DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman[/caption]
Encompassing a mixture of oddball comedies, genre-bending kaleidoscopic dramas, entertaining crime capers, haunting ghost stories and nail-biting thrillers, the 62nd BFI London Film Festival revealed the ten contenders for the Official Competition, with 50% of the films from a female director or co-director.
The Festival will welcome as Jury President Academy Award-nominated director of ROOM (LFF Official Competition 2015), Lenny Abrahamson, whose long-awaited film adaptation of Sarah Waters’ horror novel THE LITTLE STRANGER will be released this September. For the first time, the winner of the Best Film will receive their Award in front of a public audience at a special screening on Saturday October 20th at Vue Leicester Square.
The 10 films in Official Competition are:
BIRDS OF PASSAGE sees co-directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent, LFF 2015) return to the Festival with their latest offering – a sprawling, spiritual exploration of family conflict and tribal warfare, laced with heady symbolism and surrealist flashes. Set during the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia bear witness to the thrilling rise and fall of the indigenous Wayuu clan in remote Colombia. A mystical meditation on colonialism, tribalism and modernism.
Nicole Kidman is astonishing, and almost unrecognizable, in Karyn Kusama’s (The Invitation, LFF 2015) brooding thriller DESTROYER. Kidman plays Erin, a jaded police detective haunted by her past and still reeling from the trauma of her experience years later, who is forced to confront her demons in order to close the case that almost destroyed her. The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany and Toby Kebbell.
Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with HAPPY AS LAZZARO. A delightfully singular time and genre-bending rumination on the fate of innocence when faced with corruption and greed. Set in rural Italy, this is the tale of Lazzaro, a beautiful peasant so sweet natured he is often mistaken for simple-minded. A magnificent blend of Italian class struggle, folk tales, biblical allegory and pop culture reference, Rohrwacher deservedly shared the Best Screenplay award at Cannes for this kaleidoscopic work.
The World Premiere of HAPPY NEW YEAR, COLIN BURSTEAD. is Ben Wheatley’s triumphant return to the Festival after Free Fire (LFF 2016). A poignantly funny and razor-sharp observation of English family dysfunction. Colin has rented a stately country home for his extended family’s New Year celebrations. He’s the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit. Starring Joe Cole, Charles Dance, Mark Monero, Hayley Squires, Asim Chaudhry, Doon Mackichan, Bill Paterson, Neil Maskell and Sam Riley.
Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with IN FABRIC, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Gwendoline Christie. A haunting ghost story, laced with lashings of oddball humour and set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a strange department store, it follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.
JOY, directed by Sudabeh Mortezai (whose debut feature Macondo competed for the LFF’s Sutherland Award in 2014), presents a vital and hugely affecting drama that tackles the vicious cycle of sex trafficking in modern Europe. It follows the life of Joy, a young Nigerian woman, who works the streets to pay off debts to her exploiter Madame, while supporting her family in Nigeria and hoping for a better life for her young daughter in Vienna.
Iconic director Zhang Yimou presents SHADOW, set during China’s Three Kingdom’s era (AD 220-280). Blood spills in this visually stunning feature, as a great king and his people will be expelled from their homeland, with jaw-dropping combat scenes. Director Zhang presents mind-blowing visual design that revolutionises the colour palette, using water, calligraphy and graphic interpretations of yin and yang.
Academy Award© winner László Nemes follows up his critically acclaimed debut Son of Saul (Official Competition nominee LFF 2015) with his feverishly ambitious second feature, SUNSET. Set in 1913, nearing the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and on the eve of the First World War. Írisz Leiter is a hat maker who returns to Budapest years after her parents, respected milliners, sent her to be fostered under mysterious circumstances. A fugue-like meditation on the end of an empire; the brilliantly willful Írisz is our witness to the flickering innocence of a Europe about to be plunged into hell.
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN, directed by David Lowery, stars Robert Redford, in what will be his final big screen performance after recently announcing retirement. A brilliantly entertaining crime caper, based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, the self-styled ‘Houdini’ whose many audacious prison breaks included an Alcatraz flight in a homemade kayak, and whose last robbery was committed when he was 79. Offering bittersweet reflections on time and age, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN is a testament to a free-spirit who steadfastly refused to go quietly. The film also stars Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck
TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG is a woozily gorgeous evocation of life on the fringe of society. Set during the summer of 1990, after Pinochet’s fall, democracy has returned to Chile. Three youngsters drive up to a woodland commune below the Andes, where they idle the summer away while their parents debate the future. In their isolated community, Sofia, Lucas and Clara face their first loves and fears while building up for New Year’s Eve. Youthful desire, ennui and mischief have rarely felt so tangible. The film is directed by Dominga Sotomayor.-
DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman, BIRDS OF PASSAGE Among 10 Films in Official Competition at 62nd BFI London Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_31640" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman[/caption]
Encompassing a mixture of oddball comedies, genre-bending kaleidoscopic dramas, entertaining crime capers, haunting ghost stories and nail-biting thrillers, the 62nd BFI London Film Festival revealed the ten contenders for the Official Competition, with 50% of the films from a female director or co-director.
