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Not content with being the world’s most celebrated pop star, Beyoncé is emerging as a major figure in cinema too

Back in 2002, 20-year-old Beyoncé was appearing as Austin Powers’s love interest in Goldmember. She’s come some way since. In fact, as her visual album Black Is King drops, it’s safe to say that Beyoncé is now not just one of the biggest pop stars on the planet but one of the most significant film-makers too. Perhaps that hasn’t been recognised up to now due to her collaborative approach, which doesn’t fit into familiar “auteur” boxes, or because her visual work is not narrative-led, or presented through the usual cinematic channels, but as well as music, it’s clear Beyoncé has significant clout in film these days.

Exhibit A would be her outstanding Lemonade visual album of 2016. The film fused an array of influences – from...

The Sundance Institute has added 32 projects to its Frontier lineup for its 2020 Sundance Film Festival, including “Chomsky vs. Chomsky.”

The Frontier selection is a curation of cutting-edge independent and experimental media works by innovators and creators across mediums that include biotech, facial recognition, AI, Ar, Vr and big data.

The 2020 edition will return to two dedicated venue spaces at the festival, which are New Frontier at The Ray and New Frontier Central. They will host a variety of media installations. The festival takes place in Park City, Utah, and will run from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2. New Frontier alums include Doug Aitken, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Chris Milk, Nonny de la Peña, Pipilotti Rist and Jennifer Steinkamp.

Also Read: Taylor Swift, Viggo Mortensen and Tessa Thompson Lead Diverse 2020 Sundance Lineup

“Technology infuses most aspects of modern life — and is evolving at a historic pace,” President and Founder of Sundance Institute Robert Redford said.

Manuela De Laborde's short film As Without So Within, which has played at the Toronto International Film Festival, won the Grand Prix at Zagreb's 25 Fps Festival, competed for the Tiger at Rotterdam, and will next screen at New Directors/New Films, is an utterly remarkably, vividly calm work that blends sculpture and filmmaking into a cosmic exploration of physical material transformed by the flatness of the cinema screen. Using ingenious objects made by De Laborde that variously resemble moon rocks, bones, and additional unidentifiable shapes, and by filming them against black backgrounds, awash in precise colored lighting and at different scales, these strange pieces loom or are dwarfed, come into or go out of focus and perceptibility. Sometimes the film feels like a kind of astronomic research report, tactile and scientific in its observation, even seemingly scanning or plunging deep the molecular makeup of these evocatively recognizable, yet alien shapes.

If you were anywhere near social media this weekend, you probably saw quite a bit about HBO’s big premiere. And while the season premieres for “Game of Thrones” and “Silicon Valley” certainly had people talking, that wasn’t what reigned supreme. No, it was “Lemonade,” Beyonce’s Terrence Malick-esque hour-long visual album, that took the internet by storm. Since its debuted on Saturday night, the web has blown up trying to dissect each and every thing about it, namely who the hell “Becky with the good hair” could possibly be, and here to provide more context and analysis to the concept project is Nelson Carvajal with his video essay, “Film Fidelity: Beyonce’s Lemonade.” Read More: Watch: Beyonce Goes Terrence Malick In First Trailer For 'Lemonade' Quick to note that Malick isn’t the only filmmaker that influenced Beyonce’s new project — David Lynch, Pipilotti Rist, Cameron Jamie,...

Sundance Institute has hired Paul Federbush to become International Director, Feature Film Program (Ffp), a highly sought-after job which Alesia Weston left open when she left in May to become Executive Director of the Jerusalem Film Centre and Fesival. Federbush began September 24 and is reporting to Michelle Satter, Founding Director, Feature Film Program.

Paul is already reaching out into new geographic areas searching for those filmmakers who have the greatest potential for making a brand new mark on the worldwide film business. His responsibility is the planning and execution of the international work of Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program which includes year round support for International artists through Labs, granting, and ongoing mentorship providing creative and tactical support. Federbush will oversee international Labs in collaboration with local partners in the Middle East and India, outreach and discover new international filmmakers and projects, steward programs such as the Sundance Institute|Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award and Sundance| Nhk Award, and support the international artists participating in the annual Sundance Labs in Utah. In addition he will develop opportunities to further advance and broaden the scope of the Ffp’s International initiative.

