Film FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
THE MAGAZINE
DEDICATED TO THE BUSINESS OF FILM
GREAT SUCCESS IN LONDON
Welcome to the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London 2015 Dear Filmmaker, Firstly, congratulations and thank you for your continued support of all of our International Film Festivals over the past few years, we hope you have a wonderful time in London and we look forward to meeting all of you! As you know this magazine is the launch issue where each festival will now have an A4 publication produced which is specific to each of our festivals and is an example of our commitment to expand our reach globally and, is also a new opportunity for our filmmakers to further promote their latest projects. On top of this we are also delighted to announce that from November we are adding a fourth festival per year to our calendar – in Milan, Italy! On behalf of the whole awards team we have once again been amazed at the quality and innovation of films that have been entered. This included “WAX:We are the X” which was shot using a point of view technique on smart-phones to “Chasing Rainbows” which is having its World Premiere at our festival! For a full listing of all of our screening times and dates, including script corner please turn to page 19.
Carl Tooney Publisher publishing@filmthemagazine.com Steve Grossmith Marketing Director steve@filmthemagazine.com Stephen Mina Graphic Design stephen@filmthemagazine.com
No part of this magazine, whether printed or electronic may be reproduced, stored or copied without the express prior written consent of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to: publishing@filmthemagazine.com Although we make every effort to ensure all of the information in this publication is up to date and accurate the publisher takes no responsibility for any omissions or errors.
We would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank industry professionals Neil McEween, Brad Balin and Paul Eyers who graciously give up their time to support the filmmakers attending our festivals and for all involved, the last year has been one of growth and success which included an exclusive invitation to Carl Tooney our Festival President to Beijing, as a guest of one of China’s most respected film production and distribution companies. “Although I was very surprised to receive this wonderful invitation,
without doubt this has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life” commented Carl on his week long visit. “Not only has the welcome and hospitality been 1st class but the distribution model and film productions on show have been utterly amazing to see 1st hand and I can also now understand why filmmakers from all over the globe are targeting china and furthermore, I was delighted to learn that we had been invited because of our continued passion and commitment to international filmmakers. This is why we see all of our festivals as unique events in their own right and are there to celebrate the best independent and studio films from the global film industry and for London this means our wonderful 6-day event which then culminates in our glamorous red carpet finale on Friday February the 27th. On a personal note to all of the filmmakers, our sincerest thanks and the best of luck with your nominated movie!”.
The Festival of World Cinema London 2015 Awards team filmmakerfestival.com italyinternationalfilmfestival.com madridinternationalfilmfestival.com sttropezinternationalfilmfestival.com
Please note that the Awards Night Finale on the evening of February 27th is a ticket only entry
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MEET THE TEAM Neil McEwan Neil McEwan has over 30 years working in the film distribution industry. He spent over 25 years working for Warner Bros and over 7 years as Managing Director of Warner Home Video’s biggest International subsidiary. A Commercial Executive with strong experience in profit delivery, strategy development, sales, marketing, business planning, finance and supply chain. He is a Senior member of several industry boards and a Producer of Independent Films. Paul Eyres Paul Eyres has over 20 years of extensive experience in feature film distribution, sales and film finance. He is currently Joint Managing Director of Transition Digital media, a UK film publisher of Home Entertainment product for both digital and DVD rights. Paul has also worked as a private consultant over the past 8 years and has advised clients in both the United Kingdom and United States on the acquisitions, distribution and risk assessment of their investments into feature film and television projects. Prior to founding his consultancy Kukui Film Group, Paul jointly ran MMG Corporate in Los Angeles as its C.O.O., a division of Forbes and Manhattan Merchant Bank based in Toronto. Paul commercially restructured the MMG group of companies, including two post-production facilities (Los Angeles/ Toronto) and a visual effects house in Los Angeles. Paul was also instrumental in building content for the UK DVD label, Prism Leisure Corporation in the UK, which was at the time a £90 million a year turn over UK publisher of home entertainment product. As its Acquisitions Director Paul helped to make it one of the top 10 companies in UK home entertainment. In that time Paul acquired close to 1,100 films for DVD and choice theatrical films, including titles such as Monster, Donnie Darko, The Machinist, to name a few. Paul spent 8 years prior in Los Angeles working and consulting in international film sales/distribution, feature film development, film production and also worked alongside several US banks in risk assessment for feature film funding. In that time Paul has spoken at UCLA Extension on it’s Film Distribution panel (Greg Bernstein) as well as worked with many clients via the banks, such as the
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UK film fund Flashpoint and US production outfit The Bubble Factory, owned by ex MCA/Universal chairman Sidney Sheinberg. Paul recently worked in the role of Executive producer on the film “The Machine,” where he worked with Red and Black Films in advising and helping to structure the films distribution path. Brad Blaine With over 22 successful years’ experience in filmed content distribution and sales, Brad has a comprehensive understanding of the UK and Worldwide media market, incorporating, Film and Television. His expertise lies in sales, distribution, marketing and rights management. Prior to launching his production and distribution company ‘Transition Digital Media Ltd’ in 2011, Brad was Head of ITV Global Entertainment, where he was responsible for the sales and distribution of ITV content worldwide, including the Rank and ITC film Catalogues. Brad was also held senior positions at several major entertainment organisations, including Fremantlemedia, Warner Brothers and Thames Television.
A PIRANESIAN VISION Photographer/Director: Randolph Langenbach
The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum
What does the past really look like, and how do the creations of 18th century artists shape our image of the Roman past? How might digital technology intersect with the patterns of vision and ocular interpretations of the human brain? And, how can the archeological work of the recent past be documented in a manner that is deeply opinionated but yet transparent? These are the questions raised by this documentary and artistic celebration of the art
of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, whose 295th birthday almost exactly coincides with the Italy International Film Festival in Milan. Both the Exhibition and the 40 minute animated movie follow on Randolph Langenbach’s much celebrated work with a large format camera documenting and helping to preserve the relics of the 19th century Industrial Revolution in New England, Great Britain, and India (see www.conservationtech.com). During the creation of this work, Langenbach followed in the footsteps of Piranesi to photograph the same views that he had etched and engraved, while also exploring his pre-photographic perspective system and compositional effects in ways only possible with the new digital medium. Unlike those made with silver halide technology, digital images can be merged and adjusted in ways not possible in a darkroom. In Langenbach’s vision the objective was not to falsify the views, but to explore the compositions that Piranesi had composed first with his quill pen and then so skillfully engraved in reverse onto plates for dissemination throughout 18th century Europe. Langenbach’s earlier experience as a large format photographer provided a solid base for his approach to such a documentary project, but his use of the digital medium has allowed for a completely different creative approach to the photography – an approach which
Roman Forum from the Mayor’s Office
ROME WAS!
was not just inspired by Piranesi’s work, but informed by his pre-photographic approach to composition and perspective. Many of his views exceed the width of what even the widest of flat-field photographic lenses can cover, but his compositions, and Langenbach’s photographs, do not appear as conventional panoramas nor are they distorted as they would be if a fish-eye lens were used to cover the same spread.
While Piranesi’s work has provided the primary subject, Langenbach has also photographed in the footsteps of other artists including Gaspare Vanvitelli, and also of mid19th century photographers.
Find more information about the film by scanning this link. www.piranesian.com Run Time: 44 Mins.
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ORACABESSA Producer/Director/Writer: Richard Anthony Nelson
U.S. based, Jamaican born filmmaker, Richard Anthony Nelson is an award nominated Writer, Director and Producer.
His most recent film is ‘Oracabessa’, a 35mm Techniscope, thriller. ‘Oracabessa’ has received five nominations at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Festival, including Best Director, Best Producer, Best Film, Best Lead Actress & Best Supporting Actor. His feature film, ‘The Endangered’, which he wrote, directed and produced, was nominated for Best Film at the 2009 Hollywood Black Film Festival. Along with his directed features, ‘Oracabessa’ and ‘The Endangered’, he has served as a producer on the feature film ‘The Furlough’. Mr. Nelson has also written, directed and produced several other projects including the Ethiopian Amharic language short film, ‘Tsion’ and several others including ‘Bright Day’. His latest screenplay, ‘The Viceroy’, was a nominated semi-finalist at the 2013 Hollywood Black Film Festival. He currently has several written projects in various stages of development. Mr. Nelson resides in Columbus, Ohio, USA
Clint Elmore - Associate Producer / First AD ‘Oracabessa’ Native to England, Mr. Elmore currently lives in Columbus, Ohio. As a filmmaker and performer, in both Film and Television, he enjoys spending time on both sides of the camera. He was First AD and Set Builder for the award nominated film, ‘The Endangered’. He was also Associate Producer and First AD for the multi-award nominated ‘Oracabessa’. Mr. Elmore has also produced several Faith based films Including ‘Perspective’, nominated for four festival awards, and made the best of compilation shown on a worldwide festival tour. He is also an on screen and On-Air talent who has appeared in feature films. He was the Co-host for CW Network’s ‘Columbus Model Quest’, and most recently, appears in A&E / FYI channel’s “Rowhouse Renovation”.
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Phlllip S. Wilson - Best Supporting Actor - ‘Oracabessa’ Nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Festival for his role as ‘Legat’. Phill appeared in MGM’s-UA’s ‘Teachers’ with Nick Nolte, 20th Century Fox’s ‘Mischief ’ with Kelly Preston, Albermarle’s ‘Line Shack’ and Vanguard’s ‘The Unseen Force’. As a singer in the 1960’s, he had a hit record that made the Top Forty charts in the U.S., Canada and England. During that time, he toured the country sharing the stage with such 60’s luminaries as Neil Sedaka, Bobby Rydell, Ann-Margaret and Peter, Paul & Mary.
Casting Director - Kristina Kopf ‘Oracabessa’
Kristina Kopf worked closely with Director Richard Anthony Nelson to audition the best actors for the multiple roles in the dramatic thriller, ‘Oracabessa’. Two of the film’s fine actors have garnered nominations at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Festival - Brooklyn Sabino-Smith (‘Oracabessa’) and Phillip S. Wilson (‘Legat’). Ms. Kopf is also a working actress living in Columbus, Ohio and played a role in the film, ‘Oracabessa’. Her other recent film credits include “Axe Giant,” “God Don’t Make the Laws,” “The Endangered” and “Madtown.” The film also features: Jeff Cunningham (former MLS Soccar star), Kenyatta Foster, Aaron Geib, Ashley Ann Henderson, Mason Pryor (son of the legendary Richard Pryor), Maya Sayre (Aidan-5), Ralph E. Scott and Dino Tripodis, Screening Time Tuesday 24th February 8:25pm www.oracabessamovie.com
Brooklyn Sabino-Smith - ‘Oracabessa’ Lead Actress Brooklyn Sabino-Smith is based in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Sabino-Smith is a nominee for Best Lead Actress at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Festival for her role in ‘Oracabessa;’.
