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MADRID INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2017
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FILM: THE MAGAZINE / JULY 2017
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FOR AN EXCLUSIVE BACKGROUND STORY TO THE FILM “LETTER TO MY MOTHER” SEE PAGE 8
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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WELCOME TO THE MADRID INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2017
Dear Filmmaker, Firstly, sincere congratulations to all filmmakers and scriptwriters who have been nominated for their latest project at our Madrid Festival! Film festivals are a vital link in the chain of global film culture and thanks to global digitalization, our film festivals are an example of an exceptional tool for crossing the communication channels from the most distant places.
Carl Tooney Publisher publishing@filmthemagazine.com Steve Grossmith Director of Marketing and Editor steve@filmthemagazine.com Shems Ghali Contributing Assistant Editor info@filmthemagazine.com Stephen Mina Graphic Designer/Illustrator stephen@filmfestinternational.com Dan Hickford Sponsorship & Marketing dan@filmfestinternational.com All articles, including all editorial used in this publication (whether printed or digital) do not necessarily represent the views of any of the International Filmmaker Festivals representatives, staff or associates.
Helping at the frontline of an increasingly polarized world and speaking multiple languages, whatever happens in the farthest places they give everyone the ability to hear a rich diversity of voices from all over the globe. With a full calendar from London to Milan stretching across almost an entire year, we are delighted that the growth we have seen in entries has been extraordinary which of course, makes the judging selection so much more difficult, particularly as the quality of work entered is always of such an outstanding level. Part of this were sure is the inherent convenience and lower cost of very high quality digital equipment, so hopefully filmmaking can now be achieved at a much faster rate and of course, gives the opportunity to so many more potential and existing filmmakers.
SeptEMBER 30 - October 7 - 2017 NOVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 2 - 2017 FEBRUARY 10 - 17 - 2018 MAY 5 - 12 - 2018 AUGUST 11 - 18 - 2018
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As a team, we all love the buzz that comes from meeting filmmakers at every festival and actually meeting and interviewing filmmakers either on camera or audio only, is one of the most enjoyable parts of hosting our festivals because whether cast or crew, they always have the most amazing stories to tell and we have never been disappointed. In fact, over 50% of the available interview slots were booked prior to the start of our Madrid festival, which is a wonderful testament to how we always try to go that extra mile. Being entertained and moved by a film or documentary is something that we want everyone to experience and this happens to be an industry which is often driven by passion, particularly from independent filmmakers. And as such, we all have such admiration for this amazing art form known as film, and as always the creativity, vision and sheer talent that we see from filmmakers from all corners of the world is a true reflection of this passion. The Madrid International Film Festival 2017 is delighted to have the continued help and support of our industry experts, Paul Eyres, Neil McEwan, Ray Davies and Brad Blain, here to offer excellent advice to all filmmakers and scriptwriters. Have a wonderful festival and were looking forward to meeting you all in Madrid!
Carl Tooney President & Chief Executive Officer
Madrid International Film Festival 2017
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THE BRIDGE a Cindy Iodice film Written by Benton Sen
Hawaiians say haweo to refer to a glow of light that makes things visible. It is in the light of knowledge that the darkness and confusion of the past are now being destroyed and the heroic deeds of our ancestors are being revealed. Filmmaker Cindy Iodice tells such a story of a place that arcs in reverse, describing an ancient world that inevitably leads you back to yourself. The journey is a bridge, connecting past and present, memory, myth, and the beauty of storytelling. “The Bridge,” Iodice’s short film, centers around Pono, a tenacious seven-‐year old boy who lives with his family in a tree house deep in the rainforest of Hawaii’s Manoa Valley. He is the youngest of three boys, and the heir of family traditions and his father’s Hawaiian culture, at least in his father’s eyes.
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Pono’s father provides critical ancestral knowledge through ancient Hawaiian beliefs. Pono’s Caucasian mother, however, is never fully able to embrace the family practices and customary beliefs. After a tragic event culminating in the death of Pono’s father, Rachel is forced to remain in a life that she has come to despise, on land that she has refused to embrace and in a culture that she’s never been able to fully appreciate.
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When Pono encounters a group of night marchers - ghostly apparitions of ancient Hawaiian warriors - he must make a lifealtering decision. For generations, encounters with armed spirit warriors or Hawaiian night marchers believed to be en route to and from ancient battle have occurred on the family homestead, inspiring profound spiritual experiences for those who have come into contact with the primeval Hawaiian ghosts. These are the phantoms of ancient Hawaiian warriors who are said to roam the islands at night.
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Mary Kawena Pukui, one of Hawaii’s most revered historians and scholars, said “every Hawaiian has heard of the ‘Marchers of the Night – ku huaka’i o ka po.” A few have seen this procession, she wrote. It is said that such a sight is fatal unless one had a relative among the dead to intercede for them. They cried, “Kapu o moe!” as a warning to stragglers to get out of the way or to prostrate themselves with closed eyes until the marchers passed.
Hinaleimoana Wong Kalu, Chairperson of the Hawaiian Burial Council for the State of Hawaii and the film’s cultural consultant, believes that the film brings forth elements of Hawaiian culture that speak to the ancestors that still show themselves and we call them for those that march along the pathways at night and Hawaiians have a particular understanding of how we conduct ourselves when our ancestors show themselves in that way.
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The night marchers’ job wasn’t to terrorize people, storyteller Lopaka Kapanui says. It was simply to protect the most sacred, high-ranking chiefs. The night marchers showed mercy by traveling at night to spare people from harm. They carry torches. They march to the thunderous sound of drums. They give warning by sounding a conch shell. That’s when you know it’s time to run and hide. “If you’re already in the path of the night marchers’ trail, legend dictates you must strip naked and lie face down. There’s a rumor that peeing on yourself will keep you alive. Whatever you decide to do, don’t look at them! If you’re lucky enough to share a blood line with somebody marching in the procession, you’ll supposedly be saved.” Wong-Kalu says that the project was actually intended to be a very personal thing. “Empowering the creator of the story, to help tell the story – that in itself is the cultural value of malama (care).” Iodice believes “The Bridge” linked various passages of her personal life. It began as a story about a mother’s love, and her inability to reconcile her guilt and grief over the tragic and sudden death of her son.
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“My family suffered a tragic loss. To this day, the events that surrounded the untimely death of my brother remain elusive. Now more than 35 years later, I have resigned myself to the fact that I may never know whether his death was accidental or intentional.” She says that she and her brother were as close as a big brother and little sister could be, and that her grief was devastating.
“After that, when I was eighteen, I bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii and felt raised up by the Hawaiian people. When I had the opportunity to incorporate the Hawaiian culture and mythology to a story I decided to explore my own ancestry through the eyes of the Hawaiian culture and spirituality concepts here in the islands.” Wong Kalu, also the film’s narrator, concluded with this final message: “...fear not the reflections of our own life experiences, for we of ourselves are the living images of our fore bearers, and you and I if we so aspire to embrace our destinies shall forge onward down the pathways our ancestors once walked. These are the pathways our future generations shall journey as well.”
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Audiences around the globe overwhelmingly received the message. “The Bridge” has won many national and international film awards. When asked about the film at one of the screenings, Cindy Iodice said that her mother died of a broken heart. “This film was intended to give a different ending to my mother’s story.” Iodice realized that through writing, she could change her ending and also change the ending of her family which would be a slight step toward hope.
The film emphasizes that there doesn’t necessarily need to be a conflict between cultural and spiritual beliefs and values. It encourages people to think. Like Pono and his mother in the film, what is the bridge that will connect lives? What exactly would I do? Where am I? When the film was screened on the continental U.S. the filmmakers asked audiences for their feedback. What did they consider the main message? What are the night marchers? Did the film change their understanding of Hawaiian culture?
Out there in this great big world of ours, there is pain, loss, guilt, grief, and tragedy. These are some of life’s most challenging experiences. Iodice affirms that the capacity for human beings to survive and potentially thrive through seemingly impossible obstacles is life changing if one is able to survive such encounters.
Connie Florez, the film’s producer, said that they shot for three days, a very tight schedule, and pretty much followed everything on the script breakdown. “We had John Kuamo’o, the Director of Photography. We had Tony Apilado, award winning Art Director and consultant with Cindy from the beginning. We had Meghan Paun the Art Director on set. Anthony Akona Ing, choreographed the night marcher scene. Moses Goods from the Bishop Museum on the artifacts. And an invaluable cultural consultant like Hina of the Hawaiian Burial Council.
“The story the film tells isn’t only personal,” Iodice adds,” it’s universal.”
“What we found most interesting,” Florez says, “we had folks in the continental United States who would watch the film and we would ask them for their feedback.” What didn’t they understand? What improvements would they make? Who are the night marchers? What does it mean to be Hawaiian? Did the film change their understanding of Hawaiian culture?
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Credits: Director and Writer: Cindy Iodice Executive Producer: Cindy Iodice Producers: Connie M. Florez and Ken Monroe Director of Photography: John Kuamo’o Editor: Thomas Schneider
Cast: Mia Adams (Rachel) Asher Morgado (Pono) Tamayo Perry (Manoa) Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu (Narrator)
Awards: Global Accolade Film Competition 2015 Award of Recognition The Best Shorts Online Competition 2016 Award of Recognition Reel Time Int. Online Festival 2016 Best Short Category Winner Hawaii International Short Film Festival 2016 Best Short Film Tampa Bay Arts and Education 2016 Laurel of Excellence IndieFest 2016 Award of Recognition NY Film and TV Festival 2016 Best Indigenous Film F.A.M.E.U.S International Film 2017 Festival Bronze Award World Cinema IFF London 2017 Best Editing of a Short Film Depth of Field International Film Festival Loose Shorts 2017 Exceptional Merit Depth of Field IFF Loose Shorts 2017 Excellence in Editing Tom Schneider Nice International Film Festival 2017 Best Director Short Film Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Acting Tamayo Perry Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Acting Mia Adams Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Acting Jahmaika Rangihuna Ing Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Cinematography John Kuamo’o Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Editing Tom Schneider Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Music Tom Schneider Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Connie M. Florez & Ken Monroe Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Production Design Meghan Paun Southern Shorts Awards 2017 Award of Merit Sound Design Tom Schneider
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Official Selections: Audience Award 2016 LA Cinematic Art and Film Festival 2016 Cinema World Festival 2016 Diamond in the Rough Cut 2017 Berlin Independent International Film Festival 2017 Red Wasp International Film Festival 2017 Silver Screen for Short Film Festival 2017 Women of Wonder International Film Festival 2017 UKET International Film Festival 2017 Depth of Field International Film Festival 2017 World Cinema International Filmmaker Festival 2017 International Monthly Film Festival Online Competition March 2017 Female Filmmakers Film Festival Online Competition 2017 Gulf of Italy International Film Festival 2017 Cannes Short Film Corner 2017 Wairoa Maori Film Festival 2017 WRPN Global Film Competition 2017 Action on Film Festival/Hollywood Dreams 2017
Nominations: World Cinema IFF London 2017 Best Short International Monthly Film Festival March 2017 Best Drama International Monthly Film Festival March 2017 Best Editor World Cinema IFF Nice 2017 Best Cinematography World Cinema International Filmmaker Festival Nice 2017 Jury Award Austrian Film Festival 2017 Finalist Hong Kong National Film Festival 2017 Semi-Finalist Madrid International Film Festival 2017 Best Director Madrid International Film Festival 2017 Best Editing Short Film Madrid International Film Festival 2017 Best Short Film Auckland New Zealand International Film Festival 2017 Finalist www.islandgirlpictures.com
Drama
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Run Time 22 Mins
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a good dream A feature movie by Mahum Jamal
Straight out of the mind of debut director Mahum Jamal, A Good Dream portrays a vision of a fantasy New York through the eyes of a daring, lonely, female poet. A Good Dream takes the viewer on the surreal journey of a young woman in her 20s, lost deep in her mind’s world. As the protagonist, Uma (Melany Bennett), dives deeper into the abstract narrative, the audience joins her in unravelling the imaginary from the film reality. This artistic, unique vision takes the viewer on a conceptual, intellectual journey in a coming of age story true to the new millennium. The film sets a precedent for more work to come from the 25-year-old, San-Franciscobased writer/director.  A Good Dream is a film for audiences with a wide imagination and a hunger for beautiful imagery.
Art Film
www.agooddreamfilm.com
Run Time 102 Mins
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LETTER TO MY MOTHER A stunning & powerful short documentary film by Branislav Jankic & Monika Jagaciak. Letter to My Mother: 11 days, 1200 miles by ground, 7518 miles by air; 6 states, 40 women and their children. Mila, Tabatha, Lisa, Chelsey, Ellie, Jo, Lenor, Melissa, Jade, Amanda, Alexis, Britanni, Elizabeth, Polly, Terry, Melissa, Debbie, Claudia, Andrea, Holly, Chris, Patricia, Susan, Tiffany, Maria, Anna, Rachel, Nikki, Amanda, Elizabeth, Serenity, Claire, Lisa, Tamerica, Adrianne, Nangie, Kate, and Valene.
Letter to My Mother is a visual and literary body of work created by artist Branislav Jankic that reveals an impactful look into the lives of mothers suffering from addiction in the United States. The project strives to lift the stigma of addiction and create an international support system for those suffering from this disease, particularly mothers. The short film was shot during the first exhibition of the project in New York, June 2016.
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When the artist’s mother, a former prescription drug and alcohol addict, was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2012, Jankic, who had experienced his own struggles with addiction throughout his teenage years, began writing a letter to his mother expressing his regrets for their dismantled relationship and his misunderstanding of her struggles, hoping to show both love and forgiveness.
and mothers to seek help. In order for a new dialogue around addiction to commence, Branislav shows mothers with addiction in a different light, hoping to change societal perception of them. Can you tell me a little bit about how you were inspired to do Letter to My Mother? My mother and I had a difficult relationship for many years because of her addictions, specifically the abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol. When she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2012, I wanted to do something to resolve all of our clashes, to say that I have forgiven her and to ask her to forgive me for not knowing more about her addiction and for running away from her in her time of need. Most of all, though, I wanted to express my love for and to her.
On a quest to re-asses and reconcile his relationship with his mother after this painful diagnosis, he set off on a journey to bring to the forefront a narrative that is often left hidden – to produce a dialogue about motherhood and addiction outside of its stereotypically taboo associations. He was hoping to find pieces of his mother amongst other mothers suffering from addiction in the United States, which Jankic considers his home, ultimately creating one large amalgamated portrait of her through their photographs and letters, which were then published into a book, Letter to My Mother.
What kind of relationship did you have with your mother growing up? My family is from ex-Yugoslavia and my parents divorced when I was two years old. Over the next few years, we (my brother and I) moved around with my mother, until she eventually lost custody over us in 1988. We then went to live with my father. My mother went to work in Germany and two years later, the civil war broke out in ex-Yugoslavia. She couldn’t get to us until almost the end of the war, and when she did, she took us away from my father and brought us to Germany. When we got to Germany, it was great living with my mother, but when I was 18, my brother and I moved out to live on our own. At that point she started drinking again and taking anti-depressants, followed by sleeping pills. Her substance abuse began to take on a life of its own, increasing day by day, from that point on we had a tough relationship.
In the short time frame that Jankic and his long-time friend and producer Goran Macura had to execute the project, Macura was able to reach out to 40 women across the United States, who were willing to participate in the project. Jankic and Macura traveled all over the country to meet and photograph these brave mothers and their children. By doing this, the experience was not only helpful for Jankic, but also for the contributing mothers and their children, who now had a platform to communicate their feelings through the letters and images. Jankic’s ultimate goal for the project has become raising awareness for addiction as an illness, not a weakness, encouraging people to speak more freely about the disease, and inspiring women
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My brother and I did not understand why she was an alcoholic, and honestly, we were ashamed and confused. We punished the behaviour we couldn’t comprehend, breaking contact with her for days, sometimes weeks. I eventually went to live in Italy, and later the United States, and my brother stayed in Munich. We had our ups and downs with her since then. Sometimes she would get better, stop drinking and taking pills, but she would always relapse. She tried rehabilitation facilities a couple times, but again she would always relapse. Although it was a difficult period for all of us, she remained a good mother. One year before she was diagnosed with cancer, she started seeing a psychologist and began a new type of treatment for her addiction. She started getting better, and we saw great potential in her sobriety; but when she was diagnosed with cancer, that was it.
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Was it always your intention to make a film as part of the whole project? No, it was not my original intention. I had already previously worked a lot with video, photography and performance and for this particular project I chose not to use video. So during the work on the book we focused on photographs and letters. We collected recordings of the letters and turned them into the sound installation as a part of the exhibition along with large format portraits. When we made this exhibition in New York and released the book, some of the women from the book came to attend the event. We used that opportunity to film them and make interviews with them, along with the filming of the whole exhibition making process. We ended up getting great footage that grew into a film. How did (co-director & executive producer) Monika Jagaciak become part of the film? Monika joined the board of the project during the book release and the exhibition in New York. She was aware of the process of the book making and release, and as she knew that it took us a couple of years to publish and release the book, she thought that it would be worth capturing the entire process of the exhibition on camera. I agreed with her and we decided to create a film together and started to draw ideas about how the film should look.
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And can you tell us your thoughts about how you wanted the film to look? For instance - we knew that some of the women would be travelling to New York and we thought that it would be great to interview them, but at that moment we didn’t have an actual structure for the film. Everything was kind of loose. Then we decided to film the production process of the exhibition, to film the art installation, and to film the women from the book being interviewed and see how it will all come out.
And interestingly, while we were working on the film, it started to take a shape and more and more it started coming together, until we ended up with the final version that we now have. Of course it took a long time to make this film, but we are now hoping to make a full feature. With the film, it seems that you are adding an extra dimension to the book and exhibition; can you explain what that extra layer is? The film definitely gives more to it. It explains what it is all about and the story becomes more alive. It’s hard to describe, but I feel like that having the film brings everything closer to the audience and says more about the addiction. Also, the finished film is more satisfying than I ever hoped it would be when I was working on it in the editing room for two, three weeks. I really had no idea that it would be a wonderful film that we ended up with, and it definitely exceeded all of the expectations that I had before we even began the film. Branislav Jankic (b.1983) is a Serbian artist, director, and photographer based in New York City. His work has appeared in Interview (RU, DE), GQ (UK), Vogue Homme (Japan), Elle, and Flaunt. Under the tutelage of Gian Paolo Barbieri and Bruce Weber, Jankic draws deeply from his own past as a child of displacement, of addiction, and of rebirth. His first major book of photography, Letter to My Mother (2015) was inspired by his mother’s battle with cancer and addiction. His latest collaboration, Flowers of My Life (2015), a collaboration with Gian Paolo Barbieri, debuted at Milan Fashion Week and has been praised in Vanity Fair (IT), I.D., Women’s Wear Daily, and Love Magazine (UK).
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Documentary
Run Time 15 Mins
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PICKUP A stunning short film with a riveting performance by lead actress & producer- Mandy Evans
Pickup tells the story of Megan, a young mom and wife who lives a “perfect” life, yet she suffers from depression and an attachment disorder that manifests itself daily in a sex addiction. A sex addiction that is enabled by the growing social media landscape we all know so well.
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Pickup tells the story of sex addiction, but more importantly it tells the story of what happens when women are too ashamed to speak up. Women are pressured to “have it all”. The pressure starts from childhood and many women have trouble with intimacy and communication as a result. Women are taught to “put a face on” and now with social media we are literally filtering our faces, and color correcting our lives, and editing slideshows to make it seem as if everything is okay, when often it’s far from it. Even women who have a healthy relationship with sex face the stigma of the double standard. A woman with a high sex drive is not depicted “cool Don Juan with a healthy libido” she’s called easy, a slut, a whore.
I am proud to have assembled a wonderful team of collaborators, from writer Jessica Blank who wrote the Exonerated, Jeremiah Kipp, a prolific NYC indie film director and my co star Jim True-Frost who many will recognize as Prez from the HBO show, The Wire. When I created this role with Jessica Blank, I wanted it to be something provocative that lingers. As an audience member, do you relate or do you judge or perhaps both? This film perhaps leaves more questions than answers. I am proud to have presented this controversial story in a sensitive manner as I know that there are so many who are suffering in silence. When audiences get to know Megan and her story, they will realize that we all (in our own way) have struggled with needing a PICKUP”.
But what if a woman has say an attachment disorder, or anxiety, or depression that manifests itself in a dependency on sex, an addiction to it? Then the stigma is so much stronger, the shame so much deeper, and the results are often tragic. This is the tormented inner life of Megan in PICKUP. Mandy Evans commented: “This project was initiated after I had a successful career as a dancer (Radio City Rockette). I had been studying acting and working in the indie film community for about 10 years and yet I was struggling to find opportunities to be considered for great roles in high quality productions. I then decided to stop waiting around for the opportunity and made it happen myself.
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Drama
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DAGSIN Directed by Atom Magadia Producers: Anne Prado-Magadia, Atom Magadia & Ferdinand Lapuz
Dagsin (Gravity, bears the weight of a heavy plot. An old man who starts every morning with a pistol to his temple, and the memories of a past that threatens to destroy him.
