News

New titles join previously announced I Like Movies.

Visit Films has expanded its TIFF sales slate and will handle world rights on LGBTQ+ teen coming-of-age drama Soft (previously announced by the festival as Pussy) and world rights excluding Australia and New Zealand to Indigenous anthology feature We Are Still Here.

Toronto filmmaker Joseph Amenta’s Soft follows three adolescent queer friends who live in the underbelly of Toronto. With summer break upon them, they revel in their newfound freedom, roaming the city and becoming enraptured in the nightlife scene.

When a friend of the group goes missing, the bond between...

Film comprises eight shorts about resilience and survival.

The world premiere of anthology film We Are Still Here will open the 69th Sydney Film Festival on June 8. It comprises eight stories by and about First Nations people.

The Australian-New Zealand co-production includes the work of 10 directors: Australians Beck Cole, Danielle MacLean, Tracey Rigney and Dena Curtis; and New Zealanders Tim Worrall, Richard Curtis, Renae Maihi, Miki Magasiva, Chantelle Burgoyn and Mario Gaoa.

The many First Nations actors involved include Clarence Ryan, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Leonie Whyman and Calvin Tuteao.

No international sales agent is yet attached to the film, which is...

(L-r) Jack Steele, Warwick Thornton and Mitchell Stanley (Photo credit: John Paille).

The Indigenous creative teams in Australia and New Zealand were developing the anthology feature Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply when they decided the basic premise wasn’t right.

When Screen Australia’s Indigenous department and the New Zealand Film Commission (Nzfc) agreed to fund the project last year the intention was for each of the eight teams to provide an Indigenous perspective on the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s maiden voyage to the Pacific.

“We have scrapped that idea. The film will touch on survival and colonisation but it doesn’t refer directly back to Cook,” says Mitchell Stanley, who is co-producing with his No Coincidence Media partner Toni Stowers and Mia Henry-Tierney (Baby Mama’s Club).

“The consensus from all the writing teams was that we want to tell stories about us, we don’t...

‘Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply’ filmmakers and producers.

Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission (Nzfc) have today announced eight Indigenous teams from Australia and New Zealand who will work on a joint anthology feature, Cook 2020: Our Right of Reply, which will be titled Ngā Pouwhenua in Nz.

Each team will create a short chapter for the feature film, providing an Indigenous perspective on the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s maiden voyage to the Pacific.

Mitchell Stanley (Servant or Slave) from Australia, and Bailey Mackey and Mia Henry-Teirney (Baby Mama’s Club) from New Zealand have been chosen as co-producers. All will attend a residential lab at Shark Island Institute in Kangaroo Valley to develop the film.

Screen Australia head of Indigenous Penny Smallacombe said: “This is a rare opportunity for creative collaboration between Indigenous cultures, from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. I’m inspired...

Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival returns to London in September with the second part of this year’s programme with a focus on Southeast Asia (15-27 Sep), kindly supported by Purin Pictures, and a focus on New Zealand (29-30 Sep), kindly supported by the New Zealand High Commission.

Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival is a UK-wide film festival dedicated to screening some of the boldest, most daring, challenging, and striking films from the Asian and Pacific regions. The festival focuses particularly on underrepresented areas of cinema, and seeks to reframe the ‘idea’ of Asia through cinema, while also exploring cinema from the Pacific particularly in relation to its remoteness. Aperture is the only film festival in the UK to focus on the whole of the Asian continent as well as the Pacific region.

Forthcoming screenings:

Newcastle:

12 Sep: People Power Bombshell: The Diary Of Vietnam Rose (John Torres, Philippines) – Star and...

Unmissable and compelling this brave Maori sisterhood movie is a precious occasion to feel the force coming from a community that is often neglected, and not just in terms of cinematic visibility.

The film was released last summer in New Zealand with the aid of the New Zealand Film Commission and was picked up straight away by the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival. It has consequently generated a buzz and is making its way within the festival circuit.

“Waru” is screening at Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival

Some explanations are needed. “Waru” is the collective effort of 8 (actually 9 as one is a joined work) woman Maori filmmakers who were asked by producers Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton to follow a set of strict rules; their 8 short films had to be shot in one single take of exactly 10 minutes, in real time, all set at 10am of the day of a...

