• Portland International Film Festival Announces 2017 After Dark Lineup

    [caption id="attachment_20266" align="aligncenter" width="1350"]THE INVISIBLE GUEST THE INVISIBLE GUEST[/caption] The After Dark program of the 40th Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) will showcase late night movies like Emiliano Rocha Minter’s We Are the Flesh, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s (Pulse) Daguerrotype, André Øvredal’s (Troll Hunter) The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Nicholas Pesce’s The Eyes of My Mother, and Oriol Paulo’s (The Body) The Invisible Guest. As in past years, PIFF After Dark presents films chosen with adventurous festival attendees in mind.

    40th Portland International Film Festival After Dark Lineup

    The Invisible Guest (Dir. Oriol Paulo) – Spain/South Korea As a suspect is prepped for court testimony, the story of the crime, a murder in a hotel room where only two people—the accused and the victim—were present, deepens as new details emerge with each retelling. Director Oriol Paulo’s (The Body) film is Rashomonic in structure, but keeping the action centered entirely on one person’s shifting account of the abominable act. An exquisitely intelligent and tense thriller crafted for adult audiences. “Early on, certain points are so ridiculously made and ‘on the button’ that they elicit laughter. Rest assured, that’s intentional. The Invisible Guest goes beyond locked rooms into the forbidden territory of adult motivations.” – Peter Martin, Screen Anarchy In Spanish with English subtitles. (106 mins.) https://vimeo.com/185461129 PRECEDED BY: Manoman Dir. Simon Cartwright | United Kingdom A man undergoing primal scream therapy releases his own Mr. Hyde, and then hits the town with him. (11 mins.) We Are the Flesh (Dir. Emiliano Rocha Minter) – Mexico The most transgressive film in this year’s program, Minter’s trance-inducing debut feature concerns a brother and sister drawn into an underground sanctuary inhabited by a lone stranger. In return for shelter, the man demands they push themselves into a series of shocking ritualistic actions with each other, their newfound guardian, and those who visit the subterranean and fleshy, womb-like structure they begin constructing. “His thoroughly arresting vision could squat quite comfortably alongside Hieronymus Bosch’s depiction of hell.”—Variety. (79 mins.) Adult Audiences. “Serving as co-editor as well as writer and director, Emiliano Rocha Minter is very much the author of all the chaos wrought here, and his thoroughly arresting vision could squat quite comfortably alongside Hieronymus Bosch’s depiction of hell.” – Catherine Bray, Variety In Spanish with English subtitles. (79 mins.) https://youtu.be/hC_wtrAdF2E PRECEDED BY: Judy Ariel Gardner, Alex Kavutskiy | United States “A film about male entitlement and the role of women in society—a smart and funny movie that says a whole lot in ten minutes.”—Catherine Bray, Birth. Movies. Death. (11 mins.) Directors Ariel Gardner and Alex Kavutskiy in attendance A Dark Song (Dir. Liam Gavin) – Ireland/United Kingdom A grieving mother (Catherine Walker) hires a man (Steve Oram) well-versed in the occult to help bring her son back to life. The genius of writer/director Liam Gavin’s film is how, unlike most films with a supernatural conceit, it paints its character’s attempts to break on through to the other side as humorous, highly questionable, and above all, time consuming. Favoring the notion that the journey is just as important as the destination, A Dark Song upends audience expectations of how horror films about people trying to resurrect their loved ones ought to operate. “A Dark Song is more concerned with psychological demons than the supernatural kind, and all the stronger for it.” – Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter (100 mins.) https://youtu.be/IeZ9OQ6ocP0 PRECEDED BY: The Man from Death Stephen Reedy | United States A manic homage to spaghetti Westerns, video game iconography, and ADHD. (13 mins.) The Eyes of My Mother (Dir. Nicolas Pesce) – United States A young girl named Francisca witnesses