• New Panel and Film Titles Announced for 2012 SXSW

    [caption id="attachment_2333" align="alignnone"]Safety Not Guaranteed [/caption]

    New Panel and Film Titles Announced have been added to the 2012 South by Southwest festival, joining the74 world premieres, 17 North American premieres and 11 US premieres in the full lineup.

    NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT

    Blue Like Jazz

    Director: Steve Taylor | Screenwriters: Donald Miller, Steve Taylor, Ben Pearson
    A Texas college student flees the hypocrisy of his religious upbringing for life in the Pacific Northwest at ‘the most godless campus in America.’ Based on the New York Times bestseller by Donald Miller.
    Cast: Marshall Allman, Claire Holt, Tania Raymonde, Justin Welborn, Eric Lange
    (World Premiere)

    Nature Calls

    Director & Screenwriter Todd Rohal
    Polar-opposite brothers Randy (Oswalt) and Kirk (Knoxville) never saw eye-to-eye, but their rivalry is taken to a new level when Randy hijacks Kirk’s son’s sleepover, taking the boys on a Scout Trip to remember.
    Cast: Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggle, Maura Tierney, Patrice O’Neal, Darrell Hammond
    (World Premiere)

    EMERGING VISIONS

    King Kelly

    Director: Andrew Neel | Screenwriters: Mike Roberts
    Made entirely from camera-phone footage, King Kelly is a sensational journey into hedonistic American youth culture and the YouTube generation.
    Cast: Louisa Krause, Libby Woodbridge, Roderick Hill, Will Brill, Patrick Murney
    (World Premiere)

    Low & Clear

    Directors: Kahlil Hudson, Tyler Hughen
    Two formerly close friends reunite for a fly-fishing trip and struggle to understand how much they’ve each changed – and how these changes now threaten the friendship.
    (World Premiere)

    24 BEATS PER SECOND

    Lost and Sound (UK)
    Director: Lindsey Dryden
    Music may be an essential part of being human – but what if you lost the ability to hear it? A dancer, a pianist and a music critic attempt to re-discover music after deafness, with astonishing results.
    (World Premiere)

    Searching for Sugar Man (Sweden, UK)

    Director: Malik Bendjelloul
    The true story of the greatest ‘70s US rock icon who never was, how he was rediscovered and finally became the legend he deserved to be. A story of hope, inspiration and the power of music.

    Shut Up and Play the Hits

    Directors: Will Lovelace, Dylan Southern
    The final days of LCD Soundsystem.

    SXGLOBAL

    GLOBAL HOME (Germany)

    Director: Malik Bendjelloul
    Director Eva Stotz visited interesting people all over the world whom she found through online-host-networks and emerged for a limited time in their every-day-life.
    (World Premiere)

    The Will (Denmark)

    Director: Christian Sønderby Jepsen
    Henrik dreams of a new beginning. But when Henrik’s grandfather dies, leaving behind a fortune of millions, old skeletons come to light.
    (North American Premiere)

    FESTIVAL FAVORITES

    Chasing Ice

    Director: Jeff Orlowski
    Photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change, but he discovers undeniable evidence. Balog reveals hauntingly beautiful, time-lapse videos of vanishing glaciers, while delivering hope to our carbon-powered planet.

    Compliance

    Director & Screenwriter: Craig Zobel
    When a prank caller convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee, no one is left unscathed. Based on true events.
    Cast: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp, Phil Ettinger, Ashlie Atkinson, James McCaffrey

    Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)

    Director & Screenwriter: Philippe Falardeau
    The story of an Algerian immigrant substitute teacher who brings emotional stability to a Montreal middle school class shaken by the tragic death of their well-liked teacher.
    Cast: Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Emilien Néron, Danielle Proulx, Brigitte Poupart

    Safety Not Guaranteed

    Director: Colin Trevorrow | Screenwriter: Derek Connolly
    A trio of magazine employees investigate a classified ad seeking a partner for time travel.
    Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni

    Sleepwalk With Me

    Director: Mike Birbiglia | Screenwriters: Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia, Seth Barrish
    An aspiring comedian reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up; a budding standup comedian has both a hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking.
    Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane, Cristin Milioti 