The feature was described as both philosophical and historically anchored. It shines a light on to a hero’s life and pages of painful memories, moored only by the love that sheltered him. Folding time, it captures the different events that marked and moulded generations, moving the lives of the people that lived during a country’s most defining moments. Characters whose future dramatically shifted with the tide; the movie showcases gems and scars from all of it. The cast is headed by Philippine award-winning stage and screen actors Tommy Abuel (Best Actor
Run Time 16 Mins
Winner, Cinemalaya 2016; Best Actor Nominee, Gawad Urian both for Dagsin), Lotlot De Leon, Marita Zobel and Sue Prado. The film also features rising stars: Benjamin Alves, Janine Gutierrez (Best Supporting Actress Nominee, Gawad Urian for Dagsin) and Alex Diaz. Dagsin (Gravity) was one of nine films chosen to represent the country at the prestigious ASEAN International Film Festival & Awards in Malaysia. It will also do the same in San Francisco, at The World’s Independent Film Festival; and in Guam, at the Guam International Film Festival.
The film illustrates the endless cycle of war, tyranny, violence and greed humankind continues to struggle against from one decade to the next. It weaves through important chapters of Philippine History - World War II (the American and Japanese Occupation), and the Martial Law years opening wounds long buried and forgotten. The story’s writer/director Atom Magadia, said that it all began as a scene in his head whilst he attended film school in California, but after some deeper thought he said, “It took me decades of life experiences and a family to really do the story justice.” The final screenplay was co-written and produced with his wife, writer/producer, Anne Prado-Magadia. When asked, the duo described Dagsin (Gravity) as, “A love story in reverse, attempting to answer the question, what happens when you find your true love… Then lose them?” www.dagsin.blogspot.com
Drama/Art House
/dagsinthemovie
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Run Time 117 Mins
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OUTCASTE THE HOUSE THAT CAROL BUILT This stunning feature documentary by filmmakers Laura & Colin Graham charts the story of retired school teacher Carol Fraser. In her late 70’s and both deeply spiritual and incredibly capable, Carol wants to build a house in the Himalayas.... but has no money.
This is a unique story of faith and strength of belief of an elderly lady, an untouchable and a lapsed Buddhist monk, a bit like the Marigold hotel meets ‘Lost Horizon’. Carol Fraser is an eternal seeker living between England and India, but with no home and no one to look after her as she ages she has a problem! For her indomitable spirit and holistic way of seeing the world has created a huge spiritual bank account and an empty real one!
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COVIRO Productions is one of a new wave of small production houses springing up in Northern Ireland in response to the burgeoning film industry. Formed by Laura Graham and Colin Graham in 2011, it specialises in both narrative based and nonfiction films that have reached international audiences through art galleries, mainstream theatres, DVD, and the Internet. Colin Graham, a Masters graduate in Documentary film making with a background in business and construction is founder and CEO of COVIRO and has co-produced for No Bad Films with Richard Jobson, naming The Somnambulists and Wayland’s Song amongst them. In 2012 he produced IMBOLC, a short film supported by NISCREEN. He has gone on to work with a number of public bodies, producing and directing Internet based public information campaigns for rape awareness and violence. Laura Graham, co director of COVIRO is a visual artist and former solicitor. Her art practice is extensive and multimedia. She wrote and directed her first short IMBOLC, and went on to receive a Best Director award from the Canberra Short Film festival and best musical score for the Madrid International Film Festival. Together they write, direct and produce their films, specialising in micro budgeting using digital formats, HD SLR cameras, and off line editing using adobe and final cut software. This is the first feature from the company, with two in pre-production, developing on themes in this first film.
It resonates with themes of hope, and possibility, probably due to the political instability of the time, but it seems more important then ever to create a film that develops on these ideas. It is said, “write about what you love” and this film came about because I had been working with meditation for a number of years and then Colin became interested in it. Once you start down this particular route and experience what has been missing in your lives, you start to think, is there another way to look at the future? That’s really what this film is about, that potential, and in this case it is seen through the filter of Carol – an elderly woman – who has done something extraordinary. She doesn’t allow age to be a factor in any respect, let alone limiting. FTM: HOW DID YOU LEARN OF CAROL? LG: I had been working with a form of meditation for many years, meeting regularly with people from all parts of the globe, and it was through my relationship with these people that I came across Carol. I’ve known her for about sixteen years, and she has been talking about building this house for all that time. The thing is she has never had enough money to even think about beginning, so it seemed to be a bit of a pipe dream. Carol is one of the most highly educated people I have met, and yet she leads an almost itinerant life. She is deeply spiritual, very aware and capable, and a wonderful guiding light for many people and of course, a wonderful example of how age doesn’t mean that you have to curtail your life. CG: Laura would come back from her various trips and talk to me about the characters she had met, at one point she mentioned Carol and said she wanted to build this house.
LAURA GRAHAM & COLIN GRAHAM FTM: THAT’S A GREAT DESCRIPTION OF “OUTCASTE” WHERE YOU SAY IT’S A CROSS BETWEEN “MARIGOLD HOTEL” AND “LOST HORIZON”! LG: When I was a child, one of my favourite films was Lost Horizon. I never forgot the mystery, or the sadness implicit in the ending of the 1970’s film but as an adult I much prefer the original Frank Capra film. www.coviro.co.uk
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My first reaction was, this is madness how on Earth is she going to do that with no money and no income? Then we heard the project had begun, and we started to see some pictures, and it became clear that there was a really interesting story here. LG: It became even more interesting when we discovered that Carol was being helped by Chetan, who as an untouchable, or Dalit, a person with no status or wealth, had practically nothing by way of material possessions and yet what little he had, he shared. Then the story became even more interesting when we learned of the involvement of Raju, Carol’s lapsed monk, taxi driving friend. He has an unusual heritage, and that became important to the film. FTM: SO HOW IS CHETAN INVOLVED IN THIS STORY? LG: Chetan, like many poor rural people had a little piece of land to grow crops on. He is Dalit, which means he is too lowly to even be in the Caste system, he is outside the caste system . Dalit’s in India are people with no status and very little opportunity, and there is a battle on to help them improve their human rights. Chetan is particularly unusual. I like to describe him as an Indian “Robert Burns”, not for his poetry, but for his drive to improve his lot and his appreciation of social justice, because he has this drive and wish to learn. He wants to take his family and extended family to a better life through awareness and education. He had this piece of land, an orchard and he had tried to harvest and sell the apples but that had failed. Almost as soon as he met Carol he offered her his land, so he has a great heart. Something very special has happened in this situation and Carol and Chetan have ended up with a quite spectacular house.
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FTM: IS IT THE MOST SATISFYING FILM THAT YOU HAVE MADE? LG: It’s a labour of love and it’s an example of how, if you can change the way you think, you can change your life and the lives of those around you. We are all so interconnected that everything we do has repercussion, creates waves. More and more people are aware of the impact of our thoughts and actions but we have to be careful when we speak about the film, peoples’ eyes can glaze over if they think it’s going to be didactic or preachy, that’s why we’ve been very careful to keep the story and the characters at the forefront. We’ve been practising meditation and a more holistic approach to life for a long time so when we sat down to write this
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story, we wrote what we knew, and we put it down in what we hope is an interesting way –and through the filming and editing highs and lows – we really got to know the three people involved. After that came the research into the structures we were examining, Buddhism, Hinduism, the Caste System, the wonderful country that is India, it gave us whole new level of awareness and respect for the religions and the people. FTM: IS INDIA SOMEWHERE THAT YOU WOULD LIVE? CG: It’s really interesting that you ask that, if you had gone there during the sixties it must have been like paradise, but sadly now, like a lot of places, there are a lot of tourists, and I say that with the
awareness that we are part of the problem. But in terms of the impact on nature and the beauty of the land, you see all these stunning areas and guaranteed you’ll see empty plastic bottles and rubbish. Aside from that India and its people are incredible, so when I look at the mess I have to remember what an incredible place it is, they’re putting satellites into space – and their space program is incredible – it’s a form of organised chaos! That same industry is evident everywhere in the country. LG: And the more mystical side is still there. People have flocked to India for centuries to capture that mystery. At the moment, in Northern India a temple is
being built that is really the most remarkable structure, with a story like no other. Our next film is going to be about that. India for me is like a beautiful memory, like when you were very young playing outside on a summers evening, when you could hear friends and neighbours, and the buzz of family life and you felt safe and happy; we were all out doing things, laughing, being together, that’s what’s attractive about India for me, community, family, love, these are sounds you still hear. As a country it has its problems, and it is dangerous but it is full of families! It is the most amazing country and I do love visiting. I’ll just have to be careful not to drop any rubbish!
Documentary
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Run Time 67 Mins
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jacky woo the visionary filmmaker
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It’s been a year since Jacky first attended the Madrid International Film Festival and since then, he has been awarded ‘Best Original Score’, ‘Best Lead Actor’ and ‘Best Director.’ With these awards, Jacky has confirmed his latest vision. Commenting Jacky said: “Entertainment in Europe is always very important to me. Although I have been receiving a couple of awards in the US, I felt totally different after receiving awards in Europe. Show business is always the core in the US entertainment industry but in Europe, it’s not only show business but the culture itself which is also evaluated. On my past experience of show business, Europe is the most strict, most deep and most gorgeous world and I am very happy to know that my mode of expression has been highly evaluated and accepted in Europe. Several of my films were decided on their worldwide distribution through the European network and I am very happy about it. Going forward, I am thinking of creating a film in Europe and this shooting will probably start by end of this year. I have recently moved my mode of interest to Europe and am now planning to shoot several films each year. I hope I can also spread these new films throughout the world. My entertainment business in Europe started from the Nomination at Cannes Film Festival in 2013 and I am looking forward to the years to come”.
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the miraculous postcards A Major Motion Picture by Jacky Woo
“Live for tomorrow, not just tomorrow but also the day after tomorrow… ” 5,000 postcards that restored back the smiles of a depressed and diseased mother. Original Story: ‘The Switch of Hope’ written by Midori Wakitani (Published by Ohtori Shoin) This film is based on a true story. Half year after the ‘Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake’, the story was based at Nishinomiya city of Hyogo Prefecture, a woman struggling with her life but living strongly. She is burdened with the care of her severely disabled child, as well as her mother who lives far away that has been diagnosed with depression and dementia.
Starring Sarina Suzuki To hold the life of her mother who was diagnosed with depression and dementia, writer Midori Wakitani sends her mother a postcard every single day with a touch of humor, day in and day out. Receiving these postcards begins to provide a “ray of hope” to the mother, eventually giving her the will and courage to fight off her depression and dementia. The story between a mother and a daughter made a great impact in Japan and eventually ended up being turned into a cinematic feature. The main character Miyuki was played by Sarina Suzuki, she is a famous Japanese variety talent. She is seen and described by some as an amusing talent but in this movie, she has shown her serious side and although struggled to perform in her role, proved to be an incredible actress.
Film Critics: Nobukazu Uekusa “Her love towards her daughter and her love and hatred for her mother although that love is defined differently, just like the prayer, it’s a whole love story”. “According to Midori Wakitani, there is no destiny that we cannot overcome and this came from her experience and faith”. “The smell of celebration of humanity is felt on this movie”. Executive Producer: Hirokuni Nitta Director: Jacky Woo Produced and Distributed by: Muse Planning Inc. In cooperation with: OTORI SHOIN Co., Ltd. Production: The Miraculous Postcards, Production Partnership Presented by: Global Japan Inc. Drama
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Run Time 90 Mins
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Pelée A Screenplay by David Earle
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MIDDLE: RUE VICTOR HUGO; SAINT-PIERRE; LA RUE MONT-AU-CIEL - TOP: CLOCKWISE L TO R - PROFESSOR GASTON LANDES; PLACE BERTIN; RUE VICTOR HUGO; AMERICAN CONSUL, THOMAS PRENTISS; RUD VICTOR HUGO; PLACE BERTIN
A story of political hubris, misguided religious faith, scientific misjudgment, a deceiving press, trepidation and uncertainty, despite the apocalyptic warnings of impending doom. Pelée – a non-fictional Historical/Epic Docudrama about the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century (3rd deadliest eruption in recorded history…..Vesuvius/ Pompeii ranking 10th deadliest) where the greatest number of people died more quickly than in any other volcanic eruption ever known when it obliterated the once beautiful port city of Saint-Pierre - then regarded worldwide as the “Paris of the West Indies” – on the French Colonial Caribbean island of Martinique. When a story where fact truly is stranger than fiction comes along that has never before been told cinematically, that is so extraordinary, so unbelievable, so astonishing as to why 30,000 people refused to flee a city a mere 4 miles (7 kilometers) from the crater of the erupting volcano La Montagne Pelée, I realized early on in my three years of writing, research, pouring over hundreds of photos, reading through stacks of books, compiling piles of notes, and traveling to Martinique, that it was not necessary to take dramatic liberties by filling the story with a lot of irrelevant fiction. The events in my detailed true saga of those seven tumultuous days leading up to the eruption was filled with so much political hubris, scientific misjudgment, misguided religious faith, along with the hidden agenda of a deceiving press (that actually encouraged its readers to remain or seek refuge - despite apocalyptic warning signs - in the doomed city of Saint-Pierre for predominantly political reasons during a heated election season), all worked in conjunction with sealing the fate of the 30,000 people who perished that spring morning on May 8, 1902 - a date that Monseigneur Gabriel Parel, Vicar-General of Martinique is quoted as saying; “This date should be written in blood…”
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TOP RIGHT: SAINT-PIERRE; RUE VICTOR HUGO; GOVERNOR LOUIS MOUTTET; RUE VICTOR HUGO; AUGUSTÉ CIPARIS - MIDDLE: MONT PELÉE IN ERUPTION; MONT PELÉE WITH DAVID EARLE IN FOREGROUND - LEFT MIDDLE: SAINT PIERRE THEATRE; BEFORE; AFTER; TODAY WITH DAVID EARLE - BOTTOM LEFT: RUINS OF SAINT-PIERRE; RUINS OF LA RUE DU FIGUIER; PRISON CELL OF AUGUSTÉ CIPARIS; RUINS OF THE THEATRE; MONT PELÉE; STATUE AT L’ÉGLISE DU FORT.
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With writing Pelée I painstakingly went to great extent in my research to separate fact from myth; assure that all the events and every scene are as they happened in correct chronological order; to do right to the memory of the 30,000 souls who perished on that fateful morning 115 years ago; and to never allow spectacle to overshadow its human drama. All telegrams, letters, proclamations, and newspaper articles within the script are written as they appear on record. Throughout the final seven days of SaintPierre, Mont Pelée produced many varying stages of eruption - often times hourly or minute-byminute. Where eyewitnesses documented these stages of pyrotechnic phenomenon associated with the eruption, it has been noted in the script. The order by which ships and people were struck by the powerful nuée ardent (pyroclastic surge) is written accordingly to where the ships were anchored in the harbor and the exact locations of the people in the city at the time of the eruption. All fatality descriptions following the eruption are depicted as they were described in numerous corresponding factual records. And in nearly every scene there is at least one person who survived to live another day beyond May 8, 1902 to recount the scenes represented in this screenplay. All of the characters in Pelée are non-fictional. They are people who really did live... EXCEPT for the families Duval and Chopra (my only exception in my pursuit of maintaining no fictionalization). In my unyielding effort to do honor to ALL those who died that morning, I wrote one scene with a fictional East Indian family because by the turn of the century more than 75,000 indentured Indian laborers had traveled from the subcontinent to Martinique making it their new home, thus filling the void for cheap labor that was being created on the plantations when, after slavery was abolished, more and more black laborers were leaving the fields in great numbers to pursue their own businesses. “Habitation” owners turned to India. By 1902 four separate racial groups - Blacks, Whites, Mulattoes and Indians - shared the island, each with their own needs and ambitions. In Saint-Pierre alone nearly a thousand Indians, the largest Indian community on Martinique, died in the eruption. The Duval family I wrote as a composite of the average black working class that accounted for the majority of lives lost in the eruption. I wrote every scene with the Duval family based on factual documented happenings and conversations made among these people that I drew from the many historical letters, journals and diaries of these forgotten souls. Because Saint-Pierre was a major thriving international port, on any given day there would be a great number of ships in her roadstead flying the flags of many nations. And so it is that the individuals that are portrayed in this script as playing a role during those seven days leading up to May 8, 1902 involve a truly international cast; Americans, Canadians, British, Italians, Indians, Spanish, and, of course, the greatest majority being French. Epic Docu-Drama
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Sceenplay
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LIFE IS BUT A DREAM A Screenplay by David Earle
Originally written by David Earle as a novel - that is currently selling worldwide and available on numerous online bookseller web sites - in 2012, the same year the book was published, Earle began work on writing his screenplay adaptation which is now the same unproduced script that has been nominated at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema Madrid. SPELLBINDING NEW SCIENCE FICTION EPIC DELIVERS A UNIQUE TWIST ON TIME TRAVEL AND REINCARNATION
Owen’s odyssey of this strange new existence in the twenty-second century takes him from an insane asylum, to the care of an attractive, beguiling, empathetic psychologist Dr. Jessica Wynn, to the acceptance of both lost lives and the intriguing pursuit of finding his ancestors from his past life. Through it all, he must also deal with unraveling the mystery of a secret he unknowingly holds as Professor Hamilton regarding the truth of a catastrophic world event that occurred in 2115 that now threatens his life by a man who seeks to kill him. A story for all ages and painstakingly researched, Life Is But A Dream is historically accurate as it touches on the romantic lives of six people over the span of three centuries – the lifelong loves of Roger and Laura who meet at a New York City dance club in 1995, of Sydney and his wife Margie who meet in an Oxford, England pub in the late 2070’s and the love emotions Dr. Jessica Wynn feels for the outer appearance of her patient Sydney and the inner-self personality he possesses as Roger Owen in what is now the year 2125. Life Is But A Dream intertwines romance, suspense and mystery that keeps readers riveted from the first page to its dramatic spellbinding conclusion.
Born and raised in Anaheim, California, and currently resides in northern Nevada amid the majestic High Sierras where he writes prolifically, varying from comedies to dramas, from novels to screenplays to plays, of which he has had four plays produced in the U.S. along with the first international production of one of his plays performed in Sydney, Australia. David Earle is also a proud member of the Writers Guild of America–West and Dramatists Guild of America.
“Life Is But A Dream is a reverse twist on reincarnation,” says Earle. “What makes it unique is that it begins in our present, but it is our present that turns out to be the past life for the main character.”
TOP RIGHT: DAVID EARLE WORKING ON PELÉE IN SCHŒLCHER, MARTINIQUE - BOTTOM RIGHT: “LIFE IS BUT A DREAM” BOOK.
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Writer David Earle was sitting outside a coffee shop, feeling a bit melancholy, contemplating the age old question of life, when he was suddenly struck with the thought, ‘What if this is all simply a dream or just a past life, that I will realize as being such, when I wake up in the future?’ It was as if a light bulb went off over his head, and the premise for his captivating new romantic time travel sci-fi thriller, Life Is But A Dream, was born.
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Roger Owen, an African-American family man in the year 2011, awakens the morning after his fortieth birthday to discover himself inhabiting the body of Sydney Hamilton, a Caucasian sixty-six year old Welsh Harvard Professor of History, whom he remembers nothing of in what is now the year 2125. For Owen, it’s time travel without the use of a time machine and the devastating realization that there is no turning back. “Life is But a Dream encompasses the thoughts, emotions and reactions of a man who wakes up in the body of someone he does not know with the realization that the only life he has ever known is gone – his wife, his children, his entire family, friends and loved ones, including himself – are all dead and he can never go back and pick up where he left off,” explains Earle. Science Fiction
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Screenplay
Missy A short film by Jordan Heron www.barn11productions.com
an award nominated script
FINDING AMELIA A Script by
Todd Selleck
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
A Script by Todd Selleck
Finding Amelia is a feature length script based on the disappearance of beloved aviator Amelia Earhart and was written by American screenwriter Todd Selleck. The script has earned recognition across the globe in places such as England, South America, Australia and most recently Spain. The script is written with a completely unique, and a different point of view which has never been achieved or attempted with Amelia Earhart’s story: It uses a first and second person narrative to tell her story.
Mr. Selleck has written six feature length screenplays which have all earned awards and recognition in the U.S. and abroad. He has also three short screenplays within the last year and they are showing up in the winner’s circle in major competitions. He has authored several short stories under his pen name Von Kambro on which can be found on www.smashwords.com Keep your eyes on his scripts, because you’ll have the opportunity to experience amazing writing, and experience what a great movie looks like before it hits the screen.
MIDDLE IMAGE: AMELIA EARHART - RIGHT IMAGE: TODD SELLECK.
