• Real Steel and Human Centipede 2 Are This Week’s Box-Office Champs

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    [caption id="attachment_1704" align="alignnone" width="550"]Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence[/caption]

    “Real Steel” was literally a tough one to beat at the box office, with the action film starring Hugh Jackman, beating the competition to take the number 1 spot with a decent $27.3 million.  George Clooney’s political drama “The Ides of March,”was a distant second with $10.4 million.

    1. “Real Steel” (Disney/DreamWorks): $27.3 million.

    2. “The Ides of March” (Sony/Cross Creek): $10.4 million.

    3. “Dolphin Tale” (Warner Bros./Alcon): $9.2 million.

    4. “Moneyball” (Sony): $7.5 million.

    5. “50/50” (Summit/Mandate): $5.5 million.

    6. “Courageous” (Sony): $4.6 million.

    7. “The Lion King 3-D” (Disney): $4.6 million.

    8. “Dream House” (Universal/Morgan Creek): $4.5 million.

    9. “What’s Your Number?” (Fox/New Regency): $3.1 million.

    10. “Abduction” (Lionsgate): $2.9 million.

    In the specialty market, the sequel “Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence” grossed $54,000 from 18 screens. Other newcomers included “The Women on the Sixth Floor” which debuted on six screens in New York and Los Angeles and grossed $26,150; and Emilio Estevez’s “The Way” – starring his father Martin Sheen opened on 33 screens grossing $132,411.

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  • Peter Fonda and Tim Robbins Gulf Oil Spill Doc ‘The Big Fix’ to Open New Orleans Film Fest

    The Big Fix, from The Sundance Award Winning Filmmakers behind the movie FUEL, will have its North American premiere as the Opening night Film of the 22nd Annual New Orleans Film Festival on Friday, October 14th, 2011. Directed by Louisiana native Josh Tickell and produced and co-directed by his wife and filmmaking partner Rebecca Harrell Tickell, The Big Fix is described as ‘part daring journalism, archival investigation and eco-horror story.’

    Through interviews with scientists, government officials, journalists (including Rolling Stone’s Jeff Goodell who examined the Gulf spill in his article ‘The Poisoning’), activists (Peter Fonda, Amy Smart and Grammy-winner Jason Mraz who also contributed an original song), New Orleans attorney Stuart Smith and Gulf States natives, The Big Fix recounts the events surrounding the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Big Fix reveals the powerful political and corporate system that put profits over the health and long-term sustainability of people and the environment.

    The Big Fix explores the complicit behavior of the US government in the long-term use of the chemical dispersant, Corexit 9527, a known hemolitic (blood thinner). In an unexpected twist of fate, Co-Director/Producer Rebecca Harrell Tickell became severely ill after being exposed to the oil and Corexit mixture while filming. Like many of the residents of the gulf south who have experienced blood in their urine, skin lesions, and other blood-related disorders, Harrell Tickell‘s condition persists.

    A rough cut of The Big Fix received critical acclaim this year as the only documentary in Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. European audiences were stunned to see evidence suggesting the Macondo well site is still leaking oil. Now LSU and other researchers confirm it.

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  • Steve McQueen Sexually Charged New Film ‘Shame” to close 2011 Leeds International Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_1700" align="alignnone" width="550"]Shame by Steve McQueen[/caption]

    The 25th Leeds International Film Festival runs November 3 – November 20, 2011, today announced that Steve MQueen’s Shame will screen at the Closing Gala on Friday 18th November, and also released it full Official Selection program.

    Directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender, Shame follows Brendan (Fassbender) who plans his life around relentless sexual encounters until a visit from his wayward sister forces him to reassess his priorities. The festival will kick off with the Opening Gala screening of BAFTA and Oscar-winning director Andrea Arnold’s bold new adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

    Other films in the Official Selection for the Golden Owl Competition include titles that have won major international awards such as The River Used to be a Man which screens fresh from director Jan Zabeil’s winning of the Kutxa-New Directors Award at San Sebastian Film Festival, and Nana, awarded the Locarno 2011 Opera Prima for Best First Film. The lineup also includes new international films such as dreamlike Irish murder story The Other Side of Sleep, Australian aboriginal docudrama Toomelah, and the latest gem from the Romanian new wave, Best Intentions.

