News

The 8th Annual Blue Jacket Fashion Show will continue to elevate prostate cancer awareness, as stars hit the runway on Thursday, February 1, 2024, at Moonlight Studios in New York City.

Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, the show benefits nonprofit advocacy group Zero Prostate Cancer and its efforts to raise awareness and funding to support the prostate cancer community and to improve early detection and reduce mortality. The show will be streamed live directly on ZeroCancer.org.

The Blue Jacket Fashion Show, founded by fashion designer Frederick Anderson along with Laura Miller, brings together top celebrities and media to engage in a national conversation about men’s health and prostate cancer awareness. The runway show has become an official kickoff for February Nyfw and National Cancer Prevention Month.

Event participants will include Billy Porter, Young Paris, Luis A. Miranda, Jr., Tony Award-winner J. Harrison Ghee, Wilson Cruz, Marcus Samuelsson, Don Lemon, Nigel Barker,...

And so the “life-changing cab ride” sub-genre expands with Driving Madeleine, directed by Christian Carion and starring Line Renaud and Dany Boon. One likes to imagine this new film exists in the same universe as all of the rest. Somewhere in Atlanta, Morgan Freeman drives Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy) and gets a handle on prejudice. Meanwhile, Winona Ryder and Gene Rowlands (Night on Earth) have reunited in Los Angeles. Elsewhere in the City of Angels, Tom Cruise has just stepped into Jamie Foxx’s car (Collateral). Finally, in North Carolina, Souléymane Sy Savané and Red West (Goodbye Solo) carry on a gentle conversation.

Carion often trades in sentimentality (see his Joyeux Noël), and Driving Madeleine is as sentimental as it gets. Cab driver Charles (Boon) is in a bad situation. His marriage is strained, he has debts he cannot pay, and he’s one traffic stop away from losing his license.

Pay attention to Marie’s hands in Ellie Foumbi’s spiky directorial debut Our Father, the Devil. They often reveal more about the steely protagonist than her facial expressions. There’s a method to the way she grips a carrot with one hand and cradles a stainless-steel knife in the other. Her movements are swift, precise and rhythmic. She brings a similar energy to cutting a loaf of bread, brandishing a switchblade and cleaving into flesh.

“The human body doesn’t bother me,” Marie, played by an excellent Babetida Sadjo, says to her favorite nursing home resident, Jeanne (Martine Amisse), at the start of the film. Her lips curl into a rare and generous smile. Why does her benign response to a throwaway sentiment about old age spook like a damning confession?

Our Father, the Devil is a cannily constructed study of trauma and a seductive character study. After its...

If there’s one sin in criticism that many writers––myself included––fall victim to at one point or another, it’s assessing a film’s narrative by comparing it to the one they wish they saw. Our Father, The Devil, the directorial debut of Cameroonian filmmaker Ellie Foumbi, is the kind of intriguing but flawed effort that may leave some viewers wishing to sand down its rougher edges, especially as its initial slow-burning character study transforms into a moodier, altogether more conventional kidnapping thriller. A surprise nominee for Best Feature at last year’s Indie Spirit Awards, not least because it remained almost entirely under the radar within the festival circuit, it is an effective calling card for Foumbi, showcasing a talented new filmmaker equally at home making a restrained drama as she is a splashy, violent genre effort.

That these starkly different tones don’t cohere into an...

Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil is an exceptionally haunting, masterful film. A highlight from both Venice (a Biennale College Cinema selection) and this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, this tour-de-force is destined for indie awards recognition.

Part psychological thriller, part spiritual journey, part cathartic experience, Our Father defies characterization. Foumbi’s script follows the entanglement of two African refugees, Marie (mesmerizing Babetida Sadjo) and Father Patrick (otherworldly Souleymane Sy Savane); despite an unspoken connection to a bloody past, they’ve built new lives in a tranquil French mountain town. A study in contrasts, the film poses profound questions: Where to draw the line between past and present, fear and faith, guilt and forgiveness, the Devil and God?…...

There are no atheists in foxholes and — generally speaking — there are no grifters in gimp bondage. Critics of contemporary Christianity are quick to point out that sects of the faith are filled with so-called “priests” who lie, scam, embezzle, and abuse their followers in the name of enriching themselves. But tie one of them up and threaten to kill him and you’ll see his true nature revealed. Anyone who keeps preaching their Biblical virtues when their physical safety is on the line is probably sincere about it.

