• Palm Springs International Film Festival Announces Film Eligible for Cine Latino Award at 2013 Festival

     

    [caption id="attachment_3053" align="alignnone" width="550"]La Playa D. C.[/caption]

    The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival(PSIFF) announced the new Cine Latino Award, which will be presented to the best Iberoamerican film screening at the Festival scheduled to run January 3-14, 2013.  Sponsored by the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) and the University of Guadalajara Foundation/USA, the winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.  

    This year’s eligible films are:

    7 Boxes (Paraguay), Director: Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori

    After Lucia (Mexico), Director: Michel Franco

    Beauty (Argentina), Director: Daniela Seggiaro

    Blancanieves (Spain/France), Director: Pablo Berger

    Checkmate (Dominican Republic), Director: José María Cabral

    Clandestine Childhood (Argentina/Brazil/Spain), Director: Benjamín Ávila

    The Cleaner (Peru), Director: Adrian Saba

    The Clown (Brazil), Director: Selton Mello

    The Dead Man and Being Happy (Spain), Director: Javier Rebollo

    Drought (Mexico), Director: Everardo González

    The Girl (USA/Mexico), Director: David Riker

    Here and There (Spain/USA/Mexico), Director: Antonio Méndez Esparza

    La Playa D. C. (Colombia/Brazil/France), Director: Juan Andrés Arango García

    Multiple Visions (The Crazy Machine) (Mexico/France/Spain), Director: Emilio Maillé

    The Passion of Michelangelo (Chile/France), Director: Esteban Larraín

    Sadourni’s Butterflies (Argentina), Director: Darío Nardi

    The Sleeping Voice (Spain), Director: Benito Zambrano

    The Snitch Cartel (Colombia), Director: Carlos Moreno

    Tabu (Portugal/Brazil/France/Germany), Director: Miguel Gomes

    The End (Spain), Director: Jorge Torregrossa

    Una Noche (Cuba/UK/USA), Director: Lucy Mulloy

    White Elephant (Argentina/Spain/France), Director: Pablo Trapero

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  • Beasts of the Southern Wild Among 2013 Producers Guild Awards Nominees

    [caption id="attachment_2324" align="alignnone" width="550"]Beasts of the Southern Wild[/caption]

    The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture nominations for the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The categories include: The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures and The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures. The documentary film category and other television category nominations were already announced by the Guild in November 2012.

    All 2013 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 26th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also present special honors to Bob and Harvey Weinstein (Milestone Award), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner(David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), J.J. Abrams (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Russell Simmons (Visionary Award) and BULLY (Stanley Kramer Award).

    The 2013 Producers Guild nominated films are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers’ names listed for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and are not necessarily the proper order of credits.

    The theatrical motion picture nominees are:

     The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

    “Argo” (Warner Bros.)
    Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov

    “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
    Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn

    “Django Unchained” (The Weinstein Company)
    Producers: Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher

    “Les Misérables” (Universal Pictures)
    Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh

    Life of Pi” (Fox 2000 Pictures)
    Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark

    “Lincoln” (Touchstone Pictures)
    Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

    “Moonrise Kingdom” (Focus Features)
    Producers: Wes Anderson & Scott Rudin, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales

    “Silver Linings Playbook” (The Weinstein Company)
    Producers: Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon

    “Skyfall” (MGM/Columbia Pictures)
    Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson

    “Zero Dark Thirty” (Columbia Pictures)
    Producers: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Megan Ellison

    The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

    “Brave” (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
    Producer: Katherine Sarafian

    “Frankenweenie” (Walt Disney Pictures)
    Producers: Allison Abbate, Tim Burton

    “ParaNorman” (Focus Features)
    Producers: Travis Knight, Arianne Sutner

    “Rise of the Guardians” (Paramount Pictures)
    Producers: Nancy Bernstein, Christina Steinberg

    “Wreck-It Ralph” (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
    Producer: Clark Spencer 

    The Producers Guild of America earlier announced the Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture, Television Series and Non-Fiction Television Nominations; the following list includes complete producer credits.

    The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

    “A People Uncounted” (Urbinder Films)
    Producers: Marc Swenker, Aaron Yeger

    “The Gatekeepers” (Sony Pictures Classics)
    Producers: Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky, Dror Moreh

    “The Island President” (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
    Producers: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen

    “The Other Dream Team” (The Film Arcade)
    Producers: Marius Markevicius, Jon Weinbach

    “Searching For Sugar Man” (Sony Pictures Classics)
    Producers: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

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  • Academy Extends Oscar Nominations Voting Period to January 4

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apparently hit a snafu with the introduction of online balloting and will extended the deadline for members to vote for Oscar nominations by one day to Friday, January 4, 2013, 5.p.m. PT.  (The original date was Thursday, January 3, 5 p.m. PT).  Members may vote online or submit a paper ballot.  Any votes received after the deadline will not be counted.

    “By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible,” said Ric Robertson, Academy COO.  “We’re grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process.” 

    The 85th Academy Awards® nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, and the Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. 

