Award-winning filmmaker Justin Lerner’s latest work, CADEJO BLANCO, takes a deep dive into the world of Guatemala’s clicas, small disorganized gangs of young people who engage in illegal activity (robberies, drug dealing, violence) in order to survive. CADEJO BLANCO unfolds through the eyes of a Sarita, who lives with her sister Bea and mother, in a working-class neighborhood in Guatemala City. One night after a party, Bea doesn’t come home. Convinced that her disappearance has something to do with Andrés, her sister’s dangerous ex, Sarita manages to befriend him and infiltrate his gang. Narrowly avoiding death at every turn, and with an unwavering determination in the face of the men who underestimate her, Sarita becomes increasingly involved with Andrés and the ruthless, violent world of his gang. As she searches for answers about what happened to her sister, she realizes that the truth is a lot more complicated than she could have imagined. In writing the screenplay, for CADEJO BLANCO director, producer, and co-editor Justin Lerner talks about how he relied heavily on the biographies of the young people he met from the gangs of Puerto Barrios. Much of the story is based on their real experiences as they were told to Lerner: their daily conflicts, the dangers in joining a clica, losing friends to violence and crime. We also discuss his casting of Karen Martinez into the complex role of Sarita and how she was able to deliver a superb, multi-faceted performance.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: filmmovement.com/cadejo-blanco

About the filmmaker – Justin Lerner is an award-winning filmmaker from Boston, Massachusetts. His mother is Sicilian and his father is Russian. His first feature film, GIRLFRIEND, premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and won the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award. His second feature film, THE AUTOMATIC HATE, made its world premiere at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and its international premiere at the 2015 Busan Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Flash Forward Award (best first or second feature).  Lerner lives in both the USA and in Guatemala. In 2016, he helped launch the Escuela de Cine at Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala City. He also was the program’s very first film professor. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/FilmMovement

twitter.com/Film_Movement

twitter.com/cadejofilm

twitter.com/Lilfilm’

twitter.com/Lernstein

instagram.com/filmmovement

instagram.com/cadejofilm

instagram.com/justinlerner

91% on RottenTomatoes

“The visuals hold a power few dramas, save for the likes of City Of God, possess. Karen Martínez is a revelation.” – Bobby LePire, Film Threat

“Justin Lerner’s sumptuous and simmering thriller… born out of Lerner’s time in Guatemala, talking to real teenage gang members in Puerto Barrios … resembles Gerardo Naranjo’s “Miss Bala” as a story that drifts on the periphery of the criminal underworld…. Martínez is a real discovery as Sarita….” – Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest

“reminiscent of Maria Full of Grace and Miss Bala” – Bruce Haring, Deadline
“Now and then a US director immerses himself in Latin American culture so effectively that he delivers with all the gritty authenticity of a local filmmaker. Cary Joji Fukunaga did it with Sin Nombre, Joshua Marston with Maria Full of Grace. Now Justin Lerner has built on years of collaborative work with members of Guatemala’s ‘clicas’, or youth gangs, to deliver a nail-biting, evocative and utterly persuasive crime drama that is very much a part of the country’s burgeoning film output.” – Demetrios Matheou, Screen International

Director Jalmari Helander drops us into all the murder and mayhem of the last desperate days of WWII. It’s there that we meet a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) as he crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. In the northern wilderness of Lapland a Finnish veteran Aatami Korpi is digging for gold while the war rages around him. Eventually, he hits a huge lode and starts journeying south with his riches. However, he quickly runs into a platoon of Nazis led by an SS officer Bruno Helldorf, who realize what he’s carrying and try to take the gold for themselves. What follows is a brutal struggle and chase across the Lapland wilderness as Aatami, himself an established commando, uses every trick he knows to keep hold of the fortune he has earned. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner.  While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word “sisu”, this legendary ex-commando will embody what sisu means: a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds.  And no matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back – even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path. Director Jalmari Helander (Big Game) joins us to talk about the film(s) that provided the inspiration for SISU, working with Jorma Tommila, and the way in which SISU has dramatically impacted his film career.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: lionsgate.com/movies/sisu

About the filmmaker – Jalmari Helander has achieved international renown with his two feature films Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) and Big Game (2014). Helander started directing in commercials in 2003 and quickly won awards for his work for Nokia, Finnish Defence Forces and rapper Redrama among others. He made his first feature Rare Exports in 2010 based on his short films Rare Exports Inc (2003) and Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions (2005). The film was a huge success and secured worldwide distribution as well as the Piazza Grande award at Locarno, the best director award at Sitges and the audience award at Brussels among many other prizes. His second feature Big Game was an action adventure set in the Finnish wilderness and starred Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Broadbent, Felicity Huffman and Ray Stevenson. It had a strong reception after its world premiere in the Toronto Film Festival and sold out worldwide. Helander has also directed several TV series and was nominated for an international Emmy for Wingman (2019). 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/sisumovieoff…

twitter.com/sisumovie

instagram.com/sisumovie

#SisuMovie

100% on RottenTomatoes

“An amalgamation of Sergio Leone by way of First Blood and Mad Max – to say it’s Tarantino-adjacent would be too easy – Sisu is visually exciting, shamelessly playful, and always, always unpredictable.” – Peter Gray, The AU Review

“Relentlessly brutal and unexpectedly hilarious, Sisu is a hoot, a holler, and the most fun you can have watching Nazis get absolutely destroyed by a gold-hunting ex-military grandpa.” – Meg Shields, Film School Rejects

“A splashy popcorn action piece unconcerned with credibility, pushing well-worn ideas to outlandish, and outrageously entertaining, ends.” – Dennis Harvey, Variety

“With Sisu, Helander creates an incredibly visceral action film that moves with all the fury of a runaway train, wired to detonate upon impact.” – Faisal Al-Jadir, Film Inquiry

DRY GROUND BURNING follows a fearsome outlaw Chitara in Sol Nascente, Brazil, who leads an all-female gang that siphons and steals precious oil from the authoritarian, militarized government. Just released from prison, Léa (Léa Alves Silva) returns home to the Brasilia favela of Sol Nascente and joins  up with her half-sister Chitara (Joana Darc Furtado), the fearless leader of an all-female gang that steals and refines oil from underground pipes and sells gasoline to a clandestine network of motorcyclists. Living in constant opposition to Jair Bolsonaro’s fiercely authoritarian and militarized government, Chitara’s women claim the streets for themselves as a declaration of radical political resistance on behalf of ex-cons and the oppressed. Inventing its’ own cinematic language as it oscillates between a hard-edged documentary realism and dramatized explosive fantasy, DRY GROUND BURNING reunites filmmakers Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós (Once There Was Brasilia) presenting  their unique vision of a post-apocalyptic afro-feminist matriarchal future. Co-director, co-writer and cinematographer Joana Pimenta joins us for a conversation on the film’s complicated shooting schedule, working with a blend of professional and non-professional actors, casting two sisters in the lead roles, working in Brazil as the country began to move away from the authoritarianism of Bolsonaro toward a more democratic future and her role as the Director of Film Study Center at Harvard University.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: grasshopperfilm.com/dry-ground-burning

About the Filmmaker – Joana Pimenta is a filmmaker and writer from Portugal who lives and works in Lisbon, the U.S. and Brazil. Her 2016 film, An Aviation Field, premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, and was screened in the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Rotterdam, CPH:Dox, Rencontres Internationales, Oberhausen, Valdivia, Mar del Plata, Edinburgh, among others, and received the Jury Award for Best Film in Competition at Zinebi ’58. She studied film and critical media practice at Harvard, where she currently teaches film. 

About the filmmaker – Adirley Queirós was born in 1970 in Brazil. After ten years as a professional football player, he completed a degree in film studies. Since 2005, he has made a number of films, including White Out, Black In (2014) and Once There Was Brasília (2017). His work has screened at numerous international film festivals including Locarno, Berlinale, Rotterdam, New York, Jeonju, Toronto, Cinéma du Réel, AFI Fest, Viennale, and Mar del Plata. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/ghopperfilm

twitter.com/ghopperfilm

twitter.com/ceinortezebi

instagram.com/ghopperfilm

100% on RottenTomatoes

“A politically incendiary ethnographic sci-fi…. In Dry Ground Burning, the future isn’t just female: it is Black, lesbian, profoundly matriarchal.”  – Ela Bittencourt, Sight and Sound

“An astonishing work of survival and resilience… packs a pulpy punch, yet is also rooted in an urgent political reality.” – Phuong Le, The Guardian

“A meticulous blend of fact and fiction… layered with suggestions of Westerns, gangster films, and even science fiction, all rooted in the real contemporary.” – Ben R. Nicholson, Hyperallergic

“Cinema as a radical means of resistance.” – Marina Ashioti, Little White Lies

“Dry Ground Burning is laden with political sentiment, but also caring of its subjects and their raw intimacy: a surprisingly gentle look, free of all aestheticization.” – Savina Petkova, WeLoveCinema

OUT OF THE LOOP dives into the stories and observations of comedy veterans that includes Deon Cole, Hannibal Burris, Godfrey, Chris Redd, Lil Rel Howery, Jeff Garlin, the late Judy Tenuta, and other notable comics talk about the trial and tribulations of beginning their comedy careers in the city of Chicago, where the comedy scene is as polarized and segregated as the city itself. Editor and Producer Scott Perlman (Andover, The Love Witch) joins us for a conversation on the wealth of very talented stand up comedians and improv legends that have either grown up in Chicago or made their breakthrough in the stages of clubs and theatres on the racial and cultural mean streets of Chicago, why the audiences of  the town are such a tough crowd to win over and  the local legends that have been embraced by them.

For more go to: gravitasventures.com/out-of-the-loop

Watch at:

iTunes: Link Here

Amazon: Link Here

Google Play: Link Here

Microsoft Xbox: Link Here

Vimeo: Link Here

VUDU: Link Here

YouTube: Link Here

About the filmmaker – Scott Perlman is an award winning writer and director from Chicago. He directed the feature film Andover which received the Best Film and audience award at the Orlando Film Festival, created the iTV festival grand prize winning Going to Pot, won Emmys for Fox Sports Make ’em Forget and Light it up Like Vegas, a Promax for Warner Brother’s The Mummy, and received a Page International Screenwriting Gold Prize for Kate & Edith. Scott studied improv at The Second City with Martin de’Maat and attended The University of Iowa where he received a BA in Creative Writing and Psychology.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/GravitasMovies

facebook.com/michael.alexander

twitter.com/endcuts

twitter.com/GravitasVOD

instagram.com/gravitasventures

instagram.com/teenagemillionaire

instagram.com/outoftheloopmovie

instagram.com/jeffgarlin

instagram.com/scotteperlman

“It’s a frequently thankless, competitive, brutal occupation, but when a performer clicks with an audience, it’s also addictive. And Out of the Loop captures the entirety of that experience quite beautifully.” – Steven Prokopy, Third Coast Review

“I loved the Chicago stand up era described in this film, so called me biased, big deal. There is a nice twist in this talking head doc, different than I thought it would be, but very necessary in any look at Chicago history. Star Packed & City Gritty!” – Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

“A funny and surprisingly insightful look at Chicago comedy. It highlights how there is more to Chicago than The Second City improv group.” – Nathaniel Muir, AIPT

Director Saim Sadiq’s stunning debut feature explores the many sides of love and desire in a patriarchal society. It follows the gentle and timid Haider (Ali Junejo) who lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father, and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. Following a long period of unemployment, Haider finally lands a job at a Bollywood-style burlesque, telling his family that he is a theater manager, when he is in fact a backup dancer for a captivating and strong-willed trans woman, Biba (Alina Khan), whom he soon becomes infatuated with. As the steadfast traditional dynamics of his household are shaken up, Haider begins to break out of his shell, while his connection with Biba opens his eyes and ultimately his worldview.  Director, co-writer (Maggie Briggs) and co-editor (Jasmin Tenucci) Saim Sadiq joins us for a conversation on his decision to work with professional and non-professional actors, creating the space in the telling of this family’s story where complex subjects involving forbidden love, desire, societal expectations, and patriarchy are handled with loving respect and tenderness.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Opening at the NuArt on Friday, April 21

