Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.
– Netflix has acquired the worldwide Svod rights to Drake Doremus’ “Newness,” Deadline reports. The film stars Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa as a couple in contemporary Los Angeles navigating the world of online dating and social media–driven hookup culture. The film was a last-minute addition to the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and co-stars Matthew Gray Gubler, Courtney Eaton, Danny Huston and Courtney Eaton. Netflix acquired the rights in a reported seven-figure deal.
– Gravitas Ventures has acquired writer-director Angus MacLachlan’s second feature film, “Abundant Acreage Available.” The film premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award in the U.S. Narrative Competition. The film focuses on siblings Tracy (Amy Ryan) and Jesse...
– Netflix has acquired the worldwide Svod rights to Drake Doremus’ “Newness,” Deadline reports. The film stars Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa as a couple in contemporary Los Angeles navigating the world of online dating and social media–driven hookup culture. The film was a last-minute addition to the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, and co-stars Matthew Gray Gubler, Courtney Eaton, Danny Huston and Courtney Eaton. Netflix acquired the rights in a reported seven-figure deal.
– Gravitas Ventures has acquired writer-director Angus MacLachlan’s second feature film, “Abundant Acreage Available.” The film premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award in the U.S. Narrative Competition. The film focuses on siblings Tracy (Amy Ryan) and Jesse...
- 6/16/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Legendary filmmaker, activist and human-rights trailblazer Sidney Poitier can now add “nonagenarian” to his list of accomplishments.
The two-time Academy Award winner turned 90 on Monday, and celebrated the milestone with friends and family, including his wife, Joanna Shimkus, whom he married in 1976, as well as six daughters, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Gina, Anika and Sydney. He also has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Poitier, who made a career out of defying expectations, began his life beating the odds. The actor was born two months premature in Miami in 1927 to a pair of poor immigrant farmers from the Bahamas, and the likelihood...
The two-time Academy Award winner turned 90 on Monday, and celebrated the milestone with friends and family, including his wife, Joanna Shimkus, whom he married in 1976, as well as six daughters, Beverly, Pamela, Sherri, Gina, Anika and Sydney. He also has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Poitier, who made a career out of defying expectations, began his life beating the odds. The actor was born two months premature in Miami in 1927 to a pair of poor immigrant farmers from the Bahamas, and the likelihood...
- 2/20/2017
- by Mike Miller
- PEOPLE.com
… Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Black Panther take me to lunch!
This article features part one in its entirety. If you’d prefer to skip it scroll down to the paragraph break Core Business- it’s all caps and in bold. If you can I’d like you to read this from the beginning. I’ve made some changes albeit small ones I feel were warranted.
My apologies for the long delay.
The Black Panthers were at one time the number one target of the FBI in the 60s. They were viewed as terrorists and J. Edger Hoover the longtime leader of the most powerful police force in the world was hell bent on getting rid of them by hook or by crook.
Yep, hook or crook.
It’s no secret the United States Government from time to time will ignore the law. It’s fair to say it goes on...
This article features part one in its entirety. If you’d prefer to skip it scroll down to the paragraph break Core Business- it’s all caps and in bold. If you can I’d like you to read this from the beginning. I’ve made some changes albeit small ones I feel were warranted.
My apologies for the long delay.
The Black Panthers were at one time the number one target of the FBI in the 60s. They were viewed as terrorists and J. Edger Hoover the longtime leader of the most powerful police force in the world was hell bent on getting rid of them by hook or by crook.
Yep, hook or crook.
It’s no secret the United States Government from time to time will ignore the law. It’s fair to say it goes on...
- 2/15/2017
- by Michael Davis
- Comicmix.com
In the 1960s, the Black Panthers were the number one target of the FBI. They were viewed as terrorists and J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime leader of the most powerful police force in the world, was hell bent on getting rid of them by hook or by crook.
Yep, hook or crook.
It’s no secret the United States Government from time to time will ignore the law. It’s fair to say it goes on often and as far as we know it goes on all the time. When caught, those who swore to uphold the constitution offer apologies for actions that dismissed the law like Trump denies any negative press.
But it’s all bullshit.
If not caught these people may have stopped breaking the law, but it’s doubtful they would have been sorry. I gather few are sorry for wrongdoing that benefits them. How many people...
Yep, hook or crook.
It’s no secret the United States Government from time to time will ignore the law. It’s fair to say it goes on often and as far as we know it goes on all the time. When caught, those who swore to uphold the constitution offer apologies for actions that dismissed the law like Trump denies any negative press.
But it’s all bullshit.
If not caught these people may have stopped breaking the law, but it’s doubtful they would have been sorry. I gather few are sorry for wrongdoing that benefits them. How many people...
- 1/20/2017
- by Michael Davis
- Comicmix.com
Sam Pollard’s Two Trains Runnin’ brings a fresh perspective to the well-known, tragic tale of the three civil rights activists murdered in Mississippi in the summer of 1964. By interweaving its account of Freedom Summer with portrait of young white blues fans who traveled to the state, the documentary offers more than the sum of its equally fascinating parts.
The film, narrated by Common, relates how three friends, inspired by the recent rediscoveries of former blues stars Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt, set out from Cambridge, Mass., in search of legendary country blues musician Son House, rumored to be...
The film, narrated by Common, relates how three friends, inspired by the recent rediscoveries of former blues stars Bukka White and Mississippi John Hurt, set out from Cambridge, Mass., in search of legendary country blues musician Son House, rumored to be...
- 12/14/2016
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
And now we’ve arrived at the end of the calendar year. As the final push for year-end viewing continues at a furious pace, some of the last unknown films of 2016 will finally make their way to audiences. To help focus your viewing choices, here is a list of films opening throughout the coming weeks, separated into categories of wide and limited runs. (Synopses are provided by festivals and distributors.)
If you’re interested in what still might be in a theater near you, check out our November Release Guide. For those curious what 2017 might bring, you can also visit our calendar page, which has releases through the beginning of the new year.
Happy watching!
Week of December 2 Wide
Incarnate
Director: Brad Peyton
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Carice van Houten, Catalina Sandino Moreno, David Mazouz, John Pirruccello, Keir O’Donnell, Matthew Nable
Synopsis: A scientist with the ability to enter the...
If you’re interested in what still might be in a theater near you, check out our November Release Guide. For those curious what 2017 might bring, you can also visit our calendar page, which has releases through the beginning of the new year.
Happy watching!
Week of December 2 Wide
Incarnate
Director: Brad Peyton
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Carice van Houten, Catalina Sandino Moreno, David Mazouz, John Pirruccello, Keir O’Donnell, Matthew Nable
Synopsis: A scientist with the ability to enter the...
- 12/1/2016
- by Alec McPike and Steve Greene
- Indiewire
The upcoming documentary “Tesla,” part of PBS’s “American Experience” series, spotlights “mad scientist” Nikola Tesla, a genius who received massive attention for creating alternating current (AC), the foundation of the 20th century electrical grid. He dreamed of a world powered by free energy and wireless networks, but his eccentric ideas, disregard for money and dwindling reputation lead to his downfall and obscurity.
