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Venice International Film Festival

Slamdance Opening Night Film: World Premiere Of What Lies Upstream. Oscar Qualifying Shorts Program Features 24 World Premieres

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(LOS ANGELES, CA) – Slamdance today announced its Special Screenings, Beyond, and Shorts programs for their 23nd Film Festival. It is a bold selection of films from visionary filmmakers from across the globe. This year the festival will host 35 World, 9 North American and 10 US premieres within these programs.

screen-shot-2016-12-08-at-12-55-20-am “This year Slamdance’s Special Screenings selections are hard-hitting, revelatory films that deserve exposure in Park City,” says Paul Rachman, Special Screening Programmer. “Averting trends and remaining premiere agnostic this program reflects the gut instinct Slamdance programmers rely on in their singular choices.”

Last year the festival presented EMBERS, a sci-fi indie directed by Claire Carre. Carre was recently nominated by the 32nd Film Independent Spirit Awards for the Kiehl’s Someone To Watch Award.

“The support of Slamdance has had a powerful impact on my first feature from selecting the film as the festival’s Closing Night film, through releasing it theatrically with Slamdance Presents,” shares Carre. “It’s challenging making a low budget indie movie on your own, and it’s easy to get lost. Slamdance has championed EMBERS in monumental ways.”

This year, several Slamdance Alumni return with highly anticipated presentations in the Beyond Program. These selections are made be emerging narrative and documentary filmmakers working beyond their first features.

“The films in the Beyond section exhibit bold directorial vision and singular characters that introduce audiences to exciting and uncharted new worlds,” says Beyond programmer Josh Mandel. “These emerging filmmakers are beacons of light in a sea of darkness that will continue to forge new paths in the years to come.”

Films in this program are eligible for the Audience Award. Additionally, the filmmakers are eligible for the Spirit of Slamdance Awards, which is voted upon by their festival filmmakers peers.

“Our slate of short films this year is one of the most daring we have been privileged to showcase,” says Narrative Shorts programmer Taylor O. Miller. Fellow programmer Breven Angaelica adds, “We continue this year with short films that fit into their own category, or none at all, and bring a rawness and and originality to the future of filmmaking that we are humbled to recognize and share.”

The 2017 OscarⓇ Qualifying Shorts competition showcases 51 US and 20 International productions in the Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Anarchy and Experimental sections. All Slamdance films are programmed entirely by the Slamdance filmmaking community from blind submissions.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS PROGRAM

After Adderall
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Stephen Elliott
In 2010 James Franco optioned the rights to my memoir, The Adderall Diaries. In 2015 The Adderall Diaries starring James Franco and Ed Harris premiered at the TriBeca Film Festival. This is a movie about James Franco making a movie about me.
Cast: Stephen Elliott, Mickaela Tombrock, Bill Heck, Michael C. Hall, Ned Van Zandt, James Urbaniak, Lili Taylor, Jerry Stahl

A Narrative Film*
(USA)
Director: Michael Edwards
The most narrative narrative never narrated. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end…. It is at once both a three-act assault on the conceit of the traditional narrative, and also perhaps, a futile attempt to escape the narrative impulse of cinema.

What Lies Upstream
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Cullen Hoback
In this detective story, filmmaker Cullen Hoback investigates the largest chemical drinking water contamination in a generation. But something is rotten in state and federal regulatory agencies, and through years of persistent journalism, we learn the shocking truth about what’s really happening with drinking water in America.
Cast: Dr. Marc Edwards, Dr. Rahul Gupta, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Cullen Hoback, Randy Huffman, Dr. David Lewis, Maya Nye, Dr. Andrew Whelton

You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski
(Italy/Mexico/USA) US Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Matteo Borgardt
A night of drinking and talking about sex, literature, childhood and humanity with the irreverent writer poet Charles Bukowski in his California house in 1981. A story of tapes lost, found and brought back to life.
Cast: Charles Bukowski, Linda Lee Beighle, Silvia Bizio

*Animated Short Preceding You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski

BEYOND PROGRAM

Automatic at Sea
(USA/ Denmark) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Lessner
Eve, a young Swedish traveler, finds herself stranded on a private island with Peter, a wealthy heir whom she hardly knows. While waiting for other guests to arrive, Eve becomes trapped in an unstable reality punctuated by feverish visions, dimensional shifting and secret soft drinks. How can she escape if she’s not even sure she’s there?
Cast: David Henry Gerson, Livia Hiselius, Breeda Wool

The Erlprince
(Poland) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Kuba Czekaj
It’s the end of the world for a teenage genius, the feverish approach of the apocalypse – adulthood.
Cast: Staszek Cywka, Agnieszka Podsiadlik, Sebastian Łach,

Future ‘38
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Jamie Greenberg
1938 screwball comedy set in the far-off future year of 2018
Cast: Betty Gilpin, Nick Westrate, Robert John Burke, Ethan Phillips, Sean Young, Tom Riis Farrell, Sophie von Haselberg, Tabitha Holbert

Neighborhood Food Drive
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jerzy Rose; Screenwriter(s): Halle Butler, Mike Lopez, Jerzy Rose
A group of awful idiots fail at throwing a party over and over.
Cast: Lyra Hill, Bruce Bundy, Ruby McCollister, Ted Tremper, Marcos Barnes, Jared Larson

Suck It Up
(Canada) World Premiere
Director: Jordan Canning; Screenwriter: Julia Hoff
Faye lost the love of her life, Ronnie lost her brother. These two best friends take off on a debaucherous journey into the mountains to cope with the loss of the man they both loved.
Cast: Erin Carter, Grace Glowicki, Daniel Beirne, Toby Marks, Nancy Kerr, Michael Rowe

NARRATIVE SHORTS PROGRAM

August
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Caitlyn Greene
Deep in Louisiana’s swampland, a woman wakes from a fever dream where it has been August for 16 years.
Cast: Kaelyn Charbonnet, Reginald Robinson, Sanita C. Irvin (Voice)

Birds with Human Heads
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Max Wilde
Basking in the wildlife of a handmade universe, a girl receives her first stick and poke tattoo from her best friend.
Cast: Emma Factor, Emma Kikue Munson

Brad Cuts Loose
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Good
An uptight office drone seemingly discovers the perfect vehicle for letting off steam when an advertisement for a business catering to his innermost desires pops up one morning on his computer.
Cast: Kentucker Audley, Tipper Newton, John Ennis, Wilson Vance

Business
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Kati Skelton
A terrified young man gets tangled up in a surreal and demoralizing “business opportunity.”
Cast: Branson Reese, Peter Reznikoff, Dagmar Stansova, Matt Dennie

The Cure
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Mike Olenick
A mom cries, photos fly, cats spy, and bodies collide in this sci-fi soap opera that unravels the secret dreams of people who are desperately searching for ways to cure their fears of loneliness.
Cast: David Rysdahl, Jennifer Estlin, Justin Rose, Kait Staley, Mrva Russell

A Doll’s Hug
(Taiwan/USA) World Premiere
Director: Rob Chihwen Lo; Screenwriter(s): Rob Chihwen LO (Story), Cheng-Han WU (Screenplay)
A Taiwanese boy learns to fight back from the threatening violence in his Barbie doll world.
Cast: Pin-Chieh Su, Jackson Lou, Mengxi Hus, Fabio Grangeon, Ivon Huang

Dr. Meertz
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Steve Collins
A renegade psychotherapist has a brief window of time to cure a patient with ungodly dreams.
Cast: John Merriman, Byron Brown, Paul Gordon

E
(Canada) US Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Raphaël Ouellet
5 women : 5 tales of ordinary oppression.
Cast: Victoria Barkoff, Sandrine Bisson, Debbie Lynch-White, Sarah Pellerin, Alexa-Jeanne Dubé

Ford Clitaurus
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: MP Cunningham
An aspiring artist struggles to find his voice, his sexual identity, and the meaning of creativity.
Cast: Bryce Van Leuven, Taylor Young, MP Cunningham

Get Out Fast
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Haley Elizabeth Anderson
Alex’s best friend, Coyote Boy, is missing and he doesn’t know why.
Cast: Hale Lytle, Tre Marquis Frazier, Warren Dedrick, Tori Wolsefer

I’m in Here
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Willy Berliner
When a man finds a family of strangers in his house who claim to have bought the place, he agrees to let them stay until they can get to the bottom of the mix-up. They never leave.
Cast: Dave Hanson, Jim Santangeli, Jillian Lebling, Kathy Searle

The Investment
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Steve Collins
A mysterious salesman offers an inadvisable investment opportunity to a lonely woman in need of a friend.
Cast: Courtney Davis, Paul Gordon

Last Night
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Kent Juliff
On the final night of their DIY stand up tour around Texas, five comics grow closer as friends.
Cast: Kent Juliff, Elizabeth Spears, Joe Tullar, Martin Urbano

