Presents
The 9th Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival
Two special events on May 2 and May 4, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
High in the hills of the Palisades
at Villa Aurora
A sunset cocktail party and screening of
AFTER THE REVOLUTION (Nach der Revolution)
by Dörte Franke and Marc Bauder
The film deals with the situation directly after the fall of the Wall. It includes rare footage of roundtable discussions with the political elite of the GDR and reflects the situation from a present-day perspective.
Lifetime Achievement Presentation and a highlight reel to
UDO KIER
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive.
Shuttle service, sponsored by the Villa Aurora, begins at 5:30 pm and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.
Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!
and then on
Saturday, May 4th, 2013
Another Sunset Cocktail Party
this time down the hill at the beach
at
17575 PCH, Pacific Palisades
the historic landmark of Thelma Todd's Cafe
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive.
Shuttle service begins at 5:00 pm and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.
Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!
Friends Of Film will be honoring
Father Greg Boyle of
Homeboy Industries
with its Humanitarian Of The Year Award
and a screening of Oscar-winning filmmaker, Freida Mock's,
documentary of Father Greg Boyle
G-DOG
G-DOG is what the homies call the priest.
This is the story of a remarkable odd couple. There's Father Greg Boyle, a white Jesuit priest who's spent some 25 years in the toughest part of East LA, and then there's the tough, street-smart, and amazingly sweet young people – all former gang members – whom G-Dog loves and helps, and who love him in turn. For Father Greg's remedy for what he calls "a global sense of failure" for kids at-risk is radical and simple: boundless, restorative love. His unstoppable compassion has turned around the lives of thousands of Latino, Asian and African American gang members.
G-Dog works by a powerful idea: "Nothing Stops a Bullet like a Job." Over the years his Homeboy Industries in LA has become an international model for rebuilding and redirecting the lives of gang members. Kids come in off the street, rival gang members - 12,000 a year - looking for a way out of gang life. Homeboy, located in a gang-neutral area of downtown LA on the edge of Chinatown, takes them in, providing free job training, tattoo removal, counseling, yoga, fatherhood- and substance abuse classes. If they stick with it, the kids get jobs baking, cooking, serving, printing t-shirts and cleaning in the Homeboy businesses – a café, retail store, catering service, a silk screen shop – to learn the soft and hard skills to move on.
In 18 months the homies are ready to go into the world to make a positive difference. For Homeboy has an astonishing success rate – 70% turn their back on gang life, compared to a recidivism rate of 70% of other such programs. Homeboy is the one place in the 'hood that turns lives around: swapping violence for community and building for the first time a sense of the future. We see it happen in G-DOG.
"Jobs not jail"
The film is often hilarious and astonishing but it is not just a poem of sweetness and light. G-DOG chronicles a tough year in the life of Homeboy Industries. 2010 is a year of tumult, change, and pain. In today's straitened financial times, Homeboy faces a bruising battle with the bottom line: one day, as we watch, the fan is hit, and Father Greg has to shut down parts of Homeboy. It's a crushing blow, and it gets worse. East LA is always East LA; death is still out there, and sure enough it comes home to roost. Two people we've seen early in the movie are dead by the time the credits roll. The question is, Will the homies and Homeboy itself survive?
"Homeboy is a therapeutic community – a place of hope and kinship."
Greg Boyle began with the classically humble ambition of devoting
his life to the poor. Instead he became a cultural icon --
America's leading gang expert, author of a whopping bestseller, "Tattoos
on the Heart," celebrated guest on Dr. Phil and Tavis Smiley.
In 1986 Father G was assigned to the poorest parish in East L.A.'s Boyle Heights. The naïve young priest walked into the middle of a war zone, the gang capital of the country. Gang violence rocked the city in the 90s, dubbed the "Decade of Death," and Father G was astonished to find teenagers planning their funerals and not their future.
"I came from a middle-class Irish-American family," recalls Greg Boyle. "As a kid, I wouldn't have known what a gang member looked like if one hit me upside the head. I couldn't have joined a gang if I'd wanted to. I wouldn't have been able to find a gang if you'd sent me on a scavenger hunt."
