Last Will and Testament

Last Will and Testament is a film about ritual and finding peace while living with unmet expectations. It is partially set (and partially animated) in a miniature ghost-town populated by past expectations. It stars Geremy Jasper and was written, directed, shot, edited, and scored by Jason Binnick.

GUCCI TRIBECA DOCUMENTARY FUND PRESENTS: DOCS ON THE SHORTLIST

The Tribeca Film Institute and Gucci announce a two day series “Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund presents: Docs on the Shortlist.” Presented by the Fund which offers finishing funds to documentaries of social significance, the new series offers filmgoers the opportunity to see a selection of the documentary contenders shortlisted for the nomination for Best Feature Documentary for the 81st Academy Awards®. This series is also supported by media sponsor indieWIRE, the start page for independent and specialty films.

Launching on Thursday, January 8 and continuing on Saturday, January 10, the two day series brings together filmmakers who have been part of past Tribeca Film Festivals to screen their new documentary films, which are currently being recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Six of the 15 documentaries under consideration for nomination will be screened; the films in the series are: At the Death House Door, The Garden, I.O.U.S.A., Man on Wire, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, and They Killed Sister Dorothy.

The series will be hosted by three Oscar® nominated documentary filmmakers and Tribeca alumni Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp) and Marshall Curry (Street Fight) and last year’s Oscar® winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), also a Tribeca alumnus. All of the screenings will feature special appearances by the filmmakers and will be followed by Q & A’s moderated by Curry, Ewing, Gibney, or Grady.

“This series emphasizes our commitment to supporting filmmakers in every stage of the filmmaking process,” said Brian Newman, CEO of Tribeca Film Institute. “We are happy to provide this opportunity for audiences who are interested in quality documentary films, as well as for those that may have missed these movies the first time around or can’t wait to see them again.”

"Tribeca has been a great booster for documentaries, showcasing them at the festival, supporting them with the Gucci fund, and now with this series," says Marshall Curry, whose documentary, Street Fight, won the Audience Award at Tribeca, and went on to be nominated for an Oscar®. "Like a lot of documentary filmmakers, I appreciate everything Tribeca has done for me and the filmmaking community.”

Two of the selections received an award and/or critical praise at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival: James Marsh’s Man on Wire had its New York premiere at TFF and Gini Reticker’s Pray the Devil Back to Hell world premiered at 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and took home the Best Documentary Award.

Submissions for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund offering finishing funds of $100,000 for 2009 are currently open. www.tribecafilminstitute.org/documentary

Public Information:
Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street (corner of Laight), New York, NY 10013
The public may call 212/941.2001 for further information. Visit us on the Web at www.tribecacinemas.com
Subway: A, C, E – Canal Street/6 Avenue; 1 – Canal Street/Varick Street

Admission: Admission for each film screening is $8 regular tickets; $5 for members of the Guilds, members of BAFTA East Coast, DocuClub, IDA, IFP, and/or Shooting People, and full-time students with current I.D.; free for Academy Members.


SCREENING SCHEDULE

Thursday January 8th:
5:30pm

Man on Wire, directed by James Marsh
Running time: 94 minutes

On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.

Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the WTC’s security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; anchor the wire and tension it to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings. The rigging was done by night in complete secrecy. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan…

James Marsh’s documentary brings Petit’s extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as “the artistic crime of the century.”

World Premiered at Sundance, New York Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.

7:30pm
Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker
Running time: 72 minutes
Pray the Devil Back to Hell tells the remarkable but little-known story of a small band of unarmed women who risked their lives to bring change to Liberia, reconstructing the moment through interviews, archival footage and striking images of contemporary Liberia. This incredible story has earned awards at the Tribeca Film Festival (Best Documentary Feature), Silverdocs (Witness Award), Jackson Hole Film Festival (Audience Choice: Documentary), Traverse City Film Festival (Special Jury Prize: Non-fiction Filmmaking), and Heartland Film Festival (Best Documentary).

Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, a coalition of Christian and Muslim women confronted cruelty and corruption, taking on Charles Taylor and the warlords and bringing peace to their country after decades of war. Their demonstrations brought about the exile of Charles Taylor and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state – and mark the vanguard of a new wave of people taking control of their political destiny around the world.
World Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and won Best Documentary award.


