• Long Awaited Terence Malick Film “Tree of Life” Gets Boo-ed at Cannes

    Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life,” probably the most highly anticipated film at the Cannes Film Festival, held multiple, invitation-only screenings on Monday at the Grand Theatre Lumiere, the largest theater available there.

    Audiences actually booed the film. (As the audiences in Cannes are notorious for doing when they are shocked, offended or simply bored to death.) It shocked Malick’s supporters so much, they gave the film a rather defensive standing ovation as the credits rolled.
    Malick also skipped out on the press conference after the screening. The director is known for being extremely behind-the-scenes,  a very much out-of-the spotlight artist, and one of the most highly respected American filmmakers.

    The AP reports that Brad Pitt, a producer and star of the movie, “I don’t know why it’s accepted that people who make things in our business are then expected to sell them, and I don’t think that computes with him,” said Pitt, also a producer on the film. “He wants to focus on the making of it, not the real estate, selling the real estate. It is an odd thing for an artist to start something and then be salesman.” Pitt, Chastain and the film’s producers braved the press alone.

    Malick has not had a film at Cannes since his seminal and iconic 1979 film “Days of Heaven,” where he garnered him the Festival’s  top directing prize. “Tree of Life” is only his fifth film in a nearly forty-year career. His other films includes “Badlands” and “The Thin Red Line.”
    Producer Sarah Green explained, “Mr. Malick is very shy.”

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  • Academy Announces Winners for 2011 Student Academy Awards®

    12 students from nine U.S. colleges and universities and three students from outside the U.S. have been selected as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 38th Annual Student Academy Awards competition.  The student filmmakers will be brought to Los Angeles for a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 11, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

    The winners are (listed alphabetically by film title):

    Alternative category
    “The Vermeers,” Tal S. Shamir, The New School, New York

    Animation category
    “Correspondence,” Zach Hyer, Pratt Institute, New York
    “Defective Detective,” Avner Geller and Stevie Lewis, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
    “Dragonboy,” Bernardo Warman and Shaofu Zhang, Academy of Art University, California

    Documentary category
    “Imaginary Circumstances,” Anthony Weeks, Stanford University
    “Sin Pais (Without Country),” Theo Rigby, Stanford University
    “Vera Klement: Blunt Edge,” Wonjung Bae, Columbia College Chicago

    Narrative category
    “Fatakra,” Soham Mehta, University of Texas at Austin
    “High Maintenance,” Shawn Wines, Columbia University
    “Thief,” Julian Higgins, American Film Institute, California

    Foreign Student Film category
    “Bekas,” Karzan Kader, Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, Sweden
    “Raju,” Max Zaehle, Hamburg Media School, Germany
    “Tuba Atlantic,” Hallvar Witzo, Norwegian Film School, Norway

    The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.  Past Student Academy Award® winners have gone on to receive 43 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards.  At the 83rd Academy Awards earlier this year, 2010 Student Academy Award winner Luke Matheny took home the Oscar for Live Action Short Film for “God of Love.”  Tanel Toom, another 2010 Student Academy Award winner, also was nominated in the Live Action Short Film category for “The Confession,” and John Lasseter, a 1979 and 1980 Student Academy Award winner, was a nominee in the Adapted Screenplay category for “Toy Story 3.”

    [source: AMPAS]

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  • 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival Lineup Features 19 Films

    Now in its 22nd year, the 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to New York from June 16 to 30 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater. Nineteen of the best human rights themed films from 12 countries will be screened, 17 of them New York premieres.

    The Human Rights Watch Film Festival program this year is organized around four themes: Truth, Justice and Accountability; Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism; Human Dignity, Discrimination and Resources; and Migrants’ and Women’s Rights.

    The festival will launch on June 16 with a fundraising Benefit Night for Human Rights Watch, featuring the Bosnia-set political thriller The Whistleblower, starring Rachel Weisz. The main program will begin on June 17, with the Opening Night presentation of Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, the latest documentary from Pamela Yates, here with her sixth film in the festival. Another highlight is the Festival Centerpiece on June 25, Sing Your Song, an inspiring portrait of Harry Belafonte, with the legendary entertainer and activist present to discuss the film. On June 26 the festival will feature a special program, No Boundaries: Tim Hetherington, a tribute to the visionary work of the late photographer, filmmaker and journalist. The Closing Night screening on June 30 will be Life, Above All, a moving coming-of-age drama set in a South African township ravaged by HIV/AIDS.

