News

Applications for Women in Film's 2015 Finishing Fund grants will be accepted starting June 8 and until August 7, with winners being announced in November.  Wif is a nonprofit organization that aids in efforts to facilitate creative projects by women in order to promote women's equality. Applications can be made for films that are by, for or about women, and can be of essentially any genre, from documentary to narrative, animated to experimental. Films can be of either short or feature length. The grants will be up to $25,000.  Since its inception in 1985, the Fund has awarded more than $2 million worth of grants to over 220 films from around the world, including award-winners Grace Lee's "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs," Maryam Keshavarz's "Circumstance" and Khadjija Alsalami's "I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced." The online application can be accessed at...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 114 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2014 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 87th Oscars®. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title: “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala, composer “Anita,” Lili Haydn, composer “Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara, composer “At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval, composer “Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?,” Elia Cmiral, composer “Bears,” George Fenton, composer “Belle,” Rachel Portman, composer “Big Eyes,” Danny Elfman, composer “Big Hero 6,” Henry Jackman, composer “The Book of Life,” Gustavo Santaolalla and Tim Davies, composers “The Boxtrolls,” Dario Marianelli, composer “Brick Mansions,” Trevor Morris, composer “Cake,” Christophe Beck, composer “Calvary,” Patrick Cassidy, composer “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Henry Jackman, composer “The Case against 8,” Blake Neely, composer “Cheatin’,” Nicole Renaud, composer “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,...

Three hundred twenty-three feature films are eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 87th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced that 114 scores...

“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala, composer “Anita,” Lili Haydn, composer “Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara, composer “At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval, composer “Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?...

Original scores from The Boxtrolls, Divergent, Exodus: Gods And Kings and The Grand Budapest Hotel are among 114 scores eligible for nominations in the Original Score category for the 87th Oscars. The noms will be announced on January 15. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:

“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala, composer

“Anita,” Lili Haydn, composer

“Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara, composer

“At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval, composer

“Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?,” Elia Cmiral, composer

“Bears,” George Fenton, composer

“Belle,” Rachel Portman, composer

“Big Eyes,” Danny Elfman, composer

“Big Hero 6,” Henry Jackman, composer

“The Book of Life,” Gustavo Santaolalla and Tim Davies, composers

“The Boxtrolls,” Dario Marianelli, composer

“Brick Mansions,” Trevor Morris, composer

“Cake,” Christophe Beck, composer

“Calvary,” Patrick Cassidy, composer

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Henry Jackman, composer

“The Case against 8,” Blake Neely, composer

“Cheatin’,” Nicole Renaud,...

Whoopsy. I forgot to share this list... Herewith the films that could be up for Best Documentary Feature this year. We'll get a finalist of 15 at some point next month followed by 5 nominees in January "until we crown A Winnah!" If we've reviewed the titles, you'll notice their pretty color which you can then click on to read about them. The magic of the internet. You can also see the animated and documentary Oscar charts here.

The 134 Semi-Finalists

A-c

Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq, Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, Algorithms, Alive Inside, All You Need Is Love, Altina, America: Imagine the World without Her, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Anita, Antarctica: A Year on Ice, Art and Craft, Awake: The Life of Yogananda, The Barefoot Artist, The Battered Bastards of Baseball, Before You Know It, Bitter Honey, Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity, Botso The Teacher from Tbilisi,...

One hundred thirty-four features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 87th Academy Awards. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December.

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq”

“Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case”

“Algorithms”

“Alive Inside”

“All You Need Is Love”

“Altina”

“America: Imagine the World without Her”

“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs”

“Anita”

“Antarctica: A Year on Ice”

“Art and Craft”

“Awake: The Life of Yogananda”

“The Barefoot Artist”

“The Battered Bastards of Baseball”

“Before You Know It”

“Bitter Honey”

“Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity”

“Botso The Teacher from Tbilisi”

“Captivated The Trials of Pamela Smart”

“The Case against 8”

“Cesar’s Last Fast”

“Citizen Koch”

“CitizenFour”

“Code Black”

“Concerning Violence”

“The Culture High”

“Cyber-Seniors”

“DamNation”

“Dancing in Jaffa”

“Death Metal Angola”

“The Decent One”

“Dinosaur 13”

“Do You Know What My Name Is?...

