“I remember getting a call from Carlos, the festival founder, saying that he wanted to show my film in the digital showcase. It was a huge deal for me. Some people dream of Sundance and other festivals. For me, with the size of this movie, it just felt like some validation that somebody outside of Memphis saw it and appreciated it. It was a fantastic experience. Probably one of the best of my life,” said director Craig Brewer (FOOTLOOSE, HUSTLE & FLOW, BLACK SNAKE MOAN, POOR & HUNGRY) .

Another HFF winner, director Robert DeFranco, sold his film “Telling You” to Miramax. Our winner Zoe Clarke-Williams got a directing job for an MGM film after we honored her. In addition, our winning documentarian Janine Hoskins sold her documentary “My Khmer Heart” to HBO.

“For up-and-coming filmmakers looking for a break the festival is the ultimate networking opportunity”, said “Daily Variety.”

Submit your fim NOW! http://www.hollywoodfest.com

 ÉCU - The European Independent Film Festival will be rolling out its indie carpet on the 29th, 30th and 31st March and screen a selection of the World's Best Indie Films. Showcasing 109 films from 35 countries, the festival will take place at Cinéma Les 7 Parnassiens in Montparnasse and at the arthouse theatre Cinéma Action Christine, located in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

ÉCU is excited to present a new addition to its 2013 program: the ÉCU-Arab-Special-Section whichl will spotlight six independent Arab film directors at the Cinéma Le Lincoln near the Champs-Élysées.

"We are extremely proud of this year's Official Selection, as well as having the opportunity to screen great films in The Arab-Special-Section. Giving these talented independent filmmakers the recognition they deserve is very important to us. In our eighth year ÉCU continues screening the best indie films from around the world - a mission we believe in wholeheartedly," said Academy Award-honoured filmmaker and ÉCU President, Scott Hillier.

The 2013 Official Selection will certainly impress with 9 World Premiers and 15 European Premiers. Some highlights include, "EAT" directed by Moritz Krämer, a German experimental film about a fashion model who begins eating walls and chairs; "We're not Slaves," directed by Ainur Askarov, a short film from Russia about a small boy in besieged Leningrad during World War II, and a British feature film called "Girl Shaped Love Drug," a visually stimulating story of a boy with a metaphysical presence and a girl with a Manchurian heart who live a beautiful romance, directed by Simon Powell. Another film in competition is  "Buzkashi Boys" from Afghanistan which was nominated for an Oscar early this year in Hollywood. 

ÉCU's 2013 Official Selection films are competing for 25 awards in 17 different categories including ÉCU's latest award, "The Ahmed Khedr Award for Excellence in Arab Filmmaking". Winners will not only receive recognition from the worldwide independent film community, but prizes from the London Film Academy, Red Giant, Lomography, Footage Firm, Jungle Software and others.

During the festival weekend, attendees will not only be able to attend film screenings, but will also have the opportunity to participate in a variety of workshops ranging in subject from business aspects of filmmaking to editing and structure. Directly following film screenings, ÉCU will host Director Q&A sessions where audience members can pose questions directly to the filmmakers. Music concerts will be held throughout the weekend thanks to ÉCU's partner, Access Film-Music, with performances by Andy Frasco & The UN, Bona Fide Genius, Kristin Shey, and Chicago Mike Beck.

ÉCU - The European Independent Film Festival has always strove to do its best for the independent filmmaking community. It is due to this solid belief that the festival has been a launching site for many talented directors - proving that great cinema, and its creators, can be driven by pure passion and creative thinking and not only by big budgets. ÉCU will continue its mission to discover and promote extraordinary independent films from around the world and being a major European cultural event which brings thousands of people to Paris every year.

Stay connected with ÉCU 2013 at:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 29, 2013   -- For a 17th consecutive year, the Hollywood Film Awards® continues its mandate of celebrating Hollywood cinema and recognizing excellence in Hollywood, both in-front and behind the camera.  This year the Hollywood Film Awards® Gala ceremony takes place on October 21, 2013, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in Beverly Hills.

In the last 10 years, a total of 96 Oscar nominations and 34 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Film Awards®.

The “Los Angeles Times” recognized the Hollywood Film Awards® Gala Ceremony as a “pre-Oscar showcase,” and the “New York Times,” called it the “first mandatory stop in the awards season.”

“We are very excited to be having our seventeenth annual Hollywood Film Awards® Gala ceremony on October 21. Last year’s event was one of the best yet, with our presenters and honorees including  Richard Gere, Bradley Cooper, Marion Cotillard, Robert De Niro, Amy Adam, Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David O. Russell, Dustin Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino, Quvenzhané Wallis, Chris Evans, Tom Ford, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Hillcoat, Helen Hunt, Melissa Leo, Ray Liotta, Christopher Nolan, Edward Norton, Eric Roth, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Shankman, Kerry Washington, Samantha Barks, Bella Heathcote, Tom Holland, John Magaro, Ezra Miller, and Kelly Reilly among many others,” Hollywood Film Awards founder, Carlos de Abreu, announced.

The first-ever Hollywood Film Awards® Gala ceremony took place in October 1997 in the historic Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood. Kirk Douglas took home the inaugural "Hollywood Career Achievement Award."

The criteria for the recipients are based on their body of work and/or one or more films that are to be released within the calendar year.

Last year’s Hollywood Film Awards total TV audience was over 42 million unique impressions, in addition to 300 million media impressions from both online and offline hits.

Further, through the“Hollywood Gives Back®” Project, the Hollywood Film Awards® continues highlighting and helping fundraising for important local and national causes.

Over the years, the Hollywood Film Awards have contributed to such organizations as: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights; Artists for Peace and Justice; Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; the Enough Project; Matchingdonors.com, Scren Actors Guild Foundation, and the children’s charity Variety SoCal among others.

The Hollywood Film Awards® selects individuals to be recipients of their “Hollywood Humanitarian Awards” in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette and actor and activist Sean Penn.

Click here for more information about the Hollywood Film Awards

Hollywood Film Awards Contact:

awards@hollywoodawards.com

Hollywood Gives Back®

Hollywood Film Awards®

Hollywood Film Festival®

433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

http://www.hollywoodawards.com

Indie film from Ukraine and post-Soviet space lands in the East Village

Kinofest NYC, featuring independent film from Ukraine and the broader post-Soviet region,has announced the upcoming program for its fourth annual festival which will take place April 4–7, 2013. This year, the festival includes ten screening sessions presenting more than thirty short and four feature films by independent filmmakers from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Russia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Twelve filmmakers are flying in from Ukraine and Estonia to present their films. Kinofest NYC 2013 will take place in three different locations around New York City.

The festival weekend will kick off on Thursday, April 4, with opening night at The Ukrainian Institute of America (2 E.79th St.); all other film screenings are scheduled at The Ukrainian Museum (222 E.6th St.) and the Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Ave.), two longstanding East Village cultural institutions. The complete program and roster of films are posted on the Museum's website,www.ukrainianmuseum.org, and on KinofestNYC.com.

The popular "Goodbye, Ukraine!" short film series is returning to Kinofest NYC, this year showing seven new shorts that will have their U.S. premiere at the festival. In 2012, the "Goodbye, Ukraine!" group of filmmakers completed an anthology of 34 short films with recurrent themes: how and why Ukrainians choose to leave their country since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and unique observations of those who stayed behind and how they cope with life in contemporary Ukraine. Denis Ivanov, executive director of "Goodbye, Ukraine!" and director of the Odesa International Film Festival, is flying in to present the short film series. Five of the "Goodbye, Ukraine!" filmmakers will also be on hand at the opening night event.

One of the highlights of the festival is the New York premiere of Pit No. 8, a human-interest documentary by Estonian filmmaker Marianna Kaat. The film follows a teenager's journey from a dysfunctional household to an illegally operated coal mine near his hometown, where he scrapes by, providing for himself and his siblings. The director of the award-winning film will present her film, along with Alla Tyutyunnyk, a director of the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival DOCUDAYS UA in Ukraine, where this film was shown in 2012.

Making its U.S. premiere at this year's Kinofest NYC is the dark comedy Business As Usual by husband-and-wife team Valentyn Vasyanovch and Iya Myslytska. The story is about a Ukrainian doctor going through a mid-life crisis, which leads him on a journey of comical self-discovery, causing him to lose his status-minded wife and get involved in several hare-brained schemes with a close friend.

Tickets to Kinofest NYC 2013 are $12 per screening, and will be available for online purchase starting March 15. All films shown are in English or their original language with English subtitles.

Kinofest NYC 2013 is produced in cooperation with The Ukrainian Museum as part of its program "Film in Perspective" (the Museum’s film program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council). Other major sponsors of the festival include Self Reliance (NY) Federal Credit Union, Bauer Dental Arts (NYC), and Izolyatsia- Platform for Cultural Initiatives (Ukraine), the Ukrainian Institute of America (NYC), and individual contributors.

About Kinofest NYC

Kinofest NYC was founded in 2009 by a group of East Village residents with a passion for cinema, and a desire to advocate Ukrainian independent film. The festival seeks to educate and entertain its viewers, and to provide opportunities in the U.S. for the new generation of innovative and talented filmmakers from that part of the world.

The Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF) today announced the program for the 17th Annual City of Lights, City of Angels (COL*COA) film festival that will run April 15-22 in Los Angeles. The festival will present 38 features, including three International Premieres, 11 North American or U.S. Premieres, 16 West Coast Premieres - and 19 new shorts.

"The diversity of French cinema remains very appealing to an international audience, and we are proud to offer the biggest and most exclusive program ever, including, for the first time, a new series that highlights the French film industry's support of World Cinema,"stated François Truffart, COL*COA Executive Producer and Artistic Director.

COL*COA will open with the North American Premiere of It Happened in Saint-Tropezthe new comedy directed by Danièle Thompson, co-written by Thompson and Christopher Thompson and starring Kad Merad, Monica Bellucci, Lou de Laâge and Eric Elmosnino. The film will be released in France on April 10th, five days before its opening at COL*COA.

Last film in competition on Sunday, April 21st will be the recent critical and commercial hit in France: Jappeloup, a biopic of the most improbable show jumping partnerships of all time, Pierre Durand and his horse Jappeloup, written by and starring Guillaume Canet, and directed by Christian Duguay.

For the first time, the North American Premieres of two highly anticipated (non-competition) films will close the festival on Monday, April 22. The titles will be kept confidential until their announcement on opening night of COL*COA (April 15), upon which RSVPs will then be taken for those two films.

Philippe Le Guay, writer and director of COL*COA 2011's opening film, The Women on the Sixth Floor, will attend the festival for the North American Premiere of his new comedy, Cycling with Moliere, starring Lambert Wilson and Fabrice Luchini, before its presentation at Tribeca. Director/co-writer Stéphane Brizé will also be in Los Angeles for the U.S. Premiere of his multi-César nominated new drama, A Few Hours of Spring, with Vincent Lindon and Hélène Vincent. 11.6, the very new film with François Cluzet, written and directed by Philippe Godeau, will premiere in North America at COL*COA as well as the comedy, True Friends, starring Gerard Lanvin, co-written and co-directed by Stéphan Arnichard and François Prévôt-Leygonie. The anticipated animated feature, Aya of Yop City, co-produced by Joann Sfar and written by Marguerite Abouet, and co-directed by Clément Oubrerie and Marguerite Abouet, will have its International Premiere at COL*COA before its summer release in France.

Other highlights include two buzzworthy U.S. summer releases by The Weinstein Company: Populaire, a romantic comedy, co-written and directed by Régis Roinsard, with Romain Duris, Déborah Francois and Academy Award nominee Bérénice Bejo, and Haute Cuisine, a comedy about power and food based on a true story, starring Catherine Frot, co-written and directed by Christian Vincent, and four first presentations in the U.S.: the 2013 César winner for Best Documentary, The Invisibles, written and directed by Sébastien Lifshitz, The Man Who Laughs, adapted from Victor Hugo's novel with Gérard Depardieu,from director/co-writerJean-Pierre Améris, the North American Premiere of drama Rendezvous in Kiruna, co-written and directed by Anna Novion, as well as the special presentation of Little Lion, from director/co-writer Stéphane Collardey.

The competition will feature several directorial debut films, including the uproarious road movie, Welcome to Argentina, co-written and directed by newcomer Edouard Deluc, the singular and inventive drama, Hold Back, written and directed by Rachid Djaïdani and one of the most popular comedies of the year, What's in a Name, co-written and co-directed by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte.

In addition to The Weinstein Company, several American distributors will present their films at COL*COA before their U.S. release: Kino Lorber - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, co-written and directed by Alain Resnais (Focus on a Filmmaker); MPI Media - Thérèse, the last film of director/co-writer Claude Miller starring Audrey Tautou;Cohen Media Group - In the House, written and directed by François Ozon and The Attack, co-written and directed by Ziad Doueiri; Distrib Filmsfor two documentaries: Becoming Traviata and The Invisibles; Film Movement for two thrillers: Aliyah and Three Worlds.

Five popular series will return in 2013. COL*COA.docwillinclude the International Premiere of Sons of the Wind, written and directed by Bruno Le Jean. After 10 will highlight the Jury Special Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard): Le Grand Soir, written and directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern. COL*COA Classics will pay tribute to writer-director Jacques Demy, with the International Premiere of restored film Bay of Angels, director/co-writer André Téchiné (The Bronte Sisters), director/co-writer Maurice Pialat (To Our Loves), director Alain Resnais (Stavisky) and writer/director Louis Malle (The Fire Within - Carte Blanche to Wes Anderson). The Film Noir series will include the West Coast Premiere of Armed Hands, co-written and directed by Pierre Jolivet.

Moreover, a Focus on a Producer will be introduced on Saturday (Anne-Dominique Toussaint) as well as a Series dedicated to world cinema produced by France, including the North American Premiere of Hidden Beauties, from writer-director Nouri Bouzid.

