• Top 10 Film Picks of 2013 LA Film Festival

    Los Angeles Film Festival opened on Thursday night, June 13, 2013, with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’M SO EXCITED! and runs through Sunday June 23, 2013. The festival will screen nearly 200 feature films, shorts and music videos, and we selected 10 independent narrative films and documentary films from very talented directors, some who might otherwise be overlooked. So here we go 10 films at the 2013 LA Film Festival that definitely deserve a look.

    Narrative Feature Film

    Forev – USA
    (DIRECTORS/WRITERS Molly Green, James Leffler PRODUCERS Stephanie Dziczek, Meg Charlton CAST Noël Wells, Matt Mider, Amanda Bauer)

    On a spur of the moment road trip, new friends Sophie and Pete hatch a misguided plan to get hitched. Refreshingly funny and intelligent, this coming-of-age romantic comedy delightfully contemplates how and with whom we fall in love. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/bO3Ws3AKaa4

     

    Forty Years From Yesterday – USA
    (DIRECTORS Robert Machoian, Rodrigo OjedaBeck WRITER Robert Machoian PRODUCERS Nick Case, Ryan Watt, Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck CAST Bruce Graham, Suzette Graham, Robert Eddington, Wyatt Eddington, Matt Valdez, Chelsea Word, Elizabeth Overton, Rebekah Mott) 

    Forty Years From Yesterday

    Grief quietly reverberates through a family after a man discovers his wife of forty years has unexpectedly passed away. Filmmakers Rodrigo Ojeda-Beckand and Robert Machoian make their feature directorial debut with this quietly powerful examination of love and loss. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/1SbzJi6RVzI

     

    The House That Jack Built – USA
    (DIRECTOR Henry Barrial WRITER Joseph Vasquez PRODUCERS Michael Lieber, Sam Kitt, Hitesh Patel CAST E.J. Bonilla, Melissa Fumero, Leo Minaya, Saundra Santiago, John Herrera, Flor De Liz Perez, Rosal Colon)

    [caption id="attachment_4126" align="alignnone" width="550"]The House That Jack BuiltThe House That Jack Built[/caption]

    Complications ensue when street-smart, cash-rich Jack fulfills his fantasy of housing his extended family in a single Bronx apartment complex. E.J. Bonilla heads a dynamic Caribbean-Latino ensemble in this riveting hot house drama. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/Rl_Eh-RDpYg

     

    My Sisterʼs Quinceañera – USA
    (DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER Aaron Douglas Johnston CAST Silas Garcia, Samantha Rae Garcia, Becky Garcia, Tanner McCulley, Nicole Streat, Elizabeth Agapito, Josefina Garcia)

    [caption id="attachment_4127" align="alignnone" width="550"]My Sisterʼs QuinceañeraMy Sisterʼs Quinceañera[/caption] 

    This lovely naturalistic film focuses on a Latino family in Iowa. The teenage Silas may be the man of the house, but he wears that responsibility lightly, searching for more from his life than the small town mischief he gets into with his best friend. North American Premiere

    http://youtu.be/YdSMWQEtPJ4

     

    Pollywogs – USA
    (DIRECTORS Karl Jacob, T. Arthur Cottam WRITER Karl Jacob PRODUCERS Karl Jacob, Tracy Utley, Michael Prall CAST Karl Jacob, Kate Lyn Sheil, Jennifer Prediger, Larry Mitchell)

    [caption id="attachment_4128" align="alignnone" width="550"]PollywogsPollywogs[/caption]

    Utterly deflated after a breakup, Dylan splits the city for a well-timed family reunion. Writer/director/star Karl Jacobʼs endearing, witty tale about the search for second chances is gorgeously set against the pristine Minnesota woods of his own hometown. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/XTumZoAoRNY

     

    Documentary Feature Films

    All of Me – USA
    (DIRECTOR Alexandra Lescaze PRODUCERS Alexandra Lescaze, Deborah Eve Lewis)

    [caption id="attachment_4129" align="alignnone" width="550"]All of MeAll of Me[/caption]

    The women of the BBW (Big Beautiful Women) Club celebrate being overweight, and the men who love them don’t want them to change. But what happens when the group decides to undergo weight loss surgery? This startlingly intimate documentary raises fascinating questions about obesity, identity and sexuality. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/VISoaE86U9g

     

    American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs – USA
    (DIRECTOR Grace Lee PRODUCERS Grace Lee, Caroline Libresco, Austin Wilkin)

    American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

    Tenacious 97 year old Asian-American Grace Lee Boggs was an unlikely star of the African-American movement. She looks back on her remarkable (and ongoing) lifetime of activism, dedicated to the possibility of a more just future for us all. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/xNTDB_mBTeA

     

    Llyn Foulkes One Man Band – USA
    (DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS Tamar Halpern, Chris Quilty FEATURING Llyn Foulkes, Dennis Hopper, George Hermes, Paul Schimmel, Johnny Carson)

    [caption id="attachment_4130" align="alignnone" width="550"]Llyn Foulkes One Man Band [/caption]