The Festival will welcome as Jury President Academy Award-nominated director of ROOM (LFF Official Competition 2015), Lenny Abrahamson, whose long-awaited film adaptation of Sarah Waters’ horror novel THE LITTLE STRANGER will be released this September. For the first time, the winner of the Best Film will receive their Award in front of a public audience at a special screening on Saturday October 20th at Vue Leicester Square.
The 10 films in Official Competition are:
BIRDS OF PASSAGE sees co-directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Embrace of the Serpent, LFF 2015) return to the Festival with their latest offering – a sprawling, spiritual exploration of family conflict and tribal warfare, laced with heady symbolism and surrealist flashes. Set during the marijuana bonanza, a violent decade that saw the origins of drug trafficking in Colombia bear witness to the thrilling rise and fall of the indigenous Wayuu clan in remote Colombia. A mystical meditation on colonialism, tribalism and modernism.
Nicole Kidman is astonishing, and almost unrecognizable, in Karyn Kusama’s (The Invitation, LFF 2015) brooding thriller DESTROYER. Kidman plays Erin, a jaded police detective haunted by her past and still reeling from the trauma of her experience years later, who is forced to confront her demons in order to close the case that almost destroyed her. The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Tatiana Maslany and Toby Kebbell.
Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with HAPPY AS LAZZARO. A delightfully singular time and genre-bending rumination on the fate of innocence when faced with corruption and greed. Set in rural Italy, this is the tale of Lazzaro, a beautiful peasant so sweet natured he is often mistaken for simple-minded. A magnificent blend of Italian class struggle, folk tales, biblical allegory and pop culture reference, Rohrwacher deservedly shared the Best Screenplay award at Cannes for this kaleidoscopic work.
The World Premiere of HAPPY NEW YEAR, COLIN BURSTEAD. is Ben Wheatley’s triumphant return to the Festival after Free Fire (LFF 2016). A poignantly funny and razor-sharp observation of English family dysfunction. Colin has rented a stately country home for his extended family’s New Year celebrations. He’s the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit. Starring Joe Cole, Charles Dance, Mark Monero, Hayley Squires, Asim Chaudhry, Doon Mackichan, Bill Paterson, Neil Maskell and Sam Riley.
Peter Strickland (The Duke of Burgundy, LFF 2014) returns to the Festival with IN FABRIC, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Gwendoline Christie. A haunting ghost story, laced with lashings of oddball humour and set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a strange department store, it follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.
JOY, directed by Sudabeh Mortezai (whose debut feature Macondo competed for the LFF’s Sutherland Award in 2014), presents a vital and hugely affecting drama that tackles the vicious cycle of sex trafficking in modern Europe. It follows the life of Joy, a young Nigerian woman, who works the streets to pay off debts to her exploiter Madame, while supporting her family in Nigeria and hoping for a better life for her young daughter in Vienna.
Iconic director Zhang Yimou presents SHADOW, set during China’s Three Kingdom’s era (AD 220-280). Blood spills in this visually stunning feature, as a great king and his people will be expelled from their homeland, with jaw-dropping combat scenes. Director Zhang presents mind-blowing visual design that revolutionises the colour palette, using water, calligraphy and graphic interpretations of yin and yang.
Academy Award© winner László Nemes follows up his critically acclaimed debut Son of Saul (Official Competition nominee LFF 2015) with his feverishly ambitious second feature, SUNSET. Set in 1913, nearing the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and on the eve of the First World War. Írisz Leiter is a hat maker who returns to Budapest years after her parents, respected milliners, sent her to be fostered under mysterious circumstances. A fugue-like meditation on the end of an empire; the brilliantly willful Írisz is our witness to the flickering innocence of a Europe about to be plunged into hell.
THE OLD MAN & THE GUN, directed by David Lowery, stars Robert Redford, in what will be his final big screen performance after recently announcing retirement. A brilliantly entertaining crime caper, based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, the self-styled ‘Houdini’ whose many audacious prison breaks included an Alcatraz flight in a homemade kayak, and whose last robbery was committed when he was 79. Offering bittersweet reflections on time and age, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN is a testament to a free-spirit who steadfastly refused to go quietly. The film also stars Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck
TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG is a woozily gorgeous evocation of life on the fringe of society. Set during the summer of 1990, after Pinochet’s fall, democracy has returned to Chile. Three youngsters drive up to a woodland commune below the Andes, where they idle the summer away while their parents debate the future. In their isolated community, Sofia, Lucas and Clara face their first loves and fears while building up for New Year’s Eve. Youthful desire, ennui and mischief have rarely felt so tangible. The film is directed by Dominga Sotomayor.
