Newtown a riveting new documentary detailing the trauma and tribulations of families and community members dealing with emotions and life after the massacre of 20 children ages 6-7 years old and si…
Source: NEWTOWN: “We are all in this together.”
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World Premiere of “Visitor’s Day” set for AFI DOCS
Visitor’s Day, the latest feature documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Opper, will premiere on Thursday, June 23, 2016 at 6:45pm at the AFI DOCS international documentary film festival at the …
Source: World Premiere of “Visitor’s Day” set for AFI DOCS
Art Bastard
Yesterday, I had the good fortune to meet Robert Cenedella, the subject of a heartfelt, insightful documentary, Art Bastard. Open and candid, Mr. Cenedella has a message about the state of today…
Source: Art Bastard
THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES AFI DOCS 2016 FILMMAKER FORUM AND IMPACT LAB
Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced the AFI DOCS 2016 Filmmaker Forum program and Impact Lab participants. The four-day Filmmaker Forum will take place June 23–26 at the AFI DOCS Fe…
Source: THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES AFI DOCS 2016 FILMMAKER FORUM AND IMPACT LAB
2016 @AFIDOCS Announces Full Slate of Films
From June 22–26, the 14th edition of AFI DOCS showcases 94 films representing 30 countries. Screenings will take place in Washington, DC, at the Newseum and the Landmark E Street Cinema, and in Sil…
Source: 2016 @AFIDOCS Announces Full Slate of Films
THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES AFI DOCS 2016 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS
Best Feature Goes to MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE
Best Short Goes to SNAILS
Festival Connects International Filmmakers with U.S. and Global Leaders
Judd Apatow, Werner Herzog, Norman Lear,
Members of Congress and More Join Industry’s
Top Documentarians for 14th Edition of AFI DOCS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — JUNE 27, 2016, WASHINGTON, DC — The American Film Institute announced today the AFI DOCS 2016 Audience Award winners, concluding the five-day festival in Washington, DC, and Silver Spring, MD. This year’s Audience Award for Best Feature went to MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE, directed by Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules (U.S.). This year’s Audience Award for Best Short went to SNAILS, directed by Grzegorz Szczepaniak (Poland). With 93 films from 30 countries, the festival brought together filmmakers, industry, national policy and opinion leaders.
The 2016 festival provided unique opportunities for audiences, filmmakers and policymakers to meet in our nation’s capital as news unfolded. U.S. Representatives Jim Himes and Nita Lowey addressed the NEWTOWN Spotlight Screening audience at the Newseum just hours after Democrats concluded their sit-in on the floor of the House of Representatives. AFI DOCS filmmakers convened with policymakers at the White House, while AFI DOCS Impact Lab-participating filmmakers met with U.S. Representatives Ted Lieu, Jim McGovern and David Price.
As part of AFI DOCS 2016, the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands and the U.S. State Department conducted a gathering and roundtable of international filmmakers from Pakistan. The meeting focused on how international filmmakers can make the leap into the established western film community, along with private conversations on how to handle issues such as funding, distribution and censorship. This is the third year AFI DOCS and the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands have partnered to organize programs to advance the art and impact of documentary film.
This year’s AFI DOCS attendees included renowned filmmakers Judd Apatow, Ramin Bahrani, Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, Rachel Grady, Werner Herzog (this year’s AFI DOCS Charles Guggenheim Symposium honoree) and Barbara Kopple, along with acclaimed singer Sharon Jones and television icon Norman Lear. Global, national and local leaders in attendance included U.S. Representatives Jim Himes and Nita Lowey and German Ambassador Peter Wittig.
Joining the opinion leaders were distinguished journalists: PBS NewsHour’s Chief Arts Correspondent Jeffrey Brown and Political Director Lisa Desjardins; The Undefeated’s Editor-in-Chief Kevin Merida and Culture Writer Soraya Nadia McDonald; and The Washington Post’s Chief Film Critic Ann Hornaday, Editor Josh Freedom du Lac and Opinion Writer Alyssa Rosenberg.
MORE ABOUT THE WINNING FILMS:
MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE
Co-directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack present a lovingly crafted and comprehensive portrait of the esteemed Dr. Maya Angelou. The story is told by Angelou herself, along with a cast of contemporaries from her careers as actress, writer, poet and activist. In chronicling Angelou’s life from her youth in the Depression-era South through her rise to international prominence, the film is a vital document about the importance of grace, dignity and the quest for peace.
