Actor Christian Bale who is in China for the premiere of his latest movie, “The Flowers of War,” was reportedly roughed up by Chinese government-backed guards on Thursday when he tried to visit lawyer, Chen Guangcheng who has been imprisoned in his home by authorities, along with his wife and child, since his release from prison in September 2010. The incident was captured by a CNN camera crew who accompanied Christian Bale on the eight-hour […]
“The Tree of Life,” led the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards with seven nominations including Best Picture and nods for Malick for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, Brad Pitt for Best Supporting Actor, Jessica Chastain for Best Supporting Actress, Emmanuel Lubezki for Best Cinematography and Hunter McCracken for Most Promising Performer. Critics favorite, “The Artist,” garnered filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius nods for Director and Original Screenplay as well as nominations for Original Score and a […]
The 23rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), which runs January 5-16, 2012, will present Gary Oldman with the International Star Award. The International Star Award recognizes an actor or actress who has achieved both critical and commercial international recognition throughout their body of work. Oldman is currently starring in Focus Features’ Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the novel by John le Carré. “Gary Oldman is a performer […]
The Oxford Film Festival announced the selections for its 2012 Festival scheduled to run February 9-12, 2012. The festival will screen 11 feature films (narrative and documentary), and over 50 shorts (narrative, documentary, experimental, animated), including music videos.
Narrative Feature
Butterfly Rising (Mississippi), Dir: Tanya Wright, When her brother dies, singer Lilah Belle sets out to escape her grief and embarks on a road trip, but not before coaxing the new-to-town, most scandalous woman in Artesia– Rose Johnson– to go with her. These two broken souls steal a vintage truck and head out on the open road to a fated encounter with the mythical, magical ‘Lazarus of the Butterflies’. What occurs with the strange Butterfly Man transforms their destinies and binds the women together– forever. MISSISSIPPI Premiere.
Cellmates (formerly White Knight) (California), Dir. Jesse Baget, Leroy Lowe, grand dragon of the Texas Ku Klux Klan confronts everything he’s been taught to hate when he’s sentenced to three years of hard labor on a prison work farm, where Warden Merville, dead set on rehabilitating Leroy, chooses Emilio, a Hispanic field worker, to be his cellmate. REGIONAL Premiere.
Dick Night (California), Dir. Andy Viner, Rachel hasn’t been out of the house since being left at the altar two months ago, but some rebound sex tonight and she’ll be over Mark for good… if she can just deal with these vampires. MISSISSIPPI PREMIERE.
Frontman (UK), Dir. Ben Hyland, When the former frontman of ‘Stanley and the Knives’ suddenly dies his old friends and band mates are forced back together after twenty-five years apart. Cracks soon start to appear in their relationships and it becomes clear why they split up in the first place. Frontman is a musical journey of five strangers, becoming friends for the second time. REGIONAL Premiere.
How to Cheat (California), Dir. Amber Sealey, Mark’s decided to do something bad.. MISSISSIPPI Premiere.
Documentary Feature
Happy (California, non-competition), Dir. Roko Belic. A look at the search for happiness.
Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (Washington), Dir. Bryan Storkel, Holy Rollers follows the rise of the Churchteam, arguably the largest and most well funded blackjack team in America. In their short existence, they have taken millions from casinos. But since every team member is a Christian and some are pastors, there is a constant battle to answer this question: How can you be Christian and play blackjack for a living? In their first year, the team took $1.6 million from casinos, but slowly the teams success starts to fall apart. They haven’t closed a bankroll in over six months and the team is down $450,000. The investors are getting nervous and something has to change. In addition , questions start being raised as to whether someone from the team might be stealing from the bankroll. Is it possible? Of course. But do they trust the players on the team? Absolutely. Maybe. REGIONAL Premiere.
Patriot Guard Riders, (Washington) Dir. Ellen Frick; Another American Soldier Has Died. Who cares? The suffering of soldiers and their families is largely invisible to most Americans. But not to these Americans. ‘Patriot Guard Riders’ is a documentary about a 200,000 strong motorcycle group who attend military funerals to honor the fallen, and to protect grieving families from the Westboro Baptist Church, who descends on the funerals and harasses them. REGIONAL PREMIERE.