We congratulate Paul and are proud to be able to say that we have known him since his early days at Fine Line. Federbush is a seasoned production, acquisition, and distribution executive with eighteen years of experience in the entertainment industry. Most recently Federbush, along with partner Laura Kim, started a distribution company, Red Flag Releasing. Prior to forming Red Flag, Federbush served as Senior Vice President of Production and Acquisitions at Warner Independent Pictures where he oversaw the acquisition, production, and development of projects including Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, and Hany Abu Assad’s Paradise Now.

For nearly three decades, Sundance Institute has promoted independent storytelling to inform and inspire audiences across political, social, religious and cultural differences. Through Labs, direct artist granting, special projects with key partners and the Sundance Film Festival, the Institute serves as the leading advocate for independent artists worldwide. Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Over its 30-year history, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program has supported an extensive list of award-winning and groundbreaking independent films.

Ffp films currently in the marketplace include Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar’s Beasts of the Southern Wild (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival), Craig Zobel’s Compliance, Mike Birbiglia and Seth Barrish’s Sleepwalk With Me, Todd Louiso and Sarah Koskoff’s Hello I Must Be Going, and Ira Sachs’ Keep the Lights On. Recent international Ffp films include Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil, Andrei Zyvagintsev’s Elena, Edwin’s Postcards from the Zoo, Alejandro Landes’ Porfirio, and the festival films Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda and Ziad Douieri’s L’Attack.Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance, Cherien Dabis' Amreeka, Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre, Fernando Eimbcke's Lake Tahoe, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Half Nelson, Andrea Arnold's Red Road, Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know, Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now, Debra Granik’s Down to the Bone, Josh Marston’s Maria Page 2 Full of Grace, Lisa Cholodenko’s Laurel Canyon, Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas, John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry, Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga, Walter Salles’ Central Station, Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals, Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking, Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight, Tamara Jenkins’ Slums of Beverly Hills, and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to inform, inspire, and unite diverse populations around the globe. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America, and through its New Frontier initiative, has brought the cinematic works of media artists including Pipilotti Rist, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Matthew Barney . Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. # # #...

We all wear clothing made of textiles. Textiles are our second skin. Manufacturing, processing and trade link us around the globe. The Global Skin wants to make this visible and thereby sensitize viewers for fair and sustainable action. With your videos, photos, sounds and texts, they will produce a feature film.

"People & Textiles". → How it works

Win one of the prizes totaling 30'000 Us Dollars. → the Prizes

Participate in the video contest. (Now also prizes for photography, sound and text)

The Global Skin is produced by the Center for Storytelling in cooperation with the Dschoint Ventschr Film Production in Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

Topic of "the global skin" is "People & Textile". We are collecting stories on this theme from all around the world, and the highlight will be a video contest. From the best results we will produce a patchwork film for the cinema.

The project makes visible global connections and interdependencies by making use of the modern tools of communication in a worldwide, collaborative process.

We are looking for contributions of talents from as many regions and cultures as possible. Therefore it is necessary that many young creatives learn about the project and get the opportunity to participate and show their talent. Known members of the jury are the renowned video artist Pipilotti Rist, photographer Patrizio di Renzo, Swiss radio and TV personality Bernard Senn, and director Christian Frei (Oscar Nomination: "War Photographer").

We all wear clothing made of textiles. Textiles are our second skin. 

Manufacturing, processing and trade link us around the globe. The Global Skin wants to make this visible and thereby sensitize viewers for fair and sustainable action.

The Global Skin is collecting short filmed stories on this theme from all around the world.  The highlight will be a video contest. From the best results they will produce a patchwork film for the cinema. The deadline is October 31.  The short films they are seeking are about people and textiles. Winners can win prizes totalling Us$ 30,000.

The Global Skin is produced by the Center for Storytelling in cooperation with the Dschoint Ventschr Film Production in Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).  The project makes visible global connections and interdependencies by making use of the modern tools of communication in a worldwide, collaborative process.

We are looking for contributions of talents from as many regions and cultures as possible. Therefore it is necessary that many young creatives learn about the project and get the opportunity to participate and show their talent.

Known members of the jury are the renowned video artist Pipilotti Rist and the director Christian Frei (Oscar Nomination: "War Photographer").