SNAILS
Best friends with a shared goal of becoming millionaires believe they’ve found the answer to their dreams in an unlikely profession: snail farming.
AT&T is the presenting sponsor of AFI DOCS 2016. AFI’s official airline, American Airlines, returned as an Official Sponsor of the festival. Official Sponsors included the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NBCUniversal and VIZIO. Major Sponsors included The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, BRICKTOWN, Catapult Film Fund, CrossCurrents Foundation, CYM Media & Entertainment, DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment, the Fledgling Fund, Google, Harbers Studios and the Maryland Film Office.
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About AFI DOCS
AFI DOCS is the American Film Institute’s annual documentary festival in the Washington, DC area. Presenting the year’s best documentaries, AFI DOCS is the premier festival in the U.S. dedicated to screenings and events that connect audiences, filmmakers and policy leaders in the seat of our nation’s government. The AFI DOCS advisory board includes Ken Burns, Davis Guggenheim, Chris Hegedus, Werner Herzog, Rory Kennedy, Barbara Kopple, Spike Lee, Errol Morris, Stanley Nelson, D A Pennebaker, Agnès Varda and Frederick Wiseman. Now in its 14th year, the festival will be held June 22–26, 2016 in landmark Washington, DC venues and the historic AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD. Visit AFI.com/afidocs and connect on twitter.com/afidocs, facebook.com/afidocs and youtube.com/AFI.
About the American Film Institute
AFI is America’s promise to preserve the heritage of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI programs include the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and the AFI Archive, which preserve film heritage for future generations; the AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film; AFI AWARDS, honoring the most outstanding movies and TV series of the year; AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies television events and movie reference lists, which have introduced and reintroduced classic American movies to millions of film lovers; year-round and special event exhibition through AFI FEST presented by Audi, AFI DOCS and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center; and educating the next generation of storytellers at the world-renowned AFI Conservatory. For more information about AFI, visit AFI.com or connect with AFI at twitter.com/AmericanFilm, facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute and youtube.com/AFI.
# # #
CONTACT:
Gabrielle Flamand, AFI DOCS PR, 202.339.9598 or gabrielle@prcollaborative.com
Liza Ameen, American Film Institute, 323.856.7885 or LAmeen@AFI.com
The AFI DOCS Interview: TRAIN SURFERS Director Adrien Cothier
June 21, 2016
In Adrien Cothier’s short film TRAIN SURFERS, thrill-seeking young men tempt fate doing stunts on Mumbai’s high-speed trains. AFI spoke to director Adrien Cothier ahead of the film’s AFI DOCS premiere. He is a New York-based filmmaker who cut his teeth working on the set of Wes Anderson’s FANTASTIC MR. FOX.
Adrien Cothier on Twitter: “Very proud to have TRAIN SURFERS premiere at this year’s @AFIDOCS festival. <3 https://t.co/aeK67ooI4X”
What led you to documentary filmmaking?
My background is in narrative filmmaking and advertising. In both, I always try to recreate a certain reality whereas in documentaries, you have to use reality in order to create a narrative. This organic creative process led me to docs. There is definitely something pure about a documentary. The goal with TRAIN SURFERS was not to make a commercial film, clearly, but rather, to expose a certain truth about the world we live in.
What inspired you to tell this story?
I was finishing my first semester of grad school and had decided that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and explore a part of the world I had never seen. India seemed like a perfect mix of spiritual and adventurous journey. While I was researching where to go, I ended up on a viral video of a “train surfer” in Mumbai. I had never seen anything like it. It was a strange mix of absolute beauty and danger. I instantly called my friend and producer. I told him that if there’s a chance we can meet somebody like this, we had to document it, no matter the cost. That’s how it all started.
How did you find your subjects?
It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be. I started researching local news stories of teenagers getting arrested for train-surfing. The more I accumulated information, the closer I came to understanding that this phenomenon happened in a few specific areas of Mumbai. Then, I hired a local translator in order to get in touch with the surfers in case we encountered them. After two days of waiting in train stations, we saw a teenager on the roof of a speeding train. We chased him down and convinced him to let us meet him again with his friends. The next day we went to visit him in his home.
