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Desilu Studios continues to develop the reptilian-alien feature "V: The Visitors" as the first in a 3D SFX trilogy, written and directed by "V" TV series creator Kenneth Johnson, based on the novel, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis:

"We are delighted to team up with Desilu to bring the timeless – and timely – story of resistance against tyranny into the 21st Century", said Johnson, "'V' will be the first of a cinematic trilogy which will tell the full epic tale in the manner I always envisioned".

"V", a two-part miniseries first aired in 1983, starring Marc Singer ("L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to Serve"), introducing the 'Visitors', who slowly gain domination over Earth:

"...a race of aliens arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hover over major cities across the world. They reveal themselves on the roof of...

Desilu Studios, the home of "Star Trek" and "The Untouchables" will produce the reptilian-alien feature "V The Movie", as the first in a big-budget 3D SFX trilogy, written and directed by "V" TV series creator Kenneth Johnson, inspired by the novel, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis:

"We are delighted to team up with Desilu to bring the timeless – and timely – story of resistance against tyranny into the 21st Century", said Johnson, "'V' will be the first of a cinematic trilogy which will tell the full epic tale in the manner I always envisioned".

"V", a two-part miniseries first aired in 1983, starring Marc Singer ("L.A.P.D.: To Protect and to Serve"), introducing the 'Visitors', who slowly gain domination over Earth:

"...a race of aliens arrive on Earth in a fleet of 50 huge, saucer-shaped motherships, which hover over major cities across the world.

On Andrew Bolton, featured in Andrew Rossi's The First Monday In May: "I think you're right that the looking glass that was the frame through which we understand Chinese culture refracted into Western fashion is a complicated vehicle …" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In my conversation with Andrew Rossi we linked Okwui Okpokwasili's creative process for her Bronx Gothic (with visual and sound design by Peter Born) to Andrew Bolton's approach in The First Monday In May, childhood to Le Cirque, Gay Talese being interviewed for Page One: Inside The New York Times and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute exhibition China: Through The Looking Glass.

Andrew Rossi: "And I think with Bronx Gothic, Okwui is trying to challenge the gaze of the viewer also and to create a forcefield." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

I was reminded of Godfrey Reggio's Visitors, in which he probed me...

As I watched the gorgeous first trailer for Tom Lowe's Awaken, I was reminded of the films of Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisquati) and Terrence Malick (especially Tree of Life) and hey, what do you know, both those gentlemen serve as executive producers of this documentary. But that's not just some random director-association game. Lowe made Timescapes, a short film that garnered wide attention, and subsequently served as second-unit director for both Malick (Voyage of Time) and Reggio (Visitors). Awaken explores "humanity's relationship with technology and the natural world," according to the official synopsis. Lowe had an impressive resume in the military, political, and speechwriting worlds before becoming a filmmaker, and he's spent five years making the movie "in more than 30 countries," again per the synopsis....

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Submarine and Dogwoof have acquired all rights—minus Australia/New Zealand and German-speaking territories—to "Sherpa" director Jennifer Peedom’s "Mountain," an examination of humankind's troubled and triumphant relationship with mountains in the vein of "Baraka" (Ron Fricke, 1992) and "Koyaanisqatsi" (Godfrey Reggio, 1982). Read More: "Review: A Decade After Qatsi Trilogy, Avant-Garde Cine-Poem 'Visitors' Marks Godfrey Reggio's Triumphant Return" "Mountain," currently in production, is a collaboration between Peedom and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and features cinematography by Renan Ozturk, the Dp behind the gorgeous images of "Sherpa" and Producers Guild nominee "Meru." Renowned author Robert Macfarlane, whose best-selling book "Mountains of the Mind" explores similar themes contained in this work, will write the narration. Watch: "How Star Climber Jimmy...

Voters for the Academy Awards can begin casting their ballots online next Monday, Jan. 29 — and those who’ve opted out of the Internet option and requested paper ballots already have those in their hands.

So as the start of voting nears, TheWrap has pored over Academy lists to offer some facts, figures and fun about the 2014 Oscar race. For starters, here are a few things you might not know unless you’ve examined the Academy’s 33-page “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards.”

See photos: Golden Globes 2015: The Nominees (Photos)

It ranges from “About Last Night” to “Yves Saint Laurent,...

Three hundred twenty-three feature films are eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 87th Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 87th Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also announced that 114 scores...