That uncomfortable fact becomes apparent to Marie (Babetida Sadjo) when she kidnaps the man who haunts her dreams in “Our Father, the Devil.” Despite a brutal childhood in war-torn Africa, Marie has built a respectable life for herself as the head chef at an upscale French nursing home. But when the seemingly perfect Father Patrick (Souléymane Sy Savané) arrives and starts preaching to her affluent residents,...

Among this year’s Film Independent Spirt Award nominations for Best Feature were “Bones and All,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “TÁR,” “Women Talking,” and an under-the-radar, France-set thriller about an African refugee facing her past.

The film didn’t win given the stiff competition, but it was a worthy inclusion for its powerful portrait of a woman (Babetida Sadjo) grappling with terrifying events from her homeland that still haunt her now — and the introduction of a priest into her life who reactivates her trauma.

Written and directed by Ellie Foumbi, “Our Father, the Devil” will be released by Fandor and Cineverse in select theaters, including the Quad Cinema in New York City on August 25, and the Laemmle Royal in West Los Angeles on September 1. Watch the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.

Per a synopsis, the film stars a riveting Sadjo as Marie, the head chef at a retirement home in small-town France.

Exclusive: Venice Film Festival, Netflix and The Gotham Film & Media Institute are teaming up on a program of movies at iconic New York venue, the Paris Theater. Scroll down for program lineup in full.

Titled Venice Film Festival Presents: Next Generation, the four day event (April 20-23) will showcase films from the first ten years of La Biennale di Venezia’s Biennale College Cinema.

Screenings will be accompanied by in-depth discussions pairing new filmmakers with established directors, producers, and writers. The opening night will feature a screening of mystery-thriller Our Father, The Devil with remarks from Venice Director Alberto Barbera and Head of Programme Savina Neirotti. Indie Spirit winner Nikyatu Jusu, whose Sundance film Nanny was picked up by Amazon and Blumhouse, will serve as moderator for the opening night discussion with director Ellie Foumbi.

Biennale College Cinema is an incubator program for low-budget films by emerging filmmakers. Among...

Babetida Sadjo in Our Father, The Devil

Featuring one of the most powerful central performances of the past year, Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, The Devil, which is screening at the 2023 Glasgow Film Festival, is the story of a refugee whose quiet life working in a care home in France is thrown into chaos by the unexpected arrival of a man who may have ties to her past. Babetida Sadjo shines as Marie, a woman struggling under the weight of awful secrets, while Souleymane Sy Savane plays Father Patrick, the priest who, one way or another, holds the key to her future.

Having fallen in love with the film when I first saw it, I was delighted to have the chance to chat to Ellie. I told her that I always find it strange the way that people expect refugees who have been through awful things to just be magically okay.

This week in New York City, the Blue Jacket Fashion Show founded by fashion designer Frederick Anderson and marketer, Laura Miller, united the worlds of fashion, entertainment, sports, and healthcare to drive an open dialogue about the impact of prostate cancer.

Bill Nye and Don Lemon at Blue Jacket Fashion Show

Now in its seventh year, the fashion show featured notables including Mario Cantone, Andy Karl, Alex Lundqvist, Bill Nye, Carlos Greer, Clinton Lord, Dominic Fumusa, Don Lemon, Don Hood, Dr. Bradley Schaeffer, Dr. Evan Goldfischer, Dr. Ash Tewari, Eric West, Frank Dilella, James Aguiar, James Andrew, Kris Bennett, Les Trent, London Brown, Louis Finley, Marcus Samuelsson, Mike Woods, Musa Jackson, Nigel Barker, Omar Hernandez, Richard Thomas, Souleymane Sy Savane, Ty-Ron Mayes, Tyrone Brewer and Young Paris modeled the reimagined traditional “blue jacket” down the runway by designers including Arjona Collection, Ben Sherman, Bruno Magli Collezione, Cad & The Dandy,...

Enacted during Prohibition—and the Harlem Renaissance—the New York City Cabaret Law made it so any public establishment that served food and/or drink needed a license to allow musical entertainment and dancing. Like so many similar laws (see pushes for voter ID), proponents championed the initiative as a means of “keeping the peace.” Critics conversely saw how the extra cost and sheer absurdity of its enforcement targeted businesses that were owned and frequented by marginalized groups. And since that law stayed on the books for almost a full century from 1926 to 2017, you can imagine the atmosphere of celebration born from its rescission. It was surely enough to earn a cinematic tribute, and writer/director Christina Kallas complies with Paris is in Harlem.