To learn more, go to http://theglobalskin.org/home-eng.html or visit Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theglobalskin

___________________________________________________

Center for Storytelling

Räffelstr. 11 l 8045 Zürich l Switzerland

Mobile +41 79 567 25 64

reinhard [At] centerforstorytelling.org | www.centerforstorytelling.org...

Microcinema will release the The Color of Your Socks: A Year With Pipilotti Rist, a 55-minute documentary film on the noted Swiss video artist, on DVD on June 28.

Video artist Pipilotti Rist mounts a show in The Color of Your Socks.

The movie follows Ms. Rist as she prepares for a major show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2008. Since winning the Duemila Prize at the Biennale di Venezia in 1997, Rist has established herself as a major presence in video art.

For the first time, she lets a documentary filmmaker into her world, providing insight into her creative process, the development of projects and the collaboration with her team. Pipilotti’s playful personality and colorful creation are captured here by director Michael Hegglin, who provides unique insight into an artist in her element.

No bonus features have been scheduled for the DVD, which carries a retail price...

The Diagonale Festival is over and that means the Austrian Film Prize for Best Feature Film was handed to Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel's La Pivellina - the portrait has been on a successful run picking up several festival awards and special mentions (see trailer). - Austria Film Scene: Local The Diagonale Festival is over and that means the Austrian Film Prize for Best Feature Film was handed to Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel's La Pivellina - the portrait has been on a successful run picking up several festival awards and special mentions (see trailer). Hana, dul, sed … by Brigitte Weich and Karin Macher won Best Documentary. The doc is about three female North Korean soccer players and their life after they missed the qualification for the Olympic Games. Andreas Lust and Franziska Weisz won Best Actor/Actress for The Robber. Kick Off by Hüseyin...

Austria Film Scene: Local The Diagonale Festival is over and that means the Austrian Film Prize for Best Feature Film was handed to Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel's La Pivellina - the portrait has been on a successful run picking up several festival awards and special mentions (see trailer). Hana, dul, sed … by Brigitte Weich and Karin Macher won Best Documentary. The doc is about three female North Korean soccer players and their life after they missed the qualification for the Olympic Games. Andreas Lust and Franziska Weisz won Best Actor/Actress for The Robber. Kick Off by Hüseyin Tabak won the Audience Award and the youth Jury Award. The film is centered around three players of the Austrian National Team for the homeless soccer World Cup and their struggle to get back into society (German-language trailer) - the film was released last month. Pepperminta by Pipilotti Rist is...

The German sales co. known for providing the fest circuit and art-house plexes with subtitled stuff from around the globe will set fire to the Director's Fortnight section this year. If I'm counting right, the Match Factory supply the section with a trio of titles (five total in the fest) including the much discussed on this site Cam Archer's sophomore feature, and they nabbed a Main Comp spot for one of the most celebrated directors of the decade in Apichatpong Weerasethakul latest – a sort of “ghost” story. - The German sales co. known for providing the fest circuit and art-house plexes with subtitled stuff from around the globe will set fire to the Director's Fortnight section this year. If I'm counting right, The Match Factory supply the fest with a five titles including The Light Thief (see pic above), The City Below, the including the much discussed...

The German sales co. known for providing the fest circuit and art-house plexes with subtitled stuff from around the globe will set fire to the Director's Fortnight section this year. If I'm counting right, The Match Factory supply the fest with a five titles including The Light Thief (see pic above), The City Below, the including the much discussed on this site Cam Archer's sophomore feature, and they nabbed a Main Comp spot for one of the most celebrated directors of the decade in Apichatpong Weerasethakul latest – a sort of “ghost” story. Everything Will Be Fine (Alting Bliver Godt Igen) by Christoffer Boe - Completed Shit Year by Cam Archer - Completed The City Below (Unter Dir Die Stadt) by Christoph HOCHHÄUSLER - Completed The Light Thief by Aktan Arym Kubat - Completed Uncle Boonmee Who Nn Recall His Past Lives (Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chaat) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul -...

Before going into my Women Directors Tracking which I have vowed to continue until women reach a parity with men in the film business and Latino Directors groove, I want to thank Howard Feinstein for watching the most obscure films of Rotterdam to find the jewels! Scratching Below the Surface for Some Rotterdam Fest Gems - indieWIRE. Kudos! I wish I could have seen these!

