Olivia Wilde's "Don't Worry Darling" to World Premiere at Venice Film Festival 2022

New Line Cinema’s and Filmmaker Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” to World Premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Line Cinema’s “Don’t Worry Darling,” the highly anticipated second feature from director Olivia Wilde, is set to make its out-of-competition world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, running from August 31st to September 10th, 2022. The announcement was made today by Alberto Barbera, Director of the 79th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia.

In tandem with the announcement, Wilde—who will attend the Festival, along with co-stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Gemma Chan and Chris Pine—stated, “I am honored and thrilled that ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. When we dreamed of making this movie, we imagined Venice as our ultimate goal, and we can hardly believe it’s really happening! From our cast —led by the formidable Florence Pugh and Harry Styles—to the design of this world and the kinetic cinematography, the film was crafted for viewing in the collective setting of the theatrical experience. For this first screening to take place in the jewel-like surroundings of the Venice Lido and in the presence of some of international cinema’s most accomplished artists is beyond exciting. I look forward to sharing the visceral ride of ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ with the world, beginning with the Venice Film Festival, and I wish to thank Alberto Barbera and the Biennale for the selection. This is truly a dream come true.”

The Venice International Film Festival is officially recognized by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Association). The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organizes retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.

From New Line Cinema comes “Don’t Worry Darling,” directed by Olivia Wilde (“Booksmart”) and starring Florence Pugh (Oscar-nominated for “Little Women”), Harry Styles (“Dunkirk”), Wilde (upcoming “Babylon”), Gemma Chan (“Crazy Rich Asians”), KiKi Layne (“The Old Guard”) and Chris Pine (“All the Old Knives”).

Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.

While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause.

But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

An audacious, twisted and visually stunning psychological thriller, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a powerhouse feature from director Olivia Wilde that boasts bold performances from Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, surrounded by the impressive and pitch-perfect cast.

The film also stars Nick Kroll (“How It Ends”), Sydney Chandler (“Pistol”), Kate Berlant (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”), Asif Ali (“WandaVision”), Douglas Smith (“Big Little Lies”), Timothy Simons (“Veep”) and Ari’el Stachel (“Respect the Jux”).

Wilde directs from a screenplay penned by her “Booksmart” writer Katie Silberman, based on a story by Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke (“Chernobyl Diaries”) and Silberman. The film is produced by Wilde, Silberman, Miri Yoon and Roy Lee, with Richard Brener, Celia Khong, Alex G. Scott, Catherine Hardwicke, Carey Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke executive producing.

Wilde is joined behind the camera by two-time Oscar-nominated director of photography Matthew Libatique (“A Star Is Born,” “Black Swan”), production designer Katie Byron (“Booksmart”), editor Affonso Gonçalves (“The Lost Daughter”), Oscar-nominated composer John Powell (“Jason Bourne”), music supervisor Randall Poster (“No Time to Die”) and costume designer Arianne Phillips (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood”).

A New Line Cinema presentation, “Don’t Worry Darling” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to open in theaters internationally beginning September 21, 2022 and in North America on September 23, 2022.

--------------------

2019 Austin Film Festival Announces Competition Winners

Austin Film Festival Announces Winners From the Film and Script Competitions

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The 26th Annual Austin Film Festival was held October 24-31, 2019.

AFF announces the Audience Award winners:

Marquee Feature: Last Week at Ed’s, directed by Meg & Lawrence Kasdan
Narrative Feature: The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, written and directed by David Midell
Documentary Feature: Cowboys, directed by John Langmore & Bud Force
Dark Matters Feature: Noise, written and directed by Jérémy Laval
Comedy Vanguard Feature: The Planters, written and directed by Alexandra Kotcheff & Hannah Leder
Texas Independent Feature: When We Last Spoke, written by Joanne Hock & Rick Eldridge, directed by Joanne Hock
Narrative Short: The President and the Crossing Keeper, written by Jean-Marc Peyrefitte & Marc Syrigas, directed by Jean-Marc Peyrefitte
Documentary Short: Dead Woman’s Pass, directed by Lali Houghton
Animated Short: The Fox and the Bird, written by Christophe Pagnon & Vincent Gessler, directed by Sam & Fred Guillaume
Narrative Student Short: Holy Jail, written and directed by Maria Lavelle
Produced Digital Series Presented by Stage 13: Brothers from the Suburbs, created by Patrick Wimp

Click here for the Film Jury Award winners.

The Script Competition Jury Award winners are:

Drama Screenplay Award presented by the Writers Guild of America, East: Scandalous! by Matthew Fantaci
Comedy Screenplay Award presented by Sony Pictures Animation: Rearranged by Zarna Garg and Greg Fortier
Sci-Fi Screenplay Award: Service Animals by Christopher Corte
Enderby Entertainment Award: Service Animals by Christopher Corte
Horror Screenplay Award: Delirium by Alex D Reid
AMC Drama Teleplay Pilot Award: Ghostrunner by Jonathan Flicker
Comedy Pilot Award: Good Lord by Tillery Johnson
Short Screenplay Award: You are My Fish and I Will Keep You Alive by Em Frederick
Scripted Digital Series Award presented by Stage 13: Incoming by David Singer
Drama Teleplay Spec Award: The Crown: Heir Apparent by Lygia Gordon
Comedy Teleplay Spec Award: Atlanta: Ghetto Submarine by Kyra Rogers
Playwriting Award: After the Fall by Miki Kim
Fiction Podcast Award: Old Forks Inn by Rose Judson


ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
AFF is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television, theatre and new media. AFF is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. For more information visit www.austinfilmfestival.com.

--------------------------

8th Annual Portland Film Festival Announces Award Winners

Portland Film Festival Announces 2019 Award Winners

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 8th Annual Portland Film Festival, presented by Comcast NBCUniversal, announced awards from its 2019 program, which wrapped on Sunday, October 20, 2019.  Princess of the Row was named Best Narrative Feature. It is director Max Carlson’s inspiring tale of a runaway foster child who will stop at nothing to get back to the only family she knows: her homeless, mentally ill veteran father who lives on the streets of LA's skid row.

Fire on the Hill took home Best Documentary Feature. Director Brett Fallentine’s film paints a vivid portrait of the little-known urban cowboy community in South Central L.A. This genre-bending documentary combines the iconography of the American film western with South Central’s urban landscape to depict Los Angeles like it has never been seen before.

Gavin Michael Booth took the inaugural Best Director prize for his feature, Last Call, the gripping story of a wrong number with life-saving implications, shot in innovative split-screen and played out in real time. Best Short was awarded to Jane. Written, directed and produced by Kathryn Prescott (Skins), Jane is the story a young woman suffering from heroin addiction who receives an invite to her estranged 4-year-old daughter's birthday party.

Audience Award Winners included: The First and the Last Time, an Austrian documentary about supermarket apprentices whose unusual training project is a performance of Romeo and Juliet; Ashes to Ashes, a documentary short about the only living survivor of a lynching; and Colour Code, a music video from prolific TV actress Maria Doyle Kennedy (Outlander, Downton Abbey) that places her real-life daughter inside a personal narrative about keeping her kids safe in a world where the color of their skin could be a trigger for sudden violence.

The Portland Film Festival created two new awards for 2019, Best New Director and Best Midnight Feature. Eugene, Ore.-born Tim True won the inaugural Best New Director prize for his feature, Here Awhile. Shot in Portland and tapped as the Festival’s Closing Night film, it’s the story of a terminally ill woman who returns to Oregon to reconnect with her estranged brother while simultaneously making the heart-wrenching choice to end her life under the Death with Dignity Act. Best Midnight Feature went to Crack House of the Dead, director Jason Toler’s retro genre romp about a group of misfits who hunker down in a crack house to survive an onslaught from rampaging zombies.

“We congratulate our winners, who set the bar for what can be accomplished with a story and a camera in 2019,” said Josh Leake, Portland Film Festival co-founder and executive director. “We are proud that these films represent a diverse set of perspectives, and that two of our thematic tracks -- Portland and Veterans -- were represented among the winners. We are now accepting submissions for the 2020 Portland Film Festival.”

“It is thought-provoking independent films like these that remind us of the importance of providing a platform for these voices to be heard,” said David Tashjian, Regional Vice-President of Comcast Oregon/SW Washington. “As the presenting sponsor of the Portland Film Festival, we salute all the filmmakers and thank the thousands of attendees at this year’s festival who showed their appreciation for these creative efforts.”

More than 120 independent films screened from October 14 – 20, 2019 at the Hi-Lo Hotel in downtown Portland for the 2019 edition of the Portland Film Festival. The event’s programming included films, workshops, educational panels, and parties throughout a six-and-a-half-day schedule designed to immerse attendees in all aspects of the filmmaking process.

2019 Portland Film Festival Awards summary:

Best Narrative Feature: Princess of the Row

Best Documentary Feature: Fire on the Hill

Best Director: Gavin Michael Booth, Last Call

Best Short: Jane

Audience Award: The First and the Last Time

Audience Award: Ashes to Ashes

Audience Award: Colour Code

Best New Director: Here Awhile

Best Midnight Feature: Crack House of the Dead


About Presenting Sponsor Comcast NBCUniversal:
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Cable is one of the United States’ largest video, high-speed internet, and phone providers to residential customers under the Xfinity brand, and also provides these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and security and automation services to residential customers under the Xfinity brand. NBCUniversal is global and operates news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks and Resorts. Sky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies, connecting customers to a broad range of video content through its pay television services. It also provides communications services, including residential high-speed internet, phone, and wireless services. Sky operates the Sky News broadcast network and sports and entertainment networks, produces original content, and has exclusive content rights. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

About the Portland Film Festival
The Portland Film Festival is one of Oregon’s largest film festivals, and was named “one of the coolest film festivals in the world,” by MovieMaker Magazine in 2014. It is a non-profit, year-round organization dedicated to nurturing filmmakers and audiences, and to celebrating the power of a good story. The festival focuses on the people, ideas, technology, skills and artistry behind filmmaking, and provides both entertaining and educational opportunities for the public.

