Every week, I get several press releases, screening invitations and other notifications from a handful of studio contacts. While I won’t be sharing any information regarding my screening invites, some of the press releases might be of interest to my readers, so I thought I’d start sharing them in toto with all of you. These could include new image galleries for various films or important updates to upcoming releases from various smaller studios and art house production companies.

• Press Release: Picturehouse Acquires Rights to “Gloria”
• Press Release: Fandor Selects Centerpiece film for “Shocktober”
• Press Release: AFI Docs 2015 Dates Announced
• Press Release: Brigade’s 2014 Holiday Slate
• Press Release: Executive Circle Announced for AFI Directing Workshop for Womehn
• Press Release: “Private Peaceful” Opens October 31
• Press Release: “The Hornet’s Nest” Inshrined in The National Infantry Museum

Press Release: Picturehouse Acquires Rights to “Gloria”

PICTUREHOUSE ACQUIRES ALL US RIGHTS TO ‘GLORIA’

Controversial pop/rock icon Gloria Trevi’s unbelievable life story

NEW YORK—Oct. 6, 2014–Picturehouse has acquired all U.S. rights to GLORIA, the biopic based on the true story of Latin America’s most controversial pop-rock icon, Gloria Trevi, from Matthias Ehrenberg of Río Negro, and plans a first quarter 2015 release.

GLORIA has also been acquired by Universal Pictures International for release in Mexico and Latin America. The film will have a broad release in those territories in early January 2015.

GLORIA is a bold and compelling musical drama told through the lens of the provocative, socio-politically charged music that made her famous. Often referred to as the “Mexican Madonna” and called the “Supreme Diva of Mexican Pop” by VH1, Trevi has sold more than 20 million records and is currently again on top of all the charts.

The film traces Trevi’s ascent to stardom in the ‘80s and ‘90s with her manager and then husband Sergio Andrade, never shying away from their destructive relationship or his abusive sexual behavior and its consequences. It also chronicles her astounding fall from grace in 2000 when she was accused of running a sex cult and thrown in jail to her triumphant acquittal and release in 2004.

“Gloria Trevi’s meteoric rise to stardom and astounding downfall is vividly portrayed in this riveting film about love, fame and betrayal,” says Picturehouse CEO Bob Berney. “We are excited to work with Matthias and his team at Río Negro to bring this film to audiences across the US.”

Written by one of Mexico’s top screenwriters and playwrights, Sabina Berman (BACKYARD, PANCHO VILLA AND A NAKED WOMAN), the film was directed by first timer Christian Keller, who chased down the Trevi’s life rights and has been developing her story since 2005.

“It’s a story about redemption, love and unlove, and how one can lose control of things; it doesn’t intend to scandalize, but it certainly doesn’t hide what happened,” says Río Negro’s founder Matthias Ehrenberg. “Christian has delivered a very powerful movie, well-conceived and well-directed. ”

Sofia Espinosa explodes on the screen in the title role, performing some of Trevi’s most beloved hits, including her first Number One hit, “Dr. Psiquiatra,” from 1989. Marco Perez (AMORES PERROS, TRADE, BACKYARD) delivers a tour-de-force performance as Sergio Andrade whose rise on the back of Gloria´s success unleashes his most destructive sexual demons and ultimately brings them both down.

The film was made with a top notch team of filmmakers, including producers Matthias Ehrenberg (ITS NOT YOU, ITS ME, THE OTHER FAMILY, BEFORE NIGHT FALLS, CHANCE), Barrie M. Osborne (THE GREAT GATSBY, THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy) and Alan B. Curtiss (MASTER AND COMMANDER, THE PRESTIGE), Director of Photography Martin Boege (INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED, THE VIOLIN) and editor Patricia Rommel (THE LIVES OF OTHERS).

Press Release: Fandor Selects Centerpiece film for “Shocktober”

Centerpiece of Fandor’s “Shocktober,” celebrating a season of horror!

(San Francisco – October 6, 2014) Fandor, the leading curated subscription streaming service for film enthusiasts, will debut Kino Lorber’s new 4K restoration of Robert Wiene’s classic horror thriller The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari exclusively on the site beginning Halloween. In addition, the restored film will have a limited theatrical run in select cities also commencing on October 31st through Kino Lorber.

