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This first feature of Kirsten Tan premiered in Sundance ‘17 World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Its provenance is Singapore but it takes place in Thailand. It continued onward to the Hivos Tiger Competition at Iffr (R’dam).

The thrill of interviewing here in Sundance is that you see a film; you have an impression and while it is still fresh you meet the filmmakers without having much time for any research or reflection. And then you get to see them again as “old friends” when you meet again in Rotterdam.

As Kirsten, her producer Weijie Lai and I sat down at the Sundance Co-op on Main Street here in Park City, I really had little idea of where the interview would take us, somewhat analogously to her film in which an architect, disenchanted with life in general, being put aside as “old” in his own highly successful architectural firm and in a stale relationship with his wife,...

The world is upside down, or as David Lynch puts it: "The world is wild at heart and weird on top." The countries that are peace keepers are also the biggest manufacturers of weapons and the most profitable industries are the ones that are destroying this planet. One percent of the population owns more than the other ninety-nine together. Our system is fundamentally unjust. That is a fact and many of today's urgent problems are obliging us to examine the very framework of our society.When you scroll through the programme of this year's Human Rights Watch Film Festival (Hrwff), you cannot but notice that most of the 16 films, except for John Stewart's directing debut Rosewater, a film about the life of the Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, are documentaries. They are bringing us unknown stories from all over the world and they point to issues concerning violations of human rights.

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Celebrating Individual and Community Efforts to Effect Change

18-27 March 2015, London

Barbican, British Museum, Curzon Soho, Ritzy Picturehouse

(London, February 12, 2015) – The 19th edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London will be presented from 18 to 27 March, 2015 with a programme of 16 award-winning documentary and feature films, Human Rights Watch said today.

The festival will include live music performances following screenings of Beats of the Antonov and No Land’s Song and a Guardian Masterclass focusing on human rights reporting and digital storytelling. The festival will take place at the Barbican, British Museum, Curzon Soho, and Ritzy Brixton.

“This year’s festival features many determined, brave individuals – such as Colombia’s philosopher-politician-teacher Antanas Mockus, the Afghan school founder Razia Jan, and Guatemala’s first female attorney general, Claudia Paz y Paz – who have made huge personal sacrifices to bring about change”, said John Biaggi, director...

The Orchard has acquired North American rights to The Yes Men Are Revolting, the third installment of the documentary series featuring prankster-activists Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. This time the Yes Men tackle the issues of global warming and middle-aged activism. The film, directed by Laura Nix along with Bichlbaum & Bonanno, premiered at Toronto and is screening Thursday at Doc NYC. It will be released theatrically and digitally across North America in 2015. Yes Men Are Revolting follows the duo’s The Yes Men (2003) and The Yes Men Fix The World (2009). The deal was negotiated by Danielle Digiacomo and Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers.

Cinema Guild has landed all North American rights to About Elly, a mystery from director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation). Old college pals reunite for a weekend outing by the Caspian Sea. One of the women brings along Elly, her daughter’s kindergarten teacher, in hopes...

For the last two decades, The Yes Men— culture jamming prankster activists Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum (not their real names)—have pulled off some rather hilarious and spectacular media hoaxes to expose corporate crimes, stunts involving ExxonMobil, Hud, Wto, Dow Chemical, The New York Times and more. In this intimate portrait, a sort of follow up to 2007’s doc, “The Yes Men Fix the World,” but not solely lensed by the duo this time, the pair are now approaching middle age and struggle to stay inspired as the worst crime of all threatens the planet. Can they get it together before the ice caps melt? Here’s the official synopsis: For the last 20 years, notorious activists the Yes Men (Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum) have staged outrageous and hilarious hoaxes to draw international attention to corporate crimes against humanity and the environment. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits and a lack of shame,...

Five years after political superheroes the Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano) made everything all right in The Yes Men Fix the World, our planet seems pretty screwed up again. So, once more the two hit the airwaves, corporate board rooms and tabloid front pages in The Yes Men Are Revolting, directing their activist wit towards the issue of climate change. Along the way, they are joined by Laura Nix, who produced the previous film and this time directs alongside them both. Nix’s directing credits include The Politics of Fur and The Light in Her Eyes, and below she […]...

Five years after political superheroes the Yes Men (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano) made everything all right in The Yes Men Fix the World, our planet seems pretty screwed up again. So, once more the two hit the airwaves, corporate board rooms and tabloid front pages in The Yes Men Are Revolting, directing their activist wit towards the issue of climate change. Along the way, they are joined by Laura Nix, who produced the previous film and this time directs alongside them both. Nix’s directing credits include The Politics of Fur and The Light in Her Eyes, and below she […]...

