• Revelation Perth Sets 2014 Dates and Call For Entries

    Revelation Perth International Film Festival

    Revelation Perth International Film Festival, regarded as one of Australia’s most exciting independent film festivals, returns in 2014, and will screen from July 3-13, 2014 in Perth, Australia.

    Filmmaker submissions are accepted, and may include narrative features, documentary, short film, animation, experimental work and anything in between. Entries for the Revelation Perth International Film Festival close on April 11, 2014.

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  • Documentary on Swedish director Ingmar Bergman to have North American Premiere at Montreal World Film Festival | TRAILER

    TRESPASSING BERGMAN

    TRESPASSING BERGMAN, described as a revealing new documentary on the great Swedish director, will have its North American premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival. The Montreal World Film Festival runs August 22 to September 2, 2013.

    In the mid 1960s Swedish director Ingmar Bergman built a house on the remote island of Fårö in the Baltic Sea. Throughout his life, the exact location of the house was a well-guarded secret. Here Bergman  lived and shot some of his seminal films until his death in 2007. In Trespassing Bergman the audience is taken to the house together with directors such as Alejandro González Iñárritu, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke and others, to tell the story of Bergman, his island and some of his most central films. The documentary includes previously unseen footage from the making of Bergman’s films and interviews with directors and actors shot at Fårö, and around the world. Filmmakers such as Ang Lee, Isabella Rossellini, Harriet Andersson, Zhang Yimou, Woody Allen, Laura Dern, Francis Ford Coppola, Takeshi Kitano, Holly Hunter, Wes Anderson, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Lars von Trier and Ridley Scott offer a fresh and intimate perspective on the life and work of the Swedish master, what his films have meant for them personally and for the history of cinema. Some have been touched, others are in awe, and some are annoyed. Others project personal issues on  Bergman and have fantasies about him. Altogether a portrait of the Swedish master that has not been attempted before.

    http://youtu.be/tgQxPWqargQ

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  • HollyShorts Film Festival Announces 2013 Winners and Sets 2014 – 10th Anniversary Dates

    HOLLYSHORTS BEST SHORT FILM-Tsuyako by Mitsuyo MiyazakiHOLLYSHORTS BEST SHORT FILM-Tsuyako by Mitsuyo Miyazaki

    The 9th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival wrapped after running August 15 – 22, 2013, with the festival’s Awards ceremony celebration at the Roosevelt Hotel Ballroom and lobby hosted by Digital LA’s Kevin Winston. The HollyShorts Best Short Film Grand Prize went to Mitsuyo Miyazaki for her short film Tsuyako, the Best Director prize was awarded to Sacha Feiner for Un Monde Meilleur (A Better World); and the short film Sahasi Chori by Erin Galey took home two HollyShorts Awards, one for Best Producer and the Women in Film Director’s Award. The festival also announced that next year’s festival, it’s 10th Anniversary edition, will take place August 14 – 23, 2014 in Hollywood.

    The 2013 HollyShorts Winners

    HOLLYSHORTS BEST SHORT FILM – Tsuyako by Mitsuyo Miyazaki

    BEST DIRECTOR – Sacha Feiner for Un Monde Meilleur (A Better World)

    METHOD STUDIOS HOLLYSHORTS BEST VFX – Our Lady of Lourdes by Peter Szewczyk

    BEST COMMERICAL – Coca Cola – Happiness in the Air by Hugh Mitton 

    BEST MUSIC VIDEO – Vengeance Rhythm by Christopher Ullens de Schooten

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – Brightwood Connor Hair.

    BEST ACTOR – Gabe Fazio for the film Gun

    BEST ACTRESS – Carla Quevedo for the film Side Effects

    BEST ACTION – The Forge by Stephen Reedy

    BEST DRAMA – ROTKOP by Jan Roosens and Raf Roosens

    BEST ANIMATION – Alienation by Silvia Carpizo

    BEST COMEDY – Loveseat by Matthew Richmond

    BEST 3D SHORT – Le Grand Combat by Jean – Nicolas Rivat

    3D SHORT Runner up – Eysian Fields by Ina Conradi

    BEST DOCUMENTARY – Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution by Matthew VanDyke