    SPECIAL EVENTS

    Coffin Joe’s “This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse” with live score by Gary Lucas (Brazil)

    Director: Jose Mojica Marins | Screenwriters: Jose Mojica Marins, Aldenora De Sa Porto
    Gary Lucas’ live original solo guitar soundtrack accompanying the legendary 1967 Brazilian cult horror film classic directed by and starring Jose Mojica Marins a/k/a Coffin Joe.
    Cast: Jose Mojica Marins a/k/a Coffin Joe, Tina Wohlers, Nadia Freitas, Antonio Fracari, Jose Lobo

    Yellow Submarine (1968) Newly Restored (UK)

    Director: George Dunning
    Once upon a time in an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, the Blue Meanies threaten to destroy all that is good. Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with their humour, songs, and yellow submarine, the Fab Four tackle the rough seas in an effort to bring down evil.
    Cast: The Beatles, Paul Angelis, John Clive

    NARRATIVE SHORTS

    Inquire Within

    Director: Jay Rosenblatt
    A hypnotic, apocalyptic film about false choices and faith. hn Clive

    MIDNIGHT SHORTS

    going to the store

    Director: David Lewandowski
    A normal man walks to a place.

    SXGLOBAL SHORTS

    The Little Team (Spain)

    Director: Roger Gómez, Daniel Resines
    Fourteen little kids go over an unsolved football mystery, and they end up teaching an unexpected life lesson to grown-ups.

    The Perfect Fit (Scotland, UK)

    Director: Tali Yankelevich
    Ballet shoes may be worn by delicate girls, but they’re crafted by burly men…

    Key panel additions include:

    A Conversation with Seth MacFarlane
    Funny or Die: Future of Comedy & Everything Else
    Meat is Might: Epic Meal Time Rules the Web
    Restoring History: 100 Years of Universal Films
    We Are Legion: Digital (R)Evolution

    The full Digital Domain lineup, which is the new program that aims to examine new direction in storytelling via web-based media, interactive documentary and more:

    Saturday, March 10

    Fact Checkers Unit: Making a Web Series
    Fleshlife: The Making of a Webseries
    Condition ONE – The Future of Mobile Video
    SU2C: Reinventing the PSA


    Sunday, March 11

    Prototyping The Future
    Screaming with Laughter: FEARnet TV’s Holliston
    Screw the Big Screen, We Have the Web!
    The Rise of Co-Created Storyworld Communities

    Monday, March 12 The

    Interactive Doc Showcase: Best of IDFA DocLab
    Dreams of Your Life: A Darkly Playful Experience
    Next Gen Content: A Conversation w/ Maker Studios
    Producing An Award-Winning Interactive Documentary
    Times Are a’Changin: Digital Storytelling Today

    Tuesday, March 13

    1,000 Voices: Redefining Creative Collaboration
    Funny Or Die’s How To Succeed In Videos By Trying
    Let’s Big Happy: Fox Digital Music & Comedy Series
    Make a BTS Web Series and Survive
    Your Web Series: From Concept to Distribution

     

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  • Lima native Gregory Pitts’ Karma to open 2012 Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival

    The 2012 Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival will officially open with Karma, an avant-garde film written and produced by Lima native Gregory Pitts.

    “I am blown away by how striking this film is,” says Executive Director Len Archibald. “It is the perfect film to re-introduce Gregory Pitts to the Lima public, as well as make a bold statement about the diversity of films we intend to screen at the Festival.” Karma is a film that analyzes an artist’s path as he attempts to live out his dreams.

    Gregory Pitts. whose cinematic works include five award-winning shorts that have screened at film festivals in Florida and Tennessee, also recently appeared as actor in The Transporter 2.

    “I am from Lima, and I’m proud of it,” says Mr. Pitts. “Lima has done great things for me. I owe it to my hometown to come back for this event. It means a lot to me to share my success with the community that helped me get to where I am today.”

    The Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival will be held July 6-8, 2012.

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  • 2012 Dallas International Film Festival Announces First Fifteen Titles

    [caption id="attachment_2074" align="alignnone"]DARLING COMPANION[/caption]

    The 2012 Dallas International Film Festival announced the first fifteen films chosen to screen at the festival scheduled to run April 12 – 22, 2012. The lineup includes two world premieres and nine Texas premieres.