But what Father G lacked in experience with gangs, he made up for it in resourcefulness - he quickly partnered with the Latino and black mothers in the rough housing projects and out of the ashes of destruction rose a phoenix of hope – Jobs For The Future - a program that provided job training and jobs, alternative schools, social programs.
As he was launching Homeboy during the worst violence, Father G said, "If we don't address where all this comes from – dysfunctional families, grinding poverty and joblessness – this stuff is going to repeat itself"
Says L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, "You cannot arrest yourself out of a gang problem. You cannot put enough people in jail or prison to solve this problem."
In an era that emphasizes being 'smart on crime,' citizens and civic leaders around the country have come to better understand the complexity of gang life. Father G's years of working in the margins have helped put a human face on gang members and the pull of gang life.
He said, "We're going to stand with the demonized until the demonization stops. And it really has. We now get fan mail where we used to get hate mail."
"No hopeful kid joins a gang."
So it is that G-Dog (Greg Boyle, G or Greg) has created a global
model for social reform - a beacon of hope for families, law
enforcement, children's advocates, and policy makers.
Greg Boyle is a charismatic visionary but he's made the dream real: Homeboy Industries has become the largest, most successful gang intervention and rehab program in the U.S. and an inspiration for helping to kids at risk whether in Toronto, Manchester, Hamburg, Rio and more.
G – DOG is a story of second chances – for kids at risk of joining gangs and for those trying to leave gang life – in more ways than one. The powerful chronicle of how young people can redirect their lives is also the story of Father Greg's own transformation. He tells us, "The day simply won't come when I am more noble and have more courage than the homeboys and homegirls I have known. In Africa they say ' a person becomes a person through other people.' There can be no doubt that the homies have returned me to myself."
Tickets are $100 (include both events), hearty appetizers and drinks
PAST EVENTS
a screening of the film festival favorite
ROADMAP TO APARTHEID
Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90035
Thursday, Feb 7, 2013
7:30pm (with social "hour" at 7pm)
Admission is $10
Members/Students $7
Directors / Producers
Ana Nogueira
A journalist and first-time filmmaker. She worked as a
producer for the national daily radio and TV news program Democracy Now! in the United States for four years and later as a correspondent for the show. She is a founding member of the New York City Independent Media Center, its newspaper The Indypendent,
and the global Indymedia network which was a pioneer in
citizen-produced journalism.
Nogueira was born in South Africa and
lives in the United States.
Eron Davidson
A long-time media activist and film maker. He has
produced several short videos that have helped to galvanize excitement
for various community organizing projects in the United States.
Davidson
was born in Israel, and lives in the United States.
In this award-winning documentary, the first-time directors take a
detailed look at the apartheid analogy commonly used to describe the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Narrated by Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple), Roadmap to
Apartheid is as much a historical document of the rise and fall of
apartheid in South Africa, as it is a film about why many Palestinians
feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing
number of people around the world agree with them.
While not perfect, the apartheid analogy is a useful framework by
which to educate people on the complex issues facing Israelis and
Palestinians. The film delves into those issues, comparing the many
similar laws and tools used by both Israel and apartheid-era South
Africa.
The audience will see what life is like for Palestinians in the
West Bank, Gaza Strip and inside Israel while gaining a deeper
understanding of the conflict with the help of respected analysts on the
subject. Combined with archival material and anecdotes from South
Africans, the film forms a complete picture as to why the analogy is
being used with increasing frequency and potency.
“Roadmap To Apartheid is very powerful and compelling, and the visuals of house demolitions are appalling. Religion is repeatedly misused by politicians. Yet one of the lessons of Jewish history is that God is always on the side of the oppressed. Another is that those who dehumanize others, dehumanize themselves. Israelis will pay a heavy price for their callous mistreatment of Palestinians.”
- ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU
"The most educational film to sum up what's going on in the Occupied Territories...an absolute must for trying to understand this madness"
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Bob Sharka announces his short-list for best foreign film in 2012
- see top foreign film pics page -
FRIENDS OF FILM FOREIGN OSCAR SUBMISSION SERIES
If you would like to screen your short-listed film, drop us a note....
Please join Executive Director Bob Sharka
at ten foreign film Oscar(r)submissions...
Screenings are held at Laemmle 4-Santa Monica
at 11am*, 1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica
and the Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood
We are a non-profit that helps filmmakers get their works seen and brings exciting films to the public.
