Category: Film Festival News

Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s 43rd annual CineFestival

The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center announces the 43rd annual CineFestival at the historic Guadalupe Theater. Photo: google

San Antonio’s original Latinx film festival returns on July 6 through July 10 at the historic Guadalupe Theater with a large Texas filmmaker presence. Featuring 85 films, including 22 films from San Antonio and 24 films in the Lone Star State, CineFestival San Antonio continues to support local and regional filmmakers while offering a well-rounded program to local audiences that also includes national and international films that highlight artistic excellence and diversity. (Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, 2022)

“The amazing response that CineFestival San Antonio got this year to our call for entries, receiving a record number of submissions from filmmakers from across the State and the US, local and international, is a testament to the privileged position San Antonio has as a cultural hub, bridging the cultures of South Texas and the state’s borderlands with the rest of Texas and beyond. This response means focusing the film festival in local and regional works while reflecting artistic excellence in Latinx and indigenous filmmaking is the right path for a festival with such an amazing history to continue in a relevant trajectory that is meaningful to both audiences and participating artists.” – CineFestival Programmer Eugenio del Bosque.

The 43rd annual CineFestival San Antonio will feature 24 screenings showcasing 12 feature films and 73 short films. The festival will open on July 6 with the San Antonio premiere of PEPE SERNA, LIFE IS ART (Dir. Luis Reyes, 2022), a joyous look at the life and work of groundbreaking Mexican-American character actor Pepe Serna, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas whose hundred-plus charismatic scene-stealing roles paved the way for generations of Chicanx actors in Hollywood and beyond. 

The closing night film will be the world premiere of ‘Cuerpo,” directed by San Antonio’s own Mark Zuñiga, an ambitious horror film set in 18th century San Antonio exploring the culture and clashes between the Spanish colonists and the indigenous people they are trying to convert; a recipient of the San Antonio Film Commission’s local filmmaker grant, “Cuerpo” is a passion project produced and shot in the San Antonio area with local cast, crew, and an original score. 

Other feature films include:  

  • World premiere of the comedy “An Awesome Action Movie,” directed by Luis Antonio Rodriguez and shot in McAllen, Texas, and starring veteran Mexican actor Hector Soberón;
  • Sundance acclaimed documentary “Mija” by Isabel Castro;
  • Mexico’s powerful documentary “Comala” by Gian Cassini, which has strong ties to San Antonio;
  • “A Run for More” by Ray Whitehouse, which follows Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe as the first trans woman to run for city council in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas;
  • SXSW laureate Iliana Sosa’s “What We Leave Behind,” a love letter to the El Paso native director’s grandfather and an intimate and insightful exploration of her own relationship with him and his homeland;
  • The social justice horror film “Madres” by Ryan Zaragoza, co-written by San Antonio native Marcella Ochoa who will be in attendance and will also offer a master class for registered filmmakers.
  • “Jockey” by Clint Bentley, featuring an award-winning performance by Mexican-American thespian Clifton Collin’s Jr., grandson of Aguilares, Texas native character actor Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, most famous for his humorous sidekick roles in 1950s and 1960s John Wayne westerns.
  • “Earth Mother,” directed by Austin’s Brandon Polanco and starring San Antonio’s Annette Mia Flores.
  • “Capitol Barbie” by New Mexico native Riley Del Rey is a TV pilot, and a new programming line for CineFestival. A political show about a translatina on Capitol Hill, “Capitol Barbie” deals with delicate and socially pertinent themes, raising questions and opening conversations around racism, homophobia, and transphobia in the work place. The screenplay is written by trans and indigenous filmmakers Riley Del Rey and Violet Martinez.

The Mezquite Awards will be bestowed in two main categories: Audience Awards for the public’s favorite feature film and Jury Awards for Best Texas Short Film. A panel of industry professionals will be part of this year’s festival jury, who will choose the jury award-winning documentary and narrative films from a collection of 14 short films made in Texas, including works from Austin, Buda, Denton, El Paso, Houston, Laredo, and San Antonio. 

