NUTS!

The mostly true story of Dr. John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric genius who built an empire with his goat-testicle impotence cure and a million-watt radio station. Animated reenactments, interviews, archival footage, and one seriously unreliable narrator trace his rise from poverty to celebrity and influence in 1920s America.

Directed by Penny Lane

Genre(s) Documentary Film

Hometown Film “Bastards y Diablos” Wins Best Film at Ashland Independent Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_12086" align="aligncenter" width="1296"] Bastards y Diablos[/caption] Bastards y Diablos, with several cast and crew members who hailed from nearby Medford, Oregon, swept both the juried and audience awards for Best Feature at the 2016 Ashland Independent Film Festival.The film is a voyage of self-discovery and reconciliation for two estranged half-brothers told in an unconventional manner. It was shot entirely on location in Columbia, on a budget of only $25,000. The co-star was Dillon Porter, who grew up in Medford. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4NuLLJmHQo The documentary Mothering Inside by Portland director Brian Lindstrom won the audience award for Best Short Documentary, and the audience award for Best Feature length documentary went to Voyagers Without Trace, which was directed, produced and written by Ian McCluskey, also from Portland. The audience award for Short Film was awarded to The Stairs, which co-stars Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) actor Anthony Heald. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkS0bxwoF-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fig2VaOZmEc “As an Oregon filmmaker, I have always wanted to bring a film to the Ashland Independent Film Festival, which has built a reputation as a world-class festival, attended by engaged audiences,” McCluskey said. “We felt the energy in the small, historic Varsity Theater, with every ooh, aww, chuckle, and gasp. Each screening was followed by lively Q&As, and folks coming up to us throughout the festival to share their own stories. The heart of making an independent film is in its collaborative spirit, and that spirit is fully realized when shared with the audiences of Ashland.” “It was very satisfying to discover and program so many strong films emerging from our region,’’ said Richard Herskowitz, director of programming. “The enthusiastic response to these films, from both our audiences and our international jurors, testifies to the region’s cinematic vitality.” Other Pacific Northwest films also received warm receptions at the Ashland film festival, including , Honey Buddies, recently renamed Buddymoon, which was shot in the Columbia Gorge, and accompanied on opening night by a live performance by its star, DJ Flula Borg. The film co-stars David Guintoli of the Portland-based TV series Grimm. Other Oregon-connected films include: Christopher LaMarca and Jessica Dimmock’s The Pearl, a documentary that followed four people from the Pacific Northwest as they transition from man to woman; LaMarca’s Boone, a documentary about an organic goat farm in the Little Applegate Valley of Southern Oregon; and the short films 1985, The Child and the Dead, and Damn, What a Dame, made by students of the Southern Oregon University Film Club, and a winner of AIFF’s Launch student film competition. The complete list of award-winning films follows: JURY AWARDS BEST FEATURE Bastards y Diablos BEST ACTING Five Nights in Maine Honorable Mention: A Light Beneath Their Feet BEST SHORT FILM Killer Honorable Mention: El Tigre LES BLANK AWARD: BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY Hooligan Sparrow Honorable Mention: The Birth of Saké BEST EDITING: FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY NUTS! Honorable Mention: In Pursuit of Silence BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY 100 Years Show Honorable Mention: Greenwood AUDIENCE AWARDS VARSITY AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE Bastards y Diablos. ROGUE CREAMERY AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY Voyagers Without Trace. JIM TEECE AUDIENCE AWARD FOR SHORT FILM The Stairs. BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY Mothering Inside.
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Animated Films Focus of World Cinema Spotlight at 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival

[caption id="attachment_12066" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Blanca Engström in GRANNY’S DANCING ON THE TABLE[/caption] The 6th World Cinema Spotlight at the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival will feature films under the theme Animating the Image, focusing on frame-by-frame animation. Whether hand-drawn, stop-motion, CGI, motion capture or a combination thereof, animation recalls the illusory magic of the earliest days of cinema, a surprisingly simple “trick” that continues to enthrall and inspire—when presented in succession, a series of still images transform to appear in motion. Adaptable to a variety of eclectic approaches—exemplified by this year’s Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award recipient Aardman Animations, the collage of Lewis Klahr’s Sixty Six and the variety of styles employed by multiple artists in Penny Lane’s surprising and singular documentary NUTS!—animation endures as one of the most satisfying and versatile techniques in cinema. WORLD CINEMA SPOTLIGHT PROGRAMS Granny’s Dancing on the Table (Sweden/Denmark 2015) – Taking place within the quiet serenity of the dense Swedish woods, isolated from civilization, Hanna Sköld’s intense drama delivers a harrowing tale of abuse, psychological imprisonment and the power of imagination to withstand painful circumstances. Enchanting stop-motion animation captures 13-year-old Eini’s worldview as she silently struggles against her father’s brutal control and envisions the dysfunctional family history that led to her grandmother’s rebellious travels and her own pale and powerless existence. Life, Animated (USA 2016) – The power of cinema has rarely been revealed as strongly as in this documentary about an autistic man named Owen Suskind who, as a boy, discovers a way to communicate with his parents through Disney movies. Now a young man, Owen is getting ready to live on his own, and the film shows his successes and struggles as he embarks on this huge step. NUTS! (USA 2015) – Penny Lane’s documentary—comprised of archival material, animated sequences and the occasional talking head—blooms into an incredible almanac of early 20th-century quackery and innovation as she focuses on JR Brinkley, an early broadcasting baron, direct-mail pioneer and an evangelical proponent of goat-testicle implants. An empire built on spurious claims and fear mongering seems unstoppable—until the American Medical Association dares to question its foundations. Persistence of Vision Award: An Afternoon with Aardman Animations – Established in 1997, the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award honors the achievement of filmmakers whose main body of work falls outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking. This year, we recognize the team behind beloved animation studio Aardman. Join co-founder Peter Lord for an in-depth conversation and a filmic celebration of the studio’s 40th anniversary. Phantom Boy (France/Belgium 2015) – When a kingpin with a face only Picasso could love threatens to bring down New York City’s infrastructure, a seriously ill boy with a unique, ghostly superpower teams up with a bedridden crusading cop to stop him. The team behind A Cat in Paris (SFIFF 2011) delivers another dose of enchanting 2D animation along with a story that blends absurd humor with an emotionally potent tale of a child rising about troubling circumstances. Shorts 3: Animation – A retirement home resident attempts to woo with music. A participant in a primal scream class gets more than he bargained for. And a child is made to drink blood from deer antlers. These imaginative, often hilarious story-based animations mingle with non-narrative works that ply their magic with light and sophisticated processing techniques in this wide-ranging program. Shorts 5: Family Films – In this eclectic international collection of short films for young audiences, an array of colorful characters—of the human, animal and monster varieties—learn how to help one another and work together in fun and sometimes surprising ways. Works range from new student films to those by veteran artists such as Nick Park of Aardman Animations, Disney animator Glen Keane, YouTube favorite Simon Tofield (and his fussy fat cat), and Oscar-winning SFIFF alum Brandon Oldenburg. [caption id="attachment_12067" align="aligncenter" width="1018"] A scene from Lewis Klah’s SIXTY SIX[/caption] Sixty Six (USA 2015) – Sixties pop-art heroines and DC comic-strip heroes are suffused with the passions of Greco-Roman gods in Lewis Klahr’s short film compilation spanning 14 years of filmmaking, chosen by the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis as one of the best films of 2015. Lovers of melodrama, all your paper-doll superstars are here, but an individual heart beats beneath the vivid imagery.
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Ashland Independent Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Opens with HONEY BUDDIES