Citizenfour, Life Itself, Red Army, Warsaw Uprising among long-list contenters for the 87th Academy Awards.

The Salt Of The Earth, Happy Valley, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, Food Chains and Point And Shoot are also named.

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

20,000 Days On Earth

Afternoon Of A Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq

Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case

Algorithms

Alive Inside

All You Need Is Love

Altina

America: Imagine The World Without Her

American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs

Anita

Antarctica: A Year On Ice

Art And Craft

Awake: The Life Of Yogananda

The Barefoot Artist

The Battered Bastards Of Baseball

Before You Know It

Bitter Honey

Born To Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity

Botso The Teacher From Tbilisi

Captivated The Trials Of Pamela Smart

The Case Against 8

Cesar’s Last Fast

Citizen Koch

Citizenfour

Code Black

Concerning Violence

The Culture High

Cyber-Seniors

Damnation

Dancing In Jaffa

Death Metal Angola

The...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released its list of 134 film vying for the Best Feature Documentary Oscar at the 87th Annual Academy Awards in February. A number of the nonfic hopefuls have yet to get their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Those that don’t will be cut from the contention. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December. Oscar noms will be revealed January 15, and ABC will broadcast Hollywood’s Big Night live on February 22 from the Dolby Theatre.

Here are the docu feature submissions:

Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq

Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case

Algorithms

Alive Inside

All You Need Is Love

Altina

America: Imagine the World without Her

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

Anita

Antarctica: A Year on Ice

Art and Craft

Awake: The Life of Yogananda

The Barefoot Artist

The Battered Bastards of Baseball...

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMAs) have announced the nominees in the Visual Media categories.

Showcasing the best and brightest in musical creation for visual media, the 5th Annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMAs) will be held at The Fonda Theater in Hollywood on Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

The 2014 HMMAs welcome back celebrity hosts including Oscar nominated actor Eric Roberts, former Matchbox 20 member Adam Gaynor, acclaimed Director/Writer/Producer Andy Fickman and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Verdine White. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Education Through Music – Los Angeles (Etmla). Honorees, performers, and special guests to be announced.

The field of entrants were narrowed down to final nominees by the Hmma advisory board and selection committee. The winners will be voted upon by music-media industry professionals comprised of select members of the Society of Composers and Lyricists (Scl), The Television Academy, the AMPAS Music Branch, Naras, performing rights organizations,...

Somehow over the years the Hollywood Music in Media Awards have escaped me. The event's fifth annual slate of nominees were announced today, and it's a pretty standard assortment of names we've been considering at the forefront of this year's Best Original Score Oscar race, from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to Hans Zimmer to the ubiquitous Alexandre Desplat. The nominees were chosen by an "Hmma advisory board and selection committee," and winners will be voted upon by "music-media industry professionals comprised of select members of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, The Television Academy, the AMPAS Music Branch, Naras, performing rights organizations, film music journalists and music executives," according to the press release. You might raise your eyebrow at something like "Interstellar" being on here when it hasn't been screened for these purposes (or much at all, for that matter). The nominations are also based on hearing music via...

News

Zendaya has quit the Lifetime movie where she was set to play Aaliyah. Without its lead, the movie is on hold.

In news that’s already displeasing fans of the character, John Constantine won’t be smoking on Constantine. I’ll be honest, I understand why fans think that’s a character-defining trait but I’m more worried about the show getting his roguish qualities right.

Lighters are okay, though.

Vulture lists all of the patterns that Zoey (Merritt Weaver) has worn on Nurse Jackie. It’s been ages since I’ve worked at the kind of place that gets uniform catalogues, has anyone sensible come out with the Zoey Barkow line, yet?

Following its Supreme Court defeat last week, Aereo has suspended its service, but added that it is not shutting down.

TheAtlantic praises Penny Dreadful for doing a solid job of the sensational reading material its named...

Grace Lee Boggs, who turns 99 on Friday, has been calling for an American revolution for 60 years. In the mid-1960s, she was known as a Black Power figure; according to her FBI file, she was believed to be of Chinese -- and African descent, like her late activist husband Jimmy. How she defines revolution – and how she became a philosopher with seven decades of activism – is the subject of “American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” which will have...

The 27th season of the acclaimed Pov series begins on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 10 p.m. on PBS and continues weekly through Sept. 22. The season, featuring 13 new independent nonfiction films and an encore broadcast, concludes with a special presentation in fall 2014.

In "When I Walk", a young up-and-coming filmmaker discovers he has multiple sclerosis. To cope, he decides to use the art of filmmaking to look at his new reality. In the Oscar-nominated "The Act of Killing," a group of unrepentant Indonesian mass murderers re-enact their crimes in a surreal performance that mimics the Hollywood movies they grew up with, and shocks a nation. In  "The Genius of Marian," a mother's watercolors help a daughter suffering with Alzheimer's grasp family memories.

The art of politics is also on display in Koch, a history of the life and times of New York City's former mayor Ed Koch that is as rollicking and unconventional as the man himself, in "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs," about a fiery activist who urges today's movers and shakers to think in entirely new ways, and in "Getting Back to Abnormal," in which a New Orleans politician prone to putting her foot in her mouth gets an education in street smarts and the city's divergent cultures.

Pov recently announced a collaboration with The New York Times to premiere new documentaries on the organization's websites. The first film, "The Men of Atalissa" by Dan Barry and Kassie Bracken, produced by The New York Times, can be seen on www.pbs.org/pov and www.nytimes.com . In addition, Pov will renew its media partnership with New York flagship public radio station Wnyc.

"Documentaries no longer exist on the cultural margins; they have become an essential tool in how we explore and experience the world," said Pov Executive Producer Simon Kilmurry. "The work produced by these filmmakers is remarkable and important, engaging, daring and entertaining. And it's exciting to see how audiences celebrate and embrace these stories."

"Pov programs take you on a journey, whether traveling alongside a politician, a person grappling with a debilitating illness or an individual in love for the first time," said Pov Co-Executive Producer Cynthia Lopez. "As always, Pov films deliver a emotional punch with superbly crafted storytelling. This season promises to be a powerful roller coaster ride."

Pov 2014 Schedule

June 23: "When I Walk" by Jason DaSilva

Jason DaSilva was 25 years old and a rising independent filmmaker when a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis changed everything, and inspired him to make another film. When I Walk is a candid and brave chronicle of one young man's struggle to adapt to the harsh realities of M.S. while holding on to his personal and creative life. With his body growing weaker, DaSilva's spirits, and his film, get a boost from his mother's tough love and the support of Alice Cook, who becomes his wife and filmmaking partner. The result is a life-affirming documentary filled with unexpected moments of joy and humor. Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of Itvs. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (Caam).

June 30: "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs" by Grace Lee

Grace Lee Boggs, 98, is a Chinese American philosopher, writer, and activist in Detroit with a thick FBI file and a surprising vision of what an American revolution can be. Rooted for 75 years in the labor, civil rights and Black Power movements, she challenges a new generation to throw off old assumptions, think creatively and redefine revolution for our times. Winner, Audience Award, 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival. Festival. A co-presentation with Caam.

July 7: My Way to Olympia by Niko von Glasow

Who better to cover the Paralympics, the international sporting event for athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities, than Niko von Glasow, the world's best-known disabled filmmaker? Unfortunately, or fortunately for anyone seeking an insightful and funny documentary, this filmmaker frankly hates sports and thinks the games are "a stupid idea." Born with severely shortened arms, von Glasow serves as an endearing guide to London's Paralympics competition in "My Way to Olympia." As he meets a one-handed Norwegian table tennis player, the Rwandan sitting volleyball team, an American archer without arms and a Greek paraplegic boccia player, his own stereotypes about disability and sports get delightfully punctured. Official Selection of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival.

July 14: Getting Back to Abnormal by Louis Alvarez, Andy Kolker, Peter Odabashian, Paul Stekler

What happens when America's most joyous, dysfunctional city rebuilds itself after a disaster? New Orleans is the setting for "Getting Back to Abnormal," a film that serves up a provocative mix of race, corruption and politics to tell the story of the re-election campaign of Stacy Head, a white woman in a city council seat traditionally held by a black representative. Supported by her irrepressible African-American aide Barbara Lacen-Keller, Head polarizes the city as her candidacy threatens to diminish the power and influence of its black citizens. Featuring a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, the film presents a New Orleans that outsiders rarely see. Official Selection of the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.

A co-production of Itvs.

July 21: Dance for Me by Katrine Philp

Professional ballroom dancing is very big in little Denmark. Since success in this intensely competitive art depends on finding the right partner, aspiring Danish dancers often look beyond their borders to find their matches. In Dance for Me, 15-year-old Russian performer Egor leaves home and family to team up with 14-year-old Mie, one of Denmark's most promising young dancers. Strikingly different, Egor and Mie bond over their passion for Latin dance, and for winning. As they head to the championships, so much is at stake: emotional bonds, career and the future. Dance for Me is a poetic coming-of-age story, with a global twist and thrilling dance moves.

Airing with "Dance for Me" is the StoryCorps animated short A Good Man by The Rauch Brothers. Bryan Wilmoth and his seven younger siblings were raised in a strict, religious home. He talks to his brother Mike about what it was like to reconnect years after their dad kicked Bryan out for being gay. Major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Produced in association with American Documentary | Pov.

July 28: Fallen City by Qi Zhao

In today's go-go China, an old city completely destroyed by a devastating earthquake can be rebuilt, boasting new and improved civic amenities, in an astoundingly quick two years. But, as "Fallen City" reveals, the journey from the ruined old city of Beichuan to the new Beichuan nearby is long and heartbreaking for the survivors. Three families struggle with loss, most strikingly the loss of children and grandchildre, and feelings of loneliness, fear and dislocation that no amount of propaganda can disguise. First-time director Qi Zhao offers an intimate look at a country torn between tradition and modernity. Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of Itvs International.

A co-presentation with Caam.

Aug. 4: 15 to Life: Kenneth's Story by Nadine Pequeneza

Does sentencing a teenager to life without parole serve our society well? The United States is the only country in the world that routinely condemns children to die in prison. This is the story of one of those children, now a young man, seeking a second chance in Florida. At age 15, Kenneth Young received four consecutive life sentences for a series of armed robberies. Imprisoned for more than a decade, he believed he would die behind bars. Now a U.S. Supreme Court decision could set him free. "15 to Life: Kenneth's Story" follows Youn's struggle for redemption, revealing a justice system with thousands of young people serving sentences intended for society's most dangerous criminals.

Aug. 11: Encore presentation: Neurotypical by Adam Larsen

Neurotypical is an unprecedented exploration of autism from the point of view of autistic people themselves. Four-year-old Violet, teenaged Nicholas and adult Paula occupy different positions on the autism spectrum, but they are all at pivotal moments in their lives. How they and the people around them work out their perceptual and behavioral differences becomes a remarkable reflection of the "neurotypical" world, the world of the non-autistic, revealing inventive adaptations on each side and an emerging critique of both what it means to be normal and what it means to be human.

Aug. 18: A World Not Ours by Mahdi Fleifel

"A World Not Ours" is a passionate, bittersweet account of one familyâs multi-generational experience living as permanent refugees. Now a Danish resident, director Mahdi Fleifel grew up in the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon, established in 1948 as a temporary refuge for exiled Palestinians. Today, the camp houses 70,000 people and is the hometown of generations of Palestinians. The filmmakerâs childhood memories are surprisingly warm and humorous, a testament to the resilience of the community. Yet his yearly visits reveal the increasing desperation of family and friends who remain trapped in psychological as well as political limbo. Official Selection of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival.

