Imagine Dragons frontman and Mormon Dan Reynolds recently embarked on a new mission: to explore and influence how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints treats its LGBTQ members.
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BELIEVER Follows Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds on His Quest for LGBTQ Acceptance in the Mormon Community
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons at Rock im Park 2013 in Nuremberg, Germany
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Wrestling Documentary ‘350 DAYS’ Starring Bret Hart and ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham, in U.S. Cinemas July 12 Only [Trailer]
The wrestling documentary “350 Days” starring former world champions Bret Hart and “Superstar” Billy Grahams “350 Days” hits movie theaters nationwide this summer for a one-night event on July 12. The documentary provides a behind-the-scenes look at the grueling life they led on the road and the effect that lifestyle had on their marriages, family, physical and mental health. Featuring Greg Valentine, Tito Santana, Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff, Abdullah The Butcher, Wendi Richter, Bill Eadie, Nikolai Volkoff, Lanny Poffo, Stan Hansen, Angelo Mosca, Lex Luger, and more, the event also includes some of the last interviews ever done with George “The Animal” Steele, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Ox Baker, The Wolfman, “Pretty Boy” Larry Sharpe, Don Fargo, and 99-year-old Angelo Savoldi.
In addition to the documentary, this special one-night event will also present an exclusive introduction and interview with legendary wrestling manager JJ Dillon of The Four Horsemen to discuss the impact of the film and the current state of professional wrestling.
Fathom Events, Rivalry Championship Wrestling and Happy Fish Productions present “350 Days” in nearly 450 U.S. cinemas for one night on Thursday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m. local time, through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of participating theaters, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
“’350 Days’ pulls back the curtain to give fans a unique look at the personal side of one of America’s most-watched sports – professional wrestling,” said Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt. “There is no better way to experience this thrilling documentary than in a movie theater with other wrestling enthusiasts.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvcnVv55cQk
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PBS POV Acquires Award Winning Documentaries ON HER SHOULDERS and THE SILENCE OF OTHERS
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Nadia Murad and Murad Ismael appear in On Her Shoulders by Alexandria Bombach.[/caption]
Two of the year’s top award-winning and critically-acclaimed documentary feature films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival – On Her Shoulders by Alexandria Bombach and The Silence of Others by Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar – have been acquired by PBS television series POV.
On Her Shoulders (Tim Hetherington Award Nominee) and The Silence of Others (Grand Jury Award Nominee) will both screen at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK this weekend as well as at the AFI Docs film festival in Washington, DC and the Human Rights Films Festival in New York this month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT6EgVIGwDY
On Her Shoulders, following a 23-year-old Yazidi genocide and ISIS sexual slavery survivor, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Award for a U.S. Documentary. It won a special jury award at SXSW Film Festival and was a Top Ten Audience Favorite at Hot Docs in Toronto.
Synopsis: Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to the world, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the international stage as THE VOICE of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people’s good intentions.
[caption id="attachment_29720" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
The Silence of Others[/caption]
The Silence of Others, which captures the first attempt in 77 years to prosecute crimes of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, took the Audience Award (Panorama) as well as the Peace Prize at its world premiere at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), was a Top Ten Audience Favorite at Hot Docs in Toronto.
Synopsis: The Silence of Others reveals the epic struggle of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under General Franco, who continue to seek justice to this day. Filmed over six years, the film follows victims and survivors as they organize the groundbreaking “Argentine Lawsuit” and fight a state-imposed amnesia of crimes against humanity, in a country still DIVIDED four decades into democracy.
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Cinedigm to Release Action-Thriller SILENCER Starring Johnny Messner, Danny Trejo
Silencer, a new action-thriller starring Johnny Messner (Weaponized), Danny Trejo (Machete) and MMA Rivals Tito Ortiz (Former UFC Champion, Boo 2! A Madea Halloween) and Chuck Liddell (Former UFC Champion & Hall of Famer, War Pigs) has been acquired by Cinedigm Corp for release in the US.
From director Timothy Woodward Jr. (Gangster Land, Hickok), Silencer follows a retired hitman who must resurrect all of his deadly skills and fight a one-man war against his former employer who has kidnapped his step-daughter. The film is set to be released this September.