    BEST EDITING – I’m Right Here – Christopher Soren Kelly

    WOMEN IN FILM DIRECTORS AWARD – Erin Galey for her short Sahasi Chori

    BEST STUDENT – MAGNESIUM by Sam de Jong

    BEST HORROR FEARNET AWARD – Do You Believe in the Devil by Alex Grybauskas

    BEST THRILLER – Lapsus by Karim OUARET

    BEST CROWD FUNDED FILM – And After All by Julian Ungano

    BEST INTERNATIONAL – Tweesprong by Wouter Bouvjin

    BEST NARRATIVE – GUN by Spencer Gillis

    BEST PRODUCER – Sahasi Chori by Erin Galey

    BEST SCI FI – Frost by Jeremy Ball

    BEST TRAILER – Rainbow Bay by Mack Lindon

    BEST SOUND – The Fifth Horseman by Kari Barber

    BEST WEB SERIES – Inside Joke On Gentrification by Brian Neaman and Michael Southworth

    PANAVISION FUTURE FILMMAKER AWARD – Karaoke! By Andrew Renzi

    HOLLYSHORTS SPECIAL JURY AWARD – The River by Sam Handel

    HOLLYSHORTS SPECIAL JURY AWARD – A Great Man by Joshua Dawson

    HOLLYSHORTS SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Death of Shadow by Tom Van Avermaet

    HOLLYSHORTS MENTION – Cootie Contagion by Josh Smooha

    HOLLYSHORTS MENTION – Marla by Nick King

    HOLLYSHORTS MENTION – 8:47 by Nik Kacevski

    Image via HollyShorts Film Festival Facebook

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  • New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 30

    THE LIFEGUARD, PASSION, AFTERNOON DELIGHT, I DECLARE WAR, OUR NIXON, ABIGAIL HARM, WHAT WOULD BEAR DO?, INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED, APPROACHING MIDNIGHT, AMERICAN MADE MOVIE, SATAN HOLD MY HAND

    Because of the Labor Day holiday there aren’t any notable mainstream movies coming out (unless you happen to be a One Direction fan). So if you’re not planning to spend the weekend standing behind a barbecue, check out one of these films in limited release instead.

    THE LIFEGUARD

    THE LIFEGUARD
    Director: Liz W. Garcia
    Starring: Kristen Bell, Martin Starr, Mamie Gummer, Joshua Harto
    Can you go home again? The first film from television writer Liz W. Garcia (who wrote episodes of Dawson’s Creek, Cold Case, and Memphis Beat), The Lifeguard stars Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) as a twenty-something woman who quits her job in New York to move back to the town she grew up in and takes up her old summer job in an attempt to turn back the clock. Kristen Bell fans will likely enjoy it, but the horrid reviews will likely scare away other viewers.

    PASSION

    PASSION
    Director: Brian De Palma
    Starring: Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Paul Anderson, Karoline Herfurth
    Few directors in film history can do thrilling like Brian De Palma, but when I saw Passion (which is a remake of the 2010 French film Love Crime) almost a year ago at the New York Film Festival I wasn’t impressed (most critics have given it so-so reviews). Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace lock horns as businesswomen after the same ideal promotion and the same man. McAdams is unbelievably striking on the screen in her manipulative role, but the film’s “thrilling” plot falls apart rather messily.

    AFTERNOON DELIGHT

    AFTERNOON DELIGHT

    Director: Jill Soloway
    Stars: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch
    Afternoon Delight is the first feature film from television writer/producer Jill Soloway (who has written episodes of Six Feet Under and United States of Tara) and stars longtime funny supporting actress Kathryn Hahn (Step Brothers, Anchorman) in a leading role. Hahn plays an idle suburban housewife who meets a young stripper (Juno Temple) and thinks she can “save” her. I guess everyone has a different way of solving boredom, right? Soloway won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her work.

    I DECLARE WAR

    I DECLARE WAR
    Director: Jason Lapeyre & Robert Wilson
    Starring: Siam Yu, Kolton Stewart, Gage Munroe. Michael Friend
    Though “kids with guns” is obviously a touchy subject, I Declare War is about the power of imagination when a group of young kids playing Capture the Flag with sticks for guns imagine themselves on vast battlefields full of destruction with real weaponry. As a result, the audience sees the kids at play in both the real world and on their dream-like battlefields. It’s a really clever concept that shows how seriously kids take their playtime.

    OUR NIXON (Documentary)

    OUR NIXON
    Director: Penny Lane
    While President Richard Nixon is mostly vilified by history (and terrible portrayals by John Cusack in The Butler!), his closest friends and advisors — including those who were convicted in the Watergate scandal — had a deep affinity for a man they felt was misunderstood. Our Nixon looks at newly unearthed Super 8 movies of Nixon outside of his office in his private life and gives a more human portrait of a man that many only know from history books.