Let us know you appreciate our works with a tax deductible financial contribution...
Belgium's
OUR CHILDREN (111 minutes)
Directed by Joachim Lafosse
SATURDAY, NOV 17, 2012
10:30am
NOTE DAY, VENUE and TIME CHANGES
AT LAEMMLE NORTH HOLLYWOOD
NOHO 7
Switzerland's
SISTER (98 minutes)
Directed by Ursula Meier
Filmmaker in attendance for introduction and Q+A, schedule permitting
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Sunday, 11/18/2012
Laemmle Santa Monica
South Korea's
PIETA (104 minutes)
WINNER OF GOLDEN LION
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
Note: Be sure to check reviews to see if this film will fit your taste
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
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Saturday, 11/24/2012
Special 10am start for
PORTUGAL'S
BLOOD OF MY BLOOD
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SUNDAY, 11/25/2012
11 am
Laemmle Santa Monica
Czech Republic's
IN THE SHADOW (106 minutes)
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Sunday, Dec 2, 2012
Special 10:30am start,
Santa Monica 4-Plex
Bob Sharka will be out of town attending the Anchorage Film Festival but, as they say, the show will go on!
LATVIA'S,
GULF STREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG
Written & Directed by Yevgeny Pahskevich
Inspired by the works of Anatole France, GULF STREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG follows three love stories that take place during the Renaissance (circa 1664); the 19th Century (circa 1883);
and during modern times (circa 1990). Influenced by legendary fairy tales, Oriental myths, the Talmud and the medieval books of Cabala, Award-winning director Yevgeny Pashkevich’s second feature is a kaleidoscopic and hypnotic affair.
“Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg”, is a visually moving story that leads you into a magical and self-absorbing story about Adam´s first wife, Lilith - a femme fatale metaphor of how humankind tries to run away from Eden and strive to become sinless, yet ultimately ends up trapped in its own unconsciousness.
Like Lars Von Trier and Peter Greenaway, Pashkevich’s second feature since his festival hit The Days of A Man is undoubtedly an impressive spellbinding experience that offers the freedom of choice to quietly participate and visit your own unconscious and magical adventure that is GULF STREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG.
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11 am - Santa Monica
The Netherlands'
KAUWBOY (81 minutes)
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PERU'S
THE BAD INTENTIONS
Special 10:30am start at Laemmle 4-Plex in Santa Monica
with filmmaker, Rosario García Montero, in attendance for Q+A!
Special thanks for Peru's Consul General, Ambassador Liliana Cino,
for providing partial funding for this program
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Sunday, 12/16/2012
Norway's
KONTIKI
SWITZERLAND'S: SUMMER GAMES
THE NETHERLANDS': SONNY BOY
SUNDAY, Dec 11th, 2011 11:30am
NOTE: VENUE/TIME CHANGES
OCEAN AVE SCREENING ROOM, 11:30am
1401 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica
CZECH REPUBLIC'S: ALOIS NEBEL
There is limited seating (45 seats) so seating will be available to Academy voters, and financial supporters of Friends Of Film - other RSVPs will be seated if space permits
LITHUANIA'S: BACK TO YOUR ARMS
SUNDAY, Jan 8th, 2012
URUGUAY'S: THE SILENT HOUSE
More, to come....
If you like what we're doing, please support Friends Of Film
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
Bob Sharka
Executive Director
Friends Of Film
1137 Charm Acres Place
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Friends Of Film Fundraiser for Haiti Relief Efforts
Cocktail Party/Outdoor Screening - private residence, Pacific Palisades
MINIMUM DONATION - $40
6pm - cocktails/food/socializing, 8:15 film
SUN CITY PICTURE HOUSE
Directed by David Darg; Produced by Bryn Mooser
After watching the last of the old colonial movie theaters destroyed in the earthquake, a young Haitian man enlists the help of a priest and two young aid workers to build Haiti's only movie theater on a hill above a tent city. This is the joyful and moving story of a community torn apart by disaster then united in a singular vision.
