Maryland Film Festival revealed the first 10 films on the lineup for the upcoming 17th annual festival, which will take place May 6 to 10, 2015, in downtown Baltimore.
The first ten feature films announced for MFF 2015 include Stanley Nelson’s Black Panthers documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution; Kris Swanberg’s Unexpected; Olivia Wyatt’s look at Moken culture, Sailing a Sinking Sea; and Eugene Kotlyarenko’s rom-com, A Wonderful Cloud. Also announced for MFF 2015 is the world premiere of Stephen Cone’s coming-of-age drama Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party.
THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (Stanley Nelson) Master documentarian Stanley Nelson has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to bring history to life with films such as Freedom Summer; The Murder of Emmett Till; andJonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Here he turns his lens on the revolutionary Black Panther Party and the various cultural forces that worked to support or destroy the group, creating an essential portrait of a singular radical moment in the American experience.
BREAKING A MONSTER (Luke Meyer) Viral-video sensation Unlocking the Truth, a teenage metal buzz-band from Brooklyn, navigate the bizarre current state of the record industry in this fascinating, fist-pumping, and often hilarious documentary. Fresh from its premiere at SXSW, this exceptional rock doc follows the band as they sign a major-label record deal and are suddenly caught up in an adult-driven world of contracts, tours, interviews, and branding. From Luke Meyer, co-director of MFF 2006 hit Darkon.
FUNNY BUNNY (Alison Bagnall) The writer/director of The Dish & the Spoon returns with this offbeat, infectious mix of comedy and drama. Kentucker Audley stars as an obesity-awareness canvasser who strikes up a friendship with a wealthy, emancipated 19-year-old named Titty (Olly Alexander) and the animal-rights-activist object of Titty’s desire, Ginger (Joslyn Jensen). Co-starring Josephine Decker, Louis Cancelmi, and Anna Margaret Hollyman.
HENRY GAMBLE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY (Stephen Cone) A pool party celebrating the seventeenth birthday of Henry Gamble (Cole Doman), the son of a megachurch preacher (Pat Healy), sets the stage for this expertly observed ensemble drama. As sunny skies fade into moonlight, director Stephen Cone (The Wise Kids, Black Box) offers a subtle and insightful portrait of a community full of pressures and secrets —exploring identity, sexuality, and organized religion in the process. World premiere.
SAILING A SINKING SEA (Olivia Wyatt) This experimental documentary, which premiered at SXSW, looks at the traditional lifestyle of the Moken people, a seafaring community of Burma and Thailand. Olivia Wyatt’s gorgeous and immersive film transports viewers deep into the turquoise sea and onto thirteen different islands, giving us intimate access to a culture where shamans, mermaids, and sea gods collide with present-day practices. Executive-produced by Will Oldham.
STINKING HEAVEN (Nathan Silver) This ultra-dark comedy looks at a communal home for sober living in 1990s suburban New Jersey, which spirals into dysfunctional decline when an outsider arrives on the scene. Director Nathan Silver’s film boasts an uncompromising visual aesthetic that goes against the grain of contemporary indie filmmaking—not to mention a fantastic cast that includes Deragh Campbell, Hannah Gross, Keith Poulson, and Eleonore Hendricks.
TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL (Jeffrey Schwarz) Top-notch documentary biographer Jeffrey Schwarz has captivated MFF audiences with definitive looks at iconic personalities William Castle, Vito Russo, and Divine. Now he delivers the warm and intimate story of 1950s Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter, who simultaneously balanced a stratospheric career on the silver screen with a secret life as a gay man. From his rise to stardom to his reinvention as a cult-film star with John Waters—and a number of fascinating surprises—it’s all here.
UNEXPECTED (Kris Swanberg) High-school science teacher Samantha (Cobie Smulders), already dealing with stress and uncertainty as her low-income school prepares to close, finds out she’s pregnant. When she discovers her favorite student Jasmine (Gail Bean) is also with child, the two form a tight and unconventional bond. From Kris Swanberg (whose earlier features Empire Builder and It was great, but I was ready to come home. both screened within MFF) comes this refreshing character study that mines honest emotions and the quiet battlefields of love and friendship for real beauty and insight.
WELCOME TO LEITH (pictured above) (Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker) This edge-of-your-seat documentary follows the arrival of notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb to a small town in North Dakota, where he promptly buys up land for like-minded collaborators and disrupts town council meetings, leading to fears that he plans a neo-Nazi takeover. As his behavior escalates further into the outrageous and threatens to get violent, a once-placid community must decide how to react.
