“Mourning in Lod,” made by the Israeli director Hilla Medalia, was originally conceived as a documentary short about a murdered Israeli man whose kidney was donated to a Palestinian woman in East Jerusalem who would have died without the organ transplant. That feel-good story of grace and humanity amid the violence of the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis is still on the surface of the potent, if scattershot, 71-minute feature that Medalia cut together in the end, but it’s almost completely overshadowed by the parallel — and far more ambivalent — story it tells about the value of personal charity in the face of systemic oppression.
The murdered Israeli was named Yigal Yehoshua, and by all accounts he was a kind and decent man who didn’t share his country’s genocidal animus towards his Palestinian neighbors. While driving through the “mixed” city of Lod one evening, Yehoshua was struck in the head by...
The murdered Israeli was named Yigal Yehoshua, and by all accounts he was a kind and decent man who didn’t share his country’s genocidal animus towards his Palestinian neighbors. While driving through the “mixed” city of Lod one evening, Yehoshua was struck in the head by...
- 4/19/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Abramorama has acquired North American rights to Little Empty Boxes, a documentary marking the directorial debut of bestselling health author Max Lugavere. Following a week-long engagement at Look Cinema in NYC beginning April 19, the film unspools at Laemmle Santa Monica in Los Angeles beginning April 26, expanding to select theaters nationwide thereafter.
Co-directed by Lugavere and Chris Newhard, the film follows the life of Max’s mother, Kathy, as she battles memory problems and succumbs to dementia. In a quest to find his mother the best care, Max moves home to New York City and begins to consult with top health experts to investigate the origins of the disease, which now affects a staggering 55 million people globally, as well as methods outside of prescription medication to slow her illness down.
Central to the film is a discussion of how our diets and lifestyles might help slow down or even prevent various chronic health conditions,...
Co-directed by Lugavere and Chris Newhard, the film follows the life of Max’s mother, Kathy, as she battles memory problems and succumbs to dementia. In a quest to find his mother the best care, Max moves home to New York City and begins to consult with top health experts to investigate the origins of the disease, which now affects a staggering 55 million people globally, as well as methods outside of prescription medication to slow her illness down.
Central to the film is a discussion of how our diets and lifestyles might help slow down or even prevent various chronic health conditions,...
- 3/4/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Other Angle Pictures was founded by Olivier Albou and Laurence Schonberg.
France’s Other Angle Pictures has expanded its footprint into the US market with a new Los Angeles-based arm focused on distribution, production and international sales of French features with a focus on crowd-pleasing comedies and more commercial dramas.
The company, founded by longtime French film executive Olivier Albou and his wife Laurence Schonberg in 2008, is looking to tap into its network of US producers and buyers looking for French remakes and original content. The company intends to acquire titles independently and release them in association with US distribution partners in limited theatrical release.
France’s Other Angle Pictures has expanded its footprint into the US market with a new Los Angeles-based arm focused on distribution, production and international sales of French features with a focus on crowd-pleasing comedies and more commercial dramas.
The company, founded by longtime French film executive Olivier Albou and his wife Laurence Schonberg in 2008, is looking to tap into its network of US producers and buyers looking for French remakes and original content. The company intends to acquire titles independently and release them in association with US distribution partners in limited theatrical release.
- 11/7/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
This year’s Pitch Point includes new projects from Nir Bergman, Yona Rozenkier, Hadar Morag.
Jerusalem Film Festival has confirmed the Industry Days programme for its 40th-anniversary edition, including the 10 projects for its Pitch Point Competition for Israeli co-production features.
The Industry Days will run from July 13-15, and will also include the final pitching event of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab on July 14.
Scroll down for the full list of Pitch Point projects.
Pitch Point pitches will run on July 13, to a jury presided over by Arte Cinema France’s Olivier Pere, and including Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter,...
Jerusalem Film Festival has confirmed the Industry Days programme for its 40th-anniversary edition, including the 10 projects for its Pitch Point Competition for Israeli co-production features.
The Industry Days will run from July 13-15, and will also include the final pitching event of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab on July 14.
Scroll down for the full list of Pitch Point projects.
Pitch Point pitches will run on July 13, to a jury presided over by Arte Cinema France’s Olivier Pere, and including Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
17 titles across the feature and documentary sections.
Jerusalem Film Festival has selected 17 Israeli features in competition across its feature and documentary sections, for the 40th anniversary edition of the event.
Titles among nine in the Full-Length Israeli Feature Films competition include A Room Of His Own, the third feature from Matan Yair. The Hebrew-language film follows Uri, whose mother is sleeping in his room since his father moved out; but who is seeking his own room and path to deal with the world.
Scroll down for the full list of feature titles
The $1m project participated in the Asia Film...
Jerusalem Film Festival has selected 17 Israeli features in competition across its feature and documentary sections, for the 40th anniversary edition of the event.
Titles among nine in the Full-Length Israeli Feature Films competition include A Room Of His Own, the third feature from Matan Yair. The Hebrew-language film follows Uri, whose mother is sleeping in his room since his father moved out; but who is seeking his own room and path to deal with the world.
Scroll down for the full list of feature titles
The $1m project participated in the Asia Film...
- 6/26/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Further deals for Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Turkey.
Film Movement has taken US distribution rights to H2: The Occupation Lab, a documentary by Israeli filmmakers Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf.
Acquiring the film from UK-based sales firm MetFilm Sales, Film Movement is planning a theatrical release on the title for an as-yet unscheduled date.
MetFilm Sales has also secured deals for Sweden (Svt), Switzerland (Rts), Finland (Yle) and Turkey (Trt).
H2: The Occupation Lab debuted at Docaviv documentary festival in Tel Aviv, Israel in May last year. It documents the impact that Jewish settlers and military occupation have had...
Film Movement has taken US distribution rights to H2: The Occupation Lab, a documentary by Israeli filmmakers Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf.
Acquiring the film from UK-based sales firm MetFilm Sales, Film Movement is planning a theatrical release on the title for an as-yet unscheduled date.
MetFilm Sales has also secured deals for Sweden (Svt), Switzerland (Rts), Finland (Yle) and Turkey (Trt).
H2: The Occupation Lab debuted at Docaviv documentary festival in Tel Aviv, Israel in May last year. It documents the impact that Jewish settlers and military occupation have had...
- 4/4/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Docaviv unveils Israeli titles including competition lineup for 25th anniversary edition (exclusive)
13 titles in Israeli Competition including eight world premieres.
Docaviv, the Israeli film festival for non-fiction cinema, has set the Israeli films for its 25th anniversary edition including a 13-strong main competition.
The 13 films – eight of which are world premieres – will compete for the best Israeli documentary award.
Scroll down for the full list of Israeli competition films
Docaviv will run from May 11 to 20 this year in Tel Aviv, screening 120 titles across the festival. 350,000 Nis in prize money will be available across the festival, including the 70,000 Nis award for best Israeli film.
World premieres in the Israeli competition include Inbal Perlmutter – If It’s Over,...
Docaviv, the Israeli film festival for non-fiction cinema, has set the Israeli films for its 25th anniversary edition including a 13-strong main competition.
The 13 films – eight of which are world premieres – will compete for the best Israeli documentary award.
Scroll down for the full list of Israeli competition films
Docaviv will run from May 11 to 20 this year in Tel Aviv, screening 120 titles across the festival. 350,000 Nis in prize money will be available across the festival, including the 70,000 Nis award for best Israeli film.
World premieres in the Israeli competition include Inbal Perlmutter – If It’s Over,...
- 3/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
More than 250 of Israel’s top filmmakers have signed an open letter, saying they will not seek funding from, nor cooperate with the recently–established Shomron (Samaria/West Bank) Film Fund, following the fund’s inaugural film festival in the occupied West Bank.
The filmmakers call on the Israeli Academy of Film and Television not to partake in “whitewashing the Occupation” ahead of the Ophir Awards — Israel’s Academy Awards — later this month. Read the full text of the letter below.
Among the signatories are multiple Academy Award winners and nominees. They have signed a public letter in which they state that they will not receive grants and will not participate in “lectura” (selection of films for development and production) or in professional events held by the Shomron (Samaria) Film Fund. The goal of the Shomron (Samaria) Film Fund, write the filmmakers, is “to invite Israeli filmmakers to actively participate...
The filmmakers call on the Israeli Academy of Film and Television not to partake in “whitewashing the Occupation” ahead of the Ophir Awards — Israel’s Academy Awards — later this month. Read the full text of the letter below.
Among the signatories are multiple Academy Award winners and nominees. They have signed a public letter in which they state that they will not receive grants and will not participate in “lectura” (selection of films for development and production) or in professional events held by the Shomron (Samaria) Film Fund. The goal of the Shomron (Samaria) Film Fund, write the filmmakers, is “to invite Israeli filmmakers to actively participate...
- 9/3/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Steve James chronicles a former Manhattan Project physicist.
Austria-based sales agent Autlook Filmsales has boarded international sales on Steve James’ documentary A Compassionate Spy, which is set to premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival this week.
The film traces the life of a former Manhattan Project physicist who passed on secrets to the Soviet Union and lived the rest of his life under FBI surveillance and suspicion.
US outfit Participant financed the film and is jointly handling global and North American sales for the film with Cinetic.
It marks the latest from US documentary-maker James, who...
Austria-based sales agent Autlook Filmsales has boarded international sales on Steve James’ documentary A Compassionate Spy, which is set to premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival this week.
The film traces the life of a former Manhattan Project physicist who passed on secrets to the Soviet Union and lived the rest of his life under FBI surveillance and suspicion.
US outfit Participant financed the film and is jointly handling global and North American sales for the film with Cinetic.
It marks the latest from US documentary-maker James, who...
- 8/30/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Jewish Story Partners, the non-profit film fund that launched six months ago, announced its second round of grant recipients on Monday. The winners came after an open submissions call that saw a 226% increase in participation from the first round.
An additional $280,000 has been awarded this year, bringing Jsp’s 2021 spend to $500,000 as they identify nonfiction work telling diverse Jewish stories. International filmmakers and fiction projects will be sought in the future. The group anticipates to hand out $800,000 in 2022 and $1 million by 2023.
New funders include the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Films, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Kronhill Pletka Foundation and Koret Foundation.
Monday’s grants will fund noted documentary filmmakers including: Kate Amend, Marilyn Ness, Pratibha Parmar, Dan Sturman and Ondi Timoner.
“Jewish documentary films are a window into the richness and complexity of the arc of Jewish history and Jewish lives today,” said Lynn and...
An additional $280,000 has been awarded this year, bringing Jsp’s 2021 spend to $500,000 as they identify nonfiction work telling diverse Jewish stories. International filmmakers and fiction projects will be sought in the future. The group anticipates to hand out $800,000 in 2022 and $1 million by 2023.