    ABIGAIL HARM

    ABIGAIL HARM
    Director: Lee Isaac Chung
    Starring: Tetsuo Kuramochi, Will Patton, Amanda Plummer, Burt Young
    Though Abigail Harm is only opening at The Quad in New York City this weekend, interest in the film suggests that it will likely expand soon. Inspired by the Korean folktale “The Woodcutter and the Nymph,” Abigail (Amanda Plummer) is a loner who lives in New York City who has attachment issues. She is given a wish, and though she wishes for love it’s not exactly what she wished for.

    WHAT WOULD BEAR DO?

    WHAT WOULD BEAR DO?
    Director: Fritz Brekeller & Josh Folan
    Starring: Phil Burke, Josh Folan, Rick Montgomery Jr., Molly Fahey, Graci Carli, Avery Pearson
    Here’s a rule about camping: if you’re not an experienced camper, don’t go too far from civilization. What Would Bear Do? is a comedy about two dimwits who decide to make their own survival documentary in the hopes that they will impress their favorite survivalist television star. Of course, bringing their girlfriends along probably makes the situation a lot more difficult to imagine, especially since their knowledge of survival seems entirely drawn from reality shows. Sounds like it could definitely be very funny.

    Other notable weekend indie, foreign & documentary releases:
    INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED
    APPROACHING MIDNIGHT
    AMERICAN MADE MOVIE (Documentary)
    SATAN, HOLD MY HAND

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  • PHILOMENA Starring Judi Dench to UK Premiere at BFI London Film Festival

    PHILOMENA

    The 57th BFI London Film Festival American Express Gala will take place on Wednesday 16 October at the Odeon Leicester Square with the UK Premiere of Stephen Frears’ PHILOMENA, described as the moving, funny and at times shocking true story of one woman’s search for her lost son. Academy Award ® winner Judi Dench plays the title role, with BAFTA winner Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith. The screenplay is written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, based on the book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee” by Martin Sixsmith. Pathé release the film in UK cinemas on 1 November 2013.

    Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman”. When her baby was only a toddler, he was taken away by the nuns for adoption in America. Philomena spent the next fifty years searching for him but with no success. Then she met Martin Sixsmith, a world-weary political journalist who happened to be intrigued by her story. Together they set off to America on a journey that would not only reveal the extraordinary story of Philomena’s son, but also create an unexpectedly close bond between Philomena and Martin.

    The 57th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express runs from Wednesday 9 October-Sunday 20 October, 2013.

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  • Maine’s Camden International Film Festival Announces Lineup; Fest to Open with CUTIE AND THE BOXER

    CUTIE AND THE BOXERCUTIE AND THE BOXER

    Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) announced its slate, of over 65 features and short films, taking place September 26- 29, 2013 throughout Camden, Rockport and Rockland, Maine. The festival will open with CUTIE AND THE BOXER directed by Zachary Heinzerling. CUTIE AND THE BOXER is described as a reflection on love, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this candid New York tale explores the chaotic forty year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and artist Noriko Shinohara.

    2013 FEATURES

    A WILL FOR THE WOODS
    Amy Browne, Jeremy Kaplan, Tony Hale, Brian Wilson | United States | 2013
    Psychiatrist and musician Clark advocates for natural burial – and plans his own – while battling lymphoma. Capturing the genesis of a revolutionary social and environmental movement, this film is a life-affirming portrait of people coming to terms with death by embracing its central place in nature.

    THE ACT OF KILLING
    Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, Anonymous | Denmark, Indonesia | 2012
    In a country where killers are celebrated as heroes, the filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders to dramatise their role in genocide. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

    BENDING STEEL
    Dave Carroll | United States | 2013
    BENDING STEEL is a moving documentary which follows Chris Schoeck, an endearing yet unassuming man as he trains to become a professional oldetime strongman. While preparing to perform incredible feats of strength publicly, Chris privately struggles to overcome crippling fears and inhibitions. For the first time in his life he is compelled to confront his own social awkwardness, unsupportive parents, and an overwhelming fear of failure. What unfolds is one man’s inspirational quest to find his place in the world.

    BIG MEN
    Rachel Boynton | United States | 2013
    In Ghana, a small American energy company fights to hold onto its discovery of oil just as a new government comes into power.With unprecedented access and an unflinching eye, BIG MEN takes us deep into the African oil industry in Ghana and Nigeria, delivering an exposé on the ambition, greed and corruption that threaten to exacerbate Africa’s resource curse and leave more of its citizens behind.

