• CAGED NO MORE Starring Loretta Devine, Kevin Sorbo, Wins Best Feature At La Femme Film Festival

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    CAGED NO MORE CAGED NO MORE took top honors at the La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles winning the award for “Best Feature” out of 100 other entries. The La Femme Film Festival exists to promote the work of female producers, writers and directors. “This was an amazing put together film that not only entertains but educates the audience on an issue that is very time-sensitive. Creative, pertinent, and well done!” said Leslie LaPage, founder and director of the La Femme Film Festival. “We’ve achieved making a film that is not only thrilling and compelling, but calls audiences to be champions in the fight against human trafficking,” said Lisa Arnold, director, co-writer and producer of CAGED NO MORE. “We are grateful for the support of amazing film festivals like La Femme who recognize that movies can reach beyond the screen and inspire greatness!” CAGED NO MORE is a drama meant to engage and educate audiences on the realities of human trafficking. The film releases January 15, 2016 nationwide. The film was also the top award winner at the Kingdomwood film festival in October 2015. The award-winning film CAGED NO MORE is based on Molly Venzke’s novel by the same title, which was adapted for screen by co-producer Lisa Arnold and Venzke. Starring Emmy award-winner Loretta Devine (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Kevin Sorbo (GOD’S NOT DEAD, “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”), Alan Powell (THE SONG), Christian singer-songwriter Anthony Evans, and Cassidy Gifford (GOD’S NOT DEAD), the film features appearances by Gov. Bobby Jindal, pastor Chad Veach, Grammy Award-nominated Christian recording artist Natalie Grant, Gretchen Carlson and Kathie Lee Gifford. Inspired by real events, CAGED NO MORE is the story of Aggie Prejean (Devine), a grandmother on a desperate search to find her two granddaughters, Skye (Gifford) and Elle, who have been kidnapped by their sinister father (Sorbo). As the details behind the girls’ disappearance begin to unravel, it’s discovered that they have been taken overseas to be sold into the sex trade. Aggie enlists the help of the girls’ uncle, a well-respected local philanthropist, Richard DuLonde (also played by Sorbo), and his son, Wil (Powell), who is former Special Forces. A global hunt ensues, and the team will stop at nothing to see the girls safely returned home. CAGED NO MORE is produced by Check the Gate Productions’ Lisa Arnold (GOD’S NOT DEAD) and Red Entertainment Group’s Jarred Coates (GOD’S NOT DEAD) in association with GND Media Group and Film Incito. CAGED NO MORE was filmed on location in Baton Rouge, La., and Athens, Greece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRo_pHxuLhE The winners of the 2015 La Femme Film Festival. Best Feature Writer “Come Simi” Jenica Bergere & Doc Pedrolie 2015 Best Documentary “Love Between The Covers” Laurie Kahn 2015 Best Screenplay “Delivery Girl” Jude Roth 2015 Best Music Video “Monster” Kate Freund 2015 Best Short “Bound” Lexi St. John 2015 Best Feature Director “Reign” Corey Misquita 2015 Best Feature Producer “The Morning After” Shanra J. Kehl 2015 Best Feature “Caged No More” Lisa Arnold 2015 Best Foreign Film “Interruption” Malou Reymann 2015 Best Animated Short “Misiek and Eve From Outer Space” Marianna Mankowska 2015 Best Foreign Documentary “Out Of A Jam” Shalini Harshwal 2015 Best Special Focused Documentary “Angel Azul” Marcelina Cravat 2015 Best Webisode “Manic Pixie Dream Wife” M. Elizabeth Eller 2015 Best TV Pilot Script “Vigilante Theorem” Meghan Fitzmartin 2015 Best Commercial “ 7UP: Feels Good To Be You “ Alle Hsu 2015 Best Student Short “ Leaves In Fall “ Laura Torenbeek 2015

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  • Wildlife Documentary HUNTWATCH to World Premiere at 2015 DOC NYC | TRAILER