Original scores from The Boxtrolls, Divergent, Exodus: Gods And Kings and The Grand Budapest Hotel are among 114 scores eligible for nominations in the Original Score category for the 87th Oscars. The noms will be announced on January 15. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:

“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” Vivek Maddala, composer

“Anita,” Lili Haydn, composer

“Annabelle,” Joseph Bishara, composer

“At Middleton,” Arturo Sandoval, composer

“Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?,” Elia Cmiral, composer

“Bears,” George Fenton, composer

“Belle,” Rachel Portman, composer

“Big Eyes,” Danny Elfman, composer

“Big Hero 6,” Henry Jackman, composer

“The Book of Life,” Gustavo Santaolalla and Tim Davies, composers

“The Boxtrolls,” Dario Marianelli, composer

“Brick Mansions,” Trevor Morris, composer

“Cake,” Christophe Beck, composer

“Calvary,” Patrick Cassidy, composer

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Henry Jackman, composer

“The Case against 8,” Blake Neely, composer

“Cheatin’,” Nicole Renaud,...

★★★☆☆A trance-like meditation on humanity's relationship with technology, Godfrey Reggio's non-narrative documentary Visitors (2013) is an anthropological examination of postmodernity and capitalism's affects on human evolution. A poetic montage of intensely moving imagery, the profundity of Reggio's latest allows the audience to study themselves through the eyes of another, and in doing so attempt to understand the essence of our nature. Visitors is Reggio's first film in over a decade after his Qatsi Trilogy, concluding in 2002 with Naqoyqatsi. The trio wowed audiences, with their hypnotic sequences of time-lapse photography and slow motion coalescing beautifully with Phillip Glass' intense scores.

“I saw Koyaanisqatsi in 1983, when it came out, so I was 20,” Steven Soderbergh explains in this interview clip about Godfrey Reggio’s influence on his work. “It was pretty significant to be that age and an aspiring filmmaker and to see that.” Soderbergh has long been vocal about his admiration for Reggio’s movies, having served as one of the presenters of the Qatsi trilogy as well for the director’s latest film, last year’s Visitors. The film is available for DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download purchase tomorrow.

“I saw Koyaanisqatsi in 1983, when it came out, so I was 20,” Steven Soderbergh explains in this interview clip about Godfrey Reggio’s influence on his work. “It was pretty significant to be that age and an aspiring filmmaker and to see that.” Soderbergh has long been vocal about his admiration for Reggio’s movies, having served as one of the presenters of the Qatsi trilogy as well for the director’s latest film, last year’s Visitors. The film is available for DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download purchase tomorrow.

A weirdly beautiful film, eerie in its complicated simplicity, and open to seven billion interpretations, all of them valid. I’m “biast” (pro): love Godfrey Reggio’s other films

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

When you stare into the face of an ape, the ape stares back. Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, who made the legendarily riveting and unclassifiable Koyaanisqatsi, returns with another riveting, unclassifiable film about watching human faces watching screens… and yet he opens by inviting us to gaze at the face of a gorilla, who is seemingly gazing back at us. Her name is Triska, and she lives at the Bronx Zoo, though we only learn this by reading the credits at the end of the film. As with all the other faces here, she appears against a black background, removed from any physical or cultural context, and...

It may not be on everyone’s DVD shelf, but filmmaker Godfrey Reggio’s first film Koyaanisqatsi – released in 1982 – was a landmark piece of cinema. Comprised mainly of slow motion and time-lapse shots, the film had no narrative in the strict sense of the word, it simply observed our world, both human and natural, and left it up to the viewer to form their own ideas. Stunningly shot (cinematographer Ron Fricke went on to make similar films Baraka and Samsara), Koyaanisqatsi revolutionised techniques that we now take for granted and would be referenced in places as far afield as Grand Theft Auto, Madonna videos, and even an episode of Scrubs. Reggio followed this up with two more films to complete the Qatsi trilogy and now returns three decades later with Visitors, a film similar in concept, but completely different in its execution.

Filmed in a low-key, velvety black-and-white, Visitors runs...

Visitors is visually sumptuous, luxurious, like a club-class airline seat

Godfrey Reggio's bold and brilliant Koyaanisqatsi in 1982, and its sequels, offered us a sensuous, non-narrative trance experience, and Reggio found his ideas and visual language being pinched by the larcenous creatives of the ad industry. Now he has returned with a film that has some gorgeous images, but a touch of self-pastiche. Visitors is visually sumptuous, luxurious, like a club-class airline seat, but I wonder about that Philip Glass score, in all its familiar relentlessness. I even heretically wonder if Reggio might even have been influenced a little by all those Nike-like ads that he inspired. Visitors is composed chiefly of slo-mo shots of faces staring directly into the camera, their eerily slow blinks being the sole perceptible movement. They are evidently watching TV or a video game, though we don't hear that we get the Glass score. At one stage,...

