Michelin Stars goes behind the scenes to see how the stars are awarded, to talk to the chefs who work tirelessly to maintain their status, and the impact of the little red book on the world of haute cuisine.
...you'd think trying to get a Michelin star was a matter of life or death wrapped inside a nervous breakdown presented with a generous handful of dread. And it kind of is!
For playdates visit Michelin Movie website
One Mind is a rare cinematic portrait of life inside one of China’s most austere and revered Zen communities. The monks at Zhenru Chan Monastery continue to uphold a strict monastic code established over 1400 years ago by the founding patriarchs of Zen in China. In harmony with the land that sustains them, the monks operate an organic farm, grow tea, and harvest bamboo to fuel their kitchen fires. At the heart of this community, a group of cloistered meditators sit in silence for 8 hours every day. Suggesting a Zen version of the critically acclaimed film Into Great Silence, One Mind offers an intimate glimpse into a thriving Buddhist monastery in modern China.
Come see the film the critics are raving about.
“A film of great beauty and tenderness that gradually reveals a confounding mental illness, this film is a human story at its heart. Ultimately, it illuminates a hidden problem of vast proportion with an epic yet intimate cinematic vision.” – Jury, Hot Docs
As COO of Bond Influence and Strategy, Elizabeth is responsible for film acquisitions and business development, including publishing and production. Elizabeth’s film acquisition strategy is based on a collaborative approach with documentary filmmakers to develop and execute bespoke all-rights releases.
The international co-financing and co-production market IDFA Forum is Europe's most important breeding ground for new documentary projects. The Forum will once again select around 50 Projects for its 2015 edition, which will take place during IDFA from November 23-25. Projects can be submitted by independent producers looking for co-financing, co-production and distribution.
Whatever stage of development or financing your creative documentary project is in, IDFA Forum is the place to go if you are looking for funders (be it broadcasters or funds), co-producers, distributors and/or sales agents. Submission for IDFA Forum is now open; you can find the entry form through MyIDFA. The deadline for submission is September 1.
For more information visit IDFA website or contact IDFA Forum Coordinator Yorinde Segal.
It's official (and has been for a while) but if you are at SXSW and interested in learning about finding a TV partner in a digital world, come to my panel:
In the digital era of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and many other OTT portals, how valuable is a broadcaster for your doc? Come find out at this panel moderated by Elizabeth Sheldon, SVP Kino Lorber, along with Jill Burkhart of EPIX Documentary Programming, Lois Vossen from ITVS, Vinnie Malhotra from CNN, and Jennie Morris from Participant Media. Discover how broadcasters continue to reach traditional audiences while supporting theatrical releases and digital streaming to reach the widest audience possible for independent documentaries. Learn about the different strategies and requirements of the four premier documentary broadcasters, who co-exist with the digital platforms, and how they work with indie filmmakers to expand traditional audiences for documentaries.
Village Voice raves that Monk With a Camera is "marvelous." If you are in NYC on Saturday night come to the 5:20 screening at the Bunin Theater at Lincln Center and join Nicky Vreeland and Richard Gere for an intimate conversation at the Furman Gallery. First come first serve. There will also be a Q&A after the 7:20 screening with Nicky.
Buy tickets here. Opens in LA December 6th at the Laemmle Royal Theater. Click here to find other dates in other cities.
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"Elegant, handsomely shot and often instructive, and its remarkable extended close-up sequences of bees' social structure are fascinating." -- David Gritten, Daily Telegraph
Now available in HD 1080p
IDFA is looking for emerging documentary film talent!
From June 30 through July 5 2014, IDFA organizes the seventh edition of the Summer School: a tailor-made training program for emerging filmmakers, taking place in Amsterdam and aimed at strengthening the narrative structure of documentary projects. Around sixteen projects from all over the world will be selected for the Summer School 2014. The deadline for submission is April 1, 2014.
