Robot Film Festival Rises Up Again

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Saturday, 07 July 2012 17:55

Written by Laura Blum

“Why do robots always get a bad rep?” was the rhetorical quibble that prompted social robotist Heather Knight to found the Robot Film Festival last year. Now back for its second installment (July 14, 2012 at Manhattan's 3LD Art & Technology Center), the fest aims to burnish the image of artificially intelligent creatures, which Knight vindicates as "good guys if we design them right.”

As befits a celebration of automata, RFF is quick and efficient enough to achieve its task in one day. It's up and at it with mimosas, caffeine and a morning matinee screening of Jake Shreier's directorial debut, Robot & Frank.

The sci fi comedy follows retired cat burgler (Frank Langella), who persuades his humanoid robot caretaker (voice of Peter Sarsgaard) to assist on one last heist. It snagged an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and is RFF's designated feature to assay its 2012 theme evaluating the impact of emerging technologies: "Are Robots Man’s New Best Friend?"

"Robots are not merely a type of character, but rather a medium for character -- just as animation and puppets and costumes allow us to experiment with our conceptions of ourselves and others,” observes Festival co-producer Marek Michalowski of BeatBots.

Though RFF calls itself a film festival, live performances, art installations and robot demos render the algorithm intriguingly more complex. It's really more of a variety show spliced with a TED Conference and flowing with mood lubricants.

The day culminates with the 2nd annual Botsker Awards, where the verdicts of RFF's juried short film showcase will be revealed amid the robo-antics of emcee and comedian/musician Reggie Watts.

Botsker categories include:

• Best Robot Actor
• Best Human as Robot Actor
• Best Human-Robot Interaction
• Most Uncanny Interaction

Held in a venue evocative of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the ceremony will kick off with the descent of mini-humanoids across the red carpet and close with Josh Ventura and Data the Robot -- his sidekick programmed by Knight -- in a number billed as a "human-robot dance."

Also getting his groove on will be BeatBots’ Keepon robot. Attendees are invited to pose on the Step & Repeat with the human-sized robot Millennia, known for her flirty come ons and snide asides.

Knight's résumé is hardly the usual festival curator's. She runs Marilyn Monrobot, a robot theater company which creates socially intelligent robot performances and sensor-based electronic art.

Her background includes stints at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Syyn Labs (with whom she built the award-winning This Too Shall Pass music video for OK GO), Aldebaran Robotics and the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab. Knight graced the 2011 Forbes List for 30 under 30 in Science.

Whether festival-goers will be too distracted by their mobile devices to absorb the concepts and queries of the Robot Film Festival remains to be seen. “Are we also out-of-touch with human character?" wonders Knight.

This Bastille Day rise up and storm the Festival barracks to find out. For more info or tickets, go to: http://robotfilmfestival.com or @robotfilmfest

Robot Film Festival
Saturday, July 14, 2012
10:30 am - 10 pm

3LD Art and Technology Center
80 Greenwich St.
New York, NY 10006

Palm Springs International ShortFest 2012

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 25 June 2012 23:10

Written by Joanne Choi

The 2012 Palm Springs International ShortFest & Film Market runs from June 19 - 25, 2012, at the Camelot Theatres (2300 East Baristo Road) in Palm Springs, CA.

Marking its 18th year, ShortFest showcases 50 World Premieres, 63 North American Premieres and 21 U.S. Premieres. The selection of films entering this year features stars and award-winning films from 52 different countries around the globe including:

• Europe
• USA
• Canada
• South America
• Asia
• Australia

The films are categorized into a total of 53 programs covering a wide range of genres such as:action, comedies, dramas, horror stories, thrillers and mysteries – and themes such as animals, art, communication, crime, dreams, family, taboos, love, memories, siblings, war, travel, work, GLBT  and kids’ shorts.

Various stars and guests are expected to attend this special event, including Shia La Beouf (director of HowardCantour) and Matthew Modine (writer, co-director and stars in Jesus Was a Commie).

This year’s star-studded shorts feature Academy Award winners and nominees, as well as film and television stars:

• Cadaver 
  USA
  Director, Jonah D. Ansell
  Christopher Lloyd and Kathy Bates 
   
• Double or Nothing 
  USA
  Director, Nathaniel Krause
  Adam Brody
   
• Friend Request Pending 
  UK
  Director, Chris Foggin
  Judi Dench, Tom Hiddleston
   
• I’m Coming Over 
  USA
  Director, Sam Handel
  Lauren Ambrose, Hamish Linklater
   
• Lois 
  Australia/Greece
  Director, Alexandra Schepisi
  Jacki Weaver 
   
• Our Need for Consolation 
  Sweden
  Director, Dan Levy Dagerman
  Stellan Skarsgard
   
• Picture Paris 
  USA 
  Director, Brad Hall
  Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rachael Harris 
   
• Pitch Black Heist 
  UK
  Director, John Maclean
  Michael Fassbender
   
• Queen
  USA
  Director, Adam Rose
  Evan Peters   
   
• The End
  France
  Director, Didier Barcelo
  Charlotte Rampling
   
• The Five Stages of Grief 
  USA
  Director, Jessica Brickman
  Jason Ritter 
   
• The Gruffalo’s Child 
  UK
  Director, Uwe Heidschötter, Johannes Weiland
  Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane and Tom Wilkinson
   
