• Director Giuseppe Tornatore and Actor Geoffrey Rush Among Lineup of Guests for 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival

    Geoffrey Rush in The Best Offer

    Academy Award winning Italian film director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore and actor Geoffrey Rush are among the lineup of international and local guests expected to attend the 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). Giuseppe Tornatore and Geoffrey Rush are set to visit Melbourne with the Italian film THE BEST OFFER. which stars MIFF Patron Geoffrey Rush, Donald Sutherland, Jim Sturgess and newcomer Sylvie Hoeks in a mystery drama set in a high-society world of art deals and closed doors.

    The 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival(MIFF) will host a stellar lineup of international and local guests, spanning established auteurs, sporting idols, new faces in international cinema and a whole lot more.

    Academy Award winning Italian film director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore(Cinema Paradiso) is set to visit Melbourne with the Italian box office smash, The Best Offer. Part of MIFF’s International Panorama program, The Best Offer, stars MIFF Patron Geoffrey Rush, Donald Sutherland, Jim Sturgess and newcomer Sylvie Hoeks in a mystery drama set in a high-society world of art deals and closed doors. Geoffrey Rush will join Giuseppe Tornatore at the Australian Premiere on Wednesday 31 July.

    Melbourne will also play host to American rock band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, including acclaimed actor and front man of the band, Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream). Under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins, Leto directs Artifact, which follows the band as they record their third album, providing an often Spinal Tap-esque insight into the realities of modern music. Also part of the Backbeat program are guests Maureen Gosling, director of This Ain’t No Mouse Music!, which traces one man’s obsession with the American South’s music, and Nathaniel Kohn, producer of Bayou Maharajah: The Tragic Genius of James Booker, an exploration of the life and music of the New Orleans piano legend.

    Cannes Best Screenplay winner, director Jia Zhang-ke and actress Zhao Tao, will be in town to present A Touch of Sin, a confronting character-driven tale of modern China and the domestic conflict its newfound wealth has wrought. Accelerator alumnusAnthony Chen will return to Melbourne with this year’s Camera d’Or winner, Ilo Ilo, the stirring tale of a Singaporean family who take in a Filipino woman as a live-in maid. Also fresh from Cannes is the winner of the Un Certain Regard Directing Prize, Alain Guiraudie, with his steamy thriller Stranger by the Lake; and hot on the heels of Cannes, young German filmmaker Katrin Gebbe will be presenting her film Nothing Bad Can Happen, a harrowing tale of a vulnerable young Christian man.

    The American contingent is strongly represented this year. Champion snowboarder Kevin Pearce will be in Melbourne to present the SXSW Audience Award-winning film The Crash Reel, which documents the rise and literal fall of his career, which was cut short at age 22 in a near-fatal crash. Also from the This Sporting Life section and jetting in from the US is Michelle Major who will present her directorial debut, Venus and Serena – a fascinating insight into the legendary athletes and sisters, Venus and Serena Williams. From the Next Gen program first-time filmmaker Marta Cunningham will be presenting her affecting documentary Valentine Road, about 14-year-old Brandon McInerney from Oxnard, California, who shot and killed his cross-dressing classmate, Lawrence King. Meanwhile indie filmmaker Matt Porterfield, will be in town to present I Used to be Darker – a striking picture of quotidian family dynamics and revelations which will screen in MIFF’s new spotlight, States of Play: American Independents.

    Mark Albiston will be crossing the Tasman with his debut feature Shopping – a coming-of-age drama set in 1981 New Zealand and winner of the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury for Best Feature Film at this year’s Berlinale. Also set in New Zealand is Denmark-based director Daniel Joseph Borgman’s debut feature, The Weight of Elephants – a captivating exploration of childhood fragility. Daniel Joseph Borgman will be a guest of the festival and both films will screen in MIFF’s International Panorama program.

    Other international guests include: Chilean actress Paulina García, whose standout performance in Gloria won her the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actress at this year’s Berlinale; Nicholas Bonner, co-director of Comrade Kim Goes Flying – a vivacious romantic comedy and extremely rare Western–North Korean co-production, screening in MIFF’s new spotlight, Juche Days: North Korea on Film; João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata, who co-direct the audacious documentary hybrid The Last Time I Saw Macau, which screens in MIFF’s TeleScope: Visions from the EU program; and Axel Straschnoy, director of Kilpisjärvellä, which presents the Northern Lights as they are experienced by someone watching them from the ground. Kilpisjärvellä will screen as part of the Planetarium Fulldown Showcase, a special program of jaw-dropping fulldome screenings at the Melbourne Planetarium.