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    Huntwatch Actor Ryan Reynolds has lent his voice to the wildlife documentary Huntwatch, that follows the 50 year battle for baby seals on the ice floes of Canada, and making its world premiere at 2015 DOC NYC. The sound of newborn seals on pristine white ice is shattered by helicopter blades thumping overhead, gunshots, cameras snapping and the smell of boat diesel. The stakes are high for both the hunters and the watchers – get the shot and get out. One leaves with fur pelts, the other evocative images. This is Huntwatch. “The Canadian seal hunt is a very intense and complicated issue,” said Huntwatch director Brant Backlund. “From the get-go, my goal was to tell an honest story bringing both sides of this conflict to life. We were really excited to have Ryan Reynolds on board because as a Canadian he brings an authentic voice to the film.” Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Mississippi Grind) calls Huntwatch “incredible, thoughtful and moving” in a behind the scenes video scheduled to be released soon. The movie is a window into the ongoing saga that unfolds each year. Using the power of cinematography, Huntwatch exposes the cruelty of the ongoing hunt while bringing the audience close to the seals in their natural environment. https://vimeo.com/136225719

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  • Kim Beamish “Tentmakers of Cairo” and Iiris Harma “Leaving Africa: A Story of Friendship and Empowerment” Win 2015 Margaret Meade Filmmaker Award

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    "Tentmakers of Cairo" Kim Beamish For the first time in the festival’s history, two filmmakers Kim Beamish for “Tentmakers of Cairo” and Iiris Harma for “Leaving Africa: A Story of Friendship and Empowerment” are winners of the 2015 Margaret Meade Filmmaker Award. The award honors documentary filmmakers who have made films that present a new perspective on a foreign nation or culture. A documentary filmed over three years, “Tentmakers of Cairo” tells the story of Egypt’s struggle with democracy through the lives of a community of artisans whose craft has remained largely unchanged since Pharaonic times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_L_0JYHvE In “Leaving Africa: A Story of Friendship and Empowerment” Riitta from Finland and Kata from Uganda, aged 66 and 63 respectively, run sexual health and gender equality education in Uganda. The pair find themselves in a difficult situation however, when an anonymous letter, addressed to the Ugandan parliament, accuses them of organizing workshops that are promoting and recruiting children to homosexuality. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2aqqXcZkBk The festival also presented a Special Mention Award to Aldona Watts for her film “Land of Songs.” In a region of Lithuania known as the “Land of Songs,” five charming grandmothers are the bearers of their village’s ancient folk singing tradition. Singing has nourished their lifelong friendships, and helped them to cope with decades of war and occupation. As the village’s youth move away, the grandmothers struggle to keep their songs alive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqFzzfYJDMc

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  • Documentary IRAQI ODYSSEY, Switzerland’s Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Language Film, Sets Fall Release Date | TRAILER

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    Iraqi Odyssey The documentary Iraqi Odyssey, Switzerland’s Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film will be released in New York and Los Angeles on November 27 before expanding nationwide in 2016. Typecast Films will release the English-language version of the film in US theaters, but the version that has qualified as the Swiss Oscar entry is in German. While there are no precise statistics, it is estimated that four to five million Iraqis live outside Iraq today. Award-winning filmmaker Samir was born in Baghdad and has lived in Switzerland since he was child, while the members of his extended family are scattered all over the world — Abu Dhabi, Auckland, Sydney, Los Angeles, Buffalo, London, Paris, Zurich, and Moscow — with only a handful remaining in Iraq. Recounting his family’s stories of departures and uprootings, in Iraqi Odyssey Samir also chronicles how Iraqis’ dreams of building a modern and just society after their nation achieved independence in the 1950s were brutally dashed over the course of half a century. Loosely organized in three acts, the film begins with Samir’s grandfather and his role in the struggle against British colonialism. The second act traces the successive waves of emigration as his relatives sought safe havens around the globe to escape from the series of coups and counter-coups in the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in the establishment of Saddam Hussein’s three-decade dictatorship over the country. Saddam’s deposition by the 2003 US invasion, and the iconic image of his statue being toppled in Firdos Square, signals the film’s final act, and the last tale of departure. Weaving together the ironic, wistful, and witty testimonies of Samir’s relatives with rare documents from private and state archives, Ottoman film footage and 3D technology, Iraqi Odyssey is a riveting epic that creates a genuine people’s history of Iraq, at once humble and majestic. Shedding a new light on a grossly misrepresented country, Iraqi Odyssey is the veteran director’s most personal, ambitious, and accomplished feature to date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTs2IMlv7rY

