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.-
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.
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2018 Illuminate Film Festival Awards: STAY HUMAN And THE PUSH Tie to Win Audience Award
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The Push by Grant Korgan[/caption]
Michael Franti’s Stay Human tied with Grant Korgan’s The Push for the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 5th annual ILLUMINATE Film Festival, in Sedona.
Stay Human takes viewers on a journey through music and the stories of some of the most inspiring individuals on the planet chronicling Franti’s experiences with people that he’s met on his travels who have chosen to overcome cynicism with optimism, hope, tenacity, music, and love. Directed by Grant Korgan and Brian Niles, The Push tells Korgan’s inspiring tale of triumph after becoming paralyzed in a snowmobile accident where he focused on 120 percent recovery to do the impossible: push his way over nearly 100 miles in Antarctica, spinal cord injury and all.
Franti also was the recipient of the festival’s inaugural Voice for Humanity Award. “It’s important to be able to see each other as human beings above all else,” noted Franti. “I believe that there is no one in the world that you wouldn’t love if you heard their story.”
The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Black Star, directed by Akira Chan. This short documentary explores art as a healing modality to stop the VICIOUS cycle of addiction.
In a feature competition section consisting of seven world and US Premieres, You Are What You Act took home the coveted 2018 Debut Feature Competition Jury Prize. The documentary proposes a revolutionary new health trend by asking what influences us more: our minds or our bodies. Director Albert Nerenberg and other leading psychologists in embodied cognition demonstrate fascinating psychological exercises with amazing results. Honorable Mentions were also given to Calling All Earthlings for unearthing a hidden truth and to From Shock to Awe for social impact.
Living Music, directed by Libby Spears, took home the jury prize in the Debut Short Film Competition. When a promising young musician’s career is almost cut short after he loses his voice to a rare medical condition called spasmodic dysphonia, he goes on a rehabilitative journey of artistic experimentation. Vision: Seeing is Believing received an Honorable Mention for cinematography.
From Shock to Awe captured the inaugural Mangurama Award for Conscious Documentary Storytelling. Including a $5000 cash prize, the Mangurama Award goes to to the most transformative non-fiction film that exhibits a strong story arc, compelling subjects and high production value. From Shock to Awe follows THE JOURNEY of returned U.S. combat veterans as they abandon pharmaceutical drugs to seek relief through the controversial, mind-expanding world of cannabis, ayahuasca and MDMA, known as ecstasy.
Documentary 3100: Run And Become captured the Director’s Choice Award. This sweeping examination of running’s spiritual nature, follows long-distance runners in Arizona, Finland, New York City, the Japanese highlands and Africa’s Kalahari Desert.
The ILLUMINATE Film Festival Impact Award went to Secret Ingredients by Amy Hart and Jeffrey Smith, which highlights through both personal stories and scientific input the role that pesticides and GMO’s are playing in compromising health on a large scale.
2018 ILLUMINATE Film Festival Award Winners
Debut Feature Competition Jury Prize Winner You Are What You Act Honorable Mention for Social Impact From Shock to Awe Honorable Mention for Unearthing a Hidden Truth Calling All Earthlings Debut Short Film Competition Jury Prize Winner Living Music Honorable Mention for Cinematography VISION: Seeing is Believing Mangurama Award for Conscious Documentary Storytelling From Shock to Awe Audience Award for Best Feature Winner (TIE)* The Push Stay Human Audience Award for Best Short Film Winner Black Star Runner-Up Living Music Director’s Choice Award Winner 3100: Run and Become Impact Award Winner Secret Ingredients
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Colin McIvor’s Unforgettable True Story ZOO Sets Release Date [Trailer]
Written and directed by Colin McIvor, ZOO has been a crowd favorite on the festival circuit and will now be released in theaters and on demand on June 8, 2018 by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Based on a true story, Tom (Art Parkinson) and his misfit friends fight to save Buster the baby elephant during the air raids on Belfast in 1941.
The film stars Art Parkinson (San Andreas and TV’s Game of Thrones), Penelope Wilton (The BFG), and Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger); and is rated PG for thematic elements, some war action and language.
