Fists Fly from New Filmmakers at the Anthology Film Archives

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 07 May 2018 16:41

Written by Brad Balfour

Greg Melia in Rishi Gandhi's Mr. Muay Thai Nation

Featuring the work of new and up-and-coming filmmakers, the New Filmmakers series at the Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Ave, NY, NY) features a range of rising talent in cinema but on May 16, New Filmmakers will be showing a special program centered documentary and narrative shorts involving martial arts and boxing.

Rishi Gandhi’s Mr. Muay Thai Nation is a documentary following kickboxer Greg Melia of Westchester, and an intimate look into what drives a man to enter the ring again and again. Black N’ Blue, directed by Julius B. Kelly is about a Marine returning home from Afghanistan, struggling with PTSD, only to find a cop has profiled and killed one of his younger friends, leading to a grim confrontation. In Amydee, directed by Amy DePaola, A violent assault forces a 30 year-old bartender to re-examine her life and place in the world. In Red Sweat, directed by Andrew Merto, an underground fighter falls in love with a call girl who must escapes the clutches of sadistic crime lord. Not knowing who he can trust, he must fight for his and her life in hopes of escaping the consequences of his actions.

To learn more go to: http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/ or http://www.newfilmmakers.com/

New Filmmakers: Boxing & Martial Arts
May 16, 2018

Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10003

Emerging International Film Talent at Cannes

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 01 May 2018 13:14

Written by Brad Balfour

The Monaco-based International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA) returns to the Cannes Film Festival (May 8 - 19, 2018) with unique works of international cinema and initiatives to help filmmakers from around the world.

Focusing on the world’s developing regions, IEFTA’s Global Film Expression provides opportunity and education to budding filmmakers from countries such as Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Palestine, and Egypt. This is the eighth year of IEFTA’s GFE program to be presented in Cannes.

It is also the first year of IEFTA’s new partnership with the Princess Grace Foundation-USA to sponsor filmmaker, Heidi Saman’s latest work, The Armenian Club.

This year, IEFTA will be sponsoring three filmmakers in the Producers Network to encourage international co-productions and facilitate networking.

IEFTA will also present a documentary work-in-progress: Beyond The Raging Sea, which follows ttwo Egyptian athletes and adventurers, Omar Samra and Omar Nour (known as Team O2), as they take on the perilous 3,000 nautical mile journey from the Canary Islands to Antigua. The screening and a panel will be Saturday, May 12 at 12:00 in Palais K in the Palais des Festivals.

IEFTA presents screening of the 3rd Edition of UNHCR’s Annual Refugee Voices in Film, in collaboration with the Marché du Film and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Refugee Voices in Film addresses humanitarian crises through film, with a focus on the Rohingya crisis, Yemen, and Syria. Refugee Voices in Film screens on Friday, 11 May and Sunday, 13 May from 14:00-15:30, in the ‘Doc Corner’ of the Marché du Film in the Riviera.

To learn more, go to:  https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/festival/ & http://www.iefta.org/

London’s 2017 Olivier-winning Production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" Premieres at Chicago Lyric Opera

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 30 April 2018 14:32

Written by Ellis Nassour

What’s the buzz? Tell me what’s a-happening. The buzz right now is at Chicago Lyric Opera (20 North Wacker Drive) where the much-lauded house, soon to celebrate its 65th anniversary, is presenting the North American premiere of the Regent’s Park 2016 Olivier Award-winning production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, through May 20. The production also won the 2016 Evening Standard Radio 2 Audience Award for Best Musical [voted by listeners].

Directing is three-time Olivier Award winner Timothy Sheader (formerly Royal Shakespeare Company, now artistic director, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), who helmed the much-acclaimed London production presented outdoors in 2016 with an encore in summer 2017.  

The cast, all in modern dress [which is not to say there are some wild and colorful costumes choices], features a mix of Chicago, Broadway, and West End talent. Starring are Heath Saunders (American Repertory Theatre and Broadway, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Lennon as Jesus); three-time Grammy-nominated soul singer Ryan Shaw (Judas), tUnE-yArDs band vocalist Jo Lampert (Public Theatre’s Into the Fire) (Mary Magdalene); Diane Coffee a.k.a. Shaun Fleming (Herod); and Postmodern Jukebox band jazz crooner Michael Cunio (Broadway, Hairspray; Chicago, Jersey Boys) (Pilate).

Featured are Mykal Kilgore (Broadway, Motown, Hair; First National, Book of Mormon) (Simon Zealotes); Joseph Anthony Byrd (Chicago, Cabaret, Little Mermaid) (Annas);  Cavin Cornwall (reprising the role he created for the Regent’s Park productions) (Caiaphas); and Andrew Mueller (Peter and the Starcatcher) (Peter). The production features the Lyric’s orchestra and chorus, rock musicians, and a cast of 48 – twice that of the Regent’s Park production.  

Sheader has brought with him his London creative team: music director Tom Deering, Olivier-winning choreographer Drew McOnie, Tony-nominated set and costume designer Tom Scutt (King Charles III), and Olivier-nominated lighting designer Lee Curran.
The Chicago Lyric premiere of Jesus Christ Superstar is sponsored by the Negaunee Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. J. Christopher Reyes in association with The Really Useful Group Limited. Lyric is under the direction of Anthony Freud, with Sir Andrew Davis as music director and famed opera star Renée Fleming (on Broadway as Nellie Fowler in the Carousel revival) as creative consultant.

Tickets for Chicago Lyric Opera’s Jesus Christ Superstar are $47.50 to $130.50. For the ultimate front-row rock concert experience, Lyric is offering $20 seating in their gigantic orchestra pit for the first time in the company’s history. 

For tickets and more information, visit www.lyricopera.org