New funders include the Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Films, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Kronhill Pletka Foundation and Koret Foundation.
Monday’s grants will fund noted documentary filmmakers including: Kate Amend, Marilyn Ness, Pratibha Parmar, Dan Sturman and Ondi Timoner.
“Jewish documentary films are a window into the richness and complexity of the arc of Jewish history and Jewish lives today,” said Lynn and...
- 11/22/2021
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Screen Australia has announced nearly $2 million of production funding for two documentaries through the Commissioned program and eight through the Producer Program.
The projects include series Could You Survive on the Breadline? exploring financial disadvantage for Sbs; The Secret World of Fungi, a documentary for IMAX; and a series investigating racism in Australia called Unheard.
There’s also Medalia Productions and Sweetshop & Green’s feature documentary Prisoner X, coincidentally about the same man – and with the same title – as the narrative series Fremantle Australia announced it is developing with Stephen Corvini and Israeli production company Abot Hameiri.
Screen Australia’s head of content Sally Caplan said: “We’re very pleased to support these documentaries that will shine a light on issues including mental health and wellbeing, racism and the natural environment, and are sure to spark conversations. We’re excited to back the first ever Israeli documentary co-production with compelling feature Prisoner X,...
The projects include series Could You Survive on the Breadline? exploring financial disadvantage for Sbs; The Secret World of Fungi, a documentary for IMAX; and a series investigating racism in Australia called Unheard.
There’s also Medalia Productions and Sweetshop & Green’s feature documentary Prisoner X, coincidentally about the same man – and with the same title – as the narrative series Fremantle Australia announced it is developing with Stephen Corvini and Israeli production company Abot Hameiri.
Screen Australia’s head of content Sally Caplan said: “We’re very pleased to support these documentaries that will shine a light on issues including mental health and wellbeing, racism and the natural environment, and are sure to spark conversations. We’re excited to back the first ever Israeli documentary co-production with compelling feature Prisoner X,...
- 3/16/2021
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
The heyday of Cannon Films, that is when the company was led by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus back in the eighties, has been subject of fairly recent documentaries: Mark Hartley’s Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films and Hilla Medalia’s The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films. And now, for those fans of crazy cinema that would like to dig even deeper into the world of Cannon, there’s a new book out that tackles one specific filmmaker from those glorious days. Stories From The Trenches: Adventures In Making High Octane Hollywood Movies With Cannon Veteran Sam Firstenberg is a mammoth collection of interviews with the director behind such Cannon flicks as Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/6/2020
- Screen Anarchy
This year’s BFI Flare, London’s Lgbtiq+ Film Festival, announced their full programme. BFI Flare celebrates queer-identified film and filmmakers, especially those based in the UK. With special events, club nights, and of course film screenings, this year’s “hug”-themed festival welcomes visitors and attendees to embrace all identities and intimacies alike.
While most titles in this year’s BFI Flare line-up are from the Us and UK, we’ve picked out the Asian films – feature and shorts alike. BFI Flare will take place at BFI Southbank from March 18-19.
“A Dog Barking at the Moon”
Features:
A Dog Barking at the Moon by Xiang Zi | China-Spain
Busy Inside by Olga Lvoff | USA-Russia
Flawless by Scr Sharon Maymon, Tal Granit | Israel
Lingua Franca by Scr Isabel Sandoval | USA
Transkids by Hilla Medalia | Israel
Suk Suk by Scr Ray Yeung | Hong Kong (S.A.R of China)
“Sheer Quorma...
While most titles in this year’s BFI Flare line-up are from the Us and UK, we’ve picked out the Asian films – feature and shorts alike. BFI Flare will take place at BFI Southbank from March 18-19.
“A Dog Barking at the Moon”
Features:
A Dog Barking at the Moon by Xiang Zi | China-Spain
Busy Inside by Olga Lvoff | USA-Russia
Flawless by Scr Sharon Maymon, Tal Granit | Israel
Lingua Franca by Scr Isabel Sandoval | USA
Transkids by Hilla Medalia | Israel
Suk Suk by Scr Ray Yeung | Hong Kong (S.A.R of China)
“Sheer Quorma...
- 2/24/2020
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Independent Lens, the Emmy-winning PBS series, will feature a lineup of buzzy documentaries during the first three months of 2020 that will include everything from deep-dives into racial injustice and climate change to the penetrating looks at the clash between science and creationism.
“The topics are serious, but all of the films offer hope,” said “Independent Lens” executive producer Lois Vossen.
Making their broadcast debuts from January through March are Nanfu Wang’s critically acclaimed “One Child Nation,” an examination of China’s controversial attempts at population control; Jacqueline Olive’s “Always in Season,” a look at a mother’s struggle to get law enforcement to acknowledge that the death of her teenage son was a lynching and not a suicide: and “We Believe in Dinosaurs,” the story of how the construction of an $120 million Noah’s Ark-inspired theme park in Kentucky threatens the barrier between church and state.
“We’re...
“The topics are serious, but all of the films offer hope,” said “Independent Lens” executive producer Lois Vossen.
Making their broadcast debuts from January through March are Nanfu Wang’s critically acclaimed “One Child Nation,” an examination of China’s controversial attempts at population control; Jacqueline Olive’s “Always in Season,” a look at a mother’s struggle to get law enforcement to acknowledge that the death of her teenage son was a lynching and not a suicide: and “We Believe in Dinosaurs,” the story of how the construction of an $120 million Noah’s Ark-inspired theme park in Kentucky threatens the barrier between church and state.
“We’re...
- 12/23/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Leftover Women shares the story of young, career-driven women in China who face the traditional path of marriage or going against centuries of tradition.
Directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, the documentary follows several women of differing ages and careers as they struggle with the label "sheng nu," which refers to professional women over 27 who have failed to meet the societal expectation of securing a husband.
In this exclusive clip, we meet Qiu HauMei, a 34-year-old lawyer who visits China's leading dating network in search of a romantic partner. Asked what kind of man ...
Directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, the documentary follows several women of differing ages and careers as they struggle with the label "sheng nu," which refers to professional women over 27 who have failed to meet the societal expectation of securing a husband.
In this exclusive clip, we meet Qiu HauMei, a 34-year-old lawyer who visits China's leading dating network in search of a romantic partner. Asked what kind of man ...
- 4/26/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Leftover Women shares the story of young, career-driven women in China who face the traditional path of marriage or going against centuries of tradition.
Directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, the documentary follows several women of differing ages and careers as they struggle with the label "sheng nu," which refers to professional women over 27 who have failed to meet the societal expectation of securing a husband.
In this exclusive clip, we meet Qiu HauMei, a 34-year-old lawyer who visits China's leading dating network in search of a romantic partner. Asked what kind of man ...
Directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, the documentary follows several women of differing ages and careers as they struggle with the label "sheng nu," which refers to professional women over 27 who have failed to meet the societal expectation of securing a husband.
In this exclusive clip, we meet Qiu HauMei, a 34-year-old lawyer who visits China's leading dating network in search of a romantic partner. Asked what kind of man ...
- 4/26/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Yonatan Nir and Dani Menkin’s ’Picture Of His Life’ opens the event.
Docaviv, the Tel Aviv documentary film festival, has unveiled the 15 features titles which will participate in its Israeli Competition, 12 of which are world premieres.
The festival will open on May 23 with the world premiere of Yonatan Nir and Dani Menkin’s Picture Of His Life, a portrait of acclaimed wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum as he makes a final attempt to swim with a polar bear.
Further titles include the world premiere of Barak Heymann’s Loving Dov, which follows politican Dov Khenin as he deals with the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Docaviv, the Tel Aviv documentary film festival, has unveiled the 15 features titles which will participate in its Israeli Competition, 12 of which are world premieres.
The festival will open on May 23 with the world premiere of Yonatan Nir and Dani Menkin’s Picture Of His Life, a portrait of acclaimed wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum as he makes a final attempt to swim with a polar bear.
Further titles include the world premiere of Barak Heymann’s Loving Dov, which follows politican Dov Khenin as he deals with the Israel-Palestine conflict.
- 4/1/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Buzz projects include Eurimages prize-winner Journey To Utopia.
Lars von Trier was the talk of Copenhagen on Thursday (March 22) – and for once not because of a film he’s directed but for a documentary that turns the cameras on him.
Producer Sigrid Dyekjaer of Danish Documentary unveiled footage at Cph:forum of The Missing Films, a portrait of von Trier directed by two of his long-time collaborators, Tomas Gislason and Jacob Thuesen.
Attending industry experts were buzzing about the footage shown, demonstrating an unprecedented level of intimacy and access to von Trier that among other sequences shows him in production on his new serial killer story,...
Lars von Trier was the talk of Copenhagen on Thursday (March 22) – and for once not because of a film he’s directed but for a documentary that turns the cameras on him.
Producer Sigrid Dyekjaer of Danish Documentary unveiled footage at Cph:forum of The Missing Films, a portrait of von Trier directed by two of his long-time collaborators, Tomas Gislason and Jacob Thuesen.
Attending industry experts were buzzing about the footage shown, demonstrating an unprecedented level of intimacy and access to von Trier that among other sequences shows him in production on his new serial killer story,...
- 3/22/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Company will world premiere Jerry Rothwell’s The School In The Cloud, and will pitch two new documentaries.
Met Film Sales, which launched in May 2017, is attending Cph:dox with a busy slate including its first finished film.
The company is selling Jerry Rothwell’s The School In the Cloud, which has its world premiere at Cph Dox tomorrow (March 20). The film is about Ted Prize-winning Indian scientist Sugata Mitra, globally renowned for his pioneering use of digital self-learning.
Mitra will be attending Cph Dox to speak on a Cph:Science panel today (March 19), alongside Anna Verghase, Director of the Ted Prize.
Met Film Sales, which launched in May 2017, is attending Cph:dox with a busy slate including its first finished film.
The company is selling Jerry Rothwell’s The School In the Cloud, which has its world premiere at Cph Dox tomorrow (March 20). The film is about Ted Prize-winning Indian scientist Sugata Mitra, globally renowned for his pioneering use of digital self-learning.
Mitra will be attending Cph Dox to speak on a Cph:Science panel today (March 19), alongside Anna Verghase, Director of the Ted Prize.
- 3/19/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Works in progress to include ‘Reconstructing Utoya’; new science section includes portrait of Oliver Sacks.
Cph:Dox has unveiled the 26 projects to be presented in its Cph:Forum, its financing and co-production event (March 21-22) that works across creative filmmaking.
The projects are from the likes of established directors such as Maxim Pozdorovkin (Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer), Guy Davidi (5 Broken Cameras), Camilla Nielsson (Democrats), Anna Eborn (Pine Ridge) and Grant Gee (Meeting People is Easy).
Topics range from a family trying to find their own utopia in an organic village; a portrait of Lee Miller; the filmic obsessions of Lars von Trier; and Chinese women trying to find a partner by age 27.
For the fifth year, the Forum projects are eligible for the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of $18,400 €15,000 for the event’s best pitch. Kickstarter provides guidance and promotional support for the Forum projects as well.
More than 150 attending decision makers will include European broadcasters such as...
Cph:Dox has unveiled the 26 projects to be presented in its Cph:Forum, its financing and co-production event (March 21-22) that works across creative filmmaking.
The projects are from the likes of established directors such as Maxim Pozdorovkin (Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer), Guy Davidi (5 Broken Cameras), Camilla Nielsson (Democrats), Anna Eborn (Pine Ridge) and Grant Gee (Meeting People is Easy).
Topics range from a family trying to find their own utopia in an organic village; a portrait of Lee Miller; the filmic obsessions of Lars von Trier; and Chinese women trying to find a partner by age 27.
For the fifth year, the Forum projects are eligible for the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of $18,400 €15,000 for the event’s best pitch. Kickstarter provides guidance and promotional support for the Forum projects as well.
More than 150 attending decision makers will include European broadcasters such as...
- 2/8/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
This year’s event features an unprecedented increase in women directors and a new work-in-progress lab.
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Mar 13-15), which has its 15th edition this year, has revealed its lineup of 25 projects.
Unprecedentedly, nearly half of the projects are from female directors, about a third are by first-time directors and two rarely seen genres at Haf are included - science fiction and gothic thriller.
As with previous editions, Hong Kong has a strong presence with five projects, including Derek Chiu’s No.1 Chung Ying Street, a drama about the 1967 riots in Hong Kong; Sobel Chan’s The Goddess, a tribute to classic 1930s Chinese films; new director Sunny Chan’s Man On The Dragon, a comedy-drama about five middle-aged men who take part in a dragon boat competition; new director Tom Chung-sing’s Impossible Split, about a bowling athlete who becomes a world champion despite a fatal disease, produced by She...
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Mar 13-15), which has its 15th edition this year, has revealed its lineup of 25 projects.
Unprecedentedly, nearly half of the projects are from female directors, about a third are by first-time directors and two rarely seen genres at Haf are included - science fiction and gothic thriller.
As with previous editions, Hong Kong has a strong presence with five projects, including Derek Chiu’s No.1 Chung Ying Street, a drama about the 1967 riots in Hong Kong; Sobel Chan’s The Goddess, a tribute to classic 1930s Chinese films; new director Sunny Chan’s Man On The Dragon, a comedy-drama about five middle-aged men who take part in a dragon boat competition; new director Tom Chung-sing’s Impossible Split, about a bowling athlete who becomes a world champion despite a fatal disease, produced by She...
- 1/18/2017
- by screenasia@yahoo.com (Silvia Wong)
- ScreenDaily
Today, the San Francisco Film Society today announced the ten finalists for the 2016 Sffs Documentary Film Fund awards totaling $75,000. The Sffs Documentary Film Fund supports feature-length documentaries in postproduction and was created to support singular nonfiction film work. Finalists were selected from more than 200 applications, and winners will be announced in mid-September.
Read More: How the San Francisco Film Society is Empowering Filmmakers With Technology
Dff has an excellent track record for championing compelling films that have gone on to earn great acclaim. Previous winners include Zachary Heinzerling’s “Cutie and the Boxer,” which won Sundance’s Directing Award for documentary and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature; Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s “American Promise,”which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the festival’s Special Jury Prize in the documentary category; and Moby Longinotto’s “The Joneses,” which premiered at the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival.
Read More: How the San Francisco Film Society is Empowering Filmmakers With Technology
Dff has an excellent track record for championing compelling films that have gone on to earn great acclaim. Previous winners include Zachary Heinzerling’s “Cutie and the Boxer,” which won Sundance’s Directing Award for documentary and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature; Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s “American Promise,”which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the festival’s Special Jury Prize in the documentary category; and Moby Longinotto’s “The Joneses,” which premiered at the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival.
- 8/18/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
The premiere post-tiff destination (September 20-25th) in the film community and a major leg up for narrative and non-fiction films in development, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced a whopping 140 projects selected for the Project Forum at the upcoming Ifp Independent Film Week. Made up of several sections (Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program, No Borders International Co-Production Market and Spotlight on Documentaries), we find latest updates from the likes of docu-helmers Doug Block (112 Weddings) and Lana Wilson (After Tiller), and among the narrative items we find headliners in Andrew Haigh (coming off the well received 45 Years), Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls and Madame Bovary), Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal (Stranger Things) and new faces in Sundance’s large family in Charles Poekel (Christmas, Again) and Olivia Newman (First Match). Here...
- 7/22/2015
- by admin
- IONCINEMA.com
Documentary festival to focus on
DocAviv, Israel’s top documentary festival, has finalized the selection for its 17th edition (May 7-16).
With a solid reputation to defend, the festival will kick off with Laura Poitras’ Academy Award winner Citizenfour, whose theme, the onging Edward Snowden saga, fits one of the festival’s main concerns - “(un)Free World”.
Some 13 Israeli films have been selected to compete in the Docaviv Isreali Film Competition.
A total 11 world premieres are competing for The Sarah and Michael Sela Prize
The $18,000 (Nis 70,000) award is the largest prize for documentary filmmaking offered anywhere in Israel.
Some 75 Israeli films have been submitted to the Israeli competition. Well known names among the contenders include: Reuven Brodsky with 7 Days in St. Petersburg, whose previous film Home Movie has won the 2012 Docaviv competition, Avigail Sperber produced Girsa De’Yankuta by Noa Roth, Censored Voices by Mor Loushy which premiered in Sundance and Twilight of a Life, which...
DocAviv, Israel’s top documentary festival, has finalized the selection for its 17th edition (May 7-16).
With a solid reputation to defend, the festival will kick off with Laura Poitras’ Academy Award winner Citizenfour, whose theme, the onging Edward Snowden saga, fits one of the festival’s main concerns - “(un)Free World”.
Some 13 Israeli films have been selected to compete in the Docaviv Isreali Film Competition.
A total 11 world premieres are competing for The Sarah and Michael Sela Prize
The $18,000 (Nis 70,000) award is the largest prize for documentary filmmaking offered anywhere in Israel.
Some 75 Israeli films have been submitted to the Israeli competition. Well known names among the contenders include: Reuven Brodsky with 7 Days in St. Petersburg, whose previous film Home Movie has won the 2012 Docaviv competition, Avigail Sperber produced Girsa De’Yankuta by Noa Roth, Censored Voices by Mor Loushy which premiered in Sundance and Twilight of a Life, which...
- 4/2/2015
- by dfainaru@netvision.net.il (Edna Fainaru)
- ScreenDaily
Hilla Medalia captures ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine as he uses fancy footwork to bring together Palestinian and Jewish children
Hilla Medalia’s modest, watchable documentary is about Pierre Dulaine, a ballroom dancer and teacher whose work with underprivileged New York schoolchildren was the inspiration for a fiction feature, Take the Lead (2006) starring Antonio Banderas as Pierre. This film is about Dulaine’s return to Jaffa, the city of his birth, and his attempt to set up a new school dance programme to get Jewish and Palestinian children to come together for the first time in their lives, and partner up for waltzes, tangoes and rumbas – a kind of Strictly Come Dancing-style kids’ version of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. It’s a nice idea, and there is something touching and important in showing how the boys and girls are – of course – so shy and giggly with each other at first.
Hilla Medalia’s modest, watchable documentary is about Pierre Dulaine, a ballroom dancer and teacher whose work with underprivileged New York schoolchildren was the inspiration for a fiction feature, Take the Lead (2006) starring Antonio Banderas as Pierre. This film is about Dulaine’s return to Jaffa, the city of his birth, and his attempt to set up a new school dance programme to get Jewish and Palestinian children to come together for the first time in their lives, and partner up for waltzes, tangoes and rumbas – a kind of Strictly Come Dancing-style kids’ version of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. It’s a nice idea, and there is something touching and important in showing how the boys and girls are – of course – so shy and giggly with each other at first.
- 2/12/2015
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
★★★★☆ Using the optimistic innocence of children, Dancing in Jaffa (2013) succeeds in exploring the effect of explosive racial tensions in Israel between Jewish and Arabic peoples. This is done through the camaraderie developed by Israeli-Palestinians and Israeli- Jewish children as they are forced to learn ballroom dancing with one another by a world-renowned performer. Hilla Medalia's documentary follows Pierre Dulaine, a four time word champion ballroom dancer who returns to his hometown of Jaffa, Israel with a goal to not only teach young boys and girls the art of dance, but the loftier aim of helping to unite a divided city.
- 2/11/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
The holidays are winding down and that means we at Ioncinema.com are gearing up for our annual pilgrimage to Park City where an A-list of documentaries is now set to premiere. Earlier this month Tabitha Jackson and the Sundance doc programming team let the cats out of the bag, unsurprisingly announcing much anticipated Us Doc Competition titles such as the Ross Brothers’ Western, Louie Psihoyos’ Racing Extinction, Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes and Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)Error, along with some surprises like Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel’s bizarro Kickstarted doc Finders Keepers (see trailer below). Having been produced by the fine folks behind The King of Kong and Undefeated, the film bears all the markings of its well regarded pedigree, yet appears to be of even odder ilk, following the story that unfolded when a severed human foot was discovered in a grill bought at a North Carolina auction.
- 12/30/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Mor Loushy’s documentary will make its world premiere at Sundance.
Dogwoof has acquired worldwide rights for Censored Voices.
Mor Loushy’s documentary reveals the original recordings made by a group of young kibbutzinks with soldiers returning from the battlefield after the ‘Six-Day’ war in 1967. The recordings were originally censored by the Israeli army.
The deal was negotiated by Vesna Cudic from Dogwoof with the film-makers. It marks the second time that Dogwoof has teamed up with kNow Productions and Impact Partners following Web Junkie.
This is the second time Dogwoof has teamed up with kNow Productions and Impact Partners following last year’s deal for Web Junkie, which premiered in Sundance 2014.
Daniel Sivan, Hilla Medalia and Neta Zwebner produced the film which was co-produced by Melanie Andernach, and was executive produced by Dan Cogan, Guy Lavie, Dagmar Mielke, Nick Fraser, Morgan Spurlock, Jeremy Chilnick, and Ethan Goldman.
Censored Voices will make its world premiere at Sundance...
Dogwoof has acquired worldwide rights for Censored Voices.
Mor Loushy’s documentary reveals the original recordings made by a group of young kibbutzinks with soldiers returning from the battlefield after the ‘Six-Day’ war in 1967. The recordings were originally censored by the Israeli army.
The deal was negotiated by Vesna Cudic from Dogwoof with the film-makers. It marks the second time that Dogwoof has teamed up with kNow Productions and Impact Partners following Web Junkie.
This is the second time Dogwoof has teamed up with kNow Productions and Impact Partners following last year’s deal for Web Junkie, which premiered in Sundance 2014.
Daniel Sivan, Hilla Medalia and Neta Zwebner produced the film which was co-produced by Melanie Andernach, and was executive produced by Dan Cogan, Guy Lavie, Dagmar Mielke, Nick Fraser, Morgan Spurlock, Jeremy Chilnick, and Ethan Goldman.
Censored Voices will make its world premiere at Sundance...
- 12/11/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
While current events unfolding in the Middle East seem to suggest there will never be an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict, a critically-acclaimed documentary about ballroom dancing gives even pessimists a glimmer of hope that peace is on the horizon. Director Hilla Medalia's “Dancing in Jaffa” follows renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine on a 15-week quest to put his art form to the ultimate test: teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance — together. Also read: Nearly 200 Hollywood Actors and Execs Sign Pro-Israel, Anti-Hamas Statement “Dancing heals,” Dulaine told an audience after TheWrap Awards Season Screening Series presentation of the film at.
- 11/6/2014
- by Greg Gilman
- The Wrap
Mike Myers’ Supermensch and fashion house doc Dior and I among sales.
Ahead of next week’s, UK-based sales agent Dogwoof has secured a string of TV deals for their current slate.
Dior and I has been sold to Canal+ (France). This recent Dogwoof acquisition is the latest fashion film from Frédéric Tcheng (Diana Vreeland, The Eye Has to Travel, Valentino: The Last Emperor) and tells the inside story of designer Raf Simons taking over the iconic fashion house.
Recently opened in the Us and the UK, Finding Fela from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney chronicles the life and death of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti. It has been sold to Arte France, Vpro (Netherlands) and AMC Global (Mena, Cee).
Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia’s Web Junkie about China’s teen internet de-programming camps continues to sell, with sales to Arte France, Pts (Taiwan), Ebs (Korea), Trt (Turkey), Ruv (Iceland), Doc24 (Russia) and AMC Global (Iberia, Mena)
Further...
Ahead of next week’s, UK-based sales agent Dogwoof has secured a string of TV deals for their current slate.
Dior and I has been sold to Canal+ (France). This recent Dogwoof acquisition is the latest fashion film from Frédéric Tcheng (Diana Vreeland, The Eye Has to Travel, Valentino: The Last Emperor) and tells the inside story of designer Raf Simons taking over the iconic fashion house.
Recently opened in the Us and the UK, Finding Fela from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney chronicles the life and death of Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti. It has been sold to Arte France, Vpro (Netherlands) and AMC Global (Mena, Cee).
Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia’s Web Junkie about China’s teen internet de-programming camps continues to sell, with sales to Arte France, Pts (Taiwan), Ebs (Korea), Trt (Turkey), Ruv (Iceland), Doc24 (Russia) and AMC Global (Iberia, Mena)
Further...
- 10/9/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
There's nothing particularly special about Hilla Medalia's documentary, "The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films," other than its subjects, Menahem Golan and Yorum Globus. The eponymous Israeli cousins are well known to anyone over the age of -- well, never mind. Arriving on Hollywood shores in the early 80s, this filmmaking team -- Golan was the filmmaker, Globus the moneyman -- had ambitions to make it big and despite lacking certain obvious traits (such as taste) that is exactly what they did. Getting their break in 1984 with a dance film fittingly called "Breakin," only two years later their Cannon Films was making 40-plus films, paying Sylvester Stallone $10-plus million, and bankrolling not only low-brow stars Charles Bronson ("Death Wish II"), Chuck Norris ("Delta Force") and Jean-Claude Van Damme ("Bloodsport") but the likes of John Cassavettes ("Love Streams"), Norman Mailer ("Tough Guys ...
- 10/7/2014
- by Tom Christie
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Deauville Film Festival heads have unveiled the make-up of the 40th edition of the fest, and naturally this coming September, we’ve got a Sundance-infused edition being readied for the North West coastal town. Celebrating several new American indie auteurs, noteworthy filmmakers from Park City include Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), A.J. Edwards (The Better Angels), Mark Jackson (War Story) and Damien Chazelle’s much acclaimed Whiplash. Also found in the 14 In Comp slate we find Nathan Silver’s Uncertain Terms — which our Nicholas Bell called “uneasy, uncomfortable, and certainly uncertain”. Also on tap: the French premieres of Before I Go to Sleep and director Chris Messina’s Alex of Venice. Here is the full selection and you can make a detour here to see who is being celebrated at the fest.
In Competition:
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour
I Origins,...
In Competition:
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour
I Origins,...
- 8/20/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The cinephile and prolific Israeli filmmaker who led Cannon Films with his cousin and produced a Death Wish sequel and The Delta Force has died. He was 85.
Golan was born to parents of Polish descent and joined the Israeli Air Force in his youth.
He studied film in London and New York and went to work for Roger Corman on The Young Racers. Golan directed his first feature shortly after that in 1963.
He and Golbus founded Noah Films, which made Israeli foreign-language Oscar nominee I Love You Rosa among other acclaimed titles. Golan himself directed an Israeli foreign-language nominee in the form of the 1977 thriller Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan).
He and his cousin Yorum Globus acquired Cannon Films in the late 1970s and ran it for 10 years, making such films as the Death Wish sequels, The Delta Force and Kickboxer, itself now the subject of a remake.
Golan and Globus were featured in Hilla Medalia’s recent...
Golan was born to parents of Polish descent and joined the Israeli Air Force in his youth.
He studied film in London and New York and went to work for Roger Corman on The Young Racers. Golan directed his first feature shortly after that in 1963.
He and Golbus founded Noah Films, which made Israeli foreign-language Oscar nominee I Love You Rosa among other acclaimed titles. Golan himself directed an Israeli foreign-language nominee in the form of the 1977 thriller Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan).
He and his cousin Yorum Globus acquired Cannon Films in the late 1970s and ran it for 10 years, making such films as the Death Wish sequels, The Delta Force and Kickboxer, itself now the subject of a remake.
Golan and Globus were featured in Hilla Medalia’s recent...
- 8/8/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The cinephile and prolific Israeli filmmaker who led Cannon Films with his cousin and produced a Death Wish sequel and The Delta Force has died. He was 85.
Golan was born to parents of Polish descent and joined the Israeli Air Force in his youth.
He studied film in London and New York and went to work for Roger Corman on The Young Racers. Golan directed his first feature shortly after that in 1963.
He and Golbus founded Noah Films, which made Israeli foreign-language Oscar nominee I Love You Rosa among other acclaimed titles. Golan himself directed an Israeli foreign-language nominee in the form of the 1977 thriller Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan).
He and his cousin Yorum Globus acquired Cannon Films in the late 1970s and ran it for 10 years, making such films as the Death Wish sequels, The Delta Force and Kickboxer, itself now the subject of a remake.
Golan and Globus were featured in Hilla Medalia’s recent...
Golan was born to parents of Polish descent and joined the Israeli Air Force in his youth.
He studied film in London and New York and went to work for Roger Corman on The Young Racers. Golan directed his first feature shortly after that in 1963.
He and Golbus founded Noah Films, which made Israeli foreign-language Oscar nominee I Love You Rosa among other acclaimed titles. Golan himself directed an Israeli foreign-language nominee in the form of the 1977 thriller Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan).
He and his cousin Yorum Globus acquired Cannon Films in the late 1970s and ran it for 10 years, making such films as the Death Wish sequels, The Delta Force and Kickboxer, itself now the subject of a remake.
Golan and Globus were featured in Hilla Medalia’s recent...
- 8/8/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Web Junkie, Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia’s startling documentary about internet addiction in China opens today at New York’s Film Forum. At Sundance, where it premiered, it was considered by Brandon Harris, and Danielle Lurie interviewed the directors. Wrote Harris, in a piece that also included discussion of the doc Love Child: In Web Junkie, teenage boys, often having been deceived into going or plainly drugged and captured with their parents’ approval, suffer a military bootcamp-style existence complete with isolation chambers and other forms of moderately cruel discipline, interspersed with moments of counseling from sensitive, largely female psychologists and a […]...
- 8/6/2014
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Web Junkie, Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia’s startling documentary about internet addiction in China opens today at New York’s Film Forum. At Sundance, where it premiered, it was considered by Brandon Harris, and Danielle Lurie interviewed the directors. Wrote Harris, in a piece that also included discussion of the doc Love Child: In Web Junkie, teenage boys, often having been deceived into going or plainly drugged and captured with their parents’ approval, suffer a military bootcamp-style existence complete with isolation chambers and other forms of moderately cruel discipline, interspersed with moments of counseling from sensitive, largely female psychologists and a […]...
- 8/6/2014
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
When the sullen, confused teenage boys of Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia's doc Web Junkie speak of being drugged and tricked into a three-month stay at a militaristic rehabilitation facility to cure their addictions to online gaming, you will probably wonder at the extremeness.
Their parents fret about their boys' neglected studies, unpredictable temperaments, and disrespectful back talk — things that might seem par for the course for 16-year-olds. The treatment is so severe that it plays like satire of bad science fiction: Nurses with military escorts scurry through empty halls, as anguished cries sound from behind closed doors. Dead-eyed teenagers get hooked up to alien Eeg machines and are berated by drill sergeants. Psychologists tell us in furtive talking-head ...
Their parents fret about their boys' neglected studies, unpredictable temperaments, and disrespectful back talk — things that might seem par for the course for 16-year-olds. The treatment is so severe that it plays like satire of bad science fiction: Nurses with military escorts scurry through empty halls, as anguished cries sound from behind closed doors. Dead-eyed teenagers get hooked up to alien Eeg machines and are berated by drill sergeants. Psychologists tell us in furtive talking-head ...
- 8/6/2014
- Village Voice
Ifp announced its 2014 slate of 133 new films in development and works in progress selected for its esteemed Project Forum at Independent Film Week. This one-of-a-kind event brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new projects by nurturing the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers. Through the Project Forum, creatives connect with financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences. Under the curatorial leadership of Deputy Director/Head of Programming Amy Dotson & Senior Director of Programming Milton Tabbot, this one-of-a-kind event takes place September 14-18, 2014 at Lincoln Center supporting bold new content from a wide variety of domestic and international artists.