“Status Media delivers another potent picture. Silencer is an explosive actioner with strong production values, high dramatic stakes and the added bonus of pitting legendary MMA rivals, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, against one another,” said Yolanda Macias, Cinedigm’s EVP of Acquisitions. “Timothy and his team are excellent partners, and we are thrilled to be working with them on Silencer.”
“Cinedigm collaborates well with indie filmmakers and has been a strong distribution partner for us,” said Woodward. “We appreciate their wide distribution reach and their dedicated/collaborative marketing and sales teams, and we look forward to another success with Silencer.”
Silencer was produced by Woodward, Lauren de Normandie, Johnny Cleveland and Terence Sims. Executive Producers include Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor, Joe Listhaus, Patrick DePeters, Kirk Shaw, Drew Ryce, James Shavick, and Jared Safier. The script was written by Sean Mick.
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Horror Film THE TOKOLOSHE to Open, LGTB Love-Story RAFIKI to Close 39th Durban International Film Festival
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The Tokoloshe[/caption]
A thriller/horror film and a LGTBI love-story have been selected respectively as the opening- and closing films of the 39th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which takes place from July 19 to 29, 2018.
In a bold move to shift perceptions of how African stories can be told cinematically across genres, the DIFF has selected a South African debut thriller/horror feature The Tokoloshe, directed by Jerome Pikwane, for opening night and Kenyan director, Wanuri Kahiu’s tender story of lesbian love, Rafiki as its closing film.
“With the current global focus on giving women a voice in a world dominated by masculinity and systemic misogyny, we wanted to book-end the festival with films that tell stories about woman, their strength and their survival. We also want to showcase, from a cinematic point of view, that there are many ways to tell these stories,” says Manager of DIFF, Chipo Zhou.
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The Tokoloshe, Jerome Pikwane[/caption]
The Tokoloshe is directed by Jerome Pikwane, co-written with novelist Richard Kunzmann and produced by Dumi Gumbi and Cati Weinek of The Ergo Company.
In The Tokoloshe, which stars Petronella Tshuma, Dawid Minnaar, Kwande Nkosi, Harriet Manamela and Yule Masiteng, a young woman, crippled by suppressed emotions, must find the courage to face an insatiable demon, wrought in her own childhood, when she tries to save the life of a girl-child abandoned in a rundown Johannesburg hospital.
“Using the horror genre I wanted to investigate how we suppress trauma, and what happens when the trauma comes to the surface. In effect, the Tokoloshe in South African mythology has become a foil for abuse that is ingrained in our society, ” says director Jerome Pikwane. “And the characters, their journey, their relationships are the focus and not the beautiful shots nor the CGI, although we have that too.”
“The film is not quite what one expects from its title, so I dare audiences to see beneath the surface,” says Zhou. “It is a horror film, crafted so intricately, unveiling the menace that is our everyday burden as woman in this country. But the film depicts the story of a survivor, not a victim. It is a chilling story, one that needs to be told now and is particularly relevant as it gives voice to the voiceless.”
[caption id="attachment_29915" align="aligncenter" width="1199"]
Rafiki[/caption]
Closing film Rafiki, directed by Wanuri Kahiu, produced by Steven Markovitz (SA) and starring Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva, is a touching tale of two very different girls living in Nairobi, who fall in love. Co-written with Jenna Bass (SA), the film was the first Kenyan feature film to be invited to Cannes Film Festival 2018 as part of the Official Un Certain Regard selection, and was a project in the 2012 Durban FilmMart.
“Over the years of developing this film, we have seen worrying developments in the anti-LGBTI climate in East Africa,” says director Wanuri Kahiu. “Local films and international TV shows have been banned because of LGBTI content. This has muffled conversations about LGBTI rights and narrowed the parameters of freedom of speech. My hope is that the film is viewed as an ode to love, whose course is never smooth, and as a message of love and support to the ones among us who are asked to choose between love and safety. May this film shout where voices have been silenced.”
[caption id="attachment_29917" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Rafiki[/caption]
“We are delighted to be able to screen Rafiki at DIFF,” says Zhou. “The film speaks to the issues of patriarchy that has led the film to be banned in its own country, and closes a festival with a programme packed with films dealing with a host of current challenges that those marginalised in our society, and especially woman, are “loudly” grappling with.”
