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FILM INDEPENDENT ANNOUNCES AWARD WINNERS OF 2009 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL The two top juried awards of the Los Angeles Film Festival are the Target Filmmaker Award and Target Documentary Award, each carrying an unrestricted $50,000 cash prize for the winning film’s director. The awards were established by the Festival and Target to encourage independent filmmakers to pursue their artistic ambitions. The Target Filmmaker Award recognizes the finest narrative film in competition at the Festival and went to Sam Fleischner and Ben Chace for Wah Do Dem (What They Do). The Target Documentary Award recognizes the finest documentary film in competition at the Festival and went to Juan Carlos Rulfo and Carlos Hagerman for Those Who Remain (Los Que se Quedan). New this year, the Festival and Target established the Target Dream in Color Award to recognize a short film in the Festival’s Future Filmmaker Showcase for high school students that inspires audiences to dream without boundaries and share culture in a unique and positive way. The prize includes a Target Gift card for the winning director and a desktop editing system for the winner’s school media arts program. The Target Dream in Color Award was presented by Elizabeth Pena and given to Sam Rubin for Lipstick. The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to The Stoning of Soraya M., directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Soul Power, directed by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte. Eva Norvind’s Born Without (Nacido Sin) won the Audience Award for Best International Feature. The award for Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition went to Shayne Topp for his performance in Suzi Yoonessi’s Dear Lemon Lima. Given to an actor or actors from an official selection in the Narrative Competition, this is the sixth year the award has been given at the Festival. The award for Best Narrative Short Film went to Antonio Mendez Esparza’s Time and Again. The award for Best Documentary Short Film went to Anna Gaskell’s Replayground. Jérémy Clapin’s Skhizein won the award for Best Animated Short Film. The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Instead of Abracadabra, directed by Patrick Eklund. Grapevine Fires, directed by Walter Robot won the Audience Award for Best Music Video for Death Cab for Cutie. For more info, go to: www.FilmIndependent.org.
US’S FIRST SOCCER FILM FESTIVAL COMING TO NEW YORK Acording to its organizers, the Kicking & Screening International Soccer Film Festival (KS09) was created to "bring together soccer fans and cinephiles to celebrate the passion and excitement of soccer as captured and expressed on film." The Festival, running July 14-18 in New York City, includes some films lesser known in the US. The Opening Night film is Les Yeux dans les Bleus, directed by Stéphane Meunier. It follows the victorious French national team during the 1998 World Cup. Former Cosmos goalkeeper Shep Messing, currently an on-air analyst for ESPN and MSG, is scheduled to introduce Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos, a humorous and revealing biopic of America’s most famous soccer team. The film also features such international soccer stars as Pele and Franz Beckenbauer. FC Barcelona Confidential underscores how soccer, politicized and marketed, can be a potent symbol of cultural identity. The recent winners of the Champions League, FC Barcelona, are not only a Catalan institution, but also the most popular club worldwide. The film delves into the efforts of a new board in 2003, amidst poor domestic performance and spiraling debt, to become a leading global soccer franchise. KS09 will also screen In the Hands of the Gods, a coming-of-age road movie about five soccer freestylers trying to busk their way from London to Buenos Aires in search of Argentine legend Diego Maradona. Directors (and brothers) Benjamin and Gabe Turner explore themes of identity, fulfillment, self-knowledge and self-expression in the freestylers’ quest to meet their hero. The Festival has announced that a portion of the proceeds from KS09 will go to Grassroot Soccer, an international nonprofit using the power of soccer in the fight against HIV/AIDS. For more info, go to: www.kickingandscreening.com.
STONY BROOK FILM FEST TO OPEN WITH THE ANSWER MAN John Hindman’s The Answer Man has been selected to open the 14th Annual Stony Brook Film Festival, running July 23 – August 1 at Stony Brook University. This will mark the New York premiere of the film, a comedy which stars Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham and Lou Taylor Pucci. Alfred Molina stars in Lynn Roth’s The Little Traitor, selected to close the Festival. For more info, go to: www.staller.sunysb.edu/festival.
NANTUCKET CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL LAUNCHES The inaugural edition of the Nantucket Children’s Film Festival, running August 9 – 14, will feature 30 films from 10 countries. Festival organizers describe the fare as, “action-packed adventure, glorious animation, short films for tots and teens, historically important films and whirlwind trips to faraway lands.” Among the events planned are an Opening Day Family Fair, Pancake Breakfast & Movie, Closing with Storybook Author Reading and Ice Cream Social. For more info, go to: www.nantucketchildrensfilmfestival.com.
10TH ANNUAL WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL TO HONOR RICHARD LINKLATER Richard Linklater, the Academy Award®-nominated writer/director, will be presented with the 2009 Honorary Maverick Award by the Woodstock Film Festival, during its Gala Award Ceremony on October 3 at BackStage Productions in Kingston, NY. Presenting the Honorary Maverick Award will be Linklater’s long time friend and collaborator, actor Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise, The Newton Boys, Tape, Before Sunset). Linklater’s latest film, Me and Orson Welles, will be featured as one of the Spotlight films in this year’s lineup, and he will participate in a panel discussion during the festival, which runs September 3 - October 4. Linklater's work includes: It's Impossible to Learn How to Plow By Reading Books (1988); Slacker (1991); Dazed and Confused (1993); Before Sunrise (1995); Suburbia (1997); The Newton Boys (1998); Waking Life (2001); Tape (2001); Live From Shiva's Dance Floor (2003); School of Rock (2003); Before Sunset (2004); $5.15/Hr. (2004) (TV); Bad News Bears (2005); A Scanner Darkly (2006); Fast Food Nation (2006); Inning By Inning: A Portrait of a Coach (2008); and now Me and Orson Welles (2009). Richard Linklater said in a statement: "Although the term 'maverick' was greatly devalued in last year's election cycle, I'll humbly take on this honor and as a Texas filmmaker help reclaim the term in the tradition of the famous Texas cattleman Samuel Maverick who refused to brand his cattle. I would like to think it was for humane reasons but the legend goes that he was just too lazy and uninterested in ranching to care. I think there may be an indie filmmaking analogy in there somewhere... regardless, I look forward to being with all of you up in Woodstock this fall." The Honorary Maverick Award is given each year to an individual "whose life and work is based on creativity, independent vision, and social activism." Previous recipients include Kevin Smith, Christine Vachon, Barbara Kopple, Tim Robbins, Les Blank, D.A. Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus, Woody Harrelson, Mira Nair and Steve Buscemi. For more info, go to: www.WoodstockFilmFestival.com.
CALL FOR ENTRIES Ongoing Deadlines Chicago City Limits Comedy Film Fest D.Film Digital Film Festival Hip Hop Film Fest Hollywood Shorts PEC Independent Film Championship July 1 Boulder International Film Festival California International Animation Festival Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival July 2 Vancouver International Film Festival July 10 Coney Island Film Festival New Jersey Film Festival July 15 Aspen Filmfest Athens International Film Festival Austin Film Festival Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles Lebanese Film Festival Ojai-Ventura Film Festival July 30 Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival Tucson Film & Music Festival July 31 Abuja International Film & Video Festival Imagine Science Film Festival San Sebastian International Film Festival Yosemite Film Festival August 1 Montana Cine International Film Festival Northwest Film & Video Fetival Scottsdale International Film Festival August 4 Banff Mountain Film Festival August 10 American Indian Film Festival August 26 International Festival of Fantastic Films August 31 Amiens International Film Festival Vancouver Jewish Film Festival September 18 Portland Women's Film Festival
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