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Kevin Cooper’s “THE PAINTER” NYC Premiere at UrbanWorld Film Festival | TRAILER

Urbanworld Film Festival

The anti-violence short film “THE PAINTER,” premiered at the UrbanWorld Film Festival. Written and directed by Kevin Cooper, and starring Ron Caldwell, THE PAINTER tackles the tough subject of how violence is robbing the innocence of our youth. Cooper partnered with non-profit organizations UCAN and Youth Guidance, to include children from high risk areas in the filmmaking process. “It was inspiring working with these children…a film about the violence with the help of victims,” says Cooper.

In THE PAINTER, a boy, barely 12-years-old, lives in a world where violence surrounds him. His sole means of survival is to escape the violence outside by creating art. He is alone – abandoned for as long as he can remember. He begins this day like every other: quietly sipping a cup of coffee in his run-down kitchen, walls covered with newspaper clippings that chronicle the epidemic death toll in the inner city. Amid wailing sirens and a squawking police scanner, he sits uncomfortably…cleaning a paintbrush. An interviewer’s voice, unsure of what he is witnessing, asks the boy to explain his existence…his art. Though the police instruct the boy to “return to work”, the interviewer holds them off until finally the boy agrees to show us his art. Step inside the line…his art – a world at war. Are you ready?

http://youtu.be/h3vkH84Kazw
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THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE is Closing Night Film of 2013 Hollywood Black Film Festival | TRAILER

Hollywood Black Film Festival

Mister (Ethan Brooks) and Pete (Skylan Dizon) take to the streets in order to survive a summer in Brooklyn without parental supervision in THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE

THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE, has been selected as the 2013 closing night film of the Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF) which runs October 2 to October 6, 2013. Directed by George Tillman, Jr. THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE stars Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Jennifer Hudson, Golden Globe and EMMY Award winner Jeffrey Wright, Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Anthony Mackie. The film also features new music by Grammy Award-winning multiplatinum recording artist Alicia Keys, who is also a producer. THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE will be released in select theaters on October 11, 2013

THE INEVITABLE DEFEAT OF MISTER & PETE is a beautifully observed and tremendously moving film about salvation through friendship and the way transformation sometimes can happen just by holding on long enough. During a sweltering summer in New York City, 13-year-old Mister’s (Skylan Brooks) hard-living mother (Jennifer Hudson) is apprehended by the police, leaving the boy and nine-year-old Pete (Ethan Dizon) alone to forage for food while dodging child protective services and the destructive scenarios of the Brooklyn projects. Faced with more than any child can be expected to bear, the resourceful Mister nevertheless feels he is an unstoppable force against seemingly unmovable obstacles. But what really keeps the pair in the survival game is much more Mister’s vulnerability than his larger-than-life attitude.

http://youtu.be/hBv_GFCik2Y
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Urbanworld Announces 2013 Festival Winners; “THE VOLUNTEER” “THE NEW BLACK” “FULL CIRCLE” Win Top Awards

Urbanworld Film Festival

Stacy Spikes (Urbanworld founder), Tai Beauchamp, Marvin Scott (HBO), Allison Bonner Shillingford, Solvan “Slick” Naim, Robert Kolodny, Yoruba Richen, Darius Clark Monroe, Greg Rhem (HBO), and Gbenga Akinnagbe

THE VOLUNTEER directed by Vicky Wight, THE NEW BLACK directed by Yoruba Richen, and FULL CIRCLE directed by Solvan “Slick” Naim won the big awards at the 17th annual Urbanworld Film Festival held over the weekend – September 18 to 22 in Manhattan, New York City. Urbanworld, which screened 60 films this year describes itself at the largest internationally competitive festival dedicated to the exhibition of independent cinema by and about people of color.

The 17th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival winners are:

Best Narrative Feature – Presented by Fox Audience Strategy – $5,000 Cash Prize

THE VOLUNTEER
Directed by Vicky Wight

After dramatically leaving her successful but soul-crushing career, forty-something Leigh finds herself wondering if there’s more to life, to love, to everything. Overwhelmed by apathy and a vague sense of guilt, she decides to volunteer at a local soup kitchen. There, she begins an unexpected and electric affair with a homeless man, Ethan. Leigh attempts to hide Ethan from her long-time boyfriend, her family, and her new coworkers. However, after a series of troubling encounters, she realizes Ethan’s charm may be masking a troubled past.