Comcast NBCUniversal was the festival’s presenting sponsor in 2019, and was joined by supporting sponsors: Koerner Camera, SAG-AFTRA, Oregon Film, Portland Film Office, PepsiCo, Pacific Grip & Lighting Inc., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Gearhead Production Rentals, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland, Tito’s Vodka and others.

Hashtag: #pdxff19
Twitter: @portlandfilm
Instagram: @portlandfilm
Facebook: facebook.com/PortlandFilmFestival

-----------------------

SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2019 Opens Sat., Oct. 26th

SCAD Announces Line-Up for 22nd Annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival

Nation's largest university-run film festival to feature opening night gala screening of The Aeronauts and closing night screening of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood along with the prestigious Docs to Watch program, Signature screenings and more

SAVANNAH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) will celebrate the 22nd SCAD Savannah Film Festival, an annual acclamation of cinematic excellence, Oct. 26 – Nov. 2, 2019. As the largest university-run film festival in the country, it honors both professional and emerging student filmmakers during an eight-day film celebration that welcomes more than 63,000 attendees from around the world each year, including major industry luminaries – directors, writers, filmmakers and actors from the big screen.

A key stop on the Oscar festival circuit, SCAD Savannah Film Festival will screen a total of 159 films, including 35 narrative films, 15 documentary films and 109 shorts, more than any year before. The festival will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 26, with the Opening Night Gala Screening of The Aeronauts, directed by Tom Harper. The festival will close on Saturday, Nov. 2 with the Closing Gala Screening of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, directed by Marielle Heller.

The 2019 schedule includes Gala, Docs to Watch, Signature, Professional Competition, an Animation Corner, a Shorts Spotlight, Global Shorts Forum and the "Wonder Women" forum highlighting female directors, producers, writers and below the line talent at SCAD's historic theaters and industry-leading studios. SCAD's annual tribute to excellence in film has screened over 130 Oscar-nominated films; and has honored over 75 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers, and filmmakers.

“SCAD alumni and students alike will join in the festivities at the 22nd annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival. With so many SCAD grads living in Georgia, they don't have far to come! SCAD is a global leader in entertainment arts, and it's our pleasure to host the best film festival anywhere," said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace.

“This year’s festival is one of our best and most exciting film line-ups we’ve put together,” said SCAD Savannah Film Festival Executive Director Christina Routhier. “We are thrilled to present eight days of premiere screenings, panels, workshops, and a one-of-a-kind Immersive VR experience to SCAD, our students, and the City of Savannah. One of the highlights of this year's festival is our annual Wonder Women series which includes award winning and rising directors, producers, writers, and below the line artists. I am even more proud that the festival will be screening films from over 50 female filmmakers making us one of the few festivals that are celebrating the work of female artists from around the world.”

Gala Screenings
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is known for shining a spotlight on upcoming award contenders, screening a multitude of studio films prior to their wider release. Last year, the festival screened 18 films that went on to receive 49 Academy Award nominations and 11 Oscar wins, including 2018 Best Picture winner Green Book. Sixteen films have been selected for the distinguished Gala Screening spot:

•     The Aeronauts (Director: Tom Harper. Cast: Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Courtenay, Himesh Patel)
•     A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Director: Marielle Heller. Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper)
•     Clemency (Director/Writer: Chinonye Chukwu. Cast: Alfre Woodward, Aldis Hodge, Wendell Pierce, Richard Schiff, Danielle Brooks)
•     Harriet (Director: Kasi Lemmons. Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe, Joe Alwyn, Jennifer Nettles, Clarke Peters)
•     A Hidden Life (Director: Terrence Malick. Cast: August Diehl and Valerie Pachner)
•     Honey Boy (Director: Alma Har’el. Cast: Noah Jupe, Shia LeBeouf, Lucas Hedges, FKA twigs)
•     Just Mercy (Director: Destin Daniel Cretton. Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson)
•     The King (Director: David Michôd. Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Thomasin McKenzie, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn)
•     Knives Out (Director: Rian Johnson. Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Frank Oz, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, K Callan, Noah Segan and Christopher Plummer)
•     Motherless Brooklyn (Director: Edward Norton. Cast: Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Bruce Willis)
•     Pain and Glory (Director: Pedro Almodóvar. Cast: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Asier Etxeandia)
•     Parasite (Director/Co-Writer: Bong Joon Ho. Cast: Song Kang Ho, Chang Hyae Jin, Choi Woo Sik, Park So Dam)
•     Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Director/Writer: Céline Sciamma. Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel)
•     The Report (Director: Scott Z. Burns. Cast: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall, Tim Blake Nelson, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney)
•     Seberg (Director: Benedict Andrews. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell, Anthony Mackie, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Yvan Attal, Stephen Root, Colm Meaney)
•     The Truth (Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke)
•     The Two Popes (Director: Fernando Meirelles. Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins, Juan Miinujin)
•     Waves (Director/Writer: Trey Edward Shults. Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Taylor Russell, Lucas Hedges, Alexa Demie)

Docs to Watch
The ten films selected for the sixth annual Docs to Watch Roundtable hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter include:

•     American Factory (Director: Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar)
•     Apollo 11 (Director: Todd Douglas Miller)
•     The Biggest Little Farm (Director: John Chester)
•     The Cave (Director: Feras Fayyad)
•     Diego Maradona (Director: Asif Kapadia)
•     The Kingmaker (Director: Lauren Greenfield)
•     Knock Down the House (Director: Rachel Lear)
•     Maiden (Director: Alex Holmes)
•     One Child Nation (Director: Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang)
•     Sea of Shadows (Director: Richard Ladkani)

Signature Series
The Signature Series features premiere and special screenings, from narrative to documentary films, followed by a Q&A session with the film's actors, directors, producers, or writers. This year's selection includes:

•     Booksmart (Director: Olivia Wilde. Cast: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein)
•     Mickey and the Bear (Director: Annabelle Attanasio. Cast: Camila Morrone, James Badge Dale, Rebecca Henderson, Calvin Demba, Ben Rosenfield)
•     Greener Grass (Director/Writer: Jocelyn De Boer, Dawn Luebbe. Cast: Jocelyn De Boer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey, Mary Holland, D’Arcy Carden)
•     Official Secrets (Director: Gavin Hood. Cast: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Indira Varma, Rhys Ifans)
•     Patti Cake$ (Director Geremy Jasper. Cast: Danielle Macdonald, Sahr Ngaujah, Bridget Everett, Mamoudou Athie)
•     Sound of Silence (Director: Michael Tyburski. Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Rashida Jones, Tony Revolori)

After Dark Series
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival's nod to the Halloween season, these late night feature films are selected to thrill, scare, and shock.

•     In Fabric (Director: Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. Cast: Riley Keough, Jaedan Lieberher, Alicia Silverstone, Richard Armitage)
•     The Lodge (Director: Peter Strickland. Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Gwendoline Christie, Leo Bill, Hayley Squires, Julian Barratt

Competition
From feature-length films to two-minute shorts, the annual festival celebrates cinematic excellence from award-winning and emerging filmmakers. The juried competition features the best of professional, animated, and student films selected from more than 1,800 entries annually.

•     Narrative Features: From side-splitting comedies to heart-wrenching dramas, the narrative feature films selected represent diversity in storytelling, excellence in acting and directing, and exemplary cinematography and editing.
•     Documentary Features: Beyond simple subject matters, documentaries present compelling stories that illuminate and educate audiences in a thought-provoking and timely manner.
•     Professional Shorts: Running the gamut of subject matter and style, these short films are selected based on their individual merits in storytelling and execution.
•     Animated Shorts: These animated films represent the diversity of the craft from simple, hand-drawn figures to stop-motion and digital rendering, showcasing unique storytelling at its finest.
•     Student Shorts: With solid storytelling and emerging vision, these films represent a broad range of categories including live action, narrative, documentary and animation.

Global Shorts Forum
The Global Shorts Forum is a curated collection of international shorts from multiple genres that focus on world issues. This year's themes include:

•     Perks and Perils of Being a Woman: The feminine perspective comes into focus.
•     Matters of the Mind: Film and storytelling as the catharsis for emotional challenges.
•     Beyond the Rainbow: Love is love, no matter who, where, or why.
•     Home(less): Exploring the many faces of displacement.

Shorts Spotlight
The Shorts Spotlight includes a collection of shorts will highlight the following themes:

•     Stay for the Laughs: Finding humor in all times, places, and circumstances.
•     Dysfunction Junction: Various views of challenging relationships, and how those who are closest to us can be so far away.
•     Wondrous World: Human stories from around the world that intrigue, amaze, and inspire.
•     Living on the Edge: Real stories of people under pressure, fighting against the odds.

Southern Voices
The festival presents Southern Voices, a new competition category showcasing short films with Southern soul representing the authentic voices of the region. Six short films have been selected for this new series.

