• 2011 Berkshire International Film Festival to kick off June 2nd; Lineup to feature some 70 films

    [caption id="attachment_948" align="alignnone"]Page One; Inside the New York Times[/caption]

    The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) will run from June 2rd through June 5th, 2011 in Great Barrington and June 3rd through June 5th in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The film festival will feature some 70 US and international independent feature films, documentaries, and shorts.

    In addition, BIFF will host Q&A sessions with filmmakers, a special screening of Pittsfield native, Kent Jones and his latest film on Elia Kazan written and directed with Martin Scorcese, and the BIFF has partnered with the Human Rights Watch Film Festival to showcase films from the festival which will conclude in an exciting panel discussion with award-winning filmmakers and professionals in the field. This year’s festival will feature films from 15 countries and host over two dozen filmmakers. The sixth anniversary will also include the expansion to Simon’s Rock and the continuation of the successful Berkshire Bank’s sponsorship of the Next Great Filmmaker Award, and the Juried Prize Award for narrative and documentary films sponsored by GWFF USA.

    The festival kicks-off in Great Barrington with the Sundance documentary hit which puts the spotlight on one of the great journalistic institutions “Page One; Inside the New York Times” directed by Andrew Rossi. “Page One” is in the great tradition of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Andrew Rossi’s riveting documentary PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES deftly gains unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom and the inner workings of the Media Desk. With the Internet surpassing print as our main news source and newspapers all over the country going bankrupt, PAGE ONE chronicles the transformation of the media industry at its time of greatest turmoil. Writers like Brian Stelter, Tim Arango and the salty but brilliant David Carr track print journalism’s metamorphosis even as their own paper struggles to stay vital and solvent, while their editors and publishers grapple with up-to-the-minute issues like controversial new sources and the implications of an online pay-wall. Meanwhile, rigorous journalism is thriving—PAGE ONE gives us an up-close look at the vibrant cross-cubicle debates and collaborations, tenacious jockeying for on-record quotes, and skillful page-one pitching that brings the most venerable newspaper in America to fruition each and every day. Opening night festivities include a cocktail party and light buffet supper for pass-holders catered by Max Ultimate Food from Boston at the “BIFF Tent” behind the Town Hall in Great Barrington prior to the screening of “Page One.”

    The Sixth anniversary celebration continues its’ expansion into Pittsfield and will kick-off at the Beacon on Friday, June 3rd with the opening night presentation of the Sundance Audience award-winning film “Buck” by director Cindy Meehl and the winning short film of BIFF and Berkshire Bank’s Next Great Filmmaker Award. “Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you may not like what you see. Sometimes, you will.” So says Buck Brannaman, a true American cowboy and sage on horseback who travels the country for nine grueling months a year helping horses with people problems. BUCK, a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real life “horse-whisperer”, he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses – and people – with his understanding, compassion and respect. In this film, the animal-human relationship becomes a metaphor for facing the daily challenges of life. A truly American story about an unsung hero, BUCK is about an ordinary man who has made an extraordinary life despite tremendous odds. The director will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening and will also be the closing night film of the BIFF on Sunday, June 5 at the Mahaiwe.

    In addition to the 28 narrative features, 20 documentaries, 22 shorts from 19 different countries, BIFF will host some special events throughout the weekend including GWFF USA’s Juried Prize Award for narrative and documentary filmmaking, WAMC’s The Roundtable live from the Triplex on Friday, free family film screenings and a panel discussion called “Small Acts, Big Changes” on Human Rights with award-winning filmmakers and industry professionals on Sunday, special screenings at Simon’s Rock College and Hancock Shaker Village, a special preview screening of the documentary on Jacob’s Pillow and a special event sponsored by Berkshire Media and Film Commission of A LETTER TO ELIA written and directed by Pittsfield native, Kent Jones and Martin Scorcese on Saturday.

    The BIFF’s second annual Jury will include, actors Peter Riegert, Jayne Atkinson, and Michel Gill, award-winning screenwriters Courtney Hunt and John Orloff, distribution guru Josh Braun, Production Designer Kristi Zea and casting agent Gretchen Rennell. There will be four films in competition, for both categories of feature documentary and narrative, and the award will carry a $5,000 prize sponsored by GWFF USA to be presented on Sunday, June 5th at allium in Great Barrington.

    The festival will also have five short film programs which will showcase some 22 shorts from the Berkshires and around the world.

    2011 PROGRAMMED FILMS
    Feature and documentary films from the US include, “A Letter to Elia” directed by Martin Scorcese and Kent Jones, “A Novel Romance” directed by Allie Dvorin “Beginners” directed by Mike Mills, “Bellflower” directed by Evan Glodell, “Buck” directed by Cindy Meehl, “Crime After Crime” directed by Yoav Potash, “Granito” directed by Pamela Yates, “If A Tree Falls; The Story of the Earth Liberation Front” directed by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, “Miss Representation” directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, “Never Stand Still” directed by Tom Honsa, “Norman” directed by Jonathan Segal, “On The Ice” directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, “Page One; A Year at the New York Times” directed by Andrew Rossi, “Part Time Fabulous” directed by Alethea Root, “Rebirth” directed by James Whitaker, “The Four Faced Liar” directed by Jacob Chase, “The Myth of the American Sleepover” directed by David Robert Mitchell, “Troubadours” by Morgan Neville, “We Still Live Here” directed by Anne Makepeace, “We Were Here” directed by David Weissman, “Whisper in the Darkness” directed by Sean Branney, “Windfall” directed by Laura Israel, and “!Women Art Revolution” directed by Lynn Hershman.