    Out of competition, preview screenings of new cinema from around the world include Take Shelter, a domestic drama/supernatural thriller blend starring Michael Shannon in his second collaboration with director Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories), and Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse, recently announced as Hungary’s Oscar nomination for this year, and winner of both the Jury Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI prize at this year’s Berlinale. Tarr’s epic Sátántangó will also screen in its full 450 minute form in the Film Festival’s retrospective selection. Two of Rotterdam’s 2011 Tiger Award winners Finisterrae and Journals of Musan will also screen as part of the Official Selection.

    The full program of the 25th Leeds International Film Festival including the complete Official Selection program, genre cinema strand Fanomenon, documentary strand Cinema Versa, experimental cinema section Cherry Kino, and short film competition program Short Film City, is available in full at leedsfilm.com.

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  • Director Oliver Stone, Larry Flynt And Sissy Spacek headed to 2011 Virginia Film Festival

    Opening Night Film – The Descendants starring George Clooney

    The Virginia Film Festival is returning for its 24th year from November 3-6, 2011, with a lineup of more than 100 films and a long list of special guests set to bring some serious star power to Charlottesville.

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  • Tucson Film & Music Festival Kicks off Today

    [caption id="attachment_1696" align="alignnone" width="550"]Better Than Something: Jay Reatard[/caption]

    The 7th Tucson Film & Music Festival (TFMF) opens up today October 6 and runs through Monday, October 10, 2011.

    The Southwest Premiere of Better Than Something: Jay Reatard is the opening event. Directed by Alex Hammond & Ian Markiewicz, the film is described as Tirelessly devoting his entire life to music, Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, better known as Jay Reatard, has become a garage rock icon, having created a massive discography spread out over dozens of singles, EPs, and full-length albums. A relentless live performer, Jay toured the world with dozens of bands including The Pixies, Spoon, Beck and many more. A devoted – and oftentimes notorious – fixture in his hometown of Memphis, Jay celebrated and continued the city’s long-standing history of American music. In BETTER THAN SOMETHING, filmmakers Alex Hammond and Ian Markiewicz present an intimate portrait, captured just months before Jay’s untimely passing, which brings us incredibly close to Jay and his complicated punk-rock world.

    The festival’s 2011 film lineup include a list of documentary films including Bloodied But Unbowed,Kumaré, Barbershop Punk, Color Me Obsessed: A film about The Replacements, Blood, Sweat + Vinyl: DIY in the 21st  Century and The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi. Narrative features include the Southwest Premiere of the indie comedy Pleasant People and the Arizona Premiere of Take Me Home directed by and starring Sam Jaeger of NBC’s Parenthood. Short films, music videos and live music performances are also part of the exciting program slate.

     

    The Centerpiece Film event is the Southwest Premiere of Bloodied But Unbowed. Directed by Susanne Tabata, BLOODIED BUT UNBOWED is the first in-depth chronicle of Vancouver’s original and groundbreaking punk scene. Told by key participants who helped create this unique musical era, the documentary captures the raw essence of the kids who lived through it (and some who didn’t) and the rise and fall of an epic era. Performances by D.O.A., The Subhumans, Pointed Sticks, The Modernettes, Young Canadians and more, as well as interviews with Henry Rollins, Joe Keithley, Ron Reyes, Randy Rampage, Zippy Pinhead and other icons of punk, offer a rare glimpse at a music scene that inspired decades of rock and hard living. Not to be missed.

