• REVIEW: Stories We Tell

    by DeVon Hyman

    “There is something kind of deeply uncomfortable with the idea of putting your life out there”
     -Sarah Polley, AMNY, May 2013

    True to the fact. A certain level of inner peace would have to be the prerequisite to an initiative being undertaken in the manner in which acclaimed Filmmaker Sarah Polley has done with her much heralded “Stories We Tell” which hit theaters on Friday.  

    Centered on a candid look at the reality which was Polley’s birth and actual parents whom were responsible for her existence. For much of her life Polley has been under the belief that her mothers husband was indeed her biological father, only to learn recently and come to terms with that not being the truth.  Her birth in actuality was the product of an affair which her late mom partook in.

    Earth Shattering.

    For a family, for an individual; what better remedy than to come to terms fully with, and be able to share being therapy to a tremendous gray area of emotion. Including narration and on-camewra interviews with many of the parties whom some would say have been victimized by this dark secret, Polly has tinkered with a wealth of different perspectives. Questions, amassed , Polly provides credence to the families copeability and acceptance to a thity-year-old secret.

    Using a back to the future formula in a sense Polley takes what was and lets it squaredance with what is, sans the theory of what will be.  A never ending tale, at best; why is not important, how is a foregone conclusion, only what remains.

    “The idea that people are talking about it and retelling the story and hearing what people’s’responses are, and what questions come out of it for them, for me was part of the whole curiosity of seeing how different people approach the same material”

    The struggle of whether not it was the right time to share this with the world is an on-going battle whic Polly recognizes.  Its takes a strong person to be that forthcoming.  A person of self-respect and content. I have to take my hat off to the mere thought. The execution, should be of extreme interests to all.

    Review Grade: 3 – See it …..  It’s Good

    “Stories We Tell” is in theaters Friday May 10

    http://youtu.be/YJg0Qg8QRUU

    Read more

  • Sheffield Doc/Fest Celebrates 20 Years With A Lineup of 120 Films and a New Section on Films About Film

    Sheffield Doc/Fest celebrates its 20th year with a line-up of documentaries screening over five days from June 12 to June 16, 2013. The 120 strong film programme is organized across films in competition as well as thematic sections, also referred to as strands.

    This year’s strands include Behind the Beats, The Habit of Art, This Sporting Life, Queer Screen; Resistance, Cross-Platform, First Cut, Best of British, Euro/Doc, Global Encounters, New York Times Op-Docs and Shorts.

    A new strand, Films on Film, screens an iconoclastic feature film together with the doc about that film. Titles include The Exorcist (Director’s Cut) plus The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist, introduced by its writer and presenter Mark Kermode, and Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal Apocalypse Now plus Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse with the film’s renowned editor and sound designer Walter Murch. Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, The Wrath of God will run alongside his classic documentary My Best Fiend which explores his tempestuous relationship with actor Klaus Kinski, whilst John Waters’ Female Trouble is shown with I Am Divine.

    The Doc/Fest Retrospective this year is dedicated to Shohei Imamura. Known mostly for his fiction films (The Eel, Vengence is Mine) Imamura also made several timeless documentaries that tread the line between documentary and fiction. Regarded as   one of the leaders of post-war Japanese cinema, Doc/Fest will present A Man Vanishes, Karayuki-san, the making of a Prostitute, In Search of Returned Soldiers, Malaysia and In Search of Returned Soldiers, Thailand.

    Among the feature World Premieres are UK filmmaker Fred Burns’ entertaining Basically, John Moped, about the proto-punk scene of the 1970s. Including interviews with current and ex-Johnny Moped members, including Chrissie Hynde (who was sacked twice) and Captain Sensible (who will attend screening with filmmaker), the film also features archive footage from the Roxy club in Covent Garden, shot by the legendary Don Letts. Samantha Grant’s A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York Times tells the story of Jayson Blair, a promising, young reporter who incited a plagiarism scandal that brought the New York Times to what publisher Arthur Sulzburger dubbed a “low-point in the 152 year history of the paper.” John Murray and Emer Reynolds’ Here Was Cuba is the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and how in 1962 the earth teetered on the very brink of nuclear holocaust – a timely story with nuclear brinkmanship high on the international agenda today. Yorkshire filmmaker John Lundberg unveils an intricate web of post-war intrigue in Mirage Men. The film follows Paul Benowitz who reported sightings of UFOs to the US Air Force, a call which destroyed his family and eventually landed him in an insane asylum. In Project Wild Thing filmmaker David Bond becomes the Marketing Director for Nature. Children are spending too much time on the sofa and not enough outside, but can David market Nature, a free, wonder-product, to apathetic consumers, and to his own family? In The Secret Life of Uri Geller – Psychic Spy? filmmaker Vikram Jayanti investigates the many hints dropped by controversial spoon-bender Uri Geller about his secret life as a psychic spy for intelligence agencies on three continents over 40 years. And Toby Amies’ The Man Whose Mind Exploded about Drako Oho Zahar Zahar –  his wonderful past and extraordinary present, will also receive its World Premiere at Doc/Fest.

    Sebastian Junger’s homage to his good friend, Which Way is the Front line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington (EU Premiere), shows how the photographer captured an intimate understanding of wartime aggression through his photography by genuinely befriending the soldiers and rebels he followed. Marina Zenovich’s Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic (International Premiere) looks at the legendary comedian’s life and legacy, including exclusive access to widow Jennifer Lee Pryor and the Pryor Estate. Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller (EU Premiere) sensitively probes the divisive issue of late term abortions in America. Shane and Wilson tell the story of the four surviving doctors determined to carry on their work in the wake of the murder of their colleague George Tiller and amidst constant pro-lifer hostilities. Rick Rowley’s cinematic Dirty Wars (EU Premiere) blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction storytelling when he follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller “Blackwater”, into the hidden world of America’s covert wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond.

