Film The Magazine - February 2015

GREAT SUCCESS IN LONDONFI

LM: T

HE

MA

GA

ZIN

E /

FEB

RU

AR

Y 20

15

THE MAGAZINEFilm

DEDICATED TO THE BUSINESS OF FILM

Welcome to the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London 2015Dear Filmmaker,

Firstly, congratulations and thank you for your continued support of all of our International Film Festivals over the past few years, we hope you have a wonderful time in London and we look forward to meeting all of you! As you know this magazine is the launch issue where each festival will now have an A4 publication pro-duced which is specific to each of our festivals and is an example of our commitment to expand our reach globally and, is also a new opportu-nity for our filmmakers to further promote their latest projects. On top of this we are also delighted to announce that from November we are adding a fourth festival per year to our calendar – in Milan, Italy!

On behalf of the whole awards team we have once again been amazed at the quality and innovation of films that have been entered. This includ-ed “WAX:We are the X” which was shot using a point of view technique on smart-phones to “Chasing Rain-bows” which is having its World Premiere at our festival! For a full listing of all of our screening times and dates, including script corner please turn to page 19.

We would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank industry professionals Neil McE-ween, Brad Balin and Paul Eyers who graciously give up their time to support the filmmakers attending our festivals and for all involved, the last year has been one of growth and success which included an exclusive invitation to Carl Tooney our Festival President to Beijing, as a guest of one of China’s most respected film pro-duction and distribution companies.“Although I was very surprised to receive this wonderful invitation,

without doubt this has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life” commented Carl on his week long visit. “Not only has the welcome and hospitality been 1st class but the distribution model and film pro-ductions on show have been utterly amazing to see 1st hand and I can also now understand why filmmakers from all over the globe are targeting china and furthermore, I was delight-ed to learn that we had been invited because of our continued passion and commitment to international filmmakers. This is why we see all of our festivals as unique events in their own right and are there to celebrate the best independent and studio films from the global film industry and for London this means our wonderful 6-day event which then culminates in our glamorous red carpet finale on Friday February the 27th. On a per-sonal note to all of the filmmakers, our sincerest thanks and the best of luck with your nominated movie!”.

Please note that the Awards Night Finale on the evening of February 27th is a ticket only entry

The Festival of World Cinema London 2015 Awards team

filmmakerfestival.comitalyinternationalfilmfestival.commadridinternationalfilmfestival.comsttropezinternationalfilmfestival.com

Carl [email protected]

Steve GrossmithMarketing [email protected]

Stephen Mina Graphic [email protected]

No part of this magazine, whether printed or electronic may be reproduced, stored or copied without the express prior written consent of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to: [email protected]

Although we make every effort to ensure all of the information in this publication is up to date and accurate the publisher takes no responsibility for any omissions or errors.

FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 2015 1

FILM: THE MAGAZINE /FEBRUARY 20152

With over 22 successful years’ experience in filmed content distribution and sales, Brad has a comprehensive understandingof the UK and Worldwide media market, incorporating, Film and Television. His expertise lies in sales, distribution, mar-keting and rights management.

Prior to launching his production and distribution company ‘Transition Digital Media Ltd’ in 2011, Brad was Head of ITV Global Entertainment, where he was responsible for the sales and distribution of ITV content worldwide, including the Rank and ITC film Catalogues.

Brad was also held senior positions at several major entertainment organisa-tions, including Fremantlemedia, Warner Brothers and Thames Television.

MEET THE TEAMNeil McEwan

Neil McEwan has over 30 years working in the film distribution industry. He spent over 25 years working for Warn-er Bros and over 7 years as Managing Director of Warner Home Video’s biggest International subsidiary.

A Commercial Executive with strong experience in profit delivery, strategy development, sales, marketing, business planning, finance and supply chain. He is a Senior member of several industry boards and a Producer of Independent Films.

Paul Eyres has over 20 years of extensive experience in feature film distribution, sales and film finance. He is currently Joint Managing Director of Transition Digital media, a UK film publisher of Home Entertainment product for both digital and DVD rights.

Paul has also worked as a private consult-ant over the past 8 years and has advised clients in both the United Kingdom and United States on the acquisitions, distribution and risk assessment of their investments into feature film and television projects.

Prior to founding his consultancy Kukui Film Group, Paul jointly ran MMG Corporate in Los Angeles as its C.O.O., a division of Forbes and Manhattan Mer-chant Bank based in Toronto. Paul commercially restructured the MMG group of companies, including two post-production facilities (Los Angeles/Toronto) and a visual effects house in Los Angeles.

Paul was also instrumental in building content for the UK DVD label, Prism Leisure Corporation in the UK, which was at the time a £90 million a year turn over UK publisher of home enter-tainment product. As its Acquisitions Director Paul helped to make it one of the top 10 companies in UK home entertainment. In that time Paul acquired close to 1,100 films for DVD and choice theatrical films, including titles such as Monster, Donnie Darko, The Machinist, to name a few.

Paul spent 8 years prior in Los Angeles working and consulting in internation-al film sales/distribution, feature film development, film production and also worked alongside several US banks in risk assessment for feature film funding.

In that time Paul has spoken at UCLA Extension on it’s Film Distribution panel (Greg Bernstein) as well as worked with many clients via the banks, such as the

Paul Eyres

Brad Blaine

UK film fund Flashpoint and US production outfit The Bubble Factory, owned by ex MCA/Universal chairman Sidney Sheinberg.

Paul recently worked in the role of Executive producer on the film “The Machine,” where he worked with Red and Black Films in advising and helping to structure the films distribution path.

ROME WAS!Th

e Ar

ch o

f Titu

s in

the

Rom

an F

orum

Photographer/Director: Randolph Langenbach

Run Time: 44 Mins.

www.piranesian.com

Find more information about the film by scanning this link.

of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, whose 295th birthday almost exactly coincides with the It-aly International Film Festival in Milan. Both the Exhibition and the 40 minute animated movie follow on Randolph Langenbach’s much celebrated work with a large format camera documenting and helping to preserve the relics of the 19th century Industrial Rev-olution in New England, Great Britain, and India (see www.conservationtech.com). During the creation of this work, Langenbach followed in the footsteps of Piranesi to photo-graph the same views that he had etched and engraved, while also exploring his pre-photo-graphic perspective system and compositional effects in ways only possible with the new digital medium. Unlike those made with silver halide technology, digital images can be merged and adjusted in ways not possible in a darkroom. In Langenbach’s vision the objec-tive was not to falsify the views, but to explore the compositions that Piranesi had composed first with his quill pen and then so skillfully engraved in reverse onto plates for dissemina-tion throughout 18th century Europe. Langenbach’s earlier experience as a large format photographer provided a solid base for his approach to such a documentary project, but his use of the digital medium has allowed for a completely different creative approach to the photography – an approach which

was not just inspired by Piranesi’s work, but informed by his pre-photographic approach to composition and perspective. Many of his views exceed the width of what even the wid-est of flat-field photographic lenses can cover, but his compositions, and Langenbach’s photographs, do not appear as conventional panoramas nor are they distorted as they would be if a fish-eye lens were used to cover the same spread.

Rom

an F

orum

from

the

May

or’s

Offic

e

What does the past really look like, and how do the creations of 18th century artists shape our image of the Roman past? How might digital technology intersect with the patterns of vision and ocular interpretations of the human brain? And, how can the archeologi-cal work of the recent past be documented in a manner that is deeply opinionated but yet transparent? These are the questions raised by this doc-umentary and artistic celebration of the art

A PIRANESIAN VISION

While Piranesi’s work has provided the primary subject, Langenbach has also pho-tographed in the footsteps of other artists including Gaspare Vanvitelli, and also of mid-19th century photographers.



ORACABESSA

Best Supporting Actor.His feature film, ‘The Endangered’, which he wrote, directed and produced, was nominated for Best Film at the 2009 Hollywood Black Film Festival.

Along with his directed features, ‘Oracabessa’ and ‘The Endangered’, he has served as a producer on the feature film ‘The Furlough’. Mr. Nelson has also written, directed and produced several other projects including the Ethiopian Amharic language short film, ‘Tsion’ and several others including ‘Bright Day’.

His latest screenplay, ‘The Viceroy’, was a nominated semi-finalist at the 2013 Hol-lywood Black Film Festival. He currently has several written projects in various stages of development.

Mr. Nelson resides in Columbus, Ohio, USA

Producer/Director/Writer: Richard Anthony Nelson

Brooklyn Sabino-Smith - ‘Oracabessa’

Nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2015 London International Filmmak-er Festival for his role as ‘Legat’.Phill appeared in MGM’s-UA’s ‘Teach-ers’ with Nick Nolte, 20th Century Fox’s ‘Mischief ’ with Kelly Preston, Alber-marle’s ‘Line Shack’ and Vanguard’s ‘The Unseen Force’. As a singer in the 1960’s, he had a hit record that made the Top Forty charts in the U.S., Canada and England. During that time, he toured the country sharing the stage with such 60’s luminaries as Neil Sedaka, Bobby Rydell, Ann-Margaret and Peter, Paul & Mary.

Clint Elmore - As-sociate Producer / First AD - ‘Oracabessa’

Native to Eng-land, Mr. Elmore currently lives in Columbus, Ohio. As a filmmaker and performer, in both Film and Television, he enjoys spending

U.S. based, Jamaican born filmmaker, Richard Anthony Nelson is an award nominated Writer, Director and Producer.

time on both sides of the camera.

He was First AD and Set Builder for the award nominated film, ‘The Endangered’. He was also Associate Producer and First AD for the multi-award nominated - ‘Oracabessa’.

Mr. Elmore has also produced several Faith based films Including ‘Perspective’, nominated for four festival awards, and made the best of compilation shown on a worldwide festival tour.

He is also an on screen and On-Air talent who has appeared in feature films. He was the Co-host for CW Network’s ‘Co-lumbus Model Quest’, and most recently, appears in A&E / FYI channel’s “Row-house Renovation”.

His most recent film is ‘Oracabes-sa’, a 35mm Tech-niscope, thriller. ‘Oracabessa’ has received five nominations at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Fes-tival, including Best Director, Best Producer, Best Film, Best Lead Actress &

Lead Actress Brooklyn Sabino-Smith is based in Chicago, Illinois.Ms. Sabino-Smith is a nominee for Best Lead Actress at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Festival for her role in ‘Oracabes-sa;’.

After completing her university studies in Fine Arts and Anthropology (New York), Ms. Sabino-Smith decid-ed to move west to pursue the craft of acting Playing the titular character in the feature film ‘Oracabessa’ is her first major starring role. Ms. Sabi-no-Smith has been struck by the reac-tion to her perfor-mance in the film.

Casting Director - Kristina Kopf - ‘Oracabessa’Kristina Kopf worked closely with Director Richard Anthony Nelson to audition the best actors for the multi-ple roles in the dramatic thriller,

www.oracabessamovie.com

Run Time: 208 Mins.

Phlllip S. Wilson - Best Supporting Actor - ‘Oracabessa’

‘Oracabessa’. Two of the film’s fine actors have garnered nominations at the 2015 London International Filmmaker Festival - Brooklyn Sabino-Smith (‘Oracabessa’) and Phillip S. Wilson (‘Legat’).

