The Last Rites of Joe May, written and directed by Joe Maggio which had its world premiere in competition at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, will be released in October on VOD and theatrically by Tribeca Film. In the spirit of classic 1970’s filmmaking, Joe May is the story of a sixty-something Chicagoan named Joe May (Dennis Farina, Get Shorty, Midnight Run, Snatch), a short-money hustler of Rolex knockoffs and bootleg DVDs. Joe returns home […]
Where Soldiers Come From, a documentary by Heather Courtney, and official selection at 2011 SXSW (Winner, Jury Award for Editing), the Los Angeles Film Festival, Silverdocs and many other film festivals will open in New York at the Village East Cinema on Friday, September 9, 2011. The Los Angeles release (and other cities) will follow. From a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM follows […]
Sienna Miller is headed to New Mexico to shoot an independent film. According to the AP, the film, Just Like a Woman, will be shot in and around Santa Fe, Lamy, Zia and Nambe pueblos and Jemez Springs. The film which also stars Golshifteh Farahani and is directed by Rachid Bouchareb, tells the story of a housewife and her belly dancing instructor who head to Las Vegas to enter a competition.
The little known Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival that runs alongside the larger Comic Con convention from July 21-24, announced its 2011 winners. The festival featured mainly short films and handed out 8 awards determined by judges Michael Gross, Eric Vespe, and Kevin Walsh. The complete list of winners for 2011 Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival Best Action Adventure FilmThe Debt Collector Best Animated FilmPaths of Hate Best Comics-Oriented Film:Secret Identity Best DocumentaryGahan Wilson: Born […]
The official line-up of the 68th Venice Film Festival was announced earlier today Thursday July 28th. The official selection of the festival includes the sections, Venezia 68 (In Competition), Out of Competition, Orizzonti and Controcampo Italiano, alongide a retrospective section and two autonomous sections (International Critics’ Week and Venice Days). The 68th Venice International Film Festival will take place from August 31st to September 10, 2011. In addition to George Clooney’s “The Ides of March”, […]
The Ides of March, the new film written & directed by George Clooney, will be the opening film – in Competition – at the 68th Venice International Film Festival scheduled to take place from August 31st to September 10, 2011. Based on Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North, screenplay written by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, The Ides of March is set in the near future, in the world of American politics during […]
Following the trend set by Sundance Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival, the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival will also open on September 8 with a documentary film, – the world premiere Gala Presentation of From the Sky Down – Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim’s documentary about Irish band U2. “For the first time in 36 years the Toronto International Film Festival will open with a documentary,” said Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of the Toronto International […]
The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled a selection of films in the 2011 Galas and Special Presentations programmes. Running from September 8 to 18, 2011, this year’s Festival presents the world premieres of films from directors Bruce Beresford, Luc Besson, Rémi Bezancon, Cameron Crowe, Terence Davies, Mathieu Demy, Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass, Roland Emmerich, Julian Farino, Jim Field Smith, Francis Ford Coppola, Marc Foster, Rodrigo Garcia, Lasse Hallstrom, Huh Jong-ho, Cédric Kahn, Jonathan Levine, […]
Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), founded by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, kicks off the 2011 edition of the festival, now in its seventh record-breaking year, tonight, Tuesday July 26, and runs thru July 31. Moore, the Academy Award-winning director of “Bowling for Columbine” and “Capitalism: A Love Story,” launched the Traverse City Film Festival in 2005, aiming to bring often-undistributed national and international films to film lovers from the northern Michigan community and around the […]
Greek-cypriot film director Michael Cacoyannis died in Athens on Monday aged 89, his cultural foundation said reports AFP. Cacoyannis shot to fame with the triple-Oscar winning “Zorba the Greek” in 1964, an adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis-penned novel which starred Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates and Irene Pappas among others. He was also know for his film “Electra”, based on the Euripides tragedy, which received two awards at Cannes in 1962.
