Escaping a former troubled lifestyle doesn’t always guarantee a person’s future safety, as their past almost always has a way of catching up with them. That’s certainly the case for the protagonist in the new neo-noir crime drama, ‘The Persian Connection.’ In honor of the movie’s release in theaters today by Samuel Goldwyn Films, Shockya […]
The post Reza Sixo Safai Tells Helena Mattsson They Have to Leave in The Persian Connection Exclusive Clip appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Reza Sixo Safai Tells Helena Mattsson They Have to Leave in The Persian Connection Exclusive Clip appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 7/14/2017
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
A man enters a nightclub. He is late for an appointment. A woman greets him. They sit down for a moment. It becomes obvious that they share a shady past. What secrets wait to be revealed? Reza Sixo Safai, Helena Mattsson and Julian Sands star in The Persian Connection and we have an exclusive clip for your viewing pleasure. Synopsis: As a child soldier, Behrouz (Reza Sixo Safai) miraculously survived the Iran-Iraq War to be squirreled away to the streets of Los Angeles. After two decades under the ruthless Iranian mobster Cirrus Golshiri (Parviz Sayyad), Behrouz leaves the underworld to follow his American Dream of becoming a "Real Estate Man." But after a chance encounter involving a high-stakes poker game, he is brought back into...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/5/2017
- Screen Anarchy
We still don’t know what’s in store for us when “Twin Peaks” makes its long-awaited return next month, but we do finally have some new footage — kind of. Showtime has released a new teaser for the series, and though the 30-second ad consists of nothing more than a few establishing shots, it does serve to remind that this truly is happening and is just a few weeks away.
Read More: ‘Twin Peaks’ New Teaser Sums Up the First Two Seasons in Less Than Three Minutes — Watch
Carrying the tagline “Something old is new again…,” the teaser returns us to a few familiar locations: the red room, the sheriff’s department, the Double-r Diner. We don’t actually see anybody — most of the main cast is returning, with a few notable exceptions; there are also a number of new additions — suggesting that they must all be in another place.
Read More: ‘Twin Peaks’ New Teaser Sums Up the First Two Seasons in Less Than Three Minutes — Watch
Carrying the tagline “Something old is new again…,” the teaser returns us to a few familiar locations: the red room, the sheriff’s department, the Double-r Diner. We don’t actually see anybody — most of the main cast is returning, with a few notable exceptions; there are also a number of new additions — suggesting that they must all be in another place.
- 4/28/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
After premiering last year at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the coming-of -age sports comedy “Tracktown” is finally making its way to theaters and On Demand next month.
In anticipation of its release, IndieWire has an exclusive clip from the film in which we see the determination of Olympic hopeful Plumb Marigold, played by real-life Olympian Alexi Pappas, despite being forced to take a day off from her hardcore training regime. Plumb is determined to make it onto the Olympic team with absolutely no distractions getting in the way — except perhaps the nice boy who works at the bakery who catches her eye.
Read More: Laff Review: ‘Tracktown’ Is A Different Kind of Sports Movie
The quirky feature, which Pappas co-wrote and co-directed alongside Jeremy Teicher, follows Plumb after a minor injury makes her adjust a rather unforgiving schedule and she finds that her life as an athlete may...
In anticipation of its release, IndieWire has an exclusive clip from the film in which we see the determination of Olympic hopeful Plumb Marigold, played by real-life Olympian Alexi Pappas, despite being forced to take a day off from her hardcore training regime. Plumb is determined to make it onto the Olympic team with absolutely no distractions getting in the way — except perhaps the nice boy who works at the bakery who catches her eye.
Read More: Laff Review: ‘Tracktown’ Is A Different Kind of Sports Movie
The quirky feature, which Pappas co-wrote and co-directed alongside Jeremy Teicher, follows Plumb after a minor injury makes her adjust a rather unforgiving schedule and she finds that her life as an athlete may...
- 4/25/2017
- by Juan Diaz
- Indiewire
In case you have somehow not heard, “La La Land” has a very intricate opening number. Filmmaker Damien Chazelle’s salute to movie musicals of the past opens in a burst of color, music, and people dancing in the middle of traffic, and if you’ve ever wanted to know what went into making “Another Day of Sun” happen, now is your chance.
In our new exclusive featurette, which will be included on the film’s DVD and Blu-ray release, Chazelle talks about his fascination with Los Angeles traffic and how car radios were integral to setting the scene. Also, he is still the top spokesman for dreamers.
Read More: Emma Stone Fan Recreates ‘La La Land’ Opening Scene to Ask Her to Be His Prom Date — Watch
“There’s a way that you can kind of disconnect from the outside world when you’re in your car,” Chazelle says in the featurette.
In our new exclusive featurette, which will be included on the film’s DVD and Blu-ray release, Chazelle talks about his fascination with Los Angeles traffic and how car radios were integral to setting the scene. Also, he is still the top spokesman for dreamers.
Read More: Emma Stone Fan Recreates ‘La La Land’ Opening Scene to Ask Her to Be His Prom Date — Watch
“There’s a way that you can kind of disconnect from the outside world when you’re in your car,” Chazelle says in the featurette.
- 4/25/2017
- by Allison Picurro
- Indiewire
Getting cast by David Lynch is a dream come true, but actually working with the filmmaker is an entirely different, very unpredictable beast. Laura Dern, Naomi Watts and Patricia Arquette know what it’s like better than anyone. Watts and Arquette are the women behind two of Lynch’s most iconic blondes, Betty Elms in “Mulholland Drive” and Renee Madison in “Lost Highway,” while Dern already has three Lynch films under her belt, with a fourth collaboration already wrapped thanks to the “Twin Peaks” revival.