Aug. 25: Big Men by Rachel Boynton

Over five years, director Rachel Boynton and her cinematographer film the quest for oil in Ghana by Dallas-based Kosmos. The company develops the country's first commercial oil field, yet its success is quickly compromised by political intrigue and accusations of corruption. As Ghanaians wait to reap the benefits of oil, the filmmakers discover violent resistance down the coast in the Niger Delta, where poor Nigerians have yet to prosper from decades-old oil fields. "Big Men," executive produced by Brad Pitt, provides an unprecedented inside look at the global deal making and dark underside of energy development, a contest for money and power that is reshaping the world. Official Selection of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Sept. 1: After Tiller by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

"After Tiller" is a deeply humanizing and probing portrait of the four doctors in the United States still openly performing third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas, and in the face of intense protest from abortion opponents. It is also an examination of the desperate reasons women seek late abortions. Rather than offering solutions, "After Tiller" presents the complexities of these women's difficult decisions and the compassion and ethical dilemmas of the doctors and staff who fear for their own lives as they treat their patients. Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Sept. 8: The Genius of Marian by Banker White and Anna Fitch

"The Genius of Marian" is a visually rich, emotionally complex story about one family's struggle to come to terms with Alzheimer's disease. After Pam White is diagnosed at age 61 with early-onset Alzheimer's, life begins to change, slowly but irrevocably, for Pam and everyone around her. Her husband grapples with his role as it evolves from primary partner to primary caregiver. Pam's adult children find ways to show their love and support while mourning the gradual loss of their mother. Her eldest son, Banker, records their conversations, allowing Pam to share memories of childhood and of her mother, the renowned painter Marian Williams Steele, who had Alzheimer's herself and died in 2001.

Pov is preempted on Sept. 15 and returns the following week.

Sept. 22: Koch by Neil Barsky

New York City mayors have a world stage on which to strut, and they have made legendary use of it. Yet few have matched the bravado, combativeness and egocentricity that Ed Koch brought to the office during his three terms from 1978 to 1989. As Neil Barskyâs Koch recounts, Koch was more than the blunt, funny man New Yorkers either loved or hated. Elected in the 1970s during the cityâs fiscal crisis, he was a new Democrat for the dawning Reagan era, fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Koch finds the former mayor politically active to the end (he died in 2013), still winning the affection of many New Yorkers while driving others to distraction.

In fall 2014 Pov presents a special broadcast (date and time to be announced):

The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer

Nominated for an Academy Award, The Act of Killing is as dreamlike and terrifying as anything that Werner Herzog (one of the executive producers) could imagine. This film explores a horrifying era in Indonesian history and provides a window into modern Indonesia, where corruption reigns. Not only is the 1965 murder of an estimated one million people honored as a patriotic act, but the killers remain in power. In a mind-bending twist, death-squad leaders dramatize their brutal deeds in the style of the American westerns, musicals and gangster movies they love, and play both themselves and their victims. As their heroic facade crumbles, they come to question what they've done. Winner, 2014 BAFTA Film Award, Best Documentary.

These days, the number of indies premiering on a weekly basis can be both thrilling and intimidating. To help sift through the number of new releases (independent or otherwise), we've created the Weekly Film Guide. Below you'll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for today's fresh offerings. Happy viewing! Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, June 13th. (Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.) American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs Director: Grace Lee Synopsis: "'American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs' plunges us into Boggs’s lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century: from labor to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond. Boggs’s constantly evolving strategy – her willingness to re-evaluate and change tactics in relation to the world shifting.

Grace Lee, best known for her 2005 autobiographical film "The Grace Lee Project," returns to documentary filmmaking with "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs." The film examines the legacy of the longtime activist, who dedicated her life to a wide range of social movements, including the African American civil rights movement, labor rights, feminism, environmental justice and Asian-American causes. At 98 years old, Boggs, as seen in this exclusive clip from the film, is still as sharp and fearless as ever -- even questioning the meaning of revolution, which is a principle she has long held close to her heart. "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs" is scheduled for a limited theatrical release at the Pasadena Laemmle Playhouse 7 from June 20-26th. The film will then make its television debut on June 30th, as part of the PBS series Pov.

Pov, the PBS series for “documentaries with a point of view,” kicks off its 2014 season on Monday, June 23 with Jason Silva’s powerful and inspiring When I Walk. The following weeks feature many other Filmmaker favorites, including American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Big Men (pictured), After Tiller and the broadcast premiere of the boundary-breaking The Act of Killing. Check out the complete schedule here and the trailer above.