Refinery29 + Level Forward Present Shatterbox Film Series
Currently in its third season, Shatterbox is a culture-shifting series from Refinery29 in partnership with Level Forward, that gives female storytellers a platform to create short films that redefine identity, imagination and storytelling. Since the series launch in August 2016, Shatterbox has helped create meaningful change for both filmmakers and the industry at large, developing and distributing more than 20 short films to date. In addition to providing a space for storytelling, it has served as a powerful incubator for female director talent, from Kristen Stewart to Yara Shahidi, Gillian Jacobs, and Jessica Sanders. Additionally, three Shatterbox films are currently being developed into features, including “Good Time Girls” by Courtney Hoffman, who is also slated to direct Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film, “Ruthless." Seven shorts from the series have been selected to screen at the festival:

•     Doretha’s Blues (Director/Writer: Channing Godfrey Peoples)
•     Girl Callin’ (Director: Tiffany J. Johnson, Writer: Adrienne Childress)
•     Human Terrain (Director: Parisa Barani, Writer: Parisa Barani and Jennifer Blackmer)
•     Jack and Jo Don't Want To Die (Director/Writer: Kantú Lentz)
•     SHOOT (Director/Writer: Veronica Rodriguez)
•     White Echo (Director: Chloë Sevigny)
•     Wingmen (Director/Writer: Nicole Emanuele)

TV Sidebar
In anticipation of the fourth and final season of The Man in The High Castle premiering Friday, November 15 on Amazon Prime Video, we are excited to bring the world premiere of the season’s first episode along with a special panel of the series’ cast and creators.

Animation Corner: Art in Motion
Animation has experienced an artistic resurgence that informs and entertains across generations and across the globe. This collection includes a collection of features, shorts and panels including:

•     Best of Annecy 2019
•     Funan (Director: Denis Do)
•     Missing Link (Director: Chris Butler)
•     The Swallows of Kabul (Directors: Zabou Breitman, Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec)
•     White Snake (Directors: Amp Wong, Ji Zhao)

Voyager®: A Cinematic VR Experience
Positron works with companies such as Universal Studios, Disney, DreamWorks, Verizon, Intel, and many more to deliver cinematic VR experiences on Voyager®, an award-winning full-motion VR chair platform that has been called "the future of movies.” Voyager® delivers a completely new level of immersion by providing premium graphics, high-quality sound, and realistic haptics and scents, all in a buttery smooth, whisper-quiet chair design. Featured content will include:

•     Alien: Covenant in Utero
•     Dinner Party
•     How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
•     First Man
•     Into the Now
•     Le Musk: Scent of a Song
•     The Sun Ladies

Panels
From software and special effects demonstrations to discussions and panels with industry stars and insiders, knowledge sharing occurs every day of the festival. This year's panels include:

•     The Wonder Women Panel Series will focus on the cinematic achievements and contributions of female directors, producers, writers and below the line talent in film and television.
•     The Breakouts Panel will be a discussion with some of the hottest up-and-coming actors about their current projects and what’s next in their careers. The Below the Line Panel Series is a curated series of panels highlighting contributions of below-the-line talent to the art of cinema with a focus on casting, costume design, cinematography, and production design.
•     Through the Writers on Writing Series, Writers Guild Foundation sit down with screenwriters to illuminate the craft behind their screenplays and their journeys navigating the industry as writers.

SCAD's preeminent School of Entertainment Arts is creating world-class, industry-ready talent that not only fills needs in Georgia, but the industry globally. More than 10,000 SCAD alumni have graduated from the schools of digital media and entertainment arts, and nearly 5,000 students are currently enrolled in majors that cover fields of animation, entertainment, motion pictures, media production, writing, editing, broadcast media and performing arts.


About the SCAD Savannah Film Festival
Celebrating its 22nd year, the festival and the competition provide SCAD students with opportunities as unique as the selected films. This year, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival received over 1,800 submissions for the competition film series. During the festival, students from every academic discipline connect with leaders from the entertainment industry through master classes, coffee talks, lectures, workshops and panel discussions. Savannah, a premier film hub in the Southeast, promotes quality movies produced by independent and studio filmmakers.

Tickets and passes are available for purchase online at savannahboxoffice.com, by telephone at 912.525.5050, or in person at the Trustees Theater, located at 216 E. Broughton St., Savannah.

View the festival schedule for a complete list of films and screening locations, or follow the festival on Facebook or Instagram and use #SCAD and #SAVFF.

SCAD: The University for Creative Careers
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university offering more than 100 academic degree programs in more than 40 majors across its locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Hong Kong; Lacoste, France; and online via SCAD eLearning. SCAD enrolls more than 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 115 countries. The innovative SCAD curriculum is enhanced by advanced, professional-level technology, equipment, and learning resources, as well as opportunities for internships, professional certifications and collaborative projects with corporate partners.

In 2017, the prestigious Red Dot Design Rankings placed SCAD as the No. 1 university in the U.S. and in the top two universities in the Americas and Europe. In 2019, The Rookies ranked SCAD as the Best 3D Motion Graphics School for the fourth consecutive year. Career preparation is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. According to recent studies, 99 percent of 2017 and 2018 SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. For more information, visit the official SCAD blog.

--------------------

1970s Era Drama, "Tuscaloosa," Set for Nashville Film Festival

Tuscaloosa, Starring Stranger Things’ Natalia Dyer and Devon Bostick, to Have Festival Premiere at Nashville Film Festival

Marchánt Davis, YG and Tate Donovan also appear in a ‘70s coming-of-age story from veteran music video director Philip Harder

NASHVILLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Nashville Film Festival will host the film festival premiere screening of Tuscaloosa, a ‘70s coming-of-age story from director Philip Harder. The feature film stars Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things; Velvet Buzzsaw; Yes, God, Yes), Tate Donovan (Rocketman, Argo), Devon Bostick (Okja, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the CW’s 100), Marchánt Davis (The Day Shall Come), and rap artist YG (Def Jam recording artist, White Boy Rick).

    New movie Tuscaloosa, starring Stranger Things' Natalia Dyer and Devon Bostick, to have festival premiere at Nashville Film Festival. Marchánt Davis, YG and Tate Donovan also appear in this '70s coming-of-age story from music video director Philip Harder.

Tuscaloosa will screen on Saturday, October 5th, 2019 at 7 p.m. as part of the festival’s U.S. Independents Program during its 50th Anniversary season, taking place October 3-12, 2019. The film is the first narrative feature by Philip Harder, a longtime creative force known for high-profile music video work for artists including Prince, Foo Fighters, and Hilary Duff, and projects for commercial clients including Apple, Disney, and Target.

Adapted from the novel Tuscaloosa by W. Glasgow Phillips, the movie tells the coming-of-age story of Billy Mitchell (Devon Bostick), a member of Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s white middle class. By the summer of 1972, young black activists in his city have found purpose and a cause worth fighting for, but Billy is still coasting—until he falls in love with fragile, determined Virginia (Natalia Dyer), a patient at the mental hospital run by his father. Shaken out of his slacker indifference, he finds his loyalties pulling him in different directions. And when Billy and his friends try to move forward on their own path, they discover just how far the network of power and oppression in their town will go to stop them.

The Nashville Film Festival is the perfect place for Tuscaloosa’s festival premiere,” said director Philip Harder. “It is fundamentally a Southern story based on a Southern novel, so it’s fitting that we’re introducing it to audiences at the South’s oldest-running film festival. We put so much work into creating the world in this film, shooting in rural towns and landscapes, and using digital effects to recreate landmarks from 1970’s Tuscaloosa. The struggles the characters endure and dreams they pursue are extremely contemporary. We think the vintage quality of the production and epic story will keep the audience fully immersed, even as they recognize striking similarities to modern society and our current political times.”

The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm) is a globally recognized non-profit organization and cultural event presenting the best in world cinema, American independent films and documentaries by veteran masters, up-and-coming directors, and first-time filmmakers. With Academy Award® qualifying status, the Nashville Film Festival celebrates innovation, music and the many voices of the human spirit through the art of film. Originally founded in 1969, the Nashville Film Festival is one of the first film festivals in the United States and will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in October 2019. For more information, visit nashfilm.org.

Tuscaloosa was directed by Philip Harder and produced by Patrick Riley. Executive Producers include Scott Franklin (Mother, Black Swan, The Wrestler); Brian & Josh Etting (Angel of Mine); Jenny Daly; actor Tate Donovan; Erik Helgeson, and Dan Riley. L.A.-based composers Joshua R. Mosley & Matt Hutchinson scored the picture, with additional music from Minnesota slowcore trio Low. Post-production for Tuscaloosa was completed at Harbor Picture Company in New York, N.Y., a leading post-production facility, whose recent credits include Solo: A Star Wars Story, Mother and the television series Billions. Editing and special effects were completed at Splice in Minneapolis. The film was edited by Clayton Condit, with Theo Stanley as director of photography and production design by Mark Wojahn.

For more information on Tuscaloosa:
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7579446
Website: http://www.tuscaloosamovie.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuscaloosamovie/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuscaloosamovie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuscaloosamovie

----------------------

Sony Pictures Obtains WWII Drama, "Lyrebird"

Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Dan Friedkin’s Lyrebird

NEW YORK – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all rights in all media in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia to Dan Friedkin’s LYREBIRD.  The film stars Vicky Krieps, Guy Pearce, Roland Moller and Claes Bang.  It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and will screen this evening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Claes Bang (The Square) stars as Joseph Piller in this captivating dramatic thriller set just after WWII - an all but forgotten true story - about a soldier investigating renowned Dutch artist Han van Meegeren, played by Guy Pearce (LA Confidential), who is accused of conspiring with the Nazis. Despite mounting evidence, Piller becomes increasingly convinced of Han's innocence and finds himself in the unlikely position of fighting to save the life of the colorful man with a mysterious past. The film also features Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread).

