[REEL_REVIEWER]

THE 13TH ANNUAL

HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

OCTOBER 19-23, 2005

Hiam Abbass ~ Danny Aiello ~ Kevin Bacon ~ Jon Robin Baitz

Alec Baldwin ~ Ned Beatty ~ Bob Berney ~ Dyan Cannon ~ Alan Cumming

Hope Davis ~ David Dinerstein ~ David Marshall Grant ~ Ted Hope

Eugene Jarecki ~ Cherry Jones ~ Marc Levin ~ Claude LeLouch ~ Bill Nighy

Martin McDonagh ~ Liza Minnelli ~ Sarah Paulson ~ Zac Posen ~ Paul Reiser Miranda Richardson ~ Charlie Rose ~ Kyra Sedgwick ~ Vivienne Tam

Christine Vachon ~ Kerry Washington ~ Mike White ~ Debra Winger

Among those expected to attend…

[justify]The 2005 HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is celebrating its 13th annual presentation of films, programs and events, and will bring to the East End an array of exciting and interesting filmmakers and personalities. The Hamptons International Film Festival is always an outstanding opportunity for audiences to catch something new and out of the ordinary. This year’s festival runs October 19th through 23rd, 2005, in East Hampton, New York with additional venues in Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk. This year also finds the Festival significantly expanding its presence and services to Southampton and its nearby communities. The Southampton expansion will extend the Festival’s reach in presenting exciting, entertaining and intriguing films and programs.
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[justify]The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all. Each year our Director of Programming, Rajendra Roy, and his screening committee view thousands of submissions and scour the world’s festivals to put together a slate of films all fueled by an innovative spirit: the adventuresome, courageous, original and philosophical that defines the Hamptons film-going experience. This year’s event features 27 World Premieres, 23 US Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, 18 East Coast Premieres and 7 New York Premieres.
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[justify]Executive Director, Denise Kasell, and Board Chairman, Stuart Match Suna, are at the helm to ensure that the slate of thought provoking as well as entertaining films and programs will fulfill the Festival’s mission to cultivate, stimulate and express the art of international independent film and be a forum for new artistic voices. "This year with the encouragement of our Board of Directors and our newly formed Southampton Committee we have been able to implement an expansion we have wanted to do for many years", says Kasell. "This will enable a greater constituency and offer even more tastemakers for our distributors & producers. With the growth of the festival there are even more filmmakers in attendance. We are so thankful to our presenting sponsors American Airlines & Altour International and to our new host sponsor, Panasonic for their state of the art hi-def equipment."
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[justify]"Observers from both the public and the film industry will notice a dramatic maturation of the festival and its programs this year," states programmer Rajendra Roy. "Over the past four years we have worked very hard at listening; to our filmmakers, to our partners in promotion and distribution and to our audiences. It is extremely gratifying to be able to provide an essential venue for both established and emerging filmmakers from across the international spectrum."
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[justify]The heart of the Hamptons International Film Festival has always been its Golden Starfish Award and the films in the competitions for Best Narrative Feature (over $170,000 in goods and in-kind services), Best Documentary Award ($10,000 in cash and in-kind services) and Short Film Award ($5,000 in cash). The Hamptons International Film Festival also awards the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology ($25,000 in cash); the Kodak Award for Cinematography ($6,000 of goods and in-kind services); the Brizzolara Family Inspirational Film Award ($5,000 in cash); the Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Screenwriting ($5,000 in cash); Best Undergraduate and Graduate Student Films (eight $1,000 cash awards); and new this year, the Artemis Records Original Movie Score Award ($5,000 of goods and in-kind services).
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[justify]This year, the Golden Starfish Narrative and Documentary Competitions have continued to expand - For the first time American and International films are competing together on an even playing field. Other returning programs will include the acclaimed Films of Conflict and Resolution, the Spotlight Films, Films For Families, View From Long Island, World Cinema, NYWIFT (New York Women in Film & Television), A Conversation With…, Special Presentations and Panels with actors and filmmakers, and the Rising Stars program including the Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting to this year’s Rising Stars mentors. New programs and additions for this year include: A tribute to the Berlinale Kinderfilmfest, a program from the Berlin International Film Festival presenting here as an exciting new compilation of films for young audiences, tailored specifically for the Hamptons Film Festival; and The Panasonic 48Hour Film Challenge, for selected film makers during the festival to write, shoot and finally present their work to festival audiences.
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[justify]From Wednesday, October 19th when the Festival Opens with a screening of BEE SEASON (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Fox Searchlight release) directed by Scott McGehee & David Siegel (THE DEEP END), based on the nationally best-selling Myla Goldberg, and starring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche; through to our Closing Night film, THE WEATHER MAN (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Paramount release), directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Hope Davis (who will be attending), the Hamptons will be a very special and exciting place to be.
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[justify]The Golden Starfish Feature Competition films, worth over $170,000 in goods and in-kind services to be used towards the next feature, include Director/Screenwriter/Producer, Bernadine Santistevan’sTHE CRY (USA, World Premiere) The legend of a crying, vengeful mother who abducts children and rips open the throats of unfaithful men, haunts this atmospheric thriller. Breathing life into a myth well known in the Latino community, the film takes place over the course of one ominous day in New York City; SWEET LAND (USA, World Premiere), by writer/director Ali Selim, tells an intimate yet powerful tale of immigrants struggling to establish homesteads and new lives at the end of World War I in the exquisite landscape of Minnesota farm country. Spare, painterly, and with a wonderfully strong cast that includes Lois Smith, Elizabeth Reaser, Patrick Heusinger, Alan Cumming, Ned Beatty, and John Heard, SWEET LAND is a gorgeous portrait of the triumph of will and longing and the emergence of our better selves; THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG (Mongolia/Germany, US Premiere) was exquisitely filmed on the Mongolian steppes by Oscar-nominated director Byambasuren Davaa (THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL) who artfully incorporates the real day-to-day existence of the Batchuluuns—an actual Mongolian family, not actors—into the warm-hearted story of Nansal, the young daughter who finds a puppy sheltered in a cave; WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA (USA, World Premiere), Written and Directed by Susan Traylor, is as much a metaphor for California as it is the story of Ondine (Ms. Traylor), an actress in that class of beauties who can still attract a man but can’t get him to return her phone calls. Ondine emerges as a strong woman with a unique plan to save herself and also save the spiritually deaf men around her; In Writer/Director Stefan C. Schaefer’s CONFESS (USA, World Premiere), a dreadlocked hacker with an axe to grind, Terell Lessor (Eugene Byrd) returns to New York to enact his revenge. After his mother (21 GRAMS' Melissa Leo) is downsized, Lessor begins his cyber-activist crusade by slipping a hidden camera into her boss's office and posting images of his sexual harassment online; Hannes Stöhr’s ONE DAY IN EUROPE (Germany/Spain, North American Premiere), Swirls together four purported robberies in four countries, a smorgasbord of mangled languages and an entire continent overcome by soccer mania in this lighthearted jab at the new European melting pot.
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Jurors for the Golden Starfish Narrative Competition include: Acclaimed Actress Kerry Washington, Playwright/ScreenwriterJon Robin Baitz and Wieland Speck, Director, Panorama Section, Berlin International Film Festival.


[justify]Five films compete in the Golden Starfish Documentary category, with an award worth $10,000 in cash and in-kind services. If you thought the drill instructors from THE BOYS IN COMPANY C and FULL METAL JACKET were pure fiction…, EARS, OPEN. EYEBALLS, CLICK (USA, East Coast Premiere) by Canaan Brumely, a vivid documentary chronicling 12 weeks of basic training shows how true-to-life those loud-mouthed portrayals can be - presenting an unfiltered, fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the chaos and pain of boot camp; BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (Israel, US Premiere), by Shosh Shalam, is a story of women's oppression in an Ultra-Orthodox patriarchal society that enslaves women socially and ideologically, leaving them unable to develop inner freedom and negating their right to critical thought; TINA BARNEY: SOCIAL STUDIES (France, World Premiere), by Director/Writer/Producer Jaci Judelson, explores the life and work of the artist in the context of a European series she undertook when inspiration from her native northeastern U.S. dimmed; Once a year an event takes place in Dorchester County, Maryland that is unlike any other, anywhere: the close-knit community’s annual National Outdoor Show culminates in one big night that includes both the Miss Outdoors Beauty Pageant and the World Championship Muskrat Skinning Competition. Amy Nicholson’s MUSKRAT LOVELY (USA, World Premiere) tells the story of the lead-up to the 50th anniversary pageant and skinning contest; What began with a few lone voices in the ¢60s changed the course of history. Military men and women on the frontlines of dissent come forward to recall their participation in the anti-war movement in David Zeiger’s SIR! NO SIR! (USA, New York Premiere), a penetrating look back at an oft forgotten chapter in the Vietnam chronicle.
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[justify]Jurors for the Golden Starfish Documentary Competition include: Alex Halpern, Founder & CEO, Post Factory NY; Actor/Playwright David Marshall Grant, Producer/Director Peggy Rajski
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[justify]Five films compete in the Golden Starfish Shorts category with a $5000 cash prize. AT THE QUINTE HOTEL (Canada, East Coast Premiere), Written by Al Purdy and Directed by Bruce Alcock is a magically crafted pastiche of stop-motion and traditional line-animation using oil paintings, acrylics, graphite, charcoal, wire, cut paper, a beer mug, linoleum, and even bottlecaps, this short piece both interprets and recounts Canadian poet Al Purdy's live reading of his original work, Director/Producer/Cinematographer Daniel Vernon’s FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH (UK, North American Premiere), beautifully filmed documentary is set in the desolate Mojave Desert, where the Fountain Of Youth retirement home exists - a deteriorating place where the elderly wait patiently for time to pass by. This fantastic documentary compassionately acknowledges the loss of youth and beauty and the stillness of old age; Brendan Gleeson (28 DAYS LATER, BRAVEHEART) stars in SIX SHOOTER (Ireland, North American Premiere), by Martin McDonagh, a dark and uncomfortably funny comedy about the pains and sorrows of death; After being falsely accused, a young Middle Eastern couple becomes the target of profiling and is followed by the FBI in THE SEVENTH DOG (USA, US Premiere) by Writer/Director Zeina Durra; Scott Flockhart’s X MAS (UK, World Premiere) follows an angst-filled teenage boy who conjures his uncle back from the dead on Christmas Eve night, wreaking havoc on his abusive father and passive mother.
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[justify]Each evening, the HIFF presents Spotlight Films, high-profile films that are shown in advance of their theatrical release. What happens if a mother loves her child too much? This is the question that actor/director Kevin Bacon addresses with sensitivity, compassion, and insight with his provocative and beautifully visualized second feature, LOVERBOY (USA, a THINKFilm Release), starring Kyra Sedgwick, based on the novel by Victoria Redel; If Pierce Brosnan wearing a black Speedo, cowboy boots, sunglasses and smoking a cigar wasn't in itself worth the price of admission, the glorious excesses that writer/director Richard Shepard offers are just part of the considerable range of payoffs that make THE MATADOR (USA, New York Premiere, a Weinstein Company release), also featuring Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis, a delightful mix of genres that simultaneously spoofs the buddy film, killers, and ordinary American life; In WHY WE FIGHT (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Sony Pictures Classics release), Eugene Jarecki launches a full-frontal autopsy of how the will of a people has become an accessory to the Pentagon. Surveying the scorched landscape of a half-century's military misadventures and misguided missions, Jarecki asks how—and tells why—a nation ostensibly of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war; "Things are never really simple, are they?" is the rhetorical question put to Gideon Warner, a wealthy, world-weary public relations executive deeply disconcerted by his strained relationship with his daughter. The sentiment could equally apply to GIDEON’S DAUGHTER (UK, World Premiere, a BBC release), Starring Miranda Richardson, Bill Nighly and Emily Blunt, a richly textured drama from recent Emmy Winner, Stephen Poliakoff; Set mainly during the spring and summer of Princess Diana’s death and the rise to power of Britain’s Labour Party, the film casts a withering eye at the nexus between the fawningly ambitious worlds of politics, media, and celebrity; Marc Levin, the award-winning filmmaker, whose SLAM won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 1998, gives us an explosive exploration of resurgent anti-Semitism in the wake of September 11th with PROTOCOLS OF ZION (USA, New York Premiere, a THINKFilm release), referring to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a notorious forgery created 100 years ago this year, purporting to be the Jews' master plan to rule the world; BOYNTON BEACH BEREAVEMENT CLUB (USA, World Premiere), written by Shelly Gitlow and Susan Seidelman, who also directs this romantic comedy about our amazing capacity to rebound and fall in love…. at any age. LOIS (Dyan Cannon), HARRY (Joseph Bologna), MARILYN (Brenda Vaccaro), SANDY (Sally Kellerman) and JACK (Len Cariou) live in an "Active Adult" community in Boynton Beach, Florida. Their lives intersect when they meet at a local Bereavement Club, where they’ve gone to find emotional support after the loss of a loved one. But soon they each find themselves on a journey they could never have predicted, when they reenter the "dating scene" after many decades, only to find that it's a whole new world out there; Morgan J. Freeman directs PIGGY BANKS (USA,World Premiere) about two brothers who live at the edges, roaming the country, leading a life devoid of intimacy, responsibility, direction or day jobs. They are charming. They are brilliant. They are murderers. And for John, the transient life of the parasitic serial killer lost all its novelty a long time ago; Mona's wedding day might just be the saddest day of her life. She knows that once she crosses the border between Israel and Syria to marry Taller, she will never be able to go back to her family in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Golan Heights, in SYRIAN BRIDE (HACALA HASURIT) (France/Israel/Germany, USA Premiere, a Koch Lorber release) Directed by Eran Riklas; Unearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the BALLETS RUSSES (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Zeitgeist release); LIZA WITH A "Z" (USA, USA Premiere, A Showtime Networks Inc. presentation) is a beautifully restored version of the landmark Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning concert, originally recorded May 31, 1972 at New York's Lyceum Theatre, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, and featuring original music by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The iconic traits are all there—the laugh, the vocal catch, the Halston costumes, the eyelashes—and so is a thrilling Minnelli at the top of her game; Imagine the coolest rock band in the world: Awesome songs, screaming fans, pestering paparazzi, and the documentary crew following their every move... now shrink the band members down to 4 feet tall. No it's not the Oompa Loompas, it's the hottest kid's band in history, in Polly Draper’s THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND (USA, World Premiere). Join us for this star-studded Spotlight film for kids and families, featuring appearances by Uma Thurman, Cyndi Lauper, Arsenio Hall and more!; Ben Younger’s PRIME (US, a Universal Pictures release) is a sophisticated character comedy about Rafi (Uma Thurman), a recently divorced 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan, and what happens when Dave (Bryan Greenberg), a talented 23-year-old painter from Brooklyn, falls in love with her - Also featuring performances by Meryl Streep and Jon Abrams; Penetrating, lively, and invigorating, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS (UK, a Miramax release) is a love note to a famous London theatre, an homage to Britain's wartime experiences, and an evocation of the great musicals that lit up the screen during the thirties and forties. Directed by Stephen Frears, who has offered up so many delights over the years, it features the incomparable Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, as well as the introduction of a fresh face, Britain's 2001 Pop Idol, Will Young; Writer-director Shane Black takes THE BIG SLEEP, mixes it with CHINATOWN and tosses in some LETHAL WEAPON (for which he wrote the screenplay that rocketed him to fame), gives the whole thing a good shake and pours it into the sleazy bars, stylish hotels, glam Hollywood parties, and dark alleyways of contemporary Los Angeles. The result is KISS KISS, BANG BANG (USA, a Warner Brothers release), featuring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Corbin Bernsen, a clever comedy-thriller that sends up the American noir while retaining its twisting suspense; Set in the 1930s on the beautiful shores of the Italian Riviera, Lions Gate Films’ A GOOD WOMAN (Spain/Italy/UK/Luxembourg/USA, a Lions Gate release), Directed by Mike Barker and starring Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Wilkinson in an elegant and witty romantic comedy based on Oscar Wilde’s classic play, "Lady Windermere’s Fan"; The ever-ubiquitous Michael Winterbottom has turned his attention to the canon of English literature in TRISTRAM SHANDY: A **** AND BULL STORY (UK, a Picturehouse release), this breezy and witty love poem to the cinema. After two relatively classical adaptations of Thomas Hardy standouts, Jude from "Jude the Obscure" and The Claim from "The Mayor of Casterbridge," Winterbottom approaches Laurence Sterne's unruly "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" in a very different manner.
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[justify]This year’s World Cinema Features include: Steven Silver & Andrew Quigley’s unflinching documentary DIAMETER OF A BOMB (Canada/UK, US Premiere, a THINKFilm release), an unsparing examination of a 2002 suicide bombing aboard a Jerusalem bus; In 1943 Germany, there were some who had the courage to stand up to the Nazi authorities. In director Marc Rothemund’s moving story of a real-life heroine, SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE LAST DAYS (Germany, East Coast Premiere, a Zeitgeist release), follows the 21-year-old member of the resistance group The White Rose; The consensus in Director/Producer Peter Rosen’s WHO GETS TO CALL IT ART? (USA, World Premiere) a kaleidoscopic ride through the ragged, jagged art scene of post-war America is that the late Metropolitan Museum of Art curator and historian Henry Geldzahler fills the bill; On July 3rd, 2002, Doug Bruce lost his mind. A successful British stockbroker with a posh loft in New York City, Bruce woke up one night on a subway train bound for Coney Island with no memory of who he was or how he got there. In UNKNOWN WHITE MALE (UK, a Wellspring/Court TV release), this riveting portrait, filmmaker Rupert Murray retraces the terror, confusion, and exhilaration of his friend's sudden bout with starting-over; Mystelle Brabbée’s HIGHWAY COURTESANS (India, New York Premiere, a Women Making Movies release) follows one young Bachara woman, Guddi Chauhan, over a ten-year period starting in 1995. Through incisive interviews with Guddi, her family and her friends, it becomes clear that these girls grow up with the same dreams as most: love, marriage and family; but end up instead in "the business," somehow enduring as the years pass and their dreams fade; In cinéma-vérité style, and within a classic whodunit, Åke Sandgren’s FLIES ON THE WALL (Denmark, US Premiere) explores a documentarian’s relationship to an inevitable disconnect from her subject, and exposes the power, perhaps corrosive, of media to inform – or misinform; FROZEN LAND (Finland, East Coast Premiere) written and directed by Aku Louhimies, opens with a eulogy that asks the question, "What is the point of living, if life is hell?" Set in Helsinki and its environs, this circular, episodic film connects the troubled lives of numerous deeply uneasy characters through a butterfly effect of misfortune, distress, and despair; Nanouk Leopold’s GUERNSEY (Netherlands, East Coast Premiere) is the story of a woman who begins to look at her own life, questioning how she became estranged from the people who mean the most to her; Powerfully acted and intimately felt, Doug Sadler’s SWIMMERS (USA, New York Premiere) sensitively captures the throes of familial conflict and the vulnerable places where young girls, as well as adults, often dwell; Per Fly’s MANSLAUGHTER (Denmark, USA Premiere) is beautifully filmed, and replete with deeply resonant portrayals of characters only tenuously staying aloft in a flawed world where things sometimes turn out all wrong; In Maria Essén and Stefan Ahnhem’s DOUBLE SHIFT (Sweden, US Premiere), Jonas(EricEricson) tries to juggle his commitment to his girlfriend Emma (Lisa Werlinder),to be a stay-at-home dad, and keep the promise to his garage mates that he’ll continue driving a taxi; As Amanda Gusack’s IN MEMORIUM (USA, World Premiere) begins, Dennis (Erik McDowell) is dying, suddenly. He’s been diagnosed inexplicably with late-stage cancer, the same that killed his mother. Resigned but not defeated, he sets up house with his lover Lily (Johanna Watts) in a short-term rental he has wired throughout for sound and video to record his last days; With extraordinarily graphic scenes of genital piercing and subcutaneous implants, tongue and penile bisection, skin cutting and branding, cosmetic and sexual reassignment surgery, as well as various other forms of body alteration, MODIFY (USA) by Greg Jacobson and Jason Gary, shows and tells the stories of men and women who go to incredible lengths to express on the outside who they are on the inside; Written and directed by brothers Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, PEINDRE OU FAIRE L'AMOUR (TO PAINT OR MAKE LOVE) (France, North American Premiere) shifts from conventional French pastoral to something far more intriguing: a sly, unsettling portrait of a middle-aged couple whose humdrum lives are momentarily interrupted by the thrills of sexual adventure; Jaeckie happily left everything Jewish behind him decades ago, but when word comes that his mother has died and left him a sizeable inheritance, it's a stroke of luck. There is one catch: Jaeckie must first reconcile with his long-estranged brother Samuel, who has become an Orthodox Jew and is arriving, family in tow, for a traditional funeral and shiva at Jaeckie's house in Dani Levy’s madcap adventure GO FOR ZUCKER! (Germany, New York Premiere, a First Run Features release); The life of a truly desperate housewife begins to unravel in Jason Ruscio’s LAURA SMILES (RKO) (USA), an intricately layered exploration of the vulnerabilities of the human heart; Writer-director Alan Hruska offers a modern spin on the familiar tale of the brave knight rescuing a damsel in distress in THE WARRIOR CLASS (USA, World Premiere), starring Anson Mount and Erica Leerhsen, a legal thriller with romantic overtones; Israeli filmmaker Menora Hazantells a first-person story of her decision with new husband Ariel to settle in the secluded hilltop Jewish settlement of Homesh. in THE SKIES ARE CLOSER IN HOMESH (Israel, USA Premiere), an exploration of faith, in a situation of unfathomable complexity; Interlocking affairs of the heart bleed into one another in the third iteration of the same raw material from Oscar winner Claude Lelouch (A MAN AND A WOMAN). The refashioned romantic fable, LE COURAGE D'AIMER (THE COURAGE TO LOVE) (French, East Coast Premiere) weaves together the stories of a talented street singer, the shoplifter and chanteuse who first captures his heart, sensitive twin sisters, an actress and a wealthy food magnate; Filmmaker Elle Flanders’ ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION (Canada, US Premiere) tells the stories of two gay couples struggling to live together in modern Israel.
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[justify]For the 6th consecutive year, the $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology for a feature-length film that explores science and technology themes in fresh, innovative ways and depicts scientists and engineers in a realistic and compelling fashion will be presented at the Hamptons International Film Festival. This year’s recipient of the Sloan Feature Film Prize is KARDIA (Canada) the feature film debut by Su Rynard, produced by Paul Barkin. KARDIA weaves fable, fiction, science and metaphor to tell the story of Hope, a pathologist who embarks on an unusual journey of reconciliation. Hope discovers that the experimental heart operation she underwent as a child has mysteriously linked her life with another. To unlock the secret of her past, Hope revisits the curious tale of her childhood and explores the landscape of love, loss ands the human heart. KARDIA was produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada in association with CHUM Television, TMN-The Movie Network an Astral Communications Network, Movie Central a Corus Entertainment Company, Rogers Telefund and with the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and Chalmer's Arts Fellowship.
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[justify]The Hamptons/Sloan feature Film Prize comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s program in public understanding of science and forms part of a broader effort to stimulate leading artists in film, television, and theater to create more credible works about science and technology. The program aims to enhance people’s lives by providing a better understanding of the increasingly scientific and technological environment in which we live. It also strives to convey some of the challenges and rewards of the scientific and technological enterprise, and of the lives of the men and women who undertake it.
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[justify]Films of Conflict and Resolution We are proud to present the seventh annual Films of Conflict & Resolution program, consisting of films that are unique in their multi-faceted portrayals of conflict around the world. This year’s Films of Conflict & Resolution section is a showcase for works that use the medium of film to promote transformation. Every film in this program was made against industry odds, but with the belief that these stories, once viewed by audiences, would resonate with a potent message. Our mission is to utilize the power of cinema to increase awareness and understanding of the human realities of war and conflict. We present current and archival work made by filmmakers from around the globe, who in the face of intense conflict, strive to illuminate the realities of the world around them -- and thus foster the process of peace and conflict resolution through their vision and their art. Films of Conflict and Resolution is sponsored in part by Dan and Ewa Abraham and Tammy Abraham, and the Brizzolara Family Foundation.
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[justify]Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition: Sometimes the truth is too hard to handle, and that is what beautiful young Kaju’s mother must have thought in Shonali Bose’s AMU (USA/India, US Premiere), as she misleads her daughter about who she really is. But when Kaju (Konkona Sen Sharma) returns to India after being raised in Los Angeles her curiosity consumes her, and she begins a search for her real identity; Looking beyond abstract political policies, ASYLUM (UK, East Coast Premiere), directed by Nigel Roffee-Barker, personalizes the experiences of three Kurdish refugees seeking asylum in Britain. Leaving loved ones behind and risking their lives on the way, they register for political asylum in London. But once their papers are lost in the system the police seek their arrest and possible deportation. Knowing they will face death if they are forced to return to their homeland, they hide in a church and are offered sanctuary by Father Michael (Dai Bradley). The confrontation between police, church, refugees and press that follows brings to the foreground the truly desperate situations these men face. From a tortured and oppressed past and facing bleak futures, they have nothing to lose and risk even their lives in pursuit of the happiness and freedom so many take for granted; Produced prior to the Israeli pullout from Gaza, AT THE GREEN LINE (USA, US Premiere)is a soul-searching documentary, by Jesse Atlas, about the Israeli occupation of lands seized after the 1967 war – examining the crisis of conscience faced by soldiers in the Israeli military on the frontlines of the conflict; Jay Jonroy’s DAVID & LAYLA (USA, World Premiere) is a film about an impossible romance that gets at the heart of the hypocritical stereotypes and illusions we all have about differing cultures and religions. David (David Moscow), a young Jewish man finds Layla (Shiva Rose McDermott), a beautiful Muslim immigrant, and can’t get her off of his mind. But her Kurdish culture doesn’t mix with his Upper East Side origins, and both lovers can’t help but mislead their families about one another as they try to begin their affair. A true comedy of errors ensues from temple to mosque, from perversion to conversion, and all the while their passions increase regardless of their unlikely attraction; Roberta Grossman’s HOMELAND: FOUR PORTRAITS OF NATIVE ACTION (USA, East Coast Premiere) tells the stories of five brave Native American activists who are fighting a war of survival for their culture and lives. This is not simply a tale of environmentalists, but of communities of people driven almost to extinction after hundreds of years of aggression by non-native people, who are courageously standing up against those who seek to exploit the remaining resources on their land; An inspirational documentary on the frontlines in a war for justice, SISTERS IN LAW (UK/Cameroon, US Premiere, a Women Making Movies release) by Kim Longinotto, is the story of women lawyers and judges in rural Cameroon, Africa. In a male dominated society where women are frequently seen as property and children can be used for cheap labor, these women are standing firm on feminist ideals of equality and respect for all.
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[justify]Jurors for the Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition include: Academy Award-Nominated Actor Debra Winger; Co-President, Paramount Classics, David Dinerstein; Managing Director of Ruth Diskin Films Ltd., Ruth Diskin,
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[justify]Films Of Conflict And Resolution Out Of Competition: With remarkable access to both Fujimori and his family, filmmaker Ellen Perry presents both archival footage and first hand accounts in order to build a more honest and probing picture of the unbelievable situation surrounding Fujimori’s presidency, in FALL OF FUJIMORI (USA/Japan/Peru, East Coast Premiere); Set in the shantytowns that rise helter-skelter above Rio de Janeiro, Directors/Producers Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary’s FAVELA RISING (USA) moves to a decidedly Brazilian beat in telling the story of Anderson Sá and the growth of AfroReggae, the pulsing music and dance that became the springboard for social change; In MY LAND ZION (Israel, US Premiere, a Women Making Movies release), Sixth-generation Israeli, Yulie Cohen Gerstel, poses difficult questions without simple answers in this highly personal odyssey to understand the burden of her country’s history; Helen Klodawsky’s NO MORE TEARS SISTER (Canada) is a beautiful documentary about the civil conflicts in Sri Lanka and one family’s profound experiences of loss and inspiration in the fight for freedom; In OFF TO WAR (USA) Filmmakers Brent and Craig Renaud follow fifty-seven National Guard soldiers from Arkansas throughout their experiences in Iraq; Teresa De Pelegrí & Dominic Harari’s ONLY HUMAN (Argentina), a charming and sexy romantic comedy, set in Spain, about a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man working out their love for each other.
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[justify]Films of Conflict and Resolution Shorts Program: In AZADI (Australia, North American Premiere), by Writer/Director Anthony Maras, An Afghani father and son, searching for safety after persecution under Taliban rule, have made it to an Australian refugee camp, but security proves more difficult to find than they hoped; WEST BANK STORY (USA), a 22-minute musical by Ari Sandel and Kim Ray, brings Romeo and Juliet to the West Bank via West Side Story, with grand musical numbers, and plenty of laughs.
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[justify]Gray Matter: In the second year of our celebration of innovative risk-taking cinema dedicated to Spalding Gray, we chose to integrate the works in all sections of the festival. In life, new visions surround us constantly. It is always just a matter of perspective. These are a few that took us to a place we hadn’t expected to go, challenged our notions of truth, and opened new avenues of thought…WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA; ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION and THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND.
[/justify]