The ever-popular San Antonio showcase will featuring eight short films made by local artists, including works made by Nathaniel Avila, Guillermina Zabala, Esmeralda Hernandez, Ái Vuong, Samuel Díaz Fernández, Lisa Salinas Sosa, Miguel Contreras IV, Raymond Ramos, and Violeta de León Dávila. 

43 CineFestival San Antonio will offer ten free screenings, including Family Day with the Texas premiere of “Ainbo, Spirit of the Amazon” by Richard Claus and Jose Zelada, a US-Peruvian animated feature in the spirit of “Moana” and “Frozen;” and Senior Cinema, featuring an exclusive reprise screening of the documentary “Pepe Serna: Life is Art” dedicated to San Antonio’s elderly film lovers.

Free screenings will also include short film showcases including the Texas short film showcase featuring works from Austin, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Greenville, El Paso; a selection of international short films from Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Peru, Spain, and Venezuela; a collection of short films showcasing Latinx and indigenous talent from around the US; and the always eye-opening Youth Day screenings, featuring films made by artists 18 years old or younger which includes works made in San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley, Dallas, Arizona, Connecticut, Peru, and Spain. 

All 43 CineFesitval San Antonio screenings will take place at the historic Guadalupe Theater, located at 1301 Guadalupe Street, San Antonio, TX 78207. Full festival schedule and tickets are available online. Individual tickets are $8 and festival passes are $40. The 43 CineFestival San Antonio is made possible thanks to the continuing support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the San Antonio Film Commission, the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, and the Ford Foundation. 

 

Photo: Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, used with permission.

An Act of Worship to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2022

Khadega in Nausheen Dadabhoy’s An Act of Worship. Photo: Capital K Pictures, used with permission.

In other film festival news, ‘An Act of Worship’ will have its WORLD PREMIERE in Documentary Competition at the forthcoming Tribeca Film Festival 2022. The festival will take place in New York City from June 8 through June 19, 2022. (An Act of Worship, 2022)

‘An Act of Worship’ is a polyphonic portrait of the last 30 years of Muslim life in America. Told through the lens of Muslims living in the United States, the film offers a counter-narrative of pivotal moments in U.S. history and explores the impact of anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy on young Muslims who came of age after 9/11. Due to their first-hand knowledge and intimate access to the Muslim community, the filmmaking team is able to take charge of the account, which has previously been shaped by outsiders. ABER’s father was deported when she was 16. Now, she is a community organizer leading a sanctuary city initiative in New York. KHADEGA is an 18-year-old Sudanese immigrant living in Michigan. While she feels compelled to advocate for her community, she struggles to overcome society’s expectations of her and find her own way. AMEENA is a civil rights lawyer in California, but as a mother, she is conflicted between caring for her three young children or sacrificing her time with them to fight for change. Weaving together observational footage of these three women with community home videos, and evocative recollections from individuals impacted by incidents of Islamophobia,’ An Act of Worship’ opens a window into the world of Muslim Americans through collective memory.

NAUSHEEN DADABHOY is a director and cinematographer whose work spans fiction and documentary. She lensed an Oscar nominated film, an Emmy winning documentary, and films that have played at Sundance, TIFF, Locarno and on Al Jazeera, HBO and PBS. Her directorial debut THE GROUND BENEATH THEIR FEET premiered at IDFA.

Running Time: 83 Minutes
Language: English, Arabic Country: USA

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2022
An Act of Worship (Section: Documentary Competition)
WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: Nausheen Dadabhoy
Producer: Sofian Khan, Kristi Jacobson, Heba Elorbany

Public screening schedule:
Thursday, June 9 at 5p.m. at Village East – WORLD PREMIERE
Friday, June 10 at 6p.m. at Cinepolis – 2nd Public Screening
Sunday, June 12 at 8:15p.m. at Tribeca Film Center – 3rd Public Screening

Dances with Films premiere date of animated documentary ‘Eternal Spring’

Film participant and illustrator Daxiong. “Eternal Spring (長春)” will make its West coast premiere on June 15 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters. Photo: Lofty Sky Pictures, used with permission.