Written by James McGee and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby, LYREBIRD marks Friedkin’s directorial debut.  Ryan Friedkin, Danny Friedkin, and Bradley Thomas are producing and Gino Falsetto, Peter Heslop and Ridley Scott are executive producing.

----------------------------

Nashville Film Festival 2019 Announces Music Documentary Line-Up

Nashville Film Festival Kicks off 50th Anniversary and Announces Select Music Documentaries Including “Bluebird,” “Chuck Berry,” “Born Into the Gig,” “Cool Daddio,” and “The Sheriff of Mars”

Nashville Film Festival Celebrates Film, Music and Culture October 3-12, 2019

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Nashville Film Festival, taking place October 3-12, 2019 announces early music documentary features for 2019, including the world premiere of “Chuck Berry” by filmmaker Jon Brewer; “Born Into the Gig” by filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner; “Cool Daddio: The Second Youth of R. Stevie Moore” from filmmakers Imogen Putler and Monika Baran; and “The Sheriff of Mars” from filmmakers Jason Ressler and Matthew Woolf.

The Nashville Film Festival is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year, making it one of the longest running independent film festivals in the U.S. Under the new leadership of Executive Director, Jason Padgitt, the Nashville Film Festival will feature a diverse lineup of more than 250 films with an increased focus on music-based films, films from female directors and top American independent narrative feature films.

“The Nashville Film Festival is celebrating an incredible 50 year milestone by honoring the history of the festival while pointing the organization to a future of expanded opportunities for filmmakers worldwide and for the amazing arts community here in Tennessee,” said Nashville Film Festival’s Executive Director, Jason Padgitt. “There are so many great stories to share at this year’s festival and we’re very excited about all the great films and events planned for this historic event.”

Official Selections across all categories of the 2019 Nashville Film Festival will to be announced throughout the year.

Title: BLUEBIRD

Dir.: Brian Loschiavo

Cast: Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Maren Morris, Jason Isbell

Title: COOL DADDIO: THE SECOND YOUTH OF R. STEVIE MOORE

Dir.: Imogen Putler, Monika Baran

Cast: R. Stevie Moore, Mac DeMarco, Ariel Pink, Theophilus London, Tim Burgess, David Shrigley

Title: BORN INTO THE GIG

Dir.: Kate Davis and David Heilbroner

Cast: Chris Stills, Skip Marley, Kori Withers, Ben and Sally Taylor

Title: THE SHERIFF OF MARS

Dir.: Jason Ressler, Matthew Woolf

Cast: Daniel Antopolsky, Townes Van Zandt, Bill Hedgepeth, Sylvia Antopolsky

Title: CHUCK BERRY

Dir.: Jon Brewer

Cast: Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Themetta Berry, Joe Perry, Charles Berry, Stevie Van Zandt


ABOUT NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL: The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm) is a globally-recognized non-profit organization and cultural event presenting the best in world cinema, American independent films and documentaries by veteran masters, up-and-coming directors, and first-time filmmakers. With Academy Award® qualifying status, the Nashville Film Festival celebrates innovation, music and the many voices of the human spirit through the art of film and partners with the Thompson Nashville to host guests from all over the world. Originally founded in 1969, the Nashville Film Festival is one of the first film festivals in the United States and will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in October, 2019. For more information, visit nashfilm.org.

-------------------

OnBuzz Heads to Cannes 2019

Social Impact Film Company Attends Festival de Cannes in 2019

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OnBuzz will be attending the 50th annual Festival de Cannes Marché du Film, the world’s leading global film industry organization. OnBuzz’s attendance follows the national success and critical acclaim of Friday’s Child, which featured an internationally-acclaimed cast with Tye Sheridan ("Ready Player One"), Imogen Poots (“Green Room”), Caleb Landry Jones (“Get Out”) and Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”).

    “Our platform is designed to engage audiences and improve our society globally.”

The social impact film brings to light the trials and tribulations of foster youth aging out of care in the United States, telling the courageous story of a young boy facing the challenges and unexpected realities of adult life. Following its premiere at SXSW 2018, Friday’s Child’s positive reception in America paves the way for OnBuzz to expand its reach to international audiences.

The mission of OnBuzz is to build a platform that allows audiences to be both entertained by film and also have the opportunity to learn about and engage in being a part of the solution through activism for important social issues.

OnBuzz strives to partner with international organizations to develop more films with strong social messages for international audiences. “We see the need to spread solutions and change across the world as a priority in our company,” said Marielle Zuccarelli, President, OnBuzz Studios. “Our platform is designed to engage audiences and improve our society globally.”


About OnBuzz
OnBuzz is an end-to-end film financing, production, distribution and marketing firm focused on sustainable filmmaking. We bring together the brightest minds, inspiring talent and forward-thinking creatives to draw attention to and create action around the social issues of our time. OnBuzz is focused on the development of new entertainment products, services and digital technologies and the global distribution of purpose-driven entertainment. For more information, visit www.onbuzz.com.

---------------------

"Game of Thrones" Bosses to Receive Honor at Austin Film Festival 2019

Game of Thrones’ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to Receive “Outstanding Television Writer” Award at 2019 Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference, the premier film festival that champions the writers’ contribution to film, television, and new media, is thrilled to announce David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as the recipients of the “Outstanding Television Writer” Award at the 26th Annual Austin Film Festival, October 24-31, 2019.

Benioff and Weiss are the award-winning co-creators, writers, executive producers, and showrunners of the critically-acclaimed HBO series, "Game of Thrones," based on the bestselling book series by George R.R. Martin. With a record-breaking 47 Emmy Awards, one Peabody Award, and an average of 30 million viewers per episode, the series has altered the landscape of episodic storytelling, setting a new bar for the caliber of narrative and cinematic production in modern television.

Benioff and Weiss have also found great success in the worlds of film and literature. D.B. Weiss is the author of the fiction novel Lucky Wander Boy. David Benioff adapted his first novel, The 25th Hour, into a feature film directed by Spike Lee. His second novel, City of Thieves, has been translated into thirty-five languages, and stories from his collection, When the Nines Roll Over, appeared in Best New American Voices and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. His screenplays include The Kite Runner, Brothers, Troy, and Stay.

Benioff and Weiss will accept the award on Saturday, October 26 during the Awards Luncheon, and participate in Conference programming at the 26th Writers Conference. Past recipients of this award have included Vince Gilligan, Marta Kauffman, Norman Lear, and Keenen Ivory Wayans.

AFF will present over 150 panels on the art and craft of storytelling, featuring a slate of prominent industry professionals working in film, television, and new media. Benioff and Weiss join a growing roster of panelists including Megan Amram, Alec Berg, Christina Hodson, David Mandel, and Alex Tse, with more panelist and awardee announcements to come.


ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television and new media. This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. www.austinfilmfestival.com

----------------------

Turner Classic Movies to Honor Founder Ted Turner at Its Film Festival

Turner Classic Movies To Honor Founder and Media Icon Ted Turner On Opening Night Of The 10th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival

Tribute Will Include Exclusive Interview with Ted Turner in Honor of TCM’s 25th Anniversary Celebration

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will honor its founder and media titan, Ted Turner, on opening night of the 10th annual TCM Classic Film Festival on April 11, 2019. TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz sat down for an exclusive interview with Mr. Turner where they explored Turner’s cultural impact on the film and television industry, his deep passion for preserving and sharing classic film with future generations, and the special place TCM holds in the entertainment industry. The interview and video tribute will premiere on opening night of the festival with Mr. Turner in attendance.

    NEWS: @TCM To Honor Founder and Media Icon Ted Turner On Opening Night Of The 10th Annual #TCMFF

“Without Ted Turner there simply would be no Turner Classic Movies. Ted’s maverick spirit saw the potential in utilizing Hollywood’s great film libraries on a TV network that could serve as a home for these iconic classics,” said Jennifer Dorian, general manager of TCM. “There is no greater place to honor his work and his legacy than at the TCM Classic Film Festival while the brand celebrates its 25th anniversary - a milestone we couldn’t have reached without Ted’s incredible vision.”

“Turner Classic Movies was a passion project of mine, born of my love for classic films,” said Ted Turner. “I’m very proud to have played a role in honoring these great works through the years, and hope they continue to provide just as much joy and entertainment to TCM viewers as they have to me.”

To view an exclusive clip from the tribute to Ted Turner, please visit here or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU8a55ummRs&feature=youtu.be


About TCM
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a two-time Peabody Award-winning network that presents great films, uncut and commercial-free, from the largest film libraries in the world highlighting the entire spectrum of film history. TCM features the insights from Primetime host Ben Mankiewicz along with hosts Alicia Malone and Dave Karger, plus interviews with a wide range of special guests and serves as the ultimate movie lover destination. Currently in its 25th year as a leading authority in classic film, TCM offers critically acclaimed series like The Essentials, along with annual programming events like 31 Days of Oscar® in February and Summer Under the Stars in August. TCM also directly connects with movie fans through events as the annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, the TCM Big Screen Classics series in partnership with Fathom Events, as well as through the TCM Classic Film Tour in New York City and Los Angeles. In addition, TCM produces a wide range of media about classic film, including books and DVDs, and hosts a wealth of material online at tcm.com and through the Watch TCM mobile app.

