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: Out of the Furnace
• Press Release: Area23A Acquires “Out of the Clear Blue Sky”
• Press Release: “Koch” Releasing on iTunes, DVD and Other VoD Channels
• Press Release: Actors Added to English-Language Voice Cast for “Wrinkles”

Image Gallery: Out of the Furnace

Visit the Gallery Here

Press Release: Area23A Acquires “Out of the Clear Blue Sky”

AREA23A ACQUIRES OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY

Film Slated for September 6, 2013 Release

Marking the 12th Anniversary of the World Trade Center Attacks

New York, NY (July 8, 2013) – OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY, which tells the riveting, behind-the-scenes story of Wall Street powerhouse Cantor Fitzgerald in the days and years following the September 11th attacks, will be released on September 6, 2013 by Area23a. The film will open in New York with additional markets to follow. The release will be accompanied by a series of panel discussions on the long-term effects and ramifications of the historic attacks.

Directed by September 11th family member and award-winning filmmaker Danielle Gardner, the film tells twin stories – the incredible saga of the ravaged business and surviving employees, as well as an engrossing insider’s take on the unusual community of families formed in the aftermath. Cantor’s loss was not only the largest loss by a single entity – almost twice the loss suffered by the FDNY – it also created the largest single group of mourners, over 6000 people bound by their horrific common experience. OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY features firsthand accounts from family members of the victims and the surviving Cantor Fitzgerald employees, including CEO Howard Lutnick. The film has been shown at film festivals nationwide, including DocuWeeks 2012 and The Palm Springs International Film Festival in January of 2013.

About OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY
On September 11, 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald became famous for the worst of all possible reasons. 658 of their employees were missing in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Though Cantor suffered more casualties than any other organization that day, their story was soon pushed aside as the media ambushed CEO Howard Lutnick, who went from nationally embraced face-of-the-tragedy to embattled pariah within weeks. A true stranger-than-fiction account, unfolding over months and years, the film captures what it feels like to be caught in the crosshairs of history.

About Area23a
Distributor

Area23a is a bi-coastal, independently owned “event” based theatrical distribution company, co-founded by distribution specialists Richard Abramowitz and Kirt Eftekhar.

The company focuses on event driven films, providing value-added distribution through alternative ways to reach audiences across the country, releasing films in convention and community centers, night clubs, casinos, libraries, museums, and college campuses, in addition to traditional venues like theaters, cinematheques and festivals.

Area23a distributes award-winning films such as Dan Sturman and Bill Guttentag’s SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION, Michael Paul Stephenson’s BEST WORST MOVIE, Gerardine Wurzburg’s WRETCHES and JABBERERS, Adrian Grenier’s TEENAGE PAPARAZZO, Chris Paine’s REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR and Tom Putnam and Brenda Sanchez’s BURN.

Press Release: “Koch” Releasing on iTunes, DVD and Other VoD Channels

ZEIGEIST FILMS RELEASES NEIL BARSKY’S KOCH ON CABLE (JULY 17) AND ON ITUNES, DVD AND OTHER VOD CHANNELS (AUG. 27)

DIRECTOR NEIL BARSKY IS AVAILABLE FOR SELECT INTERVIEWS

New York, NY – July 11, 2013 – Zeitgeist Films is proud to announce the Cable, VOD and home media release of KOCH, a “thrilling” (Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal) documentary about former New York mayor Ed Koch, the ferocious and hilariously blunt ace politician who ruled Manhattan from 1978 to 1989 — a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime.

Directed by first-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky, KOCH opened at the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on Feb 1, the same day that Mr. Koch passed away of heart failure. His funeral took place on February 4, at Temple Emanu-El, a Reform Jewish congregation in the city.

Slated to become available on Cable on Demand on July 17, 2013, (through Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, Cox, DirecTV VOD, Echostar and many other Cable service providers), KOCH will also be released on iTunes, DVD and other VOD and SVOD services on August 27 — five weeks after its cable premiere.

