Also in Friday morning’s round-up of news briefs, filmmaker Michael Cimino is set to receive Venice Film Festival honors. Heather Graham will return to The Hangover , while Yancy Butler heads back to one of her former characters. And an Ohio man faces charges for brining a cache of weapons into a theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises . Michael Cimino to Receive Venice Honors The American writer/director/producer will be feted with the Venice Film Festival’s Persol 2012 Award, which recognizes a “legend of international filmmaking.” He will be presented with the award at a ceremony August 30th, followed by a screening of Cimino’s 1980 film, Heaven’s Gate . Around the ‘net… Willy Wonka Director Mel Stuart Dies at 83 His family said Mr. Stuart died at his Beverly Hills home after battling cancer. He began his career mainly directing documentaries. the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was Stuart’s second feature film. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1965 for his documentary, Four Days in November , about the assassination of John F Kennedy, BBC reports . Bourne Legacy Poised to Seize U.S. Box Office The Jeremy Renner starter is trending toward a $35 million weekend opening, enough to eclipse The Dark Knight Rises and outpace two other wide-release openers, Hope Springs and The Campaign , Reuters and The Wrap report . Heather Graham Heads Back to The Hangover Graham will return to her role as the stripper named Jade in The Hangover III from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. The pic will shoot this fall and brings back Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms – plus brings back Ken Jeong. Graham was absent from the franchise’s second installment, THR reports . Yancy Butler to Return to Kick-Ass 2 Butler will return to her role as the mother of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s character, the villainous Red Mist. Aaron Johnson and Chloe Moretz are reprising their roles of Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Walls , THR reports . Man Faces Weapons Charges in TDKR Theater Incident Scott A. Smith, 37, is due in court Friday on two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and 19 counts related to carrying weapons “under disability.” He allegedly sat in the back of the theater with a bag that contained 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, two loaded magazine clips and three knives. Another knife was found on his person, CNN reports .
Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Sacha Baron Cohen plans his next project. Jonathan Rhys Meyers in talks to take on a new role and a coming-of-age documentary is headed to theaters. James Cameron Forms 3-D Joint Tech Venture With Chinese Partners Cameron is attending a 3-D film forum at Tianjin Polytechnic University. His production services company Cameron Pace Group has set up a China-based division partnering with state-backed companies Tianjin North Film Group and Tianjin Hi-tech Holding Group in what he called a “huge” deal, Deadline reports . 4 Writers In the Running for Fifty Shades of Grey Karen Croner ( Admission ), Dan Fogelman ( Crazy, Stupid, Love ), Veena Sud (TV’s The Killing ) and Kelly Marcel ( Saving Mr. Banks ) are the contenders to write the screen adaptation of E.L. James’ best seller Fifty Shades of Grey , THR reports . Sacha Baron Cohen Plans James Bond Spoof The British actor has written the screenplay for the untitled film alongside Phil Johnston, who wrote the 2011 comedy Cedar Rapids, and may take a role if his schedule allows it. Paramount Pictures, which has a long-term arrangement with Baron Cohen, has bought the pitch for the new project, The Guardian reports via THR . Jonathan Rhys Meyers Eyes Mortal Instruments Meyers is in negotiations to board the cast of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones , an adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s novel from Constantin Film and Unique Pictures. Lily Collins stars as a young woman who discovers she is the descendant of half-angel warriors called Shadow-hunters who are in an ancient battle to protect the world from demons, THR reports . Only The Young Heads to Theaters The coming-of-age documentary follows three teens in an economically downtrodden Southern California town. Directed by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims, the film debuted at the True/False Film Festival and later won best U.S. feature at SilverDocs Documentary Festival, Deadline reports .
Also in Wednesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Sacha Baron Cohen plans his next project. Jonathan Rhys Meyers in talks to take on a new role and a coming-of-age documentary is headed to theaters. James Cameron Forms 3-D Joint Tech Venture With Chinese Partners Cameron is attending a 3-D film forum at Tianjin Polytechnic University. His production services company Cameron Pace Group has set up a China-based division partnering with state-backed companies Tianjin North Film Group and Tianjin Hi-tech Holding Group in what he called a “huge” deal, Deadline reports . 4 Writers In the Running for Fifty Shades of Grey Karen Croner ( Admission ), Dan Fogelman ( Crazy, Stupid, Love ), Veena Sud (TV’s The Killing ) and Kelly Marcel ( Saving Mr. Banks ) are the contenders to write the screen adaptation of E.L. James’ best seller Fifty Shades of Grey , THR reports . Sacha Baron Cohen Plans James Bond Spoof The British actor has written the screenplay for the untitled film alongside Phil Johnston, who wrote the 2011 comedy Cedar Rapids, and may take a role if his schedule allows it. Paramount Pictures, which has a long-term arrangement with Baron Cohen, has bought the pitch for the new project, The Guardian reports via THR . Jonathan Rhys Meyers Eyes Mortal Instruments Meyers is in negotiations to board the cast of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones , an adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s novel from Constantin Film and Unique Pictures. Lily Collins stars as a young woman who discovers she is the descendant of half-angel warriors called Shadow-hunters who are in an ancient battle to protect the world from demons, THR reports . Only The Young Heads to Theaters The coming-of-age documentary follows three teens in an economically downtrodden Southern California town. Directed by Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims, the film debuted at the True/False Film Festival and later won best U.S. feature at SilverDocs Documentary Festival, Deadline reports .