Read More: PBS’s ‘American Experience’ Turns to Indiegogo for ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Story Project
“Many people may have heard of Tesla, but have no idea who this fascinating genius was or how influential he continues to be,” said “American Experience” executive producer Mark Samels on the PBS website.
Read More: Stanley Nelson’s Civil Rights Doc ‘Freedom Summer’ On PBS’ ‘American Experience’ In June
Through dramatized reenactments and commentary by leading authors and historians, the new trailer seeks to rouse interest in Tesla and bring...
Read More: PBS’s ‘American Experience’ Turns to Indiegogo for ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Story Project
“Many people may have heard of Tesla, but have no idea who this fascinating genius was or how influential he continues to be,” said “American Experience” executive producer Mark Samels on the PBS website.
Read More: Stanley Nelson’s Civil Rights Doc ‘Freedom Summer’ On PBS’ ‘American Experience’ In June
Through dramatized reenactments and commentary by leading authors and historians, the new trailer seeks to rouse interest in Tesla and bring...
- 9/20/2016
- by Zipporah Smith
- Indiewire
The short story, via the National Film Preservation Foundation, goes... during the Freedom Summer of 1964, actor Richard Beymer took a Bolex camera to Mississippi where he recorded the African American community working alongside his fellow activists and volunteers to register black voters and provide educational instruction to children. Titled "A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer" and filmed in a rich black and white, Beymer’s film documents a turbulent moment in American history, capturing the trials and triumphs of the struggle, making a hopeful case for a new day in America as white and black worked in unison, canvassing for voter registration,...
- 10/8/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival , (December 3-6, 2015 in Sag Harbor, N.Y.) will honor the MacArthur Genius Award winning Director-Producer-Writer Stanley Nelson with a Career Achievement Award at its Gala on December 5. Previous honorees are Richard Leacock (2011), Susan Lacy (2012), Da Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus (2013), Barbara Kopple (2014)
“ It is a great privilege to present our 2015 Career Achievement Award to Stanley Nelson. His award-winning documentary films on social justice issues were early windows into race relations. His latest film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” continues the provocative dialogue, even more relevant in America today. We honor his commitment to honesty, truth and artistic rigor.” -Jacqui Lofaro, Founder and Executive Director, Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival
Stanley Nelson is the co-founder and Executive Director of Firelight Films and co-founder of Firelight Media, which provides grants and technical support to emerging documentarians. Firelight is one of nine nonprofit organizations around the world to receive the 2015 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The Award, recognizes exceptional nonprofit organizations which have demonstrated creativity and impact, and invests in their long-term sustainability with sizable one-time grants.
With 35 films and multiple industry awards to his credit, Nelson is acknowledged as one of the premier documentary filmmakers working today. He has a clear, vibrant and consistent voice, creating evocative films which document issues of social injustice. His films have earned five Primetime Emmys, two awards from the Sundance Film Festival, and two Peabodys, among other honors. With a dogged insistence on finding new voices and new witnesses, Nelson has illuminated stories that we thought we knew, particularly about the African-American experience. Aside from being a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, he is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the Neh National Medal in the Humanities presented by President Obama in 2014.
I had an opportunity to speak with Stanley recently concerning the announcement of his Career Achievement Award from the Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival (HT2FF).
You have won so many prizes, what does it mean to you to receive the Career Achievement Award from the HT2FF?
It is always great to receive accolades; it doesn’t get old. Documentary filmmakers don’t get recognition every day. It’s not like we go to a restaurant and everyone falls all over us. To be recognized because people are seeing and liking my films is great and the award means this is happening.
In addition to receiving the MacArthur Genius Award, your company, Firelight Media, won the 2015 MacArthur Award. How has that helped you?
My personal award sent my three kids to school and sustained me as a filmmaker. The Award to Firelight Media will help sustain the Lab mentoring filmmakers of color making their first and second films. One of the things that is essential to me as a filmmaker is to try to give the viewer a sense of what it has meant to be black in America and consider this within our contemporary context.
Nelson has directed and produced such acclaimed work as “The Murder Of Emmett Till” an eye-opening film which reveals so much beyond what the headlines of the times told us, the public. His other stirring docs include “Freedom Riders” (his personal favorite) and “Jonestown: The Life And Death Of People’s Temple”
In 2014, “Freedom Summer” presented an astounding history of what led up to the Black Power Movement. When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the audience was stunned at how he put into context the 1964 voter registration drive in Mississippi, the surprising truth of the Chicago Democratic Convention and the Mississippi delegation and how the turn of events led to the Black Power Movement and to the Voting Rights Act.
The delegation never got the chance to speak from the floor. Many then said, "We can’t keep being the good soldier and following the rules when we can’t do our best." Some moved into action, some dropped out. They thought, "If we just 'show' you the wrongs, the injustice, police with dogs and fire-hoses and show you that we’re non-violent, you can’t help but support us." But the Democratic National Convention failed them, and the young had to do something new.
The last image in “Freedom Summer” you see Stokely Carmichael saying “We want Black Power”. In the opening of your most recent film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” he is also chanting “We want Black Power” which gives a continuity to the two films. Tell me a bit about what prompted you to tell this story?
I felt it was a little known story, that hadn’t been told in its entirety. In particular, I wanted to offer a unique and engaging opportunity to examine a very complex moment in time that challenges the cold, oversimplified narrative of a Panther who is prone to violence and consumed with anger. Thoroughly examining the history of the Black Panther Party allowed me to sift through the fragmented perceptions and find the core driver of the movement: the Black Panther Party emerged out of a love for their people, and a devotion to empowering them. This compelled me to communicate the story fully and accurately. And for the release in August of the film, I attended every opening in 20 cities nationwide, along with former Black Panthers, scholars and photographers.
How did you get started in filmmaking?
I thought I wanted to make fiction features but I stumbled into Bill Greaves and got into documentary filmmaking with him and never looked back.
If someone offered me a million dollars to make a fiction project I think I would. But I know how you have to jump through hoops to make a feature and that pain would be difficult. I don’t have a particular idea or a script and that is hardest part of fiction; how to get a great script, cast, funding. Docs are known at least…
What films inspired you?
“Eyes on the Prize”. It was the first time we saw a series on African Americans. It got so much attention worldwide. It opened eyes to the African American history and it was fascinating to everyone. And it inspired a whole generation of African American filmmakers.
Do you have a sense of Mission in your filmmaking?
This morning I was interviewing an assistant editor and said to him, “We are on a mission here”; getting ahead in a career is ok, but here we are on a mission.”
We have a history we’ve been fortunate to be able to tell. I see my ancestors on my shoulder saying “Don’t screw up”.
We are also on a mission to tell good stories and to entertain people. I hope our films move people to action one way or the other. Many of our films lately are about young people who are making changes.
Did your parents raise you with social awareness or activism?
They were very politically minded and we talked about politics all the time around the dinner table. We were raised to be aware. I remember when I was 15 or 16 when the Panthers started, I would come home and turn on TV and see fire-hoses and dogs attacking people. These images politicized everyone. Just like today with Black Lives Matter and the police killings, everyone has to think about what they’re seeing. In the 60s it was sustained. Viet Nam also politicized everybody. You were either going to go or you had to figure out how not to go. It affected everyone.