Losing It
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Henry Jinings
High schooler Marshall hopes to seal the deal on prom night, but his date, Sarah, might not be as into it as he had hoped.
Cast: Bryce Earhart, Rachelle Henry, Eric Newsome, Anne Ruttencutter, Nic Chase, Mason Knight, Alice Tokaryev

Neon Lights
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Bradley Bixler
After a seemingly ordinary transaction goes wrong, a young stripper encounters a violent customer on her way home to her father’s birthday.
Cast: Adriana Llabrés, Parker Torres, Michael Barbour, Giovanny Cruz-Marín

No Other Way To Say It
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Tim Mason
A voice over actor tries to deliver the right performance while receiving confusing text messages and confusing direction.
Cast: Beth Melewski, Sue Salvi, Megan Kellie

Nonna
(Canada) US Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Pascal Plante
Just another visit at granny’s…
Cast: Micheline Chamberland, Catherine Beauchemin

Oh What a Wonderful Feeling
(Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: François Jaros
Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires. Nor any truck.
Cast: Karelle Tremblay, Frédérike Bédard, Catherine Hughes, Patrice Beauchesne

One-Minded
(France/USA/South Korea)
Director(s) and Screenwriter(s): Forest Ian Etsler, Sébastien Simon
“One-minded” tells the story of one fan’s transformation from dog to God.
Cast: Moon Choi, Yaerin Erin Joo, Ryu Jun-yeol, Kwak Jin-moo

The Package
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Benjamin Whatley
An experimental narrative which follows the journey of a product from the factory line to a consumer and beyond.
Cast: Michael Rudolf

Paco
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Catalina Jordan Alvarez
He wants you to bounce on his lap.
Cast: Brian Jordan Alvarez, Rosalyn Williams, Daniel Fishkin, Parker Dilworth

Pedazos
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Alejandro Peña
After a garish and violent ceremony, two lovers are thrown into a mysterious cave inhabited by flying creatures.
Cast: Henry MacLean, Will Stryker

Redmond Hand, Private Dick
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Todd Selby; Screenwriter: Jason Kreher
On her quest to find a beautiful woman’s missing cactus, LA’s most notorious detective gets caught up in some crazy shit and then dies.
Cast: Felicia Pearson, Miranda Parham, Katya Zamolodchikova, Jay London

Sadhu in Bombay
(India) North American Premiere
Director: Kabir Mehta
Sadhu In Bombay is a documentary portrait of a man, with ascetic origins, who has been radically transformed by city life . The film explores the grey zones between truth, fiction and the construction of reality; while vividly addressing contemporary life in India.

Student Union
(Hungary) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: György Mór Kárpáti
The return journey on a train from a freshman summer camp, where 18-year-old Dóra has just been sexually abused.
Cast: Katica Nagy, Krisztián Rózsa

Voyage of Galactic Space Dangler
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Evan Mann
A space man meets a cave man.
Cast: Andrew Finzel, Nolan Brown, Rick Romero, Valerie Simon

We Together
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Henry Kaplan
A zombie is awakened.
Cast: Martel Rudd, Kristopher McAfee

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM

Clean Hands
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Lauren DeFilippo
On a Sunday morning the congregation of the Daytona Beach Drive-In Christian Church tunes in.
Cast: Robert Kemp-Baird

Clip-135-02-05
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Sasha Gransjean
Animals are used to express the dislocation, helplessness, and anger, while nature illustrates the lack of control that we have on events that come to pass.
Cast: Sasha Gransjean

Commodity City
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jessica Kingdon
An observation of the daily lives of vendors who work in China’s Yiwu Markets, the largest consumer market in the world. The film explores moments of tension between the fake and the real, between what is for sale and the humans who sell them.

The Dundee Project
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Mark Borchardt
In his long-awaited follow-up to 1997’s ‘Coven,’ filmmaker Mark Borchardt steps behind the camera again with ‘The Dundee Project,’ a documentary chronicling a small town UFO festival in Wisconsin.
Cast: Mark Borchardt, UFO Bob, Mike, Sheldon

Dust & Dirt
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Chris Stanford
Mason Massey dreams of one day making it to the top level of racing but with a lack of big money sponsorship he knows that it is going to be a long, hard road.
Cast: Mason Massey

Eveready
(Uganda/USA) World Premiere
Director: Paul Szynol
Uganda’s most surprising boxer steps into the ring one more time.

Irregulars
(Italy)
Director: Fabio Palmieri
Against a tellingly hypnotic factory backdrop, a refugee encapsulates the global immigration crisis in his own wrenching words.
Cast: Cyrille Kabore

It Is What It Is
(USA) US Premiere
Director: Cyrus Yoshi Tabar
As filmmaker Cyrus Yoshi Tabar digs deep into his family history for answers to questions that have shaped his life, he finds that there are some things that might be better off left in the past.
Cast: Cyrus Yoshi Tabar, Afsaneh Sade, Roxane Maiko Pate

Moriom
(Switzerland)
Director(s): Francesca Scalisi, Mark Olexa
Moriom, a beautiful but strange young woman, says her parents must be punished for holding her prisoner and torturing her. They have a different story.

The Real Wi-Fi of Baltimore
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Julia Kim Smith
Featuring the genre-busting talent of James Nasty and TT the Artist, The Real Wi-Fi Of Baltimore offers a punny and nuanced view of Baltimore neighborhoods in a short film edited from iPhone screenshots of Wi-Fi network names.
Cast: James Nasty, TT the Artist

Richard Twice
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Matthew Salton
Richard Atkins, the singer and songwriter of the early 70’s California psychedelic folk duo ‘Richard Twice’, was on his way to stardom and a huge success with his first debut album when he mysteriously walked away from it all.
Cast: Richard Atkins

Searching for Wives
(Singapore) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Zuki Juno Tobgye
A foreign worker from South India, whose customs says he is not allowed to marry at an even age, comes to Singapore in search of a job and a chance to find a wife before he turns 32.
Cast: Shanmugavel Pathakarnan, Sheeja Sajeev Lal, K. Sajeev Lal, Ramalingam Muthu

Sweet Pie
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Pierce Cravens
Sweet Pie, also known as Paul Winer, revives his career as the baron of bare-assed boogie-woogie and blues at the Public Theater in NYC.
Cast: Sweet Pie aka Paul Winer, Joanne Winer, Will Perone

This is Yates
(USA)
Director: Josh Yates
A reflexive analog-elegy that hates itself.

Troll: A Southern Tale
(USA)
Director: Marinah Janello
An eccentric artist navigates self-expression through his experiences living and growing up in the South.
Cast: Tony Arnold

ANIMATION SHORTS PROGRAM

Auto
(USA) US Premiere
Director: Conner Griffith
Cars dance on highways, crowds of people wash across sidewalk shores.

Batfish Soup
(USA)
Director: Amanda Bonaiuto
Wacky relatives give way to mounting tensions with broken dolls, boiling stew and a bang.

Chella Drive
(USA) Us Premiere
Director: Adele Han Li
A disembodied memory of adolescence in a Southern Californian suburb. The stuck-stillness of endless summer is disrupted only by a passing El Niño.

Hold Me (Ca Caw Ca Caw)
(USA)
Renee Zhan
Flap flapflapflapflap flap. A large bird and a small boy cohabit in an unhappy relationship, trapped by four walls and a mutual codependency. The fragile balance of their existence is cracked by an un-eggs-pected arrival.

Insect Bite
(USA)
Director: Grace Nayoon Rhee
A tiny bug tries to figure out what it wants to become.

It Is My Fault
(China) North American Premiere
Director: Liu Sha
This work utilizes the own approach of the digital medium itself to deconstruct, to form the subliminal synesthesia visually and to create a fictional experience for the mind.

Monkey
(China) US Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Shen Jie
One of the three monkeys died.

My Father’s Room
(South Korea) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Nari Jang
Sometimes, family members can be worse than strangers.

The Noise of Licking
(Hungary)
Director and Screenwriter: Nadja Andrasev; Short story by: Ádám Bodor
A woman is being watched every day by the neighbor’s cat, as she takes care of her exotic plants. Their perverted ritual comes to an end when the cat disappears. Next spring a peculiar man pays her a visit.

Plena Stellarum
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Wade
Neon ghosts dreaming in dead landscapes.

Q
(USA) US Premiere
Director: James Bascara
A bashful encounter.

Remember
(Japan)
Director and Screenwriter: Shunsaku Hayashi
“Leaving home, ‘I’ got a phone call. As ‘I’ answered it, the house exploded. ‘I’ went to work and continued as normal”…

Serpentine
(USA) North American Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Bronwyn Maloney
A young woman’s reflective fantasy arouses a surreal exploration of sensuality, self-esteem, and deeply rooted fears.

EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS PROGRAM

Blua
(Colombia) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Carolina Charry Quintero
What do we see when we really look at an animal? Certainly, not just what meets the eye.
Cast: Margarita Quintero, Chuja Seo, Rafa Rojas, José Adam Arriola

Experiments in Non-Cinema
(USA) World Premiere
Director(s) and Screenwriter(s): Spencer Holden, Noah Engel
Making cinematic experiences without a camera apparatus. Non-Cinema
Cast: Spencer Holden, Noah Engel

Girl Becomes Snow
(USA) World Premiere
Director(s) and Screenwriter(s): Ryan Betschart, Tyler Betschart
An investigation into death induced dream ephemera or; a body (mind) dissolves into video signal memories.
Cast: Karissa Hahn

Press Play
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Kym McDaniel
Discernment becomes crucial as a little girl negotiates an adult world where different forms of entrapment threaten reality.

The Trembling Giant
(United Kingdom)
Director: Patrick Tarrant
The bark of the quaking aspen is thought to provide the cure for any fear who cause can’t be named.

Unknown Hours
(USA) North American Premiere
Director: Calum Walter
An observer journeys down a main street in Chicago towards a neighborhood known for its nightlife.

UpCycles
(USA)
Director: Ariana Gerstein
Cycling from original footage shot on super 8mm, up to 16mm, 35mm, down again to 16, optically printed, hand processed, and then optically printed again using a digital still camera to end on digital video.

ANARCHY SHORTS PROGRAM

Ape Sodom
(Canada)
Director and Screenwriter: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
Three degenerates navigate the descending hierarchy of post-consumerist enlightenment.
Cast: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Mihaly Szabados, Perrie Olthuis, David Cronenberg

Hell Follows
(USA/Japan) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Brian Harrison
Betrayed by his clan and murdered for his past evil deeds, a sadistic killer’s soul possesses his identical twin’s body and sets out onto the road of vengeance for one final crusade of extermination… Everywhere he goes… HELL FOLLOWS.
Cast: Takuya Iba, Shu Sakimoto, Masahiro Takahashi, Sohanny Rose

Horseshoe Theory
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Jonathan Daniel Brown; Screenwriter(s): Jonathan Daniel Brown, Travis Harrington
A weapons deal between a white supremacist and a member of the Islamic State blossoms into more.
Cast: Jackson Rathbone, Amir Malaklou, Lily Harrington, Travis Harrington

In a World of Bad Breath
(USA) World Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Graybill
Watch general confusion amongst an ancient presence.
Cast: Oates Wu, Asher Knowles

Lighter Click
(USA) World Premiere
Director: Robbie Ward
An odyssey through a mysterious psychedelic landscape full of monsters and secrets both beautiful and dark.

Silverhead
(USA) US Premiere
Director and Screenwriter: Lewis Vaughn
A deranged, 300 lb. masked ax murderer terrorizes the streets of Chicago as a calculated hunter tracks him.
Cast: Christopher Porter, Corbin Manning, Clayvon Reeves, Jason Grey, Jarren Davis, Rodney Andrews, Ashley Pough

TheBox
(USA) US Premiere
Director(s): Jack Turpin, Davy Walker
An expressionistic journey through the gilt-pop-entrapment in which we find ourselves.

Vitamins for Life
(USA)
Director: Grier Dill; Screenwriter: T. R. Darling
An educational film about some lesser known vitamins.
Cast: Tessa Greenberg

What a Beautiful World This Will Be
(USA)
Director and Screenwriter: Tyler Walker
While a mysterious disease called “the Blank” ravages New York City, a young drunk must find his missing friend.
Cast: Jordan Michael Blake, Luke Marinkovich, Kara Dudley, Amanda Evans

Press Stills: http://bit.ly/2goPmzt

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ABOUT SLAMDANCE
Slamdance is a community, a year-round experience, and a statement. Established in 1995 by a wild bunch of filmmakers who were tired of relying on a large, oblique system to showcase their work, Slamdance has proven, year after year, that when it comes to recognizing talent and launching careers, independent and grassroots communities can do it themselves.

Slamdance alums are responsible for the programming and organization of the festival. With a variety of backgrounds, interests, and talents, but with no individual filmmaker’s vote meaning more than any others, Slamdance’s programming and organizing committees have been able to stay close to the heart of low budget and do-it-yourself filmmaking. In this way, Slamdance continues to grow and exemplify its mantra: By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers.

The 2017 Slamdance Film Festival will run January 20-26 in Park City, Utah.

Notable Slamdance alumni who first gained notice at the festival include: Christopher Nolan (Interstellar), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Marc Forster (World War Z), Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite), Lena Dunham (Girls), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Anthony & Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), Lynn Shelton (Humpday) and Matt Johnson (Operation Avalanche). Box Office Mojo reports alumni who first showed their work at Slamdance have earned over $11.5 billion at the Box Office to date.

In addition to the Festival, Slamdance serves emerging artists and a growing audience with several year-round activities. These include the popular Slamdance Screenplay Competition, the traveling On The Road screening events, the Anarchy Workshop for student filmmakers, and The ArcLight Presents Slamdance Cinema Club – a monthly cinema club partnership with ArcLight Cinemas based at the ArcLight Hollywood and ArcLight Chicago, with two screenings and filmmaker Q&A’s each month:
www.arclightcinemas.com/en/news/arclight-presents-slamdance-cinema-club

Slamdance Presents is a new distribution arm established to access broader distribution of independent films. The goal is to build the popularity of independent films and support filmmakers on a commercial level through theatrical releases. In August 2016, Slamdance Presents launched the week long release of Claire Carré’s feature sci-fi film, Embers, at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood. Steve Yu’s The Resurrection of Jake The Snake was the first film to be released by the company. The documentary reached number one on iTunes in December, 2015.

In November 2015, Slamdance announced DIG (Digital, Interactive & Gaming), a new digital, interactive and gaming showcase dedicated to emerging independent artists working in hybrid, immersive and developing forms of digital media art. Ten works were featured in the inaugural DIG show that opened in Los Angeles at Big Pictures Los Angeles on December 4, running through December 13, 2015. The show was also featured at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

DIG will open December 2-10, 2016 in Los Angeles and form part of the 2017 Film Festival.

2017 Slamdance Film Festival Sponsors include Blackmagic Design, Distribber, CreativeFuture, Directors Guild of America, Fusion, Different By Design, Pierce Law Group LLP, Writers Guild Of America West, Salt Lake City’s Slug Magazine, Beehive Distilling, and BlueStar Café. Slamdance is proud to partner with sponsors who support emerging artists and filmmakers. Additional information about Slamdance is available at http://www.slamdance.com

Facebook: SlamdanceFilmFestival
Twitter: @slamdance
Instagram: @slamogram

Additional References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slamdance_Film_Festival

PRESS CONTACT:

After Bruce PR
Eseel Borlasa
eseel@afterbruce.com
562-881-6725

Tracy Nguyen-Chung
tracy@afterbruce.com
503-701-2115

(Source:www.slamdance.com)
Sundance Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Sundance adds four more films

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Park City, UT — Rounding out an already robust slate of new independent work, Sundance Institute adds two Documentary Premieres and two archive From The Collection films to the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Screenings take place in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort.

screen-shot-2016-12-14-at-4-40-57-pm

Bending the Arc and Long Strange Trip join archive films Desert Hearts and Reservoir Dogs, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1986 and 1992, respectively. The archive films are selections from the Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA, a joint venture between UCLA Film & Television Archive and Sundance Institute. The Collection, established in 1997, has grown to over 4,000 holdings representing nearly 2,300 titles, and is specifically devoted to the preservation of independent documentaries, narratives and short films supported by Sundance Institute, including Paris is Burning, El Mariachi, Winter’s Bone, Johnny Suede, Working Girls, Crumb, Groove, Better This World, The Oath and Paris, Texas. Titles are generously donated by individual filmmakers, distributors and studios.

With these additions, the 2017 Festival will present 118 feature-length films, representing 32 countries and 37 first-time filmmakers, including 20 in competition. These films were selected from 13,782 submissions including 4,068 feature-length films and 8,985 short films. Of the feature film submissions, 2,005 were from the U.S. and  2,063 were international. 101 feature films at the Festival will be world premieres.

DOCUMENTARY PREMIERES

Bending the Arc / U.S.A. (Directors: Kief Davidson, Pedro Kos, Screenwriter: Cori Shepherd Stern) — This powerful epic is about the extraordinary doctors and activists—including Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, and Ophelia Dahl—whose work 30 years ago to save lives in a rural Haitian village grew into a global battle in the halls of power for the right to health for all. World Premiere

Long Strange Trip / U.S.A. (Director: Amir Bar-Lev) — The tale of The Grateful Dead is inspiring, complicated and downright messy. A tribe of contrarians, they made art out of open-ended chaos and inadvertently achieved success on their own terms. Never-before-seen footage and interviews offer this unprecedented and unvarnished look at the life of the Dead. World Premiere

FROM THE COLLECTION

Desert Hearts / U.S.A. (Director: Donna Deitch, Screenwriter: Natalie Cooper) — Nevada, 1959: Vivian Bell arrives to get a divorce and finds herself increasingly drawn to Cay Rivvers, a self-assured lesbian. The emotions released by their developing intimacy combined with Vivian’s insecurities are played out against a backdrop of rocky landscapes and country and western songs. The Festival will screen a new digitally restored version by the Criterion Collection and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute and Outfest UCLA Legacy Project. Cast: Andra Akers, Dean Butler, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Helen Shaver, Glen Welles.