Ms. Kopf is also a working actress living in Columbus, Ohio and played a role in the film, ‘Oracabessa’. Her other recent film credits include “Axe Giant,” “God Don’t Make the Laws,” “The Endangered” and “Madtown.”

The film also features: Jeff Cunningham (former MLS Soccar star), Kenyatta Foster, Aaron Geib, Ashley Ann Hender-son, Mason Pryor (son of the legendary Richard Pryor), Maya Sayre (Aidan-5), Ralph E. Scott and Dino Tripodis,

Screening Time

Tuesday 24th February

8:25pm

www.oracabessamovie.com


CHASING RAINBOWS

Run Time: 96 Mins.


Writers/Director: Robert Fritz

Chasing Rainbows has already won 4 Gold Awards and 2 Silver Awards from this year’s International Independent Film Awards, a California film compe-tition. The film will have its world pre-miere at the London 2015 International Film Festival at 7.20pm on Monday February 23rd.

Scarlet finds that she was adopted when her parents die in a car crash. She goes on a search for her real parents, and that brings her to the seedy side of Boston where her real mother is a nightclub singer. The story was influenced by L’Or-feo (Orpheus) by Claudio Monteverdi, the first opera in music history.

A DRAMATIC MUSICAL Orpheus descends into Hades to save his wife and bring her back to life. Like Or-pheus, Scarlet faces dangerous tests before she is able to face her mother. In one way or another, every major character is the film is chasing a rainbow.

The Film Stars Kirsti Torhaug and Natalie Neilson:Kirsti Torhaug is one of Europe’s most ac-complished and gifted actresses in theater and film. She has won a Gold Award from the International Independent Film Awards for her lead in Chasing Rainbows. Kirsti began her film career in Lristin Lavransdat-ter, directed by Liv Ullmann. She starred in the award winning film The Art of Negative Thinking. She has won several awards, including from the Karlovy Vary Interna-tional Film Festival and The San Sebastian International Film Festival. Kirsti played the lead in Robert Fritz’s short film AKT 2, which won several awards including The Grand Jury Prize at the Woods Hole Film Festival, and the Audience Choice Award at the Artisan Festival International Cannes World Cinema Initiative.

Natalie Neilson has starred in two other Robert Fritz films, TWICE… and Past Tense. She has won several awards for her acting including an Award of Excellence from the Accolade Competition, an Award of Excellence from The Indie Fest, and a Gold Award from the International Independent Film Festival.

Written and Directed by Robert FritzIn the past few years, Robert Fritz has written and directed 4 feature films and one short. These films have won over 60 major awards and laurels from festivals around the world. Fritz is also a bestselling author and award winning composer.

KNIGHTMARESWriter/Director: Nicholas Michael Holmes

knightmaresthemovie.com

Run Time: 14 Mins.

Luke

Knightmares is a tale of Luke, a young boy who finds refuge from his life in a fantasy world inspired by his video games. With a disabled younger brother fighting for his life and parents held hostage by their circumstances, Luke must overcome his demons...both real and imaginary.

In order to create a feeling of nostalgia, Knightmares was shot on Super-16 MM film, using real locations and effects make-up, using a 1990’s setting. We wished to create an experience that could be enjoyed by a child as much as an adult. Tommy

Knightmares has been an Official Selection of the International Film-

maker Festival of World Cinema, Sidewalk

Inspired from a childhood story from Director Nicholas M. Holmes, encouraged to be brought to the screen by Producer and Cinematographer, Markus E. Mueller, Knightmares seeks to truly capture the fear and vulnerability of being young.

Villa

in

The

Her

o of

the

Stor

y

Film Festival, Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, Catskill Mountain Film Festival, New Filmmakers NY, Brooklyn Audience Now Festival, Golden Egg Film Festival, Wizard World Festivalof Chicago, and Famous Monsters Of Filmland Festival.

Please scan for the trailer


A FLOWER AND THE BLUETHE IDEA

The

mak

ing

of a

doc

umen

tary

Dec

. 201

4

FILM: THE MAGAZINE catches up with writer/director Dr.Kholoud Alnajjar about her thought provoking short movie – A Flower and the Blue.

As I mentioned, I am blessed with lovely people around me whom I chose to be my family in this life. The actors are all our friends except for the mother and the little three children. The main actor is the father (Jamal Alhaidar) who is a very dear friend and he is a brother that I chose. The main actress is the girl (Alzaina Shams) who is my daugh-ter and who is studying fine art at Calarts University in California. The two young boys are her schoolmates, and the groom’s family are from my friends circle, the father is a Syrian friend (Monsef Hamza) and the cov-ered mother who is the second nurse as well is an Egyptian art teacher friend (Seham Aldeeb) and the first nurse is actually my daughter’s nanny (Rowaina) from the Philippines.

WRITING THE SCRIPT

I am a Kuwaiti female who was born as a Muslim, living in such a male dominant, traditional and conserva-tive society put me face to face with constant challenges. The first chal-lenge in our society is being a girl. I have been through all kinds of gender discrimination since my childhood, starting from simply playing outside our house, all the way through to my education and then career.

As a child and teenager, I reject-ed most of gender discrimination actions and verbal abuse, but then, I didn’t understand why and it was a huge anger inside me with a very painful unfairness and disappoint-ment. There are many levels of gen-der discrimination in my society, and I might not have lived the worse of it, but growing up with this struggle myself, made me the best candidate for this issue. I consider myself lucky to be able to write and direct my ideas.

Since I was a child, I used to gather the family grandchildren every week-end, write a historical play, make costumes from whatever materials are available in the house, train the children and make a 20-30 minutes play, with which my bed sheet was the opening curtain!As art is not a proper social interest or career for a girl from a respectful and conservative family, I didn’t dare to open this issue. I come from a big family, 5 boys, 5 girls and I am the youngest and number 11. The family expected me to follow the steps of my sisters and when I didn’t, I was and still labelled as a rebel. I am a leader not a follower and funnily enough to know that this is the main reason behind not having a twitter account! (ha ha)

FILM PRODUCTIONI am a single mother of beautiful three children, Mohammed, Abdul-lah and Alzaina. It is not easy to live as a single mother in our society, let alone the financial support that is not in the woman’s favour from my own experience. However, I am an assis-tant professor at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait who graduated from Twente University in Holland,

FILM CASTING

and can save a couple of thousand to make a film.

I am lucky to have close friends who believes in me, enough to bring their 5D camera and shoot for me, and to call a friend with a sound system for a better price, and of course to act in the film.

Red carpet, Cannes film festival 2014

FILM APPROACH

Univ

ersit

y of

Tw

ente

, Hol

land

199

8

Dr K

holo

ud A

lnaj

jar a

nd h

er b

eaut

iful c

hild

ren

2009

Run Time: 8 Mins.

THE SUPPORTUnfortunately, there is zero financial support for creative women in this field. However, the National Council for Culture, Art and Literature in Kuwait, nominated some of my work to participate in film festivals outside Kuwait.

One should put in mind, that my films do not make Kuwaiti men happy, so there are a lot of resistance and attacks. And that will not make me stop. I believe in examples, and I hope some of my students I teach, see me as theirs.

I went to Twente University in Holland which is known as the best Technology school in the country. We were exposed to many styles and materials on how to address your message. This helped me a lot at the beginning. However, taking courses and workshops in directing allowed me to discover my abilities and helped me to outline what I don’t want to do. I had a directing experi-ence in the early 1990 in my bachelor years with a very well known Kuwaiti late director Abdulaziz Almansour. Then I found myself drifting towards writing until I decided to start direct-ing what I had written on my own and to start with short films. “A flower and the blue” was my first, and then I did “The three pyjamas” which won the second place in Trop-fest Arabia 2013 in AbuDhabi. All in that period of time when I realised my mission here, in this part of the world among the girls and women of my country. After that I made “Dishdasha” and “White sheet” and now, I am writing an English script for a feature film that talks about our culture and its influence on the new generation, and partially the creation of young terrorists. Now, nothing can stop me.

The

mak

ing

of a

doc

umen

tary

201

4On

a b

each

in K

uwai

t 197

1

The

mak

ing

of a

doc

umen

tary

201

4



THE ALGERIANHOW WAS THE FILM AND STORY CONCEIVED?

Writer/Director: Giovanni Zelko on set.

The concept for The Algerian grew from a series of conversations in 2007 that Ben Youcef and I had at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California where we developed our friendship. We had both been deeply affected by the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington D.C. and wanted to make a film together that expressed our feelings and concerns in a post-9-11 world. Ben and I worked to-gether as a team from the very beginning as filmmakers: Ben is the Lead Actor, Co-Executive Producer and Co-Story author of the film, so he had lots of influ-ence in bringing the film to fruition, and in addition to my Directing the film, I am also the Executive Producer, Screen-writer, Co-Story Author, Editor, distant location Cinematographer, and played the supporting role of “Brother”, so we both had our hands full in the making of this film. We wished to tell a story about co-existence and tolerance that would

Acto

r: B

en Y

ouce

f St

ars a

s “Al

i” on

set.

place a mirror up to society in the post-9-11 social landscape we inhabited where we remind our audience that peo-ple are not always what they appear to be, that people are ultimately a product of their environment, that change is possible, that the geo-pol-itics involved in the Middle-East are super com-plex and steeped in history and in flux, that one person can make a difference and that good ultimately triumphs over evil if a choice is made by that individual to fight against evil. By placing a mirror up to society, exposing both its beauty

Film: The Magazine speaks to Writer/Director Giovanni Zelko about his debut feature film: The Algerian.

surprise ending, each of the characters reveal yet another facet to their being, their past and their future, ultimately smashing to pieces all the stereotypes that were originally presented to the audience in the first place. At the centre of the political intrigue and cloak-and-dagger thriller, we also wanted to tell a love story of an immigrant falling for a beautiful woman who isn’t what she ap-pears to be, just as she falls for an exotic man who isn’t who he appears to be.

and its ugliness, our film presents and analyzes the stereo-types of race and religion that we as a soci-ety have been di-rectly or indirectly programmed with in the hope to re-mind our audienc-es that, regardless of our differences as humans on the planet, we are all 99.9% identi-cal. As the film races towards its

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR FILM?

of the art equip-ment like Red cameras, camera cranes, Steadic-ams, dollies, car-mounts and studio lighting packages at a fraction of the normal cost to allow us to shoot the film at a very high technical standard. I placed a lot of energy towards details that only last a few seconds on screen, like getting aerial shots for both Los Angeles and Vegas, to give the film a bigger scope and feel.