Lofty Sky Pictures groundbreaking filmmaker Jason Loftus’ (“Ask No Questions”) latest film, the powerful animated documentary “Eternal Spring (長春)”  will make its West coast premiere at this year’s Dances With Films (June 9 – 19, 2022), on Wednesday, June 15 with a 7p.m. premiere at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters (in the Hollywood & Highland complex in Los Angeles). “Eternal Spring (長春)” is a multiple award winner, most recently having won the Hot Docs Audience Award for best film and the Rogers Audience Award for best Canadian film, and both the audience and jury awards for International Documentary Feature Film at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. (Loft Sky Pictures, 2022)

This extraordinary harmony of animation and documentary has been awarded and acclaimed across Europe in its Film Festival run thus far for its groundbreaking animation – and of particular note, has been its incredible comic-book-style animation that transports the viewer into the brave and heroic world of a group of Falun Gong practitioners. “Eternal Spring ( 長春)” with its story of survival at all costs & battle for human rights continues to draw powerful comparisons to beloved Oscar nominee “Flee.”

This Canadian film was made for theatrical (it is in 2.39 Cinema 4K and audiences are loving it on the big screen thus far from its international film festival run), most recently to sold out audiences at the New York Human Rights Film Festival on May 23 at Lincoln Center & May 24 at IFC Center (one of 10 official selections and the US premiere), and again on May 31 and June 2 at Krakow Film Festival (Oscar qualifying International Documentary Competition, Polish Premiere). 

“Eternal Spring (長春)” – Confronted with government denunciations and human rights violations against their spiritual practice, a group of Chinese activists executes a bold and perilous plan to hack into state television.

“Eternal Spring (長春)” – In March 2002, a state TV signal in China is hijacked by members of banned spiritual group Falun Gong. Their goal is to counter the government narrative about their practice. In the aftermath, police raids sweep Changchun City and comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars), a Falun Gong practitioner, is forced to flee. He arrives in North America, blaming the hijacking for worsening a violent repression. His views are challenged when he meets the lone surviving participant to have escaped China, now living in Seoul, South Korea.

Combining present-day footage with 3D animation inspired by Daxiong’s art, Eternal Spring retraces the event on its 20th anniversary, and brings to life an unprecedented story of defiance, harrowing eyewitness accounts of persecution, and an exhilarating tale of determination to speak up for political and religious freedoms, no matter the cost.

Official lineup for the 10th annual Key West Film Festival

Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘C’MON, C’MON’ will have its Florida premiere at this week’s Key West Film Festival. Photo: A24, used with permission.

The 10th Annual Key West Film Festival announces its official 2021 lineup including major falls films from Jane Campion, Sean Baker, Mike Mills, Pedro Almodovar, and Paolo Sorrentino. More than 75 films will be part of the five day festival, which runs November 17-21 and celebrates its 10th Anniversary. A full lineup of the festival is available online. (Key West Film Festival, 2021)

The star studded spotlight films will be joined by the previously announced RED ROCKET (A24), whose director, Sean Baker, will be honored with the prestigious Golden Key Award for Excellence in Filmmaking, along with JOCKEY (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Clifton Collins Jr, which will also see its director, Clint Bentley, honored with the inaugural Golden Key for Breakthrough Florida Filmmaker.

As previously announced, BRIAN WILSON: LONG PROMISED ROAD, will open the festival on November 17 at an outdoor screening under the stars at the Key West Amphitheater. The short film BLONDIE: VIVIR EN HABANA, about the celebrated artist’s recent concert in Cuba, will precede the film.

