The documentary REMOTE AREA MEDICAL, directed by Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman, has set a Spring 2014 release date courtesy of Cinedigm. Remote Area Medical documents three days in April 2012, nearly 2000 Americans waited in the parking lot of Bristol, Tennessee’s massive NASCAR speedway to receive free medical, dental, and vision care provided by the volunteer organization Remote Area Medical, the pioneer of no-cost pop-up health care clinics.
GERALDINE FERRARO: PAVING THE WAY
The 2014 Athena Film Festival which honors “extraordinary women in the film industry and showcases films that address women’s leadership in real life and the fictional world” announced its lineup of narrative, documentary and short films. Now in its fourth year, the festival runs from Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, February 9 on the Barnard College campus in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The New York Premiere of BELLE, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and directed by Amma Asante, is the Athena Film Festival’s Opening Film, DECODING ANNIE PARKER, starring Helen Hunt and Samantha Morton and directed by Steven Bernstein, is the festival’s Centerpiece Film, and GERALDINE FERRARO: PAVING THE WAY, directed by her daughter, Donna Zaccaro, is the festival’s Closing Film.
Pan Nalin’s feature documentary FAITH CONNECTIONS which had its World Premiere at the 2014 Toronto FIlm Festival, and the U.S. Premiere scheduled for this week at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, will be released in the U.S. by Kino Lorber. In Faith Connections, filmmaker Pan Nalin travels to Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s most extraordinary religious events. There, he encounters remarkable men of mind and meditation, some facing an inextricable dilemma; to embrace the world or to renounce it. FAITH CONNECTIONS explores such diverse and deeply moving stories as a young runaway kid, a Sadhu, a mother desperately looking for her lost son, a yogi who is raising an abandoned baby, and an ascetic who keeps his calm by smoking cannabis – all connected by one faith against the spectacular display of devotion.
JACKY IN WOMEN’S KINGDOM – Riad Sattouf
The 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) which runs 22 January to 2 February 2014, unveiled the ten nominees in The Big Screen Award Competition. In The Big Screen Award Competition, ten fresh discoveries from the festival’s main sections Spectrum and Bright Future compete for two prizes.
The Slamdance Film Festival, which will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival, January 17 to 23, 2014 in Park City, Utah, announced their Jury members for the 20th Anniversary. The jury will determine the Slamdance Grand Jury Awards for Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, and Short Film categories. These awards will be presented on January 23rd during the Awards Ceremony.
The 29th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), taking place Thursday, January 30 through Sunday, February 9, 2014, announced its line-up for 2014. SBIFF 2014 will kick off at the historic Arlington Theatre with the World Premiere of MISSION BLUE, directed by Robert Nixon and Fisher Stevens. On Closing Night, SBIFF will present the critically acclaimed BEFORE TRILOGY: BEFORE SUNRISE, BEFORE SUNSET and BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Directors Guild of America announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2013. The winner will be named at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion and the only woman to win the coveted Palme d’Or, will head the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the organizers announced Tuesday. “I am truly honored to join with the Cannes Film Festival as President of the ‘in Competition’ features for 2014,” said Campion in a statement. “To tell the truth I can’t wait,” added Campion who succeeds last year’s jury head Steven Spielberg. Campion who won the Palme d’Or for “The Piano” in […]
Stray Dogs (Tsai Ming-liang) and Hide Your Smiling Faces (Daniel Patrick Carbone)
The National Society of Film Critics, made up of many of the country’s most distinguished movie critics, on Saturday, January 4th, 2014, chose INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS as Best Picture of the Year 2013. The film also won awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinematography. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR won the award for Best Foreign-Language Film, and THE ACT OF KILLING and AT BERKELEY (Frederick Wiseman) tied for Best Non-Fiction Film. In an amazing nod to independent films, LEVIATHAN won the award for Experimental Film; STRAY DOGS and HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES won the award for Best Film Still Awaiting American Distribution.
James Avery, who played “Uncle Phil” on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” died earlier this week at age 68. According to reports, Avery died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital due to complications from open-heart surgery. Avery just recently wrapped the indie film WISH I WAS HERE directed by Zach Braff, set to premiere later this month at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
No Place on Earth, Written by Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin
Award season continues with the Writers Guild of America announcing nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during 2013. Winners will be honored at the 2014 Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, February 1, 2014, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City.
The European premiere of QISSA by Indian director Anup Singh will officially open the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Wednesday 22 January, 2014. Set in post-colonial India, QISSA tells the story of Umber Singh, a Sikh, who is forced to flee his village due to ethnic cleansing at the time of partition in 1947. Umber decides to fight fate and builds a new home for his family. When Umber marries his youngest child Kanwar to Neeli, a girl of lower caste, the family is faced with the truth of their identities; where individual ambitions and destinies collide in a struggle with eternity.