Africa and the African Diaspora
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Berlinale's World Cinema Fund Announces New Films
The Berlinale's World Cinema Fund has selected four new film projects for production funding as well as four films for distribution funding at the 14th session of the World Cinema Fund (WCF) jury on July 3.
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Palm Spring International ShortFest Awards
Shorts are having an impact on new digital media and new types of distribution. Their importance and their filmmakers' importance has long been recognized by the top festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, TIFF) and among the trade, agents keep an eye on the top shorts filmmakers. So too, certain leading shorts film festivals and markets, the leaders of which are Clermont Ferrand in France and Oberhausen in Germany (for more cutting edge shorts), festivals like the Guanajuato International Film Festival, Expresión en Corto, held during the final week of July in the cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato Capital, Mexico and the Palm Spr...
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U.S. Distributors: Zeitgeist's BCNY Breaks Records
Bill Cunningham New York broke all house records at Film Forum and we’re still playing in 3 theatres in Manhattan. We’ve already opened in 30 cities and it’s doing well everywhere. Our rollout will be in over 200 cities. BCNY appeals to people who love fashion because it’s so much fun to watch...
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Gun Hill Road
I am finally catching up with some of what I missed at Sundance -- just in time for Cannes!. This one I had heard about from a acting school colleague of Rashaad before Sundance was announced. Now I have finally seen the film! Wow! It is so strong and uncompromising, I actually had a tough time staying with these characters, so strongly into their own world were they. The realism of their characters, flaws and strengths, the realism of those rough South Bronx streets, the grittiness and proximity were palpable. This film will remain with me for a long time to come. Esai Morales and Judy Reyes were great. And the young man...who is he?...
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Zanzibar International Film Festival Honors Guests
Zanzibar International Film Festival has been a participant of the course I teach yearly at Deutsche Welle Akademie. Film festival directors from Africa and Asia come for five weeks to learn the business and are taken into the Berlinale fold to help them overcome obstacles they always hit, like how...
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Media Arts Center San Diego receives grant award from California Council for the Humanities
There is actually still government grant money being awarded to worthy projects!
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International Sales Agent of the Day: Pyramide
Pyramide International is part of Pyramide group which is a French distribution company (Pyramide Distribution) and a French production company (Pyramide Productions) as well as an international sales agent. The company was founded in 1989. As a world sales agent, Pyramide International (former FPI) has deliberately focused on the “film d’auteur”, and promotes international sales of young directors like Sandrine Veysset (WILL IT SNOW FOR XMAS ?), Diego Lerman (TAN DE REPENTE), Wang Xiao-Shuai (BEIJING BICYCLE), Eleonore Faucher (BRODEUSES) and more recently Etgar Keret & Shira Geffen (JELLYFISH – Camera d’Or Cannes 2007) and Lucia Puenzo (XX...
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When Are Films Political? Tunisia Today
Producer Tarak Ben Ammar will produce a feature about the now iconic Tunisian figure Mohamed Bouaziz whose actions, when he set himself on fire to protest about unemployment and the lack of freedoms in Tunisia, set off a historic chain of events that led to the Jasmin Revolution in Tunisia and the overthrow of Tunisian President Zein El-Abedin Ben Ali. Bouazizi's act of self-sacrifice has led to shockwaves across the Arab world and seen him proclaimed as a hero and martyr across the region. The current protesters in Egypt and other parts of North Africa and the Middle East have all cited Bouazizi as an inspiration in their own demands for lib...
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AFFRM: A New View of Distribution
On Sunday, January 25, 2011, AFFRM hosted the third of a trio of dinners for black filmmakers and filmthinkers at Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker and publicist Ava DuVernay created these dynamic group conversations on "all things black + indie + film" at Cafe Terigo, overlooking Main Street in Park City. I like to think of myself as a filmthinker because I have been rethinking distribution of films along with everyone else in the business, but have been especially concerned about underserved audiences in the Latino and African American sectors. I have been reframing my own ideas (with such a coach as Tom Bernard leading the way) as I teach...
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Africa in Sundance: An African Election and Kinyarwanda
Two films in Sundance show Africa from the inside which is rare in these days when we are seeing events unfold in Africa from a Western point of view in the Sudan and the Ivory Coast. An African Election, directed by Jarreth Merz and playing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition after its IDFA premiere is a political documentary that exposes the never-before-seen, nitty-gritty of political electioneering in Africa.It captures the intrigues of political campaigns; the almost carnival like atmosphere that is laced with fear of the unknown and the danger that lurks behind-the-scenes. As the opponents face off in this 2008 election in Ghan...
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Good Night, Lost Boy(s)The Lost Boys
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