Roger Ebert wrote that “Caligari creates a mindscape, a subjective psychological fantasy. In this world, unspeakable horror becomes possible” and remarked that an argument could be made that “Caligari was the first true horror film.” The restoration was overseen by the Murnau Foundation and is a co-production of Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung and ZDF in collaboration with ARTE., with mastering by L’immagine Ritrovata, Cineteca di Bologna in Italy.

To celebrate this restoration and in honor of the season, Fandor is also highlighting a series of genre classics featuring zombies, vampires, psychopaths, murderers, bloodthirsty cults, and even a parasite named Aylmer! The collections of truly shriek-worthy films are divided into two segments:

THE SIN WITHIN: featuring films focused on internal threats, compulsive behaviors, dangerous impulses, and possession (of course!). The full line-up of films available in this collection is available to view here: http://www.fandor.com/spotlights/the-sin-within

STRANGER DANGER: featuring mysterious killers, stalkers, starved zombies, and a variety of other unidentified terrifying entities will become available on October 16th.

The collection of films feature filmmakers as diverse as Claire Denis, William Lustig, Dario Argento, Mario Bava , Lucio Fulci and Kim Jee-Woon, and of course George Romero.

Highlights of the Halloween offerings include:

Trouble Every Day (2001) 101 min Directed by Claire Denis

World renowned filmmaker Claire Denis’ most controversial divisive and under appreciated films to date. With its gory, outré film style, Trouble Every Day shocked audiences at it’s 2001 Cannes Film Festival debut for its graphic depictions of carnal lust as a cannibalistic disease. Named after a Frank Zappa song, the film follows American newlyweds Shane and June Brown to Paris on their honeymoon. Once there, Shane begins a search for his former colleague Leo, who might be in possession of a cure to a tropical virus that has transformed both Shane and Leo’s wife into a ravenous sexual cannibals.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) 96 min Directed by George Romero

One of the most influential horror movies ever made, Night Of The Living Dead trail-blazed zombie lore along with its choice of an African-American hero, its unprecedented gore and the magnitude of its success, making tens-of-millions on a minuscule budget. This tightly-focused story of strangers barricading themselves in a farmhouse to escape cannibalistic ghouls raised from the dead was the first feature for George Romero.

Maniac (1980) 88 min Directed by William Lustig

Frank Zito (a career performance by co-writer/co-executive producer Joe Spinell of Rocky and The Godfather fame) is a deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of unspeakable childhood abuse. And when these horrific memories begin to scream inside his mind, Frank prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young women. Now Frank has begun a relationship with a beautiful photographer (Caroline Munro of The Spy Who Loved Me), yet his vile compulsions remain. These are the atrocities of a human monster. This is the story of a Maniac.

Devil Doll (1964) 81 min Directed by Richard Gordon

Grab a good seat and don’t look away from the stage, for the Great Vorelli (Bryant Haliday) is about to dazzle London with his eerie mixture of hypnotism and ventriloquism. However, there may be something a little too lifelike about his dummy, Hugo, who has the ability to walk across the stage all by himself. Now Vorelli has become obsessed with Marianne (Yvonne Romain), an heiress who proves to be the key to the powerful mesmerist’s insidious plans. Marianne’s boyfriend, reporter Mark English (William Sylvester), suspects evil at work and becomes determined to uncover the secret between Vorelli and the wooden Hugo, a creature born from your darkest nightmares!

Female Vampire (1973) 101 min Directed by Jess Franco

Channeling his deepest libidinal desires and darkest fears into films, with no apparent concern for narrative convention or the boundaries of mainstream taste, Jess Franco is a cinematic iconoclast. And Franco was never better than when working with his wife, Lina Romay, a haunted waif who would go to any extreme to assure that the director’s wildest imaginings were brought to the screen without compromise. Their most highly regarded collaboration, Female Vampire stars Romay as the mysterious Countess Irina Karlstein, a beautiful vampiress who feeds on victims at their moments of sexual climax. Because she destroys those whose essence she consumes, Irina is doomed to a life of solitude, wandering through the Western Coast of Europe in a dreamlike state, shrouded in a lush musical score by Daniel White.

Ganja and Hess (1973) 110 min Directed by Bill Gunn

Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror genre, Bill Gunn’s revolutionary independent film Ganja & Hess is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion and African American identity. Duane Jones stars as anthropologist Hess Green. When he is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant (director Bill Gunn), Hess becomes endowed with the blessing of immortality and the curse of an unquenchable thirst for blood. When the assistant’s beautiful and outspoken wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes searching for her vanished husband, she and Hess form an unexpected partnership. Together, they explore just how much power there is in the blood.

