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AN ENDLESS LIST OF FLAWLESS → NICOLE BEHARIE

"There are expectations in how you play your character as a black woman, to be sassy and the same kind of feel, as if there are no quirky black women. I struggle with those things constantly, trying to add dimension to my work, and that’s the goal, too.

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El Barrio Tours: Gentrification in East Harlem is an Official Selection at the Seattle Latino Film Festival!!! We will open for Broche de Oro another amazing film from Puerto Rico! For Ticket Info Click Here 

If you know of anyone in Seattle willing to host a goateed Puerto Rican filmmaker from the 4th to the 9th…   ***Email me: [email protected]***

For NYC Screening Info (Click here)

To Support taking the award-winning film across the USA and begin profiling how communities like ours have been affected nationwide (Click Here) 

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CHENNAI: “Sometimes I think of my death… and it’s from these thoughts that Ikiru came,” said veteran Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, when asked about the idea behind ‘Ikiru’, a movie about a a movie about a search for affirmation which tells the story of a man who knows he is going to die.

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Short documentary about the native American in Hollywood in 4 parts.

It’s good this is why I share. ;-) Greetings from Spain.

  Part 1-REEL INJUN: ON THE TRAIL OF THE HOLLYWOOD INDIAN

-Part 2

-Part 3

-Part 4

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New York Moves Magazine September 2013 Cover story: Naomie Harris 

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Daughters of the Dust (1991)

I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the virgin. I am the barren one and many are my daughters. I am the silence that you can not understand. I am the utterance of my name.

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I was so hyped when I saw the review for her.

"Sunshine On Leith" Portraits - 2013 Toronto International Film Festival

#Antonia Thomas

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Ava Prince-Bythewood

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We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks TRAILER (2013) - Documentary Movie (by MovieclipsCOMINGSOON)

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I've been meaning to check this out.

Beyond The Screams / Mas Alla de Los Gritos: A U.S. Latino Hardcore Punk Documentary

Martin Sorrondeguy, former vocalist for Los Crudos, is the producer of this powerful and uplifting documentary about the U.S. Latino punk scene and the DIY movement.

#Beyond the Screams

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Buzzfeed presents:  

27 Asian Leading Men Who Deserve More Airtime

Asian actors don’t often get starring roles in Hollywood, but these guys — American and otherwise — prove they’re leading men too.

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Day 8 - favorite dance performance: Vyjayanthimala and Helen in “Prince” (1969)

Just as well as “Prince” (1969) is one of my favorite movies, “Muqabala Humse Na Karo” is one of my favorite songs. Looking at the dancing performances that Vyjayanthimala and Helen gave us through this song one just can’t feel bad.

While Vyjayanthimala is giving a performance in classical dance, Helen does a more western-looking performance.Both are doing a great job here, also Shammi Kapoor is looking handsome in it.

I really think it’s one of the most beautiful dances, songs and films ever. 

#Indian cinema #Prince #love

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Ade Adepitan - paralympic medallist in basketball, tennis player, actor, TV show host, motivational speaker, Olympic ambassador, has branched out into documentary filmmaking, tackling polio in his latest film, Ade Adepitan: Journey of My Lifetime, which will air on Channel 4 in the UK, next Monday, August 19, at 8pm.

The film, which Ade shot earlier this year, when he traveled to Nigeria (where he's from), takes a look at polio in his native Nigeria.

As he states:

Up until January this year my knowledge of Polio was extremely limited, which a lot of people will find surprising considering I contracted polio in Nigeria when I was just 15 months old. I think because I’ve always tried not to make my disability an issue it has meant I’ve avoided tackling the subject. It was about 6 years ago that I found out how the disease affected the spinal cord. Yeah I knew how it affected me physically, but I didn’t know about its status in the world, and that the human race has come very close on many occasions to wiping Polio off the planet completely. The people that I met, the stories they tell, the things I saw when I was in Nigeria made me laugh, cry and sometimes want to pull my dreads out in frustration. Most of all it’s made me more determined to help end polio worldwide. This is the journey of my lifetime and here’s a little taster before it’s aired on Monday the 19th of August on C4 at 8pm!

Check out Ade's impressive resume via his websiteHERE.

And here's a link to the documentary trailer.

#Ade Adepitan #Ade Adepitan: Journey of My Lifetime #Paralympics #documentaries #filmmaking

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I'll return for individual highlights of those films that we haven't previously profiled, but in the mean time, check out the full list below (via press release), which includes titles that should be familiar, like Audre Lorde-The Berlin Years, and Meanwhile in Mamelodi.

The festival takes place from October 25 to October 27, in San Francisco, CA.

