2009 San Francisco Sex Worker Film, Arts and Music Festival

The 2009 San Francisco Sex Worker Film, Arts and Music Festival, 10th anniversary, and 6th Biennial event begins Saturday, May 30th and features a full week of fun, sexy, political, kinky, naughty, bold and educational events.

Movies include local and international premieres including Death of a Whore, a Spanish-language biography of Grisélidis Réal, whose re-burial caused a recent international scandal; “Happy Endings” with interviews from massage parlor workers in Rhode Island as they are confronted with the racism and xenophobia of local anti-prostitution activists; Science Friction with “Cinema of Desire” in this portrait of a trans sex worker from Thailand; “You’re Welcome,” a tender and humorous story of ‘the whore next door’ from Norway; a panel and international feature about sexual services for disabled clients; sex worker activist produced short docs and experimental work include “Prostitution Free Zone” by PJ Starr, “Flipping the Lens: A Look at $pread Magazine,” and “Know Your Rights” from Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Chicago; experimental shorts from Renegade Evolution and music videos from Scarlot Harlot; plus clips from your neighbors’ home grown porn with Blowfish, Kink.com, Jupiter Spiral, No Fauxxx, and Good Vibrations and New School of Erotic Touch including kink/SM/BD/fetish/sex ed from San Francisco with stars including Madison Young in “Bride of Sin.” This year the San Francisco Sex Worker Festival is honored to share eight short works from sexworkerspresent, the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers. These powerful productions and collected work provide a valuable library of first person accounts of sex worker’s lives and organizing efforts in Asia and around the World. We also thank COSWAS, Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters from Taiwan for assistance curating this festival.

Read more ….

Sonoma International Film Festival cuts Executive Director

After one year on the job, the executive director of the Sonoma International Film Festival, Louisa Percudani has been laid off in a move to save money and restructure the festival’s administrative staff.
“The board truly appreciates Louisa’s contributions to the overall success of the 12th annual festival,” said board chair Kevin McNeely. “We are facing some very real economic and sponsorship challenges. The Board decided that in the best interests of festival, it was time to reorganize.”

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Kirby Dick’s Outrage to close 2009 Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival

OUTRAGE, the new and controversial film from Academy Award nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED) will close the 2009 edition of Damn These Heels! LGBT Film Festival. OUTRAGE is a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians with appalling gay rights voting records who actively campaign against the LGBT community that they covertly belong to.

‘Duke City Shootout’ Takes Hiatus

The longest running film festival in Albuquerque, is taking a break. The “Duke City Shootout” won’t happen this year.The founder of the shootout said the economy is taking its toll on the film festival which has gone from a grass roots festival to worldwide competition.  Read more …

“Paper Man” to open 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival

“Paper Man” will have its world premiere as the Opening Night Gala of the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival.  Written and directed by first-time filmakers Michele and Kieran Mulroney, the film is described by the festival as “the coming-of-middle-age story of Richard Dunn (Jeff Daniels), a writer caught between the pressures of deadlines, the expectations of his wife (Lisa Kudrow), and the constant presence of the superhero (Ryan Reynolds) who’s lived inside his head since 2nd Grade.  And then he meets a girl - a Long Island teenager (Emma Stone) whose friendship shows him that no matter how much it hurts, it’s never too late to grow up.”  Read more …

Ninth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival in NYC

This year’s Official Ninth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival is happening next Wednesday, June 3rd in NYC.  Read more …

Muskegon Film Festival (MFF) this weekend

The Muskegon Film Festival (MFF) will take place at the Harbor Theater this weekend for their 8th year.  The 2009 Muskegon Film Festival will run from May 30th through May 31st.  The festival will kick off with the movie debut of “Food, Inc.” Read more …

The Rochester High Falls International Film Festival has named John Richardson as its new executive director. Richardson was president of the festival’s board of directors from 2002 to 2009 and was previously a public affairs director at Eastman Kodak Co.

The festival which ran May 13 - 18 earlier announced its audience award winners.