"A beautiful film that will renew your faith in fellow man." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Friends Of Film
Social Justice Series
(accepting submissions now)
Levantine Cultural Center
5998 Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Plenty of free street parking on Pico after 6 pm
Second screening
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Social "hour" 7 pm - films to screen when dark, around 7:50pm
TAGUT
(´Fog´in Tashelhit) (17 minutes)
Directed by Melanie Reynard - IN ATTENDANCE!
Reynard follows the non-profit organization Dar Si-Hmad based in Ifni, Southwest
of Morocco who launches a fog-collecting project in June 2011 in order
to provide drinking water to Amazigh communities living in the
Anti-Atlas Mountains and relieve women from fetching water an average of
3.5 hours per day.
BEIRUT RISING
Directed by Soula Saad - FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!
Saad documents the beginning of a spontaneous and non
sectarian outcry for peace and justice in a makeshift tent camp in the
middle of Beirut.
Best Documentary Film at Women International Film & Televisionvisionary
Awards.
Admission is $5 - food/drinks for purchase on site
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Social "hour" 7 pm - films to screen when dark, around 7:40pm
Two short documentaries
WITH MY OWN TWO WHEELS
Directed by Jacob Seigel-Boettner and Isaac Seigel-Boettner
For many Americans, the bicycle is a choice. An expensive toy. An eco-conscious mode of transportation. For countless others across the globe, it is much more.
For Fred, a health worker in Zambia, the bicycle is a means of reaching twice as many patients.
For Bharati, a teenager in India, it provides access to education.
For Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman, working on bicycles is an escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community.
For Carlos, a farmer in Guatemala, pedal power is a way to help neighbors reduce their impact on the environment.
For Sharkey, a young man in California, the bicycle is an escape from the gangs that consume so many of his peers.
With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of these five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world—one pedal stroke at a time.
JOBS FOR RENT
Directed by Michelle Paster
Jobs For Rent follows the emotional and financial journeys of three 20-somethings establishing their careers. Ride along with the overachieving lawyer, struggling artist, and wandering Starbucks employee, knowing you are not alone in the process. Do you want to borrow a job?
Admission is $5 to benefit Bikes Not Bombs
www.BikesNotBombs.org
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PAST EVENTS
Friends Of Film to honor
Jonathan Lynn
May 13, 2011
with a Lifetime Achievement Award
at a VIP cocktail party and outdoor screening of the short documentary
WITH MY OWN TWO WHEELS
Directed by Jacob Seigel-Boettner and Isaac Seigel-Boettner
For many Americans, the bicycle is a choice. An expensive toy. An eco-conscious mode of transportation. For countless others across the globe, it is much more.
For Fred, a health worker in Zambia, the bicycle is a means of reaching twice as many patients.
For Bharati, a teenager in India, it provides access to education.
For Mirriam, a disabled Ghanaian woman, working on bicycles is an escape from the stigma attached to disabled people in her community.
For Carlos, a farmer in Guatemala, pedal power is a way to help neighbors reduce their impact on the environment.
For Sharkey, a young man in California, the bicycle is an escape from the gangs that consu
me so many of his peers.
With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of these five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world—one pedal stroke at a time.
Friends Of Film
Foreign Film Oscar(R) Submission Series
Screenings at
Laemmle Theaters, 1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA, 90401
Sunday, Dec 12th, 11am - LULA, SON OF BRAZIL (Brazil’s submission)
Saturday, Dec 18th, 11am - LA PETITE CHAMBRE (Switzerland’s submission) - Note: Saturday
Sunday, Jan 9th, 11am* - THE PRECINCT (Azerbaijan’s submission)
ILLEGAL - Belgium's submission
Director:
in Belgium with her son, Ivan. One day she is stopped for a routine check by the police and is arrested. Separated from Ivan, who manages to escape, she is placed in an immigration detention center for women and children. While utterly refusing to face expulsion, Tania thus begins a fight to preserve her dignity, identity and humanity, as well as find her son.
Austria's submission
LA PIVELLINA
Directed by Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel
La Pivellina is a film about a cosmos of outcasts in present-day Italy: a moving tale of courage and discrimination, of loss and togetherness, a look behind the corrugated-iron fence of a gated community.