    Doc/Fest will screen the UK Premiere of the director’s cut of The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s extraordinary work which challenges former Indonesian death squad leaders to re-enact their real-life mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.

    In other highlights: Greg Camalier’s Muscle Shoals takes us to the small Alabama town with an amazing output of memorable recordings; Jeanie Finlay’s The Great Hip Hop Hoax follows Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain who reinvent themselves as West Coast Homeboys after they were signed by Sony. Kari Ann Moe’s Braveheart (UK Premiere) is a tribute to political diversity. During the 2011 elections in Norway Moe followed four bright and politically engaged teenagers preparing for the youth elections in Oslo’s schools. But the excitement of open debate is shattered in the aftermath of the right wing terror attacks where 77 Labour party youths were cruelly massacred. In 9.79 Sheffield-based filmmaker Daniel Gordon depicts a fascinating period of athletics drug testing in its infancy – the 1988 Seoul Olympics – where steroid abuse became an open secret amongst athletes. In Drill Baby Drill, Lech Kowalski’s probing camera records the farmer rebellion against proposed fracking in Eastern Poland by energy corporation Chevron who intend to develop shale gas mining in Europe. Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier introduces us to a rebellious English farmer in The Moo Man. Steve Hook, with his unruly herd of 55 spirited but stress-free cows, sells raw milk direct to customers while delivering the occasional polemic about the benefits of raw milk, supermarkets and TB. Filmmakers Elena Tikhonova & Dominik Spritzendorfer explore the zany, sonic universe of Soviet era DIY electronic music-making in Electro Moscow (UK Premiere). And in Google and the World Brain, Ben Lewis explores the most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet: Google’s master plan to scan every book in the world. Google says they are building a library for mankind, but others are sceptical about their intentions. 

    Other titles screening include: Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish, the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity; Roger Williams God Loves Uganda, a powerful exploration of the evangelical campaign to change African culture with values imported from America’s Christian Right; Mikka Mattila’s Chimeras weaves the two intersecting tales of contemporary Chinese artists and explores their mutual struggle with their frustrated love for art, family, and country.

    Other highlights include Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer which screens as part of Yoko Ono’s Meltdown; Lucy Walker’s Crash Reel in which the acclaimed documentarian delves into the world of U.S snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s recovery and attempts to regain his former sporting life following his near fatal injury at the Montreal Olympics; John Akomfrah’s The Stuart Hall Project which traces how a very bright young Rhodes scholar from colonial Jamaica, became one of Britain’s most eminent thinkers; and Kim Longinotto’s Salma about a young Muslim girl in a South Indian village was kept locked in a small room for 25 years and forbidden to study. Salma started writing poetry on scraps of paper, which she managed to sneak out of the house and eventually found their way into the hands of a publisher. 

    Read more

  • RIP: Stepford Wives Director Bryan Forbes Dies

    [caption id="attachment_3855" align="alignnone" width="550"]Bryan Forbes (right) with Jack Hawkins in The League of Gentlemen (1960)[/caption]

    Film director Bryan Forbes whose work includes the original 1970s horror classic Stepford Wives and Whistle Down The Wind has died “following a long illness” at the age of 86.

    Forbes, who started his career as an actor, was married to the actress Nanette Newman, died surrounded by his family at his home in the UK.

    He was awarded the Dilys Powell Award for outstanding contribution to cinema at the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards in 2006.

    Read more

  • 13 Film Projects Selected for Sundance Institute’s June Directors and Screenwriters Labs

     

    13 film projects have been selected for the Sundance Institute’s annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 27 through June 27. 

    At the Directors Lab, Fellows work with an accomplished group of Creative Advisors, professional actors and production crews to shoot and edit key scenes from their screenplays. Through this intense, hands-on process, the Fellows workshop their scripts, collaborate with actors and find a visual storytelling language for their films. Directors Lab Fellows join five additional projects for the week-long Screenwriters Lab, where they participate in individualized story sessions under the guidance of established screenwriters.

    Creative Advisors for the Directors and Screenwriters Labs include Sundance Institute President and Founder Robert Redford, Gyula Gazdag (Artistic Director), Michael Almereyda, John August, Walter Bernstein, Kathryn Bigelow, Scott Burns, Steve Chbosky, Joan Darling, Caleb Deschanel, Suzy Elmiger, Deena Goldstone, Keith Gordon, Randa Haines, Ed Harris, Michael Hoffman, Azazel Jacobs, Pablo Larrain, Josh Marston, Doug McGrath, Andrew Mondshein, Walter Mosley, Jose Rivera, Walter Salles, Jennifer Salt, Susan Shilliday, Peter Sollett, Wesley Strick, Chris Terrio, Joan Tewkesbury, Stanley Tucci, Audrey Wells, Alfre Woodard, Doug Wright, and Mauricio Zacharias.

    The projects and participants selected for the 2013 June Directors Lab (May 27 – June 20) are:

    Pamela Romanowsky (writer/director) / The Adderall Diaries (U.S.A.): Writer Stephen Elliott reaches a low point when his estranged father resurfaces, claiming that Stephen has fabricated much of the dark childhood that that fuels his work. Adrift in the precarious grey area of memory, Stephen has to navigate the unstable terrain of truth and identity, led by two sources of inspiration: a new romance, and a murder trial that reminds him more than a little of his own story. Based on the memoir by Stephen Elliott.