FINDING AMELIA
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The use of colorful scene depictions, personalized dialogue and ghostly passages that depict Amelia’s moments of despair, doubt and her charismatic wit come shining through all which build up to the climactic ending which is given a somber but undeniably realistic belief that what happened to her wasn’t just destiny, but may have been by her own choice. The script allows for the audience to decide for themselves what actually happened to Amelia Earhart and the journey we’re allowed to take with her shows how beautifully this script is written, and also how magnificient it would look on the big screen. Mystery
skreenplay@juno.com
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THE SYSTEM Written, Directed & Produced by Keith Kelly
Director Statement Education trumps everything! That is the first line in this movie and core belief of writer/director Robert Keith Kelly. Most problems can be solved by educating those involved or affected. But recently, critical thinking, the basis for learning throughout history, has been almost forbidden. It has been replaced by the mandate, “follow the policy.” Furthermore, respect for teachers has been greatly diminished, thus devaluing the importance of education.
However, unlike past generations where the young had to learn from the old, today tech savvy students can challenge older adults and institutions with their internet and social media skills. They are becoming agents of change, and that is the underlying theme of this movie.
Script
Kelly believes that comedy is the best weapon to attack serious, complex issues - so this biting satire is not just a film, but a call to action for those who care about the future. ABOUT Keith Kelly Robert Keith Kelly studied screen-writing at UCLA and received degrees in various areas of technology from W.Va. University, W.Va. Tech, Fairmont State, and the University of Georgia. He has a total of 5 degrees - thus the name “5 Degrees Production Company” Before film work Keith taught Architectural design and photography. He also coached at the high school and college level. While being a successful teacher, photographer and woodworker he also trained and qualified for both the Summer and Winter Olympic trials. After completing several shorts and documentaries he wrote and directed the feature film “The System”. Keith is passionate about causes involving children and education. He is committed to writing and directing his own films.
Comedy
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5941158/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_1
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Run Time 104 Mins
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FOUR JOURNEYS Filmmaker: Dr Teresa Mular
This film examines and delves into the lives of four Latin-American women who emigrated to New York. With humility, clarity of purpose, fortitude, unwavering in their commitments and refusing to bend, these four women included in “ Four Journeys “ have kept their ideals above everything else. Their lives matter and so it is the same for all others (whether women or men) who arrive in New York from foreign lands. This film is dedicated to all immigrants.
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DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY Dr. Teresa Mular was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was raised and educated there, completing her University studies and graduating as a Medical Doctor at age 23. Parallel to that she studied piano and voice at the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires. As a young person she developed a lifelong passion for classical music and the arts. She moved to New York, to further her training at Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York Kings County Hospital, in Brooklyn and became an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology years later at the same institution and had a long career as a physician and teacher. She is a past president of the New York Gynecological Society (New York City). She has been studying Italian in Florence since 2006 and it is there where she found the germinating seed for making a documentary about the land that witnessed her birth. In 2011 she completed a four part documentary that pays homage to the various artistic complexities and cultural life of Buenos Aires “Volando en las Alas del Tiempo” (Flying on the Wings of Time) that was screened in Florence (Italy), Lucerne (Switzerland) and New York. In 2013 she made another successful documentary “The Muse is the Mountain”, about artisan women living in Costa Rica has won multiple awards in Europe, Asia and the
Americas; it received an award at the Milan International filmmaker festival of World Cinema for best director of Short Documentary in 2015 and the Best Foreign Language Documentary at the Berlin International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema 2016. In 2015 she wrote and directed a short fiction comedy “Now Boarding”, in English, with a Spanish subtitled version as well “Embarcando” was selected for screening on October 3rd at the New York Dog Film Festival 2015. In addition it has been selected at other international film festivals, including the Colour-tape Festival in Brisbane, Australia June 2016, the Dada Saheb Festival in India April 2016, The Jakarta Festival (Indonesia) November 2015, The Finow Festival, in Germany February 2016 and recently The Madrid International Film Festival where it won for Best Original Screenplay of a Short Film. Also, Four Journeys has won the following prestigious awards since the beginning of the year! Top Winner Award at the Cinema Grand Prix, Bali 2017 Award of Excellence at the International Film Festival: Women, Social Issues and Zero Discrimination, Bali, 2017 Lakeview International Film Festival, Punjab, India, 2017 NYC Independent Film Festival, New York, USA, 2017 NYWIFT (New York Women in Film and Television) selected 2017 film festival by women directors concerning immigration themes. Also Four Journeys has been accepted at the 39th International Women’s Film Festival in Florence, Italy in November 2017.
Documentary
thmular@optonline.net
Run Time 55 Mins
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OFFICIAL SELECTION
Four Journeys Documentary Film
Director Dr. Teresa Mular Producer
Dr. Teresa Mular Production
From Doc to Doc Films LLP, USA
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LITTLE SPARTA
hundreds of thousands of people and its spread in the region and its surroundings.
A Feature Documentary by Mansoor Alyabhouni Al Dhaheri
It is known that the forces of evil has been ambushing their neighbors and taking advantage to assault them in order to move back to the era of the Kingdom of Ormus. Once again these forces of evil are seeking to control their neighbors through playing on the contradictions and disputes of the empires of that era, but a new victory for the forces of good over evil thanks to the vigilance and coalition of the Arab neighboring countries who overcame that aggression.
“Little Sparta” is a new long documentary that derives its name from a statement made by one of the high ranking generals of the international coalition who referred to the UAE as Little Sparta to symbolize the UAE’s armed forces in this (country with tiny area) as an active and impressive force in the military operations in the war against Daesh (ISIL). Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece and known for its fighting prowess became the dominant military power despite the limited number of its army who faced the Persians who had ambition of expanding into Europe, and defeated them in a way that revealed their valor, courage and exceptional training.
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Moving again to our contemporary age with a brief snapshot of the UAE history and its development, the film highlights with sight and sound one of the most important factors of prosperity in the country as a result of the harmony and peaceful coexistence among members of the society, as well as the tolerance whose foundations were laid down by its rulers the sheiks and its citizens and residents who are provided with decent livelihoods.
Based on this, the Emirati writer and director Mansour Al Yabhooni Al Dhaheri projects his vision through profound historical reading of the region, documenting its history with highly professional techniques, using state-of-the-art and modern cinematic production tools. Not to mention the documentary script as if you’re browsing through an interesting book. The book which consists of 9 chapters includes an introduction and title for each chapter and a conclusion including the objective and mission of this document.
This scene was preceded by reference to the emergence of the radical and extremist groups in the world and the region who falsely claim to represent Islam. In the light of these two contradictory scenes, the film explains why the nickname “Little Sparta” was used by the international coalition leaders in the war against Daesh, as a symbol of the UAE armed forces soldiers and officers’ valor and the impact they created in this war despite the small size of the country.
“Little Sparta” is a documentary epic film which is based on the idea that countries are not measured by their size or area, but rather by the strength of their peoples and their deep conviction that by persistence and diligence nations are built.
The film also narrates the history of UAE’s participation in peacekeeping operations, defence of world peace and security, and humanitarian relief operations, documented by events and photos and highlighting the pivotal role played by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces in supporting and sponsoring development and progress the UAE military establishment for over 30 years in all fields.
To explain this idea, the film documents numerous facts that manifest itself in a highly professional and clearly written script that starts with the story of the creation of the universe, and man’s struggle for survival in a harsh environment where man was forced to invent tools to protect himself. And here lies the sin! The film’s 9 chapters moves through from one historical era to another through pictures and documents that represent the eternal conflict between the forces of good and evil. It starts with the story of Sparta and the victory of its small regiment over the Persian Empire thanks to their training and determination, and moves into the emergence of Islam and its inspiration of
Along the same line, and in a special chapter, the film documents the UAE participation in the Saudiled Operation Decisive Storm to support the legitimate authorities in Yemen, and the role of its wise leadership of His Majesty Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Feature Docu-Drama
www.alkalemaproductions.com
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Run Time 72 Mins
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The
Creative Gypsy Hello everyone. This is Neeru Khera. It is a pleasure to be back in the magazine after a year with our latest nominated film - Aadha Chand Tum Rakhlo / Lets Share the Moon. We have been busy these past few months shooting for 3 other new short films. The first is a quirky one about a common man who is crazy about his car and is called THE CAR. The second is a fast paced mystery, a young man gets trapped in weird circumstances called AKKAD BAKKAD. And the last and my personal favourite is an extremely emotional film about a girl born deaf and how a cochlear implant transforms her life called MEGHA…A SONG OF SILENCE. THE CREATIVE GYPSY shares with great pride that 6 of our short films will be airing on NDTV on their prime channel as a series called THROUGH THE LENS this July. We are also in the process of getting ready to shoot for the sequel to the very successful ALL ABOUT SEC 377 which is India’s first LGTB web series.
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Another important project in the offing is a short film on psychosis. It promises to be a dark film with many nuances and it will mark my directorial debut. Looking forward to meeting you all at Madrid!
Drama
thecreativegypsy2015@yahoo.com
Film THE MAGAZINE
Run Time 24 Mins
MERGEIER
bet is FILM: powerfully revealed by Kerr and THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017 ument China’s prisons, and China’s EYE OFinTHE LAMMERGEIER nd infanticide at People’s Hospitals
Eye of the Lammergeier tified at the Spanish National Court
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EYE OF THE LAMMERGEIER
Directed by Blake Kerr
ster for committing against Thirty years in the making, Eyecrimes of the Lammergeier opens with two American ng Zemin andJohnLiAckerly Peng, the five other mountaineers, Esq. and Blake Kerr M.D., trying to get as high Tibet. they can on the Tibetan side of Everest,as
EYE OF THE LAMMERGEIER
Behind Chinese propaganda in Tibet, an epic voyage into China's military occupation.
A Film by Blake Kerr
A Film by Blake Kerr
Spain to reverse its National Court’s was made from the film submitted to he Court of World Opinion. Hidden e graphically illustrates the Tibetans’
Thirty years in the making, Eye of the La mountaineers, John Ackerly Esq. and Blake Ke on the Tibetan side of Everest, in sneakers. Wh Tibetans in the capital of Lhasa, Ackerly p demonstration against Chinese rule since the documenting 12 deaths, Kerr sneaks out to trea monasteries, and meets the victims of torture a
EYE OF THE LAMMERGEIER
in sneakers. When Chinese police open fire on unarmed Tibetans in the capital of Lhasa, Ackerly photographs the largest independence demonstration against Chinese rule since the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959. After documenting 12 deaths, Kerr sneaks out to treat the wounded hiding in their homes and monasteries, and meets the victims of torture and sterilization.
The underside of China's military occupation o The underside of China’s military Court against China’s Past President and Prime Ackerly returning separately seven times to occupation of Tibet is powerfully Minister for committing crimes against humanity national policy of coerced abortions, sterilizatio revealed by Kerr and Ackerly returning in Tibet, Judge Ismael Moreno found Jiang Zemin Lhasa and and remote regions throughout Tibe Peng, the five other Chinese guilty separately seven timesmaking, to document Thirty years in the Eye of and theLi Lammergeier opens withleaders, two American In February 2014, three years after Dr. Kerr of committing genocide in to Tibet. months China’s prisons,John and Ackerly China’s Esq. national mountaineers, and Blake Kerr M.D., trying get Five as high as later, they can in JulyWhen 2014, Chinese China convinced its against China’s Past President and Prime M policy coercedside abortions, sterilization on the of Tibetan of Everest, in sneakers. police Spain open to firereverse on unarmed National photographs Court’s finding. the With largest this in mind, Eye of humanity in Tibet, Judge Ismael Moreno found and infanticide at People’s in Ackerly Tibetans in the capital Hospitals of Lhasa, independence Chinese leaders, guilty of committing genocide the Lammergeier was made from filminsubmitted Lhasa and remote regions throughout demonstration against Chinese rule since the Dalai Lama fled to the India 1959. After to the Spanish Court, and is to the and Tibet. documenting 12 deaths, Kerr sneaks out to treat theNational wounded hiding in offered their homes Court ofand World Opinion. Hidden camera footage that Five months later, in July 2014, China convinc monasteries, and meets the victims of torture sterilization. In February 2014, three years after Dr. has never been seen before graphically illustrates finding. With this in mind, Eye of the Lammerge the Spanish National Court, and is offered t the Tibetans’ plight. Kerrunderside testified atofthe Spanish National The China's military occupation of Tibet is powerfully revealed by Kerr and camera footage that has never been seen be Ackerly returning separately seven times to document China’s prisons, and China’s Run Time 41 Mins blakekerrmd@hotmail.com national policy of coerced abortions, sterilization and infanticide at People’s Hospitals plight. in Documentary Lhasa and and remote regions throughout Tibet. 27
d by BLAKE KERR MONCRIEFF KE KERR RLY and BLAKE KERR In February 2014, three years after Dr. Kerr testified at the Spanish National Court
Five months later, in July 2014, China convinced Spain to reverse its National Court’s finding. With this in mind, Eye of the Lammergeier was made from the film submitted to the Spanish National Court, and is offered to the Court of World Opinion. Hidden camera footage that has never been seen before graphically illustrates the Tibetans’ plight.
Executive Produced & Directed by BLAKE KERR Edited by ALAN SCOTT-MONCRIEFF Cinematography BLAKE KERR Still photography by JOHN ACKERLY and BLAKE KERR
A Film by Blake Kerr
Behind Chinese propaganda, an epic voyage into China's occupation of Tibet.
EYE OF THEA LAMMERGEIER documentar y by Blake Kerr Film THE MAGAZINE
Executive Produced & Direc Edited by ALAN SCOT Cinematography B Still photography by JOHN ACK
A Film by Blake Kerr
EYE OF THE LAMMERGEIER
EYE OF TH
against China’s Past President and Prime Minister for committing crimes against humanity in Tibet, Judge Ismael Moreno found Jiang Zemin and Li Peng, the five other Chinese leaders, guilty of committing genocide in Tibet.
EYE OF TH
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WHITE BEE A film by Shomshuklla Das
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“White Bee is my 5th feature film and second English language feature film. The film was shot in the scenic location of France. We shot in the month of December, which was a great experience in itself. Some of the famous locales we shot in were the Christmas market and the famous European flower market. We even shot in the winter rain, which was a very moving experience, with the cold, gloomy feel. The actors in the film came from different parts of the world which made it a little tough to bring about a fluid sense of communication and coordination; that is why we decided upon and had rehearsals 6 months prior to filming. The team gelled well and everything went smoothly and without a hitch. This was my first time shooting with our American DOP, Alex Megaro. I met him in a festival and we instantly became friends. Ever since we met, we had decided that we want to work together on a beautiful project. The lead actor of my film, Sumanto Chattopadhyay, is a Creative Director with one of India’s most renowned ad agencies - Ogilvy. He had also been part of my directorial debut play in 2006, under the aegis of our theatre company Kali. Our frequencies matched as magic and it shows in the brilliant work we’ve managed to bring together, in perfect harmony.
I met TanuKurien Vaswani, another of our film’s actors, through social media. It’s a great experience when you are able to bring together a terrific team on board. We shot for 7 days at a stretch, staying under one roof and enjoying every moment of the amazing filmmaking experience that ensued. White Bee is a story of a couple that meets after a separation – perhaps for the last time. The woman seems vulnerable, broken by her failed marriage. The man appears blasé about the breakup. If he expresses any doubts, they are about his wife’s ability to cope with the big bad world outside the cocoon of marriage. But as the story unfolds, we realize that the woman is spirited and resilient and it is he who is vulnerable – and needy of the shelter of their togetherness.”
Drama
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Run Time 78 Mins
A Film by Shomshuklla Music Ankur Mukherjee DOP Alex Megaro
White Bee Sumanto Chattopadhyay Tanu Kurien Vaswani
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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ROLLING ALONG:
Featuring legends of the sport’s past and present who represent the true blading spirit;
A film by Richard Vaughan
Chris Edwards, Tom Hyser, Mike Opalek, Franky Morales, Jon Julio, Coco Sanchez and held down by, Brian ‘BFree’ Freeman.
INLINE MOVEMENT
In the 1990’s alternative sports proliferated. One sport that captured the vibe of this era was Aggressive Inline. Considered by many analysts to be a billion dollar industry it all but vanished at the end of the decade.
Rolling Along: An Inline Movement represents the blader DIY mentality.
Bladers today don’t wait around for the mainstream to swing back, they are out there doing all they can for the sport and this is my contribution to that culture which embodies self-reliance and love for the sport. I challenge you not to feel like skating once you have finished watching.
Rolling Along: An Inline Movement is the story of this sport from its birth, to its rapid accent, crash and current underground status.
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Documentary/Drama
http://www.rollingalongdoc.com
POWER PLAY Introducing the screenplay Power Play nominated at the London International Film Maker Festival for Best Unproduced Script. Award Winner, Best Unproduced Script, ST. Tropez International Film Festival, Nice France, 2016.
A cancerous political suspense cocktail, based upon deceit, revenge and envy. Our young, handsome mayoral aspirant, Collier Winthrop, is recruited by a crusty old political boss, Al Caso, to upset the status-quo. He soon is faced with opposition from within and without. 1970’s. Before, House of Cards, there was Power Play. Screenplay written by Colin Stewart, based on the novel, “Power Play” by F. Ethan Repp. “I wrote the book Power Play in 1978, following a failed run for the US Congress at the age of 33. Full of remaining adrenalin and loss of all consuming activity, I spent the next 4 months writing. Once finished I really didn’t know what to do with it. The popular Mayor of NYC, John Lindsay, a good friend, passed it around to a few publishers, who were complimentary but passed. The work needed editing. I put the typed book away forever. Two years ago, I told my grandson about the book. He wanted to read it. (Pause) The manuscript was buried somewhere in the garage and I didn’t really know what shape it was in anyway.
I rescued the work and began to read. I had forgotten the story but realized, hey this is good stuff. It is real. First Edition Design publishing immediately wanted to publish and claimed that they could scan the typewritten work to Word. We published in 2014, 36 years after being written. Amazon has 12 million books. It is impossible to get noticed. I decided to turn the work into a screenplay. Through the Internet I found a screenwriter anxious to transform my book into the desired format, about 6 months ago. Today it is nominated at the Nice International Film Festival. Young handsome, charming, ollier Winthrop, heir to Winthrop Manufacturing is enticed by a crusty old political boss, Al Caso to run for Mayor of the City. The scheme is to utilize the reputation of a prominent family to split the opposition party vote majority. But there is a threat of losing some of his own party base through the disappointment of not being anointed themselves. Caso is running a risk and it could be his head if he is not successful. In this story, they talk, up front and personal”. - F. Ethan Repp.
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Run Time 54 Mins
Screenplay written
by Colin Stewart based on the novel
“Power Play” by F. Ethan Repp.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
“The legend of Otger de Cataló and the 9 Barons of Fame” A Stunning New Film Directed by Joan Frank Charansonnet Produced by : Alba López, Susana Plana, Dani Bernabé, Efren Casas & Joan Frank Charansonne
Pàtria tells the legend of “Otger of Cataló and the 9 Barons of Fame” and is a Catalan folk epic legend with great brushstrokes that tells the origins of Catalonia. The legend of Otger de Cataló was orally transmitted to the monk Pere Tomic, who was then told to write it down on paper in the Monastery of Sant Llorenc. During the 15th Century, a carriage arrives at the monastery of Sant Llorenç. An illustrious and noble elderly man named Climent de Vallcebre reaches the Benedictine community to spend the last days of life in the company of his old friend, Abat Ponç. Once installed, Climent is visited by the young Pere Tomic, who will be shown as a noble source of wisdom and inspiration for his future book. In the last months of his life, Climent will give the dreamer a point of view which was the origin of the Catalan country, telling the story of Otger de Cataló and the 9 barons of Fame.
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The story of this legend allows the incorporation of several plots and the presentation of different characters of the monastery, whilst opening one of the most important subplots of the film, the roles of power and the mysterious and passionate links that were in the church community . During the narration of Climent de Vallcebre, the plot of the legend is introduced as flashbacks. Otger de Cataló arrives during the 15th Century to Catalonia, shelters in a cave and healing the wounds of battle he has suffered with the Saracens whilst crossing the Pyrenees. In parallel, it develops the legend and we discover the personal stories of their new nobles who gathered to fight to the death for the land that had been born. In each of these personal stories we will learn vital characters in portraying elements such as witchcraft, the first taverns, gallant love, heretics, honour and war. Otger oath States and the nine barons took up arms to liberate every village of the Saracen siege, until the great battle, which should bring down the army of Abderramán, who were twice their number.
www.facebook.com/patria.cat
THE VALLEY A motion picture by Saila Kariat
The Valley is the story of a successful Indian American entrepreneur Neal Kumar and his family, who reside in the high octane, technologically driven culture that is silicon valley in California. His affluent life appears idyllic from the exterior, however, when his daughter Maya tragically commits suicide, the fractured nature of his interior life becomes apparent to himself and those around him. At the opening, Neal unveils his latest technology Augur from his company. Augur celebrates the fusion of man and machine and the ability to predict human behavior based on mathematical models. After his talk Neal drives to the coast, stops along a cliff and pulls out a gun. He reflects on the events of the past year.
BOTTOM IMAGE: OTGER I ARMADURA.
