News

August 23, 2011 - [ IndieWIRE ]

Maryam Keshavarz’s Sundance dramatic audience award-winner Circumstance will hit theaters this weekend via Roadside Attractions and Participant. It’s one of those movies where the story of getting it made is as compelling as the film itself. The lesbian romance deals with Iran’s underground youth culture, teenage girls who adore loud music and each other, and drug use. Filming in Iran wasn’t an option, and shooting in Beirut had its own hurdles. Producer Karin Chien tells the NYT that it was the most challenging shoot in her career:

“The political terrain was constantly shifting while we were there,..We went in thinking that explicit sexuality was the thing we were going to have to work around most, but it was the Iranian content, the fact that this was set in Iran, that we had to downplay.”

August 23, 2011 - [ Variety ]

Saturday's fundraiser at the Sagaponack home of Susan Bruden not only raised coin for United Way but gave partygoers a sneak peek at the new docu "Hungry in America," produced by Participant Media and Ryan Harrington.

Julianne Moore co-hosted the evening garden party, dubbed "What's on the Table," with "Top Chef's" Tom Colicchio and his wife, Lori Silverbush, who co-directed the docu with Kristi Jacobson.

August 21, 2011 - [ The Associated Press ]

LOS ANGELES -- "The Help" continues to clean up at the box office, taking over the No. 1 spot with $20.5 million in its second weekend.

The DreamWorks Pictures film starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer in a drama about Southern black maids had debuted in second-place a week earlier. "The Help" raised its domestic total to $71.8 million and bumped 20th Century Fox's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," which slipped to No. 2 with $16.3 million after two weekends at the top, according to studio estimates Sunday.

August 21, 2011 - [ The New York Times ]

SHORTLY before she began shooting the film “Circumstance,” her first experience in front of a camera, the law student and soon-to-be actress Sarah Kazemy flew from her home in France to visit relatives in Iran. She anticipated that the movie, which focuses on the lesbian romance of two Tehran teenagers rebelling against a puritanical Islamic theocracy, would make it difficult for her to return there for the foreseeable future, and she wanted to say her farewells to people and a country that she loves.

“I’m proud that this movie shows a bit of the underground life there,” even if it offends the mullahs, “because people have no idea that such a thing even exists, and it’s bigger than what you can imagine,” Ms. Kazemy said during a recent interview in Manhattan. “I used to go to Iran every summer until I was 17,” she added, “so I had to go there one last time.”

August 19, 2011 - [ The Globe and Mail ]

A roundup of documentaries the Globe's Guy Dixon looks forward to seeing at TIFF

Last Call at the Oasis

Oscar-winning director Jessica Yu's look at the global water crisis will undoubtedly be this year's Waiting For "Superman," in other words, the documentary likely to generate the most press and which everyone will have seen.

August 17, 2011 - [ The New Republic ]

'The Help' Isn’t Racist. Its Critics Are.

In the week since its release, The Help, a movie telling the story of a group of black maids in the South in the early 1960s, has been derided repeatedly in blog posts and reviews as a lazy collection of racist tropes, an irredeemable expression of naive bigotry. In an article in the New York Times, film critic Nelson George condemns the filmmakers for failing to properly “come to terms” with America’s racist past. In her review, the University of Georgia’s Valerie Boyd simply called The Help “a feel-good movie for a cowardly nation.”

August 16, 2011 - [ NPR Morning Edition ]

Brent Haddad studies water in a place where water is often in short supply: California.
 
Haddad is a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. About 14 years ago, he became very interested in the issue of water reuse.
 
At the time, a number of California's local water agencies were proposing a different approach to the state's perennial water problems. They wanted to build plants that would clean local wastewater — aka sewage water — and after that cleaning, make it available as drinking water. But, says Haddad, these proposals were consistently shot down by an unwilling public.

August 14, 2011 - [ The Los Angeles Times ]

'The Help' is middlebrow? So be it. Count me in.

