• 9 Short Films and 18 Student Films Selected for 2013 Cannes Film Festival

    Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’or,  at the 66th Festival de Cannes. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.  

    In the Cinéfondation Selection, 18 films (14 fiction films and 4 animated films) were selected from 277 film schools from all around the world. The Cinéfondation Selection features films from film students from a diversity of film schools, with a third of the schools being selected for the first time and one country – Chile – which has never previously been selected.

    SHORT FILMS IN COMPETITION:

    Ali  ASGARI; BISHTAR AZ DO SAAT (More than two Hours); 15′; Iran

    Mohammed  ABOU NASSER, Ahmad ABOU NASSER; CONDOM LEAD; 14′; Palestine, Jordan    

    Gudmundur Arnar GUDMUNDSSON; HVALFJORDUR (Whale Valley); 15′; Iceland, Denmark

    SASAKI Omoi; INSEKI TO IMPOTENCE (The Meteorite and Impotence); 10′; Japan

    Gilles COULIER; MONT BLANC; 14′; Belgium    

    Elzbieta BENKOWSKA; OLEN; 14’; Poland    

    Annarita ZAMBRANO; OPHELIA; 15’; France    

    MOON Byoung-gon; SAFE; 13’; South  Korea    

    Adriano VALERIO; 37°4 S; 11’; France    

     

    THE 2013 CINÉFONDATION SELECTION 

    Evgeny BYALO; THE NORM OF LIFE; 23’ ;  High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors, Russia

    Ana CARO; THE MAGNIFICENT LION BOY; 10’; NFTS, United Kingdom

    Eliška CHYTKOVÁ; O ŠUNCE (Ham Story); 6’; Tomas Bata University in Zlίn, Czech Republic

    Navid DANESH; DUET; 24’; Karnameh Film School, Iran

    Gan DE LANGE; BABAGA; 26’; The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School, Israel

    Anahita GHAZVINIZADEH; NEEDLE; 21’; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

    Sarah HIRTT; EN ATTENDANT LE DÉGEL (Waiting for the Thaw); 20’; INSAS, Belgium

    Alejandro IGLESIAS MENDIZÁBAL; CONTRAFÁBULA DE UNA NIÑA DISECADA (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl); 25’; CCC, Mexico

    Joey IZZO; STEPSISTER; 18’; San Francisco State University, USA

    JOW Zhi Wei; AU-DELÀ DE L’HIVER (After the Winter); 19′; Le Fresnoy, France

    Tudor Cristian JURGIU; ÎN ACVARIU (In the Fishbowl); 20′; UNATC, Romania

    KIM Soo-Jin; SEON (The Line); 27′; Chung-Ang University, South Korea

    Camila LUNA TOLEDO; ASUNCIÓN; 21′; Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile

    Jefferson MONEO; GOING SOUTH; 15′; Columbia University, USA

    Małgorzata RŻANEK; DANSE MACABRE; 5′; Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland

    Sebastián SCHJAER; MAÑANA TODAS LAS COSAS (Tomorrow All the Things); 17′; UCINE, Argentina

    Vladilen VIERNY; EXIL; (Exile); 16′; La fémis, France

    Matúš VIZÁR; PANDY (Pandas); 12′; FAMU, Czech Republic

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  • Documenta Madrid Unveils First Titles of 2013 Festival incl Oscar Nominated “The Gatekeepers”

    [caption id="attachment_3605" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Gatekeepers[/caption]

    The 10th International Festival of Documentary Cinema DOCUMENTA MADRID unveiled the first titles of the Official Selections for 2013, and will open May 5, 2013. with the controversial Oscar nominated documentary “The Gatekeepers”, featuring the Shin Bet, the Israeli domestic secret service agency. Directed by Dror Moreh, the film shows for the first time the inside operations of the agency, through the testimonies of six of its former directors. 

