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FILMMAKERS CALL FOR RELEASE OF DIRECTOR JAFAR PANAHI
AMERICA'S LEADING FILMMAKERS CALL FOR RELEASE OF IMPRISONED IRANIAN DIRECTOR JAFAR PANAHI
Steven
Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola,
Terrence Malick, Steven Soderbergh, the Coen Bros., Jim Jarmusch,
Michael Moore, Ang Lee, Robert De Niro, and Oliver Stone, among
other leading film industry figures, have condemned the detention of
Jafar Panahi, the acclaimed director of "The White Balloon" and
"Offside," and are urging the Iranian government to release him.
New York, NY (April 30,
2010) – Jafar Panahi, an internationally acclaimed Iranian director of
such award-winning films as The White Balloon, The Circle,
Crimson Gold and Offside, was arrested at his home on
March 1st and has been held since in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. A
number of filmmaking luminaries have come to Mr. Panahi's defense and
"condemn his detention and strongly urge the Iranian government to
release Mr. Panahi immediately," according to a new petition. (Petition
text and full list of signatories is available below.)
Islamic Republic officials initially charged Mr. Panahi with “unspecified crimes.” They have since reversed themselves, and the charges now allege that he was making a film against the regime, a very serious accusation in Iran.
Mr. Panahi’s films have been banned from screening in Iran for the past ten years and he has been kept from working for the past four years, but he continues to stay in Iran.
"Mr. Panahi deeply loves his country," says Jamsheed Akrami, an Iranian-American film scholar and filmmaker, who helped organize the petition. "Even though he knows he could have opportunities to work freely outside of his homeland, he has repeatedly refused to leave. He would never do anything against the national interests of his country and his people."
Mr. Panahi is one of the most heralded directors in the world. He has won such top prizes as the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Offside (2006), the Un Certain Regard Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Crimson Gold (2003), the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Circle (2000), the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival for The Mirror
(1997) and the Cannes Camera d'Or for The White Balloon (1995).
PETITION: Free Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi, the internationally acclaimed Iranian director of such award-winning films as The White Balloon, The Circle, Crimson Gold and Offside, was arrested at his home on March 1st in a raid by plain-clothed security forces. He has been held since then in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
A recent letter from Mr. Panahi’s wife expressed her deep concerns about her husband's heart condition, and about his having been moved to a smaller cell. Mr. Panahi’s films have been banned from screening in Iran for the past ten years and he has effectively been kept from working for the past four years. Last October, his passport was confiscated and he was banned from leaving the country. Upon his arrest, Islamic Republic officials initially charged Mr. Panahi with “unspecified crimes.” They have since reversed themselves, and the charges are now specifically related to his work as a filmmaker.
We (the undersigned) stand in solidarity with a fellow filmmaker, condemn this detention, and strongly urge the Iranian government to release Mr. Panahi immediately.
Iran’s contributions to international cinema have been rightfully heralded, and encouraged those of us outside the country to respect and cherish its people and their stories. Like artists everywhere, Iran’s filmmakers should be celebrated, not censored, repressed, and imprisoned.
Signed:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Joel & Ethan Coen
Francis Ford Coppola
Jonathan Demme
Robert De Niro
Curtis Hanson
Jim Jarmusch
Ang Lee
Richard Linklater
Terrence Malick
Michael Moore
Robert Redford
Martin Scorsese
James Schamus
Paul Schrader
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Spielberg
Oliver Stone
Frederick Wiseman
Petition Organizing Committee: Jamsheed Akrami, Godfrey Cheshire, Jem Cohen, Kent Jones, Anthony Kaufman
Cole Smithey on April 30, 2010 in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
2010 TRIBECA AWARDS
2010 TRIBECA FILM
FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES AWARDS
* * *
WHEN WE LEAVE (DIE FREMDE), DOG POUND, MONICA & DAVID, AND THE ARBOR WIN TOP AWARDS IN JURIED WORLD COMPETITIONS
* * *
MORE THAN $150,000 HANDED OUT IN CASH PRIZES
[April 29, 2010 – New York, NY] –The ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its world competition categories tonight at a ceremony hosted at the W Union Square in New York City.
The world competition winners for narrative and documentary films were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 20 countries. Two awards were given to honor New York films, which were chosen from seven narrative and six documentary features. Awards were also given for the best narrative, best documentary and student visionary films in the short film competitions. This year’s Festival included 85 features and 47 short films from 38 countries.
Also announced at the awards were the first-ever Tribeca Film Festival Virtual feature and short film winners selected by the online audience, The winner of The Heineken Audience Award, determined by audience votes throughout the Festival, will be announced on May 1 at the Festival Wrap party.
“The award winning films selected by the jury each features strong characters and subjects; these films challenge you to see the world from another perspective,” said Jane Rosenthal. “I wish all the filmmakers continued success and hope that they will bring their work back to Tribeca in the years to come.”
“Our jurors have dedicated themselves to the task of carefully considering the diverse films that were part of this year’s competition at the Festival,” said Nancy Schafer, Executive Director of the Festival. “We are grateful for their hard work and salute their choices along with the rest of our 2010 filmmakers.”
Screenings of all winning films will take place at Village East Cinemas on Sunday, May 2. Specific times and ticketing information are available on the Festival website, www.tribecafilm.com/festival.
In addition to cash awards and in-kind services provided by sponsors including American Express, Delta Air Lines and Eastman Kodak, the Festival presented the winners with original pieces of art created by seven acclaimed artists, including Yoko Ono and Clifford Ross.
Following are the jurors, the winners and their awards:
World Competition Categories:
The jurors for the 2010 World Narrative Competition were Hope Davis, Aaron Eckhart, John Hamburg, Cheryl Hines, John Ridley, Gary Ross and Gary Winick.
· The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – When We Leave (Die Fremde), directed and written by Feo Aladag. (Germany). Winner receives $25,000 cash and the art award “Study: Northern City Renaissance” (Mass MoCA #379K) 2008, commissioned by Sting, created by Stephen Hannock. Sponsored by AKA Hotel Residences. The award was presented by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal.
Jury Comments: “When We Leave examines one woman’s struggle for personal freedom. It’s a theme that is often explored – but rarely told with such humanity, subtlety, craftsmanship or immediacy, as in tonight’s winning entry. When We Leave is a riveting and heartbreaking story of a woman trapped in an abusive relationship, who must not only free herself from that marriage, but also the cultural prejudices and judgments that would keep her there. Feo Aladag built the nuances of her film over a six year period. She rehearsed her actors for seven months. She immersed herself in every detail of a culture that is revealed to us in remarkable detail. The result is a film that balances complex social issues with honest human yearnings. Through the brutality, When We Leave is also a story of tenderness, the struggle for compassion, the inexorable pull of family and the need to love and be loved.”
Special Jury Mention: Loose Cannons, directed by Ferzan Ozpetek and written by Ferzan Ozpetek and Ivan Cotroneo.
Jury Comments: “Loose Cannons buoyantly explores the story of two gay brothers attempting to find happiness in a traditional Italian family that is less than accepting of their lifestyle choices. Expertly combining family drama and farce, Loose Cannons tackles its subject matter with warmth, humor and grace. For making us laugh, cry and immediately want to book a trip to Southern Italy, we congratulate director Ferzan Ozpetek and his talented cast and collaborators on this special mention.”
· Best New Narrative Filmmaker – Kim Chapiron for Dog Pound, written by Kim Chapiron and Jeremie Delon. (France). Winner receives $25,000 cash. Sponsored by American Express. The award was presented by Gary Winick.
Jury Comments: “There was any number of films this year in which the director was able to bring together disparate thoughts, ideas and images. We have chosen to honor a director who created an environment built with such intensity and humanity that his ensemble cast was able to transcend the cold walls and locked doors that confined their characters.”
- Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg in Gainsbourg, Je t’Aime…Moi Non Plus, directed and written by Joann Sfar. (France). Sponsored by Delta Air Lines. Winner receives two BusinessElite ticket vouchers for anywhere Delta travels. The award was presented by Hope Davis.
Jury Comments: “The ultimate compliment to an actor is that he so becomes his role that he will forever be defined by it. No more is this true than in this case.”
- Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Sibel Kekilli as Umay in When We Leave (Die Fremde), directed and written by Feo Aladag. (Germany). Sponsored by Delta Air Lines. Winner receives two BusinessElite ticket vouchers for anywhere Delta travels. The award was presented by Aaron Eckhart.
Jury Comments: “Among many brilliant performances we found one in particular that captivated from the first frame of the film and held us through a long and difficult journey. By turns this actress was joy and sorrow, and love and hope, a woman both strong enough to stand against generations of Muslim traditions and vulnerable enough to express the pain of a daughter cast aside by all who have loved her.”
The jurors for the 2010 World Documentary Competition were Jessica Alba, Margaret Brown, Abbie Cornish, Marshall Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Aidan Quinn and Eric Steel.
· Best Documentary Feature – Monica & David, directed by Alexandra Codina. (USA). Sponsored by HBO. Winner receives $25,000 in cash and the art award “Jorge, 2003/2009” by Vik Muniz. The award was presented by Jessica Alba.
Jury Comments: “Monica & David takes an incredibly intimate situation and beautifully translates it in a way that makes you think about your own life. It’s a clear and observant look at a family and the purity of love, fueled by an organic sense of the sadness, joy and everyday humor that fill this epic journey that is life.”
Special Jury Mention: Budrus directed by Julia Bacha (USA, Palestine, Israel).
Jury Comments: “Budrus is a film with a powerful message and a fresh perspective on an issue that is familiar to many. It’s about a local community who stood up to defend what was theirs, and in doing so they changed a country. This story is a journey that stretches beyond borders to provide hope, and it should be seen by everyone.”
· Best New Documentary Filmmaker – Clio Barnard for The Arbor (UK). Winner receives $25,000 cash. Sponsored by American Express. The award was presented by Abbie Cornish.
Jury Comments: “Imagination is a word you don’t often associate with documentary filmmaking, but this director bends the boundaries of the form, beautifully crafting an innovative and detailed film wherein great storytelling is paramount.”
New York Competition Categories:
The 2010 Best New York Narrative Competition jurors were Selma Blair, Zach Braff, Zoe Cassavetes, Darko Lungulov and Andrew McCarthy.
- Best New York Narrative – Monogamy, directed by Dana Adam Shapiro, written by Dana Adam Shapiro and Evan M. Weiner. (USA). Winner receives $10,000 cash, $50,000 in post-production services donated by Company 3, and the art award “SeaScape Frame” by Valerie Hegarty. The award was presented by Selma Blair.
Jury Comments: “This wasn't an easy decision. All of the films in this category had strong visions and dealt with themes that covered wide ground – some ground that has already been explored, but some that took us to places we haven’t been before. For the film that was realized in such a way that brought together craft, strong acting and consistency of vision, the Best New York Narrative Feature is Monogamy.”
Special Jury Mention: Melissa Leo for her performance in The Space Between, directed and written by Travis Fine. (USA).
Jury Comments: “We would like to honor one actress with a Special Jury Mention. For her embracing and visceral performance in The Space Between, we want to recognize Melissa Leo.”
The 2010 Best New York Documentary Competition jurors were America Ferrera, Dave Karger, Dan Klores, Scott Neustadter and Kate Snow.
