film festival
FUTURESTATES Theatrical World Premiere at SXSW
Plan on attending South by Southwest (SXSW)? If so, you won’t want to miss the theatrical world premiere of FUTURESTATES –– ITVS’s new fictional series that explores what life will look like in America in the decades and centuries to come.
Join us on Sunday, March 14 at 5:00 PM, where we’ll be screening the following FUTURESTATES mini-features:
Mister Green, directed by Greg Pak
Plastic Bag, directed by Ramin Bahrani
The Rise, directed by Garret Williams
Silver Sling, directed by Tze Chun
Tent City, directed by Aldo Velasco
Tia & Marco, directed by Annie Howell
This is a unique opportunity to see these groundbreaking new films on the big screen at the one-of-a-kind SXSW Film Festival in high definition. Filmmakers Greg Pak, Annie Howell, Aldo Velasco, and Garret Williams will also be in attendance for a Q&A session, in addition to members of the ITVS staff.
This is your chance to ask all your pressing questions and learn more about this innovative project that’s unlike anything you’ve seen in public media.
We look forward to seeing you there!
ITVS Films at SXSW 2010
Held annually in Austin, Texas, South by Southwest (SXSW) is considered one of the world’s premiere festivals, recognizing the best of film, music and interactive projects. This year’s festival takes place March 12-21.
We’re really excited about this year’s festival! You won’t want to miss the world premiere of six episodes of our new online fictional series FUTURESTATES on March 14. These narrative mini-features explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
Learn more about FUTURESTATES on Beyond the Box >>
Also be sure to check out these four other compelling ITVS films at SXSW this year.
Six Films From ITVS’s FUTURESTATES to Premiere at SXSW
Held annually in Austin, Texas, South By Southwest (SXSW) is considered one of the world’s premiere festivals, recognizing the best of film, music, and interactive projects.
SXSW recently announced its 2010 film line-up and this year six ITVS films from our new online fictional series FUTURESTATES will have their theatrical premiere at the festival. These films include Mister Green by Greg Pak; Plastic Bag by Ramin Bahrani; The Rise by Garret Williams; Silver Sling by Tze Chun; Tent City by Aldo Velasco; and Tia & Marco by Annie Howell.
These narrative mini-features explore many of today’s complex social issues by imagining how they play out in the world of tomorrow.
Beginning March 2010, FUTURESTATES will be accessible exclusively online via ITVS’s redesigned website and will be available for free –– via streaming video –– on the new site’s enhanced broadband video player.
Reflections From the Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival, held annually in Park City, Utah, is one of the largest and most prominent festivals for independent filmmakers. This year, three ITVS films made their world premiere at the festival, which brings the total number of ITVS funded films that have screened at Sundance to 69 since we first attended in 1994. Lois Vossen, ITVS vice president and Independent Lens series producer, shares her reflections on this year’s festival, which wraps up this weekend.
Between screenings, Lois discovers Banksy art behind the Egyptian Theater in Park City, Utah.
Marquee at the Egyptian Theatre
Arriving in Park City, Utah at 8:00 AM on Friday morning, January 22, a couple of things were clear: it was doubtful that I would get caught up on sleep here. The list of documentaries I needed to screen in the next five and a half days was growing faster than the snowdrift that lay between me and our condo front door –– and this was going to be a snowy Sundance.
Three ITVS funded films were featured at 2010 Sundance: Last Train Home by Lixin Fan, The Oath by Laura Poitras, and My Perestroika by Robin Hessman. My colleagues Claire Aguilar and Cynthia Kane attended their screenings and I headed out to find new shows for Independent Lens acquisition consideration.
Seventeen films, countless shuttle rides, bad sandwiches on the run, and many snowstorms later, here’s what I remember now that I’m back in sunny San Francisco.
- Discovering Banksy street art on Main Street at 8:00 AM, Monday morning, en route to an early morning screening. I know there has to be more so I’m in hot pursuit…
- The Impact Partners party on Saturday night. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, is in the house. We end up talking about the now-canceled TV show Life, and the joys of working with Adam Arkin with whom she starred.
- Unique offerings at Sundance 2010: Utopia in Four Movements by Sam Green; Double Take by Johan Grimonprez; and Saint Louis Blues by Dyana Gaye, a 48-minute musical documentary from Senegal. Too long but totally unexpected.
- Finding out when the next special screening of Exit Through the Gift Shop will take place. Banksy pursuit continues…
Three ITVS Films Selected to Compete at Sundance
It’s official… The 2010 Sundance Film Festival just announced their official selections and ITVS has three films in competition. This brings the total number of ITVS funded films that have screened at Sundance to 69 since we first attended in 1994.
The three ITVS films in competition include:
MY PERESTROIKA
By Robin Hessman
World Premiere
When the USSR broke apart in 1991, a generation of young people faced a new realm of possibilities. Filmmaker Robin Hessman follows this last generation of Soviet children brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Using a wealth of rare Russian footage, MY PERESTROIKA interweaves an intimate view of the past with the contemporary lives of a married couple and their childhood friends–telling the story of a nation still very much in transition.
