10/04/06 - Fight, Flight or Freeze - Preparing to Dominate on the New Battlefield - Movie Trailer Release
by  Lori Peterson (October 4, 2006) Renowned documentary filmmaker Bob Madsen, President of Norway Films Hi Definition Production Studios today revealed the trailer for his much anticipated film, "Fight, Flight or Freeze" - Preparing to Dominate on the New Battlefield. This timely war documentary chronicles the shift from the conventional battlefield to the new urban settings that are now commonplace in our current war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. "Dominance is now being waged on city streets", states LTC Jeff Miller. "No other environment is as deadly and demanding for modern soldiers and never has the need been greater for troops to be prepared to fight in this dangerous terrain" states Miller.

Get a glimpse into what new methods and tools are being used at the Urban Warfare Center ™ to help prepare soldiers for this new battlefield. Overwhelmed with high doses of stress in a training environment, troops gain experience that will increase not only their survivability but their effectiveness in eliminating the dangerous threats that will confront them.

Fight, Flight, or Freeze - Preparing to Dominate on the New Battlefield is filled with contemporary combat footage, interviews and experiences from veterans of elite and conventional fighting units, and a close look into the cutting edge of combat readiness preparation. This is a gripping film not only to warriors, but to all who have an interest in the success of friendly forces on the modern battlefront. Once again Bob Madsen delivers a compelling, timely film that brings an important story to life as only he can. [ read more in On The Scene ]

10/04/06 - FESTIVAL DISPATCH: In Defense of Peace, Reykjavik Film Fest Spotlights Conflict
by Brian Brooks (October 4, 2006) Films from Eastern Europe as well as the former Yugoslavia, including a spotlight on Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic ("The Optimists"), are some of the themes of this year's Reykjavik International Film Festival, currently underway in Iceland. The festival opened with Stephen Frears' critically acclaimed "The Queen," which screened in the Icelandic capital one night before its North American debut at the 44th New York Film Festival back in Manhattan, but American conflicts - both past and present - are also drawing the attention of audiences here.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

10/04/06 - Amidst Major Internal Changes, RESFEST Sets 10th Anniversary Tour
by Eugene Hernandez (October 4, 2006) Despite a number of recent internal changes, organizers have announced plans for the 10th anniversary RESFEST, the popular touring film and digital arts festival. The event will launch in Chicago on October 19th and the following day in Paris, before continuing to a number of other venues around the world. The news comes as umbrella company RES Media Group undergoes major changes. Jonathan Wells, founder and festival director of RESFEST, left the organization in early August and just last month came word that the new issue of RES Magazine would be the last of the year as the organization is retooled, following a decision to cut key magazine staff. Plans are emerging to relaunch a publication next year after changes in the company's relationship with its owner, Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures, but details have yet to be unveiled.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

10/03/06 - "The Fountain" and "Inland Empire" Added as AFI Fest Unveils Complete '06 Lineup
by Eugene Hernandez (October 3, 2006) Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" and David Lynch's "Inland Empire" have been added as Centerpiece Galas at the 2006 AFI Fest in Los Angeles, joining Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" as centerpiece films at the festival, running November 1 - 12, 2006. The announcement was made as organizers unveiled the complete lineup for the festival, set to kick off with Emilio Estevez' "Bobby" (the closing film is still to be announced). Aronofsky's "The Fountain" stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, while Lynch's latest film stars Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons and Justin Theroux. Also added is a special evening with Ed Zwick. Aronofsky, Lynch and Zwick are all alumni of the the AFI Conservatory's directing program.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

