11 x 14. by James Benning[/caption]
A series of Special Screenings committed to an alternative view of film historiography has now completed the The Forum program lineup of the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival.
Since its foundation in 1971, the Forum has always shone a spotlight on historical films too, shaking the foundations of a cinematic canon whose main interest lies in feature films from Western Europe and North America. This year’s programme once again stands in opposition to such views and is dedicated to cinema from Africa, documentary and experimental film, “anti-cinema” films and salacious b-movies and “dirty” films.
Before becoming Nigerian prime minister, writer Abubakar Tafawa Balewa landed a bestseller with his biographical novella “Shaihu Umar”. In 1976, Adamu Halilu adapted the material into a film, which is set in the late 19th century and revolves around an Islamic cleric telling his life story, which bears the marks of slavery. Long thought lost, the film rolls for several prints were rediscovered in 2016 in the archive of the Nigerian Film Corporation and restored by Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office. The splendid new digital version of Shaihu Umar now receives its first screening at the Forum.
The Geschichten vom Kübelkind (Stories of the Dumpster Kid) were shown at the very first International Forum of New Cinema in 1971 and have now been digitally restored. The series revolves around a rebellious “Dumpster Kid” played by Kristine de Loup, who always appears in a red dress and has various anarchic struggles with society. Ula Stöckl and Edgar Reitz shot Geschichten vom Kübelkind in 1969 with only their friends. Their series of 25 16mm short films of different lengths was a way of positioning themselves outside of the standard cinema system, with guests at a sort of pub-cum-cinema in Munich able to “order” individual episodes from a menu. Together with the documentary Der Film verlässt das Kino: Vom Kübelkind-Experiment und anderen Utopien (Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias) by Robert Fischer, a selection of the unique films is now to be screened again. A “pub cinema” much the same as the original screening set-up will also be installed at silent green Kulturquartier in Wedding on February 19, with these Special Screenings attended by Stöckl and Reitz.
Put together over five decades, the Arsenal and Forum archive still forms an important part of the institution’s work. This work involves a large amount of international exchange, which forms the subject of a public panel discussion on February 22 as part of Forum Expanded’s “Think Film No. 6 – Archival Constellations”. One of the participants is Viviana García Besné, who attends as a representative of the Permanencia Voluntaria film archive in Mexico, which was heavily damaged during the earthquake in September 2017. The archive’s treasures include many of the popular films built around the character of luchador Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta alias El Santo, a wrestling superstar and actor who always appeared in his iconic silver mask. He plays the role of “El Enmascarado” in his first film Santo contra Cerebro del mal (Santo vs. Evil Brain), which was shot in Cuba in 1961 by Joselito Rodríguez. A restored version has now been created in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive, which allows an important piece of Mexican popular culture to make its way back into cinemas.
11 x 14, the first feature-length film by James Benning, is film theory in images. It is composed of single shots, each of which individually narrate something and hold the film together via recurring elements. What is narrated is pure form. 11 x 14 was originally shown at the Forum in 1977. It has now been restored by the Austrian Film Museum in collaboration with Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art and returns to the Forum once again as a 35mm print. As the smallest unit of a festival, a film can also become its narrative.
In their 1985 documentary Yama–Attack to Attack, which is hardly known outside of Japan, Japanese directors Mitsuo Sato and Kyoichi Yamaoka created a portrait of the Tokyo district of Sanya, where day workers lived in wretched conditions and were exploited by Yakuza gangs in full view of the police and the Japanese elite. For documenting the excesses of a capitalism with fascist undertones, the two directors paid the price with their lives, as both were murdered by Yakuza henchmen. This underrated milestone in political documentary filmmaking will be screened at the Forum on a 16mm print with English subtitles.
Mohamed Zinet’s film Tahia ya Didou was shot in 1971 as a commission for the city of Algiers and blends documentary and fictional elements into a poetic, biting, passionate portrait of the director’s home city. Shelved by its original commissioners, it developed into a cult film following repeated screenings at the Cinémathèque d’Alger. A digital restoration of this imaginative work now receives its premiere at the Forum.
Kad budem mrtav i beo (When I Am Dead and Pale) by Živojin Pavlović is regarded as a key work of the Yugoslavian “Black Wave”. Shot in 1967, it tells the story of the irreverent Jimmy, who wants nothing more than to make it as a singer, regardless of his lack of talent. This punk film bursting with music also explores the bustling outskirts of Belgrade, which back then were still a work in progress. Following a digital restoration by the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka, this new version is screening for the first time at the Forum.
The Japanese “pink eiga” films form perhaps one of the most idiosyncratic phenomena in the whole of international cinema. Conceived to entice male audiences with erotic content, the genre also attracted numerous young directors who bent it to their will and created some of the most radical, avant-garde works in Japanese film. A considerable number of the Japanese directors most well-known today took their first steps with “pink film.” What’s less well-known is that one of the driving forces behind the “pinku eiga” genre is actually a woman, who was concealed behind the male pseudonym Daisuke Asakura. With its “Pink Tribute to Keiko Sato”, the Forum is showing three of the producer’s most original films. Atsushi Yamatoya wrote his absurdly titled 1967 film Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands in parallel to his script for Seijun Suzuki’s classic Branded to Kill, to which the former work undoubtedly forms a twin of sorts. For Masao Adachi, 1971’s Gushing Prayer was one last attempt to couch social critique in sexually provocative form, before he turned his attention to political activism. Finally, the most recent work in the series is the debut film by Masayuki Suo, who later landed one of the biggest hits in Japanese film history with Shall We Dance. Abnormal Family from 1984 is his tribute to Yasujiro Ozu, who for all the stylistic similarities would hardly have been pleased by the degree of sexual permissiveness.
This year’s Forum program is to be opened with a concert by a group of Arab avant-garde musicians who will each provide a solo accompaniment to seven short films by Georges Méliès from 1899 to 1907. Supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Sharif Sehnaoui (electric guitar), Khyam Allami (synthesizer, oud, drums), Magda Mayas (piano), Tony Elieh (electric bass, electronics) and Abed Kobeissy (buzuk, electronics) will be giving their “Georges Méliès “Solitudes” Cine-concert” at the Delphi Filmpalast on February 16.
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Berlin Film Festival Completes Forum 2018 Program with Special Screenings + Concert
[caption id="attachment_26709" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] 11 x 14. by James Benning[/caption]
A series of Special Screenings committed to an alternative view of film historiography has now completed the The Forum program lineup of the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival.
Since its foundation in 1971, the Forum has always shone a spotlight on historical films too, shaking the foundations of a cinematic canon whose main interest lies in feature films from Western Europe and North America. This year’s programme once again stands in opposition to such views and is dedicated to cinema from Africa, documentary and experimental film, “anti-cinema” films and salacious b-movies and “dirty” films.