A film of this magnitude and ambition requires absolute dedication from all those involved and would never have been possible without a truly amazing and diligent cast and crew who loved working in cinema, and the proof is in the final outcome of their collective work. Even though our budget is small in terms of the average big-budget movies you see out there today, we look and feel like a big budget movie due to the in-volvement of a talented and experienced cast and crew. Because of my Hollywood experience in working on movies and television during the past eighteen years, and because people believed in the film, I was able to draw from a large pool of ex-perienced professionals along with state

Our approach was definitely unique and risky with principal pho-tography taking about two years to shoot and was done essentially in pieces over week-ends, focusing on one actor at a time, due mostly to limitations in our budget and the difficulty of accessing some of the locations. When I tell indus-try professionals who have seen the film what our actual shooting budget was, their eyes nearly pop out of their head.One person in particular was our production’s savior during shooting and even in post: our cinematographer Anthony Ruden-ko. First of all, he is a very unique D.P. due to his many years work-ing as a graphic designer/visual effects artist prior to getting involved

in cinematography which gives him a great eye for composition and detail. In the digital-filmmaking age we are in, To-ny’s knowledge, skill and experience with sophisticated visual effects programs and digital cameras is priceless on set and in post. On top of that, he has worked with Ben and I since day 1 of test shoots in December 2009 and has stayed the course till the finish line of final assembly and delivery in December 2014.

There are over 250 names in our end credits, where each person’s contribution is an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of our collective film. I liken filmmaking to a symphony orchestra. It is my job as the Director/Conductor to make sure everyone is playing the right notes at the right time, otherwise there would be chaos with every person, whether behind the camera or in front of the camera, focusing only on their own work and not considering the complex dynamics and vision required to achieve the best possible final film.

Dire

ctor

Gio

vann

i Zel

ko w

ith st

ars

Har

ry L

enni

x an

d Be

n Yo

ucef

.

Cine

mat

ogra

pher

Ant

hony

Rud

enko

w

ith D

irec

tor G

iova

nni Z

elko

Enough praise cannot be given to the entire cast of the film, all of whom delivered top-notch perfor-mances, especially Ben who was in almost every scene of the movie and had to maintain consistency in his nuanced performance and physical look for two full years of filming, which would be daunting for any

to work with such seasoned and gifted actors and actresses who have all worked on A-list Holly-wood films in the past.Ben and I are fortunate to have been able to draw from

TELL US HOW THE CASTING WAS APPROACHED?

It was because of this collective determination and team ef-fort by the cast and crew that The Algerian was honored with 17 wins thus far in North America, includ-ing multiple best picture and audience choice awards, as well as the following awards and nominations at festivals:

Best Actor(Ben Youcef)

Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival

Best Supporting Actress (Candice Coke)

Action On Film Festival

Best Cinemotography (Anthony Rudenko)

Downtown Film Festival of Los Angeles

Best Sound DesignAlan Bailey Award

(Sebastian Lönberg)Action On Film Festival

Best Original Score (James Bartlett)

Maverick Movie Awards

Best Stunts (Ray Velazquez/choreogrpher)

Maverick Movie Awards

Best Editing (Giovanni Zelko)

Los AngelesNew Wave Film Festival

Best Screenplay Dialogue (Giovanni Zelko)Action On Film

Festival ScreenwritingCompetition

Best Director(Giovanni Zelko)

Independent Film Quarterly Film Festival

Acting Nominations

Best Supporting Actor (Harry Lennix)

Northeast Film Festival

Best Supporting Actress (Tara Holt)

Northeast Film Festival

Best Supporting Actor (Said Faraj)

Action On Film Festival

Actr

ess S

haro

n Fe

rgus

on a

s “Si

ster

” on

set.

Actor Seymour Casell as Professor Wright

Actor Zuhair Haddad as “Mo” on set.

a personal pool of actors who are people we have either worked with in the past, or actors we were friends with which fit the characters in our film. As a highlight, it was amazing for me to work with an Oscar-nomi-nated icon like Seymour Cassel who I studied in film school at Boston University in a Cassavetes class and later became friends with at a local cigar shop he and I frequented in Santa Monica, the Hollywood Smoke!”

Actresses: Candice Coke as “Lana” and Alicia Mitchell as “Kelly” on set.

actor. He really did a great job on camera and audiences love his per-formance, so his dedication paid off. It was an honor for me as a director

Actress Tara Holt as “Sara” with Actor “Ben Youcef” as “Ali” on set in L.A.

Acto

rs: G

iova

nni Z

elko

, Ben

Yo

ucef

, Sai

d Fa

raj o

n se

t.Gi

ovan

ni Z

elko

with

star

s Ben

Yo

ucef

and

Josh

Pen

ce o

n se

t.

Run Time: 99 Mins.

Read the Full Interview online:TheAlgerianMovie.com

@AlgerianMovie

/TheAlgerianMovie



THE ENDANGERED“A minimalist thriller in one respect, then classy allegory in another. The artful production, with its spare production design and high angle perspectives inside and claustrophobic leafiness outside, is a fine piece to enjoy for its Twilight Zone sophistication.” Review excerpt by NPR (John DeSando),

Synopsis: A teenage couple’s illicit inter-racial relationship is jeopardized when the boy’s sister is found murdered and the girl’s brother is accused of the murder. Patrick Lumford (Caucasion) secretly dates Valerie Gray (African American). He keeps the romance a secret because of the ultra-conservative views of his father. One fateful afernoon after school, Patrick’s sister, Courtney, walks home and is accosted and killed in the woods. Valerie’s brother, Eldridge, is accused of the murder. The respective families’ challenging beliefs then come to the fore as both fathers’ views on race may prove not to be so different after all.

“The Endangered” is a film relevant to current affairs. The film looks at race re-lations through the prism of the investi-gation of a problematic murder. The film, a dramatic thriller, is the first feature film from writer/director Richard Anthony Nelson. The film was nominated and

Producer/Director/WriterRichard Anthony Nelson

screened at HBFF festival in Los Angeles. “The Endangered” stars Danny Reese II, Matt Proctor, Kristina Kopf, John S. Kuhn, Anita Davis, Richard Mason and Jasmine Herrell.

Review excerpt by Allen Duncan (Los Angeles, Independent Review): “ The producers have assembled a first rate cast. The editing constructed a well told tale that develops a decent pace.

The camera work is well thought out and adds to the building of tension in the story. The star of the show however, is the writing. It is clever, authentic, and leaves the audience thinking about the piece for days after attending the performance.”

CUT TO CUT PRESENTS

A FILM BY SHOMSHUKLLAMUSIC BY ANKUR MUKHERJEE

PicnicChhutii Aar

AN ADAPTATION OF NOBEL LAUREATE RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S

FAMOUS ROMANTIC NOVELLA ‘SHESHER KOBITA’

SHAHANA CHATTERJEE SOHINI MUKHERJEE ROYUDITVANU DAS


FALCONER: SPORT OF KINGS

Elik

Ham

shib

aiw

ith G

olde

n Ea

gle

Run Time: 70 Mins.


tion of the nearly extinct peregrine falcon for example) I also wanted to be the first to share our lifestyle and sport in a way that could be respected and appreciated by the non-falconer mainstream viewer but with great regard to the overall perception to be received from the falconry communi-ty worldwide. This was no easy task and so far so good as our first test mar-ket for the blended audience was a huge success as we recently packed the theatre at a private screening here in Indianapolis. It was well received by all the members of the falconry commu-nity who attended that night.

To all who watch this film, I hope we do not disappoint.”As the descend-ent of French fur traders, it seems somehow fitting that Ed Brochin grew up to be an avid outdoorsman, equally skilled with bow, rifle, and fish-ing pole.

Ed was born in Southern Indiana on February 16, 1971 and split his growing-up years between rural Indi-ana and Southern Texas on the border of Mexico. Both locations were ideal for hunting, and when Ed was four, his father and grandfather began teaching him the skills he needed to be a successful hunter. As he grew

Ed Brochin, Director of The Falconer: The Sport of Kings tells us the background to his latest movie:

“I was inspired to make this film because of a recent declaration from UNESCO in the year of 2010 that declared the sport of falconry as “World Cultural Heritage for all nations”. This was a huge victory for the sport of falconry world wide as it not only gave the sport it’s much need-ed recognition but it has also raised the awareness of our conservation and pres-ervation efforts of birds or prey in general. (The role we have played in the restora-

up and eventually became strong enough to wield his own traditional, wooden, re-curve bow, it became his hunting instru-ment of choice and he never looked back. Every year he would join thousands of other hunters in revelling in opening week-end of deer season and turkey season in Indiana. In between seasons he would fill his time with hunting for squirrels, rabbits, and foxes, and fishing religiously.

Thre

e M

aste

r Fal

cone

rs

Edwin Brochin & Fernado del Rio

Edwin Brochin & James A. Swan

Directors:

Writers:

SUMMER OF TOM

Run Time: 29 Mins.

Please Scan this linkfor the Trailer.

Writer/Director: David Lueza

Tom, an English musician arrives in Paris to compose his first film score. But Lola, his neighbour, a french actress whom he falls in love with and Stan, her ex boy-friend who settles in her flat, won’t help him at all. An explosive bilingual French and British com-edy, mixing Rear Window and Something about Mary.

Summer of Tom is the 5th short film writ-ten and directed by David Lueza. Nominat-ed for 4 Awards at the International Film-maker Festival of World Cinema London for best actor, best director, best screenplay for a Short Film & Jury Award. It has also won the Best International Short and Best

Music Awards at the Dublin International Short Film & Music Festival and the Award of Excellence at the International Film Festival for Doc-umentary, Short & Comedy in Jakarta.

Born in Bordeaux, France, David Lueza grew up with Mel Brooks, Star Wars, Louis de Funes, Jaws, Yves Robert movies, Monty Python, Rene Goscinny, Zucker Abrahams Zucker, Peter Sellers & Blake Edwards, Jerry Lewis and many others including his parents and brothers. David began working on productions as assistant location manager in 1994. He is now 1st Assistant Director and Second Unit Director in France, whilst developing his writing and directing both short and feature films projects, preferably comedy - no offence!

It was also selected in many other festivals around the world as Sir Charlie Darwin Movie Battle (London), Portsmouth world Show, Sunscreen Film Festival West (Los Angeles), London Film Awards and the Glasgow Independent Film Festival. Up-coming festivals include : the Hampshire Film Club, Houston Comedy Film Festival and Hollywood Short Film Festival.

/SummerOfTom

Man

son

Jom

ain,

Sim

on P

aul

Sutt

on &

Dav

id L

ueza

on

set

Sim

on P

aul S

utto

n at

wor

k

Simon Paul Sutton & Blandine Bury


FAITH IN LOVE

Run Time: 19 Mins.

Producer/Director: Alwiya A Thani

I am really blessed with the cast I had, for example Marwan Al Awadhi A.KA “Dj Bliss” from the day I started building the story. He was in my mind and when I ap-proached him he agreed because he saw himself in the movie. Courtney Long who played Jenny was the difficult part to find but eventually I was very happy with my cast!

Alwiya A Thani, the creative force behind “Faith in Love” explains some of the background to her latest move:

PLEASE CAN YOU TELL US HOW THE IDEA FOR FAITH IN LOVE ORIGINATED?

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT WRITING AND CREATING THE SCRIPT?

Faith in Love, it’s a sweet romantic com-edy film and it can happen to anyone no matter what is your gender, age or nation-ality. As for myself, I really like rom-com movies so the idea for it came from there and also meeting people and knowing their soft love stories it gave me a push to do this film. So for those who have a feel-ing towards someone and he/she is sure about the feeling so then it’s better to step up and confess otherwise someone else will come in and take it away from you!