Reservoir Dogs / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino) — They were perfect strangers, assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Then their simple robbery explodes into a bloody ambush and the ruthless killers realize one of them is a police informant. But which one? Miramax provided a brand-new 35mm print for this special 25th anniversary screening, which will be followed by an extended Q&A with Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender. Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen.

The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Boyhood, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Life Itself, The Cove, The End of the Tour, Blackfish, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Super Size Me, Dope, Little Miss Sunshine, sex, lies, and videotape, Reservoir Dogs, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious and Napoleon Dynamite.
The Sundance Film Festival®
The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®. 2017 Festival sponsors to date include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, SundanceTV, Chase Sapphire®, and Canada Goose; Leadership Sponsors – Adobe, AT&T, DIRECTV, Omnicom, Stella Artois® and YouTube; Sustaining Sponsors – American Airlines, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Creators League Studio, Daydream, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, GEICO, The Hollywood Reporter, IMDb, Jaunt, Kickstarter, Oculus and the University of Utah Health. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Look for the Official Sponsor seal at their venues at the Festival. sundance.org/festival

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Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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(Source: sundance.org)
Palm Springs International Film Festival

ANNETTE BENING TO RECEIVE CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT 28th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FILM AWARDS GALA

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Palm Springs, CA (December 13, 2016) – The 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Annette Bening with the Career Achievement Award at its annual Film Awards Gala.  The Film Awards Gala, hosted by Mary Hart, will be held Monday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-16, 2017.

screen-shot-2016-12-13-at-7-27-10-am“Throughout her career, Annette Bening has brought to the screen many memorable performances including the four films for which she was nominated for an Academy Award:  American Beauty, The Grifters, The Kids Are All Right, and Being Julia,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “Bening creates yet another memorable award-winning role portraying Dorothea, a free-spirited single mother raising her teenage son in Mike Mills’ upcoming film 20th Century Women. It is our great honor to present the Career Achievement Award to Annette Bening.”

Past recipients of the Career Achievement Award include Glenn Close, Kevin Costner, Bruce Dern, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson and Lynn Redgrave.

 Bening stars in 20th Century Women, from acclaimed filmmaker Mike Mills who delivers a richly multilayered, funny, heart-stirring celebration of the complexities of women, Screen Shot 2016-12-13 at 7.31.08 AM.pngfamily, time and the connections we search for our whole lives. It is a film that keeps redefining itself as it goes along, shifting with its characters as they navigate the pivotal summer of 1979. Set in Santa Barbara, the film follows Dorothea Fields (Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing – via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home, and Julie (Elle Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor.

For her role in the film, Bening received Best Actress nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, Golden Globes, Gotham Awards and Independent Film Spirit Awards.

Annette Bening is a four-time Academy Award® nominee, two-time Golden Globe winner, and two-time recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Award.  Her film credits include The Kids Are All Right, American Beauty, Being Julia, Danny Collins, The Search, The Face of Love, Girl Most Likely, Ginger & Rosa, Ruby Sparks, Mother and Child, The Women, Running with Scissors, Mrs. Harris, In Dreams, The Siege, The American President, Mars Attacks!, Richard III, Love Affair, Bugsy, Regarding Henry, The Grifters, Guilt By Suspicion, Valmont, Postcards From the Edge and The Great Outdoors.  She can currently be seen in the film Rules Don’t Apply and her upcoming films are The Seagull and Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.

Previously announced honorees attending the 2017 Film Awards Gala are Amy Adams, Casey Affleck, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Negga, the cast of Hidden Figures including Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner and Jim Parsons, and the cast of La La Land, including Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and director Damien Chazelle.

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About The Palm Springs International Film Festival

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, annually welcoming more than 135,000 attendees for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Film Awards Gala, a glamorous, black-tie event attended by 2,500 guests, presented this year by Chopard and sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Entertainment Tonight.  The Film Awards Gala honors the year’s best achievements in cinema in front of and behind the camera.  The celebrated list of talents who have been honored in recent years includes Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Brad Pitt, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, David O. Russell, Meryl Streep, and Reese Witherspoon.  PSIFF is organized by The Palm Springs International Film Society, a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization with a mission to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness.

For more information, call 760-778-8979 or 800-898-7256 or visit www.psfilmfest.org.

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 Media contacts:

Steven Wilson / Lauren Peteroy                                                                         David Lee

B|W|R Public Relations                                                                                        PSIFF

Steven.wilson@bwr-pr.com / Lauren.peteroy@bwr-pr.com                        david@psfilmfest.org

(Source: psiff.org)

Cairo International Film Festival

Cairo International Film Festival – There’s Always Next Year

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

By Jamie N. Christley

From the window of an airplane, metropolitan Cairo seems to stretch into infinity, a truly ancient city that keeps adding onto itself, year after year. A handful of cities occupy a greater land area, but fewer appear to be as impossibly intricate and dense, its overwhelming breadth a dreamed thing. The next thing you notice is that Cairo wears its history on its sleeve. Very little fails to carry signification of events and people, past and present. Does your town have a bridge named after an historic date? The river island of Zamalek connects with Tahrir Square and points east using the “6th of October Bridge,” named for a successful show of force against Israeli occupiers in 1967. Even the hotel where most guests of the Cairo International Film Festival stayed, the Cairo Marriott, has thick roots in the 19th century, as related by a short documentary preloaded in each room’s television set, explaining the co-location of a sleek, modern hotel within the 150-year-old Gezirah Palace. The Marriott, by the virtue of its dual structure, symbolizes the city’s relentless, incremental layering of the new upon or within the old, the way a very old cathedral might be built over the ruins of an ancient one.

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You can experience the festival from beginning to end without leaving the island of Zamalek, which sits in the Nile River the same way as Roosevelt Island sits lodged between Manhattan and Queens on the East River. A 20-minute walk or—at peak times—a 30-minute drive conveys festival attendees to the Cairo Opera House, where, at each individual screening, you to pass through up to four metal detectors. The cadre of security personnel at each juncture carry out their duties without panic or fuss, occasionally taking a drag off a cigarette or a sip of koshary tea. Breaking up the landscape outside the Opera House is a solitary figure holding an assault rifle and standing at perfect attention for hours on end; in his 100% black outfit, kevlar accoutrements, and totally concealed face, he looks like none other than Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens. One doesn’t talk to him.

Every screening observes assigned seating protocol. When I took my seat for This Life of Mine, the usher led me, with the grave precision of a funeral director, to my exact chosen seat in an auditorium that remained empty but for one other attendee. Dozens of ticket-holders enter any given screening up to half an hour late, the insidious maglights that are now a standard feature on smartphones bathing the room in errant stabs of piercing light, as if they were volunteers combing the woods for a missing child.

Navigating the festival structure was challenging in some ways, simple in others. The tactic employed by festivalgoers in Toronto and elsewhere, of timing a contingency screening in case something goes wrong with your main choice (projection failure, a shutout, a bad film), staggered by a few minutes to allow for travel between venues, has no play in Cairo, where upward of 10 to 12 films start at exactly the same time, four times a day. If, say, the projection for one film fails, which actually happened to me when the correct media files for the 2003 Chinese film Cell Phone went missing, you’re out of luck for anything else playing during the same timeslot, unless you can suppress your inner Alvy Singer and miss the opening 15 or so minutes.

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

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The Cairo International Film Festival ran from November 15 —24.

(Source: slantmagazine.com)

 

#AFI, #AFIFEST, Golden Globes

The 74th Golden Globe Nominations Motion Pictures and Television Series

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Bright and early this morning – maybe not bright but still early – Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) president Lorenzo Soria introduced Anna Kendrick, Don Cheadle and Laura Dern to announce the 2017 Golden Globe Nominees. La La Land captured seven nominations on the motion picture side including Best Motion Picture – Comedy Musical, Best Director for Damian Chazelle and Best Actor – Musical Comedy nominations for stars  Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.

Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight was nominated in six categories including Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Screenplay  and Supporting Actor noms for Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris. Kenneth Lonergan’s critically acclaimed Manchester By The Sea also made a strong showing with nominations for Best Drama, Director  and acting noms for stars Casey Affleck (Best Actor) and Michelle Wiliams (Supporting Actress). Lion, Hacksaw Ridge and Hell or High Water also made the list.