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Miami Film Festival Unveils 2019 Poster + First GEMS 2018 Titles
Miami Film Festival unveiled the official poster for the 36th edition of the Festival taking place March 1 to 10, 2019, designed by renowned Spanish artist, illustrator and painter Ana Juan.
“Ana Juan’s delightful creation to represent Miami Film Festival’s 36th season evokes the color and playfulness of Miami, with a beautiful femininity that captures our moment,” said Miami Film Festival’s executive director Jaie Laplante.
Juan, a frequent contributor of cover art to The New Yorker magazine, has had numerous solo exhibitions of her work over the past 30 years and received a multitude of international awards and prizes, including the National Illustration Award from Spain’s Ministry of Culture in 2010.
Of her creation for this year’s Miami Film Festival poster, Juan stated: “A flower is color, color is life, life is passion and passion makes a dream become true: The dream of cinema.”
The Festival also announced the first four titles for its fall season festival extension, MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL GEMS 2018, scheduled for Oct. 11 – 14. The four films are further distinguished as the first nominees announced for the Festival’s Jordan Ressler First Feature Award competition, which presents a jury-selected $10,000 cash prize to the best film by a filmmaker making their feature narrative debut. The Award is courtesy of the South Florida family of the late Jordan Ressler, an aspiring screenwriter whose life was tragically cut short before he could realize his dream. The Ressler family recently renewed their commitment to the Award through 2023.
The four announced nominees are:
DIAMANTINO (Portugal, directed by Gabriel Abrantes & Daniel Schmidt). A delirious off-beat comedy about the world’s premiere soccer star and underwear model who tumbles from grace due to an evildoer’s plot. Winner of the 2018 Grand Prix NESPRESSO at La Semaine de la Critique, Cannes.
THE HEIRESSES (LAS HEREDERAS) (Paraguay, directed by Marcelo Martinessi). Two upper-class women who have discreetly been a couple for more than 30 years go through a crisis when their worsening financial situation forces them to begin selling off their family heirlooms, and one partner goes to jail for fraud. Winner of numerous international prizes, including the Alfred Bauer Prize and Best Actress for Ana Brun at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival.
HOPELESSLY DEVOUT (MI QUERIDA COFRADÍA) (Spain, directed by Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz). Winner of Audience Award at 2018 Malaga Film Festival, an uproarious screwball comedy in the spirit of early Almodóvar films. When the devout Carmen is passed over for leadership of her local religious guild in southern Spain in favor of a man, her initial despair turns into determination to turn the tables on this sexist situation.
[caption id="attachment_31636" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
BOYS CRY directed by Damiano D’Innocenzo[/caption]
BOYS CRY (Italy, directed by Damiano D’Innocenzo & Fabio D’Innocenzo). Two teenage boys living in the suburbs of Rome fall into service of the local mafia, but their loss of innocence takes them to unexpected places. Winner of the prestigious Nastro d’Argento (Silver Ribbon), Italy’s National Syndicate of Film Journalists Award, for Best First Feature Film of the Year.
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Filmmaker Megan Griffiths to Independently Release Her Acclaimed Indie Drama SADIE [Trailer]
Filmmaker Megan Griffiths will independently release her acclaimed drama Sadie which premiered at SXSW in March and features a breakout turn by newcomer Sophia Mitri Schloss in the title role. Melanie Lynskey, John Gallagher Jr., Tony Hale, Danielle Books and Keith L. Williams co-star, and the film features a score by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. Working with creative distribution strategist Mia Bruno, the film which won the Gryphon Jury Award at the 2018 Giffoni Film Festival in Italy, will begin its roll-out in New York and Los Angeles on October 12th.
Sadie is the powerful, unsettling and darkly funny story of a young girl (Sophia Mitri Schloss) who will stop at nothing to preserve her father’s place on the home front. Sadie is the daughter of a soldier and she models herself after his military example. When her mom, Rae (Melanie Lynskey), begins dating a new man, Cyrus (John Gallagher Jr.), Sadie vows to come between them, whatever it takes. Cyrus becomes the enemy, and if she’s learned anything from the world she inhabits, it’s that the enemy deserves no mercy.
Sadie was written and directed by Griffiths, director of film festival hits Lucky Them (Toronto 2013, starring Toni Collette and Johnny Depp), Eden (winner of the 2012 SXSW Audience Award), and The Off Hours (Sundance 2011). Griffiths is also an established television director, helming episodes of Animal Kingdom, Graves, and Room 104 (for which she was nominated for a GLAAD Award). She is currently in development on a project with Philip Fleishman and Steven Soderbergh.
Sadie was produced by Lacey Leavitt and Jennessa West, co-produced by Jonathan Caso and executive produced by Eliza Shelden. The project was supported by the Sundance Institute (Creative Producing Lab) and IFP (No Borders/IFP Week).