    The festival contest will have an Official Selection with 15 films, fourteen within the competitive section and a last film, out of contest, which will screen at the closing ceremony.  The festival revealed the first selections in the competitive section, including “Winters Nomads” directed by Manuel Von Struler, described as a beautifully filmed documentary which tells the everyday life of the last Swiss shepherds. The film has won, amongst many others, the 2012 Best Documentary Film European Award. 

    “The Act of Killing” is the documentary film winner of the Panorama Berlin 2013, and of the First Prize at the CPH 2012 (Copenhagen´s Documentary Cinema Festival) and shall be another of the competitive section selection. The film was directed by Joshua Oppenheimer together with Christine Cynn and an anonymous co-director, and tells the story of the atrocities committed by the sinister paramilitary groups in Indonesia during the 1960s, which ended up with the extermination of more than a million people. The film´s originality is that the story is told by the assassins themselves, who appear in it as if they were cinema starlets.

    The festival will also screen the 2001 Oscar winner Jean-Xavier de Lestrade latest film: “The Staircase 2. The Last Chance”. The film is the follow-up of the enthralling documentary series THE STAIRCASE which feature the trial of the writer Michael Peterson, charged with killing his wife, a case which was never solved. This new documentary film gives a turn to the story, reconsidering the basis of the approved sentence.

    THE GATEKEEPERS – Belgium/Germany/Israel/France. 2012. 96 min. – OPENING
    Director: Dror Moreh

    [caption id="attachment_3606" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Gatekeepers[/caption]

    For the first time ever, six former heads of Israel’s domestic secret service agency, the Shin Bet, share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions. 

    Since the Six Day War in 1967, Israel has failed to transform its crushing military victory into a lasting peace. Throughout that entire period, these heads of the Shin Bet stood at the center of Israel´s decision-making process in all matters pertaining to security. They worked closely with every Israeli prime minister, and their assessments and insights had –and continue to have- a profound impact on Israeli policy.

    “The gatekeepers” offers an exclusive account of the sum of their successes and failures. In the process it sheds light on the controversy surrounding the Occupation in the aftermath of the Six Day War.

    WINTER NOMADS – Switzerland. 2012. 90 min. 
    Director: Manuel von Stürler 

    [caption id="attachment_2894" align="alignnone" width="550"]Winter Nomads[/caption]

    Pascal, 53, and Carole, 28, are shepherds. In the month of November 2010, they embark on their long winter transhumance: four months during which they will have to cover 600 km in the Swiss-French region, accompanied by three donkeys, four dogs and a eight hundred sheep.

    An exceptional adventure is about to begin: they brave the cold and the bad weather day in day out, with a canvas cover and animal skins as their only shelter at night. This saga reveals a tough and exacting profession requiring constant improvisation and unflinching attention to nature, the animals and the cosmos.

    An odyssey through a region undergoing profound changes that render this kind of expedition more difficult every year, particularly when the grass for the sheep has to be found between villas, railroad tracks and industrial areas. An eventful journey with surprise encounters, moving reunions with farmer friends, nostalgic figures of country life that is shrinking away fast.

    A film dominated by the strong personalities of Pascal and Carole, whose relationship and joie de vivre transform this transhumance into a magnificent hymn to freedom, at opposite extremes of our comfortable reality.

    Winter Nomads is an adventure film, a contemporary road movie, a reflection of our current world, which takes us back to our roots and our inner questions.

    THE ACT OF KILLING – Denmark. 2012. 115 min.
    Director: Joshua Oppenheimer, codirected by Christine Cynn & anonymous associate

    [caption id="attachment_3607" align="alignnone" width="550"]THE ACT OF KILLING[/caption]

    When the government of Indonesia was overthrown by the military in 1965, more than one million people were killed in less than a year. Anwar and his friends were promoted from ticket scalpers to death squad leaders, and Anwar killed hundreds of people with his own hands. In The Act of Killing, Anwar and his friends agree to tell us the story of the killings. But their idea of being in a movie is not to provide testimony for a documentary: they want to be stars in their favourite film genres – gangster, western, musical. They write the scripts. They play themselves. And they play their victims. The Act of Killing is a nightmarish vision – a journey into the memories and imaginations of the unrepentant perpetrators and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