    Former British Film Institute and London Film Festival Director Adrian Wootton returns exclusively to Melbourne for another series of his acclaimed Illustrated Film Talks, this year celebrating major icons of screen culture. The Adrian Wootton Talks Icons series runs from Thursday 1 – Sunday 4 August. Celebrated LA-based developer, writer and lecturer Wendall Thomas is also returning exclusively to Melbourne for more of her popular series unlocking the secrets of films’ script structure with a series of four standalone all-day seminars, running from Monday 29 July – Thursday 1 August.

    MIFF will also host an array of leading Australian talent featured in this year’s festival program. Walking the red carpet on Saturday 3 August for the world premiere of this year’s Centrepiece Gala Tim Winton’s The Turning will be Tim Winton, Robert Connolly, Mia Wasikowska, Tony Ayres, Warwick Thornton, Rhys Graham, Hugo Weaving and producer Maggie Miles. Tim Winton’s The Turning is part of the 2013 MIFF Premiere Fund slate.

    Australian thriller Patrick is another film from this year’s MIFF Premiere Fund that will have its world premiere on Saturday 27 July. Director Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood, MIFF ‘08) reinterprets the classic Aussie horror flick and will be attending alongside cast including Rachel Griffiths, Peta Sergeant, Damon Gameau, Jackson Gallagher, Simone Buchanan and producer Antony I. Ginnane. Other Premiere Fund guests include: writer/director Anna Broinowski (Forbidden Lie$, MIFF ‘07) and producer Lizzette Atkins, with the revolutionary film within a film, Aim High in Creation!, based on the creative manifesto by North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong-il; writer/director Rhys Graham (Words from the City, MIFF ‘07), who tells the story of four teens whose lives are forever scarred by tragedy in Galore, will be joined by cast members Lily Sullivan and Maya Stange and producer Philippa Campey; writer/director Lynn-Maree Milburn (Autoluminescent: Roland S Howard, MIFF ‘11), who shines the spotlight on local Catholic provocateur Father Bob Maguire in the documentary In Bob We Trust, will be joined by Father Bob Maguire, producerRichard Lowenstein and cinematographer Andrew de Groot; and writer/director Zak Hilditch, actor Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek), rising star Angourie Rice and producerLiz Kearney will be in town to present the apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours.

    Music lovers are in for a treat with a number of Australian talent attending this year’s festival including local punk rock band Cosmic Psychos and Matt Weston, the director of Cosmic Psychos: Blokes you can Trust, which charts the colourful three-decade history of the group; director Kaye Harrison with The Sunnyboy, a film about rock, redemption and the healing power of getting the band back together one last time; and director Juliet Lamont and documentary subject Nikki May with Miss Nikki and the Tiger Girls, the insightful documentary of Burma’s first girl band.

    MIFF’s home-grown contingent of guests continues with legendary surfer Wayne Lynch, the documentary subject of Uncharted Waters by director Craig Griffin, which follows Wayne’s career and the evolutionary influence he had on the sport. Director Kim Mordaunt will be in town to present the multi-award-winning feature, The Rocket, a heart-warming coming of age story set in war-ravaged Laos. Other Australian guests include Lawrence Johnston, director of Fallout about the untold story of Nevil Shute’s famed novel On The Beach and the film of the same name; Award-winning director Ivan Sen (Toomelah, MIFF 11), director of Australian thriller Mystery Road and cast members Aaron Pedersen, Jack Charles and Damian Walshe-Howling; Steve Ostrow, documentary subject of Continental, which explores the notorious venue that sparked a revolution and cemented its place in legend; Haydn Keenan, director of the extraordinary TV series Persons of Interest; Warwick Ross and David Roach, co-directors of Red Obsession which charts the modern fortunes of Bordeaux’s most famous export; Shannon Swan and Angelo Pricolo, co-directors of Lygon Street – Si Parla Italiano, the true story of Melbourne’s most iconic street, as told by the men and women who made it; and from the made-for-ABC-TV Nowhere Boys, by the prolific Matchbox Pictures, director Daina Reid and cast will attend the screening.

