After screening screened over 300 films from 63 countries, the 28th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), concluded with the closing-night awards presentation. “We Believe in Dinosaurs” directed by Clayton Brown & Monica Long Ross won the award for Best Documentary Feature and “Sorry We Missed You” directed by Ken Loach won the award for Best Narrative Feature. “Just Mercy” directed by Destin Daniel Cretton was voted Best Film by the audience.
Girl by Lukas Dhont[/caption]
The Zurich Film Festival awarded their 2018 Golden Eye for International Feature Film to GIRL by Lukas Dhont from Belgium/Netherlands, HEARTBOUND (HJERTELANDET) by Janus Metz and Sine Plambech from Denmark/Sweden/Netherlands for International Documentary Film, and L’ANIMALE by Katharina Mückstein from Austria for Focus: Switzerland, Germany, Austria.
The Emerging Swiss Talent Award for a Swiss film goes to WALDEN by Daniel Zimmermann and the Critics’ Choice Award goes to THE GUILTY (DEN SKYLDIGE) by Gustav Möller from Denmark. The Audience Award goes to COLD NOVEMBER (NËNTOR I FTOHTË) by Ismet Sijarina from Kosovo/Albania/Macedonia, the Kids Jury Award goes to LOS BANDO by Christian Lo from Norway/Sweden, and the Audience Award in the ZFF for Kids section goes to TABURIN by Pierre Godeau from France/Belgium.
Apuntes para una película de atracos (Notes for a Heist Film).[/caption]
Thirteen first or second films by European, Asian and Latin American directors that will be competing for the Kutxabank-New Directors Award at the 2018 San Sebastián Film Festival.
Koldo Almandoz (San Sebastián, 1973) has had an intense career in the world of short films, linked to the Kimuak programme and to the San Sebastián Festival, which programmed his first short, Razielen itzulera (The Return of Raziel), in 1997 in Zabaltegi, the section in which two decades later he presented his first full-length film, Sipo Phantasma (Ghost Ship), after premiering it in Rotterdam. Oreina (The Deer) is his second feature film.
Elías León Siminiani (Santander, Spain, 1971), nominated for a Goya for Mapa (Map), is now presenting Apuntes para una película de atracos (Notes for a Heist Film). For her part, Nataliia Meshchaninova (Krasnodar, Russia, 1982), who competed in Rotterdam with her first full-length film, Kombinat ‘Nadezhda’ / The Hope Factory, focuses on the vet on a farm in Serdtse Mira / Core of the World. And after Ama Doren / Hold my hand, Ismet Sijarina in Nëntor i ftohtë / Cold November returns to the War in the Balkans, in this case to its background, when Kosovo’s autonomy was suppressed.
Hadrian Marcu (Brăila, Rumanía, 1976) will be presenting Un om la locul lui / A Decent Man, about a man who is torn by an emotional conflict, that was selected last year in the first Glocal in Progress, the industry activity at the Festival aimed at European films in non-hegemonic languages. It stars Bodgan Dumitrache, who won the Silver Shell for best actor last year for his performance in Pororoca.
The selection also includes the first film by Francisco Marise (La Plata, Argentina, 1985), Para la Guerra (To War), coproduced by the filmmaker, Javier Rebollo, who also takes part in the editing process, and the first film by Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan, 1996), the award-winning music video director, who makes his debut with Boku wa Iesu-sama ga kirai / Jesus.
The short by Inés María Barrionuevo (Córdoba, Argentina, 1980), La quietud (2012), competed in the official section at Locarno, and her first feature film, Atlántida (2014), was selected at the Berlinale in the Generation 14plus section. In Julia y el zorro (Julia and the Fox) she deals with a woman and her twelve-year-old daughter who are going through a mourning process. The director, producer and actress Lila Avilés (Mexico, 1982), after working in theatre and presenting shorts at international festivals, in her first full-length film, entitled La camarista (The Chambermaid), describes the everyday life of one of the so-called ‘chambermaids’.
After winning awards in his short-film career (with films like Teneriffa), Hannes Baumgartner (Männedorf, Switzerland, 1983) has been inspired in his first feature film Der läufer / Midnight Runner, by the true story of an athlete who starts to commit robberies and lead a double life.