As expected Paul Verhoeven’s Elle starring Isabelle Huppert, received a nom in the Foreign Language category. The veteran French actress also received a nomination as one of the year’s best Drama Actresses, alongside Jessica Chastain (Miss Sloane), Ruth Negga (Loving), Amy Adams (Arrival), and Natalie Portman (Jackie). Also receiving a nom for Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language was one of my favorite films from the recent American Film Institute’s 2016 AFI FEST presented by Audi, Divines, from the self-taught director Houda Benyamina, starring budding actress, Oulaya Amamra. Other nominees in the Foreign Language category were Neruda from Chile’s Pablo Larrain, Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, and Toni Erdmann from Maren Ade

Television nominations went to  Insecure,  Atlanta. Black-ish, Mozart in The Jungle, Veep and Transparent and  Black-ish which received three nominations. Game of Thrones picked up two nominations and The Crown, Westworld, Stranger Things and This Is Us also receiving noms.

HBO led the way again this year with 14 nominations for its series. The complete list: official_2017_golden_globe_nominations_press_release

The 74th  Golden Globes Awards, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, will air live on NBC on January 8, 2017 at 8 pm EST / 5 pm PST.

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Critics Choice

Critics Choice 2016 Big Winners: La La Land, American Crime Story: People v. OJ

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

The 22nd Annual Critics Choice Awards, hosted by T.J. Miller in Los Angeles, Calif., saw La La Land swing eight awards including Best Picture and Best Director. On the television side American Crime Story: People v. OJ walked away with four awards including Best Limited Series or Movie Made for Television.

These prizes bestowed by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. (BFCA) are renowned as one of the best barometers for predicting the Oscars. Over their 21-year history, these awards have previewed 13 Best Picture Oscar winners as well as 16 Best Director, 14 Best Actor, 12 Best Actress, 11 Supporting Actor and 14 Supporting Actress champs.

The complete list of winners from tonight’s awards are as follows:

BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land — WINNER
Lion
Loving
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Sully

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Arrival
Annette Bening – 20th Century Women
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
Natalie Portman – Jackie — WINNER
Emma Stone – La La Land

BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea —WINNER
Joel Edgerton – Loving
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Tom Hanks – Sully
Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis – Fences — WINNER
Greta Gerwig – 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Nicole Kidman – Lion
Janelle Monáe – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali – Moonlight — WINNER
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Ben Foster – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel – Lion
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle – La La Land — WINNER
Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
Denzel Washington – Fences

BEST COMEDY
Central Intelligence
Deadpool — WINNER
Don’t Think Twice
The Edge of Seventeen
Hail, Caesar!
The Nice Guys

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Kate Beckinsale – Love & Friendship
Sally Field – Hello, My Name Is Doris
Kate McKinnon – Ghostbusters
Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins — WINNER

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Ryan Gosling – The Nice Guys
Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
Dwayne Johnson – Central Intelligence
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool — WINNER

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Game of Thrones (HBO) — WINNER
Mr. Robot (USA)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
The Crown (Netflix)
This Is Us (NBC)
Westworld (HBO)

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander (Starz)
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder (ABC)
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black (BBC America)
Keri Russell, The Americans (FX)
Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld (HBO) — WINNER
Robin Wright, House of Cards (Netflix)

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Sam Heughan, Outlander (Starz)
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot (USA)
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul (AMC) — WINNER
Matthew Rhys, The Americans (FX)
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan (Showtime)
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards (Netflix)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife (CBS)
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones (HBO)
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones (HBO)
Thandie Newton, Westworld (HBO) — WINNER
Maura Tierney, The Affair (Showtime)
Constance Zimmer, UnREAL (Lifetime)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (HBO)
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones (HBO)
John Lithgow, The Crown (Netflix) — WINNER
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland (Showtime)
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot (USA)
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan (Showtime)

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Atlanta (FX)
Black-ish (ABC)
Fleabag (Amazon)
Modern Family (ABC)
Silicon Valley (HBO) — WINNER
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Veep (HBO)

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live (NBC) — WINNER
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish (ABC)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag (Amazon)
Constance Wu, Fresh Off the Boat (ABC)

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish (ABC)
Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth (FOX)
Donald Glover, Atlanta (FX) — WINNER
Bill Hader, Documentary Now, IFC
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk, (Starz)
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)
Anna Chlumsky, Veep (HBO)
Allison Janney, Mom, (CBS)
Jane Krakowski, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) — WINNER
Judith Light, Transparent (Amazon)
Allison Williams, Girls (HBO)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Louie Anderson, Baskets (FX) — WINNER
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Ty Burrell, Modern Family (ABC)
Tony Hale, Veep (HBO)
T.J. Miller, Silicon Valley (HBO

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
All the Way (HBO)
Confirmation (HBO)
Killing Reagan (National Geographic)
Roots (History)
The Night Manager (AMC)
The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX) — WINNER

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Olivia Colman, The Night Manager (AMC)
Felicity Huffman, American Crime (ABC)
Cynthia Nixon, Killing Reagan (National Geographic)
Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX) — WINNER
Lili Taylor, American Crime (ABC)
Kerry Washington, Confirmation (HBO)

BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Bryan Cranston, All the Way (HBO)
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (PBS)
Cuba Gooding Jr., The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager (AMC)
Tim Matheson, Killing Reagan (National Geographic)
Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J Simpson (FX) — WINNER

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea — WINNER
Alex R. Hibbert – Moonlight
Lewis MacDougall – A Monster Calls
Madina Nalwanga – Queen of Katwe
Sunny Pawar — Lion
Hailee Steinfeld – The Edge of Seventeen

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
20th Century Women
Fences
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight  — WINNER

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Damien Chazelle – La La Land — WINNER
Barry Jenkins — Moonlight
Yorgos Lanthimos/Efthimis Filippou – The Lobster
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea — WINNER
Jeff Nichols – Loving
Taylor Sheridan – Hell or High Water

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Luke Davies – Lion
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Eric Heisserer – Arrival — WINNER
Todd Komarnicki – Sully
Allison Schroeder/Theodore Melfi – Hidden Figures
August Wilson – Fences

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Red Turtle
Trolls
Zootopia — WINNER

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
10 Cloverfield Lane
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Don’t Breathe
Star Trek Beyond
The Witch

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle
The Handmaiden
Julieta
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Captain America: Civil War
Deadpool
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge — WINNER
Jason Bourne

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Benedict Cumberbatch – Doctor Strange
Matt Damon – Jason Bourne
Chris Evans – Captain America: Civil War
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge — WINNER
Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Gal Gadot – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Scarlett Johansson – Captain America: Civil War
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad — WINNER
Tilda Swinton – Doctor Strange

BEST SONG
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” – La La Land
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” – Trolls
“City of Stars” – La La Land — WINNER
“Drive It Like You Stole It” – Sing Street
“How Far I’ll Go” — Moana
“The Rules Don’t Apply” – Rules Don’t Apply

BEST SCORE
Nicholas Britell – Moonlight
Jóhann Jóhannsson – Arrival
Justin Hurwitz – La La Land
Micachu – Jackie
Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka – Lion

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Stéphane Fontaine – Jackie
James Laxton – Moonlight
Seamus McGarvey – Nocturnal Animals
Linus Sandgren – La La Land – WINNER
Bradford Young – Arrival

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival – Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte/André Valade
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Stuart Craig/James Hambridge, Anna Pinnock
Jackie – Jean Rabasse, Véronique Melery
La La Land – David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco — WINNER
Live by Night – Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

BEST EDITING
Tom Cross – La La Land — WINNER
John Gilbert – Hacksaw Ridge
Blu Murray – Sully
Nat Sanders/Joi McMillon — Moonlight
Joe Walker – Arrival

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Consolata Boyle – Florence Foster Jenkins
Madeline Fontaine – Jackie — WINNER
Joanna Johnston – Allied
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh – Love & Friendship
Mary Zophres – La La Land

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hacksaw Ridge
Jackie — WINNER
Star Trek Beyond

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A Monster Calls
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The Jungle Book — WINNER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Elizabeth Debicki, The Night Manager (AMC)
Regina King, American Crime (ABC) — WINNER
Sarah Lancashire, The Dresser (Starz)
Melissa Leo, All the Way (HBO)
Anna Paquin, Roots (History)
Emily Watson, The Dresser (Starz)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES
Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX) — WINNER
Lane Garrison, Roots (History)
Frank Langella, All the Way (HBO)
Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager (AMC)
John Travolta, The People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)
Forest Whitaker, Roots (History)

BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A DRAMA SERIES
Mahershala Ali, House of Cards (Netflix)
Lisa Bonet, Ray Donovan (Showtime)
Ellen Burstyn, House of Cards (Netflix)
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife (CBS)
Jared Harris, The Crown (Netflix)
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, The Walking Dead (AMC) — WINNER

BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live (NBC) — WINNER
Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory, (CBS)
Larry David, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Lisa Kudrow, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Liam Neeson, Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)

BEST STRUCTURED REALITY SERIES
Chopped (Food Network)
Inside the Actors Studio (Bravo)
Penn & Teller: Fool Us (The CW)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
Shark Tank (ABC) — WINNER
Undercover Boss (CBS)