Pov, the PBS series for “documentaries with a point of view,” kicks off its 2014 season on Monday, June 23 with Jason Silva’s powerful and inspiring When I Walk. The following weeks feature many other Filmmaker favorites, including American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Big Men (pictured), After Tiller and the broadcast premiere of the boundary-breaking The Act of Killing. Check out the complete schedule here and the trailer above.

The first day of the Havana Film Festival I was at the Hotel Nacional, registering for the festival, seeing familiar faces from Cuba and the Caribbean and old friends from the USA: Oleg Vidov and his wife Joan Borsten were there as Oleg who had starred in 3 Soviet films made in Cuba was an honored guest. Havana regulars were there: Marlene Dermer, director of Laliff and Laurie Anne Schag, VP of International Documentary Association. Laurie Anne not only gives tours of Cuba with her colleague Geo Darder, but this year she also screened her film at the festival, the documentary Oshun’s 11 about a tour of the Yoruba Orisha religion in Cuba.

Harlan Jacobson of Talk Cinema and Sarah Miller brought in tours as well and we went together to the Acapulco theater to see the Puerto Rican romantic heist movie Hope, Despair (La Espera Desespera) by writer/ director Coraly Santaliz Perez (♀) . Im Global’s Bonnie Voland the VP of Marketing was there with with Stuart Ford and his friend. Bonnie gave a great presentation on marketing which I will report on in these pages soon. Im Global and Mundial, their their new joint venture with Gael Garcia Bernal, showed The Butler and Bolivar: The Liberator. This new Mundial title was oddly programmed at the same time as the Venezuelan version of the exact same story, Bolivar, el hombre de las dificultades by Luis Alberto Lamata, a Venezuelan-Cuban-Spanish co-production. I wonder if both cinemas were packed or if one was more popular than the other. Publicity and marketing at this festival is a strange and unknown process, though I know Caroline Libresco-produced and Grace Lee-directed American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs brought in audience after a radio interview with Caroline and Grace had aired.

Ruby Rich was also here giving a very interesting presentation on Queer Cinema whose historical roots (Todd Haynes, Derek Jarman) were mostly unknown to the young Cuban audience. She is an old hand in Havana, having attended the festival in the heady days of the 1970s. The theme of homosexuality was prevalent in many of the films this year. A government Institute of Human Sexuality has been established under the leadership of the daughter of Raul Castro, and Cuba has apologized for its past treatment of homosexuality. This reversal has opened the doors of freedom. Filmmaker Enrique Pineda Barnet, the writer of Soy Cuba, the great Russian-Cuban epic, used to have to work underground with his personal homosexual films (After his fame was established with La Bella del Alhambra he was “allowed” to work underground). He is now able to be officially accepted with his works like Verde, Verde which showed in the Festival. Venezuelan Miguel Ferrari’s Azul y no tan rosa was feted for his treatment of this little-discussed issues in his home country.

Enrique Pineda Barnet’s meditation on what it means to be gay in Havana (Verde, Verde) marks his first film in years to be accepted into the official festival.

The U.S. invitees who give workshops here and at the international film school Eictv makes me wonder who is making the connections and how. Last year Hawk Koch and Annette Benning were here and created a support mechanism of AMPAS with the festival. This year, aside from Oleg Vidov Bonnie Voland and Ruby Rich, other American invitees giving workshops included Robert Kraft (Avatar, Titanic, Moulin Rouge) on film music was obviously brought in by the Academy. Mike S. Ryan, an independent filmmaker from New York was the big surprise as we never knew his role as producer of such films as Todd Solondz’s Palindromes and Life During Wartime, Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Ira Sach’s Forty Shades of Blue, Hal Hartley’s Fay Grim and many more including Liberty Kid, the winner of HBO’s Latino Film Festival 2007 and Bela Tarr’s final film, The Turin Horse. His newly finished film is Last Weekend starring Patricia Clarkson and Zachary Booth. This Independent Spirit “Producer of the Year” winner was here working with filmmakers at Eictv, the international film school and also did a presentation in the festival conference series.