Audience Award Winner Best Feature: Skin

Skin, directed by Anthony Fabian

Anthony Fabian’s debut feature tells the extraordinary true story of Sandra Laing, whose experiences with South African apartheid expose the depth of that vile system’s insanity. Although the biological daughter of a white couple, she was born with undeniably black features, hair, and “colored” (according to apartheid’s taxonomy) skin, a genetic phenomenon explained in the film. Her case became a national cause celebre when her parents asked the Supreme Court to classify her as “white.” Because apartheid laws forbade people of different races living together, they risked losing her if the court refused. But when white society rejected her, and she fell in love with black man, she fought to change her classification to “colored.” Featuring brilliant performances by Sam Neill and Alice Krige as her complex, torn, often misguided parents, and Sophie Okonedo (so memorable in HOTEL RWANDA) as Sandra (who still lives in South Africa), SKIN is a not-to-be missed experience.

Audience Award Winner Best Documentary: Signs of the Time

Imagine watching one of baseball’s earliest games, in the presence of thousands of fans but without the benefit of hand signals on the diamond that guide us through the modern game. There were no signals for strike, safe, out or foul and no announcer to interpret the game. The only signal was the umpire’s voice, consumed by the roar of thousands of excited fans. How did the signals of baseball originate? Like the origins of the game itself, the genesis of baseball’s greatest innovation is steeped in legend and fraught with polarizing opinions. SIGNS OF THE TIME is a painstakingly researched baseball documentary that was shot on location in eight states, featuring interviews with many baseball greats and re-enactments of scenes from old-time baseball games. The film explores the origins of this pivotal innovation and the baseball pioneers that shaped the course of the game and history. If you like a story about history, mystery and human achievement, you are sure to enjoy.

Audience Award Winner Best Short: JULIE, JULIE

Jon Voight will receive the Marquee Award

CineVegas will honor two actors, two directors and two video game design pioneers at the 2009 Festival, it was announced today by Trevor Groth, Artistic Director. Jon Voight will be given the Marquee Award, recognizing his artistic excellence, professional accomplishment and dedication to cinema. Willem Dafoe will be honored with the Vanguard Actor Award, which honors the distinctive mark he has made in film through his brave performances. The Vanguard Director Award will be given to George and Mike Kuchar, which recognizes their distinctive vision and ability to make films without compromise.

In addition, CineVegas will be honoring Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago with the inaugural Planet Illogica Award for Excellence in New Media. This award is for artists working in the realm of video gaming who have pushed the boundaries of storytelling in their field. The awards will be given out on Sunday, June 14 at the CineVegas Awards Reception, to be held at Rain Nightclub at the Palms Casino Resort.

“What an honor it is for CineVegas to have the opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of these esteemed actors, directors and artists at our 11th annual Festival,” stated Groth.  ”In addition to paying tribute to such powerful acting forces as Jon Voight and Willem Dafoe, as well as two pioneers of underground cinema the Kuchar Brothers, we are also proud to partner with Planet Illogica to award Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, two revolutionaries in the video gaming design world, for their outstanding achievement in the world of new media and as trailblazers in a compelling new era of storytelling.”

Jon Voight has had a long and distinguished career as both a leading man and, in recent years, a character actor, with an extensive and compelling range in both film and television. He came to prominence at the end of the 1960s, with a performance as a would-be hustler in 1969’s Best Picture winner, Midnight Cowboy, for which he earned his first Academy Award® nomination. Throughout the following decades, Voight built his reputation with an array of challenging roles and has appeared in such landmark films as Deliverance, and Coming Home, for which he received an Academy Award® for Best Actor. Voight’s impersonation of sportscaster/journalist Howard Cosell, in the biopic Ali, earned him critical raves and his fourth Oscar® nomination. He is currently starring in the seventh season of 24 as the villain Jonas Hodges. As part of Voight’s tribute, CineVegas is proud to present the rare, newly re-mastered director’s cut of Lookin’ To Get Out (1982), directed by Hal Ashby, starring and co-written by Voight and filmed in Las Vegas. The screening will be followed by a special Q&A with Voight and guests.

Willem Dafoe is a two-time Academy Award® nominated actor and has appeared in over 70 films. He is also one of the founding members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective, where he has created and performed in all the group’s work from 1977 to 2005, both in the U.S. and internationally. Some upcoming film releases include Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, Werner Herzog’s My Son My Son and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox as well as Day Breakers and Cirque du Freak. A conversation with Dafoe will be held on Sunday, June 14 at 3pm, followed by a screening of his 1982 film The Loveless.