BEST ANIMATED SERIES
Archer (FX)
Bob’s Burgers (FOX)
BoJack Horseman (Netflix) — WINNER
Son of Zorn (FOX)
South Park (Comedy Central)
The Simpsons (FOX)

BEST REALITY COMPETITION SERIES
America’s Got Talent (NBC)
MasterChef Junior (FOX)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo)
Skin Wars (GSN)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
The Voice (NBC) — WINNER

BEST UNSTRUCTURED REALITY SERIES
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN) — WINNER
Chrisley Knows Best (USA)
Deadliest Catch (Discovery)
Ice Road Truckers (History)
Intervention (A&E)
Naked and Afraid (Discovery)

BEST TALK SHOW
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS) — WINNER
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

BEST REALITY SHOW HOST
Ted Allen, Chopped (Food Network)
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
Anthony Bourdain, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN) — WINNER
Nick Cannon, America’s Got Talent (NBC)
Carson Daly, The Voice (NBC)
RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo)

MOST BINGEWORTHY
Game of Thrones
Stranger Things
Catastrophe
Bates Motel
Mr. Robot
Outlander — WINNER

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR: Ryan Reynolds

#SEEHER AWARD: Viola Davis

(Source: http://www.ew.com)

Critics Choice

‘La La Land’ Leads Critics’ Choice Awards Nominations

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

“La La Land,” the musical “dramedy” following a jazz musician’s romance with an aspiring actress, takes a  whopping 12 nominations heading into tonight’s presentation of the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s 22nd annual Critics’ Choice Awards, formally kicking off the Hollywood awards season.

These prizes bestowed by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. (BFCA) are renowned as one of the best barometers for predicting the Oscars. Over their 21-year history, these awards have previewed 13 Best Picture Oscar winners as well as 16 Best Director, 14 Best Actor, 12 Best Actress, 11 Supporting Actor and 14 Supporting Actress champs.

The complete list of winners from tonight’s awards are as follows:

ARRIVAL
Amy Adams as Louise Banks in ARRIVAL by Paramount Pictures

The sci-fi adventure “Arrival” and the coming-of-age drama “Moonlight” each have 10 nominations.

Screen Shot 2016-08-12 at 8.04.04 PM

“La La Land,” which reunites Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as romantic interests, is nominated for best picture, actor, actress, director, original screenplay, cinematography, production design, editing, costume design, score and two best song nods.

The best picture nominees are “Arrival,” “Fences,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hell or High Water,” “La La Land,” “Lion,” “Loving,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Moonlight” and “Sully.”

Denzel Washington is one of several double-nominees heading into the ceremony, for his work as an actor and as the director of the best picture nominee “Fences.”

Competing with Washington for best actor will be Casey Affleck for “Manchester by the Sea,” Joel Edgerton for “Loving,” Andrew Garfield for “Hacksaw Ridge,” Gosling for “La La Land” and Tom Hanks for “Sully.”

Nominated for best actress are Amy Adams for “Arrival,” Annette Bening for “20th Century Women,” Isabelle Huppert for “Elle,” Ruth Negga for “Loving,” Natalie Portman for “Jackie” and Stone for “La La Land.”

On the television side of the awards, FX’s miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson” has a leading six nominations, while HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” AMC’s “The Night Manager” and Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” have five each.

Netflix’s “House of Cards,” History’s “Roots” and HBO’s “All the Way” and “Veep” all have four nominations in the television categories.

Nominated for best drama series are “Better Call Saul,” `”Game of Thrones,” “Mr. Robot,” “Stranger Things,” “The Crown,” “This is Us” and “Westworld.”

Competing for best comedy will be “Atlanta,” “Black-ish,” “Fleabag,” “Modern Family,” “Silicon Valley,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Veep.”

The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and televised by A&E.

(Source:www.nbclosangeles.com)

Academic Paper

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. – Globally

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Warner Bros. Entertainment. Inc., originally founded in April of 1923, is a broad-based entertainment company, headquartered in Burbank, California on Warner Bros. Studios lot, a 142-acre parcel that houses one of the eminent production and post-productions facilities on the planet, selling its good and services in all major global marketplaces.

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In addition, Warner Bros. Studios Facilities oversees the research and development, United Kingdom-based, Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden, a 160-acre production facility that has served as the site for many acclaimed Warner Bros. European productions including the eight Harry Potter films. It is also the home of the Warner Bros, Studio Tour – London, The Making of Harry Potter, a publicity, brand awareness generator. It is one of the most popular UK tourist attractions since opening in early 2012. Warner Bros. and is considered to have one of the most successful brands in the entertainment industry. Warner Bros. Entertainment. Inc. is a fully integrated Time-Warner Company, publicly traded with 89% of its shares held by institutional and mutual fund owners.

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Initially, Warner Bros. consistently utilized a standardized approach to its production systems and marketing efforts with a production facility with specific job components made up of raw talent until the vertical disintegration (an impediment to coordination handed down by the US Supreme Court) of the Studio System had run its cycle by 1960. It was the end of the Golden Age of filmmaking and an organizational change was looming.

Warner Bros. shifted to a glocalization strategy with standard operating procedures and adaptation strategies when needed to meet objectives as the rise of television in the 1950’s and the cultural shifts of the late 1950’s and the 1960’s caused a paradigm in viewership. It wouldn’t be long before, Warner Bros adopted a divisional structure where functions were grouped together to meet the needs of their respective products, markets and geographical regions.

With its painstaking market research including social attitudes Warner Bros. produced programming for television and home entertainment with global market products in its international promotional mix. Television, radio, newspaper, billboards and magazine advertisements are used to promote and advertise. Sponsorships and product placements are additional revenue generators.

In addition, Warner Bros. produced feature films for new international viewer markets in international joint ventures. Warner Bros. utilizes distribution agents and subsidiaries throughout its global markets to distribute not only its television, home entertainment and feature films but also a myriad of DVD, Blu-ray, digital content, comic books, animation, video games and broadcasting.

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Warner Bros. Consumer Product division oversees the licensing of the intellectual property rights of Warner Bros. Entertainment library of film and television, maintains a commitment to increase and strengthen the power of its core brand recognition using extensive marketing research and analytics through promotional marketing, retailing and creative merchandizing within a vibrant network of global offices in strategic, demographically analyzed locations in Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America. Warner Bros. Consumer Product division also monitors for product counterfeiting and content piracy.

Warner Bros. is primarily in the consumer markets and industrial markets. However, in 1941 the studio was brought into the government market in producing the geopolitical drama/thriller Casablanca at the behest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt long before the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility had taken center stage.

The Warner Bros. library consists of over 7000 feature films, 5000 television programs with tens of thousands of episodes and nearly 75,000 hours of programming. As new viewers are discovering classic films, the product life-cycle of classic films are being altered as new technologies enable restoration of damaged or improperly stored film archivals.

With a direct strategy, Warner Bros. Pictures produces and distributes approximately 18-22 films per year and is a global leader in marketing and distributing feature films in over 120 territories either directly or indirectly while maintaining offices in over thirty countries. Utilizing a business strategy that minimizes risk and maximizes capital and productivity, Warner Bros. finances or co-finances its films while keeping the global distribution rights. Furthermore, Warner Bros. takes advantage of its comparative advantages in marketing and distribution with films financed by third parties in what is often a highly capital intensive industry.

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For example, New Line Cinema founded in 1967, is a well-established purveyor of quality, mainstream films as well as niche market films. In 2008, New Line Cinema became a subsidiary of Warner Bros,  with all the practical benefits of a strategic alliance, maintaining its own separate business dealings in development, production, marketing and distribution.

New Line produced The Lord of the Rings, the Oscar Award-winning film trilogy, which generated a combined worldwide box office of nearly $3 billion with an additional $3 billion in consumer products and home entertainment revenue. As mentioned throughout the course, companies in a vertically integrated structure often coordinate and share certain responsibilities. While New Line and Warner Bros. are separate entities they do coordinate with Warner Bros. to maximize business efficiencies. New Line’s 2016 films are being distributed through Warner Bros.

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As a sign of Warner Bros. Pictures success, 2015 marked the ninth year in a row it surpassed box office revenues of three billion dollars. In addition, 2015 marked the fifteenth consecutive year that its international and domestic gross receipts exceeded one billion dollars each. No other entertainment studio has ever achieved such a feat.

Another component of Warner Bros. success is its Home Entertainment. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment manages video games, home video and digital distribution to maximize current and next generation distribution scenarios including Blu-ray, DVD, streaming, transactional video-on-demand and delivery of theatrical content to online and wireless channels. Also, it is a substantial publisher of third party and internal video game titles.

Like its Pictures Division, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment led the industry with a nineteen percent market share through its subsidiaries Warner Horizon, Blue Ribbon, Warner Bros. Animation and WBTV.