Trailer available at
Finland's submission
STEAM OF LIFE
Scandinavian Film Festival Of Los Angeles www.scandinavianfilmfestivalla.com
European Languages and Movies in America,
Naked Finnish men open up their hearts, minds and souls in the saunas of Finland...the most affordable therapy known to man." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Romania's submission
IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE
Director: Florin Serban
Silviu has only two weeks left before his release from a hostile juvenile detention center. But when his mother, who abandoned him long ago, returns to take his younger brother away - a brother Silviu raised like a son – those two weeks become an eternity. While his outcries for help fall on deaf ears, he finds himself mercilessly taunted and harassed by the other inmates. And just as Silviu's frustration evolves into full-throttled aggression, he is introduced to a beautiful social worker that he can only dream of being close to. Faced with a slew of conflicting emotions and wild with desperation, Silviu is driven to a surprising act of defiance as he makes a last grasp for freedom.
Brazil's submission
LULA, THE SON OF BRAZIL
start time may move back based on running time
LA PETITE CHAMBRE
Directed by Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond
Dec 19th, 2010 - 11am
Sweden's submission
SIMPLE SIMON
Scandinavian Film Festival Of Los Angeles
European Languages and Movies in America,
Directed by Andreas Ohman
"Simple Simon" is the story of 18 year-old Simon, a boy with Asperger’s syndrome whose life is turned upside-down when his brother Sam is dumped by his girlfriend. To make his life work, Simon needs structure. He needs things to follow a certain pattern - with the same schedule, the same meals, the same clothes - week in week out. Sam is the one who’s always taken care of Simon. Making him food in the shape of circles and helping him understand humans.
But with Sam depressed over the breakup with his girlfriend everything changes and Simon’s world turns into chaos. Wanting things to get back to normal, Simon gives himself one mission - to find Sam a new girlfriend. Unfortunately Simon knows nothing about love and doesn’t understand.
"Just in time for THE HOLIDAYS, a heart-warming film that will bring out the full emotional gamut." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Dec 26th, 2010 - 11:00 am
Norway's submission
THE ANGEL
Screening made possible with partial support of Scandinavian Film Festival
Of Los Angeles www.scandinavianfilmfestivalla.com
European Languages and Movies in America, www.ELMA.org
and Norway's Consul General's Office
Directed by Margreth Olin
THE ANGEL is a story about women. About carrying and inheriting Mummy´s traumas. When addiction rules all your decisions.
Lea grows up in a home characterized by lack of protection. From being a cheerful, curious little girl, Lea changes dramatically when her mother Madeleine returns to her ex-boyfriend Ole. The death dance between the two adults harms the child growing up between them.
Dope enables Lea to hold out everyday life with her family. Then Lea gives birth to her daughter Sonja. She wishes to break with her family and start a new life. She wants to take care of her child and give her the protection she herself never got. But Lea soon realizes that she lacks the ability to do so. Consequently, she has to make an impossible decision.
"A hard riveting film that hits like a NFL linebacker...makes plans for an after screening drink, you might need it." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
Jan 2nd, 2011, 11am
THE NETHERLANDS' submission
TIRZA
Directed by Rudolph van den Berg
Jörgen's world is crumbling. Forced into early retirement and harassed by his ex-wife, the only part of his life which makes sense - raising his beloved daughter, Tirza - is shattered when she disappears on holiday in Namibia. After weeks of terrifying uncertainty, Jörgen goes searching for her, but the heat, his drinking and bad memories combine to unhinge him. His only ally is a child prostitute called Kaisa. Together they journey into the wilderness on Tirza's trail to discover her fate.
Jan 8th, 2011, 11am
PUERTO RICO's submission
MIENTE
Digital Projection
Directed by Rafi Mercado
Miente follows the story of Henry, an introverted young artist who, seeking to escape the banality and violence of urban life, begins to blur the distinction between fantasy and reality.
Jan 9nd, 2011, 11am
AZERBAIJAN's submission
THE PRECINCT
Directed by Ilgar Safat
The story is set in Baku. A famous photographer has to choose between accepting a valuable job offer in Africa or marrying his fiancee - a young , talented sculptor inspired by images of ritual dances.
RSVP to
to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
Bob Sharka’s *Pick of the Week*
Drop us a note if you'd like to be considered for this - Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
TROUBADOURS
Feb 4, 2011
Fresh off the hot trail of the 2011 Sundance Film festival comes TROUBADORS, a remarkable doc that journeys into the heart of the late 60’s and early 70’s singer-songwriter scene in Los Angeles with some of the biggest names of the time - Carole King, James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Elton John, the list goes on and on, one name bigger than the next.