Before becoming Nigerian prime minister, writer Abubakar Tafawa Balewa landed a bestseller with his biographical novella “Shaihu Umar”. In 1976, Adamu Halilu adapted the material into a film, which is set in the late 19th century and revolves around an Islamic cleric telling his life story, which bears the marks of slavery. Long thought lost, the film rolls for several prints were rediscovered in 2016 in the archive of the Nigerian Film Corporation and restored by Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office. The splendid new digital version of Shaihu Umar now receives its first screening at the Forum.
The Geschichten vom Kübelkind (Stories of the Dumpster Kid) were shown at the very first International Forum of New Cinema in 1971 and have now been digitally restored. The series revolves around a rebellious “Dumpster Kid” played by Kristine de Loup, who always appears in a red dress and has various anarchic struggles with society. Ula Stöckl and Edgar Reitz shot Geschichten vom Kübelkind in 1969 with only their friends. Their series of 25 16mm short films of different lengths was a way of positioning themselves outside of the standard cinema system, with guests at a sort of pub-cum-cinema in Munich able to “order” individual episodes from a menu. Together with the documentary Der Film verlässt das Kino: Vom Kübelkind-Experiment und anderen Utopien (Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias) by Robert Fischer, a selection of the unique films is now to be screened again. A “pub cinema” much the same as the original screening set-up will also be installed at silent green Kulturquartier in Wedding on February 19, with these Special Screenings attended by Stöckl and Reitz.
Put together over five decades, the Arsenal and Forum archive still forms an important part of the institution’s work. This work involves a large amount of international exchange, which forms the subject of a public panel discussion on February 22 as part of Forum Expanded’s “Think Film No. 6 – Archival Constellations”. One of the participants is Viviana García Besné, who attends as a representative of the Permanencia Voluntaria film archive in Mexico, which was heavily damaged during the earthquake in September 2017. The archive’s treasures include many of the popular films built around the character of luchador Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta alias El Santo, a wrestling superstar and actor who always appeared in his iconic silver mask. He plays the role of “El Enmascarado” in his first film Santo contra Cerebro del mal (Santo vs. Evil Brain), which was shot in Cuba in 1961 by Joselito Rodríguez. A restored version has now been created in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive, which allows an important piece of Mexican popular culture to make its way back into cinemas.
11 x 14, the first feature-length film by James Benning, is film theory in images. It is composed of single shots, each of which individually narrate something and hold the film together via recurring elements. What is narrated is pure form. 11 x 14 was originally shown at the Forum in 1977. It has now been restored by the Austrian Film Museum in collaboration with Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art and returns to the Forum once again as a 35mm print. As the smallest unit of a festival, a film can also become its narrative.
In their 1985 documentary Yama–Attack to Attack, which is hardly known outside of Japan, Japanese directors Mitsuo Sato and Kyoichi Yamaoka created a portrait of the Tokyo district of Sanya, where day workers lived in wretched conditions and were exploited by Yakuza gangs in full view of the police and the Japanese elite. For documenting the excesses of a capitalism with fascist undertones, the two directors paid the price with their lives, as both were murdered by Yakuza henchmen. This underrated milestone in political documentary filmmaking will be screened at the Forum on a 16mm print with English subtitles.
Mohamed Zinet’s film Tahia ya Didou was shot in 1971 as a commission for the city of Algiers and blends documentary and fictional elements into a poetic, biting, passionate portrait of the director’s home city. Shelved by its original commissioners, it developed into a cult film following repeated screenings at the Cinémathèque d’Alger. A digital restoration of this imaginative work now receives its premiere at the Forum.
Kad budem mrtav i beo (When I Am Dead and Pale) by Živojin Pavlović is regarded as a key work of the Yugoslavian “Black Wave”. Shot in 1967, it tells the story of the irreverent Jimmy, who wants nothing more than to make it as a singer, regardless of his lack of talent. This punk film bursting with music also explores the bustling outskirts of Belgrade, which back then were still a work in progress. Following a digital restoration by the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka, this new version is screening for the first time at the Forum.
The Japanese “pink eiga” films form perhaps one of the most idiosyncratic phenomena in the whole of international cinema. Conceived to entice male audiences with erotic content, the genre also attracted numerous young directors who bent it to their will and created some of the most radical, avant-garde works in Japanese film. A considerable number of the Japanese directors most well-known today took their first steps with “pink film.” What’s less well-known is that one of the driving forces behind the “pinku eiga” genre is actually a woman, who was concealed behind the male pseudonym Daisuke Asakura. With its “Pink Tribute to Keiko Sato”, the Forum is showing three of the producer’s most original films. Atsushi Yamatoya wrote his absurdly titled 1967 film Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands in parallel to his script for Seijun Suzuki’s classic Branded to Kill, to which the former work undoubtedly forms a twin of sorts. For Masao Adachi, 1971’s Gushing Prayer was one last attempt to couch social critique in sexually provocative form, before he turned his attention to political activism. Finally, the most recent work in the series is the debut film by Masayuki Suo, who later landed one of the biggest hits in Japanese film history with Shall We Dance. Abnormal Family from 1984 is his tribute to Yasujiro Ozu, who for all the stylistic similarities would hardly have been pleased by the degree of sexual permissiveness.
This year’s Forum program is to be opened with a concert by a group of Arab avant-garde musicians who will each provide a solo accompaniment to seven short films by Georges Méliès from 1899 to 1907. Supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Sharif Sehnaoui (electric guitar), Khyam Allami (synthesizer, oud, drums), Magda Mayas (piano), Tony Elieh (electric bass, electronics) and Abed Kobeissy (buzuk, electronics) will be giving their “Georges Méliès “Solitudes” Cine-concert” at the Delphi Filmpalast on February 16.
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2018 Pan African Film & Arts Festival Reveals Highlights, Opens with “Love Jacked”
[caption id="attachment_26705" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Love Jacked[/caption]
The 26th Annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) will take place Thursday, February 8 through Monday, February 19, 2018. The festival will open with Love Jacked directed by Alfons Adetuyi, and close with Traffik directed by Deon Taylor, starring Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso.
“The Pan African Film and Arts Festival has been recognized as one of the largest celebrations of Black culture and Black films,” mentions Ayuko Babu, PAFF Executive Director. “For 26 years, we have presented diverse and inclusive programming that features the creative work of leading disruptors in film and entertainment. The 2018 PAFF experience aims to step outside the ‘business as usual’ film festival norms and move the needle forward by amplifying the game-changing voices of influential, ethnic, millennial and LGBTQIA storytellers.”
With pride, PAFF shares reign as one of two international film and art festivals that screen a large selection of new Black films and exhibit fine art and unique crafts from around the world. This year’s confirmed lineup showcases over 170 films from over 40 countries within five continents and in 26 languages! What’s more, as an official Oscar-qualifying festival for shorts and live-action films, PAFF will hold special screenings for several works that are up for consideration for the 90th Annual Academy Awards
The festival will be held at the Cinemark Rave 15 Theatres/Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza (3650 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd) in Los Angeles, California.