    THE STAIRCASE 2. THE LAST CHANCE – France, 2012, color, 130 min. –CLAUSURA – FUERA DE COMPETICIÓN
    Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade

    [caption id="attachment_3608" align="alignnone" width="550"]THE STAIRCASE 2. THE LAST CHANCE[/caption]
    ‘This is the sequel to the documentary thriller The Staircase, an eight-part miniseries from 2004 that meticulously reported events inside and outside the courtroom following the mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson. Were her injuries caused by falling down the stairs, as her husband Michael claimed, or was there foul play involved? The six-hour miniseries ended with the sentencing of Michael Peterson to life imprisonment for premeditated murder. In this sequel, the makers pick up the thread when Peterson files his appeal, after doubts have been raised about the reliability of expert witness testimony. Eight years after his conviction, there is a glimmer of hope that Michael Peterson will be released. But while his sons and adopted daughters remain as loyal to him as ever, his stepdaughter Caitlin has lost faith in his innocence. In addition to showing the ups and downs within the family, the film provides insight into the U.S. justice system, where often self-proclaimed “experts” play a crucial role in the interpretation of evidence. The Staircase 2 adds a new and revealing chapter to this thrilling epic.

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  • Maryland Film Festival Adds 12 More Films to 2013 Lineup incl. Here Comes The Devil, 16 Acres

     

    Maryland Film Festival taking place May 8-12, 2013, in downtown Baltimore added twelve more films to their 2013 film lineup, bringing the total number of feature films revealed so far to 36.

    The films announced today includes work from Finland, Mexico, Austria, and Israel, and such titles as Zach Clark’s holiday-themed, darkly comic White Reindeer;Alex Winter’s riveting look at the rise and fall of Napster, Downloaded; Jessica Oreck’s experiential documentary about a family of reindeer herders, Aatsinki; and Calvin Reeder’s surreal, horror-tinged mindbender about a mysterious loner, The Rambler.

    Today’s announced features for Maryland Film Festival 2013 are: 

    16 ACRES (Richard Hankin)

    From the editor and co-producer of Capturing the Friedmans comes this riveting and nuanced documentary look at the rebuilding of Ground Zero-one of the most architecturally, politically, and emotionally complex urban renewal projects in history.

    AATSINKI: THE STORY OF ARCTIC COWBOYS (Jessica Oreck) 

     

    One year in the life of a family of reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland yields an immersive study of hard work, hard earned leisure, and an intricate bond between man and nature. From the director ofBeetle Queen Conquers Tokyo.

    BEFORE YOU KNOW IT (PJ Raval) 

    This observational documentary raises the curtain on a profoundly neglected segment of the LGBT community, its senior population, as three gay men residing in very different regions of the U.S. face new life challenges.


    BLUEBIRD (Lance Edmands)

    In the frozen woods of an isolated Maine logging town, one woman’s tragic mistake shatters the balance of the community, resulting in profound and unexpected consequences.


    DOWNLOADED (Alex Winter) 

     

     With remarkable insight and access, this documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of Napster, taking a close look at the internet mavericks and musicians involved and the lasting global impact of peer-to-peer file sharing.

     
    HERE COMES THE DEVIL (Adrián García Bogliano) 

    From Mexico comes this horror film concerning disappeared children and panicked parents, offering ever-escalating thrills as it heads to increasingly bloody, diabolical, and even psychedelic territory.


    FILL THE VOID (Rama Burshtein) 

    This drama set in Tel Aviv’s Orthodox community centers around 18-year-old Shira, who faces unexpected life challenges when her older sister dies.

     
    GOOD OL’ FREDA (Ryan White) 

     

    Freda Kelly was just a shy Liverpudlian teenager when she was asked to work for a local band hoping to make it big. That band was The Beatles, and Freda was their devoted secretary and friend for 11 years; this documentary tells her story-and the story of the world’s most famous band through her eyes.