“At this time alongside the #MeToo and, closer to home, the “#ItsNotOk campaigns, that seek to expose the perpetrators of violence against woman, these films bookend a conscious and carefully curated selection of cinematic themes that also run as threads through the Durban FilmMart and through our new Isiphethu industry programme for emerging and micro-budget filmmakers.”
DIFF opens at The Playhouse on July 19 and runs until July 29. The closing film is on July 28.
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A.I TALES, Featuring Pom Klementieff, Eric Roberts and Neil Jackson, Gets June Release Date
[caption id="attachment_29910" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
SEED by Nelson Lee[/caption]
“A.I. Tales”, a collection of short sci-fi stories distributed by Hewes Pictures, will premiere in Somerville Theater, Boston, June 8th to 14th and on Amazon. The collection of stories feature world-renowned talent such as Pom Klementieff (“Guardians of the Galaxy”, “Avengers”), Eric Roberts (“The Dark Knight”), Neil Jackson (“Westworld”) among many others.
The film is made up of futuristic, high concept stories about artificial intelligence. Whether it’s love found in time of over-population or exploration of the unknown and space-travel, “A.I. Tales” has a bit of something for every fan of the genre. Altogether, these stories provide a one-of-a-kind experience and a unique view of the near future.
Titles include: SEED by Nelson Lee, IN/FINITE by Kristen Hilkert, PHOENIX 9 by Amir Reichart, REDUX by Vitaly Verlov and JULIET by Marc-Henri Boulier.
Trailers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udKV2u9vGFA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLVTuJNGVmE
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12 Canadian Creatives Selected for TIFF Writers’ Studio 2018/19
Today TIFF announced the 12 selected participants in this year’s TIFF Writers’ Studio. The lineup features six women and six men, highlighting Canada’s best-emerging writers and underscoring TIFF’s commitment to gender parity across the breadth of its talent-development programs. The women in this year’s intake will be supported in part by the organization’s trailblazing Share Her Journey campaign, which champions women both in front of and behind the camera.
The 2018–19 TIFF Writers’ Studio participants are: Danilo Baracho, Yung Chang, Martin Edralin, Sarah Goodman, Carinne Leduc, Jennifer Liao, Frieda Luk, Kaveh Nabatian, Celeste Parr, Kazik Radwanski, Lina Rodriguez, and Jorge Thielen-Armand.
Launched in 2012, the Industry programme provides a space for mid-career screenwriters to consolidate their skills, exchange ideas, and discuss their challenges in a collaborative and artistic environment. This year’s candidates will develop their chosen screenplay with expert support from international script consultants.
“We’re delighted to welcome this exceptionally talented group to TIFF Writers’ Studio,” said Kathleen Drumm, TIFF Industry Director. “Now in its sixth cycle, the program has proved successful in preparing Canada’s best and brightest talent for the global film industry. Candidates will be inspired to take their careers to the next level by developing their creative processes in a series of candid sessions with distinguished local and international writing mentors.”
TIFF Studio has helped cultivate exciting new cinematic voices. Notable alumni include filmmakers Pat Mills (Don’t Talk to Irene); Molly McGlynn (Mary Goes Round); Joyce Wong (Wexford Plaza); and Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf). Following their involvement in TIFF Studio, these filmmakers have gone on to success. Pat Mills was named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2018. His film Don’t Talk to Irene won the Comedy Vanguard Jury and Audience Awards at the Austin Film Festival, and was picked up for distribution in the US by Gravitas Ventures. Molly McGlynn won top prizes at the Annapolis Film Festival and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for Mary Goes Round in 2018. Joyce Wong won the Jury Award at the Austin Asian American Film Festival in 2017, the Jury Award for best screenplay at the Hell’s Half Mile Film and Music Festival, and the award for the best narrative feature at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. The same year, Ashley McKenzie’s Werewolf won Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. In 2016 she won Best First Film by a Canadian Director and was nominated for the Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.
TIFF Writers’ Studio will run on a monthly basis from June 15 through January 2019 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
The sessions will focus on script development, pitching, and creating memorable characters. Participants will receive an Industry Pass for the Toronto International Film Festival in September and for Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival in January. TIFF Writers’ Studio is produced by TIFF International Programmer Jane Schoettle and supported by Share Her Journey.
