• Biopic on German-Jewish Philosopher and Political Theorist Hannah Arendt opens in NYC on May 29 and in LA on June 7

    [caption id="attachment_3678" align="alignnone" width="550"]Barbara Sukowa as Hannah Arendt in HANNAH ARENDT a film by Margarethe von Trotta. [/caption]

    The German biopic film HANNAH ARENDT, directed by Margarethe von Trotta will open at Film Forum in NYC on May 29 and at The Royal in West LA, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center in Encino on June 7, with a national release to follow.

    HANNAH ARENDT, an Official Selection at the Toronto International and New York Jewish Film Festivals, Hannah Arendt stars Barbara Sukowa as Hannah Arendt, with co-stars Klaus Pohl as philosopher Martin Heidegger, Nicolas Woodeson as New Yorker editor William Shawn, and two-time Oscar Nominee Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs) as novelist Mary McCarthy.

    The film is described as a biopic of influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in The New Yorker—controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann and the Jewish councils—introduced her now-famous concept of the “Banality of Evil.” Using footage from the actual Eichmann trial and weaving a narrative that spans three countries, von Trotta beautifully turns the often invisible passion for thought into immersive, dramatic cinema.

    http://youtu.be/iIUbQR9b1P8

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  • Documentary RELEASED to Open in NYC on May 10, 2013

    The documentary RELEASED will have its world premiere on Friday, May 10th, 2013 at New York’s QUAD Cinema. Directed by Philip Messina, RELEASED introduces three men and one woman, Vilma Ortiz Donovan, Kenneth Harrigan, Casimiro Torres and Angel Ramos, each a convicted felon, who, attempt to overcome a past and defy the grim statistic that two out of every three prisoners released in the United States today will be back in prison within three years. 

    As described by the filmmakers:

    Casimiro Torres, grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. “As a kid, I was forced to fight my brother until one of us was bloody — I was bet on like a dog.” Fatherless, with an alcoholic mother he was placed in juvenile facilities where he was abused by a sadistic and sexually deviant staff. Casimiro started using drugs at age 10, becoming a hardened crack-head criminal–burglaries, armed robberies, whatever it took. He was arrested sixty-seven times and did sixteen years in prison.

    Vilma Ortiz, a vibrantly intelligent woman from a solid Puerto Rican family, became addicted to cocaine and eventually dealt drugs becoming one of the few women to break into this malicious fraternity where her “status” gave her the illusion of power and confidence, masking profound insecurity and indecisiveness. Finally arrested and convicted, she spent six years in prison.

    Kenneth Harrigan, an “A” student from a stable African-American family, started to use recreational drugs and was soon addicted to crack. Burglary sustained his habit–he served 16 years in prison.

    Angel Ramos, Puerto Rican, grew up brutally poor with an abusive mother. At seventeen, a friend made an offhanded remark that offended him. Releasing a suppressed reservoir of rage, Angel murdered his friend. He served 30 years in prison.

    From these deep deficits, Casimiro, Vilma, Kenneth, and Angel struggled and ultimately triumphed. Drawing on long overlooked personal strengths and a radical shift in attitude they all shared something in common and understood that the will to live productive lives was in their control.

    They also shared something else. After leaving prison with no homes to go to and no jobs for support, they found a unique program known as “The Castle”, a 62-bed re-entry facility run by former prisoners in New York City. This haven was created by The Fortune Society, founded by Broadway Press Agent, Producer and activist, David Rothenberg, after years of engagement with former prisoners through talk backs after the performances of his hit play, Fortune and Men’s Eyes.

    As part of their rehabilitation Caz, Vilma, Kenneth and Angel collaborated with Rothenberg to tell their own stories. Originally conceived as an exercise in self-awareness, the project developed under Rothenberg into the play, The Castle, and was produced by Eric Krebs, a highly regarded theater producer and social justice advocate, for a 14-month Off-Broadway run in 2008. To date, more than 30,000 people have seen the production in over 200 performances at prisons, colleges, community centers, and other organizations, including the New York State Legislature.

     

    http://youtu.be/QaFxFpXxyyg

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  • Tribeca Film Institute Announces 2013 Latin America Media Arts Fund, Heineken Voces And Worldview Grant Winners

    The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) announced the award winners for the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund, Heineken VOCES and TFI/WorldView Partnership grants at a celebration for Latin American filmmakers during the Tribeca Film Festival. The funds, totaling $130,000, support innovative Latin American film and video artists to help them explore stories reflecting diverse cultures and gain exposure in the film industry. 

