Salma Hayek appears in Beatriz at Dinner by Miguel Arteta[/caption]
The European premiere of Beatriz at Dinner starring Salma Hayek will open the 2017 Sundance Film Festival: London at Picturehouse Central.
Hayek gives a blistering performance alongside Chloë Sevigny and John Lithgow in the comedy which reunites director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White, who worked together on earlier Sundance Film Festival hits The Good Girl and Chuck & Buck.
Beatriz, an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico, has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner in Southern California. Don Strutt is a real estate developer whose cutthroat tactics have made him a self-made, self-satisfied billionaire. When these two polar opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither will ever be the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLNTmNj5bI
John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, comments, “We look forward to launching our fifth festival in London with Beatriz at Dinner, a masterful dramedy of errors from director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White and starring Salma Hayek. This was a standout at our Utah Festival in January and is a wonderful example of the continued innovation and creativity of our independent filmmakers that we’ll showcase in London again this year.”
Miguel Arteta, Director of Beatriz at Dinner, adds, “I’m thrilled that Beatriz At Dinner will open the Sundance Film Festival: London. Amidst the comedy, drama and brilliant performances in the film, Mike White’s script weaves some timely and potent political commentary and we’re especially excited to premiere the film to UK audiences at such a politically polarized time in world history. I cannot wait to see how audiences outside the United States will react.”
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival: London will take place at Picturehouse Central from June 1 to 4.-
European Premiere of BEATRIZ AT DINNER Starring Salma Hayek to Open the 2017 Sundance Film Festival: London | Trailer
[caption id="attachment_20272" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Salma Hayek appears in Beatriz at Dinner by Miguel Arteta[/caption]
The European premiere of Beatriz at Dinner starring Salma Hayek will open the 2017 Sundance Film Festival: London at Picturehouse Central.
Hayek gives a blistering performance alongside Chloë Sevigny and John Lithgow in the comedy which reunites director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White, who worked together on earlier Sundance Film Festival hits The Good Girl and Chuck & Buck.
Beatriz, an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico, has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner in Southern California. Don Strutt is a real estate developer whose cutthroat tactics have made him a self-made, self-satisfied billionaire. When these two polar opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither will ever be the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCLNTmNj5bI
John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, comments, “We look forward to launching our fifth festival in London with Beatriz at Dinner, a masterful dramedy of errors from director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White and starring Salma Hayek. This was a standout at our Utah Festival in January and is a wonderful example of the continued innovation and creativity of our independent filmmakers that we’ll showcase in London again this year.”
Miguel Arteta, Director of Beatriz at Dinner, adds, “I’m thrilled that Beatriz At Dinner will open the Sundance Film Festival: London. Amidst the comedy, drama and brilliant performances in the film, Mike White’s script weaves some timely and potent political commentary and we’re especially excited to premiere the film to UK audiences at such a politically polarized time in world history. I cannot wait to see how audiences outside the United States will react.”
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival: London will take place at Picturehouse Central from June 1 to 4.
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Tribeca 2017: Poster + Watch Exclusive Clip from Elina Psykou’s Dark Coming-of-Age Drama SON OF SOFIA
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The family (Thanasis Papageorgiou, Valery Tscheplanow, Victor Khomut) watches TV in SON OF SOFIA. Photo credit: Dionysis Eftimiopoulos.[/caption]
Here is the poster and an exclusive video clip from Elina Psykou’s Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale, that will world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Although the clip doesn’t reveal too much of the storyline, it does provide a glimpse into the mother-son dynamic that is explored in the film
After her celebrated debut, The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, Elina Psykou returns with Son of Sofia, a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale that strikes a masterful balance between realism and dreams, much like its young lead.
The story revolves around 11-year-old Misha, who flies from Russia to Athens in the summer of 2004, to join his mother, Sofia, after having spent a long time apart. What he doesn’t know is that there is a father waiting for him there. While Greece is living the Olympic dream, Misha will get violently catapulted into the adult world, riding on the dark side of his favorite fairy tales.