Actually I had a similar idea before creat-ing Faith in love but whenever the writer “Mohammed Yousef ” and I developed the story we ended up with draft after draft and the idea suddenly became big-ger and more beautiful.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE PRODUCTION OF YOUR FILM?I was able to use one of the good pro-duction houses here in Dubai, as I’m a production manager in one of the leading studio house in the Middle East “Image Nation Abu Dhabi, it helped to know more crew and also having a large network helped. I would never stop thanking the late producer “Tim Smythe” RIP for his moral support.When I approached the crew, they all loved the story, they found it unique and sweet especially in our region where most of our short films are dramatic and driven so this was really different.

HOW DID YOU CAST THE MOVIE?

FORGIVENESS IS A WEAPON

Run Time: 34 Mins.


Forgiveness is a Weapon is an intimate, artistic portrayal of one man's psyche as he is propelled forward by life toward his death.

Spanning eight vignettes that tell the story of two lovers torn apart by war and literally sewn together, the 35 minute art film is an expression of the relationships between love and war, beauty and pain, and ultimately the fear and vulnerability that go along with each.

Forgiveness is a Weapon pushes the bound-aries of cinematic storytelling through combining hauntingly beautiful imagery and a unique and powerful score that stay with the audience long after leaving the theater.

Director Scott Cronan established InStudium Arts, a creative production agency, with writer/producer MacEwen Patterson, to continue pushing artistic and emotional boundaries in film.

Committed to art that moves people, the two produced a series of shorts supporting arts education advocacy efforts for the non-profit organization, Americans for the Arts .

The company's vision is to create media across platforms which tells a compelling story. Next up is a slate of feature films that bridge the unique visual style Cronan

has developed with traditional narrative story-telling to bring deeply moving artistic filmmaking to larger audiences.

Please inquire for specific details on future projects in development. Investor informa-tion is available upon request.

Set to the music of LA's orchestral indie rock band, Archer Black, Forgiveness is a Weapon is a dark and beautiful film that touches the center of each of us. Shot over the course of a year, director Scott Cronan collaborated with many of LA's extremely talented independent artists from compos-er Dustin Morgan and aerialists Womack and Bowman and Elizabeth Newton to fine

artist David Lucien, who's had a rare blood disease since child-hood and paints with his own blood, to our leads, Luke Barnett and Jennifer Albrent, and contortionist Emilie Livingston among many other talented dancers, painters, and musicians.

Writer: Scott Cronan & Dustin MorganDirector: Scott Cronan

instudiumarts.comwomackandbowman.comamericansforthearts.org/encouragecreativitydavidlucieart.wordpress.comelizabethnewton.netlukebarnett.net

/emchka/archerblack



Actr

ess:

Gwen

doly

n Go

urve

nec

Please visit the website:

www.vengeance.it

Run Time: 103 Mins.

Acto

r: R

utge

r Hau

er

WAX: WE ARE THE XWriter/Director: Lorenzo Corvino

Someone passes a video to a number of journalists: this is the testimony left by three people in their thirties, two men and a woman, of their road trip through-out the French Riviera. The video relates to the task that they were carrying out during the last week before becoming involved in an accident. The three of them share a whole generation’s fate, a generation of expendables.

What is WAX, amongst other things?WAX is a Point Of View road trip movie, an adventure and romance film, a small generational thriller focusing on the adventures of two young Italian men and a young French woman. It’s a film made by some angry guys with a budget ten times lower than an average debut movie, scraped together in less than two years!

WHAT IS WAX“WAX” is an Italian debut film, a first time not only for its director, but also the producer, the director of photography, the production designer, the musician, the casting director and other profession-al collaborators. And even though it is a debut, the people involved in the project, even with national and international sponsors, never gave up when facing the most difficult of challenges that included shooting in four different Countries, on a scheduled flight across the Atlantic Ocean, in the middle of the desert, on a 1892 train in Provence and even on the terrace of the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo!

These young people succeeded in being appreciated by important and established actors that included Rutger Hauer and Jean-Marc Barr who agreed to participate in the film, captivated by the enthusiasm of the young French and Italian actors, for the first time participants in this film. The movie is about an adventurous journey, and was entirely shot in POV perspective, often by using smartphones on set, granting the cast freedom of expression and experimenting in new forms of film-making for the audience. This movie can therefore be considered a “Self(ie)-Movie”, both as an independent, self-produced project and as a film based on self-portraying, which is so popular among young people now. The film has a different narrative register, a crossover of genres, from thriller to adventure, romance to comedy and from drama to animation and social comment. The film also deals with current topics such as the cultural confrontation between peo-ple from different European Countries affected by the financial crisis of recent years and aims to reveal the generational struggle of searching for one’s own digni-ty through work, which is an important issue both inside and outside of Italy. Fi-nally, the film encourages a debate on the relationship between the idea of sacrifice and that of liberation.

SYNOPSIS

THE DIRECTORLorenzo Corvino was born in 1979 in the Apulian town of Lecce, in Italy. He has a scientific high-school certificate and a degree in Liberal Arts from La Sapienza University in Rome. He has a diploma in film making at the NUCT in Cinecittà. He is a novelist and a journalist. He has directed several “making of ’s” and has worked as an assistant director. He has also directed many short films and video clips, winning some international awards along the way! WAX is his debut feature film for which he is the director, script-writer and producer.

POV: SHOT WITH A SMART-PHONE

This film presents a road trip movie and an instant movie based on the dynamics between three people who are together the whole time. Such a film cannot be shot according to the traditional stand-ards of the objective camera, arbitrarily choosing what and who to show. An identification, or better an overlap-ping is required between the character’s view and the audience’s view, so that a sort of emotional osmosis can be created in the very moment everything takes place.

The smartphone became the answer: a tool as everyone knows, everyone uses everyday. In this film, it is used simply, as a means for telling stories, submitted

as a type of non-telephone communica-tion, filtered by story planning which is essentially cinematographic.All of us now use smartphones; we use them to communicate, to shoot vide-os to be uploaded to Social Networks and You -tube. But up until now, no one has turned the smartphone into an aesthetically mature means for showing emotions on the silver screen, both when actually using it on the set and when sim-ulating its use in order for the aesthetics of such a shot to create an immersive narrative.

Dire

ctor

: Lor

enzo

Cor

vino

with

Acto

r: Ja

copo

Mar

ia B

icoc

chi

Actor:Davide Paganini

SUNDAY MONDAY MONDAY22nd February 23rd February 23rd February

10:30amMas ManDirected By: Dalton Narine90 minutes

12:10pmCinderDirected By: Rene-Louis Caccuttolo65 minutes

1:30pmPaddys In The BootDirected By: Kevin Shulman25 minutes

2:15pmA Little FartherDirected By: Nikan Nezami30 minutes

2:55pmAidonDirected By: Patrick Hodgson10 minutes

3:10pmThe PromiseDirected By: Hambi Haralambous60 minutes

4:30pmOne Way Trip To Siem ReapDirected By: Celine Lesage40 minutes

5:10pmW 3Sixty5Directed By: Shane Ries50 minutes

6:15pmNighthawksDirected By: Gianpaolo Lupori15 minutes

6:35pmFlavor & FuelDirected By: Matthew Woodget20 minutes

6:55pmSummer Of TomDirected By: David Lueza30 minutes

7:30pmSomeoneDirected By: Alena Spirina15 minutes

7:55pmBorderlineDirected by: Luca Tobia Forcignano Serri10 minutes

8:15pmBeliefDirected By: Ivy Yu15 minutes

8:40pmDirty ShieldDirected by: Edgar Jimz90 minutes

12:10pmForgiveness is a WeaponDirected By: Scott Cronan35 minutes

1:00pmDiaryDirected By: Ming-Yi Tsay48 minutes

2:05pmShe Rocks The Planet! Directed By: Meredythe Dee Winter50 minutes

3:20pmMiaDirected By: Joseph McCarthy10 minutes

3:35pmBuryDirected By: Stefan Haverkamp80 minutes

5:15pmSour MilkDirected by: Elliott Gonzo15 minutes

5:30pmHawaDirected By: Arzouma kompaore30 minutes

6:10pmThe Unforgettable MistakeDirected By: Sean Robinson5 minutes

6:15pmAll of the peopleDirected By: JC Pratt3min

6:20pmThe Hero PoseDirected by: Mischa Jakupcak15 minutes

6:45pmIs There A Middle Class In AlbaniaDirected by: Pluton Vasi45 minutes

7:45pmMotel ProvidenceDirected By: Derek Frey10 minutes

7.55pmAfter The Storm – A Shark’s TailDirected By: Tony Exall15 minutes

8:10pmGolf Cart JihadDirected By: Jeff Kimble115 minutes

10:15amI’m starDirected By: Damien Dematra105 minutes

12:10pmNerveDirected By: Sebastien Guy85 minutes

1:40pmThe BoxDirected By: Jon Huertas25 minutes

2:05pmWAX: We Are The XDirected By: Lorenzo Corvino105 minutes

4:00pmDistanzaDirected By: Luca Cococcetta15 minutes

4:15pmChinese Propaganda Lesson In Prohibited AreaDirected By: Eric Darbré55 minutes

5:10pmBellevilleDirected By: Dan Steadman90 minutes

7:00pmVirgil sleepsDirected By: Jean Seban20 minutes

7:20pmChasing RainbowsDirected By: Robert Fritz100 minutes

9:00pmFiori Di BaallDirected By: Leonardo Pepi90 minutes

1 1 22

SCREENING TIMES International Filmmaker Festival

of World Cinema London

Followed by a 10 mins Q&A
















Screening Room 1 Screening Room 2

Dedicated to the Business

of FilmFollowed by a 5 mins Q&A



TUESDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY24th February 24th February 25th February

10:30amIt’s Not You It’s MeDirected By: Nathan Ives90 minutes

12:10pmAsintadoDirected By: Luisito Ignacio95 minutes

2:00pmSeptember Sketch BookDirected By: Ronnie Cramer10 minutes

2:25pmFaith In LoveDirected By: Alwiya Thani20 minutes

2:55pm7 FragmentsDirected By: Frédéric Dany45 minutes

3:45pm(des) EncontrasDirected By: Rodrigo Bernardo45 minutes

4:30pmIntrinsic Moral EvilDirected By: Harm Weistra15 minutes

4:45pmProfessional Panel

A panel of Industry professionals will be taking your questions on everything to do with the business of film – From financing the project, to marketing it and eventually to distributing your hard work.

