The man formerly known as Littlefinger soon will investigate extraterrestrial lifeforms.
Game of Thrones alum Aidan Gillen is set to star in History Channel’s Blue Book, from exec producer Robert Zemeckis, our sister site Deadline reports.
RelatedBill Clinton’s Impeachment to Be Focus of History Scripted Drama The Breach
The 10-episode scripted drama, created by David O’Leary, centers on a real-life, secret U.S. government operation in the 1950s and ’60s that investigated UFO-related phenomena. Gillen is set to play Dr. J. Allen Hynek, an astrophysicist and UFO skeptic recruited by the Air Force “to spearhead this...
Game of Thrones alum Aidan Gillen is set to star in History Channel’s Blue Book, from exec producer Robert Zemeckis, our sister site Deadline reports.
RelatedBill Clinton’s Impeachment to Be Focus of History Scripted Drama The Breach
The 10-episode scripted drama, created by David O’Leary, centers on a real-life, secret U.S. government operation in the 1950s and ’60s that investigated UFO-related phenomena. Gillen is set to play Dr. J. Allen Hynek, an astrophysicist and UFO skeptic recruited by the Air Force “to spearhead this...
- 10/26/2017
- TVLine.com
Jason Aldean paid tribute to the late Tom Petty at the Cmt Artists of the Year celebration on Wednesday, and he got some help from his fellow country superstars.
Aldean, who received his sixth Artist of the Year honor on Wednesday, took the stage at the Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center to play a powerful cover of Petty's iconic tune "I Won't Back Down."
The 40-year-old singer was joined by fellow Artist of the Year honorees Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban, as well as Little Big Town, for the emotional performance.
Luke Bryan, another honoree at this year's event, introduced Aldean and his performance, and gave a little insight into why he chose that particular song.
Watch: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan & More Open Cmt Artists of the Year Event With Message of Hope
"Jason gave a lot of thought about what he wanted to play on this show, and he kept coming back to a song from a...
Aldean, who received his sixth Artist of the Year honor on Wednesday, took the stage at the Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center to play a powerful cover of Petty's iconic tune "I Won't Back Down."
The 40-year-old singer was joined by fellow Artist of the Year honorees Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban, as well as Little Big Town, for the emotional performance.
Luke Bryan, another honoree at this year's event, introduced Aldean and his performance, and gave a little insight into why he chose that particular song.
Watch: Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan & More Open Cmt Artists of the Year Event With Message of Hope
"Jason gave a lot of thought about what he wanted to play on this show, and he kept coming back to a song from a...
- 10/19/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Springsteen on Broadway, Bruce Springsteen‘s new intimate one-man show of singing and storytelling, is the hottest ticket in New York City right now, with a single seat in the 939-capacity Walter Kerr Theater going for a starting ticket price of $850 (more than three times what it takes to see Broadway’ other smash musical, Hamilton).
The show — which began performances on Oct. 3, officially opened Thursday night, and will play a limited five nights a week run through Feb. 3 — has already made a whopping $2.33 million in its first seven days of sales according to numbers provided by The Broadway League.
Its run is sold out too,...
The show — which began performances on Oct. 3, officially opened Thursday night, and will play a limited five nights a week run through Feb. 3 — has already made a whopping $2.33 million in its first seven days of sales according to numbers provided by The Broadway League.
Its run is sold out too,...
- 10/13/2017
- by Dave Quinn
- PEOPLE.com
The death of rock legend Tom Petty on Monday night has left the music world reeling, and icon Bruce Springsteen is no exception. On Tuesday, the musician offered condolences to Petty’s family and bandmates, and said that he always felt deeply connected to Petty’s music. “Down here on E Street, we’re devastated and heartbroken over the death of Tom Petty. Our hearts go out to his family and bandmates,” he wrote on Twitter. “I’ve always felt a deep kinship with his music. A great songwriter and performer, whenever we saw each other it was like running into a long lost brother.
- 10/3/2017
- by Ashley Boucher
- The Wrap
The 2017 Invictus Games have come to a close — and Prince Harry is celebrating a week well done.
The royal stepped out for the Invictus Games closing ceremonies in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on Saturday evening. Harry sat in a VIP box in the stadium, where he watched performers Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Kelly Clarkson, Bachman & Turner and Coeur de pirate close out the seven days of competition.
Harry’s girlfriend, Meghan Markle, was in the stands during the ceremony. The Suits star was spotted sitting in a luxury box inside the stadium alongside her mom Doria Radlan. Markle wore a tan trench coat,...
The royal stepped out for the Invictus Games closing ceremonies in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on Saturday evening. Harry sat in a VIP box in the stadium, where he watched performers Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Kelly Clarkson, Bachman & Turner and Coeur de pirate close out the seven days of competition.
Harry’s girlfriend, Meghan Markle, was in the stands during the ceremony. The Suits star was spotted sitting in a luxury box inside the stadium alongside her mom Doria Radlan. Markle wore a tan trench coat,...
- 10/1/2017
- by Diana Pearl
- PEOPLE.com
Whether or not you think the development of a second Bill Clinton-related drama series is amazing or ridiculous will depend on what your definition of the word “is” is.
History on Thursday announced that it has greenlit The Breach: Inside the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, a scripted drama based on Peter Baker’s book The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton. R.J. Cutler (Nashville, The War Room) will executive-produce and direct the six-episode drama, which the network is describing as a political thriller. FreemantleMedia North America and A+E Studios will produce.
The series logline...
History on Thursday announced that it has greenlit The Breach: Inside the Impeachment of Bill Clinton, a scripted drama based on Peter Baker’s book The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton. R.J. Cutler (Nashville, The War Room) will executive-produce and direct the six-episode drama, which the network is describing as a political thriller. FreemantleMedia North America and A+E Studios will produce.
The series logline...
- 9/14/2017
- TVLine.com
A full 11 weeks ahead of its Season 5 premiere, Vikings has already been renewed for a sixth season, History announced on Tuesday.
Along with the renewal came news that series lead Katheryn Winnick will make her directorial debut with one of Season 6’s 20 episodes, which will begin production this fall in Ireland.
VideosVikings Season 5 Trailer Teases ‘The End of Our World’
The first half of Vikings Season 5 opens with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 9 pm; the remaining 10 episodes will air in 2018.
“It has been my pleasure and my privilege to work with History and our partner MGM over...
Along with the renewal came news that series lead Katheryn Winnick will make her directorial debut with one of Season 6’s 20 episodes, which will begin production this fall in Ireland.
VideosVikings Season 5 Trailer Teases ‘The End of Our World’
The first half of Vikings Season 5 opens with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 9 pm; the remaining 10 episodes will air in 2018.
“It has been my pleasure and my privilege to work with History and our partner MGM over...
- 9/12/2017
- TVLine.com
Mindy Kaling fans, the time has come: We must get ready to bid adieu to the most fabulously over-the-top Obgyn to ever exist on television, as The Mindy Project’s sixth and final season premieres Sept. 12 on Hulu. And while Kaling’s character Dr. Mindy Lahiri has taken us on a wild ride over the years — boys, babies and beyond — one thing has always stayed the same: Her over-the-top style is as colorful, as eclectic and as loud as the character herself.
At this point, the soon-to-be-mom has worn over 1,000 eye-popping outfits on the show, each one crafted by the...
At this point, the soon-to-be-mom has worn over 1,000 eye-popping outfits on the show, each one crafted by the...
- 9/6/2017
- by Sharon Kanter
- PEOPLE.com
Not to be confused with The Walking Dead: Our World Arg, a new augmented reality flesheater titled ARZombi is heading to the App Store, and we have a look at it for you right here. From the Press Release: ARZombi… Continue Reading →
The post ARZombi Brings the Dead Home appeared first on Dread Central.
The post ARZombi Brings the Dead Home appeared first on Dread Central.
- 9/1/2017
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
The dead walk among us... we just can't see them until the new mobile game The Walking Dead: Our World is released. An experience that's already being referred to as "Pokémon Go with zombies," The Walking Dead: Our World is a collaboration between AMC and Next Games that will allow you to fight off the infected in augmented reality, and you can get an idea of what to expect from the official trailer for the game.
"Coming soon from AMC and Next Games, The Walking Dead: Our World, a location-based augmented reality mobile game for iOS and Android. Fight walkers on the streets, in the park, on your sofa, wherever and whenever you want. Learn more: http://thewalkingdeadourworld.com"
The post The Living Dead Are Everywhere in New Trailer for The Walking Dead: Our World Augmented Reality Mobile Game appeared first on Daily Dead.
"Coming soon from AMC and Next Games, The Walking Dead: Our World, a location-based augmented reality mobile game for iOS and Android. Fight walkers on the streets, in the park, on your sofa, wherever and whenever you want. Learn more: http://thewalkingdeadourworld.com"
The post The Living Dead Are Everywhere in New Trailer for The Walking Dead: Our World Augmented Reality Mobile Game appeared first on Daily Dead.
- 8/29/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
You’ve seen Rick and the gang in their world. Now they’re coming into ours. AMC and Finnish games developer Next Games have today announced The Walking Dead: Our World, an upcoming augmented reality mobile game that essentially looks to be the horror world’s answer to Pokemon Go. The Walking Dead: Our World will be available for iPhone […]...
- 8/29/2017
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Screw Pokémon Go! This is an augmented reality game we can totally get behind. That’s right, kids! The dead are around every corner in The Walking Dead: Our World. The Walking Dead: Our World, an augmented reality location-based mobile game,… Continue Reading →
The post The Walking Dead Invade Our World; New Arg Pits Us Against Walkers Everywhere! appeared first on Dread Central.
The post The Walking Dead Invade Our World; New Arg Pits Us Against Walkers Everywhere! appeared first on Dread Central.
- 8/29/2017
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Our world just hasn't been the same since Parks and Recreation ended in 2015, but thankfully the cast is still just as close as ever. On Thursday, a handful of the show's long-running stars, Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, and Retta, reunited to support their former costar Aubrey Plaza at the La premiere of Ingrid Goes West. Aside from posing for a big group photo inside the event, Aubrey and Chris, who played wife and husband on the series, even had a few adorable moments on the red carpet as they shared a warm hug. As if that wasn't incredible enough, the actress also admitted that she is hopeful for a full-fledged reunion, adding, "I feel that would for sure happen at some point."...
- 7/28/2017
- by Kelsie Gibson
- Popsugar.com
Here’s another trailer for the intriguing science fantasy western action horror The Dark Tower, which is now less than a month away. It feels like Sony are not putting all that much marketing effort behind The Dark Tower. They released the first official trailer early May, just three months ahead of the film’s release and not much else […]
Read Their War Comes to Our World in the New Trailer for The Dark Tower on Filmonic.
Read Their War Comes to Our World in the New Trailer for The Dark Tower on Filmonic.
- 7/10/2017
- by Alex
- Filmonic.com
Their war. Our world.
