19th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles: Diaspora & Beyond

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 20 May 2021 21:17

Written by Brad Balfour

Streamed online, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) is now live as a virtual film festival for its 19th edition. Running May 20 to the 27th, the IFFLA not only offers films but also panels focused on gender inclusion and diversity. Special programs include “Childhood on Edge” curated by Uma da Cunha, a panel featuring South Asian showrunners, and a special screening of Prakash Deka's Fireflies, followed by a panel on transgender and non-binary representation in India and the diaspora. The festival features 40 films, including 3 World, 8 North American, 5 U.S. and 17 Los Angeles premieres, spanning 17 languages, with 16 women directors.

IFFLA will open with the Los Angeles premiere of Fire in the Mountains, the 2021 Sundance-selected debut feature by Ajitpal Singh that immerses audiences in the splendor of the Himalayan mountains. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Amy, Sienna) will join Singh for an insightful conversation and Q&A, highlighting the journey of the making of the film.

IFFLA’s Closing film on May 27 will feature a screening of Sthalpuran (Chronicle of Space) by Akshay Indikar, the Marathi film that premiered at Berlinale 2020. Long-time IFFLA alum Anurag Kashyap (Sacred Games,  Gangs of Wasseypur) will join Indikar in a Q&A discussion.

To learn more, go to: https://www.indianfilmfestival.org/

Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
May 20 - 27, 2021

DOC NYC Spring Showcase: Free Online Documentary Fest

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 18 May 2021 19:59

Written by Brad Balfour

DOC NYC, one of the largest documentary festivals in the US, is initiating a new festival for the spring season. The DOC NYC Spring Showcase, an online screening series for documentary lovers, runs from May 24th – June 20th, 2021.  Spring Showcase gives viewers FREE ACCESS to 14 of this year’s most talked-about nonfiction films and series, paired with exclusive conversations featuring the creative teams behind them. Over the course of four weeks, hear from creators Padma Lakshmi, Steve James, Fran Lebowitz, Asif Kapadia, Dr. Orna Guralnik, Louis Theroux, and more, in Q&As moderated by DOC NYC’s programming team. The lineup spans a wide variety of nonfiction formats and subjects, from hosted series to biographies, vérité films, and multi-part cultural explorations, covering everything from culinary history to city politics, pop music, and the inner workings of intimate relationships.

Films and events include:

• Louis Theroux: Life on the Edge – Q&A with writer and presenter Louis Theroux
  Screening May 24 – 25

• The Infinite Race – Q&A with filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz and film editor Flavia de Souza
  Screening May 26 – 27

• High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America – Q&A with executive producers Fabienne Toback and Karis Jagger; and series producer Shoshana Guy
  Screening May 28 – 29

• The Year Earth Changed – Q&A with executive producer Alice Keens-Soper
  Screening May 30 – 31

• 76 Days – Q&A with director/producer Hao Wu
  Screening June 1 – 2

• City So Real – Q&A with director/producer/cinematographer/editor Steve James and producer/sound recordist Zak Piper
  Screening June 3 – June 4

• Couples Therapy – Q&A with director/executive producer Josh Kriegman, director Kim Roberts, executive producer Elyse Steinberg, psychoanalyst and psychologist Dr. Orna Guralnik
  Screening June 5 – 6

• Secrets of the Whales – Q&A with National Geographic explorer & photographer/producer Brian Skerry and composer Raphaelle Thibaut
  Screening June 7 – 8

• Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi – Q&A with host and executive producer Padma Lakshmi|
  Screening June 9 – 10

• The Social Dilemma – Q&A with director Jeff Orlowski and producer Larissa Rhodes
  Screening June 11 – 12

• Framing Britney Spears – Q&A with producer/director Samantha Stark, showrunner/executive producer Mary Robertson, and story editor Liz Day
  Screening June 13 – 14

• Pretend It’s a City – Q&A with series subject/executive producer Fran Lebowitz
  Screening June 15 – 16

• 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything – Q&A with executive producer/series director Asif Kapadia, executive producer James Gay-Rees, executive producer/editor Chris King, series producer/director Danielle Peck and director James Rogan
  Screening June 17 – 18

• Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry – Q&A with director/writer/producer R.J. Cutler, cinematographer Jenna Rosher, editor Greg Finton and editor Lindsay Utz
  Screening June 19 – 20

To learn more, go to: https://www.docnyc.net/spring-showcase-2021/

DOC NYC Spring Showcase
May 24 - June 20, 2021

SEEFest 2021: The Cinema of South East Europe

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 26 April 2021 13:44

Written by Brad Balfour

With a whopping 54 films being shown, the South East European Film Festival (or SEEFest for short) has a bingeable line up of movies. Comprised of films from countries such as Turkey, Croatia, and Armenia, SEEFest promotes the cultural diversity of South East Europe while also tackling issues facing the region. Running April 28 to May 5, this is the 16th installment of the fest and will screen the films online.

Films include:

• WIND HORSE dir. Sidar İnan Erçelik [Turkey]
  A poetic Turkish film that borrows its title from Asian shamanism where the term is used as a metaphor to describe the human soul. Through a story of two shepherds from Anatolia, one of whom becomes a celebrated jockey, the film juxtaposes human desire for success with the toll on the spirit of freedom in both humans and horses.

• MY DIGITAL NOMAD dir. Katah Olah [Hungary]
  An intimate, first person documentary about nomadic lifestyle, explored through the relationship between a mother and daughter throughout countries and years.

• NUN OF YOUR BUSINESS dir. Ivana Marinić Kragić [Croatia]
• The story of two young nuns who meet and fall in love during a Catholic gathering in Croatia. They live in two separate convents, but the spaces they once considered havens of solace and spiritual fulfillment turn out to be more earthly than expected.

• LANDSCAPE ZERO dir. Bruno Pavić [Croatia]
  A small coastal area has been destroyed by the presence of industrial facilities. Follows the lives of people who are either fighting for their survival among the dangerous facilities or coexisting in harmony with them.

• LINE OF LIFE dir. Darko Bajic [Serbia]
  Miloš Bajić was brought to the infamous Mauthausen concentration camp in the autumn of 1944, right after he began art school in Belgrade. Registered as prisoner 106621, with a note that said RETURN UNDESIRABLE, he secretly drew the crimes committed in the camp and every movement of the prisoners. He hid his drawings, knowing that he would be shot if they were found.

• THAT OTHER VILLAGE dir. Jadran Boban [Croatia]
  The story of a village that twice changed its name, population, and its own history. Hidden on the outskirts of Europe and nestled between two mountains in Eastern Croatia, the village is haunted by unending trauma passed on from generation to generation.

• GLORY TO THE QUEEN dir. Tatia Skhirtladze, Anna Khazaradze [Georgia/Austria]
  During the Cold War, four legendary female chess players from Georgia revolutionized women’s chess across the globe and became Soviet icons of female emancipation. 

To learn more, go to: https://seefilmla.org/

16th Annual SEEFest
April 28 - May 5, 2021