Connect with TCM:
Website: http://www.tcm.com
Pressroom: http://news.turner.com/tcm
Facebook: http://facebook.com/tcmtv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tcmpr

--------------------------------

"Widows," "Green Book" to Screen at Austin Film Festival 2018

Austin Film Festival Announces Full Film and Conference Schedule

Slate Includes Centerpiece Film Ben is Back, Widows, Green Book, Friends from College Season 2 Premiere, Wildlife

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing the writers’ contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today the full schedule of films and panels for the 25th Anniversary festival, this October 25-November 1, 2018. AFF’s feature film slate includes 23 World, North American, and US Premieres, a robust retrospective series, and highly anticipated marquee titles, including Steve McQueen’s and Gillian Flynn’s modern-day thriller Widows, Peter Farrelly’s dramedy period piece Green Book starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, Mike Leigh’s period piece Peterloo, Mickey Rourke-starring boxing drama Tiger, Paul Dano’s Wildlife starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, and Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges family drama Ben is Back bowing as AFF’s Centerpiece selection, with writer/director Peter Hedges in attendance.

AFF also announced its 2018 television program. Included this year is comedy series Friends From College, launching on Netflix in 2019. Creators Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoller will present a special preview screening of the Season 2 premiere episode. Creator Justin Marks and executive producer Jordan Horowitz will also be on hand at the Festival to present the season 2 premiere of their espionage spy thriller Counterpart, starring Academy Award® winner J.K. Simmons, premiering on Starz later this year.

AFF’s retrospective series will feature Tony Gilroy presenting his 1995 film Dolores Claiborne based on Stephen King’s novel, Graham Yost presenting his 1994 action classic Speed, and writer Mick Garris in attendance for a special Halloween presentation of Hocus Pocus.

Other World Premieres include The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova, F/11 and Be There, The Amaranth, A Girl Named C, and Waiting for the Miracle to Come.

The full Film and Conference schedule can be found at www.austinfilmfestival.com.


ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television and new media. AFF is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. All attendees and events are based on permitting schedules and are subject to change and/or cancellation without notice.

------------------------

2018 Austin Film Festival Reveals Film Program First Wave

Austin Film Festival Reveals First Wave of Films for 25th Anniversary, Including Retrospective Presented by Roger Corman and Robert Rodriguez

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier film festival recognizing writers’ and filmmakers’ contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today the first wave of films to be included in their 2018 program taking place October 25 to November 1, 2018, including Boy Erased, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Cannes Palme D’or winner Shoplifters.

World Premieres include The Black String, Fishbowl, Speaking in Tongues, and Fathers of Football.

As part of its retrospective series, AFF will screen Roger Corman’s Rock All Night, presented by Robert Rodriguez and Corman himself, Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking honoree.

The complete list of programming will be announced in late September.

AFF FIRST WAVE:

The Black String
World Premiere
Writers: Brian Hanson, Richard Handley
Director: Brian Hanson
Starring: Frankie Muniz, Cullen Douglas, Chelsea Edmundson

Boy Erased
Writer/Director: Joel Edgerton
Starring: Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Joel Edgerton

Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Writers: Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty
Director: Marielle Heller
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Julie Ann Emery

Fathers of Football
World Premiere
Director: Bradley Beesley

Fishbowl
World Premiere
Writers: Stephen Kinigopoulos, Piero Iberti, Bennett Elliott
Directors: Stephen Kinigopoulos, Alexa Kinigopoulos
Starring: Rick Kain, Belle Shickle, Emily Peachey, Caroline Coleman

Little Woods
Writer/Director: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Lance Reddick

The Long Dumb Road
Writers: Hannah Fidell, Carson Mell
Director: Hannah Fidell
Starring: Tony Revolori, Jason Mantzoukas, Taissa Farmiga, Ron Livingston

Rock All Night (1957) presented by Roger Corman and Robert Rodriguez
Writer: Charles B. Griffith
Director: Roger Corman

Shoplifters
Writer/Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Lily Franky, Ando Sakura, Matsuoka Mayu

Speaking in Tongues
World Premiere
Writers: Nathan Deming, Lawrie Doran
Director: Nathan Deming


ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers, recognizing their contributions to film, television and new media. AFF is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. All attendees and events are based on permitting schedules and are subject to change and/or cancellation without notice. To apply for press credentials, please complete this form. Badges and passes are available for purchase at www.austinfilmfestival.com or by phone at 1-800-310-FEST.

-------------------------

Writer-Director Tony Gilroy to Be Honored at 2018 Austin Film Festival

Tony Gilroy to Receive “Distinguished Screenwriter” Award at 2018 Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference

“The Writers Festival” Announces “Heart of Film” Award Recipient Daniel Petrie, Jr.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Austin Film Festival (AFF), the premier festival that champions the writers’ contributions to film, television, and new media, announced today screenwriter Tony Gilroy as the 2018 recipient of the “Distinguished Screenwriter” Award. Previous honorees of this award have included Lawrence Kasdan, Kenneth Lonergan, Nancy Meyers, and Caroline Thompson.

Tony Gilroy’s credits include the 2007 thriller Michael Clayton, which he wrote and directed. The film earned seven Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Additionally, Gilroy worked on the first three Bourne films and co-wrote and directed the fourth film in the franchise. Most recently, he co-wrote the screenplay for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and produced and wrote the political thriller Beirut, starring Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike.

The Festival also announced that Beverly Hills Cop writer, Daniel Petrie, Jr., will receive the Festival’s second “Heart of Film” Award for his many contributions to film and television and his service to the screenwriting community.

Petrie’s screenplay credits include Beverly Hills Cop and The Big Easy. In 2006 he co-founded Enderby Entertainment with producer Rick Dugdale. Petrie has an extensive history of volunteer service to the entertainment industry, including two terms as the president of the Writers Guild of America West. Petrie has been participating as a panelist at Austin Film Festival for over 20 years and serves on the organization’s Board of Advisors.

Gilroy and Petrie join already announced “Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking” recipient Roger Corman.

The 25th annual Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference runs October 25 – November 2, 2018. Confirmed panelists include Megan Amram (writer The Good Place), William Broyles Jr. (co-writer Apollo 13), Lee Eisenberg (writer The Office), and many more. Panelists continue to be confirmed; the list can be found at www.austinfilmfestival.com.


ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television and new media. This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. www.austinfilmfestival.com

-------------------------------------------

"2001: A Space Odyssey" Returns to Theaters for Its 50th Anniversary

Warner Bros. Pictures Celebrates 50 Years of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey

‘Unrestored’ 70mm print of Kubrick’s landmark 1968 masterpiece to be released in select U.S. theatres, following world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, introduced by filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Warner Bros. Pictures will debut an ‘unrestored’ 70mm print of the director’s groundbreaking science fiction epic at the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival. Widely considered among the greatest films of the 20th century, 2001: A Space Odyssey will return to select U.S. theatres in 70mm beginning May 18, 2018.  For additional information on tickets, theatres and showtimes, please visit: www.arclightcinemas.com.

Set for Saturday, May 12, 2018 the world premiere will be held during the Cannes Classics section of the Festival, featuring an introduction by award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan. The screening will also be attended by members of Stanley Kubrick’s family, including his daughter, Katharina Kubrick, and longstanding producing partner and brother-in-law, Jan Harlan.

For the first time since the original release, this 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative. This is a true photochemical film recreation. There are no digital tricks, remastered effects, or revisionist edits.

This is the unrestored film that recreates the cinematic event audiences experienced 50 years ago.

A longtime admirer of the late American auteur, Christopher Nolan worked closely with the team at Warner Bros. Pictures throughout the mastering process.

Christiane Kubrick said, “I’m delighted that 2001: A Space Odyssey will be reissued in 70mm, and that Cannes has chosen to honour it. If Stanley were alive today, we know he would be in admiration of the films of Christopher Nolan. And so, on behalf of Stanley’s family, I would personally like to thank Christopher for supporting his film.”

Nolan stated, “One of my earliest memories of cinema is seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 70mm, at the Leicester Square Theatre in London with my father. The opportunity to be involved in recreating that experience for a new generation, and of introducing our new unrestored 70mm print of Kubrick’s masterpiece in all its analogue glory at the Cannes Film Festival is an honour and a privilege.”

Nolan will also participate in a Cannes Masterclass, set for Sunday, May 13, during which he will discuss his highly acclaimed filmography and also share his passion for the singular work of Stanley Kubrick.

For this milestone anniversary, Warner Bros. will continue the celebration later this year when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time in 4K resolution with HDR. Also produced in close collaboration with Nolan, the home entertainment release will be available in the fall of 2018.

With 2001: A Space Odyssey, director Stanley Kubrick redefined the limits of filmmaking and cemented his legacy as one of the most revolutionary and influential film directors of all time. Originally released in 70mm Cinerama roadshow format on April 4, 1968, the film ignited the imaginations of critics and audiences alike and its impact continues to resonate to this day.

An award-winning director, writer and producer, Christopher Nolan most recently earned dual Academy Award nominations, for Best Director and Best Picture, for his experiential tour-de-force Dunkirk, which in July of 2017 received the largest 70mm release in the last quarter century. His diverse filmography also includes Interstellar, Inception, the blockbuster Dark Knight Trilogy, The Prestige and Memento, for which he received his first Oscar nomination, for Best Original Screenplay.

----------------------------------

Roger Corman to Be Honred at 2018 Austin Film Festival

Roger Corman to Receive “Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking” Award at 2018 Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Austin Film Festival & Writers Conference (AFF), the premier film festival that champions the writers’ contribution to film, television, and new media, is thrilled to announce Roger Corman as the recipient of the “Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking” Award at the 25th annual Austin Film Festival, this October 25-November 1, 2018.

For the past sixty years, Roger Corman has been a trailblazer in the world of independent film. He has produced and directed over five hundred films that have tackled a variety of genres. Notable credits include The Wild Angels, Little Shop of Horrors, and Death Race 2000.