    Truth, Justice and Accountability

    Part political thriller, part memoir, Granito: How to Nail a Dictator illustrates how an individual filmmaker’s long-term relationship with a topic and an archive of footage can shape not only the course of a human rights investigation but the interpretation of history. It is a story of destinies joined together by Guatemala’s past and of how Pamela Yates’ 1982 documentary When the Mountains Tremble, which will also be shown during the festival, emerges as an active player in the present by becoming forensic evidence in a genocide case against a military commander. In a twist of fate, Yates was allowed to shoot the only known footage of the army as it carried out the mass killings. Twenty-five years later, this footage becomes evidence in an international war-crimes case against the army commander who permitted her to film. (Opens theatrically in Fall 2011 through International Film Circuit. Premieres on PBS’s POV series in 2012.)

    Hollman Morris and Juan José Lozano’s Impunity documents the hearings in which Colombian paramilitary members describe atrocities they have committed as the families of their victims listen and watch on computer screens. Through this testimony, footage of the crimes, and interviews with victims and experts, the brutal history of paramilitary violence comes to light. Yet due to serious irregularities in the justice and peace process, many families express their fear that they will never know the truth surrounding the deaths of their loved ones, and that the perpetrators will escape punishment.

    La Toma captures the November 6, 1985 siege of Bogota’s Palace of Justice, home to Colombia’s Supreme Court by 35 heavily armed M-19 guerrillas. The military moved in and close to a 100 people were killed—including nearly all of the Supreme Court Justices—and 12 others remained unaccounted for. The family of Carlos Rodriguez, like many others, believe their loved ones were “disappeared”—removed from the building by government forces, accused of aiding the guerrillas, tortured, and then killed. Twenty-five years later they demand answers, and filmmakers Angus Gibson and Miguel Salazar expertly record the events that lead to the highly charged trial.

    Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism

    A story of idealism, loyalty and betrayal, Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega’s Better This World goes to the heart of the “war on terror” and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in the US after 9/11. When two teenagers, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, seek to “make a difference” by participating in the anti-war movement, they are introduced to a local activist 10 years their senior. Months later at the volatile 2008 Republican Party Convention, the two cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high-stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant. (Premieres on PBS’s POV series on September 6.)

    By providing a backdrop for the urgent blog posts and tweets that became a lifeline to Iranian pro-democracy activists, The Green Wave recounts the dramatic events of one of the most severe domestic crises in the history of Iran. Filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi takes viewers into the world of Iranian citizens who risked their lives in the hopes of a better future. Interweaving online posts, video footage caught by those present, and extensive interviews, the film is an artistic portrait of modern political rebellion, an exposé of government-sanctioned violence, and a vision of hope that continued resistance may galvanize a new future.

    Patrick Reed’s remarkable The Team brings us behind the scenes of an innovative television soap opera that aims to ease Kenya’s volatile ethnic tensions and set the stage for dialogue and understanding. The story line focuses on a tribally diverse soccer team whose members must find ways to overcome deep-rooted hatred and work together to succeed. Thousands of viewers across Kenya gather around their TV screens to watch the story unfold—building mutual understanding and acceptance with each episode. Yet the message may come too late, as the actors themselves may become victims of the discrimination they have been so passionately seeking to combat.

    In If A Tree Falls director Marshall Curry (Street Fight) and co-director Sam Cullman turn their attention to the group the FBI calls America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat”—the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). In December 2005, Daniel McGowan, a New York City social justice organizer, was arrested by federal agents for his links to the organization that carried out arson, from Oregon to Long Island, against businesses they accused of destroying the environment. The filmmakers provide a closer look at the group’s disillusionment with strategies of nonviolent protest, while posing difficult questions about trying to effect change in a post-9/11 world. (Opens theatrically on June 22 through Oscilloscope Laboratories.)

    Hebron is home to 160,000 Palestinians and 600 Israeli settlers in the city center—plus 2,000 Israeli soldiers to defend them. The conflict between neighbors in This is My Land… Hebron is fueled by the determination to conquer one more meter of the city, keep the enemy at bay, and simply stand one’s ground. Giulia Amati and Stephen Natanson’s controversial film includes interviews with both Israelis and Palestinians living in Hebron, as well as activists on both sides, members of the Israeli parliament, and prominent Ha’aretz journalists, to lift the lid on a city fraught with violence and hate.

    Luc Côté and Patricio Henríquez’s shocking You Don’t Like The Truth – 4 Days Inside Guantanamo uses seven hours of declassified security camera footage from the Canadian government to show the interrogation of 16-year-old Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen and Guantanamo detainee. The film delves into the unfolding high-stakes game of cat and mouse between captor and captive as it analyzes the political, legal, and psychological aspects of the interrogation through interviews with Khadr’s lawyers, a psychiatrist, an investigative journalist, former Guantanamo detainees, and a former US interrogator.  (Opens theatrically on September 28 at Film Forum.)