“As we set to embark on our 36th Independent Film Week, we are impressed by the outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects selected for this year’s Project Forum,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of Ifp. “We know that the industry will be as excited as we are with the accomplished storytellers and their diverse and boundary pushing films.”
Featured works at the 2014 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. From documentarians Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How To Nail A Dictator"), and Penny Lane ("Our Nixon") to Michelangelo Frammartino ("Quattro Volte") and Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), as well as new work from critically acclaimed artists and directors Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Travis Matthews ("Interior. Leather. Bar") and Yen Tan ("Pit Stop").
Independent Film Week brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new documentary and narrative works-in-progress and support the future of storytelling. The program nurtures the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers through the facilitation of over 3,500+ custom, one-to-one meetings with the financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences. In recent years, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Rama Burshtein ("Fill The Void"), Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine"), Marshall Curry ("If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth LIberation Front"), Laura Poitras ("The Oath"), Denis Villeneuve ("Incendies") and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild").
For the full 2014 Project Forum slate visit Here
New For 2014
Evenly split between documentary and narrative features, selected projects hail from throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada, as well Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. New this year, Ifp will be including web series in it programming, as well as spotlighting Latin & Central American artists and content with 15 projects featured across all programs in the Forum.
In a joint effort to recognize the importance of career and creative sustainability, Ifp and Durga Entertainment have partnered on a new $20,000 filmmaker grant for an alumnus of Ifp. The grant is intended for active, working filmmakers who are also balancing a filmmaking career with parenting. The grant provides a $20,000 unrestricted prize to encourage the recipient to continue on her or his career path of making quality independent films. American directors or screenwriters working in narrative film who have participated in the Ifp Filmmaker Labs or Ifp Independent Film Week's Emerging Storytellers or No-Borders International Co-Production market are encouraged to apply by the deadline of August 8, 2014.
Narrative Feature Highlights
Narrative features and webseries in Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene.
This year’s slate includes new feature scripts featuring directors Dev Benegal ("Road, Movie"), Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin ("Now, Forager"), Michelangelo Frammartino ("Le Quattro Volte"),Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Rashaad Ernesto Green ("Gun Hill Road"), Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita Y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"),Alison Klayman ("Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"), Travis Mathews ("Interior. Leather Bar"), Stacie Passon ("Concussion"), Yen Tan ("Pit Stop"), as well as up-an-coming actor/directors Karrie Crouse ("Land Ho!") and Peter Vack ("Fort Tilden""I Believe in Unicorns").
Producers and executive producers of note attached to participating projects include Jennifer Dubin and Cora Olson ("Good Dick"), Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams ("Hellion"),Laura Heberton ("Gayby"), Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Kishori Rajan ("Gimme the Loot"), Adele Romanski ("The Myth of the American Sleepover"), Kim Sherman ("A Teacher"), Susan Stover ("High Art"), and Alicia Van Couvering ("Tiny Furniture").
Web Storytellers Highlights
For the first time this year, Ifp presents a dedicated spotlight within the Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program for creators developing episodic content for digital platforms. The inaugural slate for the Web Storytellers spotlight includes new works from filmmakers Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior", HBO’s Girls), Calvin Reeder ("The Rambler"), and Gregory Bayne ("Person of Interest"), as well as producers Elisabeth Holm ("Obvious Child"), Susan Leber ( "Down to the Bone"), and Amanda Warman ("The Outs,"Whatever This Is"). Two of the series participating are currently in post-production, and will be making their online debut in the coming months – Rachel Morgan’s Middle Americans, starring Scott Thompson, Carlen Altman, and Alex Rennie, and Daniel Zimbler and Elisabeth Gray’s Understudies, starring Richard Kind and David Rasche. [p Spotlight On Documentaries Highlights
The documentary selection includes new work from seasoned non-fiction directors such as Emmy winners Robert Bahar andAlmudena Carracedo ("Made in La"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How to Nail a Dictator"),Ramona Diaz ("Imelda," "Don’t Stop Believin’") Gini Reticker ("Pray the Devil Back to Hell") Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"); from producers such as Court 13’s Benh Zeitlin and Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Liran Atzmor ("The Law in These Parts"), Tim Williams ("Once In A Lifetime") and Hilla Medalia ("Web Junkie"), and follow-up second features from recent doc world “breakouts”Steve Hoover ("Blood Brother") Penny Lane ("Our Nixon"), Michael Collins ("Give Up Tomorrow"), and Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker ("Flex is Kings").
Exciting new work from debut documentary directors previously known for fiction films include Alex Sichel ("All over Me") with her personal doc The Movie about Anna, Lisa Cortés (producer, "Precious") with "Mothership: The Untold Story of Women and Hip Hop," and Daniel Patrick Carbone ("Hide Your Smiling Faces") with Phantom Cowboys.
Sponsors
Independent Film Week’s Premier sponsors are Royal Bank of Canada (Rbc) and HBO. Gold sponsors are A&E IndieFilms and SAGIndie. Silver sponsors are Durga Entertainment, Eastman Kodak Company, National Film & Video Foundation of South Africa and Telefilm Canada. Official Independent Film Week Partner is Film Society of Lincoln Center. Independent Film Week is supported, in part, by funds provided by the Ford Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and Time Warner Foundation.
About Ifp
The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Independent Film Week, Filmmaker Magazine, the Gotham Independent Film Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by Ifp, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Ifp represents a growing network of 10,000 storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 35-year history, Ifp has supported over 8,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, including Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin. More info at www.ifp.org.
“As we set to embark on our 36th Independent Film Week, we are impressed by the outstanding slate of both U.S. and international projects selected for this year’s Project Forum,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director of Ifp. “We know that the industry will be as excited as we are with the accomplished storytellers and their diverse and boundary pushing films.”
Featured works at the 2014 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. From documentarians Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How To Nail A Dictator"), and Penny Lane ("Our Nixon") to Michelangelo Frammartino ("Quattro Volte") and Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), as well as new work from critically acclaimed artists and directors Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"), Travis Matthews ("Interior. Leather. Bar") and Yen Tan ("Pit Stop").
Independent Film Week brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new documentary and narrative works-in-progress and support the future of storytelling. The program nurtures the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers through the facilitation of over 3,500+ custom, one-to-one meetings with the financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences. In recent years, it has also played a vital role in launching the first films of many of today’s rising stars on the independent scene including Rama Burshtein ("Fill The Void"), Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine"), Marshall Curry ("If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth LIberation Front"), Laura Poitras ("The Oath"), Denis Villeneuve ("Incendies") and Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild").
For the full 2014 Project Forum slate visit Here
New For 2014
Evenly split between documentary and narrative features, selected projects hail from throughout the U.S., Europe and Canada, as well Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. New this year, Ifp will be including web series in it programming, as well as spotlighting Latin & Central American artists and content with 15 projects featured across all programs in the Forum.
In a joint effort to recognize the importance of career and creative sustainability, Ifp and Durga Entertainment have partnered on a new $20,000 filmmaker grant for an alumnus of Ifp. The grant is intended for active, working filmmakers who are also balancing a filmmaking career with parenting. The grant provides a $20,000 unrestricted prize to encourage the recipient to continue on her or his career path of making quality independent films. American directors or screenwriters working in narrative film who have participated in the Ifp Filmmaker Labs or Ifp Independent Film Week's Emerging Storytellers or No-Borders International Co-Production market are encouraged to apply by the deadline of August 8, 2014.
Narrative Feature Highlights
Narrative features and webseries in Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers and No Borders International Co-Production Market sections highlight new work from top emerging and established creative visionaries on the U.S. and international independent scene.
This year’s slate includes new feature scripts featuring directors Dev Benegal ("Road, Movie"), Alexis Dos Santos ("Unmade Beds"), Jason Cortlund and Julia Halperin ("Now, Forager"), Michelangelo Frammartino ("Le Quattro Volte"),Terry George ("Hotel Rwanda"), Rashaad Ernesto Green ("Gun Hill Road"), Aurora Guerrero ("Mosquita Y Mari"), Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy"),Alison Klayman ("Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"), Travis Mathews ("Interior. Leather Bar"), Stacie Passon ("Concussion"), Yen Tan ("Pit Stop"), as well as up-an-coming actor/directors Karrie Crouse ("Land Ho!") and Peter Vack ("Fort Tilden""I Believe in Unicorns").
Producers and executive producers of note attached to participating projects include Jennifer Dubin and Cora Olson ("Good Dick"), Jonathan Duffy and Kelly Williams ("Hellion"),Laura Heberton ("Gayby"), Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Kishori Rajan ("Gimme the Loot"), Adele Romanski ("The Myth of the American Sleepover"), Kim Sherman ("A Teacher"), Susan Stover ("High Art"), and Alicia Van Couvering ("Tiny Furniture").
Web Storytellers Highlights
For the first time this year, Ifp presents a dedicated spotlight within the Rbc’s Emerging Storytellers program for creators developing episodic content for digital platforms. The inaugural slate for the Web Storytellers spotlight includes new works from filmmakers Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior", HBO’s Girls), Calvin Reeder ("The Rambler"), and Gregory Bayne ("Person of Interest"), as well as producers Elisabeth Holm ("Obvious Child"), Susan Leber ( "Down to the Bone"), and Amanda Warman ("The Outs,"Whatever This Is"). Two of the series participating are currently in post-production, and will be making their online debut in the coming months – Rachel Morgan’s Middle Americans, starring Scott Thompson, Carlen Altman, and Alex Rennie, and Daniel Zimbler and Elisabeth Gray’s Understudies, starring Richard Kind and David Rasche. [p Spotlight On Documentaries Highlights
The documentary selection includes new work from seasoned non-fiction directors such as Emmy winners Robert Bahar andAlmudena Carracedo ("Made in La"), Pamela Yates ("Granito: How to Nail a Dictator"),Ramona Diaz ("Imelda," "Don’t Stop Believin’") Gini Reticker ("Pray the Devil Back to Hell") Tony Gerber ("Full Battle Rattle"); from producers such as Court 13’s Benh Zeitlin and Dan Janvey ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Liran Atzmor ("The Law in These Parts"), Tim Williams ("Once In A Lifetime") and Hilla Medalia ("Web Junkie"), and follow-up second features from recent doc world “breakouts”Steve Hoover ("Blood Brother") Penny Lane ("Our Nixon"), Michael Collins ("Give Up Tomorrow"), and Michael Nichols and Christopher Walker ("Flex is Kings").
Exciting new work from debut documentary directors previously known for fiction films include Alex Sichel ("All over Me") with her personal doc The Movie about Anna, Lisa Cortés (producer, "Precious") with "Mothership: The Untold Story of Women and Hip Hop," and Daniel Patrick Carbone ("Hide Your Smiling Faces") with Phantom Cowboys.
Sponsors
Independent Film Week’s Premier sponsors are Royal Bank of Canada (Rbc) and HBO. Gold sponsors are A&E IndieFilms and SAGIndie. Silver sponsors are Durga Entertainment, Eastman Kodak Company, National Film & Video Foundation of South Africa and Telefilm Canada. Official Independent Film Week Partner is Film Society of Lincoln Center. Independent Film Week is supported, in part, by funds provided by the Ford Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and Time Warner Foundation.
About Ifp
The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) champions the future of storytelling by connecting artists with essential resources at all stages of development and distribution. The organization fosters a vibrant and sustainable independent storytelling community through its year-round programs, which include Independent Film Week, Filmmaker Magazine, the Gotham Independent Film Awards and the Made in NY Media Center by Ifp, a new incubator space developed with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Ifp represents a growing network of 10,000 storytellers around the world, and plays a key role in developing 350 new feature and documentary works each year. During its 35-year history, Ifp has supported over 8,000 projects and offered resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers, including Debra Granik, Miranda July, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, and Benh Zeitlin. More info at www.ifp.org.
- 7/25/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
On the heels of the 39th edition of the Toronto Int. Film Festival (Sept 4-14), Ifp’s Independent Film Week is where a plethora of fiction, non-fiction and new this year, web-based series from the likes of Desiree Akhavan and Calvin Reeder find future coin. Sectioned off as projects at the very beginning of financing to those that are nearing completion, there happens to be tons of Sundance alumni in the names below. Among those that caught our attention we have Medicine for Melancholy‘s Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature, produced by Bad Milo!‘s Adele Romanski, Moonlight is about “two Miami boys navigate the temptations of the drug trade and their burgeoning sexuality in this triptych drama about black queer youth”. Concussion‘s Stacie Passon digs into the thriller genre with Strange Things Started Happening. Produced by vet Mary Jane Skalski (Mysterious Skin), this is about “a woman who has...
- 7/24/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Premiering in Cartagena Film Festival 2014 and then going to the filmmakers’ hometown, New York City, where " Manos Sucias" ("Dirty Hands") won Tribeca Film Festival’s Best New Narrative Director Award and 2nd place Audience Award, this film has not yet closed Us distribution, but has been acquired internationally by some of the best distributors.
In Cannes, Marina de la Fuentes’ international sales agency, 6 Sales, sold it to Paris-based Pretty Pictures who acquired not only France – its usual home territory – but also Germany, Austria, Benelux and Switzerland. James Velaise of Pretty Pictures screened the film at Tribeca and “immediately fell madly in love with it,” he said.
“It came totally out of the blue, we were mesmerized by the filmmaking. As a first-time film 'Manos Sucias' is outstanding, as good as anything we’ve seen coming out of Latin America in a long time,” said Velaise.
Shot on location in Colombia, using local actors who speak the patois of Buenaventura, "Manos Sucias" reflects years of painstaking research by Josef Wladyka.
“What is fascinating is that the filmmaker spent five years in Buenaventura learning what was going on there and building up the trust of people. The average filmmaker would never take the time to do that. You feel that in the film: There a sense of genuineness which you don’t get in 99% of indie films today,” said Velaise.
At the same time, 'Manos Sucias' is “incredibly tight: On paper, it has some breakout potential to it, because it is a thriller, ” he added.
Pretty Pictures will now seek to sell the film on to distributors in the other four territories, all significant distributors for arthouse films. Velaise reasons that companies exist in these territories that often buy the same films as Pretty Pictures, and share similar tastes. (e.g., "La Jaula de Oro", premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard 2013 and was acquired by Belgium-Fourcorners Distribution, France-Pretty Pictures, Germany-Films Boutique, Hong Kong (China)-Encore Inflight Limited, Hungary-Cirko Film Kft., Italy-Parthenos S.R.L., Mexico-Canibal Networks, Netherlands-Wild Bunch Benelux, Norway-As Fidalgo Film Distribution, Poland-Art House, Puerto Rico-Wiesner Distribution, Switzerland-Xenix Filmdistribution Gmbh, Taiwan-Maison Motion, Inc., U.K.- Peccadillo Pictures or "Love is Strange" by Ira Sachs premiered at Sundance 2014 and was acquired by U.S.-Sony Pictures Classics, Australia-Rialto Distribution (Australia), Canada-Métropole Films Distribution, Canada-Mongrel Media Inc., France-Pretty Pictures, Italy-Koch Media, Mexico-Cinemas Nueva Era, Portugal-Midas Filmes, Spain-Golem Distribución, Switzerland-Xenix Filmdistribution Gmbh, Turkey-Kurmaca Film, U.K.- Altitude Film Sales). These distributors are all likely candidates to acquire rights to "Manos Sucias" as well.
U.S. rights to "Manos Sucias" are handled by Wme Global’s Mark Ankner and Christine D’Souza. Distributors seeking to win over the booming Latino audience, and who have an affinity for gritty, action-packed, arthouse thrillers, or any of Pretty Pictures’ recent acquisitions (see below) owe it to themselves to check out this film.
This pioneering U.S.- Colombia production was the debut feature by writer-director, Josef Kubota Wladyka and co-writer-dp Alan Blanco. It was produced by Elena Greenlee, Márcia Nunes, Mirlanda Torres Zapata and Carolina Caicedo and exec-produced by U.S. Film Director Spike Lee.
"Manos Sucias" follows two estranged brothers, both Afro-Colombian fishermen, who embark on a fishing-boat from Buenaventura, Colombia’s biggest Pacific Coast port and a violent drug trade emporium. Their mission is to tow underwater a “narco-torpedo” packed with 100 kilos of cocaine to Panama. En route, they must circumnavigate marauding paramilitaries and impoverished villagers eager for their cargo.
In Cartagena, I interviewed the director, Dp, and producers. Josef Wladyka is a U.S. citizen who is the son of a Japanese mother and a Polish father. He received the Spike Lee Fellowship while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at Nyu.
Josef:
You could say this is a drug story, but you should know it is much more than that. In a fisherman’s village the Afro Colombians are confronted with drug traffic taking place on their ancestral beaches where they have lived for generations.
Before I started Grad Film School at Nyu, I spent several months backpacking with a close friend in South America. We traveled along the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Colombia, and went through these towns that were under siege by narco-trafficking. The locals would tell us stories about homemade submarines, narco-torpedoes, and different armed groups that would fight to control these areas. I became very interested in the subject and wanted to immerse myself more in the world. With the help of a friend from the region, I went back several times to Buenaventura, Tumaco, and other parts of the Pacific coast of Colombia to continue researching and collecting stories.
I also got permission to go to Malaga Naval Base where I saw confiscated narco-torpedoes and submarines first hand. I always had a camera with me and shot lots of footage during my travels. I used that footage to make a pitch video for raising money from Kickstarter and private equity.
The film is an official Colombian production, recognized by the Ley de Cine (The Cinema Law). It is a 50-50 coproduction with Colombian producers Carolina Caicedo and Mirlanda Zapata. With our U.S. producers, Márcia Nunes and Elena Greenlee, that makes four female producers on this film.
Cine Colombia , Colombia’s largest distributor and theater owner, one of the Cartagena Film Festival sponsors as well, invested in the film, as did Caracol, one of Colombia’s top two broadcasters.
Márcia knew Cine Colombia from her previous life in international sales with Goldcrest. Elena, Alan and I scouted in October 2012, one week in Bogotá and through Proimagenes we met many possible co-producers and visited locations. We chose young producers who were hungry for their first film; they were not rigid.
The U.S. producers wanted to do the film U.S. indie style, not in the usual Colombian style. We shot it in Buenaventura, Colombia’s largest port, which has been hit very hard by narco traffickers and violence.
This was the first feature for everyone. Except for Márcia, who got her Masters of Film Business at Gallatin School of Nyu, the others all got their MFAs from Tisch, though some graduated two years ago and others four years ago.
How we, as foreigners, were able to make this film, opening up delicate, sensitive and violent stories, was based on my having no assumptions. And our own cross-cultural backgrounds helped.
We had a great premiere in Cartagena. The festival permits people to see films for free and we were able to test the Colombian audience’s reaction. The film explores the international issue of drug trafficking and the social-exclusion of the Afro-Colombian community on the coast from the mainstream economy in Colombia. The film is genre bending; it is not too arty and is not fully a genre movie. The audience of 800 to 1,000 Colombians laughed and cried, even danced in their seats. Three of the actors also saw the film for the first time, as did the crew. When the actors came up for the Q & A they received a standing ovation from the crowd. It was a beautiful moment.
We offered free audiovisual workshops for the community before we shot the film, and found many of our actors and crewmembers through that process. We used Kickstarter to raise Us $60,000 to greenlight production and fund our community workshops in Buenaventura.
Film Independent bestowed the Canon Filmmaker Award upon the film’s two producers, who are also Film Independent Producing Fellows. The Canon Filmmaker Award Program is a program for Film Independent Fellows, alumni of the Los Angeles Film Festival and Spirit Awards Nominees and Winners. Producers Elena Greenlee and Márcia Nunes who had participated in the Find Producing Lab with the project were awarded with the loan of a Canon camera package for their production. Further support was granted by the San Francisco Film Society, who, together with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, awarded the film with two grants, one during the production phase, and one during post-production.
Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development at Film Independent spoke with Elena and Márcia in those early days about Manos Sucias and its upcoming shoot, and here’s what they had to say then:
Manos Sucias, Canon Filmmaker Award Winner Round 2
"The social exclusion of the Pacific coast — home to much of the Afro-Colombian population — is felt throughout the country, echoed in the sentiment that Colombia “doesn’t really have a black population.” While popular culture glamorizes cocaine “cowboys,” and the Us takes a tough stance in the “war on drugs,” few people acknowledge the oppression and resilience of these citizens.
Our goal is for the film to inspire change in our audience, and in the region. We want audiences to realize that people like Jacobo and Delio are not perpetuating the drug trade, they are trapped in it; and to reflect on the impact their personal choices have on the situation.”
“When Josef and Alan brought us the script in early 2012, we immediately fell in love with it. The characters jumped off the page, and we couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
Pretty Pictures roster of films illustrates their exceptional taste in films:
"The Dark Valley" ("Das Finstere Tal") By Andreas Prochaska (Acquired From Films Distribution In Feb 2014)
"Dancing In Jaffa" By Hilla Medalia (Acquired From K5 International In Apr 2013)
"Omar" By Hany Abu-Assad (Acquired From The Match Factory In Feb 2013)
"The Look Of Love" By Winterbottom Michael (Acquired From Studiocanal In Aug 2012)
"Pieta" By Ki-Duk Kim (Acquired From Finecut Co. Ltd. In Aug 2012)
"Wadjda" By Haifa Al-Mansour (Acquired From The Match Factory In May 2012)
"The Hunt" ("Jagten") By Thomas Vinterberg (Acquired From Trust In Apr 2012)
"Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present" By Matthew Akers (Acquired From Dogwoof In Feb 2012)...
In Cannes, Marina de la Fuentes’ international sales agency, 6 Sales, sold it to Paris-based Pretty Pictures who acquired not only France – its usual home territory – but also Germany, Austria, Benelux and Switzerland. James Velaise of Pretty Pictures screened the film at Tribeca and “immediately fell madly in love with it,” he said.
“It came totally out of the blue, we were mesmerized by the filmmaking. As a first-time film 'Manos Sucias' is outstanding, as good as anything we’ve seen coming out of Latin America in a long time,” said Velaise.
Shot on location in Colombia, using local actors who speak the patois of Buenaventura, "Manos Sucias" reflects years of painstaking research by Josef Wladyka.
“What is fascinating is that the filmmaker spent five years in Buenaventura learning what was going on there and building up the trust of people. The average filmmaker would never take the time to do that. You feel that in the film: There a sense of genuineness which you don’t get in 99% of indie films today,” said Velaise.
At the same time, 'Manos Sucias' is “incredibly tight: On paper, it has some breakout potential to it, because it is a thriller, ” he added.
Pretty Pictures will now seek to sell the film on to distributors in the other four territories, all significant distributors for arthouse films. Velaise reasons that companies exist in these territories that often buy the same films as Pretty Pictures, and share similar tastes. (e.g., "La Jaula de Oro", premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard 2013 and was acquired by Belgium-Fourcorners Distribution, France-Pretty Pictures, Germany-Films Boutique, Hong Kong (China)-Encore Inflight Limited, Hungary-Cirko Film Kft., Italy-Parthenos S.R.L., Mexico-Canibal Networks, Netherlands-Wild Bunch Benelux, Norway-As Fidalgo Film Distribution, Poland-Art House, Puerto Rico-Wiesner Distribution, Switzerland-Xenix Filmdistribution Gmbh, Taiwan-Maison Motion, Inc., U.K.- Peccadillo Pictures or "Love is Strange" by Ira Sachs premiered at Sundance 2014 and was acquired by U.S.-Sony Pictures Classics, Australia-Rialto Distribution (Australia), Canada-Métropole Films Distribution, Canada-Mongrel Media Inc., France-Pretty Pictures, Italy-Koch Media, Mexico-Cinemas Nueva Era, Portugal-Midas Filmes, Spain-Golem Distribución, Switzerland-Xenix Filmdistribution Gmbh, Turkey-Kurmaca Film, U.K.- Altitude Film Sales). These distributors are all likely candidates to acquire rights to "Manos Sucias" as well.
U.S. rights to "Manos Sucias" are handled by Wme Global’s Mark Ankner and Christine D’Souza. Distributors seeking to win over the booming Latino audience, and who have an affinity for gritty, action-packed, arthouse thrillers, or any of Pretty Pictures’ recent acquisitions (see below) owe it to themselves to check out this film.
This pioneering U.S.- Colombia production was the debut feature by writer-director, Josef Kubota Wladyka and co-writer-dp Alan Blanco. It was produced by Elena Greenlee, Márcia Nunes, Mirlanda Torres Zapata and Carolina Caicedo and exec-produced by U.S. Film Director Spike Lee.
"Manos Sucias" follows two estranged brothers, both Afro-Colombian fishermen, who embark on a fishing-boat from Buenaventura, Colombia’s biggest Pacific Coast port and a violent drug trade emporium. Their mission is to tow underwater a “narco-torpedo” packed with 100 kilos of cocaine to Panama. En route, they must circumnavigate marauding paramilitaries and impoverished villagers eager for their cargo.
In Cartagena, I interviewed the director, Dp, and producers. Josef Wladyka is a U.S. citizen who is the son of a Japanese mother and a Polish father. He received the Spike Lee Fellowship while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at Nyu.
Josef:
You could say this is a drug story, but you should know it is much more than that. In a fisherman’s village the Afro Colombians are confronted with drug traffic taking place on their ancestral beaches where they have lived for generations.
Before I started Grad Film School at Nyu, I spent several months backpacking with a close friend in South America. We traveled along the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Colombia, and went through these towns that were under siege by narco-trafficking. The locals would tell us stories about homemade submarines, narco-torpedoes, and different armed groups that would fight to control these areas. I became very interested in the subject and wanted to immerse myself more in the world. With the help of a friend from the region, I went back several times to Buenaventura, Tumaco, and other parts of the Pacific coast of Colombia to continue researching and collecting stories.
I also got permission to go to Malaga Naval Base where I saw confiscated narco-torpedoes and submarines first hand. I always had a camera with me and shot lots of footage during my travels. I used that footage to make a pitch video for raising money from Kickstarter and private equity.
The film is an official Colombian production, recognized by the Ley de Cine (The Cinema Law). It is a 50-50 coproduction with Colombian producers Carolina Caicedo and Mirlanda Zapata. With our U.S. producers, Márcia Nunes and Elena Greenlee, that makes four female producers on this film.
Cine Colombia , Colombia’s largest distributor and theater owner, one of the Cartagena Film Festival sponsors as well, invested in the film, as did Caracol, one of Colombia’s top two broadcasters.
Márcia knew Cine Colombia from her previous life in international sales with Goldcrest. Elena, Alan and I scouted in October 2012, one week in Bogotá and through Proimagenes we met many possible co-producers and visited locations. We chose young producers who were hungry for their first film; they were not rigid.
The U.S. producers wanted to do the film U.S. indie style, not in the usual Colombian style. We shot it in Buenaventura, Colombia’s largest port, which has been hit very hard by narco traffickers and violence.
This was the first feature for everyone. Except for Márcia, who got her Masters of Film Business at Gallatin School of Nyu, the others all got their MFAs from Tisch, though some graduated two years ago and others four years ago.
How we, as foreigners, were able to make this film, opening up delicate, sensitive and violent stories, was based on my having no assumptions. And our own cross-cultural backgrounds helped.
We had a great premiere in Cartagena. The festival permits people to see films for free and we were able to test the Colombian audience’s reaction. The film explores the international issue of drug trafficking and the social-exclusion of the Afro-Colombian community on the coast from the mainstream economy in Colombia. The film is genre bending; it is not too arty and is not fully a genre movie. The audience of 800 to 1,000 Colombians laughed and cried, even danced in their seats. Three of the actors also saw the film for the first time, as did the crew. When the actors came up for the Q & A they received a standing ovation from the crowd. It was a beautiful moment.
We offered free audiovisual workshops for the community before we shot the film, and found many of our actors and crewmembers through that process. We used Kickstarter to raise Us $60,000 to greenlight production and fund our community workshops in Buenaventura.
Film Independent bestowed the Canon Filmmaker Award upon the film’s two producers, who are also Film Independent Producing Fellows. The Canon Filmmaker Award Program is a program for Film Independent Fellows, alumni of the Los Angeles Film Festival and Spirit Awards Nominees and Winners. Producers Elena Greenlee and Márcia Nunes who had participated in the Find Producing Lab with the project were awarded with the loan of a Canon camera package for their production. Further support was granted by the San Francisco Film Society, who, together with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, awarded the film with two grants, one during the production phase, and one during post-production.
Jennifer Kushner, Director of Artist Development at Film Independent spoke with Elena and Márcia in those early days about Manos Sucias and its upcoming shoot, and here’s what they had to say then:
Manos Sucias, Canon Filmmaker Award Winner Round 2
"The social exclusion of the Pacific coast — home to much of the Afro-Colombian population — is felt throughout the country, echoed in the sentiment that Colombia “doesn’t really have a black population.” While popular culture glamorizes cocaine “cowboys,” and the Us takes a tough stance in the “war on drugs,” few people acknowledge the oppression and resilience of these citizens.
Our goal is for the film to inspire change in our audience, and in the region. We want audiences to realize that people like Jacobo and Delio are not perpetuating the drug trade, they are trapped in it; and to reflect on the impact their personal choices have on the situation.”
“When Josef and Alan brought us the script in early 2012, we immediately fell in love with it. The characters jumped off the page, and we couldn’t stop thinking about it.”
Pretty Pictures roster of films illustrates their exceptional taste in films:
"The Dark Valley" ("Das Finstere Tal") By Andreas Prochaska (Acquired From Films Distribution In Feb 2014)
"Dancing In Jaffa" By Hilla Medalia (Acquired From K5 International In Apr 2013)
"Omar" By Hany Abu-Assad (Acquired From The Match Factory In Feb 2013)
"The Look Of Love" By Winterbottom Michael (Acquired From Studiocanal In Aug 2012)
"Pieta" By Ki-Duk Kim (Acquired From Finecut Co. Ltd. In Aug 2012)
"Wadjda" By Haifa Al-Mansour (Acquired From The Match Factory In May 2012)
"The Hunt" ("Jagten") By Thomas Vinterberg (Acquired From Trust In Apr 2012)
"Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present" By Matthew Akers (Acquired From Dogwoof In Feb 2012)...
- 7/18/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A trip by Israeli reggae producers to Jamaica, Final Solution architect Heinrich Himmler, new immigrant angst and a pit ball rescue centre are among the many worlds explored in this year’s Israeli Documentary Competition.
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
- 7/11/2014
- ScreenDaily
A trip by Israeli reggae producers to Jamaica, Final Solution architect Heinrich Himmler, new immigrant angst and a pit ball rescue centre are among the many worlds explored in this year’s Israeli Documentary Competition.
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.
The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].
Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.
Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...
- 7/11/2014
- ScreenDaily
Most of us can probably admit that, in all earnestness, we spend too much time online: whether it’s scrolling through Facebook past schoolmates you inexplicably stay friends with, browsing Bieber hashtags on Twitter (ironically of course) or binging on Game of Thrones. Few of us would say that we need psychological evaluation however, or to be sent to a “rehabilitation camp”. Yet this is what’s currently happening in China—largely Beijing—in which the government has declared that “Internet addiction” is the number one clinical disorder among teenagers. Still want to boot up that World of Warcraft account?
It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at Hilla Medalia and Shosh Shlam’s quirky film Web Junkie. It seems almost ludicrous that scores of young people are being sent to bootcamps (now over 400 in existence) to teach them order and discipline simply because they are hardcore gamers.
It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at Hilla Medalia and Shosh Shlam’s quirky film Web Junkie. It seems almost ludicrous that scores of young people are being sent to bootcamps (now over 400 in existence) to teach them order and discipline simply because they are hardcore gamers.
- 6/11/2014
- by Andrew Latimer
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Festival to open with European premiere of The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers.
Open City Docs Fest holds its fourth edition in London next week from June 18-22.
Kicking off with the European premiere of Edward Owles’ The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers on June 17, the festival will also screen the likes of David Graham Scott’s Iboga Nights, Gianfranco Rosi’s Sacro Gra, Marc Silver’s Who is Dayani Cristal? and Hilla Medalia & Shosh Shlam’s Web Junkie.
It will close with the UK premiere of Pavel Loparev & Askold Kurov’s Children 404, followed by an awards ceremony.
This year’s awards are for Best UK Film and Emerging International Filmmaker, as well as a Grand Jury prize awarded by Pawel Pawlikowski (chair), Jeanie Finlay, Dr. Grit Lemke, Diana Tabokov and Chris Wilson.
Events at the festival include a talk with award-winning filmmaker Penny Woolcock, a masterclass held by Avi Mograbi and a...
Open City Docs Fest holds its fourth edition in London next week from June 18-22.
Kicking off with the European premiere of Edward Owles’ The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers on June 17, the festival will also screen the likes of David Graham Scott’s Iboga Nights, Gianfranco Rosi’s Sacro Gra, Marc Silver’s Who is Dayani Cristal? and Hilla Medalia & Shosh Shlam’s Web Junkie.
It will close with the UK premiere of Pavel Loparev & Askold Kurov’s Children 404, followed by an awards ceremony.
This year’s awards are for Best UK Film and Emerging International Filmmaker, as well as a Grand Jury prize awarded by Pawel Pawlikowski (chair), Jeanie Finlay, Dr. Grit Lemke, Diana Tabokov and Chris Wilson.
Events at the festival include a talk with award-winning filmmaker Penny Woolcock, a masterclass held by Avi Mograbi and a...
- 6/10/2014
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Documentary about legendary Israeli producers sells to France, Japan and Australia.
Hilla Medalia’s feature documentary The Go-Go Boys, capturing the life and times of legendary Israeli producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, has been racking up sales following its premiere in Cannes Classics.
Paris-based Other Angle has sold it France (Paradis Film), Japan (Nikkatsu Corporation) and Australia (Champion Pictures) and is close to sealing deals for the UK and Germany.
Both Golan and Globus were in town for the documentary’s packed out premiere last week followed by a party at their spiritual Cannes home of the Carlton, where they did business for more than 20 years.
The company has also sealed deals on hit French, found-footage comedy hit Babysitting in which a young employee trashes his boss’s house when he is asked to babysit for the weekend.
The picture, which has drawn 1.7m spectators in France, has sold to Spain (Inopia Films), Hungary (Cinetel...
Hilla Medalia’s feature documentary The Go-Go Boys, capturing the life and times of legendary Israeli producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, has been racking up sales following its premiere in Cannes Classics.
Paris-based Other Angle has sold it France (Paradis Film), Japan (Nikkatsu Corporation) and Australia (Champion Pictures) and is close to sealing deals for the UK and Germany.
Both Golan and Globus were in town for the documentary’s packed out premiere last week followed by a party at their spiritual Cannes home of the Carlton, where they did business for more than 20 years.
The company has also sealed deals on hit French, found-footage comedy hit Babysitting in which a young employee trashes his boss’s house when he is asked to babysit for the weekend.
The picture, which has drawn 1.7m spectators in France, has sold to Spain (Inopia Films), Hungary (Cinetel...
- 5/21/2014
- ScreenDaily
Dancing In Jaffa is a film that attempts to demonstrate how the power of dance can bring children together – even if their parents hate each other. It’s a well-made, heart-tugging documentary but would have been better had it focused more on the captivating kids at its center and less on their annoying teacher.
Jaffa is an ancient port city in Israel shared by both Jews and Palestinians. It’s also the birthplace of internationally renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine, who’d fled the country as a child. Dulaine fulfills a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back there, where over a ten-week period he teaches Jewish and Palestinian children to dance and compete together. The film focuses on three of these ten-year old kids, all of whom who are forced to confront issues of identity, segregation and racial prejudice as they dance with their “enemy”. There’s the shy boy Alaa,...
Jaffa is an ancient port city in Israel shared by both Jews and Palestinians. It’s also the birthplace of internationally renowned ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine, who’d fled the country as a child. Dulaine fulfills a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back there, where over a ten-week period he teaches Jewish and Palestinian children to dance and compete together. The film focuses on three of these ten-year old kids, all of whom who are forced to confront issues of identity, segregation and racial prejudice as they dance with their “enemy”. There’s the shy boy Alaa,...
- 5/16/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
What will it take for the Cannes Film Festival to show more documentaries? In the last 58 years, Cannes has selected only three documentaries for its main competition: Jacques Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle's "The Silent World" in 1956 and two films from Michael Moore ("Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11"). Rather, docs frequently pop up in the Special Screenings section. This year, they include Laurent Bécue-Renard's "Of Men and War," Steve James's "Life Itself," Hilla Medalia's "The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films," Gabe Polsky's "Red Army," Ossama Mohammed's "Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait," and Stéphanie Valloatto's "Cartoonists - Foot Soldiers Of Democracy." And while filmmakers experimenting with docu-fiction hybrids like Jia Zhang-ke ("24 City"), Ulrich Seidl ("Import/Export"), Pedro Costa ("Colossal Youth") and Lisandro Alonso (appearing this year in Certain Regard with "Jauja") continue to crash Cannes' vaunted barriers, the number isn't...
- 5/8/2014
- by Anthony Kaufman
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Paris-based sales company to hit Croisette with a trio of Official Selection titles, which also includes Keren Yedaya’s That Lovely Girl and The Go-Go Boys.
Other Angle Pictures has acquired international rights to Italian actress and director Asia Argento’s Incompresa ahead of its premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
The feature, Argento’s third, is loosely inspired by her childhood as the daughter of the genre maestro Dario Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi who collaborated on classics such as Suspiria and Inferno before going their separate ways.
French-Anglo actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, another child of famous parents who has been a friend of Argento since meeting on the set of the 2000 mini-series Les Misérables, plays the lead Italian-language role, based loosely on Nicolodi.
“We really believe in this film… it’s special, very emotional and personal, with nuances of the cinema of Sophia Coppola and Paolo Sorrentino,” said Other Angle co-chief Olivier Albou.
Other Angle expanding...
Other Angle Pictures has acquired international rights to Italian actress and director Asia Argento’s Incompresa ahead of its premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
The feature, Argento’s third, is loosely inspired by her childhood as the daughter of the genre maestro Dario Argento and actress Daria Nicolodi who collaborated on classics such as Suspiria and Inferno before going their separate ways.
French-Anglo actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, another child of famous parents who has been a friend of Argento since meeting on the set of the 2000 mini-series Les Misérables, plays the lead Italian-language role, based loosely on Nicolodi.
“We really believe in this film… it’s special, very emotional and personal, with nuances of the cinema of Sophia Coppola and Paolo Sorrentino,” said Other Angle co-chief Olivier Albou.
Other Angle expanding...
- 5/1/2014
- ScreenDaily
Above: Sophia Loren, this year's Guest of Honor, in Vittorio De Sica's Marriage Italian Style
The following films comprise this year's slate of Cannes Classics:
Marriage Italian Style (Vittorio De Sica)
A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone)
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
Regards sur une revolution: Comment Yukong déplaça les montagnes (Marceline Loridan & Joris Ivens)
Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima)
Wooden Crosses (Raymond Bernard)
Overlord (Stuart Cooper)
Fear (Roberto Rossellini)
Blind Chance (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Last Metro (François Truffaut)
Dragon Inn (King Hu)
Daybreak (Marcel Carné)
The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov)
Gracious Living (Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
Jamaica Inn (Alfred Hitchcock)
Les violons du bal (Michel Drach)
Blue Mountains (Eldar Shengelaia)
Lost Horizon (Frank Capra)
La chienne (Jean Renoir)
Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa)
8½ (Federico Fellini)
Two Documentaries about Cinema:
Life Itself (Steve James)
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films (Hilla Medalia)
None of these films will be presented on film.
The following films comprise this year's slate of Cannes Classics:
Marriage Italian Style (Vittorio De Sica)
A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone)
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
Regards sur une revolution: Comment Yukong déplaça les montagnes (Marceline Loridan & Joris Ivens)
Cruel Story of Youth (Nagisa Oshima)
Wooden Crosses (Raymond Bernard)
Overlord (Stuart Cooper)
Fear (Roberto Rossellini)
Blind Chance (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Last Metro (François Truffaut)
Dragon Inn (King Hu)
Daybreak (Marcel Carné)
The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov)
Gracious Living (Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
Jamaica Inn (Alfred Hitchcock)
Les violons du bal (Michel Drach)
Blue Mountains (Eldar Shengelaia)
Lost Horizon (Frank Capra)
La chienne (Jean Renoir)
Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa)
8½ (Federico Fellini)
Two Documentaries about Cinema:
Life Itself (Steve James)
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films (Hilla Medalia)
None of these films will be presented on film.
- 5/1/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Sophia Loren named guest of honour and Kieslowski returns to Cannes Film Festival. No 35mm prints to be screened for the first time.
The Cannes Classics line-up of film masterpieces, presented in restored prints, has been announced. The programme comprises 22 features and two documentaries, screened in either 2K or 4K. But for the first time no 35mm print will be screened at Cannes Classics “with regret for some or with celebration for others”, according to a statement.
Guest of honour will be Sophia Loren, who won the award for Best Actress at Cannes in 1961 and was president of the jury in 1966. She will be present at the screening of La Voce Humana (2014), directed by Edoardo Ponti, which marks her return to movies.
That same evening, a 4K restoration of 1964 film Marriage Italian Style (Matrimonio all’italiana) by Vittorio De Sica will be screened.
Loren has also accepted to give a masterclass - a conversation which will take...
The Cannes Classics line-up of film masterpieces, presented in restored prints, has been announced. The programme comprises 22 features and two documentaries, screened in either 2K or 4K. But for the first time no 35mm print will be screened at Cannes Classics “with regret for some or with celebration for others”, according to a statement.
Guest of honour will be Sophia Loren, who won the award for Best Actress at Cannes in 1961 and was president of the jury in 1966. She will be present at the screening of La Voce Humana (2014), directed by Edoardo Ponti, which marks her return to movies.
That same evening, a 4K restoration of 1964 film Marriage Italian Style (Matrimonio all’italiana) by Vittorio De Sica will be screened.
Loren has also accepted to give a masterclass - a conversation which will take...
- 4/30/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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