Exclusive Clip
Trailer
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Tribeca 2017: National Geographic to Release Coal Mining Documentary FROM THE ASHES | Trailer
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Deborah Graham at her home in Salisbury, North Carolina. Film still from FROM THE ASHES. Credit: Jonathan Furmanski.[/caption]
From the Ashes, a feature documentary that explores one of the country’s most contentious topics — coal and the mining industry, has been acquired by the National Geographic for release in the US.
Distributed under the National Geographic Documentary Films banner, From the Ashes will have its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, followed by a limited theatrical release this summer and will air globally on National Geographic in 171 countries and 45 languages later in 2017.
Produced by the Academy Award- and Emmy-winning production company RadicalMedia, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Michael Bonfiglio, produced by Sidney Beaumont, and executive produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger — as well as Jon Kamen, Katherine Oliver and Justin Wilkes, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies — From the Ashes captures Americans in communities across the country as they wrestle with the legacy of the coal industry, and what its future should be under the Trump administration.
From Appalachia to the West’s Powder River Basin, the film goes beyond the rhetoric of the “war on coal” to present compelling and often-heartbreaking stories about what is at stake for our economy, health and climate. The film invites audiences to learn more about an industry on the edge and what it means for their lives.
“For over a century, mining and energy companies have been privatizing coal’s profits while socializing its costs. Coal plant pollution kills 7,500 Americans a year and causes many more serious illnesses,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and co-author of the new book “Climate of Hope.” “From the Ashes shows the risks we face as a nation if we continue to rely on coal and examines how Americans in local communities, including in coal country, are helping to lead the transition toward cleaner air and stronger economies.”
From the Ashes builds on Bloomberg’s environmental philanthropic work. Bloomberg Philanthropies has committed over $100 million to move the U.S. away from coal and toward clean energy through its Clean Energy Initiative and Beyond Coal efforts. As a UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Cities and Climate Change, and in partnership with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Bloomberg convened more than 500 global cities at the first-ever Climate Summit for Local Leaders at Paris City Hall during COP21. Beyond Coal, which aims to secure the retirement of half the nation’s coal fleet, has already led to the closure or phasing out of 250 coal-fired power plants and helped to prevent more than 5,550 premature deaths per year. Additionally, Bloomberg Philanthropies supports sustainability in cities around the globe through C40, a network of more than 90 global megacities, and other grants.
“Using media and technology to inform, connect and prompt action is in the DNA of Bloomberg and we’re excited to harness the power of storytelling to reach new audiences and inspire change at such a critical time in our history,” shared Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Katherine Oliver, who also serves as executive producer.
The world premiere of From the Ashes will take place at the Festival Hub at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2017, at 6 p.m. ET. Before the film festival screening there will be a special introduction by Bloomberg, a former three-term mayor of New York City. Immediately following the premiere, there will be a conversation with the director of the film, Bonfiglio, and other special guests to discuss the state of the American coal industry.
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Tribeca 2017: Watch Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell Document Their Relationship in Trailers for FLAMES
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Actors Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell make love in the bathroom. Film still from FLAMES. Photo by Ashley Connor.[/caption]
Here are the new trailers – red band and green band – for FLAMES directed by and featuring real-life couple Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell. Filmed over five years, FLAMES follows the couple from the white-hot passion of first love to the heartbreak of the bitter end.
Flames will World Premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday, April 20.
High on their intense connection, the pair of artists document their relationship’s every beat, from their adventurous sex life, to their performance art collaborations, to a spur-of-the-moment getaway to the Maldives. But when the romantic vacation doesn’t exactly go as planned, the now-former couple are left to decide what to do with their film-in-progress, and for these two filmmakers, the end of the relationship isn’t the end of the story.