    Pamela Romanowsky is a New York-based writer and director. Her short films Live Girlsand Gravity have played at festivals nationwide, including Slamdance, Woodstock, and the Maryland Film Festival. In 2011, Romanowsky won the National Board of Review’s Student Grant Award and NYU’s prestigious Wasserman/King Award for excellence in filmmaking. In 2012, she wrote and directed a piece for Tar (James Franco, Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Zach Braff), a multi-director narrative film based on the life and poetry of CK Williams, which premiered at the Rome International Film Festival and is awaiting a U.S. theatrical release. She studied documentary filmmaking with Barbara Kopple, and narrative filmmaking at New York University’s MFA film program.

    Jan Kwiecinski (writer/director) / The Incident (U.S.A.): When a young man decides to cover up an accidental murder, his whole life comes into focus in ways he never expected.

    Jan Kwiecinski graduated from the filmmaking departments of the London Film School and the Wajda’s Master School of Directing. He also holds an MA degree in Theatre Studies from the Theatre Academy in Warsaw. His award-winning short film, The Incident, screened internationally at many festivals including the Shanghai International Film Festival and the T-Mobile New Horizons Film Festival. Recently, Kwiecinski directed the segment entitledFawns of the omnibus feature The Fourth Dimension, co-directed by Alexey Fedorchenko and Harmony Korine. The film premiered in the Narrative Competition at the 2012 San Francisco Film Festival.

    Eva Weber (co-writer/director) and Vendela Vida (co-writer) / Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (UK/Germany/U.S.A.): Twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa discovers on the day of her father’s funeral that everything she believed about her life was a lie. She flees San Francisco and travels to the Arctic Circle to uncover the secrets of her mother, who mysteriously vanished when Clarissa was fourteen. Based on the novel by Vendela Vida.

    Originally from Germany, Eva Weber is a London-based filmmaker working in both documentary and fiction. Her award-winning films have screened at numerous international film festivals, including Sundance, Edinburgh, SXSW, BFI London, and Telluride; and have also been broadcast on UK and international television. Her documentary short film The Solitary Life of Cranes was selected as one of the top five films of the year by critic Nick Bradshaw in Sight & Sound’s annual film review in 2008. Earlier this year, she received the Sundance Institute Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award to further support the development of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name.

    Vendela Vida is the author of four books, including the novels Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name and The Lovers. She is a founding co-editor of the Believer magazine and co-writer of the film Away We Go, which was directed by Sam Mendes.

    Russell Harbaugh (co-writer/director) and Eric Mendelsohn (co-writer) / Love After Love (U.S.A.): Love After Love is a messy and desperate love story about grief, sex, and the separation of a family.

    Russell Harbaugh’s short film Rolling on the Floor Laughing played the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and many other festivals around the world including the FSLC/MoMA co-curated New Directors/New Films, Maryland Film Festival, Sarasota International Film Festival, Milano, Warsaw, and others. Harbaugh received his MFA from Columbia University in 2011 and is originally from Evansville, Indiana. He lives in New York. 

    Eric Mendelsohn’s feature film Judy Berlin, starring Edie Falco and Madeline Kahn, was an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, won Best Director at Sundance, Best Independent Film at the Hamptons Film Festival and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. His short film, Through An Open Window, premiered at Sundance, was an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival and garnered him a guest spot on The Tonight Show. Mendelsohn’s most recent feature, 3 Backyards, premiered in 2010 at Sundance and garnered the Best Director award, making him the only person in the festival’s history to have received the award twice.

    K’naan (writer/director) / Maanokoobiyo (Somalia/U.S.A.): In war-torn Somalia, an artistic orphan named Maano joins the mercenary killing squad of a notorious warlord, only to discover his adoptive father and gang leader is responsible for wiping out his family.

    K’naan is a Somali poet, rapper and singer, songwriter. He spent his childhood in Mogadishu, Somalia and was on one of the last commercial flights out of the country before its collapse. He rose to prominence with the success of his song “Wavin’ Flag” after it was chosen as the anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He lives in New York.

    Ian Hendrie (co-writer/co-director) and Jyson McLean (co-writer/co-director) / Mercy Road (U.S.A.): Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the spiritual odyssey of a small town housewife and mother, as she becomes willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.

    Ian Hendrie is a San Francisco–based filmmaker and the co-founder of Fantoma, a production company and independent DVD label which has been releasing premium edition DVDs of films by such famed auteurs as Francis Ford Coppola, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Samuel Fuller, Fritz Lang, Kenneth Anger and Alex Cox, among others, since 1999.

    Jyson McLean has been a commercial director for over nine years. His work includes spots for Bud Light, Career Builder, and Quaker Oats. He has won the ITVA PEER award three years in a row, and has worked with numerous award winning advertising agencies including DDB Los Angeles, BBDO London and Fred & Farid, Paris. He is currently signed at Contagious LA and Magali Films, Paris for commercial representation in America and Europe respectively.

    Hendrie and McLean are recipients of a Fall 2011 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant and SFFS FilmHouse residents.

    Meredith Danluck (writer/director) / State Like Sleep (U.S.A.): Under the surreal cloud cover of northern Europe, a young American widow reluctantly revisits her past when her mother is hospitalized in Brussels. While coping with the bleak reality of parental loss, Katherine explores her deceased husband’s secret life of underground sex clubs and finds comfort in a relationship with a stranger as equally broken as she is.