What do you make of the police violence against black lives today?
The blatant activities of the police that all people, black and white, are seeing and talking about is bringing awareness to the years and years of injustices. Black Lives Matters is similar to how Black Panthers began. We have to be responsible for our own communities.
Nelson is currently in production on “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story Of Historically Black Colleges And Universities”, which is the second in a series of three films Nelson will direct as part of a new multi-platform PBS series entitled America Revisited. He is also exec producing “ Free for All: Inside the Public Library”.
For more information or to buy tickets, please go to ht2ff.com...
“ It is a great privilege to present our 2015 Career Achievement Award to Stanley Nelson. His award-winning documentary films on social justice issues were early windows into race relations. His latest film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” continues the provocative dialogue, even more relevant in America today. We honor his commitment to honesty, truth and artistic rigor.” -Jacqui Lofaro, Founder and Executive Director, Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival
Stanley Nelson is the co-founder and Executive Director of Firelight Films and co-founder of Firelight Media, which provides grants and technical support to emerging documentarians. Firelight is one of nine nonprofit organizations around the world to receive the 2015 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The Award, recognizes exceptional nonprofit organizations which have demonstrated creativity and impact, and invests in their long-term sustainability with sizable one-time grants.
With 35 films and multiple industry awards to his credit, Nelson is acknowledged as one of the premier documentary filmmakers working today. He has a clear, vibrant and consistent voice, creating evocative films which document issues of social injustice. His films have earned five Primetime Emmys, two awards from the Sundance Film Festival, and two Peabodys, among other honors. With a dogged insistence on finding new voices and new witnesses, Nelson has illuminated stories that we thought we knew, particularly about the African-American experience. Aside from being a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, he is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the Neh National Medal in the Humanities presented by President Obama in 2014.
I had an opportunity to speak with Stanley recently concerning the announcement of his Career Achievement Award from the Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival (HT2FF).
You have won so many prizes, what does it mean to you to receive the Career Achievement Award from the HT2FF?
It is always great to receive accolades; it doesn’t get old. Documentary filmmakers don’t get recognition every day. It’s not like we go to a restaurant and everyone falls all over us. To be recognized because people are seeing and liking my films is great and the award means this is happening.
In addition to receiving the MacArthur Genius Award, your company, Firelight Media, won the 2015 MacArthur Award. How has that helped you?
My personal award sent my three kids to school and sustained me as a filmmaker. The Award to Firelight Media will help sustain the Lab mentoring filmmakers of color making their first and second films. One of the things that is essential to me as a filmmaker is to try to give the viewer a sense of what it has meant to be black in America and consider this within our contemporary context.
Nelson has directed and produced such acclaimed work as “The Murder Of Emmett Till” an eye-opening film which reveals so much beyond what the headlines of the times told us, the public. His other stirring docs include “Freedom Riders” (his personal favorite) and “Jonestown: The Life And Death Of People’s Temple”
In 2014, “Freedom Summer” presented an astounding history of what led up to the Black Power Movement. When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the audience was stunned at how he put into context the 1964 voter registration drive in Mississippi, the surprising truth of the Chicago Democratic Convention and the Mississippi delegation and how the turn of events led to the Black Power Movement and to the Voting Rights Act.
The delegation never got the chance to speak from the floor. Many then said, "We can’t keep being the good soldier and following the rules when we can’t do our best." Some moved into action, some dropped out. They thought, "If we just 'show' you the wrongs, the injustice, police with dogs and fire-hoses and show you that we’re non-violent, you can’t help but support us." But the Democratic National Convention failed them, and the young had to do something new.
The last image in “Freedom Summer” you see Stokely Carmichael saying “We want Black Power”. In the opening of your most recent film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” he is also chanting “We want Black Power” which gives a continuity to the two films. Tell me a bit about what prompted you to tell this story?
I felt it was a little known story, that hadn’t been told in its entirety. In particular, I wanted to offer a unique and engaging opportunity to examine a very complex moment in time that challenges the cold, oversimplified narrative of a Panther who is prone to violence and consumed with anger. Thoroughly examining the history of the Black Panther Party allowed me to sift through the fragmented perceptions and find the core driver of the movement: the Black Panther Party emerged out of a love for their people, and a devotion to empowering them. This compelled me to communicate the story fully and accurately. And for the release in August of the film, I attended every opening in 20 cities nationwide, along with former Black Panthers, scholars and photographers.
How did you get started in filmmaking?
I thought I wanted to make fiction features but I stumbled into Bill Greaves and got into documentary filmmaking with him and never looked back.
If someone offered me a million dollars to make a fiction project I think I would. But I know how you have to jump through hoops to make a feature and that pain would be difficult. I don’t have a particular idea or a script and that is hardest part of fiction; how to get a great script, cast, funding. Docs are known at least…
What films inspired you?
“Eyes on the Prize”. It was the first time we saw a series on African Americans. It got so much attention worldwide. It opened eyes to the African American history and it was fascinating to everyone. And it inspired a whole generation of African American filmmakers.
Do you have a sense of Mission in your filmmaking?
This morning I was interviewing an assistant editor and said to him, “We are on a mission here”; getting ahead in a career is ok, but here we are on a mission.”
We have a history we’ve been fortunate to be able to tell. I see my ancestors on my shoulder saying “Don’t screw up”.
We are also on a mission to tell good stories and to entertain people. I hope our films move people to action one way or the other. Many of our films lately are about young people who are making changes.
Did your parents raise you with social awareness or activism?
They were very politically minded and we talked about politics all the time around the dinner table. We were raised to be aware. I remember when I was 15 or 16 when the Panthers started, I would come home and turn on TV and see fire-hoses and dogs attacking people. These images politicized everyone. Just like today with Black Lives Matter and the police killings, everyone has to think about what they’re seeing. In the 60s it was sustained. Viet Nam also politicized everybody. You were either going to go or you had to figure out how not to go. It affected everyone.
What do you make of the police violence against black lives today?
The blatant activities of the police that all people, black and white, are seeing and talking about is bringing awareness to the years and years of injustices. Black Lives Matters is similar to how Black Panthers began. We have to be responsible for our own communities.
Nelson is currently in production on “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story Of Historically Black Colleges And Universities”, which is the second in a series of three films Nelson will direct as part of a new multi-platform PBS series entitled America Revisited. He is also exec producing “ Free for All: Inside the Public Library”.
For more information or to buy tickets, please go to ht2ff.com...
- 9/21/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Stanley Nelson: Director/Producer/Writer has directed and produced such acclaimed films as “Freedom Summer” which is an astounding history of what led up to the Black Power Movement. It aired in June on PBS’s American Experience to wide acclaim. The audience at Sundance this past January was astounded at how he put into context the 1964 voter registration drive in Mississippi, the surprising truth of the Chicago Democratic Convention and the Mississippi delegation and how the undemocratic turn of events led to the Black Power Movement and to the Voting Rights Act.
“Freedom Riders” tells the story leading up to “Freedom Summer” and to quote Nelson, he thinks this is his best film. As “Freedom Summer” closes with Stokely Carmichael chanting “We Want Black Power!” so “ The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” opens with Stokely still chanting “We Want Black Power” which creates a progressive unity between the two films.