Saturday January 10th:
3pm

At the Death House Door, directed by Peter Gilbert and Steve James
At The Death House Door follows the remarkable career journey of Carroll Pickett, who served as the first death house chaplain at the infamous “Walls” prison unit in Huntsville, Texas. From 1982 until 1995, Pickett ministered to 95 men who were executed, including the very first lethal injection done anywhere in the world. “Your job,” the warden told Pickett before the first execution, “is to talk to the inmate, comfort him, and win his trust and seduce his emotions so he won’t fight on the gurney at midnight.” After each of the 95 executions, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of that fateful day.

No inmate’s execution would haunt Pickett more than that of Carlos De Luna, a young man who claimed to be innocent of the murder of a convenience store clerk. In 1989, during the final hours of his life, 27 year-old De Luna came to trust Pickett so much he called him “daddy.” 17 years later, two Chicago Tribune reporters turn up evidence that strongly suggests De Luna was innocent. The film tracks their investigation and the impact Carlos continues to have not just on Pickett, but on Carlos’ sister and a television reporter who had befriended the young man on death row.

At The Death House Door is a film about the failures of the criminal justice system; about one man’s spiritual and moral journey; and how this very final act of punishment does not bring closure. As often as not, it just brings more suffering.
From award-winning directors Steve James ("Hoop Dreams") and Peter Gilbert ("Vietnam: Long Time Coming").

World Premiered at SXSW. Peter Gilbert’s with All Deliberate Speed played in the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. Steve James participated in the 2006 with War Tapes.

5pm
They Killed Sister Dorothy, directed by Daniel Junge. An HBO Documentary FilmRunning time: 94 minutes
On February 12th, 2005, A 73-year old nun from Ohio was shot 6 times and left to die on a muddy road deep in the Amazon.
Her murder shocked the world and revealed a sordid battle in the Brazilian rainforest. Who was she? What are the complex factors that led to her murder? And what will be done about it? The answers may hold the key to the future of the rainforest itself.
They Killed Sister Dorothy follows the powerful real-life courtroom drama at the trials of her accused killers and explores the conflicts in the Amazon that led to that fateful day.
World Premiered at SXSW. Premieres on HBO in March 2009. Daniel Junge’s Chiefs screened at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival.
7pm
The Garden, directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Running time: 80 minutes

The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.

The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the
polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers: Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public?

And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is
nothing more we can do.” If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?

World Premiered at Silverdocs. Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s OT: Our Town screened in the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival.

9pm
I.O.U.S.A., directed by Patrick Creadon
Running time: 85 minutes
Wake up, America! We're on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.
Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation's financial practices and policies. The film follows former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America's unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens.
With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America's current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.
Creadon uses candid interviews and his featured subjects include Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul O'Neill, Robert Rubin, and Paul Volcker, along with David Walker and Bob Bixby of the Concord Coalition.
Pointedly topical and consummately nonpartisan, I.O.U.S.A. drives home the message that the only time for America's financial future is now.

World Premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Patrick Creadon’s Wordplay played in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.

Job At CBS Studios Lot / Intern Needed For Sundance

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Manhattan's Young and Affluent Host Film-Launch Soiree at Exclusive Nightspot, BUNGALOW 8

If making movies is an "unrealistic job expectation," then Josh Sugarman, Duke Greenhill and Brandon Yankowitz are the poster-boys for "Millennials" every where. Yankowitz and Sugarman both left lucrative careers as attorneys to chase their dreams of filmmaking. Greenhill, a former producer of controversial political ads (remember the Swift Boat ads?) did the same. There's even a reality show in the works about their "irresponsible" departure from stable, lucrative occupations to search for filmmaking fame.

So, what is their maiden project together? A movie about Manhattan Trophy Kids, of course.
And what better way to launch the development of the movie than with a gathering of real-life Millennials at one of Manhattan's most exclusive night-spots?
"We wanted to bring together the people that inspired this film to celebrate the beginning of this journey of ours," says Greenhill, "and to show that we may be 'Trophy Kids,' but that doesn't mean we can't do it.