Time and again, critics dismiss well-made, issue-based movies. A fellow critic appeals to them to champion these humane, emotionally satisfying films.

If it had been released 50 years ago, "The Help" (which opened Wednesday) would have been the cinematic event of the summer. It has all the elements that once guaranteed critical hosannas. It's based on a beloved, bestselling novel and has a high-class cast that includes several award-winning actresses (Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek, Cicely Tyson, Mary Steenburgen) along with ingratiating newcomers (Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer). And it tackles a socially momentous theme: the relationship between white women and their black maids in the segregated South during the early days of the civil rights movement. Yet quite a few of the reviews have been lukewarm, which proves how drastically times have changed.

August 10, 2011 - [ Deadline Hollywood ]

The DreamWorks pic based on the bestselling book could hit $30M for its first 5 days but will certainly make the $25M which distributor Disney is predicting with its 'A+' CinemaScore despite a crowded weekend coming. My sources say Wednesday's opening take is ranging from $5.5M to a high of $6M from 2,511 theaters. Now the question is exactly how frontloaded The Help turns out and how many more loyal readers flock to theaters after Day One. Then again the book sold 3 million copies and remained on the NYT best-seller list for 103 weeks. According to comps, these so-called appointment films for women based on popular books usually perform in the $20sM. For instance Eat Pray Love did $23M for Friday-Saturday-Sunday the same August weekend last year and its first 5 days was $29M. Julie and Julia also hit $20M.

August 9, 2011 - [ IndieWIRE ]

Steven Soderbergh‘s Contagion is just a couple of weeks away from strutting its stuff down the red carpet in Venice and one month from opening in a theater near you, so get ready to be infected by Warner Bros.’ marketing department.

After a poster, a trailer and a couple of TV spots, six brand new character-based one sheets and a couple of new stills from the film have arrived and if there is a prevailing message here it’s this: don’t get sick. Coated with sickly, phlegmy, yellowish sheen, the posters certainly don’t hold back on the ick factor and that seems to be a key factor to the campaign in getting asses in the seats for this one.

August 9, 2011 - [ Hollywood Reporter ]

Director Maryam Keshavarz left Iran after her film was banned.

Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner Circumstance was lauded again Sunday night as it won the Audience Award, Best Director and Best Actress at the Fourth Annual Noor Iranian Film Festival, held on the UCLA campus.

Navid Negahban won Best Actor for his role in the short film Liberation, by director Michael Younesi, with Nikohl Boosheri winning for Circumstance. In all, 25 awards were given out at the ceremony at UCLA's James Bridges Theater.

August 8, 2011 - [ The New York Times ]

Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Debt Downgrade. Double dip.

Are you ready for “Contagion”?

In a year that has seen its share of troubles, Warner Brothers will soon open a film that is sure to expand the pool of worry and scare moviegoers into seeing that guy with a persistent cough in the next seat as, just possibly, the beginning of the end.

“Contagion,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, is to be released on Sept. 9 — the 10th-anniversary weekend of 9/11. In the style of his drug-wars drama from 2000, “Traffic,” a best-picture nominee, “Contagion” follows the converging story lines of characters played by Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle and others, as they fight or fall victim to one of the few problems we have not faced (so far) this year: a deadly flu pandemic.

August 8, 2011 - [ Daily Candy ]

Visual, lustful, and tasteful, Maryam Keshavarz’s debut feature gives new meaning to girls just wanna have fun. Sixteen-year-old Iranian lookers Shireen and Atafeh keep their mad love for one another secret as they dabble in rebellion and lip-synch to “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Haunted by arranged marriage and a Muslim voyeur, the two dream of moving to Dubai, where they’ll be able to reveal what’s behind the curtain, or, rather, head scarf.