In the 1970s, Corman founded New World Pictures which quickly became the largest independent motion picture distribution company in the United States. In addition to distributing his own productions, New World Pictures was one of the first American distributors to bring foreign cinema to the US; distributing the films of Akira Kurosawa, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, and Werner Herzog.

Noted for his keen ability to spot young talent, Corman’s most lasting legacy is the legion of producers, directors, writers, and actors he has discovered and fostered, including Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Fonda, Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock, Diane Ladd, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Gale Anne Hurd, and James Cameron.

Corman will accept his award on Saturday, October 27th during the annual Awards Luncheon. Past recipients of this award have included Jonathan Demme, Walter Hill, Ron Howard, Sydney Pollack, John Singleton, and Oliver Stone.

The 2018 Austin Film Festival and Writers Conference will once again present over 150 panels on the art and craft of storytelling featuring a slate comprised entirely of working film, television, and new media industry professionals. Corman joins a growing list of panelists who already include Megan Amram, John August, Mick Garris, Nicole Perlman, Ed Solomon, and Graham Yost.


ABOUT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL:
Austin Film Festival (AFF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the art, craft and business of writers and filmmakers and recognizing their contributions to film, television and new media. This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Commission on the Arts. www.austinfilmfestival.com

------------------------------

Miami Film Festival Announces Short Film Competition Nominees

IMDbPro and MDC’s Miami Film Festival Announce 25 Finalists for IMDbPro Short Film Competition

All 25 Finalists Will Screen at the Festival and Compete for the Grand Jury Selection of the Best Short Film of the Year and $2,500 Cash Prize to be Presented at the Festival’s Awards Night Gala on March 17, 2018

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Miami Dade College’s (MDC) acclaimed Miami Film Festival and IMDbPro (www.imdbpro.com), the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals, unveiled 25 finalists in the Festival’s IMDbPro Short Film Competition. The 25 finalists were selected by a programming committee of filmmakers, cinephiles and film industry professionals in Miami and internationally, under the direction of the Festival’s Director of Programming, and will all screen at the Festival and compete for the Grand Jury selection of the best short film of the year, to be presented at the Festival’s Awards Night Gala on March 17, 2018. The Short Film Competition Grand Jury will include IMDb Founder and CEO Col Needham and others to be announced, and the winning filmmaker will receive a $2,500 cash prize.

    “We congratulate the finalists of the IMDbPro Short Film Competition and are pleased that all submissions were exclusively received and processed via the IMDbPro Withoutabox service, which connects filmmakers and film festivals”

The internationally renowned Miami Film Festival, which celebrates its 35th anniversary edition this year, will take place March 9 – 18, 2018 at venues across Miami. Tickets went on sale to members of the Miami Film Society on February 9, 2018 and the general public on February 16, 2018 at miamifilmfestival.com or 1-844-565-6433 (MIFF).

“We congratulate the finalists of the IMDbPro Short Film Competition and are pleased that all submissions were exclusively received and processed via the IMDbPro Withoutabox service, which connects filmmakers and film festivals,” said Matt Kumin, Head of IMDbPro. “This short film competition is one of the many ways we help filmmakers get discovered by a global audience and advance their careers.”

“The short film is an art form unto itself,” said Miami Film Festival director Jaie Laplante. “Life comes at us in short bursts, and these 25 wonderful films expertly capture the brief sensations of insight we are momentarily afforded in the enormous volume of information that crowds our lives.”

Highlights among the 25 finalists of the Festival’s 2018 IMDbPro Short Film Competition include:

•     Adrián Cárdenas, a Cuban-American writer/director from Miami and former Major League baseball player for the Chicago Cubs, will present his NYU Tisch School of the Arts master’s thesis film, “Canoe Poems.”
•     Six new animated shorts will compete from the National Film Board of Canada, this category’s defending champion. The 2017 Miami Film Festival’s Best Short-winning film was the NFB’s “The Head Vanishes,” by Franck Dion.
•     Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei and Oscar-nominee Minnie Driver star in Jocelyn Stamat’s unusual sci-fi/horror entry, “Laboratory Conditions.”
•     Three-time and currently Oscar-nominated makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji’s work in the physical transformation of 2018 Oscar nominee Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour is profiled in “The Human Face.”
•     Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel returns to the competition for a third consecutive time with the BAFTA-nominated “A Drowning Man,” first presented as a Palme d’Or candidate at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
•     Miami-born Michael Arcos will present his eclectic “This My Favorite Mural” and Miami-educated Sara Werner will present “The Things They Left Behind,” based on a story by Stephen King.

The complete list of 25 films in the Festival’s IMDbPro Short Film Competition are:

1. BROKEN HILL (Australia, 2017), directed by Peter Drew.
2. THE CANNONBALL WOMAN (Canada, France, Switzerland, 2017), directed by Albertine Zullo, David Toutevoix.
3. CANOE POEMS (USA, 2017), directed by Adrián Cárdenas.
4. DEYZANGEROO (Canada, 2017), directed by Ehsan Gharib.
5. A DROWNING MAN (Denmark, Greece, UK 2017), directed by Mahdi Fleifel.
6. EMMY (Canada, 2018), directed by Hannah Cheesman.
7. THE FISHERMAN (Cuba, 2017), directed by Ana A. Alpizar.
8. (FOOL TIME) JOB (France, 2017), directed by Gilles Cuvelier.
9. THE FULL STORY (UK, 2017), directed by Daisy Jacobs.
10. HOLY HILL (Dominican Republic, 2017), directed by Rodney Llaverias.
11. THE HUMAN FACE (USA, 2017), directed by Aline Pimentel.
12. LABORATORY CONDITIONS (USA, 2017), directed by Jocelyn Stamat.
13. LOS COMANDOS (USA, 2017), directed by Joshua Bennett, Juliana Schatz.
14. MANIVALD (Canada, Croatia, Estonia 2017), directed by Chintis Lundgren.
15. MI DULCINEA (Cuba, 2017), directed by Max Barbakow.
16. MOTHER (Spain, 2017), directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen.
17. MY TREASURE (El Salvador, 2017), directed by Michael Flores.
18. MY YIDDISH PAPI (Canada, 2017), directed by Éléonore Goldberg.
19. NO TRAFFIC NO MORE (Canada, 2017), directed by Julie Roy
20. SKIN FOR SKIN (Canada, 2017), directed by Kevin D. A. Kurytnik, Carol Beecher.
21. THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT (Canada, 2017), directed by Matthew Rankin.
22. THE THINGS THEY LEFT BEHIND (USA, 2017), directed by Sara Werner.
23. THIS MY FAVORITE MURAL (USA, Honduras, Costa Rica, 2017), directed by Michael Arcos.
24. TO GO (Uruguay, 2018), directed by Ilan Rosenfeld.
25. UNFINISHED, 2017 (MIXED MEDIA) (USA, 2018), directed by Rafael Salazar Moreno.

The Grand Jury selection for the IMDbPro Short Film Award and $2,500 cash prize will be presented at the Festival’s Awards Night Gala on March 17, at the Olympia Theater and The Historic Alfred I. Dupont Building in downtown Miami, as part of the Festival’s CINEDWNTWN GALA series sponsored by Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Tickets for the Awards Night Gala are already on sale via 1-844-565-6433 (MIFF) or miamifilmfestival.com.

The Canadian short films in this section are presented with the support of Telefilm Canada, and all French-language shorts are additionally presented by TV5 Monde. The screening of “Mother” is made possible with the support of Acción Cultural Española, AC/E.

For membership opportunities or more information, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-FILM (3456). Miami Film Festival is the only major film festival event housed within a college or university.


About Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival
Celebrating cinema in two annual events, Miami GEMS Festival in October and its 35th annual edition March 9 – 18, 2018, Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival is considered the preeminent film festival for showcasing Ibero-American cinema in the U.S., and a major launch pad for all international and documentary cinema. The annual Festival more than 60,000 audience members and more than 400 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals. It is the only major festival housed within a college or university. In the last five years, the Festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres. Miami Film Festival’s special focus on Ibero-American cinema has made the Festival a natural gateway for the discovery of new talent from this diverse territory. The Festival also offers unparalleled educational opportunities to film students and the community at large. Major sponsors of the 2017-18 Festival season include Knight Foundation, American Airlines and Miami-Dade County. For more information, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-FILM (3456).

About IMDbPro and Withoutabox
IMDbPro (www.imdbpro.com) is the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals. This membership-based service includes comprehensive information and tools that are designed to help entertainment industry professionals achieve success throughout all stages of their career. IMDbPro offers members the following: detailed contact and representation information; tools to manage and showcase their IMDb profile, including the ability to select their primary images and the credits they are best “known for”; exclusive STARmeter and MOVIEmeter rankings that are determined by page views on IMDb; a casting service to post breakdowns and apply to roles; the IMDbPro app for iPhone and more. IMDbPro is owned and operated by IMDb, the #1 movie website in the world. Additionally, IMDb owns and operates Withoutabox (https://www.withoutabox.com/), the premier submission service for film festivals and filmmakers.

About Telefilm Canada—Inspired by talent. Viewed everywhere.
Created in 1967, Telefilm is dedicated to the cultural, commercial and industrial success of Canada’s audiovisual industry. Through its various funding and promotion programs, Telefilm supports dynamic companies and creative talent here at home and around the world. Telefilm also makes recommendations regarding the certification of audiovisual treaty coproductions to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund and the Talent Fund, a private donation initiative. Visit telefilm.ca and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/telefilm_canada and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/telefilmcanada.