TIFF Writers’ Studio 2018 Biographies:
Danilo Baracho Danilo Baracho is a Brazilian-Canadian filmmaker who studied audiovisual communication at the University of Salamanca in Spain. He has written and directed five short films, which have been screened at over 100 film festivals around the world. He is an alumnus of TIFF Talent Lab and the Reykjavik Talent Lab. Yung Chang Yung Chang is the writer and director of Up the Yangtze (07), China Heavyweight (12), and The Fruit Hunters (13). He is completing a screenplay for his first dramatic feature, Eggplant, and in production for a feature documentary about Robert Fisk. Chang’s films have screened at Sundance, the Berlinale, TIFF, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Hong Kong and have screened theatrically in cinemas around the world. Martin Edralin Martin Edralin is a Toronto-based filmmaker whose films have screened at TIFF, Sundance, VIFF, and Festival du nouveau cinéma. His film credits include Hole (14), which won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short; Emma (16), which was selected for the Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival; and Building History: The Story of Benjamin Brown (16), which was nominated for a Heritage Toronto Public History Award. Edralin is an alumnus of the Locarno Film Festival Filmmakers’ Academy and the Reykjavik Talent Lab. Sarah Goodman Sarah Goodman is an award-winning director, producer, and writer whose works have played at TIFF, IDFA, and Hot Docs. Her credits include Army of One (03), When We Were Boys (09), Hidden Driveway (11), and Porch Stories (14). She is an alumna of the TIFF Talent Lab and the Berlinale Talent Campus and a member of Film Fatales. Her next feature, Lake 239, is currently in development, and she is a consulting producer on a scripted series that is also in development. Carinne Leduc Carinne Leduc is an award-winning French-Canadian actor, writer, and director. She co-wrote and starred in her first feature film, 3 Saisons (08), which was nominated for three Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture. Leduc has directed a number of short films, music videos, and commercials and has two features in development. Jennifer Liao Jennifer Liao is a director, writer, and producer. Her credits include the social-media storytelling project Crushing It! A Social Media Love Story (10), the feature film Sex After Kids (13), episodes of the crime drama Blood and Water (15–), and End of Days, Inc. (15), which was supported by Telefilm Canada. She was also a creative consultant on the TV adaptation of the Ava Lee novels. Frieda Luk Frieda Luk is a director and screenwriter. Her credits include Delicacy (12), which screened at Telluride and Tribeca, and American Sisyphus (12) and The Encounter (14), both of which premiered at TIFF. In 2011 she was nominated for a New York Women in Film and Television award, and in 2013 she received a scholarship to study in France that was supported by the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation. She has an MFA in directing from Columbia University and is an alumna of TIFF’s 2016 Talent Lab. Kaveh Nabatian Kaveh Nabatian is an Iranian-Canadian director and writer. He has spent the last decade directing and shooting fiction films, music videos, television series, and documentaries all over the world, including Montreal, Nunavut, Haiti, Mexico, and South Africa. Recent projects include a feature-length documentary about Leonard Cohen, commissioned by the CBC, and collaborations with Arcade Fire, Leif Vollebekk, Kahlil Joseph, and Half Moon Run. Celeste Parr Celeste Parr made her television debut writing for CBC’s This Life (16), for which she was nominated for a 2017 WGC Award for Best Writing for a Television Drama. In 2017, the pilot for her original drama series The Brac was selected for the TV writing program from the ATX Television Festival and The Black List. Parr is currently developing a television show and several features. Kazik Radwanski Kazik Radwanski studied film at Ryerson University and co-founded the production company MDFF in 2008. His films have screened at Berlin, Locarno, TIFF, Venice, NYFF, and the BFI London Film Festival. His credits include Tower (12); How Heavy This Hammer (15), which was nominated for Best Canadian Film of the Year by the Toronto Film Critics Association; and Scaffold (17). Lina Rodriguez Lina Rodriguez is a Colombian-Canadian filmmaker. Her short films have played the Images Festival and NYFF, and her film and video installations and performances have been exhibited in festivals such as Nuit Blanche. Her first feature, Señoritas (13), premiered at the Cartagena Film Festival. Her second feature, Mañana a esta hora (16), premiered at Locarno, was released in six cities in Colombia, and opened theatrically in New York City and Toronto. Jorge Thielen-Armand Jorge Thielen-Armand is a director and producer. His debut feature film, La Soledad (16), premiered at Venice and screened at over 50 festivals, including the Durban International Film Festival, where it won Best Screenplay. His documentary Flor de la Mar (15) received the Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at Cine Las Americas International Film Festival. In 2015, he founded La Faena Films with Rodrigo Michelangeli. Image: 1st row (left to right): Danilo Baracho, Yung Chang, Sarah Goodman, Martin Edralin 2nd row (left to right): Carinne Leduc, Jennifer Liao, Kaveh Nabatian, Frieda Luk 3rd row (left to right): Celeste Parr, Kazik Radwanski, Jorge Thielen-Armand, Lina Rodriguez
