This summer, Hamptons International Film Festival SummerDocs 2019 hosted by Alec Baldwin (HIFF Co-Chair) will once again lead conversations with filmmakers and guests, presenting three new and groundbreaking documentary filmmaking and thought-provoking stories to the East End at Guild Hall. Films include Maiden directed by Alex Holmes, Cold Case Hammarskjöld directed by Mads Brügger and Circus Of Books directed by Rachel Mason.
In the new documentary film Accept the Call from Eunice Lau, a father seeks to understand why his son is accused of terrorism. Accept the Call will world premiere at 2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York.
The Overlook Film Festival 2019 came to an end on Sunday, June 2nd and the Jury awarded the Overlook 2019 Jury Award to THE VAST OF NIGHT, directed by first time filmmaker Andrew Patterson, stating that the film was “An impressive work of low-budget ingenuity and watch-the-skies paranoia, as well an incredible retro riff on ‘Close Encounters’ — just a great example of how to take a genre storyline and run with it.”
Kino Lorber will release The Chambermaid (La camarista), the auspicious and engaging film debut by Mexican director-actress-dramatist Lila Avilés, recently named one of Variety’s “10 Latinxs to Watch 2019.”
Late one night in 1984, drag queen Lady Bunny and a few friends drunkenly wandered from the Pyramid Club in New York’s East Village to Tompkins Square Park, staging an impromptu drag show in the band shell. This annual drag bacchanal, which would become known as Wigstock, signaled the end of summer in glamorous fashion for the gay community in NYC and lasted almost 20 years.
The Shepherd directed by László Illés is a historical drama taking place in Hungarian territory occupied by the Nazi’s in 1944. The film which is poised to debut at film festivals across the globe is meant to be a tribute to everyday unsung heroes and their selfless sacrifices for mankind.
RLJE Films has acquired the horror film Satanic Panic directed by Chelsea Stardust (Hulu’s “Into the Dark”) and based on a story by Grady Hendrix (Mohawk) and Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here).
Woody Allen will start production on his 51st film in San Sebastian, Spain from July 10th to August 23rd . The film features a first-rate cast made up of international and Spanish actors including Elena Anaya (Wonder Woman, The Summit, The Skin I Live In, Sex and Lucia), Louis Garrel (Godard Mon Amour, Love Songs, The Dreamers, and A Faithful Man, which he also directed), Gina Gershon (Killer Joe, Bound, The Insider and Face Off), Sergi López (A Perfect Day, The Next Skin, Pan’s Labyrinth, With a Friend Like Harry…), Wally Shawn (veteran actor who has worked with Woody Allen in films such asRadio Days, Shadows and Fog and Manhattan), and Cristoph Waltz (Django Unchained, Inglorious Bastards, -and Oscar® award-winning roles, in Carnage and Spectre).
Joining Ralph Fiennes, Munich Film Festival (Filmfest München) will also present the festival’s special award, the CineMerit Award to Spanish actor Antonio Banderas. In Munich, Banderas will personally present Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria), for which he’s just received the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival.
Patrick DiCesare’s Artist Rights Distribution has acquired worldwide distribution rights to UK comedy The Bromley Boys , a well-received comedy set around football from Steve Kelly.
Over $40,000 in prizes were given to the winners of the 2019 Inside Out LGBT Film Festival Toronto with top honors going to Garin Nugroho for MEMORIES OF MY BODY for Inside Out Special Award for Innovation, Xiang Zi for A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON for Best First Feature, and Megan Wennberg for DRAG KIDS for Best Canadian Feature.
The Seattle International Film Festival honored actress Regina Hall with the Seattle International Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema on Sunday, June 2nd.