From acclaimed auteurs to emerging directors to visual artists that push the limits of documentary film, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) announced 70 selected documentary film titles to the program sections Frontlight, Masters, Paradocs, Paradocs: Amsterdam Art Weekend at IDFA, and Best of Fests, plus a Lifetime Achievement Award for Jørgen Leth. The new selections include world premieres from Oeke Hoogendijk, Louise Detlefsen, Louise Kjeldsen, and Basir Mahmoud.
Described as an unconventional ghost story, Grasshopper Films released the official trailer for Light From Light directed by Paul Harrill. The film starring Marin Ireland, Jim Gaffigan, Josh Wiggins, Atheena Frizzell, and David Cale opens November 1st in New York at the Quad Cinema and November 8th in Los Angeles at Landmark’s Nuart.
Ninety-three countries have submitted films for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards®. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants.
Uncork’d Entertainment released the official trailer for the western thriller Eminence Hill from director Robert Conway, and starring Lance Henriksen, Barry Corbin along with Dominique Swain.
In the 1970s, the Bronx was on fire. Left unprotected by the city government, nearly a quarter-million people were displaced as their close-knit, multiethnic neighborhood burned to the ground, reducing the community to rubble. While insidious government policies caused the devastation, it was the African American and Latino residents who bore the blame. Through rich archival and home movie footage, testimonials from retired FDNY firefighters and brass, as well as Bronx historians and community organizers, Decade of Fire reveals the real reasons for the devastation and shows what can happen when a community chooses to fight back and reclaim their neighborhood. A film by Vivian Vázquez Irizarry, Gretchen Hildebran and Julia Steele Allen, Decade of Fire premieres on Monday, November 4, 2019, 10:00-11:00 PM ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App.
Toronto After Dark Film Festival unveiled its Final Wave of new horror, sci-fi and action films for 2019, including collections of Canadian and International Short Films. Highlights include THE MORTUARY COLLECTION a scary fun new horror film starring the iconic Clancy Brown, JAMES VS HIS FUTURE SELF an hysterical new sci-fi time travel comedy, and WEREWOLF the intense new World War II survival horror.
The documentary Gay Chorus Deep South, winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at Tribeca Film Festival, released a power new official trailer, weeks before it opens in theaters. Gay Chorus Deep South directed by David Charles Rodrigues documents the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as they embark on a tour of the American Deep South, in response to a wave of discriminatory anti-LGBT laws and the divisive 2016 election.
Inspired by Bernard de Fontenelle’s Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, Around the Sun directed by Oliver Krimpas, and starring Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey) along with Gethin Anthony (Game of Thrones) is now making the regional festival rounds. The film is playing at the young upstart Mystic Film Festival, in Connecticut, this weekend, and at the the Heartland International Film Festival, in Indianapolis next weekend.
Byron Bay Film Festival will close with The Cave, the film that tells a story that will be familiar to nearly everyone – the 2018 rescue of the Wild Boars football team from an underground cave in Northern Thailand, where they had been trapped by floodwaters caused by early monsoon rains.
Sound of Metal by Darius Marder was awarded the Golden Eye for Best International Feature Film at the 15th Zurich Film Festival. The film tells the story of a heavy-metal drummer (Riz Ahmed) who starts to lose his hearing and consequently begins to re-evaluate his place in the world.
Vanishing Angle acquired foreign sales rights for Lucas Heyne’s Sundance selection MOPE following the film’s European premiere at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival in Spain.
Destin Daniel Cretton’s JUST MERCY will open the 28th Philadelphia Film Festival on October 17. This heartrending and inspirational film tells the story of author and social justice activist, Bryan Stevenson, played by acclaimed actor Michael B. Jordan of FRUITVALE STATION, CREED, and BLACK PANTHER fame. Additional Opening Night titles include PARASITE, opening Masters of Cinema; CUNNINGHAM, opening Spotlights; COME AS YOU ARE, opening Made in the USA; BIKRAM: YOGI, GURU, opening Non/Fiction; and THE LODGE opening After Hours.