More than a fictionalized account of that moment, however, Kallas’ film looks to piggyback on the scene that was affected most: jazz clubs. She channels the...

A singular new voice born in Cameroon and based in New York, Ellie Foumbi is set to shine on the international scene at the Venice Film Festival, where her feature debut, “Our Father, the Devil,” will be presented as part of the Biennale College-Cinema section. Foumbi, who is represented by UTA, is the second Black female helmer to be selected in the festival’s history, following Regina King’s feature debut “One Night in Miami” in 2020.

A redemption tale weaving drama and psychological thriller, Foumbi’s film follows Marie, a reclusive African refugee (Babetida Sadjo) whose quiet existence in a sleepy mountain village in the south of France is overturned when she meets the charismatic new parish priest (Souleymane Sy Savane), who happens to be the warlord that slaughtered her family and recruited her as a child.

Through her protagonist’s journey, Foumbi sheds light on the lesser-known issue of...

Writer and director Ramin Bahrani returns to the Independent Spirit Awards with “The White Tiger,.” This Netflix film just earned a Best Actor nomination for Adarsh Gourav. The multi-hyphenate Bahrani also adapted Aravind Adiga‘s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name.

“The White Tiger” tells the story of Balram Halwai (Gourav), a young boy from a low Indian caste whose wit and intellect gives promise to a future of upward mobility. After his father’s death he’s forced to remain in his village and take a job in the tea house just to help ends meet for his family. But, determined to escape the trappings of life at the bottom of Indian society, Balram, called a “once in a lifetime white tiger” by a teacher, sets off to Delhi with a plan to be a driver for a wealthy man’s son. When life in the big city...

A new discovery is always welcomed in Hollywood, and breakout star Adarsh Gourav makes his presence well known in Netflix’s “The White Tiger.” Written and directed by acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani, the ambitious and intriguing tale is likely to draw lazy comparisons to Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire,” due to mere geographic location. Much darker with a more dense narrative, the film likely won’t have the same awards traction as the 2008 Oscar sweeper.

The film tells the story of Balram Halwai (Gourav), an Indian driver who uses his wit and cunning ways to make his rise from poor villager to successful entrepreneur in modern India.

In a year where Netflix has packed its awards arsenal with an eclectic showcase of films from a diverse set of filmmakers, Academy voters and guild members could find certain elements attractive, most prominently Gourav. His finding is sure to be praised...

"You don't have to be scared of mommy." In a near future New York City, Black Vampires walk amongst us. Suicide by Sunlight is an impressive short film made by up-and-coming filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu, and it originally premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival last year. It's finally online to watch in full - all 17 minutes of it and it's worth just a bit of your time to view. Valentina, a day-walking Black vampire protected from the sun by her melanin, finds it difficult to suppress her bloodlust when a new woman is introduced to her estranged twin daughters. This stars Natalie Paul as Valentina, with a cast including Teren Carter, Motell Gyn Foster, Ellie Foumbi, and Souleymane Sy Savane. The filmmaker has been earning tons of buzz for years for her shorts, and this yet again proves that she has a knack for fresh, vibrant storytelling. Thanks to Short of...

It's not long now before AFI Fest 2019 kicks off on November 14th, so details on the genre films set to be screened at the festival have been announced. Also in today's Horror Highlights: The Addams Family Halloween screenings, Gibson's Behind the Board interview with A Nightmare on Elm Street composer Charles Bernstein, a look at the short film Bienvenue, Cavitycolors' Halloween: H20 and Halloween: Resurrection apparel, and the poster for Black Wood.

Lineup Revealed for AFI Fest 2019: "AFI Fest 2019 presented by Audi, the American Film Institute’s annual celebration of cinema, will take place Thursday, November 14 – Thursday, November 21 in the heart of Hollywood.

Tickets can be purchased starting October 30 at https://fest.afi.com/tickets/

Bacurau – World Cinema

The inhabitants of a remote Brazilian village realize that their town has been erased from the map. When the water supply is cut, cell-phone coverage fades and a local family is murdered,...

The Orchard has released the first trailer for I Love You Daddy, which marks comedian Louis C.K.'s first directorial outing in 16 years, since 2001's Pootie Tang. I Love You Daddy was shot in secret earlier this year, with fans first getting word of this project when it was announced as part of the lineup at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Along with the trailer, The Orchard has released the first poster while setting the film for a limited release on November 17, before it expands nationwide on December 1.