IDFAcademy Summer School offers the opportunity to meet and work with highly esteemed filmmakers and film professionals who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with emerging film talent. The Summer School combines individual coaching with group sessions and an inspiring cultural program in a relaxed atmosphere. It offers two types of training possibilities: Script Development and Editing Consultancy.
Filmmakers who are selected have the opportunity to bring a sparring partner: a creative producer, a co-scriptwriter, or an editor in the case of participation in Editing Consultancy. If a project is selected, a participation fee for two persons of a total of €1000,- (excluding VAT) or in case of one person for a total of €750,- (excluding VAT) is due. This fee does not cover travel, accommodation or food expenses. There is a scholarship available per project (accommodation) for international participants.
Participants will be coached by eight international documentary experts. In previous years experts like Gianfranco Rosi (Director, Italy), Audrius Stonys (Director, Lithuania), Emma Davie (director, Scotland), Kate Townsend (Executive Producer BBC Storyville, UK), Sabine Bubeck-Paaz (Commissioning Editor ZDF, Germany), Debra Zimmerman (Distributor Women Make Movies, USA), Jesper Osmund (Editor, Denmark) and Peter Wintonick (Producer/ Director, Canada) were tutors at the Summer School.
For more information IDFAcademy Summer School how to apply, see
The 10 Best, No, the 100 Best Films of 2013
by Kam Williams
Kam’s Annual Assessment of the Cream of the Cinematic Crop
While 2013 may be remembered for black-themed films like 42, The Butler, Fruitvale Station and early Oscar favorite 12 Years a Slave, there were plenty of other excellent offerings released over the course of the year. The summer season alone featured a trio of outstanding horror flicks in The Conjuring, You’re Next and The Purge.
And fright fans were even treated to a fascinating documentary deconstructing the making of Night of the Living Dead entitled Birth of the Living Dead. The profusion of cinematic treats once again made it impossible to limit my favorites to just the 10 best.
So, as per usual, this critic’s annual list features 100 entries in order to honor as many deserving films as possible.
10 Best Big Budget Films
- The Butler
- Prisoners
- 42
- You’re Next
- Gravity
- The Purge
- 12 Years a Slave
- This Is the End
- Inside Llewyn Davis
10. American Hustle
Big Budgets Honorable Mention
11. The Heat
12. The Best Man Holiday
13. Philomena
14. Gangster Squad
15. Black Nativity
16. Fast & Furious 6
17. Jack the Giant Slayer
18. August: Osage County
19. Rush
20. The Great Gatsby
21. Olympus Has Fallen
22. Bullet to the Head
23. Saving Mr. Banks
24. Dead Man Down
25. The Conjuring
10 Best Foreign Films
- The Hunt (Denmark)
- Hannah Arendt (Germany)
- Paradise: Love (Kenya)
- Kon-Tiki (Norway)
- Aliyah (Israel)
- 2+2 (Argentina)
- The Price of Sex (Bulgaria)
- S#x Acts (Israel)
- A Hijacking (Denmark)
10. The Broken Circle Breakdown (Germany)
Foreign Films Honorable Mention
11. Three Worlds (France)
12. Sweet Dreams (Rwanda)
13. Hava Nagila (Israel)
14. Paradise: Faith (Austria)
15. The Grandmaster (China)
16. The Iran Job (Iran)
17. Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey (Nepal)
18. War Witch (Congo)
19. Paradise: Hope (Austria)
20. Rising from Ashes (Rwanda)
21. The Act of Killing (Indonesia)
22. Reality (Italy)
23. The Pirogue (Senegal)
24. Garifuna in Peril (Honduras)
25. Israel: A Home Movie (Israel)
10 Best Independent Films
- Fruitvale Station
- The Kings of Summer
- Nebraska
- Mud
- Drinking Buddies
- Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- The Sapphires
- I Used to Be Darker
- The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
10. Enough Said
Independent Films Honorable Mention
11. In a World…
12. Short Term 12
13. All Is Lost
14. Go for Sisters
15. Touchy Feely
16. Shadow Dancer
17. Lucky Bastard
18. Big Words
19. King’s Faith
20. Four
21. A Teacher
22. The Happy Sad
23. Mother of George
24. I’m in Love with a Church Girl
25. Finding Happiness
10 Best Documentaries
1. Stories We Tell
2. Dear Mr. Watterson
3. Best Kept Secret
4. A Place at the Table
5. Muscle Shoals
6. Unmade in China
7. 20 Feet from Stardom
8. Schooled: The Price of College Sports
9. Evocateur: The Morton Downey, Jr. Movie
10.Linsanity