Warner Bros. Television Group produced over seventy series for the 2015-16 season and oversees and grows the entire Warner Bros. portfolio of television businesses including production worldwide, broadcasting and traditional and digital distribution. Furthermore, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment worked across all platform including the digital, broadcast, pay-per-view and cable to remain the industry and category leader.

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Warner Bros. Animation is yet another division of Warner Bros. and is one of the leading animation studios in the entertainment business with an organizational culture made up of a highly creative roster of animators, artists and storytellers working on global products under the scrutiny of long-standing business analysis to discern what products will yield the greatest revenues.

Warner Bros. Animation is home to the animated library containing the popular Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Hannah-Barbera characters and MGM animations. With concept testing, the animation studio is also at the leading edge of technology with its prolific use of computer generated imaging, 360 degree cinema and the exciting new virtual reality technologies as the studio attempts to create an affordable product design with cost-prohibitive technologies.

That’s all folks!

Bibliography

Balio, Tino. “Film Quarterly.” Film Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, 1995, pp. 50–52. www.jstor.org/stable/1213500. Hollywood TV: The Studio System in the Fifties

Fell, John. “Film Quarterly.” Film Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 4, 1986, pp. 56–57. www.jstor.org/stable/1212506. “Inside Warner Bros. (1935-51)

http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/divisions/television/warner-bros-domestic-television-distribution

Introduction to Global Business by Gaspar, Arreola-Risa, Bierman, Hise, Kolari, & Smith, FIRST EDITION

POKORNY, MICHAEL, and JOHN SEDGWICK. “Profitability Trends in Hollywood, 1929 to 1999: Somebody Must Know Something.” The Economic History Review, vol. 63, no. 1, 2010, pp. 56–84. New Series, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27771570.

#Sundance, Sundance Film Festival

New Frontier Showcases Storytelling’s Future at 2017 Sundance Film Festival

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Park City, UT — Now in its second decade of breaking new ground at the forefront of art and technology, Sundance Institute has curated an in-depth vision of storytelling’s future for the 2017 edition of New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival, January 19-29 in Park City. The full slate — including storyworlds in Augmented Reality headsets, projection-mapped acrobatics, a VR beauty salon producing neuroscience data via the internet of things and a host of socialized, interactive and immersively haptic VR story experiences — stands as a testament to New Frontier’s expertise in identifying, developing and amplifying the most relevant and high-impact modes of tech-enabled narrative.

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Live performances, a feature film and augmented reality experiences will complement a total of 20 VR experiences and 11 installations, showcased between three venues in Park City. The historic Claim Jumper will host seven immersive installations focused on cross-disciplinary story construction and and two video works; the VR Palace will feature 15 VR experiences alongside additional installations; and the VR Bar will offer a lineup of mobile VR. Three projects are part of the Festival’s The New Climate program, which highlights the environment and climate change. More New Frontier projects will be announced in the coming weeks.

Robert Redford, President and Founder of Sundance Institute, said, “Every year, more artists are drawn to the vanguard of art and technology: independent, creative storytellers have more tools to break the mold than ever before. For the last decade-plus, New Frontier’s vision has evolved and grown with this expanding palette, to curate and showcase the most exciting new work made with the latest advances.”

Shari Frilot, Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer and Chief Curator, New Frontier, said, “In an era that has recalibrated economies, redefined social realms and rewired the connection between the individual and the world, we must also reimagine what it is to be human. Through Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and various crafted immersive experiences, New Frontier this year challenges the very nature of perception and what we consider to be ‘reality.’”

Through New Frontier’s history, Sundance Institute has been at the forefront of new media storytelling, recognized as a pioneer of story-based, tech-enabled experiences; New Frontier alumni include Doug Aitken, James Franco, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chris Milk, Nonny de la Peña, Pipilotti Rist and Jennifer Steinkamp. The Institute’s support extends well beyond its curated slate of Festival projects, and includes the annual New Frontier Story Lab, which offers mentorship and development opportunities for new media storytellers, New Frontier Day Labs in cities nationwide and the New Frontier Residency Program, which combines the might of partners such as MIT Media Lab’s Social Computing Group and Jaunt Studios to drive groundbreaking data-visualization and VR storytelling tools, training and resources to independent artists.

2016 marked New Frontier’s 10th Anniversary, with celebrations at MoMA in New York City, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

In addition to the New Frontier program announced today, films in U.S. and World Competitions and NEXT have been announced and are listed at sundance.org/festival.

FILMS AND PERFORMANCE

18 Black Girls / Boys Ages 1-18 Who Have Arrived at the Singularity and Are Thus Spiritual Machines: $X in an Edition of $97 Quadrillion / U.S.A. (Director and writer: Terence Nance) — In this pair of performances, the artist Googles the phrase “one-year-old black boy” and “one-year-old black girl,” ascending in age to 18, allowing Google’s “popular searches” algorithm to populate what words will follow.

Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? / U.S.A. (Director: Travis Wilkerson) — This documentary murder mystery about the artist’s own family is a Southern Gothic torn apart and reassembled. Journeying straight into the black heart of a family and country, this multimedia performance explores a forgotten killing by the artist’s great-grandfather—a white Southern racist—of a black man in lower Alabama.

World Without End (No Reported Incidents) / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Jem Cohen) — Close observations around Southend-on-Sea, a small English town along the Thames estuary, reveal not only everyday streets, everyday birds, unflagging tides, mud and sky, but also prize-winning Indian curries, an encyclopedic universe of hats and a nearly lost world of proto-punk music.

INSTALLATIONS

A selection of single-channel works by the collective A Normal Working Day / Switzerland — A Normal Working Day is an artist collective consisting of the installation artist Zimoun and the choreographers and dancers Delgado Fuchs (Marco Delgado, Nadine Fuchs). Formed from the bodies of the two performers, these splendidly hypnotic projections are visual rabbit holes that shimmer with a presence that is larger than the sum of their parts.

Full Turn / Switzerland (Lead Artist: Benjamin Muzzin) — This installation explores the notion of the third dimension with the desire to get out of the usual frame of a flat screen. The rotation of two tablets creates a three-dimensional, animated sequence that can be seen at 360 degrees, unlike any other type of display.

Heartcorps: Riders of the Storyboard / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: dandypunk, Key Collaborators: Darin Basile, Jo Cattell) — Follow the story of Particle, a two-dimensional light being, as you walk through the pages of a giant, immersive comic book. Hand-drawn illustrations come to life around you using projection-mapping technology, while high-level Cirque du Soleil performers interact with animated characters in this “digital light poem.” Cast: Ekenah Claudin, Elon Höglund, Youssef El Toufali, Jenni Gamas.

Heroes / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Melissa Painter, Key Collaborators: Tim Dillon, Thomas Wester, Jason Schugardt, Laura Gorenstein Miller) — The setting: An extravagant movie palace where silent films were shown. One dance—fiercely athletic and romantic—invites you inside. Through both Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality headsets, the story comes off the screen, challenging you to move, navigate heroic shifts in perspective and scale and reach out to touch the experience. Cast: Helios Dance Theater, Stephanie Maxim, Chris Stanley, Melissa Sandvig.

Journey to the Center of the Natural Machine / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Daniella Segal, Daniel Lazo, Eran May-Raz, Charles Niu) — From stone axe to super-computer, our brain’s evolution has been guided by our tools, evolving it into the most complicated object in the known universe. Explore a holographic brain with a friend on the Meta 2 Augmented Reality Headset, and rebuild your relationship to the Natural Machine.

NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Ashley Baccus-Clark, Carmen Aguilar y Wedge, Ece Tankal, Nitzan Bartov) — A three-part exploration of black women and the roles they play in technology, society and culture—including speculative products, immersive experiences and neurocognitive impact research. Using fashion, cosmetics and the economy of beauty as entry points, the project illuminates issues of privacy, transparency, identity and perception.

Pleasant Places / United Kingdom (Lead Artist: Quayola) — A return to, and a modern elaboration upon, Vincent Van Gogh’s Provence landscapes, this series of digital paintings interrogates and reframes concepts of representation and perception through image manipulation and augmented reality. Using bucolic and contemplative images, juxtaposed with raw data visualization, this project suggests alternate modes of visual synthesis.

Synesthesia Suit: Rez Infinite and Crystal Vibes / Japan (Lead Artists: Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Ayahiko Sato, Kouta Minamizawa) — A full-body 26-sensor suit combines audiovisual and vibrotactile textures to push technology-mediated sensory frontiers. Experience a multisensory climax with pounding beats and stringed instruments in acclaimed PlayStation 4/PS VR game Rez Infinite, or feel vibrations of candy-colored psychedelic sound rippling through the Crystal Vibes universe.

VIRTUAL REALITY

ASTEROIDS! / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Eric Darnell) — From the director of Madagascar comes Baobab’s VR animation. Journey the cosmos aboard the spaceship of Mac and Cheez, an alien duo so mission-focused they forget what’s important in life. It’s up to you to show them what really matters. Cast: Eric Darnell.