Variety said in their review, “Equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller, writer-director Megan Griffiths’ quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting drama is a genuine rarity.”
Walking away from more traditional distribution deals, Griffiths and company chose to pursue their own creative distribution model to ensure that Sadie would be released with specificity and care and that no stone would be left unturned in efforts to connect with communities and reach an audience. They will build a theatrical and TVOD release to lead into their Amazon SVOD release, which they opted into as part of the Amazon Festival Stars program. In an attempt to benefit other filmmakers by de-mystifying independent film distribution, the filmmaking team plans to be fully transparent about their experiences, including an ongoing blog on the subject hosted on the film’s official site SadieFilm.com.
“This film is incredibly meaningful to me, and it’s been so empowering to create a strategy that will allow us to connect more directly with our audience and engage on the film’s themes around youth and violence,” said Griffiths. “Sadie was made to start a conversation, and the larger the audience, the more powerful that conversation can be.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kwn_GrQnQM
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Matteo Garrone’s DOGMAN to UK Premiere at London Film Festival on European Art Cinema Day [Trailer]
Award-winning director Matteo Garrone’s critically acclaimed DOGMAN, will receive its UK Premiere on European Art Cinema Day, October 14th, at 62nd BFI London Film Festival. Curzon Artificial Eye and BFI LFF will host simultaneous live previews taking place across approximately 40 cinemas UK-wide, including the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN).
Matteo Garrone, director of the Golden Globe-nominated Gomorrah (winner of the Cannes Jury Prize) presents the true story of one of Italy’s most notorious crimes. Dubbed an ‘urban Western’, DOGMAN takes place in an Italian suburb somewhere between metropolis and wild nature. Marcello (Marcello Fonte; Best Actor, 2018 Cannes Film Festival), a small and gentle dog groomer, finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorizes the entire neighborhood. In an effort to reaffirm his dignity, Marcello will submit to an unexpected act of vengeance.
The BFI London Film Festival premiere of DOGMAN, and UK wide previews, are taking place on European Art Cinema Day on 1October 14th, ahead of the theatrical and On Demand release on October 19th, 2018. Growing year-on-year, the third European Art Cinema Day is a global initiative, with events taking place all over the world, across more than 600 venues. It is organized by CICAE in partnership with Europa Cinemas.
The 62nd BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express takes place from Wednesday October 10 – Sunday October 21, 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI2JE_xjAaY
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FALLS AROUND HER to Open, EDGE OF THE KNIFE to Close imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival
[caption id="attachment_31626" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]
Tantoo Cardinal in Falls Around Her[/caption]
The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival selected two Canadian features as the Opening and Closing Night Galas for the 19th Annual Festival, running October 17 to 21, 2018 in Toronto. imagineNATIVE’s Opening Night Gala on Wednesday, October 17 will be Darlene Naponse’s Falls Around Her, and on Sunday, October 21, the Closing Night Gala will be Sgaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife).
Filled with drama and humour, Falls Around Her commemorates the first starring role in a feature length movie for the legendary Tantoo Cardinal whose remarkable performance is shared with a fantastic supporting cast including Tina Keeper, Gail Maurice and Johnny Issaluk. Legendary singer, Mary Birchbark (Cardinal), abandons a life of fame and fortune to follow the instinctual pull that calls her home. Desiring to reconnect with land and her community, she returns to the beautiful woods of her territory to seek solitude in an isolated cabin. But as the slow change of seasons marks her thirst for transformation, she begins to have the unsettling feeling that she is being watched, and quickly she finds that doors to the past are not so easily shut.
Sgaawaay K’uuna – directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown – makes history as the first Haida language feature film. On the islands of Haida Gwaii, two extended families reunite at their annual summer fishing camp. Conflict between a charismatic young man, Adiits’ii, and his best friend Kwa, begins to tear their interwoven families apart. When Adiits’ii’s recklessness and arrogance result in a tragic incident, he flees into the rainforest abandoning his family and way of life. Wracked with grief and shame, Adiits’ii descends into madness and transforms into a Gaagiixid, a ravenous “wildman” caught between worlds and consumed by insatiable hunger. When the families return the following summer, they realize Adiits’ii has survived the winter. Now while the community hopes to restore Adiits’ii’s humanity, Kwa wrestles with his deepest desire…revenge.
Sgaawaay K’uuna will be preceded by the short film dukʷibəɫ swatixʷtəd (Changer’s Land). Directed by Tracy Rector dukʷibəɫ swatixʷtəd is a tribute to the Salish country and a celebration of how land endures despite foreign incursions of power plants and highways.