[justify]Rising Stars: Conceived as a means of celebrating the key role actors play in the making of independent films, Rising Stars program has grown into a dynamic, enriched program. It feeds on the tremendous, expanding energy of the Hamptons festival both domestically and internationally to provide a platform for extraordinary acting talent. We have invited six actors to participate, each with a diversity of experience, each uniquely gifted and talented. For 2005, we have continued to expand the program to include more informal, intimate gatherings in which Rising Star participants can meet and share creative ideas in a personal setting with the directors, producers, writers, veteran actors, and prominent industry executives who will be at the Festival this year. This year’s Rising Stars are Eugene Byrd (Confess, GSA Narrative Competition), Kip Pardue (Laura Smiles, World Cinema), Emily Blunt (Gideon’s Daughter, Spotlight Films), Florian Lukas (One Day In Europe, GSA Narrative Competition), Elizabeth Reaser (Sweet Land, GSA Narrative Competition) and Jake Muxworthy (Piggy Banks, Spotlight Films).We are pleased that the participating actors will be invited again in February 2006 to the Berlin International Film Festival’s Talent Campus for the opportunity to develop further contacts with other artists working abroad. Once again, we invite Festival-goers to see in advance, and access in the depth, the work in independent films that will turn some of today’s finest actors into tomorrow’s Stars. Each year the Rising Stars are shepherded throughout the festival by an established mentor. This year we are honored to have Alec Baldwin and Miranda Richardson serve as mentors to our Rising Stars. The Hamptons International Film Festival takes distinct pleasure in honoring Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Richardson with the Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting. The Rising Stars program is directed by Lina Todd and Rajendra Roy.
[/justify]

[justify]Each year, the Festival presents A Conversation With… (sponsored by New Line Cinemas/Fine Line Features) Past guests have included Ms. Gena Rowlands, Anthony LaPagliaMartin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Isabella Rossellini, Anjelica Huston, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, Barry Sonnenfeld, Danny Aiello, Julian Schnabel, Harvey Keitel, Betty Comden, Faye Wray and Patricia Neal. Who will this year’s guest be? Find out Saturday, afternoon at 4:00pm, at Guild Hall
[/justify]

[justify]Cinematography Master Class: Please join David Schwartz, Chief Curator of The Museum of the Moving Image, in conversation with award-winning cinematographer Matthew Libatique, A.S.C. Matthew Libatique first came to recognition through his body of work created with independent filmmaker Darren Aronosfsky. Together they have worked on four shorts and two feature films, including the highly acclaimed REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Mr. Libatique’s most recent film, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, based on the critically acclaimed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, and directed by Liev Schreiber, was released in theatres September 16th, 2005
[/justify]

[justify]TO THE POINT: Women Telling Stories through Media is a joint venture of the Hamptons International Film Festival and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT). In its third year, this series of shorts honors women’s voices and visions through film — narratives, documentaries, animated and experimental — and video. No more than 20 minutes long, these works explore the unique, personal stories of women — past, present, and future. THE DREADED BEARD (US), Director: Carolyn Macartney; EVERYDAY THINGS (US), Director: Stuart Goldstein; HAND SUM (Canada), Director: Eva Colmers; KYLIE GOLDSTEIN, ALL AMERICAN (US), Director: Eva Saks; MÉNAGE A TROIS (US), Director: Kimberly M. Wetherell; MURPHY’S LAW OF DATING (Canada), Director: P.R. Montgomery; ON THE CLIFFS (US), Director: Lisa M. Perry; PETALS (UK), Director: Heena Trivedi; THE SCIENCE OF LOVE (US), Director: Joyce Draganosky; SMALL BEAUTIFUL HANDS (US), Director: Elizabeth Ladd Lee; THIS MOMENT (US), Director: Leena Pendharkar.
[/justify]
[justify]The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School – Jerusalem: The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School - Jerusalem, was founded by the Jerusalem Foundation and the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture in 1989. Ranked among the leading film and television schools in the world, the mandate of the Sam Spiegel School has always been to relentlessly pursue the goal of setting new, world-class standards for training young Israeli filmmakers. The 10 Best Shorts DVD is the flagship project marking the Sam Spiegel School’s 15th Anniversary. This Year the Hamptons Film Festival will present the top 5 chosen films. SEA HORSES (SUSEI YAM) Director: Nir Bergman; SABBATH ENTERTAINMENT (ONEG SHABBAT) Directors: Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun; **** FIGHT (KRAV TARNEGOLIM) Director: Sigalit Liph****z; HOME (BAYIT) Director: David Ofek; BEDOUIN SAND (CHOL) Director: Omri Levy
[/justify]

[justify]The Hamptons International Film Festival is proud to offer a number of interative events including Festival Panels, Bookhampton Talks sponsored by Time Warner Books, a Daily Town Hall at the Festival Lounge and Industry Mentor Forum. The Panels are located at Southampton Inn and include: The Number One Topic in the Film Business: How to Finance and Produce Movies that Matter- Panelists: Multiple award-winning film producers Ted Hope (THUMBSUCKER, 21 GRAMS, THE ICE STORM); John Sloss (PIECES OF APRIL, FAR FROM HEAVEN); Dany Wolf (LAST DAYS, JUNEBUG, FINDING FORRESTER); and Jeff Sharp (PROOF, BOYS DON'T CRY), Christine Vachon (THE NORTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, KIDS) – Moderated by Peter Belsito.
[/justify]

[justify]Hidden Agendas? Dangerous Liaisons? Disturbing Trends? How Business Shapes our Film Culture - Panelists: Jarrod Moses CEO & President, Alliance Marketing Agency; a representative from the New York State Department of Health; Steven C. Beer, legal representative, producers’ rep, producer (THE HEBREW HAMMER, BLUE VINYL, L.I.E.); Meredith Finn, Vice President of Production and Acquisitions, Newline Cinema; producer and president of Antidote Films Jeff Levy-Hinte (THIRTEEN, HIGH ART). Moderated by Anthony Kaufman.
[/justify]

[justify]Icons in the Making: The Process of Creating and Maintaining a Superstar Status - Panelists: talent agent Eric Bevan (Endeavor Agency); manager Jason Newman (Untitled Entertainment). Moderated by Stephen Gaines.
[/justify]

[justify]Fashion in Film from Cleopatra to 2046 - Panelists: Vivienne Tam, Zac Posen, Alexandra Posen, a costume designer from a film in the festival. Moderator: Judy Licht; WHY WE FIGHT? - Celebrated television host Charlie Rose will engage filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) in a conversation about his riveting, new award-winning documentary "Why We Fight?" which features interviews with John McCain, Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, and Richard Perle.
[/justify]

[justify]Putting Together Your First ShortFilm on the Road to your First Feature; Tribute to Spalding Gray: a series of readings from his last work LIFE INTERRUPTED: THE UNFINISHED MONOLOGUE - Roy Scheider, Joe Pintaura, Steven Gaines and Bob Balaban will read excerpts from his last book.
[/justify]

[justify]The Wrong Animals! A Panel for Kids
[/justify]

[justify]Rising Stars Roundtable (With Alan Cumming) - Panelists: Kip Pardue (LAURA SMILES), Eugene Byrd (CONFESS), Emily Blunt (GIDEON’S DAUGHTER), Florian Lukas (ONE DAY IN EUROPE), Elizabeth Reaser (SWEET LAND), Jake Muxworthy (PIGGY BANKS) - Moderated Lina Todd.
[/justify]

[justify]The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film - long, short, narrative and documentary - and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.
[/justify]
Presenting Sponsors:
American Airlines and Altour International

Host Sponsors:
Panasonic, Time Warner Cable Media Sales
Patron Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, FHM Magazine, Kinray, New Line Cinema, Nick Movies, Plum TV, Post Factory, NY State Department of Health; Regal Entertainment Group; Silvercup Studios


Ticket Information:
Passes and tickets can be ordered beginning September 23rd, 2005 through the festival website, www.hamptonsfilmfest.org or through the new Festival Box Offices at 126 N. Main Street, East Hampton, or The South Hampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, South Hampton.

Tickets by phone - 1.866.HIFF.TIX (443-3849)
Founders Pass- $1000; Preferred Pass- $500; Family Festival Pass for 4 (New!) - $800; Family Festival Pass for 2 (New!) - $400; Southampton Express Pass (New!) - $300; Saturday Night Independents Ball $150, Opening Night party - $75; Conflict and Resolution Package- $60; Starfish Package- $60; A Conversation With - $25; Spotlight Films - $20 - $35; Panel Discussions- $10; Films- $12; Early Bird Screenings - $9, (New!) Children 12 and under - $8.

Festival Venues:
United Artists Theatres - 30 Main Street, East Hampton
Guild Hall - 158 Main Street, East Hampton
Sag Harbor Theater – 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor
Parrish Art Museum - 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton
Montauk Movie - 3 Edgemere Road, Montauk
Hospitality Suite at The Huntting Inn - 94 Main Street, East Hampton
Press Office at The Huntting Inn - 94 Main Street, East Hampton
East Hampton Box Office & Festival Lounge - 126 N. Main Street, East Hampton

Southampton Box Office & Hospitality Center - The Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

Panasonic VIP Screening Rooms Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East Hampton
For further information on the 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org.

[Darko, Donnie]

The Second Annual Bahamas International Film Festival

Honors Spike Lee with the Career Achievement Award

New York, New York (September 29, 2005) – World renowned award winning director, Spike Lee, will receive the Career Achievement Award when he is honored by the Second Annual Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF), December 8-11, 2005. The award will honor his innovative style as a result of his major impact on the frontiers of cinematic artistry. The tribute will include a public dialogue in an actor’s studio style presentation that will be moderated by a distinguished film critic, journalist, producer– as well as a montage of conversation provoking film clips from Mr. Lee’s career.

Mr. Lee’s remarkable work as an actor and director will make this inaugural honor stand out in the history of The Bahamas. He is a strong advocate for assisting developing countries in all areas of filmmaking. As an emerging film festival, it is important to have a role model that filmmakers today can emulate. “Not only are we celebrating his career, we are celebrating the career of a maverick who has opened doors, created opportunities and has changed the fabric of cinematic history,” says Leslie Vanderpool, Founder & Executive Director, BIFF.

“Spike Lee offers emerging young actors the opportunity to work in a very creative, safe yet cutting edge environment. When working with Spike he never cuts off your creative input which means a lot to a growing artist”, says actor Anthony Mackie (star of Spike Lee’s She Hate Me)

In celebration of Cinema in Paradise, the Second Annual BIFF will present approximately seventy-five films, encompassing international features, shorts, documentaries, animation and panels. The categories for this year’s competition include Spirit of Freedom and New Visions. There will be five panels discussing marketing, distribution, directing/acting, documentary filmmaking and new media.



The Spirit of Freedom competition, which is presented by Versace, will honor one narrative and one documentary whose subject matter touches upon the filmmaker’s personal convictions and journey into the human spirit with ties to themes such as religion, politics and the freedom of expression. The New Visions category, which is presented by Hard Rock Café, will focus on emerging artists who have completed no more than two films, only narrative films will be honored in this category. Films entered into the competition categories will be eligible for a Grand Jury Prize. Other film categories that are non-competitive will include Family Film, World Cinema, Touching Africa Sidebar and a Caribbean Spotlight. BIFF 2005 will also honor accomplished artists with Gala Presentations and Special Tributes.

About The Bahamas International Film Festival

The Bahamas International Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the local community and International visitors with a diverse presentation of films from around the world. In addition to offering films that might not otherwise be released theatrically in the Bahamas, BIFF will provide a unique cultural experience, educational programs, and forums for exploring the future of cinema. Founding sponsors for the Bahamas International Film Festival are the Island of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourismand the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort. Airline partners include British Airways and US Airways. Other sponsors include: Versace, Veuve Cliquot, BGC Capital, Bacardi, Pepsi, The Bahamas Tourism Channel 36, Sundrop Creations, Galleria Cinemas, Best Buy Furniture, Federal Express, Hard Rock Café, Nygard Cay, Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Centre, The Tribune, and Heineken. For more information please visit www.bintlfilmfest.com

[Darko, Donnie]

Don't miss
KISSING ON THE MOUTH
at the Chicago International Film Festival!

Raw! Honest! Naked!
Post-college life in close-up.

A Film by Joe Swanberg, Kris Williams,
Kate Winterich & Kevin Pittman

"...this is not only an intelligent and honest film, it’s creative and fairly groundbreaking."

—FILM THREAT

SCREENING TIMES
Friday, October 7, 2005 at 8:45 PM
AMC River East 21 • 322 E. Illinois

Saturday October 8, 2005 at 2:15 PM
AMC River East 21 • 322 E. Illinois

Tuesday October 11, 2005 at 8:30 PM
AMC River East 21 • 322 E. Illinois

For sales and distribution inquiries, please contact
Christopher Pizzo at cpizzo@wsfilms.com
or at 212 253 0333 ext 18.

For press inquiries, please contact
Laura McDonald at lmcdonald@wsfilms.com
or at 212 253 0333 ext 21.

For more info on the Chicago International Film Festival and to buy tickets, please go to www.chicagofilmfestival.org

For more information on KISSING ON THE MOUTH,
visit www.kissingonthemouth.com

You are subscribed as reel_reviewer@earthlink.net. To unsubscribe please click here.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

Don't miss the World Premiere of THE UNDESERVED

at the MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL

THE UNDESERVED: SYNOPSIS

A mysterious murder sets the stage for this highly improvised, character-driven film. On the surface, the small town of Athens, Vermont might seem like any rural New England hamlet that's home to salt-of-the-earth locals and a progressive school for gifted students. Look beneath the placid exterior, however, and you're apt to find any number of less-than-saintly activities. First-time feature filmmaker Brad Coley plunges viewers into a world where everyone—a young college-bound genius, his perpetually screwed-up best friend, a lecherous teacher, the pretty blond girl who suddenly leaves town—harbors dark secrets. Like a New England version of Twin Peaks, this indie drama slowly turns a quaint portrait of northeastern living into an American Gothic nightmare where the mysteries keep unraveling layer upon layer until the dramatic conclusion. —D. Fear

Written and Directed by BRAD COLEY

Produced by CSABA BERECZKY

Cinematographers: LASSE TOFT · DAVE DANIEL

Editor: SETH E. ANDERSON

Starring: FRANK WOOD · SEAN GULLETTE

PAUL SADO · JAMES MARTINEZ

AUTUMN DORNFELD · ALEXANDRA GEIS

MILL VALLEY: SCREENING TIMES

Saturday, October 8 at 8:30PM

Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center

1118 Fourth Street

San Rafael, CA 94901

Sunday, October 9 at 7:45PM

142 Throckmorton Theatre

142 Throckmorton Ave.

Mill Valley, CA 94941

Also...

THE UNDESERVED: AT THE

DENVER FILM FESTIVAL

If you can't make it to Mill Valley, THE UNDESERVED will also be screening at the Starz Denver International Film Festival.

STARZ DENVER: SCREENING TIMES

Friday, November 11 at 9:15PM

Saturday, November 12 at 4PM

Starz FilmCenter

(subject to change)

Tickets on sale to Denver Film Society members on Oct. 26, and to the public on Oct. 28. For more info, visit www.denverfilm.org.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

ArteEast and the Department of Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies at NYU Present:

CINEMA EAST FILM SCREENING

A special shorts program

ABOUT LOVE

Wednesday, October 12, 7 PM*

Cantor Film Center, 36 E. 8 Street

*For Ramadan, please note that this screening will begin at 7PM

Newly revised program includes a sneak preview of Just Get Married, premiering at our upcoming first annual CinemaEast Film Festival, opening November 4th.

U.S. Premiere
Beautiful Days by Meriem Riveil (Tunisia, 2005, 15 min, Beta SP)
Hager wakes up in her Parisian apartment one morning wrapped in memories of her sister and her youth in Tunisia. Those were the beautiful days, when life was full of promise, and Mahmoud, a young Tunisian immigrant to Paris, promised her love and bliss. In Arabic with English subtitles.

U.S. Premiere
Ephиbes et Courtisanes by Oleg Tcherny (France, 2004, 26 min, Digibeta)
Intelligent, alluring, and as complexly interwoven as the passing glances, familiar greetings, and critical stares in a crowded Parisian cafй, Ephиbes et Courtisanes is a highly literary exchange of passages and thoughts on the merits and vices of loving girls or loving boys culled from Arabic poetry, scripture, and science, both ancient and modern, including such sources as Rumi and Abu Nuwas. In Arabic and French with English subtitles

Dust by H. Fatih Kizilgцk (Turkey, 2004, 14 min, Beta SP)
A visually stunning short, Dust sets viewers adrift like the dislodged feathers of a ruptured pillow hanging in the heavy air. Traversing the sun-drenched, soft-focus spaces; abandoned plates of food; broken pipes and billowing curtains of a flat become a metaphorical journey, exploring sites of exposed and secluded anxiety, abuse and control in one couple's relationship. In Turkish with English subtitles.

U.S. Premiere
Pics by Nйjib Belkadhi (Tunisia, 2005, 10 min, Beta SP)
On the brink of her wedding day, Farah is faced with the challenge of getting rid of old photos of her ex. She takes us along on her hilariously flustered adventures as she repeatedly destroys and resurrects these same pictures, discovering that past loves are hard to escape. In Arabic with English subtitles.

U.S. Premiere
Just Get Married by Husam Chhadat (Germany/Syria, 2004, 29 min, Beta SP)
Hilarious and heartwarming, Just Get Married is the story of Mr. Sharif, a Syrian living in Germany, whose student visa has finally run out. He is desperate to find a means of staying in the country he has come to love. His futile attempts find him revisiting past girlfriends, responding to personals, and pleading with strangers. Eventually he learns that home is where you make it. In German and Arabic with English subtitles.

Post-screening discussion with Daniel Heller-Roazen (writer & producer, Ephиbes et Courtisanes)

General admission $9; Student admission $7
For your convenience, you may purchase tickets online at
http://www.arteeast.org/cinemaeast/fall-series-05/ce_tickets_fall05.html


* * * * * * *

The First Annual CinemaEast Film festival

Quad Cinema

November 4-10, 2005

10 features, 28 shorts, 17 documentaries from throughout the region, presenting a stunning array of cinematic talent.

Roundtables and discussions with filmmakers.

Complete program details available at www.arteeast.org beginning October 15.

* * * * * *

No Visa Required:

Films from the Middle East

a special program of the Tribeca Film Institute in collaboration with ArteEast

The Prince, by Mohamed Zran (Tunisia, 2004, 105 min, 35 mm)
Followed by a discussion with Mohamed Zran and Mourad Belhassen

At the Cantor Film Center tomorrow, October 8, 6:30 p.m.

To purchase tickets, visit www.tribecafilminsitute.org

* * * * * *

Our new Virtual Gallery exhibition, featuring Iranian artist Golnaz Fathi, is now up and will run through December, 2005. Please visit the Gallery's site at http://www.arteeast.org/virtualGallery/ArteEast-Virtual-Gallery.html to view the exhibition of her work as well as to obtain information about the Gallery's submission guidelines.


* * * * * *

For more information on upcoming screenings and other events at Arte East, or for directions to Cantor Film Center, please visit our website at http://www.arteeast.org

[REEL_REVIEWER]

Panels, Readings, & Special Events with Industry Insiders at

The 13th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival

October 19-23, 2005

The Hamptons International Film Festival (October 19-23) is proud to offer a number of interactive events including Festival Panels at the Southampton Inn, Bookhampton Talks sponsored by Time Warner Books, the Cinematography Master Class with Declan Quinn,a Daily Town Hall at the Festival Lounge, the Industry Mentor Forum and Conversations with our Rising Star mentors Alec Baldwin & Miranda Richardson and honored guests, Kyra Sedgwick & Kevin Bacon at Guild Hall.

Video Activism: Storytelling As Teaching

Thursday, October 20th at 11:30am

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

Film and television have arguably usurped the role of family and community storyteller in the lives of many young people today. Recognizing the important role that stories and film play in the development of a child’s life, SHADOWHOOD, was created to serve as a "video mentor." Developed in collaboration with young people and grounded in their actual experiences, this movie traces the stories of teenagers in an at-risk community as they struggle to find their way to adulthood.

Panelists: filmmaker Mark Richardson (SHADOWHOOD); an actor from the film; a representative from the Phoenix House; a student from the Southampton Youth Leaders Group

Moderator: Christopher Marx, Director of Youth Programs for the Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board.

Fashion in Film from Cleopatra to 2046

Thursday, October 20th at 4pm

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton


[justify]Shortly after the much-heralded Joseph L. Mankiewicz film Cleopatra (1963) was released, the costume spectacle disappeared from American screens for a time. Yet extras who dressed in winged handmaiden costumes during the filming in Rome of this lavish epic were soon to see their styles imitated in fashion and make-up trends on the street. More recently Wang Karwai's film 2046 arguably displayed some of the most glamorous fashion in film, yet the direct effect on street fashion if any, is less obvious.
[/justify]

[justify]Where once fashion trends seemed to follow directly from films, now they may lead them or follow from The Academy Awards ceremony, which is anticipated as much for its red carpet parade of styles as for its recognition of cinematic achievements. Where once film style was about glamour now, the actress most likely to win an Oscar is usually the one most willing to take risks like Charlize Theron did in MONSTER and Hillary Swank in BOYS DON'T CRY.
[/justify]
Panelists: fashion designer Zac Posen; his sister and business partner Alexandra Posen; Judith Thurman, the New Yorker's fashion critic, has been writing for the magazine since 1985. Her essays and profiles also cover literature and the arts. She is the author of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, which won the 1983 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, and was the basis for Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa (on which Thurman served as Associate Producer); and of Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette, winner of the Salon and Los Angeles Times Book Awards for Biography, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.); Theresa Duncan’s first entertainment title was the video game Chop Suey, created in 1995 with humorist David Sedaris for Fox Interactive. Ms. Duncan's first film The History of Glamour was featured at the Rotterdam Film Festival, The Lincoln Center Festival and South By Southwest. It was selected for inclusion in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, and was distributed in Japan by Uplink. She also writes film and cultural criticism for Artforum, Slate, and other magazines.

Moderator: celebrated television host of "Full Frontal Fashion," Judy Licht

Screenplay Reading: MAPPING SWAK! by Bill Rebeck

Thursday, October 20th at 5pm

Location: BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East Hampton

The Hamptons Film Festival’s Rising Stars and other celebrated actors will read and discuss Bill Rebeck’s MAPPING SWAK! Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Theresa Rebeck will produce this event.

Bill Rebeck is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Georgetown University; his lab studies genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, investigating their molecular mechanisms. Theresa Rebeck, his sister, is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose credits include CATWOMAN, HARRIET THE SPY and NYPD BLUE, among others. Theresa will direct Bill’s script MAPPING SWAK!, a hilarious comedy about finding a gene—and finding love—in the lab.

[justify]Cinematography Master Class
[/justify]
Friday, October 21st at 10:30 am

Location: United Artists Theatre, Main Street, East Hampton
[justify]Please join David Schwartz, Chief Curator of The Museum of the Moving Image, in conversation with cinematographer Declan Quinn. In 1986, Mr. Quinn photographed his first feature film, Clash of the Ash in Ireland with director Fergus Tighe, going on to photograph The Kill-Off, Vanya on 42 Street, The Ballad of Little Joe, Leaving Las Vegas and Kama Sutra. Mr. Quinn returned to Ireland to complete a special family project called This is My Father, which he co-produced with two of his brothers, Aidan Quinn and Paul Quinn.
[/justify]
Hollywood’s Hidden Agendas: How Business Shapes our Film Culture

Friday, October 21st at 11am

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

Are you looking for a new and exciting product to change your life…when you go to the movies? Whether we want to "buy, buy, buy" or not, the movies are going to sell, sell, sell us on whatever products the dominant advertising agencies want placed in them. What exactly are American movies selling you in this Age of Spin? Why are they doing such a devilishly good job of it? Does the public have a fighting chance against the onslaught of product placement in movies, trailers and even commercials now in movie theaters before the show?

Panelists: Jarrod Moses CEO & President, Alliance Marketing Agency; a representative from the New York State Department of Health; Steven C. Beer, legal representative, producers’ rep, executive producer, producer (THE HEBREW HAMMER, BLUE VINYL, L.I.E.); Meredith Finn, Vice President of Production and Acquisitions, New Line Cinema, and New Line point person for Picturehouse; producer and president of Antidote Films Jeffrey Levy-Hinte (THE HAWK IS DYING, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, THIRTEEN, HIGH ART).

Moderator: Anthony Kaufman writes about film and the film industry for The Village Voice, Variety, Indiewire and numerous other publications.



The Number One Topic in the Film Business: How to Finance and Produce Movies that Matter

Friday, October 21st at 2pm

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

Producers arguably create all value in the film business. On the creative side they discover, develop and manage stories, writers, directors, actors and crew; sustaining them through the moviemaking process. On the business side they navigate and motivate the financiers, multinational conglomerates, studio executives, territorial distributors, international sales agents, the international film festival circuit, and its corresponding film markets—each one hungrily awaiting the producer’s next move and new film.

It is no small surprise then that few producers are able to create significant movies that shun the box-office blockbuster mentality, deal with American and international realities and dare to make a difference in the world. Please join us for a discussion with five of the top independent film producers working today: Ted Hope, Jeff Sharp, John Sloss, Christine Vachon and Dany Wolf. They may not have flashy suits and diamond rings but their track records have earned them something much more important: the industry and the world’s respect.

Panelists: Multiple award-winning film producers Ted Hope (THUMBSUCKER, 21 GRAMS, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, IN THE BEDROOM, THE ICE STORM); John Sloss (BEFORE SUNSET, PIECES OF APRIL, FAR FROM HEAVEN, TADPOLE, and LONE STAR); Dany Wolf (LAST DAYS, JUNEBUG, ELEPHANT, GERRY, FINDING FORRESTER); Jeff Sharp (PROOF, P.S., NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, BOYS DON'T CRY) and Christine Vachon (THE BALLAD OF BETTIE PAGE, FAR FROM HEAVEN, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, BOYS DON’T CRY, KIDS).

Moderator: Peter Belsito, Executive Vice President, Film Finders and consultant on the international, independent film business.

Time Warner Book Event: JEWTOPIA

Friday, October 21st at 2pm

Location: BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East HamptonFrom the creators of the off-Broadway smash hit comes a hilarious, fully illustrated revisionist history of the Jewish people, from birth to death.After opening in New York in September, 2004, Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson's "Jewtopia" was an instant success, earning back its costs in a record 23 weeks, faster than "The Vagina Monologues" and "The Fantastiks."

Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson started "Jewtopia" by maxing out their credit cards and renting a theater in Los Angeles, where it sold out 300 straight performances. They both reside in New York City, and speak to their mothers an average of 12.6 times per day. Please join Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson at Bookhampton for a lively show-and-tell about their new book-in-progress and their off-Broadway play.

Conversations with Miranda Richardson & Alec Baldwin

Friday, October 21st at 4pm

Location:Guild Hall, East Hampton

This year we are honored to have Alec Baldwin and Miranda Richardson serve as mentors to our Rising Stars. The Hamptons International Film Festival takes distinct pleasure in honoring Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Richardson with the Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting.

Icons in the Making: The Process of Creating and Maintaining a Superstar Status

Friday, October 21st at 4pm

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

The number one way to prolong your career as a celebrity may actually be to die. Marilyn Monroe and James Dean will never be forgotten. Those celebrities for whom a violent or sordid death is not an option however, must turn to other methods of attracting attention. A celebrity on celebrity affair or scandal may be the second most treacherous path to fame because inevitably such celebrity couples end up overexposed (which is when the audience actually wishes you were dead). Is death by overexposure the price society demands of its celebrities for taking the risk of breaking down social barriers and taboos? Why are some stars able to last through reincarnation time and again? How are stars "discovered" or "made"? Why do we care so much about celebrities in the first place?

Panelists: Norman Jewison, the acclaimed director of such big hits as THE HURRICANE, MOONSTRUCK, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, who has been making great movies for over 40 years, earned 45 Academy Award nominations and 12 Academy Awards, and been given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars in 1999; a partner from the Gersh Agency; actress Dyan Cannon (BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE, HEAVEN CAN WAIT) who was "discovered" while having lunch on the Sunset Strip.

Moderator: Steven Gaines is a co-founder of the Hamptons International Film Festival. He is also the bestselling author of "Philistines at the Hedgerow, Passion and Property in the Hamptons" and "The Sky’s the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan." A contributing editor at New York magazine, Mr. Gaines is the host of two popular weekly radio interview shows, "Sunday Brunch Live from the American Hotel in Sag Harbor" and the award winning "Steven Gaines’ East End," both on WLIU FM, the NPR affiliate in Southampton, New York.

