Ndiphilela Ukucula: I Live to Sing
GLORIA VICTORIA, the 2014 Academy Award® finalist in the Best Animated Short category, and Emmy® Award- winning director Julie Cohen’s new film, I LIVE TO SING will open the the American Documentary Film Festival scheduled to take place March 27, 2014 and run through March 31, 2014 in Palm Springs, CA.
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) has acquired this year’s 2014 Sundance Film Festival opening night feature film, WHIPLASH, starring J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller for worldwide distribution. Directed and written by Damien Chazelle (Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench), WHIPLASH is adapted from a short film that won Sundance’s jury award for fiction in 2013 (also written and directed by Chazelle).
The world premiere of U.S. Dramatic Competition film WHIPLASH directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Miles Teller, and J.K. Simmons kicked off the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on Thursday night. Whiplash, based on Chazelle’s 2013 Sundance Film Festival award-winning short film, open to rave reviews with Variety declaring “Miles Teller drums his heart out — and then some — in writer-director Damien Chazelle’s stellar career-starter, “Whiplash,” which demolishes the cliches of the musical-prodigy genre.”
The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the winners for the 19th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and “DALLAS BUYERS CLUB” received two major awards, one for Best Actor, which went to Matthew McConaughey, the other going to Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor. The award for Best Actress went to Cate Blanchett (“BLUE JASMINE”) and Adele Exarchopoulos (“BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR”) took home Best Young Actor/Actress. Best Foreign Language Film went to “BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR” and Best Documentary Feature to “20 FEET FROM STARDOM.”
15 Years + 1 Day (15 años y 1 día) (Spain, directed by Gracia Querejeta)
Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) taking place March 7 to 16th, announced an additional 42 titles from 22 countries to be showcased in two non-competition categories, Cinema 360° and Doc-You-Up. Films include Goya Awards Best Picture nominees 15 YEARS + 1 DAY (15 años y 1 día), Cannibal (Caníbal), FAMILY UNITED (La gran familia Española), and LIVING IS EASY WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED (Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados), The 42 titles announced join the previously announced FOOSBALL (Metegol), from director Juan José Campanella, in MIFF’s Official Selection for the 2014 Festival.
The 10th Annual Boulder International Film Festival taking place February 13 to 16, 2014, will open with the comedy FADING GIGOLO, directed, written by and starring John Turturro, co-starring Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Vanessa Paradis and Liev Schreiber, on Feb. 13, 2014. Making its world premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, FADING GIGOLO follows a pressed for money, mild 50-ish florist named Fioravante (John Turturro) who becomes a male escort to get by. It turns out that Fioravante has an enormous talent for his new profession, until he falls hard for a potential client. This means big trouble for Murray the Pimp (Woody Allen), who is hauled into Hasidic Court.
Check out this amazing clip from the new film APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR set to premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. In APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR, written, directed by and starring Iranian American filmmaker Desiree Akhavan, Shirin is struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter, politically correct bisexual and hip young Brooklynite. She fails miserably in her attempt at all identities, and being without a cliché to hold onto can be a lonely experience. After being dumped by her girlfriend Maxine, Shirin faces an unimaginable task: trading the idyllic lesbian haven of Park Slope for a shared artist’s loft in Bushwick. Unable to let go of the memories of their excruciating highs and lows, the endearingly superficial narcissist finds herself plotting to win back her ex.
THE ACT OF KILLING that features former Indonesian death squad leaders re-enacting their crimes was honored by the Denver Film Critics Society as the Best Documentary of 2013. THE ACT OF KILLING emerged top doc over other nominees that included BLACKFISH, 20 FEET FROM STARDOM, CUTIE AND THE BOXER, and STORIES WE TELL. THE GRANDMASTER, the new film by director Wong Kar-wai which spans the five first decades of the 20th Century in China, and depicts the life of legendary kung fu master Ip Man, portrayed by Tony Leung won for Best Foreign Language Film. Other nominees for Best Foreign Language Film include THE GREAT BEAUTY, THE HUNT, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, and THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN.
The nominations for the 86th Academy Awards were announced this morning and although there were quite a few snubs, films like DALLAS BUYERS CLUb and NEBRASKA received multiple nominations including Best Picture. There were not many surprises in the Documentary category, with THE ACT OF KILLING, CUTIE AND THE BOXER, DIRTY WARS, THE SQUARE and 20 FEET FROM STARDOM grabbing nominations. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar® Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network.
Richard Ayoade’s THE DOUBLE (UK)
Seven films have been picked as official selections for the 43rd New Directors/New Films Festival (ND/NF), presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and taking place March 19 to 30, 2014. Representing eleven countries from around the world, the initial seven selections are Richard Ayoade’s THE DOUBLE (UK), Benedikt Erlingsson’s OF HORSES AND MEN (Iceland), Abdellah Taïa’s SALVATION ARMY (L’Armée du salut) (France/Morocco/Switzerland), Ben Rivers and Ben Russell’s A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS (Estonia/France), Roberto Minervini’s STOP THE POUNDING HEART(Belgium/Italy/USA), Albert Serra’s STORY OF MY DEATH (Història de la meva mort) (Spain/France), and Vivian Qu’s TRAP STREET (Shuiyin Jie) (China).
Matthew Smiley’s hard-hitting documentary HIGHWAY OF TEARS
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns for its 11th year in Toronto with eight films that the festival describes as bravely bearing witness to human rights violations in Canada and around the globe, and make an impassioned call for social change through their empowering stories of perseverance, resilience and hope. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival opens at Toronto International Film Festival TIFF Bell Lightbox on February 27 with THE SQUARE (2013), director Jehane Noujaim’s (Control Room) thrilling documentary chronicle of activism, unrest and revolution in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and closes on March 6 with the world premiere of Canadian director Matthew Smiley’s hard-hitting documentary HIGHWAY OF TEARS (2013).
The 37th Portland International Film Festival (PIFF 37) opens on February 6th with two films – THE WIND RISES, the final work from master animator Hayao Miyazaki, will screen at at OMSI and Cinema 21, and the critically-acclaimed feature BELLE, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Emily Watson, and Tom Wilkinson screens at the Whitsell Auditorium, located in the Portland Art Museum. The festival will run through the February 22nd, 2014.