    Melbourne International Film Festival runs 25 July – 11 August 2013.

    via press release

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  • The Good, The Bad, and the Horrific: Indie Horror Movies at Film Festivals

    The Blair Witch ProjectThe Blair Witch Project

    We can probably all recall the first time we ever watched a horror film that truly scared us. There’s something so oddly enjoyable about watching scary movies, and though films in the horror genre are not often critical favorites they have started to turn up more often in a surprising place: film festivals.

    Truly, this really isn’t surprising from a business standpoint. First, horror is a genre that has one of the most dedicated fanbases. There aren’t many websites out there solely devoted to Westerns or comedies, but there are hundreds of websites strictly devoted to all things horror.

    Horror films are also popular with first time directors because they tend to be cheaper to make than nearly any other genre. Because of dark lightning, limited casts, and other factors, horror films can be made cheaply – and even more cheaply if made using affordable digital cameras to produce the “found footage” effect. While indie dramas might boost one or two perhaps expensive familiar faces to draw audiences, horror filmmakers know that the scares are the true “stars” of the film and have no issue with hiring amateur or rookie actors for little or no money.

    Many don’t immediately associate horror films with independent film festivals, but all one has to do to gauge the significant role that horror plays in film festivals is to look at the most well-known U.S. film festival, Sundance. Three of the most successful movies in the U.S. box office to make their U.S. premieres at Sundance were not indie dramas but 28 Days Later, Saw, and The Blair Witch Project. In fact, despite other Sundance films garnering immense critical praise and countless prestigious awards, it’s hard to argue against the nearly $900 million Saw and its six sequels collectively made at the worldwide box office.

    As a result, film festivals have recently increased their horror film programming, with an increasing amount hosting midnight screenings for devoted horror film fans. These are certainly a good idea from a festival promotional standpoint, as it draws fans of horror films to festivals who might not normally attend a film festival with more traditional indie dramas and experimental films.

    However, one problem with this is the issue of quality. Again, horror films can be made on extremely low budgets (very often less than $100,000), and the popular found footage style keeps costs down even more. While some talented filmmakers can produce brilliant low budget horror films, it’s not something that anyone with a camera can do. In particular, the once-groundbreaking found footage style that The Blair Witch Project helped pioneer in 1999 has been… well, overdone over the last decade and a half. I’ve seen enough bad found footage horror movies at recent film festivals and on DVD to know that few filmmakers are doing anything new with the style. I’m not alone in this assessment – many such films have scored extremely low with even critics who write for websites devoted to horror films, and several haven’t even gotten any sort of release meaning that they haven’t even made back the low budget invested in them.

    Obviously I’m a huge supporter of indie filmmaking, but I feel that the increased acceptance of horror films shouldn’t be taken as encouragement for indie filmmakers to ALWAYS go the cheap route when making their first horror feature knowing that their film could be accepted regardless of budget.

    Of course filmmaking is expensive – that goes without saying – but just because the “found footage” style means one can shoot a film at low cost doesn’t mean that it’s right for every indie horror film. Filmmakers should take a cue from The Blair Witch directors, who attempted to do something that seemed totally original back in the late 1990s and try to break new ground in horror filmmaking. There’s a reason horror remains so popular with audiences, but it is truly groundbreaking horror films like Psycho, The Exorcist, Halloween, Night of the Living Dead and those mentioned about that remain enduring classics.

    After all, I still love seeing good movies that scares me.

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  • Documentary THE WAITING ROOM An Inside Look Behind the Doors of an Oakland Public Hospital, to Premiere on PBS

    the-waiting-room

    The documentary THE WAITING ROOM, directed by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Peter Nicks, that goes behind the doors of Oakland’s Highland Hospital, a safety-net hospital fighting for survival while weathering the storm of a persistent economic downturn, premieres on Independent Lens on Monday, October 21, 2013 as part of the first PBS Independent Film Showcase. 

    Highland is the primary care facility for 250,000 patients of nearly every nationality, race, and religion, with 250 patients — most of them uninsured — crowding its emergency room every day.The film weaves together several stories from the hundreds being played out in the waiting room: a frightened child with a dangerous case of strep throat, a young man with a testicular tumor in desperate need of surgery, as well as those suffering from chronic conditions such as alcohol and drug abuse, heart disease, and diabetes. Young victims of gun violence take their turn alongside artists and uninsured small business owners. Steel workers, cab drivers and international asylum seekers crowd the halls.