    Bloomberg, the new presenting sponsor of the TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund will provide support that furthers TFI’s commitment to champion Latin American filmmakers.  The partnership will launch in the summer of 2013 with a series of multi-day workshops in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; and Santiago, Chile.   The three Bloomberg Fellows, one from each region, will be awarded a $12,000 grant and an invitation to participate in one of the workshops. 

    The following three filmmakers and project have been selected as the 2013 Bloomberg Fellows:

    Children/Los Ninos (Chile) (pictured above), Directed by Maite Alberdi Soto; Produced by Clara Taricco – A group of friends with Down’s Syndrome face a new stage in life.  They feel unprepared to grow old. Parents die, they are left alone, and they suffer diseases of the elderly, like Alzheimer’s.

    The City Where I’m Getting Old (Brazil) (pictured above), Directed by Marilia Rocha; Produced by Luana Melgaço– At a moment when the Portuguese government publicly recommends that the country’s citizens seek work abroad, a young Portuguese woman, Teresa Pestana heads for the city of Belo Horizonte, one of the major Brazilian state capitals.

    Someone Else’s Secret  (Mexico) (pictured above), Written and Directed by Hector Barrios; Written and Produced by Denisse Quintero – Through a Private Detective’s life and work, Someone Else’s Secret follows a real case of distrust and portraits the honest communication crisis prevailing in modern societies. On a double espionage, the documentary reveals the Detective’s secrets.

    The following four films are winners of this year’s TFI Latin America Media Arts Fund: 

    The Girl Behind the Camera (Argentina) (pictured above), Directed and Produced by Paula Schargorodsky –  A 35 year old woman has chronicled the last10 years of her life on film. Five boyfriends and two wedding proposals later she remains single. The Girl Behind the Camera is a humorous, intimate investigation on a generation of unsettled women that poses a question about the choices we make (or don’t make) in life.

    Missed Days/Los Dias No Vuelven (Mexico) (pictured above), Produced and Directed by Raul Cuesta; Written by Fernando del Razo – Disappointed over a premature retirement from professional tennis and never fulfilling his deceased father’s dreams, Enrique hopes the birth of his first child will bring him redemption.

    The Naptime (Mexico) (pictured above), Written, Produced and Directed by Carolina Platt – A visual elegy through the eyes of the director that follows how families learn to live with the loss of a child

    Solitude Square/Plaza de la Soledad (Mexico) (pictured above), Directed by Maya Goded; Produced by Martha Sosa Elizondo; Co-Produced by Iris Lammertsma – Two aged prostitutes see themselves forced to contemplate their lives and confront their issues so they can live out the remainder of their days with dignity and hope.

    The winners of the Heineken VOCES grants are:

    Heineken VOCES Award for Documentary

    Man of the Monkey (pictured above), Directed by David Romberg – Intrigued by the tale of a scary man living in isolation with his chimpanzee wife, David Romberg travels to his childhood home on Ilha Grande, Brazil to find him, only to discover that the tale pales in comparison to what he uncovers. 

    Heineken VOCES Award for Narrative

    Nobody is Watching, Written, Directed, Co-Produced by Julia Solomonoff, Written by Martina Broner, Co-Produced by Maria Arida – Guille, an out of work actor who knew success in Argentina, navigates life as an immigrant on the fringes of New York and wrestles to find a place he can call home. 

    An additional three development grants of $10,000 will be awarded to filmmaking teams based in Latin America and the Caribbean through the TFI/WorldView Partnership, a collaboration between the Tribeca Film Institute and CBA WorldView. 

    The winners of the TFI/WorldView Partnership grants are:

    Growing in Oil (Venezuela) (pictured above), Written and Directed by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos – A story following the children of Congo Mirador as they survive the disappearance of their village, which is located in Lake Maracaibo, the largest oil field of Latin America.  As a consequence of the oil industry, soil levels are changing and the village will turn into a swamp. 

    Night Inside Me (Bolivia) (pictured above), Directed by Sergio Estrada; Produced by Valeria Ponce – Primo is the leader of one of the most effective and experienced mining crews, yet not one of the luckiest. The crew’s routine changes the day Primo’s son decides to join them. When night falls in the mine…  Everyone is left inside.