    At 78 years of age, the brilliant, iconoclastic artist Llyn Foulkes, is still fighting the art world and his own demons as he feverishly creates–and then destroys and recreates–deep, three-dimensional paintings that mirror back his personal and artistic obsessions. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/O3aGdoNP7xU

     

    My Stolen Revolution – Sweden
    (DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER Nahid Persson Sarvestani FEATURING Nahid Persson Sarvestani, Parvaneh Aref, Nazli Partovi, Monireh Baradaran, Azar Aal-Kanaan)

    [caption id="attachment_4131" align="alignnone" width="550"]My Stolen RevolutionMy Stolen Revolution[/caption]

    Thirty years after narrowly escaping Iran and impending imprisonment during The 1979 revolution, filmmaker and activist Nahid Persson Sarvestani sets out to find the friends she left behind. Through the harrowing stories of the women who were not as fortunate as she, Persson is led to her own redemption. North American Premiere

    http://youtu.be/8haBngppLzQ

     

    The New Black – USA
    (DIRECTOR Yoruba Richen PRODUCERS Yoruba Richen, Yvonne Welbon)

    [caption id="attachment_4132" align="alignnone" width="550"]The New BlackThe New Black[/caption]

    In this timely documentary, filmmaker Yoruba Richen questions the assumptions about homophobia in the African-American community, setting off an impassioned conversation about gay rights, family history, the role of the Church and the legacy of the civil rights movement. World Premiere

    http://youtu.be/GX4XiTSuuF0

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  • REVIEW: I’M SO EXCITED! (Los Amantes Pasajeros)

     

    by Christopher McKittrick

    I’M SO EXCITED! (Los amantes pasajeros) opens with a brief sequence on an airport runaway featuring Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz, both familiar faces in this film’s writer/director Pedro Almodóvar’s work.  However, their brief cameos only set up the main plot of the film, which is about the plane on the runaway that’s about to take off.  When the plane is in the air, it becomes clear to the pilot Alex (Antonio de la Torre), the co-pilot Benito (Hugo Silva), the head steward Joserra (Javier Cámara), and stewards Ulloa (Raúl Arévalo) and Fajas (Carlos Areces) – all of whom are either gay or bisexual and have a connecting sexual history – that there is something wrong with the landing gear.  Even if they can find a runway to attempt the landing (which proves difficult), there’s no guarantee that they will survive the impact.  When this news is revealed to the handful of passengers in first class (the passengers in coach have all been put to sleep via drugs), they began to cast away their inhibitions and reveal their deepest secrets.

    Aside from the jocular title, that plot description could easily be worked into a drama like Almodóvar’s  acclaimed The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito), which starred Banderas.  However, I’M SO EXCITED! jumps several genres, though it is mostly a black comedy.  It is also has very metaphoric, dream-like and nightmare-like elements that do not reflect reality.  In fact, the film opens with a humorous title card saying, “Everything that happens in this film is fiction and fantasy and bears no relation to reality,” demonstrating that there is little in the film that audiences are supposed to take at face value.  The fact that the film culminates at the La Mancha airport – a reference to fiction’s ultimate dreamer – highlights this.

    Since rules don’t apply on this dream-like flight, much of it feels like a throwback to the sex romp comedies of the late 1960s like What’s New Pussycat?, especially once the crew decides to comfort themselves and the passengers in first class with liquor and drugs.  Facing impending disaster (not unlike the current economic state of Europe), the crew and passengers decide to fiddle as Rome burns… and I mean “fiddle” in the most sexual way possible.

    But that raises my main question with this film: what audience is it for?  It’s simply too weird and inconsistent tonally for younger audiences and too twisted and offbeat for adult audiences.  Sure, there are some funny parts, but though I lenjoyed all of Almodóvar’s films I’ve seen before I was left scratching my head.  I also thought the characterization of the effeminate stewards was laying it on a bit thick and reached into uncomfortable stereotype territory.  It’s simply an odd attempt at a comedy/drama hybrid that really doesn’t work in the end despite its dream-like quality.  After all, “dream-like” shouldn’t be an excuse for inconsistency or an overload of camp at the expense of quality.

    http://youtu.be/DhH-A8pLCMY

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  • US Film “THE SHARK’S FIN’ Take The Top Prize at New Zealand Mountain Film Festival

    The Shark's Fin

    The New Zealand Mountain Film Festival announced this year’s program  and competition winners; “THE SHARK’S FIN” took the Grand Prize of US$1000 and winner of the Best New Zealand film award went to the film Flow Hunters.

    Festival goers will participate in awarding the ‘Peoples Choice’ award during the festival, which runs July 5th to 9th in Wanaka and on July 13th to 14th in Queenstown.