Highlights of the 2018 Pan African Film & Arts Festival
MARQUEE FILMS OPENING NIGHT Love Jacked (US) Directed By: Alfons Adetuyi Date: Thursday, February 8 Time: 6PM Red Carpet | 7PM Screening A warm family comedy centered around Maya, a headstrong 28-year-old with artistic ambitions and her father Ed, who wants a dutiful daughter to run the family store. Ed is shocked when Maya, asserting her independence, decides to travel to Africa for inspiration and returns with a fiancé. Stars Amber Stevens-West, Shamier Anderson, Lyriq Bent, Keith David, Mike Epps, Marla Gibbs, Angela Gibbs, Demetrius Grosse and Nicole Lyn. Cast members will be present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3XQ09nocQM CLOSING NIGHT Traffik (US) Directed By: Deon Taylor Date: Sunday, February 18 Time: 5:45PM Red Carpet | 6:45PM Screening Journalist Brea and her boyfriend John are off for a romantic weekend in the mountains. On their way up the coast they stop in a small town and are accosted by a group of men on motorcycles. Barely avoiding a fight, Brea and John continue on their trip, unaware that they have inadvertently come into possession of a cell phone–a cell phone that the bikers are desperate to retrieve. Now, alone in the mountains in an isolated rental home, Brea and John must defend themselves against the bikers who will stop at nothing to get the phone, destroy the evidence it holds and kill anyone who would tell their secrets. Stars Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso. Cast members will be present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttOv6zVsl6E SPOTLIGHT SCREENINGS Behind the Movement (US) – Presented by TVOne Directed By: Aric Avelino Date: Friday, February 9 Time: 7PM Red Carpet | 8PM Screening King of the Stage: The Woodie King, Jr. Story (US) – World Premiere Directed By: Juney Smith Date: Saturday, February 10 Time: 6PM Red Carpet | 7:15PM Screening | 9PM Lifetime Achievement Presentation Nothing Like Thanksgiving (US) Directed By: Mark Harris Date: Saturday, February 17 Time: 7:15PM Red Carpet | 8PM Screening UP FOR OSCAR CONSIDERATION Félicité (Senegal) – Oscar Short List Directed By: Alain Gomis Screening Dates & Times: Friday, February 9 @ 8:50PM Saturday, February 17 @ 9PM The Train of Salt and Sugar (Mozambique) – LA Premiere Directed By: Licínio Azevedo Screening Dates & Times: Wednesday, February 14 @ 7:30PM Saturday, February 17 @ 8PM The Wound (Inxeba) (South Africa) – Oscar Short List Directed By: John Trengrove Screening Dates & Times: Saturday, February 10 @ 7:05PM Tuesday, February 13 @ 6PM Monday, February 19 @ 9PM Woodpeckers (Dominican Republic) Directed By: José Maria Cabral Screening Dates & Times: Saturday, February 10 @ 8:40PM Friday, February 16 @ 1:25PM Image via Screen Shot
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Berlinale 2018: “NATIVe − A Journey into Indigenous Cinema” Spotlights Films from Pacific Ocean Region
[caption id="attachment_26701" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
MA’OHI NUI, au cœur de l’océan mon pays (MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies)[/caption]
This year, the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival will focus on Indigenous film-making in the countries and islands bound together by the Pacific Ocean, in the special program NATIVe − A Journey into Indigenous Cinema.
Climate change is the most obvious link between the two seemingly very different regions: Melting ice masses are among the leading causes of the rising sea level, which threatens the whole Pacific region, including the island nations and regions of Polynesia, Melanesia/New Guinea and Micronesia, along with their primarily Indigenous populations. But climate change is not the only regional commonality. Industrialization, the repression of Indigenous languages and cultures, forced relocations and other long-term effects of colonizing practices still have consequences for both the peoples of the Arctic regions and the cultural areas in and around the Pacific.
The documentary film MA’OHI NUI, au cœur de l’océan mon pays (MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies) clearly outlines one form of colonial aggression specific to the Pacific region: From 1966 to 1996, France ran an intensive nuclear testing program across French Polynesia. The film shows the catastrophic effects on the region’s environment and on the health and social structures of the Ma’ohi people. NATIVe will celebrate the documentary’s world premiere.
The destructive effects of centuries of colonial repression are also illustrated in Anastasia Lapsui’s and Markku Lehmuskallio’s poetic, activist film Fata Morgana, and in the short film Three Thousand by Asinnajaq. In one striking scene in Fata Morgana, the children of the Chukchi explain how they must choose new Russian names for themselves at school so that their Russian teacher can pronounce them better. And the narrator in Three Thousand, an evocative tapestry of animated images and archival material, comments: “My father was born in a spring igloo − half snow, half skin. I was born in a hospital, with jaundice and two teeth.”
As in previous years, there will be a number of talks and special presentations around the core film-program.
The panel discussion “Establishing Indigenous Cinema” will continue NATIVe’s long-standing and successful collaboration with the Embassy of Canada. The industry talk, in which film professionals will discuss the role of Indigenous cinema within the global film scene, will be followed by a screening of the short film programme Reel Kanata VI.
For the second time, NATIVe will be hosting an event together with the Helmholtz Climate Initiative Regional Climate Change (REKLIM) at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research and the DEKRA University of Applied Sciences Berlin. At “Indigenous Life and Global Climate Change − From Polar Regions to Pacific Islands. From Melting Sea Ice to Sea Level Rise” scientists and film-makers will take a closer look at the dramatic consequences of global warming and its regional effects in scientific talks, film screenings, and panel discussions.
Furthermore, Berlinale Special will present the international premiere of the Australian documentary film Gurrumul. The screening will take place at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in cooperation with NATIVe. Gurrumul is an intimate portrait of the life and musical career of the late Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, the internationally celebrated blind Aboriginal singer who masterfully combined rhythms and melodies of his people, the Yolngu, with contemporary western music.
Film program:
Feature-length Films at NATIVe:
Fata Morgana By Anastasia Lapsui, Markku Lehmuskallio, Finland 2005 Through a mesmerizing mix of filmic and storytelling styles, legendary film-making team Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio recount thousands of years of history of the Chukchi people, from their mythology to the Russian colonisation and the modern-day survival of this culture. MA’OHI NUI, au cœur de l’océan mon pays (MA’OHI NUI, in the heart of the ocean my country lies) By Annick Ghijzelings, Belgium 2018 Documentary World premiere A poetic testimony on the adversities the Ma’ohi have undergone in times of contemporary colonization, portraying the aftermath of nuclear testing in French Polynesia, and the desire of a people to re-claim their identity.Short Film at NATIVe:
Three Thousand By Asinnajaq, Canada 2017 Documentary By combining historic footage with original animation in a poetic tapestry, Asinnajaq explores her Inuit heritage throughout its entire audio-visual history and beyond, projecting a hopeful future.