Zombie (1979) 91 min Directed by Lucio Fulci

In Italy, it was considered the ‘unofficial sequel’ to Dawn Of The Dead. In England, it was known as Zombie Flesh Eaters and banned as obscene. In America, it was called Zombie and advertised with the depraved tag line “WE ARE GOING TO EAT YOU!” Tisa Farrow (The Grim Reaper), Ian McCulloch (Contamination), Al Cliver (Cannibals), and Richard Johnson (The Haunting) star in this worldwide splatter sensation directed by ‘Maestro of Gore’ Lucio Fulci (City Of The Living Dead, The House By The Cemetery) that remains one of the most eye-skewering, skin-ripping, gore-gushingly graphic horror hits of all time.

The Crazies (1973) 103 min Directed by George Romero

Its code name is ‘Trixie’, an experimental government germ weapon that leaves its victims either dead or irreversibly insane. When the virus is accidentally unleashed in Evans City, Pennsylvania, the small community becomes a war zone of panicked military, desperate scientists and gentle neighbors turned homicidal maniacs. Now a small group of citizens has fled to the town’s outskirts where they must hide from trigger-happy soldiers while battling their own depraved urges. But even if they can escape the madness of this plague, can they survive the unstoppable violence of The Crazies?

A Bay of Blood (1971) 84 min Directed by Mario Bava

One of the most influential horror films of all time, Mario Bava’s A Bay Of Blood (aka Twitch Of The Death Nerve) is the spurting artery from which all future slasher films would flow. When crippled Countess Federica is murdered at her isolated mansion, a gruesome battle ensues to secure the rights to her valuable property around the bay. Everyone, from illegitimate children to shady real estate agents, stakes a claim, only to be killed in increasingly bizarre ways, from simple shootings to impalement by fishing spear. The makeup effects are by Carlo Rambaldi (who would later earn Oscars for his work on Alien). Initially scorned upon its original release because of its graphic violence, A Bay Of Blood eventually became a trendsetter, the model slasher film that Friday The 13th would emulate nearly a decade later.

Inferno (1980) 106 min Directed by Dario Argento

A young woman stumbles upon a mysterious diary that reveals the secrets of the “Three Mothers” and unleashes a nightmare world of demonic evil. As the unstoppable horror spreads from Rome to New York City, this unholy trinity must be stopped before the world is submerged in the blood of the innocent. Written and directed by Dario Argento, Inferno is the visually stunning second chapter of the “Three Mothers” trilogy begun with the classic Suspiria. This surreal shocker stars Irene Miracle (Night Train Murders), Daria Nicolodi (Deep Red) and Leigh McCloskey (Dallas), and features a pulse-pounding original score by Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

Press Release: AFI Docs 2015 Dates Announced

AFI DOCS 2015 ANNOUNCES DATES AND CALL FOR ENTRIES

The American Film Institute’s 13th Annual Documentary Festival Will Be Held June 17-21, 2015

LOS ANGELES, CA, October 8, 2014 – The American Film Institute’s international documentary film festival, AFI DOCS 2015 will take place June 17–21, 2015 in and around the nation’s capital – with the goal to inspire change by bringing together the nation’s leaders and leading artists. Located in Washington, DC’s Penn Quarter, as well as the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD, AFI DOCS continues the American Film Institute’s legacy in Washington, DC where it was born of a presidential mandate in 1965. AFI DOCS presents a diverse slate of documentaries ranging in topics from national politics, education and health to music, sports, nature and culture.

Submissions are now open and filmmakers are invited to submit feature and short documentaries at AFI.com/AFIDOCS or through Withoutabox.com.

This year AFI DOCS will have three deadlines – early, regular and late submission dates for both short films (40 minutes and under) and feature films.

December 12, 2014 – Early submission deadline for both features and shorts
January 30, 2015 – Regular submission deadline for both features and shorts
March 2, 2015 – Late submission deadline for both features and shorts
June 17–21, 2015 – AFI DOCS
AFI DOCS is the only festival in the U.S. to offer a connection between audiences, policy leaders and filmmakers in our nation’s capital.