Snow, the graduation film by Laurits Flensted-Jensen (Aarhus, Denmark, 1985), was selected at Rotterdam and was chosen as best documentary short by the Danish Academy. His fictional short Melon Rainbow was once again programmed at the Dutch festival and won the most important award at Odense. Neon Heart is his first full-length film.
After taking part in the Short Film Corner at Cannes with Grasshopper, the Vietnamese director Ash Mayfair (Ho Chi Minh City, 1985) is presenting her feature-film debut at San Sebastián with The Third Wife, whose screenplay was chosen by Spike Lee as the winner of his Spike Lee Film Production Fund Award in 2014.
The short film Luisa no está en casa (Luisa is not Home) by Celia Rico Clavellino (Seville, 1982) was chosen in the Short Film Corner at Cannes and at Venice and won the Gaudí award for best short. Her first full-length film, Viaje al cuarto de una madre (Journey to a Mother’s Room), whose screenplay took part in the Berlinale Talents Script Station Lab, stars Lola Dueñas and Anna Castillo.
The remaining titles making up the New Directors section will be announced in the coming weeks.
APUNTES PARA UNA PELÍCULA DE ATRACOS (NOTES FOR A HEIST FILM)
LEÓN SIMINIANI (SPAIN)
Elías is a film director who dreamed of making a heist movie. During the summer of 2013 he reads a news story about the arrest of ‘The Vallecas Robin Hood’, the leader of ‘the sewers gang’. He then feels that he has found the opportunity to make his dream come true. He sends him a letter to the prison where he is serving his sentence. Against all odds, Elías receives a reply three weeks later. Robin Hood agrees for him to come and visit him in prison.
BOKU WA IESU-SAMA GA KIRAI / JESUS
HIROSHI OKUYAMA (JAPAN)
Cast: Yura Sato, Riki Okuma
Yura is a young boy whose family leaves Tokyo to live with his grandmother in the snowy countryside. Not only must he fit in at a new school, but it’s a Christian one. At first he is puzzled when he and his classmates are called to ‘worship’, but he gradually adjusts to his new environment. One day, in the middle of a prayer, he sees a very small Jesus appear before him. Each wish Yura makes to Jesus comes true, and he starts to have faith in the power of the Lord.
DER LÄUFER / MIDNIGHT RUNNER
HANNES BAUMGARTNER (SWITZERLAND )
Cast: Max Hubacher, Annina Euling, Luna Wedler, Sylvie Rohrer, Christophe Sermet, Saladin Dellers
Jonas Widmer is one of the best runners in Switzerland and his focus is to attend the Olympic games. Besides the sport Jonas is a successful cook and plans to move in with his girlfriend Simone. But Jonas perfect life gets disturbed by the increasing memories of his late brother. He starts a tragic double life by robbing young women at night. After a true story.
JULIA Y EL ZORRO (JULIA AND THE FOX)
INES MARÍA BARRIONUEVO (ARGENTINA)
Cast: Umbra Colombo, Pablo Limarzi, Victoria Castelo Arzubialde
Julia, an ex-actress, and her daughter Emma move into a mansion in a village in Córdoba, Argentina. It is winter and Julia needs to fix up the house so she can sell it. Quite a while has gone by since the death of her husband and Emma’s father, but they are still in mourning. The days go gloomily by. Grief has made Julia quiet and cool with her daughter. One night Julia meets Gaspar, a life-long friend of hers. Gaspar tries to convince Julia to take part in a theatre competition. Julia, Emma and Gaspar find a way to rebuild their lives by starting a rather uncertain project to form a new type of family.