5:45pm196Directed By: Anna Arlanova50 minutes

6:55pmSweet & Sour SalsaDirected By: Gustavo Cuervo Rubio80 minutes

8:25pmOracabessaDirected By: Richard A. Nelson129 minutes

10:45amThe Rise Of EchsenfriedlDirected By: Johannes Grenzfurthner75 minutes

12:05pmKomatoseDirected By: Mark Boucher75 minutes

1:35pmInstanceDirected By: Michael Farrell15 minutes

2:20pmAs The Tree Under The HurricaneDirected By: Claudia Fischer70 minutes

4:00pmSumerDirected By: Alvaro Garcia10 minutes

4:15pmTill ThenDirected by: Tara Brenninkmeyer20 minutes

4:40pmN+NDirected by: Yan-Chi & Mo Lai95 minutes

6:45pmCoralDirected by: Giacomo Martelli15 minutes

7:05pmWaiting For His DescendDirected by: Kismet Elsayed35 minutes

7:55pmJulius Caesar 2014Directed By: Nicolas Walker105 minutes

11:25amRAMDirected By: Miransha naik25 minutes

12:00pm101 SecretsDirected By: Tophy Cho95 minutes

1:45pmThe Falconer “Sport Of Kings”Directed By: Edwin Brochin70 minutes

3:05pmMr BrocklehurstDirected By: Jordan Shelby30 minutes

4:00pmDe Puta Madre A Love StoryDirected by Catherine Black16 minutes

6:15pmCaching FirefliesDirected By: Lee Whitteker25 minutes

6:45pmArde LucusDirected By: Oscar Brais Revalderia Prieto60 minutes

8:00pmFlutterDirected By: Elliot Cowan25 minutes

8:30pmMeeres StilleDirected by: Juliane Fezer142 minutes

21 1 2 1 1























Screening Room 1 Screening Room 2 Screening Room 1

St.Tropez International Film Festival

See you in St.Tropez11th - 16th May 2015

SCREENING TIMES International Filmmaker Festival

of World Cinema London

10:40amThe Trembling GiantDirected By: Jared Evans80 minutes

12:05pmOut of nothingDirected By: Chad DeRosa90 minutes

1:50pmRed Spider LillyDirected By: John Clang & Wai Thong Chow15 minutes

2:10pmEl MagoDirected By: Ana Rodriguez15 minutes

2:35pmDogDirected By: Robin Schmidt40 minutes

3:40pmFour TailsDirected By: Christopher Villiers25minutes

4:10pmVenice is SavedDirected by: Serena Nono79 Minutes

5:25pmTemporary DiscomfortDirected By: Simon Adegbenro15 minutes

5:45pmRome Was! A Piranesian VisionDirected By: Randolph Langenbach45 minutes

6:40pmA Flower & The BlueDirected By: Kholoud Alnajjar8 minutes

7:00pmThe AlgerianDirected By: Giovanni Zelko100mins

9:00pmNetworking evening in the bar (Drinks not included; bar will be open for you to purchase refreshments)

SCRIPT CORNER

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY THURSDAY25th February 26th February 26th February

11:00amThe Other KindDirected By: Rosalyn Rosen120 Minutes

12:35pmTrioDirected By: Dae Eol Yoo15 minutes

12:50pmSilent TearsDirected By: Ilango Ramanathan15 minutes

1:05pmFix youDirected By: Christian Juru3 minutes

1:10pmLove, And Other DevicesDirected By: Elle Stanion-McDermid15 minutes

1:25pmLake AmberDirected By: Zhang Yang50 minutes

2:50pmBruno Droste: An Artist’s Flight to FreedomDirected By: Cheryl Lee60 minutes

4:10pmChain ReactionDirected By: Kevin Bisbangian25 minutes

6:00pmPicnicDirected By: Shomshuklla Das75 minutes

7:25pmGoldDirected By: uzi amir5 minutes

7:30pmKnightmaresDirected By: Nicholas Michael Holmes15 minutes

8:00pmRoger McGowenDirected By: Nicolas Pallay60 minutes

11:00amJean Olivier Hucleux, from the Work to the ArtworkDirected By: Virgile Novarine60 minutes

12:10pmJonny’s Sweet RevengeDirected By: Mark David115 minutes

2:35pmButterflyDirected By: Yianna Dellatolla20 minutes

3:05pmIf The Trees Could TalkDirected By: Michael Weinstein25 minutes

4:10pmSouth Beach On HeelsDirected By: Demitry Zhitov80 minutes

5:45pmThe LookDirected By: Shawn McDaniel20 minutes

6:15pmMbeti: The Road To KisesiniDirected By: Ann Bromberg20 minutes

6:45pmLast StopDirected By: Amp Dulyatat Sripimanwat15 minutes

7:05pmBusted CityDirected By: Paul Carr85 minutes

9:00pmNetworking evening in the bar (Drinks not included; bar will be open for you to purchase refreshments)

1 122 22

The RageDavid Brett

The VentriloquistMichael Mortimer

Please Gentlemen, Ask Me Who I AmCinzia Gagliardi

The FamilySteven Shepherd

Break RoomAnne Cole

The Night WitchesSteven Prowse

The Girl From ChelseaFausto Politi

The Man who Killed Hitler

Fausto Politi

Public PlacesJulia Batavia

Tree HouseJay Mullings

TouchedNancy Paton

Lookin’ UpMarvin Kaplan

One Mighty and StrongLoren Lambert

Before the BombTannaz Hazemi

NextDoorAlexa MJ Matz

Lost CauseDavid Schroeder

FRIDAY 27th February
























Screening Room 1 Screening Room 2Screening Room 2

Starts at 11am

SCREENING TIMESA chance to learn and ask questions about the production of the film.



13 year old Baskaroun lost his arm in an accident working at the quarries in El-Menya governorate, upper Egypt. This accident has not stopped both of his brothers from continuing as quarry workers. Accidents at the quarries are common and many of them are fatal. The struggle for economic and social rights by the quarry workers in El-Men-ya, is a hard struggle and quarrying is the main economic activity for the east bank. A minimum of 15,000 men and children engage in this informal eco-nomic activity and although quarrying pays relatively better than other available jobs in this area, the working conditions are brutal and hazardous. The majority of the workers are breadwinners with no contracts or social or medical insurance. The working conditions are life threat-ening since most of the equipment is produced locally and does not adhere to international safety standards and the majority of the workers are forced to quit their jobs early because of its im-pact on their health. This film tells the story of Baskaroun and his family and their efforts to organise and gain some rights together with local activists. The

WAITING FOR HIS DESCENTDirector/Writer: Bassam Mortada

Run Time: 34 Mins.

reality is harsh but there are some successes and the determination for

change is very strong. This film focuses on documenting this reality and highlights the trials of empowerment of workers in this informal sector giving a close examination towards the

dynamics of self-organization.

Bassam Mortada, is an independ-ent filmmaker, producer and

activist. His first festival pre-mier was with his film ‘Re-porting…A Revolution’ a feature documentary about the 18 days of the Egyptian revolution and was premiered at the Berlinale film festival in Berlin 2012. He has also directed and produced a number of short films and

investigative human right documentaries.


LAKE AMBER

Run Time: 50 Mins.


Writers: Marsha Ma & Xu Qing

www.lakeamber.com

With China’s reform and opening up policy in the 1990s, millions of families from all over the country answered the call of the time to pour into Shenzhen, the first Special Economic Zone, situated immedi-ately north of Hong Kong. Teenagers from these families were shocked and influenced by Hong Kong gang and street culture. They started a journey of chasing their dreams, overcoming difficulties, experiencing betrayal and tasting sweet love.Among the choices, reaction and consequences, they gained their faith, resolution and courage.

Nominated for 4 Awards at the Inter-national Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in London for Talented New Director, Best Director of a Short Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay of a Foreign Language Film and Best Foreign Language Short, “Lake Amber” will doubtless impress the audiences by showing the culture conflicts between Chinese traditional and modern societies.

Starting his directing career with the TV serial “Chuangdong Guerrilla” in 2011, the new generation Chinese director Zhang Heyang has directed many movies including “Xuanyuan Emperor”, “Painted Skin”, “Mural” and “Dwelling in the Fuchun Moun-tains” with box office success. He directed then “Lake Amber” in 2014 as a new challenge.

known for being the cinematog-rapher on “Legendary Amazons”, “Looking for Jackie”, “The Love of Three Smile Scholar” and theZha Shen composed “City Without Winter”, the theme song specifically for “Lake Amber”. The song has been awarded the 2014 Shenzhen Top 10 Golden Melody by Shenzhen Radio FM971. He is deputy director of the Mental Health Center on the China National Committee for the Well-being of the Youth, enterprise coach and psychological consultant.

Huang Weilun, the leading actor in “Lake Amber”, graduated from Beijing Dancing Academy. Some of his collective credits include: “Spe-cial Identity”, “Compete for Beauty”, “Time Competition” and “Orange”.

Xu Qing, pro-ducer of “Lake Amber”, wit-nessed Shenzhen’s economic tran-sition, as well as the pathfinders struggle, choices, gains and loss. Refreshing the memories of his youth, he experi-enced a journey of re-evaluating himself and the society. He is known as jade collector. He is also a writer and president of Shenzhen Nanshan District Minia-ture Engraving Original Arts Com-mission.

Wang Quan, cinematographer for “Lake Amber”, started his photo-graphic career in 1998 and cine-matography in 2006, and is best

THE OTHER KINDWritter/Director: Rosalyn Rosen

A former county judge, his Bible toting wife, and their two adult children set out on a mission to rural Texas, intent on saving the youngest of their brood, an ec-centric poet who believes Charles Bukowski lives inside his head. But the tables turn when a chilling family secret is exposed and reali-ty is turned upside down.

Nominated for 4 Awards at the International Filmmaker Festival

SCREENINGFEBRUARY 25

2015

duction Legal on over 100 films. He is known in the United States as the Indie Filmmaker’s Enter-tainment Attorney. He is also head of Legal Affairs for Megalomedia, a production company that pro-duces such huge hits as Shipping Wars and My 600 Pound Life.

Lee Daniel, cinematographer for “The Other Kind”, is best known for being Rick Linklater’s cine-matographer on Boyhood, Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Before Sun-rise and Fast Food Nation. Lee has also been Rosalyn’s cinematog-

rapher on all of her music videos and concert films. This is their first collaboration on a narrative feature.

Steve Callif composed the music specifically for “The Other Kind”. He worked very closely with Ros-alyn to create compositions that would ideally serve the dramatic action. Steve Callif ’s music has been in HBO’s Sonic Highways and on Austin City Limits per-formed by Jimmy Vaughan, Gary Clark Jr., James Cotton and Del-bert McClinton.

The acting in “The Other Kind” is a powerhouse ensemble of incred-ible talent. Some of their collective credits include: The Last Stand, Dazed and Confused, Stop-Loss, Infamous, Friday Night Lights, The Homesman, In The Valley of Elah, All the Pretty Horses, The Client, Fried Green Tomatoes and The Wendell Baker Story.

Run Time 112 Mins


of World Cinema London for Best Feature, Best Cinematography Best Soundtrack and Best Sup-porting Actress, “The Other Kind” also recently won the Silver Award at the International Independent Film Awards and an Award of Merit at the Accolade Global film Competition.

Although “The Other Kind” is Rosalyn Rosen’s first narrative feature, she has directed many award winning music videos and concert films for Matisyahu and Los Lonely Boys for Epic Records. Her short film “Why Is The Dog Howlin’, Momma?” received festival screenings in NYC, LA, Santa Fe and Houston, winning an award for Best Original Dramatic Short Film at Worldfest Houston International Film Festival and a 4 Star Review from FilmThreat.com.

Michael Saleman, producer of “The Other Kind’, has done Pro-

Acto

r: D

ane

Hur

lbur

t as “

Carl

”.

Acto

r: Ju

stin

Arn

old

as “S

cott

”.