This promise is fulfilled by the AFI DOCS Filmmaker Engagement Program, a series of professional development sessions that bring together the nation’s leaders and the nation’s leading artists. The program includes both a Policy Engagement Series — an opportunity for festival filmmakers to meet with congressional and federal agency staff and Impact Panels dedicated to helping filmmakers amplify their message within stakeholder communities.

The 2014 festival opened with HOLBROOK/TWAIN: AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY (DIR Scott Teems) and closed with LIFE ITSELF (DIR Steve James). The annual AFI DOCS Charles Guggenheim Symposium honored Alex Gibney; Spotlight Screenings included E-TEAM (DIRS Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman), FREEDOM SUMMER (DIR Stanley Nelson) and GLEN CAMPBELL…I’LL BE ME (DIR James Keach). Catalyst Screenings included THE INTERNET’S OWN BOY (DIR Brian Knappenberger), IVORY TOWER (DIR Andrew Rossi), THE HOMESTRETCH (DIRS Anna deMare and Kirsten Kelly) and THE NEWBURGH STING (DIRS Kate Davis and David Heilbroner). Notable films included HAPPY VALLEY (DIR Amir Bar-Lev), LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM (DIR Rory Kennedy) and VIRUNGA (DIR Orlando von Einsiedel).

Press Release: Brigade’s 2014 Holiday Slate

2014 HOLIDAY PREVIEW LETTER

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Below please find a list of the films Brigade will be handling Fall/Winter 2014

(in order of theatrical release)

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BESIDE STILL WATERS – November 14th

Directed by Chris Lowell
Written by Chris Lowell & Mohit Narang
Cast: Ryan Eggold, Beck Beckett, Will Brill, Brett Dalton, Erin Darke, Jessy Hodges, Britt Lower, Reid Scott

Winner of both the Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Austin Film Festival, Beside Still Waters is about Daniel Thatcher (Ryan Eggold), a young romantic who has recently fallen on hard times, who enlists his childhood friends to relive the glory days of their youth, whether they like it or not.

BUTTER ON THE LATCH – November 14th

Written and Directed by Josephine Decker
Cast: Sarah Smalls, Isolde Chae-Lawrence, Charlie Hewson

At a Balkan folk song camp in California, Sarah reunites with Isolde, an old friend, to sing old songs. When she pursues a romance with a new camper, her nights of sensual secrets with Isolde come to an end.

THOU WAS MILD AND LOVELY – November 14th

Written and Directed by Josephine Decker
Cast: Joe Swanberg, Sophie Traub, Robert Longstreet, Kristin Slaysman, Matt Orme

When Akin arrives at the farm, he finds his job. This is what he expected to find. When Sarah opens her legs, she finds someone watching. This is what she expected to find. When Jeremiah opens his mouth, frightening things come out of it. This has come to be expected. But what happens by the creek next to the cow. This was not expected.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT – November 21st

Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour
Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Dominic Rians, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marno, Milad Eghbali

Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps and other sordid souls, is a bastion of depravity and hopelessness where a lonely vampire stalks its most unsavory inhabitants.

LATE PHASES – November 21st

Directed by Adriån Garcîa Bogliano
Written by Eric Stolze
Cast: Nick Damici, Ethan Embry, Lance Guest, Erin Cummings, Rutanya Alda, Tina Louise, Caitlin O’Heaney, Karen Lynn Gorney, Dana Ashbrook, Tom Noona

Crescent Bay is not the ideal place to spend one’s golden years, especially since the once-idyllic retirement community has been beset by a series of deadly animal attacks from the ominous forest surrounding it. When grizzled war veteran Ambrose McKinley (Nick Damici) is forced into moving there by his yuppie son Will (Ethan Embry), the residents immediately take offense to Ambrose’s abrasive personality. But that take-no-prisoners attitude may be just what Ambrose needs to survive as it becomes clear that the attacks are being caused by creatures that are neither animal nor man, and that the tight-knit community of Crescent Bay is hiding something truly sinister in its midst…

REMOTE AREA MEDICAL – November 25th

Produced and Directed by Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman

Amid the nation’s ongoing debate over health care reform, this bracing new documentary examines the everyday realities of Americans who lack access to affordable medical treatment.

THE BABADOOK – November 28th

Written and Directed by Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman

A sinister children’s book called Mister Babadook mysteriously appears in the home of Amelia and her increasingly odd son Samuel. As the book continues to reappear, and things begin to go bump in the night, Amelia begins to wonder if there’s a presence in the house more disturbed than her son.

INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO IN 3D – December 5th

Directed by Julian Jones
Written by Nick Dear, Julian Jones
Cast: Peter Capaldi

The inspiring world of Leonardo da Vinci is brought to life by acclaimed BAFTA award-winning actor Peter Capaldi in a unique dramatized documentary directed by Julian Jones and produced by History Films.

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FILM DETAILS

BESIDE STILL WATERS

Opens November 14th

Directed by Chris Lowell
Written by Chris Lowell & Mohit Narang
Cast: Ryan Eggold, Beck Beckett, Will Brill, Brett Dalton, Erin Darke, Jessy Hodges, Britt Lower, Reid Scott

Synopsis:
Daniel Thatcher, a young romantic, has recently lost both of his parents in a car accident. None of his friends came to the funeral, and now he’s losing the family home. The weekend before he has to move out, Daniel hosts a memorial celebration and insists that his friends attend. In addition, Daniel invites his ex-girlfriend, Olivia, to the house, with the hopes of rekindling their old romance.

Things quickly take a turn for the worse as none of his friends share in Daniel’s nostalgia of the good old days. Furthermore, when Olivia finally arrives, she’s brought her new fiance. But as the night progresses, the house brings out the adolescence in all of them, and what follows is an evening full of drinking and dancing. Laughter and secrets. Sex, drugs, mischief and regret.

The next day everyone must face the revelations of the night before, none more so than Daniel, who finally confronts his friends about their absence at his parents’ funeral. Once again, Daniel finds himself alone and brokenhearted. He has to let go of the past. He has to mourn. He has to forgive. In doing so, Daniel begins to see that the flaws in the people he loves are intertwined with their beauty. As everyone prepares to leave the house for the last time, their childhood memories come flooding back to them, and Daniel is left with the hope that the friendships of his past will become the family of his future.

TRT: 127 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Drama

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BUTTER ON THE LATCH

Opens November 14th

Written and Directed by Josephine Decker
Cast: Sarah Smalls, Isolde Chae-Lawrence, Charlie Hewson

Synopsis:
Josephine Decker’s sinister folktale is set in the dark Californian forest of Mendocino, where a Balkan folk festival is taking place. Sarah (Sarah Small) surprises her friend Isolde (Isolde Chae-Lawrence) by visiting her at the camp, and the two of them enjoy learning about the mythical stories from those faraway lands, practicing traditional song and dance and chit-chatting on their torch-lit journeys back to the tiny cottage where they sleep. Sarah encounters a handsome guy during one of their carefree moments and decides to seduce him – slowly and over the course of several days. Obscure feelings begin to disrupt her behavior while she makes her advances, and she almost forgets about Isolde as she is dragged deeper and deeper into the mythical world being played out in front of her by the other festival guests. Ashley Connor’s refreshing cinematography and Decker’s own freestyle editing – at times experimental, at times tranquil and contemplative – articulate the eerie underworld simmering in Sarah’s unstable psyche. What begins as an innocent visit to the forest soon gives way to a confusing mind-trip, where reality and mythology become inextricably linked.

TRT: 72 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Drama

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THOU WAST MILD AND LOVELY

Opens November 14th

Written and Directed by Josephine Decker
Cast: Joe Swanberg, Sophie Traub, Robert Longstreet, Kristin Slaysman, Matt Orme

Synopsis:
On a farm in rural Kentucky, father Jeremiah (Robert Longstreet) and daughter Sarah (Sophie Traub) squabble together like young puppies. Over crisp, verdant images of nature, of animals, streams and puddles, a mysterious, sensual female voice tells of her lover, who may be a person or may be the whole world. Enter Akin (Joe Swanberg), there to help out for the summer. He’s left his wife and child at home – and taken off his wedding ring as a precaution. Soon the three of them are circling each other, watching, feeling watched and knowing that their watching is not going unwatched. Within this atmosphere, a charged romance develops between Sarah and Akin that carries both an erotic tension and vague feeling of menace. When Akin’s wife Drew comes for a visit, the situation explodes, harmless fantasies giving way to a violent nightmare.

The seductive colors and shallow depth of field of Ashley Connor’s superb camerawork accentuate the ethereal nature of this enigmatic story. Josephine Decker’s second feature lets beauty and horror blithely flirt with one another like two coquettish flowers in the same inviting meadow.