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CALL HER GANDA Spotlights Murder Case of Filipino Transgender Woman Jennifer Laude by U.S. Marine [Trailer]
[caption id="attachment_29069" align="aligncenter" width="975"]
CALL HER GANDA[/caption]
The award winning, politically charged, eye-opening and moving human rights documentary Call Her Ganda directed by PJ Raval follows the brutal murder case of Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude by a U.S. Marine, and the obstacles faced in the pursuit of justice by three women intimately invested in the case. An activist attorney (Virgie Suarez), a transgender journalist (Meredith Talusan) and Jennifer’s mother (Julita “Nanay” Laude) galvanize a political uprising, seeking justice and taking on hardened histories of U.S. imperialism in the Philippines.
Call Her Ganda premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and went on to play numerous other festivals including HotDocs, LA Asian Pacific, Frameline SF, Outfest, DMZ Docs – Korea, Doc Edge – New Zealand and Inside Out Toronto LGBTQ Film Festival winning awards along with audiences’ hearts and minds. Breaking Glass will release the film theatrically beginning September 21 in New York; September 28 in Los Angeles; October 5 in San Francisco; followed by a national rollout throughout the fall.
The Hollywood Reporter hailed the film, stating “Call Her Ganda handles its complex issues and complicated plot developments with forceful clarity. The film proves simultaneously heartbreaking and inspirational.” The film also “makes clear and compelling connections between personal stories and institutional violence” (NOW Magazine) and “doesn’t shy away from challenging anyone’s attitudes about trans people and the ongoing effects of colonialism.” (NOW Toronto ).
“Especially with our current political climate, I hope viewers find inspiration in witnessing these resilient women taking on the US, a foreign superpower, fighting for their voices to be heard and demanding accountability despite the odds. As Americans, we should all take a note, and support their efforts, while also fighting the oppressive forces in our own backyards”, said director Raval. “I’m thrilled to be working with Breaking Glass who is dedicated to bringing the story of Jennifer Laude to audiences nationwide.”
“Call Her Ganda is that rare film that comes along once in a generation”, said Richard Wolff, CEO of Breaking Glass. “This story is tragic, empowering, and exactly what our society needs right now to move the conversation about human rights forward.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wq7YETuN70
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THE SISTERS BROTHERS Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix to Open Calgary International Film Festival [Trailer]
The western Canadian premiere for a tale of the Wild West, The Sisters Brothers, directed by Jacques Audiard, with an all-star cast of John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal, will open the Calgary International Film Festival on Wednesday, September 19.
Set during the Gold Rush of 1851, a pair of notorious, deadly assassins hunt an idealistic prospector who has discovered a chemical formula that reveals hidden gold. The Sisters Brothers bicker, fight and drink their way through a series of peculiar and perilous misadventures, while wrestling with their violent calling and dark past.
“Based on the bestselling, award-winning novel by Canadian author Patrick deWitt, and directed by the winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or for 2015’s Dheepan, The Sisters Brothers is an instant Western classic,” said Stephen Schroeder, Executive Director of the Calgary International Film Festival. “It’s a darkly comic odyssey through the absurdity, grit and melancholy of the American frontier, rich with dreamlike visions, human tenderness and inevitable bursts of violence.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OwvqKwTKmE
The 19th Annual Calgary International Film Festival has 178 films in its full lineup, including all shorts, features, and collaboration screenings. This year the festival enjoyed a record-breaking 1912 paid submissions, compared with 1598 last year. 32 films have a first-time feature director. Approximately 30% of all booked features are Canadian (32 out of 103 total features). 56 films at the festival have a female director.
Here are some more films (not yet previously announced):
OF FATHERS AND SONS directed by Tala Derki
I’LL TAKE YOUR DEAD directed by Chad Archibald
LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT directed by Bi Gan
THE SISTERS BROTHERS directed by Jacques Audiard
WE, THE DEAD (AQÉRAT) directed by Edmund Yeo
THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES directed by Alison Reid
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Leon Lee’s LETTER FROM MASANJIA Sets September 14th Release Date [Trailer]
Leon Lee’s “Letter From Masanjia” is the unbelievable true story of an American woman who found an SOS note from a Chinese political prisoner in a box of Halloween decorations. The film has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as one of the best documentaries of 2018, and took home Audience Award for Documentary Feature at the 2018 Asian American International Film Festival. A devastating tale of human rights violations in current day China with corporate giants across the globe receiving prisoner labor efforts for Halloween decorations, asking no questions in a price for pennies on the dollar. This is the tale of one political prisoners desperate plea to alert the world to horrors most of society sweeps under the carpet.
Parade Deck Films will open “Letter From Masanjia” theatrically in New York and Los Angeles beginning on September 14th, 2018 and will expand into additional markets in the following weeks. Later this year Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, will bring the film to audiences across North America on VOD/Digital platforms on December 4th.