The 7th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival handed out its awards last night and the big winners are Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank (for the New Breed Full-Length Category) and Bisperas (Directors’ Showcase Category) – each winning five awards including the much coveted title “BEST FILM” in their respective categories. The complete list of Cinemalaya 2011 winners: New Breed (Full-Length) Category Best Film – Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank Best Director – Marlon Rivera (Ang Babae […]
The 4th Chesapeake Film Festival (CFF), running from September 23-26, 2011, announced its lineup of independent films to be screened this year at venues in Chesapeake College Wye Mills, Easton, Cambridge and Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The CFF will open with The Last Rites of Joe May, written and directed by Joe Maggio, whose film Bitter Feast also showed at CFF in 2010. The drama, starring Dennis Farina, is about an aging hustler who […]
One year ago, the challenge went out on Youtube, “Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create a user-generated feature film shot in a single day. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into a feature film, produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.” More than 80,000 videos, representing over 4,500 hours […]
Filmmaker Magazine announced earlier this month announced the 2011 “25 New Faces of Independent Film”. The feature is the 14th edition of the magazine’s annual look at the new, up-and-coming talent, a list that includes includes directors, screenwriters, composers, editors and actors scouted by Filmmaker’s editors over the last 12 months. Past 25 Faces include: Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), Rashaad Ernesto Green (Gun Hill Road), Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), […]
Reuters announced recently that horror/thriller “The Perfect House” will be the very first film to première on FlickLaunch, the first independent-movie distribution platform built on Facebook. The film, a hauntedhouse anthology that tells three separate stories using different horror-film techniques, will debut on FlickLaunch on Octover 1st as a seven-day, $5 rental accessible through its Facebook page.This news was announced on Friday by FlickLaunch and by the makers of “The Perfect House,” which stars Monique […]
Actress-producer-co-writer of “Another Earth” Brit Marling lights up the screen in this truly wonderful, low-key “sci-fi romance,” which she co-wrote with director Mike Cahill. The film was one of the toasts of Sundance, and is an extremely low-budget mediation on destiny and the concept of “what if there were another YOU out there?” Marling plays Rhoda Williams, a bright, pretty seventeen-year old about to graduate high school, happily celebrating her acceptance into MIT’s astrophysics program. […]
The world premiere of The Highest Pass directed by Slamdance co-founder Jon Fitzgerald will open the 2011 Topanga Film Festival in Topanga, California. Starting in Rishikesh, the birthplace of Yoga, this documentary takes us on a motorcycle journey through the Himalayas of India and over the highest motorable road in the world, following a dare devil yogi that leads seven Americans to make decisions about life and death while traversing steep, icy cliffs and the […]
The award winning film, “Natural Selection” from director Robbie Pickering, which premiered in competition at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival and went on to win seven awards, including the Grand Jury and Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature, Breakthrough Performance for both Rachael Harris and Matt O’Leary, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Score/Music, will open in theaters this fall. Natural Selection” was written and directed by Robbie Pickering, and in addition to Harris and […]
San Francisco Bay Area based distributor Nancy Fishman Film Releasing announced that it will release Eve Annenberg’s “Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish,” described as a gritty, funny New York drama about encounters between Satmar Hasid bad boys and the work of Shakespeare. Directed and produced by Eve Annenberg, “Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish” will be released nationally to theaters through Nancy Fishman Film Releasing, and internationally to festivals and broadcasters. The play Romeo and Juliet […]
TALIHINA SKY, detailing the Grammy® Winners’ rise to fame from Bible Belt beginnings will premieres Sunday, August 21 at 10 PM ET/PT on SHOWTIME. The film premiered this spring at the Tribeca Film Festival. When three teenaged brothers and their cousin rebelled against their strict, religious Southern upbringing to form a rock band named Kings of Leon , their humble back story garnered almost as much attention as their music. Many questioned if they were […]
The winners of the 33rd Moscow International Film Festival were announced earlier this month after the festival wrapped its June 23rd to July 7th, 2011 run. ”Viewers’ sympathy” award was given to “MONTEVIDEO, TASTE OF A DREAM” (MONTEVIDEO, BOG TE VIDEO) by a Serbian director Dragan Bjelogrlic. FIPRESCI jury awarded a film by Alberto Morais “THE WAVES” (LAS OLAS). “Kommersant” magazine gave its prize to “HEART’S BOOMERANG” (SERDTSA BUMERANG) by Nikolay Khomeriki. For the second […]
Tomorrow, Saturday, July 23, 2011 is the East Coast premiere of the independent film Identical, starring Kelly Baugher, Jonathan Togo, Emily Foxler, Ed Asner, Aaron Refvem and Craigs Mums Grant.The premiere takes place at the Symphony Space in New York City. Adapted from “Memoirs of a Murder” by Daniel Bollag,who also co-directs the film with Seo Mutarevic, the film follows identical twin brothers who need each other to exist. After a passionate love triangle forms, […]
The indie film, “My Best Day,” an ensemble comedy feature from director Erin Greenwell (“Big Dreams in Little Hope”) is currently filming in the Slate Belt in Pennsylvania. As reported by lehighvalleylive.com, the final product will feature Heard’s Meat Market in Bangor, the Portland baseball park, Jewell’s Service Station in East Bangor and other spots around the region as part of the same small town. The story line sounds hilarious, Karen’s life as a small […]
Fantastic Fest announced the first wave of programming for the seventh edition happening September 22-29, 2011 in Austin, Texas. This batch of 20 films spans the globe from Japan, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, Hong Kong, Korea and of course the USA. “Fantastic Fest is the high-point of my year. Every year old friends return and strangers become friends. Fantastic Fest is my extended dysfunctional family; each of us completely obsessed by the wildest and weirdest films […]