Tag Archives: photography

2017 Oscar Nominations: Live Stream

January 17, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences along with several Oscar-winning and Academy nominated members including Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, Emmanuel Lubezki, Jason Reitman and Ken Watanabe as they join Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to reveal the 89th Oscars® Nominations, on Tuesday, January 24, beginning at 5:18 a.m. PST/8:18 a.m. EST/1:18 p.m. GMT/9:18 p.m. CST. Come and celebrate the nominees here with HollywoodGlee!

ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a global community of more than 7,000 of the most accomplished artists, filmmakers and executives working in film. In addition to celebrating and recognizing excellence in filmmaking through the Oscars, the Academy supports a wide range of initiatives to promote the art and science of the movies, including public programming, educational outreach and the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is under construction in Los Angeles.

(Source: oscars.org)

Santa Barbara International Film Festival

BEN GURION, EPILOGUE will have its US premiere at the Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival

January 17, 2017 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Go2Films is bringing light in the form of the founder of the State of Israel and its first Prime Minister.

At a time of global leadership crisis, BEN-GURION, EPILOGUE (Israel/France, 2016 | Documentary, 55 min. Director: Yariv Mozer) brings thought-provoking insights about the role of leaders in today’s complex world.

In the great depths of the archive, six hours of interview footage was discovered of one of modern history’s greatest leaders- David Ben-Gurion. It is 1968 and he is 82 years old, five years before his death. He lives in his secluded home in the desert, removed from all political discourse, which allows him a hindsight perspective on the Zionist enterprise. Ben-Gurion’s introspective soul searching is the focus of this film, and his clear voice provides a surprising vision for today’s crucial decisions and the future of Israel.

BEN-GURION, EPILOGUE will be making its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). The festival will run February 1-11, 2017. SBIFF recently released its film program.

Watch the Trailer

Here’s a poignant review of BEN-GURION, EPILOGUE by the New York Times’ Isabel Kershner:

Ben-Gurion on Israel, Peace and Back Pain: A Lost Interview Is Brought to Life

KIBBUTZ SDE BOKER, Israel — The rare, intimate and reflective interview with Israel’s founding prime minister was filmed nearly 50 years ago, but it never aired.

David Ben-Gurion, at 82 and five years out of office, spoke in the six-hour interview of state-building and the biblical prophets that guided him; the security imperative of his young nation and Israel’s quest for spiritual and moral superiority; his battle with lower back pain and his interest in Buddhism.

It was April 1968, and “The Old Man,” as Ben-Gurion was nicknamed for much of his life, had been largely abandoned by his own political protégés. Paula, his rather brusque and devoted wife, had died that January, leaving him in near isolation in his chosen retirement home in Sde Boker, a remote communal village in the Negev desert.

“The most important thing which I learned, I learned by living here,” he said. “I want to live in a place when I know that my friends, and myself, we did it. Everything. It’s our creation.”

Watch Ben-Gurion reflecting on the prophets and on turning to God for strength. “God is everywhere,” he said.

He sat for two hours a day, over three consecutive days, and spoke in English. He wore a turtleneck sweater, his casual uniform for cooler days. When the interviewer said he was ready to wrap up the final session, Ben-Gurion protested that they still had 10 minutes to go.

But the reels of silent footage and the soundtrack languished for decades in separate archives. Excerpts from the recently rediscovered conversation form the core of a new documentary, “Ben-Gurion, Epilogue,” in which the Zionist luminary offers a raw, contemplative self-analysis of his life’s work.

Asked if he feared for his country, he replied, “Oh, I always feared. I always. Not just now.” Though it was 20 years after Israel’s founding, he said that he feared “the state does not yet exist. It’s a beginning only.”

Interwoven with other footage from the period — of meetings with foreign leaders, a speech in Israel’s Parliament, birthday celebrations — the film is, in part, a wistful ode to a lost generation of leaders who viewed simplicity as a virtue even as they strove for giant goals.

“There is an absence of leadership with those values and that vision,” said Yariv Mozer, the Israeli writer, director and producer of the movie, which premiered last month at the Jerusalem Film Festival. The film, and the recent book by Avi Shilon on which it is based, Mr. Mozer added, “reflect the interest of some young Israelis to turn back to our history, to our past, in order to find answers for today and maybe for the future.”

Ben-Gurion’s matter-of-fact voice from the grave resonates hauntingly, with its mix of pragmatism and philosophical prescriptions bordering on the prophetic. He described the prophet Jeremiah as one of the greatest because, he said, “I have the feeling that what he was saying is true.”