Idfa’s international co-finance and production market will run Nov 25-27 in Amsterdam.

During the Idfa Forum, filmmakers and producers will present documentary projects to commissioning editors from international television stations and other providers of finance, with the aim of completing the finance for their documentary projects.

In total, 50 projects have been selected for the upcoming Idfa Forum, including the latest projects by Femke and Ilse van Velzen, Eva Mulvad and Marcus Vetter.

The Idfa 2013 screening program includes 18 documentaries presented as projects at previous editions of the Idfa Forum.

The 50 projects selected for the Idfa Forum 2013 will be pitched in various different settings: the central pitches in the Compagnietheater’s main hall; the round table pitches in the small hall; and one-on-one discussions with potential financiers.

For the second year in succession, the Idfa Forum includes the Work in Progress Screening category, aimed at stimulating sales and distribution.

While most of the projects at the Idfa Forum...

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are the Yes Men, two men who have sabotaged many a meeting or PR campaign of the world's most powerful transnational corporations and bureaucracies.  By impersonating leaders of the world's most powerful institutions, they've apologized for Dow Chemical for not properly compensating citizens of Bhopal affected by the gas leak disaster faulted to a company, United Carbide, Dow later acquired.  They've gone to numerous meetings of transnational organizations, earning uproarious applause for proposing plans that belittle the value of human lives in the face of mega corporate profits.  Drawing from work by the likes of Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen, the duo doesn't make political theater, they make politics theater. The pair have made two films -- "The Yes Men," "The Yes Men Fix the World" -- documenting their hijinx, but as the ramifications of capitalism are becoming all the more apparent...

Laura Gabbert, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Caroline Libresco, Doug Pray, Heather Rae, Eddie Schmidt, Aj Schnack to Serve as Lab Mentors .

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, has launched a new Documentary Lab, sponsored by Latino Public Broadcasting, with 14 filmmakers and 9 projects participating. Documentary Lab is an intensive seven-week program, with a main focus of assisting documentary filmmakers on their works-in-progress and providing creative feedback. All of the Film Independent Labs are designed to support strong, original voices develop their filmmaking careers in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment. Documentary Lab Mentors include filmmakers Laura Gabbert (No Impact Man), Scott Hamilton Kennedy (The Garden), Doug Pray (Art & Copy), Aj Schnack (Convention),Sundance Film Festival Senior Programmer Caroline Libresco, and producers Heather Rae (Frozen River) and Eddie Schmidt (Troubadours). filmmakers Jen Arnold (A Small Act), Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol), Chicken & Egg.s Julie Benello,...

Actor Tim Blake Nelson will host the awards ceremony at the Sundance Film Festival, which also announced Tuesday the members of the five juries that will determine the winners. The festival runs from Jan. 20-30; the awards will be handed out the evening of Jan. 29. (The Short Film Awards will be named earlier at a ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 25, at Park City’s Jupiter Bowl.)

The complete list of jurors follows, with bios provided by the festival.

U.S. Documentary Jury

Jeffrey Blitz

Jeffrey’s film career started in 2002 with the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning documentary “Spellbound.” His fiction feature debut, “Rocket Science,” became his first to play the festival (Sundance, 2007; Dramatic Directing Award). He has also directed the documentary “Lucky,” (Sundance, 2010) and multiple episodes of NBC’s “The Office.” In 2009, he won the Emmy for comedy directing.

Matt Groening

Matt Groening created the longest-running comedy in television history, “The Simpsons.” As a cartoonist,...

It's a pretty slow DVD release day with very little in the way of new movies out this week, but clearly the biggest title on store shelves is the long-awaited Blu-ray release of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Will people buy this version or wait for the eventual Extended Editions? Other choice picks include Werner Herzog's must-see crime flick Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans starring Nicolas Cage, the first season of the Starz comedy series Party Down, and The Yes Men Fix the World documentary. Do you see anything else worth renting or buying this week? Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans [1] (+ Blu-ray [2]) The Collector [3] (+ Blu-ray [4]) Dolan's Cadillac [5] (+ Blu-ray [6]) Harlem Aria [7] Jade Warrior [8] National Lampoon's Ratko, The Dictator's Son [9] The Weathered Underground [10] The Yes Men Fix the World [11] Dirt! The Movie [12] The Icons of Suspense Collection: Hammer Films [13] Party Down: Season 1 [14] Ally McBeal:...