About TV5Monde
TV5MONDE is the global French language entertainment network, broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without commercial interruptions. TV5MONDE USA is a premium pay-tv channel reaching 1.5 million viewers in the U.S. American viewers enjoy a wealth of high quality French language programming, subtitled in English, including up to 300 classic, recent and never-before-seen in the U.S. French language films per year, around the clock newscasts live from Paris, the latest series and TV dramas, premium documentaries, cultural programs and international sports coverage.

----------------------------

BET and Paramount Players Announce "Project CRE8"

BET Networks and Paramount Players Announce Nationwide Search for America’s Next Undiscovered Writer/Director with the Launch of “PROJECT CRE8”

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BET Networks and Paramount Players are giving aspiring, undiscovered filmmakers the opportunity to produce an original film with the launch of a nationwide competition titled, “PROJECT CRE8.” The search was announced during Blackhouse’s panel “Killer Creativity: The New Breed” at Sundance. Mentored by a team of industry professionals, the filmmaking-hopeful must deal with the pressures of delivering a viable movie -- on schedule and on budget. BET will purchase the winning screenplay and work with the winner and Paramount Players to produce a feature film with a million dollar budget. The Network will follow and document the winner’s journey in a one-hour companion special. Submissions can be made through BET.com/Cre8.

“As an established brand in the entertainment space, it is our responsibility to give new voices an opportunity to create engaging and provocative stories,” said Connie Orlando, Head of Programming and Production, BET Networks. “This partnership with Paramount Players opens this door and displays our ongoing commitment to the expansion of diverse voices within the creative community.”

“In a world where the barriers to the craft of filmmaking are less than ever before, we are thrilled to be part of this opportunity to find and nurture the next great filmmaking talent,” said Paramount Players President, Brian Robbins.

Key Dates:

Round One:
Submissions

    January 20, 2018 – Submissions Open
    March 3, 2018 – Submissions Close

Top fifty (50) screenplays determined
After judging, only fifty (50) submissions will advance to Round Two.

Round Two:
Top ten (10) screenplays determined
BET and Paramount Players narrow down the top fifty (50) submissions to the top ten (10) for Round Three. The top ten (10) will be given $2,500 and one month to create a 2-3 minute scene for their screenplay.

Round Three:
Online Voting: Public Voting on the produced scenes by top ten (10) Begins
The scene receiving the greatest number of votes from the public will automatically advance to the next round. Judges from BET, Paramount players, and other independent judges will determine four (4) additional contestants for the Final Round, to complete the top five (5).

Final Round:
Pitch and Interviews
The top five (5) finalists pitch their film to multiple panels of successful filmmakers, writers and executives.

Winner Announced

    Summer 2018 – Winner Announced

For more information on “PROJECT CRE8” and for contest rules go to BET.com/Cre8. Join the conversation on Social Media by using and following the hashtag #ProjectCRE8.


About BET Networks
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ:VIA)(NASDAQ:VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in nearly 85 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa, France and South Korea. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER (formerly CENTRIC), a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET Networks around the globe.

-----------------------------------

"Storm Over Brooklyn" Documentary to Commemorate Yusuf Hawkins

The American Black Film Festival and Lightbox Announce Winner of the 2017 Documentary Film Initiative

Director Muta’Ali’s Documentary Storm Over Brooklyn to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Racially Motivated Killing of 16-Year-Old Yusuf Hawkins

Inaugural Competition Sponsored by 21st Century Fox and National Geographic

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The American Black Film Festival and Lightbox, the award-winning U.S. and U.K. production company, today announced that director Muta’Ali is the recipient of their first annual documentary film development fund. Muta’Ali will work with Lightbox and ABFF to develop his feature documentary Storm Over Brooklyn.

    “Nurturing up-and-coming talent is incredibly important to us at National Geographic, and working with Lightbox and ABFF on this initiative and discovering filmmakers like Muta’Ali is really exciting.”

The ABFF Lightbox Documentary Initiative was launched earlier this year to support and foster documentary filmmakers with diverse voices and perspectives and is sponsored by 21st Century Fox and National Geographic.

Muta’Ali’s Storm Over Brooklyn was selected from over 200 submissions for documentary films that covered a wide range of topics that reflect the experiences of people of color today. ABFF and Lightbox hope to get the film funded and finished in time to have its world premiere at the 23rd annual American Black Film Festival in Miami in June 2019.

Storm Over Brooklyn will revisit the story of Yusuf Hawkins, a black American teenager who was shot to death after being trapped by a group of white youths in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, on the evening of Aug. 23, 1989. Hawkins had come to Bensonhurst with three friends that day to look at a used car when they were attacked by the hostile mob, whose members mistakenly believed that Hawkins was dating a neighborhood girl who was white. The incident shocked New York and the nation, and unleashed a torrent of racial tension in an already divided city and led to nationally televised protests and marches led by the Rev. Al Sharpton. The growing unrest indubitably contributed to the ousting of New York City Mayor Ed Koch in favor of David Dinkins, who became the city’s first — and as of now, only — African-American mayor. Hawkins was just 16 years old at the time of his death.

“2019 will mark the 30th anniversary of Yusuf Hawkins’ death and all these years later, it is fair to say, we are still living in very precarious times,” said Jeff Friday, founder and CEO, ABFF. “We were incredibly moved by the relevance and power of this story and Muta’Ali’s vision for the film. The ABFF Lightbox Documentary Film Initiative is an extension of what I started with the American Black Film Festival, and I am delighted to be able to provide this new platform in partnership with Lightbox, and we are deeply grateful to National Geographic and 21st Century Fox for standing behind this meaningful initiative.”

Lightbox’s Jonathan Chinn added, “I was immediately impressed with Muta’Ali’s passion and creative ambition for the film. The fact that he has already secured Yusuf’s family’s blessing and their active participation in the film along with the participation of many of the key players in the story points to a film that cannot only enter the ongoing conversation we are still having about racial discrimination in America, but that can do justice to the memory and legacy of Yusuf Hawkins. Lightbox and ABFF are thrilled to be collaborating with Muta’Ali on this important and timely film.”

Lightbox and initiative sponsor National Geographic recently collaborated on the Emmy Award-winning feature documentary LA 92, which used only archival footage to tell the story of the lead-up and conflagration of the civil unrest in Los Angeles in 1992 that followed the acquittal of four white LAPD officers accused of beating Rodney King. LA 92 has recently been nominated for a Cinema Eye Award and two International Documentary Association Awards, including the award for Best Feature.

“National Geographic is thrilled to be part of this year’s inaugural competition, and the selection of Muta’Ali as this year’s winner is a perfect choice,” said Tim Pastore, president of original programming and production for National Geographic Channel. “Nurturing up-and-coming talent is incredibly important to us at National Geographic, and working with Lightbox and ABFF on this initiative and discovering filmmakers like Muta’Ali is really exciting.”

Muta’Ali hails from Westchester County, New York. His debut film, “Life’s Essentials With Ruby Dee,” a documentary about his late grandmother, featured notable subjects including Harry Belafonte, Alan Alda, Phylicia Rashad and Spike Lee. His goal is to have his artistic body of work be wholly focused on what he calls “Love, Art & Activism.” In response to winning the ABFF Lightbox Documentary Film Initiative, Muta’Ali stated, “I am thrilled to have been selected as the first beneficiary of this important initiative. Jeff and Jonathan are the ideal partners to help me take the complex story of Yusuf Hawkins and his killing out of my head and onto screens. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for this opportunity and I look forward to creating a film that is true to who Yusuf was and true to all the people who have fought for equality in his name.”

Join the conversation on social media by visiting ABFF’s multiple social media platforms:

Twitter @ABFF
Facebook American Black Film Festival
Instagram @AmericanBlackFilmFestival
YouTube American Black Film Festival
Hashtags #ABFF2018 #WeAreABFF
Website www.ABFF.com


About Lightbox
Headquartered in London and Los Angeles, Lightbox is a multinational media company focused on creating high-quality nonfiction programming for film, television and digital platforms. It was founded in 2014 by Academy Award- and Emmy-winning producers and cousins Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn. Simon and Jonathan’s partnership represents a seamless melding of two distinct but compatible backgrounds and a strongly shared creative sensibility. Since its founding in 2014, Lightbox has produced many notable projects, including documentary films “Atari: Game Over” and “The Thread” for Xbox Entertainment Studios; an ESPN 30 for 30 film about the 2006 Duke Lacrosse scandal titled “Fantastic Lies”; and several series for both the U.K. and U.S. markets, such as “The Traffickers” for Fusion, “Inside British Vogue” for BBC, “The Runner-Up” for Esquire, “War Child” for Channel 4 and the groundbreaking “Captive” for Netflix. Lightbox recently released its first theatrical feature documentary, LA 92, about the 1992 LA riots for National Geographic’s Documentary Films Division, and is currently in production on the first and only authorized documentary about legendary pop icon Whitney Houston, which is slated to hit theaters in 2018. Prior to co-founding Lightbox, Simon Chinn became one of the world’s most successful feature documentary producers with two Academy Award-winning documentaries, “Man on Wire” and “Searching for Sugar Man,” to his credit. His other prior producing credits include “Project Nim,” “The Imposter,” “The Green Prince” and “My Scientology Movie.” Jonathan Chinn co-founded Lightbox on the heels of a successful career as one of the most respected nonfiction television showrunners in the U.S., winning an Emmy for “American High” (Fox/PBS) as well as the Television Academy’s prestigious Honors Award for “30 Days” (FX), which went on to become FX’s highest-rated unscripted series. Other producing credits include “Kid Nation” (CBS), “Push Girls” (Sundance) and “Hotel Hell” (Fox).

