• Melbourne International Film Festival Unveils 2017 Lineup, Closes with Paul Williams’ GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING

    [caption id="attachment_23090" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING[/caption] The 2017 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) unveiled its full program line-up of more than 358 films representing 68 countries, including 251 features, 88 shorts, 17 Virtual Reality experiences, 12 MIFF Talks events, 31 world premieres and 135 Australian premieres. It all happens over 18 days, spanning 13 venues across Melbourne, from August 3 to 20, 2017. “What a pleasure it is to launch this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival,” said Artistic Director Michelle Carey. “This year’s program offers audiences an amazing opportunity to explore new worlds through film – from our Pioneering Women and Sally Potter retrospectives to the return of our Virtual Reality program as well as a particularly strong line-up of special events, we can’t wait to open the doors to MIFF 2017.” The festival will kick off with the Opening Night Gala screening of Greg McLean’s MIFF Premiere Fund-supported JUNGLE, and will wind up with the world premiere Closing Night screening of Paul Williams’ GURRUMUL ELCHO DREAMING. A profound exploration of the life and music of revered Australian artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, the film uses the tools of the artist’s music – chord, melody, song – and the sounds of the land to craft an audio-first cinematic experience, offering a rare insight into a reclusive master. Joining the MIFF guest line-up are Australia’s Melissa George, starring in the MIFF Premiere Fund-supported THE BUTTERFLY TREE; Italian director Luca Guadagnino with his acclaimed new film CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, a sensuous story of first love and the end of adolescence; and newcomer Jennifer Brea making her way to MIFF with UNREST, a feature documentary capturing her darkest moments as she is derailed by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Further international guests include Peter Mackie Burns, the debut feature director of DAPHNE, a refreshing portrait of contemporary womanhood; Francis Lee, with his depiction of British rural life in GOD’S OWN COUNTRY; Slavko Martinov, the force behind the entertaining flockumentary PECKING ORDER; Gabe Klinger on behalf of PORTO, a film presented in Super 8, 16mm and breathtaking 35mm; director Sami Saif and cinematographer Anders Löfstedt with their music documentary THE ALLINS; Thai filmmaker Anocha Suwichakornpong, winner of the Top Prize at the 2016 Thai National Film Association Awards for her feature BY THE TIME IT GETS DARK; and Annie Goldson, director of KIM DOTCOM: CAUGHT IN THE WEB, a documentary about the court case surrounding the internet’s most wanted criminal. MIFF guests also include Daniel Borgman, director of LOVING PIA, a winsome tale blurring documentary and fiction; and Florian Habicht, director of SPOOKERS, a film focusing on a former psychiatric hospital that is now a haunted attraction. Following last year’s success, VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) returns to MIFF in 2017. Leading the charge is the world premiere of Lucas Taylor’s INSIDE MANUS, taking the audience behind the razor wire to meet the asylum seekers on the Manus Island detention centre. Other VR world premieres include Lester Francois’ RONE, a distinctive portrait of the Melbourne street artist; Khoa Do and Piers Mussared’s THE EXTRACTION, a work imagining a perilous journey through the post apocalypse; and Christopher Bailey’s ACROSS, set in a world where two beings live in opposite cliffs – where one side is a paradise and the other a wasteland. The VR program continues with Jeff Goldblum making a cameo appearance in MIYUBI, a feature length film about a family’s relationship with its Japanese toy robot, from co-directors Félix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphaël; George Gittoes expands upon his MIFF 2015 feature Snow Monkey, taking audiences on a VR tour to Afghanistan in the world premiere of FUN FAIR JALALABAD; and Ben Smith’s THE HUNT FOR THE YIDAKI, the companion piece to the MIFF 2017 Premiere Fund-supported feature WESTWIND: DJALU’S LEGACY, will also receive its world premiere. Meanwhile UNREST VR, a film about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – made by Amaury La Burthe and other key collaborators on Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness (MIFF 2016) – screens as an expansion piece to Jennifer Brea’s feature documentary, also showing at MIFF 2017. In addition to UNREST, MIFF’s much-loved DOCUMENTARIES program delivers an array of gripping real-life character studies. Catch WINNIE, Pascale Lamche’s Sundance Directing Award-winning portrait of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, variously viewed as the wife of South Africa’s most revered leader, the mother and/or enemy of her nation and a revolutionary force in her own right; Andres Veiel’s BEUYS: ART AS A WEAPON, an extensive look at the felt-clad, hat-wearing German performance artist Joseph Beuys; and DINA, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winner from Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini that offers a heartfelt and heart-melting portrait of love in all its strangeness and wonder. The Documentaries program also takes audiences behind the closed doors of wildly diverse environments. In the remarkable debut film THE WORK, America’s most hardened criminals share their demons with the everyday public during the world’s most intense group therapy session in Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous’ SXSW Grand Jury Prize-winner; Jean-Stéphane Bron’s THE PARIS OPERA is a film candidly charting the day-to-day drama during a season of upheaval for the revered company; and ROLLER DREAMS finds Australian director Kate Hickey tracking down the original stars of the Venice Beach 80s roller dancing movement to build a funky portrait of the rise and fall of the craze. MIFF’s toe-tapping MUSIC ON FILM program dances to its own beat with THE ALLINS where award-winning Danish documentarian Sami Saif turn his lens on the most outrageous musician to ever live – GG Allin – revealing the man behind the maniac behind the music; and in Kyoko Miyake’s TOKYO IDOLS, teenage girl pop stars grapple with finding fame and the creeping fixation of their male fan bases in an eye-opening look at Japanese idol culture. Musical influencers take centre stage in the Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning RUMBLE: THE INDIANS WHO ROCKED THE WORLD, where Catherine Bainbridge sets out to reinstate Native American trailblazers to their rightful place in the pop music pantheon; and Lucy Walker, director of the MIFF 2013 Best Documentary Audience Award-winner The Crash Reel, returns with BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB: ADIOS, a touching farewell to the beloved son cubano musicians as they complete their final tour. A stellar line-up of homegrown talent will be showcased in AUSTRALIAN FILMS. Marking the halfway point of the festival will be the CENTREPIECE GALA world premiere screening of THREE SUMMERS, the first Australian film from comedian Ben Elton. Romantic leads Robert Sheehan and Rebecca Breeds are joined by a glittering ensemble featuring Michael Caton, Magda Szubanski, Deborah Mailman, Jacqueline McKenzie and John Waters for an of-the-moment, multi-story comedy set over three years at a fictional folk-music festival. Continuing the Australian Films showcase, David Wenham makes his feature directorial debut with a Before Sunrise-style romance set to the distinctive sounds of Megan Washington with ELLIPSIS, starring Emily Barclay and Benedict Samuel; MIFF offers an exclusive preview of the second series of GLITCH, a Matchbox Pictures production commissioned by ABC TV and co-produced by Netflix, set in a fictional Victorian town where deceased former residents have crawled out of their graves in the local cemetery; and in a special screening presented by the National Film and Sound Archive’s digital restoration program – NFSA RESTORES, MIFF will also present the classic rip-roaring homegrown action flick, SHAME, where an award-winning Deborra-Lee Furness – also a guest of MIFF 2017 – turns the tables on a country town’s entrenched male violence. Celebrating its 10th birthday in 2017, the MIFF PREMIERE FUND stages six world premieres (each with its director in attendance) comprising: Greg McLean’s MIFF Opening Night Film JUNGLE, starring Daniel Radcliffe; Luke Shanahan’s uniquely stylish psychological thriller RABBIT, featuring The Great Gatsby’s Adelaide Clemens playing identical twins linked by more than just DNA; MIFF guests Melissa George and Ed Oxenbould starring alongside