10 Years of Magnolia Pictures

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

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Published on Tuesday, 23 August 2011 03:29

Written by Film FestivalTraveler Staff

BAMcinématek is presenting 10 Years of Magnolia Pictures, Aug 24 - 29 and August 31, 2011, a 13-film celebration of the visionary independent film distribution company, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York.

"This 10th-anniversary salute provides a snapshot of the provocative and intelligent independent and international cinema that the pioneering company -- formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles -- has brought to screens in the past decade."

"We're incredibly pleased to have BAM showcase some of the signature films from our first decade. It’s been a remarkable 10 years with enormous changes in the film landscape, and we look forward to the next 10," says Magnolia Pictures President Eamonn Bowles.

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TIFF 2011: A Changing Landscape

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

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Published on Tuesday, 16 August 2011 18:12

Written by Eric Lurio

I haven’t been to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for a few years. I’d gone each year for a full decade before that, and each year was the same yet different.

But this year, I went up there a full two months before the Festival even begins to attend their opening press conference.

Aside from the fact that I was invited, I went because it’s cooler up there. Toronto, after all, is in Canada and while the temperature has been well into the 90s back home, it was in the upper 70s/low 80s in Canada. I can hang out there without feeling like a frigging fountain.

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Artist + Activist = Artivist Film Festival

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Published on Monday, 15 August 2011 05:00

Written by L E Shannon

The 8th annual Artivist Film Festival, Hollywood Edition, takes place August 18 - 20, 2011 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California.

The name Artivist is a combination of "artist" and "activist."

"Founded in 2003, the Artivist Film Festival is the only festival dedicated to raising awareness for international human rights, children's advocacy, environmental preservation and animal advocacy through film.

Through the years, the Artivist Film Festival has screened more than 400 international films representing 60+ countries, and has produced film tours promoting its mission to more than 35 million people in five countries: USA, UK, Japan, Mexico and Portugal."

The Los Angeles festival annually hosts a Closing Night awards program in which a Hollywood celebrity is honored for their Lifetime Achievement in the Arts & Advocacy. This year‛s recipient is Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes). While a student at New York University, Ms. Bell traveled to Brazil as a volunteer where she actually helped medics deliver two babies during her work in an underprivileged community.  

The Opening Night Film is Minds In the Water, directed by Justin Krumb. Professional surfer Dave Rastovich "embarked on a personal mission to learn about the barbaric slaughter of dolphins and other marine life. He helped build a core team of filmmakers, journalists, musicians, eco-pirates and celebrity surfers, all determined to help protect dolphins, whales and their ocean environment."

Other films include:

Because We Were Beautiful
dir. Frank van Osch
The film tells of the filmmaker‛s travels throughout Indonesia to search for former "comfort women":  teenage girls who were abducted and forced to serve as sex slaves to the Japanese Armed Forces during World War II. Still considered a taboo subject in many parts of Asia, this little-known but important page of history reveals the tragic saga of systematic rape, humiliation and the fear of their ordeals, as surviving women, now all in their 80s, bravely describe their experiences and how their lives changed forever as a result.

Shed No Tears
dir. Kaitlyn Summerill
In Benin, Africa, children as young as three years old are forced into hard labor, exploited, beaten, and malnourished--robbed of their childhood. This film follows the lives of three survivors, and shares "the valiant efforts of people trying to rescue these children and give them a brighter future."

Better This World
dir. Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway
A dramatic story of idealism, loyalty and betrayal set against the backdrop of the 2008 Republican Presidential Convention.

Straight White Male
dir. Michael Brownstein
A rarely covered side of the transgender experience is seen as two young men "embark on the long road of gender transition, dealing with issues of surgery, relationships, community involvement, and familial acceptance."

Love Hate Love
dir. Don Hardy, Dana Nachman
Sean Penn is executive producer on this film about the survivors of three separate terrorist acts in different parts of the world. They rebuilt their lives by refusing to become merely victims.

Surfing Soweto
dir. Sara Blecher
A documentary about the lives of three "lost boys" of South Africa’s forgotten generation, born after the demise of apartheid but too early to reap the benefits of freedom.

Left By The Ship
dir. Emma Rossi Landi, Alberto Vendemmiati
The plight of the thousands of Amerasian children in The Philippines left behind when the U.S. closed its enormous Subic Bay Naval Base in 1992.

Plainclothes Agents
dir. Sarem Yadegari (Iran, U.S.)
In June 2009 millions of Iranians went to the polls to select the country's next president -- and learned they were a part of the biggest voter fraud in Iran's history. "In the following days people poured into the streets asking, "Where is our vote?" But instead of answers, the government unleashed its Plainclothes Agents, crushing the protest with batons, bullets and blood. Using raw footage from those who courageously taped the demonstrations at their own peril, this documentary focuses on those fateful days."

Spoil
dir. Trip Jennings
The creature local Native Americans call "the spirit bear," globally rarer than the panda, lives only on the north coast of British Columbia. Three world-renowned photographers search for the rare, elusive spirit bear with the help of indigenous Gitga'at guides. Their mission is to create images of this rare bear and the ecosystem that it relies on, before a proposed oil pipeline from the Alberta tar sands threatens to spoil it.

Lost Years: A Sea Turtle Odyssey
dir. Jeremy Hogarth
A journey beneath the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean that documents for the first time the natural world of loggerhead sea turtles.

The 4th Revolution: Energy Autonomy
dir. Carl A. Fechner
The film makes the case of how a global switch to 100% renewable energy sources is within our reach by 2040.

What In The World Are They Spraying?
dir. Paul Wittenberger
The film discloses that the innocent-looking white jet streams in the sky are actually evidence of a largely secretive, seemingly sinister industry known as "geo-engineering," driven by scientists, corporations and governments with no public oversight.

Most screenings of the features will be followed by panel discussions and Q&As.

The Artivist Collective, Inc. (Producer of the Artivist Film Festival and Artivist Awards) is an NGO headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

For more information, go to www.artivist.com.

Artivist Film Festival
August 18 - 20, 2011

Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA