Hamilton, NY : Grant and Todd Slater of Slater Brothers Entertainmenthave announced that they are returning to Hamilton, New York with their annual Summer Film Festival. SBE’s Hamilton (NY) International Film Festival is in its seventh year and continues to be one of the Premier Summer Events in Northeast United States.
Todd Slater commented, “The Festival is something that we look forward to every year. It has been so well received by the community and the feedback from the filmmakers tells us that we made a great decision to bring the Festival to the town we grew up in.”
The Slater Brothers’ Hamilton International Film Festival is located in the beautiful Chenango Valley region of Central New York. Long known as weekend retreat for city dwellers from New York, Boston, Ottawa, and Toronto, the Chenango Valley boasts some of the most beautiful vistas in North America and has gained an international reputation for it’s cultural events, outdoor activities and academic institutions.
The Brothers are excited about some of the early commitments, including a special screening of DAM999, one of the most controversial but celebrated films to come out of India in the past century. The Film’s producer/director Sohan Roy will be traveling from India to present his film and hold a Q & A following the special screening. “ We feel very fortunate to have a filmmaker of Sohan’s caliber coming half way across the globe to present his film and discuss the business of filmmaking in India”, commented festival founder, Grant Slater. (DAM999 will screen August 1st at 1:30 PM at the Hamilton Theater)
Other early selections include British Filmmaker, Helen Curran’s psychological horror film, Delicacy set during the British retreat to Dunkirk during WWII, Matt Twomey’s documentary film, The Duck Diaries: A Cold War quest for friendship across the Americas and French Filmmaker, Fredric Kofman’s romantic comedy, For Sarah’s Love. All three filmmakers will be on hand to present their films.
The Brothers are also excited to announce that former Hamilton resident, Kenny MacBain will be screening his latest documentary film, The Voice of Valley. The story of how Central New York resident Colby VanVoorhis who was born with TAR syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, uses his voice to fit in and indulge his love for sports. “The last time, Kenny had a film at our Festival, it’s was The General, and it sold out two theaters,” stated Slater, “So we are excited to share his latest work. It is another incredibly inspiring documentary film and a can’t miss selection.”
The Festival will have an extended line-up with a record number of films being screened. Screenings will be held in a variety of locations in the village ofHamilton including the Historical Hamilton Movie Theater.
Other events include: A Saturday August 1st panel discussion held at the Colgate University Bookstore in downtown Hamilton. The topic is “The Business of Filmmaking” and will include a panel of visiting producers, directors and actors, including Sohan Roy, Kenny MacBain, Helen Curran and Matt Twomey. The discussion will start at 12:00 PM and is free to the public.
Ticket prices are set at $5.00 and All Festival Passes are set at $20.00. Although the complete schedule will not be released until July, All Access Passes are currently available and Individual Tickets will be available during the week of June 21st. Tickets and Passes will be available on the Hamilton Theater website: http://hamiltontheater.net/ or by contacting the Hamilton Theater Box Office at 315 824 2724 .
For all the latest Festival information visit SBE’s Hamilton (NY) International Film Festival Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/SBEs-Hamilton-International-Film-Festival/360996037352846?ref=hl
Suffragette, portrays the story of the British women who fought for the right to vote at the turn of the 20th century, has been named as the opening night film of the 59th BFI London Film Festival (Oct 7-18).The period drama will receive its European premiere at the festival on October 7 – three weeks ahead of its UK release – at the Odeon Leicester Square, attended by cast members including Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep.
The premiere will be broadcasted live from the red carpet ahead of simultaneous screenings of the film at cinemas across the UK. The film stars Mulligan, Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Whishaw and Streep.It is directed by Sarah Gavron, reteaming with her Brick Lane screenwriter Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady).The film is produced by Faye Ward and Alison Owen, producers of Saving Mr. Banks, which closed the LFF in 2013.
Suffragette tracks the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement as they fought for the right to vote, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with an increasingly brutal State.Mulligan will play one such foot soldier, Maud, while Steep makes an appearance as Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst.LFF festival director Clare Stewart said Suffragette was “an urgent and compelling film – made by British women, about British women who changed the course of history.”The film is produced by Ruby Films for Pathé, Film4 and the BFI in association with Redgill Productions and with the participation of Canal+ and Cine-Cinema.Executive producers are Cameron McCracken, Tessa Ross, Rose Garnett, Nik Bower, James Schamus and Teresa Moneo.
The late Christopher Collins was the lead executive for the BFI.Pathé UK is set to release the film in cinemas nationwide on October 30.
The full programme for this year’s LFF will be announced on September 1.
Lorenzo Soria has been elected as the president of Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the 2015-2016 term which begins July 1. He succeeds outgoing president Theo Kingma, who announced the news at the organization’s annual election meeting.
Soria previously served as president of the HFPA, which presents the annual Golden Globe Awards, from 2003 to 2005. He will be joined by Meher Tatna, Jorge Camara and Serge Rakhlin, who were Lorenzo Soria Elected President of Hollywood Foreign Press Association elected vice president, treasurer and executive secretary respectively.
Soria, who was born in Argentina and raised in Italy, has lived in Los Angeles since 1982, working for Italy’s L’Espresso and La Stampa. “I”m humbled to be elected by my pers and colleagues here at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and thank them for allowing me to serve as their president,” Soria said.
The HFPA is a collection of journalists, representing 55 countries. In addition to presenting the Golden Globe Awards, it had donated more than $22 million to entertainment-related charities and scholarship programs.
Jazon Zada directs a Supernatural thriller named ‘ The Forest ‘ from a screen play by Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosa based on an original idea by David’s Goyer.
The project is currently in production. Gramercy pictures is scheduled to release ‘ The Forest ‘ nationwide in the US on January 8, 2016. The international sales on the project is carrying on by Good universe, a firm which Sony pictures worldwide acquisitions previously acquired for multiple territories including Australia, Spain, Eastern Europe and all over Asia excluding Japan.
Tory Metzger and David Linde of Lava Bear films produce alongside Goyer through his phantom four label.
Excutive producers for co- financiers AI film are Len Blavatnik, Aviv Giladi and Lawrence Bender.
‘ The Forest ‘ Portrays the story of a young American woman goes in search of her missing twin sister and it takes place in the infamous suicide spot of Aokigara forest at the base of Mount Fugi.
‘The Fourth Direction‘ (Chauthi Koot), the Punjabi language film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard Section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film was opened to positive reviews upon its screening, and viewers praised director Waryam Singh Sandhu for his realistic cinematic language. The recent news from the corner is regarding the bagging of Candian rights of the movie.
SFG International (Studio Film Group) has bagged the Canadian rights of this feature film.
The film showcases a story in the backdrop of Sikh seperationist problem which happened in India during 1984. The director has casted mainly non professional for this Punjab based flick.
Satya Nagpaul has done the cinematography of the movie. Waryam Singh Sandhu has previously worked together with Satya in the movie, ‘Alms For a Blind Horse’ in 2011. This film was screened at the Venice International Film Festival.
“The events of 1984 are a major touchstone in recent Indian history and while they have a particular relevance to a large number of Indo-Canadians, the Hindu-Sikh stories depicted in The Fourth Direction are accessible as deeply personal human stories for film fans of all backgrounds”, said Nadia Sandhu, President of Studio Film Group.
More details regarding the release of the movie in Canadian theaters are expected to be unleashed in the coming days.
The 68th edition of Cannes film festival was concluded on May 24th 2015. Like its previous years, this year’s event was too filled with grandeur of world cinema, and many impeccable film personalities walked the red carpet. ‘Dheepan‘, the movie directed by Jacques Audiard won the most respected Palme d’Or at the festival.
Many critics and industry experts speculated that Todd Haynes’ ‘Carol’ or Hou Hsiao-hsien’s ‘The Assassin’ will take the top prize at the festival. But at the final moment, ‘Dheepan’ won the top honor, and came out successfully at the Cannes.
The movie showcases the story of a Tamil Freedom fighter and his journey to find asylum in Europe. After the end of Sri Lankan Civil War, he shifts to Europe with his family, but he was greeted with more problems there.
“I wanted to reflect on the situation that is happening in the Mediterranean. Those people that sell roses to us in a café, where they come from, what is their background, their motivations – that is what spurred me on”, said Audiard after the award ceremony.
On the other hand, Hungarian Drama ‘Son of Saul’ won the Grand Prix award. This Laszlo Nemes directorial portrays the story of a Hungarian Prisoner who is assigned to work in a cemetry, and one day, when he finds a body, he assumes that it is his son’s.
“Europe is still haunted by the deportation during the Second World War. In Hungary, 450,000 people were deported, 100,000 of those being children. And many went straight to gas chambers. It still haunts us. It is not just a piece of history”, said Nemes.
Hou Hsiao-Hsien picked up the best director award for ‘The Assassin’.
Vincent Lindon for his performance in ‘The Measure of a Man’ won the Best Actor Award. Rooney Mara for ‘Carol’ and Emmanuel Bercot for ‘Mon Roi’ won the best actress award.
Reese Witherspoon along with her partner Bruna Papandrea at the duo’s production banner, Pacific Standard are all set to produce ‘Tink‘, a live action movie based on the classic Peter Pan character Tinker Bell. Witherspoon will also do the lead role in this flick.
As per reports, the project is still in its development stage, and the producers have not zeroed the director. Victoria Strouse who is writing the script for Pixar’s upcoming ‘Finding Nemo‘ sequel is writing the script for this movie.
Unlike other Disney movies which are being made with huge budget, ‘Tink’ will follow a different route, and it will be made with a modest budget.
The character of Tinker Bell first appeared in 1953,in the Peter Pan story. Tinker Bell is often portrayed as a temperamental character who becomes extremely jealous at times due to her unrequited love for the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.
Reese Witherspoon‘s latest release ‘Hor Pursuit‘ hit the theaters on May 08, 2015. The film is getting mixed to negative reviews from the audiences, and in all probabilities, the film will not make big in the theaters.
‘The Goddess on the Throne’ Film Festival ,Kosovo is different in all means when we compare it with traditional film events. This festival which started its course in 2002 has successfully completed thirteen years, and it is growing strong and steady with increased numbers of audiences every year. One of the main peculiarity of this festival is its venue. The film festival will be conducted exclusively in train, and doesn’t that sound great?
This year, ‘DAM 999‘, a Hollywood movie directed by Indian filmmaker Sohan Roy is getting screened in this festival. This movie was released in 2011, and it is still the hottest pick in International Film Festival circuits. ‘DAM 999′ was even recognized in the Academy Award Red Carpet as the the Screenplay of the movie was added to the permanent core collection in Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The movie showcases the story of an outdated dam which is prone to destruction at any moment. The director also beautifully portrays some emotional elements with finesse in this movie. The concepts of Ayurveda and Lost Love are also discussed in this movie.
Short films which are being selected in the festival will be shown on the train trips from one city to another, while the feature films will be screened in the Railway Station premises. This year’s ‘The Goodness on the Throne’ festival is scheduled from June 1st – 5th 2015.
The 69th edition of the highly reputed Edinburg International Film Festival is scheduled from June 17th – 28th, 2015. The festival is considered to be one of the top notch film events in the continent, and it will be blessed with the presence of some eminent personalities in World Cinema. The recent news from the corner is regarding screening documentary, ‘The Closer We Get‘ in this year’s festival.
The screening is expected to take place on June 18th, and it will mark the European Premiere of this documentary. Karen Guthrie has directed this film, and it is produced by Guthrie and Nina Pope.
The documentary was recently screened at the HotDocs Toronto, and there, it won the Best International Feature Documentary Award.
The documentary is basically an autobiographical picture of the director himself. Guthrie returns to his home to take care of her mother Ann after she suffers from a stroke. At this juncture, he faces his father who is separated from Ann long back.
The director faced problems in funding the movie during the initial days, and at this time, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Splice and 333 Indiegogo funders helped him to meet the needs.
The documentary will have its UK release on September.
The 13th edition of AFI DOCS is scheduled from June 17th – 21st in Washington DC and Silverspring, Maryland. The recent news from this corner is regarding the finalization of film slates at this year’s festival. The festival officials recently confirmed that ‘Best of Enemies‘ directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon will open this year’s festival.
The documentary will showcase a series of debates which happened between Gore Vidal and William F Buckley Jr, during the summer of 1968.
Stanley Nelson, renowned American Documentary filmmaker will be honored with the Charles Guggenheim award, and it will be presented at the National Archives’ William G McGowan Theater on June 19.
The films which are included in the spot light screening lineup includes, ‘The Armor of Light‘ directed by Abigail Disney, David Holbrooke’s ‘The Diplomat’, ‘First and 17′ directed by Brad Horn and Greg Whitley‘s ‘Most Likely to Succeed‘. After the spotlight screenings, extended Q&A along with panel discussions will be conducted.
Dawn Porter’s ‘Rise: The Promise Of My Brother’s Keeper’, will be screened on June 18. ‘Salam Neighbor’ directed by Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci will be also screened in the festival.