    Swimming on Dry Land (Jamaica) (pictured above), Produced and Directed by Michelle Serieux – Jamaica is a land of many contradictions. The country that created Bob Marley and gave the world Rastafari, Reggae Music and “One Love,” has also produced a culture that is very intolerant of diversity.

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  • Director Ava DuVernay Wins Tribeca Film Institute First Ever Heineken Affinity Award

    Last night Ava DuVernay was announced the winner of the inaugural Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) inaugural Heineken Affinity Award as the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival continues in downtown Manhattan, New York City. DuVernay was chosen as the winner by public vote on a website dedicated to the Heineken Affinity Award. The award is given to an African-American filmmaker (age 21 and over) to empower and encourage them to continue to craft stories through film.  In addition to a $20,000 cash prize awarded at the event, DuVernay will receive year round support and professional development from TFI for her future projects.

    Who is Ava DuVernay?   DuVernay of Los Angeles won the Best Director Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film, Middle of Nowhere (pictured above). She also directed the critically-acclaimed dramatic feature I Will Follow, and the music documentaries This is the Life and My Mic Sounds Nice.  Her upcoming project Part of the Sky, is currently in development.  She is also the founder of the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM).

    In addition to DuVernay, the finalists were Andrew Dosunmu, Cheryl Dunye, Nelson George, Kahlil Joseph, Victoria Mahoney, Terence Nance, Akosua Adoma Owuso, Yvonne Welbon, and Ross Williams. Each of the filmmakers will receive a $1,000 grant.

    http://youtu.be/jT19sV9CkGQ

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  • Eight Films Awarded Grants to Help With Production from San Francisco Film Society

    Eight films being produced in the San Francisco Bay Area will receive a total of $340,000 in funding to help with their next stage of production from San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF).  SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community.

    The winners include Jonas Carpignano, writer/director – A Chjana; Grainger David, writer/director – Nocturne; Ian Hendrie and Jyson McLean, co-writers/directors/producers – Mercy Road; Maryam Keshavarz and Paolo Marinou-Blanco, cowriters – The Last Harem; Richard Levien, writer/director and Chad Burris, producer – La Migra; Tommy Oliver, writer/director/producer – 1982; Vendela Vida, cowriter and Eva Weber, cowriter/director – Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name; and Josef Wladyka, cowriter/director – Manos Sucias.

    Past SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant winners include Short Term 12, Destin Daniel Cretton’s sophomore feature, which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013; Ryan Coogler’s debut feature Fruitvale, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013; and Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012, earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and became an indie box office smash. 

    WINNERS
    Jonas Carpignano, writer/director – A Chjana – $45,000 for preproduction
    After leaving his native Burkina Faso, Ayiva makes the perilous journey across the Sahara and Mediterranean in search of a better life in Europe. Once in Italy, he must balance his desire to provide for his family in Africa with the intolerance and harsh working conditions he finds in his newly claimed home.

    Jonas Caripgnano is an Italian-American filmmaker based in Rome and Brooklyn. His short films have played at SXSW, New Directors/New Films and Venice, where his film A Chjana won the Controcampo Award for best short. Carpignano recently completed the Sundance Writing and Directing Labs for the feature-length version of A Chjana, and was recently named one ofFilmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He is currently an MFA candidate at NYU Tisch, where he won the Martin Scorsese Young Filmmakers Award. He is also the recipient of the Mahindra Award at Sundance.

    Grainger David, writer/director – Nocturne (working title) – $35,000 for screenwriting
    Nocturne is the story of a white South Carolina cop on the verge of retirement who accidentally kills a young black teenager he suspects of a recent robbery and murder. In a moment of extreme weakness, he hides the boy’s body in a woodshed-only to return a day later to discover it has disappeared.

    Grainger David is a director from Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. His NYU Grad Film thesis The Chair was the only American short film nominated for the Palme D’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The Chair also won Jury Prizes at the SXSW, Los Angeles, and Hollyshorts Film Festivals, and has screened at major festivals around the world, including Telluride, Hamptons and the 63rd Berlinale. David has been awarded grants from the Tribeca Film Institute, the Sloan Foundation, the National Board of Review and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 

    Ian Hendrie and Jyson McLean, co-writers/directors/producers – Mercy Road – $40,000 for development
    Based on true events, Mercy Road traces the political and spiritual odyssey of a small town housewife as she turns from a peaceful pro-life activist to an underground militant willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.