    CAUCUS
    AJ Schnack | United States | 2013
    CAUCUS tells the story of the 2011-2012 campaign in Iowa as eight Republicans fight to become their party’s standard-bearer and take on Barack Obama. But to win, each must first navigate state fairs, town hall meetings and agitated questions from the increasingly contentious GOP base. A revealing look at the difficulty of running for office, particularly the Presidency, and features private, human moments of very public figures.

    CRASH REEL
    Lucy Walker | United States | 2013
    Snowboard legend Kevin Pearce crashed on a Park City half-pipe, and ended up fighting for his life. Now all Kevin wants to do is get on his snowboard again, even though medics and family fear it could kill him.

    CUTIE AND THE BOXER – Opening Night Film!
    Zachary Heinzerling | United States | 2012
    A reflection on love, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this candid New York tale explores the chaotic forty year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and artist Noriko Shinohara.
    CUTIE AND THE BOXER screens as part of PROCESS.

    DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE
    Hubert Sauper | France, Austria, Belgium | 2004
    DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE is a tale about humans between the North and South, about globalization, and about fish. Some time in the 1960’s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria: the Nile Perch, a voracious predator, who extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world. Huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo… This booming multinational industry of fish and weapons has created an ungodly globalized alliance on the shores of the world’s biggest tropical lake.
    DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE screens as part of THEN AND NOW.

    ELENA
    Petra Costa | Brazil | 2013
    Elena, a young Brazilian woman, travels to New York with the same dream as her mother, to become a movie actress. She leaves behind her childhood spent in hiding during the years of the military dictatorship. She also leaves Petra, her seven year old sister. Two decades later, Petra also becomes an actress and goes to New York in search of Elena. She only has a few clues about her: home movies, newspaper clippings, a diary and letters. Gradually, the features of the two sisters are confused; we no longer know one from the other. When Petra finally finds Elena in an unexpected place, she has to learn to let her go.

    EXPEDITION TO THE END OF THE WORLD
    Daniel Dencik | Denmark, Sweden | 2013
    A grand, adventurous journey of discovery to the last uncharted areas of the globe. Yet no matter how far we go, and how hard we try to find the answer, the ultimate meeting is with ourselves and our own transience. On a three-mast schooner packed with artists, scientists and ambitions worthy of Noah or Columbus, we set off for the end of the world: the rapidly melting massifs of North-East Greenland. Curiosity, grand pathos and a liberating dose of humour come together in a superbly orchestrated film where one iconic image after the other seduces us far beyond the historical footnote that is humanity.

    THE GENIUS OF MARIAN
    Banker White, Anna Fitch | United States | 2013
    THE GENIUS OF MARIAN is a visually rich, emotionally complex story that follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease as her son, the filmmaker, documents her struggles to retain a sense of self.

    HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.
    Barbara Kopple | United States | 1977
    HARLAN COUNTY, USA is an Oscar-winning documentary film covering the “Brookside Strike,” an effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Eastover Coal Company’s Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky in 1973.
    HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. screens as part of THEN AND NOW.

    HEARTS AND MINDS
    Peter Davis | United States | 1974
    Peter Davis’s Oscar-winning documentary unflinchingly confronts the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. Using a wealth of sources-from interviews to newsreels to documentary footage of the conflict at home and abroad-Davis constructs a powerfully affecting portrait of the disastrous effects of war.
    HEARTS AND MINDS screens as part of THEN AND NOW.

    THE KILL TEAM
    Dan Krauss | United States | 2013
    THE KILL TEAM looks at the devastating moral tensions that tear at soldiers’ psyches through the lens of one highly personal and emotional story. Specialist Adam Winfield was a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan when he attempted to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was committing. An intimate look at the personal stories so often lost inside the larger coverage of the longest war in US history.

    LAST DREAM (SIDSTE DRØMME)
    Estephan Wagner | Denmark | 2013
    LAST DREAMS follows three women during their last month of life. We follow their relationship with doctors, nurses, priests and family members, and through them we get an intimate and honest picture of what it means to be close to death – stories of solitude, reconciliation and love during the process of saying goodbye.

    THE LAST STATION (EL ESTACION ULTIMA)
    Cristian Soto, Catalina Vergara | Chile, Germany | 2012
    Under the competitive look of a camera, the life and moments some old people face in their last stage are portrayed in an atmosphere of solitude and abandonment. These homes, and their long lasting passage of time, are the last station in life before setting out on the inevitable journey to death.