Louis C.K.'s I Love You, Daddy is a bittersweet comedy about successful TV writer/producer Glen Topher (C.K.), who panics when his spoiled 17-year-old daughter China (Chloe Grace Moretz) starts spending time with 68-year-old Leslie Goodwin (John Malkovich), a legendary film director with a reputation for dating underage girls.

Hesitant to say no to his daughter, an action...

Film premiered in competition at SXSW under original title Dara Ju.

Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films have secured North American rights to first-time filmmaker Anthony Onah’s drama The Price.

The story centres on a young Nigerian-American working on Wall Street who is forced to confront himself after his ambition leads him into morally dubious waters.

Aml Ameen, Lucy Griffiths, Bill Sage and Hope Olaide Wilson star alongside Michael Hyatt, Peter Vack, and Souléymane Sy Savané.

Onah also wrote the screenplay for The Price based on his short film Dara Ju. The film premiered in competition SXSW earlier this year.

Justin Begnaud, Kishori Rajan and Onah produced the film, while Tom Dolby, Susanne Filkins, Abdi Nazemian and Lynda Weinman served as executive producers.

Jennifer 8 Lee, Greg Brockman, Peter Hess Friedland, Aston Motes, and Daniel Davila also served as executive producers.

“We are very excited to be working on Anthony Onah’s feature debut. The Price is...

The movies are becoming an increasingly vital source for stories about black life in America, but a film like “Dara Ju” is a valuable reminder that the medium is still just beginning to scratch the surface. Of course, white audiences, whom the western arts have conditioned to perceive race in largely monolithic terms, are the only ones who need reminding; the rest require only fair representation. Despite its clumsiness and its steadily increasing penchant for clichés, Anthony Onah’s debut feature has something to offer for both demographics. By respecting the specificity of a character who has seldom appeared on screen, its best moments provide a compellingly lucid testament to the idea that living in this country is a never-ending negotiation between who you are and who you might become. Some Americans have the luxury of ignoring that, of going through the motions on auto-pilot. Seyi Ogunde (Aml Ameen) is not one of those Americans.

After drawing attention to the festival’s annual Gaming Awards, organizers behind the South by Southwest Film Festival have posted the full, comprehensive lineup, revealing that the likes of Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver and Free Fire, the riotous ensemble thriller from Ben Wheatley, are among those films that will screen for critics and attendees.

Per SXSW 2017‘s website, this year’s showcase will host “84 World Premieres, 11 North American Premieres, and 6 Us Premieres. First-time filmmakers account for 51 films, continuing our tradition of unearthing the emergent talent of tomorrow.” British auteur Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England) is a regular of the Texas festival, and will be rubbing shoulders with other favorites including Michael Winterbottom, Nacho Vigalondo, Michael Showalter.

SXSW 2017 begins on March 10th in Austin, Texas and you can get up to speed on everything the festival has to offer down below.

Narrative Feature Competition

A Bad Idea Gone Wrong...

Chicago – Ira Sachs’ intimate “Keep the Lights On” is about the intersection of love and addiction and how the two can rarely exist in the same relationship. It is reportedly at least semi-autobiographical and the film undeniably has the feeling of memory, both in its emotional honesty and its episodic nature. It is a film in which we see snapshots of a long-term love affair that seems doomed from the start. The raw truth of much of it is strong enough to make the sometimes frustrating structure forgivable.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

One man meets another for a casual sex encounter, after which the closeted of the two says, “I have a girlfriend, by the way. So, don’t get your hope up.” It probably should have ended there. But it doesn’t. Erik (Thure Lindhardt) is a documentary filmmaker who seems to lack a lot of focus in his life, something his...

Machine Gun Preacher Contest Giveaway Sweepstakes. This Machine Gun Preacher Blu-ray contest, giveaway, sweepstakes illustrates Machine Gun Preacher‘s release on DVD and Blu-ray on June 5, 2012. Marc Forster‘s Machine Gun Preacher stars Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, and Michael Shannon, Souleymane Sy Savane, Inga R. Wilson, Justin Michael Brandt,Brett Wagner, Corey Large, Judy Stepanian, Richard Goteri, Peter Carey, and Barbara Coven. Machine Gun Preacher‘ plot synopsis: “Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true [...]

Continue reading: Contest: Machine Gun Preacher (2011) Blu-ray: Gerard Butler...

