EIGHT NFB DOCUMENTARIES FEATURED AT HOT DOCS 2015
Includes a world premiere feature documentary and live preview of the closing chapter in the award-winning interactive project HIGHRISE
Toronto, Ontario – National Film Board of Canada - Mysteries and disappearances stranger than anything in a detective novel. Visionary one-of-a-kind figures in Canadian arts and politics. Feature documentaries and short works, and a live preview of the final installment in a legendary six-year digital project.
It’s all part of a rich National Film Board of Canada (NFB) presence at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where NFB works will be showcased this year from April 23 to May 3, 2015.
This year’s selection includes the world premiere of Sasha Snow’s feature documentary Hadwin’s Judgement, a spellbinding account of environmentalism, obsession and myth produced by True West Films and Passion Planet in association with the NFB, screening in the World Showcase program.
The festival is also hosting five Ontario premieres. Screening in the Canadian Spectrum program are Sophie Deraspe’s esperamos/NFB co-produced feature documentary The Amina Profile, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and Serge Giguère’s Productions du Rapide-Blanc/NFB co-production Finding Macpherson, a captivating 10-year look at an artist at work, which was named Best Feature-Length Documentary at Quebec’s Jutra Awards on March 15. Justin Simms and William D. MacGillivray’s Danny, a portrait of legendary Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, is one of just five titles chosen for Hot Docs’ Big Ideas program, while Mike Maryniuk’s eclectic multi-media film Home Cooked Music and Martin Bureau’s impressionistic Hell Runs on Gasoline! are featured in the Short Documentary program.
Winner of the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature-length Film at the Ottawa International Animation Film Festival, Luc Chamberland’s animated documentary Seth’s Dominion, about Canadian cartoonist Seth, is featured in the Next program, which explores creativity, pop culture and the arts.
As Hot Docs inaugurates its DocX program for innovative interactive documentaries, the festival will host a sneak preview of HIGHRISE: Universe Within with the one-night-only participatory live performance Universe Within, Live. Launching online later this year, HIGHRISE: Universe Within delves into the hidden digital lives of high-rise residents around the world and is the final iteration in the NFB’s many media, multi-year digital documentary project HIGHRISE, directed by Katerina Cizek, which has to date garnered a number of prestigious international honours: two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, a World Press Photo Prize, two Canadian Screen Awards, and the first-ever IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling.
Quick Facts
Hadwin’s Judgement (86 min.)
· Inspired by the award-winning book The Golden Spruce, Hadwinʼs Judgement chronicles BC logging engineer and survivalist Grant Hadwin’s resolute struggle to reconcile what he regarded as an egregious affront—not just to the land, but to humanity as well. Witnessing the devastation wrought by clear-cutting on the last great temperate rainforest drove him to commit a desperate and illegal act. His crusade ends in a tragic mystery and prophetic warning.
· Hadwin’s Judgement is written and directed by Sasha Snow, and produced by Elizabeth Yake (True West Films), David Allen (Passion Planet), and David Christensen and Yves J. Ma (NFB).
The Amina Profile (Le profil Amina) (85 min.)
· Amina Arraf, a Syrian-American revolutionary who’s having an online affair with Montrealer Sandra Bagaria, launches the provocatively named blog A Gay Girl in Damascus. As the Syrian uprising gains momentum, the blog attracts a huge following―which increases when Amina’s reported abduction sparks an international outcry. But who is the real Amina? The Amina Profile is part love story, part international thriller, and a gripping chronicle of an unprecedented media and sociological hoax.
· The Amina Profile is written and directed by Sophie Deraspe, and produced by Isabelle Couture (esperamos) and Nathalie Cloutier (NFB). The film is distributed in Canada by Les Films du 3 mars.
Finding Macpherson (Le mystère Macpherson) (77 min.)
· Born of a friendship between Quebec singer-songwriter Félix Leclerc and Jamaican immigrant Frank Randolph Macpherson, the song “MacPherson” launched Martine Chartrand on a 10-year period of research to create her award-winning 2012 NFB paint-on-glass animated short MacPherson. Director Serge Giguère was with her from the start and chronicled her exceptional creative journey in Finding Macpherson.
· Finding Macpherson is written and directed by Serge Giguère, and produced by Nicole Hubert and Sylvie Van Brabant (Les Productions du Rapide-Blanc), and Colette Loumède (NFB).
Danny (84 min.)
· Through revealing back-room anecdotes and in-depth interviews, Danny tells the story of how former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams battled Ottawa and Big Oil alike to ensure that the province received a fair share of its abundant natural resources, becoming the most popular—and controversial—Canadian politician of his era.
· Directed by Justin Simms and William D. MacGillivray, written by William D. MacGillivray, and produced for the NFB by Annette Clarke.