PATRIA
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Epic Feature Film
Run Time 111 Mins
Drama
Run Time 94 Mins
After his daughter’s suicide, the family is devastated and does not understand the cause of the tragedy. When his attempts to talk to his family fail, Neal embarks on a journey to find out why it happened. In the course of his journey he learns many things about himself, his family and his own values and choices. Starring Alyy Khan, Suchitra Pillai, Jake T. Austin, Barry Corbin, Christa B. Allen, Agneeta Thacker and Salma Khan, The Valley is a poignant, moving film about what it means to be successful, and how the frantic pace and demands of modern life can contribute to mental health issues, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
http://www.thevalleyfilm.com
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PIZZA FACE Written & Directed by Justin Ulloa & Jamie Dwyer
SYNOPSIS A self-absorbed pizza waitress unleashes devastating horror after downloading a sinister mobile app. “Pizza Face is an animated, tongue-incheek technological thriller about user experience, social media obsession and of course, pizza.” Justin Ulloa and Jamie Dwyer are a Brooklynbased creative team with years of experience in advertising, art and film. “Pizza Face” is their fourth movie together. The filmmakers discuss their affinity for the horror genre, thoughts on social media, and open up about the origins of their newest project.
We’ve always been fascinated by the dark morality tales told by “The Twilight Zone,” “Tales from the Darkside” and “Tales from the Crypt” because they point at the fears and horrors lurking beneath our everyday lives. With “Pizza Face,” we looked to these horror series as inspiration, and added a modern twist – a warning against the dangers of living our lives through our phones. Outside of film, we’ve spent years studying the modern American consumer, tracking trends in youth culture and understanding how social media has affected how people communicate with each other and identify with themselves. There’s a darker side to selfie-culture that we can all relate to. We were excited to play around with that, and build a story that was contemporary and relevant. “Pizza Face” is a standalone sequel to our prior short animation, “Cheese Dog: The Movie,” an inspiring story about seeking the ‘American dream.’ While the two share a campy style and even a few reoccurring characters, our intention with “Pizza Face” was to create an original, complimentary narrative with a darker, more poignant tone. That being said, all of our work has a lot of color and humor, and “Pizza Face” is no different. Ultimately, we want our viewers to chuckle and have fun. Animatied Thriller
pizzafacemovie.com
MISSY MAKE UP ARTIST COURTESY OF CLARISSA JUSTINE - BOTTOM RIGHT: JORDAN HERON IN “MISSY”.
A short film by Jordan Heron
You’re a new filmmaker, you’ve just made your first short, and you’re really geeked about it. Life is awesome: there was nothing, and now there’s a film, and it’s all because of you. What a great feeling creation is! And so, what next?
Run Time 10 Mins
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Not only did Jordan get the second short made, but a new production company, “Barn 11 Productions”, was born from the enthusiasm of the people that worked on those two shoots. Barn 11 is now in production or preproduction for another half dozen or so projects, and is in script development for a feature film. But Barn 11 is really excited about the next short film with an expected fall 2017 release: a film noire which stars chickens. Really.Just chickens.
For Jordan, it was a chance encounter with www.canlitgenerator.com, a close-to-satire website which randomly generates literary premises from a database of classically Canadian stereotypes. If you don’t like the premise on-screen, hit the “Write Me Another” button. Thus, the concept for “Missy” was born: “A man and his dog contemplate the meaning of Tim Horton’s coffee to reconnect with the false, nostalgic simplicity of their youth.” From that random premise, Jordan wrote the script (ruthlessly edited by his wife, Stephanie, to make it so much better), pulled together his faithful crew of supporters (from his first short film), and brought in a new makeup artist to change him from the “young” farmer to the “old” farmer during the two day shoot. www.jordanheron.com
Drama
www.barn11productions.com
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Run Time 7 Mins
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A Tale Of Water, Palm Trees And Family A feature documentary by Nasser Al Dhaheri
Synopsis The long documentary “A Tale Of Water, Palm Trees And Family “ is a deep-rooted journey in the UAE’s land, people and culture, through the trilogy of water, palm trees and people; the main components of the UAE’s civilisation. A tribute to the memory of those who worked hard in the past, and a reminder to future generations that today’s prosperity was made by the sweat and blood of the ancestors who carved rock for water, and cultivated palm trees for life. Charting 3,000 years of the UAE’s Civilisation
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The UAE may be a relatively new country that was formed out of a federation of seven emirates 46 years back, but since then it has stunned the world with its continuous progress and world-class development. To the West, the region is mostly considered as a land of camels, desert, and oil. But a refreshing documentary showcasing the roots of the country and stretching back some 3,000 years, made its latest triumph at The Cannes Festival by bagging the Best Film in Culture Preservation award in the World Peace Initiative Film Festival category. This is the 8th international award for A Tale Of Water, Palm Trees And Family by the Emirati filmmaker Nasser Al Dhaheri, since it started touring world festivals, following its premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in 2015. The 2h.22-minute feature length documentary tells the story of a deeprooted journey of the UAE – land, people and culture – through a trilogy that forms the main components of UAE’s civilisation. After bagging awards in Dubai, Norway, Oakland, Canada, Barcelona, Los Angeles and New York, the movie is now set to screen at the upcoming Madrid International Film Festival, and other festivals. “The documentary is a tribute to the memory of those who worked hard in the past.
In Al Ain, where Al Dhaheri was born, there is evidence of the world’s oldest known falaj – an ancient network of underground water channels that was carved out of rock around 1,000BC. “It is testament to Herculean effort, and engineering prowess. Many of these channels still remain the main source of irrigation in Al Ain even today,” Al Dhaheri said. But the journey of understanding the rich history was not easy. It involved touring across the entire span of the UAE. “We slept in the desert, and went (out to the sea) in the morning with fishermen. We ascended mountains, and ate in the middle of palm oases,” Al Dhaheri recalled. “We also had some funny situations, like being attacked by a raging bull while filming a bullfight in Fujairah. Our camera was the first victim, because we all ran when we saw that bull coming at us!” he told us. Part of a noticeably large contingent of Emirati films, A Tale Of Water, Palm Trees And Family highlights the region’s ancestral dependency on two essential lifelines: water and the date palms that provide both food and materials for building houses and boats.
A reminder to future generations that today’s prosperity was made possible because of the sweat and blood of our ancestors who carved rock for water and cultivated palm trees for life in this place,” said Al Dhaheri, writer, journalist and an award-winning photographer about his first film. “It is a story about three elements: water, palm trees and family, and how they combine to establish a civilisation and constitute a culture that people don’t know of. They know us only through the camel, desert and oil. This is our real story,” he added. “The Arabic narrative is marked by its poetic language and detailed cinematography focusing on the art of storytelling. The film is filled with stories. It shows the real culture which existed before oil was discovered,” said Al Dhaheri. The film, which is translated into English, French and Spanish, showcases the region’s ancestral dependency on two essential lifelines – water and date palm which provided food and materials for building houses and boats. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5460500/
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Best foreign documentary film from “M. F. F.” Copenhagen – Norway. “Award of Merit” from “Impact docs Awards- U.S.A. “Award of Merit” from “Accolade Global Film Competition USA. Best director from “AllTFF” Alternative film festival - Toronto – Canada. ”Award of Merit “ from “documentary without Borders” USA. Best director in “Around The World Barcelona Festival – Spain”. “Best film in Culture Preservation” from “World Peace Initiative Film Festival Cannes 2017”.
A storyteller by trade, Al Dhaheri’s biggest challenge was not in making the transition to cinema but in finding a common language of communication with a Dutch technical crew that included cinematographer Hans Fels, editor Hans Dunnewijk, sound man Charles Kerstin, sound design Erik Langhout, color correcting Petro Van Leeuwen and Alfarazdak ChiChan as executive producer. Nasser Al Dhaheri - Filmmaker Al Dhaheri is an Emirati writer and journalist. He was born in 1960 in al-Ain, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. He was educated in the UAE and in France. He has published several volumes of fiction and non-fiction, including short story collections and novels.
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As a journalist, he has been involved with a number of publications, such as al-Ittihad newspaper, Fairuz magazine, al-Idari magazine and Faris magazine. He is the publisher and chief editor of Hdhod, an electronic newspaper which appears in Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Persia. In 2009, Al Dhaheri was a participant in the inaugural IPAF Nadwa. His work has appeared in English translation in Banipal magazine. Nasser Al Dhaheri has held various positions, including the Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Dur El Watan’ magazine, managing editor of “El Ittihad newspaper”, Chairman of the Emirates Writers Union, General Manager and Editor of the Arab Association of Press and Media Publications and editor of the “Disney - Warner Brothers - BBC” Arabic children’s publications. He is a member of the International Organization of Journalists, the Board of Trustees of Al Owais Cultural Award, the Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Journalism Award. Some of his works have been translated into several foreign languages including English, French, Russian, Spanish, Hindi and Germany. He has held several national and international photo exhibitions and received numerous awards & accolades from different countries. He has won the Best director award at the Dubai International Film Festival “DIFF” for his film “A Tale of Water, Palm Trees and Family”. Documentary
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Run Time 145 Mins
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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PATCH Directed by Kristjan Knigge
Synopsis Patch is a comically sinister escalation of an unlikely friendship between two Dutch friends. The narcissistic Charlotte has no sympathy whatsoever for the grief of her best friend Tessa, who is trying to pull herself together after a difficult break up. They meet on the Channel Island of Guernsey for a relaxing weekend away. Charlotte is convinced she is cut from a different cloth and cannot help herself to emphasize this towards her friend. While Tessa is searching for a shoulder to cry on, Charlotte is mainly concerned with taking her best duck face selfie and devouring men and cocktails in the hotel bar. For her lack of compassion she will pay a high price.
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Introducing Patch ‘Patch’ was directed by Danish/ British Kristjan Knigge (‘The Right Juice’, ‘Second Honeymoon’) and is a black comedy about an escalation of a rather special friendship between two best friends. ‘Patch’ premiered last September at the prestigious LA Shorts Festival, beside films like Denzel Washington’s ‘Shame’. ‘Patch’ has won numerous awards. It is very exceptional for a European debut film to win this much acclaim in Hollywood. And even more exceptional: ‘Patch’ is entirely produced independently and both filmmakers star in the main roles. Interview Karen Spanjer, filmmaker/ACTRESS We are meeting with filmmaker Karen Spanjer on the beautiful Island of Guernsey. The picturesque scenery features in Spanjer’s film Patch that was shot here last year. Contrary to the insecure, inconsolable character Tessa, she plays in ‘Patch’, we meet a confident, cheerful filmmaker.
The film being in English, was another. Guernsey seemed like a natural choice to me, since the location was already very familiar to me. I have been coming here frequently over the last years. Good friends of mine run a very nice hotel. And I always felt the island has a poetic charm. It is like a natural film set.” “How close is Tessa’s story and character to your own life” Spanjer laughs: “Not at all! It’s completely fictional. That was the biggest challenge for Mariska Breedland, our scriptwriter. To write a dark comedy, starring Marinda and myself, portraying opposite characters, in English. Good thing Mariska is one of the wittiest writers I know, with a twisted sense of British humor. So she wrote Patch. We loved it instantly. And more importantly, it resonated strongly with Kristjan’s [Knigge, director] great artistic insights and humor.“ “You produced this film and you star in it. Is this the first film you produced?” Yes, I did not want to be solely dependent of what casting agencies would come up with. There is so much competition in our business, especially among women and I did not want to wait for that ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to obtain an interesting role. I wanted to take fate into my own hands.
I did not have any production experience, but I had worked for many years in corporate business. How hard can it be, right? [Karen Spanjer laughs out loud] So I figured that if I can come up with the right team and expertise, I should be able to pull this of. And I did -with many many many lessons learned. I liked it so much –and learned so much- I now have my own film company, DutchCheez Productions. “How did you find the investment to start the business?” As you know we shot this film on this beautiful island of Guernsey [points to the enchanting, surrounding enscenery]. We got the chance to pitch our idea to the local Arts Commission. We were very lucky to receive a grant that covered a substantial part of our budget. We also got an investment of a befriended corporate investor. Last but not least we put every dime we made with acting assignments, like commercials, TV-shows, presentations etc. into this project. And it payed off.” “Are you working on new projects?” I am currently developing an international feature film and a web series. Yes, I will be starring in these productions as well. Acting, telling stories and making them come alive is what I want to keep doing. To me, it is all intertwined. I like being involved in all aspects of the filmmaking process. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing your own visions come alive on screen. Jury report, La Jolla / San Diego, California, January 2, 2017: ‘’Patch has an hilarious and grim story line in which actresses Marinda van’ t Hoff and Karen Spanjer show exceptional performances ... a compelling performance by Karen Spanjer as feeble and depressed Tessa. Director Knigge combines humor, pathos and shock in unprecedented fashion with exceptional sense of timing. The images of the British island of Guernsey, where the film is set, are enchanting. “
“How did the story of Patch came about?” When we [co producer/actress Marinda van ‘t Hoff and Spanjer] decided to make a film, I did not want to go the easy way. It had to be a proof of concept for a feature film I have been thinking about and planning for two years. Shooting abroad was one aspect. Black Comedy
office@dutchcheezproductions.com
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Run Time 11 Mins
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CINE CAFE
IN PARIS Directed by Chang-Gyun Kim
About the preparation process of “Cine Cafe in Paris” Originally, I was going to shoot a romantic comedy in Italy. Therefore, I held auditions and casted 2 actresses. 1 actress was actually recommended by the actress who passed the audition. However, around 2 months before we were going to go I started to research accommodation and transportation to reserve everything but the total expenditure was too high. This film was supposed to be shot in the main tourist spots in Rome, Florence, Venice and Milano. Usually, when you go to Europe from Korea, you can save money by booking everything 3-6 months in advance. In the end, I decided that the costs were way too high and decided to give up.
Now I had two male actors, 2 female actresses and a setting of Paris so I was ready to cook using these ingredients! I wasn’t scared of the idea of filming with a synopsis without dialogue but I felt that if I edited the scenes that I shot during the day, at night I would be able to film the next scenes with more confidence. Therefore, I tried to look for an editor who could go to Paris with me. I needed to find someone who could edit very quickly. Eventually, i was able to find an editor and before we went to Paris, I tried telling the actresses the synopsis, then making them act and editing on the spot and we were all very satisfied with the trial run.
Now all that was left was to explain the situation to the actresses, give up on filming abroad and rest. I thought my head was going to explode because I was trying to do everything on my own to try to save costs… Therefore, I felt sorry for the actresses so I made up a fake reason for ending the filming and asked for their bank accounts to compensate them slightly. However, the actresses caught on and refused to tell me.
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It is very difficult to lie to women. This is the theme of my second film “Snapshot.” Anyways, I felt sorry and disappointed so I asked the actresses if it was okay if we shot the film in Paris instead of Italy and they agreed. This was 50 days before we started filming and everything had suddenly changed so I quickly wrote a synopsis and treatment (a script without dialogue and only stage directions). I also asked another actor, who had attended the same acting academy as me, if he wanted to shoot a film in Paris because I had previously been in a short film with him and he gladly agreed despite the fact that I couldn’t pay him.
In the end, it was decided that 5 people in total would be going to Paris, me, the editor, the actor and the 2 actresses. In the film “Cine Cafe in Paris,” I was in charge of directing, writing the script, shooting, acting and even editing halfway through, completely out of the blue. Now all that was left was anxiously waiting for the day that we leave for Paris. The Hollywood film “La La Land” was a major hit in Korea and towards the end of the movie, Mia says to the casting director at an audition: “The film shoots in Paris and we don’t have a script… It’s a three month rehearsal and a four month shoot.” Watching this scene, I got goosebumps, Of course, my movie was shooting for 10 days instead of 4 months. Comedy/Drama
coreefilm@naver.com
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Run Time 70 Mins
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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SNAPSHOT Directed by Chang-Gyun Kim
About the preparation process of ‘Snapshot’ After shooting my first film “Cine Cafe in Paris,” I wanted to shoot another movie again quickly. Even right now, I am sitting comfortably at a cafe, drinking an iced americano and thinking about what kind of movie I will make next time. Therefore, at the time, I was also thinking at the cafe that I go to often and since I again didn’t have a production budget large enough to have a special incident occur in this film but I wanted to make a film that was different to other Korean independent films, I decided to shoot in Thailand.
film, which I am currently in the process of filming, I have given up on having pretty actresses. However, she has a unique charm.
Currently, there are so many young Korean independent film directors who are trying to make entertaining films with a small budget. I believe the start of this trend is largely due to the advent of digital cameras and the influence of director Sang-soo Hong’s films. Anyways, I am a Buddhist and I have already been to Thailand several times before so I was more confident compared to when I shot in Paris. Moreover, I even already had an idea of where in Thailand it would be good to shoot. Now that I decided the location, I again wondered about what kind of film I should I make.
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Anyways, since there were so many good applicants, I ended up picking 4 actresses instead of 3. I picked one extra actress but I was not worried. I could always make a new role or change the plot. I had lunch with the 4 actresses, took test shots, talked about our future schedule and the film. This was 6 months before we began shooting. At the time, as I was choosing the actresses, I decided on the rule that the actresses need to be able to participate in acting training 2 times a week for 4-5 months. I was confident that even if they don’t have any acting experience, if they follow my acting training they will do a good job.
At the time, in Korea, the concept of trilogies were trending so I considered extending ‘Cine Cafe in Paris’ into a Cine Cafe series. Therefore I decided on “Cine Cafe in Bangkok” as the title of my second film.
I am currently working on my fourth film and so far I have never heard criticism about the acting in my films. Of course, my films do not require actors to memorise lines and research the character since I look at the actors I choose and then based on their personality in real-life, I shoot the film on the basis that they would have acted like this. Therefore, I usually finish filming in just one take without any mistakes and instead I always use 2 cameras so that I can edit.
On the casting call for auditions, I said that a director, who has filmed in Paris, is shooting another film “Cine Cafe in Bangkok.” I was looking for 3 people but 7-800 rookie actors sent me their profile. When I got their email, I would get notifications on my phone and these came throughout the night till dawn, regardless of time. I was so happy even though I was woken up by these notifications.
However, happiness and misfortune always come hand in hand. Obviously, people I find pretty will also appear pretty to others and there was such a long preparation period. One of the four actresses ended up joining an entertainment agency so quit and another actress quit for a supporting role in a TV show. I consoled myself by telling myself I am discerning. Therefore, I had to come up with a new story instead of “Cine Cafe in Bangkok.” After changing the story, I also changed the title to “Snapshot.”
I must now briefly talk about director Sang-Soo Hong again. Since his films are invited to and win awards at film festivals all over the world, famous actors and actresses are all waiting for Director Hong to contact them. However what about me? I am a rookie director who has never been invited to a film festival. Therefore, this Madrid International Film Festival is like a lifeboat to me. Perhaps thanks to this Madrid International Film Festival, I may be lucky enough to be able to also work with famous actors.
The preparation process, not only the filming, is also constantly changing. Since I know this, I usually write the contract just before we depart. If the actress gets a better opportunity than my film but can’t take it because of my film, I feel bad, especially since the pay for my films isn’t that great.
Anyways, I have a criteria for choosing actresses. I don’t mean to discriminate against women but I believe the female lead has to be pretty. If there aren’t any big incidents in the film, shouldn’t the actresses and the scenery at least be pretty and beautiful? Afterwards, for my other films as well, I mostly chose pretty actresses for my auditions so there was a rumor that I only choose pretty actresses because I’m acting in the film. However, that is definitely not the case and it is purely for the audience. For my fourth
Anyways, the 2 remaining actresses practiced extremely hard and we exchanged a lot of opinions about the movie.Then, 6 months after the auditions started, the 2 actresses and I, so 3 people in total, left to Thailand. This time, I was in charge of directing, writing the script, filming, editing, acting and also being the bodyguard of the 2 beautiful actresses. Comedy/Drama
coreefilm@naver.com
Film THE MAGAZINE
Run Time 67 Mins
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
OPEN DOOR Here acclaimed documentary maker Noel Izon, gives us some extraordinary background to his thought provoking film including an opening personal family connection to “An Open Door”.