For more go to: joyland.oscilloscope.net

About the filmmaker – Saim Sadiq is a Pakistani filmmaker whose film JOYLAND is the first Pakistani feature to premiere at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. His short film DARLING was the first Pakistani film to premiere at the 76th Venice Film Festival, where it won the Orrizonti Prize for Best Short Film. DARLING was also an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival 2019, won a Special Jury Mention award at South by Southwest 2020, and was acquired for distribution by Focus Features. His previous short film NICE TALKING TO YOU was an official selection at South by Southwest 2019, Palm Springs International Shortsfest 2019, made the BAFTA Shortlist for Best Student Film, and won Vimeo’s Best Director award at Columbia University Film Festival 2018. It also won the Kodak Student Scholarship Gold Award. Sadiq recently wrote the original pilot “It Never Rains in Cairo” for MakeReady with Brad Weston and Scott Silver executive producing. Currently, he is writing the film adaptation of New York Times bestseller Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet; Oscar®-nominated Bing Liu is attached to direct. Sadiq received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and his MFA in film directing from Columbia University. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/oscopelabs

facebook.com/NuartTheatreLA

twitter.com/OscopeLabs

twitter.com/LandmarkLTC

instagram.com/saim.sadiq

instagram.com/oscopelabs

instagram.com/landmarktheatres

97%  on RottenTomatoes

“Sadiq is not lecturing us or trading in types; he is taking us by sensory surprise, and the tale that he tells is funny, forward, and sometimes woundingly sad.” – Anthony Lane, New Yorker

“The picture transcends the tragic romance narrative, to achieve something rather more complex and satisfying.” – Wendy Ide, Observer (UK)

“The 31-year-old Sadiq (who also wrote and edited the film) knows how to weigh every shot, every cut.” – Ryan Gilbey, New Statesman

“A storming debut from writer-director Saim Sadiq: emotional, tender, and quietly radical. With any luck, it will herald a new era for Pakistani cinema.” – John Nugent, Empire Magazine

“Joyland is such a delicate, intelligent and emotionally rich film. What a debut from Sadiq.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“The frame moves slowly, if at all, but it always brims with physical and emotional energy; there’s always something in the ether, whether embodied by dazzling displays of light as characters move across stages and club floors or by breathtaking silences” – Siddhant Adlakha, indieWire

In an extraordinarily intimate feature documentary premiering Friday April 14, on SHOWTIME, Martin Scorsese’s Personality Crisis: One Night Only reveals the many faces of David Johansen. Continuing his vibrant and invaluable documentaries about iconic American artists and musicians such as George Harrison: Living in the Material World, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, and the Fran Lebowitz portrait Public Speaking, Scorsese, with an assist from co-director David Tedeschi, turns his camera on another beloved New York institution: the singular  David Johansen. Equally celebrated as the lead singer-songwriter of the androgynous ’70s glam punk groundbreakers The New York Dolls and for his complete reinvention as hepcat Buster Poindexter in the ’80s, the chameleonic Johansen has created an entire genre unto himself, combining swing, blues, and rock for something at once mischievous and deeply personal. In Personality Crisis: One Night Only, Scorsese and co-director David Tedeschi (The 50 Year Argument), with the help of cinematographer Ellen Kuras (American Utopia), luminously capture the entertainer’s January 2020 Cafe Carlyle set, where he performs as Poindexter singing the Johansen songbook, bringing downtown irreverence to this storied uptown joint. Presented alongside new and archival interviews, the concert is marvelously intimate and a testament to both a lost New York and a performer who remains as fresh and exciting as ever. Co-director David Tedeschi, Co-writer, Editor (Rolling Thunder Revue) joins us to talk about his personal recollections on the meteoric rise of the Dolls, what makes David Johansen such an compelling storyteller and performer and his 20-year long working relationship Martin Scorsese.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: sho.com/personality-crisis-one-night-only

About the filmmaker – David Tedeschi is an Emmy-nominated editor whose work encompasses both documentaries and fiction.  He has edited several acclaimed feature documentaries and series directed by Martin Scorsese, including George Harrison: Living In The Material World (HBO) and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (PBS), each of which garnered him Emmy nominations, Shine A Light (featuring The Rolling Stones), The Blues: Feels Like Going Home, Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, the 2021 Netflix series Pretend It’s A City, and Public Speaking (the last two featuring Fran Liebowitz). He also co-directed (with Martin Scorsese) the HBO film The 50 Year Argument.  In 2018, he edited American Dream / American Knightmare, a feature-length Showtime documentary about Suge Knight directed by Antoine Fuqua. Earlier in his career he edited the ground-breaking television series TV Nation and The Awful Truth, both for director Michael Moore. David’s other editing credits include Vinyl (pilot, HBO), The Shield (season one, FX), El silencio de Neto, The Osbournes (MTV), American High (pilot and series, Fox), My Friend Paul and four feature films for director Leon Ichaso: Piñero, El Cantante, Bitter Sugar, and Free of Eden.  His producing credits include The 50 Year Argument, Rolling Thunder Review: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, Pretend It’s A City and Personality Crisis: One Night Only.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/showtime

facebook.com/officialBusterPoindexter

twitter.com/Showtime

twitter.com/DavidJohansen_

instagram.com/showtime

instagram.com/david_tedeschi_bk

instagram.com/martinscorsese_

#NewYorkDolls

#PersonalityCrisis:

100% on RottenTomatoes

“When the film does dissolve into the past, it is rich.” – John Anderson, Wall Street Journal

“The documentary lets its subject’s weathered charisma do most of the hard work here, and yet it weaves in enough context to convince even the biggest New York Dolls neophytes of the band’s legacy.” – David Ehrlich, indieWire

“Rock ‘n’ roll portraits this vibrant, introspective, and nimble don’t come around very often.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Personality Crisis: One Night Only retains the impish mystery surrounding one of rock’s most underrated frontmen while building a beautiful and slightly abstracted portrait of a man in a constant state of transformation.” – Matthew Jackson, Paste Magazine

“While finding him in solid enough voice, the film is an even more effective showcase for his spoken-word talents as sharp, amiable raconteur and rambunctious comic.” – Neil Young, Screen International

Set in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France, THE WORST ONES  captures a film within a film as it follows the production of a feature whose director turns to the local Cité Picasso housing project for casting. Eager to capture performances of gritty authenticity, the director selects four working class teenagers to act in the film to the surprise and consternation of the local community, who question the director’s choice of “the worst ones.” As the director and crew audition, rehearse,  film, and interact with their hand-picked cast, jealousies are stoked, lines are crossed, and ethical questions arise, with thought-provoking and at times darkly funny results.. Co-directors / co-screenwriters Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret join us for a conversation on the inspiration for their thought-provoking, compassionate drama, how their background as casting directors has helped them in the transition into directing and how their winning the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival has impacted their future plans.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: kinolorber.com/the-worst-ones

About the filmmaker – Romane Gueret – studied cinema at the Sorbonne and then took her first steps towards directing as an assistant director, casting assistant, and cameraman.

About the filmmaker – Lise Akoka – completed a university course in Psychology and professional training in acting (Les Ateliers du Sud and the Studio-théâtre d’Asnières). She then discovered, in casting and coaching children for film, a way of bringing her two interests together. 

Their collaboration – In 2014, Romane and Lise met during casting for a feature film, for which they auditioned more than 4,000 young non-professional actors for several months. In 2015, they co-directed the short film Chasse Royale, which won awards at several festivals, most notably the Illy Prize at the 2016 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.In 2017, the film was nominated for a César Award for Best Short Film. In 2018, they co-directed the documentary Allez garçon! for the Hobbies collection, which was broadcast in 2019 on Canal+. In 2020, their web series Tu préfères was  broadcast on Arte and then selected for the Sundance Film Festival. In summer of 2021, they made their first feature film, THE WORST ONES, which was shot in Boulogne-sur-Mer and won the Grand Prix at Un Certain Regard at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/kinolorberinc

twitter.com/KinoLorber

instagram.com/kinolorber

instagram.com/akokalise

instagram.com/romanegueret

100% on RottenTomatoes

“Directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, it sees a film crew hit a working class French town, with thought-provoking and sometimes darkly funny results.” – Anna Smith, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“[It] is sensitive, intelligent filmmaking, but its even-handed nature toward both the population of Picasso and Gabriel’s film sometimes feels like an elision of perspective, like it’s walking up to the line but ultimately letting everyone off the hook.” – Chris Mello, In Review Online

“‘The Worst Ones,’ with dark humor and occasionally confrontational candor… gives us room to query the industry conventions in which it is complicit.” – Guy Lodge, Variety

“Deeply insightful, “The Worst Ones” is both cerebral and emotional, asking questions and letting us draw our own conclusions. A remarkable achievement of filmmaking and human compassion.” – Mina Takla, AwardsWatch

MY ARCHITECT, is a deep dive into the life and times of world-famous architect Louis Kahn. Louis Kahn’s son Nathaniel always  hoped that someday his father would come and live with him and his mother, but Kahn never left his wife. In 1974 Kahn was found dead in a men’s room in Penn Station when Nathaniel was only 11years old. Kahn left behind a brilliant legacy of intensely powerful and spiritual buildings – geometric compositions of brick, concrete, and light, that in the words of the Los Angeles Times “change your life.” He is considered by many architectural historians the most important architect of the second half of the 20th century. Kahn’s dramatic death laid bare a complex personal life of secrets and broken promises: he led not a double, but a triple life. In MY ARCHITECT, Nathaniel travels the world visiting his father’s buildings and haunts in this film, meeting his father’s contemporaries, colleagues, students, wives, and children. He sets out to reconcile his father’s life and work. I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, and Philip Johnson speak movingly of Kahn’s accomplishments (the Salk Institute, the Exeter Library, the Kimbell Art Museum, the Capital Complex of Bangladesh) and the women and children in his life shed light on this secretive, peripatetic man—a dynamo who gave selflessly to his art – but whose relationships were left on the drawing board, only to find completion in MY ARCHITECT. Director, Producer, narrator and son, Nathaniel Kahn joins us for a conversation on his current view of his father’s life, his collaboration with MY ARCHITECT cinematographer, Bob Richman, and the opportunity to share his compelling journey with a new audience through this newly restored and remastered version of his groundbreaking documentary.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: myarchitectmovie.com

For theatrical and VOD go to: abramorama.com

About the re-release – A new restoration and remastering of the Academy Award-nominated MY ARCHITECT, which received rapturous reviews when it first opened at Film Forum nearly 20 years ago. Going back to original digital and camera masters, the restoration was completed by Andromeda Film in Switzerland and overseen by the director, Nathaniel Kahn. Film Forum is pleased to present the 20th anniversary 4K restoration of Nathaniel Kahn’s Oscar®-nominated documentary, MY ARCHITECT, from April 7 through April 13, followed by a nation-wide release at selected theatres. winning filmmaker. His documentary My Architect (2003)—about his father, the architect Louis Kahn—was nominated for an Academy Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, and won the Directors Guild of America Award. His film Two Hands (2006) about the pianist Leon Fleisher was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy. Kahn’s documentary on the interaction between the worlds of art and commerce, The Price of Everything (2018) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was broadcast by HBO and was nominated for an Emmy. His film The Hunt for Planet B (2021) about  NASA’s Webb Telescope. premiered at SXSW, was broadcast by CNN and won an Emmy for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary.

About the filmmaker – Nathaniel Kahn is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker. His documentary My Architect (2003)—about his father, the architect Louis Kahn—was nominated for an Academy Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, and won the Directors Guild of America Award. His film Two Hands (2006) about the pianist Leon Fleisher was nominated for an Academy Award and an Emmy. Kahn’s documentary on the interaction between the worlds of art and commerce, The Price of Everything (2018) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was broadcast by HBO and was nominated for an Emmy. His film The Hunt for Planet B (2021) about  NASA’s Webb Telescope. premiered at SXSW, was broadcast by CNN and won an Emmy for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary.