    Legendary animator, director, author and illustrator Glen Keane, best known for his work on Disney classics such as ALADDIN, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, TARZAN, THE LITTLE MERMAID and TANGLED, was named this year’s honoree for the Texas Avery Animation Award presented by REEL FX. Keane has previously received the prestigious Winsor McCay Award, which is also presented for lifetime achievement in animation.

    Three selections were announced in the popular and coveted Texas Competition category: Dallas Cowboys documentary AMERICA’S PARKING LOT; SIRONIA which marks the return to Dallas for the majority of the cast and crew, including ANGEL (1999) actress Amy Acker; and the world premiere of Mark Potts’ CINEMA SIX which features the much-loved Barry Corbin.

    The fifteen official selections include:


    AMERICA’S PARKING LOT (USA)
    Director: Jonny Mars
    Two die-hard fans and leaders of the legendary ‘Gate 6’ tailgate party, spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium. When the Cowboys move 20 miles west to Arlington, the shifting politics and economics of major league sports threaten to dissolve the friendships and traditions they have built over 20 years and they scramble to preserve their place in AMERICA’S PARKING LOT.
    Category: Texas Competition

    ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Xan Aranda
    Filmed during culminating months of the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s most rigorous year of touring, Andrew Bird crosses the December finish line in his hometown of Chicago – feverish and on crutches from an onstage injury. FEVER YEAR is the first to capture Bird’s precarious multi-instrumental looping technique and features live performances at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater with collaborators Martin Dosh, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Michael Lewis and Annie Clark of St. Vincent.
    Category: Deep Ellum Sounds

    ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA, THE (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Directors: Dan Argott, Sheena Joyce
    Following the 2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake which hit Japan and caused chaos at the Fukushima Power Plant, the fierce debate over the safety and viability of nuclear power was back in the public consciousness. ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA takes the viewer on a journey to reactor communities around the country, exposes the truths and myths of nuclear power, and poses the question of whether or not man can responsibly split the atom.
    Category: Environmental Visions

    BIBA! ONE ISLAND, 879 VOTES (USA) – World Premiere
    Director: Benjamin Bloodwell
    BIBA! follows the rallies and debates of Trenton Conner and Henry San Nicolas in their battle for control over the Pacific island, Tinian. Along the way we learn about Tinian’s historic and geopolitical significance, being the launch point for the Enola Gay in World War II and presently the home of the Voice of America broadcasting towers, sending pro-democracy propaganda into China and North Korea.
    Category: Documentary Feature Competition

    BINDLESTIFFS (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Andrew Edison
    Three high school virgins, suspended from school on a bogus graffiti charge, flee to the inner city in an attempt to live out the plot of The Catcher in the Rye – a book they neither have read nor understand. Starring John Karma, Luke Loftin, Andrew Edison and Will Fordyce.
    Category: Midnight

    BROOKLYN BROTHERS BEAT THE BEST, THE (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Ryan O’Nan
    A singer-songwriter hits the road with a self-appointed music revolutionary.  Cast includes Ryan O’ Nan, Michael Weston, Arielle Kebbel, Andrew McCarthy, Jason Ritter, Wilmer Valderrama, Christoper McDonald and Melissa Leo
    Category: Premiere

    CINEMA SIX (USA) – World Premiere
    Director: Mark Potts
    Three small-town friends have to decide whether to keep their easy jobs at a movie theater or actually try to do something meaningful with their lives.
    Cast includes John Merriman, Mark Potts, Brand Rackley, Byron Brown, Lindsey Newell, Heather Wallis, Madi Goff, Chris Doubek, Cole Selix, Kevin M. Brennan, Maggie Carey, and Barry Corbin
    Category: Texas Competition

    DARLING COMPANION (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Lawrence Kasdan
    A story of a woman who loves her dog more than her husband and then her husband loses the dog. Cast includes Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins, Sam Shepard, Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss and Ayelet Zurer
    Category: Premiere

    DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Directors:  Lisa Immordino Vreeland, Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt, Frédéric Tcheng
    A look at the life and work of the influential fashion editor of Harpers Bazaar, Diana Vreeland
    Category: Premiere

    ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE (USA)
    Directors: Matthew Heineman, Susan Froemke
    ESCAPE FIRE exposes the perverse nature of American healthcare, contrasting the powerful forces opposing change with the compelling stories of pioneering leaders and the patients they seek to help. The film is about finding a way out, about saving the health of a nation.
    Category: Documentary Feature Competition

    GIRL MODEL (USA)
    Directors: David Redmon, A.Sabin
    GIRL MODEL follows a complex supply chain between Siberia, Japan, and the U.S. within the modeling industry. The story is told through the eyes of the scouts, agencies and a 13 year-old model.
    Category: Documentary Showcase

    LUV (USA) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Sheldon Candis
    Over the course of one day, a shy 13-year-old forms a bond with his troubled uncle as he shows the boy what it takes to be a man in Baltimore.
    Starring newcomer Michael Rainey, Jr., Common, Michael K. Williams, Danny Glover, Meagan Good and Charles S. Dutton
    Category: Narrative Feature Competition

    SIRONIA (USA)
    Director: Branda Dickerson
    A singer-songwriter beat up by the L.A. music machine who moves with his wife to Sironia, Texas. Starring Wes Cunningham, Amy Acker, Tony Hale, Jeremy Sisto, Courtney Ford, Carrie Preston and Robyn Lively
    Category: Texas Competition

    TORMENTED (JAPAN/NETHERLANDS) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Takashi Shimizu
    TORMENTED centers on a young boy whose family seems to be unraveling            around him. His sister is grappling with the reality of life or death, while his father walks a line with insanity. The situation intensifies when the boy manifests a dangerous friendship with a stuffed toy rabbit that comes to life.
    Starring Teruyuli Kagawa, Hikari Mitsushima, Nao Ohmori
    Category: Midnight

    WHERE DO WE GO NOW? (FRANCE, LEBANON, EGYPT, ITALY) – Texas Premiere
    Director: Nadine Labaki
    A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village.
    Starring Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Layla Hakim, Nadine Labaki, Yvonne Maalouf
    Category: World Cinema

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  • 4th Amazigh Film Festival in Los Angeles April 21 to 22

    The fourth Amazigh Film Festival returns to Los Angeles, Saturday April 21 and Sunday April 22, 2012, with documentaries, films, art, music and food of indigenous North Africa, the Berber and Tuareg cultures of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, the Canary Islands, Egypt and the Sahara desert.

    In keeping with the Moroccan theme selected for this year, the event will open with a montage of photos of Chechaouen, Northern Morocco city of the Rif Mountains, created by Amazigh Video productions of Burbank, to the music of KHALID IZRI, Tarifi (Rif Berber) composer, musician and performer of international fame, who will be among us on this occasion.

    Documentaries will include Dounia Ben Jelloun’s “Weaving of the Rif”, (10 minutes) “Earth Architecture of Southern Morocco” Director Abdellatif Attach (11:48) , narration by Ethnologist Mohamned Boussalaf, and “The Forgotten”, beautifully photographed in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco., directed by Zakaria Bati and Rachid AitAbdellah Ouali. (11:52)

    The last documentary “Waiting for the Snow” was filmed by Moroccan journalist Yassine el Idrissi in the Middle Atlas around the well known resort area of Ifrane, where the poverty of local rural Berbers is juxtaposed to the winter tourism. The young boy who starts in this documentary will steal your heart. (38 minutes) US PREMIERE

    The full length film shown during this festival is “Itto Titrit’ (“Morning Star”) by Amazigh film maker Mohamed Abbazi in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco. English sub-titles by Siddartha Abbazi.

    This year, L.A.F.F. is expanding to a second venue, THE ELECTRIC LODGE, 1416 Electric Avenue, Venice, 90291, presenting another outstanding film “Zohra, A Moroccan Fairy Tale “ by famous UK Director Barney Platts-Mills– AND AN ADDITIONAL CONCERT with special guest KHALID IZRI.