Im Global’s Stuart Ford and friend with Bonnie Voland at the Hotel Nacional

Oliver Stone, a favorite of Cuba since his HBO films Comandante and Persona Non Grata, brought in a History Channel doc series called The Untold History of the United States, made up basically of interviews with key people in the eras of World War II: Roosevelt, Truman and Wallace [sic],The Bomb, Cold War: Truman, Wallace [sic], Stalin, Churchill and the Bomb, The 1950s: Eisenhower, The Bomb and The Third World.

A fruit vendor on our walk to the Infanta Theater

Laurie Anne Schag secured radio promotion for Caroline Libresco of Sundance Institute and Grace Lee, here as a producer and director to show their new film: American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. The audience at the Infanta Theater was mainly brought in by the radio show but also included us, the friends, and the Trinidad + Tobago delegation. The Q&A sessions were informed and informative as the Cubans and Americans discussed the notion of Revolution as put forward by Grace Lee Boggs a 90+ year old community organizer who came out of Barnard College in the 40s to Detroit and has never abandoned her Marxist Socialist standards but recognizes that social revolution can only succeed if the people themselves are revolutionized from grassroots action and within the individuals carrying out the action. Without transformation from within, action to change the government is only a rebellion. So what about the Cuban Revolution? The discussions were very enlightening and the audience felt that this film was new and interesting.

I attended the first of four screenings of Caribbean films hosted by ttff (Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival) at the Infanta Theater. My readers know from my blogs of last November how astonished and moved I was by the population makeup of Trinidad + Tobago and of the Caribbean in general. This area of small islands, formerly colonized by Spanish, French, German and Dutch has created a particular island culture society whose film culture is taking the next evolutionary step. Forming a marketplace and a place of cultural exchange among its constituents, ttff’s director Bruce Paddington is working with Cuba’s national film organization, Icaic’s Luis Notario to develop a real film market for Caribbean film. Apropos, Bruce was also showing his documentary on the Revolution in Grenada, called Foreward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution, which was the motto of Maurice Bishop the elected president who was forcefully removed and murdered by the opposition when the U.S. army under the Commander-in-Chief, President Ronald Reagan sent in forces presumably to protect the American medical students attending medical school there in 1983.

Twenty-five Cubans were also killed in the fighting which ensued on this otherwise always peaceful island where now a reconciliation among neighbors is still in process.

The other four screenings of ttff were varied and interesting in their unique Caribbean points of view. The opening film, Poetry is an Island: Derek Walcott was a portrait of the St. Lucia poet and Nobel Prize winner for literature. The short film, Passage, by Kareem Mortimer, a filmmaker I have known for many years from the Bahamas and Trinidad, was astounding in its recall of one of the most degrading aspects of the slave trade, as black Haitians huddled in the tiny hold of a decrepit fishing boat as they were smuggled into Florida from Haiti. Another short, Auntie, from the Barbados by Lisa Harewood told of a current social issue in which “Aunts” take care of young children while their single mothers go abroad to earn money for their care. As the child in this movie reaches her teen years, her mother sends for her which leaves a grieving single woman “Auntie” alone with no thanks and no child to care for in her older years. Other shorts included The Gardener by Jo Henriquez from Aruba and One Good Deed by Juliette McCawley from Trinidad + Tobago.

The window on Caribbean issues was opened wide. The Barbados comedy Payday in which two friends decide to leave their job as security guards and open their own business was made on a shoe string but gave a picture of how the youth are living today with ganga, grinding dancing, sexy encounters told with a sweet mischievous naughtiness. Songs of Redemption, by Miquel Galofre and Amanda Sans, winner of ttff’s Jury Prize and the Audience Award goes inside what had been Kingston Jamaica’s worst prison until the new prison director introduced classes to educate the prisoners, including a music rehabilition program which goes beyond all expectation… Truly redeeming.

