Every week, I get several press releases, screening invitations and other notifications from a handful of studio contacts. While I won’t be sharing any information regarding my screening invites, some of the press releases might be of interest to my readers, so I thought I’d start sharing them in toto with all of you. These could include new image galleries for various films or important updates to upcoming releases from various smaller studios and art house production companies.

• Image Gallery: Annabelle
• Image Gallery: The Judge
• Press Release: “Documented” Goes to Home Video October 7
• Press Release: “Moebius” Goes to Home Video
• Press Release: Snag Films to Premiere “Sewing Hope” on September 25
• Press Release: IFTA Announce Board Members and Executive Committee for 2014
• Press Release: “Last Days” World Premiere at Film Society of Lincoln Center

Image Gallery: Annabelle

See the Gallery Here.

Image Gallery: The Judge

See the Gallery Here.

Press Release: “Documented” Goes to Home Video October 7

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS’ FILM ‘DOCUMENTED’ HITS DIGITAL HD AND DVD OCTOBER 7TH

Vargas’ first person documentary examining immigration and identity available for pre-order now

(New York, NY – September 24, 2014) – Beginning October 7th, DOCUMENTED will be available for audiences to purchase for download on iTunes and all digital platforms. In addition, the film can also be purchased on DVD and downloaded or streamed directly from documentedthefilm.com. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas made the critically-acclaimed documentary, which Newsday called “A triumph” and “intensely personal,” to document the three years since revealing himself as an undocumented immigrant. DOCUMENTED was released in theaters earlier this year and made its debut as a CNN Films broadcast in June. Vargas began filming shortly after he penned the 2011 personal essay for the New York Times Magazine, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” sharing his very personal story which includes his complicated relationship with his mother, whom he hasn’t seen in over 20 years. The film can currently be pre-ordered at the suggested retail price of $12.99.

Since the film’s release, Vargas made national headlines when he was held by Border Patrol in McAllen, Texas, as he tried to depart the border town. Vargas had been visiting in support of the undocumented children held in the vicinity when he realized it was unlikely we would be able to leave without detainment. Since his release, Vargas has joined together with a group of fellow undocumented immigrants to appeal to the Obama administration for deferred action. Through their initiative to delay their deportations, they hope to achieve a broader executive action that could provide relief to the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States.

Define American, the media and culture campaign behind DOCUMENTED, wants the film to encourage an open conversation about immigrants and hopes that the upcoming digital release will bring it to an even broader audience. “We are excited to make DOCUMENTED accessible to a wide group of viewers who we hope will discover different applications for the film. Immigration is a complicated issue and through Jose’s heartfelt story, we hope to raise awareness of its far-reaching relevance and ultimately add thousands of voices to the question of our age: how do you define American?” said Define American’s campaign director, Ryan Eller.

Press Release: “Moebius” Goes to Home Video

SOUTH KOREA’S SHOCKING MOEBIUS ON DVD AND BLURAY FOLLOWING IMPRESSIVE THEATRICAL, ON DEMAND RELEASE

Kim Ki-duk’s critically-acclaimed worldess thriller available to own October 28

September 24, 2014 (NY, NY) – RAM Releasing, the New York-based noir film distribution company and a division of Film Movement, announces the DVD and Bluray release of MOEBIUS, the latest from shock auteur Kim Ki-duk (Pieta), available on October 28. Including exclusive interviews with cast and crew, as well as a post-screening Q&A from the film’s New York premiere at New York Asian Film Festival, the movie Twitchfilm.com calls “a terrifying and morbidly humorous narrative,” owning this one-of-a-kind thrill ride is a must for any fan of Kim’s boundary-pushing filmmaking. The feature film also becomes available to own digitally on October 28 on all major patforms.

When she catches her husband having an affair, a woman attempts to castrate the cheater for his wrongdoing. Unsuccessful, she instead inflicts the unspeakable act on her own son, setting off a series of grotesque yet provocative events ranging from a hurried genital transplant to pain-inflicted orgasms that all merge in a continuous thread of delirious storytelling. With both husband and son damaged and living in grief, the wife returns as the family heads towards destruction even more horrific than before.

Kim Ki-duk, whose signature style pushes the limits of challenging filmmaking and often blows right through them, won the Golden Lion with Pieta at the Venice Film Festival last year. The prolific director set out to shock audiences again with MOEBIUS, his latest perverse statement on family tensions, sexual boundaries and society’s issues with each.