BRUNO DROSTEAN ARTIST’S FLIGHT TO FREEDOM

Director/Edtitor: Cheryl LeeProducer: Doris M. Carlino

The documentary features the life, times and music of the Erfurt Germany based pianist, composer and leader of the Bruno Droste Dance String Orchestra, whose delightful hit tunes and orchestral fantasies entertained music audiences throughout the East bloc countries from 1948 to 1958. Droste’s music has almost completely disappeared as a result of censorship that existed post World War II, in East Germany. The film presents a compelling theme of those fragile years when innovative expression was often taboo and creative artists were forced to struggle against restrictions posed by the soviet regime. Creative artists who felt it necessary to flee from East Germany to the West were considered traitors by East German authorities hence, their works of art, literature and music were destroyed and an attempt was made to erase the artist from the annals of history. Throughout history, art has been eclipsed or permanently lost due to economic deprivation, political upheaval and war.

The documentary follows in the tradition of important sociological works such as The Buena Vista Social Club and The Lives of Others, and spans two decades of Droste’s career. The film pieces togeth-er Droste’s life story through interviews, family photographs, various period publications, archival footage, restored radio recordings, audio tapes, old shellac recordings, and some newer recordings made in Belgium, the Netherlands, and West German radio studios. The American opera soprano Doris Marion joined forces with Droste, wrote lyrics in English for some of his songs and record-ed many of them. She and Droste were married in 1963 and moved to Belgium. Droste died in 1969 of a heart attack in Brussels at 51.

Prod

ucer

Dor

is M

. Car

lino

brunodroste.com

Run Time: 60 Mins.

The documentary, produced by his wid-ow Doris M. Carlino and directed / ed-ited by Cheryl Lee offers an impressive, engaging and emotional musical journey. Ms. Carlino and her crew were able to gather together some former members of

Dire

ctor

Che

ryl L

ee

the Bruno Droste Tanzstreichorchester in Erfurt, where they enjoyed a reunion and shared stories of hard times traveling in wood-burning buses, as well as recording “that beautiful music” in Erfurt’s elegant Imperial Hall.

This is a must-see documentary that helps resurrect some lovely musical treasures lost as a result of the political upheaval of the post-war period. It restores attention to Bruno Droste’s compositions and re-establishes his place in European musical history. The DVD is produced for either German or English audiences with voiceovers and subtitles.

Bruno rehearsing with members of his orchestra in Germany

Edito

r Che

ryl L

ee w

ith C

o-Pr

oduc

er M

elvi

n H

olm

es

Mem

eber

s of t

he O

rche

stra

enj

oyin

g te

a du

ring

an

inte

rvie

w

Brun

o &

Dori

s Per

form

ing

at a

n Am

eric

an G

I Clu

b in

N

urem

burg

Ger

man

y

A film by Doris Marion Carlino


JONNY’S SWEET REVENGECharlie and Reni

Writer: Jonathan BeechDirector: Mark David

/JonnysSweetRevenge

Run Time: 108 Mins.

Rick

and

Ren

i

Rick and Reni came to California in search of a new lease on life. Unfortu-nately, all they found was each other... In a last ditch effort to save their struggling relationship, the duo twist their couples’ counseling therapy into a plot that would see them turning back to their Texas low-life roots as petty criminals.

The couple decide to rob a bar called “Jonny’s Sweet Revenge,” a long forgotten Los Angeles watering hole in a rotten end of town best reserved for California’s idiosyncratic daytime drinking crowd. As has been the case throughout the history of Rick and Reni’s calamity plagued relationship, their haphazard scheme to hold up the bar goes horribly wrong. While the couple’s relationship problems turn into a theater of the absurd for all of the bar patrons to see, they accidentally manage to draw everyone into the chaos as accomplices.

Locked up inside the bar, a series of un-fortunate accidents leads to an accidental murder, finger pointing, and a lot of anxiety. A handful of story lines tie into a hysterical cover-up that not only unites a bar full of strangers for a common goal,

but gives them new purpose in this dark comedy about life hitting a wall and the personal search for change and hap-piness. Through the new relationships that they forge, Rick and Reni not only wonder if they’ll survive the day, but if they can survive one another.

Cobb

ler C

lub

Callahan and Tavares


AS A TREE UNDERTHE HURRICANE

Run Time: 70 Mins.

Writer/Director: Claudia Fischer

While I wasn’t able to find a way to help them into the University, I was really impressed by their drive, compassion, and determination. These girls were literally fighting to learn, to be educated, so that they could give back to the people around them while still maintaining the tribes bountiful culture. I tried to make the media and press aware of these two women and their fight for knowledge, but not a word was broadcast nor a sen-tence printed regarding their struggle... I never got an answer from the press or

their people and help them preserve their culture.

I obtained the permission from Ati, Mindhiva and their relatives to record them with a small HD camera. I record-ed them for a year, accompanying them through the good and bad. After that I taught myself how to edit and edited the footage for almost a year.

Two years ago, Ati and Mindhiva were guided my way by a friend in common. Ati and Mindhiva are sisters, and part of the Arhuaca tribe, a culturally rich tribe indigenous to Colombia. The sisters asked me to help them achieve their dreams of higher education. You see, the sisters wanted to achieve a college degree that would allow them to give back to the culture and the people they love so much. But a series of obstacles had rendered it impossible for the girls to attend the National University.

media.

This only fueled my passion for the sister’s battle and I became inspired to tell the story of these two sisters on my own. I want-ed to share their journey in order to create support for the Arhuaca wom-en of the Sierra, women who want to achieve a higher level of education to contribute to

Min

dhiv

a in

Bog

ota

Atte

ndin

g m

edic

al co

nsul

tatio

n.

“A beautiful look inside an indigenous culture in Colombia. No car chases here. Just plenty of humanity, beauty, and desire for education and service. Well done.“

Libba Jackson, Journalist.

Here, Claudia Fischer, the documentary maker behind “As a tree under the Hurricane” describes how she came to make this thought provoking film:

Since a botany student acquired a sec-ond-hand old book, he has been haunt-ed by hallucinations beyond time and space. It transpires that an ancestral curse has been put in the book. A mysterious woman called Miriam suddenly appears in front of him, and mentions “Baal’s flowers”, suggesting she knew of the curse. Why is she involved in this mystery? How can the curse be removed? The movie al-ternates between reality and dreams, days and nights with the boundaries of each becoming increasingly vague. It is also left unclear as to whether Miriam actually ex-ists or is merely part of his hallucinations.

Director Leonardo Pepi concentrates on maintaining an uncomfortable and weird atmosphere, through the film, offering no clear answers. A scene showing a bright sunny day, with sinister music accompa-nying, a witch that really does not fit the images, is a fine example. Then, at times, sounds are suddenly cut off, and ludicrous scenes of witchcraft recur like a vignette: this leads the whole film into functioning, almost, as witchcraft itself: keeping the viewer in flux: alternating between states of reality and dreams. Thus the movie be-comes closer to a metaphor than a straight story, and is also a more bizarre experi-ence than a temporarily stimulating one.

FIORI DI BAAL

Actr

ess:

Mar

ina

Gale

otti

as “M

iria

m” i

n Ba

al’s

Flow

ers.

Fior

i Di B

aal

Director: Leonardo PepiCinematographer: Filippo You Suk Oh

The botany student tries to decipher the secret of book and the reason why she’s involved in this paranormal story, with his friend, Alex. What Baal’s flowers are?

Leonardo Pepi & Filippo You Suk Oh

www.FioriDiBaal.it

/www.FioriDiBaal.it

Run Time: 90 Mins.

CINDER

Still

shot

from

the

Film

: Cin

der/

Cend

re

Writer/Director: Rene-Louis Cacciuttolo

Run Time: 80 Mins.

Wri

ter/

Dire

ctor

: Ren

e-Lo

uis C

acci

utto

loHaving been living in China for many years, French writer, director and producer Rene-Louis Cacciutto-lo decided to shoot Cinder in Hong Kong and Macau with a team of Chi-nese and French actors, in Chinese Mandarin. Cinder is a surrealistic musical tale, a psychological drama featuring a disturbed young man,

who becomes the victim of his own fantasies.I often observe how the desire to conform to the standards of society can push some people to negate reality.

In my movie, the main char-acter tries very hard to bury his compulsions in order to repro-duce behavior models which he believes are ex-amples to follow. Needless to say, this denial gen-erates psycho-logical pressure, which has to be released at some point.

Rene-Louis Cac-ciuttolo chose to illustrate his point by hint-ing at different fairy tales, using them as a means of punctuating the story line. « I hope these references will resonate with the public; I want to challenge the

way we read our familiar childhood stories, and to incite us to ponder on their dark side. I am very excited to have the opportunity to make a UK premiere in London and I can’t wait

to meet with the British moviegoers and listen to their reaction.

Scan here for Trailer



MBETI: THE ROAD TO KISESINIDirector: Ann Bromberg

Run Time: 16 Mins.

in March 2015. The film has been selected to show in several globally recognized film festivals for 2014-2015. Although Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini is Ann Bromberg’s first short documentary film, she has also been recognized as a documentary photographer where per-manent collections of her work can been seen at the at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico, Ft. Worth, Texas, and Oaklahoma City, Oaklahoma.

In Kenya and other African countries many newborns die within the first week of life, usually from infection or other preventable causes.

This compelling documentary is designed to engage a diverse international audience with a powerful visual narrative. Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini is about one woman’s journey to save her village, by saving the mothers and their children from dying of malnutrition caused by an unsafe water supply and lack of access to medical facili-ties in the community.

Mbeti Wambua is a tenacious and visionary African woman who galvanizes the women around her by creating and selling baskets from sisal, taking the proceeds to construct the first health clinic in the Village of Kise-sini. This courageous act ultimately brings healing and transformational change to her village.

Nominated for four awards at the Interna-tional Filmmakers Festival World Cinema in London, Best Short Documentary, Best Short Documentary Director, Best Short Documentary Producer, and a Jury Selec-tion award. Mbeti: The Road to Kisesini has recently won a Merit award at the Accolade Global Film Competition, finishing funds from Women in Film and Television Chap-ter in New Mexico, was a top ten finalist for a grant From The Heart Productions and has been selected to show at the Berlin Feminist Film Festival in Berlin, Germany

Please Scan this linkfor the Trailer.

ASINTADOSc

ene

from

“Asin

tado

”.

Run Time: 95 Mins.

Actr

ess:

Aiko

Mel

ende

z

We are delighted that the

nominations for the London

2015 International Filmmaker Festival

for Astinado are:

Asintado (Between the Eyes) is the first independent film of Filipino director Lu-isito Ignacio. It was an official selection in the 2014 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival.Ignacio is known for directing com-mercial movies, variety shows and soap operas on TV, concerts, MTV and commercials.

For three consecutive years, he was ALIW Awards’ Best Stage Director, he

produced several films which competed in Cannes and Venice including Kinatay which won Cannes Best Director in 2009 and Dennis Evangelista.

The same team is currently working on the feature Child Haus which is about children with cancer which is inspired by true cancer patients.

Asintado will next screen at festivals in Cleveland, Cairo and Queens, New York.