    MUSEUM HOURS (Jem Cohen) 

    From the director of Benjamin Smoke and Instrumentcomes this gentle and expertly crafted drama about a Vienna museum guard and the friendship he forms with a woman visiting town to care for a sick friend.


    THE RAMBLER (Calvin Reeder) 

    Dermot Mulroney, Lindsay Pulsipher, and Natasha Lyonne star in the latest psychotronic vision from the director of The Oregonian, in which a mysterious loner, newly released from prison, sets out on a journey filled with bizarre characters and warped experiences.


    WE ALWAYS LIE TO STRANGERS (AJ Schnack and David Wilson) 

    A documentary story of family, community, music and tradition, built over five years and set against the backdrop of Branson, Missouri, one of the biggest tourist destinations in America.


    WHITE REINDEER (Zach Clark) 

    After an unexpected tragedy, Suzanne searches for the true meaning of Christmas during one sad, strange December in suburban Virginia. From the director of Vacation! and Modern Love Is Automatic.

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  • Documentary ‘Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay’ Opens in NY on April 17 and in LA on May 17

    The documentary ‘Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay’, directed by Molly Bernstein and Alan Edelstein, and an official selection of the 2012 New York Film Festival, opens in NYC at Film Forum on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 and at the Nuart in Los Angeles on May 17, 2013.

    What happens when documentary filmmakers, whose mission is to probe, explore, reveal, take as their subject one of the world’s greatest living magicians, whose life and art are basically off limits to probing, exploration, and revelation? More than a decade in the making, Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay is the captivating result of this curious conundrum: a mesmerizing journey into the world of modern magic and the small circle of eccentric geniuses who mastered it. 


     

    At its center is the multitalented Ricky Jay, a best-selling author and historian, an acclaimed actor, a leading collector of antiquarian books and artifacts, but above all a conjurer capable of creating a profound sense of wonder and disbelief in even the most jaded of audiences.   Told largely in Ricky’s own inimitable voice, Deceptive Practice the story of his achievement, from his early apprenticeship, beginning at age 4, with his grandfather Max Katz, an accomplished amateur magician, as well as Al Flosso, Slydini, Cardini, Francis Carlyle, and Roy Benson, all of who were among the best magicians of the 20th century.   The film weaves together stunning performance footage from his one-man shows and classic TV appearances, and also includes friends and collaborators such as Steve Martin (who joins him in a hilarious turn on a ’70s vintage Dinah Shore TV show) and David 

    http://youtu.be/Mky39dDsjtw

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  • Rooftop Films Returns for 2013, Kicks off with Short Films and “Frances Ha”

     [caption id="attachment_3580" align="alignnone" width="550"]Frances Ha[/caption]

    Rooftop Films is back for the 17th Annual Summer Series, with this year’s edition kicking off on Friday, May 10th with a screening of what the festival describes as “some of the greatest new short films from all around the world”. On Saturday, May 11th, Rooftop will present a special sneak preview screening of “Frances Ha,” directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Greta Gerwig,

    Some highlights from this year’s Summer Series include New York premieres, sneak previews, and more:

    Rooftop will host a sneak preview screening of “Crystal Fairy,” starring Michael Cera and Gaby Hoffmann, directed by Sebastián Silva (“Old Cats,” “The Maid”), winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s award for Best Director Award in World Cinema. The director and cast members will be in attendance.

    On Saturday, July 13th, the documentary “Brasslands” will be presented with Arts Brookfield as part of the River To River Festival 2013 on the waterfront of Brookfield Place (formerly World Financial Center), with live performances by four Balkan brass bands, recreating the experience of the massive Serbian music festival that the film documents.

    On Saturday, May 25th, Jordan Vogt-Roberts returns to Rooftop with his hilarious feature film debut, “The Kings of Summer” (formerly “Toy’s House”), starring Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally.