Read More: Why ‘Mulholland Drive’ Is the Most Essential Film David Lynch Will Ever Make — Watch
“I’m always excited and surprised by what he asks me to play,” Dern says in a new video interview from W Magazine. “Even in the beginning, I signed on because of David. He inspires that trust.”
“David will look at three or four, or maybe five, different pictures and say,...
Read More: Why ‘Mulholland Drive’ Is the Most Essential Film David Lynch Will Ever Make — Watch
“I’m always excited and surprised by what he asks me to play,” Dern says in a new video interview from W Magazine. “Even in the beginning, I signed on because of David. He inspires that trust.”
“David will look at three or four, or maybe five, different pictures and say,...
- 4/25/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
In case you were expecting Matthew Vaughn’s follow-up to his spy action-comedy “Kingsman: The Secret Service” to be typical sequel fare, you might want to think again. If the new trailer for “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is anything to go by, things seem to be bigger, brassier, and bolder.
Read More: Looks Like Colin Firth Is Back For ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ After All
The sequel catches us up with Eggsy (Taron Edgerton), Merlin (Mark Strong), and Harry (Colin Firth), who seems to be alive and well despite definitely being shot in the head the last time we saw him. The Kingsman are jetting off to the United States to join forces with their American counterparts, the aptly named Statesman. Together, the two organizations set out to take down a criminal mastermind and member of The Golden Circle, a secret new world order group.
With an expanded, all-star cast that includes Julianne Moore,...
Read More: Looks Like Colin Firth Is Back For ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ After All
The sequel catches us up with Eggsy (Taron Edgerton), Merlin (Mark Strong), and Harry (Colin Firth), who seems to be alive and well despite definitely being shot in the head the last time we saw him. The Kingsman are jetting off to the United States to join forces with their American counterparts, the aptly named Statesman. Together, the two organizations set out to take down a criminal mastermind and member of The Golden Circle, a secret new world order group.
With an expanded, all-star cast that includes Julianne Moore,...
- 4/25/2017
- by Allison Picurro
- Indiewire
After premiering at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, “The Persian Connection” is finally headed to a theater near you. The debut feature of director Daniel Y-Li Grove, the film is a neon-noir film set in the Persian underbelly of L.A.
Read More: Film Acquisition Rundown: The Orchard Picks Up ‘Thelma,’ Samuel Goldwyn Films Buys ‘Gook’ and More
“The Persian Connection” follows Behrouz, a former child soldier who, after surviving the Iran-Iraq War, was smuggled away to the streets of Los Angeles to be monitored by the Iranian mobster Cirrus Golshiri. Wanting to escape from the life of organized crime and under the table dealings, Behrouz dreams of becoming the “American Real Estate Man.”
Twenty years later, a high stakes poker game brings Behrouz and Cirrus face to face. Accused of stealing from his boss, events from Behrouz’s past and present begin to collide and he and his girlfriend,...
Read More: Film Acquisition Rundown: The Orchard Picks Up ‘Thelma,’ Samuel Goldwyn Films Buys ‘Gook’ and More
“The Persian Connection” follows Behrouz, a former child soldier who, after surviving the Iran-Iraq War, was smuggled away to the streets of Los Angeles to be monitored by the Iranian mobster Cirrus Golshiri. Wanting to escape from the life of organized crime and under the table dealings, Behrouz dreams of becoming the “American Real Estate Man.”
Twenty years later, a high stakes poker game brings Behrouz and Cirrus face to face. Accused of stealing from his boss, events from Behrouz’s past and present begin to collide and he and his girlfriend,...
- 4/24/2017
- by Kerry Levielle
- Indiewire
“War changes everything,” Lily James whispers in the opening moments of David Leveaux’s feature film debut, “The Exception,” a sentiment that seems to carry right through the World War II-set thriller.
Based on Alan Judd’s 2003 novel “The Kaiser’s Last Kiss,” the film follows Jai Courtney as Wehrmacht officer Stefan Brandt, tasked with guarding Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer), the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who fled Germany and abdicated the throne decades before war broke out.
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’: How the Story of Hollywood Directors In World War II Became a Great Netflix Series
Despite his perilous place in the changing German government, the exiled Kaiser was important to the Nazis, and when word gets out that his home may be infiltrated by a British spy, the Nazis make it a priority to protect him. While guarding the ousted leader, Stefan falls for James’ Mieke,...
Based on Alan Judd’s 2003 novel “The Kaiser’s Last Kiss,” the film follows Jai Courtney as Wehrmacht officer Stefan Brandt, tasked with guarding Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer), the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who fled Germany and abdicated the throne decades before war broke out.
Read More: ‘Five Came Back’: How the Story of Hollywood Directors In World War II Became a Great Netflix Series
Despite his perilous place in the changing German government, the exiled Kaiser was important to the Nazis, and when word gets out that his home may be infiltrated by a British spy, the Nazis make it a priority to protect him. While guarding the ousted leader, Stefan falls for James’ Mieke,...
- 4/24/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Zack Snyder’s long-promised “Justice League” feature film is mere months from release, so it’s time the film’s marketing to ratchet into high gear. Enter a brand new trailer, which utilizes a modernized take (???) on The Beatles classic “Come Together” to do just that, uniting the erstwhile superhero team — including Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash — to battle a brand new big bad.
The trailer seems bent on playing up the whole “hey, let’s put a team together” aspect of the new franchise entry, and while it’s not high on the action, it leans into some more humorous elements of bringing together such a disparate group of super-powered outcasts. Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne jokes that his power is being rich (fair), while Ezra Miller as The Flash and Jason Momoa as Aquaman add some very necessary lightness to a typically dark series. (If...
The trailer seems bent on playing up the whole “hey, let’s put a team together” aspect of the new franchise entry, and while it’s not high on the action, it leans into some more humorous elements of bringing together such a disparate group of super-powered outcasts. Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne jokes that his power is being rich (fair), while Ezra Miller as The Flash and Jason Momoa as Aquaman add some very necessary lightness to a typically dark series. (If...
- 4/24/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver has a message for the subset of Americans who continue to hold out hope that Donald Trump’s administration is somehow being positively influenced by the work and interests of his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner: Uh, maybe don’t.
On last night’s episode of the HBO political chat show, Oliver dedicated his long-form deep-dive segment to exploring Ivanka and Jared’s credentials — beyond just the obvious nepotism — as a way to examine the true possibilities of their positions in the White House. In short, it’s not exactly heartening.
Read More: ‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Visits a Very French Bistro to Explain Terrifying Elections — Watch
From Ivanka’s strange double-talk when it comes to her ability to influence her father (basically, she says she does it all the time, but will never tell the world exactly how or why,...
On last night’s episode of the HBO political chat show, Oliver dedicated his long-form deep-dive segment to exploring Ivanka and Jared’s credentials — beyond just the obvious nepotism — as a way to examine the true possibilities of their positions in the White House. In short, it’s not exactly heartening.
Read More: ‘Last Week Tonight’: John Oliver Visits a Very French Bistro to Explain Terrifying Elections — Watch
From Ivanka’s strange double-talk when it comes to her ability to influence her father (basically, she says she does it all the time, but will never tell the world exactly how or why,...
- 4/24/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
“Alien: Covenant” distributor 20th Century Fox is going all in on the fear factor of Ridley Scott’s latest journey to strange alien lands and even worse human-made decisions. The latest film in the ever-expanding “Alien” franchise has promised to load up on the visceral nightmares, and a new virtual reality experience from Oculus looks to feed directly into those exact terrors.
The new “experience,” billed “Alien: Covenant In Utero,” will arrive on the Vr platform on April 26 and promises “a 360-degree virtual reality journey into a living nightmare and offers a terrifyingly close and personal encounter as an alien neomorph…” Fun!
Read More: ‘Alien: Covenant’ First Footage: Fox Debuts Terrifying, Visceral New Look at Ridley Scott’s Sequel
You can get a (very short) peek at the project with a new teaser for the experience, which in just a few seconds manages to be totally consuming and genuinely scary.
The new “experience,” billed “Alien: Covenant In Utero,” will arrive on the Vr platform on April 26 and promises “a 360-degree virtual reality journey into a living nightmare and offers a terrifyingly close and personal encounter as an alien neomorph…” Fun!
Read More: ‘Alien: Covenant’ First Footage: Fox Debuts Terrifying, Visceral New Look at Ridley Scott’s Sequel
You can get a (very short) peek at the project with a new teaser for the experience, which in just a few seconds manages to be totally consuming and genuinely scary.
- 4/24/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Film previously titled The Loner debuted at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to The Persian Connection, written and directed by Daniel Y-Li Grove.
The film, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is slated for release in theatres, on demand and digital this summer.
The gangster drama centres on a former child soldier who, after being wrongly accused of stealing from his former boss, must return to the Persian opium underworld of Los Angeles to hunt down stolen drugs as events from his past and present clash, spiraling out of control. Cast include Reza Sixo Safai, Helena Mattsson, Parviz Sayyad and Julian Sands.
“The Persian Connection is an artistic take on a modern gangster film,” said Peter Goldwyn, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films. “Daniel’s imagining of the gritty side of Tehrangeles is a unique world from a neon lens, of which the likes you’ve never seen before...
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to The Persian Connection, written and directed by Daniel Y-Li Grove.
The film, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is slated for release in theatres, on demand and digital this summer.
The gangster drama centres on a former child soldier who, after being wrongly accused of stealing from his former boss, must return to the Persian opium underworld of Los Angeles to hunt down stolen drugs as events from his past and present clash, spiraling out of control. Cast include Reza Sixo Safai, Helena Mattsson, Parviz Sayyad and Julian Sands.
“The Persian Connection is an artistic take on a modern gangster film,” said Peter Goldwyn, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films. “Daniel’s imagining of the gritty side of Tehrangeles is a unique world from a neon lens, of which the likes you’ve never seen before...
- 3/21/2017
- ScreenDaily
Film previously titled The Loner debuted at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to The Persian Connection, written and directed by Daniel Y-Li Grove.
The film, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is slated for release in theatres, on demand and digital this summer.
The gangster drama centres on a former child soldier who, after being wrongly accused of stealing from his former boss, must return to the Persian opium underworld of Los Angeles to hunt down stolen drugs as events from his past and present clash, spiraling out of control. Cast include Reza Sixo Safai, Helena Mattsson, Parviz Sayyad and Julian Sands.
“The Persian Connection is an artistic take on a modern gangster film,” said Peter Goldwyn, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films. “Daniel’s imagining of the gritty side of Tehrangeles is a unique world from a neon lens, of which the likes you’ve never seen before...
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to The Persian Connection, written and directed by Daniel Y-Li Grove.
The film, which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is slated for release in theatres, on demand and digital this summer.
The gangster drama centres on a former child soldier who, after being wrongly accused of stealing from his former boss, must return to the Persian opium underworld of Los Angeles to hunt down stolen drugs as events from his past and present clash, spiraling out of control. Cast include Reza Sixo Safai, Helena Mattsson, Parviz Sayyad and Julian Sands.
“The Persian Connection is an artistic take on a modern gangster film,” said Peter Goldwyn, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films. “Daniel’s imagining of the gritty side of Tehrangeles is a unique world from a neon lens, of which the likes you’ve never seen before...