SOCIAL MEDIA

twitter.com/abramorama

instagram.com/abramorama

93% on RottenTomatoes

“Astonishingly, this personal saga blossoms into a CITIZEN KANE-like meditation on whether anyone is truly knowable – but the showpiece is Kahn the younger’s spellbinding photography, which shows off his dad’s buildings’ epic grandeur as well as their spiritual intimacy.” – Robert Kolker, New York magazine

“What a sad film this, and how filled with the mystery of human life.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

“This fascinating portrait of an eccentric visionary and his chaotic triple family life is an accomplished, enormously satisfying nonfiction work.” – David Rooney, Variety

“To the son’s great credit, what emerges from his patient investigation is a remarkably rich, even sympathetic, portrait of the father.” – Benjamin Forgey, Washington Post

“An honest, emotional documentary about a man who defied being truly known.” Jami Bernard, New York Daily News

“For gripping drama and suspense, there are few fictional movies that can hold a candle to Mr. Kahn’s odyssey through time and space.” – Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

From the filmmaking team of Amanda Pollak and Gene Tempest comes the illuminating documentary film, THE SUN QUEEN. For nearly 50 years, chemical engineer and inventor Mária Telkes applied her prodigious intellect to harnessing the power of the sun. She designed and built the world’s first successfully solar-heated modern residence and identified a promising new chemical that, for the first time, could store solar heat like a battery. And yet, along the way, she was undercut and thwarted by her boss and colleagues — all men — at MIT. Despite these obstacles, Telkes persevered and, upon her death in 1995, held more than 20 patents. She is now recognized as a visionary pioneer in the field of sustainable energy. An unexpected and largely forgotten heroine, Telkes was remarkable in her vision and tenacity — a scientist and a woman in every way ahead of her time. Her research and innovations from the 1930s through the ‘70s continue to shape how we power our lives today. Director / Producer Amanda Pollak and Writer / Producer Gene Tempest stop by to talk abut the life and times of Maria Telkas, her scientific and engineering acumen, the battles with institutional sexism, the enthusiasm she brought to the implementation of solar technology and the immense power of the fossil fuel companies to strangle the nascent solar power movement before it could gain public acceptance.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

To watch: pbs.org/the-sun-queen/American Experience

For more go to: insigniafilms.com

THE SUN QUEEN premieres as a Special Presentation of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on Tuesday, April 4, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App. The Movement and the “Madman” will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. The film will also be available for streaming with closed captioning in English and Spanish. THE SUN QUEEN is distributed internationally byPBS International. Visit pbs.org/americanexperience and follow us on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and YouTubeto learn more.

About the filmmaker -Senior Partner / Executive in Charge of Production / Executive Producer / Director Amanda Pollak has been directing and producing highly acclaimed documentaries for over two decades, including over a dozen films for the national PBS series, American Experience. Most recently, she produced and co-directed The Great War, an epic six-hour series on America’s role in World War 1, which was seen by more than 10 million people nationwide, she produced Into the Grand Canyon, an environmental adventure story that premiered on National Geographic and is now streaming worldwide on Disney+, and executive produced Ailey, an immersive portrait of the renowned choreographer, which premiered at Sundance, has been released theatrically by NEON, and will be broadcast on PBS’s American Masters. Pollak was part of the founding team for Retro Report, an online series of investigative pieces featured on the front page of The New York Times digital edition. Her work has been recognized with three Emmy Awards, a Cine Golden Eagle Award, and the George Foster Peabody Award. She holds an MBA from Brown University, where she focused on documentary film finance and distribution.insigniafilms.com/Amanda-Pollak

About the filmmaker – Writer / Producer Gene Tempest is an award-winning American filmmaker and historian. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe and The New York Times, and her screenwriting has been recognized by the Writers Guild of America. A co-editor of Une Histoire De La Guerre (2018) and a former contributor to the French magazine L’histoire, her projects include the PBS documentaries The Great War (co-producer; 2017), American Veteran (co-writer; 2021), Citizen Hearst (writer/producer; 2021), and Sun Queen (writer/producer; 2023). She received her BA from the University of California at Berkeley, and her PhD from Yale University, where she won the Hans Gatzke Prize for her work in military history. She has taught at SUNY Cortland and Boston University, and from 2016-2017 served as the first ever Historian in Residence for American Experience at WGBH-Boston, where she helped fund and develop new history programming for public television.  insigniafilms.com/Gene-Tempest

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/insigniafilms

facebook.com/pbs

twitter.com/insigniafilms

twitter.com/PBS

instagram.com/insigniafilms

instagram.com/pbs

Produced by The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation, TOMORROW’S HOPE brings us into the journey of passionate educators and tenacious kids and their families on the South Side of Chicago, determined to carve out the future despite a sea of incredible challenges. The film follows three present-day high school seniors who had started out in the Educare preschool’s first-ever class, exploring how they’ve navigated foreboding realities past and present, while also delving into the lingering ripple effects from their early childhood education. Through the eyes of audacious educators (originally from the community themselves) we also learn about the school’s harrowing yet remarkable early stages as “The Beethoven Project” located within “Forgotonia” – a name the film’s Portia Kennel uses to describe the environment. At the time, the school was located directly within the largest housing project in the country, in the nation’s single poorest census tract. Yet despite a dangerous and discouraging external landscape – then and now – an entirely opposite message emerges from this educational community: “you matter.” Director Thomas Morgan (Waiting for Mamu, India’s Daughter) stops by to talk about how he became a part of this uplifting project, chronicling the successes of Educare’s students, and seeing former student of Educare paying it forward with their continuing support for the school.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: tomorrowshopefilm.com

About the filmmaker -Thomas Morgan is a film director whose films have been leveraged to create lasting movements with a specific call to action. In his first film, Storied Streets, Morgan captured the painful reality of homelessness in America and gracefully unearthed the pain and personal triumphs of those living unhoused in our country. Through the film, he has elevated awareness of the problem on thousands of college campuses, petitioned in front of Congress, and pushed for laws to make violence against the homeless a hate crime and the abolishment of laws criminalizing homelessness.With the 2013 documentary short film, Waiting For Mamu, he speaks to one person’s power through the story of Pushpa Basnet, who, at age 21, began helping free innocent children from the prison floors in Nepal. The award-winning film has raised over $1.4M, which helped build a permanent home, The Butterfly Home, in Kathmandu and helped support these children’s ongoing education.His latest film, Soufra, was a New York Times and LA Times critics pick, won several film festival awards worldwide, and screened at the Vatican. The film tells generational refugee Mariam Shaar and her quest for the fundamental right to own a business—a food truck. Soufra was used to raise nearly $1 million to build a school in the camp, and now 150 refugee children have access to education.Morgan was Executive Producer of Silenced, a film about US government whistleblowers, and India’s Daughter, an Oscar-contending movie about the rape and murder of a 23-year old medical student in India. He has been a keynote speaker many times on Capitol Hill and twice before the U.S. Congress.  For more go to: squarezerofilms.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/squarezerofilms

instagram.com/squarezerofilms

vimeo.com/squarezerofilms

“Tomorrow’s Hope spotlights passionate educators and tenacious kids and their families, who transcend the limitations imposed on them as students growing up on the south side of Chicago.” – Variety

“Really fascinating . . . gratifying.” – Peter Rainer, Filmweek / NPR

“This is really something . . . a tremendous idea.” – Good Day Chicago, NBC

Acclaimed indie filmmaker Mickey Reece (AGNES, CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER) presents a bizarre reimagining of musical icons, COUNTRY GOLD. George Jones (Ben Hall) invites an up and coming country music superstar out on the town in Nashville the night before George is to be cryogenically frozen in 1994. Featuring gut-busting gags and hilarious allusions to real-life events, this fantasy comedy becomes an emotionally stirring tribute to the legacies we leave behind. Reece stars as emerging Country music star Troyal Brux (Mickey Reece), who resembles ’90s-era Garth Brooks. One wild night in Nashville, Brux has a chance meeting with fellow legend George Jones, hours before Jones is to be cryogenically frozen. Director, producer and writer Mickey Reece joins us for a conversation on the inspiration for the film, how it dove-tails with his previous work, his decision to play the lead, Troyal Brux, and working again with the great Ben Hall.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

To watch go to: fandor.com/details/Country-Gold

About the filmmaker – Mickey Reece is a writer/director from Oklahoma City, OK. He has directed over 25 feature films in just over a decade with each subsequent work pushing the boundaries of his own established form and unique brand of art-house cinema. Reece grew up in the small town of Newcastle, OK and began making amateur movies with an 8mm camcorder when he was a teenager. After amassing a remarkable amount of short films made with his friends and family over the course of five years, adult Reece became more interested in his other passion as a touring musician, putting the camera aside. Many years later Reece would get the bug again. He made his first feature length film Le Corndog Du Desespoir on a Canon XL1 mini DV camera and edited the footage on iMovie with a power Mac G5. In 2018 Reece’s stylized and surreal take on the horror genre Strike, Dear Mistress, and Cure His Heart became the first of Reece’s films to play at an international film festival.” The ‘Strike’ premiere caught the interest of LA based production company Divide/Conquer who would produce Reece’s next two projects, Climate of the Hunter (2019) and Agnes (2021), solidifying a spiritual trilogy of stylized horror inspired by the work of Ingmar Bergman. Climate of the Hunter was well received by festival-goers and critics and became the first Reece film to be elevated to the status of “limited theatrical release.” After the success of Climate of the Hunter, a collection of Reece’s earlier works including T-Rex (2014), Suedehead (2015), Mickey Reece’s Alien (2017), Strike, Dear Mistress, And Cure His Heart (2018) and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune (2019) were made available to the public by Alamo Drafthouse’s own streaming service Alamo On Demand in 2020. Belle Isle (2020), a short documentary chronicling Reece’s story and featuring never before seen clips of the amateur movies Reece grew up making is also included on the streaming service. In 2022, Reece premiered Country Gold, a fantastical country music comedy and spiritual sequel to Mickey Reece’s Alien (2017), at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/fandor

twitter.com/Cinedigm

twitter.com/Fandor

instagram.com/fandorfilms

instagram.com/mickeyreece

instagram.com/country.gold.movie

87% on RottenTomatoes

“There simply aren’t many films like Country Gold being made today, and while the tone may not work for some viewers, Reece has nevertheless created a madcap slice of independent cinema.” – Andrew Murray, The Upcoming

“For a film with almost no special effects, save a final scene too wild to spoil, Country Gold’s ability to deliver a message and maintain a hilarious tone throughout makes it one of the most satisfying movies of 2022.” – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

“…this night of sex and drugs and country-and-western encompasses the arrogance of success, the fleetingness of celebrity and the ravages of time itself. And like all the best country songs, it comes steeped in melancholy and regret.” – Anton Bitel, Projected Figures

“Country Gold has a wild, fascinating kick, a movie that has the sensitivity of a liquor-drenched ballad, but has the What if? of science fiction as its North star.” – Nick Allen, RogerEbert.com

“For all its formal playfulness, the film never loses its grip on the interior lives to its characters.” – Steven Nguyen Scaife, Slant Magazine

“The fame-corrupts-the-innocent plot is an elaborate send-up, as is just about everything in the film, which hovers somewhere between a surreal Christopher Guest mockumentary and Hal Hartley’s deadpan irony.” – Noah Berlatsky, Chicago Reader