After completing her university studies in Fine Arts and Anthropology (New York), Ms. Sabino-Smith decided to move west to pursue the craft of acting Playing the titular character in the feature film ‘Oracabessa’ is her first major starring role. Ms. Sabino-Smith has been struck by the reaction to her performance in the film.
www.oracabessamovie.com
Run Time: 208 Mins.
CHASING RAINBOWS Writers/Director: Robert Fritz
Chasing Rainbows has already won 4 Gold Awards and 2 Silver Awards from this year’s International Independent Film Awards, a California film competition. The film will have its world premiere at the London 2015 International Film Festival at 7.20pm on Monday February 23rd. Scarlet finds that she was adopted when her parents die in a car crash. She goes on a search for her real parents, and that brings her to the seedy side of Boston where her real mother is a nightclub singer. The story was influenced by L’Orfeo (Orpheus) by Claudio Monteverdi, the first opera in music history.
Orpheus descends into Hades to save his wife and bring her back to life. Like Orpheus, Scarlet faces dangerous tests before she is able to face her mother. In one way or another, every major character is the film is chasing a rainbow.
The Film Stars Kirsti Torhaug and Natalie Neilson: Kirsti Torhaug is one of Europe’s most accomplished and gifted actresses in theater and film. She has won a Gold Award from the International Independent Film Awards for her lead in Chasing Rainbows. Kirsti began her film career in Lristin Lavransdatter, directed by Liv Ullmann. She starred in the award winning film The Art of Negative Thinking. She has won several awards, including from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and The San Sebastian International Film Festival. Kirsti played the lead in Robert Fritz’s short film AKT 2, which won several awards including The Grand Jury Prize at the Woods Hole Film Festival, and the Audience Choice Award at the Artisan Festival International Cannes World Cinema Initiative. Natalie Neilson has starred in two other Robert Fritz films, TWICE… and Past Tense. She has won several awards for her acting including an Award of Excellence from the Accolade Competition, an Award of Excellence from The Indie Fest, and a Gold Award from the International Independent Film Festival.
KNIGHTMARES Writer/Director: Nicholas Michael Holmes
Knightmares is a tale of Luke, a young boy who finds refuge from his life in a fantasy world inspired by his video games. With a disabled younger brother fighting for his life and parents held hostage by their circumstances, Luke must overcome his demons...both real and imaginary.
The Hero of the Story
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Tommy
Find more information about the film by scanning this link.
Run Time: 96 Mins.
Knightmares has been an Official Selection of the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema, Sidewalk Film Festival, Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, Catskill Mountain Film Festival, New Filmmakers NY, Brooklyn Audience Now Festival, Golden Egg Film Festival, Wizard World Festivalof Chicago, and Famous Monsters Of Filmland Festival.
Villain
In order to create a feeling of nostalgia, Knightmares was shot on Super-16 MM film, using real locations and effects makeup, using a 1990’s setting. We wished to create an experience that could be enjoyed by a child as much as an adult.
Inspired from a childhood story from Director Nicholas M. Holmes, encouraged to be brought to the screen by Producer and Cinematographer, Markus E. Mueller, Knightmares seeks to truly capture the fear and vulnerability of being young.
Written and Directed by Robert Fritz In the past few years, Robert Fritz has written and directed 4 feature films and one short. These films have won over 60 major awards and laurels from festivals around the world. Fritz is also a bestselling author and award winning composer.
Luke
A DRAMATIC MUSICAL
Please scan for the trailer knightmaresthemovie.com
Run Time: 14 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
A FLOWER AND THE BLUE The making of a documentary Dec. 2014
FILM: THE MAGAZINE catches up with writer/director Dr.Kholoud Alnajjar about her thought provoking short movie – A Flower and the Blue.
THE IDEA I am a Kuwaiti female who was born as a Muslim, living in such a male dominant, traditional and conservative society put me face to face with constant challenges. The first challenge in our society is being a girl. I have been through all kinds of gender discrimination since my childhood, starting from simply playing outside our house, all the way through to my education and then career. As a child and teenager, I rejected most of gender discrimination actions and verbal abuse, but then, I didn’t understand why and it was a huge anger inside me with a very painful unfairness and disappointment. There are many levels of gender discrimination in my society, and I might not have lived the worse of it, but growing up with this struggle myself, made me the best candidate for this issue. I consider myself lucky to be able to write and direct my ideas.
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FILM PRODUCTION I am a single mother of beautiful three children, Mohammed, Abdullah and Alzaina. It is not easy to live as a single mother in our society, let alone the financial support that is not in the woman’s favour from my own experience. However, I am an assistant professor at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait who graduated from Twente University in Holland,
and can save a couple of thousand to make a film. I am lucky to have close friends who believes in me, enough to bring their 5D camera and shoot for me, and to call a friend with a sound system for a better price, and of course to act in the film.
WRITING THE SCRIPT
FILM CASTING
Since I was a child, I used to gather the family grandchildren every weekend, write a historical play, make costumes from whatever materials are available in the house, train the children and make a 20-30 minutes play, with which my bed sheet was the opening curtain! As art is not a proper social interest or career for a girl from a respectful and conservative family, I didn’t dare to open this issue. I come from a big family, 5 boys, 5 girls and I am the youngest and number 11. The family expected me to follow the steps of my sisters and when I didn’t, I was and still labelled as a rebel. I am a leader not a follower and funnily enough to know that this is the main reason behind not having a twitter account! (ha ha)
As I mentioned, I am blessed with lovely people around me whom I chose to be my family in this life. The actors are all our friends except for the mother and the little three children. The main actor is the father (Jamal Alhaidar) who is a very dear friend and he is a brother that I chose. The main actress is the girl (Alzaina Shams) who is my daughter and who is studying fine art at Calarts University in California. The two young boys are her schoolmates, and the groom’s family are from my friends circle, the father is a Syrian friend (Monsef Hamza) and the covered mother who is the second nurse as well is an Egyptian art teacher friend (Seham Aldeeb) and the first nurse is actually my daughter’s nanny (Rowaina) from the Philippines.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
Red carpet, Cannes film festival 2014
FILM APPROACH
THE SUPPORT Unfortunately, there is zero financial support for creative women in this field. However, the National Council for Culture, Art and Literature in Kuwait, nominated some of my work to participate in film festivals outside Kuwait. One should put in mind, that my films do not make Kuwaiti men happy, so there are a lot of resistance and attacks. And that will not make me stop. I believe in examples, and I hope some of my students I teach, see me as theirs.
On a beach in Kuwait 1971
Dr Kholoud Alnajjar and her beautiful children 2009
The making of a documentary 2014
The making of a documentary 2014
University of Twente, Holland 1998
I went to Twente University in Holland which is known as the best Technology school in the country. We were exposed to many styles and materials on how to address your message. This helped me a lot at the beginning. However, taking courses and workshops in directing allowed me to discover my abilities and helped me to outline what I don’t want to do. I had a directing experience in the early 1990 in my bachelor years with a very well known Kuwaiti late director Abdulaziz Almansour. Then I found myself drifting towards writing until I decided to start directing what I had written on my own and to start with short films. “A flower and the blue” was my first, and then I did “The three pyjamas” which won the second place in Tropfest Arabia 2013 in AbuDhabi. All in that period of time when I realised my mission here, in this part of the world among the girls and women of my country. After that I made “Dishdasha” and “White sheet” and now, I am writing an English script for a feature film that talks about our culture and its influence on the new generation, and partially the creation of young terrorists. Now, nothing can stop me.
Run Time: 8 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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THE ALGERIAN The concept for The Algerian grew from a series of conversations in 2007 that Ben Youcef and I had at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California where we developed our friendship. We had both been deeply affected by the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington D.C. and wanted to make a film together that expressed our feelings and concerns in a post-9-11 world. Ben and I worked together as a team from the very beginning as filmmakers: Ben is the Lead Actor, Co-Executive Producer and Co-Story author of the film, so he had lots of influence in bringing the film to fruition, and in addition to my Directing the film, I am also the Executive Producer, Screenwriter, Co-Story Author, Editor, distant location Cinematographer, and played the supporting role of “Brother”, so we both had our hands full in the making of this film. We wished to tell a story about co-existence and tolerance that would
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR FILM?
Director Giovanni Zelko with stars Harry Lennix and Ben Youcef.
A film of this magnitude and ambition requires absolute dedication from all those involved and would never have been possible without a truly amazing and diligent cast and crew who loved working in cinema, and the proof is in the final outcome of their collective work. Even though our budget is small in terms of the average big-budget movies you see out there today, we look and feel like a big budget movie due to the involvement of a talented and experienced cast and crew. Because of my Hollywood experience in working on movies and television during the past eighteen years, and because people believed in the film, I was able to draw from a large pool of experienced professionals along with state
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and its ugliness, our film presents and analyzes the stereo-types of race and religion that we as a society have been directly or indirectly programmed with in the hope to remind our audiences that, regardless of our differences as humans on the planet, we are all 99.9% identical. As the film races towards its
of the art equipment like Red cameras, camera cranes, Steadicams, dollies, carmounts and studio lighting packages at a fraction of the normal cost to allow us to shoot the film at a very high technical standard. I placed a lot of energy towards details that only last a few seconds on screen, like getting aerial shots for both Los Angeles and Vegas, to give the film a bigger scope and feel.
Our approach was definitely unique and risky with principal photography taking about two years to shoot and was done essentially in pieces over weekends, focusing on one actor at a time, due mostly to limitations in our budget and the difficulty of accessing some of the locations. When I tell industry professionals who have seen the film what our actual shooting budget was, their eyes nearly pop out of their head. One person in particular was our production’s savior during shooting and even in post: our cinematographer Anthony Rudenko. First of all, he is a very unique D.P. due to his many years working as a graphic designer/visual effects artist prior to getting involved
Writer/Director: Giovanni Zelko on set.
surprise ending, each of the characters reveal yet another facet to their being, their past and their future, ultimately smashing to pieces all the stereotypes that were originally presented to the audience in the first place. At the centre of the political intrigue and cloak-anddagger thriller, we also wanted to tell a love story of an immigrant falling for a beautiful woman who isn’t what she appears to be, just as she falls for an exotic man who isn’t who he appears to be. Actor: Ben Youcef Stars as “Ali” on set.