    MAIDENTRIP
    Jillian Schlesinger | United States | 2013
    14-year-old Laura Dekker sets out-camera in hand-on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to be the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. In the wake of a year-long battle with Dutch authorities and global media scrutiny, Laura finds herself far from land and family, exploring the world in search of freedom, adventure, and distant dreams of her early youth at sea.

    MOON RIDER
    Daniel Dencik | Denmark | 2013
    Moon Rider is a coming-of-age story about the bike rider Rasmus Quaade. The film follows young Rasmus’ struggle to become a professional rider, a rough and winding road through hell and back.

    MY ARCHITECT
    Nathaniel Kahn | United States | 2003
    World-famous architect Louis Kahn had two illegitimate children with two different women outside of his marriage. Son Nathaniel always hoped that someday his father would come and live with him and his mother, but Kahn never left his wife and died when Nathaniel was only 11. Nathaniel travels the world visitng his father’s buildings and haunts, meeting his father’s contemporaries, colleagues, students, wives, and children.
    MY ARCHITECT screens as part of PROCESS.

    NARCO CULTURA
    Shaul Schwarz | United States | 2013
    From war photographer Shaul Schwarz comes NARCO CULTURA, an explosive look at the drug cartels’ pop culture influence on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico’s Drug War.

    NIGHT LABOR
    David Redmon, Ashley Sabin | Canada, United States | 2013
    Sherman lives in a remote and unknown place. By day, he digs for clams; by night, he works alone in a factory that we find hard to imagine is ever empty. A moment, as commonplace as it is lyrical and mysterious, unfolds through a combination of the powerful image and sound, minimal use of narration and a personality with exceptional traits. War approaches; but some people have already lost.

    OUR NIXON
    Penny Lane | United States | 2013
    OUR NIXON is an all-archival documentary presenting home movies for the first time from White House aides, H.R Halderman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin. Along with other rare footage seized by the FBI during the Watergate investigation, the film creates an intimate and complex portrait of the Nixon presidency as never seen before.

    PABLO’S WINTER (EL INVIERNO DE PABLO)
    Chico Pereira | Spain, UK | 2012
    Set in Almadén, Spain, the home of the most productive mercury mines in the world’s history, PABLO’S WINTER tells the story of Pablo, a retired seventy year old miner who is trying to stop smoking. With the mines closing 15 years ago, the film is a profound reflection on past and present, the traditional and the new. It is a moment of historical importance for the town and it’s older generations, as well as a moment of hope and opportunity for the young to reinvent themselves and create a new identity for the town.

    PANDORA’S PROMISE – Closing Night Film!
    Robert Stone | United States | 2013
    The atomic bomb and meltdowns like Fukushima have made nuclear power synonymous with global disaster. But what if we’ve got nuclear power wrong? PANDORA’S PROMISE asks whether the one technology we fear most could save our planet from a climate catastrophe, while providing the energy needed to lift billions of people in the developing world out of poverty.

    PUBLIC HEARING
    James N. Kienitz Wilkins | United States | 2012
    PUBLIC HEARING is the verbatim re-performance of a rural American town meeting from a transcript downloaded as publicly available information. Shot entirely in cinematic close-up on black-and-white 16mm film, a cast of actors and non-actors read between the lines in an ironic debate over the replacement of an existing Wal-Mart with a super Wal-Mart.

    REMOTE AREA MEDICAL
    Jeff Reichert, Farihah Zaman | United States | 2013
    Over three days in April 2012, Remote Area Medical, the pioneers of “no-cost” health care clinics, treated nearly 2000 patients on the infield of Bristol, Tennessee’s massive NASCAR speedway.

    RUNNING FROM CRAZY
    Barbara Kopple | United States | 2013
    RUNNING FROM CRAZY examines the personal journey of model and actress Mariel Hemingway, the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, as she strives for a greater understanding of her family history of suicide and mental illness. Through stunning archival footage of the three Hemingway sisters and intimate verite moments with Mariel herself, the film examines the remarkable though often heartbreaking Hemingway legacy.

    SEE
    Bo Bartlett, Betsy Eby, Glenn Holsten | United States | 2013
    Artists Bo Bartlett and Betsy Eby set off to make a film about seeing, traveling the country stumbling upon art sites, characters and luminaries. But then the unexpected happens sending their adventure into unforeseen territory. A moving meditation, SEE delivers the beauty of America through the eyes of artists determined to see art in the everyday.
    SEE screens as part of PROCESS.

    SUITCASE OF LOVE AND SHAME
    Jane Gillooly | United States | 2013
    Tender, erotic and pathetic, this reconstructed narrative examines the obsession to chronicle the details of an adulterous affair. SUITCASE OF LOVE AND SHAME is a mesmerizing collage woven from 60 hours of reel-to-reel audiotape discovered in a suitcase purchased on eBay.

    TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY
    Cullen Hoback | United States | 2013
    Terms and Conditions May Apply is a documentary that shows the outrageous and downright scary things that happen when you click I Agree.
    Following this screening there will be a panel with: Ben Wizner ACLU, Shahid Buttar, Bill of Rights Defense Committee and Amie Stepanovich, Electronic Privacy Information Center

    THESE BIRDS WALK
    Omar Mullick, Bassam Tariq | United States, Pakistan | 2012
    Filmed over nearly three years, THESE BIRDS WALK is portrait of contemporary Pakistan is created through the eyes of an ambulance driver and a runaway boy who call a humanitarian and his mission based organization home.

    TO THE WOLF (STO LYKO)
    Aran Hughes, Christina Koutsospyrou | Greece, France, United Kingdom | 2013
    Set over four days of unrelenting wind and rain in a remote village high up in the Nafpaktia mountains in western Greece, the film follows the lives of two shepherd families struggling for survival at a time of deep national crisis. TO THE WOLF is both the reality and an unsettling allegory of modern-day Greece.

    TOWN HALL
    Sierra Pettengill, Jamila Wignot | United States | 2013
    An inside look into the lives of two Tea Party activists from Pennsylvania as they fight to preserve their vision of America. More than a political treatise, Town Hall is a tone poem that paints a portrait of those who fear being left behind by a nation’s transition.

    WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL
    Ben Nabors | United States | 2013
    WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL is a feature-length documentary about William Kamkwamba, a young Malawian who rescued his family from famine by building a power-generating windmill from scrap parts. His achievement leads to new opportunities and complex choices.

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  • Guam International Film Festival Announced 2013 Grand Jury Awards Nominees

    GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES – BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: JISEUL (Korea, Dir: O Muel)GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES – BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: JISEUL (Korea, Dir: O Muel)

    The Guam International Film Festival (GIFF) announced the official nominees of the 2013 Grand Jury Awards. The Awards will be presented during GIFF’s Award Ceremonies. These films were were chosen as finalists from amongst nearly three hundred submissions from over 30 countries worldwide.

    GIFF 2013 GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES:

    GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES – BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:

    BREAKAWAY (ALAGWA) (Philippines, Dir: Ian Lorenos)
    GIRL SHAPED LOVE DRUG (United Kingdom, Dir: Simon Powell)
    JISEUL (Korea, Dir: O Muel)

    GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES – BEST NARRATIVE SHORT:

    HSU JI BEHIND THE SCREEN (France, Dir: Thomas Rio)
    HATCH (Austria, Dir: Christoph Kuschnig)
    MO IKKAI (Japan, Dir: Atsuko Hirayanagi)

    GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES – BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

    A2-B-C (Japan, Dir: Ian Thomas Ash)
    CROCODILE IN THE YANGTZE (China, Dir: Porter Erisman)
    THE ILLNESS AND THE ODYSSEY (Guam, US, Dir: Berry Minot)

    GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEES – BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:

    STRAIGHT WITH YOU (Netherlands, Dir: Daan Bol)
    BRAINERD (US, Dirs: Josiah Bultema and Kyle Gilbertson)
    CAVEDIGGER (US, Dir: Jeffrey Karoff)

    BEST MADE IN THE MARIANAS:

    THE ILLNESS AND THE ODYSSEY (Guam, US, Dir: Berry Minot)
    LIVING ALONG THE FENCELINE (Guam, US, Brazil, Japan, Philippines, Dir: Lina Hoshino)
    PIZZA BOY (Guam, Dir: Niel Romero and Justin Baldovino)
    FICTION (Guam, Dir: James Davis)
    IN YOUR HEAD (Japan, Dir: Kevin Foster and Steven LeFever)

    ACHIEVEMENT IN ACTING:

    JERICHO ROSALES (Breakaway)
    JEONG-MIN HWANG (She)
    SACHA DHAWAN (Girl Shaped Love Drug)
    YUNEE KIM (Fiction)

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  • Hugh Jackman to Receive Golden Icon Award at Zurich Film Festival

    Hugh Jackman

    Actor Hugh Jackman will be honored with the Golden Icon Award of this year’s Zurich Film Festival. In addition to receiving ZFF’s Golden Icon Award, Jackman will present his latest movie, the intense thriller PRISONERS, directed by Denis Villeneuve and co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal. 

