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: The Conjuring
• Image Gallery: Pacific Rim
• Image Gallery: We’re the Millers
• Press Release: A&E IndieFilms Partners with Mike Myers on “Supermensch”
• Press Release: Icarus Films Acquires “Far From Vietnam”
• Press Release: First Round of Selections for Toronto Film Festival Announced
• Press Release: “The Substance: Albert HOffmann’s LSD” Receives DVD/VOD Release Date
• Press Release: “Herb & Dorothy 50×50” Receives Release Date
• Press Release: Line Up for 70th Venice Film Festival Announced

Image Gallery: The Conjuring

Click Here for the Gallery

Image Gallery: Pacific Rim

Click Here for the Gallery

Image Gallery: We’re the Millers

Click Here for the Gallery

Press Release: A&E IndieFilms Partners with Mike Myers on “Supermensch”

A&E INDIEFILMS PARTNERS WITH MIKE MYERS ON HIS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT SUPERMENSCH

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY TO TELL THE STORY OF LEGENDARY TALENT MANAGER SHEP GORDON

New York, NY – July 22, 2013 – A&E IndieFilms, the Academy Award-nominated feature documentary production arm of A&E Network, has partnered with Emmy-winning multi-hyphenate Mike Myers on the new feature documentary, Supermensch, chronicling the life of ground-breaking talent manager Shep Gordon.

In 1991, music manager Shep Gordon held Mike Myers over a barrel a few weeks before shooting “Wayne’s World” regarding an Alice Cooper song Myers wanted to use in the film. They have been close friends ever since. 22 years later, the story of Gordon’s legendary life in the uber fast lane is now told in Myers’ directorial debut. And this time it’s Myers who has Gordon over a barrel.

Capitalist, protector, hedonist, pioneer, showman, shaman . . . SUPERMENSCH.

Shep Gordon is the consummate Hollywood insider. Though he isn’t a household name, Gordon has become a beacon in the industry, beloved by the countless stars he has encountered throughout his storied career. Shep is known for managing the careers of Alice Cooper as well as stints with Blondie, Luther Vandross and Raquel Welch, among others – a career that began with a chance encounter in 1968 with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. He even found time to invent the “Celebrity Chef.” Though the chef as star is part of the culture now, it took Shep’s imagination, and his moral outrage at how the chefs were being treated, to monetize the culinary arts into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. Personal friends with the Dalai Lama through his philanthropic endeavors with the Tibet Fund and the guardian of four children, Gordon’s unlikely story will be told by those who know him best, his pals, including Alice Cooper, Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Anne Murray, Willie Nelson, Emeril Lagasse and more.

“I met Shep Gordon in 1991 on the set of Wayne’s World. I thought he was a perfect combination of Brian Epstein, Marshall McLuhan and Mr Magoo. I’ve been trying to get Shep to agree to let me make a movie about him for 10 years. Last year he finally he said yes. I loved him like a brother before we started making this film and now having sifted through his life and his legacy, I love him even more” said Myers.

“We are excited by the passion Mike Myers has brought to this project,” said Bob DeBitetto, President of A+E Studios. “Shep Gordon is known throughout Hollywood as the nicest guy to know and the epitome of friendship in an industry devoid of genuine friends – but to hear Mike say it, he’s a Supermensch.”

Supermensch is produced and directed by Mike Myers. Bob DeBitetto, David McKillop and Molly Thompson will serve as executive producers for A&E IndieFilms.

About A&E IndieFilms
A&E IndieFilms is the feature documentary production arm of A&E Network. A&E IndieFilms is committed to developing the work of outstanding independent filmmakers and helping them reach the broadest possible audience. A&E IndieFilms commissions, acquires and provides finishing funds for feature documentaries intended for co-branded theatrical release. Films include the 2006 and 2007 Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature, Murderball and Jesus Camp; Nanette Burstein’s American Teen, which received the Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival; Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That; R.J. Cutler’s The September Issue; Amir Bar-Lev’s 2011 PGA Award nominee The Tillman Story and Alex Gibney’s 2011 PGA Award, DGA Award nominee Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Emmy-nominated Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey: Under African Skies and the critically acclaimed The Imposter.