Venues include Jack Adams Auditiorium at San Francisco State University, and BRAVA Theater Center in San Francisco. Additional dates and venues to be announced. 

Visit festival.ibwff.com.

2013 OFFICIAL SELECTION | INTERNATIONAL BLACK WOMEN’S FILM FESTIVAL

(An asterisk “*” denotes a premiere)

16 Seeds, director Melinda James (USA, 2012)

"16 Seeds" examines the roles that people of color play in the struggle for food justice, from a community organizer's journey of increasing the visibility of black farmers to the groundwork of an elder seeking to preserve family traditions.

Focused on three individuals - Gail, Mia, and Mickey, living in Oakland and San Francisco's Bayview district, this film positions them at the forefront of the movement in their communities to reclaim food and our connections to it.Director(s): Melinda James, Screenwriter(s): Producer(s): About Her Films

20 minutes | @aboutherfilms

Audre Lorde-The Berlin Years, director Dagmar Schultz (Germany, 2012)

2012 marked the 20th anniversary of Audre Lorde’s passing, the acclaimed Black lesbian feminist poet and activist. Audre Lorde - The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 explores a little-known chapter of the writer’s prolific life, a period in which she helped ignite the Afro-German Movement and made lasting contributions to the German political and cultural scene before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Lorde mentored and encouraged Black German women to write and publish as a way of asserting their identities, rights and culture in a society that isolated and silenced them, while she challenged white German women to acknowledge and constructively use their white privilege. This documentary contains previously unreleased audiovisual material from director Dagmar Schultz’s personal archive, including stunning images of Audre Lorde off stage. With testimony from Lorde’s colleagues, students and friends, this film documents Lorde’s lasting legacy in Germany. Director(s): Dagmar Schultz, Screenwriter(s): Dagmar Schultz Co-Authors: Ika Hügel-Marshall, Ria Cheatom, Aletta von Vietinghoff, Producer(s): Dagmar Schultz

1 hour and 15 minutes |

Clara, director Karl Stelter (USA, 2012)

Language: English

"Clara" is a dark and gritty psychological drama about a woman on the breaking point of reality. She has lost everything and fights to hold on to her psyche and everything else around her. Director(s): Karl Stelter, Screenwriter(s): Sachandra Grandoit, Producer(s): Sachandra Grandoit, Maria Ochoa and Karl Stetlar

20 minutes |

Daughter of Fortune, director Dawn Kamoche (USA, 2012)

In the late summer of 1955, Hollywood star Cynthia Beckley has everything a woman could want. But when an old friend dies, Cynthia's long buried secrets threaten to reappear and destroy her perfect world forever. Director(s): Dawn Kamoche, Screenwriter(s): Dawn Kamoche, Producer(s): Sabrina Chammas & Jordan Reddout

30 minutes | @DaughterFortune

*Echo at 11 Oak Drive, director Crystle Clear Roberson (USA, 2013)

A drug induced writer moves into an old home and unveils the peculiar characters who once lived there. Director(s): Crystle Clear Roberson, Screenwriter(s): Crystle Clear Roberson, Producer(s): Dianne Ashford

1 hour and 15 minutes | @echofilmmakers

Even Me, director Megan Ebor (USA, 2012)

Even Me confronts the overwhelming crisis of HIV/AIDS among older adults 50+. Defying the myth that HIV/AIDS is a gay or young person’s disease, this revealing documentary depicts the devastating impact of this epidemic on the heterosexual, older adult population and communities of color. These brave men and women speak candidly about their experiences, sexual history and HIV status and help to uncover the misconceptions about aging, sexuality and HIV/AIDS.Director(s): Megan Ebor, Screenwriter(s): Megan Ebor, Producer(s): Megan Ebor

30 minutes | @evenme_film

Goodnight My Love, director Kellee Terrell (USA, 2013)

A Black lesbian couple caught in a zombie apocalypse spend their final moments hashing out the issues that plagued their relationship. Director(s): Kellee Terrell, Screenwriter(s): Kellee Terrell, Producer(s): Elizabeth BrouilietteLanguage: English

10 minutes | @kelleent

Impresa!, director Sephora Woldu (USA, 2013)

Impresa! is a film about a young woman in San Francisco contemplating starting a business: her own art gallery. She is a first generation Eritrean American, and the perils of her nontraditional business venture worry the family. Our protagonist goes on a day trip in the Bay Area visiting the most creative Eritrean and Ethiopian-owned businesses to prove that innovation has a place in the community. The short film is a light, uplifting look into the fictitious story of one girl abandoning cultural fiscal fears and chasing entrepreneurship. Director(s): Sephora Woldu, Screenwriter(s): Sephora Woldu, Producer(s): Richard Durante, Sephora Woldu