Howard spotted this one: "A young woman named Rusudan Pirveli brought to the 'Bright Future' section Susa, another story of hard financial times. 'The Lost Generation' is represented here by the absent father of an adolescent boy, who, working for his mother, sells bootleg vodka in bottles. Sadly, he lives under the delusion that dad’s return would ease his and his mom’s hardship. Like Koguashvili, Pirveli eschews unnecessary authorial intervention: Both directors understand all too well that they are living amidst powerful,...

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival will screen the animated short horror film The Zo, written and directed by Glenda Wharton.

Also in the Sundance lineup are several sci-fi and fantasy movies directed by women, including Sara Elliassen's bleak and futuristic short Still Birds; Austrian filmmaker Pippilotti Rist's LSD-inspired riff on Pippi Longstocking called Pepperminta; Floria Sigismundi's rockumentary about the all-female rockers The Runaways; and Hotel director Jessica Hausner's fantastic drama Lourdes. Read on for details and trailers...

The Zo: USA (Director and Screenwriter: Glenda Wharton)-A hand-drawn animated film about abuse and escape, where a child becomes trapped in a nightmare house by a monster.

Still Birds / Norway (Director and Screenwriter: Sara Eliassen)-A dystopic fable that takes place in an enclosed world in which the last girl on earth who can speak is about to have her voice stolen by other jealous children.

Pepperminta / Austria, Switzerland (Director: Pipilotti Rist; Screenwriters: Pipilotti Rist,...

Something tells me I'll be indulging in the Nf section with a quota of at least three works. Dammit, I'm already breaking out in hives with the monstrous task ahead of me of covering the festival from top to bottom. - This year's New Frontier section, a collection of six works that bend the rules of cinema, and are generally neglected from the press includes Johan Grimonprez's Double Take (another picture that received its North American premiere at the Nouveau Cinema Festival in Montreal, making the Park City screening a U.S. premiere. Something tells me I'll be indulging in the Nf section with a quota of at least three works. Dammit, I'm already breaking out in hives with the monstrous task ahead of me of covering the festival from top to bottom. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers / USA (Director and screenwriter: Tim Rutili)&mdash...

On Wednesday the Sundance Film Festival unveiled the films competing in late January 2010. Yesterday they announced the rest of the line-up of independent films vying for attention for industry types and the curious public.

The entire list of 53 films is below, but here are a few that stood out to me from the premieres alone:

Mumblecore directors the Duplass Brothers, have a new, untitled movie starring an unusually high-profile cast compared to their usual improvisational crew. John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, and Catherine Keener. Reilly and Keener are actually in two films at the 2010 festival.

The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Rosemarie DeWitt about corporate downsizing.

Rodrigo Cortes’ Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds as a man buried alive in a coffin. I’ve read the script and its great. More on that as soon as I can.

The Runaways, the...

We are 49 days out and counting down to Sundance 2010. Yesterday, we unveiled the list of competition films for the upcoming festival. Today, we have your list of out-of-competition films which include Premieres, Spotlight, New Frontier, and, my personal favorite, Park City at Midnight, which has featured past entries like Black Dynamite, The Descent, and Saw.

Check out next year’s lineup for the out-of-competition films:

Premieres

To showcase the diversity to contemporary independent cinema, the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section offers the latest work from American and international directors as well as world premieres of highly anticipated films. Presented by Entertainment Weekly.

Abel / Mexico, USA (Director: Diego Luna; Screenwriters: Diego Luna and Agusto Mendoza)–A peculiar young boy, blurring reality and fantasy, assumes the responsibilities of a family man in his father’s absence. Cast: Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina Gidi, Carlos Aragon, Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, Gerardo Ruiz-Esparza. World Premiere

Cane Toads:...

Yesterday we got the list for the films playing in competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and today we get the rest of the films that will be featured and there are quite a few that make 2010 look much stronger based on pedigree alone than I have seen in quite some time. Variety has a big write-up detailing the categories and more on the festival right here, but I am just going to offer up the titles and let you sort it all out.

The titles already in the RopeofSilicon database are linked.