HOW WAS THE FILM AND STORY CONCEIVED?
place a mirror up to society in the post-9-11 social landscape we inhabited where we remind our audience that people are not always what they appear to be, that people are ultimately a product of their environment, that change is possible, that the geo-politics involved in the Middle-East are super complex and steeped in history and in flux, that one person can make a difference and that good ultimately triumphs over evil if a choice is made by that individual to fight against evil. By placing a mirror up to society, exposing both its beauty
in cinematography which gives him a great eye for composition and detail. In the digital-filmmaking age we are in, Tony’s knowledge, skill and experience with sophisticated visual effects programs and digital cameras is priceless on set and in post. On top of that, he has worked with Ben and I since day 1 of test shoots in December 2009 and has stayed the course till the finish line of final assembly and delivery in December 2014. There are over 250 names in our end credits, where each person’s contribution is an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of our collective film. I liken filmmaking to a symphony orchestra. It is my job as the Director/Conductor to make sure everyone is playing the right notes at the right time, otherwise there would be chaos with every person, whether behind the camera or in front of the camera, focusing only on their own work and not considering the complex dynamics and vision required to achieve the best possible final film. Cinematographer Anthony Rudenko with Director Giovanni Zelko
Film: The Magazine speaks to Writer/Director Giovanni Zelko about his debut feature film: The Algerian.
TELL US HOW THE CASTING WAS APPROACHED?
Giovanni Zelko with stars Ben Youcef and Josh Pence on set.
Enough praise cannot be given to the entire cast of the film, all of whom delivered top-notch performances, especially Ben who was in almost every scene of the movie and had to maintain consistency in his nuanced performance and physical look for two full years of filming, which would be daunting for any
Actresses: Candice Coke as “Lana” and Alicia Mitchell as “Kelly” on set.
Best Actor (Ben Youcef) Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival Best Supporting Actress (Candice Coke) Action On Film Festival
Actor Zuhair Haddad as “Mo” on set.
Actors: Giovanni Zelko, Ben Youcef, Said Faraj on set.
actor. He really did a great job on camera and audiences love his performance, so his dedication paid off. It was an honor for me as a director
a personal pool of actors who are people we have either worked with in the past, or actors we were friends with which fit the characters in our film. As a highlight, it was amazing for me to work with an Oscar-nominated icon like Seymour Cassel who I studied in film school at Boston University in a Cassavetes class and later became friends with at a local cigar shop he and I frequented in Santa Monica, the Hollywood Smoke!” Actress Sharon Ferguson as “Sister” on set.
It was because of this collective determination and team effort by the cast and crew that The Algerian was honored with 17 wins thus far in North America, including multiple best picture and audience choice awards, as well as the following awards and nominations at festivals:
to work with such seasoned and gifted actors and actresses who have all worked on A-list Hollywood films in the past. Ben and I are fortunate to have been able Actor Seymour Casell to draw from as Professor Wright
Best Cinemotography (Anthony Rudenko) Downtown Film Festival of Los Angeles Best Sound Design Alan Bailey Award (Sebastian Lönberg) Action On Film Festival Best Original Score (James Bartlett) Maverick Movie Awards Best Stunts (Ray Velazquez/choreogrpher) Maverick Movie Awards Best Editing (Giovanni Zelko) Los Angeles New Wave Film Festival Best Screenplay Dialogue (Giovanni Zelko) Action On Film Festival Screenwriting Competition Best Director (Giovanni Zelko) Independent Film Quarterly Film Festival
Actress Tara Holt as “Sara” with Actor “Ben Youcef” as “Ali” on set in L.A.
Acting Nominations Best Supporting Actor (Harry Lennix) Northeast Film Festival Best Supporting Actress (Tara Holt) Northeast Film Festival Best Supporting Actor (Said Faraj) Action On Film Festival
/TheAlgerianMovie @AlgerianMovie Read the Full Interview online: TheAlgerianMovie.com
Run Time: 99 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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Producer/Director/Writer Richard Anthony Nelson “A minimalist thriller in one respect, then classy allegory in another. The artful production, with its spare production design and high angle perspectives inside and claustrophobic leafiness outside, is a fine piece to enjoy for its Twilight Zone sophistication.” Review excerpt by NPR (John DeSando), Synopsis: A teenage couple’s illicit inter-racial relationship is jeopardized when the boy’s sister is found murdered and the girl’s brother is accused of the murder. Patrick Lumford (Caucasion) secretly dates Valerie Gray (African American). He keeps the romance a secret because of the ultra-conservative views of his father. One fateful afernoon after school, Patrick’s sister, Courtney, walks home and is accosted and killed in the woods. Valerie’s brother, Eldridge, is accused of the murder. The respective families’ challenging beliefs then come to the fore as both fathers’ views on race may prove not to be so different after all.
THE ENDANGERED screened at HBFF festival in Los Angeles. “The Endangered” stars Danny Reese II, Matt Proctor, Kristina Kopf, John S. Kuhn, Anita Davis, Richard Mason and Jasmine Herrell. Review excerpt by Allen Duncan (Los Angeles, Independent Review): “ The producers have assembled a first rate cast. The editing constructed a well told tale that develops a decent pace.
“The Endangered” is a film relevant to current affairs. The film looks at race relations through the prism of the investigation of a problematic murder. The film, a dramatic thriller, is the first feature film from writer/director Richard Anthony Nelson. The film was nominated and The camera work is well thought out and adds to the building of tension in the story. The star of the show however, is the writing. It is clever, authentic, and leaves the audience thinking about the piece for days after attending the performance.”
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SHAHANA CHATTERJEE
UDITVANU DAS
SOHINI MUKHERJEE ROY
CUT TO CUT PRESENTS
Chhutii Aar Picnic
A FILM BY SHOMSHUKLLA MUSIC BY ANKUR MUKHERJEE
AN ADAPTATION OF NOBEL LAUREATE
RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S
FAMOUS ROMANTIC NOVELLA ‘SHESHER KOBITA’
Directors: Edwin Brochin & Fernado del Rio Writers: Edwin Brochin & James A. Swan
Ed Brochin, Director of The Falconer: The Sport of Kings tells us the background to his latest movie:
Three Master Falconers
“I was inspired to make this film because of a recent declaration from UNESCO in the year of 2010 that declared the sport of falconry as “World Cultural Heritage for all nations”. This was a huge victory for the sport of falconry world wide as it not only gave the sport it’s much needed recognition but it has also raised the awareness of our conservation and preservation efforts of birds or prey in general. (The role we have played in the restora-
tion of the nearly extinct peregrine falcon for example) I also wanted to be the first to share our lifestyle and sport in a way that could be respected and appreciated by the non-falconer mainstream viewer but with great regard to the overall perception to be received from the falconry community worldwide. This was no easy task and so far so good as our first test market for the blended audience was a huge success as we recently packed the theatre at a private screening here in Indianapolis. It was well received by all the members of the falconry community who attended that night.
To all who watch this film, I hope we do not disappoint.” As the descendent of French fur traders, it seems somehow fitting that Ed Brochin grew up to be an avid outdoorsman, equally skilled with bow, rifle, and fishing pole. Ed was born in Southern Indiana on February 16, 1971 and split his growing-up years between rural Indiana and Southern Texas on the border of Mexico. Both locations were ideal for hunting, and when Ed was four, his father and grandfather began teaching him the skills he needed to be a successful hunter. As he grew
Elik Hamshibai with Golden Eagle
FALCONER: SPORT OF KINGS
up and eventually became strong enough to wield his own traditional, wooden, recurve bow, it became his hunting instrument of choice and he never looked back. Every year he would join thousands of other hunters in revelling in opening weekend of deer season and turkey season in Indiana. In between seasons he would fill his time with hunting for squirrels, rabbits, and foxes, and fishing religiously.
Find more information about the film by scanning this link. Run Time: 70 Mins.
SUMMER OF TOM Tom, an English musician arrives in Paris to compose his first film score. But Lola, his neighbour, a french actress whom he falls in love with and Stan, her ex boy-friend who settles in her flat, won’t help him at all. An explosive bilingual French and British comedy, mixing Rear Window and Something about Mary.
Manson Jomain, Simon Paul Sutton & David Lueza on set
Summer of Tom is the 5th short film written and directed by David Lueza. Nominated for 4 Awards at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London for best actor, best director, best screenplay for a Short Film & Jury Award. It has also won the Best International Short and Best
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Music Awards at the Dublin International Short Film & Music Festival and the Award of Excellence at the International Film Festival for Documentary, Short & Comedy in Jakarta.
It was also selected in many other festivals around the world as Sir Charlie Darwin Movie Battle (London), Portsmouth world Show, Sunscreen Film Festival West (Los Angeles), London Film Awards and the Glasgow Independent Film Festival. Upcoming festivals include : the Hampshire Film Club, Houston Comedy Film Festival and Hollywood Short Film Festival.
Simon Paul Sutton at work
Writer/Director: David Lueza
Born in Bordeaux, France, David Lueza grew up with Mel Brooks, Star Wars, Louis de Funes, Jaws, Yves Robert movies, Monty Python, Rene Goscinny, Zucker Abrahams Zucker, Peter Sellers & Blake Edwards, Jerry Lewis and many others including his parents and brothers. David began working on productions as assistant location manager in 1994. He is now 1st Assistant Director and Second Unit Director in France, whilst developing his writing and directing both short and feature films projects, preferably comedy - no offence!
/SummerOfTom
Simon Paul Sutton & Blandine Bury
Please Scan this link for the Trailer. Run Time: 29 Mins.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
FAITH IN LOVE Producer/Director: Alwiya A Thani
Alwiya A Thani, the creative force behind “Faith in Love” explains some of the background to her latest move:
PLEASE CAN YOU TELL US HOW THE IDEA FOR FAITH IN LOVE ORIGINATED?
Faith in Love, it’s a sweet romantic comedy film and it can happen to anyone no matter what is your gender, age or nationality. As for myself, I really like rom-com movies so the idea for it came from there and also meeting people and knowing their soft love stories it gave me a push to do this film. So for those who have a feeling towards someone and he/she is sure about the feeling so then it’s better to step up and confess otherwise someone else will come in and take it away from you!
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR FILM?
I was able to use one of the good production houses here in Dubai, as I’m a production manager in one of the leading studio house in the Middle East “Image Nation Abu Dhabi, it helped to know more crew and also having a large network helped. I would never stop thanking the late producer “Tim Smythe” RIP for his moral support. When I approached the crew, they all loved the story, they found it unique and sweet especially in our region where most of our short films are dramatic and driven so this was really different.
HOW DID YOU CAST THE MOVIE?
I am really blessed with the cast I had, for example Marwan Al Awadhi A.KA “Dj Bliss” from the day I started building the story. He was in my mind and when I approached him he agreed because he saw himself in the movie. Courtney Long who played Jenny was the difficult part to find but eventually I was very happy with my cast!
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT WRITING AND CREATING THE SCRIPT?