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  • VIVA, Ireland’s Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Film, to Get 2016 Release

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    VIVA, Paddy Breathnach Viva, directed by Irish filmmaker Paddy Breathnach, and Ireland’s Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film, will be released in theaters in 2016 via Magnolia Pictures. The film, which received a positive response when it premiered at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival in September, stars Hector Medina, Luis Alberto Garcia and Jorge Perugorria. “Viva stars Héctor Medina as Jesus, a young hairdresser working at a Havana nightclub that showcases drag performers, who dreams of being a performer himself. Encouraged by his mentor, Mama (Luis Alberto García), Jesus finally gets his chance to take the stage. But when his estranged father Angel (Jorge Perugorría) abruptly reenters his life, his world is quickly turned upside down. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, ‘Viva’ becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and reconcile as a family.”

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  • TRANSFATTY LIVES, Patrick O’Brien’s Battle with ALS, Sets Fall 2015 Release Date

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    TransFatty Lives TransFatty Lives, directed by Patrick O’Brien, a DJ and internet personality who goes by ‘TransFatty’, and winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, will be released in theaters and On Demand on November 20, 2015 via FilmBuff. Ten years in the making, TransFatty Lives has quietly been amassing 35mm footage in filmmaker Patrick O’Brien’s epic battle with ALS. At 30, Patrick O’Brien was TransFatty, a New York City DJ, internet personality, and filmmaker. He spent his days as a beer-drinking creative force, making art films about perverts, vulnerable souls, and Howard Johnson’s restaurants. Then his legs started shaking. Defying sentimentality, TRANSFATTY LIVES takes you on an emotional rollercoaster from Patrick’s wild, fun-loving days into the dark heart of ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s disease). Given 2 to 5 years to live, Patrick first loses his ability to walk, then move his arms, then to swallow, and even to breathe. With the support of his bewildered friends and family Patrick braves the unthinkable and turns his camera onto himself. As the director and star of his own documentary, Patrick films every step of his debilitating journey from first diagnosis through his current paralysis. Forcefully lacking self-pity, he captures the emotion, humor, and absurdity of real life as he makes art, gets political, falls in love, fathers a son, and fights extreme depression and paranoia. At 40, Patrick has completed this film by typing directions to his editors with the movements of his pupils. Miraculously, TRANSFATTY LIVES is not a movie about death. Because, while Patrick’s brain stopped being able to control his muscles, it remains brilliantly alive, allowing him to ask: “What if my diminishing physical abilities can be inversely proportional to my journey inward?  And, more importantly, “will there be bacon and unicorns once I get there?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqPqbpHageQ

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  • 10 Documentary Shorts on 2015 Oscar’s Shortlist | TRAILERS

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    Body Team 12 Directed by David Darg The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 88th Academy Awards® has been narrowed to 10 films, of which five will earn Oscar® nominations. Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 74 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation. The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies: “Body Team 12,” RYOT Films and Vulcan Productions (pictured above) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2eT2P1TfB8 “Chau, beyond the Lines,” Cynasty Films “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah,” Jet Black Iris America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJPWP3udqE8 “50 Feet from Syria,” Spin Film https://vimeo.com/141567000 “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” SOC Films “Last Day of Freedom,” Living Condition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5diBuNHV75U “Minerita,” Kanaki Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY5mbbmN0V4 “My Enemy, My Brother,” Fathom Film Group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42YFUwCnWzE “Starting Point,” Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAUTn6q2TVo “The Testimony,” Atria Film in association with Escape Artists THE TESTIMONY The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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  • Benjamin Barber to Present Film Program at 2015 IDFA Reflecting on Jihad vs. McWorld