Ten years ago, that tagline was attached to the first of Paramount’s live-action Transformers movies, which helped launch one of the most profitable film franchises in cinematic history. Now, almost a decade has passed and Sony Pictures has used the same tagline for its adaptation of The Dark Tower, Stephen King’s undisputed magnum opus about one man’s quest to reach the titular edifice – and the resistance he faces from a certain Walter O’Dim.
On board to bring those famous roles to life are Idris Elba (Roland Deschain/The Gunslinger) and the Oscar-winning Matthew McConaughey (O’Dim/The Man in Black), and today, Sony has rolled out a stunning new international trailer designed to shed light on the transdimensional conflict brewing between Elba and McConaughey’s warring leads. Caught up in the middle of that battle is Tom Taylor’s Jake Chambers, a...
Ten years ago, that tagline was attached to the first of Paramount’s live-action Transformers movies, which helped launch one of the most profitable film franchises in cinematic history. Now, almost a decade has passed and Sony Pictures has used the same tagline for its adaptation of The Dark Tower, Stephen King’s undisputed magnum opus about one man’s quest to reach the titular edifice – and the resistance he faces from a certain Walter O’Dim.
On board to bring those famous roles to life are Idris Elba (Roland Deschain/The Gunslinger) and the Oscar-winning Matthew McConaughey (O’Dim/The Man in Black), and today, Sony has rolled out a stunning new international trailer designed to shed light on the transdimensional conflict brewing between Elba and McConaughey’s warring leads. Caught up in the middle of that battle is Tom Taylor’s Jake Chambers, a...
- 7/10/2017
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
"Their War is Coming to Our World"
The post New International The Dark Tower Posters appeared first on ComingSoon.net.
The post New International The Dark Tower Posters appeared first on ComingSoon.net.
- 7/4/2017
- by CS
- Comingsoon.net
You know how it goes: you're strolling through the city, or you're waiting for public transportation... either way you're with friends, family or colleagues, and the conversation shifts to the huge movie poster you all just walked past. This happened to me this weekend, and the poster's movie was Christopher Nolan's upcoming war drama Dunkirk. And what were we discussing? The tagline. As seen above, the otherwise perfectly serviceable Dunkirk poster sports the following tagline: "The Event That Shaped Our World". And the discussion quickly became hilarious. Chaos theory came up, which states the huge effects even the flapping of a butterfly's wings have on the entire world (and indeed universe) some time later. Literally every single event shapes our world, making the tagline a...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/27/2017
- Screen Anarchy
- 5/26/2017
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- AwardsDaily.com
Chris Blue is ready for his next goal.
The morning after scoring a win as the season 12 champ on The Voice, running on no sleep and a smile that won't quit, Blue tells Et that he's more than ready to get to work on becoming the show's first true superstar.
"I've been thinking about that recently," Blue says of the winners that came before him, all of which have yet to achieve true superstardom. "I think the thing is to not stay planted too long here. The fact of the matter is, we won The Voice last night and that was the goal, to win The Voice. What's the next goal? Let's attack that just like we attacked this one. With that and a lot of grace from God, and a lot of praying. I'm praying that we'll be able to accomplish that."
"I would love to be that breakout star and come back to The Voice and say...
The morning after scoring a win as the season 12 champ on The Voice, running on no sleep and a smile that won't quit, Blue tells Et that he's more than ready to get to work on becoming the show's first true superstar.
"I've been thinking about that recently," Blue says of the winners that came before him, all of which have yet to achieve true superstardom. "I think the thing is to not stay planted too long here. The fact of the matter is, we won The Voice last night and that was the goal, to win The Voice. What's the next goal? Let's attack that just like we attacked this one. With that and a lot of grace from God, and a lot of praying. I'm praying that we'll be able to accomplish that."
"I would love to be that breakout star and come back to The Voice and say...
- 5/24/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Here’s the latest episode of the 365Flick podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on Podomatic and Libsyn, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.
365Flicks Podcast – Episode 66: Sci-Fi Weekender 8 News
The 365Lads are back for another dose of there usual awesome goodness. We start with our now famous General Banter before we move into our News. News is full on choc a block with our awesome News about 365Flicks attending SFW8 at the end of the month which we could not be more excited about. Chris is surprised to have realized that we have become a weekly show. Other News talking points is the Oscars being great and Fastlane being terrible. Our world class Quickie Reviews is next. Reviews this week include a rant...
365Flicks Podcast – Episode 66: Sci-Fi Weekender 8 News
The 365Lads are back for another dose of there usual awesome goodness. We start with our now famous General Banter before we move into our News. News is full on choc a block with our awesome News about 365Flicks attending SFW8 at the end of the month which we could not be more excited about. Chris is surprised to have realized that we have become a weekly show. Other News talking points is the Oscars being great and Fastlane being terrible. Our world class Quickie Reviews is next. Reviews this week include a rant...
- 3/16/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
One of Hollywood’s top talent agencies is canceling its annual Oscar party and using the money it would have spent on the shindig to help refugees affected by President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban.
United Talent Agency announced on Wednesday that the company would be swapping its annual party for a $250,000 donation to the American Civil Liberties Union — the group that challenged Trump’s travel ban and was granted a stay, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The company will also be donating part of the money to the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization. UTA also announced plans...
United Talent Agency announced on Wednesday that the company would be swapping its annual party for a $250,000 donation to the American Civil Liberties Union — the group that challenged Trump’s travel ban and was granted a stay, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The company will also be donating part of the money to the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization. UTA also announced plans...
- 2/8/2017
- by Ale Russian
- PEOPLE.com
After Arissa Young learned that Donald Trump won the presidency, she knew just what she wanted for her 14th birthday: a ticket to the Women’s March on Washington.
“My mom came into my room one day after the election and said ‘I heard there’s a women’s march.’ I said: I have to go!’ This is my birthday present. I turned 14 yesterday. It’s a pretty amazing birthday present,” Young told People at the march after traveling from Garden Valley, Idaho, with her mother and friend Athena Thomas.
She also opened up about her reasons for attending the march.
“My mom came into my room one day after the election and said ‘I heard there’s a women’s march.’ I said: I have to go!’ This is my birthday present. I turned 14 yesterday. It’s a pretty amazing birthday present,” Young told People at the march after traveling from Garden Valley, Idaho, with her mother and friend Athena Thomas.
She also opened up about her reasons for attending the march.
- 1/21/2017
- by kathyehrichdowd
- PEOPLE.com
Youth-focused Berlinale sidebar will feature 62 short and feature films from 41 countries.Scroll down for full list
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed the completed list of titles that will play in this year’s Generations sidebar, which focuses on youth and children’s films.
In total, there are 62 short and feature-length films hailing from 41 countries.
Titles include the world premiere of Carla Simon’s coming-of-age feature debut Summer 1993 (Estiu 1993), which has already been snapped up by New Europe Film Sales.
Among the further films added are features from China, the USA and Korea.
As previously announced, Michael Winterbottom’s music documentary On The Road will open the Generation 14plus programme this year.
Further films playing in the strand include Dash Shaw’s My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea, which features the voices of Jason Schwartzman, Maya Rudolph, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon, and 2016 Tiff Platform title Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves...
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed the completed list of titles that will play in this year’s Generations sidebar, which focuses on youth and children’s films.
In total, there are 62 short and feature-length films hailing from 41 countries.
Titles include the world premiere of Carla Simon’s coming-of-age feature debut Summer 1993 (Estiu 1993), which has already been snapped up by New Europe Film Sales.
Among the further films added are features from China, the USA and Korea.
As previously announced, Michael Winterbottom’s music documentary On The Road will open the Generation 14plus programme this year.
Further films playing in the strand include Dash Shaw’s My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea, which features the voices of Jason Schwartzman, Maya Rudolph, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon, and 2016 Tiff Platform title Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves...
- 1/13/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
Our world got little bit darker last week when we lost one of our brightest stars- Debbie Reynolds, who sadly passed away at the age of 84. Below, we invite you to remember the legend of stage and screen as she recalls how she 'fell into show business,' explains her love for old Hollywood, and reveals how one show saved her life. Check out the interview with Richard Ridge from 2000 below.
- 1/3/2017
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
‘Travelers’ Review: Netflix’s Fun and Freaky Time-Travel Series Makes Us Appreciate Our Present Time
At this point, seasoned Netflix viewers may feel like they’ve seen it all when it comes to imaginative storytelling, whether it be science fiction, supernatural, fantasy or whatever “The Oa” is. The streaming platform’s latest foreign acquisition, Canada’s “Travelers,” is a much simpler type of project, almost a throwback, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Released on the same day as Guillermo Del Toro’s family-friendly “Trollhunters” and the “Sense8” Christmas special, it appears that “Travelers” is meant to be the third leg in the triumvirate of holiday-binge programming. And in that vein, it fits. It contains just enough intrigue for continuous viewing, but is light enough to not over-tax one’s spirits during such a hectic season.
Read More: ‘Travelers’ Trailer: Mind-Bending Eric McCormack Sci-Fi Drama Brings Mystery to Netflix
“Travelers” is a time travel show that is very light on science. Hundreds of years in our future,...
Released on the same day as Guillermo Del Toro’s family-friendly “Trollhunters” and the “Sense8” Christmas special, it appears that “Travelers” is meant to be the third leg in the triumvirate of holiday-binge programming. And in that vein, it fits. It contains just enough intrigue for continuous viewing, but is light enough to not over-tax one’s spirits during such a hectic season.
Read More: ‘Travelers’ Trailer: Mind-Bending Eric McCormack Sci-Fi Drama Brings Mystery to Netflix
“Travelers” is a time travel show that is very light on science. Hundreds of years in our future,...
- 12/23/2016
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
As if “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” hitting the globe this week wasn’t enough, a new trailer for Christopher Nolan‘s “Dunkirk” is on the way as well (not to mention a massive, IMAX prologue in select cinemas). But before we get to all that, here’s the first official one sheet which teases the WWII event picture.
Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2017
As you already know, newbies Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, Harry Styles, James D’Arcy, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan rub shoulders with more experienced thesps Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, and Cillian Murphy in Nolan’s depiction of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (Bef) and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk, which took place from May-June of 1940.
Continue reading First Poster For Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ Teases The Event That Shaped Our World at The Playlist.
Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2017
As you already know, newbies Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, Harry Styles, James D’Arcy, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan rub shoulders with more experienced thesps Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, and Cillian Murphy in Nolan’s depiction of Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (Bef) and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk, which took place from May-June of 1940.
Continue reading First Poster For Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ Teases The Event That Shaped Our World at The Playlist.
- 12/12/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
As technology has improved within the gaming industry, the open-world gaming genre has found more prominence in the market. As worlds grow larger, however, I’m starting to find myself less interested in exploring them...