2014 is now in full swing, the Sundance Film Festival has closed its doors, and film festivals like South by Southwest and Tribeca are generating more buzz for the year’s noteworthy indie narratives and documentaries. In recent years, documentaries such as Restrepo, Gasland, and Searching For Sugarman went on to become heavyweights. This year’s contenders include topics taken from popular memoirs and biographies, along with subject matter pertaining to youths and youth culture. Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of Sundance and non-Sundance documentaries to keep an eye out for this year, equipped with official synopsis and trailer when available. 2014 is shaping out to a versatile year in the documentary world, ranging from heavy-handed family dramas such as Tracy Droz Tragos’ and Andrew Droz Palermo’s Rich Hill, to baseball biographies such as Chapman and Maclain Way’s The Battered Bastards of Baseball and Jeff Radice’s No No A Dockumentary,...

For our Winter issue, experimental documentarian Godfrey Reggio, along with his producer Jon Kane and d.p. Trish Govani, explored the significance of selected stills from his latest film Visitors. A revealing exercise for any filmmaker, Reggio’s excerpts carry far more weight than they would for most: the eight shots account for more than 10% of the film. Comprised of only 74, 4K black and white shots, the Philip Glass-scored Visitors is a meditation on the act of spectatorship, as the viewer unflinchingly gazes at 70+ second takes of faces, swamplands, disembodied hands and the moon. In the above video for The Creators Project, Reggio extols […]...

For our Winter issue, experimental documentarian Godfrey Reggio, along with his producer Jon Kane and d.p. Trish Govani, explored the significance of selected stills from his latest film Visitors. A revealing exercise for any filmmaker, Reggio’s excerpts carry far more weight than they would for most: the eight shots account for more than 10% of the film. Comprised of only 74, 4K black and white shots, the Philip Glass-scored Visitors is a meditation on the act of spectatorship, as the viewer unflinchingly gazes at 70+ second takes of faces, swamplands, disembodied hands and the moon. In the above video for The Creators Project, Reggio extols […]...

One of the most influential composers in 20th-century music, Philip Glass reteams with director Godfrey Reggio for the fourth time for the new movie Visitors, now playing in L.A. Story: How 'Nebraska's' Composer Wrote Americana Music Without 'Banjo Plucking' Their first collaboration, the landmark Koyaanisqatsi, became a favorite of the midnight stoner set when it came out in 1983, but has lived on to become a landmark in abstract filmmaking with its high-speed visions of city life and the chaos of a mechanized world. Sequels Powaqqatis and Naqoyqatsi employed similar visual techniques, but the pair’s latest collaboration,

read more...

"Visitors," experimental documentarian Godfrey Reggio's first film in over a decade, is currently in theaters, and last night the filmmaker showed up on, of all wonderfully unexpected places, "The Colbert Report." Reggio explains to Stephen Colbert that "Visitors" is "in the same tradition" as his "Qatsi" trilogy "in that it's a speechless narrative... it's like watching a painting." "Like in Harry Potter!" Colbert suggests. A few jokes aside, the brief interview actually features Colbert in one of his more sincere moments while in persona. Take a look below.

"The stunningly photographed, often difficult, always transfixing film was not the most satisfying creation on display at Tiff, or for many cinemagoers, its most alluring. But it was without question its most important," correspondent Christopher Schobert wrote in his review of Godfrey Reggio's "Visitors" from Toronto last fall. "Here is a movie that defies simple interpretation and renders reviews—this one included—almost meaningless." And it's hardly a surprise the man behind the still influential trilogy "Koyaanisqatsi," "Powaqqatsi" and "Naqoyqatsi" has once again created a cinematic experience that is beyond words. But to help provide you with context, we've got a pretty terrific 8-minute, behind-the-scenes look at the movie, featuring along with the filmmaker, the participation of Steven Soderbergh (who is "presenting" the film), composer Philip Glass, editor Jon Kane and is narrated by musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson. And it's fascinating stuff....