“The Murder Of Emmett Till” was another eye-opening film which revealed so much beyond what the headlines of the times told us, the public.
“The Black Panthers” will be screened for free this weekend August 29 in Ferguson. Its theatrical release is a huge deal. Nelson has made over 35 films and this is the first with theatrical distribution. With sufficient advertising money behind it, this momentous and timely film will released Wednesday September 2 in New York’s Film Forum, September 11 at Magic Johnson’s in Harlem and then in 20 more cities including L.A.’s Landmark Nuart Theater on September 25. Nelson will go to every opening along with former panthers, scholars and photographers.
You can see the schedule and more at www.BlackPanthers.com.
“The Black Panthers” was also Nelson’s eighth film (out of 12 docs he has made) to premiere at Sundance Film Festival. Winter 2016 will see the special presentation on Independent Lens (Public TV).
Nelson says this about the Black Panthers film:
Seven years ago, I set out to tell the story of the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, a little known history that hadn’t been told in its entirety. In particular, I wanted to offer a unique and engaging opportunity to examine a very complex moment in time that challenges the cold, oversimplified narrative of a Panther who is prone to violence and consumed with anger. Thoroughly examining the history of the Black Panther Party allowed me to sift through the fragmented perceptions and find the core driver of the movement: the Black Panther Party emerged out of a love for their people and a devotion to empowering them. This powerful display of the human spirit, rooted in heart, is what compelled me to communicate this story accurately.
It is essential to me as a filmmaker to try and give the viewer a sense of what it has meant to be black in America and consider this within our contemporary context. The legacy of the Black Panther Party had a lasting impact on the way black people think and see ourselves, and it is important that we look at and understand that. As a great lover of music, I wanted to capture this sentiment in the music we used to give audiences a sense of the time and the undercurrents of change and revolution.
I knew that archival footage would be just as important as interviews when telling this story. The Black Panther history cannot be encapsulated in sound bytes and stills; the movement continues to live and breathe in the hearts and minds of those who endured. I had to dig deeper for footage that captured an authentic portrayal of the Party and which was not distorted by mainstream media. What I found was a treasure of personal records from former members and allies across the globe. These rarely seen images became an important character in the film, telling the story of how the Black Panther Party impacted all communities. There is something incredibly powerful in seeing an array of faces - white, Asian, Latino, black, and native - together at a Black Panther Party rally calling for the reform of corrupt and unjust state institutions.
Nearly half a century later, we find our voices in a renewed chorus for justice and equality. We continue to witness a state apparatus that perpetuates a culture of fear and aggression with frequent and unwarranted displays of racial violence and oppression. As we consider the similarities between the injustices of yesterday and today, it is important to understand that the Panthers were energized largely by young people - 25 and under - who started as a small group of actively engaged individuals that collectively became an international human rights phenomenon. My hope is that the film reveals itself to be more than just thought-provoking observations of our past. The parallels between pivotal moments within the movement and events occurring in our communities today are undeniable. To better understand the Black Panther Party is to be able to better reflect on our own racial climate and collective responsibility to ensure basic rights are fulfilled, not diminished, and that voices of justice and dissent are celebrated, not silenced.
The Nation loved the film; read its review, White Hands and Black Skulls: From the Panthers to ‘Straight Outta Compton’
Read more from Shadow and Act Here and here: Here.
With numerous industry awards to his credit, Nelson is acknowledged as one of the preeminent documentary filmmakers working today. Currently he is in production on “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story Of Historically Black Colleges And Universities”, which is the second in a series of three films Nelson will direct as part of a new multi-platform PBS series entitled America Revisited.
He is also exec producing “Free for All: Inside the Public Library”...
“Freedom Riders” tells the story leading up to “Freedom Summer” and to quote Nelson, he thinks this is his best film. As “Freedom Summer” closes with Stokely Carmichael chanting “We Want Black Power!” so “ The Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” opens with Stokely still chanting “We Want Black Power” which creates a progressive unity between the two films.
“The Murder Of Emmett Till” was another eye-opening film which revealed so much beyond what the headlines of the times told us, the public.
“The Black Panthers” will be screened for free this weekend August 29 in Ferguson. Its theatrical release is a huge deal. Nelson has made over 35 films and this is the first with theatrical distribution. With sufficient advertising money behind it, this momentous and timely film will released Wednesday September 2 in New York’s Film Forum, September 11 at Magic Johnson’s in Harlem and then in 20 more cities including L.A.’s Landmark Nuart Theater on September 25. Nelson will go to every opening along with former panthers, scholars and photographers.
You can see the schedule and more at www.BlackPanthers.com.
“The Black Panthers” was also Nelson’s eighth film (out of 12 docs he has made) to premiere at Sundance Film Festival. Winter 2016 will see the special presentation on Independent Lens (Public TV).
Nelson says this about the Black Panthers film:
Seven years ago, I set out to tell the story of the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, a little known history that hadn’t been told in its entirety. In particular, I wanted to offer a unique and engaging opportunity to examine a very complex moment in time that challenges the cold, oversimplified narrative of a Panther who is prone to violence and consumed with anger. Thoroughly examining the history of the Black Panther Party allowed me to sift through the fragmented perceptions and find the core driver of the movement: the Black Panther Party emerged out of a love for their people and a devotion to empowering them. This powerful display of the human spirit, rooted in heart, is what compelled me to communicate this story accurately.
It is essential to me as a filmmaker to try and give the viewer a sense of what it has meant to be black in America and consider this within our contemporary context. The legacy of the Black Panther Party had a lasting impact on the way black people think and see ourselves, and it is important that we look at and understand that. As a great lover of music, I wanted to capture this sentiment in the music we used to give audiences a sense of the time and the undercurrents of change and revolution.
I knew that archival footage would be just as important as interviews when telling this story. The Black Panther history cannot be encapsulated in sound bytes and stills; the movement continues to live and breathe in the hearts and minds of those who endured. I had to dig deeper for footage that captured an authentic portrayal of the Party and which was not distorted by mainstream media. What I found was a treasure of personal records from former members and allies across the globe. These rarely seen images became an important character in the film, telling the story of how the Black Panther Party impacted all communities. There is something incredibly powerful in seeing an array of faces - white, Asian, Latino, black, and native - together at a Black Panther Party rally calling for the reform of corrupt and unjust state institutions.
Nearly half a century later, we find our voices in a renewed chorus for justice and equality. We continue to witness a state apparatus that perpetuates a culture of fear and aggression with frequent and unwarranted displays of racial violence and oppression. As we consider the similarities between the injustices of yesterday and today, it is important to understand that the Panthers were energized largely by young people - 25 and under - who started as a small group of actively engaged individuals that collectively became an international human rights phenomenon. My hope is that the film reveals itself to be more than just thought-provoking observations of our past. The parallels between pivotal moments within the movement and events occurring in our communities today are undeniable. To better understand the Black Panther Party is to be able to better reflect on our own racial climate and collective responsibility to ensure basic rights are fulfilled, not diminished, and that voices of justice and dissent are celebrated, not silenced.