Searching For Sugar Man , which tells the improbable story of how a singer-songwriter named Sixto Rodriguez rose, fell, and found superstardom in what amounts to a parallel universe, is an elegy in several keys. One is clear and familiar: Upon his excited discovery by a noted producer, the music business circa 1969 ate Rodriguez for breakfast, and a talent still acknowledged by his peers went to waste. The second is more personal, and although Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul leaves a distinct and ultimately frustrating berth around the man at the center of his documentary, it becomes poignantly clear that an abbreviated resume and a family to feed didn’t keep Rodriguez from living an artist’s life. And then, perhaps most resonant and abstract, there is the film’s charting of the confluence of circumstances that can create a legend and shape lives – a confluence whose particularities are less and less possible in an information-glutted age. Sugar Man opens with much but fleeting stylistic fanfare. Over a blend of vivid landscapes, a steady-cam tour of bleak and snowy Detroit, moody recreations of key scenes and a neat effect that moves from image to illustration and back, various players (beginning with a Cape Town record-store owner called “Sugar”) recount the film’s heavily fragmented story of a mysterious musician out of Detroit who, South African legend has it, staged “probably the most grotesque suicide in rock history.” Why “South African legend,” you might ask, and the answer is what takes Sugar Man ’s story from sad but common to extraordinary. In many ways that story belongs to the men who stand in for what was apparently a solid chunk of the South African populace in the 1970s, when apartheid was in full swing and the country was under totalitarian rule. A hilarious origin story has an American girl bringing a single Rodriguez album into the country, patient zero-style, with bootlegs and label requests proliferating from there. With sizable cuts from Rodriguez’s two studio albums of Dylan-esque folk rock accompanying them, those men (musicians and music fans) describe how songs like “I Wonder” and “Anti-establishment Blues” sparked something – a glimmer of rebellion, the comfort of fellow feeling – in them. Elsewhere referred to as an “inner city poet,” if Rodriguez’s lyrics lack a certain prosody they are written squarely and straightforwardly in the protest tradition of the time. A grassroots process that had to sidestep censors and a heavily restricted media helped foment a folk hero in the public’s imagination. Rodriguez, we are told, is bigger than Elvis in South Africa, and certainly bigger than the Rolling Stones. His sonorous tenor is sweet but strong and pleasingly clear – somewhere between Cat Stevens and Neil Diamond. Even so, the truth is that, though skilled and even singular, of the songs we hear nothing astonishes or even comes close; a couple sound too dated to be great. But then we’re not supposed to be evaluating his music for signs of greatness, not really. Perhaps under different circumstances, like the ones in South Africa, he might sound different; he would be different. Much discussed is the lack of personal details that fueled the Rodriguez enigma; his mystery was part of what made him great. Bendjelloul upholds that idea, whether he likes it or not, after a rambling exposition of how a couple of amateur Cape Town sleuths finally tracked the very much alive Rodriguez down. Mexican by birth and extremely reticent by nature, Rodriguez is an uneasy interview; we learn more about him just watching his delicate form move down a snow-laden sidewalk like an exotic but flightless, black-coated bird trapped in a crummily ordinary world. Interviews with his three daughters are sweet but a little unsatisfying, and in its final third – which details his triumphant arrival in South Africa and introduction to an adoring audience of twenty thousand – Sugar Man falters. Various threads of the story (including the rather major question of how an estimated half a million records sold resulted in zero royalties) are left to fray. It isn’t clear that the director recognized the most prominent among them: Bendjelloul is enamored not with the deeply organic nature but the novelty of this “instant” success story. And yet Sugar Man is most interesting when it touches on the conditions that combined to draw a cult hero out of some decent music and a generously enabled, imagination-firing mystique. I imagine even the wise and thoughtful Rodriguez himself would insist that more than one man’s third act justice, this is a story about time and a swiftly vanishing context. Follow Michelle Orange on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in Friday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, Israel’s celebrated doc The Flat is headed to the U.S. as is Sundance doc A Place at the Table . Oscar-winning writer Dustin Lance Black gets a new gig writing a disaster movie for Universal and R.I.P. Lupe Ontiveros. Israel’s The Flat Headed to the U.S. A winner at the Jerusalem and Tribeca film festivals, Arnon Goldfinger’s doc The Flat will head to North America via Sundance Selects which picked up the title. The film centers on the director’s experience clearing out his deceased grandmother’s apartment in Tel Aviv, a home she shared with her husband for decades since immigrating from Nazi Germany. Sifting through her belongings, he discovers a treasure-trove of photos, letters, files and objects that reflect three generations of Germans both Jewish and non-Jewish. Sundance Selects will reelase the film October 19th. Doc A Place at the Table Heads Stateside Magnolia Pictures picked up the documentary from Participant Media, the folks behind An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc (the latter which Magnolia released). The Sundance debut featuring Jeff Bridges and Tom Colicchio (then called Finding North ) takes on the food issue from a new angle, shining a light on the 30% of American families—more than 49 million people—that don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Magnolia plans a release in the first quarter of 