Antidote for the New "Ugly American"

Friday, October 21st at 5pm

Location: BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East HamptonMade famous by a 1963 film starring Marlon Brando, the phrase "the Ugly American" originated with a best-selling 1958 book exposing American arrogance, incompetence and corruption in Asia after World War II. It has come to refer to Americans abroad who are overbearing, culturally insensitive and politically unsophisticated. Today, the phrase also aptly describes the Hollywood tradition of exporting B grade stories via satellite and major motion pictures that give a distorted view of America, while the rest of the world remains invisible to us. Aside from figuring out how to help foreign filmmakers get the U.S. and international distribution their stories deserve, we need to hear and support more filmmakers like the ones on this panel who dare to understand the world through the eyes of people in other countries. These filmmakers do the world a great service by making those formerly "invisible" people and places in the world, visible to us.

Panelists: Jesse Atlas (AT THE GREEN LINE); Ellen Perry (THE FALL OF FUJIMORI); Academy award winning producer Geralyn Dreyfous (BORN INTO BROTHELS);

Moderator: Anthony Kaufman writes about film and the film industry for The Village Voice, Variety, Indiewire and numerous other publications.



Rising Stars Roundtable with Alan Cumming

Saturday, October 22nd at 11am

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

The Rising Stars program at the Hamptons was the first major U.S. film festival program to focus on the generous and creative expression that emerging actors bring to the production of independent films. In its fourth year at The Hamptons, Rising Stars introduces festival audiences and the film industry to up-and-coming actors whose stellar performances have contributed so critically to the films selected for viewing at the festival.

Please join our international group of Rising Stars in an informal and intimate discussion about the craft of acting, how the process compares in different countries, and what their experiences were with each of their films in our festival.

Panelists: Kip Pardue (LAURA SMILES), Eugene Byrd (CONFESS), Emily Blunt (GIDEON’S DAUGHTER), Florian Lukas (ONE DAY IN EUROPE), Elizabeth Reaser (SWEET LAND), Jake Muxworthy (PIGGY BANKS)

Moderators: Lina Todd, casting director and Rising Stars Program director, The Hamptons International Film Festival and actor Alan Cumming



WHY WE FIGHT?

Saturday, October 22nd at 1pm

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

A noted journalist will engage filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) in a conversation about his riveting, new award-winning documentary WHY WE FIGHT? which features interviews with John McCain, Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, and Richard Perle.

Deploying General Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address as his strategic ground zero, Eugene Jarecki launches a full-frontal autopsy of how the will of a people has become an accessory to the Pentagon. Surveying the scorched landscape of a half-century's military misadventures and misguided missions, Jarecki asks how--and tells why--a nation ostensibly of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war.

After the shock and tragedy of New Orleans there is no better time than the present for a discussion about why the U.S. was so unprepared at home and stretched so thin militarily abroad and what the movies can do to raise awareness and make a difference.

KARDIA

Saturday, October 22nd at 2pm

Location: BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East Hampton

For the 6th consecutive year, the Hamptons International Film Festival will present the $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology for a feature-length film that explores science and technology themes in fresh, innovative ways and depicts scientists and engineers in a realistic and compelling fashion.

This year’s recipient of the Sloan Feature Film Prize is KARDIA, the feature film debut by Su Rynard. KARDIA weaves fable, fiction, science and metaphor to tell the story of Hope, a pathologist who embarks on an unusual journey of reconciliation. Hope discovers that the experimental heart operation she underwent as a child has mysteriously linked her life with another. To unlock the secret of her past, Hope revisits the curious tale of her childhood and explores the landscape of love, loss ands the human heart.

Join director Su Rynard, Dr. Darcy Kelley and moderator Bob Balaban for a viewing of clips from our Sloan award winning film KARDIA, a discussion about the scientific underpinnings of the film and the trajectory of Su Rynard’s career involving science.

Panelists: director Su Rynard (KARDIA); Darcy Kelley, HHMI Professor of Biological Sciences and Co-Director of the Program in Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University in New York City. Darcy Kelley serves as scientific consultant for the Ensemble Studio Theater/Sloan project on science and theater.

Moderator: actor-writer-producer-director, Bob Balaban (CAPOTE, A MIGHTY WIND, GOSFORD PARK, GHOST WORLD)

Conversation with Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick

Saturday, October 22nd at 4pm

Location:Guild Hall, East Hampton

The famed husband and wife team will discuss LOVERBOY, a sensitive and insightful new film by actor/director Kevin Bacon and starring Kyra Sedgwick based on the novel by Victoria Redel about the bonds between mother and son, and the challenges that await them.

Tribute to Spalding Gray: a series of readings from his last work LIFE INTERRUPTED: THE UNFINISHED MONOLOGUE

Saturday, October 22nd at 5pm

Location: BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East HamptonJoin us for a series of readings from LIFE INTERRUPTED: THE UNFINISHED MONOLOGUE written by the late Spalding Gray. Roy Scheider, Joe Pintauro, Steven Gaines and Bob Balaban will read excerpts from his last book. Gray, a Sag Harbor resident, was a regular participant at the festival and this reading will pay tribute (along with the Gray Matter films at the Hamptons Film Festival) to a community member tremendously missed.

The reading will be followed by a reception and discussion with the readers led by Gray's widow, Kathleen Russo. Russo will also be producing a new film by Steven Soderbergh exploring this never-performed monologue by Spalding Gray.



The Wrong Animals! A Panel for Kids

Sunday, October 23rd at 10am

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

Richard Ellis, the country’s foremost writer and illustrator on marine natural history, will lead a discussion with young cinephiles about animals in the movies.

Hollywood often ignores the realities of natural history in making movies. This criticism does not apply to movies that feature animatronic models or oversize creatures, like "Jaws," "Anaconda," or "King Kong," but only to those films that purport to show real animals in real situations. While it is often difficult to include the correct species in movies that purport to depict wild animals, Hollywood sometimes "substitutes" one animal for another, often because the substitute is more amenable to training, or because it is more easily available. Among those well-known movies that get the animals wrong -- and thus send a message of ignorance or incompetence -- are "Outbreak," "Tarzan of the Apes," "African Queen," Bringing up Baby," "The Freshman," and "The Deer Hunter."

Richard Ellis is the designer of the Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He is the designer of the life-size blue whale that hangs in the hall. Now considered the country's foremost writer and illustrator on marine natural history, he has dived with whales and sharks, shipped out on a Japanese whaler, and traveled on a Russian icebreaker to the North Pole. He has written books on whales, dolphins, sharks, giant squid, and marine conservation. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, and he has appeared in numerous television specials. He has recently been appointed Curator of Dragons at the AMNH, for a show scheduled to open in 2007. Richard Ellis loves movies -- even when they get the animals wrong.

Screenplay Reading: BABYFACE by S. Casper Wong

Date: Sunday, October 23rd at 11am

Location: BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East Hampton

The Hamptons Film Festival’s Rising Stars and other celebrated actors will read and discuss S. Casper Wong’s BABYFACE. Dirty Rice Films’ award-winning producer Anne Chaisson (RODGER DODGER, P.S., DIGGERS) will produce this event.

S. Casper Wong is a New York based writer, director and producer. Her short film, Shirts & Skins is licensed to the Independent Film Channel. In a previous life, she served as Senior Counsel at IBM and led graduate research in biomedical engineering. BABYFACE is a suspenseful drama that explores themes of love, loss and healing through the story of a dying surgeon who races against time to unlock the secret her old lover has kept for twelve years that may save her life.

THIS TERRIBLE BUSINESS HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME

Sunday, October 23rd at 11:30am

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

A noted journalist will engage Academy award winning director Norman Jewison about his life, his career in film and his new book THIS TERRIBLE BUSINESS HAS BEEN GOOD TO ME.

The acclaimed director of such big hits as THE HURRICANE, MOONSTRUCK, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, Mr. Jewison has been making great movies for over 40 years. His films have earned 45 Academy Award nominations and 12 Academy Awards, and he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars in 1999.



Putting Together Your First Short Film on the Road to your First Feature

Sunday, October 23rd at 2pm

Location: Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton

A panel of award-winning student filmmakers will share how they overcame the challenges of creating their first short film, and their plans for their first feature. Topics of discussion will include hiring a crew; building professional relationships; raising cash; scoring free film stock and services, and the process of writing and creating the film.

Moderators: Sheril Antonio, Associate Dean of Film, Television and New Media, Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University; and the Administrator of Student Awards, Jeremiah Newton.

The Filmmaker & Industry Lounge will be located at Mary Jane Restaurant - 126 N. Main St, East Hampton.

The Hamptons International Film Festival Executive Director, Denise Kasell and Director of Programming, Rajendra Roy is proud to be joined by the Director of Panels, Vanessa Guest.


[justify]The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film - long, short, narrative and documentary - and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.
[/justify]
Presenting Sponsors:
American Airlines and Altour International

Host Sponsors:
Panasonic, Time Warner Cable Media Sales
Patron Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, FHM Magazine, Kinray, New Line Cinema, Nick Movies, Plum TV, Post Factory, NY State Department of Health; Regal Entertainment Group; Silvercup Studios


Ticket Information:
Passes and tickets can be ordered through the festival website, www.hamptonsfilmfest.org or through the new Festival Box Offices at 126 N. Main Street, East Hampton, or The South Hampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, South Hampton. Tickets by phone - 1.866.HIFF.TIX (443-3849)

[REEL_REVIEWER]

HOLLYWOOD PRESTIGE HITS

THE BAHAMAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Cinema in Paradise

New York, NY (October 11, 2005) - The second annual Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) will debut two major Hollywood films. Opening night, December 8, 2005 will feature Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers”, and the final night of the festival, December 11, 2005, will feature Richard Sheppard’s “The Matador”. The Bahamas International Film Festival will be held at The Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

The opening film, “Broken Flowers”, is a heartfelt story of how perennial bachelor Don Johnston (Bill Murray) confronts his past - and his soul - in his search for the son he never knew he had. The film features other compelling performances by Julie Delpy, Jeffrey Wright, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy and Tilda Swinton.

“Broken Flowers has already been warmly embraced in the U.S.,” says actor Jeffrey Wright of the film he stars in. “I have no doubt that the director Jim Jarmusch will receive the same high acclaim in the Caribbean with its multi-cultural and dynamic characters…Wright adds, “I am looking forward to the same excitement as the inaugural festival had.”

Closing the BIFF will be “The Matador” starring Pierce Brosnan as a hit-man experiencing a mid-life crisis when he realizes he has no friends. Coming in contact with businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) results in a combined comedic and action-packed thriller.

Other highlights of the BIFF will include world renowned award-winning director, Spike Lee, receiving the Career Achievement Award. This prestigious award honors his innovative style as a result of his major impact on the frontiers of cinematic artistry.

In celebration of Cinema in Paradise, the Second Annual BIFF will present approximately seventy-five films, encompassing international features, shorts, documentaries, animation and panels. The categories for this year’s competition include Spirit of Freedom and New Visions. There will be five panels discussing marketing, distribution, directing/acting, documentary filmmaking and new media.

The Spirit of Freedom competition, which is presented by Versace, will honor one narrative and one documentary whose subject matter touches upon the filmmaker’s personal convictions and journey into the human spirit with ties to themes such as religion, politics and the freedom of expression. The New Visions category, which is presented by Hard Rock Café, will focus on emerging artists who have completed no more than two films, which must be narrative. Films entered into the competition categories will be eligible for a Grand Jury Prize. Other film categories that are non-competitive will include Family Film, World Cinema, Touching Africa Sidebar and a Caribbean Spotlight. BIFF 2005 will also honor accomplished artists with Gala Presentations and Special Tributes.

About The Bahamas International Film Festival
The Bahamas International Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the local community and International visitors with a diverse presentation of films from around the world. In addition to offering films that might not otherwise be released theatrically in the Bahamas, BIFF will provide a unique cultural experience, educational programs, and forums for exploring the future of cinema. Founding sponsors for the Bahamas International Film Festival are the Island of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourismand the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort. Airline partners include British Airways and US Airways. Other sponsors include: Versace, Veuve Cliquot, BGC Capital, Bacardi, Pepsi, The Bahamas Tourism Channel 36, Sundrop Creations, Galleria Cinemas, Best Buy Furniture, Federal Express, Hard Rock Café, Nygard Cay, Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Centre, The Tribune, and Heineken.

For more information please visit www.bintlfilmfest.com

[REEL_REVIEWER]

We are pleased to bring to your attention two very different and remarkable films that will be screening at the Hamptons International Film Festival this weekend.

CALLING ALL KIDS, FAMILIES and grown-ups who love good rock Œn' roll music!

On Saturday afternoon, in the spotlight section of the family festival, Polly draper's directorial debut, ³The Naked Brothers Band,² will screen in it's world premiere at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton.

"The Naked Brothers Band" stars real life brothers Nat (9) and Alex (6) Wolff and is a kid's 'fantasy rockumentary' which follows the brothers through their concerts, their rehearsals and their private lives, as they deal with the growing pains related to love, friendship and fame. The film features original songs written and performed by Nat Wolff including, "Crazy Car," "Got No Mojo," "Hardcore Wrestlers," and "Rosalina," with a special solo performance by Alex Wolff singing his original song, "That¹s How It Is."

"The Naked Brothers Band" is written and directed by Polly Draper, starring Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff. Music by Nat Wolff, produced by Michael Wolff and Michael Levine. Executive producers Tim Draper, Polly Draper and Michael Wolff.
Writer/director Polly Draper and actors Nat and Alex Wolff , and Michael Wolff will be attending.

THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND Screenings:
Saturday, October 22nd at 3:30pm at Parrish Art Museum, 25 Job¹s Lane, Southampton - public screening
Sunday, October 23rd at 12:30pm at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton - public screening

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki will be at the festival with his Sundance Grand Jury winner, WHY WE FIGHT, the powerful documentary is an unflinching look at the anatomy of the American war machine.

Inspired by Dwight Eisenhower¹s legendary farewell speech, filmmaker Jarecki surveys the scorched landscape of a half-century¹s military misadventures, asking how -- and telling why ­ a nation of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war. Weaving unforgettable personal stories with commentary by a ³who¹s who² of military and beltway insiders, the film features John McCain, Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, Richard Perle and others. WHY WE FIGHT launches a bipartisan inquiry into the workings of the military industrial complex
and the rise of American militarism.

WHY WE FIGHT screenings:
Saturday, October 22nd at 6:30pm at Parrish Art Museum, 25 Job¹s Lane, Southampton - public screening
Sunday, October 23rd at 3:00pm at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton - public screening

[REEL_REVIEWER]

ArteEast presents

The first annual CinemaEast Film Festival



November 4–10, 2005

Quad Cinema

34 West 13th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues)

New York, NY 10011

212.255.8800

www.quadcinema.com

Quad Cinema is wheelchair accessible.



OPENING NIGHT FILM:

New York premiËre

I Love Cinema (Baheb el-Cima)by Oussama Fawzi. Egypt, 2004,125 min, 35mm

"If I go to hell, will I see all the famous actors there?" So goes young, movie-mad NaÔm’s hopeful response to his strict father’s lectures on the evils of cinema. But while he pines for onscreen exploits in 1966 Cairo, NaÔm has plenty of drama to watch right at home—illicit courtships, his mother’s repressed desire to pursue her art, and his father’s crisis of faith when he becomes disillusioned with the Nasser regime’s failure to live up to its ideals. Fawzi’s occasionally explicit film is a hilarious and tender family portrait as well as a refined critique of rigid religiosity. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Fri, Nov 4, 6:30. Q & A with director Oussama Fawzi and leading actress Leila Alawi

Mon, Nov 7, 3:15. Q & A with director Oussama Fawzi and leading actress Leila Alawi

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

New York premiËre

Clay Dolls (AraÔs al-TeÔn) by Nouri Bouzid. Tunisia, 2003, 100 min, 35 mm

Provocative and searing, Clay Dolls continues acclaimed filmmaker Nouri†Bouzid's exploration of despair and desire framed in social degredation and†political exploitation.†The film follows three characters from the†underbelly of Tunis. Omrane earns a living recruiting impoverished young country girls to work as domestic servants in the homes of†wealthy families in the capital. He struggles to maintain his dominion over two†rebellious recruits: Rebah, an alluring young woman, sexually blossoming; and nine-year-old, wide-eyed Fedhah, who defends her right†to live her childhood. Compelling performances reveal both their†internal and interpersonal struggles for physical, emotional, and†psychological survival. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sun, Nov 6, 7:45

Thu, Nov 10, 6:30. Q & A with director

New York premiËre

Bitter Dream (Khab e Talkh) by Mohsen Amiryoussefi. Iran, 2004, 87 min, 35 mm

At once mordantly hilarious, whimsical, smart, and simple, this dark comedic meditation on mortality and human intractability recounts the story of Esfandiar, a cantankerous undertaker well into his seventies, who suddenly begins to sense the presence of Azrael, the angel of death. A live report about the cemetery broadcast on the†television in the corner of Esfandiar’s living room serves as the medium by which†his conscience speaks to him.†He realizes the enemies he has to make amends†with and sins he has to repent. Moments in this playful film allude to Hamlet and A Christmas Carol, as Esfandiar prepares his own funeral and awaits his†death.†In Persian with English subtitles.

Tue, Nov 8, 1:00

Wed, Nov 9, 7:00

New York premiËre

The Black Chamber (Darb Moulay Cherif) by Hassan Benjelloun. Morocco, 2004, 112 min, 35 mm

Based on Jaouad Mdidech’s renowned account, The Black Chamber is a powerful reconstitution of and reflection on the horror of what Moroccans have termed the "Leaden Years," when the government enforced a virile oppression of political dissenters, especially targeting the left-leaning student movements and political parties. Kamal’s past as a Marxist activist during his student years is enough cause for the security agencies to detain him at one of Casablanca's most notorious jails. Although no longer an activist, Kamal refuses to give in to his tormentors and endures the harsh verdict. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Fri, Nov 4, 3:30

Mon, Nov 7, 6:30



US premiËre

Memory in Detention (Dhakirah Moatakalah) by Jillali Ferhati. Morocco, 2004, 94 min, 35 mm

Upon his release from prison, ZoubeÔr, a young delinquent, agrees to help another prisoner, Mokhtar, who had become amnesiac during his long detention, to search for his relatives. Together they set off, but soon their quest becomes a painful return to their memories. Privileging a poetic approach over a historical one, Memory in Detention reflects on the trauma of a society recovering from years of violence and torture, but also from betrayal and from shame of what has come to be known as the "Leaden Years." ZoubeÔr must come to terms with the fact that Mokhtar may have been responsible for his father's death, while Mokhtar has to unburden himself from the weight of the truth. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sat, Nov 5, 7:15. Q & A with director

Sun, Nov 6, 3:00. Q & A with director

New York premiËre

A Piece of Bread (Yek Teke Nan) by Kamal Tabrizi. Iran, 2005, 100 min, 35 mm

Like The Lizard, Tabrizi’s previous film, A Piece of Bread is a "curious take on Islam from the inside." It plays out like a mystical fable, religious in spirit but non-sectarian, and it captures the state of grace behind everyday life. In the mountains dotted with villages, a miracle has occurred. An illiterate old woman has entered a shrine, where she is suddenly able to read the Koran in Arabic. Contact with her is rumored to work miracles. Now everybody who lives in the area is headed for her house, including an army officer sent to check out the fuss. With him are a raw, doltish recruit and a well-known elderly mullah. Their assignment: to debunk the miracle-worker and send everyone home. In Persian with English subtitles. (Description adapted from Variety).

Sat, Nov 5, 9:30

Wed, Nov 9, 3:00

New York premiËre

The Suspects (al-Mushtabah Feehom) by Kamal Dehane. Belgium/Algeria, 2004, 105 min, 35 mm

An elegantly filmed tale, set in Algeria just before the victory of the Islamists in the elections†in 1992 and ensuing civil conflict, The Suspects follows three main characters as they struggle under the immense pressures on their social and political lives, borne from religious fundamentalism and political corruption. M'nouar still carries the burden of unresolved internal conflicts from his engagement in the struggle for liberation. Samia, his psychiatrist, works with him on a study of the†psychological impacts of the war. Mahfoud is an inventor who both falls in love with Samia and fails to see how through his work he becomes†a pawn of the corrupt government. The Suspects†creates a†complex and provocative†narrative weaving together the sweep of history, individual choice, and political mores that shape modern-day Algeria. In Arabic and French with English subtitles.

Fri, Nov 4, 1:00

Wed, Nov 9, 9:00

Toss-Up (Yazi Tura) by ‹g¸r Yucel. Turkey, 2004, 103 min, 35 mm

Prominent actor-turned-director Yucel’s gritty portrayal of war veterans’ alienation swept the Antalya Film Festival (Turkey’s Oscars equivalent). With an aggressive cinema vÈritÈ style, Yucel tells the stories of two army mates discharged after a landmine incident in eastern Anatolia. Ridvan returns to small-town Cappadocia missing a leg and consumed with guilt over his actions against Kurdish militants; Cevher, deaf in one ear and prone to panic attacks, finds his ambitions for a normal civilian life in Istanbul destroyed in the 1999 earthquake. Yucel’s intense film is a heartfelt analysis of human weakness, both in battle and on the home front. In Turkish with English subtitles.

Fri, Nov 4, 9:30

Waiting for the Clouds (Bulutlari Beklerken) by Yesim Ustaoglu. Turkey, 2004, 92 min, 35 mm

The misty, isolated valleys of Turkey’s northeastern Black Sea coast form the backdrop for this eloquent examination of the Pontus Greeks’ expulsion in 1916. The film begins six decades later, as aged Ayshe watches her sister die. The woman’s passing causes a rupture in Ayshe’s closely guarded life, and her childhood experiences come flooding back, triggered by elements of the landscape and the face of Mehmet, a neighbor child and her only remaining companion. Cowritten by Petros Markaris (who penned Theo Angelopoulos’s Eleni), Waiting for the Clouds is a moving examination of Turkish ethnic identity and the circuitous route "home." In Turkish with English subtitles.

Sat, Nov 5, 1:00

New York premiËre

Wake Up, Arezoo! (Bidar Show, Arezoo!)by Kianoush Ayari. Iran, 2005,

90 min, 35 mm

"A riveting yet respectful drama," Ayari’s newest film is a moving tribute to the heartache that followed an enormous earthquake in Bam in 2003. It is moments after the quake, and a young teacher in a village outside town scrambles from under the rubble and finds out that her colleagues have all died. She sets out for Bam for rescue aid but discovers that the main tragedy has occurred there. Cries of help are heard from every side, and the hospital is filled with the injured and the dead. In Persian with English subtitles. (Description adapted from the Fajr International Film Festival.)

Tue, Nov 8, 7:00

Thu, Nov 10, 1:00



SPECIAL SHORTS PROGRAMS

Shorts 1: Of Love, Beginnings, and Endings

US premiËre

The Slap (Sili) by Ehsan Amani. Iran, 2004, 6 min, MiniDV

Clever, witty, and extraordinarily funny, The Slap appropriates the style, format, and humor of early Hollywood silent cinema. During a short ride through the Iranian countryside, a kiss in the dark leads the four characters to reveal their desires, egos, and suspicions. In Persian with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Balcon Atlantico by Chrif Tribak and Hicham Falah. Morocco/France, 2004, 20 min, 35 mm

A poetic elegy of the everyday, Balcon Atlantico films the boardwalk overlooking the Atlantic ocean in a small Moroccan seaport where people come to meet, dream, court, reflect, unburden themselves from worries of life, and bid farewell. From sunrise to sunset, the camera captures bits of conversations and confessions released into the open horizon and the myriad ways people say "I love you," "it's getting late," and "see you tomorrow." In Arabic with English subtitles.

New York premiËre

On a Monday (Yom al-Itneyn) by Tamer el-Said. Egypt, 2004, 10 min, Beta SP

Love emerges in the details in this innovatively simple day-in-the-life story of a married couple who one random Monday discover each other anew due to a change in routine. In Arabic with English subtitles.

New York premiËre

Behind the Door (Hinter der T¸r) by Neco Celik. Turkey, 2004, 15 min, Beta SP

Behind the Door follows the unlikely relationship that develops between Alex, an investigator for the Berlin Department of Illegal Immigrants, and Ms. Cetin, the beautiful Turkish woman whose case he is assigned to follow. Their paths offer a unique view into the quotidian spaces of Berlin from two distinct perspectives in a captivating and alluring portrait of loneliness. In German with English subtitles.

US premiËre

House of Flesh (Beit min Lahm) by Rami Abdul-Jabbar. Egypt, 2005, 15 min, Beta SP

A visually stunning adaptation from a banned short story of the same title by renowned Egyptian writer Youssef Idriss, House of Flesh casts a widow who believes that her daughters' prospects for finding a husband would improve if there were a man in her house and agrees so to marry a blind young sheikh. In the house brimming with pent-up sexual desire and longing, the presence of the blind man becomes a spark of fire in a dry field of grass. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

The Fifth Pound (al-Genaih al-Khames) by Ahmed Khaled. Egypt, 2005, 14 min, MiniDV

Shunned by Egyptian officialdom, The Fifth Pound has invariably roused controversy because it irritates prevailing conservative sensibilities in its native country. While four pounds will buy two tickets for a bus ride for a young couple, the fifth pound is the wage the young man is intimidated into paying to buy the silence of the bus driver informally entrusted with policing sexual desire. A very smart anecdote borrowed from the everyday experience of young men and women in Egypt. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sleep (Uyku)by Deniz Buga. Turkey, 2005, 15 min, Beta SP

This lyrical black-and-white film movingly evokes the pain of loss and longing. The exquisite landscape surrounds and eventually engulfs this wordless love, so that all that is left is sleep. No dialogue.

Sun, Nov 6, 5:30. Q & A with Hicham Falah and Chrif Tribak

Mon, Nov 7, 1:00. Q & A with Hicham Falah and Chrif Tribak



Shorts 2: Of Belligerence, Resistance, and Everyday Life

US premiËre

Oranges by Mouzahem Yahia. Algeria/France, 2003, 8 min, MiniDV

Somewhere between a video game and a slapstick comedy, Oranges is a comedic yet sage parable of the futility of fighting. What begins as a simple volley between two men who want the same orange soon escalates to relentless battle, filmed amidst the abundant colors and sights of an open-air market. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Booba by Emad Ahmad. Palestine, 2004, 15 min, MiniDV

The classic tale of a boy who finds consolation in the company of a stray dog is updated to accommodate the harsh realities of life in a Palestinian refugee camp. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Ceasefire (Cessez-le-Feu) by Ahmed Zir. Algeria/France, 2003, 15 min, Beta SP

A young Algerian shepherd is too poor to afford schooling. When airplanes drop leaflets announcing a cease-fire ending the civil war, he becomes driven by the stubborn determination of despair and resorts to every means possible to decipher the text and to force his way into a classroom. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

PrÍt-‡-Porter Imm Ali by Dima el-Horr. Lebanon/France, 2001, 25 min, Beta SP

When the newly installed neon sign of Imm Ali's ready-to-wear boutique goes out in the middle of the night, speculations abound in the small village of the recently liberated southern tip of Lebanon. Visually eloquent, the film is the first to use the medium of fiction to capture how everyday folks negotiate the quotidian after the withdrawal of the Israeli army and the covert hegemony of Hizbollah. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Rumors, etc. (Rumeurs, etc.)by Mohamed LatrËche. Algeria/France, 2003, 21 min, MiniDV

A compelling vignette of everyday life in a poor neighborhood in one of manysprawling urban centersin Algeria where unemployment and hopelessness prevail. Eerily soft-spoken and slow moving, we follow Bachir, whose life has become consumed by waiting for his visa to France. He moves through the days of his suspended life at once sluggish and anxious, obsessed with the rumor that the weekend may be changed from Sunday to Friday—following the Islamic calendar. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sat, Nov 5, 3:00

Wed, Nov 9, 1:00

Shorts 3: Of the Lure of Immigration and the Pull of Estrangement

US premiËre

The Wash (Vaskeriet)by Hisham al-Zouki.Syria/Norway, 2005, 8 min, Beta SP

Taking out the dirty laundry takes on new meanings in The Wash. Two immigrants in Norway, working as cleaners for a company entrusted to prepare the site for the visit of the U.S. president, are suddenly thrown in disarray when blood begins to drip from the U.S. flag hanging high on its mast. The Wash is crafted like a caustic allegorical fable on perceptions of the U.S. that leaves the viewer with an open-ended field of interpretation. In Norwegian and English with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Visa (La dictÈe) by Ibrahim Letaief. Tunisia, 2004, 30 min, Beta SP

After the French embassy imposes a new visa regulation on tourists and immigrants, requiring applicants to pass the famous Dictot dictation exam to measure their French language proficiency, Rachid finds himself totally unprepared. In order to visit his cousin in Paris, he resorts to every means available to improve his chances in the ten days he has left. A well-played comedic twist on the impact of the vigorous policing of the movement of North Africans into Europe. In Arabic and French with English subtitles.