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“Of the 1305 Jews who were able to make it to Manila, two of them are very important to me and to who I am today. The first was an Austrian physician named Otto Zelezny. He came to the Philippines in 1938 and eventually became friends with my father. When my father became deathly ill in 1945, he saved my father’s life. So I would not be talking with you today if it were not for the skill of this doctor. Between my younger sister and me, we have eight children and six grandchildren. The other Jew that was very instrumental in my life was Dr. Herbert Zipper, He had been to two concentration camps before he got a visa to be the conductor of The Manila Symphony Orchestra. Fortunately he stayed on after the war and I got a chance to meet him personally when I was in 5th Grade. He brought the Manila Symphony to my school and for the first time in my life I had an adult talking to me like I was an adult. He explained the construction of the orchestra and the symphony and various instruments and I was totally fascinated with this and because of him I began to play in a band that continues to this day. So one gave me my life and the other my lifelong love of music.” Noel Izon
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Noel Izon is an independent filmmaker based in Hyattsville, MD. He was born in Tondo Manila in 1946, the year the Philippines attained full independence. He is the fifth child of acclaimed Filipino cartoonist and artist Esmeraldo Z. Izon. He moved to the United States in 1967. He has been involved in creative and broadcast design and production for over four decades. His production credits encompass more than 250 films and videos. He has filmed internationally in Asia, Europe, the United States and Israel. He has won many national awards for his work, which include some 100 nationally televised programs produced mainly for PBS and for National Geographic Television. He has produced films and videos for numerous national and international clients including the White House and the Vatican. AN OPEN DOOR: HOLOCAUST HAVEN IN THE PHILIPPINES A dramatic story of rescue and friendship and how the Philippines was able to provide sanctuary to more than 1305 Jews fleeing Nazi Europe prior to 1941 and is the third in Noel’s trilogy of forgotten WWII Stories. In the1930’s, when nations of the world were closing their doors to refugee Jews fleeing the growing horror of Hitler’s Germany, one small island nation in the Pacific chose to do what others would not – save those lives. On July 6, 1938, 80 delegates from 32 countries around the world met at a French resort in Evian-les-Bains at US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s request to address the growing Jewish refugee crisis in Hitler’s Greater German Reich. Over 200 international journalists and representatives from Jewish relief organizations recorded 10 days of deliberation by the delegates that ultimately failed to perform the task for which they were assembled – to save Germany’s persecuted Jews through orchestrated resettlement. It can be characterized as one of the greatest diplomatic and humanitarian failures of 20th century Western civilization. Not one of the attending delegations voiced a commitment to either lift or suspend their nation’s quota restrictions within their immigration laws or vowed to increase the numbers of Jewish refugees entering their country by offering them political asylum. But while these relatively low-level diplomats, mostly from the Western nations in Europe and the Americas, lamented the plight of the refugees without offering any solutions, the small Asian nation of the Philippines had already set a rescue plan into operation.
Holocaust historian, Bonnie M. Harris, Filipino-American historian, Sharon Delmendo, and award-winning Philippine filmmaker, Noel “Sonny” Izon, have collaborated in creating a timely documentary, “An Open Door: Holocaust Haven in the Philippines,” in which this previously unknown episode in history has been beautifully captured. And while this rescue, orchestrated and empowered through Pres. Quezon, ultimately saved these refugees from the uncertainty of Europe’s future, it also gave them a new welcoming homeland as the Filipino people opened their hearts and accepted them within the fabric of Philippine society. This event in history, the rescuing of 1,300 refugee Jews by the small Asian Commonwealth nation of the Philippines, saved these persecuted Jews of Europe from the fate of the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust, and while 1,300 Jewish lives, when compared to six million Jewish victims of Nazi atrocities, are not so many, to those hundreds who found a haven in Manila, each Jewish life that was rescued was a blessing for the more than 8,000 members of their current posterity. The greatest legacy of the Holocaust Haven created in the Philippines and retold in Izon’s film will always be this – they healed wounds inflicted by the worst of times as only the Filipinos can. Bonnie M. Harris, Ph.D. Lecturer, Dept. of History, San Diego State University, Grossmont College, Southwestern College
Documentary
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Run Time 78 Mins
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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CHERYL & DENISE Written by Brett Epstein
Cheryl & Denise is a story about how a good deed backfires causing our lead Denise to have the worst week ever. The story was inspired from the notion that New Yorkers are rude, always in a rush, and always have their guard up! So the writer, Brett Epstein, created a story about the one New Yorker who decided to stop on her morning job and help her fellow woman who happened to be lost at the time, later we find out she also happens to be a little crazy. This film is a collaborative effort between friends who wanted to create something fun to share with the world. Cheryl & Denise was funded by both Johanny Mota and Rebekah Stein who played Cheryl & Denise. Both ladies wore many hats during the filming of the film, from producer to location manager, to costume coordinator, to cat wrangler, to craft services. Ms. Mota also directed the film making Cheryl & Denise her directorial debut. The film was supposed to be done four years ago with a different director and a different Cheryl but due to creative differences it did not happened. Fast forward to the summer of 2016 Johanny and Rebekah were hanging out after work talking about wanting to work together and Johanny remembered the short film was collecting dust on her computer drive and she sent it to Rebekah the next day. A month later they were in production and the rest is history as they say. Both Rebekah and Johanny want to thank Bryan Fernandez, Stephanie McBee, Charles McBee, David James, Sarah Teed, Jonathan Paine, Michelle Agresti, Emilia Brawn and Dustin Taylor who volunteered their time to help with the production of Cheryl & Denise.
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jo.mota51@gmail.com
TOMORROW EVER AFTER Written, Directed & Starring Ela Thier
Shaina lives 600 years in the future. War, greed, prejudice, poverty, pollution, violence, loneliness, depression – these are things that she’s read about in history books. When an accident in a physics experiment sends her on a time-travel journey to our times, she assumes that everyone around her is honest, generous and caring, as she recruits the help that she needs to get back home.
Comedy
Run Time 16 Mins
Sci-fi/Fantasy
Run Time 95 Mins
Played with touching insight and natural beauty ...provided me with a newfound hopefulness and a new sense of wonder for my fellow humans. — THE HUFFINGTON POST Built around Thier’s dignity and gentle humor... she emanates charismatic warmth and seems genuinely engaged with the film’s theme of compassion in an era of despair. — THE VILLAGE VOICE & LA WEEKLY Her writing and direction are resourceful and assured, and her performance is as delightful as it is imbued with political commentary …In its sweet but pointed way, saying a good deal with relatively little, and in unpredictable ways — THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER Ela Thier brings a fresh perspective …Thier plays the kooky interloper with the same open and unguarded childlike naiveté as Robin Williams’ beloved alien Mork …Ultimately, “Tomorrow Ever After,” contains a hopeful message that somehow, the world just might end up a better place. — LA TIMES Thier’s sensibility offers such a welcome break... inviting audiences to see our modern-day world through fresh eyes. — VARIETY It is a rare film that insinuates itself so gently into your consciousness, and then opens up like a stealth bomb inside your mind and heart. — ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS laugh-out-loud funny and gut wrenching — THE SOCIALIST WORKER nothing short of extraordinary — WRATH-BEARING TREE unquestionably one of the most personal and singular films I’ve seen this year. Her voice is an original and welcome addition to independent American cinema. — FOLLOWING FILMS
http://TomorrowEverAfterMovie.com
info@ThierProductions.us
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FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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FAREWELL MY BIRD Director Ameneh Moghaddam
Ameneh Moghaddam is an Iranian actress, writer, director, and producer. She received the award of best lead actress in theater at the Fair International Film Festival. She graduated in Iran with a BA from the film and television university and with an MA in film production from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She has worked as a producer and director for her three short movies.
through his or her legacy, it should be left behind with someone who cares and loves for it. Even though they are different, they are more similar than people think. I made this movie because I believe that in this world the only thing that is fading gradually is humanity and the relationship between people in different generations based on honesty. People are lonely and are exiled in themselves. As a writer and director, I have tried to narrate these points by picture, which are passed by people easily, by casting an Iranian legend actor who was exiled from his country 37 years ago after the Iranian revolution in 1978. I am excited to show my movie to your festival and to find out how much I can really catch my goal. My goal is to figure out how much my audience can connect with my way of thinking. Additionally, this is a step for me to make future feature movies.
An elderly photographer who loves his pet canary more than anything becomes jealous when a young boy makes a connection with his bird causing a “love triangle.” I want people to watch this film for it’s simple yet deep story. I want the audience to see how a common thing can bring two generations together. In order to keep a person’s memory alive amenehym@yahoo.com
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Drama
Run Time 23 Mins
Black Comedy
Run Time 24 Mins
HOOKED A short film by Luca Vecchi
In a closed system that totally lacks information; external circumstances can influence our judgement. A sloppily dressed girls shivers and drools, convulsing on the edge of a highway. It is 4 in the morning. Luca and Valerio are the ones trying to prevent this story leaking to the media, but the chances to save an overdosed girl when you took the same substances are really poor. In fact, they are almost nonexistent if you are as high as a clumsily doped horse. This girl lives in the suburbs. Carrying her there while she is unconscious needs a surprising co-ordination of both physical effort and intellectual wit, if we take into account the very low calibre of the protagonists! Nonetheless, she does not own the house and we find out that she works as a nurse of an old lady that scampers carelessly among the elegant rooms of her refined residence, animated by that true joy that only dementia can give you. In a closed system that totally lacks information, the presence of lots of money in the toilet of that old lady can influence your judgement.......Hooked is a black comedy.
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A short film by Luca Vecchi
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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SCREEN 13 A gripping new film by producer Farah El-Sayegh & director Ehab Ismail that has been nominated in multiple categories at this year’s Madrid International Film Festival.
Coming out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is the psychological thriller short film Screen 13. The brainchild of Director Ehab “Eazy” Ismail & the Producer Farah El-Sayegh, Screen 13 tells the story of a mentally unstable janitor who relives the horrors of his past after a memory trigger that he experiences whilst working. Raj, the protagonist, is a janitor at the local small-time movie theater. He has an ambiguous past that no one has ever bothered to know about. On one stormy night, all power inside the theater cuts and he is tasked with getting it up and running again. His boss, Nasser, the resident security guard, becomes emboldened by the power cut and decides to take the rest of the night off - drinking and watching movies inside his office while Raj continues with his duties. It is only after seeing a remnant from his past that he begins descending into chaos - causing him to relive the horrors he has tried so hard to suppress.
In the lead role is Joaquim Gonsalves, a Dubai-based actor from Mumbai, who breathes life into Screen 13’s protagonist: Raj. “For me, with any character, the first thing is if it interests me and if I can do it justice. With Raj, I was able to imagine his back-story because I’ve seen people just like him firsthand back in India. I know what people of his background go through and the reality of coming from a troubled childhood in a place like India.” When asked about his method, Joaquim dives deep into the role both on & off set “I try to write the situation in my notepad or on the script and jot down notes from the scene about how Raj would be thinking, and how my thought process as Raj would be. Back story is important, how the character’s past life impacts his present day. Whatever emotions he is going through I try to draw from my own experiences.”
When asked about the inspiration for the story, it was clear that the team wanted to tell a fresh & honest story set in Dubai. “The indie film scene in Dubai tends to try to emulate what they see in the indie scene in the US, and even Hollywood, by creating stories that don’t make sense and are not true to the region or the city we’re living in” Ehab Ismail says. “Also, people tend to think of high-rises, flashy cars, and luxury when they think about Dubai, but the reality is that most of the city lives…normally. There are also low-income neighborhoods made up of varying nationalities from South Asia & the Middle East - they have their own stories too…”
“Sometimes I didn’t know where Joe (Joaquim) started & Raj ended.” Ehab remarks. “Many of the performances especially in the theater scene - had a very deep, visceral quality to them, it was clear that Joe was digging deep to extract these emotions from himself & the character.”
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In the supporting role of Nasser, the aggressive security guard who menaces the protagonist Raj, is industry veteran Adam Stone. Adam has 3 Hollywood productions & over 15 short films under his belt, having acted with the likes of Jackie Chan in Kung Fu Yoga & Brad Pitt in the recent War Machine. “This movie would not have worked without a solid Nasser.” Ehab remarks. “Adam’s character, Nasser is so important to the film, considering he is the reason behind Raj’s eventual breakdown, we couldn’t just settle for anybody to fill the role.” “The casting process took about a week, but when Joe & Adam came, we knew that we had found what we needed.” says Farah ElSayegh, Screen 13’s producer & co-writer. “From the start, I’d been very attached to the idea, and I did not want to settle for a weak production for the sake of convenience. We faced many challenges, one of which was actually securing a cinema to shoot in. Our shoots would also have to be done at night after hours, so naturally that added it’s own additional challenges. We finally found a wonderful old-style cinema in the neighboring emirate Sharjah by way of our sponsor Senora. This gave us the big break we needed to green light the production and make it happen.”
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When asked about the visual style of the film, Ehab focuses a lot on purpose. “I don’t like to do things just because we can do them. Just because a certain piece of equipment or a certain technology is available to us, doesn’t mean it needs to be in the film.” “I worked very closely with Hani (the D.O.P & Editor) to make sure we set the mood right in every shot, and stayed true to my vision of the film.” Screen 13’s visuals are based in the logic of the film. The film begins with steady, focused shots, and progresses into a more erratic hand-held style as the main character descends into chaos. The visual element serves the character and story.
Yasmine Zahran, Screen 13’s production designer, had her work cut out for her when transforming the sets into the various locations seen in the film. “We really only shot in three different sets, with the exception of the outdoor scenes. We made the most out of our locations by re-purposing one room or hallway for different scenes.” Yasmine adds “I won’t give away the secrets (laughs) but a lot of the different locations you see in the film are actually the same set, I won’t tell you which ones though!”
“Screen 13 doesn’t call for flashy visuals or over-the top gimmicks to sell the story.” Hani Fayed tells us. “The same goes for the editing of the film” Hani adds, “…we wanted to unravel the story naturally, without any forced cutting or rushed pacing. I think the story of Screen 13 is one that really needs to take its time in order for the audience to fully grasp it, and by the end of the film, it’s really rewarding to see it play out since we did not rush the audience into understanding it.” While piecing it together in post-production, Sound Supervisor Ahmad Sahmoud assembled a team of Dubai professionals to create an original score for the film & create all the audio elements in the film from scratch. By his side is Azarel Fernandes, long time musician & audio engineer, who played a major role in mixing & mastering the entire film. “I couldn’t have asked for a better team, honestly” Ehab tells us. “I’m very fortunate that we all were able to put our brains together in creating Screen 13. It’s been a wild ride and I’m so proud of everyone involved in creating the film.” Screen 13 was done in cooperation with the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Communication at the American University in Dubai. The team sends major thanks to Roozbeh Kafi, the project supervisor, Senora the Main sponsor, as well as all the cast, crew, and interns who made the film possible.
www.facebook.com/Screen13Film/?fref=ts
Drama
Film THE MAGAZINE
Run Time 20 Mins
PRODUCED BY FARAH EL SAYEGH DIRECTED BY EHAB ISMAIL JOAQUIM GONSALVES ADAM ST IN “SCREEN 13” CINEMATOGRAPHY BY HANI FAYED PRODUCTION DESIGN YASMINE ZAHRAN SOUND SUPERVISION AHMAD SAHMOUD edited by HANI FAYED WRITTEN BY EHAB ISMAIL AND FARAH EL SAYEGH CREATIVE ADVISOR YASMINE ZAHRAN
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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Provenance Ben Hecking, the writer & director behind this incredible feature film, gives us the in-depth story behind the making of his latest film.
Synopsis A classical musician (BAFTA nominated Christian McKay) travels to the South of France to escape his demons and wait for his new love, a younger woman named Sophia (Charlotte Vega). Trying to come to peace with his new life in these slow, peaceful surroundings, his seemingly chance meeting with Peter (Harry Macqueen) will threaten to derail everything. A tangled web of passion, trauma, memory and love that builds towards a great operatic, tragedy, Provenance is a devastating tale of people who can’t escape their pasts. THE IDEA The idea for “Provenance” came about, as all good ideas seem to, in the pub one day in July 2015. Christian McKay, Harry Macqueen and I had worked together on various films over the previous years and were looking to tackle a new project together.
TOP LEFT: J & S WALKING BY THE WOODS - RIGHT CENTRE: CREW WORKING ON SCENES - BOTTOM IMAGE: FILMING THE CONCERT SCENE. PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO BEN STARKIN. ALL SCREEN SHOTS ARE CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO WHITE HORSE FILMS LTD.
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Christian had a bit of spare time between jobs and invited Harry and I to join him on a writing retreat in a small village called Entrecasteaux in the South of France, with the idea that we might improvise a short film. I told Christian that I wasn’t particularly interested in doing a short and that, if we were serious about it, we should make a feature film! After looking at some photos of the village online, and seeing how beautiful it was, I knew that it would make the perfect backdrop for a film but none of us had any idea what it should be about.I hastily wrote up a short treatment and shared it with the others who seemed quite excited by it. We knew it would need some work but felt confident that we could deliver a beautiful film. I asked Christian why he had chosen Entrecasteaux and he mentioned that he had played in a music festival there twenty years ago and had always wanted to go back. It seemed to me that, in the idea of someone revisiting a place from their past, we might have the beginnings of a story. MEETING THE PRODUCER I graduated from the Cinematography course at the internationally acclaimed National Film and Television School (NFTS) just outside London. My first feature as a cinematographer “Hide and Seek” won the Michael Powell Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2014 and my second feature credit as a cinematographer, “Hinterland”, directed by Harry Macqueen, was nominated for Best UK Feature at Raindance in 2014. Both of these films had tiny budgets and tiny crews and I was convinced that we could pull off the “Provenance” shoot in a similar manner.
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Christian had already come across Amanda Atkins (our producer) via other projects and so he sent a quick email to ask her if she might be interested in coming on board.
TOP RIGHT: FIRST_AD_THIBAULT_TRAVERS_AND_BEN_HECKING_WITH_CAMERA - BOTTOM IMAGE: THE CONCERT. PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO BEN STARKIN. ALL SCREEN SHOTS ARE CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO WHITE HORSE FILMS LTD.
He linked her up to Harry and I and shared “Hinterland” with her to show her what we were capable of. A week later we were having dinner with Amanda. Three hours after that, having given probably the worst pitch of my life, she had agreed to come on board subject to approving the final script. Amanda had seen something in “Hinterland” that really resonated with her – a quality of filmmaking where meaning is portrayed as much by what is not said as what is and where plot and characters drive the story rather than having to rely on special effects. THE FIRST RECCE AND THE TREATMENT We all recognised the importance of visiting Entrecasteaux to familiarise ourselves with the location whilst we were developing the treatment. So in August 2015, with Amanda’s assistance, Christian, Harry and I flew to the South of France and spent a week thrashing out ideas. Whilst organising the recce, I had discovered a house on the outskirts of the village that
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I thought would be absolutely perfect for the lead character’s home. Whilst we were unable to stay there on this particular occasion, I had contacted the owner who agreed to meet with us. We told her what we were doing and that we had fallen in love with her house and she agreed to show us around. What we saw was an absolute paradise and, amazingly, she also owned several other properties that meant we would be able to provide accommodation for all of our cast and crew on site. It quickly became apparent that she would be an invaluable member of the team – she knew everyone in the village, including the mayor who was a childhood friend, and without her support the film simply wouldn’t exist. Not long after that trip we shared our ideas with Amanda. She recognised that there was a great film within the outline I had presented but she still had some issues with the story it was overcomplicated and there were too many extraneous characters. She forced us to go back to the drawing board and made us question what the story was really all about - essentially a three-handed romantic drama with a uniquely tragic ending.
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WRITING THE SCRIPT By the beginning of October we had our treatment and all that remained was to sit down and write the script. The whole process until this point had been extremely collaborative, as all films should be, and I knew that we wanted to keep it that way throughout the film’s production. Christian was about to disappear for a few months so it was important to get the first draft written before he left. We could then continue to work on it while he was away. I seem to remember sitting down on a Sunday morning and delivering the first draft four days later! We continued to develop the script until the end of the year, ironing out all the creases and crinkles and working through every single interpretation to ensure that the complex story made sense. The draft that would become our shooting script was sent out to Amanda on Christmas Day 2015 and just before the New Year we were given the green light.
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CREWING THE FILM The next couple of months passed by in a bit of a blur as we started to prep the shoot itself. I surrounded myself with a fabulous crew of extremely talented people to help bring the vision to the screen. I knew that with an extremely short production schedule and the fact that we would be living on top of each other for two weeks, it was imperative that the team were not only brilliant at what they did but amazing people as well; Katie King was our fabulous make-up and hair designer; Helen Miles our sound recordist (she would also do the sound design – more of which later!); Molly Manning Walker, a supremely talented cinematographer herself, was my right hand woman on camera; Ben Starkin my superb gaffer and Thibault Travers, our brilliant First Assistant Director. Kara Colbeck (Costume Designer) and Eleonore Cremonese (Production Designer) rounded out the crew but were sadly unable to join us on location and, whilst we were shooting in France, Marie-Elena Dyche and Marta Henriquez were arranging the London portion of the shoot.
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We filmed throughout the town as well as in local beauty spots such as Tourtours and the Lac De Saint Croix before finishing up back at the house. The shoot lasted 12 days in France before we packed everything up and headed back to the UK to continue for a further three days in and around London. Words can’t quite do justice to my feelings about the shoot and about the team who put their hearts and souls into the film. The quality of the end result is testament to their hard work. I was quite militant about keeping to a twelve hour shooting day and incredibly, given the restrictions of our schedule, we only went over on the last night. I should also point out one other remarkable thing about our shoot – Amanda was keen to come out to France with us but didn’t want to interfere with the creative process on set and she didn’t. Instead, I think she must be the first feature film producer to also be the chef; good food it was too!
I like to make sure that everyone feels they are totally invested in a project and that at any point anyone can speak up and offer an opinion. The best directors I’ve worked with have a very clear idea of the film they’re trying to make but aren’t afraid to admit that there might actually be a better way of doing something. It’s all about having a water tight but completely adaptable plan.