Documentaries Honorable Mention
11.The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia
12.When Comedy Went to School
13.Venus & Serena
14. Liv & Ingmar
15.Call Me Kuchu
16.No Place on Earth
17.Red Obsession
18.Cutie & the Boxer
19.Inequality for All
20.Spark: A Burning Man Story
21.Bidder 70
22.Men at Lunch
23.Aroused
24.When I Walk
25.Herman’s House
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THE ANONYMOUS PEOPLE IS A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM about the over 23 million Americans living in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction. Deeply entrenched social stigma have kept recovery voices silent and faces hidden for decades. The vacuum has been filled with sensational mass media depictions of people with addiction that perpetuate a lurid fascination with the dysfunctional side of what is a preventable and treatable health condition. Just like women with breast cancer, or people with HIV/AIDS, a grass roots social justice movement is emerging. Courageous addiction recovery advocates have come out of the shadows and are organizing to end discrimination and move toward recovery-based solutions.
Watch film clip ( Spanish language subtitled version)
"When The Iron Bird Flies" Spanish language subtitled version is now available for digital download in High Definition 1080p.
“Ver este documental es una tremenda oportunidad para conocer la profunda compasión y valentía de los budistas tibetanos al enfrentar la realidad de la invasión de su país, y darnos cuenta de como han transformado ese dolor en beneficio para toda la humanidad… De un modo intimo, comprensible y emocionante la documentalista profundiza en ejemplos biográficos de lo que ha provocado el encuentro con el Budismo Tibetano.”
– Francesca Nilo Gatica, Directora del diplomado Mindfulness, Universidad Del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile
Better Things, a film about artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones, a transgender painter, illustrator, and comics artists, is guided and shaped by a group of creators who were influenced by and worked with Jeffrey at various stages of her life. Download Now
A Good Day to Die chronicles a movement that started a revolution and inspired a nation. By recounting the life story of Dennis Banks, the Native American who co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in 1968 to advocate and protect the rights of American Indians, the film provides an in-depth look at the history and issues surrounding AIM's formation. From the forced assimilation of Native Americans within boarding schools, to discrimination by law enforcement authorities, to neglect by government officials responsible for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, AIM sought redress for the many grievances that its people harbored.
Are all film distributors equal? (Of course not!) What do the most successful distributors have in common? How can a filmmaker find out? In A to Z of Distribution (with an emphasis on 'E'), come learn what distinguishes four of the leading documentary distributors in the marketplace: Kino Lorber, Women Make Movies, Cinema Guild and New Day. Moderated by Elizabeth Sheldon, VP of Kino Lorber, each distributor will discuss how they select films, their different paths to market, what makes each company unique, and what they all have in common (hint, hint: starts with the letter ‘E’). Whether it is a theatrical department, digital distribution, specialty collections, or a strength in reaching the college/university/library market, each of the featured distributors has survived and thrived over the decades. Come learn why, how you and your film can benefit, and what they are looking for at SXSW.
Read more here.
Deadlines to Apply: March 9 (Documentary) / April 6 (Narrative)
IFP's Independent Filmmaker Labs are a year-long fellowship supporting independent filmmakers when they need it most: through the completion, marketing, and distribution of their first features. Lab submission is open to all first-time documentary and narrative feature directors with films in post-production. Structured in three week-long components held over the year, the Labs offer personalized attention on post-production, audience building, and distribution strategies in the digital age, followed by continued support from IFP as the project premieres in the marketplace.
