeal that became a national scandal. Struggling to make ends meet as a scrap-metal forager in the remote Roma community of Poljice, Nazif Maujic has a routine that becomes a desperate fight for survival when his partner, Senada, suffers a miscarriage. Without medical insurance or the means to pay the couple are denied admittance to the local hospital. So begins a hellish 10-day odyssey pitting the couple against social prejudice and a callous bureaucracy, exposing the institutional discrimination faced by Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Roma minority.

In Hisham Zaman’s Before Snowfall (UK premiere) Siyar, the oldest son in his household, confronts the question of family honour after his older sister, Nermin, flees an arranged marriage.  The film is a look at killing in the name of honour, at the intricate web of connections that sustain the brutal tradition, and the unbelievable lengths to which some will go to see it through.
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Video Services Corp Ink Deal With Magnolia Pictures; BIG BAD WOLVES, LIFE’S A BREEZE Among Films Set for Release in Canada

News

BIG BAD WOLVES

Video Services Corp (VSC) has inked a two-year multi-platform Canadian distribution deal with Magnolia Pictures to release up to 30 films a year exclusively for the Canadian market. In the past year VSC has enjoyed handling a successful string of theatrical releases of Magnolia films, including A HIJACKING, BAD MILO!, PRINCE AVALANCHE and TOUCHY FEELY. The deal starts off with the release of the award-winning Israeli film BIG BAD WOLVES in January 2014, followed in March by ALAN PARTRIDGE, already a hit in the UK, starring Steve Coogan. Other projected 2014 releases include the horror anthology THE ABCS OF DEATH 2 and Toronto International Film Festival selections LIFE’S A BREEZE and THE SACRAMENT.

“This is a watershed moment in the 20-year history of VSC,” says President Jonathan Gross. “We look forward to the rewards of bringing Magnolia’s uniquely creative and compelling 2014 slate to Canadian cinephiles. The films coming from Magnolia and Magnet have an adventurous quality that is a perfect fit with VSC’s catalogue and philosophy.”

“We at Magnolia have been fans of Jonathan and VSC’s efficient, nuanced distribution strategies,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “Together we hope to significantly grow our Canadian business.”

Magnolia Pictures and its genre arm Magnet Releasing are the international distributors of acclaimed documentaries, narrative features and genre films, including BLACKFISH, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI, Lars Von Trier’sMELANCHOLIA and the upcoming NYMPHOMANIAC, the ONG BAK trilogy and many, many more.
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Anne Ashbey to Step Down as Exec Director of Ashland Independent Film Festival

Ashland Independent Film Festival

The Ashland Independent Film Festival announced on Friday that Anne Ashbey will be stepping down after two years as executive director. The non-profit organization’s board of directors officially accepted her resignation and has approved a transition plan and has formed a search committee to identify the new executive director. Ashbey has agreed to stay on through the transition period. The 13th annual Ashland Independent Film Festival will be celebrated April 3 to 7, 2014 at the Varsity Theatre, the historic Ashland Armory and the Ashland Street Cinema.

“I have made the decision to step down following the 13th annual festival,” said Ashbey. “This was a difficult decision for me to make, but one that is necessitated by personal circumstances. Please know that I remain committed to AIFF, to ensuring the success of our April 2014 event, and to maintaining the long-term viability of our nonprofit arts organization. I have complete confidence that we have the leadership in place to manage a successful transition and look forward to being an ongoing contributor to this wonderful organization.” Ashbey has agreed to return as a member of the board once her replacement has been selected.

“Anne has been a terrific director and leader, and we are saddened to see her go,” said AIFF Board President Pam Leandro Notch. “Anne, alongside the incredible AIFF staff, has contributed to AIFF’s ongoing success as one of the nation’s premier film festivals and one of the coolest film festivals in the world, one that offers an experience so welcoming and positive that it attracts the best films and filmmakers. The result is an unsurpassed festival experience that has become a vital part of our community and civic life.”
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LOCKE Selected as Opening Night Film of 2014 Phoenix Film Festival

Phoenix Film Festival

LOCKE has been selected as the opening night film of the 14th Phoenix Film Festival taking place April 3 to 10, 2014. Directed by filmmaker Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Dirty Pretty Things) and driven by what the festival describes as an unforgettable performance by Tom Hardy, LOCKE is a thrillingly unique cinematic experience of a man fighting to salvage all that is important to him.

Ivan Locke (Hardy) has worked diligently to craft the life he has envisioned, dedicating himself to the job that he loves and the family he adores. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, Ivan receives a phone call that sets in motion a series of events that will unravel his family, job, and soul. All taking place over the course of one absolutely riveting car ride, LOCKE is an exploration of how one decision can lead to the complete collapse of a life.