He and I spent several days talking through the script in pre-production which resulted in the production of the film’s ‘bible’ – a sort of expanded shot list with other pertinent information relating to costume, hair and makeup and production design. This work in prep proved to be an invaluable guide for me and for everyone else on the team and, I’m sure, was entirely responsible for helping us to avoid many of the mistakes you might expect on a film produced in this way.
Amanda and Harry both attended these screenings. Members of the public unconnected to the film were also invited so that we could gauge the reaction from regular filmgoers. (Another great tip for new filmmakers!)
While she’s absent for the first third of the film, Sophia’s presence haunts every frame. On top of this, the character shifts half way through – moving from a deliberate fantasy figure (for both John and the audience) to a fully rounded, complex and emotional character who is, really, the centrepiece of the whole thing. We knew we’d set ourselves a really hard task in trying to find a young actress (the character is 22) with the range, maturity and emotional integrity required to pull it off. We were blown away by how brilliant the people were who auditioned for us. However one person was in a league of her own and we were absolutely thrilled when Charlotte Vega agreed to play the role. THE SHOOT After weeks of prep and a week of rehearsals in the UK, the unit of six crew and three actors moved out to Entrecasteaux and the shoot began. The locals were absolutely incredible, as we knew they would be, and we were even provided with a local gendarme who ended up stopping the traffic for us! @provenancethefilm
Finding an editor with the right sensibilities was imperative and I knew as soon as I met Andonis Trattos that I’d found a collaborator not only for this project but, hopefully, for life.
We spent months crafting the edit – fortunately the material we had to work from, certainly from a performance point of view, was of the highest calibre so it made the process extremely enjoyable. As we were based out in Beaconsfield, home to the NFTS, we were very generously allowed to book the school’s cinema in which to view the edit at various stages. Seeing a film on the largest screen possible is incredibly helpful, as it allows you to judge the pace and feel of the film in a way that I don’t think is possible on a smaller screen.
FINDING SOPHIA Nowhere was this relationship more important than in casting. We knew that with Christian and Harry we already had the right principal male actors but we needed to find the right actress for the central role of Sophia.
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POST PRODUCTION Filming completed, post production began. As a graduate of the NFTS, I knew that I wanted to give the opportunity of cutting the feature to one of the recent graduates. I had attended the Grad Show in the February and interviewed several people based on the strength of the work I’d seen and the reports from the tutors and support staff at the school.
@ProvenanceFilm
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TOP MIDDLE: PETER - MIDDLE CENTRE: SOPHIA - BOTTOM IMAGE: SCENE FROM THE FILM “PROVENANCE”. PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO BEN STARKIN. ALL SCREEN SHOTS ARE CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO WHITE HORSE FILMS LTD.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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TOP RIGHT: TOURTOURS - MIDDLE: J&S - BEN HECKING DIRECTOR WRITER AND CINEMATOGRAPHER LOOKING INTENSE - RIGHT MIDDLE: CAMERA ASSISTANT MOLLY MANNING WALKER JUST BEFORE A TAKE - BOTTOM IMAGE: CAST & CREW. PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO BEN STARKIN. ALL SCREEN SHOTS ARE CREDITED/COPYRIGHT TO WHITE HORSE FILMS LTD.
SOUND DESIGN & MUSIC We locked the picture in mid-August 2016 and then moved on to the sound design. Our sound designer was the fabulously talented Helen Miles who also recorded the sound for us on location. We had quite clear ideas about what we wanted to do with the sound track and how we wanted to create a sense of the different time periods in the film. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was how we used the music in the film. As the main character, John, is a classical musician who has abandoned his career, it seemed appropriate that the film should only feature music when it’s seen in relation to him and I made the decision fairly early on that I did not want there to be a ‘score’ to the film. It was a decision that could have backfired horribly and meant that getting the sound design right was even more crucial. Christian actually trained at the Royal College of Music and had chosen very specific classical pieces for the film having performed many of them before. The centrepiece of the film is an extended flashback that takes place around a concert where John and his wife, played by world renowned violinist Chereene Allen, perform the Franck Violin Sonata. This piece was recorded live during filming and this recording underscores the entire sequence in the final film.
We all agreed that a female vocalist was needed and, in keeping with Amanda’s (and the film’s!) spirit of providing a platform for new talent, Paul put out a call to music schools in London to find our singer. He screened 58 singers and from them auditioned 12 and then submitted 4 versions of the song to Amanda and I. We were all unanimous in our choice of Maia and with the rest of the band in place Paul set about recording and mixing a fantastic original song.
The other pieces performed by Christian in the film were recorded live on set using the piano available at the house, but had to be re-recorded in a studio in London to get the right sound quality.
FESTIVALS AND PUBLIC RECEPTION By the middle of November 2016 we were ready to have a screening to a select audience of cast and crew along with friends, family and a few representatives from the industry. We had started principal photography eight months before and it had been less than a year since the ink had dried on the final draft of the script. I couldn’t be more proud of the film and the incredible talent on display. We had our Premiere at the East End Film Festival in June 2017 and the public response has been fantastic – our very first independent review on IMDb was a ten star one and called the film ‘A highly original and engaging drama.’ I’m thrilled to be screening at the Madrid International Film Festival and to be nominated for three awards is an amazing honour. We can’t wait for audiences there to see the film and hope that for 93 minutes they are swept up and carried along by a powerful story of lost love, memory, passion and desire.
Unfortunately Christian was unavailable for that, but incredibly we found an amazing pianist, Ana Sinkovec, the day before our recording session who was able to come in and match Christian’s performance with such skill that we were able to lay her session on top of Christian’s without any edits. THE ORIGINAL SONG In one of the most emotional scenes in the film, Sophia dances in John’s garden to a record that has great personal significance to her. We had spent a long time trying to find the perfect song and were drawing a blank – the ones we liked were too expensive and the ones we could afford weren’t quite right. Interestingly we met the owner of the recording studio, Paul Handley, when Amanda was looking for another house in the village where she could cook for the cast and crew. She had contacted Paul, who owns a property in Entrecasteaux, and explained who she was and why she was going there. Paul then told her that he was actually a composer and musician. When Amanda explained what we were looking for, Paul asked if he could have a go at writing something for us. Paul sent over several demos and we decided “Come Back And Love Me Tomorrow” perfectly captured the underlying emotions we needed to create at that moment in the film. A slow, jazzy number with beautiful lyrics, it had a certain timelessness which was essential for our purposes as well.
Drama
Film THE MAGAZINE
Run Time 93 mins
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Covadonga
Sean moved to Los Angeles, where he assisted film director Renny Harlin and film producer Tom Sternberg, respectively, while coaching Loyola High School boy’s lacrosse and playing professionally for the Los Angeles Riptide. Sean continued to write and make films, and his first feature script BEACH PILLOWS was optioned by Reason Pictures. While in development, Sean returned home to New York to work in film and TV development and production, contributing to various cable programs for MTV, VH1, and The History Channel, while writing freelance journalism and creative fiction for The Harlem Times, Huffington Post, and GOOD Magazine, among other publications. Sean also wrote advertising during this time, including a national television commercial for Macy’s. When the option on BEACH PILLOWS expired, he produced it independently. Sean directed and edited BEACH PILLOWS in 2013, securing a soundtrack from popular rock bands Deer Tick and The Deadly Syndrome. After winning Amsterdam Film Festival’s Van Gogh World Cinema Screenwriting Award and premiering at the Lighthouse International Film Festival, BEACH PILLOWS was distributed by Gravitas Ventures in January 2014, and subsequently on Blu-ray and DVD by Films Around the World, where it continues to cultivate a devoted following. Sean’s second feature film, which he wrote, directed, edited, stars in, and for which he wrote and performed an original soundtrack of Irish folk-inspired ballads, is entitled COVADONGA.
A Beautifully Made Feature Film by Sean Hartofilis
Mourning his wife and their stolen life at a secluded lake house, Martin Ravin watches a tipsy young couple commandeer his canoe for a moonlight ride. Only the boy returns to shore, and Martin abducts him in order to find the missing girl. As Martin’s dark past starts haunting his present—in a decidedly musical fashion—we’re left to wonder if his crusade is exacting justice or simply transmitting a tragic history. Sean Hartofilis writes, directs, stars in, and performs an original soundtrack of Irish folk-inspired ballads in his follow-up to 2014’s Beach Pillows (starring Geoffrey Arend, Vincent Kartheiser, Annette O’Toole, and Richard Schiff). Screening Tuesday, July 12, 5:30pm at Madrid International Film Festival , for inquiries see contact info below. Sean Hartofilis was born on Long Island, New York to Irish and Greek immigrants. He attended Princeton University, where he majored in Politics, became an AllAmerican and National Champion lacrosse player, and began writing, directing, and editing films. After graduating in 2003, shartofilis@gmail.com
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/beachpillows
Drama
Run Time 70 Mins
Drama
Run Time 16 Mins
LAME DUCK A Short film by Cristian Bota
Lame Duck is a film inspired by real events; the movie tells the story of a kid who joins a group without realizing it is part of a Romanian mafia movement that in the meantime has deprived hundreds of elderly people. The main character goes through an initiation, sincere and frank, believing that the world in which he lives is perfect. As a director I like to think that life is more interesting than movies, which is why in any moment of my life in which I live, someone will tell me an amazing true story that I will turn it into a movie. As an actor I learned that the truth is the one thing that it is very exciting. That makes me a director in search of the truth. I do not believe in movies that offer answers, I believe in movies that give birth to questions. With respect, Cristian Bota http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6550916/
Film THE MAGAZINE
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
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PURPLE HORIZON Director Olgun Özdemir
Meryem(25) lost her family members because of sinking the migrant boat in the Aegean Sea near Bodrum Kos Island while trying to escape the war of Syria. As a member of the Voast GuardsChief Superintendent Ibrahim (50) who is about to retire helps Meryem that the only one survived from this accident. Orphan İbrahim become retired, got married to Meryem in the same year and settled into the Bozdoğan Town of Aegean. There was one more couple who settled in the town at the same time. Hayati (35) who is an architect that fed up Istanbul and his painter partner Bahar (30). The days go well in the early years but a few years later the things changes. Meryem just cannot get through because of this severe trauma and she wants to visit more the beach and the sea where her family dead day by day. Her inner world keeps whispering that she belongs there. When İbrahim’s answe always ‘No’ she tries to find another way to go. However, she cares about İbrahim’s constent while searching for this another way because of the duty of loyalty. Bahar is trying to convince Hayati to move back to İstanbul but he is content from his life. While these two woman, who are totally different from each other, trying to reach their goals, all of the story characters’ interesting pasts will come to light.
RESUME Olgun Özdemir was born 18 August 1974 in İzmir, Turkey. He graduated from the Köln International Studio Academia Media School. His degree is Stage Management. He is the owner of Sargona Film Production Drama
olgunozdemir@gmail.com
Run Time 112 Mins
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Film THE MAGAZINE
SUNDAY 9th JULY
willed Zhang Shi-hao, who becomes jealous when a new transfer student called Lin Yu-en steals his girlfriend and eventually gets her pregnant. 24 minutes
16:10 Baby When a teenage girl desperate to find her mother is brought to yet another foster home, she runs away with her drug dealer boyfriend and has to survive on the streets of Burlington.
SCREEN 1 10:00
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Tropical Iron: the Saga of Minor Keith
100 minutes
105 minutes
11:50 The Public Enlightenment: A documentary series that look at claims made, promises sold and convictions held, and what science can tell us about their veracity. 51 minutes
Life After Death There is a world outside In the moment Gabriele wins his depression, and renews his presence in the world, the unexpected events he will come through, bring him to a new life. 105 minutes 12:55
14:45 The Mice War The Mice War is a story for children that teaches about the absurdity of war and acceptance of cultural diversity. 78 minutes 16:10 The Promised Band A group of upstart women with dubious musical skills use a fake band as a cover story to cross forbidden borders into each other’s tangled lives in Israel and Palestine. 90 minutes 17:45 The Other Kids A raw, intimate look into the struggles of six small-town teens on the verge of high school graduation.
95 minutes
19:25 Soul Chase, an artist, lives in the inner city with his girlfriend Alexis. One horrific night he returns home to find she has been murdered. His grief spirals into insanity as he is led on a path to revenge. 101 minutes 21:10 My Life as a Film “My Life as a Film” is a personal search for the difficult yet healing truths hidden behind her father’s pictures. 77 minutes
SCREEN 2 10:00 Blue World Order: the film After a nuclear war decimated the northern hemisphere, the surviving population become desperate as they competed for scarce resources - even as an infectious bacteria threatens to destroy those who remain. 108 minutes
American Socialist: The Life & Times of Eugene Victor Debs A biography of the founder of the American Socialist Movement, in the broader context of American politics and history. 98 minutes 11:55
13:35
Can’t Win. Do Try.
123 minutes
15:40 Beat Him Up Beat Him Up focuses on issues of bullying and mental health, exploring the profound ways in which guilt and repressed emotions can change and ruin lives. Set in a Taiwanese high school, the film follows the weak-
17:55 Redemption
15 minutes
18:10 Lame Duck Young student enters a job that changes his day . He meets a girl and learns new things about love. 15 minutes
18:25 Balkan Roots Six musicians from across Europe. A Barcelona melting pot. Music from Roma, Klezmer & Balkan traditions... but with a Barcelona twist? 83 minutes
20:00 Random Karma Random Karma is a cleverly original ensemble film about an Iraqi war veteran with P.T.S.D. and his energetic, naïve, and yet entertaining, martial arts students who get mixed up with witty mobsters and dirty cops. 105 minutes
21:45 BENEATH THE SILENCE The plot follows the story of one fatal week in the life of the Basons: A traumatized father looking for redemption; a mother that seeks love and wants to get her husband back; and a 10 year-old boy, who goes through an accelerated maturation process, and asks too many questions. 106 minutes
SCREEN 3
86 minutes
11:30 Black Butterfly Outside a mountain town grappling with a series of abductions and murders, Paul (Antonio Banderas), a reclusive writer, struggles to start what he hopes will be a career-saving screenplay. 93 minutes
13:05 Blood of Innocent HIKARI has been a girl with a kind heart who protects her bullied classmate — until one day, she becomes a victim of a raping and gets obsessed with getting revenge against the criminal. 112 minutes 15:00 Dark Meridian A New Orleans detective gets caught up in a fight between two rival criminal factions while on a stake out. To survive the night, he must find a killer on the run and make things right before the killer reaches his other targets. 91 minutes
82 minutes
20:35 BEHIND THE COVE Negative media coverage on Japan about the never-ending whaling issue prompted first-time documentary filmmaker Keiko Yagi to find out more about the topic. 105 minutes
19:40 Hagereseb It’s 1997 in Seattle’s Yesler Terrace, and 10-year-old Abai is on a quest to find fresh batteries for his Casio keyboard for one last music lesson with his older brother Sam before seeing him sent back to their native Eritrea, indefinitely. 40 minutes 20:25 Noble lies 1944. Italy.On the Bolognese hills, a family of decayed aristocrats survives its own economic decline in the only place that they have left: the estate of Villa La Quiete. 74 minutes 21:40 OVNI An alien life form arrives in the Dominican Republic in search of freedom and forms an unique bond with an autistic girl and the town’s drunkard. 93 minutes
SCREEN 4 10:00 Landscapes
52 minutes
10:55 Laura This movie tells the story of a woman who has been in two romantic relationships with two men in different times , but a same place (seaside). 39 minutes 11:40 The big boys’ playground Stéphane, a rock-climber, wants to become someone in the rockclimbing world. With his girlfriend Alizée, a renowned climber, he spends winter in Siurana, Catalonia— the perfect place for climbing hard. 47 minutes
10:00 Bikini Blue The immigrant’s fate has long been a stigma for many nations. Along decades Great Britain has become a new home for people from all continents. The times in which “Bikini Blue” is set have seen nearly a quarter of a million Poles traumatised by war and politics - find shelter and start a new life in the British Islands.
16:35 Kaikou
18:00 New Chefs on the Block New Chefs on the Block is an intimate, multi-year portrait of two chefs and their staffs in Washington, DC who struggle to open and maintain their first restaurants. 96 minutes
12:30 ORION A dreamlike allegory of warning: in a desolate, future North America, after environmental collapse, a wanderer fights to save a female captive from a man who may not be a man at all, but something more metaphysical.
MONDAY 10TH JULY SCREEN 1 10:00 Tomorrow Ever After Shaina is a historian who lives in 600 years in the future. War, poverty, pollution, greed, depression, loneliness: these are things that she’s read about in history books. When a physics experiment goes awry, Shaina accidentally time-travels to the year 2015. 95 minutes
11:40
Untitled Zombie Project
22 minutes
12:05 Suicide Note Suicide Note is a surrealist meditation on the many self-inflicted deaths of identity we must courageously endure in order to attain a more complete understanding of who we are. 6 minutes
12:15 Sorry for the inconvenience Max finally gets his illegal satellite dish set-up operating and discovers a limitless amount of free entertainment right at his fingertips. 6 minutes
12:25 Sheltered As tornado sirens blare, Ed forces his small family to seek cover in a local storm shelter. 6 minutes 12:35 REM Gail Morris is lonely. She lost her husband in a tragic work accident a year ago and now she’s in a solitary job working as a security guard. When she comes across Joseph, a homeless man scribbling madness on the cold, concrete walls of a bunker she thinks nothing of it.
110 minutes
14 minutes
14:25 The Valley Devastated by his daughter’s suicide, an immigrant entrepreneur working in high-tech seeks answers to his lingering questions. 94 minutes
12:55 Inner City Arzu, a young girl growing up in contemporary Azerbaijan, falls in love with Rafael, her piano teacher’s son, a veteran of the Karabakh War.
16:05 To The Flame Kyle, an aimless film student, becomes fascinated with a dark, disturbed couple while interviewing neighbors for class. Big mistake. 90 minutes
15:00
17:40 the Nature of Things A philosophical and emotive immersion in that precious period of life that is the end of life, through one year of meetings and dialogues between the author and a man who is terminally ill with ALS. 68 minutes
18:55 THE GOLDEN AGE THE GOLDEN AGE is a tour de force musical film about subversive pop star, Maya O’Malley (Justin Connor), who after a string of incendiary remarks in the press, gets dropped from his music label, Aspect Records in the Fall of 2012.
Film THE MAGAZINE
100 minutes
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE SCREENING TIME AND DATE OF ANY FILM IN THE FESTIVAL COMPETITION WITHOUT ANY PRIOR NOTIFICATION. PLEASE REFER TO THE DISPLAYED DAILY SCREENING SCHEDULE.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
116 minutes
I wanna be a scientists when I grow up “I wanna be a scientist when I grow up” is a miniseries of 10 short films in which girls and young women scientists present different professionals roles. 23 minutes
15:30 Hired Swords and the Sucker Gun In an imaginary world, two sellswords are hunting an unknown criminal, who is gunning down people with a flintlock pistol. 21 minutes 15:55 HALLELUJAH October 1990. Somewhere in the Midlands. Rave is coming and Thatcher is leaving. Four young lads are discussing their condition and struggling with their everyday choices. 8 minutes
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FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
16:10 Happily Ever After Different from each other, Hugo and Eva have more in common that one could imagine. Even though they cross their paths constantly, they never meet. In one of these ‘encounters’, an accident changes their destinies. 16 minutes
16:30 Girl from the Brothel Mia, a successful Paris-based photographer, bored by her comfortable, middle-class existence, flies to Cambodia to surprise her businessman husband, Xavier, with plans of convincing him to start the family with her that she has always wanted. 88 minutes 18:05 GlaswAsian Tales Four young men, from Glasgow’s Southside immigrant communities, yearn for life and love, amidst the pressures, chaos and dangers in a community confronted by change. 40 minutes
18:50 Before Anything You Say Weaving through Paris and Winnipeg, a married couple struggle to maintain their love and marriage even as a lifealtering decision threatens to tear them apart. 62 minutes 20:30
NETWORKING
big city - until she stumbles head first into the grip of it’s charming low life’s. 18 minutes
16:35 Indiana A disillusioned demon hunter considers leaving the field, but on the insistence of his more eager partner, agrees to take on one more case that could change his life forever. 76 minutes
17:55 DESERT WOUNDS The film tells the story of Christian African Women from Sudan and Eritrea, who fled persecution at the hand of Muslims in their countries and are seeking asylum in Israel. 58 minutes
19:00 Eviction Carl Patzke was born and raised in Berlin. Growing up in the old Berlin postal district SO 36 he was strongly influenced by the turbulent history of the smaller eastern region which became legendary as a center of the alternative movement and the squatter scene in the 1970s and 1980s. 27 minutes 19:30 Float Float is a short film set in mid-90s Seattle following the trials and tribulations of a Cambodian hustler named Rocky Mang. 23 minutes 20:30 NETWORKING
SCREEN 2
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10:00 Blood, Sand and Gold Blood, Sand and Gold follows an archeologist’s discovery of Sir Francis Drake’s lost treasure in the Sahara Desert.