a terrible act of violence perpetrated by a stranger upon her mother. Years later, the child has grown into a solitary woman whose life on the same farm where those events occurred has devolved into a cycle of caring for her family’s livestock and a mysterious figure sequestered away in the barn. When Francisca finally opens herself up to human contact, however, it threatens to both break the patterns she’s established and rip the precariously hung safety net out from below her feet. Director Nicolas Pesce’s debut film is a visual treat, filled with breathlessly orchestrated passages, and forbidden fruit that’s rotten to the core. “If Ingmar Bergman had helmed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it might look something like this exquisite nightmare.”—The A.V. Club. (76 mins.) https://youtu.be/H5cmrW-Ej84 PRECEDED BY: The Dog Hallvard Holmen, Aleksander Nordaas | Norway A child watches as a squabble between neighbors unfolds. (10 mins.) Daguerrotype (Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) – Japan Japanese horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s continues his winning stream with this patient and elegantly rendered ghost story set in modern-day France. Jean (Tahar Rahim) is hired as the assistant to Stéphane, a former fashion photographer who wallows in grief for his late wife while stubbornly clinging to the antiquated, long-exposure process of daguerreotype photography. As Jean learns the ropes, he begins to fall for Stéphane’s daughter Marie who endures, as her mother did in the past, the painful and physically demanding role of modeling for her father’s images. In French with English subtitles. “You’ll need patience for it to work on you, but all effort’s repaid tenfold, thanks to Kurosawa’s murmur-soft, immaculate craft and a trio of gorgeous central performances.” – Robbie Collin, The Telegraph https://vimeo.com/180867219 PRECEDED BY: Overtime Craig D. Foster | Australia Workplace stresses conspire to bring out the inner beast when mandatory overtime comes into play. (9 mins.) Without Name (Dir. Lorcan Finnegan) – Ireland Eric, a surveyor by trade, is hired by a corporate developer to assess a large plot of ancient forest. Superstitious warnings from the locals about the area, the discovery of a handwritten book filled with hallucinogenic recipes and half-mad ravings about trees, and a shadowy figure have Eric on edge. First time director Lorcan Finnegan’s eco-horror tale not only offers up the most vivid dose of paranoia tied to location since Polanski’s The Tenant, it also throws down the gauntlet for the creepiest trees captured on film this decade. “Without Name is the truest, and perhaps finest, example of the Lovecraftian sensibility ever put on film.” – Peter Gutierrez, Screen Anarchy (93 mins.) https://youtu.be/cd4K6qICqC8 PRECEDED BY: Strangers in the Night Conor McMahon | Ireland While protecting his grandmother from a banshee, Damien is overcome by unexpected feelings for the creature. (12 mins.) The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Dir. André Øvredal) – United Kingdom/United States A father (Brian Cox) and son (Emile Hirsch) coroner team delve into the mystery of a body discovered at a site of multiple murders. Unlike the other casualties of the crime, the corpse delivered to them is untouched by the multiple traumas visited upon the other victims. The deeper the two dig into this fleshy puzzle, the more disturbing secrets, residing tantalizingly below the surface, are revealed. “The Autopsy of Jane Doe is proof that Trollhunter was no fluke – André Øvredal is one of the most clever guys making genre movies today and he’s refusing to let himself get boxed into a corner.” – Jacob Hall, Slash Film (86 mins.) https://youtu.be/mtTAhXuiRTc PRECEDED BY: Limbo Will Blank | United States Stranded in the desert, a man is given a chance to wish for anything he wants. (8 mins.) For the first time, all seven PIFF After Dark shows are scheduled to happen at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne Boulevard) and will include short, After Dark-themed films presented before each feature.