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Sundance 2018: Aneesh Chaganty’s SEARCH Wins Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
[caption id="attachment_26697" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
John Cho appears in Search by Aneesh Chaganty, an official selection of the NEXT program at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. photo by Juan Sebastian Baron.[/caption]
The Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation handed out $71,000 in grants at a reception held at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize was awarded to Aneesh Chaganty’s Search, who was presented with a $20,000 check. Other winners include Cherien Dabis’s What The Eyes Don’t See (Sundance Institute | Sloan Commissioning Grant), produced by Rosalie Swedlin for Anonymous Content and executive produced by Michael Sugar; C. Wrenn Ball’s Katie Wright (Sundance Institute | Sloan Lab Fellowship) and John Lopez’ Untitled J.P. Morgan Project (Sundance Institute | Sloan Episodic Storytelling Grant).
Search: Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
Search has been awarded the 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and received a $20,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at today’s reception. The Prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character. The jury stated, “For its gripping and original interrogation of our evolving relationship with technology and how it mediates every other relationship in our lives, both positively and negatively, and for its rigorous formal experimentation with narrative, the 2018 Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival goes to Aneesh Chaganty’s Search.” Search / U.S.A. (Director: Aneesh Chaganty, Screenwriters: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian, Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Sev Ohanian, Adam Sidman, Natalie Qasabian) — After his 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a desperate father breaks into her laptop to look for clues to find her. A thriller that unfolds entirely on computer screens. Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing. Aneesh Chaganty is a 26-year-old writer/director whose two minute short film, a Google Glass spot called “Seeds”, became an internet sensation after garnering more than 1 million YouTube views in 24 hours. Following its success, Aneesh was invited to join the Google Creative Lab in New York City, where he spent two years developing, writing and directing Google commercials. He is a recipient of the Future of Storytelling Fellowship, awarded to only five young creatives around the world “who have demonstrated a fearlessness to tell stories in unconventional ways” and whose works “will be instrumental in shaping the future of storytelling.” Search is Aneesh’s first feature. Sev Ohanian is a 30-year-old screenwriter and producer native to Los Angeles. At the age of 20, he produced and self-distributed My Big Fat Armenian Family, a no-budget indie feature film that became popular with Armenian audiences around the world. Shortly after, he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA program — using the profits from his film to pay for tuition. Since graduating in 2012, he has been a producer on thirteen feature films, four of which have been Sundance Film Festival Official Selections. His first film, Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Andrew Bujalksi’s Results premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. Clea DuVall’s The Intervention premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Paramount. At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Ohanian was awarded the Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Producers Award.Sundance Institute / Sloan Commissioning Grant
Cherien Dabis will receive a $25,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for What the Eyes Don’t See, produced by Rosalie Swedlin for Anonymous Content and executive produced by Michael Sugar. Previous winners include Alex Rivera’s La Vida Robot and Robert Edwards’s American Prometheus. What the Eyes Don’t See (U.S.A.) / Cherien Dabis (Writer/Director), Rosalie Swedlin (Producer) and Michael Sugar (Executive Producer) — A true story of how Iraqi American pediatrician and scientist Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha blew the whistle on local and state government officials for poisoning thousands of Flint, Michigan residents, especially children, by exposing them to disastrous levels of toxic lead in the water. Cherien Dabis is an award winning filmmaker and television writer director who made her feature debut with Amreeka. The film world-premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the coveted FIPRESCI at Cannes. It went on to win a dozen more international awards including the Humanitas Prize and was nominated for a Best Picture Gotham Award, and 3 Independent Spirit Awards. Dabis returned to Sundance with her second feature May in the Summer, which opened the 2013 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition section and had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Dabis has also written and directed on such shows as Showtime’s groundbreaking series The L Word, Fox’s hit Empire and USA Network’s Golden Globe nominated crime thriller The Sinner. Rosalie Swedlin is a producer and literary manager at Anonymous Content. Swedlin began her career in New York book publishing, followed by six years handling publicity and marketing for various UK book publishers. Prior to joining Anonymous Content, she was a literary manager, producer, and partner at ICM for twelve years after having served as a senior vice president. Swedlin was an agent at CAA from 1981 – 1991 and was named co-head of the agency’s motion picture department. Swedlin executive produced the upcoming TNT limited series The Alienist based on Caleb Carr’s bestselling novel. The Wife, Swedlin’s most recent feature film, debuted at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Her upcoming film projects include Jane Anderson’s adaptation of The Women in the Castle and Haifaa Al Mansour’s adaptation of the Cara Hoffman novel Be Safe I Love You. Michael Sugar recently launched Sugar23 — a management and production company with a multi-year, first-look deal with Anonymous Content — where he was a partner for many years. He was awarded the Oscar® for Best Picture for Spotlight and most recently wrapped production on the Netflix series Maniac, with Cary Fukunaga. He is currently in production on One Day She’ll Darken at TNT. He is an Executive Producer on the Netflix series The OA and the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Sugar also Executive Produced Cinemax’s critically acclaimed drama series The Knick directed by Steven Soderbergh. Sugar’s impressive roster of literary and talent clients includes Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Cary Fukunaga, Edgar Wright, Marc Webb, Patty Jenkins, and Robin Wright. He has been nominated for multiple Emmys, and won a Peabody Award for The Knick.Sundance Institute / Sloan Lab Fellowship
C. Wrenn Ball will receive a $15,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Previous winners include Logan Kibens’s Operator, Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter and Marjorie Prime, and Rob Meyer’s A Birder’s Guide to Everything. Katie Wright (U.S.A.) / C. Wrenn Ball (Writer) — Just as the Wright Brothers are about to capitalize on the invention of their airplane, Orville is badly injured in a public crash, and sister Katie unexpectedly emerges to lead their business. Fighting resistance from businessmen, society, and even her own brothers, she strives to keep the family together and claim her place as part of their legacy. Based on the forgotten true story. Hailing from North Carolina, C. Wrenn Ball exchanged life in the Southeast for work as an assistant on network television. He directed web series pilots in Los Angeles before completing an MFA at USC’s John Wells Division of Writing for Screen and Television. Obsessed by the twang and rhythm of life, Ball is constantly merging his Southern sensibilities with feature and television writing.Sundance Institute / Sloan Episodic Storytelling Grant
John Lopez will receive an $11,000 cash award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Untitled J.P. Morgan Project (U.S.A.) / John Lopez (Writer, Creator) — A look at the family drama and professional innovations of American financier J.P. Morgan as the 20th century dawns and the country he helped build transforms radically. A Los Angeles native, John Lopez has covered film and the arts for Grantland, Vanity Fair online and Bloomberg Business Week. His short Plan B, starring Randall Park and Rosa Salazar, was a finalist in the NBC Short Cuts Film festival; he also directed segments for NBC’s 2014 Actor’s Showcase and served as associate producer on Hossein Amini’s film The Two Faces of January. In 2015, John was selected as a fellow for the 2015 Sundance Episodic Lab with his pilot Crude. Most recently, John has written for Netflix’s upcoming crime drama Seven Seconds and CBS All Access’s upcoming period drama Strange Angel, and he has just completed a mini-room for AMC’s Silent History.