    We also meet the overwhelmed hospital staff who cope with under-staffing, insufficient beds, and a never-ending stream of ER patients who jump to the head of the line of those sitting in the waiting room. As one doctor says, Highland is “the institution of last resort for so many people.”

     http://youtu.be/15Fn32l_At8

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  • Calvin & Hobbes Documentary “DEAR MR. WATTERSON” Gets A November 15 Release Date

    Dear Mr. Watterson

    The documentary “DEAR MR. WATTERSON,” directed by Joel Allen Schroeder, which explores the phenomenon of Bill Watterson’s popular 1980s and 1990s comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, will be released in theaters and VOD on November 15, 2013 by Gravitas Ventures.

    As described by the filmmakers:

    Calvin & Hobbes dominated the Sunday comics in thousands of newspapers for over 10 years, having a profound effect on millions of readers across the globe. When the strip’s creator, Bill Watterson, retired the strip on New Year’s Eve in 1995, devoted readers everywhere felt the void left by the departure of Calvin, Hobbes, and Watterson’s other cast of characters, and many fans would never find a satisfactory replacement.

    It has now been more than a decade since the end of the Calvin & Hobbes era. Bill Watterson has kept an extremely low profile during this time, living a very private life outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Despite his quiet lifestyle, Mr. Watterson is remembered and appreciated daily by fans who still enjoy his amazing collection of work.

    Mr. Watterson has inspired and influenced millions of people through Calvin & Hobbes. Newspaper readership and book sales can be tracked and recorded, but the human impact he has had and the value of his art are perhaps impossible to measure.

    This film is not a quest to find Bill Watterson, or to invade his privacy. It is an exploration to discover why his ‘simple’ comic strip made such an impact on so many readers in the 80s and 90s, and why it still means so much to us today.

    http://youtu.be/sRnnGfuS4vU

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  • Keith Carradine Honored at Maine International Film Festival with Mid-Life Achievement Award

    David Carradine

    Award-winning actor, songwriter, and producer Keith Carradine was honored at this year’s Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) with the 2013 Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) Mid-Life Achievement Award.  Carradine was presented with his award at the Monday, July 15 screening of Nashville.  Carradine’s song for the film, “I’m Easy,” garnered both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Carradine can currently be seen, starring in AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, which received the award for best cinematography at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and is featured at MIFF this year.  “AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS” will be released on August 16, 2013.

    Each year MIFF honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the art of cinema. Past winners include: Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull, The Departed), Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol, Mystic Pizza), Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Badlands), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), John Turturro (Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski) , Ed Harris (Empire Falls, Pollack), Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom), Jos Stelling (Duska), Walter Hill (The Warriors), and Bud Cort (Harold and Maude).

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  • African Diaspora International Film Festival – Washington D.C. to Feature 7 Films; Opens with D.C. Premiere of African Independence

    AFRICAN INDEPENDENCEAFRICAN INDEPENDENCE written, directed and produced by scholar, filmmaker and PBS History Detectives host, Professor Tukufu Zuberi.

    The African Diaspora International Film Festival – Washington D.C. (ADIFF- DC) will celebrate its 7th anniversary in Washington D.C. from August 16 to 18, 2013 with a lineup of 7 films. The African Diaspora International Film Festival – D.C. will open with the Washington D.C. Premiere of AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE, an award-winning, feature-length documentary written, directed and produced by scholar, filmmaker and PBS History Detectives host, Professor Tukufu Zuberi.

    AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE retraces the history of the independence movement throughout Africa using archival footage as well as interviews with such personalities as President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia,Hon. SamiaYaaba Nkrumah, daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah- Ghana’s first President, President F.W. de Klerk of South Africa and many others. 

    ADIFF-D.C. will also present the Washington D.C. Premiere of award winning film from Senegal THE PIROGUE by Moussa Toure, official selection in the Un Certain Regard section of 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This powerful drama in which a group of 30 men and a woman sail to Europe in a pirogue, facing the sea and the possibility of never reaching their destination in exchange for the myth of a better life in Europe, was called by A.O. Scott of The New York Times “a remarkably clear-eyed, quietly ambitious film [that] deals with emotionally charged events matter-of-factly, rather than melodramatically.”

    In collaboration with the Swiss Embassy, ADIFF will screen the Senegal/Switzerland/Luxembourg musical documentary RETURN TO GORÉE by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud which follows Senegalese musician and current Culture Minister of Senegal, Youssou N’Dour, as he recruits musicians to prepare for a concert on the Gorée Island that today symbolizes the slave trade and stands to honor its victims.