    Film Winners:

    Grand Prize US$1000
    The Shark’s Fin – 25 minutes, by Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen, Josh Lowell, Renan Ozturk, Shannon Ethridge, USA
    Legendary alpinist Conrad Anker nurtured a 20 year obsession with The Shark’s Fin, a spectacular unclimbed granite buttress on the 6,310 meter Mt. Meru, in India. In 2008 Anker, with Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk, endured a grueling 18 day push to get within hundreds of feet of the summit, only to be turned back. Three years later, the trio makes tough decision to return

    Best New Zealand made Film; The Hiddleston/MacQueen Award NZ$1000
    Flow Hunters -24 minutes, NZ, By Jon Forder & Ben Brown
    Follow Ben Brown on a 35 day kayak adventure that spans both islands of NZ, see them travel over 8000km, paddle for 24 days and descend 17 rivers. This adventure would lead them to the discovery of remote, new kayaking frontiers. These rivers would demand their humility, but would yield so much achievement and peace in return.

    Best Film on Climbing US$200.
    Honnold 3.0 – 32 minutes, USA, By Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell, Nick Rosen & Alex Lowther
    Alex Honnold has become known as the boldest soloist of his generation. In this dangerous game, how does he balance pure ambition with self-preservation? From highball boulder first ascents to 5.13 free solos, from far-flung trad climbing adventures, to speed records on The Nose, Honnold wrestles with this question in preparation for his biggest adventure yet – the Yosemite Triple.

    Best Film on Adventurous Sports and Lifestyles US$200.
    One Step Beyond – 57 minutes, by Sébastien Montaz-Rosset, France, subtitles
    Géraldine Fasnacht, a world-renowned snowboarder and base jumper, invites us into the small and close-knit community of today’s real life supermen – wingsuit flyers. We join her on a roller coaster ride across the full spectrum of human emotions, catapulting from total euphoria to devastating loss, living life at full force and in glorious technicolor.

    Best Film on Mountain Culture and Environment US$200.
    Stand – 46 minutes. Canada, By Anthony Bonello.
    A Calgary-based oil and gas company has proposed the construction of a 1,170 km pipeline running from Alberta’s tar sands to Kitimat on British Columbia’s west coast. Follow stand up paddle boarders and surfers in the area as they highlight the cultural, sporting and environmental importance of this area.

    Best Short Film (15 minutes or less) US$200.
    Cascada – 8 minutes, USA, By Anson Fogel & Skip Armstrong
    Follow kayakers as they hunt the remote Mexican jungle for the perfect waterfall and the perfect shot. Paddler and cinematographers alike explore a world beyond the expected with the most amazing scenery captured in spectacular clarity.

    Best Snow Sports Film US$200.
    Further – 26 minutes, Director: Jeremy Jones, USA
    Follow Jeremy Jones as he explores some of the world’s most remote terrain while camping deep in the backcountry. His hard work pays off when it leads to clean lines down near-vertical spines and into epic powder bowls. Jones is leading the way in terms of selfpropelled access to some of the most magnificent snow on earth.

    People’s Choice
    Chosen during the festival

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  • Human Rights Watch Film Festival Returns to NYC, Opens with Documentary on Tim Hetherington on June 13

    Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington

    The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to New York from June 13 to 23, 2013 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the IFC Center. Eighteen documentaries and two fiction films will be featured, including 15 New York premieres.  The festival kicks off on June 13 with the HBO documentary Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington.

    Traditional values and human rights is one of four themes for this year’s festival — incorporating women’s rights, disability rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. The other themes are crises and migration; a focus on Asia; and human rights in the United States.

    The festival will launch on June 13 with a fundraising Benefit Night for Human Rights Watch featuring the HBO documentary Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington. The film is Sebastian Junger’s moving tribute to his lost friend and Restrepo co-director, the photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington, who was killed while covering the Libyan civil war in 2011. The main program will kick off onJune 14 with the Opening Night presentation of Oscar-winning filmmaker Freida Mock’sANITA, in which Anita Hill looks back at the powerful testimony she gave against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and its impact on the broader discussion of gender inequality in America. The Closing Night screening on June 23 will be Jeremy Teicher’s award-winning drama Tall As the Baobab Tree, the touching story of a teenage girl who tries to rescue her younger sister from an arranged marriage in rural Senegal.

    Traditional Values and Human Rights: Women’s Rights
    Traditional values are often cited as an excuse to undermine human rights. In addition toTall As the Baobab Tree, five documentaries in this year’s festival consider the impact on women. Veteran documentarian Kim Longinotto’s Salma is the remarkable story of a South Indian Muslim woman who endured a 25-year confinement and forced marriage by her own family before achieving national renown as the most famous female poet in the Tamil language. Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief’s Rafea: Solar Mama profiles an illiterate Bedouin woman from Jordan who gets the chance to be educated in solar engineering but has to overcome her husband’s resistance. In Karima Zoubir’s intimately observed Camera/Woman, a Moroccan divorcée supports her family by documenting wedding parties while navigating her own series of heartaches. It will be shown with Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s Going Up the Stairs, a charming portrait of a traditional Iranian grandmother who discovers her love of painting late in life and is invited to exhibit her work in Paris. Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s candid HBO documentary Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer centers on the women of the radical-feminist punk group, two of whom are currently serving time in a Russian prison for their acts of defiance against the government.