     

    Closing night film event is the Arizona Premiere of Vikram Gandhi’s Kumaré. Into a society of people searching for something real to cling to, filmmaker Vikram Gandhi spawned KUMARÉ.  Portraying an enlightened guru from the East, Gandhi (as Kumaré) builds a following of loyal disciples in the West. As the social experiment continues, he begins to forge profound, and real, spiritual connections with people from all walks of life. At the same time, in the absurdity of living as an entirely different person, Gandhi is forced to confront difficult questions about his own identity. A fascinating and insightful look at belief and spirituality, Kumaré’s ultimate teaching of finding your true self, becomes a revelation for both the filmmaker and his unwitting followers.


     

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  • 55th BFI London Film Festival Release Shortlist for 2011 Festival Awards

    [caption id="attachment_1694" align="alignnone" width="550"]WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, Lynne Ramsay[/caption]

    The 55th BFI London Film Festival announced the shortlists and juries for the 2011 Festival Awards, which will take place at LSO St Luke’s on 26 October.

    At this year’s ceremony, the BFI will bestow its highest honor, the BFI Fellowship, on Canadian filmmaker David Cronenber and British actor Ralph Fiennes.

    This shortlist for Best Film Award is:

    360, Fernando Meirelles, UK/Austria/France/Brazil
    THE ARTIST, Michel Hazanavicius, France
    THE DEEP BLUE SEA, Terence Davies, UK
    THE DESCENDANTS, Alexander Payne, USA
    FAUST, Aleksandr Sukurov, Russia
    THE KID WITH A BIKE, Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium/France/Italy
    SHAME, Steve McQueen, UK
    TRISHNA, Michael Winterbottom, UK
    WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, Lynne Ramsay, UK/USA

     

    The shortlist for Best British Newcomer is:

    Nick Murphy, Director, THE AWAKENING
    Tinge Krishnan, Director, JUNKHEARTS
    Candese Reid, Actress, JUNKHEARTS
    Nirpal Bhogal, Writer/director, SKET
    Aimee Kelly, Actress, SKET
    Tom Cullen, Actor, WEEKEND
    Chris New, Actor, WEEKEND
    D.R. Hood, Writer/Director, WRECKERS

    The previously announced Sutherland shortlist is:

    CORPO CELESTE, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/Switzerland/France
    ETERNITY, Sivaroj Kongsakul, Thailand
    HERE, Braden King, USA
    THE HOUSE, Zuzana Liová, Czech Republic
    LAS ACACIAS, Pablo Giorgelli, Argentina/Spain
    LAST WINTER, John Shank, Belgium/France
    MICHAEL, Markus Schleinzer, Austria
    MOURNING, Morteza Farshbaf, Iran
    SHE MONKEYS, Lisa Aschan, Sweden
    SNOWTOWN, Justin Kurzel, Australia
    THE SUN-BEATEN PATH, Sonthar Gyal, China
    WITHOUT, Mark Jackson, USA

    The Grierson Award for Best Documentary shortlist is:

    BERNADETTE: NOTES ON A POLITICAL JOURNEY, Lelia Doolan, Ireland
    BETTER THIS WORLD, Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, USA
    THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975, Goran Hugo Olsson, Sweden/USA
    DRAGONSLAYER, Tristan Patterson
    DREAMS OF A LIFE, Carol Moley, UK/Ireland
    INTO THE ABYSS: A TALE OF DEATH, A TALE OF LIFE, Werner Herzog
    LAST DAYS HERE, Don Argott & Demian Fenton, USA
    WHORES’ GLORY, Michael Glawogger, Austria/Germany

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  • The Deep Blue Sea to close the 2011 BFI London Film Festival

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    The 55th BFI London Film Festival will close on Thursday 27 October with the UK premiere of Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea.

    Set in post-war Britain, this deeply moving story is an adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s classic play. Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) leads a privileged life in 1950s London as the beautiful wife of high court judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale). To the shock of those around her, she walks out of her marriage to move in with young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), with whom she has fallen passionately in love.

