One-One with the Filmmakers & Stars of taut legal drama "Puncture"

One-One with the Filmmakers & Stars of taut legal drama “Puncture”

The film “Puncture” is a smart, wonderfully grown-up and wound tight courtroom drama-slash-political thriller, driven in part by a tour de force performance from Chris Evans playing hot-shot and hot-headed, drug-addled attorney Mark Weiss. The film also boasts the steady, balancing hand of co-director and co-star Mark Kassan. Mark co-directs with his brother Adam. (They formerly brought the unusual and beautifully well-acted “Bernard and Doris,” starring Susan Sarandon, to HBO recently.)

I sat down with Chris Evans, the brothers Kassan, and the lovely Vinessa Shaw, who plays the film’s heart beat and literal face of the movie’s subject- the terrifying fact that front-care and ER healthcare workers were once infected by AIDs and Hepatitis C on a daily basis  by accidental needle stabs. When an engineer develops a non-reusable needle that is literally “accident-proof,” the movie heats up as law partners Paul Danziger (Mark Kassan) and Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) take on the case to battle the largest manufacturer of plastic needles in the world. Billed as a “David & Goliath legal drama,” the film world premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. {jathumbnail off}

Seattle International Film Festival Announces Galas, Tributes, Special Events for 2011

Seattle International Film Festival Announces Galas, Tributes, Special Events for 2011

The 37th Seattle International Film Festival announced the galas, tribute events and special presentations for this year’s Festival. The 25 day event, which runs from May 19 through June 12, will feature 441 films (257 features, 184 shorts) – including 96 feature and short premieres and a Festival record 74 countries represented – with screenings at venues throughout Seattle, Renton, Everett and Kirkland. “This year’s Festival will feature one of the largest and most diverse […]

2011 Tribeca Film Festival Winners; She Monkeys, Bombay Beach Win Top Jury Awards

2011 Tribeca Film Festival Winners; She Monkeys, Bombay Beach Win Top Jury Awards

Pamela and Benny Parrish in Bombay Beach

The 10th annual Tribeca Film Festival announced the winners of its competition categories tonight at a ceremony hosted at the W Union Square in New York City. The Festival runs through May 1, 2011 including screenings of all winning films.

Following are the 2011 winners:{jathumbnail off}

Christophe Honoré's film, Les Bien-aimés, (The Beloved) to close 2011 Cannes Film Festival

Christophe Honoré’s film, Les Bien-aimés, (The Beloved) to close 2011 Cannes Film Festival

Christophe Honoré’s film, Les Bien-aimés,  (The Beloved), will be close the 64th Cannes Film Festival, on Sunday May 22, 2011, following the award ceremony. This represents, Honiore’s 2nd time participating in the Cannes Film Festival, the First time in Competition with Les chansons d’amour. This time Christophe Honore will be accompanied by his faithful musician Alex Beaupin and the film’s actors: Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroiani, Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, Michel Delpech and Paul […]

Tribeca Film Institute Announces 2011 Award Winners and Grantees for Programs

Tribeca Film Institute Announces 2011 Award Winners and Grantees for Programs

The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) today announced several program award winners and grantees at the TFI Awards Luncheon at Riverpark NYC during the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, totaling $125,000 in funds. During the TFI Awards Ceremony at Riverpark NYC in Manhattan, the following Tribeca All Access Creative Promise winners were announced: TAA Creative Promise Award for DocumentaryGideon’s Army Every day, more and more people are arrested, handcuffed, shoved into a squad car, and booked. Weeks […]

A Tribe Called Quest Documentary Announces Theatrical Release Dates

A Tribe Called Quest Documentary Announces Theatrical Release Dates

Michael Rapaport’s documentary on hip-hop legends A Tribe Called Quest, “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest” will first open July 8 in New York City and Los Angeles and then on to  another 32 cities reports Billboard. “Beats, Rhymes & Life” will play San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C., on its second week, San Diego, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Atlanta beginning July 22.  The screening run wraps on August 12 […]