Enter now for a chance to win a prize pack from Docurama's "The Yes Men Fix the World" directed and written by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. The DVD comes out on April 1st. Check out features as well as the plot and more below the poster. One lucky winner takes home a prize pack which includes in the following: (1) Official "The Yes Men Fix The World" DVD (1) Faux Edition of "The New York Times" - Hand-Crafted by The Yes Men (1) Faux Edition of "The New York Post" - Hand-Crafted by The Yes Men (1) Exclusive Mini Comic Book - Based on "The Yes Men Fix The World" A wickedly fun skewering of corporate greed, The Yes Men Fix The World is the true story of two conscientious mischief-makers who pose as the representatives of companies they despise. In this wonderfully therapeutic film, Yes Men Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno impose...

We are giving our readers the chance to win The Yes Men Fix The World on DVD. All you have to do is fill out the form below! A winner will be selected via random drawing and announced no later than April 1st (no foolin’). No purchase necessary, winners must live inside the U.S., no P.O. boxes, and one entry per household. Good luck!

Read more on Giveaway: Win The Yes Men Fix The World on DVD…...

The Yes Men Fix the World is the sequel to the 2003 documentary The Yes Men about political pranksters Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Like its predecessor, the film follows the activist duo as they stage a number of hilarious and elaborate stunts that raise awareness about globalization issues and expose corporate greed. The movie hits DVD this week (rather appropriately on April 1st), and we've got a special prize pack to give away right here on Film Junk. The package includes: A copy of The Yes Men Fix the World on DVD Faux Edition of The New York Times, Hand-Crafted by The Yes Men Faux Edition of The New York Post, Hand-Crafted by The Yes Men Exclusive Mini Comic Book Based on The Yes Men Fix the World So if you’d like to get your hands on the goods, just send your name and mailing address to filmjunk@gmail.

In celebration of upcoming DVD release of

Total Videos: (4)

Total Images: (3)');">The Yes Men Fix the World on Thurs. April 1 (April Fools Day), we'd love to share readers and fans with a nice prize pack!(1) Official "The Yes Men Fix The World" DVD(1) Faux Edition of "The New York Times" - Hand-Crafted by The Yes Men(1) Faux Edition of "The New York Post" - Hand-Crafted by The Yes Men(1) Exclusive Mini Comic Book - Based on "The Yes Men Fix The World"As always Simply write your name and a valid email at the bottom of this page and if you are a winner you will receive the prize pack.Good Luck!Read more about The Yes Men Fix the World after the jump.Troublemaking duo Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, posing as their industrious alter-egos, expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina, the faces behind the environmental disaster in Bhopal,...

So last year I joined Twitter and desperately struggled to figure out a good use for it. Assuming most people following my account might come from the Film Junk podcast, I thought it might be an idea platform to keep track of what films I've been watching and what ratings I give them. My first post was March 9th, 2009 with David Cronenberg's The Brood (3.5/4) and since then I've managed to check out a good number of great films over the last year. (Jacques Tati's Play Time and Wim Wender's Paris, Texas are definitely two stand outs on this list.) Many of these are first time viewings, but a there are also a lot of movies I just felt the urge to revisit. So what do you think? Any favourites? Have a look for yourself after the jump! The Brood, (Cronenberg, 1979) 3.5/4 Operation Crossbow (Anderson, 1965) 3.5/4 Watchmen, (Snyder, 2009) 3/4 Pontypool, (McDonald, 2008) 4/4 Pinocchio,...

Katalin Varga

DVD, Artificial Eye

Be it the zombie flick Colin at £40 or Avatar at £280m plus, we are always informed of a film's budget these days and required to somehow factor it into our appreciation – although the tickets always cost the same. Here, at least, the price tag is relevant. Reading's Peter Strickland funded this with £25,000 of his inheritance – a truly independent feature film. His plans for this grim, atmospheric revenge tale included shooting it in Transylvania in Hungarian/Romanian languages that he didn't even speak at the time. It starts off with the titular character and her son being thrown out of town by her husband, who has found out something mysterious and apparently unforgivable about her past. As they set off for Katalin's mother's house, which may or may not even exist, pursued by men who may or may not be the police, secrets are gradually revealed.