The COL*COA Educational Program will offer three High School Screenings, one student screening and one Master Class in association with ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America).

In addition to 31 features, 19 new short films will compete for the 2013 COL*COA Awards on Sunday, April 21st. The complete recipients list of the 2013 COL*COA Awards - including the U.S. distributor winner of a new prize, theCOL*COA Coming SoonAward, presented in association with KPCC, will be announced onstage on Monday, April 22nd during the closing night.

City of Lights, City of Angels is funded by the FACF, a unique partnership of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, France's Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music, and the Writers Guild of America, West with the vital support of L'ARP (France's Association of Authors, Directors and Producers), the CNC, the Los Angeles Film and TV Office of the French Embassy, and Unifrance.

           COL*COA is sponsored by Air Tahiti Nui, Dailymotion.com, TV5MONDE (Official Sponsors); Airstar, La Boîte, Los Angeles Times, KPCC 89.3 (Premier Sponsors); Club Culinaire of Southern California, ELMA, Gayot.com, Indiewire, LA Weekly, Sunset Marquis, Variety (Major Sponsors); Champagne de L'Argentaine, Cinando, Esprit de Champagne, HammerSky, Ile de France Film Commission, Laemmle Theatres, Les Macarons Duverger, Marché du Film, St-Germain, TITRA TVS, Under The Milky Way (Platinum Sponsors); and, Alliance Française de Los Angeles, Clautiere Vineyard, Hollywood Blonde, Rosenthal The Malibu Estate, ROXO Port Cellars, Valrhona (Supporting Sponsors).

All screenings are in French with English subtitles except in the case of the family-oriented animated films, dubbed in English. Tickets are available for advance purchase online at www.colcoa.org and onsite at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90046 (cash or checks only). Please visit www.colcoa.org for box office hours. Ticket prices are $10 for adults; $7 tickets for seniors (62+), disabled, and members of American Cinematheque, ASC, ICG, Film Independent, LACMA, SAG or Women in Film; $3 for students and under 21. Tickets are complimentary for DGA and WGAW guild members. The Happy Hour Talks are free on a first come, first served basis. 

The European Independent Film Festival is proud to announce its line-up for its Opening Ceremony, Friday the 29th of March, 2013 at Cinéma Les 7 Parnassiens in Paris, France beginning at 8 pm. 12 films will be screened:

· Balkanica LTD, directed by Daniele Scarpi (Italy): A story of a boy who finds himself at gun point and asked to salute, thus revealing his ethnic group.

· I've Only Just Begun, a music video directed by Elias Koskimies (Finland): A raging, beautiful, violent and poetic statement about LBGT discrimination. 

· O-Ring, directed by Ondrej Hudecek (Czech Republic): A tale of a young ambitious actor caught in a series of unfortunate events after running over a man -- himself.

· HEADS UP, directed by Alex Merkin (USA): An edgy comedy of two partners in crime, who when a suspicious situation arises, test their friendship in an extreme manner.

· Cabbagemincer, directed by Vadim Viner and Dovran Khalhodjaev (Russia): Shows a cabbagemincer with exquisite taste, who knows a thing or two about shredding to cabbage and is a great admirer of the beauty of female feet.

· Eight-minute Deadline, directed by Petros Papadopoulos and Zina Papadopoulou (Greece): A short film that depicts a world where mistakes are unacceptable and deadlines are intensely strict.

· Pianoworks 13, directed by Julien Martorell (France): With a combination of live action and motion design, four dancers perform different styles of dance showing a sort of calligraphic language.

· Niagara, directed by Léopold Dewolf (UK): A road trip film of two men with a million dollars in a bag.

· Voices, directed by Hussain Al-Riffaei (Bahrain): Recounts the story of a woman who is stuck between her present life that she tolerates and a past life that she is spiritually connected to.

· Nazi Goreng, directed by Nathan Nill (Germany): The portrayal of a young neo-Nazi who is under pressure, but stable until he escapes from the police and ends up in a strip club, thus throwing his world into complete disorder.

· EAT, directed by Moritz Krämer (Germany): A story of an unnerved model at a photo shoot who discovers that everything around her is edible.

· Dogsitting, directed by Sara Verhagen and Yannick Privat (France): An account of a young English dogsitter who discovers that man's beat friend can sometimes be an unexpected burden.

Each of ÉCU's 2013 Official Selection films demonstrate quality, innovation and indie spirit in both its cinematic style and content. Running for three days, the 29th through the 31st of March, ÉCU will be screening at Cinéma Les 7 Parnassiens, Cinéma Action Christine and its Special Arab Section at Cinéma Le Lincoln in Paris.

ÉCU 2013 will present 108 films from 35 countries competing in 17 categories for 25 awards, including the festival's highest honor, "Europe's Best Independent Film 2013." Award-winners will be announced on the 31st of March at 8 pm during the festival's Awards Ceremony, which will be broadcasted LIVE at www.ecufilmfestival.com.

In addition to film screenings, festival attendees can attend an exciting array of professional filmmaking workshops and Director Q&A's. There will also a full program of live music organized by Festival Partner, Access Film-Music.

In its eighth edition, ÉCU continues to be a discovery point for much of Europe's talented independent filmmakers who are driven by pure passion and the need to make great cinema sans the benefit of large production budgets and constrictions.

Press are invited to attend an aperitif and watch the Opening Night films on Friday, the 29th of March at 6:30 pm at Cinéma Les 7 Parnassiens in the Montparnasse district. A live concert, brought to you by ÉCU's Official Music Partner, Access Film-Music, will follow the conclusion of the screening beginning at 10h pm at the nearby bar, Sitatunga located at 28, rue Vavin, 75006 Paris.  

Hollywood Film Festival - DEADLINE is APRIL 30, 2013. SUBMIT NOW! 

Our mission at the HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL is to bridge the gap between established Hollywood and the global creative community, while providing an avenue of discovery for emerging filmmakers. Be discovered in Hollywood. Submit NOW! 

Our Executive Director, Jon Fitzgerald, was the co-founder and former executive director of Slamdance, AFI Fest, Santa Barbara and Abu Dhabi film festivals among others. In addition, he launched CineCause, a philanthropic platform, connecting socially relevant films to related causes.

“I remember getting a call from Carlos, the festival founder, saying that he wanted to show my first film in the digital showcase. It was a huge deal for me. Some people dream of Sundance and other festivals. For me, with the size of this movie, it just felt like some validation that somebody outside of Memphis saw it and appreciated it. It was a fantastic experience. Probably one of the best of my life,” said director Craig Brewer (Footloose, Hustle and Flow)

With film presentations taking place in the heart of Hollywood, the Festival presents a valuable screening platform for independent filmmakers, while providing for access to the studios and industry at large. The 2013 event will take this concept to the next level, presenting a unique networking program with“**HOLLYWOOD NETWORK® INITIATIVE.” Once again the Hollywood Film Festival will take place at the state of the art ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.** Subject to executives availability.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: APRIL 30, 2013

FIFOG Le Festival International du Film Oriental de Genève a le plaisir de partager avec vous la bande-annonce de sa 8ème édition. Bon visionnement! The FIFOG is glad to share with you the trailer of his 8th edition of Oriental Film festival of Geneva. Enjoy!

FilmFestivals.com launched in 1995 (an M21 Entertainment company) it has hosted the number one portal site for festivals and film news since this early, pionneer venture.
We, at M21 Entertainment, have also ventured into the new web 2.0 possibilities to serve our festival community with better (modern) tools for our blog platform fest21.com which hosts more than 25.000 blogs (and growing)
Fest21.com also host video blogs from 6.000 festivals and 15.000 filmmakers interested in the festival circuit.

We have been maintaining these two sites and have now decided to regroup the best of both world (portal and community) into one single url www.filmfestivals.com which will provide state of the art technology.
Migration begins end of April.

Of course the previous links will continue to be live (and passwords....)

Filmfestivals.com’s mission is to be the premiere online entertainment destination dedicated to showcasing film festivals around the world and fostering new film and filmmaking talent.

6000 festivals connected, we have covered editorially over 3000 of them and  provide solution to connect film to festivals, festival submission suite, promotional package.

We offer over 70 000 pages of content and 20 000 pictures and videos from the festival scene.

Kindly let us know your concerns or suggestions. 

A bit of (pre) history

The company was founded in 1995 began its festival involvement with the production of a CD-Rom on the Cannes Film Festival and the creation of their first official website. This successful experience developed into a focus on film festivals all over the world. Filmfestivals.com was registered on July 26, 1995. Yes, you read it right, 95!

1996 - coverage of the major international film festivals in partnership with Moving Pictures International, the (ex) British film industry magazine (transformed recently).
1997 - creation of the worldwide festival directory and a monthly bulletin board
1998 - Expanded to include films reviews, pertinent articles…
1999 - Launched the film and festival databases, a weekly news edition and services to festival organizers and filmmakers.
2000 - Launch of pro site and new version of french and Internatonal sites.
2001 - Launch of the film interactive experience at Sundance. Company has built a catalogue of 50 films and 150 shorts.
2002 - Launch of the Festival Circuit.
2003 - Launch of the Buyers Lounge for Cannes Market
2004 - Partners with Hollywood Europan Awards to promote european film through Hollywood European Award
Partnership with Cannes, Los Angeles Festival, Karlovy Vary, Venice, IFP Market, MIFED...
2005 - Partners with 2005 Cannes Market to promote the Short Film Digital Avenue showcase and panel on convergence and new media digital rights management. Partnership with Cannes,Satis, SIL 2005 Roma Independent Film Festival, Dubai...
2006 - Filmfestivals and M21 Entertainment launch www.fest21.com at Cannes new video blog platform for festival, film professionnals and film fans at large. Free storage for blog streaming at state of the art conditions.
2007 - M21 Entertainment introduces the first digital library bundle, including an e-Book reader and a selection of 24 books dedicated to prospective management and technology.
2008 - Cannes Future of Cinema Salon (4th edition of our prospective panels) goes to Cannes and Locarno (as an official partner)
2009 - 2011- Launch of fest21 new version with improved search and new Festival Directory merged with filmfestivals.com.
The company partners with Cannes for the seventh year. The company publishes "A festival Wife" by episodes on fest21.com with a reveal in Cannes of the last chapter of the festival thriller by Rex Weiner (former Journalist with Variety)   

Malo Girod de l'Ain, co founder 
The Company was founded in 1995 by Malo Girod de l'Ain, who created the first official website for Cannes International Film Festival and went on to develop the Internet's leading website for film festivals.

Previously, he was involved in the computer software industry for more than 10 years. He held VP and President positions in venture capital and software publishing companies and was a management and data processing consultant in New York and Paris. He holds a doctorate in engineering in addition to a law diploma.

Bruno Chatelin, Editor co founder
Bruno Chatelin was in charge of the launch of over 250 films during his tenure as Marketing Director and Managing Director for Columbia TriStar Films and Twentieth Century FOX. In 1995 he initiated and managed the joint venture between French major UGC and FOX and led it to the leading position in the french market. Mr. Chatelin brings experience in promotional strategies for interactive media. He has created two commercial websites for small-business entrepreneurs (individuals working from home, or companies with fewer than 10 people). He holds an MBA from HEC (École des hautes études commerciales). He is a Board Member of EFA, European Film Academy, board member for Cesar academy, and co chair of Hollywood European Awards, advisory Board Member at IFFS Europe - International Film festival Summit.
He has served in a couple of festival juries.

Our websites filmfestivals.com and fest21.com, established 1995 as world reference in this niche, can definitely help you attract more visibility and film submissions from our large base of international film professionals (370 000 unique filmmaker visitors each month), 128 500 subscribers to the newsletter.

ONE TIME OFFER
We suggest this quick one month booster program for your call for entry including 
with 4 newsletter ads, your call for entry promoted one month long and sticky at top of list in the most important page for filmmakers:  http://www.fest21.com/en/channel/festivals/call_for_entry
It is charged 350$ half price of the classic and estbalished Bulletin Board Package.

An additional 300$ budget will boost your online promotion with a two week banner campaign (300x250 pixels) for an additional 350$.

Remember we keep no $ on all submissions fees generated for your festival.

FestivalExpress Beta online suite, this allows filmmakers to submit in one click if they know about you and decide to submit.

BOOST SUBMISSIONS
Thanks for selecting FestivalExpress Beta online suite, this allows filmmakers to submit in one click if they know about you and decide to submit.
You must check regularly your account on fest21.com  at  "festival Information" (top right) to evaluate the submissions (clicking and visiting their film profile)
You can promote this on your website, or (with a budget) through our dedicated promotion package designed to drive more submissions from our international audience.
If you care for quality rather than serial submitters?
Then we definitively can help you with a fast and clean boost charged 500€  (750$) for a 6 month long promotion plan with strong visibility.
It works very well as a complement to WaB, and we keep no $ from your submissions fees and connect you to larger and different international crowd.

PUBLICITY & CONTENT
Please consider promoting  (for free of course) your festival by sharing more content (The festival mission, past winners, line up, fest director interview, fest trailer, entries trailers, posters, images and Interviews….)
This is important for our filmmakers who want to know more before submiting….
Do so by clicking the CREATE CONTENT button. http://www.filmfestivals.com/node/add 

REFERENCES
Established in 1995 as the leading (only) media strictly dedicated to the film festival scene.
We receive 370 000 visits every month from film professionals
Our audience is truly international, unlike Without a Box, we reach a very international audience through our portal and our social network (fest21.com)  which host the leading film festival directory and database.

We serve the festival community since 1995 and have references among all tiers from estbalished (Cannes, Venice, Venice, Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles…) to small or medium festivals, including a great track record with launching events (like Dubai, Bahamas, Aruba…)

Let me know if you want to brainstorm with us about specific editorial and promo packages.

Audrey Hepburn
(1929 - 1993)
 

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.“ Audrey Hepburn

Le public la connait surtout dans ces chefs d' oeuvres des années 50 et 60.
Vacances romaines, (pour lequel elle reçoit l'Oscar du meilleur rôle féminin) Drôle de frimousse, Diamants sur canapé, Charade, My Fair Lady.Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood's Golden Age. She has since been ranked as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema and been placed in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.

Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England and the Netherlands, including German-occupied Arnhem during the Second World War. In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948 to continue ballet training with Marie Rambert and perform as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions.

After appearing in several British films and starring in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi, Hepburn played the Academy Award-winning lead role in Roman Holiday (1953). Later performing in successful films like Sabrina (1954), The Nun's Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), Hepburn received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and accrued a Tony Award for her theatrical performance in the 1954 Broadway play Ondine. Hepburn remains one of few people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards.

She appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. Although contributing to the organisation since 1954, she worked in some of the most profoundly disadvantaged communities of Africa, South America and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in late 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of appendiceal cancer at her home in Switzerland in early 1993 at the age of 63.[1][2][3]www.audreyhepburn.com

ReelWorld Film Festival in Toronto from April 10 to 14, 2013--

18 world premieres.  Eight North American premieres. Nine Canadian premieres. 14 Toronto premieres. Over the course of five days, ReelWorld Film Festival 2013 offers more than 85 films and videos hailing from 17 countries, with more than 66 per cent of them by Canadian artists from Aboriginal, Asian Black, Latino, Middle Eastern, South Asian or another racially diverse background. 

The Festival’s selection of dramas, documentaries, shorts and music videos boasts an eclectic collection for film enthusiasts. Activities are presented at Famous Players Canada Square Cinemas (2190 Yonge Street) from April 10 to 14, 2013.

“From Contract, our opening night film from Ghana, to our closing night dramatic feature Aayna Ka Bayna from India, we have films that will prompt people to laugh, to inspire others and to reflect.  This year we have searched across Canada and around the globe to offer a lineup that showcases diversity in non-stereotypical ways. We are presenting 85 films and videos, with 66 per cent of them by Canadian artists,” said Actress Tonya Lee Williams, Founder and Executive Director of ReelWorld Film Festival.

I think audiences will enjoy what our programmers have curated for our 13th year. Special thanks to TD Bank Group, NBC Universal, Telefilm Canada, OMDC and all our funders and sponsors for partnering with us to offer this year’s festival,” added Williams.

Special presentations and galas include:

Opening night film Contract (d: Shirley Frimpong-Manso, 125mins, 2012. Ghana) is a romantic comedy featuring a rich entrepreneur who wants to become a father without dealing with “mama drama”. Gala presented by TD Bank Group. Screens April 10 at 7pm. Pre-reception at 5pm. North American premiere.

Closing night film Aayna Ka Bayna (d: Samit Kakkad, 94 mins, 2012. India) is about nine juvenile delinquents in a detention centre run by a tyrant warden. They dance for passion, for hope and for their dreams to come true. Screens April 14 at 5pm. Pre-reception at 4pm. North American premiere.

ReelSpeak features a candid discussion (The Actor’s Studio– style) with Actress and Producer Tangi Miller (Felicity) followed by a screening of Christopher Nolen’s The Good Life, a film that gives us a more realistic view of the “perfect couple”. ReelSpeak is presented on April 11. Pre-reception at 6pm. ReelSpeak at 7:30pm. Screening at 9:30pm.  ReelSpeak is sponsored by NBC Universal.

The ReelWorld Music Video Night is presented on April 12 at 9pm (pre-reception at 7:30pm) by TD Bank Group and features 24 of the best music videos and a one-on-one conversation with award-winning music video artist Davin Black.

Families are invited to our Free Family Screening of Shayamal Uncle: Turn Off the Lights and Calcutta Taxi, presented by Shaw Media on April 13 at 1pm. Shayamal Uncle: Turn Off the Lights, by director Suman Ghosh, follows a family patriarch as he fights the bureaucracy of India to have his street lights turned off during daylight hours.  (65 mins, 2012, India, North American premiere).Calcutta Taxi unravels the story of three lives that coincide and affect each other, each one having lost and found some things in this chance encounter of life. (d: Vikram Dasgupta, 20 mins, 2012, Canada/India).

In addition to our special presentations, ReelWorld will showcase 19 features and 38 shorts from Canada, Australia, Chile, Egypt, France, Ghana, India, Iran, Mongolia, Nigeria, The Phillipines, Russia, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Schedule, screening times, synopses and the online box office are available at the rebuilt and redesigned reelworld.ca by clicking on the films page and choosing schedule. Events/screenings are listed in chronological order.   (Note to editors: film synopses included in appendix)

Tickets may be purchased online at reelworld.ca (click on films, then choose schedule then scroll down the list to find your event), in person at the ReelWorld Film Festival offices (438 Parliament, Suite 300, Toronto, ON) or by phone at 416.598.7933.

ReelWorld Film Festival also offers professional development opportunities for emerging and establishing filmmakers through our Industry Panels, our OMDC Networking Brunch and our Face2Face mentorship session (preceded by a ReelPrep coaching session).

The 13th ReelWorld Film Festival offers world-class cinema – dramas, documentaries, shorts and music videos - along with professional development opportunities for filmmakers and individuals interested in expanding their careers in Canada’s film and television industry. Launched in 2001 by Actress Tonya Lee Williams, ReelWorld Film Festival celebrates and promotes racial and cultural diversity both in front of and behind the camera. In addition to the five-day festival, ReelWorld hosts the Indie Film Lounge in September. Key sponsors include: TD Bank, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Trillium Foundation, NBC Universal, Global Toronto, Wired Messenger, Pierre Laurent, DJ Woods, City Television and Cineplex Entertainment.

Appendix – Feature Films:

In addition to the special presentations of Contract, Aaya Ka Bayna, The Good Life and Shyamal Uncle Turns Off the Lights, ReelWorld Film Festival 2013 presents 19 features:

A Decent Arrangement (d: Sarovar Banka, comedy/drama, 97 mins, 2011, U.S.A.) follows Indian-American Ashok Khosla as he arrives in India intent on following cultural traditions to find a suitable wife through an arranged marriage. Screens April 12 at 6pm. North American premiere.

AKP: Job 27 (d: Michael L. Suan, drama, 114 mins, 2012, Canada) is a silent noir film telling the tale of a Japanese hit man searching everywhere for the love of his life. Screens April 13 at 8:30pm. Canadian premiere.

Cairo 678 brings the reality of women’s issues to the forefront, showing the widespread and undisguised sexual harassment in Egypt. (d: Mohamed Diab, drama, 100 mins, 2010, Egypt, Toronto premiere).  Screens April 13 at 5:30pm. Cairo 678 is co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2013 Film Series. For more information, visit www.globalfilm.org.

Croker Island Exodus (d: Steven McGregor, documentary, 66 mins, 2011, Australia) is the story of how 95 Aboriginal children and missionaries travelled 5,000 miles by foot, boat, canoe, truck and train over 44 days in 1942, while the Japanese bombed northern Australia. Screens April 13 at 6pm. North American premiere.

Echoes (d: Sun-Kyung Yi, documentary, 56 mins, 2012, Canada) looks at the emotional toll on mothers and their children as a result of controversial child birth policies in China. Screens April 12 at 4pm.

Elza (Le Bonheur D'Elza) (d: Mariette Monpierre, drama, 78 mins, 2011, France) is the story of a young woman in search of the father she’s never known. Screens April 11 at 5pm. Toronto premiere.

Fondi ’91: An Indian teenager goes to Italy for a soccer tournament. He falls in love, and witnesses a horrible crime. (d: Dev Khanna, drama, 81 mins, 2012, Canada). Screens April 13 at 6pm. World premiere.

Goodness in Rwanda: The internationally-acclaimed theatre production "Goodness" (from Toronto-based company Volcano Theatre) performs their play in Rwanda. (d: Gord Rand and John Westheuser, documentary, 75 mins, 2013, Canada/Rwanda). Screens April 13 at 4pm. World premiere.

Hoodrush is a musical thriller detailing the travails of two brothers closely bonded by their love for music; but deeply separated by their means for success. (d: Dimeji Ajibola, musical drama, 145 mins, Nigeria). Screens April 13 at 8:30pm. North American premiere.

La Playa D.C. by director Juan Andrés Arango screens April 11 at 7pm. It is the story of a young black teenager trying to survive on the streets of Colombia. La Playa D.C. was originally presented at the Cannes Film Festival. (90 mins, 2012, Canada/Colombia).

Lost Lagoon: A Korean girl starts to learn English in Canada. Her journey leads her through a path of megalomaniac school administrators, crazy boyfriends, new friendships and old sibling rivalries. (d: Rob Leickner, comedy/drama, 96 mins, Canada). Screens April 12 at 6:30pm. Toronto premiere.

Made in Canada offers an insider’s look at Canada’s film and television industry as an emerging filmmaker (Scott Boyd) struggles to figure out how he can make a success of filmmaking. (d: Scott Boyd, documentary, 48 mins and 50 secs, 2011, Canada) Screens April 12 at 2:30pm, panel discussion follows. World premiere.

ReelWorld Film Festival Celebrates 13th Year with 85 Films and Videos from 17 Countries
 Festival screens world-class cinema in Toronto from April 10 to 14, 2013

Appendix – Feature Films (cont’d):

Modest Reception (Paziraie Sadeh) follows Leila and Kaveh as they travel from Tehran through the countryside trying to give bags of money to "needy" people who aren’t readily accepting their generosity. (d: Mani Haghighi, comedy/drama, 100 mins, 2012, Iran). Screens April 13 at 3pm. Toronto premiere. A Modest Reception is co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2013 Film Series. For more information, visit www.globalfilm.org.

Mongolian Bling jumps into the thriving music scene in Mongolia's capital city and shows how a handful of artists are using hip hop to try and salvage their country's flailing democracy. (d: Benj Binks, documentary, 90 mins, Mongolia). Screens April 12 at 4:30pm. Canadian premiere.

My Last Round (Mi Último Round): In the south of Chile, a love story is born between successful boxer Octavio and Hugo. Moving to the Capital, they expect to fulfill their dreams and live their love, until Hugo meets Jennifer and Octavio makes a new attempt at what he does best: boxing. It could be his way out, or his very last round. (d: Julio Jorquera, drama, 60 mins, 2010, Chile). Screens April 13 at 8:30pm. Toronto premiere.

Remington and the Curse of the Zombadings(Zombadings 1: Patayin Sa Shokot Si Remington) (d: Jade Castro, comedy, 96 mins, 2011, Phillipines) is a comedic and fun journey where Remington sashays into an adventure that will unravel a mystery of murders, spirits, curses, and gay zombies roaming the streets. Screens April 12 at 9:30pm. Canadian premiere.

Sam’s Story (Samiga Kathawa): Siriratne (Sam) is the eldest of two children born to a poor family in a remote village in Sri Lanka. Sam has different abilities, and his innocence and dreams keep him going. (d: Priyankara Vittanachchi, drama, 2011, Sri Lanka). Screens Thursday, April 11 at 4:30pm. Toronto premiere.

Sunset Stories introduces May, a high-strung and overly meticulous nurse, who returns to Los Angeles to retrieve bone marrow for a transplant. Soon after her trip begins, her world turns upside down when she runs into her ex-boyfriend, and subsequently loses the cooler containing the bone marrow. The two set off through the streets of L.A. to find it. (d: Ernesto Foronda and Silas Howard, drama, 87 mins, 2012, U.S.A). Screens April 13 at 4pm. Toronto premiere.

Windows of Hope: When the thin line between love and hate gets blurred for Alinda (Nyakake Harriet) and Nyanzi (Akwehaire Steven), their child Barugahara (Itwara Anthony) feels the pain. He is rejected, unloved, uncared for and robbed of his inheritance. Barugahara courageously faces life, only keeping hope alive. (d: Evelyn Cindy Magara, drama, 136 mins, 2010, Uganda). Screens April 12 at 9pm. North American premiere.

ReelWorld Film Festival presents 38 shorts:

The ACTRA and ACTRA Toronto special screening of ACTRA Toronto YEAA Shorts features the world premieres of eight short films directed by working actors who are members of ACTRA Toronto’s Young Emerging Actors Assembly. Actor/filmmakers include: Carrie Adelstein, Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi, Gavin Michael Booth, Sam Coyle, Spencer Idenouye, Joel Keller, Andre Rehal, and Nathalie Younglai. Screens April 14 at 1:30pm. World premieres.

ALIVE (d: RT! drama. 23 mins. Canada. World Premiere) is a fusion of film, music, and dance, telling the story of a small-town dancer dreaming of performing on a bigger stage. Screens with The Orisha Suite, April 12 at 6:30pm.

Behind the Curtain (d:Jullian Ablaza, documentary, 2011, Canada) is a behind-the-scenes look at the modern day circus. Toronto premiere. Screens April 12 with Echoes.

ReelWorld Film Festival Celebrates 13th Year with 85 Films and Videos from 17 Countries
 Festival screens world-class cinema in Toronto from April 10 to 14, 2013

Appendix – Short Films (cont’d):

Calcutta Taxi is set in the grimy backdrop of a city going through a political crisis. It unravels the story of three lives that coincide and affect each other, each one having lost and found some things in this chance encounter of life. (d: Vikram Dasgupta, 20 mins, 2012, Canada/India). Toronto premiere. Screens April 13 at 1:30pm.

Call Her Temilola For Short (D: Avionne Akanbi, animation, 10 mins, Canada) shares the story of the Jenkins family who deals with the unpredictable and rather humorous predicament of having people constantly mispronounce their different sounding names. World premiere. Screens on April 12 at 9pm with Windows of Hope.

Doggoned (d: Arshad Khan, drama, 15 mins, 2012, Canada): Maria is living her dream in Montreal. When her work permit is denied she finds a creative way to make ends meet. Toronto premiere. Screens April 13 at 6pm with Croker Island Exodus.