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  • Film Director Joseph Losey to be Honored with a Retrospective at San Sebastian Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_20469" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Joseph Losey Joseph Losey[/caption] Film director Joseph Losey will be honored with a retrospective at the 65th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Spanish Film Archive. In the seventies, Joseph Losey represented the greatest expression of auteur or art-house cinema with works like The Servant (1963), King and Country (1964), Accident (1967) and The Go-Between (1971), all of which, with the exception of the second, were written by the playwright Harold Pinter. But before becoming a leading figure of European independent film, Losey endured a complicated situation like so many others affected by the reprisals of the Hollywood witch hunt from 1947 onwards. His work is divided into three periods: his early period in North American film until the early fifties, the prestige he achieved in the UK of the sixties and seventies and a later, more itinerant stage when he worked for Italian, French and Spanish production. Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1909, Losey turned his steps towards written and broadcast journalism, later moving into theatre. His openly left-wing beliefs led him to work on several mises en scène with Bertold Brecht and to spend a period in the former Soviet Union studying new theatre concepts. In the late thirties he started to direct short films with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, making his feature debut in 1948 with The Boy with Green Hair, a parable against war, totalitarianism and intransigence towards difference, produced by RKO. Although he did succeed in making a number of low-cost films noirs of undisguised social slant – The Lawless (1950), The Prowler (1951) and The Big Night (1951), all three penned by screenwriters blacklisted by the Un-American Activities Commission, Daniel Mainwaring, Daltun Trumbo and Ring Lardner Jr – and even a remake of Fritz Lang’s famous M in 1951, his name appeared on the blacklist for the tone of his early films and he was accused of belonging to the North American Communist Party. When called to testify, he was in Italy shooting Stranger on the Prowl / Imbarco a mezzanotte (1952). He decided not to return to the United States and settled in Britain. He released said film under the pseudonym Andrea Forzano and trade union issues prevented his name from featuring on the first two movies made in his country of adoption: in The Sleeping Tiger (1954), first collaboration with one of his actors fetiche, Dirk Bogarde, he is credited as Victor Hanbury and, in The Intimate Stranger (1956), as Joseph Walton. Losey took up his place in British cinema at a time of change. These were not only the days of rising Free Cinema, a trend he had no part in even if some of his earlier films made in the sixties did have a certain realistic and social angle, but also of the horror movie makers Hammer Film Productions, for which Losey started X The Unknown (1956), before he was ousted from the shooting and replaced by Leslie Norman, later directing The Damned (1962); these were Losey’s only inroads to the sci-fi domain. Following a timid attempt at integration to the great British film industry with The Gypsy and the Gentleman (1958), a Rank production headlining Melina Mercouri, his work attracted outstanding interest from the mystery movie Blind Date (1959) and the prison drama The Criminal (1961), the beginning of his collaboration with the other actor with whom he would enjoy close understanding, Stanley Baker. Until the mid-seventies, Losey alternated highly personal films reflecting on relations of power (between both men and institutional bodies) constructed around mises en scène packed with symbols (his particular use of spectacular images), with what at first glance seemed to be more commercial titles served up by the big stars of the moment and taking their inspiration from works of enormous popularity or unquestionable literary prestige. To this first group belonged the film that best defines his work, The Servant, with Pinter’s acerbic writing and the acting duel between Bogarde and James Fox, Accident (Grand Prix du Jury at the Cannes Festival), The Go-Between (Palme d’Or at Cannes) and the anti-war King and Country, played out in the British trenches of the First World War during a summary trial for desertion. The second group includes works like Eve (1962), adaptation of a novel by James Hadley Chase, starring Jeanne Moreau and which was the first of many films consecrated by Losey to female characters who irradiate a strange fascination; Modesty Blaise (1966), iconoclastic version of Peter O’Donnell and Jim Holdaway’s spy-fi comic strip featuring Monica Vitti; Boom (1968), a piece by Tennessee Williams dished up by the explosive couple Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton; Secret Ceremony (1968), a psychological and claustrophobic drama once again starring Elizabeth Taylor, with Robert Mitchum and Mia Farrow; A Doll’s House (1973), based on Henrik Ibsen’s piece and with Jane Fonda, David Warner and Trevor Howard, and A Romantic Englishwoman (1975), another of his defining movies, an intense and evil triangular game written by Tom Stoppard and performed by Glenda Jackson, Michael Caine and Helmut Berger. During this prolific period, Losey made hugely abstract works including Figures in a Landscape (1970), following the flight of two prisoners pursued by a mysterious helicopter (with a screenplay written by actor Robert Shaw, its leading man alongside Malcolm McDowell; the film competed in San Sebastian) and Mr. Klein (1976), with Alain Delon in the part of an unsavoury character accused of being a Jew during the Nazi occupation in France (winner of the César for Best Film). But he also shot films of obvious political accent such as L’assassinio di Trotsky / The Assassination of Trotsky (1972), with Delon as Ramón Mercader and Burton in the role of Leon Trotsky, and Les routes du Sud (1978), continuation of La guerre est finie (1966) by Alain Resnais, once again written by Jorge Semprún and with Yves Montand repeating his role of Spanish exile in constant ideological conflict. Losey returned to Brecht many years later with a cinema adaptation of Galileo (1974), based on the English translation by Charles Laughton and starring Topol, hugely popular at the time for his leading part in Fiddler on the Roof (1971). He also made the filmed opera Don Giovanni (1979) with Ruggero Raimondi and, in France, La Truite (1982) with Isabelle Huppert in the part of yet another of the director’s complex female characters. His last film was Steaming (1985) which, like the one before it, was never screened in Spain. This is a work of theatrical roots starring Vanessa Redgrave and Sarah Miles and set in London Turkish baths as they fight its closure on ladies day. Losey never saw the final cut of the film; he passed away in June 1984, almost a year before its presentation at Cannes. Losey’s relationship with the San Sebastian Festival was always complicated owing to the Franco dictatorship. In addition to Figures in a Landscape, the Festival screened The Sleeping Tiger, Boom and, in the informative section, The Go-Between.The Romantic Englishman was also selected, but the director and Glenda Jackson refused to come to the event in protest against the death sentences recently signed by Franco. After its screening in San Sebastian, the retrospective will run at the Filmoteca Española in Madrid.