    Traditional Values and Human Rights: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights
    Three films in the program remind viewers that, despite recent strides toward equality, LGBT communities around the world still struggle for acceptance. Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann’s Born This Way is an intimate look at the lives of four young gay men and lesbians in Cameroon, where there are more arrests for homosexuality than in any other country in the world. Yoruba Richen’s The New Black uncovers the complicated and often combative intersection of the African-American and LGBT civil rights movements, with a particular focus on homophobia in the black church. In Srdjan Dragojevic’s drama The Parade, a fight by activists to stage a Gay Pride parade in Belgrade leads to an unlikely alliance in a black-humored look at contemporary Serbia.

    Traditional Values and Human Rights: Disability Rights
    Harry Freeland’s In the Shadow of the Sun is an unforgettable study in courage, telling the story of two albino men who attempt to follow their dreams in the face of prejudice and fear in Tanzania.

    Crises and Migration
    Three documentaries highlight the issues of humanitarian aid, conflict and migration. In the Festival Centerpiece, Fatal Assistance, the acclaimed director Raoul Peck, Haiti’s former culture minister, takes us on a two-year journey following the 2010 earthquake and looks at the damage done by international aid agencies whose well-meaning but ignorant assumptions turned a nightmare into an unsolvable tragedy. Danish journalist Nagieb Khaja’s My Afghanistan – Life in the Forbidden Zone shows ordinary Afghans in war-torn Helmand who were provided with hi-res camera phones to record their daily lives, giving a voice to those frequently ignored by the Western media. Marco Williams’ The Undocumented is an unvarnished account of the thousands of Mexican migrants who have died in recent years while trying to cross Arizona’s unforgiving Sonora Desert in search of a better life in the United States.

    Focus on Asia
    The festival will screen two important documentaries from Asia. In Joshua Oppenheimer’s chilling and inventive The Act of Killing, the unrepentant former members of Indonesian death squads are challenged to reenact some of their many murders in the style of the American movies they love. Marc Wiese’s Camp 14 – Total Control Zone tells the powerful story of Shin Dong-Huyk, who spent the first two decades of his life behind the barbed wire of a North Korean labor camp before his dramatic escape led him into an outside world he had never known. Wiese is the recipient of the festival’s annual Nestor Almendros Awardfor courage in filmmaking for his film.

    Human Rights in the United States
    Four American documentaries — including festival opener ANITA — highlight human rights issues in our own back yard. 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Filmgoes behind the scenes of the 2011 movement, digging into big-picture issues as organizers, participants and critics reveal what happened and why. Al Reinert’s An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story tells the story of a Texas man who was wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder and was exonerated by new DNA evidence after nearly 25 years behind bars. Lisa Biagiotti’s deepsouth is an evocative exploration of the rise in HIV in the rural American south, a region where poverty, a broken health system and a culture of denial force those affected to create their own solutions to survive.

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  • Documentary OXYANA Exposes OxyContin Drug Epidemic in Oceana, West Virginia

    [caption id="attachment_4116" align="alignnone" width="550"]OXYANAOXYANA[/caption]

    Sean Dunne makes his feature-film-directing debut with the documentary, OXYANA which looks at the OxyContin epidemic in the West Virginia town of Oceana. OXYANA had it’s world premiere earlier this year at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, where the film received a Special Jury Mention in the World Documentary Competition, as well as a nod for Best New Documentary Director for filmmaker Sean Dunne. OXYANA will be released by the filmmakers for sale starting July 1, 2013.

    Struggling with poverty and unemployment after the demise of its only industry—the mining trade that had historically nourished the local economy—Oceana, West Virginia, has become the epicenter of a drug scourge devastating towns across the country and leaving many good and honest communities forsaken. Known among its residents as “Oxyana” after the OxyContin epidemic quietly washing over this sleepy Appalachian town, Oceana is a tragically real example of the insidious spread of drug dependency in the United States today. 

    [caption id="attachment_4117" align="alignnone" width="550"]OXYANAOXYANA[/caption]

    Set against the eerie backdrop of abandoned coal mines within the lush West Virginia landscape, to the melody of Deer Tick’s haunting score, Sean Dunne’s unflinchingly intimate documentary probes the lives of Oceana’s afflicted. He turns the camera on its many residents, allowing them to tell their stories in their own words and homes to illuminate how their unique stories have led them each to the same tragic inevitability of pill addiction. Dunne eschews the high-drama mode in which drug dependency stories are often framed in favor of a simple, sympathetic immersion in the day-to-day experience of a town living in the harsh grip of addiction.

    “We recognized when we set out to make OXYANA just how sensitive the subject matter was, but once we started showing the film at festivals, we saw an urgent need to get this message out to a wider audience,” says Dunne. “By distributing the film ourselves through our website, we can quickly get the film to those who want and need to see it and hopefully spark a dialogue about prescription drug abuse in this country.”