Home Cooked Music (10 min.)
· Is there anything more Canadian than a moose-antler electric guitar? Mike Maryniuk’s own eclectic creativity finds a fellow tinkerer in retired machinist Lorne Collie. The filmmaker stitches together weathered doc footage and hand-crafted animation, and the result is a folksy, one-of-a-kind portrait.
· Written and directed by Mike Maryniuk, and produced for the NFB by Brendon Sawatzky.
Hell Runs on Gasoline! (L’enfer marche au gaz!) (7 min.)
· A race at the Saint-Félicien racetrack goes from bone-jarring, ear-splitting infernal vision to an eerily silent cemetery of abandoned carcasses, in this short created through the first edition of the 5 Shorts Project (Projet 5 courts), an NFB short documentary initiative in partnership with regional artist-run centres and production centres in Quebec.
· Hell Runs on Gasoline! is written and directed by Martin Bureau, and produced by Nathalie Cloutier and Colette Loumède (NFB), and Catherine Benoit (Spirafilm).
Seth’s Dominion (42 min)
· Canadian cartoonist Seth, best known for comic books such as Palookaville, is one of the world’s great storytellers in the form. Luc Chamberland sheds light on his wry, articulate subject, mixing insightful biography with vivid animation in an artful fusion of filmmaking techniques that perfectly captures Seth’s manifold creative universe.
· Written and directed by Luc Chamberland, and produced for the NFB by Marcy Page and Gerry Flahive.
HIGHRISE: Universe Within, Live
· Launching the final iteration of the acclaimed HIGHRISE digital documentary project, Universe Within, Live takes audiences on a fascinating journey from Brooklyn to Mumbai to Guangzhou through the original portraits of highrise residents and their digital lives from around the globe. Mixing live and recorded images, documentaries and music, this performance is navigated by a live host in conversation with the audience.
· Directed by Katerina Cizek, performed by Misha Glouberman, and produced for the NFB by Gerry Flahive and David Oppenheim.
About the NFB
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) creates groundbreaking interactive works, social-issue documentaries and auteur animation. The NFB has produced over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 8 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
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Thursday, April 2, 2015
"Hoax Hunters" is Heavy Metal's First Ever Comic Book Series
PORTLAND, OR - Yesterday was April 1st, or “April Fools Day,” a day known for it’s celebration of pranks. Well, that and an awesome feminist slasher film of the same name… Heavy Metal, the world’s number one science fiction and fantasy magazine, chose that day to launch a comics line nearly 40 years in the making! It would only make sense that this day be celebrated with the return of the aptly titled Hoax Hunters, which after a successful run at Image, kicks off it’s “second season” with a new number one!
The Hoax Hunters team took over the Heavy Metal Twitter (https://twitter.com/HeavyMetalInk) account in their ongoing effort to separate fact from fiction, to unlock the mysteries of today and everyday. Follow the investigation here, and through #hoaxhunters!
With the Hoax Hunters team in shambles following Jack’s untimely departure, they head to Paris under Donovan’s controversial leadership. Heavy Metal suggest that readers not miss this landmark issue, as the series reaches a crucial turning point on and off of the page!
Readers can follow @HeavyMetalInk for updates throughout the day, and RT the Hoax Hunters team for a chance to win a signed special variant available only through select comic shops, and direct from Heavy Metal!
Hoax Hunters is an original series created by Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley, and features art by Christian Dibari, with covers by Rob Prior. Stop by your local comic shop, or visit www.heavymetal.com and pick up this historic first issue today!
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Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Netflix and Marvel Announce Cheo Hodari Coker as Executive Producer of "Luke Cage" Series
Cheo Hodari Coker Will Serve as Executive Producer and Showrunner of 'Marvel's Luke Cage' For Netflix
Coker to bring Cage to life in his own original series
Netflix & Marvel Television announced today that Cheo Hodari Coker will serve as executive producer and showrunner of the anticipated series, "Marvel’s Luke Cage." Coker is writing the first two episodes of the series that will premiere in 2016, everywhere that Netflix is available.
Most recently, Coker served as a co-executive producer on the second season of "Ray Donovan," and prior to that was a supervising producer on the critically-acclaimed, fourth season of the drama "SouthLAnd." Coker was a part of the "SouthLAnd" team that earned the show a 2012 Peabody Award. Coker also garnered a 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Series for his work on that show. Coker’s feature film credits include Fox Searchlight’s rap biopic "Notorious." He authored the book "Unbelievable: The Life, Death, and Afterlife of The Notorious B.I.G." as well. Coker started his writing career in journalism and was a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and contributed to VIBE, Rolling Stone, Essence, among other publications. He is a graduate of Stanford University.