30 minutes | @impresafilm

Mama C: Urban Warrior in the African Bush, director Joanne Hershfield (Tanzania and USA, 2012)

“Mama C: Urban Warrior in the African Bush” tells the story of Charlotte O’Neal—or Mama C as she is known—poet, musician, visual artist, spoken word artist and ex-member of the Kansas City Black Panther Party. Mama C, whose life was formed growing up in the artistically and politically vibrant atmosphere of the African American community in Kansas City, KS, has lived for past forty years in the Tanzanian village of Imbaseni.Director(s): Joanne Hershfield, Screenwriter(s): Joanne Hershfield, Producer(s): Joanne Hershfield

1 hour |

Meanwhile in Mamelodi, director Benjamin Kahlmeyer (South Africa, 2012)

Set against the raucous backdrop of the 2010 World Cup, MEANWHILE IN MAMELODI is a beautifully crafted portrait of a place and one family’s daily life inside it. The Mtsweni family lives in the Pretoria Township of the title, in the district known as Extension 11. Their world is a ramshackle collection of corrugated tin dwellings and makeshift shops, open sewers littered with debris and red-earth rectangles filled with soccer-playing children and teens. Seventeen-year-old Mosquito is one of those kids. As she studies for math tests, flirts with boys and shops with her best friend, her father Steven prepares his “tuck shop” for the promise of cash-flush tourists. Meanwhile, his wife struggles with mental illness. The Mtswenis’ lives unfold as the Cup brings new hope to the ravaged town. Extension 11 buzzes with the drone of vuvuzelas, signaling a new South Africa has arrived. Despite the poverty around her, Mosquito insists this is not her parents’ country. She is the face of South Africa’s future—part of “a new generation free to do all things.” Director(s): Benjamin Kahlmeyer, Screenwriter(s): Concept: Benjamin Kahlmeyer, Producer(s): Boris Frank

1 hour and 15 minutes |

*Phila, director Luscious Dosi (South Africa, 2013)

Language: Zulu and English

Phila travels with sister, Ntsako, in a horse cart while collecting scrap metal for a living. Being his sister's keeper, Phila is prone to believe that Ntsako is solely dependant on him. A random act of carelessness leads Phila to leave Ntsako and the horse cart unattended for a brief moment, which brings rather suprising consequences. Director(s): Luscious Dosi, Screenwriter(s): Luscious Dosi, Producer(s): Luscious Dosi

10 minutes |

Sweet, Sweet Country, director Dehanza Rogers (USA, 2013)

Living in a small Southern town, 20 year-old refugee Ndizeye struggles to support not only herself, but the family she left behind in a Kenyan refugee camp. Her struggle becomes so much more when her family literally shows up at her doorstep. Director(s): Dehanza Rogers, Screenwriter(s): Dehanza Rogers, Producer(s): Dehanza Rogers, Doug Turner, Gbenga Akinnagbe

20 minutes | @sscfilm

*Tech-Free for a Weekend, director Stella Gutierrez (USA, 2013)

Language: English

Two young women (Davonni, 11 and Stella, 13) who were in BAYCAT's summer media camp decided to challenge someone to go technology-free for a weekend. Community artist and writer, Carrie Leilam Love stepped up to the challenge. Do you think she'll make it? BAYCAT is a media camp in San Francisco's Bayview District. Director(s): Stella Gutierrez, Screenwriter(s): none, Producer(s): Zara Ahmed

10 minutes | @baycatsf

About the International Black Women’s Film Festival:

The International Black Women’s Film Festival screens media by and/or about Black women from around the world in non-stereotypical, non-pornographic roles. IBWFF combats negative stereotyping of Black women in film, television and media.

The International Black Women’s Film Festival explores the social, aesthetic and political contexts of Black women in society through film, television and media, and how Black women are viewed through the moving image while at the same time being rendered voiceless and invisible.

The films presented are a bridge to overcoming our notions of stereotyped images of Black women in order to understand the importance, contributions and complexities that go unspoken in presenting the place of Black women in society.

So here for it.

#YAAAS #International Black Women's Film Festival #so ready

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Information I'm sure some of you can use, courtesy of our friends at Film Biz Africa.

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Screendance Africa is develops, produces and distributes local and international dance films in Africa.

Submission deadline: August 29, 2013.