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Berlinale 2018: 12th Culinary Cinema to Feature 10 Films Focusing on Food, Culture and Politics, Opens with “Chef Flynn”
[caption id="attachment_26690" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Flynn McGarry appears in Chef Flynn by Cameron Yates[/caption]
Nine documentaries and a fictional film focussing on the relationship between food, culture, and politics are being presented this year in the 12th Culinary Cinema at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival, held under the motto “Life Is Delicate” from February 18 to 23, 2018.
“When it comes to cultural and political matters, sensitive decisions have to be made all the time. It’s like in a kitchen, where it’s also tricky to make, at the very least, something edible and, at the very best, something delicate,” Festival Director Dieter Kosslick says in explaining the motto.
The main program of Culinary Cinema will present three world premieres, as well as an international and a German premiere. Following these screenings, top chefs Thomas Bühner, Sonja Frühsammer, Michael Kempf, Flynn McGarry, and The Duc Ngo will take turns serving menus inspired by the films in the Gropius Mirror Restaurant.
Chef Flynn, a US documentary by Cameron Yates, will open the program. The film’s protagonist, Flynn McGarry, was born in 1998 and is already a famous chef. In the film we see how at the early age of ten, he transforms his parents’ living room in Los Angeles into a pop-up restaurant called Eureka and serves multi-course menus. Culinary superstars are impressed by his dishes. The New York press celebrates him as a ‘culinary prodigy’. In addition, on February 22, 2018, during “Youth Food Cinema” Day, Flynn McGarry will cook together with school kids. Afterwards he will talk with experts about how to prepare tasty food with good, clean and fair products, and the positive impact using them has on living conditions, the climate and sustainable development worldwide.
In La quête d’Alain Ducasse (The Quest of Alain Ducasse) by Gilles de Maistre, culinary visionary Ducasse defines his task: “We create memories that last.” To accomplish it he tirelessly travels the world, inspects his 23 restaurants on three continents and maintains his 18 Michelin stars.
Vines have been cultivated in Georgia for around 8,000 years. But during the Soviet regime, ancient methods of vinification were almost lost. In Our Blood Is Wine by Emily Railsback we experience how the tradition is being revived. Michael Kempf (two Michelin stars, “Facil”, Berlin) will be interpreting Georgia’s gastronomic heritage.
In Cuba, culinary traditions were also being neglected for a long time. But now they say that “the taste is back” on the island. The road movie Cuban Food Stories by Asori Soto takes us to remote places where delicacies are prepared al fresco. Sonja Frühsammer (two Michelin stars, “Frühsammers Restaurant”, Berlin) will be paying culinary homage to Cuba.
After participating in 2016, director Eric Khoo will be returning to Culinary Cinema with his new fictional film, Ramen Teh, set in the multi-ethnic city state and nation of Singapore. Here food serves as a means not only to preserve painful memories, but also to achieve reconciliation.
The late-night screenings (where no meals are served afterwards) explore many aspects of the culinary cosmos. The Green Lie by Werner Boote unmasks the sometimes subtle, often crass methods of ‘greenwashing’ with which companies deceive consumers. In The Game Changers by Oscar-winner Louie Psihoyos, outstanding athletes show how they maintain a healthy weight and stay in form without eating meat. Patrimonio by Lisa F. Jackson and Sarah Teale is also encouraging: in this film, Mexicans manage to protect their village from takeover by a US construction company. How a group of women in a Lebanese refugee camp succeeds in organising a food truck and getting out of the camp is recounted in Soufra by Thomas Morgan. In Tuscany, the views of the landscape are magnificent but there is no future in sight for the peasant farmers in Lorello e Brunello by Jacopo Quadri.
Culinary Cinema Program 2018 Films
Chef Flynn USA By Cameron Yates Documentary International premiere Cuban Food Stories USA / Cuba By Asori Soto Documentary World premiere The Game Changers USA By Louie Psihoyos Documentary International premiere The Green Lie Austria By Werner Boote Documentary World premiere La quête d’Alain Ducasse (The Quest of Alain Ducasse) France By Gilles de Maistre Documentary German premiere Lorello e Brunello Italy By Jacopo Quadri Documentary German premiere Our Blood Is Wine USA By Emily Railsback Documentary World premiere Patrimonio USA By Lisa F. Jackson, Sarah Teale Documentary World premiere Ramen Teh Singapore / Japan / France By Eric Khoo World premiere Soufra USA By Thomas Morgan Documentary European premiere
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Sundance Announces 2018 Short Film Awards – Álvaro Gago’s “Matria” Wins Grand Jury Prize
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Francisca Iglesias Bouzón appears in Matria by Álvaro Gago[/caption]
Winners of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival jury prizes in short filmmaking were announced at a ceremony in Park City, Utah, with the Short Film Grand Jury Prize going to Matria, written and directed by Álvaro Gago.
This year’s Short Film jurors are Cherien Dabis, Shirley Manson and Chris Ware.
Short Film awards winners in previous years include And so we put goldfish in the pool. by Makato Nagahisa, Thunder Road by Jim Cummings, World of Tomorrow by Don Hertzfeldt, SMILF by Frankie Shaw, Of God and Dogs by Abounaddara Collective, Gregory Go Boom by Janicza Bravo, The Whistle by Grzegorz Zariczny, Whiplash by Damien Chazelle, FISHING WITHOUT NETS by Cutter Hodierne, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom by Lucy Walker and The Arm by Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos and Jessie Ennis.
2018 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Jury Awards:
The Short Film Grand Jury Prize was awarded to: Matria / Spain (Director and screenwriter: Álvaro Gago) — Faced with a challenging daily routine, Ramona tries to take refuge in her relationships with her daughter and granddaughter. The Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction was presented to: Hair Wolf / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Mariama Diallo) — In a black hair salon in gentrifying Brooklyn, the local residents fend off a strange new monster: white women intent on sucking the lifeblood from black culture. The Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction was presented to: Would You Look at Her / Macedonia (Director and screenwriter: Goran Stolevski) — A hard-headed tomboy spots the unlikely solution to all her problems in an all-male religious ritual. The Short Film Jury Award: Non-fiction was presented to: The Trader (Sovdagari) / Georgia (Director: Tamta Gabrichidze) — Gela sells secondhand clothes and household items in places where money is potatoes. The Short Film Jury Award: Animation was presented to: GLUCOSE / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeron Braxton) — Sugar was the engine of the slave trade that brought millions of Africans to America. Glucose is sweet, marketable and easy to consume, but its surface satisfaction is a thin coating on the pain of many disenfranchised people. A Special Jury Award was presented to: Emergency / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriter: K.D. Dávila) — Faced with an emergency situation, a group of young Black and Latino friends carefully weigh the pros and cons of calling the police. A Special Jury Award was presented to: Fauve / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Jérémy Comte) — Set in a surface mine, two boys sink into a seemingly innocent power game, with Mother Nature as the sole observer. A Special Jury Award was presented to: For Nonna Anna / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Luis De Filippis) — A trans girl cares for her Italian grandmother. She assumes that her Nonna disapproves of her – but instead discovers a tender bond in their shared vulnerability. Image: Francisca Iglesias Bouzón appears in Matria by Álvaro Gago, an official selection of the Shorts Programs at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Lucia C. Pan.