What was a particular obstacle you faced while making the film?
Filming on the trains or outside the tracks is completely forbidden in India. I think this phobia came from the terrorist attacks in south Mumbai in 2008. Since then the police have been extremely weary, especially with tourists like myself. We had to hide the camera as much as we could and shoot without any permits. At the end, I think that our gorilla approach gave us incredible footage in which the audience can really feel taken on a forbidden ride in the world of the kids.
What do you want audiences to walk away with after screening your film?
I’d like them to realize that all around world, the exact same human dynamics are happening but under very different social circumstances. Whether in the rugged outskirts of Mumbai, these kids are in many ways behaving in the same way that New York kids would. In this way it’s a story about friendship and I’d like people to feel it. But I cannot deny that it’s also a story about how being trapped in a life of poverty with very few chances of changing your life and how this will impact the decisions you make as a young person.
Why do you think Washington, DC, is a valuable location to screen your film?
This doc is definitely not political but its intrinsic message deals with the notions of freedom, poverty and the pursuit of happiness, which to me are clear American values emanating from the declaration of independence displayed in DC.
TRAIN SURFERS plays before the feature film VISITOR’S DAY on Thursday, June 23 and Sunday, June 26. Buy tickets here.
(Source: American Film Institute Magazine/AFI Blog)
THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES AFI DOCS 2016 FILMMAKER FORUM AND IMPACT LAB
Filmmakers Will Connect With Industry Professionals and
National Opinion Leaders for a Series of Professional Development Events
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — JUNE 17, 2016, WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced the AFI DOCS 2016 Filmmaker Forum program and Impact Lab participants. The four-day Filmmaker Forum will take place June 23–26 at the AFI DOCS Festival Hub — located at the District Architecture Center, 421 7th St., NW in Washington, DC — and is open to AFI DOCS Priority and Industry passholders as well as festival filmmakers. Filmmakers and industry professionals will meet for a series of professional development and networking events focused on diversity in documentary filmmaking, new technologies and the expanding world of documentary short filmmaking.
Sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, days one and two of the Filmmaker Forum will connect attendees with independent producers, leaders in public media and cultural critics as they examine the issues of diversity and equality within the documentary community. Additional Forum highlights include a panel discussion with award-winning filmmakers on the advantages of short-format documentary filmmaking; and a panel discussion on the Virtual Reality revolution featuring VR makers, journalists, academics and industry insiders. The Filmmaker Forum is presented in association with the International Documentary Association and Women Make Movies.
The second edition of the AFI DOCS Impact Lab, produced in partnership with Picture Motion and in collaboration with NBC Universal, will take place June 21–22. The intensive program provides filmmakers with issue-driven films with unique training opportunities in the areas of advocacy, grassroots communication and engagement. After completion of the Lab, participating projects are eligible to apply for the AFI DOCS/NBCUniversal Impact Grants, which support the outreach and social action campaigns of select Lab participants. Other supporters of the Impact Lab include CrossCurrents Foundation and The Fledgling Fund.
Selected from films screening at AFI DOCS 2016, the 10 films participating in the 2016 Impact Lab are ALMOST SUNRISE (DIR Michael Collins, USA), AMERICAN BAGHDAD (DIR Ron Najor, USA), CARE (DIR Deirdre Fishel, USA), CHECK IT (DIRS Toby Oppenheimer, Dana Flor, USA), FAREWELL FERRIS WHEEL (DIRS: Jamie Sisley, Miguel “M.i.G.” Martinez, USA), THE ISLANDS AND THE WHALES (DIRS Mike Day, DENMARK, USA, UK), NEWTOWN (DIR Kim A. Snyder, USA), THE OPPOSITION (DIR Hollie Fifer, AUSTRALIA), RAISING BERTIE (DIR Margaret Byrne, USA) and THEY CALL US MONSTERS (DIR Ben Lear, USA).
“Both the AFI DOCS Filmmaker Forum and Impact Lab provide unique opportunities to convene documentary filmmakers with policymakers and industry professionals in our nation’s capital,” said Michael Lumpkin, Director of AFI DOCS. “Through the Filmmaker Forum’s conversations with experts and the Impact Lab’s advocacy training, we hope to inspire documentarians to leverage the power of nonfiction storytelling and create meaningful change.”