    Human Dignity, Discrimination and Resources

    In 12 Angry Lebanese: The Documentary, 45 prison inmates in Lebanon’s largest prison work together to present their version of the classic play 12 Angry Men under the direction of a drama therapist, Zeina Daccache. The choice of the play, which touches upon the themes of forgiveness, self-development, stigma, and hope, was no accident. Daccache added monologues, songs, and dance routines created by the prisoners to the original text. Her documentary includes rehearsals, drama therapy sessions, and interviews, revealing the tremendous dignity and despair of the prisoners as well as Daccache’s boundless energy and patience.

    Exploring cultural taboos, adolescence and religion through the lens of HIV/AIDS, Oliver Schmitz’s deeply affecting drama Life, Above All brings viewers into the life of 12-year-old Chanda as she struggles to maintain the facade of a normal life amid utter instability. The spread of HIV/AIDS appears to be ravaging Chanda’s South African township even though no one will speak the actual words. When her mother’s illness becomes apparent, the community turns against Chanda’s family. Her mother chooses to leave home on the advice of a well-meaning but overbearing neighbor, who has her own secrets. (Opens theatrically on July 15 through Sony Pictures Classics.)

    Thomas Napper’s revealing documentary Lost Angels introduces viewers to Los Angeles’ Skid Row, home to many of the city’s estimated 48,000 homeless people. The residents include a former Olympic runner, a transgendered punk rocker, and an eccentric animal lover and her devoted companion. Their stories paint a multifaceted portrait of life lived on the streets. Residents face challenges, including mental illness and drug addiction, with hope and a strong sense of community, while the local welfare officers see the roots of these problems in a political context.

    Susanne Rostock’s Sing Your Song intimately surveys the life of entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement. Rostock reveals Belafonte to be a tenacious activist, who worked intimately with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mobilized celebrities for social justice, participated in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took action to counter gang violence, poor prison conditions, and youth incarceration.  (This HBO Documentary Film premieres on HBO in Fall 2011.)

    Migrants’ and Women’s Rights.

    The poignant documentary Familia observes one matriarch’s decision to go to work as a hotel maid in Spain and the impact that choice has on her family in Peru. Working with a family they have known for over 35 years, filmmakers Mikael Wiström and Alberto Herskovits (Compadre, HRWFF 2005) take an emotional look at family members’ separation due to economic circumstances, providing insight into the experience of thousands of families who do the same each year. The film develops the double plot line of Nati’s lonely life as a maid in Spain and the lives of the loved ones she leaves behind in Peru.

    Love Crimes of Kabul is a fascinating look inside Afghanistan’s Badam Bagh women’s prison, where half the inmates are jailed for “moral crimes.” Kareema awaits trial for pre-marital sex with her fiancé; Aleema ran away from a violent home; Sabereh stands accused of having slept with her neighbor. In a society where behavior is strictly controlled by an ideology of honor, and transgression can bring ruin to an entire family, these young women are seen as threats to the very fabric of society. Filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian (Be Like Others) follows each case to trial, giving voice to those seen by the court only in terms of blame and embarrassment. (This HBO Documentary Film premieres on HBO on July 11.)

    Intimate and revealing, The Price of Sex focuses on young Eastern European women who have been drawn into a world of sex trafficking and abuse. The award-winning photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes viewers on a personal journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how, even though some women escape to tell their stories, the trafficking of women continues to thrive. Chakarova is the recipient of the festival’s 2011 Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking.

    Based on true events, Larysa Kondracki’s compelling political thriller The Whistleblower tells the story of Nebraska police officer Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) who discovers a deplorable cover-up and carries out a fight for justice in the former Yugoslavia. Bolkovac accepts a UN peacekeeping job through a private security contractor, but when she arrives in post-war Bosnia expecting a harmonized international effort, she finds chaos and disorder instead. When a brutally injured young woman lands in the UN’s care, Bolkovac unearths an underworld of trafficking and traces the path of criminality to a shocking source. (Opens theatrically on August 5 through Samuel Goldwyn Films.)

    In conjunction with this year’s film program, the festival will present Exiled: Burma’s Defenders, the renowned photographer Platon’s portraits of Burmese former political prisoners, civil society leaders, ethnic minority group members, journalists, and other people in exile from their repressive homeland. The exhibit will be featured in the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery at the Walter Reade Theater for the duration of the festival.

    No Boundaries: Tim Hetherington pays tribute to photographer, filmmaker (Restrepo, Liberia: An Uncivil War), journalist, human rights activist, and artist Tim Hetherington, who was killed while covering the armed conflict in Libya in April 2011. Tim was a visionary who used photos, video, memoir, and testimony to explain and humanize conflicts as well as to simply illuminate the human condition. The festival will present a screening of Diary, a highly personal and experimental film that expressed the subjective experience of his work, followed by a discussion with friends and collaborators, including Carroll Bogert (Human Rights Watch) and James Brabazon (Liberia: An Uncivil War), who will discuss Hetherington’s work and legacy.

