Ant Timpson’s directorial debut Come To Daddy, starring Elijah Wood, has been added to the lineup for The Overlook Film Festival 2019 as the weekend’s Centerpiece Film Presentation, alongside newly added film Girl On The Third Floor starring wrestling superstar CM Punk, virtual reality from Alexandre Aja. The Festival also revealed the feature and short film juries.
DocLands Documentary Film Festival hosted its annual DocPitch forum this past weekend and awarded director Chris Temple and editor Alejandro Valdés-Rochin with a $25,000 cash prize, provided by Project No. 9, for their documentary film currently in development, Five Years North.
Rooftop Films announced the feature films selected for 23rd Summer Series to run from May 17th to August 23rd. Films include Brittany Runs a Marathon, celebrated playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Sundance smash that took home the fest’s U.S. Dramatic Audience Award; Tali Shalom-Ezer’s My Days of Mercy, starring Ellen Page, Kate Mara and Amy Seimetz; Mickey and the Bear, Annabelle Attanasio’s Montana-set drama starring Camila Morrone; Alex Thompson’s SXSW Audience Award winner, Saint Frances; Michael Tyburski’s strikingly unique Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantee, The Sound of Silence, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Rashida Jones; Tom Cullen’s devastating directorial debut, Pink Wall, starring Tatiana Maslany and Jay Duplass; Premature, Rashaad Ernesto Green’s fresh portrait of New York love; Samantha Buck & Marie Schlingmann’s playfully irreverent Sister Aimee; and Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s suburban black comedy, Greener Grass.
Penélope Cruz will be all over the 67th San Sebastian Festival. The Spanish actress will receive the Festival’s important accolade, the Donostia Award – recognizing the career and contribution of great figures to the world of cinema since 1986, and her image is featured on the Festival poster.
Cine Las Americas International Film Festival (CLAIFF22) concluded on Sunday with announcements of the winners of the 22nd edition of the Festival. The evening’s ceremony was followed by a screening of the closing night film, the Peruvian box-office hit Don’t Call Me a Spinster (No me digas solterona) with writer and director Ani Alva Helfer in attendance.
AFI DOCS 2019 will open with the world premiere of HBO’s TRUE JUSTICE: BRYAN STEVENSON’S FIGHT FOR EQUALITY, directed by Peter Kunhardt, George Kunhardt and Teddy Kunhardt, and will close with RAISE HELL: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS, directed by Janice Engel. AFI DOCS runs June 19–23, 2019, in Washington, DC, and Silver Spring, MD.
Sheffield Doc/Fest announced the line-up of 180+ documentary features and shorts for its 26th edition, which runs from 6 to 11 June, 2019, under the tagline “Ways of Seeing” inspired by John Berger’s television series and book of the same name. The festival opens on Thursday June 6 with Diego Maradona, a wild and irreverent look at one of the world’s most iconic sportsmen, both on and off the pitch, during his infamous time in Naples.
The World Premiere of the intimate and moving biopic of painter L. S. Lowry, Mrs Lowry & Son will close this year’s 2019 Edinburgh International Film Festival at Festival Theatre on Sunday June 30th.
Rom Com Fest, a new LA based film festival which celebrates love through film and experiences, announced the lineup for its inaugural festival which will take place June 20 to 23, 2019. Rom Com Fest will take place primarily at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles, with select events at other venues.
Sylvester Stallone, returns to Cannes as one of the latest additions to the 72nd Cannes Film Festival with a first look at Rambo V – Last Blood starring Stallone again as John Rambo.
Multitalented film, television and music video artist Melina Matsoukas (AFI Class of 2005) will receive the 2019 Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal at the AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute to Denzel Washington in Hollywood on June 6, 2019. This honor recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of AFI Conservatory alumni who embody the qualities of filmmaker Franklin J. Schaffner: talent, taste, dedication and commitment to quality storytelling in film and television.
Winner of the award for Best Documentary at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival For Sama documents Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to her daughter Sama. The documentary film takes the form of a letter from Waad al-Kateab to Sama. For Sama directed by Waad al-Kateab along with Edward Watts opens in US theaters on July 26.