TRT: 76 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Drama

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LATE PHASES

Opens November 21st

Directed by Adriån Garcîa Bogliano
Written by Eric Stolze
Cast: Nick Damici, Ethan Embry, Lance Guest, Erin Cummings, Rutanya Alda, Tina Louise, Caitlin O’Heaney, Karen Lynn Gorney, Dana Ashbrook, Tom Noona

Synopsis:
Crescent Bay is not the ideal place to spend one’s golden years, especially since the once-idyllic retirement community has been beset by a series of deadly animal attacks from the ominous forest surrounding it. When grizzled war veteran Ambrose McKinley (Nick Damici) is forced into moving there by his yuppie son Will (Ethan Embry), the residents immediately take offense to Ambrose’s abrasive personality. But that take-no-prisoners attitude may be just what Ambrose needs to survive as it becomes clear that the attacks are being caused by creatures that are neither animal nor man, and that the tight-knit community of Crescent Bay is hiding something truly sinister in its midst…

Following the release of his HERE COMES THE DEVIL, as well as his scene-stealing segment “B is For Bigfoot” in the horror anthology THE ABCS OF DEATH, Adriån Garcîa Bogliano cements his status as one of the top horror filmmakers coming out of Spain with LATE PHASES. In a bookend of sorts to his performance in the cult hit STAKE LAND, Nick Damici commands the screen here, coming on the heels of his vigilante thriller COLD IN JULY and last year’s critically acclaimed cannibal drama, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE.

TRT: 95 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Thriller

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A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT

Opens November 21st

Written and Directed by Ana Lily Amiprour
Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Dominic Rians, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marno, Milad Eghbali

Synopsis:
Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps and other sordid souls, is a bastion of depravity and hopelessness where a lonely vampire stalks its most unsavory inhabitants.

Cinema’s first Iranian vampire western, Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature basks in the sheer pleasure of pulp. A joyful mash-up of genre, archetype, and iconography, its prolific influences span spaghetti westerns, graphic novels, horror films, and the Iranian New Wave. Amped by a mix of Iranian rock, techno, and Morricone-inspired riffs, its airy, anamorphic, black-and-white aesthetic and artfully drawn-out scenes combine the simmering tension of Sergio Leone with the weird surrealism of David Lynch.

TRT: 107 minutes
Country: USA
Language: Farsi with English subtitles
Genre: Thriller

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REMOTE AREA MEDICAL

Opens November 25th

Produced and Directed by Jeff Reichert and Farihah Zaman

Synopsis:
During the U.S. debate about healthcare reform, the media—reporters and news crews and filmmakers—failed to put a human face on what it means to not have access to healthcare. REMOTE AREA MEDICAL fills that gap—it is a film about people, not policy. Focusing on a single three-day clinic held in the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, REMOTE AREA MEDICAL affords us an insider’s perspective on the ebb and flow of the event—from the tense 3:30 a.m. ticket distribution that determines who gets seen to the routine check-ups that take dramatic turns for the worse, to the risky means to which some patients resort for pain relief. We meet a doctor who also drives an 18-wheeler, a denture maker who moonlights as a jeweler, and the organization’s founder, Stan Brock, who first imagined Remote Area Medical while living as a cowboy in the Amazon rainforest, hundreds of miles from the nearest doctor. But it is the extraordinary stories of the patients, desperate for medical attention, that create a lasting impression about the state of modern health care in America.

TRT: 80 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Documentary

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THE BABADOOK

Opens November 28th

Written and Directed by Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, Ben Winspear

Synopsis:
Young widow Amelia lives with her seven-year-old son, Samuel, who seems to get odder by the day. His father’s death in an accident when driving Amelia to the hospital to give birth to him may have something to do with the boy’s unnerving behavior, which scares other children and perhaps even his own mother. But when a sinister children’s book called Mister Babadook mysteriously appears—and keeps reappearing—Amelia begins to wonder if there’s a presence in the house more disturbed than her son. Jennifer Kent’s visually stunning debut genuinely frightens us with the revelation that the things that go bump in the night may be buried deep inside our psyches, not just in the basement.