    Ian Hendrie is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and the cofounder 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. Hendrie and his filmmaking partner Jyson McLean are proud and grateful recipients of a Fall 2011 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant, SFFS FilmHouse residents, alumni of the 2013 Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and finalists for the upcoming Sundance Directors Lab for Mercy Road.

    Co-writer/director/producer Jyson McLean began making short films in high school. He attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His commercials and music videos, which have aired nationally and overseas, include 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.

    Maryam Keshavarz and Paolo Marinou-Blanco, cowriters – The Last Harem – $35,000 for screenwriting
    The Last Harem follows the battle between Jayran, a young musician girl, and Malik Jahan, the mother of the newly-ascended boy-king, for the affection of the new monarch and control of the palace’s extensive harem. Whoever wins becomes the most powerful woman in the Persian empire…

    Maryam Keshavarz received her MFA from NYU/Tisch in film direction and has been making award-winning films for 11 years. Keshavarz’s first narrative feature Circumstance premiered to overwhelming critical acclaim at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and garnered the coveted Sundance Audience Award, leading to Keshavarz’s inclusion in Deadline’s 2011 Directors to Watch. Keshavarz’s newest film project The Last Harem, originally developed at the Cine Qua Non Lab, won the prestigious SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant and her multimedia installation work Between Sight and Desire: Imagining the Muslim Woman won a multi-year grant from the Creative Capital Fund.

    Born in New York and raised in China, South Africa and Portugal, Paolo Marinou-Blanco studied philosophy and theater before pursuing an MFA in Filmmaking at NYU-Tisch. In 2007 he won funding from the Portuguese Film Institute to write and direct his first feature, Goodnight Irene, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to much critical acclaim, went on to travel to dozens of international festivals and was theatrically released in Europe in 2008. Marinou-Blanco now works in the U.S., Europe and Brazil as a screenwriter; The Last Harem is his first collaboration with writer/director Maryam Keshavarz.

    Richard Levien, writer/director and Chad Burris, producer – La Migra – $20,000 for development
    Twelve-year-old Itan’s life in San Francisco is turned upside down when she comes home from school to find her apartment ransacked and her mother missing. Suddenly she must rely on her estranged uncle Eevencio, who she suspects is a criminal. They cross the country in Eevencio’s dilapidated truck, through the labyrinth of immigration detention, trying to find Itan’s mother and prevent her from being deported.

    Richard Levien has been writing, directing and editing award-winning films for 8 years. Levien’s short film Immersion, about a ten-year-old boy from Mexico who speaks no English and struggles to fit in at his new school in the U.S., premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2009. Immersion won the “No Violence” award at the Ann Arbor film festival, and the Best Bay Area short film award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. In 2009 Levien won the inaugural San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant, for screenwriting on La Migra. 

    Films that Chad Burris produced and executive produced have screened at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, New Directors/New Films, Toronto, Cannes and Venice. His latest film as producer, Aurora Guerrero’s Mosquita y Mari, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and was nominated for a 2013 Independent Spirit Award. Burris executive produced the Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me, Famke Janssen’s directorial debut Bringing Up Bobby and Nick Cassavetes’Yellow. He was the last recipient of the Mark Silverman Award for New Producers from the Sundance Institute in 2007.

    Tommy Oliver, writer/director/producer – 1982 – $85,000 for postproduction
    Semi-autobiographical and inspired by true events, 1982 tells the story of a black father whose wife succumbs to a crack cocaine addiction and his efforts to shield his young daughter from the ill effects of having a drug-addicted mother. Set at the very onset of the crack epidemic, the film is about a father doing whatever he can to protect his family.

    Tommy Oliver, producer of Kinyarwanda, a film Roger Ebert named to his top 10 films of 2011, is a strong believer in the transformative power of film. As a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where he double majored in Economics and Digital Media, he developed a keen understanding for business as a whole. In addition to the 2011 Sundance World Cinema Audience Award-winning Kinyarwanda, Oliver has produced three films, including his directorial debut 1982. 

    Vendela Vida, cowriter and Eva Weber, cowriter/director – Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name – $35,000 for screenwriting
    28-year-old Clarissa discovers on the day of her father’s funeral that everything she believed about her life was a lie. She flees New York and travels to the Artic Circle to find her real father, but instead is reunited with her mother who abandoned her when Clarissa was only 14.