Honorable Mention:
Sable Fable – Directed by Stephen Jackson

Best Documentary Feature

THE NEW BLACK
Directed by Yoruba Richen

The New Black is a documentary that tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar—the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda. The New Black takes viewers into the pews and onto the streets and provides a seat at the kitchen table as it tells the story of the historic fight to win marriage equality in Maryland and charts the evolution of this divisive issue within the black community.

Honorable Mention:
Brother’s Hypnotic – Directed by Reuben Atlas

Best Narrative Short – Presented by HBO – $5,000 Cash Prize

“CRESCENDO”
Directed by Alonso Alvarez

Honorable Mention:
Baghdad Messi – Directed by Sahim Omar Kalifa

Best Screenplay – Presented by BET Networks – $5,000 Cash Prize

“YEAR OF OUR LORD”
Written by Darius Clark Monroe

Best Teleplay – Presented by BET Networks – $5,000 Cash Prize

“MEL & MISSY”
Written by Allison Bonner Shillingford

Audience Award – Feature

FULL CIRCLE
Directed by Solvan “Slick” Naim

A young pizza delivery boy, Anthoni, faces a life-changing crisis when his curiosity pulls him away from his delivery order into an adjacent apartment’s open door. He cannot resist temptation when he stumbles across a large sum of money in the aftermath of what seems to be a drug deal gone bad. After taking the money, his life is thrown into turmoil as everyone he knows and cares about is put in jeopardy. His focus turns to revenge when his close friend is killed. Anthoni goes on a comically charged journey for vengeance as outlandish characters banter throughout in this musically infused, urban set comedy-action-drama. Anthoni is set on avenging the death of his close friend even if it means going up against the neighborhood’s most notorious thug.

Audience Award – Short

“FLY ON OUT”
Directed by Robert Kolodny

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International Uranium Film Festival Goes on The Road to … Munich

International Uranium Film Festival Rio de Janeiro

TAILINGS directed by Sam Price-Waldman

Last May, the International Uranium Film Festival took place at the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio de Janeiro. And now for the first time, from September 26 to September 29, 2013, the festival is going to visit Munich, capital of Bavaria, Germany. The Uranium Film Festival is described as the world’s only festival devoted to the entire nuclear fuel chain: from uranium mining to nuclear waste, from Hiroshima to Fukushima and Fallujah!

A total of 44 films from 14 countries: Australia, Brazil, Germany, Estonia, India, Italy, Israel, Iran, Japan, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine and the USA – documentary, fiction, experimental and animated films, new comedies and science fiction – have been selected for the festival’s debut in Munich.
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2013 African Diaspora International Film Festival to Preview Films at Queens, NY Black Spectrum Theatre

African Diaspora International Film Festival

JOSEPHINE BAKER, A BLACK DIVA IN A WHITE MAN’S WORLD

The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) and 43 year old historic Queens, New York based Black Spectrum Theatre are partnering for an early start of the 21st Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival with screenings to be held at Black Spectrum starting in October 2013 until the end of the festival on December 15.

Filmmakers and films include Maia Wechsler, director of MELVIN & JANE, AN AMERICAN STORY which revisits a 40-year-old American hijacking that led two former Black Panther Party members to relocate permanently to Europe, and New York based independent filmmaker Patrice Johnson who will present her two feature films NY’S DIRTY LAUNDRY, a comedy-drama set in the weeks after 9/11, when racial paradigms are shifted and hidden prejudices are revealed in heated and often hilarious exchange between the members of two immigrant families and HILL AND GULLY an urban Cinderella love story set during 2008, the historic election year of Barack Obama.

AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
@ BLACK SPECTRUM

JOSEPHINE BAKER, A BLACK DIVA IN A WHITE MAN’S WORLD
A tender, revealing documentary about one of the most famous and popular performing artists of the 20th century. Her legendary banana belt dance created theatre history; her song “J’ai deux amours” became a classic, and her hymn. The film focuses on her life and work from a perspective that analyses images of Black people in popular culture. It portrays the artist in the mirror of European colonial clichés and presents her as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII, and an outspoken activist against racial discrimination involved in the worldwide Black Consciousness movement of the 20th century.
Annette von Wangenheim, Germany, 2006, 45min, documentary in English/French/German with English subtitles.

MELVIN & JANE, AN AMERICAN STORY
Melvin and Jean McNair hijacked a plane from Detroit to Algeria in 1972 with their two babies on board, they called it an act of political resistance. The hijacking was also an act of desperation committed by two people in their early twenties who saw no other way to escape what they felt was the constant state of racial oppression in America. Living in Paris forty years after the hijacking and unable to return to the U.S., Melvin and Jean are still coming to terms with their crime and its lifelong consequences.
Maia Wechsler, USA/France, 2012, 59mins, documentary in English and French with English subtitles.

NY’S DIRTY LAUNDRY
In the weeks after 9/11, racial paradigms are shifted and hidden prejudices are revealed in this heated and often hilarious exchange between the members of two immigrant families (one Afro-Caribbean and the other Arab-Muslim) who clash in a crowded Brooklyn Laundromat and in an airless NYC taxicab. With mistrust already heightened, quarters are exchanged for political conversation as these “new” New Yorkers debate what it now means to be an American.
Patrice Johnson, USA, 2007, 117 min, comedy-drama in English

HILL AND GULLY
Hill and Gully is an urban Cinderella story, set during 2008, the historic election year of Barack Obama. With palpable ‘Change’ in the air, love pursues an unhappy single mother, and her dysfunctional family who become transformed through the efforts of a psychiatrist who challenges them to speak their secret wishes and to take a chance on opening their hearts to their deepest dreams.
Directed by Patrice Johnson Chevannes, 2011, 113 min, USA, Drama, English.

ALUKU LIBA, MAROON AGAIN
Loeti has spent years away from his village in French Guiana, working in extreme conditions. When the army cracks down on illegal gold mining in the Amazon forest, he is forced to flee and must use the skills he learned as a child to survive in the forest. His only hope is to find his way home to his people and reclaim his Maroon past and culture.
Directed by Nicolas Jolliet, 2009, 90 min, Canada/French Guiana/Suriname, Documentary/Drama

CARIBBEAN HISTORY PROGRAM

CATCH A FIRE
Catch a Fire tells the story of Deacon Paul Bogle, often described as a 19th century Malcom X. 30 years after the end of slavery in Jamaica, the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 provoked outrage in Victorian Britain shaping race and land attitudes. The story is constructed using extensive interviews with Paul Bogle’s grand son as well as archive material.
Menelik Shabazz, UK/Jamaica/ 1995, 30min, docu-drama

GRENADA: COLONIALISM AND CONFLICT
A chronicle of the philosophical and sometimes bloody struggles Grenadians have waged against colonialism and its long-lasting psychological influences. Grenadian leaders fought against colonialism in different ways. Julian Fedon freed 100 slaves to fight the British. Eric Gairy led the poor people in a massive strike and obtained many improvements for them. Maurice Bishop led a successful coup against Eric Gairy in 1979, promising education and societal reform. History tells the tale, however, that even as Grenadian leaders have struck blows at colonialism, they have at times employed the tools of oppression taught to them by their colonial masters.
Valerie Scoon, Grenada/USA, 2012, 45min, documentary in English

RETURN TO GOREE
A musical road movie, Return to Gorée follows Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour’s historical journey tracing the trail left by slaves and the jazz music they created. Youssou N’Dour is performing the last concert in Gorée, the island that today symbolizes the slave trade and its victims.
Directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, 2006, 108 min, Senegal/Switzerland/Luxembourg, Documentary, English with French and English subtitles.