Actually I had a similar idea before creating Faith in love but whenever the writer “Mohammed Yousef ” and I developed the story we ended up with draft after draft and the idea suddenly became bigger and more beautiful.
Run Time: 19 Mins.
FORGIVENESS IS A WEAPON Writer: Scott Cronan & Dustin Morgan Director: Scott Cronan
Forgiveness is a Weapon is an intimate, artistic portrayal of one man's psyche as he is propelled forward by life toward his death. Spanning eight vignettes that tell the story of two lovers torn apart by war and literally sewn together, the 35 minute art film is an expression of the relationships between love and war, beauty and pain, and ultimately the fear and vulnerability that go along with each.
artist David Lucien, who's had a rare blood disease since childhood and paints with his own blood, to our leads, Luke Barnett and Jennifer Albrent, and contortionist Emilie Livingston among many other talented dancers, painters, and musicians. Forgiveness is a Weapon pushes the boundaries of cinematic storytelling through combining hauntingly beautiful imagery and a unique and powerful score that stay with the audience long after leaving the theater. Director Scott Cronan established InStudium Arts, a creative production agency, with writer/producer MacEwen Patterson, to continue pushing artistic and emotional boundaries in film.
Set to the music of LA's orchestral indie rock band, Archer Black, Forgiveness is a Weapon is a dark and beautiful film that touches the center of each of us. Shot over the course of a year, director Scott Cronan collaborated with many of LA's extremely talented independent artists from composer Dustin Morgan and aerialists Womack and Bowman and Elizabeth Newton to fine
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FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
Committed to art that moves people, the two produced a series of shorts supporting arts education advocacy efforts for the non-profit organization, Americans for the Arts . The company's vision is to create media across platforms which tells a compelling story. Next up is a slate of feature films that bridge the unique visual style Cronan
has developed with traditional narrative story-telling to bring deeply moving artistic filmmaking to larger audiences. Please inquire for specific details on future projects in development. Investor information is available upon request. instudiumarts.com womackandbowman.com americansforthearts.org/encouragecreativity davidlucieart.wordpress.com elizabethnewton.net lukebarnett.net /emchka /archerblack Find more information about the film by scanning this link.
Run Time: 34 Mins.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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WAX: WE ARE THE X Writer/Director: Lorenzo Corvino
WHAT IS WAX
Actress: Gwendolyn Gourvenec
These young people succeeded in being appreciated by important and established actors that included Rutger Hauer and Jean-Marc Barr who agreed to participate in the film, captivated by the enthusiasm of the young French and Italian actors, for the first time participants in this film. The movie is about an adventurous journey, and was entirely shot in POV perspective, often by using smartphones on set, granting the cast freedom of expression and experimenting in new forms of film-making for the audience. This movie can therefore be considered a “Self(ie)-Movie”, both as an independent, self-produced project and as a film based on self-portraying, which is so popular among young people now. The film has a different narrative register, a crossover of genres, from thriller to adventure, romance to comedy and from drama to animation and social comment. The film also deals with current topics such as the cultural confrontation between people from different European Countries affected by the financial crisis of recent years and aims to reveal the generational struggle of searching for one’s own dignity through work, which is an important issue both inside and outside of Italy. Finally, the film encourages a debate on the relationship between the idea of sacrifice and that of liberation.
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Actor:Davide Paganini
SYNOPSIS
What is WAX, amongst other things? WAX is a Point Of View road trip movie, an adventure and romance film, a small generational thriller focusing on the adventures of two young Italian men and a young French woman. It’s a film made by some angry guys with a budget ten times lower than an average debut movie, scraped together in less than two years!
POV: SHOT WITH A SMART-PHONE
This film presents a road trip movie and an instant movie based on the dynamics between three people who are together the whole time. Such a film cannot be shot according to the traditional standards of the objective camera, arbitrarily choosing what and who to show. An identification, or better an overlapping is required between the character’s view and the audience’s view, so that a sort of emotional osmosis can be created in the very moment everything takes place.
Actor: Rutger Hauer
Someone passes a video to a number of journalists: this is the testimony left by three people in their thirties, two men and a woman, of their road trip throughout the French Riviera. The video relates to the task that they were carrying out during the last week before becoming involved in an accident. The three of them share a whole generation’s fate, a generation of expendables.
THE DIRECTOR
Lorenzo Corvino was born in 1979 in the Apulian town of Lecce, in Italy. He has a scientific high-school certificate and a degree in Liberal Arts from La Sapienza University in Rome. He has a diploma in film making at the NUCT in Cinecittà. He is a novelist and a journalist. He has directed several “making of ’s” and has worked as an assistant director. He has also directed many short films and video clips, winning some international awards along the way! WAX is his debut feature film for which he is the director, scriptwriter and producer.
Director: Lorenzo Corvino with Actor: Jacopo Maria Bicocchi
“WAX” is an Italian debut film, a first time not only for its director, but also the producer, the director of photography, the production designer, the musician, the casting director and other professional collaborators. And even though it is a debut, the people involved in the project, even with national and international sponsors, never gave up when facing the most difficult of challenges that included shooting in four different Countries, on a scheduled flight across the Atlantic Ocean, in the middle of the desert, on a 1892 train in Provence and even on the terrace of the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo!
as a type of non-telephone communication, filtered by story planning which is essentially cinematographic. All of us now use smartphones; we use them to communicate, to shoot videos to be uploaded to Social Networks and You -tube. But up until now, no one has turned the smartphone into an aesthetically mature means for showing emotions on the silver screen, both when actually using it on the set and when simulating its use in order for the aesthetics of such a shot to create an immersive narrative.
The smartphone became the answer: a tool as everyone knows, everyone uses everyday. In this film, it is used simply, as a means for telling stories, submitted
Please visit the website: www.vengeance.it Run Time: 103 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
SCREENING TIMES SUNDAY
22nd February
1
MONDAY
23rd February
1
Screening Room 1
International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London
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MONDAY
23rd February
Screening Room 2
10:30am Mas Man Directed By: Dalton Narine 90 minutes
12:10pm Forgiveness is a Weapon Directed By: Scott Cronan 35 minutes
10:15am I’m star Directed By: Damien Dematra 105 minutes
12:10pm Cinder Directed By: Rene-Louis Caccuttolo 65 minutes
1:00pm Diary Directed By: Ming-Yi Tsay 48 minutes
12:10pm Nerve Directed By: Sebastien Guy 85 minutes
2:05pm She Rocks The Planet! Directed By: Meredythe Dee Winter 50 minutes
1:40pm The Box Directed By: Jon Huertas 25 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
1:30pm Paddys In The Boot Directed By: Kevin Shulman 25 minutes
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
2:15pm A Little Farther Directed By: Nikan Nezami 30 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
2:55pm Aidon Directed By: Patrick Hodgson 10 minutes 3:10pm The Promise Directed By: Hambi Haralambous 60 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
4:30pm One Way Trip To Siem Reap Directed By: Celine Lesage 40 minutes 5:10pm W 3Sixty5 Directed By: Shane Ries 50 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
6:15pm Nighthawks Directed By: Gianpaolo Lupori 15 minutes
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
6:35pm Flavor & Fuel Directed By: Matthew Woodget 20 minutes 6:55pm Summer Of Tom Directed By: David Lueza 30 minutes 7:30pm Someone Directed By: Alena Spirina 15 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
3:20pm Mia Directed By: Joseph McCarthy 10 minutes
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
2:05pm WAX: We Are The X Directed By: Lorenzo Corvino 105 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
4:00pm Distanza Directed By: Luca Cococcetta 15 minutes
3:35pm Bury Directed By: Stefan Haverkamp 80 minutes 5:15pm Sour Milk Directed by: Elliott Gonzo 15 minutes
5:30pm Hawa Directed By: Arzouma kompaore 30 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
6:10pm The Unforgettable Mistake Directed By: Sean Robinson 5 minutes 6:15pm All of the people Directed By: JC Pratt 3min 6:20pm The Hero Pose Directed by: Mischa Jakupcak 15 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
6:45pm Is There A Middle Class In Albania Directed by: Pluton Vasi 45 minutes
7:00pm Virgil sleeps Directed By: Jean Seban 20 minutes 7:20pm Chasing Rainbows Directed By: Robert Fritz 100 minutes 9:00pm Fiori Di Baall Directed By: Leonardo Pepi 90 minutes
7.55pm After The Storm – A Shark’s Tail Directed By: Tony Exall 15 minutes
8:15pm Belief Directed By: Ivy Yu 15 minutes
Dedicated to the Business of Film
8:40pm Dirty Shield Directed by: Edgar Jimz 90 minutes
5:10pm Belleville Directed By: Dan Steadman 90 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
8:10pm Golf Cart Jihad Directed By: Jeff Kimble 115 minutes
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
4:15pm Chinese Propaganda Lesson In Prohibited Area Directed By: Eric Darbré 55 minutes
7:45pm Motel Providence Directed By: Derek Frey 10 minutes
7:55pm Borderline Directed by: Luca Tobia Forcignano Serri 10 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
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Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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SCREENING TIMES 1
TUESDAY
24th February
1
2
TUESDAY
24th February
Screening Room 1
10:30am It’s Not You It’s Me Directed By: Nathan Ives 90 minutes
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Screening Room 2
10:45am The Rise Of Echsenfriedl Directed By: Johannes Grenzfurthner 75 minutes
12:10pm Asintado Directed By: Luisito Ignacio 95 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
2:00pm September Sketch Book Directed By: Ronnie Cramer 10 minutes
12:05pm Komatose Directed By: Mark Boucher 75 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
2:25pm Faith In Love Directed By: Alwiya Thani 20 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
2:55pm 7 Fragments Directed By: Frédéric Dany 45 minutes
1:35pm Instance Directed By: Michael Farrell 15 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A 2:20pm As The Tree Under The Hurricane Directed By: Claudia Fischer 70 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 4:00pm Sumer Directed By: Alvaro Garcia 10 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
3:45pm (des) Encontras Directed By: Rodrigo Bernardo 45 minutes 4:30pm Intrinsic Moral Evil Directed By: Harm Weistra 15 minutes
4:15pm Till Then Directed by: Tara Brenninkmeyer 20 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
4:45pm Professional Panel A panel of Industry professionals will be taking your questions on everything to do with the business of film – From financing the project, to marketing it and eventually to distributing your hard work. 5:45pm 196 Directed By: Anna Arlanova 50 minutes
4:40pm N+N Directed by: Yan-Chi & Mo Lai 95 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 6:45pm Coral Directed by: Giacomo Martelli 15 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
6:55pm Sweet & Sour Salsa Directed By: Gustavo Cuervo Rubio 80 minutes
7:05pm Waiting For His Descend Directed by: Kismet Elsayed 35 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
8:25pm Oracabessa Directed By: Richard A. Nelson 129 minutes
7:55pm Julius Caesar 2014 Directed By: Nicolas Walker 105 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 15 mins Q&A
See you in St.Tropez 11th - 16th May 2015
International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London
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WEDNESDAY 25th February
1
Screening Room 1
11:25am RAM Directed By: Miransha naik 25 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 12:00pm 101 Secrets Directed By: Tophy Cho 95 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 1:45pm The Falconer “Sport Of Kings” Directed By: Edwin Brochin 70 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 3:05pm Mr Brocklehurst Directed By: Jordan Shelby 30 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 4:00pm De Puta Madre A Love Story Directed by Catherine Black 16 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 6:15pm Caching Fireflies Directed By: Lee Whitteker 25 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A 6:45pm Arde Lucus Directed By: Oscar Brais Revalderia Prieto 60 minutes Followed by a 15 mins Q&A 8:00pm Flutter Directed By: Elliot Cowan 25 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A 8:30pm Meeres Stille Directed by: Juliane Fezer 142 minutes
St.Tropez
International Film Festival
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FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
A chance to learn and ask questions about the production of the film.