Trinidad + Tobago filmmakers Karim Mortimer from Bahamas, Lisa Harewood from Barbaddos, Alex (Egyptian/ Austrian / Bahamanian business partner of Karim, Shakira Bourne

The film program was suspended for a full day in which all cultural and entertainment events throughout Cuba were cancelled to observe a national day of mourning for Nelson Mandela.

Belle

The 2014 Athena Film Festival has unveiled its lineup of narrative, documentary and short films.

The New York Premiere of Belle, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and directed by Amma Asante, is the Athena Film Festival’s Opening Film, screening on Thursday evening. Decoding Annie Parker, starring Helen Hunt and Samantha Morton and directed by Steven Bernstein, is the festival’s Centerpiece Film, and will be screened on Friday evening. Geraldine Ferraro: Paving The Way, directed by her daughter, Donna Zaccaro, is the festival’s Closing Film, screening on Sunday evening.

The festival honors extraordinary women in the film industry and showcases films that address women’s leadership in real life and the fictional world. Now in its fourth year, the festival runs from Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, February 9 on the Barnard College campus in Morningside Heights. Artemis Rising Foundation is the Founding Sponsor of the Festival.

The Book Thief

Among...

It’s hard to know what to think of Grace Lee Boggs when we first meet her on-screen. The white-haired 95-year-old activist is both open and enigmatic, honest about some things but also incredibly guarded about others. Hers is a persona that not only crushes stereotypes, but serves as the embodiment of an apparent contradiction: for over fifty years, the Chinese-American Boggs has been a prominent member of Detroit’s African American community and a radical supporter of the black power movement. In American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, director Grace Lee (no relation) constructs a fascinating profile that attempts to unpack the dense juxtapositions that make up the...

“I feel so sorry for people who are not living in Detroit,” says activist icon Grace Lee Boggs, as she stands before a dilapidated cityscape in the opening sequence of American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. A Marxist and lifelong Hegel disciple, the Chinese-American Lee Boggs gained notoriety in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, alongside her husband Jimmy Boggs, in the mid-20th Century. Today, she is still ardently devoted to her adopted hometown of more than half a century, galvanizing the local communities in her effort to revive the industrial wasteland that has become of Detroit. […]...

“I feel so sorry for people who are not living in Detroit,” says activist icon Grace Lee Boggs, as she stands before a dilapidated cityscape in the opening sequence of American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. A Marxist and lifelong Hegel disciple, the Chinese-American Lee Boggs gained notoriety in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, alongside her husband Jimmy Boggs, in the mid-20th Century. Today, she is still ardently devoted to her adopted hometown of more than half a century, galvanizing the local communities in her effort to revive the industrial wasteland that has become of Detroit. […]...

As the last day of the Los Angeles Film Festival arrived Sunday with closing night gala "The Way, Way Back," the festival announced its winners at an awards brunch. The two top juried awards of the Los Angeles Film Festival are the Directv Narrative Award and Directv Documentary Award, each carrying an unrestricted $10,000 cash prize, funded by Directv, for the winning film’s director. The Directv Narrative Award for the finest narrative film in competition at the Festival went to Janis Nords’ "Mother, I Love You," making its U.S. premiere, and The DIRECTVDocumentary Award for the finest documentary film in competition at the Festival went to Ryan McGarry for world premiere "Code Black." Destin Daniel Cretton’s drama "Short Term 12" (Cinedigm, August 23), Grace Lee’s documentary "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs" and Haifaa Al Mansour’s Saudi Arabian drama "Wadjda" (Sony Pictures...

Chicken & Egg Pictures, the film foundation for women filmmakers has announced the grant recipients for its current cycle, with $220,000 going to twenty-five documentary projects. Three of the films, "After Tiller," "The Square" and "Valentine Road," will join former Chicken & Egg grant recipients "Citizen Koch" and "Gideon's Army" at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival next month. A complete list of grant recipients with descriptions provided by Chicken & Egg Pictures is below: After Tiller, Directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson* (Completion, Liberty Grant) Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in 2009, there are only four doctors left in America providing late-term abortions. With unprecedented access, After Tiller goes inside the lives of these physicians working at the center of the storm. American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs, by Grace Lee* (Post Production, I...