Recent Lab Project alumni now in theaters include Dee Rees' Pariah (Focus Features), Alrick Brown's Kinyarwanda (AFFRM), and Victoria Mahoney's Yelling to the Sky (MPI), being released this spring. Premieres at 2012 festivals have included An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (Sundance), Welcome to Pine Hill (Slamdance, Grand Jury Award), Una Noche (Berlin), and The Light in Her Eyes and Smokin' Fish (IDFA 2011) - with more Lab alumni set for upcoming festivals and broadcast. To apply or for more information, please visit http://www.ifp.org/programs/labs.
Winner of the World Cinema Directing Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival
Kino Lorber, Inc. (www.kinolorber.com) is proud to announce the acquisition of all US and Canadian rights to the acclaimed documentary 5 Broken Cameras (2012), a daring chronicle of resistance in the West Bank by first-time Palestinian director Emad Burnat and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi.
Filmed from the perspective of a Palestinian farm laborer (i.e. co-director Emad Burnat), 5 Broken Cameras was shot using five different video cameras - all of them destroyed in the process of documenting Emad's family's life and non-violent Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Emad, who lives in Bil'in, just west of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, was thrust into global politics when his community peacefully resisted Israeli plans to erect a wall through their village. Initially given the camera to chronicle the birth and childhood of his son Gibreel, the film captures Gibreel growing into a precocious preschooler against the backdrop of the many non-violent protests that became an intrinsic part of life in the West Bank.
With hundreds of hours of video footage covering a period of over six years, Guy Davidi and Emad have turned "five broken cameras" into a larger-than-life lyrical device that both informs and structures their personal and collective struggles in the West Bank. Furthermore, this Palestinian, Israeli and French co-production daringly meshes personal essay with political cinema, displaying how images and cameras can change lives and realities.
Richard Lorber commented: "This is that most rare film of both inspiration and aspiration; with all the visceral impact of a war movie, it operates on a higher cinematic and poetic plane. Ultimately the film drives deeper thinking and caring about a global political issue through the intimacy of its personal vision. We think audiences across the entire polarized Middle East spectrum will be powerfully moved by it as they have been already at key festivals."
5 Broken Cameras continues Kino Lorber's tradition of supporting Palestinian and Israeli productions (releases include the Academy Award nominated film Ajami and Beaufort) that illuminate long-standing issues in the Middle East. The film also stands as cinema of the highest order, and since its premiere on the festival circuit in the late fall, the film has won a Special Jury and an Audience Award at the prestigious International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) and received the World Cinema Directing Award (Documentary) at
Sundance Film Festival.
Kino Lorber plans to release 5 Broken Cameras to the theatrical, non-theatrical and educational markets in late summer - before a home video and digital release at the end of the year with television following. The film has just started its festival life, and given its outstanding reception so far, Kino Lorber expects 5 Broken Cameras to play in many other key US festivals in 2012.
This acquisition was negotiated between Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber and Vice President Elizabeth Sheldon and Catherine Le Clef, President of the Paris-based international sales agency CAT&Docs.
The Mill and The Cross, starring Rutger Hauer and Charlotte Rampling, based on the book by Michael Francis Gibson exploring Breugel the Elder's famous "Way to Cavalry," is available for download from MyFilmBlog for $14.95 in HD. Don't tarry. Watch now!
Crazy Wisdom is now available for download-to-own, which includes a limited edition white label DVD that ships free. Available only from Alive Mind Cinema to US viewers. Tell your friends!
Limited Edition DVDs are Sold Out! (Update 01/10/12)
Intimate Stranger," says Berliner, "walks the fine line between sorting the dirty family laundry and polishing the precious family jewel." Family members try to make sense of it all in this witty, candid and cinematically inventive documentary biography.