    Also in the program is the Washington D.C. premiere screening of NISHAN, a new thriller set in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia about a young businesswoman who dreams of leaving Ethiopia to seek her fortune abroad. When her father mortgages the house to support her emigration, an unsigned document creates a disastrous domino effect in this thrilling feature debut by Ethiopian filmmaker Yidnekachew Shumete Desalegn.

    Other films on the program include the Washington D.C. premiere showing of award-winning dance film from South Africa THE AFRICAN CYPHER and the presentation of German film OTOMO by Frieder Schlaich starring award-winning actor Isaach de Bankolé (Miami Vice, Casino Royal, Ghost Dog, The Way of the Samourai; Otomo; Chocolat) about the last 24 hours in the life of an African immigrant in Germany. 

    ADIFF Washington D.C. will close with the premiere screening of the Shakespeare play TANGO MCBETH by Philadelphia based independent filmmaker Nadine M. Patterson.

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  • Central Florida Film Festival Returns to Ocoee, Florida August 30 thru September 1

    cenflo

    This year’s Central Florida Film Festival returns over the Labor Day weekend in Ocoee, Florida, running from Friday, August 30th thru Sunday, September 1st at the West Orange Cinemas. Horror ‘scream queen’ Felissa Rose and “Supernatural’s” Richard Speight Jr., are two of the Hollywood Celebrities expected to be in attendance.

    CENFLO will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the horror cult classic, “SLEEPWAWAY CAMP,” which will screen on Saturday evening at 7:45 pm followed by a Question and Answer by the film’s star, Felissa Rose who will also pose for photos after the screening. Felissa played young Angela in the film that has also brought four sequels over the years.

    Earlier on Saturday (1:00 pm) “Supernatural’s” Richard Speight Jr., will highlight a short series of films with his movie “America 101.” Richard will also perform a Question and Answer with two other filmmakers during the program.

    image via Facebook

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  • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Names 2013–2014 Board of Governors

    Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

    Ten first-time governors have been elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors. In addition, eight incumbents have been reelected and one previous governor is returning to the board. This year’s election increases the Academy’s governing body from 43 to 48.

    The first-time governors are Judianna Makovsky and Deborah Nadoolman, representing the Costume Designers Branch; Rick Carter and Jan Pascale, Designers Branch; Alex Gibney, Documentary; Lynzee Klingman, Film Editors; Amy Pascal, Executives; Kathryn Blondell and Bill Corso, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists; and Nancy Utley, Public Relations.

    The reelected governors are Ed Begley, Jr., Actors Branch; John Bailey, Cinematographers; Kathryn Bigelow, Directors; Charles Fox, Music; Jon Bloom, Short Films and Feature Animation; Curt Behlmer, Sound; Richard Edlund, Visual Effects; and Robin Swicord, Writers.

    Mark Johnson, representing the Producers Branch, is returning to the board after a hiatus.

    The Academy’s 16 branches, including the recently created Costume Designers Branch, are each represented by three governors, who may serve up to three consecutive three-year terms. For the first time, the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch is represented by three governors; the branch was previously represented by one.

    Governors who were not up for reelection and who continue on the board are Annette Bening and Tom Hanks, Actors Branch; Jim Bissell, Designers; Richard P. Crudo and Dante Spinotti, Cinematographers; Jeffrey Kurland, Costume Designers; Lisa Cholodenko and Michael Mann, Directors; Michael Apted and Rob Epstein, Documentary; Dick Cook and Robert Rehme, Executives; Mark L. Goldblatt and Michael Tronick, Film Editors; Leonard Engelman, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists; Arthur Hamilton and David L. Newman, Music; Gale Anne Hurd and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers; Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Rob Friedman, Public Relations; Bill Kroyer and John Lasseter, Short Films and Feature Animation; Don Hall and Scott Millan, Sound; Craig Barron and John Knoll, Visual Effects; and Bill Condon and Phil Robinson, Writers.

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  • WATCH Official Trailers for 2013 Rural Route Film Festival

    BAIKONUR BAIKONUR

    Rural Route will screen what the festival describes as “4 of the BEST new independent films to the beautiful big screen” at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York City on August 3 and 4, 2013.  The 4 films are TALL AS THE BAOBAB TREE directed by Jeremy Teicher, SALT directed by Diego Rougier, THE MOSUO SISTERS directed by Marlo Poras and BAIKONUR directed by Veit Helmer.

