Eleven Swiss films and five Swiss co-productions will screen during the 10th Zurich Film Festival (Sept 25-Oct 5).
This year two local films will be vying for the Golden Eye in the festival’s International Feature Film Competition: Simon Jaquemet’s well-received debut Chrieg, which had its world premiere last week in San Sebastian, and Bruno Deville’s comedy Bouboule.
The Swiss films to screen in the festival’s new competition Focus Switzerland, Germany, Austria comprise: Children Of The Arctic by Nick Brandestini, who won the Golden Eye at the Zff in 2011 with his documentary Darwin; Dark Star – Hr Gigers Welt by Belinda Sallin; Die Demokratie ist los! by Thomas Isler; and Zu Ende leben by Rebecca Panian.
Out of competition titles include Claudio Fäh’s epic Northmen: A Viking Saga and co-production The Wonders, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, which premiered in Cannes.
Daniel von Aarburg’s documentary Carl Lutz – Der Schweizer Schindler will be screened in the...
This year two local films will be vying for the Golden Eye in the festival’s International Feature Film Competition: Simon Jaquemet’s well-received debut Chrieg, which had its world premiere last week in San Sebastian, and Bruno Deville’s comedy Bouboule.
The Swiss films to screen in the festival’s new competition Focus Switzerland, Germany, Austria comprise: Children Of The Arctic by Nick Brandestini, who won the Golden Eye at the Zff in 2011 with his documentary Darwin; Dark Star – Hr Gigers Welt by Belinda Sallin; Die Demokratie ist los! by Thomas Isler; and Zu Ende leben by Rebecca Panian.
Out of competition titles include Claudio Fäh’s epic Northmen: A Viking Saga and co-production The Wonders, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, which premiered in Cannes.
Daniel von Aarburg’s documentary Carl Lutz – Der Schweizer Schindler will be screened in the...
- 9/27/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Title: Medora Director: Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn A measured but emotionally effective gut-punch lament for the death rattle of small town America as told through the prism of a hapless high school basketball team, coming-of-age documentary “Medora” examines what it means to struggle, fail and look disappointment in the eye. In the process, while not without its broken spirits, the movie casts a light on the sort of resolve and perseverance that have long been part of the American story. Like Nick Brandestini’s “Darwin: No Services Ahead,” co-directors Davy Rothbart and Andrew Cohn’s film establishes an affecting, deeply personal connection via a variety of memorably wounded and sympathetic characters — in this [ Read More ]
The post Medora Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Medora Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 11/12/2013
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
The Austin Film Festival handed out awards this weekend, with Keith Wright's "Harold's Going Stiff" winning the Narrative Feature, while "Darwin" by Nick Brandestini received the Documentary Feature prize. Winners received cash prizes up to $1,000, reimbursements for travel and lodging while at the festival and access to and recognition by some of the most important writers, agents, producers and filmmakers in the industry. The 2011 Austin Film Festival Film ...
- 10/23/2011
- Indiewire
Evocative documentary about a ghost town in Death Valley, California, with a scant population of just 35.
In Inyo County, California, there is a tiny outpost, formerly a flourishing (if lawless) mining community, called Darwin – and although the name derives from its 19th century founder Dr Erasmus Darwin French, Nick Brandestini's eponymous feature might just as well be referring to the more famous English evolutionary scientist.
For this godforsaken community, nestled in the inhospitable Death Valley near the top secret China Lake Naval Weapons Station and the burnt...
In Inyo County, California, there is a tiny outpost, formerly a flourishing (if lawless) mining community, called Darwin – and although the name derives from its 19th century founder Dr Erasmus Darwin French, Nick Brandestini's eponymous feature might just as well be referring to the more famous English evolutionary scientist.
For this godforsaken community, nestled in the inhospitable Death Valley near the top secret China Lake Naval Weapons Station and the burnt...
- 10/16/2011
- by Anton Bitel
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Did you know that one of the world’s largest environmental film festivals takes place annually in Toronto? Since 1999, the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival has been bringing some of the best environmentally conscious films from around the world to the city.
Featuring nearly 100 films (mostly documentary), the 2011 edition of Planet in Focus kicks off tomorrow, October 12th, and runs until Sunday, October 16th. Below is a short list of the films that we think are worth watching, but for more of the films playing at the festival be sure to check out the full Planet in Focus 2011 schedule here.
Revenge of the Electric Car, dir. Chris Paine
It’s not often that a documentary warrants a sequel, but if there were ever a subject matter worth revisiting it would be the storied tale of the electric car. Revenge of the Electric Car is director Chris Paine’s follow-up...
Featuring nearly 100 films (mostly documentary), the 2011 edition of Planet in Focus kicks off tomorrow, October 12th, and runs until Sunday, October 16th. Below is a short list of the films that we think are worth watching, but for more of the films playing at the festival be sure to check out the full Planet in Focus 2011 schedule here.