THE PIROGUE
In Moussa Toure’s powerful epic fiction film, Baye Laye is the captain of a fishing pirogue. When he is offered to lead one of the many pirogues that head towards Europe via the Canary Island, he reluctantly accepts the job. Leading a group of 30 men and a woman who don’t all speak the same language, some of whom have never seen the sea, Baye Laye will confront many perils in order to reach the distant coasts of Europe.
Directed by Moussa Toure, 2012, 87 min, Senegal/France/Germany, Drama, French and Wolof with English subtitle
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European Film Academy to Honor Catherine Deneuve

Awards

Catherine Deneuve will be honored with the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD by the European Film Academy for “her outstanding body of work.” Catherine Deneuve will be an honorary guest at the 26th European Film Awards Ceremony on December 7th, 2013, in Berlin.

Catherine Deneuve has starred in over 100 films, among them DANCER IN THE DARK by Lars von Trier, 8 FEMMES (earning her a Silver Bear in Berlin and a European Film Award) and POTICHE by François Ozon, UN CONTE DE NOËL by Arnaud Desplechin and PALAIS ROYAL by Valérie Lemercier. She can currently be seen in Emmanuelle Bercot’s ELLE S’EN VA (On my Way) and is now shooting TROIS COEURS by Benoît Jacquot.
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Australia’s Greek Film Festival Sets 2013 Dates; Early Films Include “THE DAUGHTER” “JOY” “MARJORAM”

Greek Film Festival

Thanos Anastopoulos‘s THE DAUGHTER

The 20th Delphi Bank Greek Film Festival will showcase the best of contemporary Greek cinema for Australian audiences from November 6 to November 24, 2013 at Palace Chauvel Cinema in Sydney and November 7 to November 24, 2013 at Palace Cinema Como in Melbourne. It also tours nationally – from October 31 – November 3 in Brisbane, and November 14 to November 17 in Adelaide.

Early program announcements include Thanos Anastopoulos‘s THE DAUGHTER, which premiered earlier in the year at the 2013 Berlinale and recently featured at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival where Athens was showcased in the City to City program strand. Following the coming-of-age of both a young girl and a country amidst change, it’s a contemporary thriller which explores the moral and financial bankruptcies at the core of one family’s crisis.

In the startling narrative, JOY, director Ilias Yannakakis recounts the story of a middle-aged woman, Joy (played with inexhaustible nuance by Amalia Moutoussi), accused of kidnapping a newborn baby from a maternity ward. What begins as the perfect utopia for new mother and child eventually turns into a bitter tragedy. Shot in striking black and white, with minimal dialogue, Yannakakis allows Joy’s mindset to unfold before the eyes of the viewer, resulting in an intricate and poignant psychological drama.

A.C.A.B. ALL CATS ARE BRILLIANT directed by Constantina Voulgaris, daughter of legendary Greek director Pantelis Voulgaris (With Heart and Soul, GFF ’10 and Brides, GFF ’06) is a more buoyant tale that centres on the relationship between artist/activist Electra (Maria Georgiadou) and the young Petros, who forces her to tackle big questions about how to lead a revolutionary life and still find love and happiness amongst the turbulence of the city.

The GFF will also screen MARJORAM by acclaimed director Olga Malea (First Time Godfather, GFF ’09, Honey and the Pig, GFF ’06). The first thriller-drama from a filmmaker celebrated by Greek audiences for her comedies, Marjoram shines a revealing, psychological light into the dark corners of a mother-daughter relationship.
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SHORT TERM 12, Director Destin Cretton Newest Film Among 14 Projects Selected as Finalists for San Francisco Film Society / Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant

Industry

Destin Cretton

14 narrative feature films finalists have been selected for the latest round of the (San Francisco Film Society) SFFS/ Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant. SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to film projects that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community.

Recent SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant winners include SHORT TERM 12, Destin Cretton’s sophomore feature which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013 and is currently in theaters nationwide; Ryan Coogler’s debut feature FRUITVALE STATION, which won the Un Certain Regard Avenir Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013, has had a wildly successful two-month theatrical run and is an Oscar hopeful in multiple categories; and BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, Benh Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012, earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and became an indie box office smash.