August 6, 2011 - [ Los Angeles Times ]

In the minutes leading up to the student storytelling performance Thursday at the Colburn School, Zoe Lateju didn't know whether she had it in her. She already had been working on her prose with one nonprofit that helps girls and young women with their writing. And she had spent four days with coaches from the Moth, the nonprofit organization that promotes storytelling, learning how to talk about a racially charged incident in one of her classrooms.

But the 20-year-old didn't know whether she could get up in front of all those people. Her distress was a part of the drama beneath the drama — watching everyday people tell everyday stories, with nothing more than their memories and a microphone — that can turn out to be extraordinary. That's the formula that has turned the Moth, now in its second decade, from a sensation into something of an institution.

August 4, 2011 - [ Newsday ]

Viola Davis had some reservations about appearing in The Help. They started with the title.

"People have very strong ideas about black women playing maids," said the Oscar-nominated actress. "Playing a maid in 2011 -- there's a lot of stigma attached to it. And I didn't want to play into any of that."

"That" has been a huge part of the Help phenomenon since Kathryn Stockett's bestseller-to-be appeared in bookstores in 2009. Many people loved its story of black maids and white well-to-do women finding common ground in 1961 Mississippi; some found it another example of the paler folk co-opting the black experience. Which leads to Davis' other problem.

August 3, 2011 - [ Hollywood Reporter ]

TORONTO -- The Blair Witch Project writer/director Eduardo Sanchez' latest movie, Japanese cult director Katsuhito Ishii’s Smuggler and a Bobcat Goldthwait drama are set to screen as part of the Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness sidebar, organizers said Wednesday.

Adding to Toronto's star wattage, Goldthwait is bringing God Bless America -- about a jobless middle aged man who pursues spoiled teenagers with a gun -- to Toronto for a world premiere

August 2, 2011 - [ indieWIRE ]

There’s a whopping 25 films listed on indieWIRE’s August calendar. From an apocalyptic love story to the best race-car driver who ever lived, check out indieWIRE‘s picks for the seven best options, and then check out the full calendar or iW’s summer movie preview; there’s many worthy films that didn’t make this list.

1. Circumstance (August 26; Roadside Attractions)

What’s The Deal? From first time Iranian-American filmmaker Maryam Keshavarz, “Circumstance” takes on culture wars in contemporary Iran through the story of a wealthy family that struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession.

The Beaver Wins A Voice Award

August 2, 2011 - [ The Voice Awards ]

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEAVER!  
We are pleased to announce that The Beaver has been chosen by a select panel of entertainment industry and mental health professionals as a 2011 Voice Award winner.

The Voice Awards are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA, in conjunction with several national organizations, including the Writers Guild of America West, the Creative Coalition and the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors.  The Awards recognize entertainment programming for its contribution to mental health understanding. Past award ceremonies, covered by the Daily Variety, Entertainment Tonight, the LA Times and the New York Times among other media outlets, were attended by several hundred leaders in both the entertainment and mental health communities.  Pictures from last year's Awards Ceremony can be found at: http://www.whatadifference.samhsa.gov/voiceawards/2010event.html

This year’s awards ceremony will take place August 24th at Paramount Studios.  

July 31, 2011 - [ Los Angeles Times ]

Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain sit down for a round-table discussion on the film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestseller.

A period drama set amid the explosive racial politics of the 1960s South. An all-female ensemble cast. An inexperienced director.

It sounds like a recipe for a movie that would send studio executives running. Yet "The Help" — a complex tale of white women and their relationships with the black maids who clean their houses and care for their children — didn't just get made. Arriving in theaters Aug. 10, the DreamWorks film is vying for the attention of audiences more interested in substantive fare as Hollywood begins to shake off the popcorn movies of summer.

July 29, 2011 - [ 2011 NewFest Awards ]

Below is the full list of winners:

JURY AWARDS
NARRATIVE FEATURES

BEST FILM
Circumstance, director: Maryam Keshavarz

BEST PERFORMANCE
Zoe Heran, Tomboy