“He understood politics more than the kings,” Ben-Gurion said. “But he was unpopular.”

Mr. Mozer and Mr. Shilon pointed to the former prime minister’s pronouncements at the time that in return for a true peace, he would give up the territories that Israel conquered in the Arab-Israeli War in 1967, except for the Golan Heights, Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Hebron. He saw no contradiction in believing that Israel had the right to all the land, but could also concede some of it.

“He thought that the most important thing was to live in the Middle East in peace with our neighbors,” Mr. Shilon said. “He said that Israel can win a lot of wars and the Arabs can lose a lot of wars, but that Israel would not be able to stand one defeat; that one lost war would be the end of Israel.” Mr. Shilon added, “The problem with Ben-Gurion was that people stopped listening to him.”

Mr. Mozer and Yael Perlov, the editor and co-producer of the documentary, uncovered the lost interview almost by chance, in the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive in Jerusalem. There, while working to restore an old and unsuccessful feature film about Ben-Gurion by Ms. Perlov’s late father, David Perlov, they tripped across the silent film reels. It took six months to find the soundtrack, which they did in the Ben-Gurion Archives in the Negev.

The interview had actually been conducted as background research for the Perlov film. The former prime minister had chosen the interviewer, Clinton Bailey, who was then a recent immigrant from the United States. Mr. Bailey had been befriended by the Ben-Gurions after Paula invited him in for tea one day when he was wandering near their home in Tel Aviv.

Ben-Gurion helped Mr. Bailey secure a teaching job at the academy he had established at Sde Boker, and Mr. Bailey would sometimes join the aging politician on his brisk walks around the kibbutz.

Mr. Bailey went on to become an eminent scholar of Bedouin culture — and mostly forgot about the 1968 interview. Recalling the period, Mr. Bailey said the simplicity of the Ben-Gurions’ cabin at Sde Boker was “a statement,” adding: “ I don’t think Ben-Gurion wanted the perks of power.”

At Ben-Gurion’s request, the cabin has been preserved and is open to the public. A trickle of Israeli families on school break and foreign tourists passed through on a recent sunbaked weekday.

The man who helped create the modern state of Israel insisted, in his sunset years, on being treated like any other member of the Sde Boker collective and ate lunch in the cramped communal dining room.

“In our kibbutz I told them my name is David,” he said in the interview with Mr. Bailey. “Not Ben-Gurion. So every morning I came to see what David has to do, and I went to do the work. This is what our prophets said, to serve as an example to other people.”

(Kibbutz residents who were there at the time said they gave him the easier jobs, like tending to the lambs and measuring precipitation.)

Archival footage shows Ben-Gurion dedicating the arrival in Sde Boker of the “radiotelephone,” which he called a “dubious blessing.” In another clip, Moshe Feldenkrais, the mind-body clinician, described how he persuaded Ben-Gurion to perform a circuslike physical feat to bring him more in tune with his body, which resulted in Ben-Gurion’s famously photographed headstands.

Ben-Gurion died in 1973, and was buried in a simple grave next to Paula’s on the edge of a stunning desert canyon. His will stipulated no eulogies or gun salute. The tombstone is inscribed only with his name and the dates of his birth, death and immigration to the country.

Settling the Negev, in his mind, was imperative for the young state’s future. It was also a place where he could champion his ideals.

“We wanted to create a new life, not the life that exists,” he said of the Zionist pioneers. “I believed that we had a right to this country. Not taking away from others, but recreating it.”

He had made tough choices along the way, like refusing to allow the return of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war over Israel’s creation, and placing Israel’s Arab citizens under military rule.

Ben-Gurion believed the state’s mission was to fulfill the biblical concept of an “am segulah,” an exemplary nation of higher virtues, treasured by God. Asked in 1968 if Israel was carrying out that mission, he replied: “Not yet.”

(Source: Go2Films)

distribution

Ericsson’s Nuvu to distribute 20th Century Fox TV’s DreamWorks animated features across Africa

January 17, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Nuvu, Ericsson’s SVOD platform will distribute 20th Century Fox TV’s DreamWorks Animation-produced titles along with an extensive selection of global film franchises for territories across sub-Saharan Africa in multiple language.

In a statement, Thorsten Sauer, head of Broadcast and Media Services, Ericsson said:

Thorsten Sauer, head of Ericsson’s Broadcast and Media Services (Photo via digitalveurope.com)

“This feature film content deal through 20th Century Fox Television Distribution is another major milestone for Ericsson as we look to expand our new SVOD service, Nuvu. Through this partnership, Nuvu subscribers will have access to some of Hollywood’s hottest films as part of their package, localized on a market-by-market basis.”

