The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals today announced the 2019 Audience Award winners from the Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighters, Episodic Premieres, Global, Festival Favorites and Design Award categories. Also announced were the 2019 Virtual Cinema Jury Award Winners.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, an artful and uplifting documentary on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel prize-winner will open in theaters on June 21. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (The Black List, Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart), a friend of Toni Morrison’s for over 35 years, the film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
This Women’s History Month, the trailer is released for Stephanie Wang-Breal’s Blowin’ Up, a documentary about a team of courageous women in Queens, New York, who try to create a safe space for women condemned by a legal system where sex work and prostitution are criminalized. Blowin’ Up opens April 5th in NY, and April 12th in LA.
ALICE, a story about a woman who finds the strength within herself despite all odds to save herself and her child, directed and produced by Josephine Mackeras, is the first winner of the CherryPicks Female First Feature Award, announced Tuesday at the 2019 SXSW Awards Ceremony. The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Film Festival and CherryPicks,® the newly launched digital brand dedicated to the female critical voice, inaugural honor and monetary prize, is presented to a 2019 film helmed by a first-time narrative feature female director and producer, also must have screened during this year’s festival.
Official Secrets, Gavin Hood’s gripping retelling of the story of Katharine Gun, a British intelligence officer who leaked a confidential memo sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq, will screen as the Closing Night of the 2019 San Francisco International Film Festival at the historic Castro Theatre on Sunday, April 21.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the lineup for the sixth edition of Art of the Real featuring a vibrant slate of nonfiction and hybrid films by internationally acclaimed filmmakers and impressive, award-winning debuts from around the world, April 18-28.
Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle’s Yesterday will world premiere as the closing night film of the Tribeca Film Festival’s 18th edition.
El Chicano, a Latino-inspired superhero film starring Raul Castillo and George Lopez will kick off the 8th Annual Maryland International Film Festival-Hagerstown on March 29, 2019.
The 2019 Richmond International Film & Music Festival (RIFF) brings more than 150 cutting edge award-winning film premiers from 30 countries, plus up to 40 bands, panels, and daily events at various venues across Richmond. The festival kicks off Tuesday, April 23rd and concludes Sunday, April 28th.
Megha Ramaswamy’s THE ODDS, a coming-of-age tale about two teens who skip school on an important exam day and go on a fantastical journey through Mumbai, will close out the 2019 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) on April 14.
The 2019 Jury and Special Award winners of the 26th SXSW Film Festival Awards were announced at the historic Paramount Theatre with the top awards going to Alice directed by Josephine Mackerras winning Best Narrative Feature Film and For Sama directed by Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts winning Best Documentary Feature Film. Short films and other juried sections, including Film Design Awards, were also presented.
In 2016 a small group of families with transgender kids joined the fight against a wave of discriminatory anti-transgender legislation that swept the nation and their home state. With the help of a coalition of civil rights activists and ally lawmakers, these families embarked on an uncharted journey of fighting for their children’s lives and futures in this present-day civil rights story documented by Seattle based award-winning filmmaker, Vlada Knowlton in The Most Dangerous Year.