    Meredith Danluck is an artist and filmmaker. Her work has screened at major art institutions internationally including MoMA, PS1, Venice Biennale, Liverpool Biennial, and Reina Sofia, as well as various film festivals including SXSW, TIFF, Doc NYC, Margaret Mead and Hamburg International. Her four-screen film installation North of South, West of Eastrecently screened as part of the New Frontier exhibition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

    Miguel Calderón (writer/director) / Zeus (Mexico): Sporadically employed and still living with his mother, Joel finds his only joy in falconry in the flatlands outside Mexico City, until an encounter with a down-to-earth secretary forces him to face reality.

    Miguel Calderón works in various mediums but has focused mostly in photography, video and writing. He was a co-founder of the non-profit art space, “La Panaderia,” which helped promote new tendencies of art in Latin America beginning in 1994. His exhibitions include the Rochester Art Center, the Sao Paolo Biennial, Museo Tamayo, The Yokohama Triennial and Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. His book projects include Thumbs Down (onestar press, 2012), Backstabbing Gemini (Rochester Art Center, 2012), Eden is a Magic World(littlebigman books, 2011), and Miguel Calderón (Turner, 2007). He lives in Mexico City.

    The projects and participants joining the Directors Lab Fellows for the 2013 June Screenwriters Lab (June 22-27) are:

    Ray Tintori (writer/director) / Untitled Cabal Project (U.S.A.): Young revolutionaries in love take on the world and each other in a kaleidoscopically complicated universe that’s coming apart at the seams.

    Ray Tintori is an American director, screenwriter, and founding member of the Court 13 filmmaking collective. His directorial credits include Death to the Tinman and the music videos off MGMT’s first record. Besides directing, he’s worked in various capacities on Court 13 productions, including production designer and story co-writer on Glory at Sea, and Aurochs and Special Effects Unit Director on Beasts of the Southern Wild.

    Bart Layton (writer/director) / The Heist (U.K.): This fiction/documentary hybrid tells the unlikely but very true story of four privileged Kentucky students who, seeking an escape from mundane middle America, hatch a plan to steal millions of dollars of rare books from their university library. 

    Bart Layton is a multi-award winning director and producer. His most recent documentary film, The Imposter, received almost unanimous critical acclaim after premiering at Sundance, won the Grand Jury Prize at Miami, the Golden Eye in Zurich and the Filmmakers’ award at Hotdocs before winning a BAFTA and being shortlisted for the Oscars. Layton lives in London and is the Creative Director of leading British production company, RAW.

    Andrew Ahn (writer/director) / Spa Night (U.S.A.): Struggling to escape his crumbling family life, a closeted Korean-American teenager follows his desires and finds more than he bargains for at the Korean spa. 

    Andrew Ahn is a Korean-American filmmaker born and raised in Los Angeles. His short filmDol (First Birthday) premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and received the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Short Film. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in English and received an MFA in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts.

    Nikole Beckwith (writer/director) / Stockholm, Pennsylvania (U.S.A.): When a young kidnapping victim is reunited with her family after 19 years, her mother discovers she has to work harder than ever to find her daughter, at any cost.

    Nikole Beckwith is from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Her plays have been developed with The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons and The National Theatre of London among others. Stockholm, Pennsylvania (2012 Nicholl Fellowship, 2012 Black List) is her first screenplay, adapted from her stage play of the same name.

    Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio (writer/director) / Story Box of Dreams (Peru): In a rural community outside Lima, a young boy escapes from home to become a story box artisan, a sophisticated craft practiced only by a select group of families who have passed their skills down over generations.

    Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio is an organizational psychologist and filmmaker from Peru. He received his BSC and MSC from the London School of Economics and Political Science and attended film directing workshops at the London Film Academy. He wrote and directed the award-winning short film El Acompañante (The Companion), which played at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and many other festivals around the world including Rotterdam International Film Festival, La Habana, Palm Springs, Miami, Cork, Leeds, Atlanta, Indie Lisboa, Nashville, and Maryland, among others.

     

    Read more

  • Documentary “Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer” to Open 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest

    Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s compelling documentary film Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer has been selected to be the Opening Night Film of the 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK.

    Filmed over the course of six months, the film tells the incredible story of three young women: Nadya, Masha and Katia. As members of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, they performed a 40 second “punk prayer” – disguised in their now famous colourful balaclavas – inside Russia’s main cathedral, which led to their arrest on charges of religious hatred.

    Lerner and Pozdorovkin not only gained unparalleled access and exclusive footage to the trial that reverberated around the world but also observed up close the three young women and their families as they fight back against a justice system that seems impervious to logic.

    The 2013 Sheffield Doc/Fest will run June 12 – 16, 2013

    http://youtu.be/fW92sPezOMs

    Read more

  • “How To Follow Strangers” Set to Open 2013 L.E.S* Film Festival

    “How To Follow Strangers” directed by Chioke Nassor and starring Ilana Glazer, co-creator/star of the cult web series, Broad City, will open the 2013 L.E.S* Film Festival on June 13. 2013. The L.E.S* Film Festival shows low budget independent films in all categories: features, shorts, documentaries, experimental, foreign and animation.