LA CAMARISTA (THE CHAMBERMAID)
LILA AVILÉS (MEXICO – USA)
Cast: Gabriela Cartol, Teresa Sánchez
Eve is a young chambermaid working in one of the most luxurious hotels in Mexico City, an exclusive glass tower inhabited by guests so wealthy she can only imagine their lives through intimate fantasies of the belongings they’ve left behind. Long, laborious shifts prevent Eve from caring for her child while she helps guests with their own children, but she believes her situation will improve if she gets promoted to work at executive-level suites, for which she accepts a grueling schedule. In keeping with this goal, she also enrolls in the hotel’s adult education program…
NËNTOR I FTOHTË / COLD NOVEMBER
ISMET SIJARINA (KOSOVO – ALBANIA – FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA)
Cast: Kushtrim Hoxha, Adriana Matoshi, Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, Fatmir Spahiu, Majlinda Kosumovic, Bislim Mucaj, Lum Veseli, Aurita Agushi
In the beginning of the ’90s, Yugoslavian Government cancelled the autonomy of Kosovo, dissolved its Parliament and closed down the National Television. Whole institutional life was reorganized by new authorities, while the majority of citizens responded with peaceful demonstrations. During this evil time, Fadili who is working as an archivist has to choose between two options, being aware that both of them are wrong. In this way, he involuntarily and unwillingly, ‘swallows’ the shame, endures the pressure coming from all sides and deals with the bad reputation for just one reason: to provide welfare for his family.
NEON HEART
LAURITS FLENSTED-JENSEN (DENMARK)
Cast: Victoria Carmen Sonne, Niklas Herskind, Noah Skovgaard Skands
Neon Heart is a story about three people chasing life and each other. Laura is on her way to a porn film casting. Niklas is trying to take care of two men with Down’s Syndrome, and Frederik is out to gain respect as a hooligan. In glimpses and fragments of past and present, we follow the three characters on a journey full of taboos and desires. With a cast of mainly non-actors in authentic environments, Neon Heart confronts its audience with a world we would rather not look at.
OREINA (THE DEER)
KOLDO ALMANDOZ (SPAIN)
Cast: Laulad Ahmed, Patxi Bisquert, Ramón Agirre, Iraia Elías, Erika Olaizola
Khalil is a rootless young man who lives on the edge of town, where the industrial estates merge into the river and the marshes. Khalil gets by as best he can and spends his time with an old poacher, who shares a house on the riverbank with a brother who he hasn’t spoken to in years. On the banks of the marshes, the tides mark the time for love and heartbreak, friendship and revenge.
PARA LA GUERRA (TO WAR)
FRANCISCO MARISE (CUBA – ARGENTINA – SPAIN)
Para la guerra explores the memory and loneliness of a Cuban former internationalist soldier by observing his body and (extra)ordinary gestures. This is a bloodless war film without any shooting; a film about a wound, that ‘Sledgehammer’, ‘ El Rayado’, Andrés, has, this special forces veteran who tries to find his colleagues from the commando that survived their last mission 30 years ago.
[caption id="attachment_30730" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Core of the World (Serdtse Mira[/caption]
SERDTSE MIRA / CORE OF THE WORLD
NATALIIA MESHCHANINOVA (RUSSIA)
Cast: Stepan Devonin, Dmitriy Podnozov, Jana Sekste
Egor is a veterinarian on a rural farm which doubles as a hunting dog training center. He is a grown man, but deep inside he is a child who has been hurt and abandoned by everyone, including his own mother. All he wants is to care for the animals and to feel part of the close-knit family he works for. When animal rights activists invade this fragile microcosm, throwing off its delicate balance, Egor’s world begins to crumble… Or so it seems.
THE THIRD WIFE
ASH MAYFAIR (VIETNAM)
Cast: Trần Nữ Yên Khê, Mai Thu Hường, Nguyễn Phương Trà My, Nguyễn Như Quỳnh
In 19th century rural Vietnam, 14-year-old May becomes the third wife of wealthy landowner Hung. Soon she learns that she can only gain status by asserting herself as a woman who can give birth to a male child. May’s hope to change her status turns into a real and tantalizing possibility when she gets pregnant. Faced with forbidden love and its devastating consequences, May finally comes to an understanding of the brutal truth: the options available to her are few and far between.