The Nation loved the film; read its review, White Hands and Black Skulls: From the Panthers to ‘Straight Outta Compton’
Read more from Shadow and Act Here and here: Here.
With numerous industry awards to his credit, Nelson is acknowledged as one of the preeminent documentary filmmakers working today. Currently he is in production on “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story Of Historically Black Colleges And Universities”, which is the second in a series of three films Nelson will direct as part of a new multi-platform PBS series entitled America Revisited.
He is also exec producing “Free for All: Inside the Public Library”...
- 8/28/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Winners of the 74th annual Peabody Awards announced today, Thursday, include a number of projects covered on this site: - HBO’s "Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown" for its "revealing portrait of the famous but enigmatic soul-music pioneer." - "Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey," Fox's one-season series that was hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, for its "dazzling virtual tour of the final frontier and its energetic evangelizing for science." - Veteran documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson's 2014 feature "Freedom Summer," a remembrance of the pivotal Civil Rights voter-registration campaign in Mississippi in 1964. - The Netflix documentary...
- 4/23/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
North Carolina's RiverRun Film Festival has made headlines in the past few years for being one of the USA's great regional fests. Today they announced their lineup for the 2015 fest which runs April 16-26. The fest opens with Quentin Dupieux's latest Reality (pictured) and closes with David Gordon Green's Manglehorn. RiverRun will also again present honorary awards to accomplished talents, this year focusing on the work of exceptional documentarians. Stanley Nelson (Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders) will receive RiverRun's 2015 Master of Cinema Award, and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Detropia, Jesus Camp) will receive the Festival's Emerging Master Award. Here is the full lineup: Narrative Competition: The 2015 Narrative Competition is incredibly diverse, including films from around the world that range from international comedies...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 3/17/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Nominations for the 46th annual NAACP Image Awards were announced today across categories in film, television, music and the literary world. In the film arena, top nominees were Amma Asante's "Belle," Gina Prince-Bythewood's "Beyond the Lights," Justin Simien's "Dear White People," Tate Taylor's "Get On Up" and Ava DuVernay's "Selma." Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announced on Feb. 6. And remember to keep track of the season via The Circuit! Film Outstanding Motion Picture "Belle" (Fox Searchlight Pictures/ DJ Films) "Beyond The Lights" (Relativity Media) "Dear White People" (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions) "Get On Up" (Universal Pictures) "Selma" (Paramount Pictures) Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture Amma Asante, "Belle" (Fox Searchlight Pictures/ DJ Films) Antoine Fuqua, "The Equalizer" (Columbia Pictures) Ava DuVernay, "Selma" (Paramount Pictures) John Ridley, "Jimi: All Is By My Side" (XLrator Media) Gina Prince-Bythewood, "Beyond The Lights...
- 12/9/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
Gearing up for another year of excitement, the 46th Annual NAACP Image Awards just unveiled the first round of hopefuls and there are plenty of worthy contenders.
In the television categories, Shonda Rhimes’ series “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” are among the most nominated, though “Black-ish” is also up there. Meanwhile, “Selma” and “Get on Up” are the top two movies on the docket, ahead of the big event on Friday, February 6th, 2015. Per the official website, “The NAACP Image Awards honors the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, and honors those who promote social justice through creative endeavors.”
And the nominees are:
Outstanding Comedy Series
“Orange is the New Black” (Netflix)
“black-ish” (ABC)
“House of Lies” (Showtime)
“Key & Peele” (Comedy Central)
“Real Husbands of Hollywood” (Bet)
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
Andre Braugher – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Fox)
Anthony Anderson...
In the television categories, Shonda Rhimes’ series “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” are among the most nominated, though “Black-ish” is also up there. Meanwhile, “Selma” and “Get on Up” are the top two movies on the docket, ahead of the big event on Friday, February 6th, 2015. Per the official website, “The NAACP Image Awards honors the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film, and honors those who promote social justice through creative endeavors.”
And the nominees are:
Outstanding Comedy Series
“Orange is the New Black” (Netflix)
“black-ish” (ABC)
“House of Lies” (Showtime)
“Key & Peele” (Comedy Central)
“Real Husbands of Hollywood” (Bet)
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
Andre Braugher – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (Fox)
Anthony Anderson...
- 12/9/2014
- GossipCenter
Paramount’s Selma, Universal’s Get On Up and Lionsgate’s Dear White People are among the Outstanding Motion Picture nominees for the NAACP’s Image Awards, which will be bestowed live on TVOne on February 6. On the TV side, Shonda Rhimes’ ABC trifecta of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder are all up for best drama. Here is the full list:
Film
Outstanding Motion Picture
“Belle” (Fox Searchlight Pictures/ DJ Films)
“Beyond The Lights” (Relativity Media)
“Dear White People” (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
“Get On Up” (Universal Pictures)
“Selma” (Paramount Pictures)
Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Chadwick Boseman – “Get On Up” (Universal Pictures)
David Oyelowo – “Selma” (Paramount Pictures)
Denzel Washington – “The Equalizer” (Columbia Pictures)
Idris Elba – “No Good Deed” (Screen Gems)
Nate Parker – “Beyond The Lights” (Relativity Media)
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Belle” (Fox Searchlight Pictures/ DJ Films)
Quvenzhané Wallis...
Film
Outstanding Motion Picture
“Belle” (Fox Searchlight Pictures/ DJ Films)
“Beyond The Lights” (Relativity Media)
“Dear White People” (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)
“Get On Up” (Universal Pictures)
“Selma” (Paramount Pictures)
Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Chadwick Boseman – “Get On Up” (Universal Pictures)
David Oyelowo – “Selma” (Paramount Pictures)
Denzel Washington – “The Equalizer” (Columbia Pictures)
Idris Elba – “No Good Deed” (Screen Gems)
Nate Parker – “Beyond The Lights” (Relativity Media)
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Belle” (Fox Searchlight Pictures/ DJ Films)
Quvenzhané Wallis...
- 12/9/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
The nominees for the 46th annual NAACP Image Awards were announced Tuesday, lauding the year's best films and television shows -- among other artforms -- featuring people of color.
"Selma" led the pack with eight nominations, including nods for best picture, best actor (David Oyelowo), three supporting actor nods (André Holland, Common, and Wendell Pierce), and two supporting actress nods (Carmen Ejogo and Oprah Winfrey). Director Ava DuVernay was also nominated for her work behind the camera.
On the television front, "Scandal" and "Orange Is the New Black" tied with six nominations apiece, while fellow freshman series "black-ish" and "How to Get Away with Murder" each received five nods.
A partial list of nominees in television and movies is below. For the full list -- including nominees in the music and literature categories -- click here.
The NAACP Image Awards, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,...
"Selma" led the pack with eight nominations, including nods for best picture, best actor (David Oyelowo), three supporting actor nods (André Holland, Common, and Wendell Pierce), and two supporting actress nods (Carmen Ejogo and Oprah Winfrey). Director Ava DuVernay was also nominated for her work behind the camera.
On the television front, "Scandal" and "Orange Is the New Black" tied with six nominations apiece, while fellow freshman series "black-ish" and "How to Get Away with Murder" each received five nods.