Rhino Resurrected, (California), Dir. Keith Shapiro; Against all odds, a beloved and historic record store is brought back to life for two eventful weeks. Can a vibrant community re-emerge in today’s transformed music world? REGIONAL PREMIERE
Showtime (Mississippi), Dir. Ben Guest; This film follows four friends from rural Mississippi on their quest to win a state championship in basketball. Loss. Struggle. Friendship. Love. WORLD PREMIERE.
This is What Love in Action Looks Like (Tennessee), Dir. Morgan Jon Fox, ’This is What Love In Action Looks Like’ documents the widely controversial and inspirational story of what The New York Times referred to as ‘A modern day message in a bottle.’ MISSISSIPPI Premiere. {jathumbnail off}
The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, a group of 29 broadcast, print and online journalists from throughout North Texas, voted the comedy-drama THE DESCENDANTS as the best film of 2011, according to the results of its 18th annual critics’ poll released today. Rounding out the composite list of the top 10 films of the year were THE ARTIST (2), EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (3), MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (4), THE TREE OF LIFE (5), HUGO […]
IFC Midnight will release director Padraig Reynolds’ thriller Rites Of Spring. The film, with a screenplay also by Reynolds, stars A.J. Bowen, Anessa Ramsey, Sonny Marinelli, Katherine Randolf, Marco St. John, Hannah Bryan, Sarah Pachelli, James Bartz, Shanna Forestall, Skylar Burke, and Andrew Breland. No release date has been announced. In Rites Of Spring, a group of kidnappers abduct the daughter of a wealthy socialite and hide out in an abandoned school in the middle […]
Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for its annual January Screenwriters Lab, an immersive, five-day (January 13-18) writers’ workshop at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Participating independent screenwriters – drawn from around the world, including the United States, China, South Africa, and Europe – will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking. Michelle Satter, Director of […]
Tribeca Film will release Northeast, director Gregory Kohn’s film about a consummate NY playboy, Will (David Call), wrestling with the reality of getting older as he finds himself at an uninvited crossroads. Starring David Call (Gossip Girl, Tiny Furniture), Eleonore Hendricks (The Pleasure of Being Robbed), Megan Tusing, Laura Ford, Lauren Shannon, Jason Selvig and Tate Ellington (Remember Me), Northeast will be available nationwide On Demand beginning December 26, 2011 with select theatrical January 2012. […]
Lula, The Son of Brazil, directed by Oscar nominee Fábio Barreto (Quatrilho) and chosen as Brazil’s entry to the 2011 Academy Awards, will open in New York at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and Quad Cinemas on January 13, 2012. A national release will follow. Based on the book by Denise Paraná, Lula, The Son of Brazil is a richly produced, deeply moving story of the early years of Brazil’s most beloved president, Luis Inacio Lula da […]
Ian Olds and Paul Felten have been selected to receive this year’s $15,000 San Francisco Film Society/Hearst Screenwriting Grant for the continuing development of their script The Western Habit. Additionally, Jason Cortland received an honorable mention commendation for his script Lumberjunkies. “The SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant comes at a crucial moment in the life of our script The Western Habit,” noted cowriter Olds. “The film is at a tipping point and this grant will allow […]
Daughters of the Dust (1991) and Reality Bites (1994) have been selected for the From the Collection screenings at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Both titles are part of The Sundance Collection at UCLA (The Collection), a film preservation program designed to archive work that has been supported by a Sundance Institute program. The Festival takes place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Daughters of the Dust […]
Academy Award® nominee Christopher Plummer will receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor, the Modern Master Award. The Modern Master Award is the highest honor presented by SBIFF. Established in 1995, it was created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through his/her multi-faceted accomplishments in the motion picture industry. Past recipients include Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Diane Keaton, Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges, Peter Jackson, George Clooney, Will […]