In attendance will be the filmmakers themselves (Yankowitz, recently designated by Gotham Magazine, one of Manhattan's Most Eligible Bachelors), cast members from Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, Steve and John Madden of the footware giant, Steve Madden, and a host of Millennial representatives from the spectrum of the New York social scene, including Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Broadway, and Manhattan's fashion and underground music scene.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 11
7-10 PM
BUNGALOW 8
515 W 27th StNew York, NY 10001

Made in Jamaica at the 16th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival

Every year, the African Diaspora Film Festival brings an exciting line-up of international and local films that depict the richness and diversity of the Black experience - and more - to New York City! They will be screening an important number of Caribbean films amongst which the documentary Made in Jamaica by Jerome Laperouz, 108 mins, 2006, Jamaica/France, documentary in EnglishMade in Jamaica is a powerful portrait of the leaders of Jamaican music that explores how Reggae has become a worldwide phenomenon.

It is the story of how a small island nation in the Caribbean of only three million people took their human experience and turned it into songs full of emotions that resonate around the world." Reggae is Jamaica's blues: a music of both desperation and hope. Never before has a single feature film presented the leaders of the Reggae music movement with the intensity that MADE IN JAMAICA does. The film features Grammy Award Winner Toots, Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer (Bob Marley's brother), 2006 Grammy Award Nominees Third World, Shia and Cat Core, Beres Hammond, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, Alaine Laugthon, Tanya Stephens, Bounty Killer, Blessed, Elephant Man, Lady Saw, Joseph Current, Vybz Kartel, Brick and Lace, Dr. Marshall, Capleton, Koolant, and Left Side & Esco.


Official web site: http://www.madeinjamaicamovie.com/
Trailer on Youtube below:




WHEN: Sun. Dec, 14 @ 5:00pm & 7:30pm;Tue. Dec. 16 @ 3:30pm, 6:00pm & 8:30pmWHERE: Symphony Space, Thalia Theatre2537 Broadway @ 95th St.Tickets: (212) 864-5400 http://www.symphonyspace.org/

The African Diaspora Film Festival TeamTel: (212) 678-7428 / 7438Tel: (212) 864 1760Fax (212) 316- 6020http://www.nyadff.org/

Rooftop 2009 Summer Series

Rooftop Films is now accepting submissions for the 2009 Summer Series! (Please help us out by forwarding this information to filmmakers and/or posting to relevant websites)Submit your movies! We are currently accepting submissions for the 2009 Summer Series. In May 2009 we will begin celebrating our 13th year of bringing the best underground films in the world outdoors and to the rooftops of New York. Submit your films and videos now and participate in one of the most unforgettable, unique, filmmaker-friendly, independent film events in the world!

A complete list of rules and regulations are available on our website. Films can be submitted via Withoutabox.com or directly to Rooftop Films. General deadlines and fees have changed since last year: Earlybird: $9, postmarked by January 5, 2009; Regular: $13, postmarked by February 02, 2009; Late: $16, postmarked by March 1, 2009; Without A Box Extended: $16, April 1, 2009 (Without A Box members only.)• Rooftop continues to accept films year round, but if you want to guarantee that your films will be considered for the 2009 Summer Series please make sure to submit them on or before the deadlines.

THE FESTIVAL: The 2009 Summer Series will run from May through September and will feature more than 200 daring new films, all screened outdoors, in front of big, loyal audiences in parks, along the water, and on rooftops overlooking the greatest city on earth. More than 15,000 people attended Rooftop screenings in 2008, making it one of the most popular festivals in New York City. The 2009 Summer Series will surely feature even bigger crowds, even more beautiful venues, and more incredible films. SUBMITTING TO ROOFTOP:Rooftop Films is committed to helping filmmakers get their films screened and we believe that it is the responsibility of a film festival to make it as easy as possible for filmmakers to submit their films and get them screened. That is why we don't demand that filmmakers send us exorbitant submission fees. There is a recommended early submission fee of $9.00 per filmmaker or curator for any films postmarked prior to January 5th, and for that fee you can submit as many films as you like without paying additional submission fees. Our early submission fee is the same as our regular ticket price, and every filmmaker who submits to Rooftop will get TWO free passes to any regular Rooftop Films show (a value of $18). We try to keep the cost to filmmakers as minimal as possible and though we can't show all the films sent in to us, we hope that all the filmmakers that submit come out to our shows—and the first one is on us.

