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Kalgunmu is a term that combines Korean words for “knife” and “group choreography” to describe the precise dance moves that K-pop groups perform so effortlessly, akin to the clean cuts of a knife. These stars arrive fully formed on stage, seemingly perfect and unknowable, yet in the case of BTS it was their humble beginnings as the underdogs of K-pop that uniquely gained them a fanbase like no other.

While other fandoms like Swifties or the BeyHive number in the millions, Army is arguably bigger than any of them — not just in terms of size, but also impact. These 90 million fans and counting organized themselves early on to ensure success for the boys, taking BTS from a 200-person show at Hollywood’s Troubadour to unprecedented global domination. In short, BTS is the most successful K-pop act, and Army the most powerful fandom, that the music world has ever seen. As...

BTS Army take center stage in the first official trailer for BTS Army: Forever We Are Young. Opening in select theaters on July 30, the documentary film builds its narrative around the boundless devotion and passion that the supergroup’s fan base has cultivated throughout their career. Through interviews with fans, director Grace Lee and Patty Ahn pull on the string that ties BTS to Army.

“The power of Army could explode historical barriers. It’s a social movement,” one fan says in the trailer. Speaking about their fanbase name, which...

Loosely based on her mother’s grueling daily schedule, Calleen Koh’s delightfully animated My Wonderful Life brings to life the deranged fantasies that can plague the overworked. Office drone Grace Lee falls strains her body beyond its breaking point—the demands of her workplace, family and even a local stray cat cause her to collapse on the job. When she wakes up in the hospital, she feels an odd sense of relief and relaxation. She can finally rest without feeling guilty; as a result, she resolves to extend her hospital stay by any means necessary. When her body begins to heal itself, […]

The post “A Lot of Pent-up Grief with Life”: Calleen Koh on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner My Wonderful Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Loosely based on her mother’s grueling daily schedule, Calleen Koh’s delightfully animated My Wonderful Life brings to life the deranged fantasies that can plague the overworked. Office drone Grace Lee falls strains her body beyond its breaking point—the demands of her workplace, family and even a local stray cat cause her to collapse on the job. When she wakes up in the hospital, she feels an odd sense of relief and relaxation. She can finally rest without feeling guilty; as a result, she resolves to extend her hospital stay by any means necessary. When her body begins to heal itself, […]

The post “A Lot of Pent-up Grief with Life”: Calleen Koh on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner My Wonderful Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

For years, BTS Army has seen their passion and devotion reflected back to them in concert footage featured in film releases from the supergroup. But soon, the fandom will be the sole focus of a documentary highlighting their role in BTS history. Forever We Are Young opens in theaters on July 30.

“There is no BTS without Army and no Army without BTS,” co-directors Grace Lee and Patty Ahn shared in a statement. “We’re excited for audiences to go on an emotional journey and meet a fandom that made us laugh,...

“Forever We Are Young,” a new documentary charting BTS’ global rise to fame through the lens of their fans, is coming to theaters next month.

The feature-length documentary, by award-winning directors Grace Lee and Patty Ahn, will hit screens on July 30 via Trafalgar Releasing. The film centers around the massive fandom of the K-pop superstars — a.k.a the BTS Army, an acronym standing for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth, which currently has 90 million members globally.

“There is no BTS without Army and no Army without BTS,” Lee and Ahn said in a statement. “We’re excited for audiences to go on an emotional journey and meet a fandom that made us laugh, cry and think. We were constantly moved by the fans’ power, resilience, creativity and humor and hope audiences will be too.”

“Forever We Are Young” is not the first BTS-centric film, with previous releases including “Burn...

Snooker Legend Cues Up TV Role

Exclusive: Snooker legend Jimmy White is set to cameo in series Write To Kill from author and producer David P. Perlmutter. As we previously told you, the series follows an aspiring author, cursed with writer’s block and ridden with debt, who is offered a huge amount of money to commit a heinous crime. Charlotte Kirk is among cast. Lillee Jean Trueman will direct. Talks are underway for the male lead. The project is currently in development. White will play the director of an estate agency who has the task of sacking the main character in a snooker hall.

Gladiators’ Renewed For Season 3 & Celeb Special At BBC

The Gladiators are ready for a third season. The BBC has greenlit another run of its super popular Saturday night entertainment show accompanied by its next celebrity special, both of which will air next year. Hosted by Bradley and Barney Walsh,...