BEST FILMBEST DIRECTOR - LUISITO IGNACIO

BEST ACTRESS - AIKO MELENDEZBEST ACTOR - JAKE VARGAS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - MIGGS CUADERNOBEST STORY - MIGS VILLANUEVA

BEST EDITING - CARLO MANATAD

won the Gold Medal at the New York Festival; his short film “Hating-Kapatid’ won the Bronze Medal at the 2012 Busan International Advertising Features; Gold Award UAAP; and Tambuli Award Bronze.

Asintado is also the first indie film of actress Aiko Melendez. It also stars teen actor Jake Vargas and Miggs Cuaderno who won Best Actor at the Cheries Cheri Paris LGTB last year.

This is his Ignacio’s first collaboration with producer Ferdinand Lapuz who

Acto

r: M

iggs

Cua

dern

o

Acto

r: Ja

ke V

arga

s

Writer: Socorro VillanuevaDirector: Louie Ignacio


ARDE LUCUS

Asso

ciat

ion

from

ARD

E LU

CUS

gett

ing

read

y fo

r bat

tle

Director: Brais Revalderia

Please Scan here for the trailer.

Run Time: 60 Mins.

Gala

Nig

ht A

war

ds a

t St.

Trop

ez F

ilm F

estiv

al.

ARDE LUCUS. The Documentary has got more than 18 awards and 32 official selections at international film festivals from all over the world.

1700 years ago the wall of Lucus Augusti watched over the end of the so called World, in the present the descendants of the Roman and Celtic people that lived in the area, recreate the most important festival about the Roman Era in the World.

In June 2000, the rampart of Lucus Au-gusti was proclaimed a World Heritage site, the only rampart in the whole World that is completed and the citizens from Lugo can use daily to run and enjoy the landscape of the area.That day with the representatives from

Unesco only some associations were attending the event, but today all of the city becomes a little part of the old Rome, with more than 1000 amateur actors go-ing on to the streets bringing back Gladi-ators fighting for their lives at the Circus. With Gods and mythological creatures running all over the city chasing every human that gets in their way and the Soldiers and Praetorians looking to keep safe the Emperor Cesar Augusto.

This documentary shows a piece of the rich past and the culture that the Gali-cian people have, all descendants of the last Roman legions and the Celtic tribes that lived in the north-west of Spain from the first century.

Spain is a country with a huge cultur-al diversity, from north to south the language and the features of the people change in so many ways, Galicia is well known for having the best food and some of the most beautiful landscapes you can find in Europe, adding all of this to an experience back in time from 2000 years ago, makes Lugo the place to go every third weekend of June to enjoy and share

UN DOCUMENTAL DE BRAIS REVALDERÍA

UNA COPRODUCCIÓN DE EVERNIA Y PIRULETA&MEDIA DIRIGIDA POR BRAIS REVALDERÍAOTA HSIEH ANDRÉS LEMONK JAIME ALAMANAYUDANTES DE

DIRECCIÓN JUAN C. GÓMEZEDICIÓN YMONTAJEIVÁN CARRASCOREALIZACIÓN

DE JAIME ALAMANCOLOR YPOSTPRODUCCIÓN

EDUARDO REVALDERÍAAYUDANTES DEREALIZACIÓN HADRIÁN REVALDERÍAAYUDANTES DE

SONIDO HUGO FDZ. BALSEIROOPERADOR DECÁMARA SBA RADICAL SOUNDSONIDO Y

AMBIENTACIÓN

DIANA ABADASISTENTE DEPRODUCCIÓN XERAMÚSICA

ORIGINALLARA MARÍA QUIÑOÁAYUDANTE DECÁMARA

IF THE TREES COULD TALKWriter/Director: Michael Weinstein

Please scan for trailer

/ITTCT

Run Time: 24 Mins.

International award winning filmmaker Michael Weinstein’s touching tale of a young Jewish girl and her family who escape the ghetto and seek refuge in the forest. Strug-gling to survive, their horror is compounded by what may be the girl’s ultimate de-mise. Can she be saved by a spiritual force more powerful than we can imagine?

Nominated for six awards at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema London in the Short Film category for Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Producers, Jury Award, Best Actress, and Best Costume De-sign. The film has been in seven festivals thus far and has won an award in each. Michael’s other films have won numerous awards across the world as well.

On top of all of this, Michael’s slapstick short “White Knuckle” has also won numer-ous awards and nominations. The movie premiered at the 2010 NY Indie Short Film Festival. It won Best Short Film at Indie Fest USA , Award of Excellence at Indie Film Festival, the Diamond Award at the California Film Awards, and Best Romantic Film at the Aphrodite Cinefest. It earned a Merit Award at the 2010 Los Angeles Reel Independent Film Festival and at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood. Internationally, the film was given the Royal Reel Award at the Canada International Film Festival and won Best Screenplay at the Mexico International Film Festival. The short also screened at the New York Hell’s Kitchen Film Festival, Love Unlimited Film Festival, Long Island Film

Festival, Atlanta Shortfest, Independent Film Quarterly and New Media Film Festival, the New York International Film Festival and the Independents’ Film Festival. The film aired on The Education Channel as well.

Independent filmmaker Michael Weinstein and the founder of RUNAWAY Productions graduated from Adelphi University in 2006 as a Communications Production major where he received departmental honors and an award for Best Creativity in Film & Video. While attending high school, Weinstein made his first short film entitled “Runaway Wallet.” Out of thousands of applicants, it won Grand Prize at the 2002 Showtime Youth Video Festival, aired on Showtime and was featured at the Museum of Television & Radio.

If the trees could talk has also been accepted into the Cannes Film Short Corner 2015

While the world is filled with stories of romance, of loves lost and won, I felt the story of Chhutii Aar Picnic had to be dif-ferent. I decided to look inwards and into my own roots in Shantiniketan, which is the birthplace of Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. My father was a dis-ciple of Tagore at the first creative school in India started by Tagore, Shantiniketan. Going back to the place Tagore was born which imbibed every memory that I had of the place with my father, reminded

(The Last Poem). I remember having read it as a child, as it was part of our curricu-lum in school. Re-reading the same novel-la after so many years, I found that even now the tragedy and pure love of Lavanya and Amit still brought tears to my eyes. I knew what I had to do.

PICNICWriter/Director: Shomshuklla

me that perhaps I did not have to look too very far to find a story worth telling. While visiting my mother in Kolkata, I chanced upon her copy of Shesher Kobita

Run Time: 72 Mins.

Adapting an iconic novella like Shesher Kobita was never going to be easy. The original story is set in Shillong and is the set-up is very colonial and old worldly. However tantalizing a prospect it was to simply recreate the traditional set-up, I felt that there was more to this film. And that’s where the thought of modernizing the story came to mind. Having worked with Rabindra Sangeet in the past, I knew fairly well that it would not be an easy task but one that would make the story of Shesher Kobita more apt for the younger audience.

I did chose to take certain liberties in terms of making the setting more dynam-ic and relevant today and at the same time maintaining the essence of the film, which is in the beautiful blossoming romance of two strangers who find love and a life after.

And thus began the journey of Chhutii Aar Picnic.



SWEET & SOUR SALSA

Arse

nio

Rodr

igue

z - G

odfa

ther

of S

on M

ontu

no

Gustavo Cuervo Rubio & Egon Stephan Jr.

Alice Billman & Gustavo Cuervo Rubio

@SweetSourSalsa

/SweetSourSalsa

Run Time: 80 Mins.

THE NIGHT WITCHES

WW

2 So

viet

Pilo

ts “T

he N

ight

Witc

hes”.

Writer/Director: Steve ProwseNominated for best Script.

TheNightWitchesMovie.com

My wife’s father flew spy planes for the CIA back in the sixties, her brother’s a commercial pilot in the States, and her grandfather was a pilot for the US Navy - that’s how she came across it and passed it over. It’s a regular in lists of Greatest Stories Never Told.

Initially I was unconvinced. Writing a true story is very constrictive for a writer and there is a completely different dynamic to it. I’d never written one before, nor did I intend to. But as I started to research the more the tears and expletives came from what these women achieved and the hardships they endured.

Still, I was reticent. What finally persuaded me was when I discovered Hollywood back in 2001 had planned a movie based on this story. The lead was to be...Malcolm McDowell. Yes,

WHY I CHOSE THIS STORY?

a man. That’s when I decided to have a shot at it – to try and do these pilots justice.

No movie could even begin to encapsulate their experiences. All I can say is that I tried my best. As a musician adds a score to a movie, I merely added dia-logue to established facts and did the tiniest bit of editing. In a way I feel like a fraud being in the company of the oth-er screenwriters.

With the female-led FROZEN and THE HUNGER GAMES dominating at the box-office, as well as the planned EX-PENDABELLES, the demand is proven. The only difference? This is not a fantasy. It happened. It’s time has come.

After winning a scholarship to Cam-bridge, I am a CFO by trade and has there-fore may have written a lot of fiction in the past. At some point in my life I was also an international bridge player. In 18 months I have been officially selected on over 110 occasions and have 18 screenplay wins, 10 for this screenplay alone.

BIO

Winner of ten screenplay

competitions in 2014 and over thirty official

selections.With outdated biplanes, no radio, lights, defences nor parachutes, these WW2 Soviet pilots terrorized the Germans. All women. All true.

With Cuba finally rising after 65 years, what perfect timing to release Sweet & Sour Salsa. A unique documentary honoring the stories, music and journeys of Peter Pan immigrants, Kung Fu masters, Bay of Pigs descendants and renowned musical legends whose power and influence are still felt to-day. No matter who you are or where you’re from, you’ll be compelled to dance alongside the lush orchestrations of the musical style known as Son Montuno executed by the

acclaimed and well seasoned,“Conjunto Impacto”. The inter-national appeal of this music is felt as strongly in Germa-ny as it is in Hong Kong, spanning not only cultures, but age groups, which is noteworthy. Produc-er, Director Gustavo Cuervo Rubio crafts an intriguing tale as grandson of Cuba’s former Vice Presi-dent and Secretary of State. Feature Documentary, Best Music in a Doc-

umentary, Best Foreign Language in a Docu-mentary. We are well positioned for large scale distribution and marketing packages to impact an eager international audience. In the words of Master Perez “anyone who has any blood in their veins will move when they hear a good Son Montuno”. Anyone and everyone indeed.

Cast

& C

rew

of “

Swee

t & S

our S

alsa

”.

/TheNightWitchesMovie

Directors:

Writers:

Other contributors include, Co-Direc-tor Egon Stephan

of Cinetech and Co-Producer

Alice Billman of Heroes. London’s 7th International Filmakers Festival has awarded 5 nomintions;

Best Editing in a Docu-

mentary, Best Production in a

Documentary, Best [email protected]


THE RAGEW

rite

r: D

avid

Bre

tt

Writer/Artist: David Brett

www.DavidBrett.co.uk

Find more information by scanning this link.

DAVID BRETT is an expe-rienced author and theatre worker. He has had ten books published, (novels, scholarly and travel genres) and six plays in profession-al production. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, Catalan, Swedish and Mandarin. Plus many academic and critical papers. Employment includes Reader in Design History at The University of Ulster and visiting fellow at Columbia, M.I.T. and other institutions. He is also a mountaineering instruc-tor and ocean sailor with a Doctoral thesis from The Royal College of Art.