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  • Review: Django Unchained

     

    by Cecily Witcher

    Django Unchained is a shootem-up-bang-bang western-style movie that strives hard to convey the feeling of being in the 1800’s during the period when slavery was the law of the land in some parts of the USA. The film is set in the South where a slave, Django, (played by Jamie Foxx) ends up partnering with Dr.King Schultz, a white German bounty hunter (played by Christoph Waltz.) Shultz is looking for the Brittle Brothers as they have a huge bounty on their head and are wanted “Dead or Alive.” Django promises Schultz that he will lead him to the brothers if he will help him find his wife, a German-speaking slave named Broomhilda (played by Kerry Washington) from whom he was separated during a slave trade.

    Schultz teaches Django how to be a precise marksman and they start their journey to find the Brittle Brothers and Broomhilda. Their hunt for the brothers was successful. The search for Broomhilda leads them to a plantation known as “Candy Land.” The master of Candy Land, Calvin Candie is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Schultz and Django are welcomed to the plantation with the understanding that they are offering to buy a nigger to fight “kind of like dog fighting” but they used the slaves instead as a form of “entertainment”. Calvin Candie couldn’t resist that type of offer and the scheme to buy a nigger to fight and then include Broomhilda in the package would’ve went off without a hitch until a loyal house slave, Stephen (Samuel Jackson) who had been with the plantation for years told Calvin Candie that he was getting conned by a nigger. He told him that they were not interested in buying a fighting nigger; they came for the gal Broomhilda. This infuriated Calvin Candie and he forced Django and Schultz to pay $12,000 for Broomhilda or he was going to kill her right there, so they paid up and Broomhilda freedom papers were drawn up and signed. As a final condition, Calvin insisted that Schultz shake his hand to seal the deal before he would give him her emancipation papers. Schultz declined, but Calvin insisted and finally, Schultz acted as if he was going to shake Calvin’s hand and shot him directly in the chest. This started a chain of more bloody events with tons of shooting, nigger calling, explosions and more blood.

    If you want to know if Django was able to rescue Broomhilda since Schultz didn’t shake Calvin Candi’s hand and Calvin still held her freedom papers, or even if Django, Schultz and Broomhilda survived the shootout following the killing of Calvin Candi, you will have to go check out the film.

    This film is rated R and for very good reason. There is so much violence, bloodshed and every other word is nigger. I literally had a nightmare when I went to bed that night. So I will say this film is not for the squeamish. Over all I give it 2 stars out of 5 

    Rated: R, 2 hr. 46 min.

    Western, Drama

    Directed By: Quentin Tarantino

    Written By: Quentin Tarantino

    In Theaters: Dec 25, 2012 Wide

    The Weinstein Co.

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  • Rome Film Festival to Honor Director Quentin Tarantino

    The 7th Rome Film Festival (Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma) will honor director Quentin Tarantino with the Career Achievement Award. The American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, winner of an Oscar® for Pulp Fiction, the author of Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill:Vol.1, Kill Bill:Vol.2 and Inglourious Basterds, will receive the award on January 4th on the occasion of the gala screening of the new film he has written and directed, Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo Di Caprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington. The celebrated film-composer Ennio Morricone will be presenting the award to the director. 

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  • Isabella Rossellini, Hélio Oiticica And Richard Foreman In The Forum Expanded Program at 2013 Berlin International Film Festival

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    [caption id="attachment_3045" align="alignnone" width="550"]Hélio Oiticica by Cesar Oiticica Filho[/caption]

    The 8th Forum Expanded film program of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival will feature the work of Isabella Rossellini, Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, and Richard Foreman. Isabella Rossellini returns to the festival to showcase her new work,  Mammas, described as the continuation of the Green Porno series of short films, which she presented at the Berlinale in 2008. Once again, the actress and director takes on a broad range of different animal roles – this time round in order to explore the maternal instincts of different species. 

    Another key focus of this year’s Forum Expanded program is the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, who died in 1980. The festival will present the film Hélio Oiticica, a documentary by Cesar Oiticica Filho, the artist’s nephew and curator for his estate. Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, the co-curator of this section of the program, presents a selection of historical Super 8 film material with and by Oiticica.

    Richard Foreman is another guest at this year’s Forum Expanded. The founder of the legendary New York Ontological Hysteric Theatre returns to the big screen for the first time in over 30 years with his film Once Every Day. The piece is edited together from loops, ellipses and fragments to form a congenial cinematic realization of his unique approach to theatew and will be receiving its European premiere at HAU Hebbel am Ufer.

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  • 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival to Screen Foreign Language Oscar Shortlist and Canadian Films

    [caption id="attachment_3043" align="alignnone" width="550"]War Witch[/caption]

    The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will screen eight of the nine films selected to advance in the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards® and in partnership with Telefilm Canada will screen 12 Canadian features.  The 24th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is scheduled from January 3-14, 2013.

    The foreign language films on the Oscar shortlist, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

    Amour (Austria), Director Michael Haneke
    War Witch (Canada), Director Kim Nguyen
    A Royal Affair (Denmark), Director Nikolaj Arcel
    The Intouchables (France),Director Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
    The Deep (Iceland), Director Baltasar Kormákur
    Kon-Tiki (Norway), Director Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
    Beyond the Hills (Romania), Director Christian Mungiu
    Sister (Switzerland), Director Ursula Meier

    The Canadian film line-up includes: 

    Camion (Canada) – Refreshingly honest and precisely observed, this Quebecois drama examines the lives of a trucker and his two estranged sons after the former is involved in a terrible crash.  Director: Rafaël Ouellet. Cast: Julien Poulin, Patrice Dubois, Stéphane Breton, Jacob Tierney, Noemie Godin-Vigneau.