About ABFF
The American Black Film Festival is an annual event dedicated to showcasing quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. It supports emerging artists to foster a wider range of images, stories and storytellers represented in the entertainment industry. The festival is committed to the belief that black artists and content creators deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts. ABFF founder Jeff Friday conceived the festival in 1997 as a vehicle to promote diversity in the motion picture industry and strengthen the black filmmaking community through resource sharing, education, artistic collaboration and career development. Today, ABFF is recognized as the preeminent pipeline to new black talent, both in front of and behind the camera, and is regarded as one of the leading film festivals in the world. ABFF is a property of ABFF Ventures, a multifaceted entertainment company specializing in the production of live events, film, television and digital content targeted to upscale African-American audiences.

About National Geographic Partners LLC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic’s media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching over 760 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About 21ST CENTURY FOX
21st Century Fox is the world's premier portfolio of cable, broadcast, film, pay TV and satellite assets spanning six continents across the globe. Reaching more than 1.8 billion subscribers in approximately 50 local languages every day, 21st Century Fox is home to a global portfolio of cable and broadcasting networks and properties, including FOX, FX, FXX, FXM, FS1, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FOX Sports, Fox Sports Network, National Geographic, STAR India, 28 local television stations in the U.S. and more than 350 international channels; film studio Twentieth Century Fox Film; and television production studios Twentieth Century Fox Television and a 50% ownership interest in Endemol Shine Group. The Company also holds a 39.1% ownership interest in Sky, Europe’s leading entertainment company, which serves 22 million customers across five countries. For more information about 21st Century Fox, please visit www.21CF.com.

--------------------------------

Official Selections from 2017 Sundance Film Festival Streaming on Amazon

Amazon Video Direct Announces Official Selections From The 2017 Sundance Film Festival Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

The 15 Sundance titles are the first feature-length festival films from the AVD’s Film Festival Stars Program to stream on Prime Video

Amazon Video Direct to extend Film Festival Stars—the program that brings high quality independent film to Prime Video audiences—to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon announced the official selections from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival are now available on Amazon Prime Video. The collection of 15 films are made available through the Amazon Video Direct Film Festival Stars (FFS) program that is designed to establish an attractive distribution model for films screened at film festivals that either don’t secure theatrical distribution deals or are looking for distribution options after a theatrical release.

The official selections from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival currently streaming include Manifesto starring Cate Blanchett, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize winner Marjorie Prime, and Special Jury Award for Cinematic Vision, Free and Easy. These films enjoyed robust distribution strategies throughout the year, including award-winning festival and theatrical runs, and are now available in the U.S. with select titles available in additional territories.

    “We launched the Film Festival Stars Program at Sundance earlier this year because we heard from our customers they love watching independent films”

“Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars program accelerates the career of deserving films, elevating cinematic curation into a galvanic connection with audiences who might never have discovered them,” said Richard Lorber, President and CEO of Kino Lorber, Inc. “It’s an innovative strategy that allows specialty film distributors like us to amplify support for the worthiest films—not only with additional financial backing, but unparalleled outreach only an amazing entity like Amazon can provide. I don’t know what genius dreamed this up, but we at Kino Lorber are enthusiastically participating—proud to be populating the Film Festival Stars roster with many of our most important releases.”

“We launched the Film Festival Stars Program at Sundance earlier this year because we heard from our customers they love watching independent films,” said Eric Orme, Head of Amazon Video Direct. “So far in 2017, FFS has secured the streaming rights to 76 feature films that we’re confident will thrill and delight our customers. These films appear alongside other great festival films already available on the service, including Amazon Studios’ The Big Sick. We’ll be extending Film Festival Stars to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival with an emphasis on global distribution and enhanced bonuses for filmmakers, and look forward to seeing the great films we’ll be able to bring exclusively to Prime members.”

500 Years – available worldwide

From a historic genocide trial to the ousting of a president, director Pamela Yates tells the sweeping story of mounting resistance in Guatemala through the eyes of the majority indigenous Mayan population, who now stand poised to reimagine their society.

Axolotl Overkill – available in the U.S. and Canada

In Axolotl Overkill, 16-year-old Mifti is a beautiful and reckless young girl. Her mother is dead, and her wealthy, eccentric father is too self-absorbed to be responsible for her. Mifti has no use for peers her own age, and being aware of the sexual power she wields with her looks and youth, she immerses herself in a world of adults of questionable character. Lovesick over an elusive older woman, she strikes up a friendship with Ophelia, an actress, and together they test the limits through Berlin nightlife and extreme partying.

Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl! – available in the U.S. and Canada

The film follows Joca, a 13-year-old Brazilian boy, and Basano La Tatuada, a Paraguayan indigenous girl, living on the border between the two countries, marked by the waters of the Rio Apa. Joca is in love with Basano and wants to do everything to win her love.

Family Life – available in the U.S.

In Family Life, a young man spends a few weeks housekeeping for a relatively distant relative and enjoys taking over the comfort of their lives in Santiago. Soon, he meets a cute neighbor and starts pretending for his personal benefit.

Free And Easy – Special Jury Award for Cinematic Vision – available in the U.S. and Canada

When a traveling soap salesman arrives in a desolate Chinese town, a crime occurs, and sets the strange residents against each other with tragicomic results.

Machines – Sundance Jury Award for Excellence in Cinematography – available in the U.S. and Canada

Director Rahul Jain presents an intimate, observantly portrayal of the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in Gujarat, India. Moving through the corridors and bowels of the enormous and disorientating structure, the camera takes the viewer on a journey to a place of dehumanizing physical labor and intense hardship, provoking cause for thought about persistent pre-industrial working conditions and the huge divide between first world and developing countries.

Manifesto – available in the U.S. and Canada

In the film, Actress Cate Blanchett portrays 13 distinct characters in vignettes that incorporate timeless manifestos—among them a school teacher, a puppeteer, a newsreader, a factory worker and a homeless man. Director Julian Rosefeldt draws on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Supremacists, Situtationists, and other artist groups, and the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers to create Manifesto.

Marjorie Prime – Sundance Film Festival’s Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize – available in the U.S.

Set in the near future, Michael Almereyda’s sci-fi pic Marjorie Prime, is based on Jordan Harrison’s Pulitzer-nominated play exploring memory, identity, love and loss. 86-year-old Marjorie has a handsome new companion who looks like her deceased husband and is programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance?

Motherland – World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award – available in the U.S. and Canada

Motherland is set at one of the world’s largest and busiest maternity hospitals in the Philippines. Ramona S. Diaz’s film follows three women as they navigate through the severe conditions of giving birth there — from jam-packed delivery rooms to overflowing corridors where babies are misplaced and then found.

Plastic China – available worldwide

Plastic China captures a plaintive sense of the human casualties from unfettered global consumerism. The gently observed portrait of families toiling at a plastic recycling factory in Shandong builds into a damning commentary on a modern China marked by extreme divides in wealth and opportunity.

Pop Aye – World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for screenwriting – available in the U.S. and Canada

On a chance encounter, a disenchanted architect bumps into his long-lost elephant on the streets of Bangkok. Excited, he takes his elephant on a journey across Thailand, in search of the farm where they grew up together.

RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World – World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling – available in the U.S.

This powerful documentary about the role of Native Americans in contemporary music history features some of the greatest music stars of our time—Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, and Randy Castillo. The film exposes a critical missing chapter, revealing how indigenous musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives and, through their contributions, influenced popular culture.

Sueño en otro idioma (I Dream in Another Language) – World Dramatic Audience Award – available in the U.S. and Canada

When a language dies, a unique vision of the world is lost forever. In I Dream in Another Language, a linguist arrives in a small jungle settlement hoping to record a conversation between two elderly men, the last two remaining speakers of the Zikril language. Unfortunately for him, the men are feuding and haven't spoken to each other in 50 years.

The Good Postman – available in the U.S. and Canada

On the eastern edge of Bulgaria, bordering Turkey, amid wizened orchards and an ancient patchwork of farmlands, sits a poor and sleepy hamlet that time seems to have forgotten. Despite the sparse population of silver-haired citizens wistful for the brighter days of communism, democracy is in full force as the village prepares in earnest for its mayoral election. Meanwhile, an endless train of Syrian refugees bound for Europe silently traipses through the rural terrain, visible through the binoculars of one gentle and taciturn candidate, the good postman.

World Without End (No Reported Incidents) – available in the U.S.

Known for decades as a visual poet, filmmaker Jem Cohen has captured various corners of the world with a perceptive eye in World Without End (No Reported Incidents). Often filming by himself, Cohen takes a camera (16mm film, and more recently, video) and walks on the street like a modern-day Walker Evans, capturing images of people and landscapes in our smallest moments—everyday faces, vacant street corners, trinkets in windows, all the things we might see sitting on the bus and wish we could see again in a film.

Returning to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the Amazon Video Direct Film Festival Stars program will emphasize global distribution, with enhanced bonus payments being paid for worldwide rights, as AVD aims to support overall Prime Video global growth.

Prime members will be able to stream the films exclusively via the Amazon Prime Video app for compatible TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices, and online at www.amazon.com/primevideo.

Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.


About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

•     Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like The Grand Tour, The Tick, Landline, The Big Sick and kids series, Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at.
•     Live Sports: Sporting events, including NFL Thursday Night Football and ATP tennis, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.
•     Amazon Channels: Over 140 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit
•     Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
•     Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
•     Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

--------------------------------