“This is an ugly movie, a brutally honest one, deglamorizing violence and showing that the violence doesn’t stop with the act itself. Moebius is sophisticated and impactful cinema, speaking volumes with nary a phrase uttered from beginning to end.” -Ain’t It Cool News

“There’s a poignant undercurrent to all this extremity, which is weirdly admirable. Moebius feels like a giddy, playful return to form. It’s as uproarious as genital mutilation gets!” -The Dissolve

“Kim as a filmmaker has achieved a shocking film that touches upon almost every taboo imaginable and does so with elegance and an unshakable sense of control, making him an Asian horror auteur to watch.” -Bloody Disgusting

MOEBIUS, available October 28 on both DVD and Bluray, includes over an hour of bonus features:
Cast and Filmmaker Interview
Interview with Kim Ki-duk
Exclusive Interview with actress Lee Eun-woo
Post-screening Q&A at New York Asian Film Festival 2014

Press Release: Snag Films to Premiere “Sewing Hope” on September 25

ON SEPTEMBER 25, SNAGFILMS PREMIERES THE ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY SEWING HOPE

Narrated by Forest Whitaker, the Feature-Length Doc

Chronicles the Life of the Ugandan Catholic Nun — a CNN Hero and Prestigious Member of the 2014 Time 100 — and Her Courageous Acts

Washington DC and New York City (September 24, 2014) — For 25 years, Joseph Kony and his infamous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) terrorized Northern Uganda. Children were stolen from their families and brainwashed to be soldiers in his army and young girls were degraded by serving as sex slaves for Kony and his officers. On September 25, SnagFilms will premiere SEWING HOPE, an acclaimed documentary that captures the resilient nature of a nun who significantly changed the lives of these young women by restoring their dignity through faith, forgiveness and love.

Narrated by Forest Whitaker, SEWING HOPE showcases both the piety and the tenacity of Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe — named a CNN Hero and elected to the prestigious Time 100 in 2014 — in teaching young women how to sew. Through her unyielding faith, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe created a safe haven at the Saint Monica Girl School in Gulu, Northern Uganda, where Kony’s rebels had a significant presence. Although the school teaches women how to sew, and make handbags with recyclable materials, Sister Rosemary also created a program that instilled a strong work ethic so these young women could move on with their lives. Most importantly, she teaches them to love themselves and their children, who are a constant reminder of their difficult past.

Directed by Derek Watson, SEWING HOPE has been featured at film festivals including Napa Valley Film Festival and Sarasota Film Festival. Watson also served as cinematographer. The film was produced by Jenny Monroe and Bill Horn, with Reggie and Rachel Whitten serving as executive producers.

About SnagFilms
SnagFilms’ award-winning streaming video platform offers entertainment lovers an extensive library of over 5,000 free movies, TV series and web originals on demand. The platform provides members the tools to discover, watch and recommend a wide range of professional online video content. The SnagFilms viewing experience is available everywhere, enabling audiences to watch movies on the web (including thousands of affiliate sites) as well as on sector-leading applications that are available on mobile, set-top box and home entertainment devices.

SnagFilms, Inc., also owns Indiewire, the independent film industry’s leading news service and blog network, twice named top entertainment site by the Webby Awards. Founded by Ted Leonsis, SnagFilms, Inc. was named as one of Red Herring’s 2013 Top-100 Technology Companies in North America. Snagfilms.com was a Webby finalist as 2014’s top entertainment site and a 2013 Webby Honoree. SnagFilms, Inc. is headquartered in Washington, DC with offices in New York and Los Angeles.

Press Release: IFTA Announce Board Members and Executive Committee for 2014

INDEPENDENT FILM & TELEVISION ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES 2014 NEW BOARD MEMBERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Los Angeles, CA – September 24, 2014 – The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) held their annual elections today for its new Executive Committee and Board of Directors. The membership meeting took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City and concurrently via telephone at the British Screen Advisory Council in London.

IFTA’s Chairman Paul Hertzberg said: “The newly elected Board and Executive Committee members are an exceptionally talented group. Their experience and perspective will add immeasurably to our deliberations on key issues affecting the industry and Independent sector. We welcome them warmly and look forward to working with them over the next two years.”