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  • 2011 Big Island Film Festival awards; Noah Wyle’s “Queen of the Lot,” wins Best Feature

    [caption id="attachment_1351" align="alignnone" width="560"]photo by Devany Vickery-Davidson: Leo Sears and Kristina Anapau at BIFF 2011[/caption]

    Twelve films received Golden Honu Awards at the 6th Annual Big Island Film Festival today. Best Feature went to “Queen of the Lot,” starring Tanna Frederick and Noah Wyle, written and directed by Henry Jaglom, produced by Rosemary Marks.

    Celebrity actresses Sarah Wayne Callies (“The Walking Dead”) and Hilo’s own Kristina Anapau (“Black Swan”) were present to receive special “No Ka Oi” awards from Big Island Film Festival Executive Director Leo Sears.

    Winners were selected from 63 entries from across the country and around the world, including 10 made in Hawai’i. The made-on-Maui film, “Get A Job,” starring Willie K, Eric Gilliom, Augie T, Henry Kapono and many other top Hawaiian entertainers, won 2011 Audience Choice Feature.

    2011 Big Island Film Festival Golden Honu Awards:

    Actress “No Ka Oi”

    Sarah Wayne Callies

    Actress “No Ka Oi”

    Kristina Anapau

    The Barbara Award

    “Regular Kids”

    Best Family Short

    “The Green Tie Affair”

    Best Animated Short

    “Bait”

    Best Hawaiian Short

    “Layover, On the Shore”

    Best Foreign Short

    “Futility”

    Best Student Short

    “Thief”

    Best Short

    “Wounded”

    Best Family Feature

    “Trainmaster II: Jeremiah’s Treasure”

    Best Student Feature

    “Farmer’s Tan”

    Best Hawaiian Feature

    “Get A Job”

    Best Foreign Feature

    “The Drummond Will”

    Best Feature

    “Queen of the Lot”

    Audience Choice Short

    “The Historian Paradox”

    Audience Choice Feature

    “Get A Job”

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  • 2011 Albuquerque Film Festival to open with ‘Amigo’; Kicks Off Summer with Screening of The Cool School

    [caption id="attachment_1349" align="alignnone" width="560"]Amigo[/caption]

    Amigo, written and directed by John Sayles and starring Chris Cooper has been announced as the opening night film of the 3rd Albuquerque Film Festival scheduled for August 18st – 21st, 2011.

    AMIGO stars Joel Torre as Rafael Dacanay, a village mayor caught in the murderous cross-fire of the Philippine-American War in 1900. When U.S. troops garrison his village, Rafael comes under pressure to collaborate from the blood-and-guts Colonel Hardacre (Chris Cooper) as he tries not to betray his people, especially his brother Simon (Ronnie Lazaro), head of the local Filipino guerillas. A sympathetic American lieutenant (Garret Dillahunt) learns that “hearts and minds” cannot be won at gunpoint. A devious Spanish friar (Yul Vazquez) thwarts communication with his spiteful intrigues and Rafael is forced to make the near-impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by civilians in an occupied country. Friendship and betrayal, romance, and heart-breaking violence layer the story of AMIGO as a page torn from the forgotten history of imperialism, and is a mirror for today’s unresolvable conflicts.  AMIGO debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    The festival will kick off the season on June 7th by presenting the film ‘The Cool School’ as a part of “Savor Albuquerque’s” event line-up.

    About The Cool School: From 1957 to 1966, the Ferus Gallery was the catalyst of modern art in Los Angeles. Launching the careers of luminaries like Warhol, Ruscha and Lichtenstein, Ferus built an art scene from scratch and transformed the cultural climate of the West Coast.

    The Cool School also includes commentary from two other famous transplanted New Mexican artists/actors who are also very close to the festival – the late Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell.

     

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  • 14th Shanghai International Film Festival announced its first batch of the competition films for Golden Goblet Award

    [caption id="attachment_1347" align="alignnone" width="411"]The 14th Shanghai International Film Festival Official Poster[/caption]

    The 14th Shanghai International Film Festival announced its first batch of the competition films for its Golden Goblet Award on May 10th. The nine films in the shortlist come from Argentina, Italy, Japan, Germany, Turkey, and Russia. Among them, the latest work by British director Roland Joffe, a Golden Palm recipient in Cannes, and Japanese director SABU.