"Funny, probing and so wholly original in both style and
substance as to seem completely without precedent...
brilliant, one-of-a-kind film...the remarkable life of a
seemingly average man presents a figure as complicated and
enthralling as any fictional character in recent memory...
intoxicating montage...expertly pieced together...
a spectacular high-wire feat by a fledgling master."
— THE WASHINGTON POST
"Compellingly eccentric...powerful, bittersweet...
a rich, tumultuous portrait of family life..."
— THE NEW YORK TIMES
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"A thoughtful, confident, completely engrossing documentary about a cultural figure every bit as iconic as Jim Morrison or James Dean." - Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
"The most comprehensive and touching film portrait of the great Canadian pianist in all his glories and miseries." - David Denby, The New Yorker
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El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, directed by Gereon Wetzel (Castells). To be released under the company’s newly launched theatrical line Alive Mind Cinema, the film is set to begin its national run at New York’s Film Forum on July 27, 2011, and will expand to other markets around the country during the fall.
The deal was negotiated by Kino Lorber’s Vice President Elizabeth Sheldon with Peter Jager, CEO and Astrid Guger, Head of Theatrical Sales – both from Autlook Films.
A large part of the appeal of ''Himalaya'' comes from the breathtaking beauty of its setting, the mountainous, sparsely populated Dolpo region of Nepal. Exquisitely filmed in Cinemascope, a format whose wide frames and panoramic angles emphasize the lonely grandeur of the landscape, the movie offers an intoxicating dose of armchair tourism, like a National Geographic pictorial brought to life.
Premiering in the documentary competition at the Tribeca Film Festival this week, Alex Mar’s American Mystic is a poem of a film, following three young people in America who have chosen to make their spiritual practice the center of their lives. A pagan priestess who proudly defines herself as a witch, Morpheus has moved to the outskirts of rural California to create a pagan sanctuary on a small plot of land. Kublai, a Spiritualist medium, works on a farm in upstate New York but spends his off hours with his head in the hands of elderly women, learning to channel spirits. Chuck, a Lakota Sioux, barely scrapes by at his day job in the city, but he and his wife are raising their child with their ancestors’ way of life as their guide, taking long trips to the reservation to participate in the traditions that are still alive.
Like the 2008 Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, Elijah Drenner’s smart, affectionate but clear-eyed history of American exploitation films combines talking heads and well-chosen clips from movies that range from now-quaint 1913 white-slavery “exposé” Traffic in Souls to the still-scurrilous Nazi sexploitation classic Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS.
From The Wall Street Journal: "An experimental narrative... this curious film requires a contemplative mood to really take in. The premise is grim: A man decides to go into the woods, where he will stay until he starves himself to death. Swiss director Peter Liechti adapted the film a novel by Japanese writer Shimada Masahiko. The original work is based on a real-life incident, and the diary kept by a man who followed through with this unusual form of suicide. Observations mundane and profound are related in a low-key narration. For instance: The man lacks a huge appetite for his last unremarkable meal, so he spends his last coins on pinball. Yet, he knows his death will be drawn out, so he stocks his tent with grooming supplies. This ambient meditation certainly isn't for every viewer, but its philosophical tone and embrace of nature make it distinct."
Winner of the European Film Academy Documentary 2009 award "for its skillful exploration of minimalistic means to create an extraordinary visual story between life and death."
A profound inquiry into the art of representation, Peter Liechti's The Sound of Insects probes the ever-elusive and mystifying line between life and death. The film also blurs the line between documentary and fiction. A hunter in a remote corner of the Austrian wilderness, makes the horrifying discovery of a desiccated human corpse in a makeshift tent deep in the forest. Who was this person? Why did he die? The dead body releases its secrets in a day-by-day account fusing fiction and reality in an unsettling, highly sensory narrative.
Based on the Japanese novel by Shimada Masahiko, which in turn is based on fact.