The gaming industry constantly goes through cycles of ideas. When a game gains success with a certain formula, all the other studios want to eat up the leftovers. We saw this during the PS2 era when every shooter released seemed to be World War II oriented, then on PS3 it was all about “modern warfare,” and this generation it has been “futuristic games.” Another trend that’s been growing for a while now is open world games and, to be honest, I’m starting to hate them.
Open world games are nothing new. We’ve had them since the PS1 era with games like GTA being rather successful with small, yet open, world approaches. Very...
The gaming industry constantly goes through cycles of ideas. When a game gains success with a certain formula, all the other studios want to eat up the leftovers. We saw this during the PS2 era when every shooter released seemed to be World War II oriented, then on PS3 it was all about “modern warfare,” and this generation it has been “futuristic games.” Another trend that’s been growing for a while now is open world games and, to be honest, I’m starting to hate them.
Open world games are nothing new. We’ve had them since the PS1 era with games like GTA being rather successful with small, yet open, world approaches. Very...
- 11/22/2016
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Dustin Spino)
- Cinelinx
Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky had only been married for seven months when they headed to the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, to cheer on the runners.
But then two homemade bombs exploded, killing three and wounding countless others at the race — including Downes and Kensky, who have had “30 to 40” surgeries on their limbs (and even their ears, which were ruptured in the explosions).
“The bombing did not leave one part of our lives untouched,” Kensky tells People.
“When you get married, you’re on this high,” she says. “You feel unstoppable. You have so many hopes and dreams and goals.
But then two homemade bombs exploded, killing three and wounding countless others at the race — including Downes and Kensky, who have had “30 to 40” surgeries on their limbs (and even their ears, which were ruptured in the explosions).
“The bombing did not leave one part of our lives untouched,” Kensky tells People.
“When you get married, you’re on this high,” she says. “You feel unstoppable. You have so many hopes and dreams and goals.
- 11/21/2016
- by kcbakerpeoplemag
- PEOPLE.com
Even though Perrie Edwards has been open about her love life while promoting "Shout Out to My Ex" and Little Mix's new book Our World, the rest of the band isn't following suit. In an interview with Nova 969's radio hosts Fitzy & Wippa, Perrie and band member Jade Thirlwall shut down the reporters when they were asked about Jesy Nelson's relationship status with fiancé Jake Roche. Rumors have been swirling that the two called off their engagement after she stopped wearing her ring and unfollowed him on Instagram, but Jade and Perrie weren't having it. "That's brutal that!" Jade responded. "That's brutal, you just came out with that," Perrie...
- 11/16/2016
- E! Online
So here’s a Cinderella story: Last year, Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra directed Embrace of the Serpent,” a trippy black-and-white voyage into the Amazon. His own country didn’t pay much attention, but the rest of the world felt otherwise: It played Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight, and went on to win four prizes at the Fenix Ibero-American Film Awards in Mexico City. That was November 25, 2015 — two months before it landed an unexpected Oscar nomination.
That’s the Fenix Awards. Launched in 2014, it’s a cleverly designed platform that celebrates the cinemas and talents across Latin America, Spain and Portugal, all while keeping its eye on the prize: The Academy Awards.
Last year’s show was telecast live to more than 40 countries by E! Entertainment, Studio Universal, and Cinelatino channels, with a total reach to some 300 million viewers who speak Spanish or Portuguese.
At Morelia, Fenix founder Ricardo Giraldo told IndieWire...
That’s the Fenix Awards. Launched in 2014, it’s a cleverly designed platform that celebrates the cinemas and talents across Latin America, Spain and Portugal, all while keeping its eye on the prize: The Academy Awards.
Last year’s show was telecast live to more than 40 countries by E! Entertainment, Studio Universal, and Cinelatino channels, with a total reach to some 300 million viewers who speak Spanish or Portuguese.
At Morelia, Fenix founder Ricardo Giraldo told IndieWire...
- 10/28/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
So here’s a Cinderella story: Last year, Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra directed Embrace of the Serpent,” a trippy black-and-white voyage into the Amazon. His own country didn’t pay much attention, but the rest of the world felt otherwise: It played Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight, and went on to win four prizes at the Fenix Ibero-American Film Awards in Mexico City. That was November 25, 2015 — two months before it landed an unexpected Oscar nomination.
That’s the Fenix Awards. Launched in 2014, it’s a cleverly designed platform that celebrates the cinemas and talents across Latin America, Spain and Portugal, all while keeping its eye on the prize: The Academy Awards.
Last year’s show was telecast live to more than 40 countries by E! Entertainment, Studio Universal, and Cinelatino channels, with a total reach to some 300 million viewers who speak Spanish or Portuguese.
At Morelia, Fenix founder Ricardo Giraldo told IndieWire...
That’s the Fenix Awards. Launched in 2014, it’s a cleverly designed platform that celebrates the cinemas and talents across Latin America, Spain and Portugal, all while keeping its eye on the prize: The Academy Awards.
Last year’s show was telecast live to more than 40 countries by E! Entertainment, Studio Universal, and Cinelatino channels, with a total reach to some 300 million viewers who speak Spanish or Portuguese.
At Morelia, Fenix founder Ricardo Giraldo told IndieWire...
- 10/28/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
When Zayn Malik told Perrie Edwards it was over, he really meant it. In Little Mix's Our World, Edwards describes what happened after the former One Direction singer abruptly ended their engagement in August 2015. "After I split with my partner, out of the blue, I had nowhere to go, which was incredibly stressful," she writes. "For a while I had no idea what to do." Edwards and Malik had lived together in a £4.2million home in North London. Her bandmates—Jesy Nelson, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall—offered to put her up, the "Shout Out to My Ex" singer writes, "but they didn't really have room." Moreover, she didn't want to impose on the...
- 10/21/2016
- E! Online
Jade Thirlwall's life hasn't always been easy. The Little Mix member opens up about her struggles with anorexia in the band's new book Our World. Jade, 23, details her battle with the eating disorder, which started when she was just 13 years old. Dealing with bullies and a death in the family, Jade lost a dramatic amount of weight and had to be hospitalized. "My periods stopped and things were getting out of control but I don't think I really cared about what was happening to me," she admits. "I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear." Unfortunately, no matter how much people tried to help the budding starlet, she wouldn't accept it....
- 10/20/2016
- E! Online
Zayn Malik and Perrie Edwards ended their engagement back in August 2015, and now the world is getting a good glimpse into their split. Little Mix released their new song, "Shout Out to My Ex," this week, and besides being your new favorite jam, it's also littered with references about what exactly went wrong between her and Zayn. In a leaked excerpt from the band's upcoming book, Our World, Perrie confirmed that the former One Direction star broke up with her via text message. "It was horrible; the worst time in my life," she wrote without mentioning Zayn by name. "A four-year relationship, two-year engagement ended by a simple text message. Just like that." Zayn, who is now dating Gigi Hadid, previously shot down the rumors of the harsh breakup to The Fader magazine, saying he has "too much respect" for Perrie to "end anything over text message." While the two...
- 10/18/2016
- by Caitlin Hacker
- Popsugar.com
It's not exactly the 1973 Westworld revisited, is it?
I hope you read my overall Westworld review that was shared after I had the opportunity to watch the first four installments, because we're jumping right into episodic reviews today.
If you're anything like me, after watching Westworld Season 1 Episode 1, you've already picked a side. You're either most interested in the park from the perspective of the creators and management, from the hosts who were created to entertain guests, or from the guests themselves.
All three allow for valid viewpoints and interesting discussion, which is different than the original Michael Crichton movie. Back then, the bots (and they didn't feel like much else then), were pretty much painted as the bad guys, killing the guests when they went out of control.
Then again, the whole concept was so new. We didn't walk around with computers stuck in our pockets. We didn't ask...
I hope you read my overall Westworld review that was shared after I had the opportunity to watch the first four installments, because we're jumping right into episodic reviews today.
If you're anything like me, after watching Westworld Season 1 Episode 1, you've already picked a side. You're either most interested in the park from the perspective of the creators and management, from the hosts who were created to entertain guests, or from the guests themselves.
All three allow for valid viewpoints and interesting discussion, which is different than the original Michael Crichton movie. Back then, the bots (and they didn't feel like much else then), were pretty much painted as the bad guys, killing the guests when they went out of control.
Then again, the whole concept was so new. We didn't walk around with computers stuck in our pockets. We didn't ask...
- 10/3/2016
- by Carissa Pavlica
- TVfanatic
"Hello again. My log has something to tell you," John Malkovich says at the start of his latest installment in his Playing Lynch. He's dressed in a red wig with big glasses and is made to look like Catherine E. Coulson's Log Lady character on Twin Peaks."Our world is a magical smoke screen," he says. "How should we interpret the happy song of the meadowlark or the robust flavor of a wild strawberry?"
The vignette is one of several that Malkovich filmed for Playing Lynch, a vehicle for...
The vignette is one of several that Malkovich filmed for Playing Lynch, a vehicle for...
- 9/28/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Breastfeeding isn't always possible - and that's no cause for shame. That's the sentiment new mom Rebecca McKeever wanted to share when she posted a photo of herself feeding her newborn daughter with a syringe, because she was having trouble latching on to breastfeed. "Mothering can feel like a lonely road, when you are the only one who is going through the epic experiences happening to your body," McKeever, 34, tells People. "Even if there are many loving people around you supporting you, still you are the only one who can give birth to and breastfeed your baby. So to hear...
- 9/23/2016
- by Julie Mazziotta, @julietmazz
- PEOPLE.com
[Warning! Although all reviews contain information that the listener will not know until they hear the album, this review (which is actual a preview, since the album will not have been released at the time of posting) is highly detailed. If you are a Marillion fan who would prefer not to be "influenced" specifically in any way prior to your first listen, suffice to say that I am giving the album 4.5 out of 5 stars.]
"The cold war's gone, but those bastards'll find us another one They're here to protect you, don't you know? So get used to it - Get used to it!... The sense that it's useless, and the fear to try Not believing the leaders, the media that feed us Living with the big lie."
("Living With the Big Lie," from Brave)
In the 27 years since Steve Hogarth took over as lead vocalist for Marillion, the band has had only one bona fide concept album: the aurally and emotionally stunning Brave (1994). Using as a starting point the (true) news story of a young woman found roaming around an area of England -- who did not know who she was, or where she had come from, and even refused to speak to the police or the media -- the band created a fictional "back story" for her, which included some fairly "dark" elements,...
"The cold war's gone, but those bastards'll find us another one They're here to protect you, don't you know? So get used to it - Get used to it!... The sense that it's useless, and the fear to try Not believing the leaders, the media that feed us Living with the big lie."
("Living With the Big Lie," from Brave)
In the 27 years since Steve Hogarth took over as lead vocalist for Marillion, the band has had only one bona fide concept album: the aurally and emotionally stunning Brave (1994). Using as a starting point the (true) news story of a young woman found roaming around an area of England -- who did not know who she was, or where she had come from, and even refused to speak to the police or the media -- the band created a fictional "back story" for her, which included some fairly "dark" elements,...