- Best New York Documentary – The Woodmans, directed by C. Scott Willis. (USA, Italy, China). Sponsored by Polaroid. Winner receives $10,000 cash, $50,000 in post-production services donated by Company 3, and art award “New York Studio n.21” by Maurizio Galimberti. The award was presented by America Ferrara.
Jury Comments: “All of the films in this category expose their audiences to new subjects that they might not have known much about. But The Woodmans inspired the most discussion thanks to its haunting and subtle storytelling.”
Short Film Competition Categories:
The 2010 Best Narrative Short Competition jurors were Justin Bartha, Katherine Dieckmann, Jack Dorsey, Peter Facinelli and Brooke Shields.
- Best Narrative Short – Father Christmas Doesn't Come Here, directed by Bekhi Sibiya, written by Sibongile Nkosana, Bongi Ndaba. (South Africa). Winner receives $5,000 cash, 5,000 feet of 35mm film stock donated by Kodak, and the art award “A Box of Smile, 1967/89” by Yoko Ono. The award was presented by Peter Facinelli.
Jury Comments: “The jury was unanimous in its enthusiasm for the winning film. It is an assured, original, and profoundly moving film, which perfectly executes its aims and is buoyed by a remarkable performance by its lead actor. The director of this film consistently foregoes sentimentality in favor of subtle debunking of myths based on culture. His frames are urgently alive with telling details. This film announces a persuasive and deeply human directorial vision, one rich with authenticity and insight. It is a film of resilience and hope.”
Special Jury Mention: The Crush, directed and written by Michael Creagh. (Ireland).
Jury Comments: “We decided to honor The Crush with a Special Jury Mention. As a jury, we were impressed with the accomplishment of this extremely well-crafted film; it navigates a tricky tone and encompasses humor, yearning and suspense, without ever missing a beat. The results are as hilarious as they are nerve-rattling. The director is in total command of a narrative that veers unexpectedly from sweetness to pitch darkness, and features yet another startlingly naturalistic performance from a child actor, whose deadpan charm is only exceeded by his ability to call a grown man “dickhead” with complete conviction.”
The 2010 Best Documentary and Student Short Competition jurors were Perry Miller Adato, Tim Armstrong, Jared Cohen, Scandar Copti, Larry Gagosian, Alicia Keys and Shirin Neshat.
- Best Documentary Short – White Lines & The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug, directed and written by Travis Senger. (USA). Winner receives $5,000 cash, 5,000 feet of 35mm film stock donated by Kodak and the art award “Fruits of War” by Spencer Platt. The award was presented by Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Scandar Copti.
Jury Comments: “For our winner we chose a film that we feel effectively showed the evolution of hip-hop through its captivating visuals, riveting interviews and exciting exploration of the music and the culture behind the phenomenon. We were thoroughly engaged from beginning to end on this ride back in time, and commend the filmmaker for his ability to create an informative and entertaining documentary.”
Special Jury Mention: Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn, directed and written by Nancy Kapitanoff, Sharon Yamato. (USA).
Jury Comments: “Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn was not only an elegant portrayal of a unique individual but was also a story told with incredible clarity. This film focused on a life that had tremendous power; a woman whose talent and perseverance led her on a life path which began as a costume designer and evolved into a civil rights activist. Our jury is proud to present Nancy Kapitanoff and Sharon Yamato with a Special Jury Mention for their transcendent film.”
- Student Visionary Award – some boys don't leave, directed by Maggie Kiley, written by Matthew Mullen, Maggie Kiley. (USA). Winner receives MacPro Desktop with Final Cut Pro and a 24-inch monitor provided by Apple and the art award “Inauguration Angel” by Maira Kalman. This award was also presented by Copti.
Jury Comments: “This film took a unique perspective on a relationship ending in a way that made us relate to both characters with its unexpected poignancy and notes of humor. We all felt in some way we could connect to this film, which endeared us to its characters and its situation and exhibited the directing strength of this student filmmaker.”
Special Jury Mention: The Pool Party, directed and written by Sara Zandieh. (Iran, USA).
Jury Comments: “We wish to acknowledge The Pool Party by giving it an official Special Jury Mention. Not only did this film intrigue us with its interesting location and characters, but its underlying commentary about wealth, society and communication within a strong narrative context. Because it provoked a great deal of lively conversation, challenging us to discuss the universal nature of this film and how it stayed true to its vision, we are awarding a Special Jury Mention to The Pool Party.”
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL CATEGORIES:
The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Virtual winners were voted on by the TFF Virtual premium passholders.
· Tribeca Film Festival VIRTUAL Best Feature Film: Spork, directed and written by J. B. Ghuman, Jr. (USA). Winner receives $25,000 cash. Sponsored by American Express. The award was presented by Geoff Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises.
- Tribeca Film Festival VIRTUAL Best Short Film: Delilah, Before, directed by Melanie Schiele. Winner receives $5,000 cash. Sponsored by American Express. The award was presented by Julie La’Bassiere, Director of Marketing and Industry for Tribeca Enterprises.
Full List of Eligible 2010 TFF Films in Each Category of Competition:
World Narrative Feature Competition:
· Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature: 12 films
· Best New Narrative Filmmaker: 11 filmmakers
· Best Actress in a Narrative Feature: 10 actresses
· Best Actor in a Narrative Feature: 14 actors
World
Documentary Feature Competition:
· Best Documentary Feature: 12 films
· Best New Documentary Filmmaker: 9 filmmakers
New York
Competition Films:
· Best New York Documentary Competition: 6 films
· Best New York Narrative Competition:7 films
Short Films
in Competition:
· Best Narrative Short: 30 films
· Best Documentary Short: 11 films
· Student Visionary Award: 6 films
For more information on all of the films in the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, please visit tribecafilm.com.
Tickets for 2010 Festival:
Tickets are available now for screenings through May 2. Tickets for the Festival are $16.00 for evening and weekend screenings and $8.00 for daytime weekday and late night screenings.
Single tickets can be purchased online, by telephone, or at one of the Ticket Outlets, located at the Tribeca Cinemas Ticket Window at 54 Varick Street and an additional location to be determined. The 2010 Festival will continue ticket discounts for evening and weekend screenings for students, seniors and select downtown Manhattan residents. Discounted tickets are available at Ticket Outlet locations only. Discounted packages can only be purchased online and by phone. Additional information and further details on the Festival can be found at www.tribecafilm.com.
About
the Tribeca Film Festival:
Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca
Film
Festival in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center to spur
the
economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district
through an
annual celebration of film, music and culture.
The Festival’s mission is to help filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. Tribeca Film Festival is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors.
The Tribeca Festival has screened over 1100 films from over 80 countries since its first festival in 2002. Since its founding, it has attracted an international audience of more than 2.3 million attendees and has generated an estimated $600 million in economic activity for New York City.
Founding
& Signature Sponsors
As Founding Sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival, American Express is
committed
to supporting the Festival and the art of film making, bringing business
and
energy to New York City and offering Cardmembers and festival-goers the
opportunity to enjoy the best of storytelling through film.
The Festival is pleased to announce the return of its Signature Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Apple, Bloomberg, Brookfield, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Delta Air Lines, Heineken USA, NBC 4 New York, NCM Media Networks, New York Nonstop, The New York Times, RR Donnelley, and Vanity Fair. The Tribeca Film Festival is also honored to welcome the following new Signature Sponsors: Caesars Atlantic City, LG Electronics USA, Stolichnaya Vodka, Time Warner Cable, and YouTube.
Cole Smithey on April 30, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
15TH ANNUAL NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL
“Fifteen is shaping up to be our most
exciting festival yet,” said Mr. Stanfield. “We’re thrilled to add Ben
Stiller’s All-Star Comedy Roundtable to our roster of Nantucket Film
Festival signature events which include the Screenwriters Tribute, Late
Night Storytelling, and Morning Coffee With…®.” Also returning this year
will be the uproarious and unpredictable Late Night Storytelling.
Participants include five surprise guests as well as audience members.
Past storytellers include Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, Tina Fey, Mos Def,
Rosie Perez, Cheryl Hines, Laird Hamilton, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Rudd,
Alan Cumming, Fisher Stevens, and Brian Williams. The opening night films
for this year’s Nantucket Film Festival will be Toy Story 3, from
Disney•Pixar, and NFF® veterans Shari Springer Berman and Robert
Pulcini’s The Extra Man, from Magnolia Pictures.
Closing the festival
this year will be John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy from The Weinstein
Company.
“For fifteen years,
NFF has offered a chance for personal interaction with storytellers of
all stripes, from comic legends to human rights leaders to stars of
popular culture,” Ms. Brabbée added. “This line-up of feature films is
reflective of some of the fiercest storytellers out there – newcomers as
well as some of Nantucket Film Festival's most beloved past
participants.”
In keeping with NFF® mission of spotlighting writers, the Festival will announce the winner of Showtime’s annual Tony Cox Award for Screenwriting in early June. The winner will be feted at the Showtime Award Ceremony at the Festival.
Among other awards given
at NFF ® this year will be The Compass Rose Acting Award, The Audience
Award for Best Feature & Best Short, SHOWTIME’S TONY COX Awards for
Best Screenwriting in a Feature Film and Short Film, Teen View on NFF®
Award, Best Storytelling in a Documentary Film, and the Adrienne Shelly
Excellence in Filmmaking Award, and new this year a New Voices in
Screenwriting Award. Other
special events include Morning Coffee With…®, which draws sell-out
crowds annually. Returning to host is festival favorite Jace
Alexander.
The daily panels take place every morning and invite
attendees to join filmmaker experts for an intimate mix of coffee,
conversation, bagels and shoptalk with some of their favorite
filmmakers.
Last year the NFF
presented 40 feature and short films, including soon-to-be Academy Award
winners The Hurt Locker and The Cove. Celebratory guests included Ben
Stiller, Meg Ryan, Ben Foster, Brain Williams, Cheryl Hines, Harold
Ramis, Fisher Stevens, Paul Giamatti, Peter & Bobby Farrelly, Lily
Taylor, Chris Matthews, John Hamburg, Anne Meara, and many more.
Cole Smithey on April 28, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Human Centipede
Relearning Disgust
Dutch Filmmaker Tom Six Dares His Audience
By Cole Smithey
High concept meets sustained graphic horror in Tom Six's satirically challenged thriller that succeeds if only by the realistic treatment of its gross-out premise via the best mad scientist performance in recent memory. Deiter Lasser plays Dr. Heiter, a renowned surgeon whose expertise for separating Siamese twins has turned into an obsession with creating a "human centipede," i.e. a chain of humans connected anus-to-mouth by carefully cut and stitched skin flaps.
Amateur performances, by the three newcomers who signed on to parade around a chic German home on hands-and-knees, barely diminish Lasser's diabolically dead-eyed incarnation of pure evil. American best-friends Jenny (Ashlynn Yennie) and Lindsay (Ashley C. Williams) get a flat tire in the rain while on vacation in Germany. The girls make the time honored genre mistake of venturing into the dark woods to what turns out to be Dr. Heiter's lab-equipped home--complete with indoor swimming pool. A couple of drugged-glasses-of-water later and the clueless girls find themselves strapped to beds in a fluorescent-lit basement lab where a third "patient" also awaits. Blood type problems mean that the good doctor has to go out to procure a replacement for his experiment--in this case a Japanese male named Katsuro (Akihiro Kitamura). Dr. Heiter's diagramed explanation of his planned procedure, for the benefit of the doomed trio, is the stuff of a very witty nightmare. With Katsuro in the lead position, the girls are left to eat poo while desperately trying to escape from an intimate kind of hell from which there can be no painless getaway.