“Searching,” from director Aneesh Chaganty and starring John Cho and Debra Messing, won the audience award for North American narrative film at the 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The thriller will open nationally in August in theaters through Screen Gems.

The documentary “Minding the Gap,” directed by Bing Liu, won the audience award for documentary feature, and also was given the special jury prize for best director.

The festival gives out awards in both North American and international categories. For international narrative feature divisions, “In the Life of Music,” directed by Caylee So and Visal Sok, was a double winner, with both the audience award and special jury prize.

The international documentary-feature audience award was given to “Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story,” directed by Frank W. Chen.

Other winners: “Call Her Ganda,” directed by Pj Raval, grand jury prize for North American docu feature; “Anote’s Ark” from director Matthieu Rytz,...

Film programs include a retrospective on Malaysian filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad, a new film from one of the most-recognizable artists in Asia, Sylvia Chang (“Love Education”) and another from veteran Asian Canadian director Mina Shum (“Meditation Park”).

Eight Māori female directors deliver “Waru,” a film in which all eight parts start at 10 a.m., are told in real time, are a single 10-minute take and each feature a Māori female lead.

San Diego, California – March 22, 2018 – The 8th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival (Sdaff) Spring Showcase , presented by Pacific Arts Movement (Pac Arts), today announced its lineup of 15 films from nine countries, including four North American premieres, one west coast premiere and the only third-ever U.S. retrospective on prolific Malaysian filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad.

“Once again, Asian filmmakers took our breath away with wide-ranging works that demonstrate the diversity of experiences and sensibilities on three continents,” says Pac Arts Artistic Director Brian Hu.

The Sundance Film Festival 2011 has a great line-up of movies this year, and I'm really excited about what we are going to get to see this year. The festival has just released their short film line-up, which is always cool to check out. Some of these movies are underated, but I've seen some pretty incredible live-action and animated short films at the festival.

Here's the official press release and list of films for you to check out:

Park City, Ut— Sundance Institute announced today the program of short films selected to screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This year the Festival's Short Film Program comprises 81 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from 6,467 submissions up 6% over 2010. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival. ”It’s a...

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival is shaping up quite nicely. The films in competition [1], and out of competition [2], have already been announced and each has some incredibly exciting entries. Monday brought the announcement of the 81 short films, chosen out of 6,467 entries, that will play in Park City, Utah this January. And while the majority of them are by currently unknown filmmakers, there are a few that jump out featuring names like Elijah Wood, Danny McBride, Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black. Actually, those guys are all in the same short. Other notables include Neil Labute, Tim & Eric and Isabella Rossellini. After the jump, we'll highlight those films and show you the full list. Scanning the list, here are the films that stick out as particularly exciting. Fight For Your Right Revisited (Director and Screenwriter: Adam Yauch) - After the boys leave the party... Cast: Elijah Wood, Danny McBride,...

HollywoodNews.com: Sundance Institute announced today the program of short films selected to screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This year the Festival’s Short Film Program comprises 81 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from 6,467 submissions up 6% over 2010. The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

“It’s a marvel to discover the creativity in this year’s shorts program. These filmmakers are charged with telling compelling stories, nurturing breakout performances and engaging the audience, all in a fraction of the time allocated to features, and each one delivers,” said Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “For 2011, we are pleased to be able to shine a light on indigenous filmmakers working around the world in the short-form medium, and to provide festival goers with a window into native storytelling.”

“These directors have once again raised the...

Well, we’ve see the list of feature-length films that are in the 2011 lineup of the Sundance Film Festival. Just moments ago, the festival revealed the full list of short films that will accompany those features – 44 in total, from a record 3,453 submissions! Wow! Glad I’m not on that judging committee.

But of note in the below list are 2 filmmakers who are followers of this blog, both I’ve communicated with in the past – one actually was mentioned on Black Filmmakers To Watch thread, so we may as well add the other.

I’m referring to Moon Molson and Tahir Jetter.

Moon’s short film is titled Crazy Beats Strong Every Time. Some may recall that, in September, I posted an entry for Moon, to help raise money to complete the short film. He was trying to raise $8,000, and actually ended up raising $10,250! So, congrats to Moon! The synopsis for...