The International Documentary Association is adding a quartet of distinguished members of the nonfiction film community to its board of directors.

Joining the board are

Inti Cordera, a documentary film director, producer, and founder of La Maroma Productions Nathalie Seaver, executive vice president at Foothill Productions Joel Simon, author and founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York Luis González Zaffaroni, executive director of Docsp, an organization focused on the development of the documentary field in São Paulo, Brazil

“We are excited to welcome Inti, Nathalie, Joel, and Luis to the IDA Board of Directors,” IDA Executive Director Dominic Asmall Willsdon said in a statement. “Our board is growing steadily with the inclusion of international leaders in the documentary field who will be invaluable resources in IDA’s efforts in advocacy for documentary filmmakers across the globe.

The rise of K-pop as a global phenomenon has resulted in a meaningful cultural exchange. As pop culture becomes more globalized, we’ve seen a surge in tweets around Korean TV, movies, and music in the American marketplace. A feature like Forever We Are Young, which follows the global phenomenon around the BTS Army, might not have been possible fifteen years ago. However, with BTS not only breaking through in America but worldwide, the group’s fans have become an increasingly rare force for social change worldwide. Forever We Are Young takes us inside the BTS fandom and allows some of Army’s most fervent fans to explain why being part of the fandom is so compelling.

RelatedThe Richest K-Pop Star: Blackpink and BTS Fans Won’t Like This Truth Forever We Are Young — The Plot

In 2013, a group of seven young men created BTS. The acronym stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan,...

SXSW is about to be invaded by the army.

No, not the army you might be thinking. We’re talking about Army – the “Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth” – the acronym for the legion of supporters of the massively popular K-Pop band BTS.

Forever We Are Young, the film directed by Grace Lee and Patty Ahn documenting this earnest and ardent fan base, holds its world premiere Monday at the Austin festival at the historic Paramount Theater, with an additional screening set for Tuesday at the Zach Theatre.

BTS fans “heart” the K-Pop boy band in ‘Forever We Are Young’

From the band’s earliest days, a little over a decade ago, fans got behind BTS.

“A lot of the fans that you meet in the beginning of the film, they’re teenagers. It’s the most malleable time of their life. They’re really emotional,” notes Lee. “One of...

As Cph:dox gears up for its 2025 edition, organizers have unveiled an audacious program of more than 200 films with a sharp focus on human rights under the theme “Right Here, Right Now.”

With 94 world premieres – 68 of them feature-length, the highest number in the festival’s history – Cph:dox continues to expand its global footprint.

For the third consecutive year, all main competition titles are world premieres. While this is not a formal selection criterion, artistic director Niklas Engstrøm tells Variety, “The fact that top directors chose to premiere their films with us speaks volumes about how the festival has grown.” He adds that shifting the festival from November to March in 2017 strengthened its global standing, positioning it as the go-to European launchpad for U.S. filmmakers after Sundance.

Niklas Engstrom

Hot Sundance titles heading to Cph:Dox include “Mr Nobody against Putin,” “The Dating Game” and “Zodiac Killer Project.”

Among the world...

It was a massively star-studded affair at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special on Sunday evening (February 16) held at Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Saturday Night Live celebrated it’s 50th anniversary with hundreds of stars who have appeared on the show over the years.

From music stars like Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Cher, to actors like Ayo Edebiri, Emma Stone and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Keep reading to find out more…

The late-night sketch show’s special featured many returning sketches, with past and present SNL cast members reprising their characters, and even several celebrities who have hosted reprising their characters!

We have gathered every celebrity, cast member and more’s looks from the red carpet and you can see over 200 below…

Abby Elliott

Adam & Jackie Sandler

Adria Arjona & Jason Momoa

Aidy Bryant

Alex & Hilaria Baldwin

Alex Moffat & Caroline Kingsley Moffat

Al Franken

Al Sharpton

Amelia Dimoldenberg...

The stars are kicking off awards season in New York City!

Zendaya, Sebastian Stan, Angelina Jolie, Colman Domingo, and Nicole Kidman stepped out for the 2024 The Gothams Film Awards on Monday evening (December 2) held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

39 feature films and 25 performances are nominated in 10 categories for outstanding and breakthrough performances, films, director, and screenplay.