Craig Blinderman, M.D., chief of the Adult Palliative Medicine Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University joins poet Paul Muldoon after the screening.
Brilliant Moon: Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche chronicles the life of the writer, poet, and meditation master Khyentse Rinpoche, one of Tibet’s most revered 20th-century Buddhist teachers. Known as the instructor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Royal Family of Bhutan, his life and teachings were an inspiration to all who encountered him.
Richard Gere and Lou Reed (Narration)
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Matthieu Ricard
Orgyen Topgyal Rinpoche
Rabjam Rinpoche
Sogyal Rinpoche
Harlem International Film Festival just announced the winners:
Hi5! 2010 is a particularly special year for the organizers at the Harlem International Film Festival. We've had the honor of programming five years of diverse, quality films and the opportunity to meet the filmmakers behind those works.
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Explore the transformational power of Buddhism when you download two classic films: Meditate and Destroy and The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Meditate and Destroy is a powerful and moving documentary chronicling Noah Levine's harrowing journey from addict and juvenile delinquent to leader of America's first Buddhist punk movement: Dharma Punx. Directed by Sarah Fisher, Meditate and Destroy is the first film to trace the influence of this movement in major cities throughout America, where a new generation of youths are increasingly turning to meditation as a departure from drugs, violence and crime. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a two-part series exploring the titular spiritual text originating in the spiritual cultures of the Himalayas. Leonard Cohen's narration and the film's breathtaking cinematography combine to boldly visualize the afterlife according to the ancient text's wisdom. The resulting effort has been described by CM Magazine as a "marvelous documentary creation" that "demands multiple viewings." Both films are sure to enlighten you.
Lorber Films has picked up "Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould," set for a theatrical release opening in September at Gotham's Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. DVD and digital will follow in early 2011.
Deal was negotiated by Lorber's Richard Lorber and Elizabeth Sheldon with Film Transit Intl.'s Diana Holtzberg and White Pine Pictures' Kelly Jenkins.
The human rights movement makes its way to Video On Demand (VOD) with Kimjongilia, offering all Americans the opportunity to take part through viewing this momentous documentary through instant online viewing or downloading. Testament to the power of the information age to bring to light the atrocities of the world's most isolated nation, this VOD release will reveal the tragedies of the ongoing totalitarian state of Kim Jong Il, the last large-scale totalitarian state of the twentieth century.
Not yet available on DVD, Kimjongilia is accessible now from the comfort of home or on iPod, iPhone, or iPad at MyFilmBlog.com. Winner of the Best Film 2010 from One World Brussels, in co-op with Human Rights Democracy Network, Kimjongilia is a cri de coeur that will put North Korea on the table in human rights debates around the world.
To read Filmmaker N.C. Heikin's blog visit Kimjongilia.MyFilmBlog.com. Access bonus interviews not included in the final cut, ask the filmmaker questions, and learn what you can do to stop the death camps in North Korea.
Kimjongilia had its U.S. premiere at New York's Cinema Village and will also be available at select theaters and community screenings across America before the DVD release. Click here to find out about upcoming screenings and learn how you can host a screening in your community.
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Critically acclaimed documentary about the dramatic performance of one of the reigning queens of contemporary theater and film, Meryl Streep, as she interprets the role of Mother Courage in Tony Kushner's The Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival in Central Park production of Mother Courage and Her Children.
This inspired doc investigates the power of theater to provoke its viewers out of their complacency in the midst of protracted war, and proves the urgent relevancy of the great 1939 anti-war play by one of the twentieth century's most renowned playwrights, Bertolt Brecht.
"...filmmaker John Walter jumps from art to history and politics and back again, from the theater of the streets to the theater of the stage, without pause. That makes the movie... tough to summarize, which is part of its appeal" - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
Definitive film on the gypsy punk rock band and international sensation uncovers the insane party culture of the band and its leader and borderline movie star Eugene Hutz.