The monarchs of homemade movies, the Kuchars impressed art world film kings like Stan Brakhage, Bruce Conner and Jonas Mekas, and influenced future film legends like Buck Henry and John Waters. Born in the 1940s, the brothers swooned over classic 1950s Hollywood. Borrowing their Aunt’s 8mm camera, George and Mike reinterpreted their neighborhood friends as Rock Hudson and Lana Turner types, wrote fantastic melodramas and genre stories, cobbled together props and costumes and set out into remarkably diverse locations around the Bronx. Their classic films include Hold Me While I’m Naked, Sins of the Fleshapoids and Summer of No Return. Now in their 60s, both have continued working with video, their projects numbering in the hundreds. A collection of new shorts by the Kuchar Brothers will be shown as part of their Vanguard Directors Award presentation on Sunday, June 14 at 9pm. In addition, Jennifer Kroot’s documentary about the brothers, It Came from Kuchar, will play in the Pioneer Documentaries section at this year’s Festival.

Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen met each other while earning their MFA degrees at the University of Southern California Interactive Media program, housed in the School of Cinematic Arts. Santiago’s research focused on game design, interactive narrative, and physical and gestural interfaces for digital media. Chen was focusing on interactive animation and video game design when the two collaborated with a student team to develop the game, “Cloud.” “Cloud” went on to become critically acclaimed, after which the two decided to found their own studio, thatgamecompany, and landed a three game deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. to develop downloadable games for Playstation Network. Their most recent critically-acclaimed release, “Flower,” explores the tension between urban and nature, as you blow wind and fly petals across dream-like natural landscapes, and has been the top-downloaded game on the PlayStation Network.

About CineVegas
The 11th Annual CineVegas Film Festival will be held June 10 - 15, 2009 at the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theatres in Las Vegas.

Best Feature Film Audience Award to Falling For Grace, Directed by Fay Ann Lee.

On Sunday, May 24^th, the Delray Beach Film Festival wrapped up its 6-day festival, screening more than 200 films from around the world.

The festival announced the following awards and honors.

The Stella Artois Lifetime Achievement Award to Robert Davi.

The Stella Artois Rising Star Award to Alexander Nevsky.

Stella Artois Award for the Best Film by a New Filmmaker to Bajir Cannon, Director of The Distance between the Apple and the Tree.

The Chloe Lifetime Achievement Award for Support of Independent Filmmaking to Giancarlo Esposito.

The Stella Artois Award for Outstanding Feature by a New Filmmaker/Producer to Paul J. Alessi for Knuckle Draggers.

The Frownies Award for Best Close-Up in a Motion Picture to Serah D’Laine, (Knuckle Draggers).

Winners of the Script Writing Contest Sponsored by Final Draft -This year we have two winners: Margaret Nussbaum and Jim Steech for M.I.L.F. and Shari Umansky for Son of M.I.L.F., a Madoff Tragedy.

Script-to-Reel Short Winner, Sponsored by Sony and Perfect Vodka, to Dan Pico for Heaven Above You.

Best Feature Film Audience Award to Falling For Grace, Directed by Fay Ann Lee.

Best Documentary Audience Award to Faded Glory, Directed by Rick Cohen.

Director’s Choice for Best Documentary, War Against the Weak, by Pete Deemas.

Special Award for a documentary that raises awareness of contemporary issues, The Spitting Game, Directed by Denice Ann Evans.

Best Short, How My Father Killed Dracula, Directed by Sky Soleil.

Award for Best Experimental Short, The Green, Green Heart, Directed by Steven Lesser.

Best Animation Short, Token Hunchback, Directed by Tim Reckart.

Best Animation Feature,The Magistical, Directed by John Cernak.

Audience Award Best Foreign Film , Hachipusheet (The Beetle) Directed by Yishar Orian.

Best Foreign Film, Children’s Orchestra (Orquestra Dos Meninos), Directed by Paulo Thiago De Oliveira.

Director’s Choice for Best Foreign Film, Lokas, Directed by Gonzalo Justiniano.

Best Environmental/Green Award, Free River Park, Directed by Tara Nurin.

Kodak Award for the Best Student Shorts, Fades with Age, Directed Aaron I. Naar and Seth Roger Cuddeback.

The Sara Fuller Award for Best Young Filmmaker and Best Student Short to Florida MIU Filmmaker, Xander Rey Soteras, for Ditched.

Best Documentary by a Florida filmmaker,Cracker - The Last Cowboys of Florida, Directed by Victor Milt.

Music Video Award to F**K the FED!, Directed by Neal Fox.