- 9/15/2016
- by Ian Alterman
- www.culturecatch.com
How the Filmmaker Honors Women by Capturing Our World Authentically.
In case you missed it during your trip to Mars: the new, very funny and in some ways, revolutionary Ghostbusters — co-written by Katie Dippold and Paul Feig — stars four exceptional women in lead roles. After much noisy whining and many buckets of tears shed by insecure manbabies, we finally know that the Paul Feig-directed remake is indeed very good, stands on its own as a fresh take on an existing universe and resides harmoniously alongside the original film that came 32 years before it. But that’s not all. We also know that the new Ghostbusters thankfully isn’t just a simplistic gender-swapped comedy that forces male-centric themes onto its story just for the sake of being gentle on the aforementioned manbaby crusaders and skeptics. It is instead unapologetically true to the female experience in portraying its lead characters (played by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig...
In case you missed it during your trip to Mars: the new, very funny and in some ways, revolutionary Ghostbusters — co-written by Katie Dippold and Paul Feig — stars four exceptional women in lead roles. After much noisy whining and many buckets of tears shed by insecure manbabies, we finally know that the Paul Feig-directed remake is indeed very good, stands on its own as a fresh take on an existing universe and resides harmoniously alongside the original film that came 32 years before it. But that’s not all. We also know that the new Ghostbusters thankfully isn’t just a simplistic gender-swapped comedy that forces male-centric themes onto its story just for the sake of being gentle on the aforementioned manbaby crusaders and skeptics. It is instead unapologetically true to the female experience in portraying its lead characters (played by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig...
- 7/19/2016
- by Tomris Laffly
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
In the classic comic book series Crisis on Infinite Earths, thousands of worlds collided. Prior to that title, virtually all of the various stories told and characters created by DC’s various comics were said to take place within parallel dimensions of the same universe. This convenient device allowed the “Golden Age” superhero stories from mid-century comic books to co-exist with later re-imaginings of the same characters without contradicting each other. When Crisis brought the walls between dimensions tumbling down, however, multiple versions of the same characters began occupying the same space, with predictably chaotic results. Our world has begun to experience
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- 7/11/2016
- by Brian D. Wassom
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Malik Divers knows the healing power of horses, especially for young men growing up in the blighted neighborhoods of Philadelphia. "All the guys I came up with when I was a kid riding, most of my friends are dead or in jail," Divers, 56, tells People. "So being around the horses gave me something to look forward to and gave me peace. It's scary out here." For more than a decade, Divers has passed on his love of horses, and provided the steeds, to the kids around his neighborhood - where the sounds of gunfire are more common than the clip-clopping of the horses' hooves.
- 6/30/2016
- by Susan Young, @suetube
- PEOPLE.com
Malik Divers knows the healing power of horses, especially for young men growing up in the blighted neighborhoods of Philadelphia. "All the guys I came up with when I was a kid riding, most of my friends are dead or in jail," Divers, 56, tells People. "So being around the horses gave me something to look forward to and gave me peace. It's scary out here." For more than a decade, Divers has passed on his love of horses, and provided the steeds, to the kids around his neighborhood - where the sounds of gunfire are more common than the clip-clopping of the horses' hooves.
- 6/30/2016
- by Susan Young, @suetube
- PEOPLE.com
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With X-Men: Apocalypse settling for just over $500m at the global box office, in what direction should the series head next? A few thoughts.
The X-Men franchise has never been one to set the box office alight in the way that, say, The Avengers does, with 2014’s Days Of Future Past’s box office topping out at $748 million world wide. Granted, X-Men kickstarted the current cinematic superhero revolution to much acclaim but after the initial two entries in the franchise, public and critical reception began to dwindle, as did box office returns.
X-Men: First Class proved to be the creative shot in the arm that the franchise needed and with Days Of Future Past hitting the highest box office results yet, it was expected that Apocalypse would catapult the series nearer to the billion-dollar club.
But it didn’t. In fact, X-Men: Apocalypse’s take is just north of $500m,...
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With X-Men: Apocalypse settling for just over $500m at the global box office, in what direction should the series head next? A few thoughts.
The X-Men franchise has never been one to set the box office alight in the way that, say, The Avengers does, with 2014’s Days Of Future Past’s box office topping out at $748 million world wide. Granted, X-Men kickstarted the current cinematic superhero revolution to much acclaim but after the initial two entries in the franchise, public and critical reception began to dwindle, as did box office returns.
X-Men: First Class proved to be the creative shot in the arm that the franchise needed and with Days Of Future Past hitting the highest box office results yet, it was expected that Apocalypse would catapult the series nearer to the billion-dollar club.
But it didn’t. In fact, X-Men: Apocalypse’s take is just north of $500m,...
- 6/27/2016
- Den of Geek
Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia Obama are leaving dad behind, this summer, and heading overseas. The First Lady and her teenagers - along with grandmother Marian Robinson - will travel to Liberia, Morocco and Spain at the end of June and into early July as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, the White House said in a press release, Wednesday. Throughout the trip - which includes stops in Monrovia, Marrakech and Madrid - Obama will speak to young girls about the importance of education and staying in school. First stopping in Liberia on June 27, Obama will...
- 6/15/2016
- by Lindsay Kimble, @lekimble
- PEOPLE.com
Celebrities including Cher, Kanye West, Madonna and Ricky Gervais have led tributes to music legend David Bowie following the news that he has had died at 69 after a battle with cancer. Kanye West told his fans on Twitter: "David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime." While Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais said he had "just lost a hero. Rip David Bowie." Songwriter Linda Perry tweeted: "Oh this is terrible news. We lost an extremely important and influential artist. David Bowie has been a huge inspiration and will be missed.
- 1/11/2016
- by George Stark, @GeorgeStark_
- PEOPLE.com
Gina Rodriguez can attest that winning a Golden Globe isn't a golden ticket to a perfect life.
"People think you hit some kind of success and then, boom, everything unfolds for you. But that's completely untrue," the Jane the Virgin star tells People in this week's issue. "You have to work twice as hard because now everyone's, like, 'Yo! You got this award. You better get up on it!' "
And Rodriguez, 31, has certainly been getting "up on it."
In addition to Jane, the actress has multiple films slated to be released in 2016 including Deepwater Horizon with Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson.
"People think you hit some kind of success and then, boom, everything unfolds for you. But that's completely untrue," the Jane the Virgin star tells People in this week's issue. "You have to work twice as hard because now everyone's, like, 'Yo! You got this award. You better get up on it!' "
And Rodriguez, 31, has certainly been getting "up on it."
In addition to Jane, the actress has multiple films slated to be released in 2016 including Deepwater Horizon with Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson.
- 12/9/2015
- by Patrick Gomez, @PatrickGomezLA
- People.com - TV Watch
"Our world is dying, there is nothing to go back to... If our people are to survive, we must make our home here." Universal and Legendary have officially debuted the first full-length trailer for Duncan Jones' big screen Warcraft movie, adapting the video game series created by Blizzard Entertainment. This is one epic introduction to two different worlds - that of the humans, and of the orcs, and the two will confront each other for survival. Duncan seems to be presenting this as both sides of the story, following main characters from the orcs and the humans. The CGI is impressive, and will only get better as they finish rendering. The cast includes Ben Foster, Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell, Rob Kazinsky, Dominic Cooper, Daniel Wu and Clancy Brown. Fire this up, and tell us what you think! Welcome to Warcraft. Here's the first official trailer (+ posters) for Duncan Jones' Warcraft,...
- 11/6/2015
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Open Road Films
There is nothing more unequivocally human than the will to survive. We refuse to accept defeat, to give into death; life is more than just for living – it’s for conquering.
Whether isolated in sprawling forests, covertly entering enemy territories or scaling through the endless nothingness to hunt for their meal, the silver screen has forever been populated by characters with the mentality and ability to prosper. From the ordinary hero to the highly-equipped assassin, these film icons must adopt and execute a very particular set of skills in order to thrive, succeed and ensure they are still upon this earth in time for tomorrow.
Our world is a jungle; packed full of dangers and obstacles, many of which perhaps seem too challenging to overcome, but not for these select few. Here’s our list which honours the ten boldest, bravest and most bad-ass cinematic survivors.
10. Jason...
There is nothing more unequivocally human than the will to survive. We refuse to accept defeat, to give into death; life is more than just for living – it’s for conquering.
Whether isolated in sprawling forests, covertly entering enemy territories or scaling through the endless nothingness to hunt for their meal, the silver screen has forever been populated by characters with the mentality and ability to prosper. From the ordinary hero to the highly-equipped assassin, these film icons must adopt and execute a very particular set of skills in order to thrive, succeed and ensure they are still upon this earth in time for tomorrow.
Our world is a jungle; packed full of dangers and obstacles, many of which perhaps seem too challenging to overcome, but not for these select few. Here’s our list which honours the ten boldest, bravest and most bad-ass cinematic survivors.
10. Jason...
- 10/21/2015
- by Chris Haydon
- Obsessed with Film
The Caribbean Film Mart (Cfm) has been in the making for several years and in September its debut took place at the 2015 trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) . Bruce Paddington, a filmmaker himself as well as an academic and the Founder and Director of the Festival, along with Annebelle Alcazar, Jonathan Ali and Nneka Luke, and spearheading the Cfm and the Caribbean Film Database (Cfdb) , Emilie Upczak and Melanie Archer, have created an A level event which after 10 years now encompasses three important aspects of film beyond the showcasing of the Caribbean and international docs and fiction films: filmmaking, film marketing and film education which this year included an academic symposium through the University of the West Indies, a Youth Jury of young people from 16 to 21 and sold out matinees for school children.
Cfm envisages the Caribbean -- home to the most genetically variegated people of the world -- as a whole whose varied stories will go out into the larger world (much like the Trinis themselves). Coming from islands which remind us of those planets described in Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ), the Caribbeanos gathered here in Trinidad to receive coaching and positive feedback to extend their reach into the rest of world. Our world, still divided along colonial and post-colonial color and class lines needs this idealistic and inspiring vision.
For more coverage of the event, Lisa Harewood, a Barbados filmmaker, has written about the event in Shadow and Act.
This year 15 feature film projects from 10 countries were pitched and discussed at the inaugural Caribbean Film Mart (Cfm) in parallel with an academic symposium of university professors presenting on films, festivals and markets at the Hyatt Hotel. The unique mix of academics and professionals with upcoming filmmakers was vibrant, alive and upbeat, and we hope it continues to grow even though the financing from Acp Cultures which made this event possible may not continue to lend its support.