Director Colin McIvor said: “Such an amazing true story from our own hometown really had to be told on screen. It was a fabulous experience to work with such a talented cast and crew and to know that ZOO will be seen in America is fantastic.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMhc0MNWdRU
Release Date: June 8, 2018 – Opening in the theaters below as well as on digital/VOD
Los Angeles – Playhouse
Boston – Apple Cinema Cambridge
Rancho Niguel – Regency Rancho Niguel
Palm Desert – Palm Desert 10
The Villages, FL – Rialto
Chicago (Skokie) – Village Crossing 18
New York (Hanover, NJ) – East Hanover 12
**Additional cities to follow
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Ground Breaking Immersive Documentary FACE TO FACE to World Premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest
FACE TO FACE, the ground breaking immersive story/documentary/installation directed by the award-winning photo journalist, Michelle Gabel and co-directed by immersive storyteller/filmmaker Michaela Holland will world premiere at the Sheffield Doc/Fest beginning June 7 to 12, 2018.
Imagine if a shotgun blast took away your eyes, nose and upper palate leaving you permanently blind and unable to smell. FACE TO FACE is the true story of Michelle, who was the victim of this accidental shooting and is currently raising her two daughters. A shotgun blast took away Michelle Fox’s eyes, nose, and upper palate, leaving her permanently blind and unable to smell. Years of photojournalism and audio interviews work in tandem with a virtual reality piece as viewers explore an immersive, three-act installation.
FACE TO FACE is an intimate look at gun injury and human resilience. The film is an immersive documentary that blends years of photojournalism with virtual reality to create a three-act installation. This intimate look at gun injury and human resilience is based on the life of a woman who wears a facial prosthesis after a near fatal shooting accident. The installation will bring the viewer up close and personal, as we experience only a fraction of a day in the life of the main character. Years of photojournalism and interview audio is the foundation and cornerstone of this project. These traditional mediums work in tandem with a virtual reality piece as guests explore the film/installation.
FACE TO FACE was chosen from a record number of highest quality entries to be awarded the 2018 Alternate Realities Commission . It was awarded due to the project’s ability to push the boundaries of what is possible within factual storytelling and its strong commitment to innovation in the realm of non-fiction.
FACE TO FACE is a part of Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Alternate Realities programme, which is a leading forum for interactive, augmented reality, and virtual reality projects. Here, the festival explores game-changing forms of storytelling through experimenting with technology, for fully immersive experiences.
Image: Michelle in her daily ritual just before she puts her face on – in a scene from FACE TO FACE – an immersive documentary directed by Michelle Gabel and co-directed by Michaela Holland.
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COMING SOON: Production Wraps on Martha Stephens’ TO THE STARS, Starring Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato
Production has wrapped in Oklahoma for TO THE STARS, the latest feature film from director Martha Stephens (LAND HO!, PILGRIM SONG). Written by Shannon Bradley-Colleary, the 1960s coming-of-age story centers on the powerful friendship forged between a shy farmer’s daughter (Kara Hayward, MOONRISE KINGDOM) and a reckless new girl in town (Liana Liberato, IF I STAY).
Shea Whigham (TAKE SHELTER), Malin Akerman (“Billions”), Tony Hale (“Veep”), Lucas Zumann (20TH CENTURY WOMEN), Jordana Spiro (“Ozark”), and Adelaide Clemens (“Rectify”) round out the cast.
Stephens’ last film LAND HO!, which she co-wrote and co-directed, premiered at Sundance, was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, and won the John Cassavetes Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
The film is produced by Kristin Mann (MIDNIGHT SPECIAL) and Laura D. Smith (IT FOLLOWS) in partnership with Erik Rommesmo of Northern Lights Films (THE HERO), Carlos Cuscó and Emerson Machtus of Foton Pictures (THE LITTLE HOURS) and Kerri Elder and Blake Elder of Rockhill Media (ALL THE BIRDS HAVE FLOWN SOUTH).
Image: Left to Right: Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Tony Hale, Malin Akerman, Shea Whigham, Jordana Spiro, Lucas Zumann, Adelaide Clemens
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Documentary AFGHAN CYCLES to East Coast Premiere at Brooklyn Film Festival [Trailer]
Following a new generation of young Afghan women cyclists, the documentary Afghan Cycles uses the bicycle to tell a story of women’s rights – human rights – and the struggles faced by Afghan women on a daily basis, from discrimination to abuse, to the oppressive silencing of their voices in all aspects of contemporary society. These women ride despite cultural barriers, despite infrastructure, and despite death threats, embracing the power and freedom that comes with the sport. Afghan Cycles will have its East Coast premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival, screening on June 7 and 8, 2018.
