20th Annual GEMFest Kicks Off With Premiere Screening Of “One Must Wash Eyes”

Posted on January 30, 2025 by admin

Gender Equity in Media Society Vancouver Announces Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Sepideh Yadegar’s One Must Wash Eyes as the Opening Night Film for the 20th Annual GEMFest.

Gender Equity in Media Society Vancouver (GEMS) has announced the Opening Night Film for the 20th annual GEMFest, set to take place in-person at VIFF Centre in Vancouver from March 5-9, 2025. GEMFest kicks off with the premiere screening of One Must Wash Eyes, Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Sepideh Yadegar’s feature film debut, inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This year’s festival, celebrating two decades of championing women and gender-diverse filmmakers, features a robust schedule of feature films, panels, networking events, and special programming designed to advance gender equity in the film industry, which will be announced in full on February 5th.

The hometown premiere of the award-winning One Must Wash Eyes at GEMFest on March 5th, follows a successful festival run and marks the first time B.C. audiences can see the film. The screening will be followed by an exclusive panel and Q&A session with some of the filmmaking team including writer/director Sepideh Yadegar, moderated by GEMS Board President, Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Ghazal Elhaei.

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2025 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program Award Winners Announced

Posted on January 28, 2025 by admin

Tonight the nonprofit Sundance Institute awarded the prizes for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program at the Short Film Awards Ceremony & Party Presented by Vimeo. Filmmakers from across all 57 shorts selected for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival gathered at The Park in Park City, Utah, for a private event celebrating short-form storytelling. Most award-winning short films are available online nationwide January 30 through February 2 for audiences to view from home. Visit festival.sundance.org for all details. The 2025 Festival, taking place now through February 2, has featured world premieres, screenings, talks, events, and more in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Grand Jury Prize went to The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing (International Nonfiction). Short Film Jury Awards were presented to Trokas Duras (U.S. Fiction), Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites (International Fiction), We Were The Scenery (Nonfiction), and Como si la tierra se las hubiera tragado (Animation).

Two Special Jury Awards were also presented: Short Film Special Jury Award for Animation Directing to The Eating of an Orange (Animation) and Short Film Special Jury Award for Directing to Tiger (Nonfiction).
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“Sorry Baby” Sundance Premiere

Posted on January 27, 2025 by admin

By Armando

“Sorry, Baby” premieres at 2025 Sundance Film Festival with the cast and crew in attendance.

Written and directed by Eva Victor, the film premiered at 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan 27, 2025. “Sorry, Baby” stars Eva alongside Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, and Kelly McCormack. The A24 film is produced by Barry Jenkins.

“Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least,” the film’s logline says.

Photos: aipimaging.com

Jennifer Lopez Shines at Kiss of the Spider Woman World Premiere at Sundance

Posted on January 26, 2025 by admin

By Armando

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival hosted the world premiere of Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Eccles Center Theatre on Sunday night, Jan. 26, 2025. The event drew a full house, culminating in a standing ovation for the film.

Jennifer Lopez, in attendance, stars in the film’s titular role, arrived at the premiere in a sheer black lace gown embellished with glittering spiderweb detailing.

Designed by Valdrin Sahiti and styled by her longtime collaborators Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn, the look stood out in a festival known more for its winter layers than red carpet glamour. She was joined by director Bill Condon and co-stars Diego Luna and Tonatiuh Elizarraraz.

Directed by Condon, the musical adaptation is based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel, which had previously been turned into both a 1985 film and a Tony-winning 1993 Broadway musical. This new version reimagines the material as an indie musical, with Lopez playing Aurora, a captivating film actress who appears as a fantastical figure within the mind of one of the characters. Luna portrays Valentín, a political prisoner, while Elizarraraz plays Molina, whose love for movies provides the story’s dreamlike framework.

The film’s synopsis reads: “Lopez is an astonishing scene-stealer in a career-highlight performance as Luna/Aurora, with showstopping musical numbers that underscore the exuberant prowess of her dancing and voice. Diego Luna delivers unrelenting revolutionary conviction as Valentín, and Tonatiuh gives his Molina a tenderhearted power and theatrical flair.”

The premiere marks a notable one for Lopez, with early audience response citing her performance as a highlight of the film. Sundance continues through Feb. 2.

Photos: aipimaging.com

Fairy Tale Gets Grotesque: “The Ugly Stepsister” Premieres at Sundance 2025

Posted on January 24, 2025 by admin

By Armando

Director Emilie Blichfeldt

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival kicked off with the premiere of The Ugly Stepsister, a darkly comedic horror film that puts a twisted spin on the classic Cinderella tale.

The film screened Thursday evening, Jan 23, 2025, Day One of the festival, to a packed audience at the Prospector Square Theatre.

Making her feature directorial debut, Emilie Blichfeldt co-wrote and directed the film, which reimagines the fairy-tale kingdom as a world where beauty is both currency and curse. Lea Myren stars as Elvira, the less-favored stepsister who will go to extreme—and often grotesque—lengths to catch the prince’s eye.

The red carpet reflected the film’s provocative tone, with the cast including Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, and Malte Gårdinger stepping out for photos and interviews, and Blichfeldt’s tailored fashion choice made for a fittingly offbeat and stylish start to the festival’s opening night. The film’s cast which includes Lea Myren, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, and Malte Gårdinger, were also in attendance.

Described ahead of its premiere as “tongue-in-cheek body horror,” The Ugly Stepsister has been one of the festival’s early buzz titles. Already grabbing attention for its scenes of DIY cosmetic procedures and one particularly shocking tapeworm moment, said to lean into twisted aesthetics.

It’s one of several genre-bending titles making waves at this year’s Sundance—proof that horror, when done with bite and style, continues to be a crowd magnet.