Award for Best Xtreme Sports Film to That’s It That’s All, Directed by Curt Morgan and Travis Rice.

Best Feature Film by a Florida Filmmaker Film Contest? Directed by V. Alex Marquez.

The Philippines’ Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival has announced the 10 feature films for the 2009 competition line-up.

They are: 100 by Chris Martinez, 1434456 by Emmanuel Dela Cruz, Ang Concerto by Paul Alexander Morales, Antiparang Basag by Edith Asuncion, Baby Angelo by Joel Ruiz and Abi Aquino, Brutus by Tara illenberger, My Fake American Accent by Onnah Valera, Huling Pasada by Paul Sta. Ana, Jay by Francis Xavier E. Pasion and Ranchero by Michael Christian Cardoz.

100 is about a stern, uptight and exacting woman with a terminal illness who tries to accomplish a list of 100 things to do before she dies. Her tasks vary from the simple to the complicated, from the practical to the mundane, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. In
the process, she accepts the truth that even if death is something personal, dying never is.

1434456 is the story of Ranjeet Singh, also fondly called “Jimmy Paybsiks,” a 49-year old Punjabi widower. He faces the challenge of finding a more permanent sense of home and country for his children who find themselves growing up more and more assimilated in the
Filipino way of life. Set in contemporary Manila, 1434456 examines the colorful stories and inevitable struggles of a migrant sector rarely given a second look or even a thoughtful pause in our society-that of our Indian neighbors.

Ang Concerto is about how, in the last part of World War II, a special piano concert is held in the forests of Davao. In these boondocks, a displaced Filipino family becomes acquainted with a group of Japanese officers, similarly camped nearby. Based on true stories from the
director’s family, Ang Concerto celebrates a family whose reverence for life, expressed through their love of music and friendship, can survive even war, and shows how beauty and compassion can grow in even the harshest of situations.

Antiparang Basag tells of one woman’s encounter with four octogenarians, escaped from a nursing home, and the few hours she spends helping them pursue their quest to fulfill their simple wishes in life. The funny and heartwarming situations carry her to see the different hues of life and death and the value of every moment.

Baby Angelo centers on an investigation that ensues when an aborted fetus is found in the dumpster of a run-down apartment complex. The lives of the tenants-a reclusive old man with curious ramblings, a landlord with overzealous thirst for justice and a young couple whose past threatens to unravel their marriage-are suddenly exposed in the hunt for the perpetrator of the baby’s death.

Brutus tells the tale of two Mangyan children, hired by illegal loggers to smuggle wood from the mountains of Mindoro, as they embark on a dangerous journey to deliver the goods to the lowlands. In the process, they discover a world run by the greed of men, a world governed by ideologies that bring about the armed conflict that plagues the Mindoro highlands, the home of their own people.

My Fake American Accent is a slice-of-life workplace comedy following the lives of technical support call center agents in the span of six months. Speaking with a fake American accent is a prerequisite for the job. This ensemble comedy is an inside look into the maddening, sleep-deprived, caffeine-fuelled lives of those who ply their trade in the call center industry.

Huling Pasada follows the creative process of Ruby, a prolific writer, abandoned wife and protective mother. She writes about Mario, a taxi driver and father figure to a street child. As she tries to resolve Mario’s story, she seeks refuge in her own creative output and the line between reality and fiction is blurred. Mario’s past becomes entangled with her own inevitable future.

Jay is the name of the two protagonists in the film, one is living, the other dead. The living Jay is producing a documentary of the dead Jay, a gay teacher who was brutally killed. As Jay recreates and examines the life of his subject, his own life is affected when he unravels his subject’s hidden life and secret love.

Ranchero is the story of convicts who serve a special role inside the jail-they prepare the meals everyday. But in a jail where some inmates see no reason to continue living, what is the role of food? Is the food’s role to extend life or to prolong the pain of those who don’t want to live?

All the films will be screened during the 2008 Cinemalaya Film Festival on July 11 to 20, 2008 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

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Big Island Film Festival Winner - Best Overall Feature “Remarkable Power”

The Fourth Annual Big Island “Talk Story” Film Festival presented the Golden Honu awards for its for best short and feature films.