US premiËre

The Run (D¸z Kosu) by Gulden Gakir. Turkey, 2004, 14 min, Beta SP

Luck and alibis run out in this smooth short about a fast-talking hustler who tries to convince his undocumented African immigrant friend that he will make a soccer star out of him. In Turkish with English subtitles.

Just Get Married by Husam Chadat. Germany/Syria, 2004, 29 min, Beta SP

Hilarious and heartwarming, Just Get Married is the story of Mr. Sharif, a Syrian living in Germany, whose student visa has finally run out. He is desperate to find a means of staying in the country he has come to love. His futile attempts find him revisiting past girlfriends, responding to personals, and pleading with strangers. Eventually he learns that home is where you make it. In German and Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

A Place in the Sun (Lahna Lalhih) by Rachid Boutounes. Morocco/France, 2004, 13 min, 35 mm

After many years of working as a laborer in the Parisian public road network, Ahmed, a 60-year-old Moroccan immigrant, is about to retire. As he prepares to attend a ceremony at City Hall recognizing his years of service, he reflects on his life in France and the people he had left behind. In French with English subtitles.

Mon, Nov 7, 9:00

Tue, Nov 8, 3:00



Shorts 4: Of Captivity, Guilt, and Candor

US premiËre

Beau Rivage by Claude El Khal. Lebanon, 2003, 8 min, DVD

The title Beau Rivage is taken from the name of the hotel that served, from 1997 and until recently, as the Syrian intelligence headquarters in West Beirut. It carries the psychological weight of interrogation, torture, and assassination. In this tightly edited film, dramatic, contrasting highlights and cutting irony reveal a cheerful hotel employee presenting the finest of services to an agonized woman in an isolation chamber. Beau Rivage offers a haunting and evocative metaphor. In French with English subtitles.

Zymotic-Amaurosis by Ozan Adam. Turkey, 2004, 24 min, Beta SP

An oblique homage to Chris Marker’s La JetÈe, Zymotic Amaurosis (alternatively translated as Contagious Arbitrary Blindness and Persistence of Low Ambient Vision) takes us on a surreal trip into the unconscious world of a man whose memory is monitored against his will. This is a clever and original experimental science fiction thriller with a keen sense of humor. In Turkish with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Hamda by Fahd Chebbi. Tunisia, 2004, 11 min, Beta SP

A short film that depicts a simple anecdote as it unfolds from the perspective of a schizophrenic. A man wearing a gray suit has an imaginary rendezvous with Hamda in front of the bus stop, but no one shows up. He decides to visit Hamda at his home, where he learns that he has been taken to the hospital for psychiatric treatment. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

The Dead Won't Mind (al-Maiyet Mesh ha Yiza'al) by Emad Mabrouk. Egypt, 2004, 10 min, MiniDV

A charming short film about the candor and joy of childhood in the midst of†adult grief. A poor young boy dreams of owning a bicycle. He locks†his neighbor's bike to a cart that carries coffins to a cemetery, which he is finally able to ride when a funeral†procession takes place. Amongst the sea of aggrieved faces,†his face shines with a smile. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sleep and Then... (Uyku Sonra ) by Ovg¸ Gˆkce. Turkey, 2004, 7 min, DVD

This postmodern take on early cinema dreams of a soft cottony landing to cushion the friction of Istanbul life. Brilliant sound design and unfailing aesthetics make it hard to take your eyes off the screen. Turkish intertitles with English subtitles.

Sun, Nov 6, 10:00



Shorts 5: Of the Political and the Personal

US premiËre

Not From Here by Mireille Eid Astore. Australia, 2005, 2 min, MiniDV

A group portrait of the proper European nineteenth-century upper class is slowly and subtly colonized by the distinctly different countenance of the other, thus challenging the authority of the photographic object and the history of race, gender, and class it represents and legitimizes. No dialogue.

New York premiËre

Face A/Face B by Rabih MrouÈ. Lebanon, 2003, 10 min, MiniDV

A metaphysical film exploring the nature of memory and knowledge, sight and sound, physical evidence and identity, and recollection and survival. Acclaimed†Lebanese stage and performance director and actor Rabih MrouÈ leads us on a seemingly autobiographical journey from his childhood, through the Lebanese civil war, to his present as he searches for meaning among the fragments of his memory, cassette tapes, and photos. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Something Like a Dream (Bin Noumin) by Khaled Barsaoui. Tunisia, 2004, 14 min,†Beta SP

Set in Tunisia in the 1970s, Something Like a Dream is a haunting allegory of violence and†repression. A twelve-year old boy is thrown out of boarding school and gets caught up in a police hunt for a labor activist. His vulnerability on the streets echoes the anxieties and fears that marked that era in Tunisia. In Arabic with English subtitles.

The Predator by Mitra Tabrizian. Iran/UK, 2004, 31 min, 35 mm

Intriguing and intelligent, The Predator deftly combines the visual vocabularies of popular and experimental films in an exploration of the complex psychology of a hit man working for the government. Accomplished photographer, filmmaker, and professor at Westminster University, Mitra Tabrizan engages themes of death, assassination, suicide, martyrdom, and Islam in a story brimming with suspense. In English.

US premiËre

Mitterand Is Dead (Mitterrand est Mort) by Hedi Sassi. Tunisia/France, 2003,

29 min, 35 mm

Lucy, a young French woman who works as a home healthcare nurse, is assigned to the care of a retired Tunisian immigrant with failing health. They are confronted with having to negotiate profound cultural differences and world views, but their relationship eventually develops into complicity and empathy. An intelligent and tender tale on the much debated theme of integration of immigrants in France where neither protagonist is granted a privileged position. In French with English subtitles.

Thu, Nov 10, 9:00



DOCUMENTARIES HIGHLIGHT

DocSELF

US premiËre

Wedding to Severance (Arilciga D¸g¸n) by M. Namik Ugur and Mustafa Saglam. Turkey, 2003, 37 min, MiniDV

A film student from Ankara University returns to his Kurdish village in southeastern Anatolia for his brother and sister’s wedding. The brother, Seydo, and the sister, Perde, will marry another brother and sister in a traditional marital arrangement known as Berdel. Seydo, who has already sacrificed himself to put his younger brothers through school, now makes an even greater sacrifice––of his happiness––so that his sister may marry the man of her choice. This autobiographical documentary follows a real-life story that has all the elements of a captivating melodrama. In Turkish and Kurdish with English subtitles.

US premiËre

A Long Palestinian Film (Film Filastini Taweel) by Sobhi al-Zubeidi. Palestine, 2005, 60 min, Beta SP

In 1945, according to the UN partition plan 181, Palestinians were given 45% of Palestine. In 1967, according to UN Resolution 242, 22% was pledged. In the Oslo agreements, this offer diminished to 90% of the 22% and according to Sharon’s plan and the Israeli wall it became 12% of the 90%. A Long Palestinian Film explores the complex way in which various Palestinians construct their identities in relation to this ever diminishing state that is Palestine. The walls close in and the sea recedes from view if not from memory as the filmmaker ponders the question of homeland from a variety of perspectives. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sat, Nov 5, 5:00



DocMUSIC

US premiËre

Elie Fairuz by Cynthia Choucair. Lebanon, 2003, 14 min, Beta SP

Elie Fairuz is the nickname that Elie Darwish has carried since childhood, because his voice is identical to that of Fairuz, the Lebanese diva. This short documentary tells the story of a man who has shaped his life in total identification with the diva, still awaiting recognition and acknowledgement. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

The Siren (al-Naddahah) by Zabaria Ibrahim. Egypt, 2005, 23 min, DVD

The group of passionate, jovial men enraptured by the simsimiyya, a folk-instrument indigenous to Egypt from the time of the pharaohs, gives this film its metaphorical title. Beginning with these characters, who come across as an Egyptian version of the Buena Vista Social Club, The Siren looks at the amazing revival of musical folk traditions from near extinction and the creative innovations to develop and modernize them by various Egyptian musicians. In Arabic with English subtitles.

New York premiËre

Two Bows (Do Kamancheh) by Bahman Kiarostami. Iran, 2004, 41 min, MiniDV

A classic story of tradition versus change told as much with the visual artistry of the filmmaker as with the subject of the story itself, Two Bows tells the tale of two captivating and proud Iranian musicians of the same age but very different means. Bahram Berdikor lives in a rural town and plays with a traditional style based on generations of teachings; Reza Derakhshani moves between Italy, Los Angeles, and Tehran, adapting his instruments to experimental sounds and contemporary styles. In Persian with English subtitles.

Sun, Nov 6, 1:00. Q & A with Bahman Kiarostami

DocART

US premiËre

The Red (Kirmizi) by Demet Sert, Elif Akarsu, and Nuri Ertug Tugalan. Turkey, 2004, 12 min, Mini DV

What do a slaughterhouse worker and a classical Ebru (paper marbling) artist have in common? This near perfect little documentary brings together two colorful characters who find their unlikely bond over a poorly understood substance: bile. Layers and layers of mediation between art and blood make Kirmizi a highly complex meditation on the nature of work, art, aesthetics, and class. In Turkish with English subtitles.

Imamzadeh Internet by Reza Haeri. Iran/France, 2003, 26 min, MiniDV

Entering a room lit by multiple computer screens,†director Reza Haeri introduces us to a range of Iranians who use the†internet for romantic chats, spiritual growth, or networking†beyond small towns.†An imam answers religious questions from Iranians both at†home and in the diaspora over his website.†A young man resurrects his village on the internet as a tourist attraction.†Young†Iranian women find space for themselves in women-only internet cafes. A bold and fresh view of the†cultural transformation that the internet and internet cafes—"cybercoffees"—have had on the seemingly rigid social fabric of Iran. In Persian with English subtitles.

US premiËre

La Cabine Paradiso by Rachid Kasmi. Morocco, 2004–2005, 30 min, Beta SP

This documentary reconstructs the itinerary of three veteran projectionists in†Morocco as they recount the unrecorded history†of cinema in Morocco. Narrated by its most passionate lovers, Kasmi tells their stories of joy†and sadness, hopes and failures throughout the evolution of the technology and†the social life of film in their country. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Wed, Nov 9, 5:00. Q & A with Rachid Kasmi

DocDISplaceMENT

New York premiËre

Jamila by Ingeborg Jansen. The Netherlands, 2004, 14 min, Beta SP

With charm and sincerity, Jamila conveys the joys and conflicts of its title character, a gifted soccer-playing Muslim girl living in the Netherlands. Unfettered by her veil, it is a struggle over shorts versus track pants that leads Jamila and her proud, supportive, yet strictly observant father to debate gender equality and religious practice. In Dutch with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Iraq We Never Parted (Abdan Lam Nofarekoh) by Ahmed Rashwan. Egypt, 2004, 28 min, MiniDV

This hopeful and heartbreaking film offers a unique perspective into the contemporary Iraqi mindset, a complex entanglement of hope, patriotism, pride, fear, anger, and frustration seen through the perspective of the Iraqi national soccer team. As the team trains at a camp in Jordan for the Gulf Cup tournament they are haunted with fear for their families back home and also hopeful despite an uncertain future. In Arabic with English subtitles.

In Transit (Transit) by Berke Bas. Turkey, 2004, 40 min, Beta SP

Istanbul famously stands as the bridge between Asia, Africa, and Europe, and it is at this geographical crossroads that three migrant families’ stories intersect. Far from the glorious Ottoman architecture and the glamorous Bosphorous nightlife, In Transit shows the tough life of transients stuck in Istanbul, between their war-torn or impoverished past and their imagined and elusive future. This thoroughly engaging video tracks an Iraqi Arab family, an Iraqi Kurdish family, and a Nigerian couple for a full year, witnessing their struggle to adapt to life on the margins of an unforgiving city while awaiting visas and work permits that never seem to come. In Turkish, Arabic, and English with English subtitles.

Tue, Nov 8, 5:00. Q & A with Berke Bas

US premiËre

Algerias, My Phantoms (AlgÈries, mes fantÙmes) by Jean Pierre Lledo. Algeria, 2004, 106 min, DigiBeta

Targeted by fundamentalist terrorism, Algerian filmmaker Jean Pierre Lledo finds himself in France, forty years after his community’s exodus and that of his own Jewish-Spanish family following Algeria’s independence in 1962. Haunted by the phantoms of a painful chapter in Algerian and French history, he embarks upon a journey to confront the taboos it involves. Lledo travels throughout France interviewing a range of Algerian exiles—Pieds-Noirs, Communists, Jews, anti-Fundamentalists, and even Harki (Muslim Algerians who fought on the side of the French during the war of independence). A common thread of longing and belonging ties these otherwise incompatible Algerian exiles to the one land they all call home. In French with English subtitles.

Tue, Nov 8, 9:00. Q & A with producer Rachida Lledo



Festival Workshops and Panel Discussions

In Collaboration with the Kevorkian Center, NYU. With the support†NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science, Office of Academic and Student Life.†Copresented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)†

The Location of Independent Documentary Cinema in the Middle East

Sat, Nov 5, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Silver Center, NYU, 100 Washington Square East, New York City

Cinema and Trauma: Roundtable discussion

Sun, Nov 6, 12–2 p.m.

Kevorkian Center, NYU, 50 Washington Square South, New York City

Please visit our website at www.arteeast.org for complete details and schedule.

Free and open to the public.

Free Screenings in conjunction with the panel discussions:

US premiËre

Take Me (Ghaeir Khodoni) by Tamer el-Said. Egypt/UAE, 2004, 53 min, VHS

Borrowing its title from a famous song of leftist activists, Take Me is a powerful story of an undefeatable will to survive: for one's country, for one's family, and to tell the story of one's life. The film revisits the harrowing memories of a group of Moroccan men who as young activists were "kidnapped," tortured, and held in isolation without explanation or a trial. Through the grim subject matter the bonds of friendship they formed through shared experience and their hope for a more just Morocco rise to the surface. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Sat, Nov 5, 1:30, Silver Center, NYU, 100 Washington Square East

New York premiËre

Roundabout Shatila (Dawar Shatilah) by Maher Abi Samra. Lebanon, 2004, 52 min, VHS

Time races and stands still like a treadmill of false hope in Shatila, the Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut. Ubiquitous arrows pointing nowhere direct the viewer to the unsettling truth: the residents of the camp seem to be going every which way but out. Palestinian refugees have lived in Lebanon without any basic civil rights, hanging eternally between a vanquished past and an infinitely receding future. Shot with the patience and grace of one who clearly understands the temporal horizon of waiting, this film brilliantly evokes the predicament of the Palestinian refugee perhaps better than any other. In Arabic and English with English subtitles.

Sat, Nov 5, 4:30, Silver Center, NYU, 100 Washington Square East



Gender, Desire and Feminism: Vignettes from Egypt

US premiËre

The Elevator (al-Sansir) by Hadeel Nazmi. Egypt, 2005, 15 min, DVD

A short voyeuristic thriller set in a trapped elevator and conducted via suggestive cell phone calls, The Elevator negotiates the tensions of the ambiguous, gray area between public and private spaces, repulsion and desire, fear and longing, and seclusion and surveillance. In Arabic with English subtitles.

US premiËre

Do You Know Why? (Enta Aref Leih?) by Salma el-Torzy. Egypt, 2004, 26 min, DVD

Borrowing the title from the pop hit song by Ruby, Egypt's answer to Christina Aguilera, this short documentary follows Mayada, an ambitious Cairene teenager, star-struck and determined to become famous. Compiling clips from her auditions, interviews, and informal chats with her mother and her best friend, the film reveals with humor and insight the circuitous ways that allow Mayada and her mother to reconcile their observant values at home with the teenager's drive to shape her career as a provocative sex symbol. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Women’s Chit Chat (Dardashah Nisa’iyyah) by Hala Galal. Egypt, 2004, 52 min, DVD

The fight for women’s rights is nothing new in Egypt, where there have been Egyptian feminists since the early part of the twentieth century. Women’s Chit Chat takes a serious look at the Egyptian women’s movement’s transformations over the years, interviewing some of the leading Egyptian proponents for women’s rights. In Arabic with English subtitles.

Q & A with Hala Galal, moderated by Professor Noha Radwan, MEALAC, Columbia University

Wed, Nov 9, 7:00, 612 Schermerhorn Hall, Columbia University

Followed by a reception at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, 754 Schermerhorn Extension

This event is free and open to the public.

Cosponsored by Columbia University’s Middle East Institute, IRWAG, MEALAC and Turath

Second screening will take place at the Quad Cinema, Thu, Nov 10, 3:30. Regular festival admission applies.

Kings and Extras: Digging for a Palestinian Image by Azza el-Hassan.†Palestine/Germany, 2004.†62 min

The films of the Palestine Liberation Organization Media Unit, which were supposed to represent a self-determined image of Palestinian reality, "disappeared" during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. In this "road movie" from Palestine to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, director Azza el-Hassan follows contradictory and confusing clues as to the whereabouts of the lost archive. Though Azza’s search for the lost films leads her down various dead ends, she is confronted with new clues and starts to construct her own story.

Sun, Nov 6, 1:30, Program F15. Discussion with director

A special copresentation with the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival, the American Museum of Natural History,†November 3–6 & 12–13. To purchase tickets, please visit www.amnh.org/mead.†

[Darko, Donnie]

HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

ANNOUNCES

GOLDEN STARFISH AWARD

AND AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS

The 13th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival presented its Golden Starfish Awards at a ceremony held at Guild Hall on Saturday, October 22, 2005.

The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.



The heart of the Hamptons International Film Festival has always been its Golden Starfish Award and the films in the competitions for Best Narrative Feature (over $150,000 in goods and in-kind services), Best Documentary Award ($10,000 in cash and in-kind services) and Short Film Award ($5,000 in cash). The Hamptons International Film Festival also awards the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology ($25,000 in cash); the Kodak Award for Cinematography ($6,000 in goods and in-kind services); the Brizzolara Family Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution ($5,000 in cash); the Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Screenwriting ($5,000 in cash); Best Undergraduate and Graduate Student Films (eight $1,000 cash awards); and new this year, the Artemis Records Original Movie Score Award ($5,000 of goods and in-kind services). The Festival also presents Audience Awards in Best Narrative Feature Film, Best Documentary Feature Film and Best Short Film, announced at the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

On hand to present the awards were the Fest’s Executive Director Denise Kasell, Board Chairman Stuart Match Suna, Programmer Rajendra Roy, and Emcee Bob Balaban.


The Golden Starfish Narrative Feature Category was introduced by Rising Star Florian Lukas (One Day in Europe).



The Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Feature, presented by Rising Star Eugene Byrd (CONFESS) and Emily Blunt (GIDEON’S DAUGHTER), and carrying an awards package of over $150,000 of in-kind production services was awarded to Byambasuren Davaa’s THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG. THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG (Mongolia/Germany, US Premiere) was exquisitely filmed on the Mongolian steppes by Oscar-nominated director Byambasuren Davaa (THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL) who artfully incorporates the real day-to-day existence of the Batchuluuns—an actual Mongolian family, not actors—into the warm-hearted story of Nansal, the young daughter who finds a puppy sheltered in a cave.



Artemis Records Original Movie Score Award with a prize of $5,000 of in kind goods and services was presented by Artemis Records’ Daniel Glass to Dagvan Ganpurev’s score for THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG.

The Kodak Award For Best Cinematography, presented by Mary Manard Reed of Kodak, and worth $6,000 in kind services and product was presented to Daniel Schoenauer’s cinematography for THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG.



The Zicherman Family Foundation Award For Best Screenwriter, presented by Rising Star Elizabeth Reaser (Sweet Land), and carrying a $5000 cash prize was awarded to Director/Screenwriter Stefan C. Schaefer for his film CONFESS(USA, World Premiere), in which a dreadlocked hacker with an axe to grind, Terell Lessor (Eugene Byrd) returns to New York to enact his revenge.

Jurors for the Golden Starfish Narrative Competition include: Actor David Moscow, Playwright/Screenwriter Jon Robin Baitz and Wieland Speck, Director, Panorama Section, Berlinale.


Golden Starfish Documentary Feature Film Award, presented by Rising Star Jake Muxworthy (PIGGY BANKS), and carrying a cash prize of $5,000 and $5,000 in-kind goods and services was awarded to David Zeiger’s SIR! NO SIR! (USA, New York Premiere), a penetrating look back at an oft forgotten chapter in the Vietnam chronicle in which military men and women on the frontlines of dissent come forward to recall their participation in the anti-war movement.



Jurors for the Golden Starfish Documentary Competition include: Alex Halpern, Founder & CEO, Post Factory NY; Actor/Playwright David Marshall Grant, Producer/Director Peggy Rajski.



The Golden Starfish Short Film Award with a prize of $5,000 cash was presented by Rising Star Kip Pardue to Director/Producer/Cinematographer Daniel Vernon’s FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH (UK, North American Premiere), a beautifully filmed documentary set in the desolate Mojave Desert, where the Fountain Of Youth retirement home exists - a deteriorating place where the elderly wait patiently for time to pass by.



For the 6th consecutive year, the $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology for a feature-length film that explores science and technology themes in fresh, innovative ways and depicts scientists and engineers in a realistic and compelling fashion will be presented at the Hamptons International Film Festival. This year's recipient of the Sloan Feature Film Prize is KARDIA, a Canadian film written and directed by Su Rynard, produced by Paul Barkin. The Award carries a $25,000 cash prize and was introduced by Hamptons Executive Director Denise Kasell and presented by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s DoronWeber.



2005 marks the seventh annual Films of Conflict & Resolution program, consisting of films that are unique in their multi-faceted portrayals of conflict around the world. The Brizzolara Family Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution, presented by Kim Brizzolara and Debra Winger carries a $5,000 cash prize and was awarded to AT THE GREEN LINE (USA/Israel, US Premiere) a soul-searching documentary, by Jesse Atlas, about the Israeli occupation of lands seized after the 1967 war.

Members of the C&R Jury include, acclaimed actress Debra Winger, Israeli distributor Ruth Diskin, and studio executive David Dinerstein.



The Career Achievement in Acting Award to Miranda Richardson. The award was presented to Ms. Richardson by Hamptons Programmer Rajendra Roy. Alec Baldwin also received the Career Achievement in Acting Award at a presentation earlier in the festival. Both Baldwin and Richardson attended the Festival to serve as acting mentors for the Rising Stars Program. Conceived as a means of celebrating the key role actors play in the making of independent films, Rising Stars program has grown into a dynamic, enriched program. It feeds on the tremendous, expanding energy of the Hamptons festival both domestically and internationally to provide a platform for extraordinary acting talent.



Undergraduate and Graduate Student Film/Video Awards, presented by program coordinator Jeremiah Newton and sponsor Dana Fuchs from Ray Ban, is a juried competition where eight young filmmakers receive $1,000 cash. This year’s winner’s include: THE DEBT Director Levan Koguashvili, New York University; 5GDirector: Alessandro Tanaka, Columbia University; BREACHED Director: Laura Richard, New York University; CHICLE Director: Josh Hyde, Ohio University; TADPOLES Director: Miguel Alvarez, University of Texas in Austin; MISSING Director: Jeremiah Friedman, Wesleyan University;NASSER Director: Adam Yeremian, New York University; OUTSIDE A DREAM Director: Warren Jenson, University of Southern California; THE FAITH OF JOEY RAIL Director: Matt Robertson, University of Texas in Austin; LIMINALITY Director: Jessica Manafort, New York University.



The Golden Starfish Award for Best Young Videomaker, presented by Youth Media Program Director Maria Marewski and Barbara Belotte, and carries a cash prize of $500, was awarded to Kelvin Redvers for the film SHEEP.



The Panasonic 48 Hour Film Competition pits four award winning alumni filmmakers in a unique challenge: write, shoot, edit, and present a short film at the festival in just 48 hours! The inaugural participants are: Ryan Eslinger (Sloan Award Winner '03 for MADNESS AND GENIUS); Savannah Haske (Rising Star '03 for PIGGY); Greg Pak (Golden Starfish Winner '02 for ROBOT STORIES); Marty Sader (Golden Starfish Winner '04 for MOST HIGH). Presenting a Panasonic Camera package to the winner of the competition was Panasonic’s Jan Littleton. The Panasonic 48 Hour Film Award was presented to Savannah Haske.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 2005 Hamptons Film Festival’s Audience Award were presented by Fest’s Executive Director Denise Kasell, Board Chairman Stuart Match Suna and Programmer Rajendra Roy at the Closing Night event at Bamboo on Sunday, October 23, 2005.



The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was a tie between Marc Rothemund’s SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE LAST DAYS (Germany, East Coast Premiere); and Writer/Director Ali Selim’s SWEETLAND(USA, World Premiere).

The Audience Award for Best Documentary was presented to filmmaker’s Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s BALLETS RUSSES (USA, East Coast Premiere).



The Audience Award for Best Short Film was presented to Director Eric Smith’s IRENE WILLIAMS: QUEEN OF LINCOLN ROAD (USA)

The Audience Award for Best Long Island Film was presented to Director Kevin Jordan’s BROOKLYN LOBSTER (USA).



The Audience Award for Children’s Feature Film was presented to Director Polly Draper’s THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND (USA, World Premiere).



Presenting Sponsors:
American Airlines and Altour International

Host Sponsors:
Panasonic, Time Warner Cable Media Sales
Patron Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, FHM Magazine, Kinray, New Line Cinema, Nick Movies, Plum TV, Post Factory, NY State Department of Health; Regal Entertainment Group; Silvercup Studios



The 13th Hamptons International Film Festival ran from Wednesday, October 19 through Sunday, October 23, 2005. Over 180 Narrative Features, Documentaries and Shorts were presented. Special Events included the “Industry Toast” to Picturehouse President Bob Berney, a Tribute to Spalding Gray, Acting Achievement Awards to Miranda Richardson and Alec Baldwin, ‘A Conversation With…’ Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, the Rising Stars Program and panel moderated by Alan Cumming, the sneak preview of WALK THE LINE with Joaquin Phoenix in attendance, and the successful Southampton expansion among many panels, programs and parties.



A few of the guests who joined in the festivities included Danny Aiello, Kevin Bacon, Jon Robin Baitz, Bob Balaban, Alec Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Bob Berney, Dyan Cannon, Alan Cumming,

Hope Davis, David Dinerstein, David Marshall Grant, Ted Hope, Arliss Howard, Eugene Jarecki, Cherry Jones, Erica Leerhsen, Marc Levin, Claude LeLouch, David Moscow, Bill Nighy, Liza Minnelli, Sarah Paulson, Miranda Richardson, Roy Scheider, Kyra Sedgwick, John Sloss, Charlize Theron, Christine Vachon, Debra Winger.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

NICE FILM FESTIVAL

ITALIAN MOVIE ABOUT IRISH HERO BOBBY SANDS:

"THE SILENCE OF THE SKYLARK" BY DAVID BALLERINI

The movie is going to be screened at Nice Film Festival (in NYC)
on Sunday 13th 4.00 pm,
on Tuesday 15th 9.00 pm and
on Thursday 17 6.30 pm @ the (QuadCinema, 34 West – 13th Street).

As you may know, the 27 years old Bobby Sands endured years of
solitary confinement and beatings and cruel tortures. In the ending of
those years he was elected as M.P. for the constituency of Fermanagh
and South Tyrone. He died after 66 days on hunger strike on May 5th,
1981. In this movie, Sands is also an universal symbol, a figure from
myth, a John-The-Baptist-like symbol of universal freedom and dignity.
A very up-to-date tale, in these present years of wars, bombs and
intolerance...

The movie features Czech actor Ivan Franek as Bobby. Franek has been
also the leading character in "Brucio nel Vento", "Vodka Lemon", and
"36 Quai des Orfиvres".

In Italy the movie has been released in the last June and it will be
sold on dvd in these days. During the last April, at EUROPA CINEMA
FESTIVAL the movie received a very good reception and won the award
"The courage" from the Vittorio Gassman Foundation. There, the actress
and film director LIV ULLMANN has so much appreciated the movie, and
she considered it "necessary" and as "a blow in the head".

Since then, the movie has been winning many other awards. Soon after
the CORK FILM FESTIVAL, where the public and the critic really enjoied
the movie the movie has been screened at the Festival of Valencia
(Spain).

[Darko, Donnie]

Posted: Mon., Nov. 28, 2005, 6:38pm PT / By TODD MCCARTHY

Independence declared
Sundance Film Festival announces its lineup

"This year's festival is as 'independent' as it's ever been," Sundance Film Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said, describing the lineup of the 2006 edition set to unspool Jan. 19-29 in Park City, Utah. "There can be no confusion between the films we're showing and anything the studios would have even considered making."


Generalizing about the 120 feature programs that this year include 85 world premieres, Gilmore said the films are "relevant, authentic, original, edgy. Some may be smaller films than people are used to. They may or may not appeal to everybody, but the risk-taking involved is considerable. A lot of stuff was from out of the blue that just came over the transom."

Directors of the U.S. competition titles are largely unknown except comic actor Bob Goldthwait, repped by the dark comedy "Stay"; thesp Joey Lauren Adams, making her helming debut with the personal drama "Come Early Morning," starring Ashley Judd; and vet distribution exec Jeff Lipsky, who got behind the camera to make the long-arc relationship study "Flannel Pajamas."