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in East Africa. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease, and enslavement, Machine Gun Preacher is directed by Marc Forster (World War Z ) and also stars Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, Academy Award nominated Michael Shannon, and Souleymane Sy Savane.

We have an exclusive featurette the Machine Gun Preacher Blu-ray, in stores today, June 5th, which finds Marc Forster revealing how he got involved in this captivating project. Watch as the story of Sam Childers goes from the page to the big screen.

Machine Gun Preacher - Exclusive Featurette

Machine Gun Preacher Blu-ray is available in stores now.

Machine Gun Preacher was released September 23rd,...

Gerard Butler (300) delivers a blazing performance as Sam Childers, the impassioned biker and ex-criminal turned crusader in Machine Gun Preacher from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. From Golden Globe nominated director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball), Machine Gun Preacher is the moving true-life story of discovery and redemption as Sam Childers takes up the fights for the children of East Africa and their freedom from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (Lra).

An Official Selection at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and featuring the Grammy and Golden Globe nominated song "The Keeper" by Chris Cornell, Machine Gun Preacher is complete with special features and commentary on the must-own Blu-ray and DVD on June 5th.

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Childers (Butler), a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in East Africa.

A solid film that unfortunately didn’t win over most critics (but fared substantially better with audiences), Machine Gun Preacher is coming your way on June 5th. Though the full list of bonuses isn’t available, it promises and commentary track, and depending on who delivers, that may turn out as interesting as the feature itself. Mark your calendars.

Gerard Butler Stars In The True Story Of One Man’S Mission To Save The Children From Joseph Kony’S Lord’S Resistance Army

Meet the Real Sam Childers, Founder of the Angels of East Africa, On Blu-ray and DVD June 5th

Gerard Butler (300) delivers a blazing performance as Sam Childers, the impassioned biker and ex-criminal turned crusader in Machine Gun Preacher from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. From Golden Globe® nominated director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball), Machine Gun Preacher is the moving true-life story of discovery and redemption as...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, handed out top honors to The Artist, The Descendants and Margin Call at this afternoon’s 27th Film Independent Spirit Awards. My Week With Marilyn, Beginners, 50/50, A Separation and The Interrupters also received awards at the ceremony, held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

Tune in to IFC tonight at 10:00 pm Et/Pt to catch all the action at the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards, with actor, writer and producer Seth Rogen hosting. Highlights include: John Waters as the Voice of God, musical performances by My Morning Jacket and K’Naan.

The Spirit Awards was the first event to exclusively honor independent film, and over the past 27 years, has become the premier awards show for the independent film community, celebrating films made by filmmakers who embody independence and originality. Artists...

LIVEstyle And Fulcrum Group Announce .Axe Hair Media Lounge and Groom Room and Supper Club. At The 2012 Sundance Film Festival

New York-based entertainment agency LIVEstyle Entertainment, in partnership with Connecticut-basedFulcrum Group, is preparing to launch the 9th year and 37th major festival installation of its signature multi-day branded entertainment programs, the LIVEstyle Film Lounge, The Supper Club and Axe® Hair Media Lounge & Groom Room, located at 628 Park Ave in Park City, Utah. The venue and integrated programs will be an anchor destination for filmmakers, celebrities, global film and consumer media outlets, world-class chefs, independent and major studios and producers. Through this platform, sponsors Axe Hair; Issey Miyake.s new men.s fragrance L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Sport; Monster Energy Beverages; AriZona Beverages; hipswag.com; outdoor athletic products company Thule; IndieFlix.com; Pook Toque and official Festival sponsor Stella Artois will come face-to-face with the principal industry influencers, media,...

We shared the first stills last year, but now we have the first teaser for an promising upcoming Sundance in-competition drama Keep the Lights On. From director Ira Sachs (Married Life) the film stars Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane, Paprika Steen and is an “an autobiographically inspired story of a passionate long-term relationship between two men driven by addiction and secrets but bound by love and hopefulness.”

THR has the trailer below, along with an extended interview with the director who says, “I hope that people feel like they’ve gone through the journey of a long, deep, complex, troubled, rich, passionate relationship — that’s all I’m setting out to do.” Judging from this emotionally stirring teaser he is on the right track to succeed. I have yet to see last year’s indie hit Weekend, but this seems to cover similar territory with cross-over in style,...