    International feature and documentary films include “A Barefoot Dream” (South Korea) directed by Tae-gyun Kim, “Copacabana” (France) directed by Marc Fitoussi, “Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Dairies)” (India) directed by Kiran Rao, “Dusk (Schemer)” (Netherlands) directed by Hanro Smitsman, “Face To Face” (Australia) directed Michael Rymer, “Feathered Cocaine” (Iceland) directed by Örn Marino Arnarson and Thorkell S. Hardarson, “Habermann” (Germany/Czech Republic/Austria) directed by Juraj Herz, “Happy Happy (Norway) directed by Anne Sewitsky, “Henry of Navarre” (German/France/Spain/Czech Republic) directed by Jo Baier, “Hitler in Hollywood” (France) directed by Frederic Sojcher, “Illegal” (Belgium) directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse, “Kinyarwanda” (Rwanda/US) directed by Alrick Brown, “L’Amour Fou” (France) written by Pierre Thoretton, “La Prima Cosa Bella (Italy) directed by Paolo Virzi, “Monga” (Tawain) directed by Doze Niu, “My Afternoons With Margueritte” (France) directed by Jean Becker, “Position Among The Stars” (Netherlands) directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich, “Red Light Revolution” (China/Aust) directed by Sam Voutas, “The Child Prodigy” (France) directed by Luc Dionne “The Green Wave” (Germ/Iran) directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi, “The Life of Fish” (Chile) directed by Matias Bize, “The Team” (Canada) directed by Patrick Reed, “The Trip” (UK) directed by Michael Winterbottom, “You Don’t Like the Truth; 4 Days in Guantanamo” (Canada) directed by Luc Côté and Patricio Henriquez and “Youth Producing Change” directed by various teen filmmakers from various countries.

    [ source: BIFF ]

    Read more

  • Actress Jane Seymour ‘beyond sorry and appalled’ for Schwarzenegger comment

    Actress Jane Seymour reportedly said to CNN at the red carpet premiere of her new IFC movie “Love Marriage Wedding” on May 17 that she believed “there will be lots of information coming people’s way…I heard about two more [out of wedlock kids] somebody else knows about. I even met someone who knows him well.”

    Yesterday on “The View” Friday, Seymour regretted her remarks, saying, “I’m so beyond sorry and appalled that I found myself even talking on the subject at all.”

    {youtube}C46NCNXcDik{/youtube}

    Love Marriage Wedding is directed by Dermot Mulroney and stars Mandy Moore, Kellan Lutz, James Brolin, Jane Seymour, Jessica Szohr, Michael Weston, Sarah Lieving, Joe Chrest. In the film, Mandy Moore is a marriage counselor whose life as a newly wed married to Kellan Lutz is turned upside down when she discovers her parents’ happy marriage is unexpectedly headed for divorce. Determined to reconcile her parents for their 30th anniversary surprise party she stops at nothing plunging from one compromising situation to another.

    {youtube}ShB2W5f1C0Y{/youtube}

     

    Read more

  • AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival 2011 Film Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_1398" align="alignnone" width="560"]DONOR UNKNOWN[/caption]

    AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival announced its full slate of competition films for the Festival

    AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Competition Slate
    Sterling U.S. Feature Competition

    BETTER THIS WORLD / USA, 2011, 97 minutes (Director: Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega) — When two Midland, Texas, activists make Molotov cocktails at the 2008 Republican Convention, a dramatic story unfolds, with multiple domestic terrorism charges, an entrapment defense and a surprising FBI informant.  The film sets in high relief the impact the war on terror has on civil liberties and political activism in a post-9/11 world.

    BOB AND THE MONSTER / USA, 2011, 85 minutes (Director: Keirda Bahruth) — Bob Forrest first made his name as an outspoken indie-rock hero and popular front man for the band, Thelonious Monster.  But it is his role as one of the most influential drug counselors in the U.S. today that he would cherish most.  Shot over six years, the film offers an inspiring example of how one man was able to overcome his demons and use his success to help others do the same.

    THE BULLY PROJECT / USA, 2011, 90 minutes (Director: Lee Hirsch) — This film tackles the timely topic of bullying in this sensitive examination of an urgent crisis in American society.  The film follows five children and their families over the course of one school year as their lives are affected in different ways by bullying.

    DRAGONSLAYER / USA, 2011, 75 minutes (Director: Tristan Patterson) — Few skateboard movies are as vibrant as DRAGONSLAYER, which follows oddball Josh “Screech” Sandoval as he drifts between the skate circuit and an ill-defined but adaptive existence in Southern California’s recession-wracked suburbs.  In a setting where nothing seems whole, first-time director Tristan Patterson finds arid beauty, hazy intimacy and a thread of hope.