“Nothing in the world can be compared to the human face,” said the great Carl Theodor Dreyer, and in his transfixing, perplexing new film, Visitors, Godfrey Reggio seems to be taking this sentiment to heart. Reggio is the enigmatic monk turned visionary filmmaker who in 1980 revolutionized cinema with Koyaanisqatsi, an Olympian montage of immaculately captured documentary footage portraying the beauty, horror, and enormity of life on Earth, all set to an iconic soundtrack by Philip Glass. The film was a lament for a world at odds with nature, but it was also so hypnotic and gorgeous and unshakeable that Reggio’s style of filming and editing quickly became embraced by advertising; its pervasive influence can still be felt today.Undeterred by what he called “the Beast” appropriating his language, Reggio made two more films in what would be called the Qatsi Trilogy. His latest is still very much in that...

Koyaanisqatsi (1982), a genre-defining, landmark film that features stunning time-lapse photography and a hypnotic score by Philip Glass, expanded the boundaries of film. It garnered a cult following and spawned countless imitators in the commercial, documentary and narrative film worlds (most recently, Samsara). Its director, Godfrey Reggio, followed it with Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002) to complete the long intended trilogy.Reggio insists his films are not experimental, but rather, experiential. He asserts this notion again with Visitors, his first new film in more than ten years. It's a visual tone poem presented in stunning monochrome 4K. Like his previous -qatsi trilogy, the 'life unbalanced' theme is still present. But consisting of only 74 shots, the film is a much more graceful, subtle, abstract experience. As...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

This weekend, Aaron Eckhart stars as the immortal monster caught in a centuries old war in "I, Frankenstein," Vanessa Hudgens stars as a pregnant, homeless teenager in the gut-wrenching "Gimme Shelter," and hearts race in the French, Hitchcockian thriller "Stranger by the Lake." Set in a dystopic present, "I, Frankenstein" stars Aaron Eckhart as Victor Frankenstein's creation, Adam, in the latest big-screen version of the fictional figure. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the film finds Adam caught in the middle of a centuries old war between vigilant gargoyles and vicious demons, who both want to discover the secret to his immortality. The film was written and directed by Stuart Beattie.

Also, in theaters this weekend: In the French thriller "Stranger by the Lake," Franck visits a countryside lake and falls in love with Michel, an attractive but lethally dangerous man. Based on a true story,...

New Release Gimme Shelter PG-13, 1 Hr., 40 Mins. Apathy abounds in Ronald Krauss’ Doa snorer about a pregnant teen (Vanessa Hudgens) tracking down her birth father (Brendan Fraser). Hudgens competently recites fill-in-the-angst monologues and Rosario Dawson finds surprising depth as her addict mother, but no one escapes Krauss’ script, which drops every hollow cliché of troubled teens into a movie you swear you’ve seen better versions of a hundred times before. C- —Marc SnetikerNEW Release Visitors Not Rated, 1 Hr., 27 Mins. Thirty years ago, Godfrey Reggio directed Koyaanisqatsi — a cult stoner classic that used time-lapse photography and a hypnotic Philip Glass...

Godfrey Reggio with Philip Glass, Jon Kane, Steven Soderbergh: "The template of the film is the moving still." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Steven Soderbergh is presenting Visitors, Godfrey Reggio's latest illuminating film collaboration with composer Philip Glass and assistant director/editor Jon Kane.

A girl wears her necklace off-center, a mouth quivers, freckles form constellations on a curious nose. When is there life in a face? Where it goes when it disappears and how fingers become ducks without eyes talking is what can move us in Visitors.

Glass, who collaborated with Reggio on five previous films - Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Anima Mundi, Evidence, and Naqoyqatsi - described the unique way they work together. "Godfrey is very skillful in taking the technology and figuring out what to do with it…We've done six movies together and every time he says 'I want something completely different.' The music making and the...

With a background in activism and religion, director Godfrey Reggio's filmography displays a deep concern for humanity, the footprint we leave on the world around us, and our interactions with nature, technology and each other. But his choice of polemic is largely visual, with his revered Qatsi trilogy of films choosing to voice its concerns purely through images, and the haunting scores by Philip Glass. And his latest, "Visitors," once again favors powerful visuals, this time through a feature composed of 74 distinct shots. And while Reggio's work has long been represented on home video, it's on the big screen where it can truly be appreciated, and for those of you in New York City, you'll get a chance to do just that. Starting on January 16th, The Museum Of Arts Of Design is launching "Life With Technology: The Cinema Of Godfrey Reggio." Running through March 14th, the film series...