Following up the initial announcement of titles, the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival revealed it will open with the period drama Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell My Queen) today. From director Benoît Jacquot, the drama stars Inglourious Basterds lead Diane Kruger, as well as Léa Seydoux who broke-out in Midnight in Paris and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol this year. Based on, Chantal Thomas’ novel we have the first stills of the film (from Lumiere via The Playlist) that follows the “first few days of the French Revolution from the perspective of the servants at Versailles.”

Kruger, who plays Marie Antoinette here, has only appeared in one big film following her post-Basterds role with Unknown, but I look forward to her future work, especially with this film. I thought Seydoux was great as an action villain in Ghotocol and excited to see her career rise. Check out the stills below,...

The Berlinale's announced today that 20 films are now lined up for its Panorama program. All in all, around 50 titles will make up the main program, Panorama Special and Panorama Dokumente.

10+10 by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wang Toon, Wu Nien-Jen, Sylvia Chang, Chen Guo-Fu, Wei Te-Sheng, Chung Meng-Hung, Chang Tso-Chi, Arvin Chen, Yang Ya-Che and others, Taiwan — see a full report from the Taipei Film Commission: "Funded by the Golden Horse Film Festival and the Republic of China Centenary Foundation, 10+10 [is] a movie comprised of 20 short films by 10 renowned and 10 emerging Taiwanese filmmakers."

Death For Sale by Faouzi Bensaïdi, France

With Fehd Benchemsi, Fouad Labiad, Mouhcine Malzi, Imane Elmechrafi, Faouzi Bensaïdi

Die Wand (The Wall) by Julian Roman Pölsler, Austria/Germany

With Martina Gedeck — Synopsis from The Match Factory: "(1.) The wall is a highly unusual exploration of solitude and survival. (2.) It is the story of a woman who is separated from the...

“Valley of Saints”, a love story set in Kashmir is all set to compete for the top award in the World Dramatics category of Sundance Film Festival 2012. The film, directed by an American filmmaker Musa Sayeed, had earlier won Film Independent and Sloan Foundation Producer’s Grant for the same films.

“Valley of Saints” is about a Kashmiri boatman Gulzar, who plans to run away from the war and poverty surrounding his village in Kashmir with his best friend, but a beautiful young woman researching the dying lake leads him to contemplate a different future. Sundance Film Festival announced its competition line up on November 30, 2011. Here is the complete lineup:- U.S. Dramatic Competition The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and...

There is a strong chance you are like me and haven’t heard of a single one of these films. Sundance 2012 announced their competition line-up and we have a first look at a trio of dramas. Could these be the next Take Shelter or Martha Marcy May Marlene? Check them out below and we’ll let you know when we hit Park City in January.

First up, above and below, is a hip-hop-drive drama Filly Brown from directors Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos. Starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Gina Rodriguez, Jenni Rivera and Edward James Olmos, it follows a “mexican girl who rises to fame and consciousness as she copes with the incarceration of her mother through music.”

Next up we have a drama titled Keep the Lights On, from director Ira Sachs (Married Life). Starring Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane and Paprika Steen, it is...

For Ellen, Luv, and the other competition films have been announced for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Film Festival is “a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States…the festival is the premier showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers.” For the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, “110 feature-length films were selected, representing 31 countries and 44 first-time filmmakers, including 26 in competition. These films were selected from 4,042 feature-length film submissions composed of 2,059 U.S. and 1,983 international feature-length films. 88 films at the Festival will be world premieres.”

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival will run from January 19, 2011 to January 29, 2011 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

The full listing of the competition films in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival are below.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Brittany Anderson, Dylan O'Brien, The First Time U.S. Dramatic Competition (Part I) The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films. Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry. The Comedy / U.S.A. (Director: Rick Alverson, Screenwriters: Rick Alverson, Robert Donne, Colm O'Leary) — Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father's estate, Swanson whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in small acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom. Cast: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen, Gregg Turkington. The End of Love / U.S.A. (Director...

With the announcement of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in-competition line-up comes a few hundred new images from the movies. After the jump you'll find synopses and the first images for Keep the Lights On (starring Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson), Safety Not Guaranteed (starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass), About the Pink Sky (starring Ai Ikeda), and The Last Elvis (starring John McInerny as an Elvis impersonator). The 2012 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 19–29th. Click here for all Sundance coverage, including images from the other films in the line-up. Keep the Lights On Keep the Lights On / U.S.A. (Director: Ira Sachs, Screenwriters: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias) — An autobiographically inspired story of a passionate long-term relationship between two men driven by addiction and secrets but bound by love and hopefulness. Cast: Thure Lindhardt, Zachary Booth, Julianne Nicholson, Souleymane Sy Savane, Paprika Steen. Safety Not Guaranteed Safety Not Guaranteed / U.