- 3/21/2017
- ScreenDaily
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to The Persian Connection, a noir thriller written and directed by Daniel Y-Li Grove that played at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival as The Loner. Reza Sixo Safai, Helena Mattsson, Julian Sands and Parviz Sayyad star in the pic, which now will aim for a summer release in theaters and on demand. Safai stars as Behrouz, who after surviving the Iran-Iraq War as a child soldier moved to Los Angeles to serve two decades…...
- 3/21/2017
- Deadline
On Tuesday, Americans go to the voting booth to determine what kind of country they want theirs to be. Months of the most polarized, and polarizing, presidential campaign in recent memory have left many of us with battle fatigue and gnawing pangs of cynicism and nausea. To quote Thomas McGuane, in the opening line of his 1973 novel “92 in the Shade”: “Nobody knows, from sea to shining sea, why we are having all this trouble with our republic.”
Our filmmakers might have a clue. And a little distance brings perspective. The American Film Festival just celebrated its seventh annual survey of new (and mostly) independent cinema made in the U.S.A., as assembled for and viewed by eager European audiences in Wroclaw, Poland. Though not without some escapist and experimental tangents, the selections couldn’t help but offer a provocative composite of work that serves as a kind of state of the union address.
Our filmmakers might have a clue. And a little distance brings perspective. The American Film Festival just celebrated its seventh annual survey of new (and mostly) independent cinema made in the U.S.A., as assembled for and viewed by eager European audiences in Wroclaw, Poland. Though not without some escapist and experimental tangents, the selections couldn’t help but offer a provocative composite of work that serves as a kind of state of the union address.
- 11/7/2016
- by Steve Dollar
- Indiewire
sounds intriguing on paper: a former child soldier from Iran drifts through L.A.'s seedy underbelly and becomes entangled in a web of crime, violence, and drugs. Heavily influenced by films like Drive and David Lynch's oeuvre -- one of the opening shots is a white picket fence with yellow flowers, a nod to the red ones in Blue Velvet, and Lynch regular Laura Harring turns up as a mysterious femme fatale -- The Loner struggles to find its own voice amidst its admittedly stunning neon dreamscape. Our guide through this world is Behrouz (Reza Sixo Safai, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), the aforementioned child soldier, who is now an opium addict running errands for his real estate-tycoon boss when not having drug-fueled...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/29/2016
- Screen Anarchy
There really are only so many different stories. The trick is to tell one that feels new in more than just the details. Consider the following setup — a criminal trying to go straight is pulled back into the world of violence he so desperately tried to leave behind. We’ve seen it a hundred times before from Les Miserables to Swordfish, but what makes the best examples stand out are the characters and the world around which the story unfolds. Writer/director Daniel Grove‘s feature debut, The Loner, is set in modern day Los Angeles, but it’s an L.A. that feels new and fresh with nearly every frame. Behrouz (Reza Sixo Safai) was a child soldier in Iran during his country’s war with Iraq in the 1980’s, but after escaping the slaughter at the front lines he made his way west to the land of opportunity. What...
- 4/17/2016
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
While I enjoyed The Loner, I’ll admit that it doesn’t initially have its bearings straight. Writer/Director Daniel Grove opens on an Iranian child being beckoned into martyrdom, but then a tonal shift to 1980s Los Angeles brings about neon-drenched noir settings that some may struggle to interpret. We try to make connections, yet the puzzle is still unclear in its early stages.
Fortunately, as clarity explains itself, a neo-noir-ish, stranger-with-no-name kind of gangster film plays out, exploring an Iranian/Russian underground region of La that few have witnessed (if it even exists?). Patience is certainly a virtue, but you’ll be paid off in time – just don’t jump to any jumbled conclusions too quickly.
Reza Sixo Safai stars as Behrouz, a former Iranian gangster who finds himself being sucked back into a sleazy underworld crime syndicate. His old boss, Cirrus (Parviz Sayyad), accuses him of stealing merchandise,...
Fortunately, as clarity explains itself, a neo-noir-ish, stranger-with-no-name kind of gangster film plays out, exploring an Iranian/Russian underground region of La that few have witnessed (if it even exists?). Patience is certainly a virtue, but you’ll be paid off in time – just don’t jump to any jumbled conclusions too quickly.
Reza Sixo Safai stars as Behrouz, a former Iranian gangster who finds himself being sucked back into a sleazy underworld crime syndicate. His old boss, Cirrus (Parviz Sayyad), accuses him of stealing merchandise,...
- 4/16/2016
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Warning: The clip is slightly Nsfw. The feature debut of Daniel Grove, The Loner follows a reformed mobster, Behrouz, who lives haunted by memories of being a child soldier in Iran in the 1980s. Now pursuing the American Dream in Los Angeles, he finds it increasingly difficult to stay away from a life of crime he left behind. In this exclusive clip from the film, which has its world premiere today at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, we see a drugged out, hazy moment of…...
- 4/15/2016
- Deadline
Top brass at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival presented by At&T have announced selections in the Us Narrative, International Narrative and Documentary Competition strands.
The films comprise 55 out of 110 features that will play during the 15th edition of the New York festival from April 13-24. The festival will present features films in the Spotlight, Midnight, and Special Sections on March 8.
Also included in Wednesday’s announcement are the out-of-competition Viewpoints titles.
The world premiere of Bill Ross and Turner Ross’ Contemporary Color will open the World Documentary competition on April 14, while the world premiere of Kicks by Justin Tipping will open the Us Narrative competition.
The world premiere of Madly directed by Gael García Bernal, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Silva, Anurag Kashyap, Sion Sono, and Natasha Khan will open the International Narrative Competition. Viewpoints will open with the world premiere of Nerdland directed by Chris Prynoski.
One third of the festival’s feature films are directed by women...
The films comprise 55 out of 110 features that will play during the 15th edition of the New York festival from April 13-24. The festival will present features films in the Spotlight, Midnight, and Special Sections on March 8.