Developed for mobile operators in Africa, Nuvu leverages the company’s extensive over-the top capabilities based on Ericsson Managed Player and components of Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform, Ericsson’s highly scalable modular technology platforms used by broadcasters and telco service providers to distribute video content efficiently to connected devices.

For a monthly fee, subscribers have unlimited access to an initial 3 000 local and international premium titles across a wide variety of genres including Hollywood and Nollywood movies, TV series, kids, music, gospel and education.

To take on competitors – ShowMax, Amazon and Netflix – Nuvu has built-in ability to distribute content to consumers during off-peak periods minimising data costs for both operator and consumer. The platform also integrates fully into the operator’s customer relationship management and payment systems.

(Source: screenafrica.com, TechMoran)

#BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, World Premiere

Hedgehog’s Home to Premiere at Berlin International Film Festival

January 16, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Hedgehog’s Home (Ježeva kuća), an animated film by Canadian-Croatian Eva Cvijanović based on a classic tale by Branko Ćopić, will have its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

The film, which was part of the national curriculum for primary school literature in Croatia, has been included in the Generation Kplus competition programme at the famous festival, which will be held from 9 – 19 February 2017.

Hedgehog’s Home is about a hedgehog who lives in a lush and lively forest. He is respected and envied by the other animals. However, the hedgehog’s unwavering devotion to his home annoys a quartet of insatiable beasts. Together, they march off towards Hedgehog’s home and spark a tense and prickly standoff.

Cvijanović’s 10-minute animated film is based on Ćopić’s classic story which is a warm and universal tale for young and old that reminds us there truly is no place like home.

The film has been narrated in three languages – Croatian (by actor Rade Šerbedžija), English (by actor Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks), and in French (by actor France Castel).

The film is co-produced by The National Film Board (NFB) of Canada, winner of 12 Oscar Awards, and Croatia’s Bonobostudio.

Find out more about the film here.

(Source: croatiaweek.com)

Venice International Film Festival

UPDATE: 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Announce Audience Awards

January 16, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

*This is an update from yesterday’s 28th Annual Palm Springs 28th International Film Festival Audience Awards.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

When We Rise and Take Me Home Huey Receives Mercedes-Benz Audience Awards;

Toni Erdmann Receives FIPRESCI Prize;

Gael García Bernal and Isabelle HuppertReceive Acting Prizes;

White Sun Receives New Voices/New Visions Award;

No Dress Code Required Receives The John Schlesinger Award;

Neruda Receives Cine Latino Award; Mercenary Receives The HP Bridging The Borders Awards

Palm Springs, CA (January 15, 2017) – The 28^th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) announced this year’s juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs on Saturday, January 14, 2017. The Mercedes-Benz Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary Feature were announced on Sunday, January 15, 2017 during the closing night screening of “The Comedian.” The Festival, held from January 2-16, 2017, screened 190 films from 72 countries.

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature:

When We Rise (U.S.), directed by Gus Van Sant. From Gus van Sant and Dustin Lance Black, the festival screened the first episode of this stirring seven-part docudrama that charts the progress of Gay Liberation from its early days in San Francisco in the 1960s to its 21st-century triumphs. When We Rise will air on ABC starting February 27. The screening was a North American premiere at the Festival.

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature:

Take Me Home Huey (U.S.), directed by Alicia Brauns and Christine Steele. This moving documentary traces the evolution of Steve Maloney’s eponymous mixed-media sculpture, in which he took a wrecked Huey helicopter and transformed it into a memorial to the men who served and lost their lives in Vietnam. It’s a salutary reminder of the healing power of art. The film was a World Premiere at the Festival.

FIPRESCI PRIZE

A special jury of international film critics reviewed 43 of the 85 official submissions for the Academy Awards^(R) Best Foreign Language Film category screened at this year’s Festival. Awards are presented to the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor and Actress in a Foreign Language Film.

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:

Toni Erdmann (Germany), directed by Maren Ade. In this unforgettable comedy, a prankster father puts on a wig and false teeth and invades the life of his rigid, ambitious corporate consultant daughter, whose life is upended in profound and often hilarious ways.The jury presented the award to the film, “for its originality, human complexity and unique tonal orchestration that seems natural and uncalculated. It is also an observant look at corporate culture carried by two wonderful performances.”

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film:

Gael García Bernalin Neruda(Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín. The jury said, “Bernal’s performance is the heart of the film’s tonal shifts, infusing the historical drama with the very poetry of its subject matter.”