I love the Sundance Film Festival. The winners of the fest normally have long legs enough to last all the way until the Oscars. This year, for example, "Pariah" was one of the breakout hits from Sundance, and the Dee Rees coming-of-age flick is being distributed by Focus this month. Its star, Adepero Oduye, recently received the Best Female Lead nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards.

So now, Sundance has unveiled its in-competition slate for 2012 and the films, as always, are quite intriguing. The fest runs from Jan. 19th to the 29th in Park City, Utah. Check out the full list below:

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) . Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin. under,...

Park City, Ut – Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Film Festival will take place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The complete list of films is available at www.sundance.org/festival.

Robert Redford, Founder and President of Sundance Institute remarked, “We are, and always have been, a festival about the filmmakers. So what are they doing? What are they saying? They are making statements about the changing world we are living in. Some are straight-forward, some novel and some offbeat but always interesting. One can never predict. We know only at the end, and I love that.”

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, said, “In these challenging economic times, filmmakers have had to be more resourceful and truly independent in their approaches to filmmaking.

The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, the festival is a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The Festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators from outside the Hollywood system to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, paparazzi, and luxury lounges set up by companies that are not affiliated with Sundance.

Now the festival is getting ready for the 2012 edition and today they announced the films competing in all categories.

Here is the Sundance press release.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: The 2012 Sundance Film Festival unveiled the first wave of programming for its upcoming event, scheduled for Jan. 19-29, 2012. Multiple titles have been handpicked for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions. Additional programming announcements will come over the following week.

“We are, and always have been, a festival about the filmmakers. So what are they doing? What are they saying? They are making statements about the changing world we are living in. Some are straight-forward, some novel and some offbeat but always interesting. One can never predict. We know only at the end, and I love that,” said Robert Redford, Founder and President of Sundance Institute.

Information on the full slate of announced titles follows, directly from the Sundance press release. For more details, visit www.sundance.org/festival.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Every January, a little film festival called the Sundance Film Festival is held in Park City, Utah, and Sundance has officially announced the first half of this year’s Sundance 2012 competition line-up. This year 58 individual films are gunning for the top award in four different competition categories. The second half of the Sundance lineup will be introduced tomorrow. Some of the biggest names on this Sundance list includes Antonio Campos, Mark Webber, Ry Russo-Young and So Yong Kim. Check out the list below.

U.S. Dramatic Competition

The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Beasts of the Southern Wild / U.S.A. (Director: Benh Zeitlin, Screenwriters: Benh Zeitlin, Lucy Alibar) — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world.

Grab your ski jackets and swag bags and start warming up your eyeballs: the Sundance Film Festival is almost upon us. 2012's Sundance runs from January 19 to 29 in Park City, Utah, and today the fest announced their first wave of programming, 58 titles in the Us and World Dramatic and Documentary Competitions.

The slate so far includes plenty of familiar faces. Sundancers in 2012 will get the first crack at new movies from Antonio Campos ("Afterschool"), Kirby Dick ("This Film is Not Yet Rated"), Ira Sachs ("Forty Shades of Blue"), and Mark Webber ("Explicit Ills"). I'm also intrigued by "Nobody Walks" from "You Won't Miss Me" director Ry Russo-Young and "Tiny Furniture" director Lena Dunham (Russo-Young directed, the two co-wrote the screenplay) and a cast that includes John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby, and Rosemarie DeWitt. Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass star in "Safety Not Guaranteed" about "a trio of magazine employees investigating a...

Going to the Sundance Film Festival is one of my favorite movie events of the year, and I'm excited for what they have going on for 2012. I just love hanging around in cold snowy weather and watching movies all day. Today the 2012 Sundance Film Festival has announced its line-up for competition films. These are all the films eligible for awards, and you most likely haven't heard of any of them. Each film has a little description next to it. The festival will take place January 19th to the 29th.

Check out the press release and full list of movies below and tell us what you think! Will you be attending the festival?

Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Film Festival will take place January 19 through 29 in Park City,...