Darren Aronofsky, director of The Wrestler and Black Swan, to chair International Jury for 2011 Venice International Film Festival

Darren Aronofsky, director of The Wrestler and Black Swan, to chair International Jury for 2011 Venice International Film Festival

Oscar nominated American director, producer and screenwriter Darren Aronofsky (director/screenwriter  of the opening film of the 67th Venice Film Festival, Black Swan, and winner of the 2008 Golden Lion for The Wrestler) will be the president of the International Jury for the Competition at the 68th Venice International Film Festival (August 31 – September 10 2011). The International Jury will award the Golden Lion and the other official prizes. Darren Aronofsky recently directed Black Swan, […]

EARTHWORK, the true story of real-life crop artist Stan Herd opens in NY on April 29 and LA on May 20

EARTHWORK, the true story of real-life crop artist Stan Herd opens in NY on April 29 and LA on May 20

EARTHWORK, a film by Chris Ordal, and winner over 20 film festival awards, will open in New York at Angelika Film Center on April 29 and in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall on May 20. EARTHWORK is the true story of real-life crop artist Stan Herd (played by Oscar nominee and Spirit Award Winner for “Winter’s Bone” John Hawkes, in his first starring role), told through a single episode of his life.   In 1994, […]

Tribeca Film Festival: One-on-One with “Treatment” Co-Directors and Star Steven Schardt and Sean Nelson

Tribeca Film Festival: One-on-One with “Treatment” Co-Directors and Star Steven Schardt and Sean Nelson

What if you are a struggling screenwriter that needs a real break? What if your favorite A-list star just checked into rehab, and you decide all you need to do to pitch him your movie is get yourself duly check-in there? Sean Nelson and Steven Schardt co-direct Treatment, this sweetly wry and generationally pitch-perfect tale of friendship, creative delusion and celebrity obsession. Starring Josh Leonard, Sean Nelson, Ross Partridge, Jessica Makinson and Brie Larson, from a script conceived by Schardt and written by Nelson, Vimooz.com had the luck to sit down the film’s two directors (and writer/star!) – Steven Schardt and Sean Nelson. You can see the film at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival this week on Friday, April 29th at the AMC Loews Village at 4 pm. {jathumbnail off}

SING YOUR SONG, Harry Belafonte new documentary, will close 2011 Maryland Film Festival

SING YOUR SONG, Harry Belafonte new documentary, will close 2011 Maryland Film Festival

SING YOUR SONG, the new documentary about the life of actor/activist/singer Harry Belafonte, will close 2011 Maryland Film Festival, on May 8. Wonderfully archived, and told with a remarkable sense of intimacy, visual style, and musical panache, Susanne Rostock’s inspiring biographical documentary, Sing Your Song, surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer, inspired by Paul Robeson, and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his […]

Documentary on world’s only comedic, singing, yodeling lesbian twin sisters opens in NYC on May 13

Documentary on world’s only comedic, singing, yodeling lesbian twin sisters opens in NYC on May 13

The Topp Twins: Untouchable a documentary by Leanne Pooley opens in NYC at Cinema Village on May 13, 2011.  Winner of numerous awards, including Best Feature Documentary at New York’s NewFest 2010, Freedom Award at 2010 Outfest,  and the Cadillac People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival 2009  ‘The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls’ tells the story of the world’s only comedic, singing, yodeling lesbian twin sisters, Lynda and Jools Topp, whose political activism and unique brand […]

Filmmaker Zhu Rikun Flees Chinese Capital After Cancellation of Film Festival

Filmmaker Zhu Rikun Flees Chinese Capital After Cancellation of Film Festival

After announcing that the 8th Beijing Independent Documentary Film Festival has been cancelled, the festival’s artistic director, Zhu Rikun, has reportedly resigned from the festival’s foundation, closed his production house, Fanhall Studio, and fled the Chinese capital. Zhu Rikun has worked on many independent Chinese documentaries including “Karamay” (2010), in which director Xu Xin carries out a forensic examination of a fire that broke out in the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang in 1994. […]