80 minutes
11:25 Atlantic City Character Study “Atlantic City Character Study” provides an unfiltered look at what it means to live in a once iconic American resort town, surrounded by the glory of the past as it struggles towards an unknown future. 29 minutes
12:00 AVOICE4PEACE AVOICE4PEACE offers a rare glimpse at the vibrant and expressive musical culture of Kenya and illustrates the meaningful contribution of three musicians who are using music to bring about peace in Kenya and around the world. 45 minutes 12:50 Saawan Saawan is a story of a 9-year-old Baluchistani boy, stricken by polio in Pakistan. 138 minutes 15:15 REFUGE Refuge is a chronicle of human stories from the European Refugee Crisis, focused on humanity and hope. 20 minutes
15:40 Babysitter Eilat is 17 years old, but feels anywhere between 7 and 70. One evening she goes on a standard babysitting job, but the events which take her place leave her stranded between childhood and womanhood.
SCREEN 3 10:00 Dislike Eight of the most popular video bloggers of the country were gathered to take part in a presentation of a new energy soft-drink. They should spend a night at the empty house without WI-FI and other networks 85 minutes
11:30 Curse of Midnight Hoping to fix their dysfunctional marriage, a couple travels to an isolated mountain cabin to work out their problems… but the one problem they didn’t anticipate is the maniac trying to kill them. 88 minutes 13:05 DAGSIN (Gravity) DAGSIN (Gravity) is a modern day example of Humanity’s Sisyphean struggle itself. 116 minutes 15:05 Johnny on the Moon
15:35 Driver’s Ed A shy, overweight young woman leaves the safety of her home for an unwelcoming high school classroom. 15 minutes
15:55 Choke Hold Sometimes you have to go too far to know your own strength. 14 minutes 16:15 Chekhov’s Gun Anton Chekhov is a middle-class salary man whose life is routine and ordinary. One day, he finds a gun placed on his car’s trunk. Accidentally, he drops the gun and also finds a masked man hiding under the car. 22 minutes
23 minutes
16:10 Baggage A comic tale of a small town girl who moves to New York City and realizes she’s not in Kansas anymore. She’s wide eyed about the high life of the
30 minutes
16:35
The Claim / Demand
81 minutes
18:15 Little Sparta A documentary that explores the constant struggle between forces of
good and evil all the way from the origin of the human species till the present day. 72 minutes
19:25 The Perfect Day
19:25
Hooked
20:30 NETWORKING
20:30
NETWORKING
24 minutes
19:40 Safe in the Storm
10:00 One Buck Shifting from one pocket to another, from one man’s drama to another, a lowly dollar bill, “one buck” takes us on an odyssey through the heart of a forgotten town in Louisiana. 87 minutes
11:30 Paranormal drive A married couple with a child buys a used car, unaware that there was a body of a murdered woman there before. Now our characters are possessed by a ghost. 85 minutes
13:00 The Southland General Dreams A play in the play, a director’s fatigue and extramarital affair during his work, like sadness in Spring in a Small Town. 153 minutes 15:35 The Prowler Daniel Wilson is looking forward to his first proper Christmas with girlfriend Helena. But when ex-wife Eva calls on Christmas Eve, claiming a prowler has tried to break in, Daniel finds himself back at his former family home. 16 minutes
15:55 That is your baby Faith brings together two women and a little girl. 15 minutes 16:15 Frank & Suzie A mute musician ever eager to express herself finds out there is more to communication than spoken language when she meets a blind tailor... 13 minutes
16:30 Generation Emigration
11TH JULY SCREEN 1
10:00 Red Nail Polish
21 minutes
16:55 From Ashes to Immortality A dark, human story about an innocent girl, a disturbed father, a troubled neighbor, and a tale of magic. 26 minutes 17:25 Hoda’s Story Twelve years in the life of a girl in Gaza who was blinded by a bullet. 58 minutes
18:30 Generation Hope Generation Hope’ is the new halfhour documentary movie which shows the extraordinary difference receiving a daily meal in school can make to children growing up in some of the world’s poorest communities. 35 minutes
19:10 The Vanity When an artist receives an antique vanity from her husband, she becomes obsessed with her appearance and possessed by the former owner. 13 minutes
13 minutes
10:15 boat On a boat on a lonely river, a visitor upsets an old man’s determined isolation. But who is this strange newcomer, and what does he want? 13 minutes
10:30 The Girl in the Pink Motel
13 minutes
10:45 CHOICE IN QUANTUM Ran Lin, a police officer in Time Administration, time travels back from 2035 to 2015. Ran Lin wants to save his father Physicist Hao Lin, who was murdered at Ran’s childhood 18 minutes
11:05 Doors A man destroyed by his own obsession. 13 minutes 11:20 DIGGING “THE SPANISH EARTH” A documentary that looks at the people, passions and politics that went into the making of the classic Joris Ivens film THE SPANISH EARTH, from 1937. This year is the 80th anniversary. 108 minutes 12:20 Out of Innocence A link is wrongly made between the secret birth of a stillborn baby and the brutal murder of another, found 50 miles away. 60 minutes 14:15
Through the stories of four young Moldovans, the film explores the phenomenon of mass youth emigration from Moldova.
THE MAGAZINE
6 minutes
TUESDAY
SCREEN 4
Film
12 minutes
The Very Last Morning 98 minutes
15:55
Plant Codes, Unleashing Nature’s Healing Power In this film, some of the America’s leading doctors and their patients speak out about how a Plant Based Diet can prevent, treat, arrest and cure disease, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, hyper tension, heart disease and many other of the leading causes of death and disability. 90 minutes
17:30 RiverBlue Internationally renowned river advocate, Mark Angelo, journeys through some of the world’s most pristine waterways, to some of its most polluted, in an unprecedented global adventure that reveals the dark side of the fashion industry. 90 minutes 19:05 OSPREY The CIA and a rogue assassin attempt to expose the source behind a corporate global intelligence ring inciting war for profit. 97 minutes 20:55 Flow Walter Mann, an actor, is about to fulfill the dream of his life: to star in his own play. Bordering on that moment something unexpected will blow up all he has or is about to achieve. 90 minutes
SCREEN 2 10:00 Water The international award-winning videographers from the Window Channel Network showcase some of the world’s spectacular oceans, waterfalls, glaciers and waterways from Iceland to South America. 4 minutes
10:10 THE TURKISH WRESTLER The Turkish wrestler is everyman. His story is brutal and engaging, sensitive and raw, a timeless and uplifting testimony to human aspiration. 5 minutes
10:20 The Ship A cautionary tale of nationalism (and the relative merits of pasties). 4 minutes
10:30 Tables of Istanbul A Turkish immigrant in the U.S. explores her identity through her homeland foods in an excursion to Istanbul, Turkey. She explores how ethnicity, migration and social class come to the dinner table in Istanbul? 59 minutes
11:35 Samaritan
3 minutes
11:45 Rodeo King It tells the story of a world-weary cowboy preparing to battle a mighty bull. The story is an allegorical one with a unique twist at the end. 7 minutes
11:55 Pearl A lyrical road trip through the lives of an aspiring musician and his young daughter. 6 minutes 12:05 OLTRE LA FINESTRA - A TRAVÉS DE LA VENTANA A woman’s dramatic situation, her memory of being free. The short film is supposed to inspire thoughts about violence on women. 6 minutes 12:15 No Place To Fall A couple spends one final night together before he heads off to war. 8 minutes
12:30 NAUSICAA In a remote house in the mountains, a package arrives from far away. The shaky hands of a blind lady unwraps a parcel. Inside a box, two objects; a small bottle and a tape recorder. It’s a message from the past, it’s her daughter’s voice. It’s a sound from the silence. 10 minutes
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17:15 Cleaning Process A young professional woman’s life changes when she meets the cleaner of her company. 9 minutes 17:30 Coming to Terms Having to face the death of their father, Eddie and Sally try to do their best in understanding the concept of death. 13 minutes 17:50 Dem Dem! A Senegalese fisherman finds a Belgian passport on a beach in Dakar and decides to use it. He soon crosses paths with N’Zibou, a wise man who measures the clouds and questions the man about his search for identity. 25 minutes
16:05 BONDING A young man in his 20s excitedly agrees to join his absentee father on a father-son trip which quickly becomes a series of disasters. 15 minutes 16:25 Borderline While on patrol, Border Patrol Agent Manny Bonilla makes a grisly discovery. But has someone - or something - led him to it? 11 minutes
18:20 Eggs and Soldiers A single Irish Dad forgets the tree on Christmas Eve. Ned the older brother’s humanity is challenged when he risks everything to have his younger brother Marco experience a real Irish Christmas. 20 minutes
16:40 Chenelva & Sheneeva Chenelva and Sheneeva are conjoined twins who live in Amsterdam and are joined at the back of their heads. Despite their disability they hold a surprisingly positive view on life.
18:45 Fear the Unknown Men A troubled sheriff must confront his demons in the form of a notorious gang with the help of a mysterious stranger, determined to collect the wanted men’s bounty. But will the sheriff be able to rise up and put his past behind him?
17:00 Falling in the Flower A small girl that has trouble finding confidence in herself finds a flower that gives her the confidence to be who she really is; however, it is not the flower that makes her confident, but rather helps her discover the confidence that was always inside.
20 minutes
19:10 The Bodyguard Bodyguard tells the story of an old war hero assigned with the task of protecting of one the country’s most important assets: a young genius working at Iran’s atomic agency for producing peaceful nuclear energy. 95 minutes
21:00
Lilies’ Talk
95 minutes
SCREEN 3 10:00 Crossing The Line Crossing The Line is the tragic yet uplifting story of athletics prodigy Danny Harris, and his battles with his demons on and off the track. 94 minutes
11:40 ZOE - PANORAMAS A unique and introspective look inside one of Latin America’s biggest rock bands: Zoé. 90 minutes 13:15 Born in Heinola A story of four Finnish boys growing up during the devastating 90’s recession. 111 minutes
12:45 A Petty Bourgeois Dream Ramzi, a 30-year-old Beiruti leftist newspaper editor, and Tarek, around the same age, a writer and part-time bar manager, have been close since childhood. The two met as children during a (then) boys-only summer camp, and have been inseparable since. Today, they share a flat in the eclectic Hamra district of Beirut. 104 minutes
15:10 Alone Underneath Ella and Gabriel’s perfect picture life lies a very painful reality. The couple struggles to deal with it. Can simple life problems turn into a great tragedy? Today, Ella and Gabriel will fight to save their relationship, but little do they know that their lives is about to change. 15 minutes
14:35 Alice Four young women travel to their college professor’s new country home for a weekend getaway, only to discover that the house has a malevolent past. 95 minutes
15:30 Americana A gritty comedy short about 2 modern day greasers who must save their deceased friend’s ashes from collecting dust on a mantelpiece. 7 minutes
16:15 Arthur His name is Arthur, and he is a serial killer. He wants to quit, though. Will he succeed?
15:40 An ordinary man A night like others where Daryl misses his bus. He will have to make choices during this nocturnal journey.
56 minutes
15:55 Anton y el Eco (Anton and the Echo) En una noche oscura y brumosa, en 1857 en Madrid Espana, el borracho Anton se cayó en la acera de un convento, Anton comienza una conversación con su propio eco que lo llevará a un enfrentamiento con si mismo final. 7 minutes
10 minutes
14 minutes
13 minutes
17:20 Forgive Me Father Mathieu and Élise are ex-lovers that are forced to reunite at a family breakfast where a war of words and revelations threaten an otherwise peaceful household. 13 minutes 17:40 Inbaifu The Prostitute (imbaifu) a film that actively depicts a diverse range of motives for “escape”. 57 minutes 18:40 For Grace Ben was adopted. All his life, he’s avoided tracing his roots. Now he’s a father himself, to a baby girl. And he’s going to find his biological parents for her. 79 minutes 20:05
Cairo Jazzman
82 minutes
21:35 JASMINE A year after his wife’s murder, oncesuccessful Hong Kong businessman Leonard To (Jason Tobin) is still reeling from the tragedy. 80 minutes
SCREEN 4 10:00 Home Away Mr.Zhou, in order to purchase the VIP membership of a nursing home, wants to seize the opportunity of the relocation of his house by arranging a fake marriage with Mrs. Dong to acquire more money out of the compensation. 104 minutes 11:45 Attempt on the State
43 minutes
12:30 Security An Indian and a Pakistani try to resolve their differences as they guard an empty construction site in the Dubai desert. 25 minutes 13:00 The Duchess of Cancun In this off-beat dark comedy, Chris, an unemployed photographer,
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agrees against everyone else’s better judgment to join his crazy ex girlfriend, Brooklyn, and her family, for a wild week in Cancun, Mexico to ring in the new year. 103 minutes
14:50 The Egg All that Noa wants is to become a mother. But when her husband leaves on a business trip, she has a miscarriage. Too afraid to tell her husband the bad news, Noa resorts to desperate measures to have a baby. Even if it means to do so by unnatural ways. 20 minutes 15:15 The Host H653 In a near future an important source of income is derived from information theft among large companies. Organizations of spies has developed a chip located in brain capable of store an infinite amount of information protected by a firewall that only go down if the “Host” want. 18 minutes 15:40 The Last Catch A father and sons bond is broken and needs to be repaired before the last catch. 12 minutes 15:55 The last journey of the enigmatic Paul WR The red moon threatens our existence on earth. Our only hope is the enigmatic Paul WR, the most talented astronaut of its generation. But few hours before the start of the Great mission, Paul disappeared.
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE SCREENING TIME AND DATE OF ANY FILM IN THE FESTIVAL COMPETITION WITHOUT ANY PRIOR NOTIFICATION. PLEASE REFER TO THE DISPLAYED DAILY SCREENING SCHEDULE.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
18 minutes
16:20 The Legend of the Lilies The children’s book The Legend of the Lilies describes the beginning of life and its delicate balance, the thoughts and ideals of even the flowers in the fields and their use of ancient principles to acquire success. 18 minutes 16:45 The Load A sensual married truck driver mother of two kids, takes a lover to live in her house. How to make the husband accepted this situation? 17 minutes 17:10 The System When those in charge need to be charged... 103 minutes 19:10 2001: While Kubrick was in space Stanley Kubrick imagined the year 2001 to be a technological world, but for Buenos Aires that same year meant the worst financial crisis in their history. Three teenage friends tormented by their uncertain future decide to avoid reality and escape from everything on a road trip in a stolen pink car. 76 minutes 20:30 Lane 1974 At 13 years old and the eldest of three kids, Lane struggles to keep her family together as her iconoclast mother moves without warning through the communes and dusty back woods of Northern California. 80 minutes 21:25 The Preacher A seemingly traditional journey of a young sheikh in a governmental mosque who moves from leading prayers to becoming a TV celebrity issuing “fatwas” that are accepted by millions who have become fans of his as a result of his courage and his attempts to deviate from the usual religious rhetoric in a society heavily influenced by fundamentalism. 130 minutes
63
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
WEDNESDAY 12TH JULY
10:00 White Bee A couple meet, after a separation – perhaps for the last time. The woman seems vulnerable, broken by the failed marriage. The man appears blasé about the break-up. 77 minutes
11:25 The Tenth Step World-renowned Himalayan expedition leader Gerry Moffatt embarks on an exciting 4,000-mile solo motorcycle adventure across the Himalayas for his 50th birthday, intent on exploring changes he’s seen over 30 years of guiding. 63 minutes 12:40 The Pillars of Heaven A young and disillusioned British diplomat abandons his diplomatic career, spends his own money, and risks his very life on a journey of faith and war in Ukraine. 179 minutes 15:45 Love Without Words A story of an old man and a dog. 96 minutes
17:25 The Gaelic Curse Gaelic Curse is a Romantic Irish Comedy to be shot in Ireland featuring an all Irish Cast and Crew. 87 minutes
19:00 Reborn Lost The deep cover sleeper cell John Martin is activated to assassinate the man who is turning the tables of power on a corrupt society. But when he realizes he is carrying out a suicide mission he must choose. 41 minutes 20:30
PROFESSIONAL PANEL
SCREEN 2 10:00 The Cat in the Closet After loss of the son Wei, The Fan family became more emotionally trapped. Eight years on, the three members of this family, each bearing disappointment and anxiety, gathered up in their old place. 82 minutes 11:25 Above Ground Level: Dubfire With unprecedented access to Grammy award-winning DJ ‘Dubfire’, an insider’s look at the world of Electronic Dance Music and what it takes to reach the top of the DJ game. 77 minutes 12:45 A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud. Based on the short story by groundbreaking southern American writer Carson McCullers, written when she was just 19, the film, “A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud.”, is set at a roadside café in the early morning in the Spring of 1947. 30 minutes 13:20 I Am Still Here This is the story of 10-year old Layla, who was stolen from her family and thrown into America’s child sex industry. 103 minutes 15:10
20 Years
17:55 Breaking Boundaries Breaking Boundaries is a truly inspirational documentary that follows Jack Kavanagh and his friends as they head to the west coast of America in search of adventure. 43 minutes
SCREEN 1
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90 minutes
16:35 August Lucey August Lucey is a satire about a young man in trying to make sense of his life. 76 minutes
18:40 Bound for Greatness Darren, who lives with Aspergers, has gone throughout his life not truly connecting with anyone. Seeking the comforting sounds of crashing waves one blustery day, he happens upon a girl nursing a broken bird. She needs him… 26 minutes 19:10 Centaur Partly paralysed by polio, Vlado is stuck in his flat and unable to take care of himself. His younger wife, Alma, helps Vlado with love and tenderness in all his daily life activities, never giving up hope that he will get better. In spite of the love and intimacy between the couple, Vlado’s self-loathing causes him to reject Alma. 42 minutes 20:30
PROFESSIONAL PANEL
SCREEN 3 10:00 CHILDREN OF THE MOUNTAIN In Accra, the capital city of Ghana, ESSUMAN (33), a yam seller gives birth to a son with cleft palate. Her first instinct is to run away as the child’s father and her mother-in-law blame her for the child’s “imperfection.” Essuman makes the attempt, but her conscience brings her back. 101 minutes
18:05 Part Of Me Now: Living With Breast Cancer The simple fact is people need to begin talking about and recognizing what is beyond the treatment of cancer. What is next? How does someone move on from narrowly defying death? 40 minutes 18:50 The Sun Devil and the Princess The realm is embroiled in war between the two Goddesses. 30 minutes
19:25 THE PIER [LIKE MENDING GLASS] The filmmaker’s grandfather, suffering from Alzheimer’s, remembers, obsessively, an episode from his youth: an elegant young woman climbs over the railing of the pier and jumps into the water; he saves her. 26 minutes
20:30 PROFESSIONAL PANEL
SCREEN 4 10:00 THE UGLY DOLL La Muñeca Fea captures incredible women ranging from ages sixty to ninety-five who live in Casa Xochiquetzal, whose wrinkles, scars and deep-feeling eyes tell stories of pain, suffering and occasional joy. 88 minutes 11:35 Urbi et Orbi Cuba The documentary “Urbi et orbi Cuba” tells the historic process of reconciliation between the Cuban revolution and the Catholic faith which has culminated in the visit three Popes from 1998 to today. 46 minutes
12:25 Life After Her A funeral unites a troubled young couple who are struggling to make sense of life and death. 28 minutes
13:00 MAGTANGGOL The Magtanggol clan has spent years fighting for and helping bring back the disenfranchised and the oppressed, specifically Filipino Overseas Contract Workers, from their harsh living situations. 140 minutes
13:00 Demons Don’t Knock After a car crash in which her friend was killed, Natasha struggles with a rare seizure disorder. Finding it difficult to decipher fact from fiction, she seeks help from a neurologist who turns out to be more than he first appears. 101 minutes
15:25 Melanie The model on the 1970s cardboard box of an inflatable hair-dryinghood looks a little shy; somehow not eager to be a model. This triggers filmmaker Susanne Helmer to start an experiment by guessing how this woman’s picture appeared on this hooddryer box and what kind of life she led.
14:45 Monger A sexual tour guide, an ex-client who is fighting for the custody of the child he had with a prostitute, and a fledgling client who is trying to sleep with the highest number of prostitutes possible show us the world of sexual tourism in Buenos Aires. 72 minutes
16:45
Aadha Chand Tum Rakhlo (let’s share the moon)
17:10
Moonlight Sonata
23 minutes 9 minutes
17:25 Our Time Is Running Out In a parallel universe ruled by children, a new leader is elected each day, sand is sifted to gather provisions, and once they manifest the first signs of change, the young are rejected from the protective bubble. 15 minutes
17:45 Owen With her survival on the line, an impoverished woman is forced to make a painful choice.
16:05 After Party Young, up-and-coming photographer, LANA, begrudgingly attends the party of a pretentious and cool gallery owner in the hopes of meeting a respected dealer who may hold the key to her success. Quickly finds that the attendees of the party are more sty 80 minutes 17:30 All the Queen’s Horses Rita Crundwell, former city comptroller of Dixon, IL (population 15, 838) committed the largest municipal fraud in American history when she stole $53 million and remained undetected for 20 years. All the Queen’s Horses follows her crime, her lavish lifestyle and the small town she left in her wake.