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ROCK RUBBER 45s, Bobbito Garcia’s Basketball, Sneaker, and Music Cinematic Odyssey, Sets Release Date
Rock Rubber 45s is a cinematic odyssey exploring the connectivity of global basketball, sneaker, and music lifestyle through the firsthand lens of authentic New York City culture orchestrator Bobbito Garcia. The film explores García’s youth dealing with mistreatment, educational quandaries, identity, and loss as well as his ascension to self-determination as an adult freelance creative. The ballplayer/author/DJ/filmmaker has carved an independent career that has inspired millions throughout the world, and has affected the growth and direction of the footwear, hip hop, and sports industries in the process.
ROCK RUBBER opens theatrically for a full week run in New York on Thursday, June 28 (The Metrograph) with an extended run at the Maysles Cinema on Friday, July 6 to follow; and available on demand on Tuesday, July 24 (Worldwide).
DJ Bobbito Garcia is the critically acclaimed author of Where’d You Get Those? NYC’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987. As an award-winning filmmaker, Garcia has directed DOIN’ IT IN THE PARK: PICK-UP BASKETBALL, NYC, STRETCH AND BOBBITO: RADIO THAT CHANGED LIVES, and his autobiographical documentary Rock Rubber 45s. Currently, “Kool Bob Love” produces his b-ball tournament Full Court 21™ in four continents, and co-hosts NPR’s “What’s Good With Stretch And Bobbito” podcast.
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National Geographic To Premiere ‘Inside North Korea: Race to Peace’ Two Days Before Historic Summit
National Geographic will premiere Inside North Korea: Race to Peace on Sunday, June 10, at 10/9c, two days before the summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump takes the world stage.
Inside North Korea: Race to Peace is the story of the twists and turns leading to this momentous event, following 70 years of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula.Combining current and archival footage with insights from leading dignitaries and noted experts, including new interviews with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Bill Richardson, former governor of New Mexico and U.S. North Korea emissary.
Inside North Korea: Race to Peace moves beyond the headlines to dive into the story behind what could be one of the most significant diplomatic events of our time.
Setting the Stage
On March 26, 2018, a passenger train departed Pyongyang, North Korea. Twenty-one bulletproof cars crossed the border into China and the international community was abuzz with speculation. Who was onboard? As the train reached its final destination in Beijing, it was revealed that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un was on it. Kim Jong Un met with China’s President Xi Jinping on this, his first trip outside North Korea since his he took power in 2011, and it was his first meeting with a foreign leader. Kim Jong Un would visit China again and South Korea, to meet with President Moon Jae-in. Are these the first steps to what may be the most important diplomatic event of our young century? The on-again, off-again, summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump is now on again, and the two leaders will meet in Singapore on June 12. Could this be a path to peace on the Korean Peninsula and a way to bring the North Koreans into the international fold after 70 years of isolation?National Geographic’s Role
National Geographic played an interesting, albeit unintentional, role in the creation of a separate North and South Korea. Near the close of World War II, in August 1945, the U.S. sought to divide the Korean Peninsula after the surrender of Japan. When the State Department’s Charles Bonesteel and future Secretary of State Dean Rusk were tasked with determining how to divide the zones of occupation they selected the 38th parallel based on a National Geographic Society map that would be featured in an issue of National Geographic Magazine.How We Got Here
Inside North Korea: Race to Peace takes an unflinching look back at the complicated diplomatic history of the region, with a trained eye on the future. “I think he [Kim Jong Un] does have a good hand to play,” Albright says in the special. “He has managed to scare the whole region into doing something.” While all eyes will be on June 12, proper historic context will only enhance what unfolds. For Inside North Korea: Race to Peace Christine Weber is executive producer and Robert Zakin is the writer and producer.