Ewen Leslie and Sophie Lowe in Priscilla Cameron’s THE BUTTERFLY TREE, a coming-of-age tale of love and loss tinged with magical realism; Eddie Martin’s HAVE YOU SEEN THE LISTERS?, an intimate account of the cost of success of Australia’s most renowned street artist, Anthony Lister (also a guest of the festival); Naina Sen’s THE SONG KEEPERS, telling the incredible story of a hidden musical legacy of ancient Aboriginal languages and German baroque songs that are being preserved by the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir (who will also attend the festival); and Ben Strunin’s WESTWIND: DJALU’s LEGACY, portraying the quest of Yolngu elder Djalu Gurruwiwi (who will attend the festival) to preserve his songlines with a little help from global pop star Gotye. Marking the MIFF Premiere Fund’s 10-year milestone, the festival will also screen three retrospective highlights from the Fund’s early years: the 2009 MIFF Opening Night film BALIBO, written and directed by Robert Connolly and starring Oscar Isaac, Anthony LaPaglia and MIFF Ambassador Gyton Grantley; Amiel Courtin-Wilson’s BASTARDY, a poetic and impressionistic portrait of the life of indigenous arts personality Jack Charles; and Ana Kokkinos’ all-star ensemble BLESSED, which features Frances O’Connor in an AFI Award-winning performance. PIONEERING WOMEN, a program of 80s and early 90s Australian films directed by women, will pay tribute to some of the country’s finest cinematic trailblazers, including director Ann Turner with the world premiere of her digitally restored horror meets coming-of-age drama CELIA; Gillian Armstrong with a digital restoration screening of STARSTRUCK, the iconic and colourful musical comedy about two Sydney teenagers who try to break into the music biz to save the family pub (which also features an appearance by MIFF Ambassador Geoffrey Rush). Both films are proudly presented by the National Film and Sound Archive’s restoration program – NFSA RESTORES. Don’t miss this opportunity to revisit other classics such as BEDEVIL (directed by Tracey Moffatt), THE BIG STEAL (directed by Nadia Tass) and FLOATING LIFE (directed by Clara Law), with guest Q&As and a Conversation panel in store among other events. MIFF’s ever popular NIGHT SHIFT program returns with innovative horror and genre films including A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN, in which French provocateur Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire (Johnny Mad Dog, MIFF 2008) returns to the brutal underworlds of masculine violence, in an adaptation of Billy Moore’s memoir of his time in Bangkok’s notorious Klong Prem prison; MY FRIEND DAHMER, Marc Meyers’ disturbing vision of America’s most notorious serial killer during his adolescence, featuring a breathtaking performance by Disney star Ross Lynch; and BLOODLANDS, a brutal mix of family blood feud and supernatural horror marking the first ever co-production between Australia and Albania, directed by Steven Kastrissios (The Horseman, MIFF 2008). For the first time in its history MIFF will also present a SCI-FI program, showcasing a selection of the genre’s best films including IKARIE XB-1, Jindřich Polák’s little-known pioneering masterpiece that influenced everything from Star Trek to 2001: A Space Odyssey… and beyond; INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION, from inventive animator Karel Zeman, the first steampunk film, bringing the stories and visuals of Jules Verne to life; LE DERNIER COMBAT, a work taking audiences back to where it all began for renowned sci-fi director Luc Besson, with his striking 1983 film starring Jean Reno in his feature debut; and STRANGE DAYS, featuring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis, Kathryn Bigelow’s 20-year-old, James Cameron-scripted, VR tech-noir. And for the night owls, running all night at the Astor Theatre is MIFF’s inaugural SCI-FI MARATHON, presenting a collection of the genre’s most venerated, controversial and enduring or under-appreciated fan favourites. For full details visit miff.com.au/marathon. The TRUE CRIME program returns in 2017 with some of the most intriguing and sinister stories of our time. Oscar-nominated documentarian David France (How to Survive a Plague, MIFF 2012) delivers a piercing survey of the origins of transgender activism and a search for justice in THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARTHA P JOHNSON; Erik Nelson’s A GRAY STATE is a riveting murder mystery, political thriller and unparalleled psychological profile about rising alt-right filmmaker and Iraq veteran David Crowley and his family; and Pete Nicks’ THE FORCE is an award-winning look at the day-to-day operations of the Oakland Police Department as it grapples with endemic corruption, sexism and racial violence. ANIMAL DOCUMENTARIES, a new program strand for 2017, puts the spotlight on some of the world’s most intriguing creatures. TROPHY sees Shaul Schwarz (Narco Cultura, MIFF 2013) and Christina Clusiau take on a charged debate in a controversial film that will upend everything audiences thought they knew about animal conservation; PECKING ORDER, the year’s best feel-good flockumentary from Slavko Martinov, introduces us to people taking the world of chicken fancying as seriously as life and death; and A RIVER BELOW, Mark Grieco’s provocative and murky morality tale about a TV conservationist’s battle to save the Amazon’s disappearing pink river dolphin, will leave audiences shocked and awed. MIFF’s HEADLINERS program will bring audiences the most-buzzed about films from the festival circuit. Highlights include Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning THE SQUARE, a film marking the director as modern cinema’s most savage and inventive satirist; Claire Denis’ Cannes Director’s Fortnight award-winning romantic comedy LET THE SUNSHINE IN, starring Juliette Binoche; Geremy Jasper’s fabulous Sundance triumph PATTI CAKE$, featuring Australian acting discovery Danielle Macdonald in the role of a New Jersey battler and aspiring rapper; SONG TO SONG, a love story from Terrence Malick set against the backdrop of the Austin music scene, featuring Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman; and THE PARTY, Sally Potter’s caustic comic satire of a broken England, with a stellar ensemble headed by Kristin Scott Thomas, Patricia Clarkson and Timothy Spall. Showcasing MIFF’s admiration for the inimitable British director, this year the festival also proudly presents a SALLY POTTER RETROSPECTIVE. Screening the complete oeuvre of Potter’s feature films, along with a selection of her early shorts from 1969 to 1986, the retrospective includes: THE TANGO LESSON, where Potter plays opposite Argentine tango performer Pablo Verón for a seductive dance of reality and fiction; ORLANDO, the director’s stunning second film featuring a triumphant lead performance by Tilda Swinton as the androgynous titular character living across four centuries; THE GOLD DIGGERS, Potter’s seminal work that came to influence and define feminist cinema of the 1980s; and GINGER AND ROSA, starring Alice Englert and Elle Fanning as two friends threatened by a belief-shattering betrayal. The festival’s INTERNATIONAL program is packed with innovative cinema from countries near and afar. MIFF Patron Geoffrey Rush shines as Alberto Giacometti in Stanley Tucci’s FINAL PORTRAIT, a snapshot of several weeks the artist spent trying to paint author James Lord; Fatih Akin (Head-On, MIFF 2004) delivers the morally charged thriller IN THE FADE, featuring Diane Kruger in the performance that won her Best Actress at Cannes; and from Aisling Walsh comes MAUDIE, starring Oscar nominees Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke exploring the sensitive but rousing true tale of Maud Lewis, one of Canada’s most inspiring folk artists. Some 14 of Australia and New Zealand’s hottest emerging directors will have their short films premiere in the festival’s ACCELERATOR program and also participate in Accelerator Lab, MIFF’s prestigious development workshop assisting directors to transition to feature filmmaking. They are W.A.M (Bill) Bleakley; Nina Buxton; Kate Lefoe; Frank Magree; Zoe McIntosh; Victoria McIntyre; Greta Nash; Tin Pang; Simon Portus; Nikki Richardson; Rachel Ross; John Sheedy; Nick Waterman; and Dave Whitehead. The MIFF SHORTS program will screen local and international films spanning animation, documentary, experimental works and more, with highlights including the riveting INDONESIAN SHORTS, a program screening works from some of Australia’s closest neighbours, and Cannes Short Film Palme d’Or winner A GENTLE NIGHT, from MIFF Accelerator alumnus Qiu Yang, while other Accelerator alumni directors returning with new short films are Alice Englert, Audrey Lam, Nora Niasari, Julietta Boscolo, Billie Pleffer, Dylan River and Alena Lodkina.  