A partial list of nominees in television and movies is below. For the full list -- including nominees in the music and literature categories -- click here.
The NAACP Image Awards, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,...
- 12/9/2014
- by Katie Roberts
- Moviefone
Meryl Streep is already regarded as the greatest actress of her generation, and now, she's set to receive yet another accolade.
Streep is one of 19 men and women who will be bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. She'll receive the medal from President Barack Obama during an awards ceremony to be held at the White House on November 24.
The full list of recipients also includes: Tom Brokaw; Ethel Kennedy; Stevie Wonder; composer Stephen Sondheim; choreographer Alvin Ailey; novelist Isabel Allende; civil rights activist and "Freedom Summer" participants James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner; physicist Mildred Dresselhaus; Rep. John Dingell of Michigan; writer and activist Suzan Harjo; Federal judge and former Rep. Abner Mikva of Illinois; Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink of Hawaii; Rep. Edward Roybal of California; professional golfer Charles Sifford; economist Robert Solow; social activist Marlo Thomas.
"I look forward to presenting these nineteen bold,...
Streep is one of 19 men and women who will be bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. She'll receive the medal from President Barack Obama during an awards ceremony to be held at the White House on November 24.
The full list of recipients also includes: Tom Brokaw; Ethel Kennedy; Stevie Wonder; composer Stephen Sondheim; choreographer Alvin Ailey; novelist Isabel Allende; civil rights activist and "Freedom Summer" participants James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner; physicist Mildred Dresselhaus; Rep. John Dingell of Michigan; writer and activist Suzan Harjo; Federal judge and former Rep. Abner Mikva of Illinois; Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink of Hawaii; Rep. Edward Roybal of California; professional golfer Charles Sifford; economist Robert Solow; social activist Marlo Thomas.
"I look forward to presenting these nineteen bold,...
- 11/11/2014
- by Katie Roberts
- Moviefone
Meryl Streep, Tom Brokaw, Stephen Sondheim, Marlo Thomas, Stevie Wonder, choreographer Alvin Ailey and author Isabel Allende were among the 19 names chosen by President Obama today to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The awards will be bestowed at the White House on November 24. Here’s the full list of recipients just released:
Alvin Ailey (posthumous)
Ailey was a choreographer, dancer, and the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which is renowned for its inspiring performances in 71 countries on 6 continents since 1958. Ailey’s work was groundbreaking in its exploration of the African American experience and the enrichment of the modern dance tradition, including his beloved American masterpiece Revelations. The Ailey organization, based in New York City, carries on his pioneering legacy with performances, training, educational, and community programs for people of all backgrounds.
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende is a highly acclaimed author...
Alvin Ailey (posthumous)
Ailey was a choreographer, dancer, and the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which is renowned for its inspiring performances in 71 countries on 6 continents since 1958. Ailey’s work was groundbreaking in its exploration of the African American experience and the enrichment of the modern dance tradition, including his beloved American masterpiece Revelations. The Ailey organization, based in New York City, carries on his pioneering legacy with performances, training, educational, and community programs for people of all backgrounds.
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende is a highly acclaimed author...
- 11/10/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
The Third Annual St. Louis Black Film Festival will be September 6-14 2013 at the Mx Theater at 618 Washington Ave. in downtown Saint Louis. All the films screened will be new movies and not only will the fest feature feature-length films but music videos, short films, and short documentaries as well.
The St. Louis Black Film Festival provides the American Midwest with a forum for African American independent film and video, and also serves as an advocate for African American film and video production in the state of Missouri. The Festival seeks to introduce the best films and videos from the surrounding area to its culturally diverse, film-loving audiences Stlbff was initially established as a vehicle for exposing Black cinema. The event was green-lighted after recognition that though St. Louis is the largest city in Missouri, it did not have a viable Black film festival. Independent filmmakers with films featuring a Black,...
The St. Louis Black Film Festival provides the American Midwest with a forum for African American independent film and video, and also serves as an advocate for African American film and video production in the state of Missouri. The Festival seeks to introduce the best films and videos from the surrounding area to its culturally diverse, film-loving audiences Stlbff was initially established as a vehicle for exposing Black cinema. The event was green-lighted after recognition that though St. Louis is the largest city in Missouri, it did not have a viable Black film festival. Independent filmmakers with films featuring a Black,...
- 9/3/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act is this July 2nd, two days before Independence Day commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence of the United States of America from the Kingdom of Great Britain (now officially known as the United Kingdom).
As an independent nation we went our own way even when The Slavery Abolition Act throughout the British Colonies was passed in 1833. Cynically one might say their act was motivated less by altruism than by what had become political and economic realities. However, the abolitionists on both sides of the sea saw it the same way that those of us with eyes are seeing the issues of economic inequality today. It is immoral and unjust that one human should own another, whether in slavery, in economic servitude or in sexual servitude.
However, fifty years ago, such unequal and inhuman treatment of fellow human beings was still being justified and upheld by a powerful elite, and it took almost super-human fortitude for those opposed to persevere to break the stranglehold of that group. As a young girl, a “Freedom Rider” came and spoke to my class at Temple Isaiah Religious School in West L.A. and I was inspired to do all I could for the ongoing fight for civil rights, which of course changed the world for everyone – from it came “women’s lib” and Glbt’s fight for equality (Stonewall was 40 years ago June 29). And yet, the economically poor African American and Latino populations are still objects of discrimination today. The repeal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the South freeing nine states, mostly in the South, to change their election laws without advance federal approval is seeing discrimination at the polls reasserting itself.
This January when I saw “Freedom Summer” directed by Stanley Nelson in Sundance, I felt inspired once again to do something!
But, all I can do is write and so I take pen to hand and invite others to be aware and to act wherever they are.
At the 2nd Louisiana International Film Festival this spring, “Freedom Summer” won the Best Documentary Award and it will open in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
The Louisiana Ff parenthetically has two cineastes, well-known to all of us film folks, as Artistic Directors: Jeff “The Dude” Dowd and Dan Ireland.
Read: New Louisiana Film Festival to Launch With Dan Ireland & Jeff "The Dude" Dowd as Artistic Directors
Jeff could be subject of a book, but for now, suffice it to say Jeff Dowd ("Zebrahead") is famously the inspiration for the Dude in the Coen Bros.' "The Big Lebowski,"
Dan Ireland on the other hand, is the subject of this blog because he has done something beyond just showing a great film. Dan, a man of action, also co-founded the Seattle Film Festival with Darryl MacDonald who is Director of the Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival. The Seattle Film Festival just had its own anniversary of 40 years and it featured a retrospective of some of Dan’s 22 films which he has exec produced, produced or directed.
And now, he has produced a new film, a short film called “Hate From A Distance” which will be the center piece of a special event this Wednesday, July 2nd, on the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at The Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills
The film is an adaptation of a short story inspired by Civil Rights in America, set in Savannah, Georgia in 1963, told through the innocent eyes of an eleven-year old boy who is witness to the bitterness and hatred his father has for an African American dairy farmer living on the other side of a fence, separating physically and racially the very state of America during a most disgraceful and turbulent period in history.