    The nine films are:

    “The Bones Tunnel” (Argentina) directed by Nacho Garassino

    “Ainom” (Italy) directed by Lorenzo Ceva Valla

    “Hayde Bre” (Turkey) directed by Orhan Oguz

    “Bunny Drop” (Japan) directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka

    “The Quest” (India/Bangladesh) directed by Goutam Ghose

    “Alive And Ticking” (Germany) directed by Andi Rogenhagen

    “Tomorrow’s Joe”(Japan) directed by Fumihiko Sori

    “Hydraulics” (Russia) directed by Yevgeni Serov

    “There Be Dragons” (USA/Argentina/Spain) directed by Roland Joffe

    Another seven films will be announced in mid-to-late May. The organizing committee of SIFF have already announced that American director Barry Levinson will be the Jury President for the Golden Goblet Award at the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival, which will be held from June 11th to 19th.

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  • REVIEW: The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls… succeeds in entertaining

    The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a new documentary directed by New Zealand filmmaker Leanne Pooley on two fascinating subjects—the performing duo Lynda and Jools Topp, twins who have become cultural and national icons in New Zealand over the past 25 years. As one interviewee says, a pair of yodeling lesbian twins doesn’t sound all that impressive on paper, but their act, which includes country music, comedy, and interaction with audience members, succeeds in entertaining extremely diverse groups of people, while subtly making a political statement simply by being who they are. The twins are described in the film by various people as “an anarchist variety act,” “relatively shameless,” and “a healthy, moral, cheerful cowgirl image for out lesbians.” These unique sisters fit a multitude of descriptions, all of them positive.

    The Topp Twins grew up on a farm in New Zealand, and are still very close to the land and animals of their upbringing. When they’re not touring the world, they enjoy the simple life of riding horses and raising cattle, but don’t mistake them for “simple” folk. As the film shows, they have a very interesting background, having spent time in the army, busked in the streets to start their music career, and then became very active in political and social issues, fighting for Maori land rights, a nuclear-free New Zealand, and gay rights. In everything they’ve done, Lynda and Jools have remained constant in their dedication to each other, and their undying lighthearted and positive energy, which of course carries into their acts.

    Pooley’s film captures this close relationship and amazingly limitless joy. A straightforward and traditional documentary, it also includes great concert and archival footage, hilarious and improvised interviews with the Topp’s comedy characters, such as Ken and Ken, and Camp Mother and Camp Leader. The film gets to the heart of these two wonderful subjects, and upon seeing it, one will no doubt want to find out where they might be touring next.

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  • Taking Love On The Road, Director David Meiklejohn discusses his new documentary “My Heart Is An Idiot”

    “My Heart Is An Idiot” is a new documentary about love that spans two years and over a hundred cities. The film captures the road-tripping lifestyle of Davy Rothbart (creator of “FOUND Magazine,” “This American Life” contributor, author of “The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas”) who looks for love in all the right places, and in all the wrong ways.

    The film climbs into the tour van, as Davy tours North America promoting his magazine FOUND, the virally popular and iconic printed collection of discarded notes and photographs. Along the way, Davy seeks advice on his tortured love life from people he meets and talks with, (Zooey Deschanel, Ira Glass, Newt Gingrich, and Davy’s mom), and attempts to follow that advice, with comic and very surprising results.  

    The first feature-length film project from Portland, Maine-based filmmaker David Meiklejohn, “My Heart is An Idiot” provides a raw and intimate look into the lives of people who are both unique and universal, failing and triumphing in ways that are recognizable to all. It’s a hot mess disguised as a love poem, weaving together multiple stories to illustrate the joys, and dangers, of romantic pursuit.

    Vimooz.com had the pleasure of speaking with director David Meiklejohn about this great new project, which he and Rothbart are currently taking on the road to promote in several major North American cities. This week boasts both the New York and Brooklyn premieres. Get your tickets here! “The film is not  be missed, capturing the longing of a generation that is always grasping for what it can never quite reach, and in the end, finding that what really makes them happy has really been right there, all along. Sweet, poignant, tenderhearted, hysterically uncomfortable- the film above all achieves a rarely honest portrayal of a man who is torn by his desires, and his quest for the ultimate romantic love.”

    It’s always wonderful to be reminded of what essentially makes us tick on such a warm and human level. Although on some level we may realize that love is all there is, it’s refreshing to see that we can all still be profoundly affected and confounded by both love’s pursuit of us, and our often elusive pursuit of it.

    How long were you on tour with Davy and his brother?

    I started filming in Fall of 2005, for two months, and then also, we took a break between tours, and went back on the road for two months in summer of 2006. I had 150 hours of footage,  and four hours of staged footage, and probably about between 40 and 50 archival hours of VHS footage that Davy had of  himself, growing up.

    How did the concept for this film begin?

