The Sundance Institute today announced the expansion of Sundance Institute Art House Project, a partnership with art house cinemas nationwide to build audiences and develop a supportive community of theatre owners committed to independent film. In its fourth year, the Art House Project this year includes a specially-selected series of short films from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Go to the participating theaters' websites below to learn more about when the films are showing.
The shorts program includes:
MAN (directed by Myna Joseph) FCU: Fact Checkers Unit (directed by Dan Beers) Sikumi (directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean) I Love Sarah Jane (directed by Spencer Susser) W. (directed by The Vikings) Spider (directed by Nash Edgerton) Your Truly (directed by Osbert Parker) Dennis (directed by Mads Matthiesen) my olympic summer (directed by Daniel Robin)
Participating Theatres are:
BAM, New York, NY, www.bam.org Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, TN, www.belcourt.org Broadway Centre Cinemas, Salt Lake City, UT, www.saltlakefilmsociety.org Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA, www.coolidge.org Enzian Theater, Orlando, FL, www.enzian.org Hollywood Theatre, Portland, OR, www.hollywoodtheatre.org International Film Series, Boulder, CO, www.internationalfilmseries.com Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, NY, www.burnsfilmscenter.org The Loft, Tucson, AZ, www.loftcinema.com Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI, www.michtheater.org The Music Box, Chicago, IL, www.musicboxtheatre.com Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK, www.okcmoa.org The Palm, San Luis Obispo, CA, www.thepalmtheatre.com Pickford Cinema, Bellingham, WA, www.pickfordcinema.org Rafael Film Center, San Rafael, CA, www.cafilm.org Ragtag Cinema, Columbia, MO, www.ragtagfilm.com Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville, ME, www.railroadsquarecinema.com The Screen, Santa Fe, NM, www.thescreen.csf.edu
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/25/2008 10:14:00 PM
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DUBAI FEST TO OPEN WITH W.
The fifth edition of the Dubai Film Festival will bow with Oliver Stone's W. on Dec. 11. Stone was at the festival previously with World Trade Center.
Other gala screenings this year include Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, the world preem of Palestinian director Najwa Najjar's Pomegranates and Myrrh and Iranian helmer Majid Majidi's Song of Sparrows.
Stay tuned to filmmakermagazine.com for coverage of this year's fest.
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/25/2008 05:47:00 PM
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HOLLYWOOD IN THE UAE
Originally posted on the Filmmaker blog, here's Scott Macaulay's post on the Tribeca Film Festival's launch of a festival in Qatar.
With Robert DeNiro announcing that Tribeca will launch a sister film festival in Qatar and the Dubai Film Festival, which I'll be attending, coming up, collaborations between the U.S. film industry and the Middle East are in the news. This week on KCRW's excellent, "The Business," Claude Brodesser-Akner interviews Slamdance-founder Jon Fitzgerald, who launched the Middle East International Festival in Abu Dhabi and discusses the broader topic of Hollywood and the UAE. Listen below.
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/25/2008 05:28:00 PM
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Sunday, November 23, 2008
49th THESSALONIKI FEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Listed below are the winners of the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which wrapped over the weekend. Read our coverage of this year's festival in the Winter issue of Filmmaker.
Best Feature Film Award - Aan Ja (Over There), pictured above, by Abdolreza Kahani, producer Vahdat Yeganeh (Iran)
Special Jury Award - Pescuit Sportiv (Hooked), by Adrian Sitaru, producers Adrian Sitaru, Marie-Pierre Macia, Juliette Lepoutre (Romania / France)
Best Director Award - Celina Murga for Una Semana Solos (A Week Alone), producers Juan Villegas, Inés Gamarci (Argentina)
Best Screenplay Award - Matthew Newton for Three Blind Mice, by Matthew Newton, producer Ben Davis (Australia)
Best Actress Award - Iona Flora and Maria Dinulescu for Pescuit Sportiv (Hooked)
Best Actor Award - Sid Lucero and Emilio Garcia for Selda (The Inmate), by Ellen Ramos and Paolo Villaluna, producer Josephine Saba (Philippines)
Artistic Achievement Award - Szalbocs Tolnai for Fövenyóra (Hourglass), producers György Durst, Miroslav Mogorovic, Szabolcs Tolnai (Hungary /Serbia /Montenegro)
FIPRESCI award for a film in the International Competition Section 2008 - Voy a Explotar (I’m Gonna Explode), by Gerardo Naranjo, producers Pablo Cruz, Gerardo Naranjo, Hunter Gray, Alain de la Mata (Mexico)
Human Values Award - Teza, by Haile Gerima, producers Haile Gerima, Karl Baumgartner (Ethiopia / Germany / France)
Fischer Public Choice Awards - (International Competition section) Le Bruit Des Gens Autour (Sunny Spells), by Diastéme, producers Thomas Anargyros, Edouard de Vésinne (France)
(Greek Films 2008 section) Makronissos (Exile Island), by Elias Yannakakis, Evi Karabatsou, producer Elias Yannakakis
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/19/2008 01:49:00 PM
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SUNDANCE 09 OPENS WITH MARY and MAX
The Sundance Institute announced today that they will be opening the 25th Sundance Film Festival with the world premiere of the clay animation film, Mary and Max.