    GIVE UP TOMORROW / Philippines/Spain/USA/UK, 2011, 95 minutes (Director: Michael Collins) — In 1997, two sisters vanished without a trace on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.  Paco Larrañaga was sentenced to death for their rape and murder despite overwhelming evidence to support his innocence.  Spanning more than a decade, the film chronicles the shocking corruption within the Philippine judicial system and one of the most sensational cases in the country’s history.

    INCENDIARY: THE WILLINGHAM CASE / USA, 2010, 102 minutes (Director: Steve Mims, Joe Bailey, Jr.) — In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas for the 1991 arson murders of his three daughters, despite evidence that the fire wasn’t arson.  The film masterfully explores why Willingham has become a cause célèbre for arson investigation reform and death penalty repeal.

    JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI / USA/Japan, 2011, 81 minutes (Director: David Gelb) — A feast for the senses, JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI introduces us to master chef Jiro Ono, proprietor of the revered 10-seat, $300-a-plate Sukiyabashi Jiro restaurant in Tokyo.  Filmmaker David Gelb offers extraordinary access to the process of preparing the celebrated sushi that has earned Jiro an elite three Michelin stars.

    THE LEARNING / USA/Philippines, 2010, 90 minutes (Director: Ramona Diaz) — This absorbing documentary follows four teachers from the Philippines who are recruited to work in the American public school system.  Leaving behind husbands, children and extended families who depend heavily on them, Dorotea, Rhea, Grace and Angel spend one year teaching in Baltimore public schools, where they can make up to 25 times their salaries versus in the Philippines.

    THE LOVING STORY / USA, 2011, 75 minutes (Director: Nancy Buirski) — Mildred and Richard Loving never imagined that their unassuming love story would be the basis of a watershed anti-miscegenation civil rights case.  But in 1967, when this soft-spoken interracial couple are exiled from Virginia – the only home they have ever known – for the mere crime of falling in love and getting married, they feel they have no choice but to fight back.

    OUR SCHOOL / Romania/Switzerland/USA, 2011, 93 minutes (Director: Mona Nicoara, Miruna Coco-Cozma) — Shot over the course of four years, OUR SCHOOL follows the attempt to integrate isolated rural Roma (or “gypsy”) children into the mainstream school system of Romania.  Focusing on seven-year-old Alin, 12-year-old Beni and 16-year-old Dana, this fascinating film takes an unflinching look at the challenges of a longstanding tradition of prejudice.
    Sterling World Feature Competition

    AT THE EDGE OF RUSSIA / Poland/Russia, 2010, 72 minutes (Director: Michael Marczak) — Aleksey is eager to serve Mother Russia, but this 19-year-old recruit sees little soldiering while stationed at the country’s frozen northern border.  With invasion unlikely, his burly superior’s lessons teach more about isolation, quotidian civil service and drunken paternity than anything else.

    BAKHMARO / Georgia/Germany, 2011, 58 minutes (Director: Salome Jashi) — Incredibly visually striking, BAKHMARO is a quiet, unhurried film about the persistence of hope in the face of irrelevancy.  A restaurant where nobody goes and a staff that serves no one in a building in rural Georgia’s Guria region are at the center of this compellingly claustrophobic documentary.

    DONOR UNKNOWN / USA, 2010, 76 minutes (Director: Jerry Rothwell) — Twenty-year-old JoEllen Marsh was raised by two loving mothers in Pennsylvania who used a carefully chosen anonymous sperm donor to create her.  When JoEllen discovers an online registry that connects her to several other young adults fathered by the same donor, she reaches out to her newly discovered half-siblings and sets out to meet her biological father when he publicly reveals his identity.

    EL BULLI – COOKING IN PROGRESS / Germany/Spain, 2010, 108 minutes (Director: Gereon Wetzel) — Celebrated chef Ferran Adrìa shares the spotlight with his magnificent culinary creations in a film sure to appeal to foodies and non-foodies alike.  For six months a year, Adrìa and his creative team close shop on his world-famous El Bulli Restaurant in Spain to prepare for a new season’s menu representing the best in molecular gastronomy.

    FAMILY INSTINCT / Latvia, 2010, 58 minutes (Director: Anris Gauja) — A unique chronicle of family gone awry, this film is an unsparing exploration of a Latvian household built on the incestuous relationship between Zanda and her imprisoned brother Valdis, whose pending homecoming creates tremendous frisson.

    FIRE IN BABYLON / UK, 2010, 82 minutes (Director: Stevan Riley) — This energetic documentary looks back at the legendary West Indies cricket team that rose to prominence in the 1970s and 80s.  Led by the dynamic Clive Lloyd, the team used the game of cricket to battle oppressive forces of prejudice on the playing field through superior athleticism and a bold, insuppressible spirit.

    THE FIRST MOVIE / Canada/Iraq/Kurdistan/UK, 2009, 77 minutes (Director: Mark Cousins) — A lyrical and magical look at the power of cinema, director Mark Cousins’ whimsical film explores what transpires after he exposes the children of a small rural village in Iraq to the magic of film.  Through their experiences, Cousins shows viewers a side of Iraq that they are rarely allowed to experience.