    When we started making this film, it was going to be a FOUND Magazine tour documentary, first and foremost. It was very much going to be a collaboration between Davy and myself. So, at first, I was just filming the shenanigans of the road, the FOUND performances, and the interesting people we met along the way. But then, throughout the tour, all we were focusing were different romantic things…Either, Davy and I would talk about his romantic life, or the people we would met along the way we were interviewing would talk about love.  So, we realized after the first tour that it was going to be about Davy’s romantic life. And the second tour, I really focused on that aspect of the story. I was living in Brooklyn at the time, then moved to Ann Arbor to edit the footage with Davy. At a certain point, we realized that it wouldn’t work to have Davy edit the film, because of his relationship with the entire subject matter. It was really hard for him, and it would have been really hard for anybody, I think,  to think objectively about the story. It’s not even just about you, but about some really sensitive history in your life. So, we decided that Davy would step back from the project creatively, and I would take over the entire project, and made all of the creative decisions, keeping him completely in the loop along the way.

    I noticed that you both have chosen to downplay Davy’s status as a pretty big underground celebrity and writer…

    Yeah…The movie could have been made solely for the FOUND Magazine audience, who already knows who he is. But, you know, then it would not have been that accessible to people outside of that world. Or- we could have made it had a very strong introduction to FOUND Magazine, and explained everything in very great detail, but then it would have been boring to the people who already know who Davy is. There are more people in the world who have no idea who idea who Davy is, or what McSweeny’s (boutique publishing house) is, than, than people who do. It was sort of trying to find a balance between those two types of audiences…Those who are familiar with Davy and FOUND, and those people who aren’t. Davy has a really fascinating career. He’s a really interesting person. He’s a very talented writer, and fascinating person in the world. Everything he does has his own imprint. He’s got like a signature thing. Everything he does is really unique, and it’s really special, for him as an artist. But I just didn’t want it to be like a hagiography. I wanted it to be to be true to who Davy who is, but because I am a friend of Davy’s, I also felt it could easily flip into, “Look at my friend. Isn’t he so awesome, I admire him so much!” -kind of a thing. I wanted it to be truthful for everyone involved, and I wanted to maintain the integrity between their realities, and the reality that I was presenting. And I also wanted it to be entertaining as a story, and as a film. All of the decisions that I made had to be sensitive to both of those things.

    Hey, but you also cannot deny the power of name-dropping! I contacted every press outlet before we open the film in a city, and I know they are probably responding because I put Ira Glass and Zoey Deschanel’s names in the email descriptions of the movie. But I don’t feel this cheapens the movie at all. It introduces the movie to people. It gets them hooked. And then, once they see the movie, then, they’ll see it for what it’s worth. If they like the movie, eventually it’s not only because of Ira Glass.

    That was very jarring, the emotional scenes when Davy had videotaped himself so much younger, literally crying into the camera about lost love…

    It wasn’t really surprising that Davy had a camcorder, lots of families have them around, but what I did kind of curious about it was that the way that he was using it to document things was… it was weirdly strategic. It was a mixture of strategy and impulse. And necessity, too. I think that something I hope the film portrays, is that, there is a lot of conflict in Davy; in the way he tries to pursue romance. And not just in his romantic life, but, also, as a person, he has these kind of conflicting things that in another person, would just seem impossible to put together, but with Davy, it just makes him the person that he is. One thing is when you look at that old VHS footage, you see how he’s both acting and sincere at the same time.

    You have two major female players who bravely allow their participation in your film. Can you tell us a little something those pretty intense collaborations?

    Sarah…

    The collaboration with Sarah was really fun. When I moved to Ann Arbor, I started editing the film, watching the 150 hours of footage two or three times. I watched the footage of Sarah, and there was really no drama without Sarah in the movie. It wasn’t a balanced film without her, and I wanted to get her involved in the film in a real way, using her story kind of way. We took a walk in the park, and asked her is she wanted to be involved, and she said she would. She trusted my sensibility, and agreed to do it. And we did a really long interview. That became the source material for her voice-over. From that, I pieced it together into the film, and then, Sarah and I both created the visuals that came along with it. Some of the visuals are re-creations, reenactments of scenes that she is talking about in the movie, and then some of them are more visually representative of some emotional state. They’re more lyrical and poetic. They’re lyrical but not literal, interpretations of  what she was feeling, or the mood of what she was talking about. And we came up with all of those together. It showed her bravery. It’s really intense stuff  to have the courage to face these kind of sad moments in your past, to create something artistic out of it. I think it shows a lot of courage.

    Alex…

    Her participation was pretty unique, as well. She didn’t know what the documentary was while we were filming it, that it was largely about her at the time. It wasn’t until after I started editing it, that Alex was really filled in about it. It almost has to have been way. Her attitude in the film is that she knows, but does not care. She knows that something up, and she doesn’t know, and she’s okay with not knowing.  Once the filming was over, I had a lot of really long, straightforward conversations with her about the film. When she saw a full draft, she watched it, and she loved it. She was totally fine with the way she was portrayed. She came out to the world-premiere, and stood onstage with Davy and I, and took questions.