Also included in Wednesday’s announcement are the out-of-competition Viewpoints titles.
The world premiere of Bill Ross and Turner Ross’ Contemporary Color will open the World Documentary competition on April 14, while the world premiere of Kicks by Justin Tipping will open the Us Narrative competition.
The world premiere of Madly directed by Gael García Bernal, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Silva, Anurag Kashyap, Sion Sono, and Natasha Khan will open the International Narrative Competition. Viewpoints will open with the world premiere of Nerdland directed by Chris Prynoski.
One third of the festival’s feature films are directed by women...
- 3/2/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The 5th edition of the Us in Progress co-production forum was held on October 22-23, 2015, during the 6 th American Film Festival in Wrocław. Director Shaz Bennett and producers Melanie Miller and Diane Becker acquired the most awards and therefore emerged as Us in Progress winners for "Alaska is a Drag".
Us in Progress is an industry event that aims to strengthen the trans-Atlantic film industry collaborations and partnerships and help European film professionals establish working relationships with new emerging American filmmakers. The event is a bi-annual program conducted at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival in Paris during the summer before kicking-off in Wroclaw at Aff during the fall.
At the 6th American Film Festival, six films in various stages of post-production have conducted private screenings for film industry professionals, including Laurent Danielou (Loco Films), Mathieu Delaunay (Memento Films), Oda Schaeffer (k5), Silje Grimsdal (Trust Nordisk), and festival programmers from Edinburgh, Locarno, Tribeca, and a jury composed of yours truly, Sydney Levine, and Polish post-producers, to compete for post-production and promotional packages. In addition to the filmmaking duo, Shaz Bennett and Melanie Miller, two films have earned significant post-production awards - "Actor Martinez" by Nathan Silver and Mike Ott and "The Loner" by Daniel Y-Li Grove.
Here is a detailed listing of the awards:
"Alaska is a Drag" by Shaz Bennett, produced by Melanie Millerwill received:
post-production services up to the value of €10.000 (e.g. color grading or conforming, master Dcp, master Hdcam Sr, master Blu-ray, master DVD) from Chimney Poland, based in Warsaw; part of Chimney Groupa score composed by Maciej Zielinski from Soundflower Studiofinal mix 5.1 sound post-production to the value of $20.000 Euro (including rental of sound mixing studio with Thx and Dolby Premier certificates) from Toya Studios an offer to acquire Polish TV rights from Ale Kino+Several years ago, the filmmakers also received a couple of grants to develop the script from Clever in San Francisco (Cheryl Dunye’s company) and Naked Angels.
The script was developed through several programs at Sundance, Film Independent and Fox as well as the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.
"The Loner" by Daniel Grove and produced by Reza Sixo Safai received:
digital post-production services up to the value of €10.000 (excluding 35mm processing/scan; including conforming, color grading, grain/noise management, finishing, mastering, simple VFX, Dcp and other file based master from Fixafilm based in Warsaw and free registration to Producers' Network at Cannes 2016. "Actor Martinez" (working title) by Mike Ott and Nathan Silver (produced by Britta Erickson) received a second acquisition offer by Ale Kino+
Selected projects participating in last year's Us in Progress Wrocław or 2015 Us in Progress Paris were included in the Aff program: "Take Me to the River," dir. Matt Sobel (Polish premiere); "Stinking Heaven" (dir. Nathan Silver); "Ma" (dir. Celia Rowlson-Hall) and Reza Safai and Daniel Y Grove-produced "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" returned to the Aff to let the audiences benefit from the creators' attendance.
For the missing color correction, sound mix, VFX, and other deliverables for Bennett's and Miller's "Alaska is a Drag", the Us in Progress prize adds significant value in the finishing stage of post-production. The organizers and programmers of Us in Progress, Ula Śniegowska (artistic director of Aff), Adeline Monzier and Marie Zeniter (Black Rabbit Film), and Chantal Lian (Champs-Elysées Film Festival), look forward to following all the participating unfinished projects, and the future work and collaborations of all Us in Progress filmmakers.
More about Us in Progress and American Film Festival on www.americanfilmfestival.pl.
Us in Progress is an industry event that aims to strengthen the trans-Atlantic film industry collaborations and partnerships and help European film professionals establish working relationships with new emerging American filmmakers. The event is a bi-annual program conducted at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival in Paris during the summer before kicking-off in Wroclaw at Aff during the fall.
At the 6th American Film Festival, six films in various stages of post-production have conducted private screenings for film industry professionals, including Laurent Danielou (Loco Films), Mathieu Delaunay (Memento Films), Oda Schaeffer (k5), Silje Grimsdal (Trust Nordisk), and festival programmers from Edinburgh, Locarno, Tribeca, and a jury composed of yours truly, Sydney Levine, and Polish post-producers, to compete for post-production and promotional packages. In addition to the filmmaking duo, Shaz Bennett and Melanie Miller, two films have earned significant post-production awards - "Actor Martinez" by Nathan Silver and Mike Ott and "The Loner" by Daniel Y-Li Grove.
Here is a detailed listing of the awards:
"Alaska is a Drag" by Shaz Bennett, produced by Melanie Millerwill received:
post-production services up to the value of €10.000 (e.g. color grading or conforming, master Dcp, master Hdcam Sr, master Blu-ray, master DVD) from Chimney Poland, based in Warsaw; part of Chimney Groupa score composed by Maciej Zielinski from Soundflower Studiofinal mix 5.1 sound post-production to the value of $20.000 Euro (including rental of sound mixing studio with Thx and Dolby Premier certificates) from Toya Studios an offer to acquire Polish TV rights from Ale Kino+Several years ago, the filmmakers also received a couple of grants to develop the script from Clever in San Francisco (Cheryl Dunye’s company) and Naked Angels.