A WONDERFUL CLOUD (Eugene Kotlyarenko) When his ex-girlfriend visits him in Los Angeles to resolve some lingering business entanglements, Eugene seeks to revisit old feelings, and introduces her to an LA populated by a wild cast of artists, scenesters, and eccentrics. Variety called this gleefully anarchic romantic comedy “a raucous, wholly improvised 21st-century Annie Hall.” Starring director Kotlyarenko (whose 0s & 1s had its world premiere at MFF 2010) and Kate Lyn Sheil (Sun Don’t Shine, House of Cards).The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
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Maryland Film Festival Unveils First 10 Films on 2015 Lineup
Maryland Film Festival revealed the first 10 films on the lineup for the upcoming 17th annual festival, which will take place May 6 to 10, 2015, in downtown Baltimore.
The first ten feature films announced for MFF 2015 include Stanley Nelson’s Black Panthers documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution; Kris Swanberg’s Unexpected; Olivia Wyatt’s look at Moken culture, Sailing a Sinking Sea; and Eugene Kotlyarenko’s rom-com, A Wonderful Cloud. Also announced for MFF 2015 is the world premiere of Stephen Cone’s coming-of-age drama Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party.
THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (Stanley Nelson) Master documentarian Stanley Nelson has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to bring history to life with films such as Freedom Summer; The Murder of Emmett Till; andJonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Here he turns his lens on the revolutionary Black Panther Party and the various cultural forces that worked to support or destroy the group, creating an essential portrait of a singular radical moment in the American experience.
BREAKING A MONSTER (Luke Meyer) Viral-video sensation Unlocking the Truth, a teenage metal buzz-band from Brooklyn, navigate the bizarre current state of the record industry in this fascinating, fist-pumping, and often hilarious documentary. Fresh from its premiere at SXSW, this exceptional rock doc follows the band as they sign a major-label record deal and are suddenly caught up in an adult-driven world of contracts, tours, interviews, and branding. From Luke Meyer, co-director of MFF 2006 hit Darkon.
FUNNY BUNNY (Alison Bagnall) The writer/director of The Dish & the Spoon returns with this offbeat, infectious mix of comedy and drama. Kentucker Audley stars as an obesity-awareness canvasser who strikes up a friendship with a wealthy, emancipated 19-year-old named Titty (Olly Alexander) and the animal-rights-activist object of Titty’s desire, Ginger (Joslyn Jensen). Co-starring Josephine Decker, Louis Cancelmi, and Anna Margaret Hollyman.
HENRY GAMBLE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY (Stephen Cone) A pool party celebrating the seventeenth birthday of Henry Gamble (Cole Doman), the son of a megachurch preacher (Pat Healy), sets the stage for this expertly observed ensemble drama. As sunny skies fade into moonlight, director Stephen Cone (The Wise Kids, Black Box) offers a subtle and insightful portrait of a community full of pressures and secrets —exploring identity, sexuality, and organized religion in the process. World premiere.
SAILING A SINKING SEA (Olivia Wyatt) This experimental documentary, which premiered at SXSW, looks at the traditional lifestyle of the Moken people, a seafaring community of Burma and Thailand. Olivia Wyatt’s gorgeous and immersive film transports viewers deep into the turquoise sea and onto thirteen different islands, giving us intimate access to a culture where shamans, mermaids, and sea gods collide with present-day practices. Executive-produced by Will Oldham.
STINKING HEAVEN (Nathan Silver) This ultra-dark comedy looks at a communal home for sober living in 1990s suburban New Jersey, which spirals into dysfunctional decline when an outsider arrives on the scene. Director Nathan Silver’s film boasts an uncompromising visual aesthetic that goes against the grain of contemporary indie filmmaking—not to mention a fantastic cast that includes Deragh Campbell, Hannah Gross, Keith Poulson, and Eleonore Hendricks.
TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL (Jeffrey Schwarz) Top-notch documentary biographer Jeffrey Schwarz has captivated MFF audiences with definitive looks at iconic personalities William Castle, Vito Russo, and Divine. Now he delivers the warm and intimate story of 1950s Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter, who simultaneously balanced a stratospheric career on the silver screen with a secret life as a gay man. From his rise to stardom to his reinvention as a cult-film star with John Waters—and a number of fascinating surprises—it’s all here.
UNEXPECTED (Kris Swanberg) High-school science teacher Samantha (Cobie Smulders), already dealing with stress and uncertainty as her low-income school prepares to close, finds out she’s pregnant. When she discovers her favorite student Jasmine (Gail Bean) is also with child, the two form a tight and unconventional bond. From Kris Swanberg (whose earlier features Empire Builder and It was great, but I was ready to come home. both screened within MFF) comes this refreshing character study that mines honest emotions and the quiet battlefields of love and friendship for real beauty and insight.