TRT: 94 minutes
Country: Australia
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Drama

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INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO IN 3D

Opens December 5th

Directed by Julian Jones
Written by Nick Dear, Julian Jones
Cast: Peter Capaldi

Synopsis:
The inspiring world of Leonardo da Vinci is brought to life by acclaimed BAFTA award-winning actor Peter Capaldi (DOCTOR WHO, IN THE LOOP) in a unique dramatized documentary directed by Julian Jones and produced by History Films.

INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO is based on the artist’s private journals dating from the Italian Renaissance. With more than 6,000 pages of handwritten notes and drawings, da Vinci’s private journals are the most comprehensive documents that chronicle the work of the world’s most renowned inventor, philosopher, painter, and genius. Never before has access been granted to capture these works in 3D HD format. Using this precious collection of writings and drawings to recount da Vinci’s story in his own words, the film re-creates the mindscape and ideas of mankind’s greatest polymath. In a powerful haunting performance, actor Peter Capaldi portrays Leonardo, dramatically narrating passages and monologues from his journals. Capaldi captures the passion of Leonardo’s genius, his understand of the workings of the natural world, his insights on art and life and his inner fears and torments. From the epic to the ordinary, INSIDE THE MIND OF LEONARDO explores how Leonardo experienced the world around him. In turn, the film changes the way we see the world today. Following a biographical narrative, the feature captures the artist’s birth as a bastard peasant, his thwarted ambitions, hurt, anger, and sexual desire as documented within his diaries, but also the mundane events everyday life: his shopping lists, health tips, and bawdy jokes.

TRT: 94 minutes
Country: UK
Language: English
Genre: Documentary

Press Release: Executive Circle Announced for AFI Directing Workshop for Womehn

AFI DIRECTING WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN ANNOUNCES “EXECUTIVE CIRCLE”

13 Executives From 6 Major Studios Participate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, LOS ANGELES, CA, October 7, 2014 – The American Film Institute (AFI) Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) announced today the formation of an “Executive Circle” consisting of the studios top female leadership to act as mentors to DWW’s annual participants.

The Executive Circle is formed by the following female executives:

Lauren Abrahams, VP, Sony
Amanda Brown, VP, Paramount
Daria Cercek, VP, Fox
Tonia Davis, Director of Development, Disney
Maradith Frenkel, VP, Universal
Niija Kuykendall, VP, Warner Bros.
Annie Laks, VP, Paramount Animation
Alana Mayo, CE, Paramount
Anikah McLaren, VP, Universal
Chantal Nong, VP, Warner Bros.
Sara Scott, Director of Development, Universal
Alison Small, VP, Paramount/Paramount Insurge
Erin Westerman, VP, Good Universe

This elite group of executives provides mentorship to female directors participating in DWW and the AFI Conservatory. They offer guidance about the studio system, how projects are green lit, advice on taking notes, and the role of the studio executive. This unique program to AFI is a commitment from the film and television community to lessen the gap of female directors in the moving image arts.

Since the AFI DWW program’s inception, more than 275 women have been trained in screen directing. Among its distinguished alumnae are Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft, Neema Barnette, Tricia Brock, Ellen Burstyn, Rebecca Cammisa, Dyan Cannon, Hanelle Culpepper, Jan Eliasberg, Naomi Foner, Jennifer Getzinger, Lyn Goldfarb, Randa Haines, Victoria Hochberg, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Lesli Linka Glatter, Lynne Littman, Matia Karrell, Nancy Malone, Becky Smith, Cicely Tyson and Joanne Woodward.

Press Release: “Private Peaceful” Opens October 31

BBC WORLDWIDE NORTH AMERICA OPENS PAT O’CONNOR’S PRIVATE PEACEFUL IN NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES ON OCTOBER 31, 2014

FILM ADAPTED FROM WAR HORSE AUTHOR MICHAEL MORPURGO’S NOVEL GOES NATIONWIDE LATER THIS YEAR

New York – October 7, 2014 – BBC Worldwide North America announces the New York and Los Angeles theatrical premiere of Private Peaceful, a feature film directed by Pat O’Connor (Dancing at Lughnasa, Sweet November). Adapted from the best-selling novel by former children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), the World War I film stars two of the UK’s most promising young actors, Jack O’Connell (Starred Up, Unbroken) and George Mackay (Pride, Defiance), and features Richard Griffiths’ (The Harry Potter series, The History Boys) final performance.