    Festivial Official Trailer

    http://youtu.be/6NAUxFILLdo

    TALL AS THE BAOBAB TREE

    http://youtu.be/og05DpepTi0

    SALT

    http://youtu.be/3GGtGu4DZuM

    THE MOSUO SISTERS

    http://youtu.be/1QT-e9e5siQ

    BAIKONUR

    http://youtu.be/_-90Pfde1rM

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  • “THE HAPPY SAD” to Open in NYC August 16

    THE HAPPY SAD

    Rodney Evan’s latest film, THE HAPPY SAD, that follows two couples, one black and one white, whose lives collide as they navigate open relationships and sexual identity, opens in NYC on August 16, 2013. 

    Two young couples in New York – one black and gay, one white and heterosexual – find their lives intertwined as they create new relationship norms, explore sexual identity, and redefine monogamy. The film therefore uses the multicultural ensemble to explore the questions that alternative twenty- and thirty-year olds face in a culture where there appears to be endless possibilities for sex but also a resistance to any definitive model for a “proper” relationship. It juxtaposes the storylines of the two main couples Marcus (Leroy McClain) and Aaron (Charlie Barnett) , Stan (Carmeron Scoggins) and Annie (Sorel Carradine) ) to highlight the ethical dilemmas facing men and women who are trying to create new ways to be in a loving relationship, while recognizing that monogamy might not be for them. 

     http://youtu.be/GKp_fZ4M-zE

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  • “FRUITVALE STATION” Opens Big at the Box Office

    FRUITVALE STATION

    “FRUITVALE STATION” opened big in limited release in its first weekend with $377,285 from just 7 theaters for a $53,898 per-theater-average.   Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, director Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION follows the true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident .. whose life takes a tragic turn, however, when BART officers shoot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year’s Day. 

    Complete list of grosses for new indie films in limited release via Indiewire

    The Debuts:

    FRUITVALE STATION
    Distributor: The Weinstein Company
    Weeks in Release: 1
    Gross:  $377,285
    Theaters: 7
    Average: $53,898
    Cumulative Total: $377,285

    CRYSTAL FAIRY
    Distributor: IFC Films
    Weeks in Release: 1
    Gross:  $24,000
    Theaters: 2
    Average: $12,000
    Cumulative Total: $24,000

    DEALIN’ WITH IDIOTS
    Distributor: IFC Films 
    Weeks in Release: 1
    Gross:  $12,000
    Theaters: 1
    Average: $12,000
    Cumulative Total: $12,000

    THE HUNT
    Distributor: Magnolia
    Weeks in Release: 1
    Gross:   $44,000
    Theaters: 4
    Average: $11,000
    Cumulative Total: $44,00

    VIOLA
    Distributor: Cinema Guild
    Weeks in Release: 1
    Gross:  $6,275
    Theaters: 1
    Average: $6,275
    Cumulative Total: $6,275

    STILL MINE
    Distributor: IDP/Samuel Goldwyn
    Weeks in Release: 1
    Gross:  $21,000
    Theaters: 4
    Average: $5,250
    Cumulative Total: $21,000

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  • “AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA” “A COMMON MAN” Win Top Awards at 2013 Madrid International Film Festival

    AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA

    AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA won the big prize at the 2013 Madrid International Film Festival, the Best Film of the Festival along with the award for Best Foreign Language Feature. Other winners include A COMMON MAN which won the awards for Best Feature Film, Best Director for Chandran Rutnam, and Best Lead Actor for Sir Ben Kingsley,

    AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA is described as “Following the underhanded murder of Pancho Villa on the outskirts of Parral, Chihuahua, on July 20, 1923, the whole city mourned his death. The wake for the revolutionary hero was held in downtown Parral, at the Hidalgo Hotel, owned by Pancho Villa, by his closest collaborators and all sorts of admirers. Standing out among the mourners were the four women with whom Cillas was having intimate relationships at the time of his death, which made for an awkward confrontation. In a conversation with the past, Luz Corral, his first wife, recognized as such by both the Mexican and US governments, offers a review of Pancho Villa’s affairs of the heart- the high spirited general marries 18 times- and military and philosophical adventures, and goes into his unusual passion and hunger for life and justice in an intimate and human portrait of the Centaur of the North. As expected, the tension between the women grows and intensifies, with the personal interests of each of them coming to the fore, culmination in a dramatic surprise ending of communion in memory of Francisco Villa.”