Chasing Coral: The VR Experience / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Jeff Orlowski) — Zackary Rago, a passionate scuba diver and researcher, documented the unprecedented 2016 coral bleaching event at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef with this exclusive underwater VR experience. THE NEW CLIMATE

Chocolate / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Tyler Hurd) — This VR experience for the song “Chocolate” by Giraffage sets you in a cat-centric world of sparkling, colorful chrome with a tribe of people doing a ritualistic dance just for you, their robot god, to provide them with their precious resource, cute lil’ chrome kitties.

Dear Angelica / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Saschka Unseld, Key Collaborators: Angela Petrella, Wesley Allsbrook, Maxwell Planck, Ryan Thomas) — This project is a journey through the magical and dreamlike ways we remember lost ones and, even though they are gone, what remains of the ones we loved. Cast: Geena Davis, Mae Whitman.

Hue / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Nicole McDonald, Key Collaborators: KC Austin) — This is an immersive and visually driven interactive film about a man who has lost the ability to see color. Participants reawaken the protagonist’s sense of wonder and imagination through empathetic action as color and connection return to his world view. Cast: David Strathairn, Benedikt Negro.

If Not Love / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Rosemarie Troche, Key Collaborator: Bruce Allan) — A conflicted Christian man carries out a mass shooting. In his past: a same-sex hookup and self-loathing. What if events had unfolded differently? What if his partner had convinced him to face himself? Could that simple act change the course of history? Cast: Zachary Booth, Mitchell Winter.

Life of Us / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin, Pharrell Williams, Key Collaborators: Megan Ellison, McKenzie Stubbert, Jona Dinges) — This shared VR journey tells the complete story of the evolution of life on Earth.

Melting Ice / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Danfung Dennis) — We take viewers on a transcendent exploration into the devastating consequences of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet. Stand under collapsing glaciers, next to raging rivers of ice melt and witness rising sea levels—all visceral warnings of our planet’s future. THE NEW CLIMATE

Mindshow / U.S.A.(Lead Artists: Gil Baron, Jonnie Ross, Adam Levin, Key Collaborators: Jonnie Ross, Gil Baron) — Make VR cartoons with your body and voice. Teleport into different characters and act out all the parts. Create with your friends by passing scenes back and forth, then share your shows in VR and on social media. Cast: Dana Gould.

Miyubi / Canada (Lead Artists: Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël, Key Collaborator: Owen Burke) — Experience love and obsolescence as a Japanese toy robot, gifted to a child in the home of a fractured family in 1982 suburban America. Cast: Jeff Goldblum, P.J. Byrne, Emily Bergl, Owen Vaccaro, Richard Riehle, Ted Sutherland, Tatum Kensington Bailey.

Orbital Vanitas / Australia (Lead Artist: Shaun Gladwell, Key Collaborator: Leo Faber, ) — This virtual reality experience presents a surreal sci-fi mystery and meditation on death. Initially placed in Earth’s orbit, participants soon notice an enigmatic form floating toward them. What takes place next makes perfect use of the VR format.

Out of Exile: Daniel’s Story / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Nonny de la Peña) — In August 2014, Daniel Ashley Pierce’s family verbally and physically accosted him before kicking him out of the house because they disapproved of his sexuality. Built directly around audio Daniel recorded from that encounter, this project includes thoughts of hope and triumph from Daniel and three other LGBTQ youth. Cast: Daniel Ashley Pierce, Kyle Wills, Julene Renee, Cyntia Domenzain, Angel VanStark, Phoebe VanCleefe.

The Sky is a Gap / U.S.A. (Lead Artist: Rachel Rossin) — The viewer is allowed to precisely move time with space by the use of a positionally tracked headset. Existing in the physical and virtual realms, the installation depicts a pyroclastic explosion inspired by Zabriskie Point, where the scene’s progress is physically mapped to the participant’s forward and backward movement.

Through You / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Saschka Unseld, Lily Baldwin) — Dance is used to inhabit a common mortal story of love born, lived, lost, burned and seemingly gone forever—only to be found again. Cast: Joanna Kotze, Amari Cheatom, Marni Thomas Wood.

Tree / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Milica Zec, Winslow Porter, Key Collaborators: Aleksandar Protic, Jacob Kudsk Steensen) — This virtual experience transforms you into a rainforest tree. With your arms as the branches and body as the trunk, you experience the tree’s growth from a seedling to its fullest form and witness its fate firsthand. THE NEW CLIMATE

Zero Days VR / U.S.A. (Lead Artists: Scatter, Yasmin Elayat, Elie Zananiri, Key Collaborators: Mei-Ling Wong, Alexander Porter, James George) — The story of a clandestine mission hatched by the U.S. and Israel to sabotage an underground Iranian nuclear facility told from the perspective of Stuxnet, a sophisticated cyber weapon, and a key NSA informant. Audiences experience the high stakes of cyber warfare placed inside the invisible world of computer viruses. Cast: Joanne Tucker, Eric Chien, Liam O’Murchu, Ralph Langner, Olli Heinonen, David Sanger.

The Sundance Institute New Frontier program is supported by Cindy Harrell Horn and Alan Horn, Lyn and Norman Lear, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Time Warner Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Oculus Story Studio, Nokia OZO, Comcast Ventures, The Fledgling Fund, and David E. Quinney III.

The Sundance Film Festival®
The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Boyhood, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Twenty Feet from Stardom, Life Itself, The Cove, The End of the Tour, Blackfish, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Super Size Me, Dope, Little Miss Sunshine, sex, lies, and videotape, Reservoir Dogs, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious and Napoleon Dynamite. The Festival is a program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®. 2017 Festival sponsors to date include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, SundanceTV, Chase Sapphire®, and Canada Goose; Leadership Sponsors – Adobe, AT&T, DIRECTV, and YouTube; Sustaining Sponsors – American Airlines, Canon U.S.A., Inc., Francis Ford Coppola Winery, GEICO, Google VR, The Hollywood Reporter, IMDb, Jaunt, Kickstarter, Omnicom, Stella Artois® and the University of Utah Health. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year-round programs for independent artists. Look for the Official Sponsor seal at their venues at the Festival. sundance.org/festival

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Sundance Institute
Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization that provides and preserves the space for artists in film, theatre, and new media to create and thrive. The Institute’s signature Labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences to artists in igniting new ideas, discovering original voices, and building a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

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*Featured photo courtesy of Sundance.org

(Source:http://www.sundance.org)

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival announces opening movie, retrospective directors

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has announced its opening night film and the filmmakers selected for its retrospectives.

The festival, set for Feb. 17-26, features 150 nonfiction films from across the world at venues in Missoula, the Wilma Theater, the Roxy Theater, the Silver Theatre and the Missoula Hellgate Elks Lodge.

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The free Feb. 17 opener presented in partnership with HBO is Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

According to a press release, the film is “an intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty, in all its eccentricity. At 83 years old, grand dame Reynolds (star of Singin’ in the Rain) still performs a Vegas act dressed in gold lamé at the risk of her health, and her daughter, Fisher (of Star Wars fame) is helpless to react in the face of her mother’s determination that ‘the show must go on.”

Bright Lights gives us a rare peek into the normal lives of two very different yet intertwined Hollywood starlets, a truly human story that will have you laughing in one moment and tug at your heartstrings in the next,” festival director Rachel Gregg said in a news release.

The Big Sky retrospectives, a regular festival feature, examine the careers of influential documentary filmmakers.

This year, they’ve picked Daniel Junge. He won an Academy Award for the 2012 short Saving Face. The film, co-directed with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, focuses on a plastic surgeon in Pakistan who helps women disfigured in acid attacks. He won the South by Southwest Grand Jury award in 2009 for They Killed Sister Dorothy, which examined the murder of an Ohio nun in the Amazon.

 Closer to Montana, Junge directed 2015’s Being Evel, about the Butte-born daredevil legend Evel Knievel.

The other retrospective package is billed as the most expansive ever done at Big Sky. It examines the work of EyeSteel Films, a Montreal collective that has covered topics around the world.

Last year’s festival-goers may have caught Chameleon, by collective member Ryan Mullins. The film took viewers inside the world of Anas, a Ghanaian investigative journalist whose deep-cover techniques merge spycraft and advocacy.

The 2017 festival the Big Sky DocShop, a film forum with panels, workshops and the Big Sky Pitch for works in progress.

The forum this year will highlight aspects in the rapidly growing medium of short film, such as conceiving, funding, producing and distributing.

DocShop will include panels and workshops with Vice, ITVS, The Atlantic, ESPN, Film Collaborative, and Tribeca Film Institute among other film industry experts, as well as master classes with the 2017 BSDFF retrospective artists.

The official selections and the schedule will be announced mid-January. Sales for tickets and passes as well as DocShop registration open in late January. For more information, go to bigskyfilmfest.org.

(Source:http://missoulian.com)