The event is also honoring Zendaya with The Gothams Spotlight Tribute, Angelina with the Performer Tribute, Timothee Chalamet & James Mangold with the Visionary Tribute, the cast of Sing Sing with the Social Justice Tribute, Denis Villeneuve with the Director Tribute and the cast of The Piano Lesson with the Ensemble Tribute.

We have now compiled photos of the stars in attendance so that you can see what everyone wore!

Keep reading to find out more…Keep scrolling to see the stars in attendance…

Adam Pearson

Fyi: Adam is wearing a Dior suit.

Trains, the Polish documentary that offers “a collective portrait of people in 20th century Europe, capturing their hopes, desires, dramas, and tragedies” has won Best Film in the International Competition section of the prestigious International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

The film directed and edited by Maciej J. Drygas was a unanimous choice of the five-person jury. The award comes with a €15,000 cash prize. Trains also earned the award for Best Editing in the International Competition, recognizing Drygas.

“This is a bold and inventive use of archive,” said the jury comprised of Juliana Fanjul, Sophie Fiennes, Grace Lee, Asmae El Moudir, and Kazuhiro Soda. “The film shows us routes to the positive and negative consequences of modern industrial innovation. It harnesses the magic of cinema and as an audience we are haunted by our present historical time, even while we bear witness to the past.”

‘An American Pastoral’

The jury awarded...

Found-footage documentary Trains, directed by veteran Polish auteur Maciej J. Drygas, has won the best film award of the international competition at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). It comes with the €15,000 cash prize.

Trains is an archive-based film made without voiceover or commentary other than an opening quote from Franz Kafka. It comprises footage of trains sourced from a reported 45 archives across the world. Much of the imagery is disturbing - wounded and deformed soldiers, dead bodies from concentration camps, Nazi officers on their way to war zones. There is also material of Hitler and Charlie Chaplin.

Drygas’s...

Maciej J. Drygas’ “Trains” won Best Film in the International Competition at this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, with Miguel Coyula’s “Chronicles of the Absurd” taking the Best Film in the Envision Competition.

“Trains” is a journey through the 20th century told entirely through archival footage. The jury of the International Competition, comprising Juliana Fanjul, Sophie Fiennes, Grace Lee, Asmae El Moudir and Kazuhiro Soda, said they were unanimous in their decision, highlighting Drygas’ “bold and inventive use of archive.”

“The film shows us routes to the positive and negative consequences of modern industrial innovation. It harnesses the magic of cinema and as an audience, we are haunted by our present historical time, even while we bear witness to the past,” the jury added of the winning film, which will take home a €15,000 cash prize.

“Chronicles of the Absurd”

The International Competition jury awarded the Best Directing...

Updated, 4:14 p.m.: Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment on Tuesday announced the honorees set for the second edition of its Radiance Gala, celebrating the achievements of Asian and Pacific Islander Women and Non-Binary artists, artisans and leaders in entertainment.

View the list and more information on the event below.

Honorees include:

Luminary Award

Sandra Oh

Julia S. Gouw Next Gen

Madeleine Yuna Voyles (20th Century Studios/New Regency’s The Creator)

Cindy Y. Huang Rising Star Award

Megan Suri (Neon’s It Lives Inside; Netflix’s Never Have I Ever)

Visionary

Fawn Veerasunthorn

Actor in TV

Sarayu Blue (Prime Video’s Expats)

Actor in Film

Ally Maki (Sony Pictures Classics’ Shortcomings; Seagrass)

Best in TV

Black Cake (Hulu)

Actors Mia Isaac, Chipo Chung, Simon Wan, Creator/Showrunner Marissa Jo Cerar are confirmed to attend.

Best...

The International Documentary Association is beginning 2024 with a new executive director, and now a new executive committee of the IDA board.

The nonprofit, which provides grants in support of documentary filmmakers, advocates for the field and mounts fall and spring screening series and the bi-annual Getting Real conference, announced the election of Ina Fichman and Michael Turner as board co-presidents. They succeed Grace Lee and Chris Perez, who remain on the board.

Fichman earned an Academy Award nomination last year for producing Fire of Love. She has also earned Emmy, BAFTA, and Cinema Eye Honors nominations for her work, and won awards from the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Gémeaux Awards in Montreal, the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association, among many others.

