Posts filed under 'Film Festival'
Nantucket Film Festival Update
Latest news from the upcoming 13th Annual Nantucket Film Festival, June 19 - 22:
- Meg Ryan will be here to receive the first annual Compass Rose Acting Tribute Award.
- Writer/director Judd Apatow will be on island to receive the “Suzanne and Bob Wright Screenwriter’s Tribute Award.”
- “Transsiberian” will open the Festival, co-written by islander Will Conroy.
Executive Director Jill Burkhart and Artistic Director Mystelle Brabbée have announced that Meg Ryan will be the first ever winner of the newly established Compass Rose Acting Tribute, given to an actor who has inspired writers to create roles especially for them. Meg will also present the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award to a promising female writer/director.
Writer/director Judd Apatow will receive the Suzanne and Bob Wright Screenwriter’s Tribute Award, presented by NBC Universal. Judd Apatow wrote and directed “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”. Past tributees have been Steve Martin, Charlie Kaufman, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Jay Presson Allen, Paul Schrader, Walter Bernstein, Ring Lardner Jr., James Schamus, Robert Benton, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor.
The opening film of this year’s festival is writer/director Brad Anderson’s “Transsiberian”, starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Kate Mara, and Eduardo Noriega. The film will be accompanied by a making-of documentary and panel discussion with writer/director Brad Anderson, writer Will Conroy, and producer Michael Williams.
Late Night Storytelling returns with hosts Anne Meara and Peter Farrelly. Participants will include surprise guests and audience members. Past storytellers have included Jim Carrey, Tina Fey, Mos Def, Rosie Perez, Laird Hamilton, Olympia Dukakis, Paul Rudd, Alan Cumming, and Brian Williams.
Morning Coffee With will be hosted by film critic Leonard Maltin.
The Festival will partner with Nantucket’s Seaside Shakespeare for a reading of the Billy Wilder classic “Some Like It Hot”.
Closing the festival will be “The Wackness”, written and directed by Jonathan Levine and starring Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, and Mary-Kate Olsen.
Other films in this year’s festival include:
- American Teen
- Baghead
- Choke
- The Deal
- Flow: For Love of Water
- Frozen River
- Goodbye Baby
- Of All the Things
- Operation Filmmaker
- Secrecy
- Sleep Dealer
- Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains
- Trouble the Water
- Wellness
The website will be up within the next few days.
Add comment April 25, 2008
“Transsiberian” at Sundance (Nantucket Connection)
Will Conroy, now a summer visitor but previously a resident, has co-written a film called “Transsiberian” with Brad Anderson, which recently played at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was shot in Lithuania on a $15 million budget. Brad, a frequest visitor to the Nantucket Film Festival, also directed the film starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Kate Mara, Eduardo Noriega, Thomas Kretschmann, and Ben Kingsley.
Will wrote me from his home in Arizona to tell me about it, and that “he’s still hoping the movie will show at this year’s Nantucket Film Festival”, ending with “I miss Nantucket terribly”.
USA Today said of “Transsiberian”:
“The film is a marital drama meets police thriller and has what every good train ride should: lust, murder, Russian cops, a lot of vodka. And then some: a bag full of heroin, windows nailed shut, a tough female Russian conductor, a train wreck with lives hanging in the balance.”
“Cast members Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Eduardo Noriega were on hand at the sold-out Eccles auditorium at the Park City High School. Harrelson and Mortimer play a Midwestern couple traveling back from a religious mission in China, struggling to keep their marriage together at the point when a mysterious Spaniard (Noriega) and his 20-year-old girlfriend (Kate Mara) climb aboard.”
From Variety:
“The long sidelined subgenre centered on mysterious doings aboard exotic trains is put back on the tracks in “Transsiberian,” an engagingly up-to-date melodrama steeped in local color and steered by a treacherous sense of morality. Stalwart indie helmer Brad Anderson spreads his wings considerably here by moving further into action and genre territory than he ever has before with a film that will likely achieve more theatrical traction internationally than in the U.S. but looks promising everywhere at tube and home viewing destinations down the line.”
Read the full review here.
Sundance post party pictures here. On hand were Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Kata Mara, Perez Hilton, Jason Patric, and Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky.
Add comment February 12, 2008
Nantucket Film Festival Benefit
Tomorrow’s (Friday the 24th) benefit for the Nantucket Film Festival, a screening and cocktail party, still has some tickets left. The film is “Row Hard No Excuses”, directed by Luke Wolbach.
In this film, John Zeigler and Tom Mailhot, in the fall of 2001, jumped into a rowboat
and spent 58 days over 3000 miles chasing a dream, from the Canary Island to Barbados. Among the oldest competitors to ever participate in the Atlantic Rowing Challenge, they spent three years preparing, but once on the water, were confronted with sleep deprivation, seasickness, isolation, boredom and cramped living conditions. But they discovered inner resources they didn’t know existed while wondering if their seemingly noble quest wasn’t more lake an ill fated nightmare. An exciting sports and adventure story on the surface, Row Hard No Excuses delves deeper, illuminating an intimate portrait of two middle-aged
American men as they explore a deeply personal quest.