Written and directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker and Peabody Award winner, Leon Lee, this astonishing & riveting documentary follows the true story of an Oregon woman who finds a desperate SOS letter penned by a political prisoner in her Halloween decorations and the nail-biting chain of events that it sparks when she takes the letter public, exposing appalling flagrant human rights violations – that leads to sweeping labor reform in China. The impact of what those two unlikely heroes have accomplished is even more profound in today’s rapidly boiling over political climate, not just in China but around the rest of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKRavgm-KPY
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New York Film Festival Shorts Lineup + Talks with Alfonso Cuarón, Claire Denis
The lineup for Shorts and Talks during the 56th New York Film Festival will feature films from nine countries as well as from burgeoning talent here in New York, the shorts section presents 21 films in four different programs. NYFF Talks will bring wide-ranging conversations with directors featured in NYFF56 to the public.
HBO® is the presenting sponsor of NYFF Talks, which includes Directors Dialogues and On Cinema. This year’s Directors Dialogues feature conversations with Centerpiece filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, Main Slate filmmakers Jia Zhangke and Alice Rohrwacher (NYFF54 Filmmaker in Residence), and Spotlight on Documentary director Errol Morris. High Life director Claire Denis is this year’s On Cinema talk, an in-depth discussion with NYFF Director Kent Jones. HBO® also sponsors NYFF Live, which will be announced in September.
The Shorts selection includes two International Programs, featuring a mix of narrative, animation, and documentary work by established and emerging directors; annual thriller program Genre Stories; and New York Stories, featuring some of the most exciting filmmakers living and working in New York today.
Highlights include the world premieres of To the Unknown and The North Wind’s Gift, directed by Michael Almereyda (Experimenter, NYFF53); The Chore, directed by Ashley Connor and Joe Stankus (The Layover, NYFF55); Quarterbacks, directed by Jason Giampietro (Unpresidented, NYFF55), and Eleanore Pienta’s Ada.
SHORT FILM
International Shorts I
Anteu João Vladimiro, Portugal/France, 29m Portuguese with English subtitles North American Premiere This vividly stylized and formally audacious work from Portuguese director João Vladimiro follows the life of a young man as he gradually becomes the last living person of his village. Here There Is No Earth Martin Diccico, USA/Turkey, 2018, 6m Turkish with English subtitles North American Premiere A testimony about a shepherd’s fatal encounter at the Turkish-Armenian border provides a haunting perspective on the countries’ physical and invisible lines of separation. jeny303 Laura Huertas Millán, Colombia/France, 2018, 7m Spanish with English subtitles North American Premiere Footage of an abandoned Bauhaus-style building accompanies confessionals from Jeny, a self-described living work of art, in this fleeting meditation on architecture and biography. Man in the Well / Jing li of ren Hu Bo, China, 2017, 16m Mandarin with English subtitles U.S. Premiere Desperation and ruin pervade this unsettling short from the late novelist-turned-filmmaker Hu Bo (An Elephant Sitting Still), in which two starving children encounter a dead body. Tourneur Yalda Afsah, Germany, 2018, 15m U.S. Premiere Yalda Afsah’s nonverbal documentary beholds the strange, subtly tense proceedings of a bullfight in the south of France, in which young men confront the animal inside the arena.International Shorts II
Black Dog Joshua Tuthill, USA, 2017, 15m New York Premiere Through its uncanny blend of archival footage and stop-motion animation, Black Dog evokes a nightmarish conception of an American family during the 1960s Space Race. Down There Zhengfan Yang, China, 2018, 11m U.S. Premiere A single long take observes the collective psychology of an apartment building after a quiet night is interrupted by an off-screen sound. Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas Chauvin / Le Discours d’acceptation glorieux de Nicolas Chauvin Benjamin Crotty, France, 2018, 27m North American Premiere Benjamin Crotty’s latest is this hilarious and unpredictable portrait of Nicolas Chauvin—a possibly apocryphal Napoleonic soldier whose name is the basis for the word chauvinism—as he recounts his travails via a lifetime achievement award speech. Let Us Now Praise Movies / Y ahora elogiemos las películas Nicolás Zukerfeld, Argentina, 2017, 15m Spanish with English subtitles North American Premiere A young critic balances his time between a day job at a stationary store and managing a film magazine in this amusingly intelligent homage to the small yet boundless moments so many films leave out. Veslemøy’s Song Sofia Bohdanowicz, Canada, 2018, 9m U.S. Premiere Shot on hand-processed black-and-white film, Sofia Bohdanowicz’s wry, wistful narrative-doc follows a young woman (Deragh Campbell) as she investigates the legacy of the once celebrated Canadian musician Kathleen Parlow.Genre Stories