Directed by Academy Award-winning short filmmakers Adam Elliot and producer Melanie Coombs (Harvie Krumpet), actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette lend their voices to the film and is narrated by Barry Humphries.
From the press release:
Mary and Max is the tale of two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. The story is based on the director's own pen-friendship that has also lasted over twenty years.
The entire festival program will be announced Dec. 3 and 4. The festival runs Jan. 15-25, 2009 in Park City, Utah.
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/19/2008 01:30:00 PM
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Monday, November 17, 2008
SPC GETS LOUD
Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they've acquired North American rights to the Toronto Fest hit, It Might Get Loud, directed by An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim.
The doc highlights three legendary musicians, Jack White, Jimmy Page and The Edge (pictured above), as they celebrate the electric guitar through their own words and music.
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/17/2008 02:00:00 PM
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Friday, November 14, 2008
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES 8 PROJECTS FOR MIDDLE EAST SCREENWRITERS LAB
Launched in 2005, the Middle East Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished Creative Advisors in an environment that encourages storytelling at the highest level. The five-day Lab was held in an eco-lodge in Wadi Feynan, Southern Jordan. This year’s Lab brings together eight Fellows from the Middle East and North Africa with Creative Advisors from the United States, Europe, Latin America and Malaysia.
Run by the Royal Film Commission in consultation with The Sundance Institute, the Labs is held in Jordan from October 14-19, 2008. This year’s Creative Advisors included Zach Sklar, Artistic Director (JFK), Karim Ainouz (Madame Satã), DV DeVincentis (High Fidelity), U-Wei Bin Hajisaarim (The Arsonist), Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me), Bernd Lichtenberg (Goodbye Lenin) and Tyger Williams (Menace II Society).
The participants and projects selected for the 2008 Screenwriters Lab are:
ABU SHANAB/Aseel Mansour (Writer/Director), Jordan Abu Shanab is personal story about the Palestinian people's belief in their right of return, told through the eyes of a precocious young boy. Ziad is a 12-year old boy living in Gaza who becomes curious about his family's past, and finds answers in the journey he undertakes searching for a small box that his grandfather hides in his old house in Jaffa.
THE FIFTH STRING/ Selma Bargach (Writer/Director), Morocco The Fifth String tells the story of Malek, an 18-year old young man and his dream to become a well-known lute musician.
LAND OF THE BRAVE/Nizar Wattad (Writer), Palestinian Territories/U.S. An Arab-American family living in Tennessee must come together when their strained relations are tested in the aftermath of 9/11.
LET IT BE MORNING /Sayed Kashua (Writer), Israel Let it be Morning is about Sami, a journalist who was fired from his job at a Hebrew newspaper. Economic reasons force him and his family to move back to the Arab village he left years ago, while peace talks take place between Palestinians and Israelis.
LITTLE AMERICAN WHORE/Maysoon Zayid (Writer), Palestinian Territories/U.S. Little American Whore is a love story between a Palestinian-American young woman and her Palestinian cousin.
MY BROTHER THE DEVIL/Sally El- Hosaini (Writer/Director), Egypt/U.K. My Brother the Devil explores themes of prejudice and identity challenging the stereotypes of what it means to be young, Arab, Muslim and British today.
PRISON DIARIES/Mai Masri (Writer/Director), Palestinian Territories/Lebanon Prison Diaries is a coming-of-age story of a Palestinian school girl detained in an Israeli prison. The film is based on the true stories that took place in the notorious Israeli prison, Neve Tertza during 1978-1984.
WHEN WE ARE BORN/Nadine Shams (Writer), Egypt When we are Born tells the story of three young Egyptians and their chaotic lives against the backdrop of Cairo preparing to qualify to host the World Cup.
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/14/2008 12:46:00 PM
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
DEFIANCE CONCLUDES AFI FEST
AFI Fest wrapped Nov. 9 at the Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood with the world premiere of Defiance (pictured right), AFI alum Ed Zwick’s Paramount Vantage Nazi-resistance actioner, scheduled for limited release Dec. 31.
Midway through the screening, a fire alarm -- which turned out to be accidental – interrupted the screening, shutting down the projector and switching on the house lights. While most of the audience sat through the unscheduled 20-minute intermission, a handful departed before the film resumed.
Starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, and adapted from a nonfiction book recounting how a group of Eastern European Jewish resistance fighters took refuge in the Belorussian forests and launched guerilla attacks on German forces rather than face extermination by the invading Nazis, Defiance curiously lacks vitality. The inspirational storyline and Zwick’s typically dynamic directing style don’t adequately animate the strained relationship between the two brothers leading the partisans, played by Craig and Schreiber, whose performances often seem disengaged from one another.
Enthusiasm for the film was muted at a post-screening party, where some attendees seemed more inclined to discuss the recent election results or the upcoming awards season and Sundance Film Festival.
At a private award-winners' brunch earlier in the day, AFI Fest announced the festival prize recipients in the feature, documentary and shorts categories. Director Kief Davidson’s Kassim the Dream-- a doc recounting the journey of UgandanKassim Ouma from abduction and forced labor as a child soldier to world junior-middleweight boxing champion -- came out the big winner of both the jury and audience awards, sharing the latter documentary prize with The World We Want, an invigorating account of international youth activists.
Following is the full list of AFI Fest prizewinners:
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE COMPETITION
GRAND JURY PRIZE: ACNE
DIR: Federico Veiroj
SPECIAL MENTION: NIRVANA
DIR: Igor Volshin
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
GRAND JURY PRIZE: KASSIM THE DREAM
DIR: Kief Davidson
SPECIAL MENTION: THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF
DIR: Jan Louter
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS COMPETITION
GRAND JURY PRIZE:THE LEGLESS BOY CANNOT DANCE
DIR: Michel Lipkes
SPECIAL MENTION: THE APOLOGY LINE
DIR: James Lees
AUDIENCE AWARDS
FEATURE: A NECESSARY DEATH
DIR: Daniel Stamm
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: KASSIM THE DREAM
DIR: Kief Davidson
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: THE WORLD WE WANT
DIR: Patrick Davidson USA
SHORT: BUSCO PERSONAS: THE FACES OF COLUMBIA'S WAR
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/10/2008 11:12:00 AM
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Saturday, November 8, 2008
AFI FEST TRIBUTES SWINTON AND BOYLE
Following an a abbreviated schedule Tuesday to accommodate election night (and an enthusiastic impromptu party celebrating Obama’s win in the festival’s Cinema Lounge at the Roosevelt Hotel), the mid-week stretch at AFI Fest continued with an event honoring Academy Award-winning actor Tilda Swinton -- featuring a highlight reel from her film career and discussion with journalist David Poland -- and a Friday tribute to renowned director Danny Boyle, paired with a screening of his new film, Slumdog Millionaire.
A contemporary romantic epic, Slumdog chronicles the rise of a slum-dwelling boy (Dev Patel) growing up on Mumbai’s mean streets to become a top-winning contestant on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and his enduring love for a childhood sweetheart (Freida Pinto).
Starring relative unknowns in the lead roles and supported by some of Bollywood’s biggest-name stars, the film is a bravura celebration of the human spirit and the city of Mumbai (Bombay), written by The Full Monty scribe Simon Beaufoy and showcasing Boyle’s characteristically dynamic visual style.
In a conversation with the L.A. Time’s John Horn, Boyle described the technical and logistical challenges of making Slumdog on the teeming streets of Mumbai -- the capital of India’s movie industry. “It’s a bit naïve thinking a foreigner can go there and make a movie,” Boyle observed, but noted that after reading Beaufoy’s script he realized “it was a portrait of a city -- I couldn’t wait to get there.”
Working with a predominantly local crew and shooting on a new, compact digital prototype camera with hard-drive data storage (similar to the RED system Soderbergh used on Che), 35mm and even the video setting on a Canon EOS digital still camera, Boyle and frequent collaborating cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle capture some indelible images at a variety of striking locations. The smaller cameras made it easier to move around and shoot on crowded streets without attracting attention from ardent local film fans. “You need to flow with the city,” observed Boyle about filming in Mumbai.
“I think movies are about forward motion,” he commented about Slumdog’s headlong visuals near the end of the discussion. “I find that really optimistic and tried to get that in the film.”
The Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have announced the twelve finalists for the 2009 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The annual cash award to support new artists in international cinema (winners announced at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival) is celebrating its 13th year with an impressive list of past recipients including: Alex Rivera (The Sleep Dealer), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Walter Salles (Central Station).
The twelve finalists for the 2009 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards are:
EUROPE
Celia Galán Julve / ROSITA GUZMÁN IS ALIVE (Spain) – When dangerous fugitive Rosita Guzmán disappears into the Mexican desert, criminologist Garcia Navarro, convinced that she is a product of an unjust system, becomes obsessed with finding and unraveling the truth about her.