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  • PURGE THIS LAND, An Essay Film on Abolitionist John Brown to Close Open City Documentary Festival | Video Clip

    Purge This Land Lee Ann Schmitt’s Purge This Land, an essay film exploring the legacy of the radical abolitionist John Brown will be the Closing Night gala film of the Open City Documentary Festival.  The history of racism and slavery in modern America is retold in this highly topical film, which spans the 1850s to present-day USA. The film will receive its UK Premiere on Sunday September 10 at London’s Regent Street Cinema. It was also announced last week that the festival will open with the UK Premiere Taste Of Cement, Ziad Kalthoum’s intimate portrait of exiled Syrian construction workers building a skyscraper in Beirut. The 7th Open City Documentary Festival takes place over six days in venues across London from 5 to 10 September 2017. Michael Stewart, Founder of Open City Docs, said: “We’re thrilled to be closing this year’s festival with Purge This Land. Lee Ann Schmitt’s intimate, captivating film packs a real political punch and we’re very proud to be showcasing some of the most exciting and innovative documentary filmmakers from around the world here in London.” https://vimeo.com/100519353

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  • 8 Indie Filmmaking Team Win Spring 2017 SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants

    San Francisco Film Society Eight filmmaking teams will receive a total of $300,000 in funding in the latest round of SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants to help with the next stage of their creative process, from screenwriting to postproduction. SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grants are awarded twice annually to filmmakers whose narrative feature films will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community and meaningfully explore pressing social issues. More than $4 million has been awarded since the launch of this grant program in 2009, making the SFFILM, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the largest grant-maker for independent narrative films in the United States. The SFFILM / Rainin Filmmaking Grant program has funded more than 50 projects since its inception, including Geremy Jasper’s Sundance breakthrough Patti Cake$, which is on its way to a July theatrical release; Alex and Andrew Smith’s Walking Out starring Matt Bomer and Josh Wiggins, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival; Chloé Zhao’s Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which screened at Sundance and Cannes in 2015 and has created buzz across the international festival circuit; Short Term 12, Destin Cretton’s sophomore feature which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013; Ryan Coogler’s debut feature Fruitvale Station, which won the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, the Un Certain Regard Avenir Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013; and Ben Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon Beasts of the Southern Wild, which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012 and earned four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture). The jury noted in a statement: “This group of finalists was exceptionally strong, and we are thrilled to support these eight bold and deeply human films, which collectively represent such a wide range of tones, styles, voices, and artistic visions. These filmmakers showcase the ever-growing talent coming out of San Francisco, and their work will contribute to the growing strength, diversity, and richness of the Bay Area filmmaking community.”