Press Release: Icarus Films Acquires “Far From Vietnam”

Icarus Films acquires Godard/Ivens/Klein/Lelouch/Marker/Resnais/Varda’s FAR FROM VIETNAM

Premieres at the Film Society of Lincoln Center 8/28!

July 15, 2013: Icarus Films announced today its acquisition of all North American distribution rights to the newly restored FAR FROM VIETNAM, the legendary 1967 anti-war protest film produced in collaboration by seven giants of European cinema: Jean-Luc Godard, Joris Ivens, William Klein, Claude Lelouch, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Agnès Varda. The film has been unavailable in North America for many years.

The restored film will premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center on Wednesday, August 28th, for a weeklong run in conjunction with the Film Society’s Cinema of Resistance series, a survey of politically charged films from around the world, which features three other Icarus Films titles.

Initiated and edited by Marker, FAR FROM VIETNAM “represents a true collective endeavor,” bringing together an array of stylistically disparate contributions, none individually credited, under a unified vision. (Nora M. Alter, Chris Marker) Made, per Marker’s narration, “to affirm, by the exercise of their craft, their solidarity with the Vietnamese people in struggle against aggression”, the elements span documentary footage in the United States, France and Vietnam (North and South) to interviews with Fidel Castro and antiwar figures, to self-interrogating monologues and fictional segments, and repurposed media footage.

Passionately critical and self-critical, and as bold in form as it is in rhetoric, FAR FROM VIETNAM is a milestone in political documentary and in the French cinema. “An important film, a beautiful film, a moving film,” Richard Roud wrote in The Guardian upon the film’s 1967 release, “the cinema at last has its ‘Guernica.’”

Press Release: First Round of Selections for Toronto Film Festival Announced

2013 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL REVEALS FIRST ROUND OF HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED GALAS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Piers Handling, CEO and Director of TIFF, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, unveiled the first round of titles (16 Galas and 55 Special Presentations) set to premiere at the 38th Toronto International Film Festival® including 40 world premieres.

“An unparalleled caliber of international talent will illuminate the city for 11 spectacular days, to descend on the hottest red carpets representing productions from across the globe including South Africa, France, Canada, South Korea, Australia, Germany, USA, and the United Kingdom,” said Bailey.

We, at filmfestivals.com could not agree more, rarely have we seen such a strong line up …from wikileaks to mike Myers…: check the titles below

The 38th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5 to 15, 2013.

GALAS
American Dreams in China Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Hong Kong/China North American Premiere

The Art of the Steal Jonathan Sobol, Canada World Premiere

August: Osage County John Wells, USA World Premiere

Cold Eyes Cho Ui-seok and Kim Byung-seo, South Korea North American Premiere

Opening Night Film

The Fifth Estate Bill Condon, USA World Premiere

The Grand Seduction Don McKellar, Canada World Premiere

Kill Your Darlings John Krokidas, USA International Premiere

Closing Night Film

Life of Crime Daniel Schechter, USA World Premiere

The Love Punch Joel Hopkins, France World Premiere

The Lunchbox Ritesh Batra, India/France/Germany North American Premiere

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Justin Chadwick, South Africa World Premiere

Parkland Peter Landesman, USA North American Premiere

The Railway Man Jonathan Teplitzky, Australia/United Kingdom World Premiere

The Right Kind of Wrong Jeremiah Chechik, Canada World Premiere

Rush Ron Howard, United Kingdom/Germany International Premiere

Shuddh Desi Romance Maneesh Sharma, India Canadian Premiere

The Legend of Shep Gordon Mike Myers, USA World Premiere

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

12 Years a Slave Steve McQueen, USA World Premiere

All Is By My Side John Ridley, United Kingdom World Premiere

Attila Marcel Sylvain Chomet, France World Premiere

Bad Words Jason Bateman, USA World Premiere

Belle Amma Asante, United Kingdom World Premiere

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Adèle: Chapters 1 & 2 Abdellatif Kechiche, France North American Premiere

Burning Bush Agnieszka Holland, Czech Republic North American Premiere

Can a Song Save Your Life? John Carney, USA World Premiere

Cannibal (Caníbal) Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain/Romania/Russia/France World Premiere

Dallas Buyers Club Jean-Marc Vallée, USA World Premiere

Devil’s Knot Atom Egoyan, USA World Premiere

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her Ned Benson, USA

Dom Hemingway Richard Shepard, United Kingdom World Premiere

Don Jon Joseph Gordon-Levitt, USA Canadian Premiere

The Double Richard Ayoade, United Kingdom World Premiere

Enough Said Nicole Holofcener, USA World Premiere

Exit Marrakech Caroline Link, Germany International Premiere

For Those Who Can Tell No Tales Jasmila �banić, Bosnia and Herzegovina World Premiere

Gloria Sebastián Lelio, Chile/Spain North American Premiere

Going Away (Il est parti dimanche) Nicole Garcia, France World Premiere

Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, USA/United Kingdom North American Premiere

The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) Paolo Sorrentino, Italy North American Premiere

Half of a Yellow Sun Biyi Bandele, Nigeria/United Kingdom World Premiere

Hateship Loveship Liza Johnson, USA World Premiere

Ida Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland World Premiere

L’intrepido Gianni Amelio, Italy North American Premiere

The Invisible Woman Ralph Fiennes, United Kingdom World Premiere

Joe David Gordon Green, USA North American Premiere

Labor Day Jason Reitman, USA World Premiere

Like Father, Like Son Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan North American Premiere (seriously how many films have had that title already)

Man of Tai Chi Keanu Reeves, USA/China North American Premiere

MARY Queen of Scots Thomas Imbach, France/Switzerland North American Premiere

Mystery Road Ivan Sen, Australia International Premiere

Night Moves Kelly Reichardt, USA North American Premiere

Omar Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine North American Premiere

One Chance David Frankel, USA World Premiere

Only Lovers Left Alive Jim Jarmusch, USA North American Premiere

The Past (Le Passé) Asghar Farhadi, France/Italy North American Premiere

Philomena Stephen Frears, United Kingdom North American Premiere

Pioneer (Pionér) Erik Skjoldbjærg, Norway/Germany/Sweden/France/Finland International Premiere

Prisoners Denis Villeneuve, USA World Premiere

Quai d’Orsay Bertrand Tavernier, France World Premiere

REAL Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan North American Premiere

Starred Up David Mackenzie, United Kingdom World Premiere

Third Person Paul Haggis, Belgium World Premiere

Those Happy Years (Anni Felici) Daniele Luchetti, Italy World Premiere

Tracks John Curran, United Kingdom/Australia North American Premiere

Under the Skin Jonathan Glazer, USA/United Kingdom North American Premiere

Violette Martin Provost, France/Belgium World Premiere

Visitors Godfrey Reggio, USA World Premiere

Walesa. Man of Hope. (Walesa. Czlowiek z nadziei.) Andrzej Wajda, Poland North American Premiere

We are the Best! (Vi är bäst!) Lukas Moodysson, Sweden North American Premiere

Le Week-End Roger Michell, United Kingdom World Premiere

You Are Here Matthew Weiner, USA World Premiere

Young and Beautiful (Jeune & jolie) François Ozon, France/Belgium North American Premiere

Press Release: “The Substance: Albert HOffmann’s LSD” Receives DVD/VOD Release Date

Coming to Home Video DVD and VOD on August 27th from Icarus Films Home Video

THE SUBSTANCE: ALBERT HOFMANN’S LSD

July 25, 2013: Martin Witz’s “eye-opening” THE SUBSTANCE: ALBERT HOFMANN’S LSD, a social and scientific history of the drug, arrives on home video DVD and VOD on August 27th, 2013 from Icarus Films Home Video. (The National Post) As a bonus feature, the release will include a 26-minute interview with director Martin Witz.

In 1943, at the Sandoz chemical-pharmaceutical laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, chemist Albert Hofmann, in search of a respiratory and circulatory stimulant, first synthesized LSD.

Martin Witz’s THE SUBSTANCE: ALBERT HOFMANN’S LSD is an informative and entertaining investigation into the history of a drug so potent that mere fractions of a milligram can alter a subject’s perception of reality.

Viewers follow the tangled path the lead Hofmann’s discovery out of the lab and into military experiments, clinicians’ offices, and the streets.

As the film illustrates, the notoriety and sense of possibility surrounding LSD persist to this day. We see that, decades after it first began to appear on international drug blacklists, doctors and researchers have resumed exploring its potential medical and therapeutic applications.

BONUS FEATURE:
26-minute interview with director Martin Witz

Selected Awards and Festival Appearances:
Audience Award: Best Documentary, 2012 Berlin & Beyond Festival
Locarno Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
BAFICI (Buenos Aires)
IDFA (Amsterdam)
DOK Leipzig
One World Human Rights Film Festival (Prague)
Festival dei popoli (Florence)

Press Release: “Herb & Dorothy 50×50” Receives Release Date

“HERB & DOROTHY 50X50” TO HIT NORTH AMERICAN THEATERS ON SEPTEMBER 13.

MUCH ANTICIPATED FOLLOW UP TO AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY “HERB & DOROTHY,” BASED ON THE INSPIRING LIVES OF ART COLLECTORS HERB AND DOROTHY VOGEL.

New York, July 24, 2013 – FINE LINE MEDIA announced today that they will release HERB & DOROTHY 50×50 in North America on September 13th in New York at the IFC Center. The film will then expand with a platform theatrical release to San Francisco on 9/20, Los Angeles on 9/27 and the balance of the top 10 markets throughout October before taking on additional markets nationwide.Developed as the follow-up film to Megumi Sasaki’s award-winning documentary HERB & DOROTHY (2008) that moved millions of art-lovers worldwide, HERB & DOROTHY 50X50 captures the last chapter of the Vogel’s extraordinary life and their gift to the nation, raising various questions on art, and what it takes to support art in today’s society.

“Herb and Dorothy are unsung American heroes. It is such a delight and honor to be able to complete their life story with HERB & DOROTHY 50X50. Their legacy and contribution have extended far beyond just America or the world of contemporary art. My only regret is Herb didn’t get to see the film. But I know his spirit has been with us this whole way, and I hope the film’s release will be a wonderful tribute to him,” said Megumi Sasaki of FINE LINE MEDIA.

In 2008, legendary art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel made an announcement that stunned the art world. Known and loved as a retired postal worker (Herb) and librarian (Dorothy) who built a world-class art collection on their humble salaries, the Vogels launched a national gift project with the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington DC that would constitute one of the largest gifts in the history of American art: to give a total of 2,500 artworks to museums in all fifty states.

This came sixteen years after the Vogels had transferred their entire collection to NGA, the majority as a gift, making headlines in 1992. During those years at the NGA, the collection had grown to nearly 5,000 pieces, too large for any one museum to contain. As a solution, a national gift project titled The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States was conceived. Though their collection was now worth millions of dollars, the couple did not sell a single piece, instead giving fifty works to one museum in every state. Having worked their whole lives as civil servants, their wish was to give back to the people of the United States.

One year ago, on July 22, 2012, Dorothy declared their collection closed after the passing of her husband Herb. Dorothy works to create a living tribute to their partnership, the collection they created together, and the overwhelmingly positive legacy they have left on the American art world for generations to come.

ABOUT FINE LINE MEDIA, INC.
Fine Line Media, Inc. is a film production and distribution company based in New York City. The company was founded in 2002 by Megumi Sasaki to streamline documentary projects for Japan’s sole public and largest broadcaster NHK and other major networks including Nippon TV and Tokyo Broadcasting Services.

The company produced its first American feature documentary film in 2008 with the award-winning Herb & Dorothy, for which Megumi Sasaki was both director and producer. Herb & Dorothy won numerous awards including the Golden Starfish Award for Best Documentary Film, Audience Awards at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival and 2008 SILVERDOCS Film Festival, the Chlotrudis Award for Best Documentary (2009) and the Heartland Truly Moving Picture Award (2009). The film was also given the Museum Store Association Buyers Choice Award in 2010 for Books and Media.

Herb & Dorothy enjoyed a successful theatrical release in the US and overseas between 2009-2010. Upcoming in Fall 2013, Fine Line Media, Inc. will release and distribute Herb & Dorothy 50X50, Sasaki’s follow-up film to Herb & Dorothy.

In 2010, Fine Line Media Japan was founded in Tokyo as a subsidiary to distribute Herb & Dorothy directly to theaters in Japan. The film set a box office record with a six-month run in Tokyo in 2010. The follow-up film Herb & Dorothy 50X50 set another record in spring 2013 as the largest crowdfunding campaign for creative projects ever conducted in Japan. With this campaign, followed by the successful theatrical release of Herb & Dorothy 50X50 in April 2013, Megumi Sasaki and her two films have opened new doors for Japanese documentary filmmakers.

Press Release: Line Up for 70th Venice Film Festival Announced

The 70th Venice International Film Festival will be held on the Lido of Venice from 28th August to 7th September 2013, directed by Alberto Barbera. The line up has been revealed.

Venezia 70 International competition of feature films, presented as world premieres

MERZAK ALLOUACHE – ES-STOUH
Algeria, France, 94′
Adila Bendimerad, Nassima Belmihoub, Ahcene Benzerari, Aïssa Chouat, Mourad Khen, Myriam Ait El Hadj

GIANNI AMELIO – L’INTREPIDO
Italy, 104′
Antonio Albanese, Livia Rossi, Gabriele Rendina, Alfonso Santagata, Sandra Ceccarelli

ALEXANDROS AVRANAS – MISS VIOLENCE
Greece, 99′
Themis Panou, Eleni Roussinou

JOHN CURRAN – TRACKS
UK, Australia, 107′
Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver

EMMA DANTE – VIA CASTELLANA BANDIERA
Italy, Switzerland, France, 90′
Elena Cotta, Emma Dante, Alba Rohrwacher, Renato Malfatti, Dario Casarolo, Carmine Maringola

XAVIER DOLAN – TOM À LA FERME
Canada, France, 105′
Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Lise Roy, Evelyne Brochu

JAMES FRANCO – CHILD OF GOD
USA, 104′
Scott Haze, Tim Blake, Nelson Jim Parrack

STEPHEN FREARS – PHILOMENA
UK, 94′
Judi Dench, Steve Coogan

PHILIPPE GARREL – LA JALOUSIE
France, 77′
Louis Garrel, Anna Mouglalis

TERRY GILLIAM – THE ZERO THEOREM
UK, USA, 107′
Christoph Waltz, Matt Damon, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges, Ben Whishaw, Tilda Swinton

AMOS GITAI – ANA ARABIA
Israel, France, 84′
Yuval Scharf, Sarah Adler, Uri Gavriel, Norman Issa, Yussuf Abuwarda, Shady Srur, Assi Levy

JONATHAN GLAZER – UNDER THE SKIN
UK, USA, 107′
Scarlett Johansson

DAVID GORDON GREEN – JOE
USA, 117′
Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan, Ronie Gene Blevins

PHILIP GRÖNING – DIE FRAU DES POLIZISTEN
Germany, 175′
Alexandra Finder, David Zimmerschied, Pia Kleemann, Chiara Kleemann, Horst Rehberg, Katharina Susewind, Lars Rudolph

PETER LANDESMAN – PARKLAND
USA, 92′
James Badge Dale, Zac Efron, Jackie Earle Haley, Colin Hanks, David Harbour, Marcia Gay Harden, Ron Livingston, Jeremy Strong, Billy Bob Thornton, Jackie Weaver, Tom Welling, Paul Giamatti

HAYAO MIYAZAKI – KAZE TACHINU
Japan, 126′
(Animation)

ERROL MORRIS – THE UNKNOWN KNOWN
USA, 105′
Donald Rumsfeld (documentary)

KELLY REICHARDT – NIGHT MOVES
USA, 112′
Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, James Le Gros

GIANFRANCO ROSI – SACRO GRA
Italy, 87′
(documentary)

MING-LIANG TSAI – JIAOYOU (STRAY DOGS)
Chinese Taipei, France, 138′
Lee Kang-sheng, Lu Yi-ching, Lee Yi-cheng, Lee Yi-chieh, Chen Shiang-chyi.