    “How To Follow Strangers” is the true story of a woman who died in her apartment and it took people a year to find her body decomposing in a crisp Chanel suit. A young man becomes obsessed with this urban tragedy and disappears, wondering if anyone will notice. A young woman who shares his commuting schedule DOES notice. And when he resurfaces, she decides to follow him setting of a chain of events that may eventually bind them together…

    The L.E.S* Film Festival runs June 13 – 23rd at Landmark Sunshine Cinemas, Anthology Film Archives, The Crosby St Hotel and other Lower East Side venues in New York City. 

    How to Follow Strangers: Trailer from Chioke Nassor on Vimeo.

    Read more

  • Full Schedule Released for Rooftop Films 2013 Summer Series

     

    The 2013 Rooftop Films Summer Series held across New York City begins on May 10th with a collection of new short films including Gold Party by Nellie Kluz, a recipient of a grant from the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund; Slomo by Josh Izenberg, winner of the jury award for best short documentary at the 2013 SXSW film festival; and Weighting, directed Brie Larson and Dustin Bowser. The Summer Series will wrap August 15-17 with three screenings, including a special sneak preview of David Lowery’s, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.

    Below is the full schedule for the 2013 Summer Series. 

    2013 Summer Series Schedule

    Friday, May 10
    This is What We Mean by Short Films (Short Films)
    Opening Night of Rooftop Films 17th Annual Summer Series will feature grand stories in little packages, with some of the greatest new short films from all around the world. Shorts will be announced soon. 
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Saturday, May 11
    Frances Ha (Dir. Noah Baumbach)
    Frances wants so much more than she has, but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. “Frances Ha” is a modern comic fable in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption. Courtesy of IFC Films. 
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Friday, May 17
    Brothers Hypnotic (Dir. Reuben Atlas) NY Premiere 
    Free Screening
    For the eight members of the electrifying Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, brotherhood is more than an idea, it’s a literal fact, and music is more than something they play. It’s a way of life. Filmmaker Reuben Atlas will be in attendance to introduce the film and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble will perform live following the screening. 
    Venue: Outdoors at MetroTech Commons, Bridge Street & Johnson Street, Downtown Brooklyn

    Saturday, May 18
    New York Mayhem (Short Films)
    In NYC, you’re always on the edge of adventure. Rooftop heads to the wilds of Industry City (just two subway stops from Manhattan) for local filmmakers’ danger and chaos, dark humor and gritty beauty. 
    Venue: The rooftops of Industry City, 220 36th Street at 3rd Avenue, Sunset Park

    Friday, May 24
    Love Hurts (Short Films)
    Romantic short films that express the beauty and anguish of love, with animation, drama and dark sexy comedy.
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Saturday, May 25
    The Kings of Summer (Dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts) 
    New York Special Screening
    “The Kings of Summer” is a unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends – Joe, Patrick and the eccentric and unpredictable Biaggio – who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land.  Courtesy of CBS Films
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Friday, May 31
    Trapped (Short Films)
    Short films about people, babies and bunnies trapped in unusual situations, with dark dramas, weird comedies and even more surreal documentaries set to confound and astonish.
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Saturday, June 1
    The Dirties (Dir. Matt Johnson) NY Premiere 
    Matt and Owen are best friends, who are constantly bullied by a group they call The Dirties. When an assignment goes awry, the friends hatch a plan to enact revenge on their high school tormentors.
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Friday, June 7
    That Impending Sense (Short Films)
    World-renowned pianist Bruce Levingston performs the Philip Glass’ “Dracula Suite” to presage a night of eerie and mysterious short films. 
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Saturday, June 8
    Twenty Feet From Stardom (Dir. Morgan Neville) 
    Special Free Sneak Preview
    Presented in partnership with the Academy’s Oscars Outdoors series
    Meet the unsung heroes behind the greatest music of our time. Special performance by film’s subject Darlene Love. Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC.
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Wednesday, June 12
    Interface Innovation (Short Films) 
    Free Screening
    A collection of new short films featuring datamoshed moments and postmodem lifestyles, accompanied by new interactive works from the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center and the CITE Game Innovation Lab, both at NYU-Poly
    Venue: Outdoors at MetroTech Commons, Bridge Street & Johnson Street, Downtown Brooklyn

    Friday, June 14
    New York Non-Fiction (Short Films)
    Whether you walk into “the city,” or stay in the outer boroughs (or further, in obscure and dangerous places), New York can be an overwhelming place, packed with people hurrying, hustling, huckstering. For some, it may seem apocalyptic (and on one day last October, if not in May, it was apocalyptic). Though the city may be losing some of its local color, there are still hidden corners where rugged urbanity prevails. But one great thing about New York is that no matter how tough its exterior, the core of our denizens know that our real strength is in community, support, and events like these where we can all come together.
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Saturday, June 15
    Absurd Animation (Short Films)
    Outlandish animated creatures in outrageous situations. 
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Tuesday, June 18
    The Central Park Five (Dir. Sarah Burns, Ken Burns, Dave McMahon) 
    Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
    Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, “The Central Park Five” tells the story of how five lives were upended by the rush to judgment by police, a sensationalist media and a devastating miscarriage of justice. Courtesy of Florentine Films. 
    Venue: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave & E 47th St, Manhattan

    Thursday, June 20
    Love Letter to the Fog / The Biggest-Smallest (Live Documentary Performance by Sam Green) 
    Free Screening
    Rooftop and River to River present Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green, teaming up with two local musical outfits, the Quavers and yMusic, to create a night of outdoor music and live cinema. 
    Venue: Pier 15, John Street and the East River, Financial District