    Sean Dunne has directed five previous short documentaries, including The Archive (nominated for an Emmy in 2011), Man in Van, The Bowler, Stray Dawg and American Juggalo (named documentary of the year for 2011 by the website, Short of the Week). Hailed as the “master of fringe Americana” for his ability to realistically capture half-mythical corners of the country, Dunne’s approach to documentary is to give his subjects the ease and opportunity to find their own voices and his viewers the freedom to form their own conclusions.

    http://youtu.be/DW90pk0_NVs

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  • Roman Polanski’s VENUS IN FUR to Kick Off Paris Cinema IFF

    [caption id="attachment_4053" align="alignnone" width="550"]VENUS IN FUR[/caption]

    Director Roman Polanski along with Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner will kick off the 2013 Paris Cinema International Film Festival with their new movie, the comedy VENUS IN FUR, from this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The festival will close with Felix van Groeningen’s latest film, the drama, THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN.

    9 movies from all around the world are competing this year: The Battle of Solferino (Age of Panic) by Justine Triet, one we leave (The Moving creatures) by Brazilian Caetano Gotardo;Ilo Ilo by Singaporean Anthony Chen, Eka & Natia Chronicle of a Georgian youth , a Georgian movie codirected by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß, Kid by Fien Troch, All which Will compete for Belgium; Lifelong from Turkish filmmaker Asli Özge, Youth , by Isreali director Tom Shoval and from North America, Prince Avalanche by American director David Gordon Green and Vic + Flo saw a bear (Vic + Flo saw a bear) by French Canadian Denis Côté.

    The festival will also honor Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, (A separation) whose last movie The Past won this year’s Best Actress award for Berenice Bejo at Cannes Film Festival 

    The Paris Cinema IFF will run 28 July – 9 July 2013.

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  • WATCH Trailers for Films in Utah’s Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_3936" align="alignnone" width="550"]G.B.F.[/caption]

    The Damn These Heels! (DTH!) LGBT Film Festival in Utah which celebrates its 10th Anniversary, will be held this year during the weekend of July 12-14, 2013. In celebration of the 10th year, DTH! will feature expanded programming with 21 feature films from 9 countries – more than double the films at last year’s festival. The festival opens with G.B.F. and closes with I AM DIVINE.

    Below is the complete list of the 10th Annual Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival titles along with trailers:

    ANIMALS
    Directed by Marçal Forés
    Not rated | 94 min | 2012 | Spain
    Catalan w/English subtitles
    This thriller is a very unconventional coming-of-age tale and an intoxicating blend of fantasy and cold reality as it follows a shy teenager’s perilous period when exciting but troubling sexuality enters into his formerly innocent world.
    San Sebastian International Film Festival 2012; BFI London Lesbian + Gay Film Festival

    http://youtu.be/8k4zn6GHD8c

     

    BALLROOM RULES
    Directed by Nickolas Bird + Eleanor Sharpe
    Not rated | 77 min | 2012 | Australia/Germany
    A passionate group of Australian same-sex ballroom dancers battle homophobia, injury and personal drama as they pursue their dream of competing at the Gay Games in Germany.

    http://youtu.be/kivoyFOZ1ck

     

    BRUNO AND EARLENE GO TO VEGAS
    Directed by Simon Savory
    Not rated | 97 min | 2013 | UK/USA/France
    Earlene arrives at Venice Beach after running from a desperate situation, only to become fast friends with an Australian skater who is also lost. Together, they set out into the desert to find themselves.

     

    CHASTITY BITES
    Directed by John V. Knowles
    Not rated | 95 min | 2013 | USA
    In the early 1600’s, Countess Elizabeth Bathory slaughtered more than 600 young women, believing if she bathed in the blood of virgins that she would stay young and beautiful forever. Still alive today, she’s found a perfect hunting ground.

    http://youtu.be/wwoE2howJPk

     

    CONTINENTAL
    Directed by Malcolm Ingram
    Not Rated | 95 min | 2013 | USA
    The story of Continental Baths, a well-known New York City establishment for gays during the late ’60 to 1974.
    South by Southwest Film Festival 2013; Frameline Film Festival 2013; BAMcinemaFest 2013

    FIVE DANCES
    Directed by Alan Brown
    Not rated | 83 min | 2013 | USA
    FIVE DANCES is a creatively adventurous narrative feature film set in the New York ‘downtown’ modern dance world.
    Opening Night, Dance On Camera – Film Society of Lincoln Center 2013

    http://youtu.be/ZwpI3NzKeZc

     

    FRAUENSEE (Women’s Lake)
    Directed by Zoltan Paul
    Not rated | 86 min | 2012 | Germany
    German w/English subtitles
    A middle-aged couple in the German countryside has unexpected visitors that cause trouble in their already tenuous relationship.
    Toronto InsideOut Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival 2012; Frameline San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival 2012

    http://youtu.be/yO32CRL0iqA

     

    FREE FALL (Frier Fall)
    Directed by Stephen Lacant
    Not rated | 100 min | 2013 | Germany
    German w/English subtitles
    A promising career with the police, a baby on the way – Marc’s life seems to be right on track. Then he meets fellow policeman, Kay.
    Opening Night, New Film! MOMA 2013; Berlin International Film Festival 2013

    http://youtu.be/Nx-hQkDIkyA

     

    G.B.F. – Opening Night
    Directed by Darren Stein
    Not rated | 92 min | 2013 | USA
    What happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title “gay best friend” for three high school queen bees?
    Tribeca Film Festival 2013; Frameline Film Festival 2013; Closing Night – Outfest 2013

    http://youtu.be/Z6DJSGrfNbk

     