Although ripe for some amount of satirical thematic premise--perhaps about consumerist society, "The Human Centipede" falls short just where it should soar. But that still doesn't mean it isn't one of the most inventive and unsettling horror movies to come along since Lars von Trier's "Antichrist." In interview Tom Six has said that the concept for the film came from his idea for extreme criminal punishment, wherein someone guilty of a heinous crime would be stitched mouth to ass of a fat truck driver. If Six had followed through on his primary logic, he would probably have realized that both members of his involuntary food chain would have to be people guilty of some terrible offense, such as war crimes for example. Nonetheless, there's no mistaking a certain anti-Japanese and anti-American subtext to the proceedings that also smuggle in some not so subtle commentary about Nazi Germany's proclivity for medical experiments under the infamous guidance Dr. Josef Mengele, the original Angel of Death.
It's impossible to watch "The Human Centipede" and not contemplate the literal human food chain the filmmakers present. Once linked, the three victims are helpless to escape since they cannot separate from one another without the advent of professional medical assistance. Indeed, the mere visualization of Six's bizarre "human centipede" is something the audience will be coerced into considering for days and weeks after witnessing it. The filmmaker is working on a "full sequence" sequel that will feature a 12-person human centipede for all your dining pleasure. It could just be that Tom Six is merely attempting to teach desensitized audiences how to be disgusted again. In that regard, he might be cinema's latest and greatest success story.
Rated R. 90 mins. (B+) (Three Stars - out of five/no halves)
Cole Smithey on April 26, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Woody Allen's “MIDNIGHT IN PARIS”
WOODY ALLEN ANNOUNCES NEW FILM
“MIDNIGHT IN PARIS”
STARRING OWEN WILSON, MARION COTILLARD, RACHEL McADAMS, KATHY BATES & CARLA BRUNI
New York (April 22,
2010) – In a rare move, Woody Allen revealed today the title, cast and
story details for his latest film in pre-production. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
stars
Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Carla
Bruni.
Also in the cast are Michael Sheen, Nina
Arianda,
Tom Hiddleston, Corey Stoll, Mimi Kennedy and Kurt Fuller. The
film shoots this summer in Paris.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is a romantic comedy that follows a family travelling to the city for business. The party includes a young engaged couple that has their lives transformed throughout the journey. The film celebrates a young man’s great love for Paris, and simultaneously explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is produced by Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum and Jaume Roures. It is part of a three-picture financing deal between Allen’s Gravier Productions and Mediapro, the Spain-based company which also funded Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and the upcoming “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” to be released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics this fall. Imagina International Sales is handling international sales for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS for most territories.
Cole Smithey on April 26, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN
Quad Cinema
Directed by:
Shirin
Neshat
Written by: Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari
Starring: Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Tolouei, and
Orsi Tóth
Release Date: April 9, 2010 (LA); April 30 (Washington D.C.); May
14th, (NYC); further expansion
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rating: Not yet rated
Website: www.womenwithoutmenfilm.com <http://www.womenwithoutmenfilm.com/>;
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN, an adaptation of Shahrnush Parsipur’s magic realist
novel of the same name, is Iranian artist Shirin Neshat’s first feature
length film. The story chronicles the intertwining lives of four Iranian
women during the summer of 1953; a cataclysmic moment in Iranian
history when an American led, British backed coup d’état brought down
the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and
reinstalled the Shah to power.
Over the course of several days four disparate women from Iranian
society are brought together against the backdrop of political and
social turmoil. Fakhri, a middle aged woman trapped in a loveless
marriage must contend with her feelings for an old flame who has just
returned from America and walked back into her life. Zarin, a young
prostitute, tries to escape the devastating realization that she can no
longer see the faces of men. Munis, a politically awakened young woman,
must resist the seclusion imposed on her by her religiously traditional
brother, while her friend Faezeh remains oblivious to the turmoil in the
streets and longs only to marry Munis’ domineering brother.
As the political turmoil swells in the streets of Tehran, each woman
seeks to be liberated from her predicament. Munis becomes an active part
of the political struggle by following a young communist who she
believes can restore her faith in the world. Fakhri frees herself from
the chains of her stagnant marriage by leaving her husband and
purchasing a mystical orchard in the outskirts of the city. Faezeh is
taken to the orchard by Munis to face her own awakened self after her
innocence is stolen, while Zarin attempts to find solace in her newfound
communion with the land. But it is only a matter of time before the
world outside the walls of the orchard seep into the lives of these four
women as their country’s history takes a tragic turn.
Cole Smithey on April 24, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Back-Up Plan
Excruciating, interminable, and preoccupied with the words "shit" and "vagina," "The Back-Up Plan" is the worst film to come out of Hollywood so far this year. Television director Alan Poul ("Big Love") makes his feature film debut with a remedial script by TV writer Kate Angelo that's made even worse by Alex O'Loughlin's cringe-inducing performance as Stan, the uber generic washboard-ab object of Jennifer Lopez's estrogen-peaking character Zoe. The good news is that the movie has the potential to help with the world's population crisis because its treatment of childbirth and parenting is so toxic that no one in their right mind would want to procreate after seeing it. On the day of her artificial insemination, Zoe finally meets the lame duck man of her less than humble dreams. Stan is a cheese maker--no really--who's failing his night school economics classes when he isn't experimenting with goat milk on his New York farm. Zoe goes to meetings with an artificial-insemination support group that consists the most obnoxious bunch of women you'd ever want to meet. Sometimes Zoe hangs out with her "nanna" because the screenwriter was thinking like a five-year-old when she wrote this script. "Hate" is not a strong enough word to describe how I feel about this abysmal insult to cinema.
Rated PG-13. 104 mins. (F) (Zero Stars)
Cole Smithey on April 24, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Cole Smithey on April 24, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
OSCILLOSCOPE ACQUIRES "HOWL"
James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jeff Daniels
New
York, NY (April 22, 2010) – Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today
that it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to 2-time Academy Award®
winning director Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s first dramatic
narrative HOWL. Starring James Franco in a career-defining performance
as Allen Ginsberg, HOWL is the story of how the young poet’s seminal
work broke down societal barriers in the face of an infamous public
obscenity trial. HOWL was the opening night film at Sundance Film
Festival 2010 and also played in competition at 2010 Berlinale. The film
was produced by Elizabeth Redleaf and Christine Kunewa Walker of Werc
Werk Works, and Epstein and Friedman. Oscilloscope will release HOWL in
theaters and VOD on September 24, 2010.
HOWL features James Franco, David Strathairn, Jon Hamm, Bob Balaban, Alessandro Nivola, Treat Williams, with Mary-Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels.
David Fenkel, co-founder of Oscilloscope says, “At O-Scope we love working with passionate, creative filmmakers who make entertaining and meaningful films, and the team behind HOWL perfectly fit this profile. They put together a great cast, lead by a performance by James Franco that people will be talking about for years.”
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman say: “We're very happy that HOWL has found the perfect home and partners. Oscilloscope is the coolest company around.”
Elizabeth Redleaf, CEO of Werc Werk Works says: “We are very fortunate that Oscilloscope has come on board to bring their passion and dedication to this extraordinary and inspiring movie.”
Christine Walker, President of Werc Werk Works says: “Adam Yauch and his team have a terrific track record of nurturing unique films like HOWL and we look forward to working with them and bringing it to the widest audience possible.”
About Oscilloscope Laboratories:
Oscilloscope Laboratories is a film production and theatrical distribution entity launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Yauch modeled the company after the indie record labels he grew up around, choosing films and then marketing them with the same artistic integrity with which they were made. The company, which is an extension of Yauch’s recording studio of the same name, has an in-house DVD distribution and production arm, and the paper packaging is reminiscent of the heyday of LP record jackets. All of the company's DVD packaging is (free of any plastic) printed on FSC Certified 80% post-consumer waste paper and produced in a carbon neutral, hydroelectric plant. Other Oscilloscope theatrical releases include Yauch's GUNNIN' FOR THAT #1 SPOT, Irena Salina's FLOW, Caroline Suh's FRONTRUNNERS, Kurt Kuenne's DEAR ZACHARY, Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY starring Michelle Williams, So Yong Kim's TREELESS MOUNTAIN, Gabriel Medina’s offbeat comedy THE PARANOIDS, the Academy-Award® nominated THE GARDEN from Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Anders Østergaard’s Academy-Award® nominated BURMA VJ, Nati Baratz's UNMISTAKEN CHILD, and Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s NO IMPACT MAN. Recent releases include Oren Moverman’s Academy-Award® nominated THE MESSENGER, starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and Samantha Morton, Henrik Ruben Genz’s Danish thriller TERRIBLY HAPPY, Bradley Rust Gray’s THE EXPLODING GIRL starring Zoe Kazan and Michel Gondry’s personal family documentary THE THORN IN THE HEART. Upcoming releases include Lance Daly’s award-winning Irish film KISSES, the re-release of Jules Dassin’s classic THE LAW.
About Werc Werk Works:
Werc Werk Works is an independent film production and finance company founded by Elizabeth Redleaf and Independent Spirit Award nominated producer Christine Kunewa Walker (“American Splendor” “Factotum”) and is dedicated to the production and financing of high caliber, story-driven films with wide appeal. The company strives to be a consistent supplier of commercial projects for both the studios and strong independent distributors worldwide.
Oscilloscope Laboratories
www.oscilloscope.net
twitter.com/oscopelabs
facebook.com/oscopelabs
Cole Smithey on April 22, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What to See at This Year's Tribeca Film Festival
Whether you're visiting New York for a few days or a Manhattan local used to asking people next to you in film screenings to put their fucking cell phones away, you probably have some inclination to see what all the hubbubs about over the film festival that got its start at the hand of Robert De Niro after the 9/11attacks to attract people back downtown. With 85 features screening at this year's festival it can be a tough decision about which one or two films most deserve your $16.
Ignore Time Out New York's predictable picks like "Joan Rivers - a Piece of Work" (bleck!) and go straight to Mat Whitecross's punk icon Ian Dury biopic "sex & drugs & rock & roll." Chameleon character actor Andy Serkis is on fire as the polio-afflicted singer who led his band The Blockheads through London's '70s and '80s pub rock circuit with a vengeance of catchy rhymed couplets. You will not be disappointed.
(Public screenings: Sat. 4/24 9pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave @12th street, Mon. 4/26 3pm--School of Visual Arts 333 West 23rd st., Wed. 4/28 11pm---School of Visual Arts 333 West 23rd st., Thurs. 4/29 11:30pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave @12th street).
If you're more in the mood for an unconventional drama, Robert Duvall can do no wrong as Felix Bush, a '30s Tennessee hermit who decides to stage his own living "funeral party" where people can gather to tell infamous stories of his life. Bill Murray gives an understated performance as funeral director Frank Quinn. There's clever humor and muted pathos in this deceptively sophisticated drama from debut director Aaron Schneider.