    Vendela Vida cowrote (with Dave Eggers) the script for Away We Go, which was directed by Sam Mendes and released by Focus Features in 2009. Her book Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was awarded the Kate Chopin Award. In 2013 Vida and Eva Weber attended the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters’ Lab where they worked on the script for Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name; they also received the Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award to further develop the project. 

    Eva Weber’s short documentary Reindeer is a lyrical and haunting portrait of reindeer herding in Lapland. The film screened at LAFF, Telluride, AFI Fest and Sundance, with upcoming screenings at Sundance London and the San Francisco International Film Festival. Weber’s multi-award-winning film The Solitary Life of Cranes was selected as one of the top five films of the year inSight & Sound magazine’s annual film review. Other films include The Intimacy of Strangers, Steel Homes, City of Cranes, and Black Out.

    Josef Wladyka, cowriter/director – Manos Sucias – $45,000 for production
    A desperate fisherman and a naive young man embark on a dangerous journey trafficking drugs up the Pacific coast of Colombia. Hidden beneath the waves, they tow a narco-torpedo filled with millions of dollars worth of cocaine. Together they must brave the war-torn region while navigating the growing tension between them.

    Josef Kubota Wladyka fell in love with filmmaking in high school. Even while pursing a B.S. in Finance he continued to make short films. When Wladyka returned to school for his MFA in Film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the quality of his first year work earned him a prestigious Faculty Fellowship Award. His short films, commercials, and screenplays also garnered the attention of director Spike Lee who named him recipient of the 2010 Spike Lee Fellowship Award, providing research funds and mentorship for his first feature film. Manos Sucias is his feature film debut.

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  • REVIEW: Vergiss mein nicht (Forget Me Not)

    by Christopher McKittrick

    Though there are hundreds of terrible diseases, perhaps there is none as cruel as Alzheimer’s disease, which not only slowly robs the sufferer of their mind, but tremendously impacts the sufferer’s loved ones terribly as the sufferer gradually no longer recognizes them as they slip further and further into dementia.  German documentarian David Sieveking explores the impact that Alzheimer’s disease has not only on his mother, but his entire family in Vergiss mein nicht (Forget Me Not).

    By the time David started filming this documentary his mother, Gretel, had forgotten him.  The pain David feels from this is made visually symbolic during the credits when “Mein” (Me) fades from title slower than rest of the words.  Now that he has only a frail connection with his mother, David is determined to learn as much as he can about her life before she passes away.

    David admits he knows very little about his mother’s past.  For instance, he finds out from his father, Malte, that his parents had an open marriage and Gretel was politically active in radical socialist causes in her youth.  Though their marriage was very atypical, now that Gretel is helpless they have taken on more traditional roles.  Though Malte, who was a renowned math professor, wanted to study and travel after retiring, he is now a full-time caretaker.



    Watching Gretel is heartbreaking as she alternates between childlike confusion to bewildered fear at her surroundings.  Gretel has also deteriorated physically.  Though only seventy-three, Gretel resembles a woman decades older (especially when compared to Malte’s ninety-six year old mother, who appears late in the film).  She becomes increasingly stubborn, and though David’s arrival to begin the documentary allows Malte to take a brief vacation to Switzerland it seems to do no favors for Gretel’s condition.

    There is very little that is “artistic” in this documentary – this is an honest, fly-on-the-wall, straight-forward chronicle of how Gretel’s worsening condition affects David and his family.  Toward the end of the film the family weighs the decision on whether or not to put Gretel into a home for Alzheimer’s patients, and Malte feels conflicted about his responsibility for Gretel’s condition for not being as good of a husband to her as he could have.  One of the more curious choices is the vaguely child-like musical score, which I feel somewhat belittles Gretel’s condition.



    Vergiss mein nicht is a very personal story, but also universal to the millions of people who have someone suffering from the same disease as Gretel in their own family.  Though the ending is surprisingly upbeat, being that this film is about a woman with Alzheimer’s there is naturally no happy ending.  This is not a film that anyone would consider enjoyable or entertaining, but as a chronicle of a woman’s failing dementia and the effect it has on her family; it is definitely moving.