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film:

Isabelle Huppert in Elle (France), directed by Paul Verhoeven. The jury said, “Isabelle Huppert gives depth and humanity to a complex and conflicted character in a challenging, unorthodox film. Her intelligence, self-assurance, and gift for conveying rich emotional tones have never been more strikingly displayed.”

The FIPRESCI jury members were Kiva Reardon (programming associate, TIFF), Yael Shuv (chief film critic, Time Out Tel Aviv) and David Sterritt (editor-in-chief, Quarterly Review of Film and Video).

NEW VOICES/NEW VISIONS AWARD

The New Voices/New Visions competition showcases ten films from emerging international directors bringing their first or second narrative features to the Festival. The winner is selected by a jury of festival programmers and U.S. distributors.

New Voices/New VisionsAward:

White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), directed by Deepak Rauniyar. The film is a dark comedy about two brothers from each side of the Nepalese civil war brought together after 10 years for their father’s funeral. A trenchant, eye-catching parable, this is the best film to come out of Nepal in years.

The jury issued the following statement, “White Sun, for its sympathetic but unsentimental portrayals of multiple perspectives, artfully integrating landscape as a participating character in the film. Featuring stunning performances from an ensemble cast, directed with sensitivity, the film’s storytelling leaves space for the audience to experience the tension between tradition and modernity. The film balances personal and political drama with a touch of absurdist humor.”

New Voices/New Visions Special Mentions:

Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), directed by Mbithi Masya and Mellow Mud (Latvia), directed by Ren?rs Vimba. The jury said, “Both directors create worlds that lead the audience deeply into beautifully-realized worlds.”

The films were juried byJonathan Howell (founder and director, Big World Pictures), Funa Maduka (Global Content Acquisition group, Netflix), Jane Schoettle (International Programmer, TIFF).

THE JOHN SCHLESINGER AWARD

The John Schlesinger Award, named after the director, writer, producer and festival supporter,ispresented to the director of either a first or second feature documentary from among those screened at the festival.

Schlesinger Award:

No Dress Code Required (Mexico), directed by Cristina Herrera Bórquez. This memorable doc follows a same-sex couple, Víctor and Fernando, as they fight for the right to be married in their home town of Mexicali, Baja California. A rallying cry for equality and a testament to the power of ordinary people to become agents of change.

The jury issued the following statement, “For a film that does not let you look away as ordinary people rise to the challenge of fighting for their legal rights, the John Schlesinger Award goes to No Dress Code Required, a compelling documentary that puts us on the front line of the evolving story of marriage equality.”

Schlesinger Special Mention:

Beauties of the Night (Mexico), directed by María José Cuevas. The jury said, “For a beautifully crafted exploration of ageism with a powerful vision, and an empowering take on what it means to grow old in a culture obsessed with youth and beauty, Special Mention goes to Beauties of the Night.”

The films were juried by Daniela Elena Alatorre (head of documentary programming, Morelia International Film Festival), Fenton Bailey (co-founder, World of Wonder Productions), Sudeep Sharma (senior programmer, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles).

CINE LATINO AWARD

The Cine Latino Award is presented to the best Ibero-American film screening at the festival. The award aims to highlight the creativity seen in modern Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American films. Cine Latino is supported in part by Acción Cultural Espanola, Spain’s Public Agency for Cultural Action.

Cine Latino Award:

Neruda (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín. The jury said, “Bypassing narrative tropes associated with films about important historical figures and creating a nearly fantastical story that is as visually striking as it is telling about the relationship between an artist and his creation, the Cine Latino Grand Jury Prize goes to Neruda.”

Cine Latino Special Mention:

Everything Else (Mexico), directed by Natalia Almada. The jury said, “Coming from a doc background gives this filmmaker a unique perspective and framing that has created a powerful film. Her story often asks more questions than there are answers for but anchored by a strong, yet understated performance this film succeeds. The film is executed with precise framing and uncanny cinematography.”

The films were judged by Carlos Aguilar (film journalist), Lane Kneedler (Director of Programming, AFI Fest) and Andrea Roa (producer)

THE HP BRIDGING THE BORDERS AWARD

The HP Bridging the Borders Award is presented by Cinema Without Borders and Hewlett Packard, which honors the film that is most successful in exemplifying art that promotes bringing the people of our world closer together. The prize includes an HP ZBook 17 Mobile Workstation, valued at $4,000.

HP Bridging the Borders Award:

Mercenary (France), directed by Sacha Wolff. The film is a fierce, moving thriller about a massive Polynesian rugby player recruited to play in France. This stunning debut film shows us a violent, unfamiliar world through the eyes of an unforgettable outsider.