    GRANDE HOTEL / Belgium/Mozambique/Portugal, 2010, 57 minutes (Director: Lotte Stoops) — The Grande Hotel in Beira, Mozambique, once a luxurious haven in the Portuguese colony, is a shadow of its former self since closing in 1963.  The film traces the history of the building, from its opening in 1954, with 110 sumptuous guest rooms, to today, when the abandoned hotel serves as a home to more than 2,500 people who live in its crumbling ruins.

    EL VELADOR (THE NIGHT WATCHMAN) / Mexico, 2011, 72 minutes (Director: Natalia Almada) — The turmoil of Mexico’s bloodiest conflict since the revolution plays out in subtle yet poignant detail as filmmaker Natalia Almada quietly observes the daily routine of Martin, the night watchman and groundskeeper of the cemetery that houses the remains of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords.

    POSITION AMONG THE STARS / Indonesia/Netherlands, 2010, 109 minutes (Director: Leonard Retel Helmrich) — Filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich concludes his in-depth three-part portrait of Indonesia as seen through the eyes of one family living in the slums of Jakarta.  The Shamuddin family’s anxieties, hopes and frequent, often hilarious fights culminate in a poignant mosaic of Indonesian life today.

    WIEBO’S WAR / Canada, 2011, 92 minutes (Director: David York) — When Wiebo Ludwig moves his sizeable family to the rural plains of northern Canada to live closer to God, the last thing he expects is to be transformed from a holy man into an eco-terrorist.  Yet when energy companies start encroaching on his land soon after discovering it lies on Canada’s biggest gas field, Wiebo feels compelled to protect himself and his family from their newly toxic surroundings.

    Read more

  • John Malkovich & Otar Iosseliani to receive CineMerit Award at 2011 Munich Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_1395" align="alignnone" width="480"]Masks within masks: Malkovich playing a Kubrick impostor in COLOUR ME KUBRICK – A TRUE…ISH STORY[/caption]

    [caption id="attachment_1396" align="alignnone" width="480"]In his element: Otar Iosseliani and DoP Julie Grunebaum shooting CHANTRAPAS[/caption]

    This year, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN aka Munich Film Festival honors Georgian writer-director Otar Iosseliani and American acting icon John Malkovich with the CineMerit Award.

    Every year, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN presents the CineMerit Award, sponsored by German carmaker Audi, to outstanding personalities in the international film community for extraordinary contributions to motion pictures as an art form.

    Festival Director Andreas Ströhl: “Otar Iosseliani is the unsurpassed master of the melancholy comedy, and John Malkovich has always been in a class of his own. His unconventional performances make every film he’s in worth seeing. We’re very proud that they are both coming to Munich for the festival.”

    Otar Iosseliani, born in Tbilisi in 1934, is one of the grandseigneurs of poetic cinema.  The internationally acclaimed filmmaker began making films in Georgia in the ’60s and ’70s. Unwilling to put up with Soviet censorship, he emigrated to France in 1982. His films are characterized by a unique visual and narrative style, an ironic world view and an all-embracing love of humanity despite people’s shortcomings.

    Otar Iosseliani will receive his CineMerit Award at the festival’s Award Ceremony on July 1st at 6 pm.  The keynote speaker is the Berlin-based Georgian director Dito Tsintsadze. Following the ceremony, Iosseliani’s latest film will be screened: CHANTRAPAS (France, 2010) is about a  Georgian filmmaker who leaves his homeland in search of a better life – a film with obvious autobiographical content. FILMFEST MÜNCHEN will be screening six of this exceptional director’s films in all.

    John Malkovich is one of the greatest actors of his generation but he is also a producer, writer and director. He has played every imaginable character in the course of his career. Malkovich, the man with the endearing malicious smile, acts in Hollywood blockbusters as well as no budget films.

    John Malkovich will receive his CineMerit Award at a gala on June 27 at 7:30 pm  in the festival center. Veronica Ferres, who appeared in KLIMT with Malkovich, is the keynote speaker. Brian Cook’s COLOUR ME KUBRICK – A TRUE…ISH STORY will follow.  Five other Malkovich films are also being screened, among them Volker Schlörndorff’s THE OGRE, Spike Jonze’s BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, Raoul Ruiz’ KLIMT and THE DANCER UPSTAIRS, which Malkovich also directed.

    [ source: FILMFEST MÜNCHEN ]

    Read more

  • 2011 AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival announced its opening, closing and centerpiece films

    ,

    [caption id="attachment_1393" align="alignnone" width="560"]THE SWELL SEASON[/caption]

    AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival announced its opening, closing and centerpiece films for the Festival, taking place June 20-26, 2011 in the Washington, D.C. area.