Turner oversees business and legal affairs for Netflix’s slate of documentary films. He previously served as SVP and head of business and legal affairs at Discovery’s production studio.

Award-winning civic engagement podcast Future Hindsight and host Mila Atmos kick off this upcoming critical election year with brand new episodes starting January 4th, 2024. They focus on taking big ideas about civic life and democracy and transforming them into actionable ways for listeners to be strategic political players.

Based on the premise that democracy is not a spectator sport, Atmos and her team embark on a series of hard-hitting conversations with some of America’s foremost civic thinkers and progressive minds. Each episode of Future Hindsight is carefully crafted to provide listeners with tangible ways to fulfill their civic responsibilities and protect our democratic institutions during the 2024 election cycle.

Beyond its commitment to civic engagement, Future Hindsight is proud to create completely independent, unaffiliated, and compelling content in a world of big media influence. This independence gives Atmos and her guests a platform to unpack progressive democratic ideas totally free...

Bobi Wine: The People’s President won the top prize of best feature documentary at the 2023 International Documentary Awards on Tuesday night.

The film follows music star, activist and opposition leader Bobi Wine amid Uganda’s 2021 presidential election.

Accepting the award during the International Documentary Association’s virtual awards show, co-director Moses Bwayo said, “The awareness this film has brought to world audiences has arguably kept Bobi Wine alive and out of prison for now.”

Asmae El Moudir won best director for The Mother of All Lies, in which El Moudir creates a replica of the Casablanca neighborhood where she grew up, allowing her to reconnect with her past.

The Mother of All Lies was nominated for three awards, along with Milisuthando, while Apolonia, Apolonia had a leading four nominations.

Incident, which reconstructs a Chicago police shooting in 2018 from numerous viewpoints, won best short documentary award. Pov and Pov Shorts...

The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced the winners in 18 categories at the 39th annual IDA Awards Show on December 12, 2023, which live premiered on IDA’s YouTube channel. A record number of IDA members cast votes for this year’s Best Feature Documentary and Best Short Documentary nominees. Independent judging committees selected winners in all other categories.

The Best Feature Documentary Award went to NatGeo’s “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” which follows Uganda’s 2021 presidential election and music star, activist, and opposition leader Bobi Wine. “The awareness this film has brought to world audiences,” said co-director Moses Bwayo, “has arguably kept Bobi Wine alive and out of prison for now.”

This year’s Best Director was Moroccan Asmae ElMoudir, who won for innovative hybrid documentary and Moroccan Oscar submission “The Mother of All Lies,” in which ElMoudir uses clay puppets fashioned by her father to recreate incidents from her family’s past in Casablanca.

Dramatic details were key to the style on the A-list attendees of Sunday night’s Critics Choice Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel. From lush fabrications to a flurry of floral appliqués, a variety of bold colors and an abundance of statement earrings, high fashion and handcraft enjoyed the spotlight on the nominees and presenters of this event from the Critics Choice Association.

Among the big winners on this night, hosted by Chelsea Handler (lovely herself in tangerine Maticevski on the red carpet): Brendan Fraser (in Dior Men), taking home best actor for The Whale; Cate Blanchett’s best actress win for Tár, which she picked up in chic gray Max Mara; and Niecy Nash-Betts, who won best supporting actress in a limited series or TV movie for Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Nash-Betts sparkled in a custom strapless Jason Wu gown crafted of more than 7,000 hand-sewn beads,...

Tom White is stepping down as editor of Documentary magazine, after more than 22 years at the helm of the IDA publication.

It’s the latest staff departure at the International Documentary Association and follows the surprise resignation announcement made earlier this month by IDA executive director Rick Pérez, whose decision takes effect on Friday.

White’s resignation becomes effective January 4, 2023. In a message posted on Facebook (see full text below), he wrote, “My mental health–namely, my depression–instigated by the exodus of 18 of my colleagues since the beginning of this year, and the toxic context that spurred that exodus, has worsened over the past several months, and it would be best for me, and for the organization, to bow out at this point.”

The exodus White referenced has seen the IDA lose all of its senior staff and most of its lower-level staffers beginning almost a year ago when...

Updated from original 9:17 p.m. story with more quotes from winners: Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes won the top prize at the 38th IDA Documentary Awards in Hollywood tonight, cementing its status as an Oscar frontrunner.