The jury said, “The winner of HP Bridging The Border Award is the story of a tattooed, colossal 19 year-old recruited from his island shack in Wallis, New Caledonia , to the brutal world of a rugby team in France. Wolff, paints the contrasting societies with authenticity and elicits from his non-professional actor, Toki Pilioki a performance of quiet dignity that scorches your memory. The winning film is Mercenary by Sasha Wolff.”

The Best of the Fest screenings will take place on Monday, January 16. For a complete list of screenings visit www.psfilmfest.org.

The complete list of award winners are:

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature

When We Rise (U.S.), directed by Gus Van Sant

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

Take Me Home Huey (U.S.), directed by Alicia Brauns and Christine Steele

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Toni Erdmann (Germany), directed by Maren Ade

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film

Gael García Bernal in Neruda (Chile)

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film

Isabelle Huppert in Elle(France)

New Voices/New Visions Award

Winner:White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), directed by Deepak Runiyar

Special Mentions: Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), directed by Mbithi Masya and Mellow Mud (Latvia), directed by Ren?rs Vimba

The John Schlesinger Award

Winner: No Dress Code Required (Mexico), directed by Cristina Herrera Bórquez

Special Mention: Beauties of the Night (Mexico), directed by Maria José Cuevas

Cine Latino Award

Winner: Neruda (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín

Special Mention: Everything Else (Mexico), directed by Natalia Alamda

HP Bridging the Borders Award

Winner: Mercenary (France), directed by Sacha Wolff

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 135,000 attendees last year 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, presented by Chopard and sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Entertainment Tonight, and attended by 2,500. 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, Tom Hanks, 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.

(Source: psiff.org)

#Berlinale, #BIFF, Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale Talents

Hugh Jackman’s Logan claws out world premiere in Berlin film festival

January 11, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

By Andrew Pulver

Logan, the third and final standalone Wolverine film to star Hugh Jackman as the adamantine-clawed mutant, is to receive its world premiere at the Berlin film festival in February.

Logan, which follows X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and The Wolverine (2013) in featuring the character as its main protagonist, revolves around an ageing Wolverine whose powers are failing. Directed by James Mangold, and co-starring Patrick Stewart and Dafne Keen, Logan will screen an as out-of-competition film, ahead of its cinematic release in early March.

Also receiving its world premiere at the festival will be Viceroy’s House, the Gurinder Chadha-directed historical drama about the end of the Raj and the partition of India, featuring Hugh Bonneville as Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, and Gillian Anderson as Lady Edwina Mountbatten.

Like Logan, Viceroy’s House will screen in an out-of-competition slot; as will T2 Trainspotting, the long-awaited sequel to the 1996 Irvine Welsh adaptation. Although T2 Trainspotting will have been released in the UK before the festival begins, its screening at the festival is billed as an “international premiere”.

These films join the already announced lineup, which includes the Richard Gere thriller The Dinner, Penélope Cruz in The Queen of Spain and Aki Kaurismäki’s latest, The Other Side of Hope. The festival also revealed recently that this year’s opening film would be Django, a biopic of the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt directed by Étienne Comar.

The Berlin international film festival runs from 9-18 February.

(Source: theguardian.com)

#AFI

PHOTOS: Inside the AFI AWARDS 2016 Luncheon

January 7, 2017 HollywoodGlee 1 Comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

There are no winners or losers at AFI AWARDS. Instead, AFI recognizes all of the creative ensembles behind the year’s most outstanding storytelling in film and television. The talented members of these teams gathered in Beverly Hills yesterday to be honored at the AFI AWARDS 2016 luncheon. Guests at the event included the best of the best in the entertainment community, such as Clint Eastwood, Ryan Gosling, Naomie Harris, Chris Pine, Michelle Williams and more.

(Source: afi.com)

#SBIFF, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Showcase Series

Note from Roger – Neruda

January 4, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Dear Cinephiles,

NERUDA is an extraordinary film about the extraordinary poet Pablo Neruda. It makes the beautiful connection that film owes a lot to poetry. It’s one of the best films of the year, and I would encourage you not to miss it. I’m attaching the New York Times review below. See… its last showing…(Wednesday) at 7:30pm at the Riviera Theatre.