Eneme is a short drama by director Chris Abell and featuring Actor Adsson Morales. After the recent death of his son, “Boyd” is deciding between his own life and death. (d: Chris Abell, drama, 16 mins, 2013, Canada). World premiere. Screens April 12 at 4pm with Echoes and Behind the Curtain.  

Little Mao tells the life story of Mao Tse-Tug through 12-year-old Bobby Tung and his baseball team. (d: Allan Tong, drama, 6 mins, 2012, Canada) Screens April 13 at 4pm with Goodness in Rwanda.

The Hipster and the Cat (d: Anthony McLean, drama, 7 mins, Canada) focuses on a bachelor who wins a chance of love when he finds a beautiful girl’s lost cat (World premiere). Screens April 12 at 6:30pm with Lost Lagoon.

Modern Romance: The Affair (d:Omii Thompson, drama, 2011, Canada) is a noir film showing a man confronted by the object of his desires. Screens April 13 at 6pm with Fondi'91. Toronto premiere.

The Orisha Suite, by filmmaker Nicole Brooks, is a Black Opera that pays homage to the Orishas, and celebrates the rich cultural legacies of the Caribbean. Canadian premiere. (opera, 34 mins, 2012, Canada). Screens with ALIVE on April 12 at 6:30pm.

This is My Family shares the story of polygamy through the eyes of two brothers living in Kampala, Uganda. (North American premiere) (d: Frederick Kigozi, drama, 23 mins, Uganda).  Screens April 11 at 5pm with Elza.

On April 11, shorts program 1 screens at 4:30pm and shorts program 2 screens at 7pm.

Shorts Program 1 presents: 2: A Short Film by Director Kegan Sant; 1937  by Filmmaker Svetozar Golovlev (Russian Federation); Baby Half Lie by Director Kimberly Miller-Pryce (Toronto premiere); Daadi by Director David Andrew Stoler (U.S.A.), Canadian premiere; Nicoleta by Filmmaker Sona Liza Kenterman (U.K); Mom by Filmmaker Ryan Singh (World premiere); and Reiko's Hina Dolls by Director Komaki Matsui (U.S.A.).

Shorts Program 2 presents: CEO by Director Jennifer Liao (Toronto premiere), Howard by Filmmaker Carolyn Wong, In Between Life by Filmmaker Sharon Lewis (Canadian premiere), NGUTU by Filmmakers Felipe Del Olmo and Daniel Valledor (Senegal) (Canadian premiere), Nico's Sampaguita by Director Aaron Woolfolk (U.S.A/Philippines) (Canadian premiere),  MacPherson by Director Martine Chartrand, Opposites Attack by Filmmaker Richard B. Pierre, Shawn by Director Mark Zanin (World premiere), and Welcome Yankee by Director Benoit Desjardins (Toronto premiere).

(Note: shorts are Canadian unless stated otherwise)

Looking Back, Looking Forward...

Wednesday, April 3rd - Monday, May 27th

Under the banner “Looking Back, Looking Forward: 20 Years of the New York African Film Festival,” our 2013 edition is dedicated to commemorating half a century of African cinema and two decades of work introducing American audiences to the best of this cinema.

This year, NYAFF is paying homage to Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, the ‘father of African cinema,’ and to the first generation of African filmmakers, while passing the baton to a new group of storytellers who continue to challenge our understanding of the Continent.

 OPENING. NIGHT. PARTY. Starts TONIGHT!

Buy Your Tickets Now!

Tickets at http://www.africanfilmny.org/2013/20th-anniversary-gala-reception-tickets/ 

or call 212.352.1720

Opening Night Reception April 3

20th Anniversary Gala April 5

Today's Schedule!!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

2:00Toussaint Louverture

6:00 *Ousmane Sembène All At Once & Borom Sarret

7:30 *Guelwaar

TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE

Philippe Niang, Haiti/France, 2011, 180min.

At the age of eight years, Toussaint Louverture sees his father, an old slave, thrown into the harbor, judged unproductive. This marked the young Louverture forever. As an adult, having been freed, he led the slave revolt that leads to the independence of Haiti.

OUSMANE SEMBÈNE ALL AT ONCE

Christine Delorme, France/Senegal, 2008, 52min.

Sembène's legend remains that of a man politically involved and strongly committed. But one seldom refers to his private life, an image Sembène himself cherished. This film portrays

Sembène at his most candid, as well as his take on the women in his film Guelwaar.

GUELWAAR

Ousmane Sembène, Senegal, 1992, 115min.

Guelwaar is a trenchant comic portrait of contemporary Africa by the great Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. The story revolves around the mysterious death and even more

mysterious disappearance after death of one Pierre Henri Thioune (called Guelwaar, the Noble One), a political activist, philandering patriarch, and pillar of the local Christian community.

 DAY 2 SCHEDULE

Thursday, April 4, 2013

1:30PMLand Rush & Fuelling Poverty

3:30PM Alaskaland & Boneshaker

6:00PMDolce Vita Africana & A History of Independence

8:15PMNairobi Half Life 

LAND RUSH (US PREMIERE)

Hugo Berkeley & Osvalde Lewat, Mali/ USA, 2012, 58min.

For 20 years, the hunger crisis in Mali seemed to be under control. But by 2008, prices had increased, and the African continent had become a playground for foreign investors. This investigative documentary focuses on Sosumar, a huge project that has the Malian government collaborating with a large group of foreign investors.

& 

FUELLING POVERTY (US PREMIERE)

Ishaya Bako, Nigeria, 2012, 28min.

An artistic depiction of the failings of fuel subsidy management in Nigeria, Fuelling Poverty graphically captures the various contours of the fuel subsidy debate and offers a rallying cry for

change in Nigeria by the occupy Nigeria movement.

ALASKALAND

Chinonye Chukwu, Nigeria/USA, 2012, 75min. In this gorgeous, knowing debut film, Chukwuma, an Alaska-raised Nigerian struggling to balance his cultural heritage, reconnects with his younger sister Chidinma after a two year estrangement.

DOLCE VITA AFRICANA (US PREMIERE)

Cosima Spender, Mali/UK, 2008, 63min.

A documentary about internationally renowned Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, whose iconic images of his country from the late 1950s through to the 70s captured the carefree spirit of his generation asserting their freedom after

independence – until an Islamic coup ushered in years of military dictatorship.

NAIROBI HALF LIFE (NY PREMIERE)

David Tosh Gitonga, Kenya, 2012, 96min.

Mwas is a young aspiring actor, who moves from

his home village to Nairobi to make it big. But as

he moves towards his dream of taking center

stage, he finds himself drawn into a world of

small time crooks and deceit.

For  Film Tickets Please Visit:

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/new-york-african-film-festival-2013

20th New York African Film Festival

APRIL 3 - 9

WALTER READE THEATER,

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

APRIL 18

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S

MAISON FRANÇAISE

MAY 2 - 6

MAYSLES CINEMA INSTITUTE

MAY 24 - 27

BAMcinématek

@ BAM ROSE CINEMAS

****

Click Below For Tickets!

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/new-york-african-film-festival-2013

The festival for fantastic film with
approx. 70 long and short films, Night of Terror, European Fantastic Shorts, Anime, 
Masterclasses, panel debates and Q&A’s, special sidebar programmes and much more 

Monday, April 8, until Wednesday, April 17 2013 in EYE, Amsterdam
www.imaginefilmfestival.nl 

You can see the entire programme here:
http://issuu.com/antondamen/docs/imagine_magazine_2013 



Imagine’s Career Achievement Award goes to Neil Jordan
Presentation on Monday night, April 8 (opening night)
Tuesday, April 9, Masterclass followed by his latest film Byzantium
(press screening, April 2, 10.30am, Rialto) 

Imagine sidebar programme House of Psychotic Women
Includes The Tall Man, Excision, American Mary, Possession, The Mafu Cage.
Sunday, April 15, at noon:
Symposium about Female Neuroses in Horror and Exploitation Films, attended by, among others, Canadian Kier-La Janisse, writer of the book House of Psychotic Women

Imagine sidebar programme Bollywood and Beyond
Exploration of the Indian genre film in 2013, includes 
Despite The Gods, Gangs of Wasseypu, Rowdy Rathore, and more.

Masterclass Belgian comic hero François Schuiten 
Monday, April 15, 4.15pm
Followed by a screening of the film Mars et Avril, for which he created a retro-futuristic make-over of Montreal

 
The Night of Terror
Night of Saturday, April 13, on to Sunday, April 14
The annual horror party for the die-hards in Pathé Tuschinski, with the films 
Stitches, The Last Exorcism: God Asks. The Devil Commands, the reboot of Evil Dead 
and Sawney: Flesh of Man

Opening film Trance by Danny Boyle
Monday night, April 8 / In cinemas from June 13
(press screening, April 3, 10.30am, Warner Bros.)

Closing film The Grandmaster by Wong Kar Wai
Wednesday night, April 17 / In cinemas from May 9
(press screening, March 29, 10.30am, Rialto)

Outstanding Anime from the East
with films like Wolf Children by  Mamoru Hosada and 009 Re: Cyborg by Kenji Kamiyama

Outstanding Martial Arts films
like Rurouni Kenshin by Keishi Ohtomo
 
Outstanding Horror Comedies 
like Mega Spider by Mike Mendez and Mon Ami by Rob Grant


Artwork 
Designed by Utrecht designer Nick Liefhebber

Chris Oosterom new artistic director Imagine
Chris Oosterom (49) worked as a programmer for festivals (Lowlands, Crossing Border) and cultural centres (Ekko, ‘t Paard).

He was also contributor and editor for film magazine Skriek. At the Filmmuseum he worked in programming and was responsible for distribution. For the last few years, Oosterom has operated from London, as co-owner of film and DVD-distributor Yume Pictures.

As artistic director of Imagine, he runs the festival together with business director Liselotte van der Burgt.


The Imagine Film Festival is a continuation of The Weekend of Terror (1984-1995) and the Festival van de Fantastische Film/Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival (1996- 2007).
 
Ticket sales have begun via de website. 
The complete programme can be found on www.imaginefilmfestival.nl
Additional information can be found on www.eyefilm.nl

2013 Dallas International Film Festival

Presented by AutoNation Volkswagen Dealers

Presents the Opening Night 

●      WHEN:  Thursday, April 4th, 2013

●      WHERE:  LOOK Cinema - 5495 Belt Line Road, Dallas, Texas 75254

8 1/2:              In this classic by Italian Director, Federico Fellini, Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is a renowned director who struggles to reconcile his artistic and personal demons.  While Guido is supposed to be making a science fiction movie, he instead becomes lost in a visually stunning reverie of memories, dreams, and fantasies of women in his life.  8 ½ is Fellini’s self-reflective jewel of the post-war European art cinema.

THE CRASH REEL: 

A top pick for the 2010 Winter Olympics, pro snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffers an accident while training that left him with a traumatic brain injury.  In THE CRASH REEL, Oscar-nominated documentarian Lucy Walker follows Kevin’s quick rising career, recovery and rehabilitation in a thought-provoking and dramatic look at those who push the boundaries in extreme sports.

JAVA HEAT:  As a key witness to a terrorist bombing, teaching assistant Jake Travers is placed under the watchful eye of an Indonesian policeman named Hashim.  In true buddy cop movie form, neither see eye-to-eye, but the one thing standing in their way is cunning thief and crime boss, Malik (Mickey Rourke) whose dead set on carrying out his master plan.

KON-TIKI:        In 1947, ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl embarked on a dangerous voyage across the Pacific on a small balsa wood raft.  Without funding or even the ability to swim, Heyerdahl was fueled by his own desire to prove his scientific theories.  With breathtaking cinematography , KON-TIKI  is one of those rare movies that restores our sense of wonder. 

STILL MINE:     In rural New Brunswick, retired farmer Craig (James Cromwell) is building a new house for his ill wife Irene (Genevieve Bujold).  When a government inspector stalls their plans, a standoff between modernity and heritage ensues.  At its heart, STILL MINE is also a story of enduring love between a couple in their twilight years whose deep roots help them weather the storm of change together.

FILMS AND FILMMAKERS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR ON THE RED CARPET

*Subject To Change*

JAVA HEAT

Conor Allyn (DIRECTOR)

Rob Allyn (CO-WRITER)

Kellan Lutz (TALENT)

CRY

Clay Luther (WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER)

Del Shores (TALENT)

Bill Flynn (TALENT)

Skyy Moore (TALENT)

KON-TIKI

William Nielsen (COUSIN OF DIRECTOR THOR HEYERDAHL)

Nicolay Nielsen (NEPHEW OF DIRECTOR THOR HEYERDAHL)

TEXAS TALENT

Gracie Whitton (SCARY MOVIE 5)

The New York Indian Film Festival,  April 30 – May 4

With Hansal Mehta’s SHAHID as the Centerpiece Film

The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) announced the full lineup today for their 13th year of celebrating Independent, art house, alternate and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent (April 30 – May 4). Dedicated to bringing these films to a New York audience, the festival will screen 22 features (14 narrative, 5 documentary, 3 recently restored classics) – all having their New York City premieres. 

Among the highlights of the festival’s 13th year is centerpiece selection Hansal Mehta’s SHAHID. The film is in keeping thematically with the opening and closing premiere features, Feroz Abbas Khan’s DEKH TAMASHA DEKH and Nitin Kakkar’s FILMISTAAN, by bringing forth additional thoughtful perspectives on communal harmony and conflict. SHAHID traces the true story of slain human rights activist lawyer Shahid Azmi. With the city of Mumbai as a backdrop, we see a remarkable tale of an impoverished Muslim struggling to come to terms with injustice, inequality and rising above his circumstances. SHAHID is an inspiring testament to the human spirit and represents the filmmaker’s concern towards religious/class based/racial intolerance around the world. 

“I am honored that my film SHAHID is the centerpiece at NYIFF,” states Mehta. “This is an important film about our times and the world that we live in seen through the life of human rights activist/lawyer Shahid Azmi who was murdered at the young age of 32. The film in its festival run has never failed to move audiences around the world with its narrative, characters, form and performances. I am hoping the NY premiere of the film will spread the word about this engaging story.”

