Director: Lorenzo Corvino.
Destined to be one of the most talked about American indies of the year, PARIAH is the dramatic and intimate story of a teenage girl in Brooklyn who juggles conflicting identities and risks family and friendships in a search for sexual expression. The film is the feature debut of Dee Rees, a Nashville-born writer/director, who has obviously drawn on her own personal experience as a black lesbian to find the kernel of truth of the mix of exhilaration and sheer terror of a young girl’s...
Even in a year where indie films made considerable noise during the just-concluded awards season, the odds have never been as difficult for quality American indies to reach the big screen as they are now. While distributors are certainly on the lookout for the next WINTER’S BONE or THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, many films simply disappear after an anemic theatrical opening or never make it to first base at all.
This comes to mind with the opening this month of one of the stronger fi...
While the name Sundance immediately is linked with the American Independent film movement, in the past number of years, international titles have found a home base in the ski resort of Park City. By creating competition sections for both narrative and documentary films from around the world, the Festival has not only expanded its scope but has forged a link between international producers, distributors and financiers across the globe in a real and tangible way. In terms of the marketpl...
At a lively discussion held on Thursday evening at the Szajba Festival Café of the American Film Festival in the cultural heritage city of Wroclaw, Poland, several of the American independent filmmakers present had much to say about the advent of the internet and how it is effecting their chance to produce, distribute and market their films. As they contemplated the future of the industry, the discussion became quite lively.
Michael Mohan (Director, ON...
While the Polish public certainly is aware of the latest Hollywood films, and with current American television series also freely available here, it is a little surprising that some of the American indie world's most celebrated auteurs are virtually unknown. That is one of the goals of the inaugural American Film Festival, the first film event in Eastern Europe solely devoted to contemporary and classic American cinema. And if the size of the audiences at the screenings is any indica...
The AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL (AFF), the first film event in Eastern Europe solely devoted to the works of contemporary and classic American cinema, has announced the American Independent Dramatic Features that will compete for an Audience Award, with a cash prize of USD$10,000 and a chance at Eastern European distribution. The program in the SPECTRUM section of the Festival is drawn from films that made strong impressions at such film festivals as Cannes, Sundance, South By ...
The AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL , the first film event in Eastern Europe completely devoted to classic and contemporary American independent works, will take place from October 20 to 24, 2010 in the historic city of Wroclaw, Poland. The Festival is the brainchild of Roman Gutek, a pioneering distributor who has been the prime mover in bringing world cinema to his native Poland in the past two decades.
Roman Gutek has worked as a committed distributor of auteur films in Poland for a...
Premiering here at the Montreal World Film Festival in the same week that saw U.S. President Barack Obama deliver a television address announcing the end of combat operations by the U.S. military in Iraq, the timing could not be better for the new American documentary film CAMP UNITY.
After more than seven years of bloody combat, the American role in Iraq has shifted to one of helping build a solid democracy from the ruins of a devastated nation. What role the 50,000 U....
The American indie film THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER has won the inauguaral American Indie Newcomer Prize at the Munich Film Festival for debut filmmaker David Robert Mitchell. The prize includes a 5000 Euro cash award endowed by the U.S. Consulate General. The Festival wrapped this past weekend.
The coming-of-age story about a few teenagers who sneak out of the house one night premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March, where it received a special jury prize for Bes...
It takes a lot of energy, enthusiasm and patience to handle independent films in this distressed market. The economic depression, the evolution of how film is being watched and the nagging uncertainty of what role the internet plays in it all, have made the independent film distribution not something for the weak of heart. While independent films fight for theater space in a world dominated by the Hollywood majors, it becomes even more important for a company to use innovative techniq...
It takes a lot of energy, enthusiasm and patience to handle independent films in this distressed market. The economic depression, the evolution of how film is being watched and the nagging uncertainty of what role the internet plays in it all, have made the independent film distribution not something for the weak of heart. While independent films fight for theater space in a world dominated by the Hollywood majors, it becomes even more important for a company to use innovative techniqu...
Main Square, Old Town, Wroclaw, Poland
The AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL (AFF), the first film event in Eastern Europe solely devoted to the works of contemporary and classic American cinema, was announced this week during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The first edition of the AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL will be held from October 20 to 24, 2010 in the cultural heritage city of Wroclaw, Poland (featured this week in the New York Times as one of the hot travel ...
DON'T LET ME DROWN (Cruz Angeles, USA)
While covering the events and atmosphere here in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, for POFF, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, I should come clean and let readers know that I have been hired by the Festival to bring quality American and Canadian films to the event this year. In all, a record 25 films from North America will be showcased in Tallinn this year.
Here is the copy written by me as an introduction to the 10-film NORT...
LYMELIFE (Derek Martini, USA)
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
Eight celebrated American and Canadian feature films by emerging filmmakers that were first showcased at such prestigious film events as Sundance, Tribeca, Rotterdam and Toronto, will compete in the North American Independents Competition of the 25th edition of FESTROIA: The Troia International Film Festival. The Festival, the oldest and largest in Portugal, runs from September 4 to 13 in the coas...
March 26-----One of the more intriguing film festival events on the circuit opens next week in New York. The Gen Art Film Festival (April 1-7) returns to the Big Apple with its crowd-pleasing concept in tow. Not only do attendees have a chance to see previews of some of the more intriguing independent films, each ticket also includes a post-screening party where audiences can hobnob with industry reps, film personalities and the teams behind the films that are screening. This open access, as o...
Friday, June 13-------American Independent cinema occupied a very specific niche in the American media landscape. I am talking here about true American Independent films.....not "independent spirit" projects that receive most of their monies from divisions of the major studios. This is more classic indie.....a filmmaker and a camera and a dream.FESTROIA, which enters its final weekend, has been a hospitable home to American Independent films and filmmakers. For the past ten years, th...
Friday, June 8--------Six American independent films are competing for a juried prize in the Independentes Americanos section of FESTROIA. The Festival has been a long supporter of American independent films and is one of the few in the world that showcases the work in a seperate section of its own and with a separate prize of its own. "America has always been a source of inspiration for world cinema", FESTROIA director Fernanda Silva explained. "We feel it is important to let ...
Friday, June 9---One of the most consistently popular sections at the annual Troia International Film Festival is devoted to American Independents. This year, six films, most having their European premieres at the event, will compete for the Dolphin Award.
The films are quite diverse in their genres, directorial styles and use of their regional base. In Anthony Ng’s 212, which had its world premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, a diverse group of twenty-something New Yorkers grasp for...
Tuesday, June 6---New York filmmakers always have the added advantage of shooting in a city that is in itself a major character in their films. No matter the genre, or even the time period, shooting on the New York streets offers an ambience that is instantly recognizable to a world audience (and sorry, cannot be faked on the too-clean streets of Toronto, Chicago or, God forbid, Los Angeles).
Anthony Ng, born and raised in Hong Kong, went to the famed New York University Film School, and ins...
Tuesday, June 6---New York filmmakers always have the added advantage of shooting in a city that is in itself a major character in their films. No matter the genre, or even the time period, shooting on the New York streets offers an ambience that is instantly recognizable to a world audience (and sorry, cannot be faked on the too-clean streets of Toronto, Chicago or, God forbid, Los Angeles).
Anthony Ng, born and raised in Hong Kong, went to the famed New York University Film School, and ins...
Monday, June 5----One of the more anticipated programs at the TROIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is its annual competition for American Independent films. The Festival, over the past 22 years, has been an important showcase for films made outside the Hollywood studio system. This year, six worthy films are competing for the award. The first of them kicks off the section this evening.
FLANNEL PAJAMAS, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, is unique in two important ways. It...