4 posters are in from Godfrey Reggio's Visitors documentary which was seen at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Cinedigm releases the film some time in January 2014. Thirty years after Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio–with the support of Philip Glass and Jon Kane–once again leapfrogs over earth-bound filmmakers and creates another stunning, wordless portrait of modern life. Presented by Steven Soderbergh in Black and White digital 4K projection, Visitors reveals humanity’s trancelike relationship with technology, which, when commandeered by extreme emotional states, produces massive effects far beyond the human species. The film is visceral, offering the audience an experience beyond information about the moment in which we live. Comprised...

The premiere of Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors, hosted by Steven Soderbergh and with Phillip Glass’s score performed live by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, was my most singular experience at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. As I wrote in the current issue of Filmmaker: Glass’s haunting soundtrack is among his best, while Reggio’s film is a radical departure from hyperkinetic works like Koyanisquatsi that presaged the visual language of our connected age. Shot in black-and-white and containing less than 60 cuts, the lulling Visitors is mournful yet concerned elegy for a world in which experience has been subsumed by spectatorship. Amusement parks […]...

The premiere of Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors, hosted by Steven Soderbergh and with Phillip Glass’s score performed live by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, was my most singular experience at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. As I wrote in the current issue of Filmmaker: Glass’s haunting soundtrack is among his best, while Reggio’s film is a radical departure from hyperkinetic works like Koyanisquatsi that presaged the visual language of our connected age. Shot in black-and-white and containing less than 60 cuts, the lulling Visitors is mournful yet concerned elegy for a world in which experience has been subsumed by spectatorship. Amusement parks […]...

Update: Godfrey Reggio's "Visitors" will be released via Cinedigm beginning January 24, 2014. It is presented by Steven Soderbergh, with a score by Philip Glass. Read our Toh! review out of the New Orleans Film Festival, plus check out the film's new trailer, below.  Godfrey Reggio would hate this review. The director behind the cult classic "Koyaanisqatsi" (1983) resists description. As he noted while introducing his latest, "Visitors," at the New Orleans Film Festival, he considers his films "texture, not text." Well, here's some text anyway: "Visitors" is cinema as soul-craft, a profoundly beautiful portrait of the finitude of this mortal coil. Following his five previous features, the most recent of which, "Naqoyqatsi," premiered in 2002, "Visitors" dispenses with the traditional lineaments of narrative and characterization in favor of a style faintly reminiscent of the avant-gardists of the silent era. "Visitors" is, to be momentarily reductive, "The Man with a Movie...

You really can't keep a good Steven Soderbergh down. Supposedly retired from directing after “Behind The Candelabra”, the hyperactive movie-maker is using his time off to lend his name to worthy cinematic projects, and none worthier than “Visitors,” which is to be “presented by” Soderbergh, and for which a new trailer has arrived below.And what is “Visitors”, you ask? Only the first film in 10 years from Godfrey Reggio, perhaps the most celebrated experimental film-maker around today: his “Qatsi” trilogy (“Koyaanisqatsi,” “Powaqqatsi,” “Naqoyqatsi”) released from 1982 to 2002, is a genre defining, strange and powerful set of wordless, plotless mood pieces about man's relationship to the planet and to technology. They're not the easiest films to love, but no one forgets them, and our correspondent felt the very same about “Visitors” when it played at Tiff in September (read our review).“Visitors” will get a wider release on Valentine's Day 2014, but until then there's the trailer to.

Submarine Entertainment has licensed UK rights for Godfrey Reggio’s Toronto special presentation Visitors to Metrodome and struck an Italian deal with Feltrinelli Films.

Cinedigm previously acquired all North American rights and plans a fourth quarter 2014 release while Films We Like will distribute in Canada.

The Ire Production in association with Optic Nerve, Noyes Films and Phi Films isReggio’s first film in more than a decade and explores humanity’s relationship with technology.

Reggio’s previous outings include the feted Qatsi documentary trilogy of Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi.

Lawrence Taub, Reggio, Phoebe Greenberg, Penny Mancuso, Jon Kane and Mara Campione produced and Steven Soderbergh, Dan Noyes and Dean Chenoy served as executive producers.

David Koh and Dan Braun of Submarine and Taub negotiated the deals with Metrodome head of acquisitions Giles Edwards and Feltrinelli managing director Anastasia Plazzotta.