The documentary, about two brothers in Delhi, India who tend to injured and ailing birds of prey, earned Best Feature, and Sen was named Best Director. All That Breathes also collected the award for Best Editing, recognizing the work of Charlotte Munch Bengtsen and Vedant Joshi.

“The film itself really feels like a tiny miracle,” Sen noted as he accepted the Best Feature award, “because Aman [producer Aman Mann] and I, we couldn’t believe we got financing, we couldn’t believe that we found producers, festivals, distributors, so it really feels a bit unbelievable.”

All That Breathes, from Sideshow, Submarine Deluxe and HBO Documentary Films, also won the previously-announced Pare Lorentz Award.

Rick Peréz has officially announced his resignation as executive director of the International Documentary Association, just days before the annual IDA Awards are set to take place on Saturday, December 10.

Deadline first reported that Peréz, who joined the IDA in May 2021, will be exiting December 23. The IDA confirmed that Ken Ikeda will serve as interim executive director of the non-profit.

“Rick thanked the staff for their work and acknowledged the difficulties as well as successes during the past year and a half as executive director, but that the challenges of leading a changing organization, during and post-pandemic, have weighed on him,” an IDA spokesperson shared with IndieWire, citing Peréz’s announcement December 5. “Ultimately, he decided his work was done and that he wanted to return to filmmaking, and working with directors, producers, and others as well as creating film projects, his true passion.”

Four former senior IDA staffers resigned in...

Exclusive: Rick Peréz has announced his intention to resign as executive director of the International Documentary Association, with word coming just days before the organization’s signature annual event, the IDA Awards, Deadline has learned exclusively.

The surprise announcement came during a meeting with staff late Monday, a gathering that included IDA personnel both in-person and virtually. His resignation takes effect December 23, Peréz said.

“Rick thanked the staff for their work and acknowledged the difficulties as well as successes during the past year and a half as executive director, but that the challenges of leading a changing organization, during and post-pandemic, have weighed on him,” an IDA spokesperson told Deadline. “Ultimately, he decided his work was done and that he wanted to return to filmmaking, and working with directors, producers, and others as well as creating film projects, his true passion. He announced that his last day will be December...

Click here to read the full article.

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The dangerous doll from The Conjuring franchise is coming to the West Coast this June, as Warner Bros. will present a special advance screening of Annabelle: Creation ahead of its theatrical release this August, with Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled also announced for the festival.

Press Release: Los Angeles (May 23, 2017)— Today the La Film Festival, produced by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced the Gala Screening of New Line Cinema’s Annabelle: Creation, directed by David F. Sandberg and starring Stephanie Sigman, Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson with Anthony Lapaglia and Miranda Otto. Also unveiled today, the panels for Diversity Speaks and the Global Media Makers.

Award-winning film company Focus Features will commemorate its 15th anniversary at the La Film Festival with five movies including revival programming and a newly added advance screening of Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled starring Colin Farrell,...

Imploring Hollywood to “think of how Asian-American is mixed races, not just Chinese or Japanese or Korean,” filmmaker Grace Lee joined fellow panelists Sandra Oh, Rashad Raisani and NBC execs to discuss Asian-Americans in media tonight. Moderated by MSNBC anchor Richard Lui and presented by the Center for Asian American Media, NBCUniversal and NBCUniversal Talent Infusion Programs, the panel also included Karen Horne, Svp Programming Talent Development and Inclusion for…...

Imploring Hollywood to “think of how Asian-American is mixed races, not just Chinese or Japanese or Korean,” filmmaker Grace Lee joined fellow panelists Sandra Oh, Rashad Raisani and NBC execs to discuss Asian-Americans in media tonight. Moderated by MSNBC anchor Richard Lui and presented by the Center for Asian American Media, NBCUniversal and NBCUniversal Talent Infusion Programs, the panel also included Karen Horne, Svp Programming Talent Development and Inclusion for…...

The American Society Of Cinematographers has announced the honorees for the 31st annual Asc Awards for Outstanding Achievement.

Carol cinematographer Edward Lachman, Ron Garcia, Philippe Rousselot and Nancy Schreiber will be recognised for their contributions to the art of cinematography at the awards gala in Los Angles on February 4, 2017.