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  • MOONLIGHT Named Best Film of 2016 by the Black Film Critics Circle

    [caption id="attachment_18892" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Moonlight Moonlight[/caption] Moonlight was voted Best Film of 2016 by the Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC); Barry Jenkins was also named Best Director for Moonlight. Recognizing achievements in theatrical motion pictures, the BFCC awarded prizes in 13 categories including best picture, best director, original and adapted screenplay, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best animated feature, best independent film, best documentary feature, best foreign film and best ensemble. Special signature awards are also given to industry pioneers and rising stars. “This has been a year of progress to cinema of color” says co-president, Mike Sargent. “Though politically it may seem we may be moving backwards.” “The recent announcement from BAFTA and the changes behind the scenes in Hollywood and the Global film industry have been represented in this years slate if films.” Their successes at the box office and acknowledgement by fellow Awards organizations denote the significance of the global black experience as captured on film.” “Congratulations to all the winners.” The complete list of 2016 Black Film Critics Circle award winners include: Best Film: Moonlight Best Director: Barry Jenkins Best Actor: Denzel Washington, Fences Best Actress: Ruth Negga, Loving Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, Fences Best Original Screenplay: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight Best Adapted Screenplay: August Wilson, Fences Best Cinematography: James Laxton, Moonlight Best Foreign Film: Elle from France Best Documentary: 13th Best Animated Film: Zootopia Best Ensemble: Fences BFCC Signature Awards include: Pioneer Award – Mahershala Ali This year’s BFCC Pioneer Award is given to Mahershala Ali, for contributions in TV/Film this year with ‘House of Cards’, ‘Luke Cage’, ‘Free State of Jones’, ‘Kicks’, ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Hidden’Figures’. Mahershala has proved that perseverance; artistic integrity and an unerring commitment to excellence will always yield remarkable results. Since his Acting Debut as a series regular on TV shows such as ‘Crossing Jordan’ and ‘Threat Matrix’ before his breakthrough role as Richard Tyler in the science-fiction series ‘The 4400’. To his His first major film role in the 2008’s ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. Mahershala continue to expand the boundaries of what black actors can achieve and embodies the very essence of the word Pioneer. Rising Star Award – Janelle Monae Janelle Monae’s acting work in ‘Moonlight’and ‘Hidden Figures’ shows that beyond her artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter she is a wonderful storyteller and excels in any part of that creative process. The integrity and honesty she brings to her characters and performances shows she will truly be an acting force to be reckoned with in the years ahead. Special Mention – I Am Not Your Negro Special Mention goes to the documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” By Director Raoul Peck. Based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript ‘Remember This House’ and narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson, the film explores the history of race relations in the United States through Baldwin’s reminiscences of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.. The film is both heartbreaking, powerful and vividly illustrates America’s history of racism, injustice, violence, exploitation of Black Americans. This is truly a film we felt needed special recognition. Black Film Critics Circle Top Ten Films of 2016 Top 10 1. Moonlight 2. Fences 3. La La Land 4. Hidden Figures 5. Arrival 6. Manchester By The Sea 7. Hell or High Water 8. Miss Sloane 9. Eye In The Sky 10. Miss Sharon Jones!

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  • South African Film THE WOUND to Open the Panorama Program of Berlin International Film Festival

    ,
    [caption id="attachment_18693" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]The Wound, John Trengove The Wound, John Trengove[/caption] Just after celebrating its selection to have its world premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the film-makers of the South African film The Wound, have received news that the film has been selected to open the Berlin International Film Festival’s Panorama section in February 2017. Produced by Urucu Media, directed by John Trengove and co-written by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu , The Wound stars multi-talented musician and novelist, Nakhane Touré in his acting debut, with Bongile Mantsai and Niza Jay Ncoyini. The Wound tells the story Xolani, a lonely Xhosa 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 a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel. Speaking from Cape Town, producer Elias Ribeiro said “We could not have wished for a stronger start for The Wound. We will have the spotlight in the two top festivals in North America and Europe, and that bodes well for its future, as Pyramide, our International Sales Agents will be representing the film at their booth inside the European Film Market in Berlin in February.” “The fabrication of masculinity has long been a consistent theme in Panorama,” said the statement from the festival. “Producer Elias Ribeiro previously delighted festival audiences in Panorama 2015 with Necktie Youth.” John Trengove commented: “I was interested in what happens when groups of men come together and organize themselves outside of society and the codes of their everyday lives. I wanted to show the intense emotional and physical exchanges that are possible in these spaces and how repressing strong feelings leads to a kind of toxicity and violence. As an outsider to this culture, it was important that I approach this story from the perspective of characters who are themselves outsiders, who struggle to conform to the status quo of which they are part.”

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  • YOUTH IN OREGON Starring Frank Langella, Christina Applegate, Sets February 2017 Release Date

    [caption id="attachment_19190" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Youth in Oregon Youth in Oregon[/caption] Youth in Oregon, directed by Joel David Moore will be released in 2017 via Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films.  The film will be released in U.S. theaters and VOD on February 3, 2017. Youth in Oregon, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is set to screen at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival, stars Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place, Josh Lucas, Nicola Peltz and Alex Shaffer. “This beautiful film tackles one of humanity’s most universal dilemmas, told through the lens of an estranged, intimacy-parched family that has to bear the burden of a patriarch’s decision to leave them all behind,” Moore said of the drama. Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place and Josh Lucas star in this moving family road trip dramedy. Raymond Engersoll (Langella) aims to reach Oregon in time for an appointment to legally end his life under the state’s laws, but his headstrong daughter (Applegate) sends her unwilling husband (Crudup) along for the ride, convinced they can talk him out of the scheme before he reaches his destination. Along the way Engersoll works to reconcile with his estranged son (Lucas) and convince his tuned-out wife (Place) of the veracity of his purpose. Tribeca Film Festival    

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  • From Seoul to NYC – Architecture & Design Film Festival Announces Lineup of Events for 2017