The 11 fiction feature projects and four doc projects (out of 100 submissions) selected from Guadaloupe, Cuba, Curaçao, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Barbados, Dominican Republic and The Bahamas in development and pre-production were discussed over three days with 30 international film producers, sales agents and film funds coming from diverse countries in the Caribbean, Europe and North America.
The meetings resulted in professional relationships and partnerships that will enable the production and distribution of the participating projects going forward.
“We are pleased that a number of the projects are from ttff alumni, some of whom have gone through our Rbc Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion, and others the Eave Producers’ training initiative which took place at ttff/14,” said Emilie Upczak, ttff Creative Director.
The selected projects were selected by the ttff, the Global Foundation of Democracy and Development from the Dominican Republic, the Association for the Development of Art Cinema and Practice from Guadeloupe, the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema in Cuba, and the Regional and International Festival of Cinema of Guadeloupe.
The project is co-financed by the Acp Cultures+ Program (Acp Group of States), funded by the European Union ( European Development Fund), and implemented by the Acp Group of States.
The projects were all most interesting visualized stories, and the filmmakers themselves, whether just beginning or with one or two features already under their belts, were all well prepared and professionally aligned with the more seasoned professionals in their objectives. Every one of the selected projects holds a promise of unique enchantments.
Jan Miller the international consultant and trainer specializing in film and television coproduction and coventuring who started Transatlantic Partners after she established Atlantic Partners, part of the Atlantic Film Festival in Nova Scotia, and who has delivered one of the top pitching and content development events for 20 years created a substantive and fun environment intensely devoted to the filmmakers.
The winner of the 15 selected Cfm projects was:
1. "Kidnapping Inc.” a fiction feature from Haiti to be directed by Bruno Mourral and produced by Gaethan Chancy and Remi Grelletty who both produced “Moloch Tropical” and “Murder in Pacot” and Raoul Peck the award winning director who has also produced five features and four docs.
Read more about Raoul Peck and his current production “The Young Karl Marx” on Shadow and Act.
“Kidnapping Inc.” has Canal + Antilles as a coproducer as well as private equity. They are still seeking other coproduction partners.
This twisted, dark comedy is about two delivery men working for an underground kidnapping corporation in Haiti. Doc and Zoe are scheduled to deliver a senator’s son worth $300,000. In the midst of their usual bickering, one kills the senator’s son accidentally. Trying to fix the mess they find themselves in, they stumble upon the senator’s son’s lookalike, which sets them on the craziest kidnapping of their lives.
Bruno Mourral is interested in developing the industry in Haiti as well as making movies. He says, “’Kidnapping Inc. is a dark comedy and satire of Haitian society waltzing between ‘City of God’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’. This film depicts the raw complexity and Haiti’s harsh day-to-day and pushes the viewer towards a better understanding of social issues such as color, sexism, machismo, social class discrimination and identity.
2. “The Dragon” is a fictional story from Trinidad and Tobago based upon the novel by the world renowned (but little known in the U.S.) Earl Lovelace and to be directed by his daughter Asha Lovelace. Having read the novel I can say that this story of a Trinidad community of African descendants which has inherited traits cultivated under slavery is immediately riveting. It brings another view of the radical political actions we in the U.S. witnessed in the 70s. Moreover, a musical composition written by a Trini composer who read the novel and was so enamored that he freely and without asking composed an entire opus makes this immediately into a transmedia project which is accessible and exploitable. The novel, the musical opus, and what I hope to see -- the movie -- all tell a tale of a people we can identify with but have never seen like this.
The book is a masterpiece and brings to mind “Black Orpheus” with its setting in the poverty-stricken Calvary Hill whose inhabitants’ lives are centered in the yearly Carnival. It also brings to mind John Steinbeck’s stories with struggling characters in the Salinas Valley.
Director Asha Lovelace’s debut short “George and the Bicycle Pump” premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. She co-wrote, produced and directed her first feature “Joebell and America” which screened at several film festivals and won for Best International Narrative Feature Film at the Women’s International Film Festival in Miami in 2008. She lectures on film at the University of the West Indies, founded and is festival director of Africa Film Trinidad and Tobago, a film festival dedicated to African cinema.
Producer Lesley-Anne Macfarlane has worked in the audio-visual industry in U.K. and Trinidad, graduated with an Ma in Cultural Policy and Management from City University, London and has produced several short films and music videos.
The story centers on Aldrick whose sole responsibility in life is to his dragon masquerade that he plays for Carnival. When he finds himself falling for Sylvia, the most desired young woman on the hill, he is unable to commit to her and she succumbs to the advances of an older man. This plummets Aldrick into a moment of blind rebellion that ends in tragedy and forces him to confront his role as dragon and man.
3. “ Sprinter” from Jamaica will be directed by Storm Saulter whose well-received first feature, the 2010 crime drama “Better Mus’ Come” received U.S. distribution through Ava du Vernay’s Affrm. It is being produced by Donald Ranvaud (“City of God”) who is well known and well loved on the international film circuit.
This fictional feature is set against the world of track and field – an area in which Jamaica has excelled for decades – and addresses urgent and poignant broader themes. “Those images of Rastas smoking ganja on the beach or the gunman from Kingston – it isn’t who we are,” Saulter told Jeremy Kay in a Screen interview.
In his interview with Screen, Jeremy also asked what has it been like pitching to dozens of people here.
“You kind of have to get to the soul of the thing and you see what people respond to. This is about meeting with people that can help with financing and also potentially sales agents and exploring co-production possibilities. Jamaica does not have a treaty with the U.S .but we have treaties with the U.K. and Canada. It’s this whole puzzle you have to put together. The responses have been positive.”
The film is about Akeem, a young Rastafarian, who surprisingly shatters the 200-metre high-school track record. He must make the national team tocompete at the World Youth Championships in Philadelphia if he wants a chance to reunite with his mother who has been living there illegally for ten years. Akeem’s overnight popularity and the sudden return of his estranged older brother disrupt his focus. Meanwhile, a scandal is brewing that threatens to derail his career before it’s even started.
4. “ Beauty Kingdom ” is a Dominican Republic project to be directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas who will also produce along with Mónica De Moya. Guzmán and Cárdenas also worked together on "Sand Dollars" (2014) which premiered at Tiff in 2014, "Jean Gentil" (2010) which premiered in Venice in 2010 and "Cochochi" (2007).
This fictional feature takes place in a magical place in the Caribbean and is about the most expensive film of all time which is about to be shot. The Diva, a 70-year-old eccentric actress (played by Geraldine Chaplin), has arrived to star in the film. She finds herself surrounded by the absurdity that such a film production implies, as she rigorously prepares for her role. All the while, she senses the impending end of the world. Nevertheless, the film must go on.
5. “Doubles With Slight Pepper” is a fiction feature coproduction of Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S. to be directed by Ian Harnarine, produced by Ryan Silbert and exec produced by Spike Lee.
Ian Harnarine , a Trinidadian living in Canada has already won numerous awards for the short that this feature is based upon and has been working on this feature for several years. The film will go into production in Trinidad in November.
In Lisa Harewood’s interview for Shadow and Act , Ian said, "The Caribbean Film Mart was incredibly important in opening up the world (literally!) to the project. To meet face to face with people from Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, Norwegian South Film Fund, World Cinema Support etc makes the opportunities available to me very real."
Dhani, a young Trinidadian street vendor, struggles to support himself and his mother by selling doubles. When his estranged father, Ragbir, unexpectedly invites him to New York, Dhani must travel to America and decide if he will save his father’s life.
Best Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011
Best Live Action Short Drama at the Genie Awards 2012 (the Canadian Academy Awards)
Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film:
filmmakermagazine.com/news/people/ian-harnarine/
Watch the short Here.
6. “The Extraordinary Journey of Celeste Garcia” from Cuba will be the first fiction feature to be directed by Arturo Infante. His shorts have shown at home and abroad and have won several awards and he has written several produced scripts such as “Havana Eva” and “L’edad de la peseta”, films which Cuban film fans all know well. His producers,Claudia Calviño and Alejandro Tovar are two of Cuba’s top young producers whose film “Juan of the Dead” is Cuba’s most current best selling satire. Like that, this story highlights characters who must react to a surreal situation in an already slightly surreal country called Cuba.
Celeste is in her sixties and sells tickets at a planetarium. The discovery of an alien race shocks the world. Humans will send a spaceship carrying regular citizens to make contact with the alien civilization. Tired of her monotonous life, Celeste decides to apply for a spot on the ship and embark into the unknown.
What Celeste and the rest of the passengers on the ship seek in another galaxy is the Cuban dream of a better life.
Arturo speaks of his interest in characters, both real and as actors. “Growing up in a family with many women made me develop a special ‘ear’ towards the feminine. I spent my childhood in an old colonial-style house, hearing the voices of my mother, my grandmothers, aunts and neighbors. They all talking from one side to another, sharing their stories, dreams and secrets, but also their visions about the reality and politics of my country. That’s why I think the main character in my story must necessarily be a woman. I realize now that Celeste embodies all those voices of my childhood. Celeste’s character also represents my parents’ generation. A generation that gave their best years to build a utopian project that was diverted into paths that were not exactly the ones they dreamed of. A generation now marked by disenchantment and skepticism, a process of which I have been a constant witness. With my story I want to give Celeste a chance to travel to a new planet, the opportunity to see the rebirth of those fallen dreams of her youth.”
http://www.facebook.com/produccionesdela5taavenida
7. “The Fisherman’s Son” from Puerto Rico and Colombia will be directed by Edgar Deluque. Producer Annabelle Mullen from PR is a former entertainment attorney with several credits to her name. She presented this project about a transsexual running away from the city to his childhood home at a fishermen’s island after murdering a policeman. He must face his father whom he hasn’t seen in fifteen years and who doesn’t want anything to do with his transsexual child.
The writer-director, Edgar Deluque, is an emerging talent from Colombia.
8. “Hello Nicki” from Trinidad and Tobago will be directed by Miquel Galofré whose previous moving doc about songwriters who were in prison in Kingston, Jamaica, “Songs of Redemption”, showed at various festivals including Havana and Krakow. Aside from this Miquel has made six other feature docs This doc, produced by Jean Michel Gibert whose sequel to “Pan! Our Music Odyssey” called “ Re-Percussions! Our African Odyssey ” just won the award for Best Trinidad and Tobago Documentary Feature Film at ttff.
This documentary follows Shanice, a teenage girl from Trinidad, as she seeks to actualize her grand dream of making music and collaborating with Nicki Minaj, a Trinidadian born American rapper – the most popular musical personage in the world today. Shanice is a spirited soul living with cerebral palsy and has a unique way of viewing the world. She is keenly aware of the isolation her appearance has caused, but her personality remains bright, upbeat and hopeful.
http://www.miquelgalofre.com .