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Complete List of 90th Academy Awards Nominations, “The Shape of Water” Leads With 13
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Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in the film THE SHAPE OF WATER.[/caption]
Actress-comedian Tiffany Haddish and actor-director Andy Serkis, joined by Academy President John Bailey, announced the 90th Academy Awards nominations today, with “The Shape of Water” leading with 13 nominations, followed by “Dunkirk,” with got eight nominations, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” received seven nominations.
The 90th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour Denzel Washington in Roman J. Israel, Esq.Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project Woody Harrelson in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, MissouriPerformance by an actress in a leading role
Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water Frances McDormand in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Margot Robbie in I, Tonya Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird Meryl Streep in The PostPerformance by an actress in a supporting role
Mary J. Blige in Mudbound Allison Janney in I, Tonya Lesley Manville in Phantom Thread Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird Octavia Spencer in The Shape of WaterBest animated feature film of the year
The Boss Baby Tom McGrath and Ramsey Naito The Breadwinner Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo Coco Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson Ferdinand Carlos Saldanha Loving Vincent Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan MactaggartAchievement in cinematography
Blade Runner 2049 Roger A. Deakins Darkest Hour Bruno Delbonnel Dunkirk Hoyte van Hoytema Mudbound Rachel Morrison The Shape of Water Dan LaustsenAchievement in costume design
Beauty and the Beast Jacqueline Durran Darkest Hour Jacqueline Durran Phantom Thread Mark Bridges The Shape of Water Luis Sequeira Victoria & Abdul Consolata BoyleAchievement in directing
Dunkirk Christopher Nolan Get Out Jordan Peele Lady Bird Greta Gerwig Phantom Thread Paul Thomas Anderson The Shape of Water Guillermo del ToroBest documentary feature
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Steve James, Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman Faces Places Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda Icarus Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan Last Men in Aleppo Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed and Søren Steen Jespersen Strong Island Yance Ford and Joslyn BarnesBest documentary short subject
Edith+Eddie Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wright Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 Frank Stiefel Heroin(e) Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon Knife Skills Thomas Lennon Traffic Stop Kate Davis and David HeilbronerAchievement in film editing
Baby Driver Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos Dunkirk Lee Smith I, Tonya Tatiana S. Riegel The Shape of Water Sidney Wolinsky Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Jon GregoryBest foreign language film of the year
A Fantastic Woman Chile The Insult Lebanon Loveless Russia On Body and Soul Hungary The Square SwedenAchievement in makeup and hairstyling
Darkest Hour Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick Victoria & Abdul Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard Wonder Arjen TuitenAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Dunkirk Hans Zimmer Phantom Thread Jonny Greenwood The Shape of Water Alexandre Desplat Star Wars: The Last Jedi John Williams Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Carter BurwellAchievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Mighty River from Mudbound Music and Lyric by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson Mystery Of Love from Call Me by Your Name Music and Lyric by Sufjan Stevens Remember Me from Coco Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Stand Up For Something from Marshall Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Lonnie R. Lynn and Diane Warren This Is Me from The Greatest Showman Music and Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin PaulBest motion picture of the year
Call Me by Your Name Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers Darkest Hour Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers Dunkirk Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers Get Out Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr. and Jordan Peele, Producers Lady Bird Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill, Producers Phantom Thread JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi, Producers The Post Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, ProducersAchievement in production design
Beauty and the Beast Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer Blade Runner 2049 Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Alessandra Querzola Darkest Hour Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer Dunkirk Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis The Shape of Water Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff MelvinBest animated short film
Dear Basketball Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant Garden Party Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon Lou Dave Mullins and Dana Murray Negative Space Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata Revolting Rhymes Jakob Schuh and Jan LachauerBest live action short film
DeKalb Elementary Reed Van Dyk The Eleven O’Clock Derin Seale and Josh Lawson My Nephew Emmett Kevin Wilson, Jr. The Silent Child Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton Watu Wote/All of Us Katja Benrath and Tobias RosenAchievement in sound editing
Baby Driver Julian Slater Blade Runner 2049 Mark Mangini and Theo Green Dunkirk Richard King and Alex Gibson The Shape of Water Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira Star Wars: The Last Jedi Matthew Wood and Ren KlyceAchievement in sound mixing
Baby Driver Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis Blade Runner 2049 Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth Dunkirk Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo The Shape of Water Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier Star Wars: The Last Jedi David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart WilsonAchievement in visual effects
Blade Runner 2049 John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick Kong: Skull Island Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus Star Wars: The Last Jedi Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould War for the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel WhistAdapted screenplay
Call Me by Your Name Screenplay by James Ivory The Disaster Artist Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber Logan Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold Molly’s Game Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin Mudbound Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee ReesOriginal screenplay
The Big Sick Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani Get Out Written by Jordan Peele Lady Bird Written by Greta Gerwig The Shape of Water Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Written by Martin McDonagh
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“This Is Home: A Refugee Story,” to Air on EPIX in 2018 Following World Premiere at Sundance Film Festival
This Is Home: A Refugee Story which world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, will make its television debut on the premium pay television network EPIX, later in 2018.
Directed by Alexandra Shiva (How to Dance in Ohio), This is Home is an intimate portrait of four Syrian refugee families arriving in America and struggling to find their footing. Displaced from their homes and separated from loved ones, they are given eight months of assistance from the International Rescue Committee to become self-sufficient. As they learn to adapt to challenges, including the newly imposed travel ban, their strength and resilience are tested.
After surviving the traumas of war, the families arrive in Baltimore, Maryland and are met with a whole new set of challenges. They attend cultural orientation classes and job training sessions where they must “learn America” – everything from how to take public transportation to negotiating new gender roles.
This Is Home goes beyond the statistics, headlines, and political rhetoric to tell deeply personal stories, putting a human face on the global refugee crisis.
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Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers is 2018 Recipient of Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship for Indigenous Artists
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (Blackfoot/Sámi) from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is the 2018 recipient of the Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship – an annual fellowship named in honor of the late Māori filmmaker Merata Mita (1942-2010). The announcement was made today at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
For the third consecutive year, Sundance Institute has identified an Indigenous filmmaker from a global pool of nominees to award a cash grant and provide a year-long continuum of support with activities including a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, access to strategic and creative services offered by Sundance Institute artist programs, and mentorship opportunities.
Tailfeathers is a filmmaker, writer, and actor. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia in First Nations and Indigenous Studies with a Minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. Her award-winning works are often community-focused and rooted in social justice.
Tailfeathers is a recipient of the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award and a Kodak Image Award for her work as an emerging filmmaker and a Canadian Screen Award for her performance in On the Farm. Her short documentary, Bihttoš (2014) was included in the TIFF Top Ten Canadian Shorts and was also nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and a Leo Award for Best Short Documentary. Bihttoš also won the grand jury prize at the Seattle International Film Festival for Best Short Documentary. Most recently, she directed a feature-length documentary, cesnaʔem: the city before the city – in collaboration with the Musqueam First Nation – which premiered at the 2017 Vancouver International Film Festival.