This year’s LGBTQ films, programmed with the assistance of Eugene Hernandez, Director of the New York Film Festival, and Brian Brooks of Cinetic Media, include GREAT FREEDOM, winner of the Jury Prize for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, the Cold War forbidden love story FIREBIRD, and BOULEVARD! A HOLLYWOOD STORY, chronicling the love triangle that resulted from Gloria Swanson’s attempts to adapt “Sunset Boulevard” into a musical and directed by Jeffrey Schwarz, which marks his fourth film to play at the festival (I am Divine, Tab Hunter Confidential, The Fabulous Alan Carr).

Documentaries take center stage at the festival this year, with each film featuring a live appearance or event. Award-winning director Penny Lane (Our Nixon, Nuts!, Hail Satan!) will appear with her newest film, LISTENING TO KENNY G; multiple Gotham Award and Cinema Eye Award nominee Douglas Tirola comes to town with his Leonard Bernstein film, BERNSTEIN’S WALL; Danielle Kummer will cross the pond to appear with ALIEN ON STAGE, about a small town musical of the sci fi classic Alien, and KWFF will host a special wine tasting after the screening of BLIND AMBITION, which follows Zimbabwe’s first team to compete in the international wine tasting tournament.

International films include Academy Award-winner Paolo Sorrentino’s HAND OF GOD and FINAL SET, starring Kristin Scott Thomas.

KWFF 2021 will host additional outdoor events at the Lawn at The Perry Hotel, where a special sing-along edition of the 20th Anniversary of the 2001 film MOULIN ROUGE will be screened along with Eric Clapton’s latest concert film, ERIC CLAPTON: THE LADY IN THE BALCONY. The Perry will also screen a collection of boundary pushing short films prior to a Welcome Party for visiting filmmakers and VIPs on Thursday, November 18.

Florida gets its moment in the sun with an all-day Florida Focus on Sunday, November 21. A collection of award-winning shorts from Key West High School’s Conch 5 Studios – who recently sent NINE films to the National High School Student Film Awards – will be screened in the morning, followed by the 15thanniversary screening of Florida Filmmaking legend Billy Corben’s COCAINE COWBOYS. Corben will participate in a discussion following the screening. The award winning Miami-produced feature LUDI will also screen at the festival.

The festival shines on an Alumni spotlight on Nell Teare’s BOLIVAR. This is her first feature after having won numerous awards for her short films at the festival.

The shorts programs and Florida feature films were curated from over 1000 submissions, with entries from nearly all 50 states and dozens of countries.

Returning programs this year include the 7th annual Critics Panel, in which top film critics will join both in person and virtually by Zoom to cover the seismic changes in the industry this year; the sixth annual Golden Key for Excellence in Costume Design awarded to Paul Tazewell for his work in WEST SIDE STORY, making KWFF the only such festival to annual honor this art; Kibbitz with Critics series, in which the curating critic shares one of their favorite films from the last year over brunch. Aguilar will present the charming immigration story LIMBO; and the presentation of the prestigious Critics Prize, given each year to one film across the program as decided upon by participating critics. Past critics have included Kenneth Turan, Jen Yamato and Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times, Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, Eric Kohn of Indiewire, Emily Yoshida of New York Magazine, David Fear of Rolling Stone, Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York, and Amy Nicholson of KPCC-LA’s Film Week.

Photo: Key West Film Festival, used with permission.
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Feature documentary Young Plato to have world premiere at DOC NYC 2021

Young Plato will premiere at this year’s DOC NYC. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

An inspiring documentary from the filmmakers of School Life, Young Plato charts the dream of Elvis-loving school headmaster Kevin McArevey – a maverick who is determined to change the fortunes of an inner-city community plagued by urban decay, sectarian aggression, poverty, and drugs. The all-boys primary school in post-conflict Belfast, Northern Ireland, becomes a hot house for questioning violence, as the headmaster sends his young wards home each day armed with the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosophers. The boys challenge their parents and neighbors to forsake the prejudice that has kept this low-level civil war on the boil for decades. Young Plato hums with the confidence of youth, a tribute to the power of the possible. (Young Plato, 2021)

Young Plato (Section: International Competition)
World Premiere
Directors: Neasa Ní Chianáín and Declan McGrath
Producer: David Rane
Running time: 102 Minutes
Language: English Country: Ireland (Feature Documentary)

Public screenings of Young Plato at DOC NYC 2021
Sunday, November 14 at 4:05p.m.
Location: Cinepolis Chelsea

Monday, November 15 at 1:15p.m.
Location: Cinepolis Chelsea

Tickets available online.