Set to open on October 31, 2014, at New York’s AMC Empire 25 and Los Angeles’ Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, Private Peaceful will expand to other markets nationwide in late 2014 and early 2015.

Jack O’Connell as Charlie Peaceful
Private Peaceful tells the story of two devoted brothers who struggle through a harsh childhood and adolescence in rural Devon, England, before enlisting in the military for the First World War. They experience the brutal realities of the trenches and the killing fields of Flanders, and are forced to make life-altering choices in order to remain loyal to each other through the dehumanizing reality of this unprecedented war.

Told from the viewpoint of Tommo Peaceful (George Mackay), a young child who looks up to his resourceful big brother Charlie (Jack O’Connell), Private Peaceful is also a powerful coming of age story about two brothers who fall in love with the same girl and must adapt to the evolving pressures of their feudal family life. When Charlie and Tommo enlist and join thousands of other unsuspecting young men in experiencing the horrors of trench warfare, they instinctively look out for each other – until a terrible incident reveals to them the heartless, brutal nature of war.

The release of Private Peaceful continues BBC Worldwide North America’s commitment to marking the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War with high-quality theatrical releases, allowing US audiences to reflect upon an event that changed world history. Earlier this summer, BBC Worldwide North America organized a series of free theatrical screenings in over 40 markets, featuring new and rare films about World War I.

Best known in the US for his best-selling novel War Horse, which became a phenomenal success on Broadway and an Oscar®-nominated film directed by Steven Spielberg, Morpurgo describes Private Peaceful as “my most powerful book.” He serves as executive producer on this film.

Press Release: “The Hornet’s Nest” Inshrined in The National Infantry Museum

THE NATIONAL INFANTRY MUSEUM INDUCTS CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED AFGHAN WAR FILM ‘THE HORNET’S NEST’

BATTLE DOCUMENTARY BECOMES FIRST EVER FILM ENSHRINED

Los Angeles, CA (October 8, 2014) – Highroad Media Inc. and the National Infantry Museum (NIM) announced today that the critically-acclaimed Afghanistan war film “The Hornet’s” Nest” will become the first theatrical film-documentary enshrined at the NIM in a private ceremony and screening at Ft Benning, GA on October 18, 2014. Attending the prestigious event includes Peabody and Emmy Award winning journalist Mike Boettcher, along with members of the Army and Marine Corp that he embedded with featured in the film, and co-directors and co-producers David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud. “The Hornet’s Nest” has received critical acclaim from film critics, military families and the general public for its heart pounding action and non-political point of view.

“We’re glad to be able to offer this film for special screenings,” said National Infantry Foundation President Ben Williams. “Its accurate depiction of combat and the life-changing experience it presents to those we call upon to protect our freedom fits nicely with the museum’s mission of honoring Soldiers past, present and future.”

“My son, Carlos, and I went to Afghanistan with one objective – to tell the story of the infantryman. To receive this recognition from the NIM is humbling” said Mike Boettcher, Peabody and Emmy Award Winning Journalist whose embedment with the US Troops on the front lines is documented in “The Hornet’s Nest”.

In a joint statement, “The Hornet’s Nest” Co-Directors/Producers Christian Tureaud and David Salzberg added, “We set out to make a film that would show every American what our US Military are going through in Afghanistan. It is with great honor and respect to have “The Hornet’s Nest” reside at The National Infantry Museum as a permanent record of these amazing American Heroes during their service in the Afghanistan War.”

“The Hornet’s Nest” tells the story of two real life journalists, Mike and Carlos Boettcher, who are the only father and son team ever to embed within U.S. Armed Forces fighting on the front lines in Afghanistan. With cameras rolling, the Boettchers are side by side with American forces in some of the conflicts toughest battles, as they spend almost two years covering the American troop surge, considered the most violent era of the Afghanistan war. Allowing the viewers unprecedented access to the Soldiers and Marines, what ultimately unfolds is a true story of survival for the troops and for a father and son who seek to rekindle their relationship under the most harrowing of circumstances.

Produced by David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud of HighRoad Media Inc. and Mike and Carlos Boettcher, with John Brenkus and Mickey Stern executive producing for Base Productions, “The Hornet’s Nest” is currently available nationwide at all major retailers for Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital platforms. The all-star soundtrack, featuring “Follow Me,” from five-time Grammy winner Wynonna Judd and husband Michael ‘Cactus’ Moser, is currently available from Gratitude Entertainment.