Lachman will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, Garcia the Career Achievement in Television Award, Rousselot the International Award, and Schreiber the Presidents Award.

“The work of these individual cinematographers is varied, yet it all exemplifies a stellar level of achievement,” said Asc President Kees van Oostrum. “As a group, they also are a prime example of great careers in the industry and, over the years, they have set creative standards of the highest order.”

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has extended his contract through May 2023, effective immediately. Feltheimer has served 16 years in the role.Chris Rock and Netflix have struck what is reportedly a $40m deal for two stand-up...

Pov, television’s longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films, has opened the doors for entries for the 2017 PBS broadcast season and beyond. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Each year Pov premieres 14-16 of the most memorable nonfiction stories to public television audiences around the country. Since 1988, Pov has presented over 400 films, including some of our all-time favorite documentaries such as Roger & Me (Michael Moore) Street Fight (Marshall Curry), American Revolutionary (Grace Lee) and The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer), among many others. For submission details and requirements, check out Pov’s Call For Entries Guidelines and to get a […]...

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

It was 1992, and the Rodney King riots were being felt across the country, especially amongst the high school students filing into Sarah Feinbloom’s Ancient History class at Boston Latin School in Massachusetts.

“My students were riled by the riots. They couldn’t concentrate. I felt like what I was teaching was irrelevant. What they really wanted to talk about were issues of police brutality, violence in their neighborhoods, the fact that they couldn’t sleep because they heard gunshots in the night, and they were scared.”

Feinbloom veered off the curriculum and started talking with her class about civil rights, and soon she and her students were collaborating on her first film, "Youth to Youth: A Video About Violence." With no film school experience, Sarah improvised as she went along.

“I wanted my students to cultivate a deeper understanding of how personal and systemic violence affects them and even in small ways do something themselves to prevent it. So we went out together and interviewed students, police officers, a Vietnam veteran, a rape survivor, and created segments about the ways people confront and experience violence. I was hooked on documentaries after that. I saw how important it was for young people to be able to tell their own stories and have safe spaces where they could discuss what was really going on in their lives.”

"Youth to Youth" ended up being shown in classrooms around the country, and this first foray launched a lifelong journey of framing social justice, diversity and human rights issues through documentary film.

Feinbloom, an award-winning filmmaker and educator, was one of the first directors to bring the voices of young people reflecting on religious diversity to the media spotlight. Her 2002 documentary "What Do You Believe?" highlighted the spiritual lives of American teenagers, leading Feinbloom along with Dp and co-producer Klara Grunning-Harris into the homes of Muslim, Pagan, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Native American teenagers. "What Do You Believe?" premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival, has sold more than 2,000 copies, was voted "One of Ten Best Videos for Young Adults in 2003" by the American Library Association, and aired on PBS.

“When I started touring with the film, it was often those kids that were in the minority at their schools that approached me. Muslim and Pagan girls said it was the first time they had ever seen something about themselves on screen. Some conservative Christian students said it was the first time they had ever really considered someone else’s religious perspective.”

Using her film as a centerpiece, Sarah created and led workshops nationally on interfaith dialogue and violence prevention and has been featured at conferences including the American Academy of Religion, Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues, and the National Association of Multicultural Educators. However, her main goal has always been to reach young audiences.

"Teens are often the subject of stories about alcohol and drugs, crime reports, and educational statistics, but rarely are they asked for their intellect and perspective. I want people from different backgrounds to watch my films, talk about them, discuss them – together. I want them to talk about being alive."

Sarah’s filmography is expansive, showcasing a number of pertinent social concerns. Her film "Earth, Water, Woman" spotlights the Fondes Amandes Community Re-Forestation Project in Trinidad and Tobago, and its charismatic Rastafarian leader Akilah Jaramogi, in their ongoing efforts to transform barren hillsides into a vibrant, healthy ecosystem. "Daughters and Sons: Preventing Child-trafficking in the Golden Triangle" took Feinbloom to Thailand, where she profiled a program that rescues children before they are trafficked into the sex-industry, and subsequently won the award for Best Short in Child Advocacy at the Artivist Film Festival and helped raise over $250,000 trafficking prevention.

“I am especially interested in stories that offer solutions to what might seem like intractable problems, stories that offer hope and don’t just leave us in despair.”