Tailfeathers is currently directing a feature-length documentary about the opiate crisis and addiction in her home community of Kainai First Nation (Blood Reserve). She is also in pre-production on a narrative-feature, which she is co-writing and co-directing with Kathleen Hepburn. Tailfeathers is an alumna of the Berlinale Talent Lab, the Sámi Film Institute’s Indigenous Film Fellowship, and a recipient of the Hot Docs Cross Currents Fund.
“Now in its third consecutive award year, this Fellowship pays tribute to the immense artistic contributions and memory of our beloved colleague and friend Merata Mita, who was an activist, documentarian and the first and only Māori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature,” said N. Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache), director, Sundance Institute Native American and Indigenous Film Program. “The Merata Mita Fellowship reflects Sundance Institute’s ongoing commitment to supporting Indigenous artists globally. The selection of Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as the 2018 recipient exemplifies the creative work and the efforts that Merata championed throughout her life.”
Merata Mita (Ngai te Rangi/Ngati Pikiao) was New Zealand’s first Indigenous female filmmaker. She served as an advisor and artistic director of the Sundance Institute Native Lab from 2000 to 2009, where she championed emerging Indigenous talent. The Fellowship is supported by the Consulate General of Canada, Indigenous Media Initiatives, Anonymous, Fenton Bailey and Billy Luther (Diné/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo), and Sarah Luther (Diné).
Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Film Program champions Native American and Indigenous independent storytelling artists through residency Labs, Fellowships, public programming, and a year-round continuum of creative, financial, and tactical support. The Program conducts outreach and education to identify a new generation of Native and Indigenous voices, connecting them with opportunities to develop their storytelling projects, and bringing them and their work back to Native lands. At its core, the Program seeks to inspire self-determination among Native filmmakers and communities by centering Native people in telling their own stories.
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TEHRAN TABOO, Animated Drama on Sexual Hypocrisy in Iran, Sets US Release Date | Trailer
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Tehran Taboo. Pari, Elias and Sara in a Restaurant[/caption]
Ali Soozandeh’s Tehran Taboo is an animated dramatic feature that juggles multiple stories to explore the sexual double-standard behind the hypocrisy of life in contemporary Iran. Living in exile in Germany since age 25, Iranian-born Soozandeh cannily uses animation to solve the problem of not being able to film in Tehran.
Kino Lorber will release Tehran Taboo on Wednesday, February 14, at New York’s Film Forum; in San Francisco, CA, on March 2 (Roxie Theatre) and in Los Angeles, CA, on March 9 (at Laemmle’s Town Center 5 and Music Hall 3). The film had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Critics’ Week before segueing to a competition slot at the Annecy Intl. Animated Film Festival.
Blending multiple narratives into a complex picture of contemporary life in Iran’s most populous city, Tehran Taboo follows a young woman in need of an operation to “restore” her virginity; a divorce judge (in the Islamic Revolutionary Court) who extorts favors from a prostitute; a pregnant woman desperate to work for a living so she may live independently; and young women (purportedly virgins) being sold to Dubai for large sums of money.
The result is a complicated portrait of a social order in which women are at the bottom rung of a ladder built on religion, the law, and plain old misogyny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUnSemNTycE
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Berlinale 2018: More Films Added to Competition and Berlinale Special Lineup
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Museum[/caption]
Another five films, including Steven Soderberg’s Unsane, and Gael García Bernal in Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Museum, have been added to the Competition lineup of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival; and a further six films have been invited to participate in the Berlinale Special Program.
The 68th Berlin International Film Festival will take place from February 15 to 25, 2018. The complete program will be presented on February 6, 2018.
Competition
7 days in Entebbe USA / United Kingdom By José Padilha ( The Elite Squad, Garapa ) With Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan, Lior Ashkenazi, Denis Menochet, Ben Schnetzer, Angel Bonanni, Juan Pablo Raba, Nonso Anozie World Premiere – Out of competition Ága Bulgaria / Germany / France By Milko Lazarov ( Otchuzhdenie ) With Mikhail Aprosimov, Feodosia Ivanova, Galina Tikhonova, Sergey Egorov, Afanasiy Kylaev World premiere – Out of competition Season of the Devil (Ang panahon ng halimaw) Philippines By Lav Diaz ( A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery ) with Piolo Pascual, Shaina Magdayao, Pinky Amador, Bituin Escalante, Hazel Orencio, Joel Saracho, Bart Guingona, Angel Aquino, Lilit Reyes, Don Melvin Boongaling World premiere Museum (Museo) Mexico By Alonso Ruizpalacios ( Güeros ) With Gael Garcia Bernal, Leonardo Ortizgris, Alfredo Castro, Simon Russell Beale, Bernardo Velasco, Leticia Breedy, Ilse Salas, Lisa Owen World premiere Unsane USA By Steven Soderbergh ( Traffic, The Good German ) With Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, Amy Irving World premiere – Out of competitionBerlinale Special
Berlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast The Happy Prince Germany / Belgium / Italy By Rupert Everett With Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Colin Morgan, Edwin Thomas, Rupert Everett’s European Premiere – First Feature Becoming Astrid (Unga Astrid) Sweden / Germany / Denmark By Pernille Fischer Christensen ( A Soap, A Family, Someones You Love ) With Alba August, Trine Dyrholm, Magnus Krepper, Maria Bonnevie, Henrik Rafaelsen World premiereBerlinale Special at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele
AMERICA Land of the Freeks – Documentary Form Germany By Ulli Lommel ( Tenderness of the Wolves, The Boogey Man, Absolute Evil ) With Ulli Lommel, Tanner King Barklow, Nola Roeper, Gil Kofman, Chris Kriesa, Lilith Stangenberg, Tatjana Lommel, Max Brauer World Premiere Tribute to Ulli Lommel RYŪICHI SAKAMOTO: async AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY – Documentary USA / Japan By Stephen Nomura Schible ( Ryūichi Sakamoto: Coda ) International premiereBerlinale Special at Kino International
The Interpreter Slovak Republic / Czech Republic / Austria By Martin Šulík ( The Garden , Landscape , Gypsy ) With Peter Simonischek, Jiří Menzel, Zuzana Mauréry, Attila Mokos and Anna Rakovská World premiere Usedom – The Sea View – Documentary Germany By Heinz Brinkmann ( The Carbide Factory, Come Into The Garden, The Boehme Case – The Wondrous Life Of A Left-Handed Man )Competition