The week-long Festival will be held once again at Harkins Scottsdale 101 Theaters located at 7000 E. Mayo Blvd. Phoenix, AZ 85054.
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COMING SOON: Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo Joins The Cast of Ian Olds’ THE FIXER

News

Melissa Leo

Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo joins Ian Olds’ THE FIXER (written by Paul Felten and Ian Olds) as Gloria, the ex-hippie sheriff of a small, darkly eccentric Northern California town. Leo joins James Franco who plays Lindsay, an unstable hot-tub craftsman. Olds and Felten wrote the part of Gloria with Melissa Leo in mind, who previously worked with Olds’ in his short film BOMB (Sundance Film Festival, 2007).

THE FIXER tells the story of Osman, an Afghan journalist exiled from his war-torn country to a small bohemian community in Northern California. When he attempts to turn his menial job on the local police blotter into “Afghan-style” coverage of local crime he gets drawn into the backwoods of this small town—a shadow Northern California where sex is casual, true friendship is hard to come by, and an unfamiliar form of violence burbles up all around him.

Debbie DeLisi of DeLisi Creative joins the project in an international, national and local search for the leading role of Osman, the charismatic 28-year-old journalist from Afghanistan. DeLisi Creative was part of the team behind the successful search for the Somali pirates in Captain Phillips. Thanks to the San Francisco Film Society’s SFFS/KRF Filmmaking and a partnership with the Afghan Coalition, DeLisi will be holding an open audition outside of San Francisco in Fremont, California for the film’s lead Afghan actor on Sunday, February 16.

The Fixer is produced by Caroline von Kuhn, ACE Productions and Vince Jolivette, Rabbit Bandini, with a summer shoot in Northern California and Morocco (to double for Afghanistan).
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Oliver Stone Among Filmmakers Attending 2014 American Documentary Film Festival

American Documentary Film Festival

Oliver Stone

The American Documentary Film Festival taking place March 27 to 31, 2014 in Coachella Valley, California, announced an impressive number of award-winning filmmakers planning on attending this year’s festival, including several Oscar-winning Directors. Oliver Stone, 3 time Oscar-winner and 2012 AmDocs career achievement award recipient, leads an impressive array of filmmakers planning to attend, including John Avildsen (Best Director Oscar: Rocky), Oscar-winner Roger Ross Williams, 2 time Oscar winner, Canadian filmmaker, Malcolm Clarke, as well as Canadian filmmaker Chris Landreth (Oscar winner for animation). Other award-winning international filmmakers include Robert Kirchhoff (Slovakia), Iben Haahr Andersen (Denmark), Alex Breuer (Austria), Laurent Haase (France), and Jan P. MatuszyŸski (Poland).

The festival will screen over 100 films over its five day run at three Coachella Valley venues including the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, The Helene Galen Theatre in Rancho Mirage, and the The Indian Wells Theater and Oliphant Auditorium, which is located on the Palm Desert campus of California State University, San Bernardino in the city of Palm Desert. Previously-announced opening night films include the west coast premiere of documentary feature I Live To Sing, directed by New York Emmy®-winner Julie Cohen, and the Academy Award®-shortlisted animated short Gloria Victoria, directed by Theodore Ushev.
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After Dark Program Returns for 2014 Portland International Film Festival

Portland International Film Festival

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN

After taking a break during last year’s Festival, the popular After Dark program will return for this year’s Portland International Film Festival with SIX midnight movies. Among the film selections are new cult director Ti West’s (THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL) THE SACRAMENT, the “bold, metaphysical sci-fi satire” THE CONGRESS from animator Ari Folman (WALTZ WITH BASHIR), Zack Parker’s harrowing thriller PROXY, James Ward Byrkit’s “mind-bending sci-fi thriller” COHERENCE, Katrin Gebbe’s “intense and gripping first feature” NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN, and Alex van Warmerdam’s “dark, mischievous, and unsettling fable” BORGMAN.

Complete PIFF After Dark listings:

Friday, February 7th at 11:45p.m.

BORGMAN (Dir. Alex van Warmerdam)

A dark, mischievous, and unsettling fable about a strange vagabond, Borgman takes the concept of home invasion to captivating new levels. Driven by the authorities from his underground hideout, the enigmatic Camiel Borgman is on the run. Covered in dirt, he arrives at Marina and Richard’s large suburban home asking to use their shower, thus beginning a game of sly calculation as he insinuates himself into their lives. He soon starts to manipulate the family with almost preternatural charisma as his more sinister plans make themselves known in chilling fashion. Filled with nasty humor and demonic imagination, van Warmerdam’s film shows that “evil comes in everyday form, embodied within ordinary, normal, polite men and women…enacted not just on cold winter nights but in the optimistic summer, beneath a warm and comforting sun.”—Alex van Warmerdam. (113 mins.)