[caption id="attachment_11777" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Honey Buddies[/caption] The 2016 Ashland Independent Film Festival will be celebrating its 15th anniversary this April by paying tribute to the roots of independent film. AIFF will give special emphasis to the intersection of live performance and film, beginning with the opening night screening, and Pacific Northwest premiere of Honey Buddies. Filmed in Oregon, the Slamdance award-winning comedy stars Flula Borg as the relentlessly upbeat best man who convinces David Giuntoli (Grimm), after his fiancée dumps him at the altar, to take him on his Columbia River Gorge honeymoon, instead. Borg, an online musical sensation thanks to his YouTube music videos and his striking performance in the recent Pitch Perfect 2, will perform a live DJ set in the Ashland Armory following the screening. The mainstay of the festival continues to be a rich assortment of documentary and narrative feature films and shorts, including many regional and several national premieres. Magali Noel’s Addicted to Sheep, Nick Hartanto and Sam Roden’s Traveler (which will be accompanied to the festival by its subject, photographer Nicholas Syracuse) and AIFF 2015 Audience Choice award winner Alexandria Bombach’s short film How We Choose are U.S. premieres. Ten feature films that opened at Sundance in January are receiving their regional premieres at AIFF, including Werner Herzog’s essay film on the Internet’s effect on society, Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World; Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, Uncle Howard, Cameraperson, NUTS!, Hooligan Sparrow, Trapped, and The Fits, along with Sonita and Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You. There are a number of films with regional connections, including two by rising Portland filmmaker Christopher LaMarca, whose films Boone and The Pearl (co-directed by Jessica Dimmock) just premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW)and True/False Film Festivals. Boone is a sensory and unsentimental meditation on the lives of three young goat farmers living off the land in the Little Applegate Valley near Jacksonville, Ore. The Pearl delves into the experiences of older transgender women in the Pacific Northwest. The film will be accompanied by the filmmakers and two of their most striking subjects from Oregon, Krystal and Jodi, two sisters who were formerly brothers, and unaware of each other’s gender fluidity. Bastards y Diablos, about two half-brothers who go on a journey of self-discovery to Colombia, involved a crew based mostly out of Medford, Ore., including producer and co-star Dillon Porter. For lovers of the “other” Ashland festival, there are two films that highlight Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death. Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, a theater performance inventively filmed by Rodrigo Prieto, is being touted as a visually spectacular adaptation, and will be accompanied by a Skype conversation with Taymor. Bill is a Monty Pythonesque tale of William Shakespeare’s “lost years”. In addition, a program of short films will feature current and former Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors, including Anthony Heald in The Stairs; and David DeSantos and Stephanie Beatriz in Closure. “It’s going to be an exciting and stimulating five days and nights,’ said Cathy Dombi, the festival’s executive director. “More than 50 visiting filmmakers and artists will attend the festival to engage in dialogues after screenings, with several artists accompanying their films with live music, art exhibits, and even virtual reality headgear for audiences to sample.” In his Ashland debut, Richard Herskowitz, the new director of programming, will honor two key indie film institutions by paying tribute to Kartemquin Films and Women Make Movies, organizations that have built an infrastructure for indie filmmakers working outside the mainstream. Kartemquin co-founder and artistic director Gordon Quinn will be joined by filmmakers Joanna Rudnick and Maria Finitzo for three screenings honoring Karteqmquin on its 50th anniversary. Accomplished documentarians Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar of New Day Films will screen three of their latest short films and join Quinn for a TalkBack panel on Activist Film Collectives. “Independent film’s social and cultural importance has been reaffirmed lately as Hollywood’s neglect of women’s and other minority voices has become painfully apparent,” said Herskowitz. This year, 24 of the 39 independent feature films are directed or co-directed by women, and the subject of one of the festival’s three “TalkBack” panel discussions will be Women Make Indie Movies, moderated by Women Make Movies’ executive director Debra Zimmerman. Zimmerman will also introduce her company’s acclaimed new release Sonita, winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Prize for international documentaries at Sundance. Sonita is about an Iranian teenager who creates an underground