The script was developed through several programs at Sundance, Film Independent and Fox as well as the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.
"The Loner" by Daniel Grove and produced by Reza Sixo Safai received:
digital post-production services up to the value of €10.000 (excluding 35mm processing/scan; including conforming, color grading, grain/noise management, finishing, mastering, simple VFX, Dcp and other file based master from Fixafilm based in Warsaw and free registration to Producers' Network at Cannes 2016. "Actor Martinez" (working title) by Mike Ott and Nathan Silver (produced by Britta Erickson) received a second acquisition offer by Ale Kino+
Selected projects participating in last year's Us in Progress Wrocław or 2015 Us in Progress Paris were included in the Aff program: "Take Me to the River," dir. Matt Sobel (Polish premiere); "Stinking Heaven" (dir. Nathan Silver); "Ma" (dir. Celia Rowlson-Hall) and Reza Safai and Daniel Y Grove-produced "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" returned to the Aff to let the audiences benefit from the creators' attendance.
For the missing color correction, sound mix, VFX, and other deliverables for Bennett's and Miller's "Alaska is a Drag", the Us in Progress prize adds significant value in the finishing stage of post-production. The organizers and programmers of Us in Progress, Ula Śniegowska (artistic director of Aff), Adeline Monzier and Marie Zeniter (Black Rabbit Film), and Chantal Lian (Champs-Elysées Film Festival), look forward to following all the participating unfinished projects, and the future work and collaborations of all Us in Progress filmmakers.
More about Us in Progress and American Film Festival on www.americanfilmfestival.pl.
- 11/6/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Alaska Is A Drag director Shaz Bennett and producer Melanie Miller were the big winners at Us in Progress at the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland.
The fifth edition of Us in Progress, an industry event that showcases in-progress Us films to European film professionals, screened six films in various stages of post-production.
Alaska Is A Drag now receives post-production services worth €10.000 at Chimney Poland in Warsaw; a sound mix from Toya Studios; a score compsed by Soundflower Studio; and a TV rights deal with Ale Kino+.
The film is about an aspiring superstar, Leo (Martin L. Washington Jr.) and his twin sister Tristen (Maya Washington), who are stuck working in a fish cannery in Alaska.
Attendees at Us in Progress included Laurent Danielou (Loco Films), Mathieu Delaunay (Memento), Oda Schaeffer (K5), Silje Grimsdal (TrustNordisk), and festival programmers from Edinburgh, Locarno and Tribeca.
A jury composed of Sydney Levine and Polish post-producer awarded packages to [link...
The fifth edition of Us in Progress, an industry event that showcases in-progress Us films to European film professionals, screened six films in various stages of post-production.
Alaska Is A Drag now receives post-production services worth €10.000 at Chimney Poland in Warsaw; a sound mix from Toya Studios; a score compsed by Soundflower Studio; and a TV rights deal with Ale Kino+.
The film is about an aspiring superstar, Leo (Martin L. Washington Jr.) and his twin sister Tristen (Maya Washington), who are stuck working in a fish cannery in Alaska.
Attendees at Us in Progress included Laurent Danielou (Loco Films), Mathieu Delaunay (Memento), Oda Schaeffer (K5), Silje Grimsdal (TrustNordisk), and festival programmers from Edinburgh, Locarno and Tribeca.
A jury composed of Sydney Levine and Polish post-producer awarded packages to [link...
- 11/5/2015
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
The American Film Festival is building families. The 6th edition (October 20-25, 2015) of the Wroclaw, Poland film fest was better than any of the previous four I have attended as a jury member for the Us in Progress section. Networking with the USiP filmmakers, past participants Matt Sobel (“Take Me to the River”),Leah Meyerhoff (“I Believe in Unicorns”),Reza Sixo Safai (“A Girl Walks Home at Night Alone”) and whose present project “ The Loner” (he produced and stars in it, Daniel Grove directed) won at USiP, etc. mingled with Indie Star Awardees David Gordon Green and Hal Hartley and other filmmakers like Jenner Furst ("Welcome to Leith") invited to present their films and to eat and party together over five days and four nights which lasted until the wee hours of the morning.
African American Women's classics also showed for the first time ever to appreciative Polish audiences. Though luckily for them, but a sad miss for the audiences, every one of the filmmakers was too busy with other work to attend. The selected films brought rarely before scenes of life in America to a new public.
You can be sure Ava DuVernay was invited, and you can be equally certain that she was very busy with multiple projects.
When I was in Trinidad, I heard from the film's distributor, Michelle Materre, a well known lecturer and film curator whose film series and discussion group, Creatively Speaking, takes place at the N.Y. Film Society’s Lincoln Center and in L.A. that Julie Dash was busy working on a TV series or a doc. I hope one of you reading this will email me a more news of her, because since her film “Daughters of the Dust” premiered at Sundance in 1991, her fan base has grown and eagerly awaits more stories from her. For those who missed her instant classic at Sundance, "Daughters of the Dust" presents a transgenerational saga set on the fictitious island of Ibo's Landing in 1902 about a young woman's quest for identity. Guichees, or Gullahs, aka the Georgia Sea Islanders are U.S.'s most African community still living today off the Georgia and South Carolina coast. The film was presented to the audience as a radical feminist manifesto and landmark of independent American cinema.
Other films included in the series, curated by Ula Sniegowsk and a young film academic Ewa Drygalska, included Katherine Collins' (who tragically died of cancer at age 46) 1982 film "Losing Ground", Tanya Hamilton's "Night Catches Us", the popular and fabulous " The Secret Life of Bees" another Sundance premiering film, by Gina Prince-Blythewood (2008), Dee Rees' 2012 Sundance film "Pariah" and her recent HBO (who incidentally is an important sponsor of the festival with a showcase of its own films) fictional doc "Bessie" starring the one and only Queen Latifah, and Ava DuVernay's "Middle of Nowhere" and "Selma".