2013. Around the ‘net… Star-studded Audience for Olympics Opening Monarchs, presidents, prime ministers, other royals and a venerable who’s who will be joined by the likes of David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Hugh Bonneville ( Downtown Abbey ) along with U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama at the opening of the Olympics Friday. The show, a 27 million pound ($42 million) spectacular titled “Isles of Wonder,” will end with a performance by Paul McCartney, A.P. reports . Ryan Seacrest & Paramount Team for Food Fight Pic The comedy is loosely based on celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his reality series Food Revolution Seacrest will produce the project based on a gourmet food truck operator who is sentenced to work at a school, revolutionizing the lunch program, THR reports . Milk Writer Dustin Lance Black Set for Earthquake The Oscar-winner will write the big scale disaster Earthquake for Universal and producer JJ Abrams. The feature will apparently not be a remake of the 1974 film that starred Charlton Heston of the same title, Deadline reports . R.I.P. Lupe Ontiveros The actress who starred in Selena and As Good as It Gets died Thursday at 69. The actress appeared in both film and television over four decades, Deadline reports .
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei lead ArtReview magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful artists in the world last October. The Beijing-based artist, photographer, documentarian, architect, activist, dissident, avid-Tweeter and charismatic father made a splash on the international scene when he helped Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron design Beijing’s National Stadium – more commonly known as the Bird’s Nest due to its design – which served as both corner stone and bragging material for the Beijing Olympics by the government. While immensely proud of the project, Mr. Ai denounced the regime and famously criticized officials for its treatment of dissenters and its human rights record in the lead-up to the event. Freelance journalist Alison Klayman met the artist through her roommate in 2008 by chance as he prepped an exhibition of photos he took while living in New York in the ’80s and early ’90s. Initially commissioned to do a short video on the fly, Klayman, who lived in China from 2006 – 2010 producing shows for PBS Frontline , National Public Radio and A.P. took on a larger doc about Ai Weiwei. In the film, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry which will be released this weekend via IFC Films, she captured him being assaulted by police, confronting police, promoting his view of human rights and traveling to acclaim overseas. But it’s his political activism that has brought him both fame and danger at home. Authorities have “minders” in unmarked cars outside his home and studio in the Chinese capital as well as cameras pointed at his compound, which is filled with his beloved cats where he lives with his wife. The film also delves into his personal life and reveals the backstory about his very young son and his passion for Twitter and the internet. The latter were surprises for Klayman as she edited the film, which debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival – an event Ai Weiwei did not attend, likely due to restrictions he now lives under following an 81 day detention by authorities. ML spoke with Klayman last week about her film and spending time in the glare of Ai Weiwei’s spotlight. How did it work out that you came into contact with Ai Weiwei in Beijing and get him to work with you on this documentary? Yeah. The the answer to that pretty much answers like a whole host of questions like, ‘how did you hear of him and how did you get a chance and the access and all that stuff.’ I was already living in China. I went there after school and I was there for two years already. My roommate was curating a show for him at a gallery… So you speak Mandarin? By 2008, I did. In 2006 I went with a few sentences that I could use upon arrival. I worked really hard. I had a lot of jobs, which I saw all as vehicles for adventure and also on the job language-learning. By 2008 I was waiting to get a press credential which was coming through and my roommate was working on an exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s for a local gallery. It was his New York photographs – all the black and white. There were 10,000 of them and I would look through them at the kitchen table because she’d bring her work home and she’d tell me about it. So that’s really how I even first heard of him. I didn’t know about him before I went to China or anything like that. And she asked me if I wanted to do a video for the exhibition – just do one of those things that plays in the lobby on loop. I was really excited to try my hand. I wanted to do more video film documentary, and so the first time I met Ai Weiwei it was just like, “Here’s Alison. She’s here to do a video for the show.” So I came with the gallery team and they introduced me. There was never a transition from like being a random person to being the person who films him. It was just ‘this is Alison, she’s here to film you’ and, you know, it really – even in those first few weeks—his personality totally won me over and made me curious. I wanted to know about him. I felt like he could absolutely carry a longer piece than this kind of 20-minute thing. I just felt like to do a character portrait of him would really not only be entertaining but also it would illuminate something about a side of contemporary China that I felt like I was just encountering for the first time through him. Our conversations were already [developing] about his blog and censorship and the upcoming earthquake campaign. All stuff that just wasn’t going to fit in the video about New York photographs. So I was definitely feeling that at least I needed to follow up with this guy and he liked the video that I did for the exhibition. So that was also a good way to keep moving forward. So when you decided to continue going forward, were there any boundaries that you had set as far as what areas of his life