rap song to protest her family’s plan to sell her as a bride. This year’s Rogue Award will go to the esteemed directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Detropia, Jesus Camp, The Boys of Baraka), who will screen their latest documentary, Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, an homage to the 93-year-old American social activist and creator of the TV shows All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Maude. Barbara Hammer, the pioneering director of queer cinema, will receive the festival’s Pride Award, supported by the Equity Foundation, and will present her latest film, Welcome to this House, on the life and poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. Herskowitz is introducing a new section titled Beyond, devoted to films that challenge and reinvent storytelling conventions. A highlight of this section will be MA, the debut feature by dance world sensation Celia Rowlson-Hall, a transfixing, artfully wordless narrative in which Rowlson-Hall stars as a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary. Rowlson-Hall was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine in 2014 and named one of 25 “new faces of independent film” in 2015 by Filmmaker Magazine. She is the winner of the festival’s first-ever Juice Award, given to an emerging female film director, with support from Tangerine Entertainment and the Faerie Godmother Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation. Other Beyond titles include The Fits, collective:unconscious, and He Hated Pigeons. At the TalkBack panel titled Transmedia & Virtual Reality Platforms for New Documentaries, filmmaker Helen de Michiel will present her latest transmedia projects, Lunch Love Community and Berkeley vs. Big Soda. Brad Lichtenstein will demo his virtual reality project, Across the Line, on the effect of anti-abortion protests on health centers and patients. Google VR headsets will be available for sampling after the panel. Vicki Callahan, a USC professor and an authority on digital culture and media strategies for social change, will moderate the discussion. 2016 AIFF FEATURE FILM SELECTIONS FILM; DIRECTOR Addicted to Sheep; Magali Pettier Bastards y Diablos; A.D. Freese Bill; Richard Bracewell Birth of Saké, The; Erik Shirai Boone; Christopher LaMarca Cameraperson; Kirsten Johnson Chicago Maternity Center Story, The; Jerry Blumenthal, Suzanne Davenport, Sharon Karp, Gordon Quinn, Jennifer Rohrer collective:unconscious; Lily Baldwin, Frances Bodomo, Daniel Patrick Carbone, Josephine Decker, Lauren Wolkstein Embers; Claire Carré Fits, The; Anna Rose Holmer Five Nights in Maine; Maris Curran Gesture and a Word; Dave Davidson He Hated Pigeons; Ingrid Veninger Honey Buddies; Alex Simmons Hooligan Sparrow; Nanfu Wang Hunky Dory; Michael Curtis Johnson In Pursuit of Silence; Patrick Shen In the Game; Maria Finitzo In Transit; Albert Maysles, Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Ben Wu, David Usui Light Beneath Their Feet; Valerie Weiss Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World; Werner Herzog Louder than Bombs; Joachim Trier MA; Celia Rowlson Hall Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise; Bob Hercules & Rita Coburn Whack Midsummer Night’s Dream; Julie Taymor Neptune; Derek Kimball Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You; Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady NUTS!; Penny Lane Pearl, The; Jessica Dimmock and Christopher LaMarca Secret Screening from Kartemquin Films; TBA Seventh Fire, The; Jack Pettibone Riccobono Sonita; Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami Three Hikers, The; Natalie Avital Trapped; Dawn Porter Traveler; Nick Hartanto and Sam Roden Uncle Howard; Aaron Brookner Voyagers Without Trace; Ian McCluskey Welcome to This House; Barbara Hammer Women He’s Undressed; Gillian Armstrong Short Film Programs After Hours Shorts Animated Worlds with Mark Shapiro Art Docs Ashland Actors On Screen CineSpace Family Shorts: Kid Pix Family Shorts: TweenScreen Locals Only 1: Family Friendly Locals Only 2: Woman to Man Short Stories Short Docs TalkBack Panel Discussions Activist Film Collectives: Kartemquin and New Day Films Women Make Indie Movies Transmedia and Virtual Reality Platforms for New Documentaries
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20 Films to Compete for Golden Gate Awards at San Francisco International Film Festival

The Demons

The 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival, taking place April 21 to May 5, announced the films in competition for the Golden Gate Awards (GGA).

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Competition and NEXT Film Lineup Revealed for 2016 Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Institute announced the 65 films selected for the U.S. Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition NEXT category set to premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, taking place January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

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