The New York Film Festival will open with the World Premiere of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi on Friday, September 28. “I am both delighted and honored to be back at the New York Film Festival with Life of Pi,” Ang Lee said in a statement today. “I have the deepest respect for Richard Peña and his team and to be selected by them as the Opening Night film for the 50th Anniversary is extremely […]
SIMON AND THE OAKS, the award winning feature film directed by Lisa Ohlin will open in New York at The Paris Theater and in Los Angles at The Landmark on October 12, 2012. A national release will follow. Simon and The Oaks, a major commercial success in its native Sweden, has received a record 13 nominations for the 2012 Sweden’s Guldbagge Awards (the local equivalent of the Oscars), including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and […]
The “genre-defying tour-de-force” film Resolution which captivated audiences and critics at its Tribeca Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival premieres earlier this year will finally get a release. Tribeca Films will release the directing duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson’s “naturalistic-yet-otherworldly thriller” with a planned early 2013 theatrical release day Moorhead and Benson brilliantly straddle the line between raw thrills and honest emotion as complex characters and powerful performances drive this ambitious, unconventional narrative […]
The Toronto International Film Festival has added 3 Galas and 18 Special Presentations, including 8 World Premieres, to its 2012 slate. The Festival will close with Paul Andrew Williams’ A Song For Marion, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp.
Films added include Spike Lee’s Bad 25 which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Michael Jackson “Bad” album with unseen footage, and Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy starring Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo and Zac Efron,
The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2012.
The Contemporary World Cinema program at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival will feature the world premieres of films by directors such as Sara Johnsen, Kasia Rosłaniec, Edward Burns, Sion Sono, Robert Connolly, John Akomfrah, Saïd Ould-Khelifa, Annemarie Jacir, Jo Sung-hee and Licinio Azevedo.
The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 to 16, 2012.
Film lineup includes:
There are some really nice doc films at IDA’s continuing DocuWeeks Festival (in New York and Los Angeles) this week…Here were a few genuine stand-outs:
In Ricky on Leacock, director Jane Weiner shares with us nearly forty years of friendship and footage on the creator of cinéma vérité, the legendary filmmaker Richard Leacock. Ricky is one of those great artist depictions which allow the viewer to feel and create their own assumptions and thoughts about both the upbringing and family background of the subject, but this absence works wonderfully here: We witness what an elegant, generous spirit really was, and through wonderful interviews and clips from the likes of D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew, Ed Pincus, Jonas Mekas, Dušan Makavejev, and others, we see what an astounding influence Leacock had on certainly not only cinema and how it was conceived for the new generation, but television, TV journalism and live news.
Always searching to make the camera and sound equipment as unobtrusive and invisible as possible, one only wonders how much work the man could have created in the wholly digital age. “My life has been about cooking and making film, and it’s been wonderful,” Leacock joyfully intones at the end of the film. Who could ask for anything more, from an artist or the truly great and inspiring film about his still important legacy? A must-see doc this season- one that will really lift both your heart and soul.
Please don’t forget to check out the remaining two weeks of the Docuweeks 2012, the incredible film festival of the International Documentary Association, playing at NYC’s IFC Center through August 30th. There are some great, new, Oscar-worthy documentary films playing there now, and VIMOOZ will be giving you capsule reviews throughout the festival. (Docuweeks started in Los Angeles today, August 10th, at the Laemmle Noho 7 Theater.
One wonderful documentary is We Women Warriors, which “follows three native women caught in the crossfire of Colombia’s warfare who use nonviolent resistance to defend their peoples’ survival. Colombia has 102 aboriginal groups, one-third of which face extinction because of the conflict. Trapped in a protracted predicament financed by the drug trade, indigenous women are resourcefully leading and creating transformation imbued with hope. We Women Warriors bears witness to neglected human rights catastrophes and interweaves character-driven stories about female empowerment, unshakable courage, and faith in the endurance of indigenous culture.”
Nicole Karsin, the director the doc of We Women Warriors, speaks with VIMOOZ:
Falling Overnight- opening today in NYC at Cinema Village West
Review written by Francesca McCaffery
Directed by Conrad Jackson, Falling Overnight is those rarest of indie gems- genuinely heart-felt and a pleasure to watch. Young photographer Chloe (Emilia Zoryan) and skinny, appealing Elliot (Parker Croft) meet uber- cute in a café in LA, the audience having learned only moments before that he is scheduling a rather profound surgery for the very next day, without the help or support of any noticeable friends, or family, around him. We are immediately drawn in…
Elliot is young, but one of those rare early 20-somethings- he appears to be completely financially independent, somewhat of an internet start-up wunderkind who wisely cashed out early. Not one to dwell, or feel sorry for himself, Elliot spontaneously decides to go to Chloe’s art show, where she has casually invited him along. After an awkward start, with Chloe having to actively let him know, more than once, that she is in fact interested in hanging out with him, their big evening begins…
The New York International Short Film Festival aka NY Shortsfest held May 29 – 31 in New York City, announced its 2012 winners. And the winners are BEST DRAMA The Man Who Knew How To Fly Director: Robi Michael BEST COMEDY Derek Director: Ricky Gervais BEST ANIMATION A Morning Stroll Director: Grant Orchard BEST OF NEW YORK Harry Grows Up Director: Mark Nickelsburg .
10-13-year-old audiences in Amsterdam, Belgrade, Copenhagen, Erfurt, Norrköping and Turin have elected KAUWBOY by Boudewijn Koole as the winner of the first European Film Academy Young Audience Award. The German jury speakers Marie-Louis und Carl (both 12 years old) presented the award to co-author Jolein Laarman who thanked the children for their votes and stated, “it’s so important that the European Film Academy gives all the children a voice!” The European Film Academy Young Audience Award […]
Tribeca Film acquired U.S. rights to Kim Nguyen’s award winning War Witch (Rebelle), described as “a powerfully poignant film shot in the Congo with an exceptional lead performance by Rachel Mwanza, a newcomer who was discovered on the streets of Kinshasa.” In her very first acting role, Mwanza has already garnered critical acclaim for her astounding performance winning the Silver Bear- Best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival, where the film made its world premiere in competition, as well as the Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film took home the “Founders Award” for best narrative feature at Tribeca, where it made its North American premiere.
The film, with a screenplay by Nguyen, stars Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyianda, Ralph Prosper and Mizinga Mwinga. The film was produced by Pierre Even and Marie-Claude Poulin of Montreal-based ITEM 7. Tribeca Film plans a release across multiple platforms in the first quarter of 2013.
The San Francisco Film Society announced the 11 finalists for the $100,000 2012 SFFS Documentary Film Fund, which supports feature-length documentaries in postproduction. The SFFS Documentary Film Fund was created to support singular nonfiction film work that is distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and an innovative visual approach.
From 2011 to 2013, a total of $300,000 will be disbursed to further new work by documentary filmmakers nationwide. Expected to grow in the coming years as further underwriting is secured, the Documentary Fund was inaugurated thanks to a generous gift from valued Film Society patrons Sharon and Larry Malcolmson.