    The Festival will open its ninth annual edition on June 20, 2011 with THE SWELL SEASON.  Directed by Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins and Carlo Mirabella-Davis, THE SWELL SEASON follows musical artists Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who captivated audiences and earned an Academy Award for their musical collaboration in the film, ONCE.  As their fictional, on-screen romance blurred with reality, they fell in love, recorded a self-titled album called “The Swell Season” and embarked on a world tour.  Fueled by two years of exhilarating, sold out performances and psychological turmoil, the documentary is a volatile and intimate portrait of a romance that fractures in the face of life on the road and personal tragedy.

    REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR will close the Festival.  The documentary, directed by Chris Paine, explores the triumphant reemergence of the “clean car,” focusing on four dynamic entrepreneurs dedicated to creating an environmentally friendly automobile.

    The featured Centerpiece film, THE INTERRUPTERS, from acclaimed director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS), chronicles former gang members – now modern-day heroes – who risk their lives to disrupt violence and make extraordinary change in their Chicago communities.

    [source: AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival]

    Read more

  • 2nd annual Aruba International Film Festival Announces Lineup; Kim Cattrall’s “Meet Monica Velour” to open the festival

    [caption id="attachment_1391" align="alignnone" width="560"]Kim Cattrall and Dustin Ingram in Anchor Bay Films’ Meet Monica Velour[/caption]

    The 2nd Annual Aruba International Film Festival (AIFF), which takes place June 10-16, 2011, announced its lineup, which included a diverse array of films from 13 different countries and feature several international premieres.

    Among the titles, the international premieres at AIFF include the Massimiliano Bruno directed Italian comedy “Nessuno mi puo giudicare” (English title “Nobody Can Judge Me”); American drama “Meet Monica Velour,” written and directed by Keith Bearden; the Mario Van Peebles directed drama “Things Fall Apart” starring rapper, actor and multi-tiered business mogul Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who will be attending the Festival; and “Tequila” directed by Sergio Sanchez Suarez.

    AIFF will open with “Meet Monica Velour” starring Golden Globe(R) Award winning actress Kim Cattrall (“Sex and the City” franchise, “The Ghost Writer”) who will kick-off the Festival’s opening night Red Carpet on Friday, June 10th at Paseo Herencia.

    The Festival’s “In Conversation With…” series will start on Saturday, June 11, 2011 with the Oscar(R) winning director Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs,” “The Manchurian Candidate”). Demme is also presenting his film “The Agronomist,” which will be followed by a Q&A.

    Kim Cattrall, BAFTA Film Award-winning Hollywood costume designer Michael Kaplan (“Blade Runner,” “Burlesque,” “Fight Club”) and Academy Award(R) nominated director Milcho Manchevski (“Before the Rain,” “Mothers”) will also take part in the “In Conversation With…” series with particiaption dates scheduled to be announced in the next few days.

    Milcho Manchevski will introduce his latest film “Mothers”  which he wrote and directed, and also screen his Macedonian drama “Before the Rain,” which earned him an Oscar(R) nomination and 12 award wins.

    Among the international stars confirmed to attend AIFF are Italian actress Paola Cortellesi (“Nessuno mi puo ’ guidicare-Nobody Can Judge Me,” “Piano, solo”), director Sergio Sanchez Suarez (“Tequila”) and his leading actress Daniela Schmidt (“Casi divas,” “Sea of Dreams”), Mexican actress Barbara Mori (“Kites,” “La mujer de mi hermano,” “Ugly Me”), Italian actor and screenwriter Alessandro Calza (“Ciao”), and Polish director and artist Lech Majewski (“The Mill and the Cross,” “Angelus”). Additional names will be announced in the coming weeks.

    The official AIFF lineup is comprised of the following films:

    BEFORE THE RAIN (Country: Republic of Macedonia / Director: Milcho Manchevski)
    BEGINNERS (Country: USA / Director: Mike Mills)
    BIBLIOTHEQUE PASCAL (Country: Hungary / Director: Szabolcs Hajdu)
    CIAO! (Country: USA / Director: Yen Tan)
    EVEN THE RAIN (Country: Spain / Director: Iciar Bollain)
    HERMANO (Country: Venezuela / Director: Marcel Rasquin)
    KITES (Country: India / Director: Anurag Basu)
    MADE IN HUNGARY (Country: Hungary / Director: Gergely Fonyo)
    MEET MONICA VELOUR (Country: USA / Director: Keith Bearden)
    MOTHERS (Country: Republic of Macedonia / Director: Milcho Manchevski)
    NESSUNO MI PUO’ GIUDICARE (Country: Italy / Director: Massimiliano Bruno)
    TATANKA (Country: Italy / Director: Giuseppe Gagliardi)
    THE SON OF NO ONE (Country: USA / Director: Dito Montiel)
    TEQUILA (Country: Mexico / Director: Sergio Sanchez Suarez)
    THE AGRONOMIST (Country: USA / Director: Jonathan Demme)
    THE BIG BANG (Country: USA / Director: Tony Krantz)
    THE GUARD (Country: Ireland / Director: John Michael McDonagh)
    THE LIFE OF FISH (Country: Chile / Director: Matias Bize)
    THE MILL AND THE CROSS (Country: Poland / Director: Lech Majewski)
    THINGS FALL APART (Country: USA / Director: Mario Van Peebles)

    **Caribbean Spotlight Series (CSS)

    Encouraged by strong local support last year, AIFF expanded its popular “Spotlight” series, which was created to showcases movies from Aruban and Caribbean filmmakers. Having proved its popularity among locals, the Festival has created a broader experience for the series this year. There will be an official competition, jury and award, as well an audience award.