Los Angelinos in particular will probably recognize the film’s title as Doug Weston’s club on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood that spurned the illustrious careers of so many ….
Hearing these living legends talk about the times brought a smile to my face from ear to ear and tears to my eyes.
Filmmaker Morgan Neville, a very polished music documentarian (among other things), pieces together some incredible archival footage with present day interviews to produce an absolute gem, a not-to-be missed chronicle of this most memorable period…
TROUBADOORS opens this Friday at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in West Hollywood for a one week run
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE
Jan 5, 2011
"Distributor FILM MOVEMENT picks up another foreign gem, this time Romania's Oscar(r) submission for best foreign film...you'll feel the prison conditons in the air." - Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
TRUE GRIT
Dec 24, 2010
"A sure-fire frontrunner for some Oscar(r) nods, including best cinematography."
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
RABBIT HOLE
Dec 17, 2010
"Best actress category is always one of the toughest to call but NIcole Kidman's top-notch performance makes it one less headache....she nails it."
-Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
THE FIGHTER
Dec 10, 2010
"Bad hairdoos and a few bad Boston accents aside, THE FIGHTER is, round for round, one of the year's best..... Christian Bale gives a supporting performance guaranteed an Oscar nom."
BARNEY'S VERSION
Dec 3, 2010
"The buzz about Giamatti is well-deserved but Rosamund Pike steals the show up giving Oscar-esque performances in the best actress category.....a true delight and one of this year's films not to be missed."
THE KING'S SPEECH
Nov 26, 2010
"An absolute monster on the festival circuit, this one is chock full of well-deserved Oscar(r) hopefuls."
127 HOURS
Nov 19, 2010
"James Franco as the trapped hiker leaves you squirming in your seat....a strong contender for Best Actor this awards season."
MARWENCOL
Nov 12, 2010
Jeff Malmberg writes, directs, edits (and even drives the team’s bus, it seems) in this multi-award-winning film festival fave making its well-deserved theatrical release across North America.
Subject Mark Hogancamp – who was beaten to near death – must pick up the pieces of his life opting to retreat to his backyard to create a 1/6 scale world of the people he had previously known before suffering brain damage.
First time doc director Malmberg – a storyteller to watch - directs with such style and astute eyes, revealing the nuances in Hogancamp’s life very much the same as Hogancamps' very-own miniature creations; with fine detail, one better than the next.
New York has already embraced MARWENCOL, giving it a second week run (at least) at the IFC Center before heading to L.A. on Nov. 12th
JOLENE
11/5/2010
A solid indie film, starring Jessica Chastain, one of the freshest faces to hit the screen this year in her breakout role. ..Some fine perfs from seasoned vets, including the versatile Frances Fisher (perfectly cast as a prison guard who falls deep for Jolene), Chaz Palminteri, and Dermot Mulroney -make Dan Ireland’s pic a pleasant little surprise, indeed.
10/29/2010
James Gandolfini, stepping out of the gangster role he can do in his sleep, is at his finest as an ailing father taking on a 17 year old run-a-way (Kristen Stewart) in this Sundance fave from last year.
HEREAFTER
10/22/2010
Director Clint Eastwood continues to tackle yet another difficult subject, the after-life, bringing his name into best director discussions.
LETTERS TO FATHER JACOB
10/15/2010
Finland swings for the fences and drives one out of the park in a mere 74 minutes with last year's submission to the Oscars for best foreign film.... A woman just out of prison ends up working for the local blind Catholic priest in this visually stunning gem ....Finland's submission this year, too, STEAM OF LIFE, a documentary, is headed for the best foreign film short list. You heard it here first.
KINGS OF PASTRY
10/8/2010
A doc that's working its way around the country (and not too soon)...
- on pastry no less - that leaves you licking your chops throughout the film from the masters of the doc D.A Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.... SpagettiO's: Little Italy :: Twinkies: Kings Of Pastry
9/17/2010
CATFISH
The catch of the day/week...FACEBOOK friends beware; who exactly are we talking too?