Premieres

All films are from the United States unless otherwise noted Abel (Mexico-u.S.), the directorial debut of actor Diego Luna, written by Luna and Agusto Mendoza, about a peculiar young boy who, as he blurs reality and fantasy, takes over the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence. With Jose Maria Yazpik, Karina Gidi,...

In addition to the competition titles which were announced yesterday, Sundance has announced the remainder of their line-up and it includes some titles we’re already familiar with along with a huge number of premieres.

Also on the docket are two new series: Next which showcases low/no budget films and Spotlight which highlights films which festival programmers deem worthy of extra love including Enter the Void (review) and Lourdes (the trailer for which I really liked).

I’m particularly excited to see some of the titles in the New Frontier program but overall, the line-up is an impressive one but the Kristen Stewart fan in me is excited to see her turn as Joan Jett in The Runaways and I think it’s fair to say we’re all dying to see Vincenzo Natali’s hotly anticipated Splice (trailer).

In the Midnight section, Adam Green's Frozen is sounding mighty find,...

Sundance released their slate for 2010. It includes:43 documentaries on the Middle East12 films about friends who 'discover' something33 movies about people you've never heard about1 comedyHopefully the lineup this year is strong but it doesn't look that way compared to last year. Last year we had Push (Precious), that Lil Wayne documentary that never went anywhere, Mystery Team which might make my top ten, Moon, Mike Tyson documentary, Cold Souls. Just so much last January that was excellent. I hope I don't go out therer and freeze my tail off just to see...I don't know, a documentary about a former Pakistani prime minister or something silly like that.Here's the lineup so far: Premieres To showcase the diversity to contemporary independent cinema, the Sundance Film Festival Premieres section offers the latest work from American and international directors as well as world premieres of highly anticipated films. Presented by Entertainment Weekly.

The Sundance Film Festival's competition lineup for 2010, announced Wednesday, might demand that audiences wear their serious caps. But the out-of-competition selections allow programmers and viewers to cut loose a little.

The 53 films that populate this year's Premieres, Next, Spotlight, Park City at Midnight and New Frontier sections run the gamut from the cosmically experimental to the star-studded and silly. There is indeed something for everyone at this year's event, which runs Jan. 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

As usual, Premieres collects work involving the industry's higher-profile talent, none more so than John Wells' feature directorial debut, "The Company Men," which stars Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper. Mexican actor Diego Luna's directorial debut, "Abel," will screen, as will Philip Seymour Hoffman's "Jack Goes Boating."

Michael Winterbottom has the rare distinction of having two films in...

This could go one of two ways, either incredibly trippy as it's clearly designed to be, or contrived. I love the looks and sound of it, a redhaired young girl who fixes things with colors and has strawberries as pets, so I really hope it goes the former. Having it's world premier at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, this insanity is directed by Pipilotti Rist and co-written with Chris Niemeyer. What's even better is that we have not one, but Two trailers for you after the break. The first clearly designed to showcase the weirdness, and the second a more indepth look at the story complete with English subtitles.

Pepperminta (Ewalina Guzik) is an anarchist of the imagination. She lives in a futuristic rainbow villa and according to her own rules. Colors are the young woman’s best friends and strawberries are her pets. She knows the most amazing remedies...

The 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival lineup includes the main festival plus the sidebar which will be playing films like Yannick Dahan's gangster zombie flick The Horde.

In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.

Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.

Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.

Full list after the break.

66Th Annual Venice Film Festival Lineup

Competition

"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)

"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)

"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film

"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)

"Between Two Worlds,...

Rome -- Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" will headline a 24-film competition lineup at September's Venice Film Festival, which is heavy on first and second films from up-and-coming directors.

The lineup includes five U.S. films, four each from Italy and France, four from Asia, two from the Middle East -- with all 23 films named Thursday as world premieres.

A 24th surprise competition pic to be announced during the fest would also be a world premiere, officials said. The fest will feature 71 world premieres.

"We are very pleased and very honored to announce this lineup," Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a briefing Thursday, where Fatih Akin's comedy "Soul Kitchen"; "Accident," a thriller from China's Cheang Pou; and "A Single Man," a drama from Tom Ford starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, were revealed as part of the lineup.

All told, the fest will feature 16 first works and nine second works.