Acid Just Philippot, France, 2017, 18m NY Premiere As contaminated rain threatens to wipe out humanity, a married couple desperately battle to keep their young son safe. Child of the Sky Phillip Montgomery, USA, 2018, 15m NY Premiere Lost in the desert, a woman gets lured into a nightmarish world of cult violence in this deeply chilling Mesopotamian myth–infused tale told through ferocious dance movements. Helsinki Mansplaining Massacre Ilja Rautsi, Finland, 2018, 15m NY Premiere A female car-crash survivor offers a very definitive response to the incessant “educating” by the infantile male chauvinists of the household that’s taken her in. The Slows Nicole Perlman, USA, 2018, 20m NY Premiere In a regenerating post-apocalyptic world, the only remaining traces of naturally reproduced life face extinction. Toto Danny Lee, USA, 2018, 17m NY Premiere The career of an embittered former horror star (M. Emmet Walsh) who longs for his glory days comes gruesomely full circle. New York Stories TRT: 63m Ada Eleanore Pienta, USA, 2018, 11m World Premiere In her funny, expressive, and dialogue-free directorial debut, actress Eleanore Pienta plays an eccentric woman trying to get from point A to point B and, in the process, finding New York City an obstacle course of casual hostility and bizarre behaviors. The Chore Ashley Connor & Joe Stankus, USA, 2018, 8m World Premiere Ashley Connor and Joe Stankus’s latest quotidian miniature follows two brothers going grocery shopping together, musing on the products they come across, reminiscing about the past, and, finally, comparing notes on snickerdoodle recipes. God Never Dies / Dios Nunca Muere Barbara Cigarroa, USA/Ireland, 2018, 14m Spanish with English subtitles Filmed in New York’s Hudson Valley, Barbara Cigarroa’s captivating work of docu-fiction offers a rare, real glimpse into the secluded life of a migrant farmworker as she struggles to raise two children on her own. The North Wind’s Gift Michael Almereyda, USA, 2018, 19m World Premiere Michael Almereyda’s contemporary riff on an Italian folktale (shot in black-and-white 16mm by Sean Price Williams), in which a magic microwave ensnares a starving family and their landlord, is a delightfully peculiar moral tale of greed, trickery, and the elemental forces of nature. Quarterbacks Jason Giampietro, USA, 2018, 6m World Premiere In Giampietro’s comic latest, some friends’ dinner conversation about the impending NFL Draft becomes a frank discussion of the state of race relations within the league and amongst its fans. To the Unknown Michael Almereyda, USA, 2018, 6m World Premiere Almereyda’s reading of Kenneth Koch’s “To the Unknown” transforms footage of the everyday into a moving tribute to one of the New York School’s most treasured and inventive poets.
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Watch Mind-Bending Body Horror Film AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS Trailer + Poster
Dark Sky Films released the official Poster and Trailer for the horror film Await Further Instructions from British director Johnny Kevorkian and co-starring David Bradley of Game Of Thrones, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter fame. Await Further Instructions will open in theaters and on VOD October 5th .
It’s Christmas Day and the Milgram family wake to find a mysterious black substance surrounding their house. Something monumental is clearly happening right outside their door, but what exactly – an industrial accident, a terrorist attack, nuclear war? Descending into terrified arguments, they turn on the television, desperate for any information. On screen a message glows ominously: ‘Stay Indoors and Await Further Instructions’. As the television exerts an ever more sinister grip, their paranoia escalates into bloody carnage.
A powder keg of throat-grabbing intensity and mind-bending body horror, Await Further Instructions is an unmissable tour-de-force from rising star filmmaker Johnny Kevorkian and the BAFTA-nominated producer of God’s Own Country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cExGHt350NE
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METEORITES and BREEZE Complete New Directors Lineup of 2018 San Sebastian Film Festival
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QING FENG DE WEI DAO / BREEZE[/caption]
The French film, Les Météorites / Meteorites and the Chinese film, Qing Feng De Wei Dao / Breeze, complete the New Directors selection at the 66th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival.
A graduate from La Fémis, Romain Laguna (Montpellier, France) has directed the short films À trois sur Marianne (2012), Run (2013), Bye Bye mélancolie (2014) and J’mange froid (2015). His first feature film, Les météorites / Meteorites, focusses on a 16 year-old girl who is spending the summer in a town in the South of France and works in a theme park.
Kun Yang, from a small city in the South-West of China’s Yunnan province, studied film directing at the Beijing Film Academy. Qing Feng De Wei Dao / Breeze, his first feature film, revolves around a man’s homecoming journey from Yunnan to the town of his birth.
These two productions join the New Directors selection, which also includes the following titles: Oreina (The Deer, Koldo Almandoz), La camarista (The Chambermaid, Lila Avilés), Apuntes para una película de atracos (Notes for a Heist Film, Elías León Siminiani), Serdtse Mira / Core of the World (Nataliia Meshchaninova), Ama Doren / Hold my hand (Ismet Sijarina), Un om la locul lui / A Decent Man (Hadrian Marcu), Para la guerra (To War, Francisco Marise), Boku wa Iesu-sama ga kirai / Jesus (Hiroshi Okuyama), Julia y el zorro (Julia and the Fox, Ines María Barrionuevo), Der läufer / Midnight Runner (Hannes Baumgartner), Neon Heart (Laurits Flensted-Jensen), The Third Wife (Ash Mayfair) and Viaje al cuarto de una madre (Journey to a Mother’s Room, Celia Rico Clavellino).