    Continuing their partnership, Rooftop and BAMcinématek will host a party with a sneak preview of “Drinking Buddies,” directed by Rooftop alum Joe Swanberg and starring Anna Kendrick and Olivia Wilde, on Thursday, June 27th, outdoors across the street from BAM. The filmmaker will be in attendance for the event.

    Rooftop will be screening many works by Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grantees in 2013, including two films that premiered at Sundance: the hit western “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints,” directed by David Lowery, and “Newlyweeds,” a stoner romantic comedy directed by Shaka King.

    Rooftop Films 17th Annual Summer Series Opening Weekend

    Friday, May 10, 2013
    This is What We Mean by 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, LES)

    Saturday, May 11, 2013
    Frances Ha (Dir. Noah Baumbach) (see main image)
    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, LES)

    Rooftop Films 17th Annual Summer Series Highlights

    Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (Dir. David Lowery)

    [caption id="attachment_3581" align="alignnone" width="550"]Ain’t Them Bodies Saints[/caption]
    “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.

    Brasslands (Dir. Meerkat Media Collective)

    [caption id="attachment_3582" align="alignnone" width="550"]Brasslands[/caption]
    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.

    Crystal Fairy (Dir. Sebastián Silva)

    [caption id="attachment_3583" align="alignnone" width="550"]Crystal Fairy[/caption]
    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.

    Drinking Buddies (Dir. Joe Swanberg)

    [caption id="attachment_3539" align="alignnone" width="550"]Drinking Buddies[/caption]
    Presented by Rooftop Films and BAMcinématek
    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.

    Newlyweeds (Dir. Shaka King)

    [caption id="attachment_3584" align="alignnone" width="550"]Newlyweeds [/caption]
    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.

    The Kings of Summer (Dir. John Vogt-Roberts)

    [caption id="attachment_3585" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Kings of Summer[/caption]
    A unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends 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.

     

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  • Pedro Almodovar’s I’M SO EXCITED! Opens June 28, 2013

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    I’M SO EXCITED!, written and directed by famed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar opens in the US on June 28, 2013 two weeks after premiering at  the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival.

    In the new comedy by Pedro Almodóvar, and starring  Antonio de la Torre, Hugo Silva, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Laya Martí, Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces, Raul Arevalo, José María Yazpik, Guillermo Toledo, José Luis Torrijo, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth, Blanca Suárez, a very mixed group of travelers are in a life-threatening situation on board a plane flying to Mexico City.

    A technical failure has endangered the lives of the people on board Peninsula Flight 2549. The pilots are striving, along with their colleagues in the Control Center, to find a solution. The flight attendants and the chief steward are atypical, baroque characters who, in the face of danger, try to forget their own personal problems and devote themselves body and soul to the task of making the flight as enjoyable as possible for the passengers, while they wait for a solution. Life in the clouds is as complicated as it is at ground level, and for the same reasons, which could be summarized in two: sex and death.

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  • 5 Documentaries to Watch at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival

    by Morgan Davies

    The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off in downtown Manhattan this week, and while movies with big stars like The English Teacher (with Julianne Moore and Nathan Lane) and Almost Christmas (with Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd) may get most of the attention from the press, many of the festival’s best films are likely to be less-seen documentaries. Here are five to look out for.

    Mistaken for Strangers 

    Unlike previous festivals, which have opened with the likes of Spider-Man 3 and The Avengers, Tribeca will officially begin this year with Mistaken for Strangers (see main image), a documentary (or mock-documentary) by Tom Berninger, brother of Matt Berninger, the frontman of Brooklyn-based indie rock band The National. Described as “embodying the wherewithal of a Christopher Guest character” in the official description of the film, Tom went on tour with his brother’s band as a roadie-cum-documentarian, and what started out as a mockumentary project grew into something more. In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Matt said the film kept getting closer and closer to reality: “We crafted some of it to tell that story, and we’re not calling it a pure documentary, but it’s a very honest, personal narrative that we started chasing.”

    http://youtu.be/FUjBue7XggQ

    Bridegroom

    With the Supreme Court set to make a ruling on the constitutionality on California’s Prop 8 this summer, same-sex marriage is on everybody’s mind these days. Bridegroom, the debut documentary feature by Linda Bloodworth Thomason, is right on the zeitgeist: it focuses on Tom, a young man who must “fac[e] the failure of same sex marriage protections that leave him completely shut out and ostracized” in the wake of his partner Shane’s untimely death.