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  • New Poster and Trailer for BELOW ZERO Closing Night Film of 2012 Derby City Film Festival

    New Poster and trailer have been released for BELOW ZERO, the closing film of the 2012 Derby City Film Festival.

    The film will be also screening at the following festivals in the coming months:

    Derby City Film Festival (Louisville, Kentucky), 6pm Feb 19th

    Garden State Film Festival (New Jersey), March 24

    Indie Horror Film Festival (Chicago), March 24

    International Horror & Sci Fi / Phoenix Film Fest (Phoenix), TBA

    Dead By Dawn (Edinburgh, Scotland), TBA

    Litchfield Hills Film Festival (Litchfield, CT), TBA

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  • Tribeca Film to release Keanu Reeves film Side by Side

    Tribeca Film will release Side by Side, a film described as a provocative and illuminating journey through the technical and aesthetic implications of the transition from traditional film to digital technology. Produced and presented by Keanu Reeves and directed by Chris Kenneally, Reeves takes you on a tour of the past and the future of filmmaking in Side by Side.

    A summer release is planned for the film, which is having its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.

    Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium.   Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood’s masters, such as Danny Boyle, James Cameron, David Fincher, George Lucas, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Lars Von Trier, The Wachowskis, and many more.

    “Cinema is at a tipping point. Digital has challenged, and in some ways completely overturned, a process of making movies on photochemical film that has been a tradition for over one hundred years,” states Chris Kenneally, the director. “Side by Side is an intimate conversation between Keanu and the top professionals in the industry about this revolution and its impact.”

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  • The Artist wins seven BAFTAs at Orange British Academy Film Awards

    [caption id="attachment_2260" align="alignnone"]The Artist[/caption]

    The Artist was named Best Film at Orange British Academy Film Awards. The film also won six other awards: Director, Original Screenplay, Original Music, Cinematography, Costume Design as well as a performance award for Jean Dujardin who won the Leading Actor BAFTA.

    Other acting awards included Meryl Streep for Leading Actress for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady  and Christopher Plummer for Supporting Actor for his performance in Beginners.

    Outstanding British Film and Adapted Screenplay were awarded to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Senna won the Documentary and Editing BAFTAs. Pedro Almoldovar’s The Skin I Live in won the Film Not in the English Language category.

    Director Paddy Considine and Producer Diarmid Scrimshaw received the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for their first feature film Tyrannosaur, based upon the short film Dog Altogether that won them the Short Film BAFTA in 2008.

    2011 WINNERS
    (presented in 2012)

    BEST FILM
    THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann

    OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
    TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo,

    OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
    TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

    FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
    THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

    DOCUMENTARY
    SENNA Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey

    ANIMATED FILM
    RANGO Gore Verbinski

    DIRECTOR
    THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius

    ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
    THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius

    ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
    TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan

    LEADING ACTOR
    JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist

    LEADING ACTRESS
    MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady

    SUPPORTING ACTOR
    CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners

    SUPPORTING ACTRESS
    OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

    ORIGINAL MUSIC
    THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource

    CINEMATOGRAPHY
    THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman

    EDITING
    SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King

    PRODUCTION DESIGN
    HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

    COSTUME DESIGN
    THE ARTIST Mark Bridges

    MAKE UP & HAIR
    THE IRON LADY Marese Langan, Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland

    SOUND
    HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley

    SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
    HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery

    SHORT ANIMATION
    A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

    SHORT FILM
    PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O’Flynn

    THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
    ADAM DEACON

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  • It’s In The Blood to have Kentucky premiere at 2012 Derby City Film Festival

    Louisville natives Scooter Downey and Sean Elliot will have the Kentucky premiere of their film It’s In The Blood, a character-driven horror story starring veteran character actor Lance Henriksen, at the 2012 Derby City Film Festival.

    The public premiere at the festival is 8:00 PM February 18th at the Clifton Center in Louisville. The festival runs February 17th-19th.  It’s In The Blood has been nominated for best picture, and Lance Henriksen and Sean Elliot are up for best actor.

