Queens-Based Festival of Cinema NYC 2024 Announces Film Lineup for Next Month’s Fest

Posted on July 4, 2024 by admin

Festival of Cinema NYC returns to the Regal UA Midway in Forest Hills for the 8th edition of the popular Queens-based film festival, running from August 2-11. Additional venues this year include the Queens Public Library at Forest Hills, and Yant Tattoo Studios – the Official Filmmaker Lounge. This year the festival expands its programming with special presentations at the Queens Center Mall in Rego Park. The festival opens with Ivy Vale’s coming of age musical Out of My Comfort Zone and closes with the world premiere of Delfine Paolini’s A Wonderful Way with Dragons.

Additional world premieres among the feature film lineup include Laura Angiulli’s I Know You, Harrison Dillingham’s Mortimer, and Charles Caracciolo’s The Old Ballgame: The QBH Story. North American premieres include Andrey Getov’s Bo Nan Za, Francois Manceaux’s Encontro, Penny Zhou’s Hollywood Takeover: China’s Control in the Film Industry, Roman Balmakov’s No Farmers No Food: Will You Eat the Bugs?, Holger Borggrefe’s Once And For Real, and Jordi Torrent’s Third Week. The short films lineup adds an additional 12 world premieres and 2 North American premieres, as well.
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Suspense Thriller “Somnium” World Premiere At 2024 Chattanooga Film Festival

Posted on June 14, 2024 by admin

Written and directed by Racheal Cain, “Somnium” stars Chloë Levine (The OA), Will Peltz (Euphoria), Peter Vack (Someone Great), Johnathon Schaech (Ray Donovan), Clarissa Thibeaux (Runaways), and Grace Van Dien (Stranger Things).

“Somnium” follows small-town Gemma, who after a painful breakup, moves to Los Angeles with the hopes of making it big. To get on her feet, she takes a job working the overnight shift at Somnium – a mysterious, experimental sleep clinic where dreams are made real.

Meanwhile, Gemma throws herself into the cutthroat world of Hollywood auditions. But as the pressure to succeed mounts, she begins to experience strange and unsettling phenomena, and soon finds herself trapped in a nightmarish spiral as she discovers a darkness lurking within the clinic walls.

“With its gripping storyline and striking cinematography, SOMNIUM drags audiences through the horrifying consequences of tampering with the fabric of reality,” says the film’s synopsis.

See official trailer below:

Dark Star Pictures picks up Brande Roderick’s 70s horror throwback “Wineville”

Posted on May 23, 2024 by admin

Dark Star Pictures has acquired the US and Canadian rights to Brande Roderick’s wine-soaked horror film Wineville going into the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The directorial debut from director/producer/star Roderick (Starsky and Hutch, Baywatch), Dark Star Pictures is planning a September 2024 release of the film in select theaters, followed by VOD/Digital and Physical Media.

Set in the 70s, Wineville follows Tess (Brande Roderick), who is forced to return to the California winery that was her childhood home following the death of her brutal and abusive father. Now a single mom raising her 11-year-old son, Tess dreads setting foot again in the house filled with hateful and painful memories. Once there she is immediately confronted by her bitter and unforgiving aunt, who runs the place with her adult son. However, while trying to sort out her inheritance and dealing with an attraction to the mercurial young ranch hand, a violent murder reveals the evil still just below the surface there. In order to escape once again and save both herself and her boy, Tess will need to uncover the horrible truth of her own past and the roots of the murderous legacy that has been unleashed once again.

Additional cast include Carolyn Hennesy (General Hospital, Cougar Town), Texas Battle (Hard Kill, Coach Carter), Casey King (Star Trek: Pickard) and introducing Keaton Roderick Cadrez. Wineville was written by Richard Schenkman (The Man From Earth), who also produced alongside Roderick, Robin DeMartino, and Todd Slater.
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Tribeca Festival 2024 Announces Return Of Music Lounge At Baby’s All Right In Brooklyn, June 6-9

Posted on May 2, 2024 by admin

The 2024 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today announced its third annual Music Lounge at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, featuring four days and nights of exclusive performances, special guest appearances, and more. The Music Lounge is open to the public from June 6-9 and offers Tribeca Festival attendees the opportunity to intimately experience the music celebrated in a selection of this year’s films.

The 2024 Tribeca Music Lounge includes a rare performance by pop hitmaker Linda Perry, sharing the stage with Stella Rose following the world premiere of the documentary Linda Perry: Let It Die Here; the first-ever tribute to Genesis P-Orridge with members of Psychic TV, following the world premiere of S/He Is Still Her/e – The Official Genesis P-Orridge Doc; and an intimate set by Kneecap, the Irish language rapping trio who will be celebrating the New York premiere of their self-titled spotlight narrative film. Rounding out the weekend will be audiovisual performances by Actress, the stage name taken by British electronic artist Darren Cunningham, and Lower East Side multi-instrumentalist and Onyx Collective founder Isaiah Barr, who will present his project “THE RED ZONE.”

“This year’s music films showcase a wide variety of artists and genres, and we sought to bring diversity to our Music Lounge through unique events,” said Tribeca Curator of Music Programming Vincent Cassous. “There is something for every music fan on our lineup, from pop to experimental.”
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American Cinematheque’s 2nd Annual PROOF Film Festival Announces Call For Entries

Posted on April 26, 2024 by admin

The American Cinematheque’s PROOF Film Festival returns for a 2nd edition of the L.A.-based proof-of-concept focused festival October 18-20. The festival is conducting an open call for its popular PROOF Pitch Deck Show & Tell, and CALLO joins this year to facilitate in-person matching for creative collaboration. PROOF will take place once again at the Culver Theater (9500 Culver Blvd.) in the heart of film industry hub Culver City.