Revenge of the Electric Car, dir. Chris Paine
It’s not often that a documentary warrants a sequel, but if there were ever a subject matter worth revisiting it would be the storied tale of the electric car. Revenge of the Electric Car is director Chris Paine’s follow-up...
- 10/12/2011
- by Will Perkins
- DorkShelf.com
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: A handful of stellar titles with Oscar aspirations have been programmed into this year’s Austin Film Festival schedule, which begins on Oct. 20 with an as-yet-unnamed Opening Night selection.
In between, Aff audiences will get their first looks at Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” Steve McQueen’s “Shame,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Rodrigo Garcia’s “Albert Nobbs” and Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” – all films with awards hopes that will screen as part of the festival’s Marquee category.
“We’re proud to be taking our program in some exciting new directions while maintaining our focus on strong writing and engaging stories,” said new Film Programmers Stephen Jannise and Stephen Belyeu.
In addition, the fest has set up special screenings of “Toy Story” (presented by John Lasseter), an “Edward Scissorhands” screening, and a tribute to Polly Platt...
Hollywoodnews.com: A handful of stellar titles with Oscar aspirations have been programmed into this year’s Austin Film Festival schedule, which begins on Oct. 20 with an as-yet-unnamed Opening Night selection.
In between, Aff audiences will get their first looks at Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” Steve McQueen’s “Shame,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Rodrigo Garcia’s “Albert Nobbs” and Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” – all films with awards hopes that will screen as part of the festival’s Marquee category.
“We’re proud to be taking our program in some exciting new directions while maintaining our focus on strong writing and engaging stories,” said new Film Programmers Stephen Jannise and Stephen Belyeu.
In addition, the fest has set up special screenings of “Toy Story” (presented by John Lasseter), an “Edward Scissorhands” screening, and a tribute to Polly Platt...
- 9/20/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
Director: Nick Brandestini Sometimes I wonder if my quirky tendency to not read press releases or reviews (or watch trailers) prior to watching films is a bad idea. Sure, the shock and awe of being totally surprised by a film's content can be a very good thing; but in the case of Nick Brandestini's documentary, I admit I was just a little confused once the film started playing. Contrary to my initial assumption, Darwin has absolutely nothing to do with the infamous English naturalist Charles Darwin (On the Origin of Species); Brandestini's documentary actually refers to the town of Darwin, California (which is named after Darwin French). Located in the desolate nether-regions on the east side of the Sierra Nevada (not too far from Death Valley), the ex-mining community of Darwin boasts a population of 43. Brandestini wrangles 30 or so of Darwin's residents to tell their tales to his...
- 8/19/2011
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Title: Darwin: No Services Ahead Director: Nick Brandestini What would possess a person to stay and live in (or move to) a small, dusty town in the scorching Death Valley region of California, with a population of 35? That question is at the heart of Nick Brandestini’s “Darwin: No Services Ahead,” about a same-named, dried-up burgh at the end of a weathered road on the outskirts on a nearby mountain range where the government tests top-secret weapons. A unique and in some respects staggering work, “Darwin” is an involving portrait of people propelled from society by various tragic turns, and yet also curiously bound together by their estrangement. When, in the...
- 8/19/2011
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Well-received at Sundance, SXSW and BAMcinemaFEST, Asif Kapadia's Senna finally begins its theatrical run. Guy Lodge at In Contention: "With a new breed of documentarists getting ever more playfully shape-shifting in they ways they trade information and manipulate point of view — last year's talking-point docs Catfish and Exit Through the Gift Shop both hinged on an abrupt turn not only in perspective, but in subject — Asif Kapadia's dazzling biopic Senna instead subverts expectations by keeping its storytelling fiercely linear. Viewers unfamiliar with the story of Ayrton Senna, the reckless, beautiful Brazilian Formula 1 racing driver who rose to prominence in the 1980s and ended his career as arguably the greatest in the sport's history, are offered no pat framing devices and wistful talking heads to say what became of him, beyond the unhappy use of the past tense. There are, presumably, more such viewers in the Us than in the UK,...
- 8/13/2011
- MUBI
For many, mention the name Darwin and images of evolution are conjured. While Charles Darwin Herbert Spencer is the origin of the term “survival of the fittest,” which carries a coincidental resonance, he has nothing to do with director Nick Brandestini’s film Darwin, a film about a small, isolated town that sits at the end of a worn out road in the middle of Death Valley.
Population 35, no children, no true government of any form, Darwin is the decaying remnants of a town more than 150 years old. Once inhabited by miners, prostitutes and outlaws at varying staged of its turbulent past, Darwin now is the unlikely home for a handful of intriguing characters, all of them real, each of them with their own story. Together, the lives captured on film create one of the most compelling documentaries I’ve seen in years.