Director(s): Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr Writer(s): Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno Starring: Reggie Watts, Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno Directed by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (a.k.a. The Yes Men), and co-directed by Kurt Engfehr (editor-producer Bowling for Columbine; Fahrenheit 9/11), this humor-injected political documentary makes Michael Moore’s most recent effort seem utterly uninspired. Posing as high-ranking representatives of evil corporations, the Yes Men con their way into business conferences and television interviews in order to wake up their audiences to the dangers of passively allowing greed to rule the world. The results are more than just silly activist pranks; the actions of the Yes Men are thoughtfully conceived acts of protest designed to reach the largest possible audiences, inciting discussion, debate and action. One example, Bichlbaum, in the guise of a Dow Chemical spokesperson, appears on a BBC News interview (viewed by over...

Ever since we caught The Yes Men Fix The World at SXSW last year, we’ve been keeping an eye on it to give it the full, big screen theatrical treatment it deserves. Well, we can give our eyes a rest now because it opens this Friday at the Ritz!

Not only is this film a comedy riot, but it also has the power to incite riots- like turning over cars, shopkeepers on roofs with sniper rifles, flaming effigies riots! Somehow, the humble culture-jamming duo known collectively as The Yes Men managed to raise their little self-funded pet project into the international limelight, establishing themselves as the definitive fearless avengers against corporate greed and excess. And how these two aren’t in jail is Crazy! They defrauded Dow Chemical of 2 billion in stock in One Day!

Alright, spoiler alert: The Yes Men don’t actually fix the world. But what...

Idfa founder Ally Derks (center) hanging out with a group of her friends last week in Amsterdam at a party hosted by local distributors. Right to left: producer Joel Heller (“Winnebago Man”), producer Jess Search (“The Yes Men Fix the World”), Ally Derks, former Newfest head Basil Tsiokos, Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund director Ryan Harrington, Cleveland International Film Festival Artistic Director Bill Guentzler and Debra Zimmerman.

I’m sure if you analyze and dissect the rules for eligibility, you’ll find some kind of loophole that kept films like Capitalism: A Love Story, Anvil!: The Story Of Anvil, and Crude off this list of finalists for Best Documentary Feature.

Maybe it’s not based on eligibility at all. Maybe those movies just didn’t make the cut, which, in my opinion, and a lot of other people’s, as well, is a shame. This isn’t even taking into account some of the festival docs that didn’t make the cut, films like Pulling John, We Live In Public, and The Yes Men Fix The World. Politics wins out once again (as if there was every going to be a question of it), and here are the list of 15 films that have moved on in the voting process:

The Beaches Of Agnes directed by Agnès Varda...

Armed only with cheap suits, fake websites, a few props and nuts the size of Survivaballs, the Yes Men have become infamous for infiltrating corporate events pretending to be spokesmen for government agencies or some of the world's most powerful companies. Once inside, they either announce that the group they're representing has had a change of heart and is now looking to correct its most egregious crimes, or they attempt to market products to their corporate audiences that are so odious and offensive that they highlight the cold-hearted greed of the companies that might sell them, as well as those who would buy them. And they make you laugh while they do it. After a successful premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the Yes Men's new documentary, The Yes Men Fix the World, is slowly rolling out to select theaters...

Marrying Swiftian satire with hi-tech saboteurship and the good ol' art of the con, The Yes Men are an infamous group of agitprop pranksters who've emerged as cable news darlings and mini movie stars in their own right. Just mild-mannered and vaguely authoritative enough in demeanor to slip through security cracks, The Yes Men -- aka Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno -- assume the identities of everyone from big oil and chemical execs to World Trade Organization officials to representatives of the U.S. Government, mounting bogus press conferences and lecture appearances to make their point. (At a Canadian oil conference, for example, they posed as ExxonMobil reps, telling 20,000 industry workers they've devised a new technique that would turn the human victims of their irresponsible practices into an oil substitute called "Vivoleum.") It's all part of their all-out, highly entertaining battle against what they finger as the U.S.'s most dangerous enemy: disaster capitalism.

Anyone else a fan of pranksters The Yes Men, who you may have seen in films The Yes Men and (out now) The Yes Men Fix The World? Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are activists who carry out Punk’d style stunts to embarrass politicians and corporations. My favorite past stunt was the phallic Wto management leisure suit. They have a new video channel at Babelgum, which will be the place to catch up on future pranks. In the video below, you can check them out introducing “Survivaballs” and sending them to the United Nations. Smart? Funny? Both? Or a Halloween costume idea?...

In 2003’s The Yes Men, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum set up a website mimicking and lampooning the World Trade Organization, a corporation they oppose. Their website, however, was mistaken for the real thing and they were invited to speak at important meetings and functions as representatives for the Wto. They decided to use the opportunity to hold a mirror up and show the corporations their own greed and hopefully make a difference. Now, with The Yes Men Fix the World, a sequel of sorts, they have gotten even better at making people think they represent companies they do not.