    The three person CSS jury consists of journalists Noel DeSouza and Rosalie Klein and producer Emmanuel Itier. They are charged with evaluating and selecting the competition winner and bestowing the Festival’s first competition award.

    The winner of the CSS Audience Award will receive a $1,500 cash prize.

    CSS Films In Competition

    100,000 (Country: Puerto Rico/ Director: Juan Agustin Marquez)
    CHILDREN OF GOD (Country: Bahamas/ Director: Kareem Mortimer)
    CURACAO (Country: Netherlands/ Director: Sarah Vos and Sander Snoep)
    FIRE BURN BABYLON: (Country: Montserrat/United Kingdom/ Director: Sarita Siegel)
    VOICES OF MARIEL: (Country: Cuba/USA/ Director: Jim Carleton)

    CSS Special Screenings (Not in Competition)

    LA FUGA: (Country: Puerto Rico/ Director: Edmundo H. Rodriguez
    RISE UP: (Country: Jamaica/ Director: Luciano Blotta)

    The full AIFF program is available to print online at www.arubafilmfest.com.

    [ via AIFF ]

    Read more

  • 2011 Cannes Film Festival entry WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN to be released in the US, Winter 2011

    Oscilloscope Laboratories, the film production and distribution company owned by Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys, will release in the US, the 2011 Cannes Film Festival competition entry WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, from director Lynne Ramsay (RATCATCHER and MORVERN CALLAR).  Oscilloscope will release WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN theatrically this Winter, accompanied by an awards campaign.

    A suspenseful and psychologically gripping exploration into a parent dealing with her child doing the unthinkable, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is told from the perspective of Eva, played by Tilda Swinton in a tour-de-force performance.

    Always an ambivalent mother, Eva and Kevin have had a contentious relationship literally from Kevin’s birth.  Kevin (Ezra Miller), now 15-years-old, escalates the stakes when he commits a heinous act, leaving Eva to grapple with her feelings of grief and responsibility, as well as the ire of the community-at-large.  WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness, while Ramsay’s masterful storytelling leaves enough moral ambiguity to keep the debate going.

    Adam Yauch, head of Oscilloscope Laboratories said:  “We are honored to be working with Lynne, Tilda, John, and Ezra to release this masterpiece—the most intense thriller I’ve seen since Polanski’s ROSEMARY’S BABY.  I was on the edge of my seat throughout and it was clear I was in the capable hands of a master filmmaker, who I’m now proud to see join all our other great filmmakers as a member of the O-Scope family.”

    With a screenplay by Lynne Ramsay & Rory Stewart Kinnear, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN based on the novel by Lionel Shriver.  The film also stars John C. Reilly as Eva’s husband Franklin, and Ezra Miller in a breakout performance as the titular Kevin.  Swinton’s recent credits include her acclaimed performance in Erick Zonca’s JULIA, which she received a Cesar Award nomination for Best Actress, and in Luca Guadagnino’s acclaimed film, I AM LOVE (Io Sono L’Amore), which she also produced.

    Other Oscilloscope theatrical releases include Yauch’s GUNNIN’ FOR THAT #1 SPOT, Irena Salina’s FLOW, Kelly Reichardt’s WENDY AND LUCY starring Michelle Williams, So Yong Kim’s TREELESS MOUNTAIN, the Academy Award(R)-nominated THE GARDEN from Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Anders Ostergaard’s Academy Award(R)-nominated BURMA VJ, Nati Baratz’s UNMISTAKEN CHILD, Oren Moverman’s Academy Award(R)-nominated THE MESSENGER starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster, and Samantha Morton, Henrik Ruben Genz’s Danish thriller TERRIBLY HAPPY, Michel Gondry’s personal family documentary THE THORN IN THE HEART, Jules Dassin’s classic THE LAW, Yael Hersonski’s award-winning WWII documentary A FILM UNFINISHED, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s HOWL starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, Jalmari Helander’s Christmas fantasy RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE and Oscar(R)-nominated director Dana Adam Shapiro’s feature film debut MONOGAMY starring Chris Messina and Rashida Jones. Upcoming releases include Kelly Reichardt’s Western drama MEEK’S CUTOFF starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, and Shirley Henderson, and James Franco’s directorial debut SATURDAY NIGHT, which covers a week on the set of Saturday Night Live.

    Read more

  • Bernie, starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey to open 2011 LA Film Festival

    The Los Angeles Film Festival announced the world premiere of Richard Linklater’s Bernie as the opening night film for the 2011 Festival.

    Richard Linklater’s Bernie will kick off the Festival on June 16 at Regal Cinemas Stadium 14 L.A. LIVE.  The film is written by Skip Hollandsworth and Linklater, stars Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey.  Black plays Bernie, the beloved mortician in a small Texas town.  MacLaine is the town’s richest, meanest widow, and even she adores him.  You can’t get anybody to say a bad word about Bernie—even after he commits a very nasty crime.