There are many ways of threading one's way through a film festival with 366 films, of which 288 are features. Sometimes I envy my friends who are monomaniacs, partisans of Asian or experimental films, or those whose jobs and deadlines dictate which films they have to see. I am greedy and want to see more than I possibly can. I am attracted to the latest film from a director whose entire oeuvre I am familiar with, as well as the first film from an unknown talent.  I can be equally thrilled by a big-budget Hollywood movie stuffed with stars and a film shot on video for pocket change. Plus I also want the unique experience: Jason Reitman's table read, or Godfrey Reggio's new film, "Visitors," with its Philip Glass score played live by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This year Tiff's advertising is based on "what's your Festival personality?": The Arbiter of Taste,...

The world premiere of Qatsi trilogy director Godfrey Reggio’s long-awaited and eagerly anticipated “Visitors” provided the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival with something extraordinarily unique: its greatest cinematic experience. The stunningly photographed, often difficult, always transfixing film was not the most satisfying creation on display at Tiff, or for many cinemagoers, its most alluring. But it was without question its most important. Here is a movie that defies simple interpretation and renders reviews — this one included—almost meaningless. Booking Reggio’s first film in more than a decade was always going to make waves; his immaculately filmed, non-narrative Qatsi trilogy—“Koyaanisqatsi” (1982), “Powaqqatsi” (1988), and “Naqoyqatsi” (2002)—is rightfully ranked among the most important artistic achievements of the last thirty years. But that was just part of the excitement. For the premiere of “Visitors” at Toronto’s ornate Elgin Theatre, Reggio and his...

Thirty years have passed since the release "Koyaanisqatsi," Godfrey Reggio's first installment in his memorably abstract Qatsi trilogy, which captured the complexity of civilization through a gripping rush of images aided by an equally potent Philip Glass score. While the power of that project hasn't faded, it provides only one specific take on the world's constant movement. "Visitors," Reggio's latest experimental project with Glass and editor Jon Kane, provides an entirely different kind of immersion into the nature of reality. Rather than exploring the rush of time at the center of the Qatsi films, "Visitors" brings it to a halt. Comparatively minimalist when viewed alongside his other work, the black-and-white "Visitors" consists of only 74 shots, established with such a steady rhythm that the movie practically takes the form of hypnosis. The images are relatively basic: Following an opening glimpse of a tranquil gorilla (end credits reveal this to be Triska,...

Scordino to oversee distribution and acquisitions at La-based distributor.

Cinedigm has promoted Vincent Scordino to svp of theatrical releasing. Previously, Scordino was Cinedigm’s vp of theatrical acquisitions.

In the newly created position, Scordino will head up the company’s theatrical releasing business, overseeing distribution and acquisitions. He will continue to focus on acquiring content and establishing distribution partnerships.

Cinedigm is currently releasing Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12, which is expanding nationwide after launching in New York and Los Angeles on Aug 23. Other current and upcoming releases include Penny Lane’s Our Nixon, Jill Soloway’s Afternoon Delight, Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors and Shaul Schwarz’s Narco Cultura.

“Vincent has been a major asset to Cinedigm over the past year as we launched our theatrical releasing business. Not only is he a top independent film executive with great taste, he’s also highly collaborative and strategic,” said Susan Margolin, co-president of [link...

"Koyaanisqatsi" filmmaker Godfrey Reggio is back to his wordless ways, with his new film "Visitors," his first in over a decade.  The film, which is Ep'ed by Steven Soderbergh, is set to debut with a live performance of the film's score from Philip Glass at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Read More: Watch: Mesmerizing Trailer for 'Visitors,' Godfrey Reggio's First Film in Over a Decade The promotional information for "Visitors" says that it "reveals humanity's trancelike relationship with technology, which, when commandeered by extreme emotional states, produces massive effects far beyond the human species. The film is visceral, offering the audience an experience beyond information about the moment in which we live." In a statement exclusive to Indiewire, producer Lawrence Taub says, "To have the opportunity to premiere Visitors as a live special event at the preeminent Toronto International Film Festival could not have been foretold.

This trailer looks amazing: With a Steven Soderbergh production credit, "Visitors" will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month with a live score by members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This marks the first film in over a decade from director Godfrey Reggio, whose cult-status "Qatsi" trilogy captured the relationship between humans and nature. It seems that "Visitors" will see him explore similar territory, as the work has been described as revealing "humanity’s trancelike relationship with technology, which, when commandeered by extreme emotional states, produces massive effects far beyond the human species." The two-and-a-half minute preview is strictly devoted to the anguished faces of several different subjects, accompanied by a foreboding instrumental work (again from Reggio's "Qatsi" collaborator, Philip Glass). Like most of Reggio's work, you may find it insufferably boring or latch onto its wavelength and find it mesmerizing. "Visitors"...