As they continue filming, reconstructing what happened and where it all went wrong, lines begin to blur between what was real and what was “the film”—if there’s even a difference anymore. Equal parts performance piece and penetrating rumination on the way some relationships are never finished even after they end, FLAMES is an extraordinary docu-art hybrid- a raw nerve of a film that finds within its unique idiosyncrasies and eccentricities a universally affecting manifesto of heartbreak.
The Couple: Josephine Decker and Zefrey Throwell
Said to be ushering in a “new grammar of narrative” by The New Yorker, Josephine Decker aims to spark curiosity and wonder in audiences while delving into the ways we classify ourselves and others. Part of Time Warner’s 150 incubator, a recent Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Lab Fellow and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, Josephine Decker premiered her first two narrative features, BUTTER ON THE LATCH and THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY, at the Berlinale Forum 2014. The films were listed #2 and #10 on The New Yorker’s Top Ten List of 2014, played about a hundred festivals around the world (including Torino, London BFI, BAM Cinemafest), won Sarasota Film Festival’s Independent Visions Award, Tangerine Entertainment’s prize for a rising female director and many other awards. Her third narrative feature, starring Molly Parker and Miranda July, is currently in post-production, and this fall, she incubated a dance-theater-film hybrid at Princeton University with butoh choreographer Vangeline. Interested in melding unconventional movement and dance into narrative film, Josephine spent a year in Pig Iron Theater’s Advanced Performance Training to learn theater-based techniques of collaborative writing. She is using that training to create Virtual Reality narratives, including one currently with Wolf Cinema in Berlin and another developed by Kaleidoscope VR, DevLab and The Sundance Institute. Zefrey Throwell is a NYC based artist who uses the mediums of film, performance, photography and painting to orchestrate his inquisitive perspective. 1000 car horn symphonies, a weeklong strip poker critique of modern economics, a massive food fight- Throwell’s projects have been featured in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, NBC, Artforum, Art in America, Artinfo and Modern Painters. Throwell has work in The Museum of Modern Art and other major collections. His films have shown at the Cannes Film Festival and other festivals around the world. He is currently directing three feature films and organizing the longest choir in history- a 10,000 opera singer project that stretches over the alps from Italy to Germany, as well as a 10 cruise ship symphony surrounding Miami Beach. Throwell’s latest feature film “Flames” will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017.Red Band Trailer
Green Band Trailer
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Alex Gibney’s NO STONE UNTURNED Pulled from Tribeca Film Festival
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NO STONE UNTURNED – Alex Gibney[/caption]
The producers of Academy Award-winningAlex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned has withdrawn the film from the upcoming 2017 Tribeca Film Festival citing outstanding legal issues. The film was to have its World Premiere on Sunday April 23.
The documentary takes a look back to 1994, in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland where six men were gunned down and five wounded in a pub while watching a World Cup soccer match. With a police investigation that was perfunctory at best, the case remained unsolved. In this film, Gibney reopens the original case to investigate why no culprit was ever brought to justice.
In a statement, the festival said, “We were notified today from the producers of Alex Gibney’s No Stone Unturned that there are outstanding legal issues surrounding the film and they will need to withdraw the documentary from the Festival. We are very disappointed that audiences will not be able to see the film at Tribeca and we know Alex is equally disappointed that his film will not have its world premiere at the Festival.”
The festival has removed the film from the website and refunded the customers who have purchased tickets.
The producer Trevor Birney, Fine Point Films said in a statement, “We are bitterly disappointed that as a result of ongoing legal issues relating to the subject matter of the film, No Stone Unturned (Director: Alex Gibney) is not yet ready to be screened at Tribeca 2017. No one will feel this disappointment more than the families at the centre of the film, whose quest for justice has been both inspiring and unstinting these last 23 years. It is our deepest hope that these sensitive issues can be resolved as soon as possible so that we can share this important film with the world.”