Fest programming director John Cooper added that, despite the reduced scale in some cases, there are many films "with bigger ideas. It's like the independents are reclaiming their territory. There were a lot of surprises this year. There were so many films from people I'd never heard of, and lots of new actors I'd never seen before."

As usual, however, there are competition entries toplining familiar names, including "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," starring Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson; "Half Nelson," with Ryan Gosling; "The Hawk Is Dying," featuring Michael Pitt, Paul Giamatti and Michelle Williams; and "Stephanie Daley," with Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn.

Once again, the number of submissions Sundance fielded increased dramatically: Fest organizers evaluated 3,148 features, up from 2,613 last year. Of this year's crop, 1,764 were U.S. productions and 1,384 were international efforts, while last year there were 1,385 domestic and 1,228 foreign submissions. Of the 118 features to be presented (there are also two compilation programs), 78 are of U.S. origin. Forty-eight of the films are by first-time directors.

Assessing various trends evident in the selection, Gilmore noted 32 female directors are represented "all through the festival," and not primarily in documentaries, where women have tended to figure more prominently. Also, "We had 15 films submitted to us about Iraq, and we ultimately picked three -- two documentaries from the U.S. and one international," he revealed.

"We have a lot of films on immigration and migration, and a lot of films about artists and music. There are really great films on punk/new wave and hip-hip that go beyond what's been done before, and the same thing goes for the several films on the environment," Gilmore added. "What we're seeing now in documentaries are comprehensive works on their subjects."

Gilmore and Cooper said they watched "an awful lot" of low-budget, often deadpan comedies, a handful of which made it into the lineup. An odd mini-genre even emerged, courtesy of three films about sleep deprivation and related issues of creativity and productivity.

Going into Sundance's second stanza with an international competition, Gilmore said he's "encouraged by the jump we've seen in the international arena. We thought it might take two to three years to get our international competition up to a certain level, but it's made a big jump this year. There are a couple of international films that are as good as anything in the entire festival."

The international doc selection has been expanded from 12 to 16 titles this year, bringing it up to the numerical level of the three other competitive sections. The Spectrum lineup has been expanded to 24 features, while the Premieres category has been reduced to 17 from a high of about 24 in the past.

"When we evaluated last year's festival, we knew we didn't want to expand the program any more than we had," Gilmore explained. "We knew one of the biggest problems we had was that the Spectrum was too limited and not as useful as it should be. We also thought that the Premieres category was misunderstood as a place where 'big' films with names and distributors were placed somehow in front or above the others."

Result was the expansion of Spectrum and the reduction of Premieres, although the latter probably will grow as a result of a couple of "add-on" late-in-fest entries still to be finalized.

None of the domestic competition entries has a U.S. distributor at this stage.

Sundance is breaking its lineup announcements into three parts this year. Following are the selections for the dramatic and documentary competitions in both the U.S. and world sections. Programs for the Spectrum, Frontier and Midnight categories will be released Wednesday and the Premieres entries will be unveiled Thursday.

DRAMATIC COMPETITION

• "Come Early Morning," the directorial debut of Joey Lauren Adams ("Chasing Amy"), for which she also wrote the script, about a woman, played by Ashley Judd, trying to escape cycles of addictions and self-destructive behavior.
  
• "Flannel Pajamas," written and directed by vet distribution exec Jeff Lipsky, a very New York account of the courtship and marriage of a couple, played by Julianne Nicholson and Justin Kirk.
  
• "Forgiven," writer-director Paul Fitzgerald's drama revolving around moral choices faced by a small-town district attorney (Fitzgerald) who, when on the verge of commencing a campaign for the U.S. Senate, learns that the governor has exonerated a death-row inmate he'd prosecuted five years earlier.
  
• "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," writer-director Dito Montiel's autobiographical, literary account of how he escaped the crime-riddled world of 1980s Astoria, N.Y. Pic stars Robert Downey Jr., Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri and Dianne Wiest.
  
• "Half Nelson," directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Anna Boden and Fleck, centering on a crack-addicted inner-city junior high schoolteacher (Ryan Gosling) and his friendship with one of his students.
  
• "The Hawk Is Dying," directed by Julian Goldberger ("Trans") and written by Harry Crews (who penned the novel) and Goldberger, with Michael Pitt, Paul Giamatti and Michelle Williams starring in a tale of a Gainesville, Fla., man who tries to alter his life as an auto upholsterer by training a wild, red-tailed hawk.
  
• "In Between Days," directed by So Yong Kim, who co-wrote with Bradley Rust Gray, an intimate drama about two Korean-Americans trying to work out their relationships with one another and their adopted country.
  
• "Puccini for Beginners," a New York screwball comedy from writer-director Maria Maggenti ("The Incredible Adventures of Two Girls in Love") revolving around a woman emerging from a lesbian relationship who separately becomes involved with a man and a woman, toplining Justin Kirk, Gretchen Mol and Elizabeth Reaser.
  
• "Quinceanera," written and directed by Richard Glatzer ("Grief") and Wash Westmoreland, concerning two disaffected Latinos coming of age in an Echo Park district of Los Angeles that's becoming gentrified largely by gays.
  
• "Right at Your Door," writer-director Chris Gorak's low-budget disaster film about the effort of a couple (Mary McCormack, Rory Cochrane) to negotiate the panic and chaos in Los Angeles after multiple dirty bombs explode in the city.
  
• "Sherrybaby," written and directed by Laurie Collyer ("Nuyorican Dreams"), an examination of the difficulties facing a convict (Maggie Gyllenhaal) upon her release into the real world.
  
• "Somebodies," writer-director-star Hadjii's small-town comedy about a black college student moving toward adulthood surrounded by a large assortment of eccentric characters.
  
• "Stay," writer-director Bob Goldthwait's dark comedy about how the revelation of a past sexual indiscretion utterly alters the dynamic of a young couple, featuring Melinda Paige Hamilton and Bryce Johnson.
  
• "Steel City," written and directed by Brian Jun, which looks at how two brothers in a small Midwestern town deal with their father's incarceration for the killing of a woman.
  
• "Stephanie Daley," written and directed by Hilary Brougher ("The Sticky Finger of Time"), a drama about a seven-months-pregnant forensic psychologist (Tilda Swinton) who investigates a teenager's (Amber Tamblyn) denial of having committed infanticide.
  
• "Wristcutters: A Love Story," a quirky high-concept comedy directed by Goran Dukic, who co-wrote with Etgar Kerett, about a man who, after having committed suicide, finds himself in a desert filled with fellow suicides, with Patrick Fugit, Shannon Sossamon, Shea Whigharn, Tom Waits and John Hawkes.

DOCU COMPETITION

• "American Blackout," Ian Inaba's assessment of the career of U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and the purported suppression of the black vote historically and in the 2004 election in Florida and Ohio.
  
• "Crossing Arizona," Joseph Mathew's mosaic of human stories enmeshed in Arizona's illegal immigration crisis.
  
• "God Grew Tired of Us," Christopher Quinn and Tom Walker's account of the culture shock that hits four Sudanese boys who come to the U.S. after surviving for years in Sub-Sarahan Africa.
  
• "Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends," Patricia Foulkrod's study of the experiences of soldiers during military training, in the midst of combat in Iraq and upon their return to the U.S.
  
• "Iraq in Fragments," James Longley's three-chapter look at Iraqis under conditions of war, occupation and ethnic tension.
  
• "A Lion in the House," directors Steven Bogner and Julia Reichert's 3½-hour look at five families dealing with cancer-stricken children.
  
• "Small Town Gay Bar," Malcolm Ingram's analysis of conflicts and opposing standards in a community in the deep South.
  
• "So Much So Fast," Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan's multifaceted examination of the repercussions of a man's having been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
  
• "Thin," Lauren Greenfield's up-close look at four women dealing with anorexia and bulimia at an eating-disorders treatment center.
  
• " 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris," Raymond De Felitta's investigation into the relationship between artist and audience as seen through the mysterious life and career of jazz singer Jackie Paris.
  
• "The Trials of Darryl Hunt," Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's probe into racial bias in the criminal justice system, growing out of a wrongful conviction of a black man for a white woman's rape and murder.
  
• "TV Junkie," Michael Cain's presentation of a TV personality's entire life over 46 years as culled from 5,000 hours of video and more than 3,000 photographs.
  
• "An Unreasonable Man," Henriette Mantel and Stephen Skrovan's nearly three-hour overview of the career of Ralph Nader.
  
• "Wide Awake," Alan Berliner's self-portrait as an insomniac, recounting the pros and cons of sleeplessness.
  
• "Wordplay," Patrick Creadon's portrait of the New York Times' celebrated crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz, his work and his fans.
  
• "The World According to Sesame Street," Linda Goldstein Knowlton and Linda Hawkins Costigan's inside look at how the perennial children's show is adapted for international consumption, particularly in some of the world's political hot spots.

WORLD CINEMA

DRAMATIC COMPETITION

• "13 (Tzameti)" (France), writer-director Gela Babluani's intense drama about the dire consequences suffered by a man who follows instructions left for someone else.
  
• "Allegro" (Denmark), directed by Christoffer Boe and written by Boe and Mikael Wulff, a look at an amnesiac pianist who reconnects with his forgotten past upon returning to Copenhagen.
  
• "The Aura" (Argentina), writer-director Fabian Bielinsky twisty drama about a taxidermist's dream of pulling off the perfect robbery Argentina's Oscar entry).
  
• "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros" (Philippines), directed by Auraeus Solito and written by Michiko Yamamoto, which examines how a young man's loyalty to his criminal family in the Manila slums is altered by his friendship with an upstanding policeman.
  
• "Eve & the Fire Horse" (Canada), writer-director Julia Kwan's look at the wild mix of religious, ethical and superstitious doctrines that come to play in the lives of two young Chinese immigrant sisters in Vancouver.
  
• "Grbavica" (Bosnia-Herzegovina), writer-director Jasmila Zbanic's drama about a mother-and-daughter struggle to survive in the wake of the Balkan war. World premiere.
  
• "The House of Sand" (Brazil) directed by Andrucha Waddington and written by Elena Soarez, a drama about three generations of women surviving in the dunes of Brazil.
  
• "Kiss Me Not on the Eyes" (Lebanon), writer-director Jocelyne Saab's study of an educated Egyptian woman's struggle to maintain her artistic integrity and social independence in modern Cairo.
  
• "Little Red Flowers" (China), directed by Zhang Yuan and written by Ning Dai and Zhang, a parable about the need to fit in at a post-revolutionary Chinese orphanage. World premiere.
  
• "Madeinusa" (Peru), writer-director Claudia Llosa's account of how a girl's life in a remote Peruvian mountain village is changed with the arrival of a geologist from Lima. World premiere.
  
• "No. 2" (New Zealand), writer-director Toa Fraser's look at how a young woman enlivens her family with South Pacific heat and passion. World premiere.
  
• "One Last Dance" (Singapore), writer-director Max Makowski's genre exercise about a hit man hired to kill some kidnappers, a list of which includes the hit man himself. World premiere.
  
• "The Peter Pan Formula" (South Korea), writer-director Cho Chang-Ho's study of the premature independence of an adolescent boy who is drawn to an older woman while his mother lies comatose.
  
• "Princesas" (Spain), writer-director Fernando Leon de Aranca's story of two close women friends struggling in the city.
  
• "Solo Dios sabe" (Brazil/Mexico), directed by Carlos Bolado and written by Bolado and Diane Weipert, about events that ensue from the meeting of a young Brazilian art student and a Mexican journalist in Tijuana. World premiere.
  
• "Son of Man" (South Africa), directed by Mark Dornford-May and written by Dornford-May, Andiswa Kedama and Pauline Malefane, a translation of Jesus' story to a modern South Africa, made by the Dimpho di Kopane theater ensemble responsible for "U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha." World premiere.

WORLD CINEMA

DOCU COMPETITION

• "5 Days" (Israel), in which director Yoav Shamir employed seven crews and exclusive access to the Israeli Defense Forces and the general in charge to document the evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and the area's turnover to the Palestinians.
  
• "Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet" (Switzerland), Luc Schaedler's portrait of rebel monk Gendun Choephel, which contrasts old and new views of Tibet.
  
• "Black Gold" (U.K.), Marc Francis and Nick Francis' revelation of the international coffee trade as charted by the journey from a struggling Ethiopian grower's farm to the consumer. World premiere.
  
• "By the Ways: A Journey With William Eggleston" (France), Cedric Laty and Vincent Gerard's consideration of the character and work of the photographer.
  
• "Dear Pyongyang" (Japan), Yang Yonghi's look at a Korean-Japanese girl's exploration of her father's family-endangering political loyalty to North Korea.
  
• "The Giant Buddhas" (Switzerland), Christian Frei's film essay on the implications of the Taliban's infamous destruction of the celebrated Buddha statues in Afghanistan.
  
• "Glastonbury" (U.K.), Julien Temple's coverage of the annual Glastonbury Festival, which documents the spirit of social changes over the past three decades. World premiere.
  
• "I for India" (U.K./Germany/Italy), Sandhya Suri's account of migration and belonging across four decades as related through Super 8 films and audio letters sent between India and England. World premiere.
  
• "In the Pit" (Mexico), Juan Carlos Rulfo's look at workers building a second deck on a Mexico City freeway. World premiere.
  
• "Into Great Silence" (Germany), Philip Groening's nearly silent meditation on the monastic life inside the Grande Chartreuse, the home of the Carthusian Order.
  
• "KZ" (U.K.), Rex Bloomstein's examination of how the German concentration camp town of Mauthausen has dealt with its past.
  
• "No One" (Mexico), Tin Dirdamal's account of a Central American immigrant's nightmarish crossing of Mexico on her way to the United States.
  
• "The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez" (Germany), Heidi Specogna's revelation of the true story of the first U.S. soldier to die in Iraq, a Guatemalan street child attracted to the U.S. military as a way of obtaining a green card.
  
• "Songbirds" (U.K.), Brian Hill's documentation of women in England's Downview Prison, who create a musical in which they sing about their lives and crimes.
  
• "Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst" (Australia), Gillian Armstrong's portrait of the flamboyant designer whose success has peaked with her exotic wallpaper prints. World premiere.
  
• "Viva Zapatero!" (Italy), Sabina Guzzanti's irreverent study of Italian censorship under Berlusconi in comparison with that elsewhere in Europe.

[Darko, Donnie]

[Posted: Wed., Nov. 30, 2005, 12:00am PT / By TODD MCCARTHY Variety.com]


Sundance is streamlined
Midnight selection packed with preems

While slimming down the Premieres section, the Sundance Film Festival has combined the former American Spectrum and Special Screenings sidebars into the new Spectrum section, which will show 24 noncompeting dramatic and documentary films from the United States and elsewhere.

New banner gives the fest wide latitude to program additional titles of various kinds and from diverse sources that might not fit easily into the competitive sections, may have played elsewhere, are made by vet filmmakers or reflect upon particular social issues.

In its inaugural year, the Spectrum will feature 17 world premieres and 10 documentaries. Lineup ranges from dramatic features such as James Ponsoldt's "Off the Black" starring Nick Nolte and Mia Goldman's "Open Window" with Robin Tunney to music pics about hip-hop, the Police and Leonard Cohen to docus about Al Gore, Rosie and Kellie O'Donnell's boat cruise with 500 gay and lesbian families and Haskell Wexler's consideration of sleep deprivation and long hours on film shoots.

Four of the five entries in the Frontier sidebar are world premieres, including Kelly Reichardt's "Old Joy," produced by Todd HaynesTodd Haynes, while seven of the eight Midnight attractions are world preems, including music pics about hardcore punk rock and the Beastie Boys.


SPECTRUM

• "A Matter of Degrees," Davis Guggenheim's docu focusing on Al Gore's career as a crusader on behalf of environmental issues, particularly global warming. World premiere.
  
• "Adam's Apples" (Denmark), writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen's dark comedy depicting the clash between a priest and a neo-Nazi sentenced to do community service at his church.
  
• "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise," Shari Cookson's HBO docu featuring gay and lesbian families on a cruise with Rosie and Kellie O'Donnell. World premiere.
  
• "Battle in Heaven" (Mexico/France/Germany/Belgium), Mexican helmer Carlos Reygadas' controversial drama nominally about a child kidnapping gone awry.
  
• "Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture," Byron Hurt's docu in which a hip-hop fanatic directly confronts the sexist, violent and homophobic aspects of the culture. World premiere.
  
• "Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon," Peter Richardson's docu spotlighting the clash between traditional and new values in an Oregon town that threatens a college scholarship that has paid the tuition of every local graduate for four decades. World premiere.
  
• "Dreamland," directed by Jason Matzner and written by Tom Willett, starring Agnes Bruckner as a trailer park denizen torn between caring for her father and ailing friend or fulfilling her own destiny. World premiere.
  
• "EV Confidential: Who Killed the Electric Car?," Chris Paine's docu investigation into the demise and revival of the electric car, and the possibilities for renewable energy in general. World premiere.
  
• "Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out," a docu put together by drummer Stewart Copeland of the Police from his own Super 8 archive that provides an inside look at the '80s band. World premiere.
  
• "Factotum," directed by Bent Hamer and written by Jim Stark from a novel by Charles Bukowski, about a down-and-out man trying to live his life as poetry, starring Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Fisher Stevens and Marisa Tomei.
  
• "Forgiving the Franklins," writer-director Jay Floyd's way-out-there look at how the spiritual change of a repressed, God-fearing Southern family after an auto accident pits them against their conservative community. World premiere.
  
• "Jewboy" (Australia), writer-director Tony Krawitz's feature centered on a young Orthodox man's search for his place in the world.
  
• "Journey From the Fall" (Thailand/U.S.), writer-director Ham Tran's epic account of a family's separation, dangerous emigration, reunification and struggle to survive in the United States.
  
• "La tragedia de Macario," writer-director Pablo Veliz's drama based on immigrants' true stories of crossing the Mexican-U.S. border. World premiere.
  
• "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man," Lian Lunson's portrait of the singer-songwriter centered on a tribute concert in Sydney.
  
• "Man Push Cart" (Iran/U.S.), writer-director Ramin Bahrani's tale of a former Pakistani rock star who's now selling coffee and doughnuts on the streets of Manhattan.
  
• "Off the Black," writer-director James Ponsoldt's story about an aging high school baseball umpire (Nick Nolte) who befriends a young player who vandalized his house, with Trevor Morgan, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sally Kirkland and Timothy Hutton. World premiere.
  
• "Open Window," writer-director Mia Goldman's drama about an engaged couple whose lives are shattered by random violence, starring Robin Tunney, Joel Edgerton, Cybill Shepherd, Matt Keeslar, Scott Wilson, Shirley Knight and Elliott Gould. World premiere.
  
• "The Proposition" (Australia), a violent Aussie Western directed by John Hillcoat, written by Nick Cave and starringGuy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Emily Watson and John Hurt.
  
• "Punching at the Sun," writer-director Tanuj Chopra's study of a Pakistani teen in Queens who, after 9/11 and his older brother's murder, struggles with his rage and desire for redemption. World premiere.
  
• "Special," written and directed by Jeremy Passmore and Hal Haberman, about what happens to a man when he enrolls in a drug study for an experimental antidepressant. World premiere.
  
• "What Remains," Steven Cantor's docu study of controversial photographer Sally Mann. World premiere.
  
• "Who Needs Sleep?," vet cinematographer and director Haskell Wexler's docu inquiry into the dangerous implications of sleep deprivation and long work hours among film crews. World premiere.
  
• "Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner," Freida Lee Mock's docu about the personal and political life of the playwright. World premiere.

FRONTIER

• "A Darkness Swallowed," writer-director Betzy Bromberg's film is described as "a bio-meta-physical musical" and "a meditation on the evanescent traces of memory and loss."
  
• "Cinnamon," an experimental feature from writer-director Kevin Everson that explores the subculture of African-American drag racing while contrasting the preparations for the sport by a bank teller and a mechanic. World premiere.
  
• "Old Joy," directed by Kelly Reichardt, who scripted with Jonathan Raymond, about the quiet, probing reunion of two old friends against the beautiful backdrop of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. World premiere.
  
• "Pine Flat," writer-director Sharon Lockhart's meditative study of children in a small town in the Sierra Nevada. World premiere.
  
• "Wild Tigers I Have Known," writer-director Cam Archer's coming-of-age story about the sexual stirrings of a 13-year-old boy. World premiere.

Being presented under the Frontier Live banner is "Our Second Date," an art installation by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy that represents a miniature movie set designed for live robotic drama that combines production, post-production and exhibition in one room.

MIDNIGHT

• "American Hardcore," directed by Paul Rachman and written by Steven Blush, a comprehensive docu inspired by Blush's book "American Hardcore: A Tribal History," chronicling the punk scene from 1979-86. World premiere.
  
• "Awesome, I Fu[c]kin' Shot That!," Nathanial Hornblower's docu that shows the results of the Beastie Boys having handed out 50 Hi 8 cameras to audience members at their Oct. 9, 2004, Madison Square Garden concert. World premiere.
  
• "The Descent," writer-director Neil Marshall's horror film about an all-female caving expedition bedeviled by mysterious predators.
  
• "Destricted," a compilation of erotic art films by visual artists and filmmakers Mathew Barney, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noe, Marco Brambilla and Sam Taylor Wood. World premiere.
  
• "The Foot Fist Way," writer-director Jody Hill's comedy about a jilted taekwondo instructor who takes out his anger on everyone in his vicinity. World premiere.
  
• "Moonshine," directed by Roger Ingraham, who scripted with Lori Isbell Salvage, about a Midwestern convenience store clerk who starts turning into a vampire. World premiere.
  
• "Salvage," written and directed by Josh Crook and Jeff Crook, a horror item about the victim of a serial killer who is destined to repeatedly relive the day of her murder until she solves the mystery of her death. World premiere.
  
• "Subject Two," writer-director Philip Chidel's modern Frankenstein story about a med student who volunteers for unsavory resurrection experiments. World premiere.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

Moxie Pictures' short film Dealbreaker by filmmakers Gwyneth Paltrow and
Mary Wigmore from the Glamour "Reel Moment" series will screen at the
Sundance Film Festival
New York, NY (December 7, 2005) ­ The short film, "Dealbreaker," which was written and directed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore and produced by Moxie Pictures for Glamour "Reel Moments," was accepted to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Dealbreaker is one in a series of five short film Moxie Pictures developed and produced for the Glamour film series.

Written and directed by life long friends Mary Wigmore and Gwyneth Paltrow, Dealbreaker stars Arija Bareikis as a woman who is finally able to look beyond superficial flaws when she finds the right man.

Based on the original story by Glamour Magazine reader Gail Hildebrandt of Atlanta, GA, Dealbreaker was brought to life and adapted into one of the five short films in a series that will be available on Glamour.com on December 9th and available to Glamour subscribers in the January 2006 issue.

The Glamour "Reel Moments" series is a collection of five short films which were written, directed and star some of Hollywood's top female talent including Lauren Graham, Jenny Bicks, Piper Perabo, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Debi Mazar, Anna Chlumsky and Trudie Styler, in addition to Marry Wigmore and Gwyneth Paltrow. A board of leading female executives and actresses - Meryl Poster, Former Co-President of Production, Miramax Films; Caroline Kaplan, Partner, Applehead Pictures; Cara Stein, COO, William Morris Agency; Leslie Russo, Associate Publisher, Glamour; and actresses Lucy Liu, Katie Holmes, and Julianna Marguiles; narrowed down the thousands of submissions to the five stories, which were adapted to the short film format. Francesca Silvestri from Moxie Pictures oversaw the project.

The Sundance Film Festival will run January 19-29 in Park City, Utah.

For more information please visit: moxiepictures.com.

[Darko, Donnie]

Moxie Pictures' short film "Gnome" is an

Official Selection at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival
by Emmy Award Winning Writer in her directorial debut, Jenny Bicks

New York, NY (January, 6th 2006) ­

The short film, "Gnome," which was written and directed by 'Sex And The City' Emmy award winner, Jenny Bicks and produced by Moxie Pictures for the Glamour "Reel Moments" series, will screen at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. "Gnome" starring Lauren Graham is one in a series of five short film Moxie Pictures developed and produced for the Glamour film series.

Comments Francesca Silvestri, Head of Motion Picture and Television for Moxie "Gnome's acceptance into the Berlin film festival shows that the artistic community is recognizing and embracing these films alongside Madison avenue. That is truly exciting."

Moxie's short film, "Dealbreaker" co-directed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore is an official selection in Sundance this month, making "Gnome" the second short of the series to be accepted into a film festival.

Based on the original story by Glamour Magazine reader, Tina Slatton of Chicago IL, "Gnome" follows a upper class wife who makes the most unexpected friends when her car breaks down in one of Chicago's most undesirable neighborhoods. "Gnome" was brought to life and adapted into one of the five short films in a series that is available on Glamour.com and to Glamour subscribers in the January 2006 issue.

The Glamour "Reel Moments" series is a collection of five short films which were written, directed and star some of Hollywood's top female talent including Lauren Graham, Jenny Bicks, Piper Perabo, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Debi Mazar, Anna Chlumsky and Trudie Styler, in addition to Marry Wigmore and Gwyneth Paltrow. A board of leading female executives and actresses - Meryl Poster, Former Co-President of Production, Miramax Films; Caroline Kaplan, Partner, Applehead Pictures; Cara Stein, COO, William Morris Agency; Leslie Russo, Associate Publisher, Glamour; and actresses Lucy Liu, Katie Holmes, and Julianna Marguiles; narrowed down the thousands of submissions to the five stories, which were adapted to the short film format. Francesca Silvestri from Moxie Pictures oversaw the project.
The Berlin Film Festival runs from February 9-19, 2006.

The following are the screening dates and times for "Dealbreaker" at this years Sundance festival:

DEALBREAKER

Fri. Jan 20, 11:30pm,Holiday Village Cinema III
Sat. Jan 21, 8:30pm, Prospector Square Theater
Sun. Jan 22, 10:00am, Holiday Cinema IV
Sat. Jan 28, 2:20pm, Library Center Theater
Sun. Jan 29, 5pm, Holiday Village Cinema III

For more information please visit: www.moxiepictures.com.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

“Chicle”— Only American Short Film Selected to Berlin International Film Festival Kinderfilmfest Competition.

(Athens, OH)---After winning the Gold Hugo Award for Best Student Film at the Chicago International Film Festival and Best Student Short at the Hamptons International Film Festival, 26-year-old director Josh Hyde’s film “Chicle,” which tells the story of a Peruvian street kid who helps a lost American girl reunite with her mother, is the only film by an American director slated for the 56th Berlin International Film Festival Kinderfilmfest Short Film Competition. There are 21 films from 16 different countries in the competition and more than 340 films in the festival as a whole.

Hyde and his culturally diverse crew comprised of industry professionals from
four different continents shot “Chicle” in Cuzco, Peru over a four month span
in 2004, casting indigenous, non-actor Peruvians next to American actors to
create a realistic onscreen cultural collision.

“This film is part of a movement within cinema to expose cultural narratives
that have previously been unexplored,” said Hyde who is finishing his MFA at
Ohio University. “Films like Favela Rising, Devil’s Miner and One Day in Europe
are telling relevant stories the world needs to witness, absorb, and think
about.”

“Chicle”—shot in a documentary/narrative hybrid style--- has been developed into a feature-length script with active participation from Tambo Film Outfitters of Peru, Steve James (director of “Hoop Dreams”, “Stevie”, and “The New Americans”), Rajko Grlic, Workshop Entertainment, and Paz de la Huerta (“Fierce People” and “Steal Me”), among others. Hyde is still seeking out funding.

Currently, Hyde is directing Carry My Cross, a documentary about a
singer/songwriter from Southwest Louisiana whose life in the wake of Hurricane Katrina paints an accurate portrait of the disenfranchised American populace that inspires his politically truthful songs.

“Chicle” will screen at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13th, 14th and 17th.

[Darko, Donnie]

21st ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES

ISRAELI CINEMA

40 New Films to Premiere in New York

February 23rd- March 9th, 2006

January 19, 2006, New York - The 21st annual Israel Film Festival will take place in New York kicking off February 23rd and running through March 9th at the Clearview 62nd & Broadway Cinema. This year the festival will showcase more than 40 new feature films, provocative documentaries, ground-breaking TV dramas, and innovative student films celebrating Israeli cinema. Film is the international language and Israeli filmmakers continue to capture audiences through radiant images, raw human emotion and a universe of creativity.