    Architecture & Design Film Festival The Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) will host its most extensive programming yet in 2017, with events around the country and the globe, culminating with the ninth edition of its main festival in NYC from November 1 to 5 at Cinépolis Chelsea. With a diverse range of feature-length and short films expertly curated by festival Director Kyle Bergman, ADFF 2017 puts architecture and design films on the big screen and brings together industry professionals and fans alike. Festival Director Kyle Bergman says, “We are thrilled to be expanding ADFF’s programming to new destinations across the US and the world. The success of last year’s festival reminds us that great film has the power to bring people together to form new ideas, gain new perspective, and share common experiences. We are looking forward to another great year of architecture and design on the big screen.” 2017 Locations and Dates for the Architecture & Design Film Festival: ADFF: Seoul January 10 – February 20 Presented by the Hyundai Card Design Library, ADFF will host five weeks of film screenings drawn from ADFF’s archive of past films. Each of the five weeks will feature films centered on one of the following themes: Pritzker Prize Winners, Residential Architecture, My Father Was an Architect, Women in Architecture, and Building Community. ADFF: Seoul provides the opportunity for ADFF to tap into the range of incredible films it has shown in the past and share them in the beautifully design Hyundai Card Design Library. http://library.hyundaicard.com ADFF Screening at A/D/O Opening Event January 27- 29 ADFF Screening at A/D/O Design Festival January 27- 29, 2017 ADFF has partnered with The Design Academy at A/D/O as part of its inaugural program, a three-day festival entitled “Utopia vs. Dystopia: Designing our Imagined Futures.” Feature length films highlighting the inaugural program’s theme will be screened on Sunday, January 29 and short films will be shown throughout the weekend. For more information and tickets, visit https://a-d-o.com. ADFF Tulsa April 20 – 23 ADFF has partnered with the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture as it heads to the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma for the first time. A selection of films will play at the Circle Cinema, an historic 1928 theater and art gallery. Tulsa’s rich architectural history dates back to the 1920s and includes a wealth of mid-century structures and several buildings by Bruce Goff. The final lineup of films will be announced in February. ADFF New Orleans August 24 – 27 The second annual ADFF New Orleans, presented with the Louisiana Architecture Foundation, will again take place at the Broad Theatre in Tremé, a historic section of the city. The festival’s return highlights a deep interest in the intersection of architecture and film in historic New Orleans. The full lineup of films will be announced in July. ADFF New York – Short Films Walk October 11 A favorite every year, the fourth annual Short Films Walk brings crowds of ADFF fans to SoHo’s Design District, where attendees move from showroom to showroom, sipping drinks and previewing films from the upcoming ADFF New York. This past year’s Short Films Walk brought over 2,000 attendees to watch 30 films spread across 14 showrooms. Participating showrooms will be announced in 2017. ADFF New York November 1 – 5 The ninth edition of ADFF’s central festival kicks off on November 1st at the centrally located Cinépolis Chelsea for a four-day weekend of short and feature films. Festival director Kyle Bergman has already secured several interesting films and this year’s festival is sure to bring an increasingly fascinating depth of topics, stories, filmmakers, and architects to the forefront. Film submission closes July 17, 2017.

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  • 2017 Satellite Awards: LA LA LAND and MANCHESTER by the Sea Win Best Film

    [caption id="attachment_18874" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]La La Land La La Land[/caption] Here are the winners of the International Press Academy’s 21st Annual Satellite Awards, La La Land and Manchester by the Sea won the award for Best Film.  La La Land was the big winner of the night, winning in addition to the aforementioned Best Film, also grabbed the awards for Original Score, Original Song and ‘Art Direction and Production Design’. Special Achievement Award Recipients Mary Pickford Award Edward James Olmos Tesla Award John Toll Auteur Award Tom Ford Humanitarian Award Patrick Stewart Best First Feature: Russudan Glurjidze “House of Others” Best Ensemble: Motion Picture Hidden Figures Best Ensemble: Television Outlander MOTION PICTURES Actress in a Motion Picture (major and independent) Ruth Negga Loving Focus Features Isabelle Huppert Elle Sony Picture Classics Actor in a Motion Picture (major and independent) Viggo Mortensen Captain Fantastic Bleecker Street Andrew Garfield Hacksaw Ridge Lionsgate Actress in a Supporting Role Naomi Harris Moonlight A24 Actor in a Supporting Role Jeff Bridges Hell or High Water CBS Films Motion Picture (major & independent) La La Land Lionsgate Manchester by the Sea Amazon/Roadside Attraction Motion Picture, International Film The Salesman Iran Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media My Life As a Zucchini GKIDS Motion Picture, Documentary 13th Netflix Director Kenneth Lonergan Manchester by the Sea Amazon/Roadside Attraction Screenplay, Original Barry Jenkins Moonlight A24 Screenplay, Adapted Kieran Fitzgerald, Oliver Stone Snowden Open Road Original Score Justin Hurwitz La La Land Lionsgate Original Song “City of Stars” La La Land Lionsgate Cinematography Bill Pope The Jungle Book Disney Visual Effects The Jungle Book Disney Film Editing John Gilbert Hacksaw Ridge Lionsgate Sound (Editing and Mixing) Hacksaw Ridge Lionsgate Art Direction and Production Design David Wasco La La Land Lionsgate Costume Design Madeline Fontaine Jackie Fox Searchlight TELEVISION Miniseries/Motion Picture Made for Television The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story FX Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Sarah Paulson The People v. O.J. Simpson:, FX Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television Bryan Cranston All the Way, HBO Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture made for Television (TIE) Olivia Colman The Night Manager, AMC Rhea Seehorn Better Call Saul, AMC Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture made for Television Ben Mendelsohn Bloodline, Netflix Television Series, Drama The Crown Netflix Television Series, Genre Outlander Starz Actress in a Series, Drama / Genre Evan Rachel Wood Westworld, HBO Actor in a Series, Drama / Genre Dominic West The Affair, Showtime Television Series, Comedy or Musical Silicon Valley HBO Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical Taylor Schilling Orange is the New Black, Netflix Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical William H. Macy Shameless, Showtime BLU-RAY DVD’S BEST OVERALL Outlander Starz YOUTH Zootopia Disney VIDEO GAMES SPORTS/RACING GAME NHL 17 EA ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME Dark Souls III From Software MOBILE GAME Mini Metro Dinosaur Polo Club