UN OM LA LOCUL LUI / A DECENT MAN
HADRIAN MARCU (ROMANIA)
Cast: Bogdan Dumitrache, Ada Gales, Madalina Constantin, Iulian Postelnicu, Adrian Titieni
Petru is a drilling engineer living in a community of oil industry workers. Petru is quite conflicted. On one hand he is about to get married to his pregnant girlfriend Laura, on the other he is involved with the wife of one of his colleagues, Sonia, who had a serious work-related accident. His new life seems to begin while she feels hers is ending. Everything is thrown into chaos when Laura finds out about his relationship with Sonia. He feels guilt-ridden but also responsible for the upcoming baby. Participant in the first edition of Glocal in Progress.
VIAJE AL CUARTO DE UNA MADRE (JOURNEY TO A MOTHER’S ROOM)
CELIA RICO CLAVELLINO (SPAIN- FRANCE)
Cast: Lola Dueñas, Anna Castillo, Pedro Casablanc
Leonor wants to leave home, but she doesn’t dare to tell her mother. Estrella doesn’t want her to leave but is unable to keep her by her side either. Mother and daughter will have to face this new stage in life in which the world that they share starts to fall apart.
Today the Florida Film Festival announced the program lineup of 183 films representing 38 countries, for the 27th Annual Festival, taking place April 6 to 15, 2018, in Maitland and Winter Park, Florida. The festival will open with American Animals directed by Bart Layton, and close with the 75th Anniversary Screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt.
“This is going to be a banner year in every aspect,” commented Matthew Curtis, Florida Film Festival Programming Director. “With a greater number of films making their Florida debut than ever before, we could not be more excited about introducing these talented filmmakers and presenting such an extraordinary and diverse group of films to our audience. We are proud that this year’s lineup includes 82 women filmmakers–the most ever and more than 45% of our total programming! Their voices will be represented everywhere in the Festival, including our first-ever experimental shorts program (“Sunspots: New Visions of the Avant Garde”), and our first-ever “X Real” Doc shorts program completely directed by women. Let the story-gazing begin!”
The 21 features and 59 short films in the American Independent Competition will be eligible for up to three awards each: a Grand Jury Award for best film in that category, a Special Jury Award given at the jury’s discretion for exceptional achievements, and an Audience Award determined by audience votes for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Best Short Film. International films are also eligible for Audience Awards for Best International Feature and Best International Short, and an Audience Award will be given for the Best Midnight Short as well.
American Animals – Directed by Bart Layton, USA, 2018, 116 MIN, East Coast Premiere Star Blake Jenner will be in attendance for the Opening Night Film and Party, and will participate in a post-film Q&A with the audience
Borg McEnroe – Directed by Janus Metz, Sweden/Denmark/Finland, 2017, 107 MIN, Rated R, In English and Swedish with English subtitles The Guilty – Directed by Gustav Möller, Denmark, 2018, 85 MIN, In English and Danish with English subtitles, East Coast Premiere Hearts Beat Loud – Directed by Brett Haley, USA, 2018, 97 MIN, East Coast Premiere A Kid Like Jake – Directed by Silas Howard, USA, 2018, 92 MIN, Florida Premiere Lean on Pete – Directed by Andrew Haigh, UK, 2017, 121 MIN, Southeast Premiere RBG – Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, USA, 2018, 97 MIN Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood – Directed by Matt Tyrnauer, USA, 2017, 98 MIN, Southeast Premiere Three Identical Strangers – Directed by Tim Wardle, UK, 2018, 96 MIN Tully – Directed by Jason Reitman, USA, 2018, 94 MIN, Rated R We the Animals – Directed by Jeremiah Zagar, USA, 2018, 94 MIN, East Coast Premiere Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – Directed by Morgan Neville, USA, 2018, 94 MIN
Stuck[/caption]
The 18th Woodstock Film Festival, will open with the East Coast premiere of Stuck, a musical narrative about a group of six strangers trapped together on a stalled New York City subway car. The characters confront their assumptions of one another under the scrutinizing eye of a mysterious homeless man played by Giancarlo Esposito. This kickoff event will begin at 7PM October 11 at the Woodstock Playhouse.
The Festival will present an outstanding lineup of films to be shown in Woodstock, Rhinebeck, Rosendale, Saugerties, and Kingston.