    The End of Time (Canada/Switzerland) – A meditative, free-associative but entirely engrossing contemplation of the nature of time by the innovative non-fiction filmmaker Peter Mettler. Director: Peter Mettler. Cast: George Mikenberg, Jack Thompson, Richie Hawtin, Rajeev Agrawal, Julia Mettler.

    The Final Member (Canada/Iceland/Italy/USA) – Forget Hollywood, the funniest comedy of the year may be this documentary about the Icelandic Phallological Museum.  That’s right, a penis museum.  Join “Siggi” Hjartarson on his quest to find the one thing that will make his museum complete – a human penis. Director: Jonah Bekhor, Zach Math.

    The Fruit Hunters (Canada) – Environmental docs come in all shapes and sizes, but you won’t have seen any as appetizing as this sensual, seductive tribute to nature’s sweetest bounty.  Join Bill Pullman and the fruit detectives in their quest for a wider world of taste sensation. Director: Yung Chang. Cast: Bill Pullman.  US Ppremiere.

    Inch’Allah (Canada) – Every day young Canadian obstetrician Chloe crosses the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, fraternizing with locals on both sides of the border but increasingly pushed towards taking a stand of her own.  A thoughtful, humane take on the Israel/Palestine divide. Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.Cast: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Sivan Levy, Yousef Sweid. International Premiere.

    Inescapable (Canada/South Africa) – Rubba Nadda follows her hit Cairo Time with this timely thriller about a father returning to Syria to try to find his missing daughter. Director: Ruba Nadda. Cast: Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson, Oded Fehr, Saad Siddiqui. International Premiere.

    Laurence Anyways (Canada/France) – Xavier Dolan’s terrifically stylish love story is set in 1990s Montreal and stars Melvil Poupaud as a transgender man whose decade-long relationship with his lover Frédérique makes for a dazzling and entertaining mini-epic. Director: Xavier Dolan. Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye, Monia Chokri.

    Margarita (Canada) – A cash-strapped middle-class Toronto family reluctantly fires their Mexican-born nanny Margarita, only to discover just how indispensable she really is.  Unfortunately she is also illegal, which makes everything that much stickier in this quirky lesbian-themed comedy-drama. Director: Laurie Colbert, Dominique Cardona. Cast: Nicola Correia Damude, Patrick McKenna, Christine Horne, Claire Lautier, Maya Ritter, Marco Grazzini.

    Midnight’s Children (Canada/UK) – Salman Rushdie adapts his own monumental novel – a picaresque that doubles as a history of modern India – into a rich, sprawling, unruly movie, full of romance, satire, magic and anger. Director:  Deepa Mehta. Cast: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Rahul Bose, Ronit Roy, Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan, Charles Dance.

    Molly Maxwell (Canada) – Molly Maxwell is a precocious 16-year-old who attends an alternative school where every student is perceived to be a prodigy. Molly develops a close relationship with a young teacher who opens her world but the relationship potentially threatens her future. Director: Sara St. Onge. Cast: Lola Tash, Charlie Carrick, Krista Bridges, Rob Stewart. World Premiere.

    Still (Canada) – An exquisite love story wrapped in a classic tale of modernity versus tradition. James Cromwell plays a farmer who is determined to provide a comfortable home for his ailing wife and is confronted by the realities of their situation. Director: Michael McGowan. Cast: James Cromwell, Genevieve Bujold, Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart. US Premiere.

    War Witch (Canada) – Canada’s Foreign Language Oscar submission, this award-winning, harrowing tale of a young African girl’s kidnap by rebel soldiers features an astonishing performance by its non-professional lead.  Punctuated with moments of magic and wonder, this is a powerful testament to human resilience in the darkest of times. Director: Kim Nguyen. Cast: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Ralph Prosper, Mizinga Mwinga.

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  • KOCH, documentary about NYC Mayor Ed Koch opens in NYC on February 1 and LA on March 1

    KOCH, a documentary by Neil Barsky chronicling the former NYC Mayor Ed Koch opens in NYC on February 1 and in Los Angeles on March 1.  The film had its World Premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and will have its West Coast Premiere at the 2013 Palm Springs Film Festival
     
    Former Mayor Ed Koch is described as the quintessential New Yorker. Still ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, the now 88-year-old Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. 

    With KOCH, first-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky crafts what is described as an intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the town he helped transform. The tumult of his three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election; an infamous 1980 transit strike; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing renewal initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, KOCH thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city in a time of upheaval and reinvention. 

    KOCH is also described as a beautiful documentary examining one man’s fascinating journey into rehabilitating the very unhealthy city of New York in the 1980s.  Sometime stubborn and unapologetic, Koch also opens the door to his much-speculated-about private life, which he doesn’t mind being asked about, so long you don’t mind being told to mind your own business. With his trademark greeting “How I’m Doin, ’’ his combative energy and his charming wit, Ed Koch makes for the perfect documentary subject. Says director Neil Barsky: “Making a documentary about Ed Koch was an easy call. I cannot think of a New Yorker as popular or as polarizing. Ed Koch’s story is in many ways the story of the city.” 

