Tag Archives: Producer

More Highlights from #TCM Classic Film Festival (#TCMFF)

Posted by Larry Gleeson.

Enjoy these pictures courtesy of Turner Classic Movies!

Please click images for captions.

Director John Singleton attends the 25th anniversary screening of Boyz N the Hood at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival. Checkout the behind-the-scenes clip from the groundbreaking film!

 

 

Iconic director Francis Ford Coppola is honored at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival Handprint/Footprint Ceremony and introduces a screening his film The Conversation.

 

Adam West and Lee Meriwether made a special appearance at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival screening of Batman.

 

 

The 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival showcases canine performers in their Dogs in Movies Panel featuring Lassie, Bridget and Clyde along with their trainers.

 

 

Stay tuned for more updates including Illeanna Douglas with Carl Reiner during An Afternoon With Carl Reiner/Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid! 

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#TCM Classic Film Festival 2016 Day 2 Update

Turner Classic Movies continues its 7th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood on Friday, April 29 with the special screenings and appearances by Francis Ford Coppola, John Singleton and Angela Lansbury to name a few.  Please enjoy highlights of Day #2 at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival.

(Source: TCM Press Room

#TCMFF Opening Night Screening

Turner Classic Movies kicks off its 7th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood on Thursday, April 28 with the opening night screening of All The President’s Men at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX. Carl Bernstein, investigative journalist and author of the book “All The President’s Men,” joined Spotlight director Tom McCarthy and Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer for a conversation with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz highlighting journalism in film. Actor Alec Baldwin joined Ben Mankiewicz to open the evening’s events.

TCM Classic Film Festival 2016 - Opening Night
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 28: (L-R) Head of Turner Network Sales Coleman Breland, General Manager at TCM Jennifer Dorian, Managing Director at TCM Genevieve McGillicuddy attends ‘All The President’s Premiere’ during the TCM Classic Film Festival 2016 Opening Night on April 28, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Turner)

 

TCM Classic Film Festival 2016 - Opening Night
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 28: (L-R) Head of Turner Network Sales Coleman Breland, Managing Director at TCM Genevieve McGillicuddy, General Manager at TCM Jennifer Dorian, and actor attends ‘All The President’s Premiere’ during the TCM Classic Film Festival 2016 Opening Night on April 28, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.  (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Turner)

(Press release provided by TCM Press Room)

FILM REVIEW: La Tradition #nbff

Viewed by Larry Gleeson during the 2016 Newport Beach Film Festival.

La Tradition, a documentary film written and directed by Jeff Fliegler under the GrubTribe umbrella, charts the evolution of culinary chef and restaurateur Pascal Olhats’ and his influence on the fine dining scene in Southern California. The title of the film is the name of Olhats’ first restaurant in Newport Beach. For the last 30 years in the OC (Orange County, Calif.), Olhats has imbibed and shared his culinary, his kitchen techniques and etiquette on cooking shows, in culinary classes and through his restaurants and catering businesses. Making extensive use of the interview, Fliegler captures the essence of the Frenchman while revealing his culinary creations, his devoted proteges and Olhats’ dedication to bringing the finest dining and culinary experiences to his customers and clients alike.

GrubTribe, a culinary focused media site, got the idea to bring cameras into Olhats’ work space to get close to the food and its preparation. Olhats went along with the idea quipping that “people will do anything to get close to my food.” According to Fliegler it was more than that, ““Pascal is one of my personal heroes, and it was such a great experience to tell his story. For the past year, we’ve been following Pascal and all the chefs he’s mentored to get the footage for the film.”

La Tradition opens with an eye-pleasing, Hollywood-style frame of Olhats and quickly moves into how he got his start as a chef. Not missing a beat, Olhats passes the credit to his mother who mentored him at the tender age of seven on his first creation, mayonnaisse! Often credited with bringing real continental cuisine to the Newport Beach culinary scene, Olhats colorfully expands the concept playfully posing the question “in what context?” and “what is continental cuisine? From what continent?” with a hearty laugh that the audience mirrored. Olhats stated simply that he attempted to share his culinary background in classical cuisine with a lighter approach utilizing flour and herbs with reduction to create a more refreshing cuisine to the heavy, butter and creamy foods of the more traditionally thought of French cuisine. The result has culminated in Olhats being called the Ambassador of Orange County Cuisine.