(Public screenings: Tues. 4/27 6pm--BMCC Tribeca Pac 189 Chambers st. (btwn.Greenwich & West st.), Thurs. 4/29--Chelsea Clearview Cinema 260 West 23rd st. (betn. 7th and 8th st.), Fri. 4/30 4pm--Chelsea Clearview Cinema 260 West 23rd st. (betn. 7th and 8th st.)
Suspense tightens in J. Blakeson's UK thriller "The Disappearance of Alice Creed." Eddie Marsan ("Happy-Go-Lucky") and Martin Compston ("Sweet Sixteen") play a couple of hoods who kidnap a young woman (Gemma Arterton - "Quantum of Solace") with 2 million euros worth of ransom plans. There's nothing like a good British crime thriller, and this one is packed to the gills with talent.
(Public screenings: Sat. 4/24 7pm----School of Visual Arts 333 West 23rd st., Sun. 4/25----Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave @12th street, Mon. 4/26 7:30pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave. @12th street).
Want get into a gritty New York mood? Then check out Jay Anania's drama "William Vincent" in which the always impressive James Franco plays a Manhattan loner who drifts toward crime as he wanders in and out of places and situations. Julianne Nicholson plays Anne, the woman who will draw William out of his shell.
(Public screenings: Sun. 4/25 6pm--Chelsea Clearview Cinema 260 West 23rd street, Tues. 4/27 6pm--Chelsea Clearview Cinema 260 West 23rd street, Thurs. 4/29 7:30pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave. @12th street, Fri. 4/30 9:15pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave. @12th street).
You could go farther into the mind of a sociopath with Michael Winterbottom's modern noir "The Killer Inside Me." Casey Affleck plays Lou Ford, a small-town Texas deputy sheriff who makes a pact with the devil, or in this case Jessica Alba as prostitute with bad ideas. Escalating violence attends.
(Public screenings: Tues. 4/17 7pm SVA Theater 333 West 23rd street, 4/29 9:45pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave @12th street, 4/30 10:30pm--Village East Cinema 181 2nd ave @12th street).
Cole Smithey on April 22, 2010 in Film | Permalink
The Other City at TFF
“In every city, including the capital of the most powerful country in the world, there is another city, a city of forgotten people and unspeakable shame.”
“THE OTHER CITY”
A NEW FILM ABOUT HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
WORLD PREMIERE AT
NINTH ANNUAL TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
APRIL 26
Visit or Participate at official website Facebook Youtube Twitter
New York, NY (April 1, 2010) – Washington, D.C. has a higher rate of HIV/AIDS infection than several countries in Africa. The figures are startling. At least 3 percent of the capital city's population is HIV-positive -- far surpassing the 1 percent threshold that constitutes a "generalized and severe" epidemic.[1] The Other City, a new film by director Susan Koch, written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, deals with this controversial topic and will have its world premiere at the Ninth Annual Tribeca Film Festival on April 26th.
Produced by entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila C. Johnson, The Other City spotlights personal stories of those that live in the shadow of the Capitol but remain virtually invisible to the lawmakers and politicians who work there. Tackling issues of homelessness, drug addiction, access services and the lingering social stigma accompanied by a diagnosis of HIV or AIDS, The Other City illustrates indelibly the steep cost we pay – in the loss of countless lives because of denial and ignorance.
“HIV/AIDS intersects and reflects many of the injustices and inequities that plague our capital and our nation – from poverty to race and homophobia, to health care, incarceration rates and education,” says film director Susan Koch. I hope this film will not only spark much needed dialogue about AIDS in America, but also make us aware of ‘the other city’ that is part of every large city in America.”
The Other City features a cross-section of powerful personal stories of individuals representing demographic groups impacted and affected by HIV/AIDS, and features commentary by Colbert King, Pulitzer prize winning columnist at the Washington Post, Frank Rich, columnist for the New York Times, U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), David Cantania, Chairman DC Health Committee, Kevin Frost, CEO amfar, author and HIV/AIDS activists Larry Kramer, Shannon Hader, Director of DC HIV/AIDS Administration for the DC Department of Health.
“When I first came to D.C. in 2003 as a reporting intern at The Washington Post, I was a bit starry-eyed,” says film writer Jose Antonio Vargas. “But in my first few months living in the city -- riding the bus across town, walking around the neighborhoods -- I grew to know a whole other Washington, a predominantly black city that does not have a vote in Congress, a city with a sizable gay population and a growing Latino community. I discovered a disease that decade after decade has kept on spreading within the city walls, just a few steps from the White House. With this film, I feel it is time to re-start the conversation about a devastating epidemic that is not going away. To me, 'The Other City' is America's underclass as told through a virus."
More than 1 million people in the U.S. are living with the HIV or AIDS. On average, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV every nine and a half minutes. And while Washington has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the country, other American cities are seeing epidemic-like figures. Nationally, the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34 is AIDS. In New York City, 1 in 8 injection-drug users and 1 in 10 men who have sex with men are HIV-positive.
"We have documented those raw, personal stories, and given viewers unprecedented access to those living on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic,” says producer Sheila C. Johnson. “By showing the ‘two Washingtons’ -- one that is affluent and powerful, the other that is overwhelmingly poor and powerless -- we also cast a spotlight on several large cities across America that are home to a ‘shadow’ population, dealing with epidemic-like numbers of people with HIV/AIDS.”
For more information about The Other City, visit www.theothercity.com.
For more information about the Tribeca Film Festival and for screening schedules for The Other City, visit www.tribecafilmfestival.com.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Susan Koch (Director)
An Emmy- and Peabody-winning filmmaker, directs and produces documentaries and non-fiction programming for worldwide distribution. Her feature documentary, Kicking It, about homeless soccer players who compete in an international tournament, premiered at the 2008 Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals, was released theatrically and on DVD. It was broadcast on ESPN. Koch codirected and produced Mario's Story, about a young Latino, Mario Rocha, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on the basis of one eyewitness and no physical evidence. Mario's Story received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was broadcast on Showtime in 2009. Koch received a prestigious Soros Justice Media Fellowship for her work with this film. Koch directed the critically-acclaimed documentary, City at Peace, featured at film festivals throughout the world and broadcast on HBO. Her work has appeared on ABC, NBC, PBS, HBO, Showtime, MTV, ESPN, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Turner Broadcasting, American Movie Classics, The Learning Channel and the Travel Channel.
Jose Antonio Vargas (Co-Producer and Writer)
A multimedia journalist. He's the Technology & Innovations Editor at The Huffington Post, where he oversees the Technology and College sections, and was previously a feature writer and national political reporter for The Washington Post, where he covered technology culture, HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. and the 2008 presidential campaign, among other topics. He won a Pulitzer Prize as a part of a team that covered the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. The media's evolution -- and the breaking down of barriers between print and broadcast journalism -- has guided his nearly 12-year reporting career. He's written for daily newspapers (Philadelphia Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle) and national magazines (New York and Rolling Stone). He's also appeared on several television broadcasts, including CNN, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour. He serves on the advisory board of the Knight Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism, housed at American University in D.C., and he's a very proud graduate of Mountain View High School and San Francisco State University. He currently lives in New York City.
Sheila C. Johnson (Producer)
An entrepreneur and philanthropist whose accomplishments spans the areas of hospitality, sports, TV/film, the arts, education and humanitarian causes. She is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC, a company she founded in 2005, overseeing a growing portfolio of luxury properties, including Woodlands Inn, in Summerville, SC; Innisbrook, a 72-hole Golf & Resort Spa in Innisbrook, FL; and the much anticipated Salamander Resort & Spa, currently being constructed in Middleburg, VA. As President and Managing Partner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and a partner in Lincoln Holdings, LLC, Johnson is the first African American woman to have a stake in three professional sports teams, including the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Washington Capitals (NHL). She is also a TV pioneer, having been a founder partner of BET (Black Entertainment Television) and the creator of the award-winning program Teen Summit. Currently, Johnson is producing films with humanitarian messages, including Kicking It, A Powerful Noise and She Is the Matador. In 2006, Johnson was named global ambassador for CARE, a leading aid organization fighting global poverty by empowering women. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design in New York. An accomplished violinist and a fervent supporter of the arts and education, Johnson was appointed by President Obama to the President's Committee of the Arts and the Humanities, and she sits on the boards of Americans for the Arts, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the Tiger Woods Foundation, the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, Howard University and the University of Illinois Foundation.
About The Tribeca Film Festival
Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music and culture.
The Festival’s mission is to help filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. Tribeca Film Festival is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors.
The Tribeca Festival has screened over 1100 films from over 80 countries since its first festival in 2002. Since its founding, it has attracted an international audience of more than 2.3 million attendees and has generated an estimated $600 million in economic activity for New York City
[1] As determined by the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cole Smithey on April 22, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tribeca Film Festival Kicks Off
ROBERT DE NIRO, JANE ROSENTHAL AND Academy Award® Winner
Alex GibneY kick off 2010 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
New York, NY – April 20, 2010 – Tribeca Film Festival co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal kicked off the ninth annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) today at a press conference at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan. De Niro and Rosenthal were joined by Alex Gibney, who directed three films featured in this year’s Festival; Tribeca Enterprises Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore; TFF Executive Director Nancy Schafer; and John Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer for American Express, the founding sponsor of the Festival.
The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 21 – May 2 and will include 85 features and 47 short films representing 38 different countries. The film slate, chosen from a record 5,050 submissions, features 44 world premieres, 7 international premieres, 15 North American premieres, 6 U.S. premieres, 12 New York premieres and 1 restored work. In addition to the film line-up, there will also be a range of panel discussions involving filmmakers and industry experts, gala premieres of highly anticipated new studio releases – including DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek Forever After,” which will open the Festival – and an array of free, community events, including the popular Tribeca Drive-In, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day and the Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair.
“This year, Tribeca has stayed true to its mission and has expanded to find new ways for filmmakers to reach new audiences,” said Rosenthal. “Whether you’re an accomplished or emerging filmmaker, a movie junkie or someone who enjoys a good film now and then, there’s something for you at Tribeca.”
“It’s great how much the Festival continues to grow,” said De Niro. “One of the strengths of Tribeca is the feeling of community. I look forward to hearing what our audiences think about the terrific slate of films in this year’s Festival.”
Rosenthal and De Niro also touched on Tribeca’s significant expansion and the creation of Tribeca Film and Tribeca Film Festival Virtual – two new initiatives that will help bring Tribeca to people outside of New York City for the first time.
Starting April 21, some 40 million U.S. households will be able to enjoy seven 2010 TFF selections at the same time they screen at the Festival via a new Tribeca-branded Video (or Movies) on Demand channel and/or pay-per-view feature. New distribution entity Tribeca Film is commercially releasing these seven diverse films, along with five acclaimed titles from elsewhere on the festival circuit, across platforms including theatrical, digital, pay-TV and home video. Limited theatrical runs have also been confirmed in New York and Los Angeles in May and June. Founding partner American Express will promote and support all Tribeca Film titles, and VOD partners include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, Cablevision and Cox.