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  • Race For Foreign Language Film Oscar Narrowed to 9 Films

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    [caption id="attachment_3039" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Intouchables[/caption]

    Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. Seventy-one films had originally qualified in the category.

    The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

         Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke, director; 
         Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen, director;
         Chile, “No,” Pablo Larraín, director;
         Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel, director;
         France, “The Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
         Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Kormákur, director;
         Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
         Romania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu, director;
         Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier, director.

    The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, and the Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. 

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  • Taye Diggs, Melissa George, Julia Stiles Among Actors Featured in 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Special Screenings

    Slamdance announced their Special Screenings Program for the 19th Annual Slamdance Film Festival and the official launch of the Slam Collective. The Special Screenings Program presents a variety of films featuring cast members Taye Diggs, Melissa George, Julia Stiles, Sean Young, Larry Fessenden, Mike Epps, Sanaa Lathan, and Forest Whitaker, among others.

    One of this year’s Special Screening selections, Jug Face, was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2011 Slamdance Screenwriting & Teleplay Competition. The Slam Collective features seven Slamdance filmmakers from five continents coming together to make I Want To Be An American, Slamdance’s first documentary feature. In the spirit of the Surrealist parlor game of chance Exquisite Corpse, each filmmaker makes a documentary short film based on imagery forwarded on by the previous filmmaker in the chain. The composite story forms a global independent filmmaking experience. The Slam Collective will World Premiere at Slamdance Film Festival, January 21st, 2013 and then online.

    The 2013 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 18 – 24, 2013 in Park City, Utah, at the Treasure Mountain Inn: 255 Main Street, Park City, UT 84060.
     
    SPECIAL SCREENINGS PROGRAM:
    Between Us
    Director: Dan Mirvish, Screenwriters: Joe Hortua & Dan
    Mirvish
    (USA)
    In this darkly comedic drama based on a hit Off-Broadway play, twocouples reunite over the course of two volatile evenings where anything can happen.
    Cast: Taye Diggs, Melissa George, David Harbour, Julia Stiles
     
    Jug Face
    Director & Screenwriter: Chad Crawford Kinkle
    (USA) World Premiere 
    Teen, pregnant with her brother’s child, tries to escape from a backwoods community when she discovers that she must sacrifice herself to a creature in a pit in this dramatic horror offering.
    Cast: Lauren Ashley Carter, Sean Bridgers, Sean Young, Larry Fessenden,Daniel Manche, Scott Hodges, Katie Groshong, Alex Maisus
     
    Vipaka
    Director: Philippe Caland, Screenwriter: Shintaro Shimosawa
    (USA) World Premiere 
    You reap what you sow.
    Cast: Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie, Mike Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Ariana Neal

    SLAM COLLECTIVE: I WANT TO BE AN AMERICAN
    (United States, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, India) World Premiere

    I Want To Be An American – Director: Dale Yudelman
    Stix, a 19-year-old youth has lived on the streets of Cape Town and the suburb of Manenburg all his life. The Americans he mentions are a notorious gang on the Cape Flats, but what Stix really wants is to see the world andAmerica someday.

    Clown In The Crowd – Director: Maya Newell
    Yani, a 29-year-old Peruvian refugee, leads a double life: part wife and mother, part clown.

    Aidee – Director: Dylan Verrechia
    The story of Aidee, a stripper living in Tijuana struggling relentlessly to provide her daughter with a good education and a better life.

    Suzanne Takes Me Down – Director: Q
    Through the course of one night, Suzanne, a transgender sex worker, walks the streets of Kolkata, confessing her dreams.

    Listen – Director: Monteith McCollum
    A story about man’s love affair with shortwave radio.

    All About Eve – Director: Peter Baxter
    Eve, an outgoing 12-year-old girl living in Hollywood, California is preparing to meet the world and life in the 21st Century.

    Rosa – Director: Daniel J. Harris
    Rosa is about a traditional wedding song in Cape Malay culture, now sung mostly at choral competitions.

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  • 2013 Palm Springs International Film Festival Announces Lineup of Opening, Closing Films, Film Premieres and Films From Emerging Directors

     [caption id="attachment_3036" align="alignnone" width="1020"]Blancanieves [/caption]

    The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) announced its complete line-up including Galas, Premieres and New Voices/New Visions.  The Festival will launch on Thursday, January 3 with a screening of the Foreign Language Oscar submission from Spain Blancanieves directed by Pablo Berger and wraps on Sunday, January 13 with the US premiere of Paul Andrew Williams’ Unfinished Song starring Terence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave.  180 films from 68 countries, including 61 premieres (3 world, 21 North American and 37 U.S.), will unspool at the Festival, running from January 3-14 in Palm Springs, California.

    GALAS
    The Festival will open with the screening of Blancanieves (Spain/France), the Best Foreign Language Oscar submission from Spain.  Directed by Pablo Berger, Blancanieves is the spectacular silent movie adaptation of Snow White, where the daughter of a famous bullfighter is mistreated by her wicked stepmother.  When she runs away and joins a band of dwarfs, her natural bullfighting talent is discovered, but her stepmother plots to bring her down.  The film stars Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Pere Ponce, Sofía Oria,  Macarena Garcia, Ángela Molina, José María Pou and  Inma Cuesta.  Berger will attend the film screening.