The movie runs from 4 to 5:30, followed by a talk led by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and documentary subject Thomas Mailhot, followed by a cocktail reception. It’s all at Westmoor Farm’s Green Barn on Pilgrim Road. Call 212-708-1261 for reservations.
Add comment August 23, 2007
Nantucket Film festival Opening Night
The Opening Night Party at Straight Wharf Restaurant is always a good mix of islanders and film festival people, feeling like an annual reunion for many of us. Steven Weber stopped in briefly. Jace Alexander was there, back to moderate the Morning Coffees, with a little stand up comedy thrown in. Comedian Kevin Flynn is back in town, already looking forward to Joshua Tree at the Box next week.
For more photos, go to the Mahon About Town Photo Pages.
Add comment June 20, 2007
Nantucket Film festival Update
FESTIVAL EVENTS
NFF Iconoclasts presents “Evening” co-screenwriter Michael Cunningham, and author of the memoir “Jarhead” Anthony Swofford, moderated by Variety’s Sharon Swart. That’s at the Harbor House, South Beach Street, staring at 8pm tonight, Thursday.
Morning Coffee With writers, directors and producers in the film industry in a lively mix of coffee and conversation, bagels and shoptalk, with Q&A. Hosted by Jace Alexander. Rose & Crown. Thursday through Sunday at 9 a.m. On Friday, the guests will be Matthew Galkin (co-producer and director, I Am An Animal), Bill Haney (co-producer and director, The Price of Sugar), Catherine Ryan (co-producer and co-director, Soldiers of Conscience), Gary Weinberger (co-producer and co-director, Soldiers of Conscience), and Luke Wolbach (co-producer and director, Row Hard No Excuses).
Late Night Storytelling is again hosted by Anne Meara and Peter Farrelly, with scheduled storytellers, local actors (John Shea, Susan McGinnis), as well as random members of the audience. This year’s theme is “Just Can’t Help Myself: Stories About Obsession.”
Jetties Beach, Friday from 7 to 9.
In Their Shoes, a conversation on screenwriting with Academy Award winner Robert Benton, a director, screenwriter and producer (Bonnie and Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer, What’s Up, Doc?, and Superman) will be at Bennett Hall, Saturday at 10:30 am.
Add comment June 14, 2007
Latest Nantucket Film Festival News
I asked Jill Burkhart, Executive Director of the Nantucket Film Festival, to tell us which films we should see if we only had time to see 5 this year. Here they are, not in any particular order.
TEETH
One of the most talked about films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Teeth garnered newcomer Jess Weixler a jury prize for what Variety describes as her game and disarming performance. Part horror film, part erotic/moral debate, and part outrageous assault on male vulnerability and fear, Teeth has been called deliciously enjoyable and an over the top fable that needs to be seen to be believed. There will be a special screening of TeethThursday, to benefit the Screenwriters Colony, on June 14th at 7 p.m. at the Starlight. A cocktail reception will follow the screening at the Starlight with filmmaker Mitchell Lichtenstein and actress Jess Weixler.
LOW AND BEHOLD
While Hurricane Katrina crippled most industries in New Orleans, insurance claim adjusters actually thrived in the chaos that followed. Zack Godshall’s poignant first feature tells the tale of Turner Stull (based on co-writer Barlow Jacobs), an uninspired young man who arrives in New Orleans ready to work for his shady Uncle Stully (Robert Longstreet), a seasoned pro in the insurance claims business.
Bennett Hall: Saturday (16th) at 9:30pm
Unitarian Church: Sunday (17th) at 5:30pm
Here’s an interview with Barlow Jacobs:
If no video above, click here.
EVERYTHING’S COOL
While touring the nation on the eve of the 2004 presidential elections, filmmakers Gold and Helfand realized that there was an enormous gap between what scientists knew about the threat of global warming, and what the American public understood. In witty and inspiring vignettes, this thought-provoking, entertaining documentary follows self-appointed messengers - scientists, journalists and average Americans - who fully understand the disastrous effects that human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, has on the environment.
Bennett Hall: Friday, June 15th 10:15am
SWIMMING IN AUSCHWITZ**** just added!
Six Jewish women from different countries and different backgrounds found themselves deported to the notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, during the Holocaust. This film attempts to chronicle that experience through those same female eyes. While subject to the same physical hardships as men, these women do not dwell on that. Instead, they speak of camp families and faith, uplifting one another while trying to remain human.
Unitarian Church: Thursday (14th) at 9:45 pm
CANVAS WITH JOE PANTOLIANO (Joey Pants) IN PERSON
I profiled this film with trailer in the June 6th issue of the newsletter.
Bennett Hall: Friday (15th) at 12:30 pm
Unitarian Church: Sunday (17th) at 3:00 pm
ICONOCLASTS will feature EVENING co-screenwriter, Michael Cunningham, and author of the memoir JARHEAD, Anthony Swofford, moderated by Variety’s Sharon Swart. Thursday (14th), 8:00 pm at The Harbor House.
Tickets are still available online and at box office for the NBC Screenwriters Tribute, Late Night Storytelling and Opening Night Party.
Add comment June 13, 2007