You can meet Shanice here: https://vimeo.com/136969025 Password: Shanice
9. “Papa Machete” from Haiti, Barbados and U.S. to be directed by Jonathan David Kane is based upon the short which screened at ttff. The producers, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers and Keisha Rae Witherspoon were discussing the doc as well as the fiction feature to be made. Many of the people they spoke with, including myself, thought the fiction feature would be more accessible, though perhaps a TV doc would also be possible with the footage they have made the 10 minute short with.
The story is fascinating as the machete was used as a weapon 200 years ago when Haitian slaves defeated Napoleon’s armies with the very tool they used to work the land. Papa Machete explores the esoteric martial art that emerged from this victory through the life and recent death of Alfred Avril, a poor farmer who was one of the art’s few remaining masters. With his passing, Avril’s two sons are confronted with loss, legacy and American dreams.
10. “Wind Rush” is conceived as a doc coproduction between Trinidad and Tobago and U.S. director-writer-producer Vashti Harrison lives in Atlanta, Geogia. Her parents are Trinis and she has a great love for Trinidad and its music. This is an experimental doc about Calypso music which serves a significant role in the Caribbean emigrant experience in London, which began in earnest in the 1950s. Calypso was the music of the minority, the voice of the other, and it helped to define the West Indian identity in England. Using the music of calypsonians Lord Beginner and Lord Kitchener as a road map to this journey of discovery and displacement, the film will focus on their homes both in Trinidad and London.
The criticism she received was about obtaining music clearances in U.K. when she herself is not a U.K. resident or citizen. Perhaps she needs to find a U.K. producer who can also access U.K. Funds. Her experimental films and docs have shown around the world at Rotterdam, Edinburgh, N.Y. and Havana Film Festivals. All of her work focuses into her Caribbean heritage and is quite evocative, artistic and well executed.
11. “Conch” from Curaçao will be directed and produced by German Gruber whose first film, urban drama, “Sensei Redenshon” was completed in 2013 and will be released in the Netherlands this fall. This fiction feature about the natural side of Curaçao is a road movie about a young boy who runs away from home after the loss of his mother. Searching for the message that he saw her whisper into a conch shell the night before her death, he seeks clues from the characters he meets along his desolate journey. Between nightmares of drowning and daydreams of becoming a musician, he eventually confronts his fear of the sea to find the answer.
12. “Green Days by the River” is a fiction feature set against the backdrop of rural Trinidad in 1952. A fifteen-year-old boy who has just moved to a village naively seeks the affection of two girls, an attractive rich Indian girl, and a more personable and accessible one. The ensuing triangle forces him to focus on becoming a man as he must make life enduring decisions.
Director Michael Mooleedhar has made several award winning shorts.Producer Christian James graduated in 2014 with an Mfa in Cretive Producing from Columbia College Chicago, has interned with K5 International during 2014 Cannes and participated in the 2015 Rotterdam Film Festival Lab.
13. “Potomitans : Women Pillars in Revolt” , a doc project from Guadeloupe will be directed by Bouchera Azzouz whose first documentary, “Nos Meres nos daronnes” (“Our Mothers”) aired this year on France 2 (France Televisions) and was one of its biggest audience hits. This is her second work on popular feminism. Producer Nina Vilus' short "Vivre” has won awards and their “Villa Karayib”, a 3 minute 30 second series with 140 episodes aired on Canal + Antilles. Laurence Lascary is coproducing.
This film is an exploratory journey into the heart of the everyday life of five Guadeloupean women who are considered “potomitans”, women who assume professional and familial responsibilities without the help of a man. Everything rests on the courage of these women, who are trying to emancipate themselves by claiming a new way of being a woman.
It is an Art & Vision Productions, De l’autre cote du periph (Dacp) and Canal + Antilles coproduction which Canal + will broadcast in the French Caribbean. 37% of the financing is secured through the Guadeloupe regional council, Agence national pour la cohesion social et l’egalite des chances (Asce), Ministry of French overseas territories. Apcag network of theaters in Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana along with Aubervilliers Theater in France will premiere the film.
14. “The Seawall” is a fiction project to be coproduced by Guyana and U.S.
Director Mason Richards says, “My intention for ‘The Seawall’ is to create a dramatic narrative set in Guyana, South America with simple characters navigating through complex issues within the Caribbean cultural context. It is also my intention to make a film that seeks to reconcile our Caribbean and non-Caribbean identities through the journey of my protagonist who returnes “home” to Guyana and is confronted with issues of his past that he has suppressed. The story needs to be told because many of us from the Caribbean diaspora struggle with “trans-national” identities, meaning we are from the Caribbean, however we’ve immigrated to other countries like the U.S. where we’ve adapted to a new dominant culture and way of life. With tht, there is a feeling of “dis-connect” as though we have left something behind, back “home” in the Caribbean, whether it’s family members, our cultural identity, or simply our childhood memories. It is also my intention to make an entertaining, quality film that highlights the beauty of the Caribbean through the stories and hearts of the characters.
The fiscal partner of this project is Frog (Friends and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Guyana), Verisimiltude in New York City. The executive producer C.R. Wooten has exec produced several film projects for TV and HBO and exec produced the short film, “The Seawall”.
The writer-director, Mason Richards, is an alumnus of Film Independent’s Project Involve, a recipient of Sony Pictures Diversity Fellowship 2012, winner of The Ainslie Alumni Achievement Award 2011 and Guyana’s 46th Independence Golden Arrowhead Award.
Producer Sohini Sengupta is an award-winning of creative director of theatrical campaigns, including “Birdman”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, “Black Swan” and “Slumdog Millionaire”. She is a production team member of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s 35 under 35 Women Who Run Hollywood.
Malachi, a struggling young writer in Brooklyn, learns of his girlfriend’s pregnancy and returns to his birth country, Guyana, to sell off his inheritance. In Guyana, Malachi ends up confronting his estranged father who abandoned him as a child. Malachi gets closure, and makes decisions about the kind of father he would be to his unborn child.
15. “Epiphany” by Maria Govan who is a self-taught filmmaker from the island of New Providence in The Bahamas. When she was 18 she moved to L.A. and worked for four years on Hollywood sets. In 1999 she returned home, bought a digital camera and began making small guerilla-style local documentaries. In 2004 she moved to New York and began writing her first narrative script “Rain” which premiered in 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival, won several awards and aired on Showtime to a strong audience response. Her second film “Play the Devil” was shot entirely in Trinidad in the spring of 2015 and she hopes it will premiere in the winter of 2016.
Producer Abigail Hadeed has worked with Caribbean crews on big budget commercials. She worked on the short “4am” in 2011 which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festval. In 2012 she produced an award winning feature doc “La Giata” and produced “Play the Devil” with Maria.
They are looking for coproducers and can offer a 35% rebate on Trinidadian spend with a 50% rebate on roles in key positions for films shot in Trinidad. Exterior and ocean environments can be shot in the Bahamas.
Set in the Bahamas — Mary, a loner with a passion for spear fishing and the sea, is forced to give up her room to her overbearing cousin’s girlfriend, an “illegal” colorful Cuban named Gabriel. When a love triangle develops and George realizes he’s been betrayed, the women are forced into the dark terrain of human smuggling.
Links to “Rain” (director’s previous work): Trailer
Link to Maria Govan’s Show Reel: https://vimeo.com/35611171
Other films in the program but exceeding the official number of 15 include
16. “Cargo” from The Bahamas, a fiction feature based upon the short film of Kareem Mortimer. Producer Trevite Willis has produced several films including the Lgbt feather “Children of God” with Kareem directing. Producer Alexander Younis now has a doc, “Brigidy Bram ” in post-production.
“Cargo”, based upon Kareem’s short “Passage”, is about a Bahamian fisherman whose life is slowly unraveling. After wasting his remaining money at a gambling house, he is approached by a security guard who suggests that Kevin supplement his income by using his vessel as a means to transport people illegally into the United States. Kevin leads scores of migrants on a treacherous, unsettling and perilous final journey.
17. “Scattered” reminded me of “Desperately Seeking Susan” in the story of an young uptight British woman who has her run-of-the-mill life disrupted when the Caribbean grandmother she barely knew leaves a request for her to scatter her ashes in Trinidad where a free-spirited cousin takes her on a wild road trip that changes her life forever.
The director-producer-cowriter, Karen Martinez, is a Trinidadian filmmaker based in London, U.K. She has worked extensively in the film world in U.K. and the Caribbean. In 2013 she wrote, produced and directed her frist narrative fiction “After Mas”. Her most recent film, “Dreams in Transit” is an essay-style documentary of a contemporary migrant reflcting on identity and the meaning of “home”.
18. “Unfinished Sentences” by writer-director-producer Mariel Brown, an award winning documentary director and founder of the creative and production company Savant. Her documentary films have been screened on television, at festivals and other special events around the world, most recently at the Pan African Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand.
This is a story of a writer father and a filmmaker daughter who walks the line between adoration and disappointment, success and failure, race, family and art. When he dies, in her great grief she discovers his poetry and prose transcend death, allowing her to hear his voice again and to find a way back to her own self. For more information go to http://www.unfinishedsentencesfilm.com.
19. “Queen of Soca” by Kevin Adams
“’ Queen of Soca’ was inspired by my home base of Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago where the frustration of living a life of restricted opportunity is a narrative I observe often.“
“ Queen of Soca” is the story of Olivia, who lives in an impoverished community and is striving to make a better life for herself. Her life is full of struggles, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The short version of “Queen of Soca”, entitled “No Soca No Life” premiered at Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in 2012 and has been well received by movie goers and movie industry practitioners. “No Soca No Life” is currently available on Vimeo, Pay per view.
“We are now focused on the original goal of creating a blockbuster inspirational story for the world to enjoy, and using the Trinidad and Tobago culture as the vehicle for our message. On behalf of myself and my team, thank you for your interest in this project and we look forward to completing this journey with you !”
The Cfm was held from 24-27 September at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The ttff/15 took place from 15-29 September.
Cfm envisages the Caribbean -- home to the most genetically variegated people of the world -- as a whole whose varied stories will go out into the larger world (much like the Trinis themselves). Coming from islands which remind us of those planets described in Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ), the Caribbeanos gathered here in Trinidad to receive coaching and positive feedback to extend their reach into the rest of world. Our world, still divided along colonial and post-colonial color and class lines needs this idealistic and inspiring vision.
For more coverage of the event, Lisa Harewood, a Barbados filmmaker, has written about the event in Shadow and Act.
This year 15 feature film projects from 10 countries were pitched and discussed at the inaugural Caribbean Film Mart (Cfm) in parallel with an academic symposium of university professors presenting on films, festivals and markets at the Hyatt Hotel. The unique mix of academics and professionals with upcoming filmmakers was vibrant, alive and upbeat, and we hope it continues to grow even though the financing from Acp Cultures which made this event possible may not continue to lend its support.