• The Mapmaker
  UK
  Director, Stephen Johnson
  Charles Dance
   
• The Perfect Fit
  USA
  Director, Beth Grant
  Octavia Spencer, Frances Fisher 
   
• The Procession
  USA
  Director, Robert Festinger
  Lily Tomlin, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Lucy Punch
   
• Up the Valley and Beyond 
  USA
  Director, Todd Rosken
  Jim Parrack
   
• No Rest for the Wicked
  USA
  Director, Ryan Schifrin
  Malcolm McDowell
   
• Would You 
  USA
  Director, Rod Blackhurst, Brian McGinn
  Betsy Franco, Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse  

Jane Schoettle (International Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival), Lael Loewenstein, (President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and a critic for Variety) and Richard Abramowitz (President of Abramorama, distribution and marketing company) serve on the ShortFest jury.

In accordance with the Palm Springs International ShortFest, the ShortFest Online Film Festival will be running its second year. A total of 10 films will be picked to represent the online portion of the festival (www.psfilmfest.org/shortfest).

People also get a chance to vote for their favorite shorts online in unison. The “ShortFest Online Audience Award” will be announced on Closing Night of the Festival Award Ceremony.

Designated by AMPAS as an award-qualifying festival, and accredited by the International Short Film Conference, the Palm Springs InternationalShortFest and its Short Film Market are the largest and most prominent short film showcase in North America. The Festival and its concurrent 3,000-film Market continue to serve as a scouting ground for new filmmaking talent and are well attended by those in the business of buying and selling short films.

For more info on this event visit: www.psfilmfest.org

2012 Palm Springs International ShortFest
June 19th - 25th, 2012

Camelot Theatres
2300 East Baristo Road  
Palm Springs, CA 92262 

Human Rights Watch Film Fest 2012 At Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 22 June 2012 15:55

Written by Renzo Adler

A perennial favorite on the New York film festival calendar, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center (70 Lincoln Center Plaza) June 14 - 28, 2012. Developed and sponsored by The Human Rights Watch, the international non-governmental organization conducts research and advocacy on human rights.

This year's festival organized around several themes:

• health, development, and the environment
• lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and migrants’ rights
• personal testimony and witnessing
• reporting in crises
• women’s rights

A mix of dramatic and documentary films, HRWFF a traveling film festival that focuses on creating “…a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to empower audiences with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a difference”

Many fine award-winning films are in the fest's collection among this list of the daring and thought-provoking films are:

• Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
  dir. Alison Klayman
  (United States)
  (New York Premiere) 
• In this unprecedented look at Ai Weiwei and those close to him, filmmaker Alison Klayman captures the artist's forthright and unequivocal stance against China's oppression, painting a picture of the artist as an individual and as a powerful voice for human rights. 
  
  Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry chronicles the complexities of Ai's life for three years, beginning with his rise to public prominence via blog and Twitter after he questioned the deaths of more than 5,000 students in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Screening followed by discussion with Alison Klayman, Filmmaker; Sophie Richardson, China Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch; and Tong Yi, former activist in China, licensed attorney in the US. 

• Salaam Dunk
  dir. David Fine
  (United States)
  (New York premiere) 
• With plenty of pop music and 'girl power', Salaam Dunk delivers a tale of hope and inspiration, courtesy of one winning group of Iraqi women basketball players at the American University in Sulaimani, Iraq.Bidder 70 (New York Premiere)

• Bidder 70
  dir. Beth and George Gage
  (United States)
  Bidder 70 tells the story of Tim DeChristopher and his stunning act of civil disobedience in a time of global climate chaos. On December 19, 2008, DeChristopher, as Bidder #70, derailed the Bush administration's last minute, widely disputed Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oil and Gas lease auction, acting to safeguard thousands of acres of Utah land.
  
  Bidding $1.7 million, Tim won 22,000 acres of land with no intention to pay for it or drill there. For his disruption of the auction, DeChristopher was indicted on two federal charges. 

• Bitter Seeds
  dir. Micha X. Peled
  (U.S./India)
  (New York Premiere)
  Manjusha Amberwar, a young journalist, examines the causes of an epidemic of farmer suicides in India — one every 30 minutes — that includes her own father. She hopes that by drawing attention to their plight, she can bring an end to this tragedy. But it won't be easy. 

• War Witch
  dir. Kim Nguyen
  (Canada)
  At 14, Komona has lived through horrors that eclipse an adult's worst nightmares. In this mesmerizing, otherworldly drama, shot entirely in the Democratic Republic of Congo, comes a story of incredible human resilience. 
  
  The screening will be followed by discussion with Jo Becker, Advocacy Director, Children’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch and Grace Akallo, former child soldier and co-author of Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda’s Children. 

The HRWFF is also active in cities in the US and Europe, including Chicago, London, Toronto, San Diego, Washington DC, and more.

Said Film Society of Lincoln Center executive director Rose Kuo, “For over 20 years, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival has provided a forum for the creative community to share stories that bear witness to the human condition.”

To learn more, go to: www.hrw.org

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival
June 14 – 28, 2012

The Walter Reade Theater
70 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023