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
The Jewish Film Institute has selected six projects for its second cycle of Completion Grants Program, Variety has learned.
Jfi, the Bay Area curatorial voice for Jewish film and media, announced the grants at the virtual awards ceremony for the 41st San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
This year, Jfi has awarded $100,000 in film completion grants, ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, to filmmakers who are expanding and evolving the Jewish story for audiences “everywhere in every genre — narrative, documentary, short, episodic program and web series.”
Recipients include “Remember This,” “1341 Frames of Love and War,” “The Liegnitz Plot,” “Sons of Detroit,” “A Reel War: Shalaal” and “I Will Take Your Shadow.”
Directed by Jeff Hutchens and Derek Goldman, “Remember This” stars David Strathairn as Jan Karski in a true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness.
Ran Tal’s “1341 Frames of Love and War” documentary follows Israel’s celebrated war photographer,...
Jfi, the Bay Area curatorial voice for Jewish film and media, announced the grants at the virtual awards ceremony for the 41st San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
This year, Jfi has awarded $100,000 in film completion grants, ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, to filmmakers who are expanding and evolving the Jewish story for audiences “everywhere in every genre — narrative, documentary, short, episodic program and web series.”
Recipients include “Remember This,” “1341 Frames of Love and War,” “The Liegnitz Plot,” “Sons of Detroit,” “A Reel War: Shalaal” and “I Will Take Your Shadow.”
Directed by Jeff Hutchens and Derek Goldman, “Remember This” stars David Strathairn as Jan Karski in a true story of a reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness.
Ran Tal’s “1341 Frames of Love and War” documentary follows Israel’s celebrated war photographer,...
- 8/2/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to the worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we focus on Contagion, Warrior and Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975.
This Friday in theaters is all about fighting. Whether it be fighting a world-rattling outbreak, fighting in the ring, or fighting the powers that be, movie protagonists will be engaging in the battles of their life for your viewing pleasure. And if you want to take the fight home, we’ve got a list of movies now available online full of stars, struggle and striking revelations.
Steven Soderbergh directs this star-studded and shocking disaster-thriller about a deadly outbreak. Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard and John Hawkes co-star.
For more disaster flicks full of stars and scares, check out this trio:
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) This sequel is as star-studded as its source,...
This Friday in theaters is all about fighting. Whether it be fighting a world-rattling outbreak, fighting in the ring, or fighting the powers that be, movie protagonists will be engaging in the battles of their life for your viewing pleasure. And if you want to take the fight home, we’ve got a list of movies now available online full of stars, struggle and striking revelations.
Steven Soderbergh directs this star-studded and shocking disaster-thriller about a deadly outbreak. Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard and John Hawkes co-star.
For more disaster flicks full of stars and scares, check out this trio:
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) This sequel is as star-studded as its source,...
- 9/8/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(June 2011)
Directed/Written by: Lu Chuan
Starring: Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Fan Wei, Jiang Yiyan, Ryu Kohata, Liu Bin, John Paisley, Beverly Peckous, Qin Lan, Sam Voutas, Yao Di and Zhao Yisui
“City of Life and Death” is among the greatest war films ever made. Rich in humanist themes and absolutely unflinching in its depiction of the moral chaos and physical violence of war, Lu Chuan’s film about the Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937 isn’t merely one of the year’s best films, it’s a powerful work of art and a testament to the expressive essence of pure cinema.
Inevitable comparisons will be made between “City of Life and Death” and Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Lu’s opening battle scenes between the Japanese invaders and a Chinese platoon — led by a stalwart patriot (Liu Ye) — have the complex staging,...
(June 2011)
Directed/Written by: Lu Chuan
Starring: Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Fan Wei, Jiang Yiyan, Ryu Kohata, Liu Bin, John Paisley, Beverly Peckous, Qin Lan, Sam Voutas, Yao Di and Zhao Yisui
“City of Life and Death” is among the greatest war films ever made. Rich in humanist themes and absolutely unflinching in its depiction of the moral chaos and physical violence of war, Lu Chuan’s film about the Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937 isn’t merely one of the year’s best films, it’s a powerful work of art and a testament to the expressive essence of pure cinema.
Inevitable comparisons will be made between “City of Life and Death” and Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Lu’s opening battle scenes between the Japanese invaders and a Chinese platoon — led by a stalwart patriot (Liu Ye) — have the complex staging,...
- 6/17/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Reviewed by Jay Antani
(June 2011)
Directed/Written by: Lu Chuan
Starring: Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Fan Wei, Jiang Yiyan, Ryu Kohata, Liu Bin, John Paisley, Beverly Peckous, Qin Lan, Sam Voutas, Yao Di and Zhao Yisui
“City of Life and Death” is among the greatest war films ever made. Rich in humanist themes and absolutely unflinching in its depiction of the moral chaos and physical violence of war, Lu Chuan’s film about the Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937 isn’t merely one of the year’s best films, it’s a powerful work of art and a testament to the expressive essence of pure cinema.
Inevitable comparisons will be made between “City of Life and Death” and Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Lu’s opening battle scenes between the Japanese invaders and a Chinese platoon — led by a stalwart patriot (Liu Ye) — have the complex staging,...
(June 2011)
Directed/Written by: Lu Chuan
Starring: Liu Ye, Gao Yuanyuan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Fan Wei, Jiang Yiyan, Ryu Kohata, Liu Bin, John Paisley, Beverly Peckous, Qin Lan, Sam Voutas, Yao Di and Zhao Yisui
“City of Life and Death” is among the greatest war films ever made. Rich in humanist themes and absolutely unflinching in its depiction of the moral chaos and physical violence of war, Lu Chuan’s film about the Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937 isn’t merely one of the year’s best films, it’s a powerful work of art and a testament to the expressive essence of pure cinema.
Inevitable comparisons will be made between “City of Life and Death” and Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Lu’s opening battle scenes between the Japanese invaders and a Chinese platoon — led by a stalwart patriot (Liu Ye) — have the complex staging,...
- 6/17/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Hollywood Complex
Directed by Dan Sturman and Dylan Nelson
2011, USA, 85 mins.
For every face we see in a film, TV show, or commercial, there are thousands of others who auditioned. Thousands. They say that Hollywood is the only place where you can be encouraged to death – actors take professional pictures, hire agents, and enrol in acting classes, all with the hope that they’re one big break away from fame and fortune. Thousands of these actors are children, and frequently they stay with their families at the Oakwood Apartments
Professional at Five Years Old
Hollywood Complex might be one of the truest accounts of child actors ever made. Forgoing the cheap controversy of E!, this film takes a more honest look at the children and their families. The film uses the Oakwood Apartments as an anchor. Families from all over the Us stay there for months – and sometimes even years...
Directed by Dan Sturman and Dylan Nelson
2011, USA, 85 mins.
For every face we see in a film, TV show, or commercial, there are thousands of others who auditioned. Thousands. They say that Hollywood is the only place where you can be encouraged to death – actors take professional pictures, hire agents, and enrol in acting classes, all with the hope that they’re one big break away from fame and fortune. Thousands of these actors are children, and frequently they stay with their families at the Oakwood Apartments
Professional at Five Years Old
Hollywood Complex might be one of the truest accounts of child actors ever made. Forgoing the cheap controversy of E!, this film takes a more honest look at the children and their families. The film uses the Oakwood Apartments as an anchor. Families from all over the Us stay there for months – and sometimes even years...
- 5/5/2011
- by DaveRobson
- SoundOnSight
James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's Every Little Step Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Soundtrack for a Revolution, and James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's Every Little Step will screen as the next installment in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free. Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, and Dylan Nelson, one of the three other Soundtrack for a Revolution producers, will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening, and so will Every Little Step's Adam Del Deo. The information below is from the Academy's press release: Soundtrack for a Revolution is the story of the civil rights movement told through the music that informed and inspired its participants. As current singers perform songs from the era,...
- 5/3/2011
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences kicks off Part Two of its 29th annual .Contemporary Documentaries. screening series with .Food, Inc.. and .Under Our Skin. Tonight, Wednesday, March 23, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is Free.
From cruel and unsanitary conditions in cattle and chicken farming to the addition of corn syrup and sodium to many foods, .Food, Inc.. examines the ways in which large corporations in the American food industry dominate the marketplace and affect the quality of what we consume. Directed by Robert Kenner and produced by Kenner and Elise Pearlstein, .Food, Inc.. earned an Academy Award® nomination for Documentary Feature. Robert Kenner & Elise Pearlstein will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening.
Directed and produced by Andy Abrahams Wilson, .Under Our Skin. investigates the untold story of Lyme disease. As...
From cruel and unsanitary conditions in cattle and chicken farming to the addition of corn syrup and sodium to many foods, .Food, Inc.. examines the ways in which large corporations in the American food industry dominate the marketplace and affect the quality of what we consume. Directed by Robert Kenner and produced by Kenner and Elise Pearlstein, .Food, Inc.. earned an Academy Award® nomination for Documentary Feature. Robert Kenner & Elise Pearlstein will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening.
Directed and produced by Andy Abrahams Wilson, .Under Our Skin. investigates the untold story of Lyme disease. As...
- 3/23/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Hot Docs has announced 26 documentary features that will be a part of this year’s Special Presentations program, a high-profile collection of world and international premieres, award-winners from the recent international festival circuit, and works by master filmmakers, and featuring some star subjects.
The full selection of films to screen at Hot Docs 2011 will be announced on March 22, including the 2011 opening night film but here are the special presentation titles, ordered alphabetically:
The Advocate For Fagdom D: Angélique Bosio | Germany | 92 min | North American Premiere
Romantic-Queercore-punk-zombie pornographer, gleeful crusher of cliché, righteousness and repressive politics: Viva Bruce Labruce! Scintillating film clips and fabulous interviews with John Waters, Harmony Korine, and Gus Van Sant reveal Toronto’s gift to the world.
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest D: Michael Rapaport | USA | 98 min | International Premiere
Actor Michael Rapaport’s directorial debut hits the road with Q-Tip, Phife, Ali and Jarobi,...
The full selection of films to screen at Hot Docs 2011 will be announced on March 22, including the 2011 opening night film but here are the special presentation titles, ordered alphabetically:
The Advocate For Fagdom D: Angélique Bosio | Germany | 92 min | North American Premiere
Romantic-Queercore-punk-zombie pornographer, gleeful crusher of cliché, righteousness and repressive politics: Viva Bruce Labruce! Scintillating film clips and fabulous interviews with John Waters, Harmony Korine, and Gus Van Sant reveal Toronto’s gift to the world.
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest D: Michael Rapaport | USA | 98 min | International Premiere
Actor Michael Rapaport’s directorial debut hits the road with Q-Tip, Phife, Ali and Jarobi,...
- 3/18/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Tonight the Writers Guild held the 2010 Writers Guild Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City. The winners were no real surprise as Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner took home the award for adapted screenplay and Mark Boal won for his Hurt Locker screenplay in the original screenplay category. The Cove won for documentary screenplay.
Of course, this gives both of these scripts a bump in consideration at the Oscars, but it should be remembered several films were not eligible for a WGA nomination based on Guild rules.
Of the films nominated for an Oscar that were not eligible for a WGA Award include An Education, District 9 and In the Loop in the adapted category. In the original screenplay category both Inglourious Basterds and Up were not eligible. These films, according to Steve Pond at The Wrap,...
Of course, this gives both of these scripts a bump in consideration at the Oscars, but it should be remembered several films were not eligible for a WGA nomination based on Guild rules.
Of the films nominated for an Oscar that were not eligible for a WGA Award include An Education, District 9 and In the Loop in the adapted category. In the original screenplay category both Inglourious Basterds and Up were not eligible. These films, according to Steve Pond at The Wrap,...
- 2/21/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Mark Boal was handed the Writers Guild of America award for best original screenplay Saturday night for his explosive drama script, "The Hurt Locker." The journalist-turned-movie-scribe spun his harrowing time embedded with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in Baghdad in 2004 into a taut action thriller directed by DGA award winner Kathryn Bigelow.
Adding to their cache of frequent-awards miles, "Up in the Air" writers Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner flew off with the WGA's adapted screenplay honor. The pair has already taken home the Golden Globe for best screenplay and several critics' honors. Reitman was nommed by the WGA once before, in 2007, for his adaptation of Christopher Buckley's novel "Thank You for Smoking."
Mark Monroe was awarded the documentary screenplay award for "The Cove." The nonfiction writing nominees included Michael Moore for "Capitalism: A Love Story"; Robert Stone for "Earth Days"; Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Lance Crouther and Chuck Sklar...
Adding to their cache of frequent-awards miles, "Up in the Air" writers Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner flew off with the WGA's adapted screenplay honor. The pair has already taken home the Golden Globe for best screenplay and several critics' honors. Reitman was nommed by the WGA once before, in 2007, for his adaptation of Christopher Buckley's novel "Thank You for Smoking."
Mark Monroe was awarded the documentary screenplay award for "The Cove." The nonfiction writing nominees included Michael Moore for "Capitalism: A Love Story"; Robert Stone for "Earth Days"; Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Lance Crouther and Chuck Sklar...
- 2/20/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ahead of this week’s Sundance Film Festival, veteran film distribution and marketing consultant Richard Abramowitz is launching, with Kirt Eftekhar, a new domestic distribution company dubbed Area23a. First up for the company are releases of Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman’s acclaimed “Soundtrack for a Revolution” from Louverture Films and Sandy Cioffi’s “Sweet Crude.” Called a “new model”, hybrid distribution company, the outfit will aim to release movies in libraries, museums, community …...
- 1/20/2010
- Indiewire
As hard as it may be to believe sometimes, someone (or someones) actually sits down and writes a movie or TV show before you end up seeing it at your local multiplex or on your favorite TV network. The people who do the sitting and the writing are, surprisingly, called writers and, like the Directors, the Golden Globes and the Oscars, they have their own awards show.
This week, the Writers Guild of America, which is the trade group and advocate for writers, announced its nominations for outstanding achievement in feature film and television, radio, news, promotional writing, and graphic animation during the 2009 season to be honored at the upcoming 2010 Writers Guild Awards on February 20, 2010, in Los Angeles and New York.
We realize that these nominations may not be as glamorous as the Golden Globes or the Oscars, but we kinda like writers around here and think they do a pretty important job.
This week, the Writers Guild of America, which is the trade group and advocate for writers, announced its nominations for outstanding achievement in feature film and television, radio, news, promotional writing, and graphic animation during the 2009 season to be honored at the upcoming 2010 Writers Guild Awards on February 20, 2010, in Los Angeles and New York.
We realize that these nominations may not be as glamorous as the Golden Globes or the Oscars, but we kinda like writers around here and think they do a pretty important job.
- 1/13/2010
- by Joe Gillis
- The Flickcast
Writers Guild of America has announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during the past year.
There are three categories of nominees: original, adapted and documentary.
The winners will be announced on Saturday, February 20th, from a ceremony in Los Angeles and New York.
Last year’s winners were “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Milk.” Both movies later won an Oscar.
Check out the list of nominees:
Original Screenplay
“500 Days of Summer” – Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
“Avatar” – Written by James Cameron
“The Hangover” – Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
“The Hurt Locker” – Written by Mark Boal
“A Serious Man” – Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Adapted Screenplay
“Crazy Heart” – Screenplay by Scott Cooper; Based on the novel by Thomas Cobb
“Julie & Julia” – Screenplay by Nora Ephron; Based on the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child...
There are three categories of nominees: original, adapted and documentary.
The winners will be announced on Saturday, February 20th, from a ceremony in Los Angeles and New York.
Last year’s winners were “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Milk.” Both movies later won an Oscar.
Check out the list of nominees:
Original Screenplay
“500 Days of Summer” – Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
“Avatar” – Written by James Cameron
“The Hangover” – Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
“The Hurt Locker” – Written by Mark Boal
“A Serious Man” – Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Adapted Screenplay
“Crazy Heart” – Screenplay by Scott Cooper; Based on the novel by Thomas Cobb
“Julie & Julia” – Screenplay by Nora Ephron; Based on the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child...
- 1/13/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
The nominations for 2010 Writers Guild Awards have been unveiled on Monday, January 11. Among the list are James Cameron's "Avatar", Bradley Cooper-starring comedy "The Hangover", and Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker". The three movies will compete with "A Serious Man" and "500 Days of Summer" for Original Screenplay award.
"Star Trek" also has a place on the list as the J.J. Abrams-directed movie is nominated for Adapted Screenplay prize. It will be up against "Crazy Heart", "Julie & Julia", "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire", and "Up in the Air", which receive nods for the same category.
The winners of the 2010 Writers Guild Awards will be announced during ceremonies, which will be held on February 20 simultaneously at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City. Beside honoring movies, the event will also present awards to TV,...
"Star Trek" also has a place on the list as the J.J. Abrams-directed movie is nominated for Adapted Screenplay prize. It will be up against "Crazy Heart", "Julie & Julia", "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire", and "Up in the Air", which receive nods for the same category.
The winners of the 2010 Writers Guild Awards will be announced during ceremonies, which will be held on February 20 simultaneously at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City. Beside honoring movies, the event will also present awards to TV,...
- 1/12/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
The Writers Guild of America has announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during the past year. Winners will be honored at the 2010 Writers Guild Awards held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
Some interesting notes:
Not one but two sci-fi films received noms -- "Avatar" written by James Cameron and "Star Trek" written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
"Inglourious Basterds" was Not nominated! Huh?
"The Hangover" yay!
"Julie and Julia" honestly? I loved the Julia Child part, but the Julie Powell part dragged the whole film for me.
And kudos to Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story." The documentary was not included in the Academy longlist, but received a writing nomination.
Here's the complete list of nominees of the 2010 Writers Guild Awards. I highlighted who I think should win:
Original Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; Fox Searchlight
Avatar,...
Some interesting notes:
Not one but two sci-fi films received noms -- "Avatar" written by James Cameron and "Star Trek" written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
"Inglourious Basterds" was Not nominated! Huh?
"The Hangover" yay!
"Julie and Julia" honestly? I loved the Julia Child part, but the Julie Powell part dragged the whole film for me.
And kudos to Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story." The documentary was not included in the Academy longlist, but received a writing nomination.
Here's the complete list of nominees of the 2010 Writers Guild Awards. I highlighted who I think should win:
Original Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; Fox Searchlight
Avatar,...
- 1/11/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Some critics may have taken potshots at James Cameron's screenplay for "Avatar," but it has earned a nomination from the Writers Guild of America, which announced nominations for the 2010 WGA Awards on Monday.
Cameron -- who was also nominated by the WGA for "Titanic," though that movie failed to earn a best screenplay Oscar nomination -- will compete for the honor with Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, nominated for their fractured romance "(500) Days of Summer"; Jon Lucas & Scott Moore for breakout summer comedy "The Hangover"; Mark Boal for his Iraq War study, "The Hurt Locker"; and Joel Coen & Ethan Coen for their modern-day retelling of the story of Job, "A Serious Man."
In the adapted screenplay category, the nominees are "Crazy Heart," screenplay by Scott Cooper, based on the novel by Thomas Cobb; "Julie & Julia," which Nora Ephron adapted from two books, "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell and "My Life in France,...
Cameron -- who was also nominated by the WGA for "Titanic," though that movie failed to earn a best screenplay Oscar nomination -- will compete for the honor with Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, nominated for their fractured romance "(500) Days of Summer"; Jon Lucas & Scott Moore for breakout summer comedy "The Hangover"; Mark Boal for his Iraq War study, "The Hurt Locker"; and Joel Coen & Ethan Coen for their modern-day retelling of the story of Job, "A Serious Man."
In the adapted screenplay category, the nominees are "Crazy Heart," screenplay by Scott Cooper, based on the novel by Thomas Cobb; "Julie & Julia," which Nora Ephron adapted from two books, "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell and "My Life in France,...
- 1/11/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Writers Guild of America announced their nominations Monday for outstanding achievements in screenwriting in 2009, and there are a few surprises and glaring omissions. The 2010 Writers Guild Awards held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
James Cameron’s script for Avatar, arguably the weakest element of the science fiction blockbuster and criticized for its likeness to other concepts, was nominated for “Original Screenplay.” Competing in the same category is R-rated comedy The Hangover, which was a funny flick but seems silly up against (500) Days of Summer and serious “Best Picture” contender The Hurt Locker.
Star Trek also raised eyebrows in the “Adapted Screenplay” category.
Michael Moore’s stunt-filled Capitalism: A Love Story picked up a nomination in “Documentary Screenplay,” after missing the short list for the doc Oscar. I guess the guild thought shouting into a bullhorn on Wall Street was worthy of recognition.
James Cameron’s script for Avatar, arguably the weakest element of the science fiction blockbuster and criticized for its likeness to other concepts, was nominated for “Original Screenplay.” Competing in the same category is R-rated comedy The Hangover, which was a funny flick but seems silly up against (500) Days of Summer and serious “Best Picture” contender The Hurt Locker.
Star Trek also raised eyebrows in the “Adapted Screenplay” category.
Michael Moore’s stunt-filled Capitalism: A Love Story picked up a nomination in “Documentary Screenplay,” after missing the short list for the doc Oscar. I guess the guild thought shouting into a bullhorn on Wall Street was worthy of recognition.
- 1/11/2010
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
Today the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced their 2009 nominees for best adapted, original and documentary screenplays. However, before you go examining the noms too closely be sure and know the following scripts were not eligible due to their failure to qualify under WGA rules, which require scripts to be written for productions that are signatories to the guild's Minimum Basic Agreement, or the agreement of affiliated international guilds.
Those that failed to qualify include: Inglourious Basterds A Single Man The Road An Education Me and Orson Welles In the Loop District 9 That list comes courtesy of Steve Pond at The Wrap who added the following films that don't qualify for adapted and original screenplay categories either: Adam Antichrist Broken Embraces Capitalism: A Love Story (it is eligible for documentary screenplay) The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond Moon Trucker The White Ribbon Angels and...
Those that failed to qualify include: Inglourious Basterds A Single Man The Road An Education Me and Orson Welles In the Loop District 9 That list comes courtesy of Steve Pond at The Wrap who added the following films that don't qualify for adapted and original screenplay categories either: Adam Antichrist Broken Embraces Capitalism: A Love Story (it is eligible for documentary screenplay) The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond Moon Trucker The White Ribbon Angels and...
- 1/11/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has announced the nominations for their awards honoring 2009’s films, with a few surprises, notably Chris Rock’s Good Hair in the Documentary Writing section. And given all the reviews of Avatar that I’ve read which attack the script’s writing, especially the dialogue, I’m surprised to see it on the list for Original Screenplay. I thought The Hangover was silly fun, but, I don’t know if I’d say it was what we’d call great writing. I think I’d take the writing in noticeably absent Inglorious Basterds over those 2 films.
Also surprised not to see Tom Ford’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel, A Single Man. I’d take that over Star Trek in that category.
Winners will be honored at the 2010 Writers Guild Awards held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.
Also surprised not to see Tom Ford’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel, A Single Man. I’d take that over Star Trek in that category.
Winners will be honored at the 2010 Writers Guild Awards held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.
- 1/11/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Dan Sturman Bill Guttentag In anticipation of this year's Oscars, Tribeca Cinemas will be showing six groundbreaking documentaries as part of the Docs on the Shortlist hosted by the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund event this weekend, January 8 and 9. We asked each participating filmmaker five questions about their documentaries. Dan Sturman discusses the music documentary he directed with Bill Guttentag, Soundtrack for a Revolution (Tff 2009). Please describe the story you tell in your film. What inspired you to tell that story? We began developing the project in 2004, when Obama was just a twinkle in the eye of ...
- 1/5/2010
- TribecaFilm.com
While I've yet to see the doc myself (I reference Claire Denis' White Material when I think of what the film might hold narratively), when the Cinema Eye Honor Noms were released I was surprised to see that, despite the positive buzz, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson's Mugabe and the White African only manage to grab one nomination. Clearly the film is a favorite for the 2009 edition of the Ida Awards - it picked up three nominations in the Feature Documentary, ABCNews VideoSource Award an the Pare Lorentz Award categories. - While I've yet to see the doc myself (I reference Claire Denis' White Material when I think of what the film might hold narratively), when the Cinema Eye Honor Noms were released I was surprised to see that, despite the positive buzz, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson's Mugabe and the White African only manage to grab one nomination.
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed their list of the final group of 15 films that will contend for the Best Documentary Feature award this week, and with said announcement comes a twinge of bittersweetness. On one hand, the very powerful documentary The Cove -- a Sundance premiere that takes on the brutal killing of dolphins in Japan -- did make it to the final 15, as did the sensational SXSW pic Garbage Dreams and the incredibly fascinating food industry doc Food Inc. On the other hand, fan (and critic) favorite Anvil! The Story of Anvil -- the energetic, sad story of one of the most famous rock bands that you've never heard of -- was curiously missing from the list, as was multi-Oscar nominee Michael Moore's latest film Capitalism: A Love Story, a doc about our current financial crisis. While Michael Moore has had his date with Oscar, his...
- 11/19/2009
- by Neil Miller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
I’m sure if you analyze and dissect the rules for eligibility, you’ll find some kind of loophole that kept films like Capitalism: A Love Story, Anvil!: The Story Of Anvil, and Crude off this list of finalists for Best Documentary Feature.
Maybe it’s not based on eligibility at all. Maybe those movies just didn’t make the cut, which, in my opinion, and a lot of other people’s, as well, is a shame. This isn’t even taking into account some of the festival docs that didn’t make the cut, films like Pulling John, We Live In Public, and The Yes Men Fix The World. Politics wins out once again (as if there was every going to be a question of it), and here are the list of 15 films that have moved on in the voting process:
The Beaches Of Agnes directed by Agnès Varda...
Maybe it’s not based on eligibility at all. Maybe those movies just didn’t make the cut, which, in my opinion, and a lot of other people’s, as well, is a shame. This isn’t even taking into account some of the festival docs that didn’t make the cut, films like Pulling John, We Live In Public, and The Yes Men Fix The World. Politics wins out once again (as if there was every going to be a question of it), and here are the list of 15 films that have moved on in the voting process:
The Beaches Of Agnes directed by Agnès Varda...
- 11/19/2009
- by Kirk
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the 15 films in the Documentary Feature category that will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards. Eighty-nine pictures had originally qualified in the category.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company: The Beaches of Agnes, Agnes Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris) Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films) The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society) Every Little Step, James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment) Facing Ali, Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.) Food, Inc., Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films) Garbage Dreams, Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.) Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC) The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications) Mugabe and the White African,...
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company: The Beaches of Agnes, Agnes Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris) Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films) The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society) Every Little Step, James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment) Facing Ali, Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.) Food, Inc., Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films) Garbage Dreams, Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.) Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC) The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications) Mugabe and the White African,...
- 11/19/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has shortlisted 15 films that will advance in the race for the documentary feature category, culled down from 89 films that originally qualified.
The titles include the work of veteran French director Agnes Varda, "The Beaches of Agnes"; "Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's doc about the making of a revival of "A Chorus Line"; Robert Kenner's expose of the food industry, "Food Inc."; and Matt Tyrnauer's fashion doc "Valentino, the Last Emperor."
Not listed were such prominent titles as Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" and James Toback's "Tyson."
The 15 films are:
-- "The Beaches of Agnes," Agnes Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)
-- "Burma VJ," Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)
-- "The Cove," Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)
-- "Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)
-- "Facing Ali,...
The titles include the work of veteran French director Agnes Varda, "The Beaches of Agnes"; "Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's doc about the making of a revival of "A Chorus Line"; Robert Kenner's expose of the food industry, "Food Inc."; and Matt Tyrnauer's fashion doc "Valentino, the Last Emperor."
Not listed were such prominent titles as Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" and James Toback's "Tyson."
The 15 films are:
-- "The Beaches of Agnes," Agnes Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)
-- "Burma VJ," Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)
-- "The Cove," Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)
-- "Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)
-- "Facing Ali,...
- 11/18/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Chicago – As the 45th Chicago International Film Festival comes to a close, this year’s award-winning and most popular films are being screened one more time. All of the screenings will be held at the AMC River East 21 theater at 322 E. Illinois St.
Mississippi Damned (USA), Director: Tina Mabry
Winner Gold Hugo: Best Film, Best Screenplay - Tina Mabry, Best Supporting Actress - Jossie Harris Thacker
7:30Pm
They weren’t the first to dream of escaping their small Mississippi town, but—raised among their family’s vicious cycle of abuse, addiction, and lies—three young black children learn the hard way that their dreams will never be enough. Based on a true story, Mississippi Damned is the brutally honest tale of what happens when a family’s haven is also its prison.
‘Mississippi Damned,’ Winner of the Gold Hugo for Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Photo...
Mississippi Damned (USA), Director: Tina Mabry
Winner Gold Hugo: Best Film, Best Screenplay - Tina Mabry, Best Supporting Actress - Jossie Harris Thacker
7:30Pm
They weren’t the first to dream of escaping their small Mississippi town, but—raised among their family’s vicious cycle of abuse, addiction, and lies—three young black children learn the hard way that their dreams will never be enough. Based on a true story, Mississippi Damned is the brutally honest tale of what happens when a family’s haven is also its prison.
‘Mississippi Damned,’ Winner of the Gold Hugo for Best Film at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Photo...
- 10/20/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The Scorecard Review will be there to cover the interviews, movie reviews and red carpet moments of the Chicago International Film Festival in October. Here’s a list of 21 movies that will be a part of the event. We’ll have all the news you’ll need to be ready for the fest right here.
October 8 – 22, 2009
Chicago, September 16, 2009 – Cinema/Chicago is proud to announce another 20 films that will appear at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. From dazzling CGI animation to tales of existential ennui and little white lies gone wrong, The 45th Chicago International Film Festival promises an impressive array of diverse films that will excite cinema fans in Chicago and beyond. Below is a newly released sampling of the 145 films that will be shown at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, which will take place October 8th through the 22nd at the AMC River East 21 Theater (322 E.
October 8 – 22, 2009
Chicago, September 16, 2009 – Cinema/Chicago is proud to announce another 20 films that will appear at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. From dazzling CGI animation to tales of existential ennui and little white lies gone wrong, The 45th Chicago International Film Festival promises an impressive array of diverse films that will excite cinema fans in Chicago and beyond. Below is a newly released sampling of the 145 films that will be shown at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, which will take place October 8th through the 22nd at the AMC River East 21 Theater (322 E.
- 9/19/2009
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
Award-winning doc depicts harrowing tragedies of war.
All too often the faces of those who became senseless casualties of strife go forgotten.
With 'Nanking,' directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman bring to light one of the lesser-known travesties of World War II. In what has become historically known as "the rape of Nanking," Chinese citizens endured a brutal containment that caused over 200,000 deaths.
Featuring narration from Woody Harrelson, Stephen Dorff, and Mariel Hemingway, 'Nanking' is an award-winning documentary that's enlightening, emotionally devastating and ultimately uplifting. Watch the film in full, or snag it onto your own site, from SnagFilms.com.
Watch 'Nanking' FreeFiled under: Documentaries
Continue reading Free Documentary of the Week: 'Nanking'
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All too often the faces of those who became senseless casualties of strife go forgotten.
With 'Nanking,' directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman bring to light one of the lesser-known travesties of World War II. In what has become historically known as "the rape of Nanking," Chinese citizens endured a brutal containment that caused over 200,000 deaths.
Featuring narration from Woody Harrelson, Stephen Dorff, and Mariel Hemingway, 'Nanking' is an award-winning documentary that's enlightening, emotionally devastating and ultimately uplifting. Watch the film in full, or snag it onto your own site, from SnagFilms.com.
Watch 'Nanking' FreeFiled under: Documentaries
Continue reading Free Documentary of the Week: 'Nanking'
Permalink | Email this | Comments...
- 5/26/2009
- by Anthony Colarusso
- Moviefone
The summer of 1937 brought the invasion of China by Japan. "By December 13th, they had defeated the Chinese army and invaded the nation's then-capital, Nanking," wrote Kim Voynar in January 2007, by way of introducing her review of the documentary Nanking, which played at Sundance that year. The film is now available for free online viewing, thanks to our friends at SnagFilms.
As you might expect, directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman use archival footage and interviews with survivors to flesh out the film, but they also include "staged reading of excerpts from journals and letters by a group of actors including Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Rosalind Chao and Jurgen Prochnow," as described by Voynar. She observed: "The scripted reading actually works more effectively than mere voiceover would have, bringing to life the people who were a part of the events that happened in Nanking during that time. War and violence are never pretty,...
As you might expect, directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman use archival footage and interviews with survivors to flesh out the film, but they also include "staged reading of excerpts from journals and letters by a group of actors including Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Rosalind Chao and Jurgen Prochnow," as described by Voynar. She observed: "The scripted reading actually works more effectively than mere voiceover would have, bringing to life the people who were a part of the events that happened in Nanking during that time. War and violence are never pretty,...
- 5/19/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
Out of 88 directors, this year's Tribeca Film Festival was able to count over 20 filmmakers as repeat attendees. Tribeca Director of Programming David Kwok talked to five returning documentary filmmakers (Liz Mermin, The Beauty Academy of Kabul, Tff '04; Cathy Henkel, The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face, Best Documentary Tff '04; Marshall Curry, Street Fight, Audience Award Winner Tff '05; and Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, Nanking, Tff '07 [Guttentag also directed the feature Live!, Tff '07]) about their previous Festival experiences, Tff '09 projects, and the future of documentary filmmaking. The Burning Season David Kwok: How was your first experience at Tribeca and what have you been working on since then? Cathy Henkel (The Burning Season): Coming to Tribeca in 2004 was one of the highlights of my life. The Festival treated me so well, I loved New York, I got to meet and have dinner with Glenn ...
- 5/4/2009
- TribecaFilm.com
The concept behind “Soundtrack for a Revolution” is both a means and end at once. In this competent survey of African American folk music in the civil rights movement, directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman pair reminiscences with recreation, but it’s never quite the transcendent aural experience suggested by the two-pronged premise. While interviewees such as Harry Belafonte and John Lewis recall gripping—and often quite harrowing—anecdotes from their countless protests at …...
- 4/26/2009
- Indiewire
The concept behind “Soundtrack for a Revolution” is both a means and end at once. In this competent survey of African American folk music in the civil rights movement, directors Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman pair reminiscences with recreation, but it’s never quite the transcendent aural experience suggested by the two-pronged premise. While interviewees such as Harry Belafonte and John Lewis recall gripping—and often quite harrowing—anecdotes from their countless protests at …...
- 4/26/2009
- Indiewire
And here's the rest, including the Midnight Section, all after the break.
Encounters
This collection of engaging and entertaining narrative features and documentaries, a mixture of dark comedies and lighter fare, offers work from returning filmmakers, established talent, and popular subjects, and includes 10 World Premieres. Included in Encounters are performances from Academy Award®-nominated actors Thomas Haden Church, Melissa Leo, Elisabeth Shue; directorial debuts from both Eric Bana and Cheryl Hines (from a screenplay by Adrienne Shelly); stories ranging from an ill-fated man's discovery of inspiration and happiness, dysfunctional families, and unrequited high school crushes to a doc on the emergence of New York’s independent film scene.
• Blank City, directed by Celine Danhier. (USA) - World Premiere, Documentary. Celine Danhier’s kinetic doc mirrors the urgent, anything-goes energy of her subject: the Diy independent film movement that emerged in tandem with punk rock in late ‘70s downtown New York.
Encounters
This collection of engaging and entertaining narrative features and documentaries, a mixture of dark comedies and lighter fare, offers work from returning filmmakers, established talent, and popular subjects, and includes 10 World Premieres. Included in Encounters are performances from Academy Award®-nominated actors Thomas Haden Church, Melissa Leo, Elisabeth Shue; directorial debuts from both Eric Bana and Cheryl Hines (from a screenplay by Adrienne Shelly); stories ranging from an ill-fated man's discovery of inspiration and happiness, dysfunctional families, and unrequited high school crushes to a doc on the emergence of New York’s independent film scene.
• Blank City, directed by Celine Danhier. (USA) - World Premiere, Documentary. Celine Danhier’s kinetic doc mirrors the urgent, anything-goes energy of her subject: the Diy independent film movement that emerged in tandem with punk rock in late ‘70s downtown New York.
- 3/11/2009
- QuietEarth.us
- A lingering strike haven't kept the Writers Gild of America from naming the noms for the Best Original, Adapted Screenplays and Best Documentary screenplays of the year. A quick overview of the noms below shows that studio-based indie division delivered in quantity and quality. Here are the noms below for those who create narratives on paper. Winners are announced on February 9th. Original Screenplay"Juno" - Written by Diablo Cody, Fox Searchlight"Michael Clayton" - Written by Tony Gilroy, Warner Bros. Pictures"The Savages" - Written by Tamara Jenkins, Fox Searchlight"Knocked Up" - Written by Judd Apatow, Universal Pictures"Lars and the Real Girl" - Written by Nancy Oliver, MGM Adapted Screenplay"No Country For Old Men" - Screenplay by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, Based on the Novel by Cormac McCarthy, Miramax"There Will Be Blood" - Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, Based on the Novel Oil by Upton Sinclair,
- 1/11/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- In recent years I've often criticized the Academy Awards for not having the foresight and fortitude to include docu films that have not only completely reinvigorated the genre, but have pushed the medium to new possible artistic and narrative terrains. This year's short list of 15 titles only further confirms that the Academy has tremendous difficulty in acknowledging the wider scope of films that merit year-end salutations. The formula for the docu-filmmaking and docu movie-going experience has significantly changed since Y2K, yet the most prestigious award film ceremony seems to come up short when it comes to new trends in storytelling and filmmaking. Today IndieWIRE reports Aj Schnack will collaborate with online independent film distributor IndiePix to launch a new nonfiction filmmaking awards event, set for March 18, 2008 at IFC Center in New York City. Below you find a Top 15 list of films that will be nominated for eight categories,
- 1/7/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
NEW YORK -- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday unveiled the 15 films on its 2007 documentary feature Oscar shortlist.
Four ThinkFilm releases made the cut, a record for the company and one of the biggest lineups ever for any distributor. They are Tony Kaye's abortion epic Lake of Fire, Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's World War II expose Nanking, Alex Gibney's Iraq War study Taxi to the Dark Side and Sean Fine and Andrea Nix's look at a Ugandan musical competition War/Dance.
The biggest boxoffice hit among the bunch by far is Michael Moore's health-care expose Sicko, from the Weinstein Co., but other high-profile releases were left off the list. Jonathan Demme's Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains and Amir Bar-Lev's child prodigy study My Kid Could Paint That from Sony Pictures Classics were expected to make the cut but didn't. Other notable absentees were Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg's look at Darfur, The Devil Came on Horseback; Picturehouse's gamers study The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters; and ThinkFilm's space-themed In the Shadow of the Moon.
Aside from Taxi, other films covering the Iraq War that made the list included Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro's Body of War, Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Richard Robbins' Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.
Features about other wars made the cut, too, including Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole Newnham's World War II art study The Rape of Europa.
Virtually all films on the list were topical, including Tricia Regan's look at special-needs children, Autism: The Musical...
Four ThinkFilm releases made the cut, a record for the company and one of the biggest lineups ever for any distributor. They are Tony Kaye's abortion epic Lake of Fire, Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's World War II expose Nanking, Alex Gibney's Iraq War study Taxi to the Dark Side and Sean Fine and Andrea Nix's look at a Ugandan musical competition War/Dance.
The biggest boxoffice hit among the bunch by far is Michael Moore's health-care expose Sicko, from the Weinstein Co., but other high-profile releases were left off the list. Jonathan Demme's Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains and Amir Bar-Lev's child prodigy study My Kid Could Paint That from Sony Pictures Classics were expected to make the cut but didn't. Other notable absentees were Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg's look at Darfur, The Devil Came on Horseback; Picturehouse's gamers study The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters; and ThinkFilm's space-themed In the Shadow of the Moon.
Aside from Taxi, other films covering the Iraq War that made the list included Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro's Body of War, Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Richard Robbins' Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience.
Features about other wars made the cut, too, including Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole Newnham's World War II art study The Rape of Europa.
Virtually all films on the list were topical, including Tricia Regan's look at special-needs children, Autism: The Musical...
- 11/20/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Nanking".PARK CITY -- Barely remembered in the West, the rape of Nanking -- then the capital of China -- by the Japanese imperial forces in 1937 stands as a gruesome testimonial to man's inhumanity to man. Conceptualized by AOL co-chairman Ted Leonsis and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, "Nanking" is a vivid account of those terrible events. The beautifully crafted film could generate some interest in theaters before finding its natural home on a high-profile cable outlet.
Having already annexed Manchuria, Japan started its full-scale attack on the Chinese mainland in summer 1937 with extensive air raids on Shanghai and Nanking. Chinese citizens who had money and most foreigners had fled Nanking before the ground troops arrived that December. All that was left behind were the poor and a group of 22 European and American clergy, businessmen, doctors and teachers. In an attempt to save as many lives as possible, the foreign contingent set up a safety zone for the Chinese.
Guttentag and Sturman give the events great immediacy by staging a reading of the diaries, letters and other accounts of the invasion written by the expats. Recited by actors including Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff on a soundstage, the material serves as the narration for much of the film.
It's not a pretty picture as the army rolls into the once vibrant and now almost deserted city. As one of the diaries explains and the images confirm, "Each day is worse than the one before," and another says, "I can see little sign of God". Particularly fascinating is the account of a German businessman, John Rabe -- movingly read by Jurgen Prochnow -- who was a Nazi sympathizer but nonetheless does the right thing.
Survivors of the event, both Chinese and Japanese, also are interviewed on-camera and offer stories almost too horrific to be believed. Gasoline was thrown on men who were then set on fire. Chinese men were forced to have sex with dead women while the soldiers watched.
One elderly Chinese man who was there breaks down sobbing when he recalls his mother being slaughtered with a bayonet as she breast-fed his baby brother. A woman cries as she recounts how her young daughter was taken away from her, then raped and killed. A Japanese soldier recalls, "In the dark of night, we shot them in the back with machine guns."
In all, 200,000 Chinese were killed and an estimated 20,000 women ages 12-60 were raped. But 250,000 were saved by the bravery of the foreigners in the safety zone.
Indelible footage of looting, rapes and mass killing has been collected from archives in Europe, America and Asia and stitched together seamlessly by editors Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer, who won the docu editing award Sunday at Sundance. Some of the most chilling images come from home movies shot by a minister and smuggled out of the country in the coat lining of another safety zone foreigner. Philip Marshall has composed an understated Chinese-sounding score evocatively played by the Kronos Quartet.
Not only is the film a powerful historical record and a warning for future generations, it is an essential reminder to people, including many in Japan today, who might deny that this massacre ever occurred. As such, "Nanking" honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking.
NANKING
Fortissimo Films
A Ted Leonsis production
Credits:
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Screenwriters: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, Elizabeth Bentley
Producers: Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Music: Philip Marshall
Editors: Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan, Michael Schweitzer
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating:R...
Having already annexed Manchuria, Japan started its full-scale attack on the Chinese mainland in summer 1937 with extensive air raids on Shanghai and Nanking. Chinese citizens who had money and most foreigners had fled Nanking before the ground troops arrived that December. All that was left behind were the poor and a group of 22 European and American clergy, businessmen, doctors and teachers. In an attempt to save as many lives as possible, the foreign contingent set up a safety zone for the Chinese.
Guttentag and Sturman give the events great immediacy by staging a reading of the diaries, letters and other accounts of the invasion written by the expats. Recited by actors including Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff on a soundstage, the material serves as the narration for much of the film.
It's not a pretty picture as the army rolls into the once vibrant and now almost deserted city. As one of the diaries explains and the images confirm, "Each day is worse than the one before," and another says, "I can see little sign of God". Particularly fascinating is the account of a German businessman, John Rabe -- movingly read by Jurgen Prochnow -- who was a Nazi sympathizer but nonetheless does the right thing.
Survivors of the event, both Chinese and Japanese, also are interviewed on-camera and offer stories almost too horrific to be believed. Gasoline was thrown on men who were then set on fire. Chinese men were forced to have sex with dead women while the soldiers watched.
One elderly Chinese man who was there breaks down sobbing when he recalls his mother being slaughtered with a bayonet as she breast-fed his baby brother. A woman cries as she recounts how her young daughter was taken away from her, then raped and killed. A Japanese soldier recalls, "In the dark of night, we shot them in the back with machine guns."
In all, 200,000 Chinese were killed and an estimated 20,000 women ages 12-60 were raped. But 250,000 were saved by the bravery of the foreigners in the safety zone.
Indelible footage of looting, rapes and mass killing has been collected from archives in Europe, America and Asia and stitched together seamlessly by editors Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer, who won the docu editing award Sunday at Sundance. Some of the most chilling images come from home movies shot by a minister and smuggled out of the country in the coat lining of another safety zone foreigner. Philip Marshall has composed an understated Chinese-sounding score evocatively played by the Kronos Quartet.
Not only is the film a powerful historical record and a warning for future generations, it is an essential reminder to people, including many in Japan today, who might deny that this massacre ever occurred. As such, "Nanking" honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking.
NANKING
Fortissimo Films
A Ted Leonsis production
Credits:
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Screenwriters: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, Elizabeth Bentley
Producers: Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Music: Philip Marshall
Editors: Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan, Michael Schweitzer
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating:R...
- 1/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the festival screening of "Nanking".PARK CITY -- Barely remembered in the West, the rape of Nanking -- then the capital of China -- by the Japanese imperial forces in 1937 stands as a gruesome testimonial to man's inhumanity to man. Conceptualized by AOL co-chairman Ted Leonsis and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, "Nanking" is a vivid account of those terrible events. The beautifully crafted film could generate some interest in theaters before finding its natural home on a high-profile cable outlet.
Having already annexed Manchuria, Japan started its full-scale attack on the Chinese mainland in summer 1937 with extensive air raids on Shanghai and Nanking. Chinese citizens who had money and most foreigners had fled Nanking before the ground troops arrived that December. All that was left behind were the poor and a group of 22 European and American clergy, businessmen, doctors and teachers. In an attempt to save as many lives as possible, the foreign contingent set up a safety zone for the Chinese.
Guttentag and Sturman give the events great immediacy by staging a reading of the diaries, letters and other accounts of the invasion written by the expats. Recited by actors including Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff on a soundstage, the material serves as the narration for much of the film.
It's not a pretty picture as the army rolls into the once vibrant and now almost deserted city. As one of the diaries explains and the images confirm, "Each day is worse than the one before," and another says, "I can see little sign of God". Particularly fascinating is the account of a German businessman, John Rabe -- movingly read by Jurgen Prochnow -- who was a Nazi sympathizer but nonetheless does the right thing.
Survivors of the event, both Chinese and Japanese, also are interviewed on-camera and offer stories almost too horrific to be believed. Gasoline was thrown on men who were then set on fire. Chinese men were forced to have sex with dead women while the soldiers watched.
One elderly Chinese man who was there breaks down sobbing when he recalls his mother being slaughtered with a bayonet as she breast-fed his baby brother. A woman cries as she recounts how her young daughter was taken away from her, then raped and killed. A Japanese soldier recalls, "In the dark of night, we shot them in the back with machine guns."
In all, 200,000 Chinese were killed and an estimated 20,000 women ages 12-60 were raped. But 250,000 were saved by the bravery of the foreigners in the safety zone.
Indelible footage of looting, rapes and mass killing has been collected from archives in Europe, America and Asia and stitched together seamlessly by editors Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer, who won the docu editing award Sunday at Sundance. Some of the most chilling images come from home movies shot by a minister and smuggled out of the country in the coat lining of another safety zone foreigner. Philip Marshall has composed an understated Chinese-sounding score evocatively played by the Kronos Quartet.
Not only is the film a powerful historical record and a warning for future generations, it is an essential reminder to people, including many in Japan today, who might deny that this massacre ever occurred. As such, "Nanking" honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking.
NANKING
Fortissimo Films
A Ted Leonsis production
Credits:
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Screenwriters: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, Elizabeth Bentley
Producers: Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Music: Philip Marshall
Editors: Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan, Michael Schweitzer
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating:R...
Having already annexed Manchuria, Japan started its full-scale attack on the Chinese mainland in summer 1937 with extensive air raids on Shanghai and Nanking. Chinese citizens who had money and most foreigners had fled Nanking before the ground troops arrived that December. All that was left behind were the poor and a group of 22 European and American clergy, businessmen, doctors and teachers. In an attempt to save as many lives as possible, the foreign contingent set up a safety zone for the Chinese.
Guttentag and Sturman give the events great immediacy by staging a reading of the diaries, letters and other accounts of the invasion written by the expats. Recited by actors including Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff on a soundstage, the material serves as the narration for much of the film.
It's not a pretty picture as the army rolls into the once vibrant and now almost deserted city. As one of the diaries explains and the images confirm, "Each day is worse than the one before," and another says, "I can see little sign of God". Particularly fascinating is the account of a German businessman, John Rabe -- movingly read by Jurgen Prochnow -- who was a Nazi sympathizer but nonetheless does the right thing.
Survivors of the event, both Chinese and Japanese, also are interviewed on-camera and offer stories almost too horrific to be believed. Gasoline was thrown on men who were then set on fire. Chinese men were forced to have sex with dead women while the soldiers watched.
One elderly Chinese man who was there breaks down sobbing when he recalls his mother being slaughtered with a bayonet as she breast-fed his baby brother. A woman cries as she recounts how her young daughter was taken away from her, then raped and killed. A Japanese soldier recalls, "In the dark of night, we shot them in the back with machine guns."
In all, 200,000 Chinese were killed and an estimated 20,000 women ages 12-60 were raped. But 250,000 were saved by the bravery of the foreigners in the safety zone.
Indelible footage of looting, rapes and mass killing has been collected from archives in Europe, America and Asia and stitched together seamlessly by editors Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer, who won the docu editing award Sunday at Sundance. Some of the most chilling images come from home movies shot by a minister and smuggled out of the country in the coat lining of another safety zone foreigner. Philip Marshall has composed an understated Chinese-sounding score evocatively played by the Kronos Quartet.
Not only is the film a powerful historical record and a warning for future generations, it is an essential reminder to people, including many in Japan today, who might deny that this massacre ever occurred. As such, "Nanking" honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking.
NANKING
Fortissimo Films
A Ted Leonsis production
Credits:
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Screenwriters: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, Elizabeth Bentley
Producers: Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Music: Philip Marshall
Editors: Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan, Michael Schweitzer
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating:R...
- 1/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- Barely remembered in the West, the rape of Nanking -- then the capital of China -- by the Japanese imperial forces in 1937 stands as a gruesome testimonial to man's inhumanity to man. Conceptualized by AOL co-chairman Ted Leonsis and directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, "Nanking" is a vivid account of those terrible events. The beautifully crafted film could generate some interest in theaters before finding its natural home on a high-profile cable outlet.
Having already annexed Manchuria, Japan started its full-scale attack on the Chinese mainland in summer 1937 with extensive air raids on Shanghai and Nanking. Chinese citizens who had money and most foreigners had fled Nanking before the ground troops arrived that December. All that was left behind were the poor and a group of 22 European and American clergy, businessmen, doctors and teachers. In an attempt to save as many lives as possible, the foreign contingent set up a safety zone for the Chinese.
Guttentag and Sturman give the events great immediacy by staging a reading of the diaries, letters and other accounts of the invasion written by the expats. Recited by actors including Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff on a soundstage, the material serves as the narration for much of the film.
It's not a pretty picture as the army rolls into the once vibrant and now almost deserted city. As one of the diaries explains and the images confirm, "Each day is worse than the one before," and another says, "I can see little sign of God". Particularly fascinating is the account of a German businessman, John Rabe -- movingly read by Jurgen Prochnow -- who was a Nazi sympathizer but nonetheless does the right thing.
Survivors of the event, both Chinese and Japanese, also are interviewed on-camera and offer stories almost too horrific to be believed. Gasoline was thrown on men who were then set on fire. Chinese men were forced to have sex with dead women while the soldiers watched.
One elderly Chinese man who was there breaks down sobbing when he recalls his mother being slaughtered with a bayonet as she breast-fed his baby brother. A woman cries as she recounts how her young daughter was taken away from her, then raped and killed. A Japanese soldier recalls, "In the dark of night, we shot them in the back with machine guns."
In all, 200,000 Chinese were killed and an estimated 20,000 women ages 12-60 were raped. But 250,000 were saved by the bravery of the foreigners in the safety zone.
Indelible footage of looting, rapes and mass killing has been collected from archives in Europe, America and Asia and stitched together seamlessly by editors Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer, who won the docu editing award Sunday at Sundance. Some of the most chilling images come from home movies shot by a minister and smuggled out of the country in the coat lining of another safety zone foreigner. Philip Marshall has composed an understated Chinese-sounding score evocatively played by the Kronos Quartet.
Not only is the film a powerful historical record and a warning for future generations, it is an essential reminder to people, including many in Japan today, who might deny that this massacre ever occurred. As such, "Nanking" honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking.
NANKING
Fortissimo Films
A Ted Leonsis production
Credits:
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Screenwriters: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, Elizabeth Bentley
Producers: Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Music: Philip Marshall
Editors: Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan, Michael Schweitzer
Running time -- 91 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Having already annexed Manchuria, Japan started its full-scale attack on the Chinese mainland in summer 1937 with extensive air raids on Shanghai and Nanking. Chinese citizens who had money and most foreigners had fled Nanking before the ground troops arrived that December. All that was left behind were the poor and a group of 22 European and American clergy, businessmen, doctors and teachers. In an attempt to save as many lives as possible, the foreign contingent set up a safety zone for the Chinese.
Guttentag and Sturman give the events great immediacy by staging a reading of the diaries, letters and other accounts of the invasion written by the expats. Recited by actors including Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dorff on a soundstage, the material serves as the narration for much of the film.
It's not a pretty picture as the army rolls into the once vibrant and now almost deserted city. As one of the diaries explains and the images confirm, "Each day is worse than the one before," and another says, "I can see little sign of God". Particularly fascinating is the account of a German businessman, John Rabe -- movingly read by Jurgen Prochnow -- who was a Nazi sympathizer but nonetheless does the right thing.
Survivors of the event, both Chinese and Japanese, also are interviewed on-camera and offer stories almost too horrific to be believed. Gasoline was thrown on men who were then set on fire. Chinese men were forced to have sex with dead women while the soldiers watched.
One elderly Chinese man who was there breaks down sobbing when he recalls his mother being slaughtered with a bayonet as she breast-fed his baby brother. A woman cries as she recounts how her young daughter was taken away from her, then raped and killed. A Japanese soldier recalls, "In the dark of night, we shot them in the back with machine guns."
In all, 200,000 Chinese were killed and an estimated 20,000 women ages 12-60 were raped. But 250,000 were saved by the bravery of the foreigners in the safety zone.
Indelible footage of looting, rapes and mass killing has been collected from archives in Europe, America and Asia and stitched together seamlessly by editors Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan and Michael Schweitzer, who won the docu editing award Sunday at Sundance. Some of the most chilling images come from home movies shot by a minister and smuggled out of the country in the coat lining of another safety zone foreigner. Philip Marshall has composed an understated Chinese-sounding score evocatively played by the Kronos Quartet.
Not only is the film a powerful historical record and a warning for future generations, it is an essential reminder to people, including many in Japan today, who might deny that this massacre ever occurred. As such, "Nanking" honors the highest calling of documentary filmmaking.
NANKING
Fortissimo Films
A Ted Leonsis production
Credits:
Directors: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman
Screenwriters: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, Elizabeth Bentley
Producers: Ted Leonsis, Bill Guttentag, Michael Jacobs
Director of photography: Buddy Squires
Music: Philip Marshall
Editors: Hibah Frisina, Charlton McMillan, Michael Schweitzer
Running time -- 91 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Quick Links Complete Film Listing: Premieres Dramatic Comp World Dramatic Comp World Doc Comp Spectrum: Park City at Midnight: New Frontier Short Film Programs January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); Another eclectic docu section this year ranging in subject matters such as U.S Foreign policies, internal American struggles, global issues and human portraits of the young, old and stupid. On the war front we have Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, where Rory Kennedy looks at the abuses at the Iraqi prison, No End in Sight by Charles Ferguson looks at the chain of decisions that led to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and in hindsight. White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki directed by Steven Okazaki looks at the human cost of atomic warfare.On the global scale, Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold’s Everything's Cool looks at alternative energy
- 1/18/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
- Here is the complete listing for this year's Sundance film festival which kicks off tomorrow!January 18 to 28, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('January 18, 2007'); Premiere's section lineup:An American Crime - Tommy O'Haver Away From Her - Sarah Polley Black Snake Moan - Craig BrewerChapter 27 - Jarrett Schaefer Chicago 10 - Brett Morgen Clubland - Cherie Nowlan The Good Night - Jake Paltrow King of California - Mike Cahill Life Support - Nelson George Longford - Tom Hooper The Nines - John August Resurrecting the Champ - Rod Lurie The Savages - Tamara Jenkins Son of Rambow - Garth Jennings Summer Rain - Antonio Banderas Trade - Marco Kreuzpaintner Year of the Dog - Mike White Dramatic Competition:Adrift in Manhattan - Alfredo de Villa Broken English - Zoe CassavetesFour Sheets to the Wind - Sterlin HarjoThe Good Life - Steve BerraGrace Is Gone - James C. StrouseHounddog - Deborah Kampmeier Joshua
- 1/17/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
In announcing the competition slate for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Geoffrey Gilmore, its longtime director, said he sees the beginning of a new era in independent filmmaking. "Filmmakers are undergoing a massive expansion in perspective and aesthetic qualities," he said. "Where once independence meant a detachment, a kind of navel-gazing, that doesn't exist right now. Instead, there is engagement and innovation. Filmmakers are going out and engaging the real world in terms of subject matter, vision and innovative storytelling."
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
- 12/1/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In announcing the competition slate for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Geoffrey Gilmore, its longtime director, said he sees the beginning of a new era in independent filmmaking. "Filmmakers are undergoing a massive expansion in perspective and aesthetic qualities," he said. "Where once independence meant a detachment, a kind of navel-gazing, that doesn't exist right now. Instead, there is engagement and innovation. Filmmakers are going out and engaging the real world in terms of subject matter, vision and innovative storytelling."
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
- 11/30/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In announcing the competition slate for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Geoffrey Gilmore, its longtime director, said he sees the beginning of a new era in independent filmmaking. "Filmmakers are undergoing a massive expansion in perspective and aesthetic qualities," he said. "Where once independence meant a detachment, a kind of navel-gazing, that doesn't exist right now. Instead, there is engagement and innovation. Filmmakers are going out and engaging the real world in terms of subject matter, vision and innovative storytelling."
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
- 11/30/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In announcing the competition slate for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Geoffrey Gilmore, its longtime director, said he sees the beginning of a new era in independent filmmaking. "Filmmakers are undergoing a massive expansion in perspective and aesthetic qualities," he said. "Where once independence meant a detachment, a kind of navel-gazing, that doesn't exist right now. Instead, there is engagement and innovation. Filmmakers are going out and engaging the real world in terms of subject matter, vision and innovative storytelling."
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
Old categories of films long a staple of Sundance -- the coming-of-age picture or the dysfunctional family drama -- are no longer applicable to the competition films in the upcoming festival, Gilmore insisted. These new films tend to be more optimistic about the future, both politically and personally. Where once the independent world created its films almost in reaction to Hollywood and its happy endings, the new independents are drawing on the traditions of the American independent film itself. So if one thing characterizes Sundance 2007, Gilmore said, it is "freshness."
For the festival -- which runs Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah -- programrs looked at a mind-boggling 3,287 feature submissions. That includes 1,852 U.S. films and 1,435 international movies, an increase over the previous year, when 1,764 U.S. features and 1,384 international films were considered.
The 122 feature films selected include 82 world premieres, 24 North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres representing 25 countries. The competition section is divided into dramatic and documentary sections for both Independent Film -- meaning American films -- and World Cinema. Each section will present 16 features, for a total of 64 films that screen in competition.
While the number of first-time filmmakers is down, programrs have discovered the phenomenon of filmmakers in "new guises." So Chris Smith, whose American Movie won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, returns in dramatic competition with The Pool, a Hindi-language film set in Goa, India.
"You anticipate what a Chris Smith movie is, then you look at 'The Pool' and you say, 'That's Chris Smith?' " Gilmore said. He added that no fewer than four of the films in the dramatic competition are in languages other than English.
"American independent filmmakers are reaching out and changing the parameters that used to so easily encapsulate them," Gilmore said. "They are redefining what American independent film is."
Diversity is another factor, but not in the way Sundance programrs formerly used the word. Four Sheets to the Wind was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab by Sterlin Harjo, an Oklahoma resident and descendent of the Seminole and Creek tribes. Adrift in Manhattan from director Alfredo De Villa, who is Latino, focuses on an eye doctor and an aging artist losing his eyesight.
"These are complicated and sophisticated films," Gilmore said. "You can't call them Native-American or Latino films. They no longer are reducible to their origins. They no longer represent a particular community, but are simply American independent works."
Dramatic competition presents a range of subjects from personal stories about life in suburban and small-town America to stories taking place outside the U.S. The documentary competition naturally has films focused on the country's current travails in Iraq, such as Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight and Rory Kennedy's Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, but also on aspects of World War II in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's Nanking and Steven Okazaki's "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Each of the 16 films in dramatic and documentary categories is a world premiere. Programrs saw 856 films submitted for the documentary competition, while 996 features were submitted for the dramatic competition.
Sundance launched the world competition categories in 2005 to bolster the prominence of the international films at a festival long seen as a showcase for American indie films. Director of programming John Cooper said that with the upcoming festival "we now feel the benefit of all the travel we've done (to select films). We have hit our stride with a well-rounded program. Of the 16 films, 13 countries are represented. We found the best films, not necessarily world premieres, to rebuild the respect for foreign films in the U.S."
This year's selections include stories about a writer from China, a nomad in Mongolia, a peasant in Burkina Faso and the aftermath of crime and war in Sierra Leone.
The 2006 Grand Jury Prize winner for "13 (Tzameti)", Gela Babluani, a French director born in Georgia, will return to Park City with The Legacy, a film he made with his father, Temur Babluani. The film looks at culture shock when three French hipsters travel through rural Georgia.
John Carney's Once is a modern-day musical set in Dublin. The Israeli-German production, Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugaat) by Dror Shaul, is Israel's submission for the foreign-language Oscar.
Meanwhile, longtime British documentarian Nick Broomfield ("Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer," "Kurt & Courtney") will showcase Ghosts, a fictional tale of an illegal Chinese immigrant in the U.K.
Traditionally, international films meant art films in the U.S., Gilmore said. "Now these are not necessarily art films. 'Amelie' and 'Downfall' represent a new edge of where international filmmaking is going. It now embraces genre filmmaking all over the world, not just in Asia. Our selections include art, genre films, melodramas and minimalist works that should redefine what international film is in the U.S."
"The films in the world cinema competition contain complex stories that embrace full visions of life and explore topics that transcend the confines of personal, geographic and artistic borders," Cooper said.
The complete list of titles announced Wednesday follows.
Dramatic Competition:
ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo De Villa) -- Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World premiere.
BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes) -- A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World premiere.
FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo) -- Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World premiere.
THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra) -- A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World premiere.
GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse) -- A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World premiere.
JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff) -- A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World premiere.
NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim) -- When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World premiere.
ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask) -- Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves.
- 11/29/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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