The 11 fiction feature projects and four doc projects (out of 100 submissions) selected from Guadaloupe, Cuba, Curaçao, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Barbados, Dominican Republic and The Bahamas in development and pre-production were discussed over three days with 30 international film producers, sales agents and film funds coming from diverse countries in the Caribbean, Europe and North America.
The meetings resulted in professional relationships and partnerships that will enable the production and distribution of the participating projects going forward.
“We are pleased that a number of the projects are from ttff alumni, some of whom have gone through our Rbc Focus: Filmmakers’ Immersion, and others the Eave Producers’ training initiative which took place at ttff/14,” said Emilie Upczak, ttff Creative Director.
The selected projects were selected by the ttff, the Global Foundation of Democracy and Development from the Dominican Republic, the Association for the Development of Art Cinema and Practice from Guadeloupe, the Foundation of New Latin American Cinema in Cuba, and the Regional and International Festival of Cinema of Guadeloupe.
The project is co-financed by the Acp Cultures+ Program (Acp Group of States), funded by the European Union ( European Development Fund), and implemented by the Acp Group of States.
The projects were all most interesting visualized stories, and the filmmakers themselves, whether just beginning or with one or two features already under their belts, were all well prepared and professionally aligned with the more seasoned professionals in their objectives. Every one of the selected projects holds a promise of unique enchantments.
Jan Miller the international consultant and trainer specializing in film and television coproduction and coventuring who started Transatlantic Partners after she established Atlantic Partners, part of the Atlantic Film Festival in Nova Scotia, and who has delivered one of the top pitching and content development events for 20 years created a substantive and fun environment intensely devoted to the filmmakers.
The winner of the 15 selected Cfm projects was:
1. "Kidnapping Inc.” a fiction feature from Haiti to be directed by Bruno Mourral and produced by Gaethan Chancy and Remi Grelletty who both produced “Moloch Tropical” and “Murder in Pacot” and Raoul Peck the award winning director who has also produced five features and four docs.
Read more about Raoul Peck and his current production “The Young Karl Marx” on Shadow and Act.
“Kidnapping Inc.” has Canal + Antilles as a coproducer as well as private equity. They are still seeking other coproduction partners.
This twisted, dark comedy is about two delivery men working for an underground kidnapping corporation in Haiti. Doc and Zoe are scheduled to deliver a senator’s son worth $300,000. In the midst of their usual bickering, one kills the senator’s son accidentally. Trying to fix the mess they find themselves in, they stumble upon the senator’s son’s lookalike, which sets them on the craziest kidnapping of their lives.
Bruno Mourral is interested in developing the industry in Haiti as well as making movies. He says, “’Kidnapping Inc. is a dark comedy and satire of Haitian society waltzing between ‘City of God’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’. This film depicts the raw complexity and Haiti’s harsh day-to-day and pushes the viewer towards a better understanding of social issues such as color, sexism, machismo, social class discrimination and identity.
2. “The Dragon” is a fictional story from Trinidad and Tobago based upon the novel by the world renowned (but little known in the U.S.) Earl Lovelace and to be directed by his daughter Asha Lovelace. Having read the novel I can say that this story of a Trinidad community of African descendants which has inherited traits cultivated under slavery is immediately riveting. It brings another view of the radical political actions we in the U.S. witnessed in the 70s. Moreover, a musical composition written by a Trini composer who read the novel and was so enamored that he freely and without asking composed an entire opus makes this immediately into a transmedia project which is accessible and exploitable. The novel, the musical opus, and what I hope to see -- the movie -- all tell a tale of a people we can identify with but have never seen like this.
The book is a masterpiece and brings to mind “Black Orpheus” with its setting in the poverty-stricken Calvary Hill whose inhabitants’ lives are centered in the yearly Carnival. It also brings to mind John Steinbeck’s stories with struggling characters in the Salinas Valley.
Director Asha Lovelace’s debut short “George and the Bicycle Pump” premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. She co-wrote, produced and directed her first feature “Joebell and America” which screened at several film festivals and won for Best International Narrative Feature Film at the Women’s International Film Festival in Miami in 2008. She lectures on film at the University of the West Indies, founded and is festival director of Africa Film Trinidad and Tobago, a film festival dedicated to African cinema.
Producer Lesley-Anne Macfarlane has worked in the audio-visual industry in U.K. and Trinidad, graduated with an Ma in Cultural Policy and Management from City University, London and has produced several short films and music videos.
The story centers on Aldrick whose sole responsibility in life is to his dragon masquerade that he plays for Carnival. When he finds himself falling for Sylvia, the most desired young woman on the hill, he is unable to commit to her and she succumbs to the advances of an older man. This plummets Aldrick into a moment of blind rebellion that ends in tragedy and forces him to confront his role as dragon and man.
3. “ Sprinter” from Jamaica will be directed by Storm Saulter whose well-received first feature, the 2010 crime drama “Better Mus’ Come” received U.S. distribution through Ava du Vernay’s Affrm. It is being produced by Donald Ranvaud (“City of God”) who is well known and well loved on the international film circuit.
This fictional feature is set against the world of track and field – an area in which Jamaica has excelled for decades – and addresses urgent and poignant broader themes. “Those images of Rastas smoking ganja on the beach or the gunman from Kingston – it isn’t who we are,” Saulter told Jeremy Kay in a Screen interview.
In his interview with Screen, Jeremy also asked what has it been like pitching to dozens of people here.
“You kind of have to get to the soul of the thing and you see what people respond to. This is about meeting with people that can help with financing and also potentially sales agents and exploring co-production possibilities. Jamaica does not have a treaty with the U.S .but we have treaties with the U.K. and Canada. It’s this whole puzzle you have to put together. The responses have been positive.”
The film is about Akeem, a young Rastafarian, who surprisingly shatters the 200-metre high-school track record. He must make the national team tocompete at the World Youth Championships in Philadelphia if he wants a chance to reunite with his mother who has been living there illegally for ten years. Akeem’s overnight popularity and the sudden return of his estranged older brother disrupt his focus. Meanwhile, a scandal is brewing that threatens to derail his career before it’s even started.
4. “ Beauty Kingdom ” is a Dominican Republic project to be directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas who will also produce along with Mónica De Moya. Guzmán and Cárdenas also worked together on "Sand Dollars" (2014) which premiered at Tiff in 2014, "Jean Gentil" (2010) which premiered in Venice in 2010 and "Cochochi" (2007).
This fictional feature takes place in a magical place in the Caribbean and is about the most expensive film of all time which is about to be shot. The Diva, a 70-year-old eccentric actress (played by Geraldine Chaplin), has arrived to star in the film. She finds herself surrounded by the absurdity that such a film production implies, as she rigorously prepares for her role. All the while, she senses the impending end of the world. Nevertheless, the film must go on.
5. “Doubles With Slight Pepper” is a fiction feature coproduction of Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S. to be directed by Ian Harnarine, produced by Ryan Silbert and exec produced by Spike Lee.
Ian Harnarine , a Trinidadian living in Canada has already won numerous awards for the short that this feature is based upon and has been working on this feature for several years. The film will go into production in Trinidad in November.
In Lisa Harewood’s interview for Shadow and Act , Ian said, "The Caribbean Film Mart was incredibly important in opening up the world (literally!) to the project. To meet face to face with people from Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, Norwegian South Film Fund, World Cinema Support etc makes the opportunities available to me very real."
Dhani, a young Trinidadian street vendor, struggles to support himself and his mother by selling doubles. When his estranged father, Ragbir, unexpectedly invites him to New York, Dhani must travel to America and decide if he will save his father’s life.
Best Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011
Best Live Action Short Drama at the Genie Awards 2012 (the Canadian Academy Awards)
Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film:
filmmakermagazine.com/news/people/ian-harnarine/
Watch the short Here.
6. “The Extraordinary Journey of Celeste Garcia” from Cuba will be the first fiction feature to be directed by Arturo Infante. His shorts have shown at home and abroad and have won several awards and he has written several produced scripts such as “Havana Eva” and “L’edad de la peseta”, films which Cuban film fans all know well. His producers,Claudia Calviño and Alejandro Tovar are two of Cuba’s top young producers whose film “Juan of the Dead” is Cuba’s most current best selling satire. Like that, this story highlights characters who must react to a surreal situation in an already slightly surreal country called Cuba.
Celeste is in her sixties and sells tickets at a planetarium. The discovery of an alien race shocks the world. Humans will send a spaceship carrying regular citizens to make contact with the alien civilization. Tired of her monotonous life, Celeste decides to apply for a spot on the ship and embark into the unknown.
What Celeste and the rest of the passengers on the ship seek in another galaxy is the Cuban dream of a better life.
Arturo speaks of his interest in characters, both real and as actors. “Growing up in a family with many women made me develop a special ‘ear’ towards the feminine. I spent my childhood in an old colonial-style house, hearing the voices of my mother, my grandmothers, aunts and neighbors. They all talking from one side to another, sharing their stories, dreams and secrets, but also their visions about the reality and politics of my country. That’s why I think the main character in my story must necessarily be a woman. I realize now that Celeste embodies all those voices of my childhood. Celeste’s character also represents my parents’ generation. A generation that gave their best years to build a utopian project that was diverted into paths that were not exactly the ones they dreamed of. A generation now marked by disenchantment and skepticism, a process of which I have been a constant witness. With my story I want to give Celeste a chance to travel to a new planet, the opportunity to see the rebirth of those fallen dreams of her youth.”
http://www.facebook.com/produccionesdela5taavenida
7. “The Fisherman’s Son” from Puerto Rico and Colombia will be directed by Edgar Deluque. Producer Annabelle Mullen from PR is a former entertainment attorney with several credits to her name. She presented this project about a transsexual running away from the city to his childhood home at a fishermen’s island after murdering a policeman. He must face his father whom he hasn’t seen in fifteen years and who doesn’t want anything to do with his transsexual child.
The writer-director, Edgar Deluque, is an emerging talent from Colombia.
8. “Hello Nicki” from Trinidad and Tobago will be directed by Miquel Galofré whose previous moving doc about songwriters who were in prison in Kingston, Jamaica, “Songs of Redemption”, showed at various festivals including Havana and Krakow. Aside from this Miquel has made six other feature docs This doc, produced by Jean Michel Gibert whose sequel to “Pan! Our Music Odyssey” called “ Re-Percussions! Our African Odyssey ” just won the award for Best Trinidad and Tobago Documentary Feature Film at ttff.
This documentary follows Shanice, a teenage girl from Trinidad, as she seeks to actualize her grand dream of making music and collaborating with Nicki Minaj, a Trinidadian born American rapper – the most popular musical personage in the world today. Shanice is a spirited soul living with cerebral palsy and has a unique way of viewing the world. She is keenly aware of the isolation her appearance has caused, but her personality remains bright, upbeat and hopeful.
http://www.miquelgalofre.com .
