The Toronto International Film Festival will close with the world premiere of Daniel Schechter’s sly crime story LIFE OF CRIME. Based on Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch, the closing night Gala features a stellar cast including Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, yasiin bey (a.k.a. Mos Def), Isla Fisher, Will Forte, Mark Boone Jr, and Tim Robbins.
The world premiere of the WikiLeaks movie’ THE FIFTH ESTATE will open the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 5. A dramatic thriller based on real events, directed by Bill Condon THE FIFTH ESTATE reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. The film, based on the book Inside WikiLeaks by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and the Guardian book WikiLeaks by David Leigh and Luke Harding, will be released in North America on October 18, 2013.
Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore announced the lineup of 150 plus films for his ninth annual Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), to be held July 30 to August 4 in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival kicks off with Woody Allen’s latest film “BLUE JASMINE”. After a stretch of films set abroad, his latest work brings us back to American soil, where a wealthy New York socialite, played by Cate Blanchett, moves to San Francisco to escape her faltering marriage to a wealthy Wall Street executive, played by Alec Baldwin.
L’Armée du salut (SALVATION ARMY) by Abdellah Taïa
Nine films, including seven in competition, have been selected for the 28th Venice International Film Critics’ Week, August 28 through Sept. 7, 2013. The seven films in competition are eligible for two awards – RaroVideo Audience Award and the USD$100,000 Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film. The week of screenings will open with world premiere of the Italian film L’arte della felicità (THE ART OF HAPPINESS) by Alessandro Rak and close with International Premiere of the Chilean film Las analfabetas (ILLITERATE) by Moisés Sepúlveda.
Director Paul Schrader at 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Paul Schrader, Shekhar Kapur, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul are amont 70 movie directors from all over the world invited to make a short film lasting between 60 and 90 seconds, for a special project, Venezia 70 – Future Reloaded, in celebration of the 70th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7, 2013).
The ‘original” supernatural chiller INSIDIOUS which had its world premiere in the Midnight Madness program at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival will make its debut on the cable channel FEARnet on Sunday, September 8, and on VOD starting Wednesday, September 11 before the theatrical release of the film’s sequel INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2 on Friday, September 13.
Actor Dennis Farina, a onetime Chicago police officer who played Detective Joe Fontana on the television show “Law & Order,” died on Monday. He was 69.
Rita Moreno Arriving for the Red Carpet at the West Side Story 50th Annivesary Celebration
Actress Rita Moreno has been named the 50th recipient of SAG-AFTRA‘s highest tribute – the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. The SAG Life Achievement Award will join Moreno’s other industry and public honors, which includes an Oscar, two Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of the Arts. Moreno will be presented the performers union’s top accolade at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014
IT’S ALL SO QUIET, directed by Nanouk Leopold
Outfest Los Angeles wrapped its 31st festival and awarded IT’S ALL SO QUIET, directed by Nanouk Leopold the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding International Dramatic Feature Film, and BORN THIS WAY, directed by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullman won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature Film. The Audience on the other hand picked REACHING FOR THE MOON, directed by Bruno Barreto with the Audience Award for Outstanding Dramatic Feature Film and BRIDEGROOM, directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason won the Audience Award for Outstanding Documentary Feature Film.
Actress Jessica Chastain was honored at the 2013 Giffoni Film Festival with ‘Giffoni Experience Award’ dedicated to international guest stars. The Giffoni Film Festival located in Giffoni Valle Piana in Campania, Southern Italy, is considered the largest children’s film festival in Europe.
Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, the longest running competitive short film and animation festival in the UK returns to Bristol from September 17-22, 2013. This year the festival has announced a Swiss Focus in partnership with Swiss Films and Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, highlighting today’s hottest Swiss film and animation exports. The showcase includes ‘God You’re So Square’, curated by Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, which breaks down the conventional image of the Swiss psyche (efficient, boring, predictable) by exploring dysfunctional males who are struggling to find their place in society and the film THE LIVING ALSO CRY by Basil da Cunha, who recently presented his first feature at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Sam Eidson as Scott in ZERO CHARISMA directed by Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews. Photo credit courtesy of Zero Charisma
From the San Diego Comic-con comes the announcement that Nerdist Industries in partnership with Tribeca Film will co release Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews’s directorial debut “ZERO CHARISMA”. The “Dungeons & Dragons” culture-inspired indie-dramedy, which world premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival – taking home the audience award in the Narrative Spotlight category, stars Sam Eidson (Natural Selection, My Sucky Teen Romance), Garrett Graham, and Brock England. The film was written by Matthews and produced by Shark Films and Magic Stone.
Tribeca Film and Nerdist Industries will co-release the film this fall beginning October 8, 2013 on cable/telco and satellite video-on-demand platforms, as well as iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly, VUDU, Playstation, and Google Play, followed by a theatrical release on October 11, 2013.