    Closing the Festival is The Weinstein Company’s Unfinished Song (UK), directed by Paul Andrew Williams and starring Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston and Anne Reid.  Marking its US premiere, the film is about a curmudgeonly pensioner who takes his ailing wife’s place in their unconventional local choir, with hilarious results.  Terence Stamp will attend the film’s screening.

    PREMIERES
    The Festival will offer a selection of 61 premieres of highly anticipated films, showcasing the diversity of international cinema (for a list of film descriptions, please see attached):

    World premieres include: Elephants (France), Molly Maxwell (Canada) and Smiling Through the Apocalypse – Esquire in the 60s (USA), a documentary featuring Gore Vidal and Nora Ephron.

    North American premieres include: 900 Days (Netherlands), Breakaway (Philippines), Crawl (France),The Daughter (Russia), Dreamers (France), Filmistaan (India), Goltzius and the Pelican Company (United Kingdom) starring F. Murray Abraham, The Hypnotist (Sweden) directed by Lasse Hallström, I Belong(Norway), Jews of Egypt (Egypt), Mental (Australia/USA) starring Toni Collette, Liev Schreiber and Anthony LaPaglia, Papadopoulos & Sons (UK/Greece), The Passion of Michelangelo (Chile/France),Playground Chronicles (France), Purge (Finland/Estonia), Sadourni’s Butterflies (Argentina), The Snitch Cartel (Colombia), The Third Half (Macedonia), Two Lives (Germany/Norway) starring Liv Ullmann, This Life – Some Must Die, So Others Can Live (Denmark), and Yema (Algeria/France)

    U.S. premieres include: 4Some (Czech Republic), 7 Boxes (Paraguay), Allez, Eddy!(Belgium/Luxembuorg/The Netherlands), Call Girl (Sweden), Caught in the Web (China), Children of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), The Color of the Chameleon (Bulgaria), The Deep (Iceland/Norway),Eagles (Israel), Emperor (Japan/USA) directed by Peter Webber and starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones, The Fifth Season (Belgium/Netherlands/France), First Comes Love (USA), Flying Blind (UK), The Fruit Hunters (Canada) featuring Bill Pullman, Great Expectations (UK/USA) directed by Mike Newell and starring Jeremy Irvine, Holliday Grainger, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane and Sally Hawkins, Hannah Arendt (Germany) starring Barbara Sukowa and Janet McTeer, Imagine(Poland/France/Portugal), Inescapable (Canada/South Africa) starring Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson and Oded Fehr, Jump (Ireland/UK), Mold (Turkey), More Than Honey (Germany/Austria/Switzerland), Multiple Visions (The Crazy Machine) (Mexico/France/Spain), Mumbai’s King (India), Nuala (Ireland), Our Homeland (Japan), Satellite Boy (Australia), The Shine of Day (Austria), Shores of Hope (Germany),Soongava: Dance of the Orchids (Nepal/France), Still (Canada) starring James Cromwell and Campbell Scott, Suicide Shop (France/Canada/Belgium), Unfinished Song (UK), What is this Film Called Love? (UK),When Day Breaks (Serbia/Croatia/France), When I Saw You (Palestine), White Tiger (Russia) and A World Not Ours (UK/Lebanon/Denmark).

    NEW VOICES/NEW VISIONS
    The New Voices/New Visions Award will honor one of ten films from top emerging international directors marking their feature film debut at the Festival, with the additional criteria that the films selected are currently without US distribution.  The winner is selected by a jury of US distributors and will receive a $60,000 Panavision camera rental package.  Films selected for this year include:

    7 Boxes(Paraguay) – 17-year-old Victor is offered $100 to transport seven boxes across a crowded outdoor marketplace, but the contents are linked to a serious crime and a lot of money and soon he finds himself in an adrenaline-fuelled race to outrun cops and bad guys. Director: Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori. Cast: Celso Franco, Lali González, Víctor Sosa, Nico García.

    Beauty(Argentina) – An intimate and poetic evocation of the experience of a young girl from an indigenous tribe in northern Argentina working as a maid in a middle class home. Director: Daniela Seggiearo. Cast: Rosmeri Segundo, Sasa Sharet, Ximena Banus, Camila Romagnolo, Risabel Mendoza, Victor Hugo Carrizo.

    The Cleaner(Peru) – In the midst of a mysterious and deadly epidemic in Lima, Perù, a depressed and isolated man cleans up after the dying. When he takes in a frightened young boy who has lost his mother, he’s quietly transformed by the experience of caring for another human being. Director: Adrian Saba. Cast: Victor Prada.

    The Daughter(Russia) – A haunting crime drama with Dostoevskian overtones, set in provincial Russia where a serial killer is murdering teenage girls. It’s a beautifully shot, marvelously performed film about faith, hope and love. Director: Alexander  Kasatkin, Natalya Nazarova. Cast: Maria Smolnikova, Yana Osipova, Igor Mazepa, Oleg Tkachev, Vladimir Mishukov.