Maggie (Dianna Agron) arrives at a small, run-down house in the middle of nowhere to find it defaced by big orange letters reading ACIDMAN and learns that this is the locals’ nickname for her reclusive father (Thomas Haden Church). After a decade apart, Maggie’s offhand explanation for her visit is that she just wanted to check in on him, but this doesn’t ring true considering how difficult he was to find. The two awkwardly want to get to know one another (Dad seems more comfortable talking through his dog Migo, or through Bobby, Maggie’s childhood sock puppet friend), but are at the same time scared about what increasing familiarity will bring. After Dad reluctantly brings her on one of his nighttime outings, Maggie realizes that his obsession with UFOs and communicating with extraterrestrial beings has only intensified over the years. She struggles to understand him, his single-mindedness and deteriorating mental health, all the while with her own life-changing news to share. Letting their relationship ebb and flow through anger, silly jokes, tender gestures, and sadness, ACIDMAN is a beautiful meditation on the cyclical nature of parenthood and the longing for connection.  Director Alex Lehman (Asperger’s Are Us, Paddleton, Blue Jay) drops by to talk about his follow up to Blue Jay, how working with gifted actors Dianna Agron and Thomas Haden Church opened up the filmmaking into a more creative and character driven story.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: brainmedia.com/acidman

About the filmmaker – Alex Lehmann is the writer, director, and producer of “Acidman” starring Dianna Agron and Thomas Haden Church. He also directed the highly anticipated Black List feature, “Meet Cute,” produced by Weed Road, and starring Pete Davidson and Kaley Cuoco. A narrative and documentary filmmaker, Lehmann’s films include Netflix’s dramatic comedies “Paddleton,” starring Mark Duplass and Ray Romano, which premiered at Sundance in 2019, and “Blue Jay,” his narrative feature debut, starring Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass. It premiered at TIFF in 2016 to critical acclaim. His HBO docu-series, On Tour with Asperger’s Are Us is an extrapolation of his original feature doc Asperger’s Are Us. Lehmann’s work explores the themes of selfless love, friendship, and how a little vulnerability can connect us all. He lives in Los Angeles.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/BrainstormMedia

84% on RottenTomatoes

“This film is what would remain if you deleted all the spaceships from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”: the tale of a once ordinary man beset by an unworldly thirst that he can neither explain nor quench.” –The New Yorker

“This resonant, resourceful indie drama leaves a gentle imprint on audiences’ souls.” –Variety

“In this all too straight-forward drama, Church, an actor perfectly ripened for this role, gives one of the best performances of his career.” – Robert Daniels,  indieWire

“A tender, heartfelt and captivating emotional journey.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

“[Dianna] Agron is particularly stellar as a daughter torn between wanting to accept her father’s deterioration yet desperate to mend him at the same time.”

– Peter Gray, AU Review

Shot on 16mm, ENYS MEN is a mind-bending Cornish folk horror story set in 1973 that unfolds on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast. A wildlife volunteer’s (Mary Woodvine) daily observations of a rare flower take a dark turn into the strange and metaphysical, forcing both her and viewers to question what is real and what is nightmare. Evoking the feeling of discovering a reel of never-before-seen celluloid unspooling in a haunted movie palace, this provocative and masterful vision of horror puts Mark Jenkin into the conversation as one of the Britain’s most exciting and singular filmmakers. ENYS MEN director, producer, writer and cinematographer  Mark Jenkin (BAIT) joins us for a conversation on working with lead actor Mary Woodvine and how using his own lo-fi approach to filmmaking he was able to weave together a haunting sound design, discordant music, and a 1970’s style cinematography combined with a stark location that gives ENYS MEN a vaguely familiar folk tale its tormenting power.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: neonrated.com/enys-men

About the filmmaker – Mark Jenkin is a filmmaker based in West Cornwall. His latest film BAIT (“The real thing – hypnotically strange” Peter Bradshaw) produced by Early Day Films, premiered at the Berlinale 2019 and is now available to watch on BFI Player. The film won 7 awards including a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. Other recent films include the mid-length BRONCO’S HOUSE (“A visually stunning and formally adventurous swirl of pure cinema” Mark Kermode) and British Council promoted short films DAVID BOWIE IS DEAD and VERTICAL SHAPES IN A HORIZONTAL LANDSCAPE (BFI London Film Festival, Oberhausen, Aesthetica, Edinburgh International Film Festival). He recently shot a short horror entitled HARD, CRACKED THE WIND and his next feature ENYS MEN will be another genre outing. He is also developing a screenplay (having won The Nick Darke Award for Writing in 2014) concerning the life of primitive St. Ives painter (and great, great, great grandfather) Alfred Wallis. He is an associate of Falmouth University where he lectures Film, is the author of the Silent Landscape Dancing Grain 13 Film Manifesto (promoting the aesthetic and logistic possibilities of handmade film) and is a member of The Newlyn Society of Artists.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/neonrated

twitter.com/neonrated

twitter.com/Mark_Jenk

instagram.com/neonrated

instagram.com/mark_jenkin

80% on RottenTomatoes

“While Enys Men may play with the trappings and symbolism of folk horror, it’s ultimately more of an internal psychological drama.” – Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle

“It feels like a throwback to “Wicker Man”-era folk-tinged freakouts — confounding enough to not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those ready for a pot of its brew, plenty transporting and tingling.” – Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

“At times, Jenkin’s bold, experimental style can perplex; but his vision is so unwavering and beholden to local history that his message is clear…” – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

“Enys Men is a midnight movie made from the bare, bleached bones of works from an era when that term meant something, and for contemporary audiences that may not get the references but understand the universal appeal of dread.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone

“The writer-director’s use of colour 16mm, his (now-famous) 1970s Bolex clockwork camera, and post-production sound anoint Enys Men as the Kernowek equivalent of such classic English folk horrors as The Wicker Man.” – Tara Brady, Irish Times

“This movie was clearly made by someone who loves cinema for people who love cinema. Expertly done.” – Crockett Houghton, Film Inquiry

The story behind the latest documentary from award-winning and Oscar nominated director John Sheinfeld, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS has to be seen to be believed. Blood, Sweat & Tears, known for hits such as “Spinning Wheel”, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”, and “And When I Die”, headlined the legendary Woodstock Festival and won multiple Grammy Awards, most notably 1970’s win for Album of The Year, beating The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and “Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin.” This is the incredible never-before-told story about a top rock band that was unknowingly embroiled in a political rat’s nest involving the U.S. State Department, the Nixon White House and a controversial concert tour of Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland, countries that were behind what was then known as the Iron Curtain.  As a result, they found themselves in the crosshairs of a polarized America -as divided then as it is now – and became an early victim of cancel culture. Written, produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker John Scheinfeld (The U.S. vs. John Lennon, Chasing Trane, Who Is Harry Nilsson?, Herb Alpert Is…), and executive produced by James Sears Bryant, the film was created with the full cooperation of Blood, Sweat & Tears. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS features never-before-seen film and photos of the band, as well as present day interviews with five of the nine band members including distinctive lead singer David Clayton-Thomas, sax player and musical arranger Fred Lipsius, innovative bass player Jim Fielder, outspoken guitarist Steve Katz and drummer and band leader Bobby Colomby.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: bstdoc.com

About the filmmaker – John Scheinfeld – From pop culture to politics, sports to world religions, Venice and Toronto film festivals to PBS, Emmy®, Grammy® and Writers Guild Award nominee John Scheinfeld is a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker with a broad range of subjects and productions to his credit. In addition to directing, writing and producing Herb Alpert Is…, Scheinfeld is in post-production on a primetime documentary special about comedy legend Garry Marshall that will air on ABC in the Spring of 2020. Another Scheinfeld feature documentary, Sergio Mendes: In The Key of Joy, had its World Premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January 2020 and will be released worldwide on multiple media platforms later in the year. Previously, his feature documentary, Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary, was an official selection of the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival before playing on 175 theater screens worldwide during the spring of 2017. In November 2017 it was the season premiere of Independent Lens, the largest showcase for independent documentary film on television. Scheinfeld is best known for two widely acclaimed feature documentaries: The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which tells the true story of the US government’s attempt to silence the beloved musician and iconic advocate for peace and Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?, a compelling yet wildly entertaining documentary about one of the most talented and uncompromising singer-songwriters in pop music history. For more on the work of John Scheinfeld go to: crewneckproductions.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/JScheinfeld

twitter.com/abramorama

instagram.com/johnscheinfeld

instagram.com/abramorama

#johnscheinfeld

#bstdoc

“The documentary raises some interesting if ultimately unanswerable questions as it compellingly inhabits its very specific place in time.” – Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times

“A singular piece of rock history, even if hardly anyone knows about it. I didn’t know about it, but now that I’ve seen the film I’d call it essential.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“More than it knows, this movie is an engaging, and sometimes enraging, exposé of chronic insularity.” – Anthony Lane, New Yorker

“What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat & Tears? Catchy name for a doc, a political thriller, one hell of a tale. Documentary footage had to be smuggled out of (Iron Curtain countries) to avoid seizure but the film was never made.” – Anne Brodie, What She Said

“A compelling never-before-told story.” – Dennis Schwartz, Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING drops us into a devastating battle between a diabolical giant turtle and the elite defenders of civil society, Tobacco Force After the deadly encounter Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth. A wildly inventive new comedy from Quentin Dupieux follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra). After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth. Director and writer Quentin Dupieux (Mandibles, Deerskin, Rubber) joins us for a conversation on the inspiration for a film that latches onto a dark and very twisted version Saturday morning children programming as a vehicle to deliver a powerful punch to self-absorbed complacency and climate denial in delivering a film that has a lot more on its mind that might first meet the eye.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: magnetreleasing.com/smokingcausescoughing

About the filmmaker – Quentin Dupieux was born in Paris on April 14th, 1974. At 18, he discovered filmmaking and bought his first synthesizer. As Mr Oizo, he released the classic track Flat Beat and albums including Analog Worms Attack, Moustache (Half a Scissor) and Lambs Anger. In 2007, Dupieux directed, shot, edited and scored his feature debut, Steak. Next came the absurdist horror Rubber (2010), and the comedy Wrong. Further director credits include Wrong Cops (2012), Reality (2014), Keep an Eye Out (2018) starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Grégoire Ludig, Deerskin (2019) starring Jean Dujardin and Adèle Haenel, and Mandibles (2021), starring Grégoire Ludig and David Marsais. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/magnetreleasing

twitter.com/MagnoliaPics

twitter.com/magnetreleasing

instagram.com/magnetreleasing

instagram.com/magnoliapics

instagram.com/thetobaccoforce

instagram.com/mroizo

90% on RottenTomatoes

“The cast is uniformly excellent and delivers enthusiastic performances, even the ones played by puppets, and the pacing is lively and not at all boring.” – Josh Kupecki, Austin Chronicle

“While Dupieux’s Rubber and Deerskin are his best films, Smoking Causes Coughing is hands down his funniest – not to mention most enjoyable – to date. It’s bloody, absurd, and sports a Super Sentai influence in all the best ways imaginable.” – Chris Sawin, Bounding Into Comics

“Smoking Causes Coughing isn’t just an anti-superhero superhero film, but, thanks to Tristram Shandy-like levels of discursivity, something akin to an anti-film.’ – William Repass, Slant Magazine

“The plot is able to seamlessly move from segment to segment without ever losing the audience. What should be jarring is instead funny. Yes, it is still nonsensical, but that does not take away from how entertaining it all is.” – Nathaniel Muir, AIPT

“Absolutely entertaining and ingenious, Dupieux’s disparate imagination doesn’t expire.” – Sara Martínez Ruiz, Espinof