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WEDNESDAY 25th February
2
SCREENING TIMES 1
THURSDAY
Screening Room 2
11:00am The Other Kind Directed By: Rosalyn Rosen 120 Minutes 12:35pm Trio Directed By: Dae Eol Yoo 15 minutes
12:10pm Jonny’s Sweet Revenge Directed By: Mark David 115 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A 2:35pm Butterfly Directed By: Yianna Dellatolla 20 minutes
1:05pm Fix you Directed By: Christian Juru 3 minutes
3:05pm If The Trees Could Talk Directed By: Michael Weinstein 25 minutes
1:25pm Lake Amber Directed By: Zhang Yang 50 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
2:50pm Bruno Droste: An Artist’s Flight to Freedom Directed By: Cheryl Lee 60 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
4:10pm Chain Reaction Directed By: Kevin Bisbangian 25 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A 6:00pm Picnic Directed By: Shomshuklla Das 75 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
7:25pm Gold Directed By: uzi amir 5 minutes 7:30pm Knightmares Directed By: Nicholas Michael Holmes 15 minutes Followed by a 5 mins Q&A 8:00pm Roger McGowen Directed By: Nicolas Pallay 60 minutes Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
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THURSDAY 26th February
Screening Room 1
11:00am Jean Olivier Hucleux, from the Work to the Artwork Directed By: Virgile Novarine 60 minutes
12:50pm Silent Tears Directed By: Ilango Ramanathan 15 minutes
1:10pm Love, And Other Devices Directed By: Elle Stanion-McDermid 15 minutes
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26th February
4:10pm South Beach On Heels Directed By: Demitry Zhitov 80 minutes
5:45pm The Look Directed By: Shawn McDaniel 20 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
6:15pm Mbeti: The Road To Kisesini Directed By: Ann Bromberg 20 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
7:05pm Busted City Directed By: Paul Carr 85 minutes
9:00pm Networking evening in the bar (Drinks not included; bar will be open for you to purchase refreshments)
Please Gentlemen, Ask Me Who I Am Cinzia Gagliardi The Family Steven Shepherd
2:35pm Dog Directed By: Robin Schmidt 40 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
4:10pm Venice is Saved Directed by: Serena Nono 79 Minutes
5:25pm Temporary Discomfort Directed By: Simon Adegbenro 15 minutes
5:45pm Rome Was! A Piranesian Vision Directed By: Randolph Langenbach 45 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
6:40pm A Flower & The Blue Directed By: Kholoud Alnajjar 8 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
The Ventriloquist Michael Mortimer
2:10pm El Mago Directed By: Ana Rodriguez 15 minutes
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
6:45pm Last Stop Directed By: Amp Dulyatat Sripimanwat 15 minutes
The Rage David Brett
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
1:50pm Red Spider Lilly Directed By: John Clang & Wai Thong Chow 15 minutes
3:40pm Four Tails Directed By: Christopher Villiers 25minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Starts at 11am
12:05pm Out of nothing Directed By: Chad DeRosa 90 minutes
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
SCRIPT CORNER
Screening Room 2
10:40am The Trembling Giant Directed By: Jared Evans 80 minutes
Followed by a 5 mins Q&A
Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
FRIDAY 27th February
2
7:00pm The Algerian Directed By: Giovanni Zelko 100mins
Followed by a 15 mins Q&A
9:00pm Networking evening in the bar (Drinks not included; bar will be open for you to purchase refreshments) Break Room Anne Cole
Touched Nancy Paton
The Night Witches Steven Prowse
Lookin’ Up Marvin Kaplan
The Girl From Chelsea One Mighty and Strong Fausto Politi Loren Lambert The Man who Killed Hitler Fausto Politi
Before the Bomb Tannaz Hazemi
Public Places Julia Batavia
NextDoor Alexa MJ Matz
Tree House Jay Mullings
Lost Cause David Schroeder
FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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WAITING FOR HIS DESCENT Director/Writer: Bassam Mortada
13 year old Baskaroun lost his arm in an accident working at the quarries in El-Menya governorate, upper Egypt. This accident has not stopped both of his brothers from continuing as quarry workers. Accidents at the quarries are common and many of them are fatal. The struggle for economic and social rights by the quarry workers in El-Menya, is a hard struggle and quarrying is the main economic activity for the east bank. A minimum of 15,000 men and children engage in this informal economic activity and although quarrying pays relatively better than other available jobs in this area, the working conditions are brutal and hazardous. The majority of the workers are breadwinners with no contracts or social or medical insurance. The working conditions are life threatening since most of the equipment is produced locally and does not adhere to international safety standards and the majority of the workers are forced to quit their jobs early because of its impact on their health. This film tells the story of Baskaroun and his family and their efforts to organise and gain some rights together with local activists. The
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reality is harsh but there are some successes and the determination for change is very strong. This film focuses on documenting this reality and highlights the trials of empowerment of workers in this informal sector giving a close examination towards the dynamics of self-organization.
Bassam Mortada, is an independent filmmaker, producer and activist. His first festival premier was with his film ‘Reporting…A Revolution’ a feature documentary about the 18 days of the Egyptian revolution and was premiered at the Berlinale film festival in Berlin 2012. He has also directed and produced a number of short films and investigative human right documentaries.
Run Time: 34 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
LAKE AMBER Writers: Marsha Ma & Xu Qing
With China’s reform and opening up policy in the 1990s, millions of families from all over the country answered the call of the time to pour into Shenzhen, the first Special Economic Zone, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. Teenagers from these families were shocked and influenced by Hong Kong gang and street culture. They started a journey of chasing their dreams, overcoming difficulties, experiencing betrayal and tasting sweet love. Among the choices, reaction and consequences, they gained their faith, resolution and courage.
Nominated for 4 Awards at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in London for Talented New Director, Best Director of a Short Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay of a Foreign Language Film and Best Foreign Language Short, “Lake Amber” will doubtless impress the audiences by showing the culture conflicts between Chinese traditional and modern societies. Starting his directing career with the TV serial “Chuangdong Guerrilla” in 2011, the new generation Chinese director Zhang Heyang has directed many movies including “Xuanyuan Emperor”, “Painted Skin”, “Mural” and “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” with box office success. He directed then “Lake Amber” in 2014 as a new challenge.
Xu Qing, producer of “Lake Amber”, witnessed Shenzhen’s economic transition, as well as the pathfinders struggle, choices, gains and loss. Refreshing the memories of his youth, he experienced a journey of re-evaluating himself and the society. He is known as jade collector. He is also a writer and president of Shenzhen Nanshan District Miniature Engraving Original Arts Commission. Wang Quan, cinematographer for “Lake Amber”, started his photographic career in 1998 and cinematography in 2006, and is best
known for being the cinematographer on “Legendary Amazons”, “Looking for Jackie”, “The Love of Three Smile Scholar” and the Zha Shen composed “City Without Winter”, the theme song specifically for “Lake Amber”. The song has been awarded the 2014 Shenzhen Top 10 Golden Melody by Shenzhen Radio FM971. He is deputy director of the Mental Health Center on the China National Committee for the Wellbeing of the Youth, enterprise coach and psychological consultant. Huang Weilun, the leading actor in “Lake Amber”, graduated from Beijing Dancing Academy. Some of his collective credits include: “Special Identity”, “Compete for Beauty”, “Time Competition” and “Orange”. Find more information about the film by scanning this link. www.lakeamber.com
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Run Time: 50 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
THE OTHER KIND Actor: Justin Arnold as “Scott”.
Writter/Director: Rosalyn Rosen
A former county judge, his Bible toting wife, and their two adult children set out on a mission to rural Texas, intent on saving the youngest of their brood, an eccentric poet who believes Charles Bukowski lives inside his head. But the tables turn when a chilling family secret is exposed and reality is turned upside down.
Actor: Dane Hurlburt as “Carl”.
Nominated for 4 Awards at the International Filmmaker Festival
rapher on all of her music videos and concert films. This is their first collaboration on a narrative feature.
of World Cinema London for Best Feature, Best Cinematography Best Soundtrack and Best Supporting Actress, “The Other Kind” also recently won the Silver Award at the International Independent Film Awards and an Award of Merit at the Accolade Global film Competition. Although “The Other Kind” is Rosalyn Rosen’s first narrative feature, she has directed many award winning music videos and concert films for Matisyahu and Los Lonely Boys for Epic Records. Her short film “Why Is The Dog Howlin’, Momma?” received festival screenings in NYC, LA, Santa Fe and Houston, winning an award for Best Original Dramatic Short Film at Worldfest Houston International Film Festival and a 4 Star Review from FilmThreat.com. Michael Saleman, producer of “The Other Kind’, has done Pro-
duction Legal on over 100 films. He is known in the United States as the Indie Filmmaker’s Entertainment Attorney. He is also head of Legal Affairs for Megalomedia, a production company that produces such huge hits as Shipping Wars and My 600 Pound Life. Lee Daniel, cinematographer for “The Other Kind”, is best known for being Rick Linklater’s cinematographer on Boyhood, Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise and Fast Food Nation. Lee has also been Rosalyn’s cinematog-
SCREENING FEBRUARY 25 2015
Steve Callif composed the music specifically for “The Other Kind”. He worked very closely with Rosalyn to create compositions that would ideally serve the dramatic action. Steve Callif ’s music has been in HBO’s Sonic Highways and on Austin City Limits performed by Jimmy Vaughan, Gary Clark Jr., James Cotton and Delbert McClinton. The acting in “The Other Kind” is a powerhouse ensemble of incredible talent. Some of their collective credits include: The Last Stand, Dazed and Confused, Stop-Loss, Infamous, Friday Night Lights, The Homesman, In The Valley of Elah, All the Pretty Horses, The Client, Fried Green Tomatoes and The Wendell Baker Story.