you could explore, because you’re following him in his home, not just when he’s out traveling and being the public persona of Ai Weiwei. Totally true. I mean, in terms of my working style, I feel like I push, but I’m not pushy in the sense that he would sometimes chastise me. He’d be like, “Why do you always ask? You’re always so polite. Just do it.” But filming in his home is a really good point. At one point, I [spoke to] his wife about the fact I was coming around a lot and asked her, “I recognize that this is your home and there really aren’t any separations here so please tell me if you ever like – if I’m doing something you don’t like, or if you ever want me to turn off the camera.” And she was really sweet. She was like, “Oh, it’s totally fine. You can film me doing anything, but I don’t want to do it a sit down interview. That really freaks me out.” She has a very different personality than him in terms of media savvy and kind of playing with it. So actually much, much later I asked her for an interview, but on the whole I just felt like with him you certainly should never be embarrassed to ask. And through asking there were usually no boundaries, except his kind of private life in terms of his son. When he was first born, he said, “Oh, you should meet him. He’s the smartest baby in the world.” He was already the proudest dad ever. He said, “You know, so you want to come meet him?” I said, “Yeah, can I bring my camera?” And then he’s like, “Come on, no. That’s a baby.” And really it wasn’t a complicated situation. I found some boundaries, so I guess he had to get a little older before he kind of felt comfortable [with shooting him].” And it was interesting. I mean, we’ll get more into his activism side in a moment, but it was interesting though that the backstory behind his son actually came out while you were filming Ai Weiwei doing separate interviews with various press. There were two. The first one was in Beijing with the New Yorker correspondent, and then the second one was the BBC guy at the Tate Modern. For me to sit down and ask him about something that he knew I already knew the answer to was not really going to work. I feel like he does enough interviews a day that he doesn’t need to talk if he doesn’t want to talk. So I felt like [filming him doing a separate interview about his son] was probably going to be the only way for him to explain it and I think it’s really instructive to see how he deals with different people as well. Ai Weiwei has been called “the most powerful artist in the world today,” and certainly if not the most famous living artist, then definitely in the very top tier. After your time with him, what is your take on his approach to art, political activism and how he connects the two? Well, if there’s a question whether they are related, I would say yes. For me, the artist side is trying to be as relevant and engaged and fostering more conversations. To me, that’s definitely the most interesting. I think how you feel about his artwork and museum [exhibitions] is up to people’s taste. I personally really like so many of his works because I think that they actually don’t say something specific. I think they are kind of really hard to read and complicated and they leave a lot of room for you to say what the meaning possibly is. When he gives an interview or posts a Tweet, he’s pretty direct about his criticisms and what he says he thinks. So it’s all about his artistic practice and it’s kind of in its entirety. And he does have all these different ways of speaking – whether it’s in a populous way or in a fine art way. I think from the beginning I was definitely told that he was a very famous artist, and not being from the art world, I just had to take people’s word for that. When I went to his show in Munich I think that was really the first time when I really appreciated that this guy is really, really famous. He has a very big audience and following in Germany, but I mostly saw him in the context of Beijing. So that was my first exposure to how the art world treats him. Then there’s also the news world. He was one of the few prominent people who would actually tell you what they thought on the record when you needed a more critical voice. In a way, I felt like I was doing something about someone who was kind of over exposed but still room to do something that had more quality and substance. I was so focused on that, that I didn’t know what the movie was like, but I just I needed to be filming as much as possible in all these different parts of his life and stay really open and not draw conclusions on a lot of questions until I was in post-production. For example, I heard him for years talking about the internet, which was always the subject he would turn to in interviews. I feel sometimes I was like rolling my eyes in my head maybe a little bit. I didn’t think I was making a movie about the power of the internet because I hadn’t really examined it that much. When I went back and thought about the meaning of his life’s work and progress, and also what’s going on with the realities of contemporary China, and the world – and all this pre-dated the Arab Spring and WikiLeaks and all this stuff – suddenly I was like, “No, this is totally on point.” I don’t think I got it at first. It was interesting to learn he had lived in New York for ten years. And he had already at least participated in some protests against the regime in China while living here – of course with comparatively much less fanfare than his protests and criticisms since returning to China. But I nevertheless found it curious that he was still asked and participated in the design of the Bird’s Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics. The thing with the Olympics is it always gets short-handed that he was asked but that wasn’t actually how it happened. I tried as much as I could to make this clear in the film, because the film doesn’t say he was asked but maybe it’s not fully clear enough how it happened. The Swiss architectural firm Herzong & de Meuron wanted to do more projects in China and they were introduced to Weiwei by a former Swiss ambassador and a really big collector.
