After Tiller, and Teacher from 2013 Sundance Fest Scheduled for Released This Year

After Tiller, and Teacher from 2013 Sundance Fest Scheduled for Released This Year

After Tiller

Oscilloscope Laboratories will release Martha Shane’s and Lana Wilson’s directorial debut After Tiller and Hannah Fidell’s feature directorial debut A Teacher. After Tiller premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival and is scheduled to screen next at True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri. A Teacher also premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival and is headed to Austin next month where it will play South By Southwest

Azooma and Family Talk Take the Top Film Prizes at 2013 Beloit International Film Festival

Azooma and Family Talk Take the Top Film Prizes at 2013 Beloit International Film Festival

The 2013 BIFFYs were presented at the Launch Party kicking off the eighth annual Beloit International Film Festival which runs  February 14 through Sunday, February 17th, 2013 in Beloit, Janesville and Rockford, Wisconsin.

The top prize, the BIFFY for Best Feature Film, went to Azooma, a South Korean film. It is the story of a young mother who seeks revenge for the rape of her 10 year-old daughter. Disappointed by the indifference of the police, she decides to chase down the rapist herself. South Korean filmmaker Jiseung Lee was on hand to receive the award.

The BIFFY for Best Documentary went to Fambul Tok (Family Talk) which tells the story of healing in post-conflict Sierra Leone through intimate stories of perpetrators and victims in an unprecedented program of tradition-based truth-telling and forgiveness ceremonies. The award went to U.S. filmmakers Sara and Rory Kennedy.

Other prizes:

REVIEW: Sorting Out Heads: Barbering as a Profession of Identity in The Fade

REVIEW: Sorting Out Heads: Barbering as a Profession of Identity in The Fade

The Fade chronicles the lives of four Afro-American barbers in acutely different situations from Ghana to Jamaica, with London and New Jersey in-between. This documentary from Andy-Mundy Castle reveals an everyday profession as a conversation between identity, community, and commerce, all occurring in the barber’s chair, before a mirror reflecting the individuals involved. While one barber “sorts out the heads” of neighboring villagers in Ghana, supporting himself through skillful diligence, another travels wherever his services are needed in Jamaica, a third works in a local shop in London, gathering stories, gossip and street talk for his visual artwork, and the final, nicknamed ‘Hollywood,’ handles high profile clients such as Jay Sean. The clients of each barber have an individual sense of trust towards the men cutting their hair, a routine they consider even more personal than the way the hair grows.

“The fade” refers to a specific men’s haircut where the hair thins almost imperceptibly as the hairline reaches the neck. Castle’s documentary takes a commonplace profession and similarly blends it into a community of relationships, which reveal the social values of a race. Here, race means more than the constants between different Afro-American societies. Castle concentrates on the individualizations of different communities among Afro-Americans – from Ghana to Jamaica, with London and New Jersey in between. The barber from London expresses the sentiment that when he travels abroad for work, he feels dislocated. Is he English or African-American? Is this his home or someone else’s? Barbering relocates him, and Castle’s documentary uses a particular profession to relocate a race, reflecting many shades of culture in four barbers’ mirrors. 

Third New Voices in Black Cinema Film Festival Returns to Brooklyn Presidents Day Weekend

Third New Voices in Black Cinema Film Festival Returns to Brooklyn Presidents Day Weekend

The third annual New Voices in Black Cinema festival runs from Friday, February 15 – Monday, February 18, 2013.  The New Voices in Black Cinema festival reflects the wide spectrum of views and themes within the Black community from Brooklyn to Italy and beyond.  The four day film festival showcases 27 of the best in independent feature films, short films and documentaries from up and coming directors, producers, and talent throughout the Diaspora. All films will be shown at BAM (in the Peter Jay Sharp Building) located at 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217, which has been the festival’s home since its inception. 

The opening night film Big Words (2012, 97 min. – Friday, February 16) directed by journalist-turned-director Neil Drumming makes its New York premiere fresh off of its run at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival.  This fresh comedic drama starring Dorian Missick (“Southland”, Two Weeks Notice), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Wire”) and Yaya Alafia (The Kids Are All Right) takes place in Brooklyn on the eve of President Barack Obama’s history-making 2008 election as three self-absorbed friends, once members of a promising hip-hop trio, cross paths once again and discover that despite dreams deferred and the extreme changes in their lives that some things never change.  

Academy Award Nominee War Witch Gets A Release Date

Academy Award Nominee War Witch Gets A Release Date

War Witch, the Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film and Film Independent Spirit Award nominee for Best International Film will open nationwide on VOD on February 26, 2013, and theatrically in New York on March 1st, 2013 at Angelika Theater and Lincoln Plaza.  Other US cities to follow.