    I Belong(Norway) – A Norwegian tragicomedy about how people who mean well end up hurting one another, and how acting on integrity and feelings is seen as troublesome in a rationalist society. Director: Dag Johan Haugerud. Cast: Ane Dahl Torp, Anne Marit Jacobsen, Birgitte Larsen, Henriette Steestrup, Laila Goody, Ragnhild Hilt, Trine Wiggen.

    Mumbai’s King(India) – Slumdog Millionaire minus the millions, this unadorned, neo-realist peep into the lives of kids from the Mumbai slums serves as a tribute to their spirit and ability to live life to the fullest. Director: Manjeet Singh. Cast: Rahul Bairagi, Arbaaz Khan, Tejas Parvatkar, Dhanshree Jain, Aftab Khan, Salman Khan.

    Playground Chronicles(France) – Brahim Fritah conveys the magic of childhood through whimsical visuals in this comedic chronicle of 10-year-old Brahim’s adventures in the Parisian suburbs, circa 1980.  With charm to burn, its evocation of those last, best days of youth is warmly infectious. Director: Brahim Fritah. Cast: Yanis Bahloul, Rocco Campochiard, Vincent Rottiers, Anne Azoulay, Philippe Rebbot, Mostefa Djadjam, Dalila Ibnou Ennadre.

    Sadourni’s Butterflies(Argentina) – In this dazzling neo-silent black and white melodrama an ex-circus dwarf convicted of a crime of passion gets out of prison and tries to restart his life.  Falling in love with a fellow porn movie voice over artiste, he dreams of the operation that would make her attainable…  A thrilling, poetic love story like nothing you have seen before. DirectorL Dario Nardi. Cast: Christian Medrano, Antonella Costa, Nicola Costantino, Ale Sergi.

    Satellite Boy(Australia) – Stunningly shot in the Australian Outback, Catriona McKenzie’s deeply felt exploration of Aboriginal folkways focuses on a ten-year-old boy forced to rely on the wisdom imparted by his grandfather when he gets lost in the wilds. Director: Catriona McKenzie. Cast: David Gulpilil, Cameron Wallaby, Joseph Pedley, Rohanna Angus, Dean Daley-Jones.

    This Life – Some Must Die, So Others Can Live(Denmark) – Based on a true story, this authentic, moving tale of Danish resistance to Nazi occupation has rivaled Flame & Citron as a local box office sensation. Director: Anne-Grethe  Bjarup Riis. Cast: Jens Jørn Spottag, Bodil Jørgensen, Thomas Ernst, Marie Bach Hansen, Bjarne Henriksen, Anne Louise Hassing.

    Other Festival films with notable talent and directors include: Michael Haneke’s Amour (Austria); Leslie Zemeckis directs Bound By Flesh (USA); Bebe Neuwirth narrates Defiant Requiem (USA); Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Ashley Judd narrating A Fierce Green Fire (USA); Elle Fanning, Alessandro Nivola and Annette Benning in Ginger & Rosa (UK); Abbie Cornish in The Girl (USA/Mexico); Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne in I, Anna (UK/France/Germany); Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Alicia Witt in I Do(USA); Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp (USA) featuring Ice-T, Chris Rock, Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones;La Source (USA/Haiti) narrated by Don Cheadle; Love, Marilyn (USA) featuring Elizabeth Banks, Lindsay Lohan, Evan Rachel Wood, Ben Foster, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Viola Davis, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Burstyn, Adrien Brody, Marisa Tomei and Glenn Close; Jeff Bridges in A Place at the Table (USA); Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone (France/Belgium); and Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Julianna Marguiles and Alan Arkin in Stand Up Guys (USA).

     

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  • Ed Burns, Davis Guggenheim Among Jury Members for 2013 Sundance Film Festival

     

    Academy Award® winning director and producer Davis Guggenheim,  Ed Burns and  director Brett Morgen are among the 19 members of five juries awarding prizes at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Short Film Awards will be announced at a ceremony on January 22 at Park City’s Jupiter Bowl, with feature film awards announced at a separate ceremony on January 26.

    Members of the Alfred P. Sloan Jury will be announced in January.

    U.S. DOCUMENTARY JURY

    Liz Garbus
    Academy Award® nominated, Emmy® winning director Liz Garbus’ latest film,Love, Marilyn (Studiocanal), internationally opened as a Gala Premiere at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and was acquired by HBO for a 2013 debut. In 2011, Liz’s Bobby Fischer Against The World premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, earned an Emmy® nomination for Best Non-Fiction Special and won the prestigious UK Grierson Award for Best Cinema Documentary. Liz’s first documentary film, The Farm: Angola, USA, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, was awarded ten other festival and critics’ awards, and was nominated for an Oscar in 1998. Liz is also Executive Producer of the Academy Award® nominated film Street Fight, and Producer of the Academy Award® nominated short, Killing in the Name. Other credits include The Execution of Wanda Jean (Sundance, HBO); The Nazi Officer’s Wife, narrated by Susan Sarandon and Julia Ormond (A&E); Girlhood (Wellspring/TLC); Yo Soy Boricua!, Pa Que Tu Lo Sepas, directed by Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez (IFC); Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, Emmy® winner for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special in 2007;  and Shouting Fire: Stores from the Edge of Free Speech(Sundance, HBO). Liz graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University and is a Fellow of the Open Society’s Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture.