    SPRING 2017 SFFILM / RAININ FILMMAKING GRANT WINNERS

    The Continental Aron Kantor, writer/director; K.M. Soehnlein, cowriter – screenwriting – $25,000 A young, gay Latino immigrant working at New York’s legendary Continental Baths gets swept up in the burgeoning gay rights movement and the early disco scene while navigating an affair with his married boss. Jinn Nijla Mu’min, writer/director; Avril Speaks, producer – post-production – $50,000 Summer is a carefree, Black teenage Instagram celebrity whose world is turned upside down when her mother abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person. At first resistant to the faith, she begins to reevaluate her identity after becoming attracted to a Muslim classmate, crossing the thin line between physical desire and piety. Josephine Beth de Araújo, writer/director – screenwriting – $25,000 An obedient eight-year-old girl unintentionally witnesses a rape in Golden Gate Park. Unraveling with fear and paranoia, her subsequent violent outbursts put her family and classmates in jeopardy. Music Moves Us Cyrus Tabar, writer/director – screenwriting – $25,000 In a near future where music is outlawed in an authoritarian state, a passionate woman and her friends throw illegal techno dance parties in Oakland, California, and broadcast on a bootleg pirate radio station to bring people together. Refuge Mohammad Gorjestani, writer/director; Malcolm Pullinger, producer – screenwriting – $25,000 Set in 2025, Refuge depicts a brewing cyberwar between the US and Iran which puts Sonia, a young Iranian refugee and activist, at risk of deportation or internment. Her only escape may come at a greater price than she’s willing to pay. A Rooster on the Fire Escape Guetty Felin, writer/director/producer; Danielle Dreis, producer – packaging – $25,000 Upon coming to America, the Celestin family was hopping to leave behind the traumas of the brutal dictatorship of their tropical native land, but the sacrifices they made for their freedom create a dark spiral from which they might not recover. Sorry to Bother You Boots Riley, writer/director; Jonathan Duffy, George Rush and Kelly Williams, producers – production – $75,000 Sorry To Bother You tells the story of Cassius Green, a Black telemarketer who discovers a magical key to telemarketing success, propelling him into a macabre universe where he is selected to lead a species of genetically manipulated horse-people. We the Animals Jeremiah Zagar, writer/director; Jeremy Yaches and Christina King, producers – post-production – $50,000 Based on the bestselling novel by Justin Torres, We the Animals explores the beautiful and savage nature of family and the viscerally charged landscape of youth through the eyes of Jonah, the youngest son of a mixed-race, working-class couple, as he discovers his artistic identity.

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  • Nelsan Ellis’ Family Says He Died of Heart Failure Due to Alcohol Withdrawal Complications

    Nelsan Ellis The family of actor Nelsan Ellis who starred on HBO’s True Blood and recently in the independent film Little Boxes, has released an official statement regarding the cause of his death.  In the statement released to The Hollywood Reporter, his family said that the actor struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for years, and his heart failure was due to alcohol withdrawal complications. Nelsan Ellis died on Saturday, at age 39. His family released the statement to The Hollywood Reporter via his manager Emily Gerson Saines in an effort to help others who may be struggling with the same addictions that afflicted Ellis: Nelsan’s father has bravely agreed for me to share the circumstances of Nelsan’s heart failure. Nelsan has suffered with drug and alcohol abuse for years. After many stints in rehab, Nelsan attempted to withdraw from alcohol on his own. According to his father, during his withdrawal from alcohol he had a blood infection, his kidneys shut down, his liver was swollen, his blood pressure plummeted, and his dear sweet heart raced out of control. On the morning of Saturday July 8th, after four days in Woodhull Hospital, Nelsan was pronounced dead. Nelsan was a gentle, generous and kind soul. He was a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, a nephew, and a great friend to those that were lucky enough to know him. Nelsan was ashamed of his addiction and thus was reluctant to talk about it during his life. His family, however, believes that in death he would want his life to serve as a cautionary tale in an attempt to help others.

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  • Stony Brook Film Fest Announces Guests, incl. TEXT FOR YOU’s Karoline Herfurth

    Text for You The international list of guests coming to the 22nd Annual Stony Brook Film Festival includes filmmakers delivering unique background stories on moviemaking. U.S. filmmakers from across the country will also join with the many international filmmakers representing features and shorts. Short films will also be represented by movie people from afar including guests from Israel (Across the Line, Thurs, July 27 at 7:00 pm), Armenia (The Simon’s Way, Mon, July 24 at 7:00 pm), Latvia (Just, go! Wed, July 26 at 9:15 pm), and Estonia (Snowgirl, Sat, July 22 at 4:00 pm). On Opening Night at the U.S. Premiere of Welcome to Germany, (Thurs, July 20 at 8:00 pm) Picture Tree International’s Managing Partner, Andreas Rothbauer, will represent the film. Picture Tree is one of Germany’s leading sales agencies and brings two outstanding movies to Stony Book, Welcome to Germany and Hannah’s Sleeping Dogs (Thurs, July 27 at 9:15 pm). From the United Kingdom, Waking David, (Fri July 21 at 7:00 pm) will be represented by director Kevin Nash and two actresses in the movie, Kristy Bruce and Harriet Madeley. The director and the three main actresses in Waking David collaborated to write the screenplay. The family-friendly animated film, Ethel & Ernest, (Sat, July 22 at 4:00 pm) will have U.K. producer Camilla Deakin on hand to answer questions about the animated gem, featuring the voices of Jim Broadbent, Brenda Blethyn and Luke Treadaway. The Sounding (Sat, July 22 at 7:00 pm) is one of the U.S. productions at the Festival, with many cast and crew on hand, including Catherine Eaton, director, co-writer and main actress in the film. Representing an amusing account of romance, Love is Thicker Than Water (Sat, July 22 at 9:30 pm) is co-director and writer Ate Dejong, returning to the Stony Brook Film Festival for the second time. For those who have seen the National Geographic’s Genius series “Einstein” – you may be interested to know that the young actor playing Einstein, Johnny Flynn, stars in the film. A World Premiere documentary, To the Edge of the Sky (Sun, July 23 at 4:00 pm) will bring Academy Award winners, Todd and Jedd Wider to the Festival. The Wider brothers, who grew up in Stony Brook, were the directors of To the Edge of the Sky, which reports on the disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and the mothers who are fighting to get drugs approved to help their son. A delightful American indie, Laura Gets a Cat (Wed, July 26 at 7:00 pm) will have director, writer and actor Michael Ferrell on hand, along with Dana Brooke, who plays Laura, the 30-something unemployed writer in the film, as well as many cast members. The Second Act of Elliott Murphy (Wed, July 26 at 9:15 pm) makes its U.S. Premiere, with rocker Elliott Murphy coming in from his home in Paris to represent the film and play a song or two live. Director Jorge Arenillas will be along to represent the compelling documentary about the singer songwriter’s life on the road. Purple Dreams (Thurs, July 27 at 7:00 pm) is a documentary about the first high school given permission to perform the musical “The Color Purple.” Joanne Hock, director and producer, Robin Grey (a Stony Brook Alum) will be representing the documentary. Closing Night’s feature, the U.S. premiere of Text for You (Saturday, July 29 at 8;00 pm) will have the lead actress Karoline Herfurth on hand for a Q&A after the screening. Ms. Herfurth is well-known in Germany and an audience favorite in that country. Following the screening is Stony Brook’s very own “Oscar” style awards ceremony. Image: 2017 Stony Brook Closing Night, Text for You, Friedrich Mücke and Karoline Hurfurth.