Snow is falling, the temperature is dropping, movies are getting better. Some might say it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas but I say it's beginning to look a lot like Sundance. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced its first batch of films Wednesday, all of which are in competition. Meaning these are the films eligible for awards. It also means that, as of right now, these are the films you probably haven't heard of. But, at this time last year [1], the competition films included a ton that you've surely now heard of such as Another Earth, Circumstance, Like Crazy, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Pariah, The Guard, Tyrannosaur and Take Shelter. Those were just the narratives. In last year's documentary competition, films like Beats, Rhymes and Life, Being Elmo, How to Die in Oregon, Page One, Knuckle, Project Nim and Senna all played. Basically, while you probably haven't heard of these movies yet,...

Sex surrogates, happy drunks, not-so-happy drunks, teenagers in love, a little boy on a gangland odyssey and a trio of time-travel investigators are just a few of the movies in the competition line-up for the Sundance Film Festival this year.

There are also lots and lots of stories of people hooking up, trying to hook up, feeling bad about not hooking up, and all sorts of variations on that theme.

Click through for the newly announced slate of U.S. dramatic competition titles, with festival director John Cooper and chief programmer Trevor Groth as your guides.

If you went to the Park City festival Jan. 19-29, what would go on your must-see list?...

Getty Images The marquee of the Egyptian Theater announces the Sundance Film Festival.

Aging hipsters, Argentinian Elvis impersonators and the dissident Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei are just some of the subjects that will be featured during the Sundance Film Festival this coming January.

The Sundance Institute announced its in-competition film selections for the 2012 fest Wednesday afternoon, debuting a typically eclectic mix of narrative and documentary projects from both veteran filmmakers and festival newcomers. (The full list is below.) In total,...

It seems like we are only just diving into the awards season, but the 2012 film year is right around the corner. There is no better place to get a tast of what is to come than Park City Utah in late January. We’ll be attending the fest again (read last year’s round-up) and today we have the first competition titles. This is the same group from last year which titles include Martha Marcy May Marlene, Like Crazy, Another Earth, Pariah, Being Elmo, Take Shelter and many more. Are there more great films to be found this year? I have no doubt the line-up below will include break-out titles, so lets get to it.

At first glance, the most notable film is Antonio Campos’ Simon Killer, who last directed Afterschool and is in the Martha Marcy trio. It is easily my most-anticipated from this group, along with Quentin Dupieux‘s Rubber follow-up Wrong.

The Sundance Institute revealed their Us and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary competition titles today for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The question, of course, is which films will break out this year after the 2011 Sundance Film Festival brought titles such as ,i>Martha Marcy May Marlene, Pariah, Like Crazy and Take Shelter to the forefront. I have never attended the Sundance Film Festival, primarily because I have never heard good things about the experience, plus it means I can save my money for my trip to Cannes where I have typically seen the some of the best films Sundance had to offer including Blue Valentine two years ago and Martha Marcy May Marlene this year. Which means it serves as a good way for me to find films to make sure I add to my Cannes 2012 must see list... can you figure out which ones they may be? When it...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning. Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale served as presenters. Nominees for Best Feature include 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Artist and The Descendants.

Margin Call was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

“The Film Independent Spirit Awards recognize the finest artistic achievements across the broad spectrum of independent filmmaking.from emerging talent working on a shoestring budget to established auteurs,” said Film Independent Senior Director Sean Mc Manus. “The 2012 nominees tell their stories in such an authentic way and reflect the inclusive nature of the independent filmmaking community. We are delighted to support them and expand the audience for their work.”

2012 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer,...

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the saviour of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. I caught up with lead actors Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan in San Francisco to talk about their latest movie where I found out what they do to help others through charity.

Machine Gun Preacher is out in the UK tomorrow, Wednesday 2nd and also stars Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, Michael Shannon, Souleymane Sy Savane and is directed by Marc Forster.

Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption. When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help...

Lionsgate have given us these two new exclusive UK TV spots for their new movie, Machine Gun Preacher directed by Marc Forster and starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Kathy Baker, Madeline Carroll, Michael Shannon, Souleymane Sy Savane. The story is based on the true accounts of Sam Childers who through various circumstances ends up protecting a group of refugee children in East Africa. I’ll let the synopsis do the talking but the movie is released in the UK 2nd November.

You can find out more on the official Facebook page or click here for all our coverage including trailers.

Machine Gun Preacher is based on the true story of Sam Childers (Gerard Butler in a tour de force performance), a violent, drug-dealing biker whose faith leads him on a path to East Africa, where he finds his true calling as a machine gun-wielding protector of hundreds of refugee children.