Focusing on local impact, Afghan Cycles is partnering with local organizations Women for Afghan Women, Get Women Cycling, Bicycle Habitat, BikeStyle and Girls on Bikes. On Thursday, June 7, Get Women Cycling will be hosting a group ride to the screening, and following the screening on Friday June 8, the partner organizations will join Afghan Cycles Director Sarah Menzies for a panel discussion following the film.
“The women in this film represent the positive impact that sports can have in oppressive societies. Cycling has empowered these women to get around more freely and independently when they would otherwise have to rely on a man. This is not unique to Afghanistan. In fact, in many countries women do not have the freedom of mobility and are dependent on men to travel safely,” says Menzies. “This brave group of Afghan women are challenging that type of traditional thinking that is quite prevalent throughout the world, and by telling their story, we hope that it inspires more women to get on bicycles internationally.”
Panel participants:
Fatima Rahmati, Women for Afghan Women
Fatima was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and at the age of four, she and her family fled as refugees from Afghanistan to Australia. Fatima traces back her experiences of being raised in the projects of Australia and her father’s legacy of educator and social activism as the path which paved the way to philanthropy. Moving to New York City 13 years ago, Fatima found herself naturally gravitating towards education, social justice, and philanthropy. When deciding on how to best serve her father’s legacy and her own passions, Fatima decided a school bearing his name in the country he loved would be fitting – a project she is currently working on. She joined Women for Afghan Women in 2015 as the Program Assistant for a brief period, she then took on a leading role in WAW’s Junior Board. Starting January 2018 she took on the role of Coalition and Outreach Coordinator at WAW. Fatima is fluent in Dari and EnglishLydia Moore, Bicycle Habitat/BikeStyle
Lydia works as a bicycle mechanic in brooklyn, with a belief in the need to redistribute resources, knowledge and access to bicycles. In the white cis male dominated bike industry she has created a workshop and ride series called BikStyle. Sharing the resources and space of Bicycle Habitat, BikeStyle centers queer and trans cyclist of color. Lydia is passionate about the bicycle as a tool for change. She is a founding board member of the Bike Worker Advocacy Project. A worker Center with a mission to organize the work force of bike messengers and bike shop workers in NYC.Kala La Fortune, Girls on Bikes
Kala grew up and currently resides in Newark, NJ. A graduate of Rutger’s University Newark with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Kala founded Girls On Bikes as a Senior in college while pursuing a career in Fashion. Her initial goal was to get more girls in her community to cycle as a way to get connected, have fun, and exercise. Now the organization has worked with over 150 students in the Newark Public Schools teaching them how to build bicycles from scratch and discussing the negative stigmas they may encounter while cycling in the urban community.Screening times:
Thursday June 7, 2018 @ 7:30 pm, Wythe Hotel Friday June 8, 2018 @ 6:30pm, Windmill Studios NYC, panel discussion to follow
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MAYNARD, Powerful and Inspiring Story of the First Black Mayor of a Major Southern City, Sets Digital Release Date [Trailer]
The remarkable story of the unparalleled success of Maynard Jackson Jr., Atlanta’s beloved longtime leader, is told in the compelling new documentary Maynard which will be released by Virgil Films on iTunes and digital platforms on Tuesday, July 3, 2018.
He was Obama before Obama, Maynard Holbrook Jackson became first black Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia in 1973 and this film is an exploration into a man who had dreams and ambitions to be a public servant for his people seeing that it was the next logical step in the journey that had been started by Dr. King, and so many others who had blazed the trail during the years of horrific segregation.
Maynard interviews include President Bill Clinton, Al Sharpton, Vernon Jordan, Ambassador Andrew Young, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Jesse Jackson, former Atlanta Mayor’s Sam Massell and Shirley Franklin, and current Mayor Kasim Reed to name a few.
Directed by Academy Award nominee, Emmy winner and 4 time Peabody Award winner Sam Pollard (“Slavery by Another Name”, “Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me”, “Two Trains Runnin’”), Maynard is produced by Maynard Jackson III, Wendy Eley Jackson, Dolly Turner, Winsome Sinclair, Daphne McWilliams, Jason Orr, and Donald Jarmond with cinematography by Henry Adebonojo who worked on the Academy Award nominated documentary “I Am Not Your Negro”.
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Zanzibar International Film Festival Announces Official Selection of Films in 2018 Competition
Supa Modo The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) announced the official selection of films in competition for the upcoming 2018 festival taking place in various venues in and around Stone Town Zanzibar from July 7th – 15th, 2018.