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  • 2017 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival Reveals Lineup; Opens with ON THE MAP

    [caption id="attachment_17236" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]ON THE MAP MK MOSHE DAYAN SHAKING HANDS WITH MACABBI TEL AVIV BASKETBALL PLAYER MOTTI AROESTI, AS AULCI PERRY & MIKY BERKOVITZ LOOK ON AT THE YAD ELIYAHI STADIUM. (ON THE MAP)[/caption] The 16th annual Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival will take place January 14 to 29, 2017 and will open with “On the Map,” the true story of the 1977 Israeli Maccabi Basketball team that made history by beating the Soviet Red Army team and winning their first European title. ” Highlights of the 2017 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival include a tribute to Kirk Douglas in honor of his 100th birthday and lifetime achievement in cinema and Jewish philanthropy. His 1953 film “The Juggler” about a Holocaust Survivor who immigrates to Israel. Other films include “The Women’s Balcony,” and “And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead,” a new documentary film by Billy Woodberry about black, Jewish Beat poet Bob Kaufman (1925-1986). 2017 LAS VEGAS JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM SCHEDULE: “On the Map” 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, Brenden Theatres in the Palms Casino Resort “The Juggler” 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, Adelson Educational Campus “The Women’s Balcony” 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, Cinemark Theatres in the South Point Hotel and Casino “And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead” 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, Nevada State College 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, Adelson Educational Campus “Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love” 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22, Adelson Educational Campus “Rock in the Red Zone” 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, UNLV, Alpha Epsilon Pi House “Aida’s Secrets” 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, Adelson Educational Campus “Wrestling Jerusalem” 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, Adelson Educational Campus

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  • Next American Masters Season to Kick Off with Exclusive U.S. Broadcast Premiere of BY SIDNEY LUMET

    [caption id="attachment_19177" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]By Sidney Lumet By Sidney Lumet[/caption] Prolific and versatile filmmaker Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) made 44 films in 50 years, earning the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement after four Oscar nominations. Considered a quintessential New York filmmaker, Lumet frequently used New York City’s urban mettle to infuse his films with a realism and intensity that kept audiences in suspense while prodding them to consider their own morality. In American Masters: By Sidney Lumet, he tells his own story in a never-before-seen interview shot in 2008 by late filmmaker Daniel Anker and producer Thane Rosenbaum. With candor, humor and grace, Lumet reveals what matters to him as an artist and as a human being. Launching Season 31, American Masters: By Sidney Lumet premieres nationwide Tuesday, January 3 at 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and features a new, exclusive interview with Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-nominated actor Treat Williams, who starred in Lumet’s Prince of the City, afterward. Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Nancy Buirski (Afternoon of a Faun, The Loving Story, Loving) weaves Lumet’s personal stories and commentary with scenes from his films to create a portrait of one of the most accomplished, influential and socially conscious directors in the history of cinema. Clips spanning his canon, from 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Prince of the City, The Verdict, and many more, reveal the spiritual and ethical lessons at the core of his work. Looking back over his career, Lumet speaks intimately about the experiences that informed his work, which he loved. His Depression-era, working-class Lower East Side beginnings as a child actor with his father in Yiddish theater, on Broadway, and his gradual transition to directing live TV, informed the stories he chose and his ability to translate important stage works into film, such as The Sea Gull, The Fugitive Kind and Long Day’s Journey into Night. In clips from these films, American Masters: By Sidney Lumet underscores Lumet’s own journey: his relationship with his father mirrored in Long Day’s Journey into Night, Daniel, Running on Empty and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Marching for workers’ rights in the 1930s, standing up to McCarthy-era blacklist interrogation and finding ways to employ his blacklisted friends, Lumet developed an appreciation for people who question authority. His movies often featured characters fighting for justice, standing up to the crowd and questioning personal responsibility. First and foremost a storyteller, Lumet’s strongly moral tales captured the dilemmas and concerns of a society struggling with essentials: how does one behave to others and to oneself? “Sidney Lumet started in theater, learned about directing in television and made a career in film,” said Michael Kantor, American Masters series executive producer. “His work is legendary, and Nancy Buirski and her team were able to pull insights from the 14-hour goldmine of an interview and couple them with Lumet’s remarkable work to create a deeply insightful master class for the ages.” “It was my job to distill what I felt were the crucial threads, the story Lumet most wanted to tell,” said Buirski. “What our film reveals is a man whose life experiences infused his movies with a sense of fairness and conscience, and whose strong moral code, conscious or not, found expression in his art.” By Sidney Lumet had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival and was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film will be available on digital video on demand and DVD/Blu-ray from FilmRise on January 9.