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Diverse Films from 19 Countries on 2018 Stony Brook Film Festival Program
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Aurora Borealis: Északi fény[/caption]
The 2018 Stony Brook Film Festival presented by Island Federal Credit Union presents films of great diversity this summer, both in their themes and their settings. The schedule for the ten-day Festival, held at Staller Center at Stony Brook University from July 19-28, is available online at stonybrookfilmfestival.com.
Alan Inkles, founder and director of the Stony Brook Film Festival, comments, “Films from nineteen different countries, from Scotland to Spain, Argentina to Afghanistan, and coast to coast across the United States, promise to take filmgoers on an extraordinary journey. We have carefully curated this Festival to give patrons a great mix of the best in new independent films. Many filmmakers and actors are coming to the Festival to represent their films and will take the stage for questions and answers. It’s a highlight of the Festival to hear from them.”
This year the Stony Brook Film Festival travels from a war-torn past to an embattled future, from light-hearted comedies to heart-stopping thrillers, and from modern class struggles to sexual abuse stories that feel straight out of the #MeToo movement. Some of the films take place over decades, while others unfold in real time. There are social-media addicted mobsters, Shakespearian partygoers, and a shoe-stealing soccer prodigy.
The opening night film, Shelter, is an international spy thriller from returning filmmaker Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree, Zaytoun) that follows an Israeli agent protecting a Lebanese informant in Germany, and features actress Golshifteh Farahani (best known to U.S. audiences from Paterson, and to Stony Brook audiences from My Sweet Pepperland and About Ella) as well as acclaimed Israeli actress Neta Riskin. (Thursday, July 19 at 8:00 pm)
The closing night film, Aurora Borealis: Északi fény, was directed and co-written by the incredible Márta Mészáros, who—with 65 directing credits to her name going all the way back to 1954—is one of Hungary’s most accomplished female directors. A film that is part mystery and part war-drama, it not only uncovers atrocities during the Soviet occupation of Hungary, it also confronts secrets from the past and the measures people will take to protect those they love. (Saturday, July 28 at 8:00 pm)
Premieres at the Stony Brook Film Festival
The World Premiere of Dean Darling on Saturday, July 21st at 4:00 pm is an ambitious, coming-of-age drama created by local, Long Island talent and shot entirely in Smithtown and Coney Island on a miniscule budget. The film was written and directed by Calogero Carucci and features Douglas Towers, Joel Widman and Allison Frasca. [caption id="attachment_29879" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
The Etruscan Smile[/caption]
Acclaimed actor Brian Cox returns to the Stony Brook Film Festival in the U.S. Premiere of The Etruscan Smile, in which a rugged, old Scotsman who has reluctantly left his beloved Scottish Isle for medical treatment finds his life transformed by a new-found bond with his baby grandson. This gem also stars Thora Birch, JJ Field, and Roseanna Arquette, with several of the actors planning to be in attendance at the 9:30 pm screening on Saturday, July 21st.
Other U.S. Premieres include Octav, a nostalgic, life-affirming story from Romania (Saturday, July 21st at 7:00 pm), Outdoors, a captivating film about a city couple building a home in the country from Israel (Tuesday, July 24 at 7:00 pm), Growing Up, a riotous, romantic comedy from Spain (Friday, July 20 at 9:30 pm), and A Dysfunctional Cat, a quirky story about two Iranians navigating their arranged marriage—and a very bizarre cat—while living in Germany (Wednesday, July 25 at 7:00 pm).
