[caption id="attachment_3110" align="alignnone" width="550"]Alex (Alex Karpovsky) in Red Flag.[/caption]

Tribeca Film will release two upcoming features from writer/director/actor Alex Karpovsky (“Girls”) – Red Flag and Rubberneck – in a unique double feature theatrical run at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in New York, starting on February 22, 2013.

Rubberneck described as “a slow-burn character study-turned-psychosexual thriller” had its world premiere at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Co-written by Karpovsky and Garth Donovan, the film “is a chillingly believable story of workplace romance gone wrong.” Months after a weekend fling, Boston research scientist Paul (Karpovsky) continues to lust after his beautiful coworker Danielle (Jamie Ray Newman), nurturing his fantasies with the occasional polite exchange at work. But once she starts dating another scientist at their lab, his infatuation quickly turns into obsession – and he finds himself unable to control his desires.

Red Flag world-premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival, went on to win multiple awards at other festivals, and was recently nominated for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You at the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards.

Red Flag is described as “a laugh-out-loud road trip comedy, starring writer/director Alex Karpovsky (“Girls,” Tiny Furniture) as Alex Karpovsky, a newly-single indie filmmaker who hits the road with an old friend (Onur Tukel) to promote one of his films. As the pair travels from one half-empty theater to the next, pursued by an adoring fan (Jennifer Prediger) who drives them into an exceptionally uncomfortable love triangle, Alex-as-Alex is forced to suffer an endless series of humiliations, each one more absurd than the last.”

Karpovsky is one of the stars of the smash HBO series Girls and has appeared in films such as Tiny Furniture, Sleepwalk With Me, and Beeswax; in early 2013, he will be seen in the Coen Brothers’ new feature Inside Llewyn Davis, as well as Supporting Characters (a January 2013 Tribeca Film release). As a writer-director, his prior films include Woodpecker and The Hole Story.

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 [caption id="attachment_3108" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Waiting Room – A film by Peter Nicks[/caption]

PBS continues it support of independent film with the return of the second annual Online Film Festival and the Independent Film Showcase in the Fall.

PBS’ Online Film Festival, beginning March 4  will showcase 25 short films and viewers will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite short film from March 4 through March 22; the film with the most votes will receive the People’s Choice Award.The winning film will be announced in early April.

Additionally, this fall, PBS will present a four-week Independent Film Showcase with programs airing Monday nights at 10 p.m.(broadcast dates TBD). The Showcase will feature films from the landmark series POV and INDEPENDENT LENS.

The featured films include the following (air dates are TBD):

“56 Up”- POV A film by Michael Apted

“56 Up” is the eighth film in a series of landmark documentaries that began 49 years ago when UK-based Granada’s World in Action team, inspired by the Jesuit maxim “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man,” interviewed a diverse group of seven-year-old children from all over England, asking them about their lives and their dreams for the future. Michael Apted, a researcher for the original film, has returned to interview the “children” every seven years since, at ages 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and now at age 56. In this latest chapter, more life-changing decisions are revealed, more shocking announcements are made and more of the original group takes part than ever before, speaking out on a variety of subjects including love, marriage, career and class.

“Brooklyn Castle”- POV A film by Katie Dellamaggiore

Imagine a school where the cool kids are the chess team. Welcome to I.S. 318.”Brooklyn Castle”tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives -and on the chessboard – and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about anticipation of their victories.

“Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey” – INDEPENDENT LENS A film by Ramona Diaz

For Arnel Pineda, the past five years have been the stuff that dreams are made of. In 2007, hisfriend began uploading videos of the aspiring Filipino singer covering classic rock songs onto YouTube. One of the videoswas seen by Neal Schon, guitarist for the iconic rock band Journey. Blown away by Pineda’s talent and uncanny vocal similarity to former Journey front man Steve Perry, Schon flew Pineda from Manila to San Francisco to audition for the band.The rest is history. But Pineda’s personal journey had just begun. His mother died when he was 12 and he ended up on the streets. And with no classical music training, he was anything but prepared for the grueling physical and emotional strains that come from fronting a rock band on a whirlwind world tour. Can a man who has already overcome so many obstacles deal with the demands of his newfound fame?

“The Waiting Room” – INDEPENDENT LENS A film by Peter Nicks

“The Waiting Room” is an immersive documentary film that interweaves several stories that unfold in surprising ways in the ER waiting room at Oakland, California’s Highland Hospital-a facility stretched to the breaking point. The film is an intimate rendering of the story of our health care system at a moment of great change, told through the eyes of people stuck-sometimes for up to 14 hours-in the waiting room. The program tells the story of a remarkably diverse populationbattling their way through seismic shifts in the nation’s health care system while weathering the storm of a national recession. It’s a film about one hospital, its multifaceted community, and how our common vulnerability to illness binds us together. “This is the rare film that can change the way you think and see the world,” says The San Francisco Chronicle.

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Variance Films will release Terence Nance’s award-winning debut, AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY in US and Canadian theaters beginning April 12th, 2013. Cinema Guild will then release the film on DVD and digital platforms in late summer 2013.

AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY, which debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and winner of 2012 Gotham Award for “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” documents the relationship between Terence and a lovely young woman (Namik Minter) as it teeters on the divide between platonic and romantic. Utilizing a tapestry of live action and multiple styles of animation, Terence explores the fantasies, emotions, and memories that race through his mind as he examines and re-examines a singular moment in time. Executive producers of the film include Jay-Z, Wyatt Cenac, Dream Hampton, and Joy Bryant.

“It’s been a long road for this film. We first rolled camera in 2006, and on that day I never would have imagined that this day would come,” said Terence Nance. “I’m extremely excited to be partnering with Dylan and Variance to bring AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY to theaters. They are fearless defenders of the theatrical experience, and I’m convinced the best place to see this film is at a theater near you.”

AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY will be the third Variance Films release from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, after Spike Lee’s RED HOOK SUMMER and Mark Webber’s THE END OF LOVE (in theaters March 1st). Variance’s next release will be Dave Grohl’s SOUND CITY, a 2013 Sundance Film Festival selection, in theaters February 1st.

AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY is a Media MVMT production, and was produced by Terence Nance, Andrew D Corkin and James Bartlett. The deal was negotiated by Dylan Marchetti on behalf of Variance Films and by Traction Media on behalf of the producers.

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