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  • Watch New Trailer for Weird Film KUSO, Debut Film from Rapper Flying Lotus

    KUSO A Film By Steve (aka Flying Lotus) Check out the new trailer that was released today for KUSO, the debut film from acclaimed producer and rapper Flying Lotus, that premiered earlier this year at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.  The film will be released in theaters in Los Angeles, and on SHUDDER nationwide on July 21st, 2017. Broadcasting through a makeshift network of discarded televisions, KUSO depicts the aftermath of Los Angeles’s worst earthquake nightmare. Viewers travel between screens and aftershocks into the twisted lives of the survived, experiencing a hallucination that is half-Cronenberg, half-Ren & Stimpy. The debut film from acclaimed producer and rapper Flying Lotus, KUSO is a blistering, fever dream of filmmaking that uses music, special effects and animation to take a unique look at the dark history of America. KUSO marks the feature directorial debut from Steve, the filmmaking alter-ego of Steve Ellison, better known as music producer, DJ and rapper Flying Lotus. Ellison’s name has become synonymous with creative innovation, having released five seminal studio albums, a slew of audio-visual marvels and, in the process, gaining two Grammy nominations including one for his work on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”. Produced by Eddie Alcazar, and featuring Hannibal Buress (NEIGHBORS, Broad City), Anders Holm (Workaholics, The Mindy Project), Tim Heidecker (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Eastbound and Down), and iconic Funk musician George Clinton, the film also includes an original score and musical collaborations with Aphex Twin and Akira Yamaoka. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ3GJxzVkIs

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  • Luciana Farah’s SOMEBODY CLAP FOR ME to World Premiere at Zanzibar International Film Festival | Trailer

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    Somebody Clap For Me Somebody Clap For Me from Brazilian director Luciana Farah, will have its world premiere at the 20th edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival taking place July 8 to 16, 2017. A rollercoaster ride from grassroots poetry to the political heart of Uganda, this captivating labour of love provides a fascinating window into life in a country in which three-quarters of the population is under 25. Linking Uganda’s oral tradition to its 21st Century culture of hip-hop and slam poetry, the film brings its protagonists to the fore, providing a constantly shifting portrait of a Kampala-based youth movement that uses spoken word to challenge the oppressive restraints of Ugandan society and the increasing constraints on freedom of speech under current president Yoweri Museveni. As Farah chronicles the resurfacing of village bonfire storytelling traditions in the form of open-mic poetry events, we meet some of the scene’s key actors, including Roshan, a mixed race Ugandan who has grown up in the UK, Ugly Emcee, a freedom-of-speech activist who reveals himself to be the grandson of Idi Amin, and Medals the Born Again Politician, who challenges the status quo with both his conviction and command of political pastiche. The film, which was shot over the course of three years with a crew of East African film students, follows these and other poets as they go about their daily lives in Kampala, the eclectic individual portraits building to form a cross-sectional vision of a country trying to shed its past and create a more inclusive and democratic reality, despite the conservative forces that are attempting to hold on to power. What begins as a documentary about a grassroots poetry collective, twists and turns unpredictably as it takes viewers into the political and cultural heart of contemporary Uganda. Fuelled by the universal themes of love and identity and made using unconventional filmmaking techniques, Somebody Clap for Me was produced with the support of Maisha Film Lab and the Doha Film Institute. “I am extremely happy for Somebody Clap for Me to be premiering at ZIFF,” said Farah. “The festival has a long history of supporting independent African cinema and it is fitting that the film will receive its first public screening at one of Africa’s leading film festivals.”

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  • Poster + Watch Trailer for South African Film THE WOUND (Inxeba)

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    The Wound, John Trengove The South African film The Wound (Inxeba) has won the Best Film Award in the International New Talent Competition, at the 2017 Taipei Film Festival ahead of its African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival on July 14. The film, the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel. The Wound (Inxeba) Poster The Wound which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama went on to win a string of awards. At Cinema Jove, the Valencia International Film Festival, The Wound was awarded the Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film, as well as the Best Actor Award for Nakhane Touré. At one of the world’s longest-running film festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, The Wound won the Audience Award for Best Feature. At the 41st Frameline, San Francisco’s international film festival, held from 15 to 25 June and where 147 films were screened, The Wound won the First Feature Award. Shortly before that, it was awarded the prize for Best Feature Film at the 32nd Lovers Film Festival, an LGBTQI festival held in Turin, Italy. In April, the film received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative at the 19th annual Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, in the US. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I

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  • RIP: ‘True Blood’, LITTLE BOXES Actor Nelsan Ellis Dies at 39

    Nelsan Ellis The actor Nelsan Ellis known for his work on the HBO series True Blood, has died aged 39. His manager Emily Gerson Saines told the Hollywood Reporter “Nelsan has passed away after complications with heart failure.” He continued, “He was a great talent, and his words and presence will be forever missed.” Ellis appeared in many films, including The Soloist (2009), Secretariat (2010), The Help (2011) The Butler (2013), and most recently, in the independent film Little Boxes (2016). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK7jkBkvqVo Ellis credits his work on the documentary Damn Wonderful, about gay suicide, with helping to prepare for his role on True Blood. In an interview with Vulture, he explained “You have to be open. But more importantly, you make a statement when you do something like that. I did a documentary called Damn Wonderful, about gay suicide, and you make a statement, a big statement, when you go, “I don’t want to play this part because it’s gay.” If you have a child, if you have a son, and he comes out as gay, what are you going to do? If you have a daughter who comes out gay …? You just made a statement, and it has ripple effects. First of all, this show, it’s True Blood, and shit, we get scared when we read scripts! Excuse my language. When scripts come, we’re like, “What are they going to have us do this week?” But when you make a statement that is a judgment … I was kind of like, “Have you met Alan Ball?” I’m supposed to do what my boss tells me to do, as an actor. I can’t approach a character with judgment. I certainly can’t tell my boss, “I can act what I want to act, but not what you tell me to act,” especially on a show where you come in, knowing what it is. I was like, “Okay… I guess?” I just thought that, having just done the documentary, I didn’t like what he did because he made a statement, and sometimes you have to take responsibility.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01LcPeWuEW4

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  • LITTLE CRUSADER Wins Best Film at 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_23047" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Director Václav Kadrnka, photo credit: Jan Handrejch Director Václav Kadrnka, 52nd Karlovy Vary IFF[/caption] The awards were presented at the closing ceremony of the 52nd Karlovy Vary IFF, and the fatherhood drama Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnka was awarded the Grand Prize – Crystal Globe and $25,000. The directing prize was won by Slovak filmmaker Peter Bebjak, who was presenting his film The Line at the festival. In the competition East of the West, the road movie How Viktor “the Garlic” took Alexey “the Stud” to the Nursing Home by Russian director Alexander Hant won that award. The award for best feature-length documentary went to the Spanish film Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle. And the Právo Audience Award was awarded to the American crime drama taking place on a Native American reservation Wind River starring Jeremy Renner. The 53rd Karlovy Vary IFF will be held from June 29th to July 7th, 2018.

    OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION

    GRAND PRIX – CRYSTAL GLOBE (25 000 USD) The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film. Little Crusader Directed by: Václav Kadrnka Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Italy, 2017 SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (15 000 USD) The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film. Men Don’t Cry Directed by: Alen Drljević Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, 2017 BEST DIRECTOR AWARD Peter Bebjak for the film The Line Slovak Republic, Ukraine, 2017 BEST ACTRESS AWARD Jowita Budnik and Eliane Umuhire ex-aequo for their roles in the film Birds Are Singing in Kigali Directed by: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze Poland, 2017 BEST ACTOR AWARD Alexander Yatsenko for his role in the film Arrhythmia Directed by: Boris Khlebnikov Russia, Finland, Germany, 2017 SPECIAL JURY MENTION For the best First Feature Film Keep the Change Directed by: Rachel Israel USA, 2017 SPECIAL JURY MENTION For the Best Newcomer Voica Oltean, actress Breaking News Directed by: Iulia Rugin Romania, 2017 EAST OF THE WEST – COMPETITION EAST OF THE WEST GRAND PRIX (15 000 USD) The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film. How Viktor “the Garlic” Took Alexey “the Stud” to the Nursing Home Directed by: Alexander Hant Russia, 2017 EAST OF THE WEST SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (10 000 USD) The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film. Dede Directed by: Mariam Khatchvani Georgia, Qatar, Ireland, Netherlands, Croatia, 2017 DOCUMENTARY FILMS – COMPETITION GRAND PRIX FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (5 000 USD) The financial award goes to the director of the award-winning film. Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Directed by: Gustavo Salmerón Spain, 2017 DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL JURY PRIZE Atelier de conversation Directed by: Bernhard Braunstein Austria, France, Liechtenstein, 2017 PRзVO AUDIENCE AWARD Wind River Directed by: Taylor Sheridan USA, 2016 CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA Ken Loach, United Kingdom CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA Paul Laverty, United Kingdom CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA James Newton Howard, USA FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD Uma Thurman, USA FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD Casey Affleck, USA FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD Jeremy Renner, USA FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO CZECH CINEMATOGRAPHY Václav Vorlíček, Czech Republic NON-STATUTORY AWARDS AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI) Awarded by The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). Keep the Change Directed by: Rachel Israel USA, 2017 THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD The Cakemaker Directed by: Ofir Raul Graizer Israel, Germany, 2017 FEDEORA AWARD Awarded by the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean (FEDEORA) to the best film from the East of the West – Competition Mariţa Directed by: Cristi Iftime Romania, 2017 Special Mention Blue Silence Directed by: Bülent Öztürk Turkey, Belgium, 2017 EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD For the best European film in the Official Selection – Competition and in the East of the West – Competition. Men Don’t Cry Directed by: Alen Drljević Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, 2017 THE WINNERS OF WORKS IN PROGRESS AWARD AND EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD @ KVIFF WORKS IN PROGRESS AWARD @ KVIFF At the 14th edition of Works in Progress @KVIFF, eight selected projects (plus one out of competition) were presented from a total of 77 submissions from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Greece and post-Soviet territories. The 2017 award, with a total value of EUR 100,000, includes post-production services at UPP and Soundsquare and a EUR 10,000 cash award from Barrandov Studio. Censor 80 min, Slovak Republic Directed by: Peter Kerekes Cast: Irina Alexandrovna, Jura Car, Ljubov Vassilina EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD @ KVIFF The Karlovy Vary IFF is one of four international festivals to present this award. The final eight projects were selected from 45 submitted projects from Eurimages countries that are currently in production or post-production, are being made outside the traditional filmmaking framework, and involve international co-operation. The best project receives an award of EUR 50,000. The Stand-In 70 min, Italy, France, Morocco Directed by: RК di Martino Scriptwriter: RК di Martino Producer: Marco Alessi Camera: Gianclaudio Giacomini, Giulio Squillacciotti, Hasnae el Ouarga Cast: Valeria Gollino, Filippo Timi, Corrado Sassi, Younes Bouad, Nadia Kounda, Nisrine Adam Image: Director Václav Kadrnka, photo credit: Jan Handrejch

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  • Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound Announce Composers, Directors for 2017 Music and Sound Design Labs

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    Sundance Institute Sundance Institute along with Skywalker Sound announced the composers and directors selected for the Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Labs, which return to the legendary Skywalker Sound Facilities for the fifth year. At the Labs, composers, directors and sound designers will collaborate to develop music and sound for documentary and narrative film projects. Workshops and creative exercises, guided by leading film composers and sound designers acting as Creative Advisors, will mentor Fellows to explore sound and music’s crucial role in storytelling. As part of each Lab, a live chamber orchestra will perform each composer/director team’s original scores. The Music and Sound Design Lab for narrative feature films (July 7-20) is a joint initiative of the Institute’s Film Music Program and Feature Film Program. All of the selected feature film directors are currently working on their features in post-production and have been supported by the Feature Film Program at different stages throughout the development of their film. The Music and Sound Design Lab for documentaries (July 22-30) is a joint initiative of the Film Music Program and Documentary Film Program. “Music is a fundamental element of storytelling and this year’s composers have distinct musical personalities that will capture a filmmaker’s vision and help their story come to life,” said Peter Golub, Director of the Sundance Institute Film Music Program. “Skywalker Sound continues to serve as an inspiring and creative space for composers, filmmakers and sound designers to come together and we are so grateful to call it home for the fifth year in a row.” “Peter and the Sundance team are like family, we’re delighted to have them back again this year for the Labs,” said Josh Lowden, VP and General Manager of Skywalker Sound. “What we’ve tried to cultivate here is a kind of artists’ colony, where creatives from different disciplines can escape the day to day grind and come to work together. Our goal is to cultivate new relationships between directors, composers and sound designers and encourage collaboration that starts earlier and goes deeper. We hope that together we can continue to break down barriers and push the boundaries of creative storytelling.” Creative Advisors this year include: composers Christophe Beck, Todd Boekelheide, George S. Clinton, Miriam Cutler, James Newton Howard, Laura Karpman, Thomas Newman, Craig Richey and Harry Gregson-Williams; Skywalker Sound designers Dennis Leonard, Bob Edwards, Pete Horner, Malcolm Fife, Bonnie Wild and David Accord; music editor Adam Smalley; directors Miguel Arteta and Robb Moss; editor Toby Shimin; writer and film historian Jon Burlingame; and Vice President Film, TV & Visual Media Relations at BMI, Doreen Ringer-Ross.