Female Filmmakers at the Stony Brook Film Festival
Fourteen films are by female directors, with Growing Up written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Clara Martínez-Lázaro, and A Dysfunctional Cat, written and directed by Iranian-German filmmaker Susan Gordanshekan. Another female-helmed feature, The Tale, has writer and director Jennifer Fox recounting her personal story of sexual abuse at a very young age in an intense, unnerving and cathartic work starring Laura Dern, Elizabeth Debicki, Ellen Burstyn and Isabelle Nélisse (Friday, July 27 at 7:00 pm). Other women filmmakers include writer and director Isabel Coixet, whose film The Bookshop was adapted from the novel by Penelope Fitzgerald about a widow who puts her grief behind her and opens a bookshop in a small, seaside town in England (Friday, July 20 at 7:00 pm). Virna Molina, who co-wrote and co-directed Symphony for Ana, recounts the struggle of high school students during the bloodiest coup d’etat in Argentina (Thursday, July 26 at 7:00 pm). Writer and director Samantha Davidson Green, whose Thrasher Road is a big-hearted father/daughter road trip, screens on Sunday, July 22 at 9:30 pm. Skye Borgman, director of the documentary Abducted in Plain Sight, recounts the absolutely bizarre double-kidnapping of Jan Broberg in the 70’s (Sunday, July 22 at 4:00 pm). Female-directed short films have been chosen that will stretch boundaries and touch hearts– shorts by Amy Wang, writer/director/actress Ashley Grace, Tesia Walker, Jackie L. Stone, and Helen Crosse.Films with Heart and Films with Guts
Other selected films include My Brother Simple, a heart-warming and humorous story about a young man trying to take custody of his mentally-handicapped adult brother, screening on Sunday, July 22 at 7:00 pm. The Guilty, an edge-of-your-seat thriller from Denmark that takes place entirely in an alarm dispatch facility, screens on Monday, July 23 at 9:30 pm. Trauma, an intense documentary about the medics and pilots of a US Black Hawk medevac unit in Afghanistan screens on Tuesday, July 24 at 9:30 pm. Wednesday, July 25 at 9:30 pm showcases Funny Story, a dark comedy about a womanizing former TV star trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. The emotional journey of A Boy, A Girl, A Dream unfolds in real time against the backdrop of the 2016 Presidential election on Thursday, July 26 at 9:30 pm. Other shorts include stories about a young woman with cerebral palsy falling in love, an Israeli patient finding out she has an Arab doctor, a foreman protecting her workers from the Department of Labor, and a law school student trying to explain a rather dire situation to police detectives. Images credit: The Etruscan Smile (Rosanna Arquette and Brian Cox pictured), photo credit: Po Valley Productions Aurora Borealis: Eszaki feny (Closing Night feature, Franciska Töröcsik pictured) photo credit: The Hungarian National Film Fund
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Pawel Pawlikowski’s COLD WAR to Open 2018 Sarajevo Film Festival [Trailer]
Cold War by Oscar-winning director Pawel Pawlikowski, winner of the Best Director Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival will open the 24th edition of Sarajevo Film Festival on August 10th.
Cold War is a passionate love story between two people of different backgrounds and temperaments, who are fatally mismatched and yet fatefully condemned to each other. Set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris – the film depicts an impossible love story in impossible times.
Staring in the film are Tomasz Kot, Joanna Kulig, Agata Kulesza, Jeanne Balibar and Cédric Kahn.
A day after the screenings, the festival-goers will have a chance to talk with Pawlikowski within the Festival’s Coffee with… program.
Pawel Pawlikowski was born in Warsaw and left Poland at the age of fourteen first for the UK, Germany and Italy, before finally settling in the UK in 1977. He studied literature and philosophy in London and Oxford.
Pawlikowski started making documentary films for the BBC in the late 1980s. His documentaries, which include FROM MOSCOW TO PIETUSHKI, DOSTOEVSKY’S TRAVELS, SERBIAN EPICS, and TRIPPING WITH ZHIRINOVSKY, have won numerous international awards including an Emmy and the Prix Italia.
In 1998, Pawlikowski moved into fiction with a low budget TV film, Twockers, which was followed by two full-length features, Last Resort and My Summer of Love, both of which he wrote and directed. Both films won British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards, as well as many others at festivals around the world.