    Saturday, June 22<
    Tiger Tail in Blue (Dir. Frank V. Ross) 
    “Tiger Tail in Blue” is about a young married couple, Christopher & Melody, that work opposite schedules to remain financially afloat as Chris bangs out his first novel while working nights as a waiter. Never seeing each other is taking its toll, as the two rarely get a chance to engage one another. Chris finds the attention he craves in the past and Brandy, a saucy co-worker.
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Tuesday, June 25
    The Genius of Marian (Dir. Banker White, Anna Fitch)
    Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
    An intimate family portrait that explores the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease, the power of art and the meaning of family. “The Genius of Marian” follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease as her son, the filmmaker, documents her struggle to hang on to a sense of self. 
    Venue: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave & E 47th St, Manhattan

    Thursday, June 27 
    Drinking Buddies (Dir. Joe Swanberg) NY Premiere 
    Presented in partnership with BAMcinemaFest
    Luke and Kate are co-workers at a Chicago brewery where they spend their days drinking and flirting. They’re perfect for each other, except that they’re both in relationships. But you know what makes the line between “friends” and “more than friends” really blurry? Beer. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
    Venue: Outdoor parking lot at BAMcinématek (Fort Greene), Fulton Street and Ashland Place, Brooklyn

    Friday, June 28
    Crystal Fairy (Dir. Sebastián Silva) Special Sneak Preview
    Presented by Rooftop Films and Indiewire
    A hilariously unpredictable comedy about a self-involved young American searching for a secret hallucinogenic cactus in the desert of Chile. Courtesy of IFC Films. 
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Saturday, June 29
    Unexplored America (Shorts Films)
    Leading into the 4th of July, Rooftop takes an honest look at authentic Americana, in all its absurd glory.  
    Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, Lower East Side

    Tuesday, July 2
    WILLIAM AND THE WINDMILL (Dir. Ben Nabors)
    Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
    William Kamkwamba, a young Malawian, builds a power-generating windmill from junk parts to rescue his family from famine, transforming his life and catapulting him on to the world stage. His fame and success lead him to new opportunities and complex choices about his future, distancing him from the life he once knew.
    Venue: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 2nd Ave & E 47th St, Manhattan

    Wednesday, July 3
    Our Nixon (Dir. Penny Lane) 
    Free Sneak Preview 
    Presented with Socrates Sculpture Park. 
    Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Young, idealistic and dedicated, they had no idea that a few years later they’d all be in prison. “Our Nixon” is an all-archival documentary presenting those home movies for the first time, along with other rare footage, creating an intimate and complex portrait of the Nixon presidency as never seen before. Courtesy of Cinedigm. 
    Venue: The lawn in Socrates Sculpture Park, 3134 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City

    Saturday, July 6
    Belleville Baby (Dir. Mia Engberg) NY Premiere 
    A long distance call from a long lost lover makes her reminisce about their common past. She remembers the spring when they met in Paris, the riots, the vespa and the cat named Baby. A film about love, time and things that got lost along the way. 
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Monday, July 8
    Bending Steel (Dir. David Carroll, produced by Ryan Scafuro) 
    Free Screening 
    A remarkable and intimate documentary exploring the lost art of the old time strongman, and one man’s struggle to overcome limitations of body and mind. Featuring a live performance by professional strongmen from the movie prior to the film. 
    Venue: The Beach in Coney Island, W 12th and the beach, right near Luna Park

    Friday, July 12
    Sundance Shorts (Short Films)
    Highlights from the vital Sundance 2013 selections include wild, weird and wonderful short films that define the genre, at the forefront of cutting edge storytelling. 
    Venue: The rooftops of Industry City, 220 36th Street at 3rd Avenue, Sunset Park

    Saturday, July 13
    Brasslands (Dir. Meerkat Media Collective) NY Premiere 
    Free Screening
    Presented by Rooftop Films and Arts Brookfield
    Devoted American musicians, Serbian brass heavyweights, and a Gypsy trumpet master collide at the world’s largest trumpet festival. 
    Venue: Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center), 220 Vesey Street (between West Street and the Hudson River), Financial District

    Thursday, July 18
    Newlyweeds (Dir. Shaka King) 
    Special Sneak Preview
    Brooklyn residents Lyle and Nina blaze away the stress of living in New York City, but what should be a match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry. Courtesy of Phase 4 Films.
    Venue: The roof of Trilok Fusion Center for the Arts, 143 Waverly Avenue at Myrtle Avenue, Clinton Hill

    Friday, July 19
    i hate myself 🙂 (Dir. Joanna Arnow) World Premiere
    Nebbishy NYC filmmaker Joanna Arnow documents her yearlong relationship with racially charged poet-provocateur James Kepple. What starts out as an uncomfortably intimate portrait of a dysfunctional relationship and protracted mid-twenties adolescence, quickly turns into a complex commentary on societal repression, sexuality and self-confrontation through art. 
    Venue: On the roof of Industry City (882 3rd Ave, Brooklyn)

    Saturday, July 20
    Short Term 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton) 
    Special Free Sneak Preview
    Presented in partnership with the Academy’s Oscars Outdoors series
    “Short Term 12” follows Grace (Brie Larson), a young supervisor at a foster-care facility, as she looks after the teens in her charge and reckons with her own troubled past. Courtesy of Cinedigm. 
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Thursday, July 25
    Towheads (Dir. Shannon Plumb) 
    Special Sneak Preview
    A harried New York mother struggling as an artist searches for a happy (if slightly unhinged) hybrid of the two. In her debut feature, Shannon Plumb’s charming Chaplin-like characters light up the screen with visual playfulness. 
    Venue: The roof of Trilok Fusion Center for the Arts, 143 Waverly Avenue at Myrtle Avenue, Clinton Hill