The Executive Committee will be headed by IFTA Chairperson Paul Hertzberg (CineTel Films, Inc.). The elected 2014-2016 Executive Committee members are: General Vice Chairperson Nicolas Chartier (President, Voltage Pictures); Chairperson of Export Alliance Clay Epstein (SVP, Sales & Acquisitions, Arclight Films Pty. Ltd.); Vice Chairperson/Finance Brian O’Shea (CEO, The Exchange, Inc.) and General Vice Chairperson/Non-Californian Michael Ryan (Partner, GFM Films). Continuing on the Executive Committee for the second year of their terms are General Vice Chairperson Kirk D’Amico (President & CEO, Myriad Pictures, Inc.) and Vice Chairperson/Secretary Lise Romanoff (Managing Director/CEO, Vision Films, Inc.).

Elected to the Board for the 2014-2016 term are:
Tamara Birkemoe (President, Foresight Unlimited)
Camela Galano (President, International, Relativity Media, LLC)
Gene George (EVP, Worldwide Distribution, Starz Media, LLC)
Jay Joyce (VP, Worldwide Sales, Artist View Entertainment, Inc.)
Lloyd Kaufman (President, Troma Entertainment)
Brad Krevoy (Chairman & CEO, Motion Picture Corporation of America)
Robbie Little (Co-President, The Little Film Company)
Nicole Mackey (EVP, International Sales, Fortissimo Film Sales)
Barbara Mudge (President, Worldwide Film Entertainment, LLC.)
Almira Ravil (SVP, International Sales, Screen Media)
Carl Clifton (Partner, Sales & Marketing, K5 Media Group) and Mathilde Epstein (VP, International Sales, Lightning Entertainment Group, Inc.) will serve as Alternates.

Continuing in the second year of their Board term are: Glen Basner (CEO, FilmNation Entertainment); Shaked Berenson (Co-Founder & COO, Epic Pictures Group, Inc.); Roger Corman (President, New Horizons Picture Corp.); Pierre David (Chief Strategy Advisor, Reel One Entertainment); Ennis Hensley (EVP, International Sales & Distribution, The Weinstein Company); Andrew Kramer (COO, International Distribution, Lionsgate); Albert Lee (CEO, Emperor Motion Pictures); Avi Lerner (Chairman & CEO, Nu Image/Millennium Films); Charlotte Mickie (President, International, Mongrel Media) and Thorsten Schumacher (Managing Director, Hanway Films Ltd.).

About The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) is the global trade association for the independent motion picture and television programming industry. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the organization represents more than 145 member companies from 21 countries, consisting of independent production and distribution companies, sales agents, television companies and financial institutions engaged in film finance. IFTA is dedicated to protecting and strengthening its Members’ ability to finance, produce, market and distribute independent films and television programs in an ever-changing and challenging global marketplace.

IFTA members produce more than 400 independent films and countless hours of television programming generating more than $4 billion in distribution revenues annually. The organization’s premiere event, the American Film Market, the largest Film Market in the world, takes place every year in November in Santa Monica.

Press Release: “Last Days” World Premiere at Film Society of Lincoln Center

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES THE WORLD PREMIERE PRESENTATION OF KATHRYN BIGELOW’S PSA LAST DAYS, CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH ANNAPURNA PICTURES, TO TAKE PLACE AT THE 52ND NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

The free event will include a panel, The Crisis in Elephant Poaching, moderated by Bigelow and featuring WildAid’s Peter Knights, Assistant District Attorney of New York County Julieta V. Lozano, award-winning journalist Peter Godwin, and Somali human rights activist K’naan Warsame

New York, NY (September 24, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the world premiere of Kathryn Bigelow’s PSA Last Days followed by a panel to be presented on Saturday, September 27 at 6PM at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Bigelow will moderate the panel, The Crisis in Elephant Poaching, with participants Peter Knights, Julieta V. Lozano, K’naan Warsame and Peter Godwin. Tickets for the event are free and will be distributed one hour prior to the start time; visit filmlinc.com/nyfff for more information.

Director of the New York Film Festival Kent Jones said, “Kathryn showed us Last Days and I was floored – in three minutes, the viewer feels the horrors of elephant poaching on a global scale and gains a clear, even vivid understanding of the economic, moral and political issues involved. A powerfully concise piece of work, and we’re proud to be hosting its world premiere and providing a forum in which this urgent issue can be illuminated.”