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LA Film Festival Unveils Official 2017 Poster Created by Yoskay Yamamoto
The LA Film Festival today unveiled the official 2017 poster, created by Japanese-born, LA-based artist Yoskay Yamamoto. Following on the acrylic-splattered heels of such past Festival poster artists as Ed Ruscha, Noah Davis and Carolyn Castaño, Yamamoto’s design is yet another in long tradition eye-catching images meant to capture the uniqueness and diversity of both the Festival and Los Angeles itself.
“I’m thrilled to have Yoskay Yamamoto as this year’s Festival artist,” said Jennifer Cochis, LA Film Festival Director. “I immediately fell in love with his work and was drawn in by its dreamy, story-like qualities. I’m excited for people to see his work around the city in the lead up to the Festival.”
The 2017 LA Film Festival will take place June 14 to 22 headquartered at ArcLight Cinemas Culver City.
Read about artist Yoskay Yamamoto approach to designing this year’s poster, what makes the moon such a fun image to draw, Manga and much, much more.
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2nd China Stars Showcase Series Returns to 2017 Seattle International Film Festival
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The Knife In The Clear Water / WANG Xuebo[/caption]
The China Stars Showcase series returned to the 43rd annual Seattle International Film Festival for the second year, presenting twelve feature films along with five short films from students of the Beijing Film Academy.
With support from WASA North America Group and Hainan Airlines to foster cross-cultural exchange and artistic vision, the China Stars Showcase features stories that range from thriller (Evil Minds) to family friendly comedy (Tea Pets), familial obligations (Knife in the Clear Water) to a fantastic discovery of an inter-dimensional portal (The Door). The twelve films in the selection reflect the breadth of independent films in China today.
Curated by SIFF film programmers Beth Barrett, Dustin Kaspar, and Mr. Eugene Zhang of WASA North America Group, the China Stars Showcase will also include an archival presentation of Love and Duty presented alongside a live accompaniment by Donald Sosin as well as the newest film by legendary actress YI Qin, The Beautiful Kokonor Lake. The full China Stars Showcase can be found below.
The Beautiful Kokonor Lake
d. XING-HAO Shen | China 2017 | 98 min
Inspired by the true stories of the difficult construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, 95-year-old Chinese film icon YI Qin wrote, produced, and stars in this romantic drama about a pair of courageous meteorological engineers who fall in love with the region.
The Door | North American Premiere
d. DONG Liang | China 2017 | 104 min
A working-class auto mechanic discovers a magical door to an alternate world in which his life choices made him a wealthy playboy who seemingly has it all. Fantastical comic moments lead to self-reflection as he discovers that cross-dimensional existence has its problems.
Evil Minds d. XIE Dongshen | China 2017 | ~100 minIn this suspenseful, action-packed thriller, criminal profiler Fang Mu (Li Yifeng) is renowned for his gifted insights, but when a police detective brings him in to solve a bizarre campus murder, it proves to be a case that may be too much even for his skills.
Father and Son d. YUAN Weidong | China 2017 | ~100 minA young businessman fakes his own father’s death in order to collect condolence money to repay some menacing gangsters, but the plan goes from crafty to farcical when his ex-military father returns “from the dead” to help.
Free and Easy d. JUN Geng | China 2016 | 99 minA soap-peddling shyster lands in a desolate northern China factory town filled with idiosyncratic con artists in Jen Geng’s deadpan Jarmusch-style satire, winner of the Special Jury Award for Cinematic Vision at the Sundance Film Festival.
God of War d. Gordon Chan | China 2017 | 130 min A period war action film about how Chinese general Qi Jiguang defeated Japanese pirates that proliferated along the Chinese coastline during 16th century. Have a Nice Day d. LIU Jian | China 2017 | 77 min Driver Xiao Zhang robs one million dollars from his boss in order to fix his girlfriend’s failed plastic surgery, but he is soon faced with a bigger predicament when a hitman, a gangster and a robber go after him and the money. Knife in the Clear Water | US Premiere d. WANG Xuebo | China 2016 | 93 minThe hauntingly beautiful fable of an elderly farmer in China’s primarily Muslim Ningxia province who finds that affection for his beloved bull makes it impossible to sacrifice the animal in a religious ceremony―until the bull inexplicably stops eating.