    Davis Guggenheim 
    Davis Guggenheim is a critically acclaimed, Academy Award®winning director and producer whose work includes Waiting for “Superman”, It Might Get Loud,the 2009 documentary featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, and An Inconvenient Truth, featuring former Vice President Al Gore, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2007. In 2008, Davis produced and directed President Barack Obama’s biographical film A Mother’s Promise, and most recently, The Road We’ve Travelled, a short film for Obama’s 2012 campaign. Davis has also directed many television series including Deadwood, NYPD Blueand 24.

    Gary Hustwit
    Gary Hustwit is an independent filmmaker based in New York and London. He worked with punk label SST Records in the late-1980s, ran the independent book publishing house Incommunicado Press during the 1990s, and was Vice President of the media website Salon.com in 2000. Hustwit has produced nine documentaries, beginning with I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, the 2002 film about the band Wilco. In 2007 he made his directorial debut with Helvetica, a documentary about graphic design and typography. The film marked the start of a design film trilogy, with Objectified, about product design, following in 2009. Urbanized, about the design of cities, premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Hustwit is a longtime advocate of self-distribution, direct audience engagement, and truly independent filmmaking.

    Brett Morgen
    Brett Morgen is a director and writer. His credits include Crossfire Hurricane(2012), 30 for 30: June 17, 1994 (2010), Chicago 10 (2007), Nimrod Nation(2007), The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002), and On the Ropes (1999). He is the recipient of several awards and honors including an Academy Award®nomination, the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary, the IDA Award for Best Feature, and two Peabody® Awards. He is currently working on the first authorized documentary about Kurt Cobain and in pre-production on When the Street Lights Go On, which will mark his feature dramatic debut.

    Diane Weyermann 
    Diane Weyermann is Participant Media’s Executive Vice President, Documentary Films, where she oversees such current projects as A Place At the Table andState 194, and earlier releases such as An Inconvenient Truth, Food, Inc., andWaiting for “Superman”. In 1996, she launched the Soros Documentary Fund, which later became the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund. Prior to working at Participant Media, Diane was the Director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program and Fund, where she was responsible for the Fund, two annual documentary film labs and worked closely with the Sundance Film Festival programming team on world documentaries.

    U.S. DRAMATIC JURY

    Ed Burns
    Ed Burns is an award-winning writer, director and actor. His debut film, The Brothers McMullen, premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury prize. The film, made on a budget of $25,000, went on to win “Best First Feature” at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards. Since then he has helped to expand upon the new model of digital distribution by making his filmPurple Violet the first feature to premiere exclusively on iTunes and successfully releasing his subsequent films, Nice Guy Johnny and Newlyweds,via Video on Demand. He recently premiered his 11th feature film as a writer, director and star, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to his work as a director, Burns as starred in such films asSaving Private Ryan and 27 Dresses. He was born in Woodside, Queens, and currently lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

    Wesley Morris
    Wesley Morris writes about movies, culture, and style in sports for Grantland. He won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for criticism for his film and culture writing for the Boston Globe. 

    Rodrigo Prieto
    Rodrigo Prieto is a cinematographer who was born in Mexico City. His feature work includes Sobrenatural, which garnered him Mexico’s Ariel Award in 1996 (Mexico’s Academy Award), and Un Embrujo (Under A Spell) which took the Concha de Plata for best cinematography at the San Sebastian Film Festival, in addition to another Ariel Award. Amores perros brought him to the attention of the world film community. His subsequent films as cinematographer have included Frida, for which he was an ASC Award nominee, 8 Mile, 25th Hour; and the award-winning 21 Grams. For his work on Brokeback Mountain, Rodrigo was nominated for an Academy Award®, a BAFTA Award, and an American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Award. He also worked on Babel, which earned him his second consecutive BAFTA Award nomination, and Biutiful. After this, he travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai with Ang Lee to shoot Lust, Caution, which earned a Golden Osella award for Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival. This film was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2008. His most recent works include working with director Francis Lawrence on Water for Elephants, Cameron Crowe on We Bought a Zoo, and Ben Affleck on Argo. He is currently working with Martin Scorsese on Wolf of Wall Street.

    Tom Rothman
    Tom is one of the most experienced executives in the modern media business. He recently departed as Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment after eighteen years, second in tenure only to Darryl Zanuck in Fox’s history. Previously, he worked at the Goldwyn Company, Columbia, and as a lawyer and independent producer. In his era, Fox Films earned over $30 billion in box office, more than 150 Oscar nominations, three Best Picture Awards, and include the two highest grossing films ever. He founded Fox Searchlight and has overseen the company throughout its existence. A pioneer in Independent Film, in 1986 he co-produced Jim Jarmusch’s Down by Law and Robert Frank’s Candy Mountain. He is an emeritus director of Sundance Institute and was present at its very first film festival.