Although most well known for her activist documentaries, Feinbloom also dabbles in lighter subjects. "In Search of the Heart of Chocolate," a “chocumentary” featured at Palm Springs International Short Fest, follows Feinbloom as she searches for the origins of her chocolate obsession, interviewing chocolate enthusiasts along the way, delving into chocolate cake, art, fantasy, chocolate croissants, spirituality, sex, love and hot fudge, and journeying into the past to uncover chocolate’s special place in our hearts.

Sarah’s success in documentary filmmaking, her experience as an educator, and her long time involvement with New Day Films prompted filmmakers to reach out to her for assistance with educational sales and community impact campaigns. After working as a consultant with several great projects, such as Jarreth Merz’s Sundance Film An African Election, Sarah founded the boutique documentary distribution company, Good Docs, in order to share her expertise with fellow independent filmmakers and generate revenue from sales in the educational market.

Good Docs’ curated collection highlights labor and civil rights struggles, environmental activism, juvenile justice reform, multicultural visibility, the fight for gender equality and much more. Their titles include several award-winning documentaries, including Amir Bar-Lev's "Happy Valley," Richard Ray Perez's "Cesar's Last Fast," Darius Clark Monroe’s "Evolution of a Criminal," and Grace Lee’s Peabody Award-winning film "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs."

“They have been an indispensable partner with us in the educational market,” Grace Lee praised. “Good Docs has personally reached out to dozens of institutions and individuals, with a keen eye to the different disciplines that might appreciate my film, and there are many more than I had even imagined.”

Sarah’s right-hand woman, Alana Hauser, is the Educational Research and Outreach Coordinator at Good Docs. While earning her bachelor of arts in Latin American Studies and Spanish at Washington University in St. Louis, Alana worked at Whole Kids Foundation, Meals on Wheels and More, and the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project. After moving to Los Angeles, Alana looked to film to reflect the poignant micro-narratives she had collected over the years.

“Good Docs is a perfect synthesis of my knowledge and passions, as it uses film to shape social discourse and connect audiences with stories that are too often invisible from the public eye. “

Alana also interns at Sundance Institute Women’s Initiative and works for the La-based non-profit WriteGirl, constantly working to advocate for stronger representations of women in the media.

Feinbloom and Hauser make up a powerful Good Docs team, searching for films with the potential for positive social change, spreading the word about social activism, and supporting filmmakers both creatively and financially throughout the process. For further information about Sarah Feinbloom see http://sarafinaproductions.com or go to http://gooddocs.net to find out more about Good Docs and their work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pov 2014 Schedule

June 23: "When I Walk" by Jason DaSilva

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

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

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

July 7: My Way to Olympia by Niko von Glasow

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

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

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

A co-production of Itvs.

July 21: Dance for Me by Katrine Philp

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

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

July 28: Fallen City by Qi Zhao

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

A co-presentation with Caam.

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

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

Aug. 11: Encore presentation: Neurotypical by Adam Larsen

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

Aug. 18: A World Not Ours by Mahdi Fleifel

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

Aug. 25: Big Men by Rachel Boynton

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sept. 22: Koch by Neil Barsky

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

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

The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer

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

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

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

How do you recognize a radical?

A smiling 98-year-old woman with the world's most sensible haircut, shuffling along a sunny, decrepit Detroit street, hardly seems like one of America's great radicals, but she is — a dialectal humanist, Chinese-American black power activist, and sometime Marxist with a thick FBI file.

Lucky for us, Grace Lee Boggs never stops talking. Grace Lee's documentary is a glorious feat of editing — in content, visually, and of sound. Lee began her work with the superficial idea of interviewing the many other Asian women also named "Grace Lee," but in Boggs she found a formidable force and an agent of one of the most dramatic political movements of our time.

Boggs and her African-American husband, James Boggs, were not just a...

Now that it’s crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide, it would be safe to say the Oscar-winning film Frozen has become a global phenomenon, partly thanks to the song “Let It Go” and the countless covers posted online. Now YouTube has compiled a list of the top 10 covers of the song posted on its site. The popular Africanized Tribal Cover of the song by Alex Boye takes the No. 1 spot with over 21 million views.

Is your favorite on the list? Check the complete list below!

1. Alex Boyé (Africanized Tribal Cover) featuring One Voice Children’s Choir, 21 million views

2. Maddie and Zoe,...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A fruit vendor on our walk to the Infanta Theater

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Belle

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

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

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

The Book Thief

Among...