    Festival Artistic Director Sandra Hebron comments:

    “It’s a great pleasure to be able to close the festival with this exquisite new feature from one of our most cherished directors. Terence Davies is a filmmaker who the BFI has supported from the very beginnings of his career, and in Terence Rattigan’s centenary year, this beautifully directed and acted film is the perfect closing night film.”

    Director Terence Davies adds:

    “As a British filmmaker, to get into the BFI London Film Festival at all is bliss – to get a Closing Night film is sheer heaven! The festival is now, rightly, seen as one of the major European and World Film Festivals; championing not only British but World cinema.”

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  • Fernando Meirelles’s 360 to open the 2011 BFI London Film Festival

    The 55th BFI London Film Festival will open on Wednesday 12 October with the European premiere of 360.

    Directed by Fernando Meirelles and with an original screenplay by acclaimed writer Peter Morgan,the film stars Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

    360 is a modern and stylish kaleidoscope of interconnected love and relationships linking characters from different cities and countries in a vivid, suspenseful and moving tale of contemporary romantic life. Starting in Vienna, the film weaves through Paris, London, Bratislava, Rio, Denver and Phoenix into a single, mesmerising narrative.

    Festival Artistic Director Sandra Hebron said:

    “I’m delighted that 360 will be our opening night film, and very pleased to welcome back Fernando Meirelles and Peter Morgan to the festival. With its impeccable film making credentials and intriguing premise, 360 combines masterful visual story telling with a modern and moving narrative, helped by strong performances from a terrific ensemble cast.”

    Linking stories of chance, temptation and unexpected friendship while travelling through Vienna, Paris, London, Bratislava, Rio de Janeiro, Denver and Phoenix (and back again), 360 takes us around the world, surveying the breadth of human experience at every stop.

    A lonely English businessman (Jude Law) is blackmailed by a colleague who discovers his plans to meet a prostitute while travel­ling abroad. A married woman (Rachel Weisz, also appearing in The Deep Blue Sea and the Gala presentation of Page Eight) tries to break things off with her younger paramour. A Brazilian student (Maria Flor) decides to leave her London-based boy­friend and return to Rio. A recovering alcoholic (Anthony Hopkins) flies to Phoenix on the off chance that a new Jane Doe might turn out to be his long-missing daughter. A paroled sex offender (Ben Foster) stuck in a Denver airport has his hard-won com­posure tested when a beautiful stranger unexpectedly propositions him. These are but a handful of the narrative threads woven into 360’s alternately seductive and unnerv­ing roundelay. How they slide against one another constitutes a large part of the film’s mesmerizing allure. [TIFF]

    Director Fernando Meirelles added:

    “The BFI London Film Festival is one of the best festivals in the world due to its selection of films and the number of theatres the films are shown in. I am very honoured 360, an intimate film that talks about our options in life, has been chosen to open the festival this year, and I want to thank Sandra Hebron for extending this prestigious invitation to me for a second time, following The Constant Gardener, which opened the festival in 2005.”

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  • Arpa Film Festival Award Winning Comedy My Uncle Rafael Gets A Theatrical Release Deal

    Following its successful showing at the Arpa International Film Festival where it garnered three major awards, producers of indie comedy “My Uncle Rafael” have officially announced finalizing an agreement for a North American theatrical release. Slater Brothers Entertainment handle the domestic release which is expected to hit theaters in early 2012.

    Hailed as as the first American comedy in history with an Armenian lead character, “My Uncle Rafael” follows an old Armenian Uncle who gets cast in a reality show and has one week to save a dysfunctional American family from breaking up. Directed and edited by filmmaker and former Spielberg assistant Marc Fusco, the film stars comedy veterans Missi Pyle (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory), John Michael Higgins (Couples Retreat), Anthony Clark (Yes, Dear), Joe Lo Truglio (Paul), Rachel Blanchard (Flight of the Concords), and introduces Vahik Pirhamzei as Rafael.

    After the North American premiere at the Arpa International Film Festival, ‘Rafael’ took home the festival’s Breakthrough Performance Award for Vahik Pirhamzei and his remarkable comedic portrayal of the film’s outspoken, yet beloved Uncle Rafael. The Best Director trophy went to Marc Fusco and Best Screenplay Award to Scott Yagemann and Vahik Pirhamzei.