Hollywood.TV is your source for celebrity gossip, news, and videos of your favorite stars! bit.ly – Click to Subscribe! Facebook.com – Become a Fan! Twitter.com – Follow Us! Hollywood.TV spotted Alec Baldwin making an appearance in the Hamptons to host a screening of the documentary film “Detropia” at the Guild Hall. There was quite a turnout to support the film, and Alec, as always, brought a TON of class to the event. I need to find out where he buys those suits! Hollywood.TV is the global leader in capturing celebrity breaking news as it happens. Launched in 2008, we capture all the latest news, exclusive celebrity interviews, star videos and hot celebrity gossip from around the world every minute of everyday. HTV is on the streets 24/7, at all the industry events and invited by the stars to cover their every move in Hollywood, New York and Miami. Hollywood.TV is currently the third most viewed reporter channel on www.youtube.com YouTube with almost 400 million views, and our footage is seen worldwide! Tune in daily for all the latest Hollywood news on www.hollywood.tv and http like us on Facebook!
The Locarno Film Festival is one of the world’s oldest. The Swiss lake-side summer event regularly attract thousands including U.S. filmmakers during its ten-day run. The fest has raised its profile in recent years and this year the event will feature 19 films screening as international or world premieres competing for the event’s top “Pardo d’oro” grand prize. U.S. entries include Jack and Diane , Compliance , Museum Hours , Somebody Up There Likes Me and Museum Hours . The festival will open with the world premiere of Nick Love’s The Sweeney August 1st The festival also has a nightly out of competition “Piazza Grande” lineup of films, which are screened outside on the (you guessed it…) Piazza Grande against the backdrop of the city’s picturesque lake. The competition and Piazza Grande lineups follow. The lineup in the festival’s other sections can be found on their website (http://www.pardolive.ch/en/Pardo-Live/today-at-the-festival.html;jsessionid=A6B115468942A214FBD6F7D199332475). Locarno runs August 1 – 11. Competition – A jury will choose one of the 19 competing fiction or documentary features, which are screening as world or international premieres, to win the festival’s top prize: the Pardo d’oro. A Última Vez Que Vi Macao (The Last Time I Saw Macao) by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata Portugal/France – 2012 – 85 min with João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata, Cindy Crash World Premiere Berberian Sound Studio by Peter Strickland United Kingdom/Germany/Australia – 2012 – 89 min with Tobey Jones, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Susanna Cappellaro, Cosimo Fusco International Premiere Compliance by Craig Zobel United States – 2012 – 90 min with Ann Dowd, Matt Servito, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Phillipp Ettinger – International Premiere Der Glanz Des Tages (The Shine of Day) by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel Austria – 2012 – 90 min with Philipp Hochmair, Walter Saabel World Premiere Image Problem by Simon Baumann and Andreas Pfiffner Switzerland – 2012 – 92 min Documentary First Feature – World Premiere Jack and Diane by Bradley Rust Gray United States – 2011 – 106 min with Juno Temple, Riley Keough, Cara Seymour, Kylie Minougue – International Premiere La Fille De Nulle Part (The Girl from Nowhere) by Jean-Claude Brisseau France – 2012 – 91 min with Jean-Claude Brisseau, Virginie Legeay World Premiere Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel United Kingdom/United States/France – 2012 – 83 min Documentary - World Premiere Los Mejores Temas (Greatest Hits) by Nicolás Pereda Mexico/Canada/Netherlands – 2012 – 102 min Production: Interior13 Cine – World Premiere Mobile Home by François Pirot Belgium/Luxembourg – 2012 – 95 min with Arthur Dupond, Guillaume Gouix, Jackie Berroyer, Jean-Paul Bonnair, Eugénie Anselin First Feature – World Premiere Museum Hours by Jem Cohen Austria/United States – 2012 – 107 min with Mary Margaret O’Hara, Bobby Sommer, Ela Piplits – World Premiere Padroni Di Casa (The Landlords) by Edoardo Gabbriellini Italy – 2012 – 90 min with Valerio Mastandrea, Elio Germano, Gianni Morandi, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – World Premiere Playback by Sho Miyake Japan – 2012 – 113 min with Jun Murakami, Kiyohiko Shibukava, Masaki Miura, Makiko Watanabe First Feature – World Premiere Polvo by Julio Hernández Cordón Guatemala/Spain/Chile/Germany – 2012 – 80 min with Agustin Ortíz Pérez, Eduardo Spiegeler, Alejandra Estrada, María Telón Soc – World Premiere Somebody Up There