See you at the movies!
Roger Durling

Get Tickets Here

‘Neruda’ Pursues the Poet as Fugitive
By A. O. Scott – New York Times

“Neruda,” Pablo Larraín’s semifantastical biopic, is a warmhearted film about a hot-blooded man that is nonetheless troubled by a subtle, perceptible chill. Blending fact with invention, it tells the story of a confrontation between an artist (the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda) and an emerging dictatorship, and more generally illuminates the endless struggle between political authority and the creative imagination. For anyone who believes that poetry and democracy spring from the same source and provoke the same enemies, this movie provides both encouragement and warning.

It starts, cameras whirling and swooping, in 1948, with Neruda (Luis Gnecco), a prominent leftist politician as well as a literary celebrity, in a rhetorical war with Chile’s president, Gabriel González Videla, an erstwhile ally in the process of moving from left to right. When Videla bans the Communist Party, Neruda — who represents that party in the Chilean Senate — goes from opposition figure to outlaw. Much of “Neruda” is a shaggy-dog cat-and-mouse game, as Neruda and his wife, Delia (Mercedes Morán), are pursued by Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael García Bernal), a preening police inspector who stakes his professional honor on his ability to track down the country’s most famous fugitive.

Peluchonneau is an invented character, a creature conjured from crime fiction and touched with philosophical melancholy as well as ruthlessness. Whippet-thin and strait-laced, he stands in dour contrast to Neruda, a plump sensualist with a robust sense of mischief and an inexhaustible appetite for pleasure. With and without Delia, the poet manages to stay one step ahead of his nemesis, executing a series of escapes that seem equally inspired by Hitchcock and those old Peter Sellers “Pink Panther” movies.

Neruda also composes “Canto General,” his great, Whitmanesque work on the glories and miseries of Latin America. Pages are distributed clandestinely, and committed to memory by workers and peasants. Their popularity, and Neruda’s easygoing populism, are a rebuke to the arrogance of the ruling class and the Chilean state. And Mr. Larraín’s eye for the rugged beauty of Chile’s protean landscapes implies a similar argument. The poet is open to nature and humanity. The policeman is consumed by rules, tactics and procedures.

Peluchonneau is a tragically constricted soul, but not an entirely unsympathetic character. Neruda is a heroic figure — comic and Dionysian, brilliant and naughty — but his personal Javert is in some ways the film’s protagonist. Neruda is annoyed and sometimes amused by the detective’s doggedness, but Peluchonneau is haunted by the poet’s mystique, and by a growing sense of his own incompleteness. A curious symbiosis develops between them, a dynamic more complex and strange than the simple conflict of good and evil.

Mr. Larraín is a master of moral ambiguity. His previous films about Chile — “Tony Manero,” “No” (which also starred Mr. Bernal) and “The Club” — are interested in collaboration as well as resistance, in the inner lives of the corrupt as well as the actions of the virtuous. Those movies, in particular “Tony Manero,” set during the military dictatorship in the 1970s, and “The Club,” about a group of disgraced priests, are studies in claustrophobia, with cloudy cinematography and grubby behavior.

“Neruda” has a looser story, richer colors and a more buoyant spirit. It is less abrasive than Mr. Larraín’s Chilean trilogy, and less intensely focused than “Jackie,” his new English-language film about Jacqueline Kennedy in the aftermath of her husband’s assassination. But like that unorthodox foray into history, this one approaches political issues from an oblique angle, looking for the idiosyncrasies and ironies that humanize the pursuit of ideals and the exercise of power.

The period details cast a romantic glow over Neruda’s flight, which feels more swashbuckling than desperate. But the film casts a shadow forward in time, into the darkness of Chile’s later, bloodier period of military rule, and beyond that into the political uncertainties of the present, in Latin America and elsewhere. Mr. Larraín invites us to believe that history is on the side of the poets and the humanists, and that art will make fools of politicians and policemen. But he is also aware, as Pablo Neruda was, that history sometimes has other plans.

(Source: sbiff.org)

Palm Springs International Film Festival

A-LISTERS SHINE AT THE 28th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FILM AWARDS GALA

January 3, 2017 HollywoodGlee 2 Comments

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Annual Event Welcomed Host Mary Hart and Festival Honorees

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Amy Adams attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Mahershala Ali attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Ryan Gosling attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Producers Pharrell Williams and Mimi Valdes attend the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Natalie Portman attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Ruth Negga attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Amy Adams attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Host Mary Hart onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

Kicking off Awards Season, the 28^th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) Film Awards Gala was held Monday, January 2, 2017 at the Palm Springs Convention Center hosted by Mary Hart. Honorees were presented with an original Chihuly Glass Sculpture designed by Dale Chihuly or the John Kennedy “The Entertainer” statue. The presenting sponsor of the Film Awards Gala is Chopard and major sponsors are Entertainment Tonight and Mercedes-Benz.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala honors individuals in the entertainment industry with several prestigious awards for acting and directing. The following awards were presented at this year’s Film Awards Gala:

Ruth Negga received the Rising Star Award for Loving presented by her co-star Joel Edgerton and director Jeff Nichols
Mahershala Ali received the Breakthrough Performance Award for Moonlight presented by co-star Janelle Monáe
Nicole Kidman received the International Star Award for Lion presented by her co-star Dev Patel
Andrew Garfield received the Spotlight Award for Hacksaw Ridge presented by Laura Dern
Hidden Figures (Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell, Janelle Monáe, Jim Parsons, Kimberly Quinn, Kirsten Dunst, Mahershala Ali, Octavia Spencer) received the Ensemble Performance Award presented by the film’s producer Pharrell Williams
Natalie Portman received the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress for Jackie presented by Tom Hanks
Casey Affleck received the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor for Manchester by the Sea presented by Sir Ben Kingsley
Amy Adams received the Chairman’s Award for Arrival presented by Andrew Garfield
Annette Bening received the Career Achievement Award for 20^th Century Women presented by the film’s director Mike Mills
La La Land (Damien Chazelle, Justin Hurwitz, Ryan Gosling) received the Vanguard Award presented by Jane Lynch
Tom Hanks received the Icon Award for Sully presented by his co-star Laura Linney

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Laura Dern and Andrew Garfield attend the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Laura Linney attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: (L-R) Actresses Kimberly Quinn, Kirsten Dunst, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae pose with the Ensemble Performance Award during the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actors Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Glen Powell, Mahershala Ali and Jim Parsons onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Tom Hanks speaks onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Damien Chazelle, Justin Hurwitz, Ryan Gosling and Fred Berger attend the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Amy Adams speaks onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Director Damien Chazelle speaks onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Annette Bening speaks onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Dev Patel speaks onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Casey Affleck speaks onstage at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actors Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga and filmmaker Jeff Nichols attend the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

Additional guests who attended the event: actress Denise DuBarry (Do It or Die), actor Phillip Keene (Major Crimes), director Ritesh Batra (The Sense of An Ending), actress Suzanne Somers, actor Udo Kier (Old Money), Palm Springs Mayor Robert Moon, along with festival representatives Harold Matzner (Festival Chairman) and Michael Lerman (Artistic Director).

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Palm Springs International Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Denise DuBarry attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Phillip P. Keene attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actress Suzanne Somers attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Actor Udo Kier attends the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images )

Following the ceremony an after party was held at the Parker Palm Springs.

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Director Mike Mills, actress Annette Bening and actor Warren Beatty attend the after party for the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: A general view of atmosphere at the after party for the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

PALM SPRINGS, CA – JANUARY 02: Guests mingle during the after party for the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival)

The Palm Springs International Film Festival takes place January 5-15, 2017. For additional information on the Festival visit www.psfilmfest.org.

CONTACT:

Steven Wilson/Lauren Peteroy

BWR Public Relations

steven.wilson@bwr-pr.com / lauren.peteroy@bwr-pr.com

(Source: Press release courtesy of BWR/Lauren Peteroy)

Palm Springs International Film Festival

Palm Springs Film Festival – January 3rd

January 2, 2017 HollywoodGlee Leave a comment

Posted by Larry Gleeson

A stand-alone Film Festival Store for the Palm Springs International Film Festival is featuring a complete collection of Film Festival Merchandise at Destination PSP. The Festival Store is now open and will be open every day except New Year’s Day through January 16.

The Festival Store is located in the Regal Cinema Courtyard Plaza, unit 16,
just down from the Regal Cinemas and across the courtyard from the
Festival Ticket and Information Center.

You can also shop online at Destination PSP by clicking HERE.

TALKING PICTURES

VIGGO MORTENSEN – CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

Tuesday, January 3 – 7:45 pm

Annenberg Auditorium

118 Minute Running Time

In CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) is raising his six children in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, putting them through both vigorous physical and intellectual exercises in the mountains’ fresh air. Far away from Snapchat and Snapple, the kids develop a unique sense of themselves and their family identity. But Cash’s tough homeschooling challenges conventional ideas about family and childhood. Ben has given up the outside world and whatever personal ambitions it held for him to devote his life to being the best father he thinks he can be. The question becomes: is he the best father in the world or the worst? Is what he’s doing insane or insanely great?

Viggo Mortensen and Writer/Director Matt Ross will be present for an onstage discussion of the film following the screening. To purchase tickets click HERE.