Throughout La Tradition, Fliegler creates an excellent portrait of Olhats with broad, yet intimate strokes. Apparently, in an effort to organize his footage, Fliegler added categories to the film and displays each with large, block-lettered overlays. The categories included: (1) If you can’t take the heat get out of his kitchen; (2) Julia Childs, the Ambassador of French Cuisine; (3) Kick Ass Sea Bass; (4) Life On The Farm; (5) The Legacy. Each category comes complete with Olhats and his proteges providing ample documentation on an extraordinary culinary career and lifestyle. Comments on Olhats such as “first in the kitchen in the morning and last to leave at night,” “First class guy, my cooking mentor who also taught me the business side,” “Best representative of French cuisine in the United States,” and “French brother from another mother,” serve the viewer and the chef quite well in delineating a man, his passion and his dedication and sense of duty to the fine art of culinary and its French tradition.

I found La Tradition to be a very enjoyable film to watch. To hear the chef’s proteges recount the day-to-day triumphs and tribulations experienced and endured to get to where they are today coupled with Olhats own colorful commentary made for a very heartwarming and a very heartfelt story. Warmly recommended.

#TCM Classic Film Festival Interview

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) today announced that screen icon Faye Dunaway is set to attend the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival, taking place in Hollywood April 28 – May 1, to participate in a sit-down interview about her life and celebrated career in front of a live audience of festival passholders at the The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre. In addition to the interview, Dunaway will be on-hand to introduce a screening of Network (1976), for which she won the Oscar® for Best Actress.

“Faye Dunaway has had an extraordinarily successful career spanning nearly six decades, including winning the Academy Award® for Network and working alongside some of the best in the industry such as Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Redford,” said TCM Host Robert Osborne. “She is one of the great beauties and magical leading ladies of film. It’s going to be a great treat for our fans to hear from her first hand about her extraordinary life and career.”

 

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Dunaway joins an already exciting roster at this year’s festival, including previously announced appearances by director John Singleton for the 25th anniversary screening of his coming-of-age classic Boyz N The Hood (1991), Carl Reiner with an extended conversation and screening of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) Elliott Gould with screenings of his Golden Globe nominated performance in M*A*S*H (1970), The Long Goodbye (1973) and Eva Marie Saint who will be on hand to introduce a screening of the political comedy The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming (1966).  Actor Stacy Keach will be discussing John Huston’s gritty look at the world of small-time boxing in Fat City (1972) and French actress Anna Karina will be introducing Band of Outsiders (1964), Jean-Luc Godard’s riff on gangster films.

 

About Faye Dunaway

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Faye Dunaway began her career onstage before moving to the big screen and starring in the pioneering film Bonnie and Clyde (1967), for which she received an Oscar® nomination. She’s appeared in several iconic films throughout her career, including The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Chinatown (1974). She won an Academy Award® in 1976 for her role in Network.

 

Born in Bascom, Florida in 1941, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1962 from Boston University. Six days after graduation, Dunaway won the role of Paul Scofield’s daughter in Broadway’s production of A Man for All Seasons. Three years later, she found off-Broadway success with a critically acclaimed role in William Alfred’s Hogan’s Goat and was immediately pursued by producers to do five films in a row.

 

Dunaway’s third film was Bonnie and Clyde as the iconic Bonnie Parker opposite Warren Beatty, launching her into Hollywood stardom. In her next film, she starred alongside Steve McQueen as a high-fashion “take-no-prisoners” insurance investigator in The Thomas Crown Affair. She continued her career throughout the 1970s, with such films as Little Big Man (1970), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) and The Champ (1979).

 

As her career progressed, Dunaway took on more complex roles, including the troubled wife Evelyn Mulwray in Roman Polanski’s 1974 film Chinatown; and a civilian who is abducted by a CIA researcher in Three Days of the Condor, a 1975 film directed by Sydney Pollack.  Dunaway won the Academy Award® for Best Actress in 1976 for her groundbreaking role as a pioneering television executive in Network. In 1988, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Barfly (1987), alongside Mickey Rourke.

 

The 1990s saw Dunaway perform in several films, including The Handmaid’s Tale (1991); Arizona Dream (1992);  Don Juan DeMarco (1994); The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999); The Yards (2000), a crime-thriller; and The Rules of Attraction (2002), a dark comedy. One of Dunaway’s most acclaimed performances of the decade came in 1993, with her guest role as Laura Staton in the TV series Columbo for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.  She also won a Golden Globe for her work in the telefilm Gia (1998).