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    This Is Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees (England) by Mani Y. Benchelah The 1995 book Jihad vs. McWorld by American political theorist Benjamin Barber forms the starting point for the special program Benjamin Barber: Jihad vs. McWorld 2015 at the upcoming 2015 IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. This year a new 20th anniversary edition of the book will be published with the subtitle ‘ISIS on the Internet’. Benjamin Barber At IDFA, Benjamin Barber, an internationally renowned political theorist and the author of eighteen books, will present his own selection of documentaries from the IDFA program that engage with many contemporary themes, including global capitalism, terrorism, the politics of fear, refugees, populism and economic inequality. 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets (USA) by Marc Silver A Syrian Love Story (UK) by Sean McAllister Among the Believers (Pakistan/USA/India) by Mohammed Ali Naqvi & Hemal Trivedi At Home in the World (Denmark) by Andreas Koefoed Cartel Land (USA/Mexico) by Matthew Heineman Checks and Balances (France/Algeria) by Malek Bensmaïl The Chinese Mayor (China) by Hao Zhou The Dybbuk: A Tale of Wandering Souls (Poland/Ukraine/Sweden) by Krzysztof Kopczynski For Kibera! (Finland) by Kati Juurus Land Grabbing (Austria) by Kurt Langbein Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (USA) by Alex Gibney This Is Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees (England) by Mani Y. Benchelah (pictured above) Ukrainian Sheriffs (Ukraine/Latvia/Germany) by Roman Bondarchuk We Are Not Alone (Spain) by Pere Joan Ventura Welcome to Leith (USA) by Christopher K. Walker & Michael Nichols

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  • THE JUDGEMENT Bulgarian Oscar Entry Wins Best Film at 2015 Heartland Film Festival

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    “The Judgment,” directed by Stephan Komandarev The 2015 Heartland Film Festival which ran October 16 to 25, 2015, announced its full slate of winners. “The Judgment” (pictured above) Bulgarian entry in the foreign-language film category of the 2016 Academy Awards® wins $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature. “Romeo is Bleeding” wins $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Feature, “The Way of Tea” wins $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short and “The 100 Years Show” wins $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Short. The Heartland Film Festival has earned the special designation of being a qualifying festival for the Annual Academy Awards® within the Short Films category. This means that the winner of the Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short Film, “The Way of Tea,” directed by Marc Fouchard, will qualify for consideration in the Live Action Short Subject category of the Annual Academy Awards®. The 2015 Heartland Film Festival winners include: $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature “The Judgment,” directed by Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCAYsrl37s $45,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Feature “Romeo is Bleeding,” directed by Jason Zeldes (USA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjdh-TmRQCQ $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Narrative Short Underwritten by Heartland Film Endowment’s Sparks Vision Award “The Way of Tea,” directed by Marc Fouchard (France) $5,000 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Short Underwritten by Heartland Film Endowment’s Sparks Vision Award “The 100 Years Show,” directed by Alison Klayman (USA) $5,000 Best Premiere for Narrative Feature “Borderless,” directed by Amir Hossein Asgari (Iran) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVF7DtgDDG4 $5,000 Best Premiere for Documentary Feature “Big Voice,” directed by Varda Bar-Kar (USA) $5,000 Indiana Spotlight Winner “Citizen Teklit,” directed by Tim Taylor (USA) $3,000 Summer White Lynch Memorial Award Winner – High School Film Competition Grand Prize Underwritten by Gary D. & Marlene Cohen “This Home Is Not Empty,” directed by Carol Nguyen (Canada) $2,000 prizes for the Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Awards “The Heart Thief,” directed by Ella Rubeli (Australia) “Leidi,” directed by Simon Mesa Soto (Columbia, UK) Audience Choice Award Winner, Narrative Feature “Marie’s Story,” directed by Jean-Pierre Améris (France) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5qJv_I7K6M Audience Choice Award Winner, Documentary Feature “dream/killer,” directed by Andrew Jenks (USA) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU1hl5rgAI4 Audience Choice Award Winner, Narrative Short “Moving On,” directed by Marcia Fields and Mike Spear (USA) Audience Choice Award Winner, Documentary Short “Teen Press,” directed by T.C. Johnstone (USA)

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  • Female Indian Buddy Movie “Angry Indian Goddesses” Wins People’s Choice Award at 2015 Rome Film Fest | TRAILER