New to the festival this year is a special midnight screening of one of India’s latest horror films, AATMA, which follows a single mother, Maya Verma, who wants to start her life afresh with her six year old daughter Nia. When Nia starts speaking to her dead father, Maya initially feels that her daughter has created an imaginary male figure to fill that gap in her life. But slowly Maya's life grows darker, falling apart to the point that she starts to doubt her own sanity. AATMA stars Bollywood bombshell, Bipasha Basu and indie superstar Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

Additional festival highlights include Amit Gupta’s light-hearted JADOO and Marathi filmmaker Ratnakar Matkari’s hard-hitting social drama INVESTMENT. JADOO is a tale of two restauranteur brothers divided in fierce competition, to be brought together by a daughter’s wedding. It is the second film by Gupta, following his critically acclaimed debut RESISTANCE, which garnered actor awards and a nomination for the Best First Film award by the Writers Guild of Great Britain. Matkari’s INVESTMENT is a realistic examination of a family with striving ambitions to move into a higher social class, but at the cost of their social values. This film won The National Award for best Marathi Film in 2012. Another Marathi film screening at the festival is Gajinder Ahire’s ANUMATI, a heartfelt film about a retired teacher trying to save his dying wife.  In the face of adversity, one lone man becomes a symbol of eternal will and positive spirit as he struggles to save his world. Noted for his work in Marathi cinema, Ahire has previously been hailed for his 2007 biopic about Vasudev Balwant Phadke and his television work on Shrimaan-Shrimati.

Returning to the Festival for a second time is esteemed Malayalam filmmaker Dr. Biju, with his latest work AKASHATHINTE NIRAM (Color of Sky).  The film follows the story of a sixty-year-old man who lives on an isolated island. When confronted by a burglar, the elderly man traps the burglar on the island, and forever changes the young thief’s life. This is Dr. Biju’s fourth feature following his 2005 SAIRA, which opened the Cannes International Film Festival’s Cinema of the World, and his 2008 RAMAN – TRAVELOGUE OF INVASION, an official Cairo International Film Festival selection. Dr. Biju received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Cinema Writer in 2011.

Another renowned filmmaker premiering his work at the festival this year is Goutam Ghose with his film SHUNYO AWNKO. Ghose has made 13 feature films, winning 15 National Awards and 3 Filmfare Awards, including the Golden Peacock at IFFI 2010 for his most recent Bengali film, MONER MANUSH (The Quest). His International awards include the Silver Balloon Award at Nantes Film Festival, UNESCO Award – at Cannes Film Festival, Grand Prix - Golden Semurg at Tashkent, UNESCO Award at Venice, Fipresci Award, the Red Cross Award at Verna Film Festival. The only Indian to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award, Ghose was also awarded the Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006.

Aseem Chhabra, NYIFF’s film festival director says, “The filmmakers we chose this year depict a wide, global perspective of Indian culture and lifestyle. In particular this year we have a large number of Marathi films, demonstrating that currently some of the best work is coming out of that region.“

Documentary highlights include the world premiere of Mirra Bank’s THE ONLY REAL GAME about the once princely state of Manipur in Northeast India struggling to counter gun violence, poverty, corruption, drug traffic, and HIV/AIDS with its surprising passion for baseball. Banks’ previous feature documentary, LAST DANCE, was short-listed for an Academy Award. Her innovative nonfiction feature, NOBODY’S GIRLS, was a PBS primetime special and her groundbreaking indie feature ENORMOUS CHANGES premiered at Sundance, followed by a critically praised theatrical release.

Another documentary highlight will be the U.S. premiere of Ritu Sarin’s and Tenzing Sonam’s WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED about a small-town taxi driver, Hari, embarking on a new trip towards an arranged marriage. This film marks the first time that a Tibetan filmmaker has screened their work at NYIFF. Sarin and Sonam have have been making films on Tibetan subjects for more than 20 years through their film company, White Crane Films. Previous documentaries include the 1997 critically lauded A STRANGER IN MY NATIVE LAND and THE SHADOW CIRCUS. In 2005, Sarin and Sonam completed a dramatic feature film, DREAMING LHASA, executive produced by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Gere.

Among the feature debuts are teen-cricketer-turned-director Ajay Bahl’s B.A. PASS, an erotic human drama based on Mohan Sikka’s short story “The Railway Aunty.” The short was published in the award-winning urban-noir series Delhi Noir (Akashic Books and HarperCollins India) and follows the loss of innocence of a young small town boy who moves to Delhi to stay with his aunt and finish his college.  Additional feature debuts include Nikhil Mahajan’s PUNE 52, a romantic thriller following a private detective during the 1992 finance reform that spiraled the Indian Middle Class in a tizzy of consumerism.

Remarking on this year’s NYIFF lineup, IAAC founder Aroon Shivdasani says, "We are delighted to welcome these filmmakers to the New York Indian Film Festival. NYIFF is one of the most exciting Indian film festivals in the United States.   Films showcased at our festival last year won an unbelievable number of National Awards in every category.  This year's  Closing Night US Premiere Nitin Kakkar's Filmistaan has already been declared Best Hindi Film of the year and I have no doubt others will very quickly follow suit!   We present New York with an amazing breadth of cinematic experiences through independent and alternate masterpieces of English, Hindi, regional and diaspora films." 

Festival Passes and Individual Tickets go on sale on now at the festival's website: www.iaac.us/NYIFF2013.  Memberships may be purchased at http://www.iaac.us/Contribution.htm

The 13th Annual NYIFF’s features selections include:

OPENING NIGHT SELECTION DEKH TAMASHA DEKH (2013) 108min
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles

At the forefront of Indian theatre today, director Feroz Abbas Khan brings his singular style to a cinematic exploration of the religious identity of a poor man crushed under the weight of a politician’s hoarding. A social and political satire, the film explores the impossible India, where bizarre is normal.

CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION  FILMISTAAN (2012) 117min
Director: Nitin Kakkar
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
United States Premiere

This National Award winning movie is set in Mumbai where, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target.  The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.

CENTERPIECE SELECTION SHAHID (2012) 123min
Director: Hansal Mehta
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
New York Premiere

Set in the backdrop of communal violence that was unleashed on the city of Mumbai since 1993, SHAHID traces the remarkable true story of slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi.  The film follows the personal journey of a young boy who goes from attempting to become a terrorist to being wrongly imprisoned under a draconian anti-terrorism law to becoming a criminal lawyer, to becoming an unlikely messiah for human rights.  This story of an impoverished Muslim struggling to come to terms with injustice, inequality and rising above his circumstances is an inspiring testament to the human spirit.

AATMA (2013) 100 min

Director Suparn Verma

Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles

United States Premiere

Aatma is the journey of a single mother Maya Verma who finally starts her life afresh with her six year old daughter Nia but as Maya starts to pick up the pieces of her life, strange things starts happening around her. Maya's six year old daughter Nia starts to speak to her dead father. Maya initially feels that she has created an imaginary father to fill the gap in her life but slowly Maya's life starts to fall apart and the reality gets darker till she starts to doubt her own sanity. Aatma is a psychological thriller set in a supernatural framework. It is about the inheritance of loss, a tableau of conflicting emotions played against a diabolic backdrop.

AKASHATHINTE NIRAM (Color of Sky) (2012) 117min
Director: Dr. Biju
Country: India, Malyalam with English Subtitles
United States Premiere 

A 60-year-old man lives on an isolated island. He visits the nearby harbour in a motorboat once a month to sell handicrafts. A young burglar keeps tabs on him and one day jumps onto the motorboat and demands money. The old man remains calm and takes the motorboat towards his island where the young man remains trapped. He meets the people who live with the old man, a 7-year-old boy, a 20-year-old deaf and dumb lady and a middle-aged man with a stammer. The intruder confronts rare life situations for the first time, His concept about life changes, as he understands how nature blends with life. The film is the ‘color’  of life, of the wind, of the sea and nature…

ANUMATI (2012) 112min
Director: Gajinder Ahire
Country: India, Marathi with English Subtitles
United States Premiere 

Anumati is the story of a retired teacher Ratnakar’s attempt to save his dying wife. Not ready to give up, Ratnakar is desperately trying to hold on to the world his wife Madhu has woven. In the face of adversities Ratnakar’s trauma of facing life without his life partner is unbearable… He is a symbol of undying will and positive spirit of fighting till the end...He finds himself in a corner, helplessly trapped between emotions and practicality, being forced against his wishes, to give up on his longlasting partnerhip- a dilemma that only fate can solve. Will he give that fatal ‘Consent’...will he succumb to failure. Come watch this beautiful heart rendering journey of a lone man’s struggle to save his world, his wife.

B.A. PASS (2012) 100min
Director: Ajay Bahl
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
New York Premiere

A young small town boy moves to Delhi to stay with his aunt and finish his college. Soon a mysterious married woman seduces him known to him as Sarika ‘Aunty’. Set amidst the neon-lit by lanes of Delhi’s Paharganj unfolds an erotic human drama between the two. A relationship based on lust, lies and deceit is forged. As the young boy gets more and more entrenched into his surroundings he discovers a city that thrives on corrupting even the most naive and innocent.

BAAVRA MANN (2013) 127min
Director: Jaideep Varma
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
Documentary
World Premiere

This documentary zooms in on the personal and professional life of Sudhi Mishra, one of Mumbai cinema’s longest lasting and relevant filmmakers, using his life as a lens to explore declining cultural life in India. 

FIREFLIES (2012) 102min
Director: Sabal Singh Sheikhawat
Country: India, Hindi & English,
World Premiere 

FIREFLIES is the story of two estranged brothers - Shiv and Rana. Shiv, a successful banker, lives in the superficial glitter of corporate Bombay. The younger brother, Rana, is a law school dropout who lives by the day. Though worldly experiences and illusions briefly illuminate the brothers’ journeys, a tragedy that befell them fifteen years earlier seems destined to repeat itself, just in new incarnations. Flames suddenly extinguish again, in an eerie heartbeat. The journey ahead echoing with voices and visions from the past, and the magic realism of the years gone by, beckons the brothers to find each other again. And the picture in the puzzle that was scattered so long ago. Fireflies come out in the night, just to light up the darkness. They live as long as the glow lasts. Even if it is a lifetime, being lived in a day.

GARAM HAWA (1973) 146min
Director:  M.S. Sathyu
Hindi, Urdu
United States premiere of Restored print
 
Based on an unpublished Urdu short story by Ismat Chughtai and adapted for screen by Kaifi Azmi, who also wrote its lyrics, this film is deals with the plight of a North Indian Muslim family, in the post-partition India of 1947, as the film's protagonist grapples with the dilemma of moving to Pakistan or not. The Mirzas, a Muslim family living in a large ancestral house and running a shoe manufacturing business in the city of Agra in the United Provinces of northern India (now Uttar Pradesh) is headed by two brothers; Salim, who guides the family business, and his elder brother Halim, who is engaged in politics and acts as a major leader in the provincial branch of the All India Muslim League, which led the demand for the creation of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan. 

HANSA (2012) 88min
Director: Manav Kaul
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
United States Premiere 

The movie revolves around a little boy, Hansa and his sister, Cheeku. Their father has mysteriously disappeared while the mother is pregnant and about to deliver. Their father disappeared with outstanding loans and now it is left to young Cheeku has to prevent her house from getting sold and is at the receiving end of a powerful villager’s lecherous advances while little Hansa is too restless and distracted to pay attention to all the trouble his sister is facing. For Hansa his troubles revolve around a small red tennis ball which has got entangled in a huge inaccessible tree, a five rupee coin stolen from a local bully and all the travails of a boy and his closest friend Raku playing hookey from school and asking the time.

THE HUMAN FACTOR (2012) 76min
Director: Rudradeep Bhattacharjee
Country: India, English
World premiere

This documentary investigates song and music in the context of the Indian filmic experience. Although singers, music directors, the lyricists are all publicly celebrated for their work and have attained almost legendary status in popular culture, many unseen - and uncredited - musicians make up the orchestras that played on those songs and the background scores. The Human Factor focuses closely in on the story of the Lords, a family of Parsi musicians whose contribution to Hindi film music parallels that of any of the great music directors or singers, yet is widely unknown. But the story of the Lords is not theirs alone, but represents thousands of other composers. This documentary is crucial to providing an obscure chapter in the history of Indian cinema, replete with rare archival material, which provides viewers with a subaltern history of Bollywood.

INVESTMENT (2012) 122 min
Director: Ratnakar Matkari
Country: India, Marathi with English Subtitles
United States Premiere

Investment is a realistic, socially relevant and hard hitting film for the urban audience that can identify with its characters and the nature of the issues dealt within. The protagonists are a couple striving for greater ambitions, eager to move into a higher class of society, but at the cost of their social values. Their 12 year old son is being nurtured to become a politician, as the couple believes politics offers lucrative opportunities of growth, power and finance. The bratty son believes in always getting what he wants and his shocking involvement in a crime brings forth the changing face of today's society and its uncertain future. It won The National Award for best Marathi Film in 2012.

JADOO (2012)
Director: Amit Gupta
Country: India, English and Hindi
United States Premiere

Two brothers, both wonderful chefs, fall out catastrophically. At the climax of their dispute they rip the family recipe book in half – one brother gets the starters and the other gets the main courses. They set up rival restaurants, across the road from each other, and spend the next twenty years trying to out-do each other. Neither brother will admit it but they both know they are not entirely successful in the ‘other half’ of the menu. It takes a daughter to reunite them. She is planning her marriage and is determined that they will both cook together. But can the men bury the hatchet?