It was previously announced that Mike Colter ("The Good Wife," "American Horror Story: Coven") will play the charismatic lead character, Luke Cage, in the series.
"Marvel’s Luke Cage" is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios for Netflix.
More on Marvel.com: http://marvel.com/news/tv/24362/cheo_hodari_coker_will_serve_as_executive_producer_and_showrunner_of_marvels_luke_cage_for_netflix#ixzz3W7J6rmus
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Streaming Platform, Neon Alley, Has New Anime Content for April 2015
Catch New SAILOR MOON And SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL Episodes, The Sci-Fi Adventure GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET Along With The Latest NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Simulcasts And More
VIZ Media showers viewers with new April content updates on the Neon Alley free anime streaming platform.
The exciting third season of the venerable SAILOR MOON series – SAILOR MOON S – continues throughout the month with two new subtitled episodes added every Monday. SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL continues the Black Moon story arc with two new simulcast subtitled episodes set to premiere. Catch SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL Act 19: “Time Warp – Sailor Pluto” on April 4th followed by Act 20: “CRYSTAL TOKYO – KING ENDYMION” on April 18th.
Fans also can enjoy the entire series run of the lushly animated sci-fi adventure, GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUOUS PLANET in both original Japanese and English dubbed versions, as well as the streaming premiere of two OVA episodes (episodes 14 and 15), beginning on April 5th. The fantasy-driven feature film action of INUYASHA THE MOVIE: FIRE ON THE MYSTIC ISLAND also joins the NEON ALLEY line-up in April along with not-to-be-missed NARUTO SHIPPUDEN simulcasts of the latest new episodes every Thursday throughout the month. The new April 2015 update is further highlighted by additional new episodes from a variety of top-rated VIZ Media anime properties including:
GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET
· In the distant future, Ledo, a young soldier from space wakes up and finds himself marooned on an ocean planet. Growing up in space, and knowing nothing but battle, he is a stranger in a strange land, full of odd customs and a foreign language, but he’s not alone. Starting a new journey on this verdurous planet, Ledo must find a way to survive and reconcile the fact that he may never be able to return home!
· Catch dubbed Episodes 1-15 beginning April 5th!
INUYASHA THE MOVIE: FIRE ON THE MYSTIC ISLAND
· The fourth film in the venerable INUYASHA saga is available for a limited time beginning April 11th in English-dubbed or subtitled editions!
· Within the dark recesses of Horai Island, a group of half-demons live under the demonic rule of the Four War Gods. Escaping with barely a shred of hope, Ai, the youngest of the half-demons, returns to the island with Inuyasha, who must face not only the Four War Gods, but the past he left behind on the island fifty years ago.
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN
· Edge-of-the-seat ninja action continues throughout April with Neon Alley simulcasts of the latest English subtitled NARUTO SHIPPUDEN episodes. Catch Episode 406 on Monday, April 9th. Simulcasts of the next 3 NARUTO SHIPPUDEN episodes are scheduled to take place every subsequent Thursday.
· Also don’t miss the premiere of a new English dubbed episode of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN every Saturday in April starting with Season 6, Episode 288 on April 4th.
THE PRINCE OF TENNIS
· Newly added on and off-the-court action of the acclaimed sports drama continues with Episodes 27-39 now available to stream dubbed.
· Fans can already watch all 50 PRINCE OF TENNIS episodes in their entirety available now with English subtitles.
· In this sports anime drama adapted from the manga series created by Takeshi Konomi (published by VIZ Media), Ryoma Echizen is the 12-year-old son of a famous tennis player and a tennis genius is his own right. With talent in his blood and fire in his eyes, he backs up his confidence on the court with amazing skills. Now he has to overcome the older players on his high school team who are dead set against letting him surpass them. To defeat the slippery "Viper" Kaido, the calculating Sadahara Inui, and a host of other opponents, Ryoma will need everything he's gotten from his father and more!
RANMA ½
· Fans can catch the classic RANMA ½ series from the very beginning! Episodes 1-23 are available now both dubbed and subtitled!
· Also enjoy 2 new dubbed episodes of the classic, fan-favorite series premiering every Friday throughout the month picking up with Season 7, Episodes 153 and 154 on April 3rd.
Neon Alley is VIZ Media’s consolidated online destination for FREE streaming anime content in the U.S. with over 3,600 subtitled and English dubbed episodes and movies from more than 32 series! Neon Alley also reaches an expansive on-demand U.S.-based audience on Hulu, which enables viewers to watch shows anytime, anywhere across devices including Xbox One, PlayStation®4 (PS4™), Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, and mobile devices. A full list of Hulu -enabled devices can be found at http://www.hulu.com/plus/devices.