A doc, for sure, that plays out like a thriller in this crowd fave from Sundance 2010. Back in 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost had a notion that brother Nev's searching for love on the internet may lead to somthing special. A thoroughly entertaining pic that takes more turns, and brings more smiles, than the Indy 500...a brand-new fresh look at today's modern search for love on-line...
9/9/2010
NESHOBA: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
A multiple award-winning film on the film fest circuit, NESHOBA, THE PRICE OF FREEDOM follows a southern town still divided after over 40 years. Parents and teachers alike should take note of this documentary gem that hits like a heavy-weight champ, offering families a terrific supplement to the standard ho-hum American History classes we’ve all had. -
Filmmakers Micki Dickoff and Tony Pagano recount a sad period from America’s past that we should all be ashamed of - the murder of three men, two Jews and an African American in Mississippi in ’64 - and its present day search for justice
Neshoba, The Price Of Freedom, distributed by First Run Features, continues its national run, opening Friday Sept. 10 in Los Angeles.www.FirstRunFeatures.com
Friends Of Film to head to Iceland for the
Reykjavik Film Festival Sept 23 - Oct 3, 2010
by Deborah DePauk
Life, indeed, is strange. We've been to many film festivals around the world but it has taken us until year seven of the RIFF to catch this one. Certainly one of the more obscure spots on the festival circuit, Reykjavik combines glaciers, fabulous films with the Northern Lights in this hip capital city of 200,000.
THE RIFF has a quite diverse program that is now released.
http://en.riff.is/
The 7th Annual Pacific Palisades Film Festival
May 13 + 15, 2010
Two Days, Two Parties, Two Outdoor Screenings
Closing Night Screening/Party Tickets Available
$50
Bring a jacket for outdoor screening!
OPENING NIGHT FILM/PARTY
Thursday, May 13, 2010
6:30 pm - Friends Of Film kicks off the festival with a fabulous ocean-view, sunset-viewing, cocktail party/screening on 15060 Corona Del Mar
and the presentation of the
Friends Of Film
Lifetime Achievement Award to
Frances Fisher
GREENLIT
Directed by Miranda Bailey
Movie people are lengendarily liberal and left-leaning particularly when it comes to the environment. GREENLIT puts their commitment to the test as Bailey, executive producer of "THE SQUID AND THE WHALE", follows the production of "THE RIVER WHY" starring Zach Gilford as it attempts to keep an environmentally friendly set thanks to the supervision of a "green" consultant. What starts off with great enthusiasm quickly devolves in this insightful and hilarious film.
FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE
"Heard the expression, "It ain't easy being green?" Try running a whole filmset for weeks getting buy-in from all the cast/crew with this in mind. Credit Bailey for bringing this topic to the front burner in this delightful little doc that shows Hollywood, indeed, has a long way to go in practicing what we preach."
- Bob Sharka, Friends Of Film
CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Cocktail Party at 6:30pm on 650 Toyopa Drive
followed by an outdoor screening of
THE CHRIS MONTEZ STORY
- a work in progress
Directed by Burt Kearns
Produced by Brett Hudson
with Chris Montez in person to play a few numbers!
Thursday, May 13, 20106:30 pm - Friends Of Film kicks off the festival with a fabulous ocean-view, sunset-viewing, cocktail party/screening on 15060 Corona Del Mar and the presentation of the Friends Of Film Lifetime Achievement Award to Frances Fisher
Filmmakers Kearns and Hudson return to Pacific Palisades Film Festival with their latest work in progress!
He was born Ezekiel Montanez.
He was a teenager when he recorded his first international hit, “Let's Dance"
The song took him to the top of the charts and, at the height of the Civil Rights struggle, on tour through the Deep South with Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson and Clyde McPhatter. He’d play a major role in The Beatles story, headlining a UK tour with the group amid the first stirrings of Beatlemania-- and brawling with John Lennon in an incident that became rock ‘n’ roll legend.
This period alone would guarantee Chris Montez a place in musical history, but he had yet to undergo an unprecedented transformation with a new style, new look and new hits with Herb Alpert and A&M Records. With songs like “Call Me” and “The More I See You,” Chris Montez was reinvented as a smooth innovator of the lounge sound: samba-based, jazz-influenced standards that kept the flavour of his Latin roots and set the stage for his later transition into one of the first international Latin pop stars.