Likes Me by Bob Byington United States – 2011 – 76 min with Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Marshall Bell – International Premiere Starlet by Sean Baker United States – 2012 – 104 min with Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian – International Premiere The End of Time by Peter Mettler Switzerland/Canada – 2012 – 109 min Documentary – World Premiere Une Estonlenne a Paris by Ilmar Raag France/Estonia/Belgium – 2012 – 94 min with Jeanne Moreau, Ita Ever, Fabrice Colson, Laine Mägi – World Premiere Wo Hai You Hua Yao Shuo (When Night Falls) by Ying Liang South Korea – 2012 – 70 min with Nai An, Kate Wen, Sun Ming – International Premiere The Piazza Grande – which seats up to 8,000 viewers a night, is both the heart of the festival and its showcase. Bachelorette by Leslye Headland United States – 2011 – 91 min with Lizzy Caplan, Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, James Marsden – International Premiere Bonjour Tristesse by Otto Preminger United States – 1958 – 94 min with Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Jane Seberg, Mylène Demongeot, Geoffrey Horne Retrospettiva Otto Preminger Camille Redouble by Noémie Lvovsky France – 2012 – 115 min with Noémie Lvovsky, Samir Guesmi, Yolande Moreau, Michel Vuillermoz – International Premiere Das Missenmassaker (The Swiss Miss Massacre) by Michael Steiner Switzerland – 2012 – 95 min with Meryl Valerie, Lisa Maria Bärenbold, Patrick Rapold, Mike Müller, Martin Rapold, Nadine Vinzens – World Premiere Lore by Cate Shortland Germany/Australia/United Kingdom – 2012 – 110 min with Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi – International Premiere Magic Mike by Steven Soderbergh United States – 2012 – 110 min with Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Olivia Munn, Alex Pettyfer More Than Honey by Markus Imhoof Switzerland/Germany/Austria – 2012 – 91 min Documentary – World Premiere – Closing Film Motorway by Soi Cheang Hong Kong – 2012 – 90 min with Anthony WONG, Shawn YUE, GUO Xiaodong European Premiere – Pardo alla carriera Johnnie To Nachtlarm (Lullaby Ride) by Christoph Schaub Switzerland/Germany – 2012 – 94 min with Alexandra Maria Lara, Sebastian Blomberg, Georg Friedrich – World Premiere No by Pablo Larraín Chile/United States/Mexico – 2012 – 110 min with Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegerz, Luis Gnecco Quelques Heures de Printemps by Stéphane Brizé France – 2012 – 108 min with Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Seigner, Hélène Vincent – World Premiere Ruby Sparks by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris United States – 2012 – 104 min with Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould, Chris Messina International Premiere Sightseers by Ben Wheatley United Kingdom – 2012 – 89 min with Alice Lowe, Eileen Davis, Steve Oram, Monica Dolam The Black Balloon by Josh and Benny Safdie United States – 2012 – 21 min with Larry Sloman, Eleonore Hendricks, Mustafa Bekiroglu, Kennon Bltut, William Skinner – International Premiere The Sweeney by Nick Love United Kingdom – 2012 – 90 min with Damian Lewis, Hayley Atwell, Ray Winstone, Paul Anderson – World Premiere – Opening Film While We Were Here by Kat Coiro United States – 2012 – 83 min with Kate Bosworth, Iddo Goldberg, Jamie Blackley, Claire Bloom – International Premiere Wrong by Quentin Dupieux France – 2012 – 94 min with Jack Plotnick, Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, Steve Little European Premiere
All is Well won the Narrative Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the weekend. Directed by Pocas Pascoal the North American premiere follows to Angolan sisters feeling civil war and struggle to survive in Lisbon. Honorable mention in the category went to Thursday Till Sunday by Dominga Sotomayor. Best Documentary went to Drought by Everardo Gonzalez. The film is a poetic portrait of a cattle-ranching community in northeastern Mexico. In the Audience Award category, Best Narrative Feature went to Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild The film won Cannes and Sundance earlier this year. And Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives by sara Lamm and mary Wigmore won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Award Winners with information provided by LAFF: Narrative Award (for Best Narrative Feature) Winner: All is Well directed by Pocas Pascoal Producer: Luis Correia Cast: Ciomara Morais, Cheila Lima, William Brandao, Vera Cruz Film Description: (Portugal) Strangers in a strange land, two beautiful Angolan sisters fleeing a civil war in their homeland struggle to survive in Lisbon. Pocas Pascoal’s deeply personal saga shows us the face of exile with quietly stunning power. Honorable Mention (for Best Narrative Feature) Film Title: Thursday till Sunday directed by Dominga Sotomayor Producers: Gregorio González, Benjamin Domenech Cast: Santi Ahumada, Emiliano Freifeld, Francisco Pérez-Bannen, Paola Giannini Film Description: (Chile) With uncommon beauty and style, this Chilean road movie finds a family at a crossroads, as the daughter slowly realizes the divide between the adults in the front seat and the kids in back. Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature) Winner: Drought directed by Everardo González Producer: Martha Orozco Film Description: (Mexico) Contrasting the lives of a cattle-ranching community with the arid northeastern Mexican landscape that surrounds them, this cinéma vérité documentary paints a poetic portrait of a community on the verge of distinction. Best Performance in the Narrative Competition Winner: Wendell Pierce, Emory Cohen, E.J. Bonilla and Aja Naomi King in Joshua Sanchez’s Four . Film Description: Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, a father and daughter, each trapped in loneliness, reach out for sexual connection — he with a self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy — in this psychologically complex, beautifully acted drama. Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Winner: Beasts of the Southern Wild , directed by Benh Zeitlin Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry Film Description: This stunningly imaginative, boldly original film follows six-year-old Hushpuppy as she fights to protect her father and their unique way of life in a remote, dreamlike area of the Delta threatened by apocalyptic floods. Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature Winner: Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives , directed by Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore Producers: Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore, Kate Roughan, Zachary Mortensen Featuring: Ina May Gaskin, Stephen Gaskin, Pamela Hunt, Farm Midwives past and present, Kristina Kennedy Davis Film Description: Ina May Gaskin and the courageous midwives of the Farm commune inspired the modern midwifery movement. This beguiling documentary tells their empowering story with depth, intelligence and wit. Audience Award for Best International Feature Winner: Searching for Sugar Man directed by Malik Bendjelloul Producers: Simon Chinn, Malik Bendjelloul Featuring: Rodriguez Film Description: Years after facing into obscurity at home, the music of ‘70s U.S. singer/songwriter Rodriguez became an underground sensation in South Africa. Decades after his disappearance, two fans uncover the startling truth behind the legend. Best Narrative Short Film Winner: The Chair directed by Grainger David Producers: Spencer Kiernan, Caroline Oliveira Cast: Khari Lucas, King Hoey, Martha F. Brown Description: A young boy questions the origins of a mysterious mold outbreak that threatens to destroy his town. Best Documentary Short Film Winner: Kudzu Vine directed & produced by Josh Gibson Description: This ode to the kudzu vine poetically highlights its ties to the history and the people of the South. Best Animated/Experimental Short Film Winner: The Pub directed by Joseph Pierce Producer: Mark Grimmer Description: (England) Life isn’t easy behind the counter of a North London pub. Audience Award for Best Short Film Winner: Asad directed by Bryan Buckley Producers: Bryan Buckley, Mino Jarjoura, Rafiq Samsodien, Matt Lefebvre, Kevin Byrne, Hank Perlman Cast: Harun Mohammed, Ibrahim Moalim Hussein, Ali Mohammed, Abdiwale Mohmed Mohamed, Mariya Abdulle, Najah Abdi Abdullahi, Mustafa Olad Dirie, Mohamed Abdullahi Abdikher, Abdi, Sidow Farah, Sahied Nuur Mahamed, Ahmed Dhadane Jimale, Hussein Abdi Mohamed, Isa, Mohamed Abdul, Ikram Hassan, Yasmin Abdi Mohamed, Maymum Abdi Mohamed, Sadia Hassan, Meade Nichol Description: A young boy in a war-torn Somalian village faces a moral dilemma. Audience Award for Best Music Video Winner: Piranhas Club directed by Lex Halaby Music: Man Man