    RATING: 3 / 5 See it … It’s Good

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  • REVIEW: KALIFORNIA

    by Kelsey Straight

    Laura Mahlberg’s illustration of an old man who starts walking towards California from his caravan entire countries away (in Russia!) is a new take on the classic road movie, except here our protagonist is fifty years past coming-of-age and still in pursuit of better prospects in the west. One could say that the film has come a few decades after its genre’s peak, and the main character coincides with that reality. Visually stunning cinematography offers an array of sensations to the film, and despite a slow-going pace and essentially meek protagonist, audiences will revel in the look and the stories in the eyes of this character, a man full from his years and still searching for more.

    The landscapes evoke in audiences the magic of the countryside when seen in widescreen formats, and the protagonist’s trek through fields of green – full of sheep and ideas for the future – offers a lot to cinema, especially coming from such a niche project. If one’s grandfather confessed that he was going to walk across the entire world in search of California, he’d probably be admitted to an old folk’s home, but Mahlberg’s film sets this man free from his age and into an old world made new again. Change clicks on and off inside of him and proves that coming-of-age is a process that occurs over and over again throughout our lives. We’re never too old to dial a friend across the world and confess to needing something new before everything feels done forever and for always.

    Rating 3 / 5 : See it …..  It’s Good

    http://youtu.be/h4s-sJBRVDA

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  • REVIEW: Silvi (Maybe Love)

     

    by Christopher McKittrick

    During a routine, 47 year-old Silvia (Lina Wendel) is told by her husband that he is moving out. Silvia knew their passionless marriage was essentially over anyway, but it still comes as a shock.  With little to call her own and never being with anyone besides her husband, Silvia begins her search for love, because, as she tells someone else, “Actually, everyone wants someone to hold…someone who loves and comforts you. If that’s not happening… something inside withers away. You become a lone warrior.”

    However, each one of Silvia’s subsequent relationships goes awry, even when she opens herself up to new experiences.  These relationships are bridged with scenes in which she is speaking with someone whose identity isn’t made exactly clear, but they almost seem like therapy sessions.  What she can’t find is a normal relationship.  She tries personal ads, but her date with her first caller goes downhill pretty quickly although they overcome their awkward introduction.  Each relationship she gets in seems to hold great potential, but they all fade for various reasons.  She also has to come to terms with the truth that she has been treated unfairly by her husband during their whole life together.



    Silvi explores the trouble faced by a middle-aged woman just out of a lengthy, loveless marriage trying to find true love. I suppose this is sort of a dramatic German version How Stella Got Her Groove Back, meaning I may be the wrong audience for this.  Still, Silvia’s difficulties and deep sadness is affecting, as is the fact that she never gives up.



    There were certainly some confusing moments – Silvia’s son is briefly introduced in the film, makes out with his girlfriend, and then disappears from the narrative.  I guess this was supposed to be a contrast with Silvia’s love life (or lack thereof), but her sadness is clear from Wendel’s emotive acting.  The “talking head” sequences could have probably been more effective if it was clear who she was speaking to (Silvia has a close friend in the film, so why not use her?)  Director/co-writer Nico Sommer has a great actress and a universal story – one doesn’t have to be a 47 year-old recently-separated woman to connect with Silvia’s search for love – but I can’t say I found much more to connect with beyond Wendel’s strong performance and her character’s admirable persistence.

    Rating 3 / 5 : See it …..  It’s Good

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  • Cannes Selects The The Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury for the 2013 Festival

    The Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury were revealed for the 66th Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival), taking place May 15 – 26, 2013. The members of the jury include Jane CAMPION, President – Film director/New Zealand; Maji-da ABDI Actress, director, producer/Ethiopia; Nicoletta BRASCHI Actress, producer/Italy; Nandita DAS Actress, director/India; and Semih KAPLANOĞLU Director, writer, producer/Turkey.

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  • AN INTRODUCTION TO: Damon Terry, Up-and-Coming Filmmaker

    by DeVon Hyman

    It is an age old conclusion that experience is the best teacher. A hands on tool when applied can be the greatest conduit to redemption, and maturation.  An a youngster, Indy filmmaker Damon Terry;’s life was marred by much trial and tribulation. At his own doing, he became a young man on his way to being a statistic for all intents and purposes. Stereotypically, and similar to many others reared in the environment which spawned his upbringing. Ultimately landing in prison, Terry used the time to reflect and rectify. Overhauling not only his perspective, but his goals in life he was ready for his second chance at freedom, and opportunity. When it came, he hit the grown running; inspired by a restored faith in a highpower, whom he praises at every moment, Damon Terry was moved by a calling to literature and eventually script-writing. A passion was born, a career iniated, and the rest, is the subject for documentation. Often compared to others whose platform of the gospel, has brought upon exponential success, Damon Terry seeks to follow in that path, yet in a uniquely refreshing manner which adds to the intrigue of this brothers existence. I present to you, the life and times of Independent filmmaker Damon Terry. 