This is his first film script. But there are eight others in differing states, some of which are, dare he would say it are promising! (Some are total follies.)

So here we have what a competition judge described as ‘a contained and concentrated werewolf fantasia’. With a dash of vampirism. The teeth, you know. Long. Sharp.

And there I was, thinking I was telling a romantic comedy.PAGE Awards judge commented.....

'The leads are very strong. The support-ing cast is tight. Structure is firmly in place. The structure pays off the needs of its genre. Its themes are resonant. As always, your leads are one of the big sell points and the dialogue is strong as always ’.

Oh, and ‘ a unique script and an entertaining read‘.

I thought I was writing my own psy-cho-drama, based upon actual events. I did once spend months wandering Scandinavian on my own, sleepless in the arctic summer.

And yes, there was a woman, once, in another country. ‘ And besides, the

wench is dead’ .

And now I am asked for a brief resume. This is what I usually send…

FIX YOUFix You tells the story of two childhood friends who awaken dormant feelings after one falls in a deep slumber caused by a shocking “heartbreak.”

Run Time: 4 Mins.


The idea for Fix You came as Christian Juru was exploring visual concepts of having mechanical body parts. The story materialized when he got to the heart. He drew from classic fairy tales as he developed the story. The value of a long and strong

Writer/Director: Christian Juru

friendship became the center around which various themes would stem. The role reversal theme presents the girl as “princess charming” and the boy as the “sleeping prince.” The film also paints a picture of normality to a world of fantasy and implic-itly expresses social ideals.

Christian Juru

Salome Saliashvili

Kirstie Lane

Salome is a film producer based out of Washington D.C. Her exposure to arts came at a young age, and she grew admiring the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott. She is exploring her in-terest in film, while she continues her finance and entre-preneurial careers. She was born in Tbilisi, Georgia and speaks multiple languages.

Christian is a young independent filmmaker from Nashville, TN. He’s performed in stage plays and starred in prominent short films like Born Again and Love is Alive. He just worked on the VFX team for a Star Wars contest film and recently made his entrance in the festival scene with Fix You. He has a Civil Engineering degree and was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kirstie is an actress, model, singer, and songwriter. She plays the role of Brooklyn in Mafia Law, was a guest artist on The Ronnie McDowell Show, and is current-ly starring in Young Blade. Her interest in acting started at a young age but esca-lated when a director

discovered her at one of her music performances. She currently resides in Nashville, TN where she is studying com-puter science.

Charleston Patrick

Charlie is a musi-cian, composer, and audiovisual artist. He enjoys bringing together different mediums and genres in his work, and has a deep fascination with how the sciences can inform philosophy and art. Growing up all over the world, it’s hard for him to call one place home, but his current stop is in Nash-ville, TN where he is currently writing with and producing several acts.

CATCHING FIREFLIESWriter/Director: Lee Whittaker

Isab

ella

twir

ls he

r rib

bon

dow

nth

e ba

nks o

f the

LA

Rive

r

However, Isabella’s majestic retreat is short-lived as Sofia suddenly pulls Isabella out of the water, away from her new imaginary friend and leads her back into the reality of their dingy cardboard dwelling.

Refusing to wait there, Isabella follows her mother through the streets and is cheered up by a constant companion, Elijah, who dances his way into her heart.Later, finding her mother asleep in a tent she meets Aurora who enlightens her as to what is most absent in the lives of the homeless - “the connection with strangers.”

Now knowing how to save her mother from herself, Isabella runs home to share her new revelation and transforms from the child to the parent.

During the night, Isabella is awakened and returns to the streets, stumbling onto a gang argument. Elijah provides his magnum opus as gunfire rips through the night sky which Isabella mistakes as Fireflies.

SHATTERED IMAGE FILMSIsabella, a nine-year-old Latina girl, struggles to survive the woes of home-lessness with her heroin-addicted mother, Sofia, in a cardboard house on the bustling streets of Skid Row in down-town Los Angeles.

Skipping along the huge concrete water basin section of the LA River in search of trinkets, Isabella is awed as she stumbles upon a magazine page containing an image she’s never seen before––Fireflies.

As Isabella’s mother heats up a spoon for another heroin injection, Isabella falls into the water basin, escaping into a rich fantasy world where she meets a beauti-ful underwater princess.

INTRINSIC MORAL EVIL

Prin

cipa

l Dan

cer:

Joan

Fer

re G

omez

A collaboration between film-maker Harm Weistra and cho-reographer Fernando Dominguez Rincon, follows a male protagonist alone in the middle of a darkened marbled interior. Approached by another man, he enters into a play-ful game of magnetism, their bodies attracting and repelling each other in sinuous sensuality. Stasis brings forth a third person, the one that separates the two and lures the protagonist in his narrative’s metaphor of personal (sexual) development. Their embracing dance cut short, he is left once again on his own, this time with an assurance and under-standing that radiates in the tomb-like interior. A game of attractions and identity, chasing each other to their final destination – that of self-em-powerment and pride, glowing in the face of prej-udice. (Andrei Tănăsescu, Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival, BIEFF).

Writer/Director: Harm WeistraChoreographer: Fernando Dominguez

Chor

eogr

aphe

r: F

erna

ndo

Dom

ingu

ezRun Time: 10 Mins.

HarmWeistra.com


As the effects of her drugs wear off, Sofia tries to get her daughter home but abruptly they are taken to a violent place.

Elijah leads her to safety where she meets a Ukrainian cook who guides her to awhimsical room that comes to life with a message, “If you catch a firefly in the night sky, then your wishes come true.”

Director, Lee Whittaker discussing the scene with Stephen “Twitch” Boss (Elijah)

and Gianna Gomez (Isabella)

@catchngfireflyz

/catchingfirefliesfilm.com

Run Time: 25 Mins.

catchingfirefliesfilm.com



LAST STOP

Sometimes a minor negative incident in life could lead to a good inspiration to create something great and useful. One weekend, I was on the train from Wellington, New Zealand to meet a friend in Upper Hutt area. Unfortunately or fortunately, being unable to play with my smart phone, I began to observe other passen-gers and the atmosphere in my train compart-ment. I started to have a conversation with an employee of an establishment sitting next to me or with other passengers opposite me.

I came to the realization that the course of our lives was similar to our journey on the train. There are many train stations, different train routes and sometimes there are accidents.Some passengers got off when the train stopped and new ones got on. It was like someone left you or died from you and new persons came into your life. Each person on this train with me had different life patterns, different problems and different goals in life. Suddenly, the theme for my short film “Last Stop” came about. I chose to touch on the point how a person in distress and deep despair could sort himself out of a

rock bottom situation. A train trip com-pared with a journey through our lives. It is sometimes full of happiness, sadness, wonder, success, failure, meeting and departing.

“Last Stop” was shot

Writer/Director: Dulyatat “Amp” Sripimanwat

Run Time: 14 Mins.

Please scan for more information

Amp Sripimanwat the creative force behind “Last Stop” gives us some insight into the making his movie:

/amperecreative

in four days mainly at MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) in Auckland, New Zealand. I would like all of you to see “Last Stop”.I can guarantee that you will have a new outlook on life...“Last Stop” will help you find the answer about how you can handle and go through life when you are down and in despair.

Cast

and

Cre

w o

f “La

st S

top”

.Am

p Sr

ipim

anw

at

Working on set of “Last Stop”.

Dave (Ross McCall) breaks up with his girlfriend Carrie (Joelle Carter), but struggles with the decision as his contradictory inner voices comes to life. Carrie, reeling from the sudden break-up, has her own voices to listen to, including diva Gina (Vivica A. Fox) who advises that 'the best way to get over a man is with another' while Dave embarks on a fumbled but sincere journey to overcome his fear of commitment and get the love of his life back.

IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME

“IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME” has an ensemble, all-star class including Ross McCall (24, Band of Brothers), Joelle Carter (Justified, High Fidelity), Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill 2), Maggie Wheeler (Friends), Erick Avari (Mr. Deeds), and Beth Littleford (Dog With A Blog) and was an official selection of The Sedona Film Festival, The Madrid International Film Festival, The Breckenridge Film Festival (opening film). At The Naperville Film Festival, it has won Best Director (Ives) and Best Actress (Carter).

On the writing of the film, Ives says : “My goal was to create an honest and real snapshot of the craziness that goes on in our heads, both men and women, when faced with a break-up. I did my best to avoid the 'romantic comedy' clichés and create a film that was sadness and genuine emotion of love lost.”

humorous but also touched on the sadness and genuine emotion of love lost.”

A SERIOUS COMEDY

by NATHAN

IVES

IT’S NOT YOU,

IT’S ME

ROSS JOELLE VIVICA BETH MAGGIE ERICK McCALL CARTER A. FOX LITTLEFORD WITH WHEELER AND AVARI

A MULES FILM Production

European sales Société Cinématographique Lyre

Tel : +33 1 45 22 54 01 [email protected]

IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME A CREATIVE

AND HUMOROUS TRIP

INTO THE PSYCHE

OF ROMANCE

BY NATHAN IVES

A unique romantic comedy that provides a refreshing and entertaining look at the seemingly depressing breakup process


Dmitr

y Zh

itov

Film

ing

Producers: Dmitry Zhitov/Jose CantoDirector: Dmitry ZhitovStory Consultant: Greg Waters

southbeachonheels.com

Run Time: 80 Mins.

“Tiff

any

Pant

asia

”.

Candid interviews are held with well known entertainers such as Latrice Royale, who was a finalist on RuPauls Drag Race, and Carmen Carerra, a famous transgendered entertainer, as well as a host of other lesser known, but equally fascinating, artists trying to cut their teeth in show business. Although the drag queens of “South Beach On Heels” at first seem like colorful, otherworldly beings, we soon learn they are a lot like all of us. The film features original music and ultimately tells a story of what it means to have a family you can count on that is straight from the heart.

A Multi-Award Winning documenta-ry ‘South Beach On Heels’ follows the onstage, backstage and offstage lives of eight hard working entertainers, better known as drag queens. This full-length documentary explores the fascinating and funny people behind the make-up, jewels and wigs. Through on stage performance and off stage prejudice, learn how they find the power of their true inner voice to live out and proud lives.

SOUTH BEACH ON HEELS

Documentary filmmaker Dmitry Zhitov follows the entertainers who work at the famed Palace Bar in South Beach, Florida for over a year to learn what makes them tick. Along the way he gains backstage and home life access to these hard working entertainers, learning what it takes to make a living as a female impersonator. He also uncovers the joys and heartaches of having an onstage and offstage life, and reveals many secrets of the trade. The unfolding stories of growing up gay, poor, as an outsider, or coming from another coun-try are charming, tender and touching.

“Sha

naya

Bri

ght”.

“Tp

Lord

s”.

TP L

ords

app

leyi

ng m

ake

up“N

oel L

eon”

.

Scan here for Trailer

Film The Magazine - February 2015

Documents

international filmmakers

international film festivals

festival president

film productions

wonderful invitation

wonderful time

global film industry

respected film production