In the past two decades, Meir Fenigstein, the Festival’s Founder and Executive Director, has introduced 550 movies to over 700,000 film enthusiasts and has brought more than 300 Israeli filmmakers to Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

This year the 21st Israel Film Festival has lined-up special events including an Opening Night Gala, a Centerpiece Celebration Gala, a special program highlighting Jewish Identity Through Israeli Film, an Evening of Documentaries and a Student Shorts Marathon at the JCC Manhattan Theater,


“No matter what the political situation has been like in Israel or America, the IsraFest Foundation has—thanks to continued support of our sponsors and audiences—put on a festival every year, showing people the richness and humanity of Israeli life, and the power of the creative arts even in the midst of political conflict. “ --Meir Fenigstein

To purchase tickets and for further information on all screenings and events, please call 1.877.966.5566 or go to www.israelfilmfestival.com; for a complete list of films and events being screened at this years festival.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

PRESS RELEASE : FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GRAVEHOPPING PUTS SLOVENIA ON THE MAP

The latest film by the Slovenian most prolific director , Jan Cvitkovic , is screening in the Time and Tide official selection of Rotterdam Film Festival. Gravehopping follows Pero, a funeral speaker, struggling to keep his suicidal father away from harm while giving insights to death that sometimes leave the crowd bewildered rather than touched. Dark, comical, even absurd, Gravehopping is tale of relationships in a small rural community where even sunshine has its shadows.

Cvitkovic, who is currently working on a new script in New Zealand, is seen to be the front name of the Slovenian film since 2001, when his first debut ‘Bread and Milk’, won the Venice Golden Lion of the Future .

Gravehopping has held more than well: the film started its festival tournee from 2005 San Sebastian, where it picked the and has since been awarded with directing or script writing awards in Warsaw, Torino and Cottbus film festivals among others.

Gravehopping screenings in Rotterdam:

Wednesday 1st Feb, 22:15 (Venster 3)

Thursday 2nd Feb, 22:00 (Pathe 2)

Friday 3rd Feb, 13:30 (Pathe 2)

Saturday 4th, 22:00 (Luxor)


The producer of the film Jozko Rutar will be present at the festival.
For stills or more on the film www.odgrobadogroba.com

[REEL_REVIEWER]

Old Joy will be screening at the 2006 Rotterdam Film Festival

OLD JOY

Directed by Kelly Reichardt.
Starring Will Oldham and Daniel London.

REMAINING SCREENING DATES & TIMES
Tues. Jan. 31, 4:00pm, Pathe 7
Sat. Feb. 4, 9:45pm, Pathe 7

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

[REEL_REVIEWER]

21st ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES

ISRAELI CINEMA

40 New Films to Premiere in New York

February 23rd- March 9th, 2006

FEATURE FILMS [Short Synopsis (Films subject to change)]


COMRADE בקרוב יקרה לך משהו טוב - Dir. Eyal Shiray 2005 U.S. Premiere

Ilan, an adolescent boy is in a constant clash with his father. He finds a stack of letters in the attic from his sister, Dalia, hidden from him. Through the letters he learns the story of his sister’s disappearance, and facts about his life and deceased mother. Ilan runs away to his sister, and becomes close to her eccentric neighbor, an aging communist. With Ilan’s help they battle menacing authorities. 80 min



DISTORTION דיסטורשן - Dir. Haim Bouzaglo 2004

It is a time of Intifada, terrorist attacks, tension and fear. A director/playwright who promised to present a script to the Tel Aviv "Kameri" Theater doesn't manage to write a single line. The frustrated playwright suspects his wife is cheating on him and hires a detective to follow her. He starts writing his new play, which mirrors his jealous suspicion documenting the investigation into his wife’s affair. 107:00 min.



HILL 24 DOESN”T ANSWER גבעת 24 אינה עונה - Dir. Thorold Dickinson 1955

Four young Zionists are assigned to defend strategic Hill 24 outside Jerusalem, in order to maintain access to the besieged city. Through the diverse personal stories of the defenders, we gain a critical perspective on the birth of Israel and those who risked their lives to ensure the State’s survival. The film explores the fears and hopes of Jews in Eretz Israel and their bloody struggles for independence. This dramatic war epic was shown for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival and it was hailed by the international critics for its combination of national symbolism and sweeping personal stories. Today, 50 years after its release, it is an opportunity to see the way in which the cinema of back then examined Zionist myths. 101:00



JANEM, JANEM ג'נם ג'נם - Dir. Haim Bouzaglo 2005 U.S. Premiere

Aldi is a school teacher and combat vet with post war syndrome. He’s turning 40 and going through an acute mid-life crisis. His wife refuses to have children and doesn’t fulfill him. He decides to travel, but instead of getting on a plane, he goes underground joining a group of Romanian and Turkish construction workers. He falls in love with an illegal Russian immigrant and lives among the workers exploited by shady Israelis who hire out foreign laborers and control a group of prostitutes. 104:00 min.



JOY מוכרחים להיות שמח - Dir. Julie Schles 2005 U.S. Premiere

Joy is a heartbreakingly unforgettable character with a dysfunctional family. Her mom nags her to lose weight and find a husband. Her uptight brother loses his job, but pretends to go to work each day and her dad’s bladder is getting weaker. Joy is in a dead end job with a boss that exploits her. When she auditions for a reality show about forgiveness, she’s surprised to find them interested in her. A masterful work from a director who has the uncanny ability to encompass the endearing and the bleak. 90:00 min.

Best Actress Sigalit Fuchs Jerusalem Int. Film Festival 2005



METTALIC BLUES מטאליק בלוז - Dir. Danny Verete 2004

In this buddy road picture, Shmuel and Siso (Moshe Ivgy) have a used car lot in Israel. They buy a classic Lincoln Limo and decide to take it to Germany to get the best price. Everything goes wrong after Shmuel loses his wallet on their first night. Their “get rich quick” scheme implodes when they are offered little for the Limo from the dealer they were depending on. Their paranoia of Germany gets the best of them and their friendship is taken to the limit. 86:00 min.



NOW OR NEVER עכשיו או לעולם לא - Dir. Eitan Londner 2005 U.S. Premiere

The time is six months prior to the inauguration of the State of Israel. Was David Ben Gurion going to declare independence? Would refugees be freely admitted? Would America support Israel? What would be the effect of the termination of the British mandate in Israel? Several important historical figures including Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Shertok, General George Marshall and King Abdullah of Jordan are feature characters in this dramatic historical film.



OUT OF SIGHT למראית עין - Dir. Daniel Syrkin 2005 U.S. Premiere

Ya’ara (24) is attractive, independent, confident, intelligent – she has just begun her PhD in Mathematics at Princeton University – and she is blind. She rushes back to Israel when she hears of Talia’s suicide, her cousin, kindred spirit and best friend. Ya’ara embarks upon a private investigation trying to discover the reason that led Talia to take her own life. 85:00 min.

Winner Best Director, Israel Film Academy 2005.



SUMMER STORY סיפור קיץ - Dir. Smuel Peleg Haimovitch 2005 U.S. Premiere

Gal a 12 year old is the village mailman in the summer of 1982 and infatuated with a beautiful, but sickly 19 year old Chaya who corresponds with soldiers in the Lebanon War. Out of jealousy Gal destroys a photo sent to her by a soldier. When Chaya’s illness worsens, Gal goes to Lebanon to photograph the soldier himself. A sensitive and touching coming of age story. 74:00 min.



THE SCHWARTZ DYNASTY שושלת שוורץ - Dir. Shmuel Hasfari & Amir Hasfari 2005 U.S. Premiere

Miriam Schwartz’s world falls apart after her husband, the head of a religious council, commits suicide as result of a financial scandal. Her oddball son “Bomba” is kicked out of his settlement. His son, a religious pothead and Bar Mitzvah teacher/Cantor is from a long line of Cantors. Then there’s Alex, a Russian surgeon, now a butcher and his niece Anna, a young beauty who lives with him. She makes a living by modeling nude for art classes. These two families intertwine and drive this sweet offbeat dramatic comedy. 100:00 min.



THIRST צימאון – Dir. Tawfik Abu Wael 2004 East Coast Premiere

Abu Shukri is so ashamed of his eldest daughter’s ill-deserved reputation as a woman of loose morals that he’s moved his family into a hovel in the Palestinian desert, far from town. A stern patriarch whose work as a charcoal-burner only just makes ends meet, he insists his son Shukri forego school and help him collect timber from forests run by the Israeli authorities. This tyranny, along with his attitude towards the ‘dishonoured’ Gamila and his refusal to return to town, provokes the disapproval of his wife Um Shukri. Tempers are frayed; maybe building a pipeline to bring water to their remote home will cool things down a little… 110:00 min

Winner, Jerusalem International Film Festival 2005.



WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE איזה מקום נפלא - Dir. Eyal Halfon 2005 East Coast Premiere

Franco is an ex-cop and family man whose career was ruined by compulsive gambling. He’s forced to work off his gambling debt providing muscle, aiding illegal immigrants forced into prostitution and collecting money for a heartless, cruel racketeer. Franco’s conscience is re-awakened by a desperate Russian woman he befriends. The film evokes sympathy for foreign workers in Israel and the struggle they have assimilating into Israeli society. 104:00 min.

Best Feature Film Jerusalem Int. Film Festival, Winner Best Film & Best Actor, Israel Film Academy 2005. Israel’s entry to the 2005 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.



WOLVE’S MOON ירח של זאבים - Dir. Shay Kanot 2005 U.S. Premiere

A tragic car accident caused by Guy (a rancher who hunts down wolves killing his cattle) cripples his brother Yoav. Sentenced to a year in jail for drunk driving, Guy experiences extreme guilt. Netta, Yoav’s ex-girlfriend tries to help Guy face his guilt and falls in love with him. Yoav now a quadriplegic asks Guy after his release to help him die. Guy reluctantly attempts to help his suicidal brother. 81:00 min





TELEVISION DRAMAS


A GREEN CHARIOT מרכבה ירוקה - Dir. Gilad Goldschmidt U.S. Premiere

Yair, originally from Russia, finds a cross in his dead mother’s possessions. He panics. He is religious, engaged to a beautiful religious girl from a good family and a top Torah student. His fear and insecurity regarding his true religious identity run to his core. He explores his roots and seeks out old friends to help him find himself. A sincere story of faith and commitment. 48:00 min.



CATCHING THE SKY לתפוס את השמיים - Dir. Roni Ninio & Yankal Goldwasser U.S. Premiere

Realistic and well acted, this drama follows a disjointed family where the father suddenly became religious and alienates his secular wife and two kids. When his son reaches draft age, his ex-wife panics and seeks help from him to keep their son from serving. A gratifying story that touches on Faith, understanding, letting go and human values. 77:00 min.

Best Actress TV Series Orly Zilbershatz Israel TV Academy



CUTTING FREE OF SUZIE להשתחרר מסוזי - Dir. Oren Stern U.S. Premiere

When her overbearing mother dies, Zipa has to learn to swim in 30 days to inherit her fortune, Unfortunately, she has a deadly fear of the water. Her two greedy daughters want their part of the inheritance and pressure her to learn to swim. One daughter is promiscuous, and wants to buy a baby from Romania to save her marriage, the other is a born again Jew, who needs the money to donate for a new synagogue to stay in their orthodox settlement. A hysterical dark comedy loaded with charm. 50:00 min.



DIANA’S CHILD הילד של דיאנה - Dir. Uri Barbash U.S. Premiere

Eitan a young soldier is killed, his parents grieve. They find out he left a pregnant girlfriend Diana behind who is not sure she wants the baby. They meet Diana towards the end of her pregnancy and take care of her expecting to adopt their grandchild after she gives birth. Shuli, Eitan’s mother is mentally unstable and rejects Diana at first, but their mutual love for Eitan binds them together. 59:30 min.



JERUSALEM BREW (the Second Season) קרדיטס – מעורב ירושלמי- Dir. Shay Kanot & Yankul Goldwasser

A middle class religious family struggles with modern day issues. Itzik the oldest son is a rock musician and finds it hard to be both religious and seek his musical destiny. A handicapped child is adopted and changes the family’s dynamics. Profound moments and life’s challenges pervade in this down to earth series of a family holding tightly onto tradition and faith. 85 min.



KATZHEN קצכן - Dir. Guy Michael U.S. Premiere

Katzchen is a young boy. His father is in a mental institution and his mother dies leaving him to live with his stern aunt or suicidal uncle. Each take turns trying to care for the boy, but neither is successful. They send him to a kibbutz, where he’s taunted by the other children. He runs away and is found by a kind Arabic Shepherd, but eventually turned into the authorities. A very powerful film about the fate of this sad abandoned boy. 49:00 min.

Best Actor Drama Deror Keren Israel TV Academy



LOVE HURTS אהבה זה כואב - Dir. Ram Nahari U.S. Premiere

Luke is the sexy host of a TV food show and appears to be a tough, cynical, young woman. She comes home to find her fiancé moved out. Her best friend’s advice is to sleep with the first attractive man she meets. She reluctantly takes the friend’s advice and seduces a mechanic delivering her car. This very entertaining series follows Luke through her heartbreak, career and new surprising romance. A truly fun three part series. 83:00 min.

Best TV Series & Best Male Actor TV Series Assi Cohen Israeli TV Academy 2005

Best TV Series Haifa Int. Film Fest



MIMON עד מדינה - Dir. Emil Ben Shimon U.S. Premiere

Mimon is an adolescent boy failing in school and getting in trouble with his misguided friends. His mom is a limo driver who works hard and believes he can have a promising future. Mimon and his friends look up to the roughnecks in his neighborhood. He wants to be like them until he sees the results of crime and mischief when his friend gets arrested and sent away. 79:00

Best TV Feature Israel TV Academy Best Film for Children & Youth Eilat Int. Film Festival & WorldFest Houston



THE LAST SUSPECT החשוד האחרון - Dir. Arik Lubetzky & Matti Harari U.S. Premiere

Danny Breznitz is a cop having an affair with a mysterious woman Eva. His wife loves him and sticks by him even though he is obsessed with his mistress. After a serious injury, Danny takes on a puzzling investigation presented as an open shut case. He is not convinced it’s as simple as it seems. This is an excellent police drama starring Smil Ben-Ari who compels you to join him to solve the crime. 80:00 min.



LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER - Dir. Leonid Prudovsky US Premiere

A romantic comedy about a new immigrant from Argentina and his relationship with his Hebrew teacher at the absorption center. Marcelo is a non-religious young man, an actor and a single parent to his eleven year-old daughter, Lucy. He's desperately looking for someone to help him improve his Hebrew accent so he can pass the auditions for an Israeli soap opera. Anat, his religious teacher, is probably the best solution, but it seems that she has her own problems: her mother, Bruria, an energetic, yet pushy lady, is frantically seeking a perfect match for her daughter who has, in her eyes, clearly passed the proper wedding age. 50:00



UNTIL TOMORROW COMES עד שיגיע מחר - Dir. David Deri U.S. Premiere

Lillian has her hands full. She is preparing the police chief’s insecure daughter for her wedding and caring for her mother with Alzheimers. The police chief, a widower, is coming on to her and her mother is disturbing the neighbors by escaping the apartment and screaming at all hours for her dead husband. Lillian numbly finds a way to cope with her situation and is surprised when she also discovers happiness where she least expects it. 65:00 min.

Winner-Best TV Drama Israel TV Academy



WASSERMAN- THE RAIN MAN וסרמן: איש הגשם - Dir. Idit Shechori U.S. Premiere

73 year-old Abraham Wasserman a farmer, has 24 hours to let go of the hatred that has given him the strength to go on living or risk losing everything he loves his land and his family. He turned his back on his children who became religious against his wishes and avoids them though they live in the same village. His orthodox neighbors want to help him but he refuses to bend to their request to join them in prayer to a God he doesn’t believe in. 56:00 min.



WINNING WITH MIKI לנצח עם מיקי ברקוביץ'- Dir. Ori Inbar U.S. Premiere

Miki a teenage tomboy is an exceptional basketball player. After finding a lost dog, she meets the owner, a former basketball star tragically crippled in a car accident. Her dream is to play on the school team, but they won’t take girls. The ex-basketball star is bitter and withdrawn, but reluctantly agrees to coach Miki finding joy and hope in their new friendship. A fun film for kids and families. 76:00 min.





DOCUMENTARIES


AS A GREAT RIVER FLOWS זורם כנהר גדול - Dir. Yitzhak Haluzi U.S. Premiere

Nir Malchi is an individual, a rebel and a world-leading Tai-Chi master, while born on a Kibbutz he later became religious eventually to become an ultra-orthodox Jew. From his time in army service as a commando fighter to his travels to Japan to learn Eastern martial arts, Nir’s quest is to fulfill his need for spiritual strength. Now he is fighting his own battle with cancer and this fight for a cure forces the viewer to rethink the traditional definitions of Eastern and Western medicine practices and philosophies, and the conventional ways of thinking about what an Israeli is or should be.

Best Documentary, 21st Haifa International Film festival



BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY פרו ורבו - Dir: Shosh Shlam

How does it feel to have been pregnant or breastfeeding for 25 of 26 years of your married life? This and other questions are posed openly and directly for the first time in this film, and they expose the consequences of the commandment "be fruitful and multiply"-- the mother of all mitzvot--upon the ultra-orthodox Jewish women. 50:00 min.





FAMILY MATTERS משפוחה - Dir. David Noy

A middle-aged gay couple want a baby. They find a woman who agrees to have a baby for them. The threesome experience many difficulties through the pregnancy and birth. Itamar provides the sperm and gets close with the mother. Kai, Itamar’s partner becomes alienated and questions his position in the new relationship. Jealousies and tempers flare and all is captured sensitively and honestly. With a custody case building they must mediate a new agreement. 61:00 min.

Best Editing & Best soundtrack Doc Aviv 2004



IN JOSEPH’S TOMB בקבר יוסף - Dir. Yael Kipper Zaritsky U.S. Premiere

10 IDF soldiers are left to guard Joseph’s Tomb after riots break out. They suffer injuries and feel abandoned as their superiors procrastinate about their desperate situation and Barak decides to protect the tomb regardless of the cost. They become trapped and face a deadly threat without the relief of additional forces from their commanders. The interviews are riveting as each soldier tells his own version of the story. 56:00 min.



KIBBUTZ קיבוץ - Dir. Racheli Schwartz U.S. Premiere

Kibbutz- Hulata is radically changing. Kibbutzim are losing their jobs and facilities are closing down like the laundry, dairy and dining room due to economics. Many are angry about the insensitive way they are being treated. We watch as radical changes take place in their beloved home and a way of life is dissolved. 54:00 min.

Citation Award Doc Aviv 2005



MEN ON THE EDGE-FISHERMAN’S DIARY גברים על הקצה – יומן דייגים - Dir. Avner Faingulernt & Macabit Abramson U.S. Premiere

This candid film shows men of two nationalities working together at an age-old trade, braving elements and forming a unique uninhibited outspoken intimacy. They must rely on each other for their very survival and livelihood. Their bond is strong, but not strong enough to withstand the politics of the land that betrayed them. 90:00 min.

First Prize- SDEROT Film Festival



SECRETS - A GOD GIVEN VOICE סודות - Dir. Ofer Naim U.S. Premiere

The true cause of Legendary Yemenite singer Ofra Haza and her tragic death is still unknown, although her family and friends suspect a conspiracy. She was recognized around the world for her exceptional talent. Described as being serious, wise, but naïve she is recalled in this documentary as a victim of her controlling new husband who conned her out of her fortune and kept her from medical assistance. 85:00 min.



SHORT נמוך - Dir: Edan Alterman U.S. Premiere

Like Rodney Dangerfield, short people get no respect. The 5-foot-4-inch Israeli comedian and television star Edan Alterman explores what it means to be short through personal revelation, interviews with well-known Israelis, past girlfriends and conversations with teenage boys. His documentary is as charming and sensitive as it is funny and candid. 50:00 min.



THE ASHKENAZIM אשכנזים - Dir. Dalia Mevorach and Dani Dothan 2006 U.S. Premiere

The Ashkenazim humorously and movingly follows the lives of a group of young women and men as they reconnect to their Ashkenazi roots. Assaf Galay forms "Ashkenazi Identity" to promote a cultural revolution in Israel. Artist Yirmi Pinkus fills his comic strips with images of old Ashkenazi women. Tammy Ben-Tor creates an electro-Yiddish sexy cabaret. Itamar Handelman Ben-Canaan, always ashamed of his Ashkenazi roots, falls in love with Olga, a new immigrant from Russia, and with her returns to the lifestyle of his European ancestors. What makes these Israelis look back with longing at their Ashkenazi history and can they bring some of their forefather's lost Jewish European culture to the Middle East? 50 min.



THE BIRTHDAY PARTY מסיבת יום הולדת - Dir. Ruth Walk U.S. Premiere

A group of young children were taken to Dachau and Aushwitz and managed to survive due to extraordinary circumstances. Many of them celebrate their birthday on the day they were liberated, May 5th. The survivors recall difficult memories, their experiences in the camps and their life after. The bond between them is strong and they have kept up communication since 1944. 64:00 min.





STUDENT SHORTS


AMERICA - Dir. Sigal Mordechai

David, a widower, has spent two years badgering his bachelor brother, Ezra, to join him on a trip to America. When Ezra's life takes a new turn, David fears his dreams of adventure and his life-long companion are slipping away. 23:00 min.



DARK NIGHT - Dir. Leonid Prudozsky

Two Israeli soldiers escape from Palestinian fighters. They take an Arabic couple as hostage and hide in their house. The fighters are still searching for them and the hostage situation seems like a deadend, until suddenly the capturers and the hostages find something in common. 30:00 min.



DRAFT - Dir. Naomi Levari

Yoav Genar, a 60’s-era pacifist, is doing all he can to prevent his son from enlisting in the army. In the 24 hours prior to the draft, emotional and ideological confrontation evolves between father and son. 17:30 min.



MIRRORS - Dir. Haggai Arad

In winter, 1997, two army helicopters crashed above the Lebanese border. 73 soldiers died. The 74th must confront loss and search for compassion. 35:00 min.



SHABBOS MOTHER - Dir. Inbar Namdar

Three sisters gather at their widowed mother’s house for Sabbath. The eldest is a single radio broadcaster, the second is a religious middle-class woman in her ninth month of pregnancy and the third daughter is strongly attached to the religious world and is struggling to conceive a child. Over an intense Sabbath together, old wounds are opened that force each woman to face her womanhood and motherhood. 30:00 min.



WHICH MOPED WITH CHROME-PLATED HANDLEBARS AT THE BACK OF THE YARD? - Dir. Gideon Smilansky

In a cinematic treatment to a Georges Perec novella of the same title, Paris is replaced with Israel, 1950’s Algeria is substituted for the Gaza strip, and the place of the French protagonist is taken by Yoni whose world turns upside down when he helps his cousin, Phaber, a soldier who is willing to move heaven and earth to avoid being sent to Gaza. 28:00 min.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

For Immediate Release

Swingers 10th Anniversary Reunion with Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn & Ron Livingston; Six World Premiere Features Headline Aspen Film Line Up

* * *

Special Screenings of New Robert Altman, Dave Chappelle and Paul Weitz Films; Appearances by Chevy Chase, Douglas Coupland, Illeana Douglas, Patrick Fugit, Penelope Anne Miller & Damon Wayans

Highlight Program of 23 Features and 23 Shorts at

12th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival

NEW YORK, NY February 13, 2006 – HBO and The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (USCAF) announced the lineup today for the USCAF’s Film Discovery Program, sponsored by HBO Films, at the 12th installment of the prestigious festival to be held March 8th – 12th in Aspen, Colorado. The film program line up showcases 23 features – including 6 world premieres and 3 US premieres – 23 shorts, a celebration of the hit film “Swingers” and the return of the popular “Fireside Chats” series with the some of the major producers, buyers and distributors of independent comedy film.

Headlining the film program, “Swingers” stars Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston will reunite in Aspen to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their hilarious film that chronicled the dating lives of the young, hip Hollywood generation and made martini lounges and swing music cool again. David Wild will moderate the event.

The USCAF will also host the World Premieres of Damon Wayans’ “Behind the Smile,”Scott Lew’s“Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas,”Leslie Greif’s“Funny Money,” Eric Steven Stahl’s “I-See-You.com,”Bruce Leddy’s“Shut Up and Sing,” and Ari Palitz’s“Unbeatable Harold.”

“By programming films alongside live performances, Aspen affords filmmakers, film buyers, television executives, comedians, writers and actors the unique opportunity to be exposed to each other,” said Kevin Haasarud, Director of the USCAF’s Film Discovery Program. “Frequently this results in collaborations and this year’s line up represents a marked increase in films by talent that has grown up in the trenches of all disciplines of comedy.”

The complete line up for the 2006 Film Discovery Program includes:

Special Screenings:

• American Dreamz, directed by Paul Weitz (USA)
• A Prairie Home Companion, directed by Robert Altman (USA)
• Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, directed by Michel Gondry (USA)

Feature Length Narratives In Competition:

• Art School Confidential, directed by Terry Zwigoff (USA)
• Behind the Smile, directed by and starringDamon Wayans (USA) – World Premiere
• Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas, directed by Scott Lew and starring Patrick Fugit (USA) – World Premiere
• Conversations with Other Women, directed by Hans Canosa (USA)
• Festival, directed by Annie Griffin (UK)
• Funny Money, directed by Leslie Greif (USA) starring Chevy Chase and Penelope Anne Miller – World Premiere
• Friends With Money, directed by Nicole Holofcener (USA)
• I-See-You.com, directed by Eric Steven Stahl (USA) – World Premiere
• Keeping Mum, directed by Niall Johnson (UK) – US and North American Premiere
• Kinky Boots, directed by Julian Jarrold (UK)
• Opa, directed by Udayan Prasad (Greece/USA) – US Premiere
• The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang, directed by Tim Skousen (USA)
• Shut Up and Sing, directed byBruce Leddy (USA) – World Premiere
• Thank You For Smoking, directed by Jason Reitman (USA)
• Unbeatable Harold, directed by Ari Palitz (USA) – World Premiere

Feature Length Documentaries In Competition:

· a/k/a Tommy Chong, directed by Josh Gilbert(USA)

· Fired!, directed by Chris Bradley and starring Illeana Douglas (USA)

· Souvenir of Canada, directed by Robin Neinstein’s starring Generation X author Douglas Coupland (Canada) - U.S. Premiere,

Foreign Language:

· Adam’s Apples, directed by Thomas Anders Jensen (Denmark)

• The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, directed by Cristi Puiu (Romania)

Classics:

· Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, directed by William Greaves

Shorts In Competition

· American Storage, directed by Andrew Jay Cohen

· Angry Unpaid Hooker, directed by Steve Dildarian

· Available Men, directed by David Dean Bottrell

· A Black and White World, directed by Adam White

· Catching Kringle, directed by Jeff Wadlow

· Check Out, directed by Dan Eckman

· Chutzpah, This is?, directed by Rick Kent

· City Paradise, directed by Gaëlle Denis

· Confessions of an Animation, directed by Steve Baker

· Dupe, directed by Chris Waitt

· Every Thirty Seconds…, directed by Jeremy Corray

· Gnome, directed by Jenny Bicks

· Gopher Broke, directed by Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller

· Hooked, directed by Richie Keen

· Insight into the Enemy, directed by Sketch Armstrong

· In the Rough, directed by Paul Taylor and Tim Miller

· Jellybaby, directed by Ronan Burke and Rob Burke

· K-7, directed by Christopher Leone

· The Mustache Contest, directed by Mike Hollingsworth

· The Receipt, directed by Tim Garrick

· Road Kill, directed by Mark Mardini

· Whole, dir. Matt Flynn

· 10, directed by Scott Smith

Shorts Spotlight Screening

· Ringling School of Art & Design

Film Discovery Program Special Events

· The USCAF Film Jury Awards sponsored by Variety,and the Audience Award sponsored by Cinemax,which will be announced on Saturday, March 11th , followed by special screenings of the winning films at the Isis Theater in Aspen on Sunday, March 12th

· The Fireside Chat Series sponsored by The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition with Bob Berney (President, Picturehouse), Daniel Battsek (President, Miramax), Lisa Henson (Co-Chairman, The Henson Co), Debbie Liebling (EVP, 20th Century Fox), Kent Alterman (EVP, New Line), and Keri Putnam (EVP HBO Films), among others.

• The USCAF Mile High Club sponsored by Kodak, which brings together industry executives and filmmakers in formalized 12-minute “speed-dating” type meetings.

Ticket packages for the 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen are on sale now through the USCAF box office at 1-866-350-3369 or online at www.hbocomedyfestival.com. The USCAF Aspen is sponsored by HBO,
HBO Comedy, TBS, AOL, Sierra Mist, Entertainment Weekly, NetJets,
The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, the Center for American Progress, the American Film Institute and Stay Aspen Snowmass. The USCAF’s Film Discovery Program is sponsored by HBO Films, Cinemax, The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition and Kodak


About HBO

Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television-programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing two 24-hour premium television services, HBO and Cinemax. Together, both networks reach approximately 39 million subscribers in the United States via cable and satellite delivery. Home Box Office’s international joint ventures bring HBO branded services to more than 50 countries around the globe.