JAANE BHI DO YAARO (1983) 132min
Director: Kundan Shah
Country: India, Hindi
United States premiere of Restored Print

Professional photographers Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra open a photo studio in the prestigious Hajj Ali area in Mumbai, in the hopes of making enough money to sustain themselves. After a disastrous start, they are given some work by the editor of “Khabardar,” a publication that exposes the scandalous lives of the rich and the famous. They accept it and start working with the editor, Shobha Sen, on a story to expose the dealings between an unscrupulous builder, Tarneja, and corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello. While working on their story, Sudhir and Vinod decide to enter a photography contest, taking photos all over the city. On developing their pictures, they notice a man shooting someone, and get caught up in a murder case that ends with them in prison. In the final scene, Vinod and Sudhir are shown several years later being released, still in their prison clothes. They turn to the camera and make a cut-throat gesture, signifying the death of justice and truth in an age of corruption.

KALPANA (1948) 160min
Director: Uday Shanker
Country: India, Hindi

United States premiere of Restored Print 

Part soap opera, ballet, and political treatise, Kalpana blends surrealism with the high art of Indian classical dance to tell a story loosely based on director Uday Shankar’s own experiences trying to found a dance academy. The film opens with an earnest film director who pitches a screenplay to the owner of a production company. The producer rebuffs the director, claiming he is only interested in films that will net the highest possible box office rather than works with cultural integrity. The director begs him to at least hear him out, and thus the story of Kalpana begins to unfold. Kalpana centers on Udayan, a boy who, despite a difficult childhood, becomes a great dancer. Udayan dreams of opening a dance academy, but must overcome a series of professional challenges, including a crooked theatre promoter, and navigate the competing affections of two women, Uma and Kamini. Dance is used as the primary tool of expression throughout the film, lending Kalpana a unique style that is still unrivaled in Indian cinema.

LISTEN AMAYA (2012) 108min
Director: Avinash Kumar Singh
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
New York Premiere

LISTEN AMAYA is a modern, young, contemporary film about relationships, family dynamics, about pre-conceptions and about priorities. Book a coffee, is an offbeat library cum coffee shop. It is owned and run by Leela Krishnamoorthy, a middle aged widow. She herself is as interesting and free spirited as the café she runs! Amaya, Leela’s only child is a firebrand 22 year-old writer; quick witted, confident and open-minded. They adore each other as only mother daughter can. Into this mix, is thrown Jayant Sinha. A 60 year old retired photographer, who continues his chosen profession as a hobby today. He is passionate about people and the memories they create; he is also a great friend to Amaya Krishnamoorthy, with whom he decides to co-author a coffee table book, titled Memories...of The Busy Bazaar. The Busy Bazaar as a title has its own story and adds a subtle but intriguing undercurrent to the narrative woven around it.

THE ONLY REAL GAME (2012) 82min
Director: Mirra Bank
Country: India, English and Manipuri with Subtitles
Documentary
World Premiere

The movie explores the power of baseball for people in a troubled, distant place. The small, once princely state of Manipur in embattled northeast India, counters gun violence, poverty, corruption, drug traffic, and HIV/AIDS with its surprising passion for our National Pastime. Manipur, which shares a porous border with Burma, joined the Indian Union under pressure in 1949, triggering a corrosive separatist conflict that continues to this day. For decades baseball has delivered release from daily struggles and a dream for healing this wounded society, as well as a way to connect to the wider world. This dream moves toward reality when First Pitch, a small group of baseball-loving New Yorkers, and two Major League Baseball Envoy coaches, join Manipuri men, women and children to “Play Ball.”

OONGA (2012) 98min
Director: Devashish Makhija
Country: India, Hindi and Oriya with English subtitles
World Premiere 

Little Oonga missed his village school trip to the faraway big city Lohabad to see a play called ‘Ramayan’. Unable to handle the pressure of being the only kid around who has not seen the fantastic warrior-king ‘Rama’, Oonga runs away. He goes on a perilous journey across forest, river, mountains and roads – bigger than any he’s ever seen, and valleys lain to waste by the mining industry… until he reaches the large, cold, chaotic, blinding city. When he emerges from the play he believes he has become Rama! But he is now returning not to the warm confines of his little village, but to a battlefield where the ‘company’ will do anything to take the adivasi’s land away from them. Only, Oonga doesn’t know it yet.

PLEASE DON’T BEAT ME SIR (2011) 75min
Director: Shashwati Talukdar, P. Kerim Friedman
Country: India, Hindi, Bhantu and Gujarati with English Subtitles
United States Premiere 

Over 60 million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as "criminals by birth." The Chhara of Ahmedabad, in Western India, is one of 198 such "Criminal Tribes." Declaring that they are "born actors," not "born criminals," a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater in their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality — a stigma internalized by their own grandparents. 'Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!' follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution.

PUNE 52 (2012) 121min
Director: Nikhil Mahajan
Country: India, Hindi with English subtitles
United States Premiere

The life of a private detective undergoes a dramatic change when he takes up a case that is deeply personal and highly complex. Set in the year 1992, against the backdrop of the finance reform policy that spiraled the Indian Middle Class in a tizzy of consumerism, reforming everything, including their relationships, PUNE 52 is an heartbreaking love story blended in a edge of the seat thriller.

SHUNYO AWNKO (2013) 128min
Director: Goutam Ghose
Country: India, Bengali and Hindi with English Subtitles
United States Premiere

Are these two tales of one country?  Or, are there two countries -- distinct and different?  Two Indias, one…confident, vibrant and growing.  Where liberalism is the order of the day, where consumerism tells the last word, where the future shines bright.  Another pushed to the margin. Poor, helpless, denied of even basic necessities of existence. The two ‘countries’ stare at each other. With hope and despair, belief and suspicion, joy and tears manifest in the faces of their people. Against this backdrop, we find six principal characters that every now and then recall their past memories, are bound by daily compulsions, yet have dreams of varying colours and shades. At the same time issues of insurgency, infiltration and proxy wars co-exist in tandem.

The film, set in stark contrast through a maze of visual imagery, complex characters and changing landscapes, wakes us to a lofty realization -----“One whom you keep beneath will only tie you down … One whom you keep behind will also drag you backwards.”

WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED (2012) 75min
Director: Tenzing Sonam, Ritu Sarin
Country: United Kingdom, India, Norway, English with Foreign Subtitles
Documentary
United States Premiere 

When Hari, a small-town taxi driver, has an arranged marriage to a girl he has never met, the result is an intimate and humorous look at the changes taking place in India as modernity and globalization meet age-old traditions and customs.   

About the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF):

The New York Indian Film Festival is the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States.  It is dedicated to showcasing, promoting and building an awareness of Independent, art house, alternate and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent.  Our mission is to encourage filmmakers to tell their stories, to educate North America about them and their talent and to facilitate the making and distribution of these films. NYIFF boasts five days of premiere screenings of feature, documentary & short films, industry panels, special events, retrospectives, red carpet galas, an award ceremony, packed audiences and amazing media coverage. 

About the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC):

The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian and cross-cultural art forms in North America. The IAAC supports all artistic disciplines in the classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India. We work cooperatively with colleagues around the United States to broaden our collective audiences and to create a network for shared information, resources and funding. Our focus is to work with artists and arts organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists and arts organizations from India to exhibit, perform and produce their works here. 

For more information about the festival’s presenting organization, the Indo-American Arts Council, watch the promo, premiering here:

27th ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL IN LOS ANGELES

Thirty Films to Screen April 18-May 2

Highlights Include Opening Night Gala honoring Sherry Lansing, Martin Landau
and Uri Gavriel, Second Generation Holocaust Survivors Homage
and a Tribute to Legendary Israeli Comedians HaGashash HaHiver

Enriching the American vision of Israeli life and culture through the powerful medium of film, the 27th Israel Film Festival has become the largest showcase of Israeli filmsin the United States.  Running April 18-May 2 at the Laemmle Music Hall and Laemmle Town Center 5, with special events at the Saban Theater, this year’s Festival encompasses over 30 dynamic titles, including award winning features, thought-provoking documentaries, animated and student shorts, it was announced by Meir Fenigstein, IFF’s founder and executive director.

As previously announced, Sherry Lansing will be honored with the IFF’s 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award and Martin Landau will receive the Career Achievement Award, both of which will be bestowed on Opening Night, April 18th, at the Writers Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills.  Following the presentations will be the West Coast Premiere of The Ballad of the Weeping Spring, the Opening Night film.

Also being honored on Opening Night is Israeli actor Uri Gavriel with the Cinematic Achievement Award.  He has numerous acting credits both in the United States and Israel; he is perhaps best known in the U.S. for playing the blind prison doctor in The Dark Night Rises and for starring in The Band’s Visit, which won eight Israeli Ophir Prizes awarded by the Israeli Film Academy.

This year, the Festival will also pay homage to Second Generation Holocaust Survivors, and their families.  Evidence shows that the children of Holocaust survivors, referred to as the “Second Generation,” can be deeply affected – both negatively and positively - by the horrific events their parents experienced. The intergenerational transmission of trauma is so strong that Holocaust-related influences can even be seen in the “Third Generation,” grandchildren of survivors.  Second Generation is an all-encompassing movement set up to keep the Holocaust stories alive by way of community events & educational activities, actively remembering the past and teaching its lessons.    

A Second Generation program will occur on April 28th at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills, at noon and is sponsored in part by The 1939 Club, Jewish Community Foundation, and Stand with Us.  The Festival will screen the critically acclaimed documentary Numbered, directed by Uriel Siani and Dana Doron.  A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit Holocaust Survivors in urgent need.

The festivities will continue with the Festival’s Closing Night celebration.  The evening will include a presentation of an IFF Lifetime Achievement Awardto legendary Israeli comedians HaGashash HaHiver, perhaps the most influential comedy act in the history of Israel.  The event will take place at the Saban Theater on May 2nd, followed by a screening of Zaytoun, which was directed by Eran Rikles, a highly respected Israeli filmmaker.

The following actors and filmmakers will attending the Festival and participating  in Q & A sessions:  Ofer Naim, director Poli’s Last Sketch; Roy Assaf, the star of God’s Neighbors; Yariv Horowitz, the director Rock the Casbah; Uri Gavriel, the star of The Ballad of the Weeping Spring; Eyal Shiray, the director of Dr. Pomerantz; Evgeny Ruman, the director of Igor and the Crane’s Journey; Noa Aharoni, the director by of Summers End; Uriel Siani, the director of Numbered and Shayke Levi and Gavri Banai from HaGashash HaHiver.

“The Israeli film industry has been on a great upswing these past few years with bigger, better and more high-profile movies than in its history,” said Meir Fenigstein, IFF’s founder and executive director.  “This year’s crop of exciting, fresh and smart pictures and programs is no exception and they showcase the broad and yet divergent stories and personalities only Israel can produce.”

All Israel Film Festival films will screen at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle Town Center in Encino.  Tickets will be available April 5th. For additional information, visit www.IsraelFilmFestival.com or call IsraFest, Foundation Inc., toll-free at 1-877-966-5566.

In the last two and a half decades, the Festival has presented nearly 900 feature films, documentaries, television dramas and short films to over 900,000 filmgoers and brought hundreds of Israeli filmmakers to the U.S. to share their art.  The Israel Film Festival is produced by IsraFest Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization created in 1982.  The 27th Festival Chairman is Rick Feldman, with Ryan Kavanaugh and Arnon Milchan serving as Honorary Chairmen.  The Honorary Committee includes Avi Arad, Mark Canton, Robert DeNiro, Danny Dimbort, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Jean Picker Firstenberg, Meyer Gottlieb, Peter Guber, Goldie Hawn, David Hoberman, Dustin Hoffman, Marvin Josephson, Avi Lerner, Amir J. Malin, Penny Marshall, Mike Medavoy, Bette Midler, Rob Reiner, Terry Semel, Nina Tassler, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and many others. 

ABOUT THE FEATURE FILMS

Opening Night Film
THE BALLAD OF THE WEEPING SPRING
Director: Benny Toraty
Star Uri Gavriel will be attending the screening

Torn apart by tragedy, a legendary band reunites to play an emotional final concert in The Ballad of the Weeping Spring, a stylized homage to Spaghetti Westerns and samurai epics, shot entirely in Israel but set in a mythical time and place.  With a pervasive pan-ethnic soundtrack serving as the film’s backbone, the story centers on the brooding Josef Tawila (Ophir winner Uri Gavriel), once the leader of a Mizrahi band (a unique musical form combining Middle Eastern and North African influences), who lives a hermit-like existence in the wake of a terrible accident. In a series of quirky vignettes across stunning exotic locations, Tawila brings together his old musician buddies to grant the last wishes of a dying friend, while healing his own tortured soul.
 
-Nominated for nine Israeli Oscars (Ophir Awards), with wins for Best Original Music, Best Original -Soundtrack, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.

Director: Benny Toraty
Screenplay:  Benny Toraty
Cast:  Uri Gavriel, Dudu Tassa, Nir Levy, Adar Gold, Ishtar, Yigal Adika
Country: Israel
Languages:  Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time: 105 min.
Year: 2012
Genre: Drama
Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrs37wNLpIU

Closing Night Film
ZAYTOUN
Director: Eran Riklis

In Lebanon, 1982, an Israeli fighter pilot is shot down over Beirut. When one of his captors, an angry and disillusioned young Palestinian refugee, decides he has had enough of the meaningless fighting, the pair make a pact to escape. So begins a perilous journey across a war-torn country to a far-off place they can both call home. With a cast led by Stephen Dorff (Somewhere), Zaytoun is a superb road movie that, with humor and pathos, explores the growing friendship of two enemies born out of mutual dependency.