10/03/06 - iW BOT: "The Queen" Reigns in NYC Opening, "Last King," "Latin Legends" and "Saints" Debut Strong
by Steven Rosen (October 4, 2006) Queens, kings, saints and Jesus: Movies with titles naming powerful figures both secular and religious did well last weekend, according to the latest indieWIRE Box Office Tracking report (iWBOT) of independent/specialty films. Miramax Films' "The Queen," directed by Stephen Frears and starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II responding to Princess Diana's death in 1997, finished first with a spectacular weekend per-site average of $40,671 from three Manhattan theaters. Close behind was Fox Searchlight's "Last King of Scotland," starring Forest Whitaker as Uganda's charming but psychotic despot Idi Amin. Kevin Macdonald's film averaged $35,725 at three theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Dito Montiel's autobiographical drama "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" - set in Queens, incidentally - debuted on eight screens in New York and L.A. and averaged $12,012 for distributor First Look Pictures to take fifth place. And while Magnolia Pictures' Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady-directed documentary "Jesus Camp" is still slow in Heartland areas where it's trying to lure the same Evangelical Christians it portrays, it's catching on in big cities where audiences may be responding to it as a muckraking political film. It finished seventh on the iWBOT by averaging $5,141 at 19 theaters.  [ read more in Biz ]

10/03/06 - DISPATCH FROM THE NYFF: With NY Fest Underway, "Little Children" and "Bamako" Stir Viewers
by James Israel and Eugene Hernandez (October 3, 2006) Those who attend the New York Film Festival for the first time quickly notice that at the esteemed Manhattan event things are done a bit differently. This is not your typical film festival, rather its more of a nightly showcase. Just two films from the event's main program screen for the public each evening at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall during NYFF; there are four screenings on weekends. Meanwhile, sidebar showings and events running concurrently in the Film Society of Lincoln Center's adjacent year-round venue, the Walter Reade Theater. Unlike the upstart Tribeca Film Festival which has expanded to numerous New York City neighborhoods, the NYFF didn't add a venue when a large, modern multiplex opened across the street a decade ago (but the Tribeca event seized the opportunity with showings there this year). Following Friday night's gala screenings of Stephen Frears' "The Queen," the New York Film Festival got into gear over the weekend with screenings of Alberto Lattuada's "Mafioso," Tian Zhuangzhuang's "The Go Master," Hong Sang-soo's "Woman on the Beach," Marc Recha's "August Days," and Todd Field's "Little Children." Also underway is a tribute celebrating the 50th anniversary of Janus Films.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

10/02/06 - This Is Hardcore: John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus"
by Michael Koresky with responses from Keith Uhlich and Jeannette Catsoulis (October 2, 2006) [indieWIRE's weekly reviews are written by critics from Reverse Shot.] "Shortbus," John Cameron Mitchell's first film since the raucous and more than a tad melancholic "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," opens with another decidedly masculine-featured diva transplanted to America from Europe: the Statue of Liberty. With bold, smooth glides, the camera caresses the faded green copper of the crowned lady as if it were a lover's skin. It's an invitation not only to look at New York City a little differently but also to marvel at its sensual textures. Soon enough though, such regal introductions give way to a panoply of porno-acrobatics: freedom, in all its permutations, is indeed filling the screen, from the auto-erotic to the sadomasochistic, vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. Smartly, Mitchell thrusts us quite literally into his erotic-neurotic Manhattan landscape so there will be no doubt, and no anticipation: "Shortbus" is hardcore.  [ read more in Movies ]

10/01/06 - indieWIRE INTERVIEW: John Cameron Mitchell, director of "Shortbus"
by Brian Brooks (October 1, 2006) Director John Cameron Mitchell first made a splash in the filmmaking scene after creating the cinematic version of a gender-bending character he developed in the New York nightclub world. It eventually became a popular stage act, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and the film version, which came together via Mitchell's participation in the Sundance Labs, later won the audience and directors prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival followed by similar accolades along the festival circuit. His latest film, "Shortbus" continues the talented director's penchant for breaking barriers. The feature is a raw look at the lives of a group of New Yorkers as they traverse the comical and serious side between sex and love in a present-day underground salon. The film created a torrent of buzz at the Festival de Cannes in May where it had its world debut, and had its North American premiere at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. ThinkFilm begins to roll out the film theatrically in North America in limited release beginning Wednesday, October 4.  [ read more in People ]