About USCAF

Since its inception in 1995, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen has become known as a primary launching pad for comedic talent and for hosting one-of-a-kind events such as reunions of Monty Python, SCTV, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Saturday Night Live, as well as of the casts of Cheers, Animal House, Waiting for Guffman and In Living Color; The AFI Star Awards to Jim Carrey, Diane Keaton, Mike Myers, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Rob Reiner, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg; the original The Simpsons Live, and the Freedom of Speech Awards which have honored George

Carlin, Bill Maher, Dick Gregory, The Smothers Brothers, Michael Moore, August Wilson and Garry Trudeau.

In the past, strong USCAF performances by Ray Romano, Camryn Manheim, Jack Black, Eddie Izzard, Anthony Clark, Candy Ford, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, Jason Kravitz, Loni Love and The Hollow Men among others, helped attract or solidify network deals.

The 2005 USCAF featured appearances by Jim Carrey, Conan O’Brien, cast of “Waiting for Guffman,” Garry Trudeau, Aaron McGruder; Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong and World Premiers of features films Sarah Silverman’s “Jesus Is Magic” and Scott Marshall’s “Lucky 13.”

More information is available at www.hbocomedyfestival.com

[REEL_REVIEWER]

February 15, 2006

FILM FEST GETS

“THE BIG PICTURE”

ON REAL WORLD ISSUES

The Death Penalty and DNA, Poverty and Racism, War and Terrorism among film discussions at the

23rd Annual Miami International Film Festival
presented by Miami Dade College
March 3 - 12, 2006

117 Films—92 Features and 25 Shorts—Highlight 2006 Festival
Including 10 World Premieres, 34 International, North American
& U.S. Premieres, and 31 East Coast Premieres

NEW YORK – The Miami International Film Festival, presented by Miami Dade College, just announced the films and discussions for the “The Big Picture” program this year. “The Big Picture” program highlights films that tackle world issues and the human struggle for life and dignity. The program pairs each film with a thought-provoking discussion, engaging filmmakers, international experts and the audience. This year, “The Big Picture” will address four major topics: French “Banlieue” Uprisings, The Death Penalty, Children Affected by War and Terrorism, and Soldiers Question War.

“At any given point in the course of world events there are hot-button issues that demand our attention. From the recent riots in France to the ominous effects of terrorism, the issues raised in “The Big Picture” this year will surely provide some of the most timely and provocative dialogue the festival has witnessed,” says Festival Director Nicole Guillemet.” “It is important to emphasize, that the impact of these issues are not solely American or European or Middle Eastern, but that of the World as a whole.”

Big Picture Films and Discussions:

Often asking more questions than they answer, the films represented in “The Big Picture” aims to increase awareness and inspire dialogue that will lead to understanding and meaningful change. The program pairs each film with a thought-provoking discussion, engaging filmmakers, international experts and the audience.

The Banlieue in French Cinema: Stories From the Ghetto on the Outskirts
"Alimentation GÈnÈrale" Director: Chantal Briet (France)
Ali's grocery store is the only shop of the decayed shopping center still in business. It's also the only place left for the forsaken inhabitants of the surrounding tower blocks, where they can get together. By filming time going by, this chronicle shows the importance of such a place where, in spite of difficulties and poverty, people still share friendliness, laughter and human warmth. (North American Premiere)

"L'Esquive" ("Games of Love and Chance") Director: Abdelatif Kechiche (France)
Fifteen-year-old Krimo is in love with Lydia, the confident and sassy star of the upcoming school play. This is not your typical high school comedy, but a reality-based romance set in the housing complexes that surround Paris. The play is an 18th century comedy, whose language is as far from French slang as Shakespeare is from rap. (2003)

“L’Haine” (“Hate”) Director: Mathieu Kassovitz (France)
Twenty-four hours in the lives of three close friends from very different backgrounds. Said is an Arab, Hubert is black and Vinz a Jew. Each of them needs to vent the anger they feel about the police brutality that landed another friend in the hospital. A riot breaks out in their housing project outside Paris, and Vinz finds a gun lost by a policeman. (1995)

"Wesh wesh. Qu'est-ce qui se passe?" ("Wesh wesh, what's going on?") Director: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
(France)
Kamel, a young man from a Paris banlieue, was sentenced to prison and expulsion. After a term in jail and two years in Algeria, he comes back illegally to his family. He wants to rebuild his life, find a job, get papers and live a normal life. But all of his efforts fail. (2001)

DISCUSSION: The Banlieue in French Cinema: Stories from the Ghetto on the Outskirts

The four films in this program allow us a glimpse into the banlieues from within and from various angles—showing us anger, hopelessness and rage, or moments of tenderness, resistance, solidarity and hope. What they have in common is the geography of an empty urban space defined by poverty and decaying housing projects, home to generations of idle young people growing up in a secluded world of social exclusion, ethnic discrimination, poor education, unemployment, drug dealers and police.

November’s civil disturbances in most of France’s metropolitan areas with thousands of cars burning in the streets was a wake up call to French society. The inequality and racism, festering for decades, which the politicians and majority population chose not to see, exploded into a violent confrontation. No one can say they are unaware of the frustrations any longer. What will be done now to address the needs of the French immigrant community? Could the US face similar disturbances as the gap between the rich and poor widens.
†
The discussion will be held on Monday, March 6 with moderator Barbara Lorey de Lacharriere, French film critic. Panelists include:
- Chantale Briet, Director, Alimentation GÈnÈral
- Alec G. Hargreaves, Director of the Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies at Florida State University
- Hubert KoundÈ, Actor, La Haine
- Karim Mazdour, Actor, Wesh Wesh

The Death Penalty
"After Innocence" Director: Jessica Sanders (USA)
Imagine serving prison time for someone else’s crime. Now imagine getting a second chance at freedom and facing a judicial system that resents being challenged. After Innocence takes a closer look at the legal revolution of DNA testing and its effect on inmates, who are suddenly proven not guilty. Discussion to follow film. (Regional Premiere)

Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt Directors: Jeff Marks, Adam Elend (USA)
This film is a gripping, behind-the-scenes look at a lawyer's fight to save his wrongly convicted client from execution. Narrated by singer Ani Di Franco, this new documentary considers the controversial institution of capital punishment through the eyes of Stephen Bright, the nation's leading anti-death penalty lawyer. Discussion to follow film.
(Regional Premiere)

DISCUSSION: The Death Penalty

Fighting for life while serving on death row…struggling for a new life once exonerated. These stories question the ethics of the system and the morality of the punishment. Stephen Bright, the nation’s leading anti-death penalty lawyer, a Florida exoneree, and filmmakers Jessica Sanders, Jeff Marks, and Adam Elend, discuss the death penalty.

In January a Tampa man was released on DNA evidence after serving 24 years. A Miami man was released five months ago after having spent 26 years behind bars accused of being a rapist. A Florida law established a deadline which threatens to cut off the use of DNA evidence for convicted inmates to prove their innocence. Imagine day in, day out, locked in a cell, unable to give your child a hug, your spouse a kiss, attend a parent’s funeral, and knowing you shouldn’t be there. These cases are but two of the thousands of wrongly convicted prisoners. The Innocence Project is hoping to address nationwide.

The discussion will be held on Monday, March 6 with moderator Amy Driscoll, Reporter, The Miami Herald. Panelists include:
- Stephen Bright, Lawyer
- Jessica Sanders, Director, After Innocence
- Jeff Marks, Director, Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt
- Adam Elend,Director, Fighting for Life in the Death-Belt
- Wilton Dedge, Florida exoneree
- Milton Hirsch, Defense Attorney for Wilton Dedge

Soldiers Question War

"Sir, No Sir" Director: David Zeiger (USA)
The first film to tell the complete story of the GI movement against the Vietnam War is both a timely document and a much-needed redress to a forgotten and sometimes suppressed history. Troy Garity narrates this blistering and passionate award-winning documentary that combines dramatic personal testimony and never-before-seen archival material. Discussion to follow film. (Regional Premiere)

DISCUSSION: Soldiers Question War

From Vietnam to Iraq, soldiers have served their country even while knowing their mission was no longer in focus. Filmmaker David Zeiger will lead the audience in a discussion with Garett Reppenhagen of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Patrick McCann, President of the South Florida Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

The discussion will be held on Tuesday, March 7 with moderator Michael Sallah, Investigations Editor, The Miami Herald. Panelists include:
- David Zeiger, Director, Sir, No Sir
- Garett Reppenhagen, Associate Director of the Alliance for Security, Member of Iraq Veterans Against the War
- Patrick McCann, President of the South Florida Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Children Affected by War and Terrorism
"Echoes Of War" Director: Joop Van Wijk (The Netherlands)
Children from around the world, victims of war and terrorism, share their harrowing experiences. From Afghanistan to Colombia, Sierra Leone to 9/11, they recollect the carnage that affects them to this day. Grief, courage and hope are their common bond in this heart-warming documentary. Discussion to follow film. (North American Premiere)

DISCUSSION: Children Affected by War and Terrorism

Filmmaker Joop Van Wijk and author Dr. Nancy Baron will discuss the innocent victims of war and terrorism—children. The audience will explore the current global situation, how these children cope, and what the future holds. Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, will bring a local perspective talking about the children in our community who have been victims of political instability in their homelands, come to the US for shelter, only to come face to face with our unwelcoming immigration system.

The discussion will be held on Thursday, March 9 with moderator David Lawrence, Jr., President. The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation. Panelists include:
- Joop Van Wijk, Director, Echoes of War
- Dr. Nancy Baron, Director of Global Psycho-Social Initiatives
- Cheryl Little, Executive Director, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center

Screenings will take place at six venues throughout the city: The Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, Regal South Beach Cinema in South Beach, Tower Theater in Little Havana, Sunrise Intracoastal Cinema in North Miami Beach, The Bill Cosford Cinema at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, and The Colony in Miami Beach.
Guests who have recently attended the Miami International Film Festival have included Andy Garcia, Jonathan Demme, Woody Harrelson, Geraldine Chaplin, Carlos Saura, Virginie Ledoyen, Zana Briski, HBO, Fox Searchlight, Liv Ullmann, Alexia de la Iglesia, Chris Terrio, Luis Mandoki, Stanley Nelson, Bob Rafelson, Sara Driver, Ted Hope, Sony Pictures Classics, Camilla Belle, Miramax, Baltasar Kormakur, Tony Safford, Rory Kennedy, Daniel Bruhl, Luis Tosar, Stephen Frears, Gaspar Noe, Fred Wiseman, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Jesse Bradford, Daniele Thompson, Mikael Hafstrom, LisaGay Hamilton, Khyentse Norbu, Eve Ensler, Focus Features, ThinkFilm, Venevision, Maverick, Plural, PBS, Wellspring, Global Film Initiative, Emerging Pictures, Paradigm Consulting, Bristol Media, William Morris Agency, Ibermedia, Traction Media, Comerica Bank, amongst others.

The Miami International Film Festival brings the best of world cinema to South Florida and plays a leading role in maintaining and further enriching its film culture. MIFF uses the unique geographical and cultural position of Miami to be a premiere venue for the exhibition of international and US films, with a special focus on Ibero-American cinema.

More than 60,000 people attended the Festival in 2005, a 275% increase since 2002. In addition, more than 220 filmmakers, producers, talent, and industry representatives from around the world attended the 2005 Festival to introduce their work to Miami audiences and industry professionals. During the last three years, under the direction of Nicole Guillemet, the Festival has presented films from more than 50 countries, including 125 East Coast, US, and world premieres, scores of Oscar winners and nominees, and many international prizewinners.

Miami Dade College
Miami Dade College has a long and rich history of involvement in the cultural arts, providing South Florida with a vast array of artistic and literary offerings including The Miami Book Fair International, the Cultura del Lobo performing arts series, The Cuban Cinema Series, and the School of Entertainment and Design Technology in addition to the Miami International Film Festival. MDC is the largest institution of higher education in the country and is nationally recognized for many of its academic and cultural programs. With an enrollment of more than 163,000 students, MDC is the nation’s top producer of associate of arts and associate of science degrees. The college’s eight campuses and outreach centers offer more than 200 distinct degree programs including baccalaureate degrees in education.

For more information contact the Miami International Film Festival at (305) 237-3456 or visit www.miamifilmfestival.com. For more information on Miami Dade College, please visit www.mdc.edu.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

MIAMI ENCUENTROS EMPOWERS NINE FILMMAKERS

US Film Execs Discover Latin Filmmakers at

the 23rd Annual Miami International Film Festival

presented by Miami Dade College

March 3 - 12, 2006

117 Films—92 Features and 25 Shorts—Highlight 2006 Festival

Including 10 World Premieres, 34 International, North American

& U.S. Premieres, and 31 East Coast Premieres

NEW YORK – The Miami International Film Festival, presented by Miami Dade College, will be celebrating its fourth year of the breakthrough program, Miami Encuentros, which gives emerging producers from Spain and Latin America the opportunity to present new projects to U.S. industry professionals, including producers, sales agents, television stations and distributors.

This year, the Miami International Film Festival and Miami Encuentros Director Diana Sanchez have chosen nine filmmakers to participate in Encuentros from Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, USA, Uruguay and Spain.

This intensive three-day event fosters dialogue, builds lasting connections and offers opportunities for networking and the nurturing of the next generation of filmmakers, providing access to distributors and ultimately to the public.

"As a program, Miami Encuentros is a pot of many ingredients. Professional Advice, Creative Ambition, Rare Opportunity, and Unique Talent. When all these ingredients are blended together, the result is quite extraordinary," says Festival Director Nicole Guillemet. "Miami Encuentros engages in a process that enriches the filmmaker, the participating industry members, and most importantly, the final product."

Serving as the Opening Night film at the 2006 Miami International Film Festival, "Heartlift" ("Lifting de CorazÛn") has the added distinction of having been a Miami Encuentros project in 2003. Director Eliseo Subiela’s "Heartlift" unfolds as a sexy, frothy meditation on the madness of love, about a successful plastic surgeon confronting a mid-life crisis who barely lives to tell the tale. "Madeinusa" and "7 Virgins", two dramatic features in the Ibero-American Cinema Competition this year, were past Miami Encuentros projects as well.

MIAMI ENCUENTROS PROJECTS 2006:

Angels Still Come to the Suburbs (A Vallecas TodavÌa Llegan ¡ngeles)

Gabriel Vel·zquez, Spain

Producers: Chema de la PeÒa, ArtimaÒa Producciones

Bianca is a 16-year-old living in Marseilles, France, with her mother, a Spanish immigrant factory worker. Her life passion is cross-country running, to which she devotes all her time and energy. In a tragic accident, her mother is trapped under three tons of fish and killed, forcing Bianca, who dislikes most people, to live in a home with other orphans. She resists being put in a group home because she knows that her real father is out there somewhere.

After nearly making a big mistake with her young life, she decides that it's worth the effort to escape to Madrid to find her father. While searching the Valleca suburbs, she meets Julio Nieves, an older construction worker who is having problems at work because he's going deaf. Nieves pretends to be her father because he feels so alone. To her dismay, Bianca later discovers that her real father died in an accident at the municipal slaughterhouse when he was trapped underneath five tons of meat. Alone in the world and in need of affection, she decides not to let Nieves know of her discovery.

Nieves and Bianca - an old man and a young girl - without saying anything verbally, accept the game they are playing and an unlikely father-daughter relationship emerges. They will push the limits of the fragile boundaries they have created: a new family and the illusions of unconditional love being eternal. It’s not going to be easy.



Bad Day to Go Fishing (Mal DÌa Para Ir a Pescar)

Alvaro Brechner, Uruguay (First Feature)

Producer: Virginia Hinze

Jacob van Oppen is a former world-champion wrestler who thinks he’ll one day regain his title. Accompanied by his manager, Prince Orsini, he travels through small South American towns carrying out wrestling demonstrations. Every week, a new city awakens to posters of Jacob in his prime. Massive red lettering draws the town folk to see the training of a "World Champion," while in smaller print at the bottom, a challenge: "A thousand dollars to whoever can last three minutes in the ring with Jacob van Oppen."

For many years, Orsini’s job has been to organize exhibitions where people basically pay to watch the giant exercise. Occasionally he arranges a fight with a local challenger willing to be knocked down for a few dollars. Unaware of this, when Jacob arrives at a small town and a true challenger turns up, he cannot recognize the danger.

The contender is a young field worker-turned-grocer known as "the Turk." His pregnant girlfriend finds a way for them to make some easy cash when she reads the small print on the poster. Orsini, fearing that the Turk might be a difficult man to bribe, visits his store to reason with him, but his usual tactics don’t work on his controlling girlfriend.

Orsini tries everything to stop the fight, but to no avail. He does his best to persuade the champ to leave, but the big man’s pride interferes with Orsini’s plans: Jacob discovers the truth about the fixed fights and decides to accept his fate. A bottle of gin, a revolver and an open-handed blow will put an end to Friday night, and what Saturday morning brings has nothing to do with wrestling.



Fraternal Love (Uni„o Fraterna)

LaÌs Bodanzky, Brazil

Producers: Fabio Gullane, Gullane Filmes, Buriti Filmes

Fraternal Love, a feature-length fiction, takes place during one evening at a dance club for the elderly in S„o Paulo. The dancing begins in the afternoon when the ballroom opens and ends just before midnight as the last customer leaves. The film follows an ensemble cast of six main characters as they reveal their true selves through intertwining and parallel storylines.

Ernesto enjoys putting other people in embarrassing situations. His long- and well-kept secret finally surfaces when everyone discovers that he is in fact not a widower: His wife is actually downstairs waiting for him in the lobby. Senhor ¡lvaro, the club’s great dance champion, is both a grouch and a gentleman. Due to an injury, he is forced to watch from his seat as Dona Alice, his dance partner, shines alone. Feeling impotent, he realizes his enlarged ego must face his conscience.



Dona Nice, a first-time attendee, rediscovers her femininity just a few months after having become a widow. Her needs and desires, stifled while living with her repressive husband, finally overtake her on the dance floor. Erivelton has a terrible attack of jealousy because his dance partner, Iolanda, thinks of nothing but her husband who she has left alone at home, lying in bed and connected to an oxygen mask.

Friends SÌlvia and Marina hire the young dancer Betinho to dance with them exclusively. Their quiet duel over young dancer’s attention bring old wounds to the surface. And Eudes feels like a young Don Juan after seducing Bel, a 30-year-old going through a delicate moment in her life who has come to the dance by chance.



How Far are you Going? (QuÈ tan Lejos)

Tania Hermida, Ecuador (First Feature)

Producers: Gervasio Iglesias, La ZanfoÒa Producciones

How far are you going is a journey of self-discovery by two girls in their mid-20s, Esperanza (Hope) and Tristeza (Sadness), while they travel along the Ecuadorian Andes and coasts. Esperanza is a tourist from Spain following the instructions of her travel guide in her search for "third world" adventures and "picturesque" views. Tristeza is an Ecuadorian student of literature, very critical and skeptical of her country's "picturesqueness" and secretly looking for love.

Both Esperanza and Tristeza intend to get to Cuenca, a small city in the South, by bus. When a national strike forces them to hitchhike, they discover the hidden secrets of an apparently abandoned country. The sudden appearance of a young man who is carrying the ashes of his recently deceased grandmother alters the course and meaning of their journey to the point where they're transformed by the recognition of their own solitudes. Esperanza never finds the picture-perfect postcard country she was looking for and Tristeza loses the ideal of finding the picture-perfect love she was looking for, but the metaphorical routes they follow lead them to explore the thrills of possible other loves and worlds within themselves.



Niebla (Nieblas)

Francisca Schweitzer, Chile

Producers: Alberto Chaigneau, Building a Rainbow

Niebla is a disturbing yet beautiful love story between Nadia, a 35-year-old woman, and Manuel, a boy of 14. Nadia, in crisis and looking for refuge, arrives at Niebla, a coastal town in southern Chile always covered by fog and rain, and finds three orphaned siblings in an inherited old hostel. Magdalena, the oldest, is a rebellious adolescent maintaining a perverted relationship with a quadriplegic neighbor; Maria, the middle child, is an enchanting girl suffering from severe retardation; and Manuel, the youngest of the three, is man of the house and caretaker of both the hostel and his older sisters. Anna, a German artist and old friend of their deceased parents, cares for the children.



As the hostel’s first guest, Nadia is spied upon and analyzed. Feeling at first suffocated, she eventually realizes her loneliness and need for companionship. In an attempt to join the bizarre household dynamic, she discovers in Manuel something to which she is subconsciously attracted. One day Nadia is left in peril after a serious breakdown; Manuel rescues her, releasing her latent affection for him. Later, when Anna and the girls go to the city, leaving Manuel and Nadia alone, the attraction that had been quietly developing blossoms and the two begin a relationship. When Anna and the sisters return, the romance goes unnoticed.



As Nadia integrates herself into the family, her anguish lessens and everything seems to work. However, the romance is finally discovered and the apparent harmony is destroyed. What was once hidden appears in a manner so explicit it blinds everything surrounding it. Nadia then returns to the city, guilty of having dirtied something once innocent and pure.

The Salted Earth

RenÈ Simon Cruz Jr., USA

Producers: Effie T. Brown, RenÈ Simon Cruz Jr.

Gabriel San Martin is a powerful Miami lawyer defending only the guilty rich. Women find him irresistible and he's heir apparent to an agri-business empire. The only dark cloud in his life is that he's been plagued by nightmarish visions since childhood.

After Castro's sudden death, Gabriel's father, El Viejo, sends him to Havana on a quest that has long obsessed him: recovering Finca San Martin and vast family lands that were nationalized by the Marxist Revolution. El Viejo has arranged for the repurchase of the land from Cuban General Carlos Fuentes, but complications arise. Fuentes can't deliver the most valuable piece of land as ownership has been transferred to the Guajiro peasants, and Gabriel is forced to travel to ViÒales to bargain directly with the peasants.

Captain Clara Buendia, the General’s security chief, joins Gabriel for the journey. He is love struck, but she despises him as he embodies the coming rape of her country by foreign powers. Their diametrically opposed views clash even as an irresistible attraction draws them closer. While traveling the dangerous road to Finca San Martin, they overcome many attacks, forcing Gabriel into close contact with peasants like Ernesto Zedillo, a truck driver-singer-poet whose life is tied to tradition, family and the land. Gabriel soon finds himself compelled to re-examine his preconceptions about Cuba, its people and himself.

As they near ViÒales, repressed memories resurface and Gabriel comes face to face with his deepest fears. The truth behind his haunting visions is revealed, and he learns that his life is a lie. He must now choose between exacting revenge and pursuing the love that could lead him to redemption.

SaudÛ

Diego F. RamÌrez, Colombia

Producers: Jhonny Hendrix, Antorcha Films

Pablo, an Afro-Colombian doctor from a humble village called SaudÛ, lives with his family in a big city. Pablo never talked about SaudÛ until his son, Camilo, wanted to meet his grandmother, Herminia. Prompted by a bizarre series of events, Pablo decides to take Camilo to SaudÛ; for his son, it is like a 12th birthday adventure.

While traveling to the village from QuibdÛ, the closest nearby town, their canoero tells Camilo the story of SaudÛ: It was a town of black slaves, who after escaping used witchcraft in order to disappear. Many say that SaudÛ doesn’t even exist, while others talk of a place inhabited only by witches. Once in SaudÛ, the atmosphere is cold and tense, filled with a strange silence. They have the feeling that they are being watched.

Pablo finds his mother; as they enjoy a little family reunion, the house is attacked by dark forces. While Herminia performs the protection ritual on her grandson, Pablo rushes outside but finds nothing. When he re-enters the house, his mother and son are gone. Later he discovers that the woman he believed was his mother was not. The forces of darkness cloaking SaudÛ have his son; the only way to find him is to follow his heart.

Pablo offers his life for his son’s and unknowingly liberates the souls trapped in the city, including his mother’s. Balance is restored and light returns to SaudÛ. Crossing the river to leave the village, Camilo faints. Waking up in a hospital, he realizes that the accident put him and his father in comas. As his mother holds him in her arms and kisses him he looks over and sees his father’s body laying motionless in a hospital bed.



Septembers (Septiembres en el mar de la China)

Carles Bosch, Spain

Producers: Loris Omedes for Bausan Films, Marta Figueres

In September, 2005 the Soto de Real Prison near Madrid celebrates the Festival of Song, a karaoke competition. Norma, Patricia, Aurora, Gardoqui and EstefanÌa will perform, as will Adalberto, who just beat out Arturo and Rudolf. At the September, 2006 celebration, not all participants have returned.

Rudolf, Arturo, Adalberto, Norma, Patricia, Aurora, Gardoqui and EstefanÌa live out their love stories from prison. Rudolf, from Lithuania, yearns to win back a beautiful Ukranian girl he visited while on a 3-day pass. The Spanish gypsy, Arturo, is still awaiting trial and is visited weekly by his girlfriend, Rocio, who might not continue to visit once he is condemned to nine years’ incarceration. Adalberto, an Argentine, has a girlfriend in Barcelona whose name is actually Pablo.

Norma, a Mexican, has already won the Festival of Song three times; if not granted a pardon, she may win again. Patricia, from Madrid, has spent five months incarcerated because her boyfriend left her with a bag of drugs. Aurora and her boyfriend are in a relationship of convenience, seeing each other in the prison whenever they can. Gardoqui, from Madrid, has met his great love, Fortu, in the prison infirmary. EstefanÌa, from Catalonia, has also met her true love in Cristian, an Ecuadorian. They even decided to get married.

From one September to the next, the film follows these love stories, both within the prison and without it, traveling to Buenos Aires where they have asked for Adalberto's extradition, to Lithuania where Rudolf dreams of returning and to Bolivia where Aurora’s children are. As love is a two-way street, the person that is in prison is just as important as the one outside.



The Watercolorist

Daniel RodrÌguez, Per· (First Feature)

Producers: Enid Campos, Daniel RodrÌguez, Cinecorp SAC

T has a simple dream: to leave his gray life as a clerk and paint watercolors. To fulfill this wish, he moves into an apartment building, giving him more space and freedom. His new neighbors are an unfortunate group including an old gossipy pair, a single mother, a handicapped soccer player and an incompatible young married couple.

Upon arriving at the building, T is targeted by the residents and quickly conned into doing them favors. The old couple asks for his support in renovating the building; the soccer player makes him store his old trophies in his apartment; and the single mother talks him into giving her son painting lessons so she can go meet her lover. T is prevented from fulfilling his dream by this chain of domestic nightmares.

At a certain point, the residents, despite having taken advantage of their new neighbor, accuse him of being irresponsible, selfish and lazy. The only one who seemingly supports him is a lonesome young woman who, like the others, later stabs him in the back. Angered by the attitude of his neighbors, T becomes depressed and flees to the solitary city streets. Upon returning, he finds that someone has broken into his apartment and that his treasured watercolor has disappeared. Looking out the window, he sees a dreadful spectacle: the watercolor - his life’s dream - is now ruined and thrown onto a bonfire by those that he had recently helped.

In the end, nothing is accomplished. The watercolor is not finished and the neighbors are unable to renovate the building. T, shocked by the actions and betrayals of those around him, gives up and joins this group of dissatisfied neighbors’ oppressive way of life.

Screenings will take place at six venues throughout the city: The Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami, Regal South Beach Cinema in South Beach, Tower Theater in Little Havana, Sunrise Intracoastal Cinema in North Miami Beach, The Bill Cosford Cinema at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, and The Colony in Miami Beach.

Guests who have recently attended the Miami International Film Festival have included Andy Garcia, Jonathan Demme, Woody Harrelson, Geraldine Chaplin, Carlos Saura, Virginie Ledoyen, Zana Briski, HBO, Fox Searchlight, Liv Ullmann, Alexia de la Iglesia, Chris Terrio, Luis Mandoki, Stanley Nelson, Bob Rafelson, Sara Driver, Ted Hope, Sony Pictures Classics, Camilla Belle, Miramax, Baltasar Kormakur, Tony Safford, Rory Kennedy, Daniel Bruhl, Luis Tosar, Stephen Frears, Gaspar Noe, Fred Wiseman, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Jesse Bradford, Daniele Thompson, Mikael Hafstrom, LisaGay Hamilton, Khyentse Norbu, Eve Ensler, Focus Features, ThinkFilm, Venevision, Maverick, Plural, PBS, Wellspring, Global Film Initiative, Emerging Pictures, Paradigm Consulting, Bristol Media, William Morris Agency, Ibermedia, Traction Media, Comerica Bank, amongst others.

The Miami International Film Festival brings the best of world cinema to South Florida and plays a leading role in maintaining and further enriching its film culture. MIFF uses the unique geographical and cultural position of Miami to be a premiere venue for the exhibition of international and US films, with a special focus on Ibero-American cinema.

More than 60,000 people attended the Festival in 2005, a 275% increase since 2002. In addition, more than 220 filmmakers, producers, talent, and industry representatives from around the world attended the 2005 Festival to introduce their work to Miami audiences and industry professionals. During the last three years, under the direction of Nicole Guillemet, the Festival has presented films from more than 50 countries, including 125 East Coast, US, and world premieres, scores of Oscar winners and nominees, and many international prizewinners.