    Directed by Scooter Downey, It’s In The Blood is a wholly unique cinematic movement.  At its core a father son story, the film is a deconstruction of the prototypical “creature feature”, incorporating elements of mystical realism and psychological thriller.  We call it a Psyche-Saga.  Lance Henriksen, best known for his roles as Karl Bishop Weyland in the Aliens franchise and Frank Black in the TV series Millennium, stars in this nightmarish descent into the wilderness, the very heart of darkness where more than your guilt can eat you alive.

    The film is a true Lousville film. Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and best friends since kindergarten, Sean Elliot and Scooter Downey co-wrote and produced the film. The film was also largely developed in Louisville where the script was drafted and revised, the LLC was established, the business plan was developed, and 100% of the funding was raised.

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  • Documentary RAISING RENEE to Premiere on HBO 2 on February 22

    The documentary RAISING RENEE will premiere on HBO 2 on February 22.  The documentary is a touching look at two sisters, Renee, who is is a mentally disabled 43-year old named Renee who functions at the level of a third grader and her sister Beverly, a painter who vows to their mother that she will care for Renee.   Filmed over the course of six years, the film takes a look at the lives of Renee and Beverly and how they change each other’s lives.

    Artist Beverly McIver was enjoying a skyrocketing career as a painter when a casual yet life-changing promise made to her mother Ethel years before – to take care of her mentally disabled sister Renee – came due. RAISING RENEE follows the McIver family from the time when Ethel and Renee shared a home in Greensboro, NC, through Ethel’s illness and death, to the pivotal moment in 2004 when Beverly brought Renee to live with her in Phoenix, Arizona. The film chronicles Beverly’s promise to “raise” her sister, a 43-year-old woman who functions at the level of a third grader, and the way it transforms Beverly’s life at a time when she had hoped to focus on her burgeoning career and on finding a life partner. Raising Renee unfolds with humor, drama and unexpected twists, and provides a deeply intimate view of a unique family of women, the tenacity of family bonds, and the power of art to transform experience into something beyond words.

    Academy Award® nominated husband and wife filmmaking team Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan have been making documentary and fiction films for over 20 years and RAISING RENEE is the third in their Family Trilogy, including “Troublesome Creek” and “So Much So Fast.”  “Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern,” won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance, the Prix Italia, Peabody and IDA awards, and an Academy Award® nomination. Previously, “So Much So Fast” premiered at Sundance and was broadcast worldwide, including a special presentation on PBS’ “Frontline.”

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  • Tribeca Film to release Jenna Fischer’s The Giant Mechanical Man in the Spring

    Tribeca Film will release in the Spring, The Giant Mechanical Man, a character-driven, romantic comedy written and directed by Lee Kirk.

    Produced by and starring Jenna Fischer (The Office) the film features a cast that includes Chris Messina (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Topher Grace (Too Big to Fail), Malin Akerman (Watchmen, Rock of Ages), Rich Sommer (Mad Men), Lucy Punch (Dinner for Schmucks) and Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Mr. Show).

    The Giant Mechanical Man is a charming comedic romance between Janice (Jenna Fischer), a woman in her 30’s who has yet to learn how to navigate adulthood, and Tim (Chris Messina), a devoted street performer who finds that his unique talents as a “living statue” don’t exactly pay the bills.  Out of work and crashing with her overbearing sister (Malin Akerman), Janice is on the receiving end of well-intentioned but misguided pressure to date an egotistical self-help guru (Topher Grace). Everyone seems to know what’s best for Janice, but Tim helps her find her own voice and realize that it only takes one person to make you feel important.

    “From the minute Lee shared the script with me, I knew I wanted to be a part of this film – so much so that I decided to produce it.” said Jenna Fischer. “I was so drawn to my character and there’s something about Janice that is very relatable. I think we’ve all been at a crossroads in life when you’re trying to take the next step, but struggling with which direction to go; just when you think things will never get better you find something amazing like love.  It resonated with me and I couldn’t be more proud of how it turned out.”

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  • “RETURN” SHOWS US YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN: LINDA CARDELINNI GIVES A POWERHOUSE PERFORMANCE ABOUT A SOLDIER WHO JUST CAN’T SHAKE THE WAR

    by Francesca McCaffery

    There has rarely been such a non-formulaic and genuinely touching portrayal of a soldier returning home as Liza Johnson’s “Return,” starring the phenomenal Linda Cardelinni (“E.R.”) and always terrific Michael Shannon, opening today in limited release.