“Tribeca Film is an important new means of shifting the way films – and film festivals – are experienced,” said Gilmore. “We are advancing the dialogue around how films find audiences and vice versa. And, thanks to our founding partner, American Express, we are helping filmmakers expand the audience for their films and helping consumers find quality independent films they would not otherwise see.”
While Tribeca Film advances the notion of a film festival evolving into a distribution hub, Tribeca Film Festival Virtual also recognizes shifts in the marketplace by extending the festival experience online. Film enthusiasts across the U.S. will be able to purchase a premium pass for $45, which enables them to stream eight full-length 2010 TFF feature films, beginning April 23 with Edward Burns’ “Nice Guy Johnny.” Far beyond access to films, though, TFF Virtual will also allow pass holders to view and interact in real time with panel discussions and filmmaker interviews, from April 23-30. The TFF Virtual website, www.tribecafilm.com/virtual, will also have abundant free content, including selected short films, discussion boards and live red-carpet action viewable by visitors from around the world. Today’s opening press conference was the first TFF event to be streamed live online.
“While theatrical screenings will always be the centerpiece of Tribeca, we are excited to expand the horizons of our unique festival experience,” said Schaefer. “The Tribeca Film Festival Virtual is an interactive, community experience that brings the same excitement and electricity of our Festival here to people outside of the city. I look forward to the wider scope of this year’s strong lineup of films, events and conversations.”
American Express, which is also founding partner of Tribeca Film Festival Virtual, has been an essential part of Tribeca’s growth since its inception, and is a key driver of the two new initiatives that expand Tribeca beyond New York City beginning in 2010. Its support, which takes many forms due to the company’s uniquely powerful brand presence, has benefited filmmakers seeking to expand the audience for their work and also consumers looking for a wider range of quality independent films.
“American Express is proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Tribeca,” said John D. Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer of American Express. “We have the opportunity to build new audiences, give people the chance to discover new films and filmmakers, and to expand Tribeca and independent film beyond New York City. And all of this starts with the opening of the Festival.”
“None of what we do would be possible without the support of our Founding Sponsor, American Express, which has been an innovative and steadfast partner from the beginning,” added Rosenthal. “They have been an integral part of building a community and international platform here. That unique atmosphere helps explain why people come back year after year. In fact, nearly one-third of our 96 directors are returning to Tribeca this year.”
Among those filmmakers returning to this year’s Festival is Alex Gibney, whose film, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Gibney directed three films in this year’s Festival, including “My Trip to Al-Qaeda,” “The Untitled Eliot Spitzer Film” and one of the segments of “Freakonomics,” which will serve as TFF’s closing gala premiere. Gibney was on hand today to talk about his previous experience and expectations for this year’s Festival.
“Ever since the wonderful experience I had at Tribeca with my film, ‘Taxi to the Dark Side,’ I have had a strong personal connection to the Festival,” said Gibney. “But more than any one film, this Festival celebrates cultural values and community. That is a powerful statement considering the context in which the festival was created. I am proud to be part of Tribeca again in 2010.”
The 2010 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival will kick off Wednesday, April 21, with the world premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek Forever After” in 3D. Screenings of all other Festival films and a host of other Festival events will begin April 22 at various locations in downtown Manhattan.
Tickets for 2010 Festival
Tickets for the Festival are $16.00 for evening and weekend screenings and $8.00 for daytime weekday and late night screenings.
Single ticket and discounted ticket package sales are on sale and can be purchased online, by telephone, or at one of the Ticket Outlets, located at the Tribeca Cinemas Ticket Window at 54 Varick Street and the Chelsea Clearview Cinemas Window at 260 W. 23rd Street. The 2010 Festival will continue ticket discounts for evening and weekend screenings for students, seniors and select downtown Manhattan residents. Discounted tickets are available at Ticket Outlet locations only. Discounted packages can only be purchased online and by phone. Additional information and further details on the Festival can be found at www.tribecafilm.com.
About the Tribeca Film Festival:
Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2001 following the attacks on the World Trade Center to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of the lower Manhattan district through an annual celebration of film, music and culture.
The Festival’s mission is to help filmmakers reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and general public to experience the power of cinema and promote New York City as a major filmmaking center. Tribeca Film Festival is well known for being a diverse international film festival that supports emerging and established directors.
The Tribeca Festival has screened over 1100 films from over 80 countries since its first festival in 2002. Since its founding, it has attracted an international audience of more than 2.3 million attendees and has generated an estimated $600 million in economic activity for New York City
Founding & Signature Sponsors
As Founding Sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival, American Express is committed to supporting the Festival and the art of film making, bringing business and energy to New York City and offering Cardmembers and festival-goers the opportunity to enjoy the best of storytelling through film.
The Festival is pleased to announce the return of its Signature Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Apple, Bloomberg, Brookfield, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Delta Air Lines, Heineken USA, NBC 4 New York, NCM Media Networks, New York Nonstop, The New York Times, RR Donnelley, and Vanity Fair. The Tribeca Film Festival is also honored to welcome the following new Signature Sponsors: Caesars Atlantic City, LG Electronics USA, Stolichnaya Vodka, Time Warner Cable, and YouTube.
Cole Smithey on April 21, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Oceans
Sea Creatures are People Too
Ocean Documentary Shows the Personalities of its Animals
By Cole Smithey
This year, "Earth Day" (a day to "inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment") is marked by the release of "Oceans," a lush documentary about the magnificent waters that cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface, and the vast number of creatures that live there. Under Pierce Brosnan's commanding narration, filmmakers Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud explore immense regions of the ocean's depths to celebrate the wild and colorful herbivores, carnivores, and detritivores that live there. Although it sounds like the kind of documentary you've seen a thousand times before, "Oceans" takes full advantage of state-of-the-art equipment to show audiences a crystal clear vision of intriguing sea creatures like the Red Sea's Dugong Marsa Alam and the intricately cloaked Garden Eel, from Indonesia's Lembeh Strait. The filmmakers are careful to spend the majority of the film celebrating the dramatic and peaceful rituals of a wide variety of ocean animals, while punctuating the film eloquently and briefly with the enormous problem of plastics and pollution being dumped into the oceans. Most disturbing is satellite footage that shows the dark streams of pollution emanating from American rivers directly into the sea.
Modern audiences have such terrific access to wild life programs on television that it's easy to take for granted the work of filmmakers like Perrin and Cluzaud. But it would be a mistake to discount this film's inspiring, informative, and entertaining effect. On the Europa Island Mozambic Canal, tiny baby green turtles hatch from under plush white sand to make a mad dash for the shore line before being gobbled up by swarms of attacking birds that swoop down on their young helpless prey. In California's Coronado Canyon, a gigantic humpback whale gobbles up thousands of tiny orange krill in a single gulp. In the Arctic, blubbery Cobburg walruses wallow together on the ice in familial tenderness. And the list goes on. There's a profound thrill that comes as the camera glides along with a huge team of dolphins as they speed through the surface of the water, constantly jetting out to soar through the air for brief spins of pure joy.
In an effort at improving an essential part of the ocean floor Disneynature is donating a portion of the film's first week proceeds to save our coral reefs. Without Jacques Cousteau's lifelong contributions to oceanic exploration, a film like "Oceans" would not be possible. When asked what he saw as the biggest threat to our planet, Jacques Cousteau said, that by far it was our population explosion. America's population has more than doubled since Cousteau made that statement. If anything, "Oceans" makes us aware that sea creatures are people too.
Rated G. 84 mins. (B+) (Four Stars - out of five/no halves)
Cole Smithey on April 20, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Takeshi Kitano's OUTRAGE to Play at Cannes
OUTRAGE
a film by Takeshi Kitano
In a ruthless battle for power, several yakuza clans vie for the favor of their head family in the Japanese underworld. The rival bosses seek to rise through the ranks by scheming and making allegiances sworn over saké. Their vengeful disputes over money, turf and betrayals are seldom settled without violence and death. Veteran yakuza henchman Otomo (Beat Takeshi) has seen his kind go from elaborate body tattoos and severed fingertips to becoming important players on the stock market. Theirs is a never-ending struggle to end up on top, or at least survive, in a world where there are no heroes.
From the director of ZATOICHI, BROTHER and HANA-BI.
Cole Smithey on April 17, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Daniel Radcliffe Returns to Broadway
Daniel Radcliffe is slated to play J. Pierrepont Finch in a Broadway revival of the Frank Loesser musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" in the spring of 2011. The play will mark Radcliffe's first return to Broadway since his debut in the 2008 production of "Equus."
Radcliffe's characteristically British ethic of working on the boards speaks to a grounded identity as an actor who will not be blinded by fame. Cheers Mr Radcliffe.
Cole Smithey on April 17, 2010 in Theatre | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
LIVING IN EMERGENCY
ACADEMY AWARD® SHORT LISTED DOCUMENTARY
“LIVING IN EMERGENCY: STORIES OF DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS”
OPENS THEATRICALLY ON JUNE 4th
DISTRIBUTED
BY BEV PICTURES
Feature-Length
Doc
to Debut in Exclusive Theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia,
San
Francisco, Boston & Washington, D.C.
New York (April 14, 2010) – LIVING IN EMERGENCY: STORIES OF DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS opens theatrically on June 4, 2010 in six markets at exclusive theaters: New York at Landmark Sunshine Cinema, Los Angeles at the Laemmle Music Hall, Philadelphia at the Ritz at the Bourse, San Francisco at the Lumiere Theatre, Boston at the Kendall Square Cinema, and Washington, D.C. at the Landmark E Street Cinema. The feature-length documentary is distributed by BEV Pictures. During the nomination process for the 82nd Academy Awards® earlier this year, LIVING IN EMERGENCY was among the 15 documentaries selected for the shortlist by the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Directed by Mark N. Hopkins (producer of “Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry”), LIVING IN EMERGENCY provides a rare inside look into the Nobel Peace Prize-winning international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which for the first time granted a documentary film crew unlimited and unprecedented access to its field operations.
“It was amazing to witness first-hand the dedication, talent, bravery and personal sacrifice exhibited by the people who work at Doctors Without Borders,” said Hopkins. “As a filmmaker, it’s an honor to tell their stories and I am thrilled that audiences will now have the chance to experience it for themselves.”
“’Living in Emergency’ captures the hard choices, dilemmas, and, sometimes, bitter realities that Doctors Without Borders medical teams grapple with every day in nearly 70 countries around the world,” said Sophie Delaunay, executive director of Doctors Without Borders-USA.
About The Film:
LIVING IN EMERGENCY: STORIES OF DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS interweaves the stories of four aid workers with Doctors Without Borders as they struggle to provide emergency medical care under the most extreme conditions. Two of the doctors are new recruits: a 26 year-old Australian doctor stranded in a remote bush clinic and an American surgeon struggling to cope under the load of emergency cases in a shattered capital city. Two others are experienced field hands: a dynamic Head of Mission, valiantly trying to keep morale high and tensions under control, and an exhausted veteran, who has seen too much horror and wants out. Amid the chaos, each doctor must confront the severe challenges of the work, the tough choices, and test the limits of their own idealism.