    What is your overall background in film, David?

    I studied poetry in college. Useful. A lot of job opportunities opened up after that, at coffee shops!  I moved around a lot, I lived in Austin, I lived in New York, I lived in Florida, and started writing fiction after I graduated. I started getting into video a couple of years after I graduated. The story is kind of funny, my younger brother, was late for rent one month, and needed to borrow money from me. I gave him money for rent, and then he gave me his video camera as collateral. And that was when I started filming. I never had my own camera until that time. I was frustrated with writing at the time, because I felt it’s a very isolating experience, it’s a very solitary art. Until you’re finished, and then you get to share it with a lot of people. But the creative aspect of was pretty solitary. So I wanted to do something that was more collaborative, in the creative aspect. So I just filming weird music videos with my friends, and just filming strange things around my life, and making videos out of them. My friend gave me some editing software, and I just started hacking away. That was the start of my filmmaking life. I sort of  just happened into it, making a ton of mistakes. It’s sort of the way I prefer to learn. I have no formal training, as a filmmaker. I just learned by making a lot of short music videos and documentaries with my friends. This is my first real, full-length project. It’s sort of my baby. This is like a like birth for me.

    What about your next project? Any plans?

    I live in Portland, Maine. It’s a really very exciting to be in Portland, Maine, and working in film right now. Everyone here has been so supportive, and so excited about the film. The way I make my next film will be  completely different from the way I made “My Heart Is An Idiot.” I feel like I know how much more important it is to really plan. The more planning you do in the beginning, the less work you have to do in the end. That’s really intuitive and apparent in narrative films. They’re things you do in the beginning that will determine the end. I have a loose trilogy of films in my head, thematically related in the style of the Krzysztof Kieślowski films “Red, White, and Blue.” I’m switching from documentary to narrative film. It’s basically a love story, the first one, about two people living in Portland.  The three films will have characters who don’t really know each other, but whose lives intersect in a very major way.

    Tell us about the future you see for “My Heart Is An Idiot”…

    We have just set up a tour of our own, because, through FOUND Magazine, we have access to some great venues around the country, and media access, who are all interested in really supporting the film. It’s really unique to have this opportunity as a first-time filmmaker. We’re basically creating our own festival circuit. I’m definitely open for it to reach beyond the kind of DIY, punk-rock audience that we have built-in already. I did submit it to the Oprah Winfrey Network! You know, she has a documentary series now…You just never know. It may be a good fit!

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  • Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” in theaters on December 23

    [caption id="attachment_1342" align="alignnone" width="560"]Anglina Jolie on the set of ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’[/caption]

    Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” which was also written by Jolie, will be released by FilmDistrict, in the US on Dec. 23.

    Graham King and his producing partner Tim Headington, together with Peter Schlessel, CEO of FilmDistrict, announced today in Cannes that Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” which was also written by Jolie, will be released by FilmDistrict, a subsidiary of GK Films, in the US on Dec. 23.

    “In the Land of Blood and Honey” is set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War in the ‘90s.  This bold new film illustrates the consequences of the lack of political will to intervene in a society stricken with conflict.

    “The film is specific to the Bosnian War, but it’s also universal,” says Jolie.  “I wanted to tell a story of how human relationships and behavior are deeply affected by living inside a war.

    “Working with Angelina on this film and story has been a great collaboration and I am extremely proud of this film,” said King.  “The filmmaking is impeccable, and signals the arrival of a visceral and compelling storyteller.”

    “In the Land of Blood and Honey” features a completely local cast, most of whom were children of the war. The film was simultaneously shot in English and their native language. During the time of the war the language spoken was Serbo-Croatian and is now referred to as BHS. FilmDistrict will release the English language version on Dec. 23.

    “The former Yugoslavia has a rich history of dramatic arts.  The cast was extraordinary. I was privileged and honored to work with them and I am very excited for everyone to see their immense talent,” adds Jolie.

    “In the Land of Blood and Honey” stars Zana Marjanovic (Snow), Goran Kostic and Rade Serbedzija (In The Rain).

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  • Sundance Selects to release Julia Leigh’s “Sleeping Beauty” from 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the US

    Sundance Selects, sister division to IFC Films and IFC Midnight, announced from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival that the company will release Julia Leigh’s “Sleeping Beauty” in the the US. The film, with a screenplay by Leigh, stars Emily Browning, Rachael Blake, Ewen Leslie, Peter Carroll, Chris Haywood, and was produced by Jessica Brentnall. The film premiered this week in Competition at the festival.