WELCOME TO LEITH (pictured above) (Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker) This edge-of-your-seat documentary follows the arrival of notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb to a small town in North Dakota, where he promptly buys up land for like-minded collaborators and disrupts town council meetings, leading to fears that he plans a neo-Nazi takeover. As his behavior escalates further into the outrageous and threatens to get violent, a once-placid community must decide how to react.
A WONDERFUL CLOUD (Eugene Kotlyarenko) When his ex-girlfriend visits him in Los Angeles to resolve some lingering business entanglements, Eugene seeks to revisit old feelings, and introduces her to an LA populated by a wild cast of artists, scenesters, and eccentrics. Variety called this gleefully anarchic romantic comedy “a raucous, wholly improvised 21st-century Annie Hall.” Starring director Kotlyarenko (whose 0s & 1s had its world premiere at MFF 2010) and Kate Lyn Sheil (Sun Don’t Shine, House of Cards).
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Black Panthers Film to Open Pan African Film Festival
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the RevolutionDirector Stanley Nelson’s The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the Opening Night film of the 23rd Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF)
Triangle-Going to America will be highlighted as the Centerpiece selection and closing the Festival is The Man in 3B. All films will screen at RAVE Cinemas 15, located within the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 4200 Marlton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90008. The 23rd Annual Pan African Film Festival will take place in Los Angeles February 5-16, 2015.
Veteran documentarian Stanley Nelson brings his newest film to PAFF straight from Sundance Film Festival for its West Coast premiere. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution takes a look at the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, but also how it influenced how African-Americans look at themselves today. Whether they were right or wrong, whether they were good or bad, more than 40 years after the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California, the group and its leadership remain powerful and enduring figures in our popular imagination. The Black Panthers is the first feature-length documentary to showcase the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for Black people, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails. The film includes riveting eyewitness accounts from the first members who joined the organization when its founder, Huey P. Newton, was still alive as a young, brash upstart who confronted local police and American tradition with a loaded gun and a law book. This film weaves voices from varied perspectives who lived this story” police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters, and detractors, those who remained loyal to the party and those who left it. Because the participants from all sides were so young in the 60s and 70s, they are still around to share firsthand accounts.
“PAFF is excited about hosting award-winning director Stanley Nelson’s The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. This film is right on time. The issues that the Black Panther Party and other Black Power organizations dealt with in the 1960s continue to be the major issues confronting the black community today. The film offers a striking and compelling look at the personalities, the drama, the wit that come hurtling down to us in the present day. The film is an entertaining must-see for all who are looking to better understand where we are at this historical moment and where we might go in the future,” says PAFF Founder and Executive Director, Ayuko Babu.
Immigration has been the topic of many recent news reports and headlines, including President Obama taking bold new steps to fix America’s broken immigration system. Triangle-Going to America addresses this very issue. Each year, hundreds of Africans from Ethiopia, Eritrea and and throughout the African continent leave their countries to make the journey across the world with hope and dreams of coming to America. The film’s characters Kaleab and Jemal are willing to endure any danger to reach America and the promise of a better life. Along the way Kaleab meets Winta, an Eritrean beauty who is also making the journey. Together, they travel an arduous and illegal path wrought with danger, exploitation and death from East and North Africa through Italy, Mexico and finally to the United States. Triangle stars Solomon Bogale and Mahder Assefa, two of the most famous actors in Ethiopia.
“At PAFF, we always want to stay current with today’s domestic and international issues and be entertaining at the same time. Triangle fits into this vision. Immigration is not just an issue in the Latino community, but also affects the Black communities in the U.S. and Europe,” adds Babu.
The Man in 3B includes a star-studded cast, including Lamman Rucker, Billie D. Williams, Jackee Harry, Marla Gibbs, Brely Evans and more. Daryl Graham (Lamman Rucker) has just moved into a Jamaica, Queens, apartment building and his neighbors, male and female alike, can’t stop talking about him. From his extreme attractiveness to his undeniable swag, Daryl is the man every woman wants and every man wants to be.
PAFF Executive Director Ayuko Babu says, “PAFF loves to showcase films like The Man in 3B. There is an interesting twist in the storyline which is not usually found in romantic comedies. This film is entertaining and gives us insight into ourselves and encourages attitudes that are important to our development, which makes this the perfect closing night film at PAFF.”