From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi (FIRE AT SEA, NOTTURNO) comes IN VIAGGIO: THE TRAVELS OF POPE FRANCIS. Rosi chronicles the travels of the head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis, as he crisscrosses the globe to meet with political, secular and religious leaders. Composed mostly of archival footage, the film grants rare access to the public life of the pontiff, from the elevated security of his pulpit and traveling through large crowds to the personal interaction with impoverished, the frail and the incarcerated. In the first nine years of his  pontificate, Pope Francis made 37 trips visiting 53 countries, focusing on his most important issues: poverty, migration, the  environment, solidarity and war. Intrigued by the fact that two of Francis’s trips – the first to the refugees landing in Lampedusa; the second in 2021 to the Middle East – so closely mirrored the itineraries of his films Fuocoammare (Fire At Sea, 2016) and Notturno (2020), Rosi follows the Pope’s Stations of the Cross. He sees what he sees, hears what he says and creates a dialogue between archival footage of Francis’ travels, images taken by Rosi himself, recent history and the state of the world today. Director Gianfranco Rosi joins us for a conversation on meeting Pope Francis, his affinity for connecting with people, the spiritual and metaphysical importance of the “journey” towards a greater understanding our own humanity.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: inviaggiodoc.com

About the filmmaker – Gianfranco Rosi, born in Asmara, Eritrea, graduated from the New York University Film School. In India, he makes Boatman, about a boatman on the Ganges, presented at Sundance, Locarno and Toronto. In California he shoots Below Sea Level, about a community of homeless people, and wins the Orizzonti award at the Venice Film Festival. The next film is El Sicario ‐ Room 164, about a killer for Mexican cartels, which wins the Fipresci Prize at the Venice Film Festival. With Sacro Gra for the first time a documentary wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. With Fuocoammare he wins the Golden Bear in Berlin, the European Film Academy award and other international prizes, and is nominated for an Oscar. Notturno, shot in the Middle East, in competition at the Venice Film Festival, was shortlisted for the Oscars. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/MagnoliaPictures

twitter.com/MagnoliaPics

instagram.com/magnoliapics

“The documentary is remarkable for its access into Pope Francis’s life and its elegant footage, stylishly directed and edited by Gianfranco Rosi.” – Leila Latif, indieWire

“In Viaggio captures the complexity of Pope Francis’s humanity yet also the sacredness of this most holy journey.” – Richard Propes, TheIndependentCritic.com

“It doesn’t offer easy answers, and it certainly doesn’t suggest that the Catholic Church has them either — but it’s a moving reflection on the world’s trials, and a tribute to those who seek to change them.” – Anna Smith, Deadline Hollywood Daily

?Rosi allows the Pope to speak for himself without interruption or commentary from historians or theologians, offering modern viewers a unique opportunity to experience his words and doctrines as they have existed over the years.” – Eve O’Dea, Next Best Picture

Director Ben Lawrence’s fly-on-the-wall documentary, ITHAKA, weaves together historic archive and intimate behind-the-scenes footage, as it tracks WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton and Assange’s wife Stella Moris as they join forces to advocate for Julian’s freedom. We witness Shipton’s European odyssey to rally a global network of supporters, advocate to politicians and cautiously step into the media’s glare for his son. With Julian facing the possibility of extradition to the US, his family members are confronting the prospect of losing Julian forever to the abyss of the US justice system. The world’s most famous political prisoner, Julian Assange, has become an emblem of an international struggle over freedom of journalism, government corruption and unpunished war crimes. In light of Julian’s health declining in a British maximum-security  prison and the American government pushing for him to face trial in the America, this David-and-Goliath struggle has become deeply personal for John and Stella. Director Ben Lawrence joins us to talk about ITHAKA’s timely reminder of the global issues at stake in this case, as well as an insight into the personal toll inflicted by the arduous, often lonely task of fighting for a cause bigger than oneself.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: ithaka.movie

About the filmmaker – Nominated by Australia’s most prestigious journalism awards in 2022, Ben Lawrence is also a four-time Australian Writers Guild Award winner across feature film, documentary and podcast categories. His films have screened at Toronto, Busan, Sydney, Edinburgh, Clermont-Ferrand, Sitges, Sheffield, DocNYC, Melbourne, Palm Springs, Taormina, Tallin and Sao Paulo Film Festivals. In 2020 he was awarded the Australian Directors Guild highest award for his feature film, Hearts and Bones – which starred Hugo Weaving and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. His 2018 documentary, Ghosthunter won the Sydney Film Festival Best Documentary award and was nominated for the esteemed Illuminate Award at Sheffield DocFest. His Audible podcast based on Ghosthunter, which he presented & co-wrote was voted top 5 podcasts of 2019 by Rolling Stone Magazine. His latest documentary, Ithaka was also an Australian Academy of Cinema & TV Award nominee and and opened the Berlin Human Rights Film festival – where it won the Audience Award and also screened in competition at the Sydney, DocNYC, Sheffield and DocEdge Festival – where Ben was awarded Best International Director.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/IthakaMovie

twitter.com/IthakaMovie

twitter.com/GabrielShipton

twitter.com/AssangeDAO

twitter.com/brianeno

instagram.com/benkanelawrence

instagram.com/ithakamovie

instagram.com/stellaassange

“The heart-rending personal story of Assange’s family’s battle to free him” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

This is a fascinating in-depth study of Assange as he is reflected in the awards bestowed, and the people and the eminent organisations that have rallied around him.- Jane Freebury, The Canberra Times (Australia)

“Ithaka does make a strong argument for the notion that he’s being targeted precisely to nail shut any future leakage of inconvenient government secrets… never mind those pesky First Amendment protections.” – Dennis Harvey, 48 Hills

“A Masterful Piece of Film Making” – Dirty Movies

“A valuable and important piece of cinema that is completely riveting” – Margaret Pomeranz

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Stephen Talbot’s THE MOVEMENT AND THE MADMAN shows how two anti-war protests in the fall of 1969 — the largest the country had ever seen — pressured President Nixon to cancel what he called his “madman” plans for a massive escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam, including a threat to use nuclear weapons. At the time, protestors had no idea how influential they could be and how many lives they may have saved. Told through remarkable archival footage and firsthand accounts from movement leaders, Nixon administration officials, historians, and others, the film explores how the leaders of the antiwar movement mobilized disparate groups from coast to coast to create two massive protests that changed history. Director and Producer Stephen Talbot (The Best Campaign Money Can Buy, Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders) joins us for a lively conversation on an untold, but very important chapter in American presidential history that, had it played out as the Nixon Administration wanted, would have doomed hundreds of thousands Vietnamese people to nuclear annihilation, dramatically lower the world’s threshold for the use of weapons of mass destruction and set off a catastrophic reaction in the US population, already veering towards a domestic civil war.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more: pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience

The Movement and the “Madman” premieres as a Special Presentation of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on Tuesday, March 28, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App. The Movement and the “Madman” will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. The film will also be available for streaming with closed captioning in English and Spanish. “The Movement and the “Madman” is distributed internationally byPBS International.

For 35 years, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has been television’s most-watched history series, bringing to life the incredible characters and epic stories that have shaped America’s past and present. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE documentaries have been honored with every major broadcast award, including 30 Emmy Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards and 19 George Foster Peabody Awards. PBS’s signature history series also creates original digital content that innovates new forms of storytelling to connect our collective past with the present. Cameo George is the series executive producer. AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is produced for PBS by GBH Boston. Visit pbs.org/americanexperience and follow us on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and YouTubeto learn more.

About the filmmaker – Born in Hollywood in 1949, the son of actor Lyle Talbot, Stephen Talbot became a child actor, appearing as Beaver’s friend, Gilbert, in more than 50 episodes of the iconic baby boomer series “Leave It To Beaver.” He also appeared in many TV shows of the late ’50s and early ’60s, including “Perry Mason,” “Lassie,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Wanted: Dead of Alive,” “The Donna Reed Show,” and “The Lucy Show.”As an adult, Talbot turned to reporting and documentary filmmaking. He began as a producer and on-air reporter for KQED, the public television station in San Francisco. He had early success with two documentaries that set the tone for his career: “Broken Arrow” (1980) an investigation of nuclear weapons accidents, and “The Case of Dashiell Hammett” (1982), a portrait of the mystery writer. Both films won George Foster Peabody Awards and established Talbot as someone who could do both investigative reporting and biographies. Talbot began producing documentaries for the critically acclaimed PBS series, “Frontline,” in 1992 with his film on the Bush-Clinton presidential race, “The Best Campaign Money Can Buy,” which won a DuPont / Columbia University Award. It was the start of a long association with “Frontline,” where he produced and wrote ten documentaries for the series, including “News War: What’s Happening to the News” (2007) with reporter Lowell Bergman, “Justice for Sale” (1999) with Bill Moyers, “Spying on Saddam” (1999), “The Long March of Newt Gingrich” (1996) and “Rush Limbaugh’s America” (1995) with Peter Boyer, and “The Heartbeat of America” (1993) with Robert Krulwich about the travails of General Motors. Talbot is an Emmy, DuPont and Peabody award-winning filmmaker who has produced, written or directed more than 40 documentaries for public television, primarily for the PBS series Frontline and KQED (San Francisco). He directed the PBS history special, 1968: The Year that Shaped a Generation, as well as producing and writing PBS biographies of authors Dashiell Hammett, Ken Kesey, Carlos Fuentes, Maxine Hong Kingston and John Dos Passos. He was the co-creator and executive producer of the PBS music specials, Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders. Talbot also served as the series editor for Frontline’s international series, Frontline World: Stories from a Small Planet, and the senior producer of documentary shorts for the PBS series Independent Lens. As a student at Wesleyan University, he made his first documentary film about the November 1969 anti-war protests in Washington, DC. Talbot’s recent documentaries include a one-hour biography he wrote for public television about the late San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, “Moscone: A Legacy of Change” (2018) and four documentaries he co-wrote and produced for the NBC series “Bay Area Revelations,” including “Loma Prieta Earthquake: 30 Years Later” (2019) and “Riding the Waves” (2020) about surfing in northern California.

Dominik Moll’s brilliant new film, THE NIGHT OF THE 12th (La Nuit Du 12) is a contemplative look into the corridors of a confounding police investigation. It is said that all the investigators have a crime that haunts them. Without always knowing why the case starts spinning in their heads to the point of obsession. THE NIGHT OF THE 12th focuses on the young and ambitious Captain Vivés has just been appointed group leader at the Grenoble Criminal Squad when Clara’s murder case lands on his desk. Vivés and his team investigate Clara’s complex life and relations, but what starts as a professional and methodical immersion into the victim’s life soon turns into a haunting obsession. It’s clear that the attack was pre-meditated, and the violent nature of the crime suggests revenge. Vivés’ team methodically digs through the details of Clara’s life, uncovering her secrets in hopes of weeding out the killer. Certain their suspect is a scorned ex-lover, Vivés is confronted with another, more complicated question: which one? Posing uneasy questions about the male-dominated world of law enforcement, and their ability to handle the violent crimes routinely perpetrated against women victims. Winner of six César Awards (2023) including Best Film, Best Director (Dominik Moll), Best Adapted Screenplay (Gilles Marchand & Dominik Moll), Best Supporting Actor (Bouli Lanners), Best Sound (Francois Maurel, Olivier Mortier, Luc Thomas) and Most Promising Actor (Bastien Boullion) . Director and co-screenwriter Dominik Moll and Co-screenwriter Gilles Marchand join us to talk about the challenge of adapting the work of Pauline Guéna‘s book 18.3, and  the joy of working with an outstanding group of veteran and promising new actors.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: filmmovement.com/the-night-of-the-12th

About the filmmaker – Director, producer, writer Dominik Moll was born in 1962 from a German father and a French mother. After growing up in Germany, he studied film at the City College of New York and the French National Film School (IDHEC). He then worked as assistant editor, editor and assistant director, among others with Marcel Ophuls and Laurent Cantet. His first feature film, Intimité, was released in 1994. In 2000, his second feature, With a Friend Like Harry, was shown in official competition in Cannes, and won several “César” awards in France. His third film, Lemming, opened the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. Since then, he has worked as co-writer on Gilles Marchand’s new film, and is presently working on a new project which he plans to shoot in 2008.