    GOEGRAPHY CLUB
    Directed by Gary Entin
    PG-13 | 85 min | 2013 | USA
    At Goodkind High School, a group of students of varying sexual orientation form an after-school club as a discrete way to share their feelings and experiences. 
    Toronto InsideOut Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival 2013

    http://youtu.be/oQb2-a685sw

     

    GORE VIDAL: United States of Amnesia
    Directed by­ Nicholas D. Wrathall
    Not rated | 83 min | 2013 | USA/Italy
    This is an unashamedly opinionated film. In Gore Vidal’s America, the political coup has already happened. 
    Tribeca Film Festival 2013 – Framline Film Festival 2013

    http://youtu.be/wCJlpvPhIPs

     

    HOT GUYS WITH GUNS
    Directed by Doug Spearman
    Not Rated | 103 min | USA | 2013
     Imagine Lethal Weapon if Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were ex-boyfriends.
     Frameline Film Festival 2013

     

    I AM A WOMAN NOW
    Directed by Michiel van Erp
    Not rated | 80 min | 2011 | Netherlands
    Dutch, German, French w/English subtitles
    The first generation of transsexuals who had their sex change in Casablanca back in the mid-1950s to 1960s take stock of their lives. 

    http://youtu.be/pXYs3PFUD9s
     

    I AM DIVINE – Closing Night
    Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz
    Not rated | 90 min | 2013 | USA
    How Divine, aka Harris Glenn Milstead, became John Waters’ cinematic muse and an international drag icon.
    South by Southwest Film Festival 2013; Frameline Film Festival 2013

    http://youtu.be/AUiX5Llrb58

     

    IN BLOOM
    Directed by Chris Michael Birkmeier
    Not rated | 87 min | 2013 | USA
    The relationship of a young couple disintegrates in the dog days of Chicago summer as the neighborhood is being terrorized by a serial killer.
    Toronto InsideOut Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival

    http://youtu.be/xOH-JUP4k4Y

     

    LAURENCE ANYWAYS – Centerpiece Screening
    Directed by Xavier Dolan
    Not rated | 168 min | 2012 | Canada/France
    French w/English subtitles
    An astonishingly crafted exploration of the 10-year relationship of a male-to-female transsexual with her lover.
    Opening Night, Un Certain Regard; Winner, Best Actress; Winner, Queer Palm – Festival De Cannes 2013

    http://youtu.be/1YjIWEky81M

     

    MARGARITA
    Directed by Dominique Cardona + Laurie Colbert
    Not rated | 90 min | 2012 | USA
    When cash-strapped yuppies fire their teen-aged daughter’s lesbian Mexican nanny, Margarita, they set off a chain of events that lead to her deportation.

     

    PEACHES DOES HERSELF
    Directed by Peaches
    Not rated | 80 min | 2012 | Germany
    Peaches herself likes to describe it as “The Jukebox Musical that got a Sex Change!”
    Toronto International Film Festival 2013, Sundance London 2013, BAMcinemaFest 2013

    http://youtu.be/KhNhrKNYvSo

     

    THE RUGBY PLAYER
    Directed by Scott Gracheff
    Not rated | 90 min | 2013 | USA
    The film explores the life of Mark Bingham, one of the passengers of United Flight 93 on 9/11.
    Winner, HBO Audience Award Best Documentary – Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2013
    Toronto InsideOut LGBT Film Festival 2013

     

    SUBMERGE
    Directed by Sophie O’Connor
    Not rated | 97 min | 2013 | USA
    A Gen Y love story presented as a fetish sex drama, submerge explores the need of Gen Y for constant stimulation and instant gratification underpinned by a sense of entitlement.
    Frameline Film Festival 2013

    http://youtu.be/OCizTM7bnik 

     

    WHO’S AFRAID OF VAGINA WOLF
    Directed by Anna Margarita Albelo
    Not rated | 83 min | 2013 | USA
    The day after her fortieth birthday, Anna comes to the conclusion that it’s time for the madness to stop. She lives in her friend’s back yard tool shed, her career as a filmmaker isn’t paying her bills and worst of all it’s been ten years since she’s had a girlfriend.
    Frameline Film Festival 2013

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  • Documentary “ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE” on Saxophonist/Singer/Songwriter Enzo Avitabile Gets A Fall Release Date

    [caption id="attachment_4112" align="alignnone" width="550"]ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE[/caption]

    ENZO AVITABILE MUSIC LIFE, directed by Jonathan Demme will open theatrically at Lincoln Plaza and a downtown theater in New York on October 18, and at the Royal and other Los Angeles area Laemmle theaters on October 25.  A national release will follow.

    Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence Of The Lambs, Philadelphia, Stop Making Sense), turns his camera on Enzo Avitabile, a renowned Neapolitan saxophonist and singer/songwriter. This project is the fruit of the two artists’ reciprocal esteem for one another. It is also the result of many years spent following the musical artistry of Enzo Avitabile, a well-known figure on the world music scene recognized for his passion for research and experimentation.  