Lucile Hadzihalilovic/EVOLUTION (France) – A group of young boys who are isolated from the world act as guinea pigs in a series of bizarre medical procedures intended to trigger a reverse evolutionary step. EVOLUTION depicts the attempts of one young, unruly test subject as he seeks to escape experimentation and recall his clouded past.
Marco Van Geffen/AMONG US (Netherlands) - Cross-cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications compound when a Polish au pair goes to work for a Dutch family. Structured in a puzzle-like narrative, AMONG US depicts the young woman's tenure there from various points of view, and the characters failure to connect.
LATIN AMERICA
Fellipe Barbosa /CASA GRANDE (Brazil, co-writer Karen Sztajnberg) - A teenage boy struggles to define his future and explore issues of class privilege among Rio's decadent elite while his overprotective parents spiral into bankruptcy.
Marcelo Gomes and Cao Guimarães /THE MAN OF THE CROWD (Brazil) - In a vast Brazilian metropolis, two solitary subway employees gradually come to know one another, triggering a change in perspective on their lonely lives.
Diego Lerman / THE DISCIPLINE MONITOR (LA PRECEPTORA NACIONAL)(Argentina) – During the last years of the military dictatorship, a sexually repressed school monitor in Buenos Aires indulges in a strange compulsion, allowing her dark desires to compromise her role at the school.
UNITED STATES
Dee Rees / PARIAH (USA) - When forced to choose between the fragile cohesion of her middle-class family and imperative loyalty to her best friend, a Bronx teenager is forced to juggle conflicting identities and risk friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.
David Riker/ THE GIRL (USA) - A young, single mother from South Texas is thrown into an unexpected and life-changing journey when her attempt to smuggle immigrants across the border ends disastrously, leaving her stranded with a young girl from southern Mexico.
John Magary / BLOOD ABUNDANCE, OR THE HALF-LIFE OF ANTOINETTE (USA) - Set amidst poverty, with moments of both joy and upheaval, BLOOD ABUNDANCE, OR THE HALF-LIFE OF ANTOINETTE is a retelling of the chaotic life of Antoinette Dawson as she raises her seven children in New Orleans.
JAPAN
qurata kenji / SPEED GIRL (Japan) – Nijiko, a gifted speed skater, runs through the world at full speed, leaving her friend Mitsuo in her wake. When Nijiko mysteriously disappears, Mitsuo learns what it means to look out for someone in love and prayer.
Yukiko Mishima / WHEN NOBODY CALLS YOUR NAME (Japan) – A middle-aged crematorium worker emerges from a life of solitude when an 8 year old boy asks her to pose as his mother so he can join a boxing gym.
Season Noda (niga oolong) /LIMBO MAMBO (Japan) – When Tadahito Urushibara unexpectedly dies and becomes a corporeal ghost, he has the opportunity to reexamine his life, forge new bonds with his family, and resolve his relationships.
# posted by Jason Guerrasio @ 11/07/2008 11:12:00 AM
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Tuesday, November 4, 2008
AFI FEST SHUFFLES DECK TO LEAD OFF OPENING WEEKEND
After clearing a last-minute pre-festival hurdle following Paramount’s late decision to pull initial opening night film The Soloist -- now rescheduled for March next year -- AFI Festkicked off Oct. 30 with Miramax’s hastily drafted Doubt as the replacement world premiere.
Although still unfinished, director John Patrick Shanley’s dour inquisition of a suspected pedophile priest, resolutelyplayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, received a receptive response.
Adapted from Shanley’s original Broadway stage production, the film may ultimately play as too austere and theatrical for many viewers when it opens Dec. 12, although Meryl Streep’s impressive performance as a crusading nun looks likely to attract awards attention. The screening was relocated from the renowned Cinerama Dome to the main Arclight multiplex after Shanley reportedly balked at projecting the film on the dome’s massive curved screen.
IFC Film’s Che held down opening weekend’s Centerpiece gala slot at the historic Grauman's Chinese Theater in the heart of Hollywood. Presented as a double-feature (referred to simply as Part One and Part Two in the program notes) and running nearly four-and-a-half hours, the epic biopic provides generous detail on the political motives and military campaigns that brought Fidel Castro to power.
Ironically however, director Steven Soderbergh’s faithful interpretation of historical events results in a fairly prosaic visual style that’s effective but unremarkable, while Benicio Del Toro’s role paradoxically sheds little light on Che’s personal motivations for fomenting revolution, despite a career-defining performance.
The festival concludes Nov. 9 with the world premiere of Defiance, co-writer/director Ed Zwick’s Nazi-resistance period drama, staring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.