The film was made and dedicated to the memory of and the 50th anniversary of The Civil Rights Act and as a voice that though we live by the Act, there is so much more that needs to be done to establish unity and equal rights in this country and the world.
Seen through the innocent eyes of eleven-year-old Danny Baker, racial tensions run rampant and deep in 1963 rural Georgia. Danny’s father Ned and neighbor Clyde Fellow, once childhood friends, are now divided over a land dispute in an era of inequality. Ned’s escalating anger, fueled by his own distorted righteousness, ultimately destroys his family and tears the community apart.
“ Hate from a Distance” reflects the injustices of a painful chapter of American history while honoring and 50th anniversary (July 2, 1964) of the Civil Rights Act abolishing segregation.
The film had its world premiere Saturday June 7th in a retrospective of Dan's history with “The Whole Wide World”, at Seattle Int’l Film Festival.
It will show again this Wednesday at The Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills. The 19 minute screening will be followed by an introduction of the cast and a brief panel discussion and audience Q&A with Dr. Robert and Helen Singleton, Freedom Riders, activists and educators, Dr. Max Felker-Kantor, USC graduate with PhD in History (emphasis on race, civil rights and social movements) and moderated by journalist-author-activist David Ehrenstein. David is an American critic who focuses primarily on Lgbtq issues in cinema. Ehrenstein was born in New York City. His father was a secular Jew with Polish ancestors, and his mother was of African-American and Irish descent.[1] His mother raised him in her religion, Roman Catholicism. Among those invited are educators, students, members of organizations such as Aclu , NAACP , U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, journalists and activists.
Writer/Producer Dennis Yares's grandparents left Poland prior to the German occupation and most remaining relatives perished under Nazi regime. He was born in Israel and moved to N.Y. as a young boy. He made his professional reputation as an art gallerist, in addition, he also wrote the screen adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's classic short story, “Jolene”, which was directed by Dan Ireland.
He wrote a short story as one of his collection of 52 stories and when he realized it was the 50th anniversary this year. He and Dan as the director, stepped up and co-produced the film in the spring - in three weeks.
It features a score by composer Harry Gregson-Williams and Tom Howe, who will also attend the screening.
The short will also qualify for Academy Award consideration after having a short commercial run.
As an independent nation we went our own way even when The Slavery Abolition Act throughout the British Colonies was passed in 1833. Cynically one might say their act was motivated less by altruism than by what had become political and economic realities. However, the abolitionists on both sides of the sea saw it the same way that those of us with eyes are seeing the issues of economic inequality today. It is immoral and unjust that one human should own another, whether in slavery, in economic servitude or in sexual servitude.
However, fifty years ago, such unequal and inhuman treatment of fellow human beings was still being justified and upheld by a powerful elite, and it took almost super-human fortitude for those opposed to persevere to break the stranglehold of that group. As a young girl, a “Freedom Rider” came and spoke to my class at Temple Isaiah Religious School in West L.A. and I was inspired to do all I could for the ongoing fight for civil rights, which of course changed the world for everyone – from it came “women’s lib” and Glbt’s fight for equality (Stonewall was 40 years ago June 29). And yet, the economically poor African American and Latino populations are still objects of discrimination today. The repeal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the South freeing nine states, mostly in the South, to change their election laws without advance federal approval is seeing discrimination at the polls reasserting itself.
This January when I saw “Freedom Summer” directed by Stanley Nelson in Sundance, I felt inspired once again to do something!
But, all I can do is write and so I take pen to hand and invite others to be aware and to act wherever they are.
At the 2nd Louisiana International Film Festival this spring, “Freedom Summer” won the Best Documentary Award and it will open in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
The Louisiana Ff parenthetically has two cineastes, well-known to all of us film folks, as Artistic Directors: Jeff “The Dude” Dowd and Dan Ireland.
Read: New Louisiana Film Festival to Launch With Dan Ireland & Jeff "The Dude" Dowd as Artistic Directors
Jeff could be subject of a book, but for now, suffice it to say Jeff Dowd ("Zebrahead") is famously the inspiration for the Dude in the Coen Bros.' "The Big Lebowski,"
Dan Ireland on the other hand, is the subject of this blog because he has done something beyond just showing a great film. Dan, a man of action, also co-founded the Seattle Film Festival with Darryl MacDonald who is Director of the Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival. The Seattle Film Festival just had its own anniversary of 40 years and it featured a retrospective of some of Dan’s 22 films which he has exec produced, produced or directed.
And now, he has produced a new film, a short film called “Hate From A Distance” which will be the center piece of a special event this Wednesday, July 2nd, on the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at The Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills
The film is an adaptation of a short story inspired by Civil Rights in America, set in Savannah, Georgia in 1963, told through the innocent eyes of an eleven-year old boy who is witness to the bitterness and hatred his father has for an African American dairy farmer living on the other side of a fence, separating physically and racially the very state of America during a most disgraceful and turbulent period in history.
The film was made and dedicated to the memory of and the 50th anniversary of The Civil Rights Act and as a voice that though we live by the Act, there is so much more that needs to be done to establish unity and equal rights in this country and the world.
Seen through the innocent eyes of eleven-year-old Danny Baker, racial tensions run rampant and deep in 1963 rural Georgia. Danny’s father Ned and neighbor Clyde Fellow, once childhood friends, are now divided over a land dispute in an era of inequality. Ned’s escalating anger, fueled by his own distorted righteousness, ultimately destroys his family and tears the community apart.
“ Hate from a Distance” reflects the injustices of a painful chapter of American history while honoring and 50th anniversary (July 2, 1964) of the Civil Rights Act abolishing segregation.
The film had its world premiere Saturday June 7th in a retrospective of Dan's history with “The Whole Wide World”, at Seattle Int’l Film Festival.
It will show again this Wednesday at The Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills. The 19 minute screening will be followed by an introduction of the cast and a brief panel discussion and audience Q&A with Dr. Robert and Helen Singleton, Freedom Riders, activists and educators, Dr. Max Felker-Kantor, USC graduate with PhD in History (emphasis on race, civil rights and social movements) and moderated by journalist-author-activist David Ehrenstein. David is an American critic who focuses primarily on Lgbtq issues in cinema. Ehrenstein was born in New York City. His father was a secular Jew with Polish ancestors, and his mother was of African-American and Irish descent.[1] His mother raised him in her religion, Roman Catholicism. Among those invited are educators, students, members of organizations such as Aclu , NAACP , U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, journalists and activists.
Writer/Producer Dennis Yares's grandparents left Poland prior to the German occupation and most remaining relatives perished under Nazi regime. He was born in Israel and moved to N.Y. as a young boy. He made his professional reputation as an art gallerist, in addition, he also wrote the screen adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's classic short story, “Jolene”, which was directed by Dan Ireland.
He wrote a short story as one of his collection of 52 stories and when he realized it was the 50th anniversary this year. He and Dan as the director, stepped up and co-produced the film in the spring - in three weeks.
It features a score by composer Harry Gregson-Williams and Tom Howe, who will also attend the screening.
The short will also qualify for Academy Award consideration after having a short commercial run.