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

Janis Nords’ "Mother, I Love You" and Ryan McGarry’s "Code Black" led the winners of the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival, taking the jury prizes for narrative and documentary feature, respectively. The festival -- which wrapped up last night with the closing night film "The Way Way Back" -- also saw audience award prizes going to Destin Daniel Cretton’s "Short Term 12," Grace Lee’s "American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs" and Haifaa Al Mansour’s "Wadjda." Full winners in the press release below. Los Angeles (June 23, 2013) – Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Spirit Awards, announced the jury and audience award winners for the 2013 Festival at the Awards Brunch, hosted by Chaya Downtown for the fourth year. Actor Mary Elizabeth Winstead was on hand to present the awards. The La Film Fest, presented by Film Independent, in conjunction...

"Mother, I Love You" and "Code Black" were the big winners at the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival awards. "Mother, I Love You" won Best Narrative Feature while "Code Black" took home the Best Documentary Award.

Here's the complete list of winners of the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival awards:

Directv Narrative Award (for Best Narrative Feature)

Mother, I Love You directed by Janis Nords

Directv Documentary Award (for Best Documentary Feature)

Code Black directed by Ryan McGarry

Best Performance in the Narrative Competition

Geetanjali Thapa in Kamar K.M.s I.D.

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature

Short Term 12, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, directed by Grace Lee

Audience Award for Best International Feature

Wadjda, directed by Haifaa Al Mansour

Honolulu Film Office Award for Best Narrative Short Film

Walker directed by Tsai Ming-Liang

Honolulu Film...

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

The L.A. Film Festival is now in full swing, kicking off last night, and continuing our week of exclusives from films playing the fest, we've got cut from score to the Documentary Competition title "American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs." Directed by Grace Lee (no relation, but they met on the helmer's earlier project "The Grace Lee Story" about the many people who share that name), the film chronciles Boggs' lifetime spent battling for labor and civil rights, while getting involved in Black Power, feminist, Asian American and environmental justice movements and much more. But her role in the African-American movement is one of the most unlikely and powerful, with folks like Angela Davis, Bill Moyers, Bill Ayers, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Danny Glover and more all speaking to her importance. It sounds like a fascinating doc, and helping to texture the film is award-winning composer Vivek Maddala's score.

Anyone can tell you who's already made it, but HuffPost Arts & Culture's On Our Radar series is here to tell you who's about to blow up -- and, in some cases, go pop.

When we first heard rumors of Liaison Femme, an all-female DJ collective, our interest was piqued. Yet upon hearing founding lady DJ Grace Lee discuss her collective's plans to collaborative with everyone from fashion lines to the Guerrilla Girls, our interest blossomed into obsession. We spoke to Lee on her ever-growing collective, which includes DJs du jour like Mia Moretti and Sam Ronson, to learn more about the group.

Hp: What are you trying to say with this project? Why does it matter?

Gl: Liaison Femme was never really a “project” creation, but rather a vision I wanted to fulfill since starting my career as a professional DJ at 14 years old. The idea of gathering female DJs...

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

Disney is launching a Sofia the First storybook to accompany its upcoming animated movie, which features Modern Family's Ariel Winter in the title role. Sofia, who is Disney's first little-girl princess, will debut in an illustrated storybook from Disney Publishing on Tuesday. The book, written by Catherine Hapka with illustrations by Grace Lee, will be available from Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide, as a book and e-book at retailers nationwide. Video: 'Sofia the First' Sneak Peek  Disney also is set to launch a micro-site Nov. 2 at DisneyJunior.com/Sofia that will feature a downloadable

read more...

Title: Janeane From Des Moines Director: Grace Lee Starring: Jane Edith Wilson, Michael Oosterom with cameos by Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann A quirky sociopolitical mockumentary experiment that plops down its title character as a sort of straightfaced, deep cultural embed amidst all the jockeying leading up to this election cycle’s Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus, “Janeane From Des Moines” is a movie of both hits and misses, but one that certainly never gets boring. If it could benefit from a more focused sense of purpose, director Grace Lee’s film also pulls off some undeniable coups, placing its fictional true believer in close proximity to all of the leading Gop contenders and [ Read More ]

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