“This year’s lineup is one that challenges our creative and intellectual boundaries and brings important social issues into focus, both locally and globally” said Woodstock Film Festival’s co-founder and executive director Meira Blaustein. “In today’s political climate it is particularly important to celebrate our differences and find our commonalities. This year’s participating filmmakers have gone above and beyond in capturing diverse moments of humanity that personify fierce independence.”
Ten narratives have been selected for the 2016 IFP Filmmaker Labs, IFP’s annual yearlong fellowship for first-time feature directors.
The creative teams of the selected films are currently attending the first week’s sessions – The Time Warner Foundation Completion Labs – taking place May 23-27th in New York City.
The IFP Narrative Filmmaker Labs are the only labs that support first-time feature directors with projects in post-production as they complete, market and distribute their films. The Labs provide filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic tools necessary to launch their films and careers.
Now entering its twelfth year with over 100+ first-feature filmmakers supported, the community of Labs alumni is comprised of some of the most exciting and critically-acclaimed artists working today across film, television, new media and VR; these include multi-hyphenate creators such as Amy Seimetz (“The Girlfriend Experience”), Alex Karpovsky (“Girls”), David Lowery (PETE’S DRAGON), Dee Rees (BESSIE), Andrew Dosunmu (MOTHER OF GEORGE), Tim Sutton (DARK NIGHT), Jennifer Phang (ADVANTAGEOUS), and Terence Nance (AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF HER BEAUTY).
Recent 2015 IFP Labs Fellows have been already making their mark on the festival circuit. Just this year, THE ARBALEST won SXSW’s Narrative Grand Jury Prize and DONALD CRIED received distribution from The Orchard. Of the ten selected projects, seven have already premiered at top festivals including SXSW, Tribeca, Los Angeles Film Festival, Slamdance and Bentonville and two fellows are shooting new projects this summer.
“To highlight and support diverse stories and storytellers has always been the mission of the IFP Labs and of IFP as a whole,” says Joana Vicente, Executive Director of IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. “This year’s Narrative Lab Fellows are a perfect example of this, and the boundless creativity and diversity in their work is evident in just how wide-ranging these films’ settings are: from Kyiv, Ukraine, to the Alaskan fish canneries, to right here in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood.”
Under the artistic direction of IFP Head of Programming Amy Dotson and Program Manager and Producer Zach Mandinach, the supervising 2016 Narrative Lab leaders include Jon Reiss, director/producer and author (BOMB IT!; Think Outside the Box Office), Susan Stover, producer (WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE; HIGH ART; HAPPY ACCIDENTS); Pierce Varous, producer (ALWAYS SHINE; H.) and founder of Nice Dissolve; Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief and producer (JULIEN-DONKEY BOY). Individual Workshop Leaders include composer Keegan Dewitt (I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS; QUEEN OF EARTH), film editors Sabine Hoffman (MAGGIE’S PLAN; THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE), Lee Percy (MARIA FULL OF GRACE; BOYS DON’T CRY), Jennifer Ruff (A WOMAN, A PART; GLASS CHIN),) and Marc Vives (MUSEUM HOURS; I USED TO BE DARKER), marketing experts Adam Kersh (Brigade Marketing) and Nick Camacho (Oscilloscope Laboratories), producers Anne Carey (THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL; THE SAVAGES), Mollye Asher (SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME), Jodi Redmond (THE WITCH), and Darren Dean (TANGERINE), festival programmers Tom Hall (Montclair Film Festival) and Dan Nuxoll (Rooftop Films), and fellow filmmakers Ingrid Jungermann (WOMEN WHO KILL), Leah Meyerhoff (I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS), and Takeshi Fukunaga (OUT OF MY HAND).
In addition to lead support from the Time Warner Foundation, additional support for the IFP Filmmaker Labs includes grants from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Ford Foundation, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and SAGIndie. Lab partners include The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, BMI, and Rooftop Films.
The selected narrative projects for the 2016 IFP Filmmaker Labs and their attending Lab Fellows are:
ALASKA IS A DRAG
An aspiring superstar’s diva fabulous dreams are hard fought working at a fish cannery in Alaska. He dreams of escaping the monotony of fish guts and fist fights, but in the meantime, out of necessity he has learned to fight and is scouted by the local boxing coach and a new boy moves to town and wants to be his sparring partner. Shaz Bennett (Director, Writer, Producer), Jean-Pierre Caner (Producer, Consulting Editor). Los Angeles, CA.