In the years to follow, his hit songs would be covered by artists including Frank Sinatra and The Ramones. They’d earn a place in movie history in films like Frantic and, most memorably, Animal House, while Chris Montez remained a vital force, bringing his music to longtime fans and new audiences around the world, from Japan to Europe to the American heartland. Today, he continues to expand his horizons and blaze new trails in other musical genres, including ranchero, jazz and the blues.
PLUS THE SHORT FILM
A .45 AT 50TH
11 minutes
Directed by Joshua Bell and John Cromwell
Long before his career as an actor would bring him international recognition, James Cromwell used his talent and passion to help fight the battles of the civil rights movement. In this short documentary, James relives his experience with the Black Panther Party, one of the central events that would influence his worldview for the rest of his life.
FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE!
Very Limited Tickets for the festival are $100 - includes two parties/outdoor screenings
Friends Of Film
Foreign Film Series
Saturdays and Sundays Dec 12, 13, 19, 20, 2009
Sunday, January 17, 2010
11:00 am
Laemmle Theaters,
1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA, 90401
Admission is free with RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
We'll be screening Oscar(R) submissions from different countries during this series
Sunday, Jan 17, 2009 - Austria's Official Entry - 11 am
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
FOR A MOMENT FREEDOM
Directed by Arash Riahi
Fast-moving and packed with action, "For a Moment Freedom" tells of the odyssey of three Iranians/Kurdish groups of refugees: a married couple with a child, two young men with two children, and two men who are friends despite the differences between them. They have all managed to escape from Iran and Iraq, but now they are stuck in the Turkish capital; although freedom is at last almost within their grasp, first they have to wait in a dubious hotel, hoping each day that their applications for asylum will be approved. This enforced break in their journey towards independence is characterised by both hope and utter uncertainty.
FILMMAKER and special guests in attendance!
Saturday, Dec 19, 2009 - Slovakia's Official Entry - 11 am
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
BROKEN PROMISE
Directed by Jimi Chlumski
Broken Promise is based on a true story of a Jewish boy, Martin Friedmann, born in 1926 in Western Slovakia, who escaped deportation to a concentration camp thanks to his extraordinary soccer talent and some coincidently favorable circumstances.
Sunday, Dec 20, 2009 - Bulgaria's Official Entry - 11 am
RSVP to Bob@FriendsOfFilm.com
THE WORLD IS BIG AND SALVATION LURKS AROUND THE CORNER
Directed by: Stephan Komandarev
The story about a Bulgarian boy who grows up to be a German man. After a car accident Alex can't even remember his name. In an attempt to cure him from amnesia, his grandfather Bai Dan comes over to Germany and organizes a spiritual journey for his grandson back into his past, to the country where he came from. In changing places, time and transport, crossing half Europe, they play backgammon, the simplest, and yet the most complex of all games. That game leads Alex to the realizations of who he is, and that game is symbolic to the story. Destiny is the dice we hold in our own hands and life is a game on the edge between chance and skill.
Saturday, Dec 12 - POLAND'S OFFICIAL ENTRY - 11 am
REVERSE
Directed by Boris Lankosz
Reverse, a debut feature by 36 year-old director Borys Lankosz won the Golden Lions award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.
Set in the 1950s, it shows the terror of the Stalinist period in a very evocative way, black comedy style. The story centers on a woman in her early thirties, whose mother tries to find a husband for her and whose grandmother rates the prospective candidates. One day she meets a man, whose presence changes the lives of the three women.
Reverse received six other awards, including those for Best Actress (Agata Buzek), Best Cinematography and Best Soundtrack
Sunday, Dec 13 - THE NETHERLANDS OFFICIAL ENYRY - 11 am
Directed by Martin Koolhoven
Near the end of World War II, 13-year-old Michiel becomes involved with the Resistance after coming to the aid of a wounded British soldier. With the conflict coming to an end, Michiel comes of age and learns of the stark difference between adventure fantasy and the ugly realities of war.
Drop us a note if you'd like to screen your film as part of this program
Send us a screener/press kit
Bob Sharka
Friends Of Film
1137 Charm Acres Place
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