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    Angry Indian Goddesses by Pan Nalin Angry Indian Goddesses “the first female Indian “buddy movie”” by Pan Nalin  is the winner of the BNL People’s Choice Award at the 10th Rome Film Fest.  Angry Indian Goddesses stars Sarah-Jane Dias, Rajshri Deshpande, Sandhya Mridul, Amrit Maghera, Pavleen Gujral, Anushka Manchanda, and Tannishtha Chatterjee. Angry Indian Goddesses by Pan Nalin In the film, Frieda, a fashion-commercial photographer trying to find her own art, gathers her closest girlfriends from all over India to travel to Goa for a surprise announcement: she is getting married! Thus begins an impromptu bachelorette celebration that lasts for a full week. A riotous roller-coaster ride of girl bonding; friendships, break ups, make ups, fuck ups, passion, devastation, hesitation, terrorization and self realization. Amidst the fun and frenzy, heartbreak and heartache, passion and obsession, youth and innocence, secrets tumble out, tensions emerge, bonds are formed and emotions run high. Soon events will take a more serious turn, but for the moment these women are determined to seize the day. Director Pan Nalin states, “For years I longed to do a film with firebrand Indian women in lead roles, because shockingly 96% of female roles in Indian cinema portray the woman as an accessory, a decoration, or a lover, or playing a mother, or sister whose “izzat”(honour) the hero or “big bro” must protect. Alternatively, she is the ultimate ‘IT’ girl! Her male lead must have a gun and a female counterpart but the film caters to males: it must be a testosterone-driven film. Female roles are glamourized and there’s always a dance or ‘gaana’ (song). Of course, the glamour doesn’t dignify the woman and it’s still the guy’s movie!” “Be it action, rom-com, thriller… the man must dominate more screen time, say the real lines and win the women over. Even the recent Bollywood buddy movies run high on male testosterone, as if women don’t “buddy” or connect with each other! As a filmmaker who loves women and everything feminine, I have been witnessing an outcry from Indian women for gender equality, respect and dignity. Thus, I was compelled to use their fury as my fuel to fire up the Angry Indian Goddesses!” Pan Nalin A self-taught filmmaker, Nalin was born in a remote village in Gujarat, India. He came into the global spotlight in 2001 with his debut feature film Samsara. The movie was a commercial and critical success worldwide and won over thirty awards. His multiple award-winning feature documentary Ayurveda: Art of Being was released in theatres worldwide and to date remains the highest grossing Indian documentary film. Nalin’s romantic epic Valley of Flowers, filmed in Japan and in the remote, high altitudes of the Himalayas, won Best Picture at IFFLA Los Angeles. His latest feature documentary, Faith Connections (2013) was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival (2013) and won the Audience Choice Award at the IFFLA Los Angeles. In 2014 Pan Nalin was included in The Better India’s prestigious list of “25 NRI Across The World Who Have Made India Proud”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feRWnYXe0X4

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  • “Carol” “Remember” Added to Gala Program of 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival

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    Remember, Atom Egoyan, Christopher Plummer Carol directed by Todd Haynes, and Remember by the Canadian director, Atom Egoyan, (pictured above) have been added to the Galas Program of the upcoming 2015 Los Cabos International Film Festival; in addition 3 films have been confirmed to the World Highlights program. The Festival will hold the Gala Screening of Carol as a Latin American Premiere. This film had its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival where Rooney Mara won the award for Best Actress. Atom Egoyan’s Remember will have its Mexican premiere at Los Cabos Film Festival. This film was part of Venice Film Festival’s competition, and won the Vittorio Veneto Award. Featuring an extraordinary performance by Christopher Plummer, who plays a sick widower who leaves his nursing home to take vengeance on the Nazi commander who killed his family 70 years earlier, Remember shines a spotlight on Canadian talent celebrated in the Festival. The Festival presents its World Highlights program, a carefully chosen selection of films from different parts of the world, with a curatorship focused on the works that have been acclaimed at the world’s most important film festivals: The films in this program are: 45 YEARS Director: Andrew Haigh (Gladiator, Weekend) Starring: Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling Premiered and won the Silver Bear at Berlinale. UK THE CLAN (Premiere in Mexico) Director: Pablo Trapero (Carancho, Elefante Blanco, Leonera) Cast: Antonia Bengoechea, Gastón Cocchiarale and Guillermo Francella Premiered and won the Silver Lion at Venice Film Festival. Argentina THE CLUB (Premiere in Mexico) Director: Pablo Larraín (No, Tony Manero, Post Mortem) Cast: Roberto Farías, Antonia Zegers and Alfredo Castro Premiered and won the Jury Prize at Berlinale. Chile

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