    With this documentary, one of the world’s great directors tells us not just about the music of a singular artist in its fusion of Neapolitan world music (and especially Arab music, with performances by Naseer Shamma and Palestinian singer Amal Murkus) and jazz, but also of a city, Naples, with all of its treasures and contradictions.  The film follows Enzo, as he creates amazing new music with collaborators from all over the world, including Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Naseer Shamma, Daby Touré and Trilok Gurtu. 

    Music has always played a decisive role in Demme’s films, which is evident in all his works for the big screen. Over the years, this passion has been expressed in various video clips, and above all, documentaries (The Pretenders, New Order, Talking Heads, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young), which received high critical acclaim by the public, and film and music critics alike.

    http://youtu.be/bMY73xNXDJk

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  • Pedro Almodóvar’s Hilarious New Comedy I’M SO EXCITED to Open Australia’s Melbourne Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_4110" align="alignnone" width="550"]I’M SO EXCITED![/caption]

    The 62nd Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will open with the Australian Premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s hilarious comedy, I’M SO EXCITED! (Los Amantes Pasajeros).

    With cameo appearances by Penélope Cruz (Volver) and Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), I’M SO EXCITED! features a top-notch cast of Spain, Mexico and Argentina’s finest acting talent, including previous Almodóvar collaborators Antonio de la Torre (Volver), Javier Cámara (Talk To Her, Bad Education) and Lola Dueñas (Volver, Talk To Her).  I’M SO EXCITED! opens in the US in late June 2013.

    I’M SO EXCITED! is the story of a Mexico-bound flight that runs into trouble when its landing gear malfunctions, and is put in a holding pattern. On board, the flamboyant cabin crew deal with the situation by drugging economy class to sleep and breaking out the tequila and mescaline in business class, where the passengers include a virgin psychic, a dominatrix, a soap star and a corrupt banker.

    I’M SO EXCITED! marks the first of 18 days for MIFF, which includes well over 300 films from around the world.

    http://youtu.be/gZW68fmlaMI

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  • Films Featuring Jason Ritter, Lee Meriwether, Brooke Shields among Lineup for Palm Springs International ShortFest

    The 2013 Palm Springs International ShortFest & Short Film Market will showcase 330 films including 70 World Premieres, 55 North American Premieres and 14 U.S. Premieres from June 18-24, at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.  

    This year’s star-studded shorts feature Academy Award winners and nominees, as well as film and television stars.  Jason Ritter in Boats Against the Current (USA); the voice of Rachel Griffiths in Butterflies (Australia); the voice of Cate Blanchett in the North American Premiere of A Cautionary Tale (Australia); Tom Sizemore in The Charlatan (USA); Christopher Lloyd in the World Premiere of The Coin (USA); Shannyn Sossamon in The Cyclist (USA); Yvan Attal and Anne Parillaud in the North American Premiere of Delicate Gravity (France); Alan Rickman in Dust (UK); Ian McKellen in the World Premiere of The Egg Trick (UK); Christopher Eccleston and Felicity Jones in the World Premiere of Emily (UK); Gerard Depardieu in Frank-Etienne (France); the voice of Bill Nighy in the North American Premiere of The Hungry Corpse (UK); Missi Pyle in Killing Vivian (USA); Brenda Blethyn and Tom Jones in the World Premiere of King of the Teds (UK); Anson Mount directs Last Time We Checked(USA); Elle Fanning in Likeness (USA); Nick Cassavetes in the World Premiere of Love and Skin  (USA) directed by Virgina Cassavetes; voices of Hugh Bonneville and Andy Serkis in the North American Premiere of The Magnificent Lion Boy (UK); Nastassja Kinski and Julian Sands in The Nightshift Belongs to the Stars (Italy) directed by Edoardo Ponti; Hugo Weaving in No Budget (Australia); David Lyons marks his directorial debut in the North American Premiere of Record (USA); Lee Meriwether in Remember to Breathe (USA); Lauren Ambrose and Adam Driver in The River (USA); Frances Conroy in Sequin Raze (USA); Shohreh Aghdashloo in Silk (USA) directed by Catherine Dent;Jordana Spiro directs Skin (USA); Denis Lavant in the North American Premiere of Spring Tides(France); Lisa Edelstein and James Le Gros in the World Premiere of Three Hours Between Planes(USA); Emma Thompson in Walking the Dogs (UK); Brooke Shields and Mireille Enos in the World Premiere of Wild Horses (USA); and Camilla Belle in Zero Hour (Mexico/USA).

    Sydney Netter (Founder, SND Films), Missi Pyle (actress) and Betsy Sharkey (Film Critic, Los Angeles Times) will serve on the ShortFest jury and  a total of $110,000 in prizes, including $16,000 in cash awards, will be given out in 19 categories to this year’s short films in competition.  First place winners in four categories will automatically become eligible for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for a possible Academy Award nomination.  

    Eleven films have been chosen to play online at the ShortFest Online Film Festival, starting a week prior to the festival and continue to play online for two months after the end of the festival.  

