News

The third annual Les* Film Festival has been slated for June 13-23, 2013.  The festival, under the direction of Damon Cardasis, Shannon Walker, Tony Castle and Roxy Hunt, unveils the best of low-budget filmmaking from around the world at its location on the Lower East Side. In addition to screening films, the 2013 festival will also showcase live music for the first time. The past two Les* Film Festivals have welcomed judges and participants such as actress Susan Sarandon, NYC performance artist Justin Bond, actor Willem Dafoe, filmmaker and actor Jon Heder and NYC filmmaker and photographer Harvey Wang. Submissions are now open for the 2013 Les* Film Festival at www.lesfilmfestival.com.  Les Intro Video from Bfd Productions, LLC on Vimeo.

The Les Film Festival, which will run March 6-18 in Manhattan, has announced its 2012 lineup with films starring Dolly Parton, Dustin Lance Black, Olivia Munn and Lizzy Caplan. The festival also features an expanded list of Lower East Side venues and a jury that includes Susan Sarandon and photigrapher-filmmaker Harvey Wang. Opening Les 2012 is Matthew Petock’s “A Little Closer.” The festival also includes a special screening of “4:44 Last Day on Earth,” with star Willem Dafoe and director Abel Ferrara in attendance. Screenings of all kinds will be held at both the Sunshine Cinema and the Crosby Street Hotel in addition to the Grand Opening storefront area that served as the central location for last year’s festival. In addition to a Best Feature prize, the jury will award short films in three different categories: Dramatic, Comedic and Documentary. Over 40 shorts are eligible for recognition. The full release follows:...

A look at what's new on DVD this week:

"Fubar: Balls to the Wall"

Directed by Michael Dowse

Released by Screen Media Films

Following up the 2002 cult comedy about lifelong metalhead pals Terry and Dean, this sequel, which recently premiered to much acclaim at SXSW, finds the duo down on their luck when they decide to head up north to work in the oil industry, but when their best laid plans go awry, Dean attempts to get on worker's comp, leading to the kind of exploits best enjoyed with a cold beer.

"Born to Raise Hell" (2011)

Directed by Darren Shahlavi

Released by Paramount

Steven Seagal not only stars as an Interpol agent named Samuel Axel in this Dtv thriller, but also wrote the script, so you know it has to be good. In it, Axel must bring down a gun trafficking ring in the Balkans where the stakes become personal...

Fans of Ewan McGregor, Kristen Stewart and James Van Der Beek (!) will be seeing double this spring, as arthouses and multiplexes host an array of indie films ranging from the travails of septuagenarian New Yorkers looking for love ("The Last New Yorker") to 13-year-old assassins on the hunt for their first kill ("Kick-Ass"). If real life is more your speed, there are new documentaries about reviving animation strips (the Disney doc "Waking Sleeping Beauty") and stripping down (the burlesque history "Behind the Burly Q"), while foreign wonders like the French crime epics "A Prophet" and "Mesrine" mix with Korean treasures "Mother" and "The Good, The Bad and The Weird."

But of course, why limit yourself to just what's playing in the first-run theater near you? We've also included a look at the films that will be playing Anywhere But a Movie Theater (online, on demand, and on DVD) in the next few months,...