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

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    [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]

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  • 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 ]

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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)]

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  • 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

     

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • Cannes Film Festival 2011 Winners; Malick’s “Tree of Life” garners Palme D’Or

    [caption id="attachment_1357" align="alignnone" width="500"]Brad Pitt in Terence Malick’s ‘Tree of Life,’ winner of the Palme D’Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. [/caption]

    The mysteriously enigmatic U.S. director Terrence Malick took the Cannes film festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or, Sunday evening,  for his film The Tree of Life-  about a family of sons dominated by a tyrannical father in Texas, and the origins and mysteries of life. The film stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and luminous newcomer Jessica Chastain. Shy as ever, Malick had one of the film’s co-producers, Bill Pohlad accept the award on his behalf. (Malick also did not promote the film at the festival.)

    “I know he is thrilled with this award, as are all of us,” Pohlad said. “The Tree of Life was a long road.” Malick apparently took an extra year re-cutting and fine-tuning the film, which was originally set to screen at the 2010 Cannes film festival.

    The award ceremony brought an end to the May 11-22 Cannes Film Festival. Belgium’s Dardenne brothers and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan shared the runner-up Grand Prix prize “The Kid With a Bike” and “Once Upon A Time in Anatolia.” Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn won the best director prize for his high-octane film noir “Drive,” starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, about a stuntman who moonlights as a get-away car driver.

    The lovely Kirsten Dunst won the Cannes version of  “Best Actress” for her portrayal of a depressed woman at the end of the world in Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.”

    “Well, what a week it’s been,” Dunst sighed, referencing the fact that her controversial director von Trier was named persona non grata by the Cannes team after his strange Hitler remarks at a recent press conference.

    “I’d like to say thank you to the Cannes film festival for allowing the film to be in competition, it’s such a special night for me,” she said, and thanked von Trier for casting her.

    French actor Jean Dujardin took the best actor award for his role as a silent movie star, fighting to deal with advent of talking films, in Michel Hazanavicius’  all silent movie “The Artist.”

    Winners

    In Competition :

    Feature films

    Palme d’Or
    THE TREE OF LIFE directed by Terrence MALICK

    Grand Prix Ex-aequo
    BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU’DA (ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA) directed by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN
    LE GAMIN AU VÉLO (THE KID WITH A BIKE) directed by Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE

    Award for Best Director
    Nicolas WINDING REFN for DRIVE

    Award for Best Screenplay
    Joseph CEDAR for HEARAT SHULAYIM (Footnote)\

    Award for Best Actress
    Kirsten DUNST in MELANCHOLIA directed by Lars VON TRIER

    Award for Best Actor
    Jean DUJARDIN in THE ARTIST directed by Michel HAZANAVICIUS

    Jury Prize
    POLISSE (POLISS) directed by MAÏWENN

    Short Films

    Palme d’Or – Short Film
    CROSS (CROSS – COUNTRY) directed by Maryna VRODA

    Jury Prize – Short Film
    BADPAKJE 46 (SWIMSUIT 46) directed by Wannes DESTOOP

     

    Cinefondation :

    1st Prize Cinéfondation
    DER BRIEF (THE LETTER) directed by Doroteya DROUMEVA

    2nd Prize – Cinéfondation
    DRARI directed by Kamal LAZRAQ

    3rd Prize Cinéfondation
    YA-GAN-BI-HANG (FLY BY NIGHT) directed by SON Tae-gyum

    Golden Camera :

    Caméra d’or
    LAS ACACIAS directed by Pablo GIORGELLI


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  • IFC Midnight to release Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel’s psychological thriller SNOWTOWN in the U.S.

    [caption id="attachment_1377" align="alignnone" width="560"]SNOWTOWN[/caption]

    IFC Midnight announced from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival that the company Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel’s psychological thriller SNOWTOWN in the U.S.. The directorial debut for Kurzel, with a screenplay by Shaun Grant, stars Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, and Louise Harris.  Arriving with much buzz after winning the Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival, the film was just awarded a special citation last night by the Critics’ Week jury. The film is also in competition for the Camera d’Or.

    Based on a true story, SNOWTOWN follows sixteen-year-old Jamie (Pittaway) who begins a friendship with a charismatic older man (Henshall).  As the relationship grows, so do Jamie’s suspicions, until he finds his world threatened by both his loyalty for, and fear of, his newfound father-figure.  The older man Jamie befriended was John Bunting, Australia’s most notorious serial killer.

     

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  • Poliss from 2011 Cannes Film Festival to be relased in the US

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    [caption id="attachment_1375" align="alignnone" width="560"]POLISS[/caption]

    Sundance Selects announced from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival that the company will release in the U.S.,  writer-director and actress Maiwenn’s POLISS.  The film, which made its world premiere in Competition at the festival, was produced by Alain Attal and co-written by actress Emmanuelle Bercot, who also co-stars in the film. The film also stars Karin Viard, Joeystarr, Marina Fois, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Karole Rocher, Frederic Pierrot, Arnaud Henriet, Naidra Ayadi and Jeremie Elkhaim.

    The film follows a group of individuals and officers working in and around a child protection unit in Paris.

    Sundance Selects has also picked up several other titles at this week’s festival including Julia Leigh’s SLEEPING BEAUTY; writer/director Bertrand Bonello’s HOUSE OF TOLERANCE; writer/director Mia Hansen Love’s GOODBYE FIRST LOVE; and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s THE KID WITH A BIKE. IFC Midnight, Sundance Selects’ sister division, additionally picked up Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel’s psychological thriller SNOWTOWN ot U.S. release

    Sundance Selects is a sister division to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, and is owned and operated by Rainbow Media.

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  • Arirang and AUF FREIER STRECKE (Stopped on track) tied to win Un Certain Regard prize at 2011 Cannes Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_1373" align="alignnone" width="560"]Stopped on Track (Halt auf Freier Strecke)[/caption] ARIRANG directed by KIM Ki-Duk and HALT AUF FREIER STRECKE (Stopped on track) by Andreas DRESEN tied to win the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

    In Arirang, director KIM Ki-Duk turned the cameras on himself as he is ‘playing 3 roles in 1.’ HALT AUF FREIER STRECKE (Stopped on track) by Andreas DRESEN is described as ‘A story about death that celebrates life.’ Forty-year-old healthy Frank has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and suddenly condemned to only a few months to live.

    ELENA by Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV was awarded the Special Jury Prize and Mohammad RASOULOF received the Directing Prize for BÉ OMID É DIDAR (Au revoir).

     

     

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