 

Additionally, from 1996 to 1997, Dunaway received universal acclaim starring as opera diva Maria Callas in the American tour of Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Since then, she has made several TV appearances, including on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2006, Grey’s Anatomy in 2009 and has a recurring role on the upcoming second season of the Amazon drama series Hand of God.

(Source: TCM Press room)

Two films announced for #SBIFF The Wave Film Festival ~ Pan-Asia

 

 

Take a five day trip to Asia by seeing eleven brand new Asian films including the recently announced Mr. Six and Sweet Bean!

 

Mr. Six 

This thrilling new film from gifted auteur Guan Hu (Cow) immerses us in the crime-riddled labyrinth of Beijing’s rapidly changing underworld. Based on actual events, Mr. Six is the story of a fascinating man whose life reflects the history of a nation.
In a welcome return to acting, great Beijing writer-director Feng Xiaogang stars as the mysterious Mr. Six. Many years ago Mr. Six was a notorious gangster. That was back when there was still such a thing as honour among thieves, when criminals earned respect and maintained principles. These days Mr. Six is all but forgotten, a living relic residing in a hutong, or narrow alley.

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Feng Xaiogang as Mr. Six  (Credit: China Lion Film)

One day Six’s son, Xiaobo (Li Yifeng), is abducted by some spoiled punks after scratching their precious Ferrari. Mr. Six, who has been diagnosed with a serious heart condition, realizes that he must do whatever it takes to get his son back and forge a meaningful bond with him while there is still time — even if that means returning to the life he thought he had left behind. Beijing’s new generation of thugs are all flash and no ethics, but Mr. Six, calling on a few friends from his past for assistance, finds that the old ways can still be used to get a difficult job done.

With Guan’s impeccable narrative power behind the camera and Feng’s subtle character-making magic in front of it, Mr. Six sees a panoply of diverse talents come together to tell a gripping story that bridges Chinas old and new. – Giovanna Fulvi, tiff

 

Sweet Bean

Adapted from the novel by Durian Sukegawa, the new film by Naomi Kawase is a graceful ode to the invisible essences of existence — to the beauty and joy we can discover once we learn to listen to nature and feel the life that is coursing through and all around us.

“Sweet Bean” is a delicious red bean paste, the sweet heart of the dorayaki pancakes that Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase) sells from his little bakery to a small but loyal clientele. Absorbed in sad memories and distant thoughts, Sentaro cooks with skill but without enthusiasm. When seventy-six-year-old Tokue (Kirin Kiki) responds to his ad for an assistant and cheerfully offers to work for a ridiculously low wage, Sentaro is skeptical about the eccentric old lady’s ability to endure the long hours. But when she shows up early one morning and reveals to him the secret to the perfect an — listening to the stories of wind, sun and rain that the beans have to tell — Sentaro agrees to take her on, trusting her strange ability to connect with nature. With Tokue’s new home-cooked an recipe, Sentaro’s business begins to flourish — but along with her smiles and culinary skill, Tokue is afflicted with an illness that, once revealed, drives her into isolation once again.

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Credit – NYTimes.com

Using cookery to explore her perennial theme of communion with nature, in An Kawase also poignantly addresses the discrimination that condemns many like Tokue to live their lives segregated from the rest of society. Beautifully shot and quietly moving, An is a humble masterpiece from a singularly accomplished filmmaker.  – Giovanna Fulvi, tiff

Stay tuned for more on this exciting new Wave!

 

Passes to The Wave Film Festival ~ Pan-Asia  are available now here: http://sbiff.org/product-category/the_wave/

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(Source: SBIFF)

 

Submit Your Film to the 29th Tokyo Int’l Film Festival #TIFF

Film submissions for the Competition section of the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is now ready on the festival website! (Submission period: April 15-July 8, 2016)

As one of the largest film festivals in Asia – TIFF Competition has been showing many outstanding films created by up-and-coming directors as well as premieres of works by prestigious filmmakers of the world.

Last year, we were honored to receive 1,409 films from 86 countries and regions. 16 excellent films were screened after the pre-selection and Nise – The Heart of Madness (Brazil) directed by Roberto Berliner won the Tokyo Grand Prix for the last year’s TIFF.

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 28th TIFF Award Winners ©2015 TIFF

A summary of the Regulations for the Competition 2016 is attached. TIFF looks forward to even a larger number of submissions from around the world.

The 29th TIFF will take place October 25-November 3, 2016 for 10 days in Tokyo, JAPAN.