09/29/06 - NYFF CRITICS NOTEBOOK: The Best, the Worst and a Festival Revelation
by Howard Feinstein (September 29, 2006) The best and worst lines of dialog from the first half of the "demanding, inflexible, and insanely selective" (per the trailer) New York Film Festival come from, respectively, Stephen Frears's amusing character study "The Queen" and Todd Field's facile "Little Children." "At the end, all Labour prime ministers go ga-ga for the Queen," complains anti-monarchist Cherie Blair to hubby Tony after he defends HRH's silence following Diana's death in 1997. How prescient, only a few years before the consummate opportunist went ga-ga over our own man who would be king. Frears directs in that no-nonsense British telly style, but "The Queen" is really all about the performances of the much-admired Dame Helen Mirren and, as Blair, an astounding, inner-lit Michael Sheen. "Little Children" suffers from predictable converging plotlines about an upscale town of smug adults, adorable kids, a ridiculously drawn pedophile, and an overdetermined bigot. An unsated suburban housewife commencing an affair with irresponsible stay-at-home dad Patrick Wilson, poor Kate Winslet has the thankless task of analyzing Madame Bovary for a woman's book club: "It's not the cheating. It's the hunger for an alternative and refusing to accept a life of unhappiness."   [ read more in Movies ]

09/28/06 - DISPATCH FROM THE NYFF: Considering Customs and Change on Opening Night #44, Stephen Frears' "The Queen"
by Eugene Hernandez (September 28, 2006) The classic tug of war between tradition and modernization is quite apparent as the 44th New York Film Festival heads into opening night with the gala North American premiere of "The Queen," Stephen Frears' new film featuring a spectacular performance by Dame Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. "For 44 years we've been accused of being demanding, inflexible and insanely selective," states the trailer for this year's festival, adding the punchline, "Remarkably like our audience." Produced by the stalwart Film Society of Lincoln Center, the promo piece also highlights a long list of acclaimed filmmakers who have been showcased at the eevnt, from John Huston and Ingmar Bergman to Gus Van Sant and Wong Kar-wai. Following a pair of traditional Lincoln Center screenings Friday night, guests will once again make their way to Central Park's Tavern on the Green for the annual glittering opening night bash, still listed as "black tie" on the shiny invite even though many younger generation attendees opt for a dark suit. The yearly event is the most important night on New York's annual film calendar, kicking off a season of celebrations in the city. [Check out the aforementioned trailer for the 44th New York Film Festival online (via YouTube).]  [ read more in On The Scene ]

09/28/06 - NEW THIS WEEK: "The Queen," "Broken Sky," "loudQUIETloud," "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," "The Last King of Scotland"
by Brian Brooks (September 28, 2006) Venice winner "The Queen" by Stephen Frears will open theatrically Stateside Saturday. The film screens in the U.S. for the first time (officially) Friday night at Lincoln Center in NYC, where it has its North American premiere, opening the New York Film Festival. Dito Montiel's Sundance acclaimed "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" joins the mix, along with Kevin Macdonald's "The Last King of Scotland." The film, which recently had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, stars Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy. "Forest's performance mesmerized..." co-star Kerry Washington said in Toronto of Whitaker's performance during filming in Uganda. Also on tap this week are Julian Hernandez's "Broken Sky" as well as Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin's Pixies doc "loudQUIETloud."  [ read more in Movies ]

09/27/06 - Spotlights, Rising Stars, Burstyn, Altman, Hope and "Astronaut Farmer" Unveiled for 14th Hamptons Fest
by Brian Brooks (September 27, 2006) More details of the 14th Hamptons International Film Festival were released Wednesday by organizers. As previously unveiled, the festival will open with the world debut of Philip Haas' "The Situation," a thriller, romance and war movie set in contemporary Iraq, starring Connie Nielsen and Damian Lewis. This year's full lineup includes 114 features and shorts, with 15 world, 15 U.S., eight North American, 20 East Coast and 13 New York premieres slated. Other highlights include honors for actress Ellen Burstyn, "The Fountain" director Darren Aronofsky and producer Ted Hope, while director Robert Altman will participate in this year's "A Conversation With" series. Closing out HIFF, which takes place October 18 - 22, is the East Coast premiere of Mike Polish's "The Astronaut Farmer," written by Mark Polish. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton as an astronaut who is forced to leave NASA in order to save his family farm, but maintains his desire for space travel by embarking on a project to build a rocket inside his barn.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