LIVING IN EMERGENCY is a Red Floor Pictures Production directed by Mark N. Hopkins and produced by Hopkins, Naisola Grimwood and Daniel Holton-Roth. 90 minutes. Not yet rated. For more information, visit www.livinginemergency.com.
About Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF):
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international independent medical
humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people whose survival is threatened by violence, negligence, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care in nearly 70 countries. For more information, visit www.doctorswithoutborders.org.
Cole Smithey on April 17, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Dogtooth Opens June 25 in New York
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While the trio is
being educated, entertained and exercised in the manner that
their parents deem appropriate (i.e. without any influence from the
outside
world), the trio spends their days listening to endless homemade tapes
that
teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any outside word is instantly
assigned a new meaning, so "the sea" refers to a large
armchair and "zombies" are little yellow flowers.
The only person
allowed to enter the house is Christina, a woman who works as a
security guard at the family business. The father arranges her visits to
the
house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son - and the entire
family is fond
of her. 
Cole Smithey on April 14, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Kick-Ass
Dumb Mess
Fan Boy Pandering Goes Too Far
By Cole Smithey
There are actually some 45-year-old film critics who write their reviews tilted toward fan boy readers as if they have something in common with the 12-year-old brain that Hollywood considers its primary audience. With Kick Ass, fanboy culture reaches an apogee of sloppy diminishing returns intended to clearly draw a dividing line between adult fanboy poseurs and the under-17 crowd who can only get into the R-rated picture with the accompaniment of said pandering grown-up. Director Matthew Vaughn ("Layer Cake") oversees a dumb-ass story co-written by comic book writer Mark Millar and John S. Romita Jr. about Dave Lizewski, a New York fanboy who gets the bright idea to reinvent himself as a real-life masked avenger, ostensibly to win the heart of Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), a girl at school who thinks he's gay. Dave proves a failure during his first outing as his green-suited alter ego Kick-Ass. The beating he takes means that his body must be surgically reinforced with metal plates. But even Dave's physical transformation does little to improve his tactical skills, which demand some much needed assistance from a Batman wannabe called Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his Robin-knock-off daughter Mindy--AKA Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz). Everything from its cartoon-bad-guys, to its stoopid humor, to its sudden shocks of profanity and gory violence, spells disaster. Here is a movie that parents shouldn't take their kids to see, and that is beneath anyone over 18. Garbage.
There's a moment during Kick-Ass's voice-over narration when he name checks Sin City to the audience as a way of telling you what to expect in an upcoming scene. It's a telling mistake the writer makes that gives the whole game away. Anyone who's seen Robert Rodriquez's and Frank Miller's unparalleled Sin City (2005) knows that Kick-Ass has positively nothing in common with that astronomically superior film. To imagine that it does is an act of delusional folly.
In an age where kids carry on texting romances with people they rarely or never even greet face-to-face, Kick-Ass seems, at face value, like a movie about a kid who dares to step away from his computer screen in favor of interacting with the world around him. Kick-Ass's pissed-off and bloodied expression on the poster evinces a world-weary teen who's not going to take it anymore. He doesn't give a damn about what it takes to battle the Republicans, Wall Street dogs, and technology peddlers who threaten his place as a free-thinker in a society where nobody can exist in public without being on a cell phone. But it's a lie. Because if it were that kind of movie--a movie like say Quadrophenia that really does represent a vital teen character desperately attempting to break out of his social traps--then the screenwriter might have to go to some trouble.
Kick-Ass is based on a series of comic books by Mark Millar ("Wanted") who fancies his stories as "punk-tinged." With so many "fanboy-punks," "steam-punks" and "internet-punks" buzzing around, it's easy to forget the ethics associated with the original musical movement by people who regarded the term as a cheesy way of commercially compartmentalizing their determined efforts at delivering some amount of truth to the world. Like the fanboy mentality that bullies with threatening e-mails, tweets, blog posts, and cell phone transmissions, Kick-Ass is a movie with no guts. The bad guys are a bunch of Keystone Cops goofing around with semi-automatic weapons. But most wrongheaded is its insulting use of 12-year-old Chloe Grace Moretz as a gun-wielding superhero who savors the word "cock" when referring to the unexplained phallic signal the Mayor aims at the sky to summon her and her crime-fighter dad.
As a bellwether of America's societal collapse, Kick-Ass tells us that the corporate raiders who have sucked the country dry are stronger than ever. The Hollywood assembly-line film industry is only too happy to stick "3D" on movies to milk an extra five bucks from audiences who believe the hype. In the case of Kick-Ass, it only served to remind me what a great R-rated movie "Sin City" is. If you do insist on taking your kids to see "Kick-Ass," know that is a "Hard R."
Rated R. 113 mins. (D-) (Zero Stars)
Cole Smithey on April 13, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Secret in Their Eyes
Deserving winner of the 2009 Best Foreign Film Oscar, "The Secret in Their Eyes" is a gripping mystery film layered with canny cultural, political, psychological, and romantic elements. Argentinean writer/director Juan Jose Campanella methodically lays the narrative groundwork of a murder case in which a 23-year-old bride was brutally raped and murdered, leaving her loyal husband Ricardo (Pablo Rago) devastated and searching for her killer. Retired state prosecution investigator Benjamin (Ricardo Darin) works on a novel about the unsolved 25-year-old case when he seeks out the opinion of his former boss and would-be love interest Irene (Soledad Villamil) who now serves as a judge. The film neatly flashes back to a forward moving story with Benjamin and his alcoholic partner Sandoval (Guillermo Francella) going to any lengths to identify, capture, and convict the murderer. Outstanding performances from Ricardo Darin and Soledad Villamil embellish Campanella's confident '70s period visual style and precise tempo. "The Secret in Their Eyes" is a complex romantic thriller to be savored.
Rated R. 127 mins. (A) (Five Stars - out of five/no halves)
Cole Smithey on April 11, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Battleship Potemkin on Blu-Ray
For
eight decades, Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 masterpiece has remained the
most
influential silent film of all time. Yet each successive generation has
seen
BATTLESHIP 
Edmund Meisel's
definitive 1926 score, magnificently rendered by
the 55-piece Deutches Filmorchestra in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, returns
Eisenstein's masterwork to a form as close to its creator's bold vision
as has
been seen since the film's triumphant 1925 Moscow premiere.
Cole Smithey on April 8, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
“A FILM UNFINISHED”
New York, NY (April 8, 2010) –
Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that it has acquired North
American distribution rights to Yael Hersonski’s harrowing documentary A
FILM UNFINSIHED. The doc, which premiered at Sundance this year and won
the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award, also played at
Berlinale 2010 in the Panorama section. Oscilloscope will open the film
August 18 at Film Forum and August 20th at Lincoln Plaza in New York
City, with a national release to follow.
At the end of WWII, 60 minutes of raw film, having sat undisturbed in an East German archive, was discovered. Shot by the Nazis in Warsaw in May 1942, and labeled simply “Ghetto,” this footage quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record of the Warsaw Ghetto. However, the later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings of the footage. A FILM UNFINISHED presents the raw footage in its entirety, carefully noting fictionalized sequences (including a staged dinner party) falsely showing “the good life” enjoyed by Jewish urbanites, and probes deep into the making of a now-infamous Nazi propaganda film.
A FILM UNFINISHED is a film of enormous import, documenting some of the worst horrors of our time and exposing the efforts of its perpetrators to propel their agenda and cast it in a favorable light.
Adam Yauch, head of Oscilloscope Laboratories, said, “This movie really affected me. It’s an incredibly powerful film, not just because of the rare Nazi propaganda footage it shows, but also the captivating way the filmmakers tell the story.”
About Oscilloscope Laboratories:
Oscilloscope
Laboratories is a film production and theatrical distribution entity
launched in 2008 by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. Yauch modeled
the company after the indie record labels he grew up around, choosing
films and then marketing them with the same artistic integrity with
which they were made. The company, which is an extension of Yauch’s
recording studio of the same name, has an in-house DVD distribution and
production arm, and the paper packaging is reminiscent of the heyday of
LP record jackets. All of the company's DVD packaging is (free of any
plastic) printed on FSC Certified 80% post-consumer waste paper and
produced in a carbon neutral, hydroelectric plant. Other Oscilloscope
theatrical releases include Yauch's GUNNIN' FOR THAT #1 SPOT, Irena
Salina's FLOW, Caroline Suh's FRONTRUNNERS, Kurt Kuenne's DEAR ZACHARY,
Kelly Reichardt's WENDY AND LUCY starring Michelle Williams, So Yong
Kim's TREELESS MOUNTAIN, Gabriel Medina’s offbeat comedy THE
PARANOIDS, the Academy-Award® nominated THE GARDEN from Scott Hamilton
Kennedy, Anders Østergaard’s Academy-Award® nominated BURMA VJ, Nati
Baratz's UNMISTAKEN CHILD, and Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s NO
IMPACT MAN. Recent releases include Oren Moverman’s Academy-Award®
nominated THE MESSENGER, starring Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster
and Samantha Morton, Henrik Ruben Genz’s Danish thriller TERRIBLY HAPPY,
Bradley Rust Gray’s THE EXPLODING GIRL starring Zoe Kazan and Michel
Gondry’s personal family documentary THE THORN IN THE HEART.
Upcoming releases include Lance Daly’s award-winning Irish film KISSES,
the re-release of Jules Dassin’s classic THE LAW.
Cole Smithey on April 8, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Havana Film Festival New York
April 16-23, 2010 with special events April 7 & 9
New York City, March 26, 2010. The Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) launches its second decade, April 16-23, with a program of award-winning films, panel discussions, and Q&A sessions with noted international filmmakers, actors and producers. Special events are scheduled for April 7th at El Museo del Barrio and April 9th at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Over 40 highly anticipated and influential films from and about Latin America, the Caribbean and Latinos in the U.S. will be screened. A variety of genres and themes from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, U.S. and Uruguay, ranging from comedy, thrillers, drama, film noir and children's tales, as well as films and documentaries about the influence of music and dance are all part of this year's Festival.
On April 16th, HFFNY opens with the New York premiere of the Brazilian film, Veronica, 1 pm at the Quad Cinema, the Festival's primary screening venue. The Opening Night Ceremony and Screening takes place at the New York Directors Guild Theatre, 110 West 57th Street, at 7 pm with the New York premiere of Los Dioses Rotos, the box office sensation and award-winning film by Cuban director Ernesto Daranas. Actors Hector Noas and Silvia Aguila will present the film.
Since its inception, HFFNY has recognized and celebrated some of the most illustrious Latin American filmmakers in the industry. Continuing this tradition, HFFNY 2010 honors renowned Cuban writer, director, poet, actor and dramatist Enrique Pineda Barnet, who has given the public more than 4 decades of unforgettable cinema. HFFNY pays him tribute with screenings of Cosmorama, considered the precursor to the contemporary video art movement, and today is part of the permanent collection at the Centro Reina Sofia de España (Queen Sofia of Spain Center); La Bella de la Alhambra, Best Picture winner of the prestigious Goya award; and La Anunciación, his most recent film about the reunion of state-side Cubans and their families.