A co-production of Red Square Productions/Bungalow Town Productions and ITVS International in association with American Documentary | P.O.V.
THE OATH
By Laura Poitras
World Premiere
Filmed in Yemen, THE OATH is a family drama about Al Qaeda and Guantanamo Bay Prison. This documentary is the second in a trilogy about America post 9/11. The first film, MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY, documented the U.S. occupation of Iraq from the perspective of an Iraqi family. The third film will focus on domestic surveillance.
This film is a co-production of ITVS.
LAST TRAIN HOME
By Lixin Fan
U.S. Premiere
China experiences the largest internal migration in the world as rural workers travel to cities looking for employment. In LAST TRAIN HOME, filmmaker Lixin Fan follows the Zhang family who save all year to travel home for Chinese New Year, along with over 100 million other migrant workers, hoping to salvage the relationship with their teenage daughter.
An EyeSteelFilm production in association with ITVS International.
The festival will be held in Park City, Utah, Jan. 21-31. Screening dates and times are still pending.
Filmmakers Celebrate at ITVS Reception at IDFA
Claire Aguilar, vice president of programming, welcomes all the filmmakers and attendees at the “Guests Meets Guests Reception” held at Escape Club deLux in Amsterdam.
Last week, Claire Aguilar, ITVS vice president of programming and Voleine Amilcar, publicity manager, attended the International Documentary Festival (IDFA) in Amsterdam.
To celebrate all participating filmmakers and to highlight the ITVS International Call (deadline: Feb. 5), ITVS hosted a “Guests Meet Guests Reception,” which was attended by 300 filmmakers and documentary film professionals. Throughout the week Claire Aguilar participated in and attended the FORUM, which has become the first market for the international co-financing of documentaries in the world. Two ITVS-funded projects were pitched at the FORUM––THE IMMIGRATION PROJECT, directed by Marco Williams, and GIVE UP TOMORROW, directed by Marty Syjuco and Michael Collins.
Five ITVS-supported films were official selections: BANANAS! from Swedish director Fredrik Gertten (co-production with WG Films, ITVS International, SVT, ARTE/ZDF and VPRO); COWBOYS IN INDIA from English director Simon Chambers (a co-production with Channel 4); LAST TRAIN HOME, a Chinese/Canadian production directed by Lixin Fan (co-production of EyeSteel Films in association with ITVS International, Sundance Documentary Fund, TV5, Super Channel and Channel 4); THE LAST TIGHTROPE DANCER IN ARMENIA from Armenian directors Arman Yeritsyan and Inna Sahakyan (co-production with ITVS International, Bars Media, NHK, SVT, TVP, Estonian Television and YLE) and lastly, the Oscar-shortlisted doc THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA from American director/producers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith (co-production with ITVS and ARTE/ZDF).
Congratulations to all the filmmakers! Continue reading to see exclusive photos from the ITVS reception.
ITVS Filmmakers Awarded Top Honors at IDFA
Last week, five ITVS documentaries screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)––the largest showcase of documentary film in the world. Taking home top honors were the ITVS films LAST TRAIN HOME, by Lixin Fan and Mila Aung-Thwin, which won best feature length documentary, and THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA, by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, which received the special jury award. Read what filmmaker Lixin Fan thought about this year’s competition and what it was like to make the film. Set against the backdrop of the world’s largest annual human migration, LAST TRAIN HOME follows the Zhang family who travel home on Chinese New Year to reunite with their teenage daughter.
Lixin Fan, filmmaker of LAST TRAIN HOME
The Zhang family from the film LAST TRAIN HOME, which won the Joris Ivens Award, given to the best feature length documentary at IDFA.
It was truly unforgettable. Receiving the Joris Ivens Award, given to the best feature length documentary, at the magnificent Tuschinski Theater in Amsterdam is a dream for any documentary filmmaker!
This year, the competing films were all superb. It was definitely exciting to see all these wonderfully crafted films being presented by filmmakers from different cultures and countries. Every film is a hearty endeavor to seek truth in life.
Though only one film gets lucky to win each year, all of the films and filmmakers should be celebrated. LAST TRAIN HOME became the lucky one last Friday, but it could have never happened without the help of many friends––ITVS being a very prominent one.
Three years in the making, the film showed a neglected aspect of the lives of millions of migrant workers. My intention and hope is that the audience will become more aware of worker’s contributions and the sacrifices concealed by the cheap price tags of the items we often buy. When we over consume, our conscience is at risk of being consumed, too.
This film was certainly not easy to complete. We’ve been through so many ordeals. EyeSteelFilm in Montreal and YuanFang Media in China were committed to the film despite the technical and logistical challenges. The crew had to film amid a crowd of thousands at the railway station for days and were often caught between moral ethical decisions—either to help or keep shooting. Along the road, ITVS has been so supportive on all levels.
