Award-winning filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari, along with newly appointed Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, and Variety International Film Critic Jessica Kiang will serve as the jury for the 2019 Toronto Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. An award of $20,000 CAD will be presented to the best film in the Festival’s Platform program.
Jawline directed by first time filmmaker Liza Mandelup, made its world premiere earlier this year at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where it went on to win the Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker. The film will be released as a Hulu Documentary both theatrically in the US and on Hulu on Friday, August 23.
The new documentary 16 Shots from Academy Award(R) nominated director Richard Rowley (Dirty Wars) that examines the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued will premiere on Showtime on Friday, June 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The new trailer is released for queer dramedy Funny Story directed by Michael Gallagher and starring Matthew Glave and Emily Bett Rickards. Funny Story also starring Nikki Limo, Lily Holleman, Jessica Diggins, Aschleigh Jensen, Jacob Wysocki, Pete Gardner, and Reginald Vel Johnson will be released in select theaters and On Demand on May 24th.
AFI DOCS has revealed its full slate of films for the 2019 festival with women dominating selections – 68% of slate features female producers, and 48% directors. The 17th edition will showcase 72 films representing 17 countries and runs June 19 to 23 in Washington, DC, and Silver Spring, MD.
IFC Midnight has acquired Larry Fessenden’s DEPRAVED, his modern Brooklyn-set Frankenstein adaptation starring David Call (The Sinner), Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project), Alex Breaux (Bushwick), Ana Kayne (Another Earth), Chloë Levine (The Transfiguration, The Ranger), and Addison Timlin (The Town That Dreaded Sundown), for release in the U.S.
This year’s fifth annual Mammoth Lakes Film Festival (MLFF) will close out with Tribeca Film Festival’s documentary darling, XY Chelsea on Sunday, May 26. The film takes a look at the life and career of Chelsea Manning, a trans woman solider in the United States Army, who was sentenced to serve 35 years at an all-male military prison for leaking information about the country’s was in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The World Premiere of Claudia Myers’ Above the Shadows starring Olivia Thirlby, Alan Ritchson, Jim Gaffigan and Megan Fox will kick off the 2019 Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) on Friday, May 31st. Over the course of the 10-day festival, the film lineup for the 22nd edition: THE GATHERING will showcase 133 features and shorts from over 30 countries spread over all continents, except Antarctica.
British actor and director Ralph Fiennes will receive the CineMerit Award at the 2019 Munich International Film festival (Filmfest München). The festival will also screen the German premiere of his new film The White Crow, which Fiennes has both directed and starred in, playing the part of renowned Leningrad ballet master Alexander Pushkin.
The Quiet One directed by Oliver Murray, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the life and career of Bill Wyman, former founding member of The Rolling Stones. The documentary film will open in New York and Los Angeles on June 21 via Sundance Selects.
After world premiering at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, Ever After (Endzeit) directed by Carolina Hellsgård will open theatrically at the IFC Center in New York on June 21. Many other cities will follow.
Rohena Gera’s Sir which opened 19th New York Indian Film Festival won the prize of Best Film at the festival, along with the award of Best Actress for Tillotama Shome. The award for Best Documentary Feature went to Sindhustan directed by Sapna Bhavnani. Ritesh Batra won the Best Director prize for his latest film Photograph starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra which Amazon Studios will release in U.S. theaters starting this Friday, May 17.