Neasa Ní Chianáín (Director) is one of Ireland’s most established documentary talents. She has directed nine documentaries (four feature length) and one TV series. Recent films include the award-winning Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie, Fairytale of Kathmandu, and The Stranger, which screened at the 67th Locarno Film Festival. Neasa is currently in post-production on a new feature documentary, ‘The Alexander Complex’ and has recently completed ‘Young Plato’ which will have its World Premiere at DOC NYC 2021.

Her last film, ‘In Loco Parentis’ (aka ‘School Life’), has been a world-wide success, premiering in competition at both IDFA 2016 and Sundance 2017. ‘School Life’ won the Special Jury Prize in the Golden Gate Awards at the San Francisco Film Festival, and an Audience Award (Prix du Public) at Visions du Réel in Nyon. Neasa was also chosen to take part in the Sydney Film Festival’s ‘Europe! Voices of Women in Film,’ which selected 10 of Europe’s most promising women directors.

Declan McGrath (Director) is a filmmaker whose recent credits include the award-winning ‘Lomax in Éirinn ‘ (TG4) and ‘Mary McAleese & The Man Who Saved Europe ‘(RTE, BBC). He has written two books on the craft of filmmaking (Screencraft: ‘Editing & Post Productions’ and Screencraft: ‘Scriptwriting’), both translated into five languages. He is also a regular contributor to the New York film journal, Cineaste. Declan also directed the TV series ‘Seinn Liom’ and ‘Cad É An Scéal’ (BBC) and has worked as an editor for over twenty-five years, cutting numerous award-winning dramas and documentaries.

His credits as a director include the acclaimed: ‘Lomax in Éirinn,’ which screened at festivals worldwide, ‘My Struggle For Life,’ ‘Tír Eoghain: The Unbreakable Bond,’ ‘Mary McAleese & The Man Who Saved Europe’ and ‘Women Of The Oireachtas.’ His most recent film ‘Young Plato’ will have its World Premiere at DOC NYC 2021.

His credits as a producer include: ‘The Occupation,’ which was nominated for the New York Festivals Film and TV Awards in 2018.

World premiere of Our American Family documentary

The documentary Our American Family will premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Our American Family is a radically honest, unfiltered portrait of a close-knit Philadelphia family fighting its greatest nemesis: generational addiction. Beginning with a pivotal, “nothing to lose” moment, then captured over the course of the following year, five family members tired of life plagued by addiction on center stage, each struggle to transcend their crippling histories: a mother who learned from childhood to enable her own mother’s addiction, a daughter who doesn’t know who she is without a substance, a son who learned everything about “Heroin 101” from his sister, a younger son who feels alone but acts content to ease the family’s burden, and a stepfather who wonders if addiction is really a disease or simply a by-product of laziness. What will it take to shift this entrenched, wrenching pattern in their lives? How will they each free themselves from their interlocking fates? Will they be able to make significant changes to help their next generation? The members of Our American Family invite us into their lives to find hope and to explore what is possible. No experts. No drug use. No melodrama. (Our American Family, 2021)

WORLD PREMIERE–Feature Length Documentary (USA)
RT 87 mins
Directed and produced by Hallee Adelman and Sean King O’Grady

Tickets are available for the Woodstock Film Festival 2021 Screenings
World Premiere: Saturday October 2 at 3:45p.m.
Bearsville Theater
291 Tinker St
Woodstock, NY 12498

Sunday October 3 at 2p.m.
Orpheum Theatre Saugerties
156 Main St
Saugerties, NY 12477

Courtesy photo, used with permission