For detailed information about film submission, please visit the TIFF official website: www.tiff-jp.net . (Source: Press release courtesy of TIFF Public Relations Group)

 

@GrubTribe Producers Gain Acceptance to Newport Beach Film Festival (#NbFF) with Pascal Olhats Documentary

The Newport Beach Film Festival accepted “La Tradition” for an April 23th screening at their 2016 event. The movie charts the evolution of Pascal Olhats’ influence on the fine dining scene in Southern California. The title of the film is the name of Olhats’ first ground-breaking Newport Beach restaurant.
“Some people will do anything to get close to my food!” said Olhats, the colorful subject of the film. “GrubTribe got the idea to bring cameras. Why not? I always welcome people with good taste!”

“We couldn’t be more thrilled,” said the film’s director, Jeff Fliegler. “Pascal is one of my personal heroes, and it was such a great experience to tell his story. For the past year, we’ve been following Pascal and all the chefs he’s mentored to get the footage for the film. We captured some fascinating stories and sentiments.”

 

The documentary biopic reveals the man, the myths, the restaurants, the disciples and the culinary creations behind this internationally recognized master.

 

The movie was produced by the team behind the foodie site GrubTribe.com. It’s their first documentary effort, but they’ve been producing chef, restaurant and culinary demonstration videos since 2014. The team also manages a video production company called Mycena.

 

The movie follows the story of Olhats’ rise to greatness, the people he elevated, the food he crafted, and his evolving influence on the Orange County fine dining scene. It’s a touching, informative and sometimes hilarious view into the world of a local master.

 

“The movie is not just about food,” said GrubTribe co-founder Phil Dunn. “It’s about how one person can bring a community together and spread prosperity through personal craft. Pascal has that rare ability to connect people through wonderful creations and a spirit of brotherhood.”

Tickets for La Tradition are available here: TICKETS

(Press release courtesy of La Tradition & GrubTribe)

#LAFilmFest set for June 1-9, 2016 @ArcLightCinemas

The 22nd edition of the LA Film Festival will take place June 1 – June 9, 2016 at ArcLight Cinemas. The LA Film Festival’s mission is to showcase diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision in independent American and international cinema.

“We are thrilled to open with Lowriders, a culturally vibrant film that explores familial relationships within a second-generation Mexican family in East LA. Made by filmmakers of color, Lowriders embodies our mission of shining the light on unique voices,” said Festival Director Stephanie Allain. “Spirit Award winner Ryan Coogler honors us as Guest Director – we had Fruitvale Station at the Festival in 2013 and are so happy to have him back this year as our Guest Director.”

 

“We can’t imagine a more fitting recipient of the Spirit of Independence Award than Ava DuVernay and her distribution company Array Releasing,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “In addition to being a brilliant filmmaker, Ava is a passionate, forward-thinking distributor, helping unique and diverse voices find their audiences. Array bought Takeshi Fukunaga’s Out of My Hand at last year’s Festival, a film that we celebrated at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards.”
Lowriders

Lowriders (Photo credit: Justin Lubin)

Set against the vibrant backdrop of East LA’s near-spiritual car culture, Lowriders follows the story of Danny, a talented young street artist caught between the lowrider world inhabited by his old-school father and ex-con brother, and the adrenaline-fueled outlet that defines his self-expression.

 

“It is such an honor that the LA Film Festival has chosen Lowriders to open this year’s Festival,” said producer Brian Grazer. “From their humble beginnings to their modern-day status as works of extraordinary art, these aren’t simply cars…they hold the imagination of the people and culture that create them. Danny’s coming-of-age story is one of a son, a brother and a visionary, and we cannot wait to share Ricardo’s film with the world.”

 

“We are always looking to partner with filmmakers who are incredibly passionate about their projects,” said producer Jason Blum. “When Brian brought the idea for Lowriders to Blumhouse, we got excited by the opportunity to work with Imagine and Ricardo on this powerful story, which is a unique look at two generations at a crossroads. The LA Film Festival is a wonderful event, and we look forward to being a part of this year’s unique lineup.”

 

Pictured left to right: Ava DuVernay (Photo courtesy of GlamourUK); Ryan Coogler (Photo courtesy of LA Film Festival)

Guest Director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) will attend the 15th annual Filmmaker Retreat. A signature program of the Festival, the Filmmaker Retreat brings together all the feature directors in this year’s Festival along with seasoned filmmakers and Film Independent Board Members who attend as honored artists. The Filmmaker Retreat is an opportunity to build community among the Festival’s filmmakers before the Festival kicks off on June 1. Past Guest Directors of the Festival include Rodrigo García, Lisa Cholodenko, David O. Russell, Mira Nair, Kathryn Bigelow, George Lucas, William Friedkin, 
Sydney Pollack, Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón.