Find more information about the film by scanning this link.
Run Time 112 Mins FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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Editor Cheryl Lee with Co-Producer Melvin Holmes
BRUNO DROSTE AN ARTIST’S FLIGHT TO FREEDOM Director/Edtitor: Cheryl Lee Producer: Doris M. Carlino
The documentary, produced by his widow Doris M. Carlino and directed / edited by Cheryl Lee offers an impressive, engaging and emotional musical journey. Ms. Carlino and her crew were able to gather together some former members of
the Bruno Droste Tanzstreichorchester in Erfurt, where they enjoyed a reunion and shared stories of hard times traveling in wood-burning buses, as well as recording “that beautiful music” in Erfurt’s elegant Imperial Hall. This is a must-see documentary that helps resurrect some lovely musical treasures lost as a result of the political upheaval of the post-war period. It restores attention to Bruno Droste’s compositions and re-establishes his place in European musical history. The DVD is produced for either German or English audiences with voiceovers and subtitles. Bruno & Doris Performing at an American GI Club in Nuremburg Germany
Memebers of the Orchestra enjoying tea during an interview
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Bruno rehearsing with members of his orchestra in Germany
Director Cheryl Lee
The documentary follows in the tradition of important sociological works such as The Buena Vista Social Club and The Lives of Others, and spans two decades of Droste’s career. The film pieces together Droste’s life story through interviews, family photographs, various period publications, archival footage, restored radio recordings, audio tapes, old shellac recordings, and some newer recordings made in Belgium, the Netherlands, and West German radio studios. The American opera soprano Doris Marion joined forces with Droste, wrote lyrics in English for some of his songs and recorded many of them. She and Droste were married in 1963 and moved to Belgium. Droste died in 1969 of a heart attack in Brussels at 51.
Producer Doris M. Carlino
The documentary features the life, times and music of the Erfurt Germany based pianist, composer and leader of the Bruno Droste Dance String Orchestra, whose delightful hit tunes and orchestral fantasies entertained music audiences throughout the East bloc countries from 1948 to 1958. Droste’s music has almost completely disappeared as a result of censorship that existed post World War II, in East Germany. The film presents a compelling theme of those fragile years when innovative expression was often taboo and creative artists were forced to struggle against restrictions posed by the soviet regime. Creative artists who felt it necessary to flee from East Germany to the West were considered traitors by East German authorities hence, their works of art, literature and music were destroyed and an attempt was made to erase the artist from the annals of history. Throughout history, art has been eclipsed or permanently lost due to economic deprivation, political upheaval and war.
brunodroste.com Run Time: 60 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
A film by Doris Marion Carlino
JONNY’S SWEET REVENGE
Locked up inside the bar, a series of unfortunate accidents leads to an accidental murder, finger pointing, and a lot of anxiety. A handful of story lines tie into a hysterical cover-up that not only unites a bar full of strangers for a common goal,
Writer/Director: Claudia Fischer Here, Claudia Fischer, the documentary maker behind “As a tree under the Hurricane” describes how she came to make this thought provoking film:
Attending medical consultation.
Two years ago, Ati and Mindhiva were guided my way by a friend in common. Ati and Mindhiva are sisters, and part of the Arhuaca tribe, a culturally rich tribe indigenous to Colombia. The sisters asked me to help them achieve their dreams of higher education. You see, the sisters wanted to achieve a college degree that would allow them to give back to the culture and the people they love so much. But a series of obstacles had rendered it impossible for the girls to attend the National University.
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but gives them new purpose in this dark comedy about life hitting a wall and the personal search for change and happiness. Through the new relationships that they forge, Rick and Reni not only wonder if they’ll survive the day, but if they can survive one another.
/JonnysSweetRevenge
Callahan and Tavares
Find more information about the film by scanning this link. Run Time: 108 Mins.
AS A TREE UNDER THE HURRICANE While I wasn’t able to find a way to help them into the University, I was really impressed by their drive, compassion, and determination. These girls were literally fighting to learn, to be educated, so that they could give back to the people around them while still maintaining the tribes bountiful culture. I tried to make the media and press aware of these two women and their fight for knowledge, but not a word was broadcast nor a sentence printed regarding their struggle... I never got an answer from the press or media.
This only fueled my passion for the sister’s battle and I became inspired to tell the story of these two sisters on my own. I wanted to share their journey in order to create support for the Arhuaca women of the Sierra, women who want to achieve a higher level of education to contribute to FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
Cobbler Club
The couple decide to rob a bar called “Jonny’s Sweet Revenge,” a long forgotten Los Angeles watering hole in a rotten end of town best reserved for California’s idiosyncratic daytime drinking crowd. As has been the case throughout the history of Rick and Reni’s calamity plagued relationship, their haphazard scheme to hold up the bar goes horribly wrong. While the couple’s relationship problems turn into a theater of the absurd for all of the bar patrons to see, they accidentally manage to draw everyone into the chaos as accomplices.
Charlie and Reni
their people and help them preserve their culture. I obtained the permission from Ati, Mindhiva and their relatives to record them with a small HD camera. I recorded them for a year, accompanying them through the good and bad. After that I taught myself how to edit and edited the footage for almost a year.
Mindhiva in Bogota
Rick and Reni came to California in search of a new lease on life. Unfortunately, all they found was each other... In a last ditch effort to save their struggling relationship, the duo twist their couples’ counseling therapy into a plot that would see them turning back to their Texas lowlife roots as petty criminals.
Rick and Reni
Writer: Jonathan Beech Director: Mark David
“A beautiful look inside an indigenous culture in Colombia. No car chases here. Just plenty of humanity, beauty, and desire for education and service. Well done.“ Libba Jackson, Journalist. Run Time: 70 Mins.
Actress: Marina Galeotti as “Miriam” in Baal’s Flowers. Fiori Di Baal
FIORI DI BAAL Director: Leonardo Pepi Cinematographer: Filippo You Suk Oh
The botany student tries to decipher the secret of book and the reason why she’s involved in this paranormal story, with his friend, Alex. What Baal’s flowers are?
Leonardo Pepi & Filippo You Suk Oh
Director Leonardo Pepi concentrates on maintaining an uncomfortable and weird atmosphere, through the film, offering no clear answers. A scene showing a bright sunny day, with sinister music accompanying, a witch that really does not fit the images, is a fine example. Then, at times, sounds are suddenly cut off, and ludicrous scenes of witchcraft recur like a vignette: this leads the whole film into functioning, almost, as witchcraft itself: keeping the viewer in flux: alternating between states of reality and dreams. Thus the movie becomes closer to a metaphor than a straight story, and is also a more bizarre experience than a temporarily stimulating one.
CINDER Writer/Director: Rene-Louis Cacciuttolo
Still shot from the Film: Cinder/Cendre
Having been living in China for many years, French writer, director and producer Rene-Louis Cacciuttolo decided to shoot Cinder in Hong Kong and Macau with a team of Chinese and French actors, in Chinese Mandarin. Cinder is a surrealistic musical tale, a psychological drama featuring a disturbed young man,
who becomes the victim of his own fantasies. I often observe how the desire to conform to the standards of society can push some people to negate reality.
/www.FioriDiBaal.it www.FioriDiBaal.it
Run Time: 90 Mins.
In my movie, the main character tries very hard to bury his compulsions in order to reproduce behavior models which he believes are examples to follow. Needless to say, this denial generates psychological pressure, which has to be released at some point. Rene-Louis Cacciuttolo chose to illustrate his point by hinting at different fairy tales, using them as a means of punctuating the story line. « I hope these references will resonate with the public; I want to challenge the
way we read our familiar childhood stories, and to incite us to ponder on their dark side. I am very excited to have the opportunity to make a UK premiere in London and I can’t wait
Writer/Director: Rene-Louis Cacciuttolo
Since a botany student acquired a second-hand old book, he has been haunted by hallucinations beyond time and space. It transpires that an ancestral curse has been put in the book. A mysterious woman called Miriam suddenly appears in front of him, and mentions “Baal’s flowers”, suggesting she knew of the curse. Why is she involved in this mystery? How can the curse be removed? The movie alternates between reality and dreams, days and nights with the boundaries of each becoming increasingly vague. It is also left unclear as to whether Miriam actually exists or is merely part of his hallucinations.
to meet with the British moviegoers and listen to their reaction. Scan here for Trailer Run Time: 80 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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Asintado (Between the Eyes) is the first independent film of Filipino director Luisito Ignacio. It was an official selection in the 2014 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Ignacio is known for directing commercial movies, variety shows and soap operas on TV, concerts, MTV and commercials.
Scene from “Asintado”.
For three consecutive years, he was ALIW Awards’ Best Stage Director, he
ASINTADO won the Gold Medal at the New York Festival; his short film “Hating-Kapatid’ won the Bronze Medal at the 2012 Busan International Advertising Features; Gold Award UAAP; and Tambuli Award Bronze.
We are delighted that the nominations for the London 2015 International Filmmaker Festival for Astinado are:
BEST FILM BEST DIRECTOR - LUISITO IGNACIO BEST ACTRESS - AIKO MELENDEZ BEST ACTOR - JAKE VARGAS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MIGGS CUADERNO BEST STORY - MIGS VILLANUEVA BEST EDITING - CARLO MANATAD
Asintado is also the first indie film of actress Aiko Melendez. It also stars teen actor Jake Vargas and Miggs Cuaderno who won Best Actor at the Cheries Cheri Paris LGTB last year.
Actor: Jake Vargas
Writer: Socorro Villanueva Director: Louie Ignacio
Actress: Aiko Melendez
Actor: Miggs Cuaderno
This is his Ignacio’s first collaboration with producer Ferdinand Lapuz who produced several films which competed in Cannes and Venice including Kinatay which won Cannes Best Director in 2009 and Dennis Evangelista. The same team is currently working on the feature Child Haus which is about children with cancer which is inspired by true cancer patients. Asintado will next screen at festivals in Cleveland, Cairo and Queens, New York. Run Time: 95 Mins.
MBETI: THE ROAD TO KISESINI Director: Ann Bromberg
In Kenya and other African countries many newborns die within the first week of life, usually from infection or other preventable causes. This compelling documentary is designed to engage a diverse international audience with a powerful visual narrative. Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini is about one woman’s journey to save her village, by saving the mothers and their children from dying of malnutrition caused by an unsafe water supply and lack of access to medical facilities in the community.