    Artists and narrative projects selected for the 2017 Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Lab: Feature Film (July 7-20) are:

    Composers:

    Bijan Olia is a Los Angeles-based composer who has written music for feature films, television, advertisements and the concert hall. In 2017, Bijan composed additional music for Warner Brothers’ Lego DC Superheroes: A Case of the Mondays, the documentary feature Served Like A Girl and the virtual reality video game Resident Evil VII Biohazard. He is currently assisting composer Michael A. Levine as an additional composer and music editor. Jackson Greenberg is a Los Angeles-based composer. He has written original scores for film and television including the Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated film Cartel Land. Cindy O’Connor began her career as a musical theater composer with All That He Was, is the winner of the Kennedy Center/ACTF Musical Theater Award and is published by Samuel French. She has written scores and songs for a wide variety of film, TV, and theater projects including the films Forgiving the Franklins, Not Forgotten and two seasons of the Starz series Crash. She is currently collaborating with Mark Isham on the ABC series Once Upon a Time. Camilla Uboldi is an Italian-born, Mexico City-based music composer and animator who has written music for theater, film, animation and TV series. Uboldi has assisted LA composer Laura Karpman on Black Nativity and The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden. She’s one of eight selected composers for the young artist program of the 2017 Mexican Cultural Ministry. Uboldi is currently composing an orchestral piece for the Vatican Stradivarius cello for the presentation by its new owners in Mexico and was invited by composers Andres Sanchez Maher and Gus Reyes to write music for the documentary El Paso de la Tortuga. Sergei Stern is a film composer with a huge love for arts and music and a deep, classical education, received from three different countries, each with its own rich history and culture. With each film he is scoring, Sergei tries to build a unique sound palette that would serve the story and impact the audience on emotional, intellectual and sometimes even physical levels. Jesi Nelson is a Los Angeles-based composer, raised in Wisconsin, whose music can be heard in a variety of television and film. After receiving her Master’s from Columbia College Chicago, she interned for Danny Elfman and soon after started assisting composer Michael Kramer. She has since written additional music for his shows such as the Emmy-nominated Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu and other films such as Saving Brinton.

    Directors:

    Nia DaCosta / Little Woods (U.S.A.): For years, Ollie has illicitly helped the struggling fellow residents of her North Dakota oil boomtown access Canadian health care and meds. When the authorities catch on, she plans to abandon her crusade, only to be dragged in even deeper by her foster sister’s desperate plea for help. DaCosta has written and directed projects for stage, film and new media platforms including the playlet Kingdom Come, the game show Sagmeister v Walsh and the documentary Shark Loves the Amazon. She participated in the 2015 Sundance Screenwriters Lab and Sundance Directors Lab and has received support from the San Francisco Film Society and Time Warner Foundation. Elizabeth Chomko / What They Had (U.S.A.): After her mother wanders out into a snowstorm, Bridget returns home to Chicago to help her brother deal with their mother’s memory loss and their father’s reluctance to let go of their life together.  The trip home and family crisis forces Bridget to face her past and, ultimately, her future. Chomko is a screenwriter, playwright, actor and director.  She was a 2015 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and a 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellow. She has appeared as an actress in numerous films, television series and regional theaters across the United States and London and is also a classical pianist, songwriter and visual artist. Nijla Mu’min / Jinn (U.S.A.): Summer is a carefree, black teenage Instagram celebrity whose world is shaken when her mother abruptly converts to Islam and becomes a different person. At first resistant to the faith, she begins to reevaluate her identity after becoming attracted to a Muslim classmate, crossing the thin line between physical desire and piety. Mu’min is a writer and filmmaker who tells stories about black girls and women who find themselves between worlds and identities. Her short films have screened at festivals across the country. Her filmmaking and screenwriting have been recognized by the Sundance Institute, IFP, and the Princess Grace Foundation. Bart Layton / American Animals (U.S.A.): American Animals tells the unbelievable but mostly true story of four young men who mistook their lives for a movie and attempted one of the most audacious art heists in US history. The film will take the thrill of the heist genre and turn it inside out, blurring the line between truth and fiction in a wild story of money, movies and the search for meaning. Layton is the creative director of leading British production company RAW and is the creator/executive producer of numerous long-running TV series and feature docs. He’s also a multi award-winning writer/director and producer, known for tackling controversial subject matter. His latest film, The Imposter, received huge critical acclaim after premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Layton participated in Sundance Institute’s 2015 Screenwriters and Directors Labs. Rodrigo Barriuso / 1989 (Canada): In the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Malin is separated from his family when he is assigned to work as a translator between Cuban doctors and children arriving from the USSR to receive medical treatment for radiation poisoning. Just as he begins to adapt to his new job and understand his importance, the Berlin Wall falls and Cuba enters a deep economic crisis. Malin is now so entrenched in the lives of the Chernobyl children that he fails to notice how his young family is suffering. He must find his way back to his family through the lessons he learns from the children in the hospital, becoming a better person on the way. Barriuso is a Cuban-Canadian Toronto-based award-winning film director. His debut short film, For Dorian, was exhibited in over thirty festivals and cultural institutions around the world. In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Rodrigo works as a freelance curator and has collaborated with a number of galleries and art fairs over the past 10 years. Barriuso attended Sundance Institute’s 2015 Havana Screenwriters Workshop and 2017 Editing Intensive. Christina Choe / Nancy (U.S.A.): When the elaborate lies told by a serial imposter inevitably unravel, she becomes perilously close to losing her entire identity – and the only person who ever truly loved her. Choe is an award-winning writer/director working in both documentary and narrative film. Her films, The Queen, FLOW and I am John Wayne, have screened at festivals around the world. She was also selected for a year-long HBO/DGA Directing Fellowship and awarded the Roger and Chaz Ebert Directing Fellowship at the 2015 Independent Spirit Awards. Choe was supported at Sundance Institute’s 2017 Editing Intensive.