    Friday, July 26
    Animation Block Party
    Some call it punk rock, some call it grass roots, but labels aside, NYC-based Animation Block Party is the premier animation festival of the East Coast. 
    Venue: The lawn of Greenpoint High School for Engineering and Automotive Technology, 50 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg

    Saturday, July 27
    INDUSTRIANCE ™: Black Out (Short Films)
    Hanging on to old habits, hoping for new means, humanity begets change through technology and industry, labor and artistry. A striking program of short films, including Eva Weber’s illuminating documentary “Black Out.” 
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Wednesday, July 31
    Domestic (Dir. Adrian Sitaru) NY Premiere 
    Free Screening
    Presented with Socrates Sculpture Park. 
    Wonderfully surreal, painfully real, this is the story of children, adults and animals who live together trying to have a better life, but sometimes death comes unexpectedly. In the bittersweet comedy “Domestic” it is all about us, people who eat the animals that they love and the animals that love people unconditionally. 
    Venue: The lawn in Socrates Sculpture Park, 3134 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City

    <Thursday, August 1
    The Expedition to the End of the World (Dir. Daniel Dencik) NY Premiere
    A real adventure film – for the 21st century. On a three-mast schooner packed with artists, scientists and ambitions worthy of Noah or Columbus, they set off for the end of the world: the rapidly melting massifs of North-East Greenland. 
    Venue: The Waterfront Museum aboard the 914 Lehigh Valley Barge #79, In the water at 290 Conover Street, Red Hook

    Friday, August 2
    North of South, West of East (Dir. Meredith Danluck) NY Premiere 
    Free screening presented with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Forest City Ratner
    The desire to be entertained becomes hyper-realized as Meredith Danluck’s multi-screen installation creates a fully immersive non-linear cinema experience in MetroTech commons. The audience will sit at the center of the viewing space, surrounded on all four sides by screens as all the separate channels of the film play simultaneously, each storyline competing for the audience’s attention. A one-of-a-kind cinema-going experience, North of South, West of East takes the chronic existential crisis that is the American identity and turns it inside out, laying the classic components of comedy, thrill, violence, love and death neatly side by side, all at once.
    Venue: Outdoors at MetroTech Commons, Bridge Street & Johnson Street, Downtown Brooklyn

    Saturday, August 3
    Cutie and the Boxer (Dir. Zachary Heinzerling) 
    Special Sneak Preview
    This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of renowned “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role of assistant to her overbearing husband, Noriko seeks an identity of her own. Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC.
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Thursday, August 8
    12 O’Clock Boys (Dir. Lotfy Nathan) NY Premiere 
    Part of Rooftop’s SXSW weekend
    Pug, a young boy growing up on a combative West Baltimore block, finds solace in a group of illegal dirt bike riders known as The 12 O’Clock Boys. Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories. 
    Venue: The lawn of Greenpoint High School for Engineering and Automotive Technology, 50 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg

    Friday, August 9
    Awful Nice (Dir. Todd Sklar) NY Premiere
    Part of Rooftop’s SXSW weekend
    Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when their father dies and leaves them the family lake home. A series of hilarious mishaps and costly misadventures follow as they attempt to restore the house and rebuild their relationship. 
    Venue: The rooftops of Industry City, 220 36th Street at 3rd Avenue, Sunset Park

    <Saturday, August 10
    Elena (Dir. Petra Costa) NY Premiere
    Part of Rooftop’s SXSW weekend
    Intimate in style, “Elena” delves into the abyss of one family’s drama, revealing at once the inspiration that can be born from tragedy. 
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Thursday, August 15
    Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (Dir. David Lowery) 
    Special Sneak Preview
    “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” tells the tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Courtesy of IFC Films. 
    Venue: Outdoors at the Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, Queens

    Friday, August 16
    F— for Forest (Dir. Michal Marczak) NY Premiere 
    Berlin’s F— for Forest is one of the world’s most bizarre charities: based on the idea that sex can change the world, the NGO raises money for their environmental cause by selling home-made erotic films on the Internet.
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

    Saturday, August 17
    Rooftop Shots (Short Films)
    Closing Night! Rooftop concludes with the sharpest shorts in the world, fired into the night sky one last time, the films fading like fireworks.
    Venue: The roof of the Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Gowanus/Park Slope

     

    Read more

  • Documentary “AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH” to Kick off 2013 Big Sky Film Series

    [caption id="attachment_3846" align="alignnone" width="550"]AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH[/caption]

    The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana will launch the 2013 Big Sky Film Series with AIN’T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH, director Jacob Hatley’s moving portrait of Levon Helm, the legendary drummer and vocalist for The Band. Hatley and his crew spent nearly three years with Helm at his studio in Woodstock, NY, as Helm miraculously rediscovered his voice after throat-cancer treatment and recorded three Grammy-winning albums before eventually succumbing to the disease last year.

    The 2013 Big Sky Film Series begins Monday, May 20th, at the Top Hat Lounge in downtown Missoula.  Films will be screened on the third Monday of each month at 8 pm, and all showings are free to the public.

    http://youtu.be/F03oZFq4yqw

    Read more

  • “A River Changes Course,” “The Kill Team” Win Top Documentary Film Awards at San Francisco International Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_3841" align="alignnone" width="550"]A River Changes Course[/caption]

    The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival, awarded A River Changes Course, by Kalyanee Mam, the Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature at the 2013 festival. Among the many reasons, the festival jury said “This film stood out as an entity in terms of subject matter, beauty of filmmaking, elegance of expression, sensitivity, and representation of the people observed as they observe their own situation.” Recognizing local filmmakers, The Kill Team directed by Dan Krauss was the Bay Area Documentary Feature. The jury noted: “We chose this film due to the importance of its subject matter and its moral complexity.”