As the festival enters its second decade, HFFNY established the Havana Star Prize to recognize the work of outstanding filmmakers in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. The first Havana Star Prizes will be awarded at the Closing Night Ceremony on April 23rd at 7 pm at the New York Directors Guild Theatre. Internationally renowned Cuban artist, Yoan Capote, designed the Havana Star Prize especially for HFFNY. The recipients will be chosen by three prominent members of the film industry, producers Michael Hausman (Gangs of New York, Brokeback Mountain, The People vs. Larry Flynt), and Sandy Lieberson (The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus, Stardust) and director Louis Perego (President of National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) NY Chapter, owner of Skyline Features, a bilingual (English and Spanish) multimedia and educational production company.
The fifteen films competing for the first Havana Star Prize are:
•Los Dioses Rotos (Broken Gods) – a love triangle within the modern day Cuban underworld recalls the life of famous politician and pimp Alberto Yarini. Director Ernesto Daranas, Cuba
•Dawson Isla 10 – the harrowing ordeal of deposed President Allende's cabinet after the 1973 coup who are determined to survive political imprisonment. Director Miguel Littin, Chile
•La Pasión de Gabriel (Gabriel's Passion) – a young priest, caught in the middle of a civil war he doesn't understand, struggles with his love for the church and a young lady. Director Luis Alberto Restrepo, Colombia
•Hermafrodita (Hermaphodite)– a touching story about a young girl's struggle in the 60's to keep her dual sexuality a secret. Director Albert Xavier, Dominican Republic
•La Bodega (The Warehouse) – a young man and his best friend seek to avenge his sister's brutal assault. Director Ray Figueroa, Guatemala
•Huacho – a beautifully conceived story about the struggles of a peasant family in Chile. Winner of the Opera Prima prize at the Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana (New Latin American Cinema of Havana). Director Alejandro Fernandez, Chile
•La Tigra, Chaco – a sweet and touching story of a young man who, while visiting his father, finds love with an old childhood friend. Directors Federico Godfrid and Juan Sasiaín, Argentina
•Memories of Overdevelopment (Memorias del Desarrollo) – the long-awaited sequel to Tomás Gutierrez Alea's classic Memorias del Subdesarrollo (Memories of Underdevelopment). Director Miguel Coyula, Cuba-U.S
•Miente (Lie) – an edgy, visually stunning psychological thriller told through the eyes of a young artist. Director Rafi Mercado, Puerto Rico
•Castro – based on a Samuel Beckett novel, a woman searches for her wayward husband with the help of three hapless men. Director Alejo Moguillansky, Argentina
•Veronica – the story of an elementary school teacher who while escorting one of her students home, discovers his slain parents and they are forced to go on the run to try to save themselves. Director Mauricio Farias, Brazil
•El Premio Flaco (The "Booby" Prize) – a comedy about how to laugh at despair when a woman is lifted out of poverty after winning a lottery. Directors Juan Carlos Cremata and Iraida Malberti, Cuba
•Crónicas Chilangas (Chilango Chronicles) – the intersecting lives of three people in Mexico City - an honest retired teacher, a young man who believes in extraterrestrials and a woman addicted to porn. Director Carlos Enderle, Mexico
•Libertador Morales, El Justiciero – an honest motorcycle-taxi driver and law-abiding citizen, Libertador Morales becomes El Justiciero, an avenging hero who foils the crime spree of a local Caracas street gang. Director Efterpi Charalambidis, Venezuela
•Historias Extraordinarias (Extraordinary Stories) – a visually stunning and award-winning film that weaves together three separate and seemingly unconnected stories. Director Mariano Llinas, Argentina
One of HFFNY's main goals is to reinforce the educational component and accessibility of the Festival. Running parallel to the screenings, HFFNY 2010 continues to collaborate with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Queens Museum of Art, and NYU's King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, Cantor Center, and Tisch School of the Arts to bring free or low cost screenings, panels, and programs for all ages integrating different communities in celebration of Latin American and Latino cultures.
April 7th, Nuevo Cine at El Museo del Barrio with the NY premiere of the Colombian documentary, Uprooted about the mounting tension of the more than one million Afro-Colombians violently displaced since the 1990's, and El Play, a documentary about a small city in the Dominican Republic famous for producing some the world's best baseball players. Pablo Medina, El Play's director, will be present for Q&A. On April 9th at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, we will have the U.S. premiere of 20 Años, a Cuban animation film, and the world premiere of Homo Erectus, a comedy about a young man coming out to his macho dad. Homo Erectus' director Alejandro Lora and producer Alberto Gonzalez will be on hand for a Q&A session followed by a party with DJ Asho and a live performance by Pepito Gomez and his sextet (Traditional, Son and Timba) celebrating the music of Cuba.
On April 17th at 4:30 pm, the Queens Museum of Art will present Fantasma de Buenos Aires, the latest full-length feature produced by Fundación Universidad del Cine (Argentina), a well-crafted story of a 20th century ghost awakened by accident in 2009 Buenos Aires. On April 20th, at 6 pm, the Festival presents Teaserland, an entertaining program of fake movie trailers by well-known directors such as Isabel Coixet (Elegy, The Secret Life of Words), Jaume Balaguero (Rec), and J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage), and other up-and-coming filmmakers. This program is sponsored by TD Bank.
The Festival returns to world-renowned The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday, April 17th, 12:35 pm, with the series Latin American Films For Children. This year, HFFNY offers children aged 5 to 12 four shorts from Colombia, El Salvador and Spain. These screenings are offered in collaboration with the Museum's El Primer Contacto con el Arte program.
For the first time, HFFNY has partnered with the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce to proudly celebrate Mexico's Bicentennial of Independence and Centennial of its Revolution on April 20th at Quad Cinema, 6:15 pm with the presentation of Crafts, Humors and Short Stories of the Mexican Independence and Revolution, a collection of 26 ninety second film shorts made by five of the best known Mexican animation directors.
Continuing to serve the filmmaking industry and film aficionados, HFFNY has organized the panel, The Business of Filmmaking: LATIN AMERICA–U.S., the legal and business aspects of motion picture development, finance, production, and distribution at NYU'S King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center on Tuesday, April 20th, 7 pm. Key industry figures will discuss the director, distributor and lawyer perspectives: Alfredo Calvino, Maria Marta Antin, Fernando Ramirez and Jeff Levy-Hinte and moderated by Sandy Lieberson, Chairman of Film London. This free event is made possible with the support of NALIP, Mexicana Airlines, and LART.
Some highlights of this year's festival are the films about music and dance. Giselle, a beautiful ballet film by this year's honoree, Enrique Pineda Barnet, celebrates the 90th birthday of Cuba's prima ballerina, the great Alicia Alonso. The Extraordinary Journey of Fernando Bujones by Israel Rodriguez is about the life of the choreographer and dancer who died at the prime of his career. Mundo Alas is a documentary about a group of disabled artists who tour Argentina accompanied by Argentina's most important folk rock singer/songwriter Leon Gieco, who will be on hand for a Q&A session after the film.
In its world premiere, Mambo City by Bette Wanderman, gives a personal account of soulful Puerto Rican singer Awilda and the band, Grupo Latin Vibe. Além Da Luz by Ivy Goulart is an intimate look at the lives of six blind Brazilians and their struggles, dreams and desires. Cooking Up Dreams by Ernesto Cabellos is a journey to the kitchens of Peru's coast, highlands and jungle, as well as Peruvian expatriate communities in Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York. Anécdotas sobre Fidel, directed by Estela Bravo, interviews international luminaries, as well as top members of the government and military about their experiences with Fidel Castro. In Crítico by Brazilian Kleber Mendonça, 70 critics and filmmakers discuss the conflict between the artist and the observer. Diary of the End, directed by Juan Alejandro Ramirez, is a visceral account filled with brutally honest, yet liberating confessions of a Peruvian woman.
HFFNY 2010 closes on Friday April 23rd at the New York Directors Guild Theatre with the special presentation of award-winning Uruguayan film, Gigante at 5 pm. The Closing Night Ceremony and Awards Presentation begins at 7 pm followed by the U.S. premiere of Eso que Anda, an entertaining documentary by Ian Padrón follows the band Los Van Van on their most recent tour in Cuba, attended by more than 1 million people. Director Ian Padron will be attending. The Closing Night party will be at LQ.
Returning after several years of absence is the Cuban delegation:
•Enrique Pineda Barnet – Director, La Anunciación
•Silvia Aguila – Actress, Los Dioses Rotos
•Hector Noas – Actor, Los Dioses Rotos
•Juan Carlos Cremata and Iraida Malberti – Directors, El Premio Flaco
•Ian Padron – Director, Eso Que Anda / Van Van Fever
•Susana Molina – Vice President, ICAIC
•Rosa Maria Rovira – Director of International Relations, ICAIC
Other guests include:
•Leon Gieco – Director, Mundo Alas, Argentina
•Diego Vasquez – Actor/Writer, La Pasión de Gabriel, Colombia
•Albert Xavier – Director, Hermafrodita, Dominican Republic
•Rafi Mercado – Director, Miente, Puerto Rico
•Miguel Coyula – Director, Memories of Overdevelopment, U.S.-Cuba
•Carlos Enderle – Director, Crónicas Chilangas, Mexico
•Alejandra Villasmil – Artistic Director, Huacho, Chile
•Efterpi Charalambidis – Director, Libertador Morales, Venezuela
•Ernesto Cabellos – Director, De Ollas y Sueños, Peru
•Mariano Llinás – Director, Historias Extraordinarias, Argentina
•Ignacio Rey – Producer, La Tigra, Chaco, Argentina
•Ray Figueroa – Director, La Bodega, Guatemala
•Estela Bravo – Director, Anecdotes about Fidel, Cuba
•Alfredo Calvino – CEO, Latino Fusion
•Maria Marta Antin – Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires Talent Campus
•Pablo Medina – Director, El Play, U.S-Dominican Republic
•Alejandro Lora – Director, Homo Erectus, Cuba
•Israel Rodirguez – Director, The Extraordinary Life of Fernando Bujones, U.S
•Ivy Goulart – Director, Beyond the Light, Brazil
The presenting sponsor of HFFNY 2010 is NBC 4 / Telemundo 47. Additional sponsorship is provided by El Diario La Prensa, The National Arts Club, WBAI, TD Bank, Latino Artists Round Table (LART), NY Remezcla, Xael Charters, U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Mexicana Airlines, LICP Graphics, Cine Latino en NY, NALIP, Havana-Cultura.com, Marazul Charters, Rockamedia, Copacabana Pizza & Grill, Giovanna's, Bardolino, Il Buco, and Brazil Brazil. Official hotel sponsors are the Maritime Hotel, the Bowery Hotel, and the Gershwin Hotel.
HFFNY is made possible with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts, a state agency and supported, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Mayor Bloomberg's Latin Media and Entertainment Commission (LMEC) supports the festival. HFFNY is included in New York City's Immigrant Heritage Week celebration.
The Havana Film Festival New York is a project of American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba (AFLFC), a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization building cultural bridges between the U.S. and Cuba through programs in the arts.
For a complete schedule of events and venues, please log on to www.hffny.com
Cole Smithey on April 8, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bette Gordon Tribute at IFC
The IFC Center salutes pioneer New York filmmaker Bette Gordon!!