Saturday, February 8th at 11:45p.m.

THE SACRAMENT (Dir. Ti West)

A shocking tale of devotion gone horribly wrong, The Sacrament offers a disturbing vision of the power of groupthink. Patrick is a photographer whose once drug-addicted sister Caroline is a member of an isolated sober-living community in Mississippi. Patrick discovers that the program is closer to a communal-living collective and that there is a strange and charismatic leader of the group, known only as “Father.” When his sister leaves the country to start a new utopian society in the jungle, he enlists two co-workers to shoot a documentary on their whereabouts. Based on detailed research of the infamous Jonestown massacre, The Sacrament provides a terrifying examination of modern religion, charismatic influence, and the exploitation of power as West explores the horrific idea of a man who can talk people into killing themselves. (95 mins.)

>Director Ti West in attendance.

Friday, February 14th at 11:45p.m.

THE CONGRESS (Dir. Ari Folman)

“Folman’s follow-up to his strikingly rotoscoped Waltz with Bashir is a bold, metaphysical sci-fi satire: a live-action set-up that goes down the rabbit hole of loony animation partway through. Based on a novel by Solarisauthor Stanislaw Lem, The Congress sees Robin Wright playing Robin Wright, an actress with diminishing options in a savage and surreal movie business. When her agent (Harvey Keitel) delivers an ultimatum, Wright’s only choice is to sell her very identity. Plunged into a lurid Orwellian future, she must rediscover herself with the help of her personal animator (Jon Hamm) and human doctor (Paul Giamatti).”—London Film Festival. “[A] visionary work…it’s lyrical and mysterious, contemplating age-old sci-fi questions (of artificial intelligence, of perception versus reality) while grafting them onto a commentary about the changing nature of movies.”— RogerEbert.com. (120 mins.)

Saturday, February 15th at 11:45p.m.

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN (Dir. Katrin Gebbe)

Young Tore belongs to the fervent Jesus Freaks, a fundamentalist Christian punk movement rebelling against established religion whilst at the same time following Jesus’s precepts of love. One day, in what appears to be a miracle, Tore manages to repair a car that has broken down and gets to know the driver, Benno. Before long, Tore moves into a tent in Benno’s garden and gradually becomes part of his family. But Benno can’t resist playing a cruel game, designed to test Tore’s faith. As the violence become more and more extreme, Tore’s capacity for love is pushed to its limits. “Intense and gripping…a robust and compelling first feature…deserving of a special Palme d’Horreur.”—Variety. (110 mins.)

Friday, February 21th at 11:45p.m.

PROXY (Dir. Zack Parker)

“As a pregnant Esther (Alexia Rasmussen) walks home, she is viciously attacked by a hooded assailant. In the wake of this traumatic event, she finds some consolation and normalcy in the kindly Melanie (Alexa Havins), whom she meets at a support group. But a chance encounter makes it clear that nothing—and no one—in Esther’s life is as it appears. Setting off a chain reaction of increasingly shocking revelations, Proxytwists and turns its way through loss, grief, and death. The surprise standout is auteur Joe Swanberg in a supporting role as Melanie’s husband. Be warned: Proxy begins with some deeply disturbing content, but this immensely challenging thriller will reward audiences who stick with it as it delves into very dark territory and confronts our every assumption and belief about what we have seen.”—Toronto International Film Festival.(120 mins.)

Director Zack Parker in attendance.

Saturday, February 22nd at 11:45p.m.

COHERENCE (Dir. James Ward Byrkit)

A group of friends and ex-lovers learn why you should not throw a dinner party the night a mysterious comet is passing close to Earth in this mind-bending science fiction thriller. The first glasses of wine have barely been poured when tensions start to rise. None of that matters, however, when the lights go off throughout the neighborhood, all except for one house a few blocks over, lit up like a beacon in the darkness. “Coherence is a cerebral low-budget sci-fi that dives headfirst into a pool of quantum mechanics and theoretical physics. It’s a tightly focused, intimately shot film that quickly ratchets up the tension and mystery.Coherence is relationship drama turned on its head, giving you plenty to think about without spoon-feeding you any answers.”—Fantastic Fest. (89 mins.)

Director James Ward Byrkit in attendance.
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