The residents of Darwin somehow find ways to coexist and survive,...
Population 35, no children, no true government of any form, Darwin is the decaying remnants of a town more than 150 years old. Once inhabited by miners, prostitutes and outlaws at varying staged of its turbulent past, Darwin now is the unlikely home for a handful of intriguing characters, all of them real, each of them with their own story. Together, the lives captured on film create one of the most compelling documentaries I’ve seen in years.
The residents of Darwin somehow find ways to coexist and survive,...
- 8/12/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Award Winning Docu Darwin . A Documentary By Nick Brandestini Opens August 12 In New York At The IFC Center And August 19 In Los Angeles At The Laemmle.S Sunset 5 Cinemas
The award winning insightful and moving documentary, Darwin . A Film By Nick Brandestini, takes the viewer on a journey into an isolated community at the end of a weathered road in Death Valley, California. Propelled from society by tragic turns, the people of Darwin (population 35) must now find ways to coexist in a place without a government, a church, jobs, or children. The near-ghost town’s survival depends on a fragile, gravity-fed waterline that descends from the mountains where top-secret weapons are being tested. One “accidental” drop of a bomb could wipe out their entire town joke many of the locals.
Meet:
Monty – The salty old miner mysteriously bound to Darwin since the 1950′s. With the help of his firecracker wife,...
The award winning insightful and moving documentary, Darwin . A Film By Nick Brandestini, takes the viewer on a journey into an isolated community at the end of a weathered road in Death Valley, California. Propelled from society by tragic turns, the people of Darwin (population 35) must now find ways to coexist in a place without a government, a church, jobs, or children. The near-ghost town’s survival depends on a fragile, gravity-fed waterline that descends from the mountains where top-secret weapons are being tested. One “accidental” drop of a bomb could wipe out their entire town joke many of the locals.
Meet:
Monty – The salty old miner mysteriously bound to Darwin since the 1950′s. With the help of his firecracker wife,...
- 7/30/2011
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
With Waste Land, Killing in the Name and Sun Come Up scoring the Oscars nods out of DocuWeeks 2010, other Showcase alums have made their presence felt elsewhere. In the recently concluded Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana, Thomas Bursteyn's This Way of Life captured the Best Feature Prize, while Steam of Life, from Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, took the Artistic Vision Award. Elsewhere among the Ida community, Darwin, produced by former Ida executive director Sandra Ruch and Documentary magazine contributing editor Taylor Segrest (also credited as writer), earned ...
- 2/20/2011
- by IDA Editorial Staff
- International Documentary Association
The 8th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival — which is still going on as of this writing in Missoula, Montana — has announced their list of award winners, giving prizes to seven films out of the dozens that screened this year. Plus, if you’re in Missoula and you’ve missed any of the winning films, there will be a repeat screening of them on the fest’s last two days on Feb. 19 & 20.
The big winner of the fest is the film This Way of Life, directed by Thomas Burstyn, which takes home the Best Feature Award. In addition to the honor, Burstyn will also be taking home $1000 in prize money. (The rest of the winners get $500 each, courtesy of The Documentary Channel.) This Way of Life chronicles the struggles of a New Zealand family as they try to hold onto their passion for raising and caring for horses.
The other...
The big winner of the fest is the film This Way of Life, directed by Thomas Burstyn, which takes home the Best Feature Award. In addition to the honor, Burstyn will also be taking home $1000 in prize money. (The rest of the winners get $500 each, courtesy of The Documentary Channel.) This Way of Life chronicles the struggles of a New Zealand family as they try to hold onto their passion for raising and caring for horses.
The other...
- 2/18/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The 8th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is all set to run for ten days this Feb. 11-20 in Missoula, Montana. This year, the fest will have a whopping 140 film programs, a growth that necessitates an expansion from its regular home at the Historic Wilma Theatre — where it will occupy two screens — to also feature screenings at the former Pipestone Mountaineering store.
Special events at the fest include a free opening night screening of How to Die in Oregon sponsored by HBO Documentary Films. The film, directed by Peter D. Richardson, examines the impact the legalization of physician-assisted suicide has had on the state. (In 1994, Oregon was the first state to legalize the practice.)
Also, indie rock band Yo La Tengo will perform their acclaimed live score of the films of pioneering French underwater documentary film director Jean Painlevé, something they have done for other film festivals all over the world.
Special events at the fest include a free opening night screening of How to Die in Oregon sponsored by HBO Documentary Films. The film, directed by Peter D. Richardson, examines the impact the legalization of physician-assisted suicide has had on the state. (In 1994, Oregon was the first state to legalize the practice.)
Also, indie rock band Yo La Tengo will perform their acclaimed live score of the films of pioneering French underwater documentary film director Jean Painlevé, something they have done for other film festivals all over the world.
- 1/15/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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