Che

On behalf of IFC Films and indieWIRE, we are pleased to announce that an exclusive Steven Soderbergh interview and clip from Che is now live on indieWIRE.com!

One week before his two-part epic, "Che," opens in New York and Los Angeles, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh talks with Anthony Kaufman in an interview published today at indieWIRE.com. "Since premiering in Cannes," writes Kaufman (author of "Steven Soderbergh: Interviews"), "'Che' has been hailed as both a masterpiece and misguided; eitherway, it's one of the most ambitious films in Soderbergh's career--a 'frustrating' one, he acknowledges--and a fascinating, beautifully rendered reinvention of the bio-pic."In his New York production office, Soderbergh reflected on his career, talked about video-on-demand, the RED digital camera, landscape photography and the benefits of being nice. Today's indieWIRE interview includes an exclusive video clip from the IFC Films release. On December 12, "Che" will be released for one week in New York and Los Angeles as a single 257-minute film with intermission and in theatres nationwide in two parts on Jan. 9th, debuting on VOD starting Jan. 21, 2009.

Check out the exclusive clip here!

iW VIDEO: Benicio Del Toro in an exclusive scene from "Che" from indieWIRE Video on Vimeo.

Courtesy of MAMMOTH ADVERTISING

Sex Positive

here! Films, the theatrical distribution and worldwide sales division of here! Networks, announced today on World AIDS Day it has acquired North American distribution rights to the documentary, "Sex Positive," from the director Daryl Wein and produced by Wein and David Oliver Cohen. here! Films acquired this documentary from Ro*Co Films, and its sister company Regent Releasing will distribute the film starting March 13, 2009 in select U.S. cities.

"Sex Positive," Wein's first feature-length documentary, made its world premiere in competition at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at LA Outfest in 2008. Wein began his promising film career after graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and went on to direct the short film, "Unlocked," starring Olivia Thirlby (Juno), which had its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival."Daryl's insight into the life and work of Richard Berkowitz explores the explicit bravery of an unrecognized activist in an era of fear and uncertainty," said Mark Reinhart, West Coast General Manager and Executive Vice President Distribution and Acquisitions, Regent.

'Sex Positive' carries a vital message still today about an epidemic that's hitting American youth hard, as HIV rates have nearly doubled between 2001 and 2006." Reinhart continues, "Regent continues our support of emerging filmmakers like Daryl with a message of education and responsibility around World AIDS Day.""Sex Positive" explores the life of Richard Berkowitz, a revolutionary AIDS activist in the 1980's, whose incomparable contribution to the invention of safe-sex practices has never been aptly credited. Berkowitz along with Dr. Joseph Sonnabend (a controversial virologist and AIDS doctor) and beloved activist/musician Michael Callen emerged from the epicenter of the epidemic as community leaders, demanding a solution to the problem before anyone else would pay attention. Through the eyes of Berkowitz, the audience is made witness to a graphic testimony of sex, death and betrayal, while placing the invention of "safe sex" in a fresh and compelling context."Both in government and the gay population, the widespread silence during the early years of the AIDS crisis is absolutely shocking," said Daryl Wein, director of "Sex Positive."

"People my age were not born of the era in which the crisis of AIDS forced behavioral change." Wein continues to say, "I'm proud to be releasing 'Sex Positive' through here! Films as I feel it is my duty to challenge the complacency of my generation by instilling the values of those forgotten heroes."The acquisition deal for "Sex Positive" was negotiated by Mark Reinhart, West Coast General Manager and Executive Vice President Distribution and Acquisitions and Annie Roney, Founder and Managing Director for Ro*Co Films International. For more information about the film, please visit http://www.sexpositive-themovie.com/ or information about the director, please visit http://www.darylwein.com/