The film’s synopsis says: “In a fairy-tale kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira battles to compete with her incredibly beautiful stepsister, and she will go to any length to catch the prince’s eye.”

Photos: aipimaging.com

Sundance 2025: Psychological Horror Film “Rabbit Trap” Premiere

Posted on January 24, 2025 by admin

Psychological horror film “Rabbit Trap” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan 24, 2025 in the Midnight section, with producer Elijah Wood, writer-director Bryn Chainey and cast and crew in attendance.

Logline says: “When a musician and her husband move to a remote house in Wales, the music they make disturbs local ancient folk magic, bringing a nameless child to their door who is intent on infiltrating their lives.”

Photos: aipimaging.com

Rabbit Trap

2025 Sundance Film Festival Unveils Short Film Program Presented by Vimeo

Posted on December 16, 2024 by admin

Top L–R: View From the Floor, THE LILY (เดอะลิลลี่), Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites, Hold Me Close
Center Row L-R: Azi, Debaters, Platanero, Sweetheart
Bottom L–R: Somebody Cares, Hoops, Hopes & Dreams, Entre le Feu et le Clair de Lune, Inkwo for When the Starving Return

Today the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced the 57 short films being presented at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. These shorts will screen as part of eight curated Short Film Programs presented by Vimeo that will include fiction, nonfiction, and animated titles from the U.S. and globally. The Festival will take place from January 23–February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, with a selection of titles available online from January 30–February 2, 2025, for audiences across the country to discover bold independent storytelling. Access to watch almost all the short films on-demand (January 30–February 2) is available by purchasing a Short Films Pass: Online, now on sale. Single Film Tickets for in-person and online go on sale January 16 at 10 a.m. MT. Members have access to a Single Film Ticket pre-sale. Visit the Sundance Film Festival site for more information: festival.sundance.org.

“Our program would never be complete without a curation of outstanding short films, and we’re excited to share the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program today,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “These projects are varied in style and substance, but across all categories they represent the power of short-form storytelling beautifully.”

“Our Short Film Program celebrates fresh styles and unique stories. The short run time encourages innovation,” said Mike Plante, Senior Programmer, Short Film. “Audiences will find much of the next generation of film talent here, with raw, exciting and inspired filmmaking from around the world in each of our eight programs.”

The 57 short films selected for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival were chosen from 11,153 submissions. Of these submissions, 4,909 were from the U.S. and 6,244 were international. Work from 28 countries and territories represented in this upcoming year’s program.
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Jerome Yoo’s MONGRELS Wins FIPRESCI Prize at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF)

Posted on November 26, 2024 by admin

Jerome Yoo’s debut feature film MONGRELS has won the prestigious FIPRESCI Critics Prize at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). The award, which is presented by a jury from the International Federation of Film Critics, promotes film art and supports new and young cinema globally. MONGRELS was also presented with the First Feature Competition’s Special Jury Prize For the Cast. Vancouver and Seoul-based Yoo was present to accept the award at the PÖFF ceremony on November 23rd in Estonia.

This is the second festival and second award win for Yoo, who recently had a sold out world premiere of MONGRELS at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) where he was honoured with the Director’s Guild of Canada’s Horizon Award for emerging Canadian director. MONGRELS was one of five films in post-production selected to be highlighted at the Udine Far East Film Festival’s FOCUS ASIA.
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BRANDO 100, Commemorating the Iconic Actor’s Centennial Year

Posted on November 23, 2024 by admin

BRANDO 100, a two-week festival of classics starring Marlon Brando, with many films screening in 35mm, will run at Film Forum from Friday, December 13 to Thursday, December 26, in commemoration of the actor’s centennial year in 2024.

The series features performances by Brando (1924-2004), the rebellious iconoclast in his most iconic and lesser seen roles. From his rarely-screened feature debut as a paralyzed, depressed ex-GI in Fred Zinnemann’s THE MEN (1950); to his definitive Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams’ A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (adapted to film in 1951 by Elia Kazan); to his Oscar-winning performance as dockworker Terry Malloy in Kazan’s ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), and his turn as the suave, wisecracking Sky Masterson in the 1955 musical GUYS AND DOLLS. Brando’s return to form as Mafia patriarch Don Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER (1972) reminded Hollywood of his brilliance and earned Brando his second Oscar (which he refused in protest of Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans). The following triumph, Bernardo Bertolucci’s X-rated sensation LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972) would go on to spark debate about the ethics of consent in filmmaking, and APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), his second collaboration with Coppola, in which he plays a rogue Army officer who descends into madness, is remembered as one of Brando’s most enigmatic performances.
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American Cinematheque’s PROOF Film Festival Wraps Up 2nd Outing With Filmmaker Awards Announcement

Posted on October 26, 2024 by admin

American-Cinematheque-PROOF-Film-Festival

Take Me Home, The Musical, Hema, Fishers of Men

The American Cinematheque’s PROOF Film Festival announced the innovative film festival’s filmmaker awards as it wrapped a successful 2nd edition at the Culver Theater (9500 Culver Blvd.). Leading the award winners were Liz Sargent’s Take Me Home, which took the Grand Jury Prize, and Giselle Bonilla’s The Musical, which was the Audience Choice Award winner.

Along with the Grand Jury Prize, Sargent also received a $60K camera package, courtesy of Panavision, to assist them with fleshing out a larger project from their proof-of-concept.

Established last year as one of the first-ever film festivals dedicated solely to the presentation of proof-of-concept short films looking to be expanded into feature-length productions or series, the festival upped the ante for its second outing by opening its PROOF Pitch Deck Show & Tell to the general public. That resulted in the film festival receiving over 100 submissions for feature film and series pitches, from which eight participants were chosen to present their pitch decks live in front of a panel of industry professionals at the festival.
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