A BAD IDEA GONE WRONG
A comedy about two would-be thieves who accidentally arm the alarm system and have to break out of the house they just broke into. When they discover an unexpected housesitter, they suddenly have to deal with a hostage situation, double crosses, and discoveries that make their difficult escape even more dubious. Jason Headley (Director, Writer), Tim Fender (Editor). San Francisco, CA.
COLD NOVEMBER
A 12-year-old girl being raised within a matriarchal household is taken through the right of passage of killing a deer for the first time. Expectations dissolve into chaos, and Florence finds herself alone, relying on instinct and training to follow through with her decisions and pull herself together while simultaneously living through the aftermath of a recent family trauma. Karl Jacob (Director, Writer, Producer), Pete Ohs (Editor). Hibbing, MN.
DAYVEON
Dayveon is a twelve-year-old boy who is coming to terms with the death of his older brother. Torn between a loving sister who has become his sole caretaker and the sense of camaraderie offered by his local gang, he’s forced to make decisions that threaten to rob him of his innocence. Amman Abbasi (Director, Writer, Producer), Steven Reneau (Writer, Producer). Little Rock, AR.
HEARTLOCK
A convict realizes his best shot at escaping is to master the art of “ducking,” a specialized form of prison manipulation in which an inmate befriends a flawed guard for the purposes of blackmail. He targets a tough-as-nails female guard with an underlying vulnerability. However, it doesn’t take long for his plan to hit a snag: he falls in love with her. Jon Kauffman (Director, Writer), Chris Cummings (Writer), Dominic Laperriere (Editor). New York, NY.
JULIA BLUE
Julia, a bright university student, is preparing for a life abroad when she meets English, a damaged soldier returning from the war zone in eastern Ukraine. An unexpected romance sparks between the two, as Julia and English fall deeply for each other. From metropolitan Kyiv to a remote Carpathian village, Julia and English must decide if they are ready to build a future together in a homeland that is slowly being torn apart. Roxy Toporowych (Director, Writer), Nilou Safinya (Producer), Ben Kim (Editor). Brooklyn, NY.
THE MISSING SUN
After a solar flare powers down her remote community, Alma discovers her husband Terry comatose. Pursuing a series of bizarre clues, she soon believes Terry is astral traveling to reunite with his deceased ex-wife. Determined to bring him back, Alma seeks helps from Terry’s estranged, psychedelic son and from the leader of a new-age religion who believes the sun-storm may signal the end-times. Brennan Vance (Director, Writer, Producer, DP, Editor), James Christenson (Producer). Minneapolis, MN.
POOR JANE
Jane and Henry are in a loving marriage. Another man humiliates Henry at a Christmas party and Jane decides she no longer loves him. The following morning Jane tells Henry she’s going to Target, but instead checks into a hotel and stops answering her phone. Jane spends the holidays drinking, having impulsive encounters with men and contemplating whether or not she wants to remain married. Katie Orr (Director, Writer), Alex Orr (Producer), David Swinburne (Co-Producer). Atlanta, GA.
SOLACE
When her father dies, Sole, 17, numbs her emotions with food. She unwillingly lives with her estranged grandmother. Desperate to escape her grandmother’s controlling love and illicit relationship with the pastor, Sole enters a forbidden friendship with the rebellious teenage neighbors. Juggling these relationships spirals Sole out of control with food but it ultimately forces her to confront her pain. Tchaiko Omawale (Director, Writer, Producer), Eileen Cabling (Associate Producer), Amanda Griffin (Editor). Los Angeles, CA.
UNTITLED HASIDIC FILM
Given unprecedented access to New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, the film is a story of faith and fatherhood – performed entirely in Yiddish. Joshua Z Weinstein (Director, Writer, Producer, DP), Daniel Finkelman (Producer), Danelle Eliav (Co-Producer), Royce Brown (Co-Producer). Brooklyn, NY.