    To say a movie is independent film at is finest doesn’t even translate any longer, of course, but if it still does in any vernacular, this tiny, perfectly on-point little film is exactly it.

    Cardelinni plays Kelli, home from a year’s tour of duty (Iraq? Afghanistan? We are never quite certain.) Shannon plays Mike, her plumber husband who is so game to comfort his returning soldier wife he initially rebuffs her playful advances, advising her primly that “They warned us about rushing this at the Spouse Support Group!”This is a new era, Johnson explains right away, one which we all know, or are supposed to understand, full well the devastating effects of PTSD and trauma war has on the average American soul.

    Kelli is thrilled to be back home with her two young daughters, in her sweet little home, and even at her dull factory job. But when out partying with the girls one night, doing shots and cracking up, the conversation slowly delves into “what she saw over there.”

    Everyone there, Kelli keeps insisting, had it worse than me. Lots of people. She was only working at a supply base, hauling boxes. Yes, she saw dead bodies, dead animals, “some crazy, fucked-up shit.” But still…Kelli refuses to acknowledge their power over her. Never letting anyone in, and never allowing herself to truly feel her dangerously deep feelings about her time in the National Guard, Kelli soon becomes a slow-burning fuse.

    I cannot speak enough about Cardelinni’s performance. Back when actresses still cared about what they were doing for a living, rather than simply shopping and talking about that process, this was the kind of performance they gave: One full of true heart, completely free of stereotypes, and one that free falls into delivering exactly what you need from this character: A person casting about for answers without realizing or knowing what the exact problem is, in the first place. The human condition? Absolutely.

    Johnson and the performers show us that regardless of having suffered through a terrible experience or trauma or not, there are just no pert answers, no all-encompassing cure for what ails us, and no trite way out of feeling what you need to really experience in order to heal. This film seems to be saying, that, sometimes, you simply cannot go home again.

    At the end of the film, Kelli not only makes the only logical choice left, but it is, quite thankfully almost, made for her.

    Please check out “Return” this weekend. Let’s help slam this wonderful little film  out of the park. Playing in NYC at Cinema Village East, and in Brooklyn at Indie Screen Cinema.

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  • Sean Combs Teams With Weinstein Company as Executive Producer of Oscar-Nominated Documentary UNDEFEATED

    [caption id="attachment_2429" align="alignnone" width="550"]SEAN COMBS in Get Him to the Greek[/caption]

    Grammy® Award-winning rapper/producer/actor/entrepreneur Sean Combs has signed on as an executive producer of the studio’s new documentary UNDEFEATED, which has been nominated for the 2012 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. Combs will also be an executive producer on TWC’s planned feature remake of UNDEFEATED.

    It opens in limited release on February 17.

    Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. Founded in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never seen its football team, the Tigers, win a playoff game. In recent decades, the last-place Tigers had gone so far as to sell its regular season games to rival schools looking to chalk up an easy win. That began to change in 2004, when Bill Courtney, former high school football coach turned businessman, volunteered to lend a hand. Focusing on nurturing emotional as well as physical strength, Courtney has helped the Tigers find their footing and their confidence. The 2009 Summer/Fall football season promises to be the Tigers’ best ever – perhaps the season that finally breaks the 110 year-old playoff jinx. For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games – it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.

    “I am excited to partner with Harvey Weinstein on this incredible project. UNDEFEATED is a great American story with a lot of heart and soul. It had a profound effect on me and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I saw it. There is so much truth and so much hope in this film, and I feel passionately that everyone who sees it will be inspired,” commented Combs.

    Said Weinstein, “There’s a moment in UNDEFEATED when the coach tells the players, ‘Football doesn’t build character – football reveals character.’ I think that’s one of the reasons football is so important to me. But that line could just as easily apply to UNDEFEATED itself. In telling the story of a football team, this film says so much about individuals, about community and about our country. I’m so proud of UNDEFEATED, and we feel very fortunate to have Sean on board to bring this story to audiences now and in the future.”

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