Godfrey Reggio caught the eye of the critical film community in the 80s with a pair of documentaries that examined the effect of technology on lifestyles and the environment around the world, with Francis Ford Coppola acting as executive producer on his debut feature. His return in 2002 marked a third entry in the series before he went quiet once again. Thus, many were excited to see his name appear among the list of those who would have films premiering at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Making its world premiere at the event, Reggio’s film will be presented this time around by Steven Soderbergh. The first trailer for the documetnary has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: First Showing)

The post ‘Visitors’, documentarian Godfrey Reggio’s first film in 11 years, releases a single-take trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.

The filmmaker behind Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi returns this year with his latest feature. This one is called Visitors, and it's being presented by Steven Soderbergh at the Toronto Film Festival this fall featuring a live performance of Philip Glass' score by Members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The first trailer is out and it's rather odd, with the camera panning across the faces of numerous people. The concept: "Visitors offers an experience of technology and transcendental emotionality, taking viewers to the moon and back to confront them with themselves." If you like the Qatsi trilogy, you'll want to see this. Here's the latest promo trailer for Godfrey Reggio's new film Visitors, found on YouTube: Thirty years after Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio—with the support of Philip Glass and Jon Kane—once again leapfrogs over earthbound filmmakers and creates another stunning, wordless portrait of modern life. Presented by Steven Soderbergh...

Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, one of many Special Presentations at this year's Tiff.

The Toronto International Film Festival has begun to announce its lineup for its 2013 edition, beginning with Gala and Special Presentations. To browse the festival's programming on their web site, visit here.

Gala Presentations

American Dreams in China (Peter Chan, China)

The Art of the Steal (Jonothan Sobol, Canada)

August: Osage County (John Wells, USA)

Cold Eyes (Cho Ui-seok & Kim Byung-seo, Korea)

The Fifth Estate (Bill Condon, USA)

The Grand Seduction (Don McKellar, Canada)

Kill Your Darlings (John Krokidas, USA)

Life of Crime (Daniel Schechter, USA)

The Love Punch (Joel Hopkins, France)

The Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra, India/France/Germany)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Justin Chadwick, South Africa)

Parkland (Peter Landesman, USA)

The Railway Man (Jonathan Teplitzky, Australia/UK)

The Right Kind of Wrong (Jeremiah Chechik, Canada)

Rush (Ron Howard, UK/Germany)

Shuddh Desi Romance (Maneesh Sharma, India...

The films to be screened at this year's Toronto film festival – as the programme release is staggered, this will be updated as more details are revealed

The 38th Toronto Film Festival runs September 5 - 15 2013. This article will be updated as official announcements detailing the full line-up are released.

Opening night film

The Fifth Estate, Dir: Bill Condon, USA

Closing night film

Life of Crime, Dir: Daniel Schechter, USA

World premieres

12 Years a Slave, Dir: Steve McQueen, USA

All Is By My Side, Dir: John Ridley, United Kingdom

The Art of the Steal, Dir: Jonathan Sobol, Canada

Attila Marcel, Dir: Sylvain Chomet, France

August: Osage County, Dir: John Wells, USA

Bad Words, Dir: Jason Bateman, USA

Belle, Dir: Amma Asante, United Kingdom

Can a Song Save Your Life? Dir: John Carney, USA

Cannibal (Caníbal), Dir: Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain/Romania/Russia/France

Dallas Buyers Club, Dir: Jean-Marc Vallée, USA

Devil's Knot,...

Yesterday, the first batch of 2013 Tiff titles dropped sending cinephiles into a frenzied excitement with a pretty killer lineup, with many now wondering how many extra days they can stay in Toronto this year. And the advance looks continue to roll out, as today a new trailer has arrived for one of the more intriguing question marks of the forthcoming fest. Godfrey Reggio, the man behind the acclaimed "Koyaanisqatsi, "Powaqqatsi" and "Naqoyqatsi" has a new movie to show off entitled "Visitors," and it looks like it could be his most challenging yet. Bold visuals and a score by Philip Glass are once again key components, but it now features actual performers, staged scenes and more. Plus, Steven Soderbergh — whose had some effusive things to say about the movie — has put his name to the effort with a "presented by" title. Here's the official synopsis: Thirty years after Koyaanisqatsi, with support...

With each passing year, Tiff is becoming more and more prominent on the film festival circuit, with more and more Oscar-primed films making their debut out in Canada. And with the initial line-up announced for the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, the trend is definitely continuing.