Written and directed by Kim Nguyen, War Witch follows the story of Komona (Rachel Mwanza) who is only 12 years old when she is kidnapped by rebel soldiers and enslaved to a life of guerrilla warfare in the African jungle. Forced to commit unspeakable acts of brutality, she finds hope for survival in protective, ghost-like visions (inspiring a rebel chief to anoint her “War Witch”), and in a tender relationship with a fellow soldier named Magician (Serge Kanyinda). Together, they manage to escape the rebels’ clutches, and a normal life finally seems within reach. But after their freedom proves short-lived, Komona realizes she must find a way to bury the ghosts of her past.

Five Films Selected for Miami International Film Festival Miami Encuentros 2013

Five Films Selected for Miami International Film Festival Miami Encuentros 2013

 

Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) announced the five film selections for its VeoMiami industry initiative, the 10th MiamiEncuentros.

Miami Encuentros aims to facilitate and support the completion of Latin American and U.S. Hispanic feature film projects in post-production and propel them towards their debuts on the international stage, via a post-production prize of USD$10,000 for one winning project as selected by a jury of industry professionals.  

The five selected projects for Miami Encuentros 2013 are:

2013 Arlington International Film Festival Unveils 2013 Poster

2013 Arlington International Film Festival Unveils 2013 Poster

Marley Jurgensmeyer, a tenth-grade student at Arlington High School was declared the winner of the 2013 Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF)’s Poster Contest. “One of the things I learned last year is that I am not a fine artist, but there are many ways to communicate visually using clip art and typography. This year I was more aware of searching for the right images to represent both film and the international aspect of the world. I found […]

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in downtown Missoula, Missouri Kicks Off On Friday

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in downtown Missoula, Missouri Kicks Off On Friday

First Comes Love

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival takes place February 15-24, 2013 at the Crystal Theatre and the historic Wilma Theatre in downtown Missoula, Missouri.

This year’s festival kicks off February 15 with a free screening of “First Comes Love” sponsored by HBO Documentary Films. Described as “A wry autobiographical story of a single woman choosing to have a baby on her own,” “First Comes Love” premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Children and Youth in Salt Lake City Announces 2013 Film Lineup

Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Children and Youth in Salt Lake City Announces 2013 Film Lineup

The 3rd annual Tumbleweeds Film Festival for Children and Youth will run from March 15-17, 2013 in Utah, and will feature a jam-packed program of feature-length films from around the world. This year’s festival presents 11 feature films from 7 countries including Latvia/Estonia, Germany and Ireland.

All screenings will be presented at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

2013 Tumbleweeds Film Festival Line-up

KOCH Documentary Opens in LA March 1

KOCH Documentary Opens in LA March 1

KOCH, a documentary by Neil Barsky will open in Los Angeles on March 1 at The Royal, Town Center and Playhouse 7.  Film opens in Palm Springs on March 8.

Former Mayor Ed Koch is described as “the quintessential New Yorker.” Ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. Ed Koch passed away at at the of 88 on February 1, 2013 – the day KOCH documentary opened in NYC.”

2013 Miami International Film Festival Sizzles with New Category Lee Brian Schrager’s Culinary Cinema

2013 Miami International Film Festival Sizzles with New Category Lee Brian Schrager’s Culinary Cinema

WHY DID YOU LEAVE? (POR QUE VOCÊ PARTIU?)

2013 Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) announced the complete line-up for new category addition Lee Brian Schrager’s Culinary Cinema, featuring films with a culinary twist.

Lee Brian Schrager’s Culinary Cinema will open on Sunday, March 3rd, with the North American premiere of Eric Belhassem’s Why Did You Leave?. The documentary features Jacquin and Suaudeau, as well as their French contemporaries, Roland Villard, Alain Uzan and Emmanuel Bassoleil. The film highlights a group exceptional French gastronomic chefs and their decision to leave their homes and rebuild their lives in Brazil, meshing their continental sensibilities with the rhythms of their new home. 

The other two films which will screen as part of Lee Brian Schrager’s Culinary Cinema category are Meat Hooked and Oma & Bella.

The East to Close 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival

The East to Close 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival

The East

Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling new film, The East, will close the 2013 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival. In addition to The East. SXSW also announced an additional 15 features and 3 shorts films to screen at this year’s festival. SXSW Film will open on Friday, March 8, 2013 with the world premiere of Don Scardino’s The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and run through Saturday, March 16 in Austin, Texas.