Last year, PROOF established itself 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 uniquely focused film festival presented innovative work from up-and-coming filmmakers, as well as putting much attention on panel conversations looking at the art and business of filmmaking.

Regarding the success of last year’s edition and the continued development of PROOF’s mission to build the entirety of the film festival experience around building artist relationships and project development, American Cinematheque Film Programmer and Proof Film Festival Founder, Imani Davis, said, “Being located in Los Angeles in the heart of the film industry, we sought to not only give a platform to our selected filmmakers, but to also create the best environment for future success that we could. Last year’s inaugural edition of the festival was great, but we took notes as we went along to bring on more partners and add more tools to give our filmmakers an even better experience, show off their work in the best way, and create that essential platform so each of them could take the next step in their artistic careers.”

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Tribeca Festival 2024 Announces TV and Now Lineup

Posted on April 19, 2024 by admin

The 2024 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today announced its lineup of television and original indie episodic series. The Festival, which takes place June 5-16, showcases highly anticipated world premieres of new and returning programs from networks and streamers at the forefront of groundbreaking storytelling including Apple TV+, AMC, HBO, Hulu, Paramount+, and more.

This year’s TV lineup features 11 series premieres and two first looks at returning classics. World premieres include Hulu’s Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer, executive produced by Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning, an in-depth exploration of Dr. Anne Burgess’ career and her successful journey to closing some of America’s most infamous criminal cases; Hollywood Black, executive produced by Justin Simien, an examination of the Black experience in Hollywood featuring conversations with Issa Rae, Lena Waithe, Ryan Coogler, and Ava DuVernay; and Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, a legal thriller starring and executive produced by Jake Gyllenhaal, hailing from David E. Kelley and executive producer J.J. Abrams, also with Ruth Negga and Peter Sarsgaard.
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Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative Spotlights Three SFFILM Festival Titles

Posted on April 10, 2024 by admin

Today, SFFILM announced the program slate of the Sloan Science in Cinema Initiative at the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM Festival) which runs April 24–28. Presented in partnership between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and SFFILM, this year’s programs include three films and participation by Sloan Fellows and grant recipients at events throughout the Festival.

“We are thrilled to partner with SFFILM on our continuing Science in Cinema initiatives,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “This year’s program features three original films, each of which recounts a very personal journey that links to broader scientific themes and addresses universal questions. We’ll be joined on the ground by the 2023 SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellows, and recipients of our Stories of Science Development Fund grantees who are all at the screenwriting phase of filmmaking. I am excited to have filmmakers from every part of the process together to benefit from each other and from audience interaction.”

Curated programs include three titles, selected by Jessie Fairbanks, SFFILM’s Director of Programming. “It is thrilling to present such a strong slate of Sloan titles at the festival.
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KEN LOACH: 21-Film Festivaln of Work by British Director Ken Loach Set To Open at Film Forum

Posted on March 20, 2024 by admin

Photo by Robin Holland

A two-week, 21-film festival of work by British director KEN LOACH, spanning his six-decade career, will run at Film Forum from Friday, April 19 through Thursday, May 2.

The series is preceded by a run of Loach’s latest film – and what he has announced to be his final – THE OLD OAK, opening on Friday, April 5.

Loach’s career began in the mid-1960s when fellow socialist Tony Garnett recruited him to direct episodes for the BBC’s ‘Wednesday Play’ series. Loach’s 10 contributions examined social issues faced by ordinary Britons at the bottom of the social ladder and tackled controversial subjects such as abortion, homelessness, and labor strikes.

Through use of nonprofessional actors, improvised dialogue, and location shooting, Loach developed his realist style, “a subtle cinematic language, merging elements of documentary and fiction.” (James Monaco).
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Gravitas Ventures Acquires Drama/Thriller “Break” for Worldwide Rights and Distribution

Posted on February 17, 2024 by admin

Gravitas Ventures has acquired the drama/thriller BREAK, directed by Will Wernick (Follow Me), for worldwide rights and distribution and sets spring 2024 theatrical release date for April 26th in 120 theatres across the United States and Canada. Digital and international release dates to follow soon.

The film stars Darren Weiss (Inside Man, Tin Soldier, Bardejov) Victor Rasuk (Reasonable Doubt, Netflix’s The Baker and The Beauty) Jeff Kober (The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy) Caleb Emery (Good Girls, Hunters) Patricia Belcher (Father Stu, 500 Days Of Summer)

Also featured are Braedyn Bruner, Uriah Shelton (Freaky), Wendy Braun (Atypical), Suzen Baraka (Blue Bloods), and, introducing Petra C. Matheson.

“BREAK is a powerful underdog story with a lot of heart, reminiscent of 21 and 8 Mile. Gravitas looks forward to releasing the film to US audiences this spring 2024, and to pitching the title to international buyers in Berlin for this year’s European Film Market in a few short weeks,” comments Bill Guentzler, Vice President of Acquisitions at Gravitas Ventures.

The film follows Eli (early 20s), played by Darren Weiss, as he juggles two jobs, tries to juggle taking care of his sister and mother, and relationship. A series of unexpected events Introduces him to the world of Detroit Pool where he learns his absent father was once a Detroit pool hall legend. Eli journeys into the scene, and confronts the realities and danger of the game and himself.
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