The South Africa-meets-Bollywood Bhai’s Cafe, directed by Maynard Kraak, and described as a “poignant little gem of a film about family, love and urban gentrification” will officially close this year’s 40th Durban International Film Festival on Saturday July 27.
The Grand Prize award at the 17th annual New Zealand Mountain Film and Book Festival went to directors Alastair Lee and past festival speaker Leo Houlding for their film Spectre Expedition – To the End of the Earth. The winners of the Grand Prize award receive $1,000USD; the film was also awarded the Best Adventure Sports and Lifestyles Film.
Munich International Film Festival (Filmfest München) honored talented young filmmakers with the coveted German Cinema New Talent Award, with the award for best director going to Jan-Ole Gerster for his film “Lara” and Martin Lischke (“Leif in Concert“) received the award for best producer. Two awards went to people who worked on “I Was, I Am, I Will Be“: Nils Mohl and Ilker Çatak were honored for best screenplay, while the award for best actor went to Oğulcan Arman Uslu.
An Audience Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival last year was a stellar start for “Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future“, the first-ever film about “The Father of Space Art,” Chesley Bonestell. Since then, however, the film has gone on to know even greater success, winning two Best Documentary awards, including one at Comic-Con 2018 and a second at the 44th Boston Science Fiction Film Festival in 2019. So who was this man credited as a quiet force behind the creation of America’s space program? On July 15th and 16th – 50 years from when Apollo XI carried two humans to the Moon – Los Angeles-area audiences will have a chance to know this nearly forgotten but influential artist a lot better.
The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, directed by Karim Aïnouz won the first-ever €100,000 CineCoPro Award at the Munich International Film Festival (Filmfest München).
On the eve of the world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, the first chilling clip was released for David Marmor’s isolation-inspired horror film 1BR. IBR will world premiere on July 18th screening during the Frontiéres Co-Production Market, in Montreal, Canada.
Popcorn Frights Film Festival rolled out the second wave of 73 horror genre films, including 10 world premieres, from 16 countries, for its fifth year taking place from August 8 to 16.
Bisbee, Arizona, was one of the largest copper mining centers in America until it became a virtual ghost town in 1975 when its two massive mines were closed. Forty years later, Bisbee is a community of eccentrics, immigrants, hippies, bikers and drifters, attempting to reckon with a dark and violent history of a forgotten event known as the Bisbee Deportation.
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable from director Aaron Lieber is a stunningly shot look at surfer Bethany Hamilton’s life and her beyond inspiring journey, following her from her incredible recovery from a devastating shark attack to become a surfing world champion.
A total of 33 projects were screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) Eastern Promises 2019, the festival’s Industry section, with the exciting mission of being a bridge between talented filmmakers from the East and their potential Western partners, festivals and audiences. The juries announced the winners at the ceremony that closed the festival’s industry program in Little Versailles in Karlovy Vary.
NY/LA-based arthouse genre sales company Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired world sales rights for neo-noir Blood On Her Name, the debut feature from Matthew Pope.
Greenwich Entertainment and 1091 have co-acquired the documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice directed by Academy Award®-Winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice will open in theaters this September. CNN Films, a co-producer of the documentary has acquired broadcast television rights for North America.