    Other winners include:

    Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners
    Documentary Feature: A River Changes Course, Kalyanee Mam (Cambodia/USA 2012)
      *  Winner receives $20,000 cash prize

    [caption id="attachment_3751" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Kill Team[/caption]

    Bay Area Documentary Feature: The Kill Team, Dan Krauss (USA 2012)
      *  Winner receives $15,000 cash prize

    [caption id="attachment_3842" align="alignnone" width="550"]Present Tense[/caption]

    New Directors Prize: Present Tense, Belmin Sölyemez (Turkey  2012)
      *  Winner receives $15,000 cash prize 

    [caption id="attachment_3843" align="alignnone" width="550"]La Sirga[/caption]

    Honorable Mention: La Sirga, William Vega (Colombia/France/Mexico 2012),The Cleaner, Adrián Saba (Peru 2012)

    [caption id="attachment_3844" align="alignnone" width="550"]Nights with Theodore[/caption]

    FIPRESCI Prize: Nights with Theodore, Sébastian Betbeder (France 2012)

    Golden Gate Award Short Film Winners
    Narrative Short: Ellen Is Leaving, Michelle Savill (New Zealand 2012)
      *  Winner receives $5,000 cash prize 

    Documentary Short: Kings Point, Sari Gilman (USA 2012)
      *  Winner receives $5,000 cash prize
    Special Jury Prize: Home, Thomas Gleeson (New Zealand 2012)

    Animated Short: Kali the Little Vampire, Regina Pessoa (Canada/France 2012)
      *  Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

    Bay Area Short, First Prize: 3020 Laguna St. In Exitum, Ashley Rodholm, Joe Picard (USA 2013)
      *  Winner receives $2,000 cash prize

    Bay Area Short, Second Prize: More Real, Jonn Herschend (USA 2012)
      *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

    New Visions: Salmon, Alfredo Covelli (Israel/Italy 2012)
      *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

    Family Film: Luminaris, Juan Pablo Zaramella (Argentina 2012)
      *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize

    Family Film Honorable Mention: I’m Going to Mum’s, Lauren Jackson (New Zealand 2012), Jonah and the Crab, Laurel Cohen (USA 2012)

    Youth Work: The Dogmatic, Lance Oppenheim (USA 2012)
      *  Winner receives $1,500 cash prize
    Youth Work Honorable Mention: Last Stop Livermore, Nat Talbot (USA 2012)

    Read more

  • Jim Mickle’s Horror Thriller WE ARE WHAT WE ARE Headed to 2013 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight!

    Jim Mickle’s horror thriller WE ARE WHAT WE ARE which had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, will have its international premiere in the 2013 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight! section.  WE ARE WHAT WE ARE will have it’s U.S. theatrical release this Fall.

    WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, is described as “a re-imagining of the 2010 Mexican film of the same name, Jim Mickle paints a gripping and gruesome portrait of an introverted family struggling to keep their macabre traditions alive.”

    [caption id="attachment_3839" align="alignnone" width="550"]Jack Gore (Rory) in WE ARE WHAT WE ARE[/caption]

    A seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank (Bill Sage, “Boardwalk Empire”) rules his family A seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank (Bill Sage, “Boardwalk Empire”) rules his family with a rigorous ferver, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost.  As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris (Ambyr Childers, THE MASTER) and Rose (Julia Garner, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR) are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family.  As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, the local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.

    WE ARE WHAT WE ARE also stars Michael Parks (DJANGO UNCHAINED), Kelly McGillis (STAKELAND), Nick Damici (STAKELAND), Wyatt Russell (THIS IS 40) and newcomer Jack Gore. 

    Read more

  • Breckenridge Festival of Film To Return to Fall Date for 2013 Festival

    The 33rd annual Breckenridge Festival of Film, considered “the longest running film festival in Colorado,” is switching from June back to its September date format and will take place September 19th-22nd, 2013 in beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado.

    This year, the festival is introducing the Adventure Film track, where filmmakers will compete for the People’s Choice award in adventure shorts and participate in associated panel discussions.

    Over it’s 33 years, the Festival has hosted such guests as Alan Arkin, James Earl Jones, Robert Loggia, Marsha Mason, Sydney Pollack, Mary Steenburgen, Donald Sutherland, Eva Marie Saint, Jon Voight, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jon Favreau, Michael York , Jo Beth Williams and Connie Nielsen, Irvin Kershner, Thomas Haden Church AnnaSophia Robb and DB Sweeney.

    Read more

  • Ecologico International Film Festival in Nardo, Italy, Announces 2013 Dates, and Call for Filmmaker Submissions

    The Ecologico International Film Festival (EIFF) announced that the 6th Edition of the Festival will be held August 18 – August 24, 2013 in the beautiful Italian city of Nardò.

    EIFF also announced the call for submissions for short, medium and Long Length film entries.

    UPDATE: Deadline to submit films for the 6th Ecologico International Film Festival pushed back to May 20, 2013

    Deadline to submit films for the 6th Ecologico International Film Festival is May 10, 2013.

     

    Read more