2009 Golden Honu Awards

Best Student Short, “Bohemibot.” Producer-Brendan Bellomo, Director-Victor Bellomo, Writer-Brendan Bellomo

Best Student Feature, “Rigged.” Producer-Jonathan Dillon, Director-Jonathan Dillon, Bobby McGee and Chad Ortis, Writer-Ian Short

Best Hawaii Short, “Rain.” Producer-Thomas Takemoto-Chock, Director-Jonathan Walk and Osler Go, Writer-Thomas Takemoto-Chock, Hdology Productions

Best Hawaii Feature, “Relapse.” Producer-David McFadzean, Director/Writer-Willy Navarro and John Hill, 24 Frames of Light

Best Foreign Short, “Gone Fishing.” Producer-Chris Jones, Director-Ivan Francis Clements, Writer-Chris Jones, Living Spirit Pictures

Best Family Short, “Batter Up”. Producer/Director/Writer-Josh Webber. Webstar Productions.

Best Family Feature, “The Controller.” Producer/Writer-Frank Michels, Director-Nansi Michels, Cut-Scene Productions, LLC

Best Animated Film, “Hot Dog.” Producer/Writer-Bill Plympton, Director-Biljana Labovic, Plymptoons

The Barbara Award for the film which best celebrates children, “Hunter’s Adventure.” Producer-Willy Navarro, Director/Writer-Joel Angyal, 24 Frames of Light

Audience Choice Short, “Kung Fu Granny.” Producer/Writer-Myra Velasquez, Director-Myra Velasquez and Sunah Kim Schultz, Red Panda Productions

Audience Choice Feature, “God’s Ears.” Producer/Writer-Michael Wurth, Director-Steve Hayes, Grizzly Peak Films

Best Overall Short, “The Line.” Producer-Kent Bassett, Director/Writers-Kent Bassett and Michelle Johnson, Sleeper Productions

Best Overall Feature, “Remarkable Power.” Producer-Brandon Beckner, Director-David Florimbi, Jerod Foos, Mike Lawrence and Tom Arnold, Writer-Brandon Beckner, Scott Sampila, Parrot Poet Pictures

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*/Magazine BLU/*, the /Lifestyle Sourcebook for Affluent Single Adults/ (hits newsstands December 20, 2009) has opened the call for entries for the */Magazine BLU/ BLUfilm
Shortfest 2010* and is currently seeking short films and viral videos exploring single life.

This festival was created to expose emerging filmmakers to the publication’s affluent, entertainment-hungry, social demographic of single men and women (over 6 million affluent singles aged 25 to 44 in the US, alone*) via a series of nationwide city “minifests” in over 30
US markets (including Honolulu and Anchorage), and to position those filmmakers in front of the media, industry leaders, corporate giants, potential financial supporters and others they might not otherwise have the opportunity to reach.

Kimberly Toms, President and Publisher of */Magazine BLU/* explains the festival’s larger purpose, stating, “Until very recently, single adults over age 25 or 30 did not really have a voice or media outlet specifically geared toward their interests and needs. The entertainment
world at large is one that has historically focused upon the audience of marrieds, families, children, and - if speaking to singles - younger, teen and collegiate single men and women. The age thirty-plus, single demographic was largely overlooked, and virtually unconsidered.”

Ms. Toms continues, “Although we are in the genesis of development for this unique film festival, it is one that speaks to approximately 35 million American singles, particularly the more than 6 million who are of a higher economic means and the most socially outgoing individuals in the world. This group is rich with the desire to continually see new things, go new places, and enjoy new entertainment. Earning a minimum of $50,000** per year and an average of well over $100,000, single affluents have the means to attend many social and entertainment functions. Despite that hunger and their money to spend, few filmmakers have ventured into this large, healthy niche market. So, *BLUfilm Shortfest* is here to connect filmmakers who focus upon single life with the eager viewers who live it, everyday.”

In 2010, the *First Annual BLUfilm Shortfest* will explore the question, “Is the grass greener on the single side of life,” through a theme of “On Being BLU,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to both the magazine’s name and its demographic.

The best films win up to $5000 in cash and prizes, plus screening in over 30 US cities, with associated media relations and publicity, and live audience potential of approximately 42,000 viewers. Filmmaker selection also includes editorialization (and photo shoot) in */Magazine BLU/*, as well as showing of the film(s) on */Magazine BLU/* websites.

For more details and to enter, please visit the */Magazine BLU/* website at www.magazineblu.com <http://www.magazineblu.com/>, and the specific
*BLUfilm Shortfest* website at film.magazineblu.com <http://film.magazineblu.com/>.