09/27/06 - indieWIRE INTERVIEW: Dito Montiel, director of "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"
by indieWIRE (September 27, 2006) Dito Montiel directed "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," which screened in the Independent Film Competition: Dramatic section at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film, starring Robert Downey Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest and Rosario Dawson, is based upon his memoir of the same name, about a boy growing up in a tough New York neighborhood and the people he left behind after moving to Los Angeles. After a return home, he finds friends on a downward spiral or even dead, and begins to believe he has been saved from their fate by figures he recognizes as his "saints." Montiel participated in both the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and Directors Lab, and won the directors award and speical jury prize for best ensemble performance (dramatic) at this year's Sundance. The film also took the Critics' Week Award at the recent Venice Film Festival. Montiel answered questions given by indieWIRE ahead of the film's premiere at Sundance, and responses are excerpted from the interview here. First Look Pictures will open the film in limite release this Friday, September 29.  [ read more in People ]

09/26/06 - Fighting for Freedom: Exploring Vachon's "Killer Life" (including an excerpt from her new book)
by Eugene Hernandez (September 26, 2006), with an excerpt from a new book by Christine Vachon With some 38 films under her belt in a film business that continues to change, leading independent film producer and Killer Films partner Christine Vachon is pondering the future. In A Killer Life, her essential new memoir (written with Austin Bunn), Vachon bolsters the role of the producer as the driving force of independent film, particularly in a star-driven system that is increasingly tough on the sorts of movies she continues to make. "At this point, I want to reclaim the business for myself," Vachon writes (in an excerpt published by indieWIRE below), "I want to say producers are the ones who find the material, make the challenges for actors, create career pinnacles and opportunities to do meaningful work." But she wonders, "Why are we always at the mercy of this star system? Why can't the stars be at ours?"  [ read more in People ]

09/26/06 - "Science of Sleep," "American Hardcore" and "Old Joy" Sing a Blissful Box office Tune
by Steven Rosen (September 26, 2006) Three stylistically different films that all at least partially attracted pop-music lovers had strong finishes in this week's indieWire Box Office Tracking Report (iWBOT) of independent/specialty films. Warner Independent Picture's launch of music-video auteur Michel Gondry's fanciful "The Science of Sleep" finished first with a $24,852 per-theater average last weekend at 14 locations; Sony Pictures Classics' debut of Paul Rachman's "American Hardcore" documentary about American punk in the 1980s earned $18,102 at New York's Angelika Film Center for second place; and Kino Releasing's New York opening of Kelly Reichardt's "Old Joy" featuring singer-songwriter Will Oldham in a dramatic role brought in $17,556 at Film Forum to be third. And in fifth place with a $7,235 average at six theaters - down about 37% from the previous weekend, its first - was Lionsgate's "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" documentary by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld.   [ read more in Biz ]

09/25/06 - Slaughter Rule: Kevin MacDonald's "The Last King of Scotland"
by Michael Joshua Rowin with responses from Keith Uhlich and Nicolas Rapold (September 25, 2006) [indieWIRE's weekly reviews are written by critics from Reverse Shot.] Call me a typically history-ignorant American, but before watching "The Last King of Scotland" I didn't know that much about Idi Amin's reign of terror as Uganda's dictator during the 1970s. I don't pretend to be proud of such an oversight -- nevertheless, that lack of knowledge worked to this viewer's benefit in experiencing the gripping paranoia of Kevin MacDonald's political thriller. What starts out as an awkward, wide-eyed bildungsroman and travelogue transforms (through more untamed verve than directorial precision) into a frantic, disorienting tragedy about the seduction of power, one that would make proud this film's not-so-unlikely pair of guardian angels, Joseph Conrad and Oliver Stone.   [ read more in Movies ]