“In “Gogol Bordello Non-Stop” [Eugene Hutz] emerges as a passionate, articulate philosopher of punk’s democratic participatory aesthetic who espouses the rejection of social hierarchies in concerts that are raucous, bacchanalian performance-art carnivals.” — Stephen Holden, The New York Times
A vibrant chronicle of one of today’s most notorious and revered live bands, GOGOL BORDELLO NON-STOP follows Eugene Hütz’s gypsy-punk brigade around the world as they spread their liberating libertine musical gospel. Filmmaker Margarita Jimeno tracks their raucous gigs from 2001 to 2006, from NYC to Italy, as the band rises from dingy basements to festival main-stages. The cast is a rotating circus of polyglot personalities from Israel, Russia and America, who dish on their music, their heritage, and their favored vices. Hütz, a sardonic mustachioed Ukrainian immigrant and the group ringleader, fuses his gypsy heritage with a love of punk rock and burlesque. Part carnival barker, social organizer, and poet, he’s a mesmerizing presence on-stage and off.
GOGOL BORDELLO NON-STOP is an artful documentary that mixes flamboyant costumes, intricate dance choreography, a relentless beat and an explosive energy not seen since the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll.
Meditate & Destroy is now accessible to viewers from the comfort of their homes or on the go exclusively via Alive Mind's Video On Demand service. Meditate and Destroy is an 81-minute documentary about punk rock, spirituality, and inner rebellion. The film focuses on the bestselling author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, Noah Levine. Tattoos, motorcycles, and Buddha are featured in this hard-hitting look at how Buddhism has a place in the world of punks. This inspiring film opens our perception to the possibilities of finding new paths- even in our darkest hours.
This film provides an up-close look at how the driving forces in Noah’s life changed from violence, addiction and rebellion to taking on the role of dedicated meditation teacher and community leader - an individual whose candor inspires others to integrate Buddhist teachings of nonviolence and inner peace with a Western lifestyle.
Available to all U.S households or mobile devices with a high-speed Internet connection, Meditate & Destroy will inspire viewers to embrace the transformational power of Buddhism.
I hope you enjoy this quirky, unconventional film.
Love and Light,
Sarah Fisher
Inspirational Film Offered in Homes and on Mobile in Nationwide Launch from Alive Mind at Fiercelight.MyFilmblog.com
NEW YORK (MAY 4, 2009) - Beginning today, millions of people across the United States will be able to access the transformational documentary that captures the wave of Spiritual Activism exploding around the planet, and the powerful personalities who are igniting it on Video On Demand (VOD). Not yet available on DVD, Fierce Light is now accessible to viewers from the comfort of their homes or on the go at Fiercelight.MyFilmBlog.com. Available to all U.S households or mobile devices with a high-speed Internet connection, Fierce Light inspires viewers to embrace the transformational power of what Martin Luther King called "Love in Action," and what Gandhi called "Soul Force." Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper calls this uncompromisingly non-violent phenomenon Fierce Light-and attests that it is this very spirit that swept Barack Obama into the White House.
Yes, it is true, Nik Sheehan and FLicKeR are coming to New York city to the Anthology Film Archive, June 13th.
See you there.
From the April 1, 2009 press release announcing the Peabody Awards:
The Gates (HBO)
Maysles Films in association with HBO Documentary Films and CVJ
Filmmakers explored how the now-celebrated Central Park installation by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude came to be in this memoir of a creative process that survived a 24-year odyssey of bureaucratic hoop-jumping.
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New York, NY - March 12, 2009 - Lorber HT Digital has acquired the U.S. theatrical rights and public performance rights to the acclaimed documentary NOLLYWOOD BABYLON, co-directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal, on the heels of the film's U.S. premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition. The deal was negotiated by Christina Rogers for the National Film Board and by Richard Lorber and Elizabeth Sheldon for Lorber HT Digital.