About the filmmaker – Gilles Marchand (born 18 June 1963) is a French film director and screenwriter. He has directed five films since 1987, including Who Killed Bambi, Black Heaven, Into the Forest and Who Killed Little Gregory. His film Qui a tué Bambi? was screened out of competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/FilmMovement

twitter.com/Film_Movement

instagram.com/filmmovement

#cesar2023 

#filmatlincilncenter 

#frenchcinema 

#dominikmoll

80% on RottenTomatoes

“A deft and satisfying police procedural in command of its unusual tone, The Night of the 12th (La Nuit du 12) is perfectly cast and constructed with quietly thrilling rigour.” – Lisa Nesselson, Screen Daily
“Always engaging, with Bouillon and Lanners both tearing into their respective roles with relish. A moody and fascinating piece of work.” – Boyd van Hoeij, The Film Verdict
“A brooding, serpentine investigative drama that brings to mind movies like Zodiac and Memories of Murder, [A] taut and piercing thriller….” – Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
“Dominik Moll crafts a French-style Zodiac, an ensemble police investigation both highly effective and brilliantly acted, where procedures and mindsets reveal a frayed society.” – Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa
“The grandeur of the film comes from the depth of emotion. These may be the hard-boiled characters, but they are still human.” – Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald

ALL THE WORLD IS SLEEPING follows Chama (Melissa Barrera), who as a young girl in New Mexico, strived to be different from her mother. Now in her twenties, she’s found herself falling into a similar cycle of generational addiction. This struggle then threatens her balance as a mother to her own daughter. As Chama tries to keep it all together, a harrowing accident will spiral her out of control, causing her daughter to be taken from her custody. With nothing left, she’ll have to confront her past in order to fight for a future — one that can either guide her closer to getting her daughter back or lead her deeper into this dangerous cycle. ALL THE WORLD IS SLEEPING centers the complex role of motherhood, addresses generational cycles of addiction and beautifully highlights a community that is not often represented in films. As a filmmaker whose own life has also been scarred by addiction, Director and writer Ryan Lacen joins us to talk about focusing a unique cinematic lens while shaping these stories to create a film that would feel both singularly raw and universally connected.

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: alltheworldissleeping.com

NY HBO Latino Film Festival – Winner of Best Film

Las Cruces International Film Festival – Winner of Best Film & Grand Jury Prize

Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival – Winner of Best Editing

Santa Fe Independent Film Festival – Winner of Best Film

Ojai International Film Festival – Honorable Mention Best Director

Seattle Latino Film Festival – Honorable Mention Best Film, Best Director

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/boldfuturesNM

twitter.com/BoldFutures

twitter.com/ATWISfilm

instagram.com/boldfutures

instagram.com/alltheworldissleeping

“Barrera spent time with these women and their families to gain insight for her performance. This makes the drama a genuine ethnographic study in the oral tradition as much as a dramatic feature. The result is one of the most honest and harrowing studies of addiction since Requiem for a Dream.” – Michael Talbot-Haynes, FilmThreat.com

“…unlike other films, All the World [is Sleeping] exposes the lack of resources that are needed by single mothers trapped in this cycle.” – Donnie Lopez, BlackGirlNerds.com

“I’m honored to be part of something this important,” [Doralee] Urban says. “There have been so many women that have been in situations I’ve been in before. It’s like we’re invisible a lot of the time, and I wanted to be a part of this to express that we are people. There’s a real issue out there. We are people and should be seen.” Urban is overwhelmed by the response to the film.” – Adrian Gomez, Albuquerque Journal

Inspired by Matthew Miller and Matt Johnson’s THE DIRTIES, teenage angst, and a certainty that last thing any teenager is going to remember about high school is a great lesson plan, director / writer / actor Ethan Eng and producer / actor Justin Morrice hurl themselves head first into all the other things that makes high school memorable in his award winning debut film, THERAPY DOGS. Ethan and Justin are students trying to make sense of their high school existence. In what will be the last chapter of their teenage lives, the beginning of adulthood and beyond, the two filmmakers decide to make the ultimate senior video in the search for answers. Exploring teenage suburbia in a no-brakes adventure, questions arise whether there’s more to their lives than simply growing up. Director, writer and lead actor Ethan Eng joins us for a conversation on the remarkably accomplished debut film that masterfully blends together documentary, narrative, skater punk and high school “senior project” elements to create something wholly unique and compelling, as well as how his collaboration with fellow lead actor and producer Justin Morrice came about and hanging out with Executive Producers Matthew Miller and Matt Johnson (The Dirties, Operation Avalanche) changed the course of the project we now know as Therapy Dogs.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: therapydogs.world

Director Statement – School sucks. While Justin and I were going through high school we were really confused about our lives, and everywhere we tried to find something relatable was met with nostalgic clichés. That’s why we decided to tell a high school story in the midst of living it. There are certain things that only matter when you’re 17 and we wanted to capture that. This is a movie kids today can relate to. A coming of age story without easy answers. – Ethan Eng

About the filmmaker Director, Writer, Actor Ethan Eng is a 20-year-old filmmaker from Toronto. His debut feature film Therapy Dogs had its World Premiere at Slamdance in January 2022. He is currently working on his next feature film about the 20’s and the 2020’s titled A New Age.

About the filmmaker – Writer, Actor Justin Morrice is an actor, stuntman, fighter, and punk. He is the embodiment of the free teenage spirit and the soul of THERAPY DOGS. He developed the story alongside Ethan Eng and starred in it.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/utopiamovies

twitter.com/utopiamovies

instagram.com/utopiamovies

instagram.com/ethan.eng

instagram.com/justin.morrice

100% on RottenTomatoes

“Therapy Dogs, is at once, a war cry, a manifesto, and an absolute jewel for those of us who love the energy and intensity of true indie filmmaking.” – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ.org

“You get to see how these teens live and how most of the preconceived ideas people have aren’t true.” – Rachel Wagner, rachelsreviews.net

“Here adolescent experience is both universal, and fleeting – and Eng has crafted an elegiac if vibrant record of its passing.” – Anton Bitel, Projected Figures

“Eng’s Therapy Dogs is as authentic a high school movie as it gets.” – Andrew Murray, The Upcoming

“… conveys a raw authenticity that digs beneath the goofy surface with genuine insight and poignancy about adolescent angst and an uncertain future that resonates beyond geographical and generational boundaries.”  – Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue

“A raw, impressionistic portrait of high school as it’s happening. Or, at least, as it’s experienced by teenage boys in a Canadian suburb, in all their wayward hooliganism.” – Brandon Yu, New York Times

Based on an explosive true story, I GOT A MONSTER retells in highly dramatic fashion one of the nation’s biggest police corruption scandals. In 2017, Baltimore was rocked by the Federal indictment of Wayne Jenkins, a highly decorated super-cop and leader of the Baltimore Police Department’s elite Gun Trace Task Force along with six other members on racketeering charges. In a city plagued by racial tension and violence, plain-clothes detectives from the Gun Trace Task Force had been celebrated for holding the Thin Blue Line, but in fact were terrorizing Baltimore’s Black community. These dirty cops were stealing and reselling millions of dollars of drugs while brazenly planting evidence and falsifying police reports. However, they didn’t plan for a campaigning defense attorney or a secret FBI wiretap operation to end their crime spree and expose decades of criminality inside the police department. I GOT A MONSTER takes viewers around every twist and turn of a real-life cat-and-mouse game where cops are also robbers and those meant to protect our safety turn out to be the ones jeopardizing it. Director Kevin Abrams (Left at the Rio Grande, Indirect Actions) joins us for a conversation on the depth and scope of police corruption within this decorated unit, as well as the havoc that was visited upon people, mostly, people of color, guilty of nothing except being in the wrong place, the flawed rationale behind the formation of “Special” police units and the citizens who stood up to the corruption and intimidation.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: greenwichentertainment.com/i-got-a-monster

About the filmmaker –  graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a recipient of an MFA in directing from the prestigious American Film Institute, Kevin Abrams has worked in film and television for the past fifteen years. From editing to producing, to sound, to cinematography, Kevin has been involved in programming that has appeared on PBS, Discovery, MTV, ABC, VH1, Animal Planet and a host of other networks. He has worked in editorial on the Emmy-nominated Whale Wars as well as on the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Daughter of Danang”. In 2006 Kevin founded the multi-media production company Fairtrade Films which has since produced music videos, created video game installations for Disney/Epcot Center, wrote the best-selling video games, “Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction” and “Dirt 3”, and authored the acclaimed graphic novel, “Vendor”. In addition, Fairtrade Films has set-up fiction shows with Landscape Entertainment, Fremantle Entertainment and Kaplan Entertainment. Fairtrade saw the release of their first produced feature, “The Dynamiter” which had its world premiere at the esteemed 2011 Berlin Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Feature Under 500k and Cinematography at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards.  Kevin is currently co-founder and President of Alpine Labs, a full service multimedia production company based in Los Angeles.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/GreenwichEntertainment

twitter.com/GreenwichET

twitter.com/baynardwoods

instagram.com/greenwichentertainment

instagram.com/igotamonsterfilm

instagram.com/el_kman

100% on RottenTomatoes

“One of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation.” – The New York Times

“I Got a Monster moves like a rocket, keeping you captivated with the in-depth way it explores what happened in Baltimore and what it means.” – Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat

“This is a slam bang thriller that will leave you breathless as you hear the evidence and experience the difficulties of the few good men.” – Neely Swanson, Easy Reader

“The documentary can feel a little scattered due to its multiple angles, but it remains a fascinating and relevant tale, examining how any criminal justice system built around the idea that cops never lie is ripe for abuse.” – Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times

“A glaringly honest recount of one city and its participants that will live in your spirit and psyche long after the credits roll.” – Carla Renata, RogerEbert.com

In their illuminating and infuriating documentary film, PAY OR DIE, filmmakers Scott Ruderman and Rachael Dyer, cinematically ask the question, how and why are nearly 2 million type 1 diabetic Americans are being held for ransom? Without insulin, they would all be dead in days. PAY OR DIE follows 3 families on the receiving end of these ransom notes, revealing the harrowing reality of life with chronic illness in the richest country in the world. From a mother-and-daughter struggling to rebuild their lives after losing their home when they had to spend their rent money on insulin, to a young adult diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic, to a Minnesota family thrust into the national spotlight when their 26-year-old son dies from rationing his insulin, PAY OR DIE lays bare the human cost of America’s insulin affordability crisis. Co-directors Scott Alexander Ruderman and Rachael Dyer join us to talk about their own personal connection to the scourge of diabetes, the misconceptions about the disease and the people who are infected by it and the film’s premiere and Grand Jury Prize nomination at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival. 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: payordiefilm.com

You can help at: payordiefilm.com/get-involved

Find out the facts at: payordiefilm.com/facts

“Most of my adult life has been defined by one inescapable question: How can I make enough money as a filmmaker to afford the insulin I need to stay alive?” – Scott Alexander Ruderm

About the filmmaker – Director / Producer / Cinematographer Scott Alexander Ruderman lives with type 1 diabetes and is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has been screened in film festivals around the world as well as on Netflix, BBC, HBO, A&E, Hulu, and Discovery +. Scott’s documentary short, PIANO CRAFTMAN, premiered at Big Sky Documentary Festival and Mountain Film Festival, and won a best director award at Madrid Art Film Festival. Scott’s recent cinematography credits include ANDY WARHOL’S AMERICA (2022), and a BBC mini-series, CHASING GHISLAINE (2021). His cinematography work can also be seen on HBO Max’s THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY (2021), Netflix’s (Un)WELL (2020), and Hulu’s TASTE THE NATION (2020), which was nominated for an IFP Gotham Award. Ruderman’s producing credits include UNANSWERED IVES, which was awarded the Czech Crystal at the 2019 Golden Prague International Film Festival, and WHITER SHADE OF TERROR, a film about the global spread of anti-muslim rhetoric and an increasingly violent white supremacy movement. Most recently, Scott was a producer on the film ROCK CHICKS, an upcoming documentary that tells the stories of women in rock’n’roll. Ruderman holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Social Documentary Film from the School of Visual Arts. 