Mbeti Wambua is a tenacious and visionary African woman who galvanizes the women around her by creating and selling baskets from sisal, taking the proceeds to construct the first health clinic in the Village of Kisesini. This courageous act ultimately brings healing and transformational change to her village. Nominated for four awards at the International Filmmakers Festival World Cinema in London, Best Short Documentary, Best Short Documentary Director, Best Short Documentary Producer, and a Jury Selection award. Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini has recently won a Merit award at the Accolade Global Film Competition, finishing funds from Women in Film and Television Chapter in New Mexico, was a top ten finalist for a grant From The Heart Productions and has been selected to show at the Berlin Feminist Film Festival in Berlin, Germany
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in March 2015. The film has been selected to show in several globally recognized film festivals for 2014-2015. Although Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini is Ann Bromberg’s first short documentary film, she has also been recognized as a documentary photographer where permanent collections of her work can been seen at the at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, Ft. Worth, Texas, and Oaklahoma City, Oaklahoma.
Please Scan this link for the Trailer.
Run Time: 16 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
UN DOCUMENTAL DE BRAIS REVALDERÍA
AYUDANTES DE DIRECCIÓN AYUDANTES DE REALIZACIÓN
UNA COPRODUCCIÓN DE EVERNIA Y PIRULETA&MEDIA DIRIGIDA POR BRAIS REVALDERÍA Y COLOR Y OTA HSIEH ANDRÉS LEMONK JAIME ALAMAN REALIZACIÓNDE IVÁN CARRASCO EDICIÓN MONTAJE JUAN C. GÓMEZ POSTPRODUCCIÓN JAIME ALAMAN AYUDANTES DE OPERADOR DE SONIDO Y EDUARDO REVALDERÍA SONIDO HADRIÁN REVALDERÍA CÁMARA HUGO FDZ. BALSEIRO AMBIENTACIÓN SBA RADICAL SOUND AYUDANTE DE ASISTENTE DE MÚSICA CÁMARA LARA MARÍA QUIÑOÁ PRODUCCIÓN DIANA ABAD ORIGINAL XERA
Director: Brais Revalderia
1700 years ago the wall of Lucus Augusti watched over the end of the so called World, in the present the descendants of the Roman and Celtic people that lived in the area, recreate the most important festival about the Roman Era in the World.
Association from ARDE LUCUS getting ready for battle
In June 2000, the rampart of Lucus Augusti was proclaimed a World Heritage site, the only rampart in the whole World that is completed and the citizens from Lugo can use daily to run and enjoy the landscape of the area. That day with the representatives from
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Unesco only some associations were attending the event, but today all of the city becomes a little part of the old Rome, with more than 1000 amateur actors going on to the streets bringing back Gladiators fighting for their lives at the Circus. With Gods and mythological creatures running all over the city chasing every human that gets in their way and the Soldiers and Praetorians looking to keep safe the Emperor Cesar Augusto. This documentary shows a piece of the rich past and the culture that the Galician people have, all descendants of the last Roman legions and the Celtic tribes that lived in the north-west of Spain from the first century. Spain is a country with a huge cultural diversity, from north to south the language and the features of the people change in so many ways, Galicia is well known for having the best food and some of the most beautiful landscapes you can find in Europe, adding all of this to an experience back in time from 2000 years ago, makes Lugo the place to go every third weekend of June to enjoy and share
FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
Gala Night Awards at St. Tropez Film Festival.
ARDE LUCUS
ARDE LUCUS. The Documentary has got more than 18 awards and 32 official selections at international film festivals from all over the world.
Please Scan here for the trailer. Run Time: 60 Mins.
PICNIC
Adapting an iconic novella like Shesher Kobita was never going to be easy. The original story is set in Shillong and is the set-up is very colonial and old worldly. However tantalizing a prospect it was to simply recreate the traditional set-up, I felt that there was more to this film. And that’s where the thought of modernizing the story came to mind. Having worked with Rabindra Sangeet in the past, I knew fairly well that it would not be an easy task but one that would make the story of Shesher Kobita more apt for the younger audience.
Writer/Director: Shomshuklla
While the world is filled with stories of romance, of loves lost and won, I felt the story of Chhutii Aar Picnic had to be different. I decided to look inwards and into my own roots in Shantiniketan, which is the birthplace of Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. My father was a disciple of Tagore at the first creative school in India started by Tagore, Shantiniketan. Going back to the place Tagore was born which imbibed every memory that I had of the place with my father, reminded
me that perhaps I did not have to look too very far to find a story worth telling. While visiting my mother in Kolkata, I chanced upon her copy of Shesher Kobita
(The Last Poem). I remember having read it as a child, as it was part of our curriculum in school. Re-reading the same novella after so many years, I found that even now the tragedy and pure love of Lavanya and Amit still brought tears to my eyes. I knew what I had to do.
I did chose to take certain liberties in terms of making the setting more dynamic and relevant today and at the same time maintaining the essence of the film, which is in the beautiful blossoming romance of two strangers who find love and a life after. And thus began the journey of Chhutii Aar Picnic. Run Time: 72 Mins.
IF THE TREES COULD TALK
If the trees could talk has also been accepted into the Cannes Film Short Corner 2015
Writer/Director: Michael Weinstein
International award winning filmmaker Michael Weinstein’s touching tale of a young Jewish girl and her family who escape the ghetto and seek refuge in the forest. Struggling to survive, their horror is compounded by what may be the girl’s ultimate demise. Can she be saved by a spiritual force more powerful than we can imagine? Nominated for six awards at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London in the Short Film category for Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Producers, Jury Award, Best Actress, and Best Costume Design. The film has been in seven festivals thus far and has won an award in each. Michael’s other films have won numerous awards across the world as well. On top of all of this, Michael’s slapstick short “White Knuckle” has also won numerous awards and nominations. The movie premiered at the 2010 NY Indie Short Film Festival. It won Best Short Film at Indie Fest USA , Award of Excellence at Indie Film Festival, the Diamond Award at the California Film Awards, and Best Romantic Film at the Aphrodite Cinefest. It earned a Merit Award at the 2010 Los Angeles Reel Independent Film Festival and at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood. Internationally, the film was given the Royal Reel Award at the Canada International Film Festival and won Best Screenplay at the Mexico International Film Festival. The short also screened at the New York Hell’s Kitchen Film Festival, Love Unlimited Film Festival, Long Island Film
Festival, Atlanta Shortfest, Independent Film Quarterly and New Media Film Festival, the New York International Film Festival and the Independents’ Film Festival. The film aired on The Education Channel as well. Independent filmmaker Michael Weinstein and the founder of RUNAWAY Productions graduated from Adelphi University in 2006 as a Communications Production major where he received departmental honors and an award for Best Creativity in Film & Video. While attending high school, Weinstein made his first short film entitled “Runaway Wallet.” Out of thousands of applicants, it won Grand Prize at the 2002 Showtime Youth Video Festival, aired on Showtime and was featured at the Museum of Television & Radio.
/ITTCT Please scan for trailer Run Time: 24 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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THE NIGHT WITCHES WHY I CHOSE THIS STORY? My wife’s father flew spy planes for the CIA back in the sixties, her brother’s a commercial pilot in the States, and her grandfather was a pilot for the US Navy - that’s how she came across it and passed it over. It’s a regular in lists of Greatest Stories Never Told. Initially I was unconvinced. Writing a true story is very constrictive for a writer and there is a completely different dynamic to it. I’d never written one before, nor did I intend to. But as I started to research the more the tears and expletives came from what these women achieved and the hardships they endured. Still, I was reticent. What finally persuaded me was when I discovered Hollywood back in 2001 had planned a movie based on this story. The lead was to be...Malcolm McDowell. Yes,
No movie could even begin to encapsulate their experiences. All I can say is that I tried my best. As a musician adds a score to a movie, I merely added dialogue to established facts and did the tiniest bit of editing. In a way I feel like a fraud being in the company of the other screenwriters. With the female-led FROZEN and THE HUNGER GAMES dominating at the box-office, as well as the planned EXPENDABELLES, the demand is proven. The only difference? This is not a fantasy. It happened. It’s time has come.
WW2 Soviet Pilots “The Night Witches”.
With outdated biplanes, no radio, lights, defences nor parachutes, these WW2 Soviet pilots terrorized the Germans. All women. All true.
a man. That’s when I decided to have a shot at it – to try and do these pilots justice.
BIO After winning a scholarship to Cambridge, I am a CFO by trade and has therefore may have written a lot of fiction in the past. At some point in my life I was also an international bridge player. In 18 months I have been officially selected on over 110 occasions and have 18 screenplay wins, 10 for this screenplay alone.
/TheNightWitchesMovie TheNightWitchesMovie.com
SWEET & SOUR SALSA Directors: Gustavo Cuervo Rubio & Egon Stephan Jr. Writers: Alice Billman & Gustavo Cuervo Rubio
Arsenio Rodriguez - Godfather of Son Montuno
With Cuba finally rising after 65 years, what perfect timing to release Sweet & Sour Salsa. A unique documentary honoring the stories, music and journeys of Peter Pan immigrants, Kung Fu masters, Bay of Pigs descendants and renowned musical legends whose power and influence are still felt today. No matter who you are or where you’re from, you’ll be compelled to dance alongside the lush orchestrations of the musical style known as Son Montuno executed by the
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acclaimed and well seasoned,“Conjunto Impacto”. The international appeal of this music is felt as strongly in Germany as it is in Hong Kong, spanning not only cultures, but age groups, which is noteworthy. Producer, Director Gustavo Cuervo Rubio crafts an intriguing tale as grandson of Cuba’s former Vice President and Secretary of State.
Other contributors include, Co-Director Egon Stephan of Cinetech and Co-Producer Alice Billman of Heroes. London’s 7th International Filmakers Festival has awarded 5 nomintions; Best Editing in a Documentary, Best Production in a Documentary, Best
Feature Documentary, Best Music in a Documentary, Best Foreign Language in a Documentary. We are well positioned for large scale distribution and marketing packages to impact an eager international audience. In the words of Master Perez “anyone who has any blood in their veins will move when they hear a good Son Montuno”. Anyone and everyone indeed.
/SweetSourSalsa @SweetSourSalsa RagnarockProd@gmail.com
Run Time: 80 Mins.
Cast & Crew of “Sweet & Sour Salsa”.
Writer/Director: Steve Prowse Nominated for best Script.
Winner of ten screenplay competitions in 2014 and over thirty official selections.
THE RAGE Writer/Artist: David Brett
So here we have what a competition judge described as ‘a contained and concentrated werewolf fantasia’. With a dash of vampirism. The teeth, you know. Long. Sharp.
And there I was, thinking I was telling a romantic comedy. PAGE Awards judge commented..... 'The leads are very strong. The supporting cast is tight. Structure is firmly in place. The structure pays off the needs of its genre. Its themes are resonant. As always, your leads are one of the big sell points and the dialogue is strong as always ’.