    The festival describes Jackman as an Academy Award nominated, Golden Globe and Tony Award winning actor, who from his award-winning turn on Broadway as the 1970’s singer / songwriter Peter Allen, to his metal claw-wielding Wolverine in the lucrative X-Men franchise, Jackman has proven to be one of the most versatile actors of our time. 

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  • Chilean Film “THE FUTURE” Among Early Confirmed Films for 2013 AFI Latin American Film Festival

    THE FUTURE [Il futuro]THE FUTURE [Il futuro]

    The AFI Latin American Film Festival will run September 19 – October 9, 2013 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Washington, DC area. Films on the lineup this year include THE FUTURE [Il futuro], Chilean filmmaker Alicia Scherson’s (PLAY, TURISTAS) adaptation of a novel by celebrated author Roberto Bolaño, set in Rome and starring Rutger Hauer. The film is described as a Rome-set story about two teen siblings, newly orphaned, and the dangers of sudden adulthood.

    Confirmed films include:

    ANINA
    Alfredo Soderguit, Uruguay

    An adorable and heart-warming animated film for the whole family. A young girl with a triple palindrome name, Anina Yatay Salas, must endure a weeklong suspension after a schoolyard fight, and ultimately learn a lesson in friendship and acceptance. Best Colombian Film and Director, 2013 Cartagena Film Festival; Audience Award, International Official Selection, 2013 BAFICI Film Festival; Official Selection, 2013 Berlin Film Festival.

    THE BODY [El cuerpo]
    Oriol Paulo, Spain

    A tense thriller that keeps viewers guessing until the final minute. From the producers of THE ORPHANAGE and starring Belén Rueda.

    CHICAMA
    Omar Forero, Peru

    A charming story about a fresh-faced elementary school teacher sent to a remote school in the Andes mountains. Best Peruvian Film, 2012 Lima Film Festival.

    THE CLEANER [El limpiador]
    Adrian Saba, Peru

    A gentle apocalyptic drama about a forensic cleaner who reluctantly takes in a young orphan in the midst of a deadly epidemic. New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize, 2013 Palm Springs Film Festival. Official Selection, 2012 San Sebastian Film Festival; 2013 San Francisco, Karlovy Vary Film Festivals.

    THE DEAD MAN AND BEING HAPPY [El muerto y ser feliz]
    Javier Rebollo, Argentina

    A screwball road movie about a cancer-stricken hitman. Best Actor, 2013 Goya Awards. Official Selection, 2012 San Sebastian, New York Film Festivals; 2013 Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary Film Festivals.

    DUST [Polvo]
    Julio Hernández Cordón, Guatemala

    A powerful drama about a couple making a documentary in a village of indigenous people in Guatemala’s back country, and the villagers’ recollections of the conflict and subsequent disappearances of their family members in 1982. Official Selection, 2012 Locarno, Toronto Film Festivals; 2013 Miami Film Festival.

    EDIFICIO ROYALE
    Iván Wild, Colombia

    A black comedy about a decaying building in Colombia and its Tom Cruise-obsessed residents. Official Selection, Cartagena and Miami Film Festivals.

    THE FUTURE [Il futuro]
    Alicia Scherson, Chile

    A Rome-set story about two teen siblings, newly orphaned, and the dangers of sudden adulthood. Directed by Alicia Scherson (PLAY, TURISTAS) and adapted from a novel by acclaimed author Roberto Bolaño. Featuring Rutger Hauer. Official Selection, 2013 Sundance, Rotterdam Film Festivals.

    A GUN IN EACH HAND [Una pistola en cada mano]
    Cesc Gay, Spain

    A series of comedic, interconnected vignettes about the misadventures of a group of fortysomething men, featuring a star-studded cast including Ricardo Darín, Javier Cámara and Luis Tosar. Official Selection, 2012 Rome Film Festival; 2013 Miami, Seattle Film Festivals.

    HOLD-UP! [¡Atraco!]
    Eduard Cortés, Spain

    A rollicking caper about the stranger-than-fiction staged robbery of Eva Perón’s jewels in 1950s Madrid.

    MELAZA
    Carlos Lechuga, Cuba

    A young couple struggles to get by when their village sugar mill is shut down. Official Selection, 2012 Havana, 2013 Rotterdam and Miami Film Festivals. Biznada de Plata Award, 2013 Malaga Film Festival.

    NO AUTUMN, NO SPRING [Sin otoño, sin primavera]
    Iván Mora Manzano, Ecuador

    A punk ballad, this kaleidoscopic film explores the lives, loves and losses of Guayaquil City youths. Official Selection, 2013 Miami Film Festival.