(Michael Lumpkin, AFI DOCS Director)
The 14th edition of AFI DOCS will run June 22–26 in Washington, DC, and Silver Spring, Maryland. For more information about the Impact Lab and Filmmaker Forum, please visit AFI.com/afidocs.
About AFI DOCS
AFI DOCS is the American Film Institute’s annual documentary festival in the Washington, DC area. Presenting the year’s best documentaries, AFI DOCS is the premier festival in the U.S. dedicated to screenings and events that connect audiences, filmmakers and policy leaders in the seat of our nation’s government. The AFI DOCS advisory board includes Ken Burns, Davis Guggenheim, Chris Hegedus, Werner Herzog, Rory Kennedy, Barbara Kopple, Spike Lee, Errol Morris, Stanley Nelson, D A Pennebaker, Agnès Varda and Frederick Wiseman. Now in its 14th year, the festival will be held June 22–26, 2016 in landmark Washington, DC venues and the historic AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD. Visit AFI.com/afidocs and connect on twitter.com/afidocs, facebook.com/afidocs and youtube.com/AFI.
About the American Film Institute
AFI is America’s promise to preserve the heritage of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI programs include the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and the AFI Archive, which preserve film heritage for future generations; the AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film; AFI AWARDS, honoring the most outstanding movies and TV series of the year; AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies television events and movie reference lists, which have introduced and reintroduced classic American movies to millions of film lovers; year-round and special event exhibition through AFI FEST presented by Audi, AFI DOCS and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center; and educating the next generation of storytellers at the world-renowned AFI Conservatory. For more information about AFI, visit AFI.com or connect with AFI at twitter.com/AmericanFilm, facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute and youtube.com/AFI.
# # #
CONTACT:
Gabrielle Flamand, AFI DOCS PR, 202.339.9598 or gabrielle@prcollaborative.com
Liza Ameen, American Film Institute, 323.856.7885 or LAmeen@AFI.com
Art Bastard
Yesterday, I had the good fortune to meet Robert Cenedella, the subject of a heartfelt, insightful documentary, Art Bastard. Open and candid, Mr. Cenedella has a message about the state of today’s business of art: “It’s not what they show, It’s what they don’t show.”
Art Bastard is a new documentary produced by Chris T. Concannon, Concannon Productions, in association with Cavu Pictures, and celebrates the extraordinary life and work of painter Cenedella. Ten years in the making Concannon doggedly pursued the project rifling through directors until meeting writer and director, Victor Kanefsky.
Pictured left to right, Art Bastard, Robert Cenedella and writer/director Victor Kanefsky at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica, Calif., during a Q & A following the pre-Opening Weekend screening of the new Cris Concannon documentary, Art Bastard.
Executive Producer, Chris Concannon, at Laemmle Monica Film Center during a Q & A, following the pre-OPening Weekend screening of his first feature documentary, Art Bastard.
In a Q & A, following last night’s Los Angeles pre-opening screening, Concannon quipped “in two days with Victor (Kanefsky) I accomplished more than I did with any other director in two years.”
In taking on the project, Kanefsy painstakingly poured through the hundred plus hours of film and pensively scoured the transcripts to reveal the truth of Robert Cenedella, the Art Bastard. Utilizing telling interviews with family members, New York power brokers, art students, art critics, museum curators and Mr. Cenedella himself, Kanefsky takes the viewer on an adventure through the Andy Warhol Pop Art era into the present day with Cenedella reflecting on his body of work as well as his current role as mentor and teacher at the Art Students League of New York.
What is revealed is an intimate portrait of the heart and soul of a young man who, upon being expelled for penning and distributing a satirical expose on the mundane routine of his high school’s Atom Bomb Drill, discovers himself and comes to terms with life on life’s terms through his commitment to his art. On more than one occasion, Cenedella mouths his mantra “I have a moral obligation to my artwork.”
Editor Jim MacDonald and Director of Photography Douglas Meltzer combine forces in presenting a dazzling array of shots zooming into the paintings of the Art Bastard mesmerizing the audience as minute details become postcard portraits unto themselves punctuated by Mario Sprouse’s musical score. And behind each painting lies a story.