The Yes Men take a page from Sasha Baron Cohen and two pages from Michael Moore to turn in their elaborate pranks on large corporations. In the first of four hoaxes shown in this film, Andy gets invited to go on the BBC as a spokesperson for Dow Chemical. The...

”The Yes Men Fix the World,” the latest from corporate pranksters the Yes Men, opens today in the Us, courtesy of Shadow Distribution. A survey of what critics are saying about the film: “A sequel to their first film, ‘The Yes Men’ (2004), ‘The Yes Men Fix the World’ continues the saga with the heroes’ greatest stunt—one going live on BBC World in the guise of a Dow Chemical spokesman with …...

We all know the facts. Free-market capitalism is dangerous. It's run by a whole lot of bad, powerful people, and it hurts a whole lot of people who don't deserve to be hurt. So much for the obvious. Now what? Our movie, The Yes Men Fix the World, will help answer that question. It opens this Wednesday in New York City - and if it doesn't become the first film run shut down by the NYPD, it'll be the most action-packed week in New York film history. The film's story is simple: two guys, armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, infiltrate the world of big business, where we make a lot of bad, powerful people really uncomfortable. You'll see us knock $2 billion off Dow Chemical's share price, expose New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for the corporate lackey he is, and show some of the...

Editor’S Note: This review was original published as part of indieWIRE’s coverage of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. “The Yes Men Fix The World” opens this Wednesday in theaters. Fans of corporate satirists “The Yes Men” from their self-titled 2003 debut documentary will get a kick out of their sincerely amusing follow-up, “The Yes Men Fix the World.” Boosted by the promises of an Obama-led world, performance artists Jacques Servin and …...

In their new HBO documentary The Yes Men Fix the World, the eponymous pranksters take aim at unapologetic free market profiteers. Yes Men Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum articulate their agenda concisely: "What we do is pass ourselves off as representatives of big corporations we don't like." It doesn't take the full measure of the duo's abundant wit to expose the unfettered greed of the corporate executives. At a conference on international finance, Bonanno poses as a spokesman for Dow Chemical (the company responsible for the largest industrial disaster in history, which left 5,000 dead and 100,000 sick in Bhopal, India following a pesticide plant explosion). To enthusiastic applause, Bonanno introduces the fictional "Acceptable Risk Project," a model to enable organizations to calculate whether the human toll of a business enterprise is worth the potential profit. Following the presentation,...

The 2009 Hot Docs lineup has officially been announced and I'm extremely excited. For one, this will be a good opportunity to catch up on many of the films I missed at Sundance. Also, I'm currently not working, so I will have all of free time to dedicate to the festival. Nice. Luckily, there's a shit ton of movies that I'm interested in, so it won't be hard to fill out my schedule (It never really is). I've posted some crucial picks below, but you can also check out the full schedule for yourself over at the Hot Docs website [1]. What are you looking forward to this year? Objectified [2] Directed by Gary Hustwit [3] From telephones to toothpicks, nearly everything that fills our world is designed. Objects look and work the way they do because someone made them that way. Director Gary Hustwit examines industrial design's sweeping cultural impact with the same...

And here's the rest fo them which includes loads of world premiers, plenty of Asian flare, and lot's of film makers I've never heard of before..

Check the list after the break.

Panorama Main Programme

Dongbei, Dongbei (A North Chinese Girl) by Zou Peng, People’s Republic of China (Wp)

With Tian Yi-Wen, Wu Rui-Peng, Liu Xing-Ping

Rabioso sol, rabioso cielo (Raging Sun, Raging Sky) by Julián Hernández, Mexico (Wp)

With Jorge Becerra, Javier Oliván, Guillermo Villegas, Giovanna Zacarias

Rossiya 88 (Russia 88) by Pavel Bardin, Russian Federation (Wp)

With Petr Fyodorov, Vera Strokova, Kazbek Kibizov

Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen (Sleeping Songs) by Andreas Struck, Germany (Wp)

With Stefan Rudolf, Chulpan Khamatova, Traute Hoess, Paula Kalenberg, Barnaby Metschurat

Strella by Panos H. Koutras, Greece (Wp)

With Mina Orfanou, Yiannis Kokkiasmenos, Minos Theoharis, Betty Vakalidou

Vingança (Retribution) by Paulo Pons, Brazil

With Bárbara Borges, Erom Cordeiro, Branca Messina, Guta Stresser, Marcio...