    Clare Stewart 
    Clare Stewart is Head of Exhibition at the BFI (British Film Institute) where she commenced in October 2011. She is responsible for the cultural and commercial performance of BFI Southbank and BFI Festivals including the BFI London Film Festival of which she is Festival Director. Previously, Clare’s 17-year programming career has encompassed leadership roles as Festival Director, Sydney Film Festival (2006-2011) and the inaugural Head of Film Programs at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne (2002-2006) as well as various roles at the Australian Film Institute (1996-2001), including Exhibition Manager, and programmer and Committee Member of the Melbourne Cinémathèque (1995-2002).

    WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY JURY

    Sean Farnel
    Sean Farnel specializes in festivals and digital distribution, primarily for creative documentary. Prior to working independently, he was Director of Programming at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, market and conference. He started his career at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he became a staff Programmer specializing in documentary and learning programs. Sean is a graduate of Cinema Studies from one of Canada’s most respected film schools, Concordia University. Upon graduation he received the Motion Picture Foundation of Canada Award for Most Outstanding Achievement.

    Robert Hawk
    Robert Hawk is a longtime consultant/advisor to filmmakers and film festivals. He has had his own business, filmhawk.com, for 20 years and been a part of the indie film scene for 30, beginning as a researcher on The Times of Harvey Milkand The Celluloid Closet. He has served on festival juries and panels from Orlando to Oberhausen, curated film programs from the Kennedy Center to the Hanoi Cinematheque, and was on the Sundance Film Festival’s advisory selection committee for its entire existence (1987-1998). He currently serves on advisory boards for Independent Film Week (IFP/NY) and Outfest’s Legacy Project. His producer credits include Ballets Russes, Paul Goodman Changed My Life and Prodigal Sons and his consultant credits (among hundreds) includeCommon Threads, My Architect and The Laramie Project.

    Enat Sidi
    Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Enat Sidi is very active as an editor in the American documentary film world. She is a frequent collaborator with directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, having edited most of their nonfiction feature films including the 2005 Emmy® nominee The Boys of Baraka, the 2006 Academy Award nominee Jesus Camp, the HBO Peabody® winner 12th & Delaware and most recently Detropia, for which Enat won the editing award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Enat recently acted as the consulting editor on Bully, the high profile documentary released in 2012 by the Weinstein Company.

    WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC JURY

    Anurag Kashyap
    Anurag Kashyap was born in Gorakhpur, India, and studied zoology at the University of Delhi. His features as director include Paanch (2003), Black Friday(2004), No Smoking (2007), Dev. D (2009),That Girl in Yellow Boots (2010), and the two-part Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), which will play in the Spotlight Section of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. His screenwriting credits include Deepa Mehta’s Genie Award–winning Water (2005). His films have made him a face representing the new wave of Indian Cinema at various prestigious platforms across the globe.

    Nadine Labaki
    Born in Lebanon, Nadine Labaki is an acclaimed filmmaker and actress. In 2005, she took part in the Cannes Film Festival Residence to write Caramel, her first feature film, which showcases a Beirut that most people are not familiar with. She directed and played a lead role in the film, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, Variety included her on their 10 Directors to Watch list. In this year she also received the insignia of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. She directed and starred in her second feature film Where Do We Go Now?,which premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard category and won the Cadillac People’s Choice award at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival. Where Do We Go Now? also played at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for best foreign film at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles.

    Joana Vicente
    Joana Vicente is an award-winning producer. She has been the Executive Director of the nonprofit IFP- the Independent Filmmaker Project- since December 2009. Prior to this, she produced/executive produced over 40 features by such acclaimed directors as Jim Jarmusch, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Miguel Arteta, Nicole Holofcener, and Todd Solondz. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Made in NY Award for individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City’s entertainment industry. Vicente has produced 20 films that have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, including two Grand Jury Prizewinners: Three Seasons in 1999 and Welcome to the Dollhouse in 1996.

    SHORT FILM JURY

    Mike Farah
    Mike Farah is the President of Production for Funny or Die, overseeing the creative day-to-day operations for the premiere comedy site, along with Funny or Die’s television and feature projects. With FOD for nearly five years, Farah produced the award-winning video Prop 8: The Musical, the Ron Howard directed Presidential Reunion, and Marion Cotillard’s Forehead Tittaes, among many others. He is an executive producer of Funny Or Die’s Billy on the Street, airing on Fuse, and also produced the feature film Answer This!, written and directed by his brother, Chris Farah. Mike began his career at UTA, and headed up feature film development for Craig Brewer and Stephanie Allain at their Paramount-based production company. In 2010, The Hollywood Reporter named Farah one of the top 35 Hollywood executives under 35.

    Don Hertzfeldt
    Don Hertzfeldt is an Academy Award®nominated American independent filmmaker whose animated films have screened around the world, collectively receiving over 200 awards. He has had six films play in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and in 2007 received the Grand Jury Prize for his animated short film, Everything Will Be OK. He has recently completed his first animated feature film, It’s Such a Beautiful Day.

    Magali Simard
    Magali Simard is a short film programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival and works for Film Programmes at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. She has been with the organization since 2006, working on its New Releases, Canada’s Top Ten, the Student Film Showcase, the Open Vault, and Human Rights Watch. She has hosted film discussions for Ryerson University, the National Screen Institute, the Canadian Film Center, the National Film Board, written for various online publications, and frequently hosts screenings at TIFF’s Film Trivia.

     

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