Lorber HT Digital will open NOLLYWOOD BABYLON theatrically at select venues in the second quarter of this year, and will also make it available to educational and cultural institutions. After the initial theatrical release, Lorber HT Digital will release the DVD to the consumer market on its Alive Mind label later in 2009.
Industry pioneer Richard Lorber, founder of Lorber HT Digital, comments on the acquisition, "NOLLYWOOD BABYLON celebrates the power of film to transform a culture and an industry. The explosion of Nigerian cinema over the last two decades is the reclaiming of African story-telling and culture by and for Africans. Nigeria is the new cultural center of Africa and Nollywood is the epicenter."
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times calls the film, "...an irresistible treatise on the Nigerian film industry..."
About The Film
NOLLYWOOD BABYLON chronicles the wild world of "Nollywood," a term coined in the early ‘90s to describe the world's fastest-growing national cinema, surpassed only by its Indian counterpart. The film delves first-hand into Nigeria's explosive homegrown movie industry, where Jesus and voodoo vie for screen time. Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, known in Lagos as "Da Governor," is one of the most influential men in Nollywood. Undeterred by miniscule budgets, Da Governor is one of a cadre of resourceful filmmakers creating a garish, imaginative, and wildly popular form of B-movie that has frenzied fans begging for more. Among the bustling stalls of Lagos's Idumato market, films are sold, and budding stars are born. Creating stories that explore the growing battle between traditional mysticism and modern culture, good versus evil, witchcraft and Christianity, Nollywood auteurs have mastered a down-and-dirty, straight-to-video production formula that has become the industry standard in a country plagued by poverty. This burgeoning Nigerian film industry is tapping a national identity where proud Africans are telling their own stories to a public hungry to see their lives on screen. Peppered with outrageously juicy movie clips and buoyed by a rousing score fusing Afropop and traditional sounds, NOLLYWOOD BABYLON celebrates the distinctive power of Nigerian cinema as it marvels in the magic of movies.
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Theater of War is now available for Download to Own to screen in HD
Streep and Kevin Kline featured in documentary on the Tony Kushner-adapted Brecht masterwork
New York, NY – March 4, 2009 – Richard Lorber’s documentary label Alive Mind has acquired the U.S. theatrical, public performance and home video rights to the acclaimed documentary THEATER OF WAR, directed by John Walter (How to Draw a Bunny – Winner, Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival). Featuring Meryl Streep as the unforgettable Mother Courage, this 2008 documentary was based on the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Bertolt Brecht’s "Mother Courage and Her Children” in Central Park. THEATER OF WAR displays yet another facet to the brilliance of Streep, recently honored at the Oscars where she was cited for an unprecedented 15 nominations and two wins. The deal was negotiated by Sheri Levine and Michael Thornton of Forward Entertainment, Jack Turner of White Buffalo productions, and by Richard Lorber and Elizabeth Sheldon of Lorber HT Digital, for release under its Alive Mind banner.
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Controversial satirical series from leading Israeli channel now an international sensation.
New York, NY, February 23, 2009 — Richard Lorber has acquired the U.S. home entertainment rights to the controversial hit Israeli comedy series ARAB LABOR (Avoda Aravit), it was announced today. The deal was negotiated by Keren Shahar for Israeli producing broadcaster Keshet (Channel 2) and by Richard Lorber and Elizabeth Sheldon for Lorber HT Digital. The pact was facilitated by Steven Lawrence for Link TV, the independent television network which premiered the series on U.S. television this past fall to enormous success and media attention. The uniqueness and quality of the series also led to the unprecedented presentation of individual episodes at leading U.S. film festivals. The Los Angeles Times calls the series, “…groundbreaking and amazing,” and the San Francisco Chronicle calls it’s creator, Sayed Kashua, “The Palestinian Seinfeld.” Lorber and Link will partner in marketing and cross-promoting continued U.S. broadcast and DVD and digital download sales of the series.
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