About the filmmaker – Director and Producer Rachael Dyer, an Australian native, and Canadian citizen based in New York, is an award-winning producer and journalist whose career has taken her across the globe, featuring stories seen on Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Oxygen, Discovery ID, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and BBC. Most recently, she was a senior producer on Hillary & Chelsea Clinton’s documentary series, GUTSY (2022) for Apple TV +, a 4-part series, KEEP THIS BETWEEN US (2022), for Disney’s Freeform channel and Hulu and a 90-minute special for Oxygen and Peacock titled; SHERI PAPINI: LIES, LIES AND MORE LIES (2022). Her previous credits can be found on Netflix’s hit series (UN)WELL (2020) and Quibis ANSWERED by Vox (2020). Prior to her work in documentary, she worked in the field covering breaking news stories for BBC, Australian networks 7, 9, and ABC, and Channel News Asia. Rachael was awarded the Southern California’s Journalist Award for best international feature, as well as a Clio Entertainment Grand winning entry for her work on THE GREATEST SHOWMAN LIVE – the world’s first live commercial for a theatrical release. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/PayOrDieFilmOfficial

facebook.com/SXSWFestival/

https://twitter.com/PayorDieFilm

instagram.com/payordiefilm

instagram.com/scottaruderman

instagram.com/sxsw2023

instagram.com/sarahkatesilverman

instagram.com/explore/sxsw2023

100% on RottenTomatoes

“Bluntly if appropriately titled, Pay or Die serves as an infuriating reminder of the economic and social injustice permeating our system…” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

“The film is as straightforward as it gets and often raw in quality or form despite some nice but sporadic use of animation. However, the subject and people involved need no artifice to convince or connect with viewers.” – Hanna B, Film Threat

“Filmmakers Rachael Dyer and Scott Alexander Ruderman make an emotional plea to stop the exorbitant prices of insulin for those afflicted with diabetes.” – Ethan Anderton, Slashfilm

“Pay or Die profiles three families impacted by type 1 diabetes, chronicling the healthcare crisis that faces three million Americans dependent on insulin, the sixth most expensive liquid in the world, costing $113,000 per gallon.” – Diane Carson, AWFJ.org

Directors Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev (a sister-and-brother filmmaking team) are native filmmakers who document a remarkable event of global significance in their Arctic homeland in the Academy Award nominated documentary short film HAULOUT. This urgent film follows a marine biologist, Maxim Chakilev, living in the Siberian Arctic walrus haulout. The gathering of thousands of these marine mammals is a consequence of climate change; warming seas have forced the walruses to congregate on land, where stampedes and trampling can result in fatalities. The audience is literally placed in the middle of the climate crisis. The claustrophobic and crumbling hut feels unsafe and fragile, just like the animals surrounding it and the human being inside. Co-director Evgenia Arbugaeva (Maxim Arbugaev) join us for a conversation on how they met and then decided to follow marine biologist Maxim Chakilev, the challenges of living at the site where Maxim was collecting data on the walruses and the moment Evgenia and her brother Maxim found out that they were the first Yakutian filmmakers to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to; gonella-productions.com/haulout

Watch HAULOUT at: newyorkeryoutubesub

About the subject – Maxim Chakilev was born in 1987 in the small village of Kuva in Perm region in Russia. He studied microbiology in the university. After graduation he moved to Anadyr, the capital of Chukotka to work in the Marine Mammal Laboratory at the Pacific Branch of the Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography. Since then every autumn for the past decade Maxim studied Pacific walruses on the Cape Serdtse-Kamen (Cape Heart-Stone) in Chukchi Sea. His solitary field work takes place in August and throughout November when he observes the haulout of almost the entire population of Pacific walruses.

About the filmmaker – Evgenia Arbugaeva is a world-renowned photographer who was born in the small town of Tiksi, located on the shore of the Laptev Sea and rose to prominence as her work has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, and perhaps most famously, on the cover of TIME Magazine. She photographed Greta Thunberg for TIME‘s 2019 Person of the Year cover. She has been a National Geographic Society fellow.

About the filmmaker – Maxim Arbugaev is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. He received the Special Award for Cinematography – World Cinema Documentary at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival for his work on the documentary Genesis 2.0, which he co-directed with Christian Frei.

About the Haulout – A haulout is a place of refuge where walruses gather, reproduce, and socialize. It includes female and male animals as well as calves. Normally, walruses spend most of their time at sea hauled out on ice floes as they forage for food on the ocean floor, but climate change and sea ice decline forces them to haul out on land instead. Throughout the Arctic, sea ice is forming later in the season and disappearing earlier, limiting the amount of space available for walruses to congregate. Floating summer sea ice is also receding further north to where the water is too deep for the animals to dive and feed. This forces them to seek refuge ashore. Once on land, the walruses must travel much longer distances — up to 250 miles round trip—to reach their food supply, This leads to exhaustion and vulnerability to injuries and deaths in the crowded haulouts where stampedes and trampling happen several times a day. Pacific walruses reached record-low numbers in the early 1960s due to commercial hunting but rebounded by the 1980s following significant conservation efforts. Currently, the Pacific walrus population is once again in decline — with about 129,000 animals left.

SOCIAL MEDIA

instagram.com/evgenia_arbugaeva

instagram.com/maxim_arbugaev

100% on RottenTomatoes

“Please read nothing about the Oscar-nominated documentary short Haulout and just watch for the best shot of someone opening a door since The Wizard of Oz.” – Katey Rich, Vanity Fair

“Contains one of the most jaw-dropping reveals you’re likely to see.” – Michael J. Casey, Boulder Weekly

“Haulout has one of the most cinematic moments I’ve ever seen.” – The Columbian

“Incredible.” “Amazing.” “Visually stunning.” “Powerful.” – Anne Thompson, IndieWire’s Screen Talk Podcast

“It’s great cinema.” “It frickin’ rocks.” “Haulout is so great.” – Eric Kohn, IndieWire’s Screen Talk Podcast

“Stunning.” “Gorgeous cinematography.” “With very few words, the film communicates a monumentally poignant picture of the effects of climate change.” – Jude Dry, IndieWire

“Has a transition that blew my mind.” – Marcus Jones, IndieWire’s Screen Talk Podcast

“Unforgettable.” – Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

“Astonishing.” “Even Planet Earth would be jealous of this footage. Someone send David Attenborough a screener.” – Redmond Bacon, Director’s Notes

“Entrancing.” “Captured so beautifully.” – Alex Billington, First Showing

“Astonishing.” – Ben Nicholson, The Film Verdict

“Remarkable.” “Extraordinary in imagery and messaging, Haulout is without question one of 2022’s best documentary shorts.” – Richard Propes, The Independent Critic

“An incredible sight.” – Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film

“★★★★” – Ken Rudolph, Letterboxd

When Elsa Mercado (Michelle Veintimilla) is released from prison after serving 16 years for killing her father, New York City Councilwoman Sandy James (Karen Pittman) and corporate attorney Paul Jenkins (Corey Stoll) are forced to grapple with their involvement in the original crime. WHAT WE DO NEXT is a timely emotional thriller sitting at the intersection of race, class and criminal justice. WHAT WE DO NEXT features a superb cast that includes Corey Stoll (Billions, House of Cards), Karen Pittman (The Morning Show, And Just Like That), Michelle Veintimilla (The Good Wife). Director, writer, and playwright Stephen Belber joins us to talk about the challenges working on a very tight shooting schedule, staging it on Zoom before an on set production, recruiting actors with a strong stage background and bringing in a cinematographer with an extensive documentary resume.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: stephenbelber.com/film

About the filmmaker – Stephen Belber’s plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 25 countries. In addition to Broadway, his plays have world premiered at Roundabout Theater, Atlantic Theater, Manhattan Class Company (MCC), Primary Stages, Labyrinth Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Naked Angels, L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse, Boston’s Huntington Theater, Pittsburgh’s City Theater, and The Humana Festival. He was an Associate Writer and actor for The Laramie Project, and co-writer/actor on The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. Belber has also written and directed three feature films, Management (Jennifer Aniston/Woody Harrelson), Match (Patrick Stewart/Carla Gugino), and What We Do Next (Corey Stoll/Karen Pittman). He has written the movies Tape (Ethan Hawke/Uma Thurman, directed by Richard Linklater), The Laramie Project (associate writer), Drifting Elegant, and O.G., (Jeffrey Wright, HBO Films). Television credits include Law & Order SVU, Rescue Me, Tommy, The First, and pilots for Netflix, HBO, F/X, USA, TNT, ABC, History Channel, and Fox TV. Has worked on numerous studio films (including Dallas Buyers Club), and developed movies with Will Smith, Todd Phillips, Bennett Miller, Jay Roach, George Tillman, Greg Mottola, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Mackie, Sam Rockwell, David Gordon Green, and others. Currently writing the pilot for a series about The Chateau Marmont for John Krasinski’s Sunday Night Productions and Paramount, and developing a series for Netflix based on his original script The Madness. His next film directing project is an adaptation of his stage play Dusk Rings A Bell, starring Jessica Biel and Chris Messina. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/stephen.belber

100% on RottenTomatoes

“A spellbinding, provocative and gripping political thriller.” – Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

“While it doesn’t venture far from its evident stage roots, neither does “What We Do Next,” a sinewy, tautly calibrated morality play, ever stray from the decidedly contemporary issues at its complex core.” – Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times

“One of the best of the early indie releases of 2023 is the riveting three-hander “What We Do Next.”… The film soars because of the three actors delivering committed and courageous performance.” – Frank J. Avella, Edge Media Network

“What we do next is an impressive film about the consequences of acts that seem harmless in the face of crisis, but that represent a possible turn when the control you think you had is actually very far away from your grasp.” – Federico Furzan, Movie-Blogger.com

“Spare in approach, but layered in meaning, What We Do Next definitely depends on a lot of talking. But the best conversations may be the ones you have after you finish watching it, and debate what you would have done under the same circumstances.” – Stephen Whitty, Film Racket

“There’s a lot to savor and digest in this morality play that is filmed and acted so well.” – Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

Set in rural California and Mexico’s Pacific coast, director Rodrigo Reyes’ documentary, Sansón and Me, is a moving portrait of the unlikely friendship of two Mexican migrants, told within the frame of the dramatic clash between systemic forces and personal choices that envelop young, incarcerated men of color in America. Sansón’s life is defined by borders—between Mexico and the United States, between freedom and incarceration, between fact and fiction. While serving two life sentences for first-degree murder in Pelican Bay State Prison, Sansón grapples with the ways he has traversed these borders, moving from country to country, from rural California to solitary confinement, and from the truths of his life to the mythologies he’s created. A tale told through dramatic re-enactments,  Sansón and Me recreates a life of multilayered border crossing as told by Sansón to his interpreter-turned-friend, filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes. Director and producer joins us to talk about his vividly portrayal of Sansón’s life from orphaned Mexican child to American prisoner, focusing on one man’s attempt at reconciling the things that have happened to him and the things he has brought on himself. 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to:itvs.org/sanson-and-me

For more on the work of Rodrigo Reyes go to: rrcinema.com

WINNER – Best Film, Sheffield DocFest 2022

Official Selection – Tribeca Festival 2022

Official Selection – SFFilm Doc Stories 2022

About the filmmaker – Director Rodrigo Reyes (Mexico City, 1983), makes films deeply grounded in his identity as an immigrant artist, crafting a poetic gaze from the margins, using striking imagery to portray the contradictory nature of our shared world, while revealing the potential for transformative change. He has received the support of The Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE), Sundance and Tribeca Institutes, while his films have screened on PBS and Netflix. His film 499, won Best Cinematography at Tribeca and the Special Jury Award at Hot Docs. Rodrigo is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim and Creative Capital Awards, as well as the Rainin Fellowship and the SF Indie Vanguard Award. For years, he has worked to mentor the next generation of diverse artists through his work as a member of the Board of Directors for Video Consortium and Co-Director of the BAVC Mediamaker Fellowship, and teaching masterclasses at renowned institutions such as Berkeley’s Journalism School, Princeton, The New School, UCLA as well as being a guest lecturer at the Stanford MFA in Documentary Film.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/ITVSindies

twitter.com/ITVSIndies

https://twitter.com/SansonAndMe

twitter.com/rrcinemafilms

instagram.com/itvsindies

instagram.com/sansonandme

instagram.com/rr_cinema

100% on RottenTomatoes

“An ever-engaging, innovative and moving treatment of race, class, and the criminal-justice system.” – Christopher Llewellyn Reed, Hammer to Nail