Love and Duty d. WANCANG Bu | China 1931 | 153 minChinese silent film icon Ruan Lingyu, frequently called the Greta Garbo of Shanghai, stars in this newly restored edition of one of the biggest films of early Chinese cinema, a decades-spanning romantic drama about a woman who pays dearly for following her heart. With live accompaniment by Donald Sosin.
The Song of Cotton d. ZHU Yuancheng | China 2016 | 90 minAfter accepting the job as a full time caretaker for an ex-boxer who suffers from senile dementia, a young woman develops a close bond with her patient. A heartfelt drama based on a short story by National Book Award-winning author Ha Jin.
Soul on a String d. ZHANG Yang | China 2016 | 142 minA compassionate Buddhist embarks on a mystical quest through Tibet, pursued by black-market traders and a man hell-bent on vengeance. Along the way they encounter mysterious travelers, among them a loyal elf, a lovestruck woman, and a mute psychic.
Tea Pets d. Gary Wang | China 2017 | 93 minPopping off the screen with vivacious colors and beautifully composed action sequences, a group of tea pets―cute clay figurines that are good-luck charms for tea drinkers―embark on a magical animated adventure to find a fabled mystic.
Short Films from Beijing Film Academy Students
Bloom d. SUN Yiran and XU Jiyao | China 2017 | 8 min Elephant King d. FU Yan and FU Chao | China 2017 | 11 min Free Throw Line d. ZHANG Yixin | China 2017 | 7 min I Come From Prairie d. Nuhan Arisbek | China 2017 | 8 min The Sea d. LI Yifan | China 2017 | 7 min Seattle International Film Festival is pleased to present the following awards at the China Stars Award Ceremony on Friday, June 9th at the Seattle Pan Pacific Hotel. Lifetime Achievement YI Qin Emergent Talent DONG Liang Film Award Wanda Films
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Cannes Film Festival Announces 2017 Official Selection of Short Films
The Cannes Film Festival announced the 2017 Official Selection of short films In Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection. The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Cristian Mungiu, will then decide on the best films both from the Short Films Competition and the Cinéfondation.
The 2017 Short Films Competition comprises 9 films (8 works of fictions and 1 animation), from Finland, France, United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece, Iran, USA, Poland, China, Colombia and Sweden. These films are all in the running for the 2017 Short Film Palme d’or, to be awarded by Cristian Mungiu, President of the Jury, at the official award ceremony of the 70th Festival de Cannes on 28th May.
To mark its 20th year, the Cinéfondation Selection has chosen 16 films (14 works of fiction and 2 animations), from among the 2,600 works submitted this year by film schools from all over the world. Fourteen countries from three continents are represented. Four of the films selected come from schools taking part for the first time. The three Cinéfondation prizes will be awarded at a ceremony preceding the screening of the prize-winning films on Friday 26th May in the Buñuel Theatre.