    Artists and documentary projects selected for the 2017 Sundance Institute Music and Sound Design Lab: Documentary (July 22-30) are:

    Composers:

    Adam Schoenberg has had works performed and premiere at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl. Reference Recordings recently released an album of his orchestral works featuring the Kansas City Symphony. He is Assistant Professor of Composition at Occidental College. Ryan Rumery is a musician, composer, and music producer originally from Iowa. His music is featured in the films Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock, How to Let Go of the World, City of Gold, And, Apart, Those People, Gatewood and SynchroNYCity. Rumery is also an accomplished composer for theater and recently received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design and Composition. Rumery frequently co-produces and records with Nick Luca at Elliott Smith’s former studio, New Monkey Studio in Van Nuys, CA and with Craig Schumacher at WaveLab in Tucson, Arizona. Recently signed to a major record label, Rebecca Dale is a British composer whose work was described by Gramophone as a ‘masterpiece’. Her latest feature Crossing The Line, about the troubled relationship between olympic athletes and addiction, was nominated for Best Original Composition in Feature Film at the 2017 Music & Sound Awards. An alumna of the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, she has worked on various Hollywood films and written for Classical No.1 albums, as well as extensive concert music, with her new Requiem released early 2018. Darryl Jones began his career performing with Miles Davis and from there went on to perform and/or record with artists including Sting, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton and Madonna. As a composer, he has written, co-written or recorded with ESP, Stone Raiders and 3 Braves Souls, Miles Davis and more. Jones has been touring and recording with The Rolling Stones for the last 23 years. He scored the New Line Cinema film Love Jones, winner of the 1996 Sundance Audience award. Darryl is currently the subject of and composer for a documentary about his life and career directed by Eric Hamburg.

    Filmmakers:

    Marcus Lindeen / The Acali Experiment: In 1973 five men and six women went on a dramatic raft expedition across the Atlantic Ocean for 101 days to study human aggression and sexuality. This documentary reunites them forty years later to reveal what actually happened during one of history’s strangest group experiments. Lindeen is a writer and director. His debut documentary feature Regretters, won the prestigious Prix Europa for Best European Documentary, the Swedish Academy Awards (Guldbagge) and the Swedish Emmy for Best Documentary in 2011. Elizabeth Stopford / Forgiveness: A modern American ghost story and a house that vanished. In the wake of two seemingly inexplicable shooting sprees, can a community forgive the teenage boy at the heart of its tragic past? Stepford has produced a portfolio of documentaries for BBC about monastic life including The Monastery, The Convent and 40 Days (TLC). Her directing credits include I’m Not Dead Yet and We Need to Talk About Dad. Dyana Winkler / United Skates: When America’s last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battle in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture– one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world’s greatest musical talent. Winkler currently works as a freelance filmmaker where she produces, directs, shoots, edits and writes for hire in Brooklyn, NY. Her most recent fiction project, a feature screenplay, BELL, was awarded the 2016 Sundance Sloan Commissioning Grant and participated in the 2017 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. PJ Raval / Untitled Jennifer Laude Project: Grassroots activists in the Philippines are spurred into action when a local transgender woman is found dead in a motel room with a 19-year-old U.S. marine as the leading suspect. As they demand answers and a just trial, hidden histories of U.S. colonization come bubbling to the surface. Raval is an award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer whose work explores the overlooked subcultures and identities within the already marginalized LGBTQ+ community. Named one of Out Magazine’s “Out 100” and Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” Raval’s film credits include Trinidad (Showtime, LOGO) and Before You Know It.

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  • KEEP THE CHANGE, THE CAKEMAKER Among Winners of Karlovy Vary IFF Non-Statutory Awards

    Keep the Change The non-statutory awards of the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival were announced today, with the international film critics prize FIPRESCI award going to Keep the Change by Rachel Israel. Other awards included the Ecumenical Jury award going to The Cakemaker, by Ofir Raul Graizer; FEDEORA award by Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean going to Romanian film Mariţa by Cristi Iftime; and Men Don’t Cry by Alen Drljević won the Europa Cinemas Label award for the best European film in the Main Competition or the East of the West Competition. AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS Awarded by The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). Keep the Change Directed by: Rachel Israel USA, 2017 For a glorious first feature which tells the story of a colorful group of New Yorkers, who in any other film would be labelled as ‘outsiders’. Instead Israel lets us experience their world from the inside, and it’s a wondrous place to be. It is a tender film with a simple narrative, driven by complex emotions. By letting herself be inspired by her magnificent actors’ personal experiences of life on the autism spectrum, writer/director Rachel Israel has created a work that is inclusive, fresh and thoroughly engaging. It also has one of the funniest scripts we have ever come across, with a sense of humor that ranges from the crude jokes of conflicted protagonist David, to the no-nonsense cut-offs by its leading lady Sarah – a female character with a personal brand of vivaciousness never before seen on the cinema screen. We were deeply affected by this heartfelt story of coming of age and finding love, proving there is nothing wrong with being weird. THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD The Cakemaker Directed by: Ofir Raul Graizer Israel, Germany, 2017 With a gentle approach, the film portrays a journey towards acceptance and the pursuit of love. The unique bond formed between the characters strengthens a healing process that brings them a new life. It allows the viewer to connect to the most important of human values, something that overcomes all prejudices: love. FEDEORA AWARD Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean for the best film from East of the West – Competition section Mariţa Directed by: Cristi Iftime Romania, 2017 For the simplicity in directing his debut feature film, focused on the everyday life of a family, whose members, no matter that the family is separated after the divorce of the parents, at their reunion, celebrate the meeting and enjoy it in a spontaneous and friendly way that brings positive energy into their lives. Special Mention Blue Silence Directed by: Bülent Öztürk Turkey, Belgium, 2017 To Bulent Özturk for “Blue Silence” for its strong, courageous take both in visuals, sounds and silences on how violence and war eats the soul. EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD For the best European film in the Official Selection – Competition and in the East of the West – Competition. Men Don’t Cry / Muškarci ne plaču Directed by: Alen Drljević Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, 2017 Europe has learned throughout its difficult history that wars, particularly those that have seen neighbor fight against neighbor, do not end when the violence stops. There are difficulties to be faced in healing a divided society, when bitterness and anger must be set aside in favor of compromise and forgiveness in the name of reconciliation. In Alen Drljević’s powerful Men Don’t Cry a disparate group of former combatants representing all factions of the Balkan War of the 1990s gather in a deserted hotel to begin this process. Common ground is found, but hard-gained trust is easily and quickly lost when old resentments come to the surface. The jury was struck by the film’s nonjudgemental stance on the characters’ different perspectives, brought to vivid life by its fine cast, the universality of its theme of the value of forgiveness not just of others, but of ourselves, for past actions, its relevance to Europe’s future as a community, and its subtle commentary on the negative aspects of masculinity. Image: Brandon Polansky as David Cohen and Samantha Elisofon as Sarah Silverstein in KEEP THE CHANGE. Photographer: Giacomo Belletti.

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