    A COMMON MANA COMMON MAN

    A COMMON MAN is a psychological thriller film starring Oscar Award winner Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross and directed by veteran film maker Chandran Rutnam. Set in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a mysterious man (Kingsley) has planted 5 bombs in the politically-scarred city that are set to explode unless four major terrorists are immediately released from prison. When he calls in his demands to the Deputy Inspector General of the Colombo Police Department (Cross), it sets in motion an ideological and deadly confrontation between the truth and duty.

    The complete list of winners of 2013 Madrid International Film Festival

    Best Film of the Festival
    AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA
    Lourdes Deschamps
    Jorge Rubio Salazar
    Juan Andres Bueno
    Luz Maria Deschamps

    Best Director
    A COMMON MAN
    Chandran Rutnam

    Best Director of a Short Film
    SOUTHERN DYSCOMFORT
    Patrick McEveety

    Best Director of a Foreign Film
    COUNTING HAPPINESS
    Venetia Evripiotou

    Best Lead Actor
    A COMMON MAN
    Sir Ben Kingsley

    Best Lead Actress
    SONIA’S STORY
    Alba Grigatti

    Best Supporting Actor
    ETERNITY
    Ralph Johnson

    Best Supporting Actress
    BOLERO
    Lucy Rayner

    Jury Award
    THE PREACHER’S DAUGHTER
    Michelle Mower

    Best Feature Film
    A COMMON MAN
    Paul Mason
    Manohan Nanayakkara
    Radha Krishnan

    Best Foreign Language Feature
    AMOROUS PANCHO VILLA
    Lourdes Deschampes
    Jorge Rubio Salazar
    Juan Andres Bueno
    Luz Maria Deschamps

    Best Original Screenplay of a Feature Film
    BETSY & LEONARD
    Luke Foster

    Best Unproduced Script Based on a Drama
    ARBAA HADARIM
    Tamar Komem

    Best Unproduced Script Based on a Novel
    SICILIAN SECRETS
    David Healey

    New Star Scriptwriting Award
    HOPES NOCTURNAL & THE ABYSS OF PAIN
    David Sabbath

    Best Unproduced Script Based on a Historical Drama
    SCOTCH VERDICT
    Suzanna Stroh

    Best Unproduced Short Script
    DATING ALFIE
    Paul Ellington

    Best Short Film
    HEADS UP
    Alex Merkin
    Robert Krakovski
    Ben Carlin

    Best Editing of a Short Film
    DATE IN TIME
    Norman Hussey

    Best Original Screenplay of a Short Film
    HIDE & SEEK
    Cecilia Rossiter

    Best Foreign Language Short
    PAIN STAKING
    Adolfo Martinez Perez

    Best Special Effects
    THE SWALLOW TAILED PAPER
    Francesca Mercandelli
    Paolo Luiselli

    Best Producer
    SURKHAAB
    Vivek Kumar
    Barkha Madan

    Best Soundtrack
    IMBOLC
    Jenny McCaffrey

    Best Directing of a Feature Documentary
    PROJECT CENSORED: THE MOVIE
    Christopher Oscar
    Doug Hecker

    Best Directing of a Short Documentary
    FROM QUEENS TO CAIRO
    Sherif Sadek

    Best Feature Documentary
    COWBOY CHRISTMAS
    H.D. Motyl

    Best Editing of a Feature Documentary
    RISING ABOVE THE BLUES: THE STORY OF JIMMY SCOTT
    Yoon-ha Chang
    Raif Kemper

    Best Short Foreign Documentary
    MEMOIRS OF A SCATTERBRAIN
    Jan Thijssen

    Best Editing of a Feature Film
    ETERNITY
    Nick Swinglehurst
    Alex Galvin

    Talented New Director
    REVOLVE
    Bryan Becker
    Brandon Miradi

    Best Cinematography
    FAT CAT
    Evgeny Sinelnikov

    Best Short Documentary
    DELTA 180: CHANGING LIVES IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA
    Anne Rayner

    Best Music
    DISSENT
    Enrico Ascoli
    Luigi Esposito

    Best Makeup and Hair
    ISN’T THIS LOVE?
    Ioanna Sourmeli-Terzopoulou

    Best Costume
    THOSE CITY GIRLS
    Suchismits Dasgupta

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