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  • Eve Ensler, Patricia Riggen, Regina K. Scully and David Oyelowo to be Honored at Athena Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_19173" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Eve Ensler, Patricia Riggen, Regina K. Scully and David Oyelowo Eve Ensler, Patricia Riggen, Regina K. Scully and David Oyelowo[/caption] Eve Ensler, Patricia Riggen, Regina K. Scully and David Oyelowo will be honored at the 2017 Athena Film Festival (AFF), set to run February 9 to 12, 2017, at Barnard College in New York City.  Eve Ensler is a Tony Award®-winning playwright, activist, performer and author; Patricia Riggen is a director, producer and screenwriter ; and Regina K. Scully is an Emmy Award®-winning producer, media activist and social entrepreneur. Actor and producer David Oyelowo will receive the Athena Leading Man Award. The Athena Film Festival celebrates the leadership and creative accomplishments of trailblazers in the entertainment industry who continue to break boundaries. The festival showcases films about powerful and courageous women leaders in real life and the fictional world; it is a weekend dedicated to elevating female voices and stories to inspire and empower a new generation of filmmakers and individuals. Previous Athena Film Festival awardees include Jodie Foster, Ava DuVernay, Mira Nair, Diablo Cody, Kasi Lemmons, Karyn Kusama, Callie Khouri, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Sheila Nevins, Julie Taymor, Sherry Lansing and Gale Anne Hurd, among others. “Our 2017 Athena Film Festival honorees celebrate an incredible group of people whose work promotes the advancement of women in film,” said Kathryn Kolbert, co-founder of the Athena Film Festival and the Constance Hess Williams ‘66 Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College. “We are grateful to be giving our second Athena Leading Man Award to David Oyelowo. We feel it is crucial to highlight the men who support women in the industry.” “We are thrilled to highlight four individuals who are shining examples of empowering women in the industry and are role models in their fields,” said Melissa Silverstein, Athena Film Festival artistic director co-founder and and founder of Women and Hollywood. “We are delighted to add these names to the festival’s prestigious list of honorees, which shines a spotlight on the remarkable progress, and the ongoing battles of women in the entertainment industry.”

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  • Animated Film SGT. STUBBY: AN AMERICAN HERO Sets April 2018 Release Date

    [caption id="attachment_19168" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero[/caption] Fun Academy™ Motion Pictures, an innovator in educational entertainment for digital cinemas, has set an April 13, 2018 U.S. release date for “Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero,” a new animated feature based on the life and times of the United States Army’s most decorated dog. The film is produced by Labyrinth Media & Publishing, Ltd. with animation by Mikros Image, a Technicolor company, from their studios in Paris and Montreal. Fun Academy will distribute the film throughout North America. Academy Award® nominees Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech,” “Harry Potter” franchise) and Gérard Depardieu (“The Life of Pi”) will star, with more voice cast to be announced. The film will also feature a score by award-winning composer Patrick Doyle (“Brave,” “Cinderella”). Production of “Sgt. Stubby” is led by Laurent Rodon and Richard Lanni, who co-wrote the original screenplay with Mike Stokey. César Award-nominated filmmaker Bibo Bergeron (“Shark Tale”) will serve as director of story and 2016 Annie Award nominee Céline Desrumaux (“The Little Prince”) as production designer. “Sgt. Stubby” tells the incredible true story of a stray dog and the bond he forged with the doughboys of the 26th “Yankee” Division at the onset of America’s entry into World War I. As writer and executive producer Richard Lanni explains, “2018 marks the 100th anniversary of American involvement in the WWI, leading up to the armistice in November. Our film will be part of the global conversation about the Great War and remembering those who served.” After being adopted off the streets by Private Robert Conroy, Stubby saved hundreds of lives by sounding the alarm for incoming attacks and catching an enemy spy in the trenches. For his valorous actions, Stubby was the first dog to be promoted in U.S. Army history.