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  • Inaugural Palo Alto International Film Festival Winners

    [caption id="attachment_1685" align="alignnone" width="550"]Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom, right, during filming of her documentary Miss Representation.[/caption]

    The Palo Alto International Film Festival (PAIFF) wrapped up after its inagural four day run, September 29 thru October 2, 2011,  with the presentation of the Sallie Gardner awards, including the presentation of the Audience Award to Jennifer Siebel Newson’s documentary “Miss Representation.”

    The inaugural awards gala featured the presentations of the following awards:

    Christie Audience Award was presented to Jennifer Siebel Newsom for her documentary “Miss Representation.”

    Muybridge Award for the Advancement of Art and Technology was presented to visual effects artist John Knoll.

    Innovation in Film Award was presented to SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s X-ray Laser team and accepted by Uwe Bergmann Deputy Director of the LCLS.

    Palo Alto middle school students Charlie and Henry Badger received the Local Student Short Audience Award for their film “127 Minutes.”

    The PAIFF and Dolby Excellence in 3D Award was presented to Takashi Miike for “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai.”

    “Two Cars, One Night” by filmmaker Taika Waititi was the recipient of the Live Action Short Award.

    The Animated Short Award was presented to “Something Left, Something Taken,” by Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata.

    PAIFF/Talenthouse Short Film Contest Award.  In Spring 2011, PAIFF and Talenthouse announced an international Short Film Contest to celebrate the digital age of cinema, an age in which anyone can tell his or her story visually because of great strides made in technology. Cedric Vella’s “YouTube My Facebook,” was selected from over 170 entries.  Talenthouse Vice President of Marketing Frederik Hermann presented the award.

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  • 2nd DOC NYC Runs November 2 thru 10 Opens With Premiere of Werner Herzog Into the Abyss

    [caption id="attachment_1683" align="alignnone" width="550"]Into the Abyss by director Werner Herzog[/caption]

    New York’s documentary film festival, DOC NYC, returns for its second year to Greenwich Village, running from November 2-10, 2011. The festival will showcase 107 events, including screenings of 52 feature-length films and 40 shorts as well as 15 doc-related panel discussions. All events will take place at IFC Center, New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts and NYU’s Kimmel Center.

    Among the highlights:

     

    GALAS – Opening Night (Nov. 2) will feature the New York premiere of Into the Abyss presented by director Werner Herzog in person at NYU’s Skirball Center. Critics have hailed this true crime story as “extraordinary” (New York Times) and “undeniably profound” (Variety), and the festival is especially pleased to welcome back the master filmmaker after presenting his box office hit Cave of Forgotten Dreams last year. The Centerpiece Gala(Nov. 4), introduced by Russell Simmons, will be the US premiere of Lemon, directed by Laura Brownson and Beth Levison, chronicling the theatrical comeback of Tony Award-winner Lemon Andersen. The Spotlight Gala (Nov. 8) selection is The Island President, directed by Jon Shenk, a look at the Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed and his campaign to save his country from environmental destruction. The film recently won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    COMPETITION SECTIONS – The Viewfinders Competition showcases 10 films notable for their distinct directorial vision. The selection ranges widely, including the comedic Kumaré, about a fake guru; and the investigative Scenes From A Crime, a look into a questionable murder conviction in upstate New York. The Metropolis Competition features 7 films rooted in New York City. Included are the world premieres of I Want My Name Back, about hip-hop pioneers The Sugarhill Gang battling music industry corruption; and This Space Available, based on the writings of Marc Gobé (Emotional Branding), about the commercialization of public space. The two juried competitions each offer a prize of a 35mm blow-up and Digital Cinema Package courtesy of Post Works New York.