THE SHORT FILMS COMPETITION 2017
Teppo Airaksinen – KATTO (Ceiling) Finland Lucrèce Andreae – PÉPÉ LE MORSE – animation (Grandpa Walrus) France Mahdi Fleifel – A DROWNING MAN United Kingdom, Denmark, Grece Alireza Ghasemi – LUNCH TIME Iran Fiona Godivier – ACROSS MY LAND USA Grzegorz Molda – KONIEC WIDZENIA (Time to go) Poland Qiu Yang – XIAO CHENG ER YUE (A Gentle Night) China Andrés Ramirez Pulido – DAMIANA Colombia Julia Thelin – PUSH IT SwedenTHE CINÉFONDATION SELECTION 2017
Yuval Aharoni – BEN MAMSHICH (Heritage) – Steve Tisch School of Film & Television, Tel Aviv University, Israel Bahman Ark, Bahram Ark – HEYVAN (Animal) – Iranian National School of Cinema, Iran Michal Blasko – ATLANTÍDA, 2003 (Atlantis, 2003) – FTF VŠMU, Slovakia Stijn Bouma – LEJLA – Sarajevo Film Academy, Bosnia-Herzegovina Eduardo Brandao Pinto – VAZIO DO LADO DE FORA (Empty on the Outside) – Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil Aya Igashi – TOKERU – Toho Gakuen Film Techniques Training College, Japan Payal Kapadia – AFTERNOON CLOUDS – Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), India Léa Krawczyk – À PERDRE HALEINE – La Poudrière, France Marian Mathias – GIVE UP THE GHOST – NYU Tisch School of the Arts, USA Valentina Maurel – PAUL EST LÀ (Paul is Here) – INSAS, Belgium Imge Özbilge – CAMOUFLAGE – KASK, Belgium Roberto Porta – PEQUEÑO MANIFIESTO EN CONTRA DEL CINE SOLEMNE (Little Manifesto Against Solemn Cinema) – Universidad del Cine (FUC), Argentina Rory Stewart – WILD HORSES – NFTS, UK Áron Szenpeteri – LÁTHATATLANUL (Invisibly) – Színház-és Filmművészeti Egyetem, Hungaria Tommaso Usberti – DEUX ÉGARÉS SONT MORTS – La Fémis, France WANG Yi-Ling – YIN SHIAN BIEN JIAN GON LU (Towards the Sun) – National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan
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San Francisco International Film Festival Announces 2017 Golden Gate Award Winners
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Everything Else, Natalia Almada (Todo lo demás
Doña Flor (Adriana Barraza))[/caption] The San Francisco International Film Festival announced the winners of the juried 2017 Golden Gate Award (GGA) competitions, with the Golden Gate Awards New Directors going to Everything Else, directed by Natalia Almada; and the McBaine Documentary Feature Award going to Brimstone & Glory directed by Viktor Jakovleski. This year the Festival awarded nearly $40,000 in prizes to emerging and established filmmakers.GOLDEN GATE NEW DIRECTORS (NARRATIVE FEATURE) PRIZE
GGA New Directors Prize winner: Everything Else, Natalia Almada (Mexico/USA/France) Receives $10,000 cash prize In a statement, the jury noted: “For its humanism, its consistency of vision, its formal rigor, and its remarkable blend of fiction and non-fiction, we give the New Directors award to Natalia Almada and her film Everything Else.”MCBAINE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARDS
McBaine Documentary Feature Award Winner: Brimstone & Glory, Viktor Jakovleski (USA) Receives $10,000 cash prize The jury noted in a statement: “Spectacular and visceral, dangerous and spiritual, this high-flying documentary transports us into the ecstatic rituals of a Mexican town.” McBaine Bay Area Documentary Feature Award: The Force, Peter Nicks (USA) Receives $5,000 cash prize The jury noted: “For it’s timely and in-depth examination of the relationship between the police and the community, unafraid to show the complex humanity of all sides of this fraught subject, we give this award to Peter Nicks’ gripping and finely crafted documentary.” Special Jury Prize: School Life (formerly In Loco Parentis), Neasa Ní Chianáin, David Rane (Ireland/Spain) The jury noted: “The jury would like to give a special jury prize to a movie that take us into an eccentric and idyllic world with intuitive grace and a richly empathetic vision.”GOLDEN GATE AWARDS FOR SHORT FILMS
Best Narrative Short winner: Univitellin, Terence Nance (France) Receives $2,000 cash prize Special Jury Prize for Narrative Short: A Brief History of Princess X, Gabriel Abrantes (Portugal/France/UK) Best Documentary Short winner: The Rabbit Hunt, Patrick X Bresnan (USA) Receives $2,000 cash prize Best Animated Short winner: Hot Dog Hands, Matt Reynolds, (USA) Receives $2,000 cash prize Best New Visions Short winner: Turtles Are Always Home, Rawane Nassif (Qatar/Lebanon/Canada) Receives $1,500 cash prize Bay Area Short First Prize winner: In the Wake of Ghost Ship, Jason Blalock (USA) Receives $1,500 cash prize Bay Area Short Second Prize winner: American Paradise, Joe Talbot, USA. Receives $1,000 cash prizeGOLDEN GATE AWARD FOR FAMILY FILM