He made The Woman in the Fifth in 2011, and his most recent film, IDA, won the 2015 Foreign Language Academy Award, five European Film Awards, a Bafta and a Goya, among many other prizes. Pawlikowski returned to Poland in 2013 while completing Ida. He currently lives in Warsaw and teaches film direction and writing at the Wajda School.
Pawlikowski visited Sarajevo in 2014 to present his film IDA at the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival, film that won the Oscar for best foreign language film.
https://vimeo.com/271271263
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French Filmmaker Bruno Dumont to Receive Pardo d’onore Manor Award at Locarno Festival
French filmmaker Bruno Dumont will receive the Pardo d’onore Manor award at the 71st Locarno Festival. Dumont will be a guest at the Festival in Piazza Grande on Saturday August 4 for the world premiere of the miniseries Coincoin et les z’inhumains.
Born in Bailleul in the French part of Flanders in 1958, Bruno Dumont is one of the most original directors on the international scene today. Many of his films have proved controversial during a career stretching back over two decades, in which he has focused his rigorous, austere and uncompromising gaze on the mystery that lies within the reality of daily life, meticulously exploring the question of the existence of evil and the banal forms it can take.
Dumont made his directing debut at the age of 38 with his first full-length feature, La vie de Jésus (1997), shot in his own native city of Bailleul. It was an immediate success, bringing him a César nomination for best first film and also a special mention in the Caméra d’or section at Cannes, where it was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight. Dumont carried on his highly personal cinematic research in his second full-length feature L’Humanité (1999), which won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
In 2003 Dumont moved away from locations in Northern France for the first time to make his third film Twentynine Palms (2003), set in California. He returned to France to make Flandres (2006), which brought him his second Grand Prix at Cannes. Mystery is central to Dumont’s idea of cinema: in Hadewijch (2009) and Hors Satan (2011) he once again explored the sacred through the everyday. In 2012 Dumont made Camille Claudel 1915, on aspects of the life of the noted French sculptress, with Juliette Binoche in the title role. The film was presented at the Berlinale in 2013.
Dumont began working for television with the series P’tit Quinquin (2014), which aired on ARTE. The move also brought humor into Dumont’s filmic world for the first time, a shift in genre which he repeated in his next feature film Ma Loute (2016), a blend of comedy and drama shown in competition at Cannes in 2016. The next change of tone was even more extreme, as the filmmaker tackled the challenge of a rock musical with Jeannette, l’enfance de Jeanne d’Arc (2017), based on a play by Charles Péguy. During the 71st Locarno Festival Dumont will be presenting his new miniseries Coincoin et les z’inhumains, due for theatrical release in Switzerland and screening on ARTE in September.
Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director of the Locarno Festival: “Bruno Dumont is one of those directors who best typify 21st century cinema. His films are deeply rooted in philosophical, literary and film tradition and yet are forward-looking at the same time; they are the best possible riposte to those who claim that the cinema has nothing left to discover. His films are essays on men and women, on the absurdity intrinsic to existence, but also on the eternal problem of evil. They are also exhortations not to cease thinking about such issues, even when the noise from the images all around us becomes deafening. Dumont’s presence in Locarno will provide an opportunity to look back over some of the stages in his remarkable career and also, first and foremost, to discover the sequel to the series which took the Directors’ Fortnight by storm four years ago. I can’t think of a better way for miniseries to make their Piazza Grande debut than with this offering that combines slapstick comedy with a political message.”
Bruno Dumont will receive the Pardo d’onore Manor award in Piazza Grande on the evening of 4 August. The Festival tribute will also include screenings of several titles in his filmography to date. On Sunday 5 August the Festival audience will also be able to see the filmmaker in a panel discussion at the Spazio Cinema.
Recipients of the Pardo d’onore award at past Festivals include Samuel Fuller, Jean-Luc Godard, Ken Loach, Sydney Pollack, William Friedkin, Jia Zhang-ke, Alain Tanner, Werner Herzog, Agnès Varda, Michael Cimino, Marco Bellocchio, Alejandro Jodorowsky and, in 2017, Jean-Marie Straub and Todd Haynes. The Pardo d’onore is supported by Swiss department store chain Manor.
The 71st Locarno Festival will take place from 1 to 11 August 2018.