    Amstel (Netherlands) – It’s early Sunday morning, and Maarten has just met the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately he’s still drunk, and still with his date from the night before.  Director: Jaap van Eyck.  Cast: Tjebbo Gerritsma, Nyncke Beekhuyzen, IIke Paddenburg.

    Bad Cars (USA) – An exploration of the difficulty of finding love in Los Angeles, particularly when you have a crappy car.  Director: Anthony Deptula.

    Bubble Boy (USA) – Love makes everything look better (and bigger)!  Director: Tang Tao.

    Bouddhi Bouddha (France) – Just back from a trip to Nepal, two friends let the mysteries of meditation and the allure of exotic lands blur the lines of their relationship. Director: Sophie Galibert.

    The Mrs. (USA) – In one man’s world, it’s a good thing his wife gets up before he does. The Mrs. is one of five different films from the same script.  As part of Bombay Sapphire’s Imagination Series, Oscar winner Geoffrey Fletcher wrote a script stripped of any stage direction and asked people to imagine their film.  Director: Matt Smukler.  Cast: Paul Messinger, Bonnie Burroughs, Sean Miller.

    Naptime! (USA) – Naptime! might just be that revolutionary new product that could save your life (or at least your sanity).  Play this video to learn all about it!  Director: Chris Capel.  Cast: Mallory Moye, Asif Ali, Taylor Orci.

    Shelved (New Zealand) – Two industrial robots, Craig and Beano, figure they’re too cool for school until a plague starts hitting the warehouse floor: robot workers are being replaced by humans!  Can Craig and Beano survive the gathering storm?  Director: James Cunningham.  Cast: Simon McKinney, Stephen Papps, Lara Fischel-Chisholm, Penny Ashton, Peter Rowley.

    Sleddin’ (USA) – A daring little boy goes on a mini winter adventure, though not all is as it seems in beautifully crafted animated short.  Director: John Pettingill.

    Start the Engine and Reverse (Russian Federation) – A first date, illicit enough, but made all the more so since the couple are driving her father’s car, turns quickly into a showdown of morals and conscience on a snowy road.  Director: Andrey Zagidullin.  Cast: Lubov Novikova, Egor Kharlamov.

    [caption id="attachment_4108" align="alignnone" width="550"]Sweet Crude Man Camp [/caption]

    Sweet Crude Man Camp (USA) – A haunting look at the complicated realities surrounding the ongoing oil boom in the Bakken region of North Dakota.  Director: Isaac Gale.

    Whateverest (Denmark/Norway) – Enter the strange world of Marius Solum Hohansen, a young failed musician who cares for his father, manages the family’s tanning salon business and posts “drug recipes” on the Internet.  Director: Kristoffer Borgli.  Cast: Marius Solem Johansen, Jan Thomsen.

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  • Boxing Documentary “TAPIA” to World Premiere at Los Angeles Film Festival, Acquired by Rapper 50 Cent

    [caption id="attachment_4105" align="alignnone" width="550"]TAPIA[/caption]

    Rapper, actor, entertainment mogul Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and boxing promoter Lou DiBella have acquired the rights to TAPIA, the documentary based on the life of five-time world champion boxer, Johnny Tapia. TAPIA is set to world premiere as part of the Documentary Competition at the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15.

    TAPIA chronicles the personal and professional life of the boxer, beginning with his poor childhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film explores the glory of his punishing ring prowess and five world titles in three weight classes, forever mired by personal demons: his mother’s brutal kidnapping and murder when he was 8 years old, and his drug addiction, mental illness and near death experiences. Using first person narration from Tapia himself, archival footage, and personal photos, director Eddie Alcazar paints an intimate picture of the fighter and the man.

    TAPIA follows the champ’s winding road through victories, downfalls and redemption. Director Alcazar spent many hours with Tapia filming the biopic, just weeks before the fighter’s tragic death at age 45. Tapia’s last interviews now serve as the heartbeat of Alcazar’s revealing documentary. In it, the soft-spoken champ opens up about his ‘vida loca’ and the unending pain of his mother’s murder, which led to glory in the ring and struggle throughout his life.

    http://youtu.be/yB3Oy3cEu_4

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  • “LOVELACE” to Open and “EMANUEL AND THE TRUTH ABOUT FISHES” to Close the 15th Provincetown International Film Festival

    The 15th Anniversary of the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) will take place in Provincetown, Massachusetts from June 19th through June 23rd, 2013.  The festival will open with Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s LOVELACE (pictured above), and close with EMANUEL AND THE TRUTH ABOUT FISHES, directed by Francesca Gregorini.  The Friday Night Spotlight selection is I AM DIVINE, directed by Jeffrey Schwartz and the Saturday Night Spotlight Selection is I’M SO EXCITED!, directed by Pedro Almodovar.

    The 2013 Filmmaker on the Edge Award will be awarded to writer/director Harmony Korine (SPRINGBREAKERS, GUMMO, MISTER LONELY, KIDS) in conversation with John Waters at Provincetown’s Town Hall on Saturday, June 22nd.

    The Festival will close on June 23rd with a block party and the presentation of the HBO Audience Awards.

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