14 minutes
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19:20 Huerta de San Vicente Inspired by the Spanish poet & playwright who, in a career that spanned just 19 years before his untimely death, resurrected and revitalized the most basic strains of Spanish poetry and theatre. 4 minutes
19:30 No Molestar (Do not Distrub) A woman stuck in an unhealthy relationship resorts to murder to uphold the illusion of a successful marriage, only to find out her actions have backfired, forcing her to immediately choose between loneliness and submission. 7 minutes
11:45 Electric Heart Knockout Dragout Blackout is twentyeight individually wrapped Electronic Dance Music videos with the same story consistently through all twentyeight. 73 minutes
72 minutes
18:45 Aggie A jet lagged Polish girl meets a waitress who shows her around Melbourne. As the day unfolds, the excitement of a new place and instant friendships mixes with feelings of regret and nostalgia. 28 minutes
71 minutes
19:40
Mackenzie
20:30
PROFESSIONAL PANEL
18 minutes
THURSDAY 13TH JULY SCREEN 1 10:00 The Watchtower A story of love and survival in New York City’s notorious Hell’s Kitchen as declining West side Irish and Italian gangs compete for their bloody share of the action. 56 minutes 11:00 The 6th Friend On the night of their college graduation, 6 friends decide to dip into the world of psychedelics and experience the magic that turns into a haunted nightmare. 85 minutes 12:30 Southern Edge of the Cloud When pureness and simplicity take us for a journey, dare you jump for an adventure and how far it will bring us to?’ 40 minutes “A tale of water, palm trees and family” The long documentary “A tale of water, palm trees and family” is a deep-rooted journey in the UAE’s land, people and culture, through the trilogy of water, palm trees and people; the main components of UAE’s civilization. 142 minutes
13:15
15:40 ALONE Yin, who is paralyzed from waist down, has lived for many years in a nursing home called An Le (“Peace and Happiness”). Ma is Yin’s caregiver, but she treats it no more than a job without too much emotional involvement. 16 minutes 16:00
Dog Park It’s hard to find love in 2016. If you don’t fare well with online dating, you’re limited to looking for love on a hike, at a yoga class, in the aisles of Whole Foods, or, as Jake and Amelia come to discover, at the local dog park. Canines, singles, and potential love collide in this romantic comedy. 7 minutes
16:10 Fever Interned in a prestigious boarding school for troubled students, Romina is tormented nightly by an unknown evil. With no one to turn to, her only hope is to stay awake each night to fight for her life. 13 minutes 16:25 Flamenco A film about lust, loneliness and obsession, Flamenco follows the love triangle between Camilla, Alexander and Lola. 12 minutes 16:45 Kashta A father takes his two sons out on a trip to the desert to go hunting, but the results are not quite what he was expecting. 12 minutes 17:00 Memories Recorded, Memories Stored’ With her unique, insightful vision, awarding winning artist and sculptor, Judith Modrak, takes on a new challenge as she invites the public to share their most personal and powerful memories to create a profound and highly emotive work of art — a transformational outdoor sculptural installation created for the people, by the people, for posterity.
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his younger brother ‘s traditional wedding is drawing near,Yang finds out his buddy Hai，with whom he fell in an unrequited love, is repressing himself due to a hesitant love. 70 minutes
17:00
OSCURO
13 minutes
17:15 Cheryl & Denise While on a jog Denise gives a stranger, Cheryl, directions. Cheryl finds her way right into Denise’s life turning her life upside down. 16 minutes 17:35 SKIN An 11-year old girl finds out she suffers from a not-so-rare illness. Can she blend in with her social environment while she learns to live with her new organic status? 20 minutes
18:00 Somnolence The film takes part in two separate worlds: One where Eric is sheltered with his father from a storm and the other where he gets closer and closer to a woman. Almost as a detective, Eric moves between the worlds to find out the truth. As the story progresses Eric starts to question the reality.
14 minutes
18:25 Farewell my Bird An elderly photographer who loves his pet canary more than anything becomes jealous when a young boy makes a connection with his bird causing a “love triangle.” 25 minutes
17:25 White December White December is an Australian LGBTI Independent Feature Film based on a true story of isolation, love and finding yourself. 76 minutes
18:55 The Team A refugee hides in a smuggler’s van to cross the Italian border into Germany, but, having made a promise to his son, he tries to follow live commentary of the World Cup final, which jeopardizes the trip.
20:30 Provenance John Finch, a renowned classical musician, has abandoned his marriage and career and fled to his holiday home in the South of France to start a new life. 93 minutes
SCREEN 2 10:00 SACA - the life of Tiago Pires Considered the greatest portuguese surfer of all time and one of the main responsibles for Europe’s positioning in the world of surfing, Tiago Pires, mostly known as “Saca”, has changed the history of this sport in his country.
13 minutes
19:10 Lordemani Lordemani is a sample of culture and of the common character of two people who without reaching verbal understanding are capable of coexisting and of creating lasting bonds of friendship by setting aside differences or quarrels from the past. 47 minutes
20:00 Saving the Planet, One Bite At A Time Can eating lunch be a revolutionary act? This documentary offers an indepth look at the connection between our eating habits, physical well-being and the viability of our environment and planet. 58 minutes 21:00
Lennox
73 minutes
22:15
Harou
82 minutes
106 minutes
11:50 Cine Cafe in PARIS Cine Cafe in Paris was filmed in Paris. Cha Eun-Su and Jang Ha-Ra leave on a trip to Paris but the girls fall apart as Ha-Ra loses Eun-Su’s valuable camera. However, during their stay in Paris, they stumble across a director from Korea… 68 minutes 13:00 Chokolietta At the age of 5, girl’s mother dies in a car accident. Ever since then, the girl closes herself within. 160 minutes 15:45 HOLIDAY Yang Zheng,a young Buyi man,is forced to marry against his will. While
Milla
100 minutes
16:45
The Big Secret
72 minutes
18:00 CALIBRO 10- Mafia Decalogue Conspiracies, treason, corruption, claustrophobia come together in this compelling story. 93 minutes
SCREEN 3 10:00
The Beautiful Girls
97 minutes
11:45 Four Journeys A documentary about four Latin American women who immigrated to New York . These are four stories of courage, stamina, strength and success. 55 minutes 12:55 Wildcard Wildcards revolves around the tragic, be it through the pessimistic point of view of the family members in the plot have on life or due to the tragic ending to which the characters are destined. 120 minutes
12:40 Retriever Lee Kwang is an illegal immigrant in Korea. He makes a living by stealing dogs from animal shelters and selling them to butchers. But when he adopts a big golden retriever named Bori, the two develop a special bond. 25 minutes
19:40 Eye of the Lammergeier An American physician and lawyer witness China’s violent suppression of Tibetans demonstrating for independence in the capital of Lhasa in 1987, and return separately seven times to document China’s prisons in Tibet, and coerced abortions and sterilizations at People’s Hospitals in Lhasa and remote regions.
13:10 PHOBIA Mehak is a young, free spirited confident artist who has her entire life turn upside down when she accidentally dozes off in a taxi one night. The driver decides to take advantage of the situation. Mehak manages to physically escape that night, but mentally – she is still stuck inside that taxi. 112 minutes
20:25 ORGANIC LOVE STORIES Organic Love Stories is a feature film consisting of 8 short films of 8 couples,whom are introduced to each other by 3rd persons. 87 minutes
15:10 Piece of Wood A story set in Alexandria, Egypt following three characters in a humorous cycle of conflict involving a confiscated skateboard. Adam only wants to land a desired skate trick at the mall, George wants to film it and the Security Guard, Khalid, is having none of that. 16 minutes
40 minutes
21:55 Rolling Along: An Inline Movement Rolling Along: An Inline Movement, the story of a sport that flew too close to the sun, crashed and rebounded. 54 minutes
20 minutes
17:15 Oy Vey! A traditional Jewish shiva - Isaac and Benjamin are mourning their beloved wife and mother, Ruthie. But when some unexpected guests arrive, they discover Ruthie wasn’t the women they thought she was. 9 minutes
18:45 SCENT OF CIGAR An actor encounters in his life exactly what he was acting on the drama as a character or was it he empathise his character and life. 104 minutes
15:00
SCREEN 4 10:00 The Margaret Lambert Story German-Jewish athlete Margaret Lambert is barred from competition during Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympic games, despite being one of the best high jumpers in the world. Today at 102, she tells her story and proves that against all odds, courage can triumph. 25 minutes 10:25 Grocery Store Action Movie Alex is in the express checkout lane at the grocery store when he realizes with horror that he has forgotten the all-important crackers. 10 minutes 10:40 Hastings & Milford “Hastings & Milford” is a narrative documentary video that explores the intimate relationship between filmmaker’s godmother and her husband. It is about delving into this spousal relationship built up on their particular setup - living as Korean-Canadian immigrants.
15:30 The Creeps (short film, 2017) Jordan is watching over her late aunt’s estate when she suspects she’s not in the old house alone. 17 minutes 15:50 The Meeting The Meeting is the story of a man, Lorenzo Salvi, who has to face with his Alter Ego who is richer than he is. 15 minutes
16:10 Pickup PICKUP is a compelling film that allows the audience to take a deeper look into the psyche of a woman who appears to have it all. 16 minutes 16:30 Beast or Raven
12 minutes
16:50 #Actorslife A selfie-addicted, struggling actor that would do anything to gain fame and so happens to be at the right place at the right time, but he gets in the wrong car when mistaken for someone else. 14 minutes
11:10 It Gets Better? An older gay man is inspired to record a testimonial after watching a bisexual teenager’s video, assuring him that ‘It Gets Better.’ 12 minutes
17:10 Agata A metal cylinder is mistakenly delivered to Agata, a forty-years-old solitary woman. The strange object turns out to be a cryogenic semen container that comes with a kit for home-insemination. The fate of Agata and the cylinder set out for unexplored paths.
11:25 Kiss of Death A black-and-white neo-noir short film about a young thief and his wife who prepare to flee town by sunrise, until the arrival of a mysterious stranger changes everything. 10 minutes
17:30 Arrested for Shooting A young director convinced a released criminal being his actor in a film project as the main cast who will rob the jewelry shop. 30 minutes
26 minutes
11:40 LETTER TO MY MOTHER Letter to My Mother is a visual and literary body of work created by artist Branislav Jankic that reveals an impactful look into the lives of mothers suffering from addiction in the United States. 15 minutes 12:00 MA TERRE
13 minutes
12:15 Missy (Short Film) After a full life, an old man struggles to accept change and his own death. 7 minutes
12:25 Malibu Living
Film THE MAGAZINE
12 minutes
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE SCREENING TIME AND DATE OF ANY FILM IN THE FESTIVAL COMPETITION WITHOUT ANY PRIOR NOTIFICATION. PLEASE REFER TO THE DISPLAYED DAILY SCREENING SCHEDULE.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
15 minutes
18:05 BARDO After a long night working the New York City streets as a taxi driver, Johnny finds himself frustrated, on edge, and seeking an escape. 18 minutes
18:30 ASSAULT TO FREEDOM In 1963, four years after the beginning of the Cuban revolution, three young men and two young women took part on a risky plan to steal and kidnap a boat full of passengers to find their freedom. 80 minutes
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FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
19:55 Chemo Club Two 70 something pensioners commit a daring heist in a caper comedy with a difference. 90 minutes 21:25
The Last Beautiful Girl 87 minutes
FRIDAY 103 minutes
11:50 Sophia Lazzati When Sophia leaves her violent husband, new problems arise as she regains fortitude and her daughter struggles with adolescence. 84 minutes
13:20
12 minutes
Patch
15:25 Bach Star Cafe: A girl, a dad...and some coffee. Bach Star Café (38 min.) follows a dedicated ensemble of Longy School of Music graduate students as they master Bach’s irreverent Coffee Cantata. 38 minutes
30 minutes
SCREEN 1 Patria
15:10
16:10 COAT CHECK LADY Who knows which demons may be awakened by insolence or blind love?
14TH JULY
10:00
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The Miraculous Postcards
16:45 Da Parish In 2005, St. Bernard Parish, a community on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Through the personal stories of four longtime residents, we witness their loss, healing and rebuilding, their resilience, and what it is that connects people to the place they call home. 30 minutes
90 minutes
14:50
Rock Haven
16 minutes
15:10 Rasheed Samia Badih’s film Rasheed documents the life of Badih’s late uncle Rasheed Broum who was killed, at the age of 29, in an airstrike in the city of Sidon during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 – three years before she was born. 74 minutes
16:30
66
An Open Door
79 minutes
18:00
Outcaste - The House That Carol Built This is a unique story of faith, courage and magical thinking. A story of how the dream of an elderly English teacher finally comes true with the help of a rickshaw driver, a lapsed buddhist monk and a journey in to the high himalayas. It’s ‘The Marigold Hotel’ meets ‘Lost Horizon’. 66 minutes
19:30 PARTY
SCREEN 2 10:00 #uploading_holocaust The first documentary based entirely on existing YouTube materials. 75 minutes
11:20 Snapshot The story of a man who fantasizes about another girl while traveling with his girlfriend. 67 minutes 12:40 A New Spirit A drama that tells the story of Jacob and Samuel, two brothers who grew up in a poor traditional family. 100 minutes
14:35 Martha Marthas life seems to be perfect: a big love, 3 beautiful daughters and a happy life... but a fateful blow makes her wonder if this life was really hers. 20 minutes
15:00 Blind Date in Port Adriano Everybody is looking for love... Also the british Captain Ryan and the german Felicia... 5 minutes
17:20 daughter of the lake A group of friends take a trip through the country, hoping to have a nice getaway for the weekend. But their trips takes a dangerous turn, when their tire mysteriously pops and an old stretch of road through the woods. 15 minutes
17:40 The Admired Actress, Olivia Spencer dreams of being a glamorous movie star in 1940’s Hollywood. She gets her wish when she meets a handsome ‘Devil’ but all is not what it seems when she’s hurdled into danger and intrigue in the world of the Old Hollywood movie studio system. 20 minutes
18:00 Outcaste
14:50 The Semiotones In the film ‘The Semiotones’ we tell the story of the University of Toronto 50s Rock&Roll Band founded by professor Marcel Danesi in 2007. 32 minutes
13 minutes
15:25
SCREEN 3 10:00 Limbo Relevant and timeless, Limbo gives to the voice to the Africans fleeing execution and arriving on the shores of Italy. 35 minutes 10:40 Little India Big Business Little India Big Business explores the growth of big, fat Indian weddings in Canada over the last decade. 45 minutes
11:30 Phil’s Camino A colorful and affecting short doc about Phil, a free spirit who wants to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, while facing Stage 4 cancer in his hometown of Seattle. 28 minutes
12:05 Reality Check For an agent sent back in time to solve a the mysterious death, there is no future in time travel. 18 minutes 12:30 The Fish In The Water A gifted young swimmer, finds the opportunity to get out of the circumstances he used to live in and has a chance to show his skills and win the medal. 134 minutes
The Parallel Project
22 minutes
15:50 WHAT CAME AFTER At the sunrise of her emerging Queer identity a young girl must contend with her mother’s rape and her grandmother’s self righteousness. She wonders who does Jesus save? 17 minutes
16:10 WAKE ME UP Salam, a woman going through midlife crisis, tries to revive her artistic pastime and feels a lurking rejection by society and a sense of internal guilt. 24 minutes 16:40 Screen 13 Screen 13 tells the story of an unstable janitor working at the local cinema. 20 minutes
17:05 Return to Zanskar 30 years after their first visit, two American college friends return to an ancient Buddhist monastery high in the Himalayas to reconnect with their past, and witness a culture being dragged into the modern world as the first ever road to the monastery nears completion. 23 minutes 17:35
RHODA
I thought I did everything right- get married, have kids..and then they changed the rules on me.’ 24 minutes
18:00
Outcaste
SCREEN 4 10:00 A Day in the GulunchanWu Academy One day in the GulunChanWu Kungfu Academy, with cute Chinese kids and some fascinating history into this unique tradition lineage. 12 minutes 10:15 A Special Night A man in his late-thirties invites a female friend over to his house and asks her to help him on cope with an existential decision. 10 minutes 10:30 A Wonderful Monster Little girl Sonya does not have friends. But suddenly the pink monster Chu appears and they become friends.Chu disappears.Sonya decides to find her friend and goes to the forest.Could Sonya back Chu? 22 minutes 10:55 After Meteor’s Trail An animation tribute to advancement of technology, and spirit of exploration. 2 minutes 11:00 Contentment Contentment’ is a short film exploring contentment vs. happiness through our protagonist, Scout, and her relationships with two different men. 5 minutes 11:10 Cuckold Picasso Pablo Picasso’s “1971 Harlequin Head”, thought forever lost in a Romanian fire, is found vividly alive in the disturbed psyche of a tortured man’s soul. 5 minutes
Film THE MAGAZINE
11:35 Gimpsey Gemma has a gimp leg. Her best friend calls her Gimpsey - a crippling in-joke wearing thin. 12 minutes
11:55 Magnétisme animal A teenage girl falls in love with a priest, even though she’s an atheist. The priest, who used to be a successful businessman, rejects her. Meanwhile a young criminal falls madly in love with the girl and tries to win her favor. 25 minutes
12:25
Miki
126 minutes
14:35 Mosaic My grandma constantly complains that she is lonely. I am willing to understand her, knowing that maybe one day I will be lonely too. But, something I don’t understand: every day she has someone around her and she is not lonely at all. 29 minutes
15:10 Our Perfect World Alice and Jack, two lovers who are isolated, of their own will from society seeking to build a perfect home, end up being victims of their intolerance, and the house that turns against them in an apparent endless loop of violence.
66 minutes
19:30 PARTY
66 minutes
19:30 PARTY
11:20 Forgiveness A patient is attending a session with his hypnotherapist.The purpose is to travel back to childhood through the milestones of the whole past life.We can feel the conflict and the complexity.
20 minutes
15:35 Past Hope Now A short film meets extended music video, Past Hope Now is a couple’s fight to survive in the chaos of the desert - a physical, mental and natural struggle - set to the music of John Isaac Watters. 20 minutes 16:00 Pizza Face A self-absorbed pizza waitress unleashes devastating horror after downloading a sinister mobile app. 10 minutes
16:15 RED RIBBON As Moni’s father is seriously injured by the bullets of Indian Border Security force (B.S.F) during smuggling medicine at the border, Moni is forced to come to the border for the first time to complete the deal. 24 minutes 16:45 The Wildtuin This is South Africa’s premier game reserve—everything the tourists pay to see, and everything they pay to ignore. 30 minutes
17:20 The Bridge
20 minutes
18:00 Outcaste
66 minutes
19:30 PARTY
SATURDAY 15TH JULY
SCREEN 3 09:00
SCRIPT NOMINEES
The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe
A group of traumatised former refugees take on the risky task of creating and performing in a piece of theatre about their lives.
SCREEN 1 09:00 A Good Dream A psychological art-film about a girl in her 20s trying to find herself in New York City. When she suddenly finds herself haunted by a presence, she has trouble distinguishing fiction from reality and falls deeper into a world of her perceptions. 101 minutes 10:45 Pani; Women, drugs and Kathmandu. This is the story about Bikens, Dolma, Yangzee, Debika, Annie... But this could be the story of so many other female drug user, and maybe even your story too. 87 minutes
SCREEN 2 09:00 Redistributors A city PR girl goes on the run, accused of leaking information from the military supply company where she works. 82 minutes
10:25
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Talang neer (Fresh Water) 95 minutes
84 minutes
10:30
The C Word
Michelangelo Roberto Lemos
Power Play F. Ethan Repp
Tantalum Mass: The Last Hacker David Garrett
Walk With Me Isabel del Rosal
Gladiator Wars Z of the World Raymond Harrison
Perfect Couple Berrin Ilhan
92 minutes
SCREEN 4 09:00 The Claire Wizard Thesis A filmmaker sets out to make a found footage horror film in the local forest. 75 minutes
10:20 BLOOD MONEY An American CIA agent is arrested in Karachi after shooting a young Pakistani mugger in the street and the US government is obliged to pay the deceased’s family 2 million dollars of blood money to obtain his release.
Jimmy Narula Vivek Kumar
14 minutes
10:40 The Dunning Man Connor Ryan, out of a job and dumped by his girlfriend, returns to Atlantic City to try to rebuild his life with the last source of income that he has -- a few apartments in a lowrise condo complex that sits in the shadows of AC’s newest and most expensive casino. 91 minutes
Fadeaway Ron Leach Finding Amelia Todd Selleck
Pelée David Earle Life is But a Dream David Earle
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE SCREENING TIME AND DATE OF ANY FILM IN THE FESTIVAL COMPETITION WITHOUT ANY PRIOR NOTIFICATION. PLEASE REFER TO THE DISPLAYED DAILY SCREENING SCHEDULE.
FILM: THE MAGAZINE/MADRID/JULY 2017
67
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