    First off for those who are not familiar with your work, please tell us a little about your credentials thus far:

    Praise the Lord everybody, I am a writer of the Gospel, I write films, I create television shows, I create ringtones, I write stage plays, Greeting cards, and I also write books. I have created over 100 single projects in the last four in a half years.

    As a director you have been quite successful with the commercials and such mentioned, describe the point where you made the decision to transition to filmmaker?

    All the work that the Lord has provided such as the commercials that are listed are all hand written work ready to be pitched. The Lord did not just allow me to write films or stage plays, I have written over 20 commercials. I have not directed any of my own but I have worked on featured films behind the scene and television shows and have been taught by some of the best in the business and paid attention to their craft and learned from them. First featured film I worked with director Jeb Stuart and continued on to work with Jeff Rose and Victor Hobson which I watched and learned a lot of great things from and many, many more. The Lord allowed me around such great individuals to learn this craft and now I am able to direct featured films and short films, television shows and stage plays by myself and with help from a great team. Every great director needs a great team of people to make the production happen.

    You own and operate two brands simultaneously correct. What are those brands, and their objective?

    I am owner and founder of Let God be The Truth and every Man a Liar Production LLC. My first main objective is to save souls. Second to promote the truth of the Gospel all over the world to present the miracle that was put in me with no knowledge of writing in script format or God these films are going to touch lives there going to make people aware that God is real and no matter what test or trial that you can be victorious over all things it’s a held accountable Gospel the sermon pieces in the movie is the reason why this is a true Gospel film.

    Your core support if you will has been largely in part within the gospel community, how hard is it as a man of great faith and value to make your mark in the entertainment industry, all be it directing but still, an industry where success comes from pushing the envelope with ideas?

    Actually the support is quite equal with the Gospel community and the non-Gospel community because a lot of people are aware of the miracle that was put in me and on how I started writing my testimony turns the nonbelievers into believers. I have to endure a lot of test and trials as I am a man of God coming into this entertainment business with four in a half years of knowledge of the business in promoting to the world that this is a miracle from God it’s going to make some people feel some type of way. But the most difficult part about pitching the films to the entertainment business is that a lot of them don’t believe in God. I promote to the world that everything that the Lord has put in me which is a true miracle has never ever been successfully presented to the world before and I can prove it.

    Your past is public record of course, and you have been extremely candid in your interviews and more about used to be, and the change that occurred- how did you find your way to the camera?

    My past life I was a gangster I sold a lot of drugs from state to state I terrorized coned tricked and deceived a whole lot of people and in December of 2008 I called out to the lord and said I don’t want to live like this anymore and that is when the Lord told me to write a movie and on that night the Lord deposited a dream inside of me then I woke at 4am and I wrote my first film” Practice What You Preach” and I wrote this 13 page script in 13 hours and from there continued writing and still have not stopped. I found my way to the camera by traveling pitching the movie scripts working behind the scenes with other productions learning the craft.

    “Practice what you preach” was your first script written correct? What’s the premise behind this screenplay. The cliche is highly utilized but what is unique about your spin on it, which ultimately will be played out on the big screen?

    “Practice What you Preach” was the first script that I wrote, and it’s about a preacher that did not practice what he preached a true Gospel drama. You can log onto juntoboxfilms.com and search “Practice What You Preach” and read my 25 minute knock you off your feet screen play book teaser, brace yourselves as you read. And witness the power from the Lord. This is the dream that was put in me. From start to finish. Featured full length industry standard script is also available.

    I must commend you on being a self-taught cinematographer; do you catch any flack from not having said the formal training that some of your contemporaries have?

    My training comes from the Lord so it’s going to be people that’s not going to support in anything that you do, I’m not self-taught I am God taught so I keep going and not allow others criticism to hinder me.

    You are originally from Ohio? What part? So many artists in all genres speak of the obstacle before them by way of living in smaller markets, have you experienced that same tribulation?