Best Family Film winner: Valley of a Thousand Hills, Jess Colquhoun (South Africa/UK) Receives $1,000 cash prize The jury noted: “This film is a moving, refreshing, and unexpected portrait of a section of the culture of South Africa, feeling so far away geographically but so easy to relate to emotionally. We were drawn into the ease and dynamics of the kids’ friendships. The authenticity of the storytelling from its young subjects helped create a deeper connection to the audience. It was hopeful, inspiring, reassuring, and visually stunning. We feel audience members of a wide range of ages can walk away with a lasting impression that captures the simplicity of childhood layered with life lessons on focus, respect, and friendship.” Special Jury Prize: Summer Camp Island, Julia Pott (USA) The jury noted: “We want to see more of this and wish it could be turned into a series. We love the quirky originality of the story, animation, and characters.”GOLDEN GATE AWARD FOR YOUTH WORK
Best Youth Work winner: Cycle, Caleb Wild (USA) Receives $1,000 cash prize The jury noted: “Cycle presented an honest portrait of a young man coming-of-age that examined his character beyond the typical tropes of masculinity, offering viewers an engaging journey that felt personal and surprising with strong cinematography.”GOOGLE BREAKTHROUGH IN TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Google presents the Breakthrough in Technology Award for the best use or display of technology and innovation. The award honors filmmakers who go the extra mile to highlight the use of computer science and technology to solve a problem and make the world a better place, and aspires to promote diversity in tech while disrupting negative stereotypes in STEM fields. Google Breakthrough in Technology Award winner: N.O.VI.S., Arthur Rodger ‘Harley’ Maranan (Phillipines) Receives $500 cash prize donated by Google Inc.
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A GOOD WIFE, NO SMOKING IN SARAJEVO Win at 2017 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival in NYC
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A Good Wife, Mirjana Karanović, 2017 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival[/caption]
A Good Wife, Mirjana Karanović’s story of a woman whose life is shaken when she discovers a video that implicates her husband Vlada in war crimes, won the Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Feature at 2017 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF) in New York City. Mirjana Karanović also won the BHFF’s first ever Jury Award for Best Acting Performance for her role inA Good Wife.
A Good Wife is a powerful film that was awarded for relevant, timely and brave script, an important theme and skillfully executed storytelling and cinematography.
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NO SMOKING IN SARAJEVO, Gianluca Loffredo – 14th Annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival Awards Presentation[/caption]
No Smoking In Sarajevo, Gianluca Loffredo’s retrospective on iconic Bosnian rock band No Smoking, and the unique period that ushered in the region’s comic and sharp-edged New Primitivism movement, won the BHFF 2017 Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Documentary.
No Smoking In Sarajevo was awarded for a perceptive storytelling and weaving of a complex and subtle narrative, from an outsider looking into a tragic story that is symbolic of so many breakups of the last 25 years.
Goran Kapetanović’s Refugee 532, in which twelve-year-old refugee Sevko must adapt to his new life in Sweden while overcoming adversity and waiting for news from home, won the BHFF 2017 Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Short Film.
Refugee 532 is wonderfully cast and with satisfying script and emotional performances, a story that not only speaks of our recent past but also of our global present.
Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, a biting satire mirroring the precariousness of modern Europe, won the BHFF 2017 Golden Apple Audience Award for Best Picture.