Call for African Dance Videos Made by Africans

Do you have a short dance video that you would like Screendance Africa to showcase at one of our upcoming mini dance film festivals? We welcome any genre of dance on screen: documentaries, dance video, narrative or non-narrative, experimental, student and /or professional. Most importantly we are looking for dance videos that activate the cross over of dance, choreography and the cinematic medium. We will select dance videos that demonstrate a clear intention, that use the dance, location(s), choreography, camera movement and the edit to activate this.

What we are looking for:

• Films should be of good quality, produced and completed during or after 2011.

• All films must be produced in Africa, preferably made by Africans.

• Not shorter than 2mins and not longer than 10 mina

• No recordings of live stage performances will be considered.

• Promotional teasers of no more than 10 minutes for Dancers, Choreographers or Companies will be considered for our looped dance showcase.

Please submit a DVD or online link with the following details:

*Title

*Nationality

*Choreographer

*Length

*Premiere

*Contact Details

*Email:

*Director's Name

*Producer

*Dancers/Company

*Date of Production

*Screenings

*Address

*Telephone

Submission Deadline: 29 August 2013

Please email links and information to [email protected] or post to Screendance Africa (Pty) Ltd, 10 Algoa Crescent Monte Vista , Cape Town, South Africa, 7460.

Selected films will be showcased at the African Creative Economy Conference and Cape Town Winelands International Film Festival, as well as at other upcoming ScreendanceAfrica screening events.

Ayyye. Get to it!

#Film Biz Africa #Screendance Africa #dance films #South Africa

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DOCUBOX is a new East African documentary film fund that supports documentary filmmakers from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania by providing grant money to help them complete their documentary projects. 

The initiative also provides support and input from internationally-acclaimed documentary filmmakers from thought to screen. 

September 15th is the deadline date, so act fast! Details follow:

WE SUPPORT FILMS IN TWO STAGES: project development & trailer development production & post-production In the first part of our program, DOCUBOX will offer a maximum of 10 filmmakers the chance to develop their concept and make trailers, or shoot a short section of their film, supported by grants of $2,000. All participating filmmakers granted $2,000 to make these trailers and are free, if not selected for further development by DOCUBOX, to use these trailers to pursue further funding or to develop the trailers into feature films, provided they credit DOCUBOX for the development grant assistance. 

In the second stage our program, a selection panel chooses the most promising projects from the completed trailers and supports a maximum of 6 projects each receiving a maximum of $25,000 to complete production of their films. We hope to invite broadcasters in at this stage to contribute to the selection process, highlighting those films which they would be interested in part-funding.Docubox is an East African documentary film fund, supported by the Ford Foundation.

Applications must be from the East African countries Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania to apply.

We support intimate, character-driven storytelling and encourage new forms of ownership and authorship in East Africa. We exist to enable talented, driven, focused and accountable artists with unique stories to tell to produce unique films that unearth new realities (about worlds, identities and people) and cross-transnational lines through training, development and production grants, screenings, and networking events for people who love documentary films. 

We do not fund fiction.

#DOCUBOX #documentaries #East Africa #African cinema #film funding

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Don't go see "Elysium" without expecting a cinematic lesson in income inequality, racism and global poverty.

This year, big-budget dystopian fantasies have had quite a box office run: "White House Down," "Olympus Has Fallen" and "After Earth" and now "Elysium," starring Matt Damon.

In "Elysium," the wealthy have left everyone else on Earth, and decamped to a disease, poverty and immigrant-free utopia.  Grantland staff writer Wesley Morris says the film was limited in how it could tackle the issues of income equality. 

“It has to make people feel good about something that is inherently unsolvable and kind of a downer,” says Morris. 

While  inequality is the main theme of the film, Morris says another interesting bit is that Matt Damon is one of the only white people on Earth in the movie.

"You have the only white guy on Earth saving all of the sort of remaining brown people, by taking on the white people of this man-made satellite,” says Morris.

Morris says the idea of the "Great White Savior" is a recurring theme in Hollywood. He says the film could have been better if there were a star who looked like the people he was fighting for.

"You probably would have had a much stronger movie," he says, "if you would have cast Benicio Del Toro or Diego Luna, who is in this movie, or even Alice Braga, who is also in this movie, to be the person who goes to this satellite paradise and fights for the rights of downtrodden earthlings."

Morris says that’s not what you get because the market can’t sustain that kind of thing.  He says this is interesting since so many films are pitched to an international audience.

“If it’s pitched globally I can’t imagine that there isn’t a way in which you take some kind of risk and swap out Matt Damon for a star who looks like everybody else," says Morris.

Morris says he wonders if that’s a risk that a studio will be willing to take at some point.

Bolded for reasons.

#Elysium #Neill Blomkamp #Matt Damon #White Savior