On the origins of the project, Kathryn Bigelow said “A year ago I had a fortuitous meeting with both Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea had just returned from Sub-Saharan Africa where poachers killed herds of elephants by cyanide poisoning. After our conversation I felt compelled to enter this space, encourage a dialogue, raise awareness. Killing for ivory by organized syndicates was now being carried out on an industrialized scale. Working with the writer, Scott Z Burns, we set out to connect the dots between ivory trinkets purchased at markets in China and elsewhere and the terrorist nightmares we see on the nightly news.”

In 1989, the international trade in ivory was banned and poaching went down. But with the rapid economic growth of consuming countries in Asia and some legal sales the slaughter of African elephants has escalated again in recent years. Between 2010 and 2012, an estimated 100,000 elephants were poached for their ivory with only around 400,000 left. The coalition of independent organizations that has joined in a common effort to put an end to elephant poaching takes a three-pronged approach, calling for an end to the killings, an end to trafficking in ivory, and an end to the demand for ivory. Kathryn Bigelow’s three-minute film, made in collaboration with concept designer Samuel Michlap, head of layout Lorenzo Martinez and Duncan Studio, takes us, in reverse chronology, through every step in the blood-curdling process, and, at its most disturbing, identifies the sale of ivory as a funding source for terrorist organizations like Boko Haram, the Lord’s Resistance Army and al-Shabab. It will be distributed globally in partnership with WildAid, which focuses on reducign demand for endangered species products. Last Days will be presented twice, followed by a panel discussion moderated by the filmmaker. The event is free to the public and tickets will be available at the box office an hour prior to the start time at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street.

Panelists

Peter Knights
Peter Knights is co-founder and Executive Director of WildAid, the only organization focused on reducing demand for wildlife products. He currently leads the world’s largest endangered species demand reduction program for shark fin, ivory, and rhino horn in China, with more than 100 hundred celebrity ambassadors and over $160 million a year of donated media space and where shark fin sales have dropped 50-70% in the last two years. He is producer of “Saving Africa’s Giants with Yao Ming” airing shortly on Animal Planet and leads ivory demand reduction programs in China, Thailand and Vietnam. He was formerly a senior investigator for the Environmental Investigation Agency. He specialized in conducting global on-site investigations and campaigned against the trade in wild birds for pets and the consumption of endangered species in traditional Chinese medicine, such as bear gallbladder, rhino horn, and tiger bone as well as ivory trade.

Julieta V. Lozano
Julieta V. Lozano has been a prosecutor in New York State for over sixteen years. She currently serves as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where she handles complex white-collar criminal matters and specializes in environmental crimes. She recently conducted a large-scale investigation into multiple New York City ivory dealers, involving the seizure of nearly a ton of ivory valued at over two million dollars, and resulting in felony convictions. She previously served as Chief of the Environmental Crimes Unit for the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as Assistant Secretary for the Environment under Governor Eliot Spitzer.

The New York County District Attorney’s successful prosecutions of ivory dealers provided momentum and support to a statewide effort to strengthen laws prohibiting the sale of elephant ivory. This summer, New York State enacted a bill effectively banning the sale of ivory and increasing criminal and civil penalties for the sale of ivory. The new law is dedicated in honor of Lt. John Fitzpatrick, a long-time Environmental Conservation Officer for DEC, who spearheaded investigations of illegal ivory sales, helped to institute new ivory permit procedures and raised awareness of the need to improve endangered species protections.

Peter Godwin
Peter Godwin is an award winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary-maker and screenwriter. After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries, including wars in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and the last years of apartheid South Africa.

K’naan Warsame
K’naan Warsameis a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and human rights activist. K’naan spoke before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999, where he performed a spoken word piece criticizing the UN for its failed aid missions to Somalia.

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Kent Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

Tickets for the upcoming New York Film Festival range in price from $15 & $25 for most screenings to $50 & $100 for Gala evenings. Film Society members receive a discount on tickets as well as the benefit of a pre-sale opportunity.

For NYFF Free events: Starting one hour before the scheduled time of the event, complimentary tickets will be distributed from the box office corresponding to the event’s venue. Limit one ticket per person, on a space-available basis. Please note that the line for tickets may form in advance of the time of distribution.

Please note: All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Tickets are subject to availability. Programs and prices are subject to change.