     I was born in Wood County; Parkersburg, West Virgina. I was raised in Tazewell Virginia and my parents moved me and my siblings to Columbus Ohio in 1991. To be honest I have had the same trials and tribulations making people aware of what I have to present to the world everywhere I go. The Lord has allowed me to travel to a lot of places and it’s a lot of people aware of what I have to offer from the large entertainment companies to the smaller entertainment companies and also a lot of Churches but I keep my faith and keep pushing. That I am taught from Bishop Edgar A. Posey out of Living Faith Apostolic Church in Columbus Ohio that the greater the test and trial the greater the reward. God is not going to put all this in me and not allow it to be successful. Somebody is going to plant the seed to invest the miracle that was put in me to present to the world. And whoever does so will reap 100 fold blessing on good grounds. 

    What do you say to those who question the entertainment value in “gospel films” or to those who humor that you are taking pages out of the TD Jakes and Tyler Perry handbook?

    A Damon Terry film is a true Gospel drama there is nothing Gospel based about a Damon Terry film everything that is put in me from the Lord a true miracle from the Lord is different there’s nothing old about the Lord all things are new so some people may say that I am something like Tyler Perry or TD jakes but that is not so. Because if my films that are put in me from the Lord were the same as there’s he would not put it in me. People have to understand with the Lord all things are new and I know the scripture says Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 9 says That there is no new thing under the sun and that means that the Lord has already done everything, everything is already in place so the Lord will use people that’s going to give him all the praise all the honor all the credit an all the glory to fulfill the ministry all the work that the Lord has put in me is going to change the entertainment industry forever.

    Ultimately for the audience what is the message of your screen plays?

    The main message in a Damon Terry film that the Bible is the inspired word of God that there’s one Lord one Faith and one baptism and that name of the Lord is Jesus in order to obtain salvation we believe an individual must be born of the water and of the Spirit by being baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and being filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence in speaking in other tongues as the Spirit of God gives the utterance. A Damon Terry film is going to show how people can stay saved while going through test and trials it’s going to show how people that are not of the Lord how to seek the Lord and stay in the walks of Lord. A Damon terry film is going to be a true blessing to the world it’s going to save souls it’s going to give hope it’s going to make people want to plant seeds on good grounds and I’m super excited to present it to the world because it’s going to happen.

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  • Kon-Tiki Raft Visits New York City

    The raft from the upcoming Weinstein Company (TWC) film, KON-TIKI, arrived in New York City last week where it remains until Monday, April 22nd.  

    The vessel is a replica of the balsawood raft sailed in the renowned 1947 “Kon-Tiki” voyage, upon which the film is based, and its arrival in New York was in advance of KON-TIKI’s theatrical release, which TWC has set for Friday, April 26th.

    Before being used in directors Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg’s KON-TIKI, the fifteen-ton raft crossed the Pacific Ocean under the name “Tangaroa.” The 2006 expedition, which followed the original “Kon-Tiki” route from Peru to Polynesia, was completed in three months by a group of six; included in the crew was Olav Heyerdahl, grandson of Kon-TIki leader and scientist Thor Heyerdahl. His 1947 raft is housed in Oslo’s Kon-Tiki Museum.

    The film Kon-Tiki is based on the story of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl who crossed the Pacific ocean in a balsa wood raft in 1947, together with five men, to prove that South Americans back in pre-Columbian times could have crossed the sea and settle on Polynesian islands. After gathering financing for the trip with loans and donations, they set off on an epic 101 day-long journey across 4,300 miles, all while the world was watching. KON-TIKI tells about the origin of Heyerdahl’s idea and the events surrounding the group’s voyage. 

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  • William Oldroyd’s ‘Best’ Wins 2013 Sundance London Short Film Competition

    Best, a five-minute film from Surrey, UK filmmaker William Oldroyd, is the winner of the Short Film Competition for the second Sundance London film and music festival, April 25-28, 2013.  The film will screen as part of the official Short Film Programme at the festival.

    In Best, with one man’s wedding moments away, he and his best friend confront their future.

    Oldroyd said: “I am privileged to have my short film presented in my home city as part of this year’s festival. There is no better champion of international, emerging film makers than Sundance Institute, and I am grateful for their endorsement and support. I’m really looking forward to meeting the other participants and glad that Best will now get a wider, more diverse audience.”

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