While we're on the subject of African American movies, the Spike Lee mentored new talent Michael Larnell, was here with my favorite "Next" generation film " Cronies".
Us in Progress had two out of six selected films about African Americans, the Four Award winning "Alaska Is a Drag" directed by former L.A. and Sundance Festival worker, debuting director Shaz Bennett, produced by Melanie Miller and Diane Becker; and "The Alchemist Cookbook" written and directed by Joel Potrykus. Other films included "Dope", documentarians' Albert Maysles' " In Transit", Nick Broomfield's "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and Frederick Wiseman's "In Jackson Heights", Mark Silver's "3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets", sleeper hit "Tangerine" by Sean Baker, "Field Niggas" a nocturnal portrait of Harlem by Khalik Allah, David Gordon Green's “George Washington", and last, but by no means least, Clint Eastwood's "Bird" as part of his extensive retrospective.
This festival is held in the largest Arthouse multiplex in Europe, built and owned (as is the festival itself, along with New Horizons Film Festival in July and several others) by arthouse film distributor and entrepreneur Roman Gutek.
Fabulous. Written by Sydney Levine in her hotel room at The Monopole where an opera rehearsal wafts through the morning air of a sunny, dry 50*F metropolis mixing with the sound of the streetcar. This has been a fabulous experience topped off by a fabulous tour of the city and today a visit to Europe's most fabulous zoo and aquarium.
African American Women's classics also showed for the first time ever to appreciative Polish audiences. Though luckily for them, but a sad miss for the audiences, every one of the filmmakers was too busy with other work to attend. The selected films brought rarely before scenes of life in America to a new public.
You can be sure Ava DuVernay was invited, and you can be equally certain that she was very busy with multiple projects.
When I was in Trinidad, I heard from the film's distributor, Michelle Materre, a well known lecturer and film curator whose film series and discussion group, Creatively Speaking, takes place at the N.Y. Film Society’s Lincoln Center and in L.A. that Julie Dash was busy working on a TV series or a doc. I hope one of you reading this will email me a more news of her, because since her film “Daughters of the Dust” premiered at Sundance in 1991, her fan base has grown and eagerly awaits more stories from her. For those who missed her instant classic at Sundance, "Daughters of the Dust" presents a transgenerational saga set on the fictitious island of Ibo's Landing in 1902 about a young woman's quest for identity. Guichees, or Gullahs, aka the Georgia Sea Islanders are U.S.'s most African community still living today off the Georgia and South Carolina coast. The film was presented to the audience as a radical feminist manifesto and landmark of independent American cinema.
Other films included in the series, curated by Ula Sniegowsk and a young film academic Ewa Drygalska, included Katherine Collins' (who tragically died of cancer at age 46) 1982 film "Losing Ground", Tanya Hamilton's "Night Catches Us", the popular and fabulous " The Secret Life of Bees" another Sundance premiering film, by Gina Prince-Blythewood (2008), Dee Rees' 2012 Sundance film "Pariah" and her recent HBO (who incidentally is an important sponsor of the festival with a showcase of its own films) fictional doc "Bessie" starring the one and only Queen Latifah, and Ava DuVernay's "Middle of Nowhere" and "Selma".
While we're on the subject of African American movies, the Spike Lee mentored new talent Michael Larnell, was here with my favorite "Next" generation film " Cronies".
Us in Progress had two out of six selected films about African Americans, the Four Award winning "Alaska Is a Drag" directed by former L.A. and Sundance Festival worker, debuting director Shaz Bennett, produced by Melanie Miller and Diane Becker; and "The Alchemist Cookbook" written and directed by Joel Potrykus. Other films included "Dope", documentarians' Albert Maysles' " In Transit", Nick Broomfield's "Tales of the Grim Sleeper" and Frederick Wiseman's "In Jackson Heights", Mark Silver's "3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets", sleeper hit "Tangerine" by Sean Baker, "Field Niggas" a nocturnal portrait of Harlem by Khalik Allah, David Gordon Green's “George Washington", and last, but by no means least, Clint Eastwood's "Bird" as part of his extensive retrospective.
This festival is held in the largest Arthouse multiplex in Europe, built and owned (as is the festival itself, along with New Horizons Film Festival in July and several others) by arthouse film distributor and entrepreneur Roman Gutek.
Fabulous. Written by Sydney Levine in her hotel room at The Monopole where an opera rehearsal wafts through the morning air of a sunny, dry 50*F metropolis mixing with the sound of the streetcar. This has been a fabulous experience topped off by a fabulous tour of the city and today a visit to Europe's most fabulous zoo and aquarium.
- 10/28/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Round-up of news from the sixth American Film Festival and Us in Progress showcase.
Shaz Bennett’s Alaska Is A Drag was the big winner at the fifth edition of the Us In Progress showcase during Wroclaw’s sixth American Film Festival (Oct 20-25).
The strand’s jury awarded post-production services worth up to $40,000 to the project. This will include colour correction from Chimney Poland, a score composed by Maciej Zielinski from Soundflower Studios, and a final sound mix from Toya Studios, as well as an offer to acquire TV rights from Ale Kino+.
The film, which is writer-director Bennett’s feature version of her 2012 short of the same name, was produced by her 4248 Productions with Melanie Miller’s Fishbowl Films.
The cast of the $700,000 project includes Matt Dallas, Jason Scott Lee, Margaret Cho, newcomer Martin L. Washington Jr. and Christopher O’Shea.
Daniel Grove, an executive producer on acclaimed horror A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,picked...
Shaz Bennett’s Alaska Is A Drag was the big winner at the fifth edition of the Us In Progress showcase during Wroclaw’s sixth American Film Festival (Oct 20-25).