You can meet Shanice here: https://vimeo.com/136969025 Password: Shanice
9. “Papa Machete” from Haiti, Barbados and U.S. to be directed by Jonathan David Kane is based upon the short which screened at ttff. The producers, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers and Keisha Rae Witherspoon were discussing the doc as well as the fiction feature to be made. Many of the people they spoke with, including myself, thought the fiction feature would be more accessible, though perhaps a TV doc would also be possible with the footage they have made the 10 minute short with.
The story is fascinating as the machete was used as a weapon 200 years ago when Haitian slaves defeated Napoleon’s armies with the very tool they used to work the land. Papa Machete explores the esoteric martial art that emerged from this victory through the life and recent death of Alfred Avril, a poor farmer who was one of the art’s few remaining masters. With his passing, Avril’s two sons are confronted with loss, legacy and American dreams.
10. “Wind Rush” is conceived as a doc coproduction between Trinidad and Tobago and U.S. director-writer-producer Vashti Harrison lives in Atlanta, Geogia. Her parents are Trinis and she has a great love for Trinidad and its music. This is an experimental doc about Calypso music which serves a significant role in the Caribbean emigrant experience in London, which began in earnest in the 1950s. Calypso was the music of the minority, the voice of the other, and it helped to define the West Indian identity in England. Using the music of calypsonians Lord Beginner and Lord Kitchener as a road map to this journey of discovery and displacement, the film will focus on their homes both in Trinidad and London.
The criticism she received was about obtaining music clearances in U.K. when she herself is not a U.K. resident or citizen. Perhaps she needs to find a U.K. producer who can also access U.K. Funds. Her experimental films and docs have shown around the world at Rotterdam, Edinburgh, N.Y. and Havana Film Festivals. All of her work focuses into her Caribbean heritage and is quite evocative, artistic and well executed.
11. “Conch” from Curaçao will be directed and produced by German Gruber whose first film, urban drama, “Sensei Redenshon” was completed in 2013 and will be released in the Netherlands this fall. This fiction feature about the natural side of Curaçao is a road movie about a young boy who runs away from home after the loss of his mother. Searching for the message that he saw her whisper into a conch shell the night before her death, he seeks clues from the characters he meets along his desolate journey. Between nightmares of drowning and daydreams of becoming a musician, he eventually confronts his fear of the sea to find the answer.
12. “Green Days by the River” is a fiction feature set against the backdrop of rural Trinidad in 1952. A fifteen-year-old boy who has just moved to a village naively seeks the affection of two girls, an attractive rich Indian girl, and a more personable and accessible one. The ensuing triangle forces him to focus on becoming a man as he must make life enduring decisions.
Director Michael Mooleedhar has made several award winning shorts.Producer Christian James graduated in 2014 with an Mfa in Cretive Producing from Columbia College Chicago, has interned with K5 International during 2014 Cannes and participated in the 2015 Rotterdam Film Festival Lab.
13. “Potomitans : Women Pillars in Revolt” , a doc project from Guadeloupe will be directed by Bouchera Azzouz whose first documentary, “Nos Meres nos daronnes” (“Our Mothers”) aired this year on France 2 (France Televisions) and was one of its biggest audience hits. This is her second work on popular feminism. Producer Nina Vilus' short "Vivre” has won awards and their “Villa Karayib”, a 3 minute 30 second series with 140 episodes aired on Canal + Antilles. Laurence Lascary is coproducing.
This film is an exploratory journey into the heart of the everyday life of five Guadeloupean women who are considered “potomitans”, women who assume professional and familial responsibilities without the help of a man. Everything rests on the courage of these women, who are trying to emancipate themselves by claiming a new way of being a woman.
It is an Art & Vision Productions, De l’autre cote du periph (Dacp) and Canal + Antilles coproduction which Canal + will broadcast in the French Caribbean. 37% of the financing is secured through the Guadeloupe regional council, Agence national pour la cohesion social et l’egalite des chances (Asce), Ministry of French overseas territories. Apcag network of theaters in Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana along with Aubervilliers Theater in France will premiere the film.
14. “The Seawall” is a fiction project to be coproduced by Guyana and U.S.
Director Mason Richards says, “My intention for ‘The Seawall’ is to create a dramatic narrative set in Guyana, South America with simple characters navigating through complex issues within the Caribbean cultural context. It is also my intention to make a film that seeks to reconcile our Caribbean and non-Caribbean identities through the journey of my protagonist who returnes “home” to Guyana and is confronted with issues of his past that he has suppressed. The story needs to be told because many of us from the Caribbean diaspora struggle with “trans-national” identities, meaning we are from the Caribbean, however we’ve immigrated to other countries like the U.S. where we’ve adapted to a new dominant culture and way of life. With tht, there is a feeling of “dis-connect” as though we have left something behind, back “home” in the Caribbean, whether it’s family members, our cultural identity, or simply our childhood memories. It is also my intention to make an entertaining, quality film that highlights the beauty of the Caribbean through the stories and hearts of the characters.
The fiscal partner of this project is Frog (Friends and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Guyana), Verisimiltude in New York City. The executive producer C.R. Wooten has exec produced several film projects for TV and HBO and exec produced the short film, “The Seawall”.
The writer-director, Mason Richards, is an alumnus of Film Independent’s Project Involve, a recipient of Sony Pictures Diversity Fellowship 2012, winner of The Ainslie Alumni Achievement Award 2011 and Guyana’s 46th Independence Golden Arrowhead Award.
Producer Sohini Sengupta is an award-winning of creative director of theatrical campaigns, including “Birdman”, “12 Years a Slave”, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, “Black Swan” and “Slumdog Millionaire”. She is a production team member of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s 35 under 35 Women Who Run Hollywood.
Malachi, a struggling young writer in Brooklyn, learns of his girlfriend’s pregnancy and returns to his birth country, Guyana, to sell off his inheritance. In Guyana, Malachi ends up confronting his estranged father who abandoned him as a child. Malachi gets closure, and makes decisions about the kind of father he would be to his unborn child.
15. “Epiphany” by Maria Govan who is a self-taught filmmaker from the island of New Providence in The Bahamas. When she was 18 she moved to L.A. and worked for four years on Hollywood sets. In 1999 she returned home, bought a digital camera and began making small guerilla-style local documentaries. In 2004 she moved to New York and began writing her first narrative script “Rain” which premiered in 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival, won several awards and aired on Showtime to a strong audience response. Her second film “Play the Devil” was shot entirely in Trinidad in the spring of 2015 and she hopes it will premiere in the winter of 2016.
Producer Abigail Hadeed has worked with Caribbean crews on big budget commercials. She worked on the short “4am” in 2011 which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festval. In 2012 she produced an award winning feature doc “La Giata” and produced “Play the Devil” with Maria.
They are looking for coproducers and can offer a 35% rebate on Trinidadian spend with a 50% rebate on roles in key positions for films shot in Trinidad. Exterior and ocean environments can be shot in the Bahamas.
Set in the Bahamas — Mary, a loner with a passion for spear fishing and the sea, is forced to give up her room to her overbearing cousin’s girlfriend, an “illegal” colorful Cuban named Gabriel. When a love triangle develops and George realizes he’s been betrayed, the women are forced into the dark terrain of human smuggling.
Links to “Rain” (director’s previous work): Trailer
Link to Maria Govan’s Show Reel: https://vimeo.com/35611171
Other films in the program but exceeding the official number of 15 include
16. “Cargo” from The Bahamas, a fiction feature based upon the short film of Kareem Mortimer. Producer Trevite Willis has produced several films including the Lgbt feather “Children of God” with Kareem directing. Producer Alexander Younis now has a doc, “Brigidy Bram ” in post-production.
“Cargo”, based upon Kareem’s short “Passage”, is about a Bahamian fisherman whose life is slowly unraveling. After wasting his remaining money at a gambling house, he is approached by a security guard who suggests that Kevin supplement his income by using his vessel as a means to transport people illegally into the United States. Kevin leads scores of migrants on a treacherous, unsettling and perilous final journey.
17. “Scattered” reminded me of “Desperately Seeking Susan” in the story of an young uptight British woman who has her run-of-the-mill life disrupted when the Caribbean grandmother she barely knew leaves a request for her to scatter her ashes in Trinidad where a free-spirited cousin takes her on a wild road trip that changes her life forever.
The director-producer-cowriter, Karen Martinez, is a Trinidadian filmmaker based in London, U.K. She has worked extensively in the film world in U.K. and the Caribbean. In 2013 she wrote, produced and directed her frist narrative fiction “After Mas”. Her most recent film, “Dreams in Transit” is an essay-style documentary of a contemporary migrant reflcting on identity and the meaning of “home”.
18. “Unfinished Sentences” by writer-director-producer Mariel Brown, an award winning documentary director and founder of the creative and production company Savant. Her documentary films have been screened on television, at festivals and other special events around the world, most recently at the Pan African Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand.
This is a story of a writer father and a filmmaker daughter who walks the line between adoration and disappointment, success and failure, race, family and art. When he dies, in her great grief she discovers his poetry and prose transcend death, allowing her to hear his voice again and to find a way back to her own self. For more information go to http://www.unfinishedsentencesfilm.com.
19. “Queen of Soca” by Kevin Adams
“’ Queen of Soca’ was inspired by my home base of Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago where the frustration of living a life of restricted opportunity is a narrative I observe often.“
“ Queen of Soca” is the story of Olivia, who lives in an impoverished community and is striving to make a better life for herself. Her life is full of struggles, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
The short version of “Queen of Soca”, entitled “No Soca No Life” premiered at Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in 2012 and has been well received by movie goers and movie industry practitioners. “No Soca No Life” is currently available on Vimeo, Pay per view.
“We are now focused on the original goal of creating a blockbuster inspirational story for the world to enjoy, and using the Trinidad and Tobago culture as the vehicle for our message. On behalf of myself and my team, thank you for your interest in this project and we look forward to completing this journey with you !”
The Cfm was held from 24-27 September at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The ttff/15 took place from 15-29 September.
- 10/7/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Presented by HBO and in partnership with Outfest, the 27th annual NewFest will present almost 100 Lgbt films Oct. 22–27. Among the highlights are festival centerpiece “Carol,” the Todd Haynes–directed lesbian drama starring award season frontrunners Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Kicking off the festivities will be the opening night feature “Eisenstein in Guanajuato,” a depiction of Russian director Sergei Eisenstein’s gay coming-of-age journey to Mexico in the 1930s. The film has been hailed as a masterpiece and highlight of director Peter Greenaway’s career. Closing the festival will be Alexandra-Therese Keining’s stylish “Girls Lost,” a thrilling exploration of sexuality and identity that spans the Lgbt spectrum. “Our world is almost impossibly diverse,” said NewFest programmer Adam Baran, in a statement. “As a film festival, it is our duty to showcase that world as best we can. From people of color to youth films to more films by and about women,...
- 9/28/2015
- backstage.com
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