Amongst the many, many films making their presence felt out in Toronto will be Steve McQueen’s highly anticipated 12 Years a Slave, which launched a powerful first trailer earlier in the month. The film sees Chiwetel Ejiofor lead a fantastic cast, with Michael Fassbender returning to work for his Hunger / Shame director, alongside the likes of Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti, and many more.

Opening the festival will be Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, alongside Daniel Brühl, Laura Linney, Anthony Mackie, and Stanley Tucci.

And closing it will be Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime,...

Toronto Film Festival Movie Lineup (photo: Chiwetel Ejiofor in Steve McQueen’s ’12 Years a Slave’) (See previous post: “Toronto Film Festival 2013 Dates and Movies.”) Among the Toronto Film Festival’s World and North American premieres are director Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson, and Paul Giamatti; Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club, with Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Steve Zahn, and Griffin Dunne; Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot, with Reese Witherspoon, Mireille Enos, Kevin Durand, Stephen Moyer, Dane DeHaan, Colin Firth, Elias Koteas, Alessandro Nivola, Bruce Greenwood, Amy Ryan, and Martin Henderson; and Sylvain Chomet’s Attila Marcel, which is supposed to be an homage to Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton, featuring Guillaume Gouix, Anne Le Ny, Bernadette Lafont, and Hélène Vincent. See Toronto Film Festival 2013 lineup below. Toronto Film Festival: World premieres 12 Years a Slave, Dir: Steve McQueen,...

With dramatic fare such as August: Osage County, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Dallas Buyers Club, 2013′s Toronto Int. Film Festival once again will be shelving a wide-ranging quotient for Oscar-buzz titles. In the 70 plus title announcement made this morning, Tiff is chock-full in the type of titles that will essentially be putting the distribution companies in the dual modes of: a. buying up available items to stock up their 2014 slate, and b., launching their campaigns for the award season and giving their fall calenders an extra push.

Some might want to call this a Cumberbatchian type edition (Benedict Cumberbatch appears in August: Osage County, Tiff opener The Fifth Estate, and the Venice-bound 12 Years a Slave) but with only David Cronenberg (currently in production with Maps to the Stars) and Guy Maddin (currently in creative overdrive with Seances a.k.a Spiritismes), 2013 will be looked back upon as a...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Wikileaks drama The Fifth Estate are among a raft of world premieres set for the 38th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff).

Toronto will open on September 5 with Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The festival will close on September 15 with Daniel Schechter’s crime story Life of Crime, based on Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch. The film stars Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, yasiin bey (aka Mos Def), Isla Fisher, Will Forte, Mark Boone Jr, and Tim Robbins.

In the first wave of programming to be announced for Tiff, there are also world premieres for Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman; Jason Reitman’s Labor Day; Devil’s Knot by Atom Egoyan; The Railway Man by Jonathan Teplitzky; August: Osage County starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts; Richard Ayoade’s The Double; and Starred Up from David Mackenzie.

Stephen Frears’ [link...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Wikileaks drama The Fifth Estate are among a raft of world premieres set for the 38th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff).

Toronto will open on September 5 with Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The festival will close on September 15 with Daniel Schechter’s crime story Life of Crime, based on Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch. The film stars Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, yasiin bey (aka Mos Def), Isla Fisher, Will Forte, Mark Boone Jr, and Tim Robbins.

In the first wave of programming to be announced for Tiff, there are also world premieres for Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman; Jason Reitman’s Labor Day; Devil’s Knot by Atom Egoyan; The Railway Man by Jonathan Teplitzky; August: Osage County starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts; Richard Ayoade’s The Double; and Starred Up from David Mackenzie.

Stephen Frears’ [link...

Today the organizers of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival announced about a quarter of the festival's lineup including Galas, Special Presentations and the fest's opening night film, which will be Bill Condon's Wikileaks feature The Fifth Estate. That, however, is just the start. As far as the Gala Presentations are concerned you have John Wells' August: Osage County starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, John Krokidas' Kill Your Darlings with Daniel Radcliffe, Justin Chadwick's Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom starring Idris Elba in the title role, Peter Landesman's JFK assassination pic Parkland and Jonathan Teplitzky's The Railway Man with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. The Special Presentations grow even more insane as it begins with Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, the much-talked-about Cannes feature Blue is the Warmest Color, Jean-Marc Vallee's Dallas Buyers Club starring Matthew McConaughey, Atom Egoyan's Devil's Knot based...