Santa Fe Rider by Robert Cenedella
Heinz 57 by Robert Cenedella
A variety of Cenedella’s artwork is featured throughout Art Bastard including “Impeachment Off The Table” (2008), “Southern Dogs” (1965), “Heinz 57” (1963), “The Balcony” , “2001 – A Stock Odyssey” (1986) , “Santa Fe Rider” , “The Death of George Grosz” (1962) , the highly controversial “The Presence of Man” (1988) and the widely popular “Le Cirque – The First Generation” (1998). Other artists included are Warhol, Jackson Pollock, George Bellows, Thomas Hart Benton, Reginald Marsh, Rembrandt, Raphael, El Greco and Hans Holbein the Elder. In addition, works by his Art Student League mentor George Grosz, whom Cenedella credits with forming his technique and claims he was the first adult he ever respected, are illustrated, presented and intertwined with the telling of the Art Bastard’s journey.
Cenedella lays claim to being “the most widely written about unknown artist in America.” Not for long, however. As the Art Bastard navigates the festival circuit, awards are being bestowed upon the filmmakers as they have garnered three 2016 winners, including Best Documentary at the Manchester Film Festival, Best Documentary at Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema, and Best Director, Documentary at Idyllwild. These follow the 2015 Focus On Art Award from the Orlando Film Festival and the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Creativity at the Utopia Film Festival. Furthermore, Art Bastard was named an official selection for the Santa Fe Film Festival, the Big Apple Film Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival.
Art Bastard opened June 3rd in New York and is scheduled to open this weekend, in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Laemmle’s Monica Film Center followed by Q & A’s with Robert Cenedella, The Art Bastard, after the Friday, June 17th 7:30 P.M. show and on Saturday June 18th after the 2:30 P.M., 5:00 P.M., and the 7:30 P.M. shows. His art exhibit will also be featured at the theater. The Los Angeles opening will be proceeded by a June 24th opening in Pasadena and Orange County.
Highly recommended.
World Premiere of “Visitor’s Day” set for AFI DOCS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: June 15, 2016
Visitor’s Day, the latest feature documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Opper, will premiere on Thursday, June 23, 2016 at 6:45pm at the AFI DOCS international documentary film festival at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center located at 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, MD.
Visitor’s Day, set at IPODERAC, a home for 72 abandoned boys, tells the story of Juan Carlos, a runaway at age 10 who struggles for self-acceptance in the face of abandonment by his father. Founded in 1966, IPODERAC will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary this month, the month of our world premiere. This is also the year they break ground on the first home of it’s kind for girls and young women, a fact revealed in the film. The founder and various leaders of IPODERAC will be flying in from Mexico for this premiere.
For 50 years, IPODERAC (www.ipoderac.org) has helped homeless boys become self-sufficient, productive citizens of Mexico. It embodies the values of education, work and sustainability it teaches the children by operating as a social enterprise that generates 75% of its revenues from the sale of 28 varieties of artisan goat cheese.
Opper directed and produced the Emmy® Award-nominated feature documentary “Off and Running” which was an Audience Favorite at Tribeca, won ten international festival awards (including Outfest) and aired on P.O.V. in 2010. Visitor’s Day, is supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), Chicken & Egg Pictures and The Independent Television Service (ITVS). Nicole has produced films for The Discovery Channel and a documentary series for Here TV, and was selected for Filmmaker Magazine’s annual “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
Director’s Statement:
I first encountered the IPODERAC boys as an eighteen year old volunteer, and I knew I was witnessing something extraordinary. Eleven years later, I unearthed the journal I kept during my time there. In it, I read that I had vowed to come back and make a documentary about this place. I returned to IPODERAC to fulfill this promise and lived on the premises for a year. While this film is an intimate verite portrait of one young man growing up at IPODERAC, I see this story as a beacon of hope, a tale of redemption and a positive depiction of our neighboring country in the midst of a storm of mainstream media that continues to focus almost exclusively on drug violence and “illegal” immigration.
Visitor’s Day also will show at the AFI DOCS festival on Sunday, June 25th at 5:30pm at the Landmark E Street Cinema at 555 11th St., NW, Washington, DC.
Tickets are available at www.afi.com and additional information about the film is available at www.visitorsdaythefilm.com.
“VISITOR’S DAY is an affecting portrait of a neglected boy striving for self-acceptance and maturity.” – AFI DOCS Film Festival
(Press release provided by Stephanie Strong)