3 Days in Quiberon ( 3 Tage in Quiberon ) by Emily Atef (Germany / Austria / France) 7 Days in Entebbe by José Padilha (USA / United Kingdom) – Out of competition AGA by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria / Germany / France) – Out of competition Season of the Devil (Ang panahon ng halimaw) by Lav Diaz (Philippines) Black 47 by Lance Daly (Ireland / Luxembourg) – Out of competition Damsel by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner (USA) Do not Worry, He Will not Get Far on Foot by Gus Van Sant (USA) Dovlatov by Alexey German Jr. (Russian Federation / Poland / Serbia) Eldorado by Markus Imhoof (Switzerland / Germany) – Documentary, out of competition Eva by Benoit Jacquot (France) Figlia mia ( Daughter of Mine ) by Laura Bispuri (Italy / Germany / Switzerland) The Heiresses (Las herederas) by Marcelo Nessi Marti (Paraguay / Germany / Uruguay / Norway / Brazil / France) – First Feature In the Aisles (In den Gängen) by Thomas Stuber (Germany) Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson ( United Kingdom / Germany) – Entertainment Pig (Khook) by Mani Haghighi (Iran) My brother’s name is Robert, and He is an Idiot (Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot ) by Philip Gröning (Germany / France / Switzerland) Museo ( Museum ) by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Mexico) La prière ( The Prayer ) by Cédric Kahn (France) The Real Estate (Toppen av ingenting) by Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén (Sweden / United Kingdom) Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie (Romania / Germany / Czech Republic / Bulgaria / France) – First Feature Transit by Christian Petzold (Germany / France) Mug (Twarz) by Małgorzata Szumowska (Poland) Unsane by Steven Soderbergh (USA) – Out of competitionBerlinale Special
AMERICA Land of the Freeks by Ulli Lommel (Germany) – The Bookshop by Isabel Coixet ( Spain / United Kingdom / Germany) The Happy Prince by Rupert Everett (Germany / Belgium / Italy) Gurrumul by Paul Williams (Australia) – Documentary, debut movie The Interpreter by Martin Šulík ( Slovak Republic / Czech Republic / Austria ) Monster Hunt 2 by Raman Hui (People’s Republic of China / Hong Kong, China) RYŪICHI SAKAMOTO: async AT THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY by Stephen Nomura Schible (USA / Japan) – Documentary The Silent Revolution (Das schweigende Klassenzimmer) by Lars Kraume (Germany) Becoming Astrid (Unga Astrid) by Pernille Fischer Christensen (Sweden / Germany / Denmark) Usedom – The clear sea view by Heinz Brinkmann (Germany) – Documentary A Journey to the Fumigated Towns (Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados) by Fernando Solanas (Argentina) – DocumentaryBerlinale Special – Berlinale Series
Bad Banks – Director: Christian Schwochow – Head writer: Oliver Kienle, based on a concept by Lisa Blumenberg (Germany / Luxembourg) Home Ground (Heimebane) – Creator: Johan Fasting – Director: Arild Andresen (Norway) Liberty – Creator: Asger Leth – Director: Mikael Marcimain (Denmark) The Looming Tower – Creators: Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright – Director: Alex Gibney – Written by Dan Futterman, based on the book by Lawrence Wright (USA) Picnic at Hanging Rock – Director: Larysa Kondracki (episodes 1-3) – Written by Beatrix Christian, Alice Addison (Australia) Sleeping Bears – Creator and director: Keren Margalit (Israel) The Terror – Showrunners: David Kajganich and Soo Hugh – Director: Edward Berger (episodes 1-3), (USA)
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“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is Big Winner of 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards
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Actor Frances McDormand (4th from L, at microphone) and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ castmates accept the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award onstage during the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards[/caption]
The Screen Actors Guild Awards presented its coveted Actor statuettes at the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by Kristen Bell. Honored with individual awards were Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell for performances in motion pictures, with the Actor for a motion picture cast performance going this year to “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Rita Moreno presented Morgan Freeman with the 54th Life Achievement Award, following a filmed salute to the Academy Award winning actor, producer, voice actor and activist, which mirrored when Freeman presented Moreno with the 50th Life Achievement Award. Felicity Huffman introduced a filmed “In Memoriam” tribute to the SAG-AFTRA members lost during 2017. In keeping with the SAG Awards tradition of highlighting the work of SAG-AFTRA members, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris introduced a montage that illustrated the union’s diversity and the wide range of its members’ professional skills.
The complete list of recipients for the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® follows:
The 24th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS®RECIPIENTS
The Theatrical Motion Picture Recipients are:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role FRANCES McDORMAND / Mildred – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role GARY OLDMAN / Winston Churchill – “DARKEST HOUR” (Focus Features) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role ALLISON JANNEY / LaVona Golden – “I, TONYA” (Neon) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role SAM ROCKWELL / Dixon – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight) Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (Fox Searchlight) ABBIE CORNISH / Anne PETER DINKLAGE / James WOODY HARRELSON / Willoughby JOHN HAWKES / Charlie LUCAS HEDGES / Robbie ŽELJKO IVANEK / Desk Sgt. CALEB LANDRY JONES / Red Welby FRANCES McDORMAND / Mildred CLARKE PETERS / Abercrombie SAM ROCKWELL / Dixon SAMARA WEAVING / PenelopeThe Television Recipients are:
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series NICOLE KIDMAN / Celeste Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD / Perry Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series CLAIRE FOY / Queen Elizabeth II – “THE CROWN” (Netflix) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series STERLING K. BROWN / Randall Pearson – “THIS IS US” (NBC) Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / Selina Meyer – “VEEP” (HBO) Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series WILLIAM H. MACY / Frank Gallagher – “SHAMELESS” (Showtime) Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series THIS IS US(NBC)ERIS BAKER / Tess Pearson ALEXANDRA BRECKENRIDGE / Sophie STERLING K. BROWN / Randall Pearson LONNIE CHAVIS / Young Randall JUSTIN HARTLEY / Kevin Pearson FAITHE HERMAN / Annie Pearson RON CEPHAS JONES / William Hill CHRISSY METZ / Kate Pearson MANDY MOORE / Rebecca Pearson CHRIS SULLIVAN / Toby Damon MILO VENTIMIGLIA / Jack Pearson SUSAN KELECHI WATSON / Beth Pearson HANNAH ZEILE / Teenage Kate Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series VEEP(HBO) DAN BAKKEDAHL / Roger Furlong ANNA CHLUMSKY / Amy Brookheimer GARY COLE / Kent Davison MARGARET COLIN / Jane McCabe KEVIN DUNN / Ben Cafferty CLEA DUVALL / Marjorie Palmiotti NELSON FRANKLIN / Will TONY HALE / Gary Walsh JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / Selina Meyer SAM RICHARDSON / Richard Splett PAUL SCHEER / Stevie REID SCOTT / Dan Egan TIMOTHY SIMONS / Jonah Ryan SARAH SUTHERLAND / Catherine Meyer MATT WALSH / Mike McLintock Image: Actor Frances McDormand (4th from L, at microphone) and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ castmates accept the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award onstage during the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 21, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. 27522_013 (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Frances McDormand;Sam Rockwell;Darrell Britt-Gibson;Woody Harrelson;Abbie Cornish;Lucas Hedges;Zeljko Ivanek;John Hawkes;Samara Weaving;Sandy Martin;Amanda Warren