    ONCE UPON A TIME IN BOLIVIA [Erase una vez en Bolvia]
    Patrick Cordova, Bolivia

    A micro-budget road movie set against the backdrop of the 2003 Bolivian gas conflict. Best International Feature, 2013 London Independent Film Festival.

    RIO 2096: A STORY OF LOVE AND FURY [Rio 2096: Uma História de Amor e Fúria]
    Luiz Bolognesi, Brazil

    A striking, visionary animated film, exploring 600 years of Brazilian history through the eyes of a single character reincarnated across the centuries. Best Feature, 2013 Annecy Animation Film Festival.

    SO MUCH WATER [Tanta agua]
    Ana Guevara, Leticia Jorge, Uruguay

    A 14-year old is forced to spend time with her family when a rainstorm ruins their vacation. Grand Prix and Best Screenplay, 2013 Miami Film Festival; Best First Feature Award, 2013 Guadalajara Film Festival.

    SOFIA AND THE STUBBURN MAN [Sofía y el Terco]
    Andrés Burgos, Colombia

    A gentle comedy starring Almodóvar favorite Carmen Maura (WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, VOLVER) as a long-suffering married woman who decides to strike out on her own and have an adventure.

    THE SWIMMING POOL [La piscina]
    Carlos Quintela, Cuba

    A day in the life of a public swimming pool in Cuba where five disabled teens take swimming lessons. Best First Film, 2013 Miami, Havana Film Festivals.

    THESIS ON A HOMICIDE [Tesis sobre un homicidio]
    Hernán Goldfrid, Argentina

    A twist-filled thriller starring Ricardo Darín (THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES, CARANCHO, NINE QUEENS). Official Selection, 2013 Miami Film Festival.

    THEY’LL COME BACK [Eles Voltam]
    Marcelo Lordello, Brazil

    “If you two don’t stop fighting, I’m going to pull this car over and leave you by the side of the road.” Cris and her brother don’t, and their parents do. A modern fable about independence and identity set in rugged northwestern Brazil. Official Selection, 2013 Rotterdam, San Francisco Film Festivals.

    VIOLA
    Matías Piñero, Argentina

    A spritely adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” set among contemporary Buenos Aires hipsters. Official Selection, 2012 Toronto Film Festival; 2013 New Directors/New Films, Berlin Film Festival.

     

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  • SEE Pics from Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s “DON JON” Movie

    DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    New images have been released for the comedy film DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which premiered earlier this year at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.  DON JON will released in theaters on September 27, 2013.

    Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to “pull” a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn’t compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright, beautiful, good old fashioned girl. Raised on romantic Hollywood movies, she’s determined to find her Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset. Wrestling with good old fashioned expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against a media culture full of false fantasies to try and find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 

    DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

    DON JON written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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  • Films from Israel “UNDRESSING ISRAEL (GAY MEN IN THE PROMISED LAND)” and “CHICKEN SOUP WITH KNIVES” on Lineup for Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

    UNDRESSING ISRAEL (GAY MEN IN THE PROMISED LAND)UNDRESSING ISRAEL (GAY MEN IN THE PROMISED LAND)

    Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, will screen two very different documentaries, both of which involve the State of Israel. On Friday, September 20, 2013, the first, which screens at 1pm, is documentary filmmaker, adult-film entrepreneur and political columnist Michael Lucas’ new film, UNDRESSING ISRAEL (GAY MEN IN THE PROMISED LAND). The second documentary, which screens at 1:30pm, is lesbian filmmaker Leora Eisenstein’s CHICKEN SOUP WITH KNIVES (Merak Of Im Sakinim).

    UNDRESSING ISRAEL (GAY MEN IN THE PROMISED LAND) examines a side of Israel that is too often overlooked: its thriving gay community, and features interviews with a diverse range of local men, including a gay member of Israel’s parliament, a trainer who served openly in the army, a young Arab-Israeli journalist, and a pair of dads raising their kids.

    http://youtu.be/ixRnQVvsTYs

    The second documentary, is lesbian filmmaker Leora Eisenstein’s CHICKEN SOUP WITH KNIVES (Merak Of Im Sakinim). This powerful film chronicles her journey with her sister and a private detective to Lvov, Ukraine, her family’s hometown before World War II. There, she embarks on a search for her roots and lost family property taken during the Holocaust, as well as a sense of justice. Her journey seems straight-forward, but in reality, it encompasses a variety of personal reflections and troubling family confrontations.

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