    Gasland Part II

    Gasland, Josh Fox’s 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary, was instrumental in starting the national conversation about the effects of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on the land and the people living on it. In his follow-up, Fox once again “examines the long-run impact of the controversial process, including poisonous water, earthquakes and neurological damage, placing his focus on the people whose lives have been irreparably changed.” By looking at anti-fracking protesters and movements and the corporations on the other side of the battle, Gaslands Part II promises to expand and deepen the conversation even further.

    Oxyana

    Funded by Kickstarter, Oxyana is Sean Dunne’s debut documentary feature, focusing on the small town of Oceana, West Virginia, which has become plagued by rampant prescription drug addiction in the wake of the vanishing coal industry. With a score by alt-country band Deer Tick and beautiful photography as seen in the film’s haunting trailer, the film – described as “unflinchingly intimate” – promises to be something special.

    Flex is Kings

    All dance aficionados owe it to themselves to watch the captivating film above, which features footage of twenty-one “flex” dancers from East New York in Brooklyn. Flex is a rapidly-growing style of dance native to Brooklyn that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. In this documentary, filmmakers Deirdre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols combine “majestic choreographed set pieces” with a focus on three central characters: Reem, Flizzo, and Jay Donn. Billed as “a sparkling testament to the freeing power of art and a powerful visual celebration of the beauty born when raw energy is directed toward the creative process,” this isn’t one to miss.

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  • Love Is All You Need Starring Pierce Brosnan, Opens in NY on May 3rd

    Love Is All You Need diirected by Oscar Winner Susanne Bier opens May 3, 2013 at Lincoln Plaza and Landmark Sunshine Cinemas in NY

    The film, an official selection at Toronto International Film Festival 2012 and Venice International Film Festival 2012, stars Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Molly Blixt Egelind, Sebastian Jessen, Paprika Steen, Kim Bodnia, Christiane Schaumburg-Müller, Micky Skeel Hansen.

    In the film, Philip (Brosnan), a well-off Englishman living in Denmark, is a long-time bachelor and single father. Ida (Dyrholm) is an attractive, middle-aged Danish hairdresser who has just conquered cancer only to find her husband in bed with his secretary, Thilde. Their two fates collide at the airport as they embark upon a trip to Italy to attend the wedding of Patrick and Astrid, Phillip’s son and Ida’s daughter.

    With warmth, affection and confidence, Susanne Bier has shaken a cocktail of love, loss,absurdity, humor, and delicately drawn characters that will leave only the hardest heart untouched. It is a film about the simple yet profound pains and joys of moving on – and forward – with your life.

     In Danish, English and Italian with English subtitles.

    http://youtu.be/v4B02wHam_U

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  • USA Film Festival Unveils 2013 Lineup, incl The Way, Way Back, Manhunt

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    The USA Film Festival released the schedule of events for the 43rd Annual USA Film Festival, April 24 – 28, 2013 to be held at the Angelika Film Center, in Dallas, Texas.

    This year’s program include a salute to veteran indie distributor Jeff Lipsky, Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash present The Way, Way Back (main image), veteran documentary filmmaker Greg Barker presents Manhunt (pictured above) and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason’s documentary Bridegroom.

    Other highlights include actress/writer Abby Miller presents Congratulations, director Susan Seidelman presents The Hot Flashes, Caesar Must Die from Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, and Kevin Connolly’s documentary Big Shot (pictured above).

    The festival will also screen new films from femme filmmakers, Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell and Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely (pictured above),  Japanese anime feature The Princess and the Pilot, feature documentaries Blackfish (dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite), Free the Mind (dir. Phie Ambo) and More Than Honey (dir. Markus Imhoof).

    Films from hometown – Texas – talent include writer/director David Gordon Green with his new feature Prince Avalanche (pictured above), Actress Amy Acker presents Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, Writer Joey O’Bryan’s Hong Kong thriller, Motorway, gets the big screen treatment, writer Brad Hennig presents The Hot Flashes (a feature film created to support awareness for cancer screenings), and  Dallas filmmakers Drew Rist and Don Merritt present their documentary Bottled Up, the Dublin Dr Pepper story.

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  • Kinky Lesbians and U-Locks in “Sweet Ride” at 2013 Filmed by Bike

    The short film “Sweet Ride” directed by Ilima Considine, singer of The Sexbots, will show during Filmed by Bike, a film festival of the best bike themed movies from around the world, April 20-23, 2013 at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton Street in Portland, Oregon.

    The film features a lesbian love nest with a Sprockette and a greasy bike mechanic, kinky sex involving a bike helmet, someone gets beaten into a coma with a U-lock and what the filmmaker best describes as “or, as my Asian mom said, “I can’t watch this.”

    Considine’s debut short in 2011’s Filmed by Bike was about a pair of friends who shared a fetish for bike mechanics, just like the director.  She has claimed that this 4-minute short was a thinly veiled excuse to make out with a Sprockette and beat someone with a bike lock.

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  • DVD: Canadian Sci-Fi Horror Film The Corrupted Gets A Summer Release Date

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    The Canadian sci-fi horror film The Corrupted will be released this summer on DVD, VOD,by Eagle One Media. Directed by John Klappstein and Knighten Richman, The Corrupted, features Keltie Squires, Shaun Tisdale (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil), Ashley Tallas, Jeremy Hook, and Anuj Saraswat.

    Shot in Alberta, Canada, The Corrupted was nominated for six (Alberta Media Production Industry Association) AMPIAS Awards including Best Feature, Best Special Effects, and Best Screenplay. 

    The Corrupted is described as “Spring Break meets HP Lovecraft. Where it’s all fun and games…until someone gets infected.”

    A man quietly strums his guitar at the edge of a tranquil lake in the middle of the night. Through the darkness a beautiful young woman emerges along the shoreline, silent and mysterious. She approaches and whispers
    something into his ear. When she beckons, he has no choice but to follow. When his friends arrive for a weekend of partying, its obvious…something in him has changed. What did the woman tell him? Why does he seem so
    distant? Where did she take him? The Corrupted is an intellectual sci-fi horror thriller feature film produced in Canada and directed by John Klappstein and Knighten Richman.

    http://youtu.be/g011KyNH4JY

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  • AMPAS Cocktail Party to Inaugurate the Future Home of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

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    On Thursday, April 11, 2013, the Academy Museum of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held the inaugural celebration for the future home of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures at the historic Wilshire May Company Building in Los Angeles. Guest in attendance included Annette Bening (left), Co-Chair of The Academy Museum, Warren Beatty (center) and Academy Governor Jim Gianopulos (all pictured above).

    Academy President Hawk Koch (left) and Jerry Bruckheimer during the inaugural celebration for the future home of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at the historic Wilshire May Company Building in Los Angeles.

    credit: Todd Wawrychuk / ©A.M.P.A.S.

    The inaugural celebration for the future home of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at the historic Wilshire May Company Building in Los Angeles.

    credit: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.

    Rachel McAdams (left), Laurence Mark (center) and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson during the inaugural celebration for the future home of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at the historic Wilshire May Company Building in Los Angeles.

    credit: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.

    Jason Schwartzman (left), Ellen Harrington (center), Academy Director of Exhibitions and Special Events, and Academy Governor John Lasseter during the inaugural celebration for the future home of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at the historic Wilshire May Company Building in Los Angeles.

    credit: Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.

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