- 7/1/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson is, without question, one of the most important documentary filmmakers working today. His many films, such as "Freedom Riders," "A Place of our Own," and "Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind" have explored various aspects of black life, politics and culture, and how they still resonate today with us. And now the Award winning, MacArthur Fellowship filmmaker continues, as he did with "Freedom Riders," exploring and telling the story of the Civil Rights Movement, with "Freedom Summer," which chronicles the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, when over 700 student volunteers from around the country...
- 6/25/2014
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson is, without question, one of the most important documentary filmmakers working today. His many films, such as "Freedom Riders," "A Place of our Own," and "Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind" have explored various aspects of black life, politics and culture, and how they still resonate today with us.And now the Award winning, MacArthur Fellowship filmmaker continues, as he did with "Freedom Riders," exploring and telling the story of the Civil Rights Movement, with "Freedom Summer," which chronicles the summer of 1964 in Mississippi, when over 700 student volunteers from around the country joined organizers and local African Americans in a...
- 6/20/2014
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Documentaries to benefit include The Possibilities Are Endless, about musician Edwyn Collins’ battle to regain his memory.
The Bertha Britdoc Connect Fund grant, which help support the impact around documentary films, has selected its latest tranche of titles.
The eight films to benefit from grants ranging from £5,000 to £50,0000 were selected from more than 130 applications.
Titles include The Possibilities Are Endless, from directors Edward Lovelace and James Hall, about Edwyn Collins, a songwriter who suffered a stroke so severe that it effectively deleted the contents of his mind. The lyricist was only able to say two phrases: “The Possibilities are Endless” and “Grace Maxwell” (the name of his wife).
Ghosts in Our Machine
Dir. Liz Marshall
The film illuminates the lives of individual animals living within and rescued from the machine of our modern world. Through the heart and lens of photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur, audiences become intimately familiar with a cast of non-human animals. Each story and...
The Bertha Britdoc Connect Fund grant, which help support the impact around documentary films, has selected its latest tranche of titles.
The eight films to benefit from grants ranging from £5,000 to £50,0000 were selected from more than 130 applications.
Titles include The Possibilities Are Endless, from directors Edward Lovelace and James Hall, about Edwyn Collins, a songwriter who suffered a stroke so severe that it effectively deleted the contents of his mind. The lyricist was only able to say two phrases: “The Possibilities are Endless” and “Grace Maxwell” (the name of his wife).
Ghosts in Our Machine
Dir. Liz Marshall
The film illuminates the lives of individual animals living within and rescued from the machine of our modern world. Through the heart and lens of photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur, audiences become intimately familiar with a cast of non-human animals. Each story and...
- 6/4/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Documentaries to benefit include The Possibilities Are Endless, about musician Edwyn Collins’ battle to regain his memory.
The Bertha Britdoc Connect Fund grant, which help support the impact around documentary films, has selected its latest tranche of titles.
The eight films to benefit from grants ranging from £5,000 to £50,0000 were selected from more than 130 applications.
Titles include The Possibilities Are Endless, from directors Edward Lovelace and James Hall, about Edwyn Collins, a songwriter who suffered a stroke so severe that it effectively deleted the contents of his mind. The lyricist was only able to say two phrases: “The Possibilities are Endless” and “Grace Maxwell” (the name of his wife).
Ghosts in Our Machine
Dir. Liz Marshall
The film illuminates the lives of individual animals living within and rescued from the machine of our modern world. Through the heart and lens of photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur, audiences become intimately familiar with a cast of non-human animals. Each story and...
The Bertha Britdoc Connect Fund grant, which help support the impact around documentary films, has selected its latest tranche of titles.
The eight films to benefit from grants ranging from £5,000 to £50,0000 were selected from more than 130 applications.
Titles include The Possibilities Are Endless, from directors Edward Lovelace and James Hall, about Edwyn Collins, a songwriter who suffered a stroke so severe that it effectively deleted the contents of his mind. The lyricist was only able to say two phrases: “The Possibilities are Endless” and “Grace Maxwell” (the name of his wife).
Ghosts in Our Machine
Dir. Liz Marshall
The film illuminates the lives of individual animals living within and rescued from the machine of our modern world. Through the heart and lens of photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur, audiences become intimately familiar with a cast of non-human animals. Each story and...
- 6/4/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmitt Till, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple, A Place of Our Own and many other films) has returned again to the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960’s with his latest film Freedom Summer. The film chronicles the events during the violent and bloody summer of 1964 in Mississippi known as the Freedom Summer, when hundreds of student volunteers in league with local and national activists and organizers worked to push for voting rights, to bring down the racist segregationists policies and foundations of white supremacy in the nation’s most segregated state. Working together, they ...
- 5/20/2014
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has announced its “Invited Program” and “New Docs” lineup of new feature and short films today. Titles of note, with respect to this blog's interest (projects previously highlighted on this blog) include: Stanley Nelson's Freedom Summer, Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa from director Abby Ginzberg, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People directed by Thomas Allen Harris , Ana Ana from directors Corinne van Egeraat & Petr Lom, The Case of the Three Sided Dream directed by Adam Kahan, Darius Clark Monroe's Evolution of...
- 3/6/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Folk legend Pete Seeger, who passed away last night at the age of 94, is one of the voices in "Freedom Summer," the new documentary from Stanley Nelson ("Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple") that just had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, about the hard-fought civil rights battles in the summer of 1964 in segregated Mississippi, will air on PBS as part of "American Experience" on June 24th. The network today released a clip, below, featuring Seeger and Mississippi resident Roscoe Jones talking about a concert Seeger did in a church in Meridian, Ms that summer, during which the performer got word that the bodies of missing, murdered civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had been found. The interview was shot in April of last year -- take a look:...
- 1/28/2014
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Title: Freedom Summer Director: Stanley Nelson The battle for civil rights in the 1960s is a subject ripe for revisiting. As this decade celebrates the fiftieth anniversaries of many monumental events, it’s to be expected that an important era in United States history will be spotlighted many times. Freedom Summer tells the inspiring story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (Sncc), an organization that sent one thousand college students to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 to help get African-Americans registered to vote and to change the culture in a state defined by segregation and white supremacy. Most even slightly familiar with recent American history have a decent starting point [ Read More ]
The post Freedom Summer Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Freedom Summer Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 1/20/2014
- by abe
- ShockYa
It’s that time again. The biggest American film festival is upon us, and this year the Ioncinema crew will be descending on Park City with eight feet on the ground and eight eyes on Park City’s various and plentiful screens. Eric Lavallee, Nicholas Bell, Caitlin Coder and I will be covering just about every inch of this year’s festival here at Ioncinema.com, as well as on that ever increasingly vibrant instanews network – Twitter. Be sure to follow @ioncinema and, as stated above, my personal handle @Rectangular_Eye, as we’ll be tweeting throughout the festival with breaking news, reviews, and sightings, all the while trying to keep up with the massive amount of content sure to be coming from this year’s Sundance filmmakers themselves, most of which have their own Twitter accounts and are listed at length below (minus the world & short programs). Whether you...
- 1/16/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
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