Additional information on Neon Alley is available at: www.NeonAlley.com and http://blog.neonalley.com.
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Bill Schelly Goes MAD at Fantagraphics Bookstore Appearance
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery welcomes comics scholar and author Bill Schelly on Saturday, April 11, 2015 as he presents his new biography Harvey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad and Revolutionized Humor in America. Schelly will give an entertaining and informative slide talk on the illustrious career of one of the pivotal figures in American popular culture. A book signing will follow the presentation.
Harvey Kurtzman wrote, edited and drew popular titles like Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat for notorious publisher EC Comics. In a departure from their lurid line of crime and horror comics, Kurtzman created the satirical Mad in 1952. EC Comics soon fell victim to the hysterical crusading of politicians, child psychologists and religious zealots when the Comics Code Authority effectively banned most of their titles. Kurtzman's Mad persevered, and ironically became the instrument that indoctrinated an entire generation in the principle of art in the service of degenerate discourse - laying the foundation for the cultural upheaval of the 1960s.
Kurtzman's many contributions to midcentury American humor are explored at length by Schelly, with insightful interviews of Kurtzman collaborators like Hugh Hefner, Al Feldstein, James Warren, R. Crumb, Jack Davis, Gilbert Shelton, and more. Episodes like the FBI investigation during the McCarthy Era and his litigation with EC publisher Bill Gaines are detailed for the first time.
Don't miss the debut of this amazing publication with a slide talk, exhibition and book signing on April 11 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. This event coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the historic neighborhood.
Mark your calendars for the return of incomparable cartoonist Daniel Clowes on Saturday, April 18 with the world premiere of The Complete Eightball, followed a week later by provocative Seattle artist Josh Simmons on April 25.
Listing information:
Bill Schelly presents Havey Kurtzman: The Man Who Created Mad
Slide talk, exhibition, and book signing
Saturday, April 11, 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street
Seattle, WA 98108 | 206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM.
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"Furious 7" to Make Biggest Global IMAX Release Ever
Universal Pictures' Furious 7 Poised To Ignite Worldwide Box Office With Widest-Ever Global IMAX® Release Beginning April 1
IMAX to Debut New Laser Projection Technology at Furious 7 Worldwide Premiere Event
LOS ANGELES, PRNewswire/ -- IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX) and Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), today announced that Furious 7 will receive the widest-ever IMAX release globally. The film begins its global launch on Wednesday, April 1, 2015 before rolling out domestically and in the majority of overseas markets on Friday, April 3, 2015. Throughout its global run, Furious 7 will screen at more than 800 IMAX® theatres, including approximately 445 international and 365 domestic IMAX locations.
Additionally, IMAX will be launching its revolutionary new laser projection system at the Furious 7 global premiere event to be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Los Angeles. This marks IMAX's U.S. debut of the new technology as well as the first film ever to receive a global premiere with laser projection. IMAX has undertaken a significant R&D investment to develop its next-generation projection and sound system, which incorporates the laser digital intellectual property IMAX exclusively licensed from Eastman Kodak and Barco's unique laser innovations. IMAX with laser represents a quantum leap forward in cinema technology - providing audiences with the sharpest, brightest, clearest and most vivid digital images ever, combined with a whole new level of immersive audio.
"Not only are we excited to be releasing Furious 7 globally in record-setting fashion, we are delighted to be partnering with Universal Pictures on the first-ever movie premiere event screened with laser," said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. "As the most action-packed Fast and Furious installment yet, Furious 7 deserves to be seen in the most awe-inspiring and intense way possible across IMAX screens worldwide."
The IMAX(®) release of Furious 7 will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience(®) with proprietary IMAX DMR(®) (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX's customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.
About IMAX Corporation
IMAX, an innovator in entertainment technology, combines proprietary software, architecture and equipment to create experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seat to a world you've never imagined. Top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theatres to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and, as such, IMAX's network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe.
IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, with offices in London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. As of Dec. 31, 2014, there were 934 IMAX theatres (809 commercial multiplexes, 19 commercial destinations and 106 institutions) in 62 countries.
IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, Experience It In IMAX®, An IMAX 3D Experience®, The IMAX Experience® and IMAX Is Believing® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information about the Company can be found at www.imax.com. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook (www.facebook.com/imax), Twitter (www.twitter.com/imax) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/imaxmovies).
This press release contains forward looking statements that are based on IMAX management's assumptions and existing information and involve certain risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in IMAX's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
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Negromancer vs. April Fool's Day 2015
Thanks for stopping by. Welcome to Negromancer 2.0. This is the rebirth of Negromancer, the former movie review website as a new movie review and movie news site.
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All images and text appearing on this blog are © copyright and/or trademark their respective owners.
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