Special screening of Gordon’s acclaimed
drama LUMINOUS
MOTION Monday, April 12th and the cult classic VARIETY
Thursday,
April 15th
HANDSOME HARRY, Gordon’s latest film starring Jamey Sheridan, Steve Buscemi, Campbell Scott and Aidan Quinn, opens Friday, April 16th
Gordon, Luis Guzman, Will Patton and other special guests to appear in-person
IFC Center is proud to salute New York-based filmmaker Bette Gordon, a director who embodies the essence of independent cinema, with special in-person screenings of her acclaimed features VARIETY and LUMINOUS MOTION, leading up to the release of her latest film, HANDSOME HARRY on April 16th.
A pioneer in the American independent film world and one of the most notable artists to come out of the Tribeca / East Village “No Wave Cinema” underground 1970’s film movement, Bette Gordon is best known for her bold explorations of themes related to sexuality. Her early short experimental films won numerous awards and festival acclaim worldwide, including showings at the Berlin International Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Biennial. Variety (1984) marked her debut as a feature film director, and was presented in The Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Director’s Fortnight. Luminous Motion, Gordon’s next feature, opened to rave reviews in 2000, and HANDSOME HARRY, her latest film, had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and is being released by Paladin in select cities April 16th. A long time resident of Tribeca, Gordon is also one of the founders of the Collective for Living Cinema, the neighborhood’s first theater, an outpost of avant garde cinema which was located on White Street. In addition, Gordon has been teaching new generations of students about the movie craft as a Professor of Film at Columbia University's graduate film division in New York City, and the Supervisor of the directing program there.
On Thursday, April 15th at 7pm, the IFC Center will present a special screening of VARIETY. The sexually charged tale of a woman’s journey of self discovery, VARIETY is a fascinating independent film that challenges common notions about feminism and pornography. Emerging out of the underground NYC arts scene that produced the late 80’s boom in American independent cinema, VARIETY contains the contributions of an impressive array of talent, including cinematographer Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion), actor Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights), a script by the late cult novelist Kathy Acker, and a score by actor and musician John Lurie (Stranger than Paradise). The film stars Sandy McLeod as a woman who takes a job selling tickets at a Times Square porn theatre, gradually becoming drawn into the life a gangster (Richard Davidson). Will Patton, Spalding Grey and Nan Goldin co-star. Joining Gordon for a post-screening discussion will be a panel of talent from the film’s cast and crew including Luis Guzman, Will Patton, Sandy McLeod and others to be announced. Screening courtesy of Kino.
Bette’s follow up to VARIETY came with LUMINOUS MOTION in 2000, which the IFC Center screens on Monday, April 12th at 7pm. Based on the acclaimed novel History of Luminous Motion, the film is a mother-son road-trip drama reminiscent of BONNIE AND CLYDE, and was named one of the best films of the year by New York Times critic A.O. Scott. The film stars Deborah Kara Unger (The Game), Terry Kinney (Oz) and marks the first collaboration between Bette Gordon and stage and screen veteran Jamey Sheridan (The Ice Storm). 10-year old Phillip craves speed and light. Obsessed with staying in perpetual motion, he lives the outlaw life on the road with his Mom, who makes ends meet stealing money from men she seduces. After an unexpected detour, Phillip’s world is turned upside-down when Mom settles in the suburbs with a carpenter named Pedro. Determined to escape this nightmare existence, Phillip dispatches Pedro with a homemade remedy, and the two hit the road again. Unfortunately, their past comes back to haunt them when Phillip’s father shows up to reclaim his place at the head of the family. The screening will be preceded by an introduction by Gordon.
HANDSOME HARRY, Gordon’s latest film, is opening on April 16th at the IFC Center as well as select cities across the country. The film marks Gordon’s second collaboration with Jamey Sheridan who heads an impressive ensemble cast which includes Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, John Savage and Campbell Scott. Sheridan portrays the title role-- a divorced man, alienated from his grown son, whose life is defined by a number of casual relationships but no intimate ones. A loner by choice, Harry is forced out of self-imposed exile when he is summoned to the deathbed of Tom Kelly (Buscemi), an old Navy pal with one last wish: he wants Harry to seek out another old friend, Dave Kagan (Scott), and ask his forgiveness for some horrible wrong that Tom, Harry, and their other close friends committed when they were all still in the military. Though it takes the form of a classic road movie, the true terrain covered by HANDSOME HARRY is the male psyche. In a series of carefully observed, beautifully acted vignettes, the film explores what brought these men together, what drove them apart, how they betrayed one another and, worse still, how they betrayed themselves. Gordon, whose emotionally wrenching climax reveals the enormous gulf between who Harry might have been and who he eventually became, proves that, sometimes, it takes a woman to show us what it takes to be a man.
Screening schedule:
Monday, April 12th
at 7:00pm: LUMINOUS
MOTION – introduced by Bette Gordon
Thursday, April 15th
at 7:00pm: VARIETY
– followed by a panel discussion with Gordon, cast members and other
special guests TBC
Friday, April 16th: HANDSOME HARRY opens at the IFC Center
Cole Smithey on April 8, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Who Do You Love Opens in NYC
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Cole Smithey on April 7, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Square
Aussie Noir Crackles
Filmmaking Duo Prove Deserving Heirs to the Coen Brothers
By Cole Smithey
Kicking off with a wicked little short film called Spider, sibling filmmakers Nash and Joel Edgerton announce their ability to shock you in a way you've not quite been surprised before. Moving on to the main event, The Square is a masterfully conceived and executed neo-noir from a couple of promising newcomers possessing keen ideas about weaving suspense with thematic momentum. This is one very satisfying genre piece to share with your suspense-loving friends. The story revolves around Ray and Carla, an adulterous couple (well played by David Roberts and Claire Van Der Boom) with an evil plan. Between Christmas and New Years, Carla arranges for Ray to steal the cash from her criminal husband's latest heist so she and Ray can abandon their middleclass suburban existence forever. With this little pot-of-gold MacGuffin, the Edgerton Brothers take the audience on a perverse path of moral corruption.
It's refreshing to see the oft-hackneyed neo-noir genre—witness the recent Don McKay—done with such precision and emotional involvement. Adultery is a common staple of the genre, and it's a tricky sin with which to gain audience empathy. Roberts’ everyman appeal as the story's volatile lynchpin makes him infinitely intriguing to watch. He's the kind of character actor that you feel like you've seen before even if you never have. When Roberts' character Ray hires a local arsonist (played by co-writer Joel Edgerton), you can't help but hope that somehow things land a little in his favor.
The cuckolded side of the marital equation features Anthony Hayes as Greg "Smithy" Smith, the mullet-wearing husband to the woman that Ray desperately wants to spend his life with. There's a sardonic comedy to Greg's being that makes his possession of a large amount of cash an especially ridiculous prize for exploitation.
The story profits from the filmmakers' meticulous use of proximity in its locations, which figure explicitly into the drum-tight narrative. Ray's house is across a lake from Carla's home, and his boy dog can't help but swim across to visit Carla's bitch; the canine romantic symmetry is one of those light touches that exemplifies the film's involuntary fascination with detail.
Although it might not contain the heavy shadows of the long-passed film noir era, the influence of Mother Nature is an ever-present threat that sweeps you up in its unpredictability. Heavy rain plays an important role in forcing Ray to expose the fraying edges of his loosening personality. Like William H. Macy's character in the Coen Brothers' Fargo, he puts himself in a jam where every decision is 10 times worse than the one before.
Neo-noir is all about watching people actively pick and poke at their Achilles Heel as if it were their only hope for salvation. In the case of this adulterous couple, their imagined sense of emotional loyalty takes a backseat to greed. An anonymous blackmail demand presents an especially juicy twist to a story with almost as many reversals as the Dahl Brothers’ Red Rock West, and a gut-wrenching climax that's just as surprising as the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple. In cinema, there's nothing new under the sun, but you'll recognize the artistic creativity and expert filmic craftsmanship the Edgerton Brothers apply in twisting the suspense tighter and tighter toward an inevitable ending where all debts are paid. Unlike Avatar, The Square is the kind of movie you could see twice, and not feel the least bit of guilt.
Not Rated. 105 mins. (Five Stars - out of five/no halves)
Cole Smithey on April 6, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Don McKay
Low Motive
Thomas Haden Church Goes Dark
By Cole Smithey More a black comedy than the intended "neo-noir" that newbie auteur Jake Goldberger aspires to, "Don McKay" is a droll little independent flick for audiences with dark tastes. Thomas Haden Church is commanding as the poker faced title character who takes time away from his job as a high school janitor to reconnect with his childhood sweetheart Sonny (Elizabeth Shue) in their hometown. Sonny is allegedly dying of cancer when Don shows up at her rural home where Sonny's strict nurse Marie (Melissa Leo) keeps a close eye on Don. With a femme fatale glint in her eye Sonny wants to marry Don before she expires, but Sonny's doctor (James Rebhorn) doesn't cotton much to the couple's intimate acquaintance. One sudden murder leads to an unraveling of lies and promises that almost come together in one neatly packaged puzzle. The performances rise above the material in this roughly hewn debut experiment by a filmmaker who still needs to master the form of his chosen genre before he steps behind the camera again.
There's a line of thought in screenwriting that it takes about 25 scripts for a screenwriter to master his or her craft. Jake Goldberger liberally sites the Coen Brothers' "Blood Simple" as the "slowly paced little film noir" that inspired him to write "Don McKay." Already, we start to see the holes in Goldberger's thinking. Where he views the Coen Brothers' 1984 suspense masterpiece as "slow" and "little," I would proffer that it is confident and methodical--two key ingredients missing from "Don McKay." Goldberger also sites Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, David Mamet, and even Douglas Sirk as influential touchstones, completely missing the enormous depths that each of these filmmakers went to in preparing each of their films. In his impatience at attempting what it took those masters years to develop, Goldberg rushes into and through scenes without giving proper attention to building character, plot, and theme lines within the necessary win-or-lose constraints of dramatic narrative structure.
That said, Jake Goldberger gets very lucky for a first-timer. Casting M. Emmet Walsh ("Blood Simple") as the taxi driver who brings Don to Sonny's house, and later gets hustled into the film's rushed climax, gives the story an illusion of noir atmosphere. That Goldberger doesn't know what to do with such a gift comes with diminished rewards, but by then you're already happily seduced by Walsh's effortless ability to create a sense of off-kilter humor and subtle menace even if it never pays off.
By far, it's Thomas Haden Church--executive producer on the film--who compensates most for the film's numerous narrative shortcomings. The same actor who elevated Alexander Payne's "Sideways" (2004) to comedy of sublime proportions, here exerts an ingrained seriousness for his hapless character to fill the narrative void with palpable interest and curiosity. "Don McKay" is a drama about a lonely man who carries a terrible mistake he made as a teenager with him through every minute of his daily existence. It's a condition that makes him involuntarily unable to avoid certain emotionally baited traps regardless of how poorly they're laid. Herein lies the opportunity for dark humor and imminent bloodletting that such a diabolical plan would allow. If "Don McKay" is an overly simple plan, it is at least a dramatic vacuum filled by an actor capable of making you want him to prevail regardless of his character's lowly motivations.
Rated R. 87 mins. (C) (Two Stars - out of five/no halves)
Cole Smithey on April 2, 2010 in Film | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