Miami Dade College

Miami Dade College has a long and rich history of involvement in the cultural arts, providing South Florida with a vast array of artistic and literary offerings including The Miami Book Fair International, the Cultura del Lobo performing arts series, The Cuban Cinema Series, and the School of Entertainment and Design Technology in addition to the Miami International Film Festival. MDC is the largest institution of higher education in the country and is nationally recognized for many of its academic and cultural programs. With an enrollment of more than 163,000 students, MDC is the nation’s top producer of associate of arts and associate of science degrees. The college’s eight campuses and outreach centers offer more than 200 distinct degree programs including baccalaureate degrees in education.

For more information contact the Miami International Film Festival at (305) 237-3456 or visit www.miamifilmfestival.com. For more information on Miami Dade College, please visit www.mdc.edu.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After an exciting 10 days of World and Ibero-American cinema, the Miami International Film Festival has announced the recipients of their 2006 Grand Jury Prizes ($25,000 for a film in each of the three competition categories)


Ibero-American Dramatic Feature Competition:
“Life in Color” (Vida y Color) by director Santiago Tabernero


World Dramatic Feature Competition:
There was a TIE in this category: “The Accused” (Anklaget) by director Jacob Thuesen and “Burnt Out” (Sauf le respect que je vous dois) by director Fabienne Godet.


World & Ibero-American Documentary Feature Competition:
“En el hoyo” (In the Pit) by director Juan Carlos Rulfo

[REEL_REVIEWER]

ALEXANDER PAYNE AND JIM TAYLOR

TO RECEIVE THE

SCREENWRITER TRIBUTE AT THE

11th NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL

The Nantucket Film Festival

Takes Place June 14-18, 2006

MARCH 2006 (New York, NY) - You can almost smell the surf in the air as the 11th Annual Nantucket Film Festival gears up for June 2006. Executive Director Jill Burkhart and Artistic Director Mystelle Brabbee today announced the writing team Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne as the NBC Universal Screenwriter Honorees for the 2006 Nantucket Film Festival.

"It's wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate the work of a screenwriting team this year, a first for us," said Jill Burkhart.
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor have had both critical and commercial success with films such as "Citizen Ruth", "Election" (2000 Oscar Nominee), "About Schmidt", and 2005 Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, "Sideways".

"Payne and Taylor possess a unique ability for using satire to tell incisive stories of real people and their not-so-perfect lives. Their perceptive character-driven scripts have resulted in richly satisfying films that bridge both the indie world and the mainstream world and speak to all audiences," said Mystelle Brabbee.

Mr. Taylor and Mr. Payne will be appearing at The NBC Universal Screenwriter's Tribute on Saturday, June 17th. The event will also feature various colleagues and special guests who are still to be announced.

Past NBC Universal screenwriter tributes include Steve Martin, Charlie Kaufman, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Jay Presson Allen, Paul Schrader, Walter Bernstein, Ring Lardner Jr. and James Schamus.

ABOUT NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL

The NFF was founded in 1996 to spotlight screenwriters, screenwriting and storytelling in today's†cinema. The festival takes place over five days in June on the idyllic island of Nantucket, MA.

Now in its eleventh year, NFF has become a prestigious annual event within

the international film industry. Screening over 50 feature-length and short films in all genres that highlight the art of storytelling, the NFF is significant

attraction that draws over ten thousand attendees, screenwriters, producers, agents and development executives each year.

Screenwriting is further explored through panel discussions, a screenplay competition, an emerging screenwriter's mentorship with the Screenwriters Colony, an educational program for teens and community beach screenings. The Festival also hosts the popular evening of Late Night Storytelling (hosted by Peter Farrelly and Anne Meara and past stories told by Jim Carrey, Tina Fey, Mos Def and Paul Rudd) in addition to screenplay staged readings.

Past staged readings have included the hilarious SHOWSTOPPER by Anthony Barille & Geoffrey Nauffts including the talents of Ben Stiller and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei. Last year’s reading, SPECTACLE, Part One of the Mark Rosen Chronicles by Stacy Weiss and Dan Chariton was directed by Ben Stiller and the cast included: Macaulay Culkin, Amy Sedaris, David Krumholtz, Lake Bell, Robert Sean Leonard, Ben Stiller and more. The coveted screenplay A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer was the centerpiece staged reading of NFF 2003 and featured Will Ferrell in the starring role with Alan Cumming, Mos Def, and Rosie Perez.

The NFF has been a showcase for some of the top independent films of the last decade. The festival was one of the first to find and platform such films as: The Full Monty, Next Stop Wonderland and Girlfight. NFF 2005 Featured the North American Premiere of Jim Jarmush's Broken Flowers as the Opening Night Film.

For more information please visit our website at www.nantucketfilmfestival.org.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

8th ANNUAL

SARASOTA FILM FESTIVAL

March 31st – April 9th, 2006

FESTIVAL COMPETITION AND AUDIENCE AWARDS ANNOUNCED

The Sarasota Film Festival Competition, Audience Awards and Filmmaker Honorees were announced at the annual black-tie Filmmakers’ Tribute Dinner hosted by the Longboat Key Club & Resort, the Official Resort of the Sarasota Film Festival, on Saturday evening, April 8th, 2006.

The evening, which was introduced by Dinner Chair Mary Ann Robinson, Board President Neil McCurry, Festival Executive Director, Jody Kielbasa and Master of Ceremonies, Joe Pantoliano (who was in for the screening of his new film, THE AMATEURS), is where the Festivalpays tribute to its filmmaker Honorees and Award Winners, including the distinguished recipient of the Regal Entertainment Group’s Career Achievement Award. This year’s Honoree is a great friend of the Sarasota Film Festival, a Golden Globe and EMMY Award winner, Academy Award® nominee, and incredibly talented Producer/Writer/Actor/Director, William H. Macy. Previous honorees of the Regal Entertainment Group’s Career Achievement Award include Jon Voight, Alan Alda, Sydney Pollack, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Benton and Leslie Caron. In addition to Mr. Macy, the talented filmmakers to be honored that evening were Academy Award® nominated Actress Felicity Huffman, honored with the Breakthrough Performer Award; Director/Screenwriter Robert Towne, honored with the Excellence in Filmmaking Award; Producer Paula Wagner was the recipient of the Excellence in Producing Award; and the inaugural recipient of the Florida Medal of the Arts, a prize to be rarely given which honors an artist that has changed the way we perceive his or her art form, recent Academy Award® Honoree, Director Robert Altman.

Serving as presenters for the Filmmaker Honorees were actor Jason Ritter (in town for his film OUR VERY OWN) who gave the award to Felicity Huffman; SFF Board Chairman Dr. John Welch who presented to Robert Towne; SFF Advisory Board member and Creative Artists Agency topper Rick Nicita who presented to Paula Wagner; Regal Cinemas Fred Buffum who presented to William H. Macy; and the President of Film Florida Ed Stramm who was on hand to re-introduce William H. Macy who presented the Tribute to Robert Altman. Festival programmer Tom Hall announced the Jury Competition Awards, while our snazzy Master of Ceremonies Joe Pantoliano did the honors for the Audience Awards, and Festival Chairman, Dr. John Welch, joined by SFF Executive Board member Gerd Petrik, announced the Young Filmmaker and Scholarship Awards.

Among this year’s Competition Jury members were: Narrative Feature Competition: Picturehouse Executive Vice President Marian Koltai-Levine, Entertainment Weekly film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum, Salon.com/New York Times journalist Stephanie Zacharek. Best Documentary Feature Competition: indieWIRE journalist Brian Brooks, Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette, Producer Randy Finch, VP of Acquisitions & Distribution at Wellspring Marie Therese Guirgis. Independent Visions Competition: Submarine’s Josh Braun, IFC Films VP of Acquisitions Sarah Lash, and Screenwriter and Film Threat Magazine Editor Chris Gore.

Each of the competition awards carries a $5,000 cash prize for the filmmaker.

The 2006 Narrative Feature Competition Award was presented to
OLD JOY, directed by Kelly Reichardt, and starring Daniel London and Will Oldham.

A Special Jury Prize was presented by the Narrative Feature jury to
THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU, directed by Cristi Puiu, and starring Ion Fiscteanu and Luminita Gheorghiu.

The 2006 Documentary Feature Competition Award was presented to
CLEAR CUT: THE STORY OF PHILOMATH, OR, directed by Peter Richardson.

A Special Jury Prize was presented by the Documentary Feature jury to
BLACK SUN, directed by Gary Tarn.

The 2006 Independent Visions Competition Award was presented to
FIND LOVE, directed by Erica Dunton.

A Special Jury Prize for Screenwriting was presented by the Independent Visions jury to SOMEBODIES, written and directed by Hadjii.

A Special Jury Prize for Originality was presented by the Independent Visions jury to WILD TIGERS I HAVE KNOWN, directed by Cam Archer.

The Young Filmmakers Showcase, featuring original short works by inspired young filmmakers from Manatee and Sarasota Counties presented the Best Director Award and $1,000 Scholarship, to Bryce Bochan (Booker High School) for the film CHASER GREEN; Best Screenplay and $500 Scholarship to Nicole Bucchino (Lakewood Ranch High School) for her film BLACK; and the Best Actor Award to 16 year-old Parker Lawler from Osprey for his work in the film RED WAGON CONFESSIONS.

The Best Short Family Film Award was presented to director Mitra Sen for her film THE PEACE TREE, which was chosen by a jury of 6 young cineastes, ranging from elementary to high school grades, all with an avid appetite for film: Dan Cuesta, Ross Morris, Deter Hudson, Saramaile Tate, Chantal Guerro, Alex Vercheski.

The Gerd Petrik Scholarship of $1,000 was awarded to Aaron R. Sexton of Manatee Community College in Bradenton, FL; The Dr. John Welch Scholarship of $1,000 was awarded to Chen Shalem, a graduate student from Israel in his first year at Florida State University's Film School; Film Florida's Sara Fuller Student Scholarship of $500 was awarded to Danny Daneau, Director of the short film, November Guest, in this year's Shorts Program. Danny is a graduate student in the Film School at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Following the presentation of the Scholarship winners, Executive Director Jody Kielbasa presented the Pinnacle Award to Gerd Petrik for his unflagging support of the Sarasota Film Festival

Special recognition goes to winners of our Audience Favorite Awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary, Excellence in World Cinema, and Best Short Film. Each category carries a $1,000 cash prize presented to the filmmaker.

An Ensemble Award In Acting was presented earlier in the week at Luncheon Under The Banyans to OUR VERY OWN with Mary Badham, Allison Janney, Jason Ritter with director Cameron Watson on hand.

The 2006 Sarasota Film Festival Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature to NEO NED from director VanFischer.

The 2006 Sarasota Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature to ABEL RAISES CAIN by directors Jennifer Abel and Jeff Hockett.

The 2006 Sarasota Film Festival Audience Award for Best In World Cinema to LADY VENGEANCE by director Chan-Wook Park.

The 2006 Sarasota Film Festival Audience Award for Best Short Film to
DAMMI IL LA by Matteo Servente

The Regal Entertainment Group, 8th Annual Sarasota Film Festival, presented by Mercedes-Benz of Sarasota, ended on Sunday, April 9th after 10 days of films, parties, seminars, education and excitement. This year’s program, coordinated by festival programmer Tom Hall, was a celebration of diversity and internationality. From the Opening Night kick off on March 31st with the East Coast premiere of FUNNY MONEY, and the visit of its stars Chevy Chase, Penelope Ann Miller and Chris McDonald, along with Director Leslie Greif,through to the Gala Tribute celebration for our Filmmaker Honorees Felicity Huffman, Robert Towne, Paula Wagner, William H. Macy and Robert Altman, our Competition and Audience winners, and our Closing Night Film, Mr. Altman’s A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, the festival was a beehive of activity. The festival presented over 185 narrative, documentary and short films in programs including Women’s Voices, World Cinema, Family Films, Industry Spotlight, Narrative Features, Documentaries, Shorts and Independent Visions. Among the films and guests appearing at the festival were Susan Seidelman and Sally Kellerman with BOYNTON BEACH CLUB; Van Fischer and Jeremy Renner from NEO NED; Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner from THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE; Michael Tully with COCAINE ANGEL; Sturla Gunnarsson with BEOWULF & GRENDEL; Ian Inaba and Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney with AMERICAN BLACKOUT; Nisha Inalsingh with HULDUFÓLK 102; Ali Selim with SWEET LAND; Michael Traeger and Joe Pantoliano with The Amateurs; Lisa Ades and Lesli Klainberg with FABULOUS! THE STORY OF QUEER CINEMA; Jaci Judelson and Tina Barney from TINA BARNEY: SOCIAL STUDIES; Steve Palackdharry with JOURNEY TO JUSTICE; Andrew Shapter and Lisa McWilliams with BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES; as well as many many more producers, directors, actors…. Among our other special guests and honorees, the festival hosted were filmmaker, writer, and opera director, Werner Herzog, whose non-fiction films were screened throughout the festival, received the ­World Cinema Master Award and was the featured artist for “An Evening With…”; Luncheon Under the Banyans Honorees Allison Janney, Jason Ritter, Mary Badham and director Cameron Watson from OUR VERY OWN, Musical visits by the Brazilian Girls who played the late-night wrap party, andIndependent Visions party performers Kiki and Herb in for KIKI AND HERB RELOADED as well as Queer Hip-Hop performers and rappers Aggracyst, JenRo, Juba Kalamka and Katastrophe from Alex Hinton’s PICK UP THE MIC. And, most exciting, all thearea students who passed through the festival and experienced the art of filmmaking via production programs, backstage theatre visits, and screenings as well as many of our filmmakers visiting and talking out in their classrooms. The dates for the 9th Annual Sarasota Film Festival will be April 13th thru April 22, 2007.

The mission of the Sarasota Film Festival is to present unique and quality cinema in a festival atmosphere for the purpose of educating, stimulating and entertaining audiences. The Festival supports and encourages the filmmaker by supplying essential networking opportunities and open dialogue with intelligent, creative and inquisitive consumers of film. The Festival attracts audiences from local, national, and international markets as well as promotes Sarasota, Manatee and surrounding Gulf Coast communities as cultural centers which contribute to the financial and cultural success of our region.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

THE FIRST ANNUAL STATEN ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL
June 1-4, 2006

From premieres and award-winning films shown in nationally-registered historic screening venues, to a splashy Festival closing bash aboard the famous Staten Island Ferry, as it travels around Manhattan accompanied by spectacular fireworks and to awards ceremonies featuring local and national talent –New York City’s borough of Staten Island is rolling out the red carpet celebrating the world of film, June 1-4, 2006.

Celebrating in grand style to welcome the summer season, The First Annual Staten Island Film Festival’s theme is Community and Culture with a program of over 100 independent films chosen for their local and national cultural significance. The festival has much to offer film buffs and tourists alike, reflective of the many cultures and lively communities that make up New York City’s greenest borough, the location for many famous films from The Godfather, to Goodfellas to Annie Hall.

“The festival’s rich and diverse program is reflective of the Staten Island’s cultural and community experience”, relates Cesar Claro, Executive Director of Staten Island Economic Development Corporation, which developed the Festival, “ The line-up of independent films from local, national and international filmmakers combined with a unique partnership program of special films chosen by various civic and cultural representatives creates a mix unique among film festivals.”

An Honorary Board of industry stars with Staten Island ties includes actor, Robert Loggia (Academy Award nominee from Jagged Edge), actor Carmine Giovinazzo, of Black Hawk Down and CSI:New York and director, Armand Mastroianni of the upcoming movie, The Celestine Prophecy, based on the best-selling book.

“The extensive Festival programming includes feature films, documentaries, shorts, animation, student projects, youth films and family-oriented films,” relates Festival Director Jeannine Marotta, “ and the gala screening receptions, parties and award ceremonies at Staten Island’s most historic and magnificent venues including the magnificent national landmark, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, will make this event a great way to start the Summer of 2006 in New York City.”

Noteworthy films include: Street Fight, a 2006 Academy Award Nominated documentary that has garnered praise and awards for its gritty portrayal of an urban city’s fierce mayoral race; Matisyahu Short, the acclaimed film of the Orthodox Jewish rapper and local New York celebrity and Duel at Red Table, winner at Tribeca Film Festival, an exciting action/comedy/horror film that portrays a vicious table tennis match to save a young girl’s soul, which was actually filmed in the woods of Staten Island.

Two special programs reflect the community’s recognition of film as a catalyst for discussion and inspiration, The Global Peace Film Festival’s Faith Interfaith Program and The Staten Island Local Films/Filmmakers’ Program. Global Peace Film will present five films and 4 shorts including films such as Binta and the Great Idea, The Weight of the World and Hope. The Staten Island Local Films/Filmmakers’ Program will highlight the work of talented members of the Staten Island community and those who call Staten Island their birthplace. One such film, The War Within, is a story of a Pakistani engineering student who was imprisoned and interrogated by Western intelligence agents for suspected terrorist activities.

Special film screenings, unique to Staten Island Film Festival’s intention to involve and highlight its multi-cultural community, consist of films chosen for their particular interest and importance to their distinct constituencies. Included are special films sponsored by The Irish Columcille Cultural Center, Re-Imagining Ireland; The Hindu Temple, Morning Raga; Pakistani Civic Association, Punjabi Love Story; NAACP, Hardwood/Strange Fruit; Russian Association, Ballet Russe; The Greek Trinity, A Greek Woman; The Italian Club, Waiting for Maggio/Cugini; The Jewish Community Center, Go For Zucker and the Latino Civic Association, presenting Maid in America.

Charitable organizations will also screen films, such as The American Red Cross, 911 Troop 1500; Project Hospitality for the Homeless, News From Afar; the Staten Island Inter-Agency Council for the Aging, Age of Discovery; and The Eden II School for Autistic Children, Refrigerator Mothers; Interfaith, What Do You Believe? and Where To Turn, a 911 group, will host a North American premiere screening of In Between, the story of a mysterious man who appears after the tragedy of 9.11 to help New Yorkers come to terms with their confusion and frustration.

Families will enjoy films presented by Staten Island cultural institutions such as The Staten Island Zoo, presenting The Colt; Children’s Museum, Dinner at Marvins/Fan And The Flower and Max Rules; Staten Island Museum, A Touch of Greatness/Microcosmos and The Nobel Maritime Collection will screen Saps at Sea.

The venues hosting the Festival are full of history and cultural significance, and alone, would make for a compelling reason to visit the festival. Topping the list is Snug Harbor Cultural Center, officially designated as a National Historic Landmark, consisting of 83 beautiful landscaped acres dotted with Greek Revival buildings. The Music Hall at Snug Harbor, built in 1892, is one of the greatest treasures of Snug Harbor Cultural Center. This stately building is the second oldest music hall in New York City, built after Carnegie Hall. Other notable venues include The St. George Theatre, a magnificent 75-year-old restored theatre and The College of Staten Island Center for The Arts.

General admission for all films is $5. And ticket packages are available. For information on the festival, ticket information, visit the festival’s website, www.sifilmfestival.org., Email: info@sifilmfestival.org or call 718.477.1400.

####

The Staten Island Film Festival is a project of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation, a 501 © (3), non-for-profit corporation. Its mission is to enhance a thriving Staten Island economy through projects that enhance the quality of life. Joining the SIEDC in the presentation of the film festival are Staten Island Board of Realtors, the Building Industry Association and the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island. The presenting sponsor of the Festival is the Richmond County Savings Foundation. The Venues sponsor is KeySpan. The Opening Night Screening sponsors include Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro and Time Warner Cable. The Closing Night Awards Ceremony and Cocktail Reception sponsors include Staten Island Board of Realtors, Inc., Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro and the Staten Island Advance. Other official sponsors include Pro Sho Productions, Staten Island Bank and Trust Foundation, Creative Media, Pratt Industries, Staten Island Hotel, UR Music, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

[REEL_REVIEWER]

BROOKLYN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES

ENiGMA-9

JUNE 2 – JUNE 11, 2006

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs067/...=1101285489597

New York, NY - Apr 24, 2006
The 9th Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF), titled ENiGMA-9, is scheduled for June 2-11, 2006 at the Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052).

While people all over the globe are eagerly searching for answers in a world of uncertainties, and the complexity of our society makes it more difficult to answer moral questions, the festival engages in a rather enigmatic exploration: The quest for the most delicate and difficult questions of our times. BiFF 2006 aims to stimulate the intellect and inspire conversation among people of diverse backgrounds. It is about attempting to connect the dots and can be viewed as a vast puzzle where opposite viewpoints, inconsistencies, ambiguities strive to coexist.

Festival executive director, Marco Ursino, a native of Torino (Italy), passionately states, “Enigma 9 is our way to say that it’s time to face the truth. In a confused environment, our microcosm simply suggests a change in attitude. Let’s start asking the right questions. Let’s get real for real.”

BiFF’s primary goal is to connect filmmakers to distribution companies and expose them to the media. For the 2006 edition, BiFF has received over 2000 films from 87 countries. 140 film premieres, divided in five categories, have been selected for the competitive program. Through the resources of festival’s sponsors, BiFF will award the winners with prizes totaling $100,000 in film services, products, and cash.

BiFF partners with the Brooklyn Museum. Films are shown in every format at the 450-seat, state of the art Cantor Auditorium. The 2006 festival will be broadcast live over the Internet at www.wbff.org, and international awareness is established via our office through embassies and consulates of the participating countries.

ENiGMA-9 Schedule:

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs067/...=1101285489597

Friday, June 2 8p:
Opening Ceremony Brooklyn Museum’s Cantor Auditorium

Saturday, June 3:
5 film programs at 1p, 3p, 5p, 7p, 9p.

Sunday, June 4:
2nd kidsfilmfest 2p-5p + 3 programs at 5:30p, 7:30p, 9:30p.

Monday, June 5 through Friday June 9:
3 film programs at 6p, 8p, 10p.

Saturday, June 10:
5 film programs at 2p, 4p, 6p, 8p, 10p.

Sunday, June 11:
4 film programs at 2p, 4p, 5p, 7p.


10pm - Award Ceremony will follow.

Learn more...

[REEL_REVIEWER]

‘THE MAKING OF A MARTYR’S’ FIRST PUBLIC SCREENING TAKES HOME

THE AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST FILM

at the 2006 Second Annual

United Nations Documentary Film Festival: “Stories From The Field”

New York, NY – April 25, 2006 – The Second Annual United Nations Documentary Film Festival honored THE MAKING OF A MARTYR with the Audience Choice Award for Best Film. First-time Canadian-born directors Brooke Goldstein and Alistair Leyland were on-site to accept their first prestigious award for this troubling film.



“It was an honor to participate in the second annual UN documentary film festival. The fact that the audience bestowed an award upon our film, amongst other such socially relevant films, shows that they are equally troubled by the ongoing and openly practiced incitement and recruitment of innocent Palestinian children to be suicide bombers.” says Goldstein. .."It was after shooting tens of hours of interviews in the region that I finally realized these children are being prayed upon by higher powers. Kids anywhere in the world should be able to live and be educated free of incitement to hate. This issue needed to be addressed, his story needed to be told." says Leyland.



The film tells the story of a Hussam Abdu, a 15 year old suicide bomber who surrenders his own mission to blow himself up on the Israeli border. The directors find themselves with unprecedented access in his home, with his mother, father and sister; in the Israeli prison where he is held; and in the school he attended. Their interviews are a window into the mentality of his childhood and why he felt and children like him feel the need to conduct and such an act.



The UN Documentary Film Festival featured films that deal with the UN’s millennium goals including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empower women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.



First-time director and human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein made this film with the intent of facilitating the enforcement of Palestinian children’s human rights, namely the right to life and to an education free of incitement to kill themselves. Director/Producer Alistair Leyland has been an advocate of providing exposure to human rights abuses for some time. Having spent time covering the 'one child policy' in China and its affects on infant girls, Leyland knew the story of a 15 year old Palestinian suicide bomber was both horrifying & complex. "It was after shooting tens of hours of interviews in the region that I finally realized these children are being prayed upon by higher powers. Kids anywhere in the world should be able to live & educate free of incitement. This issue needed to be addressed, his story needed to be told."

[REEL_REVIEWER]

"Lens on Syria":

Films spanning thirty years of contemporary Syrian cinema to tour

North America

New York -- International arts nonprofit ArteEast today announced the beginning of its North American tour of "Lens on Syria: Thirty Years of Contemporary Cinema", a groundbreaking exploration of Syrian cinema. "Lens on Syria" showcases over 30 Syrian feature films, documentaries and shorts, many subtitled in English and screening for the first time in the US.

Debuting at New York's prestigious Lincoln Center from May 5th-18th 2006, the series has already been scheduled to travel to The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago; The Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa; The Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver; The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; The Pacific Film Archives in Berkley (organized in collaboration with The San Francisco Arab Film Festival); The Georgetown University in Washington, DC; and The Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon. A complete tour schedule is available at http://www.arteeast.org.

"Rasha Salti and ArteEast did a commendable job of bringing attention to a fascinating film culture in Syria. The care with which they curated this festival reflects their pleasure in making contemporary Middle Eastern culture available to Westerners who would have no other access to these societies. -- Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker

Often described as Arab cinema's "best kept secret", ArteEast's Syrian cinema series provides an unprecedented opportunity for audiences in New York to discover a politically timely and relevant program, ranging from nonfiction films and comedies to political dramas and historical epics, all representative of one of the richest -- albeit lesser-known -- of world cinemas.

One of the most compelling feats of Syrian filmmakers has been their ability to craft an unabashedly independent voice despite the fact that their films are produced by the state, a stellar achievement in Arab cinema. Films do not shy away from making poignant and social and political critique, far removed from dogma and didactism.

Syrian filmmakers have not only engaged with issues pertinent to Syria, they have also been profoundly engaged with the tragedy of Palestine. Premiering in the US in this program is Mohammad Malas' poignant documentary "The Dream", filmed in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon just months before the notorious massacres took place. It is a unique document that has finally become available after digital remastering and subtitling.

Other films centered on the Arab-Israeli conflict include Tewfik Saleh's classic "The Dupes", Mohammad Malas' "The Night" and Omar Amiralay's "A Plate of Sardines-Or The First Time I Heard of Israel."

The program includes old cinematic gems that have been digitally remastered and subtitled in English specifically for this program, such as Omar Amiralay's 1974 documentary "Everyday Life in a Syrian Village" (which he co-authored with late Syrian playwright Sa'adallah Wannus), and his 1977 documentary, "The Chickens" that has received critical acclaim worldwide. Other digitally remastered films that are made available for the first time in North America is Oussama Mohammad's first short fiction film, "Step by Step."

One of the highlights of "Lens on Syria" is a long-overdue tribute to master documentary filmmaker Omar Amiralay. Winner of numerous international awards for his films, Amiralay was the subject of a special homage at this year's Cinйma du Rйel Festival in Paris. While Amiralay's subject matter ranges across the entire Arab and Muslim world, his camera always finds its way back home. The series features some of the Amiralay's most renowned and compelling work, including two movies on the Euphrates Dam, the first 1970 film a homage to the Baath party's project, the second 2003 film documenting the flood caused by construction flaws and posing the event as a metaphor for the regime.

Amiralay will be in attendance at the screenings of his films during the opening weekend (Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7). Also expected to attend is critically acclaimed filmmaker Oussama Mohammad and emerging experimental and documentary filmmaker Diana el-Jeiroudi. They will participate in "Syrian Cinema Today and Tomorrow", a panel discussion moderated by Film Society's Program Director Richard Peсa on Sunday, May 7, at 4:30 pm. The panel is free to the public.

In conjunction with "Lens on Syria" film series, ArteEast and Rattapallax Press have published a new book, "Insights into Syrian Cinema: Essays and Conversations with Contemporary Filmmakers." The first English-language volume of its kind, this timely collection offers critical essays and an historical overview of film production in Syria, and brings together words and texts from the country's most critically acclaimed and internationally celebrated masters of cinema. A rare glimpse into how these filmmakers have managed to create an intransigently independent cinema in spite of near-impossible conditions, "Insights into Syrian Cinema" (160 pps., b&w photos, $15) is available for purchase from ArteEast.

Tickets for the "Lens on Syria" screenings -- titled "The Road To Damascus" for the Lincoln Center series -- are available at the Walter Reade Theater box office and online. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $7 for students, $5 for FSLC members, and $6 for seniors for weekday matinees before 6 p.m. For more information and online tickets, log on to http://www.filmlinc.com or call (212) 875-5600.


ABOUT ARTEEAST

ArteEast is a New York-based international nonprofit organization that supports artists from the Middle East and its diasporas, raising awareness of their most talented and groundbreaking work through public events, exhibits, a dynamic online gallery and a resource-rich website.

Since its founding in 2003, ArteEast has brought over 200 feature, short and documentary films; the works of over 40 new visual artists; and 40 filmmakers, artists, actors and critics to the US to discuss their work. ArteEast programs have traveled to a dozen cities in the US and Canada, and are now expanding beyond North America.

Visit the ArteEast website at http://www.arteeast.org to learn about our ongoing events, read up on the latest news from the art scene in the Middle East, and access our virtual gallery.

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