This section, forming part of the Festival’s commitment to upcoming film talents, is a platform that lends visibility to their films. The last three winners of the Kutxabank-New Directors Award have been released in Spain: Le nouveau / The New Kid (2015), Park (2016) and Le semeur / The Sower (2017).
LES MÉTÉORITES / METEORITES
ROMAIN LAGUNA (FRANCE)
Nina, a 16-year-old girl, dreams of adventure. Meanwhile, she spends the summer between her village in the south of France and the theme park where she works. Just before meeting Morad, a teenage boy from an Algerian family living in the nearby council houses, Nina sees a meteorite falling from the sky which it seems only she can see… like an omen.
QING FENG DE WEI DAO / BREEZE
KUN YANG (CHINA)
Having left Yunnan, his native city, Yu Zhao moved to Beijing, where he has lived for more than thirty years. Since his retirement, his only occupation has been helping his son in the house and looking after his grandson. When Yu Zhao returns to Yunnan with the intention of starting a new life, he finds that things, his relatives, friends and loves of the past are no longer the way he remembered them. Everything has become colder and more routine. The people he knew now have their own lives and the dream of a new love disappears too. Gradually Yu Zhao realises that Yunnan is no longer his true home, and he decides to return to Beijing.
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Five Documentary Film Projects Win 2018 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund Awards Totaling $125,000
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In Real Life – Liza Mandelup[/caption]
SFFILM on Friday announced the five winners of the 2018 SFFILM Documentary Film Fund awards totaling $125,000, which support feature-length documentaries in post-production. Jennifer Maytorena Taylor’s The Gut (working title), Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s Honeyland, Liza Mandelup’s In Real Life, Hassan Fazili’s Midnight Traveler, and Jessica Kingdon’s Untitled PRC Project, were each awarded funding that will help push each project towards completion.
The SFFILM Documentary Film Fund has a track record for championing important films that in recent years, left a mark on the festival circuit and beyond. Previous winners include RaMell Ross’ Hale County, This Morning, This Evening, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival; Peter Nicks’s The Force, which won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for documentary and SFFILM Festival’s McBaine Bay Area Documentary Feature Award, before being released theatrically by Kino Lorber; Peter Bratt’s Dolores, which won the 2017 SFFILM Festival Audience Award for Documentary Feature following its Sundance premiere; and Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer, which won Sundance’s Directing Award for documentary and was nominated for the 2014 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature; among many others.
Since its launch in 2011, the SFFILM Documentary Film Fund has distributed more than $750,000 to advance new work by filmmakers nationwide. The 2018 Documentary Film Fund is made possible thanks to support from Jennifer Battat and the Jenerosity Foundation.
2018 DOCUMENTARY FILM FUND WINNERS
The Gut (working title) – Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, director/producer; Jim Sabataso and Asma Bseiso, producers; Jen Bradwell and Youssif Salah, editors – $25,000 Filmed over two years in a small New England community that is struggling to emerge from the opioid epidemic and finds itself caught up in a battle over Syrian refugee resettlement, The Gut closely follows the lives of several intersecting but very different characters to explore what changes — and what doesn’t — when white, rural Americans see themselves in “the other.” Honeyland – Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska, co-directors; Atanas Georgiev, producer/editor – $25,000 The last female bee hunter in Europe struggles to save the bees and restore the natural balance when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood. Honeyland is an exploration of an observational Indigenous visual narrative that deeply impacts our behavior towards natural resources and the human condition. In Real Life – Liza Mandelup, director; Lauren Cioffi and Bert Hamelinck, producers; Alex O’Flinn, editor – $25,000 This intimate contemplation on modern youth follows 16-year-old Austyn Tester as he flirts with the world of social media fame. Driven by a wide-eyed desire for stardom, Austyn cultivates a singularly positive online persona that’s at odds with growing up in small-town Tennessee. Midnight Traveler – Hassan Fazili, director; Su Kim, producer; Emelie Mahdavian, producer/editor – $25,000 Midnight Traveler follows a family of Afghan filmmakers on the run from the Taliban. Told from refugee/director Hassan Fazili’s unique first-person perspective, this story provides unprecedented access to the complex refugee experience as it encounters the West. Untitled PRC Project – Jessica Kingdon, director; Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell, producers – $25,000 Untitled PRC Project examines megatrends of today’s China through an impressionistic collage of the new “Chinese Dream.” This observational film reveals paradoxes born from prosperity of the newest world power through the flow of production, consumption, and waste.