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  • First Wave of Films Announced for 2017 Atlanta Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_19166" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]No Light and No Land Anywhere No Light and No Land Anywhere[/caption] The first slate of programming, comprising feature length and short films, narratives, documentaries, pilot episodes, music videos, animation, puppetry, experimental and virtual reality has been revealed for the upcoming 41st Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF). “We are really excited to release a first wave of films that represents every category of our festival programming,” said ATLFS Executive Director Christopher Escobar. “ATLFF isn’t just one thing, and by including short films, pilots and virtual reality alongside features, we are presenting a greater picture of what to expect this year.” This group of fourteen films represents the first selections out of a new ATLFF record of 6,085 submissions. Hailing from Austria, Brazil, China, France, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and USA, these films showcase a tremendously diverse swath of work, both artistically and geographically. Among the feature films represented, themes range from Iranian transgender rights in “Cold Breath” to poverty-stricken Beyoncé super-fans from Brazil in “Waiting for B.” The Tunisian documentary short “El Hara” was co-directed by ATLFF ‘15 alum Mo Scarpelli, who saw great success with her debut film “Frame by Frame.” Famed Japanese animator Keiichi Tanaami created “The Laughing Spider” using inspiration from his childhood memories of air-raids. Virtual reality short film “Traces” explores memory loss and reconstruction by placing the viewer inside the mind of a woman with Alzheimer’s. These films will be joined by over 150 others for the 2017 Atlanta Film Festival, taking place March 24 through April 2, 2017. Narrative Feature Cold Breath (دم سرد) — directed by Abbas Raziji Iran, 2016, Persian, 83 minutes Maryam has just turned 30-years-old. She was born as a girl but she passed through puberty like a boy. In the way of love and subsistence, she has tried hard everyday to live just like a normal man. No Light and No Land Anywhere — directed by Amber Sealey USA, 2016, English, 75 minutes Grieving her mother’s death and her own failing marriage, Lexi boards a plane from London to Los Angeles in search of the estranged father who abandoned her when she was three-years-old. Based out of a seedy Hollywood motel, she follows a tenuous trail of breadcrumbs, beginning with his aging former in-laws, collecting numbers and addresses in the hopes that one will lead to her father. Along the way, she establishes other unexpected connections: her father’s ailing former second wife, her bitter half-sister Tanya and her caregiver girlfriend, and two local barflies. Documentary Feature Black Memorabilia — directed by Chico Colvard USA/China, 2017, English/Chinese, 62 minutes At the intersection of international commerce, racial identity, and historical narrative, BLACK MEMORABILIA follows the propagation of demeaning representations of African Americans. From industrial China to the rural American south to contemporary Brooklyn, the viewer observes people and places that reproduce, consume and reclaim black memorabilia. This feature documentary takes us on a journey into the material culture of racialized artifacts and confronts us with the incendiary features of these objects. Waiting for B. — directed by Paulo Cesar Toledo, Abigail Spindel Brazil, 2016, Portuguese, 72 minutes WAITING FOR B. takes the viewer on a journey with young Beyoncé super-fans who, lacking the money to buy their way to the front, camped out for two months in order to be closer to the front of the stage. A story about victims of hype, a community of hope, and the contradictions of humility and vanity at the heart of diva worship. Narrative Short Submarine — directed by Mounia Akl Lebanon, 2016, Arabic, 21 minutes Under the imminent threat of Lebanon’s garbage crisis, Hala—a wild child inside of a woman—is the only one to refuse evacuation, clinging to whatever remains of home. They Charge For the Sun — directed by Terence Nance USA, 2016, English, 17 minutes In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young black girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark. Documentary Short El Hara — directed by Margaux Fitoussi, Mo Scarpelli Tunisia/France, 2016, French, 16 minutes EL HARA poetically explores how the places we grow up in haunt who we become, forever. Se Shin Sa — directed by Eunhye Hong Kim USA, 2016, Korean, 11 minutes A hybrid of fiction and documentary, SE SHIN SA follows an undocumented woman living and working as a masseuse in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Animated Short The Laughing Spider — directed by Keiichi Tanaami Japan, 2016, Japanese, 7 minutes A psychedelic fantasmagoria from Japan’s greatest veteran animator, based on childhood memories of air-raids. Virtual Reality Short Traces — directed by Gabriela Arp USA, 2016, English, 8 minutes TRACES is a cinematic virtual reality film exploring the meaning of memory for one woman living with Alzheimer’s disease. Puppetry Short Good Night (Gute Nacht) — directed by Henning Backhaus Austria, 2016, German, 7 minutes A sock puppet strolls through niveous winter worlds; the dark, expressionist black-and-white imagery oscillating between comedy and tragedy. Soon the protagonist will choose to end his life, while the lonesome journey by Schubert has only just begun. Experimental Short Forged From the Love of Liberty — directed by Vashti Harrison Trinidad and Tobago/USA, 2016, English, 5 minutes A visual poem about a family’s curse, and two superstitions surround it. Pilot Episode The Benefits of Gusbandry — directed by Alicia J. Rose USA, 2016, English, 9 minutes One woman, one man, a lot of weed, a little crying and NO sexual attraction whatsoever. Love is so gay. Music Video “Left & Right” by Pazes — directed by Camila Lima Brazil, 2016, 3 minutes Left and right. Fire and water. Night and day. Heavy and light. Masculine and feminine. From a divided individual in search of its whole.

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