The strand’s jury awarded post-production services worth up to $40,000 to the project. This will include colour correction from Chimney Poland, a score composed by Maciej Zielinski from Soundflower Studios, and a final sound mix from Toya Studios, as well as an offer to acquire TV rights from Ale Kino+.
The film, which is writer-director Bennett’s feature version of her 2012 short of the same name, was produced by her 4248 Productions with Melanie Miller’s Fishbowl Films.
The cast of the $700,000 project includes Matt Dallas, Jason Scott Lee, Margaret Cho, newcomer Martin L. Washington Jr. and Christopher O’Shea.
Daniel Grove, an executive producer on acclaimed horror A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,picked...
- 10/26/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The fifth edition of the Us in Progress co-production forum will be held on October 22-23rd, 2015, as a part of the 6th American Film Festival in Wrocław (October 20-25th).
Us in Progress aims to facilitate professional networking among European film professionals and emerging independent filmmakers from the United States. A biannual event, Us in Progress is also held in June during the Champs-Elysees Film Festival in Paris.
Invite-only screenings will feature six projects selected from fifty American independent feature-length submissions, all in final editing stages. Congratulations to the 2015 Us in Progress Wrocław participants:
"Actor Martinez" by Mike Ott & Nathan Silver "Alaska is a Drag" by Shaz Bennett "Americana" by Zachary Shedd "It Had to Be You" by Sasha Gordon "The Alchemist Cookbook" by Joel Potrykus "The Loner" by Daniel Grove Invited to Wroclaw, the filmmakers and/or their producers will present the projects to top European buyers and festival programmers (Locarno, Edinburgh, Versatile, Memento and Trust Nordisk among others) and attend one-to-one meetings and network.
The 2015 Us in Progress Wrocław partners provide in-kind awards of post-production service packages of combined value amounting to $40,000. Partners from the leading Polish sound and image studios include:
-Soundflower Studio and Maciej Zieliński
-Chimney Poland
-Fixafilms
-Toya Studios .
Prizes are also being offered by Producers' Network at Cannes and Ale kino+ (TV rights acquisition offer).
In 2014, the top prize was awarded to the producers/directors of "Homefront" (by Tyler Walker and Fidel Ruiz-Healy). They recently color-graded in Warsaw's Chimney.
Selections from last year's slate "God Bless the Child" and "Take Me to the River" had World Premieres at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and the 2015 Sundance Film festivals, respectively. Both films will screen this year in the Spectrum competition at the American Film Festival.
To learn more or contact Us in Progress please email: aff[At]snh.org.pl...
Us in Progress aims to facilitate professional networking among European film professionals and emerging independent filmmakers from the United States. A biannual event, Us in Progress is also held in June during the Champs-Elysees Film Festival in Paris.
Invite-only screenings will feature six projects selected from fifty American independent feature-length submissions, all in final editing stages. Congratulations to the 2015 Us in Progress Wrocław participants:
"Actor Martinez" by Mike Ott & Nathan Silver "Alaska is a Drag" by Shaz Bennett "Americana" by Zachary Shedd "It Had to Be You" by Sasha Gordon "The Alchemist Cookbook" by Joel Potrykus "The Loner" by Daniel Grove Invited to Wroclaw, the filmmakers and/or their producers will present the projects to top European buyers and festival programmers (Locarno, Edinburgh, Versatile, Memento and Trust Nordisk among others) and attend one-to-one meetings and network.
The 2015 Us in Progress Wrocław partners provide in-kind awards of post-production service packages of combined value amounting to $40,000. Partners from the leading Polish sound and image studios include:
-Soundflower Studio and Maciej Zieliński
-Chimney Poland
-Fixafilms
-Toya Studios .
Prizes are also being offered by Producers' Network at Cannes and Ale kino+ (TV rights acquisition offer).
In 2014, the top prize was awarded to the producers/directors of "Homefront" (by Tyler Walker and Fidel Ruiz-Healy). They recently color-graded in Warsaw's Chimney.
Selections from last year's slate "God Bless the Child" and "Take Me to the River" had World Premieres at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and the 2015 Sundance Film festivals, respectively. Both films will screen this year in the Spectrum competition at the American Film Festival.
To learn more or contact Us in Progress please email: aff[At]snh.org.pl...
- 10/1/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
With the American Film Festival in Wrocław comes the Us in Progress co-production forum initiative. It also means that micro gems might trickle down from Europe in the unfinished form into Sundance and/or SXSW in early 2016. On the plate for October 22nd and 23rd, the six projects selected for the 2015 Us in Progress Wrocław include:
Actor Martinez by Mike Ott and Nathan Silver
Up until now, the project that teams Littlerock, Pearblossom Hwy and Lake Los Angeles helmer with Exit Elena, Soft in the head, Uncertain Terms and Stinking Heaven had no title. This
stars Bobby Black, Connor Long and Lindsay Burdge.
Alaska is a Drag by Shaz Bennett
Based on her 2012 short, if Rocky and Hedwig had a love child – that would best describe our hero Leo — an aspiring superstar – if he can just get out of Alaska. Everyone who works in a fish cannery – slicing fish for...
Actor Martinez by Mike Ott and Nathan Silver
Up until now, the project that teams Littlerock, Pearblossom Hwy and Lake Los Angeles helmer with Exit Elena, Soft in the head, Uncertain Terms and Stinking Heaven had no title. This
stars Bobby Black, Connor Long and Lindsay Burdge.
Alaska is a Drag by Shaz Bennett
Based on her 2012 short, if Rocky and Hedwig had a love child – that would best describe our hero Leo — an aspiring superstar – if he can just get out of Alaska. Everyone who works in a fish cannery – slicing fish for...
- 9/23/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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