    SPECIAL EVENTS – Five stand-out events include Charlotte Rampling in person to present Charlotte Rampling: The Look, a journey through the actress’s remarkable career; An Evening With Elliott Erwitt, featuring the great Magnum photographer on hand to discuss his lesser-known forays into doc filmmaking; A Force of Nature, Barbara Kopple’s profile of journalist and philanthropist Ellen Ratner; Werner Herzog’s reworking of Dmitry Vasyukov’s Happy People: A Year in the Taiga; and director Sarah McCarthy present for The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical, a unique Indo-twist on The Sound of Music.

    NEW SECTIONS – The festival introduces five new sections this year:

    Icons – Six films profiling iconic figures: Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears (featuring an in-person appearance by the boxing great); Eames: The Architect and the Painter; A Good Man, about choreographer Bill T. Jones;With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story; God’s Fiddler: Jascha Heifetz; and Beyond Iconic, a portrait of Magnum photographer Dennis Stock.

    American Perspectives – Six films with diverse views on the national scene: Jonathan Demme profiling a proud resident of New Orleans in I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful; Nelson George exploring a cultural renaissance in Brooklyn Boheme; a Harvard lesbian basketball star in No Look Pass; a rising star of Ultimate Fighting in Fightville; women in prison raising children in Mothers of Bedford; and a controversy over sex abuse in Baltimore’s Jewish community in Standing Silent.

    International Perspectives – Four globe-spanning films take us to Ireland (Ballymun Lullaby); Germany (Jealous of the Birds); Ukraine (My Father Evgeni); and Mexico (Perdida).

    Shorts – Six programs of shorts grouped under the themes of “NYC Uncovered”; “The Power of Images”; “For Love or Money”; “DOC NYU @ DOC NYC” (featuring student work from New York University); “Latin American Visions”; and “Views on Japan” featuring a new work from Academy Award nominee Lucy Walker, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.

    Short-List – Four films that stand to be contenders in the coming awards season, presented by their directors or other special guests: Buck; The Interrupters; Page One: Inside the New York Times; and Project Nim.

    KALEIDOSCOPE FAMILY DOCS – Three films that will delight all ages: First Position, about a student ballet competition; Empty Hand: Real Life Karate Kids, about youths excelling at martial arts; and a 3D double feature from National Geographic, Sea Monsters 3D: A Prehistoric Adventure, playing with Flying Monsters 3D.

    MIDNIGHT ROCK DOCS – Four films for the late night crowd: Better Than Something: Jay Reatard, a portrait of the garage rock icon; Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, about the lead singer of Morphine; Inni, which looks at the first ten years of beloved Icelandic band Sigur Rós; and the rarely seen gem from 1989, Depeche Mode 101, directed by David Dawkins, Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker.

    PANELS – Four days of discussion, comprising fifteen panels, bring experienced filmmakers and industry players to share their insights under the themes of “State of the Industry”; “State of the Indie Doc”; “State of the Art”; and more.

    TRIBUTE TO RICHARD LEACOCK – In honor of the cinéma vérité pioneer, who died on March 23, 2011, the festival will showcase his contributions to classics such as Primary and Crisis as well as rare gems such as Chiefs and Happy Mother’s Day, introduced by noted filmmakers and Leacock family members.

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  • Amy Rich Selected As Winner of 2012 Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship

    [caption id="attachment_1681" align="alignnone" width="550"]The exterior of the San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema. [/caption]

    Amy Rich was announced today as the winner of the 2012 Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship for her project The Insect Princess.

    The Insect Princess is a feature-length, fantasy-infused family drama set in rural Yorkshire about Romilly, a lonely little girl who discovers she can communicate with insects. While she quickly accepts this odd turn of events, those around her don’t, so she learns to hide the relationship with her new friends. Gradually with the help of her fantasy friends, Romilly learns to stand up to the school bully, to accept herself and to develop friendships with her classmates.

    Previous recipients are Adam Chanzit (2011) for his psychological thriller The 15th Stone and Kathryn Mockler (2010) for her project Weak People Are Fun to Torment.

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