FINALISTS

DOCTOR
Musa Syeed, director/producer/writer; Nicholas Bruckman, coproducer — screenwriting
Salim, a disgraced young doctor from India, will do anything to rebuild his former life. But when he starts practicing medicine illegally in New York, he’s drawn into a medical underworld where he risks losing everything.

ESCAPE FROM MORGANTOWN
Peter Nicks, writer/director — screenwriting
A young addict arrives at a federal prison camp with a plan to turn his life around, but is drawn into the intoxicating world of a crew of seasoned inmates.

THE FIXER
Ian Olds, writer/director; Caroline von Kuhn, producer — packaging
An Afghan journalist is 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.

G.E.Z.I.
Aslihan Unaldi, writer/director — postproduction
This political and psychological drama is a fictionalized account of the dramatic night when a peaceful demonstration in Istanbul’s Gezi Park turned into a major national uprising. The story follows three main characters: a strong, liberal woman, her idealistic boyfriend and her apolitical ex-lover. As intricate layers of past secrets are revealed, deeper insight is gained into their characters and situation, which is closely intertwined with the political events accelerating around them.

HELLION
Kat Candler, writer/director; Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams, producers — postproduction
When his delinquent behavior forces his little brother to be taken away, a motocross-obsessed teenager and his emotionally absent father must take responsibility for their destructive behavior to bring him home.

KICKS
Justin Tipping, writer/director; Joshua Astrachan, David Kaplan and Adele Romanski, producers — preproduction
Fifteen-year-old Brandon, from a rough part of Richmond, California, has always been picked on. He has survived by running away from trouble all his life. But after getting jumped over a new pair of kicks, Brandon recruits his two best friends to join him on a mission to get his shoes back. The odyssey they embark on is at once the night of their lives and a gamble with life-and-death stakes.

LITTLE ACCIDENTS
Sara Colangelo writer/director; Jason Michael Berman, Anne Carey, Thomas B. Fore and Summer Shelton, producers — postproduction
In a small American coal town, the disappearance of a boy draws a young miner, the lonely wife of a mine executive and a local 14-year-old together in a web of secrets.

LOS VALIENTES / THE BRAVE ONES
Aurora Guerrero, writer/director; Chad Burris, producer — packaging
Felix Lopez is gay, undocumented and living in San Francisco until his family obligations move him across the country to a small Pennsylvania mining town to join his undocumented sister. Once there, alienated by local and family politics, Felix finds unexpected solace in the company of one person: his sister’s husband.

LOVE LAND
Joshua Tate, writer/director/producer; Andrew Richey, producer — postproduction
Love Land follows Ivy, a young woman with a severe traumatic brain injury, as she faces her refusal to be identified as a person with an intellectual disability. When she is placed in an institution for being a danger to herself and others, Ivy will stop at nothing to prove to the world — and to herself — that she is “normal” enough to transcend the label of “special.”

MA
Destin Cretton, writer/director — screenwriting
After being a mom for 30 years, Jan is forced to deal with the fact that her youngest son has finally left the nest. On a road-trip down the Oregon Coast, she begins to learn what it means to live life after motherhood.

MANOS SUCIAS
Josef Wladyka, writer/director; Elena Greenlee and Márcia Nunes, producers — postproduction
A desperate fisherman and a naive young man embark on a dangerous journey trafficking drugs up the Pacific coast of Colombia. Hidden beneath the waves, they tow a narco-torpedo filled with millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Together they must brave the war-torn region while navigating the growing tension between them.

START AT THE END
Jonah Markowitz, writer/director — packaging
Start at The End is a character-driven drama that explores the similarities between the family we are born into and the one that we create. The story begins with a tragic accident that results in a gay couple becoming caretakers of their teenaged niece and nephew. As grief catapults all four onto seemingly individual paths of despair and discovery, the inherent bond of family contains these journeys into one that is shared.

TERRIBLE LOVE
Christopher Thomas, writer/director; Luke Helmer, producer — postproduction
When her wounded husband returns home from Iraq with violent PTSD, a devoted wife must choose between her daughter’s safety and the preservation of her marriage.