Director: Eran Riklis
Screenplay: Nader Rizq
Producers:   Frederick A. Ritzenberg, Gareth Unwin
Director of Photography:  Dan Laustsen
Music: Cyril Morin
Editor:  Hervé Schneid
Cast: Stephen Dorff,  Abdallah El Akal,  Ali Suliman, Alice Taglioni
Country: Israel
Languages: English, Arabic, Hebrew, w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  107 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Adventure / Drama / Thriller / War
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7seQlcJlAg

BY SUMMER’S END
Director: Noa Haroni

It is the summer of 1978, on the backdrop of the imminent peace accords with Egypt, Michal is dealing with her 7 year old daughter Maya’s inability to read and write and her teacher threatening  to hold her back a year. Michal vows that by the end of the summer Maya will read, write and move on to the next grade. However, this summer is set to be full of surprises. Michal's father, Haim, who has been missing for twenty years, suddenly returns, and brings with him the family's dark past and hidden secrets. By summer's end, Michal will have to deal with the past that her family has tried so hard to bury and the painful, yet liberating process of discovery and forgiveness. 

- Jury Special Mention, The Rehovot Women's International Film Festival 2011
- Israel Film Center in New York Distribution Award, Haifa International Film Festival 2011

Director: Noa Haroni
Screenplay: Noa Haroni
Producers:  Chayim Sharir
Director of Photography: Benji Cohen
Music: Daniel Salomon
Editor: Rachel Yagil
Cast: Orian Daymond, Ishai Golan, Bar Minali
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  96 min.
Year:  2011
Genre: Drama / Family
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/embed/16QDofODtT0

DR. POMERANTZ
Director:  Assi Dayan
Producer Eyal Shiray will be attending the screening

Dr. Yoel Pomerantz, 64, an unemployed clinical psychologist, lives in poverty in his 12th floor apartment with his son Yoav, 30, who works as a parking inspector and suffers from severe "ticketomania."  Dr. Pomerantz volunteers at ANA, the psychology hotline, and as an expert on suicide callers, he suggests that they come to his clinic for private therapy sessions. One day, a patient named Shtark is offended when Pomerantz arrives late for a session and jumps off his 12th floor balcony to his death. Shtark's suicide provides the doctor with a life changing idea - to let his apartment to potentially suicidal tenants for enormous sums of money.  Funny, sad and philosophical, this black comedy raises the important question of why we live or, more accurately, why we don't just give up on living.

Director:  Assi Dayan
Screenplay:  Assi Dayan
Producers:    Eyal Shiray
Director of Photography:   Boaz Yehonatan Yaacov
Music: Amit Poznansky
Editor: Zohar M. Sela
Cast:   Gavri Banai ,Shlomo Bar-Shavit, Shmil Ben Ari ,Yosef Carmon
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  88 Min.
Year:  2011
Genre: Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bYttQy8Ak0

FILL THE VOID
Director: Rama Burshtein

Eighteen-year-old Shira is the youngest daughter of her family and is about to be married to a lovely young man of the same age. On Purim, her twenty-eight-year-old sister, Esther, dies during childbirth, leaving her husband Yochay to care for the child and postponing Shira's promised wedding. When the girls' mother finds out that Yochay may leave the country with her only grandchild, she proposes a match between Shira and the widower, forcing Shira to choose between her wish for a happy marriage and her family's desire to keep the child near them.

- 2012 Venice Film Festival winner for Best Actress
- 2012 Winner Best Feature, Israeli Oscars (Ophir Awards)
- Israeli entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the Academy Films Awards

Director: Rama Burshtein
Screenplay: Rama Burshtein
Producers:  Assaf Amir
Director of Photography:  Asaf Sudri
Music: Yitzhak Azulay
Editor: Sharon Elovic
Cast: Hila Feldman, Razia Israeli, Yiftach Klein
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  90 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hoxulGKQ7g

GOD’S NEIGHBORS
Director: Meny Yaesh
Actor Roy Assaf will be attending the screening

God’s Neighbors is a raw and provocative dramatic thriller from first-time writer director Meny Yaesh. The film follows Avi, Kobi and Yaniv, three young men who belong to the Breslev Hassidic community and place themselves in charge of supervising the codes of modesty, without hesitating to use violence to convey the message. Order is upended when the attractive, independent-minded Miri moves into the neighborhood. Avi is torn between his feelings for her and the codes of the gang. 

- 2012 SACD Award Festival De Cannes
- Nominated for 2012 nine Ophir Awards of the Israeli Film Academy
- 2012 Ophir Award winner for Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor

Director: Meny Yaesh
Screenplay: Meny Yaesh
Producers: Marek Rozenbaum
Director of Photography:  Shahak Paz
Music:  Shushan
Editor: Asaf Korman
Cast: Roy Assaf, Gal Friedman, Itzik Golan
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  70 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmqtAXYWN0

IGOR AND THE CRANES’ JOURNEY
Director: Evgeny Ruman
Director Evgeny Ruman will be attending the screening

When Tanya informs her 11-year-old son, Igor, that they will be leaving their home in Russia to start a new life in Israel, the boy's world falls apart. He is desperate to stay, even to the point of imagining himself living with the father he hardly knows: Peter, an avid ornithologist. Peter, however, is too obsessed with tracking the annual crane migration from Russia to Africa to care for his son. Like the cranes on their long and perilous journey, Igor too must overcome the hardships and tribulations of migration and reassess his relationship with his father.

- 2012 Winner, Special Mention Award Haifa International Film Festival

Director: Evgeny Ruman
Screenplay: Dita Guery, Eitan Londner
Producers: Emely Christians, Tami Leon, Chilik Michaeli,  Piotr Mularuk, Magdalena Napieracz, Avraham Pirchi, Julia Shifter
Director of Photography:  Adam Sikora
Music: Antoni Lazarkiewicz
Editor: Ernest Aranov
Cast: Clil Arbel, Avinoam Mor Chaim, Dorin Kaspi
Country: Israel, Germany, Poland
Languages: Hebrew, Russian w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  90 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Adventure/Family
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnJaFHktfj8

NOT IN TEL AVIV
Director: Nony Geffen

When a repressed high-school teacher loses his job, he decides to pull his entire life down with it. Within the span of a few days, he will kidnap a teenage student, reconnect with his old high-school crush, forgive an old friend and kill his mother. He will then openly challenge a rabid group of feminists, a pompous movie star, the vengeful police and the stifling conventions of his boring small town. A drama, dark comedy, love triangle, crime story and much, much more, this adventure could only happen to people who are not in Tel Aviv.

- 2012 Locarno International Film Festival, Special Jury Prize – Filmmakers of the Present

Director: Nony Geffen
Screenplay: Nony Geffen
Producers:  Itai Tamir
Music: Rotem Bar Or, Uzi Ramirez
Editor: Tal Hayek
Cast: Nony Geffen, Romi Aboulafia, Yaara Pelzig, Tal Friedman, Anat Atzmon Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  82 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcTcu1epr_c

OFF WHITE LIES
Director: Maya Kenig

After years of living apart from her father, Libby, an introverted yet sharp-witted teenager, is sent to live with him in Israel. Her arrival coincides with the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War. Libby quickly discovers that her father, Shaul, is an infantile eccentric who is “in-between apartments” (in other words: homeless). Shaul comes up with a creative plan to put a roof over their heads—they pose as refugees from the bombarded Northern region of Israel, and are taken in by an affluent family in Jerusalem. Finally in a “normal” household, Shaul and Libby begin to build their father-daughter relationship. However, their false identities cannot last forever, especially as Libby unleashes her teenage fury at the lies permeating her life.

-Best Actor, Jerusalem Film Festival 2011 - Gur Bentwich
-Special Jury Prize - Annonay Festival 2013
-Best Film Music Prize - Annonay Festival 2013

Director: Maya Kenig
Screenplay: Maya Kenig, Dana Diment
Producers:    Yoav Roeh, Orit Zamir
Director of Photography:    Itay Vinograd
Music: Udi Berner
Editor: Or Ben David
Cast: Gur Bentvich, Elya Inbar, Tzahi Grad, Arad Yeni
Country: Israel, France
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles, English
Running Time:  86 Min.
Year:  2011
Genre: Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN5ULtQKu9M

ROCK THE CASBAH
Director: Yariv Horowitz
Director Yariv Horowitz will be attending the screening

In the early summer of 1989, a company of young Israeli soldiers reports for duty in the occupied area of the Gaza Strip. Clashes with the Palestinian population claim their first fatality: a soldier named Iliya, who is killed by a washing machine being dropped from the rooftop of an apartment.  In order to capture the perpetrator, part of the company; Aki, Ariel, Haim and Tomer take up a defensive position on the roof for the weekend. In spite of vehement protests from the building's Palestinian owner, the men begin their vigil. The film deals with the charged interactions among the soldiers, between the soldiers and the family, with their commanding officers and the surrounding chaos.

- Won Prize of International Confederation of Art Cinemas, Berlin International Film Festival

Director: Yariv Horowitz
Screenplay: Guy Meirson, Yariv Horowitz
Producers:  Leon Edery,  Moshe Edery, Michael Sharfstein
Director of Photography:    Amnon Zlayet
Music: Assaf Amdursky
Editor: Isaac Sehayek
Cast:  Yon Tomarkin , Yotam Ishay , Roy Nik , Iftach Rave , Henry David
Country: Israel/France
Languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  93 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY_8npZUXIY

ROOM 514
Director: Sharon Bar Ziv

On one side of Room 514 is a young, beautiful and determined Russian female military investigator. On the other side is a gruff, exceptional Israeli army officer accused of overstepping his authority.  As the two sides confront each other over truth and justice, they soon find themselves dealing with the complex reality where it is not easy to distinguish between good and bad. In the rough land of Israel, good and bad must sometimes coexist.

- Nominated for an Israeli Oscars (Ophir Awards) for Best Actress 2012
- Best Israeli Film Docaviv Int'l Film Festival 2011, Best Editing award

Director: Sharon Bar-Ziv
Screenplay: Sharon Bar-Ziv
Producers:   Sharon Bar-Ziv, Arbel Bibi Rekhess, Michal Rubin
Director of Photography: Edan Sasson
Editor: Shira Arad
Cast:   Guy Kapulnik, Asia Naifeld, Udi Persi
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  90 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Drama
Official Site Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ROOM-%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A8-514/161733527205405
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onRqrbHwSfs

SHARQIYA
Director: Ami Livne

No one appreciates Kamel Nadjer, the young Bedouin security guard at the Be’er Sheba central bus station. When his poor desert village is threatened by demolition by the Israeli government, Kamel decides to take action. He will stage a bomb attack in the bus station and then prevent it, becoming a hero, preserving his village, and win the admiration he so desperately desires.

- Berlinale Panorama official selection, 2012
- Best Feature Film Award, Jerusalem Film Festival, 2012

Director: Ami Livne
Screenplay: Guy Ofran
Producers:   Elie Meirovitz ,Eyal Shiray,  Itai Tamir
Director of Photography: Boaz Yehonatan Yaacov
Music: Assif Tsahar
Editor: Zohar M. Sela
Cast:   Ednan Abu Wadi, Misa Abd el-Hadi, Ednan Abu Muhrab, Eli Menashe
Country: Israel, France, Germany
Languages: Arabic, Hebrew, w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  82 min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Drama
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_n8nxvnpME

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARIES

AMEER GOT HIS GUN
Director: Naomi Levari

Ameer Abu Ria is about to enlist in the army. As opposed to the majority of eighteen-year-old boys in Israel, for whom army service is mandatory, Ameer is exempt from military service under the assumption that his enlistment may endanger Israel’s security. That is because Ameer, an Israeli citizen, is a Muslim Arab. And yet, Ameer has decided to volunteer. He believes that his induction is the way to equality, and is the way to belong to the state he lives in, the state he wants to love.  He is considered an enemy, a fifth column in the eyes of Israeli Jews, and a traitor of the worst kind in the eyes of Arab citizens; the kind who turns against his brothers.  All alone, Ameer sets out on a journey to civic and self-definition, while carefully navigating the thin line between Jewish and Arab societies. Ameer, an eternal optimist, wishes to be both a proud Arab and an enthusiastic Israeli, while his only enemy is reality.

-Special Mention - Jerusalem International film festival 2011
-Grand Prize - FIPA 2012, London International Documentary FF
-Best international documentary - Chagrin FF, Israeli academy award nominee 2012

Director: Naomi Levari
Screenplay:
Producers:    Saar Yogev
Director of Photography:  Yoav Kosh, Naomi Levari, Yoram Millo
Music: Ophir Leibovitch
Editor:  Tali Helter-Shenkar
Cast:   Ameer Abu Ria
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew, Arabic, w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  58 Min.
Year:  2011
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OY6wZ84hyU

DABA: THE STORY OF AN ISRAELI ICON
Director: Levi Zini

Ben-Amotz was the essence of “Israeliness.” He was a prolific and accomplished creator who insisted on constantly reinventing himself, while carrying along an entire society, a language and culture that were not yet fully formed. In April 1989, just before undergoing an experimental treatment for cancer, Ben-Amotz held a “farewell party,” a brilliant prank in which the dying man invited 300 of his closest friends to take part in a moving group dynamic.

- Best Israeli Film Docaviv Int'l Film Festival 2011, Best Editing award

Director: Levi Zini
Screenplay: Levi Zini
Producers:  Ya’akov Shem Tov, Avishai Peretz, Levi Zini
Music: Rea Mochiach
Editor: Tali Goldenberg
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  75 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Documentary

LET’S DANCE
Director: Gabriel Bibliowicz

Let's Dance is a film about the soul of Israeli society–dance. The film presents Israeli society as a dancing society and the way in which the need to move, shift, and to be in motion has raised generations of dancers and choreographers who have turned local modern dance into a national and international success story. Through the works of leading choreographers Ohad Naharin, Rami Be'er and Yasmeen Godder, Let's Dance opens a window to their sources of inspiration–to the vibrant and exotic world of the pioneer choreographers and to the story of the development of the local dance scene. Combining spectacular pieces of video-dance, rich archival material, interviews and visual demonstrations, the film offers a unique and surprising view on Israeli society, as well as on dance.