 “★★★★. With this startling and sombre documentary, Mexican film-maker Rodrigo Reyes has conducted an experiment in verbatim cinema, or what you might call witness cinema.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Outstanding and multifaceted creative non-fiction film… the power of cinema is used to visibilize a person that society has tried to make invisible.”  – Ricardo Gallegos, La Estatuilla

“This film is taking a much more sobering sweep than more frequently made films about jail time, which tend to end with exoneration or freedom, which Reyes notes from the start is not within this documentary’s gift.” – Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film

“The film conveys the full dimensionality of Sansón’s experience that has so tragically been reduced to the size of a small cell.” – Stephen Saito, Moveable Fest

Robert Machoian’s latest drama, The Integrity of Joseph Chambers recounts the riveting and morally convulsive drama an an insurance salesman and family man Joseph Chambers (Clayne Crawford) who wants to acquire the skills to be able to take care of his family in case of an apocalypse. He decides to go deer hunting by himself for the first time ever, despite his wife’s objections. Setting out into the mountains with a borrowed rifle, Joe roams the woods aimlessly in his search for deer. His boredom is short-lived, however, when in the blink of an eye, Joe undergoes a traumatic experience. What starts as an experiment to prove himself as a capable father and husband turns into a nightmare as Joe finds himself faced with a terrible choice that he must make. Lead actor and Executive Producer Clayne Crawford (The Killing of Two Lovers, Convergence) joins us for a conversation on the inspiration for the troubling tale, juggling the in-front-of and behind the cameras as actor and producer and collaborating once again with the brilliant writer and director Robert Machoian.

 

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: gravitasventures.com/the-integrity-of-joseph-chambers

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/JosephChambers

twitter.com/ClayneOnline

twitter.com/CCF_Birmingham

twitter.com/433_Pictures

instagram.com/claynecrawford

instagram.com/433pictures.mov

instagram.com/robertmachoian

#theintegrityofjosephchambers

instagram.com/claynecrawford

instagram.com/ClayneCrawfordFoundation

#indiefilm 

88% on RottenTomatoes

“A slow and methodical disintegration of American Masculinity as spied on from just far off enough as to give us the full devastating picture. Crawford is tremendous. Gorgeously lensed, contemplative… one of the best films I have seen this year” – Jason Adams, Pajiba

“A taut and engaging character study.” – Stephen Saito, Movable Feast

“Writer director Robert Machoian continues to impress with this blistering Tribeca offering.” – Martin Carr, We Got This Covered

“In many ways, the film is like a brutally effective modern-day retelling of the classic Jack London short story To Build a Fire, another tale in which a guy determined to prove himself to himself finds himself in a very bad way for no real reason at all.” – Peter Soboczynski, The Spool

“Writer/director Robert Machoian follows up his masterful “The Killing of Two Lovers” with the same crew and star for another exploration of the male ego pummeled into vulnerable submission.” – Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

“The message here has some severe buckshot to it, and Clayne Crawford delivers an astonishing performance that brilliantly balances goofball humor and heavy drama.” – Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth

For generations, Monopoly has been America’s favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and — for better or worse — the impulses that make our free-market society tick. But behind the myth of the game’s creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. Part detective story, part sharp social commentary and part pop-culture celebration, Ruthless: Monopoly’s Secret History presents the fascinating true story behind America’s favorite game.  Contrary to the folksy legend spread by Parker Brothers, Monopoly’s secret history is a surprising saga that features a radical feminist, Lizzie Magie. a community of Quakers in Atlantic City, America’s greatest game company, and an unemployed Depression-era engineer. According to the official origin story, during the Great Depression, an amateur inventor named Charles Darrow sketched out the now-famous Monopoly board on a piece of oilcloth on his kitchen table. His game became a best-seller, Darrow became a wealthy man, and Parker Brothers was saved from bankruptcy. It was a classic American success story. But it wasn’t true. The real story behind the creation of the game might never have come to light if it weren’t for the determination of an economics professor and impassioned anti-monopolist named Ralph Anspach. Director and writer Stephen Ives joins us to talk about his own journey to unlock the vault of obfuscation and corporate greed regarding the forgotten history of this distinctively American rite of passage / iconic board game.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

To watch go to: pbs.org/americanexperience/ruthless-monopoly

Written and directed by Stephen Ives and executive produced by Cameo George, Ruthless: Monopoly’s Secret History premieres on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on Monday, February 20, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/pbs

facebook.com/AmericanExperiencePBS

twitter.com/AmExperiencePBS

instagram.com/americanexperiencepbs

instagram.com/stephengives

#MonopolyPBS

Filmed on the real locations where the events took placr, Argentina, 1985 is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo and their young legal team of unlikely heroes in their David-vs-Goliath battle to prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship against all odds and in a race against time to bring justice to the victims of the Military Junta. In the nascent days of the Argentine Republic’s newly formed government after the restoration of democracy in 1983, newly appointed federal chief prosecutor Julio César Strassera (Ricardo Darin) and his assistant, deputy prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, (Peter Lanzani) led the investigation and the trial against the brutal military dictatorship that plunged Argentina into chaos for almost ten years. And entrusted with the Herculean task of putting the country’s most powerful and dangerous men behind bars, the young lawyers and their inexperienced legal team played with fire while seeking justice for the crimes committed during the Dirty War of 1976-1983. Argentina, 1985 is the 2023 winner of the Golden Globe® winner for Best Picture (Foreign Language) and an Oscar® nomination for Best International Feature. Director and screenwriter Santiago Mitre joins us for a conversation on the cinematic challenge of finding the most effective way to tell the story behind the struggle to bring a measure of justice to the authoritarian leadership that ruled his beloved country, injecting a degree of humanity and humor into the film, working with his superb cast of actors and his personal satisfaction of seeing Argentinians embrace his film.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

For more go to: infinityhillfilms.com/argentina-1985

To watch go to:amazon.com/Argentina-1985

Academy Award nominated – Best International Feature

Golden Globe winner – Best Foreign Film

Goya Award winner – Best Latin American Film

BAFTA nominee – Best Feature in Foreign Language

About the filmmaker – Director, Producer, Screenwriter Santiago Mitre is a screenwriter and director, was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied and graduated from the Universidad del Cine (FUC). In 2004 he co-directed El amor – primera parte with his colleagues Alejandro Fadel, Martín Mauregui and Juan Schnitman, a feature film that was presented at BAFICI and the Settimana Internazionale della Critica in Venice. Two years later, he began writing for film and television. It was during that time that he wrote three feature films that ended up “in competition” at the world renown Cannes Film Festival from 2008 to 2012.  In 2008, Leonera was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or award;  in 2010  Carancho was nominated for the Un Certain Regard Award and in 2012 Elefante Blanco also received an Un Certain Regard Award. In 2011, Mitre partnered with Agustina Llambí Campbell, Alejandro Fadel and Martín Mauregui, to found the independent production company La Unión de los Ríos. They went on to produce Mitre’s first feature film as a director, El Estudiante in 2011. The production participated in festivals around the world and won several awards. In April 2013, he presented the medium-length film Los Posibles, co-directed with Juan Onofri Barbato at BAFICI. His second feature, Paulina, premiered in the La Semaine de la Critique section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It went on to win the Grand Prix for Best Film and the Fipresci Award.  In 2017, Mitre directed an Argentine thriller, La Cordillera. His most recent film, Argentina, 1985 has won numerous awards worldwide, as well as a nomination for the 2023 Oscar® in the Best International Feature category.

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/PrimeVideoLAT

twitter.com/SantiagoMitre

twitter.com/cinematropical

instagram.com/argentina.1985

instagram.com/sanmitr

instagram.com/ricardodarinok

instagram.com/primevideoLAT

instagram.com/cinematropical

#Argentina1985

95% on RottenTomatoes

“An entertaining biopic about recent Argentine history that takes the baton from Shakespeare’s idea that “some men have greatness thrust upon them.” – Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire

“A courtroom drama with a committed, awards-worthy performance from Ricardo Darin, this tense, lengthy film stands with the best of the genre, but with added resonance.” – Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

“Though the dramatic atmosphere could hardly be denser, it’s also pierced by surprising shafts of comedy; there is courage to be had, Mitre reminds us, in preserving a lightness of heart.” – Anthony Lane, New York Times

“Apart from the moving testimonies of surviving victims, the movie’s power comes from the desperate needs for justice and to prevent this authoritarian, terrorist scourge from ever taking hold again.” – Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times

“It’s a forthright, muscular and potent movie.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

From writer and director, Alice Rohrwacher, and Academy Award® winning producer, Alfonso Cuarón, “Le Pupille” is a tale of innocence, greed and fantasy. This 2023 Oscar® nominated Live Action Short is about desires, pure and selfish, about freedom and devotion, and about the anarchy that is capable of flowering in the minds of girls within the confines of a strict religious boarding. Inspired by a letter Italian novelist Elsa Morante sent to her friend, LE PUPILLE is a magical fable about a group of mischievous young Catholic schoolgirls during an imaginary wartime. Unfolding over the Christmas holiday, the orphaned girls find themselves blessed with a scrumptious red cake from a generous countess and must evade Mother Superior’s (Alba Rohrwacher) watchful eye for a taste of decadence. Alice Rohrwacher with her signature whimsical touch, crafts a joyously playful tale about childhood desire, greed and freedom. Director Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders, Heavenly Body), joins us for a conversation on the challenge of finding the right tone and cadence for this beguiling tale, casting the “right” Serafina, working with her sister and her collaboration with her gifted collaborators.

Download MP3 Podcast | Open Player in New Window

Le Pupille is available at: disneyplus.com

About the filmmaker – Director, writer, producer Alice Rohrwacher studied in Turin and Lisbon. Her first experience in filmmaking was in 2006, when directing a part of the Italian documentary  Checosamanca. In 2011, she directed her first feature film, Heavenly Body, which premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight during the 2011 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. Her second feature film, The Wonders, won the Grand Prix at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Also in 2014, Rohrwacher was appointed the President of the International Jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. She announced filming of her third film Lazzaro Felice in 2017 with the film starring Sergi López and Rohrwacher’s sister Alba Rohrwacher. The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best Screenplay. It was released by Netflix in December of that year.  Her most recent film, Le Pupille, was nominated for the  2023 Oscar® for best Live Action Short. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/DisneyPlus

twitter.com/DisneyPlus

twitter.com/AliceRohrwacher

instagram.com/DisneyPlus

90% on RottenTomatoes

“Its wide-ranging cast of characters—nuns and supplicants, laborers and clergymen—evoke a world of troubles, such as poverty, wartime fears, and religious dogmatism, alongside the children’s vital energies and complex yearnings.” – Richard Brody, New York Times

“This charming and surprisingly suspenseful film shares with Rohrwacher’s other work a puckish sense of humor and a deep understanding of how sometimes, in the name of righteousness, people can be awfully wicked.” Noel Murray, LosAngeles Times

“The continuous religious shaming takes a terrific unexpected turn: by telling very little, Rohrwacher is able to tell absolutely everything.” – Randy Meeks, Espinof

“Brewing in the subtext are lightly provocative ruminations on conformity, morality and purity. A little joy goes a long way, and Le Pupille is bursting with it.” – John Serba, Decider

“… A Christmas story of utmost beauty, charm, humor, and humanity so infrequent in contemporary cinema.” – Diego Batlle, Otroscines