    Lucy is a young university student possessed by a kind of radical passivity. She lets a flip of the coin generate a random sexual encounter and she displays an uncomplaining patience when facing the repetitions of her various menial jobs that fund her studies. One day she responds to an advertisement in the student newspaper. Following an interview and inspection at Clara’s office, she is initiated as a lingerie waitress and secretly auditioned for the role of a Sleeping Beauty. She meets with approval and – recklessly –accepts the strange new work. On her first visit to the countryside mansion Clara explains to Lucy that she will be sedated. “You will go to sleep: you will wake up. It will be as if those hours never existed.”

    The old wealthy men who visit the Sleeping Beauty Chamber rely upon Lucy’s passivity. The alluring erotic contact they seek in the chamber requires her absolute submission and inability to gaze upon their aging bodies. The one rule is that there must be no penetration. In her role as a Sleeping Beauty she practices being dead. She becomes their exquisite object, submitting to an extreme loss of will and consequent violation. The first visitor venerates her youth and beauty; the second is sadistic; the third accidentally drops her limp body.

    Being drugged in the chamber means there is a part of her life that remains unknowable. The unnerving experience of being observed in her sleep starts to bleed into her daily life. Evicted from her share house, she uses her sleep-derived income to rent a new apartment. It is anonymous and bare, a high-rise glass coffin. When her friend Birdmann dies in her arms she loses her only authentic close connection. She develops a deepening curiosity to know what happens to her during the night.

    She purchases a tiny surveillance camera and records a university lecture: a trial run for her plan to film inside the sleeping chamber. Her need to record her unknowable double life leads to a defiant act of will when she fights off the sleeping drug in order to hide the secret tiny camera in the chamber. Her camera will unwittingly record the assisted suicide of one of the men, and her own accidental overdose from which she is revived. On waking, Lucy howls and wails. The spell, at last, is broken.

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  • Documentary about punk rock fathers, The Other F Word, in theatres this Fall 2011

    The documentary movie about punk rock fathers, The Other F Word, which asks the question ‘What happens when a generation’s ultimate anti-authoritarians — punk rockers — become society’s ultimate authorities — dads?‘ is headed to theaters and cable tv, reports The Hollywood Report. Oscilloscope Laboratories will release the film in Fall 2011 and Showtime plan to broadcast the film in 2012.

    Directed by Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, “The Other F Word ” premiered at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, and the festival synopsis explains:  ‘With a large chorus of Punk Rock’s leading men — Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Flea, Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath –The Other F Word follows Jim Lindberg, 20 year veteran of skate punk band, Pennywise, on his hysterical and moving journey from belting out his band’s anthem, “Fuck Authority”, to embracing his ultimately pivotal authoritarian role in mid-life, fatherhood.‘

     

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  • Kings of Leon documentary ‘Talihina Sky’ to rock deadCENTER Film Festival kick-off celebration

    The rock and roll documentary Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon will celebrate its Oklahoma premiere on Wednesday, June 8 as the inaugural film of the 2011 deadCENTER Film Festival.

    Talihina Sky is the story of Kings of Leon, whose strict Pentecostal upbringing in Oklahoma and Tennessee preceded their unlikely transformation into one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

    The free, outdoor screening begins at 9:30 p.m. at the 400 block of N. Broadway Avenue.  Running time is 87 minutes.  A Q&A with Director Stephen Mitchell will take place directly following the film.

    Due to scenes with graphic content and adult themes, this film is recommended for mature audiences only.

    Talihina Sky follows Nathan, Caleb, Jared and Matthew Followill back to Talihina, Oklahoma for their annual family reunion. This reunion serves as a catalyst to explore the band’s roots and the difficulties they faced growing up. Home movies, childhood photos and revealing interviews with family members — including a colorful group of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins — expose how the influence of their family has informed the creativity that drives Kings of Leon today.

    “10 years ago I witnessed the creation of this family band in their mother’s Tennessee garage. Even then, I was fascinated by their strict Pentecostal upbringing and the eccentric and colorful characters that make up their family,” said Director Stephen Mitchell.  “There was no doubt in my mind that they would become one of the biggest rock bands in the world. My goal with this film was to document the roots of their music and how rock-n-roll transformed their lives.  I am proud and honored to share the story of Kings of Leon.”

    Talihina Sky made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.

    “The kick-off block party and outdoor screening is always a highlight of the deadCENTER experience,” said Kim Haywood, chief operating officer for the festival.  “Bring your lawn chairs and blankets, and enjoy a great movie with thousands of friends on a huge HD screen, with the nighttime city skyline as a backdrop.  There is nothing quite like it.”

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    [via deadCENTER Film Festival]

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