 

Writer/director/producer/distributor Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere, Selma) and her colleagues at Array Releasing will be awarded the Spirit of Independence Award. The Spirit of Independence Award is given to individuals who advance the cause of independent film, champion creative freedom or make a significant contribution to the preservation and proliferation of independent voices. Array Releasing is an LA-based film collective dedicated to the amplification of images by people of color and women. The collective’s film releases to date include: 2015 LA Film Festival winners Out of my Hand and Ayanda, Ashes and Embers, Mississippi Damned, Middle of Nowhere, Kinyarwanda, Restless City, Vanishing Pearls, Big Words, Better Mus’ Come and I Will Follow.

 

“In 2013 we launched a series of LA Film Festival posters designed to celebrate LA artists. Native Angelena Carolyn Castaño joins the ranks of acclaimed artists Ed Ruscha and the late Noah Davis as the 2016 poster artist,” said Mary Sweeney, Film Independent Board Chair. “Castaño’s work reflects and celebrates her deep roots and experiences in the powerful Latina culture of Los Angeles. Film Independent and the LA Film Festival support and celebrate the diversity of unique artistic voices.”

 

Carolyn Castaño’s work in painting, drawing, video and mixed-media installations has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, most recently at the 56th International La Bienniale di Venezia, LACMA’s Fútbol: The Beautiful Game, the Pasadena Museum of California Art and at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City. Her site-specific installation at the Los Angeles International Airport will be unveiled in June 2016. Castano earned a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and her MFA from UCLA.

 

Festival passes are on sale to Film Independent Members starting today, April 5. Passes go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, April 12. The full line-up will be announced on Tuesday, April 26. Individual tickets go on sale to Members on Tuesday, May 5 and to the general public on Tuesday, May 10. Please visit lafilmfestival.com for more information.

 

(Source: Press release courtesy of LA Film Festival)

Surf Nite at SLO Film Fest: OCEAN DRIVEN

Our internationally renowned “Surf Nite in SLO” is back for its 11th year with a new documentary about Big Wave surfer Chris Bertish and the day that changed big wave surfing forever. The famed Maverick’s champion and professional speaker will travel from his home in South Africa to join Maverick’s pioneer, Jeff Clark on the stage of the historic Fremont Theatre in downtown San Luis Obispo on Friday, March 18 after the Central Coast premiere of “Ocean Driven,” scheduled for a 7:30 PM screening. A few tickets are still available here: http://slofilmfest.org/tickets-passes/

Directed by Santa Cruz filmmaker Nadia Tarow and Adrian Charles from Cape Town, OCEAN DRIVEN is a true and gripping story that chronicles the devePoster_Image_Bluelopment of South African big wave surfer Chris Bertish. At Mavericks, a famed surf break just south of San Francisco, his refusal to let seemingly insurmountable obstacles stand in his way culminates with his winning the world’s most prestigious big wave surfing contest in the largest waves ever seen in a competition. “Ocean Driven” is a tale of overcoming obstacles and fears, redefining what is possible, and inspiring viewers to never give up in pursuit of their dreams.

Bertish travels the world as a motivational keynote and Ted-X guest speaker, and is also the author of “Stoked!” We are delighted to host such an accomplished and articulate sports hero at Surf Nite in SLO.

Local surf legend, “Pismo” the surfing goat will also be in attendance with owner Dana McGregor. A short film will illustrate Pismo’s amazing talents as a surfer, and the celebrity goat will meet his fans and “sign” copies of McGregor’s new children’s book, “Goatee, the Surfing Goat.”

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Also in attendance will be Gary Linden, VP of the Big Wave World Tour, along with more big wave surfers TBA. Beer and wine will also be available in the Fremont Theatre lobby beginning at 7pm, with an After-party in the Hollywood & Vines Festival Tent (behind the Fremont Theatre.)

MANY THANKS TO OUR LOYAL SURF NITE SPONSORS:
Apple Farm, City of Pismo Beach, Cliffs Resort, Creeky Tiki, Mother’s Tavern, Q104.5, Quality Suites of San Luis Obispo, Saint Archer Beer, Sea Venture Resort, SLO Wine Country, and Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort.

See you there!

(Press materials from slofilmfest.org)