    Returning to downtown Los Angeles, with its central hub at L.A. LIVE, the Festival will run from Thursday, June 16 to Sunday, June 26.

    Read more

  • Charleston International Film Festival Announces 2011 Award Winners; “LA I Hate You” Wins Best Film

    The 4th Annual Charleston International Film Festival (CIFF), South Carolina’s premiere event for independent filmmakers and film enthusiasts, would like to announce and congratulate its 2011 Award Winners presented at the Awards Gala held at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina.  

    Golden Crescent Award
    -Golden Crescent Award for Best Film : “LA I Hate You” – Produced by Warren Ostergard

    Jury Awards
    – Best Feature: “Angel Camouflaged” – Written and Directed by Michael Givens
    – Best Short: “The Story of Us” – Written and Directed by Paul Krizan
    – Jury Award for Best Documentary: “American Jihadist” – Directed and Produced by Mark Claywell

    Audience Choice Awards
    – Best Documentary: “(Re)Discovering Don ZanFagna” –Directed by Kevin Harrison
    – Best Feature: “Cherry.” – Written, Directed and Produced by Quinn Saunders
    – Best Short: “God and Vodka” – Written and Directed by Daniel Stine
    – Best Foreign Film: “Atroz” – Written, Directed and Produced by Francisco Álvarez
    – Best Animation: “Place Stamp Here” – Directed by Joy Vaccese and Noelle Melody

    Screenplay Awards
    -Golden Crescent Screenplay Competition Winner: William Blackmon for “The Featherkeeper”
    -First Runner-Up: Elvis Wilson for “Driving Top Down”
    -Second Runner-Up: Sheila Watson & Tony Watson for “The Manifest”

    Special Honors
    -Channel 5 for Best Actress: Dedee Pfeiffer in “The Tub”
    -Channel 5 Award for Best Actor: Brian Dennehy in “alleged”
    -Cinebarre Award for Best SC Short Film: “Saying Goodbye” – Written and Produced by Brian Rish and Jocelyn Rish

    [via Charleston International Film Festival (CIFF)]

    Read more

  • 8th annual Damn These Heels!: LGBT Film Festival Announces Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_942" align="alignnone"]BEGINNERS[/caption]

    The lineup for the 8th annual Damn These Heels!: LGBT Film Festival (DTH!) was announced today and includes 14 feature films from seven countries screening June 17–19 at the historic Tower Theatre. Salt Lake City, Utah’s only annual LBGT film festival, DTH! showcases the best international and domestic documentary and narrative LGBT films from film festivals around the world. 

    The festival opens at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, June 17 with the Utah premiere of BEGINNERS. Directed by Mike Mills, largely known for his artwork and music videos, this is his second feature and loosely based on his own relationship with his father, who didn’t come out of the closet until he was in his seventies. An Opening Night Gala Celebration follows the screening. The rest of the DTH! program features films from many of the world’s top film festivals, a one-time-only audience participation event, and a panel discussion presented in partnership with Equality Utah.

    All screenings for the festival take place at the Salt Lake Film Society’s historic Tower Theatre, 876 E. 900 S. Individual tickets are $5 and can be purchased online at www.damntheseheels.org beginning May 13. A limited number of all-access passes will be offered for $25 and include access to Opening Night celebrations and all festival film screenings.

    Below is the complete list of the 8th Annual Damn These Heels!: LGBT Film Festival films:

    OPENING NIGHT FILM

    BEGINNERS

    Directed by Mike Mills

    A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer and that he has a young male lover. (U.S.A., 105 min.)

    Official Selection — 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, 2011 SXSW

    CENTERPIECE SCREENINGS

    CIRCUMSTANCE

    Directed by Maryam Keshavarz

    A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and control her brother’s dangerous obsession. (Iran/U.S.A./France, 95 min.)

    Audience Award Winner, World Cinema Dramatic — 2011 Sundance Film Festival

    L’AMOUR FOU

    Directed by Pierre Thoretton

    This documentary portrays the relationship between fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and his lover, Pierre Bergé, and the sale of their art collection following Yves’s death. (France, 98 min.)

    Official Selection — 2011 San Francisco Film Festival, 2011 Tribeca Film Festival

    PANEL DISCUSSION

    This panel discussion addresses the ways that so-called queer media has changed and evolved in recent years, as well as explores the ways that queer filmmakers, actors, writers and journalists have brought their causes and interests to mainstream and “straight” media.  Panel guests include DTH! 2011 filmmakers, local journalists, gender issue and LGBT experts. Presented in partnership with Equality Utah.

    SPECIAL SCREENING

    ALL ABOUT EVIL with Peaches Christ in 4-D

    Directed by Joshua Grannell

    This Utah premiere features Peaches Christ in a Rocky Horror Picture Show–style audience-participating, blood-soaked drag ball that has thrilled audiences across the country. In All About Evil, a mousy librarian discovers her inner serial killer as she works to save the family business — a failing movie house — by making a series of grisly shorts that turn out to be all too real. (U.S.A., 108 min.)