Everyone’s support is greatly appreciated and revealed in the final film on the big screen.
- Lixin Fan, filmmaker of LAST TRAIN HOME
Five ITVS Documentaries to Screen at IDFA
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) will take place later this week (November 19-29). Five ITVS documentaries will be screening as official selections at this prestigious festival––the largest showcase of documentary film in the world.
Many ITVS films have screened to audience and critical acclaim at IDFA, including last year’s features MILKING THE RHINO, directed by David Simpson, and SEA POINT DAYS, directed by Francois Verster. Both films competed in the Joris Ivens (feature) competition.
In addition to the five films screening at the festival, ITVS will host a “Guests Meet Guests Reception” to celebrate all participating filmmakers and highlight the ITVS International Call and the approaching 2010 deadline. The event will be held on Monday, November 23 from 6:00- 7:00 PM at the central festival venue Escape DeLux on Rembrandt Square. The event is open to all credentialed festival attendees and filmmakers.
The following productions will be featured at IDFA:
International Report From the Field with Cynthia Kane
Dragon forum pitch session.
The 49th Krakow Film Festival kicked off with Paul Mazursky’s Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy as its opening night film, which was followed almost immediately by the Polish premiere of UNMISTAKEN CHILD, an ITVS International co-production with filmmaker Nati Baratz who introduced the film to the jammed-packed theater with renowned Polish director Andrzej Wajda in attendance.
Now I must say I have admired Mazursky for a long time and even loved some of his films. This one was a lot of fun (and at times LOL-fun) watching Mazursky and gang travel to Uman in the Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah to celebrate joyously at the burial site of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the founder of Kabbalah. And might I add, slightly different in tone to UNMISTAKEN CHILD. By the end of the week, Nati was awarded the Best Documentary Feature Prize––the Golden Horn for “both an impressive, thorough and undoubtedly genuine and intimate” documentary about a Buddhist monk’s pursuit of the reincarnation of his beloved lama. A documentary “that transforms into a story about the mystery of human life, and a perfect combination of an attractive form and intimate portrait of a deeply believing monk and his relationship with the unmistaken little boy.”
At the Indian Film Festival with ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad
Indie films, stunning Bollywood musicals, documentaries, animation, environmental films, comedies––the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture. ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad recently attended this year’s festival. Read about his experience below:
Amyn Kaderali, Jasmine Jaisinghani and Aldo Velasco with ITVS Programming Manager Karim Ahmad.
Now in its seventh year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles has become one of the premier showcases of contemporary Indian cinema.
I only recently had the good fortune to discover the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA), which, now in its seventh year, has become one of the premier showcases of contemporary Indian cinema and films representing the Indian diaspora in the United States. I had the benefit of attending this festival last week in Los Angeles as a part of ITVS’s ongoing efforts in reaching out to South Asian filmmakers, and I was thoroughly impressed with the caliber of the festival’s program.
Upon arriving in LA, I drove across town to Chakra Restaurant in Beverly Hills, where the festival staff organized one-on-one meetings between the filmmakers in the festival and various organizations including the major talent agencies as well as funding entities like ITVS. The meetings whetted my appetite for the festival’s screening series. However as always, time was short, and I was unable to attend nearly as many screenings as I would have liked. These sessions are quite helpful.
The next day, I spoke on the festival’s financing and co-productions panel, where the discussion’s emphasis on narrative film projects demonstrated the continued need to support documentary content from and for the South Asian community worldwide. This is particularly so within India where, despite some new efforts toward doc makers on the part of the NFDC (whose Managing Director, Nina Gupta, was a fellow panelist), there exist very few options for funding and distributing independent documentaries. More and more, funding for these films is coming from foreign broadcasters and non-profit organizations like ITVS.
On my last day in LA, I finally had the opportunity to check out a few screenings––all of which were held at the Arclight’s state-of-the-art theaters on Sunset Blvd––and re-connect with some of the filmmakers and festival staff afterward in the IFFLA lounge. I was truly impressed with both the level of talent demonstrated in the festival’s program, and also the profile of the festival itself. Despite being a relatively young festival, IFFLA provides all the services of a top tier festival to its filmmakers, and is an ideal place for organizations like ours to reach out to a highly talented group of South Asian filmmakers.
-Karim
Programming Manager, ITVS
Upcoming Screenings
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Community Cinema selections are screened in over 50 locations throughout the United States. In March, Community Cinema presents Dirt! The Movie, directed by Bill Benenson and Eugene Rosow.
It’s under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it? And how did it get there? Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, find out how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods, and climate change. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink, and breathe. Which is why we should stop treating it like, well … dirt.
Check out the schedule and find Community Cinema in your neighborhood >>Recent Posts
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- Top Five Predictions for Films and Digital Distribution: Second Part
- FUTURESTATES Theatrical World Premiere at SXSW
- Inspiring Stories of People Living With MS
- Live Webinar Tomorrow Night: Copyright and Fair Use in the Art World and Classroom
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