Writer: David Brett
Oh, and ‘ a unique script and an entertaining read‘. I thought I was writing my own psycho-drama, based upon actual events. I did once spend months wandering Scandinavian on my own, sleepless in the arctic summer. And yes, there was a woman, once, in another country. ‘ And besides, the wench is dead’ . And now I am asked for a brief resume. This is what I usually send…
Writer/Director: Christian Juru
The idea for Fix You came as Christian Juru was exploring visual concepts of having mechanical body parts. The story materialized when he got to the heart. He drew from classic fairy tales as he developed the story. The value of a long and strong friendship became the center around which various themes would stem. The role reversal theme presents the girl as “princess charming” and the boy as the “sleeping prince.” The film also paints a picture of normality to a world of fantasy and implicitly expresses social ideals. Fix You tells the story of two childhood friends who awaken dormant feelings after one falls in a deep slumber caused by a shocking “heartbreak.”
Christian is a young independent filmmaker from Nashville, TN. He’s performed in stage plays and starred in prominent short films like Born Again and Love is Alive. He just worked on the VFX team for a Star Wars contest film and recently made his entrance in the festival scene with Christian Juru Fix You. He has a Civil Engineering degree and was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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DAVID BRETT is an experienced author and theatre worker. He has had ten books published, (novels, scholarly and travel genres) and six plays in professional production. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Catalan, Swedish and Mandarin. Plus many academic and critical papers. Employment includes Reader in Design History at The University of Ulster and visiting fellow at Columbia, M.I.T. and other institutions. He is also a mountaineering instructor and ocean sailor with a Doctoral thesis from The Royal College of Art. This is his first film script. But there are eight others in differing states, some of which are, dare he would say it are promising! (Some are total follies.)
Find more information by scanning this link. www.DavidBrett.co.uk
FIX YOU Salome is a film producer based out of Washington D.C. Her exposure to arts came at a young age, and she grew admiring the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott. She is exploring her interest in film, while Salome Saliashvili she continues her finance and entrepreneurial careers. She was born in Tbilisi, Georgia and speaks multiple languages. Kirstie is an actress, model, singer, and songwriter. She plays the role of Brooklyn in Mafia Law, was a guest artist on The Ronnie McDowell Show, and is currently starring in Young Blade. Her interest in acting started at a young age but escalated when a director
discovered her at one of her music performances. She currently resides in Nashville, TN where she is studying computer science.
Charlie is a musician, composer, and audiovisual artist. He enjoys bringing Charleston Patrick together different mediums and genres in his work, and has a deep fascination with how the sciences can inform philosophy and art. Growing up all over the world, it’s hard for him to call one place home, but his current stop is in Nashville, TN where he is currently writing with and producing several acts.
Find more information about the film by scanning this link.
Kirstie Lane Run Time: 4 Mins.
A collaboration between filmmaker Harm Weistra and choreographer Fernando Dominguez Rincon, follows a male protagonist alone in the middle of a darkened marbled interior. Approached by another man, he enters into a playful game of magnetism, their bodies attracting and repelling each other in sinuous sensuality. Stasis brings forth a third person, the one that separates the two and lures the protagonist in his narrative’s metaphor of personal (sexual) development. Their embracing dance cut short, he is left once again on his own, this time with an assurance and understanding that radiates in the tomb-like interior. A game of attractions and identity, chasing each other to their final destination – that of self-empowerment and pride, glowing in the face of prejudice. (Andrei Tănăsescu, Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, BIEFF).
Choreographer: Fernando Dominguez
Writer/Director: Harm Weistra Choreographer: Fernando Dominguez
Principal Dancer: Joan Ferre Gomez
INTRINSIC MORAL EVIL
Find more information about the film by scanning this link. HarmWeistra.com Run Time: 10 Mins.
Writer/Director: Lee Whittaker
SHATTERED IMAGE FILMS Isabella, a nine-year-old Latina girl, struggles to survive the woes of homelessness with her heroin-addicted mother, Sofia, in a cardboard house on the bustling streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. Skipping along the huge concrete water basin section of the LA River in search of trinkets, Isabella is awed as she stumbles upon a magazine page containing an image she’s never seen before––Fireflies.
However, Isabella’s majestic retreat is short-lived as Sofia suddenly pulls Isabella out of the water, away from her new imaginary friend and leads her back into the reality of their dingy cardboard dwelling.
Refusing to wait there, Isabella follows her mother through the streets and is cheered up by a constant companion, Elijah, who dances his way into her heart. Later, finding her mother asleep in a tent she meets Aurora who enlightens her as to what is most absent in the lives of the homeless - “the connection with strangers.”
As Isabella’s mother heats up a spoon for another heroin injection, Isabella falls into the water basin, escaping into a rich fantasy world where she meets a beautiful underwater princess.
Now knowing how to save her mother from herself, Isabella runs home to share her new revelation and transforms from the child to the parent. During the night, Isabella is awakened and returns to the streets, stumbling onto a gang argument. Elijah provides his magnum opus as gunfire rips through the night sky which Isabella mistakes as Fireflies.
As the effects of her drugs wear off, Sofia tries to get her daughter home but abruptly they are taken to a violent place. Director, Lee Whittaker discussing the scene with Stephen “Twitch” Boss (Elijah) and Gianna Gomez (Isabella)
Isabella twirls her ribbon down the banks of the LA River
CATCHING FIREFLIES
Elijah leads her to safety where she meets a Ukrainian cook who guides her to a whimsical room that comes to life with a message, “If you catch a firefly in the night sky, then your wishes come true.”
/catching firefliesfilm.com @catchngfireflyz catchingfirefliesfilm.com Run Time: 25 Mins. FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015
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Amp Sripimanwat the creative force behind “Last Stop” gives us some insight into the making his movie: Sometimes a minor negative incident in life could lead to a good inspiration to create something great and useful. One weekend, I was on the train from Wellington, New Zealand to meet a friend in Upper Hutt area. Unfortunately or fortunately, being unable to play with my smart phone, I began to observe other passengers and the atmosphere in my train compartment. I started to have a conversation with an employee of an establishment sitting next to me or with other passengers opposite me. I came to the realization that the course of our lives was similar to our journey on the train. There are many train stations, different train routes and sometimes there are accidents.Some passengers got off when the train stopped and new ones got on. It was like someone left you or died from you and new persons came into your life. Each person on this train with me had different life patterns, different problems and different goals in life. Suddenly, the theme for my short film “Last Stop” came about. I chose to touch on the point how a person in distress and deep despair could sort himself out of a
rock bottom situation. A train trip compared with a journey through our lives. It is sometimes full of happiness, sadness, wonder, success, failure, meeting and departing. “Last Stop” was shot in four days mainly at MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) in Auckland, New Zealand. I would like all of you to see “Last Stop”.I can guarantee that you will have a new outlook on life...“Last Stop” will help you find the answer about how you can handle and go through life when you are down and in despair.
Amp Sripimanwat
Writer/Director: Dulyatat “Amp” Sripimanwat
Cast and Crew of “Last Stop”.
LAST STOP
/amperecreative
Working on set of “Last Stop”.
Please scan for more information Run Time: 14 Mins.
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME
Dave (Ross McCall) breaks up with his girlfriend Carrie (Joelle Carter), but struggles with the decision as his contradictory inner voices comes to life. Carrie, reeling from the sudden break-up, has her own voices to listen to, including diva Gina (Vivica A. Fox) who advises that 'the best way to get over a man is with another' while Dave embarks on a fumbled but sincere journey to overcome his fear of commitment and get the love of his life back. On the writing of the film, Ives says : “My goal was to create an honest and real snapshot of the craziness that goes on in our heads, both men and women, when faced with a break-up. I did my best to avoid the 'romantic comedy' clichés and create a film that was humorous but also touched on the sadness and genuine emotion of love lost.” sadness and genuine emotion of love
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME
lost.”
A SERIOUS COMEDY
by NATHAN IVES
“IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME” has an ensemble, all-star class including Ross McCall (24, Band of Brothers), Joelle Carter (Justified, High Fidelity), Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill 2), Maggie Wheeler (Friends), Erick Avari (Mr. Deeds), and Beth Littleford (Dog With A Blog) and was an official selection of The Sedona Film Festival, The Madrid International Film Festival, The Breckenridge Film Festival (opening film). At The Naperville Film Festival, it has won Best Director (Ives) and Best Actress (Carter).
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ROSS McCALL
JOELLE CARTER
VIVICA A. FOX
BETH LITTLEFORD
MAGGIE WITH
WHEELER
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME
ERICK AND
AVARI
A CREATIVE AND HUMOROUS TRIP INTO THE PSYCHE OF ROMANCE BY NATHAN
IVES
A MULES FILM Production
European sales Société Cinématographique Lyre Tel : +33 1 45 22 54 01 cinelyre@wanadoo.fr
A unique romantic comedy that provides a refreshing and entertaining look at the seemingly depressing breakup process
SOUTH BEACH ON HEELS Producers: Dmitry Zhitov/Jose Canto Director: Dmitry Zhitov Story Consultant: Greg Waters
“Shanaya Bright”.
Documentary filmmaker Dmitry Zhitov follows the entertainers who work at the famed Palace Bar in South Beach, Florida for over a year to learn what makes them tick. Along the way he gains backstage and home life access to these hard working entertainers, learning what it takes to make a living as a female impersonator. He also uncovers the joys and heartaches of having an onstage and offstage life, and reveals many secrets of the trade. The unfolding stories of growing up gay, poor, as an outsider, or coming from another country are charming, tender and touching.
“Noel Leon”.
TP Lords appleying make up
Dmitry Zhitov Filming
“Tiffany Pantasia”.
A Multi-Award Winning documentary ‘South Beach On Heels’ follows the onstage, backstage and offstage lives of eight hard working entertainers, better known as drag queens. This full-length documentary explores the fascinating and funny people behind the make-up, jewels and wigs. Through on stage performance and off stage prejudice, learn how they find the power of their true inner voice to live out and proud lives.
Candid interviews are held with well known entertainers such as Latrice Royale, who was a finalist on RuPauls Drag Race, and Carmen Carerra, a famous transgendered entertainer, as well as a host of other lesser known, but equally fascinating, artists trying to cut their teeth in show business.
“Tp Lords”.
Although the drag queens of “South Beach On Heels” at first seem like colorful, otherworldly beings, we soon learn they are a lot like all of us. The film features original music and ultimately tells a story of what it means to have a family you can count on that is straight from the heart.
Scan here for Trailer southbeachonheels.com Run Time: 80 Mins.
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