9 Finalists Selected for Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival 2013 Short Film Contest

9 Finalists Selected for Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival 2013 Short Film Contest

Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival Announces Finalists in Its 2013 Short-Film Competition

Nine finalists have been selected for the fourth annual Short Film contest sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival. Festival director, and Martha’s Vineyard Film Society founder, Richard Paradise says over 300 entries were submitted this year to the contest. There is a cash prize of $500 for the maker of the winning film, which will be announced the evening of Friday, September 6, following a showcase screening of all the finalists. The winning film will also be screened on Closing Night.

Chicago South Asian Film Festival Reveals 2013 Film Selections; Opens With US premiere of OASS

Chicago South Asian Film Festival Reveals 2013 Film Selections; Opens With US premiere of OASS

OASS directed by Abhinav Shiv TiwariOASS directed by Abhinav Shiv Tiwari

The Chicago South Asian Film Festival revealed the film lineup for its fourth annual event to be held between September 20 and 22nd. The festival, to be hosted at the Showplace Icon Theaters and Film Row Cinema at Columbia College will present over 24 films. The festival will open with the US premiere of OASS, a portrayal of the injustices faced by the many victims of child trafficking. Directed by Abhinav Shiv Tiwari, the film follows Kiku, a girl of great determination, as she endeavors to return home from the dingy brothels of Delhi.

See POSTER and Watch TRAILER for “INFORMANT”; to be Released September 13, 2013

See POSTER and Watch TRAILER for “INFORMANT”; to be Released September 13, 2013

informant Directed by: Jamie Meltzer

A new trailer has been released for the upcoming documentary INFORMANT, winner of the DOC NYC 2012 Grand Jury Prize, and described as a fascinating portrait of Brandon Darby, a radical left-wing activist who famously became an FBI informant and is now a darling of the tea-party. Directed by Jamie Meltzer and starring Brandon Darby and Scott Crow , INFORMANT will be released in select theaters and VOD on September 13, 2013.

San Francisco Film Society Announces 3 Screenwriter Finalists for 2014 Djerassi Screenwriting Residency

San Francisco Film Society Announces 3 Screenwriter Finalists for 2014 Djerassi Screenwriting Residency

Djerassi Resident Artists ProgramDjerassi Resident Artists Program

The San Francisco Film Society, in partnership with the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, announced the finalists for the 2014 Djerassi Residency Award / San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship, given annually to encourage the career of an emerging or established screenwriter. The fellowship is one of a number of screenwriting initiatives offered by Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s innovative and dynamic filmmaker services program.

Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Announces 2013 Screening Lineup; Opens With “SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES”

Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Announces 2013 Screening Lineup; Opens With “SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES”

Southern Baptist SissiesSouthern Baptist Sissies

Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, which opens on Thursday, September 19th and runs through Sunday, September 22nd, announced the complete 2013 Schedule for its Sixth Anniversary Edition. “We are screening a total of twenty four feature films and more than 30 shorts this year,” Michael C. Green, Managing Director of The Palm Springs Cultural Center, said. “This has been a banner year for LGBT filmmaking, which made the selection process even more difficult, but in the end, I think we’ve put together a schedule that may be our best ever.”

REVIEW: THÉRÈSE

REVIEW: THÉRÈSE

Thérèse Desqueyroux

All screen adaptations of classic novels face the same inevitable obstacle: though they need not best their source material, they must work twice as hard as an original film to justify their existence. Why watch an adaptation of Jane Eyre, of Pride and Prejudice, or of Madame Bovary when those original texts are so celebrated and so readily available?

New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 23

New Indie Films, Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend Friday August 23

New Indie Films & Documentaries in Theaters This Weekend (Friday August 23)

There are a number of excellent indie releases coming out this weekend, and if you can’t get to your local art house theater (or, even worse, you don’t HAVE a local art house theater), most of them will be available soon either on VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray. Good news for all of us indie and foreign film fans, right?

REVIEW: Drinking Buddies

REVIEW: Drinking Buddies

DRINKING BUDDIES

Appearances are often deceiving. Two people who might appear to be perfect for each other on the surface by the way they interact might be incompatible once things get deeper. In DRINKING BUDDIES, a romantic comedy from writer/director Joe Swanberg (V/H/S), pretty and playful Kate (Olivia Wilde) works as a marketer at a Chicago-area brewery. Though she is in a relationship with the pedantic Chris (Ron Livingston), she clearly has better chemistry with one of the brewers she works with, Luke (Jake Johnson). However, the outgoing Luke is engaged to Jill (Anna Kendrick), a somewhat shy special education teacher.