    Official Selection — 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival, 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival

    REGULAR SCREENINGS

    AUGUST

    Directed by Eldar Rapaport

    August tells the story of two former lovers, Troy and Jonathan, who reunite after a long-ago painful breakup. A seemingly innocent rendezvous turns into an attempt to revive past passions. Only it’s not that simple. (U.S.A., 100 min.)

    Official Selection — 2011 Seattle International Film Festival

    CODEPENDENT LESBIAN SPACE ALIEN SEEKS SAME

    Directed by Madeleine Olnek

    This quirky film charts the adventures of lesbian space aliens on the planet Earth and tells the story of the romance between Jane, a shy greeting-card-store employee, and Zoinx, the woman Jane does not realize is from outer space. Meanwhile, two government agents, or “Men in Black,” are closely tracking Jane and the aliens while harboring their own secrets. (U.S.A., 76 min.)

    Official Selection — 2011 Sundance Film Festival

    DIFFERENT FROM WHOM?

    Directed by Umberto Riccioni Carteni

    This slapstick comedy pairs a handsome gay politician with a conservative woman in a campaign for mayor. They work together, fight, and eventually have an affair that shakes their lives. But an alternative solution is at hand, and they grab it. (Italy, 103 min.)

    Official Selection — 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival

    ELVIS & MADONA

    Directed by Marcelo Laffitte

    Elvis & Madona is a romantic comedy that deals with an unusual subject in a delicate and realistic way: a relationship between a young lesbian, Elvis, and a transvestite, Madona. Nevertheless, it is essentially a love story, proving that love transcends any boundaries. (Brazil, 105 min.)

    Official Selection — 2010 Tribeca Film Festival

    GUN HILL ROAD

    Directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green

    An ex-con returns home to the Bronx after three years in prison to discover his wife estranged and his teenage son exploring a sexual transformation that will put the fragile bonds of their family to the test. (U.S.A., 88 min.)

    Official Selection — 2011 Sundance Film festival

    MANGUS!

    Directed by Ash Christian

    Mangus Spedgewick has had one dream his whole life… he wants to be Jesus — in his high school’s annual production of Jesus Christ Spectacular. Will he get to be their town’s first crippled Jesus? (U.S.A., 88 min.)

    Official Selection — 2011 Dallas International Film Festival

    THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS

    Directed by Leanne Pooley

    If you see only one documentary about lesbian, country- singing, comedian twins from New Zealand, make this the one! This exuberant film captures the joy the entertaining Topp twins bring to their performances and their daily lives. (New Zealand, 101 min.)

    Official Selection — 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, 2010 IDFA Festival, 2010 London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 2010 RiverRun International Film Festival, 2010 Seattle International Film Festival, 2010 Provincetown International Film Festival, 2010 Outfest Film Festival

    WEEKEND

    Directed by Andrew Haigh

    After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time, he picks up Glen, but what’s expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special. (U.K., 96 min.)

    Audience Award Winner — 2011 SXSW

    WHO TOOK THE BOMP? LE TIGRE ON TOUR

    Directed by Kerthy Fix

    Girl band Le Tigre is best known for its sociopolitical lyrics, electronic beats, and choreographed dance moves. Shot over the course of the band’s final tour, Who Took the Bomp? follows Kathleen, Johanna, and Jocelyn’s 10-year herstory of celebrating the legacy of feminism. (U.S.A., 67 min.)

    Official Selection — 2011 SXSW, 2011 Florida Film Festival, 2011 Independent Film Festival Boston

     

    Read more

  • RIP: documentary filmmaker Bruce Ricker

    [caption id="attachment_1382" align="alignnone" width="560"]Bruce Ricker (that’s him on the left, with Clint Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino) [/caption]

    Bruce Ricker — a Cambridge, Massachusetts -based director and producer of documentaries whose best-known film, “The Last of the Blue Devils’’ (1979), is a jazz classic — died of pneumonia Friday in Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.

    He was 68.

    Mr. Ricker specialized in documentaries about jazz, popular music, and film history.

    Read more in Boston Globe

    image via Boston Globe

    Read more

  • RIP: Donald Krim, president of’ film distribution company, Kino International

    Donald Krim, a film distributor, president of’ Kino International, a company founded in 1977 and acquired by Mr. Krim in 1978, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was 65.

    Among the films imported by Kino as a result of Mr. Krim’s festival explorations were Percy Adlon’s “Zuckerbaby” (1985), Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s “Himatsuri” (1986) and Michel Khleifi’s “Wedding in Galilee” (1988). Mr. Krim also helped to introduce the work of such art-house stalwarts as the Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai (“Days of Being Wild,” 1990), the Austrian Michael Haneke (“The Piano Teacher,” 2001) and the Israeli Amos Gitai (“Kadosh,” 1999).

    Three Kino releases received Academy Award nominations in the best foreign-language film category: Joseph Cedar’s “Beaufort” (2007), Scandar Copti’s “Ajami” (2009) and Giorgos Lanthimos’s “Dogtooth” (2010).

    Read more in the NY Times

    image via NYTimes

    Read more