Director: Gabriel Bibliowicz
Screenplay: Efrat Amit
Producers: Assaf Amir
Director of Photography:
Music: Boom Pamk, Uri Brauner Kinarot
Editor: Gal Muggia
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time: 103 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Documentary

LIFE IN STILLS
Director: Tamar Tal

Tamar Tal’s poignant, prize-winning documentary tells the story of Miriam Weissenstein as she and her grandson Ben Peter defend their family’s iconic Tel Aviv photo studio from demolition. Miriam’s late husband, Rudi was the unofficial photographer of the State of Israel, and documented the country’s political and daily life from the 1930s until his passing in 1992. Grandmother and grandson cope not only with the impending shop relocation, but also acutely painful family circumstances. As they interact in ways by turns blunt and comic, the movie becomes a love story spanning three generations. The film offers a visual ode to Weissenstein’s late husband Rudi, with moving montages of his stunning black & white photographs of Israel including his world famous photo of David Ben-Gurion proclaiming Israel’s Independence in May of 1948.

-Won the Israeli Oscars (Ophir Awards), for Best Documentary 2012
-Audience Award Winner – Berlin Jewish Film Festival 2012
- Best Debut Documentary – Docu Be’er Sheva, Israel 2012
- Best Documentary – Doc Aviv International Documentary Film Festival 2011

Director: Tamar Tal
Screenplay: Tamar Tal
Producers:  Barak Heymann, Tamar Tal
Director of Photography: Daniel Kedem, Tamar Tal
Music: Alberto Shwartz
Editor: Tal Shefi
Country: Israel, Germany
Languages: Hebrew, German, w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  58 Min.
Year:  2011
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Official Site Link: http://www.lifeinstillsfilm.com
Trailer:

LOLA
Director: Eytan Harris

Galia Pardo lives happily and quietly with her husband and four children in the tiny provincial town of Zichron Yaakov, where she is well-liked and well-known as the local florist and a singer in the town choir. One day Galia makes a shocking decision: she closes the flower shop and opens a sex shop! Will the conservative inhabitants of the small town accept Galia and her new shop? Will the new shop flourish in such an environment? Will her family and friends support her or abandon her to her “craziness”? Lola is humoristic documentary that might give you a new perspective on sex shops and the people who own them.

Director: Eytan Harris
Screenplay: Eytan Harris, Kineret Hai Gilor
Producers:    Eytan Harris
Director of Photography: Eytan Harris
Music: Zamarin
Editor: Kineret Hai Gilor
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  57 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Documentary
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbgiapTjnbc

NUMBERED
Directors: Uriel Sinai, Dana Doron
Director Uriel Sinai will be attending the screening

Auschwitz prisoners, both Jewish and non-Jewish, were tattooed with serial numbers, first on their chests and then their left arms. An estimated 400,000 numbers were tattooed in Auschwitz and its sub-camps; only some several thousand survivors are still alive today. Numbered is an explosive, highly visual, and emotionally cinematic journey, guided by testimonies and portraits of these survivors. The film documents the dark time and setting during which these tattoos were assigned as well as the meaning they took on in the years following the war. In fact, the film’s protagonist is the number itself, as it evolves and becomes both a personal and collective symbol from 1940 to today. These scars, paradoxically unanimous and anonymous, reveal themselves to be diverse, enlightening, and full of life.

- Best Debut Film Award at the Israeli Documentary Forum Awards 2012
- The Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival 2012
- Best Israeli Film Docaviv Int'l Film Festival 2011, Best Editing award

Director: Uriel Sinai, Dana Doron
Screenplay: Dana Doron
Producers:  Hilla Medalia , Neta Zwebner-Zaibert 
Director of Photography: Issar Shulman
Music: Zamarin
Editor: Tor Ben-Mayor
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  55 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Documentary
Trailer:

POLI’S FINAL SKETCH
Director: Ofer Naim
Director Ofer Naim will be attending the screening
Shayke Levi and Gavri Banai of HaGashash HaHiver will be attending the screening

Israel "Poli" Poliakov of the legendary Israeli comedy trio "HaGashash HaHiver" was one of Israel's greatest actors and comedians. Five years after his passing, his family, friends and colleagues have gathered to share the story of his career as an actor, comedian and family man. His friends from "HaGashash HaHiver" and from showbiz, tell little anecdotes about him and, using clips from the best of "HaGashash HaHiver," they give a rare glimpse into the life of the man who portrayed so many famous and beloved characters, while he himself remained in their shadows. The void that Poli left in the hearts of his fellow "HaGashash HaHiver" bandmates and the hearts of his devoted fans and family is evident in this touching and intimate film.

Director: Ofer Naim
Cast:   Israel "Poli" Poliakov
Country: Israel
Languages: Hebrew w. English Subtitles
Running Time:  55 Min.
Year:  2012
Genre: Documentary
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgm6Va6KnEo

27 Screenings Including 4 Premieres
 

 In just two weeks, the 11th annual The High Falls Film Festival returns presenting 27 screenings from 13 countries including four premieres, panel discussions, parties, many free events and more than 50 award-winning independent features, documentaries and shorts.  It all starts April 18 to April 21 (highfallsfilmfestival.com).   
 
The High Falls Film Festival is one of the few film festivals worldwide that celebrates the work of women filmmakers. Films will be shown at The Little Theatre, the Cinema Theater and the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.
 
Festival Premieres
·     The Way to Nowhere Island (World Premiere)
·     Pretty Brutal (North American Premiere)
·     Go Public Project - Shorts (U.S. Premiere
·     Watchtower (New York State Premiere)

Final Films Announced
·     Watchtower - Thursday April 18, 7PM, Little 5 Theatre - NYS Premiere   

Seher and Nihat are running away from the city, their families, and pasts. But even high in the beautiful Turkish mountains, as a waitress at a remote bus stop and as a lookout at a forest watchtower, it is not far enough. As their lives intersect, they are forced to confront their pasts.

·     Pretty Brutal - Friday April 19, 9:30 PM, Cinema Theater - North American Premiere

Follows girl skaters into the full-contact world of New Zealand’s first Roller Derby league. Their challenge: run a democracy and train together as sisters then savage each other come match day. As tension mounts, will they preserve their newfound community or tear each other apart?
 

·     First Comes Love - Saturday April 20, 4PM Little 5 Theatre

In this frank and revealing first-person documentary, filmmaker Nina Davenport tackles the subject of her own biological clock – and her dilemma when she realizes she’s running out of time. Single but feeling the pull of motherhood, the determined New Yorker sets about getting pregnant on her own terms, and with more than a little help from her friends.

·     Molly Maxwell - Saturday April 20, 1PM, Dryden Theatre

Bookish Molly has always followed the rules - her mother's, and her school’s. But she is lacking direction and drive. Her genius IQ has not allowed her to focus on a discipline or subject, a key part of her school’s curriculum. When a handsome new English teacher is hired, Molly convinces him to teach her photography.

Special Free Film Events
·     April 14 - 1-4pm - Film for All - His Girl Friday (1940) Starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell

o   2-3:30PM  - WXXI TV Broadcast
o   1-4PM - Kate Gleason Aud., Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County. Live screening with post film panel discussion.

·     Informal Coffee Chats with Directors - April 18, 19 & 20, 9:30 - 11:00am.. Rochester Plaza State Street Grill.  Free. Complimentary coffee and Danish.
·     So You Want to Make a Movie Panel Discussion - Saturday, April 20, 9-10:15AM. Free. Moderator: Nora Brown, Finger Lakes Film Office. Panelists: Nick DiBella, Writer/Director; Mark Costello, Boylan Code, Entertainment Law; Ray Justice, Entrepreneur, Justice Enterprises; Taine Ann Riggio, Producer
·     The Future of Film: The Impact of Digital on the Film Industry Panel Discussion - Saturday, April 20th from 10:30am to noon, Free. Moderator:  Malcolm Spaull.  Panelists: Ricky Figueroa and Les Moore, RIT, Susan Rogers, WXXI/Little and others.  

Parties!
·     Opening Night Party– Thursday, April 18, 9- 11:45PM, Inn on Broadway, cocktails & hors d'oeuvres, walk the red carpet, have your picture taken, mingle with filmmakers. Tickets, $25 at highfallsfilmfestival.com.   
·     Party at the Strathallan– Friday, April 19, 9- 11:45PM, join filmmakers and film fans for this party on the rooftop at the newly renovated Strathallan. Free admission. Cash bar.
·     Closing Night Party– Saturday, April 20, 9pm to 11:45pm, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, sweets & coffee, Potter Peristyle, George Eastman House. Mingle with the filmmakers and celebrate the conclusion of our 11th annual film festival. Tickets, $25 at highfallsfilmfestival.com.  

Film Tickets on sale now at http://highfallsfilmfestival.com/tickets<http://highfallsfilmfestival.com/tickets>

• Film Tickets - $12 per film, ($10 students and seniors 65+, ID required at door) plus service charges, $15 ($13 students and seniors 65+, ID required at door) for opening and closing night films plus service charges. Service charges per ticket are $.50 at Mobile Box Offices, and $1.75 online and for phone orders.  All sales final, no refunds or exchanges. For complete details see highfallsfilmfestival.com.
• Mobile box offices  - Get help choosing movies that match your interests and save $1.25 per ticket off convenience fee charges. See highfallsfilmfestival.com for locations.

Film & Event Schedule - See http://highfallsfilmfestival.com/films_and_schedule<http://highfallsfilmfestival.com/films_and_schedule>  for film synopses, trailers, casts and female contributors. Please note: schedule subject to change.

Thursday April 18
9:30 - 11:00 a.m.– Informal Coffee Chat w/directors, Rochester Plaza, FREE
6:30 p.m. – Girls in the Band, Little 1 (Q&A w/ director to follow)
7:00 p.m. – Watchtower, Little 5, (NYS Premiere)
9:00 - 11:45 p.m. – Opening Night Party, Inn on Broadway.
9:15 p.m. – Facing Mirrors, Little 1
9:30 p.m. – Eight Shorts about life and love, Little 5
 
Friday April 19
9:30 - 11:00 a.m. – Informal Coffee Chat with directors at the Rochester Plaza State Street Grill, FREE
1:15 p.m. – California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown, Cinema
4:00 p.m. – Girls in the Band, Cinema (Q&A w/ filmmaker to follow)
6:30 p.m. – Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, Little 1, (Fashion Show to follow)
6:30 p.m. – The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had With My Pants On, Cinema (Q&A w/ filmmaker to follow)
6:45 p.m.  – Unfinished Spaces, Little 5
9:00 – Midnight - Party at the Strathallan, A Doubletree Hilton
9:15 p.m. – Casting By, Little 1
9:30 p.m.  – Turn Me On, Dammit, Little 5,
9:30 p.m.  – Pretty Brutal, Cinema (North American Premiere)

Saturday April 20
9 - 10:15 a.m. – So You Want To Make A Movie? Panel Discussion, Little 5 FREE
9:30 - 11:00 a.m. – Informal Coffee Chat w/ directors, Rochester Plaza, FREE
10:30 – Noon a.m. – Future of Film - The Impact of Digital Media Panel Discussion, Little 1, FREE,
11:00 a.m. – RIT Women of SOFA, Little 5,  (Meet & Greet, Little Cafe to follow)
12:30 p.m. – Go Public Project, 4 shorts & Panel Discussion w/Director, Little 1
1:00 p.m. – Molly Maxwell, Dryden
1:15 p.m. – The Way to Nowhere Island, Little 5 (World Premiere)
3:15 p.m. – Future Weather, Little 1
3:30 p.m. – Shorts Program 2: Dead Ends - 8 shorts on death and letting go, Little 5
3:30 p.m. – How We Got Away With It, Dryden
6:00 p.m. – First Comes Love, Little 5
6:30 p.m. – Margarita, Little 1 (Q&A w filmmaker to follow)
6:30 p.m. – The Day I Saw Your Heart, Dryden
9:00 – Midnight, Wrap-up Party, Potter Peristyle, George Eastman House
9:00 p.m. – A Teacher, Dryden
9:15 p.m. – Harisma, Little 1
9:30 p.m. – A Lot Like You, Little 1 (Q&A w filmmaker to follow)

Sunday April 21
3:30 p.m. – Audience Choice, Best of the Fest Documentary, Little 1
6:00 p.m. – Audience Choice, Best of the Fest Narrative, Little 1

Films with Rochester Connections
·     The Women of SoFA show, a 94-minute screening of 11 shorts, produced by young women filmmakers from all over the world currently studying at RIT.
·     How We Got Away With It was shot in Rochester, was written by Greece NY native Jeff Barry, and the film’s lead producer, Erin Craig is a Webster native.

Latest news  - sign up for news alerts at highfallsfilmfestival.com and follow the festival on Twitter and Facebook.

More Information - Call the Festival office at 585-279-8312 or the Box Office at 585-820-0845 or email orders@HighFallsFilmFestival.com with any ticket questions.

Sponsors - High Falls Film Festival is sponsored by First Niagara, the Democrat & Chronicle, Harris Beach PLLC, 13WHAM TV & CW16, Monroe County, VisitRochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, Boylan Code, City of Rochester, The Community Foundation,  EFP Rotenberg, Delta Stratagem, The Gouvernet Arts Fund at The Community Foundation, CMI Communications, International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, Lenel, Midtown Athletic Club, Jack and Barbara Kraushaar, Nocon & Associates, Rochester Finger Lakes Film & Video Office, Rochester General Health System, Rochester Riverside Convention Center,  Strathallan, Elaine Spaull - City Councilwoman, US Sweepstakes & Fulfillment Company, WXXI, Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, Smugtown Beacon, Rochester Riverside Convention WXXI, Yelp and One Hip Chic.

About High Falls Film Festival
Founded in 2001, the High Falls Film Festival is one of the longest running women’s film festivals on the East Coast and one of the few film festivals worldwide that celebrates the work of women filmmakers. A non-profit organization, the High Falls Film Festival has screened hundreds of films since its inception, spotlighting the cinematic works of women and bringing the finest independent motion pictures and film artists to Rochester and Western New York audiences.  The Festival includes features, documentaries, and shorts.  The Festival has also offered programs in film education as well as student film making competitions.