EYES ON THE PRIZE:
FOREIGN LANGUAGE OSCAR DIRECTORS IN DISCUSSION

Monday, January 9 – 7:30 pm

Mary Pickford Theatre

90 Minute Running Time

It seems like every year there are more and more submissions competing for the handful of spots in the Academy’s Best Film in a Foreign Language category. This year there were 89, of which 85 were accepted. In December that field was shortlisted to nine, and the final

five nominees will be announced January 24th.

No audience anywhere will have the chance to see as many of these movies side by side as we here at PSIFF. Over the past three years we have also been delighted to bring together a panel of international filmmakers whose work is being showcased in this forum, to talk about their art, international exposure, awards, audiences, and whatever else is top of mind at this time.

Clips from their films will round out the discussion, moderated by Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg. All panelists’ films are showcased in the festival’s Awards Buzz program. To purchase tickets click HERE.

THE GAY!LA

WHEN WE RISE

Thursday, January 12 – 6:45 PM – PSHS

U.S. – 2017 – 84 minutes

Director: Gus Van Sant

North American Premiere

Gus van Sant and Dustin Lance Black, who brought us the Academy Award®-winning Milk, have teamed up again for this ambitious, impassioned seven-part docudrama that charts the rise of the Gay Liberation movement from its embattled origins in the 1960s to

its 21st-century triumphs. The entire series will be aired on ABC, a breakthrough for network television.

In the first two-hour episode, directed by van Sant, we follow the stories of the young Arizonian Cleve Jones (Guy Pearce), who would become a major LGBT activist working alongside Harvey Milk; the gay, African American, Vietnam vet Ken Jones (Michael Kenneth Williams), who has to contend with both the straight world’s homophobia and racism within the gay community; and the initially closeted women’s right activist from Boston, Roma Guy (Mary-Louise Parker). All their lives are transformed when they arrive in 1960s San Francisco, where the sexual revolution is in full bloom, even as the politicians and police desperately try to purge the city of its “deviant” citizens.

Stirring and uncompromising, this show’s message of protest and inclusion couldn’t come at a better time.

Guest who will be attending the screening include Gus Van Sant, Dustin Lance Black, Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, and Ivory Aquino.

The Gay!La Party at Toucans Tiki Lounge will follow the screening.

To purchase tickets to the screening of WHEN WE RISE, click HERE.

To purchase tickets to the Gay!La Party at Toucans Tiki Lounge click HERE.

TAKE ME HOME HUEY

U.S. * 2016 * 70 minutes

Directors: Alicia Brauns, Christine Steele

TRUE STORIES

World Premiere

Fri, Jan 6 * 10:00 AM * Camelot

Sat, Jan 7 * 12:30 PM * Camelot

This moving documentary traces the evolution of Steve Maloney’s eponymous mixed-media sculpture, in which he took a wrecked
Huey helicopter, restored it and transformed it into a remarkable memorial to the men who served and lost their lives in Vietnam. It’s a salutary reminder of the healing power of art.

The Huey helicopter will be on display at the Camelot Theatres. Directors Alicia Brauns and Christine Steele will be attending the screenings. Tickets are available. Click HERE.

OLD MONEY

Friday, January 6 – 11:30 AM – Regal

Austria – 2015 – 375 minutes

Director: David Schalko

Special Presentation

Dallas for the insane,” per creator David Schalko, this wickedly funny eight-part Austrian TV series is a vicious, grandly grotesque saga about an industrialist (played to the hilt by our own Udo Kier) who needs a new liver, pronto, and the first of his relatives to secure one will inherit the estate… Showing in two sittings.

Guest attending the screening include Director: David Schalko and Actor: Udo Kier

Purchase tickets HERE.

DID YOU KNOW?

You can read the official 2017 Palm Springs International Film Festival
Souvenir Program Book online.

Just click HERE.

(Source:psiff.org)

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Ben-Gurion on Israel, Peace and Back Pain: A Lost Interview Is Brought to Life

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AUDIENCE AWARDS

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature:

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature:

FIPRESCI PRIZE

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film:

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film:

NEW VOICES/NEW VISIONS AWARD

New Voices/New VisionsAward:

New Voices/New Visions Special Mentions:

THE JOHN SCHLESINGER AWARD

Schlesinger Award:

Schlesinger Special Mention:

CINE LATINO AWARD

Cine Latino Award:

Cine Latino Special Mention:

THE HP BRIDGING THE BORDERS AWARD

HP Bridging the Borders Award:

The complete list of award winners are:

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Annual Event Welcomed Host Mary Hart and Festival Honorees

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