Films receiving Jury Awards were selected by the official BHFF 2017 Jury, an expert panel, comprised of renowned photojournalist Ron Haviv; filmmaker and author Zlata Filipović, and acclaimed costume designer Amela Bakšić.
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Stranger With My Face International Film Festival Announces Key 2017 Titles and Guests
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XX, Roxanne Benjamin[/caption]
The 5th edition of Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will take place in Hobart, Tasmania, from May 4 to 7, 2017 , with a line-up of feature films, a shorts program, a symposium, industry events and an art exhibition. Stranger With My Face focuses on women’s perspectives in genre filmmaking with an emphasis on horror and related genres.
The 2017 program includes a retrospective of the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston; the Tasmanian premiere of the all-female horror anthology XX with one of the filmmakers, Roxanne Benjamin, in person; and a screening of Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs with its cinematographer, Sandi Sissel ASC.
“Stranger With My Face is a place for newcomers get their films seen and to meet like-minded artists,” says Festival Director Briony Kidd, “But it’s also very much about highlighting older work that’s ripe for rediscovery.”
In addition to appearing for Q&As after screenings of their work, Gaylene Preston and Roxanne Benjamin will take on the role of mentors for the festival’s filmmaker development program The Attic Lab, which returns after a successful first year in 2016.
Roxanne Benjamin is well-known as the producer of the V/H/S films, credited by many as kicking off the ongoing ‘revival’ of the horror anthology feature film. She recently produced, directed and wrote segments of two new anthologies, Southbound, which premiered at TIFF in 2015 and XX this year, which opens this year’s Stranger With My Face after premiering at Sundance
Gaylene Preston ONZM is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded filmmakers, with a career spanning more than four decades. While primarily known for her work in documentary and factually inspired drama, Preston is influential genre circles with two films in particular, both of which will screen at Stranger With My Face 2017.
PERFECT STRANGERS (1991) is a “chilling romance” which stars Rachel Blake and Sam Neill, and the lesser known MR WRONG (1983) which has recently been championed by cult cinema connoisseur Quentin Tarantino, who said “I loved the woman who was the lead in it… she would never be the lead in the American version of that movie. And there was something so authentic about seeing her trapped into this supernatural story.”
Rounding out the The Attic Lab mentor team for is veteran cinematographer Sandi Sissel (CHICKEN RANCH, SALAAM BOMBAY, MASTER AND COMMANDER) who will be in attendance for a screening of THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, followed by an in-depth discussion around the artistic challenges involved in the 1991 Wes Craven production.
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TRIBECA 2017: Kino Lorber to Release TOM OF FINLAND Biopic in the US
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Tom of Finland[/caption]
TOM OF FINLAND, Dome Karukoski’s biopic about the life and work of Finnish artist and gay icon Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, has been acquired by Kino Lorber for release in the US.
Dome Karukoski’s Tom Of Finland is set to have its North American premiere at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, after a world premiere at the Goteborg Film Festival in February. It’s also in high demand among LGBTQ U.S. festivals. The film’s world premiere was followed by a release in its home territory, whereTom Of Finland has taken close to $1m at the local box office.
A trailblazing figure in post-World War II erotic art, Touko Laaksonen drew thousands of fantasy-filled, homoerotic images of intensely masculine (and muscular) men, often liberated from the moral codes of their times. Quickly spreading throughout the world, these images went on to play a significant role in the transnational gay liberation movement that continues to make strides to this day, also becoming iconic symbols for generations of LGBT people worldwide.
Director Dome Karukoski is an acclaimed Finnish filmmaker with six features to his credit including The Grump (2014), Heart Of A Lion (2013) and Lapland Odyssey (2010).
The film was produced by Finnish production outfit Helsinki Film, with a screenplay by Aleksi Bardy. The cast includes Pekka Strang, Lauri Tilkanen, Jessica Grabowsky, Taisto Oksanen, Seumas Sargent, Jakob Oftebro and Niklas Hogner.