It's official and you can learn more at the link below about the A to Zs of Film Distribution Panel at SXSW that I am moderating. If you're headed down to Austin, check it out:

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.

Daring Expose Chronicles Gradual Disillusionment of Pretty Putin Protégé.

Born outside Moscow in 1989, Masha Drakova is a member of the first generation raised in Russia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the impressionable age of 15, she was recruited to join Nashi, a political youth group created by the Kremlin to shape the country's future leaders via a subtle form of mass mind control.

Consequently, young Masha soon took to heart the benign party line about the organization's primarily being pro-democracy and anti-fascist. And within a year, the poised and pretty patriot was promoted to a top position as the student movement's spokesperson.

Rising through the ranks, Masha was richly rewarded during her tenure as a reliable mouthpiece, enjoying her own television talk show, as well as such perks as a car, an apartment and a college education, all paid for by the government. She also became famous as the girl who had kissed Vladimir Putin after receiving a widely-publicized peck on the cheek while accepting a medal from him.

Totally taken with the President, Masha stated openly that he was the role model for the type of man she'd like to marry someday, citing such virtues as his strength, charisma and intelligence. But in swallowing the proverbial Kool-Aid hook, line and sinker, she was blinded to the secret flaws in her idol's persona.

Truth be told, Putin was a tyrant who was simultaneously discouraging dissent with the help of an army of henchmen comprised of Nashi zealots. His loyal goon squads were willing to advance the power-hungry President's agenda by any means necessary, whether that called for burning books, breaking a journalist's jaw, or by pooping on a political opponent's automobile.

Putin's Kiss is a daring documentary which carefully chronicles all of the above, along with Masha's gradual disillusionment with Putin and his repressive regime. The movie marks the marvelous directorial debut of Sweden's Lise Birk Pederson, an intrepid first-time filmmaker who ostensibly put herself and her brave subjects at considerable risk to shoot such an incendiary story on location in such an unforgiving police state.

An eye opening expose' not to missed, which reveals a "New Russia" that looks a lot like the "Old Russia."

See the trailer and visit the official website here: www.putinskissmovie.com. Opens February 17th at Cinema Village. Click here to buy your ticket now.

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated

In Russian with subtitles.

Running time: 85 minutes

Distributor: Kino Lorber Films

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!