09/25/06 - "Brothers of the Head" to Open Music-filled Raindance Fest
by Brian Brooks (September 25, 2006) Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's debut feature "Brothers of the Head" will have its London premiere at the 14th Raindance Film Festival, opening the event, which will screen 80 feature-length and 150 short films September 27 - October 8. Music will feature heavily in the festival's line up. "Brothers" is the story of Tom and Barry Howe, conjoined twins plucked from obscurity and thrust into the burgeoning punk rock scene of the mid Seventies. The unbearable tensions within the twins' relationship is further complicated by the added pressure of imminent fame, the band leave the Howes brothers in a potentially deadly situation.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

09/23/06 - DISPATCH FROM BRAZIL: One Question, Many Different Answers - FIICAV Asks About the Future of the Brazilian Film Market
by Michael Gibbons (September 23, 2006) Brazil is one of the most well-developed television broadcasting markets in the world, yet its film market has always lagged behind. "We have everything to be a new El Dorado, we can be the best in the world," said Christina Castello, director of the first Feira Internacional da Industria do Cinema e Audiovisual (International Cinema and Audiovisual Industry Fair, or FIICAV). "The market is in a very productive moment." But many of the experts who spoke at the gamut of seminars programmed for the three days of the FIICAV, which took place August 23 - 25 in Sao Paulo and served as a community gathering to discuss the state of cinema in Brazil, were not always so positive in their diagnosis. The survival of Brazilian filmmaking largely depends on government incentives, and politics inevitably enter into an already complicated debate about how to consolidate a market that is vulnerable yet full of potential. Discussion at the FIICAV centered on strategies for the future of their business, while recognizing that the Brazilian film industry needs opportunities for growth.   [ read more in On The Scene ]

09/22/06 - Believe the Hype: Ten of the Most Buzzed-About Films from Two of Southern California's Largest Shortfests
by Kim Adelman (September 22, 2006) Recently Palm Springs and Los Angeles each hosted behemoth international short film festivals, presenting a combined total of 993 shorts to sell-out crowds at the Camelot Theatre and ArcLight Hollywood, respectively. With such an overabundance of riches, festival-goers in each city relied heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations to separate the must-sees from the also-rans. Here (in alphabetical order) are ten films that generated massive buzz while playing both the 12th annual Palm Springs Internationl Festival of Short Films (August 24-30, 2006) and the 10th annual Los Angeles International Short Film Festival (September 5-14, 2006). Keep an eye out for them as they continue to cut a wide swath through the festival circuit.   [ read more in Movies ]

09/21/06 - IFP MARKET '06: Event Presents Cash to Market Prize Winners
by Eugene Hernandez (September 21, 2006) Capping its annual Independent Film Week, IFP announced the recipients of this the annual IFP Market Awards at a luncheon in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. Actor Giancarlo Esposito joined IFP executive director Michelle Byrd at the ceremony, which presented cash prizes to the 2006 award winners.  [ read more in On The Scene ]

09/21/06 - indieWIRE INTERVIEW: Paul Rachman, director of "American Hardcore"
by Brian Brooks (September 21, 2006) Veteran filmmaker Paul Rachman has returned to his film music roots with his latest work, 2006 Sundance Film Festival doc, "American Hardcore." Based on the book by Steven Blush ("American Hardcore: A Tribal History"), the film takes a look back at the flourishing punk scene of the early 1980s in the U.S. and Canada. The kids and bands, such as Black Flag, Bad Brains and Minor Threat, took part in a diffused social movement that was a reaction to the prevailing Reagan-era conservatism and conformity of the day. Music from the era helped spawn such later bands as Nirvana, Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which, arguably, may not have gained their eventual notoriety had it not been for their more raw and "in your face" forebearers. Rachman, who co-founded the annual Slamdance Film Festival in Park City (coinciding with the Sundance) directed music videos for some of the bands featured in the film, and later became a top music video director, creating vids for Alice in Chains, The Replacements, Roger Waters and Kiss. His first feature film was "Four Dogs Playing Poker" in 2000, starring Forrest Whittaker and Tim Curry. Rachman shares with indieWIRE how his punk philosophy helped both him and Blush complete the film, and how an industry exec initially said 'no' to the idea of the film, but later came back on as distributor. Sony Pictures Classics opens "American Hardcore" at select theaters on Frdiay.  [ read more in People ]