All is Well won the Narrative Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival over the weekend. Directed by Pocas Pascoal the North American premiere follows to Angolan sisters feeling civil war and struggle to survive in Lisbon. Honorable mention in the category went to Thursday Till Sunday by Dominga Sotomayor. Best Documentary went to Drought by Everardo Gonzalez. The film is a poetic portrait of a cattle-ranching community in northeastern Mexico. In the Audience Award category, Best Narrative Feature went to Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild The film won Cannes and Sundance earlier this year. And Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives by sara Lamm and mary Wigmore won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Award Winners with information provided by LAFF: Narrative Award (for Best Narrative Feature) Winner: All is Well directed by Pocas Pascoal Producer: Luis Correia Cast: Ciomara Morais, Cheila Lima, William Brandao, Vera Cruz Film Description: (Portugal) Strangers in a strange land, two beautiful Angolan sisters fleeing a civil war in their homeland struggle to survive in Lisbon. Pocas Pascoal’s deeply personal saga shows us the face of exile with quietly stunning power. Honorable Mention (for Best Narrative Feature) Film Title: Thursday till Sunday directed by Dominga Sotomayor Producers: Gregorio González, Benjamin Domenech Cast: Santi Ahumada, Emiliano Freifeld, Francisco Pérez-Bannen, Paola Giannini Film Description: (Chile) With uncommon beauty and style, this Chilean road movie finds a family at a crossroads, as the daughter slowly realizes the divide between the adults in the front seat and the kids in back. Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature) Winner: Drought directed by Everardo González Producer: Martha Orozco Film Description: (Mexico) Contrasting the lives of a cattle-ranching community with the arid northeastern Mexican landscape that surrounds them, this cinéma vérité documentary paints a poetic portrait of a community on the verge of distinction. Best Performance in the Narrative Competition Winner: Wendell Pierce, Emory Cohen, E.J. Bonilla and Aja Naomi King in Joshua Sanchez’s Four . Film Description: Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, a father and daughter, each trapped in loneliness, reach out for sexual connection — he with a self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy — in this psychologically complex, beautifully acted drama. Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Winner: Beasts of the Southern Wild , directed by Benh Zeitlin Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry Film Description: This stunningly imaginative, boldly original film follows six-year-old Hushpuppy as she fights to protect her father and their unique way of life in a remote, dreamlike area of the Delta threatened by apocalyptic floods. Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature Winner: Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives , directed by Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore Producers: Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore, Kate Roughan, Zachary Mortensen Featuring: Ina May Gaskin, Stephen Gaskin, Pamela Hunt, Farm Midwives past and present, Kristina Kennedy Davis Film Description: Ina May Gaskin and the courageous midwives of the Farm commune inspired the modern midwifery movement. This beguiling documentary tells their empowering story with depth, intelligence and wit. Audience Award for Best International Feature Winner: Searching for Sugar Man directed by Malik Bendjelloul Producers: Simon Chinn, Malik Bendjelloul Featuring: Rodriguez Film Description: Years after facing into obscurity at home, the music of ‘70s U.S. singer/songwriter Rodriguez became an underground sensation in South Africa. Decades after his disappearance, two fans uncover the startling truth behind the legend. Best Narrative Short Film Winner: The Chair directed by Grainger David Producers: Spencer Kiernan, Caroline Oliveira Cast: Khari Lucas, King Hoey, Martha F. Brown Description: A young boy questions the origins of a mysterious mold outbreak that threatens to destroy his town. Best Documentary Short Film Winner: Kudzu Vine directed & produced by Josh Gibson Description: This ode to the kudzu vine poetically highlights its ties to the history and the people of the South. Best Animated/Experimental Short Film Winner: The Pub directed by Joseph Pierce Producer: Mark Grimmer Description: (England) Life isn’t easy behind the counter of a North London pub. Audience Award for Best Short Film Winner: Asad directed by Bryan Buckley Producers: Bryan Buckley, Mino Jarjoura, Rafiq Samsodien, Matt Lefebvre, Kevin Byrne, Hank Perlman Cast: Harun Mohammed, Ibrahim Moalim Hussein, Ali Mohammed, Abdiwale Mohmed Mohamed, Mariya Abdulle, Najah Abdi Abdullahi, Mustafa Olad Dirie, Mohamed Abdullahi Abdikher, Abdi, Sidow Farah, Sahied Nuur Mahamed, Ahmed Dhadane Jimale, Hussein Abdi Mohamed, Isa, Mohamed Abdul, Ikram Hassan, Yasmin Abdi Mohamed, Maymum Abdi Mohamed, Sadia Hassan, Meade Nichol Description: A young boy in a war-torn Somalian village faces a moral dilemma. Audience Award for Best Music Video Winner: Piranhas Club directed by Lex Halaby Music: Man Man