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African Films Under The Spotlight at 49th Chicago International Film Festival

Chicago International Film Festival

Black South-Easter

African films will get international exposure at 49th Chicago International Film Festival, thanks to a three-year grant from the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Spotlight Africa Program, the third year of the World Cinema Spotlight Program will highlight films from across the African continent including MANDELA: A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, OF GOOD REPORT and the World Premiere of BLACK SOUTH-EASTER. The 49th Chicago International Film Festival runs October 10 to October 24, 2013.

Spotlight Africa Screenings

The Battle of Tabatô Guinea-Bissau/Portugal (Director: João Viana) – After years of European exile, Imatur returns to his native village of Tabatô to attend his daughter’s wedding, his head still saturated with horrific visions of a war he fought long ago. When tragedy strikes on the road to Tabatô, the entire village must come together in this entrancing, surreal film that blends music and magic with the lingering effects of Guinea-Bisseau’s history. US Premiere.

Black South-Easter South Africa (Director: Carey McKenzie) – When a body washes up on a Cape Town beach, ambitious township cop Sizwe seizes the opportunity to prove himself and earn the promotion he desperately needs. But when the investigation leads him to a black market smuggling ring, Sizwe is caught in the middle of a deadly power play orchestrated by an old friend. With no one left to trust, Sizwe must take the law into his own hands in this gritty crime drama. World Premiere.

Burn It Up Djassa Ivory Coast/France (Director: Lonesome Solo) – Shot on a miniscule budget but positively bursting with style and energy, this hugely inventive DIY crime thriller follows Tony, a young cigarette seller in an Abidjan ghetto. Ignoring the pleas of his policeman brother to stay on the right side of the law, Tony gets increasingly mixed up in local gambling and criminal activities until a moment of violence puts him on the run from the law. Chicago Premiere

Comrade President Zimbabwe (Director: Mosco Kamwendo) – An inspiring portrait of Mozambique’s founding president, Comrade President traces the life and legacy of revolutionary leader Samora Moisés Machel. At the forefront of a popular uprising, Machel helped establish a fledgling government and continued fighting for justice until his suspicious death in 1986. With candid interviews from those who knew Machel best – including his opponents – this documentary examines the indelible legacy of a revolutionary hero. US Premiere

Grigris Chad (Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) – Despite a paralyzed leg that keeps him on the fringes of society, Grigris comes alive at the local nightclub, tearing up the dance floor every night. When a relative’s hospital bills start piling up, Grigris must turn to the black market for work. After double-crossing his new boss in a desperate attempt at fast money, Grigris finds himself on the run in this sensitive depiction of a desperate, marginalized man by one of Africa’s most celebrated directors. Chicago Premiere

Imbabazi: The Pardon Rwanda (Director: Joel Karekezi) – Best friends Manzi and Karemera find themselves on opposing sides in Rwanda’s ethnic civil war, with Tutsi Karemera’s family paying a horrific price for Manzi’s allegiance to his Hutu heritage. When Manzi is released from prison fifteen years later, his return re-opens old wounds. Filmmaker Joel Karekezi draws from his own experience as a survivor of Rwanda’s violence in creating this moving account of two former friends who must contend with the unimaginable horrors in their past. Chicago Premiere

Malak Morocco (Director: Abdeslam Kelai) – When 16-year-old Malak discovers that she’s pregnant, she quickly finds herself alone in a community that marginalizes and mistreats single mothers. Abandoned by the baby’s father, shunned by her family, and in dire need of cash, Malak is forced to take desperate measures. An elegantly-photographed portrait of a young woman’s struggles, Malak garnered major awards at Morocco’s National Film Festival, including the Jury Prize, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress for its young star Chaimae Ben Acha. US Premiere

Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom UK/South Africa (Director: Justin Chadwick) – Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom is based on South African President Nelson Mandela’s autobiography of the same name, which chronicles his early life, coming of age, education, and 27 years in prison before becoming President and working to rebuild his country’s once segregated society. Idris Elba (Prometheus) stars as Nelson Mandela, and Naomie Harris (Skyfall) stars as Winnie Mandela, with Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) directing. Chicago Premiere

Of Good Report South Africa (Director: Jahmil X. T. Qubeka) – This modern day film noir tracks Parker, a shy high school teacher arriving at a new school. While he is earnest in his passion for teaching, his extra-curricular attentions are drawn to a gorgeous young woman. When he realizes she is a student at his very school-and forbidden fruit-he grows increasingly obsessed. When the girl goes missing, a female detective comes snooping around, fueling Parker’s unstable, even dangerous, behavior as she gets closer to the shocking truth. US Premiere

Something Necessary Kenya/Germany (Director: Judy Kibinge) – Anne struggles to rebuild her life after Kenya’s civil unrest has killed her husband, gravely injured her son, and left her isolated farm in ruins. Joseph, a quiet and troubled young gang member who took part in the countrywide violence, is drawn to Anne and her farm, seemingly in search of connection and redemption. This powerful story of forgiveness and reconciliation presents an intimate look at the aftermath of violence on both perpetrators and victims. US Premiere

Die Welt Netherlands/Tunisia (Director: Alex Pitstra) – In the summer of 2011, Tunisia is finally free of its dictatorial shackles, but 23-year-old Abdallah is still a slave to his mundane life, dreaming of an escape to Europe -or “die Welt”- to fulfill his dormant ambitions. Following a chance encounter with Dutch tourist Anna, Abdallah’s passion to reach the other side of the Mediterranean burns brighter than ever before, prompting a desperate gamble for escape in this at turns comic and heartbreaking story. Chicago Premiere

Yema Algeria (Director: Djamila Sahraoui) – In an isolated house on a drought-stricken mountainside, Ouardia must bury the body of her son Tarik, a victim of the civil conflict waging between the government and the fundamentalists. She suspects her other son, Ali, a mujahedeen fighter, has had a hand in the killing. And their mutual distrust is evidenced in the young soldier that Ali has sent to guard her. Beautifully capturing the expansive Algerian countryside this minimalist tale of a single family’s tragedy takes on mythic proportions. Chicago Premiere

Shorts 5 Spotlight Africa – From Earth’s Center – These award-winning African short films tell us stories rich with sympathy and symbolism, hailing from across the continent and beyond.

A Ghanaian family, lost in America, travels to a Louisiana church to find a cure for its problem child in Boneshaker(USA). A majestic drag queen descends into a breakdown in Nairobi’s iconic central station in Fluorescent Sin(Kenya). When two best friends photograph a gigantic fish leaping out of the sea, their small town blossoms into a tourist hot spot in Jonah (Tanzania/UK). In a township divided by an age-old feud, a boy falls in love with a girl from the other side of town in KanyeKanye (South Africa). An old man is getting ready to go to an important meeting in Siggil (France/Senegal). When a small boy catches her with her lover, Fatine must pay a terrible price in The Curse (Morocco, UK). Yellow Fever (Kenya/UK) reflects on the effects that globalization is having on the African woman’s understanding of beauty.

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6 Films Selected for “Views From Long Island” section at the 2013 Hamptons International Film Festival

Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF)

BIG SHOT

Three features and three shorts have been selected for the “Views From Long Island” section at the 2013 Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF 2013). The “Views From Long Island” section focuses on local filmmakers, landscapes and issues. The films include “BIG SHOT”, “THE MAID’S ROOM” and “KISS THE WATER”.

BIG SHOT
Feature Documentary
Directed by Kevin Connolly, a native of Patchogue, NY, who starred as ‘E’ on the hit HBO show Entourage, BIG SHOT is a documentary about the rise and fall of the New York Islanders: how did one Texas millionaire dupe all of Long Island, as well as the NHL? Big Shot will premiere on October 22 on ESPN, as part of the network’s 30 for 30 series.

THE MAID’S ROOM
Feature Narrative; World Premiere
Starring Annabella Sciorra and Philip Ettinger, THE MAID’S ROOM is a haunting thriller about a young woman from Colombia who takes a job as a maid in a Hamptons home. Director Michael Walker (Price Check, Chasing Sleep) is a resident of Bellport, and the film takes place in the Hamptons.

KISS THE WATER
Feature Documentary
For decades, on the outskirts of Scotland, the enigmatic Megan Boyd learned and perfected the obscure craft of fly-making for fishermen. Her flies were hailed as some of the best ever made and have even been collected as folk art pieces. In his lyrical documentary KISS THE WATER, director Eric Steel, who grew up in Bridgehampton, captures the beauty and mysticism of Boyd and the art of fly-fishing.

MISS TODD
Director: Kristina Yee
New York Premiere

LOST THOUGHTS
Director: Jeff Scher
World Premiere

FOOL’S DAY
Director: Cody Blue Snider
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“THE IMMIGRANT” Starring Joaquin Phoenix is Opening Night Film of the 49th Chicago International Film Festival

Chicago International Film Festival

THE IMMIGRANT, directed by James Gray, and starring Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner, has been selected as the Opening Night Film of the 49th Chicago International Film Festival which runs October 10 to October 24, 2013. The Opening Night Gala is dedicated to the late Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert, a long-time supporter and friend of the Festival.

About THE IMMIGRANT. 1921. In search of a new start and the American dream, Ewa Cybulski (Marion Cotillard) and her sister sail to New York from their native Poland. When they reach Ellis Island, doctors discover that Magda is ill, and the two women are separated. Ewa is released onto the mean streets of Manhattan while her sister is quarantined. Alone, with nowhere to turn and desperate to reunite with Magda, Ewa quickly falls prey to Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution. The arrival of Orlando (Jeremy Renner) – a dashing stage magician who is also Bruno’s cousin – restores her self-belief and hopes for a brighter future, but she has not reckoned with Bruno’s jealousy.
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Heartland Unveils Film Festival Lineup; Opens With “GIMME SHELTER” Starring Vanessa Hudgens

Heartland International Film Festival

“GIMME SHELTER” starring Vanessa Hudgens

The indie film “GIMME SHELTER” starring Vanessa Hudgens, will kick off the 22nd Heartland Film Festival which runs October 17 to October 26, 2013, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Centering on 16-year-old Agnes “Apple” Bailey, “GIMME SHELTER” uncovers the struggle for survival and the hope of redemption through the harsh realities of life on the streets of New Jersey. As a pregnant teenager, Apple’s journey plummets to perilous struggles until finding salvation in a suburban shelter for homeless pregnant teens. Based on the lives of actual homeless, pregnant young women, writer and director Ronald Krauss lived in the primary shelter one year prior to production writing the “Gimme Shelter” screenplay. In addition to the opening film, the Academy Award-qualifying festival within the Short Films category will feature a lineup including 134 independent films from 76 countries.

The festival will wrap on Saturday, October 26, with the Special Premiere of “THE BOOK THIEF”starring Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush, who will receive the Heartland Pioneering Spirit Award, and Sophie Nélisse who will receive the Heartland Pioneering Spirit: Rising Star Award and directed by Brian Percival, who will be honored with the Heartland Truly Moving Picture Award for the film.

Based on the beloved bestselling book, “The Book Thief” tells the inspirational story of a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany.

Narrative Feature ($50,000 Grand Prize)
“The Forgotten Kingdom”
“Hide Your Smiling Faces”
“Life Inside Out”
“This is Where We Live”
“When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep”

Documentary Features ($50,000 Grand Prize)
“Barzan”
“Blood Brother”
“The Genius of Marian”
“Life According to Sam”
“The Network”

Narrative Short ($5,000 Grand Prize)
“The Amber Amulet”
“Liquidation”
“Rhino Full Throttle”
“Springtime”
“The Sweatshop”

Documentary Short ($5,000 Grand Prize)
“Atomic Dream”
“The Circle”
“Herd in Iceland”
“How the Light Gets In”
“Wrinkles of the City – La Havana”

Special presentations include:
“The Crash Reel”
“Gideon’s Army”
“Linsanity”
“Valentine Road”

World premiere titles include, but are not limited to:
“The Christmas Candle”
“Life Inside Out”
“Little Hope Was Arson”
“No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie”

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