As special features (available on DVD and iTunes), KOCH brings a never-before-seen short film, Witnesses NYC (also directed by Neil Barsky), featuring rare 1980s archival footage plus interviews with New Yorkers — graffiti artist, Wall Street trader, crack dealer, restaurateur, peepshow employee, artist/squatter and others — who lived through the Koch years.

In addition to this new short film, audiences will be able to watch Koch’s final public appearance (at a Q&A at the New York Jewish Film Festival; 17 min) as well as a 35-minute interview with director Neil Barsky conducted by filmmaker Ondi Timoner (Dig), for BYOD: Bring Your Own Doc (35 min).

Mr. Barsky’s intimate and revealing portrait of this intensely private man is also a fascinating account of the town he transformed, during three terms as mayor, from widespread crime and fiscal insolvency to the economic boom of the late 80s. This unique and multi-layered political saga now stands as an rare account of a man still considered to be the quintessential New Yorker — as well as an outstanding American politician.

Covering the tumult of his three-term runs as mayor, including a fiercely competitive 1977 election where Mr. Koch’s sexual orientation became a campaign issue (with the appearance of placards, disavowed by the Cuomo campaign, with the slogan ‘Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo’), Neil Barsky’s documentary doesn’t shy away from difficult issues and questions. The film covers thee infamous 1980 transit strike; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing renewal initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal, among many other political and personal moments of Koch’s life.

Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, KOCH thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city in a time of upheaval and reinvention.

More than one hour of special features, including:
• HD transfer, enhanced for widescreen viewing
• Witnesses NYC: A new film by director Neil Barsky, featuring more extraordinary 1980s archival footage plus interviews with New Yorkers—a graffiti artist, a Wall Street executive, a crack dealer, a restaurateur, a peepshow employee, an activist/urban gardener and others—who lived though the Koch years (29 min).
• Director interview by filmmaker Ondi Timoner (Dig), for BYOD: Bring Your Own Doc (35 min)
• Ed Koch Q&A at the New York Jewish Film Festival, his final public appearance (17 min)
• Original theatrical trailer
• 5.1 and stereo soundtracks
• Optional subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired (SDH)

Press Release: Actors Added to English-Language Voice Cast for “Wrinkles”

GEORGE COE, MATTHEW MODINE and MARTIN SHEEN JOIN THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE VOICE CAST FOR “WRINKLES”

FILM TO BE RELEASED THIS WINTER VIA THEATRICAL, VOD, DIGITAL, DVD/BLU-RAY

New York, NY – July 11, 2013 – GKIDS, a distributor of award-winning animation for both adult and family audiences, has announced the English voice cast for WRINKLES, the Spanish animated film directed by Ignacio Ferreras and based on Paco Roca’s award-winning graphic novel. The English voice cast includes George Coe (Archer, Kramer vs. Kramer), Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises, Full Metal Jacket) and Martin Sheen (The Amazing Spider-Man, The West Wing). Recording is complete and US theatrical release is set for early 2014. The GKIDS-produced dub will be available in all English-language foreign territories, with Marina Fuentes at Six Sales handling international sales.

WRINKLES illustrates the visual beauty and tender emotion that can be created by traditional animation, as it tackles a universal subject matter with humor and acerbic wit. The story opens with former bank manager Emilio being dispatched to a retirement home by his family. His new roommate is a wily, wheeler-dealer named Miguel, who cheerfully swindles small amounts of cash from the more befuddled residents but is also full of handy insider tips that are crucial to survival. Like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in an old folks home, we are introduced to daily pill regimens, electric gates, and an eccentric cast of characters who rebel against institutional authority, while doing everything in their power to avoid being assigned to the dreaded top floor assisted living wing – a dwelling place for lost souls from which there is no return. The hand-drawn animation style allows the film to move